Again, after throwing the effigy
away, the bearers sometimes run home lest Death should follow them,
and if one of them falls in running, it is believed that he will die
within the year. At Chrudim, in Bohemia, the figure of Death is made
out of a cross, with a head and mask stuck at the top, and a shirt
stretched out on it. On the fifth Sunday in Lent the boys take this
effigy to the nearest brook or pool, and standing in a line throw it
into the water. Then they all plunge in after it; but as soon as it
is caught no one more may enter the water. The boy who did not enter
the water or entered it last will die within the year, and he is
obliged to carry the Death back to the village. The effigy is then
burned. On the other hand, it is believed that no one will die
within the year in the house out of which the figure of Death has
been carried; and the village out of which Death has been driven is
sometimes supposed to be protected against sickness and plague. In
some villages of Austrian Silesia on the Saturday before Dead Sunday
an effigy is made of old clothes, hay, and straw, for the purpose of
driving Death out of the village.
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