Chapter VII: Preface (7)

The day before Easter Day is in some parts called “Holy Saturday.” On the evening of this day, in the middle parts of Ireland, great preparations are made for the finishing of Lent. Many a fat hen and dainty piece of bacon is put into the pot, by the cotter’s wife, about eight or nine o’clock, and woe be to the person who should taste it before the cock crows. At twelve is heard the clapping of hands, and the joyous laugh, mixed with an Irish phrase which signifies “out with the Lent.” All is merriment for a few hours, when they retire, and rise about four o’clock to see the sun dance in honour of the Resurrection. This ignorant custom is not confined to the humble labourer and his family, but is scrupulously observed by many highly respectable and wealthy families.--Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 161.

MARCH 22.] EASTER DAY.

Easter, the anniversary of our Lord’s Resurrection from the dead, is one of the three great festivals of the Christian year--the other two being Christmas and Whitsuntide. From the earliest period of Christianity down to the present day, it has always been celebrated by believers with the greatest joy, and accounted the queen of festivals. In primitive times it was usual for Christians to salute each other on the morning of this day by exclaiming, ‘Christ is risen;’ to which the person saluted replied, ‘Christ is risen indeed,’ or else, ‘And hath appeared unto Simon’--a custom still retained in the Greek Church.

The term _Easter_ is derived, as some suppose, from _Eostre_,[30] the name of a Saxon deity, whose feast was celebrated every year in the spring, about the same time as the Christian festival--the name being retained when the character of the feast was changed, or, as others suppose, from _Oster_, which signifies rising. If the latter supposition be correct, Easter is in name, as well as reality, the feast of the Resurrection.--_Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 423; _see Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. ii. p. 100.

[30] _Eostre_ is perhaps a corruption of Astarte, the name under which
the Assyrians, Babylonians, Phœnicians, and the most ancient nations
of the east worshipped the moon, in like manner as they adored the
sun, under the name of Baal.

In former times it was customary to make presents of gloves at Easter. In Bishop Hall’s _Virgidemarium_, 1598, iv. 5, allusion is made to this custom.

“For Easter gloves, or for a Shrovetide hen,
Which bought to give, he takes to sell again.”

It was an old custom for the barbers to come and shave the parishioners in the churchyard on Sundays and high festivals (at Easter, etc.,) before matins, which liberty was retained by a particular inhibition of Richard Flemmyng, Bishop of Lincoln, A.D. 1422.--_Time’s Telescope_, 1826, p. 73.

Allusion is made by Mr. Fosbroke (_British Monachism_, 1843, p. 56) to a custom in the thirteenth century of seizing all ecclesiastics who walked abroad between Easter and Pentecost, because the Apostles were seized by the Jews after Christ’s Passion, and making them purchase their liberty by money.

The custom of eating a “_gammon at Easter_,” says Aubrey (which is still kept up in many parts of England), was founded on this, viz., to show their abhorrence of Judaism at that solemn commemoration of our Lord’s Resurrection. Of late years the practice of decorating churches with flowers on this festival has been much revived.

CORNWALL.

A very singular custom prevailed at Lostwithiel on Easter Sunday. The freeholders of the town and manor having assembled together, either in person or by their deputies, one among them, each in his turn, gaily attired and gallantly mounted, with a sceptre in his hand, a crown on his head, and a sword borne before him, and respectfully attended by all the rest on horseback, rode through the principal street in solemn state to the church. At the churchyard stile the curate, or other minister, approached to meet him in reverential pomp, and then conducted him to church to hear divine service. On leaving the church he repaired, with the same pomp and retinue, to a house previously prepared for his reception. Here a feast, suited to the dignity he had assumed, awaited him and his suite, and being placed at the head of the table, he was served, kneeling, with all the rites and ceremonies that a real prince might expect. The ceremony ended with a dinner; the prince being voluntarily disrobed, and descending from his momentary exaltation to mix with common mortals. On the origin of this custom but one opinion can be reasonably entertained, though it may be difficult to trace the precise period of its commencement. It seems to have originated in the actual appearance of the prince, who resided at Restormel Castle in former ages; but on the removal of royalty this mimic grandeur stepped forth as its shadowy representative, and continued for many generations as a memorial to posterity of the princely magnificence with which Lostwithiel had formerly been honoured.--Hitchins, _History of Cornwall_, 1824, vol. i. p. 717.

CUMBERLAND.

At one time it was customary to send reciprocal presents of eggs at Easter to the children of families respectively betwixt whom any intimacy existed. For some weeks preceding Good Friday the price of eggs advanced considerably, from the great demand occasioned by this custom.

The principal modes adopted to prepare the eggs for presentation were the following:--The eggs being immersed in hot water for a few moments, the end of a common tallow-candle was made use of to inscribe the names of individuals, dates of particular events, &c. The warmth of the eggs rendered this a very easy process. Thus inscribed, the egg was placed in a pan of hot water, saturated with cochineal, or other dye-woods; the part over which the tallow had been passed was impervious to the operation of the dye; and, consequently, when the egg was removed from the pan, there appeared no discoloration of the egg where the inscription had been traced, but the egg presented a white inscription on a coloured ground. The colour of course depended upon the taste of the person who prepared the egg; but usually much variety of colour was made use of.

Another method of ornamenting “pace eggs” was, however, much neater, although more laborious than that with the tallow candle. The egg being dyed, it was decorated, by means of a penknife, with which the dye was scraped off, leaving the design white on a coloured ground. An egg was frequently divided into compartments, which were filled up according to the taste and skill of the designer. Generally, one compartment contained the name and also the age of the party for whom the egg was intended. In another there was perhaps a landscape, and sometimes a cupid was found lurking in a third; so that these “pace eggs” became very useful auxiliaries to the missives of St. Valentine.--_Every Day Book_, vol. i. p. 426.

