And let the New Year in.
God-cakes, Blessing-cakes
An ancient custom in the city of Coventry is the sending of god-cakes on New Year’s Day. The god-cake is a particular kind of cake sent by godparents to their godchildren. It varies in price, but its shape is invariably triangular, it is about one inch thick, and is filled with mincemeat. A similar custom exists in Kidderminster, where the head of the family sends out packets of blessing-cakes to the scattered representatives of the original stock, wherever they may be. Each householder who receives a gift of cakes must again distribute them among the members of his household, servants included, so that every one under his roof may receive the family blessing. The cakes are like long oval buns, rather thin, coated on the top with melted sugar, and ornamented with seven sultanas. As my father came from Kidderminster, I have eaten blessing-cakes every New Year’s Day as far back as my memory carries me, but I was never clear as to the significance of the seven sultanas. I think they are intended to symbolize a sevenfold blessing. The recipe for making the cakes is supposed to be a trade secret in the possession of a certain confectioner, though some of us think that the secret has been lost, and that the blessing-cakes now savour of the common penny bun mixture. But we should never dare to carry the comparison further, for from our earliest youth we were made to feel it almost a sacrilegious offence to call a blessing-cake a bun. After all, it is the sentiment that matters, and that remains good and beautiful.[3]
A curious New Year ceremony observed in Durham is known as crowning. The Mayor and Mayoress visit the Workhouse, and there crown the eldest of the inmates by placing a five-shilling piece in each hand.
Handsel-Monday
The first Monday in the New Year is called Handsel-Monday (Sc. Irel. Nhb. Lakel.). Anything which comes into your possession that day, such as a child, a calf, a lamb, or money, augurs good luck for the rest of the year. Formerly it was the custom for presents to be given on this day by mistresses to servants, and by parents to children. At the Trinity House, Newcastle, on Handsel-Monday, every free brother who answers to his name is entitled to five shillings in money, a quarter of a pound of tobacco, a glass of wine, and as much bread and cheese and ale as he pleases.
Wassailing the Apples
The sixth of January is Twelfth Day, or Old Christmas Day, the church festival of the Epiphany. To this date belongs the ceremony—now nearly obsolete—of wassailing the apple-trees (Sus. Som. Dev.), also known as howling, or hollering. In some districts the performance took place on the day itself, and in others on Jan. 5, the Eve of the Epiphany. Herrick mentions the custom among Ceremonies for Christmas:
Wassail the trees, that they may bear