A November folklore tale or two

November is no more filled with folklore than any other month. Just like every other month there is some feast, celebration or activity that links us to the past; sometimes a link to a past that has been forgotten.

Hallowe’en/All Hallows Eve

Hallowe’en, or All Hallows Eve, is the beginning of Hallowtide, which consists of the Vigil and Feast of All Saints On October 31st and November 1st, and the Feast of All Souls on November 2nd. From time immemorial, this has been a period associated with ghosts and spirits and, primarily, remembering and honouring the dead. There is plenty of evidence provided by archaeology, architecture, fables and traditional stories that define a thread that links present day activities to similar activities practiced in past millennia. Fire festivals continue today, with electric light bulbs replacing flames. A bonfire, this month, is being presented on a giant screen to accompany a fireworks show; for health, safety and predominantly insurance-cost reasons. Presentation changes down through the centuries and the reasons for festivities may be obscured but the thread suggests that we do things today in our way as our ancestors did things in their own way; and the reasons remain too similar to ignore.
The Christian saints have been commemorated by the Church since the seventh century, at that time on May 13th , then on November 1st since 835, with the dead generally commemorated , on November 2nd - All Souls from 988.

It was also a time of beginnings, with all the dangers and protective rituals that belong to beginnings. On November 1st, the Feast of Samhain was celebrated by the pagan Celts, as the Winter year began to mark the end of summer and of the late northern harvest, the day on which winter and the start of their Winter year. On the eve, October 31st, our Halloween, While Christianity sanctified the pagan season with new names and feast days, the Hallowe'en fires continued to blaze upon countless hills and cairns until almost the end of the nineteenth century and still survive in England, where they now burn five days later, on November 5th, and for another reason. Unlike the fires of Beltane, which were kindled at dawn, the Hallow fires were lit at dusk - for luck, for the saining of the fields, for protection against the fairies and witches; who had taken the place of forgotten pagan spirits.

Such fires were lighted with ceremony, as some still are, sometimes to the noise of blowing horns or music for singing or dancing and generally the occasion is one of great festivity.

Rings of people used to dance around the fires. Young men used to leap through the flames, or run through the hot embers. In some districts, bands of lively youths would set out to attack and scatter someone else's bonfire.

Farmers, traditionally, would light a small fire in one of their fields and carry flaming straw from it, held on a pitchfork to the highest point of the ground. There the burning straw was throw it as far as it would go over the land. While the farmer did this, his household knelt round the bonfire and remembered the dead of the family. Whether they actually prayed for the departed souls probably depended upon whether they were Catholics or Protestants, but that such prayers once formed part of the custom is shown by the fact that on many northern farms certain fields where this rite used to be performed are still known as Purgatory Field.

Bunches of blazing straw were also carried about the cornfields to bless and fertilise them, or failing these, bundles of heather-stalks tied together. The bearers circuited the boundaries of the farm, going the way of the sun. In some districts a faggot on a pole was carried by a running man all round the village. As one faggot burnt out, another was attached to the pole in its place, and so on until the full, circuit had been completed.

In Scotland, the main purpose of the Hallowe'en bonfires was often said to be to destroy witches. 'Witches' being more than mere practitioners of magic, however dangerous, the term included all those ancient malevolent forces that threaten mankind at all times.

4th November St Cleer's Day

The 4th November is St Cleer's Day and St Cleer, near Liskeard in Cornwall is named after the 6th-century hermit whose holy well still stands in the village and whose feast day it is. Three impressive stone circles known as The Hurlers stand on Craddock Moor a few miles north of the village and while hurling, that fine Celtic pursuit, is something of a rarity in England these days these stones provide a moral message to all that might take to the sport.

Out for a stroll one Sunday, the hermit came upon people violating the Sabbath no-games rule by enjoying a wild moorland hurling match. Horrified at what he saw, Cleer vowed that he would teach the players, and all that might follow their ungodly game down the ages a lesson for life; and promptly turned the players into a series of rings of rock. There they still stand, a testimony to what can befall those that fail to honour the Sabbath; hurling players in particular. Not far away is another stone formation known as the Trevethy Quoit; which implies there were risks in other games or social activities also.

5th November Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night/Devil Stone Day

Shebbear, lying mid way between Barnstaple and Launceston has a huge boulder known as the Devil's Stone outside its church. One legend says that Lucifer clutched at the ground as he was thrown out of Heaven and as he was passing over Shebbear, hell bound, he flung away a pebble he still held in his fingers. Which is why so may claim there is a little bit of heaven to found in Devon, at Shebbear.

Another legend claims the boulder to have been a foundation stone for a church at Henscott, across the river Torridge. To delay the building of Henscott church Satan stole the foundation stone and took it to Shebbear, from where, every day the masons sweated and strained as they rolled it all the way back to Henscott.; until it dawned upon them to build a church at Shebbear instead.

Shebbear, lying mid way between Barnstaple and Launceston has a huge boulder known as the Devil's Stone outside its church. One legend says that Lucifer clutched at the ground as he was thrown out of Heaven and as he was passing over Shebbear, hell bound, he flung away a pebble he still held in his fingers. Which is why so may claim there is a little bit of heaven to found in Devon, at Shebbear.

Yet another legend claims that Satan was caught performing his dirty deed and was imprisoned by the church-building masons who trapped him beneath the stone.

They couldn’t then use the stone, so it remains where they left it together with a note to say that’s tone must turned each year to prevent the Devil escaping.

Turning the Shebbear stone remains a task performed each year; just in case.

As with the first five days of November there is something to celebrate each day this month but for equestrian folk around Martinmas, the 11th, is the time when the Horseman's Word Ceremony used to take place and still lingers on in remote regions. It was/is an initiation rite for horse riders when they attained the age of eighteen. Blindfolded, they had to perform various rituals, entering a room carrying food, cider/whisky and preserves, remove articles of clothing and shake the hoof of a goat or cloven creature and swear to keep secret all they had come to learn. At the close of the ceremony they were given a secret word which gave them power over horses. Like many groups only initiates will know if this ancient ceremony continues and while horse whisperers are generally accepted as possessing ‘powers’ of communication of some form and many a man or woman are quietly respected in some rural areas for their ‘way with horses that even vets cannot understand’, none reveal their secrets. Does the Word Ceremony still survive?

Any information will be welcomed.

Keep it traditional.

© Roy & Ursula Radford