As thus explained, the Thesmophoria has its analogies in the
folk-customs of Northern Europe which have been already described.
Just as at the Thesmophoria--an autumn festival in honour of the
corn-goddess--swine's flesh was partly eaten, partly kept in caverns
till the following year, when it was taken up to be sown with the
seed-corn in the fields for the purpose of securing a good crop; so
in the neighbourhood of Grenoble the goat killed on the
harvest-field is partly eaten at the harvest-supper, partly pickled
and kept till the next harvest; so at Pouilly the ox killed on the
harvest-field is partly eaten by the harvesters, partly pickled and
kept till the first day of sowing in spring, probably to be then
mixed with the seed, or eaten by the ploughmen, or both; so at
Udvarhely the feathers of the cock which is killed in the last sheaf
at harvest are kept till spring, and then sown with the seed on the
field; so in Hesse and Meiningen the flesh of pigs is eaten on Ash
Wednesday or Candlemas, and the bones are kept till sowing-time,
when they are put into the field sown or mixed with the seed in the
bag; so, lastly, the corn from the last sheaf is kept till
Christmas, made into the Yule Boar, and afterwards broken and mixed
with the seed-corn at sowing in spring.
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