As might be expected in an article of such worldwide consumption as bread, there is a considerable amount of folk-lore and sayings attendant on it. We can even find it in Shakespeare, for, in Hamlet (Act iv. s. 5), Ophelia says: ‘They say the owl was a baker’s daughter.’ This, unless one knew the Gloucestershire legend, would be unintelligible, but the bit of folk-lore makes it all clear. The story goes that our Saviour went into a baker’s shop, where they were baking, and asked for some bread to eat. The mistress of the shop immediately put a piece of dough into the oven to bake for Him, but was reprimanded by her daughter, who, insisting that the piece of dough was too large, reduced it to a very small size. The dough, however, immediately afterwards began to swell, and presently became a most enormous loaf; whereupon the baker’s daughter cried out: ‘Heugh! heugh! heugh!’ which owl-like noise probably induced our Saviour to transform her into that bird. This tradition is also current in Wales; but, there, the baker’s daughter altogether refuses to give Jesus a bit of dough, for which He changed her into the Cassek gwenwyn, lilith, lamia, strix, the night-spectre, mara, the screech-owl.
In the catalogue of the pictures at Kenilworth,171 belonging to Queen Elizabeth’s Earl of Leicester at the time of his death (September 4, 1588), are ‘The Picture of King Philip, with a Curtaine,’ and ‘The Picture of the Baker’s Daughter, with a Curtaine.’ And he had a copy of the same, or another picture of ‘The Baker’s Daughter,’ at his house at Wanstead. Whether this was a picture of the foregoing legend or not, no one can tell; but it has been suggested, from the fact of King Philip and the baker’s daughter coming in sequence in the catalogue, that it was the portrait of a female respecting whom there was some scandal current during Mary’s lifetime; it being said in an old ballad that Philip loved
‘The baker’s daughter, in her russet gown,
Better than Queen Mary, with her crown.’
Here is another story of miraculous bread. The Mirakel Steeg (Miracle Street), at Leyden, derives its name from a miracle which happened there in 1315, and which is thus related in the Kronyk van Holland van den Klerk: ‘In the aforesaid year of famine, in the town of Leyden, there occurred a signal miracle to two women who lived next door to each other; for one having bought a barley loaf she cut it into two pieces and laid one half by, for that was all her living, because of the great dearness and famine that prevailed. And as she stood, and was cutting off the one half for her children, her neighbour, who was in great want and need through hunger, saw her, and begged her, for God’s sake, to give her the other half, and she would pay her well. But she denied again and again, and affirmed mightily and by oath that172 she had no other bread, and as her neighbour would not believe her, she said in an angry mood: “If I have any bread in my house more than this, I pray God that it may turn to stone.” Then her neighbour left her and went away. But when the first half of the loaf was eaten up, and she went for the other half which she had laid by, that bread was become stone, which stone, just as the bread was, is now at Leyden, at St. Peter’s Church, and as a sign they are wont, on all high feast days, to lay it before the Holy Ghost.’
A stone loaf, supposed to be this one, is now shown at the hospital in Middelburg, where, in the vestibule, hangs an old picture representing the miracle at Leyden. The original stone loaf, it is believed, disappeared from Leyden about the time of the Reformation.
Of all extraordinary uses to which a loaf of bread could be put is that of ‘sin eating,’ by which, at a funeral, a man was found who would for a small fee eat a loaf of bread, in the eating of which he was supposed to take the dead man’s sins upon himself. In a letter from John Bagford, a famous bookseller, dated February 1, 1714-15, relating to the antiquities of London, which is printed in Leland’s Collectanea, he says: ‘Within the memory of our fathers in Shropshire, in those villages adjoyning to Wales, when a person dyed there was notice given to an old sire (for so they called him), who presently repaired to the place where the deceased lay, and stood before the door of the house, when some of the family came out and furnished him with a cricket, on which he sat down, facing the door. Then they gave him a173 groat, which he put in his pocket; a crust of bread, which he eat; and a full bowle of ale, which he drank off at a draught. After this he got up from the cricket and pronounced, with a composed gesture, the ease and rest of the soul departed, for which he would pawn his own soul. This I had from the ingenious John Aubrey, Esq., who made a collection of curious observations, which I have seen, and is now remaining in the hands of Mr. Churchill, the bookseller. How can a man think otherwise of this than it proceeded from the ancient heathens?’
