'Wakes' weeks

[BOF]

I know what they are, but why 'wakes'?

[Chillum]

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up -- hence, the custom of holding a "wake."   ref. dullmen.com

[Quizmonster]

Chillum appears to be referring to a different form of 'wake' above. In addition to sitting with the dead, a 'wake' has meant a festival for many centuries. This was because certain religious occasions lasted throughout the night...ie people stayed awake for joyful as well as sad reasons.

 

Later, villages would have such 'wakes', not just for church services, but also for sports, entertainment, dancing etc at a particular time each year. The word was used in the plural, as 'wakes', from the 1500s onwards and - later still - towns in the north of England also had such festivities during one particular whole week. As a result, all the mills and businesses closed down at the same time and most people went off to Blackpool, Scarborough etc for a joint holiday. That's how these jolly times were known as 'wakes-weeks'.

[archbishop]

Glad to see you back Quizzy after your troubles.

[Tefler]

Thank you, Your Grace. I'm delighted to be back in the land of the living, as 'twere. Felt like one of the undead for a few days there!