At Kirtlington it was customary for the dancers to conduct ceremonially a young maiden from her father’s house early in the morning. She must be of spotless reputation, and dressed in white with floating blue ribbons. She stayed with the dancers until night fell, when she was taken back to her father’s house. During the time she was with the dancers she was regarded as sacred, and anyone who so much as jostled her in the crowd must pay a fine of half a crown. Later a lamb substituted for the maiden was decorated with flowers and ribbons, carried round by the dancers, and at intervals put down while they danced round about it in a circle. At Kidlington (Oxon.) Blount describes a similar ceremony. “The Monday after Whitsun week a fat lamb was provided, and the maidens of the town having their thumbs tied together were permitted to run after it, and she who with her mouth took hold of the lamb was declared the Lady of the Lamb, which was killed, cleaned, and with the skin hanging on it was carried on a pole before the lady and her companions to the green attended with music and a Morisco dance of men and another of women. The rest of the day was spent in mirth and merry glee. Next day the lamb, partly baked, partly boiled and partly roasted, was served up for the lady’s feast, when she sat majestically at the upper end of the table and her companions, with the music playing during the repast, which having finished the solemnity ended.” In most places where there are still lingering traces of the Morris there also linger these traces of the ancient sacrifice of the King of the Wood, and of the Worship of the Sun. Another link with the festivals of ancient religions seems to be the constant use of a mask in the traditional dance, or the disguising of the face with black, white, or red paint. In _The Golden Bough_ Sir James Frazer gives an account of a pagan festival which may possibly account for this survival. “In Mexico a Woman who represented the Mother of the Gods, the Earth Goddess, after being feasted and entertained by sham fights for some days was beheaded on the shoulders of a man. The body was flayed, and one of the men clothing himself in the skin became the representative of the goddess Toci. The skin of the thigh was removed separately, and the young man who represented the Maize god, the son of the goddess Toci, wrapt it round his face as a mask. Various ceremonies then followed in which the two men clad in the woman’s skin played the parts respectively of god and goddess.”