{{Short description|Birth folklore from the north of England}} {{Refimprove|date=September 2014}} The term '''chime hours''' originated in the north of England and refers to one of several myths related to the time of one’s birth. It was popularized by folklorist Ruth Tongue, who also coined the term "chime child[ren]".<ref name= tongue(chime)/> The idea behind this piece of folklore is that individuals born during certain hours of the day or night gain special powers; although what these times are seems to vary depending on the individual source or location. These powers also seem to range dramatically from source to source, with talk of everything from being extraordinarily perceptive towards animals<ref name= brown/><ref name= tongue(chime)/> to being able to see ghosts.<ref name= simpson+roud/><ref name= spence/><ref name= hadow+anderson/> It is claimed that these powers at one time led to accusations of witchcraft.<ref name= tongue(chime)/> It is also said that if chime children or other similarly gifted individuals use their powers for selfish ends, rather than for the benefit of others, they are to perish "miserably and spiritually".<ref name= tongue(chime)/> Similar myths have been said to exist in other parts of the world, including Ireland, Scotland, Denmark,<ref name= spence/> and China.<ref name= daniels+stevans/>
==Prominent debates== ===Chime hours=== There is much contention over which hours constitute the chime hours. Some argue that midnight is the only true chime hour, as referenced by Charles Dickens in the first chapter of ''David Copperfield''.<ref name= dickens/><ref name= simpson+roud/> This is generally agreed by myths from Somerset and Yorkshire.<ref name= spence/>
According to those in Somerset and East Anglia, the chime hours often corresponded with the chiming of church bells marking the hours of monastic prayer at 8 p.m., midnight and 4 a.m.<ref name= simpson+roud/> In an article in the journal ''Folklore'' published by The Folklore Society, Grace Hadow and Ruth Anderson suggest the addition of midday to these hours, referring to the chime hours as eight, midnight, four, and midday.<ref name= hadow+anderson/> Those in Sussex cite the chime hours as 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock,<ref name= dyer/><ref name= simpson+roud/> while Ruth Tongue claims these "potent ghostly hours" to be from Friday at midnight to cockcrow on Saturday morning.<ref name= tongue(chime)/>
===Powers or abilities granted=== There are a wide array of abilities said to be granted to those born within the chime hours. For example, some claim that these include the power to see ghosts or spirits<ref name= simpson+roud/><ref name= spence/><ref name= hadow+anderson/> and to speak to these ghosts and fairies without risk of coming to any harm.<ref name= tongue(odds)/> Others claim these powers include power over black witchcraft,<ref name= tongue(odds)/> being musically gifted,<ref name= brown/> control over animals,<ref name= brown/> and being able to cure ailing animals and plants.<ref name= tongue(odds)/> Additionally, "chime children" are believed to have exclusive access to sensitive information due to others lowering their guards and speaking openly around these individuals.<ref name= tongue(odds)/> As Thomas Thistleton-Dyer words it, these individuals have access to "much that is hidden from others".<ref name= dyer/>
Ruth Tongue attempted to compile an official{{clarify|date=November 2023}} list of the powers of herself and her fellow “chime children”: such as the powers to *"see the dead and the fairies, and speak with them but come to no harm – such encounters must never be sought" *"have immunity from all ill-wishing, as many of the clergy have" *"love and control all animals – so chime children often become herdsmen or veterinary surgeons"; and *"have a knowledge of herbs and a way of healing others".<ref name= tongue(chime)/>
