According to the Lindisfarne Chronicles, “Walking the ways all” was an annual tradition in all Anglo-Saxon towns. The third Thursday in July was set aside for the townsfolk to walk along the common pathways and re-establish their right to frequent these paths. According to the English Common Law, if this annual reclamation wasn’t performed theseContinue reading “Walking the Weasel in Cleckheaton”
Tag Archives: traditions
Playing Card Festival – 3
Jasper Bartram won the first contest with a score of 12 comprising two direct hits and two cards landing on the rim of the saucepan and remaining there. This is the only time that anyone has balanced two cards on the rim of a saucepan in the same contest. Nora Smith is the only personContinue reading “Playing Card Festival – 3”
Playing Card Festival – Part 2
She used a flicking motion of her wrist that made the most of her powerful forearms strengthened by years of throwing hay bales into the upper floor of the barn. Since that time the eight of diamonds has been known as the Jenny Strongarm card. Jenny Meadows won the first six throwing contests before anContinue reading “Playing Card Festival – Part 2”
Playing Card Festival
Playing cards have played an important role in people’s lives for centuries. The Playing Card Festival has been held annually since 1682 to celebrate all the non-gambling uses that playing cards can be used for. It all began when the wife of local gambler Ralph Meadows decided that she would remove all gambling temptation fromContinue reading “Playing Card Festival”
Country and Western Singing Contest
The singing of sad songs has been associated with Morecambe in Lancashire for hundreds of years. These dirges were usually sung when someone had been drowned in the dangerous waters of Morecambe Bay. These songs were sung so frequently that a competition was organized to see who could sing the saddest song of all. This contest reached its zenithContinue reading “Country and Western Singing Contest”
Dry Stone Walling Contest
“I can build a better stone wall than you can,” “My wall is straighter than yours,” and “My stone wall is longer than yours” were all familiar brags in 16th Century Yorkshire when the farmers were building walls around Littondale to enclose their sheep and cows. After 100 years of controversy and shoving between rival wall builders a manContinue reading “Dry Stone Walling Contest”
Dancing around the Windmill
The concept of the Village Idiot is a long-held tradition that was refined to its highest degree in rural Somerset in the 1300s. At that time the position of Village Idiot was an official job title and had a salary, though it was paid in acorns. Both men and women could apply for the role in the annual DancingContinue reading “Dancing around the Windmill”
Julian Worker Fiction Writing 