Many plants can be used for hedges, but hawthorn is the most common. It can be planted as bare-root from Autumn to Spring, so January is as good a time as any. It can also be grown from the seeds from its red berries. But this takes 18 months to achieve. Interspersed along the hedge should be trees—either trees for timber, or crab-apples or pear-stocks. Trees were also useful as markers. Before modern surveys, property would be delineated by ancient trees. Hedges could be removed. Trees were more difficult to eradicate.
Hawthorn hedges are an oasis for insects, mammals and migrating birds (who eat the berries). It is a lovely plant for May. In fact, it is often called May, or the May Flower or May Tree and also whitethorn. The berries are called ‘haws’ hence hawthorn. For more on this, look at https://whisperingearth.co.uk.
Hawthorns & Folklore
Hawthorn produces white flowers in Spring. So, it is one of the great pagan fertility plants, its flowers forming the garlands on May Eve. One of the chemicals in the plant is the same as one given out in decay of flesh. It is, therefore, associated with death in folklore, and not to be brought into the house.
It was also said to be the thorn in the Crown of Thorns, so sacred. A crown from the helmet of the dead King Richard III was found on a hawthorn bush at the Battle of Bosworth Field. The victorious Henry VII adopted it for a symbol. . For more on the plant, https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk
A ‘Quarry’ of Stained Glass showing the Crown, a hawthorn Bush and initials representing Henry VII and his, Queen, Elizabeth of York. Possibly from Surrey. Early 16th Century and from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain).
The virtues of Hawthorn
John Worlidge, wrote in 1697
‘And first, the White-thorn is esteemed the best for fencing; it is raised either of Seeds or Plants; by Plants is the speediest way, but by Seeds where the place will admit of delay, is less charge, and as successful, though it require longer time, they being till the Spring come twelvemonth ere they spring out of the Earth; but when they have past two or three years, they flourish to admiration.’
Hawthorn is an excellent wood for burning, better than oak. It has the hottest fire so that its charcoal could melt pig-iron without the need of a blast. It is also good for making small objects such as boxes, combs, and tool-handles. It takes a fine polish, so also used for veneers and cabinets. For advice on the best wood to burn read my post.
Hawthorn has many medicinal benefits according to herbalists. Mrs Grieve’s Herbal suggests it was used as a cardiac tonic, to cure sore throats and as a diuretic. But don’t try any of these ancient remedies without medical advice!
What to plant in late January
This is the time, according to Moon Gardeners, to plant and sow plants that develop below ground. So rhubarb and garlic, fruit trees, bushes, bare-root plants and hedging plants.
First Published in January 2023, revised in January 2024
On This Day
1785 – ‘Boys play on the Plestor at marbles & peg-top. Thrushes sing in the Coppices. Thrushes & blackbirds are much reduced.’ From Gilbert White’s Garden Kalendar in Gilbert White’s Year. the Plestor is the village green. peg-top is a spinning top game. For more on Gilbert White, the inspirer of Darwin, see my post.
News from the Almanac showing readership/viewership of the site.
I have been waiting for a day when I haven’ t got a post to publish. Why? To update readers about the Almanac of the Past. And with a bit of manoeuvring today is the day.
What is the News from the Almanac of the Past?
The plan is to have a post for each day. I am virtually there for November to March, but a way away for the warmer months.
In the winter months, I have been revising, improving, developing and adding content to previously published pages. For those of you who have been here a while, you will have been receiving posts you have seen before. Next year, you might be seeing some for the third time. I’m not sure what to do about this except improve posts and add content. But I am considering stopping automatically posting repeated posts to subscribers. Maybe from next November? Feed back would be good – please email me at kpflude at chr . org . uk (I’ve slightly scrambled the email to stop the robots).
What is the planned content for the Almanac of the Past?
The nature of an almanac is to be a pot-pourri. They are about seasons, time, folklore, history, important events, and anniversaries. I also like to cover history, famous people and discoveries. Gods, Goddesses, Saints, sinners, and archaeology. What I want it to be is something that makes us more mindful about the passing of the year. How seasons and time change the way people see their world. My focus is mostly on the UK, but also on Rome and Greece. With occasional excursions to other places. I am trying to find more content that is London-based, but not to the exclusion of everything else. I also have an ambition to add more important news of discoveries that change our view of the past. If I get the formula right, I will attempt to get a publication from it, otherwise it will remain online.
