§ 9. The Sacrifice of an Animal to stay a Cattle-Plague

[The burnt sacrifice of a calf in England and Wales; burnt sacrifice a pig in Scotland.]

Sometimes apparently in England as well as in Scotland the kindling of a need-fire was accompanied by the sacrifice of a calf. Thus in Northamptonshire, at some time during the first half of the nineteenth century, "Miss C—— and her cousin walking saw a fire in a field and a crowd round it. They said, 'What is the matter?' 'Killing a calf.' 'What for?' 'To stop the murrain.' They went away as quickly as possible. On speaking to the clergyman he made enquiries. The people did not like to talk of the affair, but it appeared that when there is a disease among the cows or the calves are born sickly, they sacrifice (i.e. kill and burn) one 'for good luck.'" 743 It is not here said that the fire was a need-fire, of which indeed the two horrified ladies had probably never heard; but the analogy of the parallel custom in Mull 744 renders it probable that in Northamptonshire also the fire was kindled by the friction of wood, and that the calf or some part of it was burnt in the fire. Certainly the practice of burning a single animal alive in order to save all the others would seem to have been not uncommon in England down to the nineteenth century. Thus a farmer in Cornwall about the year 1800, having lost many cattle by disease, and tried many remedies in vain, consulted with some of his neighbours and laying their heads together "they recalled to their recollections a tale, which tradition had handed down from remote antiquity, that the calamity would not cease until he had actually burned alive the finest calf which he had upon his farm; but that, when this sacrifice was made, the murrain would afflict his cattle no more." Accordingly, on a day appointed they met, lighted a large fire, placed the best calf in it, and standing round the blazing pile drove the animal with pitchforks back into the flames whenever it attempted to escape. Thus the victim was burned alive to save the rest of the cattle. 745 "There can be no doubt but that a belief prevailed until a very recent period, amongst the small farmers in the districts remote from towns in Cornwall, that a living sacrifice appeased the wrath of God. This sacrifice must be by fire; and I have heard it argued that the Bible gave them warranty for this belief.... While correcting these sheets I am informed of two recent instances of this superstition. One of them was the sacrifice of a calf by a farmer near Portreath, for the purpose of removing a disease which had long followed his horses and his cows. The other was the burning of a living lamb, to save, as the farmer said, 'his flocks from spells which had been cast on 'em.'" 746 In a recent account of the fire-festivals of Wales we read that "I have also heard my grandfather and father say that in times gone by the people would throw a calf in the fire when there was any disease among the herds. The same would be done with a sheep if there was anything the matter with a flock. I can remember myself seeing cattle being driven between two fires to 'stop the disease spreading.' When in later times it was not considered humane to drive the cattle between the fires, the herdsmen were accustomed to force the animals over the wood ashes to protect them against various ailments." 747 Writing about 1866, the antiquary W. Henderson says that a live ox was burned near Haltwhistle in Northumberland "only twenty years ago" to stop a murrain. 748 "About the year 1850 disease broke out among the cattle of a small farm in the parish of Resoliss, Black Isle, Ross-shire. The farmer prevailed on his wife to undertake a journey to a wise woman of renown in Banffshire to ask a charm against the effects of the 'ill eye.' The long journey of upwards of fifty miles was performed by the good wife, and the charm was got. One chief thing ordered was to burn to death a pig, and sprinkle the ashes over the byre and other farm buildings. This order was carried out, except that the pig was killed before it was burned. A more terrible sacrifice was made at times. One of the diseased animals was rubbed over with tar, driven forth, set on fire, and allowed to run till it fell down and died." 749 "Living animals have been burnt alive in sacrifice within memory to avert the loss of other stock. The burial of three puppies 'brandise-wise' in a field is supposed to rid it of weeds. Throughout the rural districts of Devon witchcraft is an article of current faith, and the toad is thrown into the flames as an emissary of the evil one." 750

[The calf is burnt in order to break a spell which has been cast on the herd.]

But why, we may ask, should the burning alive of a calf or a sheep be supposed to save the rest of the herd or the flock from the murrain? According to one writer, as we have seen, the burnt sacrifice was thought to appease the wrath of God. 751 The idea of appeasing the wrath of a ferocious deity by burning an animal alive is probably no more than a theological gloss put on an old heathen rite; it would hardly occur to the simple mind of an English bumpkin, who, though he may be stupid, is not naturally cruel and does not conceive of a divinity who takes delight in the contemplation of suffering. To his thinking God has little or nothing to do with the murrain, but witches, ill-wishers, and fairies have a great deal to do with it. The English farmer who burned one of his lambs alive said that he did it "to save his flocks from spells which had been cast on them"; and the Scotch farmer who was bidden to burn a pig alive for a similar purpose, but who had the humanity to kill the animal first, believed that this was a remedy for the "evil eye" which had been cast upon his beasts. Again, we read that "a farmer, who possessed broad acres, and who was in many respects a sensible man, was greatly annoyed to find that his cattle became diseased in the spring. Nothing could satisfy him but that they were bewitched, and he was resolved to find out the person who had cast the evil eye on his oxen. According to an anciently-prescribed rule, the farmer took one of his bullocks and bled it to death, catching all the blood on bundles of straw. The bloody straw was then piled into a heap, and set on fire. Burning with a vast quantity of smoke, the farmer expected to see the witch, either in reality or in shadow, amidst the smoke." 752 Such reasons express the real beliefs of the peasants. "Cattle, like human beings, were exposed to the influences of the evil eye, of forespeaking, and of the casting of evil. Witches and warlocks did the work of evil among their neighbours' cattle if their anger had been aroused in any way. The fairies often wrought injury amongst cattle. Every animal that died suddenly was killed by the dart of the fairies, or, in the language of the people, was 'shot-a-dead.' Flint arrows and spear-heads went by the name of 'faery dairts....' When an animal died suddenly the canny woman of the district was sent for to search for the 'faery dairt,' and in due course she found one, to the great satisfaction of the owner of the dead animal." 753

[Mode in which the burning of a bewitched animal is supposed to break the spell.]

But how, we must still ask, can burning an animal alive break the spell that has been cast upon its fellows by a witch or a warlock? Some light is thrown on the question by the following account of measures which rustic wiseacres in Suffolk are said to have adopted as a remedy for witchcraft. "A woman I knew forty-three years had been employed by my predecessor to take care of his poultry. At the time I came to make her acquaintance she was a bedridden toothless crone, with chin and nose all but meeting. She did not discourage in her neighbours the idea that she knew more than people ought to know, and had more power than others had. Many years before I knew her it happened one spring that the ducks, which were a part of her charge, failed to lay eggs.... She at once took it for granted that the ducks had been bewitched. This misbelief involved very shocking consequences, for it necessitated the idea that so diabolical an act could only be combated by diabolical cruelty. And the most diabolical act of cruelty she could imagine was that of baking alive in a hot oven one of the ducks. And that was what she did. The sequence of thought in her mind was that the spell that had been laid on the ducks was that of preternaturally wicked wilfulness; that this spell could only be broken through intensity of suffering, in this case death by burning; that the intensity of suffering would break the spell in the one roasted to death; and that the spell broken in one would be altogether broken, that is, in all the ducks.... Shocking, however, as was this method of exorcising the ducks, there was nothing in it original. Just about a hundred years before, everyone in the town and neighbourhood of Ipswich had heard, and many had believed, that a witch had been burnt to death in her own house at Ipswich by the process of burning alive one of the sheep she had bewitched. It was curious, but it was as convincing as curious, that the hands and feet of this witch were the only parts of her that had not been incinerated. This, however, was satisfactorily explained by the fact that the four feet of the sheep, by which it had been suspended over the fire, had not been destroyed in the flames that had consumed its body." 754 According to a slightly different account of the same tragic incident, the last of the "Ipswitch witches," one Grace Pett, "laid her hand heavily on a farmer's sheep, who, in order to punish her, fastened one of the sheep in the ground and burnt it, except the feet, which were under the earth. The next morning Grace Pett was found burnt to a cinder, except her feet. Her fate is recorded in the Philosophical Transactions as a case of spontaneous combustion." 755

[In burning the bewitched animal you burn the witch herself.]

This last anecdote is instructive, if perhaps not strictly authentic. It shows that in burning alive one of a bewitched flock or herd what you really do is to burn the witch, who is either actually incarnate in the animal or perhaps more probably stands in a relation of sympathy with it so close as almost to amount to identity. Hence if you burn the creature to ashes, you utterly destroy the witch and thereby save the whole of the rest of the flock or herd from her abominable machinations; whereas if you only partially burn the animal, allowing some parts of it to escape the flames, the witch is only half-baked, and her power for mischief may be hardly, if at all, impaired by the grilling. We can now see that in such matters half-measures are useless. To kill the animal first and burn it afterwards is a weak compromise, dictated no doubt by a well-meant but utterly mistaken kindness; it is like shutting the stable-door when the steed is stolen, for obviously by leaving the animal's, and therefore the witch's, body nearly intact at the moment of death, it allows her soul to escape and return safe and sound to her own human body, which all the time is probably lying quietly at home in bed. And the same train of reasoning that justifies the burning alive of bewitched animals justifies and indeed requires the burning alive of the witches themselves; it is really the only way of destroying them, body and soul, and therefore of thoroughly extirpating the whole infernal crew.

[Practice of burning cattle and sheep as sacrifices in the Isle of Man.]

In the Isle of Man the practice of burning cattle alive in order to stop a murrain seems to have persisted down to a time within living memory. On this subject I will quote the evidence collected by Sir John Rhys: "A respectable farmer from Andreas told me that he was driving with his wife to the neighbouring parish of Jurby some years ago, and that on the way they beheld the carcase of a cow or an ox burning in a field, with a woman engaged in stirring the fire. On reaching the village to which they were going, they found that the burning beast belonged to a farmer whom they knew. They were further told it was no wonder that the said farmer had one of his cattle burnt, as several of them had recently died. Whether this was a case of sacrifice or not I cannot say. But let me give you another instance: a man whom I have already mentioned, saw at a farm nearer the centre of the island a live calf being burnt. The owner bears an English name, but his family has long been settled in Man. The farmer's explanation to my informant was that the calf was burnt to secure luck for the rest of the herd, some of which were threatening to die. My informant thought there was absolutely nothing the matter with them, except that they had too little to eat. Be that as it may, the one calf was sacrificed as a burnt-offering to secure luck for the rest of the cattle. Let me here also quote Mr. Moore's note in his Manx Surnames, p. 184, on the place name Cabbal yn Oural Losht, or the Chapel of the Burnt Sacrifice. 'This name,' he says, 'records a circumstance which took place in the nineteenth century, but which, it is to be hoped, was never customary in the Isle of Man. A farmer, who had lost a number of his sheep and cattle by murrain, burned a calf as a propitiatory offering to the Deity on this spot, where a chapel was afterwards built. Hence the name.' Particulars, I may say, of time, place, and person could be easily added to Mr. Moore's statement, excepting, perhaps as to the deity in question; on that point I have never been informed, but Mr. Moore is probably right in the use of the capital d, as the sacrificer is, according to all accounts, a highly devout Christian. One more instance: an octogenarian woman, born in the parish of Bride, and now living at Kirk Andreas, saw, when she was a 'lump of a girl' of ten or fifteen years of age, a live sheep being burnt in a field in the parish of Andreas, on May-day, whereby she meant the first of May reckoned according to the Old Style. She asserts very decidedly that it was son oural, 'as a sacrifice,' as she put it, and 'for an object to the public': those were her words when she expressed herself in English. Further, she made the statement that it was a custom to burn a sheep on old May-day for a sacrifice. I was fully alive to the interest of this evidence, and cross-examined her so far as her age allows of it, and I find that she adheres to her statement with all firmness." 756

[By burning a bewitched animal you compel the witch to appear.]

But Manxmen burn beasts when they are dead as well as when they are alive; and their reasons for burning the dead animals may help us to understand their reasons for burning the living animals. On this subject I will again quote Sir John Rhys: "When a beast dies on a farm, of course it dies, according to the old-fashioned view of things, as I understand it, from the influence of the evil eye or the interposition of a witch. So if you want to know to whom you are indebted for the loss of the beast, you have simply to burn its carcase in the open air and watch who comes first to the spot or who first passes by; that is the criminal to be charged with the death of the animal, and he cannot help coming there—such is the effect of the fire. A Michael woman, who is now about thirty, related to me how she watched while the carcase of a bewitched colt was burning, how she saw the witch coming, and how she remembers her shrivelled face, with nose and chin in close proximity. According to another native of Michael, a well-informed middle-aged man, the animal in question was oftenest a calf, and it was wont to be burnt whole, skin and all. The object, according to him, is invariably to bring the bewitcher on the spot, and he always comes; but I am not clear what happens to him when he appears. My informant added, however, that it was believed that, unless the bewitcher got possession of the heart of the burning beast, he lost all his power of bewitching." 757

[Magic sympathy between the witch and the bewitched animal.]

These statements shew that in the Isle of Man the sympathetic relation between the witch and his or her animal victim is believed to be so close that by burning the animal you compel the witch to appear. The original idea may have been that, by virtue of a magic sympathy which binds the two together, whatever harm you do to the animal is felt by the witch as if it were done to herself. That notion would fully explain why Manx people used also to burn bewitched animals alive; in doing so they probably imagined that they were simultaneously burning the witch who had cast the spell on their cattle.

[Parallel belief in magic sympathy between the animal shape of a were-wolf and his or her ordinary human shape: by wounding the wolf you simultaneously wound the man or woman.]

