Lancashire Folk-lore Part 27

[186] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[187] P. 199.

BIRTH AND BAPTISMAL CUSTOMS.

Many of the customs attending child-bearing, churching, and christening are not peculiar to Lancashire, but common nearly all over England. The term "the lady in the straw," merely meant the lady confined to her bed, as all beds were anciently stuffed with straw. It was formerly the custom in Lancashire, as elsewhere, for the husband against the birth of the child to provide a large cheese and a cake. These were called "the groaning" cheese and cake; and throughout the north of England the first cut of the sick wife's cheese, or groaning cheese, is taken and laid under the pillows of young women to cause them to dream of their lovers.

Amongst customs now obsolete was the giving a large entertainment at the churching. Now it is usually given at the christening.

PRESENTS TO WOMEN IN CHILDBED.

In a note on an entry of _Nicholls's a.s.sheton's Journal_, Dr. Whitaker and its Editor, the Rev. Canon Raines, say that the custom of making presents to women in childbed, is yet called "presenting" in Craven. It is now quite obsolete in South Lancashire, although it continued to be observed to the middle of the eighteenth century. In a MS. journal of 1706 is an entry "John Leigh brought my wife a groaning-cake: gave him 6_d._" Other entries in the same journal show that money gifts ranged from 1_s._ 6_d._ to 5_s._ (the last being to the minister's wife); besides smaller gifts to maids and midwives, and bottles of wine, syrup of ginger, and other creature comforts to the person confined.

TEA-DRINKING AFTER CHILDBIRTH.

In some parts of North Lancashire it is customary to have a tea-drinking after the recovery from childbirth. All the neighbours and friends are invited--sometimes many more than can be comfortably accommodated--and both tea and rum are plentifully distributed. After tea, each visitor pays a shilling towards the expense of the birth feast; and the evening is spent in the usual gossip.

TURNING THE BED AFTER CHILDBIRTH.

An attendant was making a bed occupied by the mother of a child born a few days previously. When she attempted to turn it over, to give it a better shaking, the nurse energetically interfered, peremptorily forbidding her doing so till a month after the confinement, on the ground that it was decidedly unlucky; and said that she never allowed it to be done till then, on any account whatever.[188]

AN UNBAPTIZED CHILD CANNOT DIE.

The _Morning Herald_ of the 18th June, 1860, notices a case of attempted infanticide near Liverpool. The wretched mother, having gained access to a gentleman's grounds, laid her child on the ground and covered it with sods. The child was happily discovered and its life saved. The mother was apprehended and charged with having attempted to murder her child.

She confessed that she was guilty, and added ["the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel"] that she had previously succeeded in getting the child baptized, as she believed it could not otherwise have died. This is a strange bit of folk-lore.[189]

GIFTS TO INFANTS.

It is a custom in some parts of Lancashire, as well as in Yorkshire, Northumberland, and other counties, that when an infant first goes out of the house, in the arms of the mother or the nurse, in some cases the first family visited, in others every neighbour receiving the call, presents to or for the infant an egg, some salt, some bread, and in some cases a small piece of money. These gifts are to ensure, as the gossips avow, that the child shall never want bread, meat, or salt to it, or money, throughout life. The old custom of sponsors giving the child twelve tea-spoons, called "Apostle Spoons," is now obsolete. The gift of a coral with bells, is supposed to have had its origin in a very ancient superst.i.tion. Coral, according to Pliny, was deemed an amulet against fascination; and it was thought to preserve and fasten the teeth. The coral-bells (especially if blest by the priest) would scare away evil spirits from the child.

CHANGELINGS.

There is even yet in some parts of Lancashire a strong dread of the fairies or witches coming secretly and exchanging their own ill-favoured imps, for the newly born infant; and various charms are used to prevent the child from being thus stolen away.

FOOTNOTES:

[188] A. B., Liverpool, in _Notes and Queries_, vi. 432.

[189] W. S. Simpson, in _Notes and Queries_, 2nd series, x. p. 184.

