The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 07 of 12)

419

Hesiod, Theog. 969 sqq.; F. Lenormant, in Daremberg et Saglio, Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines, i. 2, p. 1029; Kern, in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, iv. 2, coll. 2720 sq.

420

My friend Professor J. H. Moulton tells me that there is great doubt as to the existence of a word δηαί, “barley” (Etymologicum Magnum, p. 264, lines 12 sq.), and that the common form of Demeter's name, Dâmâter (except in Ionic and Attic) is inconsistent with η in the supposed Cretan form. “Finally if δηαί = ζειαί, you are bound to regard her as a Cretan goddess, or as arising in some other area where the dialect changed Indogermanic y into δ and not ζ: since Ionic and Attic have ζ, the two crucial letters of the name tell different tales” (Professor J. H. Moulton, in a letter to me, dated 19 December 1903).

421

A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks2 (Gütersloh, 1886), pp. 68 sq.; O. Schrader, Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde, pp. 11, 12, 289; id., Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte,3 ii. 189, 191, 197 sq.; H. Hirt, Die Indogermanen (Strasburg, 1905-1907), i. 276 sqq. In the oldest Vedic ritual barley and not rice is the cereal chiefly employed. See H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda (Berlin, 1894), p. 353. For evidence that barley was cultivated in Europe by the lake-dwellers of the Stone Age, see A. de Candolle, Origin of Cultivated Plants (London, 1884), pp. 368, 369; R. Munro, The Lake-dwellings of Europe (London, Paris, and Melbourne, 1890), pp. 497 sq. According to Pliny (Nat. Hist. xviii. 72) barley was the oldest of all foods.

422

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen (Strasburg, 1884), p. 296. Compare O. Hartung, “Zur Volkskunde aus Anhalt,” Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, vii. (1897) p. 150.

423

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen (Strasburg, 1884), p. 297.

424

Ibid. pp. 297 sq.

425

Ibid. p. 299. Compare R. Andree, Braunschweiger Volkskunde (Brunswick, 1896), p. 281.

426

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 300.

427

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 310.

428

Ibid. pp. 310 sq. Compare O. Hartung, l. c.

429

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 316.

430

Ibid. p. 316.

431

Ibid. pp. 316 sq.

432

Ibid. p. 317. As to such rain-charms see Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 195-197.

433

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 317.

434

Ibid. pp. 317 sq.

435

Ibid. p. 318.

436

Ibid.

437

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. pp. 318 sq.

438

P. Sébillot, Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne (Paris, 1886), p. 306.

439

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 319.

440

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 320.

441

Ibid. p. 321.

442

Ibid. pp. 321, 323, 325 sq.

443

Ibid. p. 323; F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. p. 219, § 403.

444

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 325.

445

Ibid. p. 323.

446

Ibid.

447

A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), pp. 396 sq., 399; K. Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Meklenburg (Vienna, 1879-1880), ii. 309, § 1494.

448

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. pp. 323 sq.

449

H. Prahn, “Glaube und Brauch in der Mark Brandenburg,” Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, i. (1891) pp. 186 sq.

450

K. Haupt, Sagenbuch der Lausitz (Leipsic, 1862-1863), i. p. 233, No. 277 note.

451

R. Krause, Sitten, Gebräuche und Aberglauben in Westpreussen (Berlin, preface dated March 1904), p. 51.

452

P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), ii. 65 sqq.

453

A. John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), p. 189.

454

A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 184, §§ 512 b, 514.

455

W. von Schulenburg, Wendisches Volksthum (Berlin, 1882), p. 147.

456

A. Jaussen, Coutumes des Arabes au pays de Moab (Paris, 1908), pp. 252 sq.

457

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 324.

458

Ibid. p. 320.

459

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 325.

460

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 74 sqq.

461

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 324.

462

Ibid. pp. 324 sq.

463

Ibid. p. 325. The author of Die gestriegelte Rockenphilosophie (Chemnitz, 1759) mentions (p. 891) the German superstition that the last sheaf should be made large in order that all the sheaves next year may be of the same size; but he says nothing as to the shape or name of the sheaf. Compare A. John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), p. 188.

464

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 327.

465

Ibid. p. 328.

466

J. Jamieson, Dictionary of the Scottish Language, New Edition (Paisley, 1879-1882), iii. 206, s. v. “Maiden”; W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 326.

467

That is, with the reaping.

