bridal couple before they left the church. This was called "saying the
Nominy." The verses differed, were of no great poetical merit, and
always ended with, "Pray remember the Nominy sayer."
The word is evidently derived from _nomen_, the bride having received a
new name.
The loss of the wedding-ring means the loss of the husband’s love, and
its breaking forbodes death.
Of portents of death there are many. The howling of dogs; the flight of
jackdaws or swallows down the chimney; "a winding-sheet" in the candle;
the crowing of a cock at the dead of night; the hovering of birds round
the house, or their resting on the window-sill, or flapping against the
pane; and three raps given by an invisible hand, are all auguries of
death.
If thirteen persons sit down to a meal together, one of them will die
before the year is out.
The custom of keeping the Vigil of St. Mark is not unknown. They who
wish to know who of their fellow-parishioners will die during the coming
year must keep watch in the church porch from eleven to one, on St.
Mark’s Eve, for three successive years; then the doomed company will
pass into the church. But if the watcher fall asleep during his vigil,
he will himself die during the year.
At the time of death the door should be left open to afford free passage
to the departing spirit. It is held that no one can die on a bed or
pillow containing the feathers of pigeons or of game of any kind; and
all along the East Coast it is said that people usually die during the
falling of the tide.
When the corpse is "laid out," the death-chamber is shrouded in white,
the clock is stopped, and the looking-glass covered, to show that for
the dead time is no more and earthly vanity departed. There is also the
dread that if the mirror were left uncovered the ghost of the dead man
might be reflected in it.
A plate of salt is also placed upon the breast as an emblem of eternity.
Those who come to see the corpse are expected to touch it, in token that
they are in peace with the dead. It is often said that if you do not
touch it you will dream of it. The coffin must be carried to the church
by the old-established "church-road," and the notion still prevails that
the way over which a body is carried to its burial thereby becomes a
highroad. Therefore in the case of private roads or bridges (the
Prebend’s Bridge at Durham, certainly) a small toll is levied when a
funeral procession passes over it. The coffin-bearers are usually chosen
so as to correspond with the deceased in sex, age, and position. In the
case of children and young girls, white scarves and gloves are worn; and
if the dead person were a young unmarried woman, a "maiden garland" used
to be laid on the coffin, and hung up in the church after the funeral.
There are, or were, some of these garlands hanging in the church of
Witton-Gilbert, near Durham. These have a glove, cut out of white paper,
in the midst.
When arrived at the churchyard, the dead must be carried to the grave
the way of the sun (east, by south, west, and north, for "ye wad no hae
them carry the dead again the sun; the dead maun aye go wi’ the sun."
This is an old British usage, and in the Highlands is called "making the
deisul." It is practised to bring good luck; to go round in the opposite
direction (or "withershins") is an evil incantation, and brings
ill-fortune.
It should rain a little during the procession, for "happy is the corpse
that the rain rains on!"
It used to be customary for anyone meeting a funeral to stop for a
moment and take his hat off. This is still occasionally done.
The survivors should not grieve too much for the dead, as this hinders
their repose.
When the head of a house dies, the bees should be told of their master’s
death, and asked to accept the new one, or they will all die.
It is said that if a loaf of bread weighted with quicksilver be allowed
to float in the water, it will swim towards, and stand over the place
where the body of a drowned person lies.
There is a remedy for most diseases in the shape of a spell or charm.
Whooping-cough may be cured by passing the child under an ass; or by
taking some milk, giving half to a white ferret, letting the child drink
the rest. In Sunderland, the crown of the head is shaved and the hair
hung upon a bush, so that the birds, carrying it to their nests, may
take the cough with it.
For epilepsy, a half-crown may be offered at Communion and then asked
for again, and made into a ring to be worn by the person affected.
For cramp, garter the left leg below the knee, or tie an eel’s skin
round it.
A more unpleasant remedy is that for a wen, for the touch of a corpse’s
hand will cure it. "Andrew Mills’s stob" (gibbet) was once thought
sovereign against toothache.
Warts can be charmed away by taking a piece of raw meat (it ought to be
stolen), rubbing the warts with it, and throwing it away. As the meat
decays the warts will vanish.
If anyone is bitten by a dog, the animal should be destroyed, for,
should it go mad at any time, the person bitten would be attacked by
hydrophobia.
