Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1903-12-25
RELICS or THE PAST.
ousint Customs and Ceremonies
Which Endure IN England.

NIANNNNNN E"NNNNN- AANNN "-N NNIN"NNH""
Which Endure N England.
When the king at the recent privy
council selected new sheriffs for the
counties Of England and Wales by
pricking a hole with a silver bodlin
opposite TO each of the favored names
on the list, his majesty was carrying
out one of quite a score Of interesting
customs that stili survive to link the
England Of 1903 with the England Of
the middle ages.
There Is hardly an important coun-
ty In the land that does not cherish
some noteworthy custom hailing from
early days In English history Proba-
bly, the most interesting feudal cere
mony In existence is planting the
horngarth, an ect Of penance which
Is new in its ninth century Of com
memoration. and which has been car
ried out every year at Withby without
a single break
The penance is for the death OF q
hermit who sought to protect a wound
ed boar but who was slain by It's
ferocious pursuer The horngarth, or
penny hedge itself is formed by plant
Ing hedge of stakes in the tideway,
in the upper part Of Whitby harbor,
In the presence Of the lord of the
manor when the penny hedge is
complete, three blasts are blown on
an antiQuated time-worn horn, which
is IN accordance with the prescribed
stipulations. This horn Is a good FIVE
hundred years old, so it has seen con
siderable service.
A very long way back in the history
of England was a time when the high
festival of Ceres was exceedingly
popular To this day we have a rem
nant Of the mystic rites of the Tenn
pie Of Eleusis Of the Greeks surviving
in the form Of the kern-baby. In vari-
GUS parts of the country kern suppers
are held to celebrate the conclusion Of
the harvest gathering, and the kern
baby is carried on high by the reapers.
The baby is a straw image, made from
the last sheaf of the harvest, adorned
with flowers and with ears Of grain.
Really the kern-baby appears at har-
vest festivals Of to-day as the repre-
sentative of the ancient Ceres.
The most ancient of customs is still
observed in ireland on June 21s and
In the Highlands of Scotland on May
1. according to the old reckoning.
This is beltein. the festival in non-
neetion with sun worship; fires are
kindled on the summit Of the hills,
and a variety of ceremonies are gone
through.
Burning the clavie is another unique
ceremony, whose origin goes back far
into the mists of antiquity. Probably
the rites still observed at Burghead,
on the Moray Firth, have been per
formed since the days of the Druids.
A tar barrel is sawn in halves, one
half is filed with tar-covered fuel Civ
en- by the townsfolk and is lighted
with a piece of glowing peat The
/ fiery clavie is borne shoulder-high
around the town limits in grand pro
cession and is placed finally on an
ancient freestone altar to burn high
over the waters of the Firth. There
are various minor weird ceremonies
observed as the clayie burns away.
Perhaps even more singular are the
domestic fires of certain oldfashioned
farm houses on the Yorkshire dales
These peat fires are vertiable links
with the past, as they never go out
Some have been kept alight for hun
dreds of years and have warmed gen
Grafton after generation Of dwellers
The Whitby district is rich in these
and there is one at Osmotherlel
which, It is claimed, has been burn
ing 500 years.
A handsome quintain is to be seer
on the village green at Ohham, II
Kent. The local custom is to hois
married men who are not fathers t
its top and then to set the quintaiI
revolving rapidly.
Throwing the dart is a picturesque
custom which is observed in Cork
Every third year the chief magistrate
proceeds to the mouth of Cork Har
Dor in full state Following immemo
rial custom. he throws a dart into thi
sea-a dart with head of gold and
shaft of mahogany-saying: Il cas-
this javelin into the sea, and declar'
that SO far seaward as it falls extend
the right and dominion of the Coz
poration of Cork to and over the haI
Dor as well as the rivers, creeks ans
bays within the same.--London Dali!
Mail.