In the districts of Wohlau and Guhrau the image of
Death used to be thrown over the boundary of the next village. But
as the neighbours feared to receive the ill-omened figure, they were
on the look-out to repel it, and hard knocks were often exchanged
between the two parties. In some Polish parts of Upper Silesia the
effigy, representing an old woman, goes by the name of Marzana, the
goddess of death. It is made in the house where the last death
occurred, and is carried on a pole to the boundary of the village,
where it is thrown into a pond or burnt. At Polkwitz the custom of
"Carrying out Death" fell into abeyance; but an outbreak of fatal
sickness which followed the intermission of the ceremony induced the
people to resume it.
In Bohemia the children go out with a straw-man, representing Death,
to the end of the village, where they burn it, singing--
"Now carry we Death out of the village,
The new Summer into the village,
Welcome, dear Summer,
Green little corn."
At Tabor in Bohemia the figure of Death is carried out of the town
and flung from a high rock into the water, while they sing--
"Death swims on the water,
Summer will soon be here,
We carried Death away for you
We brought the Summer.
Pages:
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881