Some activities traditionally associated with Michaelmas Day (29 September) moved forward eleven days to October 10 after the calendar reform of 1752, which is sometimes called 'Old Michaelmas Day'.
The Old Michaelmas Day falls on 11 October (10 October according to some sources).
According to an old legend, blackberries should not be picked after this date. This is because, so folklore goes, Satan was banished from Heaven on this day, fell into a blackberry bush and cursed the brambles as he fell into them.
In Yorkshire it is said that the devil had spit on them.
According to Morrell (1977), this old legend is well-known in all parts of the United Kingdom, even as far north as the Orkney Islands. |
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