Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Festivals

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Festivals / May

May Day

1st May – The old Pagan fertility festival of Beltane, the day used to be celebrated in nearly every village green with may pole dancing. The custom has rapidly died out and many of the old village greens have been reclaimed. The festival was also celebrated with hilltop fires.

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Festivals / May

Beltane

Beltane (or Beltaine) is a festival that marks the return of summer with the lighting of fires; where people could burn their winter bedding and floor coverings, ready to be replaced afresh. Referred to as a Gaelic ceremony, it has been celebrated for thousands of years throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.

Festivals / Folklore / Robin Hood

Scarborough

Scarborough also has a Robin Hood legend. On one of his adventures he joined the small fishing fleet, but turned out to be a useless fisherman, as he forgot to bait the hooks.

August / Festivals / Giants / Legends

Burning of the Bartle, West Witton

Famous for the Burning of the Bartle festival, when an effigy of St Bartholomew is burned in the town. The festival takes place on the nearest Saturday to the 24th of August.

Festivals / Folklore / July

Common Riding, Langholm

Every last Friday in July is the Common Riding in Langholm. The festival dates back to the 1700s when rights to common lands were awarded to the burgh of Langholm – although it takes place on the date of an earlier fair. These lands were marked out by ditches cairns and beacons, which originally fell to the responsibility of one man.

Apparitions / Festivals / Hauntings / May

Minehead

Minehead is the scene of the Obby Oss Festival April 30th, May 1st -3rd. The oss or horse is a covered wooden frame with a painted head at the centre bedecked with ribbons. The Oss meets the rising sun early on the 1st of May. In some stories this festival is said to date to a time when the local people scared away Norse invaders by disguising their ship as a sea serpent.

Festivals / Hauntings / January

Quarr Abbey

The abbey is said to be haunted by Eleanor of Aquataine – Henry II’s queen, who was exiled here before her death in France in 1204.

Monks also celebrated a feast of fools here on New Years Day; the festival was thought to be christianised version of the Roman festivals Saturnalia, and Bachanalia.

Ancient Sites / Festivals / Folklore / May / Wells

Drummers Well, Harpham

The drumming well located near to the church is reputed to foretell death in the family of St Quentin. The folklore relates to a story about a fourteenth century drummer called Tom Hewson, who was accidentally knocked down the well by a St Quentin squire. His mother put a curse on the family predicting that the sound of drumming from the well would predict death in the family.