Halloween is a collection of traditions that have come down from pagan harvest festivals with a layer of Christian icing spread over the top.  The secular aspects of the holiday often are overlooked.  Perhaps the most important is the Gunpowder Plot.

When ..Elizabeth.. I took the throne in 1533, England.was wracked with religious upheaval.  Her successor and sister, Mary, had attempted to reimpose Catholicism on their subjects. Elizabeth I restored the Church of England but religious unrest continued to simmer for seventy years.  It boiled over in 1605 when a dozen Catholic revolutionaries attempted to blow up King James I and his entire government.

Gunpowder Treason and Plot

The plan was simple—pack an abandoned coal cellar beneath Westminster with thirty-six barrels of gunpowder the opening day of Parliament, November 5, 1605.  It was enough to level nearby Westminster Abbey and most of the buildings in the Old Palace complex.  Everyone was scheduled to attend that day, including James I and members of the royal family.  His children, however, would not attend.  The conspirators planned to kidnap them and set up nine year old Princess Elizabeth as their puppet queen.

The man chosen to lay the charges and light the fuse was an explosives expert from York, Guy Fawkes.  Fawkes had spent ten years fighting for the Catholic cause in the Dutch Revolt.  On November 4^th he took to the cellar beneath Westminster and patiently awaited the dawn of what he believed would be a glorious Catholic coup.

Alerted to the plot by an anonymous letter, government officials searched Westminster and the buildings around it.  They found Fawkes in the cellar guarding what looked like a pile of iron bars, stones and timber.  When questioned, he claimed to be the servant of the man in whose name the cellar had been rented.

The officials went on with their search but came up empty-handed.  Around midnight, they returned to Fawkes and discovered he had in his possession a tinder-box and a dark signal lantern.  When they dug beneath the pile he guarded, they found the barrels of gunpowder.

Fawkes was taken to the Tower of London where a confession was tortured out of him.  He eventually named his co-conspirators.  They all were tried and executed in January, 1606.  

Parliament subsequently decreed that parish churches conduct a thanksgiving service every November 5th.   (The tradition lasted until 1859.)  Given the association with gunpowder, as well as the closeness to the pagan fire festival of Samhain on November 1st, Guy Fawkes Night was soon marked with bonfires and fireworks.

During the week leading up to Bonfire Night, children constructed effigies of Guy Fawkes out of old straw-stuff clothing.  The effigies were then burned on the bonfire. Before that event, the children went around the community begging "a penny for the guy."  Money collected was spent on fireworks

And what celebration could be complete without food?  Bonfire Parkin—a cake made of oatmeal, molasses and ginger and Bonfire/Plot Toffee became popular Guy Fawkes Night treats.  But no Fireworks Night party was complete without the Englishman's favorite—bangers (sausages) and potatoes roasted in the bonfire. 

Today, every opening session of Parliament is preceded by a symbolic search of the basement by the Yeoman of the Guard.  In 1834, the actual cellar in which the gunpowder was discovered was damaged by fire.  It was totally destroyed when Westminster was rebuild in 1840.

Please remember the fifth of November

Gunpowder treason and plot

I see no reason why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot

Guy, guy, guy

Poke him in the eye

Put him on the bonfire

And there let him die

St. Swithin’s day if thou does rain.

For forty days it will remain

St. Swithin’s day if thou be fair

For forty days will rain no more

Swithin is also the patron saint of apple growers. Rain on St. Swithin’s Day is said to be a blessing on the crop. Tradition states no apples should be picked or eaten before July 15^th.

Winchester Cathedral

Many early Saxon kings and clergymen are buried in Winchester Cathedral. The Viking conqueror Canute and his wife Emma are there, along with William I, son of William the Conqueror. Izaak Walton lies in the Fishermen’s Chapel. But by far the most well-known is Jane Austen.

In May,1817, Ms. Austen was so ill she took up residence at No. 8 College Street in the city of Winchester so she could be near her doctor. She died in her sister Cassandra’s arms in the early hours of July 18, 1817. Her body was interred in the Cathedral’s north aisle just before prayers on July 24^th.

Beltane, May 1^st, is a cross-quarter day on the Celtic calendar.  That means is lies halfway between a solstice and an equinox.  The Celts divided the year in two—Samhain marked the start of winter and the new year, while Beltane denoted the beginning of summer.

 

 

The festival is named for Bel, the Celtic god of heat and healing springs.  Known as "The Shining One" because of his association with the sun, fire is Bel's sign.  To the Welsh, he was also the god of cattle and sheep.  Animals were driven between Beltane fires in a ritual of purification prior to their release into summer pasture. 