This MS. of Aubrey’s, of which Bagford speaks, is, most probably, that now preserved in the British Museum (Lansdowne MSS. 231) entitled ‘Romains of Gentilisme and Judaisme,’ and dated February, 1686-7. In it he thus writes:
‘Sinne-eaters.—In the County of Hereford was an old custom at funeralls to have poor people, who were to take upon them all the sinnes of the party deceased. One of them, I remember, lived in a cottage on Rosse Highway. (He was a long, lean, ugly, lamentable poor raskal.) The manner was, that when the Corps was brought out of the house, and layd on the Biere, a Loafe of bread was brought out, and delivered to the Sinne-eater over the corps, as also a Mazar-bowle of Maple (Gossips’ bowle) full of beer, which he was to drinke up, and sixpence in money, in consideration whereof he tooke upon him (ipso facto) all the Sinnes of the Defunct, and freed him (or her) from walking after they were dead. This custome alludes (methinkes) something to the Scapegoate in ye old Lawe. Leviticus, cap. xvi.174 verse 21-22: “And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goate, and confesse over him all ye iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away, by the hand of a fitt man, into the wildernesse.” This custome (though rarely used in our dayes) yet by some people was continued even in the strictest time of ye Presbyterian government; as at Dynder, nolens volens the Parson of ye Parish, the relations of a woman deceased there had the ceremonie punctually performed according to her Will; also the like was done at ye City of Hereford, in these times, when a woman kept, manie yeares before her death, a Mazard bowle for the sinne-eater; and the like as in other places in this Countie, as also in Brecon, e.g., at Llangors, where Mr. Givin, the minister, about 1640, could no hinder ye performing of this ancient custome. I believe this custome was, heretofore, used all over Wales’.
‘See Juvenal, Satyr vi. (519-521) where he speaks of throwing purple thread into the river to carry away one’s sinnes.
‘In North Wales the Sinne-eaters are frequently made use of; but there, instead of a Bowle of Beere, they have a bowle of Milke.
‘Methinkes, Doles to Poore people with money at Funeralls have some resemblance to that of ye Sinne-eater. Doles at Funeralls were continued at gentlemen’s funerals in the West of England till the Civil-warre. And so in Germany at rich men’s funerals Doles are in use, and to everyone a quart of strong and good beer.’
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Anent these doles, Pennant says it was customary, when the corpse was brought out of the house and laid upon the bier, for the next-of-kin, be it widow, mother, sister, or daughter (for it must be a female), to give over the coffin a quantity of white loaves in a great dish, and sometimes a cheese, with a piece of money stuck in it, to certain poor persons. After that they presented in the same manner a cup of drink, and required the person to drink a little of it immediately.
Sin-eating survived the times of Aubrey and Bagford, for in a book, Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales, by the Rev. Paxton Hood, Lond., 1881, he says: ‘The superstition of the Sin-eater is said to linger, even now, in the secluded vale of Cwm-Aman, in Carmarthenshire. The meaning of this most singular institution of superstition was, that when a person died, the friends sent for the Sin-Eater of the district, who, on his arrival, placed a plate of salt and bread on the breast of the deceased person; he then uttered an incantation over the bread, after which he proceeded to eat it, thereby eating the sins of the dead person; this done, he received a fee of two and sixpence, which, we suppose, was much more than many a preacher received for a long and painful service. Having received this, he vanished as quickly as possible, all the friends and relatives of the departed aiding his exit with blows and kicks, and other indications of their faith in the service he had rendered. A hundred years since, and through the ages before that time, we suppose this curious superstition was everywhere prevalent.’
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Bread and salt are used in several ways. In Russia, Servia, and wherever the Greek Church holds sway, they are presented to honoured guests as a welcome. The custom even obtains in England. A correspondent of Notes and Queries (5 Series ix. 48), says: ‘Some years since I called for the first time on Canon Percy, of Carlisle, at his residence there. When refreshments had been offered and declined, he said: “You must have some bread and salt,” with some remarks to imply that it was the way to establish a friendship. These were then brought in and eaten, without anything to lead one to suppose that this was an unusual custom in the house.’
