The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 04 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 04 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
(M180) A Bohemian form of the custom of “Burying the Carnival” has been
already described.(619) The following Swabian form is obviously similar.
In the neighbourhood of Tübingen on Shrove Tuesday a straw-man, called the
Shrovetide Bear, is made up; he is dressed in a pair of old trousers, and
a fresh black-pudding or two squirts filled with blood are inserted in his
neck. After a formal condemnation he is beheaded, laid in a coffin, and on
Ash Wednesday is buried in the churchyard. This is called “Burying the
Carnival.”(620) Amongst some of the Saxons of Transylvania the Carnival is
hanged. Thus at Braller on Ash Wednesday or Shrove Tuesday two white and
two chestnut horses draw a sledge on which is placed a straw-man swathed
in a white cloth; beside him is a cart-wheel which is kept turning round.
Two lads disguised as old men follow the sledge lamenting. The rest of the
village lads, mounted on horseback and decked with ribbons, accompany the
procession, which is headed by two girls crowned with evergreen and drawn
in a waggon or sledge. A trial is held under a tree, at which lads
disguised as soldiers pronounce sentence of death. The two old men try to
rescue the straw-man and to fly with him, but to no purpose; he is caught
by the two girls and handed over to the executioner, who hangs him on a
tree. In vain the old men try to climb up the tree and take him down; they
always tumble down, and at last in despair they throw themselves on the
ground and weep and howl for the hanged man. An official then makes a
speech in which he declares that the Carnival was condemned to death
because he had done them harm, by wearing out their shoes and making them
tired and sleepy.(621) At the “Burial of Carnival” in Lechrain, a man
dressed as a woman in black clothes is carried on a litter or bier by four
men; he is lamented over by men disguised as women in black clothes, then
thrown down before the village dung-heap, drenched with water, buried in
the dung-heap, and covered with straw.(622) Similarly in Schörzingen, near
Schömberg, the “Carnival (Shrovetide) Fool” was carried all about the
village on a bier, preceded by a man dressed in white, and followed by a
devil who was dressed in black and carried chains, which he clanked. One
of the train collected gifts. After the procession the Fool was buried
under straw and dung.(623) In Rottweil the “Carnival Fool” is made drunk
on Ash Wednesday and buried under straw amid loud lamentation.(624) In
Wurmlingen the Fool is represented by a young fellow enveloped in straw,
who is led about the village by a rope as a “Bear” on Shrove Tuesday and
the preceding day. He dances to the flute. Then on Ash Wednesday a
straw-man is made, placed on a trough, carried out of the village to the
sound of drums and mournful music, and buried in a field.(625) In Altdorf
and Weingarten on Ash Wednesday the Fool, represented by a straw-man, is
carried about and then thrown into the water to the accompaniment of
melancholy music.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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