Folk Customs list

British Traditional Customs on file at Collections 2007

Aberdeenshire

Burning the Wicker Man (Oyne)
Lonach Highland Gathering (Strathdon)
Swinging the Fireballs (Stonehaven)

Argyll & Bute

Cowal Highland Games (Dunoon)

Bedfordshire

May Day (Ickwell)
Maypole
Orange Rolling (Dunstable)
Wilkes Walk (Leighton Buzzard)

Berkshire

Wall Game (Eton)
Hock Tide Ceremony / Tuttimen (Hungerford)

Bristol

Christingle (St Mary Redcliffe)
Christmas Crib (St Mary Redcliffe)
Harvest Festival (St Mary Redcliffe)
Pipe Walk (St Mary Redcliffe)
Rush Sunday (St Mary Redcliffe)

Tuppenny Starvers (St Michael-on-the-Mount Without)

Buckinghamshire

Fenny Poppers (Fenny Stratford)
Pancake Race (Olney)
Swan Upping (Marlow)
Weighing The Mayor (High Wycombe)

Carmarthenshire

Common Walk (Laugharne)

Cambridgeshire

Dicing For Bibles (St Ives)
John Clare Day Cushion Ceremony (Helpston)
Straw Bear (Whittlesey)
World Conker Championship (Ashton, nr Oundle)

Ceredigion

National Eisteddfod of Wales (Aberystwyth)

Cheshire

Bawming the Thorn (Appleton)
High Spen Rapper Sword Dancers (at Chester)
Jack In The Green (Knutsford)
NW Morris: Leyland Morris (at Knutsford)
NW Morris: Manchester Morris (at Knutsford)
NW Morris: Manley Morris (at Chester)
NW Morris: Ringheye Morris (at Knutsford)
Royal May Day/ Sanding (Knutsford)
Shakespeare Morris
Souling Play (Antrobus)
Souling Play (Comberbach)
Sword Dancing (Loftus, at Chester)
Walking Day (Warrington)

Cornwall

Bolster Day (Chapel Porth)
Clog Dancing (East Looe)
Furry Dance (Helston)
Gorsedd Kerno (Bude and Roche)
Hal-an-tow (Helston)
Hobby Horse (Padstow Oss)
Hurling the Silver Ball (St Columb Major)
Hurling the Silver Ball (St Ives)
John Knill Ceremony (St Ives)
Marhamchurch Revel
Mazey Day / Golowan Festival (Penzance)
Midsummer Bonfire
‘Silver Ball’ Pub Sign (St Columb)
St Piran’s Day (Perranporth)
St Piran’s Day (Truro)
Stargazy Pie/Tom Bocock’s Eve (Mousehole)

Cumbria

Appleby Horse Fair
Easter Flowers (Barrow-in-Furness)
Egremont Crab Fair
Good Luck for School-leavers (Dalton-in-Furness)
Grasmere Sports
Gurning (Egremont)
Rushbearing (Ambleside)
Rushbearing (Grasmere)
Rushbearing (Warcop)
Uppies & Downies Football (Workington)

Derbyshire

Castleton Garland
Derby Tup
Maiden's Garland (Ashford-in-the-Water)
Morris Dancing (Winster)
New Year Fancy Dress
Padley Chapel Ceremony
Plague Service (Eyam)
Royal Shrovetide Football (Ashbourne)
Winster Morris Dancers at Wakes Week
Well Dressing (all Derbyshire)
Well Dressing (Ashford in the Water including construction)
Well Dressing (Tissington including construction and service)

Devon

Boxing Day Swim (Teignmouth)
Cheese & Onion Fayre (Newton Abbot)
Fair (Barnstaple)
Fair (Honiton)
Fire Carnival (Hatherleigh)
Folk Festival (Sidmouth)
Goosey Fair (Tavistock)
Lammas Fair (Exeter)
May Day(Lustleigh)
Pretty Maid / St Peter’s Fair (Holsworthy)
Tar Barrel Rolling (Ottery St Mary)
Town Criers’ Contest (Newton Abbot)
Turning the Devil's Stone (Shebbear)
Widecombe Fair

Dorset

Ale Tasting (Wareham)
Abbotsbury Garland
Purbeck Marblers & Stonecutters Annual Meeting (Corfe)
Sherborne Dole
Teddy Rowe’s Band (Sherborne)

Dumfries & Galloway

Common Riding (Langholm)
Flounder Tramping (Dalbeattie)

Durham

The Ball Game / Shrovetide Football (Sedgefield)

Essex

Choosing Day (Brightlingsea)
Dunmow Flitch Trial
Old Man of Braughing

Falkirk

Sir William Wallace Free Colliers / Pinkie Men (Falkirk)

Glamorgan

Mari Lwyd (Llangynwyd)
Mari Lwyd (Pencoed)
National Eisteddfod of Wales (Neath 1993)