468

Rev. J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1900), pp. 243 sq.

469

R. C. Maclagan, “Notes on folk-lore objects collected in Argyleshire,” Folk-lore, vi. (1895) pp. 149 sq.

470

R. C. Maclagan, op. cit. p. 151.

471

R. C. Maclagan, op. cit. p. 149.

472

Ibid. pp. 151 sq.

473

Rev. Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), p. 182.

474

Rev. J. Macdonald, Religion and Myth (London, 1893), p. 141.

475

D. Jenkyn Evans, in an article entitled “The Harvest Customs of Pembrokeshire,” Pembroke County Guardian, 7th December 1895. In a letter to me, dated 23 February 1901, Mr. E. S. Hartland was so good as to correct the Welsh words in the text. He tells me that they mean literally, “I rose early, I pursued late on her neck,” and he adds: “The idea seems to be that the man has pursued the Hag or Corn-spirit to a later refuge, namely, his neighbour's field not yet completely reaped, and now he leaves her for the other reapers to catch. The proper form of the Welsh word for Hag is Gwrach. That is the radical from gwr, man; gwraig, woman. Wrach is the ‘middle mutation.’ ”

476

M. S. Clark, “An old South Pembrokeshire Harvest Custom,” Folk-lore, xv. (1904) pp. 194-196.

477

Communicated by my friend Professor W. Ridgeway.

478

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 328.

479

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 238.

480

Ibid. pp. 328 sq.

481

Ibid. p. 329.

482

Ibid. p. 330.

483

Ibid.

484

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 331.

485

Ibid.

486

Ibid. p. 332.

487

Th. Vernaleken, Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), p. 310.

488

Hutchinson, History of Northumberland, ii. ad finem, 17, quoted by J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, ii. 20, Bohn's edition.

489

E. D. Clarke, Travels in Various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa, Part ii., Section First, Second Edition (London, 1813), p. 229. Perhaps Morgay (which Clarke absurdly explains as μητὴρ γῆ) is a mistake for Hawkie or Hockey. The waggon in which the last corn was brought from the harvest field was called the hockey cart or hock cart. In a poem called “The Hock-cart or Harvest Home” Herrick has described the joyous return of the laden cart drawn by horses swathed in white sheets and attended by a merry crowd, some of whom kissed or stroked the sheaves, while others pranked them with oak leaves. See further J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, ii. 22 sq., Bohn's edition. The name Hockey or Hawkie is no doubt the same with the German hokelmei, hörkelmei, or harkelmei, which in Westphalia is applied to a green bush or tree set up in the field at the end of harvest and brought home in the last waggon-load; the man who carries it into the farmhouse is sometimes drenched with water. See A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 178-180, §§ 494-497. The word is thought to be derived from the Low German hokk (plural hokken), “a heap of sheaves.” See Joseph Wright, English Dialect Dictionary, iii. (London, 1902) p. 190, s. v. “Hockey,” from which it appears that in England the word has been in use in Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, and Suffolk.

490

Book ix. lines 838-842.

491

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, pp. 333 sq.

492

Ibid. p. 334.

493

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 334.

494

Ibid. p. 336.

495

A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 397.

496

A. Peter, Volksthümliches aus Österreichisch-Schlesien (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 270.

497

Bavaria Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern, iii. (Munich, 1865) pp. 344, 969.

498

P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), ii. 67.

499

A. John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), pp. 193, 194, 197.

500

R. Wuttke, Sächsische Volkskunde (Dresden, 1901), p. 360.

501

W. Mannhardt. Mythologische Forschungen, p. 336.

502

Ibid. p. 336; W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, p. 612.

503

A. John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), p. 194.

504

E. H. Meyer, Badisches Volksleben (Strasburg, 1900), p. 437.

505

A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 184 sq., § 515.

506

W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen (Berlin, 1868), p. 28.

507

W. Mannhardt, l. c.

508

W. Mannhardt, l. c.

509

Joseph Wright, English Dialect Dictionary, vol. i. (London, 1898) p. 605 s. v. “Churn”; id., vol. iii. (London, 1902) p. 453 s. v. “Kirn”; id. vol. iv. (London, 1903) pp. 82 sq. Sir James Murray, editor of the New English Dictionary, kindly informs me that the popular etymology which identifies kern or kirn in this sense with corn is entirely mistaken; and that “baby” or “babbie” in the same phrase means only “doll,” not “infant.” He writes, “Kirn-babbie does not mean ‘corn-baby,’ but merely kirn-doll, harvest-home doll. Bab, babbie was even in my youth the regular name for ‘doll’ in the district, as it was formerly in England; the only woman who sold dolls in Hawick early in the [nineteenth] century, and whose toy-shop all bairns knew, was known as ‘Betty o' the Babs,’ Betty of the dolls.”

