Note 12 — II.—BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH.

1 Children born between midnight and dawn are thought by the North country folk to be endowed with a sort of second sight, “so that they see spirits,” or, as a nurse puts it, “are bairns that see more than other folk.”—See Henderson’s Notes on Folk-lore, p. 3. ↑

2 If the Chinese lay great stress on the hour of birth, we no less attribute to the day a talismanic influence over the future of the newborn child; as witness the goodwives’ rhyme:—

Monday’s child is fair of face,

Tuesday’s child is full of grace,

Wednesday’s child is full of woe,

Thursday’s child has far to go,

Friday’s child is loving and giving,

Saturday’s child works hard for its living,

But the child that is born on the Sabbath day

Is blythe and bonnie, and good and gay.

Or, as another version has it:—

Born on a Sunday a gentleman,

Born on a Monday fair of face,

Born on a Tuesday full of grace,

Born on a Wednesday sour and glum,

Born on a Thursday welcome home,

Born on a Friday free in giving,

Born on a Saturday work hard for your living.

3 Doolittle’s Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I., p. 117. ↑

4 The ring of the door is bound with a white linen cloth in Holland—See Brand’s Pop. Antiq., vol. 2, p. 72. This appears to have had a superstitious origin quite distinct from the practice into which it has degenerated in England of “muffling” the knocker, so that its use may not disturb the mother and child. ↑

5 The Romans admired the number 3, and numerous Western superstitions are based on its being regarded as a “lucky number.”—See Predictions Realized, by H. Welby, p. 15. ↑

6 Doolittle’s Social Life of the Chinese, p. 121. Mr. Doolittle refers the tying of the wrists to a different motive. “It is,” he says, “thought that such a tying will tend to keep the child from being troublesome in after life and from meddling with what does not belong to it, just as though he or she was bound. When boys or girls are naughty or troublesome they are often asked if their mammas did not bind their wrists? Implying that if their wrists had been properly bound when an infant they would have been restrained from misconduct in subsequent life.” I am disposed, however, to refer the origin of the custom to the belief I have stated in the text, though the Chinese of to-day may look upon it rather as symbolical than efficacious as regard demons. ↑

7 Brand’s Pop. Antiq., vol. II. p. 73. ↑

8 The modern Greeks entertain a similar belief referring to the first eight days of a child’s life. ↑

9 Social Life of the Chinese, vol. I. p. 127. ↑

10 The first verse of a fragment given in Henderson’s Folk-lore of the Northern Counties says:—

“Oh rock not the cradle when the baby’s not in,

For this by old women is counted a sin,

It’s a crime so inhuman it may na’ be forgi’en,

And they that would do it ha’e lost sight of heaven.”

11 Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. II. p. 120. ↑

12 Ibid. ↑

13 Henderson’s Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 6. ↑

14 Brand’s Popular Antiquities, Vol. III. pp. 288–89. ↑

15 Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I. p. 134. ↑

16 See Notes and Queries on China and Japan, Vol. IV. pp. 12, 13. ↑

17 Henderson’s Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 22. ↑

18 In some parts of England wheat was cast on the head of the newly-made bride. The same practice obtains in Sicily. This was also a Hebrew custom. In Russia, when the priest has tied the nuptial knot at the altar, his clerk or sexton throws upon the bride’s head a handful of hops, wishing she may prove as fruitful as the plant thus scattered. ↑

19 Ovid notes the month of May as unlucky for marriages, and the old Roman Calendars forbade them on Feb. 11, June 2, Nov. 2, Dec. 1, &c. For much curious information on this subject see Brand’s Popular Antiq., Vol. 2, p. 168.

“If you marry in Lent

You will live to repent,”

says an old English north-country rhyme, and numerous are our other sayings about fortunate days for the all-important ceremony. ↑

20 Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I. p. 74. ↑

21 Ibid., Vol. I. p. 94. ↑

22 Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I. p. 86. ↑

23 Popular Antiquities, Vol. III. p. 95. ↑

24 The Jews also used lamps and torches in their marriage ceremonies or rather when the bridegroom came to conduct home the bride by night. See Kitto’s Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature, Art. “Lamp.”—Hymen, the god of marriage, was always figured as bearing a torch, and there are numerous references to the use of torches at marriages in the classical poets. Homer, Euripides and Virgil refer to it, and Lane in his Modern Egypt, I. 201, notices a similar custom in vogue amongst the Egyptians.

Apropos of lamps and lanterns, it is interesting to note that the “Feast of lanterns” is not peculiar to China. The Egyptians had a “Feast of Lamps,” as had also the Jews. Josephus states that the latter was founded by Judas Maccabæus in celebration of the restoration of the Temple worship. Other Oriental nations also observe a similar festival. ↑

25 Middle Kingdom, Vol. II. p. 59. ↑

26 Platt’s Customs of Nations, p. 278. ↑

27 Brand’s Pop. Antiq., Vol. II. p. 169. ↑

28 Thorpe’s Mythology, Vol. II. p. 108. ↑

29 Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I. p. 88. ↑

30 “It’s all very well to say that ‘the two are made one’—the question is, which one.”—American paper. ↑

31

“If you change the name and not the letter,

You change for the worse and not for the better.”

