]3§gp*, Customs ans ff of M vv r " N AXV attempt to trace the origin of the innumerable myths Sj fw- |3 customs and superstition;; connected with the fetes and fes- M Sj R tivals oi tlie calendar, the student is confronted with two prob ■ I '''Hi's: The strong probability of their having been primarily of religious significance, and thus the potsherds, as it were, of cults long forgotten, and ihe possibility of their having become Byo o% pC B g«>'ble<l or altered in being handed down through the cen difficulty to the lull when be wrote in his "Description of Greece: \s to these fables of the Greeks 1 considered them childish when I began this work, but when I get as far as ibis book I formed this view: I hat thoM» who were reckoned wise among the Greeks spoke of old in rid dles and not directly, so i imagine the fables about Chronos to be Greek wis dom, of tlm traditions then fore about the gods I shall state such as 1 meet with." Plu'nrch also warned us against approaching these studies in the spirit of skepticism and does not leave us in the dark as to his attitude of steering a middle path between absolute unbelief and blind trust. "In regard to legendary lore, he says,"l stand in the position of one who neither alto gether believes nor altogether disbelieves. There are indeed some slender and ob.-enre particles ot truth scattered about in the mythology of the Egyptians, but they require a clever man to hunt them out, a man capable of getting great results from small data." At the period when these two authors wrote, all learn ing and science were confined to a very narrow circle of initiates. The common folks were kept in strict igno rance of the true meaning of their festivals; the mys teries were a hidden book as to their true significance, and only the outward and visible sign of the celebrations came within their ken. How far the secrets were kept by these initiates—a combination compared with which our steel and sugar trusts sink into mere insignificance is too well known to every student. Thus in many cases it is impossible to trace definitely the actual basis of these ancient myths and customs and any attempts, per force, must necessarily remain much in the nature of a patchwork quilt A scrap gathered here and there from the ancient writings helps to work up the quilt, but the ultimate stage has a somewhat crazy appearance. It is all the more exabperating, because many of these early writers, such as Herodotus, Plutarch and others have stopped short in their screeds just when a few ex tra words would have eased the knots that now prevent us from unraveling the skein. Tney were initiates and thus sworn to silence. Their oaths, however, did not pre vent them whetting our curiosity and leaving us in a po sition where, as Plutarch cynically remarks, it would in deed be a clever task to get "great results from small data." Athenaeus, another of the old Greek gossipers, in speaking of the policy of the Romans in adopting the cus toms of peoples whom they had conquered says:"For it is the conduct of prudent men to abide by those ancient institutions under which they and their ancestors have lived, and made war upon and subdued the rest of the world; and yet at the same time, if there were any use ful or honorable institutions among the peoples whom they have subdued, those they take for their imitation at the same time as they take their prisoners. And this was the conduct of the Romans in olden time; for they, main taining their national customs, at the same time intro duced from the nations whom they had subdued every relic ot desirable practices which they found." This, in a measure, was the policy of the early fathers in adapt fng heathen feasts and sacrifices to the festivals of the church. With them, however, it was rather a case or adaptation than of adoption, believing that the new or der of things would come easier to the converts to the Christian religion if the changes were not made too sweeping nor too harsh. Thus it is that so many of the customs connected with our festivals have come down to us from time long prior to the birth of (he Saviour. Unlike the many customs connected with the celebra tion of Christmas, those of the beginning of the New Year seems to bear more of the stamp of paganism. At the same time such customs show a rather close resem blance, due in a large measure to the fact that both can be traced lo the celebrations round the ancient festival of the Saturnalia and winter solstice, when the old year went out and the new came in; a period of general re joicing, and it, must be admitted of a great degree of row dyism, noise and license which all the fulminations of church councils in the Middle Ages and city ordinances and orders of chiefs of police in these later days have been unable to suppress. The youngster of to-day with his horn is just as prominent in creating a racket as was his prototype of a