Most of the customs detailed on this website are country-wide, or at least very widespread, but there are a few traditions which are much more parochial in nature and are confined to a particulary county or locality. Some, like travelling fairs and mayor-making ceremonies, are short-lived but occur all around the country at fairly regular intervals, others such as weekly market days are intermittent and no longer as widespread as in former times, whilst others such as the well-dressing festivities of Derbyshire, the processional dances of Cornwall and the Haxey Hood are even much more localised.
WELL DRESSING is practised almost exclusively in the county of Derbyshire. The custom had almost died out by the 1950's but has been revived largely because of the interest shown by tourists in this extremely picturesque event.
The blessing of the water supply is an ancient ceremony which probably dates back to pagan times, when the appearance of an apparently never-ending supply of clean water was believed to be magical. The custom of decorating the wells, however, is more recent, and is believed to date from the Black Death which swept England in 1348 - 49, wiping out a third of the population. The villages in the heart of Derbyshire were untouched by the epidemic, attributing their good health to the local water supply, and showed their thanks by annually decorating, or "dressing" the wells.
Well-dressings are beautiful and delicate and take a lot of work to make, and yet they only last for a few days. They are made with flowers, both whole and as separate petals, pressed into a background of puddled clay. The design is laid out much as a mosaic is made, with different colour petals or small flowers making up the different colour sections. Sometimes other materials such as straw, seeds, twigs etc. are used for colours not available in flower petals.
The well dressing has to be made pretty quickly, usually in only a day or two, so often the whole community is involved in collecting the materials and making the dressing, ready for the blessing on the Sunday of the festival week. The majority of villages have well-dressing festivals in different weeks throughout the summer, usually starting at Whitsuntide and ending in September.
Although the wells appeared to protect the villagers during the Black Death, they were not so effective when Plague broke out in 1665. The disease was brought to the village of Eyam in a roll of cloth from London and rapidly infected the people. The villagers chose to quarantine themselves rather than spread the disease, and between September 1665 and October 1666, 257 of the village's population of 350 died. This incredible self-sacrifice did manage to contain the disease and the village of Eyam has achieved its place in history.
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THE "FURRY DANCE" (sometimes mistakenly called the "Floral Dance") takes place in the town of Helston, in Cornwall, and the neighbouring town of Padstow has its 'OBBY 'OSS (hobby horse.) Both dances derive from ancient pagan springtime celebrations and take place early in May, The 'Obby 'Oss being danced on May 1st and the Furry Dance on May 8th (unless that date falls on a Sunday in which case it takes place the Saturday before.) The streets are decorated with spring flowers, particularly with bluebells and hazel catkins, and both take place on the streets around the town, but there the similarity ends. The Furry Dance is a sedate, stately affair, with the ladies and gentlemen in their finest evening wear and the children all in white dancing in procession through the streets of Helston to the accompaniment of brass bands; the Obby Oss is more closely related to Morris dancing and the groups of dancers, accompanied by drums and accordions, make their way through the streets and perform in various places around the town.
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THE HAXEY HOOD is a bizarre ritual carried out each Twelfth Night (Old Style Christmas Day) in the village of Haxey in Lincolnshire,near the Nottinghamshire border. It is said to have originated in the 13th century when a gust of wind blew the hood off the Lady de Mowbray while she was out riding. It was chased and brought back by a group of local farmworkers who saw her plight, and she was so pleased that she ordered the "game" to be repeated each year. The "Hood" is now a leather cylinder and the players are teams from the local pubs, where the game begins and ends. The "Hood," which cannot be thrown or run with, is passed between teams of unlimited size, supervised by "King Boggan" and his boggans, and a Fool. The whole mass of players is called the Sway, and the Hood moves back and forth through the Sway. The game only ends - sometimes after hours of play - when the Hood arrives at one or other of the pubs and is touched by the landlord (who then takes charge of the Hood for the year, until the next game, and has to buy everyone a free drink!) There is a pretty clear description of what is basically an incomprehensible game here - it is obviously a game for the players!
Strangely, there are surprising parallels between the Haxey Hood Game and the bog burials in Europe.The game takes place on the border of bogs where naturally-preserved mummies of prehistoric sacrificial victims have actually been found; the game takes place in midwinter, one of the traditional times for sacrifices, so perhaps the smoking of the Fool is symbolic of a sacrifice? The sticks that King Boggan holds may be a remnant of the sticks frequently found with the bog mummies, but the leather hood may be the most significant link of all - several bog mummies have been found with leather hoods tied to their heads.
