ABSTRACT
Jeaffreson’s ‘history’ is in these terms an interesting example of the myth-making of its period. Like others then, before, and even since (Baker 1977:111), he was led by a sense that, to be properly grounded, contemporary practice must have a lineage going back to ancient Rome. This was to make a link with the region of history so special for the identity of European societies as they developed out of the middle ages as to be labelled ‘classical’. At times and amongst people aware of their own imperial status, such links were at a premium. Classical practice, like the Latin language, despite all its historical diversity, could seem a bedrock on which the present had to be founded. The story Jeaffreson told began, therefore, with an ancient Roman marriage practice involving the breaking of a ‘cake’ over the bride’s head. It jumped to evidence from the England of a thousand and more years later, for the pouring or
throwing of grain, and from this to supposed survivals around Britain as late as his own century of the breaking of biscuit, ‘cake’ or ‘bread’ over the bride.
