Part 71

FIRST OF APRIL.--The great majority of the old-time customs which clustered round this day and contributed a dash of gaiety and humor to the more prosaic, everyday life of the community, have fallen into the limbo of forgotten things, and the day is chiefly remembered by schoolchildren, who exercise their juvenile ingenuity in playing pranks on their fellows.

The most careful research has failed to ascertain the exact origin of these observances, and someone has hazarded the theory that they began with the advent of the second man on earth, who sought to try the effects of a practical joke on the first.

Anyhow, a form of fooling may be traced to the time of the Roman Empire, but little mention of such a thing is to be found in English literature until the eighteenth century, although "Hunting the Gowk," the sending of some half-witted youth, the village idiot, on some utterly absurd errand from house to house, was long before then a favorite pastime in Scotland, and in France, too.

A weather prophecy for this day runs:

If it thunders on All Fools Day, It brings good crops of corn and hay.

SIMNEL OR MOTHERING SUNDAY.--It is a very old custom to make rich cakes during Lent and Easter, which are known as Simnel cakes. In South Lancashire the fourth Sunday of Lent is known as Simnel or Mothering Sunday, and young people provide themselves with delicious cakes "'gainst they go a-mothering." The sons and daughters present these to their mothers, who in turn regale their families with "furmenty" or "frumenty," derived from froment (wheat), as the dish was made of wheat and milk, with the addition of a few raisins. For children to fail in paying this compliment to their mothers is sometimes taken as a sign that they will have no further opportunity of doing so.

GOOD FRIDAY.--It is a misnomer to name the world's blackest Friday thus, but the words are a corruption of GOD'S FRIDAY. Many quaint and curious customs are connected with its celebration, the origins of which are not merely secular but pagan, as well.

For instance, the worship of Terminus, the Romans' pagan god, has still left its mark on Christian England, where, in certain parishes, the custom known as "beating the bounds" is still kept up. Terminus decreed that everyone possessing land should mark the boundaries with stones and pay honor to Jupiter once a year. Failure to do this would invoke the wrath of Jupiter and the crops growing on the land would be blighted. Good Friday or the days previous were marked out for the ceremony.

A wet Good Friday has always been considered favorable for crops, although people on pleasure bent will think otherwise:

"A wet Good Friday and a wet Easter Day foreshows a fruitful year."

It may be useful to add here a saying about the day previous to Good Friday; it runs, "Fine on Holy Thursday, wet on Whit-Monday. Fine on Whit-Monday, wet on Holy Thursday."

HOT-CROSS BUNS.--Hot-cross buns may be either a survival of the sacred cakes offered in the temples to the gods, or of the unleavened bread eaten by the Jews at the Passover. Bread marked with crosses was common in ancient Egypt before the days of Christianity. It is an old belief that the eating of buns on this day protects the house from fire, and other virtues are ascribed to them. For instance, to eat such a bun grants a wish that you may be anxious to realize.

EASTER.--This name is derived from Eoster, the goddess of light and of spring, in whose honor a festival was held in the month of April. Few, if any of the old customs observed at this time still survive.

Eggs, as being the emblem of the Resurrection, are peculiar to the feast of Easter, and it is lucky to eat them on the morning of Easter Sunday. At one time, paschal candles were lit to signify the Resurrection of our Lord. These were of colossal size, and each church seemed to vie with its neighbor as to which should have the largest. Easter Sunday was known as Joy Sunday, and was celebrated by gifts to the poor and the liberation of prisoners. It was a time when all differences of opinion should be swept aside and enemies should be forgiven. To harbor enmity against others was to ensure a time of blackness for oneself.

Many curious customs used to be observed. Most of them have fallen into decay, but in some parts of the country bouquets in the form of balls are still presented, and graves are decorated with sweet spring flowers.

Weather observances are numerous:--

(a) April weather. Rain and sunshine both together.

(b) If the first three days in April be foggy, Rain in June will make the lanes boggy.

(c) If Christmas is snow, Easter is mud.

(d) If Easter is late, there will be a long, cold spring.

(e) A dry April, not the farmer's will. April wet is what he would get.

(f) When April blows his horn (i.e., thunders), It's good for hay and corn.

MAY

Some authorities maintain that the month takes its name from Maia, the mother of the god Hermes or Mercury; others claim that it comes from Majores or Maiores, the Senate of the first constitution of Rome.

WHITSUNTIDE.--Whitsuntide, which shares pride of place in the Church Calendar with Christmas and Easter, is closely connected with the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which became identified with one of the great summer festivals of the pagan inhabitants of Western Europe, and this idea is borne out by the fact that Whitsuntide has always been the most popular festival period of the year.

It was commonly celebrated in all parts of the country by what was termed Whitsun ale, which was usually consumed under the auspices of the churchwardens in some barn near the church, when all assembled agreed to be good friends for once in the year and spend the day in "sober" joy.

The day was a prolonged picnic, for each parishioner brought what victuals he could spare. The squire and his lady came with their pipe and taborer, the young folk danced or played at bowls, and the old looked on while they sipped their ale, which was brewed fairly strong for the occasion and sold by the churchwardens for the repairs of the church.

During the Middle Ages, Whitsun services were marked by some curious customs, one of which was the letting down of a dove from the roof, another the dropping of balls of fire, of rose leaves, and the like.