92 The Calendar of Nature. 



patronage of the higher ranks of residents. Here and 

 there the feast-day, however (the da}' on which the 

 church was dedicated), is still remembered, as in this 

 village, where the elder farmers invite their friends 

 and provide liberall}' for the occasion. Some of the 

 gipsies still come with their stalls, and a little crowd 

 assembles in the evening ; but the glory of the true 

 feast has departed. 



The elder men, nevertheless, j'et reckon bj^ the 

 feast day ; it is a fixed point in their calendar, which 

 they construct every year, of local events. Such 

 and such a fair is calculated to fall so many days 

 after the first full moon in a particular month ; and 

 another fair falls so long after that. An old man will 

 thus tell 3'ou the dates of every fair and feast in 

 all the villages and little towns ten or fifteen miles 

 round about. He quite ignores the modern system 

 of reckoning time, going by the ancient ecclesiastical 

 calendar and the moon. How deepl}^ the ancient 

 method must have impressed itself into the life of 

 these people to still remain a kind of instinct at this 

 late day ! 



The feasts are in some cases identified with certain 

 well-recognized events in the calendar of Nature ; 

 such as the ripening of cherries. It may be noticed 

 that these, chancing thus to correspond prett}' accu- 

 rately on the average with the state of fruit, are kept 

 up more vigorously than those which have no such aid 

 to the memory. The Lady Day fair and Michaelmas 

 fair at the adjacent market town are the two best 

 recognized holidays of the year. The fair is some- 

 times called ' the mop,' and stalwart girls will walk 

 eight or nine miles rather than miss it. Maid-ser- 