There was another curious custom in the North of England, as another correspondent shows in the same volume (p. 138): ‘In the North Riding, 20 or 30 years ago, a roll of new bread, a pinch of table salt, and a new silver groat, or fourpenny-piece, were offered to every babe on its first visit to a friend’s house. The gift was certainly made, more than once, to me, and I recollect seeing it made to other babies. The groat was reserved for its proper owner, but the nurse, who carried that owner, appropriated the bread and salt, and was gratified with a half-crown or so.’ Several other correspondents confirm this, and somewhat enlarge upon it, including in the gift an egg and a match. One (5 Ser. x. 216) thus explains the custom: ‘The custom of presenting an egg, etc., is widely distributed. I can answer for it in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and Durham. In Lincolnshire, at the first visit of a new baby at a friendly house, it is presented with “an egg, both meat and drink; salt,177 which savours everything; bread, the staff of life; a match, to light it through the world; and a coin, that it may never want money.” This is the case at Winterton, where it is still done. In Durham, a piece of christening-cake is hidden under the child’s robe, and given to the first person of the opposite sex met on coming out of church. This is wholly distinct from the egg presentation.’ It is common at Edinburgh, and in other parts of Scotland, to give bread and cheese, on the Sabbath, to the first person of the opposite sex met with when the baby is taken to church to be baptised.
One of the most peculiar uses to which a loaf of bread could be put is the discovery of the bodies of drowned persons. The earliest instance I can find is in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1767, p. 189. (It is also in the Annual Register for the same year.) ‘Wednesday, April 8.—An inquisition was taken, at Newbery, Berks, on the body of a child, near two years old, who fell into the river Kennet and was drowned. The jury brought in their verdict, Accidental death. The body was discovered by a very singular experiment, which was as follows: After diligent search had been made in the river for the child, to no purpose, a twopenny leaf, with a quantity of quicksilver put into it, was set floating from the place where the child, it was supposed, had fallen in, which steered its course down the river, upwards of half a mile, before a great number of spectators, when the body, happening to lay on the contrary side of the river, the loaf suddenly tacked about, and swam across the river, and gradually sunk near the178 child, when both the child and loaf were immediately brought up with grubbers ready for that purpose.’
This superstition has survived till modern times, as the following three or four instances will show. On January 24, 1872, a boy named Harris fell into the stream at Sherborne, Dorsetshire, near Dark Hole Mill, and was drowned. The body not having been found for some days, the following expedient was adopted to discover its whereabouts: On January 30, a four-pound loaf, of the best flour, was procured, and a small piece cut out of its side, forming a cavity, into which a little quicksilver was poured. The piece was then replaced and tied firmly in its original position. The loaf, thus prepared, was then thrown into the river at the spot where the boy fell in, and was expected to float down the stream until it came to the place where the body was supposed to have lodged, when it began to eddy round and round, thus indicating the sought-for spot; but on this occasion there was no result.
A writer in Notes and Queries, January 3, 1878, p. 8, says: ‘A young woman has singularly disappeared at Swinton, near Sheffield. The canal has been unsuccessfully dragged, and the Swinton folk are now going to test the merits of a local superstition which afirms that a loaf of bread containing quicksilver, if cast upon the water, will drift to, keep afloat, and remain stationary over any dead body which may be lying immersed out of sight.’
The Leeds Mercury, October 26, 1883, has the following: ‘A Press Association despatch says: Adelaide Amy Terry, servant to Dr. Williams, of179 Brentford, was sent to a neighbour with a message on Sunday evening, and as she did not return, and was known to be short-sighted, it was feared she had fallen into the canal, which was dragged, but without success. On Tuesday an old bargewoman suggested that a loaf of bread, in which some quicksilver had been placed, should be floated in the water. This was done, and the loaf became stationary at a certain spot The dragging was resumed there, and the body was discovered.’
