(M98) It has been argued by W. Mannhardt that the first part of Demeter’s
name is derived from an alleged Cretan word _deai_, “barley,” and that
accordingly Demeter means neither more nor less than “Barley-mother” or
“Corn-mother”;(417) for the root of the word seems to have been applied to
different kinds of grain by different branches of the Aryans.(418) As
Crete appears to have been one of the most ancient seats of the worship of
Demeter,(419) it would not be surprising if her name were of Cretan
origin. But the etymology is open to serious objections,(420) and it is
safer therefore to lay no stress on it. Be that as it may, we have found
independent reasons for identifying Demeter as the Corn-mother, and of the
two species of corn associated with her in Greek religion, namely barley
and wheat, the barley has perhaps the better claim to be her original
element; for not only would it seem to have been the staple food of the
Greeks in the Homeric age, but there are grounds for believing that it is
one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, cereal cultivated by the Aryan
race. Certainly the use of barley in the religious ritual of the ancient
Hindoos as well as of the ancient Greeks furnishes a strong argument in
favour of the great antiquity of its cultivation, which is known to have
been practised by the lake-dwellers of the Stone Age in Europe.(421)
Analogies to the Corn-mother or Barley-mother of ancient Greece have been
collected in great abundance by W. Mannhardt from the folk-lore of modern
Europe. The following may serve as specimens.
(M99) In Germany the corn is very commonly personified under the name of
the Corn-mother. Thus in spring, when the corn waves in the wind, the
peasants say, “There comes the Corn-mother,” or “The Corn-mother is
running over the field,” or “The Corn-mother is going through the
corn.”(422) When children wish to go into the fields to pull the blue
corn-flowers or the red poppies, they are told not to do so, because the
Corn-mother is sitting in the corn and will catch them.(423) Or again she
is called, according to the crop, the Rye-mother or the Pea-mother, and
children are warned against straying in the rye or among the peas by
threats of the Rye-mother or the Pea-mother. In Norway also the Pea-mother
is said to sit among the peas.(424) Similar expressions are current among
the Slavs. The Poles and Czechs warn children against the Corn-mother who
sits in the corn. Or they call her the old Corn-woman, and say that she
sits in the corn and strangles the children who tread it down.(425) The
Lithuanians say, “The Old Rye-woman sits in the corn.”(426) Again the
Corn-mother is believed to make the crop grow. Thus in the neighbourhood
of Magdeburg it is sometimes said, “It will be a good year for flax; the
Flax-mother has been seen.” At Dinkelsbühl, in Bavaria, down to the latter
part of the nineteenth century, people believed that when the crops on a
particular farm compared unfavourably with those of the neighbourhood, the
reason was that the Corn-mother had punished the farmer for his sins.(427)
In a village of Styria it is said that the Corn-mother, in the shape of a
female puppet made out of the last sheaf of corn and dressed in white, may
be seen at midnight in the corn-fields, which she fertilises by passing
through them; but if she is angry with a farmer, she withers up all his
corn.(428)
(M100) Further, the Corn-mother plays an important part in harvest
customs. She is believed to be present in the handful of corn which is
left standing last on the field; and with the cutting of this last handful
she is caught, or driven away, or killed. In the first of these cases, the
last sheaf is carried joyfully home and honoured as a divine being. It is
placed in the barn, and at threshing the corn-spirit appears again.(429)
In the Hanoverian district of Hadeln the reapers stand round the last
sheaf and beat it with sticks in order to drive the Corn-mother out of it.
They call to each other, “There she is! hit her! Take care she doesn’t
catch you!” The beating goes on till the grain is completely threshed out;
then the Corn-mother is believed to be driven away.(430) In the
neighbourhood of Danzig the person who cuts the last ears of corn makes
them into a doll, which is called the Corn-mother or the Old Woman and is
brought home on the last waggon.(431) In some parts of Holstein the last
sheaf is dressed in woman’s clothes and called the Corn-mother. It is
carried home on the last waggon, and then thoroughly drenched with water.
The drenching with water is doubtless a rain-charm.(432) In the district
of Bruck in Styria the last sheaf, called the Corn-mother, is made up into
the shape of a woman by the oldest married woman in the village, of an age
from fifty to fifty-five years. The finest ears are plucked out of it and
made into a wreath, which, twined with flowers, is carried on her head by
the prettiest girl of the village to the farmer or squire, while the
Corn-mother is laid down in the barn to keep off the mice.(433) In other
villages of the same district the Corn-mother, at the close of harvest, is
carried by two lads at the top of a pole. They march behind the girl who
wears the wreath to the squire’s house, and while he receives the wreath
and hangs it up in the hall, the Corn-mother is placed on the top of a
pile of wood, where she is the centre of the harvest supper and dance.
Afterwards she is hung up in the barn and remains there till the threshing
is over. The man who gives the last stroke at threshing is called the son
of the Corn-mother; he is tied up in the Corn-mother, beaten, and carried
through the village. The wreath is dedicated in church on the following
Sunday; and on Easter Eve the grain is rubbed out of it by a
seven-years-old girl and scattered amongst the young corn. At Christmas
the straw of the wreath is placed in the manger to make the cattle
thrive.(434) Here the fertilising power of the Corn-mother is plainly
brought out by scattering the seed taken from her body (for the wreath is
made out of the Corn-mother) among the new corn; and her influence over
animal life is indicated by placing the straw in the manger. At
Westerhüsen, in Saxony, the last corn cut is made in the shape of a woman
decked with ribbons and cloth. It is fastened to a pole and brought home
on the last waggon. One of the people in the waggon keeps waving the pole,
so that the figure moves as if alive. It is placed on the threshing-floor,
and stays there till the threshing is done.(435) Amongst the Slavs also
the last sheaf is known as the Rye-mother, the Wheat-mother, the
Oats-mother, the Barley-mother, and so on, according to the crop. In the
district of Tarnow, Galicia, the wreath made out of the last stalks is
called the Wheat-mother, Rye-mother, or Pea-mother. It is placed on a
girl’s head and kept till spring, when some of the grain is mixed with the
seed-corn.(436) Here again the fertilising power of the Corn-mother is
indicated. In France, also, in the neighbourhood of Auxerre, the last
sheaf goes by the name of the Mother of the Wheat, Mother of the Barley,
Mother of the Rye, or Mother of the Oats. They leave it standing in the
field till the last waggon is about to wend homewards. Then they make a
puppet out of it, dress it with clothes belonging to the farmer, and adorn
it with a crown and a blue or white scarf. A branch of a tree is stuck in
the breast of the puppet, which is now called the Ceres. At the dance in
the evening the Ceres is set in the middle of the floor, and the reaper
who reaped fastest dances round it with the prettiest girl for his
partner. After the dance a pyre is made. All the girls, each wearing a
wreath, strip the puppet, pull it to pieces, and place it on the pyre,
along with the flowers with which it was adorned. Then the girl who was
the first to finish reaping sets fire to the pile, and all pray that Ceres
may give a fruitful year. Here, as Mannhardt observes, the old custom has
remained intact, though the name Ceres is a bit of schoolmaster’s
learning.(437) In Upper Brittany the last sheaf is always made into human
shape; but if the farmer is a married man, it is made double and consists
of a little corn-puppet placed inside of a large one. This is called the
Mother-sheaf. It is delivered to the farmer’s wife, who unties it and
gives drink-money in return.(438)
(M101) Sometimes the last sheaf is called, not the Corn-mother, but the
Harvest-mother or the Great Mother. In the province of Osnabrück, Hanover,
it is called the Harvest-mother; it is made up in female form, and then
the reapers dance about with it. In some parts of Westphalia the last
