THE arrival of November is often overshadowed by events associated with Hallow’een on October 31. Even into modern times, the festivities of Hallow’een (Hallow Evening) have been linked to festivals that commemorated the dead.

Although Hallow’een is now associated with the Feast of the Eve of All Saints, it had much earlier links with the pagan world of Samain.

That was a huge fire festival that honoured the pagan dead and the participants believed that ghosts of their ancestors returned to their earthly homes that evening.

For that reason, they made elaborate preparations to welcome them, hence the fires that lit up the darkness and the partying with food and drink.

Even now, we celebrate Hallow’een in our own modern ways with little thought of long-dead saints or family members, and probably little knowledge of the pagan links. Whatever the purpose of Hallow’een down the centuries, it has always brightened our surroundings to provide a fitting prelude to the darkness of November.

The poets and other commentators have rarely been kind to November. The month is usually depicted as being cold, dark and foggy with no birdsong, no bees, no flowers and very little sunshine. Ice, snow and floods can be expected and yet when we examine the traditional weather-lore of this grey month, there are signs of cheerfulness and hope.

I’ll begin with a very well known rhyme which seeks to sum up this month.

It is a sombre poem entitled “No” written by Thomas Hood (1799-1845) and is worthy of repetition today: No sun – no moon, No morn – no noon, No dawn, no dusk, no proper time of day.

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member – No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds – November.

There are further criticisms of the month in long-standing pieces of weather –lore such as “Flowers in bloom late in the autumn indicate a bad winter”; “When the water rises in November, it will show itself the whole winter”; and “A heavy November snow will last until April”.

The rural importance of weather forecasting is shown in this belief: “If the November goose’s wishbone be thick, so will the winter weather be. But if the November goose’s bone be thin, so will the winter weather be.”

However, there are some indications of better things.

Thunder in November is said to herald a fertile year to follow, and a hard November often forecasts a warm December in sayings such as: “A cold November, a warm Christmas”; “If there’s ice in November that will bear a duck, there’ll be nothing afterwards but sludge and muck”; and “Ice in November brings mud in December”.

In other words, a cold November heralds a milder December.

November 1 is also the Feast of All Saints, once known as Hallowmass or the Feast of All Hallows, hallow being an ancient word for a saint, and it replaced Samain. There was an old Swedish belief that there was always a spell of fine warm weather around this time and they referred to it as All Saints’ Rest.

British weather-lore said “If on All Saints’ Day the beech nut is found dry, we shall have a hard winter, but if the nut be wet and no light, we may expect a wet winter”

and another saying was “On the first of November if the weather hold clear, an end of wheat sowing you do for this year”.

There is an American piece of weather-lore that says “If All Saints’ brings out the winter, St Martin’s will bring out an Indian summer”.

The Feast Day of St Martin, once known as Martinmas Day or Hollantide, occurs on November 11 and it is said that if the geese stand on ice at Martinmas, they will walk in mud at Christmas. Another saying tells us that if Martinmas Day is fair, dry and cold, the cold of winter will not last very long. However we can expect a cold winter if the tree leaves don’t fall before Martinmas Day.

If the wind comes from the south-south-west at Martinmas and remains in that quarter until St Valentine’s Day (February 14), we shall have a mild winter up to that point with very little snow. However, a wind coming from the north-west at Martinmas heralds a severe winter and the French believe that St Martin’s Day is the herald of winter.

In our pre-Reformation churches, on the Feast of All Saints, masses were held to commemorate the dead when the bells tolled to reinforce the mourning. In some places, mischief was perpetrated on All Saints, since transferred to either Hallowe’en or, in some cases, to Mischief Night, which occurs on November 4. Much of the mischief-making, which was sometimes an excuse for committing criminal damage, is now perpetrated at Hallowe’en. But criminal damage remains illegal!

One of our favourite places to visit is to the top of Sutton Bank which is upon the A170 road that leaves Thirsk and heads for Scarborough. My wife and I enjoy the invigorating walks and views in that area. In addition to that major road, there are several minor routes and paths that lead in various directions from the bank top with the Cleveland Way providing a captivating vista for those who make use of it.

The national park centre at the summit of Sutton Bank provides a wonderful means of learning more about this spectacular place so for all sorts of reasons Sutton Bank Top is a busy place. It could be argued that it has always been so.

In the past, one of the causes of hectic activity was the drovers’ road that passed this way. Heading from Scotland, it entered the North York Moors near Swainby and then ran almost due south as it crossed Black Hambleton. In some places, it skirted the edge of the escarpment to the north of Sutton Bank, roughly along the route of the Cleveland Way long-distance footpath, before dividing close to where the Hambleton Inn now stands. It is distinctly possible this road also made use of one that existed centuries earlier. Although cattle droving had continued since medieval times, it reached its peak during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The precise age of that route from Swainby to Sutton Bank Top is uncertain with some authorities believing it is prehistoric. Evidence of Bronze Age dwellers has been found along the way, and an Iron Age fort was discovered near Boltby. It is highly probable the Romans used it too, and that the Saxons and Norsemen followed this ancient route. There is a tradition that William the Conqueror followed this road in 1069 after completing his Harrying of the North.

The tale suggests he marched from Teesside to York in a snowstorm, during which he got lost on the moors above Bilsdale. The story is that his loud cursing led to a saying still used in Bilsdale, i.e. “He cusses like Billy Norman.” I am not sure whether this is legend or contains an element of truth, but it’s a lovely yarn.