The words pays, _pas_, _pace_, _pase_, _pasce_, _pask_, _pasch_, _passhe_, formerly used in this county, and still used in the north, are clearly derived from the Hebrew through the Greek πασχα. The Danish _Paaske-egg_, and the Swedish _Paskegg_, both likewise signify coloured eggs. Brand considers this custom a relic of ancient Catholicism, the egg being emblematic of the Resurrection; but it is not improbable that it is in its origin like many other ancient popular customs, totally unconnected with any form of Christianity, and that it had its commencement in the time of heathenism.

The egg was a symbol of the world, and ancient temples in consequence sometimes received an oval form. This typification is found in almost every oriental cosmogony. The sacred symbol is still used in the rites of the Beltein, which are, unquestionably of heathen origin, and eggs are presented about the period of Easter in many countries. “Easter,” says a recent tourist, “is another season for the interchange of civilities when, instead of the coloured egg in other parts of Germany, and which is there merely a toy for children, the Vienna Easter egg is composed of silver, mother-of-pearl, bronze, or some other expensive material, and filled with jewels, trinkets, or ducats.--(_Sketches of Germany and the Germans in 1834, 1835, and 1836_, vol. ii. p. 162; _Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 202.) This latter custom has lately become very popular in London.

John Troutbeck, by will, October 27th, 1787, gave to the poor of Dacre, the place of his nativity, 200_l._ the interest thereof to be distributed every Easter Sunday on the family tombstone in Dacre churchyard, provided the day should be fine, by the hands and at the discretion of a Troutbeck of Blencowe, if there should be any living, those next in descent having prior right of distribution; and if none should be living that would distribute the same, then by a Troutbeck, as long as one could be found that would take the trouble of it; otherwise by the ministers and churchwardens of the parish for the time being; that not less than five shillings should be given to any individual, and that none should be considered entitled to it that received alms, or any support from the parish.--_Old English Customs and Charities_, p. 115.

DERBYSHIRE.

On Easter Sunday the old custom of sugar-cupping at the dripping-torr, near Tideswell, is observed; when the young people assemble at the torr, each provided with a cup and a small quantity of sugar or honey, and having caught the required quantity of water, and mixed the sugar with it, drink it, repeating a doggerel verse.[31]--_Jour. of the Arch. Assoc._ 1852, vol. vii. p. 204.

[31] It is also a general belief in this county that unless a person
puts on some new article of dress he will be injured by the birds, and
have no good fortune that year--_Ibid._ p. 205; see also p. 160.

KENT.

Hasted, in his _History of Kent_ (1798, vol. vii. p. 138), states that, in the parish of Biddenden there is an endowment of old but unknown date for making a distribution of cakes among the poor every Easter Day in the afternoon. The source of the benefaction consists in twenty acres of land, in five parcels, commonly called the Bread and Cheese Lands. Practically, in Mr. Hasted’s time, six hundred cakes were thus disposed of, being given to persons who attended service, while two hundred and seventy loaves of three and a half pounds weight each, with a pound and a half of cheese, were given in addition to such as were parishioners.

The cakes distributed on this occasion were impressed with the figures of two females side by side, and close together.[32] Amongst the country people it was believed that these figures represented two maidens named Preston, who had left the endowments; and they further alleged that the ladies were twins, who were born in bodily union, that is, joined side to side, as represented on the cakes; who lived nearly thirty years in this connection, when at length one of them died, necessarily causing the death of the other in a few hours. It is thought by the Biddenden people that the figures on the cakes are meant as a memorial of this natural prodigy, as well as of the charitable disposition of the two ladies. Mr. Hasted, however, ascertained that the cakes had only been printed in this manner within the preceding fifty years, and concluded more rationally that the figures were meant to represent two widows, “as the general objects of a charitable benefaction.”

[32] An engraving of one of these cakes will be found in the _Every
Day Book_, 1827, vol. ii. p. 443.

If Mr. Hasted’s account of the Biddenden cakes be the true one, the story of the conjoined twins--though not inferring a thing impossible or unexampled--must be set down as one of those cases, of which we find so many in the legends of the common people, where a tale is invented to account for certain appearances, after the real meaning of the appearance was lost.--_Book of Days_, vol. i. p. 427; see Britton and Brayley, _Beauties of England and Wales_, 1803, vol. viii. p. 208; _Old English Customs and Charities_, 1842, p. 60.

MIDDLESEX.

According to Lysons’ _Environs of London_ (1795, vol. iii. p. 603) there was an ancient custom at Twickenham of dividing two great cakes in the Church upon Easter Day, among the young people; but it being looked upon as a superstitious relic, it was ordered by Parliament, 1645, that the parishioners should forbear this custom, and, instead thereof, buy loaves of bread for the poor of the parish with the money that should have bought the cakes. It appears that the sum of £1 _per annum_ is still charged upon the vicarage for the purpose of buying penny loaves for poor children on the Thursday before Easter. Within the memory of man they were thrown from the church-steeple to be scrambled for; a custom which prevailed also at Paddington.

NORFOLK.

In this county it is customary to eat baked custards at Easter, and cheesecakes at Whitsuntide.--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. i. p. 248.

OXFORDSHIRE.

At University College, Oxford, on this day, the representation of a tree, dressed with evergreens and flowers, is placed on a turf close to the buttery, and every member there resident, as he leaves the Hall after dinner, chops at the tree with a cleaver. The College cook stands by holding a plate, in which the Master deposits half a guinea, each Fellow five shillings and sixpence. This custom is called “chopping at the tree.”--_N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. ix. p. 468.

