[Were-wolves in the Egyptian Sudan.]

In Sennar, a province of the Egyptian Sudan, the Hammeg and Fungi enjoy the reputation of being powerful magicians who can turn themselves into hyaenas and in that guise scour the country at night, howling and gorging themselves. But by day they are men again. It is very dangerous to shoot at such human hyaenas by night. On the Jebel Bela mountain a soldier once shot at a hyaena and hit it, but it dragged itself off, bleeding, in the darkness and escaped. Next morning he followed up the trail of blood and it led him straight to the hut of a man who was everywhere known for a wizard. Nothing of the hyaena was to be seen, but the man himself was laid up in the house with a fresh wound and died soon afterwards. And the soldier did not long survive him.[766]

[The were-wolf story in Petronius.]

But the classical example of these stories is an old Roman tale told by Petronius. It is put in the mouth of one Niceros. Late at night he left the town to visit a friend of his, a widow, who lived at a farm five miles down the road. He was accompanied by a soldier, who lodged in the same house, a man of Herculean build. When they set out it was near dawn, but the moon shone as bright as day. Passing through the outskirts of the town, they came amongst the tombs, which lined the highroad for some distance. There the soldier made an excuse for retiring behind a monument, and Niceros sat down to wait for him, humming a tune and counting the tombstones to pass the time. In a little he looked round for his companion, and saw a sight which froze him with horror. The soldier had stripped off his clothes to the last rag and laid them at the side of the highway. Then he performed a certain ceremony over them, and immediately was changed into a wolf, and ran howling into the forest. When Niceros had recovered himself a little, he went to pick up the clothes, but found that they were turned to stone. More dead than alive, he drew his sword, and, striking at every shadow cast by the tombstones on the moonlit road, he tottered to his friend's house. He entered it like a ghost, to the surprise of the widow, who wondered to see him abroad so late. "If you had only been here a little ago," said she, "you might have been of some use. For a wolf came tearing into the yard, scaring the cattle and bleeding them like a butcher. But he did not get off so easily, for the servant speared him in the neck." After hearing these words, Niceros felt that he could not close an eye, so he hurried away home again. It was now broad daylight, but when he came to the place where the clothes had been turned to stone, he found only a pool of blood. He reached home, and there lay the soldier in bed like an ox in the shambles, and the doctor was bandaging his neck. "Then I knew," said Niceros, "that the man was a were-wolf, and never again could I break bread with him, no, not if you had killed me for it."[767]

[Witches like were-wolves can temporarily transform themselves into animals.]

These stories may help us to understand the custom of burning a bewitched animal, which has been observed in our own country down to recent times, if indeed it is even now extinct. For a close parallel may be traced in some respects between witches and were-wolves. Like were-wolves, witches are commonly supposed to be able to transform themselves temporarily into animals for the purpose of playing their mischievous pranks;[768] and like were-wolves they can in their animal disguise be compelled to unmask themselves to any one who succeeds in drawing their blood. In either case the animal-skin is conceived as a cloak thrown round the wicked enchanter; and if you can only pierce the skin, whether by the stab of a knife or the shot of a gun, you so rend the disguise that the man or woman inside of it stands revealed in his or her true colours. Strictly speaking, the stab should be given on the brow or between the eyes in the case both of a witch and of a were-wolf;[769] and it is vain to shoot at a were-wolf unless you have had the bullet blessed in a chapel of St. Hubert or happen to be carrying about you, without knowing it, a four-leaved clover; otherwise the bullet will merely rebound from the were-wolf like water from a duck's back.[770] However, in Armenia they say that the were-wolf, who in that country is usually a woman, can be killed neither by shot nor by steel; the only way of delivering the unhappy woman from her bondage is to get hold of her wolf's skin and burn it; for that naturally prevents her from turning into a wolf again. But it is not easy to find the skin, for she is cunning enough to hide it by day.[771] So with witches, it is not only useless but even dangerous to shoot at one of them when she has turned herself into a hare; if you do, the gun may burst in your hand or the shot come back and kill you. The only way to make quite sure of hitting a witch-animal is to put a silver sixpence or a silver button in your gun.[772] For example, it happened one evening that a native of the island of Tiree was going home with a new gun, when he saw a black sheep running towards him across the plain of Reef. Something about the creature excited his suspicion, so he put a silver sixpence in his gun and fired at it. Instantly the black sheep became a woman with a drugget coat wrapt round her head. The man knew her quite well, for she was a witch who had often persecuted him before in the shape of a cat.[773]

[Wounds inflicted on an animal into which a witch has transformed herself are inflicted on the witch herself.]

Again, the wounds inflicted on a witch-hare or a witch-cat are to be seen on the witch herself, just as the wounds inflicted on a were-wolf are to be seen on the man himself when he has doffed the wolfs skin. To take a few instances out of a multitude, a young man in the island of Lismore was out shooting. When he was near Balnagown loch, he started a hare and fired at it. The animal gave an unearthly scream, and then for the first time it occurred to him that there were no real hares in Lismore. He threw away his gun in terror and fled home; and next day he heard that a notorious witch was laid up with a broken leg. A man need be no conjuror to guess how she came by that broken leg.[774] Again, at Thurso certain witches used to turn themselves into cats and in that shape to torment an honest man. One night he lost patience, whipped out his broadsword, and put them to flight. As they were scurrying away he struck at them and cut off a leg of one of the cats. To his astonishment it was a woman's leg, and next morning he found one of the witches short of the corresponding limb.[775] Glanvil tells a story of "an old woman in Cambridge-shire, whose astral spirit, coming into a man's house (as he was sitting alone at the fire) in the shape of an huge cat, and setting her self before the fire, not far from him, he stole a stroke at the back of it with a fire-fork, and seemed to break the back of it, but it scambled from him, and vanisht he knew not how. But such an old woman, a reputed witch, was found dead in her bed that very night, with her back broken, as I have heard some years ago credibly reported."[776] In Yorkshire during the latter half of the nineteenth century a parish clergyman was told a circumstantial story of an old witch named Nanny, who was hunted in the form of a hare for several miles over the Westerdale moors and kept well away from the dogs, till a black one joined the pack and succeeded in taking a bit out of one of the hare's legs. That was the end of the chase, and immediately afterwards the sportsmen found old Nanny laid up in bed with a sore leg. On examining the wounded limb they discovered that the hurt was precisely in that part of it which in the hare had been bitten by the black dog and, what was still more significant, the wound had all the appearance of having been inflicted by a dog's teeth. So they put two and two together.[777] The same sort of thing is often reported in Lincolnshire. "One night," said a servant from Kirton Lindsey, "my father and brother saw a cat in front of them. Father knew it was a witch, and took a stone and hammered it. Next day the witch had her face all tied up, and shortly afterwards died." Again, a Bardney bumpkin told how a witch in his neighbourhood could take all sorts of shapes. One night a man shot a hare, and when he went to the witch's house he found her plastering a wound just where he had shot the hare.[778] So in County Leitrim, in Ireland, they say that a hare pursued by dogs fled to a house near at hand, but just as it was bolting in at the door one of the dogs came up with it and nipped a piece out of its leg. The hunters entered the house and found no hare there but only an old woman, and her side was bleeding; so they knew what to think of her.[779]

[Wounded witches in the Vosges.]

Again, in the Vosges Mountains a great big hare used to come out every evening to take the air at the foot of the Mont des Fourches. All the sportsmen of the neighbourhood tried their hands on that hare for a month, but not one of them could hit it. At last one marksman, more knowing than the rest, loaded his gun with some pellets of a consecrated wafer in addition to the usual pellets of lead. That did the trick. If puss was not killed outright, she was badly hurt, and limped away uttering shrieks and curses in a human voice. Later it transpired that she was no other than the witch of a neighbouring village who had the power of putting on the shape of any animal she pleased.[780] Again, a hunter of Travexin, in the Vosges, fired at a hare and almost shot away one of its hind legs. Nevertheless the creature contrived to escape into a cottage through the open door. Immediately a child's cries were heard to proceed from the cottage, and the hunter could distinguish these words, "Daddy, daddy, come quick! Poor mammy has her leg broken."[781]

[Wounded witches in Swabia.]

In Swabia the witches are liable to accidents of the same sort when they go about their business in the form of animals. For example, there was a soldier who was betrothed to a young woman and used to visit her every evening when he was off duty. But one evening the girl told him that he must not come to the house on Friday nights, because it was never convenient to her to see him then. This roused his suspicion, and the very next Friday night he set out to go to his sweetheart's house. On the way a white cat ran up to him in the street and dogged his steps, and when the animal would not make off he drew his sword and slashed off one of its paws. On that the cat bolted. The soldier walked on, but when he came to his sweetheart's house he found her in bed, and when he asked her what was the matter, she gave a very confused reply. Noticing stains of blood on the bed, he drew down the coverlet and saw that the girl was weltering in her gore, for one of her feet was lopped off. "So that's what's the matter with you, you witch!" said he, and turned on his heel and left her, and within three days she was dead.[782] Again, a farmer in the neighbourhood of Wiesensteig frequently found in his stable a horse over and above the four horses he actually owned. He did not know what to make of it and mentioned the matter to the smith. The smith said quietly, "The next time you see a fifth horse in the stable, just you send for me." Well, it was not long before the strange horse was there again, and the farmer at once sent for the smith. He came bringing four horse-shoes with him, and said, "I'm sure the nag has no shoes; I'll shoe her for you." No sooner said than done. However, the smith overreached himself; for next day when his friend the farmer paid him a visit he found the smith's own wife prancing about with horse-shoes nailed on her hands and feet. But it was the last time she ever appeared in the shape of a horse.[783]

[The miller's wife and the two grey cats.]

