In the churchyard of Halton, near Lancaster, is the shaft of an ancient cross. In 1635 the upper part was removed by the rector, in order that the portion remaining might be converted into a sundial. On the east side are two panels, one showing two human figures, in a sitting posture, engaged in washing the feet of a seated figure; the other showing two figures on either side of a tall cross. This is the Christian side of a cross erected at a time of transition. On the west side is a smith at work with a pair of bellows. He is forging a large pair of pincers, as he sits on a chair. Below the chair is the bust of a man, or a coat of mail. Above him is a sword of heavy type, also a second hammer, a second pair of pincers, and a human body, with a "figure of eight" knot, intertwined in a circle, in place of a head, and an object at his feet representing the head. The half-panel above has reference to some event in the Sagas.
At Heysham, near Lancaster, also in the churchyard, is an example of a hog-backed stone, a solid mass six feet long and two feet thick, laid over some ancient grave. On the stone is a stag, with broad horns, and as it is not a reindeer it is said to be a rude representation of an elk. The scene on this side of the stone depicts an animal hunt. The termination at each end is a rude quadruped on its hind quarters. A fragment of a beautifully-sculptured cross is still remaining, evidently part of a cross which fitted into the socket of the stone.
In the churchyard of St. Mary's, Lancaster, was a fine cross with a Runic inscription, meaning "Pray for Cynebald, son of Cuthbert." This cross has been removed to the British Museum.
At Whalley are three fine specimens of reputed Saxon crosses. Tradition says they commemorate the preaching of Paulinus in 625. Although they have no remaining inscriptions, their obelisk form and ornaments of fretwork were used in common by the Norwegians, Saxons, and Danes.
In Winwick Churchyard is a great fragment of a crosshead, consisting of the boss and two arms. On the arms are a man with two buckets and a man being held head downwards by two ferocious-looking men, who have a saw beneath them, and are either sawing him asunder or are preparing to saw off his arms. This evidently relates to Oswald, for he was dismembered by order of Pemba, and the buckets might refer to the miracle-working well which sprang up where his body fell.
At Upton, Birkenhead, is a sculptured stone bearing a Runic inscription. Dr. Browne takes the inscription to mean: "The people raised a memorial: Pray for Aethelmund."
At West Kirby is a nearly complete example of a hog-backed stone. The lower part is covered on both sides by rough interlacing bands, and the middle and upper part with scales, the top being ornamented with a row of oblong rings on each side, with a band running through each row of rings. The work at the top, which looks like a row of buckles, is very unusual. The stone, which is of harder material than any stone in the neighbourhood, must have been brought from a distance, and in the memorial of some important person, probably Thurstan, as we find the name Thurstaston in the locality. There is also at West Kirby a flat slab on the face of which a cross is sculptured. This is very unusual in England, though not rare in Scotland and Ireland.
At Hilbree, the island off West Kirby, there is a cross of like character.
Principal Rhys says that in the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Norsemen were in the habit of largely recruiting their fleet in Shetland and the Orkneys, not merely with thrales, but with men of a higher position. They infused thus a certain amount of Pictish blood into the island. The "Shetland bind"—Oghams distributed over the island, in such places as Braddan, Turby, Michael, Onchan, and Bride. The Norwegian language, says Mr. C. Roeder, was spoken practically from 890–1270; it was introduced by the Shetland and Orkney men, and from Norway, with which connection was kept, as shown by the grammatical structure of the Runic stones in the island, which falls between 1170 and 1230. It was the only language of the rulers, and used at "Thing" and Hall, resembling in this old Norman barons and their counts in King William the Conqueror's time.
The spirit of the Norsemen lives in the legal constitution of the Government, an inheritance that produced a free Parliament, and particularly in its place-names. The sea fringe, with its hundreds of Norse rocks, creeks, and forelands, and caves, have left imperishable evidence of the mighty old seafarers, the track they took, and the commingling and fusion they underwent in blood and speech, and their voyages from the Shetlands and Western Isles.