 

Like most cultures, the Saxons began their May Day games and feasting the evening of April 30^th.  Torch bearers wound up mountain paths and ignited wooden wheels which they then rolled down into the fields, symbolizing the cyclical nature of life.

 

In Scotland and Wales, branches and trunks of trees were piled in the center of a sacred circle.  "Heavenly fire" was ignited by rubbing two pieces of wood together.  Fire brands were distributed to rekindle household hearths that had been extinguished prior to the celebration.  Ashes from Beltane fires were kept for luck.  

 

Ritual sacrifice seems to have once been a part of Beltane observance.  In Wales and Scotland, an oatcake was divided into equal parts and one piece blackened.  All were then placed in a container and every man drew a piece. The fellow with the blackened bit had to jump through the fire three times, or pass between two ritual fires, to assure healthy animals and a bountiful harvest.

 

In England, villagers went into the woods at midnight on April 30^th to gather branches and flowers.  At dawn, everything was dragged back to town.  Of the girls who went "a-maying," Stubbs in his 1585 Anatomie of Abuses says, "scarcely a thirde parte of them returned home againe undefiled."  Licentiousness has always been a hallmark of May Day in an echo of ancient fertility rituals.

 

Houses and gates were decked with flowers.   Girls washed their faced with May dew in the belief it had the power to restore beauty and remove freckles.  (This practice may be an outgrowth of Bel's association with sacred wells, the waters of which were believed to possess healing powers.)

 

In addition to Bel, there are several other gods and goddesses associated with May Day.  In France, Abelio was the god of green growing things.  The Greeks called him Abelios.  The Romans honored Flora, the goddess of flowers and vegetation in a celebration held between April 28^th and May 3^rd.  Theatrical presentations, games, dancing and lascivious behavior marked the festival.  Floral wreaths garlanded animals and were worn in the hair.  Offerings of milk and honey were made to Flora. 

 

The Romans also venerated Maia Maiestas (Maia the Majestic), goddess of spring, warmth and increase.  Pregnant sows were sacrificed to her on the first day of May.  It is for Maia the month was named. 

 

The Virgin Mary and Lady of the May/May Queen

 

As was its wont with pagan holidays, the Catholic Church appropriated May Day for its own.  On May 1st, statues of the Virgin Mary were crowned with floral wreaths.  Nevertheless, the old ways persisted.

 

A May queen--usually a virgin dressed in white—was chosen to preside over the celebration.  As a stand-in for the goddess, the May queen represented life, rebirth and fertility. 

 

Lord of the May: Cerrunos/Robin Goodfellow/Hood

 

Cerrunos, the Celtic horned god of fertility, life and animals, is associated with Beltane.  Over time, his name was shortened to Cerne, the "c" softened and changed to "h," until he became Herne.  Cerrunos/Herne is depicted wearing the antlers of a stag. Born on the winter solstice, he marries the goddess on Beltane and dies at the summer solstice.

 

 

 

Because of the horns, Christians equated Herne with devil.  He morphed into the character of Robin Goodfellow—a Puck-like nature sprite likely taken from the Greek god, Pan.  The earliest known references to Robin Goodfellow are from the 16^th century.  He is immortalized by Shakespeare in A Midsummer's Night Dream.

 

 

 

It is from Robin Goodfellow that stories of Robin Hood were spawned.  Reenactments of these tales became an important aspect of the May Day tradition.  It is interesting to note the earliest references to Maid Marian didn't appeared until 1280 in a French romance entitled Jeu du Robin et Marion.  In this story, Robin is a shepherd and Marian a shepherdess. 

 

Maypole

 

No symbol of May Day is more blatantly sexual that the maypole.  Traditionally the trunk of a tall birch or ash, villages vied to erect the tallest.  Decorated with leaves, wildflowers and ribbons, revelers sang and danced around this phallic symbol.  Often, it stood permanently on the village green.

 

"The tallest maypole is said to have been erected in London on the Strand in 1661; it stood over 143 feet high. It was felled in 1717, when it was used by Isaac Newton to support Huygen's new reflecting telescope." (From British Life and Culture: Project Britain, http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/mayday.htm)

 

To the Celts, trees were sacred.  Each of the thirteen months of their calendar was identified with a specific kind and god.  It is interesting to note that, in France during the revolution, the maypole became the Tree of Liberty.