510

W. Henderson, Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England (London, 1879), pp. 88 sq.; M. C. F. Morris, Yorkshire Folk-talk, pp. 212-214. Compare F. Grose, Provincial Glossary (London, 1811), s. v. “Mell-supper”; J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, ii. 27 sqq., Bohn's edition; The Denham Tracts, edited by Dr. James Hardy (London, 1892-1895), ii. 2 sq. The sheaf out of which the Mell-doll was made was no doubt the Mell-sheaf, though this is not expressly said. Dr. Joseph Wright, editor of The English Dialect Dictionary, kindly informs me that the word mell is well known in these senses in all the northern counties of England down to Cheshire. He tells me that the proposals to connect mell with “meal” or with “maiden” (through a form like the German Mädel) are inadmissible.

511

Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, vol. iv. (London, 1903) s. v. “Mell,” p. 83.

512

R. Chambers, The Book of Days (Edinburgh, 1886), ii. 377 sq. The expression “Corn Baby” used by the writer is probably his interpretation of the correct expression kirn or kern baby. See above, p. 151, note 3. It is not clear whether the account refers to England or Scotland. Compare F. Grose, Provincial Glossary (London 1811), s. v. “Kern-baby,” “an image dressed up with corn, carried before the reapers to their mell-supper, or harvest-home”; J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, ii. 20; W. Henderson, Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England, p. 87.

513

Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, iii. (London, 1902) s. v. “Kirn,” p. 453.

514

Joseph Wright, The English Dialect Dictionary, i. (London, 1898) p. 605.

515

J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, ii. 21 sq.

516

J. Jamieson, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, New Edition (Paisley, 1879-1882), iii. 42 sq., s. v. “Kirn.”

517

Mrs. A. B. Gomme, “A Berwickshire Kirn-dolly,” Folk-lore, xii. (1901) p. 215.

518

Mrs. A. B. Gomme, “Harvest Customs,” Folk-lore, xiii. (1902) p. 178.

519

J. G. Frazer, “Notes on Harvest Customs,” Folk-lore, vii. (1889) p. 48.

520

(Rev.) H. W. Lett, “Winning the Churn (Ulster),” Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) p. 185. My friend Miss Welsh, formerly Principal of Girton College, Cambridge, told me (30th May 1901) that she remembers the custom of the churn being observed in the north of Ireland; the reapers cut the last handful of standing corn (called the churn) by throwing their sickles at it, and the corn so cut was taken home and kept for some time.

521

J. Jamieson, Dictionary of the Scottish Language, New Edition (Paisley, 1879-1882), iii. 206, s. v. “Maiden.” An old Scottish name for the Maiden (autumnalis nymphula) was Rapegyrne. See Fordun, Scotichren. ii. 418, quoted by J. Jamieson, op. cit. iii. 624, s. v. “Rapegyrne.”

522

R. C. Maclagan, in Folk-lore, vi. (1895) pp. 149, 151.

523

Rev. M. MacPhail (Free Church Manse, Kilmartin, Lochgilphead), “Folk-lore from the Hebrides,” Folk-lore, xi. (1900) p. 441. That the Maiden, hung up in the house, is thought to keep out witches till the next harvest is mentioned also by the Rev. J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1900), p. 20. So with the churn (above, p. 153).

524

Sir John Sinclair, Statistical Account of Scotland, xix. (Edinburgh, 1797), pp. 550 sq. Compare Miss E. J. Guthrie, Old Scottish Customs (London and Glasgow, 1885), pp. 130 sq.

525

Folk-lore Journal, vi. (1888) pp. 268 sq.

526

The late Mrs. Macalister, wife of Professor Alexander Macalister, Cambridge. Her recollections referred especially to the neighbourhood of Glen Farg, some ten or twelve miles to the south of Perth.

527

Rev. James Macdonald, Religion and Myth (London, 1893), pp. 141 sq.