Once more, in Silesia they tell of a miller's apprentice, a sturdy and industrious young fellow, who set out on his travels. One day he came to a mill, and the miller told him that he wanted an apprentice but did not care to engage one, because hitherto all his apprentices had run away in the night, and when he came down in the morning the mill was at a stand. However, he liked the looks of the young chap and took him into his pay. But what the new apprentice heard about the mill and his predecessors was not encouraging; so the first night when it was his duty to watch in the mill he took care to provide himself with an axe and a prayer-book, and while he kept one eye on the whirring, humming wheels he kept the other on the good book, which he read by the flickering light of a candle set on a table. So the hours at first passed quietly with nothing to disturb him but the monotonous drone and click of the machinery. But on the stroke of twelve, as he was still reading with the axe lying on the table within reach, the door opened and in came two grey cats mewing, an old one and a young one. They sat down opposite him, but it was easy to see that they did not like his wakefulness and the prayer-book and the axe. Suddenly the old cat reached out a paw and made a grab at the axe, but the young chap was too quick for her and held it fast. Then the young cat tried to do the same for the prayer-book, but the apprentice gripped it tight. Thus balked, the two cats set up such a squalling that the young fellow could hardly say his prayers. Just before one o'clock the younger cat sprang on the table and fetched a blow with her right paw at the candle to put it out. But the apprentice struck at her with his axe and sliced the paw off, whereupon the two cats vanished with a frightful screech. The apprentice wrapped the paw up in paper to shew it to his master. Very glad the miller was next morning when he came down and found the mill going and the young chap at his post. The apprentice told him what had happened in the night and gave him the parcel containing the cat's paw. But when the miller opened it, what was the astonishment of the two to find in it no cat's paw but a woman's hand! At breakfast the miller's young wife did not as usual take her place at the table. She was ill in bed, and the doctor had to be called in to bind up her right arm, because in hewing wood, so they said, she had made a slip and cut off her own right hand. But the apprentice packed up his traps and turned his back on that mill before the sun had set.[784]

[The analogy of were-wolves confirms the view that the reason for burning bewitched animals is either to burn the witch or to compel her to appear.]

It would no doubt be easy to multiply instances, all equally well attested and authentic, of the transformation of witches into animals and of the damage which the women themselves have sustained through injuries inflicted on the animals.[785] But the foregoing evidence may suffice to establish the complete parallelism between witches and were-wolves in these respects. The analogy appears to confirm the view that the reason for burning a bewitched animal alive is a belief that the witch herself is in the animal, and that by burning it you either destroy the witch completely or at least unmask her and compel her to reassume her proper human shape, in which she is naturally far less potent for mischief than when she is careering about the country in the likeness of a cat, a hare, a horse, or what not. This principle is still indeed clearly recognized by people in Oldenburg, though, as might be expected, they do not now carry out the principle to its logical conclusion by burning the bewitched animal or person alive; instead they resort to a feeble and, it must be added, perfectly futile subterfuge dictated by a mistaken humanity or a fear of the police. "When anything living is bewitched in a house, for example, children or animals, they burn or boil the nobler inwards of animals, especially the hearts, but also the lungs or the liver. If animals have died, they take the inwards of one of them or of an animal of the same kind slaughtered for the purpose; but if that is not possible they take the inwards of a cock, by preference a black one. The heart, lung, or liver is stuck all over with needles, or marked with a cross cut, or placed on the fire in a tightly closed vessel, strict silence being observed and doors and windows well shut. When the heart boils or is reduced to ashes, the witch must appear, for during the boiling she feels the burning pain. She either begs to be released or seeks to borrow something, for example, salt or a coal of fire, or she takes the lid off the pot, or tries to induce the person whose spell is on her to speak. They say, too, that a woman comes with a spinning-wheel. If it is a sheep that has died, you proceed in the same way with a tripe from its stomach and prick it with needles while it is on the boil. Instead of boiling it, some people nail the heart to the highest rafter of the house, or lay it on the edge of the hearth, in order that it may dry up, no doubt because the same thing happens to the witch. We may conjecture that other sympathetic means of destruction are employed against witchcraft. The following is expressly reported: the heart of a calf that has died is stuck all over with needles, enclosed in a bag, and thrown into flowing water before sunset."[786]

[There is the same reason for burning bewitched things; similarly by burning alive a person whose form a witch has assumed, you compel the witch to disclose herself.]

And the same thing holds good also of inanimate objects on which a witch has cast her spell. In Wales they say that "if a thing is bewitched, burn it, and immediately afterwards the witch will come to borrow something of you. If you give what she asks, she will go free; if you refuse it, she will burn, and a mark will be on her body the next day."[787] So, too, in Oldenburg, "the burning of things that are bewitched or that have been received from witches is another way of breaking the spell. It is often said that the burning should take place at a cross-road, and in several places cross-roads are shewn where the burning used to be performed.... As a rule, while the things are burning, the guilty witches appear, though not always in their own shape. At the burning of bewitched butter they often appear as cockchafers and can be killed with impunity. Victuals received from witches may be safely consumed if only you first burn a portion of them."[788] For example, a young man in Oldenburg was wooing a girl, and she gave him two fine apples as a gift. Not feeling any appetite at the time, he put the apples in his pocket, and when he came home he laid them by in a chest. Two or three days afterwards he remembered the apples and went to the chest to fetch them. But when he would have put his hand on them, what was his horror to find in their stead two fat ugly toads in the chest. He hastened to a wise man and asked him what he should do with the toads. The man told him to boil the toads alive, but while he was doing so he must be sure on no account to lend anything out of the house. Well, just as he had the toads in a pot on the fire and the water began to grow nicely warm, who should come to the door but the girl who had given him the apples, and she wished to borrow something; but he refused to give her anything, rated her as a witch, and drove her out of the house. A little afterwards in came the girl's mother and begged with tears in her eyes for something or other; but he turned her out also. The last word she said to him was that he should at least spare her daughter's life; but he paid no heed to her and let the toads boil till they fell to bits. Next day word came that the girl was dead.[789] Can any reasonable man doubt that the witch herself was boiled alive in the person of the toads?

[The burning alive of a supposed witch in Ireland in 1895.]

Moreover, just as a witch can assume the form of an animal, so she can assume the form of some other human being, and the likeness is sometimes so good that it is difficult to detect the fraud. However, by burning alive the person whose shape the witch has put on, you force the witch to disclose herself, just as by burning alive the bewitched animal you in like manner oblige the witch to appear. This principle may perhaps be unknown to science, falsely so called, but it is well understood in Ireland and has been acted on within recent years. In March 1895 a peasant named Michael Cleary, residing at Ballyvadlea, a remote and lonely district in the county of Tipperary, burned his wife Bridget Cleary alive over a slow fire on the kitchen hearth in the presence of and with the active assistance of some neighbours, including the woman's own father and several of her cousins. They thought that she was not Bridget Cleary at all, but a witch, and that when they held her down on the fire she would vanish up the chimney; so they cried, while she was burning, "Away she goes! Away she goes!" Even when she lay quite dead on the kitchen floor (for contrary to the general expectation she did not disappear up the chimney), her husband still believed that the woman lying there was a witch, and that his own dear wife had gone with the fairies to the old rath or fort on the hill of Kylenagranagh, where he would see her at night riding a grey horse and roped to the saddle, and that he would cut the ropes, and that she would stay with him ever afterwards. So he went with some friends to the fort night after night, taking a big table-knife with him to cut the ropes. But he never saw his wife again. He and the men who had held the woman on the fire were arrested and tried at Clonmel for wilful murder in July 1895; they were all found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to various terms of penal servitude and imprisonment; the sentence passed on Michael Cleary was twenty years' penal servitude.[790]

[Sometimes bewitched animals are buried alive instead of being burned.]

However, our British peasants, it must be confessed, have not always acted up to the strict logical theory which seems to call for death by fire as the proper treatment both of bewitched animals and of witches. Sometimes, perhaps in moments of weakness, they have merely buried the bewitched animals alive instead of burning them. For example, in the year 1643, "many cattle having died, John Brughe and Neane Nikclerith, also one of the initiated, conjoined their mutual skill for the safety of the herd. The surviving animals were drove past a tub of water containing two enchanted stones: and each was sprinkled from the liquid contents in its course. One, however, being unable to walk, 'was by force drawin out at the byre dure; and the said Johnne with Nikclerith smelling the nois thereof said it wald not leive, caused are hoill to be maid in Maw Greane, quhilk was put quick in the hole and maid all the rest of the cattell theireftir to go over that place: and in that devillische maner, be charmeing,' they were cured."[791] Again, during the prevalence of a murrain about the year 1629, certain persons proposed to stay the plague with the help of a celebrated "cureing stane" of which the laird of Lee was the fortunate owner. But from this they were dissuaded by one who "had sene bestiall curet be taking are quik seik ox, and making are deip pitt, and bureing him therin, and be calling the oxin and bestiall over that place." Indeed Issobell Young, the mother of these persons, had herself endeavoured to check the progress of the distemper by taking "ane quik ox with ane catt, and ane grit quantitie of salt," and proceeding "to burie the ox and catt quik with the salt, in ane deip hoill in the grund, as ane sacrifice to the devill, that the rest of the guidis might be fred of the seiknes or diseases."[792] Writing towards the end of the eighteenth century, John Ramsay of Ochtertyre tells us that "the violent death even of a brute is in some cases held to be of great avail. There is a disease called the black spauld, which sometimes rages like a pestilence among black cattle, the symptoms of which are a mortification in the legs and a corruption of the mass of blood. Among the other engines of superstition that are directed against this fatal malady, the first cow seized with it is commonly buried alive, and the other cattle are forced to pass backwards and forwards over the pit. At other times the heart is taken out of the beast alive, and then the carcass is buried. It is remarkable that the leg affected is cut off, and hung up in some part of the house or byre, where it remains suspended, notwithstanding the seeming danger of infection. There is hardly a house in Mull where these may not be seen. This practice seems to have taken its rise antecedent to Christianity, as it reminds us of the pagan custom of hanging up offerings in their temples. In Breadalbane, when a cow is observed to have symptoms of madness, there is recourse had to a peculiar process. They tie the legs of the mad creature, and throw her into a pit dug at the door of the fold. After covering the hole with earth, a large fire is kindled upon it; and the rest of the cattle are driven out, and forced to pass through the fire one by one."[793] In this latter custom we may suspect that the fire kindled on the grave of the buried cow was originally made by the friction of wood, in other words, that it was a need-fire. Again, writing in the year 1862, Sir Arthur Mitchell tells us that "for the cure of the murrain in cattle, one of the herd is still sacrificed for the good of the whole. This is done by burying it alive. I am assured that within the last ten years such a barbarism occurred in the county of Moray."[794]

[Calves killed and buried to save the rest of the herd.]