BETROTHING AND BRIDAL OR WEDDING CUSTOMS.

BETROTHING CUSTOMS.

The common custom of breaking a piece of silver or gold (if it be crooked, so much the luckier) between lovers of the humbler cla.s.ses, especially when the man is going to a distance, is believed to have had its origin in a sort of betrothal or promise of marriage, much practised amongst the ancient Danes, called _Hand-festing_, which is mentioned by Ray in his Collection or Glossary of Northumbrian Words. It means hand-fastening or binding. In betrothal it was also the custom to change rings, formed of two links or hoops, called gemmel rings, from _gemelli_, twins.

CURIOUS WEDDING CUSTOM.

An ancient custom at weddings of the poorer cla.s.ses in Lancashire, and in some parts of c.u.mberland, is thus described:--The Lord of the Manor, in whose jurisdiction the marriage takes place, allowed the parties a piece of ground for a house and garden. All their friends a.s.sembled on the wedding-day, and the bridegroom having provided a dinner and drink, they set to work and constructed a dwelling for the young couple, of clay and wood, what is called post and petrel, or wattle and daub. Many of these "clay biggins" still remain in the Fylde district and the northern parts of Lancashire. The relatives of the pair supplied the most necessary part of the furniture, and thus they were enabled to "start fair" in the world.[190]

COURTING AND WEDDING CUSTOMS IN THE FYLDE.

On the occasion of a marriage, a christening, or a churching, each guest either sent or presented some offering of money or food; thus providing a sufficient stock of provisions for the entertainment without much, if any, cost to the host. The preliminaries before marriage, the addresses paid by the swain to his sweetheart after the day's labour was done, were styled "the sitting-up," the night being the time allotted to courtship, by the kitchen fire, after the other members of the family had retired to rest. This "sitting-up" was regularly observed every Sat.u.r.day night if the lover was faithful; if otherwise, the price of the "lant" (?) of the forsaken fair was transmitted by her to the rival preferred by her inconstant swain. On the wedding-day, when a bride and her "groom" left the house to have the marriage rites solemnized, some relative or servant threw at or after the smiling pair a "shuffle"

(_Pantoufle_, an old shoe or slipper)--a custom in its origin said to be Jewish--as a preventive of future unhappiness, an omen of good-luck and prosperity. At the church-door an idle crowd was always ready for the "perry,"--that is, to contest for the dole of scattered half-pence, or if disappointed, to deprive the bride of her shawl or shoes, till some largess was bestowed. The day was spent in the company of a merry party of friends, who, after the ceremony of "throwing the stocking" over the bed of the wedded pair was performed, retired to their homes.[191]

ANCIENT BRIDAL CUSTOM.--THE BRIDE'S CHAIR AND THE FAIRY HOLE.

On the lower declivity of Warton Crag, in the parish of Warton (which abuts on Morecambe Bay and the Westmorland border), commanding a beautiful and extended prospect of the bay, a seat called "The Bride's Chair" was resorted to on the day of marriage by the brides of the village; and in this seat they were enthroned with due solemnity by their friends; but the origin and the object of the custom, which has now fallen in disuse, are unknown. Not far from Warton Crag are three rocking-stones placed in a line, about forty feet asunder, the largest stone lying in the middle. A cave is also mentioned by Lucas, named "The Fairy Hole," where dwarf spirits called Elves or Fairies, were wont to resort.[192]

BURNLEY.

An ancient custom prevails at Burnley Grammar School, by which all persons married at St. Peter's Church in that town are fined by the boys. As soon as a wedding is fixed the parish clerk informs the boys, and on the day appointed they depute two of their number to wait upon the groomsman and demand a fee. There is no fixed sum named; but enough is got to purchase books and maintain a tolerable library for the use of the pupils. Former pupils always pay a liberal fine.

MARRIAGES AT MANCHESTER PARISH CHURCH.

