Chapter 27 Nordic grain mothers and grain daughters

Wei imitation   slightly   鲢 纋  Huan Ju 鄣 rebellious dry shoes    飧 雒  worth the rake chaff throwing vinegar luck, coquettish death,  飗eai (barley) the word, so Demeter's Meaning no more and no less happens to be "Mama Barley" or "Mama Grains".The root of the word is used in different languages ​​of the Aryan family to denote different grains.Since Crete is one of the oldest places where Demeter was worshiped, it would not be surprising if her name was indeed of Cretan origin.But the origin of the word is subject to great controversy, so it is best not to emphasize it.Whatever may be the case in this regard, we find other evidence for Demeter's being the Corn-Mother.Of the two grains associated with her in Greek religion, barley and wheat, barley is perhaps more entitled to be her original essence; for it was not only the staple food of the Greeks in Homer's time, and we Barley is believed to be one of, if not the earliest, one of several earliest grains cultivated by the Aryans.Indeed, the fact that the ancient Indians, like the ancient Greeks, used barley in religious ceremonies provides strong evidence that barley cultivation is indeed very ancient, as we know it was cultivated by lake dwellers in Europe during the Stone Age.

Wei imitation   Lu You Zhi  Fen Xie Na Dou 浞 constricted word Xing Duck  Shun Yi Kang Nao 胂 @ Dark Naiqian shouted 杪杌虼 lick lick 杪沟 啊早友  Yin O Lv 嬲 立 ┛ Shao Yun 闶 and Hum┑Qiu faded away ? In Germany, anthropomorphism of cereals is common, called the Grain Mama.For example, in spring, when the grain is blowing in the wind, the farmer says, "Look, the mother of the grain is here." Or, "The mother of the grain is running away in the field." Children want to go to the fields to pick cornflowers or poppies, but they are told not to go, because the Corn Mother sits in the corn and will catch them.People call her mother rye and mother pea according to different crops, and use mother rye and mother pea to scare children, telling them not to run into the rye and pea fields.It is also believed that the Grain Mother makes crops grow.For example, around Magdeburg [a city and port in Germany] it is sometimes said: "The flax will grow well this afternoon; see mother flax." In the village, the Mother of Grain is in the shape of a female idol, made of the last sheaf of corn, and dressed in white. It is said that she can be seen in the cornfields at midnight, and she passes through the cornfields to multiply them; but if she Getting angry with a certain farmer, she withered all his corn.

The Grain Mother also plays an important role in harvest customs.It is believed that she was the last sheaf left in the field; or that when the last sheaf was cut, she was either caught, driven away, or killed.If it is the first case, people will happily take the last sheaf of grain home, enshrine it as a fetish, and put it in the barn. When the grain is threshed, the grain god will appear again.In the Hanover area of ​​Harden the reapers stand round the last sheaf and beat it with sticks in order to drive the Corn-mother out of it.They called to each other, "There she is, hit her! Take care, don't let her catch you!" until all the grain fell off; then it was thought that the Corn-mother had been driven away.Near Danzig, the last handful of corn is made from the last handful of corn by the one who makes a little baby, which is called a corn-mother or old woman, and is carried home in the last cart.In Holstein there are places where the last sheaf is dressed in women's clothing, called the Corn-mother, and carried home in the last cart, where it is soaked in water.Wetting with water is undoubtedly a witchcraft for rain.In the Braak region of Styria, the last sheaf is called the Mama Mama, and the oldest married woman in the village binds it in the form of a woman.The married women were between 50 and 55 years old.The best ears of corn are plucked from the inside, and made into a wreath, and woven with flowers, for the fairest girl in the village to wear on her head, and go to the farmer's or gentleman's house, while the Corn-mother is put in the barn. to repel mice.In other villages in the area, when the harvest is over, two boys carry the grain mothers away on top of poles.Walking behind the girl with the crown, they went together to the gentleman's house, who took the crown and hung it in the hall, and placed the corn-mother on a pile of logs, and she became the center of the harvest supper and dance.Then hang her in the barn to keep until threshing time the following year.The person who gives the last stroke during threshing is called the son of the mother of five grains. People tie him with the mother of five grains, beat him, and take him on a parade in the village.On the following Sunday the crown is dedicated to the church; on the day before Easter, the grain of the crown is rubbed down by a seven-year-old girl and scattered among the new corn.At Christmas, the grain and grass from the crown of the corn are placed in the animal trough to make the animal prosperous.In this example, the seeds from the Corn Mother (the crown is made of the ears of the Corn Mother) are scattered in the new corn, which clearly shows the multiplication power of the Corn Mother; impact on life.Among the Slavs, the last sheaf of millet was also called mother rye, mother barley, mother oats, mother wheat, etc., after the crop.In the Taño region of Galicia, the crowns made from the last stalks are called Mama Wheat, Mama Rye or Mama Pea.It was worn on a girl's head until spring, and some grains from the crown were mixed with the corn-seeds.This example again shows the multiplication power of the Grain Mother.In France, too, the place near Auxerre calls the last sheaf the mother of the wheat, the mother of the barley, the mother of the rye, and the mother of the oats.This leaves the millet in the field, and goes home with the last cart.Then they make an idol out of it; put on peasant clothes, wear a wreath, a blue or white scarf around it, and stick a twig in its breast.People called this idol Sirius.When dancing at night, Sirius stood in the middle of the dance floor, the fastest harvester danced around it, and the most beautiful girl was his partner.After dancing, pile up a pile of firewood.All the girls crowned themselves with flowers, and they took off the idol's garments, and tore it up on the pyre, along with the flowers that adorned it.Then the girl who had cut the crop first lit the woodpile, and everyone begged Sirius for a good harvest.In this case, as Manhard observed, the old customs remained intact, although the name Sith was somewhat pedantic.Upper Brittany [a region of northwestern France on the peninsula between the English Channel and the French Bay of Biscay. ] Always make the last sheaf in the shape of a man; but if the owner is married, make two, and put a smaller one inside the larger one.It's called Mama Sheaf.Give it to the owner's wife, she unties it, and rewards the wine money.