Sometimes, however, the animal has not even been buried alive, it has been merely killed and then buried. In this emasculated form the sacrifice, we may say with confidence, is absolutely useless for the purpose of stopping a murrain. Nevertheless, it has been tried. Thus in Lincolnshire, when the cattle plague was so prevalent in 1866, there was, I believe, not a single cowshed in Marshland but had its wicken cross over the door; and other charms more powerful than this were in some cases resorted to. I never heard of the use of the needfire in the Marsh, though it was, I believe, used on the wolds not many miles off. But I knew of at least one case in which a calf was killed and solemnly buried feet pointing upwards at the threshold of the cowshed. When our garthman told me of this, I pointed out to him that the charm had failed, for the disease had not spared that shed. But he promptly replied, "Yis, but owd Edwards were a soight too cliver; he were that mean he slew nobbutt a wankling cauf as were bound to deny anny road; if he had nobbutt tekken his best cauf it wud hev worked reight enuff; 'tain't in reason that owd skrat 'ud be hanselled wi' wankling draffle."[795]

Notes:

[262] See Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie*[4] (Berlin, 1875-1878), i. 502, 510, 516.

[263] W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstaemme (Berlin, 1875), pp. 518 sq.

[264] In the following survey of these fire-customs I follow chiefly W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, kap. vi. pp. 497 sqq. Compare also J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] i. 500 sqq.; Walter E. Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore (London, 1863), pp. 46 sqq.; F. Vogt, "Scheibentreiben und Fruehlingsfeuer," Zeitschrift des Vereins fuer Volkskunde, iii. (1893) pp. 349-369; ibid. iv. (1894) pp. 195-197.

[265] The Scapegoat, pp. 316 sqq.

[266] The first Sunday in Lent is known as Invocavit from the first word of the mass for the day (O. Frh. von Reinsberg-Dueringsfeld, Fest-Kalender aus Boehmen, p. 67).

[267] Le Baron de Reinsberg-Dueringsfeld, Calendrier Belge (Brussels, 1861-1862), i. 141-143; E. Monseur, Le Folklore Wallon (Brussels, N.D.), pp. 124 sq.

[268] Emile Hublard, Fetes du Temps Jadis, les Feux du Careme (Mons, 1899), pp. 25. For the loan of this work I am indebted to Mrs. Wherry of St. Peter's Terrace, Cambridge.

[269] E. Hublard, op. cit. pp. 27 sq.

[270] A. Meyrac, Traditions, coutumes, legendes et contes des Ardennes (Charleville, 1890), p. 68.

[271] L.F. Sauve, Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges (Paris, 1889), p. 56. The popular name for the bonfires in the Upper Vosges (Hautes-Vosges) is chavandes.

[272] E. Cortet, Essai sur les fetes religieuses (Paris, 1867), pp. 101 sq. The local name for these bonfires is bures.

[273] Charles Beauquier, Les mois en Franche-Comte (Paris, 1900), pp. 33 sq. In Bresse the custom was similar. See La Bresse Louhannaise, Bulletin Mensuel, Organe de la Societe d'Agriculture et d'Horticulture de l'Arrondissement de Louhans, Mars, 1906, pp. 111 sq.; E. Cortet, op. cit. p. 100. The usual name for the bonfires is chevannes or schvannes; but in some places they are called fouleres, foualeres, failles, or bourdifailles (Ch. Beauquier, op. cit. p. 34). But the Sunday is called the Sunday of the brandons, bures, bordes, or boides, according to the place. The brandons are the torches which are carried about the streets and the fields; the bonfires, as we have seen, bear another name. A curious custom, observed on the same Sunday in Franche-Comte, requires that couples married within the year should distribute boiled peas to all the young folks of both sexes who demand them at the door. The lads and lasses go about from house to house, making the customary request; in some places they wear masks or are otherwise disguised. See Ch. Beauquier, op. cit. pp. 31-33.

[274] Curiously enough, while the singular is granno-mio, the plural is grannas-mias.

[275] Dr. Pommerol, "La fete des Brandons et le dieu Gaulois Grannus," Bulletins et Memoires de la Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris, v. Serie, ii. (1901) pp. 427-429.

[276] Op. cit. pp. 428 sq.

[277] H. Dessau, Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, vol. ii. Pars i. (Berlin, 1902) pp. 216 sq., Nos. 4646-4652.

[278] (Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Heathendom (London, 1888), pp. 22-25.

[279] Emile Hublard, Fetes du Temps Jadis, les Feux du Careme (Mons, 1899), p. 38, quoting Dom Grenier, Histoire de la Province de Picardie.

[280] E. Hublard, op. cit. p. 39, quoting Dom Grenier.

[281] M. Desgranges, "Usages du Canton de Bonneval," Memoires de la Societe Royale des Antiquaires de France, i. (Paris, 1817) pp. 236-238; Felix Chapiseau, Le folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche (Paris, 1902), i. 315 sq.

[282] John Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 100.

[283] E. Cortet, Essai sur les fetes religieuses (Paris, 1867), pp. 99 sq.; La Bresse Louhannaise, Mars, 1906, p. 111.

[284] A. de Nore, Coutumes, mythes et traditions des provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 283 sq. A similar, though not identical, custom prevailed at Valenciennes (ibid. p. 338).

[285] A. de Nore, op. cit. p. 302.

[286] Desire Monnier, Traditions populaires comparees (Paris, 1854), pp. 191 sq.

[287] Laisnel de la Salle, Croyances et legendes du centre de la France (Paris, 1875). i. 35 sqq.

[288] Jules Lecoeur, Esquisses du Rocage Normand (Conde-sur-Noireau, 1887), ii. 131 sq. For more evidence of customs of this sort observed in various parts of France on the first Sunday in Lent, see Madame Clement, Histoire des Fetes civiles et religieuses, etc., du Departement du Nord*[2] (Cambrai, 1836), pp. 351 sqq.; Emile Hublard, Fetes du Temps Jadis, les Feux du Careme (Mons, 1899), pp. 33 sqq.

[289] J.H. Schmitz, Sitten und Sagen, Lieder, Spruechwoerter und Raethsel des Eifler Volkes (Treves, 1856-1858), i. 21-25; N. Hocker, in Zeitschrift fuer deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, i. (1853) p. 90; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstaemme (Berlin, 1875), p. 501.

[290] N. Hocker, op. cit. pp. 89 sq.; W. Mannhardt, l.c.

[291] F.J. Vonbun, Beitraege zur deutschen Mythologie (Chur, 1862), p. 20; W. Mannhardt, l.c.

[292] Ernst Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebraeuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 380 sqq.; Anton Birlinger, Volksthuemliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), ii. 56 sqq., 66 sqq.; Bavaria, Landes-und Volkskunde des Koenigreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1867), ii. 2, pp. 838 sq.; F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), i. 211, Sec. 232; W. Mannhardt, l.c. One of the popular German names for the first Sunday in Lent is White Sunday, which is not to be confused with the first Sunday after Easter, which also goes by the name of White Sunday (E. Meier, op. cit. p. 380; A. Birlinger, op. cit. ii. 56).

[293] H. Gaidoz, "Le dieu gaulois du soleil et le symbolisme de la roue," Revue Archeologique, iii. serie, iv. (1884) pp. 139 sq.

[294] August Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebraeuche aus Thueringen (Vienna, 1878), p. 189; F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 207; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, pp. 500 sq.

[295] W. Kolbe, Hessiche Volks-Sitten und Gebraeuche*[2] (Marburg, 1888), p. 36.

[296] Adalbert Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Goettertranks*[2] (Guetersloh, 1886), p. 86, quoting Hocker, Des Mosellandes Geschichten, Sagen und Legenden (Trier, 1852), pp. 415 sqq. Compare W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 501; and below, pp. 163 sq. Thus it appears that the ceremony of rolling the fiery wheel down hill was observed twice a year at Konz, once on the first Sunday in Lent, and once at Midsummer.

[297] H. Herzog, Schweizerische Volksfeste, Sitten und Gebraeuche (Aarau, 1884), pp. 214-216; E. Hoffmann-Krayer, "Fruchtbarkeitsriten im schweizerischen Volksbrauch," Schweizerisches Archiv fuer Volkskunde, xi. (1907) pp. 247-249; id., Feste und Braeuche des Schweizervolkes (Zurich, 1913), pp. 135 sq.

