Swearing on the Horns.
REVIVAL OF AN ANCIENT CEREMONIAL. On Saturday the 18.h of Juae th > ceremonial of '* Swearing on th* Horn?," a custom dating back ai least 800 years, was received a' Tlighgate. The revival took place in the masonic hill at the Gate Hou3e Hotel, which was first license;! in 1877. Mr H. Scott Busby officiated as '• sweartr in." The horn?, a pair of stag's horns of great tge, fixed on the end of a pole on. high, having been brought into the room by the " clerk," the oath was administered in the form recorded by Prickett, the first historian of .Highgatfl. The " salutation " was first given to Mr W. G. Watts, proprietor of the hotel, in the usual form, including the welUcnown phrases. " You must not eat brown bread whilst you can get white, except you like the brown bread best. You must not drink, small beer whilst you can get strong. You must not kiss the maid whilst you can kiss mistress, unless you like the maid best, but sooner than lose a good chance you may kiss them both."
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Manawatu Herald, 9 August 1898, Page 3
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184Swearing on the Horns. Manawatu Herald, 9 August 1898, Page 3
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