Category Archives: Archival Moments

An invitation: The tradition of the New Year’s Levee

Archival Moment

JANUARY 1, 1915

On January 1, 1915 Governor Walter Edward Davidson of Newfoundland made reference in his private diary to the tradition of the New Year’s Day Levee in St. John’s. He wrote

“We received from 3:00 – 6:00 o’clock. It has been an ancient custom for men to call on their lady friends on New Year’s Day. It is dying out but 236 called here. It is usual for them to call also on the Roman Catholic Archbishop and the Anglican Bishop .”

The “ancient custom for men to call on their lady friends on New Year’s Day” that Davidson referred to in his diary has disappeared in Newfoundland but the tradition of the levee has survived.

This levee was a reception that was held early in the afternoon of New Years Day, typically at the residence of the host. Attending these levees was an annual ritual in the town.

The first recorded Levée in Canada was held on January 1st, 1646 in the Château St. Louis by Charles Huault de Montmagny, Governor of New France (later Québec). In addition to shaking hands and wishing a Happy New Year to citizens presenting themselves at the Château, the Governor informed guests of significant events in the Mother Country, as well as the state of affairs within the colony. This tradition is carried on today within The Commonwealth in the form of The Queen’s New Year’s Message.

The Levée tradition was continued by British Colonial Governors in Canada, and subsequently by Governors General and Lieutenant Governors, and continues to the present day.

INVITATION: Her Honour The Honourable Judy M. Foote, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador and His Honour Howard W. Foote, invite you to join them at Government House for the traditional New Year’s Levee. Tuesday, January 1, 2019 from 2:30 to 4:30 pm.

Archival Collection: At the Rooms Provincial Archives take some time to read Governor Walter Davidson’s Private Diary. MG 136.5

The Last Duel in Newfoundland and Labrador

Dueling pistols held in the collection at The Rooms they were used in the last duel to cause a death in Newfoundland, in 1826.

The last duel in St. John’s took place 25 September 1873. The choice of weapons was pistols. A young fellow named Din Dooley had come to town from Heart’s Content and was soon attempting to win the heart of a prominent city lass (Miss White) who was already spoken for by one Augustus Healey.

The matter could only be settled by a duel.

Satisfaction was to be obtained in Fort Townsend hollow, a small glen located behind what is now the site of The Rooms on Merrymeeting Road, St. John’s.

At the exchange of the shots Dooley fainted while Healy stood firm. Unknown to the love sick protagonist, their seconds, Fred Burnham and Thomas Allan, had loaded the pistols with blanks, turning the tragedy into farce. Their friends (seconds) were sitting back and saying, ‘This is really crazy. They’ve been friends their whole lifetime; why are they allowing this woman to come between them?

After Din came to the combatants, as well as their seconds, and the crowd went to Casey’s field close by where they settled the score with fisticuffs. Not surprisingly Healey won the fight.

Though Healey won the fisticuffs, neither swain won fair lady. It is reported that she married a man far less belligerent, and certainly less romantic.

In true Newfoundland fashion a song was written about the duel.

On Friday last at half past two,
Two love-stricken chaps,
Up in Fort Townshend Hollow met
For satisfaction’s raps.

One of them, Gus Healey was,
The other Dooley Din,
Come over here from Heart’s Content,
Miss White’s green heart to win.

Sergt Sullivan the gallant cop,
Brought six Policemen out,
And turned the pistolizing crowd
Around to the right about.

With pistols hugged beneath their arms,
They went to Casey’s Farm,
Where Dooley Din got well oiled-off,
Behind John Casey’s barn.

More information on this duel is posted here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/canadas-last-duel-was-in-newfoundland-1.4959608

Source: The Oldest City, The Story of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Paul O’Neill, Press Porcepic, 1975.

Gun salute rings in the New Year

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

The “firing off the guns” on New Year’s Eve is a long established tradition in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The “feu de joie” or “fire of joy” is a gun salute that was common place in Newfoundland in the past, an activity that is associated with bringing in the New Year.

The tradition continues in many communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, at the stroke of mid night gun shots are fired as residents bring in the New Year.

In an article entitled “The Folk-Lore of Newfoundland and Labrador,” appearing in the St. John’s newspaper “The Evening Herald,” (December 29, 1892), the Anglican Missionary priest, Rev. Arthur C. Waghorne discusses Christmas traditions that are observed in Newfoundland which “either continue to prevail, or have been only lately disused.” One of the traditions that he refers to is the “firing off the gun.”

