Part 35 (1/2)

[783] 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. Kuhnau, _Schlesische Sagen_ (Berlin, 1910-1913), iii. pp. 27 _sq._, No. 1380.

[784] R. Kuhnau, _Schlesische Sagen_ (Berlin, 1910-1913), iii. pp. 23 _sq._, No. 1375. Compare _id._, iii. pp. 28 _sq._, No. 1381.

[785] 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 Gebrauche aus dem Spreewald_ (Leipsic, 1880), pp. 164, 165 _sq._; H. Prohle, _Harzsagen_ (Leipsic, 1859), i. 100 _sq._ The belief in such things is said to be universal among the ignorant and superst.i.tious 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 a.s.sumed 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.

[786] L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_ (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 361, -- 239.

[787] Marie Trevelyan, _Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales_ (London, 1909), p. 210.

[788] L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_ (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 358, -- 238.

[789] L. Strackerjan, _op. cit._ i. p. 360, -- 238e.

[790] ”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.

[791] John Graham Dalyell, _The Darker Superst.i.tions of Scotland_ (Edinburgh, 1834), p. 185. In this pa.s.sage ”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.”

[792] J.G. Dalyell, _op. cit._ p. 186. _b.e.s.t.i.a.ll_=animals; _seik_=sick; _calling_=driving; _guidis_=cattle.

[793] 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.

[794] (Sir) Arthur Mitch.e.l.l, A.M., M.D., _On Various Superst.i.tions 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.).

[795] _County Folk-lore_, vol. v. _Lincolns.h.i.+re_, collected by Mrs.

Gutch and Mabel Peac.o.c.k (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.

_Lincolns.h.i.+re_, pp. 26 _sq._, 98 _sq._; Mabel Peac.o.c.k, ”The Folklore of Lincolns.h.i.+re,” _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_.

CHAPTER V

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE FIRE-FESTIVALS

-- 1. _On the Fire-festivals in general_

[General resemblance of the European fire-festivals to each other.]

The foregoing survey of the popular fire-festivals of Europe suggests some general observations. In the first place we can hardly help being struck by the resemblance which the ceremonies bear to each other, at whatever time of the year and in whatever part of Europe they are celebrated. The custom of kindling great bonfires, leaping over them, and driving cattle through or round them would seem to have been practically universal throughout Europe, and the same may be said of the processions or races with blazing torches round fields, orchards, pastures, or cattle-stalls. Less widespread are the customs of hurling lighted discs into the air[796] and trundling a burning wheel down hill;[797] for to judge by the evidence which I have collected these modes of distributing the beneficial influence of the fire have been confined in the main to Central Europe. The ceremonial of the Yule log is distinguished from that of the other fire-festivals by the privacy and domesticity which characterize it; but, as we have already seen, this distinction may well be due simply to the rough weather of midwinter, which is apt not only to render a public a.s.sembly in the open air disagreeable, but also at any moment to defeat the object of the a.s.sembly by extinguis.h.i.+ng the all-important fire under a downpour of rain or a fall of snow. Apart from these local or seasonal differences, the general resemblance between the fire-festivals at all times of the year and in all places is tolerably close. And as the ceremonies themselves resemble each other, so do the benefits which the people expect to reap from them. Whether applied in the form of bonfires blazing at fixed points, or of torches carried about from place to place, or of embers and ashes taken from the smouldering heap of fuel, the fire is believed to promote the growth of the crops and the welfare of man and beast, either positively by stimulating them, or negatively by averting the dangers and calamities which threaten them from such causes as thunder and lightning, conflagration, blight, mildew, vermin, sterility, disease, and not least of all witchcraft.

[Two explanations suggested of the fire-festivals. According to W.

Mannhardt, they are charms to secure a supply of suns.h.i.+ne; according to Dr. E. Westermarck they are purificatory, being intended to burn and destroy all harmful influences.]

But we naturally ask, How did it come about that benefits so great and manifold were supposed to be attained by means so simple? In what way did people imagine that they could procure so many goods or avoid so many ills by the application of fire and smoke, of embers and ashes? In short, what theory underlay and prompted the practice of these customs?