sheaf at the rye-harvest is made especially heavy by fastening stones in
it. They bring it home on the last waggon and call it the Great Mother,
though they do not fashion it into any special shape. In the district of
Erfurt a very heavy sheaf, not necessarily the last, is called the Great
Mother, and is carried on the last waggon to the barn, where all hands
lift it down amid a fire of jokes.(439)
(M102) Sometimes again the last sheaf is called the Grandmother, and is
adorned with flowers, ribbons, and a woman’s apron. In East Prussia, at
the rye or wheat harvest, the reapers call out to the woman who binds the
last sheaf, “You are getting the Old Grandmother.” In the neighbourhood of
Magdeburg the men and women servants strive who shall get the last sheaf,
called the Grandmother. Whoever gets it will be married in the next year,
but his or her spouse will be old; if a girl gets it, she will marry a
widower; if a man gets it, he will marry an old crone. In Silesia the
Grandmother—a huge bundle made up of three or four sheaves by the person
who tied the last sheaf—was formerly fashioned into a rude likeness of the
human form.(440) In the neighbourhood of Belfast the last sheaf sometimes
goes by the name of the Granny. It is not cut in the usual way, but all
the reapers throw their sickles at it and try to bring it down. It is
plaited and kept till the (next?) autumn. Whoever gets it will marry in
the course of the year.(441)
(M103) Oftener the last sheaf is called the Old Woman or the Old Man. In
Germany it is frequently shaped and dressed as a woman, and the person who
cuts it or binds it is said to “get the Old Woman.”(442) At Altisheim, in
Swabia, when all the corn of a farm has been cut except a single strip,
all the reapers stand in a row before the strip; each cuts his share
rapidly, and he who gives the last cut “has the Old Woman.”(443) When the
sheaves are being set up in heaps, the person who gets hold of the Old
Woman, which is the largest and thickest of all the sheaves, is jeered at
by the rest, who call out to him, “He has the Old Woman and must keep
her.”(444) The woman who binds the last sheaf is sometimes herself called
the Old Woman, and it is said that she will be married in the next
year.(445) In Neusaass, West Prussia, both the last sheaf—which is dressed
up in jacket, hat, and ribbons—and the woman who binds it are called the
Old Woman. Together they are brought home on the last waggon and are
drenched with water.(446) In various parts of North Germany the last sheaf
at harvest is made up into a human effigy and called “the Old Man”; and
the woman who bound it is said “to have the Old Man.”(447) At Hornkampe,
near Tiegenhof (West Prussia), when a man or woman lags behind the rest in
binding the corn, the other reapers dress up the last sheaf in the form of
a man or woman, and this figure goes by the laggard’s name, as “the old
Michael,” “the idle Trine.” It is brought home on the last waggon, and, as
it nears the house, the bystanders call out to the laggard, “You have got
the Old Woman and must keep her.”(448) In Brandenburg the young folks on
the harvest-field race towards a sheaf and jump over it. The last to jump
over it has to carry a straw puppet, adorned with ribbons, to the farmer
and deliver it to him while he recites some verses. Of the person who thus
carries the puppet it is said that “he has the Old Man.” Probably the
puppet is or used to be made out of the last corn cut.(449) In many
districts of Saxony the last sheaf used to be adorned with ribbons and set
upright so as to look like a man. It was then known as “the Old Man,” and
the young women brought it back in procession to the farm, singing as they
went, “Now we are bringing the Old Man.”(450)
(M104) In West Prussia, when the last rye is being raked together, the
women and girls hurry with the work, for none of them likes to be the last
and to get “the Old Man,” that is, a puppet made out of the last sheaf,
which must be carried before the other reapers by the person who was the
last to finish.(451) In Silesia the last sheaf is called the Old Woman or
the Old Man and is the theme of many jests; it is made unusually large and
is sometimes weighted with a stone. At Girlachsdorf, near Reichenbach,
when this heavy sheaf is lifted into the waggon, they say, “That is the
Old Man whom we sought for so long.”(452) Among the Germans of West
Bohemia the man who cuts the last corn is said to “have the Old Man.” In
former times it used to be customary to put a wreath on his head and to
play all kinds of pranks with him, and at the harvest supper he was given
the largest portion.(453) At Wolletz in Westphalia the last sheaf at
harvest is called the Old Man, and being made up into the likeness of a
man and decorated with flowers it is presented to the farmer, who in
return prepares a feast for the reapers. About Unna, in Westphalia, the
last sheaf at harvest is made unusually large, and stones are inserted to
increase its weight. It is called _de greaute meaur_ (the Grey Mother?),
and when it is brought home on the waggon water is thrown on the
harvesters who accompany it.(454) Among the Wends the man or woman who
binds the last sheaf at wheat harvest is said to “have the Old Man.” A
puppet is made out of the wheaten straw and ears in the likeness of a man
and decked with flowers. The person who bound the last sheaf must carry
the Old Man home, while the rest laugh and jeer at him. The puppet is hung
up in the farmhouse and remains till a new Old Man is made at the next
harvest.(455) At the close of the harvest the Arabs of Moab bury the last
sheaf in a grave in the cornfield, saying as they do so, “We are burying
the Old Man,” or “The Old Man is dead.”(456)
(M105) In some of these customs, as Mannhardt has remarked, the person who
is called by the same name as the last sheaf and sits beside it on the
last waggon is obviously identified with it; he or she represents the
corn-spirit which has been caught in the last sheaf; in other words, the
corn-spirit is represented in duplicate, by a human being and by a
sheaf.(457) The identification of the person with the sheaf is made still
clearer by the custom of wrapping up in the last sheaf the person who cuts
or binds it. Thus at Hermsdorf in Silesia it used to be the regular
practice to tie up in the last sheaf the woman who had bound it.(458) At
Weiden, in Bavaria, it is the cutter, not the binder, of the last sheaf
who is tied up in it.(459) Here the person wrapt up in the corn represents
the corn-spirit, exactly as a person wrapt in branches or leaves
represents the tree-spirit.(460)
(M106) The last sheaf, designated as the Old Woman, is often distinguished
from the other sheaves by its size and weight. Thus in some villages of
West Prussia the Old Woman is made twice as long and thick as a common
sheaf, and a stone is fastened in the middle of it. Sometimes it is made
so heavy that a man can barely lift it.(461) At Alt-Pillau, in Samland,
eight or nine sheaves are often tied together to make the Old Woman, and
the man who sets it up grumbles at its weight.(462) At Itzgrund, in
Saxe-Coburg, the last sheaf, called the Old Woman, is made large with the
express intention of thereby securing a good crop next year.(463) Thus the
custom of making the last sheaf unusually large or heavy is a charm,
working by sympathetic magic, to ensure a large and heavy crop at the
following harvest. In Denmark also the last sheaf is made larger than the
others, and is called the Old Rye-woman or the Old Barley-woman. No one
likes to bind it, because whoever does so will be sure, they think, to
marry an old man or an old woman. Sometimes the last wheat-sheaf, called
the Old Wheat-woman, is made up in human shape, with head, arms, and legs,
and being dressed in clothes is carried home on the last waggon, while the
harvesters sit beside it drinking and huzzaing.(464) Of the person who
binds the last sheaf it is said, “She or he is the Old Rye-woman.”(465)
(M107) In Scotland, when the last corn was cut after Hallowmas, the female
figure made out of it was sometimes called the Carlin or Carline, that is,
the Old Woman. But if cut before Hallowmas, it was called the Maiden; if
cut after sunset, it was called the Witch, being supposed to bring bad
luck.(466) Among the Highlanders of Scotland the last corn cut at harvest
is known either as the Old Wife (_Cailleach_) or as the Maiden; on the
whole the former name seems to prevail in the western and the latter in
the central and eastern districts. Of the Maiden we shall speak presently;
here we are dealing with the Old Wife. The following general account of
the custom is given by a careful and well-informed enquirer, the Rev. J.