This explanation of the reason for burning a bewitched animal, dead or alive, is confirmed by the parallel belief concerning were-wolves. It is commonly supposed that certain men and women can transform themselves by magic art into wolves or other animals, but that any wound inflicted on such a transformed beast (a were-wolf or other were-animal) is simultaneously inflicted on the human body of the witch or warlock who had transformed herself or himself into the creature. This belief is widely diffused; it meets us in Europe, Asia, and Africa. For example, Olaus Magnus tells us that in Livonia, not many years before he wrote, a noble lady had a dispute with her slave on the subject of were-wolves, she doubting whether there were any such things, and he maintaining that there were. To convince her he retired to a room, from which he soon appeared in the form of a wolf. Being chased by the dogs into the forest and brought to bay, the wolf defended himself fiercely, but lost an eye in the struggle. Next day the slave returned to his mistress in human form but with only one eye. 758 Again, it happened in the year 1588 that a gentleman in a village among the mountains of Auvergne, looking out of the window one evening, saw a friend of his going out to hunt. He begged him to bring him back some of his bag, and his friend said that he would. Well, he had not gone very far before he met a huge wolf. He fired and missed it, and the animal attacked him furiously, but he stood on his guard and with an adroit stroke of his hunting knife he cut off the right fore-paw of the brute, which thereupon fled away and he saw it no more. He returned to his friend, and drawing from his pouch the severed paw of the wolf he found to his horror that it was turned into a woman's hand with a golden ring on one of the fingers. His friend recognized the ring as that of his own wife and went to find her. She was sitting by the fire with her right arm under her apron. As she refused to draw it out, her husband confronted her with the hand and the ring on it. She at once confessed the truth, that it was she in the form of a were-wolf whom the hunter had wounded. Her confession was confirmed by applying the severed hand to the stump of her arm, for the two fitted exactly. The angry husband delivered up his wicked wife to justice; she was tried and burnt as a witch. 759 It is said that a were-wolf, scouring the streets of Padua, was caught, and when they cut off his four paws he at once turned into a man, but with both his hands and feet amputated. 760 Again, in a farm of the French district of Beauce, there was once a herdsman who never slept at home. These nocturnal absences naturally attracted attention and set people talking. At the same time, by a curious coincidence, a wolf used to prowl round the farm every night and to excite the dogs in the farmyard to fury by thrusting his snout derisively through the cat's hole in the great gate. The farmer had his suspicions and he determined to watch. One night, when the herdsman went out as usual, his master followed him quietly till he came to a hut, where with his own eyes he saw the man put on a broad belt and at once turn into a wolf, which scoured away over the fields. The farmer smiled a sickly sort of smile and went back to the farm. There he took a stout stick and sat down at the cat's hole to wait. He had not long to wait. The dogs barked like mad, a wolf's snout shewed through the hole, down came the stick, out gushed the blood, and a voice was heard to say without the gate, "A good job too. I had still three years to run." Next day the herdsman appeared as usual, but he had a scar on his brow, and he never went out again at night. 761

[Werewolves in China.]

In China also the faith in similar transformation is reflected in the following tale. A certain man in Sung-yang went into the mountains to gather fuel. Night fell and he was pursued by two tigers, but scrambled up a tree out of their reach. Then said the one tiger to the other tiger, "If we can find Chu-Tu-shi, we are sure to catch this man up the tree." So off went one of them to find Chu-Tu-shi, while the other kept watch at the foot of the tree. Soon after that another tiger, leaner and longer than the other two, appeared on the scene and made a grab at the man's coat. But fortunately the moon was shining, the man saw the paw, and with a stroke of his axe cut off one of its claws. The tigers roared and fled, one after the other, so the man climbed down the tree and went home. When he told his tale in the village, suspicion naturally fell on the said Chu-Tu-shi; next day some men went to see him in his house. They were told that they could not see him; for he had been out the night before and had hurt his hand, and he was now ill in bed. So they put two and two together and reported him to the police. The police arrived, surrounded the house, and set fire to it; but Chu-Tu-shi rose from his bed, turned into a tiger, charged right through the police, and escaped, and to this day nobody ever knew where he went to. 762

[Werewolves among the Toradjas of Central Celebes.]

The Toradjas of Central Celebes stand in very great fear of werewolves, that is of men and women, who have the power of transforming their spirits into animals such as cats, crocodiles, wild pigs, apes, deer, and buffaloes, which roam about battening on human flesh, and especially on human livers, while the men and women in their own proper human form are sleeping quietly in their beds at home. Among them a man is either born a were-wolf or becomes one by infection; for mere contact with a were-wolf, or even with anything that has been touched by his spittle, is quite enough to turn the most innocent person into a were-wolf; nay even to lean your head against anything against which a were-wolf has leaned his head suffices to do it. The penalty for being a were-wolf is death; but the sentence is never passed until the accused has had a fair trial and his guilt has been clearly demonstrated by an ordeal, which consists in dipping the middle finger into boiling resin. If the finger is not burnt, the man is no were-wolf; but if it is burnt, a werewolf he most assuredly is, so they take him away to a quiet spot and hack him to bits. In cutting him up the executioners are naturally very careful not to be bespattered with his blood, for if that were to happen they would of course be turned into were-wolves themselves. Further, they place his severed head beside his hinder-quarters to prevent his soul from coming to life again and pursuing his depredations. So great is the horror of were-wolves among the Toradjas, and so great is their fear of contracting the deadly taint by infection, that many persons have assured a missionary that they would not spare their own child if they knew him to be a were-wolf. 763 Now these people, whose faith in were-wolves is not a mere dying or dead superstition but a living, dreadful conviction, tell stories of were-wolves which conform to the type which we are examining. They say that once upon a time a were-wolf came in human shape under the house of a neighbour, while his real body lay asleep as usual at home, and calling out softly to the man's wife made an assignation with her to meet him in the tobacco-field next day. But the husband was lying awake and he heard it all, but he said nothing to anybody. Next day chanced to be a busy one in the village, for a roof had to be put on a new house and all the men were lending a hand with the work, and among them to be sure was the were-wolf himself, I mean to say his own human self; there he was up on the roof working away as hard as anybody. But the woman went out to the tobacco-field, and behind went unseen her husband, slinking through the underwood. When they were come to the field, he saw the were-wolf make up to his wife, so out he rushed and struck at him with a stick. Quick as thought, the were-wolf turned himself into a leaf, but the man was as nimble, for he caught up the leaf, thrust it into the joint of bamboo, in which he kept his tobacco, and bunged it up tight. Then he walked back with his wife to the village, carrying the bamboo with the werewolf in it. When they came to the village, the human body of the were-wolf was still on the roof, working away with the rest. The man put the bamboo in a fire. At that the human were-wolf looked down from the roof and said, "Don't do that." The man drew the bamboo from the fire, but a moment afterwards he put it in the fire again, and again the human were-wolf on the roof looked down and cried, "Don't do that." But this time the man kept the bamboo in the fire, and when it blazed up, down fell the human were-wolf from the roof as dead as a stone. 764 Again, the following story went round among the Toradjas not so very many years ago. The thing happened at Soemara, on the Gulf of Tomori. It was evening and some men sat chatting with a certain Hadji Mohammad. When it had grown dark, one of the men went out of the house for something or other. A little while afterwards one of the company thought he saw a stag's antlers standing out sharp and clear against the bright evening sky. So Hadji Mohammad raised his gun and fired. A minute or two afterwards back comes the man who had gone out, and says he to Hadji Mohammad, "You shot at me and hit me. You must pay me a fine." They searched him but found no wound on him anywhere. Then they knew that he was a were-wolf who had turned himself into a stag and had healed the bullet-wound by licking it. However, the bullet had found its billet, for two days afterwards he was a dead man. 765

[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:

Footnote 262: (return)

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

Footnote 263: (return)

W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämme (Berlin, 1875), pp. 518 sq.

Footnote 264: (return)

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 Frühlingsfeuer," Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, iii. (1893) pp. 349-369; ibid. iv. (1894) pp. 195-197.

Footnote 265: (return)

The Scapegoat, pp. 316 sqq.

Footnote 266: (return)

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

Footnote 267: (return)

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

Footnote 268: (return)

Émile Hublard, Fêtes du Temps Jadis, les Feux du Carême (Mons, 1899), pp. 25. For the loan of this work I am indebted to Mrs. Wherry of St. Peter's Terrace, Cambridge.

Footnote 269: (return)

É. Hublard, op. cit. pp. 27 sq.

Footnote 270: (return)

A. Meyrac, Traditions, coutumes, légendes et contes des Ardennes (Charleville, 1890), p. 68.

Footnote 271: (return)

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

Footnote 272: (return)

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

Footnote 273: (return)

Charles Beauquier, Les mois en Franche-Comté (Paris, 1900), pp. 33 sq. In Bresse the custom was similar. See La Bresse Louhannaise, Bulletin Mensuel, Organe de la Société 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 foulères, foualères, failles, or bourdifailles (Ch. Beauquier, op. cit. p. 34). But the Sunday is called the Sunday of the brandons, bures, bordes, or boidès, 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-Comté, 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.

Footnote 274: (return)

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

Footnote 275: (return)

Dr. Pommerol, "La fête des Brandons et le dieu Gaulois Grannus," Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, v. Série, ii. (1901) pp. 427-429.

Footnote 276: (return)

Op. cit. pp. 428 sq.

Footnote 277: (return)

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

Footnote 278: (return)

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

Footnote 279: (return)

Émile Hublard, Fêtes du Temps Jadis, les Feux du Carême (Mons, 1899), p. 38, quoting Dom Grenier, Histoire de la Province de Picardie.

Footnote 280: (return)

É. Hublard, op. cit. p. 39, quoting Dom Grenier.

Footnote 281: (return)

M. Desgranges, "Usages du Canton de Bonneval," Mémoires de la Société 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.

Footnote 282: (return)

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

Footnote 283: (return)

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

Footnote 284: (return)

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).

Footnote 285: (return)

A. de Nore, op. cit. p. 302.

Footnote 286: (return)

Désiré Monnier, Traditions populaires comparées (Paris, 1854), pp. 191 sq.

Footnote 287: (return)

Laisnel de la Salle, Croyances et légendes du centre de la France (Paris, 1875). i. 35 sqq.

Footnote 288: (return)

Jules Lecoeur, Esquisses du Rocage Normand (Condé-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 Clément, Histoire des Fêtes civiles et religieuses, etc., du Département du Nord,2 (Cambrai, 1836), pp. 351 sqq.; Émile Hublard, Fêtes du Temps Jadis, les Feux du Carême (Mons, 1899), pp. 33 sqq.

Footnote 289: (return)

J.H. Schmitz, Sitten und Sagen, Lieder, Sprüchwörter und Räthsel des Eifler Volkes (Trèves, 1856-1858), i. 21-25; N. Hocker, in Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, i. (1853) p. 90; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämme (Berlin, 1875), p. 501.

Footnote 290: (return)

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

Footnote 291: (return)

F.J. Vonbun, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie (Chur, 1862), p. 20; W. Mannhardt, l.c.

Footnote 292: (return)

Ernst Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 380 sqq.; Anton Birlinger, Volksthümliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), ii. 56 sqq., 66 sqq.; Bavaria, Landes-und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1867), ii. 2, pp. 838 sq.; F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), i. 211, § 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).

Footnote 293: (return)

H. Gaidoz, "Le dieu gaulois du soleil et le symbolisme de la roue," Revue Archéologique, iii. série, iv. (1884) pp. 139 sq.

Footnote 294: (return)

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

Footnote 295: (return)

W. Kolbe, Hessiche Volks-Sitten und Gebräuche,2 (Marburg, 1888), p. 36.

Footnote 296: (return)

Adalbert Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks,2 (Gütersloh, 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.

Footnote 297: (return)

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

Footnote 298: (return)

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

Footnote 299: (return)

J. H. Schmitz, Sitten und Sagen, Lieder, Sprüchwörter und Räthsel des Eifler Volkes (Treves, 1856-1858), i. 20; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 499.

Footnote 300: (return)

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

Footnote 301: (return)

W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 499.

Footnote 302: (return)

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. pp. 498 sq.

Footnote 303: (return)

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 499.

Footnote 304: (return)

Christian Schneller, Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol (Innsbruck, 1867), pp. 234 sq.; W. Mannhardt, op. cit. pp. 499 sq.

Footnote 305: (return)

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, Volksthümliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), i. 472 sq.; Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbräuche 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 Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 139 sq.; Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1867), i. 371; A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube,2 (Berlin, 1869), pp. 68 sq., § 81; Ignaz V. Zingerle, Sitten, Bräuche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes,2 (Innsbruck, 1871), p. 149, §§ 1286-1289; W. Kolbe, Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebräuche,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 Chrétien,3 (Paris, 1903), pp. 250-257.]

Footnote 306: (return)

Bavaria, Landes und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1867), i. 1002 sq.

Footnote 307: (return)

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

Footnote 308: (return)

G. Finamore, op. cit. pp. 123 sq.

Footnote 309: (return)

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

Footnote 310: (return)

Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), pp. 62 sq.

Footnote 311: (return)

K. Seifart, Sagen, Märchen, Schwänke und Gebräuche aits Stadt und Stift Hildesheim,2 (Hildesheim, 1889), pp. 177 sq., 179 sq.

Footnote 312: (return)

M. Lexer, "Volksüberlieferungen aus dem Lesachthal in Karnten," Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iii. (1855) p. 31.

Footnote 313: (return)

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 libertée," 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.

Footnote 314: (return)

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

Footnote 315: (return)

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.

Footnote 316: (return)

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.

Footnote 317: (return)

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

Footnote 318: (return)

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

Footnote 319: (return)

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

Footnote 320: (return)

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 Fêtes 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-Sépulcre," 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 Sacré," 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.

Footnote 321: (return)

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

Footnote 322: (return)

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.

Footnote 323: (return)

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

Footnote 324: (return)

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.

Footnote 325: (return)

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

Footnote 326: (return)

Cirbied, "Mémoire sur la gouvernment et sur la religion des anciens Arméniens," Mémoires publiées par la Société 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.

