St. Andrew's Fire

In Scottish tradition, on this night, the eve of St. Andrew's, mysterious lights appear, hovering above the ground believed to be the burial site of hidden treasure.

Barrows or earthworks are often regarded as places, where hidden treasure can be found. On the Ridgeway Hill, near the Dorset village of Bincombe there is a bowl barrow that has been given the curious name of The Burning Barrow.

It was given this name due to an inexplicable event one night in the early 1980's. A woman told him in 1984, that she was riding pillion on her boyfriend’s motorbike travelling along the top road of Came Down. When they were both startled to see flames shooting upward and a bright orange glow emitting from one of the many barrows upon the Ridgeway. Both the rider and the woman thought the area had some sinister air about it and didn't stop to find out what caused this unusual phenomenon.

The flames seen at the Burning Barrow could have been some form of luces del dinero (or Money Lights) as the are called in Mexico. Theses flames or ignis fatuus appear to hover above the ground, are said to mark the spot of treasure.

Events: The New Scorpion Band presents 'The Holly and The Ivy'

On Friday 4th December at 7.30 pm, Memorial Hall, Sturminster Marshall The much loved New Scorpion Band are presenting a brand new Christmas show, 'The Holly and The Ivy', which is a collection of traditional carols, midwinter songs, stories and music drawn from the traditional music of the British Isles. This programme follows the success of NSB's 'The Carnal and the Crane', often featured on previous Artsreach programmes.

Contact: Carol Johnson 01258 857814

An Artsreach Presentation www.artsreach.co.uk

Cattern Cakes and Catherine Wheels - The Customs and Traditions of St Catherine's Day

Today the 25th November is the feast day of St. Catherine. Similar to St. Martin's Day on November 10, St. Catherine’s Day also marks the arrival of winter.

St. Catherine’s Chapel at Abbotsbury was once a popular place of pilgrimage for girls seeking their truelove. Many would visit the chapel on St Catherine’s Day, where, inside the south doorway, there are three ‘Wishing Holes’. The girls would put their knee in the lower hole and their hands in the other two above and wish for the man of their dreams, saying as follows:

‘A husband, St Catherine
A handsome one, St Catherine
A rich one, St Catherine
A nice one, St Catherine
And soon, St Catherine’

Wishing or praying to St Catherine for a husband was also a popular custom at Cerne Abbas,where there was once a ruined St Catherine’s Chapel on Cat-and-Chapel Hill. With the chapel now gone the custom has since switched to St Augustine’s Well, where there is a ‘Wishing Stone’ upon which is the wheel of St Catherine.

It was the custom for any single girl wanting a husband to go alone to St Augustine’s Well at dawn on either, May Day, Midsummer Day, or St Catherine's Day. In a state of nudity she would kneel down and place her hands on ‘The Wishing Stone’ and say the following rhyme:

‘St Catherine, St Catherine
O lend me thine aid
And grant that I never
May die an Old Maid
A husband St Catherine
A good one St Catherine
But ar-a-one better than
Nar-a-one, St Catherine’

In order to consecrate the wish, the girl would then have to drink and immerse herself in the water to purify her mind and body.

In honor of the Saint "Cattern Cakes" are eaten today. Also known as 'Catherine Cakes' (after Catherine of Aragon, whom whilst imprisoned locally at Ampthill, heard of the lacemaker's financial plight, and destroyed all of her lace only to commission some more and give work to the local industry). They are specially prepared for St. Catherine's Day - the patroness of lace makers, rope makers, prostitutes, servants, unmarried girls, wet-nurses, female students, and any profession to do with the wheel, such as; spinsters, wheelwrights, potters and millers - on the 25th November, which is the lacemaker's special day.



Below, Extract taken from the Chambers Book of Days November 24th 1864, details the traditions of St. Catherine's day.

