villages, it is customary to toast apples on a string until they drop
into a bowl of hot spiced ale, which is placed to receive them; this,
from the softness of the beverage is called “lamb’s-wool.”
OXFORDSHIRE.
Pointer, in his _Oxoniensis Academia_ (1749, p. 20), says that, at
Merton College, Oxford, the fellows meet together in the Hall on
Christmas Eve and other solemn times to sing a psalm and drink a
grace-cup to one another (called _Poculum Charitatis_), wishing one
another help and happiness. These grace-cups they drink to one another
every day after dinner and supper, wishing one another peace and good
neighbourhood.
SUSSEX.
At Chailey, the following doggerel is sung at the wassailing of the
apple trees:
“Stand fast root, bear well top,
Pray the God send us a good howling crop.
Every twig, apples big,
Every bough, apples enow.
Hats full, caps full,
Full quarters, sacks full.”[90]
_N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. v. p. 293.
[90] See Eve of Epiphany, p. 21.
WARWICKSHIRE.
A correspondent of the _Gent. Mag._ (1795, vol. lxv. p. 110) thus
describes an amusement practised on Christmas Eve at Aston Hall, down to
the end of last century. As soon as supper is over a table is set in the
hall. On it is placed a brown loaf, with twenty silver threepences stuck
on the top of it, a tankard of ale, with pipes and tobacco, and the two
oldest servants have chairs behind it to sit as judges if they please.
The steward brings the servants, both men and women, by one at a time,
covered with a winnow sheet, and lays their right hand on the loaf,
exposing no other part of the body. The older of the two judges guesses
at the person, by naming a name, then the younger judge, and lastly, the
older again. If they hit upon the right name, the steward leads the
person back again; but if they do not, he takes off the winnow sheet,
and the person receives a threepence, makes a low obeisance to the
judges, but speaks not a word. When the second servant was brought, the
younger judge guessed first and third; and this they did alternately
till all the money was given away. Whatever servant had not slept in the
house the preceding night forfeited his right to the money. No account
is given of the origin of this strange custom, but it has been practised
ever since the family lived here. When the money is gone the servants
have full liberty to drink, dance, sing, and go to bed when they please.
Brand (_Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 472), speaking of this custom,
says, can it be what Aubrey, in his introduction to his _Survey of
Wiltshire_, calls “Cob-loaf-stealing?”
YORKSHIRE.
There is in Yorkshire a custom, which has been by the country people
more or less revived, ever since the alteration in the style and
calendar, namely, of watching, on the midnight of the new and old
Christmas Eve, by beehives, to determine upon the right Christmas from
the humming noise which they suppose the bees will make when the birth
of our Saviour took place.--_Gent. Mag._ 1811, vol. lxxxi. part. i. p.
424.
Christmas Eve in Yorkshire, says a writer in _Time’s Telescope_ (1822,
p. 298), is celebrated in a peculiar manner at eight o’clock in the
evening the bells greet “Old Father Christmas” with a merry peal, the
children parade the streets with drums, trumpets, bells, or perhaps, in
their absence, with the poker and shovel, taken from their humble
cottage fire; the yule candle is lighted, and--
“High on the cheerful fire
Is blazing seen th’ enormous Christmas brand.”
Supper is served, of which one dish, from the lordly mansion to the
humblest shed, is invariably furmety; yule cake, one of which is always
made for each individual in the family, and other more substantial
viands are also added.
At St. Cuthbert’s Church, Ackworth, a sheaf of corn was at one time
suspended on Christmas Eve outside the porch, for the especial benefit
of the birds.--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. ii. p. 505; see _N. & Q. 3rd S._
vol. iii. p. 117.
At Dewsbury, one of the church bells is tolled as at a funeral; this is
called the Devil’s Knell, the moral of which is that “the Devil died
when Christ was born.” This custom was discontinued for many years, but
revived by the vicar in 1828.--Timbs’ _Something for Everybody_, 1861,
p. 150.
At Ripon, on Christmas Eve, the grocers send each of their customers a
pound or half of currants and raisins to make a Christmas pudding. The
chandlers also send large mould candles, and the coopers logs of wood,
generally called _yule clogs_, which are always used on Christmas Eve;
but should it be so large as not to be all burnt that night, which is
frequently the case, the remains are kept till old Christmas
Eve.--_Gent. Mag._ 1790, vol. lx. p. 719.
