Michaelmas Day

Today is Michaelmas - the feast day of dragon-slayer St Michael, who was popular during mediaeval times and had many churches dedicated to him. Traditionally, a roast goose was eaten on this day (September is when geese are in their prime condition). 

The festival is not as widely known as it used to be and was historically a major landmark in the calendar. Because it falls near the equinox, this holy day is associated in the northern hemisphere with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days. It was one of the Celtic quarter days, when accounts had to be settled (ever wonder why the tax year starts when it does?). The day was also considered a 'gale day' in Ireland when rent would be due, as well as a day for the issuing or settling of contracts or other legal transactions. 

Saint Michael portrayed in a stained glass window in the Pfarrkirche St Martin in Linz am Rhein, Germany. Photo by Warburg (Creative Commons).

Michaelmas Day marked the end of the harvest, often the end of the farming year itself. And that meant that there were dozens of fairs, trading in people (Hiring Fairs) and livestock. Workers, in between farm jobs, had a relatively large amount of cash to spend at these fairs. It was also when a reeve was elected from the peasants - the 'Shire-reeve' or Sheriff. At Kidderminster, Hereford and Worcester, there was a 'Lawless Hour', called Kellums that started at 3pm when the old sheriff or bailiff stepped down, and finished at 4pm when his replacement was elected. During Kellums there were pitched fruit and veg fights, the bailiff-designate receiving much pre-emptive abuse with hurled apples, while the villagers bombarded each other with cabbage stalks. Other Michaelmas 'lawless' pursuits included bumping - pouncing on a passer-by, hoisting him up, and throwing him at the next passer-by. There were many other local quirks at the Michaelmas celebrations. At Clixby in Lincolnshire, for example, land tenure was fixed by an eccentric annual gift to the King of a nightcap and a falcon. 

On several Hebridean islands, beach-racing was the sport of the day. The horses were ridden bare-back, and the harnesses were made of straw. This was a survival of a sea-god festival. St Michael took on board many pagan aquatic attributes, and was the patron of horsemen and fishermen. 

St Michael is one of the patron saints of Cornwall and gave his name to St Michael's Mount where he is supposed to have appeared in a vision to 5th century fishermen. However, this is a modern myth. The story was found to be based on a 15th-century misunderstanding of a mediaeval legend regarding Mont-Saint-Michel in France. 

St Michael has, in the past century or so, been overtaken by St Piran as the main Cornish patron saint but his influence is still strong in the town I grew up in - Helston. He appears on the seal of the town, the main church is named for him and so is one of the local primary schools. He also appears in the Hal-An-Tow, a mumming play that forms part of the annual Flora Day celebrations (see here).

According to legend the Devil was flying over Cornwall with a huge boulder to block up the entrance to Hell when St Michael challenged him to battle. In the battle the Devil dropped the stone and where it fell the place became known as Hell's Stone or now commonly as Helston. To celebrate this victory the people of the town danced through the streets and it became known as the Furry Dance which still takes place during Flora Day on May 8th. Of course, that isn't the origin of the name at all - its original name was Hellys from the Cornish hen lis or 'old court' and 'ton' (town) was added later to denote a Saxon manor - the Domesday Book refers to it as Henliston (which survives as the name of a road in the town). 

Also associated with this season are Michaelmas Daisies (Aster amellus) which flower around this time of year. An early rhyme assures us: 

The Michaelmas Daisies, among dede weeds 

Bloom for St Michael's valorous deeds.

In the West Country girls used to collect crab apples today and then arrange the fruit into the initials of the men they loved, as a less than subtle clue that the named man should do the decent thing.

Michaelmas Day is also, according to British folklore, the last day that blackberries can be picked. It is said that when St Michael expelled Lucifer, the devil, from heaven, he fell from the skies and landed in a prickly blackberry bush. Satan cursed the fruit, scorched them with his fiery breath, stamped, spat and urinated on them, so that they would be unfit for eating. 

And I thought that foraging away from the 'dog pee zone' was my biggest concern.