There can be little doubt that the intention of the Church was to anticipate, and therefore gradually to obliterate the pagan festival still held at Martinmas, and it has been successful in many places. In Ireland, for instance; at Samhain,[32] November 1, “the proper time for prophecy and the unveiling of mysteries.”... It was then that fire was lighted at a place called after Mog Ruith’s daughter Tlachtga. From Tlachtga all the hearths in Ireland are said to have been annually supplied, just as the Lemnians had once a year to put their fires out and light them anew from that brought in the sacred ship from Delos. The habit of celebrating _Nos Galan-galaf_ in Wales by lighting bonfires on the hills is possibly not yet extinct. Here, then, we find the pagan fires transferred from the 8th to the 1st of November in Ireland, but in the Isle of Man this is not so. I will anticipate another reference to Rhys by stating that Martinmas had progressed from the 11th to the 24th before the change of style brought it back, “old Martinmas,” November 24, being one of the best recognised “old English holidays,” “old Candlemas” being another, at the other end of the May year; this last had slipped from February 2 to February 15 before it was put back again. With regard to the Isle of Man Rhys writes[33] that the feast is there called Hollantide, and is kept on November 12, a reckoning which he states “is according to the old style.” The question is, are we not dealing here with the Martinmas festival _not_ antedated to November 1? He adds, “that is the day when the tenure of land terminates, and when serving men go to their places. In other words it is the beginning of a new year.” This is exactly what happens in Scotland, and the day is still called Martinmas. There is a custom in mid-England which strikingly reminds us of the importance of Martinmas in relation to old tenures, if even the custom does not carry us still further back. This is the curious and interesting ceremony of collecting the wroth silver, due and payable to his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury on “Martinmas Eve.” The payment is made on an ancient mound on the summit of Knightlow Hill, about five miles out of Coventry, and in the parish of Ryton-on-Dunsmore. One feature about this singular ceremonial is that it must take place before sun-rising. [24] Hazlitt, _Dictionary of Faiths and Folklore_, under Gule of August. [25] _Survey of the South of Ireland_, p. 232. [26] Under Ash Wednesday. [27] Frazer, _Golden Bough_, iii., 238 _et seq._ [28] _Notes to Northumberland Household Book_, 1770, p. 333. [29] Quoted by Hazlitt. [30] Much confusion has arisen with regard to the Holy Thursday in Rogation week because there is another Holy or Maundy Thursday in Easter week. Archæologists have also been often misled by the practice of many writers of describing the May festivals as midsummer festivals. The first of May, of course, marked the beginning of summer.