St. Agnes’s Fast (January 21) is thus practised: Two girls, each wishing
to see their future husbands, must fast and be dumb through the whole of
St. Agnes’s Eve. At night, in the same silence, they must make "the dumb
cake," aided by their friends, then divide it in two parts, one of which
each girl takes, walks backwards upstairs, cuts the cake, and retires to
bed. Then dreams of the future husband should follow.
And girls will stick a candle-end full of pins to bring their lovers to
them. Or, taking an apple-pip, and naming the lover, will put it in the
fire. If it burst with a noise he loves, but if it burns silently his
love is nought.
If a girl wishes to meet her future husband, she must carry an ash-leaf
having an even tip, and say--
"The even ash-leaf in my hand,
The first I meet shall be my man."
If it is found difficult to rear calves, the leg of one of the dead
animals should be hung in the chimney. In Yorkshire, the dead calf is
buried under the threshold of the byre, either practice being
(unconsciously) a sacrifice to Odin.
"To work as though one was working for need-fire," is a common proverb
in the North, and refers to the practice of producing fire by the
friction of two pieces of wood. This was done when the murrain prevailed
among cattle, and the diseased animals were made to pass through the
smoke raised by this holy fire. This was considered a certain cure. When
cattle have foul in the feet, the turf on which the beast treads with
the affected foot is taken up and hung in the open air. As it crumbles
away, so will the diseased foot recover.
And the water in which Irish and other stones have been steeped has been
used in the Bishopric as a cure for disease for cattle.
If you seize the opportunities, which are many, you may have what you
please by wishing for it. But the condition is in every case the same:
the nature of the wish must be kept secret. You may journey to Jarrow,
and sitting in Bede’s chair, make your wish; or, nearer at hand, there
is a stone seat at Finchale Priory credited with the same power. If you
see a horseshoe or a nail, pick it up, throw it over your left shoulder
and wish; and wish also if you see a piebald horse, but you must manage
to do so before you see its tail.
You may wish, too, when you first hear the cuckoo, and when you see the
new moon.
Much reverence has in all ages been paid to wells. The Worm Well at
Lambton was once in high repute as a wishing-well, and a crooked pin
(the usual tribute of the "wishers") may be sometimes still discovered
sparkling among the clear gravel of the bottom of the basin.
As late as 1740 children troubled with any infirmity were brought to the
Venerable Bede’s Well, at Monkton, near Jarrow. A crooked pin was put
in, and the well laved dry between each dipping.
Pins may sometimes be seen in Lady Byron’s Well at Seaham. There was a
custom (which cannot now be practised, as the monument is railed in) of
walking nine times round Neville’s Cross. "Then if you stoop down, and
lay your head to the turf, you’ll hear the noise of the battle and the
clash of the armour."
The weather-wise will tell you that if the leaves remain long upon the
trees in autumn it is going to be a hard winter, and will bid you notice
how the wind blows on New Year’s Eve:
"If on New Year’s Eve the night wind blow south,
It betokeneth warmth and growth;
If west, much milk and fish in the sea;
If north, much cold and storms there will be;
If east, the trees will bear much fruit;
If north-east, flee it, man and brute."
Candlemas Day (February 2) should also be observed:
"If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight;
If Candlemas Day be clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again."
Some pretend to prophesy the coming weather from that of the last three
days of March. These are called the "borrowing days."
"March borrowed from April
Three days and they war ill;
The first o’ them war wind and weet,
The next o’ them war snaw and sleet,
The last o’ them war wind and rain,
Which gar’d the silly puir ewes come hirpling hame."
Of Michaelmas Day it is said: "So many days old the moon is on
Michaelmas Day, so many floods after."
If it rains on Friday it is sure to rain on Sunday--“wet Friday, wet
Sunday."
Watch the cat as she washes her face, and if she passes her paw over her
ear it will rain to-morrow.
The oak and ash-trees are considered to prophesy the weather:
"If the oak bud before the ash,
We shall be sure to have a splash;
But if the ash bud before the oak,
We shall have weather as hard as a rock."
If you will begin the year auspiciously, be careful that your first foot
"is a fair man." Men still go about to "bring the New Year in," and
their guerdon is usually a glass of whisky. On no account should a woman
be the first foot, for she would bring misfortune. But before this the
New Year has been ushered in by the ringing of church bells, and
sounding of buzzers from all the collieries.
