Welcome to March

For those that might like a change to ushering March in with Welsh celebrations a look at what happens a bit further north might be inspirational.

Whuppity Scoorie, or Stourie, takes place on March 1st in Lanark, Scotland and is a wild custom, with very convoluted origins during which Lanark lads ran round the church three times, and then fought a rival gang using only their caps as weapons. By the 18th century the rival gang was accepted as being the youth of nearby New Lanark, and the battleground was at Wellgate Head. After circumnavigating the church and enjoying the scrap the victors with their caps bloodied paraded back singing:

Hooray, boys, hooray! We have won the day.

We've defeated the New/Old Lanark boys

And chased them doon the brae!

Increasing violence, including stone-throwing and troubles with the police, led to screwed up paper bags on string the caps replacing the caps and nowadays at 6.00p.m. the bells of St Nicholas' church ring out a special peal and the Lanark lads rum three times sunwise round the building bashing at each other with their paper maces. After this the Provost & Co throw £10-worth of coppers to start a coin-scramble at nearby Hyndford Place.

Going three time round a sacred place had Druidic connotations, at least, and the ‘beatings are sometimes attributed to English captives seeking sanctuary and being chased by ferocious Scots, yelling ‘up at ye – sanctuary.’

Another explanation points to the Scots dialect word, ‘scoorze,’ meaning a swirl of March dust. Devils were said to hide in the dust, ready to ruin crops, and the custom was to derive them out with anything at hand, with caps being very handy.

For the more homely celebration of the arrival of March there is the custom of ‘sweeping the fleas.’ Kill one fly in March and you destroy a hundred,’ was the old saying and it was a common custom to get up early on March 1st, fling open the window, shout ‘good morning March’ and shake the bedclothes out in the early morning air. There was also a March 1st saying that went,

"If from all fleas you would be free
ne’er let windows closed be."

By the time Hopper Cake Night arrived on March 7th, it was expected that seeding would have been completed by this time of the year. Which make it time for celebration.

The ‘hopper’ was the seed basket and the cakes were usually fruit cake or buns that were made to be carried around in the hopper to share with friends; served with spiced ale.

The 7th also had some foul reminders

A whistling wife or a crowing hen

Is neither good for God nor men

It was also considered necessary to keep a black cockerel hatched in March as a protection against evil spirits: his crowing terrifies them.

But,
A chicken in March is eggs for a year.

Then March was the time to make Cock Ale – renowned for its BODY.

The ancient advice given was to take eight gallons of Ale; then take a March Cock and boil him well; and take four pounds of raisins well stoned, two or three nutmegs, three or four flakes of mace and half a pound of dates. Beat all these in a mortar and pestle, and put to them two quarts of the best sherry-sack. Put all this into the Ale, with the Cock, and stop it close six or seven days, then strain and bottle it: after a month you may drink it.

It is ancient advice remember.

That pagan time-piece, the moon, continues even in our modern world to provide the date for Easter as a major event in the Christian calendar. The pagan appreciation of the Vernal Equinox, c M arch 21st, continues to determine the entire process of deciding Easter Day which is the Sunday after the first full moon following the Vernal Equinox and has thus Easter been recognised and set by the Christian church since 525.

Lent, Whitsun, Hocktide, Rogation and Ascension Day are all determined by the date set for Easter and the later they are, the closer they coincide with Roman and Celtic festivals from which many of our traditions originated. The first full moon after the March 21st Equinox this year pushes Easter Day away into April on Sunday 16th.

Lady Day, 25th March was, previously, New Year’s day until 1752 when the calendar changed, eleven days were lost and New Year was relegated to January. Lady Day had been a quarter day when accounts were rendered bills settled tax paid and financial business for the period concluded. It still is to some degree, a significant day in the legal calendar but it was the refusal of bankers, landlords, business people and many others refusal to accept the ‘lose’ of eleven days and their refusal to pay tax until the due time, as they regarded it to be, that we continue to have our tax year related to April 5th.

Romans respected the day that marked the spring equinox, when their goddess, Hilaria, was reunited with her lover; but didn't have to bother about our calendar changes.

For the Celts, and any whose astronomical observations were so accurate for thousands of years before this Christian era dawned, the spring Equinox brought that time when the light of day begins to triumph over the darkness of night.

The goddess, Brigit was celebrated by them as she brought new life to the earth, suckling seeds into growth, providing food for livestock, and giving birth to spring.

Celtic and Roman celebrations were extended over a period of days, in a manner similar to that we are almost repeating with Christmas and New Year becoming one extended festive season.

Just don’t forget to get the seeding done.

Then there’s plenty celebrate through to Easter.

© Roy & Ursula Radford