50 LITTLE HUCKLOW : ITS CUSTOMS AND OLD HOUSES. 



On Easter Monday the men " cucked up," or lifted, the 

 women ; and the women cucked up the men on the next day, 

 when they could. One of my informants remembers a man 

 lying flat on the ground, defying the women to cuck him. This 

 practice seems originally to have been a magical rite for the 

 purpose of making the crops spring up, according to the well- 

 known ancient belief that like actions produce like. If you 

 imitate the rise of the crops from the earth by jumping or 

 lifting people up, you will make them grow. 



The act of gathering the last wisp of hay or straw from a 

 corner of the field was called the " hare-catching." The last 

 wisp was supposed to be caught like a hare and put into the 

 barn. 



The wakes begin on the second Sunday in September, and 

 last a week. On Wake Eve all kinds of mischief were indulged 

 in. Gates were lifted off their hinges, " they took all loose 

 things, such as brooms," and they "bowled th' carts down into 

 th' watter " — i.e., into the wet place at the Sinings. It is 

 curious that the same thing should have been done at Bradwell, 

 two miles off, where they dragged their neighbours' carts into 

 the stream at the bottom of the hill. They speak of " holding 

 up " — i.e., maintaining — ^the wakes. 



They had a game called " pin-play " or " pin-holes." A 

 hole was made in the ground, and each player laid a pin or 

 two in, the pins being so arranged as to form a circle with 

 a hole in the middle. He or she who could bowl a marble 

 intO' the centre of the hole got a pin. 



A woman in the village bore the singular Christian name of 

 Pennina. 



Two of the houses in the village are worth describing, as 

 they contain points of interest rarely to be found elsewhere. 



I. — The Divided House. 



The first of these is a building in the form of the letter 

 T, standing in the Town Gate. This building now contains 

 three dwelling-houses, which have been distinguished from each 



