Lancashire Folk-lore Part 23

In the _Dictionarius_ of John de Garlande, compiled at Paris in the thirteenth century, the word _simineus_ or _simnels_, is used as the equivalent to the Latin _placentae_, which are described as cakes exposed in the windows of the hucksters, to sell to the scholars of the University and others.[154]

BURY.

There is an ancient celebration in Bury, on Mid-Lent Sunday, there called "Simblin Sunday," when large cakes called "simblins" (_i.e._, simnels), are sold generally in the town, and the shops are kept open the whole day, except during Divine Service, for the purpose of vending this mysterious aliment.[155] These cakes are a compound of currants, candied lemon, sugar, and spice, sandwich-wise, between crust of short or puff paste. They are in great request at the period, not only in Bury, but in Manchester and most of the surrounding towns. A still richer kind, approaching the bride-cake in character, are called "Almond Simnels."

BRAGOT-SUNDAY.

Formerly it was the practice in Leigh to use a beverage on Mid-Lent Sunday, called "bragot," consisting of a kind of spiced ale; and also for the boys to indulge themselves by persecuting the women on their way to church, by secretly hooking a piece of coloured cloth to their gowns.

A similar custom prevails in Portugal, at Carnival time, when many persons that walk the streets on the three last days of the Intrudo, have a long paper train hooked to their dress behind, on which the populace set up the cry of "Raboleve," which is continued till the b.u.t.t of the joke is divested of his "tail." As to "Bragot," or more properly "Braget" Sunday, it is a name given in Lancas.h.i.+re to the fourth Sunday in Lent, which is in other places called "Mothering Sunday." Both appellations arise out of the same custom. Voluntary oblations, called _Quadragesimalia_ (from the Latin name of Lent, signifying forty days), were formerly paid by the inhabitants of a diocese to the Mother Cathedral Church, and at this time prevailed the custom of processions to the Cathedral on Mid-Lent Sunday. On the discontinuance of processions, the practice of "mothering," or visiting parents, began; and the spiced ale used on these occasions was called _braget_, from the British _bragawd_, the name of a kind of metheglin. Whitaker[156]

observes that this description of liquor was called "Welsh ale" by the Saxons. Since his time, the liquor drunk on this day is princ.i.p.ally _mulled ale_, of which there is a large consumption in Lancas.h.i.+re on Mid-Lent Sunday.[157]

f.a.g-PIE SUNDAY.

Fig-pies--(made of dry figs, sugar, treacle, spice, &c., and by some described as "luscious," by others as "of a sickly taste")--or, as they are locally termed, "f.a.g-pies," are, or were at least till recently, eaten in Lancas.h.i.+re on a Sunday in Lent [? Mid-Lent Sunday], thence called "f.a.g-pie Sunday."[158]

In the neighbourhood of Burnley f.a.g-pie Sunday is the second Sunday before Easter, or that which comes between Mid-Lent and Palm Sunday.

About Blackburn fig-pies are always prepared for Mid-Lent Sunday, and visits are usually made to friends' houses in order to partake of the luxury.

GOOD FRIDAY.

This name is believed to be an adoption of the old German _Gute_ or _Gottes Freytag_, Good or G.o.d's Friday, so called on the same principle that Easter Day in England was at no very remote period called "G.o.d's Day." The length of the Church Services in ancient times, on this day, occasioned it to be called Long Friday. In most parts of Lancas.h.i.+re, buns with crosses stamped upon them, and hence called "cross buns," are eaten on this day at breakfast; and it is in many places believed that a cross bun, preserved from one Good Friday to another, will effectually prevent an attack of the whooping-cough. Some writers declare that our cross buns at Easter are only the cakes which our pagan Saxon forefathers ate in honour of their G.o.ddess Eostre, and from which the Christian clergy, who were unable to prevent people from eating them, sought to expel the paganism by marking them with the cross. On the Monday before Good Friday the youths about Poulton-le-Fylde and its neighbourhood congregate in strange dresses, and visit their friends'

houses, playing antics, on which occasion they are styled "the Jolly Lads."[159] It is stated that in some places in Lancas.h.i.+re, Good Friday is termed "Cracklin' Friday," as on that day it is a custom for children to go with a small basket to different houses, to beg small wheaten cakes, which are something like the Jews' Pa.s.sover bread; but made shorter or richer, by having b.u.t.ter or lard mixed with the flour. "Take with thee loaves and cracknels." (1 Kings xiv.)

EASTER.

This name is clearly traced to that of Eostre, a G.o.ddess to whom the Saxons and other Northern nations sacrificed in the month of April, in which our Easter usually falls. Easter Sunday is held as the day of our Lord's resurrection. Connected with this great festival of the Church are various local rites and customs, pageants and festivities; such as _pace_ or _Pasche_ [_i.e._, Easter] egging, lifting or heaving, Ball play, the game of the ring, guisings or disguisings, fancy cakes, "old hob," "old Ball," or hobby horse, &c.