G. Campbell, minister of the remote Hebridean island of Tiree: “The
Harvest Old Wife (_a Chailleach_).—In harvest, there was a struggle to
escape from being the last done with the shearing,(467) and when tillage
in common existed, instances were known of a ridge being left unshorn (no
person would claim it) because of it being behind the rest. The fear
entertained was that of having the ‘famine of the farm’ (_gort a bhaile_),
in the shape of an imaginary old woman (_cailleach_), to feed till next
harvest. Much emulation and amusement arose from the fear of this old
woman.... The first done made a doll of some blades of corn, which was
called the ‘old wife,’ and sent it to his nearest neighbour. He in turn,
when ready, passed it to another still less expeditious, and the person it
last remained with had ‘the old woman’ to keep for that year.”(468)
(M108) To illustrate the custom by examples, in Bernera, on the west of
Lewis, the harvest rejoicing goes by the name of the Old Wife
(_Cailleach_) from the last sheaf cut, whether in a township, farm, or
croft. Where there are a number of crofts beside each other, there is
always great rivalry as to who shall first finish reaping, and so have the
Old Wife before his neighbours. Some people even go out on a clear night
to reap their fields after their neighbours have retired to rest, in order
that they may have the Old Wife first. More neighbourly habits, however,
usually prevail, and as each finishes his own fields he goes to the help
of another, till the whole crop is cut. The reaping is still done with the
sickle. When the corn has been cut on all the crofts, the last sheaf is
dressed up to look as like an old woman as possible. She wears a white
cap, a dress, an apron, and a little shawl over the shoulders fastened
with a sprig of heather. The apron is tucked up to form a pocket, which is
stuffed with bread and cheese. A sickle, stuck in the string of the apron
at the back, completes her equipment. This costume and outfit mean that
the Old Wife is ready to bear a hand in the work of harvesting. At the
feast which follows, the Old Wife is placed at the head of the table, and
as the whisky goes round each of the company drinks to her, saying,
“Here’s to the one that has helped us with the harvest.” When the table
has been cleared away and dancing begins, one of the lads leads out the
Old Wife and dances with her; and if the night is fine the party will
sometimes go out and march in a body to a considerable distance, singing
harvest-songs, while one of them carries the Old Wife on his back. When
the Harvest-Home is over, the Old Wife is shorn of her gear and used for
ordinary purposes.(469) In the island of Islay the last corn cut also goes
by the name of the Old Wife (_Cailleach_), and when she has done her duty
at harvest she is hung up on the wall and stays there till the time comes
to plough the fields for the next year’s crop. Then she is taken down, and
on the first day when the men go to plough she is divided among them by
the mistress of the house. They take her in their pockets and give her to
the horses to eat when they reach the field. This is supposed to secure
good luck for the next harvest, and is understood to be the proper end of
the Old Wife.(470) In Kintyre also the name of the Old Wife is given to
the last corn cut.(471) On the shores of the beautiful Loch Awe, a long
sheet of water, winding among soft green hills, above which the giant Ben
Cruachan towers bold and rugged on the north, the harvest custom is
somewhat different. The name of the Old Wife (_Cailleach_) is here
bestowed, not on the last corn cut, but on the reaper who is the last to
finish. He bears it as a term of reproach, and is not privileged to reap
the last ears left standing. On the contrary, these are cut by the reaper
who was the first to finish his _spagh_ or strip (literally “claw”), and
out of them is fashioned the Maiden, which is afterwards hung up,
according to one statement, “for the purpose of preventing the death of
horses in spring.”(472) In the north-east of Scotland “the one who took
the last of the grain from the field to the stackyard was called the
‘winter.’ Each one did what could be done to avoid being the last on the
field, and when there were several on the field there was a race to get
off. The unfortunate ‘winter’ was the subject of a good deal of teasing,
and was dressed up in all the old clothes that could be gathered about the
farm, and placed on the ‘bink’ to eat his supper.”(473) So in Caithness
the person who cuts the last sheaf is called Winter and retains the name
till the next harvest.(474)
(M109) Usages of the same sort are reported from Wales. Thus in North
Pembrokeshire a tuft of the last corn cut, from six to twelve inches long,
is plaited and goes by the name of the Hag (_wrach_); and quaint old
customs used to be practised with it within the memory of many persons
still alive. Great was the excitement among the reapers when the last
patch of standing corn was reached. All in turn threw their sickles at it,
and the one who succeeded in cutting it received a jug of home-brewed ale.
The Hag (_wrach_) was then hurriedly made and taken to a neighbouring
farm, where the reapers were still busy at their work. This was generally
done by the ploughman; but he had to be very careful not to be observed by
his neighbours, for if they saw him coming and had the least suspicion of
his errand they would soon make him retrace his steps. Creeping stealthily
up behind a fence he waited till the foreman of his neighbour’s reapers
was just opposite him and within easy reach. Then he suddenly threw the
Hag over the fence and, if possible, upon the foreman’s sickle, crying out
“_Boreu y codais i,_
_Hwyr y dilynais i,_
_Ar ei gwar hi._”
(M110) On that he took to his heels and made off as fast as he could run,
and he was a lucky man if he escaped without being caught or cut by the
flying sickles which the infuriated reapers hurled after him. In other
cases the Hag was brought home to the farmhouse by one of the reapers. He
did his best to bring it home dry and without being observed; but he was
apt to be roughly handled by the people of the house, if they suspected
his errand. Sometimes they stripped him of most of his clothes, sometimes
they would drench him with water which had been carefully stored in
buckets and pans for the purpose. If, however, he succeeded in bringing
the Hag in dry and unobserved, the master of the house had to pay him a
small fine; or sometimes a jug of beer “from the cask next to the wall,”
which seems to have commonly held the best beer, would be demanded by the
bearer. The Hag was then carefully hung on a nail in the hall or elsewhere
and kept there all the year. The custom of bringing in the Hag (_wrach_)
into the house and hanging it up still exists in some farms of North
Pembrokeshire, but the ancient ceremonies which have just been described
are now discontinued.(475)
Similar customs at harvest were observed in South Pembrokeshire within
living memory. In that part of the country there used to be a competition
between neighbouring farms to see which would finish reaping first. The
foreman of the reapers planned so as to finish the reaping in a corner of
the field out of sight of the people on the next farm. There, with the
last handful of corn cut, he would make two Old Women or Hags (_wrachs_).
One of them he would send by a lad or other messenger to be laid secretly
in the field where the neighbours were still at work cutting their corn.
The messenger would disguise himself to look like a stranger, and jumping
the fence and creeping through the corn he would lay the Hag (_wrach_) in
a place where the reapers in reaping would be sure to find it. Having done
so he fled for dear life, for were the reapers to catch him they would
shut him up in a dark room and not let him out till he had cleaned all the
muddy boots, shoes, and clogs in the house. The second Hag (_wrach_) was
sent or taken by the foreman of the reapers to his master’s farmhouse.
Generally he tried to pop into the house unseen and lay the Hag on the
kitchen table; but if the people of the farm caught him before he laid it
down, they used to drench him with water. If a foreman succeeded in
getting both the Hags (_wrachs_) laid safe in their proper quarters, one
at home, the other on a neighbour’s farm, without interruption, it was
deemed a great honour.(476) In County Antrim, down to some years ago, when
the sickle was finally expelled by the reaping machine, the few stalks of
corn left standing last on the field were plaited together; then the
reapers, blindfolded, threw their sickles at the plaited corn, and whoever
happened to cut it through took it home with him and put it over his door.
This bunch of corn was called the Carley(477)—probably the same word as
Carlin.
(M111) Similar customs are observed by Slavonic peoples. Thus in Poland
the last sheaf is commonly called the Baba, that is, the Old Woman. “In
the last sheaf,” it is said, “sits the Baba.” The sheaf itself is also
called the Baba, and is sometimes composed of twelve smaller sheaves
lashed together.(478) In some parts of Bohemia the Baba, made out of the
last sheaf, has the figure of a woman with a great straw hat. It is
carried home on the last harvest-waggon and delivered, along with a
garland, to the farmer by two girls. In binding the sheaves the women
strive not to be last, for she who binds the last sheaf will have a child
next year.(479) The last sheaf is tied up with others into a large bundle,
and a green branch is stuck on the top of it.(480) Sometimes the
harvesters call out to the woman who binds the last sheaf, “She has the
Baba,” or “She is the Baba.” She has then to make a puppet, sometimes in
female, sometimes in male form, out of the corn; the puppet is
occasionally dressed with clothes, often with flowers and ribbons only.
