that the dividend should, for ever, be disposed of as follows:--1_l._
1_s._ to the vicar of the parish of St. Nicholas for performing morning
service annually in the parish church on the 21st of October, and
preaching a sermon in commemoration of the glorious victory obtained by
Lord Nelson over the combined fleets of France and Spain off Cape
Trafalgar, on the 21st of October 1805; 10_s._ 6_d._ equally between the
clerk and sexton for their attendance at such service and sermon. The
residue of the dividend to be applied to keeping a monument of his
friend in good condition, and the surplus after such repair to be given
to the poor on the 6th of December each year in coals and
garments.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and Charities_, 1842, p. 170.

OCT. 25.] ST. CRISPIN’S DAY.

In many places St. Crispin’s Day is a great holiday among the
shoemakers, and the origin of it is thus explained:--Two brothers,
Crispin and Crispinian, natives of Rome, having become converts to
Christianity, travelled to Soissons in France about the year 303, in
order to propagate the Christian faith. Being desirous, however, of
rendering themselves independent they gained a subsistence by making
shoes, with which it is said they furnished the poor at an extremely
small price, an angel, according to the legend, supplying them with
leather. They suffered martyrdom in the persecution under Maximian.

In _Time’s Telescope_ for 1816 it is observed that the shoemakers of the
present day are not far behind their predecessors in the manner of
keeping St. Crispin. From the highest to the lowest it is a day of
feasting and jollity. It is also observed as a festival with the
corporate body of cordwainers or shoemakers of London, but without any
sort of procession on the occasion.

NORTHUMBERLAND.

In the town of Hexham, the following custom is, or was, at one time
observed:--The shoemakers of the town meet and dine by previous
arrangements at some tavern; a King Crispin, queen, prince, and
princess, elected from members of their fraternity of families, being
present. They afterwards form in grand procession (the ladies and their
attendants excepted), and parade the streets with banners, music, &c.,
the royal party and suite gaily dressed in character. In the evening
they reassemble for dancing and other festivities. To his majesty and
consort, and their royal highnesses the prince and princess (the latter
usually a pretty girl), due regal homage is paid during that day.--_N. &
Q. 1st S._ vol. vi. p. 243.

At one time the cordwainers of Newcastle celebrated the festival of St.
Crispin by holding a coronation of their patron saint in the court of
the Freemen’s Hospital at the Westgate, and afterwards walking in
procession through the principal streets of the town. This caricature
show produced much laughter and mirth.--Mackenzie, _History of
Newcastle_, 1827, vol. i. p. 88.

SUSSEX.

In the parishes of Cuckfield and Hurst-a-point, St. Crispin’s Day is
kept with much rejoicing. The boys go round asking for money in the name
of St. Crispin, bonfires are lighted, and it passes off very much in the
same way as the 5th of November. It appears from an inscription on a
monument to one of the ancient family of Bunell, in the parish church of
Cuckfield, that a Sir John Bunell attended Henry V. to France in the
year 1415, with one ship, twenty men-at-arms, and forty archers, and it
is probable that the observance of this day in that neighbourhood is
connected with that fact.--_N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. v. p. 30.

WALES.

At Tenby an effigy was made and hung on some elevated and prominent
place (the steeple for instance) on the previous night. On the morning
of the Saint’s day it was cut down and carried about the town, a will
being read in doggrel verse, purporting to be the last testament of the
Saint, in pursuance of which the several articles of dress were
distributed to the different shoemakers. At length nothing remained of
the image but the padding, which was kicked about by the crowd. As a
sort of revenge for the treatment given to St. Crispin, his followers
hung up the effigy of a carpenter on St. Clement’s Day.--Mason’s _Tales
and Traditions of Tenby_, 1858, p. 26.

OCT. 29.] ST. MODWEN’S DAY.

STAFFORDSHIRE.

This day used to be observed at Burton-on-Trent. On it was held a sale
of cheese, and a variety of sports and pastimes took place.--Pitt,
_Topographical History of Staffordshire_, 1817, p. 45.

OCT. 30.] BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

The manor of Chetwode--a small village about five miles from
Buckingham--has been the property of the Chetwode family from Saxon
times. Though of small extent, it is the paramount manor of a liberty
or district, embracing several other manors and villages, which are
required to do suit and service at the Court-Leet held at Chetwode every
three years. The lord of Chetwode manor has also the right to levy a
yearly tax, called the “Rhyne Toll,” on all cattle found within this
liberty, between the 30th of October and the 7th of November, both days
inclusive. The commencement of the toll, which is proclaimed with much
ceremony, is thus described in an old document of Queen Elizabeth’s
reign:--

“In the beginning of the said drift of the common, or rhyne, first at
their going forth, they shall blow a welke-shell, or horne, immediately
after the sun rising at the Mansion-House of the manor of Chetwode, and
then, in their going about, they shall blow their horne the second time
in the field between Newton Purcell and Barton Hartshorne, in the said
county of Bucks, and also shall blow their horne a third time at a place
near the town of Finmere, in the county of Oxford, and they shall blow
their horne the fourth time at a certain stone in the market of the town
of Buckingham, and there to give the poor sixpence; and so, going
forward in this manner about the said drift, shall blow the horne at
several bridges called Thornborough Bridge, King’s Bridge, and Bridge
Mill. And they also shall blow their horne at the Pound Gate, called the
Lord’s Pound, in the parish of Chetwode..... And also (the Lord of
Chetwode) has always been used by his officers and servants to drive
away all foreign cattle that shall be found within the said parishes,
fields, &c., to impound the same in any pound of the said towns, and to
take for every one of the said foreign beasts twopence for the mouth,
and one penny for a foot for every one of the said beasts.” All cattle
thus impounded at other places were to be removed to the pound at
Chetwode, and if not claimed and the toll paid within three days, “then
the next day following after the rising of the sun, the bailiff or
officers of the lord for the time being shall blow their horne three
times at the gate of the said pound, and make proclamation that, if any
persons lack any cattle that shall be in the same pound, let them come
and shew the marks of the same cattle so claimed by them, and they shall
have them, paying unto the lord his money in the manner and form before
mentioned, otherwise the said cattle that shall so remain, shall be the
lord’s as strays.” This toll was formerly so rigidly enforced, that if
the owner of cattle so impounded made his claim immediately after the
proclamation was over, he was refused them, except by paying their full
market price.

Though the custom is still regularly observed, it has undergone some
changes since the date of the above document. The toll now begins at
nine in the morning instead of at sunrise, and the horn is first sounded
on the church-hill at Buckingham, and gingerbread and beer distributed
among the assembled boys, the girls being excluded. The officer then
proceeds to another part of the liberty on the border of Oxfordshire,
and there, after blowing his horn as before, again distributes
gingerbread and beer among the assembled boys. The toll is then
proclaimed as begun, and collectors are stationed at different parts to
enforce it, at the rate of two shillings a score upon all cattle and
swine passing on any road within the liberty, until twelve o’clock at
night on the 7th of November, when the “Rhyne” closes.

The occupiers of land within the liberty have long been accustomed to
compound for the toll by an annual payment of one shilling. The toll has
sometimes been refused, but has always been recovered with the attendant
expenses. It realised about 20_l._ a year before the opening of the
Buckinghamshire Railway; but now, owing to Welsh and Irish cattle being
sent by trains, it does not amount to above 4_l._, and is let by the
present lord of the manor for only 1_l._ 5_s._ a year.

The existence of this toll may be traced to remote antiquity, but
nothing is known of its origin except from local tradition, which,
however, in this case has been so remarkably confirmed, that it may
safely be credited. The parish of Chetwode, as its name implies, was
formerly thickly wooded; indeed it formed a part of an ancient forest
called Rookwoode, which is supposed to have been conterminous with the
present liberty of Chetwode. At a very early period, says our tradition,
this forest was infested with an enormous wild boar which became the
terror of the surrounding country. The inhabitants were never safe from
his attacks, and strangers who heard of his ferocity were afraid to
visit or pass through the district, so that traffic and friendly
intercourse were seriously impeded, as well us much injury done to
property by this savage monster. The lord of Chetwode, like a valiant
knight, determined to rid his neighbourhood from this pest, or to die in
the attempt. Bent on this generous purpose, he sallied forth into the
forest, and, as the old song has it,--

    “Then he blowed a blast full north, south, east, and west--
      Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
    And the wild boar then heard him full in his den,
      As he was a jovial hunter.

    Then he made the best of his speed unto him--
      Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
    Swift flew the boar, with his tusks smeared with gore,
      To Sir Ryalas, the jovial hunter.

    Then the wild boar, being so stout and so strong--
      Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
    Thrashed down the trees as he ramped him along
      To Sir Ryalas, the jovial hunter.

    Then they fought four hours in a long summer day--
      Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
    Till the wild boar fain would have got him away
      From Sir Ryalas, the jovial hunter.

    Then Sir Ryalas he drawed his broad-sword with might--
      Wind well thy horn, good hunter;
    And he fairly cut the boar’s head off quite,
      For he was a jovial hunter.”

Matters being thus settled, the neighbourhood rung with the praises of
the gallant deed of the lord of Chetwode, and the news thereof soon
reached the ears of the king, who “liked him so well of the
achievement,” that he forthwith made the knight tenant _in capite_, and
constituted his manor paramount of all the manors within the limits and
extent of the royal forest of Rookwoode. Moreover, he granted to him,
and to his heirs for ever, among other immunities and privileges, the
full right and power to levy every year the “Rhyne Toll,” which has
already been described.

Such a custom as the “Rhyne Toll” is not without its use. It is a
perpetual memorial, perhaps more convincing than written history, of the
dangers which surrounded our ancestors, and from which our country has
happily been so long delivered that we can now scarcely believe they
ever existed.--_The Book of Days_, vol. ii. pp. 517-519.

OCT. 31.] HALLOW EVE.

This eve is so called from being the vigil of All Saints’ Day, and is
the season for a variety of superstitious and other customs. In the
north of England many of these still linger. One of the most common is
that of diving for apples, or of catching at them with the mouth only,
the hands being tied behind, and the apples suspended on one end of a
long transverse beam, at the other extremity of which is fixed a lighted
candle. The fruit and nuts form the most prominent parts of the evening
feast, and from this circumstance the night has been termed _Nutcrack
Night_.[79]--Soane’s _Book of the Months_, 1849, vol. ii. p. 215; see
_Book of Days_, vol. ii. pp. 519-520.

  [79] See Michaelmas Eve, p. 375.

Sir William Dugdale (_Life, Diary, and Correspondence of Sir W.
Dugdale_, _edited by_ W. Hamper, 1827, p. 104) tells us that formerly,
on Halloween, the master of the family used to carry a bunch of straw,
fired, about his corn, saying:

    “Fire and red low
    Light on my teen now.”

This fire-straw, says a correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_3rd S._ vol. i. p.
316), was meant to ward off witchcraft, and so preserve the corn from
being spoiled. In Scotland, on Halloween, the red end of a fiery stick
is waved about in mystic figures in the air to accomplish for the person
the same spell. Red appears to be a colour peculiarly obnoxious to
witches. One Halloween rhyme enjoins the employment of:

    “Rowan tree and red thread,
    To gar the witches dance their dead;”

i.e., dance till they fall down and expire. The berries of the
rowan-tree (mountain-ash) are of a brilliant red. The point of the fiery
stick waved rapidly takes the appearance of a “red thread.”

CORNWALL.

The ancient custom of providing children with a large apple on
Allhallows Eve is still observed to a great extent at St. Ives. “Allan
Day,” as it is termed, is the day of days to hundreds of children who
would deem it a great misfortune were they to go to bed on Allan night
without the time honoured allan apple to hide beneath their pillows. A
large quantity of apples are thus disposed of, the sale of which is
dignified by the term Allan Market.--Hunt’s _Romances of the West of
England_, 1871, p. 388.

LANCASHIRE.

In Lancashire, says Hampson (_Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 365), it was
formerly believed that witches assembled on this night to do “their
deeds without a name,” at their general rendezvous in the forest of
Pendle, a ruined and desolate farmhouse, denominated the _Malkin Tower_,
from the awful purposes to which it was devoted. This superstition led
to a ceremony called _lating_, or perhaps _leeting the witches_. It was
believed that, if a lighted candle were carried about the fells or hills
from eleven till twelve o’clock at night, and burned all that time
steadily, it had so far triumphed over the evil power of the witches,
who, as they passed to the Malkin Tower, would employ their utmost
efforts to extinguish the light, and the person whom it represented
might safely defy their malice during the season; but if by accident the
light went out, it was an omen of evil to the luckless wight for whom
the experiment was made. It was also deemed inauspicious to cross the
threshold of that person until after the return from _leeting_, and not
then unless the candle had preserved its light.--See _Year Book_, 1838,
p. 1276.

ISLE OF MAN.

This festival, called by the islanders _Sauin_, was formerly observed in
the Isle of Man by kindling of fires with all the accompanying
ceremonies, to prevent the baneful influence of fairies and witches. The
island was perambulated at night by young men who stuck up at the door
of every dwelling-house, a rhyme in Manks, beginning:

    “Noght oie howney hop-dy-naw,
    This is Hollantide Eve,” &c.

On Hollantide Eve, boys go round the town shouting out a doggrel, of
which the following is an extract:

                  “This is old Hollantide night,
                  The moon shines fair and bright;
                  I went to the well
                  And drank my fill;
                  On the way coming back
                  I met a pole-cat;
                  The cat began to grin
                  And I began to run;
                  Where did you run to?
                  I ran to Scotland;
                  What were they doing there?
                  Baking bannocks and roasting collops.

    If you are going to give us anything, give us it soon,
    Or we’ll be away by the light of the moon!”

For some peculiar reason, potatoes, parsnips, and fish, pounded together
and mixed with butter, form always the evening meal.--Train, _History of
the Isle of Man_, 1845, vol. ii. p. 123.

MIDDLESEX.