Claughton-on-Brock, near Preston, is named Clactune in Domesday Book. The Danes have also left relics of their presence and influence as they have done all over the Fylde district. The late Monsignor Gradwell, a great student of local nomenclature and a Lancashire historian of considerable repute, wrote: "In Claughton the Roman road crosses the Fleet, a small brook in the Sixacre. About seventy years ago a barrow was found on the west of the New Lane, about half a mile south of the street. In it were found an earthenware urn containing the burnt remains of a human body, with some delicately wrought silver brooches, some beads and arms, a dagger and a sword. The brooch of fretwork was precisely similar to many ancient Danish brooches still preserved in the Copenhagen Museum, and this proves that the Claughton deposit was also Danish. That the Danes were strong in Claughton and in the neighbourhood is proved by the many Danish names. Thus, we have Dandy Birk, or Danes Hill; Stirzacre, and Barnacre, respectively Stirs land and Biorn's land. The Danish relics were carefully deposited at Claughton Hall by the finder, Mr. Thomas Fitzherbert Brockholes."
Now what is to be said about the subjects carved on these crosses and about the date of the work? One of the subjects is most remarkable, and gives a special interest to this cross; for here on the west face and north we have the story of Sigurd Fafnir's bane; here is his sword and the forging of it, his horse Grani, which bore away the treasure; the roasting of the dragon's heart; the listening to the voice of the birds, and the killing of Regin the smith.
The story so far as it relates to our subject is this: We all know that the love of money is the root of all evil. Now there were two brothers, Fafnir and Regin. Fafnir held all the wealth, and became a huge monster dragon, keeping watch over his underground treasure-house. Regin, his brother, had all skill in smith's work, but no courage. He it was who forged the sword wherewith the hero Sigurd went forth to kill the dragon and take the treasure. This he did with the help of his wonderful horse Grani, who, when the heavy boxes of treasure were placed on his back, would not move until his master had mounted, but then went off merrily enough. This story, Anglicised and Christianised, is the story of our English patron saint St. George, the horse rider and the dragon slayer. Here is the story written in stone.
We know the ancient belief that the strength of every enemy slain passes into the body of the conqueror.
The stone is perhaps more than a thousand years old, and has been a good deal knocked about. It was once the tomb of a great Christian Briton or Englishman, before the Norman Conquest; and you may still see four other "hog-backed Saxon" uncarved tombstones in Lowther Churchyard, marking the graves of the noble of that day. When a stone church was built, our sculptured shrine was built into the walls of the church, and some of the mortar still sticks to the red sandstone. When this old church was pulled down to give place to a new one this same stone, covered with lime and unsightly, was left lying about. You will see something twisted and coiled along the bottom of each drawing beneath the figures, and you will see some strange designs (they are sacred symbols used long ago) on either side of one of the heads in the lower picture; but what will strike you most will be the long curls of hair, and the hands pressed to the breast or folded and pressed together as if in prayer; and, above all, you will notice that all these people seem to be asleep; their eyes are closed and their hands folded or pressed to their breast, and they all look as if they were either asleep or praying, or very peaceful and at perfect rest. These people are not dead; look at their faces and mark generally the attitudes of repose.
Now let us find something worth remembering about all this.
The tombstone is made like a little house to represent the home of the dead. But at the time I am speaking of the people believed that only those who died bravely fighting would have a life of happiness afterwards; other people who were not wicked people at all—but all who died of sickness or old age—went to the cold, dark world ruled over by a goddess called "Hel," who was the daughter of the Evil one. "Such is the origin of our word Hell, the name of a goddess applied to a locality. Her domains were very great and her yard walls very high. Hunger is her dish, starvation her knife, care is her bed, a beetling cliff is the threshold of her hall, which is hung with grief." All, except the warriors who died fighting, however good, went to her domain. It might be thought that to be with such a goddess after death was bad enough, but there was a worse place. For the wicked another place was prepared, a great hall and a bad one; its doors looked northward. It was altogether wrought of adders' backs wattled together, and the heads of the adder all turned inwards, and spit venom, so that rivers of venom ran along the hall, and in those rivers the wicked people must wade for ever.
The Christian wished to show that this terrible idea of man's future state was to fire away to something better through the Lord of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, and so they set up crosses and carried triquetra, the sign of the ever blessed Trinity, on their sculptured tombs to teach the people to believe no longer in gods and goddesses of darkness, but to look to one God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to drive away all evil spirits from their hearts, and to give them a quiet time and a perfect end. Was there any wonder that years afterwards, when the bright light shone forth from the Cross to disperse the dark clouds of paganism, that men said that holy men, such as Patrick, Kentigern and Cuthbert had driven all poisonous snakes out of the land? The twisted and coiling thing beneath the figures is no doubt the old serpent. The Cross of Christ and the ash tree Yggdrasil of the northern tribes bore a like meaning at a certain time to the mixed peoples on this coast. (W. S. Collingwood.)