Nothing should be allowed to go out of the house on this day, for that
would mean a year of poverty, but as much as possible should be brought
in, as that will insure a year of plenty; and for the same reason a new
dress should be worn with money in its pocket.
Be careful to avoid seeing the first moon of the year through glass;
courtesy to her, and wish.
The day before Shrove Tuesday is known as Collop Monday, and on it eggs
and bacon should be eaten.
Pancakes, of course, are appropriate to Shrove Tuesday; in fact, it is
better known in the North as Pancake Tuesday. Durham children still
believe that on this day pancakes fall out of the mouth of the great
medieval knocker fixed on the north door of the cathedral, and are
sometimes seen bringing plates or baskets to receive the dole, and sugar
with which to eat it.
The Pancake Bell still rings from the cathedral to call the faithful to
confession, though neither confessional nor pancakes are existent.
Football usually begins now and continues till Easter.
Carlings, or grey peas soaked in water and fried in butter, are eaten on
Carling Sunday.
"He who hath not a palm in his hand on Palm Sunday must have his hand
cut off," so "palm crosses" were always made for Palm Sunday of willow
catkins, tied up with ribbon, and kept till next year.
On Good Friday "hot cross buns," a sort of teacake made with spice and
sugar, and marked with a cross, are always made; and fig pudding, or
"fig sue," is eaten, in memory of the fig-tree cursed by our Lord when
He rode to Jerusalem.
No blacksmith in the county of Durham would at one time drive a nail on
this day, in memory of our Lord’s crucifixion.
Good Friday and Easter Sunday were both thought lucky days on which to
cast the coats and caps of young children, or to short-coat them.
You must put on something new on Easter Sunday, or the birds will spoil
your clothes.
Paste-eggs boiled hard and dyed with ribbons or wool, whinblossoms or
onion peelings, are rolled on the grass, or "jauped" against each other
till broken, and tansy puddings should be eaten.
Balls are often given to children and played with by them, this being a
relic of the custom of playing at "handball" at Easter.
On Easter Sunday the boys may pull off the girls’ shoes; but on Easter
Monday the girls may retaliate by pulling off the caps of the boys.
"All Fools’ Day" is still kept to some extent, chiefly by schoolboys,
who send their victims to the chemist for oil of hazel, or "strap oil,"
which they receive in a dry form from the irate shop-keeper!
They also wear oak-leaves on Royal Oak Day; and the choristers of
Durham Cathedral go to the top of the central tower and sing anthems.
This, though now done in honour of the Restoration, was originally in
thanksgiving for the victory of Neville’s Cross, and used to take place
in October.
And it is schoolboys, too, who keep Guy Fawkes’ Day in remembrance, for
the noise of crackers and fireworks and the excitement of a bonfire do
very much appeal to them. Guys are now seldom carried about, but are
sometimes burnt.
The "mell-supper" in the county of Durham (from the Norse _melr_, corn)
is akin to the Northumbrian "kirn-feast," and is held when the last
sheaf is brought in. When this is done, the farmer’s headman proceeds to
"shout the mell":
"Blest be the day that Christ was born.
We’ve getten mell o’ Mr. ----’s corn.
Weel won and better shorn.
Hip, hip, hip, huzza, huzza!"
This last sheaf used to be dressed in finery and crowned with wheatears,
hoisted on a pole, and all the harvesters danced round this "kern-baby,"
or harvest-queen, who afterward presided over the supper. Mummers, or
"guisers," used to attend the feast, but all these usages are dying out,
and the master often gives the harvesters money or ale instead of the
supper. This is the old autumn feast of the ingathering of the corn, and
in Brito-Roman times the image was that of the goddess Ceridwen,
answering to Ceres. Later, it stood for the Virgin Mary.
You must not gather brambles after October, or the devil will come after
you! He is evidently about at this time, for when the brambles are
spoilt at the end of the season, it is said that "the devil has set his
foot on the bummelkites," this being their local name.
Hallow E’en sports are still practised, the mystic apple so often
appearing in Celtic fairy-lore, playing a great part in them. Apples
are ducked for in a tub of water with the mouth, the hands being clasped
behind the back. A small rod of wood is sometimes suspended from the
ceiling, a lighted candle being fixed at one end, and an apple at the
other. The apple has to be caught by the teeth when it passes before
them, and if it is carefully pared, so that the peel comes off in one
strip, and this is flung over the left shoulder, it will form the
initials of the loved one’s name. Or it may be eaten before a mirror,
and the lover’s face will be reflected therein; but on no account must
the worker of this spell look backwards.