On Easter Day the rector of Ducklington for the time being, as long as can be remembered, has paid £10 per annum, which was formerly given away in the church amongst the parishioners, in veal or apple pies: of late years it has been given away in bread. All the parishioners of Ducklington and Hardwick who apply, whether rich or poor, without any distinction, partake of it according to the size of their families. Many of the farmers take the bread as they say, for the sake of keeping up their right. It is stated that there is no document or record relating to this payment, nor any tradition respecting its origin.--_Old English Customs and Charities_, p. 14.

The rector of Swerford supplies a small loaf for every house in the parish on Easter Sunday, which is given after evening service. It is understood that this is given on account of a bushel of wheat, which is payable out of a field called Mill Close, part of the glebe. Each house, whether inhabited by rich or poor, receives a loaf.--_Ibid._ p. 18.

YORKSHIRE.

It was customary in this country, for the young men in the villages to take off the young girls’ buckles, and, on the Easter Monday, the young men’s shoes and buckles were taken off by the young women. On the Wednesday they were redeemed by little pecuniary forfeits, out of which an entertainment called a _Tansey Cake_, was provided, and the jollity concluded with dancing. At Ripon, where this custom also prevailed, it is reported that no traveller could pass the town without being stopped, and, if a horseman, having his spurs taken away, unless redeemed by a little money, which was the only means to get them returned. This seems to bear an affinity to the custom of hocking.

Cole in his _Hist. of Filey_ (1828, p. 136) mentions a similar custom as practised in that place. He says, the young men seize the shoes of the females, collecting as many as they can, and, on the following day, the girls retaliate by getting the men’s hats, which are to be redeemed on a subsequent evening, when both parties assemble at one of the inns, and partake of a rural repast.--_Gent. Mag._ 1790, vol. lx. p. 719.

Two farms lying in the township of Swinton, and which belong to Earl Fitzwilliam, every year change their parish. For one year, from Easter Day at twelve at noon till next Easter Day at the same hour, they lie in the parish of Mexbrough, and then till Easter Day following at the same hour, they are in the parish of Wath-upon-Dearne, and so alternately.--Blount’s _Ancient Tenures of Land_.

WALES.

Easter Day is generally kept in Wales as the Sunday, that is, with much and becoming respect to the sacredness of the day. It is also marked by somewhat better cheer, as a festival, of which lamb is considered as a proper constitutional part. In some places, however, after morning prayer, vestiges of the sundry sports and pastimes remain. It is thought necessary to put on some new portion of dress at Easter and unlucky to omit doing so, were it but a new pair of gloves or a ribbon. This idea is evidently derived from the custom of former times, of baptizing at Easter, when the new dress was in some degree symbolical of the new character assumed by baptism.

IRELAND.

The solemnity of Easter (says Bishop Kennett) was anciently observed in Ireland with so great superstition that they thought it lawful to steal all the year, to hoard up provisions against this festival time.--Kennett _MS_.

In some parts of Ireland at Easter a cake, with a garland of meadow flowers, is elevated upon a circular board upon a pike, apples being stuck upon pegs around the garland. Men and women then dance round, and they who hold out longest win the prize.[33]--_Time’s Telescope_, 1826, p. 37.

[33] Plutarch mentions a trial for dancing: a cake the prize.

MARCH 23.] EASTER MONDAY.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

In the Parliamentary Returns of 1786 a donor of the name of Randell is stated to have given by deed, in 1597, five quarters of wheat and money to the poor of Edlesborough. Forty-nine bushels of wheat were yearly sent by Lady Bridgewater to the mill to be ground in respect of this charity. They were ground, and the flour baked at her expense; the bread was made up in four-pound loaves, which were given away by the parish officers on Easter Monday to all the poor of the parish, in shares varying according to the size of the families, a loaf being given to each individual.--_Old English Customs and Charities_, p. 18.

CHESHIRE.

Pasch eggs are begged at the farmhouses; the children sing a short song, asking for--

“Eggs, bacon, apples, or cheese,
Bread or corn, if you please,
Or any good thing that will make us merry.”

These eggs are in some parts of the county boiled in vinegar, and otherwise ornamented, and hung up in the houses until another year. In some cottages as many as a score may be seen hanging. The custom of lifting is also observed.--_Jour. of Arch. Assoc._, 1850, vol. v. p. 253.

In a pamphlet entitled _Certayne Collections of Anchiante Times, concerning the Anchiante and Famous Cittie of Chester_, already referred to and published in Lysons’ _Magna Britannia_, is the following account of a curious practice once observed at Chester, “There is an anchant custome in this cittie of Chester: the memory of man now livinge not knowing the original, that upon Monday in Easter weeke, yearely, commonly called Black Mondaye, the two sheriffes of the cittie do shoote for a breakfaste of calves-heades and bacon, commonly called the Sheriffes’ Breakfaste, the maner being thus: the day before, the drum soundeth through the cittie, with a proclamation for all gentlemen, yeomen, and good fellowes, that will come with their bowes and arrowes to take part with one sheriff or the other, and upon Monday morning, on the Rode-dee, the Mayor, shreeves, aldermen, and any other gentlemen that be there, the one sherife chosing one, and the other sherife chosing another, and soe of the archers; the one sherife shoteth, and the other sherife he shoteth to _shode_ him, beinge at length some twelve score, soe all the archers on one side to shote till it be _shode_, and so till three shutes be wonne, and then all the winners’ side goe up together, first with arrowes in their hands, and all the loosers with bowes in their hands together, to the common hall of the cittie, where the maior, aldermen, and the reste, take parte together of the saide breakfaste in loveing manner. This is yearely done, it beinge a commendable exercise, a good recreation, and a lovinge assemblye.”

