A Loveliness of Ladybirds...

Nightingales

Apparently a group of Nightingales is called a watch! 

Easter Butterflies and other folklore!

Traditionally on Easter Day it is the thing for everybody to wear 

something new and bright like butterflies as there is an old saying 

that if you don't wear a new piece of clothing on this special day 

then the crows will spoil everything you have on!

If it fine on Easter Day it is counted as a good portent for a fine 

 harvest that year, but if it rains before the morning service is over 

then a bad harvest will follow.

Many celebrations occur around Easter, not all centred around the church... 

apart from the well dressing and Maundy offerings there are some very strange 

ones going on around the country...here is one that made me chuckle!

Bottle Kicking and Hare Pie Scramble

Easter Monday. Hallaton, Leics

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.

From https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-Folklore-Year-Easter/

 if you are interested in this subject check out this website!

Just a few snippets of folklore from the Blackdown Hills...