Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/552

 488 Collectanea.

Scraps of English Folklore, IV. Cheshire. Conversation, Jan. 4, 1909.

Myself. — Miss wants to know when you will take down

the Christmas evergreens, Mary.

Mary (housemaid). — Oh, on Old Christmas Day, ma'am, to be sure, always.

Myself. — Whom did you learn that from? Mary. — My mother, ma'am ; she always did it. Myself. — And what shall you do with them? Burn them? Mary {with horror). — Oh 7io^ ma'am, not burn them ! Throw them away somewhere, carefully.

G. M. Ireland Blackburne. Motcomb St., Belgrave Sq., S.W.

Cornwall.

The following practices and beliefs are still in vogue in the neighbourhood of Helston.

On New Year's Eve a coin, a small piece of wood, and a piece of cloth are taken from a house into its garden and hidden under a stone or in some safe corner. The next morning the things are brought into the house again by the same person who took them outside. This ensures a sufficiency of clothing, house furniture, and money during the coming year.

Round buns made at Christmas must have a separate piece of dough upon their tops to make them true Christmas buns.

Chicks hatched from May eggs will not thrive, and May kittens " will bring home adders and toads."

A piece of toadskin is worn as a cure for cancer.

The sign of the cross is employed to cure wounds or pains.

In a village near Land's End, when there was a great scarcity of fish in the summer following a winter of many shipwrecks, it was said, — " The sea is mourning for its dead."

Helston. M. Shooter.

Devonshire.

A. T. (Kingsbridge, South Devon) always takes down the Christmas evergreens on New Year's Eve, and burns them.