CHAPTER XVDIVINATIONLove DivinationThe most prevalent of all the superstitious practices and charms for divining future events are the ceremonies connected with love-divination. Many of them are still in use, secretly practised by the country maiden who is pining for a sweetheart, or having one, doubts if he will prove constant; or if she is so fortunate as to possess several admirers, she wonders which to select, and seeks this aid to help her in her choice. Fortune-telling by means of plants is mostly done by children, and is indeed little more than a game. The plant most commonly employed for this purpose is the rye-grass, calledaye-no-bent(Glo.),what’s your sweetheart(Sus.), andtinker-tailor grass(Som.Dev.). The alternate seeds are picked off one by one from the bottom upwards, to the words: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, Rich man, poor man, beggarman, thief, each seed representing the occupation named at the moment it is plucked. The list is repeated over and over again till there is only one seed left standing at the top, and this is the calling of the future husband of the girl who is trying to read her fate. The same game is also played with the leaves of thepick-folly(Nhp.), the lady’s smock, and with the fruit-stones left on a plate after eating a helping of pie. The date of future marriage is foretold by plucking off the petals of a field daisy one by one to the words: This year, next year, sometime, never. In Shropshire, children playing with a cowslip-ball toss it up and say: Tissy-ball, tissy-ball, tell me true, How many years have I to go through? Then, if they catch it as it comes down they count it for a year, and so, on and on, as the ball is tossed up and caught again. A love-divination game played by school-children in Berkshire villages has been describedto me thus: write out your own name in full, and below it the name of your chosen sweetheart. Then cross out every letter of the alphabet common to both names, and count over the remaining letters by repeating: Friendship, courtship, marriage, through each name taken separately, and the result will show the future relationship between the two. Just lately, a young woman I know well was feeling thoroughly depressed about her lover, for in spite of his long-standing devotion, he yet seemed in no hurry to ‘get settled’; when a friend of hers suggested putting the matter to the test of this charm, which they used to work on their slates in school, and exhibit over their shoulders to little boys behind, when the teacher was not looking that way. Both names ran out with ‘marriage’, and sure enough, within a very short time the young man announced that he was looking out for a cottage with a view to the wedding this autumn! The common yarrow foretells constancy in courtship. Take one of the serrated leaves of the plant, and with it tickle the inside of the nostrils, repeating at the same time the following lines: Yarroway, yarroway, bear a white blow, If my love love me my nose will bleed now (e.An.). If blood follows this charm success in love is certain. Similarly apple-pips may be consulted on this point. The name of the possible lover must be whispered, or thought of in silence, and then the pip placed in the fire, or on the hot bars of the grate, and these lines repeated: If you love me, pop and fly, If you hate me, burn and die. This is also done with nuts, and with peas. In some parts of the country the ceremony is only efficacious if performed onSt.Mark’s Eve, April 24, or Hallowe’en,Oct.31. Apple-pips are also used as a charm to tell in what direction the future wife or husband lies. The pips are pressed between the finger and thumb until they fly, the following verse being repeated meanwhile: Pippin, pippin, paradise, Tell me where my love lies; East, west, north, south, Kirby, Kendal, Cockermouth (Lan.). The potency of theeven-ash, i.e. an ash-leaf with an even number of leaflets, shows itself thus; the young girl who finds onerepeats the words: This even-ash I hold in my han’, The first I meet is my true man. She then asks the first male person she meets on the road what his Christian name is, and this will be the name of her future husband (Irel.Dev.). It is considered as lucky to find an even-ash as to find a four-leaved clover, for: Even-ash and four-leaved clover, See your true love ere the day’s over (Nhb.Shr.Dev.Cor.). If you find nine peas in a pod, and place the pod over the door, the first person who comes in will bear the Christian name of your future partner in life (Shr.Ken.),cp.:As peascods once I pluck’d, I chanced to seeOne that was closely fill’d with three times three,Which when I cropp’d I safely home convey’d,And o’er my door the spell in secret laid.My wheel I turn’d, and sung a ballad new,While from the spindle I the fleeces drew;The latch moved up, when who should first come in,But in his proper person, —— Lubberkin.Gay,The Shepherd’s Week: Thursday, or The Spell.How to discover a LoverOther ways of discovering the name of the lover are: Cut through the stem of a bracken fern, and the veins will show the initial letter (Nrf.); examine the veins on the back of your left hand, and note the letter they form; on May morning, take a small white slug termed adrutheen(Irel.), place it on a slate covered with flour or fine dust, and the track it pursues in the dust will form the initial letter of the name of the prospective husband; place a key at random in a Bible, and note the letter to which it points (Oxf.); take an apple, pare it whole, and holding the paring in your right hand, stand in the middle of the room repeating the following lines:St.Simon and Jude, on you I intrude,By this paring I hold to discover,Without any delay to tell me this day,The first letter of my own true lover.A future Husband’s Occupation revealedThen turn round three times, and cast the paring over your left shoulder, and it will form the first letter of the future husband’s surname. A form of this divination trick was tomy knowledge practised by some of the kindergarten children at the Oxford High School in 1910. A method whereby Berkshire damsels of to-day seek to discover the name of a future husband is this: Split open an unused envelope, and write three names of young men you know, or would like to know, one in each of three corners, leaving one corner a blank. Place a piece of wedding-cake in the middle of the envelope, and fasten it up firmly, and then lay it under your pillow for three successive nights. Each morning tear off a corner, and the name left on the fourth morning will be the name of the destined husband, or if it is the blank corner which remains, then you will die an old maid. The future husband’s occupation may be revealed on New Year’s Eve by pouring some melted lead into a glass of water, and observing what form the drops assume. If they resemble scissors, they point to a tailor; if they depict a hammer, then they foretell a carpenter, and so on (Lan.). Another similar custom, belonging to Midsummer Day, is recorded as known in Cornwall: Get a glass of water, throw into it the white of a freshly-broken egg, and then put the glass to stand in the sunshine. You will soon see by careful observation, the ropes and yards of a vessel if your husband is to be a sailor, or a plough and team if he is to be a farmer. If when you first hear the cuckoo you take off your left shoe and stocking, you will find inside the latter a hair of the same colour as that of the person you will marry (Shr.),cp.‘Then doff’d my shoe, and by my troth, I swear, Therein I spy’d this yellow frizled hair,’ Gay,Thursday, or The Spell. Charms for procuring a vision of the beloved are: onSt.Thomas’ Eve,Dec.20, peel a large red onion, stick nine pins into it and say: GoodSt.Thomas, do me right, Send me my true love this night, In his clothes and his array, Which he weareth every day, and then place the onion under your pillow; on All Saints’ Eve go into the garden alone at midnight, and while the clock is striking twelve pluck nine sage-leaves, one at every stroke up to the ninth, when you will see the face of the future husband, or if not,you will see a coffin (Shr.); gather twelve sage-leaves at noon, keep them in a saucer till midnight, then drop them one by one from your chamber window into the street, simultaneously with each stroke of the hour, the future husband will then either be seen, or else his step will be heard in the street below (Yks.); on Midsummer Eve walk through the garden with a rake over your left shoulder, and throw hempseed over your right, repeating the while: Hempseed I set, hempseed I sow, The man that is my true love Come after me and mow. The future husband will then appear following with a scythe. This charm with variations in the words used, and performed at different seasons, is widespread throughout the country,cp.:A Midsummer-Eve CharmAt eve last midsummer no sleep I sought,But to the field a bag of hemp-seed brought,I scatter’d round the seed on ev’ry side,And three times in a trembling accent cried,This hemp-seed with my virgin hand I sow,Who shall my true-love be, the crop shall mow.I straight look’d back, and if my eyes speak truth,With his keen scythe behind me came the youth.Gay,The Shepherd’s Week: Thursday, or The Spell.Rites on the Eve ofSt.AgnesGet up at midnight on All Saints’ Eve and stand before a looking-glass, combing your hair with one hand, and eating an apple held in the other, and as the clock strikes twelve you will see in the glass the face of the man you will marry looking over your left shoulder (Shr.Wor.). I can remember a schoolfellow of mine performing this ceremony, but in her case the prophecy proved a false one, for according to her description, the chief feature of the man in the vision was his moustache, and the man she ultimately married had none, for he was a clean-shaven clergyman. Perhaps the reason why the charm failed was because she had no apple to eat! On the Eve ofSt.Mark (Yks.), or ofSt.Agnes, Jan. 20 (Lan.), place on the floor a lightedpigtail, a small farthing candle, which must have been previously stolen, or else the charm will not work. Then sit down in silence and watch it till it begins to burn blue, when the future husbandwill appear and walk across the room. The following is a very simple plan: Spread bread and cheese on the table, and sit down to it alone, observing strict silence. As the clock strikes twelve your future lover will appear and join you at your frugal meal (Cor.). OnSt.Agnes’ Fast,Jan.21, you can procure a sight of your future husband thus: Eat nothing all day till bedtime, then boil an egg hard, extract the yolk, fill up the cavity with salt, and eat the egg, shell and all, then walk backwards to bed, repeating these lines: SweetSt.Agnes, work thy fast; If ever I be to marry man, Or man be to marry me, I hope him this night to see (Nhb.). Some say that the same result may be effected by eating a raw red herring, bones and all, before going to bed; or by placing the shoes, on going to bed, at right angles to each other in the shape of a T, saying the while: I place my shoes in form of a T, Hoping my true love to see; Not dressed in his best array, But in the clothes he wears every day (Nhb.Dev.). Another more elaborate ceremony is the preparation of thedumb-cakeonSt.Mark’s or sometimes onSt.Agnes’ Eve (n.Cy.Nhb.Yks.Nhp.Nrf.); or, as in Oxfordshire, on Christmas Eve, under the commonplace name ofdough-cake. The cake must be prepared fasting, and in silence. When ready it must be placed in a pan on the coals to bake, and at midnight the future husband will come in, turn the cake, and go out again. In order to dream of the future husband: on a Friday night, when you go to bed, draw your left stocking into your right and say: This is the blessed Friday night; I draw my left stocking into my right, To dream of the living, not of the dead, To dream of the young man I am to wed (Shr.), then go to sleep without uttering another word; read the verse: ‘Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?’Jobxvii. 3, after supper, then wash up the supper dishes and go to bed without speaking a word, placing the Bible under your pillow with a pin stuck through the verse previously read (ne.Sc.); or place a Bible under your pillow with a crooked sixpence over theverses: ‘And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee....’Ruthi. 16, 17(Lan.); take a blade-bone of mutton, stick it full of pins, go upstairs to bed walking backwards, and place the bone under your pillow (Yks.); get a piece of wedding-cake, carry it upstairs backwards, tie it in your left stocking with your right garter, place it under your pillow, and get into bed backwards, keeping strict silence all the while (Cor.). In its simplest form of sleeping with what Addison calls ‘an handsome slice of bride-cake ... placed very conveniently under’ the pillow, this is perhaps the most widely practised of all the dream-charms. Gather on a Friday at midnight nine leaves of the she-holly,Ilex aquifolium, tie them with nine knots inside a three-cornered handkerchief, and place them under the pillow (Nhb.). A way of finding out if you will ever be married or not, is to go into the farmyard at night and tap smartly at the door of the fowl-house. If a hen first cackles, you will never marry, but if a cock crows first then you will marry before the end of the coming year (Dev.). The merry-thought of a fowl is frequently used to ascertain which of two young people will be the first to enter the married state. In some places the shorter piece of the broken bone denotes the nearer marriage, elsewhere the longer piece is the coveted portion. In Northumberlandscadded[scalded] peas were formerly eaten out of a large bowl, and the person who obtained the last pea was supposed to be the first married.Beside these ceremonies—of which the above are a mere handful among the hosts of examples of this popular form of divination which might be quoted—there are the more serious and solemn practices for discovering approaching death, such aswatching the kirkonSt.Mark’s Eve (Dur.Yks.). The watcher took up his post at midnight in the church porch, and between then and one o’clock he would see pass into the church one by one the figures of all the persons in the parish who would die within the coming year. According to some, all the parishioners would be seen to defile into the church, and then those destined to live through the yearwould pass out thence, while the doomed would remain behind and never be seen again. AnotherSt.Mark’s Eve custom was thecaff-riddling(Yks.), a mode of divination by means of ariddleand chaff. The inquirer repaired at midnight to the barn, and leaving the doors wide open, he there riddled the contents of his sieve, and watched for portents. If a funeral procession passed by, or shapes of men carrying a coffin, then the watcher would die within a year, but if nothing appeared he was destined to live.St.Mark’s Eve was also the night forash-riddling(n.Cy.). The ashes were riddled on the hearth, and left there untouched when the family retired to rest, the idea being, that if any of the inmates of the house were fated to die within the year, the print of his or her shoe would be found impressed in the soft ashes.Divination to discover TheftThe ancient form of divination by ‘riddle and shears’ was used for the discovery of theft. A sieve was held in a pair of shears, whilst the names of suspected persons were uttered. At the mention of the culprit’s name, the sieve was supposed to turn round. Similar to this are the investigations made with ‘Bible and key’, though the details of the performance vary slightly in different parts of the country. In Devonshire the trial was conducted thus: the name of the suspected person was written on a piece of paper and placed within the leaves of a Bible, together with the front-door key, the wards of which must rest on the eighteenth verse of Psalm 1: ‘When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him.’ The left garters of two persons were then tied round the Bible, and these two persons placed their right forefingers under the bow of the key, repeating at the same time the above-mentioned verse. If the Bible moved, the suspected person was condemned as guilty, if it remained stationary, he was adjudged innocent.