At Christmas-tide Yule cakes and "Yule dollies" are made, these last
being quaint figures made of dough, with currants to mark their features
and the outlines of their dress. Furmety (wheat boiled in milk) is
eaten, the Yule log is burnt, and the Christmas stocking is hung up that
gifts may be placed in it. Candles are still given by grocers; the
fruiterer presents a bunch of mistletoe; children come round and sing
carols, bearing a box containing figures of the Virgin and Child. The
sword-dancers or "guisers" come, perform a dance and sing a song, the
words of which vary considerably.
Finally, as many mince-pies as you eat at Christmas, so many happy
months will you have.
Here is "a copious catalogue of things lucky and unlucky," at least of
those considered as such in the Bishopric:
If you accidentally put on a stocking, or indeed any garment, inside
out, it is most fortunate, and the mistake should not be rectified, you
will turn the luck.
But if you put a button or hook into the wrong hole while dressing in
the morning, something unpleasant will happen to you during the day.
"Sing before breakfast, cry before supper," is an oft-quoted proverb,
perhaps deduced from the common belief that unusually high spirits
portend coming misfortune.
When a child first puts on a dress with a pocket in it, its father
should put some money into it; this means lifelong riches.
On putting on a new dress, a well-wisher will say to the owner, "I wish
you health to wear it, strength to tear it, and money to buy another."
Similarly, when a young tradesman first dons his apron, it is well to
say to him: "Weel may ye brook your apron." This, if said by a lucky
person, will insure the young man’s success in life.
If a spider is found on the clothes, it means that money is coming to
you; and if clothes must be mended while being worn, you will lose
money.
If the hem of your dress persistently turns up, a letter is coming to
you.
If your apron falls off, someone is thinking of you.
Those who can always guess the time accurately will never be married.
If the nose itches, you will be annoyed; if the foot, you will travel.
Itching of the right hand, money is coming to you; of the left, that you
will have to pay money; of the ear, hearing sudden news.
If the right ear tingles, someone is defaming you.
If you shiver, someone is walking over your grave.
A blessing is still invoked on people when they sneeze.
Meeting eyebrows are fortunate; so is a mole on the neck, at least, it
means health to the owner, but some say that it brings him in danger of
hanging.
Always enter a house with your right foot first; to enter with the left
foot brings ill luck to the inhabitants, and you must go back and repair
the mistake.
If you stumble, by accident, in going upstairs, you will be married the
same year; the same if you snuff out the candle (this omen is becoming
rarer with the decline of tallow candles).
If two people wash their hands in the same basin, they are sure to
quarrel before bedtime, but this may be prevented by making the sign of
the cross over the water.
If your eyes are weak, have your ears pierced, it will benefit them.
If a loaf be turned upside down after cutting, it is unlucky. Along the
coast they say that it causes a ship to be wrecked. The same if three
candles are placed upon the table.
If a loaf breaks in the hand while cutting it, you part man and wife.
And spilling the salt is as ominous here as elsewhere, but you may amend
your luck by throwing a pinch three times over your left shoulder with
your right hand.
"Help me to saut, help me to sorrow," would be the answer to the person
who should offer to place salt on the plate of another.
To cross the knife and fork is a sign of bad luck. To give a knife cuts
love; it should always be paid for. Only last Christmas I gave a knife
to an old friend, and she punctiliously sent a penny to me in payment
for it.
Do not lend a pin, your friend may take one, but it is unlucky to give
it.
Never begin anything on Friday, it will not prosper.
If you must pass under a ladder, cross your fingers and wish. The
unsophisticated spit; and if you are walking with anyone wait for him to
speak first, and any ill luck that may be coming will fall on his head.
"Spitting for luck" is still common enough. Hucksters and fish-women
spit on the handsel (the first money they receive), and many
horsedealers do the same. Colliers, when considering a strike, used to
spit on one stone together, by way of cementing their confederacy, and
schoolboys used to spit their faith when making a challenge to fight.
This was considered a sacred pledge which it was thought a point of
honour to fulfil.
It is wrong to point at the stars, or even to count them; you may be
struck dead for doing so.