Easter-Day is a moveable feast, appointed to be held on the first Sunday after the full moon immediately following the 21st of March; but if the moon happen to be at the full on a Sunday, then Easter is held on the following Sunday and not on the day of the full moon. Thus, Easter-Day cannot fall earlier than the 22nd of March, nor later than the 25th of April, in any year.

PASCHE, PACE, OR EASTER EGGS.

In Lancas.h.i.+re and Ches.h.i.+re children go round the village and beg eggs for the Easter dinner, accompanying their solicitation by a short song, the burthen of which is addressed to the farmer's dame, asking for "an egg, bacon, cheese, or an apple, or any good thing that will make us merry;" and ending with

And I pray you, good dame, an Easter egg.

In the North of Lancas.h.i.+re, c.u.mberland, Westmorland, and other parts of the North of England, boys beg on Easter Eve eggs to play with, and beggars ask for them to eat. These eggs are hardened by boiling and tinged with the juice of herbs, broom-flowers, &c. The eggs being thus prepared, the boys go out and play with them in the fields, rolling them up and down like bowls, or throwing them up like b.a.l.l.s into the air.[160]

PACE EGGING IN BLACKBURN.

The old custom of "pace egging" is still observed in Blackburn. It is an observance limited to the week before Easter-Day, and is said to be traceable up to the theology and philosophy of the Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks, and Romans; among all of whom an egg was an emblem of the universe, the production of the Supreme Divinity. The Christians adopted the egg as an emblem of the resurrection, since it contains the elements of a future life.

The immediate occasion of the observance may have been in the resumption on the part of our forefathers of eggs as a food at Easter on the termination of Lent; hence the origin of the term _pace_ or _pasque_ [rather from _Pasche_] that is, Easter egg. In a curious roll of the expenses of the household of Edward I., communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, is the following item in the accounts for Easter Sunday: "For four hundred and a half of eggs, eighteen pence." The following prayer, found in the ritual of Pope Paul V., composed for the use of England, Ireland, and Scotland, ill.u.s.trates the meaning of the custom: "Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, this Thy creation of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance to Thy faithful servants, eating it in thankfulness to Thee, on account of the resurrection of our Lord." In Blackburn at the present day, pace egging commences on the Monday and finishes on the Thursday before the Easter-week. Young men in groups varying in number from three to twenty, dressed in various fantastic garbs, and wearing masks--some of the groups accompanied by a player or two on the violin--go from house to house singing, dancing, and capering. At most places they are liberally treated with wine, punch, or ale, dealt out to them by the host or hostess. The young men strive to disguise their walk and voice; and the persons whom they visit use their efforts on the other hand to discover who they are; in which mutual endeavour many and ludicrous mistakes are made. Here you will see Macbeth and a fox-hunter arm in arm; Richard the Third and a black footman in familiar converse; a quack doctor and a bishop smoking their pipes and quaffing their "half and half;" a gentleman and an oyster-seller; an admiral and an Irish umbrella-mender; in short, every variety of character, some exceedingly well-dressed, and the characters well sustained. A few years ago parties of this description were much subject to annoyance from a gang of fellows styled the "Carr-laners,"

(so-called, because living in Carr-lane, Blackburn,) armed with bludgeons, who endeavoured to despoil the pace-eggers. Numerous fights, with the usual concomitants of broken eggs and various contusions, were amongst the results. This lawless gang of ruffians is now broken up, and the serious affrays between different gangs of pace-eggers have become of comparatively rare occurrence. An accident, however, which ended fatally, occurred last year [? 1842]. Two parties had come into collision, and during the affray one of the young men had his skull fractured, and death ensued. Besides parties of the sort we have attempted to describe, children, both male and female, with little baskets in their hands, dressed in all the tinsel-coloured paper, ribbons, and "doll rags" which they can command, go up and down from house to house; at some receiving pence, at others eggs, at others gingerbread, some of which is called _hot_ gingerbread, having in it a mixture of ginger and Cayenne, causing the most ridiculous contortions of feature in the unfortunate being who partakes of it. Houses are literally besieged by these juvenile troops from morning till night.

"G.o.d's sake! a pace-egg," is the continual cry. There is no particular tune, but various versions of pace-egging and other songs are sung. The eggs obtained by the juveniles are very frequently boiled and dyed in logwood and other dyes, on the Easter Sunday, and rolled in the fields one egg at another till broken. Great quant.i.ties of mulled ale are drunk in this district on Easter Sunday. The actors do not take the eggs with them; they are given at the places where they call. The actors are mostly males; but in the course of one's peregrinations on one of these evenings it is not unusual to discover one or two of the fair s.e.x in male habiliments, and supporting the character admirably. This old custom of pace-egging was again observed this year [? 1843]

notwithstanding the fatal accidents we have mentioned, without any molestation from the authorities, and without any accident occurring.[161]

PACE OR PEACE EGGING IN EAST LANCAs.h.i.+RE.

