St Andrew' Day, Old style 11th Dec

A very interesting custom takes place in Northamptonshire on this date; at midnight

 a very noisy Tin Can Band makes its way around the villages of this area. 

It harks back to the old custom of 'Riding the Stang' or the 'Skimmington Ride'.

This was always used as a way for the locals to register disapproval of wife beaters. 

adulterers and other like offenders. Either the guilty person would be caught or 

a straw dummy used in their place and be paraded through the streets astride 

a 'stang' or pole.

 Behind this the Tin Can Band would march, beating pans and kettles, blowing horns

 and singing insulting songs. 

Once the offenders home was reached a speech was delivered recounting their crimes 

and sometimes the straw effigy was burnt for good measure.

The ceremony was often repeated three nights in a row, the result being the offender 

usually left the village.

"There is a man in our town,

Who often beats his wife,

So if he does it any more,

We'll pull his nose right out before,

Holler boys, holler boys,

Make the bells ring.

Holler boys, holler boys,

God save the King"

Pack Rag Day

 So many interesting days to recount!...

This is the day when hiring fairs were held through out the north of the country.

It was called pack rag day because the servants who were seeking new 

places would carry their possessions with them as they visited the fairs 

in search of employment.  

"Servant men, stand up for your wages

When the hirings you do go

For you must work all sorts of weather

Both cold and wet and snow."

Traditional Ballad from Shropshire

Hiring Fairs date from the time of Edward III, and his attempts to regulate 

the labour market by the Statute of Labourers in 1351 at a time of serious national shortage of workers after the Black death decimated the population.

The hopefuls would gather in the street, sporting some sort of badge or tool to signify their speciality. Shepherds held a crook or a tuft of wool, cowmen brought wisps of straw, dairymaids carried a milking stool or pail and housemaids held a  broom or mop. This is why sometimes the fairs a re known as mop fairs.

If they fitted the employers requirements a shilling would be handed over to seal the bargain for the coming year.

Stir up Sunday 21st November

 This event is the last Sunday before advent and is traditionally the day on 

which Noah entered the Ark. 

The collect from the Church of England begins " Stir, we beseech you, O Lord, the 

will of the faithful people..."

This was always taken as a reminder to 'stir up' the mixture for the 

Christmas pudding and pies.

" Stir up we beseech thee

The pudding in the pot

And when we do get home

We'll eat it piping hot."

Sorry this little gem is a bit late if you are intending to make Christmas 

pudding, if you do get round to it remember that the mixture must be stirred

 clockwise with a wooden spoon. All present must take a turn and make a wish.

The 20th November is the Feast of St Edmund of East Anglia

Edmund, King of East Anglia was born of Saxon stock and brought up as a Christian. He became King before 855 until his death in 869. An army of vikings, led by Ingwar, invaded East Anglia  and he led his army out to meet them but was defeated and captured. He refused to renounce the Christian faith and was killed, some believe he was shot with arrows then beheaded. His body was buried in a small wooden chapel near where he died. Around 915 his body was discovered to be incorrupt and so was taken to Bedricsworth later called Bury St Edmunds where a community was founded in 925 to take care of the shrine. His body was later relocated to a large new Norman church and re-enshrined in 1198.

Folklore relates that his head fell into a thron bush and was hidden and when his followers sought it, the head itself called out to them crying 'here, here.' It was found being guarded between the paws of a giant  white wolf.

A miraculous freshwater spring  broke through the soil where the head had lain. Near the site of a Benedictine Monastery near Hoxne is a deep moat enclosing a small island where the spring is said to be located. The ill and infirm visited the spot during the middle ages believing the waters were healing.

Just south of the village of Hoxne which is believed to be the spot where he was killed is a stone cross that marks the spot of the oak to which Edmund was tied, The memorial reads...'St Edmund the Martyr, Ad 870 Oak tree fell August 1848 by its own weight.'
Near Hoxne lies the Goldbrook Bridge where Edmund is said to have hidden from the Danes. According to legend a pair of newly weds  spotted his spurs glistening in the sunlight and as the Danes dragged him away Edmund put a curse on all bridal couples who ever crossed the bridge. Up until the 19th century many wedding parties refused to cross the bridge and took the long way round rather than chance the curse.

