The reader may have observed that in modern folk-customs the
corn-spirit is generally represented either by a Corn-mother (Old
Woman, etc.) or by a Maiden (Harvest-child, etc.), not both by a
Corn-mother and by a Maiden. Why then did the Greeks represent the
corn both as a mother and a daughter?
In the Breton custom the mother-sheaf--a large figure made out of
the last sheaf with a small corn-doll inside of it--clearly
represents both the Corn-mother and the Corn-daughter, the latter
still unborn. Again, in the Prussian custom just referred to, the
woman who plays the part of Corn-mother represents the ripe grain;
the child appears to represent next year's corn, which may be
regarded, naturally enough, as the child of this year's corn, since
it is from the seed of this year's harvest that next year's crop
will spring. Further, we have seen that among the Malays of the
Peninsula and sometimes among the Highlanders of Scotland the spirit
of the grain is represented in double female form, both as old and
young, by means of ears taken alike from the ripe crop: in Scotland
the old spirit of the corn appears as the Carline or _Cailleach,_
the young spirit as the Maiden; while among the Malays of the
Peninsula the two spirits of the rice are definitely related to each
other as mother and child.
Pages:
1161
1162
1163
1164
1165
1166
1167
1168
1169
1170
1171
1172
1173
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185