Page:Cornish feasts and folk-lore.djvu/26

 "I went to tea also, but was soon up in the Malakoff again. It was so dark that the play was stopped for the time. At about seven o'clock the older part of the town began to congregate, and about a quarter-past seven they began to play 'Thursa.' This game is too well known to need description, and. I need only say that it was played about one hour, when>they began to form a ring with the intention, I supposed, of playing that best of all games, 'Kiss-in-the-Ring."—(Cornishman, 1881.)

On St. Stephen's-day, 26th December, before the days of gun-licences, every man or boy who could by any means get a gun went out shooting, and it was dangerous to walk the lanes. The custom is said to have had its origin in the legend of one of St. Stephen's guards being awakened by a bird just as his prisoner was going to escape. A similar practice prevailed in the neighbourhood of Penzance on "feasten Monday," the day after Advent Sunday ; but on that day I have never heard of any religious idea connected with it.

In the week after Christmas-day a fair is held at Launceston (and also at Okehampton in Devonshire), called "giglet fair" (a "giglet or giglot " is a giddy young woman). It is principally attended by young people. "At this 'giglet market,' or wife-market, the rustic swain was privileged with self-introduction to any of the nymphs around him, so that he had a good opportunity of choosing a suitable partner if tired of a single life."—(Britton and Brayley's Devon and Cornwall.)

It is unlucky to begin a voyage on Childermas (Innocents'-day), also to wash clothes, or to do any but necessary household work.

On New Year's-eve in the villages of East Cornwall, soon after dusk, parties of men, from four to six in a party, carrying a small bowl in their hands, went from house to house begging money to make a feast. They opened the doors without knocking, called out Warsail, and sang,—

This custom was common fifty years since, and may still be observed in remote rural districts. There is one saint whose name is