The stick blow at the Lancashire Whitsun fair

Whit Monday

No longer kept

At Whitsuntide fairs in parts of Lancashire a trick was played in which one person held a stick over another’s head and a third, unseen, struck the stick so that it came down smartly on the victim. A writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1783 wondered whether it was a rough memory of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the heads of the apostles at Pentecost, as he wondered whether Easter lifting stood for the Resurrection. He thought the game was probably only local.

one person holds a stick over the head of another, whilst a third, unperceived, strikes the stick

From Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 184. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Flitting Day No longer kept ScotlandThe 25th of May, the old Whitsunday term, was the day most Scots changed house, since houses were let by the year and tenants decided at Candlemas whether to sit or flit.
The Greenhill Bower Still kept StaffordshireLichfield's show fair was held on Whit Monday, when members of the corporation and the town's best tradesmen walked in procession from the guildhall to Greenhill.
The Eynsham timber No longer kept OxfordshireAt Eynsham the townspeople might cut down on Whit Monday as much timber as they could haul by hand into the abbey yard, the churchwardens first marking the trees.
The Chester Whitsun plays Still kept CheshireChester's mystery plays were said to have been written by Randall Higgenett, a monk of Chester Abbey, and played on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Whitsun week.
Greenwich Fair No longer kept KentFor Londoners Whit Monday meant Greenwich Fair, and from early morning crowds poured along the Kent Road and down the river to it.
Drop handkerchief at the Devon revels No longer kept DevonA correspondent remembered from his boyhood in Devon that at the fairs and revels of Easter and Whitsuntide young men and women formed a ring to play drop handkerchief.
The Whitsuntide hirings in Cumberland No longer kept CumberlandFarm servants in Cumberland were hired by the half year at Whitsuntide and Martinmas.
Necton guild No longer kept NorfolkIn 1817 Major, later Colonel, Mason of Necton Hall set up a guild of rural sports on the afternoons of Whit Monday and Whit Tuesday, to gather the Whitsun holidays of the Norfolk villages at Necton.
Peppard Revel No longer kept OxfordshireThe Reading Mercury of 24 May 1819 advertised Peppard Revel for Whit Monday.
The Boy’s Bailiff at Wenlock No longer kept ShropshireIn Whitsun week Much Wenlock kept a custom called the Boy's Bailiff.
Hocking and pigeon-holes at the Brentford Whitsun ale No longer kept MiddlesexA Brentford vestry of 1621 recorded that the townspeople had long met at Whitsuntide in their church house to eat and drink together, keeping up neighbourly feeling and raising a common stock for the church, the orphans and the poor.
Fetching in the Fly at Oxford No longer kept OxfordshireOn a day in the Whitsun holidays the master cook of Oxford for that year rode out on horseback with his brother cooks, all in silk doublets, to Bartholomew's or Bullingdon Green to fetch in the Fly.
The Corby toll Still kept NorthamptonshireEvery twentieth year on Whit Monday the people of Corby blocked every road into the parish and demanded a toll from all who passed.
The millers’ riding at Hinckley No longer kept LeicestershireAt Hinckley's Whit Monday fair the millers of the nearby villages used to ride in a decorated cavalcade, a show that had fallen out of favour until it was revived with new characters in 1786.
Rosley Fair from Whit Monday No longer kept CumberlandRosley Fair on its open hill opened on Whit Monday.
Whitsun jaunts to Islington and Newington No longer kept LondonOver the Whitsun holidays Londoners poured out to Islington, Newington and the villages nearby to eat and drink.
Whitsun rides in Moorfields No longer kept LondonAt Whitsuntide children paid for rides at the fairground in Moorfields, going up and down on the swings.
The Fool and the Megen No longer kept WalesAt Whitsuntide Welsh morris dancers, nine men with ribbons on their clothes and bells at their knees, danced to the tune of Country Bumpkin.
Guessing the man in green at Whitsuntide No longer kept WalesAt Whitsuntide the Welsh morris dancers were sometimes joined by a man dressed in green and entirely covered with ivy, leaves and flowers.
Nettles on the sluggard’s latch on Whit Monday No longer kept WalesEarly on Whit Monday farm boys and others went round the village with noise and song to wake the lazy, leaving a bunch of nettles tied to the latch of every sluggard's door.
Sweethearts paired for the Whit Monday dance No longer kept WalesIn the late eighteenth century, about a fortnight before Whitsun, Welsh farm boys went to a secluded spot in the woods and told each other their sweethearts' names, and the girls did the same.

The stick blow at the Lancashire Whitsun fair

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