& GILLETT COMPANY LIM MADE IN CANADA FUSE ALL ROYAL YEAST THE BEST YEAST IN THE WORLD E.W.GILLETT CO.LTD. RONTO , ONT WINNIPEG SesssstsLLLbLLL LL ALLLLLS AUTO LIVERY MONTREAL Bibby's Garage A-1 Auto Mechanics Agents, Dodge Bros. Phones: 201, Garage; 917, Residence. Largest Sale of Any Medicine in the World. The most useful article in the kitchen --is a good Food Cutter. There are so many ways in which it helps--for making meat balls, rissoles or fish cakes--for mincing fruit and vegetables and for other purposes. You cannot buy & better machine than the-- J HOME 65" FooD CUTTER ~made in Canada by the only Oa. nadian Firm manviseturing ¥ood Cutters. four different Siting pistes (or, if prefertvd, I plates an nut grater) and close fring enp ren ders the ranch we quite watertight. MAXWELLS LISTED, 81. Meeste, Ot, (160 i I ----------_-- } emesm---- It your dealer does = handle the Maxwell line, writc to us divect. wor write direct to us (enclosing 4c, in stamps) and et our useful FOOD CHOPPER COOK BOOK, with all sorts of recipes for everyday home dishes, NO PLACE LIKE IF YOU THE DAILY BRITISH WHIG, SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1015. . : - | THE MEANING OF MAY fly Donald Cameron-- Around the month of May there cluster more ancient usages, tradi- tions, and supersititions than 1s the case with any other month or the year, except, perhaps, the month of December. When "we search into the reason of this we find it due to the fact that May is-the time of the year when the sun enters the sign of Bull It is the time, therefore, when the earth, after having been guickened by the rains of Apri, bursts forth into new fertility. So it is that almost all countries, while their calendars may not have this particular] month in correspon- dence with ours, do, nevertheless, celebrate this season in honor of the renewed fertility of nature. The coming in of May seems to most of us an unimportant thing. We have a sort of'literary tradition about May-poles ' and May-parties; and, even in our own country, the child- ren of any & locality select a queen of the May and crown her with flow ers and dance about her. This is on- but-far back in antiquity it was dif- ferently conducted, and was viewed as of great importance by every one. Thus, among the Phenicians and Egyptians, whole days in May were given up to the worship of their gods, Moloch and Baal. were the deities of the sun; and when the sun entered Taurus, Mol- och and Baal. received the ers. The rites which were perform- cent customs of modern May-day. They are spoken of in the Old Testa- ment as "the abomination - of the Ammonites." Great fires were kindled to sym- bolize the sun, and into thelr flerce flames were cast young children as acceptable sacrifices. Them the mul- titudes danced about a phallus--the origin of our May-pole. Acts of the grossest wantonness were permitted to both men and women, because of the year. It was the same in Rome where the games, known as the Floralia, were held during the first three days of May. theater and waited expectantly At moved In procession around the ar- ena. Then the trumpet blew again, and the cloaks were dropped, reveal- ing their wearers in a state of na- ture. The rest of the games were in ac- cordances with the beginning of them, and even many of the Romans themselves were shocked by the li- cense which prevailed at this festivas, whose name means simply "the reast of flowers." In the northern part of Europe early May was noted by the Druids, who kindled immense fires at night in honor of their god Bel; and even to this day in Ireland, in Scottish Highlands, and in Cornwall the cus- tom still continues, and is called in genie ""Beltine," or 'the day of Bel's re." Nothing could have been more magnificently startlin than the scenes once enacted at Carnac, in the northwestern part of what is now France. Apiid the gigantic pillars | great flames arose, lighting up the country for miles around and gleam- ing far out into the sea which lay beneath. Amid the lurid gleam of these '"bale-fires"--the name still remains iv English---the Druids and Druidessss marched and counter- marched and chanted their weird songs. It was, no doubt, from the Pheni- cians that the Northern peoples learned this and other Custis: Not long ago Dr. Walsh described a cur- ious practise of the young men in certain parts of the Highlands. In each village they gathered together ton-May-day and proceeded te an open moor. . On its green expense they cut an altar of sod, upon which th y kindl- ed a fire which they prepared a sort of custard, while they kneaded a cake of oatmeal, which was duly bak- ed In the embers. After eating the custard they divided the cake into as many portions as there were young men present. One portion was blackened with charcoal; and then all of the pieces were thrown into a receptacle, from which each youth drew one without looking. Whoever drew the blackened por tion was obliged to leap three times through the flame of the fire. This is the harmless equivalent of a more ancient custom, according to which the one who drew the black portion was seized by his companions, strip- ped naked, and then burned to death upon the altar of sed. May-poles go back farther than 'Jany one can remember. In Eng- land they were usually made of birch and covered with flowers and ribbon, while around them the young people danced. Perhaps it was the pagan origin of the May-pole which led the Puritans to condemn it so violently. During the time of Cromwell it was forbidden; but 'when King Charles Il was enthroned, there