[298] Theodor Vernaleken, Mythen und Braeuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), pp. 293 sq.; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 498. See The Dying God, p. 239.

[299] J. H. Schmitz, Sitten und Sagen, Lieder, Spruechwoerter und Raethsel des Eifler Volkes (Treves, 1856-1858), i. 20; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 499.

[300] L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), ii. 39, Sec. 306; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 498.

[301] W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 499.

[302] W. Mannhardt, op. cit. pp. 498 sq.

[303] W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 499.

[304] Christian Schneller, Maerchen und Sagen aus Waelschtirol (Innsbruck, 1867), pp. 234 sq.; W. Mannhardt, op. cit. pp. 499 sq.

[305] John Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 157 sq.; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, pp. 502-505; Karl Freiherr von Leoprechting, Aus dem Lechrain (Munich, 1855), pp. 172 sq.; Anton Birlinger, Volksthuemliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), i. 472 sq.; Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbraeuche und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, N.D.), p. 26; F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 241 sq.; Ernst Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebraeuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 139 sq.; Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Koenigreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1867), i. 371; A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube*[2] (Berlin, 1869), pp. 68 sq., Sec. 81; Ignaz V. Zingerle, Sitten, Braeuche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes*[2] (Innsbruck, 1871), p. 149, Sec.Sec. 1286-1289; W. Kolbe, Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebraeuche*[2] (Marburg, 1888), pp. 44 sqq.; County Folk-lore, Printed Extracts, Leicestershire and Rutland, collected by C.J. Billson (London, 1895), pp. 75 sq.; A. Tiraboschi, "Usi pasquali nel Bergamasco," Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizione Popolari, i. (1892) pp. 442 sq. The ecclesiastical custom of lighting the Paschal or Easter candle is very fully described by Mr. H.J. Feasey, Ancient English Holy Week Ceremonial (London, 1897), pp. 179 sqq. These candles were sometimes of prodigious size; in the cathedrals of Norwich and Durham, for example, they reached almost to the roof, from which they had to be lighted. Often they went by the name of the Judas Light or the Judas Candle; and sometimes small waxen figures of Judas were hung on them. See H.J. Feasey, op. cit. pp. 193, 213 sqq. As to the ritual of the new fire at St. Peter's in Rome, see R. Chambers, The Book of Days (London and Edinburgh, 1886), i. 421; and as to the early history of the rite in the Catholic church, see Mgr. L. Duchesne, Origines du Culte Chretien*[3] (Paris, 1903), pp. 250-257.]

[306] Bavaria, Landes und Volkskunde des Koenigreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1867), i. 1002 sq.

[307] Gennaro Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi (Palermo, 1890), pp. 122 sq.

[308] G. Finamore, op. cit. pp. 123 sq.

[309] Vincenzo Dorsa, La Tradizione Greco-Latina negli Usi e nelle Credenze Popolari della Calabria Citeriore (Cosenza, 1884), pp. 48 sq.

[310] Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westboehmen (Prague, 1905), pp. 62 sq.

[311] K. Seifart, Sagen, Maerchen, Schwaenke und Gebraeuche aits Stadt und Stift Hildesheim*[2] (Hildesheim, 1889), pp. 177 sq., 179 sq.

[312] M. Lexer, "Volksueberlieferungen aus dem Lesachthal in Karnten," Zeitschrift fuer deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iii. (1855) p. 31.

[313] The Popish Kingdome or reigne of Antichrist, written in Latin verse by Thomas Naogeorgus and Englyshed by Barnabe Googe, 1570, edited by R.C. Hope (London, 1880), p. 52, recto. The title of the original poem was Regnum Papisticum. The author, Thomas Kirchmeyer (Naogeorgus, as he called himself), died in 1577. The book is a satire on the abuses and superstitions of the Catholic Church. Only one perfect copy of Googe's translation is known to exist: it is in the University Library at Cambridge. See Mr. R.C. Hope's introduction to his reprint of this rare work, pp. xv. sq. The words, "Then Clappers ceasse, and belles are set againe at libertee," refer to the custom in Catholic countries of silencing the church bells for two days from noon on Maundy Thursday to noon on Easter Saturday and substituting for their music the harsh clatter of wooden rattles. See R. Chambers, The Book of Days (London and Edinburgh, 1886), i, 412 sq. According to another account the church bells are silent from midnight on the Wednesday preceding Maundy Thursday till matins on Easter Day. See W. Smith and S. Cheetham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (London, 1875-1880), ii. 1161, referring to Ordo Roman. i. u.s.

[314] R. Chambers, The Book of Days (London and Edinburgh, 1886), i. 421.

[315] Miss Jessie L. Weston, "The Scoppio del Carro at Florence," Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) pp. 182-184; "Lo Scoppio del Carro," Resurrezione, Numero Unico del Sabato Santo (Florence, April, 1906), p. 1 (giving a picture of the car with its pyramid of fire-works). The latter paper was kindly sent to me from Florence by my friend Professor W.J. Lewis. I have also received a letter on the subject from Signor Carlo Placci, dated 4 (or 7) September, 1905, 1 Via Alfieri, Firenze.

[316] Frederick Starr, "Holy Week in Mexico," The Journal of American Folk-lore, xii. (1899) pp. 164 sq.; C. Boyson Taylor, "Easter in Many Lands," Everybody's Magazine, New York, 1903, p. 293. I have to thank Mr. S.S. Cohen, of 1525 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, for sending me a cutting from the latter magazine.

[317] K. von den Steinen, Unter den Naturvoelkern Zentral-Brasiliens (Berlin, 1894), pp. 458 sq.; E. Montet, "Religion et Superstition dans l'Amerique du Sud," Revue de l'Histoire des Religions, xxxii. (1895) p. 145.

[318] J.J. von Tschudi, Peru, Reiseskizzen aus den Jahren 1838-1842 (St. Gallen, 1846), ii. 189 sq.

[319] H. Candelier, Rio-Hacha et les Indiens Goajires (Paris, 1893), p. 85.

[320] Henry Maundrell, "A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter, A.D. 1697," in Bohn's Early Travellers in Palestine (London, 1848), pp. 462-465; Mgr. Auvergne, in Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, x. (1837) pp. 23 sq.; A.P. Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, Second Edition (London, 1856), pp. 460-465; E. Cortet, Essai sur les Fetes Religieuses (Paris, 1867), pp. 137-139; A.W. Kinglake, Eothen, chapter xvi. pp. 158-163 (Temple Classics edition); Father N. Abougit, S.J., "Le feu du Saint-Sepulcre," Les Missions Catholiques, viii. (1876) pp. 518 sq.; Rev. C.T. Wilson, Peasant Life in the Holy Land (London, 1906), pp. 45 sq.; P. Saint-yves, "Le Renouvellement du Feu Sacre," Revue des Traditions Populaires, xxvii. (1912) pp. 449 sqq. The distribution of the new fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the subject of a picture by Holman Hunt. From some printed notes on the picture, with which Mrs. Holman Hunt was so kind as to furnish me, it appears that the new fire is carried by horsemen to Bethlehem and Jaffa, and that a Russian ship conveys it from Jaffa to Odessa, whence it is distributed all over the country.

[321] Father X. Abougit, S.J., "Le feu du Saint-Sepulcre," Les Missions Catholiques, viii. (1876) pp. 165-168.

[322] I have described the ceremony as I witnessed it at Athens, on April 13th, 1890. Compare Folk-lore, i. (1890) p. 275. Having been honoured, like other strangers, with a place on the platform, I did not myself detect Lucifer at work among the multitude below; I merely suspected his insidious presence.

[323] W.H.D. Rouse, "Folk-lore from the Southern Sporades," Folk-lore, x. (1899) p. 178.

[324] Mrs. A.E. Gardner was so kind as to send me a photograph of a Theban Judas dangling from a gallows and partially enveloped in smoke. The photograph was taken at Thebes during the Easter celebration of 1891.

[325] G.F. Abbott, Macedonian Folklore (Cambridge, 1903) p. 37.

[326] Cirbied, "Memoire sur la gouvernment et sur la religion des anciens Armeniens," Memoires publiees par la Societe Royale des Antiquaires de France, ii. (1820) pp. 285-287; Manuk Abeghian, Der armenische Volksglaube (Leipsic, 1899), pp. 72-74. The ceremony is said to be merely a continuation of an old heathen festival which was held at the beginning of spring in honour of the fire-god Mihr. A bonfire was made in a public place, and lamps kindled at it were kept burning throughout the year in each of the fire-god's temples.

[327] The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 32, ii. 243; Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, ii. 65, 74, 75, 78, 136.

[328] Garcilasso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Yncas translated by (Sir) Clements R. Markham (Hakluyt Society, London, 1869-1871), vol. ii. pp. 155-163. Compare Juan de Velasco, "Histoire du Royaume de Quito," in H. Ternaux-Compans's Voyages, Relations et Memoires originaux pour servir a l'Histoire de la Decouverte de l'Amerique, xviii. (Paris, 1840) p. 140.

[329] B. de Sahagun, Histoire Generale des Choses de la Nouvelle Espagne, traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. Simeon (Paris, 1880), bk. ii. chapters 18 and 37, pp. 76, 161; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des Nations civilisees du Mexique et de l'Amerique-Centrale (Paris, 1857-1859), iii. 136.

