{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_43049/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_43049","id":"gutenberg_43049","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43049","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Magic","Mythology","Religion","Superstition"],"text":"The Golden Bough\n\n                      A Study in Magic and Religion\n\n                                    By\n\n               James George Frazer, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D.\n\n                   Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge\n\n     Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Liverpool\n\n                             Vol. X. of XII.\n\n                     Part VII: Balder the Beautiful.\n\n   The Fire-Festivals of Europe and the Doctrine of the External Soul.\n\n                               Vol. 1 of 2.\n\n                           New York and London\n\n                            MacMillan and Co.\n\n                                   1919\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nPreface.\nChapter I. Between Heaven And Earth.\n   \u00a7 1. Not to touch the Earth.\n   \u00a7 2. Not to see the Sun.\nChapter II. The Seclusion of Girls at Puberty.\n   \u00a7 1. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in Africa.\n   \u00a7 2. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in New Ireland, New Guinea, and\n   Indonesia.\n   \u00a7 3. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in the Torres Straits Islands and\n   Northern Australia.\n   \u00a7 4. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty among the Indians of North America.\n   \u00a7 5. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty among the Indians of South America.\n   \u00a7 6. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in India and Cambodia.\n   \u00a7 7. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in Folk-tales.\n   \u00a7 8. Reasons for the Seclusion of Girls at Puberty.\nChapter III. The Myth of Balder.\nChapter IV. The Fire-Festivals of Europe.\n   \u00a7 1. The Lenten Fires.\n   \u00a7 2. The Easter Fires.\n   \u00a7 3. The Beltane Fires.\n   \u00a7 4. The Midsummer Fires.\n   \u00a7 5. The Autumn Fires.\n   \u00a7 6. The Hallowe\u2019en Fires.\n   \u00a7 7. The Midwinter Fires.\n   \u00a7 8. The Need-fire.\n   \u00a7 9. The Sacrifice of an Animal to stay a Cattle-Plague.\nChapter V. The Interpretation of the Fire-Festivals.\n   \u00a7 1. On the Fire-festivals in general.\n   \u00a7 2. The Solar Theory of the Fire-festivals.\n   \u00a7 3. The Purificatory Theory of the Fire-festivals.\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                               [Cover Art]\n\n[Transcriber\u2019s Note: The above cover image was produced by the submitter\nat Distributed Proofreaders, and is being placed into the public domain.]\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nIn this concluding part of _The Golden Bough_ I have discussed the problem\nwhich gives its title to the whole work. If I am right, the Golden Bough\nover which the King of the Wood, Diana\u2019s priest at Aricia, kept watch and\nward was no other than a branch of mistletoe growing on an oak within the\nsacred grove; and as the plucking of the bough was a necessary prelude to\nthe slaughter of the priest, I have been led to institute a parallel\nbetween the King of the Wood at Nemi and the Norse god Balder, who was\nworshipped in a sacred grove beside the beautiful Sogne fiord of Norway\nand was said to have perished by a stroke of mistletoe, which alone of all\nthings on earth or in heaven could wound him. On the theory here suggested\nboth Balder and the King of the Wood personified in a sense the sacred oak\nof our Aryan forefathers, and both had deposited their lives or souls for\nsafety in the parasite which sometimes, though rarely, is found growing on\nan oak and by the very rarity of its appearance excites the wonder and\nstimulates the devotion of ignorant men. Though I am now less than ever\ndisposed to lay weight on the analogy between the Italian priest and the\nNorse god, I have allowed it to stand because it furnishes me with a\npretext for discussing not only the general question of the external soul\nin popular superstition, but also the fire-festivals of Europe, since fire\nplayed a part both in the myth of Balder and in the ritual of the Arician\ngrove. Thus Balder the Beautiful in my hands is little more than a\nstalking-horse to carry two heavy pack-loads of facts. And what is true of\nBalder applies equally to the priest of Nemi himself, the nominal hero of\nthe long tragedy of human folly and suffering which has unrolled itself\nbefore the readers of these volumes, and on which the curtain is now about\nto fall. He, too, for all the quaint garb he wears and the gravity with\nwhich he stalks across the stage, is merely a puppet, and it is time to\nunmask him before laying him up in the box.\n\nTo drop metaphor, while nominally investigating a particular problem of\nancient mythology, I have really been discussing questions of more general\ninterest which concern the gradual evolution of human thought from\nsavagery to civilization. The enquiry is beset with difficulties of many\nkinds, for the record of man\u2019s mental development is even more imperfect\nthan the record of his physical development, and it is harder to read, not\nonly by reason of the incomparably more subtle and complex nature of the\nsubject, but because the reader\u2019s eyes are apt to be dimmed by thick mists\nof passion and prejudice, which cloud in a far less degree the fields of\ncomparative anatomy and geology. My contribution to the history of the\nhuman mind consists of little more than a rough and purely provisional\nclassification of facts gathered almost entirely from printed sources. If\nthere is one general conclusion which seems to emerge from the mass of\nparticulars, I venture to think that it is the essential similarity in the\nworking of the less developed human mind among all races, which\ncorresponds to the essential similarity in their bodily frame revealed by\ncomparative anatomy. But while this general mental similarity may, I\nbelieve, be taken as established, we must always be on our guard against\ntracing to it a multitude of particular resemblances which may be and\noften are due to simple diffusion, since nothing is more certain than that\nthe various races of men have borrowed from each other many of their arts\nand crafts, their ideas, customs, and institutions. To sift out the\nelements of culture which a race has independently evolved and to\ndistinguish them accurately from those which it has derived from other\nraces is a task of extreme difficulty and delicacy, which promises to\noccupy students of man for a long time to come; indeed so complex are the\nfacts and so imperfect in most cases is the historical record that it may\nbe doubted whether in regard to many of the lower races we shall ever\narrive at more than probable conjectures.\n\nSince the last edition of _The Golden Bough_ was published some thirteen\nyears ago, I have seen reason to change my views on several matters\ndiscussed in this concluding part of the work, and though I have called\nattention to these changes in the text, it may be well for the sake of\nclearness to recapitulate them here.\n\nIn the first place, the arguments of Dr. Edward Westermarck have satisfied\nme that the solar theory of the European fire-festivals, which I accepted\nfrom W. Mannhardt, is very slightly, if at all, supported by the evidence\nand is probably erroneous. The true explanation of the festivals I now\nbelieve to be the one advocated by Dr. Westermarck himself, namely that\nthey are purificatory in intention, the fire being designed not, as I\nformerly held, to reinforce the sun\u2019s light and heat by sympathetic magic,\nbut merely to burn or repel the noxious things, whether conceived as\nmaterial or spiritual, which threaten the life of man, of animals, and of\nplants. This aspect of the fire-festivals had not wholly escaped me in\nformer editions; I pointed it out explicitly, but, biassed perhaps by the\ngreat authority of Mannhardt, I treated it as secondary and subordinate\ninstead of primary and dominant. Out of deference to Mannhardt, for whose\nwork I entertain the highest respect, and because the evidence for the\npurificatory theory of the fires is perhaps not quite conclusive, I have\nin this edition repeated and even reinforced the arguments for the solar\ntheory of the festivals, so that the reader may see for himself what can\nbe said on both sides of the question and may draw his own conclusion; but\nfor my part I cannot but think that the arguments for the purificatory\ntheory far outweigh the arguments for the solar theory. Dr. Westermarck\nbased his criticisms largely on his own observations of the Mohammedan\nfire-festivals of Morocco, which present a remarkable resemblance to those\nof Christian Europe, though there seems no reason to assume that herein\nAfrica has borrowed from Europe or Europe from Africa. So far as Europe is\nconcerned, the evidence tends strongly to shew that the grand evil which\nthe festivals aimed at combating was witchcraft, and that they were\nconceived to attain their end by actually burning the witches, whether\nvisible or invisible, in the flames. If that was so, the wide prevalence\nand the immense popularity of the fire-festivals provides us with a\nmeasure for estimating the extent of the hold which the belief in\nwitchcraft had on the European mind before the rise of Christianity or\nrather of rationalism; for Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant,\naccepted the old belief and enforced it in the old way by the faggot and\nthe stake. It was not until human reason at last awoke after the long\nslumber of the Middle Ages that this dreadful obsession gradually passed\naway like a dark cloud from the intellectual horizon of Europe.\n\nYet we should deceive ourselves if we imagined that the belief in\nwitchcraft is even now dead in the mass of the people; on the contrary\nthere is ample evidence to shew that it only hibernates under the chilling\ninfluence of rationalism, and that it would start into active life if that\ninfluence were ever seriously relaxed. The truth seems to be that to this\nday the peasant remains a pagan and savage at heart; his civilization is\nmerely a thin veneer which the hard knocks of life soon abrade, exposing\nthe solid core of paganism and savagery below. The danger created by a\nbottomless layer of ignorance and superstition under the crust of\ncivilized society is lessened, not only by the natural torpidity and\ninertia of the bucolic mind, but also by the progressive decrease of the\nrural as compared with the urban population in modern states; for I\nbelieve it will be found that the artisans who congregate in towns are far\nless retentive of primitive modes of thought than their rustic brethren.\nIn every age cities have been the centres and as it were the lighthouses\nfrom which ideas radiate into the surrounding darkness, kindled by the\nfriction of mind with mind in the crowded haunts of men; and it is natural\nthat at these beacons of intellectual light all should partake in some\nmeasure of the general illumination. No doubt the mental ferment and\nunrest of great cities have their dark as well as their bright side; but\namong the evils to be apprehended from them the chances of a pagan revival\nneed hardly be reckoned.\n\nAnother point on which I have changed my mind is the nature of the great\nAryan god whom the Romans called Jupiter and the Greeks Zeus. Whereas I\nformerly argued that he was primarily a personification of the sacred oak\nand only in the second place a personification of the thundering sky, I\nnow invert the order of his divine functions and believe that he was a\nsky-god before he came to be associated with the oak. In fact, I revert to\nthe traditional view of Jupiter, recant my heresy, and am gathered like a\nlost sheep into the fold of mythological orthodoxy. The good shepherd who\nhas brought me back is my friend Mr. W. Warde Fowler. He has removed the\nstone over which I stumbled in the wilderness by explaining in a simple\nand natural way how a god of the thundering sky might easily come to be\nafterwards associated with the oak. The explanation turns on the great\nfrequency with which, as statistics prove, the oak is struck by lightning\nbeyond any other tree of the wood in Europe. To our rude forefathers, who\ndwelt in the gloomy depths of the primaeval forest, it might well seem\nthat the riven and blackened oaks must indeed be favourites of the\nsky-god, who so often descended on them from the murky cloud in a flash of\nlightning and a crash of thunder.\n\nThis change of view as to the great Aryan god necessarily affects my\ninterpretation of the King of the Wood, the priest of Diana at Aricia, if\nI may take that discarded puppet out of the box again for a moment. On my\ntheory the priest represented Jupiter in the flesh, and accordingly, if\nJupiter was primarily a sky-god, his priest cannot have been a mere\nincarnation of the sacred oak, but must, like the deity whose commission\nhe bore, have been invested in the imagination of his worshippers with the\npower of overcasting the heaven with clouds and eliciting storms of\nthunder and rain from the celestial vault. The attribution of\nweather-making powers to kings or priests is very common in primitive\nsociety, and is indeed one of the principal levers by which such\npersonages raise themselves to a position of superiority above their\nfellows. There is therefore no improbability in the supposition that as a\nrepresentative of Jupiter the priest of Diana enjoyed this reputation,\nthough positive evidence of it appears to be lacking.\n\nLastly, in the present edition I have shewn some grounds for thinking that\nthe Golden Bough itself, or in common parlance the mistletoe on the oak,\nwas supposed to have dropped from the sky upon the tree in a flash of\nlightning and therefore to contain within itself the seed of celestial\nfire, a sort of smouldering thunderbolt. This view of the priest and of\nthe bough which he guarded at the peril of his life has the advantage of\naccounting for the importance which the sanctuary at Nemi acquired and the\ntreasure which it amassed through the offerings of the faithful; for the\nshrine would seem to have been to ancient what Loreto has been to modern\nItaly, a place of pilgrimage, where princes and nobles as well as\ncommoners poured wealth into the coffers of Diana in her green recess\namong the Alban hills, just as in modern times kings and queens vied with\neach other in enriching the black Virgin who from her Holy House on the\nhillside at Loreto looks out on the blue Adriatic and the purple\nApennines. Such pious prodigality becomes more intelligible if the\ngreatest of the gods was indeed believed to dwell in human shape with his\nwife among the woods of Nemi.\n\nThese are the principal points on which I have altered my opinion since\nthe last edition of my book was published. The mere admission of such\nchanges may suffice to indicate the doubt and uncertainty which attend\nenquiries of this nature. The whole fabric of ancient mythology is so\nforeign to our modern ways of thought, and the evidence concerning it is\nfor the most part so fragmentary, obscure, and conflicting that in our\nattempts to piece together and interpret it we can hardly hope to reach\nconclusions that will completely satisfy either ourselves or others. In\nthis as in other branches of study it is the fate of theories to be washed\naway like children\u2019s castles of sand by the rising tide of knowledge, and\nI am not so presumptuous as to expect or desire for mine an exemption from\nthe common lot. I hold them all very lightly and have used them chiefly as\nconvenient pegs on which to hang my collections of facts. For I believe\nthat, while theories are transitory, a record of facts has a permanent\nvalue, and that as a chronicle of ancient customs and beliefs my book may\nretain its utility when my theories are as obsolete as the customs and\nbeliefs themselves deserve to be.\n\nI cannot dismiss without some natural regret a task which has occupied and\namused me at intervals for many years. But the regret is tempered by\nthankfulness and hope. I am thankful that I have been able to conclude at\nleast one chapter of the work I projected a long time ago. I am hopeful\nthat I may not now be taking a final leave of my indulgent readers, but\nthat, as I am sensible of little abatement in my bodily strength and of\nnone in my ardour for study, they will bear with me yet a while if I\nshould attempt to entertain them with fresh subjects of laughter and tears\ndrawn from the comedy and the tragedy of man\u2019s endless quest after\nhappiness and truth.\n\nJ. G. FRAZER.\n\nCAMBRIDGE, _17th October 1913_.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I. BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 1. Not to touch the Earth.\n\n\n(M1) We have travelled far since we turned our backs on Nemi and set forth\nin quest of the secret of the Golden Bough. With the present volume we\nenter on the last stage of our long journey. The reader who has had the\npatience to follow the enquiry thus far may remember that at the outset\ntwo questions were proposed for answer: Why had the priest of Aricia to\nslay his predecessor? And why, before doing so, had he to pluck the Golden\nBough?(1) Of these two questions the first has now been answered. The\npriest of Aricia, if I am right, was one of those sacred kings or human\ndivinities on whose life the welfare of the community and even the course\nof nature in general are believed to be intimately dependent. It does not\nappear that the subjects or worshippers of such a spiritual potentate form\nto themselves any very clear notion of the exact relationship in which\nthey stand to him; probably their ideas on the point are vague and\nfluctuating, and we should err if we attempted to define the relationship\nwith logical precision. All that the people know, or rather imagine, is\nthat somehow they themselves, their cattle, and their crops are\nmysteriously bound up with their divine king, so that according as he is\nwell or ill the community is healthy or sickly, the flocks and herds\nthrive or languish with disease, and the fields yield an abundant or a\nscanty harvest. The worst evil which they can conceive of is the natural\ndeath of their ruler, whether he succumb to sickness or old age, for in\nthe opinion of his followers such a death would entail the most disastrous\nconsequences on themselves and their possessions; fatal epidemics would\nsweep away man and beast, the earth would refuse her increase, nay the\nvery frame of nature itself might be dissolved. To guard against these\ncatastrophes it is necessary to put the king to death while he is still in\nthe full bloom of his divine manhood, in order that his sacred life,\ntransmitted in unabated force to his successor, may renew its youth, and\nthus by successive transmissions through a perpetual line of vigorous\nincarnations may remain eternally fresh and young, a pledge and security\nthat men and animals shall in like manner renew their youth by a perpetual\nsuccession of generations, and that seedtime and harvest, and summer and\nwinter, and rain and sunshine shall never fail. That, if my conjecture is\nright, was why the priest of Aricia, the King of the Wood at Nemi, had\nregularly to perish by the sword of his successor.\n\n(M2) But we have still to ask, What was the Golden Bough? and why had each\ncandidate for the Arician priesthood to pluck it before he could slay the\npriest? These questions I will now try to answer.\n\n(M3) It will be well to begin by noticing two of those rules or taboos by\nwhich, as we have seen, the life of divine kings or priests is regulated.\nThe first of the rules to which I desire to call the reader\u2019s attention is\nthat the divine personage may not touch the ground with his foot. This\nrule was observed by the supreme pontiff of the Zapotecs in Mexico; he\nprofaned his sanctity if he so much as touched the ground with his\nfoot.(2) Montezuma, emperor of Mexico, never set foot on the ground; he\nwas always carried on the shoulders of noblemen, and if he lighted\nanywhere they laid rich tapestry for him to walk upon.(3) For the Mikado\nof Japan to touch the ground with his foot was a shameful degradation;\nindeed, in the sixteenth century, it was enough to deprive him of his\noffice. Outside his palace he was carried on men\u2019s shoulders; within it he\nwalked on exquisitely wrought mats.(4) The king and queen of Tahiti might\nnot touch the ground anywhere but within their hereditary domains; for the\nground on which they trod became sacred. In travelling from place to place\nthey were carried on the shoulders of sacred men. They were always\naccompanied by several pairs of these sanctified attendants; and when it\nbecame necessary to change their bearers, the king and queen vaulted on to\nthe shoulders of their new bearers without letting their feet touch the\nground.(5) It was an evil omen if the king of Dosuma touched the ground,\nand he had to perform an expiatory ceremony.(6) Within his palace the king\nof Persia walked on carpets on which no one else might tread; outside of\nit he was never seen on foot but only in a chariot or on horseback.(7) In\nold days the king of Siam never set foot upon the earth, but was carried\non a throne of gold from place to place.(8) Formerly neither the kings of\nUganda, nor their mothers, nor their queens might walk on foot outside of\nthe spacious enclosures in which they lived. Whenever they went forth they\nwere carried on the shoulders of men of the Buffalo clan, several of whom\naccompanied any of these royal personages on a journey and took it in turn\nto bear the burden. The king sat astride the bearer\u2019s neck with a leg over\neach shoulder and his feet tucked under the bearer\u2019s arms. When one of\nthese royal carriers grew tired he shot the king on to the shoulders of a\nsecond man without allowing the royal feet to touch the ground. In this\nway they went at a great pace and travelled long distances in a day, when\nthe king was on a journey. The bearers had a special hut in the king\u2019s\nenclosure in order to be at hand the moment they were wanted.(9) Among the\nBakuba or rather Bushongo, a nation in the southern region of the Congo,\ndown to a few years ago persons of the royal blood were forbidden to touch\nthe ground; they must sit on a hide, a chair, or the back of a slave, who\ncrouched on hands and feet; their feet rested on the feet of others. When\nthey travelled they were carried on the backs of men; but the king\njourneyed in a litter supported on shafts.(10) Among the Ibo people about\nAwka, in Southern Nigeria, the priest of the Earth has to observe many\ntaboos; for example, he may not see a corpse, and if he meets one on the\nroad he must hide his eyes with his wristlet. He must abstain from many\nfoods, such as eggs, birds of all sorts, mutton, dog, bush-buck, and so\nforth. He may neither wear nor touch a mask, and no masked man may enter\nhis house. If a dog enters his house, it is killed and thrown out. As\npriest of the Earth he may not sit on the bare ground, nor eat things that\nhave fallen on the ground, nor may earth be thrown at him.(11) According\nto ancient Brahmanic ritual a king at his inauguration trod on a tiger\u2019s\nskin and a golden plate; he was shod with shoes of boar\u2019s skin, and so\nlong as he lived thereafter he might not stand on the earth with his bare\nfeet.(12)\n\n(M4) But besides persons who are permanently sacred or tabooed and are\ntherefore permanently forbidden to touch the ground with their feet, there\nare others who enjoy the character of sanctity or taboo only on certain\noccasions, and to whom accordingly the prohibition in question only\napplies at the definite seasons during which they exhale the odour of\nsanctity. Thus among the Kayans or Bahaus of Central Borneo, while the\npriestesses are engaged in the performance of certain rites they may not\nstep on the ground, and boards are laid for them to tread on.(13) At a\nfuneral ceremony observed by night among the Michemis, a Tibetan tribe\nnear the northern frontier of Assam, a priest fantastically bedecked with\ntiger\u2019s teeth, many-coloured plumes, bells, and shells, executed a wild\ndance for the purpose of exorcising the evil spirits; then all fires were\nextinguished and a new light was struck by a man suspended by his feet\nfrom a beam in the ceiling; \u201che did not touch the ground,\u201d we are told,\n\u201cin order to indicate that the light came from heaven.\u201d(14) Again, newly\nborn infants are strongly tabooed; accordingly in Loango they are not\nallowed to touch the earth.(15) Among the Iluvans of Malabar the\nbridegroom on his wedding-day is bathed by seven young men and then\ncarried or walks on planks from the bathing-place to the marriage booth;\nhe may not touch the ground with his feet.(16) With the Dyaks of Landak\nand Tajan, two districts of Dutch Borneo, it is a custom that for a\ncertain time after marriage neither bride nor bridegroom may tread on the\nearth.(17) Warriors, again, on the war-path are surrounded, so to say, by\nan atmosphere of taboo; hence some Indians of North America might not sit\non the bare ground the whole time they were out on a warlike\nexpedition.(18) In Laos the hunting of elephants gives rise to many\ntaboos; one of them is that the chief hunter may not touch the earth with\nhis foot. Accordingly, when he alights from his elephant, the others\nspread a carpet of leaves for him to step upon.(19) German wiseacres\nrecommended that when witches were led to the block or the stake, they\nshould not be allowed to touch the bare earth, and a reason suggested for\nthe rule was that if they touched the earth they might make themselves\ninvisible and so escape. The sagacious author of _The Striped-petticoat\nPhilosophy_ in the eighteenth century ridicules the idea as mere silly\ntalk. He admits, indeed, that the women were conveyed to the place of\nexecution in carts; but he denies that there is any deep significance in\nthe cart, and he is prepared to maintain this view by a chemical analysis\nof the timber of which the cart was built. To clinch his argument he\nappeals to plain matter of fact and his own personal experience. Not a\nsingle instance, he assures us with apparent satisfaction, can be produced\nof a witch who escaped the axe or the fire in this fashion. \u201cI have\nmyself,\u201d says he, \u201cin my youth seen divers witches burned, some at\nArnstadt, some at Ilmenau, some at Schwenda, a noble village between\nArnstadt and Ilmenau, and some of them were pardoned and beheaded before\nbeing burned. They were laid on the earth in the place of execution and\nbeheaded like any other poor sinner; whereas if they could have escaped by\ntouching the earth, not one of them would have failed to do so.\u201d(20)\n\n(M5) Apparently holiness, magical virtue, taboo, or whatever we may call\nthat mysterious quality which is supposed to pervade sacred or tabooed\npersons, is conceived by the primitive philosopher as a physical substance\nor fluid, with which the sacred man is charged just as a Leyden jar is\ncharged with electricity; and exactly as the electricity in the jar can be\ndischarged by contact with a good conductor, so the holiness or magical\nvirtue in the man can be discharged and drained away by contact with the\nearth, which on this theory serves as an excellent conductor for the\nmagical fluid. Hence in order to preserve the charge from running to\nwaste, the sacred or tabooed personage must be carefully prevented from\ntouching the ground; in electrical language he must be insulated, if he is\nnot to be emptied of the precious substance or fluid with which he, as a\nvial, is filled to the brim. And in many cases apparently the insulation\nof the tabooed person is recommended as a precaution not merely for his\nown sake but for the sake of others; for since the virtue of holiness or\ntaboo is, so to say, a powerful explosive which the smallest touch may\ndetonate, it is necessary in the interest of the general safety to keep it\nwithin narrow bounds, lest breaking out it should blast, blight, and\ndestroy whatever it comes into contact with.\n\n(M6) But things as well as persons are often charged with the mysterious\nquality of holiness or taboo; hence it frequently becomes necessary for\nsimilar reasons to guard them also from coming into contact with the\nground, lest they should in like manner be drained of their valuable\nproperties and be reduced to mere commonplace material objects, empty\nhusks from which the good grain has been eliminated. Thus, for example,\nthe most sacred object of the Arunta tribe in Central Australia is, or\nrather used to be, a pole about twenty feet high, which is completely\nsmeared with human blood, crowned with an imitation of a human head, and\nset up on the ground where the final initiatory ceremonies of young men\nare performed. A young gum-tree is chosen to form the pole, and it must be\ncut down and transported in such a way that it does not touch the earth\ntill it is erected in its place on the holy ground. Apparently the pole\nrepresents some famous ancestor of the olden time.(21)\n\n(M7) Again, at a great dancing festival celebrated by the natives of\nBartle Bay, in British New Guinea, a wild mango tree plays a prominent\npart. The tree must be self-sown, that is, really wild and so young that\nit has never flowered. It is chosen in the jungle some five or six weeks\nbefore the festival, and a circle is cleared round its trunk. From that\ntime the master of the ceremonies and some eight to twenty other men, who\nhave aided him in choosing the tree and in clearing the jungle, become\nstrictly holy or tabooed. They sleep by themselves in a house into which\nno one else may intrude: they may not wash or drink water, nor even allow\nit accidentally to touch their bodies: they are forbidden to eat boiled\nfood and the fruit of mango trees: they may drink only the milk of a young\ncoco-nut which has been baked, and they may eat certain fruits and\nvegetables, such as paw-paws (_Carica papaya_) and sugar-cane, but only on\ncondition that they have been baked. All refuse of their food is kept in\nbaskets in their sleeping-house and may not be removed from it till the\nfestival is over. At the time when the men begin to observe these rules of\nabstinence, some six to ten women, members of the same clan as the master\nof the ceremonies, enter on a like period of mortification, avoiding the\ncompany of the other sex, and refraining from water, all boiled food, and\nthe fruit of the mango tree. These fasting men and women are the principal\ndancers at the festival. The dancing takes place on a special platform in\na temporary village which has been erected for the purpose. When the\nplatform is about to be set up, the fasting men rub the stepping posts and\nthen suck their hands for the purpose of extracting the ghost of any dead\nman that might chance to be in the post and might be injured by the weight\nof the platform pressing down on him. Having carefully extracted these\npoor souls, the men carry them away tenderly and set them free in the\nforest or the long grass.\n\n(M8) On the day before the festival one of the fasting men cuts down the\nchosen mango tree in the jungle with a stone adze, which is never\nafterwards put to any other use; an iron tool may not be used for the\npurpose, though iron tools are now common enough in the district. In\ncutting down the mango they place nets on the ground to catch any leaves\nor twigs that might fall from the tree as it is being felled, and they\nsurround the trunk with new mats to receive the chips which fly out under\nthe adze of the woodman; for the chips may not drop on the earth. Once the\ntree is down, it is carried to the centre of the temporary village, the\ngreatest care being taken to prevent it from coming into contact with the\nground. But when it is brought into the village, the houses are connected\nwith the top of the mango by means of long vines decorated with streamers.\nIn the afternoon the fasting men and women begin to dance, the men\nbedizened with gay feathers, armlets, streamers, and anklets, the women\nflaunting in parti-coloured petticoats and sprigs of croton leaves, which\nwave from their waistbands as they dance. The dancing stops at sundown,\nand when the full moon rises over the shoulder of the eastern hill (for\nthe date of the festival seems to be determined with reference to the time\nof the moon), two chiefs mount the gables of two houses on the eastern\nside of the square, and, their dusky figures standing sharply out against\nthe moonlight, pray to the evil spirits to go away and not to hurt the\npeople. Next morning pigs are killed by being speared as slowly as\npossible in order that they may squeal loud and long; for the people\nbelieve that the mango trees hear the squealing, and are pleased at the\nsound, and bear plenty of fruit, whereas if they heard no squeals they\nwould bear no fruit. However, the trees have to content themselves with\nthe squeals; the flesh of the pigs is eaten by the people. This ends the\nfestival.\n\n(M9) Next day the mango is taken down from the platform, wrapt in new\nmats, and carried by the fasting men to their sleeping house, where it is\nhung from the roof. But after an interval, it may be of many months, the\ntree is brought forth again. As to the reason for its reappearance in\npublic opinions are divided; but some say that the tree itself orders the\nmaster of the ceremonies to bring it forth, appearing to him in his dreams\nand saying, \u201cLet me smell the smoking fat of pigs. So will your pigs be\nhealthy and your crops will grow.\u201d Be that as it may, out it comes,\nconducted by the fasting men in their dancing costume; and with it come in\nthe solemn procession all the pots, spoons, cups and so forth used by the\nfasting men during their period of holiness or taboo, also all the refuse\nof their food which has been collected for months, and all the fallen\nleaves and chips of the mango in their bundles of mats. These holy relics\nare carried in front and the mango tree itself brings up the rear of the\nprocession. While these sacred objects are being handed out of the house,\nthe men who are present rush up, wipe off the hallowed dust which has\naccumulated on them, and smear it over their own bodies, no doubt in order\nto steep themselves in their blessed influence. Thus the tree is carried\nas before to the centre of the temporary village, care being again taken\nnot to let it touch the ground. Then one of the fasting men takes from a\nbasket a number of young green mangoes, cuts them in pieces, and places\nthem with his own hands in the mouths of his fellows, the other fasting\nmen, who chew the pieces small and turning round spit the morsels in the\ndirection of the setting sun, in order that \u201cthe sun should carry the\nmango bits over the whole country and everyone should know.\u201d A portion of\nthe mango tree is then broken off and in the evening it is burnt along\nwith the bundles of leaves, chips, and refuse of food, which have been\nstored up. What remains of the tree is taken to the house of the master of\nthe ceremonies and hung over the fire-place; it will be brought out again\nat intervals and burned bit by bit, till all is consumed, whereupon a new\nmango will be cut down and treated in like manner. The ashes of the holy\nfire on each occasion are gathered by the people and preserved in the\nhouse of the master of the ceremonies.(22)\n\n(M10) The meaning of these ceremonies is not explained by the authorities\nwho describe them; but we may conjecture that they are intended to\nfertilize the mango trees and cause them to bear a good crop of fruit. The\ncentral feature of the whole ritual is a wild mango tree, so young that it\nhas never flowered: the men who cut it down, carry it into the village,\nand dance at the festival, are forbidden to eat mangoes: pigs are killed\nin order that their dying squeals may move the mango trees to bear fruit:\nat the end of the ceremonies pieces of young green mangoes are solemnly\nplaced in the mouths of the fasting men and are by them spurted out\ntowards the setting sun in order that the luminary may carry the fragments\nto every part of the country; and finally when after a longer or shorter\ninterval the tree is wholly consumed, its place is supplied by another.\nAll these circumstances are explained simply and naturally by the\nsupposition that the young mango tree is taken as a representative of\nmangoes generally, that the dances are intended to quicken it, and that it\nis preserved, like a May-pole of old in England, as a sort of general fund\nof vegetable life, till the fund being exhausted by the destruction of the\ntree it is renewed by the importation of a fresh young tree from the\nforest. We can therefore understand why, as a storehouse of vital energy,\nthe tree should be carefully kept from contact with the ground, lest the\npent-up and concentrated energy should escape and dribbling away into the\nearth be dissipated to no purpose.\n\n(M11) To take other instances of what we may call the conservation of\nenergy in magic or religion by insulating sacred bodies from the ground,\nthe natives of New Britain have a secret society called the Duk-duk, the\nmembers of which masquerade in petticoats of leaves and tall headdresses\nof wickerwork shaped like candle extinguishers, which descend to the\nshoulders of the wearers, completely concealing their faces. Thus\ndisguised they dance about to the awe and terror, real or assumed, of the\nwomen and uninitiated, who take, or pretend to take, them for spirits.\nWhen lads are being initiated into the secrets of this august society, the\nadepts cut down some very large and heavy bamboos, one for each lad, and\nthe novices carry them, carefully wrapt up in leaves, to the sacred\nground, where they arrive very tired and weary, for they may not let the\nbamboos touch the ground nor the sun shine on them. Outside the fence of\nthe enclosure every lad deposits his bamboo on a couple of forked sticks\nand covers it up with nut leaves.(23) Among the Carrier Indians of\nNorth-Western America, who burned their dead, the ashes of a chief used to\nbe placed in a box and set on the top of a pole beside his hut: the box\nwas never allowed to touch the ground.(24) In the Omaha tribe of North\nAmerican Indians the sacred clam shell of the Elk clan was wrapt up from\nsight in a mat, placed on a stand, and never suffered to come in contact\nwith the earth.(25) The Cherokees and kindred Indian tribes of the United\nStates used to have certain sacred boxes or arks, which they regularly\ntook with them to war. Such a holy ark consisted of a square wooden box,\nwhich contained \u201ccertain consecrated vessels made by beloved superannuated\nwomen, and of such various antiquated forms, as would have puzzled Adam to\nhave given significant names to each.\u201d The leader of a war party and his\nattendant bore the ark by turns, but they never set it on the ground nor\nwould they themselves sit on the bare earth while they were carrying it\nagainst the enemy. Where stones were plentiful they rested the ark on\nthem; but where no stones were to be found, they deposited it on short\nlogs. \u201cThe Indian ark is deemed so sacred and dangerous to be touched,\neither by their own sanctified warriors, or the spoiling enemy, that they\ndurst not touch it upon any account. It is not to be meddled with by any,\nexcept the war chieftain and his waiter, under the penalty of incurring\ngreat evil. Nor would the most inveterate enemy touch it in the woods, for\nthe very same reason.\u201d After their return home they used to hang the ark\non the leader\u2019s red-painted war pole.(26) At Sipi, near Simla, in Northern\nIndia, an annual fair is held, at which men purchase wives. A square box\nwith a domed top figures prominently at the fair. It is fixed on two poles\nto be carried on men\u2019s shoulders, and long heavily-plaited petticoats hang\nfrom it nearly to the ground. Three sides of the box are adorned with the\nhead and shoulders of a female figure and the fourth side with a black\nyak\u2019s tail. Four men bear the poles, each carrying an axe in his right\nhand. They dance round, with a swinging rhythmical step, to the music of\ndrums and a pipe. The dance goes on for hours and is thought to avert\nill-luck from the fair. It is said that the box is brought to Simla from a\nplace sixty miles off by relays of men, who may not stop nor set the box\non the ground the whole way.(27) In Scotland, when water was carried from\nsacred wells to sick people, the water-vessel might not touch the\nearth.(28) In some parts of Aberdeenshire the last bunch of standing corn,\nwhich is commonly viewed as very sacred, being the last refuge of the\ncorn-spirit retreating before the reapers, is not suffered to touch the\nground; the master or \u201cgueedman\u201d sits down and receives each handful of\ncorn as it is cut on his lap.(29)\n\n(M12) Again, sacred food may not under certain circumstances be brought\ninto contact with the earth. Some of the aborigines of Victoria used to\nregard the fat of the emu as sacred, believing that it had once been the\nfat of the black man. In taking it from the bird or giving it to another\nthey handled it reverently. Any one who threw away the fat or flesh of the\nemu was held accursed. \u201cThe late Mr. Thomas observed on one occasion, at\nNerrenerre-Warreen, a remarkable exhibition of the effects of this\nsuperstition. An aboriginal child\u2014one attending the school\u2014having eaten\nsome part of the flesh of an emu, threw away the skin. The skin fell to\nthe ground, and this being observed by his parents, they showed by their\ngestures every token of horror. They looked upon their child as one\nutterly lost. His desecration of the bird was regarded as a sin for which\nthere was no atonement.\u201d(30) The Roumanians of Transylvania believe that\n\u201cevery fresh-baked loaf of wheaten bread is sacred, and should a piece\ninadvertently fall to the ground, it is hastily picked up, carefully wiped\nand kissed, and if soiled, thrown into the fire\u2014partly as an offering to\nthe dead, and partly because it were a heavy sin to throw away or tread\nupon any particle of it.\u201d(31) At certain festivals in south-eastern Borneo\nthe food which is consumed in the common house may not touch the ground;\nhence, a little before the festivals take place, foot-bridges made of thin\npoles are constructed from the private dwellings to the common house.(32)\nWhen Hall was living with the Esquimaux and grew tired of eating walrus,\none of the women brought the head and neck of a reindeer for him to eat.\nThis venison had to be completely wrapt up before it was brought into the\nhouse, and once in the house it could only be placed on the platform which\nserved as a bed. \u201cTo have placed it on the floor or on the platform behind\nthe fire-lamp, among the walrus, musk-ox, and polar-bear meat which occupy\na goodly portion of both of these places, would have horrified the whole\ntown, as, according to the actual belief of the Innuits, not another\nwalrus could be secured this year, and there would ever be trouble in\ncatching any more.\u201d(33) But in this case the real scruple appears to have\nbeen felt not so much at placing the venison on the ground as at bringing\nit into contact with walrus meat.(34)\n\n(M13) Sometimes magical implements and remedies are supposed to lose their\nvirtue by contact with the ground, the volatile essence with which they\nare impregnated being no doubt drained off into the earth. Thus in the\nBoulia district of Queensland the magical bone, which the native sorcerer\npoints at his victim as a means of killing him, is never by any chance\nallowed to touch the earth.(35) The wives of rajahs in Macassar, a\ndistrict of southern Celebes, pride themselves on their luxuriant tresses\nand are at great pains to oil and preserve them. Should the hair begin to\ngrow thin, the lady resorts to many devices to stay the ravages of time;\namong other things she applies to her locks a fat extracted from\ncrocodiles and venomous snakes. The unguent is believed to be very\nefficacious, but during its application the woman\u2019s feet may not come into\ncontact with the ground, or all the benefit of the nostrum would be\nlost.(36) Some people in antiquity believed that a woman in hard labour\nwould be delivered if a spear, which had been wrenched from a man\u2019s body\nwithout touching the ground, were thrown over the house where the sufferer\nlay. Again, according to certain ancient writers, arrows which had been\nextracted from a body without coming into contact with the earth and laid\nunder sleepers, acted as a love-charm.(37) Among the peasantry of the\nnorth-east of Scotland the prehistoric weapons called celts went by the\nname of \u201cthunderbolts\u201d and were coveted as the sure bringers of success,\nalways provided that they were not allowed to fall to the ground.(38)\n\n(M14) In ancient Gaul certain glass or paste beads attained great\ncelebrity as amulets under the name of serpents\u2019 eggs; it was believed\nthat serpents, coiling together in a wriggling, writhing mass, generated\nthem from their slaver and shot them into the air from their hissing jaws.\nIf a man was bold and dexterous enough to catch one of these eggs in his\ncloak before it touched the ground, he rode off on horseback with it at\nfull speed, pursued by the whole pack of serpents, till he was saved by\nthe interposition of a river, which the snakes could not pass. The proof\nof the egg being genuine was that if it were thrown into a stream it would\nfloat up against the current, even though it were hooped in gold. The\nDruids held these beads in high esteem; according to them, the precious\nobjects could only be obtained on a certain day of the moon, and the\npeculiar virtue that resided in them was to secure success in law suits\nand free access to kings. Pliny knew of a Gaulish knight who was executed\nby the emperor Claudius for wearing one of these amulets.(39) Under the\nname of Snake Stones (_glain neidr_) or Adder Stones the beads are still\nknown in those parts of our own country where the Celtic population has\nlingered, with its immemorial superstitions, down to the present or recent\ntimes; and the old story of the origin of the beads from the slaver of\nserpents was believed by the modern peasantry of Cornwall, Wales, and\nScotland as by the Druids of ancient Gaul. In Cornwall the time when the\nserpents united to fashion the beads was commonly said to be at or about\nMidsummer Eve; in Wales it was usually thought to be spring, especially\nthe Eve of May Day, and even within recent years persons in the\nPrincipality have affirmed that they witnessed the great vernal congress\nof the snakes and saw the magic stone in the midst of the froth. The Welsh\npeasants believe the beads to possess medicinal virtues of many sorts and\nto be particularly efficacious for all maladies of the eyes. In Wales and\nIreland the beads sometimes went by the name of the Magician\u2019s or Druid\u2019s\nGlass (_Gleini na Droedh_ and _Glaine nan Druidhe_). Specimens of them may\nbe seen in museums; some have been found in British barrows. They are of\nglass of various colours, green, blue, pink, red, brown, and so forth,\nsome plain and some ribbed. Some are streaked with brilliant hues. The\nbeads are perforated, and in the Highlands of Scotland the hole is\nexplained by saying that when the bead has just been conflated by the\nserpents jointly, one of the reptiles sticks his tail through the still\nviscous glass. An Englishman who visited Scotland in 1699 found many of\nthese beads in use throughout the country. They were hung from children\u2019s\nnecks to protect them from whooping cough and other ailments. Snake Stones\nwere, moreover, a charm to ensure prosperity in general and to repel evil\nspirits. When one of these priceless treasures was not on active service,\nthe owner kept it in an iron box to guard it against fairies, who, as is\nwell known, cannot abide iron.(40)\n\n(M15) Pliny mentions several medicinal plants, which, if they were to\nretain their healing virtue, ought not to be allowed to touch the\nearth.(41) The curious medical treatise of Marcellus, a native of Bordeaux\nin the fourth century of our era, abounds with prescriptions of this sort;\nand we can well believe the writer when he assures us that he borrowed\nmany of his quaint remedies from the lips of common folk and peasants\nrather than from the books of the learned.(42) Thus he tells us that\ncertain white stones found in the stomachs of young swallows assuage the\nmost persistent headache, always provided that their virtue be not\nimpaired by contact with the ground.(43) Another of his cures for the same\nmalady is a wreath of fleabane placed on the head, but it must not touch\nthe earth.(44) On the same condition a decoction of the root of elecampane\nin wine kills worms; a fern, found growing on a tree, relieves the\nstomach-ache; and the pastern-bone of a hare is an infallible remedy for\ncolic, provided, first, it be found in the dung of a wolf, second, that it\ndoes not touch the ground, and, third, that it is not touched by a\nwoman.(45) Another cure for colic is effected by certain hocus-pocus with\na scrap of wool from the forehead of a first-born lamb, if only the lamb,\ninstead of being allowed to fall to the ground, has been caught by hand as\nit dropped from its dam.(46) In Andjra, a district of Morocco, the people\nattribute many magical virtues to rain-water which has fallen on the\ntwenty-seventh day of April, Old Style; accordingly they collect it and\nuse it for a variety of purposes. Mixed with tar and sprinkled on the\ndoor-posts it prevents snakes and scorpions from entering the house:\nsprinkled on heaps of threshed corn it protects them from the evil eye:\nmixed with an egg, henna, and seeds of cress it is an invaluable medicine\nfor sick cows: poured over a plate, on which a passage of the Koran has\nbeen written, it strengthens the memory of schoolboys who drink it; and if\nyou mix it with cowdung and red earth and paint rings with the mixture\nround the trunks of your fig-trees at sunset on Midsummer Day, you may\ndepend on it that the trees will bear an excellent crop and will not shed\ntheir fruit untimely on the ground. But in order to preserve these\nremarkable properties it is absolutely essential that the water should on\nno account be allowed to touch the ground; some say too that it should not\nbe exposed to the sun nor breathed upon by anybody.(47) Again, the Moors\nascribe great magical efficacy to what they call \u201cthe sultan of the\noleander,\u201d which is a stalk of oleander with a cluster of four pairs of\nleaves springing from it. They think that the magical virtue is greatest\nif the stalk has been cut immediately before midsummer. But when the plant\nis brought into the house, the branches may not touch the ground, lest\nthey should lose their marvellous qualities.(48) In the olden days, before\na Lithuanian or Prussian farmer went forth to plough for the first time in\nspring, he called in a wizard to perform a certain ceremony for the good\nof the crops. The sage seized a mug of beer with his teeth, quaffed the\nliquor, and then tossed the mug over his head. This signified that the\ncorn in that year should grow taller than a man. But the mug might not\nfall to the ground; it had to be caught by somebody stationed at the\nwizard\u2019s back, for if it fell to the ground the consequence naturally\nwould be that the corn also would be laid low on the earth.(49)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 2. Not to see the Sun.\n\n\n(M16) The second rule to be here noted is that the sun may not shine upon\nthe divine person. This rule was observed both by the Mikado and by the\npontiff of the Zapotecs. The latter \u201cwas looked upon as a god whom the\nearth was not worthy to hold, nor the sun to shine upon.\u201d(50) The Japanese\nwould not allow that the Mikado should expose his sacred person to the\nopen air, and the sun was not thought worthy to shine on his head.(51) The\nIndians of Granada, in South America, \u201ckept those who were to be rulers or\ncommanders, whether men or women, locked up for several years when they\nwere children, some of them seven years, and this so close that they were\nnot to see the sun, for if they should happen to see it they forfeited\ntheir lordship, eating certain sorts of food appointed; and those who were\ntheir keepers at certain times went into their retreat or prison and\nscourged them severely.\u201d(52) Thus, for example, the heir to the throne of\nBogota, who was not the son but the sister\u2019s son of the king, had to\nundergo a rigorous training from his infancy: he lived in complete\nretirement in a temple, where he might not see the sun nor eat salt nor\nconverse with a woman: he was surrounded by guards who observed his\nconduct and noted all his actions: if he broke a single one of the rules\nlaid down for him, he was deemed infamous and forfeited all his rights to\nthe throne.(53) So, too, the heir to the kingdom of Sogamoso, before\nsucceeding to the crown, had to fast for seven years in the temple, being\nshut up in the dark and not allowed to see the sun or light.(54) The\nprince who was to become Inca of Peru had to fast for a month without\nseeing light.(55) On the day when a Brahman student of the Veda took a\nbath, to signify that the time of his studentship was at an end, he\nentered a cow-shed before sunrise, hung over the door a skin with the hair\ninside, and sat there; on that day the sun should not shine upon him.(56)\n\n(M17) Again, women after childbirth and their offspring are more or less\ntabooed all the world over; hence in Corea the rays of the sun are rigidly\nexcluded from both mother and child for a period of twenty-one or a\nhundred days, according to their rank, after the birth has taken\nplace.(57) Among some of the tribes on the north-west coast of New Guinea\na woman may not leave the house for months after childbirth. When she does\ngo out, she must cover her head with a hood or mat; for if the sun were to\nshine upon her, it is thought that one of her male relations would\ndie.(58) Again, mourners are everywhere taboo; accordingly in mourning the\nAinos of Japan wear peculiar caps in order that the sun may not shine upon\ntheir heads.(59) During a solemn fast of three days the Indians of Costa\nRica eat no salt, speak as little as possible, light no fires, and stay\nstrictly indoors, or if they go out during the day they carefully cover\nthemselves from the light of the sun, believing that exposure to the sun\u2019s\nrays would turn them black.(60) On Yule Night it has been customary in\nparts of Sweden from time immemorial to go on pilgrimage, whereby people\nlearn many secret things and know what is to happen in the coming year. As\na preparation for this pilgrimage, \u201csome secrete themselves for three days\npreviously in a dark cellar, so as to be shut out altogether from the\nlight of heaven. Others retire at an early hour of the preceding morning\nto some out-of-the-way place, such as a hay-loft, where they bury\nthemselves in the hay, that they may neither see nor hear any living\ncreature; and here they remain, in silence and fasting, until after\nsundown; whilst there are those who think it sufficient if they rigidly\nabstain from food on the day before commencing their wanderings. During\nthis period of probation a man ought not to see fire, but should this have\nhappened, he must strike a light with flint and steel, whereby the evil\nthat would otherwise have ensued will be obviated.\u201d(61) During the sixteen\ndays that a Pima Indian is undergoing purification for killing an Apache\nhe may not see a blazing fire.(62)\n\n(M18) Acarnanian peasants tell of a handsome prince called Sunless, who\nwould die if he saw the sun. So he lived in an underground palace on the\nsite of the ancient Oeniadae, but at night he came forth and crossed the\nriver to visit a famous enchantress who dwelt in a castle on the further\nbank. She was loth to part with him every night long before the sun was\nup, and as he turned a deaf ear to all her entreaties to linger, she hit\nupon the device of cutting the throats of all the cocks in the\nneighbourhood. So the prince, whose ear had learned to expect the shrill\nclarion of the birds as the signal of the growing light, tarried too long,\nand hardly had he reached the ford when the sun rose over the Aetolian\nmountains, and its fatal beams fell on him before he could regain his dark\nabode.(63)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II. THE SECLUSION OF GIRLS AT PUBERTY.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 1. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in Africa.\n\n\n(M19) Now it is remarkable that the foregoing two rules\u2014not to touch the\nground and not to see the sun\u2014are observed either separately or conjointly\nby girls at puberty in many parts of the world. Thus amongst the negroes\nof Loango girls at puberty are confined in separate huts, and they may not\ntouch the ground with any part of their bare body.(64) Among the Zulus and\nkindred tribes of South Africa, when the first signs of puberty shew\nthemselves \u201cwhile a girl is walking, gathering wood, or working in the\nfield, she runs to the river and hides herself among the reeds for the\nday, so as not to be seen by men. She covers her head carefully with her\nblanket that the sun may not shine on it and shrivel her up into a\nwithered skeleton, as would result from exposure to the sun\u2019s beams. After\ndark she returns to her home and is secluded\u201d in a hut for some time.(65)\nDuring her seclusion, which lasts for about a fortnight, neither she nor\nthe girls who wait upon her may drink any milk, lest the cattle should\ndie. And should she be overtaken by the first flow while she is in the\nfields, she must, after hiding in the bush, scrupulously avoid all\npathways in returning home.(66) A reason for this avoidance is assigned by\nthe A-Kamba of British East Africa, whose girls under similar\ncircumstances observe the same rule. \u201cA girl\u2019s first menstruation is a\nvery critical period of her life according to A-Kamba beliefs. If this\ncondition appears when she is away from the village, say at work in the\nfields, she returns at once to her village, but is careful to walk through\nthe grass and not on a path, for if she followed a path and a stranger\naccidentally trod on a spot of blood and then cohabited with a member of\nthe opposite sex before the girl was better again, it is believed that she\nwould never bear a child.\u201d She remains at home till the symptoms have\nceased, and during this time she may be fed by none but her mother. When\nthe flux is over, her father and mother are bound to cohabit with each\nother, else it is believed that the girl would be barren all her life.(67)\nSimilarly, among the Baganda, when a girl menstruated for the first time\nshe was secluded and not allowed to handle food; and at the end of her\nseclusion the kinsman with whom she was staying (for among the Baganda\nyoung people did not reside with their parents) was obliged to jump over\nhis wife, which with the Baganda is regarded as equivalent to having\nintercourse with her. Should the girl happen to be living near her parents\nat the moment when she attained to puberty, she was expected on her\nrecovery to inform them of the fact, whereupon her father jumped over her\nmother. Were this custom omitted, the Baganda, like the A-Kamba, thought\nthat the girl would never have children or that they would die in\ninfancy.(68) Thus the pretence of sexual intercourse between the parents\nor other relatives of the girl was a magical ceremony to ensure her\nfertility. It is significant that among the Baganda the first menstruation\nwas often called a marriage, and the girl was spoken of as a bride.(69)\nThese terms so applied point to a belief like that of the Siamese, that a\ngirl\u2019s first menstruation results from her defloration by one of a host of\naerial spirits, and that the wound thus inflicted is repeated afterwards\nevery month by the same ghostly agency.(70) For a like reason, probably,\nthe Baganda imagine that a woman who does not menstruate exerts a malign\ninfluence on gardens and makes them barren(71) if she works in them. For\nnot being herself fertilized by a spirit, how can she fertilize the\ngarden?\n\n(M20) Among the Amambwe, Winamwanga, Alungu, and other tribes of the great\nplateau to the west of Lake Tanganyika, \u201cwhen a young girl knows that she\nhas attained puberty, she forthwith leaves her mother\u2019s hut, and hides\nherself in the long grass near the village, covering her face with a cloth\nand weeping bitterly. Towards sunset one of the older women\u2014who, as\ndirectress of the ceremonies, is called _nachimbusa_\u2014follows her, places a\ncooking-pot by the cross-roads, and boils therein a concoction of various\nherbs, with which she anoints the neophyte. At nightfall the girl is\ncarried on the old woman\u2019s back to her mother\u2019s hut. When the customary\nperiod of a few days has elapsed, she is allowed to cook again, after\nfirst whitewashing the floor of the hut. But, by the following month, the\npreparations for her initiation are complete. The novice must remain in\nher hut throughout the whole period of initiation, and is carefully\nguarded by the old women, who accompany her whenever she leaves her\nquarters, veiling her head with a native cloth. The ceremonies last for at\nleast one month.\u201d During this period of seclusion, drumming and songs are\nkept up within the mother\u2019s hut by the village women, and no male, except,\nit is said, the father of twins, is allowed to enter. The directress of\nthe rites and the older women instruct the young girl as to the elementary\nfacts of life, the duties of marriage, and the rules of conduct, decorum,\nand hospitality to be observed by a married woman. Amongst other things\nthe damsel must submit to a series of tests such as leaping over fences,\nthrusting her head into a collar made of thorns, and so on. The lessons\nwhich she receives are illustrated by mud figures of animals and of the\ncommon objects of domestic life. Moreover, the directress of studies\nembellishes the walls of the hut with rude pictures, each with its special\nsignificance and song, which must be understood and learned by the\ngirl.(72) In the foregoing account the rule that a damsel at puberty may\nneither see the sun nor touch the ground seems implied by the statement\nthat on the first discovery of her condition she hides in long grass and\nis carried home after sunset on the back of an old woman.\n\n(M21) Among the Nyanja-speaking tribes of Central Angoniland, in British\nCentral Africa, when a young girl finds that she has become a woman, she\nstands silent by the pathway leading to the village, her face wrapt in her\ncalico. An old woman, finding her there, takes her off to a stream to\nbathe; after that the girl is secluded for six days in the old woman\u2019s\nhut. She eats her porridge out of an old basket and her relish, in which\nno salt is put, from a potsherd. The basket is afterwards thrown away. On\nthe seventh day the aged matrons gather together, go with the girl to a\nstream, and throw her into the water. In returning they sing songs, and\nthe old woman, who directs the proceedings, carries the maiden on her\nback. Then they spread a mat and fetch her husband and set the two down on\nthe mat and shave his head. When it is dark, the old women escort the girl\nto her husband\u2019s hut. There the _ndiwo_ relish is cooking on the fire.\nDuring the night the woman rises and puts some salt in the pot. Next\nmorning, before dawn, while all is dark and the villagers have not yet\nopened their doors, the young married woman goes off and gives some of the\nrelish to her mother and to the old woman who was mistress of the\nceremony. This relish she sets down at the doors of their houses and goes\naway. And in the morning, when the sun has risen and all is light in the\nvillage, the two women open their doors, and there they find the relish\nwith the salt in it; and they take of it and rub it on their feet and\nunder their arm-pits; and if there are little children in the house, they\neat of it. And if the young wife has a kinsman who is absent from the\nvillage, some of the relish is put on a splinter of bamboo and kept\nagainst his return, that when he comes he, too, may rub his feet with it.\nBut if the woman finds that her husband is impotent, she does not rise\nbetimes and go out in the dark to lay the relish at the doors of her\nmother and the old woman. And in the morning, when the sun is up and all\nthe village is light, the old women open their doors, and see no relish\nthere, and they know what has happened, and so they go wilily to work. For\nthey persuade the husband to consult the diviner that he may discover how\nto cure his impotence; and while he is closeted with the wizard, they\nfetch another man, who finishes the ceremony with the young wife, in order\nthat the relish may be given out and that people may rub their feet with\nit. But if it happens that when a girl comes to maturity she is not yet\nbetrothed to any man, and therefore has no husband to go to, the matrons\ntell her that she must go to a lover instead. And this is the custom which\nthey call _chigango_. So in the evening she takes her cooking pot and\nrelish and hies away to the quarters of the young bachelors, and they very\ncivilly sleep somewhere else that night. And in the morning the girl goes\nback to the _kuka_ hut.(73)\n\n(M22) From the foregoing account it appears that among these tribes no\nsooner has a girl attained to womanhood than she is expected and indeed\nrequired to give proof of her newly acquired powers by cohabiting with a\nman, whether her husband or another. And the abstinence from salt during\nthe girl\u2019s seclusion is all the more remarkable because as soon as the\nseclusion is over she has to use salt for a particular purpose, to which\nthe people evidently attach very great importance, since in the event of\nher husband proving impotent she is even compelled, apparently, to commit\nadultery in order that the salted relish may be given out as usual. In\nthis connexion it deserves to be noted that among the Wagogo of German\nEast Africa women at their monthly periods may not sleep with their\nhusbands and may not put salt in food.(74) A similar rule is observed by\nthe Nyanja-speaking tribes of Central Angoniland, with whose puberty\ncustoms we are here concerned. Among them, we are told, \u201csome superstition\nexists with regard to the use of salt. A woman during her monthly sickness\nmust on no account put salt into any food she is cooking, lest she give\nher husband or children a disease called _tsempo_ (_chitsoko soko_), but\ncalls a child to put it in, or, as the song goes, \u2018_Natira mchere ni bondo\nchifukwa n\u2019kupanda mwana_,\u2019 and pours in the salt by placing it on her\nknee, because there is no child handy. Should a party of villagers have\ngone to make salt, all sexual intercourse is forbidden among the people of\nthe village, until the people who have gone to make the salt (from grass)\nreturn. When they do come back, they must make their entry into the\nvillage at night, and no one must see them. Then one of the elders of the\nvillage sleeps with his wife. She then cooks some relish, into which she\nputs some of the salt. This relish is handed round to the people who went\nto make the salt, who rub it on their feet and under their armpits.\u201d(75)\nHence it would seem that in the mind of these people abstinence from salt\nis somehow associated with the idea of chastity. The same association\nmeets us in the customs of many peoples in various parts of the world. For\nexample, ancient Hindoo ritual prescribed that for three nights after a\nhusband had brought his bride home, the two should sleep on the ground,\nremain chaste, and eat no salt.(76) Among the Baganda, when a man was\nmaking a net, he had to refrain from eating salt and meat and from living\nwith his wife; these restrictions he observed until the net took its first\ncatch of fish. Similarly, so long as a fisherman\u2019s nets or traps were in\nthe water, he must live apart from his wife, and neither he nor she nor\ntheir children might eat salt or meat.(77) Evidence of the same sort could\nbe multiplied,(78) but without going into it further we may say that for\nsome reason which is not obvious to us primitive man connects salt with\nthe intercourse of the sexes and therefore forbids the use of that\ncondiment in a variety of circumstances in which he deems continence\nnecessary or desirable. As there is nothing which the savage regards as a\ngreater bar between the sexes than the state of menstruation, he naturally\nprohibits the use of salt to women and girls at their monthly periods.\n\n(M23) With the Awa-nkonde, a tribe at the northern end of Lake Nyassa, it\nis a rule that after her first menstruation a girl must be kept apart,\nwith a few companions of her own sex, in a darkened house. The floor is\ncovered with dry banana leaves, but no fire may be lit in the house, which\nis called \u201cthe house of the Awasungu,\u201d that is, \u201cof maidens who have no\nhearts.\u201d(79) When a girl reaches puberty, the Wafiomi of Eastern Africa\nhold a festival at which they make a noise with a peculiar kind of rattle.\nAfter that the girl remains for a year in the large common hut (_tembe_),\nwhere she occupies a special compartment screened off from the men\u2019s\nquarters. She may not cut her hair or touch food, but is fed by other\nwomen. At night, however, she quits the hut and dances with young men.(80)\nAmong the Barotse or Marotse of the upper Zambesi, \u201cwhen a girl arrives at\nthe age of puberty she is sent into the fields, where a hut is constructed\nfar from the village. There, with two or three companions, she spends a\nmonth, returning home late and starting before dawn in order not to be\nseen by the men. The women of the village visit her, bringing food and\nhoney, and singing and dancing to amuse her. At the end of a month her\nhusband comes and fetches her. It is only after this ceremony that women\nhave the right to smear themselves with ochre.\u201d(81) We may suspect that\nthe chief reason why the girl during her seclusion may visit her home only\nby night is a fear, not so much lest she should be seen by men, as that\nshe might be seen by the sun. Among the Wafiomi, as we have just learned,\nthe young woman in similar circumstances is even free to dance with men,\nprovided always that the dance is danced at night. The ceremonies among\nthe Barotse or Marotse are somewhat more elaborate for a girl of the royal\nfamily. She is shut up for three months in a place which is kept secret\nfrom the public; only the women of her family know where it is. There she\nsits alone in the darkness of the hut, waited on by female slaves, who are\nstrictly forbidden to speak and may communicate with her and with each\nother only by signs. During all this time, though she does nothing, she\neats much, and when at last she comes forth, her appearance is quite\nchanged, so fat has she grown. She is then led by night to the river and\nbathed in presence of all the women of the village. Next day she flaunts\nbefore the public in her gayest attire, her head bedecked with ornaments\nand her face mottled with red paint. So everybody knows what has\nhappened.(82)\n\n(M24) Among the northern clans of the Thonga tribe, in South-Eastern\nAfrica, about Delagoa Bay, when a girl thinks that the time of her\nnubility is near, she chooses an adoptive mother, perhaps in a\nneighbouring village. When the symptoms appear, she flies away from her\nown village and repairs to that of her adopted mother \u201cto weep near her.\u201d\nAfter that she is secluded with several other girls in the same condition\nfor a month. They are shut up in a hut, and whenever they come outside\nthey must wear a dirty greasy cloth over their faces as a veil. Every\nmorning they are led to a pool and plunged in the water up to their necks.\nInitiated girls or women accompany them, singing obscene songs and driving\naway with sticks any man who meets them; for no man may see a girl during\nthis time of seclusion. If he saw her, it is said that he would be struck\nblind. On their return from the river, the girls are again imprisoned in\nthe hut, where they remain wet and shivering, for they may not go near the\nfire to warm themselves. During their seclusion they listen to lascivious\nsongs sung by grown women and are instructed in sexual matters. At the end\nof the month the adoptive mother brings the girl home to her true mother\nand presents her with a pot of beer.(83)\n\n(M25) Among the Caffre tribes of South Africa the period of a girl\u2019s\nseclusion at puberty varies with the rank of her father. If he is a rich\nman, it may last twelve days; if he is a chief, it may last twenty-four\ndays.(84) And when it is over, the girl rubs herself over with red earth,\nand strews finely powdered red earth on the ground, before she leaves the\nhut where she has been shut up. Finally, though she was forbidden to drink\nmilk all the days of her separation, she washes out her mouth with milk,\nand is from that moment regarded as a full-grown woman.(85) Afterwards, in\nthe dusk of the evening, she carries away all the objects with which she\ncame into contact in the hut during her seclusion and buries them secretly\nin a sequestered spot.(86) When the girl is a chief\u2019s daughter the\nceremonies at her liberation from the hut are more elaborate than usual.\nShe is led forth from the hut by a son of her father\u2019s councillor, who,\nwearing the wings of a blue crane, the badge of bravery, on his head,\nescorts her to the cattle kraal, where cows are slaughtered and dancing\ntakes place. Large skins full of milk are sent to the spot from\nneighbouring villages; and after the dances are over the girl drinks milk\nfor the first time since the day she entered into retreat. But the first\nmouthful is drunk by the girl\u2019s aunt or other female relative who had\ncharge of her during her seclusion; and a little of it is poured on the\nfire-place.(87) Amongst the Zulus, when the girl was a princess royal, the\nend of her time of separation was celebrated by a sort of saturnalia: law\nand order were for the time being in abeyance: every man, woman, and child\nmight appropriate any article of property: the king abstained from\ninterfering; and if during this reign of misrule he was robbed of anything\nhe valued he could only recover it by paying a fine.(88) Among the\nBasutos, when girls at puberty are bathed as usual by the matrons in a\nriver, they are hidden separately in the turns and bends of the stream,\nand told to cover their heads, as they will be visited by a large serpent.\nTheir limbs are then plastered with clay, little masks of straw are put on\ntheir faces, and thus arrayed they daily follow each other in procession,\nsinging melancholy airs, to the fields, there to learn the labours of\nhusbandry in which a great part of their adult life will be passed.(89) We\nmay suppose, though we are not told, that the straw masks which they wear\nin these processions are intended to hide their faces from the gaze of men\nand the rays of the sun.\n\n(M26) Among the tribes in the lower valley of the Congo, such as the\nBavili, when a girl arrives at puberty, she has to pass two or three\nmonths in seclusion in a small hut built for the purpose. The hair of her\nhead is shaved off, and every day the whole of her body is smeared with a\nred paint (_takulla_) made from a powdered wood mixed with water. Some of\nher companions reside in the hut with her and prepare the paint for her\nuse. A woman is appointed to take charge of the hut and to keep off\nintruders. At the end of her confinement she is taken to water by the\nwomen of her family and bathed; the paint is rubbed off her body, her arms\nand legs are loaded with brass rings, and she is led in solemn procession\nunder an umbrella to her husband\u2019s house. If these ceremonies were not\nperformed, the people believe that the girl would be barren or would give\nbirth to monsters, that the rain would cease to fall, the earth to bear\nfruit, and the fishing to be successful.(90) Such serious importance do\nthese savages ascribe to the performance of rites which to us seem so\nchildish.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 2. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in New Ireland, New Guinea, and\nIndonesia.\n\n\n(M27) In New Ireland girls are confined for four or five years in small\ncages, being kept in the dark and not allowed to set foot on the ground.\nThe custom has been thus described by an eye-witness. \u201cI heard from a\nteacher about some strange custom connected with some of the young girls\nhere, so I asked the chief to take me to the house where they were. The\nhouse was about twenty-five feet in length, and stood in a reed and bamboo\nenclosure, across the entrance to which a bundle of dried grass was\nsuspended to show that it was strictly \u2018_tabu_.\u2019 Inside the house were\nthree conical structures about seven or eight feet in height, and about\nten or twelve feet in circumference at the bottom, and for about four feet\nfrom the ground, at which point they tapered off to a point at the top.\nThese cages were made of the broad leaves of the pandanus-tree, sewn quite\nclose together so that no light and little or no air could enter. On one\nside of each is an opening which is closed by a double door of plaited\ncocoa-nut tree and pandanus-tree leaves. About three feet from the ground\nthere is a stage of bamboos which forms the floor. In each of these cages\nwe were told there was a young woman confined, each of whom had to remain\nfor at least four or five years, without ever being allowed to go outside\nthe house. I could scarcely credit the story when I heard it; the whole\nthing seemed too horrible to be true. I spoke to the chief, and told him\nthat I wished to see the inside of the cages, and also to see the girls\nthat I might make them a present of a few beads. He told me that it was\n\u2018_tabu_,\u2019 forbidden for any men but their own relations to look at them;\nbut I suppose the promised beads acted as an inducement, and so he sent\naway for some old lady who had charge, and who alone is allowed to open\nthe doors. While we were waiting we could hear the girls talking to the\nchief in a querulous way as if objecting to something or expressing their\nfears. The old woman came at length and certainly she did not seem a very\npleasant jailor or guardian; nor did she seem to favour the request of the\nchief to allow us to see the girls, as she regarded us with anything but\npleasant looks. However, she had to undo the door when the chief told her\nto do so, and then the girls peeped out at us, and, when told to do so,\nthey held out their hands for the beads. I, however, purposely sat at some\ndistance away and merely held out the beads to them, as I wished to draw\nthem quite outside, that I might inspect the inside of the cages. This\ndesire of mine gave rise to another difficulty, as these girls were not\nallowed to put their feet to the ground all the time they were confined in\nthese places. However, they wished to get the beads, and so the old lady\nhad to go outside and collect a lot of pieces of wood and bamboo, which\nshe placed on the ground, and then going to one of the girls, she helped\nher down and held her hand as she stepped from one piece of wood to\nanother until she came near enough to get the beads I held out to her. I\nthen went to inspect the inside of the cage out of which she had come, but\ncould scarcely put my head inside of it, the atmosphere was so hot and\nstifling. It was clean and contained nothing but a few short lengths of\nbamboo for holding water. There was only room for the girl to sit or lie\ndown in a crouched position on the bamboo platform, and when the doors are\nshut it must be nearly or quite dark inside. The girls are never allowed\nto come out except once a day to bathe in a dish or wooden bowl placed\nclose to each cage. They say that they perspire profusely. They are placed\nin these stifling cages when quite young, and must remain there until they\nare young women, when they are taken out and have each a great marriage\nfeast provided for them. One of them was about fourteen or fifteen years\nold, and the chief told us that she had been there for five years, but\nwould soon be taken out now. The other two were about eight and ten years\nold, and they have to stay there for several years longer.\u201d(91) A more\nrecent observer has described the custom as it is observed on the western\ncoast of New Ireland. He says: \u201cA _buck_ is the name of a little house,\nnot larger than an ordinary hen-coop, in which a little girl is shut up,\nsometimes for weeks only, and at other times for months.... Briefly\nstated, the custom is this. Girls, on attaining puberty or betrothal, are\nenclosed in one of these little coops for a considerable time. They must\nremain there night and day. We saw two of these girls in two coops; the\ngirls were not more than ten years old, still they were lying in a\ndoubled-up position, as their little houses would not admit of them lying\nin any other way. These two coops were inside a large house; but the\nchief, in consideration of a present of a couple of tomahawks, ordered the\nends to be torn out of the house to admit the light, so that we might\nphotograph the _buck_. The occupant was allowed to put her face through an\nopening to be photographed, in consideration of another present.\u201d(92) As a\nconsequence of their long enforced idleness in the shade the girls grow\nfat and their dusky complexion bleaches to a more pallid hue. Both their\ncorpulence and their pallor are regarded as beauties.(93)\n\n(M28) In Kabadi, a district of British New Guinea, \u201cdaughters of chiefs,\nwhen they are about twelve or thirteen years of age, are kept indoors for\ntwo or three years, never being allowed, under any pretence, to descend\nfrom the house, and the house is so shaded that the sun cannot shine on\nthem.\u201d(94) Among the Yabim and Bukaua, two neighbouring and kindred tribes\non the coast of German New Guinea, a girl at puberty is secluded for some\nfive or six weeks in an inner part of the house; but she may not sit on\nthe floor, lest her uncleanness should cleave to it, so a log of wood is\nplaced for her to squat on. Moreover, she may not touch the ground with\nher feet; hence if she is obliged to quit the house for a short time, she\nis muffled up in mats and walks on two halves of a coco-nut shell, which\nare fastened like sandals to her feet by creeping plants. During her\nseclusion she is in charge of her aunts or other female relatives. At the\nend of the time she bathes, her person is loaded with ornaments, her face\nis grotesquely painted with red stripes on a white ground, and thus\nadorned she is brought forth in public to be admired by everybody. She is\nnow marriageable.(95) Among the Ot Danoms of Borneo girls at the age of\neight or ten years are shut up in a little room or cell of the house, and\ncut off from all intercourse with the world for a long time. The cell,\nlike the rest of the house, is raised on piles above the ground, and is\nlit by a single small window opening on a lonely place, so that the girl\nis in almost total darkness. She may not leave the room on any pretext\nwhatever, not even for the most necessary purposes. None of her family may\nsee her all the time she is shut up, but a single slave woman is appointed\nto wait on her. During her lonely confinement, which often lasts seven\nyears, the girl occupies herself in weaving mats or with other handiwork.\nHer bodily growth is stunted by the long want of exercise, and when, on\nattaining womanhood, she is brought out, her complexion is pale and\nwax-like. She is now shewn the sun, the earth, the water, the trees, and\nthe flowers, as if she were newly born. Then a great feast is made, a\nslave is killed, and the girl is smeared with his blood.(96) In Ceram\ngirls at puberty were formerly shut up by themselves in a hut which was\nkept dark.(97) In Yap, one of the Caroline Islands, should a girl be\novertaken by her first menstruation on the public road, she may not sit\ndown on the earth, but must beg for a coco-nut shell to put under her. She\nis shut up for several days in a small hut at a distance from her parents\u2019\nhouse, and afterwards she is bound to sleep for a hundred days in one of\nthe special houses which are provided for the use of menstruous women.(98)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 3. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in the Torres Straits Islands and\nNorthern Australia.\n\n\n(M29) In the island of Mabuiag, Torres Straits, when the signs of puberty\nappear on a girl, a circle of bushes is made in a dark corner of the\nhouse. Here, decked with shoulder-belts, armlets, leglets just below the\nknees, and anklets, wearing a chaplet on her head, and shell ornaments in\nher ears, on her chest, and on her back, she squats in the midst of the\nbushes, which are piled so high round about her that only her head is\nvisible. In this state of seclusion she must remain for three months. All\nthis time the sun may not shine upon her, but at night she is allowed to\nslip out of the hut, and the bushes that hedge her in are then changed.\nShe may not feed herself or handle food, but is fed by one or two old\nwomen, her maternal aunts, who are especially appointed to look after her.\nOne of these women cooks food for her at a special fire in the forest. The\ngirl is forbidden to eat turtle or turtle eggs during the season when the\nturtles are breeding; but no vegetable food is refused her. No man, not\neven her own father, may come into the house while her seclusion lasts;\nfor if her father saw her at this time he would certainly have bad luck in\nhis fishing, and would probably smash his canoe the very next time he went\nout in it. At the end of the three months she is carried down to a\nfresh-water creek by her attendants, hanging on to their shoulders in such\na way that her feet do not touch the ground, while the women of the tribe\nform a ring round her, and thus escort her to the beach. Arrived at the\nshore, she is stripped of her ornaments, and the bearers stagger with her\ninto the creek, where they immerse her, and all the other women join in\nsplashing water over both the girl and her bearers. When they come out of\nthe water one of the two attendants makes a heap of grass for her charge\nto squat upon. The other runs to the reef, catches a small crab, tears off\nits claws, and hastens back with them to the creek. Here in the meantime a\nfire has been kindled, and the claws are roasted at it. The girl is then\nfed by her attendants with the roasted claws. After that she is freshly\ndecorated, and the whole party marches back to the village in a single\nrank, the girl walking in the centre between her two old aunts, who hold\nher by the wrists. The husbands of her aunts now receive her and lead her\ninto the house of one of them, where all partake of food, and the girl is\nallowed once more to feed herself in the usual manner. A dance follows, in\nwhich the girl takes a prominent part, dancing between the husbands of the\ntwo aunts who had charge of her in her retirement.(99)\n\n(M30) Among the Yaraikanna tribe of Cape York Peninsula, in Northern\nQueensland, a girl at puberty is said to live by herself for a month or\nsix weeks; no man may see her, though any woman may. She stays in a hut or\nshelter specially made for her, on the floor of which she lies supine. She\nmay not see the sun, and towards sunset she must keep her eyes shut until\nthe sun has gone down, otherwise it is thought that her nose will be\ndiseased. During her seclusion she may eat nothing that lives in salt\nwater, or a snake would kill her. An old woman waits upon her and supplies\nher with roots, yams, and water.(100) Some tribes are wont to bury their\ngirls at such seasons more or less deeply in the ground, perhaps in order\nto hide them from the light of the sun. Thus the Larrakeeyah tribe in the\nnorthern territory of South Australia used to cover a girl up with dirt\nfor three days at her first monthly period.(101) In similar circumstances\nthe Otati tribe, on the east coast of the Cape York Peninsula, make an\nexcavation in the ground, where the girl squats. A bower is then built\nover the hole, and sand is thrown on the young woman till she is covered\nup to the hips. In this condition she remains for the first day, but comes\nout at night. So long as the period lasts, she stays in the bower during\nthe day-time, but is not again covered with sand. Afterwards her body is\npainted red and white from the head to the hips, and she returns to the\ncamp, where she squats first on the right side, then on the left side, and\nthen on the lap of her future husband, who has been previously selected\nfor her.(102) Among the natives of the Pennefather River, in the Cape York\nPeninsula, Queensland, when a girl menstruates for the first time, her\nmother takes her away from the camp to some secluded spot, where she digs\na circular hole in the sandy soil under the shade of a tree. In this hole\nthe girl squats with crossed legs and is covered with sand from the waist\ndownwards. A digging-stick is planted firmly in the sand on each side of\nher, and the place is surrounded by a fence of bushes except in front,\nwhere her mother kindles a fire. Here the girl stays all day, sitting with\nher arms crossed and the palms of her hands resting on the sand. She may\nnot move her arms except to take food from her mother or to scratch\nherself; and in scratching herself she may not touch herself with her own\nhands, but must use for the purpose a splinter of wood, which, when it is\nnot in use, is stuck in her hair. She may speak to nobody but her mother;\nindeed nobody else would think of coming near her. At evening she lays\nhold of the two digging-sticks and by their help frees herself from the\nsuperincumbent weight of sand and returns to the camp. Next morning she is\nagain buried in the sand under the shade of the tree and remains there\nagain till evening. This she does daily for five days. On her return at\nevening on the fifth day her mother decorates her with a waist-band, a\nforehead-band, and a necklet of pearl-shell, ties green parrot feathers\nround her arms and wrists and across her chest, and smears her body, back\nand front, from the waist upwards with blotches of red, white, and yellow\npaint. She has in like manner to be buried in the sand at her second and\nthird menstruations, but at the fourth she is allowed to remain in camp,\nonly signifying her condition by wearing a basket of empty shells on her\nback.(103) Among the Kia blacks of the Prosperine River, on the east coast\nof Queensland, a girl at puberty has to sit or lie down in a shallow pit\naway from the camp; a rough hut of bushes is erected over her to protect\nher from the inclemency of the weather. There she stays for about a week,\nwaited on by her mother and sister, the only persons to whom she may\nspeak. She is allowed to drink water, but may not touch it with her hands;\nand she may scratch herself a little with a mussel-shell. This seclusion\nis repeated at her second and third monthly periods, but when the third is\nover she is brought to her husband bedecked with savage finery. Eagle-hawk\nor cockatoo feathers are stuck in her hair: a shell hangs over her\nforehead: grass bugles encircle her neck and an apron of opossum skin her\nwaist: strings are tied to her arms and wrists; and her whole body is\nmottled with patterns drawn in red, white, and yellow pigments and\ncharcoal.(104)\n\n(M31) Among the Uiyumkwi tribe in Red Island the girl lies at full length\nin a shallow trench dug in the foreshore, and sand is lightly thrown over\nher legs and body up to the breasts, which appear not to be covered. A\nrough shelter of boughs is then built over her, and thus she remains lying\nfor a few hours. Then she and her attendant go into the bush and look for\nfood, which they cook at a fire close to the shelter. They sleep under the\nboughs, the girl remaining secluded from the camp but apparently not being\nagain buried. At the end of the symptoms she stands over hot stones and\nwater is poured over her, till, trickling from her body on the stones, it\nis converted into steam and envelops her in a cloud of vapour. Then she is\npainted with red and white stripes and returns to the camp. If her future\nhusband has already been chosen, she goes to him and they eat some food\ntogether, which the girl has previously brought from the bush.(105) In\nPrince of Wales Island, Torres Strait, the treatment of the patient is\nsimilar, but lasts for about two months. During the day she lies covered\nup with sand in a shallow hole on the beach, over which a hut is built. At\nnight she may get out of the hole, but she may not leave the hut. Her\npaternal aunt looks after her, and both of them must abstain from eating\nturtle, dugong, and the heads of fish. Were they to eat the heads of fish\nno more fish would be caught. During the time of the girl\u2019s seclusion, the\naunt who waits upon her has the right to enter any house and take from it\nanything she likes without payment, provided she does so before the sun\nrises. When the time of her retirement has come to an end, the girl bathes\nin the sea while the morning star is rising, and after performing various\nother ceremonies is readmitted to society.(106) In Saibai, another island\nof Torres Straits, at her first monthly sickness a girl lives secluded in\nthe forest for about a fortnight, during which no man may see her; even\nthe women who have spoken to her in the forest must wash in salt water\nbefore they speak to a man. Two girls wait upon and feed the damsel,\nputting the food into her mouth, for she is not allowed to touch it with\nher own hands. Nor may she eat dugong and turtle. At the end of a\nfortnight the girl and her attendants bathe in salt water while the tide\nis running out. Afterwards they are clean, may again speak to men without\nceremony, and move freely about the village. In Yam and Tutu a girl at\npuberty retires for a month to the forest, where no man nor even her own\nmother may look upon her. She is waited on by women who stand to her in a\ncertain relationship (_mowai_), apparently her paternal aunts. She is\nblackened all over with charcoal and wears a long petticoat reaching below\nher knees. During her seclusion the married women of the village often\nassemble in the forest and dance, and the girl\u2019s aunts relieve the tedium\nof the proceedings by thrashing her from time to time as a useful\npreparation for matrimony. At the end of a month the whole party go into\nthe sea, and the charcoal is washed off the girl. After that she is\ndecorated, her body blackened again, her hair reddened with ochre, and in\nthe evening she is brought back to her father\u2019s house, where she is\nreceived with weeping and lamentation because she has been so long\naway.(107)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 4. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty among the Indians of North America.\n\n\n(M32) Among the Indians of California a girl at her first menstruation\n\u201cwas thought to be possessed of a particular degree of supernatural power,\nand this was not always regarded as entirely defiling or malevolent.\nOften, however, there was a strong feeling of the power of evil inherent\nin her condition. Not only was she secluded from her family and the\ncommunity, but an attempt was made to seclude the world from her. One of\nthe injunctions most strongly laid upon her was not to look about her. She\nkept her head bowed and was forbidden to see the world and the sun. Some\ntribes covered her with a blanket. Many of the customs in this connection\nresembled those of the North Pacific Coast most strongly, such as the\nprohibition to the girl to touch or scratch her head with her hand, a\nspecial implement being furnished her for the purpose. Sometimes she could\neat only when fed and in other cases fasted altogether. Some form of\npublic ceremony, often accompanied by a dance and sometimes by a form of\nordeal for the girl, was practised nearly everywhere. Such ceremonies were\nwell developed in Southern California, where a number of actions\nsymbolical of the girl\u2019s maturity and subsequent life were\nperformed.\u201d(108) Thus among the Maidu Indians of California a girl at\npuberty remained shut up in a small separate hut. For five days she might\nnot eat flesh or fish nor feed herself, but was fed by her mother or other\nold woman. She had a basket, plate, and cup for her own use, and a stick\nwith which to scratch her head, for she might not scratch it with her\nfingers. At the end of five days she took a warm bath and, while she still\nremained in the hut and plied the scratching-stick on her head, was\nprivileged to feed herself with her own hands. After five days more she\nbathed in the river, after which her parents gave a great feast in her\nhonour. At the feast the girl was dressed in her best, and anybody might\nask her parents for anything he pleased, and they had to give it, even if\nit was the hand of their daughter in marriage. During the period of her\nseclusion in the hut the girl was allowed to go by night to her parents\u2019\nhouse and listen to songs sung by her friends and relations, who assembled\nfor the purpose. Among the songs were some that related to the different\nroots and seeds which in these tribes it is the business of women to\ngather for food. While the singers sang, she sat by herself in a corner of\nthe house muffled up completely in mats and skins; no man or boy might\ncome near her.(109) Among the Hupa, another Indian tribe of California,\nwhen a girl had reached maturity her male relatives danced all night for\nnine successive nights, while the girl remained apart, eating no meat and\nblindfolded. But on the tenth night she entered the house and took part in\nthe last dance.(110) Among the Wintun, another Californian tribe, a girl\nat puberty was banished from the camp and lived alone in a distant booth,\nfasting rigidly from animal food; it was death to any person to touch or\neven approach her.(111)\n\n(M33) In the interior of Washington State, about Colville, \u201cthe customs of\nthe Indians, in relation to the treatment of females, are singular. On the\nfirst appearance of the menses, they are furnished with provisions, and\nsent into the woods, to remain concealed for two days; for they have a\nsuperstition, that if a man should be seen or met with during that time,\ndeath will be the consequence. At the end of the second day, the woman is\npermitted to return to the lodge, when she is placed in a hut just large\nenough for her to lie in at full length, in which she is compelled to\nremain for twenty days, cut off from all communication with her friends,\nand is obliged to hide her face at the appearance of a man. Provisions are\nsupplied her daily. After this, she is required to perform repeated\nablutions, before she can resume her place in the family. At every return,\nthe women go into seclusion for two or more days.\u201d(112) Among the Chinook\nIndians who inhabited the coast of Washington State, from Shoalwater Bay\nas far as Grey\u2019s Harbour, when a chief\u2019s daughter attained to puberty, she\nwas hidden for five days from the view of the people; she might not look\nat them nor at the sky, nor might she pick berries. It was believed that\nif she were to look at the sky, the weather would be bad; that if she\npicked berries, it would rain; and that when she hung her towel of\ncedar-bark on a spruce-tree, the tree withered up at once. She went out of\nthe house by a separate door and bathed in a creek far from the village.\nShe fasted for some days, and for many days more she might not eat fresh\nfood.(113)\n\n(M34) Amongst the Aht or Nootka Indians of Vancouver Island, when girls\nreach puberty they are placed in a sort of gallery in the house \u201cand are\nthere surrounded completely with mats, so that neither the sun nor any\nfire can be seen. In this cage they remain for several days. Water is\ngiven them, but no food. The longer a girl remains in this retirement the\ngreater honour is it to the parents; but she is disgraced for life if it\nis known that she has seen fire or the sun during this initiatory\nordeal.\u201d(114) Pictures of the mythical thunder-bird are painted on the\nscreens behind which she hides. During her seclusion she may neither move\nnor lie down, but must always sit in a squatting posture. She may not\ntouch her hair with her hands, but is allowed to scratch her head with a\ncomb or a piece of bone provided for the purpose. To scratch her body is\nalso forbidden, as it is believed that every scratch would leave a scar.\nFor eight months after reaching maturity she may not eat any fresh food,\nparticularly salmon; moreover, she must eat by herself, and use a cup and\ndish of her own.(115)\n\n(M35) Among the Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands girls at\npuberty were secluded behind screens in the house for about twenty days.\nIn some parts of the islands separate fires were provided for the girls,\nand they went out and in by a separate door at the back of the house. If a\ngirl at such a time was obliged to go out by the front door, all the\nweapons, gambling-sticks, medicine, and other articles had to be removed\nfrom the house till her return, for otherwise it was thought that they\nwould be unlucky; and if there was a good hunter in the house, he also had\nto go out at the same time on pain of losing his good luck if he remained.\nDuring several months or even half a year the girl was bound to wear a\npeculiar cloak or hood made of cedar-bark, nearly conical in shape and\nreaching down below the breast, but open before the face. After the twenty\ndays were over the girl took a bath; none of the water might be spilled,\nit had all to be taken back to the woods, else the girl would not live\nlong. On the west coast of the islands the damsel might eat nothing but\nblack cod for four years; for the people believed that other kinds of fish\nwould become scarce if she partook of them. At Kloo the young woman at\nsuch times was forbidden to look at the sea, and for forty days she might\nnot gaze at the fire; for a whole year she might not walk on the beach\nbelow high-water mark, because then the tide would come in, covering part\nof the food supply, and there would be bad weather. For five years she\nmight not eat salmon, or the fish would be scarce; and when her family\nwent to a salmon-creek, she landed from the canoe at the mouth of the\ncreek and came to the smoke-house from behind; for were she to see a\nsalmon leap, all the salmon might leave the creek. Among the Haidas of\nMasset it was believed that if the girl looked at the sky, the weather\nwould be bad, and that if she stepped over a salmon-creek, all the salmon\nwould disappear.(116)\n\n(M36) Amongst the Tlingit (Thlinkeet) or Kolosh Indians of Alaska, when a\ngirl shewed signs of womanhood she used to be confined to a little hut or\ncage, which was completely blocked up with the exception of a small\nair-hole. In this dark and filthy abode she had to remain a year, without\nfire, exercise, or associates. Only her mother and a female slave might\nsupply her with nourishment. Her food was put in at the little window; she\nhad to drink out of the wing-bone of a white-headed eagle. The time of her\nseclusion was afterwards reduced in some places to six or three months or\neven less. She had to wear a sort of hat with long flaps, that her gaze\nmight not pollute the sky; for she was thought unfit for the sun to shine\nupon, and it was imagined that her look would destroy the luck of a\nhunter, fisher, or gambler, turn things to stone, and do other mischief.\nAt the end of her confinement her old clothes were burnt, new ones were\nmade, and a feast was given, at which a slit was cut in her under lip\nparallel to the mouth, and a piece of wood or shell was inserted to keep\nthe aperture open.(117)\n\n(M37) In the Tsetsaut tribe of British Columbia a girl at puberty wears a\nlarge hat of skin which comes down over her face and screens it from the\nsun. It is believed that if she were to expose her face to the sun or to\nthe sky, rain would fall. The hat protects her face also against the fire,\nwhich ought not to strike her skin; to shield her hands she wears mittens.\nIn her mouth she carries the tooth of an animal to prevent her own teeth\nfrom becoming hollow. For a whole year she may not see blood unless her\nface is blackened; otherwise she would grow blind. For two years she wears\nthe hat and lives in a hut by herself, although she is allowed to see\nother people. At the end of two years a man takes the hat from her head\nand throws it away.(118) In the Bilqula or Bella Coola tribe of British\nColumbia, when a girl attains puberty she must stay in the shed which\nserves as her bedroom, where she has a separate fireplace. She is not\nallowed to descend to the main part of the house, and may not sit by the\nfire of the family. For four days she is bound to remain motionless in a\nsitting posture. She fasts during the day, but is allowed a little food\nand drink very early in the morning. After the four days\u2019 seclusion she\nmay leave her room, but only through a separate opening cut in the floor,\nfor the houses are raised on piles. She may not yet come into the chief\nroom. In leaving the house she wears a large hat which protects her face\nagainst the rays of the sun. It is believed that if the sun were to shine\non her face her eyes would suffer. She may pick berries on the hills, but\nmay not come near the river or sea for a whole year. Were she to eat fresh\nsalmon she would lose her senses, or her mouth would be changed into a\nlong beak.(119)\n\n(M38) Among the Tinneh Indians about Stuart Lake, Babine Lake, and Fraser\nLake in British Columbia \u201cgirls verging on maturity, that is when their\nbreasts begin to form, take swans\u2019 feathers mixed with human hair and\nplait bands, which they tie round their wrists and ankles to secure long\nlife. At this time they are careful that the dishes out of which they eat,\nare used by no other person, and wholly devoted to their own use; during\nthis period they eat nothing but dog fish, and starvation _only_ will\ndrive them to eat either fresh fish or meat. When their first periodical\nsickness comes on, they are fed by their mothers or nearest female\nrelation by _themselves_, and on no account will they touch their food\nwith their own hands. They are at this time also careful not to touch\ntheir heads with their hands, and keep a small stick to scratch their\nheads with. They remain outside the lodge, all the time they are in this\nstate, in a hut made for the purpose. During all this period they wear a\nskull-cap made of skin to fit very tight; this is never taken off until\ntheir first monthly sickness ceases; they also wear a strip of black paint\nabout one inch wide across their eyes, and wear a fringe of shells, bones,\netc., hanging down from their foreheads to below their eyes; and this is\nnever taken off till the second monthly period arrives and ceases, when\nthe nearest male relative makes a feast; after which she is considered a\nfully matured woman; but she has to refrain from eating anything fresh for\none year after her first monthly sickness; she may however eat partridge,\nbut it must be cooked in the crop of the bird to render it harmless. I\nwould have thought it impossible to perform this feat had I not seen it\ndone. The crop is blown out, and a small bent willow put round the mouth;\nit is then filled with water, and the meat being first minced up, put in\nalso, then put on the fire and boiled till cooked. Their reason for\nhanging fringes before their eyes, is to hinder any bad medicine man from\nharming them during this critical period: they are very careful not to\ndrink whilst facing a medicine man, and do so only when their backs are\nturned to him. All these habits are left off when the girl is a recognised\nwoman, with the exception of their going out of the lodge and remaining in\na hut, every time their periodical sickness comes on. This is a rigidly\nobserved law with both single and married women.\u201d(120)\n\n(M39) Among the Hareskin Tinneh a girl at puberty was secluded for five\ndays in a hut made specially for the purpose; she might only drink out of\na tube made from a swan\u2019s bone, and for a month she might not break a\nhare\u2019s bones, nor taste blood, nor eat the heart or fat of animals, nor\nbirds\u2019 eggs.(121) Among the Tinneh Indians of the middle Yukon valley, in\nAlaska, the period of the girl\u2019s seclusion lasts exactly a lunar month;\nfor the day of the moon on which the symptoms first occur is noted, and\nshe is sequestered until the same day of the next moon. If the season is\nwinter, a corner of the house is curtained off for her use by a blanket or\na sheet of canvas; if it is summer, a small tent is erected for her near\nthe common one. Here she lives and sleeps. She wears a long robe and a\nlarge hood, which she must pull down over her eyes whenever she leaves the\nhut, and she must keep it down till she returns. She may not speak to a\nman nor see his face, much less touch his clothes or anything that belongs\nto him; for if she did so, though no harm would come to her, he would grow\nunmanly. She has her own dishes for eating out of and may use no other; at\nKaltag she must suck the water through a swan\u2019s bone without applying her\nlips to the cup. She may eat no fresh meat or fish except the flesh of the\nporcupine. She may not undress, but sleeps with all her clothes on, even\nher mittens. In her socks she wears, next to the skin, the horny soles cut\nfrom the feet of a porcupine, in order that for the rest of her life her\nshoes may never wear out. Round her waist she wears a cord to which are\ntied the heads of femurs of a porcupine; because of all animals known to\nthe Tinneh the porcupine suffers least in parturition, it simply drops its\nyoung and continues to walk or skip about as if nothing had happened.\nHence it is easy to see that a girl who wears these portions of a\nporcupine about her waist, will be delivered just as easily as the animal.\nTo make quite sure of this, if anybody happens to kill a porcupine big\nwith young while the girl is undergoing her period of separation, the\nfoetus is given to her, and she lets it slide down between her shirt and\nher body so as to fall on the ground like an infant.(122) Here the\nimitation of childbirth is a piece of homoeopathic or imitative magic\ndesigned to facilitate the effect which it simulates.(123)\n\n(M40) Among the Thompson Indians of British Columbia, when a girl attained\npuberty, she was at once separated from all the people. A conical hut of\nfir branches and bark was erected at some little distance from the other\nhouses, and in it the girl had to squat on her heels during the day. Often\na deep circular hole was dug in the hut and the girl squatted in the hole,\nwith her head projecting above the surface of the ground. She might quit\nthe hut for various purposes in the early morning, but had always to be\nback at sunrise. On the first appearance of the symptoms her face was\npainted red all over, and the paint was renewed every morning during her\nterm of seclusion. A heavy blanket swathed her body from top to toe, and\nduring the first four days she wore a conical cap made of small fir\nbranches, which reached below the breast but left an opening for the face.\nIn her hair was fastened an implement made of deer-bone with which she\nscratched herself. For the first four days she might neither wash nor eat,\nbut a little water was given her in a birch-bark cup painted red, and she\nsucked up the liquid through a tube made out of the leg of a crane, a\nswan, or a goose, for her lips might not touch the surface of the water.\nAfter the four days she was allowed, during the rest of the period of\nisolation, to eat, to wash, to lie down, to comb her hair, and to drink of\nstreams and springs. But in drinking at these sources she had still to use\nher tube, otherwise the spring would dry up. While her seclusion lasted\nshe performed by night various ceremonies, which were supposed to exert a\nbeneficial influence on her future life. For example, she ran as fast as\nshe could, praying at the same time to the Earth or Nature that she might\nbe fleet of foot and tireless of limb. She dug trenches, in order that in\nafter life she might be able to dig well and to work hard. These and other\nceremonies she repeated for four nights or mornings in succession, four\ntimes each morning, and each time she supplicated the Dawn of the Day.\nAmong the Lower Thompson Indians she carried a staff for one night; and\nwhen the day was breaking she leaned the staff against the stump of a tree\nand prayed to the Dawn that she might be blessed with a good husband, who\nwas symbolized by the staff. She also wandered some nights to lonely parts\nof the mountains, where she would dance, imploring the spirits to pity and\nprotect her during her future life; then, the dance and prayer over, she\nwould lie down on the spot and fall asleep. Again, she carried four stones\nin her bosom to a spring, where she spat upon the stones and threw them\none after the other into the water, praying that all disease might leave\nher, as these stones did. Also she ran four times in the early morning\nwith two small stones in her bosom; and as she ran the stones slipped down\nbetween her bare body and her clothes and fell to the ground. At the same\ntime she prayed to the Dawn that when she should be with child, she might\nbe delivered as easily as she was delivered of these stones. But whatever\nexercises she performed or prayers she offered on the lonely mountains\nduring the hours of darkness or while the morning light was growing in the\neast, she must always be back in her little hut before the sun rose. There\nshe often passed the tedious hours away picking the needles, one by one,\nfrom the cones on two large branches of fir, which hung from the roof of\nher hut on purpose to provide her with occupation. And as she picked she\nprayed to the fir-branch that she might never be lazy, but always quick\nand active at work. During her seclusion, too, she had to make miniatures\nof all the articles that Indian women make, or used to make, such as\nbaskets, mats, ropes, and thread. This she did in order that afterwards\nshe might be able to make the real things properly. Four large\nfir-branches also were placed in front of the hut, so that when she went\nout or in, she had to step over them. The branches were renewed every\nmorning and the old ones thrown away into the water, while the girl\nprayed, \u201cMay I never bewitch any man, nor my fellow-women! May it never\nhappen!\u201d The first four times that she went out and in, she prayed to the\nfir-branches, saying, \u201cIf ever I step into trouble or difficulties or step\nunknowingly inside the magical spell of some person, may you help me, O\nFir-branches, with your power!\u201d Every day she painted her face afresh, and\nshe wore strings of parts of deer-hoofs round her ankles and knees, and\ntied to her waistband on either side, which rattled when she walked or\nran. Even the shape of the hut in which she lived was adapted to her\nfuture rather than to her present needs and wishes. If she wished to be\ntall, the hut was tall; if she wished to be short, it was low, sometimes\nso low that there was not room in it for her to stand erect, and she would\nlay the palm of her hand on the top of her head and pray to the Dawn that\nshe might grow no taller. Her seclusion lasted four months. The Indians\nsay that long ago it extended over a year, and that fourteen days elapsed\nbefore the girl was permitted to wash for the first time. The dress which\nshe wore during her time of separation was afterwards taken to the top of\na hill and burned, and the rest of her clothes were hung up on trees.(124)\n\n(M41) Among the Lillooet Indians of British Columbia, neighbours of the\nThompsons, the customs observed by girls at puberty were similar. The\ndamsels were secluded for a period of not less than one year nor more than\nfour years, according to their own inclination and the wishes of their\nparents. Among the Upper Lillooets the hut in which the girl lodged was\nmade of bushy fir-trees set up like a conical tent, the inner branches\nbeing lopped off, while the outer branches were closely interwoven and\npadded to form a roof. Every month or half-month the hut was shifted to\nanother site or a new one erected. By day the girl sat in the hut; for the\nfirst month she squatted in a hole dug in the middle of it; and she passed\nthe time making miniature baskets of birch-bark and other things, praying\nthat she might be able to make the real things well in after years. At the\ndusk of the evening she left the hut and wandered about all night, but she\nreturned before the sun rose. Before she quitted the hut at nightfall to\nroam abroad, she painted her face red and put on a mask of fir-branches,\nand in her hand, as she walked, she carried a basket-rattle to frighten\nghosts and guard herself from evil. Among the Lower Lillooets, the girl\u2019s\nmask was often made of goat-skin, covering her head, neck, shoulders and\nbreast, and leaving only a narrow opening from the brow to the chin.\nDuring the nocturnal hours she performed many ceremonies. Thus she put two\nsmooth stones in her bosom and ran, and as they fell down between her body\nand her clothes, she prayed, saying, \u201cMay I always have easy\nchild-births!\u201d Now one of these stones represented her future child and\nthe other represented the afterbirth. Also she dug trenches, praying that\nin the years to come she might be strong and tireless in digging roots;\nshe picked leaves and needles from the fir-trees, praying that her fingers\nmight be nimble in picking berries; and she tore sheets of birch-bark into\nshreds, dropping the shreds as she walked and asking that her hands might\nnever tire and that she might make neat and fine work of birch-bark.\nMoreover, she ran and walked much that she might be light of foot. And\nevery evening, when the shadows were falling, and every morning, when the\nday was breaking, she prayed to the Dusk of the Evening or to the Dawn of\nDay, saying, \u201cO Dawn of Day!\u201d or \u201cO Dusk,\u201d as it might be, \u201cmay I be able\nto dig roots fast and easily, and may I always find plenty!\u201d All her\nprayers were addressed to the Dusk of the Evening or the Dawn of Day. She\nsupplicated both, asking for long life, health, wealth, and\nhappiness.(125)\n\n(M42) Among the Shuswap Indians of British Columbia, who are neighbours of\nthe Thompsons and Lillooets, \u201ca girl on reaching maturity has to go\nthrough a great number of ceremonies. She must leave the village and live\nalone in a small hut on the mountains. She cooks her own food, and must\nnot eat anything that bleeds. She is forbidden to touch her head, for\nwhich purpose she uses a comb with three points. Neither is she allowed to\nscratch her body, except with a painted deer-bone. She wears the bone and\nthe comb suspended from her belt. She drinks out of a painted cup of\nbirch-bark, and neither more nor less than the quantity it holds. Every\nnight she walks about her hut, and plants willow twigs, which she has\npainted, and to the ends of which she has attached pieces of cloth, into\nthe ground. It is believed that thus she will become rich in later life.