Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/119

 boundary marks with his stick as he passed them. All-Hallows' E'en was the time when the young people tested the durability of love or friendship by burning nuts:—

"Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame, And to each nut I gave a sweetheart's name: This with the loudest bounce, me sore amazed, That in a flame of brightest colour blazed; As blazed the nut, so may thy passion grow, For 'twas thy nut that did so brightly glow!"

Other pastimes contributed to the evening's amusement, such as "ducking for apples," and "snatch apple"—a tub, in the former case, having been nearly filled with water, and the fruit placed in it, each in turn, with hands bound behind them, endeavoured to seize the prize with the teeth; in the latter game, an apple was fastened to one extremity of a rod and a lighted candle to the other, the whole being suspended by a string from the ceiling, and the players, bound as before, snapped at the apple, and avoided the flame as well as they were able.

Until within the last fifty or sixty years, the mosses of Marton and the hills in the vicinity of the Fylde were illuminated with bonfires on All-Hallows' Eve, or Teanlay-night, as it was called, kindled by the country people with the avowed object of succouring their friends who were lingering in the imaginary regions of a middle state. A field near Poulton received the name of "Purgatory" from the mummery of the "Teanlays" having, on one occasion at least, been celebrated there. This ceremony was simple in its performance, and consisted merely of a circle of men raising masses of blazing straw on high with pitch-forks. On All Souls' Day our Catholic forefathers were accustomed to bake cakes of oatmeal and aromatic seeds, named Soul-cakes, and these, together with pasties and furmety, formed a feast invariably eaten at that season. Remnants of this custom existed even in late years amongst the youths of Marton and some other townships and villages, who on the day of ancient festival solicited money, under the name of Soul-pence, from their neighbours.

We will now enumerate some of the superstitions and beliefs that have prevailed in the Fylde more recently than those to