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372 HOLY-ROOD DAY. [SEPT. 14. |
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Sept. 8.] NATIVITY OF THE VIRGIN MARY.
Lincolnshire.
An old tradition existing within the town of Grimsby asserts that every burgess at his admission to the freedom of the borough anciently presented to the mayor a boar's head, or an equivalent in money when the animal could not be procured. The lord, too, of the adjacent manor of Bradley, it seems, was obliged by his tenure to keep a supply of these animals in his wood for the entertainment of the mayor and burgesses, and an annual hunting match was officially proclaimed on some particular day after the Nativity of tho Blessed Virgin. In the midst of these extensive woods tho sport was carried on, and seldom did the assembled train fail to bring down a leash of noble boars, which were designed for a public entertainment on the following day. At this feast the newly-elected mayor took his seat at the head of the table, which contained the whole body corporate and tho principal gentlemen of the town and neighbourhood.—Med. AEvi Kalend., vol. i. p. 96.
Sept 12.] Hampshire.
A fair used to be celebrated at Winchester on the 12th of September, and was by far the greatest fair in the kingdom. The mayor resigned the keys of the four gates to a magistrate appointed by the bishop, and collectors were stationed on all the roads. Merchants resorted to it from distant parts of Europe, and it formed a temporary city ; each street being appropriated to different commodities.—Historical an Descriptive Guide to Winchester, 1829, p. 86.
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Sept. 14.] HOLY-ROOD DAY.
This festival, called also Holy-Cross Day, was instituted by the Romish Church on account of the recovery of a largo |
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