was a migh- ty May-day celebration in London, is sailors set up a May-pole which was one hundred and thirty-four of the zodiac known as Taurns, or the! ly a pretty and childish custom now; | These | frantic | homage of vast througs of worship-| ed were very different from the inno- | { lucky month. Scott's Highland super- these indicated the renewed fertility | short his London visit and hurried | post-haste to ther | wedding in the last week of April. At these games the spec- | origin, being derived from the name tators assembled in the great amphi-| the sound of a trumpet a troop of | it is said te have been the second women, cloaked from head to foot, month of the year. Then it decame | festivals. . bands of men, one band representing the forces of winter, and the other band the forces of spring. It is al- arranged that those who support win ter shall be beaten, and then an effi- gy which represents winter is buried and the ashes from the bonfires are strewed over his grave. In studying the peculiar customs of May-day it would seem as though two different superstitions haa come to clash with one another. Since May symbolizes fertility, it is strange that the month should for centuries have been viewed, as an unlucky one in which to marry. Such, however, Is the ease.' Twenty centuries ago the Roman poet Ovid wrote two lines, which may be roughly translated as | follows: : If you will believe what the proverbs say, Only bad women marry in the month + of May. When Mary Queen of Scots made her ill-omended marriage with the Earl of Bothwell, some one nailed a paper inscribed with the last line up- on the gates of Holyrood Palace. There is also an old English proverb which says: Marry in May And rue the day. And another is in prose: "He whe marries between the sickle and the scythe will never thrive." The same superstition prevails al- 80 in many parts of France, and mar- riages there are quite infrequent in this beautiful month, It is not only the ignorant who are affected by this belief It is told of Sir Walter Scott that ;once while he was staying mm Lon- { don, his daughter's marriage was ar | ranged to take place at her home in | Scotland. Sir Walter had important business in London. If he remained there to complete it, he would not be able to reach Scotland until after the first of May, so that his daught- { er would then be married in the un- ition overcame him; so that he cut Abbotsford, arriving just in time to arrange for the The name "May" is Roman In its "Maia," the mother of the god Mer- eury. In the oldest Roman calendar third month, and finally the fifth. The Anglo-Saxons called it Trimilchi, because at that time of the year tne grass was so rich and plentiful that their cows could be milkea three times each day. Altogether, May is a very Interest- ing month. Its associations recall one of the darkest cults of paganism, and at the same time one of the most innocent and beautiful of modern The quaint embodiments of super- stition and experience to be found in the mass of traditional weather lore and be a considerable portion of in- fluence to the month of May. If the ancient prognosticators, whose des- cendants no amount of riducule has served to extinguish, were right in their judgments, the month is trea- cherous and fatal when it is bright- est and most beautiful, and is only acceptable and full of good fruits when it appears cold and inhospit- able. The old English proverb, "Never cast a clout till May be out," is a doctrine expressed in many varied forms by the wise people _of each passing generation. For once tee pro- very r has accuracy on his side. She who "casts a clout" and dons lighter rainment in honor of the re- turn of the sun, will have occasion to shiver %a the coldness of the even- ing. - Yet never will calm petsuasion' have its due effect while the sun shines so brightly on.a May morning. The result is bluntly and grimly ex-! pressed in the proverb, "A hot May makes a fat churchyard." Let us be warned and be wise in time. Charm the May sun never so wise- ly, blow the zephyrs never so softly, cast not the clout till the month be out, and its treacherous smiles give place to the more genuine joys of June. Three days in it--apart from the first--are national holidays. The se- cond of May is kept by Spaniards in honor of the great uprising in 1808 against the French, who had occupi- ed' the city of Madrid. Each year, therefore, that city now celebrates it} with a gorgeous pageant, in which all the civic authorities take part. It is not unlike the American Decoration Day--which, by the way, falls upen the thirtieth of the same month--- since the mayor of Madrid, escorted by a detachment of soldiers and sail- ors, goes in procession to a great obe- lisk which commemorates the heroic Spandiards who died in battle against the French invaders. On May 19th, 1822, the Mexicans proclaimed the great military leader, Augustin de Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico,and he established the first in- dependent government in tae coun- try, after it broke away from the sovereignty of Spain. His ruse was short, since the Mexicans preferred a republic, but the date mentioned is an. important ome in the history of our neighboring republic. : . It was on May 13th that the settlement in America ) Jamestown ia 1607; and it ass 8 May 20th that the first Lotroducilya Little ad an who knows aboit the finer gdalitics a Gf jEeces « Chocolate al Watch torher! m COWAN 52853 at} in OUR FRESH GR FEE AT 40c, CAN'T BRAT. 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