In Central Europe St Thomas Day was a time for driving out demons by making loud noises, cracking whips, letting off fireams or ringing bells — all while wearing horrible masks — or by using incense and holy water and saying the rosary. St Thomas himself was said in Bohemia to ride at midnight in a chariot of fire to the graveyard where he met the spirits of all the dead men named Thomas; there he blessed them and disappeared as they returned to their graves.
In other parts of Europe it was a time for schools to be breaking up for the Christmas vacation, an opportunity for social inversion, barring-out of teachers or extorting treats from them. “Thomas Donkey” is the title given to the last to wake up or who comes late to work on Thomas Day in some parts of Germany. In Norway it was once the custom for all preparatory work for the Christmas season to be completed by St Thomas Day. A two-week’s supply of wood for the stove had to be ready, else the saint would come and take away the axe; all baking and brewing had to be finished lest a string of kitchen mishaps take place.