5. Old Midsummer’s Day (July 5)
Back in the days of the ‘Open Field System’ it was necessary to ensure that everyone was treated fairly with an equal chance of acquiring decent strips and naff strips of land. We know that a bizarre method of parcelling out the strips persisted in Congresbury and Puxton on the Saturday preceding Old Midsummer’s until 1811 which involved tattooed apples (e.g. one bearing a ‘dung fork’) being extracted from a hat or bag (a bit like the FA Cup draw) and said apples determining the strips you got. I particularly like that the serious business of the day was followed by ‘hearty mirth’. Oh yes.