Loremen Podcast - Xmas Pig 2024 with Mark Norman

Episode Date: December 27, 2024

Mark Norman of The Folklore Podcast joins James to share a bit of porcine folklore that hits very close to home! Christmas is a time for reflection, and who among us can say, "Non, je ne piglette rien"? This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor. LoreBoys nether say die! Support the Loremen here (and get stuff): patreon.com/loremenpod ko-fi.com/loremen Check the sweet, sweet merch here... https://www.teepublic.com/stores/loremen-podcast?ref_id=24631 @loremenpod youtube.com/loremenpodcast www.instagram.com/loremenpod www.facebook.com/loremenpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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charities up to $500,000 in total contributions. Well then Merry Christmas Pig listener. It's another Christmas Pig. It's the many pigs of Christmas pig. And today's guest is Mark Norman from the Folklore podcast. Welcome, Mark. Happy Christmas pig. Happy Christmas pig to you too. Are you familiar with the season? I am indeed. I have listened to, I think, every episode of Lawmen since number one. So I am very familiar with the pigs of Christmas. Series one, episode one, even the 107 episode third series.

Even that one. Which I think ended on a cliffhanger somehow. They just automatically appear in my feed and my car plays them when I'm driving and I just can't get them to go away. It would be dangerous for you to not listen, it sounds like. For any listeners who aren't aware of A Christmas Pig, it's Christmas, so we do folklore about pigs. That really is it. There is an origin story, but they'll have to go back and find it. Yeah, something to do with Jesus. I don't know. It's all been lost in the mists of time. Exactly. Well, Mark, have you got a particularly piggy tail for us? I have a

Christmas pig tradition, although it doesn't happen at Christmas to be fair, but it is quite piggy. That's fine as long as it's piggy. It is piggy and I suspect also possibly in the dim and distant past related to you. Me? Yeah. Huh? Maybe your family. Go on. So the custom that I am going to tell you about today is the awarding of a flitch of bacon. Wow.

What is a flitch? So a flitch of bacon is like a side or a steak that's cut from the side of an animal. So you can get it from like beef and fish as well. But particularly cured pork. Right. The side of a piece of pork was known as the flitch. Right. So there was a tradition which was started, we don't know exactly when, but probably in the 13th century from Little Dunmo in Essex. Oh yeah. And this was known as the Dunmo flitch. We find them in other places as well. And this custom awards a flitch of bacon to any married couple who can swear that over the last year and a day, they have not regretted being married to their other

half. So they have to appear in front of a jury and they have to swear that they have not regretted their marriage and that they have been good fine married people. Yeah. And then they get awarded a flitch of bacon for this. Oh wow. And we know that this was a thing because it's recorded in various places. Chaucer talks about it in his tales. It's in a couple of other places as well. It's believed that the original awarding of the flitch was started by Robert Fitzwalter in the 13th century as a condition of his awarding land to the local priory. And there's a story that says that Fitzwalter and his wife, they dressed up as

peasants and they went to the priory and they begged for the blessing of the prior. And in return, the prior priory awarded them originally with a flitch of bacon and a blessing. In return, Fitzwalter then kind of took off his disguise and went, Oh, lo and behold, it's me and awarded land to the priory. But with the condition that this should carry on, that they should award a flitch of bacon to any couple who could swear that they had not regretted their marriage. At any point over the last year specifically? A year and a day. The extra day is vital.

It can't just be a year. No, you can't do a year and then regret it the next day or you don't get your bacon. I suppose that takes into that sort of takes into account leap years, doesn't it? Yes. By doing that. So yeah, yeah, that's fair. That sounds fair. You've got to be careful.

You've got to be careful. What is a priory? Is it nuns? Right. Or have I become confused or are they? Are they monks or are they neither? So it seems to be rubbing it in the face of those poor monks in the priory though. They have to give bacon to people that,

because monks obviously can't get married. No. And presumably some of the monks will be kind of telling themselves, well, yeah, there's, you know, everyone regrets getting married. I regret being a monk. Go all the bacon I can eat. Well, I mean, we've heard about monks on your podcast before, you know, and, uh,

Oh yeah. They never misbehave, do they? But yeah, I mean, there's brother, brother Jekundis Springs to mind. Well, brother Jekundis is, yeah. I mean, he's the classic example, isn't he? He's the drunken monk. I bet he had more than a flitch of bacon in his time. Yeah, I bet he's the sort of one that would go out of the priory and like dress himself up

and get a mannequin and try and pretend that he was another loving couple in order to get extra bacon, because he doesn't want extra bacon. Absolutely. So we know that this happened over over many years. Right. From the 13th century, probably, possibly 14th up until 1751. And the custom died out round about that time. That's a lot of bacon. It's a lot of bacon.

