March 1.] Simnel Sunday
March 1.]
SIMNEL SUNDAY.
Simnel Sunday is better known as Mid-Lent or Mothering Sunday, and was so called because large cakes called Simnels were made on this day.
Bailey in his Dictionary (fol. 1764, by Scott,) says, Simnel is probably derived from the Latin Simila, fine flour, and means a sort of cake, or bun, made of fine flour, spice, &c.
Frequent mention is made of the Simnel in the household allowances of Henry the First.
“Cancellarius v solidos in die et i Siminellum dominicum, et ii salum, et i sextarium de vino claro, et i sext. de vino expensabili, et unum grossum cereum, et xl frusta Candell.”—Libr. Nigr. Scaccarii, p. 341.
The “Siminellum Dominicum,” Hearne thinks, was a better kind of bread20 and that “Siminellum Salum,” from sal, cibus, victus, was the ordinary bread; if it be not the Latin Salis (Siminellum Salinum), in which case it denotes that more salt is contained in it than in the other. If the derivation from Simnel be not satisfactory, perhaps the Anglo-Saxon symbel, a feast or banquet, whence simbel, dæg, a festival day, may suffice.—Med. Ævi Kalend. vol. i. p. 177.
At Bury, in Lancashire, from time beyond memory, thousands of persons come from all parts, and eat “simnels” on Simnel Sunday. Formerly, nearly every shop was open, quite in defiance of the law respecting the closing during “service,” but of late, through the improved state of public opinion, the disorderly scenes to which the custom gave rise have been partially amended. Efforts have been repeatedly made to put a stop to the practice altogether, but in vain. The clergy, headed by the rector, and the ministers of all denominations (save the Romanists) have drawn up protests and printed appeals against this desecration, but, as just stated, with scarcely any visible effect.
It is not a little singular that the practice of assembling in one town, upon one day—the middle Sunday in Lent, to eat simnel cake, is a practice confined to Bury. Much labour has been expended to trace the origin of this custom, but without success.—Gent. Mag. (New Series) 1866, vol. i. p. 535; Baines, History of Lancashire, 1836, vol. ii. p. 776.
Herrick in his Hesperides has the following:
“TO DIANEME.
“A CEREMONIE IN GLOCESTER.
“I’ll to thee a Simnell bring,
’Gainst thou go’st a mothering;
So that, when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou’lt give me.”
1, p. 2787.
Again, the bread called “simnel bread” is mentioned by Jehoshaphat Aspin, in his Pictures of Manners, &c., of England, p. 126, who quotes from a statute of 51st of Henry III.:—A farthing symnel (a sort of small cake, twice baked, and also called a cracknel) should weigh two ounces less than the wastel (a kind of cake made with honey, or with meal and oil).
Curious are some of the tales which have arisen to explain the meaning of the name simnel. Some pretend that the father of Lambert Simnel, the well-known pretender in the reign of Henry VII., was a baker, and the first maker of simnels, and that, in consequence of the celebrity he gained by the acts of his son, his cakes have retained his name. There is a story current in Shropshire, which is more picturesque. Long ago there lived an honest old couple, boasting the names of Simon and Nelly, but their surnames are not known. It was their custom at Easter to gather their children about them, and thus meet together once a year under the old homestead. The fasting season of Lent was just ending, but they had still left some of the unleavened dough which had been from time to time converted into bread during the forty days. Nelly was a careful woman, and it grieved her to waste anything, so she suggested that they should use the remains of the lenten dough, for the basis of a cake to regale the assembled family. Simon readily agreed to the proposal, and further reminded his partner that there were still some remains of their Christmas plum-pudding hoarded up in the cupboard, and that this might form the interior, and be an agreeable surprise to the young people when they had made their way through the less tasty crust. So far all things went on harmoniously; but when the cake was made, a subject of violent discord arose, Sim insisting that it should be boiled, while Nell no less obstinately contended that it should be baked. The dispute ran from words to blows, for Nell not choosing to let her province in the household be thus interfered with, jumped up, and threw the stool she was sitting on at Sim, who, on his part, seized a besom, and applied it with right good will to the head and shoulders of his spouse. She now seized the broom, and the battle became so warm, that it might have had a very serious result, had not Nell proposed as a compromise that the cake should be boiled first and afterwards baked. This Sim acceded to, for he had no wish for further acquaintance with the heavy end of the broom. Accordingly, the big pot was set on the fire, and the stool broken up and thrown on to boil it, whilst the besom and broom furnished fuel for the oven. Some eggs, which had been broken in the scuffle, were used to coat the outside of the pudding when boiled, which gave it the shining gloss it possesses as a cake. This new and remarkable production in the art of confectionery became known by the name of the cake of Simon and Nelly, but soon only the first half of each name was alone preserved and joined together, and it has ever since been known as the cake of Sim-Nel or Simnel.—Book of Days, vol. i. p. 337.
Notes
20 Alderman Wilkinson of Burnley, a well known able Lancashire antiquary, some time since stated that it “originally meant the very finest bread. Pain demain is another term for it, on account of its having been used as Sunday bread.”
In Wright’s Vocabularies it appears thus:—‘Hic artæcopus, a symnylle.’ This form was in use during the fifteenth century.
In the Dictionarius of John de Garlande, compiled at Paris in the thirteenth century, it appears thus:—“Simeneus = placentæ = simnels.” Such cakes were signed with the figure of Christ, or of the Virgin.