Please see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this text.
The cover images has been created for this e-text, and is in the public domain.
BRITISH POPULAR CUSTOMS
PRESENT AND PAST
GEORGE BELL AND SONS, LTD.
LONDON: PORTUGAL ST., KINGSWAY
CAMBRIDGE: DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO.
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO.
BOMBAY: A. H. WHEELER AND CO.
BRITISH
POPULAR CUSTOMS
PRESENT AND PAST
ILLUSTRATING THE SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC
MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE
ARRANGED
ACCORDING TO THE CALENDAR OF THE YEAR
BY THE REV.
T. F. THISELTON DYER, M.A.
PEMBROKE COLLEGE, OXON.
LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS, LIMITED
1911
[Reprinted from Stereotype plates.]
PREFACE.
In presenting the following pages to the Public I donot lay claim to any originality, my object simplyhaving been to collect together, into a readable andcondensed form, from various sources within myreach, accounts of Customs which, if not already obsolete,are quickly becoming so.
With regard to the general plan of the book, itspeaks for itself. It should, however, be stated thatthe movable feasts are placed under the earliest dayson which they can fall.
In conclusion, I would only add that I am muchindebted to Mr. James Britten, of the British Museum,for the valuable help and suggestions which he hasgiven me whilst passing the proof-sheets through thePress.
T. F. Thiselton Dyer.
September 15th, 1875.
[1]
POPULAR CUSTOMS.
Jan. 1.] NEW YEAR’S DAY.
Jan. 1.]
NEW YEAR’S DAY.
New Year’s Day has always been a time of general rejoicingand festivity, its observance being characterised by many acurious custom and superstitious practice. History tells ushow on this day the Druids were accustomed, with muchpomp and ceremony, to distribute branches of the sacredmistletoe amongst the people; those precious gifts havingthe night before been cut from the oak-tree in a forestdedicated to the gods. Among the Saxons of the northernnations the new year was ush