THE CEREMONIAL CUSTOMS OF THE BRITISH GIPSIES.
BY T. VV. THOMPSON.
{Read at Meeting, Jan^iary ijth, 191 2.)
The following paper is a first attempt at a systematic pre- sentation of what is known at present concerning the ceremonial customs of the Gipsies of Britain. That it will not be markedly successful I am fully aware, but I ask for the indulgence that is granted to inexperienced youth and to pioneer work.
The chief source from which I have dug out my material has been the many notebooks filled during a constant intercourse with British Gipsies extending over the last three and a half years, during which time I have become acquainted with more than two thousand of their number, and have been on exceptionally intimate terms with some half a dozen families in Westmorland, East Anglia, and North Wales. I have also made a free use of the note- books of my friends and fellow-members of the Gyp.sy Lore Society, thanks to their kindness. Many of the results of our researches are to be found scattered up and down the pages of the Journal of that Society, but some are hitherto unpublished, and for leave to incorporate these in my paper I am very grateful to Dr. John Sampson and the Rev. George Hall.
Practically all the other printed sources of information have been examined, either by myself or by Mr. E. O. Winstedt of the Bodleian Library ; but not everything contained therein has been accepted. In addition, parallels