Cole in his _Historical Sketches of Scalby, Burniston, and Cloughton_
(1829, p. 45) says the village choristers belonging to Scalby assemble
on Christmas Eve, and remain out the whole night singing at the
principal houses.
IRELAND.
A correspondent of _N. & Q._ (_3rd S._ vol. viii. p. 495) says that, in
the south-east of Ireland on Christmas Eve, people hardly go to bed at
all, and the first who announces the crowing of the cock, if a male, is
rewarded with a cup of tea, in which is mixed a glass of spirits; if a
female, with the tea only, but as a substitute for the whisky she is
saluted with half-a-dozen of kisses.
DEC. 25.] CHRISTMAS DAY.
St. Chrysostom informs us that, in the primitive times, Christmas and
Epiphany were celebrated at one and the same feast (_Homil. in Diem
Nativ. D. N. J. Christi_, Opera, edit. Monfaucon, tom. iii.), probably
from a belief that the rising of the star in the East and the birth of
Christ were simultaneous. The separation took place at the Council of
Nice, A.D. 325. The Armenians, however, continued to make but one feast
of the two as late as the thirteenth century. The learned have long been
divided upon the precise day of the Nativity. Some have fixed it at the
Passover; others, amongst whom was Archbishop Usher, at the feast of
Tabernacles; and it has been observed that, if others were watching
their flocks when it occurred in the field by night, it would hardly
have happened in the depth of winter. Be this as it may, the 25th of
December has been the day most generally fixed upon from the earliest
ages of the Church. Sir Isaac Newton, in his _Commentary on the
Prophecies of Daniel_ (Part I. chap. ii. p. 144), has a chapter, “Of the
Times of the Birth and Passion of our Saviour,” in which he accounts for
the choice of the 25th of December, the winter solstice, by showing that
not only the feast of the Nativity, but most others, were originally
fixed at cardinal points of the year; and that the first Christian
calendar having been so arranged by mathematicians at pleasure, without
any ground in tradition, the Christians afterwards took up with what
they found in the calendars: so long as a fixed time of commemoration
was solemnly appointed they were content.--See Baronii _Apparatus ad
Annales Ecclesiasticos_, fol. Lucæ, 1740, p. 475 et seq.; Bingham’s
_Antiquities of the Christian Church_, lib. xx. cap. 4; a curious tract
entitled, _The Feast of Feasts_, or ‘The Celebration of the Sacred
Nativity of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, grounded upon the
Scriptures and confirmed by the Practice of the Christian Church in all
Ages;’ see also Knight’s _English Cyclopædia_, 1859, vol. ii. p. 882.
The name given, says a correspondent of _Book of Days_, (vol. ii. p.
745) by the ancient Goths and Saxons to the festival of the winter
solstice was _Jul_ or _Yule_, the latter term forming to the present day
the designation in the Scottish dialect of Christmas, and preserved also
in the phrase of the “yule log.” Perhaps the etymology of no term has
excited greater discussions among antiquaries. Some maintain it to be
derived from the Greek ουλος or ιουλος, the name of a hymn in honour of
Ceres, others say it comes from the Latin _jubilum_, signifying a time
of rejoicing, or from its being a festival in honour of Julius Cæsar;
whilst some also explain its meaning as synonymous with _ol_ or _oel_,
which in the ancient Gothic language denotes a feast, and also the
favourite liquor used on such occasions whence our word _ale_. A much
more probable derivation, however, of the term in question is from the
Gothic _giul_ or _hiul_, the origin of the modern word _wheel_, and
bearing the same significance. According to this very probable
explanation, the yule festival received its name from its being the
turning-point of the year, or the period at which the fiery orb of day
made a revolution in his annual circuit and entered on his northern
journey. A confirmation of this view is afforded by the circumstance
that, in the old clog almanacs, a wheel is the device employed for
marking the season of yule-tide.
The season of the Nativity is now no longer marked by that hospitality
which characterized its observance among our forefathers. At present
Christmas meetings are chiefly confined to family parties. The
wassail-bowl, the yule-clog, and the lord of misrule, with a long train
of sports and customs which formerly prevailed at this season are
forgotten, even Christmas carols are nearly gone by; and the decking of
churches, and occasionally of houses, with holly and other evergreens,
forms now almost the only indication that this great festival is at
hand.--Knight’s _English Cyclopædia_, 1859, vol. ii. p. 882.
