"Blest be the day that Christ was born. We’ve getten mell o’ Mr. ----’s corn. Weel won and better shorn. Hip, hip, hip, huzza, huzza!" This last sheaf used to be dressed in finery and crowned with wheatears, hoisted on a pole, and all the harvesters danced round this "kern-baby," or harvest-queen, who afterward presided over the supper. Mummers, or "guisers," used to attend the feast, but all these usages are dying out, and the master often gives the harvesters money or ale instead of the supper. This is the old autumn feast of the ingathering of the corn, and in Brito-Roman times the image was that of the goddess Ceridwen, answering to Ceres. Later, it stood for the Virgin Mary. You must not gather brambles after October, or the devil will come after you! He is evidently about at this time, for when the brambles are spoilt at the end of the season, it is said that "the devil has set his foot on the bummelkites," this being their local name. Hallow E’en sports are still practised, the mystic apple so often appearing in Celtic fairy-lore, playing a great part in them. Apples are ducked for in a tub of water with the mouth, the hands being clasped behind the back. A small rod of wood is sometimes suspended from the ceiling, a lighted candle being fixed at one end, and an apple at the other. The apple has to be caught by the teeth when it passes before them, and if it is carefully pared, so that the peel comes off in one strip, and this is flung over the left shoulder, it will form the initials of the loved one’s name. Or it may be eaten before a mirror, and the lover’s face will be reflected therein; but on no account must the worker of this spell look backwards. At Christmas-tide Yule cakes and "Yule dollies" are made, these last being quaint figures made of dough, with currants to mark their features and the outlines of their dress. Furmety (wheat boiled in milk) is eaten, the Yule log is burnt, and the Christmas stocking is hung up that gifts may be placed in it. Candles are still given by grocers; the fruiterer presents a bunch of mistletoe; children come round and sing carols, bearing a box containing figures of the Virgin and Child. The sword-dancers or "guisers" come, perform a dance and sing a song, the words of which vary considerably. Finally, as many mince-pies as you eat at Christmas, so many happy months will you have. Here is "a copious catalogue of things lucky and unlucky," at least of those considered as such in the Bishopric: If you accidentally put on a stocking, or indeed any garment, inside out, it is most fortunate, and the mistake should not be rectified, you will turn the luck. But if you put a button or hook into the wrong hole while dressing in the morning, something unpleasant will happen to you during the day. "Sing before breakfast, cry before supper," is an oft-quoted proverb, perhaps deduced from the common belief that unusually high spirits portend coming misfortune.