The cutter of the last stalks, as well as the binder of the last sheaf,
was also called Baba; and a doll, called the Harvest-woman, was made out
of the last sheaf and adorned with ribbons. The oldest reaper had to
dance, first with this doll, and then with the farmer’s wife.(481) In the
district of Cracow, when a man binds the last sheaf, they say, “The
Grandfather is sitting in it”; when a woman binds it, they say, “The Baba
is sitting in it,” and the woman herself is wrapt up in the sheaf, so that
only her head projects out of it. Thus encased in the sheaf, she is
carried on the last harvest-waggon to the house, where she is drenched
with water by the whole family. She remains in the sheaf till the dance is
over, and for a year she retains the name of Baba.(482)
(M112) In Lithuania the name for the last sheaf is Boba (Old Woman),
answering to the Polish name Baba. The Boba is said to sit in the corn
which is left standing last.(483) The person who binds the last sheaf or
digs the last potato is the subject of much banter, and receives and long
retains the name of the Old Rye-woman or the Old Potato-woman.(484) The
last sheaf—the Boba—is made into the form of a woman, carried solemnly
through the village on the last harvest-waggon, and drenched with water at
the farmer’s house; then every one dances with it.(485)
(M113) In Russia also the last sheaf is often shaped and dressed as a
woman, and carried with dance and song to the farmhouse. Out of the last
sheaf the Bulgarians make a doll which they call the Corn-queen or
Corn-mother; it is dressed in a woman’s shirt, carried round the village,
and then thrown into the river in order to secure plenty of rain and dew
for the next year’s crop. Or it is burned and the ashes strewn on the
fields, doubtless to fertilise them.(486) The name Queen, as applied to
the last sheaf, has its analogies in central and northern Europe. Thus, in
the Salzburg district of Austria, at the end of the harvest a great
procession takes place, in which a Queen of the Corn-ears (_Ährenkönigin_)
is drawn along in a little carriage by young fellows.(487) The custom of
the Harvest Queen appears to have been common in England. Brand quotes
from Hutchinson’s _History of Northumberland_ the following: “I have seen,
in some places, an image apparelled in great finery, crowned with flowers,
a sheaf of corn placed under her arm, and a scycle in her hand, carried
out of the village in the morning of the conclusive reaping day, with
music and much clamour of the reapers, into the field, where it stands
fixed on a pole all day, and when the reaping is done, is brought home in
like manner. This they call the Harvest Queen, and it represents the Roman
Ceres.”(488) Again, the traveller Dr. E. D. Clarke tells us that “even in
the town of Cambridge, and centre of our University, such curious remains
of antient customs may be noticed, in different seasons of the year, which
pass without observation. The custom of blowing horns upon the first of
May (Old Style) is derived from a festival in honour of Diana. At the
_Hawkie_, as it is called, or Harvest Home, I have seen a clown dressed in
woman’s clothes, having his face painted, his head decorated with ears of
corn, and bearing about him other symbols of Ceres, carried in a waggon,
with great pomp and loud shouts, through the streets, the horses being
covered with white sheets: and when I inquired the meaning of the
ceremony, was answered by the people that they were drawing the Morgay
(ΜΗΤΗΡ ΓΗ) or Harvest Queen.”(489) Milton must have been familiar with the
custom of the Harvest Queen, for in _Paradise Lost_(490) he says:—
“_Adam the while_
_Waiting desirous her return, had wove_
_Of choicest flow’rs a garland to adorn_
_Her tresses, and her rural labours crown,_
_As reapers oft are wont their harvest-queen._”
(M114) Often customs of this sort are practised, not on the harvest-field
but on the threshing-floor. The spirit of the corn, fleeing before the
reapers as they cut down the ripe grain, quits the reaped corn and takes
refuge in the barn, where it appears in the last sheaf threshed, either to
perish under the blows of the flail or to flee thence to the still
unthreshed corn of a neighbouring farm.(491) Thus the last corn to be
threshed is called the Mother-Corn or the Old Woman. Sometimes the person
who gives the last stroke with the flail is called the Old Woman, and is
wrapt in the straw of the last sheaf, or has a bundle of straw fastened on
his back. Whether wrapt in the straw or carrying it on his back, he is
carted through the village amid general laughter. In some districts of
Bavaria, Thüringen, and elsewhere, the man who threshes the last sheaf is
said to have the Old Woman or the Old Corn-woman; he is tied up in straw,
carried or carted about the village, and set down at last on the dunghill,
or taken to the threshing-floor of a neighbouring farmer who has not
finished his threshing.(492) In Poland the man who gives the last stroke
at threshing is called Baba (Old Woman); he is wrapt in corn and wheeled
through the village.(493) Sometimes in Lithuania the last sheaf is not
threshed, but is fashioned into female shape and carried to the barn of a
neighbour who has not finished his threshing.(494)
(M115) At Chorinchen, near Neustadt, the man who gives the last stroke at
threshing is said to “get the Old Man.”(495) In various parts of Austrian
Silesia he is called the corn-fool, the oats-fool, and so forth according
to the crop, and retains the name till the next kind of grain has been
reaped. Sometimes he is called the _Klöppel_ or mallet. He is much
ridiculed and in the Bennisch district he is dressed out in the
threshing-implements and obliged to carry them about the farmyard to the
amusement of his fellows. In Dobischwald the man who gives the last stroke
at threshing has to carry a log or puppet of wood wrapt in straw to a
neighbour who has not yet finished his threshing. There he throws his
burden into the barn, crying, “There you have the Mallet (_Klöppel_),” and
makes off as fast as he can. If they catch him, they tie the puppet on his
back, and he is known as the Mallet (_Klöppel_) for the whole of the year;
he may be the Corn-mallet or the Wheat-mallet or so forth according to the
particular crop.(496)
(M116) About Berneck, in Upper Franken, the man who gives the last stroke
at threshing runs away. If the others catch him, he gets “the Old Woman,”
that is, the largest dumpling, which elsewhere is baked in human shape.
The custom of setting a dumpling baked in the form of an old woman before
the man who has given the last stroke at threshing is also observed in
various parts of Middle Franken. Sometimes the excised genitals of a calf
are served up to him at table.(497) At Langenbielau in Silesia the last
sheaf, which is called “the Old Man,” is threshed separately and the corn
ground into meal and baked into a loaf. This loaf is believed to possess
healing virtue and to bring a blessing; hence none but members of the
family may partake of it. At Wittichenau, in the district of Hoyerswerda
(Silesia), when the threshing is ended, some of the straw of “the Old Man”
is carried to a neighbour who has not yet finished his threshing, and the
bearer is rewarded with a gratuity.(498) Among the Germans of the
Falkenauer district in West Bohemia the man who gives the last stroke at
threshing gets “the Old Man,” a hideous scarecrow, tied on his back. If
threshing is still proceeding at another farm, he may go thither and rid
himself of his burden, but must take care not to be caught. In this way a
farmer who is behind-hand with his threshing may receive several such
scarecrows, and so become the target for many gibes. Among the Germans of
the Planer district in West Bohemia, the man who gives the last stroke at
threshing is himself called “the Old Man.” Similarly at flax-dressing in
Silberberg (West Bohemia), the woman who is the last to finish her task is
said to get the Old Man, and a cake baked in human form is served up to
her at supper.(499) The Wends of Saxony say of the man who gives the last
stroke at threshing that “he has struck the Old Man” (_wón je stareho
bil_), and he is obliged to carry a straw puppet to a neighbour, who has
not yet finished his threshing, where he throws the puppet unobserved over
the fence.(500) In some parts of Sweden, when a stranger woman appears on
the threshing-floor, a flail is put round her body, stalks of corn are
wound round her neck, a crown of ears is placed on her head, and the
threshers call out, “Behold the Corn-woman.” Here the stranger woman, thus
suddenly appearing, is taken to be the corn-spirit who has just been
expelled by the flails from the corn-stalks.(501) In other cases the
farmer’s wife represents the corn-spirit. Thus in the Commune of Saligné,
Canton de Poiret (Vendée), the farmer’s wife, along with the last sheaf,
is tied up in a sheet, placed on a litter, and carried to the threshing
machine, under which she is shoved. Then the woman is drawn out and the
sheaf is threshed by itself, but the woman is tossed in the sheet, as if
she were being winnowed.(502) It would be impossible to express more
clearly the identification of the woman with the corn than by this graphic
imitation of threshing and winnowing her. Mitigated forms of the custom
are observed in various places. Thus among the Germans of Schüttarschen in
West Bohemia it was customary at the close of the threshing to “throttle”
the farmer’s wife by squeezing her neck between the arms of a flail till
she consented to bake a special kind of cake called a _drischala_ (from
_dreschen_, “to thresh”).(503) A similar custom of “throttling” the
farmer’s wife at the threshing is practised in some parts of Bavaria, only
there the pressure is applied by means of a straw rope instead of a
flail.(504)
(M117) In these customs the spirit of the ripe corn is regarded as old, or
at least as of mature age. Hence the names of Mother, Grandmother, Old
Woman, and so forth. But in other cases the corn-spirit is conceived as
young. Thus at Saldern, near Wolfenbuttel, when the rye has been reaped,
three sheaves are tied together with a rope so as to make a puppet with
the corn ears for a head. This puppet is called the Maiden or the
Corn-maiden (_Kornjungfer_).(505) Sometimes the corn-spirit is conceived
as a child who is separated from its mother by the stroke of the sickle.
