British folk traditions

In 1964, two young academics clambered into a red Mini and, armed with a mountain of printed slips, set out to conduct what would become the definitive survey of English folklore and traditions for the next 60 years.

John Widdowson and Paul Smith went to town centres, ­community halls, Women’s Institute meetings. They handed the simple forms out to anyone who visited Sheffield University, where they were based. And they wanted to know the answer to one simple question: what do you know to be true?

Now held in the university’s archives, the thousands of replies make for illuminating reading, creating a patchwork of observances, superstitions and local legends, passed down through families and communities.

“Don’t bring hawthorn blossom into the house. It’s bad luck,” wrote David Smith of London, who had learned this from his mother, Molly, then living in Scarborough.

The story related by Florence Swaby of Hertfordshire was perhaps a little more dramatic: “Just outside the village, part of the road is called the white highway, and at that point there are two large open fields and the devil haunts there. This is the story handed down from my great grandmother and really happened …”

Exactly six decades on, the Survey of Language and Folklore is finally being updated, with a more scientific method than two men in a Mini handing out questionnaires almost at random. The Centre for Contemporary Legend, based at Sheffield Hallam University, is to conduct the National Folklore Survey, financed with £271,000 of government money from the UK Research and Innovation body.

The project will be led by David Clarke along with Diane Rodgers, also of Sheffield Hallam, and Ceri Houlbrook and Owen Davies who founded the MA Folklore Studies course at Hertfordshire University. It will be conducted by Ipsos-UK, ­polling almost 3,000 people in the first phase to create a clearer picture of what folklore means today.

The new survey aims to address “the lack of robust research evidence into the cultural value of folklore in post-Brexit, post-pandemic, multicultural England. It aims to create new data to answer two research questions: ‘How have folkloric beliefs and practices shaped England’s social, cultural and spiritual identity?’ and ‘To what extent are ideas of nationalism and colonial attitudes informed by contemporary notions of English folklore?’”

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“You might think that in an increasingly technological world we have no place for folklore, but it seems to be the opposite. Technology and mobile phones create a kind of disenchantment in people’s lives, and I think they’ve started to realise that. The revival of interest in folklore is a wonderful thing, and long may it continue.”

Via the Book of Face

Footage from last year

Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing sees a troupe of people in straw hats pulling a cart piled high with rushes around some of Calderdale’s most beautiful villages.

The popular festival takes place this year on Saturday, September 7 and Sunday, September 8, and usually attracts huge crowds.

The rush cart – with the “rush maiden” perched on top – is hauled down country lanes and up some steep hills by a team of strong volunteers who make stops at churches and pubs in Sowerby Bridge and its surrounding villages.

They are accompanied along the way by groups of musicians and morris dancers, providing entertainment for those who come to watch the spectacle.

The festival was originally revived for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 and this year it will mark the coronation of King Charles.

Organisers have raised over £20,000 for good causes, and the weekend contributes significantly to the local economy.

The custom dates back many centuries to when church floors consisted of little more than stones or bare earth, and rushes were used as a covering.

Each year, in late summer, the old and rotten rushes were cleared out and new ones taken to the churches. In some areas, this annual activity developed into a celebration involving revelry, music and dancing.

Previously: No Rush! Saddleworth Independent witnesses the creation of the Rushcart

The clock is ticking down to one of the biggest events of the Saddleworth calendar – Rushcart.

But what is it? The sight of men dancing in the street while wearing flowery hats and bells on their feet has always been treated as the norm being part of area’s tradition.

In fact, the origins of morris dancing are bit more complicated, but it is morris men we have to thank – not only for the ancient way of giving thanks but also its revival in Saddleworth in the 1970s.

Back in the day, many churches had only rudimentary floors made of earth. So, to make them more comfortable and inviting for special occasions, it was common to cover them with hay, straw or rushes.

As towns and villages expanded, the rushes had to be carried from further afield, so they were often piled on sledges and dragged to the church.

Then at some point, someone obviously remembered the wheel had been invented and had the bright idea of stacking the rushes on a cart – the rushcart was born.

In areas like Saddleworth, every village would have its own and it soon became a bit of a contest to see who could make the biggest stack with the most elaborate decorations.

