196
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vi. SEPT. 7, 1912.
THROWING BALLS IN CHUKCH ON EASTER
MONDAY (11 S. vi. 109). In Hone's ' Every-
day Book,' vol. i. p. 219, there occurs the
following reference to this subject :
" Then we have Easter ball-play, another ecclesiastical device, the meaning of which cannot be quite so clearly traced ; but it is certain that the Romish clergy abroad played at ball in the church, as part of the service ; and we find an archbishop joining in the sport. ' A ball, not of size to be grasped by one hand only, being given out at Easter, the dean and his representatives began an antiphone, suited to Easter-day ; then taking the ball in his left hand, he commenced a dance to the tune of the antiphone, the others dancing round hand in hand. At intervals, the ball was bandied or passed to each of the choristers. The organ played according to the dance and sport. The dancing and antiphone being concluded, the choir went to take refreshment. It was the privilege of the lord, or his locum ienens, to throw the ball ; even the archbishop did it.' "*
" AVhether the dignified clergy had this amuse- ment in the English churches is not authenticated ; but it seems that ' boys used to claim hard eggs, or small money, at Easter, in exchange for the ball-play before mentioned.' "*
C. L. CUMMINGS.
Ball games connected with churches are believed to be remnants of sun-worship. In Cornwall the time-honoured amusement of hurling is, or was, connected with saints' days and ecclesiastical buildings.
In France, at Bourges, the sole, cheole, soule, or soulette=soleil, was a ball inflated with air, and it was particularly used by Churchmen. In the church of Troyes at some festival (Easter, if I remember rightly) after nones the bishop and canons first solemnly played at top, and then sub- sequently at paume, sending the ball alter nately to each other. The game in various forms and under different names seems to have been known throughout France, though not always played by ecclesiastics. Emile Souvestre, the antiquary, considered it to be without doubt a vestige of sun-worship.
Pelota, which is played in Spain and Spanish America, is said to have been traditional among the Basques of Navarre.
The author of ' Tent Life in Siberia ' has recorded that as far away as Anadyrsk which lies some degrees north of Kamt- chatka, just south of the Arctic Circle members of the Greek Church engage in football on the snow at Christmas. A national game of Turkestan, described in Scribner's Magazine, August, 1905, is playec at Sarnarcand during the festivities of th Mohammedan New Year. The ob j ect striven
" Posbroke's ' Brit. Monach.,' from Du Cange.'
or by mounted horsemen is the skin of a
reshly killed sheep, which reminds one of
he leather " hood " thrown up at the base
>f an old cross near the church at Haxey.
n Lincolnshire, at Twelfthtide. The pbpu-
ar el Pato of the Argentine Republic was
Hit down by the tyrant Rosas, who had his
>wn reasons for disliking public meetings,
ike the Turkestan game, it was a sport
>f mounted men, and they contended for
a dead duck or other domestic bird sewn
,ip in a piece of raw hide provided with
strongly made loops to be gripped by the
iders.
The idea that the sun dances on Easter Day, which is well known in France, may be connected with ball-throwing. As M. Gaidoz las pointed out, the notion of the sun being ike a wheel could not arise till wheels were nvented. At an earlier date it may have often been considered a ball or bundle of fire, [ndeed, according to Bancroft, the Galli- nomeros of Central California had a legend which stated it to be a ball of reeds gathered by the coyote a small kind of wolf who gave it to the hawk with some pieces of flint. The hawk flew with it up into the sky. setting it on fire to whirl along in a fierce red glow.
M. Gaidoz has remarked that the Nativity, the real date being unknown, was fixed at the date of " Dies Natalis Invicti Solis," which seems to account for the connexion of football with Christmas, old or new style. Shrovetide and Easter ball games may have to do with the spring equinox, it being natural to represent the increasing action of the sun by the motion of a ball.
A burning or rolling wheel has often been used to symbolize the heavenly body, especially at Midsummer, but I do not recall an instance of ball -play at the summer solstice. T.R.E.N.T.
See Chambers, 'Book of Days,' 1881, i. 428. This is the nearest I can find.
S. L. PETTY. [MR. TOM JONES also thanked for reply.]
CARDINAL ALPHONSE DE RICHELIEU (11 S. vi. 7, 96). Considering Armand was so much in the limelight, it is not strange that, to the general student of European history of the period, the existence of two brothers in the purple should be unknown. It is a rather curious state of affairs that Armand should have easily secured the cardinalate for his more or less obscure brother, while he himself was striving ineffectually for so long to obtain the dignity he coveted
