It was the custom in villages in
England, from the 17th century to the late 19th century, to sit in the church porch on St. Mark's Eve. Those sitting had to keep silent between the bell tolling at 11.00 p.m. until the bell struck 1.00 a.m. It was said that the spirits of those to die during the year would be witnessed passing into the church. In Yorkshire it was necessary to keep vigil for three successive nights. On the third such sitting, the
fetch of those to die would be seen passing into the church. This practice was most prevalent in northern and western counties. Records from 1608 show a woman in Nottinghamshire was censured by her church for participating in St. Mark's Eve. Some accounts of the custom state that the watchers must be
fasting, or must circle the church before taking up position. The ghosts of those who were to die soon would be the first observed, while those who would almost see out the year would not be witnessed until almost 1.00 a.m. Other variations of the
superstition say that the watchers would see headless or rotting corpses, or coffins approaching. "If the person is to be drowned, his representative will come as if struggling and splashing in water, and so on for other cases of premature death." Extract from the poem 'The Vigil of St Mark' (1806) by
James Montgomery: Tis now, replied the village belle, St. Mark’s mysterious eve, And all that old traditions tell I tremblingly believe; How, when the midnight signal tolls, Along the churchyard green, A mournful train of sentenced souls In winding-sheets are seen. The ghosts of all whom death shall doom Within the coming year, In pale procession walk the gloom, Amid the silence drear. Another tradition holds that a young woman can see the face of her future husband appear on her
smock by holding it before the fire on St Mark's Eve. ==In popular literature==