In the year 1640 the sheriffs gave a piece of plate to be run for, instead of the calves’-head breakfast. In 1674, a resolution was entered in the Corporation journals that the calves’-head feast was held by ancient custom and usage, and was not to be at the pleasure of the sheriffs and leave-brokers. In the month of March, 1676-7, the sheriffs and leave-brokers were fined £10, for not keeping the calves’-head feast. For this feast an annual dinner was afterwards substituted, usually given by the sheriffs at their own houses on any day most suitable to their convenience.

DERBYSHIRE.

During a visit to the little village of Castleton, says a correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_4th S._ vol. v. p. 595), I noticed every child without exception had a bottle of _elecampane_--the younger ones having one tied round their necks--all sucking away at this curious compound of Spanish juice, sugar, and water with great assiduity. I was informed by a very old man that the custom had always obtained at Castleton on this day as long as he could remember.

The custom of lifting was practised in some of the northern parts of this county.--_Jour. of Arch. Assoc._, 1852, vol. vii. p. 205.

ESSEX.

Easter Monday was formerly appropriated to the grand “Epping Hunt.” So far back as the year 1226, King Henry III. confirmed to the citizens of London _free-warren_, or liberty to hunt a circuit about their city, in the warren of Staines, &c.; and in ancient times, the Lord Mayor, aldermen, and corporation, attended by a due number of the constituents, are said to have availed themselves of this right of chase “in solemn guise.” But years ago, the “Epping Hunt” lost the Lord Mayor and his brethren in their corporate capacity; the annual sport subsequently dwindled into a mere burlesque and farcical show amongst the mob, and even that has died away, and is now numbered “amongst the things that were.”--_Sports, Pastimes and Customs of London_, 1847, p. 27.

The following extract illustrative of this ancient custom is taken from the _Chelmsford Chronicle_ (April 15th, 1805): “On Monday last Epping Forest was enlivened with the celebrated stag-hunt. The road from Whitechapel to the Bald-faced Stag, on the forest, was covered with cockney sportsmen, chiefly dressed in the costume of the chase, in scarlet-frock, black jockey cap, new boots, and buckskin breeches. By ten o’clock the assemblage of civil hunters, mounted on all sorts and shapes, could not fall short of 1,200. There were numberless Dianas, also of the chase, from Rotherhithe, the Minories, &c., some in riding-habits, mounted on titups, and others by the side of their mothers, in gigs, tax-carts, and other vehicles appropriate to the sports of the field. The Saffron Walden stag-hounds made their joyful appearance about half after ten, but without any of the Melishes or Bosanquets, who were more knowing sportsmen, than to risk either themselves, or their horses, in so desperate a burst. The huntsmen having capped their half crowns, the horn blew just before twelve, as a signal for the old fat one-eyed-stag (kept for the day) being enlarged from the cart. He made a bound of several yards, over the heads of some pedestrians, at first starting, when such a clatter commenced as the days of Nimrod never knew. Some of the scarlet-jackets were sprawling in the high road a few minutes after starting--so that a lamentable return of the maimed, missing, thrown, and thrown out, may naturally be supposed.--_Every Day Book_, vol. ii. p. 460; see _Long Ago_, 1873, vol. i. pp. 19, 44, 83, 146; also _N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. x. pp. 373, 399, 460, 478; xi. p. 26.

HEREFORDSHIRE.

At this season, in the neighbourhood of Ross, the rustics have a custom called _corn-showing_. Parties are made to pick out cockle from the wheat. Before they set out they take with them, cake, cider, and _a yard_ of toasted cheese. The first person who picks the cockle from the wheat has the first kiss of the maid and the first slice of the cake. This custom, doubtless, takes its origin from the Roman as appears from the following line of Ovid (_Fasti_, i. 691):--

“Et careant loliis oculos vitiantibus agri.”

“Let the fields be stripped of eye-diseasing cockle.”

--Fosbroke, _Ariconensia or Archæological Sketches of Ross and
Archenfield_, 1822.

KENT.

At this season young people go out holiday-making in public-houses, to eat _pudding-pies_, and this practice is called going a _pudding-pieing_. The pudding-pies are from the size of a teacup to that of a small tea-saucer. They are flat, like pastrycooks’ cheesecakes, made with a raised crust to hold a small quantity of custard, with currants lightly sprinkled on the surface. Pudding-pies and cherry-beer usually go together at these feasts.--Hone’s _Year Book_, 1838, p. 361.

LANCASHIRE.

In Lancashire, and in Cheshire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire, and perhaps in other counties, the ridiculous custom of ‘lifting’ or ‘heaving’ is practised. On Easter Monday the men lift the women, and on Easter Tuesday the women lift or heave the men. The process is performed by two lusty men or women joining their hands across each other’s wrists, then, making the person to be heaved sit down on their arms, they lift him up aloft two or three times, and often carry him several yards along a street. A grave clergyman who happened to be passing through a town in Lancashire on an Easter Tuesday, and having to stay an hour or two at an inn, was astonished by three or four lusty women rushing into his room, exclaiming they had “come to lift him!” “To lift him!” repeated the amazed divine; “what can you mean?” “Why, your reverence, we’ve come to lift you, ’cause it’s Easter Tuesday.” “Lift me because it’s Easter Tuesday! I don’t understand you--is there any such custom here?” “Yes to be sure; why, don’t you know? All us women was lifted yesterday, and us lifts the men to-day in turn. And, in course, it’s our reights and duties to lift ’em.” After a little further parley the reverend traveller compromised with his fair visitors for half-a-crown, and thus escaped the dreaded compliment.--_Book of Days_, vol. i., p. 425.

