Chapter V: Preface (5)

The following extract is taken from the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, 1779, vol. xlix. p. 137: “Being on a visit in a little obscure village in Kent, I found an odd kind of sport going forward: the girls, from eighteen to five or six years old, were assembled in a crowd, and burning an uncouth effigy, which they called an _holly-boy_, and which it seems they had stolen from the boys, and in another part of the village the boys were assembled together, and burning what they called an _ivy-girl_, which they had stolen from the girls; all this ceremony was accompanied with loud huzzas, noise, and acclamation.”

NORFOLK.

Independent of the homage paid to St. Valentine on this day at Lynn, it is in other respects a red-letter day amongst all classes of its inhabitants, being the commencement of its great annual mart. This mart was granted by a charter of Henry VIII. in the twenty-seventh year of his reign, “to begin on the day next after the feast of the purification of the blessed Virgin Mary, and to continue six days next following.” Since the alteration of the style, in 1752, it has been proclaimed on Valentine’s Day. About noon, the Mayor and Corporation, preceded by a band of music, and attended by twelve decrepit old men, called from their dress “Red Coats,” walk in procession to proclaim the mart, concluding by opening the antiquated and almost obsolete court of “Piepowder.” Like most establishments of this nature, it is no longer attended for the purpose it was first granted, business having yielded to pleasure and amusement. Formerly Lynn mart and Stourbridge (Stirbitch) fair, were the only places where small traders in this and the adjoining counties supplied themselves with their respective goods. No transactions of this nature now take place, and the only remains to be perceived are the “mart prices,” still issued by the grocers. Here the thrifty housewives, for twenty miles round, laid in their annual store of soap, starch, &c., and the booth of Green, from Limehouse, was for three generations the emporium of such articles; but these no longer attend. A great deal of money is however spent, as immense numbers of persons assemble from all parts. Neither is there any lack of incitements to unburthen the pockets: animals of every description, tame and wild, giants and dwarfs, tumblers, jugglers, peep-shows, &c., all unite their attractive powers, in sounds more discordant than those which annoyed the ears of Hogarth’s “enraged musician.”

In the early part of the last century, an old building, which, before the Reformation, had been a hall belonging to the guild of St. George, after being applied to various uses, was fitted up as a theatre (and, by a curious coincidence, where formerly had doubtless been exhibited, as was customary at the guild feasts, religious mysteries and pageants of the Catholic age, again were exhibited the mysteries and pageants of the Protestant age) during the mart and a few weeks afterwards, but apparently with no great success.--_Every Day Book_, vol. ii. p. 223.

In the parish of Ryburgh it is customary for the children to go round to the houses in the village for contributions, saying:

“God bless the baker;
If you will be the giver,
I will be the taker.”

_N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. v. p. 595.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

In this county children go from house to house, on the morning of St. Valentine’s Day, soliciting small gratuities. The children of the villages go in parties, sometimes in considerable numbers, repeating at each house the following salutations, which vary in different districts:[18]

“Good morrow, Valentine!
First it’s yours, and then it’s mine,
So please give me a Valentine.”

“Morrow, morrow, Valentine!
First ’tis yours, and then ’tis mine,
So please to give me a Valentine.
Holly and ivy tickle my toe,
Give me red apples and let me go.”

“Good morrow, Valentine!
Parsley grows by savoury,
Savoury grows by thyme,
A new pair of gloves on Easter day.
Good morrow, Valentine!”

[18] See _History and Antiquities of Weston Favell_ (1827, p. 6).
Brand in his _Pop. Antiq._ mentions this custom as existing in
Oxfordshire.--1849, vol. i. p. 60.

It was formerly customary for young people to _catch_ their parents and each other on their first meeting on St. Valentine’s morning. _Catching_ was no more than the exclamation, “Good morrow, _Valentine_!” and they who could repeat this before they were spoken to, were entitled to a small present from their parents or the elderly persons of the family; consequently there was great eagerness to rise early, and much good-natured strife and merriment on the occasion.[19]

[19] The custom was observed at Norfolk.--Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ vol. i.
p. 60.

In Peterborough and in some of the villages in the northern part of the county sweet plum buns were formerly given, and I believe are still made, called Valentine buns; and these buns, I am told, are in some villages given by godfathers and godmothers to their godchildren on the Sunday preceding and the Sunday following St. Valentine’s Day.--Baker, _Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases_, 1854, vol. ii. p. 373.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

Drawing lots or billets for Valentines is a custom observed in the neighbourhood of Mansfield, where a few young men and maidens meet together, and having put each their own name on a slip of paper, they are all placed together in a hat or basket, and drawn in regular rotation. Should a young man draw a girl’s name, and she his, it is considered ominous, and not unfrequently ends in real love and a wedding.--_Jour. of the Arch. Assoc._ 1853, vol. viii. p. 231.

OXFORDSHIRE.

In this county the following rhymes were used:

“Good morrow, Valentine!
I be thine, and thou be’st mine,
So please give me a Valentine!”

Also

“Good morrow, Valentine!
God bless you ever!
If you’ll be true to me,
I’ll be the like to thee.
Old England for ever!”

Also

“Good morrow, Valentine,
First ’tis yours, then ’tis mine,
So please give me a Valentine.”

_The Antiquary_, 1873, vol. iii. p. 107; Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 60.

YORKSHIRE.

“On Valentine’s Day,” says Clarkson (_Hist. of Richmond_, 1821, p. 293), “the ceremony of drawing lots called Valentines is seldom omitted. The names of a select number of one sex with an equal number of the other are put into a vessel, and every one draws a name, which is called their Valentine; and which is looked upon as a good omen of their being afterwards united.”

MARCH. 1.] ST. DAVID’S DAY.