In his article he notes that the tradition of the “firing off the gun” is not as popular as it was fifty years ago confirming that the tradition has been established in Newfoundland since at least 1842 and perhaps much longer.

One could speculate that the tradition might have been established in Newfoundland as early as 1621 with the arrival of Lord Baltimore’s first settlers in Ferryland. We do know that the practice in North America dates to at least 1642 when a law in Maryland (also established by Lord Baltimore) was passed ordering that:

“No man to discharge 3 guns within the space of ¼ hour… except to give or answer alarm.”

The law was introduced in Maryland because gunshots were the common method of warning neighbors of an emergergency (fire) or a pending attack. Because so many people were shooting guns while celebrating on New Years Eve and other celebratory occasions, it was impossible to know what was happening.

It is a tradition that is gradually fading – with the “shooting in the New Year” being gradually replaced by fire works that have the advantage of supplying both the noise and visual effect.

It is generally accepted that the practice of shooting off the guns on New Years Eve comes from the belief that evil spirits dislike loud noises. The guns were fired off to ward off any bad luck that the spirits might bring.”

New Year’s Eve Countdown & Fireworks : When the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, the people of Newfoundland are the first in North America to celebrate the New Year.

Pet owners are reminded that the noise associated with ‘gun fire’ and ‘fireworks’ will likely be a frightening experience for your pet – please attend to your pets, most pets would prefer to be inside during the fireworks display.

Recommended Reading: Devine, P.K. Devine’s Folk Lore of Newfoundland in Old Words, Phrases and Expressions, Their Origin and Meaning (St John’s: Robinson & Co., Ltd., 1937)

“They had veils over their faces … mummers”

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

December 27, 1862

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives: B 4-158; Mummering in St. John’s, Newfoundland

In Newfoundland the tradition of mummering or jannying (December 26 – January 6) is often associated with the mummer’s parade, home visitation, music and the occasional drink! The tradition has a darker side.

Few people know that in order to mummer in Newfoundland participants at one time needed a license to do so and that for almost 100 years mummering was outlawed!!

In the tradition of mummering, friends and neighbours conceal their identities by adopting various disguises, covering their faces, and by modifying their speech, posture and behavior.

It was not surprising that some, using these disguises, would be up to no good. Some in disguise would use the mummering season to retaliate against those that they disliked or had some grudge to settle.

In order to control mummering and the violence associated with it in June 1861, the Newfoundland government passed an act which dictated that:

“any Person who shall be found… without a written Licence from a Magistrate, dressed as a Mummer, masked, or otherwise disguised, shall be deemed guilty of a Public Nuisance”. Offenders were to pay “a Fine not exceeding Twenty Shillings”, or to serve a maximum of seven days’ imprisonment (Consolidated Acts of Newfoundland, 1861: 10).

Artist: Stephanie Baker Sutton

On December 27, 1862 in the Town of Harbour Grace, Constable Joseph Nichols arrested and dragged before the local magistrate, Joseph Pynn and a few of his friends, Constable Nichols told the court:

“they had veils over their faces and was disguised in female clothing and the other in men’s dress, they were acting in all respects as mummers.”

The magistrate was not amused, Jospeh Pynn was “fined each 20 pounds sterling or 7 days imprisonment.” Pynn and his friends were not about to spend Christmas in jail – the court record shows that “Stephen Andrews paid the fine and all discharged.”

The idea of a license to mummer did not go over very well. Mummering was a passion ingrained in the culture of the Newfoundland people. The St. John’s newspaper the Public Ledger in January 1862 suggested that 150 licenses had been issued during the preceding Christmas season, but that many more participants in the custom had failed to comply with the new legislation.

Recommended Archival Collection: The Rooms Provincial Archives: GN5 /3B/19 Box13, File Number 3

Recommended Reading: Any Mummers ’Lowed In? Christmas Mummering Traditions in Newfoundland and Labrador. Flanker Press, St. John’s, NL. 2014. Folklorist Dale Jarvis traces the history of the custom in Newfoundland and Labrador and charts the mummer’s path through periods of decline and revival. Using archival records, historic photographs, oral histories, and personal interviews with those who have kept the tradition alive, he tells the story of the jannies themselves.

The Rooms is dressed for Christmas – come take a look at our Christmas trees! We have a special “mummers tree”.