[330] Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson, "The Zuni Indians," Twenty-third Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington, 1904), pp. 108-141, 148-162, especially pp. 108, 109, 114 sq., 120 sq., 130 sq., 132, 148 sq., 157 sq. I have already described these ceremonies in Totemism and Exogamy, iii. 237 sq. Among the Hopi (Moqui) Indians of Walpi, another pueblo village of this region, new fire is ceremonially kindled by friction in November. See Jesse Walter Fewkes, "The Tusayan New Fire Ceremony," Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, xxvi. 422-458; id., "The Group of Tusayan Ceremonials called Katcinas," Fifteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology (Washington, 1897), p. 263; id., "Hopi Katcinas," Twenty-first Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (Washington, 1903), p. 24.

[331] Henry R. Schoolcraft, Notes on the Iroquois (Albany, 1847), p. 137. Schoolcraft did not know the date of the ceremony, but he conjectured that it fell at the end of the Iroquois year, which was a lunar year of twelve or thirteen months. He says: "That the close of the lunar series should have been the period of putting out the fire, and the beginning of the next, the time of relumination, from new fire, is so consonant to analogy in the tropical tribes, as to be probable" (op. cit. p. 138).

[332] C.F. Hall, Life with the Esquimaux (London, 1864), ii. 323.

[333] Franz Boas, "The Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay," Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural, History, xv. Part i. (New York, 1901) p. 151.

[334] G. Nachtigal, Sahara und Sudan, iii. (Leipsic, 1889) p. 251.

[335] Major C. Percival, "Tropical Africa, on the Border Line of Mohamedan Civilization," The Geographical Journal, xlii. (1913) pp. 253 sq.

[336] Adrien Germain, "Note sur Zanzibar et la cote orientale de l'Afrique," Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie (Paris), v. Serie xvi. (1868) p. 557; Les Missions Catholiques, iii. (1870) p. 270; Charles New, Life, Wanderings, and Labours in Eastern Africa (London, 1873), p. 65; Jerome Becker, La Vie en Afrique (Paris and Brussels, 1887), ii. 36; O. Baumann, Usambara und seine Nachbargebiele (Berlin, 1891), pp. 55 sq.; C. Velten, Sitten und Gebraeucheaer Suaheli (Goettingen,1903), pp. 342-344.

[337] Duarte Barbosa, Description of the Coasts of East Africa and Malabar (Hakluyt Society, London, 1866), p. 8; id., in Records of South-Eastern Africa, collected by G. McCall Theal, vol. i. (1898) p. 96; Damiao de Goes, "Chronicle of the Most Fortunate King Dom Emanuel," in Records of South-Eastern Africa, collected by G. McCall Theal, vol. iii. (1899) pp. 130 sq. The name Benametapa (more correctly monomotapa) appears to have been the regular title of the paramount chief, which the Portuguese took to be the name of the country. The people over whom he ruled seem to have been the Bantu tribe of the Makalanga in the neighbourhood of Sofala. See G. McCall Theal, Records of South-Eastern Africa, vii. (1901) pp. 481-484. It is to their custom of annually extinguishing and relighting the fire that Montaigne refers in his essay (i. 22, vol. i. p. 140 of Charpentier's edition), though he mentions no names.

[338] Sir H.H. Johnson, British Central Africa (London, 1897), pp. 426, 439.

[339] W.H.R. Rivers, The Todas (London, 1906), pp. 290-292.

[340] Lieut. R. Stewart, "Notes on Northern Cachar," Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal xxiv. (1855) p. 612.

[341] A. Bastian, Die Voelker des oestlichen Asien, ii. (Leipsic, 1866) pp. 49 sq.; Shway Yoe, The Burman (London, 1882), ii. 325 sq.

[342] G. Schlegel, Uranographie Chinoise (The Hague and Leyden, 1875), pp. 139-143; C. Puini, "Il fuoco nella tradizione degli antichi Cinesi," Giornale della Societa Asiatica Italiana, i. (1887) pp. 20-23; J.J.M. de Groot, Les Fetes annuellement celebrees a Emoui (Amoy) (Paris, 1886), i. 208 sqq. The notion that fire can be worn out with age meets us also in Brahman ritual. See the Satapatha Brahmana, translated by Julius Eggeling, Part i. (Oxford, 1882) p. 230 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xii.).

[343] W.G. Aston, Shinto, The Way of the Gods (London, 1905), pp. 258 sq., compare p. 193. The wands in question are sticks whittled near the top into a mass of adherent shavings; they go by the name of kedzurikake ("part-shaved"), and resemble the sacred inao of the Aino. See W.G. Aston, op. cit. p. 191; and as to the inao, see Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, ii. 185, with note 2.

[344] Ovid, Fasti, iii. 82; Homer, Iliad, i. 590, sqq.

[345] Philostiatus, Heroica, xx. 24.

[346] Ovid, Fasti, iii. 143 sq.; Macrobius, Saturn, i. 12. 6.

[347] Festus, ed. C.O. Mueller (Leipsic, 1839), p. 106, s.v. "Ignis." Plutarch describes a method of rekindling the sacred fire by means of the sun's rays reflected from a hollow mirror (Numa, 9); but he seems to be referring to a Greek rather than to the Roman custom. The rule of celibacy imposed on the Vestals, whose duty it was to relight the sacred fire as well as to preserve it when it was once made, is perhaps explained by a superstition current among French peasants that if a girl can blow up a smouldering candle into a flame she is a virgin, but that if she fails to do so, she is not. See Jules Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Conde-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 27; B. Souche, Croyances, Presages et Traditions diverses (Niort, 1880), p. 12. At least it seems more likely that the rule sprang from a superstition of this sort than from a simple calculation of expediency, as I formerly suggested (Journal of Philology, xiv. (1885) p. 158). Compare The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings> ii. 234 sqq.

[348] Geoffrey Keating, D.D., The History of Ireland, translated from the original Gaelic, and copiously annotated, by John O'Mahony (New York, 1857), p. 300, with the translator's note. Compare (Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Heathendom (London, 1888), pp. 514 sq.

[349] W.R.S. Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, Second Edition (London, 1872), pp. 254 sq.

[350] A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Maerchen und Gebraeuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 373; A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebraeuche und Maerchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 134 sqq.; id., Maerkische Sagen und Maerchen (Berlin, 1843), pp. 312 sq.; J.D.H. Temme, Die Volkssagen der Altmark (Berlin, 1839), pp. 75 sq.; K. Lynker, Deutsche Sagen und Sitten in hessischen Gauen*[2] (Cassel and Goettingen, 1860), p. 240; H. Proehle, Harzbilder (Leipsic, 1855), p. 63; R. Andree, Braunschweiger Volkskunde (Brunswick, 1896), pp. 240-242; W. Kolbe, Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebraeuche (Marburg, 1888), pp. 44-47; F.A. Reimann, Deutsche Volksfeste (Weimar, 1839), p. 37; "Sitten und Gebraeuche in Duderstadt," Zeitschrift fuer deutsche Mythologie und Sitten-kunde, ii. (1855) p. 107; K. Seifart, Sagen, Maerchen, Schwaenke und Gebraeuche aus Stadt und Stift Hildesheim*[2] (Hildesheim, 1889), pp. 177, 180; O. Hartung, "Zur Volkskunde aus Anhalt," Zeitschrift des Vereins fuer Volkskunde, vii. (1897) p. 76.

[351] L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), ii. p. 43 sq., Sec.313; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstaemme (Berlin, 1875), pp. 505 sq.

[352] L. Strackerjan, op. cit. ii. p. 43, Sec.313.

[353] J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] (Berlin, 1875-1878), i. 512; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstaemme, pp. 506 sq.

[354] H. Proehle, Harzbilder (Leipsic, 1855), p. 63; id., in Zeitschrift fuer deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, i. (1853) p. 79; A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Maerchen und Gebraeuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 373; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 507.

[355] A. Kuhn, Maerkische Sagen und Maerchen (Berlin, 1843), pp. 312 sq.; W. Mannhardt, l.c.

[356] W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus p. 508. Compare J.W. Wolf, Beitraege zur deutschen Mythologie (Goettingen, 1852-1857), i. 74; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] i. 512. The two latter writers only state that before the fires were kindled it was customary to hunt squirrels in the woods.

[357] A. Kuhn, l.c.; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 508.

[358] Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Koenigreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1867), iii. 956.

[359] See above, pp. 116 sq., 119.

[360] F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), i. pp. 211 sq., Sec. 233; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, pp. 507 sq.

[361] Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Koenigreichs Bayern, iii. 357.

[362] F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), i. pp. 212 sq., Sec. 236.

[363] F. Panzer, op. cit. ii. pp. 78 sq., Sec.Sec. 114, 115. The customs observed at these places and at Althenneberg are described together by W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 505.

[364] A. Birlinger, Volksthuemliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), ii. p. 82, Sec. 106; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 508.

[365] Elard Hugo Meyer, Badisches Volksleben (Strasburg, 1900), pp. 97 sq.

[366] The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 349 sqq. See further below, vol. ii. pp. 298 sqq.

[367] J.W. Wolf, Beitraege sur deutschen Mythologie, i. 75 sq.; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 506.

[368] L. Lloyd, Peasant Life in Sweden (London, 1870), p. 228.

[369] W. Mueller, Beitraege sur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mahren (Vienna and Olmuetz, 1893), pp. 321, 397 sq. In Wagstadt, a town of Austrian Silesia, a boy in a red waistcoat used to play the part of Judas on the Wednesday before Good Friday. He was chased from before the church door by the other school children, who pursued him through the streets with shouts and the noise of rattles and clappers till they reached a certain suburb, where they always caught and beat him because he had betrayed the Redeemer. See Anton Peter, Volksthuemliches aus oesterreichisch-Schlesien (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 282 sq.; Paul Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 77 sq.