Love Divination
The most prevalent of all the superstitious practices and charms for divining future events are the ceremonies connected with love-divination. Many of them are still in use, secretly practised by the country maiden who is pining for a sweetheart, or having one, doubts if he will prove constant; or if she is so fortunate as to possess several admirers, she wonders which to select, and seeks this aid to help her in her choice. Fortune-telling by means of plants is mostly done by children, and is indeed little more than a game. The plant most commonly employed for this purpose is the rye-grass, calledaye-no-bent(Glo.),what’s your sweetheart(Sus.), andtinker-tailor grass(Som.Dev.). The alternate seeds are picked off one by one from the bottom upwards, to the words: Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, Rich man, poor man, beggarman, thief, each seed representing the occupation named at the moment it is plucked. The list is repeated over and over again till there is only one seed left standing at the top, and this is the calling of the future husband of the girl who is trying to read her fate. The same game is also played with the leaves of thepick-folly(Nhp.), the lady’s smock, and with the fruit-stones left on a plate after eating a helping of pie. The date of future marriage is foretold by plucking off the petals of a field daisy one by one to the words: This year, next year, sometime, never. In Shropshire, children playing with a cowslip-ball toss it up and say: Tissy-ball, tissy-ball, tell me true, How many years have I to go through? Then, if they catch it as it comes down they count it for a year, and so, on and on, as the ball is tossed up and caught again. A love-divination game played by school-children in Berkshire villages has been describedto me thus: write out your own name in full, and below it the name of your chosen sweetheart. Then cross out every letter of the alphabet common to both names, and count over the remaining letters by repeating: Friendship, courtship, marriage, through each name taken separately, and the result will show the future relationship between the two. Just lately, a young woman I know well was feeling thoroughly depressed about her lover, for in spite of his long-standing devotion, he yet seemed in no hurry to ‘get settled’; when a friend of hers suggested putting the matter to the test of this charm, which they used to work on their slates in school, and exhibit over their shoulders to little boys behind, when the teacher was not looking that way. Both names ran out with ‘marriage’, and sure enough, within a very short time the young man announced that he was looking out for a cottage with a view to the wedding this autumn! The common yarrow foretells constancy in courtship. Take one of the serrated leaves of the plant, and with it tickle the inside of the nostrils, repeating at the same time the following lines: Yarroway, yarroway, bear a white blow, If my love love me my nose will bleed now (e.An.). If blood follows this charm success in love is certain. Similarly apple-pips may be consulted on this point. The name of the possible lover must be whispered, or thought of in silence, and then the pip placed in the fire, or on the hot bars of the grate, and these lines repeated: If you love me, pop and fly, If you hate me, burn and die. This is also done with nuts, and with peas. In some parts of the country the ceremony is only efficacious if performed onSt.Mark’s Eve, April 24, or Hallowe’en,Oct.31. Apple-pips are also used as a charm to tell in what direction the future wife or husband lies. The pips are pressed between the finger and thumb until they fly, the following verse being repeated meanwhile: Pippin, pippin, paradise, Tell me where my love lies; East, west, north, south, Kirby, Kendal, Cockermouth (Lan.). The potency of theeven-ash, i.e. an ash-leaf with an even number of leaflets, shows itself thus; the young girl who finds onerepeats the words: This even-ash I hold in my han’, The first I meet is my true man. She then asks the first male person she meets on the road what his Christian name is, and this will be the name of her future husband (Irel.Dev.). It is considered as lucky to find an even-ash as to find a four-leaved clover, for: Even-ash and four-leaved clover, See your true love ere the day’s over (Nhb.Shr.Dev.Cor.). If you find nine peas in a pod, and place the pod over the door, the first person who comes in will bear the Christian name of your future partner in life (Shr.Ken.),cp.:
As peascods once I pluck’d, I chanced to seeOne that was closely fill’d with three times three,Which when I cropp’d I safely home convey’d,And o’er my door the spell in secret laid.My wheel I turn’d, and sung a ballad new,While from the spindle I the fleeces drew;The latch moved up, when who should first come in,But in his proper person, —— Lubberkin.Gay,The Shepherd’s Week: Thursday, or The Spell.
As peascods once I pluck’d, I chanced to seeOne that was closely fill’d with three times three,Which when I cropp’d I safely home convey’d,And o’er my door the spell in secret laid.My wheel I turn’d, and sung a ballad new,While from the spindle I the fleeces drew;The latch moved up, when who should first come in,But in his proper person, —— Lubberkin.Gay,The Shepherd’s Week: Thursday, or The Spell.
As peascods once I pluck’d, I chanced to seeOne that was closely fill’d with three times three,Which when I cropp’d I safely home convey’d,And o’er my door the spell in secret laid.My wheel I turn’d, and sung a ballad new,While from the spindle I the fleeces drew;The latch moved up, when who should first come in,But in his proper person, —— Lubberkin.Gay,The Shepherd’s Week: Thursday, or The Spell.
As peascods once I pluck’d, I chanced to see
One that was closely fill’d with three times three,
Which when I cropp’d I safely home convey’d,
And o’er my door the spell in secret laid.
My wheel I turn’d, and sung a ballad new,
While from the spindle I the fleeces drew;
The latch moved up, when who should first come in,
But in his proper person, —— Lubberkin.
Gay,The Shepherd’s Week: Thursday, or The Spell.
How to discover a Lover
Other ways of discovering the name of the lover are: Cut through the stem of a bracken fern, and the veins will show the initial letter (Nrf.); examine the veins on the back of your left hand, and note the letter they form; on May morning, take a small white slug termed adrutheen(Irel.), place it on a slate covered with flour or fine dust, and the track it pursues in the dust will form the initial letter of the name of the prospective husband; place a key at random in a Bible, and note the letter to which it points (Oxf.); take an apple, pare it whole, and holding the paring in your right hand, stand in the middle of the room repeating the following lines:
St.Simon and Jude, on you I intrude,By this paring I hold to discover,Without any delay to tell me this day,The first letter of my own true lover.
St.Simon and Jude, on you I intrude,By this paring I hold to discover,Without any delay to tell me this day,The first letter of my own true lover.
St.Simon and Jude, on you I intrude,By this paring I hold to discover,Without any delay to tell me this day,The first letter of my own true lover.
St.Simon and Jude, on you I intrude,
By this paring I hold to discover,
Without any delay to tell me this day,
The first letter of my own true lover.
A future Husband’s Occupation revealed
Then turn round three times, and cast the paring over your left shoulder, and it will form the first letter of the future husband’s surname. A form of this divination trick was tomy knowledge practised by some of the kindergarten children at the Oxford High School in 1910. A method whereby Berkshire damsels of to-day seek to discover the name of a future husband is this: Split open an unused envelope, and write three names of young men you know, or would like to know, one in each of three corners, leaving one corner a blank. Place a piece of wedding-cake in the middle of the envelope, and fasten it up firmly, and then lay it under your pillow for three successive nights. Each morning tear off a corner, and the name left on the fourth morning will be the name of the destined husband, or if it is the blank corner which remains, then you will die an old maid. The future husband’s occupation may be revealed on New Year’s Eve by pouring some melted lead into a glass of water, and observing what form the drops assume. If they resemble scissors, they point to a tailor; if they depict a hammer, then they foretell a carpenter, and so on (Lan.). Another similar custom, belonging to Midsummer Day, is recorded as known in Cornwall: Get a glass of water, throw into it the white of a freshly-broken egg, and then put the glass to stand in the sunshine. You will soon see by careful observation, the ropes and yards of a vessel if your husband is to be a sailor, or a plough and team if he is to be a farmer. If when you first hear the cuckoo you take off your left shoe and stocking, you will find inside the latter a hair of the same colour as that of the person you will marry (Shr.),cp.‘Then doff’d my shoe, and by my troth, I swear, Therein I spy’d this yellow frizled hair,’ Gay,Thursday, or The Spell. Charms for procuring a vision of the beloved are: onSt.Thomas’ Eve,Dec.20, peel a large red onion, stick nine pins into it and say: GoodSt.Thomas, do me right, Send me my true love this night, In his clothes and his array, Which he weareth every day, and then place the onion under your pillow; on All Saints’ Eve go into the garden alone at midnight, and while the clock is striking twelve pluck nine sage-leaves, one at every stroke up to the ninth, when you will see the face of the future husband, or if not,you will see a coffin (Shr.); gather twelve sage-leaves at noon, keep them in a saucer till midnight, then drop them one by one from your chamber window into the street, simultaneously with each stroke of the hour, the future husband will then either be seen, or else his step will be heard in the street below (Yks.); on Midsummer Eve walk through the garden with a rake over your left shoulder, and throw hempseed over your right, repeating the while: Hempseed I set, hempseed I sow, The man that is my true love Come after me and mow. The future husband will then appear following with a scythe. This charm with variations in the words used, and performed at different seasons, is widespread throughout the country,cp.:
A Midsummer-Eve Charm
At eve last midsummer no sleep I sought,But to the field a bag of hemp-seed brought,I scatter’d round the seed on ev’ry side,And three times in a trembling accent cried,This hemp-seed with my virgin hand I sow,Who shall my true-love be, the crop shall mow.I straight look’d back, and if my eyes speak truth,With his keen scythe behind me came the youth.Gay,The Shepherd’s Week: Thursday, or The Spell.
At eve last midsummer no sleep I sought,But to the field a bag of hemp-seed brought,I scatter’d round the seed on ev’ry side,And three times in a trembling accent cried,This hemp-seed with my virgin hand I sow,Who shall my true-love be, the crop shall mow.I straight look’d back, and if my eyes speak truth,With his keen scythe behind me came the youth.Gay,The Shepherd’s Week: Thursday, or The Spell.
At eve last midsummer no sleep I sought,But to the field a bag of hemp-seed brought,I scatter’d round the seed on ev’ry side,And three times in a trembling accent cried,This hemp-seed with my virgin hand I sow,Who shall my true-love be, the crop shall mow.I straight look’d back, and if my eyes speak truth,With his keen scythe behind me came the youth.Gay,The Shepherd’s Week: Thursday, or The Spell.
