Blessing the Geese

The ceremony of blessing the geese is described by a lady who was staying about two miles from Epping some twenty-five years ago (Folk-lore, 1903):

"One morning while standing at my window I saw a flock of goslings come out of a lane, driven by an old woman who was dressed in the style of the pictures of Old Mother Goose. She drove them to a piece of grass at the side of the road, and walked up and down in front of them, spreading her arms over them and bowing first one way and then the other, at the same time saying some words which I could not catch, but they evidently formed some kind of incantation. I asked my maid (a country girl) if she knew what the old woman was doing. 'Oh yes' (said she), 'that is old Mother Jenkins. Otherwise they would never prosper.'

The girl assured me all the breeders of geese patronised this old woman, who was paid a fee for her services, and that she made the principal part of her living in this way. 'Now '(said the girl)' they will grow strong and flourish.' I ought to add that the old woman held a kind of wand in her hand, which she waved over the geese whilst muttering her incantation."

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