QUAINT CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 273, 24 December 1909, Page 4

QUAINT CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS

Christmas customs and characteristics are matters about whielw collectors of folklore anil antiquarians have written often and much. They form a subject so big tluiL it is lard to decide where to start, and, when the start is made, • Where to leave oft, so many are the associations' with the great festival in different ages and in different localities. To day we trim up houses and places of worship; shops arc transformed into bazaars, with a marvellous of toys and presentation bric-a-brac; the establishments of butchers and poulterers become positively appalling spectacles to the eyes of severe vegetarians; the railways are gorged with traffic, ind officials driven to their wit's ends, ind the General Post Office tiucls it has ,u double or treble its staff, because ivery eitiseuess who respects the tradi•ions of her day and generation deems t her bounden duty to s«nd printed and llustrated expressions of goodwill to iverybody with whom she is upon peaking terms. The men folk also depatch Christmas cards, but send far ewer and pay far more money fur what hey do send, tUa.ii their fair friends, vho purchase at their favorite .draper:) i a a wholesale fashion, and obtain quite , magnificent collection of such missives .t something three-farthings per box. 'hristinas magazines one can hardly eckon as appertaining to December 25; hey are most of them stale by that ime, so early are they issued, Uur forcatliers had different, ways of observing ,'hristmas, but, like the people of this eriod, much of their festivity took the orni of good fare. Who is there when he Christmas pudding comes on, and 3 asked the stereotyped question, "Hot r cold?" who thinks of the evolution of he popular article ? To most people a ihristmas pudding has no history furlier -back than the grocer's and the utcher's shops from which its ingredints came; it is a thing with a short ife, and much of it spent in hot water. 111 of this only shows how little people :now of the common objects of life.

iFa-ncy a statement of this kind made in the dim and distant past, "l'lum porridge—a sort of soup with plumbs which is not at all inferior to the pye.'The quotation suggests a mishap with the most careful housekeepers sometimes experience when a pudding string ■breaks and the contents of the basin, with the water, form something akin to the plum pudding of early history. IPlum puttage used to be served with the first course* at Christmas dinner. "It was," savs Chambers' Book of Days, "made by boiling beef or mutton with ■broth, thickened with bread; when, half boiled, raishis, currants, prunes, cloves, mace, "and ginger were added, andwhen the mess was thoroughly boiled it was sent to the table." In the Tatler we are told that no man of the most rigid virtue gives oifcnce by an excess in fllum pudding or plum porridge because they are the first parts of the dinner. Fastidious palates might to-day suggest another reason. In a cookery book published a century ago a plum pottage was placed with the soups, and "Poor Robin" was possibly familiar ■with. a weaker variety, for in his Almanac in 1750 it appears as ''Plum ■broth." There is a modern custom in respect to plum puddings one would like explained. Why is it that artists variably draw, and painters paint, them as spheres rather than as preserving the shape of the basin or mould in whibli they are boiled? Surely this is a survival now unjustified? Our forefathers were, however, great on Christinas pies. There is a "Receipt fit to make a moost choyce paaste of gamys to he eten at yc Feste of Chrysmasse" dating from very long ago, and the Salters Company, in -whose books the details were speciliea, tried the dish and found the pic admirable. The cook was directed to,takc a pheasant, a hare and a capon, two partridges, two* pigeons, two rabbits, all lioned and put into paste in the shape of a bird, with the liters' and hearts, two mutton kidneys, forec-moat and egg halls, seasoning, spice, catsup, and picked mushrooms; this is to be filled in with gravy made from,the various Ijones. These Christmas pies' were sometimes of vast proportions; a dip into one of them must have been almost as much ol a lottery as the bran-pie of the .biuam-. Think of this example, for instance, details of which were published in the Newcastle Chronicle of Jafiuarv <>, ; 1770:—"Monday last was brought from Howick to lift-wick to lie shipped for 'liCjjdqn for ■Sir peaty Grey, bart., a pie, ' c&tfnb-wh'creof arc as 1 follows, viz.. 5 'flour, geese, 4 turkics, 2 rabbits, 4 wild ducks, 2 woodcocks, C snipes, and 4 partridges; 2 neats' tongues, 2 curlews, 7 black- [ birds and 6 pigeons. It is supposed a i very great curiosity was made by Mrs. i Dorothy Patterson, housekeeper at • Howick. lit is nearly nine-feet in circumference at bottom', weighs about i twelve stones, will takes two men to - present it to table; it is neatly fitted ■ with a. case and four small wheels to i facilitate its use to every guest that inI clines to partake of its contents at ■ table." Mince pies date back from long j ago, having been popular in 1590, and i Mr. Timbs informs' us' that "the eating i of mince pies at Christmas was .former- > ly a test of orthodoxy against t ants." To-day one's orthodoxy is deteci mined by one's digestion in this matter. The custom of guarding Christmas pie ' on the night before Christmas is l a singular one, and is immortalised in rhyme—

