Ebook wait

Therefore, if the May-tree
is an embodiment of the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation, the
Summer-tree must likewise be an embodiment of the tree-spirit or
spirit of vegetation. But we have seen that the Summer-tree is in
some cases a revivification of the effigy of Death. It follows,
therefore, that in these cases the effigy called Death must be an
embodiment of the tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation. This
inference is confirmed, first, by the vivifying and fertilising
influence which the fragments of the effigy of Death are believed to
exercise both on vegetable and on animal life; for this influence,
as we saw in an earlier part of this work, is supposed to be a
special attribute of the tree-spirit. It is confirmed, secondly, by
observing that the effigy of Death is sometimes decked with leaves
or made of twigs, branches, hemp, or a threshed-out sheaf of corn;
and that sometimes it is hung on a little tree and so carried about
by girls collecting money, just as is done with the May-tree and the
May Lady, and with the Summer-tree and the doll attached to it.


Pages:
872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 884 885 886 887 888 889 890 891 892 893 894 895 896