ST. CATHARINE

Among the earlier saints of the Romish calendar, St. Catharine holds an exalted position, both from rank and intellectual abilities. She is said to have been of royal birth, and was one of the most distinguished ladies of Alexandria, in the beginning of the fourth century. From a child she was noted for her acquirements in learning and philosophy, and while still very young, she became a convert to the Christian faith. During the persecution instituted by the Emperor Maximinus I, St. Catharine, assuming the office of an advocate of Christianity, displayed such cogency of argument and powers of eloquence, as thoroughly silenced her pagan adversaries. Maximinus, troubled with this success, assembled together the most learned philosophers in Alexandria to confute the saint; but they were both vanquished in debate, and converted to a belief in the Christian doctrines. The enraged tyrant thereupon commanded them to be put to death by burning, but for St. Catharine he reserved a more cruel punishment. She was placed in a machine, composed of four wheels, connected together and armed with sharp spikes, so that as they revolved the victim might be torn to pieces. A miracle prevented the completion of this project. When the executioners were binding Catharine to the wheels, a flash of lightning descended from the skies, severed the cords with which she was tied, and shattered the engine to pieces, causing the death both of the executioners and numbers of the bystanders.

Maximinus, however, still bent on her destruction, ordered her to be carried beyond the walls of the city, where she was first scourged and then beheaded. The legend proceeds to say, that after her death her body was carried by angels over the Red Sea to the summit of Mount Sinai. The celebrated convent of St. Catharine, situated in a valley on the slope of that mountain, and founded by the Emperor Justinian, in the sixth century, contains in its church a marble sarcophagus, in which the relics of St. Catharine are deposited. Of these the skeleton of the hand, covered with rings and jewels, is exhibited to pilgrims and visitors.

A well known concomitant of St. Catharine, is the wheel on which she was attempted to be tortured, and which figures in all pictured representations of the saint. From this circumstance are derived the well kown circular window in ecclesiastical architecture, termed a Catharine wheel window, and also a firework of a similar form. This St. Catharine must not be confounded with the equally celebrated St. Catharine of Siena, who lived in the fourteenth century.

News Clipping: Bumper book of Weymouth's past

An Intriguing A-Z of Weymouth’s history has been compiled by historian Maureen Attwooll.

The Second Bumper Book of Weymouth is a fascinating, alphabetical journey through the town’s history and geography, containing more than 1,000 entries and 150 illustrations.

READ MORE - Source: Dorset Echo Tuesday 24th November 2009

Available at Amazon Second Bumper Book of Weymouth by Maureen Attwooll.

News Clipping: Martinstown's sympathy for Cockermouth

Villagers in Martinstown have told of the ‘great flood’ that struck 54 years ago as residents of Cumbria face a similar plight.

They sent their sympathies to people in Cockermouth reeling from a level of rainfall that is thought only to occur once in 1,000 years.

Nearby Seathwaite recorded 314mm (12.3 inches) of rainfall in 24 hours last week – the heaviest ever recorded in Britain.

Read More: Dorset Echo Monday 23rd November 2009

News Clipping: 'Unprecedented' torrential downpour in Cumbria breaks UK record for most rain in 24 hours

The unprecedented downpour over Cumbria was the highest level of rainfall measured in the country since records began, forecasters said today.

The record-breaking rainfall - reaching 314mm (12.4 inches) in 24 hours - is the highest level witnessed in 44 years.

The reading taken from the Environment Agency's gauging station at Seathwaite Farm exceeds the 279.4mm (11in) recorded in 24 hours in Martinstown, Dorset, in July 1955.

Read more: Daily Mail Friday 20th November 2009

News Clipping: Giant earthworks mystery at Cerne Abbas

Archaeologist Rob Wilson-North has dug up a new mystery surrounding the Cerne Abbas giant.

He has identified earthworks near the iconic figure suggestive of the monument’s best known attributes.

READ MORE - Source: Dorset Echo Friday Friday 20th November 2009

News Clipping: Eerie howling... and a train ride to terror

If you're a lover of ghost stories, you’ll be familiar with a handful of tales concerning spooks and phantoms cropping up in Dorset. But if you thought you’d heard the whole story, think again.

When Roger Guttridge decided to write his 15th book on Dorset, he favoured the subject of the supernatural – but wanted to produce something that was “more than just another county ghost book”.

Read More: Bournemouth Daily Echo Wednesday 18th November 2009

Available at Amazon - Paranormal Dorset by Roger Guttridge

Here is a woman who lost her head, she's quiet now - because, d'ye see, she's dead! The Legend of St. Judith

Today is the feast day of St. Judith or in Anglo Saxon Juthwara, Juthware (pronounced Uth-are) . However her translation is generally held to be 13 July.