Footnote 327: (return)

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.

Footnote 328: (return)

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 Mémoires originaux pour servir à l'Histoire de la Découverte de l'Amérique, xviii. (Paris, 1840) p. 140.

Footnote 329: (return)

B. de Sahagun, Histoire Générale 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 civilisées du Mexique et de l'Amérique-Centrale (Paris, 1857-1859), iii. 136.

Footnote 330: (return)

Mrs. Matilda Coxe Stevenson, "The Zuñi 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.

Footnote 331: (return)

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).

Footnote 332: (return)

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

Footnote 333: (return)

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.

Footnote 334: (return)

G. Nachtigal, Saharâ und Sûdân, iii. (Leipsic, 1889) p. 251.

Footnote 335: (return)

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

Footnote 336: (return)

Adrien Germain, "Note sur Zanzibar et la côte orientale de l'Afrique," Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris), v. Série 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 Gebräucheaer Suaheli (Göttingen,1903), pp. 342-344.

Footnote 337: (return)

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; Damião 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.

Footnote 338: (return)

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

Footnote 339: (return)

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

Footnote 340: (return)

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

Footnote 341: (return)

A. Bastian, Die Völker des östlichen Asien, ii. (Leipsic, 1866) pp. 49 sq.; Shway Yoe, The Burman (London, 1882), ii. 325 sq.

Footnote 342: (return)

G. Schlegel, Uranographie Chinoise (The Hague and Leyden, 1875), pp. 139-143; C. Puini, "Il fuoco nella tradizione degli antichi Cinesi," Giornale della Società Asiatica Italiana, i. (1887) pp. 20-23; J.J.M. de Groot, Les Fétes annuellement célébrées à Émoui (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.).

Footnote 343: (return)

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.

Footnote 344: (return)

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

Footnote 345: (return)

Philostiatus, Heroica, xx. 24.

Footnote 346: (return)

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

Footnote 347: (return)

Festus, ed. C.O. Müller (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 (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 27; B. Souché, Croyances, Présages 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.

Footnote 348: (return)

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.

Footnote 349: (return)

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

Footnote 350: (return)

A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 373; A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 134 sqq.; id., Märkische Sagen und Märchen (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 Göttingen, 1860), p. 240; H. Pröhle, Harzbilder (Leipsic, 1855), p. 63; R. Andree, Braunschweiger Volkskunde (Brunswick, 1896), pp. 240-242; W. Kolbe, Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebräuche (Marburg, 1888), pp. 44-47; F.A. Reimann, Deutsche Volksfeste (Weimar, 1839), p. 37; "Sitten und Gebräuche in Duderstadt," Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sitten-kunde, ii. (1855) p. 107; K. Seifart, Sagen, Märchen, Schwänke und Gebräuche aus Stadt und Stift Hildesheim,2 (Hildesheim, 1889), pp. 177, 180; O. Hartung, "Zur Volkskunde aus Anhalt," Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, vii. (1897) p. 76.

Footnote 351: (return)

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

Footnote 352: (return)

L. Strackerjan, op. cit. ii. p. 43, §313.

Footnote 353: (return)

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

Footnote 354: (return)

H. Pröhle, Harzbilder (Leipsic, 1855), p. 63; id., in Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, i. (1853) p. 79; A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 373; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 507.

Footnote 355: (return)

A. Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Märchen (Berlin, 1843), pp. 312 sq.; W. Mannhardt, l.c.

Footnote 356: (return)

W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus p. 508. Compare J.W. Wolf, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie (Göttingen, 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.

Footnote 357: (return)

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

Footnote 358: (return)

Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1867), iii. 956.

Footnote 359: (return)

See above, pp. 116 sq., 119.

Footnote 360: (return)

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

Footnote 361: (return)

Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern, iii. 357.

Footnote 362: (return)

F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), i. pp. 212 sq., § 236.

Footnote 363: (return)

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

Footnote 364: (return)

A. Birlinger, Volksthümliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), ii. p. 82, § 106; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 508.

Footnote 365: (return)

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

Footnote 366: (return)

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

Footnote 367: (return)

J.W. Wolf, Beiträge sur deutschen Mythologie, i. 75 sq.; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 506.

Footnote 368: (return)

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

Footnote 369: (return)

W. Müller, Beiträge sur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mahren (Vienna and Olmütz, 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, Volksthümliches aus österreichisch-Schlesien (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 282 sq.; Paul Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 77 sq.

Footnote 370: (return)

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.

Footnote 371: (return)

"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.

Footnote 372: (return)

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

Footnote 373: (return)

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

Footnote 374: (return)

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

Footnote 375: (return)

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

Footnote 376: (return)

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.

Footnote 377: (return)

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.

Footnote 378: (return)

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

Footnote 379: (return)

A. Goodrich-Freer, "More Folklore from the Hebrides," Folk-lore, xiii. (1902) p. 41. The St. Michael's cake (Strùthan 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 strùhthan or strùhdhan (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 strùthan" (A. Goodrich-Freer, op. cit. pp. 44. sq..)

Footnote 380: (return)

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

Footnote 381: (return)

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

Footnote 382: (return)

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

Footnote 383: (return)

(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.

Footnote 384: (return)

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

Footnote 385: (return)

(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.

Footnote 386: (return)

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.

Footnote 387: (return)

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

Footnote 388: (return)

Above, p. 147.

Footnote 389: (return)

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

Footnote 390: (return)

(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."

Footnote 391: (return)

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

Footnote 392: (return)

Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Fest-Kalender aus Böhmen (Prague, N.D.), pp. 211 sq.; Br. Jelínek, "Materialien zur Vorgeschichte und Volkskunde Böhmens," Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien, xxi. (1891) p. 13; Alois John, Sitte, Branch, und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), p. 71.

Footnote 393: (return)

J.A.E. Köhler, 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, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Sachsen und Thüringen (Halle, 1846), pp. 148 sq.; Die gestriegelte Rockenphilosophie (Chemnitz, 1759), p. 116.

Footnote 394: (return)

See The Scapegoat, pp. 158 sqq.

Footnote 395: (return)

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.

Footnote 396: (return)

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. [W.] 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, Volksthümliches 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 Gebräuche aus Thüringen (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.

Footnote 397: (return)

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.

Footnote 398: (return)

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

Footnote 399: (return)

Tessier, "Sur la fête annuelle de la roue flamboyante de la Saint-Jean, à Basse-Kontz, arrondissement de Thionville," Mémoires et dissertations publiés par la Société 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 Archéologique, iii. Série, iv. (1884) pp. 24 sq.).

Footnote 400: (return)

Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs 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.

Footnote 401: (return)

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

Footnote 402: (return)

Op. cit. ii. 260.

Footnote 403: (return)

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, Beiträge, zur deutschen Mythologie, i. p. 217, § 185).

Footnote 404: (return)

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

Footnote 405: (return)

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

Footnote 406: (return)

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

Footnote 407: (return)

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

Footnote 408: (return)

A. Birlinger, Volksthümliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), ii. 99-101.

Footnote 409: (return)

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

Footnote 410: (return)

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

Footnote 411: (return)

H. Gaidoz, "Le dieu Gaulois du Soleil et le symbolisme de la Roue," Revue Archéologique, iii. Série, iv. (1884) pp. 29 sq.

Footnote 412: (return)

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

Footnote 413: (return)

J.H. Schmitz, Sitten und Sagen Lieder, Sprüchwörter und Räthsel 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, Volksbräuche 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.

Footnote 414: (return)

A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 390.

Footnote 415: (return)

Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbräuche und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, N.D.), pp. 33 sq.

Footnote 416: (return)

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

Footnote 417: (return)

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.

Footnote 418: (return)

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,,4 i. 517 sq.

Footnote 419: (return)

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 Rügen (Stettin, 1886), p. 329.

Footnote 420: (return)

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

Footnote 421: (return)

L. Lloyd, op. cit. pp. 261 sq. These springs are called "sacrificial fonts" (Offer källor) 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).

Footnote 422: (return)

E. Hoffmann-Krayer, Feste und Bräuche des Schweizervolkes (Zurich, 1913), p. 164.

Footnote 423: (return)

Ignaz V. Zingerle, Sitten, Bräuche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes,2 (Innsbruck, 1871), ii. p. 159, § 1354.

Footnote 424: (return)

I.V. Zingerle, op. cit. p. 159, §§ 1353, 1355, 1356; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 513.

Footnote 425: (return)

W. Mannhardt, l.c.

Footnote 426: (return)

F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), i. p. 210, § 231.

Footnote 427: (return)

Theodor Vernaleken, Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), pp. 307 sq.

Footnote 428: (return)

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 519; Theodor Vernaleken, Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), p. 308; Joseph Virgil Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Bohmen und Mähren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 80, § 636; Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Fest-Kalender aus Bohmen (Prague, N.D.), pp. 306-311; Br. Jelfnek, "Materialien zur Vorgeschichte und Volkskunde Böhmens," Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien> xxi. (1891) p. 13; Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905) pp. 84-86.

Footnote 429: (return)

Willibald Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), pp. 263-265.

Footnote 430: (return)

Anton Peter, Volksthümliches aus Österreichisch-Schlesien (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 287.

Footnote 431: (return)

Th. Vernaleken, Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), pp. 308 sq.

Footnote 432: (return)

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

Footnote 433: (return)

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

Footnote 434: (return)

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

Footnote 435: (return)

W.R.S. Ralston, op. cit. p. 240.

Footnote 436: (return)

W.R.S. Ralston, l.c.

Footnote 437: (return)

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

Footnote 438: (return)

M. Töppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren,2 (Danzig, 1867), p. 71.

Footnote 439: (return)

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

Footnote 440: (return)

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.

Footnote 441: (return)

Ovid, Fasti, vi. 775 sqq.

Footnote 442: (return)

Friederich S. Krauss, Sitte und Brauch der Südslaven (Vienna, 1885), pp. 176 sq.

Footnote 443: (return)

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 519.

Footnote 444: (return)

H. von Wlislocki, Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Magyar (Münster i. W., 1893), pp. 40-44.

Footnote 445: (return)

A. von Ipolyi, "Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie aus Ungarn," Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, i. (1853) pp. 270 sq.

Footnote 446: (return)

J.G. Kohl, Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen, ii. 268 sq.; F.J. Wiedemann, Aus dem inneren und äusseren 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.

Footnote 447: (return)

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

Footnote 448: (return)

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 äusseren Leben der Ehsten, p. 362).

Footnote 449: (return)

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

Footnote 450: (return)

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

Footnote 451: (return)

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

Footnote 452: (return)

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 Doutté, Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), p. 571 note I.

Footnote 453: (return)

Bossuet, Oeuvres (Versailles, 1815-1819), vi. 276 ("Catéchisme du diocèse de Meaux"). His description of the superstitions is, in his own words, as follows: "Danser à l'entour du feu, jouer, faire des festins, chanter des chansons deshonnètes, jeter des herbes par-dessus le feu, en cueillir avant midi ou à jeun, en porter sur soi, les conserver le long de l'année, 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).

Footnote 454: (return)

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

Footnote 455: (return)

A. Le Braz, La Légende 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.

Footnote 456: (return)

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

Footnote 457: (return)

Collin de Plancy, Dictionnaire Infernal (Paris, 1825-1826), iii. 40; J.W. Wolf, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie (Göttingen, 1852-1857), i. p. 217, § 185; A. Breuil, "Du Culte de St. Jean Baptiste," Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie, viii. (Amiens, 1845) pp. 189 sq.

Footnote 458: (return)

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

Footnote 459: (return)

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

Footnote 460: (return)

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

Footnote 461: (return)

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

Footnote 462: (return)

J. Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 219-224.

Footnote 463: (return)

This description is quoted by Madame Clément (Histoire des fêtes civites et religieuses, etc., de la Belgique Méridionale, 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 Fêtes Religieuses, pp. 221 sq.).

Footnote 464: (return)

Bazin, quoted by Breuil, in Mémoires de la Société d' Antiquaires de Picardie, viii. (1845) p. 191 note.

Footnote 465: (return)

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

Footnote 466: (return)

Correspondent quoted by A. Bertrand, op. cit. p. 407.

Footnote 467: (return)

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.

Footnote 468: (return)

Albert Meyrac, Traditions, Coutumes, Légendes, et Contes des Ardennes (Charleville, 1890), pp. 88 sq.

Footnote 469: (return)

L.F. Sauvé, Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges (Paris, 1889), p. 186.

Footnote 470: (return)

Désiré Monnier, Traditions populaires comparées (Paris, 1854), pp. 207 sqq.; E. Cortet, Essai sur les Fêtes Religieuses, pp. 217 sq.

Footnote 471: (return)

Bérenger-Féraud, Réminiscences populaires de la Provence (Paris, 1885), p. 142.

Footnote 472: (return)

Charles Beauquier, Les Mois en Franche-Comté (Paris, 1900), p. 89. The names of the bonfires vary with the place; among them are failles, bourdifailles, bâs or baux, feulères or folières, and chavannes.

Footnote 473: (return)

La Bresse Louhannaise, Juin, 1906, p. 207.

Footnote 474: (return)

Laisnel de la Salle, Croyances et Légendes du Centre de la France (Paris, 1875), i. 78 sqq. The writer adopts the absurd derivation of jônée 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.

Footnote 475: (return)

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

Footnote 476: (return)

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

Footnote 477: (return)

Guerry, "Sur les usages et traditions du Poitou," Mémoires et dissertations publiés par la Société Royale des Antiquaires de France, viii. (1829) pp. 451 sq.

Footnote 478: (return)

Breuil, in Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie, viii. (1845) p. 206; E. Cortet, Essai sur les Fêtes Religieuses, p. 216; Laisnel de la Salle, Croyances et Légendes du Centre de la France, i. 83; J. Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand, ii. 225.