However, Saddleworth is now one of the only places in the country which has a traditional cart – many others around the UK are wooden structures.

But it does not just appear overnight. The whole process takes a month.

From cutting rushes to tying and building, it has to be done in stages, not because of work commitments for the morris men but because the rushes need time to settle before height can be added.

Once the saddle is placed on top, the estimated height is approximately 16ft with the cart weighing about three tonnes.

Archive

A man who became the shin-kicking world champion on his first try has successfully defended his title, having trained by hitting a hammer on his shins nearly every day for a year. The world champion set his sights on becoming the five-time champion of the bizarre 17th century English sport.

Mike Newby, 34, an account director who lives in Cheltenham with his girlfriend, Geo Legate, 27, competed in the Cotswold Olimpick Games – which celebrates English folk sports and games, such as tug of war, hammer throwing and the main event, shin kicking – on May 31, 2024.

The winner of the competition is crowned the world champion and has their name added to a trophy which is displayed in Chipping Campden, home of the Olimpicks, all year round.

Just a few weeks after winning the 2023 edition of the competition, Mike hit the gym, did cardio, struck his shins with a hammer, and practiced martial arts almost every day for a year. It paid off, he won all three of his rounds this year and came out unscathed, having broken two toes last time around.

During the competition he was up against “humongous” men, and relied on his signature move “the shin wheel” – which involved kicking his competitor in the shins and pulling them around so they tripped over his legs – to secure maximum points.

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Mike told PA Real Life: “When I won, I really couldn’t believe it. There’s a person who dresses up as Robert Dover, the original founder of the games, in a royalist Civil War costume, and I grabbed their sword and just went up the castle holding the sword and cheering – I felt a bit like Maximus from Gladiator. The experience was just mythic, it was amazing.”

Dairy-loving daredevils from around the world have descended on Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire for the annual cheese-rolling race.

Competitors ran, slid and tumbled down the near-vertical incline in an effort to catch up with a 7lb wheel of Double Gloucester - a semi-hard cheese renowned for its strong and savoury flavour.

The rough-and-ready race is notoriously dangerous with bumps and bruises almost guaranteed for the many reckless cheese-chasers who tend to fall down the hill rather than run.

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The race begins when the so-called "Master of Cheese" rolls a Double Gloucester down the hill.

The competitors then follow, with the first one to make it to the bottom getting to keep the cheese.

This year's hill was especially slippery and muddy after recent rain. Members of a local rugby club lined up at the bottom to catch the tumbling competitors.

Three men's downhill races and one women's downhill race took place between midday and 1:30pm.

Winners of the three men's races included local man Josh Shepherd as well as competitors from Germany and Australia.

American YouTuber IShowSpeed was among those who took part in one of the men's races - and paid a visit to the medical tent after suffering bruising on his way down the hill.

Abby Lampe from North Carolina in the US won the women's race by rolling down the hill at speed that left the rest of the field far behind.

"You just have to roll," said Ms Lampe, a graduate of North Carolina State University, who also won in 2022.

She added: "There's a little bit of pain, but it's just going to be temporary."

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The annual cheese-rolling event in Gloucestershire is believed to have been taking place for centuries, though its exact origin is unknown.

The first written evidence of the event was found in a message that was sent to the Gloucester Town Crier in 1826.

However, it is said to have been an old tradition even back then.

Some believe it started as a way of claiming grazing rights on the ground around Cooper's Hill - while others think it could have been a fertility ritual.

Around 20 miles away from Cooper's Hill on Monday, competitors in the town of Tetbury carried sacks of wool weighing up to 60 pounds (27kg) over a 240-yard (220-metre) course up and down steep Gumstool Hill.

The Tetbury Woolsack Races have been held since 1972, drawing on a local tradition dating back to the 17th century in the historic wool-trading town.

Crowds gathered to mark the coming of summer with a traditional Celtic fire festival held at Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire.

The experimental archaeology site in Waterlooville hosted the burning of a 40ft wicker man at dusk to mark the pagan quarter-day farming celebration of Beltane or Beltain, which has connections to later May Day celebrations.

