Abstract
October 14. PACK FAIR.—At Sherborne, on the first Monday after Old Michaelmas Day. Popular tradition held that it originated at the termination of the building of the church, when all the workmen packed up their tools and held a fair or wake. Up till the beginning of the nineteenth century it was held in the churchyard. For some three or four weeks before the fair, processions of boys paraded the town blowing cows' horns. At twelve o'clock on Sunday night the fair was proclaimed by the ringing of the church bell and the blowing of cows' horns. The streets of the town were paraded and bonfires were lit. At four o'clock the bell rang for a quarter of an hour, and the sale of oxen, sheep, lambs, and pigs began, usually being completed by twelve o'clock. Tradesmen's yearly accounts were settled on this day, when they provided beef and ale for their customer.
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Calendar of Customs and Festivals. Nature 122, 592 (1928). https://doi.org/10.1038/122592a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/122592a0