Hawthorn blossoms should not be brought into the house; they are as
unlucky as peacock’s feathers, which also should never be brought
indoors.
And evergreens should not be burnt.
"If you burn green,
Your sorrow’s soon seen."
The luck of three is much believed in. If you fail twice in trying to do
a thing, you will probably succeed in the third trial. "The third time’s
catchy time."
Servants say that if they break one thing they are sure to break three,
a foreboding which not seldom comes true.
And when the minute-bell of the cathedral rings once it is bound to ring
three times.
If you break a looking-glass, you will have no luck for seven years.
Some say that it betokens a death in the house, probably that of its
master.
If a black cat enters the house, it must by no means be turned away, for
it brings good luck.
"Wherever the cat of the house is black,
The lasses of lovers will have no lack."
Kittens born in May are unlucky and useless, never keep them.
It is lucky, when you see the first lamb of the year, if its head is
turned towards you; but unlucky, if its tail.
It is thought that hedgehogs suck cows as they lie asleep.
A toad is poisonous; do not touch it.
In all ages the flight and behaviour of birds have been thought worthy
of notice.
When setting hens, the number of eggs should be odd (generally eleven or
thirteen); if the number be even, you will have no chickens. A hen that
crows brings ill luck, just as does a woman who whistles.
If the hens come into the house, or if the cock crows on the threshold,
a visitor is coming. If you have money in your pocket and turn it when
you first hear the cuckoo you will be rich all that year; but if your
pocket be empty so it will remain. There is a small bird attending on
the cuckoo, generally a meadow-pipit. It is called in Durham the
cuckoo’s sandy, and is supposed to provide its patron with food.
When the peacock screams, it is going to rain.
The magpie is an unlucky bird because it would not go into the ark with
Noah, but sat outside, "jabbering at the drowned world."
"One is sorrow, two mirth,
Three a wedding, four a birth,
Five heaven, six hell,
Seven the de’il’s ain sel’!"
But if you have the misfortune to see one magpie you may nullify the
omen by making the sign of the cross, or, as some do, by waving a hand
at the evil bird, and saying, "Mag, I defy thee."
The raven is thought to be an unlucky bird, though here in Durham city
we should think better of it, for one made the fortune of Sir John Duck
by dropping a gold piece at his feet when he was a poor out-of-work
butcher-boy. He became a rich coal-owner, and in his memory coals are
often called "ducks" in Durham; and the "Old Duck Main" still exists at
Rainton.
If rooks, or crows, as we call them here, desert a rookery, it means the
downfall of the family on whose property it is. Swallows, once sacred to
the Penates, and honoured as the heralds of the spring, are lucky, and
their nests must never be pulled down, as they bring good fortune to the
place where they build, and it bodes ill luck if they leave a place they
have once tenanted.
Naturally, much local lore has gathered round the cathedral, the great
Mother-Church of the diocese. The death superstition relating to the
minute-bell, the ringing of the Pancake Bell, and the legend of the
knocker, have already been mentioned. The Curfew Bell still rings at
nine (the hour of compline), not at eight, as in other places, but
never on Saturday, because on the night of that day a man, who went
alone to ring, was spirited away, and never seen again.
When, on May 29, the choristers go to the central tower, they sing
anthems on three sides only, and except the western side, because it was
from this point that the man leaped whose tombstone is seen below. It is
a mutilated effigy of Frosterly marble, and is said to represent Hob of
Pelaw, holding the purse of money for which he risked and lost his life,
and the fossils in the marble are said, by schoolboys, to be the coins
contained in it. Country people come, for some unknown reason, to draw
their foot over the purse.
Curiously, the churchyard here is on the north side of the church. The
cloisters are ceiled with Irish oak, so that they never harbour dust or
cobwebs, and the saying goes that if the Protestants were not always
doing something to the cathedral the Catholics could take it away from
them!
There is no church at Butterby, and you will often hear a man who is not
in the habit of attending Divine worship spoken of as a "Butterby
churchgoer."
These old-world beliefs and stories are fast fading away before the
advance of the schoolmaster; but they linger yet in the minds of old
people, and it will be long before they are quite forgotten.
[Illustration: THE PALACE GREEN, DURHAM.]
THE LEGENDS[6] OF DURHAM
BY MISS FLORENCE N. COCKBURN
The northern counties are all rich in legendary history, and the county
of Durham has its full share.