The May Queen and Green Man were in attendance, as were members of the Pentacle Drummers who performed in front of the burning wicker man.

One of the UK's oldest surviving festivals has taken place in Cornwall.

May Day in Padstow is a celebration of the Celtic feast of Beltane, which pays tribute to the fast approach of summer.

Padstow's narrow streets were at the heart of the party.

There was a procession with dancers, drums, and music makers and the celebrations went on until midnight.

Padstow's two 'Obby 'Oss - wooden hobby horse costumes - are paraded through the town for the celebrations every year.

The ancient tradition has brought thousands of people to the streets of the town, cheering for either the blue or red ribbon hobby horses.

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The exact origin of the centuries-old 'Obby 'Oss celebration is unknown, however it is thought it could be linked to the ancient Celtic festival of Beltane.

It sees the 'Obby 'Oss dance through the streets of Padstow to welcome the coming of summer.

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In 2019, a woman died after being struck by one of the wooden costumes.

Laura Smallwood, 34, was hit by the blue-ribboned 'Oss.

She died at Derriford Hospital three days after the Padstow celebration.

An inquest recorded a conclusion of accidental death.

Bonfires, blazing torches, body-painted dancers, drummers, jugglers, musicians, fire-eaters, ancient Celtic rituals and a spectacular backdrop.

No, it’s not a scene from cult film The Wicker Man.

It’s what you can expect at the annual Beltane Fire Festival taking place in Edinburgh capital this week.

Beltane is held each year on the last day of April, continuing overnight into May Day, to mark the arrival of summer and celebrate new life and fertility.

The event, which first began in 1988 as a protest against rave laws and a way to reclaim green spaces, includes modern interpretations of rituals and customs with roots dating back to the Iron Age. And fire. Lots of fire.

The May Queen, as her name implies, presides over the show, guiding a procession of drummers and performers around the city’s landmark Calton Hill and acting out healing rites.

During her journey she interacts with the Green Man in ceremonies symbolising the birth of summer.

Knutsford May Day festivities usually take place on the first Saturday of May each year and are the highlight of the town’s annual events.

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Funding for May Day is largely by donation, and each year, it is a struggle to ensure 'the show goes ahead' with much effort and dedication from the organisers.

It first took place in 1864 when the May Queen was Annie Sarah Pollitt, aged 14, the daughter of the licensee at the Lord Eldon pub.

Interestingly, Annie married Edwin Jackson in 1870. Although she started married life running a pub called the Crown Inn in Dukinfield, she later moved to the Feathers in Knutsford, located just next door to the Lord Eldon.

There are many rumours that Annie haunts the Lord Eldon, with reports of flickering lights, moving objects, a white apparition, and unidentified cold draughts.

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A fair and Morris dancing takes place on the Heath, and many attendees wear fancy dress with historical and elaborate outfits.

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Another tradition that still takes place is the ‘sanding’ of the streets. It is a unique custom where coloured sand decorates the pavements, portraying mottos, symbols, and pictures.

Members of the same family have undertaken it for many years. Sanding was performed in Knutsford long before May Day was introduced to celebrate weddings.

It is believed that King Canute started the custom 900 years ago when he sat down to shake sand from his shoes just as a wedding party were passing by. He wished them much luck in their marriage as the sand scattered across their path.

A village has been taken over by popular sci-fi figures replicated in scarecrow form, including E.T. and the Daleks from Doctor Who.

More than 50 installations are on display for the annual Wray Scarecrow Festival in Lancashire.

One of the organisers, John Gordon, said: "There are quite a few E.T.s around - on the bike, of course.

"We've got a number of Daleks, characters from Star Wars, and there's an amazing one from Planet Of The Apes."

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Mr Gordon added: "There was one person who had his family eating yoghurts for two weeks so they could get the all pots to stick on a Dalek."

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The festival - which began in the early 1990s - has an origin story as quirky as the scarecrows on offer.

"It started off by accident," Mr Gordon said.

"One of our people who lives here had gone to France on holiday and they saw what they thought was a man hanging off a tree and they were a bit worried about that, so they went into the local village to see what was happening and they noticed there was a scarecrow stuck on a bar outside the local pub.