The following is from the Stamford Mercury, December 18, 1885: ‘At Ketton, on Tuesday, an inquest was held by Mr. Shield, coroner, touching the death of Harry Baker, aged twenty-three, who was missed on the night of November 27, after the termination of the polling for the county election, and was believed to have walked into the ford, near the stone bridge, during the darkness. The river at that time was running strongly, and deceased had no companions with him. The dragging-irons from Stamford were obtained, and a protracted search was made in the river, but without result. However, in obedience to the wish of Baker’s mother, a loaf charged with quicksilver (said to have been scraped from an old looking-glass) was cast upon the waters, and it came to a standstill in the river at the bottom of Mr. Lewin’s field. Here the grappling-hooks were put in, and at four o’clock on Monday afternoon last the corpse was brought to the surface, having been in the water seventeen days. The river had been dragged several times before at this spot.’
Nor is this superstition confined to England, for180 in Brittany, when the body of a drowned man cannot be found, a lighted taper is fixed in a loaf consecrated to St. Nicholas, which is then abandoned to the retreating current, and where the loaf stops there they expect to find the body. In Germany the name of the drowned person is inscribed on the bread. And a somewhat similar idea seems to obtain among the Canadian Indians, for Sir Jas. E. Alexander, in his L’Acadie (p. 26), says: ‘The Indians imagine that in the case of a drowned body its place may be discovered by floating a chip of cedar-wood, which will stop and turn round over the exact spot. An instance occurred within my own knowledge in the case of Mr. Lavery, of Kingston Mill, whose boat overset, and the person was drowned near Cedar Island; nor could the body be discovered until the experiment was resorted to.’
Aubrey (Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme) says he had the following from old Mr. Frederick Vaughan: ‘The Friar’s Mendicant heretofore would take their opportunity to come to the houses when the good woemen did bake, and would read a Ghospel over the batch, and the good woman would give them a cake, etc. It should seem by Chaucer’s tale that they had a fashion to beg in rhyme—
“Of your white bread I would desire a shiver,
And of your hen, the liver.”’
And Aubrey’s friend, Dr. White Kennet, says in the same book: ‘In Kent and many other parts the women when they have kneaded their dough into a loaf cut ye form of a cross on the top of it.’
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I have been favoured by the Rev. T. F. Thiselton-Dyer, whose works on folk-lore are so deservedly well known, with the following notes on superstitions about bread:
‘Throughout the world a special respect has always been paid to bread as the “staff of life.” Hence, according to a trite and common saying: “The man who wastes bread will live to want.” It is not surprising, indeed, that this food of man, which in some form or other is indispensable, should have from time immemorial been invested with an almost sacred character, anyone who is recklessly careless of the household loaf incurring risk of poverty one day himself.
‘At the outset, it may be noticed that, as a precautionary measure against mishaps of any kind, many housewives were formerly in the habit of making the sign of the cross on their loaves of bread before placing them in the ovens, a practice which is still kept up in some parts of the country. Various explanations have been assigned for this custom, the common one being “that it prevents the bread turning out heavy.” In Shropshire one day remarked an elderly maidservant: “We always make a cross on the flour before baking, and on the malt before mashing up for brewing. It’s to keep it from being bewitched.” Some, again, maintain that the sign of the cross “keeps the bread from getting mouldy,” but whatever the true reason, it is persistently adhered to in the West of England. As, however, evil spirits and malicious fairies were generally supposed to be powerless when confronted with the sign of the cross,182 there is every reason to suppose that this is the origin of this superstition.
‘In days gone by, too, bread was used as a charm against witches, no doubt from its being stamped with the sign of the holy cross. Herrick, for instance, in his Hesperides, alludes to this usage in the following rhyme:
“Bring the holy crust of bread,
Lay it underneath the head;
’Tis a certain charm to keep
Hags away while children sleep.”
Hags away while children sleep.”