[370] Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, from the MSS. of John Ramsay, Esq., of Ochtertyre, edited by Alexander Allardyce (Edinburgh and London, 1888), ii. 439-445. As to the tein-eigin or need-fire, see below, pp. 269 sqq. The etymology of the word Beltane is uncertain; the popular derivation of the first part from the Phoenician Baal is absurd. See, for example, John Graham Dalyell, The Darker Superstitions of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1834), pp. 176 sq.: "The recognition of the pagan divinity Baal, or Bel, the Sun, is discovered through innumerable etymological sources. In the records of Scottish history, down to the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, multiplied prohibitions were issued from the fountains of ecclesiastical ordinances, against kindling Bailfires, of which the origin cannot be mistaken. The festival of this divinity was commemorated in Scotland until the latest date." Modern scholars are not agreed as to the derivation of the name Beltane. See Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), pp. 268 sq.; J.A. MacCulloch, The Religion of the Ancient Celts (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 264.

[371] "Bal-tein signifies the fire of Baal. Baal or Ball is the only word in Gaelic for a globe. This festival was probably in honour of the sun, whose return, in his apparent annual course, they celebrated, on account of his having such a visible influence, by his genial warmth, on the productions of the earth. That the Caledonians paid a superstitious respect to the sun, as was the practice among many other nations, is evident, not only by the sacrifice at Baltein, but upon many other occasions. When a Highlander goes to bathe, or to drink waters out of a consecrated fountain, he must always approach by going round the place, from east to west on the south side, in imitation of the apparent diurnal motion of the sun. When the dead are laid in the earth, the grave is approached by going round in the same manner. The bride is conducted to her future spouse, in the presence of the minister, and the glass goes round a company, in the course of the sun. This is called, in Gaelic, going round the right, or the lucky way. The opposite course is the wrong, or the unlucky way. And if a person's meat or drink were to affect the wind-pipe, or come against his breath, they instantly cry out deisheal! which is an ejaculation praying that it may go by the right way" (Rev. J. Robertson, in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, xi. 621 note). Compare J.G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1900), pp. 229 sq.: "The Right-hand Turn (Deiseal).— This was the most important of all the observances. The rule is 'Deiseal (i.e. the right-hand turn) for everything,' and consists in doing all things with a motion corresponding to the course of the sun, or from left to right. This is the manner in which screw-nails are driven, and is common with many for no reason but its convenience. Old men in the Highlands were very particular about it. The coffin was taken deiseal about the grave, when about to be lowered; boats were turned to sea according to it, and drams are given to the present day to a company. When putting a straw rope on a house or corn-stack, if the assistant went tuaitheal (i.e. against the course of the sun), the old man was ready to come down and thrash him. On coming to a house the visitor should go round it deiseal to secure luck in the object of his visit. After milking a cow the dairy-maid should strike it deiseal with the shackle, saying 'out and home' (mach 'us dachaigh). This secures its safe return. The word is from deas, right-hand, and iul, direction, and of itself contains no allusion to the sun." Compare M. Martin, "Description of the Western Islands of Scotland," in J. Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, iii. 612 sq.: "There was an ancient custom in the island of Lewis, to make a fiery circle about the houses, corn, cattle, etc., belonging to each particular family: a man carried fire in his right hand, and went round, and it was called dessil, from the right hand, which in the ancient language is called dess.... There is another way of the dessil, or carrying fire round about women before they are churched, after child-bearing; and it is used likewise about children until they are christened; both which are performed in the morning and at night. This is only practised now by some of the ancient midwives: I enquired their reason for this custom, which I told them was altogether unlawful; this disobliged them mightily, insomuch that they would give me no satisfaction. But others, that were of a more agreeable temper, told me that fire-round was an effectual means to preserve both the mother and the infant from the power of evil spirits, who are ready at such times to do mischief, and sometimes carry away the infant; and when they get them once in their possession, return them poor meagre skeletons; and these infants are said to have voracious appetites, constantly craving for meat. In this case it was usual with those who believed that their children were thus taken away, to dig a grave in the fields upon quarter-day, and there to lay the fairy skeleton till next morning; at which time the parents went to the place, where they doubted not to find their own child instead of this skeleton. Some of the poorer sort of people in these islands retain the custom of performing these rounds sun-ways about the persons of their benefactors three times, when they bless them, and wish good success to all their enterprizes. Some are very careful when they set out to sea that the boat be first rowed about sun-ways; and if this be neglected, they are afraid their voyage may prove unfortunate." Probably the superstition was based entirely on the supposed luckiness of the right hand, which accordingly, in making a circuit round an object, is kept towards the centre. As to a supposed worship of the sun among the Scottish Highlanders, compare J.G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, p. 304: "Both the sun (a Ghrian) and moon (a Ghealach) are feminine in Gaelic, and the names are simply descriptive of their appearance. There is no trace of a Sun-God or Moon-Goddess." As to the etymology of Beltane, see above, p. 149 note.

[372] Rev. James Robertson (Parish Minister of Callander), in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1791-1799), xi. 620 sq.

[373] Pennant's "Tour in Scotland," in John Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels (London, 1808-1814), iii. 49.

[374] Rev. Dr. Thomas Bisset, in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, v. 84.

[375] Rev. Allan Stewart, in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, xv. 517 note.

[376] Rev. Walter Gregor, "Notes on Beltane Cakes," Folk-lore, vi. (1895) pp. 2 sq. The Beltane cakes with the nine knobs on them remind us of the cakes with twelve knobs which the Athenians offered to Cronus and other deities (see The Scapegoat, p. 351). The King of the Bean on Twelfth Night was chosen by means of a cake, which was broken in as many pieces as there were persons present, and the person who received the piece containing a bean or a coin became king. See J. Boemus, Mores, leges et ritus omnium gentium (Lyons, 1541), p. 222; John Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 22 sq.; The Scapegoat, pp. 313 sqq.

[377] Shaw, in Pennant's "Tour in Scotland," printed in J. Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, iii. 136. The part of Scotland to which Shaw's description applies is what he calls the province or country of Murray, extending from the river Spey on the east to the river Beauly on the west, and south-west to Loch Lochy.

[378] Rev. Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), p. 167.

[379] A. Goodrich-Freer, "More Folklore from the Hebrides," Folk-lore, xiii. (1902) p. 41. The St. Michael's cake (Struthan na h'eill Micheil), referred to in the text, is described as "the size of a quern" in circumference. "It is kneaded simply with water, and marked across like a scone, dividing it into four equal parts, and then placed in front of the fire resting on a quern. It is not polished with dry meal as is usual in making a cake, but when it is cooked a thin coating of eggs (four in number), mixed with buttermilk, is spread first on one side, then on the other, and it is put before the fire again. An earlier shape, still in use, which tradition associates with the female sex, is that of a triangle with the corners cut off. A struhthan or struhdhan (the word seems to be used for no other kind of cake) is made for each member of the household, including servants and herds. When harvest is late, an early patch of corn is mown on purpose for the struthan" (A. Goodrich-Freer, op. cit. pp. 44. sq..)

[380] Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), pp. 22-24.

[381] Jonathan Ceredig Davies, Folklore of West and Mid-Wales (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 76.

[382] Joseph Train, An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1845), i. 314 sq.

[383] (Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx (Oxford, 1901), i. 309; id., "The Coligny Calendar," Proceedings of the British Academy, 1909-1910, pp. 261 sq. See further The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 53 sq.

[384] Professor Frank Granger, "Early Man," in The Victoria History of the County of Nottingham, edited by William Page, i. (London, 1906) pp. 186 sq.

[385] (Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx (Oxford, 1901), i. 310; id., "Manx Folk-lore and Superstitions," Folk-lore, ii. (1891) pp. 303 sq.

[386] P.W. Joyce, A Social History of Ancient Ireland (London, 1903), i. 290 sq., referring to Kuno Meyer, Hibernia Minora, p. 49 and Glossary, 23.

[387] J.B. Bury, The Life of St. Patrick (London, 1905), pp. 104 sqq.

[388] Above, p. 147.

[389] Geoffrey Keating, D.D., The History of Ireland, translated by John O'Mahony (New York, 1857), pp. 300 sq.

[390] (Sir) John Rhys, "Manx Folk-lore and Superstition," Folk-lore, ii. (1891) p. 303; id., Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx (Oxford, 1901), i. 309. Compare P.W. Joyce, A Social History of Ancient Ireland (London, 1903), i. 291: "The custom of driving cattle through fires against disease on the eve of the 1st of May, and on the eve of the 24th June (St. John's Day), continued in Ireland, as well as in the Scottish Highlands, to a period within living memory." In a footnote Mr. Joyce refers to Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica, ii. 340, for Scotland, and adds, "I saw it done in Ireland."

[391] L. Lloyd, Peasant Life in Sweden (London, 1870), pp. 233 sq.

[392] Reinsberg-Dueringsfeld, Fest-Kalender aus Boehmen (Prague, N.D.), pp. 211 sq.; Br. Jelinek, "Materialien zur Vorgeschichte und Volkskunde Boehmens," Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien, xxi. (1891) p. 13; Alois John, Sitte, Branch, und Volksglaube im deutschen Westboehmen (Prague, 1905), p. 71.

[393] J.A.E. Koehler, Volksbrauch, Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte Ueberlieferungen im Voigtlande (Leipsic, 1867), p. 373. The superstitions relating to witches at this season are legion. For instance, in Saxony and Thuringia any one who labours under a physical blemish can easily rid himself of it by transferring it to the witches on Walpurgis Night. He has only to go out to a cross-road, make three crosses on the blemish, and say, "In the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost." Thus the blemish, whatever it may be, is left behind him at the cross-road, and when the witches sweep by on their way to the Brocken, they must take it with them, and it sticks to them henceforth. Moreover, three crosses chalked up on the doors of houses and cattle-stalls on Walpurgis Night will effectually prevent any of the infernal crew from entering and doing harm to man or beast. See E. Sommer, Sagen, Maerchen und Gebraeuche aus Sachsen und Thueringen (Halle, 1846), pp. 148 sq.; Die gestriegelte Rockenphilosophie (Chemnitz, 1759), p. 116.

