The Deasil, is one of the Highland superstitions with regard to the sun. It means the turning from east to west, or according to the course of the sun, and is a custom of high antiquity in religious ceremonies. When a Highlander goes to bathe or to drink water out of a consecrated fountain, he must approach by going round the place from east to west, on the south side, in imitation of the apparent diurnal motion of the sun. When the dead are placed in the grave, the grave is approached by going round in the same manner. The bride, too, is conducted to her future spouse, in the presence of the minister, and the glass goes round in the course of the sun. This is called in Gaelic, going round the right or the lucky way. The opposite is of course the wrong or unlucky way; and if a person's meat or drink accidentally enters the windpipe, or 66 goes the wrong way," as it is usually termed, they instantly cry out, Deis heal!-an ejaculation expressive of a wish that it may go the right. This superstition was in vogue amongst the Romans. The custom of sending drink round a company from left to right, has been supposed to be a vestige of this superstition, and there are many, at the present day, who would reckon it unlucky to take the opposite course. The Antitheton of the Deasil is the Widdersinnis. The Highlanders ascribe some preternatural virtue to that motion which is opposed to the course of the sun, or to what grows in that way. This is particularly attended to in magical ceremonies, and is mentioned as the mode of salutation given by witches and warlocks to the Devil. Ross, in his additions to the ancient song, "The Rock and the wee pickle tow," makes the spinster not only attend to the wood of her rock, that it should be of the Rantry, or mountain ash, itself, as we shall see, a powerful specific against the effects of witchcraft, but also to the direction of its growth: "I'll gar my ain Tammy gae down to the how, Again, on Mayday there is another rite, still pretty generally observed throughout Scotland, by the superstitious or by the youthful, merely as a frolic—it is the gathering of Maydew, to which some ascribe a happy, others a medical influence. Early in the morning they sally out in numbers to gather it. We have already seen that the Beltein is not confined to Scotland, but that it is an Pennant derives this term from Gael. Deas, or Des. the right-hand, and syl. the sun. + Teul. weder sins, contrario modo.-Kilian, Oriental as well as a Scandinavian ceremony; it was also formerly known in some parts of the north of England. In the West Riding of Yorkshire, for example, they have the expression, Baal-hills to signify hillocks on the moors where fires have formerly been, and several places on the borders of Craven seem to have received their names from these idolatrous rites.-Hora momente Cravenæ, p. 56. The play of Robin Hood, was a performance in the May games, in which a person representing that bold outlaw, presided as Lord of the May, attended by maid Marian, his faithful mistress, as Lady of the May, and by persons appropriately dressed, denominated Robin Hood's men. Bishop Latimer complains in one of his sermons, that, coming to preach in a certain town, on a holiday, he found the church door locked, and was told the parish could not hear him that day, for they were gone to gather for Robin Hood, it being Robin Hood's day. The good bishop says, that notwithstanding his rochet, he was fain to give place to Robin Hood. King Henry VIII. was entertained with a May game at Shooter's Hill, by the officers of his guards, amounting to two hundred, clothed in green, headed by one who personated Robin Hood. He met the king as he was taking his morning ride, attended by the queen and nobility of both sexes; and, on inviting his majesty to see how he and his companions lived, the royal train was forthwith conducted by the archers, blowing their horns, to a green wood under the hill, and ushered into an arbour of boughs, formed into chambers, and covered with flowers and sweet herbs, where Robin Hood, apologizing for the want of more delicate refreshment, said to the king-" Sir, we outlaws usually breakfast upon venison, and have no other food to you," and the king and queen sate down, and were served with venison and wine. They were well pleased with their entertainment, and on their departure were met by two ladies, splendidly apparelled, as the Lady May and the Lady Flora, riding in a rich open chariot, who, saluting the king with divers goodly songs, brought him to Greenwich. This game was also common in Scotland, but as numerous meetings for disorderly mirth are apt to give occasion to tumult, it was found necessary to repress it by statute in 1555. At these times, a gathering for Robin Hood, as it was termed, took place; a number of persons going through the country to collect money for defraying the expenses of the exhibition, and for purchasing dresses in which the actors were to appear.