Some Exmoor dialect words that reveal folklore from 1746

Wassailing the apple tree in our garden on old Twelfth- night - if you wish to use this photo please attribute this blog.

"Axwaddle = A dealer in ashes, and, sometimes, one that rolls in them.

Baggaged or Bygaged = Mad, bewitch'd

Chaungeling = An ideot, one whom the fairies have chang'd

Dowl = The Devil

Gallibagger = a bug-bear [Not sure if this is the mythical sort or simply an anxiety or iritation. In Dorset and the Isle-of-White a Gallybagger is a scarecrow.]

Huckmuck = A little tiny fellow [Thick, stubbed]


Leech-way = Path on which the dead are carried to be buried
 
Pixy = A fairy

Wassail = A drinking song on twelth-day-eve, throwing toast to the apple-trees in order to have a fruitful year; which seems to be a relick of a heathen sacrifice to Pomona //  // Wassail, or Was-Heil - to wish health, see Observat on Macbeth pg.41.

Whitwich = A pretend conjurer who discovers, and sells charms for witchcraft."

The Gentleman's Magazine 1746  Vol. 16 Aug Page 405

Wassail and the worshiping of Heil at Cerne, Dorset

Our Wassail and the wassailing bowl - please attribute this blog if you use this photo.

 

"The following is a note of the same learned writer [Reed, of Reed's Shakspeare] on the Polyolbion, song 9 : "I see," says he, "a custome in some parts among us : I mean the yearly Was-haile in the country on the vigil of the New Yeare, which I conjecture was a usuall ceremony among the Saxons before Hengist, as a note of health-wishing (and so perhaps you might make it Wish-heil), which was exprest among other nations in that form of drinking to the health of their mistresses and friends. " Bene vos, bene vos, bene te, bene me, bene nostram etiam Stephanium," in Plautus, and infinite other testimonies of that nature (in him, Martial, Ovid, Horace, and such more), agreeing nearly with the fashion now used : we calling it a health, as they did also in direct terms ; which, with an idol called Heil, antiently worshipped at Cerne in Dorsetshire, by the English Saxons, in name expresses both the ceremony of drinking and the New Yeare's acclamation, whereto in some parts of this kingdom is joyned also solemnity of drinking out of a cup, ritually composed, deckt, and filled with country liquor," &c.

In Herrick's Hesperides, p. 146, we read,

" Of Christmas sports, the Wassell Boule,
That tost up, after Fox-i'-th'-Hole ;
Of Blind-man-buffe, and of the care
That young men have to shooe the Mare:
Of Ash-heapes, in the which ye use
Husbands and wives by streakes to chuse:
Of crackling laurel, which fore-sounds
A plentious harvest to your grounds."

Brand 1813

 

Map - Cerne

The West Country Man - a slightly anti-monarchy folksong reffrencing Barnstaple Fair

Ash tree leaves - By Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain],

'There was an old man in the West Country ;
A blatch in his lease the attorney found,
Twas all for the felling of five ashen trees,
And building a house upon his own ground.

The old man, he would to London go,

To shew the King great part of his woe,
To shew the King great part of his grief,
And likewise to ax'n for some relief.

Now when the old man to London came,

The King he was to Windsor gone,
" Why if he had known that I was acoming,
He widden have gone so far from home."

When the old man unto Windsor came,

The gates were locked, and all secure,
" Why let's knock away with my oaken club,
There's room for me to get vore, to be sure."

"Yer sarvint, Maister Nobles!" shew me the king,
"Whot's this the King you sheweth to me ?
I zeed a chap to Barnstaple fair
Looked more like a king than thicky chap there."

"Yer sarvint, Mr. King !" the old man said,

"A blatch in my lease the 'torney' hath found,
And it's all for felling of five ashen trees,
And building a 'ouze pin tap his own ground."

The King he took the lease all up,

And signed it with his hand so free.
" Why, if us ciide a-had it a-diied at home,
Us needn't a-comed to thee."

The old man took the lease all up,

And for to go home was also willing,
But to make the King some sort of amends,
He took out his purse and gave him a shilling,

The King he thanked the noble soul,

And paid him down ten pounds in gold,
And every year for the sake of the sport,
Ten pounds were paid from Windsor Court.

The old man took the lease all up,

And for to go home he now was quite willing,
" But if I'd a-knowed thee'd agot so much money,
The devil-a-bit wid I a-gied thee a shilling."'

