ADVENT.
Reading edition
Advent Bells.
—Advent bells are rung in many parishes throughout various parts of England during the month of December. A correspondent of N. & Q. (1st S. vol. i. p. 21) says that, in his neighbourhood—on the western borders of Berks—he has heard their merry peals break gladsomely upon the dark stillness of the cold evening from many a steeple round.
Isle of Man.
Train, in his History of the Isle of Man (1845, vol. ii. p. 127), says, that the fiddlers go round from house to house, in the latter part of the night for two or three weeks before Christmas, playing a tune called the Andisop. On their way they stop before particular houses, wish the inmates individually “good morning,” call the hour, then report the state of the weather, and after playing an air, move on to the next halting-place.