The great variety of ornament found in the North Riding Monuments shows that in four centuries many influences were brought to bear upon the sculptors' art, and much curious development went on, of which we may in the future understand the cause.
Our early sculptors, like the early painters, were men trying hard to express their ideals, which we have to understand before we can appreciate their work. The Anglian people included writers and thinkers like Bede and Alcuin, and that their two centuries of independence in the country of which the North Riding was the centre and heart, were two centuries of a civilization which ranked high in the world of that age. The Danish invasion, so lamentable in its earlier years, brought fresh blood and new energies in its train, and up to the Norman Conquest this part of England was rich and flourishing.
In writing the history of its art, part of the material will be found in these monuments.
The material of which these sculptures are made is usually of local stone. They were carved on the spot and not imported ready made.
In the progress of Anglian art we have the development which began with an impulse coming from the north, and ending with influence coming from the south.
The monuments were possibly executed by Anglian sculptors under the control of Danish Conquerors. Even under the early heathen rule of the Danes, Christians worked and lived, and as each succeeding colony of Danes became Christianised, they required gravestones, and Churches to be carved for them.
Following a generation of transition, at the end of the ninth century, monuments are found displaying Danish taste. The close connection of the York kingdom with Dublin, provides a reason for the Irish influence. Abundant evidence is found in the chain pattern, and ring patterns, the dragons, and wheelheads, which are hacked and not finished into a rounded surface by chiselling.
The Brompton hogbacks are among the finest works of this period.
The Stainton bear, and the Wycliffe bear, are also of this period.
The Pickhill hogback has an Irish-Scandavian dragon, and other dragons are to be seen at Gilling, Crathorne, Easington, Levisham, Sinnington, and Pickering.
New influences came from the Midlands into Yorkshire, after the fall of the Dublin-York kingdom, about the year 950. One instance of this advance in the sculptor's art is to be seen in the round shaft, trimmed square above, at Gilling, Stanwick, and Middleton, which came from Mercia, and passed on into Cumberland, where it is to be found at Penrith and Gosforth. These latter have Edda subjects and appear to be late tenth century.
Gilling has a curious device, which may possibly be the völund wing wheel, and völund appears on the Leeds cross, and also at Neston in Cheshire.
The Scandinavian chain pattern, frequent on the stones of the North Riding, and in Cumberland, is entirely absent in manuscripts. There must have been books at Lastingham, Hackness, Gilling, and other great monasteries, but the stone-carvers did not copy them.
The Ormside cup, on the other hand, has close analogies with the two important monuments at Croft and Northallerton, which seem to be the leading examples of the finest style, from which all the rest evolve, not without influence from abroad at successive periods. It is to relief work rather than to manuscripts that we must look for the inspiration of the sculptors.
In these monuments linked together we can trace the continuation of the Viking age style during the later half of the tenth century and the early part of the eleventh centuries. The stone carver's art was reviving, stones were becoming more massive, which means that they were more skilfully quarried, the cutting is more close and varied, and on its terms the design is more decorative and artistic, though still preserving its northern character among impulses and influences from the south. But there is no room here for the Bewcastle cross or the Hovingham stone. We have an example of this period's attempt to imitate.
It is probable that the stone carving was a traditional business, began by St. Wilfrid's, and Benedict Bishop's imported masons, and carried on in a more or less independent development as it is to-day.
With the Danish invasion began a period of new influences which were not shaken off until after the Norman Conquest.
The interlaced work was abandoned in the tenth century by southern sculptors, remained the national art of the north. The Manx, Irish, and Scotch kept it long after the eleventh century, and so did the Scandinavians.
The Bewcastle cross in the Gigurd shaft of the cross at Halton in Lancashire, and if this development has been rightly described the Halton shaft is easily understood.
In the period covered by the eleventh century dials inscribed with Anglo-Danish names date themselves. Interlacing undergoes new development, becoming more open and angular, until we get right lined plaits like Wensley, it is better cut, as the later part of the century introduces the masons who rebuilt the churches and began the abbeys. No longer was the work hacked but clean chiselled, and intermingled with new grotesques; we find it at Hackness, in the impost, and in the fonts at Alne and Bowes, where we are already past the era of the Norman Conquest.
Anglian work of the simpler forms and earlier types date 700 A.D.
Full development of Anglian art, middle of eighth century to its close.
Anglian work in decline, or in ruder hands, but not yet showing Danish influence, early ninth century.
Transitional, such as Anglian carvers might have made for Danish conquerors, late ninth century.
