Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-03
THE S UGARY SIM MEL
What 1t is Made of and Where It is
Eaten.
An Ancient Custom Attending Mid
Lent Sunday in Certain Parts
of Merrie England.
Written Exclusively for The Evening Star

of Merrie England.
Written Exclusively for The Evening Star
Among the many curious and interesting
features Of English rural life are a great
variety of purely local customs. all of more
or less antiquity. Considering the small
extent OF the country, which Ii very little
larger than the state OF New York, the di-
versity and distinct localization of these
customs are certainly remarkable. Not
few OF them have so far survived the con-
ditions that called them into existence that
even their origin is involved in obscurity.
and learned antiquaries puzzle their wits
over them and in some cases offer us quite
variety OF hypothesis concerning them.
OF these customs American travellers see
little or nothing. They are removed from
the beaten track of travel, are, for the
most part. only Of annual occurrence. and
are confined each to its own particular To-
cality.
One OF the most remarkable Of them all
Is the eating of simnels on Mid-Leat CT
Mothering Sunday. which this year falls
on March 4. The simnel is especially identi-
fed with the old town of Bury in Lanca-
shire, few miles distant from the birth
place of Mrs. Frances Eodgson Burnett.
portion of the county. but it is rarely seen
more than 40 or 30 miles from Bury, OK
cept that the royal table is supplied with
this veritable triumph OF the confectioner's
art on the occurrence of the annual festi-
val that is sacred to its use. II is indeed
singular fact that the use of delicacy
OF which few people think they can have
too much should be confined to the fourth
Sunday in Lent. and il affords striking
Illustration Of the tenacity With which our
English cousins cling to ohservances that
have lost all their original significance
Meaning of Nothering sunday.
AntGGaries are at variance even over the
meaning OF the term "Mothering Sunday"
Some of them hold that the appeliation is
derived from the ancient custom of visit
ing the mother or cathedral church Of the
diocese on that day to make offerings
Others associate the term with the annual
visit that young people living away from
home especially those in domestic service
were accustomed to pay to their parents
when. as the common phrase expresses it,
the children went 'a-mothering." On these
occasions II was customary for the daughter
to take home TO her mother a cake COM
monty called .'mothering cake" In a
song TO Diane,ne, Herrick, the poet of Eng
fish homely life. born In 1881. says:
I'm to thee simnel bring,
'Gainst thou go a-mothering:
SO that when she blesses thee
Half that blessing thoult give me-"
While to this simple and appropriate Gus
tom may well be ascribed the origin of the
modern simnel It is a question whether the
custom itself was not the outcome of some
thing more than mere fllial affection. In
the calendar of the church mid-Lent Sun
day is called Dominica Refectionis or Re-
lection sometimes refreshmenO Sunday the
first lesson being the account of the ban
rlAf civ hNT Z.aHNh l.
the gospel of the day the miraculous feed
ing of the 5000. What more natural than
that Notwithstanding the austerities of
Lent, those two great historic feasts should |
be commemorated in the humble homes of |
the Christians of the middle ages by a |
temporary departure from the usually frll-
gal and, at that season especially plain mode
OF living? Be that as IL may however the
connection between the simnel and Mothsr-
ing Sunday is well esta blishei. and II is |
only matter of surprise that while the /
visitation OF parents on Mid-Lent or Moth |
ering Sunday is stin observed throughout a |
large part of England the simnel is as COM
pletely forgotten as IL II had never existed |
except within that restricted area with |
which 1t IS now so thoroughly and exclusive ]
ly Identified.
Considerable interest attaches to the
meaning of the word ''simnel' its popular
and scientific etymologies being as is so |
often the case, entirely at variance. IRA
dition ascribes the origin of the word TO a |
worthy old couple named Simon and Nelly
Of whom the following story is told: II was !
Lent, and, in accordance with their annual |
custom, the children were on a visit to the
old home Only Unleavened bread was in |
those days allowed to be eaten during the |
Lenten fast, but on this particular coca
sion the old lady determined to make an |
experiment in cake-making, the unleayau-
ed dough being used as a foundation To |
this proposal old Simon added the susges- |
ton that the remains of Christmas plum
pudding still in the larder might also he
utilized, the idea being to afford the young |
people something of surprise when the
less attractive exterior of the cake had
been broken through. So far as the cornno-
sition of the cake was concerned the old !
couple were thoroughly agreed When
however, the manner of its cooking came 10 |
be determined a violent contention arose
between them.
The Difficulty Compounded.
The old wife. naturally enough prepared |
to bake it, but old Simon insisted thar II |
should be boiled. Nelly thought her hus-
band must surely be demented The very
idea, she said of boiling a cake, simon. |
however, was just as obstinate as an old
man meddling with something he does NOT |
understand is apt to be, and so high ran
the contention that words soon gave wav
to blows, for. however conciliatory old |
Nelly might be under ordinary circup,-
stances, this was an invasion of her nre-
rogative that she could not possfbly nar-
nit. Minor articles of furniture were utiliz-
ed as weapons, and had the strength and /
accuracy of aim with which they we're I
welded been anything like equal 10 the I
spirit engendefed by the strife neither of 4
the cor1batants would have emerged from /
the conflict uninjured. AS it was. either the 4
seriousness or the righteousness of the SIT i
uation gradually dawned upon the old cou- /
pie, and when one of them PROPOSED as a l
compromise that the cake should he both
boiled and baked, the suggestion was at /
once agreed to. The product of this BIZ 4
culinary process was so great a success that I
Simon and Nelly soon found MANY iuita-
tors, VINO gave them full credit for their
discovery, calling the cake by their Joint /
names. In course OF time the cumbrous-
ness of the appellation became so generally
recognized that the name was abbreviated |