Marriage Custom at Knutsford, Cheshire.—A singular but pleasing custom exists among the inhabitants of Knutsford in Cheshire. On the occasion of a wedding, when the bride has set out for the church, a relative invariably spreads on the pavement, which is composed of pebbles, before her house, a quantity of silver sand, there called "greet," in the form of wreaths of flowers, and writes, with the same material, wishes for her happiness. This, of course, is soon discovered by others, and immediately, especially if the bride or bridegroom are favorites, appear before most of the houses numerous flowers in sand. It is said that this custom arose from the only church they had being without bells, and therefore, to give notice of a wedding, they adopted it; and though now there are other churches and a peal of bells, they still adhere to the above method of communicating intelligence of such happy events. Why sand should be used I have not been able to learn, and I should be much obliged for any information on the point, there being no sandpits in the locality of Knutsford, or such like reason for its use.
One circumstance I may mention connected with weddings there. On the return of the party from church, it is usual to throw money to the boys, who, of course, follow, and if this is omitted, the latter keep up a cry of "a buttermilk wedding."
Russell Gole.
Folk Lore in Hampshire.—In Hampshire the country people believe that a healing power exists in the alms collected at the administration of the sacrament, and many of them use the money as a charm to cure the diseases of the body. A short time ago a woman came to a clergyman, and brought with her half-a-crown, asking at the same time for five "sacrament sixpences" in exchange. She said that one of her relations was ill, and that she wished to use the money as a charm to drive away the disease. This superstition may have arisen from the once prevalent custom of distributing the alms in the church to those of the poor who were present at the sacrament.
I have heard that the negroes in Jamaica attach the same "gifts of healing" to the consecrated bread, and often, if they can escape notice, will carry it away with them. As no account of this superstition seems to be recorded in "N. & Q.," perhaps you would like to "make a note of it."
F. M. Middleton.
Propitiating the Fairies.—Having some years since, on a Sunday afternoon, had occasion to ride on horseback between two towns in the eastern part of Cornwall, I met a christening party, also on horseback, headed by the nurse with a baby in her arms. Making a halt as I approached her, she stopped me, and producing a cake, presented it to me, and insisted on my taking it. Several years after, when in the Isle of Man, I had the opportunity of hearing an elderly person relate several pieces of folk lore respecting the witches and fairies in that island. It had been customary, within his recollection, for a woman, when carrying a child to be christened, to take with her a piece of bread and cheese, to give to the first person she met, for the purpose of saving the child from witchcraft or the fairies. Another custom was that of the "Queeltah," or salt put under the churn to keep off bad people. Stale water was thrown on the plough "to keep it from the little
folks." A cross was tied in the tail of a cow "to keep her from bad bodies." On May morning it was deemed of the greatest importance to avoid going to a neighbour's house for fire; a turf was therefore kept burning all night at home. Flowers growing in a hedge, especially green or yellow ones, were good to keep off the fairies. And finally, the last cake was left "behind the turf-flag for the little people."
J. W. Thomas.
Dewsbury.