Michaelmas; and more.

After the coming of Christianity, many established pagan sites were dedicated to Michael, providing folklore followers with a signpost to the past.

While fewer, perhaps, realise it, people still celebrate Michaelmas over a period covered by both the new and old calendars often beginning with festivities for the end of harvest on or close to 29 th September, the present day Michaelmas and continuing until Old Michaelmas has passed on October 10 th .

Some areas however also regard Michael as a patron of the sea.

Unlike most Saints that once were mortal - Michael was an Angel - the Prince of Angels who threw Lucifer out of Heaven.

Blackberry pickers beware; the devil fell into a bramble patch and comes back every year to blight the brambles by spitting on the berries or trampling on them and destroying the crop.

Goose is the traditional fare and it was recorded on 29 th Sept. 1588 Queen Elizabeth Ist dined on goose to celebrate Michael. To obscure the respect being shown to both the tradition and the saint it was said that she dined on goose after hearing of the Armada's defeat.

That defeat took place in July during bad weather, and even in 1588 news travelled faster that this.

To eat goose on Michael's Day, you'll not want for money all the year they say.

There are still Michaelmas daisies to continue to remind us of the Quarter on which trading fairs became established - trading in people (winter work) as well as livestock. Where the election of the Bailiff also took place the are often records of 'Lawless' day activities where there was a pause in local government and the people took advantage of it. Fruit and vegetable fights included people being 'bumping off' - not being killed - just thrown on to the next passer by.

The Hiring, or Mop, or Statute Fair is not strictly a fair at all, but is derived from the mediaeval Statutes of Labourers, of which the first was enacted in Edward III's reign, in a time of shortage of agricultural workers. One of the clauses of such Statutes was that the magistrates were empowered to fix rates of wages, and to make them known at the Statute Sessions, which usually took place at Michaelmas or Martinmas, but sometimes at Whitsuntide, or on Old May Day. In due course, the Statute of Labourers was abolished by Queen Elizabeth I, but the Sessions had proved so useful that they were specially retained. Men and employers came together to the meeting-place to hear the rates of pay and conditions of service, and usually entered into hiring agreements then and there. Where people customarily gather in considerable numbers, sellers of food and drink quickly follow, and after them stallholders who sell fairings of blue ribbon or gingerbread, and the providers of amusements. Before long, the sober Sessions had developed into a lively fair, enjoyed by everyone, which, if it had no charter, was none the worse for that.

When farm-workers were normally engaged by the year. If, as the year drew to an end, the farmer made no move to renew the engagement, or the man (or maid) wished to go elsewhere, then it was to the Hiring Fair that both parties repaired. Those seeking work stood in an allotted part of the street, or square, bearing the accepted signs of their calling - a crook, or a tuft of wool worn in the hat for a shepherd, a whip for a carter, a milking-pail for a dairymaid and so on. Once an agreement had been made with a farmer, the newly-hired worker received a 'fastenpenny' as an earnest of wages to come, and the rest of his day was

Despite the calendar changes the celebrations and fairs associated with Michaelmas continue to thrive during an extended period, including, on October 2nd - Wake up Wall Day

In 1695 Matthew Wall's body was being taken to be buried but those conveying the man's remains on their final journey dropped the coffin in churchyard. The shock suffered by mourners increased when a voice and the noise of frantic knocking came from within the coffin. The about to be interred deceased was not deceased at all. Matthew Wall was still alive.

However, Cornwall, Hereford, and Hertford all lay claim to Matthew Wall with the same story being recorded in each area.

On a Sunday occurring on October 1 st or 2 nd (?next year?) First Sunday before 2 nd was recognised at one time as Tap-Up Sunday - when anyone could open a barrel of home brew beer and legally sell it to travellers.

October's first Sunday provides Costermongers with their Harvest Festival.

At St Martin's In The Fields, fruit and veg sellers enthroned their king to protect their 'patch' until the licences were introduced in the 19 th Century. Harvest of the Sea Thanksgivings still take place around the few remaining fishing ports in churches, on the dockside and on beaches. While the market is now in Dockland, St Mary at Hill, Lovat Lane, Billingsgate continues the traditions by being decorated with fish, nets and fishing gear for the sea harvest service.

Of the traditional fairs Nottingham Goose Fair - Tewkesbury Mop - Gloucester Barton fair - Bristol Fruit Fair - Tavistock's Goosie Fair all celebrate with goose being on the menu.

It's Oh, and where you be a-gwain, and what be a-doin of there ?

'Aive down your prong and stap along to Tavistock Goosie Fair.

October always provides much to be celebrated in traditional manner

At this time of year ploughing matches used to keep the husbandry industry busy. (see Vintage Farming)

They usually started around the third Wednesday in October. The matches were simply feats of mastery with horse and plough. The complicated bit was beforehand, getting the animal ready for its ordeal.

Horsemen had, and some claim continue to have, clandestine societies with codes of Masonic complexity. And whereas Masons are now beginning to lower their guard slightly, horsemen continue to deny the existence of their own mysterious societies. Among the most jealously defended secrets were the conditioning recipes, designed to lighten up even the heaviest heavy horse before the ploughing contests got under way.

It is reputed that a month beforehand the animals would find strange things such as sulphuric acid and steel filings creeping into their feed amongst the oats and mangolds. The chief aim of these partly magical medicines was to keep the horses' appetites regular and healthy, while some ingredients were for flatulence or had laxative qualities.

One recipe to have escaped the shroud of secrecy includes Castile soap, tobacco, sulphur, and turps. Such concoctions were often made into ball administered by grabbing the horse's tongue and ramming the hall to the back of its throat. It is not unknown for an overdose of such tonics to prove fatal.

25 th October;. St Crispins Day.

The saint who was patron to shoemakers seems to have exerted little control over them since the motto for the day was 'cursed be the cobbler who goes to bed sober.'

However, since there are suggestions being made that Britain needs more public holidays to catch up with those provided generally in Europe the month of October provides two splendid opportunities

This day being one of them since St Crispin's day celebrates the victory at Agincourt in 1415

Alternatively there is October 21 st - Trafalgar Day, that celebrates Nelson's triumph in 1805 and provides the ideal opportunity to initiate a new holiday next year.

OK, so what if October 21 st is St Ursula's Day also? We're not biased.

Ursula was a devout 4th century Christian; but the prince who wanted to marry her was pagan

Ursula, keen to hang on to her virginity, turned the prince down and decided to flee the country along with 10 of her equally virginal girlfriends who first gathered together another 999 virgin women apiece and set sail huddled in cramped boats, rather like excursion airlines.

Storms blew them up the Rhine, so they took a shore excursion into Rome to see the tombs of the saints. On the way back the Huns waylaid them at Cologne. Once again Ursula found herself being asked by a pagan chieftain if she would marry him, and for the second time she said no; so he killed her and her companions. Angels, witnessing the carnage came to the virgins' aid, scattering the Huns but failed to save any of the women. Ursula became a saint but was affected by the Roman reform of the calendar in 1969 but her feast is still permitted in some localities.

© Roy & Ursula Radford