Agnes Strickland in her _Lives of the Queens of England_ (1864, vol. i. p. 303), narrates how on the Easter Monday of 1290 seven of Queen Eleanora’s ladies unceremoniously invaded the chamber of King Edward (I.), and seizing their majestic master, proceeded to “heave him” in his chair, till he was glad to pay a fine of fourteen pounds to enjoy his own peace and be set at liberty.

The following extract is taken from the _Public Advertiser_, April 13th, 1787:--The custom of rolling down Greenwich-hill at Easter is a relique of old city manners, but peculiar to the metropolis. Old as the custom has been, the counties of Shropshire, Cheshire and Lancashire boast of one of equal antiquity, which they call heaving, and perform with the following ceremonies, on the Monday and Tuesday in the Easter week. On the first day, a party of men go with a chair into every house into which they can get admission, force every female to be seated in their vehicle, and lift them up three times with loud huzzas. For this they claim the reward of a chaste salute, which those who are too coy to submit to may get exempted from by a fine of one shilling, and receive a written testimony which secures them from a repetition of the ceremony for that day. On the Tuesday the women claim the same privilege, and pursue their business in the same manner, with this addition--that they guard every avenue to the town, and stop every passenger, pedestrian, equestrian or vehicular.”

A correspondent of the _Gent. Mag._, 1784, vol. xcvi. p. 96, says that _lifting_ was originally designed to represent our Saviour’s Resurrection.

MIDDLESEX.--LONDON.

In the Easter holidays the young men, says Fitzstephen (in his tract entitled ‘_Descriptio Nobilissimæ Civitatis Londoniæ_,’ _circa_ 1174), counterfeit a fight on the water: a pole is set up in the midst of the river, with a target strongly fastened to it, and a young man standing in the fore part of a boat, which is prepared to be carried on by the flowing of the tide, endeavours to strike the target in his passage.

If he succeeds so as to break his lance, and yet preserve his footing, his aim is accomplished; but if he fail, he tumbles into the water, and his boat passes away with the stream. On each side, however, of the target, ride two vessels, wherein are stationed several young men ready to snatch him from the water, as soon as he appears again above the surface.

Formerly the Lord Mayors and the sheriffs were accustomed to, separately, ask each of their friends as were aldermen or governors of the hospitals, whom they saw at church, to dine with them at their own houses. But, in process of time, however, it was agreed that the Lord Mayor should invite all that were at church on the first day; and the two sheriffs, in their turn, on the next succeeding days. Hence, by degrees, they began to invite other of the friends, and the aldermen bringing their ladies, other ladies were also invited, so that the private houses not being large enough, they began to entertain at their respective halls.--Brayley, _Londiniana_, 1829, vol. ii. p. 28.

NORTHUMBERLAND.

Formerly, at Easter and Whitsuntide, the mayor, aldermen, and sheriff of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with a great number of the burgesses, went yearly to the Forth, or Little Mall of the town, with the mace, sword, and cap of maintenance carried before them, and patronised the playing at hand-ball, dancing, and other amusements, and sometimes joined in the ball-play, and at others joined hands with the ladies.--_Every Day Book_, vol. i. p. 430.

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.

Deering, in his _Historical Account of Nottingham_ (1751, p. 125), says:--By a custom time beyond memory, the mayor and aldermen of Nottingham and their wives have been used on Monday in Easter week, morning prayer ended, to march from the town to St. Anne’s Well, having the town waits to play before them, and attended by all the clothing, i.e., such as have been sheriffs, and ever after wear scarlet gowns, together with the officers of the town, and many other burgesses and gentlemen, such as wish well to the woodward--this meeting being first instituted, and since continued for his benefit.

WARWICKSHIRE.

Easter Monday and Tuesday, says a correspondent of Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ (1849, vol. i. p. 183), were known by the name of _heaving-days_, because, on the former day, it was customary for the men to heave and kiss the women, and on the latter for the women to retaliate upon the men. The women’s heaving-day was the most amusing. Many a time have I passed along the streets inhabited by the lower orders of people, and seen parties of jolly matrons assembled round tables on which stood a foaming tankard of ale. There they sat in all the pride of absolute sovereignty, and woe to the luckless man that dared to invade their prerogatives! As sure as he was seen he was pursued; as sure as he was pursued he was taken; and, as sure as he was taken, he was heaved and kissed, and compelled to pay sixpence for “leave and licence” to depart.

At one time a custom was observed at Birmingham, on the Easter Monday, called “Clipping the Church.” This ceremony was performed amid crowds of people and shouts of joy, by the children of the different charity schools, who at a certain hour flocked together for the purpose. The first comers placed themselves hand in hand with their backs against the Church, and were joined by their companions, who gradually increased in number, till at last the chain was of sufficient length completely to surround the sacred edifice. As soon as the hand of the last of the train had grasped that of the first, the party broke up, and walked in procession to the other Church (for in those days Birmingham boasted but of two), where the ceremony was repeated.--_Every Day Book_, vol. i. p. 431.

They have an ancient custom at Coleshill, says Blount, (_Jocular Tenures_, Beckwith’s Edition, p. 286), that if the young men of the town can catch a hare, and bring it to the parson of the parish before ten o’clock on Easter Monday, the parson is bound to give them a calf’s-head, and a hundred eggs for breakfast, and a groat in money.

WORCESTERSHIRE.