At eve last midsummer no sleep I sought,
But to the field a bag of hemp-seed brought,
I scatter’d round the seed on ev’ry side,
And three times in a trembling accent cried,
This hemp-seed with my virgin hand I sow,
Who shall my true-love be, the crop shall mow.
I straight look’d back, and if my eyes speak truth,
With his keen scythe behind me came the youth.
Gay,The Shepherd’s Week: Thursday, or The Spell.
Rites on the Eve ofSt.Agnes
Get up at midnight on All Saints’ Eve and stand before a looking-glass, combing your hair with one hand, and eating an apple held in the other, and as the clock strikes twelve you will see in the glass the face of the man you will marry looking over your left shoulder (Shr.Wor.). I can remember a schoolfellow of mine performing this ceremony, but in her case the prophecy proved a false one, for according to her description, the chief feature of the man in the vision was his moustache, and the man she ultimately married had none, for he was a clean-shaven clergyman. Perhaps the reason why the charm failed was because she had no apple to eat! On the Eve ofSt.Mark (Yks.), or ofSt.Agnes, Jan. 20 (Lan.), place on the floor a lightedpigtail, a small farthing candle, which must have been previously stolen, or else the charm will not work. Then sit down in silence and watch it till it begins to burn blue, when the future husbandwill appear and walk across the room. The following is a very simple plan: Spread bread and cheese on the table, and sit down to it alone, observing strict silence. As the clock strikes twelve your future lover will appear and join you at your frugal meal (Cor.). OnSt.Agnes’ Fast,Jan.21, you can procure a sight of your future husband thus: Eat nothing all day till bedtime, then boil an egg hard, extract the yolk, fill up the cavity with salt, and eat the egg, shell and all, then walk backwards to bed, repeating these lines: SweetSt.Agnes, work thy fast; If ever I be to marry man, Or man be to marry me, I hope him this night to see (Nhb.). Some say that the same result may be effected by eating a raw red herring, bones and all, before going to bed; or by placing the shoes, on going to bed, at right angles to each other in the shape of a T, saying the while: I place my shoes in form of a T, Hoping my true love to see; Not dressed in his best array, But in the clothes he wears every day (Nhb.Dev.). Another more elaborate ceremony is the preparation of thedumb-cakeonSt.Mark’s or sometimes onSt.Agnes’ Eve (n.Cy.Nhb.Yks.Nhp.Nrf.); or, as in Oxfordshire, on Christmas Eve, under the commonplace name ofdough-cake. The cake must be prepared fasting, and in silence. When ready it must be placed in a pan on the coals to bake, and at midnight the future husband will come in, turn the cake, and go out again. In order to dream of the future husband: on a Friday night, when you go to bed, draw your left stocking into your right and say: This is the blessed Friday night; I draw my left stocking into my right, To dream of the living, not of the dead, To dream of the young man I am to wed (Shr.), then go to sleep without uttering another word; read the verse: ‘Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?’Jobxvii. 3, after supper, then wash up the supper dishes and go to bed without speaking a word, placing the Bible under your pillow with a pin stuck through the verse previously read (ne.Sc.); or place a Bible under your pillow with a crooked sixpence over theverses: ‘And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee....’Ruthi. 16, 17(Lan.); take a blade-bone of mutton, stick it full of pins, go upstairs to bed walking backwards, and place the bone under your pillow (Yks.); get a piece of wedding-cake, carry it upstairs backwards, tie it in your left stocking with your right garter, place it under your pillow, and get into bed backwards, keeping strict silence all the while (Cor.). In its simplest form of sleeping with what Addison calls ‘an handsome slice of bride-cake ... placed very conveniently under’ the pillow, this is perhaps the most widely practised of all the dream-charms. Gather on a Friday at midnight nine leaves of the she-holly,Ilex aquifolium, tie them with nine knots inside a three-cornered handkerchief, and place them under the pillow (Nhb.). A way of finding out if you will ever be married or not, is to go into the farmyard at night and tap smartly at the door of the fowl-house. If a hen first cackles, you will never marry, but if a cock crows first then you will marry before the end of the coming year (Dev.). The merry-thought of a fowl is frequently used to ascertain which of two young people will be the first to enter the married state. In some places the shorter piece of the broken bone denotes the nearer marriage, elsewhere the longer piece is the coveted portion. In Northumberlandscadded[scalded] peas were formerly eaten out of a large bowl, and the person who obtained the last pea was supposed to be the first married.
Beside these ceremonies—of which the above are a mere handful among the hosts of examples of this popular form of divination which might be quoted—there are the more serious and solemn practices for discovering approaching death, such aswatching the kirkonSt.Mark’s Eve (Dur.Yks.). The watcher took up his post at midnight in the church porch, and between then and one o’clock he would see pass into the church one by one the figures of all the persons in the parish who would die within the coming year. According to some, all the parishioners would be seen to defile into the church, and then those destined to live through the yearwould pass out thence, while the doomed would remain behind and never be seen again. AnotherSt.Mark’s Eve custom was thecaff-riddling(Yks.), a mode of divination by means of ariddleand chaff. The inquirer repaired at midnight to the barn, and leaving the doors wide open, he there riddled the contents of his sieve, and watched for portents. If a funeral procession passed by, or shapes of men carrying a coffin, then the watcher would die within a year, but if nothing appeared he was destined to live.St.Mark’s Eve was also the night forash-riddling(n.Cy.). The ashes were riddled on the hearth, and left there untouched when the family retired to rest, the idea being, that if any of the inmates of the house were fated to die within the year, the print of his or her shoe would be found impressed in the soft ashes.
Divination to discover Theft
The ancient form of divination by ‘riddle and shears’ was used for the discovery of theft. A sieve was held in a pair of shears, whilst the names of suspected persons were uttered. At the mention of the culprit’s name, the sieve was supposed to turn round. Similar to this are the investigations made with ‘Bible and key’, though the details of the performance vary slightly in different parts of the country. In Devonshire the trial was conducted thus: the name of the suspected person was written on a piece of paper and placed within the leaves of a Bible, together with the front-door key, the wards of which must rest on the eighteenth verse of Psalm 1: ‘When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him.’ The left garters of two persons were then tied round the Bible, and these two persons placed their right forefingers under the bow of the key, repeating at the same time the above-mentioned verse. If the Bible moved, the suspected person was condemned as guilty, if it remained stationary, he was adjudged innocent.
CHAPTER XVIBIRTH, MARRIAGE, AND DEATH CUSTOMSAs might be expected, very many ancient superstitious ideas have lingered round the three great events of man’s life—his birth, marriage, and death. They took shape in various customs which were handed down from one generation to another long after the beliefs underlying them had ceased to exist in the popular mind. But now the traditional customs themselves are fast disappearing, whilst often their original significance is a matter only to be explained by the most learned folklorists. Here and there a new meaning has been grafted on to an old practice, which makes the old usage sound rational, and prolongs its life. For instance, in some districts, the first food given to a newly-born baby is a spoonful of butter and sugar, administered as wholesome, and even necessary medicine; but according to scholars, the practice was in origin a religious rite, belonging to remote antiquity. Again, it is popularly regarded as unlucky to cut a baby’s nails before it is a year old, because if this was done the baby would most certainly grow up a thief. If the nails need to be shortened, they must be bitten or pulled off. The real reason why the baby’s fingers must not come in contact with the scissors, is a fear respecting the baneful effect of iron, which has its source in the Dark Ages of primitive man,cp.‘Professor Rhys believes aversion to iron to be a survival of the feeling implanted in man’s early life, when all metals were new, and hence to be avoided.... The same dread of iron has doubtless given rise to the custom throughout Europe regarding children’s nails. Everywhere, including England, it is the practice to bite off the infant’s nails if too long, and not to cut them, at least for the first year, or until the child, who is peculiarly open to the attacks of allmalignant influences, has grown strong,’ F.T. Elworthy,The Evil Eye, 1895,p.224. Further, Mr. Elworthy tells us that the habit of covering up a new-born baby’s face whenever it is taken out of the house, said to be a necessary protection against the rigour of the outer air, may be referred to the ‘primaeval belief in the liability of infants to the blighting effect of the stranger’s eye,’The Evil Eye,p.428.Birth CustomsMuch is supposed to depend upon which day of the week a child is born. The following rhyme is well known, though it varies slightly in different localities; this is a Devonshire version:Munday’s cheel is fair in tha face.Tewsday’s cheel is vull of grace.Wensday’s cheel is vull of woe.Thezday’s cheel hath var tü go.Vriday’s cheel is loving and giving.Satterday’s cheel work’th ’ard vur a living.Zinday’s cheel’s a gentleman.Cheel born upon old Kursemas dayEs güde, and wise, and fair, and gay.For Latin andO.E.versions of thisv.‘Wochentags-Geburtsprognosen,’ by Prof. Max Förster inArchiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen,Band128,Heft3/4, June 1912. The cradle provided for the baby must be paid for before it is brought into the house, else the child that sleeps in it will die without means to pay for a coffin (Yks.). Another curious superstition concerning a cradle is that should any one rock an empty cradle another baby will shortly come to occupy it (Shr.Sus.Cor.): Rock the cradle empty, You’ll rock the babies plenty. When possible, a new-born child before being laid beside the mother was placed in the arms of a maiden. This was thought to have a beneficial influence on the development of its character. It is still held important that the first time an infant leaves the mother’s room it should be takenupstairs, notdown. If there is no upper story, then the nurse mounts upon a chair, or some other article of furniture, with the baby in her arms; for if its first step in the world isa descent, then its subsequent career in life will be a downward course. This custom was observed in the case of a baby born a fortnight ago in Oxford, June 3, 1912, in a highly superior family. In Cumberland a child born on a Friday was always placed on the Bible shortly after its birth, no doubt with intent to secure it against the power of fairies. We have already noticed some of the ceremonies for warding off evil beings. One of these observances, formerly in use in the north of Scotland, was to turn an infant three times head over heels in the nurse’s arms, and shake it three times head downwards, to keep off fairies. Both in Scotland and in many parts of England a notion prevailed that it was unlucky to wash the palms of a baby’s hands, for if washed, they would never ‘gather riches’. Sometimes this rule was observed till the baby was a year old.Feasts at the Birth of a ChildIn some districts it is still the custom to provide a feast on the occasion of the birth of a child for all the friends and neighbours who come to assist or to congratulate. This festive gathering is known under various names, for example: thebed-ale(sw.Cy.), the wordalebeing used in its old meaning of feast,cp.lit. Eng.bridal, fromO.E.brȳd-ealu, literally, the bride-feast. Sometimes, however, the term is wrongly applied to the liquor prepared for these occasions, which, properly speaking, is thegroaning-drink. Theblithe-meat(Sc.Irel.), where amongst the viands was always a cheese, called thecryin’-oot cheese; thecummer-skolls(Sh. &Or.I.); themerry-meal(Chs.), where the chief items were currant cakes called Lord Ralph, and spirits of which all must partake to bring good luck to the new arrival; themerry-meat(ne.Sc.), where was served thecryin’-bannockmade of oatmeal, milk, and sugar, and baked in a frying-pan, and beside it the indispensable cheese, orcryin’-kebback, of which each guest was expected to carry away a piece for distribution among friends who were not present at the entertainment; theshout(Yks.), to which the neighbours were summoned at the moment when the birth was about to take place, and to which they came each with a warming-pan. After the event, they stayed to spend a festive hour, when each guest was expected to favour the child with a good wish. In more modern times this custom of celebrating a birth by a convivial gathering is commonly spoken of in northern England as: the head-washing, or: weshin’ t’bairn’s head, and is not so much a feast as a free drinking.The old north-country toast drunk at the birth-feast was: The wife a good church-going and a battening to the bairn; or: Here’s good battening to t’barn, and good mends to the mother!Dainties belonging to Birth FeastsThegroaning-cheeseseems to have been everywhere a standing dish at the birth-feast. Formerly it was the practice to cut it in the middle, and so by degrees form it into a large kind of ring through which the child was drawn on the day of the christening (n.Cy.Oxf.). A slice of it laid under the pillow was supposed to enable a maiden to dream of her lover. The remains of the cheese and cake were kept for subsequent callers, and every visitor was expected to taste them. A special Cumberland dainty belonging to birth festivities isrun-butter, orrum-butter, fresh butter melted with brown sugar and rum, poured into china bowls, where it stiffens, and out of which it is served, generally withhavver[oat]breed. The lady who first cuts into the bowl is predicted to require a similar compliment. At one time it was customary to hide