St Luke's Day, The Horn Fair, Charlton, near London
The Horn Fair was held for three days annually from St Luke's Day (October 18) and was named after the custom of carrying horns and wearing them. A foreign traveller in 1598 wrote that there was at Ratcliffe, nearby, a long pole with ram's horns upon it, representing “wilful and contented cuckolds”.

The horned man, or Green Man, was a representation of the ancient horned god Herne (who derived from the Celtic horned god Cernunnos), and it is interesting to note that the fair, now held at Hornfair Park, was formerly held at Cuckold’s Point, East London.

At the fair there was a procession, which went three times around the church, of people wearing horns. There were many wild practices, such as whipping females with sprigs of furze, giving rise to the expression “all is fair at Horn Fair”. Men would often wear women's clothes. Toys made of horns were sold; even the gingerbread on sale had horns. There used to be a sermon preached on the day at Charlton Church, but it had been discontinued by Victorian times.

In 1973, the Horn Fair was revived, but the new Horn Fair is a pale shadow of the once great fair of Charlton.

St Luke is represented in art as an ox, or writing with an ox or cow beside him, so it is likely the ancient Herne cult was transmuted into a cult of Luke. The church at Charlton had stained glass windows, though largely destroyed in time of the troubles in Charles I's reign, showing St Luke's ox with wings on its back and horns on its head.

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