Developments for the Almanac
It takes quite a lot of time for me to keep it up. You will see, from the graph above, that the readership is yearly making progress. Particularly, last year. But then it’s a steady progress from a small base, rather than Kardashian viral.
This is, at least, partially because I would rather not spend my time marketing. I want to be writing. But, I have decided I need to spend a little more time marketing the site. When I ran the Old Operating Theatre Museum, I had the skills to get our web site to first place on google searches. But this was in the pioneering days of the World Wide Web. Now, it’s more difficult, but I am taking a ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ (SEO) course. I have also loaded some ‘plugins’ to WordPress which help with SEO. I thought you might be interested in some of the consequences.
The plugins ‘parse’ the site and give recommendations for improvements. This should, get the site further up the Google landing page. I have no doubt that it involves or will involve AI. The ‘Yoast’ plugin I am using as I type this, tells me words like ‘however’ are a ‘complex’ word and so they down grade my ‘readability’ quotient. It also tells me that that last sentence was too long. So, it wants simple sentences, and words that join sentences together. And not too many sentences in a paragraph and a proper scattering of headings.
It also assesses the SEOness of the text. So I have to tell it what the main subject of the page is. And it wants that word or phrase in:
the title: the first paragraph the image the meta description tag and scattered, but not too densely (because Google will punish the site for playing the algorithm) through the text.
Hence, you will see the phrase ‘News from the Almanac’ scattered more than I would normally like through this text. Of course, I know no one really will be searching for ‘News from the Almanac. So I should change the SEO phrase just to Almanac. But, then I’m not really interested in attracting non-readers to this page. I see this as between me and my email subscribers!
After writing that paragraph I realised that I would want people to land up here if they typed in ‘Almanac of the Past’. So you will see, I’ve editing the text scattering that phrase here and thereabouts.
In effect, I am being trained by a slightly stupid tutor who has no particular understanding of the needs of a writer of history! And you can’t answer back, you just get downgraded!
And it seems to be working as my numbers are getting better more quickly.
Any problems for the Almanac of the Past?
Obviously, my terrible proofreading is a concern! Maybe that’s one-way republishing helps. A year later, it’s easier to see the typos, the ugly writing, and issues with the content.
But there is another issue with the emails, which I have been trying to solve for about 6 months. The links in the emailed posts don’t work. But they do work if you visit the almanac on the web. This is nuts as I always use the full URL. For example: https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/december-29th-st-thomas-wassailing/.
So, this is very much a technical issue, one might say a bug in the system. I think it stems from the fact that my blog was stored not in https:/public_html/ but in https://public_html/anddidthosefeet. This seemed a logical choice at the time, as the blog shared space with other things. I haven’t managed to convince the tech guys at either the internet provider or WordPress that this is a bug. So, the alternative is to move the blog. But I am reluctant to do this in case it completely messes everything up.
Change the content of the newsletter, you might think. But I can find nothing that allows me to alter or add anything to the email version of the post. As I write this, I think I will temporarily add a line at the bottom of the post which says:
if the links are not working, copy and paste this URL https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/whateverkevinsalmanacpageiscalled
to your browser. This, will get you to the Almanac of the Past on the web where all the links will work.
And this will allow you to easily copy or link to the webpage and send the Almanac of the Past to your friends and followers. (I’m hoping you are Taylor Swift). You willalso be able to comment easily and maybe even like the post?
Another advantage of visiting the web version is that you get a better version to read. This is because I often find howling typos when I read the emailed post. I correct them, with a red embarrassed face.
If you are reading this on the web, then all the above must have been very annoying to read! Maybe I will move it down to the bottom of the post! (which I did).
Trying new things on the Blog
Do you want to make a comment?
Please leave me a comment – its great to hear what you think.Cancel reply
In order to clear January 22nd I moved the previous January 22nd post to December 10th. As its all about Mulled Wine, Glugg, and Gluwein., its better at the beginning of the Christmas Season than in late January.
To see it click here: or cut and past this url https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/january-22-22-time-to-mull-it-over/
I also didn't tell you Monday was Blue Monday because I had already sent you one post on the 20th. So this is the Blue Monday Post. https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/january-13th-18th-blue-monday-wolf-moon-start-of-lambing-and-twelfth-night-old-style/
January from Nicholas Breton’s ‘Fantasticks 1626 from the Kalendar of Shepherds (digitised by Internet Archive)
The Kalendar of Shepherds was printed in 1493 in Paris and provided ‘Devices for the 12 Months.’ I use a modern (1908) reconstruction of it using wood cuts from the original French and adding various text from English 16th and 17th Century sources. The text of the month (as shown above) is provided from a 17th Century source. It gives an interesting view of the countryside in January. To see the full Kalendar, look here:
Nicholas Breton, the writer of the text above, concludes that January:
‘is a time of little comfort, the rich man’s charge, and the poore man’s misery.’