the bowl ofrum-butterand allow it to be searched for by boys, who, having found it and eaten its contents, made a collection of money, which was put by for the baby in whose honour the delicacy had been made.A custom once common in nearly all the northern counties of England—and still extant at the end of last century—was that of presenting a new-born infant with three articles ‘for luck’, the first time it visited a neighbour or relation. The gifts usually consisted of an egg, a handful of salt, and a new sixpence, but sometimes a piece of bread, or a bunch of matches was substituted for the coin. In Lancashire and Yorkshire this ceremony was known aspuddinging; in Durham the gifts were termed: the bairn’s awmous,cp.O.N.almusa, an alms. On the day of the christening somewhat similar gifts were made by the parents on behalf of the child. Before the procession started for church, a parcel was made up containing a slice of the christening cake, some cheese, and a packet of salt. This was called thechristening bit(Sc.n.Cy.), orkimbly(Cor.). It was presented to the first person met on the way to church, and it was considered specially lucky if that person chanced to be of the opposite sex to the infant. In parts of Scotland the receiver was always the first male passer-by. He constituted the child’sfirst-foot, and if he was a dark-haired man it augured well for the child’s future, but if fair-haired, then the reverse. After the church service came the christening feast at home, with its special cakes, and dishes such asbutter-sops(Cum.Wm.), oatcake or wheaten bread fried in melted butter and sugar. Then the child’s health would be drunk with some such formula as the following: Wissin’ the company’s gueede health, an’ grace and growin’ to the bairn (ne.Sc.).Omens drawn from Baptismal ServiceThe ceremony of private baptism is never considered equal to public baptism in church. A child baptized privately is said to have beenhalf-baptized(w.Midl.Oxf.Ken.Sus.), ornamed(e.An.), e.g. He wasn’t ever christened, only named. Indeed, the termhalf-baptizedis sometimes used as an epithet applied to persons of deficient intellect, equivalent to half-baked. It is held lucky for the baby to cry during some part of the baptismal service, the utterance of one good yell being the most favourable omen. If a male and a female infant are presented for baptism at the same time, the boy must be baptized first, else he will grow up effeminate, and play second fiddle to his wife; and the girl will become masculine in face and mien (Yks.).Marriage CustomsMost of the rural wedding customs belong to the days when, in accordance with the popular maxim: Better wed over the mixen [dunghill] than over the moor, the bride’s old home with her parents, and the new one she was to share with her husband were both within walking distance of the church where the wedding took place. Then all the neighbours were the friends of both bride and bridegroom, they had all grown up together with the same local traditions, and they all clung to the observance of the same ceremonies. Now railways and bicycles, newspapers and cheap magazines, have broken down the old order of things. The bridegroom’s friends and relations are often complete strangers to the bride’s kith and kin, their ways and beliefs are unknown to each other. They cannot join together in some time-honoured ceremonial when the newly-wedded pair enter their future home; instead they wave hats and handkerchiefs in the wake of a train or a motor which is carrying the couple to a distant dwelling-place. The bride, too, has up-to-date ideas. She wants to make a sensation like Lady Dunfunkus Macgregor’s daughter, a description of whose marriage she has just read in theDaily Mail, or like Miss Gwendolen Fitzwilliam in the current number of theFamily Journal. Her dress and her doings, and all the wedding festivities must as far as possible be modelled on a fashionable pattern, till finally, modern conventionalities and not ancient customs rule the day. Two or three years ago theWeekly Newsof a very small town in Herefordshire was sent to me in order that I might read therein an account of a village wedding in which I was interested because I had known the bride’s parents all my life. Her father was the village blacksmith, and sexton of the parish, as his father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather had been before him. Here was described how the bride wore a ‘gown’, and how her mother ‘held a reception in a marquee’, and how the bride changed into her ‘travelling costume’, and how ‘the happy couple’ then ‘took their departure in a motor-car’, to ‘spend the honeymoon’ somewhere at the seaside. Indeed, from the newspaper report it might have been a fashionable ‘Society’ wedding, except for one recorded detail: in the list of wedding presents it appeared that the bridegroom’s father had bestowed on the happy couple ‘a pig’! I am glad to say that the young people did not continue to live up to the style of their wedding, and thebride has since often spoken of the pig as the most valuable of all their wedding presents, for within a year this exemplary animal presented them with no less than twenty-eight robust and healthy piglings!Names for publishing the BannsThe usual preliminaries to a wedding, namely, the giving in of the banns of marriage, and the publishing of the same in church, can be very variously expressed in dialect speech, for example: to put in the cries (Sc.), or t’spurrins (Yks.), or the askings (Lan.); or to put up the sibbritts (Chs.e.An.), or sibberidge,cp.O.E.sibbrǣden, relationship; to be asked in church (gen. dial.); to be asked out (gen. dial.), i.e. to have the banns published for the last time; to be called in church (Lin.), or called home (Wil.Dor.); to be church-bawled (Sus.); to be prayed for (e.An.); to be shouted (Lan.); to be spurred (Yks.Lan.Der.Lin.Wil.). The wordspurin this sense is fromO.E.spyrian, to investigate, inquire into, but popular etymology has connected it with the ordinary literary English substantivespur. Hence the jocular remark when a person has been once asked in church: Why, thoo’s gotten one spur on thee! In many villages (Lin.Hnt.Rut.) it is customary to ring what is called theSpur-peal, either at the close of the morning service, or in the evening of the Sunday when the banns are published for the first time. Formerly in parts of Wiltshire a man whose banns had been published for the first time was said to have: vallen plump out o’ the pulpit laas’ Zunday, and he was asked how his shoulder was, since it had been put out o’ one side. Parallel to this is the remark: He’s gotten broken-ribbed to-day (Lin.); and further, there are the expressions: to fall over the desk (w.Cy.); and to be thrown over the balk (n.Cy.),balkhere signifying the rood-beam dividing the chancel of a church from the nave. If after the banns have been published the marriage does not take place, the deserted one is said to hang over the balk; or, to be hung in the bell-ropes (Chs.Der.Wor.). Tradition in Sussex says that if a man goes to church to hear his banns read, his children will be born deaf and dumb. If a manwithdraws his banns after they have been given in, his projected marriage is spoken of as arue-bargain(Lan.). Them at’s e’ a horry to wed gen’lins eats rew-pie afoore thaay’ve been married a year is a Lincolnshire way of saying: Marry in haste and repent at leisure. To get married is: to tie a knot wi the tongue, at yan cannot louze wi’ yan’s teeth (Yks.Nhp.).Formerly in Scotland and the north of England it was not uncommon for the wedding-guests to contribute either in money or in kind to the expenses of the marriage entertainment. Such a wedding was called abidden-wedding(Cum.Wm.Lan.),bride-wain(n.Cy.), orpenny-wedding(Sc.). In Lancashire, when the couple to be married were of the very poor, it was once customary for the friends to assemble on the wedding-day, and build for them a house of clay and wood, termedpost and petrel; orwattle and daub. The relations provided a few articles of necessary furniture, and when theclay biggingwas completed the day was concluded with music and dancing.Lucky and Unlucky Days for WeddingsIn fixing the date of the wedding care must be taken to note on which day of the week it falls, for each day of the week is supposed to have its special influence on the future life of the wedded pair:Monday for wealth,Tuesday for health,Wednesday is the best day of all,Thursday for crosses,Friday for losses,Saturday no luck at all.Leap year is looked upon as a lucky year for marriage: Happy they’ll be that wed and wive Within leap year; they’re sure to thrive (Yks.). Sunshine on the wedding-day is always a fortunate omen, for: Happy is the bride that the sun shines on. It is very unlucky for the bride to wear green at her wedding (Shr.Yks.), even in any part of her clothing—Green and white, Forsaken quite—but opinions differ as to blue for the colour of the wedding dress: Deean’to’ Friday buy yer ring, O’ Friday deean’t put t’spurrings in, Deean’t wed o’ Friday. Think o’ this, Nowther blue ner green mun match her dhriss (Yks.); If dressed in blue, She’s sure to rue (Yks.). On the other hand, in certain parts of the country blue is a favourite colour for the wedding attire (Shr.). The most lucky combination is to wear: Something old, and something new, Something borrowed, and something blue. The something borrowed should if possible have been previously worn by a bride at her wedding. In Devonshire a bride is supposed to further her chances of prosperity by carrying with her to church a few sprigs of rue, and of rosemary, and a little garlic in her pocket.Omens at WeddingsIt is a very unlucky omen for a bride on her way to church if a cat or a toad should meet her on the road; if a raven should hover over her; or if a dog, a cat, or a hare should run between her and the bridegroom; if the bridal procession should encounter a funeral; or if a cripple should cross their path. It is unlucky for a widow to be present at the wedding (Shr.); or for the clock to strike during the marriage service (Wor.). When the ceremony is over, whichever of the wedded pair steps first out of church will be ‘master’ in the home (Brks.). At a recent wedding near Oxford, the bride’s mother-in-law stood waiting outside the church door to watch for this important omen, and when she saw her son step out first, she clapped her hands exultingly, greatly to the discomfiture of the bride, who had heedlessly missed her opportunity. In parts of Yorkshire the same superstition is connected with the leaving of the bride’s old home after the wedding-feast; whichever of the two then crosses the threshold first, will be the leader in their future life together. For unmarried members of the wedding party to rub against the bride or bridegroom is considered lucky, as by so doing they may hope to catch the infection of matrimony.Superstitious practices connected with thefirst-foot, such as we have already noticed at christenings, are also to be found as part of the old wedding ceremonies. In some districts it was the bride herself, on her way to church, whocarried in her pocket a small parcel of bread and cheese to give to the first woman or girl she might meet after leaving the church (Dev.); in others it was a friend who was sent on in front of the wedding procession with thekimbly(Cor.) to be given to the first person met on the road to church. In Scotland two people preceded the procession, one of whom carried a bottle of whisky and a glass, and the other carried the bread and cheese. A man on horseback or accompanied by a horse and cart was considered the most luckyfirst-foot.After the WeddingIn the north of England, after the marriage service was over, the bride on leaving the church had to jump or be lifted over theparting-stool, orpetting-stoneat the churchyard gate, after which ceremony money was distributed by the bridegroom. In n.Devon this custom takes the form ofchaining the bride. Young men stretch twisted bands of hay, or pieces of rope decorated with ribbons and flowers, across the gateway. Then the bridegroom scatters handfuls of small coin, the chain is dropped whilst the holders scramble for the money, and the bridal party is free to pursue its way home. Money demanded and forcibly exacted at the church gates from the bridegroom is known asball-money(Sc.Nhb.Cum.Chs.), so called because formerly the money was applied to buying a football for the parish;bride-shoe(Yks.); andhen-silver(Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.). Sometimes, however, thehen-brassis money privately given by the bridegroom on the evening after the marriage to enable his friends to drink his health. In Westmorland a gun used to be fired over the house of a newly-married couple, and thehen-silverwas the present of money given to the firing party to drink to the future health and good luck of the pair. A wedding at which noball-moneyis distributed is contemptuously termed abuttermilk wedding(Chs.). On the way home from church the bridegroom usually threw coppers to be scrambled for by the children in the crowd; guns loaded with feathers were fired as a sign of rejoicing (Yks.); and friends came out to meet the bridal party bearing pots of warm ale sweetened and spiced, known ashot pots(n.Cy.). In Cheshire it is still customary to ornament the approach to the bride’s home with sand spread in patterns. The patterns are made by trickling silver sand through the fingers, or through a large funnel. Wreaths and floral emblems are thus traced out, and sometimes mottoes are written, such as: Long may they live and happy may they be; Blest with contentment to all eternity.Wedding SportsAmong the ancient wedding sports was theriding for the kail(Sc.n.Cy.), which took place when the bride was on her way home. When the party was nearing the future home of the couple, the unmarried men set off to ride or run at full speed to the house, and whoever reached it first was said towin the kail, orkeal. The idea was that the winner of thekailwould be the first to enter the married state,kailbeing the same word ascale, a turn in rotation. Some of the accounts of this sport would however seem to show that in some places thekailmeant a dish of spiced broth given as a prize to the winner of the race. The race for the bride’s garter (Yks.) was formerly a very popular wedding sport, and it continued in practice as late as the last decade of the nineteenth century. The race was run from the churchyard gate to thebride-door, where the winner claimed the privilege of removing the prize himself as the bride crossed the threshold of her home. It was valued as a potent love-charm, and was given by the winner to his sweetheart: to binnd his