At sunset upon Easter Monday, and at no other period throughout the year, a game is played by the children of Evesham called “thread-my-needle.” From the season of this observance, as well as the cry of the players while elevating their arms arch-wise, which _now_ is:

“Open the gates as high as the sky,
And let Victoria’s troops pass by,”

it is probable, says May in his _Hist. of Evesham_ (1845, p. 319), that the custom originally had reference to the great festival of the church and the triumphant language of the Psalmist, applied to the event commemorated at this period--Psalm xxiv. 9: ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” The accuracy of this supposition, however, may be fairly doubted.

WALES.

In North Wales, says Pennant, the custom of heaving upon Monday and Tuesday in Easter week is preserved; and on Monday the young men go about the town and country, from house to house, with a fiddle playing before them, to heave the women. On the Tuesday the women heave the men.

At Tenby Easter Monday was always devoted to merry-making; the neighbouring villages (Gumfreston especially) were visited, when some amused themselves with the barbarous sport of cock-fighting, while others frequented the two tea-parties held annually at Tenby and Gumfreston, and known as the “Parish Clerks’ Meeting.”--Mason’s _Tales and Traditions of Tenby_, 1858, p. 21.

SCOTLAND.

BERWICK-UPON-TWEED.

It is pleasurable, says Fuller in his _History of Berwick-upon-Tweed_ (1799, p. 445), to see what a great number of lovely and finely-dressed children make their appearance on Easter Monday, which is known in this neighbourhood as the Children’s Day. Being attended by a multitude of servants, they parade and run about for many hours, amusing themselves in a variety of ways. This charming group is joined more or less by the parents of the children, who, together with such as are attracted by curiosity, form, on such occasions, a company of a great many hundreds. They assemble in greatest numbers behind the barracks, where the rampart is broadest. The fruiterers attend in full display, as well as many itinerants in various pursuits. The whole company may be called a _sportive fair_.

IRELAND.

In the County of Antrim this day is observed by several thousands of the working classes of the town and vicinity of Belfast resorting to the Cave-hill, about three miles distant, where the day is spent in dancing, jumping, running, climbing the rugged rocks, and drinking. Here many a rude brawl takes place, many return home with black eyes, and in some cases with broken bones. Indeed it is with them the greatest holiday of the year, and to not a few it furnishes laughable treats to talk about till the return of the following spring. On this evening a kind of dramatic piece is usually brought forward at the Belfast Theatre, called _The Humours of the Cave-hill.--The Table Book_, p. 507.

CO. CLARE.

On Easter Monday multitudes go to Scattery Island for the purpose of performing penance on their bare knees, round the stony beach and holy well there. Tents are generally erected on this occasion, and often times more whisky is taken by the pilgrims than is found convenient on their return in crowded boats.--Mason, _Stat. Acc. of Ireland_, 1814, vol. ii. p. 459.

CO. DOWN.

At Holywood the trundling of eggs, as it is called, is an amusement common at Easter. For this purpose the eggs are boiled hard, and dyed of different colours, and, when they are thus prepared, the sport consists in throwing or trundling them along the ground, especially down a declivity, and gathering up the broken fragments to eat them. Formerly it was usual with the women and children to collect in large bodies for this purpose, though nothing can be, to all appearance, more unmeaning than this amusement. They yet pursue it in the vicinity of Belfast. It is a curious circumstance that this sport is practised only by the Presbyterians.--Mason, _Stat. Acc. of Ireland_, 1819, vol. iii. p. 207.

On Easter Monday several hundreds of young persons of the town and neighbourhood of Portaferry resort, dressed in their best, to a pleasant walk near that town, called “The Walter.” The avowed object of each person is to see the fun, which consists in the men kissing the females, without reserve, whether married or single. This mode of salutation is quite a matter of course; it is never taken amiss, nor with much show of coyness; the female must be very ordinary indeed, who returns home without having received at least a dozen hearty kisses. Tradition is silent as to the origin of this custom, which of late years is on the decline, especially in the respectability of the attendants.--_The Table Book_, p. 506.

MARCH 24.] EASTER TUESDAY.

MIDDLESEX.

Every Easter Tuesday, in pursuance of an ancient custom, the boys of Christ’s Hospital, London, pay a visit to the Mansion House, and receive from the Lord Mayor the customary Easter gifts. On reaching the Mansion House, they march into the Egyptian Hall, and on passing the Lord Mayor, receive a gratuity in coins fresh from the mint. To the fifteen Grecians a guinea each is given; nine probationers, half-a-guinea; forty-eight monitors, half-a-crown; and the ordinary scholars, one shilling each. Each boy also before leaving receives a glass of wine and two buns. The boys wear linen badges on their coats, on which the words “He is risen” are inscribed. After this ceremony, the Lord Mayor and the rest of the civic authorities go in the customary state to Christ Church, Newgate Street, where the second Spital sermon is preached. At this service the whole of the Christ’s Hospital boys attend.--See _Daily News_, April 12th, 1871, and April 3rd, 1872.

NORTHUMBERLAND.

Holly-bussing, says a writer in the _Newcastle Express_ (April 16th, 1857), is a vernacular expression for a very ancient custom celebrated at Netherwitton, the origin of which is unknown. On Easter Tuesday the lads and lasses of the village and vicinity meet, and, accompanied by the parish clerk, who plays an excellent fiddle, the inspiring strains of which put mirth and mettle in their heels, proceed to the wood to get holly; with which some decorate a stone cross that stands in the village while others are “bobbing around” to “Speed the Plough” or “Birnie Bouzle.”

MARCH 25.] LADY DAY.

The _Festival of the Annunciation_ commemorates in the Christian world the message of the Angel to the Virgin Mary: hence it was anciently called St. Mary’s Day in Lent, to distinguish it from other festivals in her honour:

“Seinte Marie Daye in Leynte, among
All other dayes gode,
Is ryt for to holde heghe
He so [whoso] bein vnderstode.”