Martinmas, Halloween Old Style

Martinmas is also known as Saint Martin's Day, Feast of Saint Martin, Martinstag as well as Old Halloween. It is the feast day of St Martin of Tours and is the time of year when Autumn seeding was completed and the annual slaughter of fattened cattle was performed. Hiring fairs where farm labourers historically looked for new positions were held at this time of year.

Martin of Tours was a soldier in the Roman army, when he decided to convert to Christianity he was later imprisoned for his refusal to fight. Becoming a monk he founded the monastery in Gaul and became the Bishop of Tours. 

Famous for his generosity towards a drunken beggar to whom he gave his cloak St Martin is now the patron saint of beggars, drunks and the poor. As his feast day falls during the wine harvest in Europe he is also the patron saint of wine growers and innkeepers. (bit of a conflict of interests there I think)

The 11th November is also a second chance to look into the future, so if you wish to

 do so try this, as performed in Scotland!

Take three dishes, fill one with clean water and another with dirty water, the third leave empty. The person wishing to know their future is blindfolded and is directed to choose a dish with their left hand. If they choose the clean dish then their future partner will be a maid or a bachelor, if they choose the dirty water then their partner will be a widow or widower but if they choose the empty one then they will never marry. And if they don't like the results let them try again but remember to move the dishes.

Elizabeth I, and her cure for wind!

A cure for wind prescribed by the Tudor monarch Elizabeth I

Take ginger, cinnamon, galingale ( a plant in the ginger family) of each 

one ounce; aniseeds, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, of each half an ounce; mace 

and nutmegs two dram each; pound together and add one pound of white sugar.

Use this powder after or before meat at any time.

 It comforteth the stomach, helpeth digestion and expels wind greatly.

From the Fairfax Household Book 17th/ 18th century

October is the month for making potions...

The month of harvest and falling leaves is the ideal time to make 

sympathetic and magical potions for the treatment of wounds; these 

as tradition dictates are applied to the weapon that makes the wound 

instead of the wound itself.

"Take the moss on the skull of a strangled man two ounces; of the

 mummia of man's blood an ounce and a half; of earthworms

 washed in wine or water an ounce and a half; of the hemetitis two 

ounces; of the fat of a boar and a boar pig, two drams each; oil of 

turpentine two drams. Pound them and keep them in a narrow pot 

and make this cure when the sun is in Libra. Dip into the ointment 

the iron or wood of the weapon, or if the weapon cannot be had a

 sallow stick made wet with blood in opening the wound. And let the

 patient wash his wound in the morning with his own urine and 

bind it with a clean cloth, always wiping away the matter."

Excerpt from the Fairfax Household Book, 17th/18th century.

Blackberries and Holy Rood Day

 Now is the time to pick blackberries before the Devil fouls them. 

In Scotland it is on the Old Style Holy Rood Day that he poisons the 

brambles by 

either spitting  or urinating on them.

'Oh Weans! Oh Weans! the morn's the Fair

Ye may na eat the berries mair

This nicht the Devil gangs ower them a'

To touch them with his pooshioned paw'

In England he does not foul the berries until Old Michaelmas ( 10th Oct)

Holy Rood Day which is known as Mid Autumn in the Highlands of Scotland

 is traditionally the beginning of the mating season for deer.

 It is also traditional at this time for young women to gather St Michaels wild

 carrot; forked roots were especially lucky, tied into bunches they were

 presented to male visitors on Michaelmas Day.

The carrots had to be gathered in a certain way, first by digging a triangular 

hole around the plant, signifying St Michael's shield, using a three pronged

 mattock which signified St Michael's trident.

