“THE SENTENCE OF PONTIUS PILATE.”
(See vol. v. pp. 80, 217.)
Sir,—Since writing the note at the second reference, I have ascertained that the alleged death-warrant of Jesus Christ appeared in the National Magazine (published in Liverpool) for Oct. 1877. In this version only three names are appended to the sentence, and the phraseology is somewhat different.
But what I wish to point out at present is the glaring contradictions occurring in the three copies before me as to the date of the finding of this curiosity. According to the above-named magazine it was discovered “in the year 1825,” the Catholic Fireside account says 1820, while your version has “A.D. 1280.” May not the latter date be a misprint for 1820? If not, were excavations in search of Roman antiquities made in Naples in the thirteenth century?
P. J. Mullin.
HELSTON FURRY DANCE.
Sir,—As the very interesting subject of the Helston Furry Day has been opened by Canon Boger (see vol. v. p. 251), may I add a few remarks on it?
1. As to the term Floralia or Flora Day, except from a descriptive standpoint I should demur to the theory that the Helston festival of May 8 is a continuation or survival of the Roman Floralia, although some persons may favour that view. It is probably in origin purely Celtic, and is connected with the Roman Floral festival only in that it also expresses the joy of May.
2. The origin of the custom may be held to be “lost in remote antiquity” solely in the sense that we cannot actually date its institution. The local legend relates that it was instituted in the middle ages as a rejoicing for the deliverance of Helston from the plague: a not improbable solution of the Helston myth that here St. Michael overcame Satan, and forced him to drop the “Hell stone,” still seen in the “Angel yard.” The parish church is dedicated to St. Michael, and May 8 is, I believe, the feast of the apparition of St. Michael on St. Michael’s Mount. It is not improbable that the deliverance of Helston from the plague was attributed to the patron of the town, i.e., St. Michael, who overcame the demon of the plague.
3. The Helston furry dance is a definite institution, unlike any other dance that I know. I do not know to what “various dances” Canon Boger refers; probably to the ball in the evening, which, I believe, is conducted in the modern fashion.