In the reign of Charles I., the young gentlemen of the Middle Temple
were accustomed at All Hallow Tide, which they considered the beginning
of Christmas, to associate themselves for the festive objects connected
with the season. In 1629 they chose Bulstrode Whitelocke as Master of
the Revels, and used to meet every evening at St. Dunstan’s Tavern, in a
large new room, called “The Oracle of Apollo,” each man bringing friends
with him at his own pleasure. It was a kind of mock parliament, where
various questions were discussed as in our modern debating societies,
but these temperate proceedings were seasoned with mirthful doings, to
which the name of revels was given and of which dancing appears to have
been the chief. On All Hallows Day, “the Master (Whitelocke, then
four-and-twenty), as soon as the evening was come, entered the hall
followed by sixteen revellers. They were proper, handsome young
gentlemen, habited in rich suits, shoes and stockings, hats and great
feathers. The master led them in his bar gown, with a white staff in his
hand, the music playing before them. They began with the old masques;
after which they danced the _Brawls_,[80] and then the master took his
seat, while the revellers flaunted through galliards, corantos, French
and country dances, till it grew very late. As might be expected, the
reputation of this dancing soon brought a store of other gentlemen and
ladies, some of whom were of great quality, and when the ball was over
the festive party adjourned to Sir Sydney Montague’s chamber, lent for
the purpose to our young president. At length the court ladies and
grandees were allured, to the contentment of his vanity it may have
been, but entailing on him serious expense, and then there was great
striving for places to see them on the part of the London citizens. To
crown the ambition and vanity of all, a great German lord had a desire
to witness the revels, then making such a sensation at court, and the
Templars entertained him at great cost to themselves, receiving in
exchange that which cost the great noble very little--his avowal that
‘Dere was no such nople gollege in Christendom as deirs.’”--Whitelocke’s
_Memoirs of Bulstrode Whitelocke_, 1860, p. 56; quoted in _Book of
Days_, vol. ii. p. 538.

  [80] Erroneously written _Brantes_ in the authority quoted.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

If a girl had two lovers, and wished to know which would be the most
constant, she procured two brown apple pippins, and sticking one on each
cheek (after having named them from her lovers) while she repeated this
couplet:

    “Pippen, pippen, I stick thee there,
    That that is true thou may’st declare,”

patiently awaited until one fell off, when the unfortunate swain whose
name it bore was instantly discarded as being unfaithful. It is to this
custom that Gay has thus alluded:

    “See from the core two kernels now I take,
    This on my cheek for Lubberkin is worn,
    And Booby Clod on t’other side is borne;
    But Booby Clod soon falls upon the ground,
    A certain token that his love’s unsound;
    While Lubberkin sticks firmly to the last;
    Oh! were his lips to mine but joined so fast.”

  _Jour. of Arch. Assoc._ 1853, vol. iii. p. 286.

YORKSHIRE.

At Ripon, the women make a cake for every one in the family, whence this
eve is by them called _cake-night_.--_Gent. Mag._ 1790, vol. lx. p. 719.

WALES.

In North Wales there is a custom upon All Saints’ Eve of making a great
fire called _Coel Coeth_, when every family for about an hour in the
night, makes a great bonfire in the most conspicuous place near the
house, and when the fire is almost extinguished every one throws a white
stone into the ashes, having first marked it; then having said their
prayers turning round the fire, they go to bed. In the morning, as soon
as they are up, they come and search out the stones, and if any one of
them is found wanting they have a notion that the person who threw it in
will die before he sees another All Saints’ Eve.--Pennant MS., quoted by
Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 389.

In Owen’s _Account of the Bards_, preserved in Sir R. Hoare’s _Itinerary
of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales_ (vol. ii. p. 315), the following
particulars are given in connection with the above custom:--The autumnal
fire kindled in North Wales on the eve of the 1st of November is
attended by many ceremonies, such as running through the fire and smoke,
each casting a stone into the fire, and all running off at the
conclusion, to escape from the black short-tailed sow; then supping upon
parsnips, nuts, and apples; catching at an apple suspended by a string,
with the mouth alone, and the same by an apple in a tub of water; each
throwing a nut into the fire, and those that burn bright betoken
prosperity to the owners through the following year, but those that burn
black and crackle, denote misfortune. On the following morning the
stones are searched for in the fire, and if any be missing, they betide
ill to those who threw them in.

SCOTLAND.

Burns, in his notes upon Halloween, gives the following interesting
account of the superstitious customs practised by the Scottish
peasantry:

1. The first ceremony of Halloween is pulling each a stock or plant of
kail. They must go out hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first
they meet with; its being big or little, straight or crooked, is
prophetic of the size and shape of the grand object of all their
spells--the husband or wife. If any _yird_, or earth stick to the root,
that is _tocher_ or fortune; and the taste of the _custoc_, that is the
heart of the stem, is indicative of the natural temper and disposition.
Lastly, the stems, or--to give them their ordinary appellation--the
runts, are placed somewhere above the head of the door; and the
Christian names of the people, whom chance brings into the house are,
according to the priority of placing the runts, the names in question.

2. They go to the barn-yard, and pull each, at three several times, a
stalk of oats. If the third stalk wants the _top-pickle_, the party in
question will come to the marriage-bed anything but a maid.

3. Burning the nuts is a famous charm, they name the lad and lass to
each particular nut as they lay them in the fire. Accordingly, as they
burn quietly together or start from beside one another, the course and
issue of the courtship will be.

4. Steal out all alone to the _kiln_, and darkling throw into the pot a
clue of blue yarn, wind it in a new clue off the old one; and towards
the latter end, something will hold the thread; demand, “Who hauds?”
i.e., who holds. An answer will be returned from the kiln-pot, by naming
the Christian and surname of your future spouse.

5. Take a candle and go alone to a looking-glass, eat an apple before
it, and, some traditions say you should comb your hair all the time, the
face of your conjugal companion to be will be seen in the glass as if
peeping over your shoulder.

6. Steal out unperceived and sow a handful of hempseed, harrowing it
with anything you can conveniently draw after you. Repeat now and then,
“Hempseed I sow thee; hempseed, I sow thee; and him (or her) that is to
be my true love come after me and pou thee.” Look over your left
shoulder, and you will see the appearance of the person invoked in the
attitude of pulling hemp. Some traditions say, “Come after me, and show
thee,” that is show thyself, in which case it simply appears. Others
omit the harrowing, and say, “Come after me and harrow thee.”

7. _To win three wechts o’ naething._--This charm must likewise be
performed unperceived and alone, you go to the barn, and open both
doors, taking them off the hinges if possible; for there is danger that
they, being about to appear, may shut the doors and do you some
mischief. Then take that instrument used in winnowing the corn, which in
our dialect is called a _wecht_; and go through all the attitudes of
letting down corn against the wind. Repeat it three times; and the third
time an apparition will pass through the barn, in it at the windy door
and out at the other, having both the figure in question, and the
appearance or retinue marking the employment or station in life.

8. Take an opportunity of going unnoticed to a bean stack, and fathom it
three times round. The last fathom of the last time, you will catch in
your arms the appearance of your future conjugal yoke-fellow.

9. You go out, one or more, for this is a social spell, to a south
running spring or rivulet, where three lairds’ lands meet, and dip your
left shirt sleeve. Go to bed in sight of a fire, and hang your wet
sleeve before it to dry. Lie awake, and sometime near midnight an
apparition, having an exact figure of the grand object in question, will
come and turn the sleeve as if to dry the other side of it.

10. Take three dishes, put clean water in one, foul water in another,
leave the third empty; blindfold a person, and lead him to the hearth
where the dishes are ranged; he (or she) dips the left hand; if by
chance in the clean water, the future husband or wife will come to the
bar of matrimony a maid; if in the foul, a widow; if in the empty dish,
it foretells with equal certainty no marriage at all. It is repeated
three times, and every time the arrangement of the dishes is altered.

ABERDEENSHIRE.

The following extract is taken from the _Guardian_ (November 11th,
1874):--Halloween was duly celebrated at Balmoral Castle. Preparations
had been made days beforehand, and farmers and others for miles around
were present. When darkness set in the celebration began, and her
Majesty and the Princess Beatrice, each bearing a large torch, drove out
in an open phaeton. A procession formed of the tenants and servants on
the estates followed, all carrying huge torches lighted. They walked
through the grounds and round the Castle, and the scene as the
procession moved onwards was very weird and striking. When it had
arrived in front of the Castle an immense bonfire, composed of old
boxes, packing-cases, and other materials, stored up during the year for
the occasion, was set fire to. When the flames were at their brightest a
figure dressed as a hobgoblin appeared on the scene, drawing a car
surrounded by a number of fairies carrying long spears, the car
containing the effigy of a witch. A circle having been formed by the
torch-bearers, the presiding elf tossed the figure of the witch into the
fire, where it was speedily consumed. This cremation over, reels were
begun, and were danced with great vigour to the stirring strains of
Willie Ross, her Majesty’s piper.

BANFFSHIRE.

In former times at Halloween, Christmas, and other holidays, the younger
part of the community of Cullen resorted to the sands and links of the
bay for the purpose of playing foot-ball, running foot-races, &c. They
left the town in procession, preceded by a piper and other music, and
were attended by numbers from the adjacent districts. The games were
keenly contested, and the victor was crowned by a bonnet adorned with
feathers and ribbons, previously prepared by the ladies. When the games
were over, the whole party had a dance on the green, with that merriment
and glee to which the etiquette and formation of the ballroom at the
present day are total strangers. Afterwards, the procession was again
formed, and returned to the town, the victor preceded by the music,
leading the way. A ball took place in the evening, at which he presided,
and, moreover, had the privilege of wearing his bonnet and
feathers.--_Stat. Acc. of Scotland_, 1845, vol. xiii. p. 381.

MORAYSHIRE.

Shaw, in his _History of the Province of Moray_ (p. 241), considers the
festivity of this night as a kind of harvest-home rejoicing. He says, a
solemnity was kept on the eve of the 1st of November, as a thanksgiving
for the safe ingathering of the produce of the fields.

PERTHSHIRE.

On All Saints’ Even, the inhabitants of Callander, set up bonfires in
every village. When the bonfire is consumed, the ashes are carefully
collected into the form of a circle. There is a stone put in near the
circumference, for every person of the several families interested in
the bonfire; and whatever stone is removed out of its place or injured
before the next morning, the person represented by that stone is
devoted, or _fey_, and is supposed not to live twelve months from that
day.--Sinclair, _Stat. Acc. of Scotland_, 1793, vol. xi. p. 621.

On the evening of the 31st of October (Old Style), the inhabitants of
Logierait practise the following custom:--Heath, broom and dressings of
flax are tied upon a pole; this faggot is then kindled; one takes it
upon his shoulders, and, running, bears it round the village; a crowd
attending him. When the first faggot is burnt out, a second is bound to
the pole and kindled in the same manner as before. Numbers of these
blazing faggots are often carried about together, and when the night
happens to be dark they form a splendid illumination.--Sinclair, _Stat.
Acc. of Scotland_, 1793, vol. v. p. 84.

IRELAND.

At this season the peasants assemble with sticks and clubs, and go from
house to house collecting money, bread-cake, butter, &c., for the feast,
repeating verses in honour of the solemnity, and demanding the
inhabitants to lay aside the fatted calf and to bring forth the black
sheep.[81] The women are employed in making the griddle cake and
candles; these last are sent from house to house in the vicinity, and
are lighted up on the next day before which they pray, or are supposed
to pray, for the departed soul of the donor. Hempseed is sown by the
maidens, and they believe that, if they look back, they will see the
apparition of the man intended for their future husbands; they hang a
smock before the fire on the close of the feast, and sit up all night
concealed in a corner of the room, convinced that his apparition will
come down the chimney and turn the smock. They also throw a ball of yarn
out of the window, and wind it up on a reel within, thinking that, if
they repeat the Paternoster backwards and look at the ball of yarn
without, they will see his apparition. They, moreover, dip for apples in
a tub of water, and endeavour to bring one up in the mouth; they suspend
a cord with a cross stick, with apples at one point and candles lighted
at the other, and endeavour to catch the apple, while it is in circular
motion, in the mouth. These and many other superstitious customs are
observed.--Valiancy, _Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis_, 1786, vol. iii.
p. 459.

  [81] This was preparatory to the sacrifice of the black sheep on the
  following day to Saman--See Soane’s _New Curiosities of Literature_,
  1847, p. 219.

On Halloween, women take the yolk from eggs boiled hard, fill the eggs
with salt, and eat egg, shell and salt. They are careful not to quench
their thirst till morning.--_N. & Q. 4th. S._ vol. iv. p. 505.

NOV.] DERBYSHIRE.

At Duffield, a curious remnant of the right of hunting wild animals is
still observed--this is called the “squirrel hunt.” The young men of the
village assemble together on the Wakes Monday, each provided with a
horn, a pan, or something capable of making a noise, and proceed to
Keddleston Park, where, with shouting and the discordant noise of the
instruments, they frighten the poor little squirrels, until they drop
from the trees. Several having been thus captured the hunters return to
Duffield, and having released the squirrels amongst some trees,
recommence the hunt.--_Jour. of the Arch. Assoc._ 1852, vol. vii. p.
208.

At Duffield, the right of collecting wood in the forest is also
singularly observed. The young men in considerable numbers collect
together, and having taken possession of any cart they can find, yoke
themselves to it, and preceded by horns, remove any trees or other wood
from the various lanes and hedge-rows; this is done almost nightly,
between September and the Wakes, in the first week in November, when a
bonfire is made of the wood collected on the Wakes Monday.--_Ibid._ p.
208.

NOV. 1.] ALL SAINTS’ DAY.

This festival takes its origin from the conversion, in the seventh
century, of the Pantheon at Rome into a Christian place of worship, and
its dedication by Pope Boniface IV. to the Virgin and all the Martyrs.
The anniversary of this event was at first celebrated on the 1st of May,
but the day was subsequently altered to the 1st of November, which was
thenceforth, under the designation of the feast of All Saints, set apart
as a general commemoration in their honour. The festival has been
retained by the Anglican Church--_Book of Days_, vol. ii. p. 529; See
Soane’s _Book of the Months_, 1849, vol. ii. p. 235.

A writer in the _Gent. Mag._ 1783 (vol. liii. p. 578), thinks the
custom prevailing among the Roman Catholics of lighting fires upon the
hills on All Saints’ night, the Eve of All Souls, scarcely needs
explaining, fire being, even among the Pagans, an emblem of immortality,
and well calculated to typify the ascent of the soul to heaven.

