(_For The Mirror._)
Rutherglen, in the county of Lanarkshire, has long been famous for the
singular custom of baking what are called sour cakes. About eight or ten
days before St. Luke's fair (for they are baked at no other time in the
year), a certain quantity of oatmeal is made into dough with warm water,
and laid up in a vessel to ferment. Being brought to a proper degree of
fermentation and consistency, it is rolled up into balls proportionable
to the intended largeness of the cakes. With the dough is commonly mixed
a small quantity of sugar, and a little aniseed or cinnamon. The baking
is executed by women only; and they seldom begin their work till after
sunset, and a night or two before the fair. A large space of the house,
chosen for the purpose, is marked out by a line drawn upon it. The area
within is considered as consecrated ground, and is not, by any of the
bystanders, to be touched with impunity. The transgression incurs a
small fine, which is always laid out in drink for the use of the
company. This hallowed spot, is occupied by six or eight women, all of
whom, except the toaster, seat themselves on the ground, in a circular
form, having their feet turned towards the fire. Each of them is
provided with a bakeboard about two feet square, which they hold on
their knees. The woman who toasts the cakes, which is done on an iron
plate suspended over the fire, is called the queen, or bride, and the
rest are called her maidens. These are distinguished from one another by
names given them for the occasion. She who sits next the fire, towards
the east, is called the todler; her companion on the left hand is called
the trodler;[15] and the rest have arbitrary names given them by the
bride, as Mrs. Baker, best and worst maids, &c. The operation is begun
by the todler, who takes a ball of the dough, forms it into a cake, and
then casts it on the bakeboard of the trodler, who beats it out a little
thinner. This being done, she, in her turn, throws it on the board of
her neighbour; and thus it goes round, from east to west, in the
direction of the course of the sun, until it comes to the toaster, by
which time it is as thin and smooth as a sheet of paper. The first cake
that is cast on the girdle is usually named as a gift to some man who is
known to have suffered from the infidelity of his wife, from a
superstitious notion, that thereby the rest will be preserved from
mischance. Sometimes the cake is so thin, as to be carried by the
current of the air up into the chimney. As the baking is wholly
performed by the hand, a great deal of noise is the consequence. The
beats, however, are not irregular, nor destitute of an agreeable
harmony, especially when they are accompanied with vocal music, which is
frequently the case. Great dexterity is necessary, not only to beat out
the cakes with no other instrument than the hand, so that no part of
them shall be thicker than another, but especially to cast them from one
board to another without ruffling or breaking them. The toasting
requires considerable skill; for which reason the most experienced
person in the company is chosen for that part of the work. One cake is
sent round in quick succession to another, so that none of the company
is suffered to be idle. The whole is a scene of activity, mirth, and
diversion. As there is no account, even by tradition itself, concerning
the origin of this custom, it must be very ancient. The bread thus baked
was, doubtless, never intended for common use. It is not easy to
conceive how mankind, especially in a rude age, would strictly observe
so many ceremonies, and be at so great pains in making a cake, which,
when folded together, makes but a scanty mouthful.[16] Besides, it is
always given away in presents to strangers who frequent the fair. The
custom seems to have been originally derived from paganism, and to
contain not a few of the sacred rites peculiar to that impure religion;
as the leavened dough, and the mixing it with sugar and spices, the
consecrated ground, &c.; but the particular deity, for whose honour
these cakes were at first made, is not, perhaps, easy to determine.
Probably it was no other than the one known in Scripture (Jer. 7 ch. 18
v.) by the name of the Queen of Heaven, and to whom cakes were likewise
kneaded by women.