Sometimes the last sheaf of millet is not called the Grain Mother, but the Harvest Mother or Big Mother.In the city of Osnabruck in Hannover [region of Germany], it is called Harvest Mother; it is made in the shape of a woman, and the harvesters dance around it.In Westphalia [a region of Germany] when the rye is harvested, the last sheaf is tied with stones, which are very heavy.They took it home in the last car and called her Big Mama, but they didn't tie her into any shape.In Erfurt [a region of Germany], the heaviest bunch of corn (not necessarily the last) is called the big mother, and it is taken back to the barn in the last cart, and people laugh together take it down.

Sometimes the last sheaf of millet is called a grandmother, and it is decorated with flowers, ribbons, and a woman's apron.In East Prussia, at the time of the rye and wheat harvest, the reapers shouted to the woman binding the last sheaf: "You are tying a grandmother." Near Magdeburg, men and women fought over the last sheaf called "Grandma" millet.Whoever gets it will marry the next year; but his or her lover will be older; if a girl gets it, she marries a widowed man; if a man gets it, he gets Marry an old woman.In Silesia the "grandmother"--three or four bundles made into one large sheaf by the last sheaf-cutter--had always been bound roughly in the shape of a human figure.Around Belfast, the last sheaf is sometimes called the Granny.It was not cut down in the usual way, and all the reapers used sickles to cut it down, trying to cut it down.People braid it and keep it until the next autumn.Whoever gets it will get married within that year.

The last bundle is often called the old crone and the old man.In Germany it is often the shape and dress of a woman, and whoever cuts or binds the bundle "got an old woman."At Alnithim in Sipea, when all the corn had been harvested from the farm and there was only one row left, all the reapers stood in a single row in front of the row; Whoever cuts the last scythe will "get the old woman".When stacking the corn piles, people laughed at the man who got the old woman (the old woman was the largest and thickest sheaf of all the grain sheaves), and they shouted to him: "He has got the old woman, and he must keep her." The woman in the last bundle is also called the old woman, and it is said that she will marry the following year.At Neussus in West Prussia both the last sheaf of corn—the coat, hat, and ribbon—and the woman who tied it were called old women.The two took the last car home together, both drenched in water.In many parts of northern Germany, the last sheaf at harvest is made into a human idol, called an "Old Man," and the woman who binds this sheaf is said to have "got the old man."