Potentially. But not all of the bacon because the custom comes back in 1855. Now it probably comes back because there's a novel published at that time by an author called William Harrison Ainsworth and that novel is called The Flitch of Bacon. And in that novel, the story of the custom of the flitch of bacon is told as part of the plot. And because of this, the custom gets revived. And what's interesting about the revival of the custom is that we then have some records to say who was awarded a flitch and why. So we know prior to that, that there had been prior to its proper revival, there had been

one or two kind of other attempts. There was a rumor 10 years earlier in 1841 on the anniversary of Queen Victoria's marriage to Prince Albert that she was offered a flitch of bacon but that seems to have not been taken up for some reason. Oh oh no. I mean if you're going to be spurn, you don't want to be spurned over your pork, do you? Yeah. You want to be guaranteed a bacon sandwich at least afterwards. In 1851, there was a local farmer who was refused the flitch because he hadn't managed to evidence correctly that he didn't have any regrets. Someone had probably overheard him muttering in a field.

It's possible. Farmers do do that. That's where they do mostard him muttering in a field. It's possible farmers do do that. That's where they do most of the muttering. Since this revival in 1855, there have been a lot of presentations. There have been a lot of flitches awarded. Prior to that, over the original many hundreds of years that this happened, records are very scant, but we have got records of six people who were awarded the flitch of bacon. One in 1445, one in 1467, one in 1510, two in 1701, obviously a good year for flitches.

Yes, yes. But most importantly, the last of the six that we know of, the 20th of June 1751, a couple from Weathersfield in Essex, I believe, yes, Braintree area of Essex, they were awarded the flitch. And that was a weaver called Thomas Shake Shaft. What? Thomas Shake Shaft. That's my last name. It is. And his wife, Anne, presumably also Shake Shaft, unless she kept her own name, they

were awarded the flitch of bacon. What was the year? It was the 20th of June 1751. I know of one, I know she wasn't, yeah. No, I was related to one Anne, but she was not, she was on the other side. In Essex, it could have been the London Shake Shafts very easily. They would have been, I guess they'd be Donkeys great-great-grandfather. Yeah, and we know this happened because there is an engraving of Thomas and Anne Shake Shaft swearing their oath for the flitch.

Well done, Tommy and Anne. Yeah. I feel proud of that. That engraving is in the British Museum. You can go and look at it. Is it? It is. You can go and look at it.

Alternatively, you can look at the Wikipedia site for the flitch of bacon because it's on there as well. Is it? It is. I'm going to do that now. It site for the flitch of bacon, because it's on there as well. Is it? It is. I'm going to do that now. It's just called flitch of bacon. Yes, flitch of bacon, or flitch of bacon custom, actually it's called. And there are a couple of engravings on here.

So there's an engraving of Thomas and Anne Shakespeare. Oh yeah. Carried in procession through the town. Oh, he looks like he's dressed as a jester. He does. Oh, that boy in the foreground is not happy. No, it's probably his flitch that they're giving away, I reckon. The woman next to him looks slightly shocked by something.

Yeah. I'm not sure what. Yeah, I don't want to, don't want to guess. But a bit further down on the same page, you can see them swearing the oath. Oh yeah. Kneeling on a couple of very uncomfortable looking pyramids. Yeah. Never made any nuptial transgress, offended each other, indeed or in word, since you are man and wife.

Yeah. Right. Oh, it's a bit of a rhyme. Some at summit, some at contentious strife. Otherwise, at bed or at board, offended each other, indeed or in ward. Oh, it's a bit of a rhyme. Some of the summit, some at contentious strife. Otherwise at bed or at board offended each other in deed or in ward. Oh, it's a poem. It is. Yeah.

Yeah. Don't go there. It is a poem. A gammon of bacon you shall receive and bear hence with the love and good leave. For this is the custom of Dunmo. This is our custom at Dunmo. Well known though the sport be ours, the bacon's your own. Oh, nice.

That's very nice. But was it like only on a certain day you could do it? No, it would have been round about the same sort of time of the year. I think it was in June sort of time that most of the flitches were awarded. So it was an annual custom. Right. So you had to not offend during a specific year and a day. Yes. Yeah.

You can't have like a rolling, because otherwise you could have a rolling one where it'd be like you'd come back for the flitch the next day because it'd be like we haven't fallen out. No, no. I think you've got to go- In the last 24 hours. So it's still a year and a day. Yeah. I think you've got to go June to June. No, I think this is why I'd rule myself out because I'd just be too annoying. And that would annoy my wife. So it's hung around this custom.

It's still, you know, you still find it being performed from time to time. There are other examples in literature and things like that. I think my favorite, though, was the fact that there was a game show. What? Which there was a game show which was inspired by the flitch trials where couples had to compete to prove how good their relationship was and win a prize. And that game show was called Seven Year Flitch. Oh, that is first class. That is lovely. Punish. Is that true? When was that on?

I don't know when it was on. It's referred to in the 1990s, but I think the show might have been a little bit earlier than that. And the price is right, but the moments are sticky. Whoa. That is brilliant. Thank you very much, Mark. And I mean, that's a good way for any sickeningly loving couples

who want to score themselves some sweet, sweet pork. Celebrate, ring in Christmas pig with some free bacon. Absolutely. And that is, I believe, the first Shake Shaft approved Christmas pig that we've had on the show. Yeah, definitely. But that was wonderful. Thank you very much, Mark. And of course, happy Xmas Pig, happy Christmas Pig to you. Thank you and to you and yours. To all those who celebrate.