March 25.]

LADY DAY.

The Festival of the Annunciation commemorates in the Christian world the message of the Angel to the Virgin Mary: hence it was anciently called St. Mary’s Day in Lent, to distinguish it from other festivals in her honour:

All the festivals of the Virgin are properly Lady Days, but this falling in Lent, and being the first quarter day for rents and other payments, readily became Lady Day par excellence. Otherwise considered, it is simply an abridgment of “Our Lady Day the Annunciation,” as we find it written in the reign of Henry the Sixth. Some old customs on paying quarterly rents are noticed in Gascoigne’s Flowers of Poesie, 4to, 1575:

Hertfordshire.

At St. Alban’s certain buns called “Pope Ladies” are sold on Lady Day, their origin being attributed by some to the following story:—A noble lady and her attendants were travelling on the road to St. Alban’s (the great North road passes through this town), when they were benighted and lost their way. Lights in the clock-tower at the top of the hill enabled them at length to reach the monastery in safety, and the lady in gratitude gave a sum of money to provide an annual distribution on Lady Day of cakes, in the shape of ladies, to the poor of the neighbourhood. As this bounty was distributed by the monks, the “Pope Ladies” probably thus acquired their name.—See N. & Q. 4th S. vol. x. p. 412. Another correspondent of N. & Q. (4th S. vol. x. 341) says these buns are sold on the first day of each year, and that there is a tradition that they have some relation to the myth of Pope Joan.—See also the Gent. Mag. 1820, vol. xc. p. 15.

Lancashire.

The gyst-ale, or guising-feast, was an annual festival of the town of Ashton-under-Lyne. It appears from the rental of Sir John de Assheton, compiled A.D. 1422, that twenty shillings were paid to him as lord of the manor for the privilege of holding this feast by its then conductors. The persons named in the roll as having paid 3s. 4d. each are:—“Margret, that was the wife of Hobbe the Kynges (of misrule); Hobbe Adamson; Roger the Baxter; Robert Somayster; Jenkyn of the Wode; and Thomas of Curtual.” The meaning of the term gyst-ale is involved in some obscurity—most probably the payments above were for the gyst, or hire, for the privilege of selling ale and other refreshments during the festivals held on the payment of the rents of the manor. These guisings were frequently held in the spring, most probably about Lady Day, when manorial rents were usually paid; and, as the fields were manured with marl about the same period, the term marlings has been supposed to indicate the rough play or marlocking which was then practised. This, however, must be a mistake, since the term relates to merry pranks, or pleasure gambols only, and has no connection with marl as a manure.

These gyst-ales, or guisings, once ranked amongst the principal festivals of Lancashire, and large sums of money were subscribed by all ranks of society in order that they might be celebrated with becoming splendour. The lord of the manor, the vicar of the parish, the farmer, and the operative, severally announced the sums they intended to give, and when the treasurer exclaimed “A largesse,” the crowd demanded “from whom?” and then due proclamation was made of the sum subscribed. The real amount, however, was seldom named, but it was announced that “Lord Johnson,” or some other equally distinguished person had contributed “a portion of ten thousand pounds” towards the expenses of the feast.

After the subscription lists were closed an immense garland was prepared, which contained abundance of every flower in season, interspersed with a profusion of evergreens and ribbons of every shade and pattern. The framework of this garland was made of wood, to which hooks were affixed, and on these were suspended a large collection of watches, jewels, and silver articles borrowed from the richer residents in the town. On the day of the gyst this garland was borne through the principal streets and thoroughfares, attended by crowds of townspeople dressed in their best attire. These were formed into a procession by a master of the ceremonies, locally termed the king. Another principal attendant was the Fool, dressed in a grotesque cap, a hideous grinning mask, a long tail hanging behind him, and a bell with which he commanded attention when announcements were to be made. In an early period of these guisings the fool was usually mounted on a hobby-horse, and indulged in grotesque pranks as he passed along—hence we obtained the term “hob-riding,” and more recently the proverbial expression of “riding one’s hobby to death.”—Harland and Wilkinson, Legends and Traditions of Lancashire, 1873, p. 86.

Norfolk.

On a table of benefactions in the Church at Oxburgh it is stated that Sir Henry Bedingfield paid at Lady Day annually £2 for lands belonging to the township of Oxburgh; that this was called walk money, and was given to the poor.—Old English Customs and Charities, p. 124.

Isle of Thanet.

Evelyn in his Diary, under the date of March 25th, 1672 (Bohn’s Edition, 1859, vol. ii. p. 78), says: “Observing almost every tall tree to have a weather-cock on the top bough, and some trees half-a-dozen, I learned that on a certain holiday the farmers feast their servants, at which solemnity they set up these cocks as a kind of triumph.”

IRELAND.

At Kilmacteige, Co. of Sligo, the Lady Days are observed with most scrupulous attention, that is to say, so far as abstaining from all kind of daily labour, or following any trade or calling, although their sanctity does not operate on their minds so as to induce them to refrain from sports and pastimes, cursing or swearing, or frequenting tippling-houses and drinking to excess.—Mason, Stat. Acc. of Ireland, 1814-19, vol ii. p. 864.