  Oct. 6.] ST. FAITH’S DAY. On this day a very curious custom is observed in the North of England. A cake of flour, spring-water, salt, and sugar must be made by three maidens or three widows, and each must have an equal share in the composition. It is then baked before the fire in a Dutch-oven, and, all the while it is doing, silence must be strictly observed, and the cake must be turned nine times, or three times to each person. When it is thoroughly done it is divided into three parts. Each one taking her share, and cutting it into nine slips, must pass each slip three times through a wedding-ring previously borrowed from a woman who has been married at least seven years. Then each one must eat her nine slips as she is undressing, and repeat the following rhyme:— “O good St. Faith, be kind to-night, And bring to me my heart’s delight; Let me my future husband view, And be my visions chaste and true.” Then all three must get into bed with the ring suspended by a string to the head of the couch, and they will be sure to dream of their future husbands.—Brand’s Pop. Antiq. 1849, vol. i. p. 373. Ornamental line
|
|