* Some of the superstitions connected with the first of May, seem to be transferred to the third, which is Rood Day, or Rude Day -(A. S. Rode, a cross)-the day of the invention of the cross. Some old Scotch women are careful, on the eve of this day, for the purpose of preserving their work from the power of witchcraft, to have their rocks and spindles made of the roan tree (the Sorbus sylvestris Alpina, L.) which probably received its name from Runa, incantation, because of the use made of it in 'magical arts. With the Greeks, the rhamnus, probably a species of buckthorn, was the great anginano, or keeper off of evil spirits, against which it was reputed a sovereign amulet. When any person was seized 'with a dangerous distemper, it was usual to fix over his door a branch of rhamnus and laurel which custom is quoted by Potter, as mentioned by Laërtius, in his life of Bion the Boristhenite : : Ραμνον τε, και κλαδον δαφνης Υπερ θύρην εθηκεν Απαντα μαλλον, η θανειν, Ετοιμος ὼν ὑπουργειν. "The door of Bion's house is seen That the former was the great preservative against evil spirits, is shown in a fragment of Euphorio : ̓Αλεξίκακον φυς ραμνον. "Produced the Rhamn, against mischievous ills An antidote." On Rood day, many persons in Scotland hang up branches of the roan tree above the doors of their cow houses, and tie them round the tails of their cattle with scarlet threads. Indeed great attention to their cows is supposed to be necessary, as both witches and fairies are believed to be at work in milking the tether, an expression which implies a power possessed by witches of carrying off the milk of any one's cows, by pretending to perform the operation of milking upon a hair tether; an idea, however, not confined to Scotland, but obtaining, at the present day, amongst the vulgar in Sweden. To make their cows luck, or prosper, it is believed to be only necessary to milk a little out of each teat upon the ground, but that the reverse will be the case, if the ceremony be neglected. This is evidently a Pagan rite, being a libation, either to the old Gothic or German deity, Hertha-the earth, or to the fairies. A similar superstition prevails in the north of Scotland, with regard to the pankail—a broth made of coleworts. Of old, in preparing this, the meal which rose as the scum of the pot, was not put into any dish, but thrown among the ashes: from the idea, that it went to the use of the fairies, who were supposed to feed upon it—a ceremony resembling one amongst the ancient Romans, who, in order to consecrate any kind of food, generally threw a part of it into the fire, as an offering to the Lares, or household gods, who were thence called Dii Patellarii. On Rood day, also, great virtue is ascribed to May dew. In every part of Scotland, Rude day does not signify the same period. In the old Scotch acts, it is applied to the 14th of September, O.S. (25th September, N.S.), and to the present day, the same designation holds in Lanark, Roxburgh, and other shires. From this day (in September), a calculation is made as to the state of the atmosphere for it is said, that if the deer lie down dry and rise dry on Rude day, there will be sax owks of dry weather. Whitsuntide is the only moveable feast, which falls about this period; so called, because the converts, newly baptized, appeared from Easter to Whitsuntide in whitehence White Sunday-Teut. Weissentag.(Skinner.) Whit Monday and Whit Tuesday, are observed as festivals, for the same reason as Monday and Tuesday in Easter week. Their religious character is, however, almost obsolete, and they are now kept as holidays, in which the lower classes still pursue their favourite diversions. The Whitsun-ales, and other customs formerly observed at this season, are almost wholly obsolete. On St. Urban's Day (May 25th), we are told by J. B. Aubanus, that in many parts of Germany, "all the vintners and masters of vineyards set a table either in the marketstead, or in some other open and public place, and covering it with fine napery, and strawing upon it greene leaves and sweete flowers, do place upon the table the image of that holy bishop, and then, if the day be cleare and faire, they crown the image with great store of wine; but if the weather prove rugged and rainie, they cast filth, mire, and puddle water upon it: persuading themselves that, if that day be faire and calme, their grapes, which then begin to flourish, will prove good that year; but if it be stormie and tempestuous, they shall have a bad vintage."