thomasing

An annual custom which was found all over England on 21 December (St Thomas's Day) whereby the poor people of a village visited the houses of their better-off neighbours requesting food and/or provisions to help them through the winter. What was given varied considerably from place to place, but was usually governed by local rules and sanctioned by long custom—a measure of wheat, a stone of flour, a candle, some coal, and so on. Unusually for a visiting custom, nothing was offered in exchange by the callers in most areas, although there are occasional mentions of a rhyme being recited or a piece of mistletoe or holly being given. Under the name ‘Gooding’, the earliest reference to the custom is in John Stow's Survey of London (1560), and it was a regular feature of rural life until it gradually declined through the 19th century as different ways of helping the poor were found, and the well-off turned against ‘begging’. In some parishes, the custom was institutionalized into a regular dole organized by parson and squire. Thomasing lasted in a few districts into Edwardian times. Also called Mumping, Corning, and Doleing.

Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.

• Wright and Lones, 1940: iii. 200-7
• Brand, 1849: i. 455-7