The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-11-26
ger on where this festival is known as nut
crack night" from nuts forming . prominen
feature the evening feast.

i
| ly been taken to avoid an unlucky month and
| day for thek not to be tied Indeed, the old
| Roman notion that May marriages are nniucky
| survives TO this day in England, striking ex-
| ample, as Mr.. Taylor has pointed out in his
"Primitive Culture" of how an idea, the mean
| ing of which has perished for ages, may con-
tinue to exist simply because IL has existed.
| That May with us is not month Tor marrying
| NAV easily be seen any year from the list OF
| weddings in the English newspapers, the pop
| ular belief being summed up In the familiar
| proverb, "Marry in May and you'll rue the
| day."
| On the other hand, June is highly popular
/ month for marrying. one reason perhaps being
| that the earth is then clothed in her summer
| beauty, and that this is a reason OF plenty.
| Equal Importance has been attached by some
| 10 the day of the week on which the marriage
| is performed Thus. Friday, on account OF its
| being regarded as an inauspcious and evil day
| for the commencement of any kind OF enter
| prise is generally avoided, few brides being
| bold enough TO run the risk OF incurring pad
| luck from being married on day of Ill omen
| In days gone by, Sunday appears to have been
| = popular day for marriages; althJugn as MT
| Jeaffreson, in his amusing history of Brides
| and Bridas." remarks "a fashionable we'd
| ding celebrated on the Lords Day III Loudon,
| or any part OF England, would now DAYS be
| denounced by religious people OF all Christian
| parties as an outrageous exhibition OF lmpioty.
| But in our feudal times, and long after the
| reformation, Sunday was, OF all days OF the
| week, the favorite one for marriages Long
! after tie theaters had been closed on Sundays
| the day of rest was the chief day 'or weddings
| with Londoners of every social class"
| THE ORIGIN OF THE WEDDING CAKE.
| The wedding cake without which no we'd
| ding would he considered complete, Is evident
| ly survival of the ssmbolcal corn ears origin
| ally worn by the bride, and which IN after
| times were made into cakes aud sprinkled upon
| the brides head. In course of time these cakes
| were by degrees converted into one large mass,
| enriched with almond paste; and that the In
| gradients OF we ding cake in the Seventeenth
| Century did not differ materially from one as
| the present day may be gathered from Herrick,
| who says:
"This day, my julia thou must make,
For mistress bride, the wedding cakei
| Kneed but the dough an IL will be
To Taste OF almonds turned by theei
or kiss il thou but once or twice,
| And for the BRIDE cake therell be spice"
| Indeed, corn in one form or another has al-
| ways entered into the marriage ceremony,
| practice which, as Sir John Lubbock, IN MS
"Origin of Civilization" has pointed out, may
| be found among remote savages or semi civ1ii-
| zed people. 1t wonld be difficalt TO enumerate
| the MANY supersritiOus beliefs aud usag ss that
| have at different times clustered rouId the
| wedding cake, some of which are as popular as
| ever.
Curious marriage costoms are to be found In
| all parts of the world, and particularly In En-
| gland
In some parts of Kent. it was formerly GUS
! tomary to strew the pathway TO tho Oh 1rch OF
| the bridal couple, not with flowers bnt with
| emblemS of the bride groom traie. A carpen-
| ter, for instance, walked on shavings,
4 paper-hanger on slips of paper,
/ blacksmith on pieces OF old iron,
| and so on In some parts of Durham the
| bridal party was in days gone by, generally es-
| corted to church by men armed with guns.
| which they fred again and again In honor OF
| the festive occasion. In Scotland there was an
amusing custom called "Creeling the BRIDE
| groom. A basket or creel was filled with
heavy stones and fixed to the bridegrooms
| shoulder, aud with this burden he was obliged
| to run about until his wife unfastened the
| creel.
