Upon this they fling
themselves with almost frantic fury, straining every nerve, and
raining blows on it till the word "Halt!" rings out sharply from the
leader. The man whose flail is the last to fall after the command to
stop has been given is immediately surrounded by all the rest,
crying out that "he has struck the Old Rye-woman dead." He has to
expiate the deed by treating them to brandy; and, like the man who
cuts the last corn, he is known as "the killer of the Old
Rye-woman." Sometimes in Lithuania the slain corn-spirit was
represented by a puppet. Thus a female figure was made out of
corn-stalks, dressed in clothes, and placed on the threshing-floor,
under the heap of corn which was to be threshed last. Whoever
thereafter gave the last stroke at threshing "struck the Old Woman
dead." We have already met with examples of burning the figure which
represents the corn-spirit. In the East Riding of Yorkshire a custom
called "burning the Old Witch" is observed on the last day of
harvest. A small sheaf of corn is burnt on the field in a fire of
stubble; peas are parched at the fire and eaten with a liberal
allowance of ale; and the lads and lasses romp about the flames and
amuse themselves by blackening each other's faces.
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