A Righte Merrie Christmasse Part 14

In 1570 was published "The Popish Kingdome, or, Reigne of Antichrist, written in Latin Verse by Thomas Naogeorgus (Kirchmayer) and englished by Barnabe Googe," and in it we have some curious Christmas customs and folk-lore.

Then comes the day wherein the Lorde did bring his birth to pa.s.se; Whereas at midnight up they rise, and every man to Ma.s.se.

This time so holy counted is, that divers earnestly Do thinke the waters all to wine are chaunged sodainly; In that same houre that Christ himselfe was borne, and came to light, And unto water streight againe transformde and altred quight.

There are beside that mindfully the money still do watch, That first to aultar commes, which then they privily do s.n.a.t.c.h.

The priestes, least other should it have, takes oft the same away, Whereby they thinke, throughout the yeare to have good lucke in play, And not to lose: then straight at game till day-light do they strive, To make some present proofe how well their hallowde pence wil thrive.

Three Ma.s.ses every priest doth sing upon that solemne day, With offrings unto every one, that so the more may play.

This done, a woodden child in clowtes is on the aultar set, About the which both boyes and gyrles do daunce and trymly jet, And Carrols sing in prayse of Christ, and, for to helpe them heare, The organs aunswere every verse with sweete and solemne cheere.

The priestes doe rore aloude; and round about the parentes stande, To see the sport, and with their voyce do helpe them and their hande.

Another old Christmas belief may be found in the _Golden Legend_, printed by Wynkyn de Worde, where it is said, "that what persone beynge in clene lyfe desyre on thys daye (_Christmas_) a boone of G.o.d: as ferre as it is ryghtfull and good for hym, our lorde at reuerence of thys blessid and hye feste of his natiuite wol graunt it to hym."

Most English Christmas customs, save the Christmas Tree, cards, and the stocking hung up to receive gifts, are old, but one of the prettiest modern ones that I know of was started by the Rev. J.

Kenworthy, Rector of Ackworth, in Yorkshire, about forty years since, of hanging a sheaf of corn outside the church porch, on Christmas eve, for the special benefit of the birds. It seems a pity that it is not universally practised in rural parishes.

To be spoken of in the past tense also are, I fear, the Christ-tide customs of Wales--the _Mari Lhoyd_, or _Lwyd_, answering to the Kentish _Hodening_, and the _Pulgen_, or the Crowning of the c.o.c.k, which was a simple religious ceremony. About three o'clock on Christmas morning the Welsh in many parts used to a.s.semble in church, and, after prayers and a sermon, continue there singing psalms and hymns with great devotion till it was daylight; and if, through age or infirmity, any were disabled from attending, they never failed having prayers at home and carols on our Saviour's nativity.

At Tenby it was customary at four o'clock on Christmas morning for the young men of the town to escort the rector with lighted torches from his residence to the church. Sometimes also, before or after Christmas day, the fishermen of Tenby dressed up one of their number, whom they called the "Lord Mayor of Pennyless Cove," with a covering of evergreens and a mask over his face; they would then carry him about, seated in a chair, with flags flying, and a couple of violins playing before him. Before every house the "Lord Mayor" would address the occupants, wishing them a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. If his good wishes were responded to with money his followers gave three cheers, the masquer would himself give thanks, and the crowd again cheered.

In Scotland, Christ-tide is not observed as much as in England, the Scotch reserving all their festive energy for the New Year. Yet, in some parts of Scotland, he who first opens the door on Yule day is esteemed more fortunate during the coming year than the remainder of the family, because he "lets in Yule." And Yule is treated as a real person, as some people set a table or chair, covered with a clean cloth, in the doorway, and set upon it bread and cheese for Yule. It is common also to have a table covered in the house from morning till night with bread and drink upon it, that every one who calls may take a portion, and it is considered particularly inauspicious if any one comes into a house and leaves it without doing so. However many be the callers during the day, all must partake of the good cheer.

In Chambers's _Popular Rhymes_ (ed. 1870, p. 169), it is said that the doings of the guisards (masquers) form a conspicuous feature in the New Year proceedings throughout Scotland. The evenings on which these persons are understood to be privileged to appear are those of Christmas, Hogmanay, New Year's day, and Handsel Monday. Dressed in quaint and fantastic attire, they sing a selection of songs which have been practised by them some weeks before. There were important doings, however--one of a theatrical character. There is one rude and grotesque drama (called Galatian) which they are accustomed to perform on each of the four above-mentioned nights; and which, in various fragments or versions, exists in every part of Lowland Scotland. The performers, who are never less than three, but sometimes as many as six, having dressed themselves, proceed in a band from house to house, generally contenting themselves with the kitchen as an arena, whither, in mansions presided over by the spirit of good humour, the whole family will resort to witness the scene of mirth.

