Easter.
There do not appear to be any particular customs connected with Easter, but some old people can still remember that in their youth the children in some parts of the country used to go about from door to door begging for eggs.[19] This was called “demander la mouissole,” and was evidently derived from the practice, so common in all parts of Europe, of giving presents of eggs at this season. Mouissole is derived from the old Norman word mouisson, which means “a bird.”
[19] Editor’s Note.—In the country the dinner on Easter Sunday used always to consist of fried eggs and bacon. As an old woman said, “it was the only day we ever tasted an egg.” If they could not get fowls’ eggs, they even got wild birds’ eggs, and fried and ate them!
“In the North of England boys beg on Easter Eve eggs to play with, and beggars ask for them to eat.”—De Ludis Orientalibus, by Hyde, 1694. p. 237.
“The custom of eating a gammon of bacon at Easter, which is kept up in many parts of England, was founded on this, viz., to shew their abhorrence to Judaism at that solemn commemoration of our Lord’s Resurrection.”—From Aubrey, 1679.
The First of April.
The first of April is not forgotten by children, who amuse themselves on this day by attaching long shreds of paper or bits of rag by means of crooked pins to the clothes of passers-by,[20] and then crying out as loud as they can bawl, “La Coûe! La Coûe!” or “La Folle Agnès.” No one knows the reason of the latter exclamation.
[20] Editor’s Note.—In Lancashire Folk-Lore p. 225, it says, “On Mid-Lent or ‘Bragot’ Sunday it is a custom for boys to hook a piece of coloured cloth to the women’s gowns, and a similar custom prevails in Portugal at carnival times.”