Various attempts have been made to account for the custom of wearing the leek. Owen, in his _Cambrian Biography_ (1803), considers it to have originated from the custom of _cymhortha_, or the neighbourly aid practised among farmers. He says that it was once customary in some districts of South Wales for all the neighbours of a small farmer without means to appoint a day, when they all met together for the purpose of ploughing his land, or rendering him any service in their power. On such an occasion each individual carried with him his portion of leeks to be used in making the pottage for the company. Some also are of opinion that the practice took its rise in consequence of a victory obtained by Cadwallo over the Saxons on the 1st of March, 640, when the Welsh, to distinguish themselves, wore leeks in their hats. Shakespeare introduces the custom into his play of Henry V., act iv. sc. 7. Fluellin addressing the monarch says:

“Your grandfather of famous memory, an’t please your majesty, and your great uncle Edward the plack prince of Wales, as I have read in the chronicles, fought a most prave pattle here in France.

“_K. Hen._ They did, Fluellin.

“_Flu._ Your majesty says very true: if your majesty is remembered of it, the Welshmen did goot service in a garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps; which, your majesty knows, to this hour is an honourable padge of the service; and I do believe your majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy’s day.”

This allusion by Fluellin to the Welsh having worn the leek in a battle under the Black Prince, is not, as some writers suppose, wholly decisive of its having originated in the fields of Cressy or Poictiers, but shows that when Shakespeare wrote Welshmen wore leeks. In the same play the well-remembered Fluellin’s enforcement of Pistol to eat the leek he had ridiculed, further establishes the wearing as a usage.--_Every Day Book_, vol. i. p. 318.

A contributor to a periodical work, entitled _Gazette of Fashion_ (March 9th, 1822), rejects the notion that wearing leeks on St. David’s Day originated at the battle between the Saxons and the Welsh in the sixth century; and considers it more probable that leeks were a Druidic symbol employed in honour of the British _Ceudven_, or Ceres. In which hypothesis he thinks there is nothing strained in presuming that the Druids were a branch of the Phœnician priesthood. Both were addicted to oak worship; and during the funereal rites of Adonis at Byblos, leeks and onions were exhibited in “pots with other vegetables, and called the gardens of that deity.”

In the fifteenth century, the celebration of St. David’s Day was honoured with the patronage of royalty; and numerous entries of payments, such as the following, are recorded in the “Privy Purse Expenses of Henry the Seventh,” a monarch whose liberality is not proverbial:

“March 1 (1492). Walshemen on Saint David Day, £2.” “March 6 (1494). To the Walshemen towardes their feste, £2.”--_Med. Ævi Kalend._, vol. i. p. 168.

From _Poor Robin’s Almanack_ for 1757 it appears that, in former times in England, a Welshman was burnt in effigy on this anniversary:

“But it would make a stranger laugh
To see th’ English hang poor Taff:
A pair of breeches, and a coat,
Hat, shoes, and stockings, and what not,
All stuffed with hay to represent
The Cambrian hero thereby meant:
With sword sometimes three inches broad,
And other armour made of wood,
They drag hur to some publick tree,
And hang hur up in effigy.”

To this custom Pepys probably alludes in his Diary for 1667 (Bohn’s Edition, 1858, vol. iii. p. 761):

“In Mark Lane I do observe (it being St. David’s Day) the picture of a man dressed like a Welshman, hanging by the neck upon one of the poles that stand out at the top of the merchant’s houses, in full proportion; and very handsomely done, which is one of the oddest sights I have seen a good while.”

Brand, in his _Pop. Antiq._ (1849, vol. i. p. 105), thinks that from this custom arose the practice, at one time in vogue amongst pastrycooks, of hanging or skewering _taffies_ or Welshmen of gingerbread for sale on St. David’s Day.

The goat has by time-honoured custom been attached to the regiment of the Royal Welsh (23rd) Fusiliers, and the following extract, taken from the _Graphic_ (No. 171, March, 8th, 1873), shows how St. David’s Day is observed by the officers and men of this regiment:

The drum-major, as well as every man in the regiment, wears a leek in his busby; the goat is dressed with rosettes and ribbons of red and blue. The officers have a party, and the drum-major, accompanied by the goat, marches round the table after dinner, carrying a plate of leeks, of which he offers one to each officer or guest who has never eaten one before, and who is bound to eat it up, standing on his chair, with one foot on the table, while a drummer beats a roll behind his chair. All the toasts given are coupled with the name of St. David, nor is the memory of Toby Purcell forgotten. This worthy was gazetted major of the regiment when it was first raised, and was killed in the Battle of the Boyne.

MIDDLESEX.

St. David’s Day is observed in London, says Hampson (_Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 168), by the Charitable Society of Ancient Britons, who were established in 1714, in behalf of the Welsh Charity School in Gray’s Inn Road. On this occasion each man wears an artificial leek in his hat.

OXFORDSHIRE.

On St. David’s Day at Jesus College, Oxford, an immense silver gilt bowl, containing ten gallons, which was presented to the College by Sir Watkin Williams Wynne in 1732, is filled with “swig,” and handed round to those who are invited to sit at the festive and hospitable board.--Hone’s _Year Book_, 1838, p. 265.

WALES.

At Tenby one of the benefit clubs marched through the town bearing the leek in their hats. In the evening a ball took place, at which artificial leeks were worn by both sexes.--Mason, _Tales and Traditions of Tenby_, 1858, p. 19.

MARCH 1.] SIMNEL SUNDAY.

Simnel Sunday is better known as Mid-Lent or Mothering Sunday, and was so called because large cakes called Simnels were made on this day.

Bailey in his _Dictionary_ (fol. 1764, by Scott,) says, _Simnel_ is probably derived from the Latin _Simila_, fine flour, and means a sort of cake, or bun, made of fine flour, spice, &c.

Frequent mention is made of the Simnel in the household allowances of Henry the First.