For this and the following song I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. W. H. Whiteaway, of Sunnyside, Exmouth, who is good enough to allow me to insert them here. He says, " these songs I give to you, from memory, as I can remember hearing them sung over sixty years ago."

Hewett 1900

Map - Barnstaple Fair

Map - Exmouth

[A tune exists here, Roud No. 18844 and 18877, in Sabine Baring-Gould's manuscripts, that looks like it might fit.]

Devon / Westcountry weather lore - Plant lore and the weather

Beans in Flower - if you want to use my photos please attribute this blog.

"When beans are in bloom brew not your ale.

When elder is white, brew and bake a peck.

When elder is black, brew and bake a sack.

When the sloe-tree is white as a sheet, sow your barley whether it be dry or wet.

Ash before oak, there will be a soak,

Oak before ash, there will be but a splash."

Hewett 1900

Oakapple Day in Tiverton (part 2)

Oak Apple - By Bob Embleton [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

[cont..] "...On the reverse, Cromwell was represented by the coarsest and most repulsive-looking scoundrel the town could produce. He was naked to the waist, and gloried in a long shaggy tail made of a hempen rope much frayed at the end. With this he belaboured any mischievous urchin who dared to interfere with his progress. Around his waist was tied a huge bag filled with soot. Himself and attendants were thickly daubed with oiled lamp-black and other disgusting compositions. At noon, when Charles had triumphantly made his procession through the town, the mischief began. Cromwell so managed his affairs that the two parties met each other at the bottom of Bampton Street, just opposite the entrance to the " Three Tuns Hotel." Now the gambols began, Cromwell plentifully besmeared all on whom he and his followers could lay hands, and carried them off to imprisonment till later on. Of course, in the general scrimmage that ensued, prisoners were captured on both sides, to be ransomed by their own friends at five o'clock, when the street entertainments ended and wilder orgies at the public houses began. The money collected was spent in mad carousals and jollifications. No women could venture into the streets ; if there were any brave enough to do so, it was at the peril of their lives. Next day many a head ached, and vows were registered that " Never no more wid any body git up tii theyse zoart o' May games agen."

This barbarous pastime has now entirely died out, and is only held in remembrance by Blundell's scholars, who, in hopes of getting a half-holiday, decorate the masters' desks and chairs with oak boughs before morning school. Let us hope that the headmaster does not turn a deaf ear to their silent prayer."

Hewett 1900

Map - Tiverton

Devon tree charm to cure toothache

Hand on Ash Bark - by Photograph and upload by John Delano of Hammond, Indiana. Wikipedia.

"Cut your toe and finger nails, take these parings, wrap in tissue paper, and insert the packet into a slit made in the bark of an ash tree before sunrise. You will never have toothache again as long as you live."

Hewett 1900

Ash and Clover charms in Devon

Four-leaved Clover - Some rights reserved by SuperFantastic

 

"AN even leaved ash and a four leaved clover
Are certain to bring to me my true love
Before the day is over.

An even leaved ash and a four leaved clover are beneficent attractors of the opposite sex, for if one finds an even leaved ash and holds it flat between both hands, and repeats softly,

" With this even leaved ash between my hands
The first I meet will be my dear man."

then placing it in the palm of the gloved right hand, say,

 

" This placed in my glove
Will bring my own true love."

then remove it to the bosom and whisper,

" This even leaved ash in my bosom
Will give me, in the first man I meet
My true husband.""

Hewett 1900

A normal odd-leaved Ash leaf - I have found even leaved ones in the past, but only rarely - By Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

My Ashen Faggot and Yule Log

[Never one to shy from traditions, even if they don't belong to me, this mid winter I seized the opportunity to make and burn an Ashen Faggot, as they where in the past burned in this area (on Dartmoor). I know that around here they where burnt on Christmas Eve, but as we where celebrating the winter solstice (and accompanying full moon and lunar eclipse) as well as Christmas I decided to take the tradition back a millennium or two.  

Here is a bit of documentation in the form of photographs of the process -

Selecting the willow from my garden - one year old whithies.

Nine willow witheys cut...

In search of an ash tree.

to the end of the garden

Finding an omen - a big wing print in the snow - most probably a buzzard?

