Spring Traditions | English Heritage

Whether it’s scoffing hot cross buns, dancing around the maypole or watching morris dancers strut their stuff, many English spring customs survive to this day. We reveal the origins of these folk traditions – and how they survived through the ages

Words Professor Ronald Hutton

Easter eggs

Easter is the greatest festival of the Christian calendar, commemorating as it does the central events of the Christian faith, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. Its position in the spring (decided at Whitby Abbey in the year 325 as the first weekend after the first full moon after the spring equinox) was a chance of fate: the events concerned were linked to the Jewish Passover, which falls at this season.

It was a happy coincidence, allowing the celebration of the Resurrection, with its opening of Jesus’s tomb, to take place when nature is opening up and restoring life to the world. Likewise, the establishment in the sixth century of the preceding seven-and-a-half weeks as the main Christian period of abstinence and soul-searching also suited the time of year when food was in shortest supply after the winter.

The Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ, depicted here in a tapestry that can been seen in the Vatican Museum, coincides with early spring
The Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Christ, depicted here in a tapestry that can been seen in the Vatican Museum, coincides with early spring

Known in England as Lent (itself an old name for spring, when the days lengthen – 'lenten' in Old English), meat, cheese and eggs were all banned from people’s diet for its duration. As a result, part of the fervent rejoicing of Easter Day, and of the two days of holiday that customarily followed it in the Middle Ages, was the ability to feast freely on these foodstuffs again once the morning church service was over. Or rather, to do so as far as income allowed. Meat was out of the price range of most people, and cheese too much a staple to carry much excitement.

Eggs, however, were both valued and affordable, and relatively abundant at that season. It accordingly became a custom to exchange them among friends and relatives, which lasted until the 19th century, when chocolate alternatives began to be manufactured for the more prosperous members of society. By the 20th century, rising prosperity had made them affordable by everybody, and the definitive modern secular symbol of Easter was in place.

Setting a date for Easter – the Synod of Whitby

Find out more about Whitby Abbey’s role in setting the date for Easter celebrations, why it was selected to host the Synod and the wider significance of that decision in this episode of The English Heritage Podcast.

Easter is the greatest festival of the Christian calendar, commemorating as it does the central events of the Christian faith, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. Its position in the spring (decided at Whitby Abbey in the year 325 as the first weekend after the first full moon after the spring equinox) was a chance of fate: the events concerned were linked to the Jewish Passover, which falls at this season.

It was a happy coincidence, allowing the celebration of the Resurrection, with its opening of Jesus’s tomb, to take place when nature is opening up and restoring life to the world. Likewise, the establishment in the sixth century of the preceding seven-and-a-half weeks as the main Christian period of abstinence and soul-searching also suited the time of year when food was in shortest supply after the winter.

Known in England as Lent (itself an old name for spring, when the days lengthen – 'lenten' in Old English), meat, cheese and eggs were all banned from people’s diet for its duration. As a result, part of the fervent rejoicing of Easter Day, and of the two days of holiday that customarily followed it in the Middle Ages, was the ability to feast freely on these foodstuffs again once the morning church service was over. Or rather, to do so as far as income allowed. Meat was out of the price range of most people, and cheese too much a staple to carry much excitement.

Eggs, however, were both valued and affordable, and relatively abundant at that season. It accordingly became a custom to exchange them among friends and relatives, which lasted until the 19th century, when chocolate alternatives began to be manufactured for the more prosperous members of society. By the 20th century, rising prosperity had made them affordable by everybody, and the definitive modern secular symbol of Easter was in place.

Setting a date for Easter – the Synod of Whitby

Find out more about Whitby Abbey’s role in setting the date for Easter celebrations, why it was selected to host the Synod and the wider significance of that decision in this episode of The English Heritage Podcast.

Hot cross buns

Easter did not occupy space in the year that was already the preserve of any known major pre-Christian festivals in northern Europe, perhaps because the period between mid-February and mid-April was one of hard work in many farming communities. This apparent fact is reflected in the absence of old folk customs clearly associated with its season, so that those which did link up with it were versions of traditions carried on normally at other times, such as midwinter or May.