Footnote 479: (return)

H. Gaidoz, "Le dieu gaulois du soleil et le symbolisme de la roue," Revue Archéologique, iii. Série, iv. (1884) p. 26, note 3.

Footnote 480: (return)

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

Footnote 481: (return)

A. de Nore, Coutumes Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France, pp. 149 sq.; E. Cortet, op. cit. pp. 218 sq.

Footnote 482: (return)

Dupin, "Notice sur quelques fêtes et divertissemens populaires du département des Deux-Sèvres," Mémoires et Dissertations publiés par la Société Royale des Antiquaires de France, iv. (1823) p. 110.

Footnote 483: (return)

J.L.M. Noguès, Les moeurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis (Saintes, 1891), pp. 72, 178 sq.

Footnote 484: (return)

H. Gaidoz, "Le dieu soleil et le symbolisme de la roue," Revue Archéologique, iii. Série, iv. (1884) p. 30.

Footnote 485: (return)

Ch. Cuissard, Les Feux de la Saint-Jean (Orleans, 1884), pp. 22 sq.

Footnote 486: (return)

A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France p. 127.

Footnote 487: (return)

Aubin-Louis Millin, Voyage dans les Départemens du Midi de la France (Paris, 1807-1811), iii. 341 sq.

Footnote 488: (return)

Aubin-Louis Millin, op. cit. iii. 28.

Footnote 489: (return)

A. de Nore, op. cit. pp. 19 sq.; Bérenger-Féraud, Reminiscences populaires de la Provence (Paris, 1885), pp. 135-141. As to the custom at Toulon, see Poncy, quoted by Breuil, Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Picardie, viii. (1845) p. 190 note. The custom of drenching people on this occasion with water used to prevail in Toulon, as well as in Marseilles and other towns in the south of France. The water was squirted from syringes, poured on the heads of passers-by from windows, and so on. See Breuil, op. cit. pp. 237 sq.

Footnote 490: (return)

A. de Nore, op. cit. pp. 20 sq.; E. Cortet, op. cit. pp. 218, 219 sq.

Footnote 491: (return)

Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Calendrier Belge (Brussels, 1861-1862), i. 416 sq. 439.

Footnote 492: (return)

Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, op. cit. i. 439-442.

Footnote 493: (return)

Madame Clément, Histoire des fêtes civiles et religieuses, etc., du Département du Nord (Cambrai, 1836), p. 364; J.W. Wolf, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie (Göttingen, 1852-1857), ii. 392; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus. p. 513.

Footnote 494: (return)

E. Monseur, Folklore Wallon (Brussels, N.D.), p. 130, §§ 1783, 1786, 1787.

Footnote 495: (return)

Joseph Strutt, The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, New Edition, by W. Hone (London, 1834), p. 359.

Footnote 496: (return)

John Stow, A Survay of London, edited by Henry Morley (London, N.D.), pp. 126 sq. Stow's Survay was written in 1598.

Footnote 497: (return)

John Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 338; T.F. Thiselton Dyer, British Popular Customs (London, 1876), p. 331. Both writers refer to Status Scholae Etonensis (A.D. 1560).

Footnote 498: (return)

John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme (London, 1881), p. 26.

Footnote 499: (return)

J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 300 sq., 318, compare pp. 305, 306, 308 sq.; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus, p. 512. Compare W. Hutchinson, View of Northumberland, vol. ii. (Newcastle, 1778), Appendix, p. (15), under the head "Midsummer":—"It is usual to raise fires on the tops of high hills and in the villages, and sport and danse around them; this is of very remote antiquity, and the first cause lost in the distance of time."

Footnote 500: (return)

Dr. Lyttelton, Bishop of Carlisle, quoted by William Borlase, Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall (London, 1769), p. 135 note.

Footnote 501: (return)

County Folk-lore, vol. iv. Northumberland, collected by M.C. Balfour (London, 1904), p. 76, quoting E. Mackenzie, An Historical, Topographical, and Descriptive View of the County of Northumberland, Second Edition (Newcastle, 1825), i. 217.

Footnote 502: (return)

County Folk-lore, vol. iv. Northumberland, collected by M.C. Balfour, p. 75.

Footnote 503: (return)

County Folk-lore, vol. iv. Northumberland, collected by M.C. Balfour, p. 75.

Footnote 504: (return)

The Denham Tracts, edited by J. Hardy (London, 1892-1895), ii. 342 sq., quoting Archælogia Aeliana, N.S., vii. 73, and the Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, vi. 242 sq.; County Folk-lore, vol. iv. Northumberland, collected by M.C. Balfour (London, 1904), pp. 75 sq. Whalton is a village of Northumberland, not far from Morpeth.

Footnote 505: (return)

County Folk-lore, vol. vi. East Riding of Yorkshire, collected and edited by Mrs. Gutch (London, 1912), p. 102.

Footnote 506: (return)

John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme (London, 1881), p. 96, compare id., p. 26.

Footnote 507: (return)

J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 311.

Footnote 508: (return)

William Borlase, LL.D., Antiquities, Historical and Monumental, of the County of Cornwall (London, 1769), pp. 135 sq. The Eve of St. Peter is June 28th. Bonfires have been lit elsewhere on the Eve or the day of St. Peter. See above, pp. 194 sq. 196 sq., and below, pp. 199 sq., 202, 207.

Footnote 509: (return)

J. Brand, op. cit. i. 318, 319; T.F. Thiselton Dyer, British Popular Customs (London, 1876), p. 315.

Footnote 510: (return)

William Bottrell, Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall (Penzance, 1870), pp. 8 sq., 55 sq.; James Napier, Folk-lore, or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland (Paisley, 1879), p. 173.

Footnote 511: (return)

Richard Edmonds, The Land's End District (London, 1862), pp. 66 sq.; Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England, Third Edition (London, 1881), pp. 207 sq.

Footnote 512: (return)

Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), pp. 27 sq. Compare Jonathan Ceredig Davies, Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 76.

Footnote 513: (return)

J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 318.

Footnote 514: (return)

Joseph Train, Account of the Isle of Man (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1845), ii. 120.

Footnote 515: (return)

Sir Henry Piers, Description of the County of Westmeath, written in 1682, published by (General) Charles Vallancey, Collectanea de Rebus Hibernieis, i. (Dublin, 1786) pp. 123 sq.

Footnote 516: (return)

J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 303, quoting the author of the Survey of the South of Ireland, p. 232.

Footnote 517: (return)

J. Brand, op. cit. i. 305, quoting the author of the Comical Pilgrim's Pilgrimage into Ireland (1723), p. 92.

Footnote 518: (return)

The Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxv. (London, 1795) pp. 124 sq. The writer dates the festival on June 21st, which is probably a mistake.

Footnote 519: (return)

T.F. Thiselton Dyer, British Popular Customs (London, 1876), pp. 321 sq., quoting the Liverpool Mercury of June 29th, 1867.

Footnote 520: (return)

L.L. Duncan, "Further Notes from County Leitrim," Folk-lore, v. (1894) p. 193.

Footnote 521: (return)

A.C. Haddon, "A Batch of Irish Folk-lore," Folk-lore, iv. (1893) pp. 351, 359.

Footnote 522: (return)

G.H. Kinahan, "Notes on Irish Folk-lore," Folk-lore Record, iv. (1881) p. 97.

Footnote 523: (return)

Charlotte Elizabeth, Personal Recollections, quoted by Rev. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (Edinburgh, 1853), p. 53.

Footnote 524: (return)

Lady Wilde, Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland (London, 1887), i. 214 sq.

Footnote 525: (return)

T.F. Thiselton Dyer, British Popular Customs (London, 1876), pp. 322 sq., quoting the Hibernian Magazine, July 1817. As to the worship of wells in ancient Ireland, see P.W. Joyce, A Social History of Ancient Ireland (London, 1903), i. 288 sq., 366 sqq.

Footnote 526: (return)

Rev. A. Johnstone, describing the parish of Monquhitter in Perthshire, in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1791-1799), xxi. 145. Mr. W. Warde Fowler writes that in Scotland "before the bonfires were kindled on midsummer eve, the houses were decorated with foliage brought from the woods" (Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic, London, 1899, pp. 80 sq.). For his authority he refers to Chambers' Journal, July, 1842.

Footnote 527: (return)

John Ramsay, of Ochtertyre, Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, edited by A. Allardyce (Edinburgh, 1888), ii. 436.

Footnote 528: (return)

Rev. Mr. Shaw, Minister of Elgin, in Pennant's "Tour in Scotland," printed in John Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels (London, 1808-1814), iii. 136.

Footnote 529: (return)

A. Macdonald, "Midsummer Bonfires," Folk-lore, xv. (1904) pp. 105 sq.

Footnote 530: (return)

From notes kindly furnished to me by the Rev. J.C. Higgins, parish minister of Tarbolton. Mr. Higgins adds that he knows of no superstition connected with the fire, and no tradition of its origin. I visited the scene of the bonfire in 1898, but, as Pausanias says (viii. 41. 6) in similar circumstances, "I did not happen to arrive at the season of the festival." Indeed the snow was falling thick as I trudged to the village through the beautiful woods of "the Castle o' Montgomery" immortalized by Burns. From a notice in The Scotsman of 26th June, 1906 (p. 8) it appears that the old custom was observed as usual that year.

Footnote 531: (return)

Thomas Moresinus, Papatus seu Depravatae Religionis Origo et Incrementum (Edinburgh, 1594), p. 56.

Footnote 532: (return)

Rev. Dr. George Lawrie, in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, iii. (Edinburgh, 1792) p. 105.

Footnote 533: (return)

Letter from Dr. Otero Acevado of Madrid, published in Le Temps, September 1898. An extract from the newspaper was sent me, but without mention of the day of the month when it appeared. The fires on St. John's Eve in Spain are mentioned also by J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, i. 317. Jacob Grimm inferred the custom from a passage in a romance (Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 518). The custom of washing or bathing on the morning of St. John's Day is mentioned by the Spanish historian Diego Duran, Historia de las Indias de Nueva España, edited by J.F. Ramirez (Mexico, 1867-1880), vol. ii. p. 293. To roll in the dew on the morning of St. John's Day is a cure for diseases of the skin in Normandy, Périgord, and the Abruzzi, as well as in Spain. See J. Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand, ii. 8; A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France, p. 150; Gennaro Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi (Palermo, 1890), p. 157.

Footnote 534: (return)

M. Longworth Dames and Mrs. E. Seemann, "Folklore of the Azores," Folk-lore, xiv. (1903) pp. 142 sq.; Theophilo Braga, O Povo Portuguez nos seus Costumes, Crenças e Tradiçoes (Lisbon, 1885), ii. 304 sq., 307 sq.

Footnote 535: (return)

See below, pp. 234 sqq.

Footnote 536: (return)

Angelo de Gubernatis, Mythologie des Plantes (Paris, 1878-1882), i. 185 note 1.

Footnote 537: (return)

Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 202 sq.

Footnote 538: (return)

G. Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi (Palermo, 1890), pp. 154 sq.

Footnote 539: (return)

G. Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi, pp. 158-160. We may compare the Provençal and Spanish customs of bathing and splashing water at Midsummer. See above, pp. 193 sq., 208.

Footnote 540: (return)

Giuseppe Pitrè, Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane (Palermo, 1881), pp. 246, 308 sq.; id., Usi e Costumi, Credenze e Pregiudizi del Popolo Siciliano (Palermo, 1889), pp. 146 sq.

Footnote 541: (return)

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 518.

Footnote 542: (return)

V. Busuttil, Holiday Customs in Malta, and Sports, Usages, Ceremonies, Omens, and Superstitions of the Maltese People (Malta, 1894), pp. 56 sqq. The extract was kindly sent to me by Mr. H.W. Underwood (letter dated 14th November, 1902, Birbeck Bank Chambers, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.). See Folk-lore, xiv. (1903) pp. 77 sq.

Footnote 543: (return)

W. R. Paton, in Folk-lore, ii. (1891) p. 128. The custom was reported to me when I was in Greece in 1890 (Folk-lore, i. (1890) p. 520).

Footnote 544: (return)

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 519.

Footnote 545: (return)

G. Georgeakis et L. Pineau, Le Folk-lore de Lesbos (Paris, 1894), pp. 308 sq.

Footnote 546: (return)

W.R. Paton, in Folk-lore, vi. (1895) p. 94. From the stones cast into the fire omens may perhaps be drawn, as in Scotland, Wales, and probably Brittany. See above, p. 183, and below, pp. 230 sq., 239, 240.

Footnote 547: (return)

W.H.D. Rouse, "Folklore from the Southern Sporades," Folk-lore, x. (1899) p. 179.

Footnote 548: (return)

Lucy M.J. Garnett, The Women of Turkey and their Folk-lore, the Christian Women (London, 1890), p. 122; G.F. Abbott, Macedonian Folklore (Cambridge, 1903), p. 57.

Footnote 549: (return)

J.G. von Hahn, Albanesische Studien (Jena, 1854), i. 156.

Footnote 550: (return)

K. von den Steinen, Unter den Natur-Völkern Zentral-Brasiliens (Berlin, 1894), p. 561.

Footnote 551: (return)

Alcide d'Orbigny, Voyage dans l'Amérique Méridionale, ii. (Paris and Strasbourg, 1839-1843), p. 420; D. Forbes, "On the Aymara Indians of Bolivia and Peru," Journal of the Ethnological Society of London, ii. (1870) p. 235.

