Yellow Crown Imperial. _Fritillaria Imperialis Lutea._
Dedicated to _St. Vincent Ferrer_.
~Easter Customs.~
_Dancing of the Sun._
The day before Easter-day is in some parts called “Holy Saturday.” On
the evening of this day, in the middle districts of Ireland, great
preparations are made for the finishing of Lent. Many a fat hen and
dainty piece of bacon is put in the pot by the cotter’s wife about eight
or nine o’clock, and woe be to the person who should taste it before the
cock crows. At twelve is heard the clapping of hands, and the joyous
laugh, mixed with “_Shidth or mogh or corries_,” i. e. _out with the
Lent_: all is merriment for a few hours, when they retire, and rise
about four o’clock _to see the sun dance_ in honour of the resurrection.
This ignorant custom is not confined to the humble labourer and his
family, but is scrupulously observed by many highly respectable and
wealthy families, different members of whom I have heard assert
positively that they had seen the sun dance on Easter morning.[67]
It is inquired in Dunton’s “Athenian Oracle,” “Why does the sun at his
rising play more on Easter-day than Whit-Sunday?” The question is
answered thus:--“The matter of fact is an old, weak, superstitious
error, and the sun neither plays nor works on Easter-day more than any
other. It is true, it may sometimes happen to shine brighter that
morning than any other; but, if it does, it is purely accidental. In
some parts of England they call it the lamb-playing, which they look
for, as soon as the sun rises, in some clear or spring water, and is
nothing but the pretty reflection it makes from the water, which they
may find at any time, if the sun rises clear, and they themselves early,
and unprejudiced with fancy.” The folly is kept up by the fact, that no
one can view the sun steadily at any hour, and those who choose to look
at it, or at its reflection in water, see it apparently move, as they
would on any other day. Brand points out an allusion to this vulgar
notion in an old ballad:--
But, Dick, she _dances_ such away!
No _sun_ upon an _Easter day_
Is half so fine a sight.
Again, from the “British Apollo,” a presumed question to the sun himself
upon the subject, elicits a suitable answer:
_Q._ Old wives, Phœbus, say
That on Easter-day
To the music o’ th’ spheres you do caper;
If the fact, sir, be true,
Pray let’s the cause know,
When you have any room in your paper.
_A_. The old wives get merry
With spic’d ale or sherry,
On Easter, which makes them romance;
And whilst in a rout
Their brains whirl about,
They fancy we caper and dance.
A bit of smoked glass, such as boys use to view an eclipse with, would
put this matter steady to every eye but that of wilful self-deception,
which, after all, superstition always chooses to see through.
_Lifting._
Mr. Ellis inserts, in his edition of Mr. Brand’s “Popular Antiquities,”
a letter from Mr. Thomas Loggan of Basinghall-street, from whence the
following extract is made: Mr. Loggan says, “I was sitting alone last
Easter Tuesday, at breakfast, at the Talbot in Shrewsbury, when I was
surprised by the entrance of all the female servants of the house
handing in an arm-chair, lined with white, and decorated with ribbons
and favours of different colours. I asked them what they wanted, their
answer was, they came to _heave_ me; it was the custom of the place on
that morning, and they hoped I would take a seat in their chair. It was
impossible not to comply with a request very modestly made, and to a set
of nymphs in their best apparel, and several of them under twenty. I
wished to see all the ceremony, and seated myself accordingly. The group
then lifted me from the ground, turned the chair about, and I had the
felicity of a salute from each. I told them, I supposed there was a fee
due upon the occasion, and was answered in the affirmative; and, having
satisfied the damsels in this respect, they withdrew to heave others. At
this time I had never heard of such a custom; but, on inquiry, I found
that on Easter Monday, between nine and twelve, the men heave the women
in the same manner as on the Tuesday, between the same hours, the women
heave the men.”
[Illustration: ~Lifting--an Easter Custom.~]
In Lancashire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and some other parts of
England there prevails this custom of _heaving_ or _lifting_ at
Easter-tide. This is performed mostly in the open street, though
sometimes it is insisted on and submitted to within the house. People
form into parties of eight or a dozen or even more for the purpose, and
from every one _lifted_ or _heaved_ they extort a contribution. The
late Mr. Lysons read to the Society of Antiquaries an extract from a
roll in his custody, as keeper of the records in the tower of London,
which contains a payment to certain ladies and maids of honour for
taking king Edward I. in his bed at Easter; from whence it has been
presumed that he was _lifted_ on the authority of that custom, which is
said to have prevailed among all ranks throughout the kingdom. The
usage is a vulgar commemoration of the resurrection which the festival
of Easter celebrates.
_Lifting_ or _heaving_ differs a little in different places. In some
parts the person is laid horizontally, in others placed in a sitting
position on the bearers’ hands. Usually, when the _lifting_ or _heaving_
is within doors, a chair is produced, but in all cases the ceremony is
incomplete without three distinct elevations.