Christmas, says Père Cyprian (quoted by Agnes Strickland, _Lives of the
Queens of England_, 1865, vol. iv. pp. 320, 321), was always observed in
this country, especially at the King’s palaces, with greater ceremony
than in any other realm in Europe. Among other ancient ceremonies, he
tells us how a branch of the Glastonbury thorn used to be brought up in
procession, and presented in great pomp to the King and Queen of England
on Christmas morning.
_Under the Commonwealth._--In the _Diary of John Evelyn_ (1859, vol. i.
p. 297), under the date of the 25th of December, occurs the following:--
“Christmas Day. No sermon anywhere, no church being permitted to be
open, so observed it at home.”
Again, under the same date in 1654 (p. 341), the statement is renewed:
“Christmas Day. No churches or public assembly. I was fain to pass the
devotions of that Blessed Day with my family at home.”
Alluding to the observance of Christmas Day in 1657, the same writer
says:--
“I went to London with my wife to celebrate Christmas Day, Mr. Gunning
preaching in Exeter Chapel, on Micah, vii. 2. Sermon ended; as he was
giving us the Holy Sacrament the chapel was surrounded with soldiers,
and all the communicants and assembly surprised and kept prisoners by
them, some in the house, others carried away. It fell to my share to be
confined to a room in the house, where yet I was permitted to dine with
the master of it, the Countess of Dorset, Lady Hatton, and some others
of quality who invited me. In the afternoon came Colonel Whalley, Goffe,
and others from Whitehall to examine us one by one; some they committed
to the Marshal, some to prison. When I came before them they took my
name and abode, examined me why, contrary to the ordinance made that
none should any longer observe the superstitious time of the Nativity
(as esteemed by them), I durst offend, and particularly be at Common
Prayers, which they told me was but the mass in English, and
particularly pray for Charles Stuart, for which we had no Scripture. I
told them we did not pray for Charles Stuart, but for all Christian
kings, princes, and governors. They replied, in so doing we prayed for
the king of Spain too, who was their enemy and a Papist; with other
frivolous and ensnaring questions and much threatening, and, finding no
colour to detain me, they dismissed me with much pity of my ignorance.
These were men of high flight and above ordinances, and spake spiteful
things of our Lord’s Nativity. As we went up to receive the sacrament
the miscreants held their muskets against us, as if they would have shot
us at the altar, but yet suffering us to finish the office of communion,
as perhaps not having instructions what to do in case they found us in
that action; so I got home late the next day, blessed be God!”
In a tract entitled _Round about our Coal-Fire_, is the following
account of the manner in which Christmas was observed in days gone
by:--An English gentleman at the opening of the great day, i.e., on
Christmas Day in the morning, had all his tenants and neighbours enter
his hall by daybreak. The strong beer was broached, and the black-jacks
went plentifully about with toast, sugar, nutmeg, and good Cheshire
cheese. The hackin (the great sausage) must be boiled by daybreak, or
else two young men must take the maiden (i.e., the cook) by the arms,
and run her round the market-place till she is ashamed of her laziness.
In Christmas holidays, the tables were all spread from the first to the
last; the sirloins of beef, the minced pies, the plum-porridge, the
capons, turkeys, geese, and plum-puddings, were all brought upon the
board. Every one eat heartily, and was welcome, which gave rise to the
proverb, “Merry in the hall when beards wag all.”--Brand, _Pop. Antiq._
1849, vol. i. p. 531.
_Boar’s Head._--Aubrey, in a MS. dated 1678, says: “Before the last
civil wars, in gentlemen’s houses at Christmas, the first diet that was
brought to table was a boar’s head with a lemon in his mouth.”
_Christmas Book._--A book in which people were accustomed to keep an
account of the Christmas presents they received.--Nares’ _Glossary_
(Halliwell and Wright), 1857, vol. i. p. 11.
_Bustard._--The bustard, says Timbs (_Something for Everybody_, 1861, p.
148), has almost disappeared; but within memory it might be seen in the
Christmas larders of large inns.
_Christmas Candles._--Those were candles of an uncommon size, and the
name has descended to the small candles which children light up at this
season. Hampson (_Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 109), alluding to the
custom, says, in some places candles are made of a particular kind,
because the candle that is lighted on Christmas Day must be so large as
to burn from the time of its ignition to the close of the day, otherwise
it will portend evil to the family for the ensuing year. The poor were
wont to present the rich with wax tapers, and yule candles are still in
the north of Scotland given by merchants to their customers. At one time
children at the village schools in Lancashire were required to bring
each a mould candle before the _parting_ or separation for the Christmas
holidays.
