1876 N & Q 5th ser. VI 24 [Cumb.] After a christening, the mother … would give a tea to all her neighbours that were wives … When all were ready to depart, a pail or milk-pail was placed … on the door sill. Over this each wife had to jump, that being the only way in which they were allowed to pass out of the house … If they cleared the pail, they were themselves clear; but those who stumbled, or put their foot in the pail … were considered … to be in that interesting state out of which their entertainer had just emerged.
1929 Folklore 279 [Cumb.] Before the women left at the end of the [christening] party, an empty bucket was placed in the room doorway, and in it a lighted candle, over which each woman had to jump as she left the room. Should the draught of her petticoats waft the candle out, it was taken as an omen that she would be the next to require the midwife.
1982 Woman, 20 [Cleveland, Yorks.] Jump over a bucket to bring on labour.
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