The rich man is burdened by having to help out all the poor people who depending upon him to get through the shortages of winter. The image for January shows that January is best spent indoors by a roaring fire, eating pies.
The Kalendar introduces a ‘conceit’ which is that the year mirrors our lives, and we can forecast what will happen in our lives by looking at the months.
Kalendar of Shepherds, January text
So our lives, which are of 72 years, can be divided into 12 ages of man, each of 6 years. So, January represents the first 6 years of a person’s life. And as you can see, that during these first 6 years, the child is ‘without witte, strength, or cunning, and may do nothing that profiteth‘. As the year changes every month, so, ‘a man change himself twelve times in his life’. At three times 6 (18 or March) a child becomes a man, and 6 times 6 (36 or June) man is at his best and highest. And at 12 times 6 (72 or December) man is at the end of his allotted span.
Shakespeare numbered the Ages of Man as seven, in the great speech of Jacques in ‘As You Like it’ I dealt with this and other Ages of the World in my post:
Bereton tells us that, in January, the ‘coney is so ferreted that she cannot keep in her borough’. To put that is modern speech, ‘the rabbit is so hunted with the aid of ferrets that she cannot keep in her burrow’. The London Illustrated Almanac of 1873 chose the Rabbit as its wild animal of the month.
January from London Illustrated Almanac of 1873
To have luck for a month, you are supposed to say ‘Rabbit, Rabbit’. No less a person than FD Roosevelt used to say this. No one knows why. Rabbit’s feet are lucky too. I remember some of my friends had them in our Surrey village in the early 60s. Some of Dad’s nieghbours kept ferrets, and I remember dead Rabbits hanging from walls. The history.com website gives an idea, possibly exaggerated view, of the merits of the feet which depended upon how they were collected:
“A 1908 British account reports rabbits’ feet imported from America being advertised as ‘the left hind foot of a rabbit killed in a country churchyard at midnight, during the dark of the moon, on Friday the 13th of the month, by a cross-eyed, left-handed, red-headed bow-legged Negro riding a white horse,’
As to why, no one really knows. But Pliny the Elder in 71AD reported that cutting off the foot of a live hare could cure gout. There are European traditions of rabbit and other animal’s feet amulets curing all sorts of ailments. There are associations with witches, who could shape-shift into a rabbit. So a rabbit’s foot would be witchy and therefore powerful. In March, I reported on the Hare, and their, similar, associations with witches:
For lovers of Music, Chas and Dave’s hit song ‘Rabbit’ has a chorus of ‘Rabbit, Rabbit’.According to the Cockney’s singers (they do love a Knee’s Up) it comes from the Cockney Rhyming Slang expression: Rabbit and Pork. This means ‘Talk’ because it rhymes with ‘Talk’. To hear the song, its gestation and Royal connections, click here.
Now, I must stop rabbiting on. Time to get things done.
First, published in 2023, revised in January 2024, 2025
Hermes the ram-bearer, Roman 1st BCE copy of 5th Greek statue
Lambing
If a lamb be born sick and weak, the Shepherd shall fold it in his cloak, blow into the mouth of it and then, drawing the Dam’s dog, shall squirt milk into the mouth of it. If an Ewe grow unnatural, and will not take her Lamb after she has yeaned it, you shall take a little of the Clean of the Ewe (which is the bed in which the Lamb lay) and force the Ewe to eat it, or at least chew it in her mouth and she will fall to love a Lamb naturally. But if an Ewe have cast her Lamb, and you would have her take to another Ewe’s Lamb, you shall take the Lamb which is dead, and with it rub and daub the live Lamb all over, and so put it to the Ewe, and she will take to it as naturally as if it were her own.
Gervase Markham, ‘Cheap and Good Husbandry’ 1613 (quoted in the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly).
All about Lambing
Lambing can begin in the second part of Janauary in the south-west of the UK. But it gets progressively later as you travel north. Itinerant shearers, now often from New Zealand, travel the country shearing sheep. They will begin in the south and then progress north.
