Some folk customs surrounding baptism in 16th-17th-18th century England.

Old women were fond of washing their eyes with the water in the font after a baptism to cure and preserve vision. Baptism water should never be thrown out. It is good for watering trees and plants. If a child does not cry at baptism, it was believed that it wouldn't live. Rather than risk the unlucky omen, women would pinch the infants at baptism.