A correspondent of the same periodical (1788, vol. lviii. p. 602)
alludes to a custom observed in some parts of the kingdom among the
Papists, of illuminating some of their grounds upon the eve of All
Souls, by bearing round them straw, or other fit materials, kindled into
a blaze. This ceremony is called a _Tinley_, said to represent an
emblematical lighting of souls out of purgatory.

CHESHIRE.

On All Souls’ Eve, both children and grown-up people go from door to
door, a-souling, i.e., begging for soul cakes, or anything else they can
get. In some districts they perform a kind of play as well, but in all
instances the following, or a similar song, is sung:--

    “You gentlemen of England, pray you now draw near
    To these few lines, and you soon shall hear
    Sweet melody of music all on this evening clear,
    For we are come a-souling for apples and strong beer.

    Step down into your cellar, and see what you can find,
    If your barrels are not empty, we hope you will prove kind;
    We hope you will prove kind with your apples and strong beer,
    We’ll come no more a-souling until another year.

    Cold winter it is coming on, dark, dirty, wet and cold,
    To try your good nature, this night we do make bold;
    This night we do make bold with your apples and strong beer,
    And we’ll come no more a-souling until another year.

    All the houses that we’ve been at, we’ve had both meat and drink,
    So now we’re dry with travelling, we hope you’ll on us think;
    We hope you’ll on us think with your apples and strong beer,
    For we’ll come no more a-souling until another year.

    God bless the master of this house, and the mistress also.
    And all the little children that round the table go;
    Likewise your men and maidens, your cattle and your store,
    And all that lies within your gates we wish you ten times more;
    We wish you ten times more with your apples and strong beer,
    And we’ll come no more a-souling until another year.”

  _Jour. of the Arch. Assoc._ 1850, vol. v. p. 252.

In the parish of Lymm it is customary, for a week or ten days before the
5th of November, for the skeleton of a horse’s head, dressed up with
ribbons, &c., having glass eyes inserted in the sockets, and mounted on
a short pole by way of handle, to be carried by a man underneath covered
with a horse-cloth. There is generally a chain attached to the nose,
which is held by a second man, and they are attended by several others.
In houses to which they can gain access, they go though some kind of
performance, the man with the chain telling the horse to rear, open its
mouth, &c. The object of course is to obtain money. The horse will
sometimes seize persons, and hold them fast till they pay for being set
free; but he is generally very peaceable, for, in case of resistance
being offered, his companions generally take to flight and leave the
poor horse to fight it out.--_N. & Q. 1st. S._ vol. i. p. 258.

LANCASHIRE.

At Great Marton, there was formerly a sort of procession of young people
from house to house, at each of which they recited psalms, and, in
return, received presents of cakes, whence the custom was called
_Psalm-caking_.--_Med. Ævi Kalend._ 1841, vol. i. p. 375.

MIDDLESEX.

At a pension held at Gray’s Inn in Michaelmas Term, 21 Henry VIII.,
there was an order made that all the fellows of this house who should be
present upon any Saturday at supper, betwixt the feasts of All Saints
and the Purification of our Lady, or upon any other day at dinner or
supper, when there are _revels_, should not depart out of the hall until
the said _revels_ were ended, upon the penalty of 12_d._

In 4 Edward VI. (17 Nov.), it was also ordered, that thenceforth there
should be no comedies, called _interludes_, in the house out of term
time, but when the feast of the Nativity of our Lord is solemnly
observed, and that when there shall be any such comedies, then all the
society at that time in common to bear the charge of the apparel.

In 4 Charles I. (17 Nov.), it was also ordered that all playing of
dice, cards, or otherwise, in the hall, buttery, or butler’s chamber,
should be thenceforth forbidden at all times of the year, the twenty
days of Christmas only excepted.--Herbert, _Antiquities of the Inns of
Court_, 1804, p. 336.

MONMOUTHSHIRE.

In this county, says Hone, _Year Book_ (p. 1288), a custom prevails
among the lower classes of begging bread for the souls of the departed
on All Saints’ Day; the bread thus distributed is called _dole_ bread.

SHROPSHIRE.

It is customary, says a correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_1st S._ vol. iv. p.
381) for the village children to go round to all their neighbours
_Souling_, collecting contributions, and singing the following
doggrel:--

    “Soul! soul! for a soul-cake;
    Pray, good mistress, for a soul-cake.
    One for Peter, and two for Paul,
    Three for them who made us all.

    Soul! soul! for an apple or two;
    If you’ve got no apples, pears will do.
    Up with your kettle, and down with your pan,
    Give me a good big one, and I’ll be gone.
                Soul! soul! for a soul-cake, &c.

    An apple or pear, a plum or a cherry,
    Is a very good thing to make us merry.
                Soul! soul! &c.”

The soul-cake referred to is a sort of bun, which at one time it was an
almost general custom for persons to make, to give to one another on
this day.

STAFFORDSHIRE.

Tollett, in his _Variorum_ Shakspeare (_The Two Gentlemen of Verona_,
ii. 2, note) says, On All Saints’ Day the poor people in Staffordshire,
and perhaps in other country places, go from parish to parish
_a-souling_, as they call it, i.e. begging and puling (or singing small,
as Bailey’s _Dictionary_ explains puling) for soul-cakes, or any good
thing to make them merry.” Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ (1849, vol. i. p. 393),
gives the following lines as sung on the occasion:

    “Soul, soul, for a soul-cake,
    Pray you, good mistress, a soul-cake.”

WESTERN ISLES OF SCOTLAND.

In St. Kilda, the inhabitants used to make a large cake in the form of a
triangle furrowed round, all of which was eaten the same
night.--Martin’s _Western Isles of Scotland_, 1716, p. 287.

From the same authority we learn that the inhabitants of Lewis had an
ancient custom of sacrificing to the sea-god called Shony. The
inhabitants round the island came to the church of St. Mulvay, each man
having his provisions with him. Every family furnished a peck of malt,
which was brewed into ale. One of their number was picked out to wade
into the sea up to the middle, and carrying a cup of ale in his hand, he
cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Shony, I give you this cup of ale,
hoping that you’ll be so kind as to send us plenty of sea-ware, for
enriching our ground the ensuing year;” and so threw the cup of ale into
the sea--this was performed in the night time. At his return to land,
they all went to church, where there was a candle burning upon the
altar; and then standing silent for a little time one of them gave a
signal, at which the candle was put out, and immediately all of them
went to the fields, where the rest of the night was spent in merriment.

IRELAND.

A correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_3rd S._ vol. i. p. 446) mentions a custom
at Wexford,[82] of lighting candles (more or less) in every window in
the house, on the night of the vigil of All Souls, and when travelling
along a country road where farmhouses and cottages are numerous, the
effect is quite picturesque on a dark November eve.

  [82] This custom extends over the whole of Ireland, and is common in
  some parts of the Continent.

NOV. 2.] ALL SOULS’ DAY.

All Souls’ Day is set apart by the Roman Catholic Church for a solemn
service for the repose of the dead. In this country the day was formerly
observed by ringing of the passing bell, making soul-cakes, blessing
beans, and other customs. Various tenures were held by services to be
performed on this day. The nut and apple omens of Hallow Even were
continued on this day. Soul-mass cakes were given to the poor; and at
Hallowasse frankincense was newly provided.--Timbs, _Something for
Everybody_, 1861, p. 115.

CHESHIRE.

From All Souls’ Day to Christmas Day, Old Hob is carried about; this
consists of a horse’s head enveloped in a sheet, taken from door to
door, accompanied by the singing of doggerel-begging rhymes.--_Jour. of
Arch. Assoc._ 1850, vol. v. p. 253.

DERBYSHIRE.

Formerly, at the village of Findern, the boys and girls used to go every
year in the evening of All Souls’ Day to the adjoining common, and light
up a number of small fires among the furze growing there, which they
called _Tindles_.--_Gent. Mag._ 1784, vol. iv. p. 836.

HEREFORDSHIRE.

In this county and also in Lancashire it was in days gone by usual for
the wealthy to dispense oaten cakes, called _soul-mass cakes_, to the
poor, who upon receiving them repeated the following couplet in
acknowledgment:

    “God have your soul
    Beens and all.”

  See Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 392.

SHROPSHIRE.

In this county the inhabitants set on a board a high heap of small
cakes, called soul-cakes, of which they offer one to every person who
comes to the house on this day, and there is an old rhyme, which seems
to have been sung by the family and guests:

    “A soul-cake, a soul-cake;
    Have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul-cake.”

  Kennett’s _Collections_, MS. _Bibl. Lansdown_, No. 1039, vol. 105, p.
  12.

The same custom is mentioned, and with very little variation, by Aubrey
in the _Remains of Gentilisme_; see _N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. x. pp. 409,
525.

WALES.

The people of North Wales have a custom of distributing soul-cakes on
All Souls’ Day, at the receiving of which the poor people pray to God to
bless the next crop of wheat.--_Pennant._

SCOTLAND.

In the county of Aberdeen on All Souls’ Day, baked cakes of a particular
sort are given away to those who may chance to visit the house where
they are made. The cakes are called “dirge-loaf.”--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol.
ii. p. 483.

NOV. 5.] GUNPOWDER PLOT.

The 5th of November is not observed by the populace with nearly so much
festive diversion as in former times. Originally, the burning of Guy
Fawkes in effigy was a ceremony much in vogue, especially among the
lower classes, but it is now confined chiefly to school-boys, and even
with them it is not so popular as in days gone by. Formerly, the
burning of “a good guy” was a scene of uproar perhaps unknown to the
present day. The bonfire, for example, in Lincoln’s Inn Fields was
conducted on a very grand scale. It was made at the Great Queen Street
corner, immediately opposite Newcastle House. Fuel came all day long in
carts properly guarded against surprise. Old people have recollected
when upwards of two hundred cart-loads were brought to make and feed
this bonfire, and more than thirty “guys” were burnt upon gibbets
between eight and twelve o’clock at night.[83]

  [83] The following extract is from the _Evening Standard_ (February
  5th, 1875):--“This morning at ten o’clock the Yeomen of the Guard
  (Beefeaters) made their usual search before the meeting of Parliament
  for any barrels of gunpowder that might be stowed away in the vaults
  under the Houses of Parliament.”

The butchers of Clare Market, also, were accustomed to celebrate this
anniversary in a somewhat peculiar style; one of their body, personating
Guy Fawkes, being seated in a cart, with a prayer-book in his hand, and
a priest, executioner, &c., attending, was drawn through the streets, as
if going to the place of execution; while a select party, with
marrow-bones and cleavers, led the way, and others solicited money from
the inhabitants and spectators. The sums thus obtained were spent at
night in jollity and carousing.--_Sports, Pastimes, and Customs of
London_, 1847, p. 39.

The following time-honoured rhyme is still sung, and varies in different
parts of the country:

    “Pray remember
    The Fifth of November,
    Gunpowder treason and plot;
    For I know no reason
    Why Gunpowder treason
    Should ever be forgot.
    Hollo boys! Hollo boys! Hurrah.”

In Poor Robin’s _Almanack_ for the year 1677 is the following:

    “Now boys with
    Squibs and crackers play,
    And bonfire’s blaze
    Turns night to-day.”

In some parts of the north of England the following song is sung:

    “Happy was the man,
    And happy was the day,
    That caught Guy
    Going to his play,
    With a dark lanthorn
    And a brimstone match
    Ready for the prime to touch.

    As I was going through the dark entry
    I spied the devil.
    Stand back! Stand back!
    Queen Mary’s daughter.
    Put your hand in your pocket,
    And give us some money
    To kindle our bonfire. Hurrah.”

  Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 398.

DERBYSHIRE.

The rhyme formerly sung in many parts of this county is as below:

    “Remember, remember,
    Th’ fifth o’ November,
    Th’ gunpowder plot,
    Shall ne’er be forgot!
    Pray gi’s a bit o’ coal,
    Ter stick in th’ bun-fire hole!
    A stick an’ a stake,
    For King George’s sake--
    A stowp an’ a reel,
    Or else wey’ll steal.”

  _Long Ago_, 1873, vol. i. p. 338.

LINCOLNSHIRE.

In this county the following quaint rhyme was sung on the anniversary of
the Gunpowder Plot:

        “Remember, remember
        The fifth o’ November!
    Guy and his companions’ plot:
    We’re going to blow the Parliament up!
    By God’s mercy we wase catcht,
    With a dark lantern an’ lighted matcht!”

  _Long Ago_, 1873, vol. i. p. 338.

MIDDLESEX.

It is stated in the register at Harlington, under the date of 1683, that
half an acre of land was given by some person, whose name has been
forgotten, for the benefit of the bell-ringers of the parish, to provide
them with a leg of pork for ringing on the 5th of November. It is called
the Pork Acre. The ground is let by the parish officers at 50_s._ a
year, which is paid by them to the bell-ringer.--Edwards, _Old English
Customs and Charities_, 1842, p. 27.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

The following is the rhyme formerly sung in this county:

                  “Gunpowder treason!
                  Gunpowder treason!
                    Gunpowder treason plot!
                  I know no reason
                  Why gunpowder treason
                    Should ever be forgot.

                  Guy Fox and his companions
                    Did the scheme contrive,
                  To blow the King and Parliament
                    All up alive.

    But, by God’s providence, him they catch,
    With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
    Hollo, boys! hollo, boys! make the bells ring!
    Hollo, boys! hollo, boys! God save the king! Hurrah.”

  _Long Ago_, 1873, vol. i. p. 338.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

At Clifton the following rhyme is sung:

    “Please to remember
    The fifth of November.
    Old Guy Faux
    And gunpowder plot
    Shall never be forgot,
    While Nottingham castle
    Stands upon a rock!”

  _Long Ago_, 1873, vol. i. p. 338.

OXFORDSHIRE.

    “The fifth of November,
    Since I can remember,
    Gunpowder treason and plot;
    This was the day the plot was contriv’d,
    To blow up the King and Parliament alive;
    But God’s mercy did prevent
    To save our King and his Parliament.

            A stick and a stake
              For King James’s sake!
            If you won’t give me one,
              I’ll take two,
            The better for me,
              And the worse for you.”