luv. Later a ribbon or a handkerchief was substituted for the bridal garter (Dur.Cum.Yks.).The ceremony ofthrowing the bride-cakeexisted in various forms in Scotland and the northern counties of England. When the bride returned from church, she was met on the doorstep and presented with a thin currant cake on a plate, or it might be shortbread or oat-cake. Some of this cake was then thrown over her head, or more commonly it was broken over her head by the bridegroom. In cases where the cake was thrown over the bride’s head, the plate was not infrequently thrown along with it. In Scotland the cake provided was known as theinfar-cake,cp.O.E.infær, an entrance.The custom is not yet extinct in Scotland, for I was told by an eye-witness that at a fashionable Scotch wedding only two or three years ago, the bride’s mother-in-law broke a cake of shortbread over the bride’s head on her return from church. The following is a Yorkshire rhyme which accompanies the usual throwing of slippers after a newly-married couple:A weddin’ a-woo,A clog an’ a shoe,A pot full o’ porridge, an’ away they go!A curious saying applied to an elder brother or sister left behind when a younger member of the family is married, is that he or she must dance in the pig-trough (Shr.Suf.), or in the half-peck (Yks.), or dance at the wedding in his (or her) stocking-feet (Shr.).Riding the StangIn olden days, when a marriage resulted in conjugal infelicity, and the husband became a wife-beater, popular disapproval was expressed by a method of punishing the offender known as Riding the Stang. This custom with slight variations and under different names—such as: Rantipole-riding, Skimmington-riding, or simply Riding—was once common practically throughout England, and in many parts of Scotland. Cases where it has been kept up in practice have been recorded as late as the year 1896. The delinquent was caught and tied fast to astangor pole, and carried round the village in the midst of a jeering crowd; or he was represented by a straw effigy borne on a ladder, or drawn in a cart for three successive nights, accompanied by horn-blowing and shouting. When the procession reached the man’s house, a longnominyor doggerel recounting his offences was recited, the verses varying in different localities. A Lincolnshirenominyruns: He banged her wi’ stick, He banged her wi’ steän, He teeak op his naefe [fist], An’ he knocked her doon. With a ran, tan, tan,&c.On the third night the effigy was burned in the street or on the village green. Sometimes instead of an effigy, two men, one of them dressed in female attire, rode in the cart, giving adialogue representation of the quarrel, and an imitation of the final beating. In some places the culprit was merely serenaded with rough singing, and the noise of beating on pots and pans. This ceremony was called Randanning, or Rough Music, and is closely allied to Stang-riding,cp.‘Charivaris de poelles.The carting of an infamous person, graced with the harmony of tinging kettles, and frying-pan Musick,’ Cotgrave.Death SuperstitionsAccording to a popular superstition once prevalent in many parts of England, dying persons could not pass away peacefully if there were any feathers of game-birds or pigeons in the bed on which they lay. Instances have been recorded where some such feathers have been placed in a small bag, and thrust under the pillow of a dying man to hold him in life until the arrival of some expected relation; and further, instances where, out of pure kindness, a sufferer at the point of death has been removed from his bed, and laid on the floor to die ‘nat’rally’. Formerly, when the moment of death was unmistakably nigh at hand, it was customary to throw open all the doors and windows, so that nothing should hinder the flight of the departing spirit. I myself can remember what seemed to be a remnant of this superstitious observance in a country parish in Herefordshire about twenty-five years ago. The widow of an old farmer had just died, and her daughter told my father that it was well that there was a bolt to the front door, for that the key must not be turned in the lock whilst the body lay in the house. This we took to be a preservation of the letter of the old law. In Yorkshire there exists an idea that the door must not be locked for seven years after a death in the house.Death CustomsImmediately after the death had taken place, the fire in the room was extinguished, and the looking-glass either covered up, or turned with its face to the wall (Yks.Shr.). In Scotland a piece of iron used to be thrust into all the eatables in the house, butter, cheese, meat,&c., in order—as it was said—to prevent death from entering them. When the corpsehad been duly laid out, orstreeked(Sc.n.Cy.), a plate of salt was placed on the breast (Sc.Nhb.Shr.Dev.), formerly with the avowed object of driving evil spirits away, but towards the latter end of the nineteenth century, where the custom was still in use, the reason given was that: it prevents the body from swelling. This placing of a plate of salt on the corpse had been part of the performances of the oldsin-eater(Sc.Hrf.Cth.), a person who was called in when any one died, to eat the sins of the deceased. He placed a plate of salt and a plate of bread on the breast of the corpse, and muttered certain incantations, after which he ate the contents of the plates, thereby taking upon himself the sins of the dead person, which would otherwise have kept his ghost hovering round his relations on earth. In Northumberland it was customary to double the thumbs of the deceased within the hand, to avert evil spirits. The candles kept burning round the corpse were termed in parts of Lincolnshireghost-candles, because they were supposed to ward off ghosts.The customs connected with the tolling of the Passing Bell vary somewhat in detail in different localities, but they are substantially the same. After the bell has tolled for some minutes there is a pause, and then follow thetellers, thrice three successive strokes for a man, twice three for a woman, and three strokes for a child. It has been suggested that the old saying: nine tailors make a man, is a corruption of nine tellers mark a man.The ceremony of holding watch over the dead between the time of death and burial was called thewakeorlyke-wakein Ireland, Scotland, and the north of England. The relatives and neighbours of the deceased assembled at the house, and spent the night in the room with the corpse, singing Psalms and dirges, chatting, telling stories, praising the virtues of the departed, eating and drinking. This gathering usually took place either the evening after the death, or the night before the funeral.In due course somebody went round to invite friends andneighbours to be present at the funeral. This was calledbidding(n.Cy.Stf.Der.),lathing(n.Cy.), orsperring(Lan.), terms which are still in use—e.g. Awm gooin’ a sperrin’, He’s gone a laithin’ o’ th’neeburs to th’berrin’, Ah mun gan an’ see t’last on him, ah’s bid—though the custom of sending abidderwearing a black silk scarf has long been discontinued. In many places in the Lake district, two persons from every house within a prescribed area were invited to the funeral. Formerly thebidderpresented a sprig of rosemary to each invited guest, and the latter was expected to carry it with him to the funeral (Lan.). In Shropshire these sprigs were distributed to the mourners just before the procession left the house. At the conclusion of the burial service each mourner cast his rosemary into the open grave. Ins.Pembrokeshirea woman walked in front of the funeral procession strewing sprigs of rosemary and box along the road—‘There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.’Funeral CakesA custom still practised in Yorkshire and formerly prevalent in many other English counties, and also in parts of Wales, is that of distributingburying biscuits, orfuneral cakes, small oblong sponge biscuits, which some think were originally intended to represent a coffin. As each mourner arrives, he or she is presented with a biscuit and a memorial card. Sometimes this is done by two women who are calledservers(n.Yks.). In the Midlands the biscuits were folded up each in white paper sealed with black wax, and so handed round to every guest; in this form, too, they were sent out to any relations or intimate friends not present at the funeral, just as wedding-cake is sent now. Two generations ago this practice was commonly observed in middle class families, as well as among the poorer folk. When my great-uncle—a well-known Evangelical clergyman in Birmingham—died some twenty-five years ago, his executors found among his papers a packet, yellow with age, containing what had once been a funeral sponge biscuit. Together with thefuneral cakesspiced ale used sometimes to be served, in a tankard of silver or pewter; but in later, more degeneratedays glasses of spirits and water replaced the tankard of ale. Meanwhile the coffin was still kept open, that one and all might take a last look at the corpse before the time came forlifting(Sc.n.Cy.), when the coffin must be closed. Formerly in Northumberland theliftingof the corpse was the signal for the outburst of lamentation known askeening(Sc.Irel.Nhb.), a dismal concerted cry raised by the assembled mourners.Funeral RitesIt is still a custom in some Midland counties for little girls in white dresses and black sashes to act as bearers at the funeral of an infant or very young child of their own sex, and for boys to carry baby boys. The coffin is supported by white handkerchiefs or towels passed underneath and held on each side by the young bearers. Thefuneral garland(n.Cy.Der.Lin.Shr.Hmp.), which marked the burial of a young unmarried woman, has now long since become obsolete. Thisgarlandconsisted of a coronal or wreath of ribbons, or flowers cut out in white paper, with a white glove suspended in the centre, and it was borne in front of the coffin, or upon it, to the grave, and afterwards suspended in the church. According to a popular belief the passage of a funeral over any ground establishes a right of way. Rain at a funeral is a good sign, for: Happy is the corpse that the rain rains on.A beautiful old custom, well known in Shropshire in olden days, and kept up certainly within living memory, is that ofringing the dead home. When the funeral procession came in sight of the church, the bell ceased tolling, and a peal was rung, as if to welcome the body to its last resting-place.There is a general feeling in country parishes against burial on the north side of the church. The south side is considered the holiest portion of the churchyard, where the cross stands, if such there be. In a small parish, where there are few interments, the north side of the churchyard may be quite empty. This points the moral contained in the phrase: Thaay bury them as kills thersens wi’ hard wark o’ th’no’th side o’ th’chech, applied to persons who complain unwarrantably of hard work.After the burial came the funeral feast held in the house where the deceased had lived, or provided at the village inn. In some places if the family was poor, it would be apay-berring(Yks.), and each of the invited guests would give some small contribution towards the expenses. To provide a handsome entertainment on these occasions was looked upon as a mark of fitting respect for the dead: Ah’ve nivver been at sike a sitting-doon i’ mah leyfe; ther war nowt bud tea-cakes, an’ badly buttered at that. Noo ah’ve sahded fahve o’ my awn, bud thank the Lord, ah buried ’em all wi’ ham. It is on record that at the funeral of a farmer who died near Whitby in 1760, meat and drink were provided as follows: ‘110 dozen penny loaves, 9 large hams, 8 legs of veal, 20 stone of beef (14 lbs. to the stone), 16 stone of mutton, 15 stone of Cheshire cheese, and 30 ankers of ale; besides what was distributed to 1,000 poor people who had 6d.each in money.’Telling the BeesOne of the most interesting of all the ceremonies connected with funerals is the superstitious practice known astelling the bees, once common throughout the greater part of England. Totell the beesis to inform them of the occurrence of the death of the head of the house, or of some member of the family. If this is not done, they are supposed to leave their hives and never return, or else they all die. The right time for making the communication is either just before the funeral leaves the house, or else at the moment when the procession is starting. On the Welsh Border people say it must be made in the middle of the night. The form of words used varies in different parts of the country, but they must always be whispered words, or the bees may take offence. These are some of the recognized formulae: The master is dead; Your friend’s gone; The poor maister’s dead, but yo mun work fur me; Bees, bees, bees, your master is dead, and you must work for ——, naming the future owner. This is accompanied in some instances by three taps on the hive. The hives are ‘put into mourning’ by attaching to them a piece of black crape. In some places it was customaryto give the bees a piece of funeral cake; and elsewhere, small portions of every item of the funeral feast were collected in a saucer and put in front of the hive. In Devonshire the popular belief was that if the bees were not told of the death in the family, some other member of the household would die before the expiration of the year. A writer inLloyd’s Weekly News, July 3, 1910, speaks of the superstition of telling the bees as still extant; and at about the same date a girl in Oxford told me that an uncle of hers—yet living—had lost all his bees by neglecting to tell them of the death of his mother.A Month’s MindIn some districts is found the observance of themonth’s end(Hrf.w.Cy.Wales), a certain Sunday after the funeral when the mourners attend church. A trace of an old religious custom belonging also to the days subsequent to the funeral has been crystallized in the phrase: to have a month’s mind to anything (Chs.Midl.e.An.I.W.Som.Cor.). This alludes to a pre-Reformation practice of repeating one or more masses at the end of a month after death for the repose of a departed soul. In the Churchwardens’ accounts of Abingdon, Berkshire, occurs the following, among other similar entries: ‘1556. Receyved att the buryall and monethe’s mynde ofGeo.Chynchexxiid.’ The phrase, however, long ago acquired the meaning it bears to-day,cp.: ‘I see you have a month’s mind to them,’Shaks.Two Gent.I.ii. 137; ‘I have a month’s mind to be doing as much,’ Jervas,Don Quixote; ‘The King[HenryVII]had more than a moneth’s mind ... to procure the pope to canonize Henry VI for a saint,’ Fuller,ChurchHist.Bk. IV. 23; I’d a month’s mind to a knock’d un down (I.W.).
