of the moste blessed body and blood of our Saviour Jesu Christ.'* As to the word, bun, it is likely enough to be a corruption of boun,† the original name for sacrificial cakes, and which the Greeks transmuted into ẞovs, by changing the final nu into sigma. The proper word, however, ßovv, reappeared in the accusative case, according to the usual mode of Greek inflection. Another custom of this day, but which was abolished by the convocation under Henry the Eighth, in 1536, is the creeping to the cross upon the knees and kissing it. Bishop Bonner in the work just quoted, says, "that the creepyng to the crosse on good fryday signifieth an humblyng of ourselves to Christe before the Crosse, and that the kissyng of it signifieth a memory of our redemption."‡ Even kings and queens were not exempted from this idle ceremony, though they contrived to take the humility as much as possible out of it. In the Earl of Northumberland's Household Book § we read, amongst a multitude of items" Item, My Lorde useth and accustometh jerely when his Lordschip is at home to caus to be delyveride for the Offerings of my Lordi's Sone and Heire the Lord Percy upon the sayd Good Friday when he crepith the Crosse ij d." In a note upon this, the editor quotes the following curious passage from an ancient Book of the Ceremonial of the Kings of England implies a victim of sacrifice, and we find Bede employing the word victim to denote the sacrifice of the Mass. Consult upon this subject Dr. Lingard's admirable" History and Antiquities of the AngloSaxon Church," vol. i. p. 15. * Bonner's Injunctions, &c. Sig. A. 1. Qto. 1555. bl. 1. + Vide Bryant's Mythology. Bonner's Injunctions. Sig A. ij. § Page 334. 8vo. London, 1770. "Firste, the Kinge to come to the Chappell or Closset withe the Lords and Noblemen waytinge upon him, without any sword borne before hime as that day. And ther to tarrie in his travers * until the Byshope and the Deane have brought in the Crucifixe out of the Vestrie, and layd it upon the Cushion before the highe Alter. And then the Usher to lay a carpett for the Kinge to creepe to the Crosse upon. . . . And thus done the Queene shall come downe out of her Clossett or Traverse, into the Chappell with La. and Gentlewomen waytinge upon her, and creepe to the Crosse; and then goe agayne to her Clossett or Traverse. And then the La. to creep to the Crosse likewise; And the Lords and Noblemen likewise."† From the same authority we learn that our sapient monarchs used to hallow rings on this day for curing the cramp, the ceremonial of which is set down with infinite pomp and circumstance. Hospinian makes these rings work a yet higher miracle, and relates that they were preservatives against the falling-sickness, deducing the custom from one, which had long been preserved with great veneration in Westminster Abbey, having been brought from Jerusalem to one of the Edwards.‡ Easter Eve-used to have in the old Roman Catholic times a variety of ceremonies that have long since been exploded. The fires were quenched in all the churches, § * Travers is a "small room," or "cabinet." Northumberland Household Book, Notes, p. 436. Hospinian De Origine Festorum Christianorum. 1612. Fol. 61, 2d p. Fol. Tiguri § Here again, as Cælius Rhodiginus well observes, is a manifest imitation of the Pagan rites of Vesta. His words are, "quod vero scitu dignum est, nostræque religioni consentaneum, mense Martio quotannis innovabatur ignis in templo Vestæ, quod in Fastis canit Ovidius. Adde quòd arcanâ fieri novus ignis in æde and kindled anew from the flint, which being hallowed by the priest every one would take home a brand to be lighted, when occasion required, as a preservative against tempests. A large taper, called the Paschal Taper, was consecrated and incensed, and allowed to burn night and day as a sign that Christ had conquered hell, after which it was plunged into the holy water, always consecrated at this season, with a view to its lasting till the return of Easter.* But in some churches it would seem that light was communicated in a different manner.† An artificial serpent was borne upon a rod, a candle with the new flame being affixed upon its head, from which the Paschal taper and all the other church candles were lighted. This serpent was regarded as a type of that which was set up by Moses in the desert to heal those bitten by that reptile.‡ Other customs of a yet more absurd description prevailed at one time in this country. Such was the building of an imitation of the holy sepulchre on the anniversary of the crucifixion and placing the host in it, with a person set to watch for that night and the next. Early in the morning of the third day this consecrated wafer Ludov. Cælii Rhodigini Lection. Antiq. Libri Triginta, fol. 1599; lib. xv. c. 14.