A Warwickshire correspondent, L. S., says, Easter Monday and Easter
Tuesday were known by the name of _heaving-day_, 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 license” to depart.
Conducted as _lifting_ appears to have been by the blooming lasses of
Shrewsbury, and acquitted as all who are actors in the usage any where
must be, of even the slightest knowledge that this practice is an absurd
performance of the resurrection, still it must strike the reflective
mind as at least an absurd custom, “more honored i’ the breach than the
observance.” It has been handed down to us from the bewildering
ceremonies of the Romish church, and may easily be discountenanced into
disuse by opportune and mild persuasion. If the children of ignorant
persons be properly taught, they will perceive in adult years the gross
follies of their parentage, and so instruct their own offspring, that
not a hand or voice shall be lifted or heard from the sons of labour, in
support of a superstition that darkened and dismayed man, until the
printing-press and the reformation ensured his final enlightenment and
emancipation.
_Easter Eggs._
Another relic of the ancient times, are the eggs which pass about at
Easter week under the name of _pask_, _paste_, or _pace_ eggs. A
communication introduces the subject at once.
_To the Editor of the Every-Day Book._
Sir,
19th March, 1825.
A perusal of the _Every-Day Book_ induces me to communicate the
particulars of a custom still prevalent in some parts of Cumberland,
although not as generally attended to as it was twenty or thirty years
ago. I allude to the practice of sending reciprocal presents of eggs, at
Easter, to the children of families respectively, betwixt whom any
intimacy subsists. For some weeks preceding Good Friday the price of
eggs advances considerably, from the great demand occasioned by the
custom referred to.
The modes adopted to prepare the eggs for presentation are the
following: there may be others which have escaped my recollection.
The eggs being immersed in hot water for a few moments, the end of a
common tallow-candle is made use of to inscribe the names of
individuals, dates of particular events, &c. The warmth of the egg
renders this a very easy process. Thus inscribed, the egg is placed in a
pan of hot water, saturated with cochineal, or other dye-woods; the part
over which the tallow has been passed is impervious to the operation of
the dye; and consequently when the egg is removed from the pan, there
appears no discolouration of the egg where the inscription has been
traced, but the egg presents a white inscription on a coloured ground.
The colour of course depends upon the taste of the person who prepared
the egg; but usually much variety of colour is made use of.
Another method of ornamenting “pace eggs” is, however, much neater,
although more laborious, than that with the tallow-candle. The egg being
dyed, it may be decorated in a very pretty manner, by means of a
penknife, with which the dye may be scraped off, leaving the design
white, on a coloured ground. An egg is frequently divided into
compartments, which are filled up according to the taste and skill of
the designer. Generally one compartment contains the name and (being
young and unsophisticated) also the age of the party for whom the egg is
intended. In another is, perhaps, a landscape; and sometimes a cupid is
found lurking in a third: so that these “pace eggs” become very useful
auxiliaries to the missives of St. Valentine. Nothing was more common in
the childhood of the writer, than to see a number of these eggs
preserved very carefully in the corner-cupboard; each egg being the
occupant of a deep, long-stemmed ale-glass, through which the
inscription could be read without removing it. Probably many of these
eggs now remain in Cumberland, which would afford as good evidence of
dates in a court of justice, as a tombstone or a family-bible.
It will be readily supposed that the majority of pace eggs are simply
dyed; or dotted with tallow to present a piebald or bird’s-eye
appearance. These are designed for the junior boys who have not begun to
participate in the pleasures of “a bended bow and quiver full of
arrows;”--a flaming torch, or a heart and a true-lover’s knot. These
plainer specimens are seldom promoted to the dignity of the ale-glass or
the corner-cupboard. Instead of being handed down to posterity they are
hurled to swift destruction. In the process of dying they are boiled
pretty hard--so as to prevent inconvenience if crushed in the hand or
the pocket. But the strength of the shell constitutes the chief glory of
a pace egg, whose owner aspires only to the conquest of a rival youth.
Holding his egg in his hand he challenges a companion to give blow for
blow. One of the eggs is sure to be broken, and its shattered remains
are the spoil of the conqueror: who is instantly invested with the title
of “a cock of one, two, three,” &c. in proportion as it may have
fractured his antagonist’s eggs in the conflict. A successful egg, in a
contest with one which had previously gained honours, adds to its number
the reckoning of its vanquished foe. An egg which is a “cock” of ten or
a dozen, is frequently challenged. A modern pugilist would call this a
set-to for the championship. Such on the borders of the Solway Frith
were the youthful amusements of Easter Monday.
Your very proper precaution, which requires the names of correspondents
who transmit notices of local customs, is complied with by the addition
of my name and address below. In publication I prefer to appear only as
your constant reader.