The Harbour Grace Affray

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

December 26, 1883

The Harbour Grace Affray

Unknown artist: Scene of the Harbor Grace Tragedy, St. Stephen’s Day, December 26th, 1883. Lithograph, Printed and published by H. Seibert and Brothers Lithographers, New York R9266-3300

St. Stephen’s Day (known nowadays as Boxing Day) is a significant date on the Newfoundland calendar. It was on St. Stephen’s Day in 1883 on which the Harbour Grace Affray took place.

On St. Stephen’s Day, 1883, the hostility that was forming in the town of Harbour Grace between the Protestants and Roman Catholics came to a boiling point. Approximately 400 – 500 members of the Loyal Orange Association held their annual parade through the town.

It was during their march around the town that a group of 100 to 150 Catholic men from Riverhead formed a line in an attempt to prevent the Protestants from passing through the lane from Harvey Street to Water Street because they felt that the Orangemen were encroaching on their territory.

From this confrontation came five deaths and 17 injuries. Resulting from this event, known as the Harbour Grace Affray, nineteen people were arrested and brought to trial.

Due to conflicting evidence and suspected perjury, all charged individuals were acquitted.

Killed in the Affray:

William Jeans, aged 21, Carbonear
William French, 40 years, Courage’s Beach, Harbour Grace
Patrick Callahan, 56 years, Southside Harbour Grace
John Bray, an aged man, Courage’s beach, Harbour Grace
Thomas Nicholas, Oterbury, Harbour Grace

Recommended Archival Collection: The Rooms Provincial Archives: GN 170 Newfoundland and Labrador Court Records: Files consist of charges relating to the Harbour Grace Affray.

Recommended Reading: The Harbour Grace Affray: St Stephen’s Day 1883 by Patrick Collins, DRC Publishing, St. John’s, NL, 2011.

“Good old days of yore”

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

“Good old days of yore”

December 1912

Mr. Alex A. Parsons, (1848-1932) in the St. John’s publication Christmas Bells, 1912 took some time to reflect on Christmas “in the good old days of yore.” He wrote:

“It seems to me that people of the present day (1912) do not enter into the spirit of the season as did our ancestors in the “good old days of yore”. I distinctly remember when the approach of “Yuletide” – as we now call it – was hailed with the greatest enthusiasm by all ages and conditions of men, regardless of their surroundings and circumstances.

Mummering was then our most popular amusement at Christmastide. This usually began on the afternoon of the Feast of St. Stephen (December 26) , and continued every evening and night till the end of the Old Twelfth Day. Then, an extraordinary display of fancy and unique dresses by the merry masqueraders, accompanied by brass bands, a big “haul of wood” and other demonstrations of a kindred nature;

J.W. Hayward, 1904

brought this great festival to a close. Surely there are citizens here in St. John’s today who can readily call to mind that exciting scene when mummers paraded along that thoroughfare from one end of Water Street to the other.

But, within the past few years, these kinds of festivities once appropriate to the day have much fallen off.

The heart-histories of most people are bound up with the happy memories of Christmas Day. Christmas in the Home! Think of it, citizens of Newfoundland! Think of the Christmas days when you were young: the pleasant home-coming after school, the skating in the frosting morning, sometimes on the harbor, sometimes on Quidi Vidi Lake, sometimes on Burtons Pond, the children’s parties, the memorable Christmas tree, the presents from and to everybody, the round of dances – what man or woman ever forgets those merry, merry days of Christmas?”

Mr. Alex A. Parsons, (1848-1932) was editor of the Evening Telegram (1882-1904); and Superintendent of H.M. Penitentiary (1905 – 1925).

Wishing you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. All the very best with the challenges and opportunities that will come in the New Year.

Recommended: The Rooms is dressed for Christmas, come over for a visit over the holidays! Looking for a Christmas Gift: https://www.therooms.ca/membership

Tippling on Tibb’s Eve

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

December 23 – Tibb’s Eve

An ale at the local tipple.

In many communities in Newfoundland– the name assigned to December 23 – has traditionally been Tibb’s Eve also known as Tipp’s Eve and more recently Tipsy Eve. It is the first official day of the Christmas Season.

There is uncertainty about the origins of the expression. Folklorists in Newfoundland generally agree that Tibb’s Eve was originally the old-fashioned way to say ‘never’, as in ‘a day that doesn’t exist’. In Newfoundland the expression was “it will be Tibb’s Eve before you get that done.” or “we’ll be at this from now to Tibb’s Eve”.

