"Good master and mistress,
We wish you good cheer;
For this is Old Christmas,
A merry time of the year,
When Christ did come to save us
From all our worldly sin.
We wish you a happy Christmas,
And all good health within."
There are several variations of this ditty; but all are much to the same purport. After Christmas Day the "waits" go round to their friends and collect money. The last "wait" in Burnley was unfortunately burnt to death some years ago in a warehouse which took fire during the night. He had been his usual rounds, and had gone to sleep amongst the waste just before the fire broke out.
DOWNHAM KING AND QUEEN.
In the parish of Whalley the ancient annual amusements of rush-bearings and village-wakes are very general, and it is only within a very few years that the practice of adorning a man and woman in the costume of the king and queen was observed yearly at Downham wakes, when a crown was carried before them, "by prescriptive right" as they maintained, founded on a grant from some king at a period too early to form the subject of record. This innocent delusion has been discarded; but the practice still prevails of parties of eight or ten women running after and "lifting" or "heaving" men on Easter Tuesday, in allusion, it is said, to the resurrection of the Saviour. The last "Downham Queen" died in Burnley about six years ago; "lifting" frequently causes much amusement, and sometimes dissatisfaction. The men lift the women on Monday, and vice versâ on the Tuesday.