couple of thousand years ago. Of late years this period of noise has been largely re stricted to the eves of Christmas and New Year, but for merly the period closely following Christinas day was one of continuous jollification. Mummers perambulated the strees of the towns and villages, and the Lord of Misrule, the Abbot of Unreason or the Abbas Stultorum held' sway. The "Fete of Fools" was celebrated on the three days following Christmas, culminating on Holy Innocents day in a general jamboree, in which not even the churches were spared. Young people dressed themselves up as the great dignitaries of the church, and even the very offices seem to have been paradied and dances held in the churches. The second canon of the Council o! Cog nac, held 111 1200, put under pain of excommunication all such as masqueraded as bishops, etc. At the councils held at Nantes in 1431, and at Bourges in 1438, fulmina tions were hurled against the "Fete of Fools," while as early as 1212 the celebration was abolished by the council held at Paris. Yet the custom of masquerading on the days following Christmas is not yet extinct in many dis tricts of France and elsewhere, but the celebration has been shorn of much of its picturesqueness and at the so.'B". *imo cyf its extreme li«.?n? CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1909. The Lord of Misrule had jur isdic ti on in both the great English univer sities from Chr i st ra a s to Twelfth day. He regulated the celebrations and directed the plays acted at this period, for which here- ceived a regular stipend, but lrom the records of his rule that have been handed down to us it would rather seem that he himself was sadly in need of being regulated and disciplined. Each city had its similar functionary, and his jurisdiction was not limited to this festive season; he had the regu lation of all the festivals of the year. The reign of the Lord of Misrule may be said to have ended when Crom well and his "crop-eared" Puritans took charge of the government, and while there was some attempt to revive his lordship after the restoration of Charles 11., the bones had become too dried and the flesh shriveled up—he was a mere mummy of his former self. In Scotland the Ab bot of Unreason was suppressed much earlier—lsss—by the legislature, but whether such strong action was due to the spread of Puritanism or to the unbridled scenes of disorder is a question. Under Henry VIII., (1540) the procession of children on Childermas, or Innocents day, was forbidden in England by proclamation. There are! however, still a few traces of the Lord of Misrule. The English Christmas pantomimes open on December 26 — Boxing day and have now become as much of an estab lished institution as ever the Lord of Misrule was in his palmiest days. Of recent years the institution has found favor on this side oi the Atlantic. The masquerading on the streets of the Lord of Misrule and his followers has been merely transferred to the boards of the theater. In many parts of France masquerading by children is still in vogue during the three days following Christmas, and in most countries something analogous is to be found. Sometimes the feature is kept up until Twelfth day, while in some sections the fun does not commence until New Year's day. 1 hese first three days have been specially consecrated to the memory of saints and martyrs—St. Stephen on the 26th, St. John the Evangelist on the 27th, and holy inno cents or Childermas on the 28th. I he lact that the day next after Christmas was dedi cated to St. Stephen, the protomartyr, shows with what veneration he v/as held by the early church. On this day, in many parts of Ireland, and in the Isle of Man, it is still the custom of the boys to hunt the wren. The origin of this curious but cruel custom is hidden in the mist of ages and thus offers another difficulty of "getting great results from small data." One legend current in Ireland, and told by Lady Wilde, is to the effect that on one oc casion, when the Irish troops were approaching to at tack a partion of Cromwell's army, the wrens came and perched on the Irish drums, and by their tapping and noise aroused the English soldiers, who fell on the Irish soldiers and killed them all. This tale is a close analogue to that in which the cackling of geese is said to have saved Rome from capture, which even the staid Roman historian, Llvy, seems to treat wi'h a show of belief. The custom, however, dates back much further than Crom well and his Ironsides. In County Leltrim the dead birds are carried from house to house tied to a pole or bunch of fuize, covered with ribbons, etc., the boys chanting: The wren, the wren, the kins of .