The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1908-04-16

egg and so on.
Easter egg customs appear to be pref
ty common all over Europe, varying
more or less in different countries A
somewhat curious custom is prevalent
In Denmark. where each servant Of a
household is presented with II newly
| laid eggs and also allowed to partake
Of as much Easter cake as he or she
can eat. This cake consists of GER
tain kind Of bread mixed with plums,
currents, or candied peal, according to
taste, hot-cross buns being un known in
that country.
This custom, although a curious one
is however, scarcely more so than that
which obtains in ireland, where every
body is supposed to try to secure a
Good Friday egg to be eaten or Easter
Sunday. The distinction from other
eggs may be easily discerned as ac-
cording to belief every Good Friday
egg bears blHe cross upon it. The
superstition current Is that the one who
is fortunate enough to secure this will
be safe from every evil throughout the
magical charm.
Many old customs and ceremonies .
now rapidly becoming obsolete, are
still found lingering in some out-of-the-
way places, where the Glamour of the
| world is little heard There is the
practice of lifting" which still pre-
! walls in certain places in the north of
| England We believe it varies in diff
| ferent parts, but there used to be day
on which the men lifted the women and
day on which the women returned
the compliment. 1t Is gone about In
this way.
| A person is asked to sit down on a
chair or on a seat made by two robust
! individuals crossing their hands on
their wrists in the same way as child
rem make seat when they play their
popular game of Garry Lady to Lon
don Town The person to be raised :,
lifted or heaved as the case may be, is
then raised three times from the
ground as some charm or cantata is re-
peated, or else carried few PAGES
along the street, after which q small
sum of money is paid or kiss de-
manded. This custom is supposed to
signify the JOY OF the people at the Re-
surrecsion.
Iu Durham and some other places
the men took off the women's shoes on
Easter Monday and on the next day the
fair sex claimed the privilege whilst
IA other parts again what is known as
the ceremony of washing the f,e was
performed This custom, it may be
mentioned was kept up by our Sove-
reigns until the reign of George Ill
The eating of hot-cross buns on Good
Friday is not fast falling into desuetude
1t is entirely English custom. On
good Friday the pastry-cooks window
is filled with hot cross buns, and chill
dren are to be heard shouting the we'll
known rhyme
One penny,
Two a penny,
Hot cross buns.
1t was at one time popularity believed
that bread baked on Good Friday, if
pre- erved was good specific for all
ments to which the hu nan flesh is heir.
A little was crumbled down into water
drawn from holy well. This superti-
ton it is SAID, still obtains currency in
some remote districts of England.
Many fairy cures and charms have
from time immemorial, been associated
in one way or other with Good Friday.
| was on Good Friday that the King of
England hallowed the 'Crampe Rings
as they were called, and which were
believed to be certain cure for
cramp and falling sickness" or epilep.
sy.
The quaint old Good Friday custom
at the church of st. Bartholomew the
Great, in West Smithfeld, London, of
giving sixpenny pieces to number of
old widows is still duly celebrated
with all its wonted pathos and pictures
queness The old women gather round
the only fiat tombstone that is left, and
one by one pick up the sixpences placed
there. in accordance with the terms of
the strange bequest. No one knows
whose grave this is they honor, nor
whose wish it was originally that every
year the oldest widows of St. Bartholo
news should have a good Friday SER
mon, and receive siXpence and bun as
a reward for their piety.
Pratt,in his celebrated History of