Michelmasse  -  in the middle ages holiday activities were often held on September 29th, following the equinox, marking the official end of the farming and accounting year. This was an important time, when manor books were closed out, rents paid, a new reeve (the chief officer of the village) was chosen, and storehouses stocked for the winter ahead.  

   St. Michael, patron saint of Somerset, revered in medieval times for his strength and courage, is the angel credited with casting Lucifer out of paradise and conveying souls off to the place of judgement, for which reason he is also patron saint of  trades using scales (chefs, goldsmiths, and millers, no doubt).  

   Celebration  of this holiday traditionally was symbolized with  glofe, gees, and gyngeuer.  The glove represented the open-handedness and generosity of the lord of the village, goose eaten for good luck in the coming year (�If you eat goose on Michelmasse day, you will never want money all year�), and ginger, believed to provide protection against infection.   The harvest feast paid the laborers for their boon work with meat, fish, ale and good bread