This is the Oxfordshire song chanted by the boys when collecting sticks
for the bonfire, and it is considered quite lawful to appropriate any
old wood they can lay their hands on after the recitation of these
lines. If it happen that a crusty chuff prevents them, the threatening
_finale_ is too often fulfilled. The operation is called _going
a-progging_. In some places they shout, previously to the burning of the
effigy of Guy Fawkes,

    “A penn’orth of bread to feed the Pope,
      A penn’orth of cheese to choke him;
    A pint of beer to wash it down,
      And a good old faggot to burn him.”

  Halliwell’s _Pop. Rhymes_, 1849, pp. 253, 554.

Formerly, it was the custom for the undergraduates of Pembroke College,
Oxford, to make verses on the 5th of November, and to have two copies of
them, one to present to the master, the other to stick up in the Hall,
and there to remain till a speech on this occasion was spoken before
supper.--Pointer, _Oxoniensis Academia_, 1749, p. 109.

SUSSEX.

At Lewes on the 5th of November in each year, a great torchlight
procession, composed of men dressed up in fantastic garbs, and with
blackened faces, and dragging blazing tar barrels after them, parade the
high street, while an enormous bonfire is lighted, into which, when at
its highest, various effigies are cast. The day’s festivities not
unfrequently terminate in a general uproar and scene of confusion. See
_Lewes Times_, November 13th, 1856.

WESTMORELAND.

The following doggerel is sung in this county:

      “I pray you remember the fifth of November,
        Gunpowder treason and plot;
      The king and his train had like to be slain--
        I hope this day’ll ne’er be forgot.

    All the boys, all the boys, let the bells ring!
    All the boys, all the boys, God save the king!
    A stick and a stake for King Jamie’s sake,--
    I hope you’ll remember the bonfire!”

  _N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. vii. p. 32.

WILTSHIRE.

At Marlborough the rustics have the following peculiar custom at their
bonfires. They form themselves into a ring of some dozen or more round
the bonfire, and follow each other round it, holding thick club-sticks
over their shoulders; while a few others, standing at distances outside
this moving ring with the same sort of sticks, beat those which the men
hold over their shoulders, as they pass round in succession, all
shouting and screaming loudly. This might last half an hour at a time,
and be continued at intervals till the fire died out.--_N. & Q. 1st. S._
vol. v. p. 355.

At Purton the boys, for several weeks before the 5th of November, used
to go from house to house begging faggots for the bonfire, in the middle
of which was burnt the effigy of Guy Fawkes. The following rhyme was
sung on the occasion:

    “My brave lads remember
    The fifth of November,
    Gunpowder treason and plot;
    We will drink, smoke, and sing, boys,
    And our bells they shall ring, boys,
    And here’s health to our King, boys,
    For he shall not be forgot.”

  See _Every Day Book_, 1827, vol. ii. p. 1379.

YORKSHIRE.

A very old custom prevails in the West Riding of Yorkshire, of
preparing, against the anniversary of Gunpowder Plot, a kind of oatmeal
gingerbread, if it may be so called, and of religiously partaking of the
same on this day and subsequently. The local name of the delicacy is
_Parkin_ and it is usually seen in the form of massive loaves,
substantial cakes, or bannocks.--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. iv. p. 368.

Blount, in his _Fragmenta Antiquitatis_ (Beckwith, 1815, p. 565), gives
the following account of a custom observed at Doncaster. He says at this
place on the 5th November, yearly, whether it happens on a Sunday, or
any other day in the week, the town waits play for some time on the top
of the church steeple, at the time when the congregation are coming out
of the church from morning service, the tune of “God Save the King.”
This has been done for four-score years at least, and very possibly ever
since the 5th of November has been a festival, except that formerly the
tune played was “Britons, strike home.” The waits always receive from
the churchwardens sixpence a-piece for this service.

NOV. 6.] ST. LEONARD’S DAY.

ESSEX.

Every tenant of the Manor of Writtell, upon St. Leonard’s Day, pays to
the lord for everything under a year old a halfpenny, for every yearling
pig a penny, and for every hog above a year old twopence, for the
privilege of pawnage in the lord’s woods: and this payment is called
Avage or Avisage.--Blount’s _Law Dictionary_, 1717.

WORCESTERSHIRE.

A list of holy days published at Worcester, in 1240, ordains St.
Leonard’s festival to be kept a half holy day, enjoins the hearing of
mass, and prohibits all labour except that of the plough.--_Every Day
Book_, vol. ii. p. 1382.

NOV 9.] LORD MAYOR’S DAY.

The office of Chief Magistrate of London was held for life till about
1214, nor was it until more than a hundred years afterwards that the
title of _Lord_ was given to the Mayor. This arose in the time of
Richard II., on occasion of Walworth, the Mayor of the day, basely
murdering Wat Tyler in Smithfield.

That which in later days has been called the _Lord Mayor’s Show_ was but
a degenerate copy of the old _Pageant_ or _Triumph_, which assumed a
variety of forms at different times, blending Paganism, Christianity,
and chivalry in marvellous confusion. This, however, was not always the
case, for at one time it became the fashion for the city to employ
dramatists of note upon these matters; and there are yet extant certain
pageants by Decker, Middleton, Webster, and others, though perhaps
inferior writers.--Soane’s _Curiosities of Literature_.

With the processions, &c., of late years, most readers are sufficiently
well acquainted from the newspapers of the day. Fully to describe those
of former ages would require, however, a volume of no mean size; but
some idea of their general character may be formed from the following
brief sketch:--The first account of this annual exhibition known to have
been published, was written by George Peele for the inauguration of Sir
Wolstone Dixie, Knight, on the 29th of October (Old Style), 1585. On
that occasion, as was customary to the times, there were dramatic
representations in the procession of an allegorical character. Children
were dressed to personify the city, magnanimity, loyalty, science, the
country, and the river Thames. They also represented sailors, soldiers,
and nymphs, with appropriate speeches. The show opened with a Moor
mounted on a lynx. On Sir Thomas Middleton’s mayoralty, in 1613, the
solemnity is described as unparalleled for the cost, art, and
magnificence of the shows, pageants, chariots, morning, noon, and night
triumphs. In 1655 the city pageants, after a discontinuance of about
fourteen years, were revived. Edmund Gayton, the author of the
description for that year, says that “our metropolis, for these
planetary pageants, was as famous and renowned in foreign nations as for
their faith, wealth, and valour.” In the show of 1659, an European, an
Egyptian, and a Persian were personated. On Lord Mayor’s Day, 1671, the
King, Queen, and Duke of York, and most of the nobility being present,
there were “sundry shows, shapes, scenes, speeches, and songs in part;”
and the like in 1672 and 1673, when the King again graced the triumphs.
The King, Queen, Duke and Duchess of York, Prince Rupert, the Duke of
Monmouth, foreign ambassadors, the chief nobility, and Secretary of
State, were at the celebration of Lord Mayor’s Day in 1674, when there
“were emblematical figures, artful pieces of architecture, and rural
dancing, with pieces spoken on each pageant.”--See Hone’s _Every Day
Book_, vol. i. p. 1445.

NOV. 11.] ST. MARTIN’S DAY.

The festival of St. Martin, happening at that season when the new wines
of the year are drawn from the lees and tasted, when cattle are killed
for winter food, and fat geese are in their prime, is held as a feast
day over most parts of Christendom. On the ancient clog almanacs, the
day is marked by the figure of a goose, our bird of Michaelmas being, on
the continent, sacrificed at Martinmas. In Scotland and the north of
England, a fat ox is called a _mart_[84] clearly from Martinmas, the
usual time when beeves are killed for winter use.--_Book of Days_, vol
ii. p. 568.

  [84] _Mart_, according to Skinner, is a fair, who considers it a
  contraction of market. Brand (_Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 400) says
  that, had not _mart_ been the general name for a fair, one might have
  been tempted to suppose it a contraction of Martin, the name of the
  saint whose day is commemorated.

_Salt Silver._--In the glossary to Kennett’s _Parochial Antiquities_ (p.
496) is the following:--“Salt Silver.--_One penny paid at the Feast of
St. Martin_, by the servile tenants to their lord, as a commutation for
the service of carrying their lord’s salt from market to his larder.”

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

There is a house in Fenny Stratford, called St. Martin’s house, in the
wall of which is a stone bearing the following inscription:--

“This house was settled on the parish officers of this town, for the
annual observance of St. Martin’s Day.”--“Anno Domini 1752.”

The house is let at 5_l._ 4_s._ per annum, and the rent, after defraying
the expense of repairs, is laid out in giving an entertainment to the
inhabitants of the town.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and Charities_,
1842, p. 59.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

Within the manor of Whitlesea there is a custom for the inhabitants to
choose, on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Martin, two persons
called storers, to oversee the public business, and likewise to provide
a common bull, in consideration whereof they enjoy a certain pasture
called Bull Grass; and the major part of the freeholders and copyholders
at a meeting grant the grass every year to any person who will take it,
to have the same from Lady-day till the corn is carried out of
Coatsfield.--Blount’s _Fragmenta Antiquitatis_, 1815, p. 576.

CUMBERLAND.

Thomas Williamson, by will, dated 14th December, 1674, gave the sum of
20_l._ to be laid out in land to be bestowed upon poor people born
within St. John’s Chapelry or Castlerigg, in mutton or veal, at
Martinmas yearly, when flesh might be thought cheapest, to be by them
pickled or hung up and dried, that they might have something to keep
them within doors upon stormy days.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and
Charities_, 1842, p. 63.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Dugdale, in his _Antiquities of Warwickshire_ (1730, vol. i. p. 4),
says:--There is a certain rent due unto the lord of the Hundred of
Knightlow, called _Wroth_ money or _Warth_ money or _Swarff_ penny,
probably the same with _Ward_ penny. This rent must be paid every
Martinmas Day, in the morning, at Knightlow Cross, before the sun
riseth: the party paying it must go thrice about the cross, and say “The
_Wrath_ money,” and then lay it in the hole of the said cross before
good witness, for if it be not duly performed the forfeiture is thirty
shillings and a white bull.

YORKSHIRE.

In the North Riding of Yorkshire it is customary for a party of singers,
mostly consisting of women, to begin at the feast of St. Martin a kind
of peregrination round the neighbouring villages, carrying with them a
small waxen image of our Saviour adorned with box and other evergreens,
and singing at the same time a hymn which, though rustic and uncouth, is
nevertheless replete with the sacred story of the Nativity. The custom
is yearly continued till Christmas Eve, when the feasting, or as they
usually call it, “good living,” commences; every rustic dame produces a
cheese preserved for the sacred festival, upon which, before any part of
it is tasted, according to an old custom, she with a sharp knife makes
rude incisions to represent the Cross. With this, and furmity made of
barley and meal, the cottage affords uninterrupted hospitality.--_Gent.
Mag._ 1811, vol. lxxxi. pt. i. p. 423.

IRELAND.

At St. Peter’s, Athlone, every family of a village, says Mason, in his
_Stat. Acc. of Ireland_ (1819, vol. iii. p. 75), kills an animal of some
kind or other: those who are rich kill a cow or a sheep, others a goose
or a turkey; while those who are poor and cannot procure an animal of
greater value, kill a hen or a cock, and sprinkle the threshold with the
blood, and do the same in the four corners of the house, and this
ceremonious performance is done to exclude every kind of evil spirit
from the dwelling where this sacrifice is made, till the return of the
same day in the following year.

NOV. 13.] ST. BRICE’S DAY.

_The Stamford Bull Running._--From time immemorial down to a late period
this day was annually celebrated at the town of Stamford, in
Lincolnshire, by a rough sport called bull-running. Butcher, in his
_Survey of Stamford_ (1717, pp. 76, 77), alluding to this custom,
says:--“The butchers of the town at their own charge provide the bull,
and place him over-night in a stable or barn belonging to the alderman.
The next morning proclamation is made by the common bell-man of the town
that each one shut up his shop-door and gate, and that none, upon pain
of imprisonment, do any violence to strangers, for the preventing
whereof (the town being a thoroughfare and then being in Term time) a
guard is appointed for the passing of travellers through the same
without hurt. That none have any iron upon their bull-clubs or other
staff which they pursue the bull with. Which proclamation made, and all
the gates shut up, the bull is turned out of the alderman’s house, and
the men, women, and children, with all the dogs in the town, run after
him, &c.”

According to tradition the origin of the custom dates from the time of
King John, when, one day, William, Earl of Warren, standing on the
battlements of the castle, saw two bulls fighting in the meadow beneath.
Some butchers, coming to part the combatants, one of the bulls ran into
the town, causing a great uproar. The earl, mounting his horse, rode
after the animal, and enjoyed the sport so much that he gave the meadow
in which the fight began to the butchers of Stamford, on condition that
they should provide a bull, to be run in the town annually, on the 13th
of November, for ever after.

There is no documentary evidence on the subject, but the town of
Stamford undoubtedly holds certain common rights in the meadow
specified, which is still termed the bull-meadow.--See _Book of Days_,
vol. ii. p. 574.

NOV. 14.] St. ERCONWALD’S DAY.

Strype, in his _Ecclesiastical Memorials_ (1822, vol. iii. pt. i. p.
322), says:--“It was commanded, that every priest in the diocese of
London should go to St. Paul’s in procession in copes on St. Erconwald’s
Day.” [November 14th, 1554].

NOV. 17.] QUEEN ELIZABETH’S ACCESSION.

Queen Elizabeth’s accession was long observed as a Protestant festival,
and with the society of the Temple, the Exchequer, Christ’s Hospital,
Westminster, and Merchant Taylors’ Schools, is, says Timbs, kept as a
holiday. The Pope in effigy, in a chair of state, with the devil, a real
person, behind him, caressing him, &c., was formerly paraded in
procession on this day in the streets of London, and afterwards thrown
into a bonfire. In Queen Anne’s time the Pretender was added to the Pope
and the devil. There were also great illuminations in the evening. This
anniversary was first publicly celebrated about 1570, twelve years after
Elizabeth’s accession. (Timbs, _Something for Everybody_, p. 122.)
Brayley in his _Londiniana_, vol. iv. p. 74, _et seq._, has given a very
interesting account of these processions.

A correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_1st S._ vol. iv. p. 345) says that when
he was at Christ’s Hospital the following curious custom prevailed on
the 17th of November.

Two or more boys would take one against whom they had any spite or
grudge, and having lifted him by the arms and legs, would bump him on
the hard stones of the cloisters.