Saint Juthware was a Brythonic virgin and martyr from Dorset, who probably lived in the 6th century. Her relics were translated to Sherborne Abbey during the reign of Ethelred the Unready in the early 11th century and her shrine remained a place of pilgrimage there until the Dissolution.

Until recently, Halstock had an inn called, 'The Quiet Woman,' with a sign outside depicting a headless woman. Though no longer run as a pub, but is now as a guest house for visitors (www.qwhdorset.co.uk) the gruesome tale it commemorated still haunts the village to this day.

In the seventh century a baby girl called Juthware, was born in the village, but it was a difficult birth and her mother died leaving her to be brought up by Benna, the girl's father.

Benna looked after his daughter as best as he could, but what the girl needed was a mother, and in time he relinquished his loss by taking another wife. This second wife was a Welsh woman called Goneril who was also a widow and had by her former husband a son called Bana. All was well at first, but as the years passed Goneril began to despise her step daughter, for not only was she beautiful, but she was a devoted Christian, often fasting and doing penance for her sins.

Many pilgrims and wayfarers travelled the roads and would often seek shelter at Juthware's father's house. Benna was a good, but sick man and remembering the kindness of his first wife was always keen to show hospitality. And so while they ate Juthware would pass among them with drinking horns of wine and ale and listen to their wonderful stories of Our Lord's birth and life.

When Benna died Juthware followed her father's example of hospitality. This angered Goneril who could not stand her stepdaughter's good qualities any longer and so she contrived a plan to be rid of her.

Goneril's chance came one morning when Juthware came to her complaining of chest pains. She told Juthware to rub some cheese onto her chest and stomach first thing in the morning and last thing at night and the pains would go.

When Goneril saw Juthware doing this she went secretly into the wood and there slaughtered a lamb and left it for the wolves. The next morning she went to Bana and told him that Juthware had given birth to a child in the wood and had fed it to the wolves. However, Bana would not believe her, so she took him into the wood and showed him the remains of the bloodied carcass. But still Bana would not believe it, so she brought Juthware to the wood and ordered her to remove her vest. Bana examined the garment and found the stains of motherhood.

In a fit of rage he drew his sword and cut Juthware's head clean off. Goneril's face was triumphant, but as she revelled in her stepdaughter's death, to her horror Juthware's severed head called to her body. It jerked and slowly rising to its feet gathered the head and moved with measured mechanical steps down the hill and along the lane to the church and there placed her head on the altar before finally dying.

Soon after, Juthware became known as Saint Juthware and a shrine was dedicated to her at the place of her martyrdom.

But the gruesome tale doesn't end there, for at one o'clock in the morning on All Saints Day (1st November), Saint Juthware's ghost is said to return to repeat the incident. She is said to be seen carrying her head in the lane leading to Abbots Hill, alias Judith Hill.

13 Reasons to be Fearful - Superstitions about Friday 13th

The belief that Friday 13th is an especially unlucky day is one of the widest-known superstitions in Britain today, and is erroneously assumed to be of great antiquity. The notion that thirteen is a generally unlucky number has not been found earlier than 1852, and although Fridays have been regarded as unlucky since medieval times, it is quite certain that the fear of Friday 13th is a Victorian invention. Indeed, the first definite reference to Friday 13th we have is from 1913:

I have met a coach' of fine mental capacities, which had been
carefully cultivated, who dreaded the evil luck of Friday the 13th.

Here is an interesting article, from the Daily Express Friday 13th October 2000, about the superstitions linked with the number Thirteen and Friday 13th.

"Every week most of us thank God it's Friday. However, an estimated live million people in Britain will spend today in such a state of anxiety and fear that they will feel compelled to stay at home until tomorrow. It is because today. Friday the 13th makes its only appearance this millennium year. Businesses lose money through absenteeism, while travel operators are hit as customers cancel trips or switch departure dates. So why in these ‘enlightened’ times, are we still so worried about such superstitions? Here are 13 things you need to know about the myths and legends surrounding this most auspicious date:

1. Fear of the number 13 is known by psychologists as ‘triskaidekaphobia’. The term paraskavidekatriaphobia (basically just the Greek for ‘fear of Friday 13’) was later coined to identify those specifically afraid of Friday the 13th. In the US, there are an estimated 21 million sufferers. This may have prompted Hollywood to tap into the popular myth with the ‘Friday The 13th' series of horror movies, in which the main character Jason is driven to mindless frenzy on that day.