_Christmas Carols._--The Christmas carol (said to be derived from
_cantare_ to sing, and _rola_, an interjection of joy) is of very
ancient date. Bishop Taylor observes that the ‘Gloria in Excelsis,’ the
well-known hymn sung by the angels to the shepherds at our Lord’s
Nativity, was the earliest Christmas carol. In the early ages of the
Church bishops were accustomed to sing these sacred canticles among
their clergy. The oldest printed collections in England are those of
Wynkyn de Worde, 1521, and of Kele soon after. Warton, in his _History
of English Poetry_, notices a licence granted in 1562 to John Tysdale
for printing “Certayne goodly carowles to be songe to the glory of God;”
and again, “Crestenmas carowles auctorisshed by my lord of London.” See
_N. & Q. 4th S._ vol. x. p. 485. In the sixteenth century the popularity
of carol-singing occasioned the publication of a duodecimo volume,
published in 1642, entitled, “Psalmes or Songs of Sion, turned into the
language, and set to the tunes of a strange land. By W(illiam)
S(layter), intended for Christmas carols, and fitted to divers of the
most noted and common but solemne tunes, everywhere in this land
familiarly used and knowne.”--See _Athenæum_, December 20th, 1856;
Sandy’s _Christmas Carols_, 1833.
_Decorations._--Tradition, says Phillips in his _Sylva Florifera_ (1823,
vol. i. p. 281), asserts that the first Christian church in Britain was
built of boughs, and that this plan was adopted as more likely to
attract the notice of the people because the heathens built their
temples in that manner, probably to imitate the temples of Saturn which
were always under the oak. The great feast of Saturn was held in
December, and as the oaks of this country were then without leaves, the
priests obliged the people to bring in boughs and sprigs of evergreens;
and Christians, on the 20th of the same month, did likewise, from whence
originated the present custom of placing holly and other evergreens in
our churches and houses to show the arrival of the feast of Christmas.
The name of holly is a corruption of the word _holy_, as Dr. Turner, our
earliest writer on plants, calls it _Holy_ and _Holy tree_. It has a
great variety of names in Germany, amongst which is _Christdorn_; in
Danish it is also called _Christorn_; and in Swedish _Christtorn_,
amongst other appellations.
A correspondent of _Book of Days_, speaking of this custom (vol. ii., p.
753), says the decking of churches, houses, and shops with evergreens at
Christmas springs from a period far anterior to the revelation of
Christianity, and seems proximately to be derived from the custom
prevalent during the Saturnalia of the inhabitants of Rome, ornamenting
their temples and dwellings with green boughs.
The favourite plants for church decoration at Christmas are holly, bay,
rosemary, and laurel. Ivy is rather objectionable, from its
associations, having anciently been sacred to Bacchus. Cypress seems
inappropriate from its funereal relations. One plant, in special, is
excluded--the mistletoe. Ibid. p. 753.
_Game Pies._--These were formerly made at the season of Christmas. In
the books of the Salters’ Company, London, is the following--
“Receipt. Fit to make a moost choyce paaste of gamys to be eten at ye
Feste of Chrystmasse” (17th Richard II A.D. 1394). A pie so made by the
company’s cook in 1836 was found excellent. It consisted of a pheasant,
hare, and a capon; two partridges, two pigeons, and two rabbits; all
boned and put into paste in the shape of a bird, with the livers and
hearts, two mutton kidneys, forced meats, and egg-balls, seasoning,
spice, catsup and pickled mushrooms, filled up with gravy made from the
various bones.--See Timbs’ _Something for Everybody_, 1861, p. 148.
_Mince Pies._--These were popular under the name of “mutton pies” so
early as 1596: _Book of Days_, vol. ii. p. 755. They were also known as
Shred and Christmas pies. Thus, in Sheppard’s _Epigrams_ (1651, p. 121),
we find the following:--
“No matter for plomb-porridge or _Shrid_ pies;” and Herrick, alluding to
the custom of setting a watch upon the pies the night before Christmas,
says:
“Come guard this night the Christmas pie,
That the thief, though ne’er so sly,
With his flesh-hooks don’t come nigh,
To catch it.”