The week before Easter is a busy one for the boys and girls in East Lancas.h.i.+re. They generally deck themselves up in ribbons and fantastic dresses, and go about the country begging for money or eggs.

Occasionally they go out singly, and then are very careful to provide themselves with a neat little basket, lined with moss. Halfpence or eggs, or even small cakes of gingerbread, are alike thankfully received.

Sometimes the grown young men are very elaborately dressed in ribbons, and ornamented with watches and other jewellery. They then go out in groups of five or six, and are attended by a "fool" or "tosspot," with his face blackened. Some of them play on musical instruments while the rest dance. Occasionally young women join in the sport, and then the _men_ are dressed in women's clothing, and the _women_ in men's.

EASTER SPORTS AT THE MANCHESTER FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

A gentleman, using the initials G. H. F., some years ago communicated to a local paper the following facts relative to the sports of the scholars at Easter in the early part of the nineteenth century:--"On Easter Monday the senior scholars had a treat and various festivities. On the morning of that day, masters and scholars a.s.sembled in the school-room, with a band of music, banners, &c. One essential thing was a target, in a square frame, to which were suspended one or more pairs of silver buckles, const.i.tuting the chief archery prize, the second being a good dunghill-c.o.c.k. These were the only prizes, and they were duly contended for by the scholars, the whole being probably devised in the old times, with a view to keep the youth of Manchester in the practice of the old English archery, which on the invention of gunpowder and fire-arms fell rapidly into desuetude. The gay procession thus provided, the scholars, bearing their bows and arrows, set out from the Grammar School, headed by some reverend gentleman of the Collegiate church, by the masters of the school, the churchwardens, &c.--the band playing some popular airs of the day--and took its route by Long Millgate, to Hunt's Bank, and along the Walkers' [_i.e._, fullers'] Croft, to some gardens, where it was then the custom for artizans on Sunday mornings to buy 'a penny posy.' Here the targets were set up, and the 'artillery practice,' as it was the fas.h.i.+on to call archery, commenced. At its close the prizes were awarded, and the procession returned in the same order, along Hunt's Bank, the Apple Market, Fennel Street, Hanging Ditch, and Old Millgate, to the Bull's Head, in the Market Place,--in those days a very celebrated house, where the junior boys were treated with _frumenty_--wheat stewed, and then boiled in milk with raisins, currants, and spices, till it forms a thick, porridge-like mess, exceedingly palatable to young folk. The masters and a.s.sistants, and the senior scholars, partook of roast beef, plum pudding, &c. The abolition of this Easter Monday custom, said to have been by Dr. Smith, was by no means relished by the Grammar School boys."

"LIFTING" OR "HEAVING" AT EASTER.

This singular custom formerly prevailed in Manchester, and it is now common in the neighbourhood of Liverpool, in the parish of Whalley, at Warrington, Bolton, and in some other parts of Lancas.h.i.+re, especially in rural districts, though it is by no means general, and in some places is quite unknown. A Manchester man, in 1784, thus describes it:--"_Lifting_ was originally designed to represent our Saviour's resurrection. The men lift the women on Easter Monday, and the women the men on Tuesday. One or more take hold of each leg, and one or more of each arm, near the body, and lift the person up, in a horizontal position, three times. It is a rude, indecent, and dangerous diversion, practised chiefly by the lower cla.s.s of people. Our magistrates constantly prohibit it by the bellman, but it subsists at the end of the town; and the women have of late years converted it into a money job. I believe it is chiefly confined to these northern counties."

The following [translated] extract from a doc.u.ment ent.i.tled _Liber Contrarotulatoris Hospicii_, 13 Edward I. [1225], shows the antiquity of the custom:--"To the Ladies of the Queen's Chamber, 15th of May; seven ladies and damsels of the queen, because they took [or lifted] the king in his bed, on the morrow of Easter, and made him pay fine for the peace of the king, which he made of his gift by the hand of Hugh de Cerr [or Kerr], Esq., to the lady of Weston, 14."[162]

On Easter Monday, between Radcliffe and Bolton, we saw a number of females surround a male, whom they mastered, and fairly lifted aloft in the air. It was a merry scene. What humour in the faces of these Lancas.h.i.+re witches! What a hearty laugh! What gratification in their eyes! The next day would bring reprisals: the girls would then be the party to be subjected to this rude treatment.[163]

EASTER GAME OF THE RING.

