For Dalesman at Christmas 2014, I investigated the origins of Scroggling the Holly, a Christmas tradition unique to the Bronte village of Haworth, West Yorkshire.

Scroggling the Holly in Haworth

Early in December, people in Haworth, the Bronte village in West Yorkshire, Scroggle the Holly.  On Scroggling day, a crowd of children and adults, dressed in Victorian costume and carrying brimming baskets of holly, gathers round the Christmas tree at the bottom the hill.

From here, children, adults, musicians and Morris Men process up the hill to the Church steps.  Here, in a simple but heart-warming ceremony, a young girl is crowned Holly Queen.

For the rest of the season, Haworth’s Holly Queen leads the Christmas festivities in the village.  Her first duty – carried out immediately after her Crowning, is to unlock the Church gates, to allow Christmas – personified in Father Christmas – to enter the village.

The people of Haworth have taken the tradition to their hearts, and every girl in the village dreams of becoming the Holly Queen.  But what are the origins of Scroggling?  Mike Hutchinson, whose role as Beadle involves clearing a path through the crowds for the Queen, recalls the origins of the custom: “A lady called Anne Smith, who is sadly no longer with us, came up with the concept a long time ago,” he says.

The name, scroggling, he adds, was discovered by Anne’s husband, Dennis.  Mike explains, “We found out that scroggling is an ancient word for gathering.  Then, I was watching Call My Bluff, and the word Scrog came up.  It was an ancient Celtic word for gift.  So it all fell into place – it seemed like fate – and we called it Scroggling the Holly.”

That was many years ago, and now a generation of children has grown up Scroggling to mark the start of Christmas.  As they grow up and go elsewhere, will they take their own tradition with them to other places?

Time will tell.