Footnote 552: (return)

Edmond Doutté, Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), pp. 566 sq. For an older but briefer notice of the Midsummer fires in North Africa, see Giuseppe Ferraro, Superstizioni, Usi e Proverbi Monferrini (Palermo, 1886), pp. 34 sq.: "Also in Algeria, among the Mussalmans, and in Morocco, as Alvise da Cadamosto reports in his Relazione dei viaggi d'Africa, which may be read in Ramusio, people used to hold great festivities on St. John's Night; they kindled everywhere huge fires of straw (the Palilia of the Romans), in which they threw incense and perfumes the whole night long in order to invoke the divine blessing on the fruit-trees." See also Budgett Meakin, The Moors (London, 1902), p. 394: "The Berber festivals are mainly those of Islam, though a few traces of their predecessors are observable. Of these the most noteworthy is Midsummer or St. John's Day, still celebrated in a special manner, and styled El Ansarah. In the Rîf it is celebrated by the lighting of bonfires only, but in other parts there is a special dish prepared of wheat, raisins, etc., resembling the frumenty consumed at the New Year. It is worthy of remark that the Old Style Gregorian calendar is maintained among them, with corruptions of Latin names."

Footnote 553: (return)

Edward Westermarck, "Midsummer Customs in Morocco," Folklore, xvi. (1905) pp. 28-30; id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture, Certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 79-83.

Footnote 554: (return)

E. Westermarck, "Midsummer Customs in Morocco," Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) pp. 30 sq.; id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture, etc., pp. 83 sq.

Footnote 555: (return)

Edmond Doutté, Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), pp. 567 sq.

Footnote 556: (return)

E. Westermarck, "Midsummer Customs in Morocco," Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) pp. 31 sq.; id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture, etc., pp. 84-86.

Footnote 557: (return)

See K. Vollers, in Dr. James Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics iii. (Edinburgh, 1910) s.v. "Calendar (Muslim)," pp. 126 sq. However, L. Ideler held that even before the time of Mohammed the Arab year was lunar and vague, and that intercalation was only employed in order to fix the pilgrimage month in autumn, which, on account of the milder weather and the abundance of food, is the best time for pilgrims to go to Mecca. See L. Ideler, Handbuch der mathematischen und techischen Chronologie (Berlin, 1825-1826), ii. 495 sqq.

Footnote 558: (return)

E. Doutté, Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord, pp. 496, 509, 532, 543, 569. It is somewhat remarkable that the tenth, not the first, day of the first month should be reckoned New Year's Day.

Footnote 559: (return)

E. Westermarck, "Midsummer Customs in Morocco," Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) pp. 40-42.

Footnote 560: (return)

E. Doutté, Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), pp. 541 sq.

Footnote 561: (return)

E. Westermarck, "Midsummer Customs in Morocco," Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) p. 42; id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture, Certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather in Morocco (Helsingfors, 1913), p. 101.

Footnote 562: (return)

E. Westermarck, "Midsummer Customs in Morocco," Folk-lore, xvi. (1905), pp. 42 sq., 46 sq.; id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture, etc., in Morocco, pp. 99 sqq.

Footnote 563: (return)

G. F. Abbott, Macedonian Folklore (Cambridge, 1903), pp. 60 sq.

Footnote 564: (return)

"Narrative of the Adventures of four Russian Sailors, who were cast in a storm upon the uncultivated island of East Spitzbergen," translated from the German of P.L. Le Roy, in John Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels (London, 1808-1814), i. 603. This passage is quoted from the original by (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, Third Edition (London, 1878), pp. 259 sq.

Footnote 565: (return)

See The Scapegoat, pp. 166 sq.

Footnote 566: (return)

E.K. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage (Oxford, 1903), i. 110 sqq.

Footnote 567: (return)

In Eastern Europe to this day the great season for driving out the cattle to pasture for the first time in spring is St. George's Day, the twenty-third of April, which is not far removed from May Day. See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 324 sqq. As to the bisection of the Celtic year, see the old authority quoted by P.W. Joyce, The Social History of Ancient Ireland (London, 1903), ii. 390: "The whole year was [originally] divided into two parts—Summer from 1st May to 1st November, and Winter from 1st November to 1st May." On this subject compare (Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Heathendom (London and Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 460, 514 sqq.; id., Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx (Oxford, 1901), i. 315 sqq.; J.A. MacCulloch, in Dr. James Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, iii. (Edinburgh, 1910) p. 80.

Footnote 568: (return)

See below, p. 225.

Footnote 569: (return)

Above, pp. 146 sqq.; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 59 sqq.

Footnote 570: (return)

(Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Folk-lore, Manx and Welsh (Oxford, 1901), i. 316, 317 sq.; J.A. MacCulloch, in Dr. James Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, iii. (Edinburgh, 1910) s.v. "Calendar," p. 80, referring to Kelly, English and Manx Dictionary (Douglas, 1866), s.v. "Blein." Hogmanay is the popular Scotch name for the last day of the year. See Dr. J. Jamieson, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, New Edition (Paisley, 1879-1882), ii. 602 sq.

Footnote 571: (return)

(Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx, i. 316 sq.

Footnote 572: (return)

Above, p. 139.

Footnote 573: (return)

See Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 309-318. As I have there pointed out, the Catholic Church succeeded in altering the date of the festival by one day, but not in changing the character of the festival. All Souls' Day is now the second instead of the first of November. But we can hardly doubt that the Saints, who have taken possession of the first of November, wrested it from the Souls of the Dead, the original proprietors. After all, the Saints are only one particular class of the Souls of the Dead; so that the change which the Church effected, no doubt for the purpose of disguising the heathen character of the festival, is less great than appears at first sight.

Footnote 574: (return)

In Wales "it was firmly believed in former times that on All Hallows' Eve the spirit of a departed person was to be seen at midnight on every cross-road and on every stile" (Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales, London, 1909, p. 254).

Footnote 575: (return)

E. J. Guthrie, Old Scottish Customs (London and Glasgow, 1885), p. 68.

Footnote 576: (return)

A. Goodrich-Freer, "More Folklore from the Hebrides," Folk-lore, xiii. (1902) p. 53.

Footnote 577: (return)

(Sir) Jolin Rhys, Celtic Heathendom (London and Edinburgh, 1888), p. 516.

Footnote 578: (return)

P.W. Joyce, A Social History of Ancient Ireland (London, 1903), i. 264 sq., ii. 556.

Footnote 579: (return)

(Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Heathendom, p. 516.

Footnote 580: (return)

Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1900), pp. 61 sq.

Footnote 581: (return)

Ch. Rogers, Social Life in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1884-1886), iii. 258-260.

Footnote 582: (return)

Douglas Hyde, Beside the Fire, a Collection of Irish Gaelic Folk Stories (London, 1890), pp. 104, 105, 121-128.

Footnote 583: (return)

P.W. Joyce, Social History of Ancient Ireland, i. 229.

Footnote 584: (return)

Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 254.

Footnote 585: (return)

(Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Heathendom, pp. 514 sq. In order to see the apparitions all you had to do was to run thrice round the parish church and then peep through the key-hole of the door. See Marie Trevelyan, op. cit. p. 254; J. C. Davies, Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 77.

Footnote 586: (return)

Miss E. J. Guthrie, Old Scottish Customs (London and Glasgow, 1885), p. 75.

Footnote 587: (return)

Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), p. 282.

Footnote 588: (return)

Thomas Pennant, "Tour in Scotland, and Voyage to the Hebrides in 1772," in John Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, iii. (London, 1809) pp. 383 sq. In quoting the passage I have corrected what seem to be two misprints.

Footnote 589: (return)

John Ramsay, of Ochtertyre, Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, edited by Alexander Allardyce (Edinburgh and London, 1888), ii. 437 sq. This account was written in the eighteenth century.

Footnote 590: (return)

Rev. James Robertson, Parish minister of Callander, in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, xi. (Edinburgh, 1794), pp. 621 sq.

Footnote 591: (return)

Rev. Dr. Thomas Bisset, in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland v. (Edinburgh, 1793) pp. 84 sq.

Footnote 592: (return)

Miss E. J. Guthrie, Old Scottish Customs (London and Glasgow, 1885), p. 67.

Footnote 593: (return)

James Napier, Folk Lore, or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland within this Century (Paisley, 1879), p. 179.

Footnote 594: (return)

J. G. Frazer, "Folk-lore at Balquhidder," The Folk-lore Journal, vi. (1888) p. 270.

Footnote 595: (return)

Rev. Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), pp. 167 sq.

Footnote 596: (return)

Rev. A. Johnstone, as to the parish of Monquhitter, in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, xxi. (Edinburgh, 1799) pp. 145 sq.

Footnote 597: (return)

A. Macdonald, "Some former Customs of the Royal Parish of Crathie, Scotland," Folk-lore, xviii. (1907) p. 85. The writer adds: "In this way the 'faulds' were purged of evil spirits." But it does not appear whether this expresses the belief of the people or only the interpretation of the writer.

Footnote 598: (return)

Rev. John Gregorson Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), pp. 282 sq.

Footnote 599: (return)

Robert Burns, Hallowe'en, with the poet's note; Rev. Walter Gregor, op. cit. p. 84; Miss E.J. Guthrie, op. cit. p. 69; Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 287.

Footnote 600: (return)

R. Burns, l.c.; Rev. Walter Gregor, l.c.; Miss E.J. Guthrie, op. cit. pp. 70 sq.; Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 286.

Footnote 601: (return)

R. Burns, l.c..; Rev. W. Gregor, l.c.; Miss E.J. Guthrie, op. cit. p. 73; Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 285; A. Goodrich-Freer, "More Folklore from the Hebrides," Folk-lore, xiii. (1902) pp. 54 sq.

Footnote 602: (return)

R. Burns, l.c.; Rev. W. Gregor, op. cit. p. 85; Miss E.J. Guthrie, op. cit. p. 71; Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 285. According to the last of these writers, the winnowing had to be done in the devil's name.

Footnote 603: (return)

R. Burns, l.c.; Rev. W. Gregor, l.c.; Miss E.J. Guthrie, op. cit. p. 72; Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 286; A. Goodrich-Freer, "More Folklore from the Hebrides," Folklore, xiii. (1902) p. 54.

Footnote 604: (return)

Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 283.

Footnote 605: (return)

Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. pp. 283 sq.; A. Goodrich-Freer, l.c.

Footnote 606: (return)

Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 284.

Footnote 607: (return)

R. Burns, l.c.; Rev. W. Gregor, op. cit. p. 85; Miss E.J. Guthrie, op. cit. p. 70; Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 284. Where nuts were not to be had, peas were substituted.

Footnote 608: (return)

Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 284.

Footnote 609: (return)

Rev. J.G. Campbell, l.c. According to my recollection of Hallowe'en customs observed in my boyhood at Helensburgh, in Dumbartonshire, another way was to stir the floating apples and then drop a fork on them as they bobbed about in the water. Success consisted in pinning one of the apples with the fork.

Footnote 610: (return)

R. Burns, l.c.; Rev. W. Gregor, op. cit. pp. 85 sq.; Miss E.J. Guthrie, op. cit. pp. 72 sq.; Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 287.

Footnote 611: (return)

R. Burns, l.c.; Rev. W. Gregor, op. cit. p. 85; Miss E.J. Guthrie, op. cit. pp. 69 sq.; Rev. J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 285. It is the last of these writers who gives what may be called the Trinitarian form of the divination.

Footnote 612: (return)

Miss E.J. Guthrie, Old Scottish Customs (London and Glasgow, 1885), pp. 74 sq.

Footnote 613: (return)

A. Goodrich-Freer, "More Folklore from the Hebrides," Folk-lore, xiii. (1902) p. 55.

Footnote 614: (return)

Pennant's manuscript, quoted by J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 389 sq.

Footnote 615: (return)

Sir Richard Colt Hoare, The Itinerary of Archbishop Baldwin through Wales A.D. MCLXXXVIII. by Giraldus de Barri (London, 1806), ii. 315; J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, i. 390. The passage quoted in the text occurs in one of Hoare's notes on the Itinerary. The dipping for apples, burning of nuts, and so forth, are mentioned also by Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), pp. 253, 255.

Footnote 616: (return)

(Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Heathendom (London and Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 515 sq. As to the Hallowe'en bonfires in Wales compare J.C. Davies, Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 77.

Footnote 617: (return)

See above, p. 183.

Footnote 618: (return)

See above, p. 231.

Footnote 619: (return)

Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), pp. 254 sq.

Footnote 620: (return)

(General) Charles Vallancey, Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, iii. (Dublin, 1786), pp. 459-461.

Footnote 621: (return)

Miss A. Watson, quoted by A.C. Haddon, "A Batch of Irish Folk-lore," Folk-lore, iv. (1893) pp. 361 sq.

Footnote 622: (return)

Leland L. Duncan, "Further Notes from County Leitrim," Folk-lore, v. (1894) pp. 195-197.

Footnote 623: (return)

H.J. Byrne, "All Hallows Eve and other Festivals in Connaught," Folk-lore, xviii. (1907) pp. 437 sq.

Footnote 624: (return)

Joseph Train, Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1845), ii. 123; (Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx (Oxford, 1901), i. 315 sqq.

Footnote 625: (return)

(Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx (Oxford, 1901), i. 318-321.

Footnote 626: (return)

John Harland and T.T. Wilkinson, Lancashire Folk-lore (Manchester and London, 1882), pp. 3 sq.

Footnote 627: (return)

J. Harland and T.T. Wilkinson, op. cit. p. 140.

Footnote 628: (return)

Annie Milner, in William Hone's Year Book (London, preface dated January, 1832), coll. 1276-1279 (letter dated June, 1831); R.T. Hampson, Medii Aevi Kalendarium (London, 1841), i. 365; T.F. Thiselton Dyer, British Popular Customs (London, 1876), p. 395.

Footnote 629: (return)

County Folk-lore vol. iv. Northumberland, collected by M.C. Balfour (London, 1904), p. 78. Compare W. Henderson, Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England (London, 1879), pp. 96 sq.

Footnote 630: (return)

Baron Dupin, in Mémoires publiées par la Société Royale des Antiquaires de France, iv. (1823) p. 108.

Footnote 631: (return)

The evidence for the solar origin of Christmas is given in Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 254-256.

Footnote 632: (return)

For the various names (Yu-batch, Yu-block, Yule-log, etc.) see Francis Grose, Provincial Glossary, New Edition (London, 1811), p. 141; Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary (London, 1898-1905), vi. 593, s.v. "Yule."