Harl. MS. Codex 2277, fol. i.

All the festivals of the Virgin are properly Lady Days, but this falling in Lent, and being the first quarter day for rents and other payments, readily became Lady Day _par excellence_. Otherwise considered, it is simply an abridgment of “Our Lady Day the Annunciation,” as we find it written in the reign of Henry the Sixth. Some old customs on paying quarterly rents are noticed in Gascoigne’s _Flowers of Poesie_, 4to, 1575:

And when the tenantes come to paie their quarter’s rent,
They bring some fowle at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent,
At Christmasse a capon, at Michaelmasse a goose,
And somewhat else at New Yeare’s tide for feare their lease flie
loose.”

--_Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 206; Forster, _Perenn. Calend._ 1841,
p. 515.

HERTFORDSHIRE.

At St. Alban’s certain buns called “Pope Ladies” are sold on Lady Day, their origin being attributed by some to the following story:--A noble lady and her attendants were travelling on the road to St. Alban’s (the great North road passes through this town), when they were benighted and lost their way. Lights in the clock-tower at the top of the hill enabled them at length to reach the monastery in safety, and the lady in gratitude gave a sum of money to provide an annual distribution on Lady Day of cakes, in the shape of ladies, to the poor of the neighbourhood. As this bounty was distributed by the monks, the “Pope Ladies” probably thus acquired their name.--See _N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. x. p. 412. Another correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_4th S._ vol. x. 341) says these buns are sold on the first day of each year, and that there is a tradition that they have some relation to the myth of Pope Joan.--See also the _Gent. Mag._ 1820, vol. xc. p. 15.

LANCASHIRE.

The gyst-ale, or guising-feast, was an annual festival of the town of Ashton-under-Lyne. It appears from the rental of Sir John de Assheton, compiled A.D. 1422, that twenty shillings were paid to him as lord of the manor for the privilege of holding this feast by its then conductors. The persons named in the roll as having paid 3_s._ 4_d._ each are:--“Margret, that was the wife of Hobbe the Kynges (of misrule); Hobbe Adamson; Roger the Baxter; Robert Somayster; Jenkyn of the Wode; and Thomas of Curtual.” The meaning of the term _gyst-ale_ is involved in some obscurity--most probably the payments above were for the _gyst_, or hire, for the privilege of selling ale and other refreshments during the festivals held on the payment of the rents of the manor. These _guisings_ were frequently held in the spring, most probably about Lady Day, when manorial rents were usually paid; and, as the fields were manured with _marl_ about the same period, the term _marlings_ has been supposed to indicate the rough play or _marlocking_ which was then practised. This, however, must be a mistake, since the term relates to merry pranks, or pleasure gambols only, and has no connection with marl as a manure.

These gyst-ales, or guisings, once ranked amongst the principal festivals of Lancashire, and large sums of money were subscribed by all ranks of society in order that they might be celebrated with becoming splendour. The lord of the manor, the vicar of the parish, the farmer, and the operative, severally announced the sums they intended to give, and when the treasurer exclaimed “A largesse,” the crowd demanded “from whom?” and then due proclamation was made of the sum subscribed. The real amount, however, was seldom named, but it was announced that “Lord Johnson,” or some other equally distinguished person had contributed “a portion of ten thousand pounds” towards the expenses of the feast.

After the subscription lists were closed an immense garland was prepared, which contained abundance of every flower in season, interspersed with a profusion of evergreens and ribbons of every shade and pattern. The framework of this garland was made of wood, to which hooks were affixed, and on these were suspended a large collection of watches, jewels, and silver articles borrowed from the richer residents in the town. On the day of the gyst this garland was borne through the principal streets and thoroughfares, attended by crowds of townspeople dressed in their best attire. These were formed into a procession by a master of the ceremonies, locally termed the king. Another principal attendant was the Fool, dressed in a grotesque cap, a hideous grinning mask, a long tail hanging behind him, and a bell with which he commanded attention when announcements were to be made. In an early period of these guisings the fool was usually mounted on a hobby-horse, and indulged in grotesque pranks as he passed along--hence we obtained the term “hob-riding,” and more recently the proverbial expression of “riding one’s hobby to death.”--Harland and Wilkinson, _Legends and Traditions of Lancashire_, 1873, p. 86.

NORFOLK.

On a table of benefactions in the Church at Oxburgh it is stated that Sir Henry Bedingfield paid at Lady Day annually £2 for lands belonging to the township of Oxburgh; that this was called _walk money_, and was given to the poor.--_Old English Customs and Charities_, p. 124.

ISLE OF THANET.

Evelyn in his _Diary_, under the date of March 25th, 1672 (Bohn’s Edition, 1859, vol. ii. p. 78), says: “Observing almost every tall tree to have a weather-cock on the top bough, and some trees half-a-dozen, I learned that on a certain holiday the farmers feast their servants, at which solemnity they set up these cocks as a kind of triumph.”

IRELAND.

At Kilmacteige, Co. of Sligo, the Lady Days are observed with most scrupulous attention, that is to say, so far as abstaining from all kind of daily labour, or following any trade or calling, although their sanctity does not operate on their minds so as to induce them to refrain from sports and pastimes, cursing or swearing, or frequenting tippling-houses and drinking to excess.--Mason, _Stat. Acc. of Ireland_, 1814-19, vol ii. p. 864.

MARCH 29.] LOW SUNDAY.

The Octave or first Sunday after Easter.

