Ffl O I L K L CY R E E A T Y R K H I R E S O S . JOH N NI C H O LSO N , “ ” A u thor o Folk Moots B eacons o E ast Y orkshire f , f , ” Folio S eech o E Y ' ast orkshire (fi c. p f , B I B (HON . L I R A R A N H U L L L IT E R A RY C L U ) . L N N MP M H MI K N C ! . O DO SI KIN, ARSHALL, A LTON, E T, O H A WN I ! . B . ULL RO SONS, SAV LE STREET “ ! T H O B O I DRIFFIELD . OLDERNESS, SERVER FF CE , M A A NDREW LA E S . NG, Q , , P N O F T H E F O L K I R E S I D E T L O R E SOC E TY , 1 8 9 0, I M I s T H S V O L U E , B P MI I Y ER SS ON, R E S P E C T F U L L Y D E D I C A T E D B Y T H E AUTHOR . forew oros . HE l e arnin b T g of the common folk, acquired y t radition or , experience, observation , and epitomised under the comprehensive title of F L olk ore, has, in these late years , received much attention, and its study has been prosecuted with due diligence and increasing interest. Learning and culture have given and their invaluable aid, scholars have of traversed the treasures the past, and have shewn us that the hoary antiquity of the Pyramids is not whiter than that which is borne by some of our nursery tales that many of w and these tales are world ide and that old customs, speech, f beliefs, linger with a tenacity which is di ficult to loosen . ! Mori a The superstitious Welsh miners in the Colliery, who of caused a special examination the pit to be made, in ” of i and of consequence sp rits noises and slamming doors, of previous to the disastrous explosion, are but typical the great mass of people w hose lives are more governed by folk h lore t an by book lore. V e Da l Pa rs A l 1 890 . id i y pe , pri , VI I I . FOREWORDS . Sai An Icelandic ga tells of a man who, standing at his a m A cott ge door, saw so e souls pass through the air. mong i them he recogn sed his own, and had scarcely time to relate the incident before he died . Very many similar stories — ~ stories not ancient, but very modern are current to day n A n t o e . S among the old folks . Here is man went o . ’ Mark s Eve to watch in the church porch, where he saw enter the church the shades of several he knew, followed by f n some mysterious unknown forms, carrying a co fi . He of u endeavoured to see the features the corpse, but was nable h to do so 5 though, in answer to his earnest longing, a w isper “ ’ came through the quiet midnight air, Tis yourself He went home, filled with fatal fear, took to his bed and died. The appearance of the wraith or form of the deceased is still as fi rmly believed to be a Sign of death as it was in the ! “ O f O - days laf and though the bah gest, with its eyes as ” bi n g as saucers, has ceased its terrifyi g rambles, and its growlings are no longer heard round the house of the n of doomed one, the howli g the yard dog has taken its place f as an omen o death . The ancient belief that the spirit requires space or room to pass still receives credence ; for when a person is dying a window or d oor is opened in order that the spirit m ay pass f away easily. One of the most vivid recollections o my h - O boy ood is the death bed of a younger brother. n a low be d of m la , near a corner the roo , y the poor little fellow w d m hose life was rapidly ebbing. By the be side sat y aged d and gran mother, silently praying, the only sounds in the room were the laboured breathing of the dying boy and the smothered sobs of the assem bled relatives ; and as the end drew near m y grandmother directed that a door leading into another room should be opened , and that room was ever i afterwards associated w th ghosts and spirits. our When the gods of idolatrous forefathers, the hardy - h s bear g o t . W I X. FORE ORDS . N orse m en h of u b , were det roned from their seat hono r, y a n of of . cha ge faith, they were not deprived power They e became devils, evil spirits, and ghosts , and maybe th y i m . S O exerc sed a ore marked influence thereby Thor, with ! - l F his mighty mallet, becomes the brigg bui der at iley, and the loss and recovery of his hammer is but the echo of a L story from th e Prose E dd a ] The recovery in both hi di v w legends is ac eved by ing do nwards. on Thor, whose name in Thursday is constantly our lips, - hi s was he who threw thunder bolts, as car rumbled over the storm clouds and thun der-bolts are very real to the rustic - to day, for he can pick them up in the fields, and they can have fallen only from th e c loud s i When the Northman beheld the Northern Lights shooting h m n d at wart the wintry sky, and aki g the dark night splen id i with brilliant streamers, his god Thor was abroad, do ng battle on his behalf with the giants, for the gorgeous flaming f di o . signs were the beard his vinity The Thor has gone, “ ” to given place the White Christ, but these lights are still the — n n sign of war war more devilish tha divi e . ’ h e ard hi R . ed is the sacred colour Thor s was red, and t s doubtless led to the ascription of red hair to the betrayer Judas. The scarlet ibis is sacred to the Egyptians, the - red breast to English boys, and the rowan tree probably of owes much its ascribed virtue to its crimson berries . F of reyja, the goddess love and purity in the Norse e mbalm e d in d a - Mythology, whose name we have the y name F u . riday, was looked p to with love and adoration To that one love and adoration, during the Middle Ages, woman, transfi ur e d o i b of g int a div ne shape, succeeded y a sort ’ natural right, and round the Virgin Mary s blessed head a of n halo of lovely tales divi e help, beams with soft radiance b as a crown bequeathed to her y the ancient goddesses . h ar E n F s e . of our lowers and plant her name In ngla d, one 62 . 1 . 45 . p. 1 p 5 7 1 p p. 45 X WO . FORE RDS commonest and prettiest insects is still called after her, but F ‘L ’ which belonged to reyja, the heathen ady, long before the western nations had learned to adore the name of the ” h of . as mother Jesus If Thor become the devil if Bragi , bra O e ir the god of eloquence, has degenerated into g 5 and g , - o re or the sea god, into an g to terrify children, into the e ir m a F tidal wave ( g ) of the Humber, it y be that reyja has R become the ghost or spirit common to the whole iding . At S L B rantin h am thor e kipsea, at Cherry Burton, at even, at g p , ' afi ri hts and at other places, a headless white lady still g the traveller. The carrying of a pl ough in procession on Plough Monday of d is probably a relic the Miracle Plays of the Mi dle Ages, or a trace of some early worship or guild procession ; the breaking of a plate at a wedding typical of the wholesale destruction attendant on a similar ceremony in Germany ; the Pancak e Be ll a relic of the Shriving Bell 5 and the Death O ld Bell the representative of the Passing Bell , whose tones drove a w ay the evil spirits lying in wait for the departing i soul, wh ch thus had a safe journey heavenwards. Many of the tumul i or grave mounds on the Wolds are “ ” ‘ F i H O W called airy H lls, and the legend respecting Willy 1 u i possesses features not nl ke the following, taken from the “ tor o B u rn t al t i S y f M They cas a ca rn over Gunnar, d N ow t and ma e him sit upright in the cairn . this oken ’ a t Li é e nd happened , that the neatherd and the waiting ’ r i unnar maid were d iv ng cattle by G s cairn.