Kmflett's Blog

Easter traditions: the importance of ‘Tosspot’

Tosspot, a Medieval term for a drunkard, referenced by Shakespeare in the final passage of Twelfth Night, was an important figure in popular- that is non-religious- Easter traditions.

Easter saw versions of the Mystery Plays where St George slayed various enemies, while the figure of Tosspot laughed at them.

Another Easter tradition saw groups of less well-off usually younger men, collect money for the Easter feasts that ended Lent. They went from house to house and from village to village collecting funds. The figure who actually collected the money was Tosspot.

Easter is the most important of the Christian religious periods but it also has traditions which are rooted in very different popular pursuits.

Don’t expect to hear about these traditions from the self appointed guardians of British culture even if a discussion on Old Tosspot with Nigel Farage and others on GBNews would be highly appropriate