Grant, in his _Popular Superst.i.tions of the Highlands_, says that as soon as the brightening glow of the eastern sky warns the anxious housemaid of the approach of Christmas day, she rises, full of anxiety at the prospect of her morning labours. The meal, which was steeped in the _sowans bowie_ a fortnight ago to make the _Prechdacdan sour_, or _sour scones_, is the first object of her attention. The gridiron is put on the fire, and the sour scones are soon followed by hard cakes, soft cakes, b.u.t.tered cakes, bannocks, and _pannich perm_. The baking being once over, the sowans pot succeeds the gridiron, full of new sowans, which are to be given to the family, agreeably to custom, this day in their beds. The sowans are boiled into the consistency of mola.s.ses, when the _lagan-le-vrich_, or yeast bread, to distinguish it from boiled sowans, is ready. It is then poured into as many bickers as there are individuals to partake of it, and presently served to the whole, both old and young. As soon as each despatches his bicker, he jumps out of bed--the elder branches to examine the ominous signs of the day, and the younger to enter into its amus.e.m.e.nts.

Flocking to the swing--a favourite amus.e.m.e.nt on this occasion, the youngest of the family gets the first "shouder," and the next oldest to him, in regular succession. In order to add more to the spirit of the exercise, it is a common practice with the person in the swing, and the person appointed to swing him, to enter into a very warm and humorous altercation. As the swung person approaches the swinger, he exclaims, "_Ei mi tu chal_"--"I'll eat your kail." To this the swinger replies, with a violent shove, "_Cha ni u mu chal_"--"You shan't eat my kail." These threats and repulses are sometimes carried to such a height as to break down or capsize the threatener, which generally puts an end to the quarrel.

As the day advances those minor amus.e.m.e.nts are terminated at the report of the gun, or the rattle of the ball-clubs--the gun inviting the marksmen to the _Kiavamuchd_, or prize-shooting, and the latter to _Luchd-vouil_, or the ball combatants--both the princ.i.p.al sports of the day. Tired at length of the active amus.e.m.e.nts of the field, they exchange them for the substantial entertainment of the table. Groaning under the "_Sonsy Haggis_" and many other savoury dainties, unseen for twelve months before, the relish communicated to the company by the appearance of the festive board is more easily conceived than described. The dinner once despatched, the flowing bowl succeeds, and the sparkling gla.s.s flies to and fro like a weaver's shuttle. The rest of the day is spent in dancing and games.

An old Shetlander, telling about Yule-time in Shetland[64] in his boyhood, says: "I daresay Yule--the dear Yule I remember so well--will ere long be known and spoken of only as a tradition; for, altogether, life in those islands is now very different from what it was some fifty or sixty years ago." Yule, it seems, was then kept on old Christmas day, and great were the preparations made for it. Everybody had to have a new suit of clothes for the season, and the day began with a breakfast at nine--a veritable feast of fat things; and "before we rise from the table, we have yet to partake of the crowning glory of a Yule breakfast, and without which we should not look upon it as a Yule breakfast at all. From the sideboard are now brought and set before our host a large china punch-bowl, kept expressly for the purpose; a salver, with very ancient, curiously-shaped large gla.s.ses--also kept sacred to the occasion--and a cake-basket heaped with rich, crisp shortbread. The bowl contains _whipcol_, the venerable and famous Yule breakfast beverage. I do not know the origin or etymology of the name _whipcol_. I do not think it is to be found in any of the dictionaries. I do not know if it was a Yule drink of our Viking ancestors in the days of paganism. I do not know if there was any truth in the tradition that it was the favourite drink of the dwellers in Valhalla, G.o.ds and heroes, when they kept their high Yule festival. But this I know, there never was, in the old house, a Yule breakfast without it. It had come down to us from time immemorial, and was indissolubly connected with Yule morning. That is all I am able to say about it, except that I am able to give the const.i.tuents of this luscious beverage, which is not to be confounded with egg-flip. The yelks of a dozen fresh eggs are whisked for about half an hour with about a pound of sifted loaf sugar; nearly half a pint of old rum is added, and then a pint of rich, sweet cream. A b.u.mper of this, tossed off to many happy returns of Yule day, together with a large square of shortbread, always rounded up our Yule breakfast."

[Footnote 64: _Chambers' Journal_, Dec. 21, 1881.]

Football was the only game played at, and at this they continued till 3 P.M., when they sat down to a dinner which entirely eclipsed the breakfast. After tea, there was dancing to the music of a fiddler until eleven, when a substantial supper was partaken of, then several gla.s.ses of potent punch, before retiring to rest. For a whole week this feasting and football playing was kept up, and wonderful must have been the const.i.tutions of the Shetlanders who could stand it.