This last view appears in the Polish custom of calling out to the man who
cuts the last handful of corn, “You have cut the navel-string.”(506) In
some districts of West Prussia the figure made out of the last sheaf is
called the Bastard, and a boy is wrapt up in it. The woman who binds the
last sheaf and represents the Corn-mother is told that she is about to be
brought to bed; she cries like a woman in travail, and an old woman in the
character of grandmother acts as midwife. At last a cry is raised that the
child is born; whereupon the boy who is tied up in the sheaf whimpers and
squalls like an infant. The grandmother wraps a sack, in imitation of
swaddling bands, round the pretended baby, who is carried joyfully to the
barn, lest he should catch cold in the open air.(507) In other parts of
North Germany the last sheaf, or the puppet made out of it, is called the
Child, the Harvest-Child, and so on, and they call out to the woman who
binds the last sheaf, “you are getting the child.”(508)
(M118) In the north of England, particularly in the counties of
Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, the last corn cut on the field at
harvest is or used to be variously known as the _mell_ or the _kirn_, of
which _kern_ and _churn_ are merely local or dialectical variations. The
corn so cut is either plaited or made up into a doll-like figure, which
goes by the name of the mell-doll or the kirn-doll, or the kirn-baby, and
is brought home with rejoicings at the end of the harvest.(509) In the
North Riding of Yorkshire the last sheaf gathered in is called the
Mell-sheaf, and the expression “We’ve gotten wer mell” is as much as to
say “The Harvest is finished.” Formerly a Mell-doll was made out of a
sheaf of corn decked with flowers and wrapped in such of the reapers’
garments as could be spared. It was carried with music and dancing to the
scene of the harvest-supper, which was called the mell-supper.(510) In the
north of Yorkshire the mell-sheaf “was frequently made of such dimensions
as to be a heavy load for a man, and, within a few years comparatively,
was proposed as the prize to be won in a race of old women. In other cases
it was carefully preserved and set up in some conspicuous place in the
farmhouse.”(511) Where the last sheaf of corn cut was called the _kirn_ or
_kern_ instead of the _mell_, the customs concerned with it seem to have
been essentially similar. Thus we are told that in the north it was common
for the reapers, on the last day of the reaping, “to have a contention for
superiority in quickness of dispatch, groups of three or four taking each
a ridge, and striving which should soonest get to its termination. In
Scotland, this was called a _kemping_, which simply means a striving. In
the north of England, it was a _mell_.... As the reapers went on during
the last day, they took care to leave a good handful of the grain uncut,
but laid down flat, and covered over; and, when the field was done, the
‘bonniest lass’ was allowed to cut this final handful, which was presently
dressed up with various sewings, tyings, and trimmings, like a doll, and
hailed as a _Corn Baby_. It was brought home in triumph, with music of
fiddles and bagpipes, was set up conspicuously that night at supper, and
was usually preserved in the farmer’s parlour for the remainder of the
year. The bonny lass who cut this handful of grain was deemed the _Har’st
Queen_”.(512) To cut the last portion of standing corn in the harvest
field was known as “to get the kirn” or “to win the kirn”; and as soon as
this was done the reapers let the neighbours know that the harvest was
finished by giving three cheers, which was called “to cry or shout the
kirn.”(513) Where the last handful of standing corn was called the
_churn_, the stalks were roughly plaited together, and the reapers threw
their sickles at it till some one cut it through, which was called
“cutting the churn.” The severed churn (that is, the plaited corn) was
then placed over the kitchen door or over the hob in the chimney for good
luck, and as a charm against witchcraft.(514) In Kent the Ivy Girl is, or
used to be, “a figure composed of some of the best corn the field
produces, and made as well as they can into a human shape; this is
afterwards curiously dressed by the women, and adorned with paper
trimmings, cut to resemble a cap, ruffles, handkerchief, etc., of the
finest lace. It is brought home with the last load of corn from the field
upon the waggon, and they suppose entitles them to a supper at the expense
of the employer.”(515)
(M119) In some parts of Scotland, as well as in the north of England, the
last handful of corn cut on the harvest-field was called the _kirn_, and
the person who carried it off was said “to win the kirn.” It was then
dressed up like a child’s doll and went by the name of the kirn-baby, the
kirn-doll, or the Maiden.(516) In Berwickshire down to about the middle of
the nineteenth century there was an eager competition among the reapers to
cut the last bunch of standing corn. They gathered round it at a little
distance and threw their sickles in turn at it, and the man who succeeded
in cutting it through gave it to the girl he preferred. She made the corn
so cut into a kirn-dolly and dressed it, and the doll was then taken to
the farmhouse and hung up there till the next harvest, when its place was
taken by the new kirn-dolly.(517) At Spottiswoode (Westruther Parish) in
Berwickshire the reaping of the last corn at harvest was called “cutting
the Queen” almost as often as “cutting the kirn.” The mode of cutting it
was not by throwing sickles. One of the reapers consented to be
blindfolded, and having been given a sickle in his hand and turned twice
or thrice about by his fellows, he was bidden to go and cut the kirn. His
groping about and making wild strokes in the air with his sickle excited
much hilarity. When he had tired himself out in vain and given up the task
as hopeless, another reaper was blindfolded and pursued the quest, and so
on, one after the other, till at last the kirn was cut. The successful
reaper was tossed up in the air with three cheers by his brother
harvesters. To decorate the room in which the kirn-supper was held at
Spottiswoode as well as the granary, where the dancing took place, two
women made kirn-dollies or Queens every year; and many of these rustic
effigies of the corn-spirit might be seen hanging up together.(518) At
Lanfine in Ayrshire, down to near the end of the nineteenth century, the
last bunch of standing corn at harvest was, occasionally at least, plaited
together, and the reapers tried to cut it by throwing their sickles at it;
when they failed in the attempt, a woman has been known to run in and
sever the stalks at a blow. In Dumfriesshire also, within living memory,
it used to be customary to cut the last standing corn by throwing the
sickles at it.(519)
(M120) In the north of Ireland the harvest customs were similar, but
there, as in some parts of England, the last patch of standing corn bore
the name of the _churn_, a dialectical variation of _kirn_. “The custom of
‘Winning the Churn’ was prevalent all through the counties of Down and
Antrim fifty years ago. It was carried out at the end of the harvest, or
reaping the grain, on each farm or holding, were it small or large. Oats
are the main crop of the district, but the custom was the same for other
kinds of grain. When the reapers had nearly finished the last field a
handful of the best-grown stalks was selected, carefully plaited as it
stood, and fastened at the top just under the ears to keep the plait in
place. Then when all the corn was cut from about this, which was known as
_The Churn_, and the sheaves about it had been removed to some distance,
the reapers stood in a group about ten yards off it, and each whirled his
sickle at the _Churn_ till one lucky one succeeded in cutting it down,
when he was cheered on his achievement. This person had then the right of
presenting it to the master or mistress of the farm, who gave the reaper a
shilling.” A supper and a dance of the reapers in the farmhouse often
concluded the day. The _Churn_, trimmed and adorned with ribbons, was hung
up on a wall in the farmhouse and carefully preserved. It was no uncommon
sight to see six or even twelve or more such _Churns_ decorating the walls
of a farmhouse in County Down or Antrim.(520)
(M121) In some parts of the Highlands of Scotland the last handful of corn
that is cut by the reapers on any particular farm is called the Maiden, or
in Gaelic _Maidhdeanbuain_, literally “the shorn Maiden.” Superstitions
attach to the winning of the Maiden. If it is got by a young person, they
think it an omen that he or she will be married before another harvest.
For that or other reasons there is a strife between the reapers as to who
shall get the Maiden, and they resort to various stratagems for the
purpose of securing it. One of them, for example, will often leave a
handful of corn uncut and cover it up with earth to hide it from the other
reapers, till all the rest of the corn on the field is cut down. Several
may try to play the same trick, and the one who is coolest and holds out
longest obtains the coveted distinction. When it has been cut, the Maiden
is dressed with ribbons into a sort of doll and affixed to a wall of the
farmhouse. In the north of Scotland the Maiden is carefully preserved till
Yule morning, when it is divided among the cattle "to make them thrive all
the year round."(521) In the island of Mull and some parts of the mainland
of Argyleshire the last handful of corn cut is called the Maiden
(_Maighdean-Bhuana_). Near Ardrishaig, in Argyleshire, the Maiden is made
up in a fanciful three-cornered shape, decorated with ribbons, and hung
from a nail on the wall.(522)
(M122) The following account of the Maiden was obtained in the summer of
1897 from the manager of a farm near Kilmartin in Argyleshire: “The
_Mhaighdean-Bhuana_, or _Reaping Maiden_, was the last sheaf of oats to be
cut on a croft or farm. Before the reaping-machine and binder took the
place of the sickle and the scythe, the young reapers of both sexes, when
they neared the end of the last rig or field, used to manœuvre to gain
possession of the _Mhaighdean-Bhuana_. The individual who was fortunate
enough to obtain it was _ex officio_ entitled to be the King or the Queen
of the Harvest-Home festival. The sheaf so designated was carefully
preserved and kept intact until the day they began leading home the corn.
