The first Monday after Twelfth-day is so denominated, and it is the
ploughman’s holyday.
Of late years at this season, in the islands of Scilly, the young people
exercise a sort of gallantry called “goose-dancing.” The maidens are
dressed up for young men, and the young men for maidens; and, thus
disguised, they visit their neighbours in companies, where they dance,
and make jokes upon what has happened in the island; and every one is
humorously “told their own,” without offence being taken. By this sort
of sport, according to yearly custom and toleration, there is a spirit
of wit and drollery kept up among the people. The music and dancing
done, they are treated with liquor, and then they go to the next house
of entertainment.[30]
[29] Monthly Magazine, January, 1827.
[30] Strutt’s Sports, 307.
~Topography.~