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And do thou, O holy Marketa,
Give us a good year
For wheat and for rye."

In other parts of Bohemia they carry Death to the end of the
village, singing--

"We carry Death out of the village,
And the New Year into the village.
Dear Spring, we bid you welcome,
Green grass, we bid you welcome."

Behind the village they erect a pyre, on which they burn the straw
figure, reviling and scoffing at it the while. Then they return,
singing--

"We have carried away Death,
And brought Life back.
He has taken up his quarters in the village,
Therefore sing joyous songs."

In some German villages of Moravia, as in Jassnitz and Seitendorf,
the young folk assemble on the third Sunday in Lent and fashion a
straw-man, who is generally adorned with a fur cap and a pair of old
leathern hose, if such are to be had. The effigy is then hoisted on
a pole and carried by the lads and lasses out into the open fields.
On the way they sing a song, in which it is said that they are
carrying Death away and bringing dear Summer into the house, and
with Summer the May and the flowers.


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