The author of _Christian Sodality_, a collection of discourses, 1652, says:--This day is called White or Low Sunday because in the Primitive Church those neophytes that on Easter Eve were baptized and clad in white garments did to-day put them off, with this admonition, that they were to keep within them a perpetual candour of spirit, signified by the _Agnus Dei_ hung about their necks, which, falling down upon their breasts, put them in mind what innocent lambs they must be, now that of sinful, high, and haughty men they were by baptism made low, and little children of Almighty God, such as ought to retain in their manners and lives the Paschal feasts which they had accomplished.

Seymour in his _Survey of London_ (1734, B. iv. p. 100) tells us that the aldermen used to meet the Lord Mayor and sheriffs at St. Paul’s in their scarlet gowns, furred, without their cloaks, to hear the sermon.

WALES.

Fenton in his _Tour through Pembrokeshire_ (1811, p. 495) alludes to the game of _Knappan_ as being played at Pwlldu, in the parish of Penbedw, on low Easter-day. He says the knappan was a ball of some hard wood, of such a size as a man might hold in his hand, and was boiled in tallow to make it slippery. The players at this game were very numerous, frequently amounting to a thousand or fifteen hundred people, parish against parish, hundred against hundred, and sometimes county against county. When the company assembled, about one or two o’clock in the afternoon, entirely naked, with the exception of a light pair of breeches, a great shout was given as the signal to begin, and the ball was hurled bolt upright into the air by one of the parties and at its fall he that caught it hurled it towards the county or goal he played for. The players consisted of horse and foot, who in the purest times of the game never mixed, being governed by certain rules and regulations that were never violated; but long before this game was disused various abuses and disorders had crept into it, so that it served to inflame every bad passion, engender revenge, foment private quarrels, and stimulate even to bloodshed and murder.

APRIL 1.] ALL FOOLS’ DAY.

On this day a custom prevails not only in Britain, but on the Continent, of imposing upon and ridiculing people in a variety of ways. It is very doubtful what is the precise origin of this absurd custom. In France the person imposed upon on All Fools’ Day is called _Poisson d’Avril_, an April Fish, which Bellingen, in his _Etymology of French Proverbs_, published in 1656, thus explains. The word _Poisson_, he contends, is corrupted through the ignorance of the people from _Passion_, and length of time has almost totally defaced the original intention, which was as follows: that as the Passion of our Saviour took place about this time of the year, and as the Jews sent Christ backwards and forwards to mock and torment him, that is, from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back again to Pilate, this ridiculous custom took its rise from thence, by which we send about from one place to another such persons as we think proper objects of our ridicule. A writer in the _Gent. Mag._, 1783, vol. liii. p. 578, also conjectures that this custom may have an allusion to the mockery of the Saviour of the world by the Jews. Another attempt to explain it has been made by referring to the fact that the year formerly began in Britain on the 25th of March, which was supposed to be the Incarnation of our Lord, and the commencement of a new year was always, both among the ancient heathens and among modern Christians, held as a great festival. It is to be noted then that the 1st of April is the octave of the 25th of March, and the close consequently of that feast which was both the festival of the Annunciation and of the New Year. Hence it may have become a day of extraordinary mirth and festivity.

Alluding to this custom, Charles Dickens, jun. (_Gent. Mag._ 1869, New Series, vol. ii. p. 543), says: A prince of the house of Lorraine, confined in one of Louis XIII.’s prisons, made his escape on the 1st of April by swimming across the moat, and is accordingly commemorated as a _poisson d’Avril_ to this day. Why this should be so is not very clear, inasmuch as the gaolers and not the prince would have been the April fools on the occasion. A later version of the same story would appear to be the correct one. Here the prince and his wife, escaping in the disguise of peasants on the 1st of April, were recognised by a servant-maid as they were passing out of the castle-gates. She immediately made for the guard-room, giving the alarm to a sentinel by the way, but, unfortunately for her, yet happily for the fugitives, although she may have forgotten that it was All Fool’s Day, the soldiers on guard had not. The information was treated with the utmost contempt, the soldiers declining to be made game of, and while the royal prison-breakers got clear off, it is said that the luckless informer was soundly buffetted by the guard for her ill-timed jocularity. This version of the story, however, goes to prove nothing beyond the fact that the custom of making April fools was well known in the time of Louis XIII., but in nowise accounts for the curious expression _poisson d’Avril_; while the swimming story explains the fish, but leads one to believe that the incident was the origin of the dedication of the 1st of April to fools.

Another curious explanation of this peculiar custom, giving it a Jewish origin, has also been suggested. It is said to have begun from the mistake of Noah sending the dove out of the Ark before the water had abated on the first day of the Hebrew month, answering to our month of April, and to perpetuate the memory of this deliverance it was thought proper, whoever forgot so remarkable a circumstance, to punish them by sending them upon some sleeveless errand similar to that ineffectual message upon which the bird was sent by the patriarch.--_Public Advertiser_, April 13th, 1769.

Maurice, in his _Indian Antiquities_ (vi. 71), says that the custom prevailing both in England and India had its origin in the ancient practice of celebrating with festival rites the period of the vernal equinox, or the day when the new year of Persia anciently began.

Addison, in the _Spectator_, referring to the year 1711, remarks that “a custom prevails everywhere among us on the 1st of April, when everybody takes it in his head to make as many fools as he can. A neighbour of mine--a very shallow, conceited fellow, makes his boast that for these ten years successively he has not made less than a hundred April fools. My landlady had a falling-out with him, about a fortnight ago, for sending every one of her children upon some “sleeveless errand,” as she terms it. Her eldest son went to buy a halfpenny-worth of inkle at a shoemaker’s; the eldest daughter was dispatched half a mile to see a monster; and, in short, the whole family of innocent children were made April fools. Nay, my landlady herself did not escape him. The empty fellow has laughed upon these conceits ever since.”