“Cancellarius v solidos in die et i Siminellum dominicum, et ii salum, et i sextarium de vino claro, et i sext. de vino expensabili, et unum grossum cereum, et xl frusta Candell.”--_Libr. Nigr. Scaccarii_, p. 341.

The “Siminellum Dominicum,” Hearne thinks, was a better kind of bread[20] and that “Siminellum Salum,” from ~sal~, cibus, victus, was the ordinary bread; if it be not the Latin _Salis_ (Siminellum Salinum), in which case it denotes that more salt is contained in it than in the other. If the derivation from Simnel be not satisfactory, perhaps the Anglo-Saxon ~symbel~, a feast or banquet, whence ~simbel~, ~dæg~, a festival day, may suffice.--_Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 177.

[20] Alderman Wilkinson of Burnley, a well known able Lancashire
antiquary, some time since stated that it “originally meant the _very
finest_ bread. _Pain demain_ is another term for it, on account of its
having been used as Sunday bread.”

In Wright’s _Vocabularies_ it appears thus:--‘_Hic artæcopus, a
symnylle_.’ This form was in use during the fifteenth century.

In the _Dictionarius_ of John de Garlande, compiled at Paris in the
thirteenth century, it appears thus:--“_Simeneus_ = placentæ =
simnels.” Such cakes were signed with the figure of Christ, or of the
Virgin.

At Bury, in Lancashire, from time beyond memory, thousands of persons come from all parts, and eat “simnels” on Simnel Sunday. Formerly, nearly every shop was open, quite in defiance of the law respecting the closing during “service,” but of late, through the improved state of public opinion, the disorderly scenes to which the custom gave rise have been partially amended. Efforts have been repeatedly made to put a stop to the practice altogether, but in vain. The clergy, headed by the rector, and the ministers of all denominations (save the Romanists) have drawn up protests and printed appeals against this desecration, but, as just stated, with scarcely any visible effect.

It is not a little singular that the practice of assembling in one town, upon one day--the middle Sunday in Lent, to eat simnel cake, is a practice confined to Bury. Much labour has been expended to trace the origin of this custom, but without success.--_Gent. Mag._ (New Series) 1866, vol. i. p. 535; Baines, _History of Lancashire_, 1836, vol. ii. p. 776.

Herrick in his _Hesperides_ has the following:

“TO DIANEME.

“A CEREMONIE IN GLOCESTER.

“I’ll to thee a Simnell bring,
’Gainst thou go’st a _mothering_;
So that, when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou’lt give me.”

1, p. 2787.

Again, the bread called “simnel bread” is mentioned by Jehoshaphat Aspin, in his _Pictures of Manners, &c., of England_, p. 126, who quotes from a statute of 51st of Henry III.:--_A farthing symnel_ (a sort of small cake, twice baked, and also called a _cracknel_) should weigh two ounces less than the _wastel_ (a kind of cake made with honey, or with meal and oil).

Curious are some of the tales which have arisen to explain the meaning of the name _simnel_. Some pretend that the father of Lambert Simnel, the well-known pretender in the reign of Henry VII., was a baker, and the first maker of simnels, and that, in consequence of the celebrity he gained by the acts of his son, his cakes have retained his name. There is a story current in Shropshire, which is more picturesque. Long ago there lived an honest old couple, boasting the names of Simon and Nelly, but their surnames are not known. It was their custom at Easter to gather their children about them, and thus meet together once a year under the old homestead. The fasting season of Lent was just ending, but they had still left some of the unleavened dough which had been from time to time converted into bread during the forty days. Nelly was a careful woman, and it grieved her to waste anything, so she suggested that they should use the remains of the lenten dough, for the basis of a cake to regale the assembled family. Simon readily agreed to the proposal, and further reminded his partner that there were still some remains of their Christmas plum-pudding hoarded up in the cupboard, and that this might form the interior, and be an agreeable surprise to the young people when they had made their way through the less tasty crust. So far all things went on harmoniously; but when the cake was made, a subject of violent discord arose, Sim insisting that it should be boiled, while Nell no less obstinately contended that it should be baked. The dispute ran from words to blows, for Nell not choosing to let her province in the household be thus interfered with, jumped up, and threw the stool she was sitting on at Sim, who, on his part, seized a besom, and applied it with right good will to the head and shoulders of his spouse. She now seized the broom, and the battle became so warm, that it might have had a very serious result, had not Nell proposed as a compromise that the cake should be boiled first and afterwards baked. This Sim acceded to, for he had no wish for further acquaintance with the heavy end of the broom. Accordingly, the big pot was set on the fire, and the stool broken up and thrown on to boil it, whilst the besom and broom furnished fuel for the oven. Some eggs, which had been broken in the scuffle, were used to coat the outside of the pudding when boiled, which gave it the shining gloss it possesses as a cake. This new and remarkable production in the art of confectionery became known by the name of the cake of Simon and Nelly, but soon only the first half of each name was alone preserved and joined together, and it has ever since been known as the cake of Sim-Nel or Simnel.--_Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 337.

_Mothering Sunday._--In many parts of England it was formerly customary for servants, apprentices, and others to carry presents to their parents on this day. This practice was called Going a-Mothering, and originated in the offerings made on this day at the mother-church.