[394] See The Scapegoat, pp. 158 sqq.

[395] As to the Midsummer Festival of Europe in general see the evidence collected in the "Specimen Calendarii Gentilis," appended to the Edda Rhythmica seu Antiquior, vulgo Saemundina dicta, Pars iii. (Copenhagen, 1828) pp. 1086-1097.

[396] John Mitchell Kemble, The Saxons in England, New Edition (London, 1876), i. 361 sq., quoting "an ancient MS. written in England, and now in the Harleian Collection, No. 2345, fol. 50." The passage is quoted in part by J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 298 sq., by R.T. Hampson, Medii Aevi Kalendarium (London, 1841), i. 300, and by W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 509. The same explanations of the Midsummer fires and of the custom of trundling a burning wheel on Midsummer Eve are given also by John Beleth, a writer of the twelfth century. See his Rationale Divinorum Officiorum (appended to the Rationale Divinorum Officiorum of G. Ẉ Durandus, Lyons, 1584), p. 556 recto: "Solent porro hoc tempore [the Eve of St. John the Baptist] ex veteri consuetudine mortuorum animalium ossa comburi, quod hujusmodi habet originem. Sunt enim animalia, quae dracones appellamus.... Haec inquam animalia in aere volant, in aquis natant, in terra ambulant. Sed quando in aere ad libidinem concitantur (quod fere fit) saepe ipsum sperma vel in puteos, vel in aquas fluviales ejicunt ex quo lethalis sequitur annus. Adversus haec ergo hujusmodi inventum est remedium, ut videlicet rogus ex ossibus construeretur, et ita fumus hujusmodi animalia fugaret. Et quia istud maxime hoc tempore fiebat, idem etiam modo ab omnibus observatur.... Consuetum item est hac vigilia ardentes deferri faculas quod Johannes fuerit ardens lucerna, et qui vias Domini praeparaverit. Sed quod etiam rota vertatur hinc esse putant quia in eum circulum tunc Sol descenderit ultra quem progredi nequit, a quo cogitur paulatim descendere." The substance of the passage is repeated in other words by G. Durandus (Wilh. Durantis), a writer of the thirteenth century, in his Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, lib. vii. cap. 14 (p. 442 verso, ed. Lyons, 1584). Compare J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] i. 516.

With the notion that the air is poisoned at midsummer we may compare the popular belief that it is similarly infected at an eclipse. Thus among the Esquimaux on the Lower Yukon river in Alaska "it is believed that a subtle essence or unclean influence descends to the earth during an eclipse, and if any of it is caught in utensils of any kind it will produce sickness. As a result, immediately on the commencement of an eclipse, every woman turns bottom side up all her pots, wooden buckets, and dishes" (E.W. Nelson, "The Eskimo about Bering Strait," Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part i. (Washington, 1899) p. 431). Similar notions and practices prevail among the peasantry of southern Germany. Thus the Swabian peasants think that during an eclipse of the sun poison falls on the earth; hence at such a time they will not sow, mow, gather fruit or eat it, they bring the cattle into the stalls, and refrain from business of every kind. If the eclipse lasts long, the people get very anxious, set a burning candle on the mantel-shelf of the stove, and pray to be delivered from the danger. See Anton Birlinger, Volksthuemliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), i. 189. Similarly Bavarian peasants imagine that water is poisoned during a solar eclipse (F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie, ii. 297); and Thuringian bumpkins cover up the wells and bring the cattle home from pasture during an eclipse either of the sun or of the moon; an eclipse is particularly poisonous when it happens to fall on a Wednesday. See August Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebraeuche aus Thueringen (Vienna, 1878), p. 287. As eclipses are commonly supposed by the ignorant to be caused by a monster attacking the sun or moon (E.B. Tylor, Primitive Culture,*[2] London, 1873, i. 328 sqq.), we may surmise, on the analogy of the explanation given of the Midsummer fires, that the unclean influence which is thought to descend on the earth at such times is popularly attributed to seed discharged by the monster or possibly by the sun or moon then in conjunction with each other.

[397] The Popish Kingdome or reigne of Antichrist, written in Latin verse by Thomas Naogeorgus and Englyshed by Barnabe Googe, 1570, edited by R.C. Hope (London, 1880), p. 54 verso. As to this work see above, p. 125 note 1.

[398] J. Boemus, Mores, leges et ritus omnium gentium (Lyons, 1541), pp. 225 sq.

[399] Tessier, "Sur la fete annuelle de la roue flamboyante de la Saint-Jean, a Basse-Kontz, arrondissement de Thionville," Memoires et dissertations publies par la Societe Royale des Antiquaires de France, v. (1823) pp. 379-393. Tessier witnessed the ceremony, 23rd June 1822 (not 1823, as is sometimes stated). His account has been reproduced more or less fully by J. Grimm (Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] i. 515 sq.) W. Mannhardt (Der Baumkultus, pp. 510 sq.), and H. Gaidoz ("Le dieu gaulois du Soleil et le symbolisme de la Roue," Revue Archeologique, iii. Serie, iv. (1884) pp. 24 sq.).

[400] Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Koenigreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1867), i. 373 sq.; compare id., iii. 327 sq. As to the burning discs at the spring festivals, see above, pp. 116 sq., 119, 143.

[401] Op. cit. ii. 260 sq., iii. 936, 956, iv. 2. p. 360.

[402] Op. cit. ii. 260.

[403] Op. cit. iv. i. p. 242. We have seen (p. 163) that in the sixteenth century these customs and beliefs were common in Germany. It is also a German superstition that a house which contains a brand from the midsummer bonfire will not be struck by lightning (J.W. Wolf, Beitraege, zur deutschen Mythologie, i. p. 217, Sec. 185).

[404] J. Boemus, Mores, leges et ritus omnium gentium (Lyons, 1541), p. 226.

[405] Karl Freiherr von Leoprechting, Aus dem Lechrain (Munich, 1855), pp. 181 sqq.; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 510.

[406] A. Birlinger, Volksthuemliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), ii. pp. 96 sqq., Sec. 128, pp. 103 sq., Sec. 129; id., Aus Schwaben (Wiesbaden, 1874), ii. 116-120; E. Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebraeuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 423 sqq.; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 510.

[407] F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), i. pp. 215 sq., Sec. 242; id., ii. 549.

[408] A. Birlinger, Volksthuemliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), ii. 99-101.

[409] Elard Hugo Mayer, Badisches Volksleben (Strasburg, 1900), pp. 103 sq., 225 sq.

[410] W. von Schulenberg, in Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fuer Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, Jahrgang 1897, pp. 494 sq. (bound up with Zeitschrift fuer Ethnologie, xxix. 1897).

[411] H. Gaidoz, "Le dieu Gaulois du Soleil et le symbolisme de la Roue," Revue Archeologique, iii. Serie, iv. (1884) pp. 29 sq.

[412] Bruno Stehle, "Volksglauben, Sitten und Gebraeuche in Lothringen," Globus, lix. (1891) pp. 378 sq.; "Die Sommerwendfeier im St. Amarinthale," Der Urquell, N.F., i. (1897) pp. 181 sqq.

[413] J.H. Schmitz, Sitten und Sagen Lieder, Spruechwoerter und Raethsel des Eifler Volkes (Treves, 1856-1858), i. 40 sq. According to one writer, the garlands are composed of St. John's wort (Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbraeuche und deutscher Volksglaube, Iserlohn, N.D., p. 33). As to the use of St. John's wort at Midsummer, see below, vol. ii. pp. 54 sqq.

[414] A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Maerchen und Gebraeuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 390.

[415] Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbraeuche und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, N.D.), pp. 33 sq.

[416] C.L. Rochholz, Deutscher Glaube und Brauch (Berlin, 1867), ii. 144 sqq.

[417] Philo vom Walde, Schlesien in Sage und Brauch (Berlin, N.D.), p. 124; Paul Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch, und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 136 sq.

[418] J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] i. 517 sq.

[419] From information supplied by Mr. Sigurd K. Heiberg, engineer, of Bergen, Norway, who in his boyhood regularly collected fuel for the fires. I have to thank Miss Anderson, of Barskimming, Mauchline, Ayrshire, for kindly procuring the information for me from Mr. Heiberg.

The Blocksberg, where German as well as Norwegian witches gather for their great Sabbaths on the Eve of May Day (Walpurgis Night) and Midsummer Eve, is commonly identified with the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz mountains. But in Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and probably elsewhere, villages have their own local Blocksberg, which is generally a hill or open place in the neighbourhood; a number of places in Pomerania go by the name of the Blocksberg. See J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie*[4] ii. 878 sq.; Ulrich Jahn, Hexenwesen und Zauberei in Pommern (Breslau, 1886), pp. 4 sq.; id., Volkssagen aus Pommern und Ruegen (Stettin, 1886), p. 329.

[420] L. Lloyd, Peasant Life in Sweden (London, 1870), pp. 259, 265.

[421] L. Lloyd, op. cit. pp. 261 sq. These springs are called "sacrificial fonts" (Offer kaellor) and are "so named because in heathen times the limbs of the slaughtered victim, whether man or beast, were here washed prior to immolation" (L. Lloyd, op. cit. p. 261).

