White Rabbits! We’ve made it to April, and what a difference a month’s made. Other Life is now properly impacting on folklore with all the events I was planning to visit and participate in this month being cancelled. But like the buds and shoots we’re seeing on our once-a-day mandated sashay, new folklore and new traditions are already springing up, from clapping the NHS, to virtual Old New Year’s Eve parties, to even more fake news/urban myths being circulated, the last example not helped by it also being April Fool’s Day today! Everyday Lore-wise, it means I will need to up my game and get more creative, and as ever, feel free to chip in.
So April. A month all about food and eating (so those walks are looking pretty darn important for our backsides right now). Our abstemious days of Lent end on Maundy Thursday and with this comes a rush of figgy puddings, pond puddings, tansy puddings, dock puddings, pudding pies, hare-pies, omelettes, eggs, chocolate eggs, hot cross buns, plum cakes, pancakes, Easter cakes, Easter biscuits, cheeses, breads, sugar-cupping… Plus there’s all the glorious traditional Passover food to be eaten (be still my knaidlach beating heart). Not to mention it’s St George’s Day on the 23rd bringing the start of the asparagus season, dumb cakes for St Mark’s Eve on the 24th, and Beltane on the 30th, where we wave goodbye to spring and welcome in the summer, and of course there’s cake attached to that too…
And what of your April traditions? Do you sing drip, drip, drip, little April showers, or are you more of a toodle-luma-luma-toodle-ay kind of person (in our house it was toora-loora-loora-toora-lay and was always sung in the first person)? Will you be hanging up a hot-cross bun on Good Friday? Or wearing tartan on the 6th? Or do circumstances mean you will be starting new traditions? And if so, what will they be? Are you and your neighbours dancing in the streets every day for elevenses? Or are you using stockpiled bean cans as makeshift dumbbells each morning? Let me know what you’re up to in the world of folklore this month. I don’t want to suffer #FolkloreFOMO just because it’s more of an indoor world for me now.
So here’s this month’s sneak peek:
5 April – Making fig rolls for Palm Sunday
13 April – Trying to figure out how to do an video chat egg rolling competition (want to join?)
30 April – Constructing a fairy disco dance floor out of moss
Let me know your thoughts in the comments. You can also follow and tweet me @lilithepunk and through the hashtags #EverydayLore and #FolkloreFOMO on Twitter, and don’t forget to subscribe to my blog below. Have a lovely and safe April! And remember, any pranks played after midday and:
The gowk and the titlene it on the tree
You’re the gowk as well as me.
And I’ll be posting again later with today’s Everyday Lore outing.
Resources
Cooper, Q. and Sullivan, P. (1994) Maypoles, Martyrs & Mayhem: 366 Days of British Myths, Customs & Eccentricities, London, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Day, B. (1998) A Chronicle of Folk Customs, London, Hamlyn
Forest, D. (2016) The Magical Year, Seasonal Celebrations To Honour Nature’s Ever-Turning Wheel, London, Watkins
Jones, J. and Deer, B. (1987) Cattern Cakes and Lace, London, Dorling Kindersley Limited
Leendertz, L. (2019) The Almanac, A Seasonal Guide to 2020, London, Mitchell Beazley
Roud, S. (2006) The English Year: A Month-By-Month Guide To The Nation’s Customs and Festivals, From May Day to Mischief Night, London, Penguin Books
https://genius.com/Flanagan-and-allen-the-umbrella-man-lyrics