The finished faggot - nine logs of ash from a single ash sapling, bound with nine willow witheys. By this time I was running a little late, so the witheys where not that tight. The cutting the ash had however made my finger bleed - which I always take as a good sign - if you cut a living tree and bleed a little it wont begrudge you and make you bleed a lot! To make the willow flexible, even in the cold, run each withey tight around your knee to gently ease it. Next year I will do a neater job.

Baring the modest sized Faggot to the fire. I got one funny look from a woman who has lived hear all her life - I think she might have known what it was, and I don't think she approved - maybe it was because it was not Christmas Eve...

Placing the faggot on the fire - The tradition is that you are supposed to drink a good quantity of Cider for every band that bursts - however I placed it in a hot part of the fire and we drank our cider pretty quickly - perhaps 10 minutes between the first and the last! We settled for a mouthful of hot Cider per withey. There is also a tradition of those who are unmarried picking a withies, and s/he who picks the band that bursts first will get married the soonest! Nobody was willing to risk it though!  The green ash burnt well and didn't spit or his as much as I thought it might.

The witheys burst...

My friend also added his "Yule Log" to the fire!  It struck me that this is like a peasant and a gentry version of the same tradition - in Devon "Christmas Blocks" are recorded in the big houses and faggot's among the more normal people.  I certainly felt it was a big celebration to allow ourselves to burn so much wood at a time. A big sacrifice to the turning year.  

It was a good solstice night - personal spells where done by one friend, others gave songs and music, another friend did an incantation, we drank cider, exchanged news and best wishes and most of all sat in the slumbering lungs of winter and rekindled our spirits (and a fire!) to welcome in a new year. Christmas was good in a family homely way, but it was the solstice this year that held the magic for me. Another friend who was snowed into her house remarked to me later that this was the first year that her teenage children had really got what her traditional solstice feast was about, how vital (in all senses) the sun is to life, and how profound the turning year can be....

Just as a matter of interest I do not wish readers of this blog to think of me as Pagan, or Christian, or really as an Atheist.  Please take this blog in the spirit of complete non-partisan folklore exploration.

Next tradition I hope to try is Wassailing my apple trees on the 16th of January...]

The "Ashton Faggot" of Devonshire - Part 1

Fire - If you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog

 "In Devonshire, the Yule log takes the form of the ashton fagot, and is brought in and burned with great glee and merriment. The fagot is composed of a bundle of ash-sticks bound or hooped round with bands of the same tree, and the number of these last ought, it is said, to be nine. The rods having been cut a few days previous, the farm labourers, on Christmas Eve, sally forth joyously, bind them together, and then, by the aid of one or two horses, drag the fagot, with great rejoicings, to their master's house, where it is deposited on the spacious hearth which serves as the fireplace in old-fashioned kitchens. Fun and jollity of all sorts now commence, the members of the household —master, family, and servants—seat themselves on the settles beside the fire, and all meet on terms of equality, the ordinary restraint characterising the intercourse of master and servant being, for the occasion, wholly laid aside. Sports of various kinds take place, such as jumping in sacks, diving in a tub of water for apples, and jumping for cakes and treacle ; that is to say, endeavouring, by springs (the hands being tied behind the back), to catch with the mouth a cake, thickly spread with treacle, and suspended from the ceiling..." [cont.]

Chambers 1888

The Ashen Faggot

Fire - if you wish to use my images please attribute this blog

"The custom of burning the yule log is observed in large country houses, [in Devon] at the present time, on Christmas Eve, but where the fireplaces are contracted and slow-combustion grates the vogue, small branches of green ash, are cut fresh from the plantation. These sawn into lengths the width of the grate are tied into faggots with four or five strong binds of bramble canes. Very large faggots, which are intended to be burnt in old-fashioned kitchen fireplaces, are bound with chains. The bramble binds are a source of much amusement, for soon after being placed on the dogs, they burn through, one by one. Before they begin to light and burn, each of the youngest members of the family choose a bind, and whose is first burnt through will be the first to marry. It is customary for the company to drink a quart of cider at the bursting of each bind, so that by the time the whole have given way, there has been a large consumption of that beverage. It soon begins to influence the flow of spirits and induces a hilarious state of mind, increasing in strength as the night advances."