In reading _Sir Roger de Coverley_, with notes by Willis published in
the _Traveller’s Library_, the same correspondent says that he found (at
p. 134) what he considered a fair explanation. A full account is there
given, he says, of the manner in which the citizens of London intended
celebrating, in 1711, the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession on
the 17th of November, some parts of which would almost seem to have
been copied during the excitement against the papal bull in November
1850. Probably therefore, originally, the unfortunate boy who had to
endure the rude bumping by his schoolfellows was intended to represent
the Pope or one of his emissaries, and that those who inflicted the
punishment were looked upon as good Protestants.

NOV. 23.] ST. CLEMENT’S DAY.

The festival day of St. Clement was formerly considered as the first day
of winter, in which were comprised ninety-one days. From a State
proclamation in 1540 it appears that processions of children were
frequent on St. Clement’s Day; and, in consequence of a still more
ancient custom of perambulating the streets on the night of this
festival to beg drink for carousing, a pot was formerly marked against
the 23rd of November upon the old runic or clog almanacs; but not upon
all.--_Med. Ævi Kalend._ 1841, vol. i. p. 60.; Plot, _History of
Staffordshire_, 1686, p. 430; see Gough’s _Camden Brit._ vol. ii. pt.
xvi. p. 499.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

The bakers of Cambridge hold an annual supper on St. Clement’s Day,
which supper is called the “Baker’s Clem.”--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. iv. p.
492.

KENT.

In _Every Day Book_ (1826, vol. i. p. 1501) is the following account of
an annual ceremony formerly celebrated on the evening of St. Clement’s
Day, by the blacksmiths’ apprentices of the dockyard at Woolwich:--

One of the senior apprentices being chosen to serve as _Old Clem_ (so
called by them), is attired in a great coat, having his head covered
with an oakum wig, face masked, and a long white beard; thus attired, he
seats himself in a large wooden chair, chiefly covered with a sort of
stuff called bunting, with a crown and anchor, made of wood, on the top
and around it, four transparencies representing the “Blacksmiths’ Arms,”
“Anchor Smiths at Work,” “Britannia with her Anchor,” and “Mount Etna.”
He has before him a wooden anvil, and in his hands a pair of tongs and
wooden hammer. A mate, also masked, attends him with a wooden
sledge-hammer; he is also surrounded by a number of other attendants,
some of whom carry torches, banners, flags, &c.; others, battle-axes,
tomahawks, and other accoutrements of war. This procession, headed by a
drum and fife, and six men with Old Clem mounted on their shoulders,
proceed round the town, not forgetting to call on the blacksmiths and
officers of the dockyard: here the money-box is pretty freely handed,
after Old Clem and his mate have recited their speeches, which commence
by the mate calling for order with,

    “Gentlemen all, attention give,
    And wish St. Clem long, long to live.”

Old Clem then recites the following speech:--

“I am the real St. Clement, the first founder of brass, iron, and steel,
from the ore. I have been to Mount Etna, where the god Vulcan first
built his forge, and forged the armour and thunderbolts for the god
Jupiter. I have been through the deserts of Arabia; through Asia,
Africa, and America; through the city of Pongrove, through the town of
Tipmingo, and all the northern parts of Scotland. I arrived in London on
the 23rd of November, and came down to his Majesty’s dockyard at
Woolwich to see how all the gentlemen Vulcans came on there. I found
them all hard at work, and wish to leave them well on the
twenty-fourth.”

The mate then subjoins:

    “Come all you Vulcans stout and strong,
    Unto St. Clem we do belong;
    I know this house is well prepared
    With plenty of money and good strong beer;
    And we must drink before we part,
    All for to cheer each merry heart.
    Come all you Vulcans, strong and stout,
    Unto St. Clem I pray turn out;
    For now St. Clem’s going round the town,
    His coach-and-six goes merrily round.
                      Huzza--a--a.”

After having gone round the town and collected a pretty decent sum, they
retire to some public-house, where they enjoy as good a supper as the
money collected will allow.

STAFFORDSHIRE.

On the feast of St. Clement, a custom exists in Staffordshire for the
children to go round to the various houses in the village to which they
belong singing the following doggerel:

    “Clemany! Clemany! Clemany mine!
    A good red apple and a pint of wine,
    Some of your mutton and some of your veal,
    If it is good, pray give me a deal;
    If it is not, pray give me some salt.
    Butler, butler, fill your bowl;
    If thou fillst it of the best,
    The Lord’ll send your soul to rest;
    If thou fillst it of the small,
    Down goes butler, bowl and all.
    Pray, good mistress, send to me
    One for Peter, one for Paul,
    One for Him who made us all:
    Apple, pear, plum, or cherry,
    Any good thing to make us merry;
    A bouncing buck and a velvet chair,
    Clement comes but once a year;
    Off with the pot and on with the pan,
    A good red apple and I’ll be gone.”

  _N. & Q. 1st. S._ vol. viii. p. 618.

The following rhyme is also sung:

    “Clemeny, Clemeny, God be wi’ you,
    Christmas comes but once a ye-ar;
    When it comes, it will soon be gone,
    Give me an apple, and I’ll be gone.”

  _Ibid. 3rd. S_. vol. iv. p. 492; See Oliver’s _History of Collegiate
  Church of Wolverhampton_, 1836, p. 16.

WALES.

At Tenby, on St. Clement’s Day, it was customary for the owners of
fishing-boats to give a supper of roast goose and rice pudding to their
crews.--Mason’s _Tales and Traditions of Tenby_, 1858, p. 27.

NOV. 24.] ST. CATHERINE’S EVE.

In Strype’s _Ecclesiastical Memorials_ (1822, vol. iii. pt. ii. p. 507)
is the following notice of this festival:

“The 24th (1556) being St. Katharine’s Day (or rather Eve), at six of
the clock at night St. Katharine went about the battlements of St.
Paul’s Church accompanied with fine singing and great lights; this was
St. Katharine’s procession.”

NOV. 25.] ST. CATHERINE’S DAY.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

On Cattern Day the lace makers hold merry-makings, and eat a sort of
cakes called “wigs”[85] and drink ale. Tradition says it is in
remembrance of Queen Catherine, who, when the trade was dull, burnt all
her lace, and ordered new to be made. The ladies of the court could not
but follow her example, and the consequence was a great briskness in the
manufacture.--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. i. p. 387.

  [85] Cakes called “wigs” were very commonly sold in the Midland
  counties some years ago, and they are even mentioned as allowable at
  the collation in Lent by a Catholic writer nearly two centuries ago.
  They were light and spongy, and something like very light gingerbread.
  As to the derivation of the name “wig” as applied to them, a
  correspondent of _Notes and Queries_ says he never dreamed of seeing
  it any where but in the shape of these cakes, which greatly resembled
  a wig; being round, and having a thick rim round them, which turned up
  like the curls of a wig of the olden times.--See _N. & Q. 3rd. S._
  vol. i. p. 436.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

A paragraph in the _Cambridge Chronicle_ (December 8th, 1860) alludes to
the custom of the carpenters of Chatteris, in the Isle of Ely, observing
the feast of their patron Saint, St. Catherine, by dining together, &c.

KENT.

The following extract is taken from _N. & Q._ (_2nd S._ vol. v. p.
47):--On Wednesday (the 25th) night last the towns of Chatham,
Rochester, and Brompton exhibited considerable excitement in consequence
of a torchlight procession appearing in the streets, headed by a band of
fifes and drums. Notwithstanding the late hour (eleven o’clock) a large
number of persons of both sexes, accompanied the party. The
demonstration was got up by the rope-makers of the dockyard, to
celebrate the anniversary of the founder of the ropery (Queen
Catherine). The female representing her Majesty (who was borne in a
chair of state by six rope-makers) was dressed in white muslin, wore a
gilt crown, and carried in her hand a Roman banner.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

At one time it was customary, at Peterborough, till the introduction of
the new poor laws, for the female children belonging to the workhouse,
attended by the master, to go in procession round the city on St.
Catherine’s Day. They were all attired in white, and decorated with
various coloured ribbons, principally scarlet; the tallest girl was
selected to represent the Queen, and was adorned with a crown and
sceptre. The procession stopped at the houses of the principal
inhabitants, and they sang the following rude ballad, begging for money
at every house as they passed along:

    “Here comes Queen Catherine, as fine as any queen,
    With a coach and six horses a coming to be seen.
            And a spinning we will go, will go, will go,
            And a spinning we will go.

    Some say she is alive, and some say she is dead,
    And now she does appear with a crown upon her head.
            And a spinning we will go, &c.

    Old Madam Marshall she takes up her pen,
    And then she sits and calls for all her royal men.
            And a spinning we will go, &c.

    All you that want employment, though spinning is but small,
    Come list, and don’t stand still, but go and work for all.
            And a spinning we will go, &c.

    If we set a spinning, we will either work or play,
    But if we set a spinning we can earn a crown a day.
            And a spinning we will go, &c.

    And if there be some young men, as I suppose there’s some,
    We’ll hardly let them stand alone upon the cold stone.
            And a spinning we will go, &c.”

St. Catherine being the patron of the spinners, as well as of spinsters,
and spinning being formerly the employment of the females at the
workhouse, it naturally followed that they should be selected to
commemorate the anniversary of this Saint; and that this commemoration
is of great antiquity appears from the early entries in the Dean and
Chapter’s accounts of payments on St. Catherine’s Day for wheels and
reels for the children of the workhouse.--Baker, _Glossary of
Northamptonshire Words and Phrases_, 1854, vol. ii. p. 436.

A correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_4th S._ vol. ii. p. 332), alluding to the
above custom, says that it was not confined to Peterborough, but was
observed throughout the whole of the Northamptonshire lace-making
districts, as well as in those of Bedfordshire. According to popular
tradition the custom is derived from one of the Queens Catherine in the
time of Henry VIII.--probably from Catherine Parr, who was a
Northamptonshire woman. By some this day is called “Candle Day,” from
its forming the commencement of the season for working at lace-making by
candle-light.

ISLE OF THANET.

On St. Catherine’s Day in the Isle of Thanet, the carters place a small
figure on a wheel on the front of their cart sheds.--_N. & Q. 2nd S._
vol. v. p. 235.

WORCESTERSHIRE.

In this county the children go round to the farmhouses collecting apples
and beer for a festival, and sing the following lines:

    “Catherine and Clement, be here, be here,
    Some of your apples, and some of your beer;
    Some for Peter, and some for Paul,
    And some for Him that made us all.

    Clement was a good man,
    For his sake give us some,
    Not of the worse, but some of the best,
    And God will send your soul to rest.”

The Chapter of Worcester have a practice of preparing a rich bowl of
wine and spices, called the “Cathern bowl,” for the inhabitants of the
college upon this day.--Halliwell’s _Popular Rhymes_, 1849, p. 238; see
_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. iv. pp. 495, 496.

NOV. 30.] ST. ANDREW’S DAY.

The commencement of the ecclesiastical year is regulated by the feast of
St. Andrew, the nearest Sunday to which, whether before or after,
constitutes the first Sunday in Advent, or the period of four weeks
which heralds the approach of Christmas. St. Andrew’s Day is thus
sometimes the first and sometimes the last festival in the Christian
Year.--_Book of Days_, vol ii. p. 636.

KENT.

Hasted, in his _History of Kent_ (vol. ii. p. 757), speaking of the
parish of Eastling, says that, on St. Andrew’s Day, there is a yearly
diversion called squirrel-hunting in this and the neighbouring parishes,
when the labourers and lower kind of people, assembling together, form a
lawless rabble, and being accoutred with guns, poles, clubs and other
such weapons, spend the greater part of the day in parading through the
woods and grounds, with loud shoutings, and under pretence of
demolishing the squirrels, some few of which they kill, they destroy
numbers of hares, pheasants, partridges, and, in short, whatever comes
in their way, breaking down the hedges, and doing much other mischief,
and, in the evening betaking themselves to the ale-houses, finish their
career there as is usual with such sort of gentry.

MIDDLESEX.

Strype, in his _Ecclesiastical Memorials_ (1822, vol. iii. pt. ii. p.
21), says:--“The 30th November [1557] being St. Andrew’s Day, was a
procession at Paul’s, and a priest of every parish attending, each in
his cope, and a goodly sermon preached, and after that, the procession,
with _salve festa dies_.”

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

Tander and Tandrew are the names given to the festival of St. Andrew, of
which they are corruptions.

The anniversary of this saint is, or rather was, kept by the lacemakers
as a day of festivity and merry-making; but since the use of pillow-lace
has in a great measure given place to that of the loom, this holiday has
been less and less observed. The day in former times was one of
unbridled licence: village “scholards” barred out their master; the lace
schools were deserted; and drinking and feasting prevailed to a riotous
extent. Towards evening the villagers used to become suddenly smitten
with a violent taste for masquerading. Women might be seen walking about
in male attire, while men and boys clothed in female dress visited each
other’s cottages, drinking hot “eldern wine,” the staple beverage of the
season. Then commenced the mumming.--Sternberg, _Dialect and Folk Lore
of Northamptonshire_, 1851, p. 183; A. E. Baker, _Glossary of
Northamptonshire Words and Phrases_, 1854, vol. ii. p. 326.

SUSSEX.

A correspondent of the _Athenæum_ (No. 993) says that the custom of
squirrel-hunting was at one time kept up in this county, but, in
consequence of the inclosure of the coppices and the more strict
observance of the game, it has wholly dropped.

SCOTLAND.

In Scotland this day is called Andrys Day, Androiss Mess, and Andermess.

Singed sheep’s heads are borne in the procession before the Scots in
London on St. Andrew’s Day.--Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p.
415.

STIR UP SUNDAY.

The 25th Sunday after Trinity is called by the schoolboys “Stir Up
Sunday,” from the collect used on that day; and they repeat the
following lines without considering their irreverent application:

    “Stir up, we beseech thee,
      The pudding in the pot,
    And when we get home,
      We’ll eat it all hot.”

  Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ 1859, vol. i. p. 414; See _Times_, November
  25th, 1863.

ADVENT.

_Advent Bells._--Advent bells are rung in many parishes throughout
various parts of England during the month of December. A correspondent
of _N. & Q._ (_1st S._ vol. i. p. 21) says that, in his
neighbourhood--on the western borders of Berks--he has heard their merry
peals break gladsomely upon the dark stillness of the cold evening from
many a steeple round.

