An October folklore tale or two

October 5th being St Faith's Eve, it is the night to see a vision of future love by baking Faith Cakes.

As a child with older sisters this was a day to look forward to since my mother, who was a faithful follower of traditions, had to satisfy the wishes of both daughters 
By the age of six I too was a faithful protector of this tradition declaring male allegiance to both my sisters. And the fact that the tradition required the need for a cake to be fulfilled had nothing to do with my interest in my sisters’ future wellbeing. 

The tradition was quite easy to follow.

First there was the cake ingredient mixing which any true cake enthusiast will appreciate provides the best time to sample a cake in its purest form.
Three women were required to turn the cake twice during baking and while that was no problem in our cottage, there was the opportunity to earn a sixpence or two by organising my sisters’ visits at appropriate times to neighbours whose family was short of females.
The cake, once cooked, was then cut in three, and each third was divided into nine portions which were passed through the wedding ring of someone that had been married for over seven years.
The resulting crumbled cake was then eaten by my sisters whilst they recited:
Oh good St Faith be kind tonight, and bring to me my heart's delight

Let me my future husband view, and be my vision chaste and true.

Two factors here;
1. For the technically minded where cake-through-wedding ring might appear problematical my Mum had a simple solution.
She put the end of a funnel thing through her wedding ring and the broken cake portions were pushed through without losing a crumb. The use of a skewer was OK occasionally I recall.
2. Since the cake was to be eaten only by those seeking sight of a future husband there was a need to dispose of any leftovers and in the true spirit of kinship I came to the aid of my sisters, as any brother surely would.
The Faith Cakes could not be just consumed like any ordinary cake but, disguised as trifle, or even better just submerged in custard their disposal became an annual act of brotherly love long remembered.  Also remembered is the self sacrifice endured by having to assist neighbours dispose of cake remains also.

6th October St Faith's Day
During the Civil War, Sir Ingram Hopwood raced about eight miles home to Horncastle after a battle at  Winceby, Lincolnshire, on October 6th 1643. It was a rough ride after strenuous fighting but there was no warm welcome awaiting the warrior.  Horror seized the Hopwood household when a sweating horse galloped home bearing in its saddle the headless body of Sir Ingram who had been decapitated during the battle. Despite his having fought for the King, Sir Ingram had earned the respect of Oliver Cromwell who had the man, or most of him, buried with all honours.

The monument to Sir Ingram Hopwood in St Mary's church at Horncastle bears an inscription that informs us that he 'paid his debt to nature ... in the attempt of seizing the arch-rebel in the bloody skirmish near Winceby.  A Faith’s cake consumed in memory of the man remains a local tradition that some still keep while others consider the cake to be a symbol of St Faith, a 3rd-century virgin, martyred in flames.

8th October St Keyne's Day
St Keyne's Well at St Keyne in Cornwall provides instant power to one in a couple of newly-weds. The first of the couple to drink the water after getting married will be the boss.
In the 19th-century Robert Southey wrote in his poem “The Well of St Keyne” of a groom being outwitted by his bride:
I hastened as soon as the wedding was o'er
And left my good wife in the porch,
But in faith she had been wiser than I
For she took a bottle to church.

Watching the weather this month is well worthwhile.
A good October and a good blast
To blow the hog acorn and the mast.
A rough October is said to foretell of a mild January and February.
In the east of the country it is said that there are at least 19 fine in October which should remind
beer makers to:  Dry your barley in October
Or you will later regret while sober.
Farmers and gardeners’ too should make the most of the month; don’t forget to bung the dung:
In October if you dung your field
Then your land again its wealth shall yield.

Towards mid October we are still able to enjoy Tavistock Goosey Fair in Devon. There are fewer geese involved nowadays but formerly they were taken to market by the thousand, in prime condition for their trip to the fair after harvest having gone 'a-stubbling', feeding on all the dropped grain the fields. Geese from a distance were 'shod' before their journey by being walked through warm tar to reinforce their feet. The publicans of Tavistock are said the have taken the doors off their premises so that their barmen could eject the many drunks with ease. There is a song Tavistock Goosey Fair, written about a century ago about two men who go to the fair arrive following a grey mare. A ‘Jan Stewer’ is mentioned, some reckon he prefers the Goosey Fair, because where  the Widecombe song has  a sad  ending, with the horse dying of exhaustion, the Tavistock ballad brightly ends with:  “ ‘Er kicked the rap to flibberts and 'er trotted off alone.’

The song also has a rousing and, for some, a more easily understood chorus-:

And it's oh, and where you he a-gwain,
and what be a-doin' of there?
 'Aive doan your prong and stap along
to Tavistock Goosey Fair.

('Aive' means 'heave’ and a prong is the stick used to guide the geese.)

21st October St. Ursula's Day
Ursula, a British, some claim Cornish, princess, was a devout 4th century Christian that a pagan prince was going to marry. Ursula was keen to retain her virginity and so she gently turned the prince down by gaining a three year delay to their marriage; to which the love-sick pagan agreed. Ursula soon left the country on a three year cruise together with 10 equally virginal girlfriends, each in their own ship accompanied by a thousand companions.  Storms blew their 11 ships up the Rhine, they sailed to Cologne, and Basle and into Rome on a pilgrimage to see the tombs of saints. On the way back the Huns waylaid them at Cologne and Ursula found herself being asked again by a pagan chieftain if she would marry him.

Ursula again rejected the suitor and here the stories of Ursula diverge.
One says that she and the other 10999 virgins were slain and to support this, in 1155 masses of bones
were unearthed at Cologne and identified as being those of Ursula and her companions; despite the fact that many of the bones were of men and children.

Another story handed down by word of mouth is that Ursula defied her captors and led 10.999 other virgins to safety; which is the one we prefer.
 A fine stained glass window in Holy Trinity Church, York, depicts Ursula with a crown and sceptre protecting a group of companions.
We’ll be among many remembering Ursula on October 21st.

Many more will be celebrating Hallow-en as October ends and Hallowtide begins, but more of that next month.

© Roy & Ursula Radford