\nIn order to become strong she should climb trees and try to break off\ntheir points. She plays with _lehal_ sticks that her future husbands might\nhave good luck when gambling.\u201d(126) During the day the girl stays in her\nhut and occupies herself in making miniature bags, mats, and baskets, in\nsewing and embroidery, in manufacturing thread, twine, and so forth; in\nshort she makes a beginning of all kinds of woman\u2019s work, in order that\nshe may be a good housewife in after life. By night she roams the\nmountains and practises running, climbing, carrying burdens, and digging\ntrenches, so that she may be expert at digging roots. If she has wandered\nfar and daylight overtakes her, she hides herself behind a veil of fir\nbranches; for no one, except her instructor or nearest relatives, should\nsee her face during her period of seclusion. She wore a large robe painted\nred on the breast and sides, and her hair was done up in a knot at each\near.(127)\n\n(M43) Ceremonies of the same general type were probably observed by girls\nat puberty among all the Indian tribes of North America. But the record of\nthem is far less full for the Central and Eastern tribes, perhaps because\nthe settlers who first came into contact with the Red Man in these regions\nwere too busy fighting him to find leisure, even if they had the desire,\nto study his manners and customs. However, among the Delaware Indians, a\ntribe in the extreme east of the continent, we read that \u201cwhen a Delaware\ngirl has her first monthly period, she must withdraw into a hut at some\ndistance from the village. Her head is wrapped up for twelve days, so that\nshe can see nobody, and she must submit to frequent vomits and fasting,\nand abstain from all labor. After this she is washed and new clothed, but\nconfined to a solitary life for two months, at the close of which she is\ndeclared marriageable.\u201d(128) Again, among the Cheyennes, an Indian tribe\nof the Missouri valley, a girl at her first menstruation is painted red\nall over her body and secluded in a special little lodge for four days.\nHowever, she may remain in her father\u2019s lodge provided that there are no\ncharms (\u201cmedicine\u201d), no sacred bundle, and no shield in it, or that these\nand all other objects invested with a sacred character have been removed.\nFor four days she may not eat boiled meat; the flesh of which she partakes\nmust be roasted over coals. Young men will not eat from the dish nor drink\nfrom the pot, which has been used by her; because they believe that were\nthey to do so they would be wounded in the next fight. She may not handle\nnor even touch any weapon of war or any sacred object. If the camp moves,\nshe may not ride a horse, but is mounted on a mare.(129)\n\n(M44) Among the Esquimaux also, in the extreme north of the continent, who\nbelong to an entirely different race from the Indians, the attainment of\npuberty in the female sex is, or used to be, the occasion of similar\nobservances. Thus among the Koniags, an Esquimau people of Alaska, a girl\nat puberty was placed in a small hut in which she had to remain on her\nhands and knees for six months; then the hut was enlarged a little so as\nto allow her to straighten her back, but in this posture she had to remain\nfor six months more. All this time she was regarded as an unclean being\nwith whom no one might hold intercourse. At the end of the year she was\nreceived back by her parents and a great feast held.(130) Again, among the\nMalemut, and southward from the lower Yukon and adjacent districts, when a\ngirl reaches the age of puberty she is considered unclean for forty days\nand must therefore live by herself in a corner of the house with her face\nto the wall, always keeping her hood over her head and her hair hanging\ndishevelled over her eyes. But if it is summer, she commonly lives in a\nrough shelter outside the house. She may not go out by day, and only once\nat night, when every one else is asleep. At the end of the period she\nbathes and is clothed in new garments, whereupon she may be taken in\nmarriage. During her seclusion she is supposed to be enveloped in a\npeculiar atmosphere of such a sort that were a young man to come near\nenough for it to touch him, it would render him visible to every animal he\nmight hunt, so that his luck as a hunter would be gone.(131)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 5. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty among the Indians of South America.\n\n\n(M45) When symptoms of puberty appeared on a girl for the first time, the\nGuaranis of Southern Brazil, on the borders of Paraguay, used to sew her\nup in her hammock, leaving only a small opening in it to allow her to\nbreathe. In this condition, wrapt up and shrouded like a corpse, she was\nkept for two or three days or so long as the symptoms lasted, and during\nthis time she had to observe a most rigorous fast. After that she was\nentrusted to a matron, who cut the girl\u2019s hair and enjoined her to abstain\nmost strictly from eating flesh of any kind until her hair should be grown\nlong enough to hide her ears. Meanwhile the diviners drew omens of her\nfuture character from the various birds or animals that flew past or\ncrossed her path. If they saw a parrot, they would say she was a\nchatterbox; if an owl, she was lazy and useless for domestic labours, and\nso on.(132) In similar circumstances the Chiriguanos of south-eastern\nBolivia hoisted the girl in her hammock to the roof, where she stayed for\na month: the second month the hammock was let half-way down from the roof;\nand in the third month old women, armed with sticks, entered the hut and\nran about striking everything they met, saying they were hunting the snake\nthat had wounded the girl.(133) The Lengua Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco\nunder similar circumstances hang the girl in her hammock from the roof of\nthe house, but they leave her there only three days and nights, during\nwhich they give her nothing to eat but a little Paraguay tea or boiled\nmaize. Only her mother or grandmother has access to her; nobody else\napproaches or speaks to her. If she is obliged to leave the hammock for a\nlittle, her friends take great care to prevent her from touching the\n_Boyrusu_, which is an imaginary serpent that would swallow her up. She\nmust also be very careful not to set foot on the droppings of fowls or\nanimals, else she would suffer from sores on the throat and breast. On the\nthird day they let her down from the hammock, cut her hair, and make her\nsit in a corner of the room with her face turned to the wall. She may\nspeak to nobody, and must abstain from flesh and fish. These rigorous\nobservances she must practise for nearly a year. Many girls die or are\ninjured for life in consequence of the hardships they endure at this time.\nTheir only occupations during their seclusion are spinning and\nweaving.(134)\n\n(M46) Among the Yuracares, an Indian tribe of Bolivia, at the eastern foot\nof the Andes, when a girl perceives the signs of puberty, she informs her\nparents. The mother weeps and the father constructs a little hut of palm\nleaves near the house. In this cabin he shuts up his daughter so that she\ncannot see the light, and there she remains fasting rigorously for four\ndays. Meantime the mother, assisted by the women of the neighbourhood, has\nbrewed a large quantity of the native intoxicant called _chicha_, and\npoured it into wooden troughs and palm leaves. On the morning of the\nfourth day, three hours before the dawn, the girl\u2019s father, having arrayed\nhimself in his savage finery, summons all his neighbours with loud cries.\nThe damsel is seated on a stone, and every guest in turn cuts off a lock\nof her hair, and running away hides it in the hollow trunk of a tree in\nthe depths of the forest. When they have all done so and seated themselves\nagain gravely in the circle, the girl offers to each of them a calabash\nfull of very strong _chicha_. Before the wassailing begins, the various\nfathers perform a curious operation on the arms of their sons, who are\nseated beside them. The operator takes a very sharp bone of an ape, rubs\nit with a pungent spice, and then pinching up the skin of his son\u2019s arm he\npierces it with the bone through and through, as a surgeon might introduce\na seton. This operation he repeats till the young man\u2019s arm is riddled\nwith holes at regular intervals from the shoulder to the wrist. Almost all\nwho take part in the festival are covered with these wounds, which the\nIndians call _culucute_. Having thus prepared themselves to spend a happy\nday, they drink, play on flutes, sing and dance till evening. Rain,\nthunder, and lightning, should they befall, have no effect in damping the\ngeneral enjoyment or preventing its continuance till after the sun has\nset. The motive for perforating the arms of the young men is to make them\nskilful hunters; at each perforation the sufferer is cheered by the\npromise of another sort of game or fish which the surgical operation will\ninfallibly procure for him. The same operation is performed on the arms\nand legs of the girls, in order that they may be brave and strong; even\nthe dogs are operated on with the intention of making them run down the\ngame better. For five or six months afterwards the damsel must cover her\nhead with bark and refrain from speaking to men. The Yuracares think that\nif they did not submit a young girl to this severe ordeal, her children\nwould afterwards perish by accidents of various kinds, such as the sting\nof a serpent, the bite of a jaguar, the fall of a tree, the wound of an\narrow, or what not.(135)\n\n(M47) Among the Matacos or Mataguayos, an Indian tribe of the Gran Chaco,\na girl at puberty has to remain in seclusion for some time. She lies\ncovered up with branches or other things in a corner of the hut, seeing no\none and speaking to no one, and during this time she may eat neither flesh\nnor fish. Meantime a man beats a drum in front of the house.(136)\nSimilarly among the Tobas, another Indian tribe of the same region, when a\nchief\u2019s daughter has just attained to womanhood, she is shut up for two or\nthree days in the house, all the men of the tribe scour the country to\nbring in game and fish for a feast, and a Mataco Indian is engaged to\ndrum, sing, and dance in front of the house without cessation, day and\nnight, till the festival is over. As the merrymaking lasts for two or\nthree weeks, the exhaustion of the musician at the end of it may be\nreadily conceived. Meat and drink are supplied to him on the spot where he\npays his laborious court to the Muses. The proceedings wind up with a\nsaturnalia and a drunken debauch.(137) Among the Yaguas, an Indian tribe\nof the Upper Amazon, a girl at puberty is shut up for three months in a\nlonely hut in the forest, where her mother brings her food daily.(138)\nWhen a girl of the Peguenches tribe perceives in herself the first signs\nof womanhood, she is secluded by her mother in a corner of the hut\nscreened off with blankets, and is warned not to lift up her eyes on any\nman. Next day, very early in the morning and again after sunset, she is\ntaken out by two women and made to run till she is tired; in the interval\nshe is again secluded in her corner. On the following day she lays three\npackets of wool beside the path near the house to signify that she is now\na woman.(139) Among the Passes, Mauhes, and other tribes of Brazil the\nyoung woman in similar circumstances is hung in her hammock from the roof\nand has to fast there for a month or as long as she can hold out.(140) One\nof the early settlers in Brazil, about the middle of the sixteenth\ncentury, has described the severe ordeal which damsels at puberty had to\nundergo among the Indians on the south-east coast of that country, near\nwhat is now Rio de Janeiro. When a girl had reached this critical period\nof life, her hair was burned or shaved off close to the head. Then she was\nplaced on a flat stone and cut with the tooth of an animal from the\nshoulders all down the back, till she ran with blood. Next the ashes of a\nwild gourd were rubbed into the wounds; the girl was bound hand and foot,\nand hung in a hammock, being enveloped in it so closely that no one could\nsee her. Here she had to stay for three days without eating or drinking.\nWhen the three days were over, she stepped out of the hammock upon the\nflat stone, for her feet might not touch the ground. If she had a call of\nnature, a female relation took the girl on her back and carried her out,\ntaking with her a live coal to prevent evil influences from entering the\ngirl\u2019s body. Being replaced in her hammock, she was now allowed to get\nsome flour, boiled roots, and water, but might not taste salt or flesh.\nThus she continued to the end of the first monthly period, at the expiry\nof which she was gashed on the breast and belly as well as all down the\nback. During the second month she still stayed in her hammock, but her\nrule of abstinence was less rigid, and she was allowed to spin. The third\nmonth she was blackened with a certain pigment and began to go about as\nusual.(141)\n\n(M48) Amongst the Macusis of British Guiana, when a girl shews the first\nsigns of puberty, she is hung in a hammock at the highest point of the\nhut. For the first few days she may not leave the hammock by day, but at\nnight she must come down, light a fire, and spend the night beside it,\nelse she would break out in sores on her neck, throat, and other parts of\nher body. So long as the symptoms are at their height, she must fast\nrigorously. When they have abated, she may come down and take up her abode\nin a little compartment that is made for her in the darkest corner of the\nhut. In the morning she may cook her food, but it must be at a separate\nfire and in a vessel of her own. After about ten days the magician comes\nand undoes the spell by muttering charms and breathing on her and on the\nmore valuable of the things with which she has come in contact. The pots\nand drinking-vessels which she used are broken and the fragments buried.\nAfter her first bath, the girl must submit to be beaten by her mother with\nthin rods without uttering a cry. At the end of the second period she is\nagain beaten, but not afterwards. She is now \u201cclean,\u201d and can mix again\nwith people.(142) Other Indians of Guiana, after keeping the girl in her\nhammock at the top of the hut for a month, expose her to certain large\nants, whose bite is very painful.(143) Sometimes, in addition to being\nstung with ants, the sufferer has to fast day and night so long as she\nremains slung up on high in her hammock, so that when she comes down she\nis reduced to a skeleton. The intention of stinging her with ants is said\nto be to make her strong to bear the burden of maternity.(144) Amongst the\nUaupes of Brazil a girl at puberty is secluded in the house for a month,\nand allowed only a small quantity of bread and water. Then she is taken\nout into the midst of her relations and friends, each of whom gives her\nfour or five blows with pieces of _sipo_ (an elastic climber), till she\nfalls senseless or dead. If she recovers, the operation is repeated four\ntimes at intervals of six hours, and it is considered an offence to the\nparents not to strike hard. Meantime, pots of meats and fish have been\nmade ready; the _sipos_ are dipped into them and then given to the girl to\nlick, who is now considered a marriageable woman.(145)\n\n(M49) The custom of stinging the girl at such times with ants or beating\nher with rods is intended, we may be sure, not as a punishment or a test\nof endurance, but as a purification, the object being to drive away the\nmalignant influences with which a girl in this condition is believed to be\nbeset and enveloped. Examples of purification, by beating, by incisions in\nthe flesh, and by stinging with ants, have already come before us.(146) In\nsome Indian tribes of Brazil and Guiana young men do not rank as warriors\nand may not marry till they have passed through a terrible ordeal, which\nconsists in being stung by swarms of venomous ants whose bite is like\nfire. Thus among the Mauhes on the Tapajos river, a southern tributary of\nthe Amazon, boys of eight to ten years are obliged to thrust their arms\ninto sleeves stuffed with great ferocious ants, which the Indians call\n_tocandeira_ (_Cryptocerus atratus_, F.). When the young victim shrieks\nwith pain, an excited mob of men dances round him, shouting and\nencouraging him till he falls exhausted to the ground. He is then\ncommitted to the care of old women, who treat his fearfully swollen arms\nwith fresh juice of the manioc; and on his recovery he has to shew his\nstrength and skill in bending a bow. This cruel ordeal is commonly\nrepeated again and again, till the lad has reached his fourteenth year and\ncan bear the agony without betraying any sign of emotion. Then he is a man\nand can marry. A lad\u2019s age is reckoned by the number of times he has\npassed through the ordeal.(147) An eye-witness has described how a young\nMauhe hero bore the torture with an endurance more than Spartan, dancing\nand singing, with his arms cased in the terrible mittens, before every\ncabin of the great common house, till pallid, staggering, and with\nchattering teeth he triumphantly laid the gloves before the old chief and\nreceived the congratulations of the men and the caresses of the women;\nthen breaking away from his friends and admirers he threw himself into the\nriver and remained in its cool soothing water till nightfall.(148)\nSimilarly among the Ticunas of the Upper Amazon, on the border of Peru,\nthe young man who would take his place among the warriors must plunge his\narm into a sort of basket full of venomous ants and keep it there for\nseveral minutes without uttering a cry. He generally falls backwards and\nsometimes succumbs to the fever which ensues; hence as soon as the ordeal\nis over the women are prodigal of their attentions to him, and rub the\nswollen arm with a particular kind of herb.(149) Ordeals of this sort\nappear to be in vogue among the Indians of the Rio Negro as well as of the\nAmazon.(150) Among the Rucuyennes, a tribe of Indians in the north of\nBrazil, on the borders of Guiana, young men who are candidates for\nmarriage must submit to be stung all over their persons not only with ants\nbut with wasps, which are applied to their naked bodies in curious\ninstruments of trellis-work shaped like fantastic quadrupeds or birds. The\npatient invariably falls down in a swoon and is carried like dead to his\nhammock, where he is tightly lashed with cords. As they come to\nthemselves, they writhe in agony, so that their hammocks rock violently to\nand fro, causing the hut to shake as if it were about to collapse. This\ndreadful ordeal is called by the Indians a _marak\u00e9_.(151)\n\n(M50) The same ordeal, under the same name, is also practised by the\nWayanas, an Indian tribe of French Guiana, but with them, we are told, it\nis no longer deemed an indispensable preliminary to marriage; \u201cit is\nrather a sort of national medicine administered chiefly to the youth of\nboth sexes.\u201d Applied to men, the _marak\u00e9_, as it is called, \u201csharpens\nthem, prevents them from being heavy and lazy, makes them active, brisk,\nindustrious, imparts strength, and helps them to shoot well with the bow;\nwithout it the Indians would always be slack and rather sickly, would\nalways have a little fever, and would lie perpetually in their hammocks.\nAs for the women, the _marak\u00e9_ keeps them from going to sleep, renders\nthem active, alert, brisk, gives them strength and a liking for work,\nmakes them good housekeepers, good workers at the stockade, good makers of\n_cachiri_. Every one undergoes the _marak\u00e9_ at least twice in his life,\nsometimes thrice, and oftener if he likes. It may be had from the age of\nabout eight years and upward, and no one thinks it odd that a man of forty\nshould voluntarily submit to it.\u201d(152) Similarly the Indians of St. Juan\nCapistrano in California used to be branded on some part of their bodies,\ngenerally on the right arm, but sometimes on the leg also, not as a proof\nof manly fortitude, but because they believed that the custom \u201cadded\ngreater strength to the nerves, and gave a better pulse for the management\nof the bow.\u201d Afterwards \u201cthey were whipped with nettles, and covered with\nants, that they might become robust, and the infliction was always\nperformed in summer, during the months of July and August, when the nettle\nwas in its most fiery state. They gathered small bunches, which they\nfastened together, and the poor deluded Indian was chastised, by\ninflicting blows with them upon his naked limbs, until unable to walk; and\nthen he was carried to the nest of the nearest and most furious species of\nants, and laid down among them, while some of his friends, with sticks,\nkept annoying the insects to make them still more violent. What torments\ndid they not undergo! What pain! What hellish inflictions! Yet their faith\ngave them power to endure all without a murmur, and they remained as if\ndead. Having undergone these dreadful ordeals, they were considered as\ninvulnerable, and believed that the arrows of their enemies could no\nlonger harm them.\u201d(153) Among the Alur, a tribe inhabiting the\nsouth-western region of the upper Nile, to bury a man in an ant-hill and\nleave him there for a while is the regular treatment for insanity.(154)\n\n(M51) In like manner it is probable that beating or scourging as a\nreligious or ceremonial rite was originally a mode of purification. It was\nmeant to wipe off and drive away a dangerous contagion, whether\npersonified as demoniacal or not, which was supposed to be adhering\nphysically, though invisibly, to the body of the sufferer.(155) The pain\ninflicted on the person beaten was no more the object of the beating than\nit is of a surgical operation with us; it was a necessary accident, that\nwas all. In later times such customs were interpreted otherwise, and the\npain, from being an accident, became the prime object of the ceremony,\nwhich was now regarded either as a test of endurance imposed upon persons\nat critical epochs of life, or as a mortification of the flesh well\npleasing to the god. But asceticism, under any shape or form, is never\nprimitive. The savage, it is true, in certain circumstances will\nvoluntarily subject himself to pains and privations which appear to us\nwholly needless; but he never acts thus unless he believes that some solid\ntemporal advantage is to be gained by so doing. Pain for the sake of pain,\nwhether as a moral discipline in this life or as a means of winning a\nglorious immortality hereafter, is not an object which he sets himself\ndeliberately to pursue.\n\n(M52) If this view is correct, we can understand why so many Indian tribes\nof South America compel the youth of both sexes to submit to these painful\nand sometimes fatal ordeals. They imagine that in this way they rid the\nyoung folk of certain evils inherent in youth, especially at the critical\nage of puberty; and when they picture to themselves the evils in a\npersonal form as dangerous spirits or demons, the ceremony of their\nexpulsion may in the strict sense be termed an exorcism. This certainly\nappears to be the interpretation which the Banivas of the Orinoco put upon\nthe cruel scourgings which they inflict on girls at puberty. At her first\nmenstruation a Baniva girl must pass several days and nights in her\nhammock, almost motionless and getting nothing to eat and drink but water\nand a little manioc. While she lies there, the suitors for her hand apply\nto her father, and he who can afford to give most for her or can prove\nhimself the best man, is promised the damsel in marriage. The fast over,\nsome old men enter the hut, bandage the girl\u2019s eyes, cover her head with a\nbonnet of which the fringes fall on her shoulders, and then lead her forth\nand tie her to a post set up in an open place. The head of the post is\ncarved in the shape of a grotesque face. None but the old men may witness\nwhat follows. Were a woman caught peeping and prying, it would go ill with\nher; she would be marked out for the vengeance of the demon, who would\nmake her expiate her crime at the very next moon by madness or death.\nEvery participant in the ceremony comes armed with a scourge of cords or\nof fish skins; some of them reinforce the virtue of the instrument by\ntying little sharp stones to the end of the thongs. Then, to the dismal\nand deafening notes of shell-trumpets blown by two or three\nsupernumeraries, the men circle round and round the post, every one\napplying his scourge as he passes to the girl\u2019s back, till it streams with\nblood. At last the musicians, winding tremendous blasts on their trumpets\nagainst the demon, advance and touch the post in which he is supposed to\nbe incorporate. Then the blows cease to descend; the girl is untied, often\nin a fainting state, and carried away to have her wounds washed and\nsimples applied to them. The youngest of the executioners, or rather of\nthe exorcists, hastens to inform her betrothed husband of the happy issue\nof the exorcism. \u201cThe spirit,\u201d he says, \u201chad cast thy beloved into a sleep\nas deep almost as that of death. But we have rescued her from his attacks,\nand laid her down in such and such a place. Go seek her.\u201d Then going from\nhouse to house through the village he cries to the inmates, \u201cCome, let us\nburn the demon who would have taken possession of such and such a girl,\nour friend.\u201d The bridegroom at once carries his wounded and suffering\nbride to his own house; and all the people gather round the post for the\npleasure of burning it and the demon together. A great pile of firewood\nhas meanwhile been heaped up about it, and the women run round the pyre\ncursing in shrill voices the wicked spirit who has wrought all this evil.\nThe men join in with hoarser cries and animate themselves for the business\nin hand by deep draughts of an intoxicant which has been provided for the\noccasion by the parents-in-law. Soon the bridegroom, having committed the\nbride to the care of his mother, appears on the scene brandishing a\nlighted torch. He addresses the demon with bitter mockery and reproaches;\ninforms him that the fair creature on whom he, the demon, had nefarious\ndesigns, is now his, the bridegroom\u2019s, blooming spouse; and shaking his\ntorch at the grinning head on the post, he screams out, \u201cThis is how the\nvictims of thy persecution take vengeance on thee!\u201d With these words he\nputs a light to the pyre. At once the drums strike up, the trumpets blare,\nand men, women, and children begin to dance. In two long rows they dance,\nthe men on one side, the women on the other, advancing till they almost\ntouch and then retiring again. After that the two rows join hands, and\nforming a huge circle trip it round and round the blaze, till the post\nwith its grotesque face is consumed in the flames and nothing of the pyre\nremains but a heap of red and glowing embers. \u201cThe evil spirit has been\ndestroyed. Thus delivered from her persecutor, the young wife will be free\nfrom sickness, will not die in childbed, and will bear many children to\nher husband.\u201d(156) From this account it appears that the Banivas attribute\nthe symptoms of puberty in girls to the wounds inflicted on them by an\namorous devil, who, however, can be not only exorcised but burnt to ashes\nat the stake.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 6. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in India and Cambodia.\n\n\n(M53) When a Hindoo maiden reaches maturity she is kept in a dark room for\nfour days, and is forbidden to see the sun. She is regarded as unclean; no\none may touch her. Her diet is restricted to boiled rice, milk, sugar,\ncurd, and tamarind without salt. On the morning of the fifth day she goes\nto a neighbouring tank, accompanied by five women whose husbands are\nalive. Smeared with turmeric water, they all bathe and return home,\nthrowing away the mat and other things that were in the room.(157) The\nRarhi Brahmans of Bengal compel a girl at puberty to live alone, and do\nnot allow her to see the face of any male. For three days she remains shut\nup in a dark room, and has to undergo certain penances. Fish, flesh, and\nsweetmeats are forbidden her; she must live upon rice and ghee.(158) Among\nthe Tiyans of Malabar a girl is thought to be polluted for four days from\nthe beginning of her first menstruation. During this time she must keep to\nthe north side of the house, where she sleeps on a grass mat of a\nparticular kind, in a room festooned with garlands of young coco-nut\nleaves. Another girl keeps her company and sleeps with her, but she may\nnot touch any other person, tree or plant. Further, she may not see the\nsky, and woe betide her if she catches sight of a crow or a cat! Her diet\nmust be strictly vegetarian, without salt, tamarinds, or chillies. She is\narmed against evil spirits by a knife, which is placed on the mat or\ncarried on her person.(159) Among the Kappiliyans of Madura and Tinnevelly\na girl at her first monthly period remains under pollution for thirteen\ndays, either in a corner of the house, which is screened off for her use\nby her maternal uncle, or in a temporary hut, which is erected by the same\nrelative on the common land of the village. On the thirteenth day she\nbathes in a tank, and, on entering the house, steps over a pestle and a\ncake. Near the entrance some food is placed and a dog is allowed to\npartake of it; but his enjoyment is marred by suffering, for while he eats\nhe receives a sound thrashing, and the louder he howls the better, for the\nlarger will be the family to which the young woman will give birth; should\nthere be no howls, there will be no children. The temporary hut in which\nthe girl passed the days of her seclusion is burnt down, and the pots\nwhich she used are smashed to shivers.(160) Similarly among the Parivarams\nof Madura, when a girl attains to puberty she is kept for sixteen days in\na hut, which is guarded at night by her relations; and when her\nsequestration is over the hut is burnt down and the pots she used are\nbroken into very small pieces, because they think that if rain-water\ngathered in any of them, the girl would be childless.(161) The Pulayars of\nTravancore build a special hut in the jungle for the use of a girl at\npuberty; there she remains for seven days. No one else may enter the hut,\nnot even her mother. Women stand a little way off and lay down food for\nher. At the end of the time she is brought home, clad in a new or clean\ncloth, and friends are treated to betel-nut, toddy, and arack.(162) Among\nthe Singhalese a girl at her first menstruation is confined to a room,\nwhere she may neither see nor be seen by any male. After being thus\nsecluded for two weeks she is taken out, with her face covered, and is\nbathed by women at the back of the house. Near the bathing-place are kept\nbranches of any milk-bearing tree, usually of the _jak_-tree. In some\ncases, while the time of purification or uncleanness lasts, the maiden\nstays in a separate hut, which is afterwards burnt down.(163)\n\n(M54) In Cambodia a girl at puberty is put to bed under a mosquito\ncurtain, where she should stay a hundred days. Usually, however, four,\nfive, ten, or twenty days are thought enough; and even this, in a hot\nclimate and under the close meshes of the curtain, is sufficiently\ntrying.(164) According to another account, a Cambodian maiden at puberty\nis said to \u201center into the shade.\u201d During her retirement, which, according\nto the rank and position of her family, may last any time from a few days\nto several years, she has to observe a number of rules, such as not to be\nseen by a strange man, not to eat flesh or fish, and so on. She goes\nnowhere, not even to the pagoda. But this state of seclusion is\ndiscontinued during eclipses; at such times she goes forth and pays her\ndevotions to the monster who is supposed to cause eclipses by catching the\nheavenly bodies between his teeth.(165) This permission to break her rule\nof retirement and appear abroad during an eclipse seems to shew how\nliterally the injunction is interpreted which forbids maidens entering on\nwomanhood to look upon the sun.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 7. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in Folk-tales.\n\n\n(M55) A superstition so widely diffused as this might be expected to leave\ntraces in legends and folk-tales. And it has done so. In a Danish story we\nread of a princess who was fated to be carried off by a warlock if ever\nthe sun shone on her before she had passed her thirtieth year; so the king\nher father kept her shut up in the palace, and had all the windows on the\neast, south, and west sides blocked up, lest a sunbeam should fall on his\ndarling child, and he should thus lose her for ever. Only at evening, when\nthe sun was down, might she walk for a little in the beautiful garden of\nthe castle. In time a prince came a-wooing, followed by a train of\ngorgeous knights and squires on horses all ablaze with gold and silver.\nThe king said the prince might have his daughter to wife on condition that\nhe would not carry her away to his home till she was thirty years old but\nwould live with her in the castle, where the windows looked out only to\nthe north. The prince agreed, so married they were. The bride was only\nfifteen, and fifteen more long weary years must pass before she might step\nout of the gloomy donjon, breathe the fresh air, and see the sun. But she\nand her gallant young bridegroom loved each other and they were happy.\nOften they sat hand in hand at the window looking out to the north and\ntalked of what they would do when they were free. Still it was a little\ndull to look out always at the same window and to see nothing but the\ncastle woods, and the distant hills, and the clouds drifting silently over\nthem. Well, one day it happened that all the people in the castle had gone\naway to a neighbouring castle to witness a tournament and other gaieties,\nand the two young folks were left as usual all alone at the window looking\nout to the north. They sat silent for a time gazing away to the hills. It\nwas a grey sad day, the sky was overcast, and the weather seemed to draw\nto rain. At last the prince said, \u201cThere will be no sunshine to-day. What\nif we were to drive over and join the rest at the tournament?\u201d His young\nwife gladly consented, for she longed to see more of the world than those\neternal green woods and those eternal blue hills, which were all she ever\nsaw from the window. So the horses were put into the coach, and it rattled\nup to the door, and in they got and away they drove. At first all went\nwell. The clouds hung low over the woods, the wind sighed in the trees, a\ndrearier day you could hardly imagine. So they joined the rest at the\nother castle and took their seats to watch the jousting in the lists. So\nintent were they in watching the gay spectacle of the prancing steeds, the\nfluttering pennons, and the glittering armour of the knights, that they\nfailed to mark the change, the fatal change, in the weather. For the wind\nwas rising and had begun to disperse the clouds, and suddenly the sun\nbroke through, and the glory of it fell like an aureole on the young wife,\nand at once she vanished away. No sooner did her husband miss her from his\nside than he, too, mysteriously disappeared. The tournament broke up in\nconfusion, the bereft father hastened home, and shut himself up in the\ndark castle from which the light of life had departed. The green woods and\nthe blue hills could still be seen from the window that looked to the\nnorth, but the young faces that had gazed out of it so wistfully were\ngone, as it seemed, for ever.(166)\n\n(M56) A Tyrolese story tells how it was the doom of a lovely maiden with\ngolden hair to be transported into the belly of a whale if ever a sunbeam\nfell on her. Hearing of the fame of her beauty the king of the country\nsent for her to be his bride, and her brother drove the fair damsel to the\npalace in a carefully closed coach, himself sitting on the box and\nhandling the reins. On the way they overtook two hideous witches, who\npretended they were weary and begged for a lift in the coach. At first the\nbrother refused to take them in, but his tender-hearted sister entreated\nhim to have compassion on the two poor footsore women; for you may easily\nimagine that she was not acquainted with their true character. So down he\ngot rather surlily from the box, opened the coach door, and in the two\nwitches stepped, laughing in their sleeves. But no sooner had the brother\nmounted the box and whipped up the horses, than one of the two wicked\nwitches bored a hole in the closed coach. A sunbeam at once shot through\nthe hole and fell on the fair damsel. So she vanished from the coach and\nwas spirited away into the belly of a whale in the neighbouring sea. You\ncan imagine the consternation of the king, when the coach door opened and\ninstead of his blooming bride out bounced two hideous hags!(167)\n\n(M57) In a modern Greek folk-tale the Fates predict that in her fifteenth\nyear a princess must be careful not to let the sun shine on her, for if\nthis were to happen she would be turned into a lizard.(168) In another\nmodern Greek tale the Sun bestows a daughter upon a childless woman on\ncondition of taking the child back to himself when she is twelve years\nold. So, when the child was twelve, the mother closed the doors and\nwindows, and stopped up all the chinks and crannies, to prevent the Sun\nfrom coming to fetch away her daughter. But she forgot to stop up the\nkey-hole, and a sunbeam streamed through it and carried off the girl.(169)\nIn a Sicilian story a seer foretells that a king will have a daughter who,\nin her fourteenth year, will conceive a child by the Sun. So, when the\nchild was born, the king shut her up in a lonely tower which had no\nwindow, lest a sunbeam should fall on her. When she was nearly fourteen\nyears old, it happened that her parents sent her a piece of roasted kid,\nin which she found a sharp bone. With this bone she scraped a hole in the\nwall, and a sunbeam shot through the hole and got her with child.(170)\n\n(M58) The old Greek story of Danae, who was confined by her father in a\nsubterranean chamber or a brazen tower, but impregnated by Zeus, who\nreached her in the shape of a shower of gold,(171) perhaps belongs to the\nsame class of tales. It has its counterpart in the legend which the\nKirghiz of Siberia tell of their ancestry. A certain Khan had a fair\ndaughter, whom he kept in a dark iron house, that no man might see her. An\nold woman tended her; and when the girl was grown to maidenhood she asked\nthe old woman, \u201cWhere do you go so often?\u201d \u201cMy child,\u201d said the old dame,\n\u201cthere is a bright world. In that bright world your father and mother\nlive, and all sorts of people live there. That is where I go.\u201d The maiden\nsaid, \u201cGood mother, I will tell nobody, but shew me that bright world.\u201d So\nthe old woman took the girl out of the iron house. But when she saw the\nbright world, the girl tottered and fainted; and the eye of God fell upon\nher, and she conceived. Her angry father put her in a golden chest and\nsent her floating away (fairy gold can float in fairyland) over the wide\nsea.(172) The shower of gold in the Greek story, and the eye of God in the\nKirghiz legend, probably stand for sunlight and the sun.\n\n(M59) The idea that women may be impregnated by the sun is not uncommon in\nlegends. Thus, for example, among the Indians of Guacheta in Colombia, it\nis said, a report once ran that the sun would impregnate one of their\nmaidens, who should bear a child and yet remain a virgin. The chief had\ntwo daughters, and was very desirous that one of them should conceive in\nthis miraculous manner. So every day he made them climb a hill to the east\nof his house in order to be touched by the first beams of the rising sun.\nHis wishes were fulfilled, for one of the damsels conceived and after nine\nmonths gave birth to an emerald. So she wrapped it in cotton and placed it\nin her bosom, and in a few days it turned into a child, who received the\nname of Garanchacha and was universally recognized as a son of the\nsun.(173) Again, the Samoans tell of a woman named Mangamangai, who became\npregnant by looking at the rising sun. Her son grew up and was named\n\u201cChild of the Sun.\u201d At his marriage he applied to his mother for a dowry,\nbut she bade him apply to his father, the sun, and told him how to go to\nhim. So one morning he took a long vine and made a noose in it; then\nclimbing up a tree he threw the noose over the sun and caught him fast.\nThus arrested in his progress, the luminary asked him what he wanted, and\nbeing told by the young man that he wanted a present for his bride, the\nsun obligingly packed up a store of blessings in a basket, with which the\nyouth descended to the earth.(174)\n\n(M60) Even in the marriage customs of various races we may perhaps detect\ntraces of this belief that women can be impregnated by the sun. Thus\namongst the Chaco Indians of South America a newly married couple used to\nsleep the first night on a mare\u2019s or bullock\u2019s skin with their heads\ntowards the west, \u201cfor the marriage is not considered ratified till the\nrising sun shines on their feet the succeeding morning.\u201d(175) At old\nHindoo marriages the first ceremony was the \u201cImpregnation-rite\u201d\n(_Garbh\u0101dh\u0101na_); during the previous day the bride was made to look\ntowards the sun or to be in some way exposed to its rays.(176) Amongst the\nTurks of Siberia it was formerly the custom on the morning after the\nmarriage to lead the young couple out of the hut to greet the rising sun.\nThe same custom is said to be still practised in Iran and Central Asia\nunder a belief that the beams of the rising sun are the surest means of\nimpregnating the new bride.(177) And as some people think that women may\nbe gotten with child by the sun, so others imagine that they can conceive\nby the moon. According to the Greenlanders the moon is a young man, and he\n\u201cnow and then comes down to give their wives a visit and caress them; for\nwhich reason no woman dare sleep lying upon her back, without she first\nspits upon her fingers and rubs her belly with it. For the same reason the\nyoung maids are afraid to stare long at the moon, imagining they may get a\nchild by the bargain.\u201d(178) Similarly Breton peasants are reported to\nbelieve that women or girls who expose their persons to the moonlight may\nbe impregnated by it and give birth to monsters.(179)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 8. Reasons for the Seclusion of Girls at Puberty.\n\n\n(M61) The motive for the restraints so commonly imposed on girls at\npuberty is the deeply engrained dread which primitive man universally\nentertains of menstruous blood. He fears it at all times but especially on\nits first appearance; hence the restrictions under which women lie at\ntheir first menstruation are usually more stringent than those which they\nhave to observe at any subsequent recurrence of the mysterious flow. Some\nevidence of the fear and of the customs based on it has been cited in an\nearlier part of this work;(180) but as the terror, for it is nothing less,\nwhich the phenomenon periodically strikes into the mind of the savage has\ndeeply influenced his life and institutions, it may be well to illustrate\nthe subject with some further examples.\n\n(M62) Thus in the Encounter Bay tribe of South Australia there is, or used\nto be, a \u201csuperstition which obliges a woman to separate herself from the\ncamp at the time of her monthly illness, when, if a young man or boy\nshould approach, she calls out, and he immediately makes a circuit to\navoid her. If she is neglectful upon this point, she exposes herself to\nscolding, and sometimes to severe beating by her husband or nearest\nrelation, because the boys are told from their infancy, that if they see\nthe blood they will early become grey-headed, and their strength will fail\nprematurely.\u201d(181) And of the South Australian aborigines in general we\nread that there is a \u201ccustom requiring all boys and uninitiated young men\nto sleep at some distance from the huts of the adults, and to remove\naltogether away in the morning as soon as daylight dawns, and the natives\nbegin to move about. This is to prevent their seeing the women, some of\nwhom may be menstruating; and if looked upon by the young males, it is\nsupposed that dire results will follow.\u201d(182) And amongst these tribes\nwomen in their courses \u201care not allowed to eat fish of any kind, or to go\nnear the water at all; it being one of their superstitions, that if a\nfemale, in that state, goes near the water, no success can be expected by\nthe men in fishing.\u201d(183) Similarly, among the natives of the Murray\nRiver, menstruous women \u201cwere not allowed to go near water for fear of\nfrightening the fish. They were also not allowed to eat them, for the same\nreason. A woman during such periods would never cross the river in a\ncanoe, or even fetch water for the camp. It was sufficient for her to say\n_Thama_, to ensure her husband getting the water himself.\u201d(184) The Dieri\nof Central Australia believe that if women at these times were to eat fish\nor bathe in a river, the fish would all die and the water would dry up. In\nthis tribe a mark made with red ochre round a woman\u2019s mouth indicates that\nshe has her courses; no one would offer fish to such a woman.(185) The\nArunta of Central Australia forbid menstruous women to gather the\n_irriakura_ bulbs, which form a staple article of diet for both men and\nwomen. They believe that were a woman to break this rule, the supply of\nbulbs would fail.(186) Among the aborigines of Victoria the wife at her\nmonthly periods had to sleep on the opposite side of the fire from her\nhusband; she might partake of nobody\u2019s food, and nobody would partake of\nhers, for people thought that if they ate or drank anything that had been\ntouched by a woman in her courses, it would make them weak or ill.\nUnmarried girls and widows at such times had to paint their heads and the\nupper parts of their bodies red,(187) no doubt as a danger signal.\n\n(M63) In some Australian tribes the seclusion of menstruous women was even\nmore rigid, and was enforced by severer penalties than a scolding or a\nbeating. Thus with regard to certain tribes of New South Wales and\nSouthern Queensland we are told that \u201cduring the monthly illness, the\nwoman is not allowed to touch anything that men use, or even to walk on a\npath that any man frequents, on pain of death.\u201d(188) Again, \u201cthere is a\nregulation relating to camps in the Wakelbura tribe which forbids the\nwomen coming into the encampment by the same path as the men. Any\nviolation of this rule would in a large camp be punished with death. The\nreason for this is the dread with which they regard the menstrual period\nof women. During such a time, a woman is kept entirely away from the camp,\nhalf a mile at least. A woman in such a condition has boughs of some tree\nof her totem tied round her loins, and is constantly watched and guarded,\nfor it is thought that should any male be so unfortunate as to see a woman\nin such a condition, he would die. If such a woman were to let herself be\nseen by a man, she would probably be put to death. When the woman has\nrecovered, she is painted red and white, her head covered with feathers,\nand returns to the camp.\u201d(189)\n\n(M64) In Muralug, one of the Torres Straits Islands, a menstruous woman\nmay not eat anything that lives in the sea, else the natives believe that\nthe fisheries would fail. Again, in Mabuiag, another of these islands,\nwomen who have their courses on them may not eat turtle flesh nor turtle\neggs, probably for a similar reason. And during the season when the\nturtles are pairing the restrictions laid on such a woman are much\nseverer. She may not even enter a house in which there is turtle flesh,\nnor approach a fire on which the flesh is cooking; she may not go near the\nsea and she should not walk on the beach below high-water mark. Nay, the\ninfection extends to her husband, who may not himself harpoon or otherwise\ntake an active part in catching turtle; however, he is permitted to form\none of the crew on a turtling expedition, provided he takes the precaution\nof rubbing his armpits with certain leaves, to which no doubt a\ndisinfectant virtue is ascribed.(190) Among the Kai of German New Guinea\nwomen at their monthly sickness must live in little huts built for them in\nthe forest; they may not enter the cultivated fields, for if they did go\nto them, and the pigs were to taste of the blood, it would inspire the\nanimals with an irresistible desire to go likewise into the fields, where\nthey would commit great depredations on the growing crops. Hence the issue\nfrom women at these times is carefully buried to prevent the pigs from\ngetting at it. And conversely, if the pigs often break into the fields,\nthe blame is laid on the women who by the neglect of these elementary\nprecautions have put temptation in the way of the swine.(191) In Galela,\nto the west of New Guinea, women at their monthly periods may not enter a\ntobacco-field, or the plants would be attacked by disease.(192) The\nMinangkabauers of Sumatra are persuaded that if a woman in her unclean\nstate were to go near a rice-field, the crop would be spoiled.(193)\n\n(M65) The Bushmen of South Africa think that, by a glance of a girl\u2019s eye\nat the time when she ought to be kept in strict retirement, men become\nfixed in whatever position they happen to occupy, with whatever they were\nholding in their hands, and are changed into trees that talk.(194)\nCattle-rearing tribes of South Africa hold that their cattle would die if\nthe milk were drunk by a menstruous woman;(195) and they fear the same\ndisaster if a drop of her blood were to fall on the ground and the oxen\nwere to pass over it. To prevent such a calamity women in general, not\nmenstruous women only, are forbidden to enter the cattle enclosure; and\nmore than that, they may not use the ordinary paths in entering the\nvillage or in passing from one hut to another. They are obliged to make\ncircuitous tracks at the back of the huts in order to avoid the ground in\nthe middle of the village where the cattle stand or lie down. These\nwomen\u2019s tracks may be seen at every Caffre village.(196) Similarly among\nthe Bahima, a cattle-breeding tribe of Ankole, in Central Africa, no\nmenstruous woman may drink milk, lest by so doing she should injure the\ncows; and she may not lie on her husband\u2019s bed, no doubt lest she should\ninjure him. Indeed she is forbidden to lie on a bed at all and must sleep\non the ground. Her diet is restricted to vegetables and beer.(197) Among\nthe Baganda, in like manner, no menstruous woman might drink milk or come\ninto contact with any milk-vessel;(198) and she might not touch anything\nthat belonged to her husband, nor sit on his mat, nor cook his food. If\nshe touched anything of his at such a time it was deemed equivalent to\nwishing him dead or to actually working magic for his destruction.(199)\nWere she to handle any article of his, he would surely fall ill; were she\nto handle his weapons, he would certainly be killed in the next battle.\nEven a woman who did not menstruate was believed by the Baganda to be a\nsource of danger to her husband, indeed capable of killing him. Hence,\nbefore he went to war, he used to wound her slightly with his spear so as\nto draw blood; this was thought to ensure his safe return.(200) Apparently\nthe notion was that if the wife did not lose blood in one way or another,\nher husband would be bled in war to make up for her deficiency; so by way\nof guarding against this undesirable event, he took care to relieve her of\na little superfluous blood before he repaired to the field of honour.\nFurther, the Baganda would not suffer a menstruous woman to visit a well;\nif she did so, they feared that the water would dry up, and that she\nherself would fall sick and die, unless she confessed her fault and the\nmedicine-man made atonement for her.(201) Among the Akikuyu of British\nEast Africa, if a new hut is built in a village and the wife chances to\nmenstruate in it on the day she lights the first fire there, the hut must\nbe broken down and demolished the very next day. The woman may on no\naccount sleep a second night in it; there is a curse (_thahu_) both on her\nand on it.(202) In the Suk tribe of British East Africa warriors may not\neat anything that has been touched by menstruous women. If they did so, it\nis believed that they would lose their virility; \u201cin the rain they will\nshiver and in the heat they will faint.\u201d Suk men and women take their\nmeals apart, because the men fear that one or more of the women may be\nmenstruating.(203) The Anyanja of British Central Africa, at the southern\nend of Lake Nyassa, think that a man who should sleep with a woman in her\ncourses would fall sick and die, unless some remedy were applied in time.\nAnd with them it is a rule that at such times a woman should not put any\nsalt into the food she is cooking, otherwise the people who partook of the\nfood salted by her would suffer from a certain disease called _tsempo_;\nhence to obviate the danger she calls a child to put the salt into the\ndish.(204)\n\n(M66) Among the Hos, a tribe of Ewe negroes of Togoland in West Africa, so\nlong as a wife has her monthly sickness she may not cook for her husband,\nnor lie on his bed, nor sit on his stool; an infraction of these rules\nwould assuredly, it is believed, cause her husband to die. If her husband\nis a priest, or a magician, or a chief, she may not pass the days of her\nuncleanness in the house, but must go elsewhere till she is clean.(205)\nAmong the Ewe negroes of this region each village has its huts where women\nwho have their courses on them must spend their time secluded from\nintercourse with other people. Sometimes these huts stand by themselves in\npublic places; sometimes they are mere shelters built either at the back\nor front of the ordinary dwelling-houses. A woman is punishable if she\ndoes not pass the time of her monthly sickness in one of these huts or\nshelters provided for her use. Thus, if she shews herself in her own house\nor even in the yard of the house, she may be fined a sheep, which is\nkilled, its flesh divided among the people, and its blood poured on the\nimage of the chief god as a sin-offering to expiate her offence. She is\nalso forbidden to go to the place where the villagers draw water, and if\nshe breaks the rule, she must give a goat to be killed; its flesh is\ndistributed, and its blood, diluted with water and mixed with herbs, is\nsprinkled on the watering-place and on the paths leading to it. Were any\nwoman to disregard these salutary precautions, the chief fetish-man in the\nvillage would fall sick and die, which would be an irreparable loss to\nsociety.(206)\n\n(M67) The miraculous virtue ascribed to menstruous blood is well\nillustrated in a story told by the Arab chronicler Tabari. He relates how\nSapor, king of Persia, besieged the strong city of Atrae, in the desert of\nMesopotamia, for several years without being able to take it. But the king\nof the city, whose name was Daizan, had a daughter, and when it was with\nher after the manner of women she went forth from the city and dwelt for a\ntime in the suburb, for such was the custom of the place. Now it fell out\nthat, while she tarried there, Sapor saw her and loved her, and she loved\nhim; for he was a handsome man and she a lovely maid. And she said to him,\n\u201cWhat will you give me if I shew you how you may destroy the walls of this\ncity and slay my father?\u201d And he said to her, \u201cI will give you what you\nwill, and I will exalt you above my other wives, and will set you nearer\nto me than them all.\u201d Then she said to him, \u201cTake a greenish dove with a\nring about its neck, and write something on its foot with the menstruous\nblood of a blue-eyed maid; then let the bird loose, and it will perch on\nthe walls of the city, and they will fall down.\u201d For that, says the Arab\nhistorian, was the talisman of the city, which could not be destroyed in\nany other way. And Sapor did as she bade him, and the city fell down in a\nheap, and he stormed it and slew Daizan on the spot.(207)\n\n(M68) According to the Talmud, if a woman at the beginning of her period\npasses between two men, she thereby kills one of them; if she passes\nbetween them towards the end of her period, she only causes them to\nquarrel violently.(208) Maimonides tells us that down to his time it was a\ncommon custom in the East to keep women at their periods in a separate\nhouse and to burn everything on which they had trodden; a man who spoke\nwith such a woman or who was merely exposed to the same wind that blew\nover her, became thereby unclean.(209) Peasants of the Lebanon think that\nmenstruous women are the cause of many misfortunes; their shadow causes\nflowers to wither and trees to perish, it even arrests the movements of\nserpents; if one of them mounts a horse, the animal might die or at least\nbe disabled for a long time.(210) In Syria to this day a woman who has her\ncourses on her may neither salt nor pickle, for the people think that\nwhatever she pickled or salted would not keep.(211) The Toaripi of New\nGuinea, doubtless for a similar reason, will not allow women at such times\nto cook.(212) The Bhuiyars, a Dravidian tribe of South Mirzapur, are said\nto feel an intense dread of menstrual pollution. Every house has two\ndoors, one of which is used only by women in this condition. During her\nimpurity the wife is fed by her husband apart from the rest of the family,\nand whenever she has to quit the house she is obliged to creep out on her\nhands and knees in order not to defile the thatch by her touch.(213) The\nKharwars, another aboriginal tribe of the same district, keep their women\nat such seasons in the outer verandah of the house for eight days, and\nwill not let them enter the kitchen or the cow-house; during this time the\nunclean woman may not cook nor even touch the cooking vessels. When the\neight days are over, she bathes, washes her clothes, and returns to family\nlife.(214) Hindoo women seclude themselves at their monthly periods and\nobserve a number of rules, such as not to drink milk, not to milk cows,\nnot to touch fire, not to lie on a high bed, not to walk on common paths,\nnot to cross the track of animals, not to walk by the side of flowering\nplants, and not to observe the heavenly bodies.(215) The motive for these\nrestrictions is not mentioned, but probably it is a dread of the baleful\ninfluence which is supposed to emanate from women at these times. The\nParsees, who reverence fire, will not suffer menstruous women to see it or\neven to look on a lighted taper;(216) during their infirmity the women\nretire from their houses to little lodges in the country, whither victuals\nare brought to them daily; at the end of their seclusion they bathe and\nsend a kid, a fowl, or a pigeon to the priest as an offering.(217) In\nAnnam a woman at her monthly periods is deemed a centre of impurity, and\ncontact with her is avoided. She is subject to all sorts of restrictions\nwhich she must observe herself and which others must observe towards her.\nShe may not touch any food which is to be preserved by salting, whether it\nbe fish, flesh, or vegetables; for were she to touch it the food would\nputrefy. She may not enter any sacred place, she may not be present at any\nreligious ceremony. The linen which she wears at such times must be washed\nby herself at sunrise, never at night. On reaching puberty girls may not\ntouch flowers or the fruits of certain trees, for touched by them the\nflowers would fade and the fruits fall to the ground. \u201cIt is on account of\ntheir reputation for impurity that the women generally live isolated. In\nevery house they have an apartment reserved for them, and they never eat\nat the same table as the men. For the same reason they are excluded from\nall religious ceremonies. They may only be present at family ceremonies,\nbut without ever officiating in them.\u201d(218)\n\n(M69) The Guayquiries of the Orinoco think that when a woman has her\ncourses, everything upon which she steps will die, and that if a man\ntreads on the place where she has passed, his legs will immediately swell\nup.(219) Among the Guaraunos of the same great river, women at their\nperiods are regarded as unclean and kept apart in special huts, where all\nthat they need is brought to them.(220) In like manner among the Piapocos,\nan Indian tribe on the Guayabero, a tributary of the Orinoco, a menstruous\nwoman is secluded from her family every month for four or five days. She\npasses the time in a special hut, whither her husband brings her food; and\nat the end of the time she takes a bath and resumes her usual\noccupations.(221) So among the Indians of the Mosquito territory in\nCentral America, when a woman is in her courses, she must quit the village\nfor seven or eight days. A small hut is built for her in the wood, and at\nnight some of the village girls go and sleep with her to keep her company.\nOr if the nights are dark and jaguars are known to be prowling in the\nneighbourhood, her husband will take his gun or bow and sleep in a hammock\nnear her. She may neither handle nor cook food; all is prepared and\ncarried to her. When the sickness is over, she bathes in the river, puts\non clean clothes, and returns to her household duties.(222) Among the\nBri-bri Indians of Costa Rica a girl at her first menstruation retires to\na hut built for the purpose in the forest, and there she must stay till\nshe has been purified by a medicine-man, who breathes on her and places\nvarious objects, such as feathers, the beaks of birds, the teeth of\nbeasts, and so forth, upon her body. A married woman at her periods\nremains in the house with her husband, but she is reckoned unclean\n(_bukuru_) and must avoid all intimate relations with him. She uses for\nplates only banana leaves, which, when she has done with them, she throws\naway in a sequestered spot; for should a cow find and eat them, the animal\nwould waste away and perish. Also she drinks only out of a special vessel,\nbecause any person who should afterwards drink out of the same vessel\nwould infallibly pine away and die.(223)\n\n(M70) Among most tribes of North American Indians the custom was that\nwomen in their courses retired from the camp or the village and lived\nduring the time of their uncleanness in special huts or shelters which\nwere appropriated to their use. There they dwelt apart, eating and\nsleeping by themselves, warming themselves at their own fires, and\nstrictly abstaining from all communications with men, who shunned them\njust as if they were stricken with the plague. No article of furniture\nused in these menstrual huts might be used in any other, not even the\nflint and steel with which in the old days the fires were kindled. No one\nwould borrow a light from a woman in her seclusion. If a white man in his\nignorance asked to light his pipe at her fire, she would refuse to grant\nthe request, telling him that it would make his nose bleed and his head\nache, and that he would fall sick in consequence. If an Indian\u2019s wooden\npipe cracked, his friends would think that he had either lit it at one of\nthese polluted fires or had held some converse with a woman during her\nretirement, which was esteemed a most disgraceful and wicked thing to do.\nDecent men would not approach within a certain distance of a woman at such\ntimes, and if they had to convey anything to her they would stand some\nforty or fifty paces off and throw it to her. Everything which was touched\nby her hands during this period was deemed ceremonially unclean. Indeed\nher touch was thought to convey such pollution that if she chanced to lay\na finger on a chief\u2019s lodge or his gun or anything else belonging to him,\nit would be instantly destroyed. If she crossed the path of a hunter or a\nwarrior, his luck for that day at least would be gone. Were she not thus\nsecluded, it was supposed that the men would be attacked by diseases of\nvarious kinds, which would prove mortal. In some tribes a woman who\ninfringed the rules of separation might have to answer with her life for\nany misfortunes that might happen to individuals or to the tribe in\nconsequence, as it was supposed, of her criminal negligence. When she\nquitted her tent or hut to go into retirement, the fire in it was\nextinguished and the ashes thrown away outside of the village, and a new\nfire was kindled, as if the old one had been defiled by her presence. At\nthe end of their seclusion the women bathed in running streams and\nreturned to their usual occupations.(224)\n\n(M71) Thus, to take examples, the Creek and kindred Indians of the United\nStates compelled women at menstruation to live in separate huts at some\ndistance from the village. There the women had to stay, at the risk of\nbeing surprised and cut off by enemies. It was thought \u201ca most horrid and\ndangerous pollution\u201d to go near the women at such times; and the danger\nextended to enemies who, if they slew the women, had to cleanse themselves\nfrom the pollution by means of certain sacred herbs and roots.(225)\nSimilarly, the Choctaw women had to quit their huts during their monthly\nperiods, and might not return till after they had been purified. While\ntheir uncleanness lasted they had to prepare their own food. The men\nbelieved that if they were to approach a menstruous woman, they would fall\nill, and that some mishap would overtake them when they went to the\nwars.(226) When an Omaha woman has her courses on her, she retires from\nthe family to a little shelter of bark or grass, supported by sticks,\nwhere she kindles a fire and cooks her victuals alone. Her seclusion lasts\nfour days. During this time she may not approach or touch a horse, for the\nIndians believe that such contamination would impoverish or weaken the\nanimal.(227) Among the Potawatomis the women at their monthly periods \u201care\nnot allowed to associate with the rest of the nation; they are completely\nlaid aside, and are not permitted to touch any article of furniture or\nfood which the men have occasion to use. If the Indians be stationary at\nthe time, the women are placed outside of the camp; if on a march, they\nare not allowed to follow the trail, but must take a different path and\nkeep at a distance from the main body.\u201d(228) Among the Cheyennes\nmenstruous women slept in special lodges; the men believed that if they\nslept with their wives at such times, they would probably be wounded in\ntheir next battle. A man who owned a shield had very particularly to be on\nhis guard against women in their courses. He might not go into a lodge\nwhere one of them happened to be, nor even into a lodge where one of them\nhad been, until a ceremony of purification had been performed. Sweet grass\nand juniper were burnt in the tent, and the pegs were pulled up and the\ncovering thrown back, as if the tent were about to be struck. After this\npretence of decamping from the polluted spot the owner of the shield might\nenter the tent.(229)\n\n(M72) The Stseelis Indians of British Columbia imagined that if a\nmenstruous woman were to step over a bundle of arrows, the arrows would\nthereby be rendered useless and might even cause the death of their owner;\nand similarly that if she passed in front of a hunter who carried a gun,\nthe weapon would never shoot straight again. Neither her husband nor her\nfather would dream of going out to hunt while she was in this state; and\neven if he had wished to do so, the other hunters would not go with him.\nHence to keep them out of harm\u2019s way, the women, both married and\nunmarried, were secluded at these times for four days in shelters.(230)\nAmong the Thompson Indians of British Columbia every woman had to isolate\nherself from the rest of the people during every recurring period of\nmenstruation, and had to live some little way off in a small brush or bark\nlodge made for the purpose. At these times she was considered unclean,\nmust use cooking and eating utensils of her own, and was supplied with\nfood by some other woman. If she smoked out of a pipe other than her own,\nthat pipe would ever afterwards be hot to smoke. If she crossed in front\nof a gun, that gun would thenceforth be useless for the war or the chase,\nunless indeed the owner promptly washed the weapon in \u201cmedecine\u201d or struck\nthe woman with it once on each principal part of her body. If a man ate or\nhad any intercourse with a menstruous woman, nay if he merely wore clothes\nor mocassins made or patched by her, he would have bad luck in hunting and\nthe bears would attack him fiercely. Before being admitted again among the\npeople, she had to change all her clothes and wash several times in clear\nwater. The clothes worn during her isolation were hung on a tree, to be\nused next time, or to be washed. For one day after coming back among the\npeople she did not cook food. Were a man to eat food cooked by a woman at\nsuch times, he would have incapacitated himself for hunting and exposed\nhimself to sickness or death.(231)\n\n(M73) Among the Chippeways and other Indians of the Hudson Bay Territory,\nmenstruous women are excluded from the camp, and take up their abode in\nhuts of branches. They wear long hoods, which effectually conceal the head\nand breast. They may not touch the household furniture nor any objects\nused by men; for their touch \u201cis supposed to defile them, so that their\nsubsequent use would be followed by certain mischief or misfortune,\u201d such\nas disease or death. They must drink out of a swan\u2019s bone. They may not\nwalk on the common paths nor cross the tracks of animals. They \u201care never\npermitted to walk on the ice of rivers or lakes, or near the part where\nthe men are hunting beaver, or where a fishing-net is set, for fear of\naverting their success. They are also prohibited at those times from\npartaking of the head of any animal, and even from walking in or crossing\nthe track where the head of a deer, moose, beaver, and many other animals\nhave lately been carried, either on a sledge or on the back. To be guilty\nof a violation of this custom is considered as of the greatest importance;\nbecause they firmly believe that it would be a means of preventing the\nhunter from having an equal success in his future excursions.\u201d(232) So the\nLapps forbid women at menstruation to walk on that part of the shore where\nthe fishers are in the habit of setting out their fish;(233) and the\nEsquimaux of Bering Strait believe that if hunters were to come near women\nin their courses they would catch no game.(234)\n\n(M74) But the beliefs and superstitions of this sort that prevail among\nthe western tribes of the great D\u00e9n\u00e9 or Tinneh stock, to which the\nChippeways belong, have been so well described by an experienced\nmissionary, that I will give his description in his own words. Prominent\namong the ceremonial rites of these Indians, he says, \u201care the observances\npeculiar to the fair sex, and many of them are remarkably analogous to\nthose practised by the Hebrew women, so much so that, were it not\nsavouring of profanity, the ordinances of the D\u00e9n\u00e9 ritual code might be\ntermed a new edition \u2018revised and considerably augmented\u2019 of the Mosaic\nceremonial law. Among the Carriers,(235) as soon as a girl has experienced\nthe first flow of the menses which in the female constitution are a\nnatural discharge, her father believed himself under the obligation of\natoning for her supposedly sinful condition by a small impromptu\ndistribution of clothes among the natives. This periodical state of women\nwas considered as one of legal impurity fateful both to the man who\nhappened to have any intercourse, however indirect, with her, and to the\nwoman herself who failed in scrupulously observing all the rites\nprescribed by ancient usage for persons in her condition.\n\n(M75) \u201cUpon entering into that stage of her life, the maiden was\nimmediately sequestered from company, even that of her parents, and\ncompelled to dwell in a small branch hut by herself away from beaten paths\nand the gaze of passers-by. As she was supposed to exercise malefic\ninfluence on any man who might inadvertently glance at her, she had to\nwear a sort of head-dress combining in itself the purposes of a veil, a\nbonnet, and a mantlet. It was made of tanned skin, its forepart was shaped\nlike a long fringe completely hiding from view the face and breasts; then\nit formed on the head a close-fitting cap or bonnet, and finally fell in a\nbroad band almost to the heels. This head-dress was made and publicly\nplaced on her head by a paternal aunt, who received at once some present\nfrom the girl\u2019s father. When, three or four years later, the period of\nsequestration ceased, only this same aunt had the right to take off her\nniece\u2019s ceremonial head-dress. Furthermore, the girl\u2019s fingers, wrists,\nand legs at the ankles and immediately below the knees, were encircled\nwith ornamental rings and bracelets of sinew intended as a protection\nagainst the malign influences she was supposed to be possessed with.(236)\nTo a belt girding her waist were suspended two bone implements called\nrespectively _Tsoenkuz_ (bone tube) and _Tsiltsoet_ (head scratcher). The\nformer was a hollowed swan bone to drink with, any other mode of drinking\nbeing unlawful to her. The latter was fork-like and was called into\nrequisition whenever she wanted to scratch her head\u2014immediate contact of\nthe fingers with the head being reputed injurious to her health. While\nthus secluded, she was called _asta_, that is \u2018interred alive\u2019 in Carrier,\nand she had to submit to a rigorous fast and abstinence. Her only allowed\nfood consisted of dried fish boiled in a small bark vessel which nobody\nelse must touch, and she had to abstain especially from meat of any kind,\nas well as fresh fish. Nor was this all she had to endure; even her\ncontact, however remote, with these two articles of diet was so dreaded\nthat she could not cross the public paths or trails, or the tracks of\nanimals. Whenever absolute necessity constrained her to go beyond such\nspots, she had to be packed or carried over them lest she should\ncontaminate the game or meat which had passed that way, or had been\nbrought over these paths; and also for the sake of self-preservation\nagainst tabooed, and consequently to her, deleterious food. In the same\nway she was never allowed to wade in streams or lakes, for fear of causing\ndeath to the fish.\n\n\u201cIt was also a prescription of the ancient ritual code for females during\nthis primary condition to eat as little as possible, and to remain lying\ndown, especially in course of each monthly flow, not only as a natural\nconsequence of the prolonged fast and resulting weakness; but chiefly as\nan exhibition of a becoming penitential spirit which was believed to be\nrewarded by long life and continual good health in after years.\n\n(M76) \u201cThese mortifications or seclusion did not last less than three or\nfour years. Useless to say that during all that time marriage could not be\nthought of, since the girl could not so much as be seen by men. When\nmarried, the same sequestration was practised relatively to husband and\nfellow-villagers\u2014without the particular head-dress and rings spoken of\u2014on\nthe occasion of every recurring menstruation. Sometimes it was protracted\nas long as ten days at a time, especially during the first years of\ncohabitation. Even when she returned to her mate, she was not permitted to\nsleep with him on the first nor frequently on the second night, but would\nchoose a distant corner of the lodge to spread her blanket, as if afraid\nto defile him with her dread uncleanness.\u201d(237) Elsewhere the same writer\ntells us that most of the devices to which these Indians used to resort\nfor the sake of ensuring success in the chase \u201cwere based on their regard\nfor continence and their excessive repugnance for, and dread of,\nmenstruating women.\u201d(238) But the strict observances imposed on Tinneh or\nD\u00e9n\u00e9 women at such times were designed at the same time to protect the\nwomen themselves from the evil consequences of their dangerous condition.\nThus it was thought that women in their courses could not partake of the\nhead, heart, or hind part of an animal that had been caught in a snare\nwithout exposing themselves to a premature death through a kind of rabies.\nThey might not cut or carve salmon, because to do so would seriously\nendanger their health, and especially would enfeeble their arms for life.\nAnd they had to abstain from cutting up the grebes which are caught by the\nCarriers in great numbers every spring, because otherwise the blood with\nwhich these fowls abound would occasion h\u00e6morrhage or an unnaturally\nprolonged flux in the transgressor.(239) Similarly Indian women of the\nThompson tribe abstained from venison and the flesh of other large game\nduring menstruation, lest the animals should be displeased and the\nmenstrual flow increased.(240) For a similar reason, probably, Shuswap\ngirls during their seclusion at puberty are forbidden to eat anything that\nbleeds.(241) The same principle may perhaps partly explain the rule, of\nwhich we have had some examples, that women at such times should refrain\nfrom fish and flesh, and restrict themselves to a vegetable diet.\n\n(M77) The philosophic student of human nature will observe, or learn,\nwithout surprise that ideas thus deeply ingrained in the savage mind\nreappear at a more advanced stage of society in those elaborate codes\nwhich have been drawn up for the guidance of certain peoples by lawgivers\nwho claim to have derived the rules they inculcate from the direct\ninspiration of the deity. However we may explain it, the resemblance which\nexists between the earliest official utterances of the deity and the ideas\nof savages is unquestionably close and remarkable; whether it be, as some\nsuppose, that God communed face to face with man in those early days, or,\nas others maintain, that man mistook his wild and wandering thoughts for a\nrevelation from heaven. Be that as it may, certain it is that the natural\nuncleanness of woman at her monthly periods is a conception which has\noccurred, or been revealed, with singular unanimity to several ancient\nlegislators. The Hindoo lawgiver Manu, who professed to have received his\ninstitutes from the creator Brahman, informs us that the wisdom, the\nenergy, the strength, the sight, and the vitality of a man who approaches\na woman in her courses will utterly perish; whereas, if he avoids her, his\nwisdom, energy, strength, sight, and vitality will all increase.(242) The\nPersian lawgiver Zoroaster, who, if we can take his word for it, derived\nhis code from the mouth of the supreme being Ahura Mazda, devoted special\nattention to the subject. According to him, the menstrous flow, at least\nin its abnormal manifestations, is a work of Ahriman, or the devil.\nTherefore, so long as it lasts, a woman \u201cis unclean and possessed of the\ndemon; she must be kept confined, apart from the faithful whom her touch\nwould defile, and from the fire which her very look would injure; she is\nnot allowed to eat as much as she wishes, as the strength she might\nacquire would accrue to the fiends. Her food is not given her from hand to\nhand, but is passed to her from a distance, in a long leaden spoon.\u201d(243)\nThe Hebrew lawgiver Moses, whose divine legation is as little open to\nquestion as that of Manu and Zoroaster, treats the subject at still\ngreater length; but I must leave to the reader the task of comparing the\ninspired ordinances on this head with the merely human regulations of the\nCarrier Indians which they so closely resemble.\n\n(M78) Amongst the civilized nations of Europe the superstitions which\ncluster round this mysterious aspect of woman\u2019s nature are not less\nextravagant than those which prevail among savages. In the oldest existing\ncyclopaedia\u2014the _Natural History_ of Pliny\u2014the list of dangers apprehended\nfrom menstruation is longer than any furnished by mere barbarians.\nAccording to Pliny, the touch of a menstruous woman turned wine to\nvinegar, blighted crops, killed seedlings, blasted gardens, brought down\nthe fruit from trees, dimmed mirrors, blunted razors, rusted iron and\nbrass (especially at the waning of the moon), killed bees, or at least\ndrove them from their hives, caused mares to miscarry, and so forth.(244)\nSimilarly, in various parts of Europe, it is still believed that if a\nwoman in her courses enters a brewery the beer will turn sour; if she\ntouches beer, wine, vinegar, or milk, it will go bad; if she makes jam, it\nwill not keep; if she mounts a mare, it will miscarry; if she touches\nbuds, they will wither; if she climbs a cherry tree, it will die.(245) In\nBrunswick people think that if a menstruous woman assists at the killing\nof a pig, the pork will putrefy.(246) In the Greek island of Calymnos a\nwoman at such times may not go to the well to draw water, nor cross a\nrunning stream, nor enter the sea. Her presence in a boat is said to raise\nstorms.(247)\n\n(M79) Thus the object of secluding women at menstruation is to neutralize\nthe dangerous influences which are supposed to emanate from them at such\ntimes. That the danger is believed to be especially great at the first\nmenstruation appears from the unusual precautions taken to isolate girls\nat this crisis. Two of these precautions have been illustrated above,\nnamely, the rules that the girl may not touch the ground nor see the sun.\nThe general effect of these rules is to keep her suspended, so to say,\nbetween heaven and earth. Whether enveloped in her hammock and slung up to\nthe roof, as in South America, or raised above the ground in a dark and\nnarrow cage, as in New Ireland, she may be considered to be out of the way\nof doing mischief, since, being shut off both from the earth and from the\nsun, she can poison neither of these great sources of life by her deadly\ncontagion. In short, she is rendered harmless by being, in electrical\nlanguage, insulated. But the precautions thus taken to isolate or insulate\nthe girl are dictated by a regard for her own safety as well as for the\nsafety of others. For it is thought that she herself would suffer if she\nwere to neglect the prescribed regimen. Thus Zulu girls, as we have seen,\nbelieve that they would shrivel to skeletons if the sun were to shine on\nthem at puberty, and in some Brazilian tribes the young women think that a\ntransgression of the rules would entail sores on the neck and throat. In\nshort, the girl is viewed as charged with a powerful force which, if not\nkept within bounds, may prove destructive both to herself and to all with\nwhom she comes in contact. To repress this force within the limits\nnecessary for the safety of all concerned is the object of the taboos in\nquestion.\n\n(M80) The same explanation applies to the observance of the same rules by\ndivine kings and priests. The uncleanness, as it is called, of girls at\npuberty and the sanctity of holy men do not, to the primitive mind, differ\nmaterially from each other. They are only different manifestations of the\nsame mysterious energy which, like energy in general, is in itself neither\ngood nor bad, but becomes beneficent or maleficent according to its\napplication.(248) Accordingly, if, like girls at puberty, divine\npersonages may neither touch the ground nor see the sun, the reason is, on\nthe one hand, a fear lest their divinity might, at contact with earth or\nheaven, discharge itself with fatal violence on either; and, on the other\nhand, an apprehension that the divine being, thus drained of his ethereal\nvirtue, might thereby be incapacitated for the future performance of those\nmagical functions, upon the proper discharge of which the safety of the\npeople and even of the world is believed to hang. Thus the rules in\nquestion fall under the head of the taboos which we examined in the second\npart of this work;(249) they are intended to preserve the life of the\ndivine person and with it the life of his subjects and worshippers.\nNowhere, it is thought, can his precious yet dangerous life be at once so\nsafe and so harmless as when it is neither in heaven nor in earth, but, as\nfar as possible, suspended between the two.(250)\n\n(M81) In legends and folk-tales, which reflect the ideas of earlier ages,\nwe find this suspension between heaven and earth attributed to beings who\nhave been endowed with the coveted yet burdensome gift of immortality. The\nwizened remains of the deathless Sibyl are said to have been preserved in\na jar or urn which hung in a temple of Apollo at Cumae; and when a group\nof merry children, tired, perhaps, of playing in the sunny streets, sought\nthe shade of the temple and amused themselves by gathering underneath the\nfamiliar jar and calling out, \u201cSibyl, what do you wish?\u201d a hollow voice,\nlike an echo, used to answer from the urn, \u201cI wish to die.\u201d(251) A story,\ntaken down from the lips of a German peasant at Thomsdorf, relates that\nonce upon a time there was a girl in London who wished to live for ever,\nso they say:\n\n\n    \u201c_London, London is a fine town._\n    _A maiden prayed to live for ever._\u201d\n\n\nAnd still she lives and hangs in a basket in a church, and every St.\nJohn\u2019s Day, about the hour of noon, she eats a roll of bread.(252) Another\nGerman story tells of a lady who resided at Danzig and was so rich and so\nblest with all that life can give that she wished to live always. So when\nshe came to her latter end, she did not really die but only looked like\ndead, and very soon they found her in a hollow of a pillar in the church,\nhalf standing and half sitting, motionless. She stirred never a limb, but\nthey saw quite plainly that she was alive, and she sits there down to this\nblessed day. Every New Year\u2019s Day the sacristan comes and puts a morsel of\nthe holy bread in her mouth, and that is all she has to live on. Long,\nlong has she rued her fatal wish who set this transient life above the\neternal joys of heaven.(253) A third German story tells of a noble damsel\nwho cherished the same foolish wish for immortality. So they put her in a\nbasket and hung her up in a church, and there she hangs and never dies,\nthough many a year has come and gone since they put her there. But every\nyear on a certain day they give her a roll, and she eats it and cries out,\n\u201cFor ever! for ever! for ever!\u201d And when she has so cried she falls silent\nagain till the same time next year, and so it will go on for ever and for\never.(254) A fourth story, taken down near Oldenburg in Holstein, tells of\na jolly dame that ate and drank and lived right merrily and had all that\nheart could desire, and she wished to live always. For the first hundred\nyears all went well, but after that she began to shrink and shrivel up,\ntill at last she could neither walk nor stand nor eat nor drink. But die\nshe could not. At first they fed her as if she were a little child, but\nwhen she grew smaller and smaller they put her in a glass bottle and hung\nher up in the church. And there she still hangs, in the church of St.\nMary, at L\u00fcbeck. She is as small as a mouse, but once a year she\nstirs.(255)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III. THE MYTH OF BALDER.\n\n\n(M82) A deity whose life might in a sense be said to be neither in heaven\nnor on earth but between the two, was the Norse Balder, the good and\nbeautiful god, the son of the great god Odin, and himself the wisest,\nmildest, best beloved of all the immortals. The story of his death, as it\nis told in the younger or prose _Edda_, runs thus. Once on a time Balder\ndreamed heavy dreams which seemed to forebode his death. Thereupon the\ngods held a council and resolved to make him secure against every danger.\nSo the goddess Frigg took an oath from fire and water, iron and all\nmetals, stones and earth, from trees, sicknesses and poisons, and from all\nfour-footed beasts, birds, and creeping things, that they would not hurt\nBalder. When this was done Balder was deemed invulnerable; so the gods\namused themselves by setting him in their midst, while some shot at him,\nothers hewed at him, and others threw stones at him. But whatever they\ndid, nothing could hurt him; and at this they were all glad, Only Loki,\nthe mischief-maker, was displeased, and he went in the guise of an old\nwoman to Frigg, who told him that the weapons of the gods could not wound\nBalder, since she had made them all swear not to hurt him. Then Loki\nasked, \u201cHave all things sworn to spare Balder?\u201d She answered, \u201cEast of\nWalhalla grows a plant called mistletoe; it seemed to me too young to\nswear.\u201d So Loki went and pulled the mistletoe and took it to the assembly\nof the gods. There he found the blind god Hother standing at the outside\nof the circle. Loki asked him, \u201cWhy do you not shoot at Balder?\u201d Hother\nanswered, \u201cBecause I do not see where he stands; besides I have no\nweapon.\u201d Then said Loki, \u201cDo like the rest and shew Balder honour, as they\nall do. I will shew you where he stands, and do you shoot at him with this\ntwig.\u201d Hother took the mistletoe and threw it at Balder, as Loki directed\nhim. The mistletoe struck Balder and pierced him through and through, and\nhe fell down dead. And that was the greatest misfortune that ever befell\ngods and men. For a while the gods stood speechless, then they lifted up\ntheir voices and wept bitterly. They took Balder\u2019s body and brought it to\nthe sea-shore. There stood Balder\u2019s ship; it was called Ringhorn, and was\nthe hugest of all ships. The gods wished to launch the ship and to burn\nBalder\u2019s body on it, but the ship would not stir. So they sent for a\ngiantess called Hyrrockin. She came riding on a wolf and gave the ship\nsuch a push that fire flashed from the rollers and all the earth shook.\nThen Balder\u2019s body was taken and placed on the funeral pile upon his ship.\nWhen his wife Nanna saw that, her heart burst for sorrow and she died. So\nshe was laid on the funeral pile with her husband, and fire was put to it.\nBalder\u2019s horse, too, with all its trappings, was burned on the pile.(256)\n\n(M83) In the older or poetic _Edda_ the tragic tale of Balder is hinted at\nrather than told at length. Among the visions which the Norse Sibyl sees\nand describes in the weird prophecy known as the _Voluspa_ is one of the\nfatal mistletoe. \u201cI behold,\u201d says she, \u201cFate looming for Balder, Woden\u2019s\nson, the bloody victim. There stands the Mistletoe slender and delicate,\nblooming high above the ground. Out of this shoot, so slender to look on,\nthere shall grow a harmful fateful shaft. Hod shall shoot it, but Frigga\nin Fen-hall shall weep over the woe of Wal-hall.\u201d(257) Yet looking far\ninto the future the Sibyl sees a brighter vision of a new heaven and a new\nearth, where the fields unsown shall yield their increase and all sorrows\nshall be healed; then Balder will come back to dwell in Odin\u2019s mansions of\nbliss, in a hall brighter than the sun, shingled with gold, where the\nrighteous shall live in joy for ever more.(258)\n\n(M84) Writing about the end of the twelfth century, the old Danish\nhistorian Saxo Grammaticus tells the story of Balder in a form which\nprofesses to be historical. According to him, Balder and Hother were rival\nsuitors for the hand of Nanna, daughter of Gewar, King of Norway. Now\nBalder was a demigod and common steel could not wound his sacred body. The\ntwo rivals encountered each other in a terrific battle, and though Odin\nand Thor and the rest of the gods fought for Balder, yet was he defeated\nand fled away, and Hother married the princess. Nevertheless Balder took\nheart of grace and again met Hother in a stricken field. But he fared even\nworse than before; for Hother dealt him a deadly wound with a magic sword,\nwhich he had received from Miming, the Satyr of the woods; and after\nlingering three days in pain Balder died of his hurt and was buried with\nroyal honours in a barrow.(259)\n\n(M85) Whether he was a real or merely a mythical personage, Balder was\nworshipped in Norway. On one of the bays of the beautiful Sogne Fiord,\nwhich penetrates far into the depths of the solemn Norwegian mountains,\nwith their sombre pine-forests and their lofty cascades dissolving into\nspray before they reach the dark water of the fiord far below, Balder had\na great sanctuary. It was called Balder\u2019s Grove. A palisade enclosed the\nhallowed ground, and within it stood a spacious temple with the images of\nmany gods, but none of them was worshipped with such devotion as Balder.\nSo great was the awe with which the heathen regarded the place that no man\nmight harm another there, nor steal his cattle, nor defile himself with\nwomen. But women cared for the images of the gods in the temple; they\nwarmed them at the fire, anointed them with oil, and dried them with\ncloths.(260)\n\n(M86) It might be rash to affirm that the romantic figure of Balder was\nnothing but a creation of the mythical fancy, a radiant phantom conjured\nup as by a wizard\u2019s wand to glitter for a time against the gloomy\nbackground of the stern Norwegian landscape. It may be so; yet it is also\npossible that the myth was founded on the tradition of a hero, popular and\nbeloved in his lifetime, who long survived in the memory of the people,\ngathering more and more of the marvellous about him as he passed from\ngeneration to generation of story-tellers. At all events it is worth while\nto observe that a somewhat similar story is told of another national hero,\nwho may well have been a real man. In his great poem, _The Epic of Kings_,\nwhich is founded on Persian traditions, the poet Firdusi tells us that in\nthe combat between Rustem and Isfendiyar the arrows of the former did no\nharm to his adversary, \u201cbecause Zerdusht had charmed his body against all\ndangers, so that it was like unto brass.\u201d But Simurgh, the bird of God,\nshewed Rustem the way he should follow in order to vanquish his\nredoubtable foe. He rode after her, and they halted not till they came to\nthe sea-shore. There she led him into a garden, where grew a tamarisk,\ntall and strong, and the roots thereof were in the ground, but the\nbranches pierced even unto the sky. Then the bird of God bade Rustem break\nfrom the tree a branch that was long and slender, and fashion it into an\narrow, and she said, \u201cOnly through his eyes can Isfendiyar be wounded. If,\ntherefore, thou wouldst slay him, direct this arrow unto his forehead, and\nverily it shall not miss its aim.\u201d Rustem did as he was bid; and when next\nhe fought with Isfendiyar, he shot the arrow at him, and it pierced his\neye, and he died. Great was the mourning for Isfendiyar. For the space of\none year men ceased not to lament for him, and for many years they shed\nbitter tears for that arrow, and they said, \u201cThe glory of Iran hath been\nlaid low.\u201d(261)\n\n(M87) Whatever may be thought of an historical kernel underlying a\nmythical husk in the legend of Balder, the details of the story suggest\nthat it belongs to that class of myths which have been dramatized in\nritual, or, to put it otherwise, which have been performed as magical\nceremonies for the sake of producing those natural effects which they\ndescribe in figurative language. A myth is never so graphic and precise in\nits details as when it is, so to speak, the book of the words which are\nspoken and acted by the performers of the sacred rite. That the Norse\nstory of Balder was a myth of this sort will become probable if we can\nprove that ceremonies resembling the incidents in the tale have been\nperformed by Norsemen and other European peoples. Now the main incidents\nin the tale are two\u2014first, the pulling of the mistletoe, and second, the\ndeath and burning of the god; and both of them may perhaps be found to\nhave had their counterparts in yearly rites observed, whether separately\nor conjointly, by people in various parts of Europe. These rites will be\ndescribed and discussed in the following chapters. We shall begin with the\nannual festivals of fire and shall reserve the pulling of the mistletoe\nfor consideration later on.\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV. THE FIRE-FESTIVALS OF EUROPE.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 1. The Lenten Fires.\n\n\n(M88) All over Europe the peasants have been accustomed from time\nimmemorial to kindle bonfires on certain days of the year, and to dance\nround or leap over them. Customs of this kind can be traced back on\nhistorical evidence to the Middle Ages,(262) and their analogy to similar\ncustoms observed in antiquity goes with strong internal evidence to prove\nthat their origin must be sought in a period long prior to the spread of\nChristianity. Indeed the earliest proof of their observance in Northern\nEurope is furnished by the attempts made by Christian synods in the eighth\ncentury to put them down as heathenish rites.(263) Not uncommonly effigies\nare burned in these fires, or a pretence is made of burning a living\nperson in them; and there are grounds for believing that anciently human\nbeings were actually burned on these occasions. A general survey of the\ncustoms in question will bring out the traces of human sacrifice, and will\nserve at the same time to throw light on their meaning.(264)\n\n(M89) The seasons of the year when these bonfires are most commonly lit\nare spring and midsummer; but in some places they are kindled also at the\nend of autumn or during the course of the winter, particularly on Hallow\nE\u2019en (the thirty-first of October), Christmas Day, and the Eve of Twelfth\nDay. We shall consider them in the order in which they occur in the\ncalendar year. The earliest of them is the winter festival of the Eve of\nTwelfth Day (the fifth of January); but as it has been already described\nin an earlier part of this work(265) we shall pass it over here and begin\nwith the fire-festivals of spring, which usually fall on the first Sunday\nof Lent (_Quadragesima_ or _Invocavit_),(266) Easter Eve, and May Day.\n\n(M90) The custom of kindling bonfires on the first Sunday in Lent has\nprevailed in Belgium, the north of France, and many parts of Germany. Thus\nin the Belgian Ardennes for a week or a fortnight before the \u201cday of the\ngreat fire,\u201d as it is called, children go about from farm to farm\ncollecting fuel. At Grand Halleux any one who refuses their request is\npursued next day by the children, who try to blacken his face with the\nashes of the extinct fire. When the day has come, they cut down bushes,\nespecially juniper and broom, and in the evening great bonfires blaze on\nall the heights. It is a common saying that seven bonfires should be seen\nif the village is to be safe from conflagrations. If the Meuse happens to\nbe frozen hard at the time, bonfires are lit also on the ice. At Grand\nHalleux they set up a pole called _makral_, or \u201cthe witch,\u201d in the midst\nof the pile, and the fire is kindled by the man who was last married in\nthe village. In the neighbourhood of Morlanwelz a straw man is burnt in\nthe fire. Young people and children dance and sing round the bonfires, and\nleap over the embers to secure good crops or a happy marriage within the\nyear, or as a means of guarding themselves against colic. In Brabant on\nthe same Sunday, down to the beginning of the nineteenth century, women\nand men disguised in female attire used to go with burning torches to the\nfields, where they danced and sang comic songs for the purpose, as they\nalleged, of driving away \u201cthe wicked sower,\u201d who is mentioned in the\nGospel for the day. At Maeseyck and in many villages of Limburg, on the\nevening of the day children run through the streets carrying lighted\ntorches; then they kindle little fires of straw in the fields and dance\nround them. At Ensival old folks tell young folks that they will have as\nmany Easter eggs as they see bonfires on this day.(267) At P\u00e2turages, in\nthe province of Hainaut, down to about 1840 the custom was observed under\nthe name of _Escouvion_ or _Scouvion_. Every year on the first Sunday of\nLent, which was called the Day of the Little Scouvion, young folks and\nchildren used to run with lighted torches through the gardens and\norchards. As they ran they cried at the pitch of their voices,\n\n\n    \u201c_Bear apples, bear pears_\n    _And cherries all black_\n      _To Scouvion!_\u201d\n\n\nAt these words the torch-bearer whirled his blazing brand and hurled it\namong the branches of the apple-trees, the pear-trees, and the\ncherry-trees. The next Sunday was called the Day of the Great Scouvion,\nand the same race with lighted torches among the trees of the orchards was\nrepeated in the afternoon till darkness fell. The same custom was observed\non the same two days at Wasmes.(268) In the neighbourhood of Li\u00e8ge, where\nthe Lenten fires were put down by the police about the middle of the\nnineteenth century, girls thought that by leaping over the fires without\nbeing smirched they made sure of a happy marriage. Elsewhere in order to\nget a good husband it was necessary to see seven of the bonfires from one\nspot. In Famenne, a district of Namur, men and cattle who traversed the\nLenten fires were thought to be safe from sickness and witchcraft. Anybody\nwho saw seven such fires at once had nothing to fear from sorcerers. An\nold saying ran, that if you do not light \u201cthe great fire,\u201d God will light\nit for you; which seems to imply that the kindling of the bonfires was\ndeemed a protection against conflagrations throughout the year.(269)\n\n(M91) In the French department of the Ardennes the whole village used to\ndance and sing round the bonfires which were lighted on the first Sunday\nin Lent. Here, too, it was the person last married, sometimes a man and\nsometimes a woman, who put the match to the fire. The custom is still kept\nup very commonly in the district. Cats used to be burnt in the fire or\nroasted to death by being held over it; and while they were burning the\nshepherds drove their flocks through the smoke and flames as a sure means\nof guarding them against sickness and witchcraft. In some communes it was\nbelieved that the livelier the dance round the fire, the better would be\nthe crops that year.(270) In the Vosges Mountains it is still customary to\nlight great fires on the heights and around the villages on the first\nSunday in Lent; and at Rupt and elsewhere the right of kindling them\nbelongs to the person who was last married. Round the fires the people\ndance and sing merrily till the flames have died out. Then the master of\nthe fire, as they call the man who kindled it, invites all who contributed\nto the erection of the pile to follow him to the nearest tavern, where\nthey partake of good cheer. At Dommartin they say that, if you would have\nthe hemp tall, it is absolutely necessary that the women should be tipsy\non the evening of this day.(271) At \u00c9pinal in the Vosges, on the first\nSunday in Lent, bonfires used to be kindled at various places both in the\ntown and on the banks of the Moselle. They consisted of pyramids of sticks\nand faggots, which had been collected some days earlier by young folks\ngoing from door to door. When the flames blazed up, the names of various\ncouples, whether young or old, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, were called\nout, and the persons thus linked in mock marriage were forced, whether\nthey liked it or not, to march arm in arm round the fire amid the laughter\nand jests of the crowd. The festivity lasted till the fire died out, and\nthen the spectators dispersed through the streets, stopping under the\nwindows of the houses and proclaiming the names of the _f\u00e9chenots_ and\n_f\u00e9chenottes_ or Valentines whom the popular voice had assigned to each\nother. These couples had to exchange presents; the mock bridegroom gave\nhis mock bride something for her toilet, while she in turn presented him\nwith a cockade of coloured ribbon. Next Sunday, if the weather allowed it,\nall the couples, arrayed in their best attire and attended by their\nrelations, repaired to the wood of Saint Antony, where they mounted a\nfamous stone called the _danserosse_ or _danseresse_. Here they found\ncakes and refreshments of all sorts, and danced to the music of a couple\nof fiddlers. The evening bell, ringing the Angelus, gave the signal to\ndepart. As soon as its solemn chime was heard, every one quitted the\nforest and returned home. The exchange of presents between the Valentines\nwent by the name of ransom or redemption (_rachat_), because it was\nsupposed to redeem the couple from the flames of the bonfire. Any pair who\nfailed thus to ransom themselves were not suffered to share the\nmerrymaking at the great stone in the forest; and a pretence was made of\nburning them in small fires kindled before their own doors.(272)\n\n(M92) In the French province of Franche-Comt\u00e9, to the west of the Jura\nMountains, the first Sunday of Lent is known as the Sunday of the\nFirebrands (_Brandons_), on account of the fires which it is customary to\nkindle on that day. On the Saturday or the Sunday the village lads harness\nthemselves to a cart and drag it about the streets, stopping at the doors\nof the houses where there are girls and begging for a faggot. When they\nhave got enough, they cart the fuel to a spot at some little distance from\nthe village, pile it up, and set it on fire. All the people of the parish\ncome out to see the bonfire. In some villages, when the bells have rung\nthe Angelus, the signal for the observance is given by cries of, \u201cTo the\nfire! to the fire!\u201d Lads, lasses, and children dance round the blaze, and\nwhen the flames have died down they vie with each other in leaping over\nthe red embers. He or she who does so without singeing his or her garments\nwill be married within the year. Young folk also carry lighted torches\nabout the streets or the fields, and when they pass an orchard they cry\nout, \u201cMore fruit than leaves!\u201d Down to recent years at Laviron, in the\ndepartment of Doubs, it was the young married couples of the year who had\ncharge of the bonfires. In the midst of the bonfire a pole was planted\nwith a wooden figure of a cock fastened to the top. Then there were races,\nand the winner received the cock as a prize.(273)\n\n(M93) In Auvergne fires are everywhere kindled on the evening of the first\nSunday in Lent. Every village, every hamlet, even every ward, every\nisolated farm has its bonfire or _figo_, as it is called, which blazes up\nas the shades of night are falling. The fires may be seen flaring on the\nheights and in the plains; the people dance and sing round about them and\nleap through the flames. Then they proceed to the ceremony of the\n_Grannas-mias_. A _granno-mio_(274) is a torch of straw fastened to the\ntop of a pole. When the pyre is half consumed, the bystanders kindle the\ntorches at the expiring flames and carry them into the neighbouring\norchards, fields, and gardens, wherever there are fruit-trees. As they\nmarch they sing at the top of their voices,\n\n\n    \u201c_Granno, mo mio,_\n    _Granno, mon pou\u00e8re,_\n    _Granno, mo mou\u00e8re!_\u201d\n\n\nthat is, \u201cGrannus my friend, Grannus my father, Grannus my mother.\u201d Then\nthey pass the burning torches under the branches of every tree, singing,\n\n\n    \u201c_Brando, brandounci_\n    _Tsaque brantso, in plan panei!_\u201d\n\n\nthat is, \u201cFirebrand burn; every branch a basketful!\u201d In some villages the\npeople also run across the sown fields and shake the ashes of the torches\non the ground; also they put some of the ashes in the fowls\u2019 nests, in\norder that the hens may lay plenty of eggs throughout the year. When all\nthese ceremonies have been performed, everybody goes home and feasts; the\nspecial dishes of the evening are fritters and pancakes.(275) Here the\napplication of the fire to the fruit-trees, to the sown fields, and to the\nnests of the poultry is clearly a charm intended to ensure fertility; and\nthe Granno to whom the invocations are addressed, and who gives his name\nto the torches, may possibly be, as Dr. Pommerol suggests,(276) no other\nthan the ancient Celtic god Grannus, whom the Romans identified with\nApollo, and whose worship is attested by inscriptions found not only in\nFrance but in Scotland and on the Danube.(277) If the name Grannus is\nderived, as the learned tell us, from a root meaning \u201cto glow, burn,\nshine,\u201d(278) the deity who bore the name and was identified with Apollo\nmay well have been a sun-god; and in that case the prayers addressed to\nhim by the peasants of the Auvergne, while they wave the blazing,\ncrackling torches about the fruit-trees, would be eminently appropriate.\nFor who could ripen the fruit so well as the sun-god? and what better\nprocess could be devised to draw the blossoms from the bare boughs than\nthe application to them of that genial warmth which is ultimately derived\nfrom the solar beams? Thus the fire-festival of the first Sunday in Lent,\nas it is observed in Auvergne, may be interpreted very naturally and\nsimply as a religious or rather perhaps magical ceremony designed to\nprocure a due supply of the sun\u2019s heat for plants and animals. At the same\ntime we should remember that the employment of fire in this and kindred\nceremonies may have been designed originally, not so much to stimulate\ngrowth and reproduction, as to burn and destroy all agencies, whether in\nthe shape of vermin, witches, or what not, which threatened or were\nsupposed to threaten the growth of the crops and the multiplication of\nanimals. It is often difficult to decide between these two different\ninterpretations of the use of fire in agricultural rites. In any case the\nfire-festival of Auvergne on the first Sunday in Lent may date from\nDruidical times.\n\n(M94) The custom of carrying lighted torches of straw (_brandons_) about\nthe orchards and fields to fertilize them on the first Sunday of Lent\nseems to have been common in France, whether it was accompanied with the\npractice of kindling bonfires or not. Thus in the province of Picardy \u201con\nthe first Sunday of Lent people carried torches through the fields,\nexorcising the field-mice, the darnel, and the smut. They imagined that\nthey did much good to the gardens and caused the onions to grow large.\nChildren ran about the fields, torch in hand, to make the land more\nfertile. All that was done habitually in Picardy, and the ceremony of the\ntorches is not entirely forgotten, especially in the villages on both\nsides the Somme as far as Saint-Valery.\u201d(279) \u201cA very agreeable spectacle,\nsaid the curate of l\u2019\u00c9toile, is to survey from the portal of the church,\nsituated almost on the top of the mountain, the vast plains of Vimeux all\nilluminated by these wandering fires. The same pastime is observed at\nPoix, at Conty, and in all the villages round about.\u201d(280) Again, in the\ndistrict of Beauce a festival of torches (_brandons_ or _brandelons_) used\nto be held both on the first and on the second Sunday in Lent; the first\nwas called \u201cthe Great Torches\u201d and the second \u201cthe Little Torches.\u201d The\ntorches were, as usual, bundles of straw wrapt round poles. In the evening\nthe village lads carried the burning brands through the country, running\nabout in disorder and singing,\n\n\n            \u201c_Torches burn_\n    _At these vines, at this wheat;_\n            _Torches burn_\n    _For the maidens that shall wed!_\u201d\n\n\nFrom time to time the bearers would stand still and smite the earth all\ntogether with the blazing straw of the torches, while they cried, \u201cA sheaf\nof a peck and a half!\u201d (_Gearbe \u00e0 boissiaux_). If two torchbearers\nhappened to meet each other on their rounds, they performed the same\nceremony and uttered the same words. When the straw was burnt out, the\npoles were collected and a great bonfire made of them. Lads and lasses\ndanced round the flames, and the lads leaped over them. Afterwards it was\ncustomary to eat a special sort of hasty-pudding made of wheaten flour.\nThese usages were still in vogue at the beginning of the nineteenth\ncentury, but they have now almost disappeared. The peasants believed that\nby carrying lighted torches through the fields they protected the crops\nfrom field-mice, darnel, and smut.(281) \u201cAt Dijon, in Burgundy, it is the\ncustom upon the first Sunday in Lent to make large fires in the streets,\nwhence it is called Firebrand Sunday. This practice originated in the\nprocessions formerly made on that day by the peasants with lighted torches\nof straw, to drive away, as they called it, the bad air from the\nearth.\u201d(282) In some parts of France, while the people scoured the country\nwith burning brands on the first Sunday in Lent, they warned the\nfruit-trees that if they did not take heed and bear fruit they would\nsurely be cut down and cast into the fire.(283) On the same day peasants\nin the department of Loiret used to run about the sowed fields with\nburning torches in their hands, while they adjured the field-mice to quit\nthe wheat on pain of having their whiskers burned.(284) In the department\nof Ain the great fires of straw and faggots which are kindled in the\nfields at this time are or were supposed to destroy the nests of the\ncaterpillars.(285) At Verges, a lonely village surrounded by forests\nbetween the Jura and the Combe d\u2019Ain, the torches used at this season were\nkindled in a peculiar manner. The young people climbed to the top of a\nmountain, where they placed three nests of straw in three trees. These\nnests being then set on fire, torches made of dry lime-wood were lighted\nat them, and the merry troop descended the mountain to their flickering\nlight, and went to every house in the village, demanding roasted peas and\nobliging all couples who had been married within the year to dance.(286)\nIn Berry, a district of central France, it appears that bonfires are not\nlighted on this day, but when the sun has set the whole population of the\nvillages, armed with blazing torches of straw, disperse over the country\nand scour the fields, the vineyards, and the orchards. Seen from afar, the\nmultitude of moving lights, twinkling in the darkness, appear like\nwill-o\u2019-the-wisps chasing each other across the plains, along the\nhillsides, and down the valleys. While the men wave their flambeaus about\nthe branches of the fruit-trees, the women and children tie bands of\nwheaten-straw round the tree-trunks. The effect of the ceremony is\nsupposed to be to avert the various plagues from which the fruits of the\nearth are apt to suffer; and the bands of straw fastened round the stems\nof the trees are believed to render them fruitful.(287) In the peninsula\nof La Manche the Norman peasants used to spend almost the whole night of\nthe first Sunday in Lent rushing about the country with lighted torches\nfor the purpose, as they supposed, of driving away the moles and\nfield-mice; fires were also kindled on some of the dolmens.(288)\n\n(M95) In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at the same season similar\ncustoms have prevailed. Thus in the Eifel Mountains, Rhenish Prussia, on\nthe first Sunday in Lent young people used to collect straw and brushwood\nfrom house to house. These they carried to an eminence and piled up round\na tall, slim beech-tree, to which a piece of wood was fastened at right\nangles to form a cross. The structure was known as the \u201chut\u201d or \u201ccastle.\u201d\nFire was set to it and the young people marched round the blazing \u201ccastle\u201d\nbareheaded, each carrying a lighted torch and praying aloud. Sometimes a\nstraw-man was burned in the \u201chut.\u201d People observed the direction in which\nthe smoke blew from the fire. If it blew towards the corn-fields, it was a\nsign that the harvest would be abundant. On the same day, in some parts of\nthe Eifel, a great wheel was made of straw and dragged by three horses to\nthe top of a hill. Thither the village boys marched at nightfall, set fire\nto the wheel, and sent it rolling down the slope. Two lads followed it\nwith levers to set it in motion again, in case it should anywhere meet\nwith a check. At Oberstattfeld the wheel had to be provided by the young\nman who was last married.(289) About Echternach in Luxemburg the same\nceremony is called \u201cburning the witch\u201d; while it is going on, the older\nmen ascend the heights and observe what wind is blowing, for that is the\nwind which will prevail the whole year.(290) At Voralberg in the Tyrol, on\nthe first Sunday in Lent, a slender young fir-tree is surrounded with a\npile of straw and firewood. To the top of the tree is fastened a human\nfigure called the \u201cwitch,\u201d made of old clothes and stuffed with gunpowder.\nAt night the whole is set on fire and boys and girls dance round it,\nswinging torches and singing rhymes in which the words \u201ccorn in the\nwinnowing-basket, the plough in the earth\u201d may be distinguished.(291) In\nSwabia on the first Sunday in Lent a figure called the \u201cwitch\u201d or the \u201cold\nwife\u201d or \u201cwinter\u2019s grandmother\u201d is made up of clothes and fastened to a\npole. This is stuck in the middle of a pile of wood, to which fire is\napplied. While the \u201cwitch\u201d is burning, the young people throw blazing\ndiscs into the air. The discs are thin round pieces of wood, a few inches\nin diameter, with notched edges to imitate the rays of the sun or stars.\nThey have a hole in the middle, by which they are attached to the end of a\nwand. Before the disc is thrown it is set on fire, the wand is swung to\nand fro, and the impetus thus communicated to the disc is augmented by\ndashing the rod sharply against a sloping board. The burning disc is thus\nthrown off, and mounting high into the air, describes a long fiery curve\nbefore it reaches the ground. A single lad may fling up forty or fifty of\nthese discs, one after the other. The object is to throw them as high as\npossible. The wand by which they are hurled must, at least in some parts\nof Swabia, be of hazel. Sometimes the lads also leap over the fire\nbrandishing lighted torches of pine-wood. The charred embers of the burned\n\u201cwitch\u201d and discs are taken home and planted in the flax-fields the same\nnight, in the belief that they will keep vermin from the fields.(292) At\nWangen, near Molsheim in Baden, a like custom is observed on the first\nSunday in Lent. The young people kindle a bonfire on the crest of the\nmountain above the village; and the burning discs which they hurl into the\nair are said to present in the darkness the aspect of a continual shower\nof falling stars. When the supply of discs is exhausted and the bonfire\nbegins to burn low, the boys light torches and run with them at full speed\ndown one or other of the three steep and winding paths that descend the\nmountain-side to the village. Bumps, bruises, and scratches are often the\nresult of their efforts to outstrip each other in the headlong race.