March and April are peak lambing time in the UK. But the season runs from February to April. Some farmers even lamb before Christmas (and it is not unknown to lamb in November). If ewes are tupped in October, they will lamb in March. www.nationalsheep.org.uk
The country expression is ‘in with a bang and out with the fool’ which suggests an ideal time to tup, is November 5th, on Fireworks Night. So that the lambs will be born, 5 months later, around the 1st of April.
A litter is normally one or two but occasionally more. Ewe’s get fed depending on how many lambs they will be having.
Thomas Hardy & the Reddle Man
In the ‘Return of the Native’, Thomas Hardy has a character called Diggory Venn, he is a reddle man. He travels the country in a little pony and trap selling reddle. This is a red ochre dye with which shepherds mark their flock. Part of the plot is about the reluctance of women to marry a man whose red, reddle-stained face, makes him look like a devil.
The reddle is used to mark sheep, particularly before lambing. The ram is given a collar or girdle with a marker full of reddle in it. When he mounts the ewe, she will have a red mark on her back. When she has been tupped twice, she will have two red marks on her back. She will then be taken out of the field, to encourage the ram to impregnate the others. Reddle and other dyes can be used to mark lambs chosen for slaughter, or dipping, or weighing etc
(Tup is a country verb: I tup. You tup. We are tupping etc., and means what happens when the ram ‘covers’ the ewe)..
1779 – Peter Mark Roget, physician, scholar, thesaurus creator was born, brought into this world, popped out, brought forth, sprogged, engendered, begat
Run by the London Wild Life Trust. The web site says:
Celebrate Wassail Day with us on Saturday 18th January.
London Wildlife Trust welcomes the local community to awaken the apple trees to ensure a good harvest of fruit in autumn in a traditional Wassailing event.
Activities on the day will include apple inspired crafts, bird feeders, warming bread on the fire (weather permitting), pinning toast to trees (this apparently helps with a good harvest!) and more!
First, published Jan 2023, republished Jan 2024, 2025
Today is the day after the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth 1’s coronation, 1559. She soon developed enduring relationships with the senior members of her Government. For example, William Cecil, Lord Burghley served the Queen for the rest of his life – from 1558 to 1598 when he died. Queen Elizabeth I gave leading members of her Court, nicknames. (Illustrations from a Victorian History of England.)
I had a record of all the nicknames I found. But, could never find the list when I needed it. My interest in the nicknames was revived, last year, by a post in The Chronicles of History. The author is a follower of this blog. The Chronicles mentioned three of them, so I went in search for the rest, and here is what the internet says:
Her chief minister, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, was called her ‘spirit’ and her alleged lover, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was her ‘eyes’. Rather more cheekily, she called François, Duke of Anjou, her ‘frog’.
Elizabeth called Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester her “Eyes” William Cecil was her “Spirit” Robert Cecil was her “pigmy” or “elf” Sir Christopher Hatton was her “mutton” or “lids” Francis Walsingham was her “Moor” Francis, Duke of Alencon, (her French suitor) her “frog”
People on the list of Queen Elizabeth I’s Nicknames
A comment on the same page says the moor was, in fact, Edward De Vere Earl of Oxford. And the attribution to Walsingham is a mistake. De Vere had a house in Clapton, Hackney, very close to where I lived. De Vere is one of the strongest candidates (or so the conspiracy theorists say) to have written Shakespeare’s plays. Queen Elizabeth 1 has also been named a candidate for the world’s greatest playwright.
Robert Cecil was Lord Burghley’s son and largely took over his father’s role. Christopher Hatton was a handsome aristocrat who had a lovely house and garden in Holborn. It is now a street called Hatton Garden, famous for jewellery and jewellery heists.
Francis Walshingham was the ruthless spy master that helped turn late Elizabethan England into a simulacrum of Stasi East Germany. Duke of Alencon was one suitor she seemed to take seriously, although she gently mocked him. Dudley was her favourite and almost her official escort/companion. (Did she have a sexual relationship with him?)
Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation. Litter at her royal entry, accompanied by footmen and Gentlemen Pensioners. Unidentified engraver. (Wikipedia)
Queen Elizabeth 1 Accession
Queen Elizabeth 1 ascended the throne on 17 Nov 1558. Her accession was greeted with an outbreak of joy by the Protestant population. But the supporters of her dead sister Mary 1 did not want a Protestant monarch. On hearing the news of the death, Elizabeth rushed to occupy the Tower of London. She even risked shooting London Bridge, such was her haste. (see my post of the accession of Queen Elizabeth I)
She consulted lawyers about the legal position. Elizabeth, and her sister Mary, were declared bastards by two Succession Acts passed during Henry VIII’s ‘troubled’ married life. The Third Succession Act of 1543/44, following Henry’s marriage to Katherine Parr, restored Mary and Elizabeth to the Royal line. But it did not restore their legitimacy. Rather than tackle the complex legislation, Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, advised:
“the English laws have long since pronounced, that the Crown once worn quite taketh away all Defects whatsoever“. (Wikipedia)
Which, when you think about it, basically legitimises any successful ‘coup’! And, from a legal perspective, she was still, arguably, illegitimate.
Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation
Her courtiers immediately began work on the Coronation, scheduled for January 15th 1559. In terms of Coronations, this was rushed. The precise date was, in fact, chosen by the Royal Astrologer. John Dee, a famous mathematician and credulous astrologer, found a date that the celestial bodies deemed propitious. But it needed to be sooner rather than later because Elizabeth’s position was so insecure.
Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation Procession
The Coronation began with a procession from the Whitehall Palace in Westminster. Then back to the Tower of London for the Vigil. Followed by a Royal Procession through the City of London to Westminster Abbey for the Coronation service. After the Coronation, there was the traditional Coronation Banquet at Westminster Hall.
The Vigil Procession was on the Thames where she was escorted to the Tower by ‘ships, galleys, brigantines‘ sumptuously decorated. The Royal Entry consisted of 5 Pageants and 11 Triumphal Arches.
The first pageant showed the Queen’s descent from Henry VII and his marriage to Elizabeth of York. This marriage effectively ended the Wars of the Roses by linking the House of York and the House of Lancaster. The pageant also emphasised her ‘Englishness’ as opposed to the Spanish affiliations of Mary. The second pageant demonstrated that the Queen would rule by the four virtues of True Religion, Love of Subjects, Wisdom and Justice. At the same time she was shown trampling on Superstition, Ignorance and other vices.
The Procession at Cheapside
The third pageant, at the upper end of Cheapside near the Guildhall, provided the opportunity for the City to give Elizabeth a handsome present. This was a crimson purse with 1000 marks of gold, showing the closeness of the City and the Crown. The fourth pageant, contrasted a decaying country during the time of Mary with a thriving one under Elizabeth. It featured the figure of Truth, who was carrying a Bible written in English and entitled ‘the Word of Truth’. The Bible was lowered on a silken thread to the Queen. The Queen kissed it and laid it on her breast to the cheers of the crowd. She promised to read it diligently. The final pageant was Elizabeth portrayed as Deborah, the Old Testament prophet. Deborah rescued Israel and ruled for 40 years. So she was an ideal role model for Elizabeth. (For more details, look here.)
‘All the houses in Cheapside were dressed with banners and streamers, and the richest carpets, stuffs and cloth of gold tapestried the streets’.
British History.ac.uk Vol 1 pp315 -332
Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation in Westminster Abbey
The Coronation was traditional – in Latin and presided by a Catholic Bishop, but there were significant innovations. Important passages were read both in Latin and in English. The Queen added to the Coronation Oath the promise that she would rule according to the:
‘true profession of the Gospel established in this Kingdom.’
This showed the path Queen Elizabeth was going to take. She would introduce innovation gradually into tradition, but emphasizing that the fundamentals had indeed changed. This was going to be a Protestant reign.
Can I remind you that I wrote a best-selling book on the Kings and Queens of Britain? It has sold over 130,000 copies, has been reprinted several times and in several editions and is available here.
Two posts today because it is also Plough Monday., the date to go back to work.
Bob Cratchet was back to work by Boxing Day. Some of us are back to work on 27th or 28th December. But increasing numbers holiday until the first weekend in January. It’s beginning to look medieval. Medieval society had even longer off. Distaff day was the day that women traditionally went back to work and Plough Monday was the men’s turn. Plough Monday was not just a normal day of work though. Particularly in the North, it was celebrated with a procession of ‘plough boys’. They used a decorated plough and team, known as ‘Fool Plough’. Mumming, sword dancing and foolery propelled people back to work.
Here is a lovely recipe for a ‘Norfolk Plough Pudding‘ brought to my attention by Sue Walker. The author is Karen Burn Jones who talks about her Grandmother’s plough pudding recipe. This is a great winter warmer being made of sausage meat and bacon. Norfolk also had traditions for Plough Monday. It was the day when the plough was blessed and the plough boys (Plough Jacks, Plough Bullocks or Plough Stots) performed “Molly Dances” . They did this partly to make up their income they had lost when the ground was too icy to plough.
