Whirlin Sunday and whirlin cakes

14 days before Easter · Villages near Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire

No longer kept

In the villages round Wisbech the fifth Sunday in Lent was kept as Whirlin Sunday, when almost every family baked whirlin cakes. A correspondent signing M. H. wrote in 1789 that the day had been kept “time immemorial” but that nobody could tell him why. He believed it was found nowhere else in the kingdom and spelt the name only as it sounded.

the fifth Sunday in Lent has been, time immemorial, commemorated by the name of Whirlin Sunday, when cakes are made by almost every family, and from the day are called whirlin cakes

From The Gentleman's Magazine Library, Popular Superstitions, p. 26. Read the original

Get a copy: Amazon · Bookshop.org · AbeBooks

We may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Also on this day

Folklore from the old calendars

Boys pelting with carlings No longer kept Northern EnglandIn the North the fifth Sunday in Lent was called Care, Carle or Carling Sunday, and the proper food was grey peas soaked overnight and fried in butter.
The gy-carling on Carling Sunday Lore and belief NorthumberlandOn the Borders people were told to eat carlings on Carling Sunday until they were too full for the gy-carling to get a grip of their belly.
The carling-groat No longer kept Northern EnglandAt carling time a northern drinker's carling-groat was the money he spent at the public-house, and in return the landlord set out the carlings free.
Carlings on Carling Sunday Still kept Northern EnglandOn the second Sunday before Easter northern families ate carlings, grey peas soaked overnight and fried in butter.

Whirlin Sunday and whirlin cakes

Also on this day

Questions and comments

Image credits