'Cleft, fruitful, fruitful, fruitful,

Joy of carrots surpassing upon me,

Michael the brave endowing me

Bride the fair be aiding me'

Witch Balls

The term 'scrying' comes from the English word descry which means to make out 

dimly or to reveal. A typical scryer was a wise woman, gifted with second sight, and 

often referred to as a witch. This ability is not limited to using crystal balls, any

 reflective surface will do. The favoured speculum is the magic mirror, preferably 

one with a concave side painted black.

Few witches throughout the ages would have used crystal balls for scrying, being too

 heavy and expensive, instead the more easily available glass fishing floats 

were commonly used, especially in England. 

Perhaps this is why sailors have such a 

strong belief in the power of witches, believing them to have power over men’s 

fate out at sea, referring to them specifically as sea witches. These sea witches were 

believed to haunt the coast lines around the country, cursing the sailors and willing 

the ships to wreck upon the rocks. Some believe that these particular creatures are 

the ghosts of dead witches and it was one of these ghostly sea witches that was, 

according to legend, sent by the Devil to assist Sir Francis Drake in his battle 

against the Spanish Armada This phantom  helped him raise a storm at sea and 

defeat the fleet. In return for this it was said that Drake bartered his soul

 to Old Nick.

Coloured glass balls often referred to as Witch Balls had another use, they were 

hung in windows of dwellings and intended to keep out witches and the evil eye.

These ,made from the 17th century onwards, would hopefully deflect curses 

and ill wishing. The bright colours of the glass was supposed to entice the evil 

spirits into the ball and then trap it forever in the salt or Holy water that had 

been placed inside. And by keeping one of these balls in your home it would 

prevent a witch from entering as traditionally witches supposedly do not have a 

reflection or can not bear to see their own reflection.

This tradition  travelled across the pond to America in the 19th century.

Although in other parts of America especially the Ozarks a witch ball had 

another form and use. It would be made from black hair rolled in beeswax to form a hard 

marble shaped lump. This is not for protection this would be used by somebody, 

presumably a witch ,to harm or curse a victim. It is said in this area that  

one of these witch balls would always be found near the body of somebody

 killed by  this curse.

The hanging of the protective witch balls in our homes continues today, the glass baubles on the Christmas tree originate from this practice. The use of these are supposed to deflect any envious thoughts when seeing the huge stacks of pressies under the tree!

St Mathews Day

Darker evenings and cooler weather now beginning...

"St Mathew, get candle new

St Mathew

Brings the cold rain and dew

but

Mathew's Day bright and clear

Brings good wine in next year"

Toad Doctor

The name Toad Doctor summons up the image of an expert in amphibian diseases

 but in earlier years it would have meant something completely different. 

While wise women and pellars would have utilised the so called magical 

properties of the toad it was only the Toad Doctor who  exclusively used 

this amphibian for cures.

Toad cures first made an appearance during Roman times and were given 

cooked in salt and oil as an antidote for snake bite. Toads were also used 

 as a cure for bed wetting; the amphibian would be tied between the legs of 

the child just before going to bed. If they started to urinate it was thought 

that the toad would start to croak and so wake the sleeper.

 It continued to be an important ingredient in folk magic for many centuries,

 and it was during the 17th and 18th century that saw a marked growth in the 

 popularity of this folk medicine.  

A ritual known as the toad bone rite became popular, particularly in East 

Anglia but also in other areas of the country, amongst both cunning folk 

and members of magical organizations such as the Scottish Society of the 

Horseman's Word and East Anglian Society of Horsemen. Although there 

were many variations, the ritual typically involved the killing of a toad or 

frog, having its flesh stripped from the bones by ants, and then throwing

 the bone into a stream at night. It was believed that this would grant the

 practitioner, who was known as a Toad Man, the ability to perform certain 

magical tasks.

Toad Doctors were found mainly in the south west of England and they would

 travel from town to town peddling their cures. The most common ailment that 

they treated  was scrofula, otherwise known as the kings evil. 