In his _History of Lancas.h.i.+re_, Mr. Baines states that the Easter Game of the Ring, little known in other parts of Lancas.h.i.+re, prevails at Padiham, in the parish of Whalley, on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in Easter week; when young people, having formed themselves into a ring, tap each other repeatedly with a stick, after the manner of the holiday folks at Greenwich. The stick may be a slight difference; but the game of Easter ring, with taps of the hand, or the dropping of a handkerchief at the foot, the writer has seen played at Easter and at Whitsuntide in many villages and hamlets round Manchester.

PLAYING "OLD BALL."

This is an Easter custom. A huge and rude representation of a horse's head is made; the eyes are formed of the bottoms of old broken wine or other "black bottles"; the lower and upper jaws have large nails put in them to serve as teeth; the lower jaw is made to move by a contrivance fixed at its back end, to be operated on by the man who plays "Old Ball." There is a stick, on which the head rests, which is handled and used by the operator, to move "Old Ball" about, and as a rest. Fixed to the whole is a sheet of rough sacking-cloth, under which the operator puts himself, and at the end of which is a tail. The operator then gets into his position, so as to make the whole as like a horse as possible.

He opens the mouth by means of the contrivance before spoken of. Through the opening he can see the crowd, and he runs first at one and then another, neighing like a horse, kicking, rising on his hind legs, performing all descriptions of gambols, and running after the crowd; the consequence is, the women scream, the children are frightened, and all is one scene of the most ridiculous and boisterous mirth. This was played by sundry "Old b.a.l.l.s" some five years ago, at the pace-egging time, at Blackburn; but it has gradually fallen into disuse. This year [? 1843] our informant has not heard it even mentioned. [It is still continued in various parts of Lancas.h.i.+re, amongst others at Swinton, Worsley, &c.] The idea of this rude game may have been taken from the hobby-horse in the ancient Christmas mummings.--_Pictorial History of Lancas.h.i.+re._ [From the editor of the above work calling this "playing the old ball," and never marking the word ball by a capital B, he seems to have supposed it meant a spherical ball; whereas "Old Ball"

throughout Lancas.h.i.+re is a favourite name for a cart-horse,--See a further notice of "Old Ball" under Christmas.--EDS.]

ACTING WITH "BALL."

This is a curious practice, and is often subst.i.tuted for "pace-egging."

The bones of a horse's head are fixed in their natural position by means of wires. The bottoms of gla.s.s bottles do duty for eyes; and the head is covered with the skin of a calf. A handle is then fixed in the upper portion of the head, and the whole skull is supported on a stout pole shod with an iron hoop. A sack is then made to fit the skull neatly, and to hang low enough down so as to hide the person who plays "Ball." The sack, or cover, is also provided with a tail so as to look as nearly like a horse's tail as possible. Some five or six then take "Ball" about the country and play him where they can obtain leave. Sometimes a doggrel song is sung, while "Ball" prances about and snaps at the company. As soon as the song is finished, "Ball" plays his most boisterous pranks, and frequently hurts some of the company by snapping their fingers between his teeth when they are defending themselves from his attacks. The writer has seen ladies so alarmed as to faint and go into hysterics:--on this account "Ball" is now nearly extinct in the neighbourhoods of Blackburn, Burnley, &c.

EASTER CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE.

Children and young people as Easter approached, claimed their "pace-eggs" [from Pasche, the old term for Easter] as a privileged "dow"

[dole]. On the afternoon of Easter Sunday the young of both s.e.xes amused themselves in the meadows with these eggs, which they had dyed by the yellow blossoms of the "whin," or of other colours by dyeing materials.

Others performed a kind of Morris or Moorish dance or play, called "_Ignagning_," which some have supposed to be in honour of St. Ignatius; but more probably its derivation is from "_ignis Agnae_," a virgin and martyr who suffered at the stake about this time of the year.

"Ignagning," says the Rev. William Thornber,[164] "has almost fallen into disuse, and a band of boys, termed 'Jolly Lads,' has succeeded, who, instead of reciting the combat of the Turk and St. George, the champion of England, the death of the former, and his restoration to life by the far-travelled doctor, now sing of the n.o.ble deeds of Nelson and Collingwood; retaining, however, the freaks and jokes of 'Old Toss-pot,' the fool of the party, who still jingles the small bells hung about his dress." Easter Monday was a great day for the young people of the neighbourhood going to the yearly fair at Poulton. Happy was the maiden who could outvie her youthful acquaintance in exhibiting a greater number of "white cakes," the gifts of admiring youths; thereby proving beyond dispute the superior effects of her charms. Then the excitement and exertion of the dance! At that time dancing consisted in the feet beating time to a fiddle, playing a jig in double quick time; one damsel succeeding another, and striving to outdo her companions in her power of continuing this violent exercise, for much honour was attached to success in this respect, the bystanders meanwhile encouraging their favourites, as sportsmen do their dogs, with voice and clapping of hands. Such was--