GC82TKP Hocktide - 2019 (Event Cache) in South East England, United Kingdom created by Sterling-Cache

This cache has been archived.

Sterling-Cache: We stood on the bank of the Hocktide Court and rolled eggs to determine the right and wrong and we had some winners and not so fast rolling eggs, some survived, others broke and smashed - until we all stand on the start line again, stay (a)round

GC82TKP ▼

A cache by Sterling-Cache Message this owner

Hidden : Monday, April 22, 2019

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:

22 April 2019, 10:00 - 11:00

Hocktide - A Very Old Term

Hocktide, Hock tide or Hoke Day is a very old term used to denote the Monday and Tuesday in the second week after Easter. It was an English mediaeval festival; both the Tuesday and the preceding Monday were the Hock-days. Together with Whitsuntide and the twelve days of Yuletide, the week following Easter marked the only vacations of the husbandman's year, during slack times in the cycle of the year when the villein ceased work on his lord's demesne, and most likely on his own land as well.

Hocktide - Through History

Early folk celebrations of Hocktide are undocumented, though as a term day, it appears often in documents. Hock-Tuesday was an important term day, rents being then payable, for with Michaelmas it divided the rural year into its winter and summer halves. Some evidence allows us to see that Hocktide was considered an important festival in some parts of Late-Medieval England, and was a chance for the women of the parish to raise money for the local church. Katherine French's work has allowed us to see that women would capture and tie up local men, and release them in exchange for a release fee, which would then be donated to the church.

George C. Homans notices the parallel pattern as at Yuletide, of a solemn feast of the Church, that of Christmas itself, followed by a festive holiday, with the agricultural round beginning anew after Epiphany, with the folk customs of Plow Monday. Until the 19th century in England, Plow Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany, occasioned the antics of the gang of young plowmen, calling themselves the "plow-bullocks", who went door to door with the caparisoned "white plow", collecting pennies; when these were withheld they might plow up the dooryard.

At Coventry there was a play called The Old Coventry Play of Hock Tuesday. This, suppressed at the Reformation owing to the incidental disorder that accompanied it, and revived as part of the festivities on Queen Elizabeth's visit to Kenilworth in July 1575, depicted the struggle between Saxons and Danes, and has given colour to the suggestion that hock-tide was originally a commemoration of the massacre of the Danes on St. Brice's Day, 13 November 1002, or of the rejoicings at the death of Harthacanute on 8 June 1042 and the expulsion of the Danes. But the dates of these anniversaries do not bear this out. Until the 16th century, Hocktide was widely celebrated in England after Easter, although the massacre of the Danes in 1002, by order of King Ethelred the Unready, took place around the feast of St Brice, on 13 November and Hardicanute's death in 1042 occurred on 8 June. The festivities were banned under Henry VIII as they were thought to encourage public disorder, but Elizabeth I was petitioned to reinstate the tradition in 1575, an event recorded in Sir Walter Scott's Kenilworth. How popular the revival was is not recorded, but a number of towns are known to have re-established the tradition. However, by the end of the 17th century the festival was largely forgotten.

By the 19th century the festivities consisted of the men of the parish binding the women on the Monday and demanding a kiss for their release. On the Tuesday, the actual Hock-day, the women would tie up the men and demand a payment before setting them free. The monies collected would then be donated to the parish funds. The origins of the name Hocktide are unknown. No trace of the word is found in Old English, and hock-day, its earliest use in composition, appears first in the 12th century. Hocktide and hock-money are first attested in 1484 (OED)

In 1910 the celebration at Hungerford began with a watercress supper at the "John o' Gaunt" (he being the patron of the place) where his wonderful horn, the town's most treasured possession, is kept. The supper consisted of black broth, Welsh rarebit, macaroni, and salad, with bowls of punch. This Tradition in Hungerford is still on going and being up dated with time

Egg Rolling

In the United Kingdom the tradition of rolling decorated eggs down grassy hills goes back hundreds of years and is known as "pace-egging", from the Old English Pasch meaning Pesach or Passover. In Lancashire there are annual egg rolling competitions at Holcombe Hill near Ramsbottom and Avenham Park in Preston. Egg rolling has been a tradition at Avenham Park for hundreds of years, but in recent years chocolate eggs have been used.

Other traditional egg rolling sites are the castle moat at Penrith, Bunkers Hill in Derby, Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, and on Penshaw Hill in Tyne and Wear at Penshaw Monument.

The eggs traditionally were wrapped in onion skins and boiled to give them a mottled gold appearance (although today they usually are painted) and the children competed to see who could roll their egg the farthest. There is an old Lancashire legend that says the broken eggshells should be crushed carefully afterward or, they would be stolen and used as boats by witches. The eggs were eaten on Easter Sunday or given out to pace-eggers – fantastically dressed characters who processed through the streets singing traditional pace-egging songs and collecting money as a tribute before performing traditional mumming plays. At the Wordsworth museum in Grasmere there is a collection of highly-decorated eggs made for the poet’s children.

In Scotland, pace-eggin is traditional from Shetland to the Borders although the day varied with location, pace-egg day variously the prior Saturday, Easter Sunday, or Easter Monday. Paiss-braes, hills, were used or other grassy slopes or areas such as seaside links. There is some variation in the spelling and pronunciation of the term pace, including also pash and peace.

Hocktide - Tilgate Style

This is an opportunity to do something on a day of rest and in honour of this day of rest even if it is a day or so early!
There should be a congregation of people for an egg rolling challenge

Usual Geocaching Event Items

The Log Book to sign to say you attended, of course you could bring a decorated blown egg to hang on the Ostereierbaum
A box into which Travel Bugs and Coins can be placed for discovery or swapping
People to answer questions about the pastime
People to answer questions about caches that are eluding you

Event Specific Items

At Tilgate, Dam Car Park, Tilgate, Crawley.
It is an outdoor event, from 10:00 to 11:00
Wear appropriate clothing
There will be a shelter, not neccasarily big enough for everyone
There is a Car Park at the Coordinates
Challenging Egg Classes - Boiled Chicken Egg, Blown Chicken Egg, Chocolate Chicken Sized Egg, Open Class.
There will be a reward for the class winners

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Oevat na rtt vs lbh unir bar yrsg

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)