Anglo-Danish work showing Irish influence, early half of the tenth century.
Anglo-Danish work with Midland influence, later part of tenth and beginning of eleventh century.
Eleventh century, Pre-Norman.
Post-Conquest, developed out of pre Norman art.
Recumbent monuments were grave-slabs, which may have been coffin lids, such as must have fitted the Saxon rock graves at Heysham, Lancashire, while other forms may have simply marked the place under which a burial was made. They are found with Anglian lettering at Wensley, another has been removed from Yarm, and those of the Durham district are well known.
The two stones at Wensley may have been recumbent, like the Melsonby stones. The Spennithorne slab bears crosses of the earlier Northumbrian type, seen again in the West Wilton slab. At Crathorne are two slabs, with "Maltese" crosses apparently late, all the preceding being of the fine style.
Levisham slab has an Irish Scandinavian dragon.
Grave slabs are found of all periods and styles. Shrine-shaped tombs are known in various parts of England, with pre-Viking ornament. (W. S. Collingwood).
Before dealing with the Norse and Danish antiquities of Lancashire, of which we have some remains in the form of sculptured stones, and ancient crosses, it would be profitable to inquire into the origin and development of that mysterious form of letters known as Runes or Runic. How many of the thousands who annually visit the Isle of Man are aware that the island contains a veritable museum of Runic historical remains? A brief survey of these inscriptions, which have yielded definite results, having been deciphered for us by eminent scholars, will help us to understand the nature of those to be found in our own county.
We are told by Dr. Wägner that Runes were mysterious signs. The word Rune is derived from rûna, a secret. The form of the writing would appear to be copied from the alphabet of the Phoenicians. The Runes were looked upon, for many reasons, as full of mystery and supernatural power. In the fourth century Ulphilas made a new alphabet for the Goths by uniting the form of the Greek letters to the Runic alphabet, consisting of twenty-five letters, which was nearly related to that of the Anglo-Saxons. The Runes gradually died out as Christianity spread, and the Roman alphabet was introduced in the place of the old Germanic letters. The Runes appear to have served less as a mode of writing than as a help to memory, and were principally used to note down a train of thought, to preserve wise sayings and prophecies, and the remembrance of particular deeds and memorable occurrences.
Tacitus informs us that it was the custom to cut beech twigs into small pieces, and then throw them on a cloth, which had been previously spread out for the purpose, and afterwards to read future events by means of the signs accidentally formed by the bits of wood as they lay in the cloth.
In his catalogue of Runic inscriptions found on Manx crosses, Kermode says that "of the sculptors' names which appear all are Norse. Out of a total of forty-four names, to whom these crosses were erected, thirty-two are those of men, eight of women, and four are nicknames. Of men, nineteen names are Norse, nine Celtic, three doubtful, and one Pictish." This proves the predominance of Norse and Danish chiefs to whom these monuments were erected. Runes are simply the characters in which these inscriptions are carved, and have nothing to do with the language, which in the Manx inscriptions is Scandinavian of the 12th Century.
To speak of a stone which bears an inscription in Runes as a Runic stone is as though we should call a modern tombstone a Roman stone because the inscription is carved in Roman capitals. Canon Taylor traces the origin of Runes to a Greek source, namely, the Thracian or second Ionian alphabet, which, through the intercourse of the Greek colonists at the mouth of the Danube with the Goths south of the Baltic, was introduced in a modified form into Northern Europe, and had become established as a Runic "Futhork" as early as the Christian era. The main stages of development are classified by Canon Taylor as the Gothic, the Anglican, and the Scandinavian.
The Rune consists of a stem with the twigs or letters falling from left or right. This is the most common form to be found, allowing for difference of workmanship, of material, and space. The progress in the development of the Rune may be observed from the most simple plait or twist, to the most complex and beautiful geometric, and to the zoomorphic. The latter has the striking features of birds and beasts of the chase, and also of men, many being realistic; and except the latter are well drawn. The forms of the men are sometimes found with heads of birds or wings. In addition to decorative work we find on three of the cross slabs illustrations from the old Norse sagas. On a large cross at Braddan is a representation of Daniel in the lion's den; and at Bride, on a slab, is a mediæval carving of the fall of Adam, in which the serpent is absent. Both Pagan and Christian emblems derive their ornamentation from the same source, "basket work."