(293)\nIn the Rh\u00f6n Mountains, situated on the borders of Hesse and Bavaria, the\npeople used to march to the top of a hill or eminence on the first Sunday\nin Lent. Children and lads carried torches, brooms daubed with tar, and\npoles swathed in straw. A wheel, wrapt in combustibles, was kindled and\nrolled down the hill; and the young people rushed about the fields with\ntheir burning torches and brooms, till at last they flung them in a heap,\nand standing round them, struck up a hymn or a popular song. The object of\nrunning about the fields with the blazing torches was to \u201cdrive away the\nwicked sower.\u201d Or it was done in honour of the Virgin, that she might\npreserve the fruits of the earth throughout the year and bless them.(294)\nIn neighbouring villages of Hesse, between the Rh\u00f6n and the Vogel\nMountains, it is thought that wherever the burning wheels roll, the fields\nwill be safe from hail and storm.(295) At Konz on the Moselle, on the\nThursday before the first Sunday in Lent, the two guilds of the butchers\nand the weavers used to repair to the Marxberg and there set up an\noak-tree with a wheel fastened to it. On the following Sunday the people\nascended the hill, cut down the oak, set fire to the wheel, and sent both\noak and wheel rolling down the hillside, while a guard of butchers,\nmounted on horses, fired at the flaming wheel in its descent. If the wheel\nrolled down into the Moselle, the butchers were rewarded with a\nwaggon-load of wine by the archbishop of Treves.(296)\n\n(M96) In Switzerland, also, it is or used to be customary to kindle\nbonfires on high places on the evening of the first Sunday in Lent, and\nthe day is therefore popularly known as Spark Sunday. The custom\nprevailed, for example, throughout the canton of Lucerne. Boys went about\nfrom house to house begging for wood and straw, then piled the fuel on a\nconspicuous mountain or hill round about a pole, which bore a straw effigy\ncalled \u201cthe witch.\u201d At nightfall the pile was set on fire, and the young\nfolks danced wildly round it, some of them cracking whips or ringing\nbells; and when the fire burned low enough, they leaped over it. This was\ncalled \u201cburning the witch.\u201d In some parts of the canton also they used to\nwrap old wheels in straw and thorns, put a light to them, and send them\nrolling and blazing down hill. The same custom of rolling lighted wheels\ndown hill is attested by old authorities for the cantons of Aargau and\nB\u00e2le. The more bonfires could be seen sparkling and flaring in the\ndarkness, the more fruitful was the year expected to be; and the higher\nthe dancers leaped beside or over the fire, the higher, it was thought,\nwould grow the flax. In the district of Freiburg and at Birseck in the\ndistrict of B\u00e2le it was the last married man or woman who must kindle the\nbonfire. While the bonfires blazed up, it was customary in some parts of\nSwitzerland to propel burning discs of wood through the air by means of\nthe same simple machinery which is used for the purpose in Swabia. Each\nlad tried to send his disc fizzing and flaring through the darkness as far\nas possible, and in discharging it he mentioned the name of the person to\nwhose honour it was dedicated. But in Pr\u00e4ttigau the words uttered in\nlaunching the fiery discs referred to the abundance which was apparently\nexpected to follow the performance of the ceremony. Among them were,\n\u201cGrease in the pan, corn in the fan, and the plough in the earth!\u201d(297)\n\n(M97) It seems hardly possible to separate from these bonfires, kindled on\nthe first Sunday in Lent, the fires in which, about the same season, the\neffigy called Death is burned as part of the ceremony of \u201ccarrying out\nDeath.\u201d We have seen that at Spachendorf, in Austrian Silesia, on the\nmorning of Rupert\u2019s Day (Shrove Tuesday?), a straw-man, dressed in a fur\ncoat and a fur cap, is laid in a hole outside the village and there\nburned, and that while it is blazing every one seeks to snatch a fragment\nof it, which he fastens to a branch of the highest tree in his garden or\nburies in his field, believing that this will make the crops to grow\nbetter. The ceremony is known as the \u201cburying of Death.\u201d(298) Even when\nthe straw-man is not designated as Death, the meaning of the observance is\nprobably the same; for the name Death, as I have tried to shew, does not\nexpress the original intention of the ceremony. At Cobern in the Eifel\nMountains the lads make up a straw-man on Shrove Tuesday. The effigy is\nformally tried and accused of having perpetrated all the thefts that have\nbeen committed in the neighbourhood throughout the year. Being condemned\nto death, the straw-man is led through the village, shot, and burned upon\na pyre. They dance round the blazing pile, and the last bride must leap\nover it.(299) In Oldenburg on the evening of Shrove Tuesday people used to\nmake long bundles of straw, which they set on fire, and then ran about the\nfields waving them, shrieking, and singing wild songs. Finally they burned\na straw-man on the field.(300) In the district of D\u00fcsseldorf the straw-man\nburned on Shrove Tuesday was made of an unthreshed sheaf of corn.(301) On\nthe first Monday after the spring equinox the urchins of Zurich drag a\nstraw-man on a little cart through the streets, while at the same time the\ngirls carry about a May-tree. When vespers ring, the straw-man is\nburned.(302) In the district of Aachen on Ash Wednesday a man used to be\nencased in peas-straw and taken to an appointed place. Here he slipped\nquietly out of his straw casing, which was then burned, the children\nthinking that it was the man who was being burned.(303) In the Val di\nLedro (Tyrol) on the last day of the Carnival a figure is made up of straw\nand brushwood and then burned. The figure is called the Old Woman, and the\nceremony \u201cburning the Old Woman.\u201d(304)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 2. The Easter Fires.\n\n\n(M98) Another occasion on which these fire-festivals are held is Easter\nEve, the Saturday before Easter Sunday. On that day it has been customary\nin Catholic countries to extinguish all the lights in the churches, and\nthen to make a new fire, sometimes with flint and steel, sometimes with a\nburning-glass. At this fire is lit the great Paschal or Easter candle,\nwhich is then used to rekindle all the extinguished lights in the church.\nIn many parts of Germany a bonfire is also kindled, by means of the new\nfire, on some open space near the church. It is consecrated, and the\npeople bring sticks of oak, walnut, and beech, which they char in the\nfire, and then take home with them. Some of these charred sticks are\nthereupon burned at home in a newly-kindled fire, with a prayer that God\nwill preserve the homestead from fire, lightning, and hail. Thus every\nhouse receives \u201cnew fire.\u201d Some of the sticks are kept throughout the year\nand laid on the hearth-fire during heavy thunder-storms to prevent the\nhouse from being struck by lightning, or they are inserted in the roof\nwith the like intention. Others are placed in the fields, gardens, and\nmeadows, with a prayer that God will keep them from blight and hail. Such\nfields and gardens are thought to thrive more than others; the corn and\nthe plants that grow in them are not beaten down by hail, nor devoured by\nmice, vermin, and beetles; no witch harms them, and the ears of corn stand\nclose and full. The charred sticks are also applied to the plough. The\nashes of the Easter bonfire, together with the ashes of the consecrated\npalm-branches, are mixed with the seed at sowing. A wooden figure called\nJudas is sometimes burned in the consecrated bonfire, and even where this\ncustom has been abolished the bonfire itself in some places goes by the\nname of \u201cthe burning of Judas.\u201d(305)\n\n(M99) In the Hollertau, Bavaria, the young men used to light their\nlanterns at the newly-kindled Easter candle in the church and then race to\nthe bonfire; he who reached it first set fire to the pile, and next day,\nEaster Sunday, was rewarded at the church-door by the housewives, who\npresented him with red eggs. Great was the jubilation while the effigy of\nthe traitor was being consumed in the flames. The ashes were carefully\ncollected and thrown away at sunrise in running water.(306) In many parts\nof the Abruzzi, also, pious people kindle their fires on Easter Saturday\nwith a brand brought from the sacred new fire in the church. When the\nbrand has thus served to bless the fire on the domestic hearth, it is\nextinguished, and the remainder is preserved, partly in a cranny of the\nouter wall of the house, partly on a tree to which it is tied. This is\ndone for the purpose of guarding the homestead against injury by storms.\nAt Campo di Giove the people say that if you can get a piece of one of the\nthree holy candles which the priest lights from the new fire, you should\nallow a few drops of the wax to fall into the crown of your hat; for after\nthat, if it should thunder and lighten, you have nothing to do but to clap\nthe hat on your head, and no flash of lightning can possibly strike\nyou.(307)\n\n(M100) Further, it deserves to be noted that in the Abruzzi water as well\nas fire is, as it were, renewed and consecrated on Easter Saturday. Most\npeople fetch holy water on that day from the churches, and every member of\nthe family drinks a little of it, believing that it has power to protect\nhim or her against witchcraft, fever, and stomach-aches of all sorts. And\nwhen the church bells ring again after their enforced silence, the water\nis sprinkled about the house, and especially under the beds, with the help\nof a palm-branch. Some of this blessed water is also kept in the house for\nuse in great emergencies, when there is no time to fetch a priest; thus it\nmay be employed to baptize a new-born infant gasping for life or to\nsprinkle a sick man in the last agony; such a sprinkling is reckoned equal\nto priestly absolution.(308) In Calabria the customs with regard to the\nnew water, as it is called, on Easter Saturday are similar; it is poured\ninto a new vessel, adorned with ribbons and flowers, is blessed by the\npriest, and is tasted by every one of the household, beginning with the\nparents. And when the air vibrates with the glad music of the church bells\nannouncing the resurrection, the people sprinkle the holy water about the\nhouses, bidding in a loud voice all evil things to go forth and all good\nthings to come in. At the same time, to emphasize the exorcism, they knock\non doors, window-shutters, chests, and other domestic articles of\nfurniture. At Cetraro people who suffer from diseases of the skin bathe in\nthe sea at this propitious moment; at Pietro in Guarano they plunge into\nthe river on the night of Easter Saturday before Easter Sunday dawns, and\nwhile they bathe they utter never a word. Moreover, the Calabrians keep\nthe \u201cnew water\u201d as a sacred thing. They believe that it serves as a\nprotection against witchcraft if it is sprinkled on a fire or a lamp, when\nthe wood crackles or the wick sputters; for they regard it as a bad omen\nwhen the fire talks, as they say.(309) Among the Germans of Western\nBohemia, also, water as well as fire is consecrated by the priest in front\nof the church on Easter Saturday. People bring jugs full of water to the\nchurch and set them beside the holy fire; afterwards they use the water to\nsprinkle on the palm-branches which are stuck in the fields. Charred\nsticks of the Judas fire, as it is popularly called, are supposed to\npossess a magical and healing virtue; hence the people take them home with\nthem, and even scuffle with each other for the still glowing embers in\norder to carry them, still glimmering, to their houses and so obtain \u201cthe\nlight\u201d or \u201cthe holy light.\u201d(310) At Hildesheim, also, and the neighbouring\nvillages of central Germany rites both of fire and water are or were till\nlately observed at Easter. Thus on Easter night many people fetch water\nfrom the Innerste river and keep it carefully, believing it to be a remedy\nfor many sorts of ailments both of man and beast. In the villages on the\nLeine river servant men and maids used to go silently on Easter night\nbetween the hours of eleven and twelve and silently draw water in buckets\nfrom the river; they mixed the water with the fodder and the drink of the\ncattle to make the animals thrive, and they imagined that to wash in it\nwas good for human beings. Many were also of opinion that at the same\nmystic hour the water turned to wine as far as the crowing of a cock could\nbe heard, and in this belief they laid themselves flat on their stomachs\nand kept their tongues in the water till the miraculous change occurred,\nwhen they took a great gulp of the transformed water. At Hildesheim, too,\nand the neighbouring villages fires used to blaze on all the heights on\nEaster Eve; and embers taken from the bonfires were dipped in the cattle\ntroughs to benefit the beasts and were kept in the houses to avert\nlightning.(311)\n\n(M101) In the Lesachthal, Carinthia, all the fires in the houses used to\nbe extinguished on Easter Saturday, and rekindled with a fresh fire\nbrought from the churchyard, where the priest had lit it by the friction\nof flint and steel and had bestowed his blessing on it.(312) Such customs\nwere probably widespread. In a Latin poem of the sixteenth century,\nwritten by a certain Thomas Kirchmeyer and translated into English by\nBarnabe Googe, we read:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_On Easter Eve the fire all is quencht in every place,_\n    _And fresh againe from out the flint is fetcht with solemne\n                grace:_\n    _The priest doth halow this against great daungers many one,_\n    _A brande whereof doth every man with greedie mind take home,_\n    _That when the fearefull storme appeares, or tempest black arise,_\n    _By lighting this he safe may be from stroke of hurtful skies:_\n    _A taper great, the Paschall namde, with musicke then they\n                blesse,_\n    _And franckensence herein they pricke, for greater holynesse:_\n    _This burneth night and day as signe of Christ that conquerde\n                hell,_\n    _As if so be this foolish toye suffiseth this to tell._\n    _Then doth the Bishop or the Priest, the water halow straight,_\n    _That for their baptisme is reservde: for now no more of waight_\n    _Is that they usde the yeare before, nor can they any more,_\n    _Yong children christen with the same, as they have done before._\n    _With wondrous pompe and furniture, amid the Church they go,_\n    _With candles, crosses, banners, Chrisme, and oyle appoynted tho:_\n    _Nine times about the font they marche, and on the saintes doe\n                call,_\n    _Then still at length they stande, and straight the Priest begins\n                withall,_\n    _And thrise the water doth he touche, and crosses thereon make,_\n    _Here bigge and barbrous wordes he speakes, to make the devill\n                quake:_\n    _And holsome waters conjureth, and foolishly doth dresse,_\n    _Supposing holyar that to make, which God before did blesse:_\n    _And after this his candle than, he thrusteth in the floode,_\n    _And thrise he breathes thereon with breath, that stinkes of\n                former foode:_\n    _And making here an ende, his Chrisme he poureth thereupon,_\n    _The people staring hereat stande, amazed every one:_\n    _Beleeving that great powre is given to this water here,_\n    _By gaping of these learned men, and such like trifling gere._\n    _Therefore in vessels brought they draw, and home they carie\n                some,_\n    _Against the grieves that to themselves, or to their beastes may\n                come._\n    _Then Clappers ceasse, and belles are set againe at libert\u00e9e,_\n    _And herewith all the hungrie times of fasting ended b\u00e9e._\u201d (313)\n\n\nIt is said that formerly all the fires in Rome were lighted afresh from\nthe holy fire kindled in St. Peter\u2019s on Easter Saturday. (314)\n\n(M102) In Florence the ceremony of kindling the new fire on Easter Eve is\npeculiar. The holy flame is elicited from certain flints which are said to\nhave been brought by a member of the Pazzi family from the Holy Land. They\nare kept in the church of the Holy Apostles on the Piazza del Limbo, and\non the morning of Easter Saturday the prior strikes fire from them and\nlights a candle from the new flame. The burning candle is then carried in\nsolemn procession by the clergy and members of the municipality to the\nhigh altar in the cathedral. A vast crowd has meanwhile assembled in the\ncathedral and the neighbouring square to witness the ceremony; amongst the\nspectators are many peasants drawn from the surrounding country, for it is\ncommonly believed that on the success or failure of the ceremony depends\nthe fate of the crops for the year. Outside the door of the cathedral\nstands a festal car drawn by two fine white oxen with gilded horns. The\nbody of the car is loaded with a pyramid of squibs and crackers and is\nconnected by a wire with a pillar set up in front of the high altar. The\nwire extends down the middle of the nave at a height of about six feet\nfrom the ground. Beneath it a clear passage is left, the spectators being\nranged on either side and crowding the vast interior from wall to wall.\nWhen all is ready, High Mass is celebrated, and precisely at noon, when\nthe first words of the _Gloria_ are being chanted, the sacred fire is\napplied to the pillar, which like the car is wreathed with fireworks. A\nmoment more and a fiery dove comes flying down the nave, with a hissing\nsound and a sputter of sparks, between the two hedges of eager spectators.\nIf all goes well, the bird pursues its course along the wire and out at\nthe door, and in another moment a prolonged series of fizzes, pops and\nbangs announces to the excited crowd in the cathedral that the fireworks\non the car are going off. Great is the joy accordingly, especially among\nthe bumpkins, who are now sure of an abundant harvest. But if, as\nsometimes happens, the dove stops short in its career and fizzles out,\nrevealing itself as a stuffed bird with a packet of squibs tied to its\ntail, great is the consternation, and deep the curses that issue from\nbetween the set teeth of the clodhoppers, who now give up the harvest for\nlost. Formerly the unskilful mechanician who was responsible for the\nfailure would have been clapped into gaol; but nowadays he is thought\nsufficiently punished by the storm of public indignation and the loss of\nhis pay. The disaster is announced by placards posted about the streets in\nthe evening; and next morning the newspapers are full of gloomy\nprognostications.(315)\n\n(M103) Some of these customs have been transported by the Catholic Church\nto the New World. Thus in Mexico the new fire is struck from a flint early\nin the morning of Easter Saturday, and a candle which has been lighted at\nthe sacred flame is carried through the church by a deacon shouting\n\u201c_Lumen Christi_.\u201d Meantime the whole city, we are informed, has been\nconverted into a vast place of execution. Ropes stretch across the streets\nfrom house to house, and from every house dangles an effigy of Judas, made\nof paper pulp. Scores or hundreds of them may adorn a single street. They\nare of all shapes and sizes, grotesque in form and garbed in strange\nattire, stuffed with gunpowder, squibs and crackers, sometimes, too, with\nmeat, bread, soap, candy, and clothing, for which the crowd will scramble\nand scuffle while the effigies are burning. There they hang grim, black,\nand sullen in the strong sunshine, greeted with a roar of execration by\nthe pious mob. A peal of bells from the cathedral tower on the stroke of\nnoon gives the signal for the execution. At the sound a frenzy seizes the\ncrowd. They throw themselves furiously on the figures of the detested\ntraitor, cut them down, hurl them with curses into the fire, and fight and\nstruggle with each other in their efforts to tear the effigies to tatters\nand appropriate their contents. Smoke, stink, sputter of crackers, oaths,\ncurses, yells are now the order of the day. But the traitor does not\nperish unavenged. For the anatomy of his frame has been cunningly\ncontrived so as in burning to discharge volleys of squibs into his\nassailants; and the wounds and burns with which their piety is rewarded\nform a feature of the morning\u2019s entertainment. The English Jockey Club in\nMexico used to improve on this popular pastime by suspending huge figures\nof Judas, stuffed with copper coins, from ropes in front of their\nclubhouse. These were ignited at the proper moment and lowered within\nreach of the expectant rabble, and it was the privilege of members of the\nclub, seated in the balcony, to watch the grimaces and to hear the shrieks\nof the victims, as they stamped and capered about with the hot coppers\nsticking to their hands, divided in their minds between an acute sense of\npain and a thirst for filthy lucre.(316)\n\n(M104) Scenes of the same sort, though on a less ambitious scale, are\nwitnessed among the Catholics of South America on the same day. In Brazil\nthe mourning for the death of Christ ceases at noon on Easter Saturday and\ngives place to an extravagant burst of joy at his resurrection. Shots are\nfired everywhere, and effigies of Judas are hung on trees or dragged about\nthe streets, to be finally burned or otherwise destroyed.(317) In the\nIndian villages scattered among the wild valleys of the Peruvian Andes\nfigures of the traitor, made of pasteboard and stuffed with squibs and\ncrackers, are hanged on gibbets before the door of the church on Easter\nSaturday. Fire is set to them, and while they crackle and explode, the\nIndians dance and shout for joy at the destruction of their hated\nenemy.(318) Similarly at Rio Hacha, in Colombia, Judas is represented\nduring Holy Week by life-sized effigies, and the people fire at them as if\nthey were discharging a sacred duty.(319)\n\n(M105) But usages of this sort are not confined to the Latin Church; they\nare common to the Greek Church also. Every year on the Saturday before\nEaster Sunday a new fire is miraculously kindled at the Holy Sepulchre in\nJerusalem. It descends from heaven and ignites the candles which the\npatriarch holds in his hands, while with closed eyes he wrestles in prayer\nall alone in the chapel of the Angel. The worshippers meanwhile wait\nanxiously in the body of the church, and great are their transports of joy\nwhen at one of the windows of the chapel, which had been all dark a minute\nbefore, there suddenly appears the hand of an angel, or of the patriarch,\nholding a lighted taper. This is the sacred new fire; it is passed out to\nthe expectant believers, and the desperate struggle which ensues among\nthem to get a share of its blessed influence is only terminated by the\nintervention of the Turkish soldiery, who restore peace and order by\nhustling the whole multitude impartially out of the church. In days gone\nby many lives were often lost in these holy scrimmages. For example, in\nthe year 1834, the famous Ibrahim Pasha witnessed the frantic scene from\none of the galleries, and, being moved with compassion at the sight,\ndescended with a few guards into the arena in the chimerical hope of\nrestoring peace and order among the contending Christians. He contrived to\nforce his way into the midst of the dense crowd, but there the heat and\npressure were so great that he fainted away; a body of soldiers, seeing\nhis danger, charged straight into the throng and carried him out of it in\ntheir arms, trampling under foot the dying and dead in their passage.\nNearly two hundred people were killed that day in the church. The\nfortunate survivors on these occasions who succeeded in obtaining a\nportion of the coveted fire applied it freely to their faces, their\nbeards, and their garments. The theory was that the fire, being\nmiraculous, could only bless and not burn them; but the practical results\nof the experiment were often disappointing, for while the blessings were\nmore or less dubious, there could be no doubt whatever about the\nburns.(320) The history of the miracle has been carefully investigated by\na Jesuit father. The conclusions at which he arrives are that the miracle\nwas a miracle indeed so long as the Catholics had the management of it;\nbut that since it fell into the hands of the heretics it has been nothing\nbut a barefaced trick and imposture.(321) Many people will be disposed to\nagree with the latter conclusion who might hesitate to accept the former.\n\n(M106) At Athens the new fire is kindled in the cathedral at midnight on\nHoly Saturday. A dense crowd with unlit candles in their hands fills the\nsquare in front of the cathedral; the king, the archbishop, and the\nhighest dignitaries of the church, arrayed in their gorgeous robes, occupy\na platform; and at the exact moment of the resurrection the bells ring\nout, and the whole square bursts as by magic into a blaze of light.\nTheoretically all the candles are lit from the sacred new fire in the\ncathedral, but practically it may be suspected that the matches which bear\nthe name of Lucifer have some share in the sudden illumination.(322)\nEffigies of Judas used to be burned at Athens on Easter Saturday, but the\ncustom has been forbidden by the Government. However, firing goes on more\nor less continuously all over the city both on Easter Saturday and Easter\nSunday, and the cartridges used on this occasion are not always blank. The\nshots are aimed at Judas, but sometimes they miss him and hit other\npeople. Outside of Athens the practice of burning Judas in effigy still\nsurvives in some places. For example, in Cos a straw image of the traitor\nis made on Easter Day, and after being hung up and shot at it is\nburned.(323) A similar custom appears to prevail at Thebes;(324) it used\nto be observed by the Macedonian peasantry, and it is still kept up at\nTherapia, a fashionable summer resort of Constantinople.(325)\n\n(M107) In the Armenian Church the sacred new fire is kindled not at Easter\nbut at Candlemas, that is, on the second of February, or on the eve of\nthat festival. The materials of the bonfire are piled in an open space\nnear a church, and they are generally ignited by young couples who have\nbeen married within the year. However, it is the bishop or his vicar who\nlights the candles with which fire is set to the pile. All young married\npairs are expected to range themselves about the fire and to dance round\nit. Young men leap over the flames, but girls and women content themselves\nwith going round them, while they pray to be preserved from the itch and\nother skin-diseases. When the ceremony is over, the people eagerly pick up\ncharred sticks or ashes of the fire and preserve them or scatter them on\nthe four corners of the roof, in the cattle-stall, in the garden, and on\nthe pastures; for these holy sticks and ashes protect men and cattle\nagainst disease, and fruit-trees against worms and caterpillars. Omens,\ntoo, are drawn from the direction in which the wind blows the flames and\nthe smoke: if it carries them eastward, there is hope of a good harvest;\nbut if it inclines them westward, the people fear that the crops will\nfail.(326)\n\n(M108) In spite of the thin cloak of Christianity thrown over these\ncustoms by representing the new fire as an emblem of Christ and the figure\nburned in it as an effigy of Judas, we can hardly doubt that both\npractices are of pagan origin. Neither of them has the authority of Christ\nor of his disciples; but both of them have abundant analogies in popular\ncustom and superstition. Some instances of the practice of annually\nextinguishing fires and relighting them from a new and sacred flame have\nalready come before us;(327) but a few examples may here be cited for the\nsake of illustrating the wide diffusion of a custom which has found its\nway into the ritual both of the Eastern and of the Western Church.\n\n(M109) The Incas of Peru celebrated a festival called Raymi, a word which\ntheir native historian Garcilasso de la Vega tells us was equivalent to\nour Easter. It was held in honour of the sun at the solstice in June. For\nthree days before the festival the people fasted, men did not sleep with\ntheir wives, and no fires were lighted in Cuzco, the capital. The sacred\nnew fire was obtained direct from the sun by concentrating his beams on a\nhighly polished concave plate and reflecting them on a little cotton wool.\nWith this holy fire the sheep and lambs offered to the sun were consumed,\nand the flesh of such as were to be eaten at the festival was roasted.\nPortions of the new fire were also conveyed to the temple of the sun and\nto the convent of the sacred virgins, where they were kept burning all the\nyear, and it was an ill omen if the holy flame went out.(328) At a\nfestival held in the last month of the old Mexican year all the fires both\nin the temples and in the houses were extinguished, and the priest kindled\na new fire by rubbing two sticks against each other before the image of\nthe fire-god.(329) The Zuni Indians of New Mexico kindle a new fire by the\nfriction of wood both at the winter and the summer solstice. At the winter\nsolstice the chosen fire-maker collects a faggot of cedar-wood from every\nhouse in the village, and each person, as he hands the wood to the\nfire-maker, prays that the crops may be good in the coming year. For\nseveral days before the new fire is kindled, no ashes or sweepings may be\nremoved from the houses and no artificial light may appear outside of\nthem, not even a burning cigarette or the flash of firearms. The Indians\nbelieve that no rain will fall on the fields of the man outside whose\nhouse a light has been seen at this season. The signal for kindling the\nnew fire is given by the rising of the Morning Star. The flame is produced\nby twirling an upright stick between the hands on a horizontal stick laid\non the floor of a sacred chamber, the sparks being caught by a tinder of\ncedar-dust. It is forbidden to blow up the smouldering tinder with the\nbreath, for that would offend the gods. After the fire has thus been\nceremonially kindled, the women and girls of all the families in the\nvillage clean out their houses. They carry the sweepings and ashes in\nbaskets or bowls to the fields and leave them there. To the sweepings the\nwoman says: \u201cI now deposit you as sweepings, but in one year you will\nreturn to me as corn.\u201d And to the ashes she says: \u201cI now deposit you as\nashes, but in one year you will return to me as meal.\u201d At the summer\nsolstice the sacred fire which has been procured by the friction of wood\nis used to kindle the grass and trees, that there may be a great cloud of\nsmoke, while bull-roarers are swung and prayers offered that the\nRain-makers up aloft will water the earth.(330) From this account we see\nhow intimately the kindling of a new fire at the two turning-points of the\nsun\u2019s course is associated in the minds of these Indians with the\nfertility of the land, particularly with the growth of the corn. The\nrolling smoke is apparently an imitation of rain-clouds designed, on the\nprinciple of homoeopathic magic, to draw showers from the blue sky. Once a\nyear the Iroquois priesthood supplied the people with a new fire. As a\npreparation for the annual rite the fires in all the huts were\nextinguished and the ashes scattered about. Then the priest, wearing the\ninsignia of his office, went from hut to hut relighting the fires by means\nof a flint.(331) Among the Esquimaux with whom C. F. Hall resided, it was\nthe custom that at a certain time, which answered to our New Year\u2019s Day,\ntwo men went about from house to house blowing out every light in the\nvillage. One of the men was dressed to represent a woman. Afterwards the\nlights were rekindled from a fresh fire. An Esquimau woman being asked\nwhat all this meant, replied, \u201cNew sun\u2014new light.\u201d(332) Among the\nEsquimaux of Iglulik, when the sun first rises above the horizon after the\nlong night of the Arctic winter, the children who have watched for his\nreappearance run into the houses and blow out the lamps. Then they receive\nfrom their mothers presents of pieces of wick.(333)\n\n(M110) In the Sudanese kingdom of Wadai all the fires in the villages are\nput out and the ashes removed from the houses on the day which precedes\nthe New Year festival. At the beginning of the new year a new fire is lit\nby the friction of wood in the great straw hut where the village elders\nlounge away the sultry hours together; and every man takes thence a\nburning brand with which he rekindles the fire on his domestic\nhearth.(334) In the Bahr-el-Ghazal province of the Egyptian Sudan the\npeople extinguish their old fires at the Arab New Year and bring in new\nfire. On the same occasion they beat the walls of their huts, the grass\nthatches, and the walls of their enclosures in order to drive away the\ndevil or evil spirits. The beating of the walls and roofs is accompanied\nby the firing of guns, the shouting of men, and the shriller cries of the\nwomen.(335) Thus these people combine an annual expulsion of demons with\nan annual lighting of a new fire. Among the Swahili of East Africa the\ngreatest festival is that of the New Year, which falls in the second half\nof August. At a given moment all the fires are extinguished with water and\nafterwards relit by the friction of two dry pieces of wood. The ashes of\nthe old fires are carried out and deposited at cross-roads. All the people\nget up very early in the morning and bathe in the sea or some other water,\npraying to be kept in good health and to live that they may bathe again\nnext year. Sham-fights form part of the amusements of the day; sometimes\nthey pass into grim reality. Indeed the day was formerly one of general\nlicense; every man did that which was good in his own eyes. No awkward\nquestions were asked about any crimes committed on this occasion, so some\npeople improved the shining hour by knocking a few poor devils on the\nhead. Shooting still goes on during the whole day, and at night the\nproceedings generally wind up with a great dance.(336) The King of\nBenametapa, as the early Portuguese traders called him, in East Africa\nused to send commissioners annually to every town in his dominions; on the\narrival of one of these officers the inhabitants of each town had to put\nout all their fires and to receive a new fire from him. Failure to comply\nwith this custom was treated as rebellion.(337) Some tribes of British\nCentral Africa carefully extinguish the fires on the hearths at the\nbeginning of the hoeing season and at harvest; the fires are afterwards\nrekindled by friction, and the people indulge in dances of various\nkinds.(338)\n\n(M111) The Todas of the Neilgherry Hills, in Southern India, annually\nkindle a sacred new fire by the friction of wood in the month which begins\nwith the October moon. The ceremony is performed by two holy dairymen at\nthe foot of a high hill. When they have lighted the fire by rubbing two\ndry sticks together, and it begins to burn well, they stand a little way\noff and pray, saying, \u201cMay the young grass flower! May honey flourish! May\nfruit ripen!\u201d The purpose of the ceremony is to make the grass and honey\nplentiful. In ancient times the Todas lived largely on wild fruits, and\nthen the rite of the new fire was very important. Now that they subsist\nchiefly on the milk of their buffaloes, the ceremony has lost much of its\nold significance.(339) When the Nagas of North-Eastern India have felled\nthe timber and cut down the scrub in those patches of jungle which they\npropose to cultivate, they put out all the fires in the village and light\na new fire by rubbing two dry pieces of wood together. Then having kindled\ntorches at it they proceed with them to the jungle and ignite the felled\ntimber and brushwood. The flesh of a cow or buffalo is also roasted on the\nnew fire and furnishes a sacrificial meal.(340) Near the small town of\nKahma in Burma, between Prome and Thayetmyo, certain gases escape from a\nhollow in the ground and burn with a steady flame during the dry season of\nthe year. The people regard the flame as the forge of a spectral smith who\nhere carried on his business after death had removed him from his old\nsmithy in the village. Once a year all the household fires in Kahma are\nextinguished and then lighted afresh from the ghostly flame.(341)\n\n(M112) In China every year, about the beginning of April, certain\nofficials, called _Sz\u2019h\u00fcen_, used of old to go about the country armed\nwith wooden clappers. Their business was to summon the people and command\nthem to put out every fire. This was the beginning of a season called\n_Han-shih-tsieh_, or \u201ceating cold food.\u201d For three days all household\nfires remained extinct as a preparation for the solemn renewal of the\nfire, which took place on the fifth or sixth day of April, being the\nhundred and fifth day after the winter solstice. The ceremony was\nperformed with great pomp by the same officials, who procured the new fire\nfrom heaven by reflecting the sun\u2019s rays either from a metal mirror or\nfrom a crystal on dry moss. Fire thus obtained is called by the Chinese\nheavenly fire, and its use is enjoined in sacrifices; whereas fire\nelicited by the friction of wood is termed by them earthly fire, and its\nuse is prescribed for cooking and other domestic purposes. When once the\nnew fire had thus been drawn from the sun, all the people were free to\nrekindle their domestic hearths; and, as a Chinese distich has it\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_At the festival of the cold food there are a thousand white\n                stalks among the flowers;_\n    _On the day Tsing-ming, at sunrise, you may see the smoke of ten\n                thousand houses._\u201d\n\n\nAccording to a Chinese philosopher, the reason for thus renewing fire\nperiodically is that the vital principle grows weaker and weaker in old\nfire, whereas in new fire it is young and vigorous. This annual renewal of\nfire was a ceremony of very great antiquity in China, since it is known to\nhave been observed in the time of the first dynasty, about two thousand\nyears before Christ. Under the Tcheou dynasty a change in the calendar led\nto shifting the fire-festival from spring to the summer solstice, but\nafterwards it was brought back to its original date. Although the custom\nappears to have long fallen into disuse, the barbarous inhabitants of\nHainan, an island to the south of China, still call a year \u201ca fire,\u201d as if\nin memory of the time when the years were reckoned by the annually\nrecurring ceremony of rekindling the sacred fire.(342) \u201cA Japanese book\nwritten two centuries ago informs us that sticks resembling the wands used\nfor offerings at the purification ceremony were part shaven and set up in\nbundles at the four corners of the Gion shrine on the last day of the\nyear. The priests, after prayers were recited, broke up the bundles and\nset fire to the sticks, which the people then carried home to light their\nhousehold fires with for the New Year. The object of this ceremony was to\navert pestilence.\u201d(343)\n\n(M113) In classical antiquity the Greek island of Lemnos was devoted to\nthe worship of the smith-god Hephaestus, who was said to have fallen on it\nwhen Zeus hurled him from heaven.(344) Once a year every fire in the\nisland was extinguished and remained extinct for nine days, during which\nsacrifices were offered to the dead and to the infernal powers. New fire\nwas brought in a ship from the sacred isle of Delos, and with it the fires\nin the houses and the workshops were relit. The people said that with the\nnew fire they made a new beginning of life. If the ship that bore the\nsacred flame arrived too soon, it might not put in to shore, but had to\ncruise in the offing till the nine days were expired.(345) At Rome the\nsacred fire in the temple of Vesta was kindled anew every year on the\nfirst of March, which used to be the beginning of the Roman year;(346) the\ntask of lighting it was entrusted to the Vestal Virgins, and they\nperformed it by drilling a hole in a board of lucky wood till the flame\nwas elicited by friction. The new fire thus produced was carried into the\ntemple of Vesta by one of the virgins in a bronze sieve.(347)\n\n(M114) Among the Celts of Ireland a new fire was annually kindled on\nHallowe\u2019en or the Eve of Samhain, as they called it, the last day of\nOctober, from which the Irish new year began; and all the hearths\nthroughout the country are said to have been relighted from the fresh\nfire. The place where this holy flame was lit bore the name of Tlachtga or\nTlactga; it has been identified with a rath or native fort on the Hill of\nWard near Athboy in the county of Meath. \u201cIt was there,\u201d says the old\nIrish historian, Geoffrey Keating, \u201cthat the Festival of the Fire of\nTlactga was ordered to be held, and it was thither that the Druids of\nIreland were wont to repair and to assemble, in solemn meeting, on the eve\nof Samhain, for the purpose of making a sacrifice to all the gods. It was\nin that fire at Tlactga, that their sacrifice was burnt; and it was made\nobligatory, under pain of punishment, to extinguish all the fires of\nIreland, on that eve; and the men of Ireland were allowed to kindle no\nother fire but that one; and for each of the other fires, which were all\nto be lighted from it, the king of Munster was to receive a tax of a\n_sgreball_, that is, of three pence, because the land, upon which Tlactga\nwas built, belongs to the portion of Meath which had been taken from\nMunster.\u201d(348) In the villages near Moscow at the present time the\npeasants put out all their fires on the eve of the first of September, and\nnext morning at sunrise a wise man or a wise woman rekindles them with the\nhelp of muttered incantations and spells.(349)\n\n(M115) Instances of such practices might doubtless be multiplied, but the\nforegoing examples may suffice to render it probable that the\necclesiastical ceremony of lighting a sacred new fire on Easter Saturday\nhad originally nothing to do with Christianity, but is merely one case of\na world-wide custom which the Church has seen fit to incorporate in its\nritual. It might be supposed that in the Western Church the custom was\nmerely a survival of the old Roman usage of renewing the fire on the first\nof March, were it not that the observance by the Eastern Church of the\ncustom on the same day seems to point back to a still older period when\nthe ceremony of lighting a new fire in spring, perhaps at the vernal\nequinox, was common to many peoples of the Mediterranean area. We may\nconjecture that wherever such a ceremony has been observed, it originally\nmarked the beginning of a new year, as it did in ancient Rome and Ireland,\nand as it still does in the Sudanese kingdom of Wadai and among the\nSwahili of Eastern Africa.\n\n(M116) The essentially pagan character of the Easter fire festival appears\nplainly both from the mode in which it is celebrated by the peasants and\nfrom the superstitious beliefs which they associate with it. All over\nnorthern and central Germany, from Altmark and Anhalt on the east, through\nBrunswick, Hanover, Oldenburg, the Harz district, and Hesse to Westphalia\nthe Easter bonfires still blaze simultaneously on the hill-tops. As many\nas forty may sometimes be counted within sight at once. Long before Easter\nthe young people have been busy collecting firewood; every farmer\ncontributes, and tar-barrels, petroleum cases, and so forth go to swell\nthe pile. Neighbouring villages vie with each other as to which shall send\nup the greatest blaze. The fires are always kindled, year after year, on\nthe same hill, which accordingly often takes the name of Easter Mountain.\nIt is a fine spectacle to watch from some eminence the bonfires flaring up\none after another on the neighbouring heights. As far as their light\nreaches, so far, in the belief of the peasants, the fields will be\nfruitful, and the houses on which they shine will be safe from\nconflagration or sickness. At Volkmarsen and other places in Hesse the\npeople used to observe which way the wind blew the flames, and then they\nsowed flax seed in that direction, confident that it would grow well.\nBrands taken from the bonfires preserve houses from being struck by\nlightning; and the ashes increase the fertility of the fields, protect\nthem from mice, and mixed with the drinking-water of cattle make the\nanimals thrive and ensure them against plague. As the flames die down,\nyoung and old leap over them, and cattle are sometimes driven through the\nsmouldering embers. In some places tar-barrels or wheels wrapt in straw\nused to be set on fire, and then sent rolling down the hillside. In others\nthe boys light torches and wisps of straw at the bonfires and rush about\nbrandishing them in their hands. Where the people are divided between\nProtestantism and Catholicism, as in Hildesheim, it has been observed that\namong Protestants the Easter bonfires are generally left to the boys,\nwhile in Catholic districts they are cared for by grown-up persons, and\nhere the whole population will gather round the blazing pile and join in\nsinging choral hymns, which echo far and wide in the stillness of\nnight.(350)\n\n(M117) In M\u00fcnsterland these Easter fires are always kindled upon certain\ndefinite hills, which are hence known as Easter or Paschal Mountains. The\nwhole community assembles about the fire. Fathers of families form an\ninner circle round it. An outer circle is composed of the young men and\nmaidens, who, singing Easter hymns, march round and round the fire in the\ndirection of the sun, till the blaze dies down. Then the girls jump over\nthe fire in a line, one after the other, each supported by two young men\nwho hold her hands and run beside her. When the fire has burned out, the\nwhole assembly marches in solemn procession to the church, singing hymns.\nThey go thrice round the church, and then break up. In the twilight boys\nwith blazing bundles of straw run over the fields to make them\nfruitful.(351) At Delmenhorst, in Oldenburg, it used to be the custom to\ncut down two trees, plant them in the ground side by side, and pile twelve\ntar-barrels, one above the other, against each of the trees. Brushwood was\nthen heaped about the trees, and on the evening of Easter Saturday the\nboys, after rushing about with blazing bean-poles in their hands, set fire\nto the whole. At the end of the ceremony the urchins tried to blacken each\nother and the clothes of grown-up people.(352) In Schaumburg the Easter\nbonfires may be seen blazing on all the mountains around for miles. They\nare made with a tar-barrel fastened to a pine-tree, which is wrapt in\nstraw. The people dance singing round them.(353) In the Harz Mountains the\nfire is commonly made by piling brushwood about a tree and setting it on\nfire. At Osterode every one tries to snatch a brand from the bonfire and\nruns about with it; the better it burns, the more lucky it is. In Grund\nthere are torch-races.(354) In the Altmark the Easter bonfires are\ncomposed of tar-barrels, bee-hives, and so forth, piled round a pole. The\nyoung folk dance round the fire; and when it has died out, the old folk\ncome and collect the ashes, which they preserve as a remedy for the\nailments of bees. It is also believed that as far as the blaze of the\nbonfire is visible, the corn will grow well throughout the year, and no\nconflagration will break out.(355) At Braunr\u00f6de, in the Harz Mountains, it\nwas the custom to burn squirrels in the Easter bonfire.(356) In the\nAltmark, bones were burned in it.(357)\n\n(M118) Further south the Easter fires are, or used to be, lit in many\ndistricts of Bavaria. Thus on Easter Monday in some parts of Middle\nFranken the schoolboys collect all the old worn-out besoms they can lay\nhands on, and march with them in a long procession to a neighbouring\nheight. When the first chime of the evening bell comes up from the dale\nthey set fire to the brooms, and run along the ridges waving them, so that\nseen from below the hills appear to be crested with a twinkling and moving\nchain of fire.(358) In some parts of Upper Bavaria at Easter burning\narrows or discs of wood were shot from hill-tops high into the air, as in\nthe Swabian and Swiss customs already described.(359) At Oberau, instead\nof the discs, an old cart-wheel was sometimes wrapt in straw, ignited, and\nsent rolling and blazing down the mountain. The lads who hurled the discs\nreceived painted Easter eggs from the girls.(360) Near Forchheim, in Upper\nFranken, a straw-man called the Judas used to be burned in the churchyards\non Easter Saturday. The whole village contributed wood to the pyre on\nwhich he perished, and the charred sticks were afterwards kept and planted\nin the fields on Walpurgis Day (the first of May) to preserve the wheat\nfrom blight and mildew.(361) About a hundred years ago or more the custom\nat Althenneberg, in Upper Bavaria, used to be as follows. On the afternoon\nof Easter Saturday the lads collected wood, which they piled in a\ncornfield, while in the middle of the pile they set up a tall wooden cross\nall swathed in straw. After the evening service they lighted their\nlanterns at the consecrated candle in the church, and ran with them at\nfull speed to the pyre, each striving to get there first. The first to\narrive set fire to the heap. No woman or girl might come near the bonfire,\nbut they were allowed to watch it from a distance. As the flames rose the\nmen and lads rejoiced and made merry, shouting, \u201cWe are burning the\nJudas!\u201d Two of them had to watch the glowing embers the whole night long,\nlest people should come and steal them. Next morning at sunrise they\ncarefully collected the ashes, and threw them into the running water of\nthe R\u00f6ten brook. The man who had been the first to reach the pyre and to\nkindle it was rewarded on Easter Sunday by the women, who gave him\ncoloured eggs at the church door. Well-to-do women gave him two; poorer\nwomen gave him only one. The object of the whole ceremony was to keep off\nthe hail. About a century ago the Judas fire, as it was called, was put\ndown by the police.(362) At Giggenhausen and Aufkirchen, two other\nvillages of Upper Bavaria, a similar custom prevailed, yet with some\ninteresting differences. Here the ceremony, which took place between nine\nand ten at night on Easter Saturday, was called \u201cburning the Easter Man.\u201d\nOn a height about a mile from the village the young fellows set up a tall\ncross enveloped in straw, so that it looked like a man with his arms\nstretched out. This was the Easter Man. No lad under eighteen years of age\nmight take part in the ceremony. One of the young men stationed himself\nbeside the Easter Man, holding in his hand a consecrated taper which he\nhad brought from the church and lighted. The rest stood at equal intervals\nin a great circle round the cross. At a given signal they raced thrice\nround the circle, and then at a second signal ran straight at the cross\nand at the lad with the lighted taper beside it; the one who reached the\ngoal first had the right of setting fire to the Easter Man. Great was the\njubilation while he was burning. When he had been consumed in the flames,\nthree lads were chosen from among the rest, and each of the three drew a\ncircle on the ground with a stick thrice round the ashes. Then they all\nleft the spot. On Easter Monday the villagers gathered the ashes and\nstrewed them on their fields; also they planted in the fields\npalm-branches which had been consecrated on Palm Sunday, and sticks which\nhad been charred and hallowed on Good Friday, all for the purpose of\nprotecting their fields against showers of hail. The custom of burning an\nEaster Man made of straw on Easter Saturday was observed also at\nAbensberg, in Lower Bavaria.(363) In some parts of Swabia the Easter fires\nmight not be kindled with iron or steel or flint, but only by the friction\nof wood.(364)\n\n(M119) In Baden bonfires are still kindled in the churchyards on Easter\nSaturday, and ecclesiastical refuse of various sorts, such as candle-ends,\nold surplices, and the wool used by the priest in the application of\nextreme unction, is consumed in the flames. At Zoznegg down to about 1850\nthe fire was lighted by the priest by means of a flint which had never\nbeen used before. People bring sticks, especially oaken sticks, char them\nin the fire, and then carry them home and keep them in the house as a\npreservative against lightning. At Zoznegg these oaken sticks were\nsword-shaped, each about an ell and a half long, and they went by the name\nof \u201cweather or thunder poles\u201d (_Wetterpf\u00e4hle_). When a thunder-storm\nthreatened to break out, one of the sticks was put into a small fire, in\norder that the hallowed smoke, ascending to the clouds, might ward off the\nlightning from the house and the hail from the fields and gardens. At\nSch\u00f6llbronn the oaken sticks, which are thus charred in the Easter bonfire\nand kept in the house as a protective against thunder and lightning, are\nthree in number, perhaps with an allusion to the Trinity; they are brought\nevery Easter to be consecrated afresh in the bonfire, till they are quite\nburnt away. In the lake district of Baden it is also customary to burn one\nof these holy sticks in the fire when a heavy thunderstorm is raging.(365)\nHence it seems that the ancient association of the oak with the\nthunder(366) persists in the minds of German peasants to the present day.\n\n(M120) Thus the custom of the Easter fires appears to have prevailed all\nover central and western Germany from north to south. We find it also in\nHolland, where the fires were kindled on the highest eminences, and the\npeople danced round them and leaped through the flames or over the glowing\nembers. Here too, as so often in Germany, the materials for the bonfire\nwere collected by the young folk from door to door.(367) In many parts of\nSweden firearms are, as at Athens, discharged in all directions on Easter\neve, and huge bonfires are lighted on hills and eminences. Some people\nthink that the intention is to keep off the Troll and other evil spirits\nwho are especially active at this season.(368) When the afternoon service\non Good Friday is over, German children in Bohemia drive Judas out of the\nchurch by running about the sacred edifice and even the streets shaking\nrattles and clappers. Next day, on Easter Saturday, the remains of the\nholy oil are burnt before the church door in a fire which must be kindled\nwith flint and steel. This fire is called \u201cthe burning of Judas,\u201d but in\nspite of its evil name a beneficent virtue is ascribed to it, for the\npeople scuffle for the cinders, which they put in the roofs of their\nhouses as a safeguard against fire and lightning.(369)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 3. The Beltane Fires.\n\n\n(M121) In the central Highlands of Scotland bonfires, known as the Beltane\nfires, were formerly kindled with great ceremony on the first of May, and\nthe traces of human sacrifices at them were particularly clear and\nunequivocal. The custom of lighting the bonfires lasted in various places\nfar into the eighteenth century, and the descriptions of the ceremony by\nwriters of that period present such a curious and interesting picture of\nancient heathendom surviving in our own country that I will reproduce them\nin the words of their authors. The fullest of the descriptions, so far as\nI know, is the one bequeathed to us by John Ramsay, laird of Ochtertyre,\nnear Crieff, the patron of Burns and the friend of Sir Walter Scott. From\nhis voluminous manuscripts, written in the last quarter of the eighteenth\ncentury, a selection was published in the latter part of the nineteenth\ncentury. The following account of Beltane is extracted from a chapter\ndealing with Highland superstitions. Ramsay says: \u201cBut the most\nconsiderable of the Druidical festivals is that of Beltane, or May-day,\nwhich was lately observed in some parts of the Highlands with\nextraordinary ceremonies. Of later years it is chiefly attended to by\nyoung people, persons advanced in years considering it as inconsistent\nwith their gravity to give it any countenance. Yet a number of\ncircumstances relative to it may be collected from tradition, or the\nconversation of very old people, who witnessed this feast in their youth,\nwhen the ancient rites were better observed.\n\n(M122) \u201cThis festival is called in Gaelic _Beal-tene_\u2014_i.e._, the fire of\nBel.... Like the other public worship of the Druids, the Beltane feast\nseems to have been performed on hills or eminences. They thought it\ndegrading to him whose temple is the universe, to suppose that he would\ndwell in any house made with hands. Their sacrifices were therefore\noffered in the open air, frequently upon the tops of hills, where they\nwere presented with the grandest views of nature, and were nearest the\nseat of warmth and order. And, according to tradition, such was the manner\nof celebrating this festival in the Highlands within the last hundred\nyears. But since the decline of superstition, it has been celebrated by\nthe people of each hamlet on some hill or rising ground around which their\ncattle were pasturing. Thither the young folks repaired in the morning,\nand cut a trench, on the summit of which a seat of turf was formed for the\ncompany. And in the middle a pile of wood or other fuel was placed, which\nof old they kindled with _tein-eigin_\u2014_i.e._, forced-fire or _need-fire_.\nAlthough, for many years past, they have been contented with common fire,\nyet we shall now describe the process, because it will hereafter appear\nthat recourse is still had to the _tein-eigin_ upon extraordinary\nemergencies.\n\n(M123) \u201cThe night before, all the fires in the country were carefully\nextinguished, and next morning the materials for exciting this sacred fire\nwere prepared. The most primitive method seems to be that which was used\nin the islands of Skye, Mull, and Tiree. A well-seasoned plank of oak was\nprocured, in the midst of which a hole was bored. A wimble of the same\ntimber was then applied, the end of which they fitted to the hole. But in\nsome parts of the mainland the machinery was different. They used a frame\nof green wood, of a square form, in the centre of which was an axle-tree.\nIn some places three times three persons, in others three times nine, were\nrequired for turning round by turns the axle-tree or wimble. If any of\nthem had been guilty of murder, adultery, theft, or other atrocious crime,\nit was imagined either that the fire would not kindle, or that it would be\ndevoid of its usual virtue. So soon as any sparks were emitted by means of\nthe violent friction, they applied a species of agaric which grows on old\nbirch-trees, and is very combustible. This fire had the appearance of\nbeing immediately derived from heaven, and manifold were the virtues\nascribed to it. They esteemed it a preservative against witchcraft, and a\nsovereign remedy against malignant diseases, both in the human species and\nin cattle; and by it the strongest poisons were supposed to have their\nnature changed.\n\n(M124) \u201cAfter kindling the bonfire with the _tein-eigin_ the company\nprepared their victuals. And as soon as they had finished their meal, they\namused themselves a while in singing and dancing round the fire. Towards\nthe close of the entertainment, the person who officiated as master of the\nfeast produced a large cake baked with eggs and scalloped round the edge,\ncalled _am bonnach beal-tine_\u2014_i.e._, the Beltane cake. It was divided\ninto a number of pieces, and distributed in great form to the company.\nThere was one particular piece which whoever got was called _cailleach\nbeal-tine_\u2014_i.e._, the Beltane _carline_, a term of great reproach. Upon\nhis being known, part of the company laid hold of him and made a show of\nputting him into the fire; but the majority interposing, he was rescued.\nAnd in some places they laid him flat on the ground, making as if they\nwould quarter him. Afterwards, he was pelted with egg-shells, and retained\nthe odious appellation during the whole year. And while the feast was\nfresh in people\u2019s memory, they affected to speak of the _cailleach\nbeal-tine_ as dead.\n\n(M125) \u201cThis festival was longest observed in the interior Highlands, for\ntowards the west coast the traces of it are faintest. In Glenorchy and\nLorne, a large cake is made on that day, which they consume in the house;\nand in Mull it has a large hole in the middle, through which each of the\ncows in the fold is milked. In Tiree it is of a triangular form. The more\nelderly people remember when this festival was celebrated without-doors\nwith some solemnity in both these islands. There are at present no\nvestiges of it in Skye or the Long Island, the inhabitants of which have\nsubstituted the _connach Micheil_ or St. Michael\u2019s cake. It is made at\nMichaelmas with milk and oatmeal, and some eggs are sprinkled on its\nsurface. Part of it is sent to the neighbours.\n\n(M126) \u201cIt is probable that at the original Beltane festival there were\ntwo fires kindled near one another. When any person is in a critical\ndilemma, pressed on each side by unsurmountable difficulties, the\nHighlanders have a proverb, _The e\u2019 eada anda theine bealtuin_\u2014_i.e._, he\nis between the two Beltane fires. There are in several parts small round\nhills, which, it is like, owe their present names to such solemn uses. One\nof the highest and most central in Icolmkil is called\n_Cnoch-nan-ainneal_\u2014_i.e._, the hill of the fires. There is another of the\nsame name near the kirk of Balquhidder; and at Killin there is a round\ngreen eminence which seems to have been raised by art. It is called\n_Tom-nan-ainneal_\u2014_i.e._, the eminence of the fires. Around it there are\nthe remains of a circular wall about two feet high. On the top a stone\nstands upon end. According to the tradition of the inhabitants, it was a\nplace of Druidical worship; and it was afterwards pitched on as the most\nvenerable spot for holding courts of justice for the country of\nBreadalbane. The earth of this eminence is still thought to be possessed\nof some healing virtue, for when cattle are observed to be diseased some\nof it is sent for, which is rubbed on the part affected.\u201d(370)\n\n(M127) In the parish of Callander, a beautiful district of western\nPerthshire, the Beltane custom was still in vogue towards the end of the\neighteenth century. It has been described as follows by the parish\nminister of the time: \u201cUpon the first day of May, which is called\n_Beltan_, or _Bal-tein_ day, all the boys in a township or hamlet, meet in\nthe moors. They cut a table in the green sod, of a round figure, by\ncasting a trench in the ground, of such circumference as to hold the whole\ncompany. They kindle a fire, and dress a repast of eggs and milk in the\nconsistence of a custard. They knead a cake of oatmeal, which is toasted\nat the embers against a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they divide\nthe cake into so many portions, as similar as possible to one another in\nsize and shape, as there are persons in the company. They daub one of\nthese portions all over with charcoal, until it be perfectly black. They\nput all the bits of the cake into a bonnet. Every one, blindfold, draws\nout a portion. He who holds the bonnet, is entitled to the last bit.\nWhoever draws the black bit, is the _devoted_ person who is to be\nsacrificed to _Baal_,(371) whose favour they mean to implore, in rendering\nthe year productive of the sustenance of man and beast. There is little\ndoubt of these inhuman sacrifices having been once offered in this\ncountry, as well as in the east, although they now pass from the act of\nsacrificing, and only compel the _devoted_ person to leap three times\nthrough the flames; with which the ceremonies of this festival are\nclosed.\u201d(372)\n\n(M128) Thomas Pennant, who travelled in Perthshire in the year 1769, tells\nus that \u201con the first of May, the herdsmen of every village hold their\nBel-tien, a rural sacrifice. They cut a square trench on the ground,\nleaving the turf in the middle; on that they make a fire of wood, on which\nthey dress a large caudle of eggs, butter, oatmeal and milk; and bring\nbesides the ingredients of the caudle, plenty of beer and whisky; for each\nof the company must contribute something. The rites begin with spilling\nsome of the caudle on the ground, by way of libation: on that every one\ntakes a cake of oatmeal, upon which are raised nine square knobs, each\ndedicated to some particular being, the supposed preserver of their flocks\nand herds, or to some particular animal, the real destroyer of them: each\nperson then turns his face to the fire, breaks off a knob, and flinging it\nover his shoulders, says, \u2018This I give to thee, preserve thou my horses;\nthis to thee, preserve thou my sheep; and so on.\u2019 After that, they use the\nsame ceremony to the noxious animals: \u2018This I give to thee, O fox! spare\nthou my lambs; this to thee, O hooded crow! this to thee, O eagle!\u2019 When\nthe ceremony is over, they dine on the caudle; and after the feast is\nfinished, what is left is hid by two persons deputed for that purpose; but\non the next Sunday they re-assemble, and finish the reliques of the first\nentertainment.\u201d(373)\n\n(M129) Another writer of the eighteenth century has described the Beltane\nfestival as it was held in the parish of Logierait in Perthshire. He says:\n\u201cOn the first of May, O.S., a festival called _Beltan_ is annually held\nhere. It is chiefly celebrated by the cow-herds, who assemble by scores in\nthe fields, to dress a dinner for themselves, of boiled milk and eggs.\nThese dishes they eat with a sort of cakes baked for the occasion, and\nhaving small lumps in the form of _nipples_, raised all over the\nsurface.\u201d(374) In this last account no mention is made of bonfires, but\nthey were probably lighted, for a contemporary writer informs us that in\nthe parish of Kirkmichael, which adjoins the parish of Logierait on the\neast, the custom of lighting a fire in the fields and baking a consecrated\ncake on the first of May was not quite obsolete in his time.(375) We may\nconjecture that the cake with knobs was formerly used for the purpose of\ndetermining who should be the \u201cBeltane carline\u201d or victim doomed to the\nflames. A trace of this custom survived, perhaps, in the custom of baking\noatmeal cakes of a special kind and rolling them down hill about noon on\nthe first of May; for it was thought that the person whose cake broke as\nit rolled would die or be unfortunate within the year. These cakes, or\nbannocks as we call them in Scotland, were baked in the usual way, but\nthey were washed over with a thin batter composed of whipped egg, milk or\ncream, and a little oatmeal. This custom appears to have prevailed at or\nnear Kingussie in Inverness-shire. At Achterneed, near Strathpeffer in\nRoss-shire, the Beltane bannocks were called _tcharnican_ or hand-cakes,\nbecause they were kneaded entirely in the hand, and not on a board or\ntable like common cakes; and after being baked they might not be placed\nanywhere but in the hands of the children who were to eat them.(376)\n\n(M130) In the north-east of Scotland the Beltane fires were still kindled\nin the latter half of the eighteenth century; the herdsmen of several\nfarms used to gather dry wood, kindle it, and dance three times\n\u201csouthways\u201d about the burning pile.(377) But in this region, according to\na later authority, the Beltane fires were lit not on the first but on the\nsecond of May, Old Style. They were called bone-fires. The people believed\nthat on that evening and night the witches were abroad and busy casting\nspells on cattle and stealing cows\u2019 milk. To counteract their\nmachinations, pieces of rowan-tree and woodbine, but especially of\nrowan-tree, were placed over the doors of the cow-houses, and fires were\nkindled by every farmer and cottar. Old thatch, straw, furze, or broom was\npiled in a heap and set on fire a little after sunset. While some of the\nbystanders kept tossing the blazing mass, others hoisted portions of it on\npitchforks or poles and ran hither and thither, holding them as high as\nthey could. Meantime the young people danced round the fire or ran through\nthe smoke shouting, \u201cFire! blaze and burn the witches; fire! fire! burn\nthe witches.\u201d In some districts a large round cake of oat or barley meal\nwas rolled through the ashes. When all the fuel was consumed, the people\nscattered the ashes far and wide, and till the night grew quite dark they\ncontinued to run through them, crying, \u201cFire! burn the witches.\u201d(378)\n\n(M131) In the Hebrides \u201cthe Beltane bannock is smaller than that made at\nSt. Michael\u2019s, but is made in the same way; it is no longer made in Uist,\nbut Father Allan remembers seeing his grandmother make one about\ntwenty-five years ago. There was also a cheese made, generally on the\nfirst of May, which was kept to the next Beltane as a sort of charm\nagainst the bewitching of milk-produce. The Beltane customs seem to have\nbeen the same as elsewhere. Every fire was put out and a large one lit on\nthe top of the hill, and the cattle driven round it sunwards (_dessil_),\nto keep off murrain all the year. Each man would take home fire wherewith\nto kindle his own.\u201d(379)\n\n(M132) In Wales also the custom of lighting Beltane fires at the beginning\nof May used to be observed, but the day on which they were kindled varied\nfrom the Eve of May Day to the third of May. The flame was sometimes\nelicited by the friction of two pieces of oak, as appears from the\nfollowing description. \u201cThe fire was done in this way. Nine men would turn\ntheir pockets inside out, and see that every piece of money and all metals\nwere off their persons. Then the men went into the nearest woods, and\ncollected sticks of nine different kinds of trees. These were carried to\nthe spot where the fire had to be built. There a circle was cut in the\nsod, and the sticks were set crosswise. All around the circle the people\nstood and watched the proceedings. One of the men would then take two bits\nof oak, and rub them together until a flame was kindled. This was applied\nto the sticks, and soon a large fire was made. Sometimes two fires were\nset up side by side. These fires, whether one or two, were called\n_coelcerth_ or bonfire. Round cakes of oatmeal and brown meal were split\nin four, and placed in a small flour-bag, and everybody present had to\npick out a portion. The last bit in the bag fell to the lot of the\nbag-holder. Each person who chanced to pick up a piece of brown-meal cake\nwas compelled to leap three times over the flames, or to run thrice\nbetween the two fires, by which means the people thought they were sure of\na plentiful harvest. Shouts and screams of those who had to face the\nordeal could be heard ever so far, and those who chanced to pick the\noatmeal portions sang and danced and clapped their hands in approval, as\nthe holders of the brown bits leaped three times over the flames, or ran\nthree times between the two fires. As a rule, no danger attended these\ncurious celebrations, but occasionally somebody\u2019s clothes caught fire,\nwhich was quickly put out. The greatest fire of the year was the eve of\nMay, or May first, second, or third. The Midsummer Eve fire was more for\nthe harvest. Very often a fire was built on the eve of November. The high\nground near the Castle Ditches at Llantwit Major, in the Vale of\nGlamorgan, was a familiar spot for the Beltane on May third and on\nMidsummer Eve.... Sometimes the Beltane fire was lighted by the flames\nproduced by stone instead of wood friction. Charred logs and faggots used\nin the May Beltane were carefully preserved, and from them the next fire\nwas lighted. May fires were always started with old faggots of the\nprevious year, and midsummer from those of the last summer. It was unlucky\nto build a midsummer fire from May faggots. People carried the ashes left\nafter these fires to their homes, and a charred brand was not only\neffectual against pestilence, but magical in its use. A few of the ashes\nplaced in a person\u2019s shoes protected the wearer from any great sorrow or\nwoe.\u201d(380)\n\n(M133) From the foregoing account we learn that bonfires were kindled in\nWales on Midsummer Eve and Hallowe\u2019en (the thirty-first of October), as\nwell as at the beginning of May, but that the Beltane fires in May were\ndeemed the most important. To the Midsummer Eve and Hallowe\u2019en fires we\nshall return presently. The belief of the people that by leaping thrice\nover the bonfires or running thrice between them they ensured a plentiful\nharvest is worthy of note. The mode in which this result was supposed to\nbe brought about is indicated by another writer on Welsh folk-lore,\naccording to whom it used to be held that \u201cthe bonfires lighted in May or\nMidsummer protected the lands from sorcery, so that good crops would\nfollow. The ashes were also considered valuable as charms.\u201d(381) Hence it\nappears that the heat of the fires was thought to fertilize the fields,\nnot directly by quickening the seeds in the ground, but indirectly by\ncounteracting the baleful influence of witchcraft or perhaps by burning up\nthe persons of the witches.\n\n(M134) \u201cThe Druidical anniversary of Beil or Baal is still celebrated in\nthe Isle of Man. On the first of May, 1837, the Baal fires were, as usual\non that day, so numerous as to give the island the appearance of a general\nconflagration.\u201d(382) By May Day in Manx folk-lore is meant May Day Old\nStyle, or _Shenn Laa Boaldyn_, as it is called in Manx. The day was one on\nwhich the power of elves and witches was particularly dreaded, and the\npeople resorted to many precautions in order to protect themselves against\nthese mischievous beings. Hence at daybreak they set fire to the ling or\ngorse, for the purpose of burning out the witches, who are wont to lurk in\nthe form of hares.(383) On the Hemlock Stone, a natural pillar of\nsandstone standing on Stapleford Hill in Nottinghamshire, a fire used to\nbe solemnly kindled every year on Beltane Eve. The custom seems to have\nsurvived down to the beginning of the nineteenth century; old people could\nremember and describe the ceremony long after it had fallen into\ndesuetude.(384)\n\n(M135) The Beltane fires appear to have been kindled also in Ireland, for\nCormac, \u201cor somebody in his name, says that _belltaine_, May-day, was so\ncalled from the \u2018lucky fire,\u2019 or the \u2018two fires,\u2019 which the druids of Erin\nused to make on that day with great incantations; and cattle, he adds,\nused to be brought to those fires, or to be driven between them, as a\nsafeguard against the diseases of the year.\u201d(385) Again, a very ancient\nIrish poem, enumerating the May Day celebrations, mentions among them a\nbonfire on a hill (_tendal ar cnuc_); and another old authority says that\nthese fires were kindled in the name of the idol-god Bel.(386) From an old\nlife of St. Patrick we learn that on a day in spring the heathen of\nIreland were wont to extinguish all their fires until a new fire was\nkindled with solemn ceremony in the king\u2019s house at Tara. In the year in\nwhich St. Patrick landed in Ireland it chanced that the night of the\nextinguished fires coincided with the Eve of Easter; and the saint,\nignorant of this pagan superstition, resolved to celebrate his first\nEaster in Ireland after the true Christian fashion by lighting the holy\nPaschal fire on the hill of Slane, which rises high above the left bank of\nthe Boyne, about twelve miles from the mouth of the river. So that night,\nlooking from his palace at Tara across the darkened landscape, the king of\nTara saw the solitary fire flaring on the top of the hill of Slane, and in\nconsternation he asked his wise men what that light meant. They warned him\nof the danger that it betokened for the ancient faith of Erin.(387) In\nspite of the difference of date between Easter and Beltane, we may suspect\nthat the new fire annually kindled with solemn ceremony about Easter in\nthe king of Ireland\u2019s palace at Tara was no other than the Beltane fire.\nWe have seen that in the Highlands of Scotland down to modern times it was\ncustomary to extinguish all fires in the neighbourhood before proceeding\nto kindle the sacred flame.(388) The Irish historian Geoffrey Keating, who\nwrote in the first part of the seventeenth century, tells us that the men\nof Ireland held a great fair every year in the month of May at Uisnech\n(_Ushnagh_) in the county of Meath, \u201cand at it they were wont to exchange\ntheir goods and their wares and their jewels. At it, they were, also, wont\nto make a sacrifice to the Arch-God that they adored, whose name was B\u00e8l\n(_bayl_). It was, likewise, their usage to light two fires to B\u00e8l, in\nevery district of Ireland, at this season, and to drive a pair of each\nkind of cattle that the district contained, between those two fires, as a\npreservative to guard them against all the diseases of that year. It is\nfrom that fire, thus made in honour of B\u00e8l, that the day [the first of\nMay] on which the noble feast of the apostles, Philip and James, is held,\nhas been called B\u00e8ltaini, or B\u00e8altaine (_Bayltinnie_); for Beltaini is the\nsame as B\u00e8il-tein\u00e8, _i.e._ Tein\u00e9 Bh\u00e8il (_Tinnie Vayl_) or B\u00e8l\u2019s\nFire.\u201d(389) The custom of driving cattle through or between fires on May\nDay or the eve of May Day persisted in Ireland down to a time within\nliving memory. Thus Sir John Rhys was informed by a Manxman that an Irish\ncattle-dealer of his acquaintance used to drive his cattle through fire on\nMay Day so as to singe them a little, since he believed that it would\npreserve them from harm. When the Manxman was asked where the dealer came\nfrom, he answered, \u201cFrom the mountains over there,\u201d pointing to the Mourne\nMountains then looming faintly in the mists on the western horizon.(390)\n\n(M136) The first of May is a great popular festival in the more midland\nand southern parts of Sweden. On the eve of the festival, huge bonfires,\nwhich should be lighted by striking two flints together, blaze on all the\nhills and knolls. Every large hamlet has its own fire, round which the\nyoung people dance in a ring. The old folk notice whether the flames\nincline to the north or to the south. In the former case, the spring will\nbe cold and backward; in the latter, it will be mild and genial.(391)\nSimilarly, in Bohemia, on the eve of May Day, young people kindle fires on\nhills and eminences, at crossways, and in pastures, and dance round them.\nThey leap over the glowing embers or even through the flames. The ceremony\nis called \u201cburning the witches.\u201d In some places an effigy representing a\nwitch used to be burnt in the bonfire.(392) We have to remember that the\neve of May Day is the notorious Walpurgis Night, when the witches are\neverywhere speeding unseen through the air on their hellish errands. On\nthis witching night children in Voigtland also light bonfires on the\nheights and leap over them. Moreover, they wave burning brooms or toss\nthem into the air. So far as the light of the bonfire reaches, so far will\na blessing rest on the fields. The kindling of the fires on Walpurgis\nNight is called \u201cdriving away the witches.\u201d(393) The custom of kindling\nfires on the eve of May Day (Walpurgis Night) for the purpose of burning\nthe witches is, or used to be, widespread in the Tyrol, Moravia, Saxony\nand Silesia.(394)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 4. The Midsummer Fires.\n\n\n(M137) But the season at which these fire-festivals have been mostly\ngenerally held all over Europe is the summer solstice, that is Midsummer\nEve (the twenty-third of June) or Midsummer Day (the twenty-fourth of\nJune). A faint tinge of Christianity has been given to them by naming\nMidsummer Day after St. John the Baptist, but we cannot doubt that the\ncelebration dates from a time long before the beginning of our era. The\nsummer solstice, or Midsummer Day, is the great turning-point in the sun\u2019s\ncareer, when, after climbing higher and higher day by day in the sky, the\nluminary stops and thenceforth retraces his steps down the heavenly road.\nSuch a moment could not but be regarded with anxiety by primitive man so\nsoon as he began to observe and ponder the courses of the great lights\nacross the celestial vault; and having still to learn his own\npowerlessness in face of the vast cyclic changes of nature, he may have\nfancied that he could help the sun in his seeming decline\u2014could prop his\nfailing steps and rekindle the sinking flame of the red lamp in his feeble\nhand. In some such thoughts as these the midsummer festivals of our\nEuropean peasantry may perhaps have taken their rise. Whatever their\norigin, they have prevailed all over this quarter of the globe, from\nIreland on the west to Russia on the east, and from Norway and Sweden on\nthe north to Spain and Greece on the south.(395) According to a medi\u00e6val\nwriter, the three great features of the midsummer celebration were the\nbonfires, the procession with torches round the fields, and the custom of\nrolling a wheel. He tells us that boys burned bones and filth of various\nkinds to make a foul smoke, and that the smoke drove away certain noxious\ndragons which at this time, excited by the summer heat, copulated in the\nair and poisoned the wells and rivers by dropping their seed into them;\nand he explains the custom of trundling a wheel to mean that the sun,\nhaving now reached the highest point in the ecliptic, begins thenceforward\nto descend.(396)\n\n(M138) A good general account of the midsummer customs, together with some\nof the reasons popularly alleged for observing them, is given by Thomas\nKirchmeyer, a writer of the sixteenth century, in his poem _The Popish\nKingdome_:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Then doth the joyfull feast of John the Baptist take his turne,_\n    _When bonfiers great with loftie flame, in every towne doe burne;_\n    _And yong men round about with maides, doe daunce in every\n                streete,_\n    _With garlands wrought of Motherwort, or else with Vervain\n                sweete,_\n    _And many other flowres faire, with Violets in their handes,_\n    _Whereas they all do fondly thinke, that whosoever standes,_\n    _And thorow the flowres beholds the flame, his eyes shall feele no\n                paine._\n    _When thus till night they daunced have, they through the fire\n                amaine_\n    _With striving mindes doe runne, and all their hearbes they cast\n                therin,_\n    _And then with wordes devout and prayers, they solemnely begin,_\n    _Desiring God that all their illes may there consumed bee,_\n    _Whereby they thinke through all that yeare from Agues to be\n                free._\n    _Some others get a rotten wheele, all worne and cast aside,_\n    _Which covered round about with strawe, and tow, they closely\n                hide:_\n    _And caryed to some mountaines top, being all with fire light,_\n    _They hurle it downe with violence, when darke appeares the\n                night:_\n    _Resembling much the Sunne, that from the heavens downe should\n                fal,_\n    _A straunge and monstrous sight it seemes, and fearfull to them\n                all:_\n    _But they suppose their mischiefes all are likewise throwne to\n                hell,_\n    _And that from harmes and daungers now, in safetie here they\n                dwell._\u201d(397)\n\n\nFrom these general descriptions, which to some extent still hold good, or\ndid so till lately, we see that the main features of the midsummer\nfire-festival resemble those which we have found to characterize the\nvernal festivals of fire. The similarity of the two sets of ceremonies\nwill plainly appear from the following examples.\n\n(M139) A writer of the first half of the sixteenth century informs us that\nin almost every village and town of Germany public bonfires were kindled\non the Eve of St. John, and young and old, of both sexes, gathered about\nthem and passed the time in dancing and singing. People on this occasion\nwore chaplets of mugwort and vervain, and they looked at the fire through\nbunches of larkspur which they held in their hands, believing that this\nwould preserve their eyes in a healthy state throughout the year. As each\ndeparted, he threw the mugwort and vervain into the fire, saying, \u201cMay all\nmy ill-luck depart and be burnt up with these.\u201d(398) At Lower Konz, a\nvillage prettily situated on a hillside overlooking the Moselle, in the\nmidst of a wood of walnut-trees and fruit-trees, the midsummer festival\nused to be celebrated as follows. A quantity of straw was collected on the\ntop of the steep Stromberg Hill. Every inhabitant, or at least every\nhouseholder, had to contribute his share of straw to the pile; a recusant\nwas looked at askance, and if in the course of the year he happened to\nbreak a leg or lose a child, there was not a gossip in the village but\nknew the reason why. At nightfall the whole male population, men and boys,\nmustered on the top of the hill; the women and girls were not allowed to\njoin them, but had to take up their position at a certain spring half-way\ndown the slope. On the summit stood a huge wheel completely encased in\nsome of the straw which had been jointly contributed by the villagers; the\nrest of the straw was made into torches. From each side of the wheel the\naxle-tree projected about three feet, thus furnishing handles to the lads\nwho were to guide it in its descent. The mayor of the neighbouring town of\nSierck, who always received a basket of cherries for his services, gave\nthe signal; a lighted torch was applied to the wheel, and as it burst into\nflame, two young fellows, strong-limbed and swift of foot, seized the\nhandles and began running with it down the slope. A great shout went up.\nEvery man and boy waved a blazing torch in the air, and took care to keep\nit alight so long as the wheel was trundling down the hill. Some of them\nfollowed the fiery wheel, and watched with amusement the shifts to which\nits guides were put in steering it round the hollows and over the broken\nground on the mountainside. The great object of the young men who guided\nthe wheel was to plunge it blazing into the water of the Moselle; but they\nrarely succeeded in their efforts, for the vineyards which cover the\ngreater part of the declivity impeded their progress, and the wheel was\noften burned out before it reached the river. As it rolled past the women\nand girls at the spring, they raised cries of joy which were answered by\nthe men on the top of the mountain; and the shouts were echoed by the\ninhabitants of neighbouring villages who watched the spectacle from their\nhills on the opposite bank of the Moselle. If the fiery wheel was\nsuccessfully conveyed to the bank of the river and extinguished in the\nwater, the people looked for an abundant vintage that year, and the\ninhabitants of Konz had the right to exact a waggon-load of white wine\nfrom the surrounding vineyards. On the other hand, they believed that, if\nthey neglected to perform the ceremony, the cattle would be attacked by\ngiddiness and convulsions and would dance in their stalls.(399)\n\n(M140) Down at least to the middle of the nineteenth century the midsummer\nfires used to blaze all over Upper Bavaria. They were kindled especially\non the mountains, but also far and wide in the lowlands, and we are told\nthat in the darkness and stillness of night the moving groups, lit up by\nthe flickering glow of the flames, presented an impressive spectacle. In\nsome places the people shewed their sense of the sanctity of the fires by\nusing for fuel the trees past which the gay procession had defiled, with\nfluttering banners, on Corpus Christi Day. In others the children\ncollected the firewood from door to door on the eve of the festival,\nsinging their request for fuel at every house in doggerel verse. Cattle\nwere driven through the fire to cure the sick animals and to guard such as\nwere sound against plague and harm of every kind throughout the year. Many\na householder on that day put out the fire on the domestic hearth and\nrekindled it by means of a brand taken from the midsummer bonfire. The\npeople judged of the height to which the flax would grow in the year by\nthe height to which the flames of the bonfire rose; and whoever leaped\nover the burning pile was sure not to suffer from backache in reaping the\ncorn at harvest. But it was especially the practice for lovers to spring\nover the fire hand in hand, and the way in which each couple made the leap\nwas the subject of many a jest and many a superstition. In one district\nthe custom of kindling the bonfires was combined with that of lighting\nwooden discs and hurling them in the air after the manner which prevails\nat some of the spring festivals.(400) In many parts of Bavaria it was\nbelieved that the flax would grow as high as the young people leaped over\nthe fire.(401) In others the old folk used to plant three charred sticks\nfrom the bonfire in the fields, believing that this would make the flax\ngrow tall.(402) Elsewhere an extinguished brand was put in the roof of the\nhouse to protect it against fire. In the towns about W\u00fcrzburg the bonfires\nused to be kindled in the market-places, and the young people who jumped\nover them wore garlands of flowers, especially of mugwort and vervain, and\ncarried sprigs of larkspur in their hands. They thought that such as\nlooked at the fire holding a bit of larkspur before their face would be\ntroubled by no malady of the eyes throughout the year.(403) Further, it\nwas customary at W\u00fcrzburg, in the sixteenth century, for the bishop\u2019s\nfollowers to throw burning discs of wood into the air from a mountain\nwhich overhangs the town. The discs were discharged by means of flexible\nrods, and in their flight through the darkness presented the appearance of\nfiery dragons.(404)\n\n(M141) In the valley of the Lech, which divides Upper Bavaria from Swabia,\nthe midsummer customs and beliefs are, or used to be, very similar.\nBonfires are kindled on the mountains on Midsummer Day; and besides the\nbonfire a tall beam, thickly wrapt in straw and surmounted by a\ncross-piece, is burned in many places. Round this cross as it burns the\nlads dance with loud shouts; and when the flames have subsided, the young\npeople leap over the fire in pairs, a young man and a young woman\ntogether. If they escape unsmirched, the man will not suffer from fever,\nand the girl will not become a mother within the year. Further, it is\nbelieved that the flax will grow that year as high as they leap over the\nfire; and that if a charred billet be taken from the fire and stuck in a\nflax-field it will promote the growth of the flax.(405) Similarly in\nSwabia, lads and lasses, hand in hand, leap over the midsummer bonfire,\npraying that the hemp may grow three ells high, and they set fire to\nwheels of straw and send them rolling down the hill. Among the places\nwhere burning wheels were thus bowled down hill at Midsummer were the\nHohenstaufen mountains in Wurtemberg and the Frauenberg near\nGerhausen.(406) At Deffingen, in Swabia, as the people sprang over the\nmidsummer bonfire they cried out, \u201cFlax, flax! may the flax this year grow\nseven ells high!\u201d(407) At Rottenburg in Swabia, down to the year 1807 or\n1808, the festival was marked by some special features. About mid-day\ntroops of boys went about the town begging for firewood at the houses. In\neach troop there were three leaders, one of whom carried a dagger, a\nsecond a paper banner, and a third a white plate covered with a white\ncloth. These three entered each house and recited verses, in which they\nexpressed an intention of roasting Martin Luther and sending him to the\ndevil; and for this meritorious service they expected to be paid, the\ncontributions being received in the cloth-covered plate. In the evening\nthey counted up their money and proceeded to \u201cbehead the Angel-man.\u201d For\nthis ceremony an open space was chosen, sometimes in the middle of the\ntown. Here a stake was thrust into the ground and straw wrapt about it, so\nas to make a rude effigy of human form with arms, head, and face. Every\nboy brought a handful of nosegays and fastened them to the straw-man, who\nwas thus enveloped in flowers. Fuel was heaped about the stake and set on\nfire. When the Angel-man, as the straw-effigy was called, blazed up, all\nthe boys of the neighbourhood, who had gathered expectantly around, fell\nupon him with their wooden swords and hewed him to pieces. As soon as he\nhad vanished in smoke and flame, the lads leaped backward and forward over\nthe glowing embers, and later in the evening they feasted on the proceeds\nof their collection.(408) Here the Angel-man burnt in the fire appears to\nbe identified with Martin Luther, to whom, as we have seen, allusion was\nmade during the house-to-house visitation. The identification was probably\nmodern, for we may assume that the custom of burning an effigy in the\nMidsummer bonfire is far older than the time of Luther.\n\n(M142) In Baden the children used to collect fuel from house to house for\nthe Midsummer bonfire on St. John\u2019s Day; and lads and lasses leaped over\nthe fire in couples. Here, as elsewhere, a close connexion was traced\nbetween these bonfires and the harvest. In some places it was thought that\nthose who leaped over the fires would not suffer from backache at reaping.\nSometimes, as the young folk sprang over the flames, they cried, \u201cGrow,\nthat the hemp may be three ells high!\u201d This notion that the hemp or the\ncorn would grow as high as the flames blazed or as the people jumped over\nthem, seems to have been widespread in Baden. It was held that the parents\nof the young people who bounded highest over the fire would have the most\nabundant harvest; and on the other hand, if a man contributed nothing to\nthe bonfire, it was imagined that there would be no blessing on his crops,\nand that his hemp in particular would never grow.(409) In the\nneighbourhood of B\u00fchl and Achern the St. John\u2019s fires were kindled on the\ntops of hills; only the unmarried lads of the village brought the fuel,\nand only the unmarried young men and women sprang through the flames. But\nmost of the villagers, old and young, gathered round the bonfires, leaving\na clear space for the leapers to take their run. One of the bystanders\nwould call out the names of a pair of sweethearts; on which the two would\nstep out from the throng, take each other by the hand, and leap high and\nlightly through the swirling smoke and flames, while the spectators\nwatched them critically and drew omens of their married life from the\nheight to which each of them bounded. Such an invitation to jump together\nover the bonfire was regarded as tantamount to a public betrothal.(410)\nNear Offenburg, in the Black Forest, on Midsummer Day the village boys\nused to collect faggots and straw on some steep and conspicuous height,\nand they spent some time in making circular wooden discs by slicing the\ntrunk of a pine-tree across. When darkness had fallen, they kindled the\nbonfire, and then, as it blazed up, they lighted the discs at it, and,\nafter swinging them to and fro at the end of a stout and supple\nhazel-wand, they hurled them one after the other, whizzing and flaming,\ninto the air, where they described great arcs of fire, to fall at length,\nlike shooting-stars, at the foot of the mountain.(411) In many parts of\nAlsace and Lorraine the midsummer fires still blaze annually or did so not\nvery many years ago.(412) At Speicher in the Eifel, a district which lies\non the middle Rhine, to the west of Coblentz, a bonfire used to be kindled\nin front of the village on St. John\u2019s Day, and all the young people had to\njump over it. Those who failed to do so were not allowed to join the rest\nin begging for eggs from house to house. Where no eggs were given, they\ndrove a wedge into the keyhole of the door. On this day children in the\nEifel used also to gather flowers in the fields, weave them into garlands,\nand throw the garlands on the roofs or hang them on the doors of the\nhouses. So long as the flowers remained there, they were supposed to guard\nthe house from fire and lightning.(413) In the southern Harz district and\nin Thuringia the Midsummer or St. John\u2019s fires used to be commonly lighted\ndown to about the middle of the nineteenth century, and the custom has\nprobably not died out. At Edersleben, near Sangerhausen, a high pole was\nplanted in the ground and a tar-barrel was hung from it by a chain which\nreached to the ground. The barrel was then set on fire and swung round the\npole amid shouts of joy.(414)\n\n(M143) According to one account, German tradition required that the\nmidsummer fire should be lighted, not from a common hearth, but by the\nfriction of two sorts of wood, namely oak and fir.(415) In some old\nfarm-houses of the Surenthal and Winenthal, in Switzerland, a couple of\nholes or a whole row of them may be seen facing each other in the\ndoor-posts of the barn or stable. Sometimes the holes are smooth and\nround; sometimes they are deeply burnt and blackened. The explanation of\nthem is this. About midsummer, but especially on Midsummer Day, two such\nholes are bored opposite each other, into which the extremities of a\nstrong pole are fixed. The holes are then stuffed with tow steeped in\nresin and oil; a rope is looped round the pole, and two young men, who\nmust be brothers or must have the same baptismal name, and must be of the\nsame age, pull the ends of the rope backwards and forwards so as to make\nthe pole revolve rapidly, till smoke and sparks issue from the two holes\nin the door-posts. The sparks are caught and blown up with tinder, and\nthis is the new and pure fire, the appearance of which is greeted with\ncries of joy. Heaps of combustible materials are now ignited with the new\nfire, and blazing bundles are placed on boards and sent floating down the\nbrook. The boys light torches at the new fire and run to fumigate the\npastures. This is believed to drive away all the demons and witches that\nmolest the cattle. Finally the torches are thrown in a heap on the meadow\nand allowed to burn out. On their way back the boys strew the ashes over\nthe fields, which is supposed to make them fertile. If a farmer has taken\npossession of a new house, or if servants have changed masters, the boys\nfumigate the new abode and are rewarded by the farmer with a supper.(416)\n\n(M144) In Silesia, from the south-eastern part of the Sudeten range and\nnorth-westward as far as Lausitz, the mountains are ablaze with bonfires\non Midsummer Eve; and from the valleys and the plains round about\nLeobsch\u00fctz, Neustadt, Z\u00fclz, Oels, and other places answering fires twinkle\nthrough the deepening gloom. While they are smouldering and sending forth\nvolumes of smoke across the fields, young men kindle broom-stumps, soaked\nin pitch, at the bonfires and then, brandishing the stumps, which emit\nshowers of sparks, they chase one another or dance with the girls round\nthe burning pile. Shots, too, are fired, and shouts raised. The fire, the\nsmoke, the shots, and the shouts are all intended to scare away the\nwitches, who are let loose on this witching day, and who would certainly\nwork harm to the crops and the cattle, if they were not deterred by these\nsalutary measures. Mere contact with the fire brings all sorts of\nblessings. Hence when the bonfire is burning low, the lads leap over it,\nand the higher they bound, the better is the luck in store for them. He\nwho surpasses his fellows is the hero of the day and is much admired by\nthe village girls. It is also thought to be very good for the eyes to\nstare steadily at the bonfire without blinking; moreover he who does so\nwill not drowse and fall asleep betimes in the long winter evenings. On\nMidsummer Eve the windows and doors of houses in Silesia are crowned with\nflowers, especially with the blue corn-flowers and the bright\ncorn-cockles; in some villages long strings of garlands and nosegays are\nstretched across the streets. The people believe that on that night St.\nJohn comes down from heaven to bless the flowers and to keep all evil\nthings from house and home.(417)\n\n(M145) In Denmark and Norway also Midsummer fires were kindled on St.\nJohn\u2019s Eve on roads, open spaces, and hills. People in Norway thought that\nthe fires banished sickness from among the cattle.(418) Even yet the fires\nare said to be lighted all over Norway on the night of June the\ntwenty-third, Midsummer Eve, Old Style. As many as fifty or sixty bonfires\nmay often be counted burning on the hills round Bergen. Sometimes fuel is\npiled on rafts, ignited, and allowed to drift blazing across the fiords in\nthe darkness of night. The fires are thought to be kindled in order to\nkeep off the witches, who are said to be flying from all parts that night\nto the Blocksberg, where the big witch lives.(419) In Sweden the Eve of\nSt. John (St. Hans) is the most joyous night of the whole year. Throughout\nsome parts of the country, especially in the provinces of Bohus and Scania\nand in districts bordering on Norway, it is celebrated by the frequent\ndischarge of firearms and by huge bonfires, formerly called Balder\u2019s\nBalefires (_Balder\u2019s B\u0103lar_), which are kindled at dusk on hills and\neminences and throw a glare of light over the surrounding landscape. The\npeople dance round the fires and leap over or through them. In parts of\nNorrland on St. John\u2019s Eve the bonfires are lit at the cross-roads. The\nfuel consists of nine different sorts of wood, and the spectators cast\ninto the flames a kind of toad-stool (_B\u00e4ran_) in order to counteract the\npower of the Trolls and other evil spirits, who are believed to be abroad\nthat night; for at that mystic season the mountains open and from their\ncavernous depths the uncanny crew pours forth to dance and disport\nthemselves for a time. The peasants believe that should any of the Trolls\nbe in the vicinity they will shew themselves; and if an animal, for\nexample a he or she goat, happens to be seen near the blazing, crackling\npile, the peasants are firmly persuaded that it is no other than the Evil\nOne in person.(420) Further, it deserves to be remarked that in Sweden St.\nJohn\u2019s Eve is a festival of water as well as of fire; for certain holy\nsprings are then supposed to be endowed with wonderful medicinal virtues,\nand many sick people resort to them for the healing of their\ninfirmities.(421)\n\n(M146) In Switzerland on Midsummer Eve fires are, or used to be, kindled\non high places in the cantons of Bern, Neuchatel, Valais, and Geneva.(422)\nIn Austria the midsummer customs and superstitions resemble those of\nGermany. Thus in some parts of the Tyrol bonfires are kindled and burning\ndiscs hurled into the air.(423) In the lower valley of the Inn a\ntaterdemalian effigy is carted about the village on Midsummer Day and then\nburned. He is called the _Lotter_, which has been corrupted into Luther.\nAt Ambras, one of the villages where Martin Luther is thus burned in\neffigy, they say that if you go through the village between eleven and\ntwelve on St. John\u2019s Night and wash yourself in three wells, you will see\nall who are to die in the following year.(424) At Gratz on St. John\u2019s Eve\n(the twenty-third of June) the common people used to make a puppet called\nthe _Tatermann_, which they dragged to the bleaching ground, and pelted\nwith burning besoms till it took fire.(425) At Reutte, in the Tyrol,\npeople believed that the flax would grow as high as they leaped over the\nmidsummer bonfire, and they took pieces of charred wood from the fire and\nstuck them in their flax-fields the same night, leaving them there till\nthe flax harvest had been got in.(426) In Lower Austria fires are lit in\nthe fields, commonly in front of a cross, and the people dance and sing\nround them and throw flowers into the flames. Before each handful of\nflowers is tossed into the fire, a set speech is made; then the dance is\nresumed and the dancers sing in chorus the last words of the speech. At\nevening bonfires are kindled on the heights, and the boys caper round\nthem, brandishing lighted torches drenched in pitch. Whoever jumps thrice\nacross the fire will not suffer from fever within the year. Cart-wheels\nare often smeared with pitch, ignited, and sent rolling and blazing down\nthe hillsides.(427)\n\n(M147) All over Bohemia bonfires still burn on Midsummer Eve. In the\nafternoon boys go about with handcarts from house to house collecting\nfuel, such as sticks, brushwood, old besoms, and so forth. They make their\nrequest at each house in rhyming verses, threatening with evil\nconsequences the curmudgeons who refuse them a dole. Sometimes the young\nmen fell a tall straight fir in the woods and set it up on a height, where\nthe girls deck it with nosegays, wreaths of leaves, and red ribbons. Then\nbrushwood is piled about it, and at nightfall the whole is set on fire.\nWhile the flames break out, the young men climb the tree and fetch down\nthe wreaths which the girls had placed on it. After that, lads and lasses\nstand on opposite sides of the fire and look at one another through the\nwreaths to see whether they will be true to each other and marry within\nthe year. Also the girls throw the wreaths across the flames to the men,\nand woe to the awkward swain who fails to catch the wreath thrown him by\nhis sweetheart. When the blaze has died down, each couple takes hands, and\nleaps thrice across the fire. He or she who does so will be free from ague\nthroughout the year, and the flax will grow as high as the young folks\nleap. A girl who sees nine bonfires on Midsummer Eve will marry before the\nyear is out. The singed wreaths are carried home and carefully preserved\nthroughout the year. During thunderstorms a bit of the wreath is burned on\nthe hearth with a prayer; some of it is given to kine that are sick or\ncalving, and some of it serves to fumigate house and cattle-stall, that\nman and beast may keep hale and well. Sometimes an old cart-wheel is\nsmeared with resin, ignited, and sent rolling down the hill. Often the\nboys collect all the worn-out besoms they can get hold of, dip them in\npitch, and having set them on fire wave them about or throw them high into\nthe air. Or they rush down the hillside in troops, brandishing the flaming\nbrooms and shouting, only however to return to the bonfire on the summit\nwhen the brooms have burnt out. The stumps of the brooms and embers from\nthe fire are preserved and stuck in cabbage gardens to protect the\ncabbages from caterpillars and gnats. Some people insert charred sticks\nand ashes from the bonfire in their sown fields and meadows, in their\ngardens and the roofs of their houses, as a talisman against lightning and\nfoul weather; or they fancy that the ashes placed in the roof will prevent\nany fire from breaking out in the house. In some districts they crown or\ngird themselves with mugwort while the midsummer fire is burning, for this\nis supposed to be a protection against ghosts, witches, and sickness; in\nparticular, a wreath of mugwort is a sure preventive of sore eyes.\nSometimes the girls look at the bonfires through garlands of wild flowers,\npraying the fire to strengthen their eyes and eyelids. She who does this\nthrice will have no sore eyes all that year. In some parts of Bohemia they\nused to drive the cows through the midsummer fire to guard them against\nwitchcraft.(428)\n\n(M148) The Germans of Moravia in like manner still light bonfires on open\ngrounds and high places on Midsummer Eve; and they kindle besoms in the\nflames and then stick the charred stumps in the cabbage-fields as a\npowerful protection against caterpillars. On the same mystic evening\nMoravian girls gather flowers of nine sorts and lay them under their\npillow when they go to sleep; then they dream every one of him who is to\nbe her partner for life. For in Moravia maidens in their beds as well as\npoets by haunted streams have their Midsummer Night\u2019s dreams.(429) In\nAustrian Silesia the custom also prevails of lighting great bonfires on\nhilltops on Midsummer Eve, and here too the boys swing blazing besoms or\nhurl them high in the air, while they shout and leap and dance wildly.\nNext morning every door is decked with flowers and birchen saplings.(430)\nIn the district of Cracow, especially towards the Carpathian Mountains,\ngreat fires are kindled by the peasants in the fields or on the heights at\nnightfall on Midsummer Eve, which among them goes by the name of Kupalo\u2019s\nNight. The fire must be kindled by the friction of two sticks. The young\npeople dance round or leap over it; and a band of sturdy fellows run a\nrace with lighted torches, the winner being rewarded with a peacock\u2019s\nfeather, which he keeps throughout the year as a distinction. Cattle also\nare driven round the fire in the belief that this is a charm against\npestilence and disease of every sort.(431)\n\n(M149) The name of Kupalo\u2019s Night, applied in this part of Galicia to\nMidsummer Eve, reminds us that we have now passed from German to Slavonic\nground; even in Bohemia the midsummer celebration is common to Slavs and\nGermans. We have already seen that in Russia the summer solstice or Eve of\nSt. John is celebrated by young men and maidens, who jump over a bonfire\nin couples carrying a straw effigy of Kupalo in their arms.(432) In some\nparts of Russia an image of Kupalo is burnt or thrown into a stream on St.\nJohn\u2019s Night.(433) Again, in some districts of Russia the young folk wear\ngarlands of flowers and girdles of holy herbs when they spring through the\nsmoke or flames; and sometimes they drive the cattle also through the fire\nin order to protect the animals against wizards and witches, who are then\nravenous after milk.(434) In Little Russia a stake is driven into the\nground on St. John\u2019s Night, wrapt in straw, and set on fire. As the flames\nrise the peasant women throw birchen boughs into them, saying, \u201cMay my\nflax be as tall as this bough!\u201d(435) In Ruthenia the bonfires are lighted\nby a flame procured by the friction of wood. While the elders of the party\nare engaged in thus \u201cchurning\u201d the fire, the rest maintain a respectful\nsilence; but when the flame bursts from the wood, they break forth into\njoyous songs. As soon as the bonfires are kindled, the young people take\nhands and leap in pairs through the smoke, if not through the flames; and\nafter that the cattle in their turn are driven through the fire.(436)\n\n(M150) In many parts of Prussia and Lithuania great fires are kindled on\nMidsummer Eve. All the heights are ablaze with them, as far as the eye can\nsee. The fires are supposed to be a protection against witchcraft,\nthunder, hail, and cattle disease, especially if next morning the cattle\nare driven over the places where the fires burned. Above all, the bonfires\nensure the farmer against the arts of witches, who try to steal the milk\nfrom his cows by charms and spells. That is why next morning you may see\nthe young fellows who lit the bonfire going from house to house and\nreceiving jugfuls of milk. And for the same reason they stick burs and\nmugwort on the gate or the hedge through which the cows go to pasture,\nbecause that is supposed to be a preservative against witchcraft.(437) In\nMasuren, a district of Eastern Prussia inhabited by a branch of the Polish\nfamily, it is the custom on the evening of Midsummer Day to put out all\nthe fires in the village. Then an oaken stake is driven into the ground\nand a wheel is fixed on it as on an axle. This wheel the villagers,\nworking by relays, cause to revolve with great rapidity till fire is\nproduced by friction. Every one takes home a lighted brand from the new\nfire and with it rekindles the fire on the domestic hearth.(438) In the\nsixteenth century Martin of Urzedow, a Polish priest, denounced the\nheathen practices of the women who on St. John\u2019s Eve (Midsummer Eve)\nkindled fires by the friction of wood, danced, and sang songs in honour of\nthe devil.(439)\n\n(M151) Among the Letts who inhabit the Baltic provinces of Russia the most\njoyful festival of the year is held on Midsummer Day. The people drink and\ndance and sing and adorn themselves and their houses with flowers and\nbranches. Chopped boughs of fir are strewn about the rooms, and leaves are\nstuck in the roofs. In every farm-yard a birch tree is set up, and every\nperson of the name of John who enters the farm that day must break off a\ntwig from the tree and hang up on its branches in return a small present\nfor the family. When the serene twilight of the summer night has veiled\nthe landscape, bonfires gleam on all the hills, and wild shouts of \u201cLigho!\nLigho!\u201d echo from the woods and fields. In Riga the day is a festival of\nflowers. From all the neighbourhood the peasants stream into the city\nladen with flowers and garlands. A market of flowers is held in an open\nsquare and on the chief bridge over the river; here wreaths of\nimmortelles, which grow wild in the meadows and woods, are sold in great\nprofusion and deck the houses of Riga for long afterwards. Roses, too, are\nnow at the prime of their beauty, and masses of them adorn the\nflower-stalls. Till far into the night gay crowds parade the streets to\nmusic or float on the river in gondolas decked with flowers.(440) So long\nago in ancient Rome barges crowned with flowers and crowded with revellers\nused to float down the Tiber on Midsummer Day, the twenty-fourth of\nJune,(441) and no doubt the strains of music were wafted as sweetly across\nthe water to listeners on the banks as they still are to the throngs of\nmerrymakers at Riga.\n\n(M152) Bonfires are commonly kindled by the South Slavonian peasantry on\nMidsummer Eve, and lads and lasses dance and shout round them in the usual\nway. The very names of St. John\u2019s Day (_Ivanje_) and the St. John\u2019s fires\n(_kries_) are said to act like electric sparks on the hearts and minds of\nthese swains, kindling a thousand wild, merry, and happy fancies and ideas\nin their rustic breasts. At Kamenagora in Croatia the herdsmen throw nine\nthree-year old vines into the bonfire, and when these burst into flames\nthe young men who are candidates for matrimony jump through the blaze. He\nwho succeeds in leaping over the fire without singeing himself will be\nmarried within the year. At Vidovec in Croatia parties of two girls and\none lad unite to kindle a Midsummer bonfire and to leap through the\nflames; he or she who leaps furthest will soonest wed. Afterwards lads and\nlasses dance in separate rings, but the ring of lads bumps up against the\nring of girls and breaks it, and the girl who has to let go her\nneighbour\u2019s hand will forsake her true love hereafter.(442) In Servia on\nMidsummer Eve herdsmen light torches of birch bark and march round the\nsheepfolds and cattle-stalls; then they climb the hills and there allow\nthe torches to burn out.(443)\n\n(M153) Among the Magyars in Hungary the midsummer fire-festival is marked\nby the same features that meet us in so many parts of Europe. On Midsummer\nEve in many places it is customary to kindle bonfires on heights and to\nleap over them, and from the manner in which the young people leap the\nbystanders predict whether they will marry soon. At Nograd-Ludany the\nyoung men and women, each carrying a truss of straw, repair to a meadow,\nwhere they pile the straw in seven or twelve heaps and set it on fire.\nThen they go round the fire singing, and hold a bunch of iron-wort in the\nsmoke, while they say, \u201cNo boil on my body, no sprain in my foot!\u201d This\nholding of the flowers over the flames is regarded, we are told, as\nequally important with the practice of walking through the fire barefoot\nand stamping it out. On this day also many Hungarian swineherds make fire\nby rotating a wheel round a wooden axle wrapt in hemp, and through the\nfire thus made they drive their pigs to preserve them from sickness.(444)\nIn villages on the Danube, where the population is a cross between Magyar\nand German, the young men and maidens go to the high banks of the river on\nMidsummer Eve; and while the girls post themselves low down the slope, the\nlads on the height above set fire to little wooden wheels and, after\nswinging them to and fro at the end of a wand, send them whirling through\nthe air to fall into the Danube. As he does so, each lad sings out the\nname of his sweetheart, and she listens well pleased down below.(445)\n\n(M154) The Esthonians of Russia, who, like the Magyars, belong to the\ngreat Turanian family of mankind, also celebrate the summer solstice in\nthe usual way. On the Eve of St. John all the people of a farm, a village,\nor an estate, walk solemnly in procession, the girls decked with flowers,\nthe men with leaves and carrying bundles of straw under their arms. The\nlads carry lighted torches or flaming hoops steeped in tar at the top of\nlong poles. Thus they go singing to the cattle-sheds, the granaries, and\nso forth, and afterwards march thrice round the dwelling-house. Finally,\npreceded by the shrill music of the bagpipes and shawms, they repair to a\nneighbouring hill, where the materials of a bonfire have been collected.\nTar-barrels filled with combustibles are hung on poles, or the trunk of a\nfelled tree has been set up with a great mass of juniper piled about it in\nthe form of a pyramid. When a light has been set to the pile, old and\nyoung gather about it and pass the time merrily with song and music till\nbreak of day. Every one who comes brings fresh fuel for the fire, and they\nsay, \u201cNow we all gather together, where St. John\u2019s fire burns. He who\ncomes not to St. John\u2019s fire will have his barley full of thistles, and\nhis oats full of weeds.\u201d Three logs are thrown into the fire with special\nceremony; in throwing the first they say, \u201cGold of pleasure (a plant with\nyellow flowers) into the fire!\u201d in throwing the second they say, \u201cWeeds to\nthe unploughed land!\u201d but in throwing the third they cry, \u201cFlax on my\nfield!\u201d The fire is said to keep the witches from the cattle.(446)\nAccording to others, it ensures that for the whole year the milk shall be\n\u201cas pure as silver and as the stars in the sky, and the butter as yellow\nas the sun and the fire and the gold.\u201d(447) In the Esthonian island of\nOesel, while they throw fuel into the midsummer fire, they call out,\n\u201cWeeds to the fire, flax to the field,\u201d or they fling three billets into\nthe flames, saying, \u201cFlax grow long!\u201d And they take charred sticks from\nthe bonfire home with them and keep them to make the cattle thrive. In\nsome parts of the island the bonfire is formed by piling brushwood and\nother combustibles round a tree, at the top of which a flag flies. Whoever\nsucceeds in knocking down the flag with a pole before it begins to burn\nwill have good luck. Formerly the festivities lasted till daybreak, and\nended in scenes of debauchery which looked doubly hideous by the growing\nlight of a summer morning.