528

From information supplied by Archie Leitch, late gardener to my father at Rowmore, Garelochhead. The Kirn was the name of the harvest festivity in the south of Scotland also. See Lockhart's Life of Scott, ii. 184 (first edition); Early Letters of Thomas Carlyle, ed. Norton, ii. 325 sq.

529

Communicated by the late Mr. Macfarlane of Faslane, Gareloch.

530

A slightly different mode of making up the clyack sheaf is described by the Rev. Walter Gregor elsewhere (Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-east of Scotland, London, 1881, pp. 181 sq.): “The clyack sheaf was cut by the maidens on the harvest field. On no account was it allowed to touch the ground. One of the maidens seated herself on the ground, and over her knees was the band of the sheaf laid. Each of the maidens cut a handful, or more if necessary, and laid it on the band. The sheaf was then bound, still lying over the maiden's knees, and dressed up in woman's clothing.”

531

W. Gregor, “Quelques coutumes du Nord-est du Comté d'Aberdeen,” Revue des Traditions populaires, iii. (October, 1888) pp. 484-487 (wrong pagination; should be 532-535). This account, translated into French by M. Loys Brueyre from the author's English and translated by me back from French into English, is fuller than the account given by the same writer in his Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-east of Scotland (London, 1881), pp. 181-183. I have translated “une jument ayant son poulain” by “a mare in foal,” and “la plus ancienne vache ayant son veau” by “the oldest cow in calf,” because in the author's Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-east of Scotland (p. 182) we read that the last sheaf was “carefully preserved till Christmas or New Year morning. On that morning it was given to a mare in foal,” etc. Otherwise the French words might naturally be understood of a mare with its foal and a cow with its calf.

532

See above, pp. 115 sq.

533

See below, vol. ii. p. 110.

534

The drinking of the draught (called the κυκεών) as a solemn rite in the Eleusinian mysteries is mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (Protrept. 21, p. 18, ed. Potter) and Arnobius (Adversus Nationes, v. 26). The composition of the draught is revealed by the author of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (verses 206-211), where he represents Demeter herself partaking of the sacred cup. That the compound was a kind of thick gruel, half-solid, half-liquid, is mentioned by Eustathius (on Homer, Iliad, xi. 638, p. 870). Compare Miss J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, Second Edition (Cambridge, 1908), pp. 155 sqq.

535

Rev. J. Macdonald, Religion and Myth (London, 1893), pp. 140 sq., from MS. notes of Miss J. Ligertwood.

536

Folk-lore Journal, vii. (1889) p. 51; The Quarterly Review, clxxii. (1891) p. 195.

537

As to Inverness-shire my old friend Mr. Hugh E. Cameron, formerly of Glen Moriston, Inverness-shire, wrote to me many years ago: “As a boy, I remember the last bit of corn cut was taken home, and neatly tied up with a ribbon, and then stuck up on the wall above the kitchen fire-place, and there it often remained till the ‘maiden’ of the following year took its place. There was no ceremony about it, beyond often a struggle as to who would get, or cut, the last sheaf to select the ‘maiden’ from” (The Folk-lore Journal, vii. 1889, pp. 50 sq.). As to Sutherlandshire my mother was told by a servant, Isabella Ross, that in that county “they hang up the ‘maiden’ generally over the mantel-piece (chimney-piece) till the next harvest. They have always a kirn, whipped cream, with often a ring in it, and sometimes meal sprinkled over it. The girls must all be dressed in lilac prints, they all dance, and at twelve o'clock they eat potatoes and herrings” (op. cit. pp. 53 sq.).

538

W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen (Berlin, 1868), p. 30.

539

W. Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmütz, 1893), p. 327.

540

J. E. Waldfreund, “Volksgebräuche und Aberglaube in Tirol und dem Salzburger Gebirg,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iii. (1855) p. 340.

541

Th. Vernaleken, Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), p. 310.

542

Mr. R. Matheson, in The Folk-lore Journal, vii. (1889) pp. 49, 50.

543

W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen (Berlin, 1868), p. 30.

544

E. Sommer, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Sachsen und Thüringen (Halle, 1846), pp. 160 sq.; W. Mannhardt, l. c.

545

W. Mannhardt, l. c.; E. Peter, Volksthümliches aus Österreichisch-Schlesien (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 269.

546

Alexander Nicolson, A Collection of Gaelic Proverbs and Familiar Phrases, based on Macintosh's Collection (Edinburgh and London, 1881), p. 248.

547

A. Nicolson, op. cit. pp. 415 sq.