Riddling chaff at Malton

24 April · Near Malton, Yorkshire

Lore and belief

In Yorkshire people riddled chaff at midnight in a barn with its doors thrown open, to learn whether they would die within the year. If so, two figures carrying a coffin would pass the open doors. Near Malton two men and a woman tried it on St Mark’s Eve; nothing appeared for the men, but when the woman began to riddle the coffin-bearers passed, and she died within the year.

Should the riddler be doomed to die during the year two persons will be seen passing by the open barn-doors carrying a coffin ; in the other case nothing will be visible.

From Henderson's Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties, p. 52. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

The Scarborough watcher who saw herself Lore and belief YorkshireAbout eighty years before Henderson wrote, an old woman kept the St Mark's Eve watch in the porch of St Mary's, Scarborough, to see who would die that year.
Riddling the ashes Lore and belief EnglandCottage families on St Mark's Eve sifted the ashes over the hearth-stone at night, hoping not to find in the morning the footprint of anyone who would die that year.
The dumb cake Lore and belief NorthamptonshireA correspondent near Peterborough told Hone that girls in his district still made the dumb cake on St Mark's Eve.
Joe Brown the church watcher Lore and belief YorkshireIn Yorkshire a watcher at the church door at midnight on St Mark's Eve, Old Style, was said to see the souls of all who would be buried there within the year go into the church in the order they would die, those to drown coming in splashing and struggling.
The church-porch watchers of Burton Lore and belief LincolnshireIn the north of England it was believed that anyone who watched in the church porch from eleven till one on St Mark's Eve would see the ghosts of all who would be buried there in the coming year.

Riddling chaff at Malton

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