1912.] 



REPORTS. 



359 



is not truly a native but a naturalised alien. And, however, 

 and at whatever date, these few stunted bushes found a foot- 

 hold in Guernsey, they must have introduced Y. cognatellus 

 with themselves. It may well be a matter of wonder, not to 

 say admiration, how this little moth has been able to maintain 

 its existence ever siuce in such an extremely restricted area, 

 and upon so limited a food supply. 



Frank E. Lowe, F.E.S. 



Report of the Folklore Section, 1912. 



CHANGING LOCAL OBSERVANCES. 



Some of the members may perhaps recollect that last year 

 0911) I referred to the gradual passing away and decadence 

 of the local Guy Fawkes celebration, which was probably 

 first introduced into Guernsey about the beginning of the 

 nineteenth century by a number of working-class immigrants 

 from the southern counties of England. And I drew attention 

 to the strange way in which this new comer — with its cheerful 

 bonfire for consuming the Guy — seems to have at once caught 

 on, and to have superseded the far older local rite of burying 

 the Bout-de-V An, or the " Old-Year' s-End," which rite had 

 previously been carried out from time immemorial by suc- 

 cessive generations of Guernsey young people. The old name 

 of Boodlo (Bout-de-V An) was transferred to the Guy, and 

 thenceforward for about a century — with various processional 

 observances — this latter symbolical figure was burnt on the 

 evening of the Fifth of November, instead of being buried at 

 midnight on the last day of the Old Year. 



Another Ceremonial Observance which seems to have been 

 introduced by these same English immigrants, was the raiding 

 of flower-gardens in the early morning of the First Sunday in 

 May. No doubt this last-named observance was originally 

 connected with the Old English ceremonial practice of going 

 out early on May -day morning to gather branches of greenery 

 wherewith to deck the Maypoles, and in various other ways to 

 testify the public rejoicing that Spring had come once more. 

 In this original connection the gathering of flowers and verdant 

 branches was a perfectly natural and reasonable thing to do. 

 They were taken from public woods or forests, they were used 

 for decorative purposes, and thus they served a definite end. 

 But the custom, when brought to Guernsey, seems to have lost 

 entirely its originally picturesque purpose, and to have dege- 

 nerated into a mere destructive and senseless raid. The prac- 



