The Folk-Lore Journal/Volume 5/Notes and Queries (March)
NOTES AND QUERIES.
Superstition in Sicily.—A Naples correspondent writes:—In the province of Catania (Sicily), the festival of San Filippo, the patron saint of Calatabiano, is celebrated in a strangely superstitious manner. The ignorant population of that district believe that San Filippo had the power of restoring to health all those afflicted with epilepsy, insanity, or other nervous maladies—in short, that the invocation of the saint is sufficient to cast out the evil spirit. On the day of the festival such afflicted persons from all the country around are brought by their relations to be cured instantaneously at the church of Calatabiano. On arriving they are seized by robust peasants, who attempt to make them kiss the image of the saint, and cry "Viva San Filippo!" Some, as might be expected, are too stupid to obey, others struggle furiously in the hands of their captors, who then resort to the most savage means of compulsion, tearing off their clothes, pulling their hair, and even biting them, continuing the torture throughout the day until the victims pronounce the sacramental words. This being accomplished, the unfortunate invalids are again consigned to their relations, who take them home with tears of joy, only to be bitterly undeceived by finding them later on worse than before. This year the same scene was repeated, but was soon put a stop to by a policeconstable, who in the name of the law arrested all who refused to renounce the barbarous custom.—Rotherham Advertiser, 7 June, 1884.
Saint Patrick and the Devil,—Can any one give the legend about St. Patrick and the Devil? I used to hear it in the neighbourhood of the Shannon when a boy, but forget it. It was somewhat like the story of Andriamatoa in the Journal, ante. vol. ii. p. 45, being a trial of skill. All I remember is, the saint gave the devil a number of things to do, all of which he succeeded in, till at last he told him to make a rope of sand. This he failed in, and the remains of the devil's rope is the Eskers that stretch across Ireland from Dublin to Galway Bay.
I think one of the feats was to make in a day as many islands as there are days in the year—which he did in Clew Bay. And another to make in the same time as many lakes as there are days in the year, which he did in the plain of Connemara, between Clifden and Roundston.
Ardmore, Co. Waterford.—St. Declan's church, well, and stone.—This saint is the patron of Ardmore, his day being celebrated on the 29th of July.
The church and well are on the south shore of the bay, while the stone is a little to the north-west on the beach. The latter is a large flattish block of conglomerate which the saint is said to have used as a boat when he first came to the place. It is now supported on the rocks that crop up in the beach, leaving, under it, a space scarcely fifteen inches high. On the patron day any one who passes through the latter under the stone is made whole of any disease he has.
In the churchyard of the more modern church, to the south-west of the village, is one of the early primitive small stone-roofed churches with an Egyptian doorway. This is now called "St. Declan's Cell," as it is said to have been built and inhabited by him. The earth from it is sold to pilgrims on the patron day, and an amusing story is told about it. The churchyard, from continual burials, is now so high that it has nearly smothered up this church except on the north side. On this account no one can get at the ancient west door, and to get into the church a hole has been broken through the north wall. On the 28th of one July a gentleman came to visit the parson, whose glebe lies to the north, alongside the graveyard. His servant, after he had made up his horses and got something to eat, thought he would explore the old ruins; but on this night the old lady that sold the clay to the pilgrims was getting ready her supply in a hole that she had rooted in St. Declan's Cell, and when the man peeped in she rose up with her light. The fellow gave a yell and bolted, never looking behind him till he reached the glebe-kitchen, where he fell in a faint, and no one ever afterwards would not persuade him that he had not seen the devil in St. Declan's Cell.