In the _Gent. Mag._ (vol. liv. p. 98) a correspondent tells us that whilst he was an apprentice the custom was to visit his mother on Mid-Lent Sunday (thence called Mothering Sunday) for a regale of excellent furmety.[21]

[21] Furmenty, Furmity, or Frumity; still a favourite dish in the
north, consisting of hulled wheat boiled in milk and seasoned. It was
especially a Christmas dish. In the _True Gentlewoman’s Delight_,
1676, p. 17, the following receipt is given for making furmity:

Take a quart of sweet cream, two or three sprigs of mace, and a nutmeg
cut in half, put it into your cream, so let it boil; then take your
French barley or rice, being first washed clean in fair water three
times and picked clean, then boil it in sweet milk till it be tender,
then put it into your cream, and boil it well, and when it hath boiled
a good while, take the yoke of six or seven eggs, beat them very well
to thicken on a soft fire, boil it, and stir it, for it will quickly
burn; when you think it is boiled enough sweeten it to your taste, and
so serve it in with rosewater and musk-sugar, in the same manner you
make it with wheat.--Nares’ _Glossary_ (Halliwell and Wright), 1859,
vol. i. p. 340.

Another correspondent of the same journal for May (vol. liv. p. 343) says, “I happened to reside last year near Chepstow, in Monmouthshire; and there, for the first time, heard of _Mothering Sunday_. My inquiries into the origin and meaning of it were fruitless; but the practice thereabouts was for servants and apprentices on Mid-Lent Sunday to _visit their parents_, and _make them a present of money_, _a trinket_, or _some nice eatable_; and they are anxious not to fail in this custom.”

A mothering-cake is alluded to in Collins’s _Miscellanies_, 1762, p. 114:

“Why, rot thee, Dick! see Dundry’s Peak
Lucks like a shuggard motherin’-cake.”

A sort of spiced ale called Braggot, Bragget, or Braggat, was used in many parts of Lancashire on these visits of relations, whence the day was called _Braggot Sunday_.

In Nares’ _Glossary_ (Halliwell and Wright, 1859, vol. i. p. 102) the following receipt for making _bragget_ is given from the _Haven of Health_, chap. 239, p. 268:

Take three or four galons of good ale, or more as you please, two dayes or three after it is densed, and put it into a pot by itselfe; then draw forth a pottle thereof, and put to it a quart of good English honey, and set them over the fire in a vessell, and let them boyle faire and softly, and alwayes as any froth ariseth skumme it away, and so clarifie it, and when it is well clarified, take it off the fire and let it coole, and put thereto of pepper a pennyworth, cloves, mace, ginger, nutmegs, cinamon, of each two pennyworth, beaten to powder, stir them well together, and set them over the fire to boyle againe awhile, then bring milke warme, put it to the reste, and stirre alltogether, and let it stand two or three daies, and put barme upon it, and drink it at your pleasure.

Minshen in his _Ductor in Linguas_ (1617, p. 50) tells us that Braggot is composed of two Welsh words, _Bräg_, malt, and _Gots_, honeycombs.

In Ben Jonson’s masque of the _Metamorphosed Gipsies_ is the following reference to this word:

“And we have serv’d there, armed all in ale,
With the brown bowl, and charg’d in _braggat_ stale.”

On this day also boys went about in ancient times into the villages with a figure of death made of straw, from whence they were generally driven by the country people, who disliked it as an ominous appearance, while some gave them money to get the mawkin carried off. Its precise meaning under that form is doubtful, though it seems likely to have purported the death of winter, and to have been only a part of another ceremony conducted by a larger number of boys, from whom the death carriers were a detachment, and who consisted of a large assemblage carrying two figures to represent Spring and Winter. These two figures they bore about, and fought; in the fight, Summer or Spring got the victory over Winter, and thus was allegorized the departure or burial of the death of the year, and its commencement or revival as Spring.--_Every Day Book_, vol. i. p. 358.

In the north of England, and also in the Midland Counties, the following names are given to the Sundays of Lent, the first of which however is anonymous:

“Tid, Mid, Misera,
Carling, Palm, Paste Egg-day.”

Another version of this couplet is given in the _Gent. Mag._, 1788, vol. lviii. p. 288.

“Tid, and Mid, and Misera,
Carling, Palm, and Good-Pas-Day.”

The first three names are no doubt corruptions of some part of the ancient Latin service or psalms used on each.--Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 116; see the _Festa Anglo-Romana_, 1678.

In the _Gent. Mag._ (1785, p. 779) an advertisement for the regulation of Newark fair is quoted, which mentions that “_Careing Fair_ will be held on Friday before Careing Sunday;” and Nichols remarks on this passage that he had heard the following old Nottinghamshire couplet:

“Care Sunday, Care away,
Palm Sunday and Easter Day.”

--_Ibid._ p. 113.

LANCASHIRE.

Fig-pies, or, as they are called in this country, “fag-pies,” are, or were, eaten on a Sunday in Lent, thence known as Fag-pie Sunday.--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. i. p. 322.

STAFFORDSHIRE.

Fig-pie Wake is kept in the parish of Draycot-in-the-Moors and in the neighbouring villages on Mid-Lent Sunday. The fig-pies are made of dry figs, sugar, treacle, spice, etc.; they are rather too luscious for those who are not “to the manner born.” But yet on this Sunday, the friends of the parishioners come to visit them, and to eat their fig-pies.--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol, i. p. 227.

FIRST MONDAY IN MARCH.

BERKSHIRE AND HAMPSHIRE.

The first Monday in March being the time when shoemakers in the country cease from working by candle-light, it used to be customary for them to meet together in the evening for the purpose of _wetting the block_. On these occasions the master either provided a supper for his men, or made them a present of money or drink; the rest of the expense was defrayed by subscriptions among themselves, and sometimes by donations from customers. After the supper was ended, the block candlestick was placed in the midst, the shop candle was lighted, and all the glasses being filled, the oldest hand in the shop poured the contents of his glass over the candle to extinguish it; the rest then drank the contents of theirs standing, and gave three cheers. The meeting was usually kept to a late hour.[22]--_Every Day Book_, vol. ii. p. 470.

[22] In some places this custom took place on Easter Monday.

FRIDAY IN LIDE.

CORNWALL.

