Part 41 (1/2)

The annual goose club had no existence there, it is true, but the annual goose had nevertheless. Thomas Thomas, after his memorable visit to London, came home imbued with one English idea which startled the villagers more than anything had done since the famous bonfire on the outlying hill when the heir came of age, and it was a long time before they recovered from their surprise. It was nothing less than a proposition to subst.i.tute beef for the Christmas dinner instead of a goose. Here was a sad falling off from the ways of Llanfairpwllycrochon! And Thomas Thomas was a man who persisted in an idea once it entered his mind--an event of rare occurrence, it is true, and consequently all the more stubborn whenever it did occur.

Thomas Thomas had, however, sufficient respect for the opinion of his neighbours to make him compromise matters by providing for himself alone a small beefsteak as an adjunct to the time-honoured goose.

”Another Christmas inst.i.tution at Llanfairpwllycrochon was the universal pudding, mixed as is wont by every member of the family.

Then there was the bun-loaf, or _barabrith_, one of the grand inst.i.tutions of Llanfairpwllycrochon. Many were the pains taken over this huge loaf--made large enough to last a week or fortnight, according to the appet.i.tes of the juvenile partakers--and the combined ”Christmas-boxes” of the grocer and baker went to make up the appetising whole, with much more in addition.

”Christmas Eve was a day of exceeding joy at Llanfairpwllycrochon. The manufacture of paper ornaments and 'kissing bushes,' radiant with oranges, apples, paper roses, and such like fanciful additions as might suit the taste or means of the house-holder, occupied most of the day. And then they had to be put up, and the house in its Christmas decorations looked more resplendent than the imagination of the most advanced villager--at present at school, and of the mature age of five and a half years, the rising hope of the schoolmaster, and a Lord Chancellor in embryo in fine--could have pictured. As a reward for the day's toil came the night's sweet task of making _cyflath_, _i.e._, toffee. Thomas Thomas, and those who spoke the Saxon tongue among the villagers, called it 'taffy.' Once had Thomas Thomas been corrected in his p.r.o.nunciation, but the hardy Saxon who ventured on the bold proceeding was silenced when he heard that he was not to think he was going to persuade a reasonable man into mutilating the English tongue. 'Taffy it iss, and taffy I says,' and there was an end of the matter. Without taffy the inhabitants of Llanfairpwllycrochon, it was firmly believed by the vicar, would not have known the difference between Christmas and another time, and it is not therefore matter for surprise that they should so tenaciously cling to its annual making. At midnight, when the syrupy stuff was sufficiently boiled, it would be poured into a pan and put into the open air to cool. Here was an opportunity for the beaux of the village which could not be missed. They would steal, if possible, the whole, pan and all, and entail a second making on the unfortunate victims of their practical joke.

”Sometimes the Christmas Eve proceedings would be varied by holding a large evening party, continued all night, the princ.i.p.al amus.e.m.e.nt of which would be the boiling of toffee, one arm taking, when another was tired, the large wooden spoon, and turning the boiling ma.s.s of sugar and treacle, this process being continued for many hours, until nothing would be left to partake of but a black, burnt sort of crisp, sugary cinder. Sometimes the long boiling would only result in a soft ma.s.s, disagreeable to the taste and awkward to the hand, the combined efforts of each member of the party failing to secure consistency or strength in the mixed ingredients.

”And then there were the carols at midnight, and many more were the Christmas customs at Llanfairpwllycrochon.”

EFFECTS OF THE SEASON.

”These Christmas decorations are _so_ jolly!”

She cried, zeal s.h.i.+ning in her orbs of blue.

”_Don't_ you like laurel gleaming under holly?”

He answered, ”_I_ love mistletoe over _yew_!”--_Punch._

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”ST. GEORGE” IN COMBAT WITH ”ST. PETER.”]

YORKs.h.i.+RE SWORD-ACTORS.

Under this t.i.tle, Mr. T. M. Fallow, M.A., F.S.A., writing in the _Antiquary_, May, 1895, gives an account of rustic performances which were witnessed at Christmastide in the neighbourhood of Leeds about fifteen years earlier, and he ill.u.s.trates the subject with a series of pictures from photographs taken at the time, which are here reproduced. The play depicted is that of the ”Seven Champions of Christendom,” and in the picture on the preceding page ”St. George” is shown engaged in combat with ”St. Peter,” while ”St. Andrew” and ”St.

Denys” are each kneeling on one knee, a sign of their having been vanquished.

”It may be well to point out,” says Mr. Fallow, ”that in the West Riding, or at any rate in the neighbourhood of Leeds, the sword-actors were quite distinct from the 'mummers.' They generally numbered nine or ten lads, who, disguised by false beards as men, were dressed in costume as appropriate to the occasion as their knowledge and finances would permit, and who acted, with more or less skill, a short play, which, as a rule, was either the 'Peace Egg' or the 'Seven Champions of Christendom.' The following ill.u.s.tration shows two of the 'champions,' as photographed at the time stated:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”ST. PETER.” ”ST. DENYS.”]

”There was a little indefiniteness,” says Mr. Fallow, ”as to the characters represented in the play, but usually they were the King of Egypt, his daughter, a fool or jester, St. George, St. Andrew, St.

Patrick, St. David, St. Denys, St. James, and a St. Thewhs, who represented a Northern nation--Russia, or sometimes Denmark--and whose exact ident.i.ty seems obscure. The seven champions occasionally included St. Peter of Rome, as in the group whose photograph is given.

St. George engaged in mortal combat with each champion in succession, fighting for the hand of the King of Egypt's daughter. When at length each of the six was slain, St. George, having vanquished them all, won the fair lady, amid the applause of the bystanders. Then, at the conclusion, after a general clas.h.i.+ng and crossing of swords, the fool or jester stepped forward, and wound up the performance with an appeal for pecuniary recognition.”

OTHER CHRISTMAS PERFORMANCES.

In a Christmas article, published in 1869, Dr. Rimbault mentions the performance of ”St. George and the Dragon” in the extreme western and northern parts of the country. The following five characters are given: Father Christmas, Turkish Knight, King of Egypt, St. George, Doctor. Other writers mention similar plays, with variations of characters, as seen in the rural parts of Northamptons.h.i.+re, Warwicks.h.i.+re, and Staffords.h.i.+re, and the present writer has himself seen such plays at Madeley, in Shrops.h.i.+re.

S. Arnott, of Turnham Green, writing in _Notes and Queries_, December 21, 1878, says: ”When I was living at Hollington, near Hastings, in the year 1869, the village boys were in the habit of visiting the houses of the gentry at Christmas time to perform a play, which had been handed down by tradition.” The description of the play which then followed shows that it was another variation of the well-known Christmas play, and included the ”Turkish Knight,” the ”Bold Slasher,”

and other familiar characters.

A SCOTCH FIRST FOOTING.

Writing on ”Mid-winter Customs in the North,” Mr. Edward Garrett says ”it is not easy to write of 'Christmas customs in the North,' because many of them, even though connected with the Christmas festival, do not take place till January 6th, that being Christmas Day, Old Style, while most of them are a.s.sociated with the New Year, either Old or New Style, one of the most striking celebrations coming off on January 11th, regarded as 'New Year's Eve.'

”Christmas itself has never been a national Scottish festival since the Reformation. On its purely festive side, it has become somewhat of a 'fas.h.i.+on' of late years, but its ancient customs have only lingered on in those districts where Episcopacy has taken deep root. Such a district is 'Buchan'--a track of country in the north-east of Aberdeens.h.i.+re--a place which cannot be better described than in the words of one of its own gifted sons, Dr. Walter Smith:--