ISLE OF MAN.

Train, in his _History of the Isle of Man_ (1845, vol. ii. p. 127),
says, that the fiddlers go round from house to house, in the latter part
of the night for two or three weeks before Christmas, playing a tune
called the _Andisop_. On their way they stop before particular houses,
wish the inmates individually “good morning,” call the hour, then report
the state of the weather, and after playing an air, move on to the next
halting-place.

PICROUS DAY.

CORNWALL.

The Second Thursday before Christmas Day is a festival observed by the
tinners of the district of Blackmore, and known as “Picrous Day.” It is
said to be the feast of the discovery of tin by a man named Picrous. It
is not at present marked by any distinctive ceremonies, but it is the
occasion of a merry-making, and the owner of the tin stream contributes
a shilling a man towards it. Mr. T. Q. Couch says his first impression
was that the day took its name from the circumstance of a _pie_ forming
the _pièce de resistance_ of the supper; but this explanation is not
allowed by tinners, nor sanctioned by the usages of the feast.--Hunt’s
_Romances of the West of England_, 1871, p. 468.

DEC. 5.] ST. NICHOLAS’ EVE.

Strype, in his _Ecclesiastical Memorials_ (1822, vol. iii. part. i. p.
326), says:--“On the 5th December [1554], the which was St. Nicholas’
Eve, at evensong time, came a commandment that St. Nicholas should not
go abroad nor about. But, notwithstanding, it seems, so much were the
citizens taken with the mock St. Nicholas, that is, a boy-bishop, that
there went about three St. Nicholases in divers parishes, as in St.
Andrew’s Holborn and St. Nicolas Olave’s in Bread Street. The reason the
procession of St. Nicholas was forbid was because the Cardinal had this
St. Nicholas’ Day sent for all the convocation, bishops, and inferior
clergy, to come to him to Lambeth, there to be absolved from all their
prejudices, schisms, and heresies.”

DEC. 6.] ST. NICHOLAS’ DAY.

THE BOY-BISHOP.

St. Nicholas was deemed the patron of children in general, but much more
particularly of all schoolboys, amongst whom the 6th of December (the
saint’s festival) used to be a very great holiday for more than one
reason. In those bygone times all little boys either sang or served
about the altar at church; and the first thing they did upon the eve of
their patron’s festival was to elect from among themselves, in every
parish church, cathedral, and nobleman’s chapel, a bishop and his
officials, or, as they were then called, “a Nicholas and his clerks.”
This boy-bishop and his ministers afterwards sang the first vespers of
their saint, and, in the evening, arrayed in their appropriate
vestments, walked all about the parish; all were glad to see them, and
those who could afford it asked them into their houses to bestow a gift
of money, sweetmeats, or food upon them. In the year 1299 we find Edward
I., on his way to Scotland, permitting one of these boy-bishops to say
vespers before him in his chapel at Heton, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and
making a considerable present to the said bishop and certain other boys
that came and sang with him on the occasion, on the 7th of December, the
day after St. Nicholas’ Day. What was the custom in the houses of our
nobles we may learn from the _Northumberland Household Book_, which
tells us that “My lord useth and accustomyth to gyfe yerly, upon Saynt
Nicolas-Even, if he kepe chapell for Saynt Nicolas, to the master of his
childeren of his chapell, for one of the childeren of his chapell,
yerely, vi^{s.} viii^{d.}; and if Saynt Nicolas com owt of the towne
wher my lord lyeth, and my lord kepe no chapell, than to have yerely
iii^{s.} iiij^{d.}” At Eton College, it was on St. Nicholas’ Day, and
not on Childermas, that the boy-bishop officiated, which he did not only
at evensong, but at mass, which he began and went on with up to the more
solemn part at the offertory: “In festo Sancti Nicholai, in quo, et
nullatenus in festo Sanctorum Innocentium, divina officia præter missæ
secreta exequi et dici permittimus per episcopum puerorum scholiarium ad
hoc de eisdem annis singulis eligendum.”

It was upon this festival that some wealthy man or other of the parish
would make an entertainment on the occasion for his own household, and
invite his neighbours’ children to come and partake of it; and, of
course, Nicholas and his clerks sat in the highest place. The _Golden
Legend_ tells how “a man, for the love of his sone that wente to scole
for to lerne, halowed every year the feest of Saynt Nycholas moche
solemply. On a time it happed that the fader had doo make redy the
dyner, and called many clerkes to this dyner.” Individuals sometimes
bequeathed money to find a yearly dinner on St. Nicholas’ day for as
many as a hundred Childermas’ tide scholars, who were, after meat, to
pray for the soul of the founder of the feast. In our large schools and
universities the festival was kept with public sports and games. But it
was at Holy Innocents, or Childermas’ tide, that Nicholas and his clerks
came forth in all their glory. The boy-bishop had a set of pontificals
provided for him. St. Paul’s, London, had its “una mitra alba cum
flosculis breudatis--ad opus episcopi parvulorum--baculus ad usum
episcopi parvulorum;” York Minster, too, its “una capa de tissue pro
episcopo puerorum;” Lincoln Cathedral, “a cope of red velvet, ordained
for the barn-bishop;” All Souls’ College, Oxford, “j. chem. (ches.?) j.
cap et mitra pro episcopo Nicholao;” St. Mary’s Church, Sandwich, “a
lytyll chesebyll for Seynt Nicholas bysschop.” For the boy-bishop’s
attendants copes were also made, and York had no fewer than “novem capæ
pro pueris.”

Towards the end of evensong on St. John’s Day the little Nicholas and
his clerks, arrayed in their copes, and having burning tapers in their
hands, and singing those words of the Apocalypse (_c._ xiv.) “Centum
quadraginta” walked processionally from the choir to the altar of the
Blessed Trinity, which the boy-bishop incensed; afterwards they all sang
the anthem, and he recited the prayer commemorative of the Holy
Innocents. Going back into the choir these boys took possession of upper
canons’ stalls, and those dignitaries themselves had to serve in the
boys’ place, and carry the candles, the thurible, and the book, like
acolytes, thurifers, and lower clerks. Standing on high, wearing his
mitre, and holding his pastoral staff in his left hand, the boy-bishop
gave a solemn benediction to all present, and, while making the sign of
the Cross over the kneeling crowd, said:

    “Crucis signo vos consigno; vestra sit tuitio,
    Quos nos emit et redemit suæ carnis pretio.”

The next day, the feast itself of Holy Innocents, the boy-bishop
preached a sermon, which of course had been written for him; and one
from the pen of Erasmus, “Concio de puero Iesu,” spoken by a boy of St.
Paul’s School, London, is still extant, and Dean-Colet, the founder of
that seminary, in his statutes for it, ordained that “all these children
shall, every Childermas Daye, come to Paulis Churche, and hear the
childe bishop sermon; and after be at the high masse, and each of them
offer a 1^{d.} to the childe bysshop, and with them the maisters and
surveyors of the scole.” At evensong bishop Nicholas and his clerks
officiated as on the day before, and until Archbishop Peckham’s times,
used to take some conspicuous part in the services of the church during
the whole octave of Childermas tide. About 1279 A.D. that primate
decreed, however, thus:--“Puerilia autem solennia, quæ in festo solent
fieri Innocentum post vesperas S. Johannis tantum inchoari permittimus,
et in crastino in ipsa die Innocentum totaliter terminentur.” This
festival, like St. Nicholas’ Day, had its good things; and then, as now,
was marked by a better dinner in nunneries, wherein the little boys who
had served at the altars of the nuns’ churches were not forgotten, as we
see by the expenses of St Mary de Prees: “Paid for makyng of the dyner
to the susters upon Childermas Day, iii^{s.} iiij^{d.} It. Paid for
brede and ale for Saint Nicholas, iii^{s.}

If schoolboys had the patron St. Nicholas, little girls had their
patroness too, St. Catherine, who by her learning overthrew the
cavilings of many heathen philosophers and won some of them to
Christianity. On this holy martyr’s festival, therefore, did the girls
walk about the towns in their procession. All this was looked upon with
a scowl by those who pulled down the Church of God in this land: hence
Cranmer, towards the end of Henry VIII.’s reign, forbade these and other
like processions:--“Whereas heretofore dyverse and many superstitious
(?) and childysshe observations have been used, and yet to this day are
observed and kept in many and sondry parties of this realm, as upon
Sainte Nicolas, Sainte Catheryne, Sainte Clement, the Holy Innocentes,
and such like; children be strangelye decked and apparelid to
counterfaite priestes, byshoppes, and women; and so ledde with songes
and daunces from house to house, bleassing the people, and gatherynge of
monye, and boyes doo singe masse and preache in the pulpitt ... the
Kyng’s majestie willith and commaundeth that from henceforth all suche
superstitions be loste and clyerlye exstinguished,” &c. Queen Mary
restored these rites, and the people were glad to see this, along with
other of their old religious usages, given back to them; and an
eye-witness tells us that, in A.D. 1556, “the V. day of December was
Sant Necolas evyn, and Sant Necolas whentt abrod in most partt in
London, syngyng after the old fassyon, and was reseyvyd with mony good
pepulle into their howses, and had mych good chere as ever they had, in
mony plasses.”

Some have thought that it was owing to his early abstinence that St.
Nicholas was chosen patron of schoolboys; a better reason perhaps is
given to us by a writer in the _Gent. Mag._ (1777, vol. xlvii. p. 158),
who mentions having in his possession an Italian life of St. Nicholas,
from which he translates the following story, which explains the
occasion of boys addressing themselves to St. Nicholas’ patronage:--

“The fame of St. Nicholas’ virtues was so great that an Asiatic
gentleman, on sending his two sons to Athens for education, ordered them
to call on the bishop for his benediction; but they, getting to Myra
late in the day, thought proper to defer their visit till the morrow,
and took up their lodgings at an inn, where the landlord, to secure
their baggage and effects to himself, murdered them in their sleep and
then cut them into pieces, salting them, and putting them into a
pickling tub with some pork, which was there already, meaning to sell
the whole as such. The bishop, however, having a vision of this impious
transaction, immediately resorted to the inn, and calling the host to
him, reproached him for his horrid villany. The man, perceiving that he
was discovered, confessed his crime, and entreated the bishop to
intercede on his behalf to the Almighty for his pardon, who being moved
with compassion at his contrite behaviour, confession, and thorough
repentance, besought Almighty God not only to pardon the murderer, but
also, for the glory of His name, to restore life to the poor innocents
who had been so inhumanly put to death. The saint had hardly finished
his prayer when the mangled and detached portions of the youths were, by
Divine Power, reunited, and perceiving themselves alive, threw
themselves at the feet of the holy man to kiss and embrace them. But the
bishop not suffering their humiliation, raised them up, exhorting them
to return thanks to Almighty God for this mark of His mercy, and gave
them good advice for the future conduct of their lives; and then, giving
them the blessing, he sent them with great joy to prosecute their
studies at Athens.”--D. Rock, _The Church of our Fathers_, 1853, vol.
iii. part. ii. p. 215.

DEC. 8.] CONCEPTION OF VIRGIN MARY.

Strype, in his _Ecclesiastical Memorials_ (1822, vol. iii. part 1. p.
327), says:--“The 8th December (1554), being the day of the Conception
of our Blessed Lady, was a goodly procession at the Savoy by the
Spaniards, the priest carrying the Sacrament between his hands, and one
deacon carrying a censer censing, and another the holy-water stock, and
a number of friars and priests singing; and every man and woman, knights
also and gentlemen, bearing green tapers burning, and eight trumpets
blowing; and when they ceased, then began the sackbuts to play, and when
they had done, there was one who carried two drums on his back, and one
came after beating them. And so done, they went about the Savoy, now
singing, and a while after playing again, and by-and-by came singing
into the church, and after that they went to mass.”

DEC. 13.] ST. BARCHAN’S DAY.

SCOTLAND.

His day is still celebrated at Kilbarchan by a fair, held on the 1st of
December, Old Style, (13th December, New Style.) This rustic festival is
alluded to in the Laird of Beltrees’ poem on the life and death of the
famous piper of Kilbarchan, Habbie Simpson:

    “Sae kindly to his neighbour’s niest,
    At Beltane and St. Barchan’s feast.
    He blew and then held up his breist,
          As he were wead;
    But now we needna him arreist,
          For now he’s deid!”

  Chambers’s _Pop. Rhymes of Scotland_, 1870, p. 391.

DEC. 14.] ST. TIBBA’S DAY.

This day was formerly celebrated in Rutlandshire by fowlers and
falconers, who regarded the saint as their peculiar patroness. Camden
mentions the town of Rihall as particularly addicted to this
superstitious observance,[86] and the passage, which is strongly
expressed, was ordered to be expunged from his _Britannia_ by the _Index
Expurgationis_, printed at Madrid in 1612 by Louis Sanchez.--_Med. Ævi
Kalend._ vol. i. p. 82.

  [86] Rihall, ubi cum majores nostros ita fascinasset superstitio, ut
  deorum multitudine Deum verum propemodum sustulisset, Tibba minorum
  gentium diva, quasi Diana ab aucupibus utique rei accipitrariæ præses
  colebatur.--Britan. 8vo. Lond. edit. 1590, p. 419.

DEC. 17.] SOW DAY.

SCOTLAND.

At Sandwick, in the Orkneys, it is usual for every family to kill a sow,
whence this day is called Sow Day. This custom probably has some
reference to the heathen worship of the sun, to which, among the
northern nations, the male of this animal was sacred.--Sinclair, _Stat.
Acc. of Scotland_, 1793, vol. xvi. p. 460; _Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p.
82.

DEC. 21.] ST. THOMAS’ DAY.

In some parts of the country St. Thomas’ Day is observed by a custom
called _Going a Gooding_.[87] The poor people go round the parish and
call at the houses of the principal inhabitants, begging money or
provisions wherewith to celebrate the approaching festivity of
Christmas. In return for the alms bestowed during these “gooding”
peregrinations, it was customary for the recipients, in former times, to
present to their benefactors a sprig of holly or mistletoe.--_Book of
Days_, vol. ii. p. 724; see _Gent. Mag._ 1794, vol. lxiv. p. 292.

  [87] Northamptonshire, Kent, Sussex, Herefordshire, Worcestershire,
  etc.

