Michaelmas is the festival in the Christian calendar that celebrates The Archangel St Michael. It is often deemed to be the start of autumn. This day is also a quarter day on which rents are due for payment and generally the settling of debts.
Historically Michaelmas was the day when workers could terminate their contracts of service and seek new employment. Workers seeking new employment attended hiring Fairs and they carried a symbol of their trade or craft. Maids would carry a mop, a shepherd a crook or a cowman a straw and so on. On gaining suitable employment the worker gave their new employer their trade symbol and would receive a ribbon in return.
In England Michaelmas was associated with the eating of a goose. A traditional rhyme states: ‘Whoever eats goose on Michaelmas Day, Shall never lack money for his debts to pay.’ Goose fairs were traditionally held on this day and at Tavistock in Cornwall the goose fair can trace its history back to the 12th Century and along with Nottingham in the East Midlands is still going strong today.
Perhaps one of the most common associations with Michaelmas is the Michaelmas daisy. A member of the Aster family, this hardy perennial flowers from August into September and its blue or pink flowers attract bees to the garden.