St Johns Ravenscourt School - Eagle Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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at a time into the image until the figure was completely riddled. Susan built up the fire and seized the figure with the fire tongs. Holding the figure in the fire she repeated the Lord’s Prayer three times in reverse. For each pin driven into the figure Eustacia was to experience a corre- sponding pain in her body. As it happened, Eustacia died, but in a different way for she was drowned in Shadwater Weir. There are several other small but important superstitions and customs which appear in the book. First, there is the belief that charred bones found in the barrow would cause trouble. As Christian Cantle put it, Dead folks have been known to come and claim their own.” However, this did not worry Mrs. Geolright. Many remedies have been produced for the cure of snake bite in the past. When Mrs. Geolright is found to be suffering from an adder’s bite, several of the men bring four adders to fry and remove the oil from their bodies. The oil is then applied to the bite, and the poison is supposed to be removed. Hardy also mentions that if an adder has been struck a fatal blow it will not die until sundown. In early spring May Day is celebrated at Egdon Heath. It is a day of great merry-making for the children, and dancing for the older folk and often a queen is crowned with a garland. A pole is decorated with flowers from the heath, and then placed in the ground. This simple form of decoration illustrates the simplicity and closeness to nature that these people exist in and to a certain extent explains why they are superstitious. A. Ferguson. t — -;i 1 111111 mm iimmiii mu i; 111 11 inn n 111 mini mmiiii ii iiiii ii nun I ' lmminm 111111 itmm iiiiii mi iiiimmmiii mu nm ii.iiimiiiiimmiiimiiimmiiimimmiimmmmmmm in iimm .] TRACK AND FIELD RECORDS | ★ 1 Senior Javelin ... Bill Mollard . 137 ' 4” 1 Intermediate Javelin ..Dave Bailey ... 125 ' 6 1 Senior Discus....... ...Bill Mollard . 102 ' 3” Intermediate Discus ...Dennis Lamb .. 83 ' 1 1 Senior Shot Put... ...Craig Bell ..... 38 ' S l 2 ! 1 Junior Ball Throw.. ...George Mitchell . 254 ' 1 i Primary Ball Throw ...David Drybrough . 236 ' 1 | Senior Hop, Step and Jump. ...Ian Doig ... iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin V tji 00 CO 1 ......iiiuiiiiiMiimiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiin v -. — , Forty-six EAGLE

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SUPERSTITION IN “THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE” . Egdon Heath loomed like a huge monster out of the evening twilight, fw £ cour ltless years. The heath was a wild, desolate expanse ot land that had remained isolated from the progress of the modern world, this also may be said about the people who lived there. They are simple ha : rd w°rkmg citizens. Their work is usually in the heath, cutting , or in Egdon, tending the gardens. This close relationship of the past and present generations to nature has bred many superstitions and pnSnm S that h ' ve been handed down through the years. Some of these customs came from pagan religious rituals, while others were formed P ar ficular happening of the past. Thus it was only natural that these people dwell on the supernatural a great deal. The fiist irrational abject attitude of mind to the sunernatural appears in the first book, “Three Women”. Christian Cantle had bin bom on a day when no moon shone. A friend of his mother’s had an almanac which stated, “No moon, no man,” and that was the fear when fj.fi 11 ™ born. All the people of the Heath believed this except those who had some form of educational training. Christmas was celebrated at Egdon as in many other places. Houses were decorated and holly was brought in from the heath A number of the younger men each year gathered and revived the morning scenes n ? n ? -° f th n aC w S P articularl y enjoyed it. The play itself Consisted aLfir skirmishes between the Turkish Knight and the Valiant Soldier th« Aft . er , t] ?e Players had performed the host usually invited the group to sup and drink. a “9 n E f don Heath Sunday proper did not begin till dinner time and even then it was a somewhat battered specimen of a day.” Early Sunday mornings the men of Egdon gathered at Fairway’s house for the local haircutting session. Each victim perched on top of a ' box, while Fairway endeavoured to shear the hair with little regard for what he was doing. PSt was not uncommon to find small nicks behind the ear after such a visit, and to flinch m pain or exclaim in any way was considered bad manners as Fairway made no charge. This was carried on throughout ar-Ln f ip ™ to ° wi A ndy Fairway’s friends found shelter around the corner of the house. After leaving Fairway’s they all nro ceeded to the Sunday wash, which was followed by the dressing hour Then they all went to dinner. g Throughout “The Return of the Native” Eustacia is often referred to as a witch or as having some supernatural power to cast spells on people Susan Nunsuch, a very superstitious woman who was convinced ot Eustacia s evil powers, vowed to prove her point correct. On Sunday morning after waiting a number of weeks she found her chance The parson had made a call for prayers, when a piercing scream was heard Susan has stabbed Eustacia with a stocking-pin. “If Eustacia were to bleed an end would come to the bewitching of Susan’s children.” Susan is still not satisfied that Eustacia’s charm is broken. So she piepares a small wax image of a human. She places clothes on it a red r if ? b ? a aad a P a r of sandals. When it was finished any of the Egdon inhabitants would have recognized it as Eustacia. She then proceeded to remove a quantity of pins from her sewing basket and thrust them one EAGLE Forty-five

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FORMS FIVE AND SIX EAGLE Forty-seven