-(Forster, p. 250.) CHAPTER IV. MIDSUMMER. On the Vigil of St. John the Baptist (June 23d), the ancient custom of celebrating the summer solstice, common to almost all nations, by lighting bonfires, is still kept up in many parts of England. Numerous pagan rites, adopted afterwards by the Christians, are still observed on Midsummer Eve and Day. According to Durand, there is a curious custom of rolling a large wheel, bound with straw set on fire, down a hill, on this day, evidently intended to signify, that the sun was beginning to roll down again from its greatest height. Naogeorgus refers to the same, and adds, that the folks used to imagine that they could roll down and get rid of their ill luck with this wheel The heathen rites of this festival, at the summer solstice, may be considered as a counterpart of those used during the winter solstice, at Yuletide. In the old Runic fasti, a wheel was used to denote the festival of Christmas, and Gebelin derives Yule from a primitive word, carrying with it the general idea of revolution, and of a wheel; and it was so called, says Bede, because of the return of the sun's annual course after the wintry solstice. This wheel is common to both festivities. There are many absurd superstitions attached to the Midsummer Eve. For instance, it is imagined that any unmarried woman, fasting, and at midnight, laying a clean cloth, with bread, cheese, and ale, and sitting down as if going to eat, the door being left open, will see the person whom she is afterwards to marry, come into the room, and drink to her, by bowing; and afterwards, filling the glass, he will leave it on the table, and making another bow, will retire. belief is, that she also is destined to pin and wither away. The following version of some lines from a German almanac, descriptive of this superstition, is beautiful. "The young maid stole through the cottage door, And sparkled and shone, And soon as the maiden her love-knot tied, To her chamber she sped, With its silvery flame, And sparkied and shoce, The forty days' rain, now ascribed to St. Swithin, formerly belonged to this Saint. An old memorial asserts-" Pluvias S. Joannis 40 dies pluvii sequuntur”—it is added, "certa nu cum pernicies." Every one of our readers must be acquainted with the prognostications connected with St. Swithin's day (July 15). "Saint Swithin's day, gif ye do rain Mr. Aubrey has given us the following :-So saith an old Scotch proverb. In the "The last summer, on the day of St. John time of old Ben, it was an ancient tradition,t the Baptist, 1694, I accidentally was walking and is asserted to have taken its rise from in the pasture behind Montague house; it the following circumstances. - Swithin or was twelve o'clock. I saw there, about two Swithum, Bishop of Winchester, who died or three and twenty young women, most of in 868, desired that he might be buried in them were habited on their knees, very busy the open churchyard, not in the chancel of as if they had been weeding. I could not the minster, as was usual with the bishops, presently learn what the matter was. At and his request was complied with; but the last a young man told me that they were monks, on his being canonized, considering looking for a coat under the root of a plan- it disgraceful for the Saint to lie in a public tain, to put under their heads that night, and cemetery, resolved to remove his body into they should dream who would be their hus- the choir, which was to be done with solemn bands; it was to be found that day and hour." Again: according to a custom common over Germany, every young girl plucks a sprig of St. John's Wort (Hypericum), and sticks it into the wall of her chamber. Should it, owing to the dampness of the wall, retain its freshness and verdure, she may reckon upon gaining a suitor in the course of the year; but should it droop, the popular VOL. I. 2 L The glow-worm is denominated in German — Johannis- Wurmgen or Wurmlein-St. John's worm. + Sordido, who reposed considerable confidence in the predictions of his penny almanac, like too many amongst ourselves, exclaims O, here, St. Swithin's the 15th day, variable weather, for the most part rain, good! for the most part rain: why it should rain fty days after, now, more or less, it was a rule held, afe I was able to hold a plough, and yet here are two days no rain: ha! it makes me muse."-Every man out of his humour. Act 1. Scene 1. No. IX. DECEMBER 27, 1828. procession, on the 15th of July; it rained, minations-Mell supper†-Kern supper— however, so violently, for forty days together, that the design was abandoned.