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
(M188) The preceding evidence shews that the effigy of Death is often
regarded with fear and treated with marks of hatred and abhorrence. Thus
the anxiety of the villagers to transfer the figure from their own to
their neighbours’ land, and the reluctance of the latter to receive the
ominous guest, are proof enough of the dread which it inspires. Further,
in Lusatia and Silesia the puppet is sometimes made to look in at the
window of a house, and it is believed that some one in the house will die
within the year unless his life is redeemed by the payment of money.(648)
Again, after throwing the effigy away, the bearers sometimes run home lest
Death should follow them, and if one of them falls in running, it is
believed that he will die within the year.(649) At Chrudim, in Bohemia,
the figure of Death is made out of a cross, with a head and mask stuck at
the top, and a shirt stretched out on it. On the fifth Sunday in Lent the
boys take this effigy to the nearest brook or pool, and standing in a line
throw it into the water. Then they all plunge in after it; but as soon as
it is caught no one more may enter the water. The boy who did not enter
the water or entered it last will die within the year, and he is obliged
to carry the Death back to the village. The effigy is then burned.(650) On
the other hand, it is believed that no one will die within the year in the
house out of which the figure of Death has been carried;(651) and the
village out of which Death has been driven is sometimes supposed to be
protected against sickness and plague.(652) In some villages of Austrian
Silesia on the Saturday before Dead Sunday an effigy is made of old
clothes, hay, and straw, for the purpose of driving Death out of the
village. On Sunday the people, armed with sticks and straps, assemble
before the house where the figure is lodged. Four lads then draw the
effigy by cords through the village amid exultant shouts, while all the
others beat it with their sticks and straps. On reaching a field which
belongs to a neighbouring village they lay down the figure, cudgel it
soundly, and scatter the fragments over the field. The people believe that
the village from which Death has been thus carried out will be safe from
any infectious disease for the whole year.(653) In Slavonia the figure of
Death is cudgelled and then rent in two.(654) In Poland the effigy, made
of hemp and straw, is flung into a pool or swamp with the words “The devil
take thee.”(655)
§ 5. Sawing the Old Woman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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