Various dates throughout the Easter period, checkout at The Morris Ring

Morris Dancing

Bacup, Bury, Forest of Dean, Ilmington, Keighley, Kingston-upon-Thames, Milnthorpe, Saddleworth and Taunton.

Regarded as an ancient tradition even in the reign of Elizabeth I, these ‘madde men’ with their ‘Devils dance’ were banned by the Puritans following the Civil War.

Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday.

Royal Maundy Distribution

Westminster Abbey on even-year dates and other churches on odd-year dates.

Already an established custom at the time of Elizabeth I. The custom derives from the Last Supper at which Christ washed the feet of his disciples. It is recorded that Edward II washed the feet of the poor as an act of humility. In the modern ceremony the sovereign distributes specially minted silver coins to the recipients, the number of which corresponds with her age.

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.

Good Friday

Butterworth or Widow’s Charity

Church of St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield, London

The original custom involved placing twenty-one sixpences on a tombstone which were then gratefully retrieved by twenty-one poor widows. In the current ceremony hot cross buns are distributed to local children before the morning service.

Ash Wednesday to Good Friday

British Marble Championships

The Greyhound Hotel, Tinsley Green, Sussex

A popular pastime in ancient Rome, the current British and World Championship is fought out by teams in a game known as Ring Taw.

Courtesy of The Sam McCarthy-Fox marble collection

Please click on photo for larger image

Good Friday

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.

      
Photograph courtesy of the Britannia Coco-Nut Dancers of Bacup

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

Easter Monday

Bottle-kicking and Hare Pie Scramble

Hallaton, Leicestershire

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.

Easter Monday

Egg-Rolling

Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire

Easter Monday

Morris Dancing Festival

Thaxted, Essex

www.themorrisring.org

Easter Monday

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.

Easter Monday

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

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

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.

Ascension Day, 40 days after Easter

Well Dressing

Tissington and Ashbourne, Derbyshire

Ascension Day

Beating the Bounds

Lichfield Cathedral, City of London and Tower of London

This custom has existed in Britain for over 2000 years its precise origins however are unclear. In simple terms it involves local people walking their farm, manorial, church or civil boundaries pausing as they pass certain trees, walls and hedges that mark the extent of the boundary and ritually 'beat' these with sticks.

These sticks would originally have been of birch or willow, both being of significance to pre-Christian tribes. The English folk-song "Stripping The Willow" is a relatively modern record of these practices.

Such processions would occur every seven or ten years. In a time when literacy and map-reading were not widespread skills these inspections served to ensure boundaries remained intact, were known by local people and had not been grabbed by neighbouring landowners.

Before the Roman invasion rituals connected with spring were performed each year as part of the pagan festival of Beltane. Birch twigs or Besoms were struck against the boundary marks as part of the ritual.

Beating the Bounds also played an important part in Anglo-Saxon times to formalise rights over property and people.

In medieval times the ceremonial processing around the land also served to reinforce the power and influence the lords and barons had over tenants and serfs.

Christianity arrived in Britain in the 4th or 5th century AD, and incorporated a number of pagan, roman and Anglo-Saxon festivals and customs. Beating the bounds was not originally part of a religious celebration but it was gradually integrated as church jurisdiction succeeded that of the manorial estates. In addition it should be remembered that in many cases early Christian churches were built on sites considered sacred by ancient Britons.

The Christian event evolved into a procession with banners depicting the saints, with chanting from the Scriptures, and erecting stone crosses at intersections with other parishes.