The most celebrated and widespread of Easter’s popular customs derive, like Easter eggs, from Christian observances. Another of these developed from the medieval custom on Good Friday of closing up a consecrated host, the bread of the Catholic mass that symbolised the body of Christ, in a miniature tomb in most churches. This was then watched by parishioners representing Roman soldiers until it was opened on Easter Day and the host displayed as a symbol of the Resurrection.

The Easter tradition of eating hot cross buns can actually be traced back to a medieval custom relating to Catholic mass
The Easter tradition of eating hot cross buns can actually be traced back to a medieval custom relating to Catholic mass

The ritual was abolished in the Protestant Reformation but the belief lingered among ordinary people that bread or buns baked on Good Friday had sacred qualities, and were especially held to cure diseases and protect houses against misfortune. Both the loaves and the buns retained the crosses on their surfaces of the original consecrated wafers for church communion.

By the 18th century, these were known as hot cross buns in London and were commercially produced and sold to be eaten for breakfast or lunch on Good Friday. As such, they were now sweet, spicy and studded with currants, and became hugely popular, spreading across the nation during the 19th century. They retain this appeal in the present day, representing, in a way hardly appreciated by any who consume them, the last relic of one of the most dramatic religious rituals of medieval England.

Easter did not occupy space in the year that was already the preserve of any known major pre-Christian festivals in northern Europe, perhaps because the period between mid-February and mid-April was one of hard work in many farming communities. This apparent fact is reflected in the absence of old folk customs clearly associated with its season, so that those which did link up with it were versions of traditions carried on normally at other times, such as midwinter or May.

The most celebrated and widespread of Easter’s popular customs derive, like Easter eggs, from Christian observances. Another of these developed from the medieval custom on Good Friday of closing up a consecrated host, the bread of the Catholic mass that symbolised the body of Christ, in a miniature tomb in most churches. This was then watched by parishioners representing Roman soldiers until it was opened on Easter Day and the host displayed as a symbol of the Resurrection.

The ritual was abolished in the Protestant Reformation but the belief lingered among ordinary people that bread or buns baked on Good Friday had sacred qualities, and were especially held to cure diseases and protect houses against misfortune. Both the loaves and the buns retained the crosses on their surfaces of the original consecrated wafers for church communion.

By the 18th century, these were known as hot cross buns in London and were commercially produced and sold to be eaten for breakfast or lunch on Good Friday. As such, they were now sweet, spicy and studded with currants, and became hugely popular, spreading across the nation during the 19th century. They retain this appeal in the present day, representing, in a way hardly appreciated by any who consume them, the last relic of one of the most dramatic religious rituals of medieval England.

Discover more about Easter traditions

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Beltane bonfires

All over northern Europe, in late April or early May, people who lived by herding cattle or sheep prepared to move them into the summer pastures, as the new grass was starting to grow and the animals no longer needed to eat hay. In many communities this only involved moving them into the outer fields, but in many more it involved a migration from the home community, up into hill or mountain meadows.

This release of livestock into more open country promised greater freedom and excitement for humans, but also greater dangers, because out there the animals were much more vulnerable to accidents, disease, animal predators and human raiders. Across that wide expanse of Europe, therefore, pastoral communities attempted to give the animals magical protection before they were driven out of the byres (cowsheds), folds and infields.

This fire-jumping ceremony below Glastonbury Tor in Somerset celebrates Beltane – a custom that has recently seen a revival in some parts of the British Isles
This fire-jumping ceremony below Glastonbury Tor in Somerset celebrates Beltane – a custom that has recently seen a revival in some parts of the British Isles

This consisted of lighting and blessing a holy fire, or twin fires, and taking the animals around or between them. Generally the people followed them, and the more athletic jumped the fires to take in their power, lovers hand-in-hand. In the Gaelic-speaking areas of the British Isles – Ireland, Highland Scotland and the Isle of Man – these sacred blazes were called Beltane, meaning holy or lucky fire.

They were lit on 1 May, when summer was deemed to begin in these islands. As this custom depended on the danger of the open pastures, it waned naturally as safer times came in, and was largely abandoned by the end of the 19th century. Recently, however, it has been revived by some groups in places all over the British Isles, as a way of marking and celebrating the coming of the brightest and warmest time of the year.