DEATH AND BURIAL.
| The superstitions associated with the last
stage of human life are most numerous; and
that this should be so is not surprising when 1t
| is considered how, from the earliest time,
| certain dread has been attached to death, not
| only on account OF its awful righteousness,
| but owing to its being the crisis OF an entirely
/ new phase of the souls existence. Foremost
| among popular onens is the bowling OF dog
| at night, superstition which, while not con-
| fined to any one country appears to have been
| almost as we'll known in ancient timas as AZ
| the present day. Tue bowling OF dog Is as
| crbed by some to its keen seuse OF the odor OF
| approaching dissolution; whereas, others al
| irm that this animal can SEQ the spirits which
| hover round the house of sickness, ready at the
/ moment of death TO bear away the soul OF the
| departed one to it distant home. In Aryan
| mythology the dog is said to ghosts and in
| Germany at the present day, dog bowling
4 before house, portends either death or
1 fire. In Wales it is thought that horses, TOO,
| nave the gift OF seeing spirits Carriage horses,
| t is said, have been known to display every
| sign of the utmost terror, although the occu-
| pauts of the carriage could Seo no cause for
| alarm Such an occurrence is considered
| highly ominous, and thought to forbode that
iii haarf incl
| resting place some person not dead at the time
| of the horses fright
Another common omen of death is the how
| eriug of birds around the house, and their tap
| ping against the window pane Among the
| death passing birds may be mentioned the ra-
| ven, the crow and the swallow. The Growing
OF the cock also, at the dead OF night is regard
! ed as equally ominous.
Referring to death itself there is wide
| spread belief that death mostly occurs during
| the sbbing OF the tide, a superstition to which
| Charles Dickens has so touchingly alluded in
| David Copperfiel Id. While the honest-hearted
| Mr.. PeggoGty sat by the bedside OF poor Barkn
| and watched ife's flame gradually growing
| DINNER he said to David Copperdeld, People
| can't die along the coast except when the
| tides pretty nigh out. They can't be born un-
| tl it's pretty nigh in. Not properly born until
| the fiool. He's agoing out with the tide--hes
| agoing out with the tide. It's ebb at half arter
| three slack water half an hour. Ii he lives
| till it turns, he'll hold his own till past the
| flood and go out with the next tide" And
| after many hours's watching, 1t being low
| water, he went out with the tide"
Many have superstitious feeling that it is q
| great misfortune, nay, even judgment, NOT TO
| die in bed. According to another popular fan
| cy person cannot die comfortably under the
| cross beam of house. Again the interval bo-
| tween death and burial has generally been as
| sociated with various superstltious fears and
| practices. Thus as soon as the corpse Is laid
| out, there is still widespread custom OF
placing plate of salt upon the breast, the rea-
! SON being no doubt TO prevent the body SWELL
| ing; although there is belief that 1t acts like
| charm on any attempt on the part OF evil
| spirits to disturb the body. Pennant tells as
| that formerly in Scotland "the corpse being
| stretched on board and covered with coarse
linen wrapper, the friends laid on the breast OF
| the deceased a wooden platter, containing
| small quantity of salt and earth, separate and
unmixed; the earth an emblem OF the corrupti-
| BILE body, the salt as an emblem OF the lmmor-
| tai spirit" Mr.. Napier in his Folk Lore OF
| the West of Scotland points out that we may
| find another explanation for the plate OF salt
| on the breast IN the SIN eaters, persons who in
| days gone by, when a person died, were sent
| for to come and eat the sins of the deceased.
| On their arrival the first act was to place
| plate of salt and one of bread on the breast or
| the corpse, repeating a series OF incantatlons,
| after which they devoured the contents OF tho
| plates By this ceremony the deceased person
| was supposed to be relieved of such sins as
/ would have kept his spirit lowering abolt his
| reauons to their discomfort and annoyance.
1t is customary especially among the poor for
| those who visit house while the dead body is
| living in it to touch the corpse. thereby showing
| that they owe the departed one no grudge.
| This practice, IN all probability, originated in
| the belief that corpse would bleed at the
| touch OF the murderer, constant allusion TO
| which we find in all authors
Lastly, since the formation OF cemeteries
many of the quaint old funeral customs which
formerly existed in many OF our country VII
lagos, have passed away. Nowadays, the last
act as the committal oil the body TO the grave
| has been termed has been shorn OF much OF
| its pomp. Thus, in the North OF England II
was customary only few years ago to carry
the dead with the sun to the grave, a practice
corresponding with the Highland usage OF
making "tue deazil' or walking three times
around person, according TO the course OF the
| sun. On one occasion, in tho village OF Stran-
| ton, near West tartlepoo, the vicar was
| standing at the churchyard gate awaiting the
arrival of the funeral procession, when, much
| 10 his surprise, the eutire group, who had
come within a few yards of him, suddenly
turned back and marched around the church
yard wall, thus traverslng its west, north and
| east boundaries On inuuiring the reason OF