==Ruth Tongue== It was Ruth Tongue (1898–1981) who coined the term "chime child" and drew further attention to the myth of the chime hours by claiming to be one of these "chime children" herself.<ref name= brown/> She stated that her powers as a so called "chime person", was her ability to get towns people to be open with her and tell their stories<ref name="Beachcombing">{{cite web |last1=Combing |first1=Beach |title=Chime Hours and Chime Children |url=https://www.strangehistory.net/2015/01/03/23156/ |website=Beachcombing's Bizarre History Blog |publisher=Beachcombing |access-date=May 10, 2026}}</ref>. Although, this was not her only claim to fame, as she made a successful living as a folklorist in general. Tongue documented her experiences as a "chime child" in several publications including ''Somerset Folklore'' (1965) and ''The Chime Child, or Somerset Singers'' (1968), in which she recalls this rhyme about “chime children” that she recalled having recited to her by a local sexton’s wife as a child:
<blockquote>"They that be born of a Friday’s chime<br>Be masters of musick and finders of rhyme,<br>And every beast will do what they say,<br>And every herb that do grow in the clay,<br>They do see what they see and hear what they hear,<br>But they never do tell in a hundred year".<ref name= tongue(chime)/></p></blockquote>
While some regard her words and self-proclaimed first-hand experience as law in terms of the chime hours, it has become clear that she did not grow up in Somerset, where she claims to have spent her childhood and obtained much of the folklore that she would later document.<ref name= harte/> Thus some people question whether or not she may have made some amount of her material up or inaccurately recalled past experiences.<ref name= harte/> As Jacqueline Simpson and Stephen Roud word it in ''A Dictionary of English Folklore'', Tongue's many tales in ''The Chime Child'' (1968) are "based on very early childhood memories; in ''Forgotten Folktales'' she gives only the vaguest hints as to where, when, and from whom she had obtained the stories; any notes she may have made at the time were lost in moves and fires."<ref name= simpson+roud/>
==Mentions of the Chime Hours== ===Literature=== *Adam Slater's ''The Shadowing #2: Skinned'' *Leon Garfield's ''Empty Sleeve'' *Franny Billingsley's, Chime (novel) *Edward Storey's, ''Almost a Chime Child'' *Charles Dickens', ''David Copperfield'' *Kate Morton's ''The Clockmaker's Daughter'' *G.V. Anderson's ''A Strange Uncertain Light''
===Music/Art=== *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzRDHoNlGnI Faster Than Sound - The Chimes Hour] *[https://memotone.bandcamp.com/album/chime-hours Memotone - ''Chime Hours'']
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name= tongue(chime)>Tongue, Ruth L. The Chime Child: Or Somerset Singers Being An Account of Some of Them and Their Songs Collected Over Sixty Years. Routledge, 2015.</ref> <ref name= brown>Brown, Theo. “Ruth Lyndon Tongue (1898-1981).” Folklore 94, no. 1 (1983): 118–19.</ref> <ref name= simpson+roud>Simpson, Jacqueline, and Stephen Roud. A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford University Press, 2000.</ref> <ref name= spence>Spence, Lewis. An Encyclopaedia of Occultism. Cosimo, Inc., 2006.</ref> <ref name= hadow+anderson>Hadow, Grace E., and Ruth Anderson. “Scraps of English Folklore, IX. (Suffolk).” Folklore 35, no. 4 (1924): 346–60.</ref> <ref name= daniels+stevans>Daniels, Cora Linn, and C. M. Stevans. Encyclopedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World. The Minerva Group, Inc., 2003.</ref> <ref name= dyer>Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton). Domestic Folk-Lore. London Cassell, Petter, Galpin, 1881. https://archive.org/details/domesticfolklore00dyeruoft.</ref> <ref name= tongue(odds)>Tongue, Ruth L. “Odds and Ends of Somerset Folklore.” Folklore 69, no. 1 (March 1, 1958): 43–45. doi:10.1080/0015587X.1958.9717120.</ref> <ref name= harte>Harte, Jeremy. “Ruth Tongue the Story-Teller.” 3rd Stone, 2002 2001.</ref> <ref name= dickens>{{cite book|last=Dickens|first=Charles|title=David Copperfield|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/David_Copperfield/Chapter_I|chapter=1}}</ref> }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chime Hours}} Category:English folklore