As might be expected, very many ancient superstitious ideas have lingered round the three great events of man’s life—his birth, marriage, and death. They took shape in various customs which were handed down from one generation to another long after the beliefs underlying them had ceased to exist in the popular mind. But now the traditional customs themselves are fast disappearing, whilst often their original significance is a matter only to be explained by the most learned folklorists. Here and there a new meaning has been grafted on to an old practice, which makes the old usage sound rational, and prolongs its life. For instance, in some districts, the first food given to a newly-born baby is a spoonful of butter and sugar, administered as wholesome, and even necessary medicine; but according to scholars, the practice was in origin a religious rite, belonging to remote antiquity. Again, it is popularly regarded as unlucky to cut a baby’s nails before it is a year old, because if this was done the baby would most certainly grow up a thief. If the nails need to be shortened, they must be bitten or pulled off. The real reason why the baby’s fingers must not come in contact with the scissors, is a fear respecting the baneful effect of iron, which has its source in the Dark Ages of primitive man,cp.‘Professor Rhys believes aversion to iron to be a survival of the feeling implanted in man’s early life, when all metals were new, and hence to be avoided.... The same dread of iron has doubtless given rise to the custom throughout Europe regarding children’s nails. Everywhere, including England, it is the practice to bite off the infant’s nails if too long, and not to cut them, at least for the first year, or until the child, who is peculiarly open to the attacks of allmalignant influences, has grown strong,’ F.T. Elworthy,The Evil Eye, 1895,p.224. Further, Mr. Elworthy tells us that the habit of covering up a new-born baby’s face whenever it is taken out of the house, said to be a necessary protection against the rigour of the outer air, may be referred to the ‘primaeval belief in the liability of infants to the blighting effect of the stranger’s eye,’The Evil Eye,p.428.
Birth Customs
Much is supposed to depend upon which day of the week a child is born. The following rhyme is well known, though it varies slightly in different localities; this is a Devonshire version:
Munday’s cheel is fair in tha face.Tewsday’s cheel is vull of grace.Wensday’s cheel is vull of woe.Thezday’s cheel hath var tü go.Vriday’s cheel is loving and giving.Satterday’s cheel work’th ’ard vur a living.Zinday’s cheel’s a gentleman.Cheel born upon old Kursemas dayEs güde, and wise, and fair, and gay.
Munday’s cheel is fair in tha face.Tewsday’s cheel is vull of grace.Wensday’s cheel is vull of woe.Thezday’s cheel hath var tü go.Vriday’s cheel is loving and giving.Satterday’s cheel work’th ’ard vur a living.Zinday’s cheel’s a gentleman.Cheel born upon old Kursemas dayEs güde, and wise, and fair, and gay.
Munday’s cheel is fair in tha face.Tewsday’s cheel is vull of grace.Wensday’s cheel is vull of woe.Thezday’s cheel hath var tü go.Vriday’s cheel is loving and giving.Satterday’s cheel work’th ’ard vur a living.Zinday’s cheel’s a gentleman.Cheel born upon old Kursemas dayEs güde, and wise, and fair, and gay.
Munday’s cheel is fair in tha face.
Tewsday’s cheel is vull of grace.
Wensday’s cheel is vull of woe.
Thezday’s cheel hath var tü go.
Vriday’s cheel is loving and giving.
Satterday’s cheel work’th ’ard vur a living.
Zinday’s cheel’s a gentleman.
Cheel born upon old Kursemas day
Es güde, and wise, and fair, and gay.
For Latin andO.E.versions of thisv.‘Wochentags-Geburtsprognosen,’ by Prof. Max Förster inArchiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen,Band128,Heft3/4, June 1912. The cradle provided for the baby must be paid for before it is brought into the house, else the child that sleeps in it will die without means to pay for a coffin (Yks.). Another curious superstition concerning a cradle is that should any one rock an empty cradle another baby will shortly come to occupy it (Shr.Sus.Cor.): Rock the cradle empty, You’ll rock the babies plenty. When possible, a new-born child before being laid beside the mother was placed in the arms of a maiden. This was thought to have a beneficial influence on the development of its character. It is still held important that the first time an infant leaves the mother’s room it should be takenupstairs, notdown. If there is no upper story, then the nurse mounts upon a chair, or some other article of furniture, with the baby in her arms; for if its first step in the world isa descent, then its subsequent career in life will be a downward course. This custom was observed in the case of a baby born a fortnight ago in Oxford, June 3, 1912, in a highly superior family. In Cumberland a child born on a Friday was always placed on the Bible shortly after its birth, no doubt with intent to secure it against the power of fairies. We have already noticed some of the ceremonies for warding off evil beings. One of these observances, formerly in use in the north of Scotland, was to turn an infant three times head over heels in the nurse’s arms, and shake it three times head downwards, to keep off fairies. Both in Scotland and in many parts of England a notion prevailed that it was unlucky to wash the palms of a baby’s hands, for if washed, they would never ‘gather riches’. Sometimes this rule was observed till the baby was a year old.
Feasts at the Birth of a Child
In some districts it is still the custom to provide a feast on the occasion of the birth of a child for all the friends and neighbours who come to assist or to congratulate. This festive gathering is known under various names, for example: thebed-ale(sw.Cy.), the wordalebeing used in its old meaning of feast,cp.lit. Eng.bridal, fromO.E.brȳd-ealu, literally, the bride-feast. Sometimes, however, the term is wrongly applied to the liquor prepared for these occasions, which, properly speaking, is thegroaning-drink. Theblithe-meat(Sc.Irel.), where amongst the viands was always a cheese, called thecryin’-oot cheese; thecummer-skolls(Sh. &Or.I.); themerry-meal(Chs.), where the chief items were currant cakes called Lord Ralph, and spirits of which all must partake to bring good luck to the new arrival; themerry-meat(ne.Sc.), where was served thecryin’-bannockmade of oatmeal, milk, and sugar, and baked in a frying-pan, and beside it the indispensable cheese, orcryin’-kebback, of which each guest was expected to carry away a piece for distribution among friends who were not present at the entertainment; theshout(Yks.), to which the neighbours were summoned at the moment when the birth was about to take place, and to which they came each with a warming-pan. After the event, they stayed to spend a festive hour, when each guest was expected to favour the child with a good wish. In more modern times this custom of celebrating a birth by a convivial gathering is commonly spoken of in northern England as: the head-washing, or: weshin’ t’bairn’s head, and is not so much a feast as a free drinking.
The old north-country toast drunk at the birth-feast was: The wife a good church-going and a battening to the bairn; or: Here’s good battening to t’barn, and good mends to the mother!
Dainties belonging to Birth Feasts
Thegroaning-cheeseseems to have been everywhere a standing dish at the birth-feast. Formerly it was the practice to cut it in the middle, and so by degrees form it into a large kind of ring through which the child was drawn on the day of the christening (n.Cy.Oxf.). A slice of it laid under the pillow was supposed to enable a maiden to dream of her lover. The remains of the cheese and cake were kept for subsequent callers, and every visitor was expected to taste them. A special Cumberland dainty belonging to birth festivities isrun-butter, orrum-butter, fresh butter melted with brown sugar and rum, poured into china bowls, where it stiffens, and out of which it is served, generally withhavver[oat]breed. The lady who first cuts into the bowl is predicted to require a similar compliment. At one time it was customary to hide the bowl ofrum-butterand allow it to be searched for by boys, who, having found it and eaten its contents, made a collection of money, which was put by for the baby in whose honour the delicacy had been made.
A custom once common in nearly all the northern counties of England—and still extant at the end of last century—was that of presenting a new-born infant with three articles ‘for luck’, the first time it visited a neighbour or relation. The gifts usually consisted of an egg, a handful of salt, and a new sixpence, but sometimes a piece of bread, or a bunch of matches was substituted for the coin. In Lancashire and Yorkshire this ceremony was known aspuddinging; in Durham the gifts were termed: the bairn’s awmous,cp.O.N.almusa, an alms. On the day of the christening somewhat similar gifts were made by the parents on behalf of the child. Before the procession started for church, a parcel was made up containing a slice of the christening cake, some cheese, and a packet of salt. This was called thechristening bit(Sc.n.Cy.), orkimbly(Cor.). It was presented to the first person met on the way to church, and it was considered specially lucky if that person chanced to be of the opposite sex to the infant. In parts of Scotland the receiver was always the first male passer-by. He constituted the child’sfirst-foot, and if he was a dark-haired man it augured well for the child’s future, but if fair-haired, then the reverse. After the church service came the christening feast at home, with its special cakes, and dishes such asbutter-sops(Cum.Wm.), oatcake or wheaten bread fried in melted butter and sugar. Then the child’s health would be drunk with some such formula as the following: Wissin’ the company’s gueede health, an’ grace and growin’ to the bairn (ne.Sc.).
Omens drawn from Baptismal Service
The ceremony of private baptism is never considered equal to public baptism in church. A child baptized privately is said to have beenhalf-baptized(w.Midl.Oxf.Ken.Sus.), ornamed(e.An.), e.g. He wasn’t ever christened, only named. Indeed, the termhalf-baptizedis sometimes used as an epithet applied to persons of deficient intellect, equivalent to half-baked. It is held lucky for the baby to cry during some part of the baptismal service, the utterance of one good yell being the most favourable omen. If a male and a female infant are presented for baptism at the same time, the boy must be baptized first, else he will grow up effeminate, and play second fiddle to his wife; and the girl will become masculine in face and mien (Yks.).
