British Popular Customs Present And Past - online book

A calendar of the traditional customs, practices & rituals of the British Isles.

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156                                     GOOD FRIDAY.                       [MARCH 20.
and on their return, about 11 a.m., the figure was lowered from the rigging, and cast into the dock, and ducked three times. It was then hoisted on board, and after being kicked round the deck was lashed to the capstan. The crew, who had worked themselves into a state of frantic excitement, then with knotted ropes lashed the effigy till every vestige of clothing had been cut to tatters. During this process the ship's bell kept up an incessant clang, and the captains of the ships served out grog to the men. Those not engaged in the flogging kept up a sort of rude chant intermixed with denunciations of the Betrayer. The ceremony ended with the burning of the effigy amid the jeers of the crowd,''
There is an indorsement on one of the indentures of gift to the parish of Hampstead stating that £40 had been given by a maid, deceased, to the intent that the churchwardens for the time being should provide and give to every one—rich and poor, great and small, young and old persons—inhabiting the parish, upon every Good Friday yearly for ever, one half­penny loaf of wheaten bread.—Old English Customs and Charities, p. 16.
Oxfordshire
Formerly, at Brazen-nose College, Oxford, the scholars had almonds, raisins, and figs for dinner on Good Friday, as appears by a receipt of thirty shillings, paid by the butler of the College, for " eleven pounds of almonds, thirty-five pounds of raisins, and thirteen pounds of figs, serv'd into Brazen-nose College, March 28th, 1662."—Pointer's Oxoniensis Accidentia, 1749, p. 71.
Surrey.
A custom, the origin of which is lost in the obscurity of time, prevails in the neighbourhood of Guildford of making a pilgrimage to St. Martha's (or Martyr's) Hill on Good Friday. Thither from all the country side youths and maidens, old folks and children, betake themselves, and gathered together on one of the most beautiful spots in Surrey, in full sight of an old Norman Church which crowns the green summit of the
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