CovSoc member and Chair of the Friends of Coventry Cathedral, Martin Williams, tells us about the historic quarter day of Michaelmas. Martin writes…
On September 29th each year we celebrate the Patronal Festival of our Cathedral Church dedicated to St Michael – Michaelmas. This year in order to mark the occasion the Sunday two days later (1st October) has been designated Cathedral Chapter Sunday, when the Cathedral’s administrative body will be the focus of our prayers.
Today the celebration of Michaelmas is something that you rarely come across outside the church. Back in the time of Charles Dickens, Michaelmas was widely celebrated by the cooking of a Michaelmas Goose. I have not been able to discover exactly how this tradition started. For all I know it may still be followed in some families or in some parts of the country. It is certainly an old custom that you can read about in Victorian cookery books.
Michaelmas was an important date for me when I worked in a legal office. Michaelmas Day is one of the legal Quarter Days. There are four “quarter days” each year – Lady Day (25th March), Midsummer (24th June), Michaelmas (29th September) and Christmas (25th December). They are three months apart and near to solstices or equinoxes, as well as marking religious festivals.
The legal importance of Quarter Days arose because on these four dates servants were hired, rents fell due, or leases were begun. Until King Henry VIII broke with Rome, harvesting was also supposed to be finished by Michaelmas, so that date marked the end of one natural cycle and the beginning of another. This is the reason that Michaelmas used to mark the start of legal terms and university terms. Today the name Michaelmas Term remains, but the dates are adjusted for administrative convenience.
The Michaelmas Goose was sometimes called the Stubble Goose. That name arose because as harvesting proceeded the geese were let into the stubble fields where the ate their fill and were in prime condition for the table.
Why choose a goose for Michaelmas? The traditional story is that Queen Elizabeth I heard of the defeat of the Armada in the middle of a meal when she was dining on goose. In joyful celebration she resolved henceforth to eat goose on Michaelmas Day – and everyone followed suit! (A bit far-fetched?)
A different and more down to earth explanation has been suggested. Michaelmas was the day when rent was due, so it is said that the tenants who were seeking extra time for payment would soften up the landlord with the gift of a goose in its prime. Back in the 15th century some anonymous poet wrote a verse reminder of the gifts appropriate for the Quarter Days.
At Christmas a capon,
At Michaelmas a goose,
And something else at New Year’s Tide,
For fear the lease flies loose!
I cannot recall just how long ago it is since I last ate goose, but I came across a saying that might make us all think again about our Michaelmas dinner menu.
Who eateth goose on Michael’s Day,
Shan’t money lack his debts to pay.
This article first appeared in the September 2023 edition of the Chair’s E News