'54 



NA TURE 



[December 14, 1905 



account of week-days, so it was ruled that the fes- 

 tivals were to take place on the first day of the week ; 

 later on some of them were ruled to begin on the first 

 day of the month. 



When Easter became a movable feast, the efforts 

 of the priests were greatly facilitated, and indeed it 

 would seem as if this result of such a change was not 

 absent from the minds of those who favoured it. 



The change of style was, as I have before stated, a 

 fruitful source of confusion, and this was still further 

 complicated by another difficulty. Piers ' tells us 

 that consequent upon the change " the Roman 

 Catholics light their fires by the new style, as the 

 correction originated from a pope ; and for that very 

 same reason the Protestants adhere to the old." 



I will refer to each of the festivals and their 

 changes of date. 



February 4. 



Before the movable Easter the February festival 

 had been transformed into Ash Wednesday (February 

 4). The eve of the festival was Shrove Tuesday, and 

 it is quite possible that the ashes used by the priests 

 on Wednesday were connected with the bonfires of the 

 previous night. 



It would seem that initially the festival, with its 

 accompanying bonfire, was transferred to the first 

 Sunday in Lent, February S. 



I quote the following from Hazlitt 2 : — 



" Durandus, in his ' Rationale,' tells us. Lent was 

 counted to begin on that which is now the first Sunday 

 in Lent, and to end on Easter Eve ; which time, saith 

 he, containing forty-two days, if you take out of them 

 the six Sundays (on which it was counted not lawful 

 at any time of the year to fast), then there will remain 

 only thirty-six days : and, therefore, that the number 

 of days which Christ fasted might be perfected, Pope 

 Gregory added to Lent four days of the week before- 

 going, viz. that which we now call Ash Wednesday, 

 and the three days following it. So that we see the 

 first observation of Lent began from a superstitious, 

 unwarrantable, and indeed profane, conceit of imi- 

 tating Our Saviour's miraculous abstinence. Lent is 

 so called from the time of the year wherein it is 

 observed : Lent in the Saxon language signifying 

 Spring." 



Whether this be the origin of the lenten fast or not 

 it is certain that the connection thus established be- 

 tween an old pagan feast and a new Christian one is 

 very ingenious : 24 days in February plus 22 days in 

 March (March 22 being originally the fixed date for 

 Easter) gives us 46 days (6x7)4-4, and from the 

 point of view of priestcraft the result was eminently 

 satisfactory, for thousands of people still light fires 

 on Shrove Tuesday or on the first Sunday of Lent, 

 whether those days occur in February or March. They 

 ar- under the impression that they are doing homage 

 to a church festival, and the pagan origin is entirely 

 forgotten not only by them but even bv those who 

 chronicle the practices' as " Lent customs." 3 



Finally, after the introduction of the movable 

 Easter, the priests at Rome, instead of using the 

 " pagan " ashes produced on the eve of the first Sun- 

 day in Lent or Ash Wednesday in each year, utilised 

 those derived from the burning of the palms used on 

 Palm Sunday of the year before. 



Further steps were taken to conceal from future 

 generations the orisrin of the " pagan " custom due 

 on February 4. February 3 was dedicated to St. 

 " Blaze." How well this answered is shown by the 

 following quotation, from Percy. 4 " The anniversary 



1 "Survev cf the South of Ireland," p. 232. 



2 Under A-l, Wedl 



3 Frazer, "Golden Bough," n.. 247 et scij. 



4 " Notes to Northumberland Household Boot;," 7770, p. 333. 



vo. 1885, VOL - 73l 



of St. Blazeus is the 3rd February, when it is still 

 the custom in many parts of England to light up fires 

 on the hills on St. Blayse night : a custom antienlly 

 taken up perhaps for no better reason than the 

 jingling resemblance of his name to the word Blaze." 



This even did not suffice. A great candle church fes- 

 tival was established on February 2. This was called 

 "Candlemas," and Candlemas is still the common 

 name of the beginning of the Scotch legal year. In 

 the Cathedral of Durham when Cosens was bishop he 

 " busied himself from two of the clocke in the after- 

 noone till foure, in climbing long ladders to stick up 

 wax candles in the said Cathedral Church ; the number 

 of all the candles burnt that evening was 220, besides 

 16 torches ; 60 of those burning tapers and torches 

 standing upon and near the high altar." ' 



There is evidence that the pagan fires at other times 

 of the year were also gradually replaced by candles 

 in the churches. 



May 6. 



The May festival has been treated by the Church in 

 the same way as the February one. With Easter 

 fixed on March 22, 46 days after Easter brought us 

 to a Thursday (May 7), hence Holy Thursday - and 

 Ascension Day. With Easter movable there of course 

 was more confusion. Whit Sunday, the Feast of 

 Pentecost, was only nine days after Holy Thursday, 

 and it occurred, in some years, on the same day of 

 the month as Ascension Day in others. In Scotland 

 the festival now is ascribed to Whit Sunday. 



It is possibly in consequence of this that the festival 

 before even the change of style was held on the 1st 

 of the month. 



In Cornwall, where the celebrations still survive, 

 the day chosen is May 8. 



August 8. 



For the migrations of the dates of the " pagan " 

 festival in the beginning of August from the 1st to 

 the 12th, migrations complicated by the old and new 

 style, I refer to Prof. Rhys' Hibbert lectures, p. 418. 

 in which work a full account of the former practices 

 in Ireland and Wales is given. 



The old festival in Ireland was associated with Lug, 

 a form of sun-god. The most celebrated one was held 

 at Tailltin. This feast — Lugnassad — was changed 

 into the Church celebration Lammas — from A. S. 

 hlafmaesse — that is loaf-mass, or bread-mass, so named 

 as a mass or feast of thanksgiving for the first fruits 

 of the corn harvest. The old customs in Wales and the 

 Isle of Man included the ascent of hills in the early 

 morning, but so far I have come across no record of 

 fires in connection with this date. 



November 8. 



The fact that November 1 1 is quarter day in Scot- 

 land, that mayors are elected on or about that date, 

 shows, I think, clearly that we are here dealing with 

 the old " pagan " date. 



The fact that the Church anticipated it by the feast 

 of All Souls' on November 1 reminds us of what 

 happened in the case of the February celebration, later 

 I give a reference to the change of date ; and 

 perhaps this change was also determined by the 

 natural gravitation to the first of the month as in the 

 case of May. and because it marked at one time the 

 beginning of the Celtic year. 



1 Quoted by Hazlitt. 



- Much confusion has arisen with regard to the Holy Thursday in Rela- 

 tion week because there is another Holy or Maundy Thursday in Kas'er 

 week. Archaeologists have also been often misled by the practice of miny 

 writers of describing the May festivals as midsummer festivals. The first of 

 May, of course, marked the bcginitiyig of 