Brand (_Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 527), quoting from an old tract,
printed about the time of Elizabeth, or James I., says they were also
called _Minched_ pies.
Selden, in his _Table Talk_, tells us that mince pies were baked in a
coffin-shaped crust, intended to represent the cratch or manger wherein
the infant Jesus was laid. This statement may be regarded, however, as
improbable, as in old English cookery books the crust of a pie is
generally called “the coffin.”
Minced pies, says Timbs (_Something for Everybody_, 1861, p. 149), were
derived from the paste images and sweetmeats given to the Fathers of the
Vatican at Rome on Christmas Eve. Eating minced pies at Christmas was
formerly a test of orthodoxy against recusants.
_Mistletoe._--At what period mistletoe came to be recognised as a
Christmas evergreen, is not by any means certain. We have Christmas
carols in praise of holly and ivy of even earlier date than the
fifteenth century, but allusion to mistletoe can scarcely be found for
two centuries later, or before the time of Herrick. Coles, too, in his
_Knowledge of Plants_, 1656, says of mistletoe, “it is carried many
miles to set up in houses about Christmas-time, when it is adorned with
a white glistening berry.” In the tract, _Round about our Coal-Fire_,
published early in the last century, we are told the rooms were
embowered with holly, ivy, cypress, bays, laurel, and mistletoe. Brand
(_Pop. Antiq._, 1849, vol. i. p. 523) thinks that mistletoe was never
put in churches among evergreens but by mistake or ignorance; for, says
he, it was the heathenish, or profane plant, as having been of such
distinction in the pagan rites of druidism, and it had its place
therefore assigned it in kitchens, where it was hung in great
state.--See Timbs’ _Things Not Generally Known_, 1856, pp. 159-160.
_Lord of Misrule._--His office was to preside over the festivities of
Christmas, and his duties consisted in directing the various revels of
the season. In some great families, and occasionally at Court, he was
also called the _Abbot of Misrule_, corresponding with the French _Abbé
de Liesse_, a word which implies merriment. Stow, in his _Survey of
London_, alluding to this whimsical custom says:--“In the feast of
Christmas there was in the king’s house, wheresoever he lodged, a Lord
of Misrule, or master of merry disports, and the like, had ye in the
house of every nobleman of honour, or good worship, were he spiritual or
temporal. The Mayor of London, and either of the sheriffs, had their
several lords of misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence,
who should make the rarest pastime to delight the beholders, these lords
beginning their rule at Allhallowed Eve, continued the same till the
morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonly called Candlemas
Day, in which space there were fine and subtle disguisings, masks, and
mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, nayles, and points, in
every house, more for pastimes than for game.”
Leland (_Collectanea de Rebus Anglicis_, 1770, vol. iii., Append. p.
256), speaking of the year 4 Henry VII., 1489, says:--“This Christmas I
saw no disguisings, and but right few playes; but there was an Abbot of
Misrule that made much sport, and did right well his office.” It appears
that large sums of money were expended by this king upon these
masquerades and sports, as the following extracts from his “Privy Purse
Expenses” will show:--
“Dec. 24 (1491). To Ringley, Lorde of Mysrewle, upon a preste, 5_l._
“Oct. 24 (1492). To Ringley, Abbot of Mysreule, 5_l._
“Jan. 2 (1494). For playing of the Mourice daunce, 2_l._
“Jan. 15 (1494). To Walter Alwyn, in full payment for the disguising
made at Christenmas, 14_l._ 3_s._ 4_d._
“March 3 (1490). To Jacques Haulte, in full payment for the disguising
at Christenmas, 32_l._ 18_s._ 6½_d._
“Jan. 2 (1503). To the Abbot of Misrule, in rewarde, 6_1._ 13_s._ 4_d._
“Feb. 12 (1503). To Lewis Adams, that made disguysings, 10_l._”
The Lord or Abbot of Misrule at Court, says Hampson, (_Med. Ævi Kalend._
vol. i. p. 117) was usually a writer of interludes and plays, and the
office was not unfrequently held by a poet of some reputation. Such, for
example, was George Ferrers, “in whose pastimes Edward the Sixth,” we
are told by Warton, “had great delight.” There can be no doubt, however,
that scandalous abuses often resulted from the exuberant licence assumed
by the lord of misrule and his satellites, and consequently we find
their proceedings denounced in no measured terms by Prynne, and other
zealous puritans.--See _Book of Days_, vol. ii. p. 742.