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Article OLDEN HOLIDAY CUSTOMS ← Page 2 of 11 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Olden Holiday Customs
snows of Greenland , alike have had occasion to feel interest and delight in Avelling streams . In the period of papal darkness this feeling became exaggerated to such an excess as to cause Edgar and Canute to check its manifestation by edict . From a similar sentiment Seneca Avrote—¦ " Where a spring rises , or a river flows , there should we build altars and offer sacrifices . " This is , too , eianced throughout our own land , by the names of saints attached to Avells and fountains .
It was a recent custom to sprinkle the waters of the Severn , and other rivers near Wales , with various flowers ; described thus by Dyer : —• " With light fantastic toe the nymphs Thither assembled ; thither every swain—And o ' er the dimpled stream a thousand flowers , Pale lilies , roses , violets , and pinks ,
Mixed with the green of burnet , mint aud thyme , And trefoil , sprinkled with their sportive arms : Such custom holds along the irriguous vales , From Wrekin ' s brow to Archy Dolvoryn . "
In reference to the same subject , these lines occur in Milton ' s mask of " Comus : " — " The shepherds at their festival Carol the good deeds loud in rustic lays , And throw sweet garland wreaths into the stream , Of pansies , pinks , and gaudy daffodils . " * We now arrive at the period of Whitsuntide . The festivals
held of old at this time were called " Whitsun ales , " or " church ales . " At these a company met to drink and regale , and also to contribute charity . This charity in many cases supplied the absence of parochial poor-rates . Whitsun ale feasts were derived from the "Agapoi , " or "Love-feasts" of the early Christians . The primitive sports at this season were always of a
coarse and boisterous character , and have been chiefly kept up in the western counties . Thus at the " Hungerford Revel , " in Wiltshire ( in 1820 ) , mi g ht have been Avitnessed " girls running for smocks ; " " climbing a greased pole for apiece of bacon ;" " old Avomen vieing with each other to drink boiling tea , for snuff ; " " grinning through horse-collars ; " "hunting a pig Avith soaped tail ; " "jumping in sacks for a cheese ; " "donkeyracing and duck-hunting , " & c .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Olden Holiday Customs
snows of Greenland , alike have had occasion to feel interest and delight in Avelling streams . In the period of papal darkness this feeling became exaggerated to such an excess as to cause Edgar and Canute to check its manifestation by edict . From a similar sentiment Seneca Avrote—¦ " Where a spring rises , or a river flows , there should we build altars and offer sacrifices . " This is , too , eianced throughout our own land , by the names of saints attached to Avells and fountains .
It was a recent custom to sprinkle the waters of the Severn , and other rivers near Wales , with various flowers ; described thus by Dyer : —• " With light fantastic toe the nymphs Thither assembled ; thither every swain—And o ' er the dimpled stream a thousand flowers , Pale lilies , roses , violets , and pinks ,
Mixed with the green of burnet , mint aud thyme , And trefoil , sprinkled with their sportive arms : Such custom holds along the irriguous vales , From Wrekin ' s brow to Archy Dolvoryn . "
In reference to the same subject , these lines occur in Milton ' s mask of " Comus : " — " The shepherds at their festival Carol the good deeds loud in rustic lays , And throw sweet garland wreaths into the stream , Of pansies , pinks , and gaudy daffodils . " * We now arrive at the period of Whitsuntide . The festivals
held of old at this time were called " Whitsun ales , " or " church ales . " At these a company met to drink and regale , and also to contribute charity . This charity in many cases supplied the absence of parochial poor-rates . Whitsun ale feasts were derived from the "Agapoi , " or "Love-feasts" of the early Christians . The primitive sports at this season were always of a
coarse and boisterous character , and have been chiefly kept up in the western counties . Thus at the " Hungerford Revel , " in Wiltshire ( in 1820 ) , mi g ht have been Avitnessed " girls running for smocks ; " " climbing a greased pole for apiece of bacon ;" " old Avomen vieing with each other to drink boiling tea , for snuff ; " " grinning through horse-collars ; " "hunting a pig Avith soaped tail ; " "jumping in sacks for a cheese ; " "donkeyracing and duck-hunting , " & c .