A tuft of it was then given to each of the horses, as they started from
the corn-field with their first load. The rest of it was neatly made up,
and hung in some conspicuous corner of the farmhouse, where it remained
till it was replaced by a younger sister next season. On the first day of
ploughing a tuft of it was given (as on the first day of leading home the
corn) as a _Sainnseal_ or handsel for luck to the horses. The
_Mhaighdean-Bhuana_ so preserved and used was a symbol that the harvest
had been duly secured, and that the spring work had been properly
inaugurated. It was also believed to be a protection against fairies and
witchcraft.”(523)
(M123) In the parish of Longforgan, situated at the south-eastern corner
of Perthshire, it used to be customary to give what was called the Maiden
Feast at the end of the harvest. The last handful of corn reaped on the
field was called the Maiden, and things were generally so arranged that it
fell into the hands of a pretty girl. It was then decked out with ribbons
and brought home in triumph to the music of bagpipes and fiddles. In the
evening the reapers danced and made merry. Afterwards the Maiden was
dressed out, generally in the form of a cross, and hung up, with the date
attached to it, in a conspicuous part of the house.(524) In the
neighbourhood of Balquhidder, Perthshire, the last handful of corn is cut
by the youngest girl on the field, and is made into the rude form of a
female doll, clad in a paper dress, and decked with ribbons. It is called
the Maiden, and is kept in the farmhouse, generally above the chimney, for
a good while, sometimes till the Maiden of the next year is brought in.
The writer of this book witnessed the ceremony of cutting the Maiden at
Balquhidder in September 1888.(525) A lady friend(526) informed me that as
a young girl she cut the Maiden several times at the request of the
reapers in the neighbourhood of Perth. The name of the Maiden was given to
the last handful of standing corn; a reaper held the top of the bunch
while she cut it. Afterwards the bunch was plaited, decked with ribbons,
and hung up in a conspicuous place on the wall of the kitchen till the
next Maiden was brought in. The harvest-supper in this neighbourhood was
also called the Maiden; the reapers danced at it.
(M124) In the Highland district of Lochaber dancing and merry-making on
the last night of harvest used to be universal and are still generally
observed. Here, we are told, the festivity without the Maiden would be
like a wedding without the bride. The Maiden is carried home with
tumultuous rejoicing, and after being suitably decorated is hung up in the
barn, where the dancing usually takes place. When supper is over, one of
the company, generally the oldest man present, drinks a glass of whisky,
after turning to the suspended sheaf and saying, “Here’s to the Maiden.”
The company follow his example, each in turn drinking to the Maiden. Then
the dancing begins.(527) On some farms on the Gareloch, in Dumbartonshire,
about the year 1830, the last handful of standing corn was called the
Maiden. It was divided in two, plaited, and then cut with the sickle by a
girl, who, it was thought, would be lucky and would soon be married. When
it was cut the reapers gathered together and threw their sickles in the
air. The Maiden was dressed with ribbons and hung in the kitchen near the
roof, where it was kept for several years with the date attached.
Sometimes five or six Maidens might be seen hanging at once on hooks. The
harvest-supper was called the Kirn.(528) In other farms on the Gareloch
the last handful of corn was called the Maidenhead or the Head; it was
neatly plaited, sometimes decked with ribbons, and hung in the kitchen for
a year, when the grain was given to the poultry.(529)
(M125) In the north-east of Aberdeenshire the customs connected with the
last corn cut at harvest have been carefully collected and recorded by the
late Rev. Walter Gregor of Pitsligo. His account runs as follows: “The
last sheaf cut is the object of much care: the manner of cutting it,
binding it, and carrying it to the house varies a little in the different
districts. The following customs have been reported to me by people who
have seen them or who have practised them, and some of the customs have
now disappeared. The information comes from the parishes of Pitsligo,
Aberdour, and Tyrie, situated in the north-east corner of the county of
Aberdeen, but the customs are not limited to these parishes.
“Some particulars relating to the sheaf may be noted as always the same;
thus (_a_) it is cut and gathered by the youngest person present in the
field, the person who is supposed to be the purest; (_b_) the sheaf is not
allowed to touch the ground; (_c_) it is made up and carried in triumph to
the house; (_d_) it occupies a conspicuous place in the festivals which
follow the end of the reaping; (_e_) it is kept till Christmas morning,
and is then given to one or more of the horses or to the cattle of the
farm.
(M126) “Before the introduction of the scythe, the corn was cut by the
sickle or _heuck_, a kind of curved sickle. The last sheaf was shorn or
cut by the youngest girl present. As the corn might not touch the ground,
the master or ‘gueedman’ sat down, placed the band on his knees, and
received thereupon each handful as it was cut. The sheaf was bound,
dressed as a woman, and when it had been brought to the house, it was
placed in some part of the kitchen, where everybody could see it during
the meal which followed the end of the reaping. This sheaf was called the
_clyack_ sheaf.(530)
“The manner of receiving and binding the last sheaf is not always the
same. Here is another: three persons hold the band in their hands, one of
them at each end, while the third holds the knot in the middle. Each
handful of corn is placed so that the cut end is turned to the breast of
those who support the ears on the opposite side. When all is cut, the
youngest boy ties the knot. Two other bands are fastened to the sheaf, one
near the cut end, the other near the ears. The sheaf is carried to the
house by those who have helped to cut or bind it (Aberdour).
“Since the introduction of the scythe, it is the youngest boy who cuts the
last sheaf; my informant (a woman) told me that when he was not strong
enough to wield the scythe, his hand was guided by another. The youngest
girl gathers it. When it is bound with three bands, it is cut straight,
and it is not allowed to touch the ground. The youngest girls carry it to
the house. My informant (a woman) told me that she had seen it decked and
placed at the head of the bed. Formerly, and still sometimes, there was
always a bed in the kitchen (Tyrie).
“The corn is not allowed to fall on the ground: the young girls who gather
it take it by the ear and convey it handful by handful, till the whole
sheaf is cut. A woman who ‘has lost a feather of her wing,’ as an old
woman put it to me, may not touch it. Sometimes also they merely put the
two hands round the sheaf (New Deer).
(M127) “Generally a feast and dance follow when all the wheat is cut. This
feast and dance bear the name of _clyack_ or ‘meal and ale.’ However, some
people do not give ‘meal and ale’ till all the cut corn has been got in:
then the feast is called ‘the Winter’ and they say that a farmer ‘has the
Winter’ when all his sheaves have been carried home.
“At this feast two things are indispensable: a cheese called the
_clyack-kebback_ and ‘meal and ale.’
“The cheese _clyack-kebback_ must be cut by the master of the house. The
first slice is larger than the rest; it is known by the name of ‘the
_kanave’s faang_,’—the young man’s big slice—and is generally the share of
the herd boy (Tyrie).
“The dish called ‘meal and ale’ is made as follows. You take a suitable
vessel, whether an earthenware pot or a milk-bowl, if the crockery is
scanty; but if on the contrary the family is well off, they use other
special utensils. In each dish ale is poured and treacle is added to
sweeten it. Then oatmeal is mixed with the sweetened ale till the whole is
of a sufficient consistency. The cook adds whisky to the mixture in such
proportion as she thinks fit. In each plate is put a ring. To allow the
meal time to be completely absorbed, the dish is prepared on the morning
of the feast. At the moment of the feast the dish or dishes containing the
strong and savoury mixture are set on the middle of the table. But it is
not served up till the end. Six or seven persons generally have a plate to
themselves. Each of them plunges his spoon into the plate as fast as
possible in the hope of getting the ring; for he who is lucky enough to
get it will be married within the year. Meantime some of the stuff is
swallowed, but often in the struggle some of it is spilt on the table or
the floor.