-(Forster, p. 344.) The vulgar tradition adds, that the monks, finding it vain to contend with a Saint who had the elements so completely under his control, gave him his own way; so soon as their intention was abandoned, he became appeased, though not completely so, and hence still reminds the descendants of those obstinate people of the permanency of his power. In the north of Scotland, this day is termed St. Martin of Bullion's day,* and the same superstition is there prevalent. It has evidently been founded on popular observation; and certainly, in a majority of the British summers, there is a showery period at this season: farther there is no truth in the tradition. Lammas day (August 1st), seems, etymologically, to be a corruption of Loaf Mass; and is a remnant of a very old British custom of celebrating the gifts of Ceres. In Orosius we have hlafmaesse for panis festum vel frumenti primitiarum festum Calendarum Augusti, and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the word is spelled plam maesse, whence, by rejecting the aspiration, we have Lammas. Maesse, mass in Anglo-Saxon, merely signifies a festival, and hence our names Christmas, Candlemas, Martinmas, &c. "Gebelin, in his Allegories Orientales tells us, that as the month of August was the first in the Egyptian year, the first day of it was called Gule, which, being latinized, makes Gula. Our legendaries, surprised at seeing this word at the head of the month of August, did not overlook, but converted it to their own purpose. They made out of it the feast of the daughter of the Tribune Quirinus, cured of some disorder in Gula, the throat, by kissing the chains of St. Peter, whose feast is solemnized on this day. So Sir Henry Spelman- Gula Augusti sæpe obvenit in membranis antiquis præsertim forensibus pro festo S. Petri ad vincula; quod in ipsis calendis Augusti celebratur. Occasionem inter alias Durandus suggerit lib. vii. cap. 19. Quirinum Tribunum filiam habuisse gutturosam; quæ osculata, iussu Alexandri Papa (a B. Petro sexti) vincula quibus Petrus sub Nerone coercitus fuerat, a morbo liberatur."—(Forster, p.381.) We can give only a passing notice to the celebration of Harvest Home, which, although varying in every country, is a period of joyful festivity in all; the many rural ceremonies, however, formerly appertaining to it, are fast going out of use. In different parts of Great Britain, it has various deno It is not clear why St. Martin is designated of Bullion. Du Cange calls this day-Festum S. Martini Bullientis, adding "vulgo etiamnum, S. Martin Bouillant," probably so called on account of the warmth of the season in which the feast falls. Chum supper, and Feast of Ingathering. In all Christian countries, when the fruits are gathered in, and placed in their proper repositories, it is common to provide a plentiful supper for the reapers and servants of the family. At this entertainment, all are, in the modern revolutionary idea of the word, perfectly equal. In the northern parts of England, a Mell Doll, or image of corn, dressed like a doll, is carried in triumph, amidst the frantic screaming of the women, on the last day of reaping. In some places, this is called a Kern (perhaps properly Corn) Baby. There is also occasionally a harvest queen: thought to be a representation of the Roman Ceres-apparelled in great finery, and crowned with flowers; with a scythe in one hand, and a portion of corn in the other. All these ceremonies have arisen, like the Αλώα and Συγκομιτήρια of the Greeks, from gratitude to the gods, by whose blessing they enjoyed the fruits of the ground. By St. Bartholomew's day (August 24th), the showery period has generally passed away, and the weather has become more favourable, or as Dr. Forster has affectedly and ridiculously expressed it-" the watery spell of a weeping St. Swithin has nearly ceased to draw down the tears of Cœlum, the forty days' lamentation ending yesterday." (p. 426). Hence the proverb. "All the tears that St. Swithin can cry, CHAPTER V. MICHAELMAS. Michaelmas (Sept. 29th), is one of the regular quarter days in some countries, for settling rents, &c.; but it is no longer remarkable for the hospitality which once attended it. Stubble geese being, in England, esteemed in perfection early in the autumn, most families have one dressed on this day. Numerous inquiries have been made by antiquaries into the origin of this custom, none of which are satisfactory, and it probably had no other meaning than that which we have assigned. Geese being in some countries later in being ready for the table, we shall find that they are eaten at a later period. They seem to have formed a staple article in the way of presents from the tenant to the landlord. "And when the tenauntes come to pay their quarter's rent, They bring some fowle at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Leut, At Christmasse a Capon, at Michaelmas a goose: And somewhat else at Newyere's tide, for fear their lease flie loose." Gascoigne. + Perhaps from Mael (Teat.)