Footnote 633: (return)

"I am pretty confident that the Yule block will be found, in its first use, to have been only a counterpart of the Midsummer fires, made within doors because of the cold weather at this winter solstice, as those in the hot season, at the summer one, are kindled in the open air." (John Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, London, 1882-1883, i. 471). His opinion is approved by W. Mannhardt (Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämme, p. 236).

Footnote 634: (return)

"Et arborem in nativitate domini ad festivum ignem suum adducendam esse dicebat" (quoted by Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, i. 522).

Footnote 635: (return)

Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbrauche und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, N.D.), p. 12. The Sieg and Lahn are two rivers of Central Germany, between Siegen and Marburg.

Footnote 636: (return)

J.H. Schmitz, Sitten und Sagen, Lieder, Sprüchwörter und Räthsel des Eifler Volkes (Treves, 1856-1858), i. 4.

Footnote 637: (return)

Adalbert Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. § 319, pp. 103 sq.

Footnote 638: (return)

A. Kuhn, op. cit. ii. § 523, p. 187.

Footnote 639: (return)

August Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen (Vienna, 1878), p. 172.

Footnote 640: (return)

K. Hoffmann-Krayer, Feste und Bräuche des Schweizervolkes (Zurich, 1913), pp. 108 sq.

Footnote 641: (return)

Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Calendrier Belge (Brussels, 1861-1862), ii. 326 sq. Compare J.W. Wolf, Beiträgezur deutschen Mythologie (Göttingen, 1852-1858), i. 117.

Footnote 642: (return)

J.B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions,5 (Paris, 1741), i. 302 sq.; Eugène Cortet, Essai sur les Fêtes Religieuses (Paris, 1867), pp. 266 sq.

Footnote 643: (return)

J.B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions (Paris, 1679), p. 323.

Footnote 644: (return)

Aubin-Louis Millin, Voyage dans les Départemens du Midi de la France (Paris, 1807-1811), iii. 336 sq. The fire so kindled was called caco fuech.

Footnote 645: (return)

Alfred de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 151 sq. The three festivals during which the Yule log is expected to burn are probably Christmas Day (December 25th), St. Stephen's Day (December 26th), and St. John the Evangelist's Day (December 27th). Compare J.L.M. Noguès, Les Moeurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis (Saintes, 1891), pp. 45-47. According to the latter writer, in Saintonge it was the mistress of the house who blessed the Yule log, sprinkling salt and holy water on it; in Poitou it was the eldest male who officiated. The log was called the cosse de Nô.

Footnote 646: (return)

Laisnel de Salle, Croyances et Légendes du Centres de la France (Paris, 1875), i. 1-3.

Footnote 647: (return)

Jules Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 291. The author speaks of the custom as still practised in out-of-the-way villages at the time when he wrote. The usage of preserving the remains of the Yule-log (called tréfouet) in Normandy is mentioned also by M'elle Amélie Bosquet, La Normandie Romanesque et Merveilleuse (Paris and Rouen, 1845), p. 294.

Footnote 648: (return)

A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes, et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 256.

Footnote 649: (return)

Paul Sébillot, Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne (Paris, 1886), pp. 217 sq.

Footnote 650: (return)

Albert Meyrac, Traditions, Coutumes, Légendes et Contes des Ardennes (Charleville, 1890), pp. 96 sq.

Footnote 651: (return)

See above, p. 251.

Footnote 652: (return)

Lerouze, in Mémoires de l'Academie Celtique, iii. (1809) p. 441, quoted by J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 469 note.

Footnote 653: (return)

L.F. Sauvé, Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges (Paris, 1889), pp. 370 sq.

Footnote 654: (return)

Charles Beauquier, Les Mois en Franche-Comté (Paris, 1900), p. 183.

Footnote 655: (return)

A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes, et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 302 sq.

Footnote 656: (return)

John Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), i. 467.

Footnote 657: (return)

J. Brand, op. cit. i. 455; The Denham Tracts, edited by Dr. James Hardy (London, 1892-1895), ii. 25 sq.

Footnote 658: (return)

Herrick, Hesperides, "Ceremonies for Christmasse":

"Come, bring with a noise,

My merrie merrie boyes,

The Christmas log to the firing;...

With the last yeeres brand

Light the neiv block"

And, again, in his verses, "Ceremonies for Candlemasse Day":

"Kindle the Christmas brand, and then

Till sunne-set let it burne;

Which quencht, then lay it up agen,

Till Christmas next returne.

Part must be kept, wherewith to teend

The Christmas log next yeare;

And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend

Can do no mischiefe there"

See The Works of Robert Herrick (Edinburgh, 1823), vol. ii. pp. 91, 124. From these latter verses it seems that the Yule log was replaced on the fire on Candlemas (the second of February).

Footnote 659: (return)

Miss C. S. Burne and Miss G. F. Jackson, Shropshire Folk-lore (London, 1883), p. 398 note 2. See also below, pp. 257, 258, as to the Lincolnshire, Herefordshire, and Welsh practice.

Footnote 660: (return)

Francis Grose, Provincial Glossary, Second Edition (London, 1811), pp. 141 sq.; T.F. Thiselton Dyer, British Popular Customs (London, 1876), p. 466.

Footnote 661: (return)

County Folk-lore, vol. iv. Northumberland, collected by M.C. Balfour and edited by Northcote W. Thomas (London, 1904), p. 79.

Footnote 662: (return)

County Folk-lore, vol. ii. North Riding of Yorkshire, York and the Ainsty, collected and edited by Mrs. Gutch (London, 1901), pp. 273, 274, 275 sq.

Footnote 663: (return)

County Folk-lore, vol. vi. East Riding of Yorkshire, collected and edited by Mrs. Gutch (London, 1912), pp. 23, 118, compare p. 114.

Footnote 664: (return)

John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme (London, 1881), p. 5.

Footnote 665: (return)

County Folk-lore, vol. v. Lincolnshire, collected by Mrs. Gutch and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), p. 219. Elsewhere in Lincolnshire the Yule-log seems to have been called the Yule-clog (op. cit. pp. 215, 216).

Footnote 666: (return)

Mrs. Samuel Chandler (Sarah Whateley), quoted in The Folk-lore Journal, i. (1883) pp. 351 sq.

Footnote 667: (return)

Miss C.S. Burne and Miss G.F. Jackson, Shropshire Folk-lore (London, 1883), pp. 397 sq. One of the informants of these writers says (op. cit. p. 399): "In 1845 I was at the Vessons farmhouse, near the Eastbridge Coppice (at the northern end of the Stiperstones). The floor was of flags, an unusual thing in this part. Observing a sort of roadway through the kitchen, and the flags much broken, I enquired what caused it, and was told it was from the horses' hoofs drawing in the 'Christmas Brund.'"

Footnote 668: (return)

Mrs. Ella Mary Leather, The Folklore of Herefordshire (Hereford and London, 1912), p. 109. Compare Miss C.S. Burne, "Herefordshire Notes," The Folk-lore Journal, iv. (1886) p. 167.

Footnote 669: (return)

Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 28.

Footnote 670: (return)

"In earlier ages, and even so late as towards the middle of the nineteenth century, the Servian village organisation and the Servian agriculture had yet another distinguishing feature. The dangers from wild beasts in old time, the want of security for life and property during the Turkish rule, or rather misrule, the natural difficulties of the agriculture, more especially the lack in agricultural labourers, induced the Servian peasants not to leave the parental house but to remain together on the family's property. In the same yard, within the same fence, one could see around the ancestral house a number of wooden huts which contained one or two rooms, and were used as sleeping places for the sons, nephews and grandsons and their wives. Men and women of three generations could be often seen living in that way together, and working together the land which was considered as common property of the whole family. This expanded family, remaining with all its branches together, and, so to say, under the same roof, working together, dividing the fruits of their joint labours together, this family and an agricultural association in one, was called Zadrooga (The Association). This combination of family and agricultural association has morally, economically, socially, and politically rendered very important services to the Servians. The headman or chief (called Stareshina) of such family association is generally the oldest male member of the family. He is the administrator of the common property and director of work. He is the executive chairman of the association. Generally he does not give any order without having consulted all the grown-up male members of the Zadroega" (Chedo Mijatovich, Servia and the Servians, London, 1908, pp. 237 sq.). As to the house-communities of the South Slavs see further Og. M. Utiesenovic, Die Hauskommunionen der Südslaven (Vienna, 1859); F. Demelic, Le Droit Coutumier des Slaves Méridionaux (Paris, 1876), pp. 23 sqq.; F.S. Krauss, Sitte und Brauch der Südslaven (Vienna, 1885), pp. 64 sqq. Since Servia, freed from Turkish oppression, has become a well-regulated European state, with laws borrowed from the codes of France and Germany, the old house-communities have been rapidly disappearing (Chedo Mijatovich, op. cit. p. 240).

Footnote 671: (return)

Chedo Mijatovich, Servia and the Servians (London, 1908), pp. 98-105.

Footnote 672: (return)

Baron Rajacsich, Das Leben, die Sitten und Gebräuche der im Kaiserthume Oesterreich lebenden Südslaven (Vienna, 1873), pp. 122-128.

Footnote 673: (return)

Baron Rajacsich, Das Leben, die Sitten und Gebrauche der im Kaiserthume Oesterreich lebenden Südslaven (Vienna, 1873), pp. 129-131. The Yule log (badnyak) is also known in Bulgaria, where the women place it on the hearth on Christmas Eve. See A. Strausz, Die Bulgaren (Leipsic, 1898), p. 361.

Footnote 674: (return)

M. Edith Durham, High Albania (London, 1909), p. 129.

Footnote 675: (return)

R.F. Kaindl, Die Huzulen (Vienna, 1894) p. 71.

Footnote 676: (return)

See above, pp. 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 258. Similarly at Candlemas people lighted candles in the churches, then took them home and kept them, and thought that by lighting them at any time they could keep off thunder, storm, and tempest. See Barnabe Googe, The Popish Kingdom (reprinted London, 1880), p. 48 verso.

Footnote 677: (return)

See above, pp. 248, 250, 251, 257, 258, 263.

Footnote 678: (return)

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 356 sqq.

Footnote 679: (return)

See above, pp. 248, 249, 250, 251, 264.

Footnote 680: (return)

August Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen (Vienna, 1878), pp. 171 sq.

Footnote 681: (return)

Jules Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 289 sq.

Footnote 682: (return)

Joseph Train, Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man (Douglas, Isle of Man, 1845), ii. 124, referring to Cregeen's Manx Dictionary, p. 67.

Footnote 683: (return)

R. Chambers, The Book of Days (London and Edinburgh, 1886), ii. 789-791, quoting The Banffshire Journal; Miss C.F. Gordon Cumming, In the Hebrides (London, 1883), p. 226; Miss E.J. Guthrie, Old Scottish Customs (London and Glasgow, 1885), pp. 223-225; Ch. Rogers, Social Life in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1884-1886), iii. 244 sq.; The Folk-lore Journal, vii. (1889) pp. 11-14, 46. Miss Gordon Gumming and Miss Guthrie say that the burning of the Clavie took place upon Yule Night; but this seems to be a mistake.

Footnote 684: (return)

Caesar, De bello Gallico, vii. 23.

Footnote 685: (return)

Hugh W. Young, F.S.A. Scot., Notes on the Ramparts of Burghead as revealed by recent Excavations (Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 3 sqq.; Notes on further Excavations at Burghead (Edinburgh, 1893), pp. 7 sqq. These papers are reprinted from the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vols. xxv., xxvii. Mr. Young concludes as follows: "It is proved that the fort at Burghead was raised by a people skilled in engineering, who used axes and chisels of iron; who shot balista stones over 20 lbs. in weight; and whose daily food was the bos longifrons. A people who made paved roads, and sunk artesian wells, and used Roman beads and pins. The riddle of Burghead should not now be very difficult to read." (Notes on further Excavations at Burghead, pp. 14 sq.). For a loan of Mr. Young's pamphlets I am indebted to the kindness of Sheriff-Substitute David.

Footnote 686: (return)

Robert Cowie, M.A., M.D., Shetland, Descriptive and Historical (Aberdeen, 1871), pp. 127 sq.; County Folk-lore, vol. iii. Orkney and Shetland Islands, collected by G.F. Black and edited by Northcote W. Thomas (London, 1903), pp. 203 sq. A similar celebration, known as Up-helly-a, takes place at Lerwick on the 29th of January, twenty-four days after Old Christmas. See The Scapegoat, pp. 167-169. Perhaps the popular festival of Up-helly-a has absorbed some of the features of the Christmas Eve celebration.

Footnote 687: (return)

Thomas Hyde, Historia Religionis veterum Persarum (Oxford, 1700), pp. 255-257.

Footnote 688: (return)

On the need-fire see Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 501 sqq.; J.W. Wolf, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie (Göttingen and Leipsic, 1852-1857), i. 116 sq., ii. 378 sqq.; Adalbert Kuhn, Die Herabkunjt des Feuers und des Göttertranks,2 (Gütersloh, 1886), pp. 41 sqq.; Walter K. Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore (London, 1863), pp. 48 sqq.; W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämme (Berlin, 1875), pp. 518 sqq.; Charles Elton, Origins of English History (London, 1882), pp. 293 sqq.; Ulrich Jahn, Die deutschen Opfergebräuche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht (Breslau, 1884), pp. 26 sqq. Grimm would derive the name need-fire (German, niedfyr, nodfyr, nodfeur, nothfeur) from need (German, noth), "necessity," so that the phrase need-fire would mean "a forced fire." This is the sense attached to it in Lindenbrog's glossary on the capitularies, quoted by Grimm, op. cit. i. p. 502: "Eum ergo ignem nodfeur et nodfyr, quasi necessarium ignem vocant" C.L. Rochholz would connect need with a verb nieten "to churn," so that need-fire would mean "churned fire." See C.L. Rochholz, Deutscher Glaube und Brauch (Berlin, 1867), ii. 149 sq. This interpretion is confirmed by the name ankenmilch bohren, which is given to the need-fire in some parts of Switzerland. See E. Hoffmann-Krayer, "Fruchtbarkeitsriten im schweizerischen Volksbrauch," Schweizerisches Archiv für Volkskünde, xi. (1907) p. 245.