-ill birds On St. Stephen's Day he was caught In the furze: Although ho is little his family is groat, So rise up mistress and give us a treat. The mistress has to turn in a few pence to the boys, the "jackpot" thus created being opened by the boys at the end of the day. In the Isle of Man the boys give a feather of the wren to each good wife who contributes the necessary coin, and it can well be imagined that by the end of the day the appealance ot the bird is somewhat dilapidated. It is then buried on the sea shore with certain mock cere monies. In former years the interment was made in the churchyard. It wus and is still the custom in many parts of England to bleed the horses on St. Stephen's day. The efficacy of this treatment on this particular day, as a preventive of all equine ailments, was thought to be undoubted, but even old Tusser seems to have had his doubts on the day, or Childer mas (December 28), commemorates the massacre of the children in Hethlehem, under llerod. This in itself Is sufficient to explain its early recognition by the church. The superstition that the day is an unlucky one—a "dies nefastus"—is not only widely spread all over Europe, but is deeply rooted and can be traced back many hundreds of years. The superstition was strong all through the middle ages. In England, in the fifteenth century, it was thought so inauspicious that the day set for the coronation of Ed ward IV. (Sunday), happening to be Childemas, the cere mony was postponed until the following day. In the County of Suffolk at this day the superstition is carried even further, and on whatever day of the week Childe mas may happen to fall, that day is held to be unlucky throughout the year. The commencement of any new task is thought to be certain to be followed by failure. Addison gives an instance of this belief in the Spectator of March 1, 1710-'ll. "'Thursday,' says she, 'No, child, if it please God! You shall not begin upon Childermas day. Tell your Writing master that Friday will be soon enough.'" The custom of whipping the children as a reminder of the event commemorated by Childermas was common in France, and some parts of Normandy to-day there is still a remnant existing among the country folks, but the re ligious significance has been partly lost. This method of assisting the memory of the luckless urchin by scor ing hie; epidermis was formerly in vogue on other occa sions than Holy Innocents' day. In England it was for merly a common practice during the riding of the boun daries of parishes and manors on Ascension day to whip the youngsters at every important or disputed point. This "Christening in the days of his youth," was remem bered ever afterward, and the particular stone, cairn or streamlet marking the metes and bounds between adjoin ing parishes was thus indelibly mapped on his gray mat ter—a proceeding quite as efficacious as a survey. Although the festivities connected more closely with the celebration of Christmas day have completely over shadowed those of the New Year, still there are not a few coiners in Christendom wherein the latter season is held in much greater repute. In Scotland, in particu lar, it is the great holiday of the year, and on the eve and the day of New Year the canny Scot lets himself out with a vim. It would seem as if his spirits, pent up for a whole twelvemonth, find vent at this paticular season. In France, Roman law and custom have impressed themselves perhaps more strongly than elsewhere in Eu rope, not even excepting Italy itself, and the close po litical friendship which existed between Scotland and France previous to the ascension of James VI. to the throne still finds expression in the country to the north of the Tweed in a much stronger fashion than is gener ally believed. Many of the lowland terms of to-day are merely French in a Scottish guise. It is perhaps more to this close political entente than to the spread of the Puritan doctrines—doctrines which held everything in abomination, that smacked in the slightest degree of church festivals—that so many of the customs and super stitions now current among the canny Scots so closely resemble those of France. Christmas at one time was almost as much of a festival in Scotland as to the south of the border, and it seems that in the cities, at least, it is again showing recrudescence. But among the rank and file of the people, with the"Man in the Street," it is the New Year that holds his heart and at the same time disturbs his digestion and addles his brain. Any one who lias been in the "Canny Toun o' Edinbro" or Glas gow on a New Year's eve realizes the spirit of good will that reigns even if his ears be split by the pandemonium of noise and his eyes suffer by the reek of the torches, and it is rarely that the Scot in all his jollification at this period construes liberty as license. The custom of welcoming in the New Year has, however, on occasions, subject when he says in his "Five Points of Husbandry:" Yer Christmas bo passed, let horses bo let blood; For manie a purpose it dooth them much good; The day of St. Steeven old fathers did use; If that do mislike thee, some