Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/272

 250 Correspondence.

nest be-fore candelmes day : ye ferd schal be ye sonday nest be-fore sent austenis day in may." '

The Sunday next before Michaelmas Day must have been the fourth Sunday in September, and not the third ; but three possible explanations suggest themselves for the peculiarity noted by Miss Partridge, — (i), that there existed at Haresfield a gild of St. Peter, and that for some local reason what was the second "morowe- speche of the gyld " at Lynn may have been observed at Haresfield in place of the feast-day ("ye drynkyng"); (2), that the name of the patron saint at Haresfield has been changed ;. (3), that some pre-reformation bell, if any exist in the belfry, may provide a con- necting link by its inscription, either with St. Peter or some other saint.

If investigations could be carried out in 'this and other cases where there is a difference between the feast-day and the day of the patron saint of the village, it is possible that much hght might be thrown on a somewhat obscure subject.

P. J. He.\ther.

Twentieth-Century Marriage Customs,

When rice is thrown at a British wedding the birds of the air quickly remove all traces of it, .and most of us must have mourned the untidy litter, lasting for very many days, which follows the more common and meaningless showering of paper confetti in place of the good old folk customs of rice and shoe throwing. The lack of significance in paper confetti has, how- ever, proved unsatisfying, and the modern craze for "mascots" and luck signs has lately led to the paper discs being sometimes replaced by paper shapes imitating all manner of amulets and symbols, appropriate and not. It may .be interesting, therefore, to record the granting of a British patent (No. 6339 of 1909) for " Im- provements in or relating to Luck or Love-Charms, Tokens or the like, and Devices for Holding and Distributing same." The follow- ing passages are extracts from pp. 2-4 of the description of the ^ Toulmin Smith, English Gilds, E.E.T.S. (1870), p. 62.