[422] E. Hoffmann-Krayer, Feste und Braeuche des Schweizervolkes (Zurich, 1913), p. 164.

[423] Ignaz V. Zingerle, Sitten, Braeuche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes*[2] (Innsbruck, 1871), ii. p. 159, Sec. 1354.

[424] I.V. Zingerle, op. cit. p. 159, Sec.Sec. 1353, 1355, 1356; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 513.

[425] W. Mannhardt, l.c.

[426] F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), i. p. 210, Sec. 231.

[427] Theodor Vernaleken, Mythen und Braeuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), pp. 307 sq.

[428] J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie*[4] i. 519; Theodor Vernaleken, Mythen und Braeuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), p. 308; Joseph Virgil Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebraeuche aus Bohmen und Maehren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 80, Sec. 636; Reinsberg-Dueringsfeld, Fest-Kalender aus Bohmen (Prague, N.D.), pp. 306-311; Br. Jelfnek, "Materialien zur Vorgeschichte und Volkskunde Boehmens," Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien> xxi. (1891) p. 13; Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westboehmen (Prague, 1905) pp. 84-86.

[429] Willibald Mueller, Beitraege zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Maehren (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), pp. 263-265.

[430] Anton Peter, Volksthuemliches aus Oesterreichisch-Schlesien (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 287.

[431] Th. Vernaleken, Mythen und Braeuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), pp. 308 sq.

[432] The Dying God, p. 262. Compare M. Kowalewsky, in Folk-lore, i. (1890) p. 467.

[433] W.R.S. Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, Second Edition (London, 1872), p. 240.

[434] J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] i. 519; W.R.S. Ralston, Songs of the Russian People (London, 1872), pp. 240, 391.

[435] W.R.S. Ralston, op. cit. p. 240.

[436] W.R.S. Ralston, l.c.

[437] W.J.A. von Tettau und J.D.H. Temme, Die Volkssagen Ostpreussens, Litthauens und Westpreussens (Berlin, 1837), p. 277.

[438] M. Toeppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren*[2] (Danzig, 1867), p. 71.

[439] F.S. Krauss, "Altslavische Feuergewinnung," Globus, lix. (1891) p. 318.

[440] J.G. Kohl, Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen (Dresden and Leipsic, 1841), i. 178-180, ii. 24 sq. Ligho was an old heathen deity, whose joyous festival used to fall in spring.

[441] Ovid, Fasti, vi. 775 sqq.

[442] Friederich S. Krauss, Sitte und Brauch der Suedslaven (Vienna, 1885), pp. 176 sq.

[443] J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] i. 519.

[444] H. von Wlislocki, Volksglaube und religioeser Brauch der Magyar (Muenster i. W., 1893), pp. 40-44.

[445] A. von Ipolyi, "Beitraege zur deutschen Mythologie aus Ungarn," Zeitschrift fuer deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, i. (1853) pp. 270 sq.

[446] J.G. Kohl, Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen, ii. 268 sq.; F.J. Wiedemann, Aus dem inneren und aeusseren Leben der Ehsten (St. Petersburg, 1876), p. 362. The word which I have translated "weeds" is in Esthonian kaste-heinad, in German Thaugras. Apparently it is the name of a special kind of weed.

[447] Fr. Kreutzwald und H. Neus, Mythische und Magische Lieder der Ehsten (St. Petersburg, 1854), p. 62.

[448] J.B. Holzmayer, "Osiliana," Verhandlungen der gelehrten Estnischen Gesellschaft zu Dorpat, vii. (1872) pp. 62 sq. Wiedemann also observes that the sports in which young couples engage in the woods on this evening are not always decorous (Aus dem inneren und aeusseren Leben der Ehsten, p. 362).

[449] J.G. Kohl, Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen, ii. 447 sq.

[450] J.G. Georgi, Beschreibung aller Nationen des russischen Reichs (St. Petersburg, 1776), p. 36; August Freiherr von Haxthausen, Studien ueber die innere Zustaende das Volksleben und insbesondere die laendlichen Einrichtungen Russlands (Hanover, 1847), i. 446 sqq.

[451] Alfred de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 19.

[452] It is notable that St. John is the only saint whose birthday the Church celebrates with honours like those which she accords to the nativity of Christ. Compare Edmond Doutte, Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), p. 571 note I.

[453] Bossuet, Oeuvres (Versailles, 1815-1819), vi. 276 ("Catechisme du diocese de Meaux"). His description of the superstitions is, in his own words, as follows: "Danser a l'entour du feu, jouer, faire des festins, chanter des chansons deshonnetes, jeter des herbes par-dessus le feu, en cueillir avant midi ou a jeun, en porter sur soi, les conserver le long de l'annee, garder des tisons ou des charbons du feu, et autres semblables." This and other evidence of the custom of kindling Midsummer bonfires in France is cited by Ch. Cuissard in his tract Les Feux de la Saint-Jean (Orleans, 1884).

[454] Ch. Cuissard, Les Feux de la Saint-Jean (Orleans, 1884), pp. 40 sq.

[455] A. Le Braz, La Legende de la Mort en Basse-Bretagne (Paris, 1893), p. 279. For an explanation of the custom of throwing a pebble into the fire, see below, p. 240.

[456] M. Quellien, quoted by Alexandre Bertrand, La Religion des Gaulois (Paris, 1897), pp. 116 sq.

[457] Collin de Plancy, Dictionnaire Infernal (Paris, 1825-1826), iii. 40; J.W. Wolf, Beitraege zur deutschen Mythologie (Goettingen, 1852-1857), i. p. 217, Sec. 185; A. Breuil, "Du Culte de St. Jean Baptiste," Memoires de la Societe des Antiquaires de Picardie, viii. (Amiens, 1845) pp. 189 sq.

[458] Eugene Cortet, Essai sur les Fetes Religieuses (Paris, 1867), p. 216; Ch. Cuissard, Les Feux de la Saint-Jean (Orleans, 1884), p. 24.

[459] Paul Sebillot, Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne (Paris, 1886), pp. 192-195. In Upper Brittany these bonfires are called rieux or raviers.

[460] A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 219; E. Cortet, Essai sur les Fetes Religieuses, p. 216.

[461] A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France, pp. 219, 228, 231; E. Cortet, op. cit. pp. 215 sq.

[462] J. Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Conde-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 219-224.

[463] This description is quoted by Madame Clement (Histoire des fetes civites et religieuses, etc., de la Belgique Meridionale, Avesnes, 1846, pp. 394-396); F. Liebrecht (Des Gervasius von Tilbury Otia Imperialia, Hanover, 1856, pp. 209 sq.); and W. Mannhardt (Antike Wald und Feldkulte, Berlin, 1877, pp. 323 sqq.) from the Magazin pittoresque, Paris, viii. (1840) pp. 287 sqq. A slightly condensed account is given, from the same source, by E. Cortet (Essai sur les Fetes Religieuses, pp. 221 sq.).

[464] Bazin, quoted by Breuil, in Memoires de la Societe d' Antiquaires de Picardie, viii. (1845) p. 191 note.

[465] Correspondents quoted by A. Bertrand, La Religion des Gaulois (Paris, 1897), pp. 118, 406.

[466] Correspondent quoted by A. Bertrand, op. cit. p. 407.

[467] Felix Chapiseau, Le folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche (Paris, 1902), i. 318-320. In Perche the midsummer bonfires were called marolles. As to the custom formerly observed at Bullou, near Chateaudun, see a correspondent quoted by A. Bertrand, La Religion des Gaulois (Paris, 1897), p. 117.

[468] Albert Meyrac, Traditions, Coutumes, Legendes, et Contes des Ardennes (Charleville, 1890), pp. 88 sq.

[469] L.F. Sauve, Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges (Paris, 1889), p. 186.

[470] Desire Monnier, Traditions populaires comparees (Paris, 1854), pp. 207 sqq.; E. Cortet, Essai sur les Fetes Religieuses, pp. 217 sq.

[471] Berenger-Feraud, Reminiscences populaires de la Provence (Paris, 1885), p. 142.

[472] Charles Beauquier, Les Mois en Franche-Comte (Paris, 1900), p. 89. The names of the bonfires vary with the place; among them are failles, bourdifailles, bas or baux, feuleres or folieres, and chavannes.

[473] La Bresse Louhannaise, Juin, 1906, p. 207.

[474] Laisnel de la Salle, Croyances et Legendes du Centre de la France (Paris, 1875), i. 78 sqq. The writer adopts the absurd derivation of jonee from Janus. Needless to say that our old friend Baal, Bel, or Belus figures prominently in this and many other accounts of the European fire-festivals.

[475] A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 150.

[476] Correspondent, quoted by A. Bertrand, La Religion des Gaulois (Paris, 1897), p. 408.

[477] Guerry, "Sur les usages et traditions du Poitou," Memoires et dissertations publies par la Societe Royale des Antiquaires de France, viii. (1829) pp. 451 sq.

[478] Breuil, in Memoires de la Societe des Antiquaires de Picardie, viii. (1845) p. 206; E. Cortet, Essai sur les Fetes Religieuses, p. 216; Laisnel de la Salle, Croyances et Legendes du Centre de la France, i. 83; J. Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand, ii. 225.

[479] H. Gaidoz, "Le dieu gaulois du soleil et le symbolisme de la roue," Revue Archeologique, iii. Serie, iv. (1884) p. 26, note 3.

[480] L. Pineau, Le Folk-lore du Poitou (Paris, 1892), pp. 499 sq. In Perigord the ashes of the midsummer bonfire are searched for the hair of the Virgin (E. Cortet, Essai sur les Fetes Religieuses, p. 219).