Girls, says Halliwell, used to have a method of divination with a “St.
Thomas’s Onion,” for the purpose of ascertaining their future partners.
They peeled the onion, wrapped it up in a clean handkerchief, and then,
placing it under their heads, said the following lines:

    “Good St. Thomas, do me right,
    And see my true love come to-night,
    That I may see him in the face,
    And him in my kind arms embrace.”

One of the old cries of London was, “Buy my rope of onions--white St.
Thomas’s Onions.”--_Popular Rhymes_, 1849, p. 224.

BEDFORDSHIRE.

An ancient annual payment of 5_l._ out of an estate at Biddenham,
formerly belonging to the family of Boteler, and now the property of
Lord Viscount Hampden, is regularly paid on St. Thomas’s Day to the
overseers of the poor for the purchase of a bull, which is killed, and
the flesh thereof given amongst the poor persons of the parish. For many
years past the annual fund, being insufficient to purchase a bull, the
deficiency has been made good out of other charities belonging to the
parish. It was proposed some years ago by the vicar that the 5_l._ a
year should be laid out in buying meat, but the poor insisted on the
customary purchase of a bull being continued, and the usage is
accordingly kept up.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and Charities_,
1842, p. 64.

BERKSHIRE.

The cruel practice of bull-baiting was continued annually on St.
Thomas’s Day, in the market place of the town of Wokingham so lately as
1821. In 1822, upon the passing of the Act against cruelty to animals,
the corporation resolved on abolishing the custom. The alderman (as the
chief magistrate is called there) went with his officers in procession,
and solemnly pulled up the bull-ring, which had from time immemorial
been fixed in the market-place. The bull-baiting at Wokingham was
regarded with no ordinary attachment by the inhabitants; for, besides
the love of sport, it was here connected with something more solid,
viz., the Christmas dinner. In 1661, George Staverton gave by will, out
of his Staines house, after the death of his wife, 4_l._ to buy a bull
for the use of the poor of Wokingham parish, to be increased to 6_l._
after the death of his wife and her daughter, the bull to be baited, and
then cut up, “one poor’s piece not exceeding another’s in bigness.”
Great was the wrath of the populace in 1822 at the loss, not of the
beef--for the corporation duly distributed the meat--but of the baiting.
They vented their rage for successive years in occasional breaches of
the peace. They found out, often informed by the sympathising farmer or
butcher, where the devoted animal was domiciled; proceeded at night to
liberate him from stall or meadow, and to chase him across the country
with all the noisy accompaniments imaginable. So long was this feeling
kept alive that, thirteen years afterwards, viz., in 1835, the mob broke
into the place where one of the two animals to be divided was abiding
and baited him, in defiance of the authorities, in the market-place; one
enthusiastic individual, tradition relates, actually lying on the ground
and seizing the miserable brute by the nostril with his own teeth. This
was not to be endured, and a sentence of imprisonment in Reading Gaol
cooled the ardour of the ringleaders, and gave the _coup de grâce_ to
the sport. The bequest of Staverton now yields an income of 20_l._, and
has for several years been appropriated to the purchase of two bulls.
The flesh is divided and distributed annually on St. Thomas’s Day by the
alderman, churchwardens, and overseers, to nearly every poor family
(between 200 and 300), without regard to their receiving parochial
relief. The produce of the offal and hide is laid out in the purchase of
shoes and stockings for the poor women and children. The bulls’ tongues
are recognised by courtesy as the perquisites of the alderman and town
clerk.--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. v. p. 35.

CHESHIRE.

The poor people go from farm to farm “a-thomasin,” and generally carry
with them a bag and a can, into which meal, flour, and corn, are put.
Begging on this day is universal in this and the neighbouring
counties.--_Jour. of the Arch. Assoc._ 1850, vol. v. p. 253.

DORSETSHIRE.

At the village of Thornton, near Sherborne, a custom prevails amongst
the tenants of the manor, of depositing five shillings in a hole in a
certain tombstone in the churchyard, which precludes the lord of the
manor from taking the tithe of hay during the year. This must be done
before twelve o’clock on St. Thomas’s Day, or the privilege is
void.--_Med. Ævi Kalend._ 1842, vol. i. p. 83.

There was a custom very generally practised in some parts of this
county, and which may even now be practised. A few days before Christmas
the women, children, and old men in a parish would visit by turns the
houses of their wealthier neighbours, and in return for, and in
recognition of Christmas greetings, and their general demand of “Please
give me something to keep up a Christmas,” would receive substantial
pieces or “hunks” of bread and cheese, bread and meat, or small sums of
money. The old and infirm of either sex were generally represented by
their children or grandchildren, those only being refused the dole who
did not belong to the parish.--_N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. x. p. 494.

HEREFORDSHIRE.

St. Thomas’s Day is called by the poor inhabitants of this county
“Mumping Day;” and the custom of going from house to house asking for
contributions, is termed _going a-mumping_.

HERTFORDSHIRE.

Small pyramids, says Fosbroke (_Encyclopædia of Antiquities_, 1840, p.
661), formed of gilt evergreens, apples, and nuts, are carried about at
this time in Hertfordshire for presents.

ISLE OF MAN.

Formerly, it was customary for the people to go to the mountains to
catch deer and sheep for Christmas, and in the evening always to kindle
a large fire on the top of every fingan or cliff. Hence, at the time of
casting peats, every one laid aside a large one, saying: “Faaid mooar
moayney son oie’l fingan,” that is, “A large turf for Fingan’s
Eve.”--Train, _History of Isle of Man_, 1845, vol. ii. p. 124; Cregeen’s
_Manks Dictionary_, p. 67.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

Samuel Higgs, by his will, bearing date 11th May, 1820 (as appears from
the church tablet), gave 50_l._ to the vicar and churchwardens of the
parish of Farnsfield, and directed that the interest should be given
every year on the 21st of December, in equal proportions, to the poor
men and women who could repeat the Lord’s prayer, the creed, and the ten
commandments, before the vicar or other such person as he should appoint
to hear them. The interest is applied according to the donor’s orders,
and the poor persons appointed to partake of the charity continue to
receive it during their lives.--Edwards, _Old English Customs and
Charities_, 1842, p. 209.

OXFORDSHIRE.

At Tainton, a quarter of barley is provided annually, at the expense of
Lord Dynevor, the lord of the manor, and made into loaves called
“cobbs.” These were formerly given away in Tainton church to such of the
poor children of Burford as attended. A sermon was preached on St.
Thomas’s Day, 6_s._ 8_d._ being paid out of Lord Dynevor’s estate to
the preacher. The children, however, made so much riot and disturbance
in the church, that, about the year 1809, it was thought better to
distribute the cobbs in a stable belonging to one of the churchwardens,
which course has been pursued ever since.--Edwards, _Old English Customs
and Charities_, 1842, p. 25.

STAFFORDSHIRE.

In many parts of this county not only the old women and widows, but
representatives from every poor family in the parish, go round for alms.
The clergyman is expected to give one shilling to each person, and
consequently the celebration of the day is attended with no small
expense. Some of the parishioners give alms in money, others in kind.
Thus, for example, some of the farmers give corn, which the millers
grind gratis. In some places the money collected is given to the
clergyman and churchwardens, who, on the Sunday nearest to St. Thomas’s
Day, distribute it at the vestry. The fund is called St. Thomas’s Dole,
and the day itself Doleing Day.--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. iv. pp. 103, 487.

SUSSEX.

A sum of 15_l._ was placed in the Arundel Savings-Bank in the year 1824,
the interest of which is distributed on St. Thomas’s Day. It is said
that this money was found, many years since, on the person of a beggar,
who died by the road-side; and the interest of it has always been
appropriated by the parish officers for the use of the poor.--Edwards,
_Old English Customs and Charities_, 1842, p. 129.

WARWICKSHIRE.

In this county it is customary for the poor people to visit the
farm-houses to beg contributions of corn. This is called _going
a-corning_.

WORCESTERSHIRE.

At Harvington the following rhyme is sung:

    “Wissal, wassail through the town,
    If you’ve got any apples throw them down;
    Up with the stocking and down with the shoe
    If you’ve got no apples money will do.
    The jug is white and the ale is brown,
    This is the best house in the town.”

  _N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. viii. p. 617.

YORKSHIRE.

Drake, in his _Eboracum_ (1736, p. 217), gives the following account of
a custom that once existed at York on St. Thomas’s Day, which he says he
obtained from a manuscript that fell into his hands. “William the
Conqueror, in the third year of his reign (on St. Thomas’s Day), laid
siege to the city of York, but finding himself unable, either by policy
or strength, to gain it, raised the siege, which he had no sooner done,
but by accident he met with two fryers at a place called Skelton, not
far from York, and had been to seek reliefe from their fellows and
themselves against Christmas: the one having a wallet full of victualls
and a shoulder of mutton in his hand, with two great cakes hanging about
his neck; the other having bottles of ale, with provisions, likewise of
beife and mutton in his wallett. The king, knowing their poverty and
condition, thought they might be serviceable to him towards the
attaining York, wherefore (being accompanied with Sir George Fothergill,
general of the field, a Norman born), he gave them money, and withall a
promise, that if they would lett him and his soldiers into their priory
at a time appointed, he would not only rebuild their priory, but indowe
it likewise with large revenues and ample privileges. The fryers easily
consented and the conqueror as soon sent back his army, which, that
night, according to agreement, were let into the priory by the two
fryers, by which they immediately made themselves masters of all York;
after which Sir Robert Clifford, who was governor thereof, was so far
from being blamed by the conqueror for his stout defence made the
preceding days, that he was highly esteemed and rewarded for his valour,
being created Lord Clifford and there knighted, with the four
magistrates then in office, viz., Horongate, Talbot (who after came to
be Lord Talbott), Lassells, and Erringham.

“The arms of the city of York at that time was, argent, a cross, gules,
viz., St. George’s _cross_. The conqueror charged the cross with five
lyons, passant gardant, _or_, in memory of the five worthy captains,
magistrates, who governed the city so well, that he afterwards made Sir
Robert Clifford governour thereof and the other four to aid him in
counsell; and the better to keep the city in obedience he built two
castles, and double moated them about; and to shew the confidence and
trust that he put in these old, but new made, officers by him he offered
them freely to ask whatsoever they would of him before he went, and he
would grant their request, wherefore they (abominating the treachery of
the two fryers to their eternal infamy), desired that, on St. Thomas’s
Day for ever, they might have a fryer of the priory of St. Peter’s to
ride through the city on horseback, with his face to the horse’s tayle,
and that in his hand, instead of a bridle, he should have a rope, and in
the other a shoulder of mutton, with one cake hanging on his back and
another on his breast, with his face painted like a _Jew_; and the youth
of the city to ride with him, and to cry and shout “Youl, Youl,” with
the officers of the city rideing before and making proclamation, that on
this day the city was betrayed; and their request was granted them,
which custom continued till the dissolution of the said fryery; and
afterwards in imitation of the same, the young men and artizans of the
city on the aforesaid St. _Thomas’s Day_, used to dress up one of their
own companions like a fryer, and called him youl, which custom continued
till within this three-score years, there being many now living which
can testify the same, but upon what occasion since discontinued I cannot
learn: this being done in memory of betraying the city by the said
fryers to William the Conqueror.”

WALES.

William Rogers, by will, June 1806, gave to the minister and
churchwardens of Nevern, Pembrokeshire, and their successors, 800_l._,
Three per Cent. Consols, to be transferred by his executors within six
months after his decease; and it was his will that the dividends should
be laid out annually, one moiety thereof in good beef, the other moiety
thereof in good barley, the same to be distributed on every St.
Thomas’s Day in each year, by the minister and churchwardens, to and
among the poor of the said parish of Nevern.--Edwards, _Old English
Customs and Charities_, p. 24.

DEC. 24.] CHRISTMAS EVE.

CHESHIRE.

In Chester, and its neighbourhood, numerous singers parade the streets
and are hospitably entertained with meat and drink at the various houses
where they call.--See _Book of Days_, vol. ii. p. 736.

CORNWALL.

On Christmas Eve, in former days, says Hunt (_Romances of the West of
England_, 1871, p. 349), the small people, or the spiggans, would meet
at the bottom of the deepest mines, and have a midnight mass. In this
county the yule log is called “the mock.”

DERBYSHIRE.

In some parts the village choir meet in the church on Christmas Eve, and
there wait until midnight, when they proceed from house to house,
invariably accompanied by a small keg of ale, singing “Christians
awake;” and during the Christmas season they again visit the principal
houses in the place, and having played and sung for the evening, and
partaken of the Christmas cheer, are presented with a sum of
money.--_Jour. of the Arch. Assoc._ 1852, vol. vii. p. 208.

DEVONSHIRE.

The ashton faggot is burned in Devonshire on Christmas Eve. The faggot
is composed entirely of ash timber, and the separate sticks or branches
are securely bound together with ash bands. The faggot is made as large
as can conveniently be burned in the fire-place, or rather upon the
floor, grates not being in use. A numerous company is generally
assembled to spend the evening in games and amusements, the diversions
being heightened when the faggot blazes on the hearth, as a quart of
cyder is considered due and is called for and served upon the bursting
of every hoop or band round the faggot. The timber being green and
elastic, each band generally bursts open with a smart report when the
individual stick or hoop has been partially burned through.--_N. &. Q.
1st S._ vol. iv. p. 309.

In one or two localities, it is still customary for the farmer with his
family and friends, after partaking together of hot cakes and cider (the
cake being dipped in the liquor previous to being eaten), to proceed to
the orchard, one of the party bearing hot cake and cider as an offering
to the principal apple-tree. The cake is formally deposited on the fork
of the tree, and the cider thrown over the latter.[88]--See _Book of
Days_, vol. ii. p. 736.

  [88] In some places this custom is observed on New Year’s Eve.

A superstitious notion prevails in the western parts of Devonshire that,
at twelve o’clock at night on Christmas Eve, the oxen in their stalls
are always found on their knees, as in an attitude of devotion, and that
since the alteration of the style they continue to do this only on the
eve of Old Christmas Day.--Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 473.