‘Bread, too, has long been employed as a physical charm for the cure of various complaints. Thus, an old book, entitled A Work for Householders, written in the early part of the 16th century, gives this charm as in use for the toothache. “The Charmer taketh a piece of white bread, and saith over that bread the Pater Noster, and maketh a cross upon the bread; then doth he lay that piece of bread upon the tooth that acheth or unto any sore, turning the cross unto the sore or disease, and so is the person healed.” Then there was the famous Good Friday bread, which was in request for its medicinal virtues, being considered a sovereign remedy for diarrh?a when grated in a small quantity of water. An anecdote is told of a cottager who lamented that her poor neighbour must certainly die, because she had already given her two doses of this bread, but, unfortunately, without any success. Indeed, in days gone by, so much importance was attached to bread thus baked, that there were in most parts few country houses in which it 183was not to be found. At the present day also one may occasionally find the custom kept up, especially in the Northern counties, where so many of the old beliefs survive.
‘But these are not the only ways in which bread has been the source of superstition, it having held a prominent place in numerous curious ceremonies. Thus sailors used it as offerings to propitiate the elements; and we are told how the seafaring community of Greece, in the 17th century, were accustomed to take to sea 30 loaves of bread, consecrated and named St. Nicholas’ loaves. In case of a storm these were thrown into the sea one by one, until they had succeeded in calming the waves.
‘Oblations of this kind were of frequent occurrence in past years. The Russian sailor, in order to appease the angry spirit that troubled the waters of the White Sea, would cast into the water a small cake or loaf made of flour and butter. Again, a Norwegian story states that a sailor wished, according to custom, to give on Christmas Day a cake to the spirit that presided over the waters; but, when he came to the shore, lo! the waters were frozen over. Unwilling to leave his little offering on the ice, the sailor tried to make a hole; but in spite of all his efforts it was not large enough for him to put his cake through. Suddenly, to his surprise, a tiny hand, as white as snow, was stretched through the hole, and seizing the offering withdrew with it.
‘To give a further illustration, we are told by a correspondent of Mélusine (Jan., 1885) that in the Isle de Sein “a little ship made of bread crusts is 184suspended over the table, and on Holy Thursday it is lowered down and burnt, while all uncover and the Veni Creator is sung. Another bread ship is then suspended over the table. This ceremony is known as the Ship Feast, and is designed to insure the safety of the family fishing boat.” Among further beliefs current among sailors in our own country is the notion that it is unlucky to turn a loaf upside down after helping oneself from it, the idea being that for every loaf so turned a ship will be wrecked. It is also said that if a loaf parts in the hand while being cut it bodes dissensions in the family—the separation of husband and wife.
‘Once more, bread is not without its many traditions and legendary lore. According to a popular tale told of the City of Stavoreen, Holland, there resided in it a certain rich virgin, who owned many ships. One day she entertained a wizard, but gave him no bread. In consequence of this serious omission he predicted her downfall, remarking that bread was the most useful and necessary thing. Soon after a shipmaster was bidden to procure the most valuable cargo in the world. He chose a load of wheat; but on arriving with his cargo, he was ordered to throw it overboard. It was in vain that he begged to be allowed to give it to the poor. Accordingly it was thrown into the sea; but the wheat sprouted, and a bank grew up, the harbour being ruined for ever. A Welsh legend tells how, many years ago, a man who dwelt in the parish of Myddvai saw three beautiful nymphs in the water, and courted them. They, however, called him “Eater 185of Hard-baked Bread,” and refused to have anything to do with him. One day, however, he saw floating on the lake a substance resembling unbaked bread, which he fished up and ate, and was thereby possessed of one of the lovely water-nymphs.
‘Thus, in one form or another, bread can boast of an extensive and widespread folk-lore, besides having in our own and other countries been made the subject of numerous proverbs, many of which are well-known from daily use as incorporating familiar truths. The common saying, for instance, which says:
‘Never turn a loaf in the presence of a Menteith,’ originated with Sir Walter Scott, in his Tales by a Grandfather, thus: Sir John Stewart de Menteith was the person who betrayed Sir William Wallace to King Edward. His signal was, when he turned a loaf set upon the table, the guests were to rush on the patriot and seize him. Then there is the phrase, “to cut large slices out of another man’s loaf,” referring to those who look after themselves at their neighbour’s expense. A popular Scotch proverb tells us that ‘Bread’s house skailed never”; in other words, a full or hospitable house never wants visitors; and, according to another old proverb, “Bread and milk is bairns’ meat, I wish them sorry that lo’e it.”’
The End