, Come guard this night the Christmas pie That the thief, though ne'er bo sly. With his flesh hooks don't'come nigh, To catch it. The boar's head, too, played an important part in the Christmas bill of fare when prepared on a big scale. Wit.ii an eastern question in an acute state it would be unpardonable to forget the turkey introduced to the notice of our ancestors' more than 350 years ago, and probably consumed nowadays in larger numbers than ever. Beef, mutton, and pork, shred pies of the best, Pig, veal, goose, and capon and tur-1 kie well drest.

This comprehensive and poetical bill of fare was due to Tusser, who wrote in 1587. While the turkey has retained its popularity, himphrey pie lias illmost gone into oblivion. Who is there who has tested the merits of the dish] which the city of Gloucester used at each Christmas to send to the Sovereign? The housewife' who left licr cookery for Christmas Day must have] had little opinion of Christmas as a. holiday. To keep her up to a proper i sense of duty to tradition and society, ill one part of Worcestershire the hellman used to go round early on the morning of the 25th, and after a greeting, "Good morning, masters' and mistresses, I wish you a merry Christmas," he sang the following advice:— _ Arise, mistresses, arise,. And make your tarts and pies, And let your maids lie still. For if they should rise aud spoil your pies' You'd think it very ill. Whilst you are sleeping iu your bed, I the cold wintry nights must tread, I'ast twelve o'clock, elio!

There is ail obvious suggestion iu ill'reference to Hie bellman's hard lot that sympathy in tin* form of refreshment might not lie out of place, and a similar desire, one fears, was at the bottom of a good many of the <| itnint Christmas customs . Sometimes' the treating became quite general. At. We,st Hatch, iu Somerset, the loril of the place used to present every household of the place •with a lib loaf, 41bs of beef, l'/llbs of pork, and the same evening provide supper for the inhabitants. A somewhat similar custom was followed at Yarmouth, iu Norfolk, where the prior and monks were the authors of the liouuty, taking the form of aj ■breakfast, to the townsfolk. In later y'ears the Dean and Chapter kept up the observances or the responsibility fell on the farmer who held the church lands. In the end Christmas harmony! was rudely upset by an agriculturist! whose-antiquarian sympathies were noti strong enough to lead him to go to the customary expense. The breakfast was' flopped, but the town folk declined to part with their rights, anil the farmer paid over a sum of money in lieu of the repast. .The custom fell into disuse 'afterwards. Mummers plaved a prominent part in the olden Christmas. They used to go from house to house and perform something in t'lie nature of a jilay, having verv slight pretensions. One iici--oiiiigc. for instance, would lead off: us follows: 1 am St. Oorgc. the noble*champion bold, | And with my glittering sword i I've won three crowns of gold;