(448)\n\n(M155) Still farther north, among a people of the same Turanian stock, we\nlearn from an eye-witness that Midsummer Night used to witness a sort of\nwitches\u2019 sabbath on the top of every hill in Finland. The bonfire was made\nby setting up four tall birches in a square and piling the intermediate\nspace with fuel. Round the roaring flames the people sang and drank and\ngambolled in the usual way.(449) Farther east, in the valley of the Volga,\nthe Cheremiss celebrate about midsummer a festival which Haxthausen\nregarded as identical with the midsummer ceremonies of the rest of Europe.\nA sacred tree in the forest, generally a tall and solitary oak, marks the\nscene of the solemnity. All the males assemble there, but no woman may be\npresent. A heathen priest lights seven fires in a row from north-west to\nsouth-east; cattle are sacrificed and their blood poured in the fires,\neach of which is dedicated to a separate deity. Afterwards the holy tree\nis illumined by lighted candles placed on its branches; the people fall on\ntheir knees and with faces bowed to the earth pray that God would be\npleased to bless them, their children, their cattle, and their bees, grant\nthem success in trade, in travel, and in the chase, enable them to pay the\nCzar\u2019s taxes, and so forth.(450)\n\n(M156) When we pass from the east to the west of Europe we still find the\nsummer solstice celebrated with rites of the same general character. Down\nto about the middle of the nineteenth century the custom of lighting\nbonfires at midsummer prevailed so commonly in France that there was\nhardly a town or a village, we are told, where they were not kindled.(451)\nThough the pagan origin of the custom may be regarded as certain, the\nCatholic Church threw a Christian cloak over it by boldly declaring that\nthe bonfires were lit in token of the general rejoicing at the birth of\nthe Baptist, who opportunely came into the world at the solstice of\nsummer, just as his greater successor did at the solstice of winter; so\nthat the whole year might be said to revolve on the golden hinges of these\ntwo great birthdays.(452) Writing in the seventeenth century Bishop\nBossuet expressly affirms this edifying theory of the Midsummer bonfires,\nand he tells his catechumens that the Church herself participated in the\nillumination, since in several dioceses, including his own diocese of\nMeaux, a number of parishes kindled what were called ecclesiastical fires\nfor the purpose of banishing the superstitions practised at the purely\nmundane bonfires. These superstitions, he goes on to say, consisted in\ndancing round the fire, playing, feasting, singing ribald songs, throwing\nherbs across the fire, gathering herbs at noon or while fasting, carrying\nthem on the person, preserving them throughout the year, keeping brands or\ncinders of the fire, and other similar practices.(453) However excellent\nthe intentions of the ecclesiastical authorities may have been, they\nfailed of effecting their purpose; for the superstitions as well as the\nbonfires survived in France far into the nineteenth century, if indeed\nthey are extinct even now at the beginning of the twentieth. Writing in\nthe latter part of the nineteenth century Mr. Ch. Cuissard tells us that\nhe himself witnessed in Touraine and Poitou the superstitious practices\nwhich he describes as follows: \u201cThe most credulous examine the ways in\nwhich the flame burns and draw good or bad omens accordingly. Others,\nafter leaping through the flames crosswise, pass their little children\nthrough them thrice, fully persuaded that the little ones will then be\nable to walk at once. In some places the shepherds make their sheep tread\nthe embers of the extinct fire in order to preserve them from the\nfoot-rot. Here you may see about midnight an old woman grubbing among the\ncinders of the pyre to find the hair of the Holy Virgin or Saint John,\nwhich she deems an infallible specific against fever. There, another woman\nis busy plucking the roots of the herbs which have been burned on the\nsurface of the ground; she intends to eat them, imagining that they are an\ninfallible preservative against cancer. Elsewhere a girl wears on her neck\na flower which the touch of St. John\u2019s fire has turned for her into a\ntalisman, and she is sure to marry within the year. Shots are fired at the\ntree planted in the midst of the fire to drive away the demons who might\npurpose to send sicknesses about the country. Seats are set round about\nthe bonfire, in order that the souls of dead relations may come and enjoy\nthemselves for a little with the living.\u201d(454)\n\n(M157) In Brittany, apparently, the custom of the Midsummer bonfires is\nkept up to this day. Thus in Lower Brittany every town and every village\nstill lights its _tantad_ or bonfire on St. John\u2019s Night. When the flames\nhave died down, the whole assembly kneels round about the bonfire and an\nold man prays aloud. Then they all rise and march thrice round the fire;\nat the third turn they stop and every one picks up a pebble and throws it\non the burning pile. After that they disperse.(455) In Finist\u00e8re the\nbonfires of St. John\u2019s Day are kindled by preference in an open space near\na chapel of St. John; but if there is no such chapel, they are lighted in\nthe square facing the parish church and in some districts at cross-roads.\nEverybody brings fuel for the fire, it may be a faggot, a log, a branch,\nor an armful of gorse. When the vespers are over, the parish priest sets a\nlight to the pile. All heads are bared, prayers recited, and hymns sung.\nThen the dancing begins. The young folk skip round the blazing pile and\nleap over it, when the flames have died down. If anybody makes a false\nstep and falls or rolls in the hot embers, he or she is greeted with hoots\nand retires abashed from the circle of dancers. Brands are carried home\nfrom the bonfire to protect the houses against lightning, conflagrations,\nand certain maladies and spells. The precious talisman is carefully kept\nin a cupboard till St. John\u2019s Day of the following year.(456) At Quimper,\nand in the district of L\u00e9on, chairs used to be placed round the midsummer\nbonfire, that the souls of the dead might sit on them and warm themselves\nat the blaze.(457) At Brest on this day thousands of people used to\nassemble on the ramparts towards evening and brandish lighted torches,\nwhich they swung in circles or flung by hundreds into the air. The closing\nof the town gates put an end to the spectacle, and the lights might be\nseen dispersing in all directions like wandering will-o\u2019-the-wisps.(458)\nIn Upper Brittany the materials for the midsummer bonfires, which\ngenerally consist of bundles of furze and heath, are furnished by\nvoluntary contributions, and piled on the tops of hills round poles, each\nof which is surmounted by a nosegay or a crown. This nosegay or crown is\ngenerally provided by a man named John or a woman named Jean, and it is\nalways a John or a Jean who puts a light to the bonfire. While the fire is\nblazing the people dance and sing round it, and when the flames have\nsubsided they leap over the glowing embers. Charred sticks from the\nbonfire are thrown into wells to improve the water, and they are also\ntaken home as a protection against thunder.(459) To make them thoroughly\neffective, however, against thunder and lightning you should keep them\nnear your bed, between a bit of a Twelfth Night cake and a sprig of\nboxwood which has been blessed on Palm Sunday.(460) Flowers from the\nnosegay or crown which overhung the fire are accounted charms against\ndisease and pain, both bodily and spiritual; hence girls hang them at\ntheir breast by a thread of scarlet wool. In many parishes of Brittany the\npriest used to go in procession with the crucifix and kindle the bonfire\nwith his own hands; and farmers were wont to drive their flocks and herds\nthrough the fire in order to preserve them from sickness till midsummer of\nthe following year. Also it was believed that every girl who danced round\nnine of the bonfires would marry within the year.(461)\n\n(M158) In Normandy the midsummer fires have now almost disappeared, at\nleast in the district known as the Bocage, but they used to shine on every\nhill. They were commonly made by piling brushwood, broom, and ferns about\na tall tree, which was decorated with a crown of moss and sometimes with\nflowers. While they burned, people danced and sang round them, and young\nfolk leaped over the flames or the glowing ashes. In the valley of the\nOrne the custom was to kindle the bonfire just at the moment when the sun\nwas about to dip below the horizon; and the peasants drove their cattle\nthrough the fires to protect them against witchcraft, especially against\nthe spells of witches and wizards who attempted to steal the milk and\nbutter.(462) At Jumi\u00e8ges in Normandy, down to the first half of the\nnineteenth century, the midsummer festival was marked by certain singular\nfeatures which bore the stamp of a very high antiquity. Every year, on the\ntwenty-third of June, the Eve of St. John, the Brotherhood of the Green\nWolf chose a new chief or master, who had always to be taken from the\nhamlet of Conihout. On being elected, the new head of the brotherhood\nassumed the title of the Green Wolf, and donned a peculiar costume\nconsisting of a long green mantle and a very tall green hat of a conical\nshape and without a brim. Thus arrayed he stalked solemnly at the head of\nthe brothers, chanting the hymn of St. John, the crucifix and holy banner\nleading the way, to a place called Chouquet. Here the procession was met\nby the priest, precentors, and choir, who conducted the brotherhood to the\nparish church. After hearing mass the company adjourned to the house of\nthe Green Wolf, where a simple repast, such as is required by the church\non fast-days, was served up to them. Then they danced before the door till\nit was time to light the bonfire. Night being come, the fire was kindled\nto the sound of hand-bells by a young man and a young woman, both decked\nwith flowers. As the flames rose, the _Te Deum_ was sung, and a villager\nthundered out a parody in the Norman dialect of the hymn _ut queant\nlaxis_. Meantime the Green Wolf and his brothers, with their hoods down on\ntheir shoulders and holding each other by the hand, ran round the fire\nafter the man who had been chosen to be the Green Wolf of the following\nyear. Though only the first and the last man of the chain had a hand free,\ntheir business was to surround and seize thrice the future Green Wolf, who\nin his efforts to escape belaboured the brothers with a long wand which he\ncarried. When at last they succeeded in catching him they carried him to\nthe burning pile and made as if they would throw him on it. This ceremony\nover, they returned to the house of the Green Wolf, where a supper, still\nof the most meagre fare, was set before them. Up till midnight a sort of\nreligious solemnity prevailed. No unbecoming word might fall from the lips\nof any of the company, and a censor, armed with a hand-bell, was appointed\nto mark and punish instantly any infraction of the rule. But at the stroke\nof twelve all this was changed. Constraint gave way to license; pious\nhymns were replaced by Bacchanalian ditties, and the shrill quavering\nnotes of the village fiddle hardly rose above the roar of voices that went\nup from the merry brotherhood of the Green Wolf. Next day, the\ntwenty-fourth of June or Midsummer Day, was celebrated by the same\npersonages with the same noisy gaiety. One of the ceremonies consisted in\nparading, to the sound of musketry, an enormous loaf of consecrated bread,\nwhich, rising in tiers, was surmounted by a pyramid of verdure adorned\nwith ribbons. After that the holy hand-bells, deposited on the step of the\naltar, were entrusted as insignia of office to the man who was to be the\nGreen Wolf next year.(463)\n\n(M159) In the canton of Breteuil in Picardy (department of Oise) the\npriest used to kindle the midsummer bonfire, and the people marched thrice\nround it in procession. Some of them took ashes of the fire home with them\nto protect the houses against lightning.(464) The custom is, or was down\nto recent years, similar at Vorges, near Laon. An enormous pyre, some\nfifty or sixty feet high, supported in the middle by a tall pole, is\nconstructed every year on the twenty-third of June, the Eve of St. John.\nIt stands at one end of the village, and all the inhabitants contribute\nfuel to it: a cart goes round the village in the morning, by order of the\nmayor, collecting combustibles from house to house: no one would dream of\nrefusing to comply with the customary obligation. In the evening, after a\nservice in honour of St. John has been performed in the church, the\nclergy, the mayor, the municipal authorities, the rural police, and the\nfire-brigade march in procession to the bonfire, accompanied by the\ninhabitants and a crowd of idlers drawn by curiosity from the neighbouring\nvillages. After addressing the throng in a sermon, to which they pay\nlittle heed, the parish priest sprinkles the pyre with holy water, and\ntaking a lighted torch from the hand of an assistant sets fire to the\npile. The enormous blaze, flaring up against the dark sky of the summer\nnight, is seen for many miles around, particularly from the hill of Laon.\nWhen it has died down into a huge heap of glowing embers and grey ashes,\nevery one carries home a charred stick or some cinders; and the\nfire-brigade, playing their hose on what remains, extinguishes the\nsmouldering fire. The people preserve the charred sticks and cinders\nthroughout the year, believing that these relics of St. John\u2019s bonfire\nhave power to guard them from lightning and from contagious diseases.(465)\nAt Ch\u00e2teau-Thierry, a town of the department of Aisne, between Paris and\nReims, the custom of lighting bonfires and dancing round them at the\nmidsummer festival of St. John lasted down to about 1850; the fires were\nkindled especially when June had been rainy, and the people thought that\nthe lighting of the bonfires would cause the rain to cease.(466)\n\n(M160) In Beauce and Perche, two neighbouring districts of France to the\nsouth-west of Paris, the midsummer bonfires have nearly or wholly\ndisappeared, but formerly they were commonly kindled and went by the name\nof the \u201cfires of St. John.\u201d The site of the bonfire was either the village\nsquare or beside the cross in the cemetery. Here a great pile of faggots,\nbrushwood, and grass was accumulated about a huge branch, which bore at\nthe top a crown of fresh flowers. The priest blessed the bonfire and the\npeople danced round it. When it blazed and crackled, the bystanders thrust\ntheir heads into the puffs of smoke, in the belief that it would preserve\nthem from a multitude of ills; and when the fire was burnt out, they\nrushed upon the charred embers and ashes and carried them home, imagining\nthat they had a secret virtue to guard their houses from being struck by\nlightning or consumed by fire. Some of the Perche farmers in the old days,\nnot content with the public bonfire, used to light little private bonfires\nin their farmyards and make all their cattle pass through the smoke and\nflames for the purpose of protecting them against witchcraft or\ndisease.(467)\n\n(M161) In the department of the Ardennes every one was wont to contribute\nhis faggot to the midsummer bonfire, and the clergy marched at the head of\nthe procession to kindle it. Failure to light the fires would, in the\npopular belief, have exposed the fields to the greatest danger. At Revin\nthe young folk, besides dancing round the fire to the strains of the\nvillage fiddler, threw garlands of flowers across the flames to each\nother.(468) In the Vosges it is still customary to kindle bonfires upon\nthe hill-tops on Midsummer Eve; the people believe that the fires help to\npreserve the fruits of the earth and ensure good crops.(469) In the Jura\nMountains the midsummer bonfires went by the name of _b\u00e2_ or _beau_. They\nwere lit on the most conspicuous points of the landscape.(470) Near St.\nJean, in the Jura, it appears that at this season young people still\nrepair to the cross-roads and heights, and there wave burning torches so\nas to present the appearance of fiery wheels in the darkness.(471) In\nFranche-Comt\u00e9, the province of France which lies immediately to the west\nof the Jura mountains, the fires of St. John still shone on the saint\u2019s\nday in several villages down to recent years. They were generally lit on\nhigh ground and the young folks of both sexes sang and danced round them,\nand sprang over the dying flames.(472) In Bresse bonfires used to be\nkindled on Midsummer Eve (the twenty-third of June) and the people danced\nabout them in a circle. Devout persons, particularly old women,\ncircumambulated the fires fourteen times, telling their beads and mumbling\nseven _Paters_ and seven _Aves_ in the hope that thereby they would feel\nno pains in their backs when they stooped over the sickle in the harvest\nfield.(473) In Berry, a district of Central France, the midsummer fire was\nlit on the Eve of St. John and went by the name of the _j\u00f4n\u00e9e_, _joann\u00e9e_,\nor _jouann\u00e9e_. Every family according to its means contributed faggots,\nwhich were piled round a pole on the highest ground in the neighbourhood.\nIn the hamlets the office of kindling the fire devolved on the oldest man,\nbut in the towns it was the priest or the mayor who discharged the duty.\nHere, as in Brittany, people supposed that a girl who had danced round\nnine of the midsummer bonfires would marry within the year. To leap\nseveral times over the fire was regarded as a sort of purification which\nkept off sickness and brought good luck to the leaper. Hence the nimble\nyouth bounded through the smoke and flames, and when the fire had somewhat\nabated parents jumped across it with their children in their arms in order\nthat the little ones might also partake of its beneficent influence.\nEmbers from the extinct bonfire were taken home, and after being dipped in\nholy water were kept as a talisman against all kinds of misfortune, but\nespecially against lightning.(474) The same virtue was ascribed to the\nashes and charred sticks of the midsummer bonfire in P\u00e9rigord, where\neverybody contributed his share of fuel to the pile and the whole was\ncrowned with flowers, especially with roses and lilies.(475) On the\nborders of the departments of Creuse and Corr\u00e8ze, in Central France, the\nfires of St. John used to be lit on the Eve of the saint\u2019s day (the\ntwenty-third of June); the custom seems to have survived till towards the\nend of the nineteenth century. Men, women, and children assembled round\nthe fires, and the young people jumped over them. Children were brought by\ntheir parents or elder brothers into contact with the flames in the belief\nthat this would save them from fever. Older people girded themselves with\nstalks of rye taken from a neighbouring field, because they fancied that\nby so doing they would not grow weary in reaping the corn at harvest.(476)\n\n(M162) Bonfires were lit in almost all the hamlets of Poitou on the Eve of\nSt. John. People marched round them thrice, carrying a branch of walnut in\ntheir hand. Shepherdesses and children passed sprigs of mullein\n(_verbascum_) and nuts across the flames; the nuts were supposed to cure\ntoothache, and the mullein to protect the cattle from sickness and\nsorcery. When the fire died down people took some of the ashes home with\nthem, either to keep them in the house as a preservative against thunder\nor to scatter them on the fields for the purpose of destroying\ncorn-cockles and darnel. Stones were also placed round the fire, and it\nwas believed that the first to lift one of these stones next morning would\nfind under it the hair of St. John.(477) In Poitou also it used to be\ncustomary on the Eve of St. John to trundle a blazing wheel wrapt in straw\nover the fields to fertilize them.(478) This last custom is said to be now\nextinct,(479) but it is still usual, or was so down to recent years, in\nPoitou to kindle fires on this day at cross-roads or on the heights. The\noldest or youngest person present sets a light to the pile, which consists\nof broom, gorse, and heath. A bright and crackling blaze shoots up, but\nsoon dies down, and over it the young folk leap. They also throw stones\ninto it, picking the stone according to the size of the turnips that they\nwish to have that year. It is said that \u201cthe good Virgin\u201d comes and sits\non the prettiest of the stones, and next morning they see there her\nbeautiful golden tresses. At Lussac, in Poitou, the lighting of the\nmidsummer bonfire is still an affair of some ceremony. A pyramid of\nfaggots is piled round a tree or tall pole on the ground where the fair is\nheld; the priest goes in procession to the spot and kindles the pile. When\nprayers have been said and the clergy have withdrawn, the people continue\nto march round the fire, telling their beads, but it is not till the\nflames have begun to die down that the youth jump over them. A brand from\nthe midsummer bonfire is supposed to be a preservative against\nthunder.(480)\n\n(M163) In the department of Vienne the bonfire was kindled by the oldest\nman, and before the dance round the flames began it was the custom to pass\nacross them a great bunch of mullein (_bouillon blanc_) and a branch of\nwalnut, which next morning before sunrise were fastened over the door of\nthe chief cattle-shed.(481) A similar custom prevailed in the neighbouring\ndepartment of Deux-S\u00e8vres; but here it was the priest who kindled the\nbonfire, and old men used to put embers of the fire in their wooden shoes\nas a preservative against many evils.(482) In some towns and villages of\nSaintonge and Aunis, provinces of Western France now mostly comprised in\nthe department of Charente Inf\u00e9rieure, the fires of St. John are still\nkindled on Midsummer Eve, but the custom is neither so common nor carried\nout with so much pomp and ceremony as formerly. Great quantities of wood\nused to be piled on an open space round about a huge post or a tree\nstripped of its leaves and branches. Every one took care to contribute a\nfaggot to the pile, and the whole population marched to the spot in\nprocession with the crucifix at their head and the priest bringing up the\nrear. The squire, or other person of high degree, put the torch to the\npyre, and the priest blessed it. In the southern and eastern parts of\nSaintonge children and cattle were passed through the smoke of the\nbonfires to preserve them from contagious diseases, and when the fire had\ngone out the people scuffled for the charred fragments of the great post,\nwhich they regarded as talismans against thunder. Next morning, on\nMidsummer Day, every shepherdess in the neighbourhood was up very early,\nfor the first to drive her sheep over the blackened cinders and ashes of\nthe great bonfire was sure to have the best flock all that year. Where the\nshepherds shrunk from driving their flocks through the smoke and flames of\nthe bonfire they contented themselves with marking the hinder-quarters of\nthe animals with a broom which had been blackened in the ashes.(483)\n\n(M164) In the mountainous part of Comminges, a province of Southern\nFrance, now comprised in the department of Haute Garonne, the midsummer\nfire is made by splitting open the trunk of a tall tree, stuffing the\ncrevice with shavings, and igniting the whole. A garland of flowers is\nfastened to the top of the tree, and at the moment when the fire is\nlighted the man who was last married has to climb up a ladder and bring\nthe flowers down. In the flat parts of the same district the materials of\nthe midsummer bonfires consist of fuel piled in the usual way; but they\nmust be put together by men who have been married since the last midsummer\nfestival, and each of these benedicts is obliged to lay a wreath of\nflowers on the top of the pile.(484) At the entrance of the valley of Aran\nyoung people set up on the banks of the Garonne a tree covered with\nribbons and garlands; at the end of a year the withered tree and faded\nflowers furnish excellent fuel. So on the Eve of St. John the villagers\nassemble, and an old man or a child kindles the fire which is to consume\ntree and garlands together. While the blaze lasts the people sing and\ndance; and the burnt tree is then replaced by another which will suffer\nthe same fate after the lapse of a year.(485) In some districts of the\nFrench Pyrenees it is deemed necessary to leap nine times over the\nmidsummer fire if you would be assured of prosperity.(486) A traveller in\nSouthern France at the beginning of the nineteenth century tells us that\n\u201cthe Eve of St. John is also a day of joy for the Proven\u00e7als. They light\ngreat fires and the young folk leap over them. At Aix they shower squibs\nand crackers on the passers-by, which has often had disagreeable\nconsequences. At Marseilles they drench each other with scented water,\nwhich is poured from the windows or squirted from little syringes; the\nroughest jest is to souse passers-by with clean water, which gives rise to\nloud bursts of laughter.\u201d(487) At Draguignan, in the department of Var,\nfires used to be lit in every street on the Eve of St. John, and the\npeople roasted pods of garlic at them; the pods were afterwards\ndistributed to every family. Another diversion of the evening was to pour\ncans of water from the houses on the heads of people in the streets.(488)\nIn Provence the midsummer fires are still popular. Children go from door\nto door begging for fuel, and they are seldom sent empty away. Formerly\nthe priest, the mayor, and the aldermen used to walk in procession to the\nbonfire, and even deigned to light it; after which the assembly marched\nthrice round the burning pile, while the church bells pealed and rockets\nfizzed and sputtered in the air. Dancing began later, and the bystanders\nthrew water on each other. At Ciotat, while the fire was blazing, the\nyoung people plunged into the sea and splashed each other vigorously. At\nVitrolles they bathed in a pond in order that they might not suffer from\nfever during the year, and at Saintes-Maries they watered the horses to\nprotect them from the itch.(489) At Aix a nominal king, chosen from among\nthe youth for his skill in shooting at a popinjay, presided over the\nfestival. He selected his own officers, and escorted by a brilliant train\nmarched to the bonfire, kindled it, and was the first to dance round it.\nNext day he distributed largesse to his followers. His reign lasted a\nyear, during which he enjoyed certain privileges. He was allowed to attend\nthe mass celebrated by the commander of the Knights of St. John on St.\nJohn\u2019s Day: the right of hunting was accorded to him; and soldiers might\nnot be quartered in his house. At Marseilles also on this day one of the\nguilds chose a king of the _badache_ or double axe; but it does not appear\nthat he kindled the bonfire, which is said to have been lighted with great\nceremony by the pr\u00e9fet and other authorities.(490)\n\n(M165) In Belgium the custom of kindling the midsummer bonfires has long\ndisappeared from the great cities, but it is still kept up in rural\ndistricts and small towns of Brabant, Flanders, and Limburg. People leap\nacross the fires to protect themselves against fever, and in eastern\nFlanders women perform similar leaps for the purpose of ensuring an easy\ndelivery. At Termonde young people go from door to door collecting fuel\nfor the fires and reciting verses, in which they beg the inmates to give\nthem \u201cwood of St. John\u201d and to keep some wood for St. Peter\u2019s Day (the\ntwenty-ninth of June); for in Belgium the Eve of St. Peter\u2019s Day is\ncelebrated by bonfires and dances exactly like those which commemorate St.\nJohn\u2019s Eve. The ashes of the St. John\u2019s fires are deemed by Belgian\npeasants an excellent remedy for consumption, if you take a spoonful or\ntwo of them, moistened with water, day by day. People also burn vervain in\nthe fires, and they say that in the ashes of the plant you may find, if\nyou look for it, the \u201cFool\u2019s Stone.\u201d(491) In many parts of Brabant St.\nPeter\u2019s bonfire used to be much larger than that of his rival St. John.\nWhen it had burned out, both sexes engaged in a game of ball, and the\nwinner became the King of Summer or of the Ball and had the right to\nchoose his Queen. Sometimes the winner was a woman, and it was then her\nprivilege to select her royal mate. This pastime was well known at Louvain\nand it continued to be practised at Grammont and Mespelaer down to the\nsecond half of the nineteenth century. At Mespelaer, which is a village\nnear Termonde, a huge pile of eglantine, reeds, and straw was collected in\na marshy meadow for the bonfire; and next evening after vespers the young\nfolk who had lit it assembled at the \u201cGood Life\u201d tavern to play the game.\nThe winner was crowned with a wreath of roses, and the rest danced and\nsang in a ring about him. At Grammont, while the bonfire was lit and the\ndances round it took place on St. Peter\u2019s Eve, the festival of the \u201cCrown\nof Roses\u201d was deferred till the following Sunday. The young folk arranged\namong themselves beforehand who should be King and Queen of the Roses: the\nrosy wreaths were hung on cords across the street: the dancers danced\nbelow them, and at a given moment the wreaths fell on the heads of the\nchosen King and Queen, who had to entertain their fellows at a feast.\nAccording to some people the fires of St. Peter, like those of St. John,\nwere lighted in order to drive away dragons.(492) In French Flanders down\nto 1789 a straw figure representing a man was always burned in the\nmidsummer bonfire, and the figure of a woman was burned on St. Peter\u2019s\nDay.(493) In Belgium people jump over the midsummer bonfires as a\npreventive of colic, and they keep the ashes at home to hinder fire from\nbreaking out.(494)\n\n(M166) The custom of lighting bonfires at midsummer has been observed in\nmany parts of our own country. \u201cOn the Vigil of Saint John the Baptist,\ncommonly called Midsummer Eve, it was usual in most country places, and\nalso in towns and cities, for the inhabitants, both old and young, and of\nboth sexes, to meet together, and make merry by the side of a large fire\nmade in the middle of the street, or in some open and convenient place,\nover which the young men frequently leaped by way of frolic, and also\nexercised themselves with various sports and pastimes, more especially\nwith running, wrestling, and dancing. These diversions they continued till\nmidnight, and sometimes till cock-crowing.\u201d(495) In the streets of London\nthe midsummer fires were lighted in the time of Queen Elizabeth down to\nthe end of the sixteenth century, as we learn from Stow\u2019s description,\nwhich runs thus: \u201cIn the months of June and July, on the vigils of\nfestival days, and on the same festival days in the evenings after the sun\nsetting, there were usually made bonfires in the streets, every man\nbestowing wood or labour towards them; the wealthier sort also, before\ntheir doors near to the said bonfires, would set out tables on the vigils\nfurnished with sweet bread and good drink, and on the festival days with\nmeats and drinks plentifully, whereunto they would invite their neighbours\nand passengers also to sit and be merry with them in great familiarity,\npraising God for His benefits bestowed on them. These were called bonfires\nas well of good amity amongst neighbours that being before at controversy,\nwere there, by the labour of others, reconciled, and made of bitter\nenemies loving friends; and also for the virtue that a great fire hath to\npurge the infection of the air. On the vigil of St. John the Baptist, and\non St. Peter and Paul the Apostles, every man\u2019s door being shadowed with\ngreen birch, long fennel, St. John\u2019s wort, orpin, white lilies, and such\nlike, garnished upon with garlands of beautiful flowers, had also lamps of\nglass, with oil burning in them all the night; some hung out branches of\niron curiously wrought, containing hundreds of lamps alight at once, which\nmade a goodly show, namely, in New Fish Street, Thames Street, etc.\u201d(496)\nIn the sixteenth century the Eton boys used to kindle a bonfire on the\neast side of the church both on St. John\u2019s Day and on St. Peter\u2019s\nDay.(497) Writing in the second half of the seventeenth century, the\nantiquary John Aubrey tells us that bonfires were still kindled in many\nplaces on St. John\u2019s Night, but that the civil wars had thrown many of\nthese old customs out of fashion. Wars, he adds, extinguish superstition\nas well as religion and laws, and there is nothing like gunpowder for\nputting phantoms to flight.(498)\n\n(M167) In the north of England these fires used to be lit in the open\nstreets. Young and old gathered round them, and while the young leaped\nover the fires and engaged in games, their elders looked on and probably\nremembered with regret the days when they used to foot it as nimbly.\nSometimes the fires were kindled on the tops of high hills. The people\nalso carried firebrands about the fields.(499) The custom of kindling\nbonfires on Midsummer Eve prevailed all over Cumberland down to the second\nhalf of the eighteenth century.(500) In Northumberland the custom seems to\nhave lasted into the first quarter of the nineteenth century; the fires\nwere lit in the villages and on the tops of high hills, and the people\nsported and danced round them.(501) Moreover, the villagers used to run\nwith burning brands round their fields and to snatch ashes from a\nneighbour\u2019s fire, saying as they did so, \u201cWe have the flower (or flour) of\nthe wake.\u201d(502) At Sandhill bonfires were kindled on the Eve of St. Peter\nas well as on Midsummer Eve; the custom is attested for the year 1575,\nwhen it was described as ancient.(503) We are told that \u201con Midsummer\u2019s\neve, reckoned according to the old style, it was formerly the custom of\nthe inhabitants, young and old, not only of Whalton, but of most of the\nadjacent villages, to collect a large cartload of whins and other\ncombustible materials, which was dragged by them with great rejoicing (a\nfiddler being seated on the top of the cart) into the village and erected\ninto a pile. The people from the surrounding country assembled towards\nevening, when it was set on fire; and whilst the young danced around it,\nthe elders looked on smoking their pipes and drinking their beer, until it\nwas consumed. There can be little doubt that this curious old custom dates\nfrom a very remote antiquity.\u201d In a law-suit, which was tried in 1878, the\nrector of Whalton gave evidence of the constant use of the village green\nfor the ceremony since 1843. \u201cThe bonfire,\u201d he said, \u201cwas lighted a little\nto the north-east of the well at Whalton, and partly on the footpath, and\npeople danced round it and jumped through it. That was never interrupted.\u201d\nThe Rev. G. R. Hall, writing in 1879, says that \u201cthe fire festivals or\nbonfires of the summer solstice at the Old Midsummer until recently were\ncommemorated on Christenburg Crags and elsewhere by leaping through and\ndancing round the fires, as those who have been present have told\nme.\u201d(504) Down to the early part of the nineteenth century bonfires called\nBeal-fires used to be lit on Midsummer Eve all over the wolds in the East\nRiding of Yorkshire.(505)\n\n(M168) In Herefordshire and Somersetshire the peasants used to make fires\nin the fields on Midsummer Eve \u201cto bless the apples.\u201d(506) In Devonshire\nthe custom of leaping over the midsummer fires was also observed.(507) \u201cIn\nCornwall, the festival fires, called bonfires, are kindled on the Eves of\nSt. John Baptist and St. Peter\u2019s day; and Midsummer is thence, in the\nCornish tongue, called _Goluan_, which signifies both light and rejoicing.\nAt these fires the Cornish attend with lighted torches, tarred and pitched\nat the end, and make their perambulations round their fires, going from\nvillage to village and carrying their torches before them; this is\ncertainly the remains of Druid superstition; for, _Faces praeferre_, to\ncarry lighted torches was reckoned a kind of gentilism, and as such\nparticularly prohibited by the Gallick Councils.\u201d(508) At Penzance and\nelsewhere in the county the people danced and sang about the bonfires on\nMidsummer Eve. On Whiteborough, a large tumulus near Launceston, a huge\nbonfire used to be kindled on Midsummer Eve; a tall summer pole with a\nlarge bush at the top was fixed in the centre of the bonfire.(509) The\nCornish fires at this season appear to have been commonly lit on high and\nconspicuous hills, such as Tregonan, Godolphin, Carnwarth, and Carn Brea.\nWhen it grew dusk on Midsummer Eve, old men would hobble away to some\nheight whence they counted the fires and drew a presage from their\nnumber.(510) \u201cIt is the immemorial usage in Penzance, and the neighbouring\ntowns and villages, to kindle bonfires and torches on Midsummer-eve; and\non Midsummer-day to hold a fair on Penzance quay, where the country folks\nassemble from the adjoining parishes in great numbers to make excursions\non the water. St. Peter\u2019s Eve [the twenty-eighth of June] is distinguished\nby a similar display of bonfires and torches, although the \u2018quay-fair\u2019 on\nSt. Peter\u2019s-day [the twenty-ninth of June], has been discontinued upwards\nof forty years. On these eves a line of tar-barrels, relieved occasionally\nby large bonfires, is seen in the centre of each of the principal streets\nin Penzance. On either side of this line young men and women pass up and\ndown, swinging round their heads heavy torches made of large pieces of\nfolded canvas steeped in tar, and nailed to the ends of sticks between\nthree and four feet long; the flames of some of these almost equal those\nof the tar-barrels. Rows of lighted candles, also, when the air is calm,\nare fixed outside the windows or along the sides of the streets. In St.\nJust, and other mining parishes, the young miners, mimicking their\nfathers\u2019 employments, bore rows of holes in the rocks, load them with\ngunpowder, and explode them in rapid succession by trains of the same\nsubstance. As the holes are not deep enough to split the rocks, the same\nlittle batteries serve for many years. On these nights, Mount\u2019s Bay has a\nmost animating appearance, although not equal to what was annually\nwitnessed at the beginning of the present century, when the whole coast,\nfrom the Land\u2019s End to the Lizard, wherever a town or a village existed,\nwas lighted up with these stationary or moving fires. In the early part of\nthe evening, children may be seen wearing wreaths of flowers\u2014a custom in\nall probability originating from the ancient use of these ornaments when\nthey danced around the fires. At the close of the fireworks in Penzance, a\ngreat number of persons of both sexes, chiefly from the neighbourhood of\nthe quay, used always, until within the last few years, to join hand in\nhand, forming a long string, and run through the streets, playing \u2018thread\nthe needle,\u2019 heedless of the fireworks showered upon them, and oftentimes\nleaping over the yet glowing embers. I have on these occasions seen boys\nfollowing one another, jumping through flames higher than\nthemselves.\u201d(511)\n\n(M169) In Wales the midsummer fires were kindled on St. John\u2019s Eve and on\nSt. John\u2019s Day. Three or nine different kinds of wood and charred faggots\ncarefully preserved from the last midsummer were deemed necessary to build\nthe bonfire, which was generally done on rising ground. Various herbs were\nthrown into the blaze; and girls with bunches of three or nine different\nkinds of flowers would take the hands of boys, who wore flowers in their\nbuttonholes and hats, and together the young couples would leap over the\nfires. On the same two midsummer days roses and wreaths of flowers were\nhung over the doors and windows. \u201cDescribing a midsummer fire, an old\ninhabitant, born in 1809, remembered being taken to different hills in the\nVale of Glamorgan to see festivities in which people from all parts of the\ndistrict participated. She was at that time about fourteen, and old enough\nto retain a vivid recollection of the circumstances. People conveyed\ntrusses of straw to the top of the hill, where men and youths waited for\nthe contributions. Women and girls were stationed at the bottom of the\nhill. Then a large cart-wheel was thickly swathed with straw, and not an\ninch of wood was left in sight. A pole was inserted through the centre of\nthe wheel, so that long ends extended about a yard on each side. If any\nstraw remained, it was made up into torches at the top of tall sticks. At\na given signal the wheel was lighted, and sent rolling downhill. If this\nfire-wheel went out before it reached the bottom of the hill, a very poor\nharvest was promised. If it kept lighted all the way down, and continued\nblazing for a long time, the harvest would be exceptionally abundant. Loud\ncheers and shouts accompanied the progress of the wheel.\u201d(512) At Darowen\nin Wales small bonfires were kindled on Midsummer Eve.(513) On the same\nday people in the Isle of Man were wont to light fires to the windward of\nevery field, so that the smoke might pass over the corn; and they folded\ntheir cattle and carried blazing furze or gorse round them several\ntimes.(514)\n\n(M170) A writer of the last quarter of the seventeenth century tells us\nthat in Ireland, \u201con the Eves of St. John Baptist and St. Peter, they\nalways have in every town a bonfire, late in the evenings, and carry about\nbundles of reeds fast tied and fired; these being dry, will last long, and\nflame better than a torch, and be a pleasing divertive prospect to the\ndistant beholder; a stranger would go near to imagine the whole country\nwas on fire.\u201d(515) Another writer says of the South of Ireland: \u201cOn\nMidsummer\u2019s Eve, every eminence, near which is a habitation, blazes with\nbonfires; and round these they carry numerous torches, shouting and\ndancing, which affords a beautiful sight.\u201d(516) An author who described\nIreland in the first quarter of the eighteenth century says: \u201cOn the vigil\nof St. John the Baptist\u2019s Nativity, they make bonfires, and run along the\nstreets and fields with wisps of straw blazing on long poles to purify the\nair, which they think infectious, by believing all the devils, spirits,\nghosts, and hobgoblins fly abroad this night to hurt mankind.\u201d(517)\nAnother writer states that he witnessed the festival in Ireland in 1782:\n\u201cAt the house where I was entertained, it was told me, that we should see,\nat midnight, the most singular sight in Ireland, which was the lighting of\nfires in honour of the sun. Accordingly, exactly at midnight, the fires\nbegan to appear; and taking the advantage of going up to the leads of the\nhouse, which had a widely extended view, I saw on a radius of thirty\nmiles, all around, the fires burning on every eminence which the country\nafforded. I had a farther satisfaction in learning, from undoubted\nauthority, that the people danced round the fires, and at the close went\nthrough these fires, and made their sons and daughters, together with\ntheir cattle, pass through the fire; and the whole was conducted with\nreligious solemnity.\u201d(518) That the custom prevailed in full force as late\nas 1867 appears from a notice in a newspaper of that date, which runs\nthus: \u201cThe old pagan fire-worship still survives in Ireland, though\nnominally in honour of St. John. On Sunday night bonfires were observed\nthroughout nearly every county in the province of Leinster. In Kilkenny,\nfires blazed on every hillside at intervals of about a mile. There were\nvery many in the Queen\u2019s County, also in Kildare and Wexford. The effect\nin the rich sunset appeared to travellers very grand. The people assemble,\nand dance round the fires, the children jump through the flames, and in\nformer times live coals were carried into the corn-fields to prevent\nblight.\u201d(519) In County Leitrim on St. John\u2019s Eve, which is called Bonfire\nDay, fires are still lighted after dusk on the hills and along the sides\nof the roads.(520) All over Kerry the same thing continues to be done,\nthough not so commonly as of old. Small fires were made across the road,\nand to drive through them brought luck for the year. Cattle were also\ndriven through the fires. On Lettermore Island, in South Connemara, some\nof the ashes from the midsummer bonfire are thrown on the fields to\nfertilize them.(521) One writer informs us that in Munster and Connaught a\nbone must always be burned in the fire; for otherwise the people believe\nthat the fire will bring no luck. He adds that in many places sterile\nbeasts and human beings are passed through the fire, and that as a boy he\nhimself jumped through the fire \u201cfor luck.\u201d(522) An eye-witness has\ndescribed as follows a remarkable ceremony observed in Ireland on\nMidsummer Eve: \u201cWhen the fire burned for some hours, and got low, an\nindispensable part of the ceremony commenced. Every one present of the\npeasantry passed through it, and several children were thrown across the\nsparkling embers; while a wooden frame, of some eight feet long, with a\nhorse\u2019s head fixed to one end, and a large white sheet thrown over it\nconcealing the wood and the man on whose head it was carried, made its\nappearance. This was greeted with loud shouts of \u2018The white horse!\u2019 and\nhaving been safely carried by the skill of its bearer several times\nthrough the fire with a bold leap, it pursued the people, who ran\nscreaming and laughing in every direction. I asked what the horse was\nmeant for, and was told that it represented \u2018all cattle.\u2019 \u201d(523)\n\n(M171) Lady Wilde\u2019s account of the midsummer festival in Ireland is\npicturesque and probably correct in substance, although she does not cite\nher authorities. As it contains some interesting features which are not\nnoticed by the other writers on Ireland whom I have consulted, I will\nquote the greater part of it in full. \u201cIn ancient times,\u201d she says, \u201cthe\nsacred fire was lighted with great ceremony on Midsummer Eve; and on that\nnight all the people of the adjacent country kept fixed watch on the\nwestern promontory of Howth, and the moment the first flash was seen from\nthat spot the fact of ignition was announced with wild cries and cheers\nrepeated from village to village, when all the local fires began to blaze,\nand Ireland was circled by a cordon of flame rising up from every hill.\nThen the dance and song began round every fire, and the wild hurrahs\nfilled the air with the most frantic revelry. Many of these ancient\ncustoms are still continued, and the fires are still lighted on St. John\u2019s\nEve on every hill in Ireland. When the fire has burned down to a red glow\nthe young men strip to the waist and leap over or through the flames; this\nis done backwards and forwards several times, and he who braves the\ngreatest blaze is considered the victor over the powers of evil, and is\ngreeted with tremendous applause. When the fire burns still lower, the\nyoung girls leap the flame, and those who leap clean over three times back\nand forward will be certain of a speedy marriage and good luck in\nafter-life, with many children. The married women then walk through the\nlines of the burning embers; and when the fire is nearly burnt and\ntrampled down, the yearling cattle are driven through the hot ashes, and\ntheir back is singed with a lighted hazel twig. These rods are kept safely\nafterwards, being considered of immense power to drive the cattle to and\nfrom the watering places. As the fire diminishes the shouting grows\nfainter, and the song and the dance commence; while professional\nstory-tellers narrate tales of fairy-land, or of the good old times long\nago, when the kings and princes of Ireland dwelt amongst their own people,\nand there was food to eat and wine to drink for all comers to the feast at\nthe king\u2019s house. When the crowd at length separate, every one carries\nhome a brand from the fire, and great virtue is attached to the lighted\n_brone_ which is safely carried to the house without breaking or falling\nto the ground. Many contests also arise amongst the young men; for whoever\nenters his house first with the sacred fire brings the good luck of the\nyear with him.\u201d(524)\n\n(M172) In Ireland, as elsewhere, water was also apparently thought to\nacquire a certain mystical virtue at midsummer. \u201cAt Stoole, near\nDownpatrick, there is a ceremony commencing at twelve o\u2019clock at night on\nMidsummer Eve. Its sacred mount is consecrated to St. Patrick; the plain\ncontains three wells, to which the most extraordinary virtues are\nattributed. Here and there are heaps of stones, around some of which\nappear great numbers of people, running with as much speed as possible;\naround others crowds of worshippers kneel with bare legs and feet as an\nindispensable part of the penance. The men, without coats, with\nhandkerchiefs on their heads instead of hats, having gone seven times\nround each heap, kiss the ground, cross themselves, and proceed to the\nhill; here they ascend, on their bare knees, by a path so steep and rugged\nthat it would be difficult to walk up. Many hold their hands clasped at\nthe back of their necks, and several carry large stones on their heads.\nHaving repeated this ceremony seven times, they go to what is called St.\nPatrick\u2019s Chair, which are two great flat stones fixed upright in the\nhill; here they cross and bless themselves as they step in between these\nstones, and, while repeating prayers, an old man, seated for the purpose,\nturns them round on their feet three times, for which he is paid; the\ndevotee then goes to conclude his penance at a pile of stones, named the\nAltar. While this busy scene is continued by the multitude, the wells and\nstreams issuing from them are thronged by crowds of halt, maimed, and\nblind, pressing to wash away their infirmities with water consecrated by\ntheir patron saint, and so powerful is the impression of its efficacy on\ntheir minds, that many of those who go to be healed, and who are not\ntotally blind, or altogether crippled, really believe for a time that they\nare by means of its miraculous virtues perfectly restored.\u201d(525)\n\n(M173) In Scotland the traces of midsummer fires are few. We are told by a\nwriter of the eighteenth century that \u201cthe midsummer-even fire, a relict\nof Druidism,\u201d was kindled in some parts of the county of Perth.(526)\nAnother writer of the same period, describing what he calls the Druidical\nfestivals of the Highlanders, says that \u201cthe least considerable of them is\nthat of midsummer. In the Highlands of Perthshire there are some vestiges\nof it. The cowherd goes three times round the fold, according to the\ncourse of the sun, with a burning torch in his hand. They imagined this\nrite had a tendency to purify their herds and flocks, and to prevent\ndiseases. At their return the landlady makes an entertainment for the\ncowherd and his associates.\u201d(527) In the north-east of Scotland, down to\nthe latter half of the eighteenth century, farmers used to go round their\nlands with burning torches about the middle of June.(528) On the hill of\nCairnshee, in the parish of Durris, Kincardineshire, the herdsmen of the\ncountry round about annually kindle a bonfire at sunset on Midsummer Day\n(the twenty-fourth of June); the men or lads collect the fuel and push\neach other through the smoke and flames. The custom is kept up through the\nbenefaction of a certain Alexander Hogg, a native of the parish, who died\nabout 1790 and left a small sum for the maintenance of a midsummer bonfire\non the spot, because as a boy he had herded cattle on the hill. We may\nconjecture that in doing so he merely provided for the continuance of an\nold custom which he himself had observed in the same place in his\nyouth.(529) At the village of Tarbolton in Ayrshire a bonfire has been\nannually kindled from time immemorial on the evening of the first Monday\nafter the eleventh of June. A noted cattle-market was formerly held at the\nfair on the following day. The bonfire is still lit at the gloaming by the\nlads and lasses of the village on a high mound or hillock just outside of\nthe village. Fuel for it is collected by the lads from door to door. The\nyouth dance round the fire and leap over the fringes of it. The many\ncattle-drovers who used to assemble for the fair were wont to gather round\nthe blazing pile, smoke their pipes, and listen to the young folk singing\nin chorus on the hillock. Afterwards they wrapped themselves in their\nplaids and slept round the bonfire, which was intended to last all\nnight.(530) Thomas Moresin of Aberdeen, a writer of the sixteenth century,\nsays that on St. Peter\u2019s Day, which is the twenty-ninth of June, the\nScotch ran about at night with lighted torches on mountains and high\ngrounds, \u201cas Ceres did when she roamed the whole earth in search of\nProserpine\u201d;(531) and towards the end of the eighteenth century the parish\nminister of Loudoun, a district of Ayrshire whose \u201cbonny woods and braes\u201d\nhave been sung by Burns, wrote that \u201cthe custom still remains amongst the\nherds and young people to kindle fires in the high grounds in honour of\nBeltan. _Beltan_, which in Gaelic signifies _Baal_, or _Bel\u2019s-fire_, was\nantiently the time of this solemnity. It is now kept on St. Peter\u2019s\nday.\u201d(532)\n\n(M174) All over Spain great bonfires called _lumes_ are still lit on\nMidsummer Eve. They are kept up all night, and the children leap over them\nin a certain rhythmical way which is said to resemble the ancient dances.\nOn the coast, people at this season plunge into the sea; in the inland\ndistricts the villagers go and roll naked in the dew of the meadows, which\nis supposed to be a sovereign preservative against diseases of the skin.\nOn this evening, too, girls who would pry into the future put a vessel of\nwater on the sill outside their window; and when the clocks strike twelve,\nthey break an egg in the water and see, or fancy they see, in the shapes\nassumed by the pulp, as it blends with the liquid, the likeness of future\nbridegrooms, castles, coffins, and so forth. But generally, as might\nperhaps have been anticipated, the obliging egg exhibits the features of a\nbridegroom.(533) In the Azores, also, bonfires are lit on Midsummer Eve\n(St. John\u2019s Eve), and boys jump over them for luck. On that night St. John\nhimself is supposed to appear in person and bless all the seas and waters,\ndriving out the devils and demons who had been disporting themselves in\nthem ever since the second day of November; that is why in the interval\nbetween the second of November and the twenty-third of June nobody will\nbathe in the sea or in a hot spring. On Midsummer Eve, too, you can always\nsee the devil, if you will go into a garden at midnight. He is invariably\nfound standing near a mustard-plant. His reason for adopting this posture\nhas not been ascertained; perhaps in the chilly air of the upper world he\nis attracted by the genial warmth of the mustard. Various forms of\ndivination are practised by people in the Azores on Midsummer Eve. Thus a\nnew-laid egg is broken into a glass of water, and the shapes which it\nassumes foreshadow the fate of the person concerned. Again, seven saucers\nare placed in a row, filled respectively with water, earth, ashes, keys, a\nthimble, money, and grass, which things signify travel, death, widowhood,\nhousekeeping, spinsterhood, riches, and farming. A blindfolded person\ntouches one or other of the saucers with a wand and so discovers his or\nher fate. Again, three broad beans are taken; one is left in its skin, one\nis half peeled, and the third is peeled outright. The three denote\nrespectively riches, competence, and poverty. They are hidden and searched\nfor; and he who finds one of them knows accordingly whether he will be\nrich, moderately well-off, or poor. Again, girls take slips of paper and\nwrite the names of young men twice over on them. These they fold up and\ncrumple and place one set under their pillows and the other set in a\nsaucer full of water. In the morning they draw one slip of paper from\nunder their pillow, and see whether one in the water has opened out. If\nthe names on the two slips are the same, it is the name of her future\nhusband. Young men do the same with girls\u2019 names. Once more, if a girl\nrises at sunrise, goes out into the street, and asks the first passer-by\nhis Christian name, that will be her husband\u2019s name.(534) Some of these\nmodes of divination resemble those which are or used to be practised in\nScotland at Hallowe\u2019en.(535) In Corsica on the Eve of St. John the people\nset fire to the trunk of a tree or to a whole tree, and the young men and\nmaidens dance round the blaze, which is called _fucaraia_.(536) We have\nseen that at Ozieri, in Sardinia, a great bonfire is kindled on St. John\u2019s\nEve, and that the young people dance round it.(537)\n\n(M175) Passing to Italy, we find that the midsummer fires are still\nlighted on St. John\u2019s Eve in many parts of the Abruzzi. They are commonest\nin the territory which was inhabited in antiquity by the Vestini; they are\nrarer in the land of the ancient Marsi, and they disappear entirely in the\nlower valley of the Sangro. For the most part, the fires are fed with\nstraw and dry grass, and are kindled in the fields near the villages or on\nhigh ground. As they blaze up, the people dance round or over them. In\nleaping across the flames the boys cry out, \u201cSt. John, preserve my thighs\nand legs!\u201d Formerly it used to be common to light the bonfires also in the\ntowns in front of churches of St. John, and the remains of the sacred fire\nwere carried home by the people; but this custom has mostly fallen into\ndisuse. However, at Celano the practice is still kept up of taking brands\nand ashes from the bonfires to the houses, although the fires are no\nlonger kindled in front of the churches, but merely in the streets.(538)\nIn the Abruzzi water also is supposed to acquire certain marvellous and\nbeneficent properties on St. John\u2019s Night. Hence many people bathe or at\nleast wash their faces and hands in the sea or a river at that season,\nespecially at the moment of sunrise. Such a bath is said to be an\nexcellent cure for diseases of the skin. At Castiglione a Casauria the\npeople, after washing in the river or in springs, gird their waists and\nwreath their brows with sprigs of briony in order to keep them from aches\nand pains.(539) In various parts of Sicily, also, fires are kindled on\nMidsummer Eve (St. John\u2019s Eve), the twenty-third of June. On the Madonie\nmountains, in the north of the island, the herdsmen kindle them at\nintervals, so that the crests of the mountains are seen ablaze in the\ndarkness for many miles. About Acireale, on the east coast of the island,\nthe bonfires are lit by boys, who jump over them. At Chiaromonte the\nwitches that night acquire extraordinary powers; hence everybody then puts\na broom outside of his house, because a broom is an excellent protective\nagainst witchcraft.(540) At Orvieto the midsummer fires were specially\nexcepted from the prohibition directed against bonfires in general.(541)\n\n(M176) In Malta also the people celebrate Midsummer Eve (St. John\u2019s Eve)\n\u201cby kindling great fires in the public streets, and giving their children\ndolls to carry in their arms on this day, in order to make good the\nprophecy respecting the Baptist, _Multi in nativitate ejus gaudebunt_.\nDays and even weeks before this festival, groups of children are seen\ngoing out into the country fields to gather straw, twigs, and all sorts of\nother combustibles, which they store up for St. John\u2019s Eve. On the night\nof the twenty-third of June, the day before the festival of the Saint,\ngreat fires are kindled in the streets, squares, and market places of the\ntowns and villages of the Island, and as fire after fire blazes out of the\ndarkness of that summer night, the effect is singularly striking. These\nfires are sometimes kept up for hours, being continually fed by the scores\nof bystanders, who take great delight in throwing amidst the flames some\nold rickety piece of furniture which they consider as lumber in their\nhouses. Lots of happy and reckless children, and very often men, are seen\nmerrily leaping in succession over and through the crackling flames. At\nthe time of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, the Grand Master himself,\nsoon after the _Angelus_, used to leave his palace, accompanied by the\nGrand Prior, the Bishop, and two bailiffs, to set fire to some pitch\nbarrels which were placed for the occasion in the square facing the sacred\nHospital. Great crowds used to assemble here in order to assist at this\nceremony. The setting ablaze of the five casks, and later on of the eight\ncasks, by the Grand Master, was a signal for the others to kindle their\nfires in the different parts of the town.\u201d(542)\n\n(M177) In Greece, the custom of kindling fires on St. John\u2019s Eve and\njumping over them is said to be still universal. One reason assigned for\nit is a wish to escape from the fleas.(543) According to another account,\nthe women cry out, as they leap over the fire, \u201cI leave my sins behind\nme.\u201d(544) In Lesbos the fires on St. John\u2019s Eve are usually lighted by\nthrees, and the people spring thrice over them, each with a stone on his\nhead, saying, \u201cI jump the hare\u2019s fire, my head a stone!\u201d On the morning of\nSt. John\u2019s Day those who dwell near the coast go to bathe in the sea. As\nthey go they gird themselves with osiers, and when they are in the water\nthey let the osiers float away, saying, \u201cLet my maladies go away!\u201d Then\nthey look for what is called \u201cthe hairy stone,\u201d which possesses the\nremarkable property not only of keeping moths from clothes but even of\nmultiplying the clothes in the chest where it is laid up, and the more\nhairs on the stone the more will the clothes multiply in the chest.(545)\nIn Calymnos the midsummer fire is supposed to ensure abundance in the\ncoming year as well as deliverance from fleas. The people dance round the\nfires singing, with stones on their heads, and then jump over the blaze or\nthe glowing embers. When the fire is burning low, they throw the stones\ninto it; and when it is nearly out, they make crosses on their legs and\nthen go straightway and bathe in the sea.(546) In Cos the lads and lasses\ndance round the bonfires on St. John\u2019s Eve. Each of the lads binds a black\nstone on his head, signifying that he wishes to become as strong as the\nstone. Also they make the sign of the cross on their feet and legs and\njump over the fire.(547) On Midsummer Eve the Greeks of Macedonia light\nfires after supper in front of their gates. The garlands, now faded, which\nwere hung over the doors on May Day, are taken down and cast into the\nflames, after which the young folk leap over the blaze, fully persuaded\nthat St. John\u2019s fire will not burn them.(548) In Albania fires of dry\nherbage are, or used to be, lit everywhere on St. John\u2019s Eve; young and\nold leap over them, for such a leap is thought to be good for the\nhealth.(549)\n\n(M178) From the Old World the midsummer fires have been carried across the\nAtlantic to America. In Brazil people jump over the fires of St. John, and\nat this season they can take hot coals in their mouths without burning\nthemselves.(550) In Bolivia on the Eve of St. John it is usual to see\nbonfires lighted on the hills and even in the streets of the capital La\nPaz. As the city stands at the bottom of an immense ravine, and the\nIndians of the neighbourhood take a pride in kindling bonfires on heights\nwhich might seem inaccessible, the scene is very striking when the\ndarkness of night is suddenly and simultaneously lit up by hundreds of\nfires, which cast a glare on surrounding objects, producing an effect at\nonce weird and picturesque.(551)\n\n(M179) The custom of kindling bonfires on Midsummer Day or on Midsummer\nEve is widely spread among the Mohammedan peoples of North Africa,\nparticularly in Morocco and Algeria; it is common both to the Berbers and\nto many of the Arabs or Arabic-speaking tribes. In these countries\nMidsummer Day (the twenty-fourth of June, Old Style) is called _l\u2019\u00e1n\u1e63\u0103ra_.\nThe fires are lit in the courtyards, at cross-roads, in the fields, and\nsometimes on the threshing-floors. Plants which in burning give out a\nthick smoke and an aromatic smell are much sought after for fuel on these\noccasions; among the plants used for the purpose are giant-fennel, thyme,\nrue, chervil-seed, camomile, geranium, and penny-royal. People expose\nthemselves, and especially their children, to the smoke, and drive it\ntowards the orchards and the crops. Also they leap across the fires; in\nsome places everybody ought to repeat the leap seven times. Moreover they\ntake burning brands from the fires and carry them through the houses in\norder to fumigate them. They pass things through the fire, and bring the\nsick into contact with it, while they utter prayers for their recovery.\nThe ashes of the bonfires are also reputed to possess beneficial\nproperties; hence in some places people rub their hair or their bodies\nwith them.(552) For example, the Andjra mountaineers of Morocco kindle\nlarge fires in open places of their villages on Midsummer Day. Men, women,\nand children jump over the flames or the glowing embers, believing that by\nso doing they rid themselves of all misfortune which may be clinging to\nthem; they imagine, also, that such leaps cure the sick and procure\noffspring for childless couples. Moreover, they burn straw, together with\nsome marjoram and alum, in the fold where the cattle, sheep, and goats are\npenned for the night; the smoke, in their opinion, will make the animals\nthrive. On Midsummer Day the Arabs of the Mnasara tribe make fires outside\ntheir tents, near their animals, on their fields, and in their gardens.\nLarge quantities of penny-royal are burned in these fires, and over some\nof them the people leap thrice to and fro. Sometimes small fires are also\nkindled inside the tents. They say that the smoke confers blessings on\neverything with which it comes into contact. At Salee, on the Atlantic\ncoast of Morocco, persons who suffer from diseased eyes rub them with the\nashes of the midsummer fire; and in Casablanca and Azemmur the people hold\ntheir faces over the fire, because the smoke is thought to be good for the\neyes. The Arab tribe Ulad Bu Aziz, in the Dukkala province of Morocco,\nkindle midsummer bonfires, not for themselves and their cattle, but only\nfor crops and fruit; nobody likes to reap his crops before Midsummer Day,\nbecause if he did they would lose the benefit of the blessed influence\nwhich flows from the smoke of the bonfires. Again, the Beni Mgild, a\nBerber tribe of Morocco, light fires of straw on Midsummer Eve and leap\nthrice over them to and fro. They let some of the smoke pass underneath\ntheir clothes, and married women hold their breasts over the fire, in\norder that their children may be strong. Moreover, they paint their eyes\nand lips with some black powder, in which ashes of the bonfire are mixed.\nAnd in order that their horses may also benefit by the fires, they dip the\nright forelegs of the animals in the smoke and flames or in the hot\nembers, and they rub ashes on the foreheads and between the nostrils of\nthe horses. Berbers of the Rif province, in northern Morocco, similarly\nmake great use of fires at midsummer for the good of themselves, their\ncattle, and their fruit-trees. They jump over the bonfires in the belief\nthat this will preserve them in good health, and they light fires under\nfruit-trees to keep the fruit from falling untimely. And they imagine that\nby rubbing a paste of the ashes on their hair they prevent the hair from\nfalling off their heads.(553)\n\n(M180) In all these Moroccan customs, we are told, the beneficial effect\nis attributed wholly to the smoke, which is supposed to be endued with a\nmagical quality that removes misfortune from men, animals, fruit-trees,\nand crops. But in some parts of Morocco people at midsummer kindle fires\nof a different sort, not for the sake of fumigation, but in order to burn\nup misfortune in the flames. Thus on Midsummer Eve the Berber tribe of the\nBeni Mgild burn three sheaves of unthreshed wheat or barley, \u201cone for the\nchildren, one for the crops, and one for the animals.\u201d On the same\noccasion they burn the tent of a widow who has never given birth to a\nchild; by so doing they think to rid the village of ill luck. It is said\nthat at midsummer the Zemmur burn a tent, which belongs to somebody who\nwas killed in war during a feast; or if there is no such person in the\nvillage, the schoolmaster\u2019s tent is burned instead. Among the\nArabic-speaking Beni Ahsen it is customary for those who live near the\nriver Sbu to make a little hut of straw at midsummer, set it on fire, and\nlet it float down the river. Similarly the inhabitants of Salee burn a\nstraw hut on the river which flows past their town.(554)\n\n(M181) Further it deserves to be noticed that in Northern Africa, as in\nSouthern Europe, the midsummer festival comprises rites concerned with\nwater as well as with fire. For example, among the Beni-Snous the women\nlight a fire in an oven, throw perfumes into it, and circumambulate a\ntank, which they also incense after a fashion. In many places on the\ncoast, as in the province of Oran and particularly in the north of\nMorocco, everybody goes and bathes in the sea at midsummer; and in many\ntowns of the interior, such as Fez, Mequinez, and especially Merrakech,\npeople throw water over each other on this day; and where water is scarce,\nearth is used instead, according to the Mohammedan principle which permits\nablutions to be performed with earth or sand when water cannot be spared\nfor the purpose.(555) People of the Andjra district in Morocco not only\nbathe themselves in the sea or in rivers at midsummer, they also bathe\ntheir animals, their horses, mules, donkeys, cattle, sheep, and goats; for\nthey think that on that day water possesses a blessed virtue (_baraka_),\nwhich removes sickness and misfortune. In Aglu, again, men, women, and\nchildren bathe in the sea or springs or rivers at midsummer, alleging that\nby so doing they protect themselves against disease for the whole year.\nAmong the Berbers of the Rif district the custom of bathing on this day is\ncommonly observed, and animals share the ablutions.(556)\n\n(M182) The celebration of a midsummer festival by Mohammedan peoples is\nparticularly remarkable, because the Mohammedan calendar, being purely\nlunar and uncorrected by intercalation, necessarily takes no note of\nfestivals which occupy fixed points in the solar year; all strictly\nMohammedan feasts, being pinned to the moon, slide gradually with that\nluminary through the whole period of the earth\u2019s revolution about the sun.\nThis fact of itself seems to prove that among the Mohammedan peoples of\nNorthern Africa, as among the Christian peoples of Europe, the midsummer\nfestival is quite independent of the religion which the people publicly\nprofess, and is a relic of a far older paganism. There are, indeed,\nindependent grounds for thinking that the Arabs enjoyed the advantage of a\ncomparatively well-regulated solar year before the prophet of God saddled\nthem with the absurdity and inconvenience of a purely lunar calendar.(557)\nBe that as it may, it is notable that some Mohammedan people of North\nAfrica kindle fires and bathe in water at the movable New Year of their\nlunar calendar instead of at the fixed Midsummer of the solar year; while\nothers again practise these observances at both seasons. New Year\u2019s Day,\non which the rites are celebrated, is called _Ashur_; it is the tenth day\nof Moharram, the first month of the Mohammedan calendar. On that day\nbonfires are kindled in Tunis and also at Merrakech and among some tribes\nof the neighbourhood.(558) At Demnat, in the Great Atlas mountains, people\nkindle a large bonfire on New Year\u2019s Eve and leap to and fro over the\nflames, uttering words which imply that by these leaps they think to\npurify themselves from all kinds of evil. At Aglu, in the province of Sus,\nthe fire is lighted at three different points by an unmarried girl, and\nwhen it has died down the young men leap over the glowing embers, saying,\n\u201cWe shook on you, O Lady Ashur, fleas, and lice, and the illnesses of the\nheart, as also those of the bones; we shall pass through you again next\nyear and the following years with safety and health.\u201d Both at Aglu and\nGlawi, in the Great Atlas, smaller fires are also kindled, over which the\nanimals are driven. At Demnat girls who wish to marry wash themselves in\nwater which has been boiled over the New Year fire; and in Dukkala people\nuse the ashes of that fire to rub sore eyes with. New Year fires appear to\nbe commonly kindled among the Berbers who inhabit the western portion of\nthe Great Atlas, and also among the Arabic-speaking tribes of the plains;\nbut Dr. Westermarck found no traces of such fires among the\nArabic-speaking mountaineers of Northern Morocco and the Berbers of the\nRif province. Further, it should be observed that water ceremonies like\nthose which are practised at Midsummer are very commonly observed in\nMorocco at the New Year, that is, on the tenth day of the first month. On\nthe morning of that day (_Ashur_) all water or, according to some people,\nonly spring water is endowed with a magical virtue (_baraka_), especially\nbefore sunrise. Hence at that time the people bathe and pour water over\neach other; in some places they also sprinkle their animals, tents, or\nrooms. In Dukkala some of the New Year water is preserved at home till New\nYear\u2019s Day (_Ashur_) of next year; some of it is kept to be used as\nmedicine, some of it is poured on the place where the corn is threshed,\nand some is used to water the money which is to be buried in the ground;\nfor the people think that the earth-spirits will not be able to steal the\nburied treasures which have thus been sanctified with the holy water.(559)\n\n(M183) Thus the rites of fire and water which are observed in Morocco at\nMidsummer and New Year appear to be identical in character and intention,\nand it seems certain that the duplication of the rites is due to a\nconflict between two calendars, namely the old Julian calendar of the\nRomans, which was based on the sun, and the newer Mohammedan calendar of\nthe Arabs, which is based on the moon. For not only was the Julian\ncalendar in use throughout the whole of Northern Africa under the Roman\nEmpire; to this day it is everywhere employed among Mohammedans for the\nregulation of agriculture and all the affairs of daily life; its practical\nconvenience has made it indispensable, and the lunar calendar of orthodox\nMohammedanism is scarcely used except for purposes of chronology. Even the\nold Latin names of the months are known and employed, in slightly\ndisguised forms, throughout the whole Moslem world; and little calendars\nof the Julian year circulate in manuscript among Mohammedans, permitting\nthem to combine the practical advantages of pagan science with a nominal\nadherence to orthodox absurdity.(560) Thus the heathen origin of the\nmidsummer festival is too palpable to escape the attention of good\nMohammedans, who accordingly frown upon the midsummer bonfires as pagan\nsuperstitions, precisely as similar observances in Europe have often been\ndenounced by orthodox Christianity. Indeed, many religious people in\nMorocco entirely disapprove of the whole of the midsummer ceremonies,\nmaintaining that they are all bad; and a conscientious schoolmaster will\neven refuse his pupils a holiday at midsummer, though the boys sometimes\noffer him a bribe if he will sacrifice his scruples to his avarice.(561)\nAs the midsummer customs appear to flourish among all the Berbers of\nMorocco but to be unknown among the pure Arabs who have not been affected\nby Berber influence, it seems reasonable to infer with Dr. Westermarck\nthat the midsummer festival has belonged from time immemorial to the\nBerber race, and that so far as it is now observed by the Arabs of\nMorocco, it has been learned by them from the Berbers, the old indigenous\ninhabitants of the country. Dr. Westermarck may also be right in holding\nthat, in spite of the close similarity which obtains between the midsummer\nfestival of Europe and the midsummer festival of North Africa, the latter\nis not a copy of the former, but that both have been handed down\nindependently from a time beyond the purview of history, when such\nceremonies were common to the Mediterranean race.(562)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 5. The Autumn Fires.\n\n\n(M184) In the months which elapse between midsummer and the setting in of\nwinter the European festivals of fire appear to be few and unimportant. On\nthe evening of the first day of August, which is the Festival of the\nCross, bonfires are commonly lit in Macedonia and boys jump over them,\nshouting, \u201cDig up! bury!\u201d but whom or what they wish to dig up or bury\nthey do not know.(563) The Russians hold the feast of two martyrs, Florus\nand Laurus, on the eighteenth day of August, Old Style. \u201cOn this day the\nRussians lead their horses round the church of their village, beside which\non the foregoing evening they dig a hole with two mouths. Each horse has a\nbridle made of the bark of the linden-tree. The horses go through this\nhole one after the other, opposite to one of the mouths of which the\npriest stands with a sprinkler in his hand, with which he sprinkles them.\nAs soon as the horses have passed by their bridles are taken off, and they\nare made to go between two fires that they kindle, called by the Russians\n_Givoy Agon_, that is to say, living fires, of which I shall give an\naccount. I shall before remark, that the Russian peasantry throw the\nbridles of their horses into one of these fires to be consumed. This is\nthe manner of their lighting these _givoy agon_, or living fires. Some men\nhold the ends of a stick made of the plane-tree, very dry, and about a\nfathom long. This stick they hold firmly over one of birch, perfectly dry,\nand rub with violence and quickly against the former; the birch, which is\nsomewhat softer than the plane, in a short time inflames, and serves them\nto light both the fires I have described.\u201d(564)\n\n(M185) The Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin on the eighth day of\nSeptember is celebrated at Naples and Capri with fireworks, bonfires, and\nassassinations. On this subject my friend Professor A. E. Housman, who\nwitnessed the celebration in different years at both places, has kindly\nfurnished me with the following particulars: \u201cIn 1906 I was in the island\nof Capri on September the eighth, the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin.\nThe anniversary was duly solemnised by fire-works at nine or ten in the\nevening, which I suppose were municipal; but just after sundown the boys\noutside the villages were making small fires of brushwood on waste bits of\nground by the wayside. Very pretty it looked, with the flames blowing\nabout in the twilight; but what took my attention was the listlessness of\nthe boys and their lack of interest in the proceeding. A single lad, the\nyoungest, would be raking the fire together and keeping it alight, but the\nrest stood lounging about and looking in every other direction, with the\nair of discharging mechanically a traditional office from which all zest\nhad evaporated.\u201d \u201cThe pious orgy at Naples on September the eighth went\nthrough the following phases when I witnessed it in 1897. It began at\neight in the evening with an illumination of the fa\u00e7ade of Santa Maria\nPiedigrotta and with the whole population walking about blowing penny\ntrumpets. After four hours of this I went to bed at midnight, and was\nlulled to sleep by barrel-organs, which supersede the trumpets about that\nhour. At four in the morning I was waked by detonations as if the British\nfleet were bombarding the city, caused, I was afterwards told, by dynamite\nrockets. The only step possible beyond this is assassination, which\naccordingly takes place about peep of day: I forget now the number of the\nslain, but I think the average is eight or ten, and I know that in honour\nof my presence they murdered a few more than usual.\u201d\n\n(M186) It is no doubt possible that these illuminations and fire-works,\nlike the assassinations, are merely the natural and spontaneous\nexpressions of that overflowing joy with which the thought of the birth of\nthe Virgin must fill every pious heart; but when we remember how often the\nChurch has skilfully decanted the new wine of Christianity into the old\nbottles of heathendom, we may be allowed to conjecture that the\necclesiastical authorities adroitly timed the Nativity of the Virgin so as\nto coincide with an old pagan festival of that day, in which fire, noise,\nand uproar, if not broken heads and bloodshed, were conspicuous features.\nThe penny trumpets blown on this occasion recall the like melodious\ninstruments which figure so largely in the celebration of Befana (the Eve\nof Epiphany) at Rome.(565)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 6. The Hallowe\u2019en Fires.\n\n\n(M187) From the foregoing survey we may infer that among the heathen\nforefathers of the European peoples the most popular and widespread\nfire-festival of the year was the great celebration of Midsummer Eve or\nMidsummer Day. The coincidence of the festival with the summer solstice\ncan hardly be accidental. Rather we must suppose that our pagan ancestors\npurposely timed the ceremony of fire on earth to coincide with the arrival\nof the sun at the highest point of his course in the sky. If that was so,\nit follows that the old founders of the midsummer rites had observed the\nsolstices or turning-points of the sun\u2019s apparent path in the sky, and\nthat they accordingly regulated their festal calendar to some extent by\nastronomical considerations.\n\n(M188) But while this may be regarded as fairly certain for what we may\ncall the aborigines throughout a large part of the continent, it appears\nnot to have been true of the Celtic peoples who inhabited the Land\u2019s End\nof Europe, the islands and promontories that stretch out into the Atlantic\nocean on the North-West. The principal fire-festivals of the Celts, which\nhave survived, though in a restricted area and with diminished pomp, to\nmodern times and even to our own day, were seemingly timed without any\nreference to the position of the sun in the heaven. They were two in\nnumber, and fell at an interval of six months, one being celebrated on the\neve of May Day and the other on Allhallow Even or Hallowe\u2019en, as it is now\ncommonly called, that is, on the thirty-first of October, the day\npreceding All Saints\u2019 or Allhallows\u2019 Day. These dates coincide with none\nof the four great hinges on which the solar year revolves, to wit, the\nsolstices and the equinoxes. Nor do they agree with the principal seasons\nof the agricultural year, the sowing in spring and the reaping in autumn.\nFor when May Day comes, the seed has long been committed to the earth; and\nwhen November opens, the harvest has long been reaped and garnered, the\nfields lie bare, the fruit-trees are stripped, and even the yellow leaves\nare fast fluttering to the ground. Yet the first of May and the first of\nNovember mark turning-points of the year in Europe; the one ushers in the\ngenial heat and the rich vegetation of summer, the other heralds, if it\ndoes not share, the cold and barrenness of winter. Now these particular\npoints of the year, as has been well pointed out by a learned and\ningenious writer,(566) while they are of comparatively little moment to\nthe European husbandman, do deeply concern the European herdsman; for it\nis on the approach of summer that he drives his cattle out into the open\nto crop the fresh grass, and it is on the approach of winter that he leads\nthem back to the safety and shelter of the stall. Accordingly it seems not\nimprobable that the Celtic bisection of the year into two halves at the\nbeginning of May and the beginning of November dates from a time when the\nCelts were mainly a pastoral people, dependent for their subsistence on\ntheir herds, and when accordingly the great epochs of the year for them\nwere the days on which the cattle went forth from the homestead in early\nsummer and returned to it again in early winter.(567) Even in Central\nEurope, remote from the region now occupied by the Celts, a similar\nbisection of the year may be clearly traced in the great popularity, on\nthe one hand, of May Day and its Eve (Walpurgis Night), and, on the other\nhand, of the Feast of All Souls at the beginning of November, which under\na thin Christian cloak conceals an ancient pagan festival of the\ndead.(568) Hence we may conjecture that everywhere throughout Europe the\ncelestial division of the year according to the solstices was preceded by\nwhat we may call a terrestrial division of the year according to the\nbeginning of summer and the beginning of winter.\n\n(M189) Be that as it may, the two great Celtic festivals of May Day and\nthe first of November or, to be more accurate, the Eves of these two days,\nclosely resemble each other in the manner of their celebration and in the\nsuperstitions associated with them, and alike, by the antique character\nimpressed upon both, betray a remote and purely pagan origin. The festival\nof May Day or Beltane, as the Celts called it, which ushered in summer,\nhas already been described;(569) it remains to give some account of the\ncorresponding festival of Hallowe\u2019en, which announced the arrival of\nwinter.\n\n(M190) Of the two feasts Hallowe\u2019en was perhaps of old the more important,\nsince the Celts would seem to have dated the beginning of the year from it\nrather than from Beltane. In the Isle of Man, one of the fortresses in\nwhich the Celtic language and lore longest held out against the siege of\nthe Saxon invaders, the first of November, Old Style, has been regarded as\nNew Year\u2019s day down to recent times. Thus Manx mummers used to go round on\nHallowe\u2019en (Old Style), singing, in the Manx language, a sort of Hogmanay\nsong which began \u201cTo-night is New Year\u2019s Night, _Hogunnaa_!\u201d(570) One of\nSir John Rhys\u2019s Manx informants, an old man of sixty-seven, \u201chad been a\nfarm servant from the age of sixteen till he was twenty-six to the same\nman, near Regaby, in the parish of Andreas, and he remembers his master\nand a near neighbour of his discussing the term New Year\u2019s Day as applied\nto the first of November, and explaining to the younger men that it had\nalways been so in old times. In fact, it seemed to him natural enough, as\nall tenure of land ends at that time, and as all servant men begin their\nservice then.\u201d(571) In ancient Ireland, as we saw, a new fire used to be\nkindled every year on Hallowe\u2019en or the Eve of Samhain, and from this\nsacred flame all the fires in Ireland were rekindled.(572) Such a custom\npoints strongly to Samhain or All Saints\u2019 Day (the first of November) as\nNew Year\u2019s Day; since the annual kindling of a new fire takes place most\nnaturally at the beginning of the year, in order that the blessed\ninfluence of the fresh fire may last throughout the whole period of twelve\nmonths. Another confirmation of the view that the Celts dated their year\nfrom the first of November is furnished by the manifold modes of\ndivination which, as we shall see presently, were commonly resorted to by\nCeltic peoples on Hallowe\u2019en for the purpose of ascertaining their\ndestiny, especially their fortune in the coming year; for when could these\ndevices for prying into the future be more reasonably put in practice than\nat the beginning of the year? As a season of omens and auguries Hallowe\u2019en\nseems to have far surpassed Beltane in the imagination of the Celts; from\nwhich we may with some probability infer that they reckoned their year\nfrom Hallowe\u2019en rather than Beltane. Another circumstance of great moment\nwhich points to the same conclusion is the association of the dead with\nHallowe\u2019en. Not only among the Celts but throughout Europe, Hallowe\u2019en,\nthe night which marks the transition from autumn to winter, seems to have\nbeen of old the time of year when the souls of the departed were supposed\nto revisit their old homes in order to warm themselves by the fire and to\ncomfort themselves with the good cheer provided for them in the kitchen or\nthe parlour by their affectionate kinsfolk.(573) It was, perhaps, a\nnatural thought that the approach of winter should drive the poor\nshivering hungry ghosts from the bare fields and the leafless woodlands to\nthe shelter of the cottage with its familiar fireside.(574) Did not the\nlowing kine then troop back from the summer pastures in the forests and on\nthe hills to be fed and cared for in the stalls, while the bleak winds\nwhistled among the swaying boughs and the snow drifts deepened in the\nhollows? and could the good-man and the good-wife deny to the spirits of\ntheir dead the welcome which they gave to the cows?\n\n(M191) But it is not only the souls of the departed who are supposed to be\nhovering unseen on the day \u201cwhen autumn to winter resigns the pale year.\u201d\nWitches then speed on their errands of mischief, some sweeping through the\nair on besoms, others galloping along the roads on tabby-cats, which for\nthat evening are turned into coal-black steeds.(575) The fairies, too, are\nall let loose, and hobgoblins of every sort roam freely about. In South\nUist and Eriskay there is a saying:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Hallowe\u2019en will come, will come,_\n    _Witchcraft [or divination] will be set agoing,_\n    _Fairies will be at full speed,_\n    _Running in every pass._\n    _Avoid the road, children, children._\u201d(576)\n\n\nIn Cardiganshire on November Eve a bogie sits on every stile.(577) On that\nnight in Ireland all the fairy hills are thrown wide open and the fairies\nswarm forth; any man who is bold enough may then peep into the open green\nhills and see the treasures hidden in them. Worse than that, the cave of\nCruachan in Connaught, known as \u201cthe Hell-gate of Ireland,\u201d is unbarred on\nSamhain Eve or Hallowe\u2019en, and a host of horrible fiends and goblins used\nto rush forth, particularly a flock of copper-red birds, which blighted\ncrops and killed animals by their poisonous breath.(578) The Scotch\nHighlanders have a special name _Samhanach_ (derived from _Samhain_,\n\u201cAll-hallows\u201d) for the dreadful bogies that go about that night stealing\nbabies and committing other atrocities.(579) And though the fairies are a\nkindlier folk, it is dangerous to see even them at their revels on\nHallowe\u2019en. A melancholy case of this sort is reported from the Ferintosh\ndistrict of the Highlands, though others say that it happened at the Slope\nof Big Stones in Harris. Two young men were coming home after nightfall on\nHallowe\u2019en, each with a jar of whisky on his back, when they saw, as they\nthought, a house all lit up by the roadside, from which proceeded the\nsounds of music and dancing. In reality it was not a house at all but a\nfairy knoll, and it was the fairies who were jigging it about there so\nmerrily. But one of the young men was deceived and stepping into the house\njoined in the dance, without even stopping to put down the jar of whisky.\nHis companion was wiser; he had a shrewd suspicion that the place was not\nwhat it seemed, and on entering he took the precaution of sticking a\nneedle in the door. That disarmed the power of the fairies, and he got\naway safely. Well, that day twelve months he came back to the spot and\nwhat should he see but his poor friend still dancing away with the jar of\nwhisky on his back? A weary man was he, as you may well believe, but he\nbegged to be allowed to finish the reel which he was in the act of\nexecuting, and when they took him out into the open air, there was nothing\nof him left but skin and bones.(580) Again, the wicked fairies are apt to\ncarry off men\u2019s wives with them to fairyland; but the lost spouses can be\nrecovered within a year and a day when the procession of the fairies is\ndefiling past on Hallowe\u2019en, always provided that the mortals did not\npartake of elfin food while they were in elfinland.(581)\n\n(M192) Sometimes valuable information may be obtained from the fairies on\nHallowe\u2019en. There was a young man named Guleesh in the County of Mayo.\nNear his house was a _rath_ or old fort with a fine grass bank running\nround it. One Hallowe\u2019en, when the darkness was falling, Guleesh went to\nthe rath and stood on a gray old flag. The night was calm and still; there\nwas not a breath of wind stirring, nor a sound to be heard except the hum\nof the insects flitting past, or the whistle of the plovers, or the hoarse\nscream of the wild geese as they winged their way far overhead. Above the\nwhite fog the moon rose like a knob of fire in the east, and a thousand\nthousand stars were twinkling in the sky. There was a little frost in the\nair, the grass was white and crisp and crackled under foot. Guleesh\nexpected to see the fairies, but they did not come. Hour after hour wore\naway, and he was just bethinking him of going home to bed, when his ear\ncaught a sound far off coming towards him, and he knew what it was in a\nmoment. The sound grew louder and louder; at first it was like the beating\nof waves on a stony shore, then it was like the roar of a waterfall, at\nlast it was like a mighty rushing wind in the tops of the trees, then the\nstorm burst upon the rath, and sure enough the fairies were in it. The\nrout went by so suddenly that Guleesh lost his breath; but he came to\nhimself and listened. The fairies were now gathered within the grassy bank\nof the rath, and a fine uproar they made. But Guleesh listened with all\nhis ears, and he heard one fairy saying to another that a magic herb grew\nby Guleesh\u2019s own door, and that Guleesh had nothing to do but pluck it and\nboil it and give it to his sweetheart, the daughter of the King of France,\nand she would be well, for just then she was lying very ill. Guleesh took\nthe hint, and everything went as the fairy had said. And he married the\ndaughter of the King of France; and they had never a cark nor a care, a\nsickness nor a sorrow, a mishap nor a misfortune to the day of their\ndeath.(582)\n\n(M193) In all Celtic countries Hallowe\u2019en seems to have been the great\nseason of the year for prying into the future; all kinds of divination\nwere put in practice that night. We read that Dathi, a king of Ireland in\nthe fifth century, happening to be at the Druids\u2019 Hill (_Cnoc-nan-druad_)\nin the county of Sligo one Hallowe\u2019en, ordered his druid to forecast for\nhim the future from that day till the next Hallowe\u2019en should come round.\nThe druid passed the night on the top of the hill, and next morning made a\nprediction to the king which came true.(583) In Wales Hallowe\u2019en was the\nweirdest of all the _Teir Nos Ysbrydion_, or Three Spirit Nights, when the\nwind, \u201cblowing over the feet of the corpses,\u201d bore sighs to the houses of\nthose who were to die within the year. People thought that if on that\nnight they went out to a cross-road and listened to the wind, they would\nlearn all the most important things that would befall them during the next\ntwelve months.(584) In Wales, too, not so long ago women used to\ncongregate in the parish churches on the night of Hallowe\u2019en and read\ntheir fate from the flame of the candle which each of them held in her\nhand; also they heard the names or saw the coffins of the parishioners who\nwould die within the year, and many were the sad scenes to which these\ngloomy visions gave rise.(585) And in the Highlands of Scotland anybody\nwho pleased could hear proclaimed aloud the names of parishioners doomed\nto perish within the next twelve months, if he would only take a\nthree-legged stool and go and sit on it at three cross-roads, while the\nchurch clock was striking twelve at midnight on Hallowe\u2019en. It was even in\nhis power to save the destined victims from their doom by taking with him\narticles of wearing apparel and throwing them away, one by one, as each\nname was called out by the mysterious voice.(586)\n\n(M194) But while a glamour of mystery and awe has always clung to\nHallowe\u2019en in the minds of the Celtic peasantry, the popular celebration\nof the festival has been, at least in modern times, by no means of a\nprevailingly gloomy cast; on the contrary it has been attended by\npicturesque features and merry pastimes, which rendered it the gayest\nnight of all the year. Amongst the things which in the Highlands of\nScotland contributed to invest the festival with a romantic beauty were\nthe bonfires which used to blaze at frequent intervals on the heights. \u201cOn\nthe last day of autumn children gathered ferns, tar-barrels, the long thin\nstalks called _g\u00e0inisg_, and everything suitable for a bonfire. These were\nplaced in a heap on some eminence near the house, and in the evening set\nfire to. The fires were called _Samhnagan_. There was one for each house,\nand it was an object of ambition who should have the biggest. Whole\ndistricts were brilliant with bonfires, and their glare across a Highland\nloch, and from many eminences, formed an exceedingly picturesque\nscene.\u201d(587) Like the Beltane fires on the first of May, the Hallowe\u2019en\nbonfires seem to have been kindled most commonly in the Perthshire\nHighlands. Travelling in the parish of Moulin, near Pitlochrie, in the\nyear 1772, the Englishman Thomas Pennant writes that \u201cHallow Eve is also\nkept sacred: as soon as it is dark, a person sets fire to a bush of broom\nfastened round a pole, and, attended with a crowd, runs about the village.\nHe then flings it down, heaps great quantity of combustible matters on it,\nand makes a great bonfire. A whole tract is thus illuminated at the same\ntime, and makes a fine appearance.\u201d(588) The custom has been described\nmore fully by a Scotchman of the eighteenth century, John Ramsay of\nOchtertyre. On the evening of Hallowe\u2019en \u201cthe young people of every hamlet\nassembled upon some eminence near the houses. There they made a bonfire of\nferns or other fuel, cut the same day, which from the feast was called\n_Samh-nag_ or _Savnag_, a fire of rest and pleasure. Around it was placed\na circle of stones, one for each person of the families to whom they\nbelonged. And when it grew dark the bonfire was kindled, at which a loud\nshout was set up. Then each person taking a torch of ferns or sticks in\nhis hand, ran round the fire exulting; and sometimes times they went into\nthe adjacent fields, where, if there was another company, they visited the\nbonfire, taunting the others if inferior in any respect to themselves.\nAfter the fire was burned out they returned home, where a feast was\nprepared, and the remainder of the evening was spent in mirth and\ndiversions of various kinds. Next morning they repaired betimes to the\nbonfire, where the situation of the stones was examined with much\nattention. If any of them were misplaced, or if the print of a foot could\nbe discerned near any particular stone, it was imagined that the person\nfor whom it was set would not live out the year. Of late years this is\nless attended to, but about the beginning of the present century it was\nregarded as a sure prediction. The Hallowe\u2019en fire is still kept up in\nsome parts of the Low country; but on the western coast and in the Isles\nit is never kindled, though the night is spent in merriment and\nentertainments.\u201d(589) In the Perthshire parish of Callander, which\nincludes the now famous pass of the Trossachs opening out on the winding\nand wooded shores of the lovely Loch Katrine, the Hallowe\u2019en bonfires were\nstill kindled down to near the end of the eighteenth century. When the\nfire had died down, the ashes were carefully collected in the form of a\ncircle, and a stone was put in, near the circumference, for every person\nof the several families interested in the bonfire. Next morning, if any of\nthese stones was found to be displaced or injured, the people made sure\nthat the person represented by it was _fey_ or devoted, and that he could\nnot live twelve months from that day.(590) In the parish of Logierait,\nwhich covers the beautiful valley of the Tummel, one of the fairest\nregions of all Scotland, the Hallowe\u2019en fire was somewhat different.\nFaggots of heath, broom, and the dressings of flax were kindled and\ncarried on poles by men, who ran with them round the villages, attended by\na crowd. As soon as one faggot was burnt out, a fresh one was lighted and\nfastened to the pole. Numbers of these blazing faggots were often carried\nabout together, and when the night happened to be dark, they formed a\nsplendid illumination.(591)\n\n(M195) Nor did the Hallowe\u2019en fires die out in Perthshire with the end of\nthe eighteenth century. Journeying from Dunkeld to Aberfeldy on Hallowe\u2019en\nin the first half of the nineteenth century, Sheriff Barclay counted\nthirty fires blazing on the hill tops, and saw the figures of the people\ndancing like phantoms round the flames.(592) Again, \u201cin 1860, I was\nresiding near the head of Loch Tay during the season of the Hallowe\u2019en\nfeast. For several days before Hallowe\u2019en, boys and youths collected wood\nand conveyed it to the most prominent places on the hill sides in their\nneighbourhood. Some of the heaps were as large as a corn-stack or\nhay-rick. After dark on Hallowe\u2019en, these heaps were kindled, and for\nseveral hours both sides of Loch Tay were illuminated as far as the eye\ncould see. I was told by old men that at the beginning of this century men\nas well as boys took part in getting up the bonfires, and that, when the\nfire was ablaze, all joined hands and danced round the fire, and made a\ngreat noise; but that, as these gatherings generally ended in drunkenness\nand rough and dangerous fun, the ministers set their faces against the\nobservance, and were seconded in their efforts by the more intelligent and\nwell-behaved in the community; and so the practice was discontinued by\nadults and relegated to school boys.\u201d(593) At Balquhidder down to the\nlatter part of the nineteenth century each household kindled its bonfire\nat Hallowe\u2019en, but the custom was chiefly observed by children. The fires\nwere lighted on any high knoll near the house; there was no dancing round\nthem.(594)\n\n(M196) Hallowe\u2019en fires were also lighted in some districts of the\nnorth-east of Scotland, such as Buchan. Villagers and farmers alike must\nhave their fire. In the villages the boys went from house to house and\nbegged a peat from each householder, usually with the words, \u201cGe\u2019s a peat\nt\u2019 burn the witches.\u201d In some villages the lads collected the peats in a\ncart, some of them drawing it along and the others receiving the peats and\nloading them on the cart. Along with the peats they accumulated straw,\nfurze, potato haulm, everything that would burn quickly, and when they had\ngot enough they piled it all in a heap and set it on fire. Then each of\nthe youths, one after another, laid himself down on the ground as near to\nthe fire as he could without being scorched, and thus lying allowed the\nsmoke to roll over him. The others ran through the smoke and jumped over\ntheir prostrate comrade. When the heap was burned down, they scattered the\nashes. Each one took a share in this part of the ceremony, giving a kick\nfirst with the right foot and then with the left; and each vied with the\nother who should scatter the most. After that some of them still continued\nto run through the scattered ashes and to pelt each other with the\nhalf-burned peats. At each farm a spot as high as possible, not too near\nthe steading, was chosen for the fire, and the proceedings were much the\nsame as at the village bonfire. The lads of one farm, when their own fire\nwas burned down and the ashes scattered, sometimes went to a neighbouring\nfire and helped to kick the ashes about.(595) Referring to this part of\nScotland, a writer at the end of the eighteenth century observes that \u201cthe\nHallow-even fire, another relict of druidism, was kindled in Buchan.\nVarious magic ceremonies were then celebrated to counteract the influence\nof witches and demons, and to prognosticate to the young their success or\ndisappointment in the matrimonial lottery. These being devoutly finished,\nthe hallow fire was kindled, and guarded by the male part of the family.\nSocieties were formed, either by pique or humour, to scatter certain\nfires, and the attack and defence were often conducted with art and with\nfury.\u201d(596) Down to about the middle of the nineteenth century \u201cthe\nBraemar Highlanders made the circuit of their fields with lighted torches\nat Hallowe\u2019en to ensure their fertility in the coming year. At that date\nthe custom was as follows: Every member of the family (in those days\nhouseholds were larger than they are now) was provided with a bundle of\nfir \u2018can\u2019les\u2019 with which to go the round. The father and mother stood at\nthe hearth and lit the splints in the peat fire, which they passed to the\nchildren and servants, who trooped out one after the other, and proceeded\nto tread the bounds of their little property, going slowly round at equal\ndistances apart, and invariably with the sun. To go \u2018withershins\u2019 seems to\nhave been reserved for cursing and excommunication. When the fields had\nthus been circumambulated the remaining spills were thrown together in a\nheap and allowed to burn out.\u201d(597)\n\n(M197) In the Highlands of Scotland, as the evening of Hallowe\u2019en wore on,\nyoung people gathered in one of the houses and resorted to an almost\nendless variety of games, or rather forms of divination, for the purpose\nof ascertaining the future fate of each member of the company. Were they\nto marry or remain single, was the marriage to take place that year or\nnever, who was to be married first, what sort of husband or wife she or he\nwas to get, the name, the trade, the colour of the hair, the amount of\nproperty of the future spouse\u2014these were questions that were eagerly\ncanvassed and the answers to them furnished never-failing\nentertainment.(598) Nor were these modes of divination at Hallowe\u2019en\nconfined to the Highlands, where the bonfires were kindled; they were\npractised with equal faith and in practically the same forms in the\nLowlands, as we learn, for example, from Burns\u2019s poem _Hallowe\u2019en_, which\ndescribes the auguries drawn from a variety of omens by the Ayrshire\npeasantry. These Lowlanders of Saxon descent may well have inherited the\nrites from the Celts who preceded them in the possession of the south\ncountry. A common practice at Hallowe\u2019en was to go out stealthily to a\nneighbour\u2019s kailyard and there, with shut eyes, to pull up the first kail\nstock that came to hand. It was necessary that the plants should be stolen\nwithout the knowledge or consent of their owner; otherwise they were quite\nuseless for the purpose of divination. Strictly speaking, too, the\nneighbour upon whose garden the raid was made should be unmarried, whether\na bachelor or a spinster. The stolen kail was taken home and examined, and\naccording to its height, shape, and features would be the height, shape,\nand features of the future husband or wife. The taste of the _custock_,\nthat is, the heart of the stem, was an infallible indication of his or her\ntemper; and a clod of earth adhering to the root signified, in proportion\nto its size, the amount of property which he or she would bring to the\ncommon stock. Then the kail-stock or _runt_, as it was called in Ayrshire,\nwas placed over the lintel of the door; and the baptismal name of the\nyoung man or woman who first entered the door after the kail was in\nposition would be the baptismal name of the husband or wife.(599) Again,\nyoung women sowed hemp seed over nine ridges of ploughed land, saying, \u201cI\nsow hemp seed, and he who is to be my husband, let him come and harrow\nit.\u201d On looking back over her left shoulder the girl would see the figure\nof her future mate behind her in the darkness. In the north-east of\nScotland lint seed was used instead of hemp seed and answered the purpose\nquite as well.(600) Again, a mode of ascertaining your future husband or\nwife was this. Take a clue of blue yarn and go to a lime-kiln. Throw the\nclue into the kiln, but keep one end of the thread in your hand and wind\nit on to another clue. As you come near the end somebody or something will\nhold the other end tight in the kiln. Then you call out, \u201cWho holds?\u201d\ngiving the thread at the same time a gentle pull. Some one or something\nwill thereupon pull the other end of the thread, and a voice will mention\nthe name of your future husband or wife.(601) Another way is this. Go to\nthe barn alone and secretly. Be sure to open both doors and if possible\ntake them off their hinges; for if the being who is about to appear should\ncatch you in the barn and clap the doors to on you, he or she might do you\na mischief. Having done this, take the sieve or winnowing-basket, which in\nLowland Scotch is called a _wecht_ or _waicht_, and go through the action\nof winnowing corn. Repeat it thrice, and at the third time the apparition\nof your future husband or wife will pass through the barn, entering at the\nwindy door and passing out at the other.(602) Or this. Go to a southward\nrunning stream, where the lands of three lairds meet, or to a ford where\nthe dead and living have crossed. Dip the left sleeve of your shirt in the\nwater. Then go home, take off the shirt, hang it up before a fire to dry,\nand go to bed, taking care that the bed stands so that you can see your\nshirt hanging before the fire. Keep awake, and at midnight you will see\nthe form of your future spouse come into the room and turn the other side\nof the sleeve to the fire to dry it.(603) A Highland form of divination at\nHallowe\u2019en is to take a shoe by the tip and throw it over the house, then\nobserve the direction in which the toe points as it lies on the ground on\nthe other side; for in that direction you are destined to go before long.\nIf the shoe should fall sole uppermost, it is very unlucky for you.(604)\n\n(M198) These ways of prying into the future are practised outside of the\nhouse; others are observed in the kitchen or the parlour before the\ncheerful blaze of the fire. Thus the white of eggs, dropped in a glass of\npure water, indicates by certain marks how many children a person will\nhave. The impatience and clamour of the children, eager to ascertain the\nexact number of their future progeny, often induced the housewife to\nperform this ceremony for them by daylight; and the kindly mother,\nstanding with her face to the window, dropping the white of an egg into a\ncrystal glass of clean water, and surrounded by a group of children\nintently watching her proceedings, made up a pretty picture.(605) When the\nfun of the evening had fairly commenced, the names of eligible or likely\nmatches were written on the chimney-piece, and the young man who wished to\ntry his fortune was led up blindfolded to the list. Whatever name he put\nhis finger on would prove that of his future wife.(606) Again, two nuts,\nrepresenting a lad and a lass whose names were announced to the company,\nwere put side by side in the fire. If they burned quietly together, the\npair would be man and wife, and from the length of time they burned and\nthe brightness of the flame the length and happiness of the married life\nof the two were augured. But if instead of burning together one of the\nnuts leaped away from the other, then there would be no marriage, and the\nblame would rest with the person whose nut had thus started away by\nitself.(607) Again, a dish of milk and meal (in Gaelic _fuarag_, in\nLowland Scotch _crowdie_) or of beat potatoes was made and a ring was\nhidden in it. Spoons were served out to the company, who supped the\ncontents of the dish hastily with them, and the one who got the ring would\nbe the first to be married.(608) Again, apples and a silver sixpence were\nput in a tub of water; the apples naturally floated on the top and the\nsixpence sank to the bottom. Whoever could lift an apple or the sixpence\nfrom the water with his mouth, without using his teeth, was counted very\nlucky and got the prize to himself.(609) Again, three plates or basins\nwere placed on the hearth. One was filled with clean water, another with\ndirty water, and the third was empty. The enquirer was blindfolded, knelt\nin front of the hearth, and groped about till he put his finger in one of\nthem. If he lighted on the plate with the clean water, he would wed a\nmaid; if on the plate with the dirty water, he would marry a widow; and if\non the empty plate, he would remain a bachelor. For a girl the answer of\nthe oracle was analogous; she would marry a bachelor, a widower, or nobody\naccording to the plate into which she chanced to dip her finger. But to\nmake sure, the operation had to be repeated thrice, the position of the\nplates being changed each time. If the enquirer put his or her finger into\nthe same plate thrice or even twice, it was quite conclusive.(610)\n\n(M199) These forms of divination in the house were practised by the\ncompany in a body; but the following had to be performed by the person\nalone. You took an apple and stood with it in your hand in front of a\nlooking-glass. Then you sliced the apple, stuck each slice on the point of\nthe knife, and held it over your left shoulder, while you looked into the\nglass and combed your hair. The spectre of your future husband would then\nappear in the mirror stretching forth his hand to take the slices of the\napple over your shoulder. Some say that the number of slices should be\nnine, that you should eat the first eight yourself, and only throw the\nninth over your left shoulder for your husband; also that at each slice\nyou should say, \u201cIn the name of the Father and the Son.\u201d(611) Again, take\nan egg, prick it with a pin, and let the white drop into a wine-glass\nnearly full of water. Take some of this in your mouth and go out for a\nwalk. The first name you hear called out aloud will be that of your future\nhusband or wife. An old woman told a lady that she had tried this mode of\ndivination in her youth, that the name of Archibald \u201ccame up as it were\nfrom the very ground,\u201d and that Archibald sure enough was the name of her\nhusband.(612) In South Uist and Eriskay, two of the outer Hebrides, a salt\ncake called _Bonnach Salainn_ is eaten at Hallowe\u2019en to induce dreams that\nwill reveal the future. It is baked of common meal with a great deal of\nsalt. After eating it you may not drink water nor utter a word, not even\nto say your prayers. A salt herring, eaten bones and all in three bites,\nis equally efficacious, always provided that you drink no water and hold\nyour tongue.(613)\n\n(M200) In the northern part of Wales it used to be customary for every\nfamily to make a great bonfire called _Coel Coeth_ on Hallowe\u2019en. The fire\nwas kindled on the most conspicuous spot near the house; and when it had\nnearly gone out everyone threw into the ashes a white stone, which he had\nfirst marked. Then having said their prayers round the fire, they went to\nbed. Next morning, as soon as they were up, they came to search out the\nstones, and if any one of them was found to be missing, they had a notion\nthat the person who threw it would die before he saw another\nHallowe\u2019en.(614) A writer on Wales at the beginning of the nineteenth\ncentury says that \u201cthe autumnal fire is still kindled in North Wales,\nbeing on the eve of the first day of November, and is attended by many\nceremonies; such as running through the fire and smoke, each casting a\nstone into the fire, and all running off at the conclusion to escape from\nthe black short-tailed sow; then supping upon parsnips, nuts, and apples;\ncatching up an apple suspended by a string with the mouth alone, and the\nsame by an apple in a tub of water: each throwing a nut into the fire; and\nthose that burn bright, betoken prosperity to the owners through the\nfollowing year, but those that burn black and crackle, denote misfortune.\nOn the following morning the stones are searched for in the fire, and if\nany be missing, they betide ill to those who threw them in.\u201d(615)\nAccording to Sir John Rhys, the habit of celebrating Hallowe\u2019en by\nlighting bonfires on the hills is perhaps not yet extinct in Wales, and\nmen still living can remember how the people who assisted at the bonfires\nwould wait till the last spark was out and then would suddenly take to\ntheir heels, shouting at the top of their voices, \u201cThe cropped black sow\nseize the hindmost!\u201d The saying, as Sir John Rhys justly remarks, implies\nthat originally one of the company became a victim in dead earnest. Down\nto the present time the saying is current in Carnarvonshire, where\nallusions to the cutty black sow are still occasionally made to frighten\nchildren.(616) We can now understand why in Lower Brittany every person\nthrows a pebble into the midsummer bonfire.(617) Doubtless there, as in\nWales and the Highlands of Scotland,(618) omens of life and death have at\none time or other been drawn from the position and state of the pebbles on\nthe morning of All Saints\u2019 Day. The custom, thus found among three\nseparate branches of the Celtic stock, probably dates from a period before\ntheir dispersion, or at least from a time when alien races had not yet\ndriven home the wedges of separation between them.\n\n(M201) In Wales, as in Scotland, Hallowe\u2019en was also the great season for\nforecasting the future in respect of love and marriage, and some of the\nforms of divination employed for this purpose resembled those which were\nin use among the Scotch peasantry. Two girls, for example, would make a\nlittle ladder of yarn, without breaking it from the ball, and having done\nso they would throw it out of the window. Then one of the girls, holding\nthe ball in her hand, would wind the yarn back, repeating a rhyme in\nWelsh. This she did thrice, and as she wound the yarn she would see her\nfuture husband climbing up the little ladder. Again, three bowls or basins\nwere placed on a table. One of them contained clean water, one dirty\nwater, and one was empty. The girls of the household, and sometimes the\nboys too, then eagerly tried their fortunes. They were blindfolded, led up\nto the table, and dipped their hands into a bowl. If they happened to dip\ninto the clean water, they would marry maidens or bachelors; if into the\ndirty water, they would be widowers or widows; if into the empty bowl,\nthey would live unmarried. Again, if a girl, walking backwards, would\nplace a knife among the leeks on Hallowe\u2019en, she would see her future\nhusband come and pick up the knife and throw it into the middle of the\ngarden.