This is an infection 

of the lymph nodes, resulting in large swellings on the face and neck. A bag 

containing  toad legs would be placed around the patients neck which they would 

have to wear until the legs decayed by which time it was believed that the cure 

would have been effective.

The most well documented Toad Doctor was John Buckland of Dorset who 

described himself as a surgeon in the 1841 census. With his family he would 

hold an annual Toad Fair at the beginning of May at Stalbridge in Dorset. 

Crowds of people would travel to see him, all carrying their toads. He would 

then rip the legs off of the creatures and place them still twitching in bags, and 

put them around the patients neck. The reported price for this treatment was 

the exorbitant  seven shillings per bag.

Toad powder was prescribed for urinary problems as it was believed to be a 

diuretic, and for any complaints that  caused swellings, inflammations or growths. 

Toad bones and toad skins were also given to prevent plague and small pox.

 Thankfully these traditional remedies are a thing of the past. 

Blackberry Harvest

It's the season to be think about picking blackberries for jam and also I'm 

going to make some blackberry wine this year

I made elderflower champagne in the spring and that was success, even 

though one of the bottles did explode!

The Blackberry bush is an amazing plant and has many uses apart from 

making jam and of course wine.

It's a common native shrub found throughout  Britain.

  Can climb up to 15ft- 5m,  the stems will root where they

 touch the ground.  There are  hundreds of micro species

  in the bramble family.

                     Flowers vary from white to cerise appearing from May to September. 

The fruit is a cluster of segments called dropelets and appear in the autumn months 

and may be seen at the same time as the flowers.

My Jam!
Apart from making jam and wine the plant has a few other uses as well.

Bramble leaves can be used with a healing spell for the treatment of burns: dip 

nine leaves in running water and lay them on the affected area, say to each leaf as you 

apply it ‘Three ladies came from the east, one with fire and two with frost, out with fire 

and in with frost’

Or alternatively bruise a handful of fresh leaves and apply to the burn. This can be used 

for piles, skin ulcers and eczema as well.

A decoction of the leaves can be used for sore throats and if you would like a natural

 mouth wash it can also be used for this.

The juice of the berries mixed with the juice of mulberries binds the stomach in cases 

of diarrhoea, helps sores and ulcers and is good for piles.

The leaves boiled in lye and used to wash the scalp relieves an itchy scalp and makes the

 hair black.

Bramble Leaf Tea

The shoots and young leaves are packed with vitamins and minerals and are ideal  for use in a tea, either fresh or dried can be used. Place three or four leaves in a teapot and pour on boiling water, leave to steep for about 15 minutes. Strain then drink. This can be taken as needed; if using to treat diarrhoea make the tea twice the strength and take one cup every hour.

Good for mouth ulcers and gum disease, also helpful if you have a cold.

Chewing the leaves will help headaches while crushed leaves can be used to treat 

small wounds and sores.

Wild Dartmoor

Dartmoor, a place of mystery, made famous by Arthur Conan Doyle's

'Hound of the Baskervilles', said to have been inspired by the local legends

of the Yeth Hounds that hunted across these windswept moors.

Wistmans Wood on Dartmoor is the last remains of an ancient woodland and is the 

home of these hounds. They are a fiercesome sight, jet black, with smoke and flames snorting

 from their nostrils.

From the centre of the woods they start their wild hunt along with a demonic huntsman

 called Dewer, they race across the wild moorland looking for lost souls.

They head for Dewer Stone near Bickleigh where they disappear.

If any mortal is unlucky enough to see them it means banishment to a distant land, and 

speech with the Huntsman means death.

One well known local legend illustrates the

danger of encountering the hounds and huntsman 

known as Dewer.

A local farmer had been visiting the fair at 

Widecombe and after spending a few hours in

the local tavern decided it was time to set off for home.

Staggering along the lonely road across the

moor he came across the Hounds and Huntsman.

Too drunk to feel afraid he demanded some game 

from  the shadowy figure.

With a cold laugh the Huntsman tossed to the

man’s feet a bulging sack.

