Jedburgh Ball Game

Jedburgh borders - 2nd February.

This incredibly energetic ball game played with the hands as well aand any other body parts (although it is never kicked) is played with leather balls decorated with coloured streamers. The only rules are that there are no rules!!! Like many other 'traditional ball games' of this sort, the teams are sorted into the 'uppies' and the 'doonies' (or downies) usually those who are born 'above' or 'below' the Mercat Cross (market centre). Any number of people can join in and on whichever team and there is no referee. Once the whistle is blown the 'ba' (ball) is thrown in the air and the two sides join in the scuffle for it. The idea is for the 'uppies' to hail the ball over the castle railings or for the 'doonies' to cross the course of an underground stream. The game can last for hours and is well worth the visit to either watch or better still, join in! Legend states that the origins of this particular ball game come from a particularly nasty battle between the Scots and the English resulting in locals (who were Scottish at the time) playing football with English soldiers' heads.

Candlemas Day

Nationwide - 2nd February

This ancient tradition marks the midway point between the shortest day and the spring equinox. It was so called Candlemas because all the candles that were to be used over the coming year were bought into the local church and blessed in a mass ceremony, so there was a Festival day (or mass) for candles! Back in those days, candles were the only form of lighting your home in the evening and people believed they protected over illnesses such as the Plague and also against famine which was a major problem. This also dated back to pre-christian days when candles were seen to scare away evil spirits. In schools in Scotland, children would bring candles and money in to school, this money was given to the teacher who would spend it on cakes and goodies for the children. Those that bought the most money were crowned the Candlemas King and Queen.

Candlemas day is also said to dictate the weather for the rest of the winter: If Candlemas day be fair and bright, Winter will have another fight, If Candlemas day brings cloud and rain, Winter will not come again. If Candlemas day be dry and fair, The half o' the winter's to come and mair, If Candlemas day be wet and foul, the half o' winter's gane at Yule.

Snowdrops (flowers) should not be taken into a house before Candlemas Day as they are seen as being unlucky representing a parting or death. Christmas decorations left up after the twelfth night should remain up until Candlemas Day!

Hurling the Silver Ball

St. Ives and St Columb, Cornwall - 6th February.

This custom dates back so far that its origins have actually been lost and no-one can date the actual start of it. The earliest record dates back to 1585. The silver ball is the size of a tennis ball and is wooden covered with silver leaf. At 9.30am the Mayor takes it to the well in a procession to be blessed by the Vicar. At 10.30am, the ball is thrown by the mayor from the church wall and is then passed from one person to another through a crowd of children and adults and whoever happens to be around... at midday, in St Ives,whoever is holding the ball takes it to the mayor at the Guildhall and receives a reward of one crown (25p today!!!). There is then a feast which is all held in memory of St. Ia which later became St. Ives. St Ia converted the town to Christianity back in the fifth century. However, over in St Columb, the idea is to place the ball through the goals that are laid out in various places. It used to be played throughout the entire Cornish region but now only exists in these two places. It is still so popular there though, that at least 500-600 people join in every year.

Blessing the Salmon nets

Pedwell Beach, Northumberland - 13th/14th February

Norham has always been a fishing village and like most fishing villages relied heavily on its local stock of fish to see it through. There are very few fisheries nowadays but the local community still practice this ancient ritual to ensure a good season. Each year at the start of the Salmon fishing season, close to midnight on 14th fishermen gather on the banks of the River Tweed where the vicar of nearby Norham comes down to Pedham beach and blesses the nets and boats. The fishermen then set out to make their first catch of the season

Valentine's Day

Nationwide - 14th February

All over the world, people celebrate or commiserate St. Valentine's Day as being a day of love. For many it is a wonderful day, for many more, a disaster and for others, it is just another day, nothing special, but no matter how you feel about it, there really is no escaping this rather commercialised day here in the UK. So just how did it start? St. Valentine's Day can be traced back to Roman times when Romans would celebrate the Goddess of Love, Juno in a feast called Lupercalia. This was a pagan fertility celebration and was held on February 14th. Women would write 'billets' love letter and place them in a large urn. Men would then pick a letter and try to seek out the women who had written that billet. The day itself, since named after St. Valentine is slightly ambiguous but is said to be named after St. Valentine who was a Roman who was martyred for refusing to give up Christianity. It is said he gave a letter on the anniversary of his death (14th February 269AD) to the jailors daughter with whom he had fallen in love. He signed the letter, 'from your valentine' What a romantic tale!

