Christmas Special 2025 (Lancashire Folklore)

A little festive themed episode to see out 2025 with some Lancashire traditions of Christmas and New Year taken from Lancashire Folklore by John Harland & T.T. Wilkinson, published in 1867 by Frederick Warne & Co of Covent Garden.

There will be two full episodes on this title later in the new year.

Wishing all listeners a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

See you in 2026!

Tales From Antiquaria is a podcast dedicated to exploring the legacy of work published regarding folklore and local history during the golden age of antiquarian writing in the nineteenth century.

For show notes and links, visit the episodes page at thelocalmythstorian.com

Episode written, produced and presented by Eli Lewis-Lycett. All source material taken directly from the stated publication. Main theme music by Humanoid Media. Incidental music from Restum-Anoush. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Christmas bowels and New Year's fire. My name is Eli, and this is the Tales from Antiquaria Christmas Special Twenty Twenty Five. With the podcast still being quite new, having started in October, I was never intending on a Christmas special episode this year. However, in the recording of some of the episodes that are yet to be released, I realised there was a very neatly packaged Christmas special just waiting there for us. Courtesy of a dedicated section in the 1874 collection from John Harland and T.T. Wilkinson, Lancashire Folklore. The full episodes on that title will be out in a couple of months, so I'll save all the usual detail about the title until then. But for now, let's transport ourselves back to the festive traditions of mid-19th century Lancashire. And in doing so, let me wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. In the olden time, before the Reformation, Christmas was the highest festival of the church. In some rural parts of Lancashire it is now but little regarded, and many of its customs are observed a week later, on the even day of the new year. But there still linger in many places some relics of the old observances and festivities, like the carols, the fuminry of Christmas Eve, and the murmurs with Old Bull or the Hobby Horse, and the decoration of churches and dwellings with bruffs of evergreen shrubs and plants, in the centre of which is still to be found in many old country halls and kitchens, the mystic broth of mistletoe, beneath whose white berries it is the custom and license of the season to steal a kiss from fair maidens, and even from matrons forty fat and fair creatures worshipping on Christmas Eve. I've been told in Lancashire that at midnight on Christmas Eve the cows fall on their knees and the bees hum the hundredth psalm. I am unwilling to destroy the poetry of these old superstitions, but their origin can, I think, be accounted for. Cows, it is well known, on rising from the ground, get up on their knees first. And a person going into the ship at midnight would no doubt disturb the occupants. By the time he looked around, they would all appear to be rising on their knees. The buzzing of the bees too might easily be framed into a tune, but with the hundredth psalm running in the head of the listener, fancy would supply the rest. Christmas Customs in the Fly. The Reverend W. Thornburg describes the Christmas gambles and customs in the Flyde nearly a century ago as having been kept up with great spirit. The midnight carols of the church singers, the penny laid on the hob by the fireside, the prize of him who came first to the outer door to let Christmas in, all engrossed locals' attention. Each farmhouse and hut possessed a pack of cards which were obtained as an alms from the rich. Night after night of Christmas was consumed in pouring over these dirty and obscured cards. Nor were the youngsters excluded from a share in the amusements of the festival season. Early, long before dawn on Christmas morning, young voices echoed through streets and lanes to the words of the old song Get Up Old Wives and Bake Your Pies. 'Tis Christmas Day in the morning, the bells shall ring, the birds shall sing, 'tis Christmas Day in the morning. In the bright frost and moonshine, outdoor sports were eagerly pursued. Guns were in great request, and many found pleasure in watching others playing at football in the lanes or streets. Celebration of Christmas at Wycollar Hall. At Wycollar Hall, the family usually kept an open house for the twelve days at Christmas. The entertainment was a large hall of curious ashler work, and a long table where plenty was laid in a morning, and fat goose pudding with plenty of good beer for dinner. Seven saints. In the church calendar, this day is the festival of circumcision, and in the Roman calendar it is the day of no fewer than seven saints, but is much more honoured as a popular festival. Many families in Lancashire sit up on New Year's Eve till after twelve o'clock midnight and then drink to a happy new year. The church bells too in merry peals ring out the old year and ring in the new. In the old time there were sale bowls, spiced ale called Lambswall, and currant bread and cheese with the vians of liquor and vogue on New Year's Even Day. Fire on New Year's Eve. My maid, who comes from the neighbourhood of Pendle, informs me that an unlucky old woman in her native village, having allowed a fire to go out on New Year's Eve, had to wait till one o'clock on the following day before any neighbour would supply her with a light. New Year's Luck. Should a female or light-haired male be the first to enter a house on the morning of New Year's Day, it's supposed to bring bad luck for the whole of the year than commencing. Various precautions are taken to prevent this misfortune. Hence many persons with black or dark hair are in the habit of going from house to house on that day, to take in the New Year, for which they are treated with liquor and presented with small gratuities. So far is the apprehension carried that some families will not open the door to anyone until satisfied by the voice that he is likely to bring the house a good year's look by entering it. Then the most kindly and charitable woman in the neighbourhood will sternly refuse to give anyone a light on the morning of New Year's Day, as it's most unlucky to be the one who first gives away light. New Year's Day and Old Christmas Day. Some persons still keep Old Christmas Day. They always look for a change of weather on that day, and never on the 25th of December. The common people have long begun their year with the 1st of January. Old Wife Hakes. Christmas and New Year's tea parties and dances are called Old Wife Hakes in the furnished districts of Lancashire. The word Hake is never used for the central part of the county. Can this be from hackin', from hacking, as in chopping small, a pudding made in the moor of a sheep or hog? It was formerly a standard dish at Christmas. New Year's gifts and wish. It was formerly a universal custom to make presents, especially from superiors to dependents, and vice versa. Now the custom is chiefly confined to parents and elders giving to children or young persons. The practice of making presents on New Year's Day existed amongst the Romans and also amongst the Saxons, and from one or both of which peoples we have doubtless derived our customs. Well, there's our little trip into Lancashire folklore's Christmas New Year's customs. We'll be back in the new year when we'll be heading over to West Wales and to the city of St. David's. So until then, take care, keep your festive fire burning, and may your God go with you. You can find out more about the show and about my other projects at the local mythstorian.com.