Mumping Day, England

Old St Thomas's Day is called 'Mumping Day' in some parts of Britain, because on this day the poor used to go about begging, [Mump, to cheat or to sponge on others; probably from Dutch mompen, to cheat] or, as it was called, 'a-gooding', that is, getting gifts to procure good things for Christmas, or begging corn.

In Lincolnshire, the name used to be applied to Boxing Day; in Warwickshire, the term was 'going a-corning'. People would also be said to be going 'Thomasing' on this day.

Women going 'a-gooding' presented their donors with sprigs of palm and branches of primroses. It still was kept up in folklorist William Hone's time (1826) in the area of Maidstone, Kent ...

Categories: uk, calendar-customs, saint