Northern Weekly Gazette. — 1905-06-24 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

CURIO US SUPERSTITIONS.  Qurer oustome relating to religious matters are many, indeed, but a. large percenta,go of them have true origin. For instance, what should we think of a man who entered a church or place of worship without fine removing his hat. Even workmen at work repairing a church, if they are inside and the roof is on, have sufficient reverence to remove their head covering'. It seems to come natural, and the writer has been in very many churches in different parts of England when they were being metered, and although he hue seen many score of men at work at the interior , of the edifice, he never hes but once seen a man with his hat on, and he was an eccentric chap and not quite responsible for his actions. Another custom, and a right one, too, is that no person shall be allowed to smoke in any churchyard or cemetery. Not that there is any harm about it, but it is likely, to a certain extent, tie draw the attention of the smoker away from the sacred eurroundings. Another old custom which is Eta in vogue in many parts of England, even at the present day, is that the north side of a churchyard is an undesirable portion for burials. Hence, when the graves were purchased, the eastern portion of the burial ground was always much more on demand than the north, for this reason. The ancients supposed (as many of the Eastern menthe,' do now) that at the Resurrection our Lord would come from the east; therefore, these buried on the eastern portion would be first to rise. The north side was kept chiefly for the interment of murderers, and malefactors 'es general. If anyone cares to notice he will always pee in any old churchyard that the most elaborate tombstones are on the eastern side, an4l fewest and most simple on the north side. All building representing the Church of England always stand east and west, although a few of our old Cleveland edifices are a little out of the line, perhaps, owing to the carelessness of the architects of old. Almost all symbolic-emblems in connection with churches are odd numbers, and three and seven are generally the most used. Church bells, which date back to a very early period, were originally chimed to drive away the evil spirits before the service, Custom, however, still keeps them going, and campanology is now considered a great art, especially in the Eastern counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, and Essex. In these counties the writer has seen many bells that date from the 14th and 15th centuries, and are still rung every Sunday. During the marriaee ceremony it is supposed to be unlucky for a person to drop the wedding ring, although no one &ems to be able to state why, perhaps, at the present day a large percentage of young people think more about the ring than of the solemn oath they are making at the altar. To see a bat (bird) inside the church was regarded as a very serious emblem of bad luck by the old south-country people. Several local superstitions are: The chained man at Staintanin-Cleveland Churchyard. There a man is chained down in his grave, and has been for nearly 200 years, because he vowed he would get out of his grave and torment his relatives. During the 16th century, the devil, in the form of a huge black bird, was often to be Been after dark floating over Guisborough Priory churchyard. Thie took place (says Gravel and Ord) for many months. At Hutton Rudby over 150 years ago a wealthy lady was buried under the church aisle with a valua.hle ring on her hand, and several days after the interment, the greedy parish clerk resolved to get that ring, and, in opening the grave, he cut the finger of the lady, who immediately came back to life and sat up So her coffin, causing the sexton to bolt for his life. The pariah church at Hinderwell was in the sixteenth century pulled down and removed to another spot near at hand, but es fast as the edifice was built the evil one pulled it down again, and the superstitious people took the building back again to the old spot. A similar legend is supposed to be connected with Manske-by-the-Sea ohrch. In fact, so many euperititions exist even at the present day, the* a volume would be required to relate then all.—. (Oriri).—llugh wemaena Cook, 10, Bird's& uouri, Redoes.  M tk,  1h