All over northern Europe, in late April or early May, people who lived by herding cattle or sheep prepared to move them into the summer pastures, as the new grass was starting to grow and the animals no longer needed to eat hay. In many communities this only involved moving them into the outer fields, but in many more it involved a migration from the home community, up into hill or mountain meadows.

This release of livestock into more open country promised greater freedom and excitement for humans, but also greater dangers, because out there the animals were much more vulnerable to accidents, disease, animal predators and human raiders. Across that wide expanse of Europe, therefore, pastoral communities attempted to give the animals magical protection before they were driven out of the byres (cowsheds), folds and infields.

This consisted of lighting and blessing a holy fire, or twin fires, and taking the animals around or between them. Generally the people followed them, and the more athletic jumped the fires to take in their power, lovers hand-in-hand. In the Gaelic-speaking areas of the British Isles – Ireland, Highland Scotland and the Isle of Man – these sacred blazes were called Beltane, meaning holy or lucky fire.

They were lit on 1 May, when summer was deemed to begin in these islands. As this custom depended on the danger of the open pastures, it waned naturally as safer times came in, and was largely abandoned by the end of the 19th century. Recently, however, it has been revived by some groups in places all over the British Isles, as a way of marking and celebrating the coming of the brightest and warmest time of the year.

Maypoles

In arable areas, where livestock-rearing was not the mainstay of the local economy, and where the emphasis was on the planting and harvesting of crops, a different set of customs prevailed. Indeed, these and the Beltane fires were almost mutually exclusive in their distribution. Success in crop-rearing depended on the power of vegetation to enrich and draw on the soil and to push itself up to produce abundant grains and fruits. That power was therefore honoured at a number of different levels on 1 May, May Day, to open summer.

The simplest was to gather foliage, flowers and blossoms in the local countryside, and to decorate streets and houses with them. A more elaborate way was to gather the same greenery and blooms and mount them on a wooden frame – the ‘garland’ or ‘may’ – and parade it through the streets before displaying it in the church or another part of the community. The most spectacular celebration was to fetch in a tree sapling, strip it to a pole and then deck it with greenery, blooms, flags and streamers, and dance round it.

Maypoles of greenery and blooms on a wooden frame originated in arable areas as a totem to encourage a successful harvest
Maypoles of greenery and blooms on a wooden frame originated in arable areas as a totem to encourage a successful harvest

This was, of course, a maypole, and they were found all over England and Wales at the end of the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, zealous Protestants condemned them as idols, and the Puritan Long Parliament banned them in 1644. But they returned in force when the Puritans fell from power. By 1800 they were losing popularity but the Victorians revived them in particular communities, with the new fashion, brought in from Sicily, of attaching ribbons to them and dancing while holding those. These became the standard modern maypole dances, which remain popular at May festivities of the present day.

Spring watch: how we prepare our historic gardens for the new season

In this episode of The English Heritage Podcast, head gardener John Watkins reveals what goes into maintaining our historic gardens, how the gardening teams prepare for spring, and the sites where you can eat the produce from historic kitchen gardens.

In arable areas, where livestock-rearing was not the mainstay of the local economy, and where the emphasis was on the planting and harvesting of crops, a different set of customs prevailed. Indeed, these and the Beltane fires were almost mutually exclusive in their distribution. Success in crop-rearing depended on the power of vegetation to enrich and draw on the soil and to push itself up to produce abundant grains and fruits. That power was therefore honoured at a number of different levels on 1 May, May Day, to open summer.

The simplest was to gather foliage, flowers and blossoms in the local countryside, and to decorate streets and houses with them. A more elaborate way was to gather the same greenery and blooms and mount them on a wooden frame – the ‘garland’ or ‘may’ – and parade it through the streets before displaying it in the church or another part of the community. The most spectacular celebration was to fetch in a tree sapling, strip it to a pole and then deck it with greenery, blooms, flags and streamers, and dance round it.

This was, of course, a maypole, and they were found all over England and Wales at the end of the Middle Ages. After the Reformation, zealous Protestants condemned them as idols, and the Puritan Long Parliament banned them in 1644. But they returned in force when the Puritans fell from power. By 1800 they were losing popularity but the Victorians revived them in particular communities, with the new fashion, brought in from Sicily, of attaching ribbons to them and dancing while holding those. These became the standard modern maypole dances, which remain popular at May festivities of the present day.

