The Festival of the Popinjay
Preserved but no longer current.
The first Sunday in May, when a figure of a popinjay, decked with parti-coloured feathers and suspended from a pole, served as a target for shooting practice. He whose ball or arrow brought down the bird by cutting the string by which it was hung, received the proud title of "Captain Popinjay," or "Captain of the Popinjay," for the rest of the day, and was escorted home in triumph.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “The Festival of the Popinjay” mean?
The first Sunday in May, when a figure of a popinjay, decked with parti-coloured feathers and suspended from a pole, served as a target for shooting practice. He whose ball or arrow brought down the bird by cutting the string by which it was hung, received the proud title of "Captain Popinjay," or "Captain of the Popinjay," for the rest of the day, and was escorted home in triumph.
Is “The Festival of the Popinjay” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.