MERRY ENGLAND STILL LIVES!

Evening Star, Issue 21742, 9 June 1934, Page 19

MERRY ENGLAND STILL LIVES!

A FEW OLD-TIME SUMMER CUSTOMS [By Beeesfohd Webb.} If you should ask me for the merriest and most fascinating tour of the British Isles I would set you a route, be your holiday long or short, which would take you from place to place where the old customs and revelries of England are still perpetuated. It would be a glorious, hilarious tour* a holiday spent, in a carefree, unsophisticated land, in pleasant old world places, with simple and hospitable folk* Will you come with me in imagination on just such a tour, starting in, the blazing sun of glorious June and finish-; ing amid a riot of autumn colouring? June, of course, is pageant month* and, memories of rich and colourful events are vividly portrayed in sylvan settings; but, apart from historical pageantry, there are days in June which have been given over to certain events for centuries of red letter days in Britain’s calendar. PAGEANTRY OF WHITEHALL. On June 4, for example, there is that’ most colourful of all military displays* the trooping of the colour in honour of the King’s birthday,. when all who love fine horses and fine men, brilliant, and glittering uniforms, and stirring music, gather on Horse Guards Parade in London. , That same day one may journey hut a few miles to the royal town of Windsor, on the banks of Father Thames* to watch England’s most famous school* Eton College, commemorate the glorious Fourth of June. Such a pageantry of the river, with gay and begarlauded boats and crews, fairy lights and fireworks, speeches and tuneful songs, as may well delight your heart and eyes. On that day, too, those who are in Scotland can witness the quaint spectacle of the Riding of the Marches at Lanark. The Riding of the Marches is as ancient as it is popular among the townsmen of the Scottish border, BEATING THE BOUNDSMany of these celebrations coramemo- r rate the victory of Fiodden Field, although some of their features date pack to pagan times. The ceremony is really equivalent to Beating the Bounds to preserve the memory of ancient landmarks and rights of way; still practised year by year in many parts of England. About this time of the year those who visit the English coast, at Hastings for example, on the south coast, can witness an old Christian custom,' the solemn procession of clergy and choir to the seashore. A sermon is preached* sometimes from a lifeboat,-and the fishermen and their nets blessed, -prayers being offered for a good harvest from the sea. i Towards the end of June one must haste to the rugged beauties of the Derbyshire Peak district for the famous well-dressing ceremonies. This custom, once pagan, has, like many pagan rites, been turned by the Christian church to her own use. So to-day these Derbyshire wells are solemnly blessed* after being adorned with beautiful designs in flower petals and evergreens by craftsiheu who have inherited the art from generations of forebears.

THE “PATTERNS” OF IRELAND.Neither is the Emerald Isle lacking in old-time customs, particularly in the months of June, July, and August, for these arc the months of the “ Patterns ” in Ireland of the welcomes reminiscent of the religious fairs of England and the Pardons of Brittany. A “ Pattern ” is a colourful commemoration of a saint’s feast, starting in the morning witlrMass and a short sermon about the saint or the particular event commemorated. The rest of the day is given over to all. the delights of a country fair, with 1 plays, songs and dances, and innumerable side shows.’ July is equally rich in old-time customs. One of the earliest is the famous Tynwald ceremony of promulgating the laws passed by the Manx Parliament. It was first instituted by ,the old sea rovers of Norway, who gave the Isle of Man its parliamentary system,The ceremony takes place at St. John’s,The Governor of the island Parliament meet on a small hill composed of earth taken from every parish in the / island; The procession of officials is along a path strewn with rushes, a gift of landowners to the Lord of Man. On July 12 the Vintners’ Company, goes in procession to St. James’s, Garlickhithe. Two wine porters in white smocks and top hats sweep the streets before them. Posies of flowers and herbs are carried, relics of days when streets were less sweet than they are to-day. A PROCESSION OF BOATS. Then on the last Monday in .1 uly the Swan Wardens of the Vintners’ and otha Dyers’ Companies, with the Swan Warden of the Crown, set out on their annual Swan Upping expedition on the Thames. Far back into history thi* custom has been a yearly event, for swans are Royal birds. Edward 111* graciously gave to certain people the privilege of swan owning, and to-day that ownership on the Thames is limited to these two city companies, the Vintners’ and the Dyers’. All other Thames swans, unmarked, are the property of the King, the Seigneur of the Swans. So it comes that the cygnets ar« rounded up each year and, according to the marking of their parents, are given, two marks on the bill for thq Vintners’ Company and one for the Dyers’. It is a colourful procession this Swan Upping, with decorated craft flying coloured pennants and the crew wearing coats worn by their forebears over. 300 years ago,-