Yorkshire.
It was customary in this country, for the young men in the villages to take off the young girls’ buckles, and, on the Easter Monday, the young men’s shoes and buckles were taken off by the young women. On the Wednesday they were redeemed by little pecuniary forfeits, out of which an entertainment called a Tansey Cake, was provided, and the jollity concluded with dancing. At Ripon, where this custom also prevailed, it is reported that no traveller could pass the town without being stopped, and, if a horseman, having his spurs taken away, unless redeemed by a little money, which was the only means to get them returned. This seems to bear an affinity to the custom of hocking.
Cole in his Hist. of Filey (1828, p. 136) mentions a similar custom as practised in that place. He says, the young men seize the shoes of the females, collecting as many as they can, and, on the following day, the girls retaliate by getting the men’s hats, which are to be redeemed on a subsequent evening, when both parties assemble at one of the inns, and partake of a rural repast.—Gent. Mag. 1790, vol. lx. p. 719.
Two farms lying in the township of Swinton, and which belong to Earl Fitzwilliam, every year change their parish. For one year, from Easter Day at twelve at noon till next Easter Day at the same hour, they lie in the parish of Mexbrough, and then till Easter Day following at the same hour, they are in the parish of Wath-upon-Dearne, and so alternately.—Blount’s Ancient Tenures of Land.