other day chuse. The commonsense reason for bleeding the horses on this day was that both man and beast bad the | three day following Christmas day as a holiday. In parts of Bohemias and elsewhere among the Slavic peo-S pies of Europe the master of they house gets no work out of his serv-m ants from Christmas to Innocents'X day, and in many sections the holi-J day and general suspension of work® is kept up until Twelfth day—Epl-C phany. Among the Valaks there is? a very significant custom. On the morning of St. Stephen's day the mistress of the house presents her husband with a pair of trousers in ' token of her obedience during the v ensuing year. Evidently the fragette campaign has not reached *:> into these remote Slavic regions. i$ Holy Innocents' boon marked by unpleasant features. On the eve of New Year 1812, the hoodlums of Edinburgh took advantage of the festival to rob unsuspecting citizens. Two ot the citizens died from the effects of the maltreatment at the hands of these rowdies, of whom three were executed as an example. This unfortunate incident threatened to put an end to the celebrations. With the Scots, the eve of New Year is known particu larly as "Hogmanay." Throughout the northeastern counties of England it is known as "Hagmena," but in many districts of the latter it is the entire week prece ding the New Year, rather than the last day of the year. There have been many attempts by philologists to get at the derivation of the term, and it has even been suggest ed that it is a corruption of two Greek words, signifying the holy moon or month." Opinion, however, leans to ward its French origin—"Au gui menez" (bring in the mistletoe), and "Au gui I'an neuf (to the mistletoe the New Year), both in allusion to the ceremonial gathering of the plant by the Druids. In almost every district in France we find the term in a more or less corrupted or dialectal form. The Scottish custom of the children go ing from house to house singing a short verse and beg ging the "guid wife" for a small present is identically the same as that known all over France. Get up, guid wife, and shake yere feathers. An' dlnna think that we are beggars, For we're yere bairns come oot the day. So rise and gie'a oor Hogmanay. chants the little Scotch kiddie, and the analogue of the doggerel can be found in every village of France. As the Scottish verselet shows, the "hogmanay" applies to the presents to the children, and has not the custom of giv ing presents at this season endured for centuries? Ovid, in his Fasli, alludes to the custom among the Romans of his day. Then the presents do not seem to have been at all costly and were more symbolical than otherwise, The palm-date and dried fig with the jar of honey and the small coin were the gifts, audit does not need any great stretch of imagination to guess their symbolic meaning. The cakes, fruit and luck-penny are still given the children--they are their "hogmanay." The superstition that the first person entering the house on New Year's morning, or the first one met dur ing the day, presages good or bad luck during the ensu ing year is almost universal. The first to cross the threshold or "first foot" has thus a peculiar significance and many are the precautions taken that he be of the lucky variety. We mention "he"for except in a very few isolated instanees the superstition that should a woman be the first-ioot ill-luck will follow is almost universal. Moreover, he must be a dark man—a red-headed man is anathema. A splay-footed, a pigeon-toed, squint-eyed or an individual whose eyebrows closely approximate, in fact any bodily or mental deformation carries bad luck with it. Yet even here we find a few exception which rather tend to disturb our belief in the infallibility of the rule. In the Bradwctll District of Northumberland a light-haired and splay-footed individual is preferred. In parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire a blonde "first, foot" Is reckoned quite lucky, while in the Maritime Alpine dis tricts a hump-backed visitor on New Year's day is held to bring in great luck with him. In Scotland the preju dice against a red-haired "first foot" is very strong and in the Isle of Man and all through Ireland it is quite as pronounced. The superstition of ill-luck being attached to red hair is very ancient. Among the ancient Egyptians and Jew ish people it was known. Typhon is said to have had this particular color to his "thatch," and red-haired men were abused at certain festivals, as Plutarch tells us In his "Moralia." Cain and Judas Iscariot are both said to have had the crimson topknot, while a well-known leg end current among the Jews says that this peculiar tint was the effect of falling down and worshiping the golden calf. In Norse and Gaelic legend we find that the hero is warned against a "ginger-headed" individual. 9
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