[131] As regards the northern tribes of Central Australia, Spencer and Gillen state that, during the performance of certain ceremonies which bring together a large number of natives from different parts, the ordinary marital rules are more or less set aside (_Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 136). Just in the same way, among the Siberian Yakuts, according to Sieroshevski, during weddings and at the great festivals of the year, the usual oversight of maidens is largely removed. (_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, Jan.-June, 1901, p. 96.) [132] R.E. Guise, _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1899, pp. 214-216. [133] Dalton, _Ethnology of Bengal_, pp. 196 et seq. W. Crooke (_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, p. 243, 1899) also refers to the annual harvest-tree dance and _saturnalia_, and its association with the seasonal period for marriage. We find a similar phenomenon in the Malay Peninsula: "In former days, at harvest-time, the Jakuns kept an annual festival, at which, the entire settlement having been called together, fermented liquor, brewed from jungle fruits, was drunk; and to the accompaniments of strains of their rude and incondite music, both sexes, crowning themselves with fragrant leaves and flowers, indulged in bouts of singing and dancing, which grew gradually wilder throughout the night, and terminated in a strange kind of sexual orgie." (W.W. Skeat, "The Wild Tribes of the Malay Peninsula," _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, 1902, p. 133.) [134] Fielding Hall, _The Soul of a People_, 1898, Chapter XIII. [135] See e.g., L. Dyer, _Studies of the Gods in Greece_, 1891, pp. 86-89, 375, etc. [136] For a popular account of the Feast of Fools, see Loliée, "La Fête des Fous," _Revue des Revues_, May 15, 1898; also, J.G. Bourke, _Scatologic Rites of all Nations_, pp. 11-23. [137] J. Grimm (_Teutonic Mythology_, p. 615) points out that the observance of the spring or Easter bonfires marks off the Saxon from the Franconian peoples. The Easter bonfires are held in Lower Saxony, Westphalia, Lower Hesse, Geldern, Holland, Friesland, Jutland, and Zealand. The Midsummer bonfires are held on the Rhine, in Franconia, Thuringia, Swabia, Bavaria, Austria, and Silesia. Schwartz (_Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, 1896, p. 151) shows that at Lauterberg, in the Harz Mountains, the line of demarcation between these two primitive districts may still be clearly traced. [138] _Wald und Feldkulte_, 1875, vol. i, pp. 422 et seq. He also mentions (p. 458) that St. Valentine's Day (14th of February),--or Ember Day, or the last day of February,--when the pairing of birds was supposed to take place, was associated, especially in England, with love-making and the choice of a mate. In Lorraine, it may be added, on the 1st of May, the young girls chose young men as their valentines, a custom known by this name to Rabelais. [139] Rochholz, _Drei gaugöttinnen_, p, 37.