Long after the introduction of Christianity we find the Pagan symbols mixed up in strange devices on the same stones, which were erected as Christian monuments. In the "Lady of the Lake," Sir Walter Scott gives an account of the famous fiery cross formed of twigs.
Basketmaking is the parent of all modern textile art, and no other industry is so independent of tools. It is the humble parent of the modern production of the loom, and the most elaborate cloth is but the development of the simple wattle work of rude savages. Plaiting rushes is still the earliest amusement of children, the patterns of which are sometimes identical with the designs engraved by our earliest ancestors on their sculptured stones. Interlaced ornament is to be met with on ancient stones and crosses all over our islands. Ancient pottery also shows that the earliest form of ornament was taken from basket designs.
The Lough Derg pilgrim sought a cross made of interwoven twigs, standing upon a heap of stones, at the east end of an old church. This was known as St. Patrick's Altar. This is recorded by a certain Lord Dillon in 1630, who visited the island known as St. Patrick's Purgatory on the Lough Derg, in Ireland. The wicker cross retained its grasp upon the superstitious feelings of the people after the suppression at the Reformation. He says of this miserable little islet that the tenant paid a yearly rent of £300, derived from a small toll of sixpence charged at the ferry. This was probably the last of the innumerable crosses of the same wicker and twigs. (Lieut.-Col. French, Bolton.)
When the northern nations were converted to Christianity the old Pagan Festivals were changed to Christian holidays, and the old Pagan divinities were replaced by Christian Saints. The faith placed in the early deities was transferred to the latter. As certain deities had formerly been supposed to exercise influence over the weather and the crops; so the days dedicated to them, were now dedicated to certain Saints.
The days thus dedicated were called Mark-days, and as it may be supposed it became the office of the Clergy to keep account of the time and to calculate when the various holidays would occur.
Owing to the fact that many Christian feasts are what are called movable, that is, are not fixed to a certain date but depend on Easter, the reckoning was more difficult for the laity than it had been in Pagan times.
In those days the fixed holidays could be easily remembered. An ordinary man without knowing how to read or write could keep a list of them by cutting marks or notches on strips of wood.
The successors of these are called Messe, and Prim Staves. The Messe staves are the more simple—Messe-daeg means Mass day, and the stave only denoted such days. The Prim stave contained besides the marks for Sundays and the moon's changes. Hence their name from Prima-Luna, or first full moon after the equinox. The Messe-daeg staves are frequently met with. They consist generally of flat pieces of wood about a yard or an ell long, two inches wide, and half an inch thick, and have frequently a handle, giving them the appearance of a wooden sword. The flat side is divided into two unequal portions by a line running lengthways. In the narrow part, the days are notched at equal distances, half the year on each side, or 182 marks on one side and 183 on the other. In the wider space and connected with the days are the signs for those which are to be particularly observed: on the edges the weeks are indicated. The marks for the days do not run from January to July and from July to December, but on the winter side (Vetr-leid) from October 14 to April 13, and in the summer side (Somar-leid) from April 14 to October 13. The signs partly refer to the weather, partly to husbandry, and partly the legends of the Saints. Seldom are two staves formed exactly alike. Not only do the signs vary but the days themselves. Nor are they always flat, but sometimes square, i.e., with four equal sides: when of the latter shape they are called clogs, or clog almanacs.
They are called Cloggs, i.e., Logg, Almanacks = Al-mon-aght, viz., the regard or observation of all the Moons, because by means of these squared sticks, says Verstegan, they could certainly tell when the new Moons, full Moons, or other changes should happen, and consequently Easter and the other movable feasts. They are called by the Danes Rim-stocks, not only because the Dominical letters were anciently expressed on them in Runic characters, but also because the word Rimur anciently signified a Calendar. By the Norwegians with whom they are still in use, they are called Prim-staves, and for this reason, the principal and most useful thing inscribed on them being the prime or golden number, whence the changes of the moon are understood, and also as they were used as walking sticks, they were most properly called Prim-staves.
The origin of these Runic or Clog-calendars was Danish (vide Mr. J. W. Bradley, M.A., Salt Library, Stafford). They were unknown in the South, and only known by certain gentry in the North. They are quite unknown in Ireland and Scotland, and are only known from the few examples preserved in the Museums.
Owing to the changes of custom in modern times these wooden perpetual almanacs have become quite superseded by the printed annuals.
The inscriptions read proceeding from the right hand side of the notches, are marks or symbols of the festivals expressed in a kind of hieroglyphic manner, pointing out the characteristics of the Saints, against whose festivals they are placed, others the manner of their Martyrdom; others some remarkable fact in their lives; or to the work or sport of the time when the feasts were kept.