   

Jack in the Green/Green Man

 

As a May Day character, Jack in the Green didn't become popular until the 18^th & 19^th century. A man would dress in pyramid of green foliage and, accompanied by musicians, make his way to a place where he was ritually put to death.

 

 

Likely he is personification of the Welsh god Gwrddni, which translates as "verdure"—a reference to the greenness of vegetation.  The Romans in Britain called him Viridios/Viridius.

 

To the Celts, he was Cylenchar, "the hidden one," son of the goddess of birth and renewal and the god of life and death.  He is depicted with vines growing out of his mouth.   

 

2^nd century images of this god have been found in Lebanon and Iraq.  His likeness appeared in 8^th century Jain temples and was carved in Templar churches in Jerusalem during 11^th century.  Labeled the "Green Man' in the 19th century, his customs can be found in Africa, India.  His image is seen in Moslem and Buddhist temples, even in pre-Columbian temples in Mexico. 

 

There is disagreement over why early Christians included such pagan images in their architecture.  The Green Man is often paired with the likeness of Sheela-Na-Gig, a pagan mother goddess.   Perhaps the masons who built the early churches thought to cover all bets as they transitioned from the old ways to the new religion.

 

 

Some believe Green Man representations are symbols of the divine presence in nature.  Others think his image is more autumnal than vernal, signifying the sin of lustfulness and death—the devil.  Exeter Cathedral is filled with Green Man imagery.  A mask of the Green Man dating to 50 B.C. was discovered in France in the late 19^th century. 

 

May Day celebrations have been alternately outlawed and reinstated throughout British history.   The Calvinists in Scotland banned them in 1555.  Parliament prohibited maypoles in 1644 as a "heathenish vanity".  When Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, maypoles reappeared as a demonstration of loyalty to the Crown. 

 

During the Victorian period, Britain witnessed a nostalgic return to the days of "merrie olde England."  May Day was stripped of its blatantly sexual overtones and became a day for frolic.  Milk maids dressed in their finest and stacked ribbon and flower-adorned metal cooking utensils atop their heads.  Accompanied by bagpipes or a fiddler, they went from door to door dancing, singing and begging money from their customers.  Chimney sweeps smeared their faces with brick dust and, pounding coal shovels with their brushes, capered about.

The Biddenden Dole
According to legend, Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst were Siamese twins born in 1100 A.D. at Biddenden, Kent. Joined at the hip and shoulder, they are said to have lived to the ripe old age of 34. When they died, they bequeathed to charity twenty acres called the Bread and Cheese Lands. Rents from this farmland were to be applied toward feeding the poor.

No one knows where this custom originated but, until at least the 1940s, the Friday after Ash Wednesday was known in Britain as "Kissing Friday."  On this day, school boys could buss any girl they encountered without fear of retribution.  In some cases, the boys strung a rope across the road and demanded a kiss as toll.  If the girl refused to pay, the boy pinched her bum.

In Leichestershire, Kissing Friday was called Nippy Hug Day and adult men joined the fun.  If a woman refused to give up a kiss, the fellow "loused" or pinched her.  (A curious reference to pinching off lice?)  In some places, the "loused" woman was required to play temporary wife to the pincher, but it isn't clear what that entailed.  One has to wonder, however, if this tradition is related to the custom of Italian men pinching the bottoms of women they pass on the street.

Maundy Money

Practiced in Britain since at least the 13th century, there is some disagreement about which sovereign instituted the custom of emulating Christ washing the feet of his Disciples on Maundy Thursday.  Although the tradition is generally attributed to Edward II, the first recorded occasion was in 1210 A.D. during the reign of King John.  King John washed the feet of the poor in Yorkshire, then passed out food and clothing.

Gradually the feet washing custom was dropped.  The last known sovereign to do it was James II.  The giving of coins equal in pence to the monarch's age took its place.  Known as Maundy Money, the coins were ordinary prior to 1820.  From 1822 on, however, they have been specially minted for the occasion.

Good Friday Bun Ceremony

Hot cross buns are an important Easter tradition in Britain.  Baking bread on Good Friday is a custom said to date from the biblical account of Jesus blessing a woman who gave him bread as he carried the Cross to Calvary.  To hang a "Good Friday biscuit" in your home was thought to bring good luck.  Buns were often given by wives to their fishermen husbands to protect them at seat.

The Widow's Son Pub in the East End of London follows an interesting Good Friday custom.

A widow once lived in a cottage on Devons Road where the pub now stands.  Her sailor son wrote that he'd be home for Easter and asked that his mother bake him some hot cross buns.  He never came home.  Grief-stricken, she strung up a bun and, every Good Friday after that, added another.

