CHAPTER I.
LIFE AND DEATH OF MAN.
Day of birth—Hour of birth—Border customs at the Birth of a child—Unchristened ground—Unbaptized children at the mercy of fairies—Safeguards for the child—Folk-lore connected with baptism—Cutting of nails—The toom cradle—The child’s first visit—The Ash-tree—Weeds and onfas’—Beads of peony root—The caul and veil—Folk-lore of childhood:—Rain charms—Rainbow charms—Crow, snail, and nettle charms—Folk-lore of boyhood:—School-rites and customs—The riding of the stang—Confirmation—Days for marriage—Seasons for marriage—Marriage portents—Marriage customs:—On the borders—In Yorkshire—Throwing the shoe—Kissing the bride—The petting stone—Hot pots—Rubbing with pease-straw—Race for a ribbon—Portents of death—Whistling woman and crowing hen—Border presage—The wraith or waff—St. Mark’s eve—Cauffriddling—Saining a corpse—Death with the tide—Discovery of the drowned—Use of pigeons’ or game-fowl feathers—Carrying the dead with the sun—The passing bell
HROUGHOUT the Borders, and in the six northern counties of England, peculiar rites and customs are bound up with every stage of human life. To begin at the beginning—the nursery has there a Folk-Lore of its own. And, first, the future character and fortunes of the infant may be divined from the day of the week on which it was born. For, as the old rhyme runs—
Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
And Thursday’s child has far to go.
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
And Saturday’s child works hard for its living;
But the child that is born on the Sabbath-day
Is blithe and bonny, good and gay.
It is remarkable that these verses, which are still current in