Spring watch: how we prepare our historic gardens for the new season

In this episode of The English Heritage Podcast, head gardener John Watkins reveals what goes into maintaining our historic gardens, how the gardening teams prepare for spring, and the sites where you can eat the produce from historic kitchen gardens.

Morris dancing

The morris is the most famous and popular traditional English spring and summer dance, performed above all in May and known in different forms by the 19th century. Its best-known and most-often-found form is the Cotswold, with white clothes, handkerchiefs and bells. But the Border (with blackened faces and rag coats) and the Lancashire (with pom-poms and usually female teams) are also important.

When scholars began to collect folk songs and dances systematically at the opening of the 20th century, they thought that they might all derive from a prehistoric rite performed by dancers to encourage the crops to grow tall and vigorous with leaping steps. We now know instead that the morris began as a fashionable entertainment at the courts of the European rulers of France and Burgundy in the years around 1400.

Morris dancing takes various forms, including the Border, seen here. The dancers’ red and black outfits derive from the county flag of Buckinghamshire
Morris dancing takes various forms, including the Border, seen here. The dancers’ red and black outfits derive from the county flag of Buckinghamshire

In it, young men wearing embroidered coats and with bells on their legs danced energetically in competition for the favour of a lady. This fashion reached English aristocrats a few decades later, and the royal court by the 1490s. From there it spread out to the towns around the royal palaces along the Thames in the early 16th century, and by the Elizabethan period it had become a popular craze all across southern and midland England, with youths from different communities forming rival teams. As such, it attracted hostility from Puritans, who loathed its flamboyance and ribaldry, and termed it the ‘devil’s dance’.

Like the maypole, it survived their attacks and, when it began to lose general appeal after 1700, it diverged into the different modern regional traditions mentioned above. The folk dance revival of the 20th century reinforced or restored these, and they have a secure future in the 21st as colourful features of local folk festivity and as a focus for regional pride.

The morris is the most famous and popular traditional English spring and summer dance, performed above all in May and known in different forms by the 19th century. Its best-known and most-often-found form is the Cotswold, with white clothes, handkerchiefs and bells. But the Border (with blackened faces and rag coats) and the Lancashire (with pom-poms and usually female teams) are also important.

When scholars began to collect folk songs and dances systematically at the opening of the 20th century, they thought that they might all derive from a prehistoric rite performed by dancers to encourage the crops to grow tall and vigorous with leaping steps. We now know instead that the morris began as a fashionable entertainment at the courts of the European rulers of France and Burgundy in the years around 1400.

In it, young men wearing embroidered coats and with bells on their legs danced energetically in competition for the favour of a lady. This fashion reached English aristocrats a few decades later, and the royal court by the 1490s. From there it spread out to the towns around the royal palaces along the Thames in the early 16th century, and by the Elizabethan period it had become a popular craze all across southern and midland England, with youths from different communities forming rival teams. As such, it attracted hostility from Puritans, who loathed its flamboyance and ribaldry, and termed it the ‘devil’s dance’.

Like the maypole, it survived their attacks and, when it began to lose general appeal after 1700, it diverged into the different modern regional traditions mentioned above. The folk dance revival of the 20th century reinforced or restored these, and they have a secure future in the 21st as colourful features of local folk festivity and as a focus for regional pride.

Don't miss our spring events

Make the most of spring with our special seasonal events taking place around the country

Easter Adventure Quests

Join us for a cracking adventure quest at our sites this Easter holiday. Hunt for clues in the grounds, track down the Easter eggs and get rewarded with a tasty chocolate treat.

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Swing into Spring

Bring along your deck chairs and enjoy listening to Yorkshire’s finest swing bands, as they perform against the stunning backdrop of Brodsworth Hall in South Yorkshire on 5–6 May.

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About the author

Ronald Hutton is a professor of history at the University of Bristol. He is a leading authority on the history of the British Isles in the 16th and 17th centuries, ancient and medieval paganism and magic, and the global context of witchcraft beliefs. He has a particular interest in the ritual year in Britain and modern paganism.

Images: Getty; Alamy; English Heritage