Page:Notes on the folk-lore of the northern counties of England and the borders.djvu/97

Rh on first hearing the note of the cuckoo, to insure there being always plenty there—practices still common among us.

The Cleveland New Year’s greeting is very definite on this matter:—

You may constantly hear the lads of that district calling it through their neighbour’s keyholes early on New Year’s morning. It is also recited by the children of the West Riding when they make their rounds soliciting New Year’s gifts. There is much visiting at this season throughout the North of England, and much hospitality in the matter of rich cake and wine, but the name applied to this practice in Northumberland is singular. They call it “fadging,” or “eating fadge.”

Old people are careful to note how the wind blows on New Year’s Eve, as they think it significant of the weather during the following season, according to the old rhymes:—

Perhaps I may mention here two other weather prophecies. It is well known that “a green yule makes a fat kirk-yard,” but the following couplet is of narrower circulation. It was communicated to me by a friend, who assures me that it is current in Buckinghamshire:

It is curious to find that the word “calends” still lives on the