-"It is worthy of notice, and agreeable to our religion, that every year in the month of March the fire was renewed in the temple of Vesta; as Ovid sings in his Fasti,- Add that new fire is said to be made in the secret temple and the renewed flame acquires strength.' * Barnaby Googe's Naogeorgus. And in Coate's History of Reading, Quarto, 1803, p. 131, under "Churchwarden's Accounts" is the following entry, anno 1559-" Paid for makynge of the Pascall and the Funte Taper, 5s: 8d." These Pascal tapers were of enormous size, and one of them used in Westminster Abbey in 1557 is stated by the same authority to have weighed 300 pounds. + Vide Durandi Rat. Div. Off. Lib. vi. Cap. 89.-sec. 12-p. 251. Numbers, chap. xxi. v. 7, et seq. was taken out, when Christ was said to have arisen. In Coate's work, just mentioned, we find one Roger Brock playing the part of watchman, for which he was paid eightpence, as appears by the record, and a note is appended to the account stating that, "this was a ceremony used in churches in remembrance of the soldiers watching the sepulchre of our Saviour."* This custom was kept up so late as the two first years of Queen Elizabeth in some churches,† for it was not all that had the privilege.‡ Easter-Day; Asturday; Paschal Sabbath; Eucharist ; Godde's Sunday.-The term Easter is derived, as some say, from the Saxon oster, "to rise," this being the day of Christ's rising from the dead. But as the month appears to have had its name of Easter long before the introduction of Christianity we must look to some other source for the origin of the term; and where does it seem so visible as in the word Eostre, (the Saxon Goddess,) a corruption in all likelihood of Astarte,§ the name under which the Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, and the most ancient nations of the East worshipped the moon, in like manner as they adored the sun under the name of Baal. Another derivation of the word reinains to be noticed, for which I remember no authority but that which I am about to give from one of the Cotton manuscripts ; * An account of this ceremony, as practised at Rouen in France and at Durham with us, is given in the Vetusta Monumenta of the Antiquarian Society; vol. iii. Letterpress to plate xxxi. p. 3. + Idem, pp. 3 and 4. In the Monumenta Paderbornensia, p. 134, an old charter runs thus, "Hæ autem parochiæ omnia jura parochialia habebunt nisi quod crucem diebus dominicis et in solemnitatibus non ferent-in Parasceve sepulturam crucifixi non facient." § This Astarte is the Ashtaroth of Scripture. "Gode men and wommen,* os ye knowe alle well, this day is called in some place asturday, in some place paschday, in some place goddus sounday. Hit is callde asturday, as kandulmasse day of kandulles, and palme sounday of palmes, ffor wolnoz in uche place hit is the maner this day for to done fyre oute of the houce at the asturf that hath bene alle the wyntur brente wit fuyre and blaknd wit smoke, hyt schal this day bene arayed wit grene rusches and swete floures strowde alle aboute schewyng a heyghe ensaumpul to alle men and wommen that ryzte os thei machen clene the houce withine bering owte the fyre and strawing there flowres ; ryzte so ze schulde clanson the houce of zoure sowle."‡ In plain English the monk would call it hearth-day, because hearths were then cleaned and strewed with flowers; but few I imagine will be inclined to put much faith in such an etymology, and I have only recorded it upon the obvious principle that every thing ought in fairness to be quoted that seems to make against one's own opinions. At the same time I do not at all question that Easter-day was called Asturday; the monk, though blundering in his etymology, could hardly be mistaken as to a simple fact, which must have been known to all his audience as well as to himself; but I hold this very circumstance as helping to confirm my theory. Astur is evidently but another form of Easter or Astarte, and has nothing to do here with a fire-place, though that is * This is the usual form which prefaces all these homilies; they are supposed to be addressed by the officiating priest to the people. + Astur or astre, signifies a hearth. See Spelman, sub voce. MS. Cotton. Claudius, A. 2, fol. 58-in a tract that has for its title "Tractatus, qui vocatur Festial. per frēm Johēm (i.e. fratrem Johannem) Mirkus compositus, canonicum regularë Monasterii de Lulshutt. Anglice conscribitur, et ad festarum unamquemque reperitur ibi homelia ex legendis plerumque consortiata.” |