It was too dark a night to examine  the contents, so he swung it to his 

shoulder and carried it home.

When he got inside he started to open the sack

on the kitchen table as he told his wife of his 

encounter with the dreaded Huntsman.

She was just marveling on his lucky escape when

the dead body of his eldest son fell out of the sack.

Crocken Moor, a rocky granite outcrop which is believed to be the 

centre of Dartmoor.

The guardian spirit of the moor, Old Crocken, rides out from here on a

 skeleton horse. On dark and stormy nights he rides to Wistmans Wood and

 releases the hounds and Dewer to hunt lonely travelers.

Any meeting with him forebodes bad luck.

‘The gurt old spirit of the moors, Old Crocken himself, grey as granite,

 and his eyebrows hanging down over his glimmering eyes like sedge, 

and his eyes as deep as peat water pools.’

Sabine Baring Gould 1899

Dartmoor is supposed to have a temperate climate but having visited this area 

many times once you step onto the moor you enter a different world; not just at 

risk from the weather but also from the danger of being pixy led.

The moor takes its name from the River Dart which starts at East Dart and West Dart then becomes a single river at Dartmeet. 

It leaves the moor at Buckfastleigh then reaches the sea at Dartmouth

This area has the largest concentration of early Bronze age remains in Britain. 

During this period the weather was warmer and the moor heavily wooded so it would not

 seem as inhospitable as it does today.

The trees were cleared by the early settlers who established the first farming settlements.

There is still evidence of their occupation near Haytor.

The fields that these early settlers cultivated covered an area of approx 39 sq miles, 

the division of the fields called 'reaves' ( banks of earth and stone) are still clearly 

visible in some areas.

Down into the woods where pixies and headless horsemen 

and the wish hounds roam...

Put your ear to the sides of Tors and you will hear the pixies knocking deep 

within the rock, or if you are really lucky you will be able to hear the bells being rung in their underground villages.

Autumn Harvests

    

     The apple symbolises fruitfulness, prosperity, and rejuvenation and the

 wood is still seen as a symbol of security. 

Beware of entering an apple orchard as the trees are inhabited by faeries and pixies, 

so do not sit beneath a tree and fall asleep or you will fall under a 

faerie enchantment. 

If you wish to call upon the faeries summon them with a apple wood wand; and 

eating an enchanted apple will allow you to enter the faerie realm.

The oldest tree in the orchard is inhabited by the Apple Tree Man, who is the 

guardian of the orchard. 

To honour him the last few apples must be left for him and the pixies; this custom 

is called griggling, pixy hoarding and cullpixying. 

The apple symbolises fruitfulness so barren women would roll on the ground in 

orchards in an effort to conceive, they also believed that wearing pieces 

of bark pinned to their clothes would bring them a child, and if it 

was good year for apples then they could expect to have twins.

The main tradition of the orchard is the custom of wassailing the apple trees 

during the winter months. This is still prevalent today and has been revived in 

many country areas.

The owner of the orchard, along with friends,  gather in the orchard singing, firing 

shotguns into the branches and beating the trunks with sticks to drive out the evil

 spirits to ensure a good crop for the coming year.

Cider is drunk from the wassailing bowl which contains hot spiced cider, lumps 

of apple and pieces of toast.

The remains from the bowl is poured over the roots as an offering to the 

Apple Tree Man, and the cider soaked toast is placed in the forks of the trees.

‘Old Apple Tree we wassail thee, and happily thou wilt bear,

For the Lord knows where we shall be,

Till apples another year’

How to make a Witches Ladder

Witches Ladders have been in use for hundreds of years though not many examples 

remain from that time.

 One such ladder can be viewed in  the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. 

This is a long length of knotted cord with different coloured feathers

 woven through out its length, its use would have been to cast spells and 

more often than not used for a death spell.

But they can be used for a more benign purpose; 

the following spell using a Witches Ladder is for protection, abundance 

and happiness. 

Much nicer!