Hewett 1900

Christmas Eve Ashen Faggots on the Dowland

Ash trees on the Dowlands - Tony Atkin [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"However, about midnight of December 24th, the labourers of Mr. Chappel, the farmer who occupied Dowlands (about a quarter of a mile inland from the brow of the cliff [White Cliff, near Lyme], and over half a mile from the nearest points of the approaching convulsion) were returning from a supper given them by their employer, whereat the ashen faggot had been burnt according to custom, and were making their way to their cottages, situated near the cliff."

Baring-Gould 1900

Map - Dowlands
Map - White Cliff area

[I have decided to pause in strait transcription of books to do a selected bundle of Christmas themed posts on the Ashen Faggot - I hope you enjoy...]

Saint Keynes Well - part 3

"The quality, that man and wife
Whose chance, or choice, attaines
First of this sacred stream to drinke
Thereby the mastery gains."

St Kayne's Well by Richard Carew, 1603 

© Copyright Tony Atkin and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

"...This mystical well is the subject of the following lines by Southey:

A well there is in the west country,
And a clearer one never was seen
There is not a wife in the west country
But has heard of the well of St. Keyne. 

An oak and an elm-tree stand beside,
And behind doth an ash-tree grow,
And a willow from the bank above
Droops to the water below. 

 

A traveller came to the well of St. Keyne,
Joyfully he drew nigh,
For from cock-crow he had been travelling,
And there was not a cloud in the sky. 

He drank of the water so cool and clear,
For thirsty and hot was he,
And he sat down upon the bank
Under the willow-tree. 

There came a man from the house hard by
At the well to fill his pail
On the well-side he rested it,
And he bade the stranger hail. 

"Now, art thou a bachelor, stranger ?" quoth he,
"For an' if thou hast a wife,
The happiest draught thou hast drank this day,
That ever thou didst in thy life. 

Or fast thy good woman, if one thou hast,
Ever here in Cornwall been?
For an' if she have, I'll venture my life
She has drank of the well of St. Keyne." 

"I have left a good woman who never was here,"
The stranger he made reply,
"But that my draught should be the better for that,
I pray you answer me why." 

"St. Keyne," quoth the Cornishman, "many a time
Drank of this crystal well,
And before the angels summon'd her,
She laid on the water a spell.

"If the husband of this gifted well
Shall drink before his wife,
A happy man henceforth is he,
For he shall be master for life. 

But if the wife should drink of it first,
God help the husband then !"
The stranger stoop'd to the well of St. Keyne,
And drank of the water again. 

"You drank of the well I warrant betimes?"
He to the Cornishman said :
But the Cornishman smiled as the stranger spake,
And sheepishly shook his head. 

I hasten'd as soon as the wedding was done,
And left my wife in the porch
But i' faith she had been wiser than me,
For she took a bottle to church.""

Hope 1893

Map - St Keynes Well

Map - Keynsham

[I have guessed the Keynsham near Bristol (this being closer to Breacknock and Wales), though there does seem to be a possibility there is a Keynsham in Newquay, Cornwall, according to google maps - cant back this up anywhere else though.]

Saint Keyne's Well - part 1

 

"This well is half a mile east of the interesting Decorated and Perpendicular Church of the same name, 2 ½ miles on the road from West Looe. It is a spring of rare virtues in the belief of the country people. It is covered in by masonry, upon the top of which formerly grew five large trees--a Cornish elm, an oak, and three antique ash-trees--on so narrow a space that it is difficult to imagine how the roots could have been accommodated. There now remain only two of these trees--the elm, which is large and fine, and one of the ash-trees. 

According to the legend, St. Keyne, a holy and beautiful virgin, of British royal blood, daughter of Braganus, Prince of Brecknockshire, said to have been the aunt of St. David of Wales, visited this country about 490. She was sought in marriage by  men of distinction. On a pilgrimage to St. Michael's Mount, and remaining sometime in Cornwall, she so endeared herself to the people, that she was hardly allowed to depart..." [cont.]

Hope 1893

Gidleigh Castle Rose Rent

"Near the church is Gidleigh Castle House, with the ruins of the old castle in the garden. A ivy-mantled ruin is all that remains of the stronghold of Prouze and of Gidley; (for which they are said to have paid the rent of "one red rose at Midsummer" - what a delightfully cheap rent!) - a fourteenth century tower, a vaulted chamber, a crumbling stairway and a chamber above, where ash-trees grow out of the wall.  The last Gidley who resided at Gidleigh died in 1776, and is buried in the church."

Cresswell 1921

Map - Gidleigh Castle