"Wray is a very old traditional village and its had a May fair for centuries and they thought it would be a nice idea to add this to the May fair, so they persuaded one or two people to make scarecrows and it just took off from that.

"It was a momentary flash of brilliance."

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The festival runs until 6 May, culminating with a traditional May fair including a giant scarecrow parade on 3 May.

The church has what is believed to be the oldest written reference to morris dancing in Sussex.

Martin Frost, spokesperson for SVM, said: "The 1561 records of St Andrew's Church, West Tarring, mention the oldest written reference to morris dancing in Sussex with a five shilling payment for their bells.

"To mark this 500-year link, a very timely and much-appreciated donation to Sompting Village Morris was presented at the Sunday service to help fund our 2024 apprentice bells."

The dancers were delighted to receive the donation on April 14 and Martin took to the microphone to explain the link between the Tarring Parish accounting and a local morris dancing side.

He said: "We have been dancing for at least 40 years, which is nothing compared to the connection that we have with this church, which we discovered a few years ago.

"According to the parish records, there was a donation made by the churchwarden. It seems very appropriate to re-enliven this tradition and we will be very happy to have this small donation for the cost of the morris bells for this season's apprentices."

I thought I'd posted about this before but it's now come up a couple of times on here:

Formed in the hinterland between the bucolic and the eerie, Weird Walk began as three friends walking an ancient trackway across southern England wearing incorrect footwear. Being out in the countryside for extended periods, away from screens and distractions, not only refreshed our brains but sparked a creative enthusiasm for the countless stories in the landscape that we yomped across. We spent three transformative days and nights on the Wessex Ridgeway, stopping off at Neolithic burial chambers, sacred hills, Iron Age earthworks, misreading maps, and sleeping in haunted pubs, all the while slowly becoming aware that the further from the towns and cities we walked, the wider the temporal boundaries grew.

Here was the land of Silbury Hill and Avebury stone circle, of Wayland the Smith and the great Uffington White Horse, whose annual scouring is a true pagan survival; here also was the land of the druids, the first farming communities, the last Saxon kings, and countless age-old folk tales. It was a potent path indeed, and the trip soon led to others.

By walking the ancient paths, visiting the sacred sites, and immersing ourselves in the folklore and customs of these isles, we hope to fan the faint embers of magic that still smoulder in the grate and conjure that elusive temporal trackway of history and mystery, a weird walk that bypasses nostalgia and leads us back towards optimism and re-enchantment.

They have also released a few zines amd then a book (which I stumbled across in a shop a few months ago but have yet to pick up a copy - which I'll rectify now)

A Leicestershire man who has been running an ancient bottle kicking event for 50 years said it "never ceases to amaze" him.

Phil Allan, chairman of the organising committee, believes the Hallaton Bottle Kicking game is the "oldest continuing sporting event in Britain".

Two teams from the villages of Hallaton and Medbourne compete to move two of three barrels to the opposition's stream.

The event takes place on Easter Monday.

Mr Allan told the BBC: "Legend has it, it's probably been going on for 2,000 years.

"People who come for the first time and see the event just cannot believe how unusual it is.

"The whole area is charged with an electric atmosphere."

The event is preceded by a parade of a hare pie, which is handed out to spectators by the village rector.

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"People can't believe how rough it is," Mr Allan said.

"Of course, there are injuries. Quite often there's some broken legs, collarbones. I guess that's part of the taking part."

They include:

Good Friday

Bun Ceremony

• The Widow’s Son Tavern, Bromley-by-Bow, London
• For over two hundred years a bun has been added every Good Friday to a collection preserved at the Tavern. The name and the custom derive from an 18th century widow who hoped that her missing sailor son would eventually come home safely if she continued to save a bun every Easter.

Pace-Egg Play

• Upper Calder Valley, Yorkshire
• A traditional masked mime or mumming play, based upon the legend of St George and featuring such colourful characters as Toss Pot. The pace-egg being the Pasch or Easter Egg.

