" The
custom of driving cattle through or between fires on May Day or the
eve of May Day persisted in Ireland down to a time within living
memory.
The first of May is a great popular festival in the more midland and
southern parts of Sweden. On the eve of the festival huge bonfires,
which should be lighted by striking two flints together, blaze on
all the hills and knolls. Every large hamlet has its own fire, round
which the young people dance in a ring. The old folk notice whether
the flames incline to the north or to the south. In the former case,
the spring will be cold and backward; in the latter, it will be mild
and genial. In Bohemia, on the eve of May Day, young people kindle
fires on hills and eminences, at crossways, and in pastures, and
dance round them. They leap over the glowing embers or even through
the flames. The ceremony is called "burning the witches." In some
places an effigy representing a witch used to be burnt in the
bonfire. We have to remember that the eve of May Day is the
notorious Walpurgis Night, when the witches are everywhere speeding
unseen through the air on their hellish errands.
Pages:
1713
1714
1715
1716
1717
1718
1719
1720
1721
1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727
1728
1729
1730
1731
1732
1733
1734
1735
1736
1737