2. There is always at least one Friday 13th each year. Some years there are two, rarely three (most recently in 1998 and the next in 2009). In the event of it occurring in conjunction with a full moon, folklore has it that there is an increase in crime and mental illness.

3. Legend tells us that the 13th of any month is unlucky, especially if it falls on a Friday. Only failure and doom awaits those foolhardy "enough to start a new venture such as a business or marriage.

4. Strategies used to avoid catastrophes include carrying a four-leafed clover, crossing fingers, wishing on a star, tossing coins into a wishing well or fountain and even burning old socks on turned up on top of a mountain. And, until recently, a decree in Indiana required that all black cats must wear bells.

5. The superstition is supposed to date from the early years of Christianity. Biblical references include the 13 people at Christ's Last Supper and the belief that the crucifixion took place on Friday 13th. Some theologians also claim that Adam accepted the apple from Eve on a Friday and that Cain killed his brother Abel on Friday 13th.

6. Earlier cultures also considered the number 13 unlucky. In Norse mythology when Loki, the god of mischief, became the uninvited 13th guest at a banquet in Valhalla, the god of Light: Balhar died as a result. Ancient Norsemen had 13 knots in their hangman's noose. The Romans believed that witches gathered in groups of 13 and the 13th was the Devil. Greek mythology also tells of the violent death of the 13th member in a group of gods. The Chinese interpreted 13 as the number of obstacles in the way of good fortune.

7. There are some societies that consider 13 lucky. The Mexicans believed the number symbolised the sun and energy. The Jewish Cabala confirms its lucky status; the Book of Moses mentions 13 attributes of God; and the bar mitzvah celebrates the passing from childhood into adulthood at the age of 13.

8. Friday is considered a lucky day in Scandinavia. The word Friday comes from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Frigdaeg’, thought to have been a derivation of Frigg, the Norse god of love. Vendredi, French for Friday, derives from Venus, the Roman goddess of love. Some actors also believe that Friday is a lucky day, insisting they sign contracts only on that day Charles Dickens was said to have begun writing all of his books on a Friday. Even stock market traders on Wall Street regard Friday 13th a lucky day Over the past three years it has occurred five times and each time the market has risen substantially

9. Celebrated paraskavidekatria- phobics include Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, who both avoided travelling on that day. The Royal Family has also been known to avoid the dreaded number. Princess Margaret's birth was not officially recorded, as the registration number was 13. The family waited three days until another baby was registered so Margaret could have the number 14.

10. Disasters associated with Fridays and the number 13 include in the 19th century, the disappearance of the Royal Navy's HMS Friday, following which Lloyd's would not insure any ship launched on Friday 13th. Even today the US Navy will avoid launching a ship on Friday 13th. The Andes airline crash happened on Friday 13th 1970, and the survivors were forced to eat the flesh of the dead passengers. The ill-fated Apollo 13 launch took place at 13.13 hours whereupon an explosion in the fuel cell aborted the mission on April 13th.

11. In the Twenties, 13 people sat down to dinner at the Savoy Hotel in London. The following day their host died. Since then, whenever there are 13 people for dinner at the Savoy, the hotel provides an extra seat and places a statuette of a black cat called Kaspar on the chair. In France, a company exists which will always provide a last minute 14th guest for dinner parties.

12. Many sceptics challenge or dismiss the concept of superstition. The London Thirteen Club, formed in the late 19th century by journalists, regularly meets to mock superstition by spilling salt, opening umbrellas indoors and walking on cracks. The Friday The 13th club, in Philadelphia, has been meeting for 63 years and celebrates the day by breaking mirrors, walking under ladders and crossing the paths of black cats. Greek-born Nick Matsoukas emigrated to the US, arriving on February 13^th 1917. He was the 13th child in his family and his name consisted of 13 letters. He formed the National Committee of Thirteen Against Superstition, Prejudice And Fear.

13. Finally, perhaps you might like to wonder who it was that actually sat down and worked out that an anagram of ‘eleven plus two’ is ‘twelve plus one".

So, whether you decide to spent today cower in bed, or burn your socks atop a mountain, or even book a table at the Savoy for 12 of your friends — just remember to put a four-leafed clover in your pocket, cross your fingers and stay lucky."