A Calendar of Edinburgh Celebrations

Historical events are usually easy to find records of; people have always considered hangings, plagues and wars noteworthy enough to write down. But music is also written for recurrent events, and these are harder to date. Some fairs and festivals continued regularly for hundreds of years without anyone mentioning them in writing; they often arose gradually and faded away slowly, and in between they were such regular features of everyone's existence that obviously you didn't need to mention them. Some fairs, like Edinburgh's Hallow Fair, were large enough that the authorities needed to regulate them, and the dates are accordingly mentioned in the council's papers. Others were set up by order from the King, and royal charters usually don't get lost. But some of the festivals I list below are only known from passing mentions in letters or in irregularly-produced almanacs.

The biggest change was at the Reformation, when many of the old celebrations of saints' days were suddenly abandoned, but even then others continued under different names and in only slightly different forms. Perhaps some of the trade tunes might be survivals of music associated with a mediaeval patron saint; but otherwise, there is no musical trace of the old festivities of popular Catholicism in Scotland. They must have been a bit like Burns Night with incense.

The calendar below says when each celebration was practiced: 

P: pagan era
M: mediaeval Christian times
R: Reformation
c18: eighteenth century (and similarly for other centuries)

January

first Monday
Handsel Monday; servants' feast day [M - c18]
first Monday
Raffles and shooting matches at Currie [M - c18]
2nd Wednesday
Wig Club meets [1766 - 1840]
6
Twelfth Night; guisers, election of Queen of the Bean [M - c18]
17
St Anthony of Coma's Day (patron saint of pigs and vintners); ceremonies around his chapel and wishing well on Arthur's Seat [M - R]
17
Ceremonies at St Anthony's Preceptory, Leith [1435 - R]
25
Burns Night [1816 - now]

February

2nd Wednesday
Wig Club meets [1766 - 1840]
2
Candlemas [M - c18]
13
Old Candlemas; boys carry candles to school [M - c18]

March

2nd Wednesday
Wig Club meets [1766 - 1840]
20
St Cuthbert's Day [M - R]
25
Lady Day (feast of the Annunciation), festival at Loretto Chapel, Musselburgh [M - R]
25
New Year's Day [M - 1600]

Around Easter

Shrove Tuesday
Fastens E'en; cockfighting and football
Saturday before Easter
Old Scottish day for egg rolling
Easter Monday
Modern day for egg rolling (English-influenced)
Trinity Monday
Fair [c17]

April

2nd Wednesday
Wig Club meets [1766 - 1840]
1
Hunt the Gowk (April Fools Day) [P - now]
2
Masonic anniversary of founding of Solomon's Temple [c17 - c19]
25
St Catherine of Siena's Day, celebrated at Sciennes Nunnery [1517 - R]

May

early in the month
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland [R - now]
first Saturday
Miners' Gala, Holyrood Park [1948-1997]
third Monday
Dalkeith Horse Market [c19]
1
Bringing in May (all-night festivities) [P - c17]
1
Washing of faces in the dew on Arthur's Seat [P - now]
1
Robin Hood plays [M - c17]
1
Decoration of George Heriot's statue [c17 - c19]
1
May Day [c20]
6
Gilmerton Play [M - c18]
15
Whitsun [M - c18]
24
Victoria Day (Queen Victoria birthday) [mid-c19 - now]

June

second week
Penicuik Huntsmen's Ride and Gala Day [M - now]
1
June Day at George Heriot's School [c19 - now]
4
The King's Birthday (George III) [1760 - 1820]
10
Birthday of the Jacobite Old Pretender "James VIII" [1688 - 1745]
23
St John's Eve; Masonic procession [c18 - c20]
24
St John's Day; touching for the King's Evil [M - c17]
30
St Paul's Day (patron saint of ropemakers) [M - R]

July

last week
Leith Races [1650 - 1816]
third Saturday
Honest Toun's Festival, Musselburgh [1935 - now]
last Friday
Gilmerton Play [1787 - 1935]
12
Orangemen celebrate Battle of the Boyne [1820s - now]
22
St Magdalene's Day; held to be unlucky in Scotland as the anniversary of Wallace's defeat [M - c19]
22
Mary Magdalen's Fair, Pathhead [c17]
22
Loanhead Children's Day [1903 - now]
24
St Christian's Fair, Corstorphine [c17]
25
St Christopher's Day (patron saint of skinners) [M - c17]
25
St Anne's Day (patron saint of tailors)
25
Queensferry Fair [M - c20]

August

last 2 or 3 weeks
Edinburgh Festival [1947 - now]
first week
Dalkeith Barbecue [1961 - now]
second week
Solan Goose Feast, Musselburgh [c18]
third week
Riding of the Marches, Musselburgh (every 21 years) [1682 - now]
1
Lammas: mock battles, football, handfastings [M - c19]
1
Feast on Corstorphine Hill [M - c19]
1
Washing horses in the sea at Leith [P - c19]
1
Hanoverian celebration of Culloden [late c18]
8
Burry Man at South Queensferry [P - now]
15
Lady-day Fair, Valleyfield [c17]
15
Day of the Assumption (local Italian Fascists celebrate) [1923-1940]
St Lauret's Fair, Musselburgh [M - R]
16
St Roch's Day (saint invoked against plague) [reign of James IV]
24
St Bartholomew's Day (patron saint of butchers and allied trades) [M - R]
26
St Zephirinus' Fair, Corstorphine [c17]

September

first Friday
Fishermen's Walk, Musselburgh [M? - now]
Friday between 9th and 17th
Fishermen's Walk, Fisherrow [M - 1952]
third Friday
Fishermen's Walk, Cockenzie & Port Seton [M? - 1962]
1
St Giles' Day [M - 1588]
14
Holy Rood Day (Roodmass) [M - R]
21
St Matthew's Day (patron saint of Rosslyn Chapel) [M - R]
27
St George Fair, Tranent [c17]
28
Michaelmas Eve; accounts settled, bailies chosen [M - c18]

October

4
St Francis Fair, Valleyfield [c17]
8
St Triduana of Restalrig's Day [M - R]
16
St Lukes Fair, Musselburgh [c17]
25
St Crispin's & St Crispinian's Day; shoemakers' parade [M - c19]
25
Canongate holiday
31
Halloween [P - now]

November

5
Illuminations for Gunpowder Plot and 1688 Revolution [c.1600 - now]
6
St Nicholas's Day; election of the Boy Bishop [M - c17]
6
St Leonard's Day [M - R]
10
Hallow Fair starts about now [M - c19]
11
Martinmas; end of Leith financial year [M - c19]
16
St Margaret of Scotland's Day [M - R]
30
Collar Day, annual meeting of the Beggars Bennison [1730 - 1836]

December

1
St Eloy's Day (patron saint of blacksmiths) [M - R]
25
Yule [P - now]
31
Hogmanay [P - now]

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Copyright © 2001, Jack Campin