Thus on January 13 the Feast of St. Hiliary is denoted by a Cross or Crozier, the badge of a Bishop.
The edges of the staff are notched chiefly with simple angular indentations but occasionally with other marks to denote the date of certain special Festivals.
These complete one edge of the staff.
Thus each edge contains three months or one quarter of the year.
Turning the staff over towards the reader who holds the loop or ring in the right hand.
The more ancient almanac called Runic Primitare, so named from the Prima-luna or new moon which gave the appellation of Prime to the Lunar or Golden Number, so called because the Number was marked in gold on the stave. The Rim Stocks of Denmark so called from Rim, a calendar and stock a staff. The marks called Runic characters were supposed to have magical powers and so were regarded with dread by the Christians and were often destroyed by the priests and converts to Christianity.
They were derived from rude imitations of the Greek letters. Two of these staves now in the Museum at Copenhagen are 4 feet 8½ inches and 3 feet 8 inches long respectively. They are hand carved and not in any sense made by machinery. This accounts from them being rarely alike, and often very different from one another.
The Sun in his annual career returns to the same point in the Zodiac in 365 days, 6 hours, nearly. The Moon who is really the month maker, as the Sun is the year maker, does 12 of her monthly revolutions in 354 days. So that a lunar year is 11 days shorter than the solar, supposing both to start from the same date. The actual lunar month contains about 29½ days. Therefore in order to balance the two reckonings, it was agreed at a convention of Scientist Christians of Alexandria in the year A.D. 323, two years previous to the Council of Nice, to make the distances between the new moon alternately 29 and 30 days, and to place the golden number accordingly. Now these Egyptian scholars observed that the new moon nearest the vernal Equinox in 323 was on the 27th day of the Egyptian month Phauranoth, corresponding with our 23rd of March, so the cycle was commenced on this day. This is the reason why the golden number 1 is placed against it, 29 days from this brought them to the 21st April, and 30 days from this to the 21st May, and so on through the year.
The explanatory engraving of the Calendar shows the year begins on the 23rd December. That this date is correctly given for the first day of the year is proved by the agreement between the Saints days and the days of the month on which they fall and the Christian Sunday Letters.
In thus beginning the year this Calendar exhibits a rare peculiarity. No other Runic Calendar begins the year in the same manner, while numbers could be shown which begin the year at Yuletide, commencing on the 25th December.
Of the two modes of beginning it there is no question that the one here exhibited is the genuine heathen while the other is genuine Christian. It is worth noticing that as Winter takes precedence of Summer in the sense of a year: so night takes precedence of day generally in the sense of a civil day of 24 hours in old Icelandic writers, a manner of speech which to this day is far from having gone out of use.
Considering the heathen tradition preserved in this Calendar in the number of days given to the year and in the date given to the commencement of the year, in which it stands unique, in the fact that the interval between 1230 and 1300, i.e., out of 160 years rich in famous local and famous general Saints, not one should be recorded here: that Saints of universal adoration in the Catholic Church, such as St. Thomas of Canterbury, St. Benedict, and others, should not have a place here: we cannot escape referring it to an age when it may be fairly supposed that these heathen traditions were still believed in by at least a considerable number of the community.
Anterior to 1230 it cannot be, long posterior to that date it can scarcely be. That it must be a layman's Calendar, is shown because it exhibits no golden numbers, and gives consequently no clue to the Paschal cycle or movable feasts. It is a very valuable piece of antiquity and ought to be well taken care of.
On 2nd February were anciently observed all over the Pagan north certain rites connected with the worship of fire. In some places the toast or bumper of the fire was drunk by the whole family kneeling round the fire, who at the same time offered grain or beer to the flames on the hearth. This was the so-called Eldborgs-skäl, the toast of fire salvage, a toast which was meant to avert disaster by fire for the coming year.
Fire and Sun worship mingled together, no doubt in observance of this feast: for where it was most religiously observed amongst the Swedes it was called Freysblôt and was a great event. In early Christian times only wax candles which had received the blessing of the priest, were burnt in the houses of the people, in the evening. Hence Candlemas,—see illustration in Stephens' Scandinavian Monuments. From a remarkable treatise by Eirikr Magnusson, M.A., on a Runic Calendar found in Lapland in 1866, bearing English Runes. (Cambridge Antiq. Soc. Communications, Vol. X., No. 1, 1877.)