Page:The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893.djvu/79

Rh "THE SAINTIE BANNKOCK."

On "Shrove Tuesday," or "Fastereven," "Fastrenseven." "Brose-day," "Bannock-nicht," a cake was baked, called, in some districts. "the santie bannock." It was baked after all the pancakes were baked, and of the same ingredients, but of a much thicker consistency. The baker had to do the work in silence, and every sort of means was used to make her break the silence. If in an unwary moment, her tongue was loosed, another took her place. A ring was put into the cake. When baked it was cut into as many pieces as there were unmarried persons present. Each chose a piece. The one who got the ring was the first to enter into married life. I have taken a hand in this ceremony.

DIVINATION BY THE PLANT "YARROW."

A young girl, if she wished to know who was to be her lover, adopted the following plan—She went, on the first evening of May, 0. S. (12th), "atween the sin an' the sky " and, without speaking to any one, gathered some of the flower Yarrow, or "the thousant-leaft flower" (thousand-leaved), (Achillea-millefolium), repeating the words:—

She carried it home, put it below her pillow, went to bed without speaking a word. Neither must she speak till morning. During the night she saw her lover in a dream. My informant's mother did this.

(Corgarff, Aberdeenshire.)

CURES FOR WITCHCRAFT OF THE "ILL EE" IN ANIMALS.

A silver coin with a cross on it—a florin at the present day—is taken and laid at the bottom of a milking cog, "atween the sin and the sky," in the evening. The one who does this sets out with the cog to a place in a stream of water where