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
In France also the Corn-wolf appears at harvest. Thus they call out to the
reaper of the last corn, “You will catch the Wolf.” Near Chambéry they
form a ring round the last standing corn, and cry, “The Wolf is in there.”
In Finisterre, when the reaping draws near an end, the harvesters cry,
“There is the Wolf; we will catch him.” Each takes a swath to reap, and he
who finishes first calls out, “I’ve caught the Wolf.”(22) In Guyenne, when
the last corn has been reaped, they lead a wether all round the field. It
is called “the Wolf of the field.” Its horns are decked with a wreath of
flowers and corn-ears, and its neck and body are also encircled with
garlands and ribbons. All the reapers march, singing, behind it. Then it
is killed on the field. In this part of France the last sheaf is called
the _coujoulage_, which, in the patois, means a wether. Hence the killing
of the wether represents the death of the corn-spirit, considered as
present in the last sheaf; but two different conceptions of the
corn-spirit—as a wolf and as a wether—are mixed up together.(23)
Sometimes it appears to be thought that the Wolf, caught in the last corn,
lives during the winter in the farmhouse, ready to renew his activity as
corn-spirit in the spring. Hence at midwinter, when the lengthening days
begin to herald the approach of spring, the Wolf makes his appearance once
more. In Poland a man, with a wolf’s skin thrown over his head, is led
about at Christmas; or a stuffed wolf is carried about by persons who
collect money.(24) There are facts which point to an old custom of leading
about a man enveloped in leaves and called the Wolf, while his conductors
collected money.(25)
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