Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-14

Written for The Star.
The first person to salute the car OF Rus
STA on Easter morning with the words
Christ Is Risen" must be greeted in turn
with royal kiss. No matter how lowly
the person-the meanest of beggars, even
the great car must bestow upon him a
brotherly kiss Not so many casters ago
the car was compelled by this memorable
custom to kiss the cheek of a peasant sem
try, stationed in the garden to which the
czar had escaped for an early morning
walk.
Quaint as is this Easter CUSTOM it Is but
one of the many quaint present day GUS
toms and superstitions connected with Eas-
ter Sunday and Holy Week. Most of these
customs and superstitions survive from
early days, many antedating the middle
ages even, and while some are still observed
nationally, the better part hold their own
only locally.
England, especially is particularly rich
In local Easter customs. This is due, in
large part, to the circumstance that CEN
turtles ago it was a decided fad for devout
English men and women to establish So
called Easter legacies, and many Of the leg
acies still exist to carry out yearly the pur-
poses of their founders.
Ceremony of the Biddenden Cakes.
Among the more noted of these customs
Is the ceremony of the Biddenden cakes.
Today, for the seven hundred and seventy
second consecutive. Easter Sunday-that is,
since the year 1134-1 600 buns will be dis
tributed among the congregation at the aft
ernoon service in Biddenden Church, in
L ant A fha hrfn will a
effigies of Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst, who
established the legacy. Tradition has 1t that
these women We're born joined together,
after the manner of the noted Siamese
twins, and everybody in Biddenden stands
ready to take oath that this was the case.
The income from the twins beQuest of land
now totals about 5000 a year, and Is suffi-
cent to provide not only the stipulated
number of buns but also five hundred
loaves of bread and a quantity of cheese
for the parish poor.
Hundreds of strangers travel to Bidden
den every Easter for no other purpose
than to witness the quaint ceremony.
The Hallaton scramble, which takes place
on Good Friday, is a decided attraction to
all that part of Leicestershire. 1t is in
cumbent the rector of Hallaton, as
holder of certain lands, to furnish his
Pensioners with two dozen penny loaves,
two large hare pies and quantity of ale.
The villagers then march in hilarious pro-
cession to place known as Hare Pie Bank,
where the pies and the buns are scrambled
for. When this fun is over the masculine
portion of Hallaton kick for the ale with
their brethren of melbourne village. Let
a Londoner who witnessed this truly unique
contest tell of 1t:
TT is a game of foot ball with big
wooden bottle hoped with iron and hold
Ing a quart of beer, Instead of a leather
ball. The bottle is thrown into the hollow
of the mound, and from opposite sides the
Hallatonians and the Melbourne men rush
down upon it. The struggle makes a foot
ball scrimmage mere babies play. A brook
is one goal and the melbourne boundary Is
the other. Having forced, kicked and car
red the bottle to the goal, the victors. of
course, drink It's contents"
Two fagons are kicked" for. and when
the second contest has been decided. the
rivals Jointly carry a third fagon to the
market cross and share its contents in
peace
On account of the many more or less Sc
we're injuries resulting from the kick, the
present rector has tried several times to
divert the legacy to some form of charity
for the parish poor. But the villagers,
whose consent is necessary, have steadfast-
ly refused to give up their ancient prerog
alive, and it bids fair to survive indefinitely.
"scrubbing Molly Crime"
Easter eve is the only time In all the year
that the ancient church of ST Mary-in-
Arden, near Market Marlborough, London.
is open at night. Then the parish choir,
fully panoplied marches to the grave Of
one William Hubbard, and sings over 1t an
Easter hymn. Mr.. Hubbard set aside a
guinea as pay for this service; 1t is OBJ
| tanned from a rent charge on a house that
he left behind when he passed on"
Molly Crime when she was in the flesh
In London town. some hundreds of years
ago, was mortally afraid that her tomb
would not be kept clean through the years,
SO when she had her will drawn she made
1t plain that a shilling would be paid to
each of seven elderly women. who. on Good
Friday, would bring water from well and
give her tomb a conscientious housewife s
scrubbing. The good woman's resting place
is religiously scrubbed to this day, and the
seven shillings, by reason of rent charge
| Forthcoming. This custom is known
| throughout England as "scrubbing Molly
| Crime"
Through the eccentric generosity of an
unknown who died some time in the era
| of the Plantagenets the twenty-one Oldest
| widows in the parish of St. Bartholomew,
| London assemble on Good Friday about
| the unknown's fiat tombstone In the church
| yard and each picks therefrom hot cross
| bun and new sfxpence. somewhat SIM
| liar custom is observed on the same day in
| the famous Blue Coat School, each of the
| schools sixty youngest boys receiving a
new penny and package OF ralsihs. lne
! ceremony was enacted for the three hun
| dred and thirtieth time two days since, and
| is the result of the dying wish of Peter Sy-
| monds, "a worthy but otherwise unknown
| Londoner of Queen Elizabeth's reign
| Perhaps the most recent of the Engnsn
| local Easter customs is that observed every
| Good Friday In the tavern of the Widows
| Son, Bromley-by-Bow. Sixty-six years ago
| the widow who then ran the tavern received
| a message from her sailor son that he
would be home on Good Friday and would
| she save him hot cross bun? The bun
| was duly placed In wire basket suspended
| from the ceiling. and there 1t has remained
| ever since for the sailor lad never came
| back to eat It. The mother, ever hoping
| that her boy would some day return, each
| year placed fresh bun In the basket as
| long as she lived Her successors have
kept up the custom, and the sixty-sixth
bun was added to the collection last week.
BY means OF an Easter legacy many an
English man and woman has escaped
posthumous obscurity and at the same
| time contributed to the quaint things OF
| the world, as we'll as to the relief OF Its
poor.
Ancient Egg-striking Contests.
For years the boys and girls OF Washing
| ton have rolled their eggs Of an Easter
Monday ON the White House lawn; but for