The first Friday in March is so called from _lide_, Anglo-Saxon for March. This day is marked by a serio-comic custom of sending a young lad on the highest mound or hillock of the work, and allowing him to sleep there as long as he can; the length of his _siesta_ being the measure of the afternoon nap for the tinners throughout the ensuing twelve months. The weather which usually characterizes Friday in Lide is, it need scarcely be said, not very conducive to prolonged sleep. In Saxon times labourers were generally allowed their mid-day sleep; and it has been observed that it is even now permitted to husbandmen in some parts of East Cornwall during a stated portion of the year. Browne appears to allude to this practice in Devonshire, when he says in the third song of his first book, in reference to the song-birds in the woodland:

“Whose pleasing noates the tyred swaine have made
To steale a nap at noontide in the shade.”

Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1870, vol. i. p. 64.

MARCH 3.] SCOTLAND.

Sinclair, in his _Statistical Account of Scotland_ (1795, vol. xvi. p. 460), says, “At Sandwick the people do no work on the third day of March, in commemoration of the day on which the church of Sandwick was consecrated; and, as the church was dedicated to St. Peter, they also abstain from working for themselves on St. Peter’s day (29th June), but they will work for another person who employs them.”

MARCH 5.] ST. PIRAN’S DAY.

CORNWALL.

The tinners observe this day, says Hitchins in his _History of Cornwall_ (1844, vol. i. p. 725), as a holiday, which they call St. Piran’s Day. This, by a custom established from time immemorial, sanctions a suspension from all labour, because St. Piran is supposed to have communicated some important information relative to the tin manufacture.

MARCH 8.] CARE SUNDAY.

This day, the ancient _Passion Sunday_, is the fifth Sunday after Shrove Tuesday. The word _Care_, which is also applied to Christmas Cakes, has been a stumbling-block to etymologists. The following remarks respecting its derivation are taken from Hampson’s _Med. Ævi Kalend._ (1841, vol. i. p. 178):--T. Mareschall observes that the day on which Christ suffered, is called in German both _Gute Freytag_ and _Karr Freytag_, and that _Karr_ signified a satisfaction for a fine or penalty. Adelung speaking of _Charfreytag_ (_Care_ or _Carr_ Friday) and _Charwoche_ (_Care_ or _Carr-week_), observes that the first syllable is supposed to be the old _Cara_, preparation (_Zubereitung_), and that this week, conformably to the usage of the Jews, was called _Preparation Week_ (_Zubereitungswoche_) because the sixth day was _Preparation day_ (_Zubereitungstag_), when the Jews prepared themselves for Easter. Hence the Greeks called Carfriday, _Dies Parasceves_, of which the Gothic _Gartag_, or _Garfreytag_ is a translation.

Tatian (Cap. 58) names the Friday before Easter “Garotag fora Ostrum,” and renders the phrase, “My heart is prepared,” “Karo ist mein herza.” Schiller’s opinion, however, that _Char_, _Kar_, signifies mourning, complaint, sorrow, has equal probability; for it appears from ancient manuscripts that _Car_ formerly bore the signification of _Care_ or grief, and in Sweden, where the fifth Sunday in Lent is denominated _Kaersunnutag_, the verb _Kæra_ is actually to lament, to complain.

Dr. Jameson, adopting the opinion of Mareschall, observes, “This name may have been imposed in reference to the satisfaction made by our Saviour. Some, however, understand it, as referring to the accusations brought against him on this day, from the Sueo-Gothic _Kæra_, to complain.”--_Etymol. Dict._, Art. _Care Sunday_.

On this day, in the northern counties, and in Scotland, a custom obtains of eating _Carlings_, which are grey peas, steeped all night in water, and fried the next day with butter:

“There’ll be all the lads and lassies
Set down in the midst of the ha’,
With sybows, and ryfarts, and _carlings_
That are bath sodden and raw.”

Ritson’s _Scottish Songs_, vol. i. p. 211.

As to the origin of this custom, Brand (_Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 114) offers the following explanation:--“In the Roman Calendar, I find it observed on this day, that a dole is made of _soft beans_. I can hardly entertain a doubt but that our custom is derived from hence. It was usual among the Romanists to give away beans in the doles at funerals; it was also a rite in the funeral ceremonies of heathen Rome. Why we have substituted peas I know not, unless it was because they are a pulse somewhat fitter to be eaten at this season of the year.” Having observed from Erasmus that Plutarch held pulse (_legumina_) to be of the highest efficacy in invocation of the _Manes_, he adds: “Ridiculous and absurd as these superstitions may appear, it is quite certain that _Carlings_ deduce their origin from thence.” This explanation, however, is by no means regarded as satisfactory.

Hone (_Every Day Book_, 1826, vol. i. p. 379) says, How is it that _Care Sunday_ is also called _Carl_ and _Carling_ Sunday; and that the peas, or beans of the day are called _Carlings_? _Carle_, which means a _Churle_, or rude boorish fellow, was anciently the term for a working countryman or labourer; and it is only altered in the spelling, without the slightest deviation in sense, from the old Saxon word ~Ceorl~, the name for a husbandman. The older denomination of the day, then, may not have been _Care_, but _Carl Sunday_, from the benefactions to the _Carles_ or _Carlen_. A correspondent of _Notes & Queries_ (_1st S._ vol. iii. 449) tells us that on the north-east coast of England, where the custom of frying dry peas on this day is attended with much augury, some ascribe its origin to the loss of a ship freighted with peas on the coast of Northumberland. Carling is the foundation beam of a ship, or the beam on the keel.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

In several villages in the vicinity of Wisbeach, in the Isle of Ely, the fifth Sunday in Lent has been, time immemorial, commemorated by the name of _Whirlin Sunday_, when cakes are made by almost every family, and are called, from the day, _Whirlin Cakes_.--_Gent. Mag._ 1789, vol. lix. p. 491.