(M128) “In some districts there used to be and still is dancing in the
evening of the feast. ‘The sheaf’ figured in the dances. It was dressed as
a girl and carried on the back of the mistress of the house to the barn or
granary which served as a ballroom. The mistress danced a reel with ‘the
sheaf’ on her back.
(M129) “The woman who gave me this account had been a witness of what she
described when she was a girl. The sheaf was afterwards carefully stored
till the first day of Christmas, when it was given to eat to a mare in
foal, if there was one on the farm, or, if there was not, to the oldest
cow in calf. Elsewhere the sheaf was divided between all the cows and
their calves or between all the horses and the cattle of the farm.
(Related by an eye-witness.)”(531)
(M130) In these Aberdeenshire customs the sanctity attributed to the last
corn cut at harvest is clearly manifested, not merely by the ceremony with
which it is treated on the field, in the house, and in the barn, but also
by the great care taken to prevent it from touching the ground or being
handled by any unchaste person. The reason why the youngest person on the
field, whether a girl or a boy, is chosen to cut the last standing corn
and sometimes to carry it to the house is no doubt a calculation that the
younger the person the more likely is he or she to be sexually pure. We
have seen that for this reason some negroes entrust the sowing of the seed
to very young girls,(532) and later on we shall meet with more evidence in
Africa of the notion that the corn may be handled only by the pure.(533)
And in the gruel of oat-meal and ale, which the harvesters sup with spoons
as an indispensable part of the harvest supper, have we not the Scotch
equivalent of the gruel of barley-meal and water, flavoured with
pennyroyal, which the initiates at Eleusis drank as a solemn form of
communion with the Barley Goddess Demeter?(534) May not that mystic
sacrament have originated in a simple harvest supper held by Eleusinian
farmers at the end of the reaping?
According to a briefer account of the Aberdeenshire custom, “the last
sheaf cut, or ‘maiden,’ is carried home in merry procession by the
harvesters. It is then presented to the mistress of the house, who dresses
it up to be preserved till the first mare foals. The maiden is then taken
down and presented to the mare as its first food. The neglect of this
would have untoward effects upon the foal, and disastrous consequences
upon farm operations generally for the season.”(535) In Fifeshire the last
handful of corn, known as the Maiden, is cut by a young girl and made into
the rude figure of a doll, tied with ribbons, by which it is hung on the
wall of the farm-kitchen till the next spring.(536) The custom of cutting
the Maiden at harvest was also observed in Inverness-shire and
Sutherlandshire.(537)
(M131) A somewhat maturer but still youthful age is assigned to the
corn-spirit by the appellations of Bride, Oats-bride, and Wheat-bride,
which in Germany are sometimes bestowed both on the last sheaf and on the
woman who binds it.(538) At wheat-harvest near Müglitz, in Moravia, a
small portion of the wheat is left standing after all the rest has been
reaped. This remnant is then cut, amid the rejoicing of the reapers, by a
young girl who wears a wreath of wheaten ears on her head and goes by the
name of the Wheat-bride. It is supposed that she will be a real bride that
same year.(539) In the upland valley of Alpach, in North Tyrol, the person
who brings the last sheaf into the granary is said to have the Wheat-bride
or the Rye-bride according to the crop, and is received with great
demonstrations of respect and rejoicing. The people of the farm go out to
meet him, bells are rung, and refreshments offered to him on a tray.(540)
In Austrian Silesia a girl is chosen to be the Wheat-bride, and much
honour is paid to her at the harvest-festival.(541) Near Roslin and
Stonehaven, in Scotland, the last handful of corn cut “got the name of
‘the bride,’ and she was placed over the _bress_ or chimney-piece; she had
a ribbon tied below her numerous _ears_, and another round her
waist.”(542)
(M132) Sometimes the idea implied by the name of Bride is worked out more
fully by representing the productive powers of vegetation as bride and
bridegroom. Thus in the Vorharz an Oats-man and an Oats-woman, swathed in
straw, dance at the harvest feast.(543) In South Saxony an Oats-bridegroom
and an Oats-bride figure together at the harvest celebration. The
Oats-bridegroom is a man completely wrapt in oats-straw; the Oats-bride is
a man dressed in woman’s clothes, but not wrapt in straw. They are drawn
in a waggon to the ale-house, where the dance takes place. At the
beginning of the dance the dancers pluck the bunches of oats one by one
from the Oats-bridegroom, while he struggles to keep them, till at last he
is completely stript of them and stands bare, exposed to the laughter and
jests of the company.(544) In Austrian Silesia the ceremony of “the
Wheat-bride” is celebrated by the young people at the end of the harvest.
The woman who bound the last sheaf plays the part of the Wheat-bride,
wearing the harvest-crown of wheat ears and flowers on her head. Thus
adorned, standing beside her Bridegroom in a waggon and attended by
bridesmaids, she is drawn by a pair of oxen, in full imitation of a
marriage procession, to the tavern, where the dancing is kept up till
morning. Somewhat later in the season the wedding of the Oats-bride is
celebrated with the like rustic pomp. About Neisse, in Silesia, an
Oats-king and an Oats-queen, dressed up quaintly as a bridal pair, are
seated on a harrow and drawn by oxen into the village.(545)
(M133) In these last instances the corn-spirit is personified in double
form as male and female. But sometimes the spirit appears in a double
female form as both old and young, corresponding exactly to the Greek
Demeter and Persephone, if my interpretation of these goddesses is right.
We have seen that in Scotland, especially among the Gaelic-speaking
population, the last corn cut is sometimes called the Old Wife and
sometimes the Maiden. Now there are parts of Scotland in which both an Old
Wife (_Cailleach_) and a Maiden are cut at harvest. As the accounts of
this custom are not quite clear and consistent, it may be well to give
them first in the words of the original authorities. Thus the late Sheriff
Alexander Nicolson tells us that there is a Gaelic proverb, “A balk
(_léum-iochd_) in autumn is better than a sheaf the more”; and he explains
it by saying that a _léum-iochd_ or balk “is a strip of a corn-field left
fallow. The fear of being left with the last sheaf of the harvest, called
the _cailleach_, or _gobhar bhacach_, always led to an exciting
competition among the reapers in the last field. The reaper who came on a
_léum-iochd_ would of course be glad to have so much the less to
cut.”(546) In further explanation of the proverb the writer adds:
“The customs as to the _Cailleach_ and _Maighdean-bhuana_ seem to have
varied somewhat. Two reapers were usually set to each rig, and according
to one account, the man who was first done got the _Maighdean-bhuana_ or
‘Reaping-Maiden,’ while the man who was last got the _Cailleach_ or ‘old
woman.’ The latter term is used in Argyleshire; the term _Gobhar-bhacach_,
the lame goat, is used in Skye.
“According to what appears to be the better version, the competition to
avoid the _Cailleach_ was not between reapers but between neighbouring
crofters, and the man who got his harvest done first sent a handful of
corn called the _Cailleach_ to his neighbour, who passed it on, till it
landed with him who was latest. That man’s penalty was to provide for the
dearth of the township, _gort a’ bhaile_, in the ensuing season.
“The _Maighdean-bhuana_, again, was the last cut handful of oats, on a
croft or farm, and was an object of lively competition among the reapers.
It was tastefully tied up with ribbons, generally dressed like a doll, and
then hung up on a nail till spring. On the first day of ploughing it was
solemnly taken down, and given as a _Sainnseal_ (or handsel) to the horses
for luck. It was meant as a symbol that the harvest had been secured, and
to ward off the fairies, representatives of the ethereal and
unsubstantial, till the time came to provide for a new crop.”(547) Again,
the Rev. Mr. Campbell of Kilchrenan, on Loch Awe, furnished Dr. R. C.
Maclagan with the following account of the Highland customs at harvest.
The recollections of Mrs. MacCorquodale, then resident at Kilchrenan,
refer to the customs practised about the middle of the nineteenth century
in the wild and gloomy valley of Glencoe, infamous in history for the
treacherous massacre perpetrated there by the Government troops in 1692.
“Mrs. MacCorquodale says that the rivalry was for the Maiden, and for the
privilege she gave of sending the Cailleach to the next neighbour. The
Maiden was represented by the last stalks reaped; the Cailleach by a
handful taken at random from the field, perhaps the last rig of the reaper
last to finish. The Cailleach was not dressed but carried after binding to
the neighbour’s field. The Maiden was cut in the following manner. All the
reapers gathered round her and kept a short distance from her. They then
threw their hooks [sickles] at her. The person successful in cutting her
down in this manner was the man whose possession she became. Mrs.
