Wikipedia:Today's featured article/April 8, 2012



The Biddenden Maids, Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst, were conjoined twins supposedly born in the village of Biddenden, Kent, in the year 1100. It is claimed that they were joined at both the shoulder and the hip, and that on their death they bequeathed land to the village. The income from this land was used to pay for a gift of food and drink to the poor every Easter. Since at least 1775 this has included hard biscuits imprinted with an image of two conjoined women, known as "Biddenden cakes". Some historians dismissed the story as a folk myth, claiming that the image on the cakes had originally represented two poor women and that the story of the conjoined twins was invented to account for it. Despite doubts as to its authenticity, in the 19th century the legend became increasingly popular and the village of Biddenden was thronged with rowdy visitors every Easter. In 1907 the land supposedly bequeathed by the twins was sold. The income from the sale allowed the annual distribution of gifts to expand in scale, providing the widows and pensioners of Biddenden with cheese, bread and tea at Easter and with cash payments at Christmas. Biddenden cakes continue to be given to the poor of Biddenden each Easter Monday, and are sold as souvenirs to visitors. (more...)

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