Michaelmas in Wales: Geese, Fairs and the Blackberry Warning
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Michaelmas falls on 29 September. In Welsh, the established name is Gŵyl Fihangel. The day belongs to the Christian calendar, but records from Wales also connect it with geese, market fairs and a warning about the last blackberries of autumn.
These are Michaelmas traditions Wales records in particular places, not one ceremony observed in every part of the country. They were local expressions of a date that sat at a useful turning point: the harvest was ending, livestock and labour changed hands, rents and agreements came due, and colder weather was close. That mixture makes Michaelmas a revealing window into the old farming year.
What is Michaelmas, and what is its Welsh name?
Michaelmas is the traditional English name for the Christian feast of St Michael and All Angels. The Church in Wales calendar places Michael and All Angels on 29 September. This is the starting point: Michaelmas is a Christian feast shared far beyond Wales, not an ancient celebration unique to the Welsh.
The Welsh Government's TermCymru dictionary records Gŵyl Fihangel as the established Welsh proper noun for Michaelmas. It defines the term as the festival of St Michael on 29 September. The spelling and circumflex matter, so the name should not be reduced to an unaccented form.
| Tradition | What the Welsh record shows | How certain is it? |
|---|---|---|
| Geese | Museum Wales records farmers giving geese to tenants and workmen for Michaelmas. | Documented Welsh food history |
| Fairs | Local histories record Michaelmas fairs at towns including Cricieth and Cowbridge. | Documented locally, not one national custom |
| Blackberries | A Welsh education resource records a belief that berries became unlucky after a Michaelmas date in October. | Folklore, with a practical late-season context |
Why did Michaelmas matter to the farming year?
A fixed date near the end of harvest was useful. Across rural life, Michaelmas became a point for settling accounts, changing tenancies, hiring workers and holding livestock sales. The exact arrangements varied by estate and district, but the calendar helped people organise work before winter.
The local evidence is more informative than a sweeping claim about all of Wales. A history of Cricieth in the People's Collection Wales, for example, describes Michaelmas in October as an important borough occasion when two bailiffs were elected and a large fair was held. It places civic business, markets and seasonal movement on the same day.
This also explains why Michaelmas stories are full of food and animals rather than only church services. The feast arrived when grain had been cut, grazing was changing and farms were deciding what could be eaten, sold or kept through winter.
Why were geese associated with Michaelmas?
Geese suited the season. Museum Wales explains that they were easy to breed and feed, especially when allowed to glean grain left in fields after the corn harvest. Many farmers gave a goose to tenants and workmen for Michaelmas Day, while other birds were kept and fattened for the Christmas market.
The custom was therefore both celebratory and practical. A goose marked the end of demanding harvest work, but it also came from the rhythms of the farm. It should not be presented as something every Welsh household ate on 29 September. The surviving account describes a practice among many farmers, not a universal national menu.
What happened at Welsh Michaelmas fairs?
Fairs turned a church date into a public landmark. They could bring together livestock dealing, hiring, official business, stalls and entertainment, although their character changed from town to town and over time.
Cricieth: a fair and a borough day
The People's Collection Wales account says Cricieth's Michaelmas fair was reputed to be the largest in north-west Wales. The same occasion was used to elect the borough's two bailiffs. Nearby markets served farmers, drovers, shepherds and dealers, so the fair belonged to both the town's government and its rural economy.
Cowbridge: a long market history
Records collected by the same national archive show how important September fairs remained in Cowbridge. A 1914 directory lists a fair on 29 September, while a 1962 market report advertises a "Cowbridge Old Fair" on that date with cattle, ewes, lambs and rams. These are snapshots from particular years, but together they show that the Michaelmas date retained commercial meaning well into the twentieth century.
The evidence does not justify imagining every Welsh town staging the same spectacle. It shows something more interesting: communities adapted a shared calendar date to local needs.
Why were blackberries avoided after Michaelmas?
An old belief said that blackberries should not be eaten or gathered after Michaelmas. A Welsh-language woodland folklore resource hosted by Hwb records the warning and tells how the devil, angry after losing a battle with the Archangel Michael, was believed to spoil the berries each year.
That is folklore, not a claim about what happens to fruit on one supernatural deadline. The same resource offers a practical observation: tannins can make berries more bitter by autumn, while wetter weather can encourage fungal spores. The National Trust's current foraging advice identifies August, September and early October as the best picking period.
Modern foraging needs a different sort of care too. Pick only where access and collection are permitted, leave plenty for wildlife and other people, and wash fruit before eating it. Folklore can enrich a walk, but it does not replace identification or food-safety advice.
Michaelmas traditions Wales still records today
Yes, most clearly in the church calendar and in place-based heritage. In 2026, Cadw's Open Doors programme at St Davids Cathedral included worship, talks and tours across 26, 27 and 29 September. On Michaelmas Day itself, a cathedral tour recalled Henry II's visit on the same feast in 1171.
That programme is a timely example, not proof of a mass secular revival. Many people in Wales will pass 29 September without marking Michaelmas at all. Others meet its legacy indirectly through church dedications, old fair dates, rent records, farm histories or the blackberry story.
The custom's value lies in those layers. Gŵyl Fihangel can mean a religious feast, an entry in a farm account, a goose given after harvest, a busy market or a warning repeated beside a hedgerow. Welsh tradition rarely survives as one untouched ritual. It survives through the different uses communities found for a shared date.
Sources, further reading and image credits
- Church in Wales: holy days and other services
- Welsh Government TermCymru: Michaelmas
- Museum Wales: Christmas traditions and the goose
- People's Collection Wales: Cricieth fairs
- Hwb woodland folklore resource
- Cadw: Open Doors at St Davids Cathedral, September 2026
Feature image: unknown photographer, via People's Collection Wales and Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cathedral image: Csmith129 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Blackberry image: Helen Steed via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