In Catholic Ireland, as opposed to Presbyterian Scotland, we might expect a better observance of Christ-tide; and the best account I can find of Christmas customs in Ireland is to be met with in _Notes and Queries_ (3rd series, viii. 495).

"Many of what are called 'the good old customs' are not now observed in the rural districts of Ireland; and I have heard ignorant old men attribute the falling off to the introduction of railways, the improvement of agricultural operations, and cattle shows! Amongst some of the customs that I remember in the south-east of Ireland were the following:

"A week or two before Christmas landed proprietors would have slaughtered fine fat bullocks, the greater portion of which would be distributed to the poor; and farmers holding from ten acres of land upwards, were sure to kill a good fat pig, fed up for the purpose, for the household; but the poorer neighbours were also certain of receiving some portions as presents. When the hay was made up in the farm yards, which was generally about the time that apples became ripe, quant.i.ties of the fruit would be put in the hayricks, and left there till Christmas. The apples thus received a fine flavour, no doubt from the aroma of the new-mown hay. In localities of rivers frequented by salmon, which came up with the floods of August and September, the inhabitants used to select the largest fish, pickle them in vinegar, whole ginger, and other spices, and retain them till Christmas, when they formed a most delicious dish at the breakfast table. Large trout were preserved in like manner for the same purpose.

Eggs were collected in large quant.i.ties, and were preserved in corn chaff, after having been first rubbed over with b.u.t.ter. I have eaten eggs, so preserved, after three or four months and they tasted as fresh as if only a day old.

"In districts where the farmers were well-to-do, and in hamlets and villages, young men used to go about fantastically dressed, and with fifes and drums serenade and salute the inhabitants, for which they were generally rewarded with eggs, b.u.t.ter, and bacon. These they would afterwards dispose of for money, and then have a 'batter,' which, as Dr. Todd, of Trinity College, Dublin, truly says, is a 'drinking bout.' These bands of itinerant minstrels were called 'Mummers.' They are not now to be met with. It was usual for people to send presents to each other, which consisted chiefly of spirits (_potheen_, home-made whisky), beer, fine flour, geese, turkeys, and hares. A beverage called 'Mead,' which was extracted from honeycomb, was also a favourite liquor, and when mixed with a little alcoholic spirit, was an agreeable drink, but deceitful and seductive, as well as intoxicating. This used to pa.s.s in large quant.i.ties amongst neighbours. 'Christmas cakes' and puddings were extensively made and sent as presents. The latter were particularly fine, and made with fine flour, eggs, b.u.t.ter, fruit, and spices. I have never met anything in cities and large towns to equal them in their way, both as regards wholesomeness and flavour.

"Of course, the houses were all decorated with holly and ivy, winter natural flowers, and other emblems of joy. People hardly went to bed at all on Christmas eve, and the first who announced the crowing of the c.o.c.k, if a male, was rewarded with a cup of tea, in which was mixed a gla.s.s of spirits; if a female, the tea only; but, as a subst.i.tute for the whisky, she was saluted with half a dozen kisses, which was the greatest compliment that could be paid her. The Christmas block for the fire, or Yule log, was indispensable. The last place in which I saw it was the hall of Lord Ward's mansion, near Downpatrick, in Ireland; and although it was early in the forenoon, his lordship (then a young man) insisted on my tasting a gla.s.s of whisky, not to break the custom of the country, or the hall. He did the same himself."

CHAPTER XVII

Ordinance against out-door Revelry--Marriage of a Lord of Misrule--Mummers and Mumming--Country Mummers--Early Play--Two modern Plays.

These Christmas revelries were sometimes carried to excess, and needed curbing with the strong hand of the law, an early instance of which we find in Letter Book I. of the Corporation of the City of London, fol.

223, 6 Henry V., A.D. 1418.

"The Mair and Aldermen chargen on e kynges byhalf, and is Cite, at no manere persone, of what astate, degre, or condicoun at euere he be, duryng is holy tyme of Christemes be so hardy in eny wyse to walk by nyght in eny manere mommyng, pleyes, enterludes, or eny oer disgisynges with eny feynyd berdis,[65] peyntid visers, diffourmyd or colourid visages in eny wyse, up peyne of enprisonement of her bodyes and makyng fyne after e discrecioun of e Mair and Aldremen; ontake[66] at hit be leful to eche persone for to be honestly mery as he can, within his owne hous dwellyng. And more ouere ei charge on e Kynges byhalf, and e Cite, at eche honest persone, dwellyng in eny hye strete or lane of is Citee, hang out of her house eche night, duryng is solempne Feste, a lanterne with a candell er in, to brenne[67] as long as. .h.i.t may endure, up[68] peyne to pay ivd, to e chaumbre at eche tyme at hit faillith."