It might be argued that the expression is Irish. In 1796 Francis Grose, in his book ‘Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,’ third ed. writes that Saint Tibb’s evening

” is an Irish expression, and means ” the evening of the last day, ” as in ” He will pay you on St. Tibb’s Eve.”

There’s an interview in the Folklore and Language Archives at Memorial University of Newfoundland with a man from a community in Placentia Bay, born in the early 1900s, who asks the student who’s interviewing him when she plans to get married.

“She answers, ‘Oh, probably never’ he winks his eye and says, ‘Oh, on Tibb’s Eve,’ and on the tape she has no idea what he’s talking about. For him, a joking way, but a normal way of something that’s not going to happen.

CONTEMPORARY EXPLANATION

The more contemporary explanation of St. Tibb’s comes from the association of the day with a Christmas tipple. In the 1500’s if you were to go out for a drink you went to a “tipple” or alehouse and were served by a “tippler” the alehouse keeper. In Newfoundland – St. Tibb’s became – the first real occasion to taste the home brew, a day where the men would visit each other’s homes for a taste.

In 1868 the Catholic bishop of Newfoundland was so appalled that the extent of “habit of tippling” or buying drinks for friends – that he became a determined opponent. In the early 1900’s one of his successors established the Anti Treating League encouraging men to pledge themselves “not to take from anyone a drink of intoxicating liquor in a place where such liquors are sold.”

The League was not a great success.

Merry Christmas

If you are tippling on Tibb’s Eve – No Driving !!

“The Dancing Season in St. John’s”

Archival Moment

November 28, 1894

In late November of 1894 a young clerical student challenged the Editor of the local St. John’s newspaper the Evening Telegram to encourage a debate about the merits of dancing. The young clerical student wrote:

“I want to know whether it is right or wrong, and perhaps if a discussion on the subject were opened up, one would be better able to judge.”

A number of subscribers to the Evening Telegram took on the challenge and penned letters making their positions known and they had very definite opinions.

Elizabeth A. Nyle from her home on Freshwater Road, St. John’s was the first to enter the fray stating quiet categorically that she was quite opposed to dancing. She wrote:

“It (dancing) involves extravagance of dress, and too often a shocking indelicacy of dress likewise. It involves contacts and caresses of young men and women which stimulate sensual passions. It kindles salacious thoughts. An evening spent in that way is not a recreation, it is a “revealing,” and ministers to vanity, frivolity, jealously and fleshy lusts , which war against the soul.”

Other letters to the Editor supported the notion of dancing. One woman writing under the pen name Minerva (the Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts) wrote:

“I should certainly say that there can be no possible harm in this innocent pastime, as dancing is one of the most pleasant ways of taking exercise. It suits all classes, old and young, the old folks almost becoming young again under its vigorous influence. … It certainly is the great key to social intercourse, unbending even the most rigid in their endeavor to keep up with the music.”

If you were to go out dancing in St. John’s in the 1890’s the two most popular dances were the ‘Valse” and the “Minuet.”

The “Valse” was a relatively new dance in St. John’s and in 1894 considered “the dance”, but it seems “very few people knew how to dance it well.” Today we know the “Valse” as the Waltz . When first introduced into the ballrooms of the world in the early years of the Nineteenth Century, it was met with outraged indignation, for it was the first dance where the couple danced in a modified Closed Position – with the man’s hand around the waist of the lady.

The “Minuet” was also very popular at the time it was described as “being very graceful and when seen from a distance looks very imposing.”

In November 1894 all of the “Assembly Halls” in St. John’s were actively advertising for the “dancing season.” The West End Amusement Club was offering “dancing assembly’ every Wednesday night. The British Hall offered “dancing assembly” every Thursday night.

In St. John’s, “Christmas dancing was the chief amusement ; in fact it is the “dancing season” when old and young alike join in the sport, making old Father Xmas glad he came once more.”

It is likely that Mrs. Elizabeth A. Nyle was not amused.

My dance card is full.

A dance card is a card that was provided at large balls and dances with a list of the dances for the evening with a space beside it. The ladies would each have a card, sometimes with a small attached pencil, and when a gentleman asked her to dance, he would write his name in for a particular agreed upon dance. This was to help the lady remember who she agreed to dance with and to avoid the embarrassing situation of promising to dance the same dance with two different men.