Another is that St. Valentine was actually a Roman priest who served the Emperor Claudius in the 3rd century in Rome. Claudius believed that single men made better soldiers than married men and outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine was outraged by this and continued to perform secret marriage ceremonies for young lovers. When Claudius found out he had Valentine put to death. Later the day became set aside as a day for lovers in memory of the brave priest. Whatever the truth, if you're stuck for a card on Valentine's Day this year, give us a call and we'll take you on an 'anti' Valentine's Day pub crawl!!!

Egg Saturday

Nationwide - 17th February

Egg Saturday is the pre-cursor to Shrove Tuesday and there for a very similar reason. During Lent, eggs, traditionally, are forbidden and as such Egg Saturday was developed as a day the whole country would go egg crazy! It was a day to use up all the eggs in the pantry and really 'egg out' before the fasting period.

Shrove Tuesday / Pancake races

Nationwide - 20th February (47 days before Easter!)

Nowadays, Shrove Tuesday is celebrated in England as pancake day, it hasn't always been so but it has always been a day of rich and tasty feasting and a time of celebration. Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent, a time of fasting and abstinence and as such, any foods that may have been tempting and sitting in the larder, were used up in this feasting time to ensure the removal of temptation as well as the wastage of any food left over (especially important in the days before fridge freezers!) Shrove Tuesday's name comes from the ancient saxon word 'shrive' meaning to confess. Christians would confess their sins and receive absolution for them at this time.

It is from this usage of these foods before Lent that 'Mardi Gras' came from. Mardi Gras means fat Tuesday and again is from using up the fatty foods that were not allowed during Lent. Pancakes eventually became associated with Shrove Tuesday because of the fats, eggs, milk and sugar, all foodstuffs that were strictly forbidden.

The pancake day races that are held all over Britain (but most famously in Olney, Bucks) on Shrove Tuesday date back to 1445, when a rather absent minded housewife who was cooking her pancakes one day when she heard the church bells ringing out for confession. Still with the frying pan in hand covered in flour and sugar and wearing her apron she raced to the church realising only when she got there as she faced a barrage of laughter from the congregation! This day has been remembered annually in Olney by contestants (local housewives) tossing their pancakes both at the start and finish of the race and wearing scarves and pinnies. They have to cover the 375m course still tossing the pancake and serve it to the bellringer at the church who then kisses the winner who is the first to reach the end. The vicar then gives the gift of a prayer book.

Watch this space for a fantastic pancake recipe!

Shrovetide football

Ashbourne, Derbyshire - Shrove Tuesday - 20th February

Shrove Tuesday sees the start in Ashbourne, Derbyshire of the world’s oldest, largest, longest and maddest football game. It has been played for possibly over 1000 years. The game is played over two days and involves thousands of players. The goals are three miles apart and there are only a few rules. As many as several thousand players compete for two days with a hand-painted, cork-filled ball.

The game is played over two eight-hour periods, the goals are three miles apart and there are only a few rules.

• Keep the ball out of churchyards, the cemetary and the Memorial Gardens
• Do not trespass on other people's property
• You must not intentionally cause harm to others
• The ball must not be hidden in bags or rucksacks
• The ball must not be transported in, or on, motorised vehicles
• One of the earliest rules, from ancient times, states that players must not murder their opponents!

The players are divided into two teams, the Up'ards (those born north of the River Henmore) and the Down'ards, but in reality anyone can join in the fun. There are two 'goal posts' - one at Sturston Mill, the other at Clifton Mill, a distance of three miles apart. The ball is hardly ever kicked, but mostly hugged by a scrum which tries to move forward as each team pushes towards its own goal post. A ball is goaled by tapping it three times against a marker board attached to the stone goal plinth. If the ball is goaled before 5pm, a new ball is turned up at Shaw Croft, as the scorer is allowed to keep the ball.

There are two games, one on Shrove Tuesday and one on Ash Wednesday. The game has to finish by 10pm each day.
There have been intermittent attempts to ban the game but it has been played here for hundreds of years and, fortunately, still continues.The earliest surviving reference to the game is from 1683 when Charles Cotton (who penned the fly-fishing supplement for Izaac Walton's 'The Compleat Angler') wrote about it.

There are many versions as to the true origins of the game - but the most popular seems to be the theory that the 'ball' was originally a head tossed into the waiting crowd following an execution. There have also been several attempts to ban the game - the most famous being in 1349 when Edward III tried to outlaw it as he claimed it interfered with his archery practice! And in 1878 the game was briefly banned after a man drowned in the Henmore. Local land-owners signed petitions and refused to let the game take place on their properties.