Footnote 689: (return)

"Illos sacrilegos ignes, quos niedfyr vocant," quoted by J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 502; R. Andree, Braunschweiger Volkskunde (Brunswick, 1896), p. 312.

Footnote 690: (return)

Indiculus Superstitionum et Paganiarum, No. XV., "De igne fricato de ligno i.e. nodfyr." A convenient edition of the Indiculus has been published with a commentary by H.A. Saupe (Leipsic, 1891). As to the date of the work, see the editor's introduction, pp. 4 sq.

Footnote 691: (return)

Karl Lynker, Deutsche Sagen und Sitten in hessischen Gauen,2 (Cassel and Göttingen, 1860), pp. 252 sq., quoting a letter of the mayor (Schultheiss) of Neustadt to the mayor of Marburg dated 12th December 1605.

Footnote 692: (return)

Bartholomäus Carrichter, Der Teutschen Speisskammer (Strasburg, 1614), Fol. pag. 17 and 18, quoted by C.L. Rochholz, Deutscher Glaube und Brauch (Berlin, 1867), ii. 148 sq.

Footnote 693: (return)

Joh. Reiskius, Untersuchung des Notfeuers (Frankfort and Leipsic, 1696), p. 51, quoted by J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 502 sq.; R. Andree, Braunschweiger Volkskunde (Brunswick, 1896), p. 313.

Footnote 694: (return)

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 503 sq.

Footnote 695: (return)

J. Grimm, op. cit. i. 504.

Footnote 696: (return)

Adalbert Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Märchen (Berlin, 1843), p. 369.

Footnote 697: (return)

Karl Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg (Vienna, 1879-1880), ii. 149-151.

Footnote 698: (return)

Carl und Theodor Colshorn, Märchen und Sagen (Hanover, 1854), pp. 234-236, from the description of an eye-witness.

Footnote 699: (return)

Heinrich Pröhle, Harzbilder, Sitten und Gebräuche aus dem Harz-gebirge (Leipsic, 1855), pp. 74 sq. The date of this need-fire is not given; probably it was about the middle of the nineteenth century.

Footnote 700: (return)

R. Andree, Braunschweiger Volkskunde (Brunswick, 1896), pp. 313 sq.

Footnote 701: (return)

R. Andree, op. cit. pp. 314 sq.

Footnote 702: (return)

Montanus, Die deutschen Volks-feste, Volksbräuche und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, N.D.), p. 127.

Footnote 703: (return)

Paul Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), ii. 204.

Footnote 704: (return)

Anton Peter, Volksthümliches aus Österreichisch-Schlesien (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 250.

Footnote 705: (return)

Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), p. 209.

Footnote 706: (return)

C.L. Rochholz, Deutscher Glaube und Brauch (Berlin, 1867), ii. 149.

Footnote 707: (return)

E. Hoffmann-Krayer, "Fruchtbarkeitsriten im schweizerischen Volksbrauch," Schweizerisches Archiv fur Volkskunde, xi. (1907) pp. 244-246.

Footnote 708: (return)

E. Hoffmann-Krayer, op. cit. p. 246.

Footnote 709: (return)

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 505.

Footnote 710: (return)

"Old-time Survivals in remote Norwegian Dales," Folk-lore, xx. (1909) pp. 314, 322 sq. This record of Norwegian folk-lore is translated from a little work Sundalen og Öksendalens Beskrivelse written by Pastor Chr. Glükstad and published at Christiania "about twenty years ago."

Footnote 711: (return)

Prof. VI. Titelbach, "Das heilige Feuer bei den Balkanslaven," Inter-nationales Archiv für Ethnographie, xiii. (1900) pp. 2 sq. We have seen (above, p. 220) that in Russia the need-fire is, or used to be, annually kindled on the eighteenth of August. As to the need-fire in Bulgaria see also below, pp. 284 sq.

Footnote 712: (return)

F.S. Krauss, "Altslavische Feuergewinnung," Globus, lix. (1891) p. 318, quoting P. Ljiebenov, Baba Ega (Trnovo, 1887), p. 44.

Footnote 713: (return)

F.S. Krauss, op. cit. p. 319, quoting Wisla, vol. iv. pp. 1, 244 sqq.

Footnote 714: (return)

F.S. Krauss, op. cit. p. 318, quoting Oskar Kolberg, in Mazowsze, vol. iv. p. 138.

Footnote 715: (return)

F.S. Krauss, "Slavische Feuerbohrer," Globus, lix. (1891) p. 140. The evidence quoted by Dr. Krauss is that of his father, who often told of his experience to his son.

Footnote 716: (return)

Prof. Vl. Titelbach, "Das heilige Feuer bei den Balkanslaven," Internationales Archiv fur Ethnographie, xiii. (1900) p. 3.

Footnote 717: (return)

See below, vol. ii. pp. 168 sqq.

Footnote 718: (return)

Adolf Strausz, Die Bulgaren (Leipsic, 1898), pp. 194-199.

Footnote 719: (return)

Wissenschaftliche Mittheilungen aus Bosnien und der Hercegovina, redigirt von Moriz Hoernes, iii. (Vienna, 1895) pp. 574 sq.

Footnote 720: (return)

"Pro fidei divinae integritate servanda recolat lector quod, cum hoc anno in Laodonia pestis grassaretur in pecudes armenti, quam vocant usitate Lungessouth, quidam bestiales, habitu claustrales non animo, docebant idiotas patriae ignem confrictione de lignis educere et simulachrum Priapi statuere, et per haec bestiis succurrere" quoted by J.M. Kemble, The Saxons in England (London, 1849), i. 358 sq.; A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks,2 (Gütersloh, 1886), p. 43; Ulrich Jahn, Die deutschen Opfergebräuche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht (Breslau, 1884) p. 31.

Footnote 721: (return)

W.G.M. Jones Barker, The Three Days of Wensleydale (London, 1854), pp. 90 sq.; County Folk-lore, vol. ii., North Riding of Yorkshire, York and the Ainsty, collected and edited by Mrs. Gutch (London, 1901), p. 181.

Footnote 722: (return)

The Denham Tracts, a Collection of Folklore by Michael Aislabie Denham, edited by Dr. James Hardy (London, 1892-1895), ii. 50.

Footnote 723: (return)

Harry Speight, Tramps and Drives in the Craven Highlands (London, 1895), p. 162. Compare, id., The Craven and North-West Yorkshire Highlands (London, 1892), pp. 206 sq.

Footnote 724: (return)

J.M. Kemble, The Saxons in England (London, 1849), i. 361 note.

Footnote 725: (return)

E. Mackenzie, An Historical, Topographical and Descriptive View of the County of Northumberland, Second Edition (Newcastle, 1825), i. 218, quoted in County Folk-lore, vol. iv. Northumberland, collected by M.C. Balfour (London, 1904), p. 45. Compare J.T. Brockett, Glossary of North Country Words, p. 147, quoted by Mrs. M.C. Balfour, l.c.: "Need-fire ... an ignition produced by the friction of two pieces of dried wood. The vulgar opinion is, that an angel strikes a tree, and that the fire is thereby obtained. Need-fire, I am told, is still employed in the case of cattle infected with the murrain. They were formerly driven through the smoke of a fire made of straw, etc." The first edition of Brockett's Glossary was published in 1825.

Footnote 726: (return)

W. Henderson, Notes on the Folklore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (London, 1879), pp. 167 sq. Compare County Folklore, vol. iv. Northumberland, collected by M.C. Balfour (London, 1904), p. 45. Stamfordham is in Northumberland. The vicar's testimony seems to have referred to the first half of the nineteenth century.

Footnote 727: (return)

M. Martin, "Description of the Western Islands of Scotland," in J. Pinkerton's General Collection of Voyages and Travels, iii. (London, 1809), p. 611. The second edition of Martin's book, which Pinkerton reprints, was published at London in 1716. For John Ramsay's account of the need-fire, see above, pp. 147 sq.

Footnote 728: (return)

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 506, referring to Miss Austin as his authority.

Footnote 729: (return)

As to the custom of sacrificing one of a plague-stricken herd or flock for the purpose of saving the rest, see below, pp. 300 sqq.

Footnote 730: (return)

John Jamieson, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, New Edition, revised by J. Longmuir and D. Donaldson, iii. (Paisley, 1880) pp. 349 sq., referring to "Agr. Surv. Caithn., pp. 200, 201."

Footnote 731: (return)

R.C. Maclagan, "Sacred Fire," Folk-lore, ix. (1898) pp. 280 sq. As to the fire-drill see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 207 sqq.

Footnote 732: (return)

W. Grant Stewart, The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1823), pp. 214-216; Walter K. Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore (London, 1863), pp. 53 sq.

Footnote 733: (return)

Alexander Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica (Edinburgh, 1900), ii. 340 sq.

Footnote 734: (return)

See above, pp. 154, 156, 157, 159 sq.

Footnote 735: (return)

Census of India, 1911, vol. xiv. Punjab, Part i. Report, by Pandit Harikishan Kaul (Lahore, 1912), p. 302. So in the north-east of Scotland "those who were born with their feet first possessed great power to heal all kinds of sprains, lumbago, and rheumatism, either by rubbing the affected part, or by trampling on it. The chief virtue lay in the feet. Those who came into the world in this fashion often exercised their power to their own profit." See Rev. Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), pp. 45 sq.

Footnote 736: (return)

Rev. Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), p. 186. The fumigation of the byres with juniper is a charm against witchcraft. See J.G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), p. ii. The "quarter-ill" is a disease of cattle, which affects the animals only in one limb or quarter. "A very gross superstition is observed by some people in Angus, as an antidote against this ill. A piece is cut out of the thigh of one of the cattle that has died of it. This they hang up within the chimney, in order to preserve the rest of the cattle from being infected. It is believed that as long as it hangs there, it will prevent the disease from approaching the place. It is therefore carefully preserved; and in case of the family removing, transported to the new farm, as one of their valuable effects. It is handed down from one generation to another" (J. Jamieson, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, revised by J. Longmuir and D. Donaldson, iii. 575, s.v. "Quarter-ill"). See further Rev. W. Gregor, op. cit. pp. 186 sq.: "The forelegs of one of the animals that had died were cut off a little above the knee, and hung over the fire-place in the kitchen. It was thought sufficient by some if they were placed over the door of the byre, in the 'crap o' the wa'.' Sometimes the heart and part of the liver and lungs were cut out, and hung over the fireplace instead of the fore-feet. Boiling them was at times substituted for hanging them over the hearth." Compare W. Henderson, Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (London, 1879), p. 167: "A curious aid to the rearing of cattle came lately to the knowledge of Mr. George Walker, a gentleman of the city of Durham. During an excursion of a few miles into the country, he observed a sort of rigging attached to the chimney of a farmhouse well known to him, and asked what it meant. The good wife told him that they had experienced great difficulty that year in rearing their calves; the poor little creatures all died off, so they had taken the leg and thigh of one of the dead calves, and hung it in a chimney by a rope, since which they had not lost another calf." In the light of facts cited below (pp. 315 sqq.) we may conjecture that the intention of cutting off the legs or cutting out the heart, liver, and lungs of the animals and hanging them up or boiling them, is by means of homoeopathic magic to inflict corresponding injuries on the witch who cast the fatal spell on the cattle.

Footnote 737: (return)

The Mirror, 24th June, 1826, quoted by J. M. Kemble, The Saxons in England (London, 1849), i. 360 note 2.

Footnote 738: (return)

Leland L. Duncan, "Fairy Beliefs and other Folklore Notes from County Leitrim," Folk-lore, vii. (1896) pp. 181 sq.

Footnote 739: (return)

(Sir) Edward B. Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, Third Edition (London, 1878), pp. 237 sqq.; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 207 sqq.

Footnote 740: (return)

For some examples of such extinctions, see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 261 sqq., 267 sq.; Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, i. 311, ii. 73 sq.; and above, pp. 124 sq., 132-139. The reasons for extinguishing fires ceremonially appear to vary with the occasion. Sometimes the motive seems to be a fear of burning or at least singeing a ghost, who is hovering invisible in the air; sometimes it is apparently an idea that a fire is old and tired with burning so long, and that it must be relieved of the fatiguing duty by a young and vigorous flame.

Footnote 741: (return)

Above, pp. 147, 154. The same custom appears to have been observed in Ireland. See above, p. 158.

Footnote 742: (return)

J.N.B. Hewitt, "New Fire among the Iroquois," The American Anthropologist, ii. (1889) p. 319.

Footnote 743: (return)

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 507.

Footnote 744: (return)

See above, p. 290.

Footnote 745: (return)

William Hone, Every-day Book (London, preface dated 1827), i. coll. 853 sq. (June 24th), quoting Hitchin's History of Cornwall.

Footnote 746: (return)

Hunt, Romances and Drolls of the West of England, 1st series, p. 237, quoted by W. Henderson, Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (London, 1879), p. 149. Compare J.G. Dalyell, The Darker Superstitions of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1834), p. 184: "Here also maybe found a solution of that recent expedient so ignorantly practised in the neighbouring kingdom, where one having lost many of his herd by witchcraft, as he concluded, burnt a living calf to break the spell and preserve the remainder."

Footnote 747: (return)

Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 23.

Footnote 748: (return)

W. Henderson, op. cit. pp. 148 sq.

Footnote 749: (return)

Rev. Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), p. 186.