Easter Saturday

The Nutters’ Dance

• Bacup, Lancashire
• Not a traditional Morris Dance as such, this most unusual dance is performed by an eight-man team with blackened faces and wearing black and white costumes with wooden cups attached.

Easter Monday

Biddenden Dole

• Biddenden, Kent
• Biddenden cakes are distributed as part of an ancient charity known as the Biddenden Dole. Each cake bears a picture of two females who are joined on one side. These are said to be two sisters who bequeathed money for the Dole of beer, bread, cheese and cakes. Legend records their names to be Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, Siamese twins who were born in 1100 joined together at the shoulder and hip. When one of the sisters died at the age of 34 the other refused to be separated from her and died six hours later. They left 20 acres of ground called the Bread and Cheese Lands to provide money for the Dole.

Bottle-kicking and Hare Pie Scramble

• Hallaton, Leicestershire
• The proceedings start with the parading of a giant hare pie. Hallaton’s vicar emerges from church and blesses the pie. Great greasy handfuls of it are thrown into the hungry scrambling crowd. After that, things get even sillier … The Bottle Kicking contest between Hallaton and nearby Medbourne can commence. Confusingly, this involves neither bottles nor kicking. Instead the two village teams face each other at Hare Pie Bank and fight over three small beer barrels, which have been decked in ribbons. The casks are released in turn, and the opposing teams attempt to roll or carry them to their village boundary. The scrum is rules-free and notoriously bloodthirsty. The whole event can last for hours, with the both teams sharing the beer contained within the final cask.
• Bottle Kicking is recorded as early as 1770, but its origin is thought to be much older. It is believed to be linked to the sacrifice of the hare in the Dark Age worship of the goddess Eastre.
• In 1790, the rector tried to ban the event because of its pagan origins — the next day graffiti appeared on the vicarage wall: “No pie, no parson.” Unable to beat them, the church joined them.

Running Auction

• Bourne, Lincolnshire
• In 1742 Mathew Clay bequeathed a piece of land, the rental income from which was to be used to buy white bread for the poor folk of the Eastgate Ward. The land is let from year to year and Clay stipulated that the winner of the following years tenure should be decided by a running auction. The auctioneer starts two boys running and as soon as they have set off, the bidding for the grazing rights begins but can only go on until the boys return and then the highest bid made just before the race ends becomes the tenant for the following year. The rental money now goes to a local charity but in 1968, one of the last times that bread was actually distributed, around 350 loaves were handed out from the proceeds of the charity which then amounted to £13.

The World Coal Carrying Championship

• Ossett, Nr. Wakefield, Yorkshire
• A tradition that dates back to the dark ages of 1963, when one local man challenged another local man in the middle of their local, the Beehive Inn, is now an annual contest of stamina and muscle. The main event, the men’s contest, starts at The Royal Oak, from where competitors, each carrying 1cwt. of coal, have to run nearly a mile as quickly as possible, before being allowed to drop the “secks ‘o’ coil ” (Yorkshire dialect for sacks of coal) at the foot of the Maypole, which stands on the village green. The current and world record is 4mins. 6secs

Second Tuesday after Easter

Hocktide Festival – Tutti Day

• Hungerford, Berkshire
• Though once widespread throughout Britain, Hungerford is now the only place in the country still to maintain the annual Hocktide festival. The festival dates from the 14th century when Prince John of Gaunt gave the rights of free grazing and fishing to local ‘commoners’.
• The town-crier blows his horn and calls together the Hocktide Court in the town hall. Here, all commoners living in the High Street must pay a fine to ensure their rights of fishing and grazing. While the court continues, “Tutti-Men” or Tithe Men (originally rent collectors), with florally decorated poles are led through the streets by the “Orange-Man” to collect a coin from the men and kisses from all the ladies resident in the High Street. They receive an orange in return. Various traditional suppers, lunches and balls follow.

Ascension Eve

Planting the Penny Hedge

• Whitby, Yorkshire
• In this ancient festival wooden stakes are cut and carried through the town at sunrise to the shore, where they are woven into a strong hedge before the tide turns. The name Penny Hedge is thought to derive from Penance Hedge.
• The ceremony is said to date back to 1159 when the Abbott of Whitby imposed a penance on three hunters and their descendants for murdering a hermit with wooden staves. The hermit was protecting a boar they were chasing. To save themselves from execution they had to agree to construct a stake hedge strong enough to withstand three high tides every year until their descendants had died out. Sir Walter Scott recorded the legend in his novel Marmion.

