2nd January
Hubberholme Candle Auction
Source: Pixyled Publications/ In search of traditional customs and ceremonies website
Today and the first week in January is when candle auctions are held - annual auctions for grazing rights or other agricultural practices on pieces of village or town common land, most of which date from the eighteenth century (although some are claimed to be much older). In their day candle auctions represented a chance to pick up some prime land for a very reasonable rent although these days they often have a more charitable status with proceeds going to good causes. In Hubberholme in North Yorkshire , The George pub hosts a candle auction on the first Monday of the New Year, for an 16-acre piece of land known as Poor Pasture. Bidding begins at 8pm with the lighting of a traditional candle and hots up when a pin stuck through the candle threatens to fall as it burns down. Once the the pin falls, the auction ends, approximately four hours after bidding commenced. The maintenance of the Poor Pasture is then the legal responsibility of the successful bidder for twelve months, and it can be put to a number of permitted purposes, but no building on it is allowed.
The auctioneer is the local vicar who puts the proceeds to charitable use. The landlord of the pub also commits to keeping the candle lit every day during opening hours. There are at least ten other candle auctions held up and down the country at this time of year, with some being more recent revivals of the old custom.