(619)\n\n(M202) In Ireland the Hallowe\u2019en bonfires would seem to have died out, but\nthe Hallowe\u2019en divination has survived. Writing towards the end of the\neighteenth century, General Vallancey tells us that on Hallowe\u2019en or the\nvigil of Saman, as he calls it, \u201cthe peasants in Ireland assemble with\nsticks and clubs (the emblems of laceration) going from house to house,\ncollecting money, bread-cake, butter, cheese, eggs, etc., etc., for the\nfeast, repeating verses in honour of the solemnity, demanding preparations\nfor the festival, in the name of St. Columb Kill, desiring them to lay\naside the fatted calf, and to bring forth the black sheep. The good women\nare employed in making the griddle cake and candles; these last are sent\nfrom house to house in the vicinity, and are lighted up on the (Saman)\nnext day, before which they pray, or are supposed to pray, for the\ndeparted souls of the donor. Every house abounds in the best viands they\ncan afford: apples and nuts are devoured in abundance: the nut-shells are\nburnt, and from the ashes many strange things are foretold: cabbages are\ntorn up by the root: hemp seed is sown by the maidens, and they believe,\nthat if they look back, they will see the apparition of the man intended\nfor their future spouse: they hang a smock before the fire, on the close\nof the feast, and sit up all night, concealed in a corner of the room,\nconvinced that his apparition will come down the chimney and turn the\nsmock: they throw a ball of yarn out of the window, and wind it on the\nreel within, convinced, that if they repeat the _Pater Noster_ backwards,\nand look at the ball of yarn without, they will then also see his _sith_\nor apparition: they dip for apples in a tub of water, and endeavour to\nbring one up in the mouth: they suspend a cord with a cross-stick, with\napples at one point, and candles lighted at the other, and endeavour to\ncatch the apple, while it is in a circular motion, in the mouth. These,\nand many other superstitious ceremonies, the remains of Druidism, are\nobserved on this holiday, which will never be eradicated, while the name\nof _Saman_ is permitted to remain.\u201d(620)\n\n(M203) In Queen\u2019s County, Ireland, down to the latter part of the\nnineteenth century children practised various of these rites of divination\non Hallowe\u2019en. Girls went out into the garden blindfold and pulled up\ncabbages: if the cabbage was well grown, the girl would have a handsome\nhusband, but if it had a crooked stalk, the future spouse would be a\nstingy old man. Nuts, again, were placed in pairs on the bar of the fire,\nand from their behaviour omens were drawn of the fate in love and marriage\nof the couple whom they represented. Lead, also, was melted and allowed to\ndrop into a tub of cold water, and from the shapes which it assumed in the\nwater predictions were made to the children of their future destiny.\nAgain, apples were bobbed for in a tub of water and brought up with the\nteeth; or a stick was hung from a hook with an apple at one end and a\ncandle at the other, and the stick being made to revolve you made a bite\nat the apple and sometimes got a mouthful of candle instead.(621) In\nCounty Leitrim, also, down to near the end of the nineteenth century\nvarious forms of divination were practised at Hallowe\u2019en. Girls\nascertained the character of their future husbands by the help of cabbages\njust as in Queen\u2019s County. Again, if a girl found a branch of a\nbriar-thorn which had bent over and grown into the ground so as to form a\nloop, she would creep through the loop thrice late in the evening in the\ndevil\u2019s name, then cut the briar and put it under her pillow, all without\nspeaking a word. Then she would lay her head on the pillow and dream of\nthe man she was to marry. Boys, also, would dream in like manner of love\nand marriage at Hallowe\u2019en, if only they would gather ten leaves of ivy\nwithout speaking, throw away one, and put the other nine under their\npillow. Again, divination was practised by means of a cake called\n_barm-breac_, in which a nut and a ring were baked. Whoever got the ring\nwould be married first; whoever got the nut would marry a widow or a\nwidower; but if the nut were an empty shell, he or she would remain unwed.\nAgain, a girl would take a clue of worsted, go to a lime kiln in the\ngloaming, and throw the clew into the kiln in the devil\u2019s name, while she\nheld fast the other end of the thread. Then she would rewind the thread\nand ask, \u201cWho holds my clue?\u201d and the name of her future husband would\ncome up from the depth of the kiln. Another way was to take a rake, go to\na rick and walk round it nine times, saying, \u201cI rake this rick in the\ndevil\u2019s name.\u201d At the ninth time the wraith of your destined partner for\nlife would come and take the rake out of your hand. Once more, before the\ncompany separated for the night, they would rake the ashes smooth on the\nhearth, and search them next morning for tracks, from which they judged\nwhether anybody should come to the house, or leave it, or die in it before\nanother year was out.(622) In County Roscommon, which borders on County\nLeitrim, a cake is made in nearly every house on Hallowe\u2019en, and a ring, a\ncoin, a sloe, and a chip of wood are put into it. Whoever gets the coin\nwill be rich; whoever gets the ring will be married first; whoever gets\nthe chip of wood, which stands for a coffin, will die first; and whoever\ngets the sloe will live longest, because the fairies blight the sloes in\nthe hedges on Hallowe\u2019en, so that the sloe in the cake will be the last of\nthe year. Again, on the same mystic evening girls take nine grains of oats\nin their mouths, and going out without speaking walk about till they hear\na man\u2019s name pronounced; it will be the name of their future husband. In\nCounty Roscommon, too, on Hallowe\u2019en there is the usual dipping in water\nfor apples or sixpences, and the usual bites at a revolving apple and\ntallow candle.(623)\n\n(M204) In the Isle of Man also, another Celtic country, Hallowe\u2019en was\ncelebrated down to modern times by the kindling of fires, accompanied with\nall the usual ceremonies designed to prevent the baneful influence of\nfairies and witches. Bands of young men perambulated the island by night,\nand at the door of every dwelling-house they struck up a Manx rhyme,\nbeginning\n\n\n    \u201c_Noght oie howney hop-dy-naw,_\u201d\n\n\nthat is to say, \u201cThis is Hollantide Eve.\u201d For Hollantide is the Manx way\nof expressing the old English _All hallowen tide_, that is, All Saints\u2019\nDay, the first of November. But as the people reckon this festival\naccording to the Old Style, Hollantide in the Isle of Man is our twelfth\nof November. The native Manx name for the day is _Sauin_ or _Laa Houney_.\nPotatoes, parsnips and fish, pounded up together and mixed with butter,\nformed the proper evening meal (_mrastyr_) on Hallowe\u2019en in the Isle of\nMan.(624) Here, too, as in Scotland forms of divination are practised by\nsome people on this important evening. For example, the housewife fills a\nthimble full of salt for each member of the family and each guest; the\ncontents of the thimblefuls are emptied out in as many neat little piles\non a plate, and left there over night. Next morning the piles are\nexamined, and if any of them has fallen down, he or she whom it represents\nwill die within the year. Again, the women carefully sweep out the ashes\nfrom under the fireplace and flatten them down neatly on the open hearth.\nIf they find next morning a footprint turned towards the door, it\nsignifies a death in the family within the year; but if the footprint is\nturned in the opposite direction, it bodes a marriage. Again, divination\nby eavesdropping is practised in the Isle of Man in much the same way as\nin Scotland. You go out with your mouth full of water and your hands full\nof salt and listen at a neighbour\u2019s door, and the first name you hear will\nbe the name of your husband. Again, Manx maids bandage their eyes and\ngrope about the room till they dip their hands in vessels full of clean or\ndirty water, and so on; and from the thing they touch they draw\ncorresponding omens. But some people in the Isle of Man observe these\nauguries, not on Hallowe\u2019en or Hollantide Eve, as they call it, which was\nthe old Manx New Year\u2019s Eve, but on the modern New Year\u2019s Eve, that is, on\nthe thirty-first of December. The change no doubt marks a transition from\nthe ancient to the modern mode of dating the beginning of the year.(625)\n\n(M205) In Lancashire, also, some traces of the old Celtic celebration of\nHallowe\u2019en have been reported in modern times. It is said that \u201cfires are\nstill lighted in Lancashire, on Hallowe\u2019en, under the name of Beltains or\nTeanlas; and even such cakes as the Jews are said to have made in honour\nof the Queen of Heaven, are yet to be found at this season amongst the\ninhabitants of the banks of the Ribble.... Both the fires and the cakes,\nhowever, are now connected with superstitious notions respecting\nPurgatory, etc.\u201d(626) On Hallowe\u2019en, too, the Lancashire maiden \u201cstrews\nthe ashes which are to take the form of one or more letters of her lover\u2019s\nname; she throws hemp-seed over her shoulder and timidly glances to see\nwho follows her.\u201d(627) Again, witches in Lancashire used to gather on\nHallowe\u2019en at the Malkin Tower, a ruined and desolate farm-house in the\nforest of Pendle. They assembled for no good purpose; but you could keep\nthe infernal rout at bay by carrying a lighted candle about the fells from\neleven to twelve o\u2019clock at night. The witches tried to blow out the\ncandle, and if they succeeded, so much the worse for you; but if the flame\nburned steadily till the clocks had struck midnight, you were safe. Some\npeople performed the ceremony by deputy; and parties went about from house\nto house in the evening collecting candles, one for each inmate, and\noffering their services to _late_ or _leet_ the witches, as the phrase\nran. This custom was practised at Longridge Fell in the early part of the\nnineteenth century.(628) In Northumberland on Hallowe\u2019en omens of marriage\nwere drawn from nuts thrown into the fire; and the sports of ducking for\napples and biting at a revolving apple and lighted candle were also\npractised on that evening.(629) The equivalent of the Hallowe\u2019en bonfires\nis reported also from France. We are told that in the department of\nDeux-S\u00e8vres, which forms part of the old province of Poitou, young people\nused to assemble in the fields on All Saints\u2019 Day (the first of November)\nand kindle great fires of ferns, thorns, leaves, and stubble, at which\nthey roasted chestnuts. They also danced round the fires and indulged in\nnoisy pastimes.(630)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 7. The Midwinter Fires.\n\n\n(M206) If the heathen of ancient Europe celebrated, as we have good reason\nto believe, the season of Midsummer with a great festival of fire, of\nwhich the traces have survived in many places down to our own time, it is\nnatural to suppose that they should have observed with similar rites the\ncorresponding season of Midwinter; for Midsummer and Midwinter, or, in\nmore technical language, the summer solstice and the winter solstice, are\nthe two great turning-points in the sun\u2019s apparent course through the sky,\nand from the standpoint of primitive man nothing might seem more\nappropriate than to kindle fires on earth at the two moments when the fire\nand heat of the great luminary in heaven begin to wane or to wax. In this\nway the savage philosopher, to whose meditations on the nature of things\nwe owe many ancient customs and ceremonies, might easily imagine that he\nhelped the labouring sun to relight his dying lamp, or at all events to\nblow up the flame into a brighter blaze. Certain it is that the winter\nsolstice, which the ancients erroneously assigned to the twenty-fifth of\nDecember, was celebrated in antiquity as the Birthday of the Sun, and that\nfestal lights or fires were kindled on this joyful occasion. Our Christmas\nfestival is nothing but a continuation under a Christian name of this old\nsolar festivity; for the ecclesiastical authorities saw fit, about the end\nof the third or the beginning of the fourth century, arbitrarily to\ntransfer the nativity of Christ from the sixth of January to the\ntwenty-fifth of December, for the purpose of diverting to their Lord the\nworship which the heathen had hitherto paid on that day to the sun.(631)\n\n(M207) In modern Christendom the ancient fire-festival of the winter\nsolstice appears to survive, or to have survived down to recent years, in\nthe old custom of the Yule log, clog, or block, as it was variously called\nin England.(632) The custom was widespread in Europe, but seems to have\nflourished especially in England, France, and among the South Slavs; at\nleast the fullest accounts of the custom come from these quarters. That\nthe Yule log was only the winter counterpart of the Midsummer bonfire,\nkindled within doors instead of in the open air on account of the cold and\ninclement weather of the season, was pointed out long ago by our English\nantiquary John Brand;(633) and the view is supported by the many quaint\nsuperstitions attaching to the Yule log, superstitions which have no\napparent connexion with Christianity but carry their heathen origin\nplainly stamped upon them. But while the two solstitial celebrations were\nboth festivals of fire, the necessity or desirability of holding the\nwinter celebration within doors lent it the character of a private or\ndomestic festivity, which contrasts strongly with the publicity of the\nsummer celebration, at which the people gathered on some open space or\nconspicuous height, kindled a huge bonfire in common, and danced and made\nmerry round it together.\n\n(M208) Among the Germans the custom of the Yule log is known to have been\nobserved in the eleventh century; for in the year 1184 the parish priest\nof Ahlen, in M\u00fcnsterland, spoke of \u201cbringing a tree to kindle the festal\nfire at the Lord\u2019s Nativity.\u201d(634) Down to about the middle of the\nnineteenth century the old rite was kept up in some parts of central\nGermany, as we learn from an account of it given by a contemporary writer.\nAfter mentioning the custom of feeding the cattle and shaking the\nfruit-trees on Christmas night, to make them bear fruit, he goes on as\nfollows: \u201cOther customs pointing back to the far-off times of heathendom\nmay still be met with among the old-fashioned peasants of the mountain\nregions. Such is in the valleys of the Sieg and Lahn the practice of\nlaying a new log as a foundation of the hearth. A heavy block of oak-wood,\ngenerally a stump grubbed up from the ground, is fitted either into the\nfloor of the hearth, or into a niche made for the purpose in the wall\nunder the hook on which the kettle hangs. When the fire on the hearth\nglows, this block of wood glows too, but it is so placed that it is hardly\nreduced to ashes within a year. When the new foundation is laid, the\nremains of the old block are carefully taken out, ground to powder, and\nstrewed over the fields during the Twelve Nights. This, so people fancied,\npromotes the fruitfulness of the year\u2019s crops.\u201d(635) In some parts of the\nEifel Mountains, to the west of Coblentz, a log of wood called the\n_Christbrand_ used to be placed on the hearth on Christmas Eve; and the\ncharred remains of it on Twelfth Night were put in the corn-bin to keep\nthe mice from devouring the corn.(636) At Weidenhausen and Girkshausen, in\nWestphalia, the practice was to withdraw the Yule log (_Christbrand_) from\nthe fire so soon as it was slightly charred; it was then kept carefully to\nbe replaced on the fire whenever a thunder-storm broke, because the people\nbelieved that lightning would not strike a house in which the Yule log was\nsmouldering.(637) In some villages near Berleburg in Westphalia the old\ncustom was to tie up the Yule log in the last sheaf cut at harvest.(638)\nOn Christmas Eve the peasantry of the Oberland, in Meiningen, a province\nof Central Germany, used to put a great block of wood called the\n_Christklotz_ on the fire before they went to bed; it should burn all\nnight, and the charred remains were believed to guard the house for the\nwhole year against the risk of fire, burglary, and other misfortunes.(639)\nThe Yule log seems to be known only in the French-speaking parts of\nSwitzerland, where it goes by the usual French name of _B\u00fbche de No\u00ebl_. In\nthe Jura mountains of the canton of Bern, while the log is burning on the\nhearth the people sing a blessing over it as follows:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_May the log burn!_\n    _May all good come in!_\n    _May the women have children_\n    _And the sheep lambs!_\n    _White bread for every one_\n    _And the vat full of wine!_\u201d\n\n\nThe embers of the Yule log were kept carefully, for they were believed to\nbe a protection against lightning.(640)\n\n(M209) \u201cThe Christmas fires, which were formerly lit everywhere in the Low\nCountries, have fallen into disuse. But in Flanders a great log of wood,\ncalled the _kersavondblok_ and usually cut from the roots of a fir or a\nbeech, is still put on the fire; all the lights in the house are\nextinguished, and the whole family gathers round the log to spend part of\nthe night in singing, in telling stories, especially about ghosts,\nwere-wolves, and so on, and also in drinking gin. At Grammont and in the\nneighbourhood of that town, where the Yule log is called _Kersmismot_, it\nis customary to set fire to the remainder of the gin at the moment when\nthe log is reduced to ashes. Elsewhere a piece of the log is kept and put\nunder the bed to protect the house against thunder and lightning. The\ncharcoal of the log which burned during Christmas Night, if pounded up and\nmixed with water, is a cure for consumption. In the country of Limburg the\nlog burns several nights, and the pounded charcoal is kept as a preventive\n(so they say), of toothache.\u201d(641)\n\n(M210) In several provinces of France, and particularly in Provence, the\ncustom of the Yule log or _tr\u00e9foir_, as it was called in many places, was\nlong observed. A French writer of the seventeenth century tells us that on\nChristmas Eve the log was prepared, and when the whole family had\nassembled in the kitchen or parlour of the house, they went and brought it\nin, walking in procession and singing Proven\u00e7al verses to the following\neffect:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201c_Let the log rejoice,_\n    _To-morrow is the day of bread;_\n    _Let all good enter here;_\n    _Let the women bear children;_\n    _Let the she-goats bring forth kids;_\n    _Let the ewes drop lambs;_\n    _Let there be much wheat and flour,_\n    _And the vat full of wine._\u201d\n\n\nThen the log was blessed by the smallest and youngest child of the house,\nwho poured a glass of wine over it saying, _In nomine patris_, etc.; after\nwhich the log was set on the fire. The charcoal of the burnt wood was kept\nthe whole year, and used as an ingredient in several remedies.(642)\n\n(M211) Amongst the superstitions denounced by the same writer is \u201cthe\nbelief that a log called the _trefoir_ or Christmas brand, which you put\non the fire for the first time on Christmas Eve and continue to put on the\nfire for a little while every day till Twelfth Night, can, if kept under\nthe bed, protect the house for a whole year from fire and thunder; that it\ncan prevent the inmates from having chilblains on their heels in winter;\nthat it can cure the cattle of many maladies; that if a piece of it be\nsteeped in the water which cows drink it helps them to calve; and lastly\nthat if the ashes of the log be strewn on the fields it can save the wheat\nfrom mildew.\u201d(643)\n\n(M212) In Marseilles the Yule log used to be a great block of oak, which\nwent by the name of _calendeau_ or _calignau_; it was sprinkled with wine\nand oil, and the head of the house kindled it himself.(644) \u201cThe Yule log\nplays a great part at the festival of the winter solstice in Perigord. The\ncountryman thinks that it is best made of plum-tree, cherry, or oak, and\nthat the larger it is the better. If it burns well, it is a good omen, the\nblessing of heaven rests upon it. The charcoal and ashes, which are\ncollected very carefully, are excellent for healing swollen glands; the\npart of the trunk which has not been burnt in the fire is used by\nploughmen to make the wedge (_t\u00e9coin ou cale_) for their plough, because\nthey allege that it causes the seeds to thrive better; and the women keep\npieces of it till Twelfth Night for the sake of their chickens.\nNevertheless if you sit down on the log, you become subject to boils, and\nto cure yourself of them you must pass nine times under a bramble branch\nwhich happens to be rooted in the ground at both ends. The charcoal heals\nsheep of a disease called the _goumon_; and the ashes, carefully wrapt up\nin white linen, preserve the whole household from accidents. Some people\nthink that they will have as many chickens as there are sparks that fly\nout of the brands of the log when they shake them; and others place the\nextinct brands under the bed to drive away vermin. In Vienne, on Christmas\nEve, when supper is over, the master of the house has a great log\u2014the\nChristmas brand\u2014brought in, and then, surrounded by all the spectators\ngathered in profound silence, he sprinkles salt and water on the log. It\nis then put on the fire to burn during the three festivals; but they\ncarefully preserve a piece to be kindled every time that it\nthunders.\u201d(645) In Berry, a district of Central France, the Yule log was\ncalled the _cosse de Nau_, the last word being an abbreviation of the\nusual French word for Christmas (No\u00ebl). It consisted of an enormous\ntree-trunk, so heavy that the united strength of several men was needed to\ncarry it in and place it on the hearth, where it served to feed the fire\nduring the three days of the Christmas festivity. Strictly speaking, it\nshould be the trunk of an old oak-tree which had never been lopped and had\nbeen felled at midnight. It was placed on the hearth at the moment when\nthe tinkle of the bell announced the elevation of the host at the midnight\nmass; and the head of the family, after sprinkling it with holy water, set\nit on fire. The remains of the log were preserved till the same day next\nyear. They were kept under the bed of the master of the house; and\nwhenever thunder was heard, one of the family would take a piece of the\nlog and throw it on the fire, which was believed to guard the family\nagainst lightning. In the Middle Ages, we are told, several fiefs were\ngranted on condition that the vassal should bring in person a Yule log\nevery year for the hearth of his liege lord.(646)\n\n(M213) Similar customs and beliefs survived till recent years in some of\nthe remote country villages of the picturesque district known as the\nBocage of Normandy. There it was the grandfather or other oldest man of\nthe family who chose the Yule log in good time and had it ready for\nChristmas Eve. Then he placed it on the hearth at the moment when the\nchurch bell began to ring for the evening service. Kneeling reverently at\nthe hearth with the members of his family in a like attitude of devotion,\nthe old man recited three _Pater Nosters_ and three _Aves_, and invoked\nthe blessing of heaven on the log and on the cottage. Then at the sound of\nthe bell which proclaimed the sacrament of the mass, or, if the church was\ntoo far off to allow the tinkle of the bell to be heard, at the moment\nwhen they judged that the priest was elevating the host before the high\naltar, the patriarch sprinkled the burning log with holy water, blessed it\nin the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and drew\nit out of the fire. The charred log was then carefully kept till the\nfollowing Christmas as a precious relic which would guard the house\nagainst the levin bolt, evil spirits, sorcerers, and every misfortune that\nmight befall in the course of the year.(647) In the department of Orne\n\u201cthe Yule-log is called _trefouet_; holy water is poured on it; it should\nlast the three days of the festival, and the remains of it are kept to be\nput on the fire when it thunders. This brand is a protection both against\nthunder and against sorcerers.\u201d(648) In Upper Brittany, also, the Yule log\nis thought to be a safeguard against thunder and lightning. It is\nsprinkled with holy water on Christmas morning and allowed to burn till\nevening. If a piece of it is thrown into the well, it will ensure a supply\nof good water.(649)\n\n(M214)\n\n\u201cIn almost all the families of the Ardennes,\u201d we are told, \u201cat the present\nday they never fail to put the Yule log on the fireplace, but formerly it\nwas the object of a superstitious worship which is now obsolete. The\ncharred remains of it, placed under the pillow or under the house,\npreserved the house from storms, and before it was burned the Virgin used\nto come and sit on it, invisible, swaddling the infant Jesus. At Nouzon,\ntwenty years ago, the traditional log was brought into the kitchen on\nChristmas Eve, and the grandmother, with a sprig of box in her hand,\nsprinkled the log with holy water as soon as the clock struck the first\nstroke of midnight. As she did so she chanted,\n\n\n    \u2018_When Christmas comes,_\n    _Every one should rejoice,_\n    _For it is a New Covenant._\u2019\n\n\nFollowing the grandmother and joining in the song, the children and the\nrest of the family marched thrice round the log, which was as fine a log\nas could be got.\u201d(650) We can now, perhaps, understand why in Perigord\npeople who sat on the Yule log suffered from boils,(651) and why in\nLorraine young folks used to be warned that if they sat on it they would\nhave the scab.(652) The reason probably was that the Virgin and child were\nsupposed to be seated, invisible, upon the log and to resent the indignity\nof contact with mortal children.\n\n(M215) On Christmas Eve the mountaineers of Rupt, in the Vosges, also\nnever fail to put on the hearth the largest log which the hearth can hold;\nthey call it _la galeuche de No\u00eb_, that is, the Yule log. Next morning\nthey rake the ashes for any charred fragments and keep them as valuable\ntalismans to guard them against the stroke of lightning. At Vagney and\nother places near it in the Vosges it used to be customary on the same\nevening to grease the hinges and the latches of the doors, that no harsh\ngrating sound should break the slumbers of the infant Christ. In the\nVosges Mountains, too, as indeed in many other places, cattle acquired the\ngift of speech on Christmas Eve and conversed with each other in the\nlanguage of Christians. Their conversation was, indeed, most instructive;\nfor the future, it seems, had no secret worth mentioning for them. Yet few\npeople cared to be caught eavesdropping at the byre; wise folk contented\nthemselves with setting a good store of fodder in the manger, then shut\nthe door, and left the animals to their ruminations. A farmer of Vecoux\nonce hid in a corner of the byre to overhear the edifying talk of the\nbeasts. But it did him little good; for one ox said to another ox, \u201cWhat\nshall we do to-morrow?\u201d and the other replied, \u201cWe shall carry our master\nto the churchyard.\u201d Sure enough the farmer died that very night and was\nburied next morning.(653) In Franche-Comt\u00e9, the province of France to the\nwest of the Jura mountains, if the Yule log is really to protect a house\nagainst thunder and lightning, it is essential that it should burn during\nthe midnight mass, and that the flame should not go out before the divine\nservice is concluded. Otherwise the log is quite useless for the\npurpose.(654) In Burgundy the log which is placed on the fire on Christmas\nEve is called the _suche_. While it is burning, the father of the family,\nassisted by his wife and children, sings Christmas carols; and when he has\nfinished, he tells the smallest children to go into a corner of the room\nand pray God that the log may give them sweeties. The prayer is invariably\nanswered.(655)\n\n(M216) In England the customs and beliefs concerning the Yule log, clog,\nor block, as it was variously called, used to be similar. On the night of\nChristmas Eve, says the antiquary John Brand, \u201cour ancestors were wont to\nlight up candles of an uncommon size, called Christmas Candles, and lay a\nlog of wood upon the fire, called a Yule-clog or Christmas-block, to\nilluminate the house, and, as it were, to turn night into day. This custom\nis, in some measure, still kept up in the North of England. In the buttery\nof St. John\u2019s College, Oxford, an ancient candle-socket of stone still\nremains ornamented with the figure of the Holy Lamb. It was formerly used\nto burn the Christmas Candle in, on the high table at supper, during the\ntwelve nights of that festival.\u201d(656) \u201cA tall mould candle, called a Yule\ncandle, is lighted and set on the table; these candles are presented by\nthe chandlers and grocers to their customers. The Yule-log is bought of\nthe carpenters\u2019 lads. It would be unlucky to light either of them before\nthe time, or to stir the fire or candle during the supper; the candle must\nnot be snuffed, neither must any one stir from the table till supper is\nended. In these suppers it is considered unlucky to have an odd number at\ntable. A fragment of the log is occasionally saved, and put under a bed,\nto remain till next Christmas: it secures the house from fire; a small\npiece of it thrown into a fire occurring at the house of a neighbour, will\nquell the raging flame. A piece of the candle should likewise be kept to\nensure good luck.\u201d(657) In the seventeenth century, as we learn from some\nverses of Herrick, the English custom was to light the Yule log with a\nfragment of its predecessor, which had been kept throughout the year for\nthe purpose; where it was so kept, the fiend could do no mischief.(658)\nIndeed the practice of preserving a piece of the Yule-log of one year to\nlight that of the next was observed by at least one family at Cheadle in\nStaffordshire down to the latter part of the nineteenth century.(659)\n\n(M217) In the North of England farm-servants used to lay by a large knotty\nblock of wood for the Christmas fire, and so long as the block lasted they\nwere entitled by custom to ale at their meals. The log was as large as the\nhearth could hold.(660) At Belford, in Northumberland, \u201cthe lord of the\nmanor sends round to every house, on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, the\nYule Logs\u2014four or five large logs\u2014to be burnt on Christmas Eve and Day.\nThis old custom has always, I am told, been kept up here.\u201d(661) The custom\nof burning the Yule log at Christmas used to be observed in Wensleydale\nand other parts of Yorkshire, and prudent housewives carefully preserved\npieces of the log throughout the year. At Whitby the portions so kept were\nstowed away under the bed till next Christmas, when they were burnt with\nthe new log; in the interval they were believed to protect the house from\nconflagration, and if one of them were thrown into the fire, it would\nquell a raging storm.(662) The practice and the belief were similar at\nFiley on the coast of Yorkshire, where besides the Yule log a tall Yule\ncandle was lit on the same evening.(663) In the West Riding, while the log\nblazed cheerfully, the people quaffed their ale and sang, \u201cYule! Yule! a\npack of new cards and a Christmas stool!\u201d(664) At Clee, in Lincolnshire,\n\u201cwhen Christmas Eve has come the Yule cake is duly cut and the Yule log\nlit, and I know of some even middle-class houses where the new log must\nalways rest upon and be lighted by the old one, a small portion of which\nhas been carefully stored away to preserve a continuity of light and\nheat.\u201d(665) At the village of Wootton Wawen in Warwickshire, down to 1759\nat least, the Yule-block, as it was called, was drawn into the house by a\nhorse on Christmas Eve \u201cas a foundation for the fire on Christmas Day, and\naccording to the superstition of those times for the twelve days\nfollowing, as the said block was not to be entirely reduc\u2019d to ashes till\nthat time had passed by.\u201d(666) As late as 1830, or thereabout, the scene\nof lighting the hearth-fire on Christmas Eve, to continue burning\nthroughout the Christmas season, might have been witnessed in the secluded\nand beautiful hill-country of West Shropshire, from Chirbury and Worthen\nto Pulverbatch and Pontesbury. The Christmas brand or brund, as they\ncalled it, was a great trunk of seasoned oak, holly, yew, or crab-tree,\ndrawn by horses to the farm-house door and thence rolled by means of\nrollers and levers to the back of the wide open hearth, where the fire was\nmade up in front of it. The embers were raked up to it every night, and it\nwas carefully tended, that it might not go out during the whole Christmas\nseason. All those days no light might be struck, given, or borrowed. Such\nwas the custom at Worthen in the early part of the nineteenth\ncentury.(667) In Herefordshire the Christmas feast \u201clasted for twelve\ndays, and no work was done. All houses were, and are now, decorated with\nsprigs of holly and ivy, which must not be brought in until Christmas Eve.\nA Yule log, as large as the open hearth could accommodate, was brought\ninto the kitchen of each farmhouse, and smaller ones were used in the\ncottages. W\u2014\u2014 P\u2014\u2014 said he had seen a tree drawn into the kitchen at\nKingstone Grange years ago by two cart horses; when it had been consumed a\nsmall portion was carefully kept to be used for lighting next year\u2019s log.\n\u2018Mother always kept it very carefully; she said it was lucky, and kept the\nhouse from fire and from lightning.\u2019 It seems to have been the general\npractice to light it on Christmas Eve.\u201d(668) \u201cIn many parts of Wales it is\nstill customary to keep part of the Yule-log until the following Christmas\nEve \u2018for luck.\u2019 It is then put into the fireplace and burnt, but before it\nis consumed the new log is put on, and thus \u2018the old fire and the new\u2019\nburn together. In some families this is done from force of habit, and they\ncannot now tell why they do it; but in the past the observance of this\ncustom was to keep witches away, and doubtless was a survival of\nfire-worship.\u201d(669)\n\n(M218) But nowhere, apparently, in Europe is the old heathen ritual of the\nYule log preserved to the present day more perfectly than in Servia. At\nearly dawn on Christmas Eve (_Badnyi Dan_) every peasant house sends two\nof its strongest young men to the nearest forest to cut down a young oak\ntree and bring it home. There, after offering up a short prayer or\ncrossing themselves thrice, they throw a handful of wheat on the chosen\noak and greet it with the words, \u201cHappy _Badnyi_ day to you!\u201d Then they\ncut it down, taking care that it shall fall towards the east at the moment\nwhen the sun\u2019s orb appears over the rim of the eastern horizon. Should the\ntree fall towards the west, it would be the worst possible omen for the\nhouse and its inmates in the ensuing year; and it is also an evil omen if\nthe tree should be caught and stopped in its fall by another tree. It is\nimportant to keep and carry home the first chip from the fallen oak. The\ntrunk is sawn into two or three logs, one of them rather longer than the\nothers. A flat, unleavened cake of the purest wheaten flour is brought out\nof the house and broken on the larger of the logs by a woman. The logs are\nleft for the present to stand outside, leaning on one of the walls of the\nhouse. Each of them is called a Yule log (_badnyak_).\n\n(M219) Meanwhile the children and young people go from house to house\nsinging special songs called _Colleda_ because of an old pagan divinity\nColleda, who is invoked in every line. In one of them she is spoken of as\n\u201ca beautiful little maid\u201d; in another she is implored to make the cows\nyield milk abundantly. The day is spent in busy preparations. The women\nbake little cakes of a special sort in the shape of lambs, pigs, and\nchickens; the men make ready a pig for roasting, for in every Servian\nhouse roast pig is the principal dish at Christmas. A bundle of straw,\ntied with a rope, is brought into the courtyard and left to stand there\nnear the Yule logs.\n\n(M220) At the moment when the sun is setting all the members of the family\nassemble in the central hall (the great family kitchen) of the principal\nhouse. The mother of the family (or the wife of the chief of the\nZadrooga)(670) gives a pair of woollen gloves to one of the young men, who\ngoes out and presently returns carrying in his gloved hands the largest of\nthe logs. The mother receives him at the threshold, throwing at him a\nhandful of wheat, in which the first chip of the oak tree cut in the early\nmorning for the Yule log has been kept all day. Entering the central hall\nwith the Yule log the young man greets all present with the words: \u201cGood\nevening, and may you have a happy Christmas!\u201d and they all answer in\nchorus, \u201cMay God and the happy and holy Christmas help thee!\u201d In some\nparts of Servia the chief of the family, holding a glass of red wine in\nhis hand, greets the Yule log as if it were a living person, and drinks to\nits health. After that, another glass of red wine is poured on the log.\nThen the oldest male member of the family, assisted by the young man who\nbrought in the log, places it on the burning fire so that the thicker end\nof the log protrudes for about a foot from the hearth. In some places this\nend is smeared with honey.\n\n(M221) Next the mother of the family brings in the bundle of straw which\nwas left standing outside. All the young children arrange themselves\nbehind her in a row. She then walks slowly round the hall and the\nadjoining rooms, throwing handfuls of straw on the floor and imitating the\ncackling of a hen, while all the children follow her peeping with their\nlips as if they were chickens cheeping and waddling after the mother bird.\nWhen the floor is well strewn with straw, the father or the eldest member\nof the family throws a few walnuts in every corner of the hall,\npronouncing the words: \u201cIn the name of God the Father, and the Son, and\nthe Holy Ghost, Amen!\u201d A large pot, or a small wooden box, filled with\nwheat is placed high in the east corner of the hall, and a tall candle of\nyellow wax is stuck in the middle of the wheat. Then the father of the\nfamily reverently lights the candle and prays God to bless the family with\nhealth and happiness, the fields with a good harvest, the beehives with\nplenty of honey, the cattle and sheep with young, and the cows with\nabundant milk and rich cream. After that they all sit down to supper,\nsquatting on the floor, for the use of chairs and tables is forbidden on\nthis occasion.\n\n(M222) By four o\u2019clock next morning (Christmas Day) the whole village is\nastir; indeed most people do not sleep at all that night. It is deemed\nmost important to keep the Yule log burning brightly all night long. Very\nearly, too, the pig is laid on the fire to roast, and at the same moment\none of the family goes out into the yard and fires a pistol or gun; and\nwhen the roast pig is removed from the fire the shot is repeated. Hence\nfor several hours in the early morning of Christmas Day such a popping and\nbanging of firearms goes on that a stranger might think a stubborn\nskirmish was in progress. Just before the sun rises a girl goes and draws\nwater at the village spring or at the brook. Before she fills her vessels,\nshe wishes the water a happy Christmas and throws a handful of wheat into\nit. The first cupfuls of water she brings home are used to bake a special\nChristmas cake (_chesnitsa_), of which all the members partake at dinner,\nand portions are kept for absent relatives. A small silver coin is baked\nin the cake, and he or she who gets it will be lucky during the year.\n\n(M223) All the family gathered round the blazing Yule log now anxiously\nexpect the arrival of the special Christmas visiter, who bears the title\nof _polaznik_. He is usually a young boy of a friendly family. No other\nperson, not even the priest or the mayor of the village, would be allowed\nto set foot in the house before the arrival of this important personage.\nTherefore he ought to come, and generally does come, very early in the\nmorning. He carries a woollen glove full of wheat, and when the door is\nopened at his knock he throws handfuls of wheat on the family gathered\nround the hearth, greeting them with the words, \u201cChrist is born!\u201d They all\nanswer, \u201cHe is born indeed,\u201d and the hostess flings a handful of wheat\nover the Christmas visiter, who moreover casts some of his wheat into the\ncorners of the hall as well as upon the people. Then he walks straight to\nthe hearth, takes a shovel and strikes the burning log so that a cloud of\nsparks flies up the chimney, while he says, \u201cMay you have this year so\nmany oxen, so many horses, so many sheep, so many pigs, so many beehives\nfull of honey, so much good luck, prosperity, progress, and happiness!\u201d\nHaving uttered these good wishes, he embraces and kisses his host. Then he\nturns again to the hearth, and after crossing himself falls on his knees\nand kisses the projecting part of the Yule log. On rising to his feet he\nplaces a coin on the log as his gift. Meanwhile a low wooden chair has\nbeen brought in by a woman, and the visiter is led to it to take his seat.\nBut just as he is about to do so, the chair is jerked away from under him\nby a male member of the family and he measures his length on the floor. By\nthis fall he is supposed to fix into the ground all the good wishes which\nhe has uttered that morning. The hostess thereupon wraps him in a thick\nblanket, and he sits quietly muffled in it for a few minutes; the thick\nblanket in which he is swathed is believed, on the principles of\nhomoeopathic magic, to ensure that the cows will give thick cream the next\nyear. While he sits thus enriching the milk of the dairy, the lads who are\nto herd the sheep in the coming year go to the hearth and kneeling down\nbefore it kiss each other across the projecting end of the Yule log. By\nthis demonstration of affection they are thought to seal the love of the\newes for their lambs.(671)\n\n(M224) The ritual of the Yule log is observed in a similar form by the\nServians who inhabit the southern provinces of Austria. Thus in Syrmia, a\ndistrict of Slavonia which borders on Servia, the head of the house sends\nout one or two young men on Christmas Eve to cut the Yule log in the\nnearest forest. On being brought in, the log is not mixed with the\nordinary fuel but placed by itself, generally leaning against a fruit-tree\ntill the evening shadows begin to fall. When a man carries it into the\nkitchen and lays it on the fire, the master of the house throws corn over\nhim, and the two greet each other solemnly, the one saying, \u201cChrist is\nborn,\u201d and the other answering, \u201cHe is born indeed.\u201d Later in the evening\nthe master of the house pours a glass of wine on the charred end of the\nlog, whereupon one of the younger men takes the burnt piece of wood,\ncarries it to the orchard, and sets it up against one of the fruit-trees.\nFor this service he is rewarded by the master of the house with a piece of\nmoney. On Christmas Day, when the family is assembled at table, they\nexpect the arrival of the special Christmas visiter (called _polazenik_),\nthe only person who is allowed to enter the house that day. When he comes,\nhe goes to the hearth, stirs the fire with the poker and says, \u201cChrist is\nborn. May the family enjoy all good luck and happiness in this year! May\nthe cattle increase in number like the sparks I have struck!\u201d As he says\nthese words, the mistress of the house pours corn over him and leads him\nto the parlour, where he takes the place of honour beside the master of\nthe house. He is treated with marked attention and respect. The family are\nat pains to entertain him; they sing their best songs for his amusement,\nand after midnight a numerous band of men and maidens escorts him by\ntorchlight, with songs and jubilation, to his own house.(672)\n\n(M225) Among the Servians of Dalmatia, Herzegovina, and Montenegro it is\ncustomary on Christmas Eve (_Badnyi Dan_) to fetch a great Yule log\n(_badnyak_), which serves as a symbol of family luck. It is generally cut\nfrom an evergreen oak, but sometimes from an olive-tree or a beech. At\nnightfall the master of the house himself brings in the log and lays it on\nthe fire. Then he and all present bare their heads, sprinkle the log with\nwine, and make a cross on it. After that the master of the house says,\n\u201cWelcome, O log! May God keep you from mishap!\u201d So saying he strews peas,\nmaize, raisins, and wheat on the log, praying for God\u2019s blessing on all\nmembers of the family living and dead, for heaven\u2019s blessing on their\nundertakings, and for domestic prosperity. In Montenegro they meet the log\nwith a loaf of bread and a jug of wine, drink to it, and pour wine on it,\nwhereupon the whole family drinks out of the same beaker. In Dalmatia and\nother places, for example in Rizano, the Yule logs are decked by young\nwomen with red silk, flowers, laurel leaves, ribbons, and even gold wire;\nand the lights near the doorposts are kindled when the log is brought into\nthe house. Among the Morlaks, as soon as the master of the house crosses\nthe threshold with the Yule log, one of the family must sprinkle corn on\nhim and say, \u201cGod bless you,\u201d to which he answers, \u201cThe same to you.\u201d A\npiece of the log is kept till New Year\u2019s Day to kindle a light with or it\nis carried out to the fields to protect them from hail. It is customary to\ninvite before hand a Christmas visiter (_pola\u017eaynik_) and to admit no one\nelse into the house on that day. He comes early, carrying in his sleeves a\nquantity of corn which he throws into the house, saying, \u201cChrist is born.\u201d\nOne of the household replies, \u201cHe is born indeed,\u201d and throws corn on the\nvisiter. Then the newcomer goes up to the hearth, pokes the fire and\nstrikes the burning log with the poker so hard that sparks fly off in all\ndirections. At each blow he says, \u201cI wish the family as many cows, calves,\nsucking pigs, goats, and sheep, and as many strokes of good luck, as the\nsparks that now fly from the log.\u201d With these words he throws some small\ncoins into the ashes.(673) In Albania down to recent years it was a common\ncustom to burn a Yule log at Christmas, and with it corn, maize, and\nbeans; moreover, wine and _rakia_ were poured on the flames, and the ashes\nof the fire were scattered on the fields to make them fertile.(674) The\nHuzuls, a Slavonic people of the Carpathians, kindle fire by the friction\nof wood on Christmas Eve (Old Style, the fifth of January) and keep it\nburning till Twelfth Night.(675)\n\n(M226) It is remarkable how common the belief appears to have been that\nthe remains of the Yule-log, if kept throughout the year, had power to\nprotect the house against fire and especially against lightning.(676) As\nthe Yule log was frequently of oak,(677) it seems possible that this\nbelief may be a relic of the old Aryan creed which associated the oak-tree\nwith the god of thunder.(678) Whether the curative and fertilizing virtues\nascribed to the ashes of the Yule log, which are supposed to heal cattle\nas well as men, to enable cows to calve, and to promote the fruitfulness\nof the earth,(679) may not be derived from the same ancient source, is a\nquestion which deserves to be considered.\n\n(M227) Thus far we have regarded only the private or domestic celebration\nof the fire-festival at midwinter. The public celebration of such rites at\nthat season of the year appears to have been rare and exceptional in\nCentral and Northern Europe. However, some instances are on record. Thus\nat Schweina, in Thuringia, down to the second half of the nineteenth\ncentury, the young people used to kindle a great bonfire on the Antonius\nMountain every year on Christmas Eve. Neither the civil nor the\necclesiastical authorities were able to suppress the celebration; nor\ncould the cold, rain, and snow of the season damp or chill the enthusiasm\nof the celebrants. For some time before Christmas the young men and boys\nwere busy building a foundation for the bonfire on the top of the\nmountain, where the oldest church of the village used to stand. The\nfoundation consisted of a pyramidal structure composed of stones, turf,\nand moss. When Christmas Eve came round, a strong pole, with bundles of\nbrushwood tied to it, was erected on the pyramid. The young folk also\nprovided themselves with poles to which old brooms or faggots of shavings\nwere attached. These were to serve as torches. When the evening grew dark\nand the church bells rang to service, the troop of lads ascended the\nmountain; and soon from the top the glare of the bonfire lit up the\ndarkness, and the sound of a hymn broke the stillness of night. In a\ncircle round the great fire lesser fires were kindled; and last of all the\nlads ran about swinging their lighted torches, till these twinkling points\nof fire, moving down the mountain-side, went out one by one in the\ndarkness. At midnight the bells rang out from the church tower, mingled\nwith the blast of horns and the sound of singing. Feasting and revelry\nwere kept up throughout the night, and in the morning young and old went\nto early mass to be edified by hearing of the light eternal.(680)\n\n(M228) In the Bocage of Normandy the peasants used to repair, often from a\ndistance of miles, to the churches to hear the midnight mass on Christmas\nEve. They marched in procession by torchlight, chanting Christmas carols,\nand the fitful illumination of the woods, the hedges, and the fields as\nthey moved through the darkness, presented a succession of picturesque\nscenes. Mention is also made of bonfires kindled on the heights; the\ncustom is said to have been observed at Athis near Cond\u00e9 down to recent\nyears.(681)\n\n(M229) In the Isle of Man, \u201con the twenty-first of December, a day\ndedicated to Saint Thomas, the people went to the mountains to catch deer\nand sheep for Christmas, and in the evenings always kindled a large fire\non the top of every _fingan_ or cliff. Hence, at the time of casting\npeats, every one laid aside a large one, saying, \u2018_Faaid mooar moayney son\noie\u2019l fingan_\u2019; that is, \u2018a large turf for Fingan Eve.\u2019 \u201d(682) At\nBurghead, an ancient village on the southern shore of the Moray Firth,\nabout nine miles from the town of Elgin, a festival of fire called \u201cthe\nBurning of the Clavie\u201d has been celebrated from time immemorial on\nHogmanay, the last day of December. A tar-barrel is sawn in two, one half\nof it is set on the top of a stout pole, and filled with tar and other\ncombustibles. The half-barrel is fastened to the pole by means of a long\nnail, which is made for the purpose and furnished gratuitously by the\nvillage blacksmith. The nail must be knocked in with a stone; the use of a\nhammer is forbidden. When the shades of evening have begun to fall, the\nClavie, as it is called, is set on fire by means of a burning peat, which\nis always fetched from the same house; it may not be kindled with a match.\nAs soon as it is in a blaze, it is shouldered by a man, who proceeds to\ncarry it at a run, flaring and dripping melted tar, round the old\nboundaries of the village; the modern part of the town is not included in\nthe circuit. Close at his heels follows a motley crowd, cheering and\nshouting. One bearer relieves another as each wearies of his burden. The\nfirst to shoulder the Clavie, which is esteemed an honour, is usually a\nman who has been lately married. Should the bearer stumble or fall, it is\ndeemed a very ill omen for him and for the village. In bygone times it was\nthought necessary that one man should carry it all round the village;\nhence the strongest man was chosen for the purpose. Moreover it was\ncustomary to carry the burning Clavie round every fishing-boat and vessel\nin the harbour; but this part of the ceremony was afterwards discontinued.\nFinally, the blazing tar-barrel is borne to a small hill called the\nDoorie, which rises near the northern end of the promontory. Here the pole\nis fixed into a socket in a pillar of freestone, and fresh fuel is heaped\nupon the flames, which flare up higher and brighter than ever. Formerly\nthe Clavie was allowed to burn here the whole night, but now, after\nblazing for about half an hour, it is lifted from the socket and thrown\ndown the western slope of the hill. Then the crowd rushes upon it,\ndemolishes it, and scrambles for the burning, smoking embers, which they\ncarry home and carefully preserve as charms to protect them against\nwitchcraft and misfortune.(683) The great antiquity of Burghead, where\nthis curious and no doubt ancient festival is still annually observed,\nappears from the remains of a very remarkable rampart which formerly\nencircled the place. It consists of a mound of earth faced on both sides\nwith a solid wall of stone and strengthened internally by oak beams and\nplanks, the whole being laid on a foundation of boulders. The style of the\nrampart agrees in general with Caesar\u2019s description of the mode in which\nthe Gauls constructed their walls of earth, stone, and logs,(684) and it\nresembles the ruins of Gallic fortifications which have been discovered in\nFrance, though it is said to surpass them in the strength and solidity of\nits structure. No similar walls appear to be known in Britain. A great\npart of this interesting prehistoric fortress was barbarously destroyed in\nthe early part of the nineteenth century, much of it being tumbled into\nthe sea and many of the stones used to build the harbour piers.(685)\n\n(M230) In Lerwick, the capital of the Shetland Islands, \u201con Christmas Eve,\nthe fourth of January,\u2014for the old style is still observed\u2014the children go\n_a guizing_, that is to say, they disguising themselves in the most\nfantastic and gaudy costumes, parade the streets, and infest the houses\nand shops, begging for the wherewithal to carry on their Christmas\namusements. One o\u2019clock on Yule morning having struck, the young men turn\nout in large numbers, dressed in the coarsest of garments, and, at the\ndouble-quick march, drag huge tar barrels through the town, shouting and\ncheering as they go, or blowing loud blasts with their \u2018louder horns.\u2019 The\ntar barrel simply consists of several\u2014say from four to eight\u2014tubs filled\nwith tar and chips, placed on a platform of wood. It is dragged by means\nof a chain, to which scores of jubilant youths readily yoke themselves.\nThey have recently been described by the worthy burgh officer of Lerwick\nas \u2018fiery chariots, the effect of which is truly grand and terrific.\u2019 In a\nChristmas morning the dark streets of Lerwick are generally lighted up by\nthe bright glare, and its atmosphere blackened by the dense smoke of six\nor eight tar barrels in succession. On the appearance of daybreak, at six\nA.M., the morning revellers put off their coarse garments\u2014well begrimed by\nthis time\u2014and in their turn become guizards. They assume every imaginable\nform of costume\u2014those of soldiers, sailors, highlanders, Spanish\nchevaliers, etc. Thus disguised, they either go in pairs, as man and wife,\nor in larger groups, and proceed to call on their friends, to wish them\nthe compliments of the season. Formerly, these adolescent guizards used to\nseat themselves in crates, and accompanied by fiddlers, were dragged\nthrough the town.\u201d(686)\n\n(M231) The Persians used to celebrate a festival of fire called _Sada_ or\n_Saza_ at the winter solstice. On the longest night of the year they\nkindled bonfires everywhere, and kings and princes tied dry grass to the\nfeet of birds and animals, set fire to the grass, and then let the birds\nand beasts fly or run blazing through the air or over the fields and\nmountains, so that the whole air and earth appeared to be on fire.(687)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 8. The Need-fire.\n\n\n(M232) The fire-festivals hitherto described are all celebrated\nperiodically at certain stated times of the year. But besides these\nregularly recurring celebrations the peasants in many parts of Europe have\nbeen wont from time immemorial to resort to a ritual of fire at irregular\nintervals in seasons of distress and calamity, above all when their cattle\nwere attacked by epidemic disease. No account of the popular European\nfire-festivals would be complete without some notice of these remarkable\nrites, which have all the greater claim on our attention because they may\nperhaps be regarded as the source and origin of all the other\nfire-festivals; certainly they must date from a very remote antiquity. The\ngeneral name by which they are known among the Teutonic peoples is\nneed-fire.(688)\n\n(M233) The history of the need-fire can be traced back to the early Middle\nAges; for in the reign of Pippin, King of the Franks, the practice of\nkindling need-fires was denounced as a heathen superstition by a synod of\nprelates and nobles held under the presidency of Boniface, Archbishop of\nMainz.(689) Not long afterwards the custom was again forbidden, along with\nmany more relics of expiring paganism, in an \u201cIndex of Superstitions and\nHeathenish Observances,\u201d which has been usually referred to the year 743\nA.D., though some scholars assign it a later date under the reign of\nCharlemagne.(690) In Germany the need-fires would seem to have been\npopular down to the second half of the nineteenth century. Thus in the\nyear 1598, when a fatal cattle-plague was raging at Neustadt, near\nMarburg, a wise man of the name of Joh. K\u00f6hler induced the authorities of\nthe town to adopt the following remedy. A new waggon-wheel was taken and\ntwirled round an axle, which had never been used before, until the\nfriction elicited fire. With this fire a bonfire was next kindled between\nthe gates of the town, and all the cattle were driven through the smoke\nand flames. Moreover, every householder had to rekindle the fire on his\nhearth by means of a light taken from the bonfire. Strange to say, this\nsalutary measure had no effect whatever in staying the cattle-plague, and\nseven years later the sapient Joh. K\u00f6hler himself was burnt as a witch.\nThe farmers, whose pigs and cows had derived no benefit from the\nneed-fire, perhaps assisted as spectators at the burning, and, while they\nshook their heads, agreed among themselves that it served Joh. K\u00f6hler\nperfectly right.(691) According to a writer who published his book about\nnine years afterwards, some of the Germans, especially in the Wassgaw\nmountains, confidently believed that a cattle-plague could be stayed by\ndriving the animals through a need-fire which had been kindled by the\nviolent friction of a pole on a quantity of dry oak wood; but it was a\nnecessary condition of success that all fires in the village should\npreviously be extinguished with water, and any householder who failed to\nput out his fire was heavily fined.(692)\n\n(M234) The method of kindling the need-fire is described as follows by a\nwriter towards the end of the seventeenth century: \u201cWhen an evil plague\nhas broken out among the cattle, large and small, and the herds have\nthereby suffered great ravages, the peasants resolve to light a need-fire.\nOn a day appointed there must be no single flame in any house nor on any\nhearth. From every house a quantity of straw and water and underwood must\nbe brought forth; then a strong oaken pole is fixed firmly in the earth, a\nhole is bored in it, and a wooden winch, well smeared with pitch and tar,\nis inserted in the hole and turned round forcibly till great heat and then\nfire is generated. The fire so produced is caught in fuel and fed with\nstraw, heath, and underwood till it bursts out into a regular need-fire,\nwhich must then be somewhat spread out between walls or fences, and the\ncattle and horses driven through it twice or thrice with sticks and whips.\nOthers set up two posts, each with a hole in it, and insert a winch, along\nwith old greasy rags, in the holes. Others use a thick rope, collect nine\nkinds of wood, and keep them in violent motion till fire leaps forth.\nPerhaps there may be other ways of generating or kindling this fire, but\nthey are all directed simply at the cure of the cattle. After passing\ntwice or thrice through the fire the cattle are driven to their stalls or\nto pasture, and the heap of wood that had been collected is destroyed, but\nin some places every householder must take with him a brand, extinguish it\nin a washing-tub or trough, and put it in the manger where the cattle are\nfed, where it must lie for some time. The poles that were used to make the\nneed-fire, together with the wood that was employed as a winch, are\nsometimes burned with the rest of the fuel, sometimes carefully preserved\nafter the cattle have been thrice driven through the flames.\u201d(693)\n\n(M235) Sometimes the need-fire was known as the \u201cwild fire,\u201d to\ndistinguish it no doubt from the tame fire produced by more ordinary\nmethods. The following is Grimm\u2019s account of the mode of kindling it which\nprevailed in some parts of Central Germany, particularly about Hildesheim,\ndown apparently to the first half of the nineteenth century: \u201cIn many\nplaces of Lower Saxony, especially among the mountains, the custom\nprevails of preparing the so-called \u2018wild fire\u2019 for the purpose of\npreventing cattle-plague; and through it first the pigs, then the cows,\nand last of all the geese are driven. The proceedings on the occasion are\nas follows. The principal farmers and parishioners assemble, and notice is\nserved to every inhabitant to extinguish entirely all fire in his house,\nso that not even a spark remains alight in the whole village. Then young\nand old repair to a road in a hollow, usually towards evening, the women\ncarrying linen, and the men wood and tow. Two oaken poles are driven into\nthe ground about a foot and a half from each other. Each pole has in the\nside facing the other a socket into which a cross-piece as thick as a\nman\u2019s arm is fitted. The sockets are stuffed with linen, and the\ncross-piece is rammed in as tight as possible, while the poles are bound\ntogether at the top by ropes. A rope is wound about the round, smooth\ncross-piece, and the free ends of the rope at both sides are gripped by\nseveral persons, who pull the cross-piece to and fro with the utmost\nrapidity, till through the friction the linen in the sockets takes fire.\nThe sparks of the linen are immediately caught in tow or oakum and waved\nabout in a circle until they burst into a bright glow, when straw is\napplied to it, and the flaming straw used to kindle the brushwood which\nhas been stacked in piles in the hollow way. When this wood has blazed up\nand the fire has nearly died out again, the people hasten to the herds,\nwhich have been waiting in the background, and drive them forcibly, one\nafter the other, through the glow. As soon as all the beasts are through,\nthe young folk rush wildly at the ashes and cinders, sprinkling and\nblackening each other with them; those who have been most sprinkled and\nblackened march in triumph behind the cattle into the village and do not\nwash themselves for a long time. If after long rubbing the linen should\nnot catch fire, they guess that there is still fire somewhere in the\nvillage; then a strict search is made from house to house, any fire that\nmay be found is put out, and the householder is punished or upbraided. The\n\u2018wild fire\u2019 must be made by prolonged friction; it may not be struck with\nflint and steel. Some villages do not prepare it yearly as a preventive of\ncattle-plague, but only kindle it when the disease has actually broken\nout.\u201d(694) In the Halberstadt district the ends of the rope which was used\nto make the cross-piece revolve in the sockets had to be pulled by two\nchaste young men.(695)\n\n(M236) In the Mark down to the first half of the nineteenth century the\npractice was similar. We read that \u201cin many parts of the Mark there still\nprevails on certain occasions the custom of kindling a need-fire, it\nhappens particularly when a farmer has sick pigs. Two posts of dry wood\nare planted in the earth amid solemn silence before the sun rises, and\nround these posts hempen ropes are pulled to and fro till the wood\nkindles; whereupon the fire is fed with dry leaves and twigs and the sick\nbeasts are driven through it. In some places the fire is produced by the\nfriction of an old cart-wheel.\u201d(696)\n\n(M237) In Mecklenburg the need-fire used to be lighted by the friction of\na rope wound about an oaken pole or by rubbing two boards against each\nother. Having been thus elicited, the flame was fed with wood of seven\nkinds. The practice was forbidden by Gustavus Adolphus, Duke of\nMecklenburg, in 1682; but the prohibition apparently had little effect,\nfor down to the end of the eighteenth century the custom was so common\nthat the inhabitants even of large towns made no scruple of resorting to\nit. For example, in the month of July 1792 sickness broke out among the\ncattle belonging to the town of Sternberg; some of the beasts died\nsuddenly, and so the people resolved to drive all the survivors through a\nneed-fire. On the tenth day of July the magistrates issued a proclamation\nannouncing that next morning before sunrise a need-fire would be kindled\nfor the behoof of all the cattle of the town, and warning all the\ninhabitants against lighting fires in their kitchens that evening. So next\nmorning very early, about two o\u2019clock, nearly the whole population was\nastir, and having assembled outside one of the gates of the town they\nhelped to drive the timid cattle, not without much ado, through three\nseparate need-fires; after which they dispersed to their homes in the\nunalterable conviction that they had rescued the cattle from destruction.\nBut to make assurance doubly sure they deemed it advisable to administer\nthe rest of the ashes as a bolus to the animals. However, some people in\nMecklenburg used to strew the ashes of the need-fire on fields for the\npurpose of protecting the crops against vermin. As late as June 1868 a\ntraveller in Mecklenburg saw a couple of peasants sweating away at a rope,\nwhich they were pulling backwards and forwards so as to make a tarry\nroller revolve with great speed in the socket of an upright post. Asked\nwhat they were about, they vouchsafed no reply; but an old woman who\nappeared on the scene from a neighbouring cottage was more communicative.\nIn the fulness of her heart she confided to the stranger that her pigs\nwere sick, that the two taciturn bumpkins were her sons, who were busy\nextracting a need-fire from the roller, and that, when they succeeded, the\nflame would be used to ignite a heap of rags and brushwood, through which\nthe ailing swine would be driven. She further explained that the persons\nwho kindle a need-fire should always be two brothers or at least bear the\nsame Christian name.(697)\n\n(M238) In the summer of 1828 there was much sickness among the pigs and\nthe cows of Eddesse, a village near Meinersen, in the south of Hanover.\nWhen all ordinary measures to arrest the malady failed, the farmers met in\nsolemn conclave on the village green and determined that next morning\nthere should be a need-fire. Thereupon the head man of the village sent\nword from house to house that on the following day nobody should kindle a\nfire before sunrise, and that everybody should stand by ready to drive out\nthe cattle. The same afternoon all the necessary preparations were made\nfor giving effect to the decision of the collective wisdom. A narrow\nstreet was enclosed with planks, and the village carpenter set to work at\nthe machinery for kindling the fire. He took two posts of oak wood, bored\na hole about three inches deep and broad in each, and set the two poles up\nfacing each other at a distance of about two feet. Then he fitted a roller\nof oak wood into the two holes of the posts, so that it formed a\ncross-piece between them. About two o\u2019clock next morning every householder\nbrought a bundle of straw and brushwood and laid it down across the street\nin a prescribed order. The sturdiest swains who could be found were chosen\nto make the need-fire. For this purpose a long hempen rope was wound twice\nround the oaken roller in the oaken posts: the pivots were well smeared\nwith pitch and tar: a bundle of tow and other tinder was laid close at\nhand, and all was ready. The stalwart clodhoppers now seized the two ends\nof the rope and went to work with a will. Puffs of smoke soon issued from\nthe sockets, but to the consternation of the bystanders not a spark of\nfire could be elicited. Some people openly declared their suspicion that\nsome rascal had not put out the fire in his house, when suddenly the\ntinder burst into flame. The cloud passed away from all faces; the fire\nwas applied to the heaps of fuel, and when the flames had somewhat died\ndown, the herds were forcibly driven through the fire, first the pigs,\nnext the cows, and last of all the horses. The herdsmen then drove the\nbeasts to pasture, and persons whose faith in the efficacy of the\nneed-fire was particularly robust carried home brands.(698)\n\n(M239) Again, at a village near Quedlinburg, in the Harz Mountains, it was\nresolved to put a herd of sick swine through the need-fire. Hearing of\nthis intention the Superintendent of Quedlinburg hurried to the spot and\nhas described for us what he saw. The beadles went from house to house to\nsee that there was no fire in any house; for it is well known that should\nthere be common fire burning in a house the need-fire will not kindle. The\nmen made their rounds very early in the morning to make quite sure that\nall lights were out. At two o\u2019clock a night-light was still burning in the\nparsonage, and this was of course a hindrance to the need-fire. The\npeasants knocked at the window and earnestly entreated that the\nnight-light might be extinguished. But the parson\u2019s wife refused to put\nthe light out; it still glimmered at the window; and in the darkness\noutside the angry rustics vowed that the parson\u2019s pigs should get no\nbenefit of the need-fire. However, as good luck would have it, just as the\nmorning broke, the night-light went out of itself, and the hopes of the\npeople revived. From every house bundles of straw, tow, faggots and so\nforth were now carried to feed the bonfire. The noise and the cheerful\nbustle were such that you might have thought they were all hurrying to\nwitness a public execution. Outside the village, between two garden walls,\nan oaken post had been driven into the ground and a hole bored through it.\nIn the hole a wooden winch, smeared with tar, was inserted and made to\nrevolve with such force and rapidity that fire and smoke in time issued\nfrom the socket. The collected fuel was then thrown upon the fire and soon\na great blaze shot up. The pigs were now driven into the upper end of the\nstreet. As soon as they saw the fire, they turned tail, but the peasants\ndrove them through with shrieks and shouts and lashes of whips. At the\nother end of the street there was another crowd waiting, who chased the\nswine back through the fire a second time. Then the other crowd repeated\nthe man\u0153uvre, and the herd of swine was driven for the third time through\nthe smoke and flames. That was the end of the performance. Many pigs were\nscorched so severely that they gave up the ghost. The bonfire was broken\nup, and every householder took home with him a brand, which he washed in\nthe water-barrel and laid for some time, as a treasure of great price, in\nthe manger from which the cattle were fed. But the parson\u2019s wife had\nreason bitterly to repent her folly in refusing to put out that\nnight-light; for not one of her pigs was driven through the need-fire, so\nthey died.(699)\n\n(M240) In Brunswick, also, the need-fire is known to have been repeatedly\nkindled during the nineteenth century. After driving the pigs through the\nfire, which was kindled by the friction of wood, some people took brands\nhome, dipped them in water, and then gave the water to the pigs to drink,\nno doubt for the purpose of inoculating them still more effectually with\nthe precious virtue of the need-fire. In the villages of the Dr\u00f6mling\ndistrict everybody who bore a hand in kindling the \u201cwild fire\u201d must have\nthe same Christian name; otherwise they laboured in vain. The fire was\nproduced by the friction of a rope round the beams of a door; and bread,\ncorn, and old boots contributed their mites to swell the blaze through\nwhich the pigs as usual were driven. In one place, apparently not far from\nWolfenb\u00fcttel, the need-fire is said to have been kindled, contrary to\ncustom, by the smith striking a spark from the cold anvil.(700) At\nGandersheim down to about the beginning of the nineteenth century the\nneed-fire was lit in the common way by causing a cross-bar to revolve\nrapidly on its axis between two upright posts. The rope which produced the\nrevolution of the bar had to be new, but it was if possible woven from\nthreads taken from a gallows-rope, with which people had been hanged.\nWhile the need-fire was being kindled in this fashion, every other fire in\nthe town had to be put out; search was made through the houses, and any\nfire discovered to be burning was extinguished. If in spite of every\nprecaution no flame could be elicited by the friction of the rope, the\nfailure was set down to witchcraft; but if the efforts were successful, a\nbonfire was lit with the new fire, and when the flames had died down, the\nsick swine were driven thrice through the glowing embers.(701) On the\nlower Rhine the need-fire is said to have been kindled by the friction of\noak-wood on fir-wood, all fires in the village having been previously\nextinguished. The bonfires so kindled were composed of wood of nine\ndifferent sorts; there were three such bonfires, and the cattle were\ndriven round them with great gravity and devotion.(702)\n\n(M241) In Silesia, also, need-fires were often employed for the purpose of\ncuring a murrain or preventing its spread. While all other lights within\nthe boundaries were extinguished, the new fire was produced by the\nfriction of nine kinds of wood, and the flame so obtained was used to\nkindle heaps of brushwood or straw to which every inhabitant had\ncontributed. Through these fires the cattle, both sick and sound, were\ndriven in the confident expectation that thereby the sick would be healed\nand the sound saved from sickness.(703) When plague breaks out among the\nherds at Dobischwald, in Austrian Silesia, a splinter of wood is chipped\nfrom the threshold of every house, the cattle are driven to a cross-road,\nand there a tree, growing at the boundary, is felled by a pair of twin\nbrothers. The wood of the tree and the splinters from the thresholds\nfurnish the fuel of a bonfire, which is kindled by the rubbing of two\npieces of wood together. When the bonfire is ablaze, the horns of the\ncattle are pared and the parings thrown into the flames, after which the\nanimals are driven through the fire. This is believed to guard the herd\nagainst the plague.(704) The Germans of Western Bohemia resort to similar\nmeasures for staying a murrain. You set up a post, bore a hole in it, and\ninsert in the hole a stick, which you have first of all smeared with pitch\nand wrapt in inflammable stuffs. Then you wind a rope round the stick and\ngive the two ends of the rope to two persons who must either be brothers\nor have the same baptismal name. They haul the rope backwards and forwards\nso as to make the tarred stick revolve rapidly till the rope first smokes\nand then emits sparks. The sparks are used to kindle a bonfire, through\nwhich the cattle are driven in the usual way. And as usual no other fire\nmay burn in the village while the need-fire is being kindled; for\notherwise the rope could not possibly be ignited.(705) In Upper Austria\nsick pigs are reported to have been driven through a need-fire about the\nbeginning of the nineteenth century.(706)\n\n(M242) The need-fire is still in use in some parts of Switzerland, but it\nseems to have degenerated into a children\u2019s game and to be employed rather\nfor the dispersal of a mist than for the prevention or cure of\ncattle-plague. In some cantons it goes by the name of \u201cmist-healing,\u201d\nwhile in others it is called \u201cbutter-churning.\u201d On a misty or rainy day a\nnumber of children will shut themselves up in a stable or byre and proceed\nto make fire for the purpose of improving the weather. The way in which\nthey make it is this. A boy places a board against his breast, takes a peg\npointed at both ends, and, setting one end of the peg against the board on\nhis breast, presses the other end firmly against a second board, the\nsurface of which has been flaked into a nap. A string is tied round the\npeg, and two other boys pull it to and fro, till through the rapid motion\nof the point of the peg a hole is burnt in the flaked board, to which tow\nor dry moss is then applied as a tinder. In this way fire and smoke are\nelicited, and with their appearance the children fancy that the mist will\nvanish.(707) We may conjecture that this method of dispersing a mist,\nwhich is now left to children, was formerly practised in all seriousness\nby grown men in Switzerland. It is thus that religious or magical rites\ndwindle away into the sports of children. In the canton of the Grisons\nthere is still in common use an imprecation, \u201cMist, go away, or I\u2019ll heal\nyou,\u201d which points to an old custom of burning up the fog with fire. A\nlonger form of the curse lingers in the Vall\u00e9e des Bagnes of the canton\nValais. It runs thus: \u201cMist, mist, fly, fly, or St. Martin will come with\na sheaf of straw to burn your guts, a great log of wood to smash your\nbrow, and an iron chain to drag you to hell.\u201d(708)\n\n(M243) In Sweden the need-fire is called, from the mode of its production,\neither _vrid-eld_, \u201cturned fire,\u201d or _gnid-eld_, \u201crubbed fire.\u201d Down to\nnear the end of the eighteenth century the need-fire was kindled, as in\nGermany, by the violent rubbing of two pieces of wood against each other;\nsometimes nine different kinds of wood were used for the purpose. The\nsmoke of the fire was deemed salutary; fruit-trees and nets were fumigated\nwith it, in order that the trees might bear fruit and the nets catch fish.\nCattle were also driven through the smoke.(709) In Sundal, a narrow\nNorwegian valley, shut in on both sides by precipitous mountains, there\nlived down to the second half of the nineteenth century an old man who was\nvery superstitious. He set salmon-traps in the river Driva, which\ntraverses the valley, and he caught many fish both in spring and autumn.\nWhen his fishing went wrong, he kindled _naueld_ (\u201cneed-fire\u201d) or\n_gnideild_ (\u201crubbed fire,\u201d \u201cfriction fire\u201d) to counteract the witchcraft,\nwhich he believed to be the cause of his bad luck. He set up two planks\nnear each other, bored a hole in each, inserted a pointed rod in the\nholes, and twisted a long cord round the rod. Then he pulled the cord so\nas to make the rod revolve rapidly. Thus by reason of the friction he at\nlast drew fire from the wood. That contented him, for \u201che believed that\nthe witchery was thus rendered powerless, and that good luck in his\nfishing was now ensured.\u201d(710)\n\n(M244) Slavonic peoples hold the need-fire in high esteem. They call it\n\u201cliving fire,\u201d and attribute to it a healing virtue. The ascription of\nmedicinal power to fire kindled by the friction of wood is said to be\nespecially characteristic of the Slavs who inhabit the Carpathian\nMountains and the Balkan peninsula. The mode in which they produce the\nneed-fire differs somewhat in different places. Thus in the Schar\nmountains of Servia the task is entrusted to a boy and girl between eleven\nand fourteen years of age. They are led into a perfectly dark room, and\nhaving stripped themselves naked kindle the fire by rubbing two rollers of\nlime wood against each other, till the friction produces sparks, which are\ncaught in tinder. The Serbs of Western Macedonia drive two oaken posts\ninto the ground, bore a round hole in the upper end of each, insert a\nroller of lime wood in the holes, and set it revolving rapidly by means of\na cord, which is looped round the roller and worked by a bow. Elsewhere\nthe roller is put in motion by two men, who hold each one end of the cord\nand pull it backwards and forwards forcibly between them. Bulgarian\nshepherds sometimes kindle the need-fire by drawing a prism-shaped piece\nof lime wood to and fro across the flat surface of a tree-stump in the\nforest.(711) But in the neighbourhood of K\u00fcstendil, in Bulgaria, the\nneed-fire is kindled by the friction of two pieces of oak wood and the\ncattle are driven through it.(712)\n\n(M245) In many districts of Russia, also, \u201cliving fire\u201d is made by the\nfriction of wood on St. John\u2019s Day, and the herds are driven through it,\nand the people leap over it in the conviction that their health is thereby\nassured; when a cattle-plague is raging, the fire is produced by rubbing\ntwo pieces of oak wood against each other, and it is used to kindle the\nlamps before the holy pictures and the censers in the churches.(713) Thus\nit appears that in Russia the need-fire is kindled for the sake of the\ncattle periodically as well as on special emergencies. Similarly in Poland\nthe peasants are said to kindle fires in the village streets on St.\nRochus\u2019s day and to drive the cattle thrice through them in order to\nprotect the animals against the murrain. The fire is produced by rubbing a\npole of poplar wood on a plank of poplar or fir wood and catching the\nsparks in tow. The embers are carried home to be used as remedies in\nsickness.(714) As practised in Slavonia, the custom of the need-fire used\nto present some interesting features, which are best described in the\nwords of an eye-witness:\u2014\u201cIn the year 1833 I came for the first time as a\nyoung merchant to Slavonia; it was to Gaj that I went, in the Po\u017eega\ndistrict. The time was autumn, and it chanced that a cattle-plague was\nraging in the neighbourhood, which inflicted much loss on the people. The\npeasants believed that the plague was a woman, an evil spirit (_Kuga_),\nwho was destroying the cattle; so they sought to banish her. I had then\noccasion to observe the proceedings in the villages of Gaj, Kukunjevac,\nBrezina, and Brekinjska. Towards evening the whole population of the\nvillage was busy laying a ring of brushwood round the boundaries of the\nvillage. All fires were extinguished throughout the village. Then pairs of\nmen in several places took pieces of wood, which had been specially\nprepared for the purpose, and rubbed them together till they emitted\nsparks. The sparks were allowed to fall on tinder and fanned into a flame,\nwith which the dry brushwood was kindled. Thus the fire burned all round\nthe village. The peasants persuaded themselves that thereupon _Kuga_ must\ntake her departure.\u201d(715)\n\n(M246) This last account leaves no doubt as to the significance of the\nneed-fire in the minds of Slavonian peasantry. They regard it simply as a\nbarrier interposed between their cattle and the evil spirit, which prowls,\nlike a hungry wolf, round the fold and can, like a wolf, be kept at bay by\nfire. The same interpretation of the need-fire comes out, hardly less\nclearly, in the account which another writer gives of a ceremony witnessed\nby him at the village of Setonje, at the foot of the Homolje mountains in\nthe great forest of Servia. An epidemic was raging among the children, and\nthe need-fire was resorted to as a means of staying the plague. It was\nproduced by an old man and an old woman in the first of the ways described\nabove; that is, they made it in the dark by rubbing two sticks of lime\nwood against each other. Before the healing virtue of the fire was applied\nto the inhabitants of the village, two old women performed the following\nceremony. Both bore the name of Stana, from the verb _stati_, \u201cto remain\nstanding\u201d; for the ceremony could not be successfully performed by persons\nof any other name. One of them carried a copper kettle full of water, the\nother an old house-lock with the key. Thus equipped they repaired to a\nspot outside of the village, and there the old dame with the kettle asked\nthe old dame with the lock, \u201cWhither away?\u201d and the other answered her, \u201cI\ncame to shut the village against ill-luck.\u201d With that she locked the lock\nand threw it with the key into the kettle of water. Then they marched\nthrice round the village, repeating the ceremony of the lock and key at\neach round. Meantime all the villagers, arrayed in their best clothes,\nwere assembled in an open place. All the fires in the houses had been\npreviously extinguished. Two sturdy yokels now dug a tunnel through a\nmound beside an oak tree; the tunnel was just high enough to let a man\ncreep through it on all fours. Two fires, lit by the need-fire, were now\nlaid, one at each end of the tunnel; and the old woman with the kettle\ntook her stand at the entrance of the tunnel, while the one with the lock\nposted herself at the exit. Facing the latter stood another woman with a\ngreat pot of milk before her, and on the other side was set a pot full of\nmelted swine\u2019s fat. All was now ready. The villagers thereupon crawled\nthrough the tunnel on hands and knees, one behind the other. Each, as he\nemerged from the tunnel, received a spoonful of milk from the woman and\nlooked at his face reflected in the pot of melted swine\u2019s fat. Then\nanother woman made a cross with a piece of charcoal on his back. When all\nthe inhabitants had thus crept through the tunnel and been doctored at the\nother end, each took some glowing embers home with him in a pot wherewith\nto rekindle the fire on the domestic hearth. Lastly they put some of the\ncharcoal in a vessel of water and drank the mixture in order to be thereby\nmagically protected against the epidemic.(716)\n\nIt would be superfluous to point out in detail how admirably these\nmeasures are calculated to arrest the ravages of disease; but for the sake\nof those, if there are any, to whom the medicinal effect of crawling\nthrough a hole on hands and knees is not at once apparent, I shall merely\nsay that the procedure in question is one of the most powerful specifics\nwhich the wit of man has devised for maladies of all sorts. Ample evidence\nof its application will be adduced in a later part of this work.(717)\n\n(M247) In Bulgaria the herds suffer much from the raids of certain\nblood-sucking vampyres called _Ustrels_. An _Ustrel_ is the spirit of a\nChristian child who was born on a Saturday and died unfortunately before\nhe could be baptized. On the ninth day after burial he grubs his way out\nof the grave and attacks the cattle at once, sucking their blood all night\nand returning at peep of dawn to the grave to rest from his labours. In\nten days or so the copious draughts of blood which he has swallowed have\nso fortified his constitution that he can undertake longer journeys; so\nwhen he falls in with great herds of cattle or flocks of sheep he returns\nno more to the grave for rest and refreshment at night, but takes up his\nquarters during the day either between the horns of a sturdy calf or ram\nor between the hind legs of a milch-cow. Beasts whose blood he has sucked\ndie the same night. In any herd that he may fasten on he begins with the\nfattest animal and works his way down steadily through the leaner kine\ntill not one single beast is left alive. The carcases of the victims swell\nup, and when the hide is stripped off you can always perceive the livid\npatch of flesh where the monster sucked the blood of the poor creature. In\na single night he may, by working hard, kill five cows; but he seldom\nexceeds that number. He can change his shape and weight very easily; for\nexample, when he is sitting by day between the horns of a ram, the animal\nscarcely feels his weight, but at night he will sometimes throw himself on\nan ox or a cow so heavily that the animal cannot stir, and lows so\npitifully that it would make your heart bleed to hear. People who were\nborn on a Saturday can see these monsters, and they have described them\naccurately, so that there can be no doubt whatever about their existence.\nIt is, therefore, a matter of great importance to the peasant to protect\nhis flocks and herds against the ravages of such dangerous vampyres. The\nway in which he does so is this. On a Saturday morning before sunrise the\nvillage drummer gives the signal to put out every fire in the village;\neven smoking is forbidden. Next all the domestic animals, with the\nexception of fowls, geese, and ducks, are driven out into the open. In\nfront of the flocks and herds march two men, whose names during the\nceremony may not be mentioned in the village. They go into the wood, pick\ntwo dry branches, and having stript themselves of their clothes they rub\nthe two branches together very hard till they catch fire; then with the\nfire so obtained they kindle two bonfires, one on each side of a\ncross-road which is known to be frequented by wolves. After that the herd\nis driven between the two fires. Coals from the bonfires are then taken\nback to the village and used to rekindle the fires on the domestic\nhearths. For several days no one may go near the charred and blackened\nremains of the bonfires at the cross-road. The reason is that the vampyre\nis lying there, having dropped from his seat between the cow\u2019s horns when\nthe animals were driven between the two fires. So if any one were to pass\nby the spot during these days, the monster would be sure to call him by\nname and to follow him to the village; whereas if he is left alone, a wolf\nwill come at midnight and strangle him, and in a few days the herdsmen can\nsee the ground soaked with his slimy blood. So that is the end of the\nvampyre.(718) In this Bulgarian custom, as in the Slavonian custom\ndescribed above, the conception of the need-fire as a barrier set up\nbetween the cattle and a dangerous spirit is clearly worked out. The\nspirit rides the cow till he comes to the narrow pass between the two\nfires, but the heat there is too much for him; he drops in a faint from\nthe saddle, or rather from the horns, and the now riderless animal escapes\nsafe and sound beyond the smoke and flame, leaving her persecutor\nprostrate on the ground on the further side of the blessed barrier.\n\n(M248) In Bosnia and Herzegovina there are some local differences in the\nmode of kindling the need-fire, or \u201cliving fire,\u201d as it is called. Thus at\nJablanica both the uprights and the roller or cross-piece, which by its\nrevolution kindles the fire, are made of cornel-tree wood; whereas at\nDolac, near Sarajevo, the uprights and the cross-piece or roller are all\nmade of lime wood. In Gacko, contrary to the usual custom, the fire is\nmade by striking a piece of iron on an anvil, till sparks are given out,\nwhich are caught in tinder. The \u201cliving fire\u201d thus produced is employed\nfor purposes of healing. In particular, if any one suffers from wounds or\nsores, ashes of the need-fire are sprinkled on the ailing part. In Gacko\nit is also believed that if a pregnant woman witnesses a conflagration,\nher child will either be born with a red eruption on its skin or will\ncontract the malady sooner or later afterwards. The only remedy consists\nin ashes of the need-fire, which are mixed with water and given to the\nchild to drink.(719)\n\n(M249) In England the earliest notice of the need-fire seems to be\ncontained in the Chronicle of Lanercost for the year 1268. The annalist\ntells with pious horror how, when an epidemic was raging in that year\namong the cattle, \u201ccertain beastly men, monks in garb but not in mind,\ntaught the idiots of their country to make fire by the friction of wood\nand to set up an image of Priapus, whereby they thought to succour the\nanimals.\u201d(720) The use of the need-fire is particularly attested for the\ncounties of Yorkshire and Northumberland. Thus in Yorkshire down to the\nmiddle of the eighteenth century \u201cthe favourite remedy of the country\npeople, not only in the way of cure, but of prevention, was an odd one; it\nwas to smoke the cattle almost to suffocation, by kindling straw, litter,\nand other combustible matter about them. The effects of this mode of cure\nare not stated, but the most singular part of it was that by which it was\nreported to have been discovered. An angel (says the legend), descended\ninto Yorkshire, and there set a large tree on fire; the strange appearance\nof which or else the savour of the smoke, incited the cattle around (some\nof which were infected) to draw near the miracle, when they all either\nreceived an immediate cure or an absolute prevention of the disorder. It\nis not affirmed that the angel staid to speak to anybody, but only that he\nleft a _written_ direction for the neighbouring people to catch this\nsupernatural fire, and to communicate it from one to another with all\npossible speed throughout the country; and in case it should be\nextinguished and utterly lost, that then new fire, of equal virtue, might\nbe obtained, not by any common method, but by rubbing two pieces of wood\ntogether till they ignited. Upon what foundation this story stood, is not\nexactly known, but it put the farmers actually into a hurry of\ncommunicating flame and smoke from one house to another with wonderful\nspeed, making it run like wildfire over the country.\u201d(721) Again, we read\nthat \u201cthe father of the writer, who died in 1843, in his seventy-ninth\nyear, had a perfect remembrance of a great number of persons, belonging to\nthe upper and middle classes of his native parish of Bowes, assembling on\nthe banks of the river Greta to work for need-fire. A disease among\ncattle, called the murrain, then prevailed to a very great extent through\nthat district of Yorkshire. The cattle were made to pass through the smoke\nraised by this miraculous fire, and their cure was looked upon as certain,\nand to neglect doing so was looked upon as wicked. This fire was produced\nby the violent and continued friction of two dry pieces of wood until such\ntime as it was thereby obtained. \u2018To work as though one was working for\nneed-fire\u2019 is a common proverb in the North of England.\u201d(722) At Ingleton,\na small town nestling picturesquely at the foot of the high hill of\nIngleborough in western Yorkshire, \u201cwithin the last thirty years or so it\nwas a common practice to kindle the so-called \u2018Need-fire\u2019 by rubbing two\npieces of wood briskly together, and setting ablaze a large heap of sticks\nand brushwood, which were dispersed, and cattle then driven through the\nsmoking brands. This was thought to act as a charm against the spread or\ndevelopement of the various ailments to which cattle are liable, and the\nfarmers seem to have had great faith in it.\u201d(723) Writing about the middle\nof the nineteenth century, Kemble tells us that the will-fire or need-fire\nhad been used in Devonshire for the purpose of staying a murrain within\nthe memory of man.(724)\n\n(M250) So in Northumberland, down to the first half of the nineteenth\ncentury, \u201cwhen a contagious disease enters among cattle, the fires are\nextinguished in the adjacent villages. Two pieces of dried wood are then\nrubbed together until fire be produced; with this a quantity of straw is\nkindled, juniper is thrown into the flame, and the cattle are repeatedly\ndriven through the smoke. Part of the forced fire is sent to the\nneighbours, who again forward it to others, and, as great expedition is\nused, the fires may be seen blazing over a great extent of country in a\nvery short space of time.\u201d(725) \u201cIt is strange,\u201d says the antiquary\nWilliam Henderson, writing about 1866, \u201cto find the custom of lighting\n\u2018need-fires\u2019 on the occasion of epidemics among cattle still lingering\namong us, but so it is. The vicar of Stamfordham writes thus respecting\nit: \u2018When the murrain broke out among the cattle about eighteen years ago,\nthis fire was produced by rubbing two pieces of dry wood together, and was\ncarried from place to place all through this district, as a charm against\ncattle taking the disease. Bonfires were kindled with it, and the cattle\ndriven into the smoke, where they were left for some time. Many farmers\nhereabouts, I am informed, had the need-fire.\u2019 \u201d(726)\n\n(M251) In the earliest systematic account of the western islands of\nScotland we read that \u201cthe inhabitants here did also make use of a fire\ncalled _Tin-egin_, _i.e._ a forced fire, or fire of necessity, which they\nused as an antidote against the plague or murrain in cattle; and it was\nperformed thus: all the fires in the parish were extinguished, and then\neighty-one married men, being thought the necessary number for effecting\nthis design, took two great planks of wood, and nine of them were employed\nby turns, who by their repeated efforts rubbed one of the planks against\nthe other until the heat thereof produced fire; and from this forced fire\neach family is supplied with new fire, which is no sooner kindled than a\npot full of water is quickly set on it, and afterwards sprinkled upon the\npeople infected with the plague, or upon the cattle that have the murrain.\nAnd this they all say they find successful by experience: it was practised\nin the main land, opposite to the south of Skie, within these thirty\nyears.\u201d(727)\n\n(M252) In the island of Mull, one of the largest of the Hebrides, the\nneed-fire was kindled as late as 1767. \u201cIn consequence of a disease among\nthe black cattle the people agreed to perform an incantation, though they\nesteemed it a wicked thing. They carried to the top of Cammoor a wheel and\nnine spindles of oakwood. They extinguished every fire in every house\nwithin sight of the hill; the wheel was then turned from east to west over\nthe nine spindles long enough to produce fire by friction. If the fire\nwere not produced before noon, the incantation lost its effect. They\nfailed for several days running. They attributed this failure to the\nobstinacy of one householder, who would not let his fires be put out for\nwhat he considered so wrong a purpose. However, by bribing his servants\nthey contrived to have them extinguished and on that morning raised their\nfire. They then sacrificed a heifer, cutting in pieces and burning, while\nyet alive, the diseased part. They then lighted their own hearths from the\npile and ended by feasting on the remains. Words of incantation were\nrepeated by an old man from Morven, who came over as master of the\nceremonies, and who continued speaking all the time the fire was being\nraised. This man was living a beggar at Bellochroy. Asked to repeat the\nspell, he said, the sin of repeating it once had brought him to beggary,\nand that he dared not say those words again. The whole country believed\nhim accursed.\u201d(728) From this account we see that in Mull the kindling of\nthe need-fire as a remedy for cattle disease was accompanied by the\nsacrifice of one of the diseased animals; and though the two customs are\nfor the most part mentioned separately by our authorities, we may surmise\nthat they were often, perhaps usually, practised together for the purpose\nof checking the ravages of sickness in the herds.(729)\n\n(M253) In the county of Caithness, forming the extreme north-east corner\nof the mainland of Scotland, the practice of the need-fire survived down\nat least to about 1788. We read that \u201cin those days, when the stock of any\nconsiderable farmer was seized with the murrain, he would send for one of\nthe charm-doctors to superintend the raising of a _need-fire_. It was done\nby friction, thus; upon any small island, where the stream of a river or\nburn ran on each side, a circular booth was erected, of stone and turf, as\nit could be had, in which a semicircular or highland couple of birch, or\nother hard wood, was set; and, in short, a roof closed on it. A straight\npole was set up in the centre of this building, the upper end fixed by a\nwooden pin to the top of the couple, and the lower end in an oblong\n_trink_ in the earth or floor; and lastly, another pole was set across\nhorizontally, having both ends tapered, one end of which was supported in\na hole in the side of the perpendicular pole, and the other in a similar\nhole in the couple leg. The horizontal stick was called the auger, having\nfour short arms or levers fixed in its centre, to work it by; the building\nhaving been thus finished, as many men as could be collected in the\nvicinity, (being divested of all kinds of metal in their clothes, etc.),\nwould set to work with the said auger, two after two, constantly turning\nit round by the arms or levers, and others occasionally driving wedges of\nwood or stone behind the lower end of the upright pole, so as to press it\nthe more on the end of the auger: by this constant friction and pressure,\nthe ends of the auger would take fire, from which a fire would be\ninstantly kindled, and thus the _need-fire_ would be accomplished. The\nfire in the farmer\u2019s house, etc., was immediately quenched with water, a\nfire kindled from this need-fire, both in the farm-houses and offices, and\nthe cattle brought to feel the smoke of this new and sacred fire, which\npreserved them from the murrain.\u201d(730)\n\n(M254) The last recorded case of the need-fire in Caithness happened in\n1809 or 1810. At Houstry, Dunbeath, a crofter named David Gunn had made\nfor himself a kail-yard and in doing so had wilfully encroached on one of\nthose prehistoric ruins called _brochs_, which the people of the\nneighbourhood believed to be a fairy habitation. Soon afterwards a murrain\nbroke out among the cattle of the district and carried off many beasts. So\nthe wise men put their heads together and resolved to light a\n_teine-eigin_ or need-fire as the best way of stopping the plague. They\ncut a branch from a tree in a neighbouring wood, stripped it of bark, and\ncarried it to a small island in the Houstry Burn. Every fire in the\ndistrict having been quenched, new fire was made by the friction of wood\nin the island, and from this sacred flame all the hearths of the houses\nwere lit afresh. One of the sticks used in making the fire was preserved\ndown to about the end of the nineteenth century; apparently the mode of\noperation was the one known as the fire-drill: a pointed stick was twirled\nin a hole made in another stick till fire was elicited by the\nfriction.(731)\n\n(M255) Another account of the use of need-fire in the Highlands of\nScotland runs as follows: \u201cWhen, by the neglect of the prescribed\nsafeguards [against witchcraft], the seeds of iniquity have taken root,\nand a person\u2019s means are decaying in consequence, the only alternative, in\nthis case, is to resort to that grand remedy, the _Tein Econuch_, or\n\u2018Forlorn Fire,\u2019 which seldom fails of being productive of the best\neffects. The cure for witchcraft, called _Tein Econuch_, is wrought in the\nfollowing manner:\u2014A consultation being held by the unhappy sufferer and\nhis friends as to the most advisable measures of effecting a cure, if this\nprocess is adopted, notice is privately communicated to all those\nhouseholders who reside within the nearest of two running streams, to\nextinguish their lights and fires on some appointed morning. On its being\nascertained that this notice has been duly observed, a spinning-wheel, or\nsome other convenient instrument, calculated to produce fire by friction,\nis set to work with the most furious earnestness by the unfortunate\nsufferer, and all who wish well to his cause. Relieving each other by\nturns, they drive on with such persevering diligence, that at length the\nspindle of the wheel, ignited by excessive friction, emits \u2018forlorn fire\u2019\nin abundance, which, by the application of tow, or some other combustible\nmaterial, is widely extended over the whole neighbourhood. Communicating\nthe fire to the tow, the tow communicates it to a candle, the candle to a\nfir-torch, the torch to a cartful of peats, which the master of the\nceremonies, with pious ejaculations for the success of the experiment,\ndistributes to messengers, who will proceed with portions of it to the\ndifferent houses within the said two running streams, to kindle the\ndifferent fires. By the influence of this operation, the machinations and\nspells of witchcraft are rendered null and void.\u201d(732)\n\n(M256) In various parts of the Highlands of Scotland the need-fire was\nstill kindled during the first half of the nineteenth century, as we learn\nfrom the following account:\u2014\n\n\u201c_Tein-eigin_, neid-fire, need-fire, forced fire, fire produced by the\nfriction of wood or iron against wood.\n\n\u201cThe fire of purification was kindled from the neid-fire, while the\ndomestic fire on the hearth was re-kindled from the purification fire on\nthe knoll. Among other names, the purification fire was called _Teine\nBheuil_, fire of Beul, and _Teine mor Bheuil_, great fire of Beul. The\nfire of Beul was divided into two fires between which people and cattle\nrushed australly for purposes of purification. The ordeal was trying, as\nmay be inferred from phrases still current. _Is teodha so na teine teodha\nBheuil_, \u2018Hotter is this than the hot fire of Beul.\u2019 Replying to his\ngrandchild, an old man in Lewis said ... \u2018Mary! sonnie, it were worse for\nme to do that for thee than to go between the two great fires of Beul.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe neid-fire was resorted to in imminent or actual calamity upon the\nfirst day of the quarter, and to ensure success in great or important\nevents.\n\n(M257) \u201cThe writer conversed with several persons who saw the neid-fire\nmade, and who joined in the ceremony. As mentioned elsewhere, a woman in\nArran said that her father, and the other men of the townland, made the\nneid-fire on the knoll on _La buidhe Bealltain_\u2014Yellow Day of Beltane.\nThey fed the fire from _cuaile mor conaidh caoin_\u2014great bundles of sacred\nfaggots brought to the knoll on Beltane Eve. When the sacred fire became\nkindled, the people rushed home and brought their herds and drove them\nthrough and round the fire of purification, to sain them from the _bana\nbhuitseach mhor Nic Creafain Mac Creafain_\u2014the great arch witch Mac\nCrauford, now Crawford. That was in the second decade of this century.\n\n(M258) \u201cJohn Macphail, Middlequarter, North Uist, said that the last\noccasion on which the neid-fire was made in North Uist was _bliadhna an\nt-sneachda bhuidhe_\u2014the year of the yellow snow\u20141829 (?). The snow lay so\ndeep and remained so long on the ground, that it became yellow. Some\nsuggest that the snow was originally yellow, as snow is occasionally red.\nThis extraordinary continuance of snow caused much want and suffering\nthroughout the Isles. The people of North Uist extinguished their own\nfires and generated a purification fire at Sail Dharaich, Sollas. The fire\nwas produced from an oak log by rapidly boring with an auger. This was\naccomplished by the exertions of _naoi naoinear ciad ginealach mac_\u2014the\nnine nines of first-begotten sons. From the neid-fire produced on the\nknoll the people of the parish obtained fire for their dwellings. Many\ncults and ceremonies were observed on the occasion, cults and ceremonies\nin which Pagan and Christian beliefs intermingled. _Sail Dharaich_, Oak\nLog, obtained its name from the log of oak for the neid-fire being there.\nA fragment of this log riddled with auger holes marks a grave in _Cladh\nSgealoir_, the burying-ground of _Sgealoir_, in the neighbourhood.\n\n(M259) \u201cMr. Alexander Mackay, Edinburgh, a native of Reay, Sutherland,\nsays:\u2014\u2018My father was the skipper of a fishing crew. Before beginning\noperations for the season, the crew of the boat met at night in our house\nto settle accounts for the past, and to plan operations for the new\nseason. My mother and the rest of us were sent to bed. I lay in the\nkitchen, and was listening and watching, though they thought I was asleep.\nAfter the men had settled their past affairs and future plans, they put\nout the fire on the hearth, not a spark being allowed to live. They then\nrubbed two pieces of wood one against another so rapidly as to produce\nfire, the men joining in one after the other, and working with the utmost\nenergy and never allowing the friction to relax. From this friction-fire\nthey rekindled the fire on the hearth, from which all the men present\ncarried away a kindling to their own homes. Whether their success was due\nto their skill, their industry, their perseverance, or to the neid-fire, I\ndo not know, but I know that they were much the most successful crew in\nthe place. They met on Saturday, and went to church on Sunday like the\ngood men and the good Christians they were\u2014a little of their Pagan faith\nmingling with their Christian belief. I have reason to believe that other\ncrews in the place as well as my father\u2019s crew practised the neid-fire.\u2019\n\n\u201cA man at Helmsdale, Sutherland, saw the _tein-eigin_ made in his boyhood.\n\n\u201cThe neid-fire was made in North Uist about the year 1829, in Arran about\n1820, in Helmsdale about 1818, in Reay about 1830.\u201d(733)\n\n(M260) From the foregoing account we learn that in Arran the annual\nBeltane fire was regularly made by the friction of wood, and that it was\nused to protect men and cattle against a great witch. When we remember\nthat Beltane Eve or the Eve of May Day (Walpurgis Night) is the great\nwitching time of the year throughout Europe, we may surmise that wherever\nbonfires have been ceremonially kindled on that day it has been done\nsimply as a precaution against witchcraft; indeed this motive is expressly\nalleged not only in Scotland, but in Wales, the Isle of Man, and many\nparts of Central Europe.(734) It deserves, further, to be noticed that in\nNorth Uist the wood used to kindle the need-fire was oak, and that the\nnine times nine men by whose exertions the flame was elicited were all\nfirst-born sons. Apparently the first-born son of a family was thought to\nbe endowed with more magical virtue than his younger brothers. Similarly\nin the Punjaub \u201cthe supernatural power ascribed to the first born is not\ndue to his being unlucky, but the idea underlying the belief seems to be\nthat being the first product of the parents, he inherits the spiritual\npowers (or magnetism) in a high degree. The success of such persons in\nstopping rain and hail and in stupefying snakes is proverbial. It is\nbelieved that a first child born with feet forward can cure backache by\nkicking the patient in the back, on a crossing.\u201d(735)\n\n(M261) In the north-east of Aberdeenshire and the neighbourhood, when the\ncattle-disease known as the \u201cquarter-ill\u201d broke out, \u201cthe \u2018muckle wheel\u2019\nwas set in motion and turned till fire was produced. From this virgin\nflame fires were kindled in the byres. At the same time, if neighbours\nrequested the favour, live coals were given them to kindle fires for the\npurification of their homesteads and turning off the disease. Fumigating\nthe byres with juniper was a method adopted to ward off disease. Such a\nfire was called \u2018needfyre.\u2019 The kindling of it came under the censure of\nthe Presbytery at times.\u201d(736)\n\n(M262) In Perthshire the need-fire was kindled as a remedy for\ncattle-disease as late as 1826. \u201cA wealthy old farmer, having lost several\nof his cattle by some disease very prevalent at present, and being able to\naccount for it in no way so rationally as by witchcraft, had recourse to\nthe following remedy, recommended to him by a weird sister in his\nneighbourhood, as an effectual protection from the attacks of the foul\nfiend. A few stones were piled together in the barnyard, and woodcoals\nhaving been laid thereon, the fuel was ignited by _will-fire_, that is\nfire obtained by friction; the neighbours having been called in to witness\nthe solemnity, the cattle were made to pass through the flames, in the\norder of their dignity and age, commencing with the horses and ending with\nthe swine. The ceremony having been duly and decorously gone through, a\nneighbouring farmer observed to the enlightened owner of the herd, that\nhe, along with his family, ought to have followed the example of the\ncattle, and the sacrifice to Baal would have been complete.\u201d(737)\n\n(M263) In County Leitrim, Ireland, in order to prevent fever from\nspreading, \u201call the fires on the townland, and the two adjoining (one on\neach side), would be put out. Then the men of the three townlands would\ncome to one house, and get two large blocks of wood. One would be set in\nthe ground, and the other one, fitted with two handles, placed on the top\nof it. The men would then draw the upper block backwards and forwards over\nthe lower until fire was produced by friction, and from this the fires\nwould be lighted again. This would prevent the fever from spreading.\u201d(738)\n\n(M264) Thus it appears that in many parts of Europe it has been customary\nto kindle fire by the friction of wood for the purpose of curing or\npreventing the spread of disease, particularly among cattle. The mode of\nstriking a light by rubbing two dry sticks against each other is the one\nto which all over the world savages have most commonly resorted for the\nsake of providing themselves with fire;(739) and we can scarcely doubt\nthat the practice of kindling the need-fire in this primitive fashion is\nmerely a survival from the time when our savage forefathers lit all their\nfires in that way. Nothing is so conservative of old customs as religious\nor magical ritual, which invests these relics of the past with an\natmosphere of mysterious virtue and sanctity. To the educated mind it\nseems obvious that a fire which a man kindles with the sweat of his brow\nby laboriously rubbing one stick against each other can possess neither\nmore nor less virtue than one which he has struck in a moment by the\nfriction of a lucifer match; but to the ignorant and superstitious this\ntruth is far from apparent, and accordingly they take infinite pains to do\nin a roundabout way what they might have done directly with the greatest\nease, and what, even when it is done, is of no use whatever for the\npurpose in hand. A vast proportion of the labour which mankind has\nexpended throughout the ages has been no better spent; it has been like\nthe stone of Sisyphus eternally rolled up hill only to revolve eternally\ndown again, or like the water poured for ever by the Danaids into broken\npitchers which it could never fill.\n\n(M265) The curious notion that the need-fire cannot kindle if any other\nfire remains alight in the neighbourhood seems to imply that fire is\nconceived as a unity which is broken up into fractions and consequently\nweakened in exact proportion to the number of places where it burns; hence\nin order to obtain it at full strength you must light it only at a single\npoint, for then the flame will burst out with a concentrated energy\nderived from the tributary fires which burned on all the extinguished\nhearths of the country. So in a modern city if all the gas were turned off\nsimultaneously at all the burners but one, the flame would no doubt blaze\nat that one burner with a fierceness such as no single burner could shew\nwhen all are burning at the same time. The analogy may help us to\nunderstand the process of reasoning which leads the peasantry to insist on\nthe extinction of all common fires when the need-fire is about to be\nkindled. Perhaps, too, it may partly explain that ceremonial extinction of\nall old fires on other occasions which is often required by custom as a\npreliminary to the lighting of a new and sacred fire.(740) We have seen\nthat in the Highlands of Scotland all common fires were extinguished on\nthe Eve of May-day as a preparation for kindling the Beltane bonfire by\nfriction next morning;(741) and no doubt the reason for the extinction was\nthe same as in the case of the need-fire. Indeed we may assume with a fair\ndegree of probability that the need-fire was the parent of the periodic\nfire-festivals; at first invoked only at irregular intervals to cure\ncertain evils as they occurred, the powerful virtue of fire was afterwards\nemployed at regular intervals to prevent the occurrence of the same evils\nas well as to remedy such as had actually arisen.\n\n(M266) The need-fire of Europe has its parallel in a ceremony which used\nto be observed by the Iroquois Indians of North America. \u201cFormerly when an\nepidemic prevailed among the Iroquois despite the efforts to stay it, it\nwas customary for the principal shaman to order the fires in every cabin\nto be extinguished and the ashes and cinders to be carefully removed; for\nit was believed that the pestilence was sent as a punishment for\nneglecting to rekindle \u2018new fire\u2019 or because of the manner in which the\nfire then in use had been kindled. So, after all the fires were out, two\nsuitable logs of slippery elm (_Ulmus fulva_) were provided for the new\nfire. One of the logs was from six to eight inches in diameter and from\neight to ten feet long; the other was from ten to twelve inches in\ndiameter and about ten feet long. About midway across the larger log a\ncuneiform notch or cut about six inches deep was made, and in the\nwedge-shaped notch punk was placed. The other log was drawn rapidly to and\nfro in the cut by four strong men chosen for the purpose until the punk\nwas ignited by the friction thus produced. Before and during the progress\nof the work of igniting the fire the shaman votively sprinkled\n_tcar-h\u016d\u2019-\u0115\u00f1-w\u0115_, \u2018real tobacco,\u2019 three several times into the cuneiform\nnotch and offered earnest prayers to the Fire-god, beseeching him \u2018to aid,\nto bless, and to redeem the people from their calamities.\u2019 The ignited\npunk was used to light a large bonfire, and then the head of every family\nwas required to take home \u2018new fire\u2019 to rekindle a fire in his or her\nfire-place.\u201d(742)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 9. The Sacrifice of an Animal to stay a Cattle-Plague.\n\n\n(M267) Sometimes apparently in England as well as in Scotland the kindling\nof a need-fire was accompanied by the sacrifice of a calf. Thus in\nNorthamptonshire, at some time during the first half of the nineteenth\ncentury, \u201cMiss C\u2014\u2014 and her cousin walking saw a fire in a field and a\ncrowd round it. They said, \u2018What is the matter?\u2019 \u2018Killing a calf.\u2019 \u2018What\nfor?\u2019 \u2018To stop the murrain.\u2019 They went away as quickly as possible. On\nspeaking to the clergyman he made enquiries. The people did not like to\ntalk of the affair, but it appeared that when there is a disease among the\ncows or the calves are born sickly, they sacrifice (_i.e._ kill and burn)\none \u2018for good luck.