[Footnote 65: False beards.]

[Footnote 66: Except that it shall be.]

[Footnote 67: Burn.]

[Footnote 68: Upon pain of paying.]

And to cite another case, much later in date, the Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical kept strict watch on some of the Christmas revellers of 1637. They had before them one Saunders, from Lincolnshire, for carrying revelry too far. Saunders and others, at Blatherwick, had appointed a Lord of Misrule over their festivities.

This was perfectly lawful, and could not be gainsaid. But they had resolved that he should have a lady, or Christmas wife; and probably there would have been no harm in that, if they had not carried the matter too far. They, however, brought in as bride one Elizabeth Pitto, daughter of the hog-herd of the town. Saunders received her, disguised as a parson, wearing a shirt or smock for a surplice. He then married the Lord of Misrule to the hog-herd's daughter, reading the whole of the marriage service from the Book of Common Prayer. All the after ceremonies and customs then in use were observed, and the affair was carried to its utmost extent. The parties had time to repent at leisure in prison.

The old English disport of mumming at Christmas is of great antiquity--so great that its origin is lost. Fosbroke, in his _Encyclopaedia of Antiquities_ (ed. 1843, ii. 668), says, under the heading "Mummers: These were amus.e.m.e.nts derived from the Saturnalia, and so called from the Danish _mumme_, or Dutch _momme_--disguise in a mask. Christmas was the grand scene of mumming, and some mummers were disguised as bears, others like unicorns, bringing presents. Those who could not procure masks rubbed their faces with soot, or painted them.

In the Christmas mummings the chief aim was to surprise by the oddity of the masks, and singularity and splendour of the dresses. Everything was out of nature and propriety. They were often attended with an exhibition of gorgeous machinery.[69] It was an old custom also to have mummeries on Twelfth night. They were the common holiday amus.e.m.e.nts of young people of both s.e.xes; but by 6 Edward III. the mummers, or masqueraders, were ordered to be whipped out of London."

[Footnote 69: Fosbroke here seems to have mixed up masquers and mummers.]

The original mumming was in dumb show, and was sometimes of considerable proportions, _vide_ one in 1348, where there were "eighty tunics of buckram, forty-two visors, and a great variety of other whimsical dresses were provided for the disguising at court at the Feast of Christmas." A most magnificent mummery or disguising was exhibited by the citizens of London in 1377, for the amus.e.m.e.nt of Richard, Prince of Wales, in which no fewer than 130 persons were disguised; which, with that in 1401, I have already described. Philip Stubbes, the Puritan, says: "In 1440, one captain John Gladman, a man ever true and faithful to G.o.d and the King, and constantly sportive, made public disport with his neighbours at Christmas. He traversed the town on a horse as gaily caparisoned as himself, preceded by the twelve months, each dressed in character. After him crept the pale attenuated figure of Lent, clothed in herring skins, and mounted on a sorry horse, whose harness was covered with oyster sh.e.l.ls. A train, fantastically garbed, followed. Some were clothed as bears, apes, and wolves; others were tricked out in armour; a number appeared as harridans, with blackened faces and tattered clothes, and all kept up a promiscuous fight. Last of all marched several carts, whereon a number of fellows, dressed as old fools, sat upon nests, and pretended to hatch young fools."

We still have our mummers in very many a country village; but the sport is now confined to the village boys, who, either masked or with painted faces, ribbons, and other finery (I have known them tricked out with paper streamers, obtained from a neighbouring paper mill), act a play(!), and, of course, ask for money at its conclusion. By some, it is considered that this play originated in the commemoration of the doughty deeds of the Crusaders.

The earliest of these plays that I can find is in a fifteenth century MS.--_temp._ Edward IV.--and the characters are the nine worthies:

_Ector de Troye._ Thow Achylles in bataly me slow, Of my worthynes men speken I now.

_Alisander._ And in romaunce often am I leyt, As conqueror gret thow I seyt.

_Julius Caesar._ Thow my cenatoures me slow in c[=o]llory, Fele londes byfore by conquest wan I.

_Josue._ In holy Chyrche 3e mowen here and rede, Of my worthynes and of my dede.

_Dauit._ After y^{t} slayn was Golyas, By me the sawter than made was.

_Judas Macabeus._ Of my wurthynesse 3yf 3e wyll wete, Secke the byble, for ther it is wrete.

_Arthour._ The round tabyll I sette w^{t} Knyghtes strong, Zyt shall I come a3en, thow it be long.

_Charles._ With me dwellyd Rouland Olyvere, In all my conquest fer and nere.

_G.o.defry de Boleyn._ And I was Kyng of Jherusalem, The crowne of thorn I wan fro hem.