Birth - stories from ancient folklore

Birth I

Throughout England, there are many curious superstitions connected with human birth, all of which invest this momentous event with an atmosphere of the supernatural. Thus, in Lancashire there is a strong dread of

In Scotland, infants were carefully watched till the christening was over, lest they should be stolen or changed by the fairies. Popular Nursery Rhymes hark back to this ...

In some places it is believed that children born at midnight have the power of seeing ghosts, whereas in Devonshire it is said that those born by daylight never see such things. Great importance, too, is paid by many to the day of the week on which a child is bornas each day is supposed to bestow upon it certain characteristics; and hence the superstitious believe that they can prognosticate the character of a child from the day of its birth.

Good Friday and Easter Day, are both considered lucky days for changing the caps of young children.If a child tooths first in the upper jaw, it is considered ominous of its dying in infancy. Children, too, prematurely wise, are said not to be long-lived.

In Leicestershire, the first time a new-born child pays a visit, it is presented with an egg, a pound of salt, and a bundle of matches. In some parts of Lancashire, as well as in Yorkshire, Northumberland, and other counties, when an infant for the first time goes out of the house, in the arms of the mother or the nurse, the family or families visited present it with an egg, some salt, a little loaf of bread, and now and then with a small piece of money. These gifts are supposed to ensure that the child shall never stand in need of the common necessaries of life.

It was formerly customary, and the practice has not yet wholly died out, of providing a large cheese and a cake, and cutting them at the birth of a child. Pieces of these were distributed among all the houses in the vicinity. If the child was a boy, the pieces of cheese were sent tothe males; if a girl, to the females, each member of a family receiving a portion; visitors also came in for their share. These were called the 'Groaning Cake and Cheese.'

Misson, in his 'Travels in England,' says ...

In Oxford it was the practice to cut the 'Groaning Cheese' in the middle, and by degrees to form it into a large kind of ring, through which the child was passed on the day of its christening.

In the North Riding of Yorkshire, at the birth of the first child, the first slice of the 'Sickening Cake,' is cut into small pieces by the medical man, and distributed amongst the unmarried of the female sex, under the name of 'dreaming bread.' Each takes a piece, places it in the foot of the left stocking, and throws it over the right shoulder. The anxious expectant must then retire to bed backwards, without uttering a word, and if she fall asleep before twelve o'clock, her future partner will appear to her in her dream.

• Birth I
• Birth II
• Birth III