Ecclesfield.
_Lancashire Customs._--The curfew is continued in many of the villages,
and until the last ten or fifteen years it was usual at a Roman Catholic
funeral to ring a merry peal on the bells as soon as the interment was
over. The Roman Catholics seem now to have discontinued this practice.
Carol singing and hand-bell ringing prevail at Christmas, and troops of
men and children calling themselves _pace eggers_, go about in Passion
Week, and especially Good Friday, as mummers in the south of England do
at Christmas. Large tallow candles may often be seen decorated with
evergreens, hanging up in the houses of the poor at Christmas time.