THE FIRST MONTH

New Zealand Tablet, 30 December 1920, Page 37

THE FIRST MONTH

I Thef; festivities of New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, though- of very ancient date in England, are,too well known to need repetition here; but it may be mentioned in passing that at Coventry, and possibly other i places in that country, a curious custom prevailed — namely, of eating' what were called "God cakes" on New Year's Day. These cakes, which were triangular in shape, and about half an inch thick, were filled with a kind of mince-meat. Cheap ones, costing as little as a halfpenny, were cried in the streets;, whilst others, rising in price to as much as a pound,, "were used," we are told, "by the upper classes." | The practice of making presents on New Year T s Day was much more general, in times long gone by, than it is at present. Subjects gave to their sovereigns, tenants to their landlords, friends to friends, and so forth. An orange, stuck with cloves,' was a common present ; gloves also were favorite New Year's gifts. They were then, it is scarcely necessary to state, far more expensive than they are at present; for which reason a sum of money, called "glove money," was given instead. i Presents were not only made to persons in authority, but were also accepted by magistrates and judges. For instance, we read of "Blessed :Thomas More that, "having, as Lord Chancellor, decided a cause in favor of a certain lady named Croaker, she, on the following New Year's Day, sent him a pair of gloves, with 40 gold coins in them." These coins, it will be remembered, went by the name of "angels." Sir Thomas returned the money with the following courtly and characteristic note: "Mistress, since it were against good manners to refuse your New Year's gift. I am content to take your gloves; but as for the lining, I utterly refuse it." In old lists of- gifts received by kings we find mention of sums _of - money varying in amount; we also note that certain sums were-given to the servants of those who presented New Year's gifts to their sovereign. Pins were considered a very suitable gift for ladies, and money given for the purchase of. them was called "pinmoney." History tells us that, in earlier days, they were made of boxwood, bone, or silver ; whilst, those used by the poor were of common wood,—neither more nor less, in fact, than skewers. But metal pins appear to have been invented about the beginning, of the sixteenth century for during the reign of Henry VIII., in the year 1543, a statute concerning them was passed. This statute was entitled "An Acte for the true making of Pynnes," and decreed that the price charged should not exceed six and eightpence per .thousand. -There prevailed, and possibly still prevails, amongst many persons in England, the idea that January 14 is the coldest day in the year. Exactly why this belief arose it would be difficult to say; though it may have sprung originally from the fact that, on this date, in the year 1205, Stowe's Chronicle tells us that there "began a frost which continued till the two and twentieth day of March, so that the ground could not be tilled; whereof it came to pass that, in the summer following, a quarter of wheat was sold for a mark of silver in many places, which for the more part, in the days of King Henry 11., Mas sold for twelve pence." ■ January 22, the Feast of Saints Vincent and Anastasius, martyrs, was another of those- days to which a prognostication concerning the weather for the coming season was attached. Old rhymes, in Latin and French, tell us that it the sun shines brightly on St. Vincent's Day the year will be a dry one, and there will be a good vintage." ~ ' ■■ A somewhat similar forecast has been associated with the 25th of the month, the Feast of the Conversion of St. 1 aul, which, not only during the Middle Ages, but even down to quite recent times, was held, in Western Europe, to influence the weather throughout the year. This festival is mentioned in ancient calendars and ecclesiastical service books, and authorities tell us that it was long kept as a holy day of obligation in most of the churches of Western Christendom; indeed, we find it mentioned as such in England, in the Council of Oxford (1222), in the reign of King Henry 111. |ln respect of the weather, there are many verses in Latin French, and English. We give a curious one of the latter, which runs as follows: ■ ■% '■ | If St. Paul's ; Day" be fair and clear, . }--., 'f It does betide a happy year; £ But if it chances to snow or rain, _| Then* will s be dear all kinds of grain; | If clouds or mist do dark the skie, - 35- ■ Great store of birds and beasts shall die; - 1 And if the winds do flie aloft, ~ -«/^mThen war shall vexe the kingdom oft. - - *--

"Other, days in this month, as we have seen, enjoyed, at .different periods and in different places, much the same "reputation ; ( but none of them were so widely held and so firmly believed ihfas the day of :the Conversion of St. Paul. fj | In the Chronicle of ih[e Grey Friars of liondori we are told that in the reign of Philip and Mary, 1555, "on St. Paul's . Day i there ; was .a general procession with the children of all: the schools in London, with all parish priests and clerks in holy Orders, ,in copes with their ..crosses; also the choir of St.; Paul's, with divers bishops \ in their episcopal vestments; and the Bishop of London, in his pontificals, bearing the Most Holy| Sacrament under, a canopy carried by four prebends and so up . into Leadenhall, with the mayor and aldermen in scarlet, with their cloaks, [and all the crafts in their best array and so came down again on the other side, and so to St. Paul's again. And then the King, with my Lord Cardinal, came to St. -Paul's and heard Masse, and went home again ; and at night great bonfires were made throughout all London,- for the joy of the people that were converted likewise as St. Paul was converted." . . .... \.. ... , ...-., ;;> ;; V . ' .; ... :.;;■ j \ A sad significance attaches to tRe above description, recalling as it can not fail to do, how short-lived was that "joy of the people," l so soon to be robbed of the priceless treasure of the true Faith. C^:- : J . - '--—Marian Nesbitt, in .-Ire Maria.