\u2019 \u201d(743) It is not here said that the fire was a\nneed-fire, of which indeed the two horrified ladies had probably never\nheard; but the analogy of the parallel custom in Mull(744) renders it\nprobable that in Northamptonshire also the fire was kindled by the\nfriction of wood, and that the calf or some part of it was burnt in the\nfire. Certainly the practice of burning a single animal alive in order to\nsave all the others would seem to have been not uncommon in England down\nto the nineteenth century. Thus a farmer in Cornwall about the year 1800,\nhaving lost many cattle by disease, and tried many remedies in vain,\nconsulted with some of his neighbours and laying their heads together\n\u201cthey recalled to their recollections a tale, which tradition had handed\ndown from remote antiquity, that the calamity would not cease until he had\nactually burned alive the finest calf which he had upon his farm; but\nthat, when this sacrifice was made, the murrain would afflict his cattle\nno more.\u201d Accordingly, on a day appointed they met, lighted a large fire,\nplaced the best calf in it, and standing round the blazing pile drove the\nanimal with pitchforks back into the flames whenever it attempted to\nescape. Thus the victim was burned alive to save the rest of the\ncattle.(745) \u201cThere can be no doubt but that a belief prevailed until a\nvery recent period, amongst the small farmers in the districts remote from\ntowns in Cornwall, that a living sacrifice appeased the wrath of God. This\nsacrifice must be by fire; and I have heard it argued that the Bible gave\nthem warranty for this belief.... While correcting these sheets I am\ninformed of two recent instances of this superstition. One of them was the\nsacrifice of a calf by a farmer near Portreath, for the purpose of\nremoving a disease which had long followed his horses and his cows. The\nother was the burning of a living lamb, to save, as the farmer said, \u2018his\nflocks from spells which had been cast on \u2019em.\u2019 \u201d(746) In a recent account\nof the fire-festivals of Wales we read that \u201cI have also heard my\ngrandfather and father say that in times gone by the people would throw a\ncalf in the fire when there was any disease among the herds. The same\nwould be done with a sheep if there was anything the matter with a flock.\nI can remember myself seeing cattle being driven between two fires to\n\u2018stop the disease spreading.\u2019 When in later times it was not considered\nhumane to drive the cattle between the fires, the herdsmen were accustomed\nto force the animals over the wood ashes to protect them against various\nailments.\u201d(747) Writing about 1866, the antiquary W. Henderson says that a\nlive ox was burned near Haltwhistle in Northumberland \u201conly twenty years\nago\u201d to stop a murrain.(748) \u201cAbout the year 1850 disease broke out among\nthe cattle of a small farm in the parish of Resoliss, Black Isle,\nRoss-shire. The farmer prevailed on his wife to undertake a journey to a\nwise woman of renown in Banffshire to ask a charm against the effects of\nthe \u2018ill ee.\u2019 The long journey of upwards of fifty miles was performed by\nthe good wife, and the charm was got. One chief thing ordered was to burn\nto death a pig, and sprinkle the ashes over the byre and other farm\nbuildings. This order was carried out, except that the pig was killed\nbefore it was burned. A more terrible sacrifice was made at times. One of\nthe diseased animals was rubbed over with tar, driven forth, set on fire,\nand allowed to run till it fell down and died.\u201d(749) \u201cLiving animals have\nbeen burnt alive in sacrifice within memory to avert the loss of other\nstock. The burial of three puppies \u2018brandise-wise\u2019 in a field is supposed\nto rid it of weeds. Throughout the rural districts of Devon witchcraft is\nan article of current faith, and the toad is thrown into the flames as an\nemissary of the evil one.\u201d(750)\n\n(M268) But why, we may ask, should the burning alive of a calf or a sheep\nbe supposed to save the rest of the herd or the flock from the murrain?\nAccording to one writer, as we have seen, the burnt sacrifice was thought\nto appease the wrath of God.(751) The idea of appeasing the wrath of a\nferocious deity by burning an animal alive is probably no more than a\ntheological gloss put on an old heathen rite; it would hardly occur to the\nsimple mind of an English bumpkin, who, though he may be stupid, is not\nnaturally cruel and does not conceive of a divinity who takes delight in\nthe contemplation of suffering. To his thinking God has little or nothing\nto do with the murrain, but witches, ill-wishers, and fairies have a great\ndeal to do with it. The English farmer who burned one of his lambs alive\nsaid that he did it \u201cto save his flocks from spells which had been cast on\nthem\u201d; and the Scotch farmer who was bidden to burn a pig alive for a\nsimilar purpose, but who had the humanity to kill the animal first,\nbelieved that this was a remedy for the \u201cevil eye\u201d which had been cast\nupon his beasts. Again, we read that \u201ca farmer, who possessed broad acres,\nand who was in many respects a sensible man, was greatly annoyed to find\nthat his cattle became diseased in the spring. Nothing could satisfy him\nbut that they were bewitched, and he was resolved to find out the person\nwho had cast the evil eye on his oxen. According to an\nanciently-prescribed rule, the farmer took one of his bullocks and bled it\nto death, catching all the blood on bundles of straw. The bloody straw was\nthen piled into a heap, and set on fire. Burning with a vast quantity of\nsmoke, the farmer expected to see the witch, either in reality or in\nshadow, amidst the smoke.\u201d(752) Such reasons express the real beliefs of\nthe peasants. \u201cCattle, like human beings, were exposed to the influences\nof the evil eye, of forespeaking, and of the casting of evil. Witches and\nwarlocks did the work of evil among their neighbours\u2019 cattle if their\nanger had been aroused in any way. The fairies often wrought injury\namongst cattle. Every animal that died suddenly was killed by the dart of\nthe fairies, or, in the language of the people, was \u2018shot-a-dead.\u2019 Flint\narrows and spear-heads went by the name of \u2018faery dairts.\u2019 ... When an\nanimal died suddenly the canny woman of the district was sent for to\nsearch for the \u2018faery dairt,\u2019 and in due course she found one, to the\ngreat satisfaction of the owner of the dead animal.\u201d(753)\n\n(M269) But how, we must still ask, can burning an animal alive break the\nspell that has been cast upon its fellows by a witch or a warlock? Some\nlight is thrown on the question by the following account of measures which\nrustic wiseacres in Suffolk are said to have adopted as a remedy for\nwitchcraft. \u201cA woman I knew forty-three years had been employed by my\npredecessor to take care of his poultry. At the time I came to make her\nacquaintance she was a bedridden toothless crone, with chin and nose all\nbut meeting. She did not discourage in her neighbours the idea that she\nknew more than people ought to know, and had more power than others had.\nMany years before I knew her it happened one spring that the ducks, which\nwere a part of her charge, failed to lay eggs.... She at once took it for\ngranted that the ducks had been bewitched. This misbelief involved very\nshocking consequences, for it necessitated the idea that so diabolical an\nact could only be combated by diabolical cruelty. And the most diabolical\nact of cruelty she could imagine was that of baking alive in a hot oven\none of the ducks. And that was what she did. The sequence of thought in\nher mind was that the spell that had been laid on the ducks was that of\npreternaturally wicked wilfulness; that this spell could only be broken\nthrough intensity of suffering, in this case death by burning; that the\nintensity of suffering would break the spell in the one roasted to death;\nand that the spell broken in one would be altogether broken, that is, in\nall the ducks.... Shocking, however, as was this method of exorcising the\nducks, there was nothing in it original. Just about a hundred years\nbefore, everyone in the town and neighbourhood of Ipswich had heard, and\nmany had believed, that a witch had been burnt to death in her own house\nat Ipswich by the process of burning alive one of the sheep she had\nbewitched. It was curious, but it was as convincing as curious, that the\nhands and feet of this witch were the only parts of her that had not been\nincinerated. This, however, was satisfactorily explained by the fact that\nthe four feet of the sheep, by which it had been suspended over the fire,\nhad not been destroyed in the flames that had consumed its body.\u201d(754)\nAccording to a slightly different account of the same tragic incident, the\nlast of the \u201cIpswitch witches,\u201d one Grace Pett, \u201claid her hand heavily on\na farmer\u2019s sheep, who, in order to punish her, fastened one of the sheep\nin the ground and burnt it, except the feet, which were under the earth.\nThe next morning Grace Pett was found burnt to a cinder, except her feet.\nHer fate is recorded in the _Philosophical Transactions_ as a case of\nspontaneous combustion.\u201d(755)\n\n(M270) This last anecdote is instructive, if perhaps not strictly\nauthentic. It shews that in burning alive one of a bewitched flock or herd\nwhat you really do is to burn the witch, who is either actually incarnate\nin the animal or perhaps more probably stands in a relation of sympathy\nwith it so close as almost to amount to identity. Hence if you burn the\ncreature to ashes, you utterly destroy the witch and thereby save the\nwhole of the rest of the flock or herd from her abominable machinations;\nwhereas if you only partially burn the animal, allowing some parts of it\nto escape the flames, the witch is only half-baked, and her power for\nmischief may be hardly, if at all, impaired by the grilling. We can now\nsee that in such matters half-measures are useless. To kill the animal\nfirst and burn it afterwards is a weak compromise, dictated no doubt by a\nwell-meant but utterly mistaken kindness; it is like shutting the\nstable-door when the steed is stolen, for obviously by leaving the\nanimal\u2019s, and therefore the witch\u2019s, body nearly intact at the moment of\ndeath, it allows her soul to escape and return safe and sound to her own\nhuman body, which all the time is probably lying quietly at home in bed.\nAnd the same train of reasoning that justifies the burning alive of\nbewitched animals justifies and indeed requires the burning alive of the\nwitches themselves; it is really the only way of destroying them, body and\nsoul, and therefore of thoroughly extirpating the whole infernal crew.\n\n(M271) In the Isle of Man the practice of burning cattle alive in order to\nstop a murrain seems to have persisted down to a time within living\nmemory. On this subject I will quote the evidence collected by Sir John\nRhys: \u201cA respectable farmer from Andreas told me that he was driving with\nhis wife to the neighbouring parish of Jurby some years ago, and that on\nthe way they beheld the carcase of a cow or an ox burning in a field, with\na woman engaged in stirring the fire. On reaching the village to which\nthey were going, they found that the burning beast belonged to a farmer\nwhom they knew. They were further told it was no wonder that the said\nfarmer had one of his cattle burnt, as several of them had recently died.\nWhether this was a case of sacrifice or not I cannot say. But let me give\nyou another instance: a man whom I have already mentioned, saw at a farm\nnearer the centre of the island a live calf being burnt. The owner bears\nan English name, but his family has long been settled in Man. The farmer\u2019s\nexplanation to my informant was that the calf was burnt to secure luck for\nthe rest of the herd, some of which were threatening to die. My informant\nthought there was absolutely nothing the matter with them, except that\nthey had too little to eat. Be that as it may, the one calf was sacrificed\nas a burnt-offering to secure luck for the rest of the cattle. Let me here\nalso quote Mr. Moore\u2019s note in his _Manx Surnames_, p. 184, on the place\nname _Cabbal yn Oural Losht_, or the Chapel of the Burnt Sacrifice. \u2018This\nname,\u2019 he says, \u2018records a circumstance which took place in the nineteenth\ncentury, but which, it is to be hoped, was never customary in the Isle of\nMan. A farmer, who had lost a number of his sheep and cattle by murrain,\nburned a calf as a propitiatory offering to the Deity on this spot, where\na chapel was afterwards built. Hence the name.\u2019 Particulars, I may say, of\ntime, place, and person could be easily added to Mr. Moore\u2019s statement,\nexcepting, perhaps as to the deity in question; on that point I have never\nbeen informed, but Mr. Moore is probably right in the use of the capital\n_d_, as the sacrificer is, according to all accounts, a highly devout\nChristian. One more instance: an octogenarian woman, born in the parish of\nBride, and now living at Kirk Andreas, saw, when she was a \u2018lump of a\ngirl\u2019 of ten or fifteen years of age, a live sheep being burnt in a field\nin the parish of Andreas, on May-day, whereby she meant the first of May\nreckoned according to the Old Style. She asserts very decidedly that it\nwas _son oural_, \u2018as a sacrifice,\u2019 as she put it, and \u2018for an object to\nthe public\u2019: those were her words when she expressed herself in English.\nFurther, she made the statement that it was a custom to burn a sheep on\nold May-day for a sacrifice. I was fully alive to the interest of this\nevidence, and cross-examined her so far as her age allows of it, and I\nfind that she adheres to her statement with all firmness.\u201d(756)\n\n(M272) But Manxmen burn beasts when they are dead as well as when they are\nalive; and their reasons for burning the dead animals may help us to\nunderstand their reasons for burning the living animals. On this subject I\nwill again quote Sir John Rhys: \u201cWhen a beast dies on a farm, of course it\ndies, according to the old-fashioned view of things, as I understand it,\nfrom the influence of the evil eye or the interposition of a witch. So if\nyou want to know to whom you are indebted for the loss of the beast, you\nhave simply to burn its carcase in the open air and watch who comes first\nto the spot or who first passes by; that is the criminal to be charged\nwith the death of the animal, and he cannot help coming there\u2014such is the\neffect of the fire. A Michael woman, who is now about thirty, related to\nme how she watched while the carcase of a bewitched colt was burning, how\nshe saw the witch coming, and how she remembers her shrivelled face, with\nnose and chin in close proximity. According to another native of Michael,\na well-informed middle-aged man, the animal in question was oftenest a\ncalf, and it was wont to be burnt whole, skin and all. The object,\naccording to him, is invariably to bring the bewitcher on the spot, and he\nalways comes; but I am not clear what happens to him when he appears. My\ninformant added, however, that it was believed that, unless the bewitcher\ngot possession of the heart of the burning beast, he lost all his power of\nbewitching.\u201d(757)\n\n(M273) These statements shew that in the Isle of Man the sympathetic\nrelation between the witch and his or her animal victim is believed to be\nso close that by burning the animal you compel the witch to appear. The\noriginal idea may have been that, by virtue of a magic sympathy which\nbinds the two together, whatever harm you do to the animal is felt by the\nwitch as if it were done to herself. That notion would fully explain why\nManx people used also to burn bewitched animals alive; in doing so they\nprobably imagined that they were simultaneously burning the witch who had\ncast the spell on their cattle.\n\n(M274) This explanation of the reason for burning a bewitched animal, dead\nor alive, is confirmed by the parallel belief concerning were-wolves. It\nis commonly supposed that certain men and women can transform themselves\nby magic art into wolves or other animals, but that any wound inflicted on\nsuch a transformed beast (a were-wolf or other were-animal) is\nsimultaneously inflicted on the human body of the witch or warlock who had\ntransformed herself or himself into the creature. This belief is widely\ndiffused; it meets us in Europe, Asia, and Africa. For example, Olaus\nMagnus tells us that in Livonia, not many years before he wrote, a noble\nlady had a dispute with her slave on the subject of were-wolves, she\ndoubting whether there were any such things, and he maintaining that there\nwere. To convince her he retired to a room, from which he soon appeared in\nthe form of a wolf. Being chased by the dogs into the forest and brought\nto bay, the wolf defended himself fiercely, but lost an eye in the\nstruggle. Next day the slave returned to his mistress in human form but\nwith only one eye.(758) Again, it happened in the year 1588 that a\ngentleman in a village among the mountains of Auvergne, looking out of the\nwindow one evening, saw a friend of his going out to hunt. He begged him\nto bring him back some of his bag, and his friend said that he would.\nWell, he had not gone very far before he met a huge wolf. He fired and\nmissed it, and the animal attacked him furiously, but he stood on his\nguard and with an adroit stroke of his hunting knife he cut off the right\nfore-paw of the brute, which thereupon fled away and he saw it no more. He\nreturned to his friend, and drawing from his pouch the severed paw of the\nwolf he found to his horror that it was turned into a woman\u2019s hand with a\ngolden ring on one of the fingers. His friend recognized the ring as that\nof his own wife and went to find her. She was sitting by the fire with her\nright arm under her apron. As she refused to draw it out, her husband\nconfronted her with the hand and the ring on it. She at once confessed the\ntruth, that it was she in the form of a were-wolf whom the hunter had\nwounded. Her confession was confirmed by applying the severed hand to the\nstump of her arm, for the two fitted exactly. The angry husband delivered\nup his wicked wife to justice; she was tried and burnt as a witch.(759) It\nis said that a were-wolf, scouring the streets of Padua, was caught, and\nwhen they cut off his four paws he at once turned into a man, but with\nboth his hands and feet amputated.(760) Again, in a farm of the French\ndistrict of Beauce, there was once a herdsman who never slept at home.\nThese nocturnal absences naturally attracted attention and set people\ntalking. At the same time, by a curious coincidence, a wolf used to prowl\nround the farm every night and to excite the dogs in the farmyard to fury\nby thrusting his snout derisively through the cat\u2019s hole in the great\ngate. The farmer had his suspicions and he determined to watch. One night,\nwhen the herdsman went out as usual, his master followed him quietly till\nhe came to a hut, where with his own eyes he saw the man put on a broad\nbelt and at once turn into a wolf, which scoured away over the fields. The\nfarmer smiled a sickly sort of smile and went back to the farm. There he\ntook a stout stick and sat down at the cat\u2019s hole to wait. He had not long\nto wait. The dogs barked like mad, a wolf\u2019s snout shewed through the hole,\ndown came the stick, out gushed the blood, and a voice was heard to say\nwithout the gate, \u201cA good job too. I had still three years to run.\u201d Next\nday the herdsman appeared as usual, but he had a scar on his brow, and he\nnever went out again at night.(761)\n\n(M275) In China also the faith in similar transformations is reflected in\nthe following tale. A certain man in Sungyang went into the mountains to\ngather fuel. Night fell and he was pursued by two tigers, but scrambled up\na tree out of their reach. Then said the one tiger to the other tiger, \u201cIf\nwe can find Chu-Tu-shi, we are sure to catch this man up the tree.\u201d So off\nwent one of them to find Chu-Tu-shi, while the other kept watch at the\nfoot of the tree. Soon after that another tiger, leaner and longer than\nthe other two, appeared on the scene and made a grab at the man\u2019s coat.\nBut fortunately the moon was shining, the man saw the paw, and with a\nstroke of his axe cut off one of its claws. The tigers roared and fled,\none after the other, so the man climbed down the tree and went home. When\nhe told his tale in the village, suspicion naturally fell on the said\nChu-Tu-shi; and next day some men went to see him in his house. They were\ntold that they could not see him; for he had been out the night before and\nhad hurt his hand, and he was now ill in bed. So they put two and two\ntogether and reported him to the police. The police arrived, surrounded\nthe house, and set fire to it; but Chu-Tu-shi rose from his bed, turned\ninto a tiger, charged right through the police, and escaped, and to this\nday nobody ever knew where he went to.(762)\n\n(M276) The Toradjas of Central Celebes stand in very great fear of\nwere-wolves, that is of men and women, who have the power of transforming\ntheir spirits into animals such as cats, crocodiles, wild pigs, apes,\ndeer, and buffaloes, which roam about battening on human flesh, and\nespecially on human livers, while the men and women in their own proper\nhuman form are sleeping quietly in their beds at home. Among them a man is\neither born a were-wolf or becomes one by infection; for mere contact with\na were-wolf, or even with anything that has been touched by his spittle,\nis quite enough to turn the most innocent person into a were-wolf; nay\neven to lean your head against anything against which a were-wolf has\nleaned his head suffices to do it. The penalty for being a were-wolf is\ndeath; but the sentence is never passed until the accused has had a fair\ntrial and his guilt has been clearly demonstrated by an ordeal, which\nconsists in dipping the middle finger into boiling resin. If the finger is\nnot burnt, the man is no were-wolf; but if it is burnt, a were-wolf he\nmost assuredly is, so they take him away to a quiet spot and hack him to\nbits. In cutting him up the executioners are naturally very careful not to\nbe bespattered with his blood, for if that were to happen they would of\ncourse be turned into were-wolves themselves. Further, they place his\nsevered head beside his hinder-quarters to prevent his soul from coming to\nlife again and pursuing his depredations. So great is the horror of\nwere-wolves among the Toradjas, and so great is their fear of contracting\nthe deadly taint by infection, that many persons have assured a missionary\nthat they would not spare their own child if they knew him to be a\nwere-wolf.(763) Now these people, whose faith in were-wolves is not a mere\ndying or dead superstition but a living, dreadful conviction, tell stories\nof were-wolves which conform to the type which we are examining. They say\nthat once upon a time a were-wolf came in human shape under the house of a\nneighbour, while his real body lay asleep as usual at home, and calling\nout softly to the man\u2019s wife made an assignation with her to meet him in\nthe tobacco-field next day. But the husband was lying awake and he heard\nit all, but he said nothing to anybody. Next day chanced to be a busy one\nin the village, for a roof had to be put on a new house and all the men\nwere lending a hand with the work, and among them to be sure was the\nwere-wolf himself, I mean to say his own human self; there he was up on\nthe roof working away as hard as anybody. But the woman went out to the\ntobacco-field, and behind went unseen her husband, slinking through the\nunderwood. When they were come to the field, he saw the were-wolf make up\nto his wife, so out he rushed and struck at him with a stick. Quick as\nthought, the were-wolf turned himself into a leaf, but the man was as\nnimble, for he caught up the leaf, thrust it into the joint of bamboo, in\nwhich he kept his tobacco, and bunged it up tight. Then he walked back\nwith his wife to the village, carrying the bamboo with the were-wolf in\nit. When they came to the village, the human body of the were-wolf was\nstill on the roof, working away with the rest. The man put the bamboo in a\nfire. At that the human were-wolf looked down from the roof and said,\n\u201cDon\u2019t do that.\u201d The man drew the bamboo from the fire, but a moment\nafterwards he put it in the fire again, and again the human were-wolf on\nthe roof looked down and cried, \u201cDon\u2019t do that.\u201d But this time the man\nkept the bamboo in the fire, and when it blazed up, down fell the human\nwere-wolf from the roof as dead as a stone.(764) Again, the following\nstory went round among the Toradjas not so very many years ago. The thing\nhappened at Soemara, on the Gulf of Tomori. It was evening and some men\nsat chatting with a certain Hadji Mohammad. When it had grown dark, one of\nthe men went out of the house for something or other. A little while\nafterwards one of the company thought he saw a stag\u2019s antlers standing out\nsharp and clear against the bright evening sky. So Hadji Mohammad raised\nhis gun and fired. A minute or two afterwards back comes the man who had\ngone out, and says he to Hadji Mohammad, \u201cYou shot at me and hit me. You\nmust pay me a fine.\u201d They searched him but found no wound on him anywhere.\nThen they knew that he was a were-wolf who had turned himself into a stag\nand had healed the bullet-wound by licking it. However, the bullet had\nfound its billet, for two days afterwards he was a dead man.(765)\n\n(M277) In Sennar, a province of the Egyptian Sudan, the Hammeg and Fungi\nenjoy the reputation of being powerful magicians who can turn themselves\ninto hyaenas and in that guise scour the country at night, howling and\ngorging themselves. But by day they are men again. It is very dangerous to\nshoot at such human hyaenas by night. On the Jebel Bela mountain a soldier\nonce shot at a hyaena and hit it, but it dragged itself off, bleeding, in\nthe darkness and escaped. Next morning he followed up the trail of blood\nand it led him straight to the hut of a man who was everywhere known for a\nwizard. Nothing of the hyaena was to be seen, but the man himself was laid\nup in the house with a fresh wound and died soon afterwards. And the\nsoldier did not long survive him.(766)\n\n(M278) But the classical example of these stories is an old Roman tale\ntold by Petronius. It is put in the mouth of one Niceros. Late at night he\nleft the town to visit a friend of his, a widow, who lived at a farm five\nmiles down the road. He was accompanied by a soldier, who lodged in the\nsame house, a man of Herculean build. When they set out it was near dawn,\nbut the moon shone as bright as day. Passing through the outskirts of the\ntown, they came amongst the tombs, which lined the highroad for some\ndistance. There the soldier made an excuse for retiring behind a monument,\nand Niceros sat down to wait for him, humming a tune and counting the\ntombstones to pass the time. In a little he looked round for his\ncompanion, and saw a sight which froze him with horror. The soldier had\nstripped off his clothes to the last rag and laid them at the side of the\nhighway. Then he performed a certain ceremony over them, and immediately\nwas changed into a wolf, and ran howling into the forest. When Niceros had\nrecovered himself a little, he went to pick up the clothes, but found that\nthey were turned to stone. More dead than alive, he drew his sword, and,\nstriking at every shadow cast by the tombstones on the moonlit road, he\ntottered to his friend\u2019s house. He entered it like a ghost, to the\nsurprise of the widow, who wondered to see him abroad so late. \u201cIf you had\nonly been here a little ago,\u201d said she, \u201cyou might have been of some use.\nFor a wolf came tearing into the yard, scaring the cattle and bleeding\nthem like a butcher. But he did not get off so easily, for the servant\nspeared him in the neck.\u201d After hearing these words, Niceros felt that he\ncould not close an eye, so he hurried away home again. It was now broad\ndaylight, but when he came to the place where the clothes had been turned\nto stone, he found only a pool of blood. He reached home, and there lay\nthe soldier in bed like an ox in the shambles, and the doctor was\nbandaging his neck. \u201cThen I knew,\u201d said Niceros, \u201cthat the man was a\nwere-wolf, and never again could I break bread with him, no, not if you\nhad killed me for it.\u201d(767)\n\n(M279) These stories may help us to understand the custom of burning a\nbewitched animal, which has been observed in our own country down to\nrecent times, if indeed it is even now extinct. For a close parallel may\nbe traced in some respects between witches and were-wolves. Like\nwere-wolves, witches are commonly supposed to be able to transform\nthemselves temporarily into animals for the purpose of playing their\nmischievous pranks;(768) and like were-wolves they can in their animal\ndisguise be compelled to unmask themselves to any one who succeeds in\ndrawing their blood. In either case the animal-skin is conceived as a\ncloak thrown round the wicked enchanter; and if you can only pierce the\nskin, whether by the stab of a knife or the shot of a gun, you so rend the\ndisguise that the man or woman inside of it stands revealed in his or her\ntrue colours. Strictly speaking, the stab should be given on the brow or\nbetween the eyes in the case both of a witch and of a were-wolf;(769) and\nit is vain to shoot at a were-wolf unless you have had the bullet blessed\nin a chapel of St. Hubert or happen to be carrying about you, without\nknowing it, a four-leaved clover; otherwise the bullet will merely rebound\nfrom the were-wolf like water from a duck\u2019s back.(770) However, in Armenia\nthey say that the were-wolf, who in that country is usually a woman, can\nbe killed neither by shot nor by steel; the only way of delivering the\nunhappy woman from her bondage is to get hold of her wolf\u2019s skin and burn\nit; for that naturally prevents her from turning into a wolf again. But it\nis not easy to find the skin, for she is cunning enough to hide it by\nday.(771) So with witches, it is not only useless but even dangerous to\nshoot at one of them when she has turned herself into a hare; if you do,\nthe gun may burst in your hand or the shot come back and kill you. The\nonly way to make quite sure of hitting a witch-animal is to put a silver\nsixpence or a silver button in your gun.(772) For example, it happened one\nevening that a native of the island of Tiree was going home with a new\ngun, when he saw a black sheep running towards him across the plain of\nReef. Something about the creature excited his suspicion, so he put a\nsilver sixpence in his gun and fired at it. Instantly the black sheep\nbecame a woman with a drugget coat wrapt round her head. The man knew her\nquite well, for she was a witch who had often persecuted him before in the\nshape of a cat.(773)\n\n(M280) Again, the wounds inflicted on a witch-hare or a witch-cat are to\nbe seen on the witch herself, just as the wounds inflicted on a were-wolf\nare to be seen on the man himself when he has doffed the wolf\u2019s skin. To\ntake a few instances out of a multitude, a young man in the island of\nLismore was out shooting. When he was near Balnagown loch, he started a\nhare and fired at it. The animal gave an unearthly scream, and then for\nthe first time it occurred to him that there were no real hares in\nLismore. He threw away his gun in terror and fled home; and next day he\nheard that a notorious witch was laid up with a broken leg. A man need be\nno conjuror to guess how she came by that broken leg.(774) Again, at\nThurso certain witches used to turn themselves into cats and in that shape\nto torment an honest man. One night he lost patience, whipped out his\nbroadsword, and put them to flight. As they were scurrying away he struck\nat them and cut off a leg of one of the cats. To his astonishment it was a\nwoman\u2019s leg, and next morning he found one of the witches short of the\ncorresponding limb.(775) Glanvil tells a story of \u201can old woman in\nCambridge-shire, whose astral spirit, coming into a man\u2019s house (as he was\nsitting alone at the fire) in the shape of an huge cat, and setting her\nself before the fire, not far from him, he stole a stroke at the back of\nit with a fire-fork, and seemed to break the back of it, but it scambled\nfrom him, and vanisht he knew not how. But such an old woman, a reputed\nwitch, was found dead in her bed that very night, with her back broken, as\nI have heard some years ago credibly reported.\u201d(776) In Yorkshire during\nthe latter half of the nineteenth century a parish clergyman was told a\ncircumstantial story of an old witch named Nanny, who was hunted in the\nform of a hare for several miles over the Westerdale moors and kept well\naway from the dogs, till a black one joined the pack and succeeded in\ntaking a bit out of one of the hare\u2019s legs. That was the end of the chase,\nand immediately afterwards the sportsmen found old Nanny laid up in bed\nwith a sore leg. On examining the wounded limb they discovered that the\nhurt was precisely in that part of it which in the hare had been bitten by\nthe black dog and, what was still more significant, the wound had all the\nappearance of having been inflicted by a dog\u2019s teeth. So they put two and\ntwo together.(777) The same sort of thing is often reported in\nLincolnshire. \u201cOne night,\u201d said a servant from Kirton Lindsey, \u201cmy father\nand brother saw a cat in front of them. Father knew it was a witch, and\ntook a stone and hammered it. Next day the witch had her face all tied up,\nand shortly afterwards died.\u201d Again, a Bardney bumpkin told how a witch in\nhis neighbourhood could take all sorts of shapes. One night a man shot a\nhare, and when he went to the witch\u2019s house he found her plastering a\nwound just where he had shot the hare.(778) So in County Leitrim, in\nIreland, they say that a hare pursued by dogs fled to a house near at\nhand, but just as it was bolting in at the door one of the dogs came up\nwith it and nipped a piece out of its leg. The hunters entered the house\nand found no hare there but only an old woman, and her side was bleeding;\nso they knew what to think of her.(779)\n\n(M281) Again, in the Vosges Mountains a great big hare used to come out\nevery evening to take the air at the foot of the Mont des Fourches. All\nthe sportsmen of the neighbourhood tried their hands on that hare for a\nmonth, but not one of them could hit it. At last one marksman, more\nknowing than the rest, loaded his gun with some pellets of a consecrated\nwafer in addition to the usual pellets of lead. That did the trick. If\npuss was not killed outright, she was badly hurt, and limped away uttering\nshrieks and curses in a human voice. Later it transpired that she was no\nother than the witch of a neighbouring village who had the power of\nputting on the shape of any animal she pleased.(780) Again, a hunter of\nTravexin, in the Vosges, fired at a hare and almost shot away one of its\nhind legs. Nevertheless the creature contrived to escape into a cottage\nthrough the open door. Immediately a child\u2019s cries were heard to proceed\nfrom the cottage, and the hunter could distinguish these words, \u201cDaddy,\ndaddy, come quick! Poor mammy has her leg broken.\u201d(781)\n\n(M282) In Swabia the witches are liable to accidents of the same sort when\nthey go about their business in the form of animals. For example, there\nwas a soldier who was betrothed to a young woman and used to visit her\nevery evening when he was off duty. But one evening the girl told him that\nhe must not come to the house on Friday nights, because it was never\nconvenient to her to see him then. This roused his suspicion, and the very\nnext Friday night he set out to go to his sweetheart\u2019s house. On the way a\nwhite cat ran up to him in the street and dogged his steps, and when the\nanimal would not make off he drew his sword and slashed off one of its\npaws. On that the cat bolted. The soldier walked on, but when he came to\nhis sweetheart\u2019s house he found her in bed, and when he asked her what was\nthe matter, she gave a very confused reply. Noticing stains of blood on\nthe bed, he drew down the coverlet and saw that the girl was weltering in\nher gore, for one of her feet was lopped off. \u201cSo that\u2019s what\u2019s the matter\nwith you, you witch!\u201d said he, and turned on his heel and left her, and\nwithin three days she was dead.(782) Again, a farmer in the neighbourhood\nof Wiesensteig frequently found in his stable a horse over and above the\nfour horses he actually owned. He did not know what to make of it and\nmentioned the matter to the smith. The smith said quietly, \u201cThe next time\nyou see a fifth horse in the stable, just you send for me.\u201d Well, it was\nnot long before the strange horse was there again, and the farmer at once\nsent for the smith. He came bringing four horse-shoes with him, and said,\n\u201cI\u2019m sure the nag has no shoes; I\u2019ll shoe her for you.\u201d No sooner said\nthan done. However, the smith overreached himself; for next day when his\nfriend the farmer paid him a visit he found the smith\u2019s own wife prancing\nabout with horse-shoes nailed on her hands and feet. But it was the last\ntime she ever appeared in the shape of a horse.(783)\n\n(M283) Once more, in Silesia they tell of a miller\u2019s apprentice, a sturdy\nand industrious young fellow, who set out on his travels. One day he came\nto a mill, and the miller told him that he wanted an apprentice but did\nnot care to engage one, because hitherto all his apprentices had run away\nin the night, and when he came down in the morning the mill was at a\nstand. However, he liked the looks of the young chap and took him into his\npay. But what the new apprentice heard about the mill and his predecessors\nwas not encouraging; so the first night when it was his duty to watch in\nthe mill he took care to provide himself with an axe and a prayer-book,\nand while he kept one eye on the whirring, humming wheels he kept the\nother on the good book, which he read by the flickering light of a candle\nset on a table. So the hours at first passed quietly with nothing to\ndisturb him but the monotonous drone and click of the machinery. But on\nthe stroke of twelve, as he was still reading with the axe lying on the\ntable within reach, the door opened and in came two grey cats mewing, an\nold one and a young one. They sat down opposite him, but it was easy to\nsee that they did not like his wakefulness and the prayer-book and the\naxe. Suddenly the old cat reached out a paw and made a grab at the axe,\nbut the young chap was too quick for her and held it fast. Then the young\ncat tried to do the same for the prayer-book, but the apprentice gripped\nit tight. Thus balked, the two cats set up such a squalling that the young\nfellow could hardly say his prayers. Just before one o\u2019clock the younger\ncat sprang on the table and fetched a blow with her right paw at the\ncandle to put it out. But the apprentice struck at her with his axe and\nsliced the paw off, whereupon the two cats vanished with a frightful\nscreech. The apprentice wrapped the paw up in paper to shew it to his\nmaster. Very glad the miller was next morning when he came down and found\nthe mill going and the young chap at his post. The apprentice told him\nwhat had happened in the night and gave him the parcel containing the\ncat\u2019s paw. But when the miller opened it, what was the astonishment of the\ntwo to find in it no cat\u2019s paw but a woman\u2019s hand! At breakfast the\nmiller\u2019s young wife did not as usual take her place at the table. She was\nill in bed, and the doctor had to be called in to bind up her right arm,\nbecause in hewing wood, so they said, she had made a slip and cut off her\nown right hand. But the apprentice packed up his traps and turned his back\non that mill before the sun had set.(784)\n\n(M284) It would no doubt be easy to multiply instances, all equally well\nattested and authentic, of the transformation of witches into animals and\nof the damage which the women themselves have sustained through injuries\ninflicted on the animals.(785) But the foregoing evidence may suffice to\nestablish the complete parallelism between witches and were-wolves in\nthese respects. The analogy appears to confirm the view that the reason\nfor burning a bewitched animal alive is a belief that the witch herself is\nin the animal, and that by burning it you either destroy the witch\ncompletely or at least unmask her and compel her to reassume her proper\nhuman shape, in which she is naturally far less potent for mischief than\nwhen she is careering about the country in the likeness of a cat, a hare,\na horse, or what not. This principle is still indeed clearly recognized by\npeople in Oldenburg, though, as might be expected, they do not now carry\nout the principle to its logical conclusion by burning the bewitched\nanimal or person alive; instead they resort to a feeble and, it must be\nadded, perfectly futile subterfuge dictated by a mistaken humanity or a\nfear of the police. \u201cWhen anything living is bewitched in a house, for\nexample, children or animals, they burn or boil the nobler inwards of\nanimals, especially the hearts, but also the lungs or the liver. If\nanimals have died, they take the inwards of one of them or of an animal of\nthe same kind slaughtered for the purpose; but if that is not possible\nthey take the inwards of a cock, by preference a black one. The heart,\nlung, or liver is stuck all over with needles, or marked with a cross cut,\nor placed on the fire in a tightly closed vessel, strict silence being\nobserved and doors and windows well shut. When the heart boils or is\nreduced to ashes, the witch must appear, for during the boiling she feels\nthe burning pain. She either begs to be released or seeks to borrow\nsomething, for example, salt or a coal of fire, or she takes the lid off\nthe pot, or tries to induce the person whose spell is on her to speak.\nThey say, too, that a woman comes with a spinning-wheel. If it is a sheep\nthat has died, you proceed in the same way with a tripe from its stomach\nand prick it with needles while it is on the boil. Instead of boiling it,\nsome people nail the heart to the highest rafter of the house, or lay it\non the edge of the hearth, in order that it may dry up, no doubt because\nthe same thing happens to the witch. We may conjecture that other\nsympathetic means of destruction are employed against witchcraft. The\nfollowing is expressly reported: the heart of a calf that has died is\nstuck all over with needles, enclosed in a bag, and thrown into flowing\nwater before sunset.\u201d(786)\n\n(M285) And the same thing holds good also of inanimate objects on which a\nwitch has cast her spell. In Wales they say that \u201cif a thing is bewitched,\nburn it, and immediately afterwards the witch will come to borrow\nsomething of you. If you give what she asks, she will go free; if you\nrefuse it, she will burn, and a mark will be on her body the next\nday.\u201d(787) So, too, in Oldenburg, \u201cthe burning of things that are\nbewitched or that have been received from witches is another way of\nbreaking the spell. It is often said that the burning should take place at\na cross-road, and in several places cross-roads are shewn where the\nburning used to be performed.... As a rule, while the things are burning,\nthe guilty witches appear, though not always in their own shape. At the\nburning of bewitched butter they often appear as cockchafers and can be\nkilled with impunity. Victuals received from witches may be safely\nconsumed if only you first burn a portion of them.\u201d(788) For example, a\nyoung man in Oldenburg was wooing a girl, and she gave him two fine apples\nas a gift. Not feeling any appetite at the time, he put the apples in his\npocket, and when he came home he laid them by in a chest. Two or three\ndays afterwards he remembered the apples and went to the chest to fetch\nthem. But when he would have put his hand on them, what was his horror to\nfind in their stead two fat ugly toads in the chest! He hastened to a wise\nman and asked him what he should do with the toads. The man told him to\nboil the toads alive, but while he was doing so he must be sure on no\naccount to lend anything out of the house. Well, just as he had the toads\nin a pot on the fire and the water began to grow nicely warm, who should\ncome to the door but the girl who had given him the apples, and she wished\nto borrow something; but he refused to give her anything, rated her as a\nwitch, and drove her out of the house. A little afterwards in came the\ngirl\u2019s mother and begged with tears in her eyes for something or other;\nbut he turned her out also. The last word she said to him was that he\nshould at least spare her daughter\u2019s life; but he paid no heed to her and\nlet the toads boil till they fell to bits. Next day word came that the\ngirl was dead.(789) Can any reasonable man doubt that the witch herself\nwas boiled alive in the person of the toads?\n\n(M286) Moreover, just as a witch can assume the form of an animal, so she\ncan assume the form of some other human being, and the likeness is\nsometimes so good that it is difficult to detect the fraud. However, by\nburning alive the person whose shape the witch has put on, you force the\nwitch to disclose herself, just as by burning alive the bewitched animal\nyou in like manner oblige the witch to appear. This principle may perhaps\nbe unknown to science, falsely so called, but it is well understood in\nIreland and has been acted on within recent years. In March 1895 a peasant\nnamed Michael Cleary, residing at Ballyvadlea, a remote and lonely\ndistrict in the county of Tipperary, burned his wife Bridget Cleary alive\nover a slow fire on the kitchen hearth in the presence of and with the\nactive assistance of some neighbours, including the woman\u2019s own father and\nseveral of her cousins. They thought that she was not Bridget Cleary at\nall, but a witch, and that when they held her down on the fire she would\nvanish up the chimney; so they cried, while she was burning, \u201cAway she\ngoes! Away she goes!\u201d Even when she lay quite dead on the kitchen floor\n(for contrary to the general expectation she did not disappear up the\nchimney), her husband still believed that the woman lying there was a\nwitch, and that his own dear wife had gone with the fairies to the old\n_rath_ or fort on the hill of Kylenagranagh, where he would see her at\nnight riding a grey horse and roped to the saddle, and that he would cut\nthe ropes, and that she would stay with him ever afterwards. So he went\nwith some friends to the fort night after night, taking a big table-knife\nwith him to cut the ropes. But he never saw his wife again. He and the men\nwho had held the woman on the fire were arrested and tried at Clonmel for\nwilful murder in July 1895; they were all found guilty of manslaughter and\nsentenced to various terms of penal servitude and imprisonment; the\nsentence passed on Michael Cleary was twenty years\u2019 penal servitude.(790)\n\n(M287) However, our British peasants, it must be confessed, have not\nalways acted up to the strict logical theory which seems to call for death\nby fire as the proper treatment both of bewitched animals and of witches.\nSometimes, perhaps in moments of weakness, they have merely buried the\nbewitched animals alive instead of burning them. For example, in the year\n1643, \u201cmany cattle having died, John Brughe and Neane Nikclerith, also one\nof the initiated, conjoined their mutual skill for the safety of the herd.\nThe surviving animals were drove past a tub of water containing two\nenchanted stones: and each was sprinkled from the liquid contents in its\ncourse. One, however, being unable to walk, \u2018was by force drawin out at\nthe byre dure; and the said Johnne with Nikclerith smelling the nois\nthereof said it wald not leive, caused ane hoill to be maid in Maw Greane,\nquhilk was put quick in the hole and maid all the rest of the cattell\ntheireftir to go over that place: and in that devillische maner, be\ncharmeing,\u2019 they were cured.\u201d(791) Again, during the prevalence of a\nmurrain about the year 1629, certain persons proposed to stay the plague\nwith the help of a celebrated \u201ccureing stane\u201d of which the laird of Lee\nwas the fortunate owner. But from this they were dissuaded by one who \u201chad\nsene bestiall curet be taking ane quik seik ox, and making ane deip pitt,\nand bureing him therin, and be calling the oxin and bestiall over that\nplace.\u201d Indeed Issobell Young, the mother of these persons, had herself\nendeavoured to check the progress of the distemper by taking \u201cane quik ox\nwith ane catt, and ane grit quantitie of salt,\u201d and proceeding \u201cto burie\nthe ox and catt quik with the salt, in ane deip hoill in the grund, as ane\nsacrifice to the devill, that the rest of the guidis might be fred of the\nseiknes or diseases.\u201d(792) Writing towards the end of the eighteenth\ncentury, John Ramsay of Ochtertyre tells us that \u201cthe violent death even\nof a brute is in some cases held to be of great avail. There is a disease\ncalled the _black spauld_, which sometimes rages like a pestilence among\nblack cattle, the symptoms of which are a mortification in the legs and a\ncorruption of the mass of blood. Among the other engines of superstition\nthat are directed against this fatal malady, the first cow seized with it\nis commonly buried alive, and the other cattle are forced to pass\nbackwards and forwards over the pit. At other times the heart is taken out\nof the beast alive, and then the carcass is buried. It is remarkable that\nthe leg affected is cut off, and hung up in some part of the house or\nbyre, where it remains suspended, notwithstanding the seeming danger of\ninfection. There is hardly a house in Mull where these may not be seen.\nThis practice seems to have taken its rise antecedent to Christianity, as\nit reminds us of the pagan custom of hanging up offerings in their\ntemples. In Breadalbane, when a cow is observed to have symptoms of\nmadness, there is recourse had to a peculiar process. They tie the legs of\nthe mad creature, and throw her into a pit dug at the door of the fold.\nAfter covering the hole with earth, a large fire is kindled upon it; and\nthe rest of the cattle are driven out, and forced to pass through the fire\none by one.\u201d(793) In this latter custom we may suspect that the fire\nkindled on the grave of the buried cow was originally made by the friction\nof wood, in other words, that it was a need-fire. Again, writing in the\nyear 1862, Sir Arthur Mitchell tells us that \u201cfor the cure of the murrain\nin cattle, one of the herd is still sacrificed for the good of the whole.\nThis is done by burying it alive. I am assured that within the last ten\nyears such a barbarism occurred in the county of Moray.\u201d(794)\n\n(M288) Sometimes, however, the animal has not even been buried alive, it\nhas been merely killed and then buried. In this emasculated form the\nsacrifice, we may say with confidence, is absolutely useless for the\npurpose of stopping a murrain. Nevertheless, it has been tried. Thus in\nLincolnshire, \u201cwhen the cattle plague was so prevalent in 1866, there was,\nI believe, not a single cowshed in Marshland but had its wicken cross over\nthe door; and other charms more powerful than this were in some cases\nresorted to. I never heard of the use of the needfire in the Marsh, though\nit was, I believe, used on the wolds not many miles off. But I knew of at\nleast one case in which a calf was killed and solemnly buried feet\npointing upwards at the threshold of the cowshed. When our garthman told\nme of this, I pointed out to him that the charm had failed, for the\ndisease had not spared that shed. But he promptly replied, \u2018Yis, but owd\nEdwards were a soight too cliver; he were that mean he slew nobbutt a\nwankling cauf as were bound to deny anny road; if he had nobbutt tekken\nhis best cauf it wud hev worked reight enuff; \u2019tain\u2019t in reason that owd\nskrat \u2019ud be hanselled wi\u2019 wankling draffle.\u2019 \u201d(795)\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V. THE INTERPRETATION OF THE FIRE-FESTIVALS.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 1. On the Fire-festivals in general.\n\n\n(M289) The foregoing survey of the popular fire-festivals of Europe\nsuggests some general observations. In the first place we can hardly help\nbeing struck by the resemblance which the ceremonies bear to each other,\nat whatever time of the year and in whatever part of Europe they are\ncelebrated. The custom of kindling great bonfires, leaping over them, and\ndriving cattle through or round them would seem to have been practically\nuniversal throughout Europe, and the same may be said of the processions\nor races with blazing torches round fields, orchards, pastures, or\ncattle-stalls. Less widespread are the customs of hurling lighted discs\ninto the air(796) and trundling a burning wheel down hill;(797) for to\njudge by the evidence which I have collected these modes of distributing\nthe beneficial influence of the fire have been confined in the main to\nCentral Europe. The ceremonial of the Yule log is distinguished from that\nof the other fire-festivals by the privacy and domesticity which\ncharacterize it; but, as we have already seen, this distinction may well\nbe due simply to the rough weather of midwinter, which is apt not only to\nrender a public assembly in the open air disagreeable, but also at any\nmoment to defeat the object of the assembly by extinguishing the\nall-important fire under a downpour of rain or a fall of snow. Apart from\nthese local or seasonal differences, the general resemblance between the\nfire-festivals at all times of the year and in all places is tolerably\nclose. And as the ceremonies themselves resemble each other, so do the\nbenefits which the people expect to reap from them. Whether applied in the\nform of bonfires blazing at fixed points, or of torches carried about from\nplace to place, or of embers and ashes taken from the smouldering heap of\nfuel, the fire is believed to promote the growth of the crops and the\nwelfare of man and beast, either positively by stimulating them, or\nnegatively by averting the dangers and calamities which threaten them from\nsuch causes as thunder and lightning, conflagration, blight, mildew,\nvermin, sterility, disease, and not least of all witchcraft.\n\n(M290) But we naturally ask, How did it come about that benefits so great\nand manifold were supposed to be attained by means so simple? In what way\ndid people imagine that they could procure so many goods or avoid so many\nills by the application of fire and smoke, of embers and ashes? In short,\nwhat theory underlay and prompted the practice of these customs? For that\nthe institution of the festivals was the outcome of a definite train of\nreasoning may be taken for granted; the view that primitive man acted\nfirst and invented his reasons to suit his actions afterwards, is not\nborne out by what we know of his nearest living representatives, the\nsavage and the peasant. Two different explanations of the fire-festivals\nhave been given by modern enquirers. On the one hand it has been held that\nthey are sun-charms or magical ceremonies intended, on the principle of\nimitative magic, to ensure a needful supply of sunshine for men, animals,\nand plants by kindling fires which mimic on earth the great source of\nlight and heat in the sky. This was the view of Wilhelm Mannhardt.(798) It\nmay be called the solar theory. On the other hand it has been maintained\nthat the ceremonial fires have no necessary reference to the sun but are\nsimply purificatory in intention, being designed to burn up and destroy\nall harmful influences, whether these are conceived in a personal form as\nwitches, demons, and monsters, or in an impersonal form as a sort of\npervading taint or corruption of the air. This is the view of Dr. Edward\nWestermarck(799) and apparently of Professor Eugen Mogk.(800) It may be\ncalled the purificatory theory. Obviously the two theories postulate two\nvery different conceptions of the fire which plays the principal part in\nthe rites. On the one view, the fire, like sunshine in our latitude, is a\ngenial creative power which fosters the growth of plants and the\ndevelopment of all that makes for health and happiness; on the other view,\nthe fire is a fierce destructive power which blasts and consumes all the\nnoxious elements, whether spiritual or material, that menace the life of\nmen, of animals, and of plants. According to the one theory the fire is a\nstimulant, according to the other it is a disinfectant; on the one view\nits virtue is positive, on the other it is negative.\n\n(M291) Yet the two explanations, different as they are in the character\nwhich they attribute to the fire, are perhaps not wholly irreconcilable.\nIf we assume that the fires kindled at these festivals were primarily\nintended to imitate the sun\u2019s light and heat, may we not regard the\npurificatory and disinfecting qualities, which popular opinion certainly\nappears to have ascribed to them, as attributes derived directly from the\npurificatory and disinfecting qualities of sunshine? In this way we might\nconclude that, while the imitation of sunshine in these ceremonies was\nprimary and original, the purification attributed to them was secondary\nand derivative. Such a conclusion, occupying an intermediate position\nbetween the two opposing theories and recognizing an element of truth in\nboth of them, was adopted by me in earlier editions of this work;(801) but\nin the meantime Dr. Westermarck has argued powerfully in favour of the\npurificatory theory alone, and I am bound to say that his arguments carry\ngreat weight, and that on a fuller review of the facts the balance of\nevidence seems to me to incline decidedly in his favour. However, the case\nis not so clear as to justify us in dismissing the solar theory without\ndiscussion, and accordingly I propose to adduce the considerations which\ntell for it before proceeding to notice those which tell against it. A\ntheory which had the support of so learned and sagacious an investigator\nas W. Mannhardt is entitled to a respectful hearing.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 2. The Solar Theory of the Fire-festivals.\n\n\n(M292) In an earlier part of this work we saw that savages resort to\ncharms for making sunshine,(802) and it would be no wonder if primitive\nman in Europe did the same. Indeed, when we consider the cold and cloudy\nclimate of Europe during a great part of the year, we shall find it\nnatural that sun-charms should have played a much more prominent part\namong the superstitious practices of European peoples than among those of\nsavages who live nearer the equator and who consequently are apt to get in\nthe course of nature more sunshine than they want. This view of the\nfestivals may be supported by various arguments drawn partly from their\ndates, partly from the nature of the rites, and partly from the influence\nwhich they are believed to exert upon the weather and on vegetation.\n\n(M293) First, in regard to the dates of the festivals it can be no mere\naccident that two of the most important and widely spread of the festivals\nare timed to coincide more or less exactly with the summer and winter\nsolstices, that is, with the two turning-points in the sun\u2019s apparent\ncourse in the sky when he reaches respectively his highest and his lowest\nelevation at noon. Indeed with respect to the midwinter celebration of\nChristmas we are not left to conjecture; we know from the express\ntestimony of the ancients that it was instituted by the church to\nsupersede an old heathen festival of the birth of the sun,(803) which was\napparently conceived to be born again on the shortest day of the year,\nafter which his light and heat were seen to grow till they attained their\nfull maturity at midsummer. Therefore it is no very far-fetched conjecture\nto suppose that the Yule log, which figures so prominently in the popular\ncelebration of Christmas, was originally designed to help the labouring\nsun of midwinter to rekindle his seemingly expiring light.\n\n(M294) The idea that by lighting a log on earth you can rekindle a fire in\nheaven or fan it into a brighter blaze, naturally seems to us absurd; but\nto the savage mind it wears a different aspect, and the institution of the\ngreat fire-festivals which we are considering probably dates from a time\nwhen Europe was still sunk in savagery or at most in barbarism. Now it can\nbe shewn that in order to increase the celestial source of heat at\nmidwinter savages resort to a practice analogous to that of our Yule log,\nif the kindling of the Yule log was originally a magical rite intended to\nrekindle the sun. In the southern hemisphere, where the order of the\nseasons is the reverse of ours, the rising of Sirius or the Dog Star in\nJuly marks the season of the greatest cold instead of, as with us, the\ngreatest heat; and just as the civilized ancients ascribed the torrid heat\nof midsummer to that brilliant star,(804) so the modern savage of South\nAfrica attributes to it the piercing cold of midwinter and seeks to\nmitigate its rigour by warming up the chilly star with the genial heat of\nthe sun. How he does so may be best described in his own words as\nfollows:\u2014(805)\n\n\u201cThe Bushmen perceive Canopus, they say to a child: \u2018Give me yonder piece\nof wood, that I may put the end of it in the fire, that I may point it\nburning towards grandmother, for grandmother carries Bushman rice;\ngrandmother shall make a little warmth for us; for she coldly comes out;\nthe sun(806) shall warm grandmother\u2019s eye for us.\u2019 Sirius comes out; the\npeople call out to one another: \u2018Sirius comes yonder;\u2019 they say to one\nanother: \u2018Ye must burn a stick for us towards Sirius.\u2019 They say to one\nanother: \u2018Who was it who saw Sirius?\u2019 One man says to the other: \u2018Our\nbrother saw Sirius.\u2019 The other man says to him: \u2018I saw Sirius.\u2019 The other\nman says to him: \u2018I wish thee to burn a stick for us towards Sirius; that\nthe sun may shining come out for us; that Sirius may not coldly come out.\u2019\nThe other man (the one who saw Sirius) says to his son: \u2018Bring me the\nsmall piece of wood yonder, that I may put the end of it in the fire, that\nI may burn it towards grandmother; that grandmother may ascend the sky,\nlike the other one, Canopus.\u2019 The child brings him the piece of wood, he\n(the father) holds the end of it in the fire. He points it burning towards\nSirius; he says that Sirius shall twinkle like Canopus. He sings; he sings\nabout Canopus, he sings about Sirius; he points to them with fire,(807)\nthat they may twinkle like each other. He throws fire at them. He covers\nhimself up entirely (including his head) in his kaross and lies down. He\narises, he sits down; while he does not again lie down; because he feels\nthat he has worked, putting Sirius into the sun\u2019s warmth; so that Sirius\nmay warmly come out. The women go out early to seek for Bushman rice; they\nwalk, sunning their shoulder blades.\u201d(808) What the Bushmen thus do to\ntemper the cold of midwinter in the southern hemisphere by blowing up the\ncelestial fires may have been done by our rude forefathers at the\ncorresponding season in the northern hemisphere.\n\n(M295) Not only the date of some of the festivals but the manner of their\ncelebration suggests a conscious imitation of the sun. The custom of\nrolling a burning wheel down a hill, which is often observed at these\nceremonies, might well pass for an imitation of the sun\u2019s course in the\nsky, and the imitation would be especially appropriate on Midsummer Day\nwhen the sun\u2019s annual declension begins. Indeed the custom has been thus\ninterpreted by some of those who have recorded it.(809) Not less graphic,\nit may be said, is the mimicry of his apparent revolution by swinging a\nburning tar-barrel round a pole.(810) Again, the common practice of\nthrowing fiery discs, sometimes expressly said to be shaped like suns,\ninto the air at the festivals may well be a piece of imitative magic. In\nthese, as in so many cases, the magic force may be supposed to take effect\nthrough mimicry or sympathy: by imitating the desired result you actually\nproduce it: by counterfeiting the sun\u2019s progress through the heavens you\nreally help the luminary to pursue his celestial journey with punctuality\nand despatch. The name \u201cfire of heaven,\u201d by which the midsummer fire is\nsometimes popularly known,(811) clearly implies a consciousness of a\nconnexion between the earthly and the heavenly flame.\n\n(M296) Again, the manner in which the fire appears to have been originally\nkindled on these occasions has been alleged in support of the view that it\nwas intended to be a mock-sun. As some scholars have perceived, it is\nhighly probable that at the periodic festivals in former times fire was\nuniversally obtained by the friction of two pieces of wood.(812) We have\nseen that it is still so procured in some places both at the Easter and\nthe midsummer festivals, and that it is expressly said to have been\nformerly so procured at the Beltane celebration both in Scotland and\nWales.(813) But what makes it nearly certain that this was once the\ninvariable mode of kindling the fire at these periodic festivals is the\nanalogy of the need-fire, which has almost always been produced by the\nfriction of wood, and sometimes by the revolution of a wheel. It is a\nplausible conjecture that the wheel employed for this purpose represents\nthe sun,(814) and if the fires at the regularly recurring celebrations\nwere formerly produced in the same way, it might be regarded as a\nconfirmation of the view that they were originally sun-charms. In point of\nfact there is, as Kuhn has indicated,(815) some evidence to shew that the\nmidsummer fire was originally thus produced. We have seen that many\nHungarian swine-herds make fire on Midsummer Eve by rotating a wheel round\na wooden axle wrapt in hemp, and that they drive their pigs through the\nfire thus made.(816) At Obermedlingen, in Swabia, the \u201cfire of heaven,\u201d as\nit was called, was made on St. Vitus\u2019s Day (the fifteenth of June) by\nigniting a cart-wheel, which, smeared with pitch and plaited with straw,\nwas fastened on a pole twelve feet high, the top of the pole being\ninserted in the nave of the wheel. This fire was made on the summit of a\nmountain, and as the flame ascended, the people uttered a set form of\nwords, with eyes and arms directed heavenward.(817) Here the fixing of a\nwheel on a pole and igniting it suggests that originally the fire was\nproduced, as in the case of the need-fire, by the revolution of a wheel.\nThe day on which the ceremony takes place (the fifteenth of June) is near\nmidsummer; and we have seen that in Masuren fire is, or used to be,\nactually made on Midsummer Day by turning a wheel rapidly about an oaken\npole,(818) though it is not said that the new fire so obtained is used to\nlight a bonfire. However, we must bear in mind that in all such cases the\nuse of a wheel may be merely a mechanical device to facilitate the\noperation of fire-making by increasing the friction; it need not have any\nsymbolical significance.\n\n(M297) Further, the influence which these fires, whether periodic or\noccasional, are supposed to exert on the weather and vegetation may be\ncited in support of the view that they are sun-charms, since the effects\nascribed to them resemble those of sunshine. Thus, the French belief that\nin a rainy June the lighting of the midsummer bonfires will cause the rain\nto cease(819) appears to assume that they can disperse the dark clouds and\nmake the sun to break out in radiant glory, drying the wet earth and\ndripping trees. Similarly the use of the need-fire by Swiss children on\nfoggy days for the purpose of clearing away the mist(820) may very\nnaturally be interpreted as a sun-charm. Again, we have seen that in the\nVosges Mountains the people believe that the midsummer fires help to\npreserve the fruits of the earth and ensure good crops.(821) In Sweden the\nwarmth or cold of the coming season is inferred from the direction in\nwhich the flames of the May Day bonfire are blown; if they blow to the\nsouth, it will be warm, if to the north, cold.(822) No doubt at present\nthe direction of the flames is regarded merely as an augury of the\nweather, not as a mode of influencing it. But we may be pretty sure that\nthis is one of the cases in which magic has dwindled into divination. So\nin the Eifel Mountains, when the smoke blows towards the corn-fields, this\nis an omen that the harvest will be abundant.(823) But the older view may\nhave been not merely that the smoke and flames prognosticated, but that\nthey actually produced an abundant harvest, the heat of the flames acting\nlike sunshine on the corn. Perhaps it was with this view that people in\nthe Isle of Man lit fires to windward of their fields in order that the\nsmoke might blow over them.(824) So in South Africa, about the month of\nApril, the Matabeles light huge fires to the windward of their gardens,\n\u201ctheir idea being that the smoke, by passing over the crops, will assist\nthe ripening of them.\u201d(825) Among the Zulus also \u201cmedicine is burned on a\nfire placed to windward of the garden, the fumigation which the plants in\nconsequence receive being held to improve the crop.\u201d(826) Again, the idea\nof our European peasants that the corn will grow well as far as the blaze\nof the bonfire is visible,(827) may be interpreted as a remnant of the\nbelief in the quickening and fertilizing power of the bonfires. The same\nbelief, it may be argued, reappears in the notion that embers taken from\nthe bonfires and inserted in the fields will promote the growth of the\ncrops,(828) and it may be thought to underlie the customs of sowing\nflax-seed in the direction in which the flames blow,(829) of mixing the\nashes of the bonfire with the seed-corn at sowing,(830) of scattering the\nashes by themselves over the field to fertilize it,(831) and of\nincorporating a piece of the Yule log in the plough to make the seeds\nthrive.(832) The opinion that the flax or hemp will grow as high as the\nflames rise or the people leap over them(833) belongs clearly to the same\nclass of ideas. Again, at Konz, on the banks of the Moselle, if the\nblazing wheel which was trundled down the hillside reached the river\nwithout being extinguished, this was hailed as a proof that the vintage\nwould be abundant. So firmly was this belief held that the successful\nperformance of the ceremony entitled the villagers to levy a tax upon the\nowners of the neighbouring vineyards.(834) Here the unextinguished wheel\nmight be taken to represent an unclouded sun, which in turn would portend\nan abundant vintage. So the waggon-load of white wine which the villagers\nreceived from the vineyards round about might pass for a payment for the\nsunshine which they had procured for the grapes. Similarly we saw that in\nthe Vale of Glamorgan a blazing wheel used to be trundled down hill on\nMidsummer Day, and that if the fire were extinguished before the wheel\nreached the foot of the hill, the people expected a bad harvest; whereas\nif the wheel kept alight all the way down and continued to blaze for a\nlong time, the farmers looked forward to heavy crops that summer.(835)\nHere, again, it is natural to suppose that the rustic mind traced a direct\nconnexion between the fire of the wheel and the fire of the sun, on which\nthe crops are dependent.\n\n(M298) But in popular belief the quickening and fertilizing influence of\nthe bonfires is not limited to the vegetable world; it extends also to\nanimals. This plainly appears from the Irish custom of driving barren\ncattle through the mid-summer fires,(836) from the French belief that the\nYule-log steeped in water helps cows to calve,(837) from the French and\nServian notion that there will be as many chickens, calves, lambs, and\nkids as there are sparks struck out of the Yule log,(838) from the French\ncustom of putting the ashes of the bonfires in the fowls\u2019 nests to make\nthe hens lay eggs,(839) and from the German practice of mixing the ashes\nof the bonfires with the drink of cattle in order to make the animals\nthrive.(840) Further, there are clear indications that even human\nfecundity is supposed to be promoted by the genial heat of the fires. In\nMorocco the people think that childless couples can obtain offspring by\nleaping over the midsummer bonfire.(841) It is an Irish belief that a girl\nwho jumps thrice over the midsummer bonfire will soon marry and become the\nmother of many children;(842) in Flanders women leap over the Midsummer\nfires to ensure an easy delivery;(843) and in various parts of France they\nthink that if a girl dances round nine fires she will be sure to marry\nwithin the year.(844) On the other hand, in Lechrain people say that if a\nyoung man and woman, leaping over the midsummer fire together, escape\nunsmirched, the young woman will not become a mother within twelve\nmonths:(845) the flames have not touched and fertilized her. In parts of\nSwitzerland and France the lighting of the Yule log is accompanied by a\nprayer that the women may bear children, the she-goats bring forth kids,\nand the ewes drop lambs.(846) The rule observed in some places that the\nbonfires should be kindled by the person who was last married(847) seems\nto belong to the same class of ideas, whether it be that such a person is\nsupposed to receive from, or to impart to, the fire a generative and\nfertilizing influence. The common practice of lovers leaping over the\nfires hand in hand may very well have originated in a notion that thereby\ntheir marriage would be blessed with offspring; and the like motive would\nexplain the custom which obliges couples married within the year to dance\nto the light of torches.(848) And the scenes of profligacy which appear to\nhave marked the midsummer celebration among the Esthonians,(849) as they\nonce marked the celebration of May Day among ourselves, may have sprung,\nnot from the mere license of holiday-makers, but from a crude notion that\nsuch orgies were justified, if not required, by some mysterious bond which\nlinked the life of man to the courses of the heavens at this turning-point\nof the year.\n\n(M299) At the festivals which we are considering the custom of kindling\nbonfires is commonly associated with a custom of carrying lighted torches\nabout the fields, the orchards, the pastures, the flocks and the herds;\nand we can hardly doubt that the two customs are only two different ways\nof attaining the same object, namely, the benefits which are believed to\nflow from the fire, whether it be stationary or portable. Accordingly if\nwe accept the solar theory of the bonfires, we seem bound to apply it also\nto the torches; we must suppose that the practice of marching or running\nwith blazing torches about the country is simply a means of diffusing far\nand wide the genial influence of the sunshine, of which these flickering\nflames are a feeble imitation. In favour of this view it may be said that\nsometimes the torches are carried about the fields for the express purpose\nof fertilizing them,(850) and for the same purpose live coals from the\nbonfires are sometimes placed in the fields \u201cto prevent blight.\u201d(851) On\nthe Eve of Twelfth Day in Normandy men, women, and children run wildly\nthrough the fields and orchards with lighted torches, which they wave\nabout the branches and dash against the trunks of the fruit-trees for the\nsake of burning the moss and driving away the moles and field mice. \u201cThey\nbelieve that the ceremony fulfils the double object of exorcizing the\nvermin whose multiplication would be a real calamity, and of imparting\nfecundity to the trees, the fields, and even the cattle\u201d; and they imagine\nthat the more the ceremony is prolonged, the greater will be the crop of\nfruit next autumn.(852) In Bohemia they say that the corn will grow as\nhigh as they fling the blazing besoms into the air.(853) Nor are such\nnotions confined to Europe. In Corea, a few days before the New Year\nfestival, the eunuchs of the palace swing burning torches, chanting\ninvocations the while, and this is supposed to ensure bountiful crops for\nthe next season.(854) The custom of trundling a burning wheel over the\nfields, which used to be observed in Poitou for the express purpose of\nfertilizing them,(855) may be thought to embody the same idea in a still\nmore graphic form; since in this way the mock-sun itself, not merely its\nlight and heat represented by torches, is made actually to pass over the\nground which is to receive its quickening and kindly influence. Once more,\nthe custom of carrying lighted brands round cattle(856) is plainly\nequivalent to driving the animals through the bonfire; and if the bonfire\nis a sun-charm, the torches must be so also.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 3. The Purificatory Theory of the Fire-festivals.\n\n\n(M300) Thus far we have considered what may be said for the theory that at\nthe European fire-festivals the fire is kindled as a charm to ensure an\nabundant supply of sunshine for man and beast, for corn and fruits. It\nremains to consider what may be said against this theory and in favour of\nthe view that in these rites fire is employed not as a creative but as a\ncleansing agent, which purifies men, animals, and plants by burning up and\nconsuming the noxious elements, whether material or spiritual, which\nmenace all living things with disease and death.\n\n(M301) First, then, it is to be observed that the people who practise the\nfire-customs appear never to allege the solar theory in explanation of\nthem, while on the contrary they do frequently and emphatically put\nforward the purificatory theory. This is a strong argument in favour of\nthe purificatory and against the solar theory; for the popular explanation\nof a popular custom is never to be rejected except for grave cause. And in\nthe present case there seems to be no adequate reason for rejecting it.\nThe conception of fire as a destructive agent, which can be turned to\naccount for the consumption of evil things, is so simple and obvious that\nit could hardly escape the minds even of the rude peasantry with whom\nthese festivals originated. On the other hand the conception of fire as an\nemanation of the sun, or at all events as linked to it by a bond of\nphysical sympathy, is far less simple and obvious; and though the use of\nfire as a charm to produce sunshine appears to be undeniable,(857)\nnevertheless in attempting to explain popular customs we should never have\nrecourse to a more recondite idea when a simpler one lies to hand and is\nsupported by the explicit testimony of the people themselves. Now in the\ncase of the fire-festivals the destructive aspect of fire is one upon\nwhich the people dwell again and again; and it is highly significant that\nthe great evil against which the fire is directed appears to be\nwitchcraft. Again and again we are told that the fires are intended to\nburn or repel the witches;(858) and the intention is sometimes graphically\nexpressed by burning an effigy of a witch in the fire.(859) Hence, when we\nremember the great hold which the dread of witchcraft has had on the\npopular European mind in all ages, we may suspect that the primary\nintention of all these fire-festivals was simply to destroy or at all\nevents get rid of the witches, who were regarded as the causes of nearly\nall the misfortunes and calamities that befall men, their cattle, and\ntheir crops.(860)\n\n(M302) This suspicion is confirmed when we examine the evils for which the\nbonfires and torches were supposed to provide a remedy. Foremost, perhaps,\namong these evils we may reckon the diseases of cattle; and of all the\nills that witches are believed to work there is probably none which is so\nconstantly insisted on as the harm they do to the herds, particularly by\nstealing the milk from the cows.(861) Now it is significant that the\nneed-fire, which may perhaps be regarded as the parent of the periodic\nfire-festivals, is kindled above all as a remedy for a murrain or other\ndisease of cattle; and the circumstance suggests, what on general grounds\nseems probable, that the custom of kindling the need-fire goes back to a\ntime when the ancestors of the European peoples subsisted chiefly on the\nproducts of their herds, and when agriculture as yet played a subordinate\npart in their lives. Witches and wolves are the two great foes still\ndreaded by the herdsman in many parts of Europe;(862) and we need not\nwonder that he should resort to fire as a powerful means of banning them\nboth. Among Slavonic peoples it appears that the foes whom the need-fire\nis designed to combat are not so much living witches as vampyres and other\nevil spirits,(863) and the ceremony, as we saw, aims rather at repelling\nthese baleful beings than at actually consuming them in the flames. But\nfor our present purpose these distinctions are immaterial. The important\nthing to observe is that among the Slavs the need-fire, which is probably\nthe original of all the ceremonial fires now under consideration, is not a\nsun-charm, but clearly and unmistakably nothing but a means of protecting\nman and beast against the attacks of maleficent creatures, whom the\npeasant thinks to burn or scare by the heat of the fire, just as he might\nburn or scare wild animals.\n\n(M303) Again, the bonfires are often supposed to protect the fields\nagainst hail(864) and the homestead against thunder and lightning.(865)\nBut both hail and thunderstorms are frequently thought to be caused by\nwitches;(866) hence the fire which bans the witches necessarily serves at\nthe same time as a talisman against hail, thunder, and lightning. Further,\nbrands taken from the bonfires are commonly kept in the houses to guard\nthem against conflagration;(867) and though this may perhaps be done on\nthe principle of homoeopathic magic, one fire being thought to act as a\npreventive of another, it is also possible that the intention may be to\nkeep witch-incendiaries at bay. Again, people leap over the bonfires as a\npreventive of colic,(868) and look at the flames steadily in order to\npreserve their eyes in good health;(869) and both colic and sore eyes are\nin Germany, and probably elsewhere, set down to the machinations of\nwitches.(870) Once more, to leap over the Midsummer fires or to\ncircumambulate them is thought to prevent a person from feeling pains in\nhis back at reaping;(871) and in Germany such pains are called\n\u201cwitch-shots\u201d and ascribed to witchcraft.(872)\n\n(M304) But if the bonfires and torches of the fire-festivals are to be\nregarded primarily as weapons directed against witches and wizards, it\nbecomes probable that the same explanation applies not only to the flaming\ndiscs which are hurled into the air, but also to the burning wheels which\nare rolled down hill on these occasions; discs and wheels, we may suppose,\nare alike intended to burn the witches who hover invisible in the air or\nhaunt unseen the fields, the orchards, and the vineyards on the\nhillside.(873) Certainly witches are constantly thought to ride through\nthe air on broomsticks or other equally convenient vehicles; and if they\ndo so, how can you get at them so effectually as by hurling lighted\nmissiles, whether discs, torches, or besoms, after them as they flit past\noverhead in the gloom? The South Slavonian peasant believes that witches\nride in the dark hail-clouds; so he shoots at the clouds to bring down the\nhags, while he curses them, saying, \u201cCurse, curse Herodias, thy mother is\na heathen, damned of God and fettered through the Redeemer\u2019s blood.\u201d Also\nhe brings out a pot of glowing charcoal on which he has thrown holy oil,\nlaurel leaves, and wormwood to make a smoke. The fumes are supposed to\nascend to the clouds and stupefy the witches, so that they tumble down to\nearth. And in order that they may not fall soft, but may hurt themselves\nvery much, the yokel hastily brings out a chair and tilts it bottom up so\nthat the witch in falling may break her legs on the legs of the chair.\nWorse than that, he cruelly lays scythes, bill-hooks and other formidable\nweapons edge upwards so as to cut and mangle the poor wretches when they\ndrop plump upon them from the clouds.(874)\n\n(M305) On this view the fertility supposed to follow the application of\nfire in the form of bonfires, torches, discs, rolling wheels, and so\nforth, is not conceived as resulting directly from an increase of solar\nheat which the fire has magically generated; it is merely an indirect\nresult obtained by freeing the reproductive powers of plants and animals\nfrom the fatal obstruction of witchcraft. And what is true of the\nreproduction of plants and animals may hold good also of the fertility of\nthe human sexes. We have seen that the bonfires are supposed to promote\nmarriage and to procure offspring for childless couples. This happy effect\nneed not flow directly from any quickening or fertilizing energy in the\nfire; it may follow indirectly from the power of the fire to remove those\nobstacles which the spells of witches and wizards notoriously present to\nthe union of man and wife.(875)\n\n(M306) On the whole, then, the theory of the purificatory virtue of the\nceremonial fires appears more probable and more in accordance with the\nevidence than the opposing theory of their connexion with the sun. But\nEurope is not the only part of the world where ceremonies of this sort\nhave been performed; elsewhere the passage through the flames or smoke or\nover the glowing embers of a bonfire, which is the central feature of most\nof the rites, has been employed as a cure or a preventive of various ills.\nWe have seen that the midsummer ritual of fire in Morocco is practically\nidentical with that of our European peasantry; and customs more or less\nsimilar have been observed by many races in various parts of the world. A\nconsideration of some of them may help us to decide between the\nconflicting claims of the two rival theories, which explain the ceremonies\nas sun-charms or purifications respectively.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n   M1 The priest of Aricia and the Golden Bough.\n\n_    1 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 44.\n\n   M2 What was the Golden Bough?\n   M3 Sacred kings and priests forbidden to touch the ground with their\n      feet.\n\n    2 H. H. Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_ (London,\n      1875-1876), ii. 142; Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations\n      civilis\u00e9es du Mexique et de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique-Centrale_ (Paris, 1857-1859),\n      iii. 29.\n\n_    3 Manuscrit Ramirez, Histoire de l\u2019origine des Indiens_, publi\u00e9 par\n      D. Charnay (Paris, 1903), p. 108; J. de Acosta, _The Natural and\n      Moral History of the Indies_, bk. vii. chap. 22, vol. ii. p. 505 of\n      E. Grimston\u2019s translation, edited by (Sir) Clements R. Markham\n      (Hakluyt Society, London, 1880).\n\n_    4 Memorials of the Empire of Japon in the XVI. and XVII. Centuries_,\n      edited by T. Rundall (Hakluyt Society, London, 1850), pp. 14, 141;\n      B. Varenius, _Descriptio regni Japoniae et Siam_ (Cambridge, 1673),\n      p. 11; Caron, \u201cAccount of Japan,\u201d in John Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and\n      Travels_ (London, 1808-1814), vii. 613; Kaempfer, \u201cHistory of\n      Japan,\u201d in _id._ vii. 716.\n\n    5 W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, Second Edition (London,\n      1832-1836), iii. 102 _sq._; Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage\n      to the Southern Pacific Ocean_ (London, 1799), p. 329.\n\n    6 A. Bastian, _Der Mensch in der Geschichte_ (Leipsic, 1860), iii. 81.\n\n    7 Athenaeus, xii. 8, p. 514 c.\n\n_    8 The Voiages and Travels of John Struys_ (London, 1684), p. 30.\n\n    9 Rev. J. Roscoe, \u201cFurther Notes on the Manners and Customs of the\n      Baganda,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902)\n      pp. 62, 67; _id._, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 154 _sq._\n      Compare L. Decle, _Three Years in Savage Africa_ (London, 1898), p.\n      445 note: \u201cBefore horses had been introduced into Uganda the king\n      and his mother never walked, but always went about perched astride\n      the shoulders of a slave\u2014a most ludicrous sight. In this way they\n      often travelled hundreds of miles.\u201d The use both of horses and of\n      chariots by royal personages may often have been intended to prevent\n      their sacred feet from touching the ground.\n\n   10 E. Torday et T. A. Joyce, _Les Bushongo_ (Brussels, 1910), p. 61.\n\n   11 Northcote W. Thomas, _Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking\n      Peoples of Nigeria_ (London, 1913), i. 57 _sq._\n\n_   12 Satapatha Br\u00e2hmana_, translated by Julius Eggeling, Part iii.\n      (Oxford, 1894) pp. 81, 91, 92, 102, 128 _sq._ (_Sacred Books of the\n      East_, vol. xli.).\n\n   M4 Certain persons on certain occasions forbidden to touch the ground\n      with their feet.\n\n   13 A. W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch Borneo_ (Leyden, 1904-1907), i. 172.\n\n   14 Letter of Missionary Krick, in _Annales de la Propagation de la\n      Foi_, xxvi. (1854) pp. 86-88.\n\n   15 Pechuel-Loesche, \u201cIndiscretes aus Loango,\u201d _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr\n      Ethnologie_, x. (1878) pp. 29 _sq._\n\n   16 Edgar Thurston, _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_ (Madras,\n      1906), p. 70.\n\n   17 M. C. Schadee, \u201cHet familieleven en familierecht der Dajaks van\n      Landak en Tajan,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van\n      Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, lxiii. (1910) p. 433.\n\n   18 James Adair, _History of the American Indians_ (London, 1775), p.\n      382; _Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner_\n      (London, 1830), p. 123. As to the taboos to which warriors are\n      subject see _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 157 _sqq._\n\n   19 Etienne Aymonier, _Notes sur le Laos_ (Saigon, 1885), p. 26.\n\n_   20 Die gestriegelte Rockenphilosophie_5 (Chemnitz, 1759), pp. 586\n      _sqq._\n\n   M5 Sacred or tabooed persons apparently thought to be charged with a\n      mysterious virtue like a fluid, which will run to waste or explode\n      if it touches the ground.\n   M6 Things as well as persons can be charged with the mysterious quality\n      of holiness or taboo; and when so charged they must be kept from\n      contact with the ground.\n\n   21 Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central\n      Australia_ (London, 1899), pp. 364, 370 _sqq._, 629; _id._, _Across\n      Australia_ (London, 1912), ii. 280, 285 _sq._\n\n   M7 Festival of the wild mango tree in British New Guinea.\n   M8 The wild mango tree not allowed to touch the ground.\n   M9 Final disposition of the wild mango tree.\n\n   22 C. G. Seligmann, M.D., _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_\n      (Cambridge, 1910), pp. 589-599.\n\n  M10 The ceremony apparently intended to fertilize the mango trees.\n  M11 Sacred objects of various sorts not allowed to touch the ground.\n\n   23 George Brown, D.D., _Melanesians and Polynesians_ (London, 1910),\n      pp. 60 _sq._, 64. As to the Duk-duk society, see below, vol. ii. pp.\n      246 _sq._\n\n   24 John Keast Lord, _The Naturalist in Vancouver Island and British\n      Columbia_ (London, 1866), ii. 237.\n\n   25 Edwin James, _Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky\n      Mountains_ (London, 1823), ii. 47; Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, \u201cOmaha\n      Sociology,\u201d _Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_\n      (Washington, 1884), p. 226.\n\n   26 James Adair, _History of the American Indians_ (London, 1775), pp.\n      161-163.\n\n   27 (Sir) Henry Babington Smith, in _Folk-lore_, v. (1894) p. 340.\n\n   28 Miss C. F. Gordon Cumming, _In the Hebrides_ (London, 1883), p. 211.\n\n   29 W. Gregor, \u201cQuelques coutumes du Nord-est du Comt\u00e9 d\u2019Aberdeen,\u201d\n      _Revue des Traditions populaires_, iii. (1888) p. 485 B. Compare\n      _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, i. 158 _sq._\n\n  M12 Sacred food not allowed to touch the earth.\n\n   30 R. Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne and London,\n      1878), i. 450.\n\n   31 E. Gerard, _The Land beyond the Forest_ (Edinburgh and London,\n      1888), ii. 7.\n\n   32 F. Grabowsky, \u201cDer Distrikt Dusson Timor in S\u00fcdost-Borneo und seine\n      Bewohner,\u201d _Das Ausland_, 1884, No. 24, p. 470.\n\n_   33 Narrative of the Second Arctic Expedition made by Charles F. Hall_,\n      edited by Prof. J. E. Nourse (Washington, 1879), pp. 110 _sq._\n\n   34 See _Taboo and Perils of the Soul_, pp. 207 _sqq._\n\n  M13 Magical implements and remedies thought to lose their virtue by\n      contact with the ground.\n\n   35 Walter E. Roth, _Ethnological Studies among the North-West-Central\n      Queensland Aborigines_ (Brisbane and London, 1897), p. 156, \u00a7 265.\n      The custom of killing a man by pointing a bone or stick at him,\n      while the sorcerer utters appropriate curses, is common among the\n      tribes of Central Australia; but amongst them there seems to be no\n      objection to place the bone or stick on the ground; on the contrary,\n      an Arunta wizard inserts the bone or stick in the ground while he\n      invokes death and destruction on his enemy. See Baldwin Spencer and\n      F. J. Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_ (London, 1899),\n      pp. 534 _sqq._; _id._, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_\n      (London, 1904), pp. 455 _sqq._\n\n   36 Hugh Low, _Sarawak_ (London, 1848), pp. 145 _sq._\n\n   37 Pliny, _Naturalis Historia_, xxviii. 33 _sq._\n\n   38 Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of\n      Scotland_ (London, 1881), p. 184. As to the superstitions attaching\n      to stone arrow-heads and axeheads (celts), commonly known as\n      \u201cthunderbolts,\u201d in the British Islands, see W. W. Skeat,\n      \u201cSnake-stones and Stone Thunderbolts,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xxiii. (1912)\n      pp. 60 _sqq._; and as to such superstitions in general, see Chr.\n      Blinkenberg, _The Thunderweapon in Religion and Folklore_\n      (Cambridge, 1911).\n\n  M14 Serpents\u2019 eggs or Snake Stones.\n\n   39 Pliny, _Naturalis Historia_, xxix. 52-54.\n\n   40 W. Borlase, _Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County\n      of Cornwall_ (London, 1769), pp. 142 _sq._; J. Brand, _Popular\n      Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London, 1882-1883), i. 322; J. G.\n      Dalyell, _Darker Superstitions of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1834), pp.\n      140 _sq._; Daniel Wilson, _The Archaeology and Prehistoric Annals of\n      Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1851), pp. 303 _sqq._; Lieut.-Col. Forbes\n      Leslie, _The Early Races of Scotland and their Monuments_\n      (Edinburgh, 1866), i. 75 _sqq._; J. G. Campbell, _Witchcraft and\n      Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow,\n      1902), pp. 84-88; Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of\n      Wales_ (London, 1909), pp. 170 _sq._; J. C. Davies, _Folk-lore of\n      West and Mid-Wales_ (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 76. Compare W. W. Skeat,\n      \u201cSnakestones and Stone Thunderbolts,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xxiii. (1912) pp.\n      45 _sqq._ The superstition is described as follows by Edward Lhwyd\n      in a letter quoted by W. Borlase (_op. cit._ p. 142): \u201cIn most parts\n      of Wales, and throughout all Scotland, and in Cornwall, we find it a\n      common opinion of the vulgar, that about Midsummer-Eve (though in\n      the time they do not all agree) it is usual for snakes to meet in\n      companies; and that, by joining heads together, and hissing, a kind\n      of bubble is formed, which the rest, by continual hissing, blow on\n      till it passes quite through the body, and then it immediately\n      hardens, and resembles a glass-ring, which whoever finds (as some\n      old women and children are persuaded) shall prosper in all his\n      undertakings. The rings thus generated, are called _Gleineu\n      Nadroeth_; in English, Snake-stones. They are small glass amulets,\n      commonly about half as wide as our finger-rings, but much thicker,\n      of a green colour usually, though sometimes blue, and waved with red\n      and white.\u201d\n\n  M15 Medicinal plants, water, etc., not allowed to touch the earth.\n\n   41 Pliny, _Naturalis Historia_, xxiv. 12 and 68, xxv. 171.\n\n   42 Marcellus, _De medicamentis_, ed. G. Helmreich (Leipsic, 1889),\n      preface, p. i.: \u201c_Nec solum veteres medicinae artis auctores Latino\n      dumtaxat sermone perscriptos ... lectione scrutatus sum, sed etiam\n      ab agrestibus et plebeis remedia fortuita atque simplicia, quae\n      experimentis probaverant didici._\u201d As to Marcellus and his work, see\n      Jacob Grimm, \u201cUeber Marcellus Burdigalensis,\u201d _Abhandlungen der\n      k\u00f6niglichen Akademie der Wissenschaft zu Berlin_, 1847, pp. 429-460;\n      _id._, \u201cUeber die Marcellischen Formeln,\u201d _ibid._, 1855, pp. 50-68.\n\n   43 Marcellus, _De medicamentis_, i. 68.\n\n   44 Marcellus, _op. cit._ i. 76.\n\n   45 Marcellus, _op. cit._ xxviii. 28 and 71, xxix. 35.\n\n   46 Marcellus, _op. cit._ xxix. 51.\n\n   47 Edward Westermarck, \u201cMidsummer Customs in Morocco,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      xvi. (1905) pp. 32 _sq._; _id._, _Ceremonies and Beliefs connected\n      with Agriculture, certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather\n      in Morocco_ (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 75 _sq._\n\n   48 E. Westermarck, \u201cMidsummer Customs in Morocco,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xvi.\n      (1905) p. 35; _id._, _Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with\n      Agriculture, certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather in\n      Morocco_ (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 88 _sq._\n\n   49 Matth\u00e4us Pr\u00e4torius, _Deliciae Prussicae_, herausgegeben von Dr. W.\n      Pierson (Berlin, 1871), p. 54.\n\n  M16 Sacred persons not allowed to see the sun.\n\n   50 H. H. Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_ (London,\n      1875-1876), ii. 142; Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des Nations\n      civilis\u00e9es du Mexique et de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique Centrale_ (Paris, 1857-1859),\n      iii. 29.\n\n   51 Kaempfer, \u201cHistory of Japan,\u201d in J. Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and\n      Travels_, vii. 717; Caron, \u201cAccount of Japan,\u201d _ibid._ vii. 613; B.\n      Varenius, _Descriptio regni Japoniae et Siam_ (Cambridge, 1673), p.\n      11: \u201c_Radiis solis caput nunquam illustrabatur: in apertum a\u00ebrem non\n      procedebat._\u201d\n\n   52 A. de Herrera, _General History of the vast Continent and Islands of\n      America_, trans. by Capt. John Stevens (London, 1725-1726), v. 88.\n\n   53 H. Ternaux-Compans, _Essai sur l\u2019ancien Cundinamarca_ (Paris, N.D.),\n      p. 56; Theodor Waitz, _Anthropologie der Naturv\u00f6lker_, iv. (Leipsic,\n      1864) p. 359.\n\n   54 Alonzo de Zurita, \u201cRapport sur les differentes classes de chefs de\n      la Nouvelle-Espagne,\u201d p. 30, in H. Ternaux-Compans\u2019s _Voyages,\n      Relations et M\u00e9moires originaux, pour servir \u00e0 l\u2019Histoire de la\n      D\u00e9couverte de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique_ (Paris, 1840); Th. Waitz, _l.c._; A.\n      Bastian, _Die Culturl\u00e4nder des alten Amerika_ (Berlin, 1878), ii.\n      204.\n\n   55 Cieza de Leon, _Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru_ (Hakluyt\n      Society, London, 1883), p. 18.\n\n_   56 The Grihya S\u00fbtras_, translated by H. Oldenberg, Part ii. (Oxford,\n      1892) pp. 165, 275 (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. xxx.).\n      Umbrellas appear to have been sometimes used in ritual for the\n      purpose of preventing the sunlight from falling on sacred persons or\n      things. See W. Caland, _Altindisches Zauberritual_ (Amsterdam,\n      1900), p. 110 note 12. At an Athenian festival called Scira the\n      priestess of Athena, the priest of Poseidon, and the priest of the\n      Sun walked from the Acropolis under the shade of a huge white\n      umbrella which was borne over their heads by the Eteobutads. See\n      Harpocration and Suidas, _s.v._ \u03a3\u03ba\u03af\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd; Scholiast on Aristophanes,\n      _Eccles._ 18.\n\n  M17 Tabooed persons not allowed to see the sun. Certain persons\n      forbidden to see fire.\n\n   57 Mrs. Bishop, _Korea and her Neighbours_ (London, 1898), ii. 248.\n\n   58 J. L. van Hasselt, \u201cEenige aanteekeningen aangaande de bewoners der\n      N. Westkust van Nieuw Guinea,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-\n      Land- en Volkenkunde_, xxxi. (1886) p. 587.\n\n   59 A. Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, v. (Jena, 1869) p.\n      366.\n\n   60 W. M. Gabb, \u201cOn the Indian Tribes and Languages of Costa Rica,\u201d\n      _Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society held at\n      Philadelphia_, xiv. (Philadelphia, 1876), p. 510.\n\n   61 L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_ (London, 1870), p. 194.\n\n   62 H. H. Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_, i. 553. See\n      _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 182.\n\n  M18 The story of Prince Sunless.\n\n   63 L. Heuzey, _Le Mont Olympe et l\u2019Acarnanie_ (Paris, 1860), pp. 458\n      _sq._\n\n  M19 Girls at puberty forbidden to touch the ground and to see the sun.\n      Seclusion of girls at puberty among the A-Kamba. Seclusion of girls\n      at puberty among the Baganda.\n\n   64 Pechuel-Loesche, \u201cIndiscretes aus Loango,\u201d _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr\n      Ethnologie_, x. (1878) p. 23.\n\n   65 Rev. J. Macdonald, \u201cManners, Customs, Superstitions, and Religions\n      of South African Tribes,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological\n      Institute_, xx. (1891) p. 118.\n\n   66 Dudley Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_ (London, 1904), p. 209. The\n      prohibition to drink milk under such circumstances is also\n      mentioned, though without the reason for it, by L. Alberti (_De\n      Kaffers aan de Zuidkust van Afrika_, Amsterdam, 1810, p. 79), George\n      Thompson (_Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa_, London, 1827,\n      ii. 354 _sq._), and Mr. Warner (in Col. Maclean\u2019s _Compendium of\n      Kafir Laws and Customs_, Cape Town, 1866, p. 98). As to the reason\n      for the prohibition, see below, p. 80.\n\n   67 C. W. Hobley, _Ethnology of A-Kamba and other East African Tribes_\n      (Cambridge, 1910), p. 65.\n\n   68 Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), p. 80. As to the\n      interpretation which the Baganda put on the act of jumping or\n      stepping over a woman, see _id._, pp. 48, 357 note 1. Apparently\n      some of the Lower Congo people interpret the act similarly. See J.\n      H. Weeks, \u201cNotes on some Customs of the Lower Congo People,\u201d\n      _Folk-lore_, xix. (1908) p. 431. Among the Baganda the separation of\n      children from their parents took place after weaning; girls usually\n      went to live either with an elder married brother or (if there was\n      none such) with one of their father\u2019s brothers; boys in like manner\n      went to live with one of their father\u2019s brothers. See J. Roscoe,\n      _op. cit._ p. 74. As to the prohibition to touch food with the\n      hands, see _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 138 _sqq._, 146\n      _sqq._, etc.\n\n   69 Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_, p. 80.\n\n   70 De la Loub\u00e8re, _Du royaume de Siam_ (Amsterdam, 1691), i. 203. In\n      Travancore it is believed that women at puberty and after childbirth\n      are peculiarly liable to be attacked by demons. See S. Mateer, _The\n      Land of Charity_ (London, 1871), p. 208.\n\n   71 Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_, p. 80.\n\n  M20 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the tribes of the Tanganyika\n      plateau.\n\n   72 C. Gouldsbury and H. Sheane, _The Great Plateau of Northern Nigeria_\n      (London, 1911), pp. 158-160.\n\n  M21 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the tribes of British Central\n      Africa.\n\n   73 R. Sutherland Rattray, _Some Folk-lore Stories and Songs in\n      Chinyanja_ (London, 1907), pp. 102-105.\n\n  M22 Abstinence from salt associated with a rule of chastity in many\n      tribes.\n\n   74 Rev. H. Cole, \u201cNotes on the Wagogo of German East Africa,\u201d _Journal\n      of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) pp. 309 _sq._\n\n   75 R. Sutherland Rattray, _op. cit._ pp. 191 _sq._\n\n_   76 The Grihya S\u00fbtras_, translated by H. Oldenberg, Part i. p. 357,\n      Part ii. p. 267 (_Sacred Books of the East_, vols. xxix., xxx.).\n\n   77 Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), pp. 393 sq., compare\n      pp. 396, 398.\n\n   78 See _Totemism and Exogamy_, iv. 224 _sqq._\n\n  M23 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the tribes about Lake Nyassa and\n      on the Zambesi.\n\n   79 Sir Harry H. Johnston, _British Central Africa_ (London, 1897), p.\n      411.\n\n   80 Oscar Baumann, _Durch Massailand zur Nilquelle_ (Berlin, 1894), p.\n      178.\n\n   81 Lionel Decle, _Three Years in Savage Africa_ (London, 1898), p. 78.\n      Compare E. Jacottet, _\u00c9tudes sur les Langues du Haut-Zamb\u00e8ze_,\n      Troisi\u00e8me Partie (Paris, 1901), pp. 174 _sq._ (as to the A-Louyi).\n\n   82 E. B\u00e9guin, _Les Ma-rots\u00e9_ (Lausanne and Fontaines, 1903), p. 113.\n\n  M24 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Thonga of Delagoa Bay.\n\n   83 Henri A. Junod, _The Life of a South African Tribe_ (Neuchatel,\n      1912-1913), i. 178 _sq._\n\n  M25 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Caffre tribes of South\n      Africa.\n\n   84 G. McCall Theal, _Kaffir Folk-lore_ (London, 1886), p. 218.\n\n   85 L. Alberti, _De Kaffers aan de Zuidkust van Afrika_ (Amsterdam,\n      1810), pp. 79 _sq._; H. Lichtenstein, _Reisen im s\u00fcdlichen Africa_\n      (Berlin, 1811-1812), i. 428.\n\n   86 Gustav Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen S\u00fcd-Afrika\u2019s_ (Breslau, 1872), p.\n      112. This statement applies especially to the Ama-Xosa.\n\n   87 G. McCall Theal, _Kaffir Folk-lore_, p. 218.\n\n   88 Rev. Canon Henry Callaway, _Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories\n      of the Zulus_ (Natal and London, 1868), p. 182, note 20. From one of\n      the Zulu texts which the author edits and translates (p. 189) we may\n      infer that during the period of her seclusion a Zulu girl may not\n      light a fire. Compare above, p. 28.\n\n   89 E. Casalis, _The Basutos_ (London, 1861), p. 268.\n\n  M26 Seclusion of girls at puberty on the Lower Congo.\n\n   90 J. Merolla, \u201cVoyage to Congo,\u201d in J. Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and\n      Travels_ (London, 1808-1814), xvi. 238; Father Campana, \u201cCongo;\n      Mission Catholique de Landana,\u201d _Les Missions Catholiques_, xxvii.\n      (1895) p. 161; R. E. Dennett, _At the Back of the Black Man\u2019s Mind_\n      (London, 1906), pp. 69 _sq._ According to Merolla, it is thought\n      that if girls did not go through these ceremonies, they would \u201cnever\n      be fit for procreation.\u201d The other consequences supposed to flow\n      from the omission of the rites are mentioned by Father Campana. From\n      Mr. Dennett\u2019s account (_op. cit._ pp. 53, 67-71) we gather that\n      drought and famine are thought to result from the intercourse of a\n      man with a girl who has not yet passed through the \u201cpaint-house,\u201d as\n      the hut is called where the young women live in seclusion. According\n      to O. Dapper, the women of Loango paint themselves red on every\n      recurrence of their monthly sickness; also they tie a cord tightly\n      round their heads and take care neither to touch their husband\u2019s\n      food nor to appear before him (_Description de l\u2019Afrique_,\n      Amsterdam, 1686, p. 326).\n\n  M27 Seclusion of girls at puberty in New Ireland.\n\n   91 The Rev. G. Brown, quoted by the Rev. B. Danks, \u201cMarriage Customs of\n      the New Britain Group,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,\n      xviii. (1889) pp. 284 _sq._; _id._, _Melanesians and Polynesians_\n      (London, 1910), pp. 105-107. Compare _id._, \u201cNotes on the Duke of\n      York Group, New Britain, and New Ireland,\u201d _Journal of the Royal\n      Geographical Society_, xlvii. (1877) pp. 142 _sq._; A. Hahl, \u201cDas\n      mittlere Neumecklenburg,\u201d _Globus_, xci. (1907) p. 313. Wilfred\n      Powell\u2019s description of the New Ireland custom is similar\n      (_Wanderings in a Wild Country_, London, 1883, p. 249). According to\n      him, the girls wear wreaths of scented herbs round the waist and\n      neck; an old woman or a little child occupies the lower floor of the\n      cage; and the confinement lasts only a month. Probably the long\n      period mentioned by Dr. Brown is that prescribed for chiefs\u2019\n      daughters. Poor people could not afford to keep their children so\n      long idle. This distinction is sometimes expressly stated. See\n      above, p. 30. Among the Goajiras of Colombia rich people keep their\n      daughters shut up in separate huts at puberty for periods varying\n      from one to four years, but poor people cannot afford to do so for\n      more than a fortnight or a month. See F. A. Simons, \u201cAn Exploration\n      of the Goajira Peninsula,\u201d _Proceedings of the Royal Geographical\n      Society_, N.S., vii. (1885) p. 791. In Fiji, brides who were being\n      tattooed were kept from the sun (Thomas Williams, _Fiji and the\n      Fijians_, Second Edition, London, 1860, i. 170). This was perhaps a\n      modification of the Melanesian custom of secluding girls at puberty.\n      The reason mentioned by Mr. Williams, \u201cto improve her complexion,\u201d\n      can hardly have been the original one.\n\n   92 Rev. R. H. Rickard, quoted by Dr. George Brown, _Melanesians and\n      Polynesians_, pp. 107 _sq._ His observations were made in 1892.\n\n   93 R. Parkinson, _Dreissig Jahre in der S\u00fcdsee_ (Stuttgart, 1907), p.\n      272. The natives told Mr. Parkinson that the confinement of the\n      girls lasts from twelve to twenty months. The length of it may have\n      been reduced since Dr. George Brown described the custom in 1876.\n\n  M28 Seclusion of girls at puberty in New Guinea, Borneo, Ceram, and Yap.\n\n   94 J. Chalmers and W. Wyatt Gill, _Work and Adventure in New Guinea_\n      (London, 1885), p. 159.\n\n   95 H. Zahn and S. Lehner, in R. Neuhauss\u2019s _Deutsch Neu-Guinea_\n      (Berlin, 1911), iii. 298, 418-420. The customs of the two tribes\n      seem to be in substantial agreement, and the accounts of them\n      supplement each other. The description of the Bukaua practice is the\n      fuller.\n\n   96 C. A. L. M. Schwaner, _Borneo, Beschrijving van het stroomgebied van\n      den Barito_ (Amsterdam, 1853-1854), ii. 77 _sq._; W. F. A.\n      Zimmermann, _Die Inseln des Indischen und Stillen Meeres_ (Berlin,\n      1864-1865), ii. 632 _sq._; Otto Finsch, _Neu Guinea und seine\n      Bewohner_ (Bremen, 1865), pp. 116 _sq._\n\n   97 J. G. F. Riedel, _De sluik- en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes\n      en Papua_ (The Hague, 1886), p. 138.\n\n   98 A. Senfft, \u201cEthnographische Beitr\u00e4ge \u00fcber die Karolineninsel Yap,\u201d\n      _Petermanns Mitteilungen_, xlix. (1903) p. 53; _id._, \u201cDie\n      Rechtssitten der Jap-Eingeborenen,\u201d _Globus_, xci. (1907) pp. 142\n      _sq._\n\n  M29 Seclusion of girls at puberty in Mabuiag, Torres Straits.\n\n   99 Dr. C. G. Seligmann, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,\n      xxix. (1899) pp. 212 _sq._; _id._, in _Reports of the Cambridge\n      Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904)\n      pp. 203 _sq._\n\n  M30 Seclusion of girls at puberty in Northern Australia.\n\n  100 Dr. C. G. Seligmann, in _Reports of the Cambridge Expedition to\n      Torres Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904) p. 205.\n\n  101 L. Crauford, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxiv.\n      (1895) p. 181.\n\n  102 Dr. C. G. Seligmann, _op. cit._ v. 206.\n\n  103 Walter E. Roth, _North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 5,\n      Superstition, Magic, and Medicine_ (Brisbane, 1903), pp. 24 _sq._\n\n  104 Walter E. Roth, _op. cit._ p. 25.\n\n  M31 Seclusion of girls at puberty in the islands of Torres Straits.\n\n  105 Dr. C. G. Seligmann, in _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological\n      Expedition to Torres Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904), p. 205.\n\n  106 From notes kindly sent me by Dr. C. G. Seligmann. The practice of\n      burying a girl at puberty was observed also by some Indian tribes of\n      California, but apparently rather for the purpose of producing a\n      sweat than for the sake of concealment. The treatment lasted only\n      twenty-four hours, during which the patient was removed from the\n      ground and washed three or four times, to be afterwards reimbedded.\n      Dancing was kept up the whole time by the women. See H. R.\n      Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes of the United States_ (Philadelphia,\n      1853-1856), v. 215.\n\n  107 Dr. C. G. Seligmann, in _Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological\n      Expedition to Torres Straits_, v. 201 _sq._\n\n  M32 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Indians of California.\n\n  108 A. L. Kroeber, \u201cThe Religion of the Indians of California,\u201d\n      _University of California Publications in American Archaeology and\n      Ethnology_, vol. iv. No. 6 (September, 1907), p. 324.\n\n  109 Roland B. Dixon, \u201cThe Northern Maidu,\u201d _Bulletin of the American\n      Museum of Natural History_, vol. xvii. Part iii. (May, 1905) pp. 232\n      _sq._, compare pp. 233-238.\n\n  110 Stephen Powers, _Tribes of California_ (Washington, 1877), p. 85\n      (_Contributions to North American Ethnology_, vol. iii.).\n\n  111 Stephen Powers, _op. cit._ p. 235.\n\n  M33 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Indians of Washington State.\n\n  112 Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring\n      Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iv. 456.\n\n  113 Franz Boas, _Chinook Texts_ (Washington, 1894), pp. 246 _sq._ The\n      account, taken down from the lips of a Chinook Indian, is not\n      perfectly clear; some of the restrictions were prolonged after the\n      girl\u2019s second monthly period.\n\n  M34 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Nootka Indians of Vancouver\n      Island.\n\n  114 G. M. Sproat, _Scenes and Studies of Savage Life_ (London, 1868),\n      pp. 93 _sq._\n\n  115 Franz Boas, in _Sixth Report on the North-Western Tribes of Canada_,\n      pp. 40-42 (separate reprint from the _Report of the British\n      Association for the Advancement of Science_, Leeds meeting, 1890).\n      The rule not to lie down is observed also during their seclusion at\n      puberty by Tsimshian girls, who always sit propped up between boxes\n      and mats; their heads are covered with small mats, and they may not\n      look at men nor at fresh salmon and olachen. See Franz Boas, in\n      _Fifth Report on the North-Western Tribes of Canada_, p. 41\n      (separate reprint from the _Report of the British Association for\n      the Advancement of Science_, Newcastle-upon-Tyne meeting, 1889); G.\n      M. Dawson, _Report on the Queen Charlotte Islands, 1878_ (Montreal,\n      1880), pp. 130 B _sq._ Some divine kings are not allowed to lie\n      down. See _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 5.\n\n  M35 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Haida Indians of the Queen\n      Charlotte Islands.\n\n  116 George M. Dawson, _Report on the Queen Charlotte Islands, 1878_\n      (Montreal, 1880), p. 130 B; J. R. Swanton, _Contributions to the\n      Ethnology of the Haida_ (Leyden and New York, 1905), pp. 48-50 (_The\n      Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of\n      Natural History_, New York). Speaking of the customs observed at\n      Kloo, where the girls had to abstain from salmon for five years, Mr.\n      Swanton says (p. 49): \u201cWhen five years had passed, the girl came\n      out, and could do as she pleased.\u201d This seems to imply that the girl\n      was secluded in the house for five years. We have seen (above, p.\n      32) that in New Ireland the girls used sometimes to be secluded for\n      the same period.\n\n  M36 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Tlingit Indians of Alaska.\n\n  117 G. H. von Langsdorff, _Reise um die Welt_ (Frankfort, 1812), ii. 114\n      _sq._; H. J. Holmberg, \u201cEthnographische Skizzen \u00fcber die V\u00f6lker des\n      Russischen Amerika,\u201d _Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fennicae_, iv.\n      (Helsingfors, 1856) pp. 319 _sq._; T. de Pauly, _Description\n      Ethnographique des Peuples de la Russie_ (St. Petersburg, 1862),\n      _Peuples de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique Russe_, p. 13; A. Erman, \u201cEthnographische\n      Wahrnehmungen und Erfahrungen an den K\u00fcsten des Berings-Meeres,\u201d\n      _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Ethnologie_, ii. (1870) pp. 318 _sq._; H. H.\n      Bancroft, _Native Races of the Pacific States_ (London, 1875-1876),\n      i. 110 _sq._; Rev. Sheldon Jackson, \u201cAlaska and its Inhabitants,\u201d\n      _The American Antiquarian_, ii. (Chicago, 1879-1880) pp. 111 _sq._;\n      A. Woldt, _Captain Jacobsen\u2019s Reise an der Nordwestk\u00fcste Americas,\n      1881-1883_ (Leipsic, 1884), p. 393; Aurel Krause, _Die\n      Tlinkit-Indianer_ (Jena, 1885), pp. 217 _sq._; W. M. Grant, in\n      _Journal of American Folk-lore_, i. (1888) p. 169; John R. Swanton,\n      \u201cSocial Conditions, Beliefs, and Linguistic Relationship of the\n      Tlingit Indians,\u201d _Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of\n      American Ethnology_ (Washington, 1908), p. 428.\n\n  M37 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Tsetsaut and Bella Coola\n      Indians of British Columbia.\n\n  118 Franz Boas, in _Tenth Report of the Committee on the North-Western\n      Tribes of Canada_, p. 45 (separate reprint from the _Report of the\n      British Association for the Advancement of Science_, Ipswich\n      meeting, 1895).