Marriage Customs
Most of the rural wedding customs belong to the days when, in accordance with the popular maxim: Better wed over the mixen [dunghill] than over the moor, the bride’s old home with her parents, and the new one she was to share with her husband were both within walking distance of the church where the wedding took place. Then all the neighbours were the friends of both bride and bridegroom, they had all grown up together with the same local traditions, and they all clung to the observance of the same ceremonies. Now railways and bicycles, newspapers and cheap magazines, have broken down the old order of things. The bridegroom’s friends and relations are often complete strangers to the bride’s kith and kin, their ways and beliefs are unknown to each other. They cannot join together in some time-honoured ceremonial when the newly-wedded pair enter their future home; instead they wave hats and handkerchiefs in the wake of a train or a motor which is carrying the couple to a distant dwelling-place. The bride, too, has up-to-date ideas. She wants to make a sensation like Lady Dunfunkus Macgregor’s daughter, a description of whose marriage she has just read in theDaily Mail, or like Miss Gwendolen Fitzwilliam in the current number of theFamily Journal. Her dress and her doings, and all the wedding festivities must as far as possible be modelled on a fashionable pattern, till finally, modern conventionalities and not ancient customs rule the day. Two or three years ago theWeekly Newsof a very small town in Herefordshire was sent to me in order that I might read therein an account of a village wedding in which I was interested because I had known the bride’s parents all my life. Her father was the village blacksmith, and sexton of the parish, as his father, and grandfather, and great-grandfather had been before him. Here was described how the bride wore a ‘gown’, and how her mother ‘held a reception in a marquee’, and how the bride changed into her ‘travelling costume’, and how ‘the happy couple’ then ‘took their departure in a motor-car’, to ‘spend the honeymoon’ somewhere at the seaside. Indeed, from the newspaper report it might have been a fashionable ‘Society’ wedding, except for one recorded detail: in the list of wedding presents it appeared that the bridegroom’s father had bestowed on the happy couple ‘a pig’! I am glad to say that the young people did not continue to live up to the style of their wedding, and thebride has since often spoken of the pig as the most valuable of all their wedding presents, for within a year this exemplary animal presented them with no less than twenty-eight robust and healthy piglings!
Names for publishing the Banns
The usual preliminaries to a wedding, namely, the giving in of the banns of marriage, and the publishing of the same in church, can be very variously expressed in dialect speech, for example: to put in the cries (Sc.), or t’spurrins (Yks.), or the askings (Lan.); or to put up the sibbritts (Chs.e.An.), or sibberidge,cp.O.E.sibbrǣden, relationship; to be asked in church (gen. dial.); to be asked out (gen. dial.), i.e. to have the banns published for the last time; to be called in church (Lin.), or called home (Wil.Dor.); to be church-bawled (Sus.); to be prayed for (e.An.); to be shouted (Lan.); to be spurred (Yks.Lan.Der.Lin.Wil.). The wordspurin this sense is fromO.E.spyrian, to investigate, inquire into, but popular etymology has connected it with the ordinary literary English substantivespur. Hence the jocular remark when a person has been once asked in church: Why, thoo’s gotten one spur on thee! In many villages (Lin.Hnt.Rut.) it is customary to ring what is called theSpur-peal, either at the close of the morning service, or in the evening of the Sunday when the banns are published for the first time. Formerly in parts of Wiltshire a man whose banns had been published for the first time was said to have: vallen plump out o’ the pulpit laas’ Zunday, and he was asked how his shoulder was, since it had been put out o’ one side. Parallel to this is the remark: He’s gotten broken-ribbed to-day (Lin.); and further, there are the expressions: to fall over the desk (w.Cy.); and to be thrown over the balk (n.Cy.),balkhere signifying the rood-beam dividing the chancel of a church from the nave. If after the banns have been published the marriage does not take place, the deserted one is said to hang over the balk; or, to be hung in the bell-ropes (Chs.Der.Wor.). Tradition in Sussex says that if a man goes to church to hear his banns read, his children will be born deaf and dumb. If a manwithdraws his banns after they have been given in, his projected marriage is spoken of as arue-bargain(Lan.). Them at’s e’ a horry to wed gen’lins eats rew-pie afoore thaay’ve been married a year is a Lincolnshire way of saying: Marry in haste and repent at leisure. To get married is: to tie a knot wi the tongue, at yan cannot louze wi’ yan’s teeth (Yks.Nhp.).
Formerly in Scotland and the north of England it was not uncommon for the wedding-guests to contribute either in money or in kind to the expenses of the marriage entertainment. Such a wedding was called abidden-wedding(Cum.Wm.Lan.),bride-wain(n.Cy.), orpenny-wedding(Sc.). In Lancashire, when the couple to be married were of the very poor, it was once customary for the friends to assemble on the wedding-day, and build for them a house of clay and wood, termedpost and petrel; orwattle and daub. The relations provided a few articles of necessary furniture, and when theclay biggingwas completed the day was concluded with music and dancing.
Lucky and Unlucky Days for Weddings
In fixing the date of the wedding care must be taken to note on which day of the week it falls, for each day of the week is supposed to have its special influence on the future life of the wedded pair:
Monday for wealth,Tuesday for health,Wednesday is the best day of all,Thursday for crosses,Friday for losses,Saturday no luck at all.
Monday for wealth,Tuesday for health,Wednesday is the best day of all,Thursday for crosses,Friday for losses,Saturday no luck at all.
Monday for wealth,Tuesday for health,Wednesday is the best day of all,Thursday for crosses,Friday for losses,Saturday no luck at all.
Monday for wealth,
Tuesday for health,
Wednesday is the best day of all,
Thursday for crosses,
Friday for losses,
Saturday no luck at all.
Leap year is looked upon as a lucky year for marriage: Happy they’ll be that wed and wive Within leap year; they’re sure to thrive (Yks.). Sunshine on the wedding-day is always a fortunate omen, for: Happy is the bride that the sun shines on. It is very unlucky for the bride to wear green at her wedding (Shr.Yks.), even in any part of her clothing—Green and white, Forsaken quite—but opinions differ as to blue for the colour of the wedding dress: Deean’to’ Friday buy yer ring, O’ Friday deean’t put t’spurrings in, Deean’t wed o’ Friday. Think o’ this, Nowther blue ner green mun match her dhriss (Yks.); If dressed in blue, She’s sure to rue (Yks.). On the other hand, in certain parts of the country blue is a favourite colour for the wedding attire (Shr.). The most lucky combination is to wear: Something old, and something new, Something borrowed, and something blue. The something borrowed should if possible have been previously worn by a bride at her wedding. In Devonshire a bride is supposed to further her chances of prosperity by carrying with her to church a few sprigs of rue, and of rosemary, and a little garlic in her pocket.
Omens at Weddings
It is a very unlucky omen for a bride on her way to church if a cat or a toad should meet her on the road; if a raven should hover over her; or if a dog, a cat, or a hare should run between her and the bridegroom; if the bridal procession should encounter a funeral; or if a cripple should cross their path. It is unlucky for a widow to be present at the wedding (Shr.); or for the clock to strike during the marriage service (Wor.). When the ceremony is over, whichever of the wedded pair steps first out of church will be ‘master’ in the home (Brks.). At a recent wedding near Oxford, the bride’s mother-in-law stood waiting outside the church door to watch for this important omen, and when she saw her son step out first, she clapped her hands exultingly, greatly to the discomfiture of the bride, who had heedlessly missed her opportunity. In parts of Yorkshire the same superstition is connected with the leaving of the bride’s old home after the wedding-feast; whichever of the two then crosses the threshold first, will be the leader in their future life together. For unmarried members of the wedding party to rub against the bride or bridegroom is considered lucky, as by so doing they may hope to catch the infection of matrimony.
Superstitious practices connected with thefirst-foot, such as we have already noticed at christenings, are also to be found as part of the old wedding ceremonies. In some districts it was the bride herself, on her way to church, whocarried in her pocket a small parcel of bread and cheese to give to the first woman or girl she might meet after leaving the church (Dev.); in others it was a friend who was sent on in front of the wedding procession with thekimbly(Cor.) to be given to the first person met on the road to church. In Scotland two people preceded the procession, one of whom carried a bottle of whisky and a glass, and the other carried the bread and cheese. A man on horseback or accompanied by a horse and cart was considered the most luckyfirst-foot.
After the Wedding
In the north of England, after the marriage service was over, the bride on leaving the church had to jump or be lifted over theparting-stool, orpetting-stoneat the churchyard gate, after which ceremony money was distributed by the bridegroom. In n.Devon this custom takes the form ofchaining the bride. Young men stretch twisted bands of hay, or pieces of rope decorated with ribbons and flowers, across the gateway. Then the bridegroom scatters handfuls of small coin, the chain is dropped whilst the holders scramble for the money, and the bridal party is free to pursue its way home. Money demanded and forcibly exacted at the church gates from the bridegroom is known asball-money(Sc.Nhb.Cum.Chs.), so called because formerly the money was applied to buying a football for the parish;bride-shoe(Yks.); andhen-silver(Cum.Wm.Yks.Lan.). Sometimes, however, thehen-brassis money privately given by the bridegroom on the evening after the marriage to enable his friends to drink his health. In Westmorland a gun used to be fired over the house of a newly-married couple, and thehen-silverwas the present of money given to the firing party to drink to the future health and good luck of the pair. A wedding at which noball-moneyis distributed is contemptuously termed abuttermilk wedding(Chs.). On the way home from church the bridegroom usually threw coppers to be scrambled for by the children in the crowd; guns loaded with feathers were fired as a sign of rejoicing (Yks.); and friends came out to meet the bridal party bearing pots of warm ale sweetened and spiced, known ashot pots(n.Cy.). In Cheshire it is still customary to ornament the approach to the bride’s home with sand spread in patterns. The patterns are made by trickling silver sand through the fingers, or through a large funnel. Wreaths and floral emblems are thus traced out, and sometimes mottoes are written, such as: Long may they live and happy may they be; Blest with contentment to all eternity.
Wedding Sports
Among the ancient wedding sports was theriding for the kail(Sc.n.Cy.), which took place when the bride was on her way home. When the party was nearing the future home of the couple, the unmarried men set off to ride or run at full speed to the house, and whoever reached it first was said towin the kail, orkeal. The idea was that the winner of thekailwould be the first to enter the married state,kailbeing the same word ascale, a turn in rotation. Some of the accounts of this sport would however seem to show that in some places thekailmeant a dish of spiced broth given as a prize to the winner of the race. The race for the bride’s garter (Yks.) was formerly a very popular wedding sport, and it continued in practice as late as the last decade of the nineteenth century. The race was run from the churchyard gate to thebride-door, where the winner claimed the privilege of removing the prize himself as the bride crossed the threshold of her home. It was valued as a potent love-charm, and was given by the winner to his sweetheart: to binnd his luv. Later a ribbon or a handkerchief was substituted for the bridal garter (Dur.Cum.Yks.).
The ceremony ofthrowing the bride-cakeexisted in various forms in Scotland and the northern counties of England. When the bride returned from church, she was met on the doorstep and presented with a thin currant cake on a plate, or it might be shortbread or oat-cake. Some of this cake was then thrown over her head, or more commonly it was broken over her head by the bridegroom. In cases where the cake was thrown over the bride’s head, the plate was not infrequently thrown along with it. In Scotland the cake provided was known as theinfar-cake,cp.O.E.infær, an entrance.The custom is not yet extinct in Scotland, for I was told by an eye-witness that at a fashionable Scotch wedding only two or three years ago, the bride’s mother-in-law broke a cake of shortbread over the bride’s head on her return from church. The following is a Yorkshire rhyme which accompanies the usual throwing of slippers after a newly-married couple:
A weddin’ a-woo,A clog an’ a shoe,A pot full o’ porridge, an’ away they go!