YORKSHIRE.

The rustics go to the public-house of the village, and spend each their _Carling-groat_, i.e., that sum in drink, for the Carlings are provided for them gratis; and a popular notion prevails that those who do not do this will be unsuccessful in their pursuits for the following year.--Brand, _Pop. Antiq._, 1849, vol. i. p. 114.

MARCH 10.] OXFORDSHIRE.

William Handy, by will dated the 10th of March, 1622, bequeathed to the parish of St. Giles’, Oxford, £40, upon condition that, upon the 10th of March for ever, in the morning, about 5 o’clock, they should ring one peal with all the bells, and about 8 or 9 o’clock should go to service, and read all the service, with the Litany and the Communion, as it is commanded to be read in the cathedral church, and after that to have a sermon, and in it to give God thanks for His great blessings in delivering and bringing the giver from Papistry and idolatry to the light and truth of the blessed Gospel; and he desired that the preacher might have 10_s._ for his sermon, and the minister 5_s._ for leading service, and the poor to have given them in bread or money 10_s._

This sum, with other money, was laid out in 1633, in purchasing a tenement, garden, and one acre of pasture ground, situated in Corn Street, Witney, to the uses of the donor’s will; of the rent, 15_s._ a year was accordingly commanded to be paid to the minister for reading prayers and preaching a sermon on the 10th of March, 5_s._ to the clerk, 5_s._ to the ringer, and 15_s._ to be distributed at the church, with other money in small sums to the poor.[23]--_Old English Customs and Charities_, 1842, p. 249.

[23] There was a similar gift of the same donor to the parish of St.
Mary Magdalen, Oxford; but since 1800 nothing has been paid in respect
of this charity.

MARCH 11.] NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

Formerly, there lived at Newark one Hercules Clay, a tradesman of considerable eminence, and an alderman of the borough of Newark. During the siege, in the night of the 11th of March 1643, he dreamed three times that his house was on fire; on the third warning he arose much alarmed, awoke the whole of his family, and caused them to quit the premises, though at that time all appeared to be in perfect safety. Soon afterwards, however, a bomb from a battery of the Parliamentarian army on Beacon Hill, an eminence near the town, fell upon the roof of the house, and penetrated all the floors, and happily did little other execution. The bomb was intended to destroy the house of the governor of the town, which was in Stadman Street, exactly opposite Clay’s house. In commemoration of this extraordinary deliverance, Mr. Clay, by his will, gave £200 to the Corporation in trust to pay the interest of £100 to the Vicar of Newark, for a sermon to be preached every 11th of March. The interest of the other £100 he directed to be given in bread to the poor. Penny loaves were, accordingly, given to every one who applied, and the day on which they were distributed, was called “Penny Loaf Day.”--Hone’s _Year Book_, 1838, p. 301.

MARCH 12.] ST. GREGORY’S DAY.

IRELAND.

The feast of St. Gregory the Great, 12th of March, was formerly observed as a holiday, and one of festivity in all the rural schools in the baronies of Forth and Baigy (the Strongbonian Colony), in the county of Wexford. The manner was this: the children, for some days previous, brought contributions, according to the means and liberality of their parents, consisting of money, bread, butter, cream, &c., and delivered them to the teacher. On the morning of the joyous day, the children repaired to the school-house in holiday dress, where the teacher had everything prepared for the festivity, the simple temple of learning decorated with the richest flowers within his means of obtaining, and the presence of two or more kind-hearted females to do the honours and duties of the tea-table to the happy juveniles. A “king” and a “queen” were nominated, who, of course, took the seat of honour, and the proud and busy teacher was everywhere all attention to his little pupils. The day passed off in hilarity and innocent enjoyment, and the competitive system of free offerings left, generally, something pleasing to tell for some days in the pockets and humble cupboard of the teacher. This custom prevailed until after the commencement of the present century.--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. vii. p. 392.

MARCH 14.] PALM SATURDAY.

SCOTLAND.

On the Saturday before Palm Sunday the boys belonging to the grammar-school at Lanark, according to ancient usage, used to parade the streets with a palm, or its substitute, a large tree of the willow kind, (_Salix caprea_), in blossom, ornamented with daffodils, mezereon, and box-tree. This day was called Palm Saturday, and supposed to be a popish relic of very ancient standing.--_Stat. Acc. of Scotland_, Sinclair, 1795, vol. xv. p. 45.

MARCH 15.] PALM SUNDAY.

Palm Sunday receives its English and the greater part of its foreign names from the custom of bearing palm branches, in commemoration of those which were strewn in the path of Christ on his entry into Jerusalem. “It is a custom among churchmen,” says the author of a Normano-Saxon homily in the reign of Henry II., or Richard I., “to go in procession on this day. The custom has its origin in the holy procession which our Saviour made to the place where he chose to suffer death.”

The ceremony of bearing palms on Palm Sunday was retained in England after some others were dropped, and was one of those which Henry VIII. in 1536 declared were not to be discontinued. In a proclamation in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, dated the 26th February, 1539, “Concernyng rites and ceremonies to be used in due fourme in the Churche of Englande,” occurs the following clause: “On Palme Sonday it shall be declared that bearing of palmes renueth the memorie of the receivinge of Christe in lyke maner into Jerusalem before his deathe.” Again, in Fuller’s _Church History_ (1655, p. 222), we read that “bearing of palms on Palm Sunday is in memory of the receiving of Christ into Jerusalem a little before his death, and that we may have the same desire to receive him into our hearts.”

In Howe’s edition of _Stow’s Chronicle_ (1615, fol. p. 595), it is stated, under the year 1548, that “this yeere the ceremony of bearing of palmes on Palme Sunday was left off, and not used as before.”--_Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 181; Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 124.

