My wife was speaking to someone at work recently who had just had a baby. She was disappointed to have delivered by caesarian section, because it meant she couldn't walk with the pram down Baxtergate collecting money, at least until the wound had healed a bit.
It seems that people, these days often old ladies, will put a coin into the hand of a newborn baby as it passes in the pram. It is meant to make sure that during its life the child shall never want for money. In Edinburgh it is known as 'silvering the baby' and often in the past a siver sixpence was used. Sometimes it was placed under the pillow or a blanket, possibly because it was less likely to be swallowed there.
Similarly a purse should never be given as a gift unless a coin is placed in it first, presumably ensuring it shall never be empty. In Scotland this is known as hanselling the purse. As long as the hansel was left in the purse, others would join it.
Also a knife should never be given without money being paid for it, traditionally the smallest coin of the realm. A promise that the knife would never be used against the giver, called by some 'blunting the knife'. Interestingly the Horngarth or Penny Hedge should rightly be made of sticks cut with a knife purchased for a penny.
Silvering the baby is still carried out in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. In England it seems to be restricted primarily to the north, although it has been reported from as far south as Surrey in the 1950s. Of course these days a 50p or £1 coin is the currency of choice. To a certain extent the connection between silver and babies has been commercialised. A quick look in a high street jeweller's will reveal silver piggy banks, silver spoons and other tacky trinkets.
At least the tradition still flourishes in Whitby. Indeed one mother came home with at least £50 from her first stroll out with the bairn. Still, mum's the word, eh?
How fascinating! We have no tradition like that here in Australia. I wish we did!!
ReplyDeleteNor here in South Africa but when I was first married in Scotland in the 60s my wife took our Daughter out in the pram and found a load of silver under the pillow,
DeleteMy family, mostly from south London and Kent and with Romani roots, still "silver the baby" to this day. e know it's been happening in our family for at least the past 100 years or so.
ReplyDeleteLovely to see this article.
Gwion
We always called it hanselling the baby. I'm in the north east of England. I think some people still do this now.
ReplyDeleteI was just talking to my husband about this, I'm Scottish and he's English. I remember it well when I was a child and
ReplyDeleteoften saw my mother put money in a newborn's pram. Does anyone remember a 'scatter' for those about to be married?
I found this article very interesting as my family is from the Appalachian mountains in the United States and this is also practiced here although usually silver dollars or half dollars were used historically. They are increasingly used as heirlooms passed on to family and friends at birth now as silver dollars and half dollars are no longer in circulation.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting. I am a MacDougall by birth & used to be a midwife. I'd never heard of these traditions here in the USA!
ReplyDeleteAlison I remember scattering money from the car for the children in the street when my aunt got married in Glasgow
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ReplyDeleteThe same tradition we have here in Liverpool.
ReplyDeleteI aas checking other traditions around the world when I saw this post.
A man gave my grandson some money in his palm today. A lovely tradition
Yes, I visited my newborn grandson recently in Sheffield, Yorkshire, and was anxious to carry out this old tradition I remembered from being a child. I pressed a shiny 50p piece into his hand and he promptly gripped it tight with both hands. A good sign that he will always be thrifty with money and never be without. My daughter then put it in his memory box for safe keeping. I hope he will keep it forever as a good luck piece, and never be in want.
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