From The Derbyshire Telegraph:

Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Football is said to be the last surviving example of mass football and is one of only a handful of games of its kind to be played annually in the streets of the UK. There are records of mass football being played as early as 1667, but Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide's origins are unknown due to a fire at the Royal Shrovetide Committee office in the 1890s, which destroyed the earliest records.

But we know the modern game follows a very similar format to how it would have looked centuries ago, with tradition at its core, and sportsmanship and rivalry at its beating heart. Every Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday the town is divided by the Henmore Brook. Traditionally, those born north of the river are Up'ards, and those born south of it are Down'ards.

These two sides lock horns on both days, with the game starting at 2pm when an invited local man is given the honour of "turning up" the ball from a plinth in Shaw Croft Car Park. Unlike a conventional football match, the game takes place over two eight-hour periods, the goals are nearly three miles apart at former mills and there are few rules. It's better compared to rugby, with a huge, steaming hug at its centre, not unlike a rugby scrum.

While there are literally thousands of people crammed into the small market town during the two days, the number of players actually taking an active role in pushing the game towards their mill is perhaps in the hundreds, with a core of just dozens who were born into Shrovetide and have a chance at getting the ball to a goal.

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The match continues until 10pm. If the goal is scored (goaled) before 6pm a new ball is released and play restarts. However, play ends for the day if a ball is goaled after 6pm. To goal a ball the players must first reach the sites of the former mills, and then jump into the river and hit the ball against a mill stone, mounted in a plinth, three times. And it could take hours for the hug to push all the way to the goals.

Apple wassailing was traditionally held in cider-making communities, so you’re more likely to find wassails in the West Country, or in the Welsh border counties. That said, it appears to be a popular tradition that increasing numbers are returning to, and – like many great traditions – is spreading across England at quite a pace.

In creating this directory of wassails, many of the organisers were first-timers, suggesting that this tradition increasingly holds meaning for many people who may be coming to it anew. People seem to be keen to connect to the land in a way that we’ve perhaps not seen for some time. Whatever the reason, it’s certainly nice to be involved in something that is non-digital, allowing the participants to look up, gaze around them, and really notice the wheel of the year.

Up Helly Aa is a tradition that originated in the 1880s. Since then the festival has been an annual occurrence in the Shetland calendar. The festival is cancelled by exception, the following dates record when and why:

1901 Death of Queen Victoria
1914 to 1919 First World War
1940 to 1948 Second World War
2021 to 2022 Covid-19 Pandemic

There have also been postponements as listed below:

1900 2 weeks due to influenza
1936 2 weeks due to death of George V
1965 1 week due to the death of Winston Churchill

Up Helly Aa is many things to many people, throughout the day there are experiences a plenty to be had by all from the celebration of our history, the sight of the Guizer Jarl and the Jarl Squad marching through the town followed by their galley to the evening party atmosphere in the halls.

Just too late for this one this year.

We've previously mentioned Doc Rowe and his impressive archive of records and here's an.earlier article looking at a few of.the weirdest customs he's catalogued:

Rowe, now 74, has almost certainly attended and documented more folk rituals than anyone else alive. He maps out his year according to calendar customs: by the time you read this, he’ll be in Padstow for the town’s Obby Oss festival, which takes place on May Day. It’s his 57th visit.

NRowe’s trove is the subject of a new exhibition, Lore and the Living Archive, opening shortly in Rochdale. Three young artists have created work in response to his collection and this will be displayed alongside his own film footage and stills. “People often think of these traditions as being rather twee,” he says. “Little girls in white dancing round maypoles. But they are very far from that.”

To prove the point, we asked him to describe five of the most memorable …

Oasby is a small village just outside what was once voted the most boring town in England, Grantham..however Baboon Night or more correctly Baboon Tossing Night is far from being dull and lightens, quite literally, a rather cold and dull Friday in November.

