Thin pointers of dust-filled light pierced the dark corners of the underground village. Fetching the firewood was a pleasure, and Minnie went even more eagerly, glad of a good excuse to get into the warm sunlight. The younger children were sent out to take the pigs to graze. Easter came and the children were given a holiday from their work. They went rushing around the village, searching for bottles which they scrubbed and cleaned. When all the containers were ready, they climbed the hillside beneath the castle to fill them with clear, cold water from Russet Well. Then there was the fuss and excitement of “the shaking”. Each door in the village must be knocked on as the children begged little bits of liquorice and sugar to add to their bottles. Slowly the mixtures got stronger and sweeter. The bottles were shaken vigorously all the time, and even taken into the church on Easter Sunday, ready for the delicious drinking which happened when the service was over. Minnie looked forward to the end of May for it was then that the celebration of the Castleton Garland took place.