A weddin’ a-woo,A clog an’ a shoe,A pot full o’ porridge, an’ away they go!
A weddin’ a-woo,A clog an’ a shoe,A pot full o’ porridge, an’ away they go!
A weddin’ a-woo,
A clog an’ a shoe,
A pot full o’ porridge, an’ away they go!
A curious saying applied to an elder brother or sister left behind when a younger member of the family is married, is that he or she must dance in the pig-trough (Shr.Suf.), or in the half-peck (Yks.), or dance at the wedding in his (or her) stocking-feet (Shr.).
Riding the Stang
In olden days, when a marriage resulted in conjugal infelicity, and the husband became a wife-beater, popular disapproval was expressed by a method of punishing the offender known as Riding the Stang. This custom with slight variations and under different names—such as: Rantipole-riding, Skimmington-riding, or simply Riding—was once common practically throughout England, and in many parts of Scotland. Cases where it has been kept up in practice have been recorded as late as the year 1896. The delinquent was caught and tied fast to astangor pole, and carried round the village in the midst of a jeering crowd; or he was represented by a straw effigy borne on a ladder, or drawn in a cart for three successive nights, accompanied by horn-blowing and shouting. When the procession reached the man’s house, a longnominyor doggerel recounting his offences was recited, the verses varying in different localities. A Lincolnshirenominyruns: He banged her wi’ stick, He banged her wi’ steän, He teeak op his naefe [fist], An’ he knocked her doon. With a ran, tan, tan,&c.On the third night the effigy was burned in the street or on the village green. Sometimes instead of an effigy, two men, one of them dressed in female attire, rode in the cart, giving adialogue representation of the quarrel, and an imitation of the final beating. In some places the culprit was merely serenaded with rough singing, and the noise of beating on pots and pans. This ceremony was called Randanning, or Rough Music, and is closely allied to Stang-riding,cp.‘Charivaris de poelles.The carting of an infamous person, graced with the harmony of tinging kettles, and frying-pan Musick,’ Cotgrave.
Death Superstitions
According to a popular superstition once prevalent in many parts of England, dying persons could not pass away peacefully if there were any feathers of game-birds or pigeons in the bed on which they lay. Instances have been recorded where some such feathers have been placed in a small bag, and thrust under the pillow of a dying man to hold him in life until the arrival of some expected relation; and further, instances where, out of pure kindness, a sufferer at the point of death has been removed from his bed, and laid on the floor to die ‘nat’rally’. Formerly, when the moment of death was unmistakably nigh at hand, it was customary to throw open all the doors and windows, so that nothing should hinder the flight of the departing spirit. I myself can remember what seemed to be a remnant of this superstitious observance in a country parish in Herefordshire about twenty-five years ago. The widow of an old farmer had just died, and her daughter told my father that it was well that there was a bolt to the front door, for that the key must not be turned in the lock whilst the body lay in the house. This we took to be a preservation of the letter of the old law. In Yorkshire there exists an idea that the door must not be locked for seven years after a death in the house.
Death Customs
Immediately after the death had taken place, the fire in the room was extinguished, and the looking-glass either covered up, or turned with its face to the wall (Yks.Shr.). In Scotland a piece of iron used to be thrust into all the eatables in the house, butter, cheese, meat,&c., in order—as it was said—to prevent death from entering them. When the corpsehad been duly laid out, orstreeked(Sc.n.Cy.), a plate of salt was placed on the breast (Sc.Nhb.Shr.Dev.), formerly with the avowed object of driving evil spirits away, but towards the latter end of the nineteenth century, where the custom was still in use, the reason given was that: it prevents the body from swelling. This placing of a plate of salt on the corpse had been part of the performances of the oldsin-eater(Sc.Hrf.Cth.), a person who was called in when any one died, to eat the sins of the deceased. He placed a plate of salt and a plate of bread on the breast of the corpse, and muttered certain incantations, after which he ate the contents of the plates, thereby taking upon himself the sins of the dead person, which would otherwise have kept his ghost hovering round his relations on earth. In Northumberland it was customary to double the thumbs of the deceased within the hand, to avert evil spirits. The candles kept burning round the corpse were termed in parts of Lincolnshireghost-candles, because they were supposed to ward off ghosts.
The customs connected with the tolling of the Passing Bell vary somewhat in detail in different localities, but they are substantially the same. After the bell has tolled for some minutes there is a pause, and then follow thetellers, thrice three successive strokes for a man, twice three for a woman, and three strokes for a child. It has been suggested that the old saying: nine tailors make a man, is a corruption of nine tellers mark a man.
The ceremony of holding watch over the dead between the time of death and burial was called thewakeorlyke-wakein Ireland, Scotland, and the north of England. The relatives and neighbours of the deceased assembled at the house, and spent the night in the room with the corpse, singing Psalms and dirges, chatting, telling stories, praising the virtues of the departed, eating and drinking. This gathering usually took place either the evening after the death, or the night before the funeral.
In due course somebody went round to invite friends andneighbours to be present at the funeral. This was calledbidding(n.Cy.Stf.Der.),lathing(n.Cy.), orsperring(Lan.), terms which are still in use—e.g. Awm gooin’ a sperrin’, He’s gone a laithin’ o’ th’neeburs to th’berrin’, Ah mun gan an’ see t’last on him, ah’s bid—though the custom of sending abidderwearing a black silk scarf has long been discontinued. In many places in the Lake district, two persons from every house within a prescribed area were invited to the funeral. Formerly thebidderpresented a sprig of rosemary to each invited guest, and the latter was expected to carry it with him to the funeral (Lan.). In Shropshire these sprigs were distributed to the mourners just before the procession left the house. At the conclusion of the burial service each mourner cast his rosemary into the open grave. Ins.Pembrokeshirea woman walked in front of the funeral procession strewing sprigs of rosemary and box along the road—‘There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.’
Funeral Cakes
A custom still practised in Yorkshire and formerly prevalent in many other English counties, and also in parts of Wales, is that of distributingburying biscuits, orfuneral cakes, small oblong sponge biscuits, which some think were originally intended to represent a coffin. As each mourner arrives, he or she is presented with a biscuit and a memorial card. Sometimes this is done by two women who are calledservers(n.Yks.). In the Midlands the biscuits were folded up each in white paper sealed with black wax, and so handed round to every guest; in this form, too, they were sent out to any relations or intimate friends not present at the funeral, just as wedding-cake is sent now. Two generations ago this practice was commonly observed in middle class families, as well as among the poorer folk. When my great-uncle—a well-known Evangelical clergyman in Birmingham—died some twenty-five years ago, his executors found among his papers a packet, yellow with age, containing what had once been a funeral sponge biscuit. Together with thefuneral cakesspiced ale used sometimes to be served, in a tankard of silver or pewter; but in later, more degeneratedays glasses of spirits and water replaced the tankard of ale. Meanwhile the coffin was still kept open, that one and all might take a last look at the corpse before the time came forlifting(Sc.n.Cy.), when the coffin must be closed. Formerly in Northumberland theliftingof the corpse was the signal for the outburst of lamentation known askeening(Sc.Irel.Nhb.), a dismal concerted cry raised by the assembled mourners.
Funeral Rites
It is still a custom in some Midland counties for little girls in white dresses and black sashes to act as bearers at the funeral of an infant or very young child of their own sex, and for boys to carry baby boys. The coffin is supported by white handkerchiefs or towels passed underneath and held on each side by the young bearers. Thefuneral garland(n.Cy.Der.Lin.Shr.Hmp.), which marked the burial of a young unmarried woman, has now long since become obsolete. Thisgarlandconsisted of a coronal or wreath of ribbons, or flowers cut out in white paper, with a white glove suspended in the centre, and it was borne in front of the coffin, or upon it, to the grave, and afterwards suspended in the church. According to a popular belief the passage of a funeral over any ground establishes a right of way. Rain at a funeral is a good sign, for: Happy is the corpse that the rain rains on.
A beautiful old custom, well known in Shropshire in olden days, and kept up certainly within living memory, is that ofringing the dead home. When the funeral procession came in sight of the church, the bell ceased tolling, and a peal was rung, as if to welcome the body to its last resting-place.
There is a general feeling in country parishes against burial on the north side of the church. The south side is considered the holiest portion of the churchyard, where the cross stands, if such there be. In a small parish, where there are few interments, the north side of the churchyard may be quite empty. This points the moral contained in the phrase: Thaay bury them as kills thersens wi’ hard wark o’ th’no’th side o’ th’chech, applied to persons who complain unwarrantably of hard work.
After the burial came the funeral feast held in the house where the deceased had lived, or provided at the village inn. In some places if the family was poor, it would be apay-berring(Yks.), and each of the invited guests would give some small contribution towards the expenses. To provide a handsome entertainment on these occasions was looked upon as a mark of fitting respect for the dead: Ah’ve nivver been at sike a sitting-doon i’ mah leyfe; ther war nowt bud tea-cakes, an’ badly buttered at that. Noo ah’ve sahded fahve o’ my awn, bud thank the Lord, ah buried ’em all wi’ ham. It is on record that at the funeral of a farmer who died near Whitby in 1760, meat and drink were provided as follows: ‘110 dozen penny loaves, 9 large hams, 8 legs of veal, 20 stone of beef (14 lbs. to the stone), 16 stone of mutton, 15 stone of Cheshire cheese, and 30 ankers of ale; besides what was distributed to 1,000 poor people who had 6d.each in money.’
Telling the Bees
One of the most interesting of all the ceremonies connected with funerals is the superstitious practice known astelling the bees, once common throughout the greater part of England. Totell the beesis to inform them of the occurrence of the death of the head of the house, or of some member of the family. If this is not done, they are supposed to leave their hives and never return, or else they all die. The right time for making the communication is either just before the funeral leaves the house, or else at the moment when the procession is starting. On the Welsh Border people say it must be made in the middle of the night. The form of words used varies in different parts of the country, but they must always be whispered words, or the bees may take offence. These are some of the recognized formulae: The master is dead; Your friend’s gone; The poor maister’s dead, but yo mun work fur me; Bees, bees, bees, your master is dead, and you must work for ——, naming the future owner. This is accompanied in some instances by three taps on the hive. The hives are ‘put into mourning’ by attaching to them a piece of black crape. In some places it was customaryto give the bees a piece of funeral cake; and elsewhere, small portions of every item of the funeral feast were collected in a saucer and put in front of the hive. In Devonshire the popular belief was that if the bees were not told of the death in the family, some other member of the household would die before the expiration of the year. A writer inLloyd’s Weekly News, July 3, 1910, speaks of the superstition of telling the bees as still extant; and at about the same date a girl in Oxford told me that an uncle of hers—yet living—had lost all his bees by neglecting to tell them of the death of his mother.
A Month’s Mind
In some districts is found the observance of themonth’s end(Hrf.w.Cy.Wales), a certain Sunday after the funeral when the mourners attend church. A trace of an old religious custom belonging also to the days subsequent to the funeral has been crystallized in the phrase: to have a month’s mind to anything (Chs.Midl.e.An.I.W.Som.Cor.). This alludes to a pre-Reformation practice of repeating one or more masses at the end of a month after death for the repose of a departed soul. In the Churchwardens’ accounts of Abingdon, Berkshire, occurs the following, among other similar entries: ‘1556. Receyved att the buryall and monethe’s mynde ofGeo.Chynchexxiid.’ The phrase, however, long ago acquired the meaning it bears to-day,cp.: ‘I see you have a month’s mind to them,’Shaks.Two Gent.I.ii. 137; ‘I have a month’s mind to be doing as much,’ Jervas,Don Quixote; ‘The King[HenryVII]had more than a moneth’s mind ... to procure the pope to canonize Henry VI for a saint,’ Fuller,ChurchHist.Bk. IV. 23; I’d a month’s mind to a knock’d un down (I.W.).