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MAYOR-MAKING ceremonies take place in late May or early June in many towns and cities, to mark the installation of a new Mayor, who in England is the chairman of a town or city council and not directly elected into office, with the notable exception of the soon-to-be-elected Lord Mayor of London (who will be the city's 673rd).
Local government at all levels is by individuals elected to parish, town, city and county councils by all eligible residents (over the age of 18, not insane, in prison or otherwise disqualified from voting.) These councils then elect a chairman internally - if the council is divided into political parties, then naturally the council leader will be from the party wielding the most votes, although parish councils are rarely politicised and county councils frequently have no overall ruling party (a "hung" council.)
Mayor-making ceremonies usually involve the Mayor (or Lord Mayor, depending on the title and status) being sworn in within the council chamber and then appearing, either at the door or an upstairs window, in full Mayoral regalia to greet the electorate and throw coins to the assembled crowd of children below who will then "scramble" for the money and collect as much as they can! Some towns have evolved their own variations - in Harwich, for instance, not money but small cakes known as "kitchels" are thrown down.
A "Mayor" or "Lord Mayor" may be male or female; the Mayor's consort is the Mayoress or Lady Mayoress and may be the Mayor's wife, daughter or female friend and is a purely ceremonial post, carrying no political power. On ceremonial occasions the Mayor and Mayoress will wear their mayoral robes - mediaeval in style and usually red or black, trimmed with gold braiding and fur, lace jabot at the neck, lace cuffs and a tricorn hat also fur-or feather-trimmed. The Mayor's chain of office forms part of the civic regalia and is worn on all official occasions as it symbolises the office held.
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At one time every town had its MARKET DAY when traders, farmers and travelling craftsmen would assemble in the "Market Place" to sell their wares. In the days before shops were established in just about every village and hamlet, the market was the sole means of purchasing necessary goods and also a major social occasion. People would travel to these market towns from the surrounding countryside to make their purchases, sell their surplus produce and meet up with friends and acquaintances.
The modern Market Day has changed very little from its mediaeval roots. There may well be fresh produce on sale, often brought in from the surrounding areas (as in York's "farmers' market") and local craftsmen will still sell their wares. There may also, however, be a new type of stall - that of the "market trader" who sells cheap goods often of inferior quality - as they say, "You get what you pay for," meaning, if you didn't pay a lot for it then don't be surprised if it isn't very good!
Most markets still take place in the open air in town centres, often near the parish church (above left), in a specially-designated area. The border of this page shows the Market Cross in Saturday Market in Beverley, East Yorkshire - a town which also has a "Wednesday Market" in a different part of the town centre. Markets are still held twice a week in Beverley, still in the appropriately-named places.
If a town or city has a street named Market Place, Market Hill, Market Street or something similar, you can be certain that at one time a market was held there even if that is no longer the case. It is not unusual to find local bye-laws in place that refer to market days alone; these often control such issues as parking (most market places being used as car-parks at other times) but until the change in the national licensing laws were not infrequently used to vary pub hours to allow-day-long drinking on market days!
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TRAVELLING FAIRS are a major social event on the British popular entertainment calendar. They are an annual event, lasting for a week at the most before moving on to the next site, and people look forward to the coming of the fair and will travel for many miles to attend.
The majority of fairs held in Britain trace their ancestry back to charters granted in the thirteenth century by the sovereign of the time. Between 1199 and 1350 over fifteen hundred charters were issued granting the rights to hold markets or fairs. Most of these fairs were already in existence and the granting of a Royal Charter was merely an attempt to regularise the situation. The four oldest fairs still in existence today are Cambridge Pot Fair, which was granted its first Charter by King John in 1204, Kings Lynn Mart (1211), Hull Fair (1278) and Nottingham Goose Fair (1284), with Hull Fair and Nottingham Goose Fair being by far the biggest, Hull having the distinction of being the largest travelling fair in Europe.
Originally all these fairs were occasions for selling farm produce and miscellaneous goods and the hiring of labourers and servants ("Hiring Fairs") with performers such as jugglers, dancing bears, conjurers, acrobats etc. to entertain the crowds, but it was not long before the entertainment side of the fair became the main purpose for the fairgoers. The modern funfair is a mixture of rides, sideshows, games, stalls selling all kinds of goods from traditional fairground food (candy floss, brandy snap, toffee apples, cinder toffee, hot chestnuts etc.) as well as more modern "fast foods" such as burgers and hot dogs, to toys, balloons and novelties; the market-style stalls which were still a feature of fairs until relatively recently are now disappearing.
The National Fairground Archive site is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Britain's fairs.