Glasgow

Orange Parade
Pipe Band Championships

Gloucestershire

Border Morris (Stow-on-the-Wold)
Bread & Cheese (St Briavels)
Cheese Rolling (Cooper’s Hill, Brockworth)
Church Clipping (Painswick)
Morris Dancing (Chipping Campden)
Mumming Play (Marshfield)
Scuttlebrook Wake (Chipping Campden)
Stow Fair (Stow-on-the-Wold)
Torchlight Procession (Chipping Campden)
Well Dressing (Bisley)

Greater Manchester

Saddleworth Whit Friday
Saddleworth Rushbearing

Hampshire

Bellringers’ Feast (Twyford)
Knighthood Of The Old Green (Southampton)
Maiden’s Garland (Abbotts Ann)
Mayor’s Sunday (Winchester)
Mumming Play (Overton)
Mumming Play (Crookham Village)
St Swithun’s Day Service (Winchester Cathedral)
Tichborne Dole
Verderer’s Court (Lyndhurst, New Forest)
Wayfarer’s Dole (St Cross, Winchester)

Herefordshire

Boy Bishop (Hereford Cathedral)
Fownhope Walk
Pax Cakes (Hoarwithy)
Pax Cakes (Sellack)
Wassailing the Apple Trees (Pembridge)

Hertfordshire

Bakers & Sweeps Football (Waltham Cross)

Highland

Dunvegan Day (Skye)
Highland Games (Arisaig)
St Mary’s Clootie Well (Culloden)
St Boniface Clootie Well (Munlochy)

Ireland

Apprentice Boys March (Londonderry)
Auld Lammas Fair (Ballycastle, Co Antrim)
Ballinasloe Fair (Co Galway)
Bloomsday (Dublin)
Cemetery Sunday (Monasterboice, Co Louth)
Cemetery Sunday (Termonmaguire, Co Tyrone)
Hunting the Wren (Caherciveen, Co Kerry)
Matchmaking (Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare)
May Bank Holiday (Holywood, Co Down)
Orange Parades (Belfast)
Puck Fair (Killorglin, Co Kerry)
Reek Sunday Pilgrimage (Croagh Patrick, Co Mayo)
St Patricks Day (Dublin, Belfast)
Straw Boys / Armagh Rhymers (in Co Tyrone)

Kent

The Bartlemas Bun (Sandwich)
Chulkhurst Charity / Biddenden Dole (Biddenden)
Maypole Dancing (Wickhambreaux)
Sweeps Festival (Rochester)

Lanarkshire

Lanimer Day (Lanark)

Lancashire

Britannia Coconut Dancers (Bacup)
Egg Rolling (Preston)
Judges’ Procession (Preston)

Leicestershire

Easter Carol Singing (Market Harborough)
Hare Pie Scramble & Bottle Kicking (Hallaton)

Lincolnshire

Good Friday Bridge Sermon (Crowland)
Christmas Market (Lincoln)
Hood Game (Haxey)

London

Baddeley Cake (Drury Lane Theatre)
Blessing The Crib (Trafalgar Square)
Blessing The Throats (St Etheldreda, Ely Place, Holborn)
Bluecoat March (Christ’s Hospital School)
Bounds Beating (Aldersgate)
Bounds Beating (Tower of London)
Butterworth Charity (St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield)
Call Ceremony (Gray’s Inn)
Carol Singing (West London around Hammersmith)
Charles I Commemoration (Trafalgar Square)
Chelsea Hospital Founder's Day
Chinese New Year
Christmas
Christmas Day Swim (Serpentine, Hyde Park)
Clown's Service (Dalston)
Constable’s Dues (Tower of London)
Doggett’s Coat & Badge Race (River Thames)
Druid Spring Equinox (Tower Hill)
Easter
Easter Parade (Battersea Park)
Easter Procession on Good Friday (Westminster)
Egg Rolling (Fleet Street)
Fair (Hampstead)
Fair (Battersea)
Farthing Bundles (Fern Street Settlement)
Fireworks
Fireworks after the Lord Mayor's Show
Fish Harvest Festival (St Mary at Hill, Billingsgate)
Founders Day (Friern Barnet School)
Gibson Vault (Sutton)
Guy Fawkes
Harness Horse Parade (Regent’s Park / Battersea Park)
Horseman’s Sunday (Hyde Park)
Lord Chancellor's Breakfast (Westminster)
Lord Mayor's Election
Lord Mayor's Show
Nativity Play
New Year
Notting Hill Carnival
Pearlies
Punch & Judy
Punch’s Birthday (Covent Garden)
Red Feather Day (Sir John Cass School EC3)
John Stow's Quill Pen
Swan Upping
Tyburn Walk
London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
Vintners Procession
Westminster Lord Mayor’s Show
The Widow's Bun (Bromley-by-Bow)
Trafalgar Day

Lothian / Edinburgh

Beltane Festival (Edinburgh)
Burry Man (Queensferry)
Fishermen's Walk (Musselburgh)
New Year’s Day Swim / Loony Dook (Queensferry)

Moray

Burning the Clavie (Burghead)

Norfolk

Blessing the Plough (Cawston)
Kings Lynn Mart
Thomas Paine Day (Thetford)

Northamptonshire

Corby Pole Fair
Tin Can Band (Broughton)