MacCorquodale understood that the man of a township who got the Cailleach
finally was supposed to be doomed to poverty for his want of energy.
(Gaelic: _treubhantas_—valour.)
“A sample of the toast to the Cailleach at the harvest entertainment was
as follows: ‘The Cailleach is with ... and is now with (me) since I was
the last. I drink to her health. Since she assisted me in harvest, it is
likely that it is with me she will abide during the winter.’ In explaining
the above toast Mr. Campbell says that it signifies that the Cailleach is
always with agriculturists. ‘She has been with others before and is now
with me (the proposer of the toast). Though I did my best to avoid her I
welcome her as my assistant, and am prepared to entertain her during the
winter.’ Another form of the toast was as follows: ‘To your health, good
wife, who for harvest has come to help us, and if I live I’ll try to
support you when winter comes.’
“John MacCorquodale, Kilchrenan, says that at Crianlarich in Strath
Fillan, they make a Cailleach of sticks and a turnip, old clothes and a
pipe. In this case the effigy passed in succession to seven farms, which
he mentioned, and finally settled with an innkeeper. The list suggested
that the upper farms stood a bad chance, and perhaps that a prosperous
innkeeper could more easily bear up against the reproach and loss (?) of
supporting the Cailleach.
“Duncan MacIntyre, Kilchrenan, says that in one case where the last field
to be reaped was the most fertile land on the farm, the corn first cut in
it, which was taken near the edge, was reserved to make a Cailleach,
should the owner be so happy as to be able to pass her on to his
neighbour. The last blades cut were generally in the middle or best part
of the field. These in any event became the Maiden.” Lastly, Dr. Maclagan
observes that “having directed the attention of Miss Kerr, Port Charlotte,
Islay, to the practice of having two different bunches on the mainland of
Argyle, she informs me that in Islay and Kintyre the last handful is the
Cailleach, and they have no Maiden. The same is the custom in Bernara and
other parts of the Western Isles, while in Mull the last handful is the
Maiden, and they have no Cailleach. In North Uist the habit still prevails
of putting the Cailleach over-night among the standing corn of lazy
crofters.”(548)
(M134) The general rule to which these various accounts point seems to be
that, where both a Maiden and an Old Wife (_Cailleach_) are fashioned out
of the reaped corn at harvest, the Maiden is always made out of the last
stalks left standing, and is kept by the farmer on whose land it was cut;
while the Old Wife is made out of other stalks, sometimes out of the first
stalks cut, and is regularly passed on to a laggard farmer who happens to
be still reaping after his brisker neighbour has cut all his corn. Thus
while each farmer keeps his own Maiden, as the embodiment of the young and
fruitful spirit of the corn, he passes on the Old Wife as soon as he can
to a neighbour, and so the old lady may make the round of all the farms in
the district before she finds a place in which to lay her venerable head.
The farmer with whom she finally takes up her abode is of course the one
who has been the last of all the countryside to finish reaping his crops,
and thus the distinction of entertaining her is rather an invidious one.
Similarly we saw that in Pembrokeshire, where the last corn cut is called,
not the Maiden, but the Hag, she is passed on hastily to a neighbour who
is still at work in his fields and who receives his aged visitor with
anything but a transport of joy. If the Old Wife represents the
corn-spirit of the past year, as she probably does wherever she is
contrasted with and opposed to a Maiden, it is natural enough that her
faded charms should have less attractions for the husbandman than the
buxom form of her daughter, who may be expected to become in her turn the
mother of the golden grain when the revolving year has brought round
another autumn. The same desire to get rid of the effete Mother of the
Corn by palming her off on other people comes out clearly in some of the
customs observed at the close of threshing, particularly in the practice
of passing on a hideous straw puppet to a neighbour farmer who is still
threshing his corn.(549)
(M135) The harvest customs just described are strikingly analogous to the
spring customs which we reviewed in the first part of this work. (1) As in
the spring customs the tree-spirit is represented both by a tree and by a
person,(550) so in the harvest customs the corn-spirit is represented both
by the last sheaf and by the person who cuts or binds or threshes it. The
equivalence of the person to the sheaf is shewn by giving him or her the
same name as the sheaf; by wrapping him or her in it; and by the rule
observed in some places, that when the sheaf is called the Mother, it must
be made up into human shape by the oldest married woman, but that when it
is called the Maiden, it must be cut by the youngest girl.(551) Here the
age of the personal representative of the corn-spirit corresponds with
that of the supposed age of the corn-spirit, just as the human victims
offered by the Mexicans to promote the growth of the maize varied with the
age of the maize.(552) For in the Mexican, as in the European, custom the
human beings were probably representatives of the corn-spirit rather than
victims offered to it. (2) Again, the same fertilising influence which the
tree-spirit is supposed to exert over vegetation, cattle, and even
women(553) is ascribed to the corn-spirit. Thus, its supposed influence on
vegetation is shewn by the practice of taking some of the grain of the
last sheaf (in which the corn-spirit is regularly supposed to be present),
and scattering it among the young corn in spring or mixing it with the
seed-corn.(554) Its influence on animals is shewn by giving the last sheaf
to a mare in foal, to a cow in calf, and to horses at the first
ploughing.(555) Lastly, its influence on women is indicated by the custom
of delivering the Mother-sheaf, made into the likeness of a pregnant
woman, to the farmer’s wife;(556) by the belief that the woman who binds
the last sheaf will have a child next year;(557) perhaps, too, by the idea
that the person who gets it will soon be married.(558)
(M136) Plainly, therefore, these spring and harvest customs are based on
the same ancient modes of thought, and form parts of the same primitive
heathendom, which was doubtless practised by our forefathers long before
the dawn of history. Amongst the marks of a primitive ritual we may note
the following:—
(M137) 1. No special class of persons is set apart for the performance of
the rites; in other words, there are no priests. The rites may be
performed by any one, as occasion demands.
2. No special places are set apart for the performance of the rites; in
other words, there are no temples. The rites may be performed anywhere, as
occasion demands.
3. Spirits, not gods, are recognised. (_a_) As distinguished from gods,
spirits are restricted in their operations to definite departments of
nature. Their names are general, not proper. Their attributes are generic,
rather than individual; in other words, there is an indefinite number of
spirits of each class, and the individuals of a class are all much alike;
they have no definitely marked individuality; no accepted traditions are
current as to their origin, life, adventures, and character. (_b_) On the
other hand gods, as distinguished from spirits, are not restricted to
definite departments of nature. It is true that there is generally some
one department over which they preside as their special province; but they
are not rigorously confined to it; they can exert their power for good or
evil in many other spheres of nature and life. Again, they bear individual
or proper names, such as Demeter, Persephone, Dionysus; and their
individual characters and histories are fixed by current myths and the
representations of art.
4. The rites are magical rather than propitiatory. In other words, the
desired objects are attained, not by propitiating the favour of divine
beings through sacrifice, prayer, and praise, but by ceremonies which, as
I have already explained,(559) are believed to influence the course of
nature directly through a physical sympathy or resemblance between the
rite and the effect which it is the intention of the rite to produce.
(M138) Judged by these tests, the spring and harvest customs of our
European peasantry deserve to rank as primitive. For no special class of
persons and no special places are set exclusively apart for their
performance; they may be performed by any one, master or man, mistress or
maid, boy or girl; they are practised, not in temples or churches, but in
the woods and meadows, beside brooks, in barns, on harvest fields and
cottage floors. The supernatural beings whose existence is taken for
granted in them are spirits rather than deities: their functions are
limited to certain well-defined departments of nature: their names are
general, like the Barley-mother, the Old Woman, the Maiden, not proper
names like Demeter, Persephone, Dionysus. Their generic attributes are
known, but their individual histories and characters are not the subject
of myths. For they exist in classes rather than as individuals, and the
members of each class are indistinguishable. For example, every farm has
its Corn-mother, or its Old Woman, or its Maiden; but every Corn-mother is
much like every other Corn-mother, and so with the Old Women and Maidens.
Lastly, in these harvest, as in the spring customs, the ritual is magical
rather than propitiatory. This is shewn by throwing the Corn-mother into
the river in order to secure rain and dew for the crops;(560) by making
the Old Woman heavy in order to get a heavy crop next year;(561) by
strewing grain from the last sheaf amongst the young crops in spring;(562)
and by giving the last sheaf to the cattle to make them thrive.(563)