New Ulm review., 1920-12-29
New Year Kissing
Customs
,,,,....,
! Saluting the Parish: Pump

Il Saluting the Parish Pump
rT HERE has always been a close Z
and mystic association Of kiss
!. t- - a 4 81 ing with the New Year. Every s
lover. if circumstances: permit, thus
salutes his sweetheart at the dawn of
the New Yea and some levers are
not pafticular r., whose sweetheart she
is that they thus salute on this aus
picious occasion. "a. - "a.
Il ThereHfs an ancient kissing custom
assoefa ted With a parish church In
Lancashire. Tie ..legend' is shat any
zone who at the first stroke of mid-
might kisses the keyhole of the CHURCH
llstloor. and then runs right round tile
edifice III time tos:kiss the keyhole be-
/ fore the last stroke Of ::fhe hour, is GER
| tain Of good luck during the whole Of
the year ats E ss
Tt requires a certain amount of
nerve TO enter this: country chnrchyard
at tiies dead of mi ght. even for such 4
|Fpurposa. bnt ruInor hath It that no
new year is hnrHsw thOur someone es-
saving the race round the church.. The
distance is such that it IS Impossible
for more than one person to thus court
years luck @sSss 81 81
Churehyards have always Jeen favt-
rite places for New Year osculations.
| II the W4nsIeNdale district, in days
gone by all and sundry could kiss
without seandal.' on New Year's eve !.
|#snethe porch Of the church.
It was largely availed of, too, for .
1t Is on record that thes accornmoda-
tion fell lamentahly short of the de- {
nand. and consequently there was
/ even more squeezing than kissing-if
that were possible.
a Somewhat gruesome Find OF
cnarehyard1 kissing used to obtain
anonss the sBasanesa of the Pyrenees
on New Years eve. II was the custom
for the maidens to then repair to the
Kisses to tie four quarters of the arii-7
verse. tF5 = IS - 4, IN ia f7f-' 6 !.
VA kiss was snpposeesto brush their
lsftps on return, and.if it was warn, it
| indicated that they would marry and
( n. : . - .
he happy ever after. On tie other
fhantl. If tie kiss was cold and sof the
cart aearthy. the Inference was that
Issingle "bTessedn would be their lot.
The only means by which the omen
could be broben was bY repairfng to
the church and kissing the church BELL,
! "a gra vestdHe and 9 piece OF coffin
who'd. This remedy was Very fire.
| ;querifly resorted to : and SO superstf-
lstions were the Basque maidens that
lsbut for tlie neutrality-suspicious. some
i OF them would have lost their reason.
rs Ii these degenerate ,lavs Tie lot Of
| the mayor of Durham is far HAMMER
than that Of his predecessors =. AZ
ciei,t times. iff5 traslltion cafi be eerelleds
m ire sciiief magistrate ix,,s ,ben ,s,n IN.
.i1Ar III, 4,lipafitsn III KISS tho ftrstf pdsv
first sheep. ina rf,e first mfg
ssro1nM a.ius0l the flfst marker ff Inc
sssssesws fear. ssI I:. ssa .y;.
*. Hh,s wseD, on ;,,ntfl III occurred "a, a
resoureefuI occupant Of the mayofai
chair. to interpret the custom as re1at-
ing to the first three market women,
ana henceforward they were the re-
ciDfanfss pf ti1ts Ntaty5. Ytaa,ii. isses af,ti,
the ancient 4 custom : vanished alto
gether II, ~ ~ Ssss.
sss It is much to- be feared that the
abuse Of kissing customs has been
largely responsible for their falling
sintoadisuse, though some. of them are
certainly more hohored In, the breach
| than in ffle 5OhserVaY5ca!s< ~ 7lt&