Northumberland

Alnwick Ball Game
Baal Fire (Whalton)
Blessing the Salmon Nets (Norham)
Dunting the Freeholder (Newbiggin-by-the-Sea)
Newcastle & District Beagles
Salmon Queen (Tweedmouth)
Tar Barrel Parade (Allendale)

Nottinghamshire

Cradle Rocking (Blidworth)
Goose Fair (Nottingham)
Jury Day & Court Leet (Laxton)
Maypole (Wellow)
Royal Maundy Service (Southwell Minster)

Orkney

Boy Ploughmen (St Margaret’s Hope, South Ronaldsay)

Oxfordshire

Bounds Beating (Oxford)
St Giles Fair (Oxford)
Garland Day (Charlton on Otmoor)
Magdalen Sermon
May Garland (Bampton)
May Morning (Oxford)
Morris Dancing
Morris Dancing (Headington Quarry)
Morris Dancing (Abingdon)
Morris Dancing (Bampton)
Morris Dancing (Oxford)
Mumming Play (Bampton)
Mumming Play (Headington Quarry)
Wassail Song
Yarnton Meadow Mowing Rights

Pembrokeshire

Coracle Racing (Cilgerran)

Powys

Wedding Arch

Renfrewshire

Sma’ Shot Day (Paisley)
Wallace Day (Elderslie)

Scottish Borders

Blanket Preaching (St Mary’s Loch, Borders)
Jethart Ba' Street Football (Jedburgh)

Shetland

Up-Helly-Aa (Lerwick)

Shropshire

Arbor Day (Aston on Clun)
Shropshire Bedlams / Border Morris (Aston on Clun)

Somerset

Ashen Faggot (Curry Rivel)
Bridgwater Carnival / Squibbing
Burning the Ashen Faggot (Dunster)
Candle Auction (Chedzoy)
Glastonbury Thorn
Hobby Horse (Minehead)
Priddy Sheep Fair
Punky Night (Hinton St George)
Wassailing (Carhampton)

Staffordshire

Uttoxeter Guizers
Horn Dance (Abbotts Bromley)
St Georges Court (Lichfield)
Sheriff’s Ride (Lichfield)

Stirlingshire

Highland Games (Bridge of Allan)
Highland Games (Callander)
Highland Games (Stirling)

Suffolk

Carlow's Charity (Woodbridge)

Surrey

Dicing for the Maid's Money (Guildford)

Sussex East

Blessing The Sea (Hastings)
Bonfire Night (Lewes)
Bonfire Night (Rye)
Burning the Clocks (Brighton)
Easter Bonnets (Eastbourne)
Jack in the Green Festival (Hastings)
Hot Pennies (Rye)

Sussex West

Apple Howling (West Grinstead)
Blessing the Boats (Shoreham)
Carpet of Flowers / Corpus Christi (Arundel)
Ebernoe Horn Fair
Topping Out Ceremony (South Harting)
World Marbles Championship (Tinsley Green)

Tyne & Wear

High Spen Rapper Sword Dancers

Warwickshire

Atherstone Ball Game
Wroth Silver (Knighlow Cross)

West Midlands

Cyclists’ Service (Meriden)
Woodmen Of Arden (Meriden)
Handsworth Carnival (Birmingham)

Wiltshire

Duck Feast (Charlton St Peter)
Grovely Day / Oak Apple Day (Great Wishford)
May Day (Ansty)
Salisbury Giant / Hob Nob
Summer Solstice at Stonehenge

Yorkshire, East Riding

Kiplingcotes Derby (nr Market Weighton)
Sword Dancing (Flamborough)

Yorkshire, North

Blessing the Crib (Ripon Cathedral)
Bounds Riding (Richmond)
Gooseberry Contest (Egton Bridge)
Horn Blower (Ripon)
Hubberholme Parliament
Maypole Dancing (Slingsby)
‘Owd Bartle’ (West Witton)
Penny Hedge (Whitby)
Plough Stots (Goathland)
Poor Old Horse (Richmond)
St Wilfred’s Day (Ripon)
Shrovetide Skipping (Scarborough)
Sword Play (Ripon)

Yorkshire, South

Carol Singing (Dungworth)
Carol Singing (Worrall)
Sword Dance (Handsworth)
Sword Dance (Grenoside)

Yorkshire, West

Christmas Crib
Denby Dale Pie
Devil's Knell (Dewsbury)
Mumming Play ; Bradshaw Mummers
Pace Egg Play (Midgley)
Pace Egg Play (Brighouse)
Raising the Maypole (Barwick-in-Elmet)
Rush Bearing (Saddleworth)
Rushcart (Sowerby Bridge)
Ring O' Belles (Wakefield)

General (could be anywhere)

Bonfire Night / Guy Fawkes
Christmas
Christingle services
Corn dollies
Easter
Fortune tellers
Green Men
Hallowe’en
Hallowe’en (Apple Bobbing)
Hallowe’en (Pumpkins)
Morris Dancing
Mumming Plays
Punch & Judy
Remembrance Sunday / Armistice Day
Weddings / Marriage customs
Wells

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