• Oleekly Cbemawa Jlmeriean
VOL. 13
APRIL 21, 1911
S u p e r s titio n s o f E a s te r
Throughout all ages superstition has
swayed the world. In antiquity a few
of these prophetic beliefs crystalized
around the Easter period, leaving so
deep an impress upon susceptible minds
as to cause the legends to be passed down
through centurœs with the greatest care.
Even now there is scarcely a nation that
does not put faith in Easter omens.
Some of these attach to Good Friday.
In the time of Catholic England there
was a superstition which the king pub
licly honored with his trust. It was the
ceremony of blessing the rings. This
was done to preserve their wearers
from “the falling sickness, ’ a trouble
commonly known to us as cramps. The
cramp ring service was of exceptional
originality. WaEh gives a vivid descrip,
tion of it.
“The king and his su te,’’ he tell us,
“ would proceed in state of the palace
chapel, upon th^ floor of which rested a
crucifix upon a silken cushion and in
front of which was spread a rich carpet
I hu king would creep along the carpet
to the crucifix—as a token of ah olute
hum ilitv—his ‘almoner’ creeping after
him
Having reaching the crucifix, he
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would there bless the cramp rings, which
were deposited in a silver basin. After
this was done, the queen and her ladies
in waiting entered the chapel and also
crept to the cross. This completed the
ceremony, and the rings had been tran s
formed into the most potent remedial
agents.”
Who ha3 not heard of the English
hot cross bun?’ On the morning of
Good Tidings throughout England the
street bun venders usher in the universal
cry of “ Hot cross buns,” and no family,
as a precautionary, if not for their tooth
someness alone, would dare run the risk
of not purchasing some of the buns.
Even kings would not miss eating them
for whoever eats a bun need have no
fear of having his home des roved by
tire during the ensuing year.
Good Friday morning large numbers
of men, women and children start out
in quest of customers for their fresh,
hot buns, which they guard from the
cold wdth a flannel covering. And the
shops as well are festive with supplies
of it. The peculiarity of the hot cross
bun lies in its being highly spiced ami
bearing on its brown, sugary surface the
mark of a cross.
(Continued on pageS?