\n\n  119 Franz Boas, in _Fifth Report of the Committee on the North-Western\n      Tribes of Canada_, p. 42 (separate reprint from the _Report of the\n      British Association for the Advancement of Science_,\n      Newcastle-upon-Tyne meeting, 1889); _id._, in _Seventh Report_,\n      etc., p. 12 (separate reprint from the _Report of the British\n      Association for the Advancement of Science_, Cardiff meeting, 1891).\n\n  M38 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Tinneh Indians of British\n      Columbia.\n\n  120 \u201cCustoms of the New Caledonian women belonging to the Nancaushy\n      Tine, or Stuart\u2019s Lake Indians, Natotin Tine, or Babine\u2019s and\n      Nantley Tine, or Fraser Lake Tribes,\u201d from information supplied by\n      Gavin Hamilton, chief factor of the Hudson\u2019s Bay Company\u2019s service,\n      who has been for many years among these Indians, both he and his\n      wife speaking their languages fluently (communicated by Dr. John\n      Rae), _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, vii. (1878) pp.\n      206 _sq._\n\n  M39 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Tinneh Indians of Alaska.\n\n  121 \u00c9mile Petitot, _Traditions Indiennes du Canada Nord-ouest_ (Paris,\n      1886), pp. 257 _sq._\n\n  122 Fr. Julius Jett\u00e9, S.J., \u201cOn the Superstitions of the Ten\u2019a Indians,\u201d\n      _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp. 700-702.\n\n  123 Compare _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 70 _sqq._\n\n  M40 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Thompson Indians of British\n      Columbia.\n\n  124 James Teit, _The Thompson Indians of British Columbia_, pp. 311-317\n      (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum\n      of Natural History_, New York, April, 1900). As to the customs\n      observed among these Indians by the father of a girl at such times\n      in order not to lose his luck in hunting, see _Spirits of the Corn\n      and of the Wild_, ii. 268.\n\n  M41 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Lillooet Indians of British\n      Columbia.\n\n  125 James Teit, _The Lillooet Indians_ (Leyden and New York, 1906), pp.\n      263-265 (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American\n      Museum of Natural History_, New York). Compare C. Hill Tout, \u201cReport\n      on the Ethnology of the Stlatlumh of British Columbia,\u201d _Journal of\n      the Anthropological Institute_, xxxv. (1905) p. 136.\n\n  M42 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Shuswap Indians of British\n      Columbia.\n\n  126 Franz Boas, in _Sixth Report of the Committee on the North-Western\n      Tribes of Canada_, pp. 89 _sq._ (separate reprint from the _Report\n      of the British Association for the Advancement of Science_, Leeds\n      meeting, 1890).\n\n  127 James Teit, _The Shuswap_ (Leyden and New York, 1909), pp. 587 _sq._\n      (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum\n      of Natural History_, New York).\n\n  M43 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Delaware and Cheyenne\n      Indians.\n\n  128 G. H. Loskiel, _History of the Mission of the United Brethren among\n      the Indians of North America_ (London, 1794), Part i. pp. 56 _sq._\n\n  129 G. B. Grinnell, \u201cCheyenne Woman Customs,\u201d _American Anthropologist_,\n      New Series, iv. (New York, 1902) pp. 13 _sq._ The Cheyennes appear\n      to have been at first settled on the Mississippi, from which they\n      were driven westward to the Missouri. See _Handbook of American\n      Indians north of Mexico_, edited by F. W. Hodge (Washington,\n      1907-1910), i. 250 _sqq._\n\n  M44 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Esquimaux.\n\n  130 H. J. Holmberg, \u201cUeber die V\u00f6lker des Russischen Amerika,\u201d _Acta\n      Societatis Scientiarum Fennicae_, iv. (Helsingfors, 1856) pp. 401\n      _sq._; Ivan Petroff, _Report on the Population, Industries and\n      Resources of Alaska_, p. 143.\n\n  131 E. W. Nelson, \u201cThe Eskimo about Bering Strait,\u201d _Eighteenth Annual\n      Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part i. (Washington,\n      1899) p. 291.\n\n  M45 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Guaranis, Chiriguanos, and\n      Lengua Indians of South America.\n\n  132 Jose Guevara, \u201cHistoria del Paraguay, Rio de la Plata, y Tucuman,\u201d\n      pp. 16 _sq._, in Pedro de Angelis, _Coleccion de Obras y Documentos\n      relativos a la Historia antigua y moderna de las Provincias del Rio\n      de la Plata_, vol. ii. (Buenos-Ayres, 1836); J. F. Lafitau, _M\u0153urs\n      des Sauvages Ameriquains_ (Paris, 1724), i. 262 _sq._\n\n  133 Father Ignace Chom\u00e9, in _Lettres \u00c9difiantes et Curieuses_, Nouvelle\n      \u00c9dition (Paris, 1780-1783), viii. 333. As to the Chiriguanos, see C.\n      F. Phil. von Martius, _Zur Ethnographie Amerika\u2019s, zumal Brasiliens_\n      (Leipsic, 1867), pp. 212 _sqq._; Colonel G. E. Church, _Aborigines\n      of South America_ (London, 1912), pp. 207-227.\n\n  134 A. Thouar, _Explorations dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique du Sud_ (Paris, 1891), pp.\n      48 _sq._; G. Kurze, \u201cSitten und Gebr\u00e4uche der Lengua-Indianer,\u201d\n      _Mitteilungen der Geographischen Gesellschaft zu Jena_, xxiii.\n      (1905) pp. 26 _sq._ The two accounts appear to be identical; but the\n      former attributes the custom to the Chiriguanos, the latter to the\n      Lenguas. As the latter account is based on the reports of the Rev.\n      W. B. Grubb, a missionary who has been settled among the Indians of\n      the Chaco for many years and is our principal authority on them, I\n      assume that the ascription of the custom to the Lenguas is correct.\n      However, in the volume on the Lengua Indians, which has been edited\n      from Mr. Grubb\u2019s papers (_An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_,\n      London, 1911), these details as to the seclusion of girls at puberty\n      are not mentioned, though what seems to be the final ceremony is\n      described (_op. cit._ pp. 177 _sq._). From the description we learn\n      that boys dressed in ostrich feathers and wearing masks circle round\n      the girl with shrill cries, but are repelled by the women.\n\n  M46 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Yuracares of Bolivia.\n\n  135 Alcide d\u2019Orbigny, _Voyage dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique M\u00e9ridionale_, vol. iii.\n      1re Partie (Paris and Strasburg, 1844), pp. 205 _sq._\n\n  M47 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Indians of the Gran Chaco,\n      and Brazil.\n\n  136 A. Thouar, _Explorations dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique du Sud_ (Paris, 1891) pp.\n      56 _sq._; Father Cardus, quoted in J. Pelleschi\u2019s _Los Indios\n      Matacos_ (Buenos Ayres, 1897), pp. 47 _sq._\n\n  137 A. Thouar, _op. cit._ p. 63.\n\n  138 Francis de Castelnau, _Exp\u00e9dition dans les parties centrales de\n      l\u2019Am\u00e9rique du Sud_ (Paris, 1850-1851), v. 25.\n\n  139 D. Luis de la Cruz, \u201cDescripcion de la Naturaleza de los Terrenos\n      que se comprenden en los Andes, poseidos por los Peguenches y los\n      demas espacios hasta el rio de Chadileuba,\u201d p. 62, in Pedro de\n      Angelis, _Coleccion de Obras y Documentos relativos a la Historia\n      antigua y moderna de las Provincias del Rio de la Plata_, vol. i.\n      (Buenos-Ayres, 1836). Apparently the Peguenches are an Indian tribe\n      of Chili.\n\n  140 J. B. von Spix und C. F. Ph. von Martius, _Reise in Brasilien_\n      (Munich, 1823-1831), iii. 1186, 1187, 1318.\n\n  141 Andr\u00e9 Thevet, _Cosmographie Universelle_ (Paris, 1575), ii. 946 B\n      [980] _sq._; _id._, _Les Singularitez de la France Antarctique,\n      autrement nomm\u00e9e Amerique_ (Antwerp, 1558), p. 76; J. F. Lafitau,\n      _M\u0153urs des Sauvages Ameriquains_ (Paris, 1724), i. 290 _sqq._,\n\n  M48 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Indians of Guiana. Custom of\n      beating the girls and of causing them to be stung by ants.\n\n  142 R. Schomburgk, _Reisen in Britisch Guiana_ (Leipsic, 1847-1848), ii.\n      315 _sq._; C. F. Ph. von Martius, _Zur Ethnographie Amerika\u2019s, zumal\n      Brasiliens_ (Leipsic, 1867), p. 644.\n\n  143 Labat, _Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais en Guin\u00e9e, Isles voisines,\n      et \u00e0 Cayenne_, iv. 365 _sq._ (Paris, 1730), pp. 17 _sq._ (Amsterdam,\n      1731).\n\n  144 A. Caulin, _Historia Coro-graphica natural y evangelica dela Nueva\n      Andalucia_ (1779), p. 93. A similar custom, with the omission of the\n      stinging, is reported of the Tamanaks in the region of the Orinoco.\n      See F. S. Gilij, _Saggio di Storia Americana_, ii. (Rome, 1781), p.\n      133.\n\n  145 A. R. Wallace, _Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro_,\n      p. 496 (p. 345 of the Minerva Library edition, London, 1889).\n\n  M49 Custom in South America of causing young men to be stung with ants\n      as an initiatory rite.\n\n_  146 Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 105 _sqq._; _The Scapegoat_,\n      pp. 259 _sqq._\n\n  147 J. B. von Spix and C. F. Ph. von Martius, _Reise in Brasilien_\n      (Munich, 1823-1831), iii. 1320.\n\n  148 W. Lewis Herndon, _Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon_\n      (Washington, 1854), pp. 319 _sq._ The scene was described to Mr.\n      Herndon by a French engineer and architect, M. de Lincourt, who\n      witnessed it at Manduassu, a village on the Tapajos river. Mr.\n      Herndon adds: \u201cThe _Tocandeira_ ants not only bite, but are also\n      armed with a sting like the wasp; but the pain felt from it is more\n      violent. I think it equal to that occasioned by the sting of the\n      black scorpion.\u201d He gives the name of the Indians as Mahues, but I\n      assume that they are the same as the Mauhes described by Spix and\n      Martius.\n\n  149 Francis de Castelnau, _Exp\u00e9dition dans les parties centrales de\n      l\u2019Am\u00e9rique du Sud_ (Paris, 1850-1851), v. 46.\n\n  150 L\u2019Abb\u00e9 Durand, \u201cLe Rio Negro du Nord et son bassin,\u201d _Bulletin de la\n      Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie_ (Paris), vi. S\u00e9rie, iii. (1872) pp. 21 _sq._\n      The writer says that the candidate has to keep his arms plunged up\n      to the shoulders in vessels full of ants, \u201cas in a bath of vitriol,\u201d\n      for hours. He gives the native name of the ant as _issauba_.\n\n  151 J. Crevaux, _Voyages dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique du Sud_ (Paris, 1883), pp.\n      245-250.\n\n  M50 Custom of causing men and women to be stung with ants to improve\n      their character and health or to render them invulnerable.\n\n  152 H. Coudreau, _Chez nos Indiens: quatre ann\u00e9es dans la Guyane\n      Fran\u00e7aise_ (Paris, 1895), p. 228. For details as to the different\n      modes of administering the _marak\u00e9_, see _ibid._ pp. 228-235.\n\n  153 Father Geronimo Boscana, \u201cChinigchinich,\u201d in _Life in California by\n      an American_ [A. Robinson] (New York, 1846), pp. 273 _sq._\n\n  154 F. Stuhlmann, _Mit Emin Pascha ins Herz von Afrika_ (Berlin, 1894),\n      p. 506.\n\n  M51 In such cases the beating or stinging was originally a purification;\n      at a later time it is interpreted as a test of courage and\n      endurance.\n\n  155 As a confirmation of this view it may be pointed out that beating or\n      scourging is inflicted on inanimate objects expressly for the\n      purpose indicated in the text. Thus the Indians of Costa Rica hold\n      that there are two kinds of ceremonial uncleanness, _nya_ and\n      _bu-ku-r\u00fa_. Anything that has been connected with a death is _nya_.\n      But _bu-ku-r\u00fa_ is much more virulent. It can not only make one sick\n      but kill. \u201c_Bu-ku-r\u00fa_ emanates in a variety of ways; arms, utensils,\n      even houses become affected by it after long disuse, and before they\n      can be used again must be purified. In the case of portable objects\n      left undisturbed for a long time, the custom is to beat them with a\n      stick before touching them. I have seen a woman take a long\n      walking-stick and beat a basket hanging from the roof of a house by\n      a cord. On asking what that was for, I was told that the basket\n      contained her treasures, that she would probably want to take\n      something out the next day, and that she was driving off the\n      _bu-ku-r\u00fa_. A house long unused must be swept, and then the person\n      who is purifying it must take a stick and beat not only the movable\n      objects, but the beds, posts, and in short every accessible part of\n      the interior. The next day it is fit for occupation. A place not\n      visited for a long time or reached for the first time is _bu-ku-r\u00fa_.\n      On our return from the ascent of Pico Blanco, nearly all the party\n      suffered from little calenturas, the result of extraordinary\n      exposure to wet and cold and of want of food. The Indians said that\n      the peak was especially _bu-ku-r\u00fa_, since nobody had ever been on it\n      before.\u201d One day Mr. Gabb took down some dusty blow-guns amid cries\n      of _bu-ku-r\u00fa_ from the Indians. Some weeks afterwards a boy died,\n      and the Indians firmly believed that the _bu-ku-r\u00fa_ of the blow-guns\n      had killed him. \u201cFrom all the foregoing, it would seem that\n      _bu-ku-r\u00fa_ is a sort of evil spirit that takes possession of the\n      object, and resents being disturbed; but I have never been able to\n      learn from the Indians that they consider it so. They seem to think\n      of it as a property the object acquires. But the worst _bu-ku-r\u00fa_ of\n      all, is that of a young woman in her first pregnancy. She infects\n      the whole neighbourhood. Persons going from the house where she\n      lives, carry the infection with them to a distance, and all the\n      deaths or other serious misfortunes in the vicinity are laid to her\n      charge. In the old times, when the savage laws and customs were in\n      full force, it was not an uncommon thing for the husband of such a\n      woman to pay damages for casualties thus caused by his unfortunate\n      wife.\u201d See Wm. M. Gabb, \u201cOn the Indian Tribes and Languages of Costa\n      Rica,\u201d _Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society held at\n      Philadelphia_, xiv. (Philadelphia, 1876) pp. 504 _sq._\n\n  M52 This explanation confirmed with reference to the beating of girls at\n      puberty among the South American Indians. Treatment of a girl at\n      puberty among the Banivas of the Orinoco. Symptoms of puberty in a\n      girl regarded as wounds inflicted by a demon.\n\n  156 J. Chaffanjon, _L\u2019Or\u00e9noque et le Caura_ (Paris, 1889), pp. 213-215.\n\n  M53 Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Hindoos, in Southern India.\n\n  157 Shib Chunder Bose, _The Hindoos as they are_ (London and Calcutta,\n      1881), p. 86. Similarly, after a Brahman boy has been invested with\n      the sacred thread, he is for three days strictly forbidden to see\n      the sun. He may not eat salt, and he is enjoined to sleep either on\n      a carpet or a deer\u2019s skin, without a mattress or mosquito curtain\n      (_ibid._ p. 186). In Bali, boys who have had their teeth filed, as a\n      preliminary to marriage, are kept shut up in a dark room for three\n      days (R. Van Eck, \u201cSchetsen van het eiland Bali,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor\n      Nederlandsch Indi\u00eb_, N.S., ix. (1880) pp. 428 _sq._).\n\n  158 (Sir) H. H. Risley, _Tribes and Castes of Bengal, Ethnographic\n      Glossary_ (Calcutta, 1891-1892), i. 152.\n\n  159 Edgar Thurston, _Castes and Tribes of Southern India_ (Madras,\n      1909), vii. 63 _sq._\n\n  160 Edgar Thurston, _op. cit._ iii. 218.\n\n  161 Edgar Thurston, _op. cit._ vi. 157.\n\n  162 S. Mateer, _Native Life in Travancore_ (London, 1883), p. 45.\n\n  163 Arthur A. Perera, \u201cGlimpses of Singhalese Social Life,\u201d _Indian\n      Antiquary_, xxxi. (1902) p. 380.\n\n  M54 Seclusion of girls at puberty in Cambodia.\n\n  164 J. Moura, _Le Royaume du Cambodge_ (Paris, 1883), i. 377.\n\n  165 \u00c9tienne Aymonier, \u201cNotes sur les coutumes et croyances\n      superstitieuses des Cambodgiens,\u201d _Cochinchine Fran\u00e7aise: Excursions\n      et Reconnaissances_, No. 16 (Saigon, 1883), pp. 193 _sq._ Compare\n      _id._,_ Notice sur le Cambodge_ (Paris, 1875), p. 50; _id._, _Notes\n      sur le Laos_ (Saigon, 1885), p. 177.\n\n  M55 Traces of the seclusion of girls at puberty in folk-tales. Danish\n      story of the girl who might not see the sun.\n\n  166 Svend Grundtvig, _D\u00e4nische Volksm\u00e4rchen_, \u00fcbersetzt von A.\n      Strodtmann, Zweite Sammlung (Leipsic, 1879), pp. 199 _sqq._\n\n  M56 Tyrolese story of the girl who might not see the sun.\n\n  167 Christian Schneller, _M\u00e4rchen und Sagen aus W\u00e4lschtirol_ (Innsbruck,\n      1867), No. 22, pp. 51 _sqq._\n\n  M57 Modern Greek stories of the maid who might not see the sun.\n\n  168 Bernhard Schmidt, _Griechische M\u00e4rchen, Sagen und Volkslieder_\n      (Leipsic, 1877), p. 98.\n\n  169 J. G. von Hahn, _Griechische und albanesische M\u00e4rchen_ (Leipsic,\n      1864), No. 41, vol. i. pp. 245 _sqq._\n\n  170 Laura Gonzenbach, _Sicilianische M\u00e4rchen_ (Leipsic, 1870), No. 28,\n      vol. i. pp. 177 _sqq._ The incident of the bone occurs in other\n      folk-tales. A prince or princess is shut up for safety in a tower\n      and makes his or her escape by scraping a hole in the wall with a\n      bone which has been accidentally conveyed into the tower; sometimes\n      it is expressly said that care was taken to let the princess have no\n      bones with her meat (J. G. von Hahn, _op. cit._ No. 15; L.\n      Gonzenbach, _op. cit._ Nos. 26, 27; _Der Pentamerone, aus dem\n      Neapolitanischen \u00fcbertragen_ von Felix Liebrecht (Breslau, 1846),\n      No. 23, vol. i. pp. 294 _sqq._). From this we should infer that it\n      is a rule with savages not to let women handle the bones of animals\n      during their monthly seclusions. We have already seen the great\n      respect with which the savage treats the bones of game (_Spirits of\n      the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 238 _sqq._, 256 _sqq._); and women in\n      their courses are specially forbidden to meddle with the hunter or\n      fisher, as their contact or neighbourhood would spoil his sport (see\n      below, pp. 77, 78 _sq._, 87, 89 _sqq._). In folk-tales the hero who\n      uses the bone is sometimes a boy; but the incident might easily be\n      transferred from a girl to a boy after its real meaning had been\n      forgotten. Amongst the Tinneh Indians a girl at puberty is forbidden\n      to break the bones of hares (above, p. 48). On the other hand, she\n      drinks out of a tube made of a swan\u2019s bone (above, pp. 48, 49), and\n      the same instrument is used for the same purpose by girls of the\n      Carrier tribe of Indians (see below, p. 92). We have seen that a\n      Tlingit (Thlinkeet) girl in the same circumstances used to drink out\n      of the wing-bone of a white-headed eagle (above, p. 45), and that\n      among the Nootka and Shuswap tribes girls at puberty are provided\n      with bones or combs with which to scratch themselves, because they\n      may not use their fingers for this purpose (above, pp. 44, 53).\n\n  M58 The story of Danae and its parallel in a Kirghiz legend.\n\n  171 Sophocles, Antigone, 944 _sqq._; Apollodorus, _Bibliotheca_, ii. 4.\n      1; Horace, _Odes_, iii. 16. 1. _sqq._; Pausanias, ii. 23. 7.\n\n  172 W. Radloff, _Proben der Volkslitteratur der t\u00fcrkischen St\u00e4mme\n      S\u00fcd-Sibiriens_, iii. (St. Petersburg, 1870) pp. 82 _sq._\n\n  M59 Impregnation of women by the sun in legends.\n\n  173 H. Ternaux-Compans, _Essai sur l\u2019ancien Cundinamarca_ (Paris, N.D.),\n      p. 18.\n\n  174 George Turner, LL.D., _Samoa, a Hundred Years ago and long before_\n      (London, 1884), p. 200. For other examples of such tales, see Adolph\n      Bastian, _Die Voelker des Oestlichen Asien_, i. 416, vi. 25; _Panjab\n      Notes and Queries_, ii. p. 148, \u00a7 797 (June, 1885); A. Pfizmaier,\n      \u201cNachrichten von den alten Bewohnern des heutigen Corea,\u201d\n      _Sitzungsberichte der philosoph. histor. Classe der kaiser. Akademie\n      der Wissenschaften_ (Vienna), lvii. (1868) pp. 495 _sq._\n\n  M60 Traces in marriage customs of the belief that women can be\n      impregnated by the sun. Belief in the impregnation of women by the\n      moon.\n\n  175 Thomas J. Hutchinson, \u201cOn the Chaco and other Indians of South\n      America,\u201d _Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London_, N.S.\n      iii. (1865) p. 327. Amongst the Lengua Indians of the Paraguayan\n      Chaco the marriage feast is now apparently extinct. See W. Barbrooke\n      Grubb, _An Unknown People in an Unknown Land_ (London, 1911), p.\n      179.\n\n  176 Monier Williams, _Religious Thought and Life in India_ (London,\n      1883), p. 354.\n\n  177 H. Vambery, _Das T\u00fcrkenvolk_ (Leipsic, 1885), p. 112.\n\n  178 Hans Egede, _A Description of Greenland_ (London, 1818), p. 209.\n\n_  179 Revue des Traditions Populaires_, xv. (1900) p. 471.\n\n  M61 The reason for the seclusion of women at puberty is the dread of\n      menstruous blood.\n\n_  180 Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 145 _sqq._\n\n  M62 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the aborigines of\n      Australia.\n\n  181 H. E. A. Meyer, \u201cManners and Customs of the Aborigines of the\n      Encounter Bay Tribe, South Australia,\u201d _The Native Tribes of South\n      Australia_ (Adelaide, 1879), p. 186.\n\n  182 E. J. Eyre, _Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central\n      Australia_ (London, 1845), ii. 304.\n\n  183 E. J. Eyre, _op. cit._ ii. 295.\n\n  184 R. Brough Smyth, _The Aborigines of Victoria_ (Melbourne and London,\n      1878), i. 236.\n\n  185 Samuel Gason, in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxiv.\n      (1895) p. 171.\n\n  186 Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central\n      Australia_ (London, 1899), p. 473; _idem_, _Northern Tribes of\n      Central Australia_ (London, 1904), p. 615.\n\n  187 James Dawson, _Australian Aborigines_ (Melbourne, Sydney, and\n      Adelaide, 1881), pp. ci. _sq._\n\n  M63 Severe penalties inflicted for breaches of the custom of seclusion.\n\n  188 Rev. William Ridley, \u201cReport on Australian Languages and\n      Traditions,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, ii. (1873)\n      p. 268. Compare _id._, _Kamilaroi and other Australian Languages_\n      (Sydney, 1875), p. 157.\n\n  189 A. W. Howitt, _The Native Tribes of South-East Australia_ (London,\n      1904), pp. 776 _sq._, on the authority of Mr. J. C. Muirhead. The\n      Wakelbura are in Central Queensland. Compare Captain W. E. Armit,\n      quoted in _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, ix. (1880) pp.\n      459 _sq._\n\n  M64 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women in the Torres Straits\n      Islands, New Guinea, Galela, and Sumatra.\n\n_  190 Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres\n      Straits_, v. (Cambridge, 1904) pp. 196, 207.\n\n  191 Ch. Keysser, \u201cAus dem Leben der Kaileute,\u201d in R. Neuhauss\u2019s _Deutsch\n      Neu-Guinea_ (Berlin, 1911), iii. 91.\n\n  192 M. J. van Baarda, \u201cFabelen, Verhalen en Overleveringen der\n      Galelareezen,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van\n      Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, xlv. (1895) p. 489.\n\n  193 J. L. van der Toorn, \u201cHet animisme bij den Minangkabauer der\n      Padangsche Bovenlanden,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en\n      Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, xxxix. (1890) p. 66.\n\n  M65 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the tribes of South\n      Africa, Central and East Africa.\n\n  194 W. H. I. Bleek, _A Brief Account of Bushman Folk-lore_ (London,\n      1875), p. 14; compare _ibid._, p. 10.\n\n  195 Rev. James Macdonald, \u201cManners, Customs, Superstitions and Religions\n      of South African Tribes,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological\n      Institute_, xx. (1891) p. 138; _id._, _Light in Africa_, Second\n      Edition (London, 1890), p. 221.\n\n  196 Dudley Kidd, _The Essential Kafir_ (London, 1904), p. 238; Mr.\n      Warren\u2019s Notes, in Col. Maclean\u2019s _Compendium of Kafir Laws and\n      Customs_ (Cape Town, 1866), p. 93; Rev. J. Macdonald, _Light in\n      Africa_, p. 221; _id._, _Religion and Myth_ (London, 1893), p. 198.\n      Compare Henri A. Junod, \u201cLes conceptions physiologiques des Bantou\n      Sud-Africains et leurs tabous,\u201d _Revue d\u2019Ethnographie et de\n      Sociologie_, i. (1910) p. 139. The danger of death to the cattle\n      from the blood of women is mentioned only by Mr. Kidd. The part of\n      the village which is frequented by the cattle, and which accordingly\n      must be shunned by women, has a special name, _inkundhla_ (Mr.\n      Warner\u2019s Notes, _l.c._).\n\n  197 Rev. J. Roscoe, \u201cThe Bahima, a Cow Tribe of Enkole,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Royal Anthropological Institute_, xxxvii. (1907) p. 106.\n\n  198 Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_ (London, 1911), p. 419.\n\n  199 Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_, p. 96.\n\n  200 Rev. J. Roscoe, \u201cNotes on the Manners and Customs of the Baganda,\u201d\n      _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxi. (1901) p. 121;\n      _id._, \u201cFurther Notes on the Manners and Customs of the Baganda,\u201d\n      _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxii. (1902) p. 39;\n      _id._, _The Baganda_, p. 352.\n\n  201 Rev. J. Roscoe, _The Baganda_, p. 459.\n\n  202 C. W. Hobley, \u201cFurther Researches into Kikuyu and Kamba Religious\n      Beliefs and Customs,\u201d _Journal of the Royal Anthropological\n      Institute_, xli. (1911) p. 409.\n\n  203 Mervyn W. H. Beech, _The Suk, their Language and Folklore_ (Oxford,\n      1911), p. 11.\n\n  204 H. S. Stannus, \u201cNotes on some Tribes of British Central Africa,\u201d\n      _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_, xl. (1910) p. 305;\n      R. Sutherland Rattray, _Some Folk-lore Stories and Songs in\n      Chinyanja_ (London, 1907), p. 191. See above, p. 27.\n\n  M66 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the tribes of West\n      Africa.\n\n  205 Jakob Spieth, _Die Ewe-St\u00e4mme_ (Berlin, 1906), p. 192.\n\n  206 Anton Witte, \u201cMenstruation und Pubert\u00e4tsfeier der M\u00e4dchen in\n      Kpandugebiet Togo,\u201d _Baessler-Archiv_, i. (1911) p. 279.\n\n  M67 Powerful influence ascribed to menstruous blood in Arab legend.\n\n  207 Th. N\u00f6ldeke, _Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der\n      Sassaniden, aus der arabischen Chronik des Tabari \u00fcbersetzt_\n      (Leyden, 1879), pp. 33-38. I have to thank my friend Professor A. A.\n      Bevan for pointing out to me this passage. Many ancient cities had\n      talismans on the preservation of which their safety was believed to\n      depend. The Palladium of Troy is the most familiar instance. See\n      Chr. A. Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_ (K\u00f6nigsberg, 1829), pp. 278 _sqq._,\n      and my note on Pausanias, viii. 47. 5 (vol. iv. pp. 433 _sq._).\n\n  M68 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the Jews, in Syria,\n      India, and Annam.\n\n  208 J. Mergel, _Die Medezin der Talmudisten_ (Leipsic and Berlin, 1885),\n      pp. 15 _sq._\n\n  209 Maimonides, quoted by D. Chwolsohn, _Die Ssabier und der Ssabismus_\n      (St. Petersburg, 1856), ii. 483. According to the editor (p. 735) by\n      the East Maimonides means India and eastern countries generally.\n\n  210 L\u2019abb\u00e9 B\u00e9chara Ch\u00e9mali, \u201cNaissance et premier \u00e2ge au Liban,\u201d\n      _Anthropos_, v. (1910) p. 735.\n\n  211 Eij\u016bb Ab\u0113la, \u201cBeitr\u00e4ge zur Kenntniss abergl\u00e4ubischer Gebr\u00e4uche in\n      Syrien,\u201d _Zeitschrift des deutschen Palaestina-Vereins_, vii. (1884)\n      p. 111.\n\n  212 J. Chalmers, \u201cToaripi,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_,\n      xxvii. (1898) p. 328.\n\n  213 W. Crooke, _Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and\n      Oudh_ (Calcutta, 1896), ii. 87.\n\n  214 W. Crooke, _in North Indian Notes and Queries_, i. p. 67, \u00a7 467\n      (July, 1891).\n\n  215 L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer, _The Cochin Tribes and Castes_, i.\n      (Madras, 1909) pp. 201-203. As to the seclusion of menstruous women\n      among the Hindoos, see also Sonnerat, _Voyage aux Indes Orientales\n      et \u00e0 la Chine_ (Paris, 1782), i. 31; J. A. Dubois, _M\u0153urs,\n      Institutions et C\u00e9r\u00e9monies des Peuples de l\u2019Inde_ (Paris, 1825), i.\n      245 _sq._ Nair women in Malabar seclude themselves for three days at\n      menstruation and prepare their food in separate pots and pans. See\n      Duarte Barbosa, _Description of the Coasts of East Africa and\n      Malabar in the beginning of the Sixteenth Century_ (Hakluyt Society,\n      London, 1866), pp. 132 _sq._\n\n  216 G. Hoffman, _Ausz\u00fcge aus Syrischen Akten persisischer Martyrer\n      \u00fcbersetzt_ (Leipsic, 1880), p. 99. This passage was pointed out to\n      me by my friend Professor A. A. Bevan.\n\n  217 J. B. Tavernier, _Voyages en Turquie, en Perse, et aux Indes_ (The\n      Hague, 1718), i. 488.\n\n  218 Paul Giran, _Magie et Religion Annamites_ (Paris, 1912), pp. 107\n      _sq._, 112.\n\n  M69 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the Indians of South\n      and Central America.\n\n  219 Joseph Gumilla, _Histoire Naturelle, Civile, et G\u00e9ographique de\n      l\u2019Orenoque_ (Avignon, 1758), i. 249.\n\n  220 Dr. Louis Plassard, \u201cLes Guaraunos et le delta de l\u2019Or\u00e9noque,\u201d\n      _Bulletin de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie_ (Paris), v. S\u00e9rie, xv. (1868)\n      p. 584.\n\n  221 J. Crevaux, _Voyages dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique du Sud_ (Paris, 1883), p. 526.\n      As to the customs observed at menstruation by Indian women in South\n      America, see further A. d\u2019Orbigny, _L\u2019Homme Americain_ (Paris,\n      1839), i. 237.\n\n  222 Chas. N. Bell, \u201cThe Mosquito Territory,\u201d _Journal of the Royal\n      Geographical Society_, xxxii. (1862) p. 254.\n\n  223 H. Pittier de Fabrega, \u201cDie Sprache der Bribri-Indianer in Costa\n      Rica,\u201d _Sitzungsberichte der philosophischen-historischen Classe der\n      Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften_ (Vienna), cxxxviii. (1898)\n      pp. 19 _sq._\n\n  M70 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the Indians of North\n      America.\n\n  224 Gabriel Sagard, _Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons_, Nouvelle\n      \u00c9dition (Paris, 1865), p. 54 (original edition, Paris, 1632); J. F.\n      Lafitau, _M\u0153urs des Sauvages Ameriquains_ (Paris, 1724), i. 262;\n      Charlevoix, _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_ (Paris, 1744), v. 423\n      sq.; Captain Jonathan Carver, _Travels through the Interior Parts of\n      North America_, Third Edition (London, 1781), pp. 236 _sq._;\n      Captains Lewis and Clark, _Expedition to the Sources of the\n      Missouri_, etc. (London, 1905), iii. 90 (original edition, 1814);\n      Rev. Jedidiah Morse, _Report to the Secretary of War of the United\n      States on Indian Affairs_ (New Haven, 1822), pp. 136 _sq._; _Annales\n      de l\u2019Association de la Propagation de la Foi_, iv. (Paris and Lyons,\n      1830) pp. 483, 494 _sq._; George Catlin, _Letters and Notes on the\n      Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians_,\n      Fourth Edition (London, 1844), ii. 233; H. R. Schoolcraft, _Indian\n      Tribes of the United States_ (Philadelphia, 1853-1856), v. 70; A. L.\n      Kroeber, \u201cThe Religion of the Indians of California,\u201d _University of\n      California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology_, vol.\n      iv. No. 6 (Berkeley, September, 1907), pp. 323 _sq._; Frank G.\n      Speck, _Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians_ (Philadelphia, 1909), p. 96.\n      Among the Hurons of Canada women at their periods did not retire\n      from the house or village, but they ate from small dishes apart from\n      the rest of the family at these times (Gabriel Sagard, _l.c._).\n\n  M71 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the Creek, Choctaw,\n      Omaha, and Cheyenne Indians.\n\n  225 James Adair, _History of the American Indians_ (London, 1775), pp.\n      123 _sq._\n\n  226 Bossu, _Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes occidentales_ (Paris, 1768), ii.\n      105.\n\n  227 Edwin James, _Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky\n      Mountains_ (London, 1823), i. 214.\n\n  228 William H. Keating, _Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St.\n      Peter\u2019s River_ (London, 1825), i. 132.\n\n  229 G. B. Grinnell, \u201cCheyenne Woman Customs,\u201d _American Anthropologist_,\n      New Series, iv. (New York, 1902) p. 14.\n\n  M72 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the Indians of British\n      Columbia.\n\n  230 C. Hill Tout, \u201cEthnological Report on the Stseelis and Skaulits\n      Tribes of the Halokmelem Division of the Salish of British\n      Columbia,\u201d _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxxiv. (1904)\n      p. 320.\n\n  231 James Teit, _The Thompson Indians of British Columbia_, pp. 326\n      _sq._ (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American\n      Museum of Natural History_, New York, April, 1900).\n\n  M73 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the Chippeway Indians.\n\n  232 Samuel Hearne, _Journey from Prince of Wales\u2019s Fort in Hudson\u2019s Bay\n      to the Northern Ocean_ (London, 1795), pp. 314 _sq._; Alex.\n      Mackenzie, _Voyages through the Continent of North America_ (London,\n      1801), p. cxxiii.; E. Petitot, _Monographie des D\u00e8n\u00e8-Dindji\u00e9_\n      (Paris, 1876), pp. 75 _sq._\n\n  233 C. Leemius, _De Lapponibus Finmarchiae eorumque lingua vita et\n      religione pristina_ (Copenhagen, 1767), p. 494.\n\n  234 E. W. Nelson, \u201cThe Eskimo about Bering Strait,\u201d _Eighteenth Annual\n      Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_, Part i. (Washington,\n      1899) p. 440.\n\n  M74 Dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the Tinneh or D\u00e9n\u00e9\n      Indians. Customs and beliefs of the Carrier Indians in regard to\n      menstruous women.\n\n  235 The Carriers are a tribe of D\u00e9n\u00e9 or Tinneh Indians who get their\n      name from a custom observed among them by widows, who carry, or\n      rather used to carry, the charred bones of their dead husbands about\n      with them in bundles.\n\n  M75 Seclusion of Carrier girls at puberty.\n\n  236 Hence we may conjecture that the similar ornaments worn by Mabuiag\n      girls in similar circumstances are also amulets. See above, p. 36.\n      Among the aborigines of the Upper Yarra river in Victoria, a girl at\n      puberty used to have cords tied very tightly round several parts of\n      her body. The cords were worn for several days, causing the whole\n      body to swell very much and inflicting great pain. The girl might\n      not remove them till she was clean. See R. Brough Smyth, _Aborigines\n      of Victoria_ (Melbourne and London, 1878), i. 65. Perhaps the cords\n      were intended to arrest the flow of blood.\n\n  M76 Seclusion of Carrier women at their monthly periods. Reasons for the\n      seclusion of menstruous women among the Indians.\n\n  237 Rev. Father A.G. Morice, \u201cThe Western D\u00e9n\u00e9s, their Manners and\n      Customs,\u201d _Proceedings of the Canadian Institute_, Toronto, Third\n      Series, vii. (1888-89) pp. 162-164. The writer has repeated the\n      substance of this account in a later work, _Au pays de l\u2019Ours Noir:\n      chez les sauvages de la Colombie Britannique_ (Paris and Lyons,\n      1897), pp. 72 _sq._\n\n  238 A. G. Morice, \u201cNotes, Archaeological, Industrial, and Sociological,\n      on the Western D\u00e9n\u00e9s,\u201d _Transactions of the Canadian Institute_, iv.\n      (1892-93) pp. 106 _sq._ Compare Rev. Father Julius Jett\u00e9, \u201cOn the\n      Superstitions of the Ten\u2019a Indians,\u201d _Anthropos_, vi. (1911) pp. 703\n      _sq._, who tells us that Tinneh women at these times may not lift\n      their own nets, may not step over other people\u2019s nets, and may not\n      pass in a boat or canoe near a place where nets are being set.\n\n  239 A. G. Morice, in _Transactions of the Canadian Institute_, iv.\n      (1892-93) pp. 107, 110.\n\n  240 James Teit, _The Thompson Indians of British Columbia_, p. 327 (_The\n      Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of\n      Natural History_, New York, April 1900).\n\n  241 See above, p. 53.\n\n  M77 Similar rules of seclusion enjoined on menstruous women in ancient\n      Hindoo, Persian, and Hebrew codes.\n\n_  242 Laws of Manu_, translated by G. B\u00fchler (Oxford, 1886), ch. iv. 41\n      sq., p. 135 (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. xxv.).\n\n_  243 The Zend-Avesta_, translated by J. Darmesteter, i. (Oxford, 1880)\n      p. xcii. (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. iv.). See _id._, pp. 9,\n      181-185, _Fargard_, i. 18 and 19, xvi. 1-18.\n\n  M78 Superstitions as to menstruous women in ancient and modern Europe.\n\n  244 Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ vii. 64 _sq._, xxviii. 77 _sqq._ Compare\n      _Geoponica_, xii. 20. 5 and 25. 2; Columella, _De re rustica_, xi.\n      357 _sqq._\n\n  245 August Schleicher, _Volkst\u00fcmliches ans Sonnenberg_ (Weimar, 1858),\n      p. 134; B. Souch\u00e9, _Croyances, Pr\u00e9sages et Traditions diverses_\n      (Niort, 1880), p. 11; A. Meyrac, _Traditions, Coutumes, L\u00e9gendes et\n      Contes des Ardennes_ (Charleville, 1890), p. 171; V. Fossel,\n      _Volksmedicin und medicinischer Aberglaube in Steiermark_2 (Graz,\n      1886), p. 124. A correspondent, who withholds her name, writes to me\n      that in a Suffolk village, where she used to live some twenty or\n      thirty years ago, \u201cevery one pickled their own beef, and it was held\n      that if the pickling were performed by a woman during her menstrual\n      period the meat would not keep. If the cook were incapacitated at\n      the time when the pickling was due, another woman was sent for out\n      of the village rather than risk what was considered a certainty.\u201d\n      Another correspondent informs me that in some of the dales in the\n      north of Yorkshire a similar belief prevailed down to recent years\n      with regard to the salting of pork. Another correspondent writes to\n      me: \u201cThe prohibition that a menstruating woman must not touch meat\n      that is intended for keeping appears to be common all over the\n      country; at least I have met with it as a confirmed and active\n      custom in widely separated parts of England.... It is in regard to\n      the salting of meat for bacon that the prohibition is most usual,\n      because that is the commonest process; but it exists in regard to\n      any meat food that is required to be kept.\u201d\n\n  246 R. Andree, _Braunschweiger Volkskunde_ (Brunswick, 1896), p. 291.\n\n  247 W. R. Paton, in _Folk-lore_, i. (1890) p. 524.\n\n  M79 The intention of secluding menstruous women is to neutralize the\n      dangerous influences which are thought to emanate from them in that\n      condition. Suspension between heaven and earth.\n  M80 The same explanation applies to the similar rules of seclusion\n      observed by divine kings and priests. Suspension between heaven and\n      earth.\n\n  248 The Greeks and Romans thought that a field was completely protected\n      against insects if a menstruous woman walked round it with bare feet\n      and streaming hair (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvii. 266, xxviii. 78;\n      Columella, _De re rustica_, x. 358 sq., xi. 3. 64; Palladius, _De re\n      rustica_, i. 35. 3; _Geoponica_, xii. 8. 5 _sq._; Aelian, _Nat.\n      Anim._ vi. 36). A similar preventive is employed for the same\n      purpose by North American Indians and European peasants. See H. R.\n      Schoolcraft, _Indian Tribes of the United States_ (Philadelphia,\n      1853-1856), v. 70; F. J. Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren und \u00e4ussern\n      Leben der Ehsten_ (St. Petersburg, 1876), p. 484. Compare J.\n      Haltrich, _Zur Volkskunde der Siebenb\u00fcrger Sachsen_ (Vienna, 1885),\n      p. 280; Adolph Heinrich, _Agrarische Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche unter den\n      Sachsen Siebenb\u00fcrgens_ (Hermannstadt, 1880), p. 14; J. Grimm,\n      _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 iii. 468; G. Lammert, _Volksmedizin und\n      medizinischer Aberglaube aus Bayern_ (W\u00fcrzburg, 1869), p. 147. Among\n      the Western D\u00e9n\u00e9s it is believed that one or two transverse lines\n      tattooed on the arms or legs of a young man by a pubescent girl are\n      a specific against premature weakness of these limbs. See A. G.\n      Morice, \u201cNotes, Archaeological, Industrial, and Sociological, on the\n      Western D\u00e9n\u00e9s,\u201d _Transactions of the Canadian Institute_, iv.\n      (1892-93) p. 182. The Thompson Indians of British Columbia thought\n      that the Dawn of Day could and would cure hernia if only an\n      adolescent girl prayed to it to do so. Just before daybreak the girl\n      would put some charcoal in her mouth, chew it fine, and spit it out\n      four times on the diseased place. Then she prayed: \u201cO Day-dawn! thy\n      child relies on me to obtain healing from thee, who art mystery.\n      Remove thou the swelling of thy child. Pity thou him, Day-Dawn!\u201d See\n      James Teit, _The Thompson Indians of British Columbia_, pp. 345\n      _sq._ (_The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American\n      Museum of Natural History_, New York, April, 1900). To cure the\n      painful and dangerous wound inflicted by a ray-fish, the Indians of\n      the Gran Chaco smoke the wounded limb and then cause a woman in her\n      courses to sit astride of it. See G. Pelleschi, _Eight Months on the\n      Gran Chaco of the Argentine Republic_ (London, 1886), p. 106. An\n      ancient Hindoo method of securing prosperity was to swallow a\n      portion of the menstruous fluid. See W. Caland, _Altindisches\n      Zauberritual_ (Amsterdam, 1900), pp. 57 _sq._ To preserve a new cow\n      from the evil eye Scottish Highlanders used to sprinkle menstruous\n      blood on the animal; and at certain seasons of the year, especially\n      at Beltane (the first of May) and Lammas (the first of August) it\n      was their custom to sprinkle the same potent liquid on the doorposts\n      and houses all round to guard them from harm. The fluid was applied\n      by means of a wisp of straw, and the person who discharged this\n      salutary office went round the house in the direction of the sun.\n      See J. G. Campbell, _Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of\n      Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1900), p. 248. These are examples of the\n      beneficent application of the menstruous energy.\n\n_  249 Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 1 _sqq._\n\n  250 For a similar reason, perhaps, ancient Hindoo ritual prescribed that\n      when the hair of a child\u2019s head was shorn in the third year, the\n      clippings should be buried in a cow-stable, or near an _udumbara_\n      tree, or in a clump of _darbha_ grass, with the words, \u201cWhere\n      Pushan, Brihaspati, Savitri, Soma, Agni dwell, they have in many\n      ways searched where they should deposit it, between heaven and\n      earth, the waters and heaven.\u201d See _The Grihya-S\u00fbtras_, translated\n      by H. Oldenberg, Part ii. (Oxford, 1892) p. 218 (_Sacred Books of\n      the East_, vol. xxx.).\n\n  M81 Stories of immortality attained by suspension between heaven and\n      earth.\n\n  251 Petronius, _Sat._ 48; Pausanias, x. 12. 8; Justin Martyr, _Cohort ad\n      Graecos_, 37, p. 34 c (ed. 1742). According to another account, the\n      remains of the Sibyl were enclosed in an iron cage which hung from a\n      pillar in an ancient temple of Hercules at Argyrus (Ampelius, _Liber\n      Memorialis_, viii. 16).\n\n  252 A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche_\n      (Leipsic, 1848), p. 70, No. 72. 1. This and the following German\n      parallels to the story of the Sibyl\u2019s wish were first indicated by\n      Dr. M. R. James (_Classical Review_, vi. (1892) p. 74). I have\n      already given the stories at length in a note on Pausanias, x. 12. 8\n      (vol. v. pp. 292 _sq._).\n\n  253 A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _op. cit._ pp. 70 _sq._, No. 72. 2.\n\n  254 A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _op. cit._ p. 71, No. 72. 3.\n\n  255 Karl M\u00fcllenhoff, _Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Lieder der Herzogth\u00fcmer\n      Holstein und Lauenburg_ (Kiel, 1845), pp. 158 _sq._, No. 217.\n\n  M82 How Balder, the good and beautiful god, was done to death by a\n      stroke of the mistletoe.\n\n_  256 Die Edda_, \u00fcbersetzt von K. Simrock8 (Stuttgart, 1882), pp.\n      286-288. Compare pp. 8, 34, 264. Balder\u2019s story is told in a\n      professedly historical form by the old Danish historian Saxo\n      Grammaticus in his third book. See below, p. 103. In English the\n      story is told at length by Professor (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic\n      Heathendom_ (London and Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 529 _sqq._ It is\n      elaborately discussed by Professor F. Kauffmann in a learned\n      monograph, _Balder, Mythus und Sage_ (Strasburg, 1902).\n\n  M83 Tale of Balder in the older _Edda_.\n\n  257 Gudbrand Vigfusson and F. York Powell, _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, i.\n      (Oxford, 1883) p. 197. Compare _Edda Rhythmica seu Antiquior, vulgo\n      Saemundina dicta_, Pars iii. (Copenhagen, 1828) pp. 39 _sq._; _Die\n      Edda_, \u00fcbersetzt von K. Simrock8 (Stuttgart, 1882), p. 8; K.\n      M\u00fcllenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_, v. Zweite Abteilung (Berlin,\n      1891), pp. 78 _sq._; Fr. Kauffmann, _Balder, Mythus und Sage_, pp.\n      20 _sq._ In this passage the words translated \u201cbloody victim\u201d\n      (_blau\u00feom tivor_) and \u201cfate looming\u201d (_\u00f8rlog f\u00f3lgen_) are somewhat\n      uncertain and have been variously interpreted. The word _tivor_,\n      usually understood to mean \u201cgod,\u201d seems to be found nowhere else.\n      Professor H. M. Chadwick has kindly furnished me with the following\n      literal translation of the passage: \u201cI saw (or \u2018have seen\u2019) held in\n      safe keeping the life of Balder, the bloody god, Othin\u2019s son. High\n      above the fields (_i.e._ the surface of the earth) grew a mistletoe,\n      slender and very beautiful. From a shaft (or \u2018stem\u2019) which appeared\n      slender, came a dangerous sorrow-bringing missile (_i.e._ the shaft\n      became a ... missile); Hodr proceeded to shoot. Soon was a brother\n      of Balder born. He, Othin\u2019s son, proceeded to do battle when one day\n      old. He did not wash his hands or comb his head before he brought\n      Balder\u2019s antagonist on to the pyre. But Frigg in Fen-salir (_i.e._\n      the Fen-abode) lamented the trouble of Valholl.\u201d In translating the\n      words _\u00f8rlog f\u00f3lgen_ \u201cheld in safe keeping the life\u201d Professor\n      Chadwick follows Professor F. Kauffmann\u2019s rendering (\u201c_das Leben\n      verwahrt_\u201d); but he writes to me that he is not quite confident\n      about it, as the word _\u00f8rlog_ usually means \u201cfate\u201d rather than\n      \u201clife.\u201d Several sentences translated by Professor Chadwick (\u201cSoon\n      was a brother of Balder born ... he brought Balder\u2019s antagonist on\n      the pyre\u201d) are omitted by some editors and translators of the\n      _Edda_.\n\n  258 G. Vigfusson and F. York Powell, _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, i. 200\n      _sq._; _Edda Rhythmica seu Antiquior, vulgo Saemundina dicta_, Pars\n      iii. pp. 51-54; _Die Edda_, \u00fcbersetzt von K. Simrock8 pp. 10 _sq._;\n      K. M\u00fcllenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_, v. Zweite Abteilung, pp.\n      84 _sq._\n\n  M84 The story of Balder as related by Saxo Grammaticus.\n\n  259 Saxo Grammaticus, _Historia Danica_, ed. P. E. M\u00fcller (Copenhagen,\n      1839-1858), _lib._ iii. vol. i. pp. 110 _sqq._; _The First Nine\n      Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus_, translated by\n      Oliver Elton (London, 1894), pp. 83-93.\n\n  M85 Balder worshipped in Norway.\n\n_  260 Fridthjofs Saga, aus dem Altisl\u00e4ndischen_, von J. C. Poestion\n      (Vienna, 1879), pp. 3 _sq._, 14-17, 45-52.\n\n  M86 The legendary death of Balder resembles the legendary death of the\n      Persian hero Isfendiyar in the epic of Firdusi.\n\n_  261 The Epic of Kings, Stories retold from Firdusi_, by Helen Zimmern\n      (London, 1883), pp. 325-331. The parallel between Balder and\n      Isfendiyar was pointed out in the \u201cLexicon Mythologicum\u201d appended to\n      the _Edda Rhythmica seu Antiquior, vulgo Saemundina dicta_, Pars\n      iii. (Copenhagen, 1828) p. 513 note, with a reference to _Schah\n      Nameh, verdeutscht von G\u00f6rres_, ii. 324, 327 _sq._ It is briefly\n      mentioned by Dr. P. Wagler, _Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit_, ii.\n      Teil (Berlin, 1891), p. 40.\n\n  M87 The myth of Balder was perhaps acted as a magical ceremony. The two\n      chief incidents of the myth, namely the pulling of the mistletoe and\n      the death and burning of the god, have perhaps their counterparts in\n      popular ritual.\n  M88 European custom of kindling bonfires on certain days of the year,\n      dancing round them and leaping over them. Effigies are sometimes\n      burnt in the fires.\n\n  262 See Jacob Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_4 (Berlin, 1875-1878), i. 502,\n      510, 516.\n\n  263 W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarst\u00e4mme_\n      (Berlin, 1875), pp. 518 _sq._\n\n  264 In the following survey of these fire-customs I follow chiefly W.\n      Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, kap. vi. pp. 497 _sqq._ Compare also J.\n      Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 500 _sqq._; Walter K. Kelly,\n      _Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore_ (London,\n      1863), pp. 46 _sqq._; F. Vogt, \u201cScheibentreiben und Fr\u00fchlingsfeuer,\u201d\n      _Zeitschrift des Vereins f\u00fcr Volkskunde_, iii. (1893) pp. 349-369;\n      _ibid._ iv. (1894) pp. 195-197.\n\n  M89 Seasons of the year at which the bonfires are lit.\n\n_  265 The Scapegoat_, pp. 316 _sqq._\n\n  266 The first Sunday in Lent is known as _Invocavit_ from the first word\n      of the mass for the day (O. Frh. von Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld,\n      _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_, p. 67).\n\n  M90 Custom of kindling bonfires on the first Sunday in Lent in the\n      Belgian Ardennes.\n\n  267 Le Baron de Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Calendrier Belge_ (Brussels,\n      1861-1862), i. 141-143; E. Monseur, _Le Folklore Wallon_ (Brussels,\n      N.D.), pp. 124 _sq._\n\n  268 Emile Hublard, _F\u00eates du Temps Jadis, les Feux du Car\u00eame_ (Mons,\n      1899), pp. 25. For the loan of this work I am indebted to Mrs.\n      Wherry of St. Peter\u2019s Terrace, Cambridge.\n\n  269 \u00c9. Hublard, _op. cit._ pp. 27 _sq._\n\n  M91 Bonfires on the first Sunday of Lent in the French department of the\n      Ardennes.\n\n  270 A. Meyrac, _Traditions, coutumes, l\u00e9gendes et contes des Ardennes_\n      (Charleville, 1890), p. 68.\n\n  271 L. F. Sauv\u00e9, _Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), p. 56.\n      The popular name for the bonfires in the Upper Vosges\n      (_Hautes-Vosges_) is _chavandes_.\n\n  272 E. Cortet, _Essai sur les f\u00eates religieuses_ (Paris, 1867), pp. 101\n      _sq._ The local name for these bonfires is _bures_.\n\n  M92 Bonfires on the First Sunday of Lent in Franche-Comt\u00e9.\n\n  273 Charles Beauquier, _Les mois en Franche-Comt\u00e9_ (Paris, 1900), pp. 33\n      sq. In Bresse the custom was similar. See _La Bresse Louhannaise,\n      Bulletin Mensuel, Organe de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 d\u2019Agriculture et\n      d\u2019Horticulture de l\u2019Arrondissement de Louhans_, Mars, 1906, pp. 111\n      _sq._; E. Cortet, _op. cit._ p. 100. The usual name for the bonfires\n      is _chevannes_ or _schvannes_; but in some places they are called\n      _foul\u00e8res_, _foual\u00e8res_, _failles_, or _bourdifailles_ (Ch.\n      Beauquier, _op. cit._ p. 34). But the Sunday is called the Sunday of\n      the _brandons_, _bures_, _bordes_, or _boid\u00e8s_, according to the\n      place. The _brandons_ are the torches which are carried about the\n      streets and the fields; the bonfires, as we have seen, bear another\n      name. A curious custom, observed on the same Sunday in\n      Franche-Comt\u00e9, requires that couples married within the year should\n      distribute boiled peas to all the young folks of both sexes who\n      demand them at the door. The lads and lasses go about from house to\n      house, making the customary request; in some places they wear masks\n      or are otherwise disguised. See Ch. Beauquier, _op. cit._ pp. 31-33.\n\n  M93 Bonfires on the first Sunday of Lent in Auvergne. The Granno invoked\n      at these bonfires may be the old Celtic god Grannus, who was\n      identified with Apollo.\n\n  274 Curiously enough, while the singular is _granno-mio_, the plural is\n      _grannas-mias_.\n\n  275 Dr. Pommerol, \u201cLa f\u00eate des Brandons et le dieu Gaulois Grannus,\u201d\n      _Bulletins et M\u00e9moires de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 d\u2019Anthropologie de Paris_, v.\n      S\u00e9rie, ii. (1901) pp. 427-429.\n\n_  276 Op. cit._ pp. 428 _sq._\n\n  277 H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae_, vol. ii. Pars i.\n      (Berlin, 1902) pp. 216 _sq._, Nos. 4646-4652.\n\n  278 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_ (London, 1888), pp. 22-25.\n\n  M94 French custom of carrying lighted torches (_brandons_) about the\n      orchards and fields to fertilize them on the first Sunday of Lent.\n\n  279 \u00c9mile Hublard, _F\u00eates du Temps Jadis, les Feux du Car\u00eame_ (Mons,\n      1899), p. 38, quoting Dom Grenier, _Histoire de la Province de\n      Picardie_.\n\n  280 \u00c9. Hublard, _op. cit._ p. 39, quoting Dom Grenier.\n\n  281 M. Desgranges, \u201cUsages du Canton de Bonneval,\u201d _M\u00e9moires de la\n      Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Royale des Antiquaires de France_, i. (Paris, 1817) pp.\n      236-238; Felix Chapiseau, _Le folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche_\n      (Paris, 1902), i. 315 _sq._\n\n  282 John Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,\n      1882-1883), i. 100.\n\n  283 E. Cortet, _Essai sur les f\u00eates religieuses_ (Paris, 1867), pp. 99\n      _sq._; _La Bresse Louhannaise_, Mars, 1906, p. 111.\n\n  284 A. de Nore, _Coutumes, mythes et traditions des provinces de France_\n      (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 283 sq. A similar, though not\n      identical, custom prevailed at Valenciennes (_ibid._ p. 338).\n\n  285 A. de Nore, _op. cit._ p. 302.\n\n  286 D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Monnier, _Traditions populaires compar\u00e9es_ (Paris, 1854), pp.\n      191 _sq._\n\n  287 Laisnel de la Salle, _Croyances et l\u00e9gendes du centre de la France_\n      (Paris, 1875), i. 35 _sqq._\n\n  288 Jules Lec\u0153ur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Cond\u00e9-sur-Noireau,\n      1887), ii. 131 _sq._ For more evidence of customs of this sort\n      observed in various parts of France on the first Sunday in Lent, see\n      Madame Cl\u00e9ment, _Histoire des F\u00eates civiles et religieuses, etc., du\n      D\u00e9partement du Nord_2 (Cambrai, 1836), pp. 351 _sqq._; \u00c9mile\n      Hublard, _F\u00eates du Temps Jadis, les Feux du Car\u00eame_ (Mons, 1899),\n      pp. 33 _sqq._\n\n  M95 Bonfires on the first Sunday of Lent in Germany and Austria.\n      \u201cBurning the witch.\u201d Burning discs thrown into the air. Burning\n      wheels rolled down hill.\n\n  289 J. H. Schmitz, _Sitten und Sagen, Lieder, Spr\u00fcchw\u00f6rter und R\u00e4thsel\n      des Eifler Volkes_ (Tr\u00e8ves, 1856-1858), i. 21-25; N. Hocker, in\n      _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde_, i. (1853) p.\n      90; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer\n      Nachbarst\u00e4mme_ (Berlin, 1875), p. 501.\n\n  290 N. Hocker, _op. cit._ pp. 89 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _l.c._\n\n  291 F. J. Vonbun, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie_ (Chur, 1862), p.\n      20; W. Mannhardt, _l.c._\n\n  292 Ernst Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_\n      (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 380 _sqq._; Anton Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches\n      aus Schwaben_ (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), ii. 56 _sqq._, 66\n      _sqq._; _Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_\n      (Munich, 1860-1867), ii. 2, pp. 838 _sq._; F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur\n      deutschen Mythologie_ (Munich, 1848-1855), i. 211, \u00a7 232; W.\n      Mannhardt, _l.c._ One of the popular German names for the first\n      Sunday in Lent is White Sunday, which is not to be confused with the\n      first Sunday after Easter, which also goes by the name of White\n      Sunday (E. Meier, _op. cit._ p. 380; A. Birlinger, _op. cit._ ii.\n      56).\n\n  293 H. Gaidoz, \u201cLe dieu gaulois du soleil et le symbolisme de la roue,\u201d\n      _Revue Arch\u00e9ologique_, iii. s\u00e9rie, iv. (1884) pp. 139 _sq._\n\n  294 August Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_\n      (Vienna, 1878), p. 189; F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen\n      Mythologie_ (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 207; W. Mannhardt, _Der\n      Baumkultus_, pp. 500 _sq_.\n\n  295 W. Kolbe, _Hessiche Volks-Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche_2 (Marburg, 1888), p.\n      36.\n\n  296 Adalbert Kuhn, _Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des G\u00f6ttertranks_2\n      (G\u00fctersloh, 1886), p. 86, quoting Hocker, _Des Mosellandes\n      Geschichten, Sagen und Legenden_ (Trier, 1852), pp. 415 _sqq._\n      Compare W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 501; and below, pp. 163\n      _sq._ Thus it appears that the ceremony of rolling the fiery wheel\n      down hill was observed twice a year at Konz, once on the first\n      Sunday in Lent, and once at Midsummer.\n\n  M96 Bonfires on the first Sunday in Lent in Switzerland. Burning discs\n      thrown into the air.\n\n  297 H. Herzog, _Schweizerische Volksfeste, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche_ (Aarau,\n      1884), pp. 214-216; E. Hoffmann-Krayer, \u201cFruchtbarkeitsriten im\n      schweizerischen Volksbrauch,\u201d _Schweizerisches Archiv f\u00fcr\n      Volkskunde_, xi. (1907) pp. 247-249; _id._, _Feste und Br\u00e4uche des\n      Schweizervolkes_ (Zurich, 1913), pp. 135 _sq._\n\n  M97 Connexion of these bonfires with the custom of \u201ccarrying out Death.\u201d\n      Effigies burnt on Shrove Tuesday.\n\n  298 Theodor Vernaleken, _Mythen und Br\u00e4uche des Volkes in Oesterreich_\n      (Vienna, 1859), pp. 293 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p.\n      498. See _The Dying God_, p. 250.\n\n  299 J. H. Schmitz, _Sitten und Sagen, Lieder, Spr\u00fcchw\u00f6rter und R\u00e4thsel\n      des Eifler Volkes_ (Treves, 1856-1858), i. 20; W. Mannhardt, _Der\n      Baumkultus_, p. 499.\n\n  300 L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_\n      (Oldenburg, 1867), ii. 39, \u00a7 306; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p.\n      498.\n\n  301 W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 499.\n\n  302 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ pp. 498 _sq._\n\n  303 W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ p. 499.\n\n  304 Christian Schneller, _M\u00e4rchen und Sagen aus W\u00e4lschtirol_ (Innsbruck,\n      1867), pp. 234 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _op. cit._ pp. 499 _sq._\n\n  M98 Fire-festivals on Easter Eve. Custom in Catholic countries of\n      kindling a holy new fire at the church on Easter Saturday;\n      marvellous properties ascribed to the embers of the fire. The\n      burning of Judas.\n\n  305 John Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,\n      1882-1883), i. 157 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, pp.\n      502-505; Karl Freiherr von Leoprechting, _Aus dem Lechrain_ (Munich,\n      1855), pp. 172 _sq._; Anton Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus\n      Schwaben_ (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), i. 472 _sq._; Montanus,\n      _Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbr\u00e4uche und deutscher Volksglaube_\n      (Iserlohn, N.D.), p. 26; F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen\n      Mythologie_ (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 241 _sq._; Ernst Meier,\n      _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_ (Stuttgart,\n      1852), pp. 139 _sq._; _Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des\n      K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_ (Munich, 1860-1867), i. 371; A. Wuttke, _Der\n      deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin, 1869), pp. 68 _sq._, \u00a7 81; Ignaz\n      V. Zingerle, _Sitten, Br\u00e4uche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes_2\n      (Innsbruck, 1871), p. 149, \u00a7\u00a7 1286-1289; W. Kolbe, _Hessische\n      Volks-Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche_2 (Marburg, 1888), pp. 44 _sqq._; _County\n      Folk-lore, Printed Extracts, Leicestershire and Rutland_, collected\n      by C. J. Billson (London, 1895), pp. 75 _sq._; A. Tiraboschi, \u201cUsi\n      pasquali nel Bergamasco,\u201d _Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizione\n      Popolari_, i. (1892) pp. 442 _sq._ The ecclesiastical custom of\n      lighting the Paschal or Easter candle is very fully described by Mr.\n      H. J. Feasey, _Ancient English Holy Week Ceremonial_ (London, 1897),\n      pp. 179 _sqq._ These candles were sometimes of prodigious size; in\n      the cathedrals of Norwich and Durham, for example, they reached\n      almost to the roof, from which they had to be lighted. Often they\n      went by the name of the Judas Light or the Judas Candle; and\n      sometimes small waxen figures of Judas were hung on them. See H. J.\n      Feasey, _op. cit._ pp. 193, 213 _sqq._ As to the ritual of the new\n      fire at St. Peter\u2019s in Rome, see R. Chambers, _The Book of Days_\n      (London and Edinburgh, 1886), i. 421; and as to the early history of\n      the rite in the Catholic church, see Mgr. L. Duchesne, _Origines du\n      Culte Chr\u00e9tien_3 (Paris, 1903), pp. 250-257.\n\n  M99 Easter fires in Bavaria and the Abruzzi.\n\n_  306 Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_ (Munich,\n      1860-1867), i. 1002 _sq._\n\n  307 Gennaro Finamore, _Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_ (Palermo,\n      1890), pp. 122 _sq._\n\n M100 Water as well as fire consecrated in the Abruzzi on Easter Saturday.\n      Water consecrated in Calabria on Easter Saturday. Water and fire\n      consecrated on Easter Saturday among the Germans of Bohemia. Easter\n      rites of fire and water at Hildesheim.\n\n  308 G. Finamore, _op. cit._ pp. 123 _sq._\n\n  309 Vincenzo Dorsa, _La Tradizione Greco-Latina negli Usi e nelle\n      Credenze Popolari della Calabria Citeriore_ (Cosenza, 1884), pp. 48\n      _sq._\n\n  310 Alois John, _Sitte, Brauch, und Volksglaube im deutschen Westb\u00f6hmen_\n      (Prague, 1905), pp. 62 _sq._\n\n  311 K. Seifart, _Sagen, M\u00e4rchen, Schw\u00e4nke und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Stadt und\n      Stift Hildesheim_2 (Hildesheim, 1889), pp. 177 sq., 179 _sq._\n\n M101 New fire at Easter in Carinthia. Consecration of fire and water by\n      the Catholic Church at Easter.\n\n  312 M. Lexer, \u201cVolks\u00fcberlieferungen aus dem Lesachthal in K\u00e4rnten,\u201d\n      _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde_, iii. (1855)\n      p. 31.\n\n_  313 The Popish Kingdome or reigne of Antichrist, written in Latin verse\n      by Thomas Naogeorgus and Englyshed by Barnabe Googe, 1570_, edited\n      by R. C. Hope (London, 1880), p. 52, _recto_. The title of the\n      original poem was _Regnum Papisticum_. The author, Thomas Kirchmeyer\n      (Naogeorgus, as he called himself), died in 1577. The book is a\n      satire on the abuses and superstitions of the Catholic Church. Only\n      one perfect copy of Googe\u2019s translation is known to exist: it is in\n      the University Library at Cambridge. See Mr. R. C. Hope\u2019s\n      introduction to his reprint of this rare work, pp. xv. _sq._ The\n      words, \u201cThen Clappers ceasse, and belles are set againe at\n      libert\u00e9e,\u201d refer to the custom in Catholic countries of silencing\n      the church bells for two days from noon on Maundy Thursday to noon\n      on Easter Saturday and substituting for their music the harsh\n      clatter of wooden rattles. See R. Chambers, _The Book of Days_\n      (London and Edinburgh, 1886), i. 412 _sq._ According to another\n      account the church bells are silent from midnight on the Wednesday\n      preceding Maundy Thursday till matins on Easter Day. See W. Smith\n      and S. Cheetham, _Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_ (London,\n      1875-1880), ii. 1161, referring to _Ordo Roman_. i. _u.s._\n\n  314 R. Chambers, _The Book of Days_ (London and Edinburgh, 1886), i.\n      421.\n\n M102 The new fire on Easter Saturday at Florence.\n\n  315 Miss Jessie L. Weston, \u201cThe _Scoppio del Carro_ at Florence,\u201d\n      _Folk-lore_, xvi. (1905) pp. 182-184; \u201cLo Scoppio del Carro,\u201d\n      _Resurrezione, Numero Unico del Sabato Santo_ (Florence, April,\n      1906), p. 1 (giving a picture of the car with its pyramid of\n      fire-works). The latter paper was kindly sent to me from Florence by\n      my friend Professor W. J. Lewis. I have also received a letter on\n      the subject from Signor Carlo Placci, dated 4 (or 7) September,\n      1905, 1 Via Alfieri, Firenze.\n\n M103 The new fire and the burning of Judas on Easter Saturday in Mexico.\n\n  316 Frederick Starr, \u201cHoly Week in Mexico,\u201d _The Journal of American\n      Folk-lore_, xii. (1899) pp. 164 _sq._; C. Boyson Taylor, \u201cEaster in\n      Many Lands,\u201d _Everybody\u2019s Magazine_, New York, 1903, p. 293. I have\n      to thank Mr. S. S. Cohen, of 1525 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, for\n      sending me a cutting from the latter magazine.\n\n M104 The burning of Judas at Easter in South America.\n\n  317 K. von den Steinen, _Unter den Naturv\u00f6lkern Zentral-Brasiliens_\n      (Berlin, 1894), pp. 458 _sq._; E. Montet, \u201cReligion et Superstition\n      dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique du Sud,\u201d _Revue de l\u2019Histoire des Religions_, xxxii.\n      (1895) p. 145.\n\n  318 J. J. von Tschudi, _Peru, Reiseskizzen aus den Jahren 1838-1842_\n      (St. Gallen, 1846), ii. 189 _sq._\n\n  319 H. Candelier, _Rio-Hacha et les Indiens Goajires_ (Paris, 1893), p.\n      85.\n\n M105 The new fire on Easter Saturday in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre\n      at Jerusalem.\n\n  320 Henry Maundrell, \u201cA Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter, A.D.\n      1697,\u201d in Bohn\u2019s _Early Travellers in Palestine_ (London, 1848), pp.\n      462-465; Mgr. Auvergne, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, x.\n      (1837) pp. 23 _sq._; A. P. Stanley, _Sinai and Palestine_, Second\n      Edition (London, 1856), pp. 460-465; E. Cortet, _Essai sur les F\u00eates\n      Religieuses_ (Paris, 1867), pp. 137-139; A. W. Kinglake, _Eothen_,\n      chapter xvi. pp. 158-163 (Temple Classics edition); Father X.\n      Abougit, S.J., \u201cLe feu du Saint-S\u00e9pulcre,\u201d _Les Missions\n      Catholiques_, viii. (1876) pp. 518 _sq._; Rev. C. T. Wilson,\n      _Peasant Life in the Holy Land_ (London, 1906), pp. 45 _sq._; P.\n      Saint-yves, \u201cLe Renouvellement du Feu Sacr\u00e9,\u201d _Revue des Traditions\n      Populaires_, xxvii. (1912) pp. 449 _sqq._ The distribution of the\n      new fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the subject of a\n      picture by Holman Hunt. From some printed notes on the picture, with\n      which Mrs. Holman Hunt was so kind as to furnish me, it appears that\n      the new fire is carried by horsemen to Bethlehem and Jaffa, and that\n      a Russian ship conveys it from Jaffa to Odessa, whence it is\n      distributed all over the country.\n\n  321 Father X. Abougit, S.J., \u201cLe feu du Saint-S\u00e9pulcre,\u201d _Les Missions\n      Catholiques_, viii. (1876) pp. 165-168.\n\n M106 The new fire and the burning of Judas on Easter Saturday in Greece.\n\n  322 I have described the ceremony as I witnessed it at Athens, on April\n      13th, 1890. Compare _Folk-lore_, i. (1890) p. 275. Having been\n      honoured, like other strangers, with a place on the platform, I did\n      not myself detect Lucifer at work among the multitude below; I\n      merely suspected his insidious presence.\n\n  323 W. H. D. Rouse, \u201cFolk-lore from the Southern Sporades,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      x. (1899) p. 178.\n\n  324 Mrs. A. E. Gardner was so kind as to send me a photograph of a\n      Theban Judas dangling from a gallows and partially enveloped in\n      smoke. The photograph was taken at Thebes during the Easter\n      celebration of 1891.\n\n  325 G. F. Abbott, _Macedonian Folk-lore_ (Cambridge, 1903) p. 37.\n\n M107 The new fire at Candlemas in Armenia.\n\n  326 Cirbied, \u201cM\u00e9moire sur le gouvernment et sur la religion des anciens\n      Arm\u00e9niens,\u201d _M\u00e9moires publi\u00e9es par la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Royaledes Antiquaires\n      de France_, ii. (1820) pp. 285-287; Manuk Abeghian, _Der armenische\n      Volksglaube_ (Leipsic, 1899), pp. 72-74. The ceremony is said to be\n      merely a continuation of an old heathen festival which was held at\n      the beginning of spring in honour of the fire-god Mihr. A bonfire\n      was made in a public place, and lamps kindled at it were kept\n      burning throughout the year in each of the fire-god\u2019s temples.\n\n M108 The new fire and the burning of Judas at Easter are probably relics\n      of paganism.\n\n_  327 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 32, ii. 243; _Spirits\n      of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 65, 74, 75, 78, 136.\n\n M109 The new fire at the summer solstice among the Incas of Peru. The new\n      fire among the Indians of Mexico and New Mexico. The new fire among\n      the Esquimaux.\n\n  328 Garcilasso de la Vega, _Royal Commentaries of the Yncas_, translated\n      by (Sir) Clements R. Markham (Hakluyt Society, London, 1869-1871),\n      vol. ii. pp. 155-163. Compare Juan de Velasco, \u201cHistoire du Royaume\n      de Quito,\u201d in H. Ternaux-Compans\u2019s _Voyages, Relations et M\u00e9moires\n      originaux pour servir \u00e0 l\u2019Histoire de la D\u00e9couverte de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique_,\n      xviii. (Paris, 1840) p. 140.\n\n  329 B. de Sahagun, _Histoire G\u00e9n\u00e9rale des Choses de la Nouvelle\n      Espagne_, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Simeon (Paris, 1880), bk.\n      ii. chapters 18 and 37, pp. 76, 161; Brasseur de Bourbourg,\n      _Histoire des Nations civilis\u00e9es du Mexique et de\n      l\u2019Am\u00e9rique-Centrale_ (Paris, 1857-1859), iii. 136.\n\n  330 Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson, \u201cThe Zu\u00f1i Indians,\u201d _Twenty-third\n      Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_ (Washington,\n      1904), pp. 108-141, 148-162, especially pp. 108, 109, 114 _sq._, 120\n      _sq._, 130 _sq._, 132, 148 _sq._, 157 _sq._ I have already described\n      these ceremonies in _Totemism and Exogamy_, iii. 237 _sq._ Among the\n      Hopi (Moqui) Indians of Walpi, another pueblo village of this\n      region, new fire is ceremonially kindled by friction in November.\n      See Jesse Walter Fewkes, \u201cThe Tusayan New Fire Ceremony,\u201d\n      _Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History_, xxvi.\n      422-458; _id._, \u201cThe Group of Tusayan Ceremonials called\n      _Katcinas_,\u201d _Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_\n      (Washington, 1897), p. 263; _id._, \u201cHopi _Katcinas_,\u201d _Twenty-first\n      Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_ (Washington,\n      1903), p. 24.\n\n  331 Henry R. Schoolcraft, _Notes on the Iroquois_ (Albany, 1847), p.\n      137. Schoolcraft did not know the date of the ceremony, but he\n      conjectured that it fell at the end of the Iroquois year, which was\n      a lunar year of twelve or thirteen months. He says: \u201cThat the close\n      of the lunar series should have been the period of putting out the\n      fire, and the beginning of the next, the time of relumination, from\n      new fire, is so consonant to analogy in the tropical tribes, as to\n      be probable\u201d (_op. cit._ p. 138).\n\n  332 C. F. Hall, _Life with the Esquimaux_ (London, 1864), ii. 323.\n\n  333 Franz Boas, \u201cThe Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay,\u201d _Bulletin of\n      the American Museum of Natural History_, xv. Part i. (New York,\n      1901) p. 151.\n\n M110 The new fire in Wadai, among the Swahili, and in other parts of\n      Africa.\n\n  334 G. Nachtigal, _Sah\u0103r\u00e2 und S\u00fbd\u00e2n_, iii. (Leipsic, 1889) p. 251.\n\n  335 Major C. Percival, \u201cTropical Africa, on the Border Line of Mohamedan\n      Civilization,\u201d _The Geographical Journal_, xlii. (1913) pp. 253\n      _sq._\n\n  336 Adrien Germain, \u201cNote sur Zanzibar et la c\u00f4te orientale de\n      l\u2019Afrique,\u201d _Bulletin de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de G\u00e9ographie_ (Paris), v. S\u00e9rie\n      xvi. (1868) p. 557; _Les Missions Catholiques_, iii. (1870) p. 270;\n      Charles New, _Life, Wanderings, and Labours in Eastern Africa_\n      (London, 1873), p. 65; Jerome Becker, _La Vie en Afrique_ (Paris and\n      Brussels, 1887), ii. 36; O. Baumann, _Usambara und seine\n      Nachbargebiete_ (Berlin, 1891), pp. 55 _sq._; C. Velten, _Sitten und\n      Gebr\u00e4uche der Suaheli_ (G\u00f6ttingen, 1903), pp. 342-344.\n\n  337 Duarte Barbosa, _Description of the Coasts of East Africa and\n      Malabar_ (Hakluyt Society, London, 1866), p. 8; _id._, in _Records\n      of South-Eastern Africa_, collected by G. McCall Theal, vol. i.\n      (1898) p. 96; Dami\u00e3o de Goes, \u201cChronicle of the Most Fortunate King\n      Dom Emanuel,\u201d in _Records of South-Eastern Africa_, collected by G.\n      McCall Theal, vol. iii. (1899) pp. 130 _sq._ The name Benametapa\n      (more correctly _monomotapa_) appears to have been the regular title\n      of the paramount chief, which the Portuguese took to be the name of\n      the country. The people over whom he ruled seem to have been the\n      Bantu tribe of the Makalanga in the neighbourhood of Sofala. See G.\n      McCall Theal, _Records of South-Eastern Africa_, vii. (1901) pp.\n      481-484. It is to their custom of annually extinguishing and\n      relighting the fire that Montaigne refers in his essay (i. 22, vol.\n      i. p. 140 of Charpentier\u2019s edition), though he mentions no names.\n\n  338 Sir H. H. Johnson, _British Central Africa_ (London, 1897), pp. 426,\n      439.\n\n M111 The new fire among the Todas of Southern India and among the Nagas\n      of North-Eastern India.\n\n  339 W. H. R. Rivers, _The Todas_ (London, 1906), pp. 290-292.\n\n  340 Lieut. R. Stewart, \u201cNotes on Northern Cachar,\u201d _Journal of the\n      Asiatic Society of Bengal_, xxiv. (1855) p. 612.\n\n  341 A. Bastian, _Die V\u00f6lker des \u00f6stlichen Asien_, ii. (Leipsic, 1866)\n      pp. 49 _sq._; Shway Yoe, _The Burman_ (London, 1882), ii. 325 _sq._\n\n M112 The new fire in China and Japan.\n\n  342 G. Schlegel, _Uranographie Chinoise_ (The Hague and Leyden, 1875),\n      pp. 139-143; C. Puini, \u201cIl fuoco nella tradizione degli antichi\n      Cinesi,\u201d _Giornale della Societ\u00e0 Asiatica Italiana_, i. (1887) pp.\n      20-23; J. J. M. de Groot, _Les F\u00eates annuellement c\u00e9l\u00e9br\u00e9es \u00e0 \u00c9moui\n      (Amoy)_ (Paris, 1886), i. 208 _sqq._ The notion that fire can be\n      worn out with age meets us also in Brahman ritual. See the\n      _Satapatha Brahmana_, translated by Julius Eggeling, Part i.\n      (Oxford, 1882) p. 230 (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. xii.).\n\n  343 W. G. Aston, _Shinto, The Way of the Gods_ (London, 1905), pp. 258\n      _sq._, compare p. 193. The wands in question are sticks whittled\n      near the top into a mass of adherent shavings; they go by the name\n      of _kedzurikake_ (\u201cpart-shaved\u201d), and resemble the sacred _inao_ of\n      the Aino. See W. G. Aston, _op. cit._ p. 191; and as to the _inao_,\n      see _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, ii. 185, with note 2.\n\n M113 The new fire in ancient Greece and Rome.\n\n  344 Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 82; Homer, _Iliad_, i. 590, _sqq._\n\n  345 Philostratus, _Heroica_, xx. 24.\n\n  346 Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 143 _sq._; Macrobius, _Saturn._ i. 12. 6.\n\n  347 Festus, ed. C. O. M\u00fcller (Leipsic, 1839), p. 106, _s.v._ \u201cIgnis.\u201d\n      Plutarch describes a method of rekindling the sacred fire by means\n      of the sun\u2019s rays reflected from a hollow mirror (_Numa_, 9); but he\n      seems to be referring to a Greek rather than to the Roman custom.\n      The rule of celibacy imposed on the Vestals, whose duty it was to\n      relight the sacred fire as well as to preserve it when it was once\n      made, is perhaps explained by a superstition current among French\n      peasants that if a girl can blow up a smouldering candle into a\n      flame she is a virgin, but that if she fails to do so, she is not.\n      See Jules Lec\u0153ur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Cond\u00e9-sur-Noireau,\n      1883-1887), ii. 27; B. Souch\u00e9, _Croyances, Pr\u00e9sages et Traditions\n      diverses_ (Niort, 1880), p. 12. At least it seems more likely that\n      the rule sprang from a superstition of this sort than from a simple\n      calculation of expediency, as I formerly suggested (_Journal of\n      Philology_, xiv. (1885) p. 158). Compare _The Magic Art and the\n      Evolution of Kings_, ii. 234 _sqq._\n\n M114 The new fire at Hallow E\u2019en among the old Celts of Ireland. The new\n      fire on September 1st among the Russian peasants.\n\n  348 Geoffrey Keating, D.D., _The History of Ireland, translated from the\n      original Gaelic, and copiously annotated_, by John O\u2019Mahony (New\n      York, 1857), p. 300, with the translator\u2019s note. Compare (Sir) John\n      Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_ (London, 1888), pp. 514 _sq._\n\n  349 W. R. S. Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, Second Edition\n      (London, 1872), pp. 254 _sq._\n\n M115 Thus the ceremony of the new fire in the Eastern and Western Church\n      is probably a relic of an old heathen rite.\n M116 The pagan character of the Easter fire appears from the\n      superstitions associated with it, such as the belief that the fire\n      fertilizes the fields and protects houses from conflagration and\n      sickness.\n\n  350 A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche_\n      (Leipsic, 1848), p. 373; A. Kuhn, _Sagen, Gebr\u00e4uche und M\u00e4rchen aus\n      Westfalen_ (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 134 _sqq._; _id._, _M\u00e4rkische Sagen\n      und M\u00e4rchen_ (Berlin, 1843), pp. 312 _sq._; J. D. H. Temme, _Die\n      Volkssagen der Altmark_ (Berlin, 1839), pp. 75 _sq._; K. Lynker,\n      _Deutsche Sagen und Sitten in hessischen Gauen_2 (Cassel and\n      G\u00f6ttingen, 1860), p. 240; H. Pr\u00f6hle, _Harzbilder_ (Leipsic, 1855),\n      p. 63; R. Andree, _Braunschweiger Volkskunde_ (Brunswick, 1896), pp.\n      240-242; W. Kolbe, _Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche_ (Marburg,\n      1888), pp. 44-47; F. A. Reimann, _Deutsche Volksfeste_ (Weimar,\n      1839), p. 37; \u201cSitten und Gebr\u00e4uche in Duderstadt,\u201d _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr\n      deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde_, ii. (1855) p. 107; K. Seifart,\n      _Sagen, M\u00e4rchen, Schw\u00e4nke und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Stadt und Stift\n      Hildesheim_2 (Hildesheim, 1889), pp. 177, 180; O. Hartung, \u201cZur\n      Volkskunde aus Anhalt,\u201d _Zeitschrift des Vereins f\u00fcr Volkskunde_,\n      vii. (1897) p. 76.\n\n M117 The Easter fires in M\u00fcnsterland, Oldenburg, the Harz Mountains, and\n      the Altmark.\n\n  351 L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_\n      (Oldenburg, 1867), ii. pp. 43 _sq._, \u00a7 313; W. Mannhardt, _Der\n      Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarst\u00e4mme_ (Berlin, 1875), pp.\n      505 _sq._\n\n  352 L. Strackerjan, _op. cit._ ii. p. 43, \u00a7 313.\n\n  353 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 (Berlin, 1875-1878), i. 512; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarst\u00e4mme_,\n      pp. 506 _sq._\n\n  354 H. Pr\u00f6hle, _Harzbilder_ (Leipsic, 1855), p. 63; _id._, in\n      _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde_, i. (1853) p.\n      79; A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und\n      Gebr\u00e4uche_ (Leipsic, 1848), p. 373; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_,\n      p. 507.\n\n  355 A. Kuhn, _M\u00e4rkische Sagen und M\u00e4rchen_ (Berlin, 1843), pp. 312\n      _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _l.c._\n\n  356 W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 508. Compare J. W. Wolf,\n      _Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie_ (G\u00f6ttingen, 1852-1857), i. 74;\n      J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 512. The two latter writers\n      only state that before the fires were kindled it was customary to\n      hunt squirrels in the woods.\n\n  357 A. Kuhn, _l.c._; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 508.\n\n M118 The Easter fires in Bavaria. The burning of Judas. Burning the\n      Easter Man.\n\n_  358 Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_ (Munich,\n      1860-1867), iii. 956.\n\n  359 See above, pp. 116 _sq._, 119.\n\n  360 F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_ (Munich, 1848-1855),\n      i. pp. 211 _sq._, \u00a7 233; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, pp. 507\n      _sq._\n\n_  361 Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_, iii. 357.\n\n  362 F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_ (Munich, 1848-1855),\n      i. pp. 212 _sq._, \u00a7 236.\n\n  363 F. Panzer, _op. cit._ ii. pp. 78 _sq._, \u00a7\u00a7 114, 115. The customs\n      observed at these places and at Althenneberg are described together\n      by W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 505.\n\n  364 A. Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus Schwaben_ (Freiburg im Breisgau,\n      1861-1862), ii. p. 82, \u00a7 106; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p.\n      508.\n\n M119 The Easter fires in Baden. \u201cThunder poles.\u201d\n\n  365 Elard Hugo Meyer, _Badisches Volksleben_ (Strasburg, 1900), pp. 97\n      _sq._\n\n_  366 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 349 _sqq._ See\n      further below, vol. ii. pp. 298 _sqq._\n\n M120 Easter fires in Holland and Sweden. The burning of Judas in Bohemia.\n\n  367 J. W. Wolf, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. 75 _sq._; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 506.\n\n  368 L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_ (London, 1870), p. 228.\n\n  369 W. M\u00fcller, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in M\u00e4hren_ (Vienna\n      and Olm\u00fctz, 1893), pp. 321, 397 _sq._ In Wagstadt, a town of\n      Austrian Silesia, a boy in a red waistcoat used to play the part of\n      Judas on the Wednesday before Good Friday. He was chased from before\n      the church door by the other school children, who pursued him\n      through the streets with shouts and the noise of rattles and\n      clappers till they reached a certain suburb, where they always\n      caught and beat him because he had betrayed the Redeemer. See Anton\n      Peter, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus \u00f6sterreichisch-Schlesien_ (Troppau,\n      1865-1867), ii. 282 _sq._; Paul Drechsler, _Sitte, Brauch und\n      Volksglaube in Schlesien_ (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 77 _sq._\n\n M121 The Beltane fires on the first of May in the Highlands of Scotland.\n      Description of the Beltane fires by John Ramsay of Ochtertyre in the\n      eighteenth century.\n M122 Need-fire.\n M123 Need-fire kindled by the friction of oak wood.\n M124 The Beltane cake and the Beltane carline (_cailleach_).\n M125 Local differences in the Beltane cakes.\n M126 Evidence of two fires at Beltane.\n\n_  370 Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century_, from the MSS. of\n      John Ramsay, Esq., of Ochtertyre, edited by Alexander Allardyce\n      (Edinburgh and London, 1888), ii. 439-445. As to the _tein-eigin_ or\n      need-fire, see below, pp. 269 _sqq._ The etymology of the word\n      Beltane is uncertain; the popular derivation of the first part from\n      the Phoenician Baal is absurd. See, for example, John Graham\n      Dalyell, _The Darker Superstitions of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1834),\n      pp. 176 _sq._: \u201cThe recognition of the pagan divinity Baal, or Bel,\n      the Sun, is discovered through innumerable etymological sources. In\n      the records of Scottish history, down to the sixteenth or\n      seventeenth centuries, multiplied prohibitions were issued from the\n      fountains of ecclesiastical ordinances, against kindling\n      _Bailfires_, of which the origin cannot be mistaken. The festival of\n      this divinity was commemorated in Scotland until the latest date.\u201d\n      Modern scholars are not agreed as to the derivation of the name\n      Beltane. See Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second\n      Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), pp.\n      268 _sq._; J. A. MacCulloch, _The Religion of the Ancient Celts_\n      (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 264.\n\n M127 Beltane fires and cakes in the parish of Callander.\n\n  371 \u201c_Bal-tein_ signifies the _fire of Baal_. _Baal_ or _Ball_ is the\n      only word in Gaelic for _a globe_. This festival was probably in\n      honour of the sun, whose return, in his apparent annual course, they\n      celebrated, on account of his having such a visible influence, by\n      his genial warmth, on the productions of the earth. That the\n      Caledonians paid a superstitious respect to the sun, as was the\n      practice among many other nations, is evident, not only by the\n      sacrifice at Baltein, but upon many other occasions. When a\n      Highlander goes to bathe, or to drink waters out of a consecrated\n      fountain, he must always approach by going round the place, _from\n      east to west on the south side_, in imitation of the apparent\n      diurnal motion of the sun. When the dead are laid in the earth, the\n      grave is approached by going round in the same manner. The bride is\n      conducted to her future spouse, in the presence of the minister, and\n      the glass goes round a company, in the course of the sun. This is\n      called, in Gaelic, going round the right, or the _lucky way_. The\n      opposite course is the wrong, or the _unlucky_ way. And if a\n      person\u2019s meat or drink were to affect the wind-pipe, or come against\n      his breath, they instantly cry out _deisheal!_ which is an\n      ejaculation praying that it may go by the right way\u201d (Rev. J.\n      Robertson, in Sir John Sinclair\u2019s _Statistical Account of Scotland_,\n      xi. 621 note). Compare J. G. Campbell, _Superstitions of the\n      Highlands and Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1900), pp. 229 _sq._:\n      \u201c_The Right-hand Turn_ (_Deiseal_).\u2014This was the most important of\n      all the observances. The rule is \u2018_Deiseal_ (_i.e._ the right-hand\n      turn) for everything,\u2019 and consists in doing all things with a\n      motion corresponding to the course of the sun, or from left to\n      right. This is the manner in which screw-nails are driven, and is\n      common with many for no reason but its convenience. Old men in the\n      Highlands were very particular about it. The coffin was taken\n      _deiseal_ about the grave, when about to be lowered; boats were\n      turned to sea according to it, and drams are given to the present\n      day to a company. When putting a straw rope on a house or\n      corn-stack, if the assistant went _tuaitheal_ (_i.e._ against the\n      course of the sun), the old man was ready to come down and thrash\n      him. On coming to a house the visitor should go round it _deiseal_\n      to secure luck in the object of his visit. After milking a cow the\n      dairy-maid should strike it _deiseal_ with the shackle, saying \u2018out\n      and home\u2019 (_mach \u2019us dachaigh_). This secures its safe return. The\n      word is from _deas_, right-hand, and _iul_, direction, and of itself\n      contains no allusion to the sun.\u201d Compare M. Martin, \u201cDescription of\n      the Western Islands of Scotland,\u201d in J. Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and\n      Travels_, iii. 612 _sq._: \u201cThere was an ancient custom in the island\n      of Lewis, to make a fiery circle about the houses, corn, cattle,\n      etc., belonging to each particular family: a man carried fire in his\n      right hand, and went round, and it was called _dessil_, from the\n      right hand, which in the ancient language is called _dess_.... There\n      is another way of the _dessil_, or carrying fire round about women\n      before they are churched, after child-bearing; and it is used\n      likewise about children until they are christened; both which are\n      performed in the morning and at night. This is only practised now by\n      some of the ancient midwives: I enquired their reason for this\n      custom, which I told them was altogether unlawful; this disobliged\n      them mightily, insomuch that they would give me no satisfaction. But\n      others, that were of a more agreeable temper, told me that\n      fire-round was an effectual means to preserve both the mother and\n      the infant from the power of evil spirits, who are ready at such\n      times to do mischief, and sometimes carry away the infant; and when\n      they get them once in their possession, return them poor meagre\n      skeletons; and these infants are said to have voracious appetites,\n      constantly craving for meat. In this case it was usual with those\n      who believed that their children were thus taken away, to dig a\n      grave in the fields upon quarter-day, and there to lay the fairy\n      skeleton till next morning; at which time the parents went to the\n      place, where they doubted not to find their own child instead of\n      this skeleton. Some of the poorer sort of people in these islands\n      retain the custom of performing these rounds sun-ways about the\n      persons of their benefactors three times, when they bless them, and\n      wish good success to all their enterprizes. Some are very careful\n      when they set out to sea that the boat be first rowed about\n      sun-ways; and if this be neglected, they are afraid their voyage may\n      prove unfortunate.\u201d Probably the superstition was based entirely on\n      the supposed luckiness of the right hand, which accordingly, in\n      making a circuit round an object, is kept towards the centre. As to\n      a supposed worship of the sun among the Scottish Highlanders,\n      compare J. G. Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the\n      Highlands and Islands of Scotland_, p. 304: \u201cBoth the sun (_a\n      Ghrian_) and moon (_a Ghealach_) are feminine in Gaelic, and the\n      names are simply descriptive of their appearance. There is no trace\n      of a Sun-God or Moon-Goddess.\u201d As to the etymology of Beltane, see\n      above, p. 149 note.\n\n  372 Rev. James Robertson (Parish Minister of Callander), in Sir John\n      Sinclair\u2019s _Statistical Account of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1791-1799),\n      xi. 620 _sq._\n\n M128 Pennant\u2019s description of the Beltane fires and cakes in Perthshire.\n\n  373 Pennant\u2019s \u201cTour in Scotland,\u201d in John Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and\n      Travels_ (London, 1808-1814), iii. 49.\n\n M129 Beltane cakes and fires in the parishes of Logierait and\n      Kirkmichael. Omens drawn from the cakes.\n\n  374 Rev. Dr. Thomas Bisset, in Sir John Sinclair\u2019s _Statistical Account\n      of Scotland_, v. 84.\n\n  375 Rev. Allan Stewart, in Sir John Sinclair\u2019s _Statistical Account of\n      Scotland_, xv. 517 note.\n\n  376 Rev. Walter Gregor, \u201cNotes on Beltane Cakes,\u201d _Folk-lore_, vi.\n      (1895) pp. 2 _sq._ The Beltane cakes with the nine knobs on them\n      remind us of the cakes with twelve knobs which the Athenians offered\n      to Cronus and other deities (see _The Scapegoat_, p. 351). The King\n      of the Bean on Twelfth Night was chosen by means of a cake, which\n      was broken in as many pieces as there were persons present, and the\n      person who received the piece containing a bean or a coin became\n      king. See J. Boemus, _Mores, leges et ritus omnium gentium_ (Lyons,\n      1541), p. 222; John Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_\n      (London, 1882-1883), i. 22 _sq._; _The Scapegoat_, pp. 313 _sqq._\n\n M130 Beltane fires in the north-east of Scotland to burn the witches.\n      Burning the witches. The Beltane cake.\n\n  377 Shaw, in Pennant\u2019s \u201cTour in Scotland,\u201d printed in J. Pinkerton\u2019s\n      _Voyages and Travels_, iii. 136. The part of Scotland to which\n      Shaw\u2019s description applies is what he calls the province or country\n      of Murray, extending from the river Spey on the east to the river\n      Beauly on the west, and south-west to Loch Lochy.\n\n  378 Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of\n      Scotland_ (London, 1881), p. 167.\n\n M131 Beltane cakes and fires in the Hebrides.\n\n  379 A. Goodrich-Freer, \u201cMore Folk-lore from the Hebrides,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      xiii. (1902) p. 41. The St. Michael\u2019s cake (_Str\u00f9than na h\u2019eill\n      Micheil_), referred to in the text, is described as \u201cthe size of a\n      quern\u201d in circumference. \u201cIt is kneaded simply with water, and\n      marked across like a scone, dividing it into four equal parts, and\n      then placed in front of the fire resting on a quern. It is not\n      polished with dry meal as is usual in making a cake, but when it is\n      cooked a thin coating of eggs (four in number), mixed with\n      buttermilk, is spread first on one side, then on the other, and it\n      is put before the fire again. An earlier shape, still in use, which\n      tradition associates with the female sex, is that of a triangle with\n      the corners cut off. A _str\u00f9than_ or _str\u00f9dhan_ (the word seems to\n      be used for no other kind of cake) is made for each member of the\n      household, including servants and herds. When harvest is late, an\n      early patch of corn is mown on purpose for the _str\u00f9than_\u201d (A.\n      Goodrich-Freer, _op. cit._ pp. 44 _sq._).\n\n M132 Beltane fires and cakes in Wales.\n\n  380 Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London,\n      1909), pp. 22-24.\n\n M133 Welsh belief that passage over or between the fires ensured good\n      crops.\n\n  381 Jonathan Ceredig Davies, _Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales_\n      (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 76.\n\n M134 Beltane fires in the Isle of Man to burn the witches. Beltane fires\n      in Nottinghamshire.\n\n  382 Joseph Train, _An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of\n      Man_ (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1845), i. 314 _sq._\n\n  383 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx_ (Oxford, 1901),\n      i. 309; _id._, \u201cThe Coligny Calendar,\u201d _Proceedings of the British\n      Academy, 1909-1910_, pp. 261 _sq._ See further _The Magic Art and\n      the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 53 _sq._\n\n  384 Professor Frank Granger, \u201cEarly Man,\u201d in _The Victoria History of\n      the County of Nottingham_, edited by William Page, i. (London, 1906)\n      pp. 186 _sq._\n\n M135 Beltane fires in Ireland.\n\n  385 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx_ (Oxford, 1901),\n      i. 310; _id._, \u201cManx Folk-lore and Superstitions,\u201d _Folk-lore_, ii.\n      (1891) pp. 303 _sq._\n\n  386 P. W. Joyce, _A Social History of Ancient Ireland_ (London, 1903),\n      i. 290 _sq._, referring to Kuno Meyer, _Hibernia Minora_, p. 49 and\n      _Glossary_, 23.\n\n  387 J. B. Bury, _The Life of St. Patrick_ (London, 1905), pp. 104 _sqq._\n\n  388 Above, p. 147.\n\n  389 Geoffrey Keating, D.D., _The History of Ireland_, translated by John\n      O\u2019Mahony (New York, 1857), pp. 300 _sq._\n\n  390 (Sir) John Rhys, \u201cManx Folk-lore and Superstition,\u201d _Folk-lore_, ii.\n      (1891) p. 303; _id._, _Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx_ (Oxford,\n      1901), i. 309. Compare P. W. Joyce, _A Social History of Ancient\n      Ireland_ (London, 1903), i. 291: \u201cThe custom of driving cattle\n      through fires against disease on the eve of the 1st of May, and on\n      the eve of the 24th June (St. John\u2019s Day), continued in Ireland, as\n      well as in the Scottish Highlands, to a period within living\n      memory.\u201d In a footnote Mr. Joyce refers to Carmichael, _Carmina\n      Gadelica_, ii. 340, for Scotland, and adds, \u201cI saw it done in\n      Ireland.\u201d\n\n M136 Fires on the Eve of May Day in Sweden. Fires on the Eve of May Day\n      in Austria and Saxony for the purpose of burning the witches.\n\n  391 L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_ (London, 1870), pp. 233 _sq._\n\n  392 Reinsberg - D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_ (Prague, N.D.),\n      pp. 211 _sq._; Br. Jel\u00ednek, \u201cMaterialien zur Vorgeschichte und\n      Volkskunde B\u00f6hmens,\u201d _Mittheilungen der anthropologischen\n      Gesellschaft in Wien_, xxi. (1891) p. 13; Alois John, _Sitte,\n      Brauch, und Volksglaube im deutschen Westb\u00f6hmen_ (Prague, 1905), p.\n      71.\n\n  393 J. A. E. K\u00f6hler, _Volksbrauch, Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte\n      Ueberlieferungen im Voigtlande_ (Leipsic, 1867), p. 373. The\n      superstitions relating to witches at this season are legion. For\n      instance, in Saxony and Thuringia any one who labours under a\n      physical blemish can easily rid himself of it by transferring it to\n      the witches on Walpurgis Night. He has only to go out to a\n      cross-road, make three crosses on the blemish, and say, \u201cIn the name\n      of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.\u201d Thus the blemish,\n      whatever it may be, is left behind him at the cross-road, and when\n      the witches sweep by on their way to the Brocken, they must take it\n      with them, and it sticks to them henceforth. Moreover, three crosses\n      chalked up on the doors of houses and cattle-stalls on Walpurgis\n      Night will effectually prevent any of the infernal crew from\n      entering and doing harm to man or beast. See E. Sommer, _Sagen,\n      M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Sachsen und Th\u00fcringen_ (Halle, 1846), pp.\n      148 _sq._; _Die gestriegelte Rockenphilosophie_ (Chemnitz, 1759), p.\n      116.\n\n  394 See _The Scapegoat_, pp. 158 _sqq._\n\n M137 The great season for fire-festivals in Europe is the summer\n      solstice, Midsummer Eve or Midsummer Day, which the church has\n      dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The bonfires, the torches, and\n      the burning wheels of the festival.\n\n  395 As to the Midsummer Festival of Europe in general see the evidence\n      collected in the \u201cSpecimen Calendarii Gentilis,\u201d appended to the\n      _Edda Rhythmica seu Antiquior, vulgo Saemundina dicta_, Pars iii.\n      (Copenhagen, 1828) pp. 1086-1097.\n\n  396 John Mitchell Kemble, _The Saxons in England_, New Edition (London,\n      1876), i. 361 _sq._, quoting \u201can ancient MS. written in England, and\n      now in the Harleian Collection, No. 2345, fol. 50.\u201d The passage is\n      quoted in part by J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_\n      (London, 1882-1883), i. 298 _sq._, by R. T. Hampson, _Medii Aevi\n      Kalendarium_ (London, 1841), i. 300, and by W. Mannhardt, _Der\n      Baumkultus_, p. 509. The same explanations of the Midsummer fires\n      and of the custom of trundling a burning wheel on Midsummer Eve are\n      given also by John Beleth, a writer of the twelfth century. See his\n      _Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_ (appended to the _Rationale\n      Divinorum Officiorum_ of G. [W.] Durandus, Lyons, 1584), p. 556\n      _recto_: \u201c_Solent porro hoc tempore_ [the Eve of St. John the\n      Baptist] _ex veteri consuetudine mortuorum animalium ossa comburi,\n      quod hujusmodi habet originem. Sunt enim animalia, quae dracones\n      appellamus.... Haec inquam animalia in aere volant, in aquis natant,\n      in terra ambulant. Sed quando in aere ad libidinem concitantur (quod\n      fere fit) saepe ipsum sperma vel in puteos, vel in aquas fluviales\n      ejiciunt ex quo lethalis sequitur annus. Adversus haec ergo\n      hujusmodi inventum est remedium, ut videlicet rogus ex ossibus\n      construeretur, et ita fumus hujusmodi animalia fugaret. Et quia\n      istud maxime hoc tempore fiebat, idemetiam modo ab omnibus\n      observatur.... Consuetum item est hac vigilia ardentes deferri\n      faculas quod Johannes fuerit ardens lucerna, et qui vias Domini\n      praeparaverit. Sed quod etiam rota vertatur hinc esse putant quia in\n      eum circulum tunc Sol descenderit ultra quem progredi nequit, a quo\n      cogitur paulatim descendere._\u201d The substance of the passage is\n      repeated in other words by G. Durandus (Wilh. Durantis), a writer of\n      the thirteenth century, in his _Rationale Divinorum Officiorum_,\n      lib. vii. cap. 14 (p. 442 _verso_, ed. Lyons, 1584). Compare J.\n      Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 516.\n\n      With the notion that the air is poisoned at midsummer we may compare\n      the popular belief that it is similarly infected at an eclipse. Thus\n      among the Esquimaux on the Lower Yukon river in Alaska \u201cit is\n      believed that a subtle essence or unclean influence descends to the\n      earth during an eclipse, and if any of it is caught in utensils of\n      any kind it will produce sickness. As a result, immediately on the\n      commencement of an eclipse, every woman turns bottom side up all her\n      pots, wooden buckets, and dishes\u201d (E. W. Nelson, \u201cThe Eskimo about\n      Bering Strait,\u201d _Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American\n      Ethnology_, Part i. (Washington, 1899) p. 431). Similar notions and\n      practices prevail among the peasantry of southern Germany. Thus the\n      Swabian peasants think that during an eclipse of the sun poison\n      falls on the earth; hence at such a time they will not sow, mow,\n      gather fruit or eat it, they bring the cattle into the stalls, and\n      refrain from business of every kind. If the eclipse lasts long, the\n      people get very anxious, set a burning candle on the mantel-shelf of\n      the stove, and pray to be delivered from the danger. See Anton\n      Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus Schwaben_ (Freiburg im Breisgau,\n      1861-1862), i. 189. Similarly Bavarian peasants imagine that water\n      is poisoned during a solar eclipse (F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur\n      deutschen Mythologie_, ii. 297); and Thuringian bumpkins cover up\n      the wells and bring the cattle home from pasture during an eclipse\n      either of the sun or of the moon; an eclipse is particularly\n      poisonous when it happens to fall on a Wednesday. See August\n      Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_ (Vienna,\n      1878), p. 287. As eclipses are commonly supposed by the ignorant to\n      be caused by a monster attacking the sun or moon (E. B. Tylor,\n      _Primitive Culture_,2 London, 1873, i. 328 _sqq._), we may surmise,\n      on the analogy of the explanation given of the Midsummer fires, that\n      the unclean influence which is thought to descend on the earth at\n      such times is popularly attributed to seed discharged by the monster\n      or possibly by the sun or moon then in conjunction with each other.\n\n M138 Th. Kirchmeyer\u2019s description of the Midsummer festival.\n\n_  397 The Popish Kingdome or reigne of Antichrist, written in Latin verse\n      by Thomas Naogeorgus and Englyshed by Barnabe Googe, 1570_, edited\n      by R. C. Hope (London, 1880), p. 54 _verso_. As to this work see\n      above, p. 125 note 1.\n\n M139 The Midsummer fires in Germany. The celebration at Konz on the\n      Moselle: the rolling of a burning wheel down hill.\n\n  398 J. Boemus, _Mores, leges et ritus omnium gentium_ (Lyons, 1541), pp.\n      225 _sq._\n\n  399 Tessier, \u201cSur la f\u00eate annuelle de la roue flamboyante de la\n      Saint-Jean, \u00e0 Basse-Kontz, arrondissement de Thionville,\u201d _M\u00e9moires\n      et dissertations publi\u00e9s par la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Royale des Antiquaires de\n      France_, v. (1823) pp. 379-393. Tessier witnessed the ceremony, 23rd\n      June 1822 (not 1823, as is sometimes stated). His account has been\n      reproduced more or less fully by J. Grimm (_Deutsche Mythologie_,4\n      i. 515 _sq._), W. Mannhardt (_Der Baumkultus_, pp. 510 _sq._), and\n      H. Gaidoz (\u201cLe dieu gaulois du Soleil et le symbolisme de la Roue,\u201d\n      _Revue Arch\u00e9ologique_, iii. S\u00e9rie, iv. (1884) pp. 24 _sq._).\n\n M140 The Midsummer fires in Bavaria. Cattle driven through the fire. The\n      new fire. Omens of the harvest drawn from the fires. Burning discs\n      thrown into the air.\n\n_  400 Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des K\u00f6nigreichs Bayern_ (Munich,\n      1860-1867), i. 373 _sq._; compare _id._, iii. 327 _sq._ As to the\n      burning discs at the spring festivals, see above, pp. 116 _sq._,\n      119, 143.\n\n_  401 Op. cit._ ii. 260 _sq._, iii. 936, 956, iv. 2. p. 360.\n\n_  402 Op. cit._ ii. 260.\n\n_  403 Op. cit._ iv. 1. p. 242. We have seen (p. 163) that in the\n      sixteenth century these customs and beliefs were common in Germany.\n      It is also a German superstition that a house which contains a brand\n      from the midsummer bonfire will not be struck by lightning (J. W.\n      Wolf, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. p. 217, \u00a7 185).\n\n  404 J. Boemus, _Mores, leges et ritus omnium gentium_ (Lyons, 1541), p.\n      226.\n\n M141 The Midsummer fires in Swabia. Omens drawn from the leaps over the\n      fires. Burning wheels rolled down hill. Burning the Angel-Man at\n      Rottenburg.\n\n  405 Karl Freiherr von Leoprechting, _Aus dem Lechrain_ (Munich, 1855),\n      pp. 181 _sqq._; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 510.\n\n  406 A. Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus Schwaben_ (Freiburg im Breisgau,\n      1861-1862), ii. pp. 96 _sqq._, \u00a7 128, pp. 103 _sq._, \u00a7 129; _id._,\n      _Aus Schwaben_ (Wiesbaden, 1874), ii. 116-120; E. Meier, _Deutsche\n      Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_ (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 423\n      _sqq._; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 510.\n\n  407 F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_ (Munich, 1848-1855),\n      i. pp. 215 _sq._, \u00a7 242; _id._, ii. 549.\n\n  408 A. Birlinger, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus Schwaben_ (Freiburg im Breisgau,\n      1861-1862), ii. 99-101.\n\n M142 The Midsummer fires in Baden. Omens drawn from leaps over the fires.\n      Burning discs thrown into the air. Midsummer fires in Alsace,\n      Lorraine, the Eifel, the Harz districts and Thuringia. Burning\n      barrel swung round a pole.\n\n  409 Elard Hugo Mayer, _Badisches Volksleben_ (Strasburg, 1900), pp. 103\n      _sq._, 225 _sq._\n\n  410 W. von Schulenberg, in _Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft f\u00fcr\n      Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, Jahrgang 1897_, pp. 494\n      _sq._ (bound up with _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Ethnologie_, xxix. 1897).\n\n  411 H. Gaidoz, \u201cLe dieu Gaulois du Soleil et le symbolisme de la Roue,\u201d\n      _Revue Arch\u00e9ologique_, iii. S\u00e9rie, iv. (1884) pp. 29 _sq._\n\n  412 Bruno Stehle, \u201cVolksglauben, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche in Lothringen,\u201d\n      _Globus_, lix. (1891) pp. 378 _sq._; \u201cDie Sommerwendfeier im St.\n      Amarinthale,\u201d _Der Urquell_, N.F., i. (1897) pp. 181 _sqq._\n\n  413 J. H. Schmitz, _Sitten und Sagen, Lieder, Spr\u00fcchw\u00f6rter und R\u00e4thsel\n      des Eifler Volkes_ (Treves, 1856-1858), i. 40 _sq._ According to one\n      writer, the garlands are composed of St. John\u2019s wort (Montanus, _Die\n      deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbr\u00e4uche und deutscher Volksglaube_,\n      Iserlohn, N.D., p. 33). As to the use of St. John\u2019s wort at\n      Midsummer, see below, vol. ii. pp. 54 _sqq._\n\n  414 A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche_\n      (Leipsic, 1848), p. 390.\n\n M143 Midsummer fires kindled by the friction of wood in Germany and\n      Switzerland. Driving away demons and witches.\n\n  415 Montanus, _Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbr\u00e4uche und deutscher\n      Volksglaube_ (Iserlohn, N.D.), pp. 33 _sq._\n\n  416 C. L. Rochholz, _Deutscher Glaube und Brauch_ (Berlin, 1867), ii.\n      144 _sqq._\n\n M144 Midsummer fires in Silesia. Scaring away the witches.\n\n  417 Philo vom Walde, _Schlesien in Sage und Brauch_ (Berlin, N.D.), p.\n      124; Paul Drechsler, _Sitte, Brauch, und Volksglaube in Schlesien_\n      (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 136 _sq._\n\n M145 The Midsummer fires in Denmark and Norway. Keeping off the witches.\n      The Midsummer fires in Sweden.\n\n  418 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 517 _sq._\n\n  419 From information supplied by Mr. Sigurd K. Heiberg, engineer, of\n      Bergen, Norway, who in his boyhood regularly collected fuel for the\n      fires. I have to thank Miss Anderson, of Barskimming, Mauchline,\n      Ayrshire, for kindly procuring the information for me from Mr.\n      Heiberg.\n\n      The Blocksberg, where German as well as Norwegian witches gather for\n      their great Sabbaths on the Eve of May Day (Walpurgis Night) and\n      Midsummer Eve, is commonly identified with the Brocken, the highest\n      peak of the Harz mountains. But in Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and\n      probably elsewhere, villages have their own local Blocksberg, which\n      is generally a hill or open place in the neighbourhood; a number of\n      places in Pomerania go by the name of the Blocksberg. See J. Grimm,\n      _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 878 _sq._; Ulrich Jahn, _Hexenwesen und\n      Zauberei in Pommern_ (Breslau, 1886), pp. 4 _sq._; _id._,\n      _Volkssagen aus Pommern und R\u00fcgen_ (Stettin, 1886), p. 329.\n\n  420 L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_ (London, 1870), pp. 259, 265.\n\n  421 L. Lloyd, _op. cit._ pp. 261 _sq._ These springs are called\n      \u201csacrificial fonts\u201d (_Offer k\u00e4llor_) and are \u201cso named because in\n      heathen times the limbs of the slaughtered victim, whether man or\n      beast, were here washed prior to immolation\u201d (L. Lloyd, _op. cit._\n      p. 261).\n\n M146 The Midsummer fires in Switzerland and Austria. Effigies burnt in\n      the fires. Burning wheels rolled down hill.\n\n  422 E. Hoffmann-Krayer, _Feste und Br\u00e4uche des Schweizervolkes_ (Zurich,\n      1913), p. 164.\n\n  423 Ignaz V. Zingerle, _Sitten, Br\u00e4uche und Meinungen des Tiroler\n      Volkes_2 (Innsbruck, 1871), ii. p. 159, \u00a7 1354.\n\n  424 I. V. Zingerle, _op. cit._ p. 159, \u00a7\u00a7 1353, 1355, 1356; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 513.\n\n  425 W. Mannhardt, _l.c._\n\n  426 F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_ (Munich, 1848-1855),\n      i. p. 210, \u00a7 231.\n\n  427 Theodor Vernaleken, _Mythen und Br\u00e4uche des Volkes in Oesterreich_\n      (Vienna, 1859), pp. 307 _sq._\n\n M147 Midsummer fires in Bohemia. Wreaths thrown across the fire. Uses\n      made of the singed wreaths. Burning wheels rolled down hill. Embers\n      of the fire stuck in fields, gardens, and houses as a talisman\n      against lightning and conflagration. Use of mugwort. Cattle\n      protected against witchcraft.\n\n  428 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 519; Theodor Vernaleken,\n      _Mythen und Br\u00e4uche des Volkes in Oesterreich_ (Vienna, 1859), p.\n      308; Joseph Virgil Grohmann, _Aberglauben und Gebr\u00e4uche aus B\u00f6hmen\n      und M\u00e4hren_ (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 80, \u00a7 636;\n      Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Fest-Kalender aus B\u00f6hmen_ (Prague, N.D.),\n      pp. 306-311; Br. Jel\u00ednek, \u201cMaterialien zur Vorgeschichte und\n      Volkskunde B\u00f6hmens,\u201d _Mittheilungen der anthropologischen\n      Gesellschaft in Wien_, xxi. (1891) p. 13; Alois John, _Sitte, Brauch\n      und Volksglaube im deutschen Westb\u00f6hmen_ (Prague, 1905), pp. 84-86.\n\n M148 The Midsummer fires in Moravia, Austrian Silesia, and the district\n      of Cracow. Fire kindled by the friction of wood.\n\n  429 Willibald M\u00fcller, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in M\u00e4hren_\n      (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), pp. 263-265.\n\n  430 Anton Peter, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus \u00d6sterreichisch-Schlesien_\n      (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 287.\n\n  431 Th. Vernaleken, _Mythen und Br\u00e4uche des Volkes in Oesterreich_\n      (Vienna, 1859), pp. 308 _sq._\n\n M149 The Midsummer fires among the Slavs of Russia. Cattle protected\n      against witchcraft. The fires lighted by the friction of wood.\n\n_  432 The Dying God_, p. 262. Compare M. Kowalewsky, in _Folk-lore_, i.\n      (1890) p. 467.\n\n  433 W. R. S. Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, Second Edition\n      (London, 1872), p. 240.\n\n  434 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 519; W. R. S. Ralston, _Songs\n      of the Russian People_ (London, 1872), pp. 240, 391.\n\n  435 W. R. S. Ralston, _op. cit._ p. 240.\n\n  436 W. R. S. Ralston, _l.c._\n\n M150 The Midsummer fires in Prussia and Lithuania thought to protect\n      against witchcraft, thunder, hail, and cattle disease. The fire\n      kindled by the friction of wood.\n\n  437 W. J. A. von Tettau und J. D. H. Temme, _Die Volkssagen\n      Ostpreussens, Litthauens und Westpreussens_ (Berlin, 1837), p. 277.\n\n  438 M. T\u00f6ppen, _Aberglauben aus Masuren_2 (Danzig, 1867), p. 71.\n\n  439 F. S. Krauss, \u201cAltslavische Feuergewinnung,\u201d _Globus_, lix. (1891)\n      p. 318.\n\n M151 The Midsummer fires among the Letts of Russia. Midsummer Day in\n      ancient Rome.\n\n  440 J. G. Kohl, Die _deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen_ (Dresden and\n      Leipsic, 1841), i. 178-180, ii. 24 _sq._ Ligho was an old heathen\n      deity, whose joyous festival used to fall in spring.\n\n  441 Ovid, _Fasti_, vi. 775 _sqq._\n\n M152 The Midsummer fires among the South Slavs.\n\n  442 Friederich S. Krauss, _Sitte und Brauch der S\u00fcdslaven_ (Vienna,\n      1885), pp. 176 _sq._\n\n  443 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 519.\n\n M153 The Midsummer fires among the Magyars of Hungary.\n\n  444 H. von Wlislocki, _Volksglaube und religi\u00f6ser Brauch der Magyar_\n      (M\u00fcnster i. W., 1893), pp. 40-44.\n\n  445 A. von Ipolyi, \u201cBeitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie aus Ungarn,\u201d\n      _Zeitschrift f\u00fcr deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde_, i. (1853) pp.\n      270 _sq._\n\n M154 The Midsummer fires among the Esthonians. The Midsummer fires in\n      Oesel.\n\n  446 J.G. Kohl, _Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen_, ii. 268 sq.; F.\n      J. Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren und \u00e4usseren Leben der Ehsten_ (St.\n      Petersburg, 1876), p. 362. The word which I have translated \u201cweeds\u201d\n      is in Esthonian _kaste-heinad_, in German _Thaugras_. Apparently it\n      is the name of a special kind of weed.\n\n  447 Fr. Kreutzwald und H. Neus, _Mythische und Magische Lieder der\n      Ehsten_ (St. Petersburg, 1854), p. 62.\n\n  448 J. B. Holzmayer, \u201cOsiliana,\u201d _Verhandlungen der gelehrten Estnischen\n      Gesellschaft zu Dorpat_, vii. (1872) pp. 62 _sq._ Wiedemann also\n      observes that the sports in which young couples engage in the woods\n      on this evening are not always decorous (_Aus dem inneren und\n      \u00e4usseren Leben der Ehsten_, p. 362).\n\n M155 The Midsummer fires among the Finns and Cheremiss of Russia.