*Ø* Blogmanac April 26 | Hocktide (2004)
(Two weeks after Easter, English customs with a Viking background)
A note about the dating of items in Wilson?s Almanac
(Also known as Hoke-tide. In the 15th and 16th centuries, in London it was called Hob-tide.) In the English tradition, Hocktide is the Monday and Tuesday following the second Sunday after Easter (Low Sunday), though the Tuesday is considered the main day. ('Tide' is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'time, period or season', and is obsolescent, if not obsolete, in most senses except when referring to the oceans' rise and fall.)
Long before the Industrial Revolution when people became ensnared in the long working week that still prevails for the benefit of our idle masters, work was hard but feast days were plenty. Weekends, as yet uninvented, would never have been enough for our forebears. As one sees each day in the Almy, scarcely a week – scarcely three days – went by in medieval Europe without a holiday with feasting and frolicking. (There are still societies today clinging to such lifestyles in defiance of globalization's juggernaut, but they are labelled 'primitive'.)
Hocktide was for our Western ancestors such a day of high festivity and pranks. The best known of these was 'ransoming'.
On the Monday, men would go out and about and capture women, binding them with cords and holding them for small ransoms, which was usually given to church restoration funds or charity (though a kiss was often accepted). There was equality in these fun and games, however – on the Tuesday the women could take their revenge on the men in the same way. The meaning of the word is unknown, but the custom can be traced back to the 13th century. In 1450 a bishop of Worcester inhibited these 'Hoctyde' practices. It prevailed in all parts of England, but pretty much died out early in the 1700s.
You can't keep a good prank down, though, and although not nearly so widespread as before, ransoming is still played in some places at Hocktide, as these pictures show. One of the places to keep the tradition alive is Hungerford, where another custom is to grab any dignitaries attending the Hocktide feast and for a blacksmith to put horseshoes on their feet.
Ethnic cleansing: St Brice's Day Massacre
It may be that these games evolved to commemorate the dreadful massacre of thousands of Danes (Vikings) on St Brice's Day, November 13, 1002, the 1,000-year anniversary of which passed recently without war between England and Denmark ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
(Two weeks after Easter, English customs with a Viking background)
A note about the dating of items in Wilson?s Almanac
(Also known as Hoke-tide. In the 15th and 16th centuries, in London it was called Hob-tide.) In the English tradition, Hocktide is the Monday and Tuesday following the second Sunday after Easter (Low Sunday), though the Tuesday is considered the main day. ('Tide' is an Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'time, period or season', and is obsolescent, if not obsolete, in most senses except when referring to the oceans' rise and fall.)
Long before the Industrial Revolution when people became ensnared in the long working week that still prevails for the benefit of our idle masters, work was hard but feast days were plenty. Weekends, as yet uninvented, would never have been enough for our forebears. As one sees each day in the Almy, scarcely a week – scarcely three days – went by in medieval Europe without a holiday with feasting and frolicking. (There are still societies today clinging to such lifestyles in defiance of globalization's juggernaut, but they are labelled 'primitive'.)
Hocktide was for our Western ancestors such a day of high festivity and pranks. The best known of these was 'ransoming'.
On the Monday, men would go out and about and capture women, binding them with cords and holding them for small ransoms, which was usually given to church restoration funds or charity (though a kiss was often accepted). There was equality in these fun and games, however – on the Tuesday the women could take their revenge on the men in the same way. The meaning of the word is unknown, but the custom can be traced back to the 13th century. In 1450 a bishop of Worcester inhibited these 'Hoctyde' practices. It prevailed in all parts of England, but pretty much died out early in the 1700s.
You can't keep a good prank down, though, and although not nearly so widespread as before, ransoming is still played in some places at Hocktide, as these pictures show. One of the places to keep the tradition alive is Hungerford, where another custom is to grab any dignitaries attending the Hocktide feast and for a blacksmith to put horseshoes on their feet.
Ethnic cleansing: St Brice's Day Massacre
It may be that these games evolved to commemorate the dreadful massacre of thousands of Danes (Vikings) on St Brice's Day, November 13, 1002, the 1,000-year anniversary of which passed recently without war between England and Denmark ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 4:32 PM | Permalink
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