The bearers who bring them in profess to be bringing in
the Summer, therefore the trees obviously represent the Summer;
indeed in Silesia they are commonly called the Summer or the May,
and the doll which is sometimes attached to the Summer-tree is a
duplicate representative of the Summer, just as the May is sometimes
represented at the same time by a May-tree and a May Lady. Further,
the Summer-trees are adorned like May-trees with ribbons and so on;
like May-trees, when large, they are planted in the ground and
climbed up; and like May-trees, when small, they are carried from
door to door by boys or girls singing songs and collecting money.
And as if to demonstrate the identity of the two sets of customs the
bearers of the Summer-tree sometimes announce that they are bringing
in the Summer and the May. The customs, therefore, of bringing in
the May and bringing in the Summer are essentially the same; and the
Summer-tree is merely another form of the May-tree, the only
distinction (besides that of name) being in the time at which they
are respectively brought in; for while the May-tree is usually
fetched in on the first of May or at Whitsuntide, the Summer-tree is
fetched in on the fourth Sunday in Lent.
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