You will need 3 lengths of cord or string or even thread, ( blue for protection) 

each approx three feet in length.

Beads, feathers or some small charms or amulets.

Taking the three lengths tie them together at one end. 

As you begin to plait them together concentrate your intent and will onto

 the forming braid beneath your fingers. 

At any place that you feel the need make a knot and work a bead, feather or charm 

into the plait, at all times keeping the intent of the spell in your mind. 

As you create each knot chant the following:

“By knot of One, the Spell’s begun, 

by knot of Two, the Magic comes true, 

by knot of Three, so it shall be, 

by knot of Four, this Power is Stored, 

by knot of Five, my Will shall drive, 

by knot of Six, the spell I fix, 

by knot of Seven, the future I leaven, 

by knot of Eight, my will be fate, 

by knot of Nine, what is done is mine.”

Then you can hang the Witches Ladder where needed.

Witches Ladders were often bought by sailors for protection whilst at sea. 

The sailors also believed that the witches bound up the wind inside the knots and 

when needed if a knot was released the wind could be summoned to aid the ship in its journey.

In Italy they have a similar tradition but  here it is called a“witches garland”,  

made of cord, and would have contained black hen feathers. 

The malediction was uttered as each knot was tied in and the item was placed 

under the victim's bed. The cord would have had some of the victims hair braided 

into it along with feathers plucked from a live black hen.

 The curse could be lifted by finding the wreath and the hen and throwing them 

into running water.

 The victim is then taken into the church while they are bathed in 

Holy water while reciting a spell.

This is a good Witches Ladder for Healing:

Take an eight inch length of cord or string, divide it into seven equal parts. 

And mark the cord so at each mark you tie a knot and repeat the following six times.

“Disease, no one asks you to stay,

It’s time for you to fade,

With these knots I ask your leave

With these words I weave.”

Once finished place the knotted cord along with some salt into a container 

and seal the top with the above spell written on a piece of paper. 

Then bury the container, as close as possible beneath an Ash tree which is 

associated with healing. 

Be careful not to damage the tree whilst doing so!

Fairy Fun in Burley

The New Forest Fairy Festival 2017

Burley Hampshire

A World of Magic Myth and Legend stall at the Fairy Festival. This year we were joined by 'The Ivory Dolls' showcasing the new range of unique one off dresses and shrugs plus accessories.

The queue started 7.30 in the morning for the grand opening at ten o clock.

Just some of the amazing costumes sported by our visitors!

A great weekend again!

Wild marjoram

I've gone back to the more traditional cure alls for this post and 

hopefully won't get sidetracked onto the more gruesome 

cures as before!

Wild Marjoram, according to Culpepper's Herbal 1653, also called Organy and Joy of the Mountain is a herbal cure-all. Made into a tea or infusion "stengthens the stomach and head much, there being scarce a better remedy growing for such as are troubled with a sour humour in the stomach, it restoreth the appetite, helps the cough and consumption of the lungs, helps the biting of venomous beasts and such as have poisoned themselves by eating hemlock, henbane or opium. It provokes urine and the terms of women, helps the dropsy, the scurvy, scabs, itch and yellow jaundice."

I like this recipe tho!

Sir William Paston's recipe for a 'pleasant mead' 1669

To a gallon of water, put a quart of honey, about ten sprigs of sweet majoram, half so many tops of bay. Boil these very well togethere and when it is cold bottle it up. 

It will be ready in ten days.

These days, essential oil from the leaves of wild marjoram is popular. 

It is used in massage to relax tense muscles or to support the nervous system, 

and is often simply used for its soothing aroma.

Other interesting facts about the plant.

Bees like it!

The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the goddess of love first cultivated marjoram and that her gentle touch had given it its fragrance, so newly married couples were crowned with marjoram wreaths.

• The Greeks dressed their hair and eyebrows with a fragrant pomade made from marjoram.
• A bunch of sweet marjoram was placed beside milk containers during thundery weather as it was thought that this would prevent the milk going sour.