Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2007 6:16 pm Post subject: East Anglian Folklore
Living in East Anglia myself, I've got an obvious interest in these! I just need a volunteer to practise some of these on!
East Anglian Folklore
Modern life allows us to take many things for granted. If we are ill we can simply go to the chemist or doctor and expect to be cured. In earlier times a visit to your local physician was less predictable. Charms were often used instead of conventional medicine. Some of these remedies are very strange and some cruel so please do not try any of the following. Many if not all will harm, not cure!
Wart Charms
There are numerous methods of curing warts or 'writs' recorded in East Anglian folklore.
'Buying a Wart' for a penny or halfpenny was still practiced in the 1960's.
In 1938, an East Anglian man was advised use a grasshopper to cure his wart. Doing so is reputed to have made the wart shrink immediately. The juice of Celandine, Cow Thistle or Dandelion is also reputed to do the same!
Snails are also said to be excellent wart cures. 'Rub a black snail on them and stick the snail on a thorn'. At the new moon the sufferer must point the afflicted area at the moon and blow across it. The warts are meant to disappear a short time afterwards.
In Fenland East Anglia it was believed that if a cow had three full sized teats and one small one, the last was reserved for the fairies! If the cowman drew milk from it then he would be covered in warts. It was also believed that warts were the sign of the devil and only a witch could cure them!
Holding a toad is said to be a good remedy too!
'Let the patient steal a piece of beef...and bury it in the ground, and then as the beef decays the warts will gradually die away.'
'Make the sign of the cross on each wart with a pin or pebble stone, and then throw the pin or pebble away.'
'Go to an ash tree which has it's "keys"....and cut the initial letter both of your first and last name on the bark. It is the necesary to count the exact number of the warts, and in addition to the letters, cut a notch for each'. It is said that as the bark grows the warts will go away.
The froth of new beer applied on three successive mornings, left and allowed to 'work off of itself' (not be wiped away) may cure warts too!
'Gather a green sloe, rub it on your warts, throw it over your left shoulder, and you will soon be free of them'
'I have been told of a boy......who had a large number of "writs" on his hands....One Friday the schoolmaster, who had frequesntly seen the boy's hands dirty from the number of "writs", asked him to count them accurately, and then tell him the exact number. The lad did so and some days afterwards he was startled by the boy who sat next to him exclaiming "Why Tom", where are your writs?" They had all gone.'
Passing the hand over a wart and muttering a mysterious 'word' to cure it is recorded in Norfolk. There is no record we could find of what the word actually is!
Whooping Cough
The following charm comes from the Norfolk/Suffolk borders. “A hole as dug in a meadow and into this the poor sufferer was placed in a bent position head downwards. The flag (piece of turf) cut was then placed over him and he remained in the hole until he coughed”
It was thought that if this charm was carried out in the evening, with only family to witness it the person would recover. In another parish a variation of this charm was tried except this time the person was laid face downwards on the turf in the meadow; the turf was then cut round the person in the shape of a coffin. “The person was then taken up and the flag turned roots upwards, and as the grass withered it was believed the cough wasted. This also had to be done secretly or the charm would fail.”
“Let the parent of the child afflicted find a dark spider in her own house and hold it over the head of the child, repeating three times ‘Spider, as ye waste away, whooping cough no longer stay’ . The spider should be hung up in a bag over the mantel-shelf. When the spider has dried up the cough will be gone.”
“Let the patient drink some milk which a ferret has lapped”
“It is necessary that a live flat-fish be procured – a little dab will do. Then it must be placed on the bare chest of the patient and kept there till it is dead.”
Let the patient “ be dragged three times, then wait three days and be dragged three times again under a gooseberry bush or bramble, both ends of which are growing in the ground."
Use “ hair from the cross on the back of a donkey, and having placed it in a bag hang it around the invalid’s neck, next to the skin” If this is done secretly, it is said the cure will be speedy.
Hysteria/Epilepsy
" If a young woman has fits she applies to ten or a dozen unmarried men (If male, he applies to as many maidens) and obtains each a small piece of silver of any kind..(a piece of broken spoon or ring or brooch or buckle and even a small coin) and a penny...without telling them the purpose for which the pieces are wanted.
The twelve pieces of silver are taken to a silversmith...who forms therefrom a ring, which is to be worn...on the fourth finger of the left hand. If any of the silver remains after the ring is made, the workman has it in his perquisite, and the twelve pennies are intended as the wages for his work...he must charge no more"
Mistletoe
There is an interesting tale about about a woman called Mary who was thought to be bewitched and possessed by two devils. The cunning man attending her, Doctor Woodhouse, is said to have used Mistletoe on the advice of Culpepper's work to try to cure her.
"(He) read out of Master Culpeppers Books, that Mistletoe of the Oak was good against Witchcraft; wherefore they got some Mistletoe,and applyed about her neck, and she trembled; and to what part soever they applyed it, so as it touched her Flesh, she trembled; by which they perceived it had prevalency againsy Diabolical Incantation"
Needless to say, like many cunning charms, this remedy is reported to have been unsuccessful in removing the devils. Mary was eventually cured by Doctor Woodhouse through other means. We will cover her full story in a future article on this site.
Hung from the kitchen beams and rafters, Mistletoe is also said to protect the house against the Devil's mischief'.
(Source: Glyde 1872, Jarrold and Son,
Porter 1969, Barnes and Noble) _________________
Wow...there are some interesting ones listed there...very interesting. _________________ "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." - Anatole France
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Join! (free) 
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