\n\n  449 J. G. Kohl, _Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen_, ii. 447 _sq._\n\n  450 J. G. Georgi, _Beschreibung aller Nationen des russischen Reichs_\n      (St. Petersburg, 1776), p. 36; August Freiherr von Haxthausen,\n      _Studien \u00fcber die innere Zust\u00e4nde das Volksleben und insbesondere\n      die l\u00e4ndlichen Einrichtungen Russlands_ (Hanover, 1847), i. 446\n      _sqq._\n\n M156 The Midsummer fires in France. Bossuet on the Midsummer festival.\n\n  451 Alfred de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de\n      France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 19.\n\n  452 It is notable that St. John is the only saint whose birthday the\n      Church celebrates with honours like those which she accords to the\n      nativity of Christ. Compare Edmond Doutt\u00e9, _Magie et Religion dans\n      l\u2019Afrique du Nord_ (Algiers, 1908), p. 571 note 1.\n\n  453 Bossuet, _\u0152uvres_ (Versailles, 1815-1819), vi. 276 (\u201cCat\u00e9chisme du\n      dioc\u00e8se de Meaux\u201d). His description of the superstitions is, in his\n      own words, as follows: \u201c_Danser \u00e0 l\u2019entour du feu, jouer, faire des\n      festins, chanter des chansons deshonn\u00eates, jeter des herbes\n      par-dessus le feu, en cueillir avant midi ou \u00e0 jeun, en porter sur\n      soi, les conserver le long de l\u2019ann\u00e9e, garder des tisons ou des\n      charbons du feu, et autres semblables._\u201d This and other evidence of\n      the custom of kindling Midsummer bonfires in France is cited by Ch.\n      Cuissard in his tract _Les Feux de la Saint-Jean_ (Orleans, 1884).\n\n  454 Ch. Cuissard, _Les Feux de la Saint-Jean_ (Orleans, 1884), pp. 40\n      _sq._\n\n M157 The Midsummer fires in Brittany. Uses made of the charred sticks and\n      flowers.\n\n  455 A. Le Braz, _La L\u00e9gende de la Mort en Basse-Bretagne_ (Paris, 1893),\n      p. 279. For an explanation of the custom of throwing a pebble into\n      the fire, see below, p. 240.\n\n  456 M. Quellien, quoted by Alexandre Bertrand, _La Religion des Gaulois_\n      (Paris, 1897), pp. 116 _sq._\n\n  457 Collin de Plancy, _Dictionnaire Infernal_ (Paris, 1825-1826), iii.\n      40; J. W. Wolf, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie_ (G\u00f6ttingen,\n      1852-1857), i. p. 217, \u00a7 185; A. Breuil, \u201cDu Culte de St. Jean\n      Baptiste,\u201d _M\u00e9moires de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Antiquaires de Picardie_,\n      viii. (Amiens, 1845) pp. 189 _sq._\n\n  458 Eug\u00e8ne Cortet, _Essai sur les F\u00eates Religieuses_ (Paris, 1867), p.\n      216; Ch. Cuissard, _Les Feux de la Saint-Jean_ (Orleans, 1884), p.\n      24.\n\n  459 Paul S\u00e9billot, _Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne_ (Paris,\n      1886), pp. 192-195. In Upper Brittany these bonfires are called\n      _rieux_ or _raviers_.\n\n  460 A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France_\n      (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 219; E. Cortet, _Essai sur les F\u00eates\n      Religieuses_, p. 216.\n\n  461 A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de\n      France_, pp. 219, 228, 231; E. Cortet, _op. cit._ pp. 215 _sq._\n\n M158 The Midsummer fires in Normandy. The fires as a protection against\n      witchcraft. The Brotherhood of the Green Wolf at Jumi\u00e8ges. Pretence\n      of throwing the Green Wolf into the fire.\n\n  462 J. Lec\u0153ur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Cond\u00e9-sur-Noireau,\n      1883-1887), ii. 219-224.\n\n  463 This description is quoted by Madame Cl\u00e9ment (_Histoire des f\u00eates\n      civiles et religieuses_, etc., _de la Belgique M\u00e9ridionale_,\n      Avesnes, 1846, pp. 394-396); F. Liebrecht (_Des Gervasius von\n      Tilbury Otia Imperialia_, Hanover, 1856, pp. 209 _sq._); and W.\n      Mannhardt (_Antike Wald und Feldkulte_, Berlin, 1877, pp. 323\n      _sqq._) from the _Magazin pittoresque_, Paris, viii. (1840) pp. 287\n      _sqq._ A slightly condensed account is given, from the same source,\n      by E. Cortet (_Essai sur les F\u00eates Religieuses_, pp. 221 _sq._).\n\n M159 The Midsummer fires in Picardy.\n\n  464 Bazin, quoted by Breuil, in _M\u00e9moires de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 d\u2019Antiquaires de\n      Picardie_, viii. (1845) p. 191 note.\n\n  465 Correspondents quoted by A. Bertrand, _La Religion des Gaulois_\n      (Paris, 1897), pp. 118, 406.\n\n  466 Correspondent quoted by A. Bertrand, _op. cit._ p. 407.\n\n M160 The Midsummer fires in Beauce and Perche. The fires as a protection\n      against witchcraft.\n\n  467 Felix Chapiseau, _Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche_ (Paris,\n      1902), i. 318-320. In Perche the midsummer bonfires were called\n      _marolles_. As to the custom formerly observed at Bullou, near\n      Chateaudun, see a correspondent quoted by A. Bertrand, _La Religion\n      des Gaulois_ (Paris, 1897), p. 117.\n\n M161 The Midsummer fires in the Ardennes, the Vosges, and the Jura. The\n      Midsummer fires in Franche-Comt\u00e9. The Midsummer fires in Berry and\n      other parts of Central France.\n\n  468 Albert Meyrac, _Traditions, Coutumes, L\u00e9gendes, et Contes des\n      Ardennes_ (Charleville, 1890), pp. 88 _sq._\n\n  469 L. F. Sauv\u00e9, _Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), p. 186.\n\n  470 D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Monnier, _Traditions populaires compar\u00e9es_ (Paris, 1854), pp.\n      207 sqq.; E. Cortet, _Essai sur les F\u00eates Religieuses_, pp. 217\n      _sq._\n\n  471 B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, _R\u00e9miniscences populaires de la Provence_ (Paris,\n      1885), p. 142.\n\n  472 Charles Beauquier, _Les Mois en Franche-Comt\u00e9_ (Paris, 1900), p. 89.\n      The names of the bonfires vary with the place; among them are\n      _failles_, _bourdifailles_, _b\u00e2s_ or _baux_, _feul\u00e8res_ or\n      _foli\u00e8res_, and _chavannes_.\n\n_  473 La Bresse Louhannaise_, Juin, 1906, p. 207.\n\n  474 Laisnel de la Salle, _Croyances et L\u00e9gendes du Centre de la France_\n      (Paris, 1875), i. 78 _sqq._ The writer adopts the absurd derivation\n      of _j\u00f4n\u00e9e_ from Janus. Needless to say that our old friend Baal,\n      Bel, or Belus figures prominently in this and many other accounts of\n      the European fire-festivals.\n\n  475 A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France_\n      (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 150.\n\n  476 Correspondent, quoted by A. Bertrand, _La Religion des Gaulois_\n      (Paris, 1897), p. 408.\n\n M162 The Midsummer fires in Poitou.\n\n  477 Guerry, \u201cSur les usages et traditions du Poitou,\u201d _M\u00e9moires et\n      dissertations publi\u00e9s par la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Royale des Antiquaires de\n      France_, viii. (1829) pp. 451 _sq._\n\n  478 Breuil, in _M\u00e9moires de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Antiquaires de Picardie_,\n      viii. (1845) p. 206; E. Cortet, _Essai sur les F\u00eates Religieuses_,\n      p. 216; Laisnel de la Salle, _Croyances et L\u00e9gendes du Centre de la\n      France_, i. 83; J. Lec\u0153ur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_, ii. 225.\n\n  479 H. Gaidoz, \u201cLe dieu gaulois du soleil et le symbolisme de la roue,\u201d\n      _Revue Arch\u00e9ologique_, iii. S\u00e9rie, iv. (1884) p. 26, note 3.\n\n  480 L. Pineau, _Le Folk-lore du Poitou_ (Paris, 1892), pp. 499 _sq._ In\n      P\u00e9rigord the ashes of the midsummer bonfire are searched for the\n      hair of the Virgin (E. Cortet, _Essai sur les F\u00eates Religieuses_, p.\n      219).\n\n M163 The Midsummer fires in the departments of Vienne and Deux-S\u00e8vres and\n      in the provinces of Saintonge and Aunis.\n\n  481 A. de Nore, _Coutumes Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France_,\n      pp. 149 _sq._; E. Cortet, _op. cit._ pp. 218 _sq._\n\n  482 Dupin, \u201cNotice sur quelques f\u00eates et divertissemens populaires du\n      d\u00e9partement des Deux-S\u00e8vres,\u201d _M\u00e9moires et Dissertations publi\u00e9s par\n      la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Royale des Antiquaires de France_, iv. (1823) p. 110.\n\n  483 J. L. M. Nogu\u00e8s, _Les m\u0153urs d\u2019autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis_\n      (Saintes, 1891), pp. 72, 178 _sq._\n\n M164 The Midsummer fires in Southern France. Midsummer festival of fire\n      and water in Provence. Bathing in the sea at Midsummer. Temporary\n      Midsummer kings at Aix and Marseilles.\n\n  484 H. Gaidoz, \u201cLe dieu soleil et le symbolisme de la roue,\u201d _Revue\n      Arch\u00e9ologique_, iii. S\u00e9rie, iv. (1884) p. 30.\n\n  485 Ch. Cuissard, _Les Feux de la Saint-Jean_ (Orleans, 1884), pp. 22\n      _sq._\n\n  486 A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de\n      France_, p. 127.\n\n  487 Aubin-Louis Millin, _Voyage dans les D\u00e9partemens du Midi de la\n      France_ (Paris, 1807-1811), iii. 341 _sq._\n\n  488 Aubin-Louis Millin, _op. cit._ iii. 28.\n\n  489 A. de Nore, _op. cit._ pp. 19 _sq._; B\u00e9renger-F\u00e9raud, _Reminiscences\n      populaires de la Provence_ (Paris, 1885), pp. 135-141. As to the\n      custom at Toulon, see Poncy, quoted by Breuil, _M\u00e9moires de la\n      Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Antiquaires de Picardie_, viii. (1845) p. 190 note. The\n      custom of drenching people on this occasion with water used to\n      prevail in Toulon, as well as in Marseilles and other towns in the\n      south of France. The water was squirted from syringes, poured on the\n      heads of passers-by from windows, and so on. See Breuil, _op. cit._\n      pp. 237 _sq._\n\n  490 A. de Nore, _op. cit._ pp. 20 _sq._; E. Cortet, _op. cit._ pp. 218,\n      219 _sq._\n\n M165 The Midsummer fires in Belgium. Bonfires on St. Peter\u2019s Day in\n      Brabant. The King and Queen of the Roses. Effigies burnt in the\n      Midsummer fires.\n\n  491 Le Baron de Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Calendrier Belge_ (Brussels,\n      1861-1862), i. 416 _sq._, 439.\n\n  492 Le Baron de Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _op. cit._ i. 439-442.\n\n  493 Madame Cl\u00e9ment, _Histoire des f\u00eates civiles et religieuses_, etc.,\n      _du D\u00e9partement du Nord_ (Cambrai, 1836), p. 364; J. W. Wolf,\n      _Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie_ (G\u00f6ttingen, 1852-1857), ii. 392;\n      W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 513.\n\n  494 E. Monseur, _Folklore Wallon_ (Brussels, N.D.), p. 130, \u00a7\u00a7 1783,\n      1786, 1787.\n\n M166 The Midsummer fires in England. Stow\u2019s description of the Midsummer\n      fires in London. The Midsummer fires at Eton.\n\n  495 Joseph Strutt, _The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England_,\n      New Edition, by W. Hone (London, 1834), p. 359.\n\n  496 John Stow, _A Survay of London_, edited by Henry Morley (London,\n      N.D.), pp. 126 _sq._ Stow\u2019s _Survay_ was written in 1598.\n\n  497 John Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,\n      1882-1883), i. 338; T. F. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_\n      (London, 1876), p. 331. Both writers refer to _Status Scholae\n      Etonensis_ (A.D. 1560).\n\n  498 John Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme_ (London, 1881),\n      p. 26.\n\n M167 The Midsummer fires in the north of England. The Midsummer fires in\n      Northumberland. The Midsummer fires at Whalton in Northumberland.\n\n  499 J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,\n      1882-1883), i. 300 _sq._, 318, compare pp. 305, 306, 308 _sq._; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus_, p. 512. Compare W. Hutchinson, _View of\n      Northumberland_, vol. ii. (Newcastle, 1778), Appendix, p. (15),\n      under the head \u201cMidsummer\u201d:\u2014\u201cIt is usual to raise fires on the tops\n      of high hills and in the villages, and sport and danse around them;\n      this is of very remote antiquity, and the first cause lost in the\n      distance of time.\u201d\n\n  500 Dr. Lyttelton, Bishop of Carlisle, quoted by William Borlase,\n      _Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall_\n      (London, 1769), p. 135 note.\n\n_  501 County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M. C.\n      Balfour (London, 1904), p. 76, quoting E. Mackenzie, _An Historical,\n      Topographical, and Descriptive View of the County of\n      Northumberland_, Second Edition (Newcastle, 1825), i. 217.\n\n_  502 County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M. C.\n      Balfour, p. 75.\n\n_  503 County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M. C.\n      Balfour, p. 75.\n\n_  504 The Denham Tracts_, edited by J. Hardy (London, 1892-1895), ii. 342\n      _sq._, quoting _Arch\u00e6ologia Aeliana_, N.S., viii. 73, and the\n      _Proceedings_ of the Berwickshire Naturalists\u2019 Club, vi. 242 _sq._;\n      _County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M. C.\n      Balfour (London, 1904), pp. 75 _sq._ Whalton is a village of\n      Northumberland, not far from Morpeth.\n\n_  505 County Folk-lore_, vol. vi. _East Riding of Yorkshire_, collected\n      and edited by Mrs. Gutch (London, 1912), p. 102.\n\n M168 The Midsummer fires in Herefordshire, Somersetshire, Devonshire, and\n      Cornwall. The Cornish fires on Midsummer Eve and St. Peter\u2019s Eve.\n\n  506 John Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme_ (London, 1881),\n      p. 96, compare _id._, p. 26.\n\n  507 J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,\n      1882-1883), i. 311.\n\n  508 William Borlase, LL.D., _Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of\n      the County of Cornwall_ (London, 1769), pp. 135 _sq._ The Eve of St.\n      Peter is June 28th. Bonfires have been lit elsewhere on the Eve or\n      the day of St. Peter. See above, pp. 194 _sq._, 196 _sq._, and\n      below, pp. 199 _sq._, 202, 207.\n\n  509 J. Brand, _op. cit._ i. 318, 319; T. F. Thiselton Dyer, _British\n      Popular Customs_ (London, 1876), p. 315.\n\n  510 William Bottrell, _Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West\n      Cornwall_ (Penzance, 1870), pp. 8 _sq._, 55 _sq._; James Napier,\n      _Folk-lore, or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland_\n      (Paisley, 1879), p. 173.\n\n  511 Richard Edmonds, _The Land\u2019s End District_ (London, 1862), pp. 66\n      _sq._; Robert Hunt, _Popular Romances of the West of England_, Third\n      Edition (London, 1881), pp. 207 _sq._\n\n M169 The Midsummer fires in Wales and the Isle of Man. Burning wheel\n      rolled down hill.\n\n  512 Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London,\n      1909), pp. 27 _sq._ Compare Jonathan Ceredig Davies, _Folk-lore of\n      West and Mid-Wales_ (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 76.\n\n  513 J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,\n      1882-1883), i. 318.\n\n  514 Joseph Train, _Account of the Isle of Man_ (Douglas, Isle of Man,\n      1845), ii. 120.\n\n M170 The Midsummer fires in Ireland. Passage of people and cattle through\n      the fires. Cattle driven through the fire; ashes used to fertilize\n      the fields. The White Horse at the Midsummer fire.\n\n  515 Sir Henry Piers, _Description of the County of Westmeath_, written\n      in 1682, published by (General) Charles Vallancey, _Collectanea de\n      Rebus Hibernicis_, i. (Dublin, 1786) pp. 123 _sq._\n\n  516 J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,\n      1882-1883), i. 303, quoting the author of the _Survey of the South\n      of Ireland_, p. 232.\n\n  517 J. Brand, _op. cit._ i. 305, quoting the author of the _Comical\n      Pilgrim\u2019s Pilgrimage into Ireland_ (1723), p. 92.\n\n_  518 The Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_, vol. lxv. (London, 1795) pp. 124 _sq._\n      The writer dates the festival on June 21st, which is probably a\n      mistake.\n\n  519 T. F. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_ (London, 1876), pp.\n      321 _sq._, quoting the _Liverpool Mercury_ of June 29th, 1867.\n\n  520 L. L. Duncan, \u201cFurther Notes from County Leitrim,\u201d _Folk-lore_, v.\n      (1894) p. 193.\n\n  521 A. C. Haddon, \u201cA Batch of Irish Folk-lore,\u201d _Folk-lore_, iv. (1893)\n      pp. 351, 359.\n\n  522 G. H. Kinahan, \u201cNotes on Irish Folk-lore,\u201d _Folk-lore Record_, iv.\n      (1881) p. 97.\n\n  523 Charlotte Elizabeth, _Personal Recollections_, quoted by Rev.\n      Alexander Hislop, _The Two Babylons_ (Edinburgh, 1853), p. 53.\n\n M171 Lady Wilde\u2019s account of the Midsummer fires in Ireland.\n\n  524 Lady Wilde, _Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of\n      Ireland_, (London, 1887), i. 214 _sq._\n\n M172 Holy wells resorted to on Midsummer Eve in Ireland.\n\n  525 T. F. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_ (London, 1876), pp.\n      322 _sq._, quoting the _Hibernian Magazine_, July 1817. As to the\n      worship of wells in ancient Ireland, see P. W. Joyce, _A Social\n      History of Ancient Ireland_ (London, 1903), i. 288 _sq._, 366 _sqq._\n\n M173 The Midsummer fires in Scotland. Fires on St. Peter\u2019s Day (the\n      twenty-ninth of June).\n\n  526 Rev. A. Johnstone, describing the parish of Monquhitter in\n      Perthshire, in Sir John Sinclair\u2019s _Statistical Account of Scotland_\n      (Edinburgh, 1791-1799), xxi. 145. Mr. W. Warde Fowler writes that in\n      Scotland \u201cbefore the bonfires were kindled on midsummer eve, the\n      houses were decorated with foliage brought from the woods\u201d (_Roman\n      Festivals of the Period of the Republic_, London, 1899, pp. 80\n      _sq._). For his authority he refers to _Chambers\u2019 Journal_, July,\n      1842.\n\n  527 John Ramsay, of Ochtertyre, _Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth\n      Century_, edited by A. Allardyce (Edinburgh, 1888), ii. 436.\n\n  528 Rev. Mr. Shaw, Minister of Elgin, in Pennant\u2019s \u201cTour in Scotland,\u201d\n      printed in John Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_ (London,\n      1808-1814), iii. 136.\n\n  529 A. Macdonald, \u201cMidsummer Bonfires,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xv. (1904) pp. 105\n      _sq._\n\n  530 From notes kindly furnished to me by the Rev. J. C. Higgins, parish\n      minister of Tarbolton. Mr. Higgins adds that he knows of no\n      superstition connected with the fire, and no tradition of its\n      origin. I visited the scene of the bonfire in 1898, but, as\n      Pausanias says (viii. 41. 6) in similar circumstances, \u201cI did not\n      happen to arrive at the season of the festival.\u201d Indeed the snow was\n      falling thick as I trudged to the village through the beautiful\n      woods of \u201cthe Castle o\u2019 Montgomery\u201d immortalized by Burns. From a\n      notice in _The Scotsman_ of 26th June, 1906 (p. 8) it appears that\n      the old custom was observed as usual that year.\n\n  531 Thomas Moresinus, _Papatus seu Depravatae Religionis Origo et\n      Incrementum_ (Edinburgh, 1594), p. 56.\n\n  532 Rev. Dr. George Lawrie, in Sir John Sinclair\u2019s _Statistical Account\n      of Scotland_, iii. (Edinburgh, 1792) p. 105.\n\n M174 The Midsummer fires in Spain and the Azores. Divination on Midsummer\n      Eve in the Azores. The Midsummer fires in Corsica and Sardinia.\n\n  533 Letter from Dr. Otero Acevado of Madrid, published in _Le Temps_,\n      September 1898. An extract from the newspaper was sent me, but\n      without mention of the day of the month when it appeared. The fires\n      on St. John\u2019s Eve in Spain are mentioned also by J. Brand, _Popular\n      Antiquities of Great Britain_, i. 317. Jacob Grimm inferred the\n      custom from a passage in a romance (_Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 518).\n      The custom of washing or bathing on the morning of St. John\u2019s Day is\n      mentioned by the Spanish historian Diego Duran, _Historia de las\n      Indias de Nueva Espa\u00f1a_, edited by J. F. Ramirez (Mexico,\n      1867-1880), vol. ii. p. 293. To roll in the dew on the morning of\n      St. John\u2019s Day is a cure for diseases of the skin in Normandy,\n      P\u00e9rigord, and the Abruzzi, as well as in Spain. See J. Lec\u0153ur,\n      _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_, ii. 8; A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes\n      et Traditions des Provinces de France_, p. 150; Gennaro Finamore,\n      _Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_ (Palermo, 1890), p. 157.\n\n  534 M. Longworth Dames and Mrs. E. Seemann, \u201cFolklore of the Azores,\u201d\n      _Folk-lore_, xiv. (1903) pp. 142 _sq._; Theophilo Braga, _O Povo\n      Portuguez nos seus Costumes, Cren\u00e7as e Tradi\u00e7oes_ (Lisbon, 1885),\n      ii. 304 _sq._, 307 _sq._\n\n  535 See below, pp. 234 _sqq._\n\n  536 Angelo de Gubernatis, _Mythologie des Plantes_ (Paris, 1878-1882),\n      i. 185 note 1.\n\n_  537 Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 202 _sq._\n\n M175 The Midsummer fires in the Abruzzi. Bathing on Midsummer Eve in the\n      Abruzzi. The Midsummer fires in Sicily. The witches at Midsummer.\n\n  538 G. Finamore, _Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_ (Palermo, 1890),\n      pp. 154 _sq._\n\n  539 G. Finamore, _Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_, pp. 158-160. We\n      may compare the Proven\u00e7al and Spanish customs of bathing and\n      splashing water at midsummer. See above, pp. 193 _sq._, 208.\n\n  540 Giuseppe Pitr\u00e8, _Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane_ (Palermo,\n      1881), pp. 246, 308 _sq._; _id._, _Usi e Costumi, Credenze e\n      Pregiudizi del Popolo Siciliano_ (Palermo, 1889), pp. 146 _sq._\n\n  541 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 518.\n\n M176 The Midsummer fires in Malta.\n\n  542 V. Busuttil, _Holiday Customs in Malta, and Sports, Usages,\n      Ceremonies, Omens, and Superstitions of the Maltese People_ (Malta,\n      1894), pp. 56 _sqq._ The extract was kindly sent to me by Mr. H. W.\n      Underwood (letter dated 14th November, 1902, Birbeck Bank Chambers,\n      Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.). See _Folk-lore_, xiv.\n      (1903) pp. 77 _sq._\n\n M177 The Midsummer fires in Greece. The Midsummer fires in Macedonia and\n      Albania.\n\n  543 W. R. Paton, in _Folk-lore_, ii. (1891) p. 128. The custom was\n      reported to me when I was in Greece in 1890 (_Folk-lore_, i. (1890)\n      p. 520).\n\n  544 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 519.\n\n  545 G. Georgeakis et L. Pineau, _Le Folk-lore de Lesbos_ (Paris, 1894),\n      pp. 308 _sq._\n\n  546 W. R. Paton, in _Folk-lore_, vi. (1895) p. 94. From the stones cast\n      into the fire omens may perhaps be drawn, as in Scotland, Wales, and\n      probably Brittany. See above, p. 183, and below, pp. 230 _sq._, 239,\n      240.\n\n  547 W. H. D. Rouse, \u201cFolklore from the Southern Sporades,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      x. (1899) p. 179.\n\n  548 Lucy M. J. Garnett, _The Women of Turkey and their Folk-lore, the\n      Christian Women_ (London, 1890), p. 122; G. F. Abbott, _Macedonian\n      Folk-lore_ (Cambridge, 1903), p. 57.\n\n  549 J. G. von Hahn, _Albanesische Studien_ (Jena, 1854), i. 156.\n\n M178 The Midsummer fires in America.\n\n  550 K. von den Steinen, _Unter den Natur-V\u00f6lkern Zentral-Brasiliens_\n      (Berlin, 1894), p. 561.\n\n  551 Alcide d\u2019Orbigny, _Voyage dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique M\u00e9ridionale_, ii. (Paris\n      and Strasbourg, 1839-1843), p. 420; D. Forbes, \u201cOn the Aymara\n      Indians of Bolivia and Peru,\u201d _Journal of the Ethnological Society\n      of London_, ii. (1870) p. 235.\n\n M179 The Midsummer fires among the Mohammedans of Morocco and Algeria.\n\n  552 Edmond Doutt\u00e9, _Magie et Religion dans l\u2019Afrique du Nord_ (Algiers,\n      1908), pp. 566 _sq._ For an older but briefer notice of the\n      Midsummer fires in North Africa, see Giuseppe Ferraro,\n      _Superstizioni, Usi e Proverbi Monferrini_ (Palermo, 1886), pp. 34\n      _sq._: \u201cAlso in Algeria, among the Mussalmans, and in Morocco, as\n      Alvise da Cadamosto reports in his _Relazione dei viaggi d\u2019Africa_,\n      which may be read in Ramusio, people used to hold great festivities\n      on St. John\u2019s Night; they kindled everywhere huge fires of straw\n      (the _Palilia_ of the Romans), in which they threw incense and\n      perfumes the whole night long in order to invoke the divine blessing\n      on the fruit-trees.\u201d See also Budgett Meakin, _The Moors_ (London,\n      1902), p. 394: \u201cThe Berber festivals are mainly those of Islam,\n      though a few traces of their predecessors are observable. Of these\n      the most noteworthy is Midsummer or St. John\u2019s Day, still celebrated\n      in a special manner, and styled _El \u2019An\u1e63arah_. In the R\u00eef it is\n      celebrated by the lighting of bonfires only, but in other parts\n      there is a special dish prepared of wheat, raisins, etc., resembling\n      the frumenty consumed at the New Year. It is worthy of remark that\n      the Old Style Gregorian calendar is maintained among them, with\n      corruptions of Latin names.\u201d\n\n  553 Edward Westermarck, \u201cMidsummer Customs in Morocco,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      xvi. (1905) pp. 28-30; _id._, _Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with\n      Agriculture, Certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather_\n      (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 79-83.\n\n M180 Beneficial effect ascribed to the smoke of the fires. Ill luck\n      supposed to be burnt in the Midsummer fires.\n\n  554 E. Westermarck, \u201cMidsummer Customs in Morocco,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xvi.\n      (1905) pp. 30 _sq._; _id._, _Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with\n      Agriculture_, etc., pp. 83 _sq._\n\n M181 The Midsummer festival in North Africa comprises rites concerned\n      with water as well as with fire.\n\n  555 Edmond Doutt\u00e9, _Magie et Religion dans l\u2019Afrique du Nord_ (Algiers,\n      1908), pp. 567 _sq._\n\n  556 E. Westermarck, \u201cMidsummer Customs in Morocco,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xvi.\n      (1905) pp. 31 _sq._; _id._, _Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with\n      Agriculture_, etc., pp. 84-86.\n\n M182 The Midsummer festival in North Africa is probably older than\n      Mohammedanism. Some Mohammedans of North Africa kindle fires and\n      observe water ceremonies at their movable New Year. Water ceremonies\n      at New Year in Morocco.\n\n  557 See K. Vollers, in Dr. James Hastings\u2019s _Encyclopaedia of Religion\n      and Ethics_, iii. (Edinburgh, 1910) _s.v._ \u201cCalendar (Muslim),\u201d pp.\n      126 _sq._ However, L. Ideler held that even before the time of\n      Mohammed the Arab year was lunar and vague, and that intercalation\n      was only employed in order to fix the pilgrimage month in autumn,\n      which, on account of the milder weather and the abundance of food,\n      is the best time for pilgrims to go to Mecca. See L. Ideler,\n      _Handbuch der mathematischen und techischen Chronologie_ (Berlin,\n      1825-1826), ii. 495 _sqq._\n\n  558 E. Doutt\u00e9, _Magie et Religion dans l\u2019Afrique du Nord_, pp. 496, 509,\n      532, 543, 569. It is somewhat remarkable that the tenth, not the\n      first, day of the first month should be reckoned New Year\u2019s Day.\n\n  559 E. Westermarck, \u201cMidsummer Customs in Morocco,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xvi.\n      (1905) pp. 40-42.\n\n M183 The rites of fire and water at Midsummer and New Year in Morocco\n      seem to be identical in character; the duplication of the festival\n      is probably due to a conflict between the solar calendar of the\n      Romans and the lunar calendar of the Arabs. The Midsummer festival\n      in Morocco seems to be of Berber origin.\n\n  560 E. Doutt\u00e9, _Magie et Religion dans l\u2019Afrique du Nord_ (Algiers,\n      1908), pp. 541 _sq._\n\n  561 E. Westermarck, \u201cMidsummer Customs in Morocco,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xvi.\n      (1905) p. 42; _id._, _Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with\n      Agriculture, Certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather in\n      Morocco_ (Helsingfors, 1913), p. 101.\n\n  562 E. Westermarck, \u201cMidsummer Customs in Morocco,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xvi.\n      (1905), pp. 42 _sq._, 46 _sq._; _id._, _Ceremonies and Beliefs\n      connected with Agriculture, etc., in Morocco_, pp. 99 _sqq._\n\n M184 Festivals of fire in August. Russian feast of Florus and Laurus on\n      August 18th. \u201cLiving fire\u201d made by the friction of wood.\n\n  563 G. F. Abbott, _Macedonian Folk-lore_ (Cambridge, 1903), pp. 60 _sq._\n\n  564 \u201cNarrative of the Adventures of four Russian Sailors, who were cast\n      in a storm upon the uncultivated island of East Spitzbergen,\u201d\n      translated from the German of P. L. Le Roy, in John Pinkerton\u2019s\n      _Voyages and Travels_ (London, 1808-1814), i. 603. This passage is\n      quoted from the original by (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Researches into\n      the Early History of Mankind_, Third Edition (London, 1878), pp. 259\n      _sq._\n\n M185 Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin on the eighth of September at\n      Capri and Naples.\n M186 The Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin may have replaced a pagan\n      festival.\n\n  565 See _The Scapegoat_, pp. 166 _sq._\n\n M187 The coincidence of the Midsummer festival with the summer solstice\n      implies that the founders of the festival regulated their calendar\n      by observation of the sun.\n M188 On the other hand the Celts divided their year, not by the\n      solstices, but by the beginning of summer (the first of May) and the\n      beginning of winter (the first of November). The division seems to\n      have been neither astronomical nor agricultural but pastoral, being\n      determined by the times when cattle are driven to and from their\n      summer pasture.\n\n  566 E. K. Chambers, _The Mediaeval Stage_ (Oxford, 1903), i. 110 _sqq._\n\n  567 In Eastern Europe to this day the great season for driving out the\n      cattle to pasture for the first time in spring is St. George\u2019s Day,\n      the twenty-third of April, which is not far removed from May Day.\n      See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 324 _sqq._ As to\n      the bisection of the Celtic year, see the old authority quoted by P.\n      W. Joyce, _The Social History of Ancient Ireland_ (London, 1903),\n      ii. 390: \u201cThe whole year was [originally] divided into two\n      parts\u2014Summer from 1st May to 1st November, and Winter from 1st\n      November to 1st May.\u201d On this subject compare (Sir) John Rhys,\n      _Celtic Heathendom_ (London and Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 460, 514\n      _sqq._; _id._, _Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx_ (Oxford, 1901), i.\n      315 _sqq._; J. A. MacCulloch, in Dr. James Hastings\u2019s _Encyclopaedia\n      of Religion and Ethics_, iii. (Edinburgh, 1910) p. 80.\n\n  568 See below, p. 225.\n\n M189 The two great Celtic festivals, Beltane and Hallowe\u2019en.\n\n  569 Above, pp. 146 _sqq._; _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_,\n      ii. 59 _sqq._\n\n M190 Hallowe\u2019en (the evening of October 31st) seems to have marked the\n      beginning of the Celtic year. The many forms of divination resorted\n      to at Hallowe\u2019en are appropriate to the beginning of a New Year.\n      Hallowe\u2019en also a festival of the dead.\n\n  570 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Folk-lore, Manx and Welsh_ (Oxford, 1901),\n      i. 316, 317 _sq._; J. A. MacCulloch, in Dr. James Hastings\u2019s\n      _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_, iii. (Edinburgh, 1910)\n      _s.v._ \u201cCalendar,\u201d p. 80, referring to Kelly, _English and Manx\n      Dictionary_ (Douglas, 1866), _s.v._ \u201cBlein.\u201d Hogmanay is the popular\n      Scotch name for the last day of the year. See Dr. J. Jamieson,\n      _Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language_, New Edition\n      (Paisley, 1879-1882), ii. 602 _sq._\n\n  571 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx_, i. 316 _sq._\n\n  572 Above, p. 139.\n\n  573 See _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 309-318. As I have\n      there pointed out, the Catholic Church succeeded in altering the\n      date of the festival by one day, but not in changing the character\n      of the festival. All Souls\u2019 Day is now the second instead of the\n      first of November. But we can hardly doubt that the Saints, who have\n      taken possession of the first of November, wrested it from the Souls\n      of the Dead, the original proprietors. After all, the Saints are\n      only one particular class of the Souls of the Dead; so that the\n      change which the Church effected, no doubt for the purpose of\n      disguising the heathen character of the festival, is less great than\n      appears at first sight.\n\n  574 In Wales \u201cit was firmly believed in former times that on All\n      Hallows\u2019 Eve the spirit of a departed person was to be seen at\n      midnight on every cross-road and on every stile\u201d (Marie Trevelyan,\n      _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_, London, 1909, p. 254).\n\n M191 Fairies and hobgoblins let loose at Hallowe\u2019en. Dancing with the\n      fairies at Hallowe\u2019en.\n\n  575 E. J. Guthrie, _Old Scottish Customs_ (London and Glasgow, 1885), p.\n      68.\n\n  576 A. Goodrich-Freer, \u201cMore Folk-lore from the Hebrides,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      xiii. (1902) p. 53.\n\n  577 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_ (London and Edinburgh, 1888),\n      p. 516.\n\n  578 P. W. Joyce, _A Social History of Ancient Ireland_ (London, 1903),\n      i. 264 _sq._, ii. 556.\n\n  579 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, p. 516.\n\n  580 Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, _Superstitions of the Highlands and\n      Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1900), pp. 61 _sq._\n\n  581 Ch. Rogers, _Social Life in Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1884-1886), iii.\n      258-260.\n\n M192 Guleesh and the revels of the fairies at Hallowe\u2019en.\n\n  582 Douglas Hyde, _Beside the Fire, a Collection of Irish Gaelic Folk\n      Stories_ (London, 1890), pp. 104, 105, 121-128.\n\n M193 Divination resorted to in Celtic countries at Hallowe\u2019en.\n\n  583 P. W. Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, i. 229.\n\n  584 Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London,\n      1909), p. 254.\n\n  585 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, pp. 514 _sq._ In order to see\n      the apparitions all you had to do was to run thrice round the parish\n      church and then peep through the key-hole of the door. See Marie\n      Trevelyan, _op. cit._ p. 254; J. C. Davies, _Folk-lore of West and\n      Mid-Wales_ (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 77.\n\n  586 Miss E. J. Guthrie, _Old Scottish Customs_ (London and Glasgow,\n      1885), p. 75.\n\n M194 Hallowe\u2019en bonfires in the Highlands of Scotland. John Ramsay\u2019s\n      account of the Hallowe\u2019en bonfires. Divination from stones at the\n      fire. Hallowe\u2019en fires in the parishes of Callander and Logierait.\n      Divination from stones.\n\n  587 Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the\n      Highlands and Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), p. 282.\n\n  588 Thomas Pennant, \u201cTour in Scotland, and Voyage to the Hebrides in\n      1772,\u201d in John Pinkerton\u2019s _Voyages and Travels_, iii. (London,\n      1809) pp. 383 _sq._ In quoting the passage I have corrected what\n      seem to be two misprints.\n\n  589 John Ramsay, of Ochtertyre, _Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth\n      Century_, edited by Alexander Allardyce (Edinburgh and London,\n      1888), ii. 437 _sq._ This account was written in the eighteenth\n      century.\n\n  590 Rev. James Robertson, Parish minister of Callander, in Sir John\n      Sinclair\u2019s _Statistical Account of Scotland_, xi. (Edinburgh, 1794),\n      pp. 621 _sq._\n\n  591 Rev. Dr. Thomas Bisset, in Sir John Sinclair\u2019s _Statistical Account\n      of Scotland_, v. (Edinburgh, 1793) pp. 84 _sq._\n\n M195 Hallowe\u2019en fires on Loch Tay. Hallowe\u2019en fires at Balquhidder.\n\n  592 Miss E. J. Guthrie, _Old Scottish Customs_ (London and Glasgow,\n      1885), p. 67.\n\n  593 James Napier, _Folk Lore, or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of\n      Scotland within this Century_ (Paisley, 1879), p. 179.\n\n  594 J. G. Frazer, \u201cFolk-lore at Balquhidder,\u201d _The Folk-lore Journal_,\n      vi. (1888) p. 270.\n\n M196 Hallowe\u2019en fires in Buchan to burn the witches. Processions with\n      torches at Hallowe\u2019en in the Braemar Highlands.\n\n  595 Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of\n      Scotland_ (London, 1881), pp. 167 _sq._\n\n  596 Rev. A. Johnstone, as to the parish of Monquhitter, in Sir John\n      Sinclair\u2019s _Statistical Account of Scotland_, xxi. (Edinburgh, 1799)\n      pp. 145 _sq._\n\n  597 A. Macdonald, \u201cSome former Customs of the Royal Parish of Crathie,\n      Scotland,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xviii. (1907) p. 85. The writer adds: \u201cIn\n      this way the \u2018faulds\u2019 were purged of evil spirits.\u201d But it does not\n      appear whether this expresses the belief of the people or only the\n      interpretation of the writer.\n\n M197 Divination at Hallowe\u2019en in the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland.\n      The stolen kail. Sowing hemp seed. The clue of blue yarn. The\n      winnowing basket. The wet shirt. The thrown shoe.\n\n  598 Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the\n      Highlands and Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), pp. 282 _sq._\n\n  599 Robert Burns, _Hallowe\u2019en_, with the poet\u2019s note; Rev. Walter\n      Gregor, _op. cit._ p. 84; Miss E. J. Guthrie, _op. cit._ p. 69; Rev.\n      J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 287.\n\n  600 R. Burns, _l.c._; Rev. Walter Gregor, _l.c._; Miss E. J. Guthrie,\n      _op. cit._ pp. 70 _sq._; Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 286.\n\n  601 R. Burns, _l.c._; Rev. W. Gregor, _l.c._; Miss E. J. Guthrie, _op.\n      cit._ p. 73; Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 285; A.\n      Goodrich-Freer, \u201cMore Folklore from the Hebrides,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      xiii. (1902) pp. 54 _sq._\n\n  602 R. Burns, _l.c._; Rev. W. Gregor, _op. cit._ p. 85; Miss E. J.\n      Guthrie, _op. cit._ p. 71; Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 285.\n      According to the last of these writers, the winnowing had to be done\n      in the devil\u2019s name.\n\n  603 R. Burns, _l.c._; Rev. W. Gregor, _l.c._; Miss E. J. Guthrie, _op.\n      cit._ p. 72; Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 286; A.\n      Goodrich-Freer, \u201cMore Folklore from the Hebrides,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      xiii. (1902) p. 54.\n\n  604 Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 283.\n\n M198 The white of eggs in water. The names on the chimney-piece. The nuts\n      in the fire. The milk and meal. The apples in the water. The three\n      plates.\n\n  605 Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ pp. 283 _sq._; A. Goodrich-Freer,\n      _l.c._\n\n  606 Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 284.\n\n  607 R. Burns, _l.c._; Rev. W. Gregor, _op. cit._ p. 85; Miss E. J.\n      Guthrie, _op. cit._ p. 70; Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 284.\n      Where nuts were not to be had, peas were substituted.\n\n  608 Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 284.\n\n  609 Rev. J. G. Campbell, _l.c._ According to my recollection of\n      Hallowe\u2019en customs observed in my boyhood at Helensburgh, in\n      Dumbartonshire, another way was to stir the floating apples and then\n      drop a fork on them as they bobbed about in the water. Success\n      consisted in pinning one of the apples with the fork.\n\n  610 R. Burns, _l.c._; Rev. W. Gregor, _op. cit._ pp. 85 _sq._; Miss E. J\n      Guthrie, _op. cit._ pp. 72 _sq._; Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p.\n      287.\n\n M199 The sliced apple. The white of egg in water. The salt cake or salt\n      herring.\n\n  611 R. Burns, _l.c._; Rev. W. Gregor, _op. cit._ p. 85; Miss E. J.\n      Guthrie, _op. cit._ pp. 69 _sq._; Rev. J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p.\n      285. It is the last of these writers who gives what may be called\n      the Trinitarian form of the divination.\n\n  612 Miss E. J. Guthrie, _Old Scottish Customs_ (London and Glasgow,\n      1885), pp. 74 _sq._\n\n  613 A. Goodrich-Freer, \u201cMore Folk-lore from the Hebrides,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      xiii. (1902) p. 55.\n\n M200 Hallowe\u2019en fires in Wales. Omens drawn from stones thrown into the\n      fire. Divination by stones in the ashes.\n\n  614 Pennant\u2019s manuscript, quoted by J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of\n      Great Britain_ (London, 1882-1883), i. 389 _sq._\n\n  615 Sir Richard Colt Hoare, _The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through\n      Wales __A.D.__ MCLXXXVIII. by Giraldus de Barri_ (London, 1806), ii.\n      315; J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, i. 390. The passage quoted in\n      the text occurs in one of Hoare\u2019s notes on the Itinerary. The\n      dipping for apples, burning of nuts, and so forth, are mentioned\n      also by Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_\n      (London, 1909), pp. 253, 255.\n\n  616 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_ (London and Edinburgh, 1888),\n      pp. 515 _sq._ As to the Hallowe\u2019en bonfires in Wales compare J. C.\n      Davies, _Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales_ (Aberystwyth, 1911), p.\n      77.\n\n  617 See above, p. 183.\n\n  618 See above, p. 231.\n\n M201 Divination as to love and marriage at Hallowe\u2019en in Wales.\n\n  619 Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London,\n      1909), pp. 254 _sq._\n\n M202 Divination at Hallowe\u2019en in Ireland.\n\n  620 (General) Charles Vallancey, _Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis_, iii.\n      (Dublin, 1786), pp. 459-461.\n\n M203 Divination at Hallowe\u2019en in Queen\u2019s County. Divination at Hallowe\u2019en\n      in County Leitrim. Divination at Hallowe\u2019en in County Roscommon.\n\n  621 Miss A. Watson, quoted by A. C. Haddon, \u201cA Batch of Irish\n      Folk-lore,\u201d _Folk-lore_, iv. (1893) pp. 361 _sq._\n\n  622 Leland L. Duncan, \u201cFurther Notes from County Leitrim,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      v. (1894) pp. 195-197.\n\n  623 H. J. Byrne, \u201cAll Hallows Eve and other Festivals in Connaught,\u201d\n      _Folk-lore_, xviii. (1907) pp. 437 _sq._\n\n M204 Hallowe\u2019en fires in the Isle of Man. Divination at Hallowe\u2019en in the\n      Isle of Man.\n\n  624 Joseph Train, _Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of\n      Man_ (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1845), ii. 123; (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic\n      Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx_ (Oxford, 1901), i. 315 _sqq._\n\n  625 (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx_ (Oxford, 1901),\n      i. 318-321.\n\n M205 Hallowe\u2019en fires and divination in Lancashire. Candles lighted to\n      keep off the witches. Divination at Hallowe\u2019en in Northumberland.\n      Hallowe\u2019en fires in France.\n\n  626 John Harland and T. T. Wilkinson, _Lancashire Folk-lore_ (Manchester\n      and London, 1882), pp. 3 _sq._\n\n  627 J. Harland and T. T. Wilkinson, _op. cit._ p. 140.\n\n  628 Annie Milner, in William Hone\u2019s _Year Book_ (London, preface dated\n      January, 1832), coll. 1276-1279 (letter dated June, 1831); R. T.\n      Hampson, _Medii Acvi Kalendarium_ (London, 1841), i. 365; T. F.\n      Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_ (London, 1876), p. 395.\n\n_  629 County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M. C.\n      Balfour (London, 1904), p. 78. Compare W. Henderson, _Notes on the\n      Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England_ (London, 1879), pp.\n      96 _sq._\n\n  630 Baron Dupin, in _M\u00e9moires publi\u00e9es par la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Royale des\n      Antiquaires de France_, iv. (1823) p. 108.\n\n M206 A Midwinter festival of fire. Christmas the continuation of an old\n      heathen festival of the sun.\n\n  631 The evidence for the solar origin of Christmas is given in _Adonis,\n      Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp 254-256.\n\n M207 The Yule log is the Midwinter counterpart of the Midsummer bonfire.\n\n  632 For the various names (Yu-batch, Yu-block, Yule-log, etc.) see\n      Francis Grose, _Provincial Glossary_, New Edition (London, 1811), p.\n      141; Joseph Wright, _The English Dialect Dictionary_ (London,\n      1898-1905), vi. 593, _s.v._ \u201cYule.\u201d\n\n  633 \u201cI am pretty confident that the Yule block will be found, in its\n      first use, to have been only a counterpart of the Midsummer fires,\n      made within doors because of the cold weather at this winter\n      solstice, as those in the hot season, at the summer one, are kindled\n      in the open air\u201d (John Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great\n      Britain_, London, 1882-1883, i. 471). His opinion is approved by W.\n      Mannhardt (_Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarst\u00e4mme_, p.\n      236).\n\n M208 The Yule log in Germany and Switzerland.\n\n  634 \u201c_Et arborem in nativitate domini ad festivum ignem suum adducendam\n      esse dicebat_\u201d (quoted by Jacob Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i.\n      522).\n\n  635 Montanus, _Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbr\u00e4uche und deutscher\n      Volksglaube_ (Iserlohn, N.D.), p. 12. The Sieg and Lahn are two\n      rivers of Central Germany, between Siegen and Marburg.\n\n  636 J. H. Schmitz, _Sitten und Sagen, Lieder, Spr\u00fcchw\u00f6rter und R\u00e4thsel\n      des Eifler Volkes_ (Treves, 1856-1858), i. 4.\n\n  637 Adalbert Kuhn, _Sagen, Gebr\u00e4uche und M\u00e4rchen aus Westfalen_\n      (Leipsic, 1859), ii. \u00a7 319, pp. 103 sq.\n\n  638 A. Kuhn, _op. cit._ ii. \u00a7 523, p. 187.\n\n  639 August Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_\n      (Vienna, 1878), p. 172.\n\n  640 E. Hoffmann-Krayer, _Feste und Br\u00e4uche des Schweizervolkes_ (Zurich,\n      1913), pp. 108 _sq._\n\n M209 The Yule log in Belgium.\n\n  641 Le Baron de Reinsberg-D\u00fcringsfeld, _Calendrier Belge_ (Brussels,\n      1861-1862), ii. 326 _sq._ Compare J. W. Wolf, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur\n      deutschen Mythologie_ (G\u00f6ttingen, 1852-1858), i. 117.\n\n M210 The Yule log in France.\n\n  642 J. B. Thiers, _Trait\u00e9 des Superstitions_5 (Paris, 1741), i. 302\n      _sq._; Eug\u00e8ne Cortet, _Essai sur les F\u00eates Religieuses_ (Paris,\n      1867), pp. 266 _sq._\n\n M211 French superstitions as to the Yule log.\n\n  643 J. B. Thiers, _Trait\u00e9 des Superstitions_ (Paris, 1679), p 323.\n\n M212 The Yule log at Marseilles and in Perigord. Virtues ascribed to the\n      charcoal and ashes of the burnt log. The Yule log in Berry.\n\n  644 Aubin-Louis Millin, _Voyage dans les D\u00e9partements du Midi de la\n      France_ (Paris, 1807-1811), iii. 336 _sq._ The fire so kindled was\n      called _caco fuech_.\n\n  645 Alfred de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de\n      France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 151 _sq._ The three festivals\n      during which the Yule log is expected to burn are probably Christmas\n      Day (December 25th), St. Stephen\u2019s Day (December 26th), and St. John\n      the Evangelist\u2019s Day (December 27th). Compare J. L. M. Nogu\u00e8s, _Les\n      M\u0153urs d\u2019autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis_ (Saintes, 1891), pp.\n      45-47. According to the latter writer, in Saintonge it was the\n      mistress of the house who blessed the Yule log, sprinkling salt and\n      holy water on it; in Poitou it was the eldest male who officiated.\n      The log was called the _cosse de N\u00f4_.\n\n  646 Laisnel de Salle, _Croyances et L\u00e9gendes du Centre de la France_\n      (Paris, 1875), i. 1-3.\n\n M213 The Yule log in Normandy and Brittany.\n\n  647 Jules Lec\u0153ur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Cond\u00e9-sur-Noireau,\n      1883-1887), ii. 291. The author speaks of the custom as still\n      practised in out-of-the-way villages at the time when he wrote. The\n      usage of preserving the remains of the Yule-log (called _tr\u00e9fouet_)\n      in Normandy is mentioned also by Melle Am\u00e9lie Bosquet, _La\n      Nortnandie Romanesque et Merveilleuse_ (Paris and Rouen, 1845), p.\n      294.\n\n  648 A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes, et Traditions des Provinces de\n      France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 256.\n\n  649 Paul S\u00e9billot, _Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne_ (Paris,\n      1886), pp. 217 sq.\n\n M214 The Yule log in the Ardennes.\n\n  650 Albert Meyrac, _Traditions, Coutumes, L\u00e9gendes et Contes des\n      Ardennes_ (Charleville, 1890), pp. 96 _sq._\n\n  651 See above, p. 251.\n\n  652 Lerouze, in _M\u00e9moires de l\u2019Academie Celtique_, iii. (1809) p. 441,\n      quoted by J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,\n      1882-1883), i. 469 note.\n\n M215 The Yule log in the Vosges. The Yule log in Franche-Comt\u00e9 and\n      Burgundy.\n\n  653 L. F. Sauv\u00e9, _Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), pp. 370\n      _sq._\n\n  654 Charles Beauquier, _Les Mois en Franche-Comt\u00e9_ (Paris, 1900), p.\n      183.\n\n  655 A. de Nore, Coutumes, _Mythes, et Traditions des Provinces de\n      France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 302 _sq._\n\n M216 The Yule log and the Yule candle in England.\n\n  656 John Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_ (London,\n      1882-1883), i. 467.\n\n  657 J. Brand, _op. cit._ i. 455; _The Denham Tracts_, edited by Dr.\n      James Hardy (London, 1892-1895), ii. 25 _sq._\n\n  658 Herrick, _Hesperides_, \u201cCeremonies for Christmasse\u201d:\n\n      \u201c_Come, bring with a noise,_\n      _ My merrie merrie boyes,_\n      _ The Christmas log to the firing; ..._\n      _ With the last yeeres brand_\n      _ Light the new block._\u201d\n\n      And, again, in his verses, \u201cCeremonies for Candlemasse Day\u201d:\n\n      \u201c_Kindle the Christmas brand, and then_\n      _ Till sunne-set let it burne;_\n      _ Which quencht, then lay it up agen,_\n      _ Till Christmas next returne._\n      _ Part must be kept, wherewith to teend_\n      _ The Christmas log next yeare;_\n      _ And where \u2019tis safely kept, the fiend_\n      _ Can do no mischiefe there._\u201d\n\n      See _The Works of Robert Herrick_ (Edinburgh, 1823), vol. ii. pp.\n      91, 124. From these latter verses it seems that the Yule log was\n      replaced on the fire on Candlemas (the second of February).\n\n  659 Miss C. S. Burne and Miss G. F. Jackson, _Shropshire Folk-lore_\n      (London, 1883), p. 398 note 2. See also below, pp. 257, 258, as to\n      the Lincolnshire, Herefordshire, and Welsh practice.\n\n M217 The Yule log in the North of England, in Lincolnshire, Warwickshire,\n      Shropshire, Herefordshire. The Yule log in Wales.\n\n  660 Francis Grose, _Provincial Glossary_, Second Edition (London, 1811),\n      pp. 141 _sq._; T. F. Thiselton Dyer, _British Popular Customs_\n      (London, 1876), p. 466.\n\n_  661 County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M. C.\n      Balfour and edited by Northcote W. Thomas (London, 1904), p. 79.\n\n_  662 County Folk-lore_, vol. ii. _North Riding of Yorkshire, York and\n      the Ainsty_, collected and edited by Mrs. Gutch (London, 1901), pp.\n      273, 274, 275 _sq._\n\n_  663 County Folk-lore_, vol. vi. _East Riding of Yorkshire_, collected\n      and edited by Mrs. Gutch (London, 1912), pp. 23, 118, compare p.\n      114.\n\n  664 John Aubrey, _Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme_ (London, 1881),\n      p. 5.\n\n_  665 County Folk-lore_, vol. v. _Lincolnshire_, collected by Mrs. Gutch\n      and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), p. 219. Elsewhere in Lincolnshire\n      the Yule-log seems to have been called the Yule-clog (_op. cit._ pp.\n      215, 216).\n\n  666 Mrs. Samuel Chandler (Sarah Whateley), quoted in _The Folk-lore\n      Journal_, i. (1883), pp. 351 _sq._\n\n  667 Miss C. S. Burne and Miss G. F. Jackson, _Shropshire Folk-lore_\n      (London, 1883), pp. 397 _sq._ One of the informants of these writers\n      says (_op. cit._ p. 399): \u201cIn 1845 I was at the Vessons farmhouse,\n      near the Eastbridge Coppice (at the northern end of the\n      Stiperstones). The floor was of flags, an unusual thing in this\n      part. Observing a sort of roadway through the kitchen, and the flags\n      much broken, I enquired what caused it, and was told it was from the\n      horses\u2019 hoofs drawing in the \u2018Christmas Brund.\u2019 \u201d\n\n  668 Mrs. Ella Mary Leather, _The Folk-lore of Herefordshire_ (Hereford\n      and London, 1912), p. 109. Compare Miss C. S. Burne, \u201cHerefordshire\n      Notes,\u201d _The Folk-lore Journal_, iv. (1886) p. 167.\n\n  669 Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London,\n      1909), p. 28.\n\n M218 The Yule log in Servia. The cutting of the oak tree to form the Yule\n      log.\n M219 Prayers to Colleda.\n M220 The bringing in of the Yule log.\n\n  670 \u201cIn earlier ages, and even so late as towards the middle of the\n      nineteenth century, the Servian village organisation and the Servian\n      agriculture had yet another distinguishing feature. The dangers from\n      wild beasts in old time, the want of security for life and property\n      during the Turkish rule, or rather misrule, the natural difficulties\n      of the agriculture, more especially the lack in agricultural\n      labourers, induced the Servian peasants not to leave the parental\n      house but to remain together on the family\u2019s property. In the same\n      yard, within the same fence, one could see around the ancestral\n      house a number of wooden huts which contained one or two rooms, and\n      were used as sleeping places for the sons, nephews and grandsons and\n      their wives. Men and women of three generations could be often seen\n      living in that way together, and working together the land which was\n      considered as common property of the whole family. This expanded\n      family, remaining with all its branches together, and, so to say,\n      under the same roof, working together, dividing the fruits of their\n      joint labours together, this family and an agricultural association\n      in one, was called _Zadrooga_ (The Association). This combination of\n      family and agricultural association has morally, economically,\n      socially, and politically rendered very important services to the\n      Servians. The headman or chief (called _Stareshina_) of such family\n      association is generally the oldest male member of the family. He is\n      the administrator of the common property and director of work. He is\n      the executive chairman of the association. Generally he does not\n      give any order without having consulted all the grown-up male\n      members of the _Zadrooga_\u201d (Chedo Mijatovich, _Servia and the\n      Servians_, London, 1908, pp. 237 _sq._). As to the house-communities\n      of the South Slavs see further Og. M. Utie\u0161enovi\u010d, _Die\n      Hauskommunionen der S\u00fcdslaven_ (Vienna, 1859); F. Demeli\u00e9, _Le Droit\n      Coutumier des Slaves M\u00e9ridionaux_ (Paris, 1876), pp. 23 _sqq._; F.\n      S. Krauss, _Sitte und Brauch der S\u00fcdslaven_ (Vienna, 1885), pp. 64\n      _sqq._ Since Servia, freed from Turkish oppression, has become a\n      well-regulated European state, with laws borrowed from the codes of\n      France and Germany, the old house-communities have been rapidly\n      disappearing (Chedo Mijatovich, _op. cit._ p. 240).\n\n M221 The ceremony with the straw. The Yule candle.\n M222 The roast pig. The drawing of the water.\n M223 The Christmas visiter (_polaznik_).\n\n  671 Chedo Mijatovich, _Servia and the Servians_ (London, 1908), pp.\n      98-105.\n\n M224 The Yule log among the Servians of Slavonia. The Christmas visiter\n      (_polazenik_).\n\n  672 Baron Rajacsich, _Das Leben, die Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche der im\n      Kaiserthume Oesterreich lebenden S\u00fcdslaven_ (Vienna, 1873), pp.\n      122-128.\n\n M225 The Yule log among the Servians of Dalmatia, Herzegovina, and\n      Montenegro. The Yule log in Albania.\n\n  673 Baron Rajacsich, _Das Leben, die Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche der im\n      Kaiserthume Oesterreich lebenden S\u00fcdslaven_ (Vienna, 1873), pp.\n      129-131. The Yule log (_badnyak_) is also known in Bulgaria, where\n      the women place it on the hearth on Christmas Eve. See A. Strausz,\n      _Die Bulgaren_ (Leipsic, 1898), p. 361.\n\n  674 M. Edith Durham, _High Albania_ (London, 1909), p. 129.\n\n  675 R. F. Kaindl, _Die Huzulen_ (Vienna, 1894) p. 71.\n\n M226 Belief that the Yule log protects against fire and lightning.\n\n  676 See above, pp. 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 258.\n      Similarly at Candlemas people lighted candles in the churches, then\n      took them home and kept them, and thought that by lighting them at\n      any time they could keep off thunder, storm, and tempest. See\n      Barnabe Googe, _The Popish Kingdom_ (reprinted London, 1880), p. 48\n      _verso_.\n\n  677 See above, pp. 248, 250, 251, 257, 258, 263.\n\n  678 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 356 _sqq._\n\n  679 See above, pp. 248, 249, 250, 251, 264.\n\n M227 Public celebrations of the fire-festival at Midwinter. The bonfire\n      on Christmas Eve at Schweina in Thuringia.\n\n  680 August Witzschel, _Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Th\u00fcringen_\n      (Vienna, 1878), pp. 171 _sq._\n\n M228 Bonfires on Christmas Eve in Normandy.\n\n  681 Jules Lec\u0153ur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Cond\u00e9-sur-Noireau,\n      1883-1887), ii. 289 _sq._\n\n M229 Bonfires on St. Thomas\u2019s Day in the Isle of Man. The \u201cBurning of the\n      Clavie\u201d at Burghead on the last day of December. The old rampart at\n      Burghead.\n\n  682 Joseph Train, _Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of\n      Man_ (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1845), ii. 124, referring to Cregeen\u2019s\n      _Manx Dictionary_, p. 67.\n\n  683 R. Chambers, _The Book of Days_ (London and Edinburgh, 1886), ii.\n      789-791, quoting _The Banffshire Journal_; Miss C. F. Gordon\n      Cumming, _In the Hebrides_ (London, 1883), p. 226; Miss E. J.\n      Guthrie, _Old Scottish Customs_ (London and Glasgow, 1885), pp.\n      223-225; Ch. Rogers, _Social Life in Scotland_ (Edinburgh,\n      1884-1886), iii. 244 _sq._; _The Folk-lore Journal_, vii. (1889) pp.\n      11-14, 46. Miss Gordon Cumming and Miss Guthrie say that the burning\n      of the Clavie took place upon Yule Night; but this seems to be a\n      mistake.\n\n  684 Caesar, _De bello Gallico_, vii. 23.\n\n  685 Hugh W. Young, F.S.A. Scot., _Notes on the Ramparts of Burghead as\n      revealed by recent Excavations_ (Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 3 _sqq._;\n      _Notes on further Excavations at Burghead_ (Edinburgh, 1893), pp. 7\n      _sqq._ These papers are reprinted from the _Proceedings of the\n      Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_, vols. xxv., xxvii. Mr. Young\n      concludes as follows: \u201cIt is proved that the fort at Burghead was\n      raised by a people skilled in engineering; who used square-headed\n      nails, axes and chisels of iron; who shot balista stones over 20\n      lbs. in weight; and whose daily food was the _bos longifrons_. A\n      people who made paved roads, and sunk artesian wells, and used Roman\n      beads and pins. The riddle of Burghead should not now be very\n      difficult to read\u201d (_Notes on further Excavations at Burghead_, pp.\n      14 _sq._). For a loan of Mr. Young\u2019s pamphlets I am indebted to the\n      kindness of Sheriff-Substitute David J. Mackenzie of Kilmarnock.\n\n M230 Procession with burning tar-barrels on Christmas Eve (Old Style) at\n      Lerwick.\n\n  686 Robert Cowie, M.A., M.D., _Shetland, Descriptive and Historical_\n      (Aberdeen, 1871), pp. 127 _sq._; _County Folk-lore_, vol. iii.\n      _Orkney and Shetland Islands_, collected by G. F. Black and edited\n      by Northcote W. Thomas (London, 1903), pp. 203 _sq._ A similar\n      celebration, known as Up-helly-a\u2019, takes place at Lerwick on the\n      29th of January, twenty-four days after Old Christmas. See _The\n      Scapegoat_, pp. 167-169. Perhaps the popular festival of Up-helly-a\u2019\n      has absorbed some of the features of the Christmas Eve celebration.\n\n M231 Persian festival of fire at the winter solstice.\n\n  687 Thomas Hyde, _Historia Religionis veterum Persarum_ (Oxford, 1700),\n      pp. 255-257.\n\n M232 European festivals of fire in seasons of distress and calamity. The\n      need-fire.\n\n  688 On the need-fire see Jacob Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 501\n      _sqq._; J. W. Wolf, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie_ (G\u00f6ttingen\n      and Leipsic, 1852-1857), i. 116 _sq._, ii. 378 _sqq._; Adalbert\n      Kuhn, _Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des G\u00f6ttertranks_2 (G\u00fctersloh,\n      1886), pp. 41 _sqq._; Walter K. Kelly, _Curiosities of Indo-European\n      Tradition and Folk-lore_ (London, 1863), pp. 48 _sqq._; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarst\u00e4mme_\n      (Berlin, 1875), pp. 518 _sqq._; Charles Elton, _Origins of English\n      History_ (London, 1882), pp. 293 _sqq._; Ulrich Jahn, _Die deutschen\n      Opfergebr\u00e4uche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht_ (Breslau, 1884), pp. 26\n      _sqq._ Grimm would derive the name _need_-fire (German, _niedfyr_,\n      _nodfyr_, _nodfeur_, _nothfeur_) from _need_ (German, _noth_),\n      \u201cnecessity,\u201d so that the phrase need-fire would mean \u201ca forced\n      fire.\u201d This is the sense attached to it in Lindenbrog\u2019s glossary on\n      the capitularies, quoted by Grimm, _op. cit._ i. p. 502: \u201c_Eum ergo\n      ignem_ nodfeur _et nodfyr, quasi necessarium ignem vocant._\u201d C. L.\n      Rochholz would connect _need_ with a verb _nieten_ \u201cto churn,\u201d so\n      that need-fire would mean \u201cchurned fire.\u201d See C. L. Rochholz,\n      _Deutscher Glaube und Brauch_ (Berlin, 1867), ii. 149 _sq._ This\n      interpretation is confirmed by the name _ankenmilch bohren_, which\n      is given to the need-fire in some parts of Switzerland. See E.\n      Hoffmann-Krayer, \u201cFruchtbarkeitsriten im schweizerischen\n      Volksbrauch,\u201d _Schweizerisches Archiv f\u00fcr Volkskunde_, xi. (1907) p.\n      245.\n\n M233 The need-fire in the Middle Ages. The need-fire at Neustadt in 1598.\n\n  689 \u201c_Illos sacrilegos ignes, quos_ niedfyr _vocant_,\u201d quoted by J.\n      Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 502; R. Andree, _Braunschweiger\n      Volkskunde_ (Brunswick, 1896), p. 312.\n\n_  690 Indiculus Superstitionum et Paganiarum_, No. XV., \u201cDe _igne fricato\n      de ligno_ _i.e._ nodfyr.\u201d A convenient edition of the _Indiculus_\n      has been published with a commentary by H. A. Saupe (Leipsic, 1891).\n      As to the date of the work, see the editor\u2019s introduction, pp. 4\n      _sq._\n\n  691 Karl Lynker, _Deutsche Sagen und Sitten in hessischen Gauen_2\n      (Cassel and G\u00f6ttingen, 1860), pp. 252 _sq._, quoting a letter of the\n      mayor (_Schultheiss_) of Neustadt to the mayor of Marburg dated 12th\n      December 1605.\n\n  692 Bartholom\u00e4us Carrichter, _Der Teutschen Speisskammer_ (Strasburg,\n      1614), Fol. pag. 17 and 18, quoted by C. L. Rochholz, _Deutscher\n      Glaube und Brauch_ (Berlin, 1867), ii. 148 _sq._\n\n M234 Method of kindling the need-fire.\n\n  693 Joh. Reiskius, _Untersuchung des Notfeuers_ (Frankfort and Leipsic,\n      1696), p. 51, quoted by J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 502\n      sq.; R. Andree, _Braunschweiger Volkskunde_ (Brunswick, 1896), p.\n      313.\n\n M235 The mode of kindling the need-fire about Hildesheim.\n\n  694 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 503 _sq._\n\n  695 J. Grimm, _op. cit._ i. 504.\n\n M236 The mode of kindling the need-fire in the Mark.\n\n  696 Adalbert Kuhn, _M\u00e4rkische Sagen und M\u00e4rchen_ (Berlin, 1843), p. 369.\n\n M237 The mode of kindling the need-fire in Mecklenburg.\n\n  697 Karl Bartsch, _Sagen, M\u00e4rchen und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Mecklenburg_\n      (Vienna, 1879-1880), ii. 149-151.\n\n M238 The mode of kindling the need-fire in Hanover.\n\n  698 Carl und Theodor Colshorn, _M\u00e4rchen und Sagen_ (Hanover, 1854), pp.\n      234-236, from the description of an eye-witness.\n\n M239 The mode of kindling the need-fire in the Harz Mountains.\n\n  699 Heinrich Pr\u00f6hle, _Harzbilder, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus dem\n      Harzgebirge_ (Leipsic, 1855), pp. 74 _sq._ The date of this\n      need-fire is not given; probably it was about the middle of the\n      nineteenth century.\n\n M240 The mode of kindling the need-fire in Brunswick.\n\n  700 R. Andree, _Braunschweiger Volkskunde_ (Brunswick, 1896), pp. 313\n      _sq._\n\n  701 R. Andree, _op. cit._ pp. 314 _sq._\n\n  702 Montanus, _Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbr\u00e4uche und deutscher\n      Volksglaube_ (Iserlohn, N.D.), p. 127.\n\n M241 The mode of kindling the need-fire in Silesia and Bohemia.\n\n  703 Paul Drechsler, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien_\n      (Leipsic, 1903-1906), ii. 204.\n\n  704 Anton Peter, _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus \u00d6sterreichisch - Schlesien_\n      (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 250.\n\n  705 Alois John, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westb\u00f6hmen_\n      (Prague, 1905), p. 209.\n\n  706 C. L. Rochholz, _Deutscher Glaube und Brauch_ (Berlin, 1867), ii.\n      149.\n\n M242 The use of the need-fire in Switzerland.\n\n  707 E. Hoffmann-Krayer, \u201cFruchtbarkeitsriten im schweizerischen\n      Volksbrauch,\u201d _Schweizerisches Archiv f\u00fcr Volkskunde_, xi. (1907)\n      pp. 244-246.\n\n  708 E. Hoffmann-Krayer, _op. cit._ p. 246.\n\n M243 The mode of kindling the need-fire in Sweden and Norway. The\n      need-fire as a protection against witchcraft.\n\n  709 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 505.\n\n  710 \u201cOld-time Survivals in remote Norwegian Dales,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xx.\n      (1909) pp. 314, 322 _sq._ This record of Norwegian folk-lore is\n      translated from a little work _Sundalen og \u00d6ksendalens Beskrivelse_\n      written by Pastor Chr. Gl\u00fckstad and published at Christiania \u201cabout\n      twenty years ago.\u201d\n\n M244 The need-fire among the Slavonic peoples.\n\n  711 Prof. Vl. Titelbach, \u201cDas heilige Feuer bei den Balkanslaven,\u201d\n      _Internationales Archiv f\u00fcr Ethnographie_, xiii. (1900) pp. 2 _sq._\n      We have seen (above, p. 220) that in Russia the need-fire is, or\n      used to be, annually kindled on the eighteenth of August. As to the\n      need fire in Bulgaria see also below, pp. 284 _sq._\n\n  712 F. S. Krauss, \u201cAltslavische Feuergewinnung,\u201d _Globus_, lix. (1891)\n      p. 318, quoting P. Ljiebenov, _Baba Ega_ (Trnovo, 1887), p. 44.\n\n M245 The need-fire in Russia, Poland, and Slavonia..\n\n  713 F. S. Krauss, _op. cit._ p. 319, quoting _Wisla_, vol. iv. pp. 1,\n      244 _sqq._\n\n  714 F. S. Krauss, _op. cit._ p. 318, quoting Oskar Kolberg, in\n      _Mazowsze_, vol. iv. p. 138.\n\n  715 F. S. Krauss, \u201cSlavische Feuerbohrer,\u201d _Globus_, lix. (1891) p. 140.\n      The evidence quoted by Dr. Krauss is that of his father, who often\n      told of his experience to his son.\n\n M246 The need-fire in Servia.\n\n  716 Prof. Vl. Titelbach, \u201cDas heilige Feuer bei den Balkanslaven,\u201d\n      _Internationales Archiv f\u00fcr Ethnographie_, xiii. (1900) p. 3.\n\n  717 See below, vol. ii. pp. 168 _sqq._\n\n M247 The need-fire in Bulgaria.\n\n  718 Adolf Strausz, _Die Bulgaren_ (Leipsic, 1898), pp. 194-199.\n\n M248 The need-fire in Bosnia and Herzegovina.\n\n_  719 Wissenschaftliche Mittheilungen aus Bosnien und der Hercegovina_,\n      redigirt von Moriz Hoernes, iii. (Vienna, 1895) pp. 574 _sq._\n\n M249 The need-fire in England, in Yorkshire.\n\n  720 \u201c_Pro fidei divinae integritate servanda recolat lector quod, cum\n      hoc anno in Laodonia pestis grassaretur in pecudes armenti, quam\n      vocant usitate Lungessouth, quidam bestiales, habitu claustrales non\n      animo, docebant idiotas patriae ignem confrictione de lignis educere\n      et simulachrum Priapi statuere, et per haec bestiis succurrere_,\u201d\n      quoted by J. M. Kemble, _The Saxons in England_ (London, 1849), i.\n      358 _sq._; A. Kuhn, _Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des\n      G\u00fcttertranks_2 (G\u00fctersloh, 1886), p. 43; Ulrich Jahn, _Die deutschen\n      Opfergebr\u00e4uche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht_ (Breslau, 1884) p. 31.\n\n  721 W. G. M. Jones Barker, _The Three Days of Wensleydale_ (London,\n      1854), pp. 90 _sq._; _County Folk-lore_, vol. ii., _North Riding of\n      Yorkshire, York and the Ainsty_, collected and edited by Mrs. Gutch\n      (London, 1901), p. 181.\n\n_  722 The Denham Tracts, a Collection of Folklore by Michael Aislabie\n      Denham_, edited by Dr. James Hardy (London, 1892-1895), ii. 50.\n\n  723 Harry Speight, _Tramps and Drives in the Craven Highlands_ (London,\n      1895), p. 162. Compare, _id._, _The Craven and North-West Yorkshire\n      Highlands_ (London, 1892), pp. 206 _sq._\n\n  724 J. M. Kemble, _The Saxons in England_ (London, 1849), i. 361 note.\n\n M250 The need-fire in Northumberland.\n\n  725 E. Mackenzie, _An Historical, Topographical and Descriptive View of\n      the County of Northumberland_, Second Edition (Newcastle, 1825), i.\n      218, quoted in _County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_,\n      collected by M. C. Balfour (London, 1904), p. 45. Compare J. T.\n      Brockett, _Glossary of North Country Words_, p. 147, quoted by Mrs.\n      M. C. Balfour, _l.c._: \u201c_Need-fire_ ... an ignition produced by the\n      friction of two pieces of dried wood. The vulgar opinion is, that an\n      angel strikes a tree, and that the fire is thereby obtained.\n      Need-fire, I am told, is still employed in the case of cattle\n      infected with the murrain. They were formerly driven through the\n      smoke of a fire made of straw, etc.\u201d The first edition of Brockett\u2019s\n      _Glossary_ was published in 1825.\n\n  726 W. Henderson, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of\n      England and the Borders_ (London, 1879), pp. 167 _sq._ Compare\n      _County Folk-lore_, vol. iv. _Northumberland_, collected by M. C.\n      Balfour (London, 1904), p. 45. Stamfordham is in Northumberland. The\n      vicar\u2019s testimony seems to have referred to the first half of the\n      nineteenth century.\n\n M251 Martin\u2019s account of the need-fire in the Highlands of Scotland.\n\n  727 M. Martin, \u201cDescription of the Western Islands of Scotland,\u201d in J.\n      Pinkerton\u2019s _General Collection of Voyages and Travels_, iii.\n      (London, 1809), p. 611. The second edition of Martin\u2019s book, which\n      Pinkerton reprints, was published at London in 1716. For John\n      Ramsay\u2019s account of the need-fire, see above, pp. 147 _sq._\n\n M252 The need-fire in the island of Mull. Sacrifice of a heifer.\n\n  728 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 506, referring to Miss Austin\n      as his authority.\n\n  729 As to the custom of sacrificing one of a plague-stricken herd or\n      flock for the purpose of saving the rest, see below, pp. 300 _sqq._\n\n M253 The need-fire in Caithness.\n\n  730 John Jamieson, _Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language_,\n      New Edition, revised by J. Longmuir and D. Donaldson, iii. (Paisley,\n      1880) pp. 349 _sq._, referring to \u201cAgr. Surv. Caithn., pp. 200,\n      201.\u201d\n\n M254 The need-fire in Caithness.\n\n  731 R. C. Maclagan, \u201cSacred Fire,\u201d _Folk-lore_, ix. (1898) pp. 280 _sq._\n      As to the fire-drill see _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_,\n      ii. 207 _sqq._\n\n M255 Another account of the need-fire in the Highlands.\n\n  732 W. Grant Stewart, _The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements\n      of the Highlanders of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1823), pp. 214-216;\n      Walter K. Kelly, _Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and\n      Folk-lore_ (London, 1863), pp. 53 _sq._\n\n M256 Alexander Carmichael\u2019s account of the need-fire in the Highlands of\n      Scotland during the nineteenth century.\n M257 The need-fire in Arran.\n M258 The need-fire in North Uist.\n M259 The need-fire in Reay, Sutherland.\n\n  733 Alexander Carmichael, _Carmina Gadelica_ (Edinburgh, 1900), ii. 340\n      _sq._\n\n M260 The Beltane fires a precaution against witchcraft.\n\n  734 See above, pp. 154, 156, 157, 159 _sq._\n\n_  735 Census of India, 1911_, vol. xiv. _Punjab_, Part i. _Report_, by\n      Pandit Harikishan Kaul (Lahore, 1912), p. 302. So in the north-east\n      of Scotland \u201cthose who were born with their feet first possessed\n      great power to heal all kinds of sprains, lumbago, and rheumatism,\n      either by rubbing the affected part, or by trampling on it. The\n      chief virtue lay in the feet. Those who came into the world in this\n      fashion often exercised their power to their own profit.\u201d See Rev.\n      Walter Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of\n      Scotland_ (London, 1881), pp. 45 _sq._\n\n M261 The need-fire in Aberdeenshire.\n\n  736 Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of\n      Scotland_ (London, 1881), p. 186. The fumigation of the byres with\n      juniper is a charm against witchcraft. See J. G. Campbell,\n      _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of\n      Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), p. 11. The \u201cquarter-ill\u201d is a disease of\n      cattle, which affects the animals only in one limb or quarter. \u201cA\n      very gross superstition is observed by some people in Angus, as an\n      antidote against this ill. A piece is cut out of the thigh of one of\n      the cattle that has died of it. This they hang up within the\n      chimney, in order to preserve the rest of the cattle from being\n      infected. It is believed that as long as it hangs there, it will\n      prevent the disease from approaching the place. It is therefore\n      carefully preserved; and in case of the family removing, transported\n      to the new farm, as one of their valuable effects. It is handed down\n      from one generation to another\u201d (J. Jamieson, _Etymological\n      Dictionary of the Scottish Language_, revised by J. Longmuir and D.\n      Donaldson, iii. 575, _s.v._ \u201cQuarter-ill\u201d). See further Rev. W.\n      Gregor, _op. cit._ pp. 186 _sq._: \u201cThe fore-legs of one of the\n      animals that had died were cut off a little above the knee, and hung\n      over the fire-place in the kitchen. It was thought sufficient by\n      some if they were placed over the door of the byre, in the \u2018crap o\u2019\n      the wa\u2019.\u2019 Sometimes the heart and part of the liver and lungs were\n      cut out, and hung over the fireplace instead of the fore-feet.\n      Boiling them was at times substituted for hanging them over the\n      hearth.\u201d Compare W. Henderson, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the\n      Northern Counties of England and the Borders_ (London, 1879), p.\n      167: \u201cA curious aid to the rearing of cattle came lately to the\n      knowledge of Mr. George Walker, a gentleman of the city of Durham.\n      During an excursion of a few miles into the country, he observed a\n      sort of rigging attached to the chimney of a farmhouse well known to\n      him, and asked what it meant. The good wife told him that they had\n      experienced great difficulty that year in rearing their calves; the\n      poor little creatures all died off, so they had taken the leg and\n      thigh of one of the dead calves, and hung it in a chimney by a rope,\n      since which they had not lost another calf.\u201d In the light of facts\n      cited below (pp. 315 _sqq._) we may conjecture that the intention of\n      cutting off the legs or cutting out the heart, liver, and lungs of\n      the animals and hanging them up or boiling them, is by means of\n      homoeopathic magic to inflict corresponding injuries on the witch\n      who cast the fatal spell on the cattle.\n\n M262 The need-fire in Perthshire.\n\n_  737 The Mirror_, 24th June, 1826, quoted by J. M. Kemble, _The Saxons\n      in England_ (London, 1849), i. 360 note 2.\n\n M263 The need-fire in Ireland.\n\n  738 Leland L. Duncan, \u201cFairy Beliefs and other Folklore Notes from\n      County Leitrim,\u201d _Folk-lore_, vii. (1896) pp. 181 _sq._\n\n M264 The use of the need-fire a relic of a time when all fires were\n      kindled by the friction of wood.\n\n  739 (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Researches into the Early History of\n      Mankind_, Third Edition (London, 1878), pp. 237 _sqq._; _The Magic\n      Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 207 _sqq._\n\n M265 The belief that the need-fire cannot kindle if any other fire\n      remains alight in the neighbourhood.\n\n  740 For some examples of such extinctions, see _The Magic Art and the\n      Evolution of Kings_, ii. 261 _sqq._, 267 _sq._; _Spirits of the Corn\n      and of the Wild_, i. 311, ii. 73 _sq._; and above, pp. 124 _sq._,\n      132-139. The reasons for extinguishing fires ceremonially appear to\n      vary with the occasion. Sometimes the motive seems to be a fear of\n      burning or at least singeing a ghost, who is hovering invisible in\n      the air; sometimes it is apparently an idea that a fire is old and\n      tired with burning so long, and that it must be relieved of the\n      fatiguing duty by a young and vigorous flame.\n\n  741 Above, pp. 147, 154. The same custom appears to have been observed\n      in Ireland. See above, p. 158.\n\n M266 The need-fire among the Iroquois of North America.\n\n  742 J. N. B. Hewitt, \u201cNew Fire among the Iroquois,\u201d _The American\n      Anthropologist_, ii. (1889) p. 319.\n\n M267 The burnt sacrifice of a calf in England and Wales. Burnt sacrifice\n      of a pig in Scotland.\n\n  743 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 507.\n\n  744 See above, p. 290.\n\n  745 William Hone, _Every-day Book_ (London, preface dated 1827), i.\n      coll. 853 _sq._ (June 24th), quoting Hitchin\u2019s _History of\n      Cornwall_.\n\n  746 Hunt, _Romances and Drolls of the West of England_, 1st series, p.\n      237, quoted by W. Henderson, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern\n      Counties of England and the Borders_ (London, 1879), p. 149. Compare\n      J. G. Dalyell, _The Darker Superstitions of Scotland_ (Edinburgh,\n      1834), p. 184: \u201cHere also may be found a solution of that recent\n      expedient so ignorantly practised in the neighbouring kingdom, where\n      one having lost many of his herd by witchcraft, as he concluded,\n      burnt a living calf to break the spell and preserve the remainder.\u201d\n\n  747 Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London,\n      1909), p. 23.\n\n  748 W. Henderson, _op. cit._ pp. 148 _sq._\n\n  749 Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of\n      Scotland_ (London, 1881), p. 186.\n\n  750 R. N. Worth, _History of Devonshire_, Second Edition (London, 1886),\n      p. 339. The diabolical nature of the toad probably explains why\n      people in Herefordshire think that if you wear a toad\u2019s heart\n      concealed about your person you can steal to your heart\u2019s content\n      without being found out. A suspected thief was overheard boasting,\n      \u201cThey never catches _me_: and they never ooll neither. I allus wears\n      a toad\u2019s heart round my neck, _I_ does.\u201d See Mrs. Ella M. Leather,\n      in _Folk-lore_, xxiv. (1913) p. 238.\n\n M268 The calf is burnt in order to break a spell which has been cast on\n      the herd.\n\n  751 Above, p. 301.\n\n  752 Robert Hunt, _Popular Romances of the West of England_, Third\n      Edition (London, 1881), p. 320. The writer does not say where this\n      took place; probably it was in Cornwall or Devonshire.\n\n  753 Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of\n      Scotland_ (London, 1881), p. 184.\n\n M269 Mode in which the burning of a bewitched animal is supposed to break\n      the spell.\n\n_  754 County Folk-lore, Printed Extracts, No. 2, Suffolk_, collected and\n      edited by the Lady Eveline Camilla Gurdon (London, 1893), pp. 190\n      _sq._, quoting _Some Materials for the History of Wherstead_ by F.\n      Barham Zincke (Ipswich, 1887), p. 168.\n\n_  755 County Folk-lore, Printed Extracts, No. 2, Suffolk_, p. 191,\n      referring to Murray\u2019s _Handbook for Essex, Suffolk_, etc., p. 109.\n\n M270 In burning the bewitched animal you burn the witch herself.\n M271 Practice of burning cattle and sheep as sacrifices in the Isle of\n      Man.\n\n  756 (Sir) John Rhys, \u201cManx Folk-lore and Superstitions,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      ii. (1891) pp. 300-302; repeated in his _Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and\n      Manx_ (Oxford, 1901), i. 306 _sq._ Sir John Rhys does not doubt that\n      the old woman saw, as she said, a live sheep being burnt on old\n      May-day; but he doubts whether it was done as a sacrifice. He adds:\n      \u201cI have failed to find anybody else in Andreas or Bride, or indeed\n      in the whole island, who will now confess to having ever heard of\n      the sheep sacrifice on old May-day.\u201d However, the evidence I have\n      adduced of a custom of burnt sacrifice among English rustics tends\n      to confirm the old woman\u2019s statement, that the burning of the live\n      sheep which she witnessed was not an act of wanton cruelty but a\n      sacrifice performed for the public good.\n\n M272 By burning a bewitched animal you compel the witch to appear.\n\n  757 (Sir) John Rhys, \u201cManx Folk-lore and Superstitions,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      ii. (1891) pp. 299 _sq._; _id._, _Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx_\n      (Oxford, 1901), i. 304 _sq._ We have seen that by burning the blood\n      of a bewitched bullock a farmer expected to compel the witch to\n      appear. See above, p. 303.\n\n M273 Magic sympathy between the witch and the bewitched animal.\n M274 Parallel belief in magic sympathy between the animal shape of a\n      were-wolf and his or her ordinary human shape: by wounding the wolf\n      you simultaneously wound the man or woman.\n\n  758 Olaus Magnus, _Historia de Gentium Septentrionalium Conditionibus_,\n      lib xviii. cap. 47, p. 713 (ed. B\u00e2le, 1567).\n\n  759 Collin de Plancy, _Dictionnaire Infernal_ (Paris, 1825-1826), iii.\n      473 _sq._, referring to Boguet.\n\n  760 Collin de Plancy, _op. cit._ iii. 473.\n\n  761 Felix Chapiseau, _Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche_ (Paris,\n      1902), i. 239 _sq._ The same story is told in Upper Brittany. See\n      Paul S\u00e9billot, _Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne_\n      (Paris, 1882), i. 292. It is a common belief that a man who has once\n      been transformed into a were-wolf must remain a were-wolf for seven\n      years unless blood is drawn from him in his animal shape, upon which\n      he at once recovers his human form and is delivered from the bondage\n      and misery of being a were-wolf. See F. Chapiseau, _op. cit._ i.\n      218-220; Am\u00e9lie Bosquet, _La Normandie Romanesque et Merveilleuse_\n      (Paris and Rouen, 1845), p. 233. On belief in were-wolves in\n      general, see W. Hertz, _Der Werwolf_ (Stuttgart, 1862); J. Grimm,\n      _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 915 _sqq._; (Sir) Edward B. Tylor,\n      _Primitive Culture_2 (London, 1873), i. 308 _sqq._; R. Andree,\n      _Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche_ (Stuttgart, 1878), pp.\n      62-80. In North Germany it is believed that a man can turn himself\n      into a wolf by girding himself with a strap made out of a wolf\u2019s\n      hide. Some say that the strap must have nine, others say twelve,\n      holes and a buckle; and that according to the number of the hole\n      through which the man inserts the tongue of the buckle will be the\n      length of time of his transformation. For example, if he puts the\n      tongue of the buckle through the first hole, he will be a wolf for\n      one hour; if he puts it through the second, he will be a wolf for\n      two days; and so on, up to the last hole, which entails a\n      transformation for a full year. But by putting off the girdle the\n      man can resume his human form. The time when were-wolves are most\n      about is the period of the Twelve Nights between Christmas and\n      Epiphany; hence cautious German farmers will not remove the dung\n      from the cattle-stalls at that season for fear of attracting the\n      were-wolves to the cattle. See Adalbert Kuhn, _M\u00e4rkische Sagen und\n      M\u00e4rchen_ (Berlin, 1843), p. 375; Ulrich Jahn, _Volkssagen aus\n      Pommern und R\u00fcgen_ (Stettin, 1886), pp. 384, 386, Nos. 491, 495.\n      Down to the time of Elizabeth it was reported that in the county of\n      Tipperary certain men were annually turned into wolves. See W.\n      Camden, _Britain_, translated into English by Philemon Holland\n      (London, 1610), \u201cIreland,\u201d p. 83.\n\n M275 Were-wolves in China.\n\n  762 J. J. M. de Groot, _The Religious System of China_, v. (Leyden,\n      1907) P. 548.\n\n M276 Were-wolves among the Toradjas of Central Celebes. The were-wolf in\n      human shape.\n\n  763 A. C. Kruijt, \u201cDe weerwolf bij de Toradja\u2019s van Midden-Celebes,\u201d\n      _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xli. (1899)\n      pp. 548-551, 557-560.\n\n  764 A. C. Kruijt, _op. cit._ pp. 552 _sq._\n\n  765 A. C. Kruijt, _op. cit._ pp. 553. For more evidence of the belief in\n      were-wolves, or rather in were-animals of various sorts,\n      particularly were-tigers, in the East Indies, see J. J. M. de Groot,\n      \u201cDe Weertijger in onze Kolonien en op het oostaziatische Vasteland,\u201d\n      _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van\n      Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, xlix. (1898) pp. 549-585; G. P. Rouffaer,\n      \u201cMatjan Gadoengan,\u201d _Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van\n      Nederlandsch-Indi\u00eb_, l. (1899) pp. 67-75; J. Knebel, \u201cDe Weertijger\n      op Midden-Java, den Javaan naverteld,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor Indische\n      Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde_, xli. (1899) pp. 568-587; L. M. F.\n      Plate, \u201cBijdrage tot de kennis van de lykanthropie bij de Sasaksche\n      bevolking in Oost-Lombok,\u201d _Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en\n      Volkenkunde_, liv. (1912) pp. 458-469; G. A. Wilken, \u201cHet animisme\n      bij de volken van den Indischen Archipel,\u201d _Verspreide Geschriften_\n      (The Hague, 1912), iii. 25-30.\n\n M277 Were-wolves in the Egyptian Sudan.\n\n  766 Ernst Marno, _Reisen im Gebiete des blauen und weissen Nil_ (Vienna,\n      1874), pp. 239 _sq._\n\n M278 The were-wolf story in Petronius.\n\n  767 Petronius, _Sat._ 61 _sq._ (pp. 40 _sq._, ed. Fr. Buecheler,3\n      Berlin, 1882). The Latin word for a were-wolf (_versipellis_) is\n      expressive: it means literally \u201cskin-shifter,\u201d and is equally\n      appropriate whatever the particular animal may be into which the\n      wizard transforms himself. It is to be regretted that we have no\n      such general term in English.\n\n      The bright moonlight which figures in some of these were-wolf\n      stories is perhaps not a mere embellishment of the tale but has its\n      own significance; for in some places it is believed that the\n      transformation of were-wolves into their bestial shape takes place\n      particularly at full moon. See A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et\n      Traditions des Provinces de France_ (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 99,\n      157; J. L. M. Nogu\u00e8s, _Les M\u0153urs d\u2019autrefois en Saintonge et en\n      Aunis_ (Saintes, 1891), p. 141.\n\n M279 Witches like were-wolves can temporarily transform themselves into\n      animals.\n\n  768 J. G. Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and\n      Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), p. 6: \u201cIn carrying out their\n      unhallowed cantrips, witches assumed various shapes. They became\n      gulls, cormorants, ravens, rats, mice, black sheep, swelling waves,\n      whales, and very frequently cats and hares.\u201d To this list of animals\n      into which witches can turn themselves may be added horses, dogs,\n      wolves, foxes, pigs, owls, magpies, wild geese, ducks, serpents,\n      toads, lizards, flies, wasps, and butterflies. See A. Wuttke, _Der\n      deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 150 \u00a7 217; L.\n      Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_\n      (Oldenburg, 1867), i. 327 \u00a7 220; Ulrich Jahn, _Hexenwesen und\n      Zauberei in Pommern_ (Breslau, 1886), p. 7. In his _Topography of\n      Ireland_ (chap. 19), a work completed in 1187 A.D., Giraldus\n      Cambrensis records that \u201cit has also been a frequent complaint, from\n      old times as well as in the present, that certain hags in Wales, as\n      well as in Ireland and Scotland, changed themselves into the shape\n      of hares, that, sucking teats under this counterfeit form, they\n      might stealthily rob other people\u2019s milk.\u201d See _The Historical Works\n      of Giraldus Cambrensis_, revised and edited by Thomas Wright\n      (London, 1887), p. 83.\n\n_  769 The Folk-lore Journal_, iv. (1886) p. 266; Collin de Plancy,\n      _Dictionnaire Infernal_ (Paris, 1825-1826), iii. 475; J. L. M.\n      Nogu\u00e8s, _Les M\u0153urs d\u2019autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis_ (Saintes,\n      1891), p. 141. In Scotland the cut was known as \u201cscoring above the\n      breath.\u201d It consisted of two incisions made crosswise on the witch\u2019s\n      forehead, and was \u201cconfided in all throughout Scotland as the most\n      powerful counter-charm.\u201d See Sir Walter Scott, _Letters on\n      Demonology and Witchcraft_ (London, 1884), p. 272; J. G. Dalyell,\n      _The Darker Superstitions of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1834), pp. 531\n      _sq._; M. M. Banks, \u201cScoring a Witch above the Breath,\u201d _Folk-lore_,\n      xxiii. (1912) p. 490.\n\n  770 J. L. M. Nogu\u00e8s, _l.c._; L. F. Sauv\u00e9, _Le Folk-lore des\n      Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), p. 187.\n\n  771 M. Abeghian, _Der armenische Volksglaube_ (Leipsic, 1899), p. 117.\n      The wolf-skin is supposed to fall down from heaven and to return to\n      heaven after seven years, if the were-wolf has not been delivered\n      from her unhappy state in the meantime by the burning of the skin.\n\n  772 J. G. Campbell, _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and\n      Islands of Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), p. 8; compare A. Wuttke, _Der\n      deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 150 \u00a7 217. Some think\n      that the sixpence should be crooked. See Rev. W. Gregor, _Notes on\n      the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland_ (London, 1881), pp. 71\n      _sq._, 128; _County Folk-lore_, vol. v. _Lincolnshire_, collected by\n      Mrs. Gutch and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), p. 75.\n\n  773 J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 30.\n\n M280 Wounds inflicted on an animal into which a witch has transformed\n      herself are inflicted on the witch herself.\n\n  774 J. G. Campbell, _op. cit._ p. 33.\n\n  775 (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_2 (London, 1873), i. 314.\n\n  776 Joseph Glanvil, _Saducismus Triumphatus or Full and Plain Evidence\n      concerning Witches and Apparitions_ (London, 1681), Part ii. p. 205.\n\n  777 Rev. J. C. Atkinson, _Forty Years in a Moorland Parish_ (London,\n      1891), pp. 82-84.\n\n_  778 County Folk-lore_, vol. v. _Lincolnshire_, collected by Mrs. Gutch\n      and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), pp. 79, 80.\n\n  779 Leland L. Duncan, \u201cFolk-lore Gleanings from County Leitrim,\u201d\n      _Folk-lore_, iv. (1893) pp. 183 _sq._\n\n M281 Wounded witches in the Vosges.\n\n  780 L. F. Sauv\u00e9, _Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges_ (Paris, 1889), p. 176.\n\n  781 L. F. Sauv\u00e9, _op. cit._ pp. 176 _sq._\n\n M282 Wounded witches in Swabia.\n\n  782 Ernst Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_\n      (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 184 _sq._, No. 203.\n\n  783 E. Meier, _op. cit._ pp. 191 _sq._, No. 215. A similar story of the\n      shoeing of a woman in the shape of a horse is reported from Silesia.\n      See R. K\u00fchnau, _Schlesische Sagen_ (Berlin, 1910-1913), iii. pp. 27\n      _sq._, No. 1380.\n\n M283 The miller\u2019s wife and the two grey cats.\n\n  784 R. K\u00fchnau, _Schlesische Sagen_ (Berlin, 1910-1913), iii. pp. 23\n      _sq._, No. 1375. Compare _id._, iii. pp. 28 _sq._, No. 1381.\n\n M284 The analogy of were-wolves confirms the view that the reason for\n      burning bewitched animals is either to burn the witch or to compel\n      her to appear.\n\n  785 See for example L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem\n      Herzogthum Oldenburg_ (Oldenburg, 1867), i. pp. 328, 329, 334, 339;\n      W. von Schulenburg, _Wendische Volkssagen und Gebr\u00e4uche aus dem\n      Spreewald_ (Leipsic, 1880), pp. 164, 165 _sq._; H. Pr\u00f6hle,\n      _Harzsagen_ (Leipsic, 1859), i. 100 _sq._ The belief in such things\n      is said to be universal among the ignorant and superstitious in\n      Germany. See A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin,\n      1869), p. 150, \u00a7 217. In Wales, also, \u201cthe possibility of injuring\n      or marking the witch in her assumed shape so deeply that the bruise\n      remained a mark on her in her natural form was a common belief\u201d (J.\n      Ceredig Davies, _Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales_, Aberystwyth,\n      1911, p. 243). For Welsh stories of this sort, see J. Ceredig\n      Davies, _l.c._; Rev. Elias Owen, _Welsh Folk-lore_ (Oswestry and\n      Wrexham, N.D., preface dated 1896), pp. 228 _sq._; M. Trevelyan,\n      _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London, 1909), p. 214.\n\n  786 L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_\n      (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 361, \u00a7 239.\n\n M285 There is the same reason for burning bewitched things.\n\n  787 Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London,\n      1909), p. 210.\n\n  788 L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_\n      (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 358, \u00a7 238.\n\n  789 L. Strackerjan, _op. cit._ i. p. 360, \u00a7 238e.\n\n M286 Similarly by burning alive a person whose form a witch has assumed,\n      you compel the witch to disclose herself. The burning alive of a\n      supposed witch in Ireland in 1895.\n\n  790 \u201cThe \u2018Witch-burning\u2019 at Clonmell,\u201d _Folk-lore_, vi. (1895) pp.\n      373-384. The account there printed is based on the reports of the\n      judicial proceedings before the magistrates and the judge, which\n      were published in _The Irish Times_ for March 26th, 27th, and 28th,\n      April 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 8th, and July 6th, 1895.\n\n M287 Sometimes bewitched animals are buried alive instead of being\n      burned.\n\n  791 John Graham Dalyell, _The Darker Superstitions of Scotland_\n      (Edinburgh, 1834), p. 185. In this passage \u201cquick\u201d is used in the\n      old sense of \u201cliving,\u201d as in the phrase \u201cthe quick and the dead.\u201d\n      _Nois_ is \u201cnose,\u201d _hoill_ is \u201chole,\u201d _quhilk_ (_whilk_) is \u201cwhich,\u201d\n      and _be_ is \u201cby.\u201d\n\n  792 J. G. Dalyell, _op. cit._ p. 186. _Bestiall_ = animals; _seik_ =\n      sick; _calling_ = driving; _guidis_ = cattle.\n\n  793 John Ramsay, of Ochtertyre, _Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth\n      Century_, edited by Alexander Allardyce (Edinburgh and London,\n      1888), ii. 446 _sq._ As to the custom of cutting off the leg of a\n      diseased animal and hanging it up in the house, see above, p. 296,\n      note 1.\n\n  794 (Sir) Arthur Mitchell, A.M., M.D., _On Various Superstitions in the\n      North-West Highlands and Islands of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1862), p.\n      12 (reprinted from the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of\n      Scotland_, vol. iv.).\n\n M288 Calves killed and buried to save the rest of the herd.\n\n_  795 County Folk-lore_, vol. v. _Lincolnshire_, collected by Mrs. Gutch\n      and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), p. 75, quoting Rev. R. M. Heanley,\n      \u201cThe Vikings: traces of their Folklore in Marshland,\u201d a paper read\n      before the Viking Club, London, and printed in its _Saga-Book_, vol.\n      iii. Part i. Jan. 1902. The wicken-tree is the mountain-ash or rowan\n      tree, which is a very efficient, or at all events a very popular\n      protective against witchcraft. See _County Folk-lore_, vol. v.\n      _Lincolnshire_, pp. 26 _sq._, 98 _sq._; Mabel Peacock, \u201cThe Folklore\n      of Lincolnshire,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xii. (1901) p. 175; J. G. Campbell,\n      _Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of\n      Scotland_ (Glasgow, 1902), pp. 11 _sq._; Rev. Walter Gregor, _Notes\n      on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland_ (London, 1881), p.\n      188. See further _The Scapegoat_, pp. 266 _sq._\n\n M289 General resemblance of the European fire-festivals to each other.\n\n  796 Above, pp. 116 _sq._, 119, 143, 165, 166, 168 _sq._, 172.\n\n  797 Above, pp. 116, 117 _sq._, 119, 141, 143, 161, 162 _sq._, 163 _sq._,\n      166, 173, 191, 201.\n\n M290 Two explanations suggested of the fire-festivals. According to W.\n      Mannhardt, they are charms to secure a supply of sunshine; according\n      to Dr. E. Westermarck they are purificatory, being intended to burn\n      and destroy all harmful influences.\n\n  798 W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarst\u00e4mme_\n      (Berlin, 1875), pp. 521 _sqq._\n\n  799 E. Westermarck, \u201cMidsummer Customs in Morocco,\u201d _Folk-lore_, xvi.\n      (1905) pp. 44 _sqq._; _id._, _The Origin and Development of the\n      Moral Ideas_ (London, 1906-1908), i. 56; _id._, _Ceremonies and\n      Beliefs connected with Agriculture, certain Dates of the Solar Year,\n      and the Weather in Morocco_ (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 93-102.\n\n  800 E. Mogk, \u201cSitten und Gebr\u00e4uche im Kreislauf des Jahres,\u201d in R.\n      Wuttke\u2019s _S\u00e4chsische Volkskunde_2 (Dresden, 1901), pp. 310 _sq._\n\n M291 The two explanations are perhaps not mutually exclusive.\n\n_  801 The Golden Bough_, Second Edition (London, 1900), iii. 312: \u201cThe\n      custom of leaping over the fire and driving cattle through it may be\n      intended, on the one hand, to secure for man and beast a share of\n      the vital energy of the sun, and, on the other hand, to purge them\n      of all evil influences; for to the primitive mind fire is the most\n      powerful of all purificatory agents\u201d; and again, _id._ iii. 314: \u201cIt\n      is quite possible that in these customs the idea of the quickening\n      power of fire may be combined with the conception of it as a\n      purgative agent for the expulsion or destruction of evil beings,\n      such as witches and the vermin that destroy the fruits of the earth.\n      Certainly the fires are often interpreted in the latter way by the\n      persons who light them; and this purgative use of the element comes\n      out very prominently, as we have seen, in the general expulsion of\n      demons from towns and villages. But in the present class of cases\n      this aspect of fire may be secondary, if indeed it is more than a\n      later misinterpretation of the custom.\u201d\n\n M292 Theory that the fire-festivals are charms to ensure a supply of\n      sunshine.\n\n_  802 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 311 _sqq._\n\n M293 Coincidence of two of the festivals with the solstices.\n\n  803 See _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 254 _sqq._\n\n M294 Attempt of the Bushmen to warm up the fire of Sirius in midwinter by\n      kindling sticks.\n\n  804 Manilius, _Astronom._ v. 206 _sqq._:\n\n      \u201c_Cum vero in vastos surget Nemeaeus hiatus,_\n      _ Exoriturque Canis, latratque Canicula flammas_\n      _ Et rabit igne suo geminatque incendia solis,_\n      _ Qua subdente facem terris radiosque movente_,\u201d etc.\n\n      Pliny, _Naturalis Historia_, xviii. 269 _sq._: \u201c_Exoritur dein post\n      triduum fere ubique confessum inter omnes sidus ingens quod canis\n      ortum vocamus, sole partem primam leonis ingresso. Hoc fit post\n      solstitium XXIII. die. Sentiunt id maria et terrae, multae vero et\n      ferae, ut suis locis diximus. Neque est minor ei veneratio quam\n      descriptis in deos stellis, accenditque solem et magnam aestus\n      obtinet causam._\u201d\n\n_  805 Specimens of Bushman Folklore_, collected by the late W. H. I.\n      Bleek, Ph.D., and L. C. Lloyd (London, 1911), pp. 339, 341. In\n      quoting the passage I have omitted the brackets which the editors\n      print for the purpose of indicating the words which are implied, but\n      not expressed, in the original Bushman text.\n\n  806 \u201cThe sun is a little warm, when this star appears in winter\u201d\n      (Editors of _Specimens of Bushman Folklore_).\n\n  807 \u201cWith the stick that he had held in the fire, moving it up and down\n      quickly\u201d (Editors).\n\n  808 \u201cThey take one arm out of the kaross, thereby exposing one shoulder\n      blade to the sun\u201d (Editors).\n\n M295 The burning wheels and discs of the fire-festivals may be direct\n      imitations of the sun.\n\n  809 See above, pp. 161, 162 _sq._ On the wheel as an emblem of the sun,\n      see J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 585; A. Kuhn, _Die\n      Herabkunft des Feuers und des G\u00f6ttertranks_2 (G\u00fctersloh, 1886), pp.\n      45 _sqq._; H. Gaidoz, \u201cLe dieu gaulois du soleil et le symbolisme de\n      la roue,\u201d _Revue Arch\u00e9ologique_, iii. S\u00e9rie, iv. (1884) pp. 14\n      _sqq._; William Simpson, _The Buddhist Praying Wheel_ (London,\n      1896), pp. 87 _sqq._ It is a popular Armenian idea that \u201cthe body of\n      the sun has the shape of the wheel of a water-mill; it revolves and\n      moves forward. As drops of water sputter from the mill-wheel, so\n      sunbeams shoot out from the spokes of the sun-wheel\u201d (M. Abeghian,\n      _Der armenische Volksglaube_, Leipsic, 1899, p. 41). In the old\n      Mexican picture-books the usual representation of the sun is \u201ca\n      wheel, often brilliant with many colours, the rays of which are so\n      many blood-stained tongues, by means of which the Sun receives his\n      nourishment\u201d (E. J. Payne, _History of the New World called\n      America_, Oxford, 1892, i. 521).\n\n  810 Above, p. 169.\n\n  811 Ernst Meier, _Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebr\u00e4uche aus Schwaben_\n      (Stuttgart, 1852), p. 225; F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen\n      Mythologie_ (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 240; Anton Birlinger,\n      _Volksth\u00fcmliches aus Schwaben_ (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862),\n      ii. 57, 97; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 510.\n\n M296 The wheel sometimes used to kindle the fire by friction may also be\n      an imitation of the sun.\n\n  812 Compare J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 521; J. W. Wolf,\n      _Beitr\u00e4ge zur deutschen Mythologie_ (G\u00f6ttingen und Leipsic,\n      1852-1857), ii. 389; Adalbert Kuhn, _Die Herabkunft des Feuers und\n      des G\u00f6ttertranks_2 (G\u00fctersloh, 1886), pp. 41 _sq._, 47; W.\n      Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 521. Lindenbrog in his Glossary on the\n      Capitularies (quoted by J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 502)\n      expressly says: \u201cThe rustics in many parts of Germany, particularly\n      on the festival of St. John the Baptist, wrench a stake from a\n      fence, wind a rope round it, and pull it to and fro till it catches\n      fire. This fire they carefully feed with straw and dry sticks and\n      scatter the ashes over the vegetable gardens, foolishly and\n      superstitiously imagining that in this way the caterpillar can be\n      kept off. They call such a fire _nodfeur_ or _nodfyr_, that is to\n      say need-fire.\u201d\n\n  813 Above, pp. 144 _sq._, 147 _sq._, 155, 169 _sq._, 175, 177, 179.\n\n  814 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 i. 509; J. W. Wolf, _Beitr\u00e4ge zur\n      deutschen Mythologie_, i. 117; A. Kuhn, _Die Herabkunft des\n      Feuers_,2 pp. 47 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 521; W. E.\n      Kelly, _Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore_\n      (London, 1863), p. 49.\n\n  815 A. Kuhn, _Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des G\u00f6ttertranks_2\n      (G\u00fctersloh, 1886), p. 47.\n\n  816 Above, p. 179.\n\n  817 F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_ (Munich, 1848-1855),\n      ii. 240, \u00a7 443.\n\n  818 Above, p. 177.\n\n M297 The influence which the fires are supposed to exert on the weather\n      and vegetation may be thought to be due to an increase of solar heat\n      produced by the fires.\n\n  819 Above, pp. 187 _sq._\n\n  820 Above, pp. 279 _sq._\n\n  821 Above, p. 188.\n\n  822 Above, p. 159.\n\n  823 Above, p. 116.\n\n  824 Above, p. 201.\n\n  825 L. Decle, _Three Years in Savage Africa_ (London, 1898), pp. 160\n      _sq._\n\n  826 Rev. J. Shooter, _The Kafirs of Natal and the Zulu Country_ (London,\n      1857), p. 18.\n\n  827 Above, pp. 140, 142.\n\n  828 Above, pp. 119, 165, 166, 173, 203.\n\n  829 Above, p. 140.\n\n  830 Above, p. 121.\n\n  831 Above, pp. 141, 170, 190, 203, 248, 250, 264.\n\n  832 Above, p. 251.\n\n  833 Above, pp. 119, 165, 166, 168, 173, 174.\n\n  834 Above, pp. 118, 163 _sq._\n\n  835 Above, p. 201.\n\n M298 The effect which the bonfires are supposed to have in fertilizing\n      cattle and women may also be attributed to an increase of solar heat\n      produced by the fires.\n\n  836 Above, p. 203.\n\n  837 Above, p. 250.\n\n  838 Above, pp. 251, 262, 263, 264.\n\n  839 Above, p. 112.\n\n  840 Above, p. 141.\n\n  841 Above, p. 214.\n\n  842 Above, p. 204.\n\n  843 Above, p. 194.\n\n  844 Above, pp. 185, 189; compare p. 174.\n\n  845 Above, p. 166.\n\n  846 Above, pp. 249, 250.\n\n  847 Above, pp. 107, 109, 111, 119; compare pp. 116, 192, 193.\n\n  848 Above, p. 115.\n\n  849 Above, p. 180.\n\n M299 The custom of carrying lighted torches about the country at the\n      festivals may be explained as an attempt to diffuse the sun\u2019s heat.\n\n  850 Above, pp. 113, 142, 170, 233. The torches of Demeter, which figure\n      so largely in her myth and on her monuments, are perhaps to be\n      explained by this custom. See _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_,\n      i. 57. W. Mannhardt thought (_Baumkultus_, p. 536) that the torches\n      in the modern European customs are imitations of lightning. At some\n      of their ceremonies the Indians of North-West America imitate\n      lightning by means of pitch-wood torches which are flashed through\n      the roof of the house. See J. G. Swan, quoted by Franz Boas, \u201cThe\n      Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl\n      Indians,\u201d _Report of the United States National Museum for 1895_\n      (Washington, 1897), p. 639.\n\n  851 Above, p. 203.\n\n  852 Am\u00e9lie Bosquet, _La Normandie Romanesque et Merveilleuse_ (Paris and\n      Rouen, 1845), pp. 295 _sq._; Jules Lec\u0153ur, _Esquisses du Bocage\n      Normand_ (Cond\u00e9-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 126-129. See _The\n      Scapegoat_, pp. 316 _sq._\n\n  853 Br. Jel\u00ednek, \u201cMaterialen zur Vorgeschichte und Volkskunde B\u00f6hmens,\u201d\n      _Mittheilungen der anthropolog. Gesellschaft in Wien_, xxi. (1891)\n      p. 13 note.\n\n  854 Mrs. Bishop, _Korea and her Neighbours_ (London, 1898), ii. 56 _sq._\n\n  855 Above, pp. 190 _sq._\n\n  856 Above, pp. 178, 205, 206.\n\n M300 Theory that the fires at the festivals are purificatory, being\n      intended to burn up all harmful things.\n M301 The purificatory or destructive effect of the fires is often alleged\n      by the people who light them. The great evil against which the fire\n      at the festivals is directed appears to be witchcraft.\n\n  857 See _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, i. 311 _sqq._\n\n  858 Above, pp. 108, 109, 116, 118 _sq._, 121, 148, 154, 156, 157, 159,\n      160, 170, 171, 174, 175, 176, 180, 183, 185, 188, 232 _sq._, 245,\n      252, 253, 280, 292, 293, 295, 297. For more evidence of the use of\n      fire to burn or expel witches on certain days of the year, see _The\n      Scapegoat_, pp. 158 _sqq._ Less often the fires are thought to burn\n      or repel evil spirits and vampyres. See above, pp. 146, 170, 172,\n      202, 252, 282, 285. Sometimes the purpose of the fires is to drive\n      away dragons (above, pp. 161, 195).\n\n  859 Above, pp. 107, 116, 118 _sq._, 159.\n\n  860 \u201cIn short, of all the ills incident to the life of man, none are so\n      formidable as witchcraft, before the combined influence of which, to\n      use the language of an honest man who had himself severely suffered\n      from its effects, the great laird of Grant himself could not stand\n      them if they should fairly yoke upon him\u201d (W. Grant Stewart, _The\n      Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of\n      Scotland_, Edinburgh, 1823, pp. 202 _sq._). \u201cEvery misfortune and\n      calamity that took place in the parish, such as ill-health, the\n      death of friends, the loss of stock, and the failure of crops; yea\n      to such a length did they carry their superstition, that even the\n      inclemency of the seasons, were attributed to the influence of\n      certain old women who were supposed to be in league, and had\n      dealings with the Devil. These the common people thought had the\n      power and too often the inclination to injure their property, and\n      torment their persons\u201d (_County Folk-lore_, vol. v. _Lincolnshire_,\n      collected by Mrs. Gutch and Mabel Peacock, London, 1908, p. 76).\n      \u201cThe county of Salop is no exception to the rule of superstition.\n      The late vicar of a parish on the Clee Hills, startled to find that\n      his parishioners still believed in witchcraft, once proposed to\n      preach a sermon against it, but he was dissuaded from doing so by\n      the parish schoolmaster, who assured him that the belief was so\n      deeply rooted in the people\u2019s minds that he would be more likely to\n      alienate them from the Church than to weaken their faith in\n      witchcraft\u201d (Miss C. F. Burne and Miss G. F. Jackson, _Shropshire\n      Folk-lore_, London, 1883, p. 145). \u201cWherever a man or any living\n      creature falls sick, or a misfortune of any kind happens, without\n      any natural cause being discoverable or rather lying on the surface,\n      there in all probability witchcraft is at work. The sudden stiffness\n      in the small of the back, which few people can account for at the\n      time, is therefore called a \u2018witch-shot\u2019 and is really ascribed to\n      witchcraft\u201d (L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem\n      Herzogthum Oldenburg_, Oldenburg, 1867, i. p. 298, \u00a7 209). What Sir\n      Walter Scott said less than a hundred years ago is probably still\n      true: \u201cThe remains of the superstition sometimes occur; there can be\n      no doubt that the vulgar are still addicted to the custom of scoring\n      above the breath (as it is termed), and other counter-spells,\n      evincing that the belief in witchcraft is only asleep, and might in\n      remote corners be again awakened to deeds of blood\u201d (_Letters on\n      Demonology and Witchcraft_, London, 1884, p. 272). Compare L.\n      Strackerjan, _op. cit._ i. p. 340, \u00a7 221: \u201cThe great power, the\n      malicious wickedness of the witches, cause them to be feared and\n      hated by everybody. The hatred goes so far that still at the present\n      day you may hear it said right out that it is a pity burning has\n      gone out of fashion, for the evil crew deserve nothing else. Perhaps\n      the hatred might find vent yet more openly, if the fear were not so\n      great.\u201d\n\n M302 Amongst the evils for which the fire-festivals are deemed remedies\n      the fore-most is cattle-disease, and cattle-disease is often\n      supposed to be an effect of witchcraft.\n\n  861 For some evidence, see _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_,\n      ii. 52-55, 330 _sqq._ It is a popular belief, universally diffused\n      in Germany, that cattle-plagues are caused by witches (A. Wuttke,\n      _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_,2 Berlin, 1869, p. 149 \u00a7 216). The\n      Scotch Highlanders thought that a witch could destroy the whole of a\n      farmer\u2019s live stock by hiding a small bag, stuffed with charms, in a\n      cleft of the stable or byre (W. Grant Stewart, _The Popular\n      Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of\n      Scotland_, Edinburgh, 1823, pp. 201 _sq._).\n\n_  862 The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, ii. 330 _sqq._\n\n  863 Above, pp. 282, 284 _sq._\n\n M303 Again, the bonfires are thought to avert hail, thunder, lightning,\n      and other maladies, all of which are attributed to the maleficent\n      arts of witches.\n\n  864 Above, pp. 118, 121, 144, 145, 176.\n\n  865 Above, pp. 121, 122, 124, 140 _sq._, 145, 146, 174, 176, 183, 184,\n      187, 188, 190, 191, 192, 249, 250, 252, 253, 254, 258.\n\n  866 J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 908 _sqq._; J. V. Grohmann,\n      _Aberglauben und. Gebr\u00e4uche aus B\u00f6hmen und M\u00e4hren_ (Prague and\n      Leipsic, 1864), p. 32 \u00a7 182; A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche\n      Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin, 1869), pp. 149 _sq._, \u00a7 216; J. Ceredig\n      Davies, _Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales_ (Aberystwyth, 1911), p.\n      230; Alois John, _Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen\n      Westb\u00f6hmen_ (Prague, 1905), p. 202.\n\n  867 Above, pp. 108, 121, 140, 146, 165, 183, 188, 196, 250, 255, 256,\n      258.\n\n  868 Above, pp. 107, 195 _sq._\n\n  869 Above, pp. 162, 163, 166, 171, 174.\n\n  870 A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 351, \u00a7\n      395.\n\n  871 Above, pp. 165, 168, 189, compare 190.\n\n  872 A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 351, \u00a7\n      395; L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum\n      Oldenburg_ (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 298, \u00a7 209. See above, p. 343\n      note.\n\n M304 The burning wheels rolled down hills and the burning discs and\n      brooms thrown into the air may be intended to burn the invisible\n      witches.\n\n  873 In the Ammerland, a district of Oldenburg, you may sometimes see an\n      old cart-wheel fixed over the principal door or on the gable of a\n      house; it serves as a charm against witchcraft and is especially\n      intended to protect the cattle as they are driven out and in. See L.\n      Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_\n      (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 357, \u00a7 236. Can this use of a wheel as a\n      talisman against witchcraft be derived from the practice of rolling\n      fiery wheels down hill for a similar purpose?\n\n  874 F. S. Krauss, _Volksglaube und religi\u00f6ser Brauch der S\u00fcdslaven_\n      (M\u00fcnster i. W., 1890), pp. 118 _sq._\n\n M305 On this view the fertility supposed to follow the use of fire\n      results indirectly from breaking the spells of witches.\n\n  875 In German such spells are called _Nestelkn\u00fcpfen_; in French, _nouer\n      l\u2019aiguilette_. See J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,4 ii. 897, 983;\n      A. Wuttke, _Der deutsche Volksaberglaube_2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 252 \u00a7\n      396; E. Doutt\u00e9, _Magie et Religion dans l\u2019Afrique du Nord_ (Algiers,\n      1908), pp. 87 _sq._, 294 _sqq._; J.L.M. Nogu\u00e8s, _Les M\u0153urs\n      d\u2019autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis_ (Saintes, 1891), pp. 171 _sq._\n\n M306 On the whole the theory of the purificatory or destructive intention\n      of the fire-festivals seems the more probable.","title":"The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 10 of 12)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":159444}