The Christmas/Mid Winter break went on for some until Candlemas in early February. In Jane Austen’s day the school boys had a 6 week holiday at Christmas. This much distressed Mary Musgrove in ‘Persuasion’, Chapter 18. She complains bitterly of children being left with her during the long winter holiday. But as the letter was written on 1st February, I will leave the joy of that great FOMO letter until then.
The Wolf Moon and Mars
Not only is this Plough Monday but it is the first full moon of the year. At 5,27pm on January 13th the Wolf Moon rises and just below it to the left, at 7.30 UTC you will see the Red Planet Mars.
Wolf Moon is a nickname and a recent introduction to mainstream culture. It was borrowed from Native Americans as wolves howl at the moon at this time of the year. So can the wonder of the moon counter the reality of wintery bleakness following the joys of Christmas and the hopes of the New Year?
Full moon Socialising
In Jane Austen’s time, winter socialising depended upon the moon. Generally, people would schedule balls and dinner parties on nights when the moon was bright. This would make the journey, on days before street lighting, safer. This is one reason why Almanacs were so ubiquitous, as they listed the rising and setting of the Moon.
Page from 2022’s Old Moore’s Almanac showing the ‘Moon in London’
First Published 2023, revised 2024 and Wolf Moon added in 2025
Winter at Abney Park Cemetery photo by Harriet Salisbury
Or so says the Shepherd’s Almanac for 1676. Until the 12th Night we were predicting that the weather on each of the 12 days will match the month of the same number. But having past Twelfth Night we have to find turn to other methods of weather lore.
Weather lore seems convinced of the undesirability of a warm January
‘January warm, the Lord have mercy’.
‘January commits the fault and May bears the blame.’
‘If Birds begin to Whistle in January, frosts to come’
‘When gnats swarm in January, the peasant become a beggar’
Most of the sayings about January quoted in Richard Inwards ‘Weather Lore’ first published in 1893, have this as their main focus. And the contrary (cold January good growing season) also generally holds:
‘When oak trees bend with snow in January, good crops may be expected.’
‘A cold January, a feverish February, a dusty March, a weeping April , and a windy May presage a good year and gay.’
The Weather according to Animals
So much for long range forecasts. Let’s see how Weather Lore helps us use animals to determine whether it will rain today.
‘If animals crowd together, rain will follow.’
‘When dogs eat grass it will be rainy‘
‘When a cat sneezes, it is a sign of rain‘
‘If young horses do rub their backs against the ground, if is a sign of great drops of rain to follow.’
The only weather lore repeated in my family was ‘Cows sitting down means it will rain.’ (And of course ‘red sky at night, shepherd’s delight’ etc).
Meteorology Office on weather lore.
A survey by the Met Office in 2017 found that a surprisingly large number of people (75%) use ‘folklore’ to predict weather and 55% think they are useful methods of predictions. Here is a quote from their post.
Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight – used by 70% of UK adults – CORRECT
It can be too cold to snow – used by 49% – PROBABLY NOT IN THE UK
Cows lie down when it is about to rain – used by 44% – NOT CORRECT
Pine cones open up when good weather is coming – used by 26% CORRECT
If it rains on St Swithin’s day, it will rain on each of the next 40 days – used by 22% Not Correct. In factt since records began in 1861, there has never been a record of 40 dry or 40 wet days following St Swithin’s Day
1375, French Caesarian Birth, (caesarians at this time would have killed the mother or be performed when she was already dead or dying.)
When Britain reluctantly joined the Gregorian Calendar, in 1752, we lost 11 days. So if you add 11 to 31st December you get to New Year Old Style. You can do this with any date, and when celebrating, feel you are being really authentic.
So, anything you did on the New Year’s Eve New Style (31st Dec), you can do today. Except, of course, when you call in sick because of a hangover you will need to convince your boss of the illegitimacy of the Gregorian Calendar! In case you have forgotten what you should be doing on New Year’s Eve you can look at my post here to find out.
Witches
It’s a particularly ‘witchy’ evening because it is the traditional Eve, not the newfangled one. Reginald Scot in his ‘Discovery of Witchcraft’ first published in 1584 reports on a way to find witches:
‘a charm to find who has bewitched your cattle. Put a pair of breeches upon the cow’s head, and beat her out of the pasture with a good cudgel upon a Friday and she will run right to the witch’s door and strike it with her horns‘
Reginald Scott’s book is available on this website and is a fascinating read. But, perhaps I need to say: don’t try this at home, as it is not supported by scientific research.