—convivium refectio, pastus. There is a singular custom in Yorkshire, on St. Luke's day (October 18th)-that of collecting children with small whips, to whip the dogs about the streets-hence called Whipdog day. This custom was very common in York, formerly, and is not yet discontinued. A friend, now by us, saw this ceremony performed, not many years ago, at Hull. Ellis, in his edition of Brand (ii. 323), asserts it to have originated in the following accident :-"The tradition which have heard of its origin, seems very probable: that, in times of popery, a priest celebrating mass at this festival, in some church in York, unfortunately dropped the Pax after consecration, which was snatched up suddenly, and swallowed by a dog that lay under the altar table. The profanation of this high mystery, occasioned the death of the dog; and a persecution began, and has since continued, on this day, to be severely carried on against his whole tribe in our city." (York.) St. Crispin's day (October 25th), is a great holiday in many places, amongst the shoemakers, and the origin of this is thus assigned. Two brothers, Crispinus and Crispianus, were born at Rome; whence they travelled to Soissons, in France, about the year 303, to propagate the Christian Religion. Being, however, desirous of rendering themselves independent, they gained a subsistence by shoemaking. The governor of the town, having discovered that they privately maintained the Christian faith, and endeavoured to make proselytes of the inhabitants, ordered them to be beheaded, about the year 308. From this time, the shoemakers have chosen them for their tutelary saints. With reference to this day, Dr. Forster has introduced the following anecdote of Charles V. This sovereign, in his intervals of relaxation, used to retire to Brussels; and, being desirous of knowing the sentiments of his meanest subjects, concerning himself and his administration, he frequently went, incog., and mixed himself in such companies and conversations as he thought proper. One night, his boot requiring mending, he was directed to a cobbler. Unfortunately, it chanced to be St. Crispin's holiday; and, instead of finding the cobbler inclined for work, he was in the height of his jollity among his acquaintance. The emperor acquainted him with his wishes, and offered him a handsome gratuity.-"What! friend!" says the cobbler, "do you know no better than to ask one of our craft to work on St. Crispin's day? Was it Charles himself, I'd not do a stitch for him now: but if you will come in and drink St. Crispin, do and welcome: we are as merry as the emperor can be." The sovereign accepted the offer, and, as a return for his hospitality, gave the -cobblers a coat of arms-a boot with an imperial crown upon it. In Flanders, a chapel is still, we are informed, to be seen, with a boot and imperial crown on it; and, in all processions, the Company of Cobblers takes precedence of the Company of Shoemakers.— (Forster, p. 585.) The day is still observed as a festival by the corporate body of Cordwainers, or Shoemakers, of London. The Feast of St. Simon and St. Jude (October 28th), has also been considered a rainy period, probably because observation had shown that the autumnal rains usually commenced in Great Britain on or about that day. In Paris, a trick seems formerly to have been played off, similar to those generally practised on the first of April. "A la Saint Simon et Saint Jude on envoi du Temple les Gens un peu simple demander des Nefes (Medlars), afin de les attraper et faire noirecir par des valets.' All Hallows Eve, or Halloweven-the Vigil of All Saints Day (October 31st), is a busy period among the superstitious. To haud Halloween, is, in Scotland, to observe the childish or idle rites appropriated to this evening. "Some merry, friendly, countra folks To burn their nits, an pou their stocks, Nuts and apples compose the chief materials of the entertainment on this night; and, from the custom of flinging the former into the fire, or of cracking them with the teeth, it doubtless had its vulgar name of Nutcrack Night given to it. The nuts are thrown in pairs into the fire, as a love divination by young people, in many parts of Great Britain, anxious to know their future lot in the connubial state. If the nuts lie still and burn together, the circumstance prognosticates a happy marriage, or at least a hopeful love; if, on the contrary, they bounce and fly asunder, the sign is unpropitious to matri |