Catherning

: CUSTOM RHYMES
: Popular Rhymes And Nursery Tales

Catharine and Clement, be here, be here,

Some of your apples, and some of your beer:

Some for Peter, and some for Paul,

And some for Him that made us all:

Clement was a good man,

For his sake give us some,

Not of the worst, but some of the best,

And God will send your soul to rest.



These lines are sung by the children of Worcestershire on St.

Catharine's day, when they go round to the farmhouses collecting apples

and beer for a festival. This is no doubt the relic of a Popish custom;

and the Dean of Worcester informs me that the Chapter have a practice of

preparing a rich bowl of wine and spices, called the "Cathern bowl," for

the inhabitants of the college precincts upon that day.



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