When I first posted this in 2022. I did not, to my shame, know the background to the book. I assumed the book was advocating this nonsense that a cow could lead you to whoever bewitched it. On the contrary. Reginald Scot was trying to debunk the absurd claims for witchcraft and magic. His book tries to prove that witchcraft and magic were rejected both by reason and religion. He believed that manifestations of either were ‘wilful impostures or illusions due to mental disturbance in the observers’.
The book is evidence that the large number of people who were executed as witches in the 16th and 17th Century, were the victims of a QAnon-like conspiracy which was rejected by many educated and rational people. Please have a good look at the cover of this 17th Century edition of Reginald Scot’s book. It gives a good idea of what he was setting out to counteract. Scot was a member of Parliament for New Romney, in Kent.
Carmentalia
Carmenta or Nicostrata , Goddess of Prophecy, Childbirth, Midwives and Technical Innovations. Published by Guillaume Rouille (1518?-1589) – “Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum”
It is also Carmentalia, the festival for Carmenta, the Roman Goddess of prophecy and childbirth. She was a much loved Goddess in the Roman pantheon. But little is known about her, perhaps because she has no clear match in the Greek pantheon. However, she was thought to be a nymph of the Arcadians, called Themis.
She has a long history in the story of Rome. This may surprise you, she was the mother of Evander. Who is he? I hear you shouting! Well, he is the founder of Pallantium. Where on earth is that? You cry. It is the City on the site of Rome (on the Palatine Hill) that predated Rome! Who knew that? (The people at Vindolanda Roman Fort know, and they have a great page on Carmenta here). The City was supposed to be of Greek origin, founded 60 years before the fall of Troy. Later, it was absorbed into Rome.
Carmenta had two sidekicks who were her sisters and attendants. Postvorta and Antevorta, They might be explained by Past and Future. (or, After and Before) as part of her role in prophecy. Or the two figures could represent babies that are either born head or legs first. She was an important enough Diety to command one of the fifteen flamen. These were priests of state-sponsored religions. One of their jobs was to ensure no one came to the temple wearing anything of leather. Leather was created from death, and not suitable for the Goddess of Childbirth, who was all about life.
The Vindolanda post makes the point that 2% of pre-modern births are likely to have caused the death of the mother. Because there was a high child mortality the Roman Mother would have to have 5 children on average to keep the population stable. With a 2% death rate, and 5 children, they estimate that each mother had a 12% chance of death by giving birth. Good reason to have a Goddess on the Mum’s side. She is also the Goddess of Midwives.
She was originally known as Nicostrata. She was credited with creating the Latin Alphabet by adding additional letters to the Greek one. So, she is also the Goddess of Technological Innovation. Some Goddess!
First published in Jan 2022, revised January 2024, 2025
Gervase Markham was born in 1568, in Nottinghamshire, and was a prolific writer. Today, prompted by the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly, I am looking through Markham’s eyes at Apples. Apples were an important source of joy as well as nutrition through a cold winter, as fresh produce became unavailable.
Markham wrote detailed books for use by the householders, the Husbands and the Housewives. And with the coming of frost, the survival of food in your food store might depend upon reading Markham’s books. When the frosts hit, as they are now doing in the UK, you had to look after your store of apples. They were an important sweet food source over the winter.
For the women, he wrote the English Housewife, published in 1615. Here is his recipe for Apple Tart.
For the Housewife How to Make Apple-tart
Take apples and peel them and slice them thin from the core into a pan with white wine, good store of sugar, cinnamon and rosewater, and so boil it all shall it be thick. Then cool it and strain it, and beat it very well together with a spoon, and then put it into your coffin or crust and bake it. It carrieth with the colour red.
Gervais Markham, the English Housewife 1683 version (quoted by Charles Kightly).
For the men, he wrote the English Husbandsman, published in 1613 and ‘Printed by T. S. for Iohn Browne, and are to be sould at his shop in Saint Dunstanes Church-yard.’ This is the St Dunstan’s in Fleet Street, I think (near Sweeney Todds, the Barbers.) The book is available on Project Gutenberg (Gervase Markham the English Husbandman. Project Gutenberg).
