Moonstone Research & Publications
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Moonstone Research & Publications
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Easter Customs from Hone’s Everyday Book Durham, March 3, 1826 To The Editor of the Every Day Book Sir,--To contribute towards the information you desire to convey regarding popular customs & etc. I will describe one much practiced in Durham. . . . On Easter Sunday it is a common custom here, for a number of boys to assemble in the afternoon, and as soon as the clock strikes four, scour the streets in parties, and accost every female they may happen to meet, with "pay for your shoes if you please," at the same time, stopping to take them off; which, if they do, and do not immediately get a penny or twopence, they will actually carry off by main force. I have known the boys have, at least, a dozen odd shoes; but generally, something is given, which in the evening they either spend in public houses or divide. On Easter Monday, the women claim the same privilege towards the male sex. They begin much earlier in the day, and attack every man and boy they can lay hold of to make them pay for their shoes; if the men happen to wear boots, and will not pay any thing, the girls generally endeavour to seize their hats and run off. If a man catches the girl with the hat, it is usually thrown or handed about to the great amusement of spectators, till the person is baffled out of sixpence to redeem the right of wearing it again: but this, like all other old customs has greatly fallen off lately, and is now chiefly practices by a few children. A contributor to the "Gentleman’s Magazine" in August 1790 says that, at Rippon in Yorkshire, "on Easter Sunday, as soon as the service of the church is over, the boys run about the streets, and lay hold of every woman or girl they can, and take their buckles from their shoes. This farce is continued till the next day at noon, when the females begin and return the compliment upon the men, which does not end till Tuesday evening; nay, I was told that, some years ago, no traveller could pass through the town without being stopped and having his spurs take away, unless redeemed by a little money, which is the only way to have your buckles returned." . . . . Easter Day Customs at Twickenham and Paddington. According to Mr. Lysons, "There was an ancient custom at Twickenham, of dividing two great cakes in the church upon Easter-day among the young people; but it being looked upon as a superstitious relic, it was ordered by parliament, 1645, that the parishioners should forbear that custom, and, instead, thereof, buy loaves of bread for the poor of the parish with the money that should have bought the cakes. It appears that the sum of 1 pound per annum is still charged upon the vicarage for the purpose of buying penny loaves for poor children on the Thursday after Easter. Within the memory of man they were thrown from the church-steeple to be scrambled for; a custom which prevailed also, some time ago at Paddington, and is not yet totally abolished." A correspondent’s images that the Paddington custom of throwing bread from the church-steeple, which exists also in other parishes, was derived from largesses bestowed on the poor by the Romish clergy on occasion of the festival, and that it has continued since the Reformation, and, therefore, since the institution of poor rates, without due regard to its’ original object. . . . . Paste Eggs. A correspondent, . . . mentions this custom in Cheshire: "Children go round the village and beg for eggs for their Easter dinner; they accompany it by short song. . . the burthen of it is addressed to the farmer’s dame, and asking "an egg, bacon, cheese, or an apple, or any good thing that will make us merry," ends with "And I pray you, good dame, an Easter egg." In Cumberland and 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, and Etc. The eggs being thus prepared, the boys go out and play with them in the fields; rolling them up and down, like bowls, upon the ground, or throwing them up, like balls, into the air. _________ Sugar Cupping In the Peak of Derbyshire To the Editor of the Every Day Book Sir--The pleasure and instruction I have derived from the perusal of your interesting miscellany, induced me to offer to your notice a custom in this neighbourhood denominated Sugar-cupping, which, like similar remnants of the "olden time" is gradually running into disuse. Last Sunday, being Easter-day, I walked to the "Dropping Tor", the rendezvous of the "sugar cuppers", but, owing, to the extreme inclemency of the weather, no one was there, nor was it, I believe, once visited during the day. From frequent inquiry of the oldest persons in the neighbourhood, I can learn nothing but that, on Easter Sunday, they were used, when children, to go to the "Dropping Tor", with a cup in one pocket and a quarter of a pound of sugar in the other, and having caught in their cups as much water as was desired from the droppings of the spring, they dissolved the sugar in it, and drank it. The natural consequences resulting from the congregation of a quantity of ‘young men and maidens" followed, and they returned home. . . . I conjecture this custom to be peculiar to this part. . . . . . . . . Prophecy Concerning Easter Notwithstanding the flood of information which has been poured over the country during the last half century, superstition, at once the child and mother of ignorance, still holds no inconsiderable sway over the minds of men. It is true that the days of ghosts and apparitions are nearly over, but futurity is as tempting as ever, and the seventh son of a seventh son is still potent enough to charm away the money and bewilder the senses of the credulous, and Nixon’s and Mother Shipton’s prophecies still find believers. The coincidences by which these legendary predictions are sometimes fulfilled are often curious. The present year may be said to witness the accomplishment of one. It had been said When my Lord falls in my Lady’s lap, England beware of some mishap. Meaning thereby, that when the festival of Easter falls near to Lady-day (the 25th of March) this country is threatened with some calamity. In the year 1818, Easter day happened on the 22nd of March, and in the November of that year, queen Charlotte died. In 1826, Easter day happening on the 26th of March, distress in the commercial world may be regarded as a fulfillment of the prediction. . . . . . . .
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