It is still customary with our boys, both in the south and north of England, to go out and gather slips with the willow-flowers or buds at this time. These seem to have been selected as substitutes for the real palm, because they are generally the only things which can be easily obtained at this season. This practice is still observed in the neighbourhood of London. The young people go _a-palming_; and the sallow is sold in London streets for the whole week preceding Palm Sunday. In the north it is called going a-palmsoning or palmsning.--Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 127.

Stow in his _Survey of London_ (1603, p. 98) says that “in the weeke before Easter had ye great shewes made for the fetching in of a _twisted tree or with_, as they termed it, out of the woodes into the kinge’s house, and the like into every man’s house of honor or worship.” Probably this was a substitute for the palm.

An instance of the great antiquity of this practice in England is afforded by the Domesday Survey, under Shropshire, vol. i. p. 252, where a tenant is stated to have rendered in payment a bundle of box twigs on Palm Sunday, “Terra dimid. car unus reddit inde _fascem buxi in die Palmarum_.”

By an Act of Common Council, 1 and 2 Phil. and Mary, for retrenching expenses, it was ordered, “that from henceforth _there shall be no wyth fetcht home at the Maior’s or Sheriff’s Houses_. Neither shall they keep any lord of misrule in any of their houses.”--Strype’s _Stow_, 1720, book i. p 246.

It was formerly the custom in some of the northern parts of England for the young men and maids who received the sacrament to walk after dinner into the corn-fields, and to bless the corn and fruits of the earth.--Kennett, MS. Brit. Mus.

CORNWALL.

In former days persons resorted to “Our Lady of Nantswell” with a palm cross in one hand and an offering in the other. The offering fell to the priest’s share: the cross was thrown into the well, and if it swam was regarded as an omen that the person who threw it would outlive the year; if however it sank, a short ensuing death was foreboded.--Carew, _Survey of Cornwall_, 1811.

DERBYSHIRE.

On Palm Sunday morning, the boys go into the fields and gather branches of the willow; these are carried about during the day, and in some churches it is customary to use them for decoration.--_Jour. of Arch. Assoc._, 1852, vol. vii. p. 204.

HEREFORDSHIRE.

The return of Palm Sunday has, from time immemorial, been observed at Hentland Church in a peculiar manner. The minister and congregation receive from the churchwardens a cake or bun, and, in former times, a cup of beer also. This is consumed within the church, and is supposed to imply a desire on the part of those who partake of it to forgive and forget all animosities, and thus prepare themselves for the festival of Easter.--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. vii. p. 275.

HERTFORDSHIRE.

Hone, in his _Year Book_ (1838, p. 1593), states that at Kempton it has long been a custom for the inhabitants to eat figs on this day, there termed _Fig Sunday_, where it is also usual for them to keep wassel, and make merry with their friends.

LINCOLNSHIRE.

A curious and quaint custom existed for very many years at Caistor Church, in Lincolnshire, on Palm Sunday, connected with a tenure of property; and in the particulars of sale, circulated in 1845, is the following account of it:

“This estate is held subject to the performance, on Palm Sunday in every year, of the ceremony of cracking a whip in Caistor Church, in the said county of Lincoln, which has been regularly and duly performed on Palm Sunday, from time immemorial, in the following manner:

“The whip is taken every Palm Sunday by a man from Broughton to the parish of Caistor, who, while the minister is reading the first lesson, cracks it three distinct times in the church porch, then folds it neatly up, and retires to a seat. At the commencement of the second lesson, he approaches the minister, and kneeling opposite to him with the whip in his hand, and the purse at the end of it, held perpendicularly over his head, waves it thrice, and continues in a steadfast position throughout the whole of the chapter. The ceremony is then concluded. The whip has a leathern purse tied at the end of it, which ought to contain thirty pieces of silver, said to represent, according to Scripture, “the price of blood.” Four pieces of weechelm[24] tree, of different lengths, are affixed to the stock, denoting the different Gospels of the holy Evangelists; the three distinct cracks are typical of St. Peter’s denial of his Lord and Master three times; and the waving it over the minister’s head as an intended homage to the Blessed Trinity.”

[24] Properly Wych elm (_Ulmus montana_).

In an article on this subject in the _Archæological Journal_ (1849, vol. vi. p. 239), the writer says: “I have not been able to trace this custom to its source. It would appear to have prevailed in very primitive times, and yet the circumstance of the custom requiring the more essential part of the ceremony to be performed during the reading of the _second lesson_ is scarcely reconcilable with this idea; but I am induced to think that the custom prevailed long before our present ritual existed, and that it has in this respect been accommodated to the changes which time has effected in the services of the Church. Unfortunately, the title-deeds do not contain the slightest reference to the custom. I have no means of tracing the title beyond 1675. The parish of Broughton is a very large one, and anterior to 1675 belonged, with small exceptions, to the Anderson family; but whether Stephen Anderson, the then owner of the manor, and the 2200 acres of land sold in 1845, was owner of the other part of Broughton, which has long been in the possession of Lord Yarborough’s ancestors, I cannot say. A partition of the property appears to have been made between the co-heiresses, and the manor and 2200 acres being settled in 1772 by Sir Stephen Anderson, of Eyeworth, on his niece, Frances Elizabeth Stephens, and her issue; upon her death it became the property of her son, Ellys Anderson Stephens, who died in 1844, leaving four daughters and co-heiresses, and who, in 1845, sold the property to a client of mine, Mr. John Coupland, and who afterwards sold the manor and about 600 acres to Lord Yarborough, 982 acres to myself, and other portions to different purchasers, reserving to himself about 200 acres. I cannot make out when this partition (above alluded to) took place. The deed or will by which it was effected would probably refer to the custom and provide for the performance of it, but there is no document with the title deeds tending to show whether the custom was due only in respect of the manor, and 2200 acres, or in respect of Lord Yarborough’s portion of the parish as well. The fact of a partition having taken place, rests rather upon tradition than evidence; but supposing it, as I do, to be a fact, it seems strange that the title-deeds should be silent as to the obligation imposed upon the owner of the manor to perform the service by which the whole property was held. The manor and estate sold in 1845, were of the tenure of ancient demesne; a tenure which is very rare at this time of day, at least in this part of the world. Probably a reference to Lord Yarborough’s title-deeds would clear up the mystery, or Sir Charles Anderson may have the means of doing so.

“I may also refer to Sir Culling Eardley as possibly in a position to throw some light on the subject; for it was to him and his ancestors, as lords of the manor of Hundon, in Caistor, to whom this service was due, and for whose use the whip was deposited after the service in the pew of Caistor Church, belonging to the lord of the manor of Hundon. All the versions that I have seen of the custom favour the opinion that it had some reference to the subject of the second lesson for Palm Sunday, which is the 26th chapter of St. Matthew, and if so, it would seem likely to follow, that the principal part of the ceremony took place at the reading of that chapter; but in that case it has clearly undergone some change, because, until the last revision of the Book of Common Prayer, there was no proper second lesson for the morning of Palm Sunday; but the 26th chapter of St. Matthew was part of the Gospel for that day, and had been so from Anglo-Saxon times.

Perhaps the better opinion is, that this custom, recently discontinued, had been so varied from time to time as to have borne at last little resemblance to what originally took place. I do not suppose at its commencement it was regarded as at all irreverent, or was intended to be otherwise than most decorous, according to the idea of a semi-barbarous age; what it really was at first it is now impossible to conjecture or discover. The explanation suggested in the particulars of sale appears too much in accordance with modern notions to be altogether correct. Some allege a tradition that it was a self-inflicted penance by a former owner of the Broughton estate for killing a boy with such a whip.”

In May, 1836, the following petition was presented to the House of Lords by the lord of the manor against the annual observance of this custom; but without effect:

“_To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled._

“The petition of the undersigned Sir Culling Eardley Smith, of Bedwell Park, in the county of Hertford, sheweth, that your petitioner is lord of the manor of Hundon, near Caistor, in the county of Lincoln.

“That the lord of the manor of Broughton, near Brigg, in the same county, yearly, on Palm Sunday, employs a person to perform the following ceremony in the parish church at Caistor, etc.; that the performance of this superstitious ceremony is utterly inconsistent with a place of Christian worship.

“That it is generally supposed that it is a penance for murder, and that, in the event of the performance being neglected, the lord of the manor of Broughton would be liable to the penalty to the lord of the manor of Hundon.

“That your petitioner being extremely anxious for the discontinuance of this indecent and absurd practice, applied to the lord of the manor of Broughton for the purpose, who declined entering into any negotiation until the deed should be produced under which the ceremony was instituted, which deed (if it has ever existed) your petitioner is unable to produce.

“That your petitioner subsequently applied to the Bishop of Lincoln to use his influence to prevent the repetition of the ceremony, and offered to guarantee the churchwardens against any loss in consequence of their refusal to permit it.

“That your petitioner believes there are no trustees of a dissenting chapel who would permit the minister or officers of their chapel to sanction such a desecration.

“That the ceremony took place, as usual, on Palm Sunday, in this year.

“Your petitioner therefore prays that your Lordships will be pleased to ascertain from the bishop of the diocese why the ceremony took place; that, if the existing law enables any ecclesiastical persons to prevent it, the law may be hereafter enforced; and that, if the present law is insufficient, a law may be passed enabling the bishop to interfere for the purpose of saving the national Church from scandal.

“And your petitioner will ever pray.”

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.

It is the universal custom, with both rich and poor, to eat figs on this day. On the Saturday previous, the market at Northampton is abundantly supplied with figs, and there are more purchased at this time than throughout the rest of the year; even the charity children, in some places, are regaled with them.

No conjecture is offered as to the origin or purpose of this singular custom. May it not have some reference to Christ’s desiring to eat figs the day after his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem?--Baker, _Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases_, 1854, i. p. 232.

OXFORDSHIRE.

In some parts of this country figs are eaten on Palm Sunday, which is in consequence called Fig Sunday.[25]--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ vol. i. p. 227.

[25] See Mid-Lent Sunday.

SURREY.

From time immemorial a fair, or wake, has been held in the churchyard of Crowhurst on Palm Sunday. Formerly, excesses were frequently committed on the occasion through the sale of liquors; but of late years the fair has been conducted with great decorum.--Brayley, _Topographical History of Surrey_, 1841, iv. p. 132.

WILTSHIRE.

On St. Martin’s Hill, near Marlborough, at which there is an ancient camp more than thirty acres in extent, Palm Sunday is kept; and persons in great numbers used to assemble there, each carrying a hazel-nut bough with the catkins hanging from it.--_N. & Q. 2nd S._ v. p. 447.

YORKSHIRE.

In Yorkshire and the northern counties Palm Sunday is a day of great diversion, young and old amusing themselves with sprigs of willow, or in manufacturing palm-crosses, which are stuck up or suspended in houses. In the afternoon and evening a number of impudent girls and young men sally forth and assault all unprotected females whom they meet out of doors, seizing their shoes, and compelling them to redeem them with money. These disgraceful scenes are continued until Monday morning, when the girls extort money from the men by the same means; these depredations were formerly prolonged till Tuesday noon.--_Time’s Telescope_, 1822, p. 68.

At Filey figs are also eaten on this day.--Cole, _History of Filey_, 1826, p. 135.

WALES.

In South Wales Palm Sunday goes by the name of Flowering Sunday, from the custom of persons assembling in the churchyards, and spreading fresh flowers upon the graves of friends and relatives.--TIMES, 13th April, 1868, p. 7.

MARCH 16.] LANCASHIRE.