Dt's I who fought the fiery dragon, , And brought it to the slaughter; j And so I won fair Sabra, 1 The King of Egypt's daughter. Seven have 1 won, but married none, I And bear my glory all alone, ' With my sword iu uiy hand, Wliu dare against me stand'; X swear I'll cut him down > With my victorious brand. \ champion liaving been found to meet' 1 Jlis vainglorious warrior, tuf'ro i* niuif ipeeehmakiug, a walk round, shaue ' tunds, and light, and St. tieorge is 1 igain victorious. But he is stricken -vith remorse at seeing his foe slain on .lie ground, and eails lor a doctor, The ! loctor appears, there is more doggerel; ;he dead wall is brought back to life j jy a draughL from a magical liottle, and .lie play is over, all but the collection — die most necessary act of all. At lcnby ,he.y used to have annually a very ilaborate version of tuis form of mum- j nery. In \\ ales also another curious mstom was followed. A horse's skull 1 *as obtained and dressed up with nu- ' jons, It was placed on a pole ami car- 1 tied by a man concealed under a while I :loth. There. was a contrivance lor jpening and shutting the jaws with a ! uiap. The effort was made to catch 1 hold of people with the jaws, anil it :aught the release was not obtained until a fine was paid. The horse's head ligured .in somewhat siufilar observances 1 iu several parts of the country. The Lord of Misrule was a master of ceremonies in the Christmas' revels iu ini portant leentres. Mow says: "Tlherii I was in the King's house, or wheresoever he is lodged, a Lord of Misrule, or Mas- j ter of the Merry Disports, and the like i had ye in the house of every nobleman of honor and good worship, were lie spiritual or temporal." The Lord Mayor of London and Sheriffs'had their Lords of Misrule, and at. Oxford and Cambridge Universities these function-1 aries, as may be imagined, liaa plenty ■ of hilarious subjects. The powers with I which, these personages were invested were, sometimes singularly large. Chambers' Book of Days mentions that the i father of Evelyn, whose-diary gives so] much interesting information of his own I time, was Deputy-Lieutenant for Surrey - and Sussex, and appointed Owen Flood to be Lord of Misrule for twelve days, listen. to the terms of the investment to this singular office: "I give leave to the said Edwin Flood to command all and every person or persons whatsoever, as well as servants as others, to be at his command whensoever he shall sound his trumpet or music, and to do him good service, as though I were, present myself, at their perils. . . I give full power and authority to' his lordship to break up all locks, bolts, bars, door latches, and to fling up all doors out of hinges, and to cane at those who presume to disobey his lordship's commands! <Jod save fjhe King." Chambers refers to the clown of the pantomime to-day as a reproduction under a modern form .of the extravagances of the Lord of Misrule. The licence and disorder associated with this official enemy of law iiud order—(bis lordship, not the clown)—and his supporters were gravely denounced by the Puritans, to whom Christinas observance was altogether an abomination. There are some curious entries in the diary of John Evelyn with regard to Christmas Day during the time the Puritans were in power. "Christmas Day, but no sermons anywhere, no church being permitted to be open, so observed it at home." This was in 1059. In 10.17 "Evelyn mentions that he attended service on Christmas Day, but the soldiers ■surprised the communicants and took some prisoners, but let others go. "As ,we received the sac;anient," adds the writer, "they held their muskets against us as if they would have shot us at the altar." The communion was finished under these distracting conditions. The modern love of Christmas celebration is so genuine and deep-rooted that the refusal of the Puritans to acknowledge the festival will scarcely be forgiven them, no matter how apologetic their biographers. Possibly their objections to Christmas observance may 'be thought less severely of when it is suggested they would have jumped—figuratively, of course—on,those shivering exemplars of discord —the ivaits. As to carols, they would have none ol them. In several parts of Oxfordshire, if a man neglected' or refused to get 'in a supply of ivy to decorate the house the maids stole a pair of his breeches , and nailed them to the gate of the yard or highway. I'll other places the penalty •: of such neglect was, the offender was 'debarred the privileges of the mistletoe. Jin Kendall, Westmoreland, Dyer stales Alba* if a man was work in Christmas week lii's '"tradesmen laid violent hands on lmriJand carried 'him off to the public house, where lie had to treat them. Of the legion of , Christinas customs none is more familiar , than the habit of sending in accounts at that period, and careful householders ; arc compelled to act on the advice of i Eliza Cook: [ Old Christmas lias a tpick, we find, Of bringing bills of every kind. - 1 So ere we drain the festive clip '< We'll look within, and reckon up j The debts we owe.