"Th'owd Church," as the collegiate church of Manchester was provincially designated before it attained the dignity of a cathedral, was known and celebrated far and wide over the extensive parish. Its altar has witnessed the joining together of thousands of happy [and unhappy]

couples. The fees here being less than those demanded at other churches, which had to pay tribute to it, it was of course the most popular sanctuary in the whole parish for the solemnization of matrimony. At the expiration of Lent (during which the marriage fees are doubled) crowds of candidates for nuptial honours present themselves; indeed so numerous are they that the ceremony is performed by wholesale on Easter Monday. A chaplain of facetious memory [the Rev. Joshua Brookes] is said to have on one of these occasions accidentally united the wrong parties. When the occurrence was represented to him, his ready reply was, "Pair as you go out; you're all married; pair as you go out." This verbal certificate appeared to give general satisfaction, and each bridegroom soon found his right bride. Sir George Head, in his _Home Tour through the Manufacturing Districts, in the summer of 1835_, thus describes what he saw of these wholesale Monday marriages:--"I attended the Old Church at Manchester one Monday morning, in order to witness the solemnization of several marriages, which I had reason to suppose were then and there to take place. I had heard on the preceding Sunday the banns proclaimed as follows:--'For the first time of asking, 65; for the second time, 72; for the third time, 60. Total, 197.' Having been informed that it would be expedient to be on the spot at eight in the morning I repaired thither at that hour. Operations, however, did not commence before ten.

The latter is the usual time of proceeding to business, although in cases of persons married by licence 8 o'clock is the hour. When all was ready and the church doors opened, the clergyman and clerk betook themselves to the vestry; and the people who were about to be married, and their friends, seated themselves in the body of the church opposite the communion table, on benches which were placed there for the purpose.

Not less than fifty persons were a.s.sembled, among whom I took my seat quietly, without being noticed. A party who had arrived in a narrow _vis a vis_ fly, most exclusively paraded in the meantime up and down (as if unwilling to identify themselves with the humbler candidates of matrimony) in another part of the church. The people at first took their seats in solemn silence, each one inquisitively surveying his neighbour; but as the clergyman and clerk were some time in preparation, the men first began to whisper one to another and the women to t.i.tter, till by degrees they all threw off their reserve, and made audible remarks on the new comers. There was little _mauvaise honte_ among the women, but of the men, poor fellows! some were seriously abashed; while among the hymeneal throng there seemed to prevail a sentiment that obtains pretty generally among their betters, namely, inclination to put shy people out of conceit with themselves. Thus, at the advance of a sheepish-looking bridegroom, he was immediately a.s.sailed on all sides with 'Come in, man; what art thou afraid of? n.o.body 'll hurt thee!' And then a general laugh went round in a repressed tone, but quite sufficient to confound and subdue the new comer. Presently a sudden buzz broke out, 'The clergyman's coming;' and all was perfectly silent. About twelve couples were to be married; the rest were friends and attendants. The former were called upon to arrange themselves all together around the altar.

The clerk was an adept in his business, and performed the duties of his office in a mode admirably calculated to set the people at their ease and direct the proceedings. In appointing them to their proper places, he addressed each in an intonation of voice perfectly soft and soothing, and which carried with it more of encouragement as he made use of no appellative but the Christian name of the person spoken to. Thus he proceeded:--'Daniel and Phbe; this way, Daniel, take off your gloves, Daniel. William and Anne; no, Anne; here, Anne; t'other side, William. John and Mary; here, John; oh! John.' And then addressing them all together, 'Now, all of you give your hats to some person to hold.'

Although the marriage service appeared to me (adds Sir George) to be generally addressed to the whole party, the clergyman was scrupulously exact in obtaining the accurate responses from each individual."

Many wedding customs, as the bridesmaids and best men, the wedding-ring, the nuptial kiss in the church, the bouquet borne in the hand of the bride, &c., the scattering of flowers in her path, the throwing of an old shoe after her for luck, the giving gloves, &c., are of ancient origin, and are the relics of Anglo-Saxon or Danish usages.

FOOTNOTES: