358
INDEX.
“Chipping the block,” an Easter-day observance at University College, Oxford, 83
Chirton, near Shields, haunted by a silky in green, 270
Christening, see Child’s baptism
Christians, early: their belief in supernatural agency, 3; their superstitions denounced by St. Chrysostom and in Apostolical Constitutions, 4
Christmas: marked by many observances on Borders—carrying figures of Virgin and Child and singing carol, 64; “going a wassailing” in West Riding—figures carried in Milly (my lady) boxes—verses used, 65; singers in fanciful attire parade streets, called mummers—“bessel” or wassil cup: box with figures and ornaments in Cleveland—unlucky to send them away unrequited; no meat eaten on the eve—the Yule cake and cheese then cut—the “Devil’s Knell” rung at Horbury and Dewsbury—the Yule clog and candles, the gifts of tradesmen—unlucky to light them before the proper time, 66; hanging up stockings for presents; a peculiar breakfast dish at Whitbeck; sword dancers: the characters, verses, and dances, 67–69—dance similar to sword dance of ancient Goths and Swedes—still obtains in Gothland; mummers with image of white horse—the white horse still common in North Germany—horse head and skin carried in Midland Counties—the Christmas tup, 70; the horse, the white steed, Gleipmir, of Odin, 71; a carol, ib.; unlucky to let the house-fire out on the eve, 72; bees hum a hymn—oxen kneel in their stalls as the day begins, 311
Christ’s Hospital, charm for cramp used at, 155
Chrycimers, i. e. Christianless hill: part of churchyard where unbaptized children are buried (Devon), 132
Church toleration of heathen customs, 2
Church: Violent end comes to him who removes the first stone from a (Aberdeen), 120; first person entering a new one seized by the Devil (Germany), 121; dog driven in at Aix-la-Chapelle, ib.; dog or boar formerly buried alive under corner stone of, 274
Churching, unlucky for mother to enter another house before her; the same feeling in Ireland—how evaded, 16
Churchyard: first person buried seized by the devil; dog or pig buried as his tribute (Germany and Norway), 121; witches kept away by ghost of animal buried alive in foundation of church, 274; haunted by the kyrkogrim in Sweden, 274
Clare’s Shepherd’s Calendar quoted on divination by Knotweed, 100
Clergyman: blessing a house after death, 63; his touch curing rheumatism, a wen, and a cow, 161–2
Cleveland, Christmas customs in, 66; greeting on New Year’s Day, 75; nurses take children upstairs before going down, 18; St. Stephen’s Day in, 67
Clitheroe, a tailor of, who outwitted the devil, 279
Clock, the cockroach or blackbeetle, 83
Clothes, new, worn on New Year’s day, 72, and on Easter Sunday, 83; placing money in right pocket of; sayings to wearers, 119
Cloutie’s Croft, or the gudeman’s field: a plot of ground set apart as a propitiatory gift to the devil, 278
