44 KIRKBEAN FOLKLORE. 
The celebration of Christmas was not observed. 
On Hogmanay, the last mght of the year, the children went 
to the houses in bands, singing the following: 
Hog, nog, nay, tol, lol, lay, 
Gie’s a piece o’ bread and cheese 
And [ll rin away. 
Or 
Get up aul’ wife and shake your feathers, 
An’ dinna think that we are beggars ; 
We're but wee weans cam oot to play, 
Get up an’ gie’s oor Hogmanay. 
It can hardly be said that this appeal was couched in the most 
polite terms, but the ‘‘aul’ wife” was, as a rule, quite willing to 
overlook the want of courtesy, and cheerfully gave bread and 
cheese to the carollers. 
In connection with deaths there are two or three customs and 
beliefs which were at one time observed. The first and second do 
not appear to be now observed, but the third is occasionally prac- 
tised. At one time, immediately after a person died, the clocks 
in the house were all stopped. Another practice was to cover up 
the looking-glasses. I cannot discover why either of these things 
were done. ‘Since writing the foregoing a friend called my atten- 
tion to the following note which appeared in the (orth British 
Advertiser of 4th January, 1896, above the signature, J. M. Mac- 
kinlay, F.S.A., Scot. :—‘ Covering Mirrors after a Death.—This 
custom is well known in Scotland, but its origin is seldom under- 
stood by those who practise it. To find its explanation we have to 
look to the beliefs of uncivilised races. The following account of 
the custom is given by Dr J. G. Frazer in his‘Golden Bough’ 
(vol. i. p. 146):—‘ We can now explain the widespread custom of 
covering up mirrors, or turning them to the wall, after a death has 
taken place in the house. It is feared that the soul projected out 
of the person in the shape of his reflection in the mirror, may be 
carried off by the ghost of the departed, which is commonly sup- 
posed to linger about the house till the burial. The custom is thus 
parallel to the Aru custom of not sleeping in a house after a death 
for fear that the soul, projected out of the body ina dream, may meet 
the ghost, and be carried off by it. In Oldenburg it is thought that 
if.a person sees his image ina mirror after a death he will die himself. 
So all the mirrors in the house are covered up with white cloth. In 
