KEEPING UP TRADITION
LONDON EASTER CUSTOMS From time almost, immemorial—certainly going far back into pie-Reforma-tion days—the quaint ceremony of 21 dames picking up 21 new sixpences from a certain tombstone in St. Bartholomew's' Smithfield, London, has been observed on Good Friday. The origin of the custom is obscure, but for fit least 500 years it has been punctiliously honoured. Each of the recipients must be a poor widow over 60 years of age. Last year the oldest participant was 95, and ;he average age of the 21 w r as 70 years. Easter eggs are given away to the \ orshippers in St. Mary Woolnoth, in the heart of the City of London. This eireniony has been observed at the old church in Lombard street for nearly 700 years. The custom has been earned out without a break ever since 1235. No two eggs arc identical in colouring, but all are alike in one particular, for every egg bears the words of the text from which the rector preaches on Easter Sunday. Many members of the congregation have preserved their eggs for many years, and possess a long record of the church's Easter texts. The wonderful colouring of these Easter eggs is a carefully guarded secret of the church.
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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 16 July 1929, Page 2
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208KEEPING UP TRADITION Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 16 July 1929, Page 2
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