The custom is linked to a local legend; involving a pet baboon and the local land owner’s son who is said to have died at the hands of the monkey. The event dates back to 1723, when Sir Michael Newton, (relative of the more famous Isaac) kept a pet baboon at Culverthorpe Hall. It is said that when his son, Viscount Conningsby, was only only six months old, the pet threw from a window! What the instant reaction of the family is unrecorded by the son was duly buried in the chapel. The baboon? He appears to have been granted a mini mausoleum on an island on the estate. Although he was killed as a result of the incident I do believe.

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around 15 years ago, a local Morris team, who drank at the delightful Houblon Inn, thought it was a good idea to celebrate it or rather to drive the spirit of the creature out to placate the spirit of the young child. So they created their own custom and an eccentric one it is too! I was told by the organiser that the custom combines a number of customs, a sort of omni tradition including souling, fire based celebrations and riding the stang, indicating the folklore literacy of the organiser. The event always on the Friday when Children in Need is on is perhaps a rare example of such a folk custom being directly linked to a national TV event. Although no one appeared get the rather bizarre notion of a baby killing monkey being ‘celebrated’ on Children in Need night, although as it was clearly to remove the monkey I suppose it was defending it!

Calendar Customs

I can find no information on whether this is happening this year but Children in Need is on Friday 17th November. You should probably phone the pub before going.

While living in Southampton and working at a local newspaper, photographer Rachel Adams, to her delight, discovered a new generation of Morris dancers performing at pubs, events and festivals. The fresh choreographed figures jumping up and down to music, clad in costumes covered in bells, and waving handkerchiefs and bashing sticks sparked her curiosity. She wanted to know more about what these young people found so intriguing about this English folk tradition, which usually has a bad reputation.

A peal of clashing bells echoes across the hills. Hundreds of rooks roosting in the cemetery trees splutter into the darkness. At 7.45pm on 5 November, St Michael’s church bells ring out in discord across the village of Shebbear, in rural west Devon overlooking the Dartmoor hills. On Bonfire Night here, there aren’t fireworks, there isn’t even a bonfire. Instead, there is a stone.

Beneath an ancient oak in Shebbear’s village square is the Devil’s Stone. It’s a sarsen – a foreign stone not from this area. The boulder is thought to be quartz composite, where the local geology is predominantly sandstone and shale. No one attending the ritual turning of the stone on 5 November is bothered what it’s made of. It’s that the stone is turned that matters.

Shebbear’s vicar, Reverend Martin Warren, plays a leading role in the ritual. He says the legend of the Devil’s Stone is that it was dropped upon the devil after a celestial battle with the archangel Michael, trapping him in Shebbear. It is turned every year to avert disaster, Martin says, and ensure he doesn’t “wriggle out from under it”.

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There are various theories about how the stone arrived in Shebbear, but the most likely is that it was deposited by glacial ice, as there are similar “erratic” stones nearby. As to its purpose historically, many believe it is the remnants of a pagan altar stone. It is also thought an Anglo-Saxon parliament gathered around it, since Shebbear was the centre of an Anglo-Saxon “hundred” – the division of a shire for military and judicial purposes under the common law.

Revelations – both pious and heathen – often happen on hilltops with their clear views of the heavens, and Shebbear is at the top of a hill almost 150 metres above sea level. A hilltop with a huge, strange stone would have been an auspicious site for rituals. As to why people started turning it, that’s another mystery. “Anybody who says they know is telling porkies,” Ron says.

The ritual is said to be one of the oldest folk traditions in Europe. Although there is no evidence of the turning before the 20th century, Ron says, “I only turned the stone for about 20 years, and my dad only did it for about 45 years – like the men before.” (The stone has been left unturned twice in living memory, during the two world wars. In the second world war, despite blackouts, this was swiftly rectified to avoid further misfortune.)

Calendar Customs

Police ask that only local people attend although the population of the town doubles anyway, however, there is a live stream and, while no longer live (I'll try and do better next year), you can still watch the stream.

If you jump forward to 1 hour 8 minutes the events start shortly after some WW1 soldiers have a chat with a Saxon. First crosses are lit about 1 hour 18 minutes in.