Footnote 750: (return)

R. N. Worth, History of Devonshire, Second Edition (London, 1886), p. 339. The diabolical nature of the toad probably explains why people in Herefordshire think that if you wear a toad's heart concealed about your person you can steal to your heart's content without being found out. A suspected thief was overheard boasting, "They never catches me: and they never ooll neither. I allus wears a toad's heart round my neck, I does." See Mrs. Ella M. Leather, in Folk-lore, xxiv. (1913) p. 238.

Footnote 751: (return)

Above, p. 301.

Footnote 752: (return)

Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England, Third Edition (London, 1881), p. 320. The writer does not say where this took place; probably it was in Cornwall or Devonshire.

Footnote 753: (return)

Rev. Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), p. 184.

Footnote 754: (return)

County Folk-lore, Printed Extracts, No. 2, Suffolk, collected and edited by the Lady Eveline Camilla Gurdon (London, 1893), pp. 190 sq., quoting Some Materials for the History of Wherstead by F. Barham Zincke (Ipswich, 1887), p. 168.

Footnote 755: (return)

County Folk-lore, Printed Extracts, No. 2, Suffolk, p. 191, referring to Murray's Handbook for Essex, Suffolk, etc., p. 109.

Footnote 756: (return)

(Sir) John Rhys, "Manx Folklore and Superstitions," Folk-lore, ii. (1891) pp. 300-302; repeated in his Celtic Folk-lore, Welsh and Manx (Oxford, 1901), i. 306 sq. Sir John Rhys does not doubt that the old woman saw, as she said, a live sheep being burnt on old May-day; but he doubts whether it was done as a sacrifice. He adds: "I have failed to find anybody else in Andreas or Bride, or indeed in the whole island, who will now confess to having ever heard of the sheep sacrifice on old May-day." However, the evidence I have adduced of a custom of burnt sacrifice among English rustics tends to confirm the old woman's statement, that the burning of the live sheep which she witnessed was not an act of wanton cruelty but a sacrifice per formed for the public good.

Footnote 757: (return)

(Sir) John Rhys, "Manx Folklore and Superstitions," Folk-lore, ii. (1891) pp. 299 sq.; id., Celtic Folklore, Welsh and Manx (Oxford, 1901), i. 304 sq. We have seen that by burning the blood of a bewitched bullock a farmer expected to compel the witch to appear. See above, p. 303.

Footnote 758: (return)

Olaus Magnus, Historia de Gentium Septentrionalium Conditionibus, lib xviii. cap. 47, p. 713 (ed. Bâle, 1567).

Footnote 759: (return)

Collin de Plancy, Dictionnaire Infernal (Paris, 1825-1826), iii. 473 sq., referring to Boguet.

Footnote 760: (return)

Collin de Plancy, op. cit. iii. 473.

Footnote 761: (return)

Felix Chapiseau, Le Folk-lore de la Beauce et du Perche (Paris, 1902), i. 239 sq. The same story is told in Upper Brittany. See Paul Sébillot, Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne (Paris, 1882), i. 292. It is a common belief that a man who has once been transformed into a werewolf must remain a were-wolf for seven years unless blood is drawn from him in his animal shape, upon which he at once recovers his human form and is delivered from the bondage and misery of being a were-wolf. See F. Chapiseau, op. cit. i. 218-220; Amélie Bosquet, La Normandie Romanesque et Merveilleuse (Paris and Rouen, 1845), p. 233. On the belief in were-wolves in general; see W. Hertz, Der Werwolf (Stuttgart, 1862); J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 915 sqq.; (Sir) Edward B. Tylor, Primitive Culture,2 (London, 1873), i. 308 sqq.; R. Andree, Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche (Stuttgart, 1878), pp. 62-80. In North Germany it is believed that a man can turn himself into a wolf by girding himself with a strap made out of a wolf's hide. Some say that the strap must have nine, others say twelve, holes and a buckle; and that according to the number of the hole through which the man inserts the tongue of the buckle will be the length of time of his transformation. For example, if he puts the tongue of the buckle through the first hole, he will be a wolf for one hour; if he puts it through the second, he will be a wolf for two days; and so on, up to the last hole, which entails a transformation for a full year. But by putting off the girdle the man can resume his human form. The time when were-wolves are most about is the period of the Twelve Nights between Christmas and Epiphany; hence cautious German farmers will not remove the dung from the cattle stalls at that season for fear of attracting the were-wolves to the cattle. See Adalbert Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Märchen (Berlin, 1843), p. 375; Ulrich Jahn, Volkssagen aus Pommern und Rügen (Stettin, 1886), pp. 384, 386, Nos. 491, 495. Down to the time of Elizabeth it was reported that in the county of Tipperary certain men were annually turned into wolves. See W. Camden, Britain, translated into English by Philemon Holland (London, 1610), "Ireland," p. 83.

Footnote 762: (return)

J.J.M. de Groot, The Religious System of China, v. (Leyden, 1907) p. 548.

Footnote 763: (return)

A. C. Kruijt, "De weerwolf bij de Toradja's van Midden-Celebes," Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Landen Volkenkunde, xli. (1899) pp. 548-551, 557-560.

Footnote 764: (return)

A.C. Kruijt, op. cit. pp. 552 sq.

Footnote 765: (return)

A.C. Kruijt, op. cit. pp. 553. For more evidence of the belief in were-wolves, or rather in were-animals of various sorts, particularly were-tigers, in the East Indies, see J.J. M. de Groot, "De Weertijger in onze Koloniën en op het oostaziatische Vasteland," Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, xlix. (1898) pp. 549-585; G.P. Rouffaer, "Matjan Gadoengan," Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië 1. (1899) pp. 67-75; J. Knebel, "De Weertijger op Midden-Java, den Javaan naverteld," Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde, xli. (1899) pp. 568-587; L.M.F. Plate, "Bijdrage tot de kennis van de lykanthropie bij de Sasaksche bevolking in Oost-Lombok," Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde, liv. (1912) pp. 458-469; G.A. Wilken, "Het animisme bij de volken van den Indischen Archipel," Verspreide Geschriften (The Hague, 1912), iii. 25-30.

Footnote 766: (return)

Ernst Marno, Reisen im Gebiete des blauen und weissen Nil (Vienna, 1874), pp. 239 sq.

Footnote 767: (return)

Petronius, Sat. 61 sq. (pp. 40 sq., ed. Fr. Buecheler,3 Berlin, 1882). The Latin word for a were-wolf (versipellis) is expressive: it means literally "skin-shifter," and is equally appropriate whatever the particular animal may be into which the wizard transforms himself. It is to be regretted that we have no such general term in English. The bright moonlight which figures in some of these were-wolf stories is perhaps not a mere embellishment of the tale but has its own significance; for in some places it is believed that the transformation of were-wolves into their bestial shape takes place particularly at full moon. See A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 99, 157; J.L.M. Noguès, Les Moeurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis (Saintes, 1891), p. 141.

Footnote 768: (return)

J.G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), p. 6: "In carrying out their unhallowed cantrips, witches assumed various shapes. They became gulls, cormorants, ravens, rats, mice, black sheep, swelling waves, whales, and very frequently cats and hares." To this list of animals into which witches can turn themselves may be added horses, dogs, wolves, foxes, pigs, owls, magpies, wild geese, ducks, serpents, toads, lizards, flies, wasps, and butterflies. See A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube,2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 150 § 217; L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), i. 327 § 220; Ulrich Jahn, Hexenwesen und Zauberei in Pommern (Breslau, 1886), p. 7. In his Topography of Ireland (chap. 19), a work completed in 1187 A.D., Giraldus Cambrensis records that "it has also been a frequent complaint, from old times as well as in the present, that certain hags in Wales, as well as in Ireland and Scotland, changed themselves into the shape of hares, that, sucking teats under this counterfeit form, they might stealthily rob other people's milk." See The Historical Works of Giraldus Cambrensis, revised and edited by Thomas Wright (London, 1887), p. 83.

Footnote 769: (return)

The Folk-lore Journal, iv. (1886) p. 266; Collin de Plancy, Dictionnaire Infernal (Paris, 1825-1826), iii. 475; J.L.M. Noguès, Les Moeurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis (Saintes, 1891), p. 141. In Scotland the cut was known as "scoring above the breath." It consisted of two incisions made crosswise on the witch's forehead, and was "confided in all throughout Scotland as the most powerful counter-charm." See Sir Walter Scott, Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft (London, 1884), p. 272; J.G. Dalyell, The Darker Superstitions of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1834), pp. 531 sq.; M.M. Banks, "Scoring a Witch above the Breath," Folk-lore, xxiii. (1912) p. 490.

Footnote 770: (return)

J.L.M. Noguès, l.c.; L.F. Sauvé, Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges (Paris, 1889), P. 187.

Footnote 771: (return)

M. Abeghian, Der armenische Volksglaube (Leipsic, 1899), p. 117. The wolf-skin is supposed to fall down from heaven and to return to heaven after seven years, if the were-wolf has not been delivered from her unhappy state in the meantime by the burning of the skin.

Footnote 772: (return)

J.G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), p. 8; compare A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube,2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 150 § 217. Some think that the sixpence should be crooked. See Rev. W. Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), pp. 71 sq., 128; County Folk-lore, vol. v. Lincolnshire, collected by Mrs. Gutch and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), p. 75.

Footnote 773: (return)

J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 30.

Footnote 774: (return)

J.G. Campbell, op. cit. p. 33.

Footnote 775: (return)

(Sir) Edward B. Tylor, Primitive Culture,2 (London, 1873), i. 314.

Footnote 776: (return)

Joseph Glanvil, Saducismus Triumphatus or Full and Plain Evidence concerning Witches and Apparitions (London, 1681), Part ii. p. 205.

Footnote 777: (return)

Rev. J.C. Atkinson, Forty Years in a Moorland Parish (London, 1891), pp. 82-84.

Footnote 778: (return)

County Folk-lore, vol. v. Lincolnshire, collected by Mrs. Gutch and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), pp. 79, 80.

Footnote 779: (return)

Leland L. Duncan, "Folk-lore Gleanings from County Leitrim," Folklore, iv. (1893) pp. 183 sq.

Footnote 780: (return)

L.F. Sauvé, Le Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges (Paris, 1889), p. 176.

Footnote 781: (return)

L.F. Sauvé, op. cit. pp. 176 sq.

Footnote 782: (return)

Ernst Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 184 sq., No. 203.

Footnote 783: (return)

E. Meier, op. cit. pp. 191 sq., No. 215. A similar story of the shoeing of a woman in the shape of a horse is reported from Silesia. See R. Kühnau, Schlesische Sagen (Berlin, 1910-1913), iii. pp. 27 sq., No. 1380.

Footnote 784: (return)

R. Kühnau, Schlesische Sagen (Berlin, 1910-1913), iii. pp. 23 sq., No. 1375. Compare id., iii. pp. 28 sq., No. 1381.

Footnote 785: (return)

See for example L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), i. pp. 328, 329, 334, 339; W. von Schulenburg, Wendische Volkssagen und Gebräuche aus dem Spreewald (Leipsic, 1880), pp. 164, 165 sq.; H. Pröhle, Harzsagen (Leipsic, 1859), i. 100 sq. The belief in such things is said to be universal among the ignorant and superstitious in Germany. See A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube,2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 150, § 217. In Wales, also, "the possibility of injuring or marking the witch in her assumed shape so deeply that the bruise remained a mark on her in her natural form was a common belief" (J. Ceredig Davies, Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales, Aberystwyth, 1911, p. 243). For Welsh stories of this sort, see J. Ceredig Davies, l.c.; Rev. Elias Owen, Welsh Folk-lore (Oswestry and Wrexham, N.D., preface dated 1896), pp. 228 sq.; M. Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 214.

Footnote 786: (return)

L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 361, § 239.

Footnote 787: (return)

Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 210.

Footnote 788: (return)

L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 358, § 238.

Footnote 789: (return)

L. Strackerjan, op. cit. i. p. 360, § 238e.

Footnote 790: (return)

"The 'Witch-burning' at Clonmell," Folk-lore, vi. (1895) pp. 373-384. The account there printed is based on the reports of the judicial proceedings before the magistrates and the judge, which were published in The Irish Times for March 26th, 27th, and 28th, April 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 8th, and July 6th, 1895.

Footnote 791: (return)

John Graham Dalyell, The Darker Superstitions of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1834), p. 185. In this passage "quick" is used in the old sense of "living," as in the phrase "the quick and the dead." Nois is "nose," hoill is "hole," quhilk (whilk) is "which," and be is "by."

Footnote 792: (return)

J.G. Dalyell, op. cit. p. 186. Bestiall=animals; seik=sick; calling=driving; guidis=cattle.

Footnote 793: (return)

John Ramsay, of Ochtertyre, Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, edited by Alexander Allardyce (Edinburgh and London, 1888), ii. 446 sq. As to the custom of cutting off the leg of a diseased animal and hanging it up in the house, see above, p. 296, note 1.

Footnote 794: (return)

(Sir) Arthur Mitchell, A.M., M.D., On Various Superstitions in the North-West Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1862), p. 12 (reprinted from the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. iv.).

Footnote 795: (return)

County Folk-lore, vol. v. Lincolnshire, collected by Mrs. Gutch and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), p. 75, quoting Rev. R.M. Heanley, "The Vikings: traces of their Folklore in Marshland," a paper read before the Viking Club, London, and printed in its Saga-Book, vol. iii. Part i. Jan. 1902. The wicken-tree is the mountain-ash or rowan free, which is a very efficient, or at all events a very popular protective against witchcraft. See County Folk-lore, vol. v. Lincolnshire, pp. 26 sq., 98 sq.; Mabel Peacock, "The Folklore of Lincolnshire," Folk-lore, xii. (1901) p. 175; J.G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), pp. 11 sq.; Rev. Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), p. 188. See further The Scapegoat, pp. 266 sq.