In Aberdeenshire, while the last
corn cut was generally used to make the _clyack_ sheaf, it was
sometimes, though rarely, the first corn cut that was dressed up as
a woman and carried home with ceremony.
In Phoenicia and Western Asia a plaintive song, like that chanted by
the Egyptian corn-reapers, was sung at the vintage and probably (to
judge by analogy) also at harvest. This Phoenician song was called
by the Greeks Linus or Ailinus and explained, like Maneros, as a
lament for the death of a youth named Linus. According to one story
Linus was brought up by a shepherd, but torn to pieces by his dogs.
But, like Maneros, the name Linus or Ailinus appears to have
originated in a verbal misunderstanding, and to be nothing more than
the cry _ai lanu,_ that is "Woe to us," which the Phoenicians
probably uttered in mourning for Adonis; at least Sappho seems to
have regarded Adonis and Linus as equivalent.
In Bithynia a like mournful ditty, called Bormus or Borimus, was
chanted by Mariandynian reapers. Bormus was said to have been a
handsome youth, the son of King Upias or of a wealthy and
distinguished man.
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