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.