So to the frost – Markham ends his extensive piece on the best way to store apples as follows:
To keepe Fruit in frost. If the frost be very extreame, and you feare the indangering your fruit, it is good to couer them somewhat thicke with fine hay, or else to lay them couered all ouer either in Barley-chaffe, or dry Salte: as for the laying them in chests of Iuniper, or Cipresse, it is but a toy, and not worth the practise: if you hang Apples in nettes within the ayre of the fire it will kéepe them long, but they will be dry and withered, and will loose their best rellish.
I remember my Grandmother would store her excess apples from the tree, wrapped in paper and stored in cupboards in the pantry or outbuilding. They were often wrinkled but always delicious, and I think were Russets, which remain my favourite apple.
At the bottom of the piece, I include the rest of Markham’s advice for storing apples. To summarise it: Don’t store them near the ground. Place them on shelves ordered by variety based on which variety lasts longest. So at the back will be the long-lived species such as Russets and Pippins, to eat as spring approaches. The front the ones you need to eat now such as the ‘Costard, Pome-water, Quéene-Apple‘ varieties.
Marocco, Pocahontas and the Rhino – performing at the Bell Savage
Markham wrote many books, including one on the famous performing horse Marocco. He starred in shows at the Bell Savage, just outside Ludgate in the City of London. The horse would whinny in triumph with the naming of an English King. But snort with derision with the naming of a Pope. He could also count and add up. He was rumoured to have been burnt at the stake as a witch in Edinburgh. But this does not appear to be true. Also, appearing at the Bell Savage in the 17th Century was a Rhinoceros, other prodigies and Pocahontas.
How to Keep Apples extended version
For a more modern text on what to do with excess apples from your tree, have a look here. However, do read on to get an insight into life and the varieties of Apples that were eaten in the 17th Century.
The place where you shall lay your fruit must neither be too open, nor too close, yet rather close then open, it must by no meanes be low vpon the ground, nor in any place of moistnesse: for moisture bréedes fustinesse, and such naughty smells easily enter into the fruit, and taint the rellish thereof, yet if you haue no other place but some low cellar to lay your fruit in, then you shall raise shelues round about, the nearest not within two foote of the ground, and lay your Apples thereupon, hauing them first lyned, either with swéet Rye-straw, Wheate-straw, or dry ferne: as these vndermost roomes are not the best, so are the vppermost, if they be vnséeld, the worst of all other, because both the sunne, winde, and weather, peircing through the tiles, doth annoy and hurt the fruit: the best roome then is a well séeld chamber, whose windowes may be shut and made close at pleasure, euer obseruing with straw to defend the fruit from any moist stone wall, or dusty mudde wall, both which are dangerous annoyances.
The seperating of Fruit. Now for the seperating of your fruit, you shall lay those nearest hand, which are first to be spent, as those which will last but till Alhallontide, as the Cisling, Wibourne, and such like, by themselues: those which will last till Christmas, as the Costard, Pome-water, Quéene-Apple, and such like: those which will last till Candlemas, as the Pome-de-roy, Goose-Apple, and such like, and those which will last all the yéere, as the Pippin, Duzin, Russetting, Peare-maine, and such like, euery one in his seuerall place, & in such order that you may passe from bed to bed to clense or cast forth those which be rotten or putrefied at your pleasure, which with all diligence you must doe, because those which are tainted will soone poyson the other, and therefore it is necessary as soone as you sée any of them tainted, not onely to cull them out, but also to looke vpon all the rest, and deuide them into thrée parts, laying the soundest by themselues, those which are least tainted by themselues, and those which are most tainted by themselues, and so to vse them all to your best benefit.
Turning your Fruit
Now for the turning of your longest lasting fruit, you shall know that about the latter end of December is the best time to beginne, if you haue both got and kept them in such sort as is before sayd, and not mixt fruit of more earely ripening amongst them: the second time you shall turne them, shall be about the end of February, and so consequently once euery month, till Penticost, for as the yéere time increaseth in heate so fruit growes more apt to rot: after Whitsontide you shall turne them once euery fortnight, alwayes in your turning making your heapes thinner and thinner; but if the weather be frosty then stirre not your fruit at all, neither when the thaw is, for then the fruit being moist may by no meanes be touched: also in wet weather fruit will be a little dankish, so that then it must be forborne also, and therefore when any such moistnesse hapneth, it is good to open your windowes and let the ayre dry your fruit before it be turned: you may open your windowe any time of the yéere in open weather, as long as the sunne is vpon the skye, but not after, except in March onely, at what time the ayre and winde is so sharpe that it tainteth and riuelleth all sorts of fruits whatsoeuer.
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