Credit: The Rooms; St. John’s, NL
Title: Dance Card for event at Government House, 1939 MG 373.5

The stove destroyed a Newfoundland Christmas Tradition

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

Christmas Tradition

Lewis Amadeus Anspach the author of History of the island of Newfoundland, (London, 1819) the first general history of Newfoundland, observed in his book, a Christmas tradition that he found quite fascinating. The ancient British custom of the Yule or Christmas log or block that he states “is universally observed by the inhabitants of Newfoundland.”

Anspach observed:

“On Christmas-eve, at sun-set, an immense block …(junk of birch wood) is laid across on the back of the fireplace, to be left there till it is entirely consumed: the ceremony of lighting it is announced by the firing of muskets or seal guns before the door of each dwelling house. This, among them, is the prelude to a season of joy and merriment.”

In her 1934 diary account of the tradition Mrs. E. J. Froude of Random Sound reflecting on the tradition of the Yule Log as it was practiced in 1870 wrote:

“The Yule, commonly called the birch junk, was selected to last for the twelve days [of Christmas]. It was after a long search found in the woods where the biggest firs and birches grew and hauled home in such a spirit of triumph. It was then cut in three feet or thereabouts to fit the space on the hearth at the base of the chimney,…”

The tradition continued in many communities – in some places – with variations on the original custom. In some communities a brand of the back-junk or birch junk or Yule log was taken from the fire on Christmas night, taken outdoors and thrown over the saddle of the roof to ensure safety of the home from fire in the coming year.

What happened to the tradition? At another point in her diary Mrs. Froude cites the technological innovation which caused the decline of this custom. She wrote:

“ sixty-four years ago [1870] the first stove began to come into use in the outport. Before this it was all open fireplaces and grates. These times much wood was required for the open fireplaces. The stove was at first regarded with disfavour… The Victory and the Waterloo looked nice when polished but they did not show the fire.”

The new tradition that was born from the dying of the Yule Log tradition was the birth of the Yule log cake, the dessert is usually in the form of a large rectangular yellow cake spread with frosting and rolled up into a cylinder – one end is then lopped off and stood on end to indicate the rings of the “log.”

So when you’re enjoying your Yule Log cake over Christmas holidays think of the old tradition that was lost by the introduction of the stove.

Recommended Archival Collection: Random Sound Daybook, Maritime History Archive, Memorial University of Newfoundland,St. John’s, MF0046

Lost Word: “Back Junk”: A short log to fit a wood-burning stove or fire-place, often with back, fore or middle as qualifying word . The wood was sometimes quite green, and hence making a fire was quite an art, and required back-junks, fore-junks, middle-junks, triggers, splits, and brands; and the fishermen would sometimes say whoever can build a good fire with green fir can build a boat. 1893 Christmas Greeting. (Dictionary of Newfoundland English)

The First Transatlantic Radio Message

ARCHIVAL MOMENT

December 12, 1901

Photo Credit: The Rooms Provincial Archives: A 66-145; Guglielmo Marconi, with instruments used to receive first transatlantic message,St. John’s. Photographer James Vey, St. John’s.

On December 12, 1901, at Signal Hill, St. John’s, Italian scientist and engineer Guglielmo Marconi sent and received the first transatlantic radio message.

The test signal was sent by electrical engineer John Ambrose Fleming in Poldhu, Cornwall, 3,200 km away across the Atlantic Ocean. It came in through a 121 metre long copper wire antenna trailing from a box kite and out through a radio speaker.

Marconi had set up temporary masts, but high winds had blown them down. The kite contraption worked. Marconi heard the first signal as the faint clicking of Morse code – of the letter ‘S’ –three short clicks– repeated over and over, and he passed the ear piece to his assistant, G. S. Kemp for corroboration.

Marconi first started experimenting with radiotelegraphy around 1895 and he realized that messages could be transmitted over much greater distances by using grounded antennae on the radio transmitter and receiver.

A few years after his successful transmission with Fleming, Marconi opened the first commercial wireless telegraph service.

Recommended Archival Collection: At the Rooms Archives Division see F.37-’37 one of the archival documents is the Proposal of the Canadian Marconi Company to establish a wireless telephone service between St. John’s and Canada, the United States and Great Britain

Recommended Reading: Marconi, by Giancarlo Masini, Marsilio Publishers: 1999.

Recommended Website: http://www.marconicalling.co.uk/ Marconi Calling is a fascinating exploration of Guglielmo Marconi’s life, his scientific discoveries, the impact of wireless and the development of modern communications