Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 2 1884.djvu/362

354 When the bride set out to meet the bridegroom at the hall, or house, or church, in which the ceremony was to take place, great attention was, and still is, paid to the "first fit." A horse is looked upon as particularly lucky, hence the saying, "a hairy fit's a happy fit." The man or woman the bride first met had to give her a silver coin, and she made the person turn, and walk a short distance with her.

The bridal-dress must on no account be changed between the time of marriage and the time for retiring to bed.

The bridal-bed was, and is, usually made up by a woman "having milk in her breasts," helped by one that is looked upon as having a "guid fit" or "a lucky han'." The custom varies.

It is regarded as very unlucky if there is a burial in the village on the day of a marriage.

Sometimes the white bridal-petticoat was made into a dress for the first-born child. The bridal chemise and stockings were laid up to be put on at death.

The first clothes of the first-born were all given away to the nearest of kin for her first-born, beginning with a sister if she required them. So the clothes went from one to another, till they were worn out.

The mother had to go to church before she entered a neighbour's house.

I have been told by one that she has seen a mother, who went into a neighbour's house before going to church, put out.

Something borrowed must be put on the child at the time of baptism, often a shawl to roll the infant in. My informant says that she has given the loan of a shawl in accordance with this "fret." The baptismal dress of the first-born was kept for the eldest daughter's first-born.

The sea is thought to have great health-giving powers, both in its air and waters. It is supposed to be most efficacious in cases of general debility, indigestion, weakness of the spine and limbs, inflam-