with the term "Nuts in May"? I attribute this to the gathering by
parties of young men of bunches of May at the May festivals and dances,
to decorate not only the Maypole, May "kissing-bush," but the doors of
houses. "Knots of May" is a term used by children, meaning bunches of
May. Thus, a note by Miss Fowler in the MS. of the games she had
collected says, "In Bucks the children speak of 'knots of May,' meaning
each little bunch of hawthorn blossom." The gathering of bunches of May
by parties of young men and maidens to make the May-bush round which the
May Day games were held, and dancing and courting, is mentioned by Wilde
(_Irish Popular Superstitions_, p. 52), the game being "Dance in the
Ring." Holland (_Cheshire Glossary_) says, "May birches were branches of
different kinds of trees fastened over doors of houses and on the
chimney on the eve of May Day. They were fastened up by parties of young
men who went round for the purpose, and were intended to be symbolical
of the character of the inmates." I remember one May Day in London, when
the "May girls" came with a garland and short sticks decorated with
green and bunches of flowers, they sang--
Knots of May we've brought you,
Before your door it stands;
It is but a sprout, but it's well budded out
By the work of the Lord's hands,
and a Miss Spencer, who lived near Hampton (Middlesex), told me that she
well remembered the May girls singing the first verse of this carol,
using "knots" instead of the more usual word "branch" or "bunch," and
that she knew the small bunch of May blossom by the name of "knots" of
May, "bringing in knots of May" being a usual expression of children.
The association of May--whether the month, or the flower, or both--with
the game is very strong, the refrain "cold and frosty morning," "all on
a summer's morning," "bright summer's morning," "so early in the
morning," also being characteristic of the early days of May and spring,
and suggests that the whole day from early hours is given up to holiday.
The familiar nursery rhyme given by Halliwell--
Here we come a-piping,
First in spring and then in May,
no doubt also refers to house-to-house visiting of May.
The connection between the May festival and survival in custom of
marriage by capture is well illustrated by a passage from Stubbe's
_Anatomie of Abuses_, p. 148. He says: "Against May Day, Whitsonday, or
other time, euery Parishe, Towne and Village assemble themselves
together, bothe men women and children, olde and yong, . . . and either
goyng all together or diuidyng themselues into companies, they goe some
to the Woodes and groves where they spend all the night in plesant
pastimes; and in the morning they return bringing with them birch and
branches of trees to deck their assemblies withall . . . and then they
fall to daunce about it like as the heathen people did. . . . I have
heard it credibly reported (and that _viva voce_) by men of great
grauitie and reputation, that of fortie, threescore or a hundred maides
going to the wood ouer night, there haue scaresly the third part of them
returned home againe undefiled." Herrick's _Hesperides_ also describes
the festival, and the custom of courting and marriage at the same time.
The tune sung to this game appears to be the same in every version.
END OF VOL. I.
BALLANTYNE PRESS
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
Transcriber's notes:
General:
This eBook is Volume I of a two-volume work. Volume II is available
as ebook number 41728 via the website of Project Gutenberg
(www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41728). Because Volume I was published in 1894
and Volume II in 1898, there is no symmetry in the references between
the two volumes (for example, Gled Wylie from Volume I does not refer to
Shue-Gled-Wylie from Volume II, whereas Shue-Gled-Wylie does refer to
Gled Wylie).
This text follows the original printed work, including inconsistencies.
Inconsistencies include differences in spelling of the names of games
and locations, differences in transcription of dialect, inconsistencies
in lay-out, etc. Where changes were made, these are documented below.
References:
Both volumes contain some uncertain references to (other) games, caused
by the naming and/or spelling of game names. Where these differences
were trivial (for example, Wolf and Lamb versus Wolf and the Lamb),
their identity has been assumed silently. Following is a list of less
trivial references.
The game Stag is often referred to as Stag Warning, but occasionally
they are listed as thought they were separate games.
Volume I.
Page 51: reference to Wind Up Jack: this game is not mentioned
separately, but under Wind Up the Bush Faggot.
Page 120: reference to Wind up the Watch, which is not listed as a
separate game, but as a local name for Wind up the Bush Faggot.
Page 137: reference to Crosspurposes: according to the description and
Vol. II, this could be Cross-questions.
Page 300: reference to How many miles to Barley Bridge?, which is not
listed as a separate game; the phrase occurs in some of the versions of
How many miles to Babylon?
Page 318, section (c): The author refers to the Belfast version, but
describes the Isle of Man version. This has not been changed.
Page 328: reference to the game Spanish Fly, which does not occur in
either volume (nor does the phrase).
Page 402: reference to Ghost in the Garden and Ghost in the Copper.
Neither is described as a separate game; probably the reference is to
Ghost at the Well.
Textual remarks:
At least some of the quotations presented by the author are not verbatim
quotations, they have been edited by the author (for example Aubrey on
cockle-bread).
Volume II.
In the Addenda, the original work uses Arabic rather than Roman numerals
for different variants; this has not been changed.
The original work uses both 2-4 and 2/4 to indicate musical time; this
has not been standardised.
Page 199: Love another like sister and brother is probably a mistake
(Love one another like sister and brother).
Page 336/7: The original work does not give a source or authority for
variation XXV.
Changes made to the original text:
Footnotes have been moved to end of the description of the game.
Sources (when printed in smaller type in the original work) have been
moved to a separate line where necessary.
Volume I.
The Errata have already been changed in the text.
Gallovidian Encyclopedia/Encyclopædia has been standardised to
Gallovidian Encyclopædia.
Page xvi: Conqueror changed to Conqueror or Conkers (as in text)
Page xvii: Duckstone was missing from the list and has been added
Page xix: Lend me your Key was missing from the list and has been added
Page 19: we'll go the king changed to we'll go to the king
Page 24: Hurstmonceaux changed to Hurstmonceux (as elsewhere)
Page 56: he jostled away changed to be jostled away
Page 128: [They pull him out. changed to [They pull him out.]
Page 180 (table) row 16: [ added before Write
Page 270: so that won't do changed to so _that_ won't do (as elsewhere
in the song)
Page 329: cul léve changed to cul levé (as in Nares's work)
Page 364 uniniated changed to uninitiated
Page 387: the Sheffield is changed to the Sheffield version is.