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.