The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) — John Shaqi
The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)Frazer, James George
ReligionComparative
The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
The last animal embodiment of the corn-spirit which we shall notice is the
pig (boar or sow). In Thüringen, when the wind sets the young corn in
motion, they sometimes say, “The Boar is rushing through the corn.”(109)
Amongst the Esthonians of the island of Oesel the last sheaf is called the
Rye-boar, and the man who gets it is saluted with a cry of, “You have the
Rye-boar on your back!” In reply he strikes up a song, in which he prays
for plenty.(110) At Kohlerwinkel, near Augsburg, at the close of the
harvest, the last bunch of standing corn is cut down, stalk by stalk, by
all the reapers in turn. He who cuts the last stalk “gets the Sow,” and is
laughed at.(111) In other Swabian villages also the man who cuts the last
corn “has the Sow,” or “has the Rye-sow.”(112) In the Traunstein district,
Upper Bavaria, the man who cuts the last handful of rye or wheat “has the
Sow,” and is called Sow-driver.(113) At Friedingen, in Swabia, the
thresher who gives the last stroke is called Sow—Barley-sow, Corn-sow,
etc., according to the crop. At Onstmettingen the man who gives the last
stroke at threshing “has the Sow;” he is often bound up in a sheaf and
dragged by a rope along the ground.(114) And, generally, in Swabia the man
who gives the last stroke with the flail is called Sow. He may, however,
rid himself of this invidious distinction by passing on to a neighbour the
straw-rope, which is the badge of his position as Sow. So he goes to a
house and throws the straw-rope into it, crying, “There, I bring you the
Sow.” All the inmates give chase; and if they catch him they beat him,
shut him up for several hours in the pig-sty, and oblige him to take the
“Sow” away again.(115) In various parts of Upper Bavaria the man who gives
the last stroke at threshing must “carry the Pig”—that is, either a straw
effigy of a pig or merely a bundle of straw-ropes. This he carries to a
neighbouring farm where the threshing is not finished, and throws it into
the barn. If the threshers catch him they handle him roughly, beating him,
blackening or dirtying his face, throwing him into filth, binding the Sow
on his back, etc.; if the bearer of the Sow is a woman they cut off her
hair. At the harvest supper or dinner the man who “carried the Pig” gets
one or more dumplings made in the form of pigs; sometimes he gets a large
dumpling and a number of small ones, all in pig form, the large one being
called the sow and the small ones the sucking-pigs. Sometimes he has the
right to be the first to put his hand into the dish and take out as many
small dumplings (“sucking-pigs”) as he can, while the other threshers
strike at his hand with spoons or sticks. When the dumplings are served up
by the maid-servant, all the people at table cry, “Süz, süz, süz!” being
the cry used in calling pigs. Sometimes after dinner the man who “carried
the Pig” has his face blackened, and is set on a cart and drawn round the
village by his fellows, followed by a crowd crying, “Süz, süz, süz!” as if
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