It appears, from a statement of charities in an old book, that John
Martyn, by will, 28th of November, 1729, gave to the churchwardens and
overseers of the poor of the parish of St. Mary Major, Exeter, twenty
pounds, to be put out at interest, and the profits thereof to be laid
out every Christmas Eve in twenty pieces of beef, to be distributed to
twenty poor people of the parish, such as had no relief on that day, for
ever.--_Old English Customs and Charities_, 1842, p. 4.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE.

It appears by the benefaction table in the church of Ruardean, that the
Rev. Mr. Anthony Sterry, vicar of Lidney, gave by deed, in the fortieth
year of Queen Elizabeth, five shillings per annum, payable out of an
estate called the Glasp, in this parish, for ringing a peal on Christmas
Eve, about midnight, for two hours, in commemoration of the
Nativity.--_Old English Customs and Charities_, 1842, p. 6.

HAMPSHIRE.

In the neighbourhood of the New Forest the following lines are sung on
the wassailing of the trees:

    “Apples and pears with right good corn,
    Come in plenty to every one;
    Eat and drink good cake and hot ale,
    Give earth to drink and she’ll not fail.”

  _Christmas in the Olden Time_, London, 1839.

HEREFORDSHIRE.

In the _Gent. Mag._ (vol. xc. pt. i. p. 33) is the following account of
a custom that formerly existed at Tretyre on Christmas Eve. The writer
says:--They make a cake, poke a stick through it, fasten it upon the
horn of an ox, and say certain words, begging a good crop of corn for
the master. The men and boys attending the oxen, range themselves
around. If the ox throws the cake behind, it belongs to the men, if
before, to the boys. They take with them a wooden bottle of cyder and
drink it, repeating the charm before mentioned.

KENT.

Hasted (_History of Kent_, vol. iii. p. 380) says there was a singular
custom used of long time by the fishermen of Folkestone. They chose
eight of their largest and best whitings out of every boat when they
came home from the fishery and sold them apart from the rest, and out of
the money arising from them they made a feast every Christmas Eve which
they called a “Rumbald.” The master of each boat provided this feast for
his own company. These whitings, which are of a very large size, and are
sold all round the country as far as Canterbury, are called Rumbald
whitings. This custom (which is now left off, though many of the
inhabitants still meet jovially on Christmas Eve, and call it Rumbald
Night) might have been anciently instituted in honour of St. Rumbald,
and at first designed as an offering to him for his protection during
the fishery.[89]

  [89] Cole, in his _History and Antiquities of Filey_ (1828, p. 143),
  gives the following account of a custom that existed in his time in
  connection with the herring fishery at that place. He says, during the
  time the boats are on the herring fishery the junior part of the
  inhabitants seize all the unemployed waggons and carts they can find
  and drag them down the streets to the cliff tops; then leaving them to
  be owned and taken away by their respective proprietors on the
  following morning; this is carried into effect about the third
  Saturday night after the boats have sailed from Filey, under a
  superstitious notion that it drives the herrings into the nets.
  Previously to the fishermen setting out upon their expedition they
  send a piece of sea-beef on shore from each boat to such of their
  friends at the public houses as they wish “weel beea;” this occasions
  “a bit of a supper,” at which those who are going away and those who
  stay enjoy good cheer, heightened by mutual good-will. The Sunday
  preceding their departure is called _Boat Sunday_, when all their
  friends from the neighbouring villages attend to bid them farewell.

ISLE OF MAN.

Waldron, in his _Description of the Isle of Man_ (1859, p. 125) says
that on Christmas Eve every one leaves off work, and rambles about till
the bells begin to ring at midnight. Lord Teignmouth (_Sketches of the
Coast of Scotland and the Isle of Man_, vol. ii. p. 264) states that
they then all flock to the churches, bearing the largest candle they can
procure. The churches are decorated with holly, and the service, in
commemoration of the birth of our Saviour is called _Oiel Verry_.--See
Train’s _History of the Isle of Man_, 1845, vol. ii. p. 127.

NORFOLK.

In some parts of Norfolk libations of spiced ale used to be sprinkled on
orchards and meadows.--_Book of Days_, vol. ii. p. 736.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

On Christmas Eve, 1815, says Cole (_History of Ecton_, 1825), the
musicians of Ecton, accompanied by the vocalists of the church, revived
the custom of going round the village at midnight and singing a carol at
the principal houses.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

At Nottingham, on Christmas Eve, as well as in many other of the
villages, it is customary to toast apples on a string until they drop
into a bowl of hot spiced ale, which is placed to receive them; this,
from the softness of the beverage is called “lamb’s-wool.”

OXFORDSHIRE.

Pointer, in his _Oxoniensis Academia_ (1749, p. 20), says that, at
Merton College, Oxford, the fellows meet together in the Hall on
Christmas Eve and other solemn times to sing a psalm and drink a
grace-cup to one another (called _Poculum Charitatis_), wishing one
another help and happiness. These grace-cups they drink to one another
every day after dinner and supper, wishing one another peace and good
neighbourhood.

SUSSEX.

At Chailey, the following doggerel is sung at the wassailing of the
apple trees:

    “Stand fast root, bear well top,
    Pray the God send us a good howling crop.
    Every twig, apples big,
    Every bough, apples enow.
    Hats full, caps full,
    Full quarters, sacks full.”[90]

  _N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. v. p. 293.

  [90] See Eve of Epiphany, p. 21.

WARWICKSHIRE.

A correspondent of the _Gent. Mag._ (1795, vol. lxv. p. 110) thus
describes an amusement practised on Christmas Eve at Aston Hall, down to
the end of last century. As soon as supper is over a table is set in the
hall. On it is placed a brown loaf, with twenty silver threepences stuck
on the top of it, a tankard of ale, with pipes and tobacco, and the two
oldest servants have chairs behind it to sit as judges if they please.
The steward brings the servants, both men and women, by one at a time,
covered with a winnow sheet, and lays their right hand on the loaf,
exposing no other part of the body. The older of the two judges guesses
at the person, by naming a name, then the younger judge, and lastly, the
older again. If they hit upon the right name, the steward leads the
person back again; but if they do not, he takes off the winnow sheet,
and the person receives a threepence, makes a low obeisance to the
judges, but speaks not a word. When the second servant was brought, the
younger judge guessed first and third; and this they did alternately
till all the money was given away. Whatever servant had not slept in the
house the preceding night forfeited his right to the money. No account
is given of the origin of this strange custom, but it has been practised
ever since the family lived here. When the money is gone the servants
have full liberty to drink, dance, sing, and go to bed when they please.
Brand (_Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 472), speaking of this custom,
says, can it be what Aubrey, in his introduction to his _Survey of
Wiltshire_, calls “Cob-loaf-stealing?”

YORKSHIRE.

There is in Yorkshire a custom, which has been by the country people
more or less revived, ever since the alteration in the style and
calendar, namely, of watching, on the midnight of the new and old
Christmas Eve, by beehives, to determine upon the right Christmas from
the humming noise which they suppose the bees will make when the birth
of our Saviour took place.--_Gent. Mag._ 1811, vol. lxxxi. part. i. p.
424.

Christmas Eve in Yorkshire, says a writer in _Time’s Telescope_ (1822,
p. 298), is celebrated in a peculiar manner at eight o’clock in the
evening the bells greet “Old Father Christmas” with a merry peal, the
children parade the streets with drums, trumpets, bells, or perhaps, in
their absence, with the poker and shovel, taken from their humble
cottage fire; the yule candle is lighted, and--

          “High on the cheerful fire
    Is blazing seen th’ enormous Christmas brand.”

Supper is served, of which one dish, from the lordly mansion to the
humblest shed, is invariably furmety; yule cake, one of which is always
made for each individual in the family, and other more substantial
viands are also added.

At St. Cuthbert’s Church, Ackworth, a sheaf of corn was at one time
suspended on Christmas Eve outside the porch, for the especial benefit
of the birds.--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. ii. p. 505; see _N. & Q. 3rd S._
vol. iii. p. 117.

At Dewsbury, one of the church bells is tolled as at a funeral; this is
called the Devil’s Knell, the moral of which is that “the Devil died
when Christ was born.” This custom was discontinued for many years, but
revived by the vicar in 1828.--Timbs’ _Something for Everybody_, 1861,
p. 150.

At Ripon, on Christmas Eve, the grocers send each of their customers a
pound or half of currants and raisins to make a Christmas pudding. The
chandlers also send large mould candles, and the coopers logs of wood,
generally called _yule clogs_, which are always used on Christmas Eve;
but should it be so large as not to be all burnt that night, which is
frequently the case, the remains are kept till old Christmas
Eve.--_Gent. Mag._ 1790, vol. lx. p. 719.

Cole in his _Historical Sketches of Scalby, Burniston, and Cloughton_
(1829, p. 45) says the village choristers belonging to Scalby assemble
on Christmas Eve, and remain out the whole night singing at the
principal houses.

IRELAND.

A correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_3rd S._ vol. viii. p. 495) says that, in
the south-east of Ireland on Christmas Eve, people hardly go to bed at
all, and the first who announces the crowing of the cock, if a male, is
rewarded with a cup of tea, in which is mixed a glass of spirits; if a
female, with the tea only, but as a substitute for the whisky she is
saluted with half-a-dozen of kisses.

DEC. 25.] CHRISTMAS DAY.

St. Chrysostom informs us that, in the primitive times, Christmas and
Epiphany were celebrated at one and the same feast (_Homil. in Diem
Nativ. D. N. J. Christi_, Opera, edit. Monfaucon, tom. iii.), probably
from a belief that the rising of the star in the East and the birth of
Christ were simultaneous. The separation took place at the Council of
Nice, A.D. 325. The Armenians, however, continued to make but one feast
of the two as late as the thirteenth century. The learned have long been
divided upon the precise day of the Nativity. Some have fixed it at the
Passover; others, amongst whom was Archbishop Usher, at the feast of
Tabernacles; and it has been observed that, if others were watching
their flocks when it occurred in the field by night, it would hardly
have happened in the depth of winter. Be this as it may, the 25th of
December has been the day most generally fixed upon from the earliest
ages of the Church. Sir Isaac Newton, in his _Commentary on the
Prophecies of Daniel_ (Part I. chap. ii. p. 144), has a chapter, “Of the
Times of the Birth and Passion of our Saviour,” in which he accounts for
the choice of the 25th of December, the winter solstice, by showing that
not only the feast of the Nativity, but most others, were originally
fixed at cardinal points of the year; and that the first Christian
calendar having been so arranged by mathematicians at pleasure, without
any ground in tradition, the Christians afterwards took up with what
they found in the calendars: so long as a fixed time of commemoration
was solemnly appointed they were content.--See Baronii _Apparatus ad
Annales Ecclesiasticos_, fol. Lucæ, 1740, p. 475 et seq.; Bingham’s
_Antiquities of the Christian Church_, lib. xx. cap. 4; a curious tract
entitled, _The Feast of Feasts_, or ‘The Celebration of the Sacred
Nativity of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, grounded upon the
Scriptures and confirmed by the Practice of the Christian Church in all
Ages;’ see also Knight’s _English Cyclopædia_, 1859, vol. ii. p. 882.

The name given, says a correspondent of _Book of Days_, (vol. ii. p.
745) by the ancient Goths and Saxons to the festival of the winter
solstice was _Jul_ or _Yule_, the latter term forming to the present day
the designation in the Scottish dialect of Christmas, and preserved also
in the phrase of the “yule log.” Perhaps the etymology of no term has
excited greater discussions among antiquaries. Some maintain it to be
derived from the Greek ουλος or ιουλος, the name of a hymn in honour of
Ceres, others say it comes from the Latin _jubilum_, signifying a time
of rejoicing, or from its being a festival in honour of Julius Cæsar;
whilst some also explain its meaning as synonymous with _ol_ or _oel_,
which in the ancient Gothic language denotes a feast, and also the
favourite liquor used on such occasions whence our word _ale_. A much
more probable derivation, however, of the term in question is from the
Gothic _giul_ or _hiul_, the origin of the modern word _wheel_, and
bearing the same significance. According to this very probable
explanation, the yule festival received its name from its being the
turning-point of the year, or the period at which the fiery orb of day
made a revolution in his annual circuit and entered on his northern
journey. A confirmation of this view is afforded by the circumstance
that, in the old clog almanacs, a wheel is the device employed for
marking the season of yule-tide.

The season of the Nativity is now no longer marked by that hospitality
which characterized its observance among our forefathers. At present
Christmas meetings are chiefly confined to family parties. The
wassail-bowl, the yule-clog, and the lord of misrule, with a long train
of sports and customs which formerly prevailed at this season are
forgotten, even Christmas carols are nearly gone by; and the decking of
churches, and occasionally of houses, with holly and other evergreens,
forms now almost the only indication that this great festival is at
hand.--Knight’s _English Cyclopædia_, 1859, vol. ii. p. 882.

Christmas, says Père Cyprian (quoted by Agnes Strickland, _Lives of the
Queens of England_, 1865, vol. iv. pp. 320, 321), was always observed in
this country, especially at the King’s palaces, with greater ceremony
than in any other realm in Europe. Among other ancient ceremonies, he
tells us how a branch of the Glastonbury thorn used to be brought up in
procession, and presented in great pomp to the King and Queen of England
on Christmas morning.

_Under the Commonwealth._--In the _Diary of John Evelyn_ (1859, vol. i.
p. 297), under the date of the 25th of December, occurs the following:--

“Christmas Day. No sermon anywhere, no church being permitted to be
open, so observed it at home.”

Again, under the same date in 1654 (p. 341), the statement is renewed:

“Christmas Day. No churches or public assembly. I was fain to pass the
devotions of that Blessed Day with my family at home.”

Alluding to the observance of Christmas Day in 1657, the same writer
says:--

“I went to London with my wife to celebrate Christmas Day, Mr. Gunning
preaching in Exeter Chapel, on Micah, vii. 2. Sermon ended; as he was
giving us the Holy Sacrament the chapel was surrounded with soldiers,
and all the communicants and assembly surprised and kept prisoners by
them, some in the house, others carried away. It fell to my share to be
confined to a room in the house, where yet I was permitted to dine with
the master of it, the Countess of Dorset, Lady Hatton, and some others
of quality who invited me. In the afternoon came Colonel Whalley, Goffe,
and others from Whitehall to examine us one by one; some they committed
to the Marshal, some to prison. When I came before them they took my
name and abode, examined me why, contrary to the ordinance made that