Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 5, 1894.djvu/55

 Rh as the Kourdish practice of bread-making as it occurs at Sinjate. "One woman makes the dough into balls, the size of her fist: this she beats with her hand into flat cakes, about a quarter of an inch thick and ten inches across. This she hands to the chief bakeress, who presides over the tanure [or oven], and who, by some mysterious legerdemain, merely by throwing the cake from hand to hand, expands it to a thin oval sheet, the thickness of paper; this she deposits on a very dirty pillow, one end of which is open to let in her hand, and thus poised, she dashes it against the heated side of the tanure, and, when baked to her satisfaction, she removes it with two sticks" (British Assoc. Report, 1889, p. 184). The British parallel to this belongs to a subject which my wife has taken up, and which my friend, Professor Haddon—rather irreverently, as I think, but still expressively—styled folk-grub:—

"An ancient custom, for the observance of which Rutherglen has long been famous, is the baking of sour cakes. Some peculiar circumstances attending the operation render an account of the manner in which it is done not altogether unnecessary. About eight or ten days before St. Luke's Fair (for they are baked at no other time of the year), a certain quantity of oatmeal is made into dough, with warm water, and laid up in a vessel to ferment. Being brought to a proper degree of fermentation and consistency, it is rolled up into balls, proportionable to the intended largeness of the cakes. With the dough is commonly mixed a small quantity of sugar, and a little aniseed or cinnamon. The baking is executed by women only, and they seldom begin their work till after sunset, and a night or two before the Fair. A large space of the house, chosen for the purpose, is marked out by a line drawn upon it. The area within is considered as consecrated ground, and is not, by any of the bystanders, to be touched with impunity. A transgression incurs a small fine, which is always laid out on drinks for the use of the company. This hallowed spot is occupied by six or eight women, all of whom, except the toaster, seat themselves on the ground in a circular figure, having their feet turned towards the fire. Each of them is provided with a bake-board about two feet square, which they hold on their knees. The