Fortune-telling in London.—Helen Evans, 69, Cable Street, St. George's, was charged with fortune-telling. Mary Start, a married woman, said on the 30th November she went to the prisoner's house to have her fortune told. The prisoner produced a pack of cards, and witness, at the request of the prisoner, shuffled and cut them. The prisoner turned up the cards and said, "Your husband has left you four months." Witness said, "Not four months." And she said, "Between three and four." She also said witness's husband had gone away with a fair woman who had had two children; one was alive, and one dead. Her husband would come back, but would not live with her. She also said witness would be a widow and a wife in twelve months. She would be married to a fair gentleman with plenty of money. She asked if witness would like to see her husband. On witness replying in the affirmative, the prisoner produced six small packets of herbs and said she was to burn them, and while burning them to repeat a verse. Her husband would then come back. She was to have herbs at twelve o'clock, mid -day, and was also to repeat a verse of poetry, which the prisoner recited as she sewed her stays. The accused then told witness that her charge would be a shilling, and witness paid her that amount. The prisoner said she generally charged threepence for the herbs, but as witness had a lot of trouble she would give them to her.—Mary Thomas said she went to Cable Street to have her fortune told. A pack of cards was shuffled and cut. The prisoner then told witness that her husband had left her, but had not gone away with another woman; also that she would be a widow within twelve months, and that she would marry a man with a dark moustache who had plenty of money. She then gave witness some herbs, which she said would fetch her husband back, provided she repeated the following verse: —
"It's not this herb I wear,
But Dick's hard heart to tear;
May he never rest or happy be
Until he returns to me."
She had also to sew a berry in her stays. Witness paid her 1s. 2d. for two powders, which she had to burn when she got home.—Serjeant S. White, who arrested the prisoner, said he found a large number of fortune-telling cards and also a fortune-telling book, which the prisoner said had been 250 years in her family, in the house. A Bible was also found, interleaved with extracts from a dream-book. There were also 200 parcels in the house, and, on being questioned, the prisoner said, "Young girls who come to have their fortunes told and can't afford to pay, leave these parcels."—Standard, 17 Dec. 1886.
Football Games.—I should be glad if Members could assist me in collecting notices of the various games at football played mostly on Shrove Tuesday in some of the old towns, between married and unmarried, or some other divisions of the people. One or two examples are recorded in Brand, and some in Hone; but these cannot exhaust the instances in England and Scotland. Also, are there any such examples in Ireland?
Yorkshire Custom.—Mr. V. Giddy, Wistow, Selby, writes to the Leeds Mercury: In many villages in the West Riding, Christmas Day is heralded by the appearance, at an early hour, of juveniles, who go from house to house shouting, with great earnestness, the following ditty:—
"I wish yer a merry Christmas,
A happy New Year;
A pocket full of money,
A cellar full of beer.
And two or three fat pigs to kill every year.
— Please will yer gie me a Christmas box?"
Sometimes the visits are made singly; at other times—and this oftener the case—the youngsters go together in companies of about half-a-dozen. As may be imagined, the chorus from a body of performers like this is not altogether tuneful. Yet the villagers—disturbed as they are by these early callers—would not have the custom discontinued by any means. There is a question of luck connected with it. The visitor who first succeeds in rousing the inmates of the house, and inducing an attendance at the door, is called "the lucky bird," and, in return for the sprig of holly which he—the lucky bird—must present, he will receive a few coppers, or perhaps a sixpenny piece. Subsequent callers are treated with much less liberality, but, by persistent importunity, they may succeed in extracting something, if only an orange. At the approach of daylight the youngsters are expected to disappear, though they do not all answer this expectation. The performances are repeated on New Year's Day, which is "the girls' day." Boys are, however, allowed to appear in the capacity of "lucky bird," as it is considered extremely unlucky if the first person admitted to the house in the new year is a female.
Hereford Custom.—The 11th October stood prominent for autumn sports in the county of Hereford, where an ancient custom prevailed for the young men to assemble in the fields, and choose a leader, whom they followed wherever he might think proper to lead them—over hedges and ditches it might be. This only occurred once in seven years, when they did the business with a hearty good-will. Every publican gave a gallon of beer, and a large plum-loaf, which went by the name of a gauging-cake, which title was also transferred to the day. Any person they might happen to meet was instantly seized upon, and thumped without further ceremony, unless they preferred paying a fine to the leader.—Cambridge Independent, 1 Jan. 1887.