Henderson’s Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 26.

As a specimen of the absurd stories connected with weddings which obtain credence amongst the Chinese, I copy the following from a Shanghai Evening Courier of a few months back:—In some district of Chekiang, name and time not stated, a bride, long betrothed, on attaining the age of 18 made the usual preparations for marriage. At length the bridal chair arrived to convey her to her future home. Her friends went before her to open the door of the chair, but on doing so they started, screamed and ran away, saying there was a large snake in the chair. The bride, possibly thinking they were only in jest, went herself and looked into the chair, and saw, not a snake, but a large sheathed knife. Nothing daunted, she took the knife, put it in the box containing the lighter portions of her trousseaux, and ordered the chair-coolies to proceed. The marriage ceremonies being in due time completed, the young couple retired, and the bridegroom then observed that his bride had a moody and terrified look. Questioning her as to the cause, she told him the incident of the chair, the snake and the knife. He asked to see the knife: she gave it to him. He drew it from its sheath, but he had no sooner done so than his head fell off! The bride raised an alarm; the family crowded in. She told what had happened; they refused to believe her, and declared that she herself was the murderess. The Magistrate was sent for; he came, and on hearing the bride’s story, asked to see the knife, and, as in the husband’s case, when he drew it from the sheath, his head at once fell on the floor. The newly-made widow was then told to see whether she could wield the knife with safety. She took it, and approaching a large tree made a cut at it. It was cut through by that single blow, while the woman remained unharmed. Here the legend ends abruptly, as inconsequential in its finish as it is grotesque in texture. Yet it is astonishing what excitement was caused in the teashops of the City and Settlement for some days by the telling and hearing of the story. ↑

32 A recent home paper contains the following:—In a village not far from Berlin, an old couple lived very quietly upon their little property. Both had carefully purchased their coffins some years ago, as is often the case among country folks. The coffins were placed in a stable, and were used as receptacles for different things, especially for storing up baked fruit, and other articles to be kept for winter use. Not long ago the man died suddenly. The son, who was a soldier quartered at Berlin, hastened at the summons to pay the last respects to his father’s remains. In the meantime, the mother had, with the help of another son who lived with her, put all the articles together in one of the coffins, and in the other had duly placed the mortal remains of her husband. By some mischance the first-named coffin was buried, and the mistake was only discovered after the funeral, which, to the great distress of the family, had to be repeated. ↑

33 Two or three amusing stories are told of Yorkshire people who kept their coffins ready for use. One of these relates to a man with a projecting Roman nose, who had a place cut away in the coffin-lid to fit it: and another case was that of an old lady who had two holes cut in the sides to let his Satanic Majesty have free egress should he happen to get inside. ↑

34 A cat was not permitted to come near a corpse in Scotland. Brand’s Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 233. “All fire is extinguished where a corpse is kept, and it is reckoned so ominous for a dog or a cat to pass over it, that the poor animal is killed without mercy.”—Pennant’s Tour in Scotland. ↑

35 We know an old lady, as blithe a body as ever lived in this world, who, years ago, prepared becoming garments ready for her last journey. David Garrick’s widow religiously preserved her wedding-sheets, that they might serve her for a shroud. In 1763 a young married lady was, at her express desire, buried in all her wedding finely, consisting of a white negligée and petticoats, quilted into a mattress, pillow, and lining for her coffin; her wedding-shift was her winding-sheet, and she wore a fine point-lace tucker, handkerchief, ruffles, and apron, and a lappethead of the same costly materials. Diamond earrings were placed in her ears, gemmed rings on her fingers, and a valuable necklace round her neck; white silk stockings, and silver-spangled shoes with stone buckles completed her costume. A Norfolk gentleman preserved such a happy recollection of matrimonial life, that when, at the age of ninety-one, he lay on his death-bed, he gave instructions that he should be buried in his wedding-shirt, which he had carefully kept for the purpose; that garment being supplemented with his best suit of clothes, his best wig, his silver-buckled shoes, black wrist ribbons, and his favorite walking-cane. Margaret Coosins, who was buried in Cuxton Churchyard, Kent, in 1683, ordered her body to be attired in scarlet satin, put in a mahogany coffin having a loose lid, and placed upon trestles in a vault under a pyramidal monument, the glass doors of the vault being covered with green silk curtains. Another example of vanity strong in death was afforded us a few years ago, when a wealthy court milliner left strict injunctions behind her that her body should be enfolded in point-lace.—Chambers’ Journal. ↑

36 Moresin says a candle was an Egyptian hieroglyphic for life.—Brand’s Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 236. ↑