When a pub was built on the site in 1848, the owner named it The Widow's Son.  Every subsequent owner has continued the tradition of adding a bun to the existing pile kept in a net over the bar.  Today, a sailor from the Royal Navy places a specially prepared bun in the net on Good Friday.  How many dried and blackened buns does it hold?  Only the patrons of The Widow's Son Pub know for sure.

Named for the Roman god Janus who wore two faces—one looking backward and one forward—the month known as Januarius is a time to reflect on what has gone before as well as to contemplate the future. For most of recorded history the new year occurred around the spring equinox, when life returned to the land. With the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1792, however, January 1^st became the day upon which Britain's new legal year as well as the secular one began. (It's interesting to note that James VI reconciled the two for Scotland in 1600.)

Until the 18^th century, gift giving in the British Isles occurred on New Year's Day not Christmas. This custom evolved from the Roman practice of bestowing strenae on that day. In 747 B.C., Tatius entered Rome in triumph on New Year's Day and was given branches of vervain—the herb of grace—cut from the goddess Strenia's sacred grove. He declared that, henceforth, Jan 1^st would be celebrated with the exchange of gifts.

When the Romans occupied Britain, they brought this tradition with them. Over time, however, the practice became an exercise in bribery. Henry III was said to routinely extort gifts from his nobles. In 1249, the royal coffers were empty and Parliament refused to grant him any aid. He solicited "loans" from every person who came before him.

On New Year's Day in 1561, Elizabeth I received more than £1262 in cash which she spent on clothing and jewels. In 1578, she received silver plate weighing a total of 5882 ounces. (An ounce of silver was worth about 5 shillings during her reign. If melted down, the plate would have fetched at least £1470.)

While British monarchs and their nobles exchanged New Year's gifts, servants received food, clothing and money from their masters. In return, they gave the lord of the manor a capon. Wives received money for their personal use. When pins were invented in the 16^th century, the new technology became an instant hit with the ladies. Money given by husbands for the purchase of them was called "pin money." The term eventually came to mean any disposable cash.

Gloves were another popular gift. "Glove money" became synonymous with bribery after Sir Thomas More received a pair with gold coins tucked inside from a Mrs. Croaker. Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor had found in her favor in a chancery case. More kept the gloves but returned the money. "It would be against good manners to forsake a gentlewoman's new-years-gift," he wrote, "and I accept the gloves; their lining you will be pleased otherwise to bestow."

In Scotland, the festival celebrating the new year is called Hogmanay – a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon Haleg Monath (Holy Month), and the Gaelic, oge maiden (new morning). On New Year's Eve, the Scots and folks of northern England practiced a tradition called "first-footing." The nature of the first visitor to set foot across the threshold after midnight, December 31^st was believed to affect the family's fortunes. A tall, handsome dark-haired male stranger was preferred, and the shape of the fellow's feet was important. High-insteps were ideal so that "water will run under" -- a euphemism for bad luck flowing past. A flat-footed fellow was thought to bring bad luck.

An empty-handed "first footer" was a bad omen, no doubt a hold-over from Roman times. In the old days, the "first footer's" usual gifts were a piece of coal (to ensure the house was always warm), bread (so the occupants never went hungry), and a bottle of whisky. The "first footer" entered by the front door, and no one spoke until he wished the occupants a happy new year. When he left by the back door, he took with him all the old year's troubles and sorrows.

"Creaming the well" was another new year's tradition practiced in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. "Cream" was the first water drawn from a well or spring in the new year, and was believed to possess curative properties. In Scotland, farmers sometimes washed the udders of cows with it. And young women raced to be the first to draw the "cream" because possession meant marriage within the coming year.

In all these cases, New Year's Day was considered significant with regard to predicting good fortune. One unusual custom was to hook a flat cake (pancake) on the horns of a cow and sing:

Here's a health to thee, Brownie,

And to thy white horn,

God send thy master a good crop of corn.

Thee eat thy cake and I'll drink my beer,

God send thy master a happy New Year.

If the flat cake fell off in front of the cow, it meant good luck for her owner. If it fell behind, bad luck. 

In Hertforshire, farmers followed a custom thought to be rooted in the votice offerings by Romans to Ceres, the goddess of grain.  At dawn on New Year's Day, a hawthorn bush was burned in the fields to ensure good luck and bountiful crops.  Pieces of hawthorn were woven into crowns and hung in the house.