Hock Tide

Hock Tide (from Anglo-Sax. hocken, to seize), or Hoke Days an English holiday, usually observed on Monday and Tuesday two weeks after Easter, in memory of the slaughter of the Danes by Ethelred, Nov. 13, 1002, according to Henry of Huntingdon, and mentioned in the Confessor's Laws. It was the custom formerly to collect money of the parishioners. A trace of this practice is found as late as 1667. Collections were also taken up at town gates, as at Chichester in the last century. Walcott, Sacred Archaeology, p. 312.