37 Middle Kingdom, Vol. II. p. 262. This superstition appears to be perhaps the most wide-spread of any connected with death. When a death takes place, in many parts of Europe, all the doors and windows should be unfastened, as it is thought that the first pains of purgatory are inflicted by the soul squeezing through the closed doors. We have something like this in Swift’s “Journey from this World to the Next,” where the spirits, conversing on their way to the throne of “Micros,” relate to each other how they had to wait till an open door or window in the house in which the death had taken place, enabled them to get free from it. There is a curious superstition in Devonshire that the departure of life is delayed where any lock is closed in the dwelling or any bolt shot. See Popular Antiquities, Vol. II. p. 231. ↑

38 The following extract from the same journal merits reproduction:—“In many parts of the Highlands it is believed to this day that the last person buried has to perform the duty of sentinel over the churchyard, and that to him the guardianship of the spirits of those buried before is in some degree committed. This post he must occupy until a tenant of the tomb releases him. It is not esteemed an enviable position, but one to be escaped if possible; consequently, if two neighbors die on the same day, the surviving relations make great efforts to be first in closing the grave over their friend. I remember an old nurse, who was mourning the death of a sweet girl she had reared, exclaiming with joy, when she heard, on the day after her funeral, of the death of a parishioner; ‘I thank God my dear darling will have to watch the graves no longer!’ A ludicrous but striking illustration of this strange notion occurred some years ago in the parish of A——. An old man and an old woman, dwelling in the same township, but not on terms of friendship—for the lady, Kate Ruadh, was more noted for antipathies than attachments—were both at the point of death. The good man’s friends began to clip his nails, an office always performed just as a person is dying. He, knowing that his amiable neighbor was, like himself, on the verge of the grave, roused himself to a last effort and exclaimed ‘Stop, stop; you know not what use I may have for all my nails in compelling Kate Ruadh to keep Faire Chlaidth in place of doing it myself.’ ” In the statistical account of Scotland, xiv., 210, Parishes of Kilfinichen and Kilviceuen, County of Argyle, we read: “The inhabitants are by no means superstitious, yet they still retain some opinions handed down by their ancestors, perhaps from the time of the Druids. It is believed by them that the spirit of the last person buried watches round the churchyard till another one is buried, to whom he delivers his charge.” In the same work, xxi., 114, it is said: “In one division of the country, where it is believed that the ghost of the person last buried kept the gate of the churchyard till relieved by the next victim of death, a singular scene occurred when two burials were to take place on the same day. Both parties staggered forward as fast as possible, to consign their respective friend in the first place to the dust. If they met at the gate, the dead was thrown down until the living decided by blows whose ghost should be condemned to porter it.” It was the duty of the last person interred to stand sentry at the graveyard gate from sunset until the crowing of the cock every night until regularly relieved. This, sometimes, in thinly-inhabited parts of the country, happened to be a tedious and severe duty; and the duration of the “Faire Chlaidth” gave the deceased’s surviving friends much uneasiness. ↑

39 Ethnological Review, Vol. II. No. 3, p. 231. ↑

40 In Madagascar as amongst the natives of the Carribbees, New Guinea and Kergistan, it is believed that the dead can use the things destroyed as offerings to their manes, such as guns, &c., &c. ↑

41 For much here given I am indebted to the Social Life of the Chinese, Vol. I. p. 188 et seq. Mr. Chris. T. Gardner, of H. B. M. Consulate, Canton, has also kindly furnished me with several useful notes and memoranda. ↑

42 See Eitel’s Fung-shuey. ↑

43 Pop. Antiq., Vol. II. p. 282. ↑

44 Why is Death commonly harbingered by apparitions in female shape, according to the superstitions of the East and the North, as well as of classical antiquity? The Greeks held that human life was controlled by the Fates. The Northmen had their Valkyriur, or female choosers of the slain. The companions of Anastasius in the prison at Constantinople saw “the frightful hag, the harbinger of the plague, hovering with her bat’s wings over their drear abode, and with her hooked talons numbering one by one her intended victims.” And now we are told that the thieves of our Indian cities have found out a way of utilizing this weird fancy. Some “old offenders,” in female disguise, go about the streets of Madras exactly at twelve at night and knock at the doors of houses inhabited by natives. “There is a strange belief among the uneducated natives that the she-devil Dengue (the name of the prevailing epidemic) raps at their door at that hour of the night, and that if any inmate opens he will be struck dead by her.” The unsuspecting natives—forgetting the hour—open, see the ominous figures, and “many of them drop down in a fainting fit.” The visitors make the best of the occasion.—Pall Mall Gazette. ↑

45 I find the following paragraph in an old newspaper, but cannot verify its statements:—The least mortality is during the mid-day hours, mainly from 10 to 3 o’clock. About one-third of the total deaths noted were children under five years of age, and they show the influence of the latter still more strikingly. At all the hours from 10 in the morning until midnight the deaths are at or below the mean; the hours from 10 to 11 A.M., 4 to 5 and 9 to 10 P.M., being minima, but the hour after midnight being the lowest maximum; at all the hours from 2 to 10 A.M. the deaths are above the mean, attaining their maximum at from 5 to 6 P.M., when it is 45½ per cent. above. ↑