FOOTNOTES
Although the 1st of January was popularly regarded as the beginning of the year from early times, it was not until 1752 A.D. that the legal commencement of the year was changed from March 25th to the former date.
These fires signified our Saviour and the Twelve Apostles. One of the fires, which represented Judas, the traitor, was extinguished soon after it was lighted, and the materials of the fire kicked about.
The distaff was the staff which held the flax or wool in spinning. All maidens were engaged in this occupation, and a "spinster" (i.e. one who spins) is still the legal term for an unmarried woman.
St. Blaize (or Blasius) was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, and was martyred 316 A.D. His flesh was torn with iron combs, so the wool-staplers have adopted him as their patron saint.
Shrove-tide and Shrove Tuesday derive their names from the ancient practice of confessing one's sins on that day. To be shriven, or shrove, means to obtain absolution from one's sin.
It was practised as late as the end of the last century.
So called from the Gospel of the day, which treats of the feeding of the five thousand.—Cf. Wheatley on Prayer-book.
The caber is a small tree, or beam, heavier at one end than the other. The performer holds this perpendicularly, with the smaller end downwards, and his object is to toss it so as to make it fall on the other end.
A Pleasant Grove of New Fancies, 1637.
Sometimes the May Queen did not consort with morris-dancers, but sat in solitary state under a canopy of boughs.
A Correspondence in Athenæum, Sept. 20, 1890.
The same story is told of Willes, who is supposed by some cricketers to be the inventor of the modern style of delivery.
The word fair is derived from the ecclesiastical term, feria, a holiday.
Cf. Govett's King's Book of Sports, and Tom Brown's Schooldays, to which I am indebted for the above accurate description of back-sword play.
I am indebted for this description to Mr. W. Andrews' interesting book on the Curiosities of the Church.
Cf. Annals of Winchcombe and Sudeley, by Mrs. Dent.
Cf. Glossary of Berkshire Words and Phrases, by Major B. Lowsley, R.E.
The custom of bringing in the boar's head is still preserved at Queen's College, Oxford. The story is told of a student of the college who was attacked by a wild boar while he was diligently studying Aristotle during a walk near Shotover Hill. His book was his only means of defence, so he thrust the volume down the animal's throat, exclaiming, "It is Greek!" The boar found Greek very difficult to digest, and died on the spot, and the head was brought home in triumph by the student. Ever since that date, for five hundred years, a boar's head has graced the college table at Christmas.