“The turning of the agricultural year is a route through which a number of customs have emerged,” explains Warren. “The Boy’s Ploughing Match at St Margaret’s Hope in Orkney is a 19th-century custom which was revived in the 20th century for young boys to show off their ploughing skills. It is very likely to have ancient roots.”
Nowadays boys aged between five and early-teens must plough a 4ft-by-4ft patch of beach with miniature wooden ploughs, keeping their furrows as straight as possible to win the prize.
Ras Beca – Preseli Hills, PembrokeshireMid-August
Fell running has become rather fashionable lately, but one of the oldest and strangest runs is the Ras Beca, which commemorates a period of social unrest in the area: Tthe Rebecca Riots. In 1839, an English landowner had set up a toll gate across the countryside which the local Welshmen couldn’t afford to use. That evening, a mysterious figure in ringlets calling herself “Rebecca”, followed by gang members calling themselves her “daughters”, appeared to hack the gate into pieces and destroy the adjacent toll booth.
Nowadays, the fell-running race sees the victor draped in women’s clothing at the finish line and handed an axe in homage to the mysterious, and never-identified, Rebecca.
The Ritual Year: A New Calendar of Britain’s Feasts, Festivals and Folklore by Kiera Chapman, Lulah Ellender, and Rebecca Warren (£14.99, Granta) is available from Aug 13.