In West Prussia, when the last rye was being raked in the fields, the grown women and girls hurried, for none of them wanted to be the last to get the "Old Man," the idol made of the last sheaf of rye, and finally The finisher has to hold it in front of the other harvesters.In Silesia, the last bundle was called the old woman or the old man, and became the subject of jokes.This bundle is very large, and sometimes a stone is added to add weight.Among the Wends, the man or woman who binds the last sheaf at wheat harvest is "got the old man."Make a humanoid idol out of this sheaf of straw and ears, and decorate it with flowers.He who tied the last bundle had to carry the old man back, while the rest made fun of him and jeered at him.The idol is kept in the farm house and preserved to be recreated as an old man at the next year's harvest.

In some of the above-mentioned customs, as Manhard says, the person who bears the same name as the last sheaf and sits next to it in the last car is obviously of the same identity as the sheaf; he or She represents Ceres, who was caught in the last sheaf; in other words, Ceres has a double representation, a person and a sheaf.There is a custom to include in the sheaf the person who cut or bound the last sheaf, which more clearly equates man with the sheaf.As at Helmsdorf in Silesia, it was customary to bind the woman who tied the last bundle to this bundle.At Weyden in Bavaria it was the reaper, not the binder, who tied the last sheaf.Here the man wrapped in the corn represents the Ceres, just as the man wrapped in the leaves represents the Dryad.

The last sheaf, called the old woman, is often of a different size and weight from the other sheaves.For example, in some villages in West Prussia, the sheaf of grain called the old woman is twice as long and twice as thick as a normal sheaf, and a stone is tied in the middle, sometimes so heavy that no one can lift it.At Alte-Pillow in Samland, eights and nines are often tied together to make an old crone, and its weight makes the man who erected him complain.At Ifegrand in Saxe-Koberg, the last sheaf called the old woman is extra large, which is clearly done on purpose, in the hope of a good crop next year.In this way, the custom of making the last sheaf heavy and heavy is a witchcraft of sympathetic witchcraft, to ensure a bountiful and heavy harvest for the coming year.

In Scotland, after Halloween, the last corn is cut and a female idol is made of it, sometimes called a carlin or carline, meaning "old woman."However, if it is cut off before Halloween, it is called a "maiden"; if it is cut after the sun has set, it is called a "witch", which will make people unlucky.People in the Scottish Highlands call the last corn they cut when they harvest the crops or call them Cailleach, the old wife, or the maiden.In general, the former name seems to be prevalent in the west, the latter in the center and east.Girl, let's talk about it later, let's talk about the old woman first.The careful researcher JG Campbell, priest of the Hebrides, the farthest island of Tilly, gives the following summary account of the custom: "A Cailleach:- Harvest When people try to avoid cutting the last one. In the days of co-tillage, the example of leaving the last row uncut is well known (no one wants to cut it), because it is the last remaining row .Everyone is afraid of getting 'Famine of the Farm' (Gortabhaile) (its shape is an imaginary old woman), and they are going to feed her for next year's harvest. Everyone is afraid of this old woman, resulting in a lot of competition and jokes. First do The one who is finished makes a little doll out of a few stalks of millet, and he calls it 'Old Woman', and he gives it to the nearest neighbor, who in turn passes it on to another casually and not so hastily, till the end. In the hands of one man, the last man must keep it for that year."

In the Isle of Islay [in England], the last corn cut is called the old woman (Cailleach), and when the harvest time is done, people hang her on the wall, before the next year's crops are planted and plowed. Keep her there all the time.Then they took her down, and the mistress of the house gave her to the men when they first went out to plow the fields.They put her in their pockets and gave her to the horses when they got to the fields.It was thought that this would ensure a good harvest for the coming year, and that was the real purpose of the old woman. This practice has also been reported in Wales.As in North Pembrokeshire, where the last-cut corn was six to twelve inches long, it was braided and called a witch (wrach); it was used in old and strange customs, and many are still Everyone alive still remembers it.When the last piece of millet was received, the harvesters were even more excited.Everyone took turns swinging the sickle at it, and whoever could cut it off got a bottle of home-brewed beer.So hastening to be a witch, she took it to a neighboring farm, where the reapers were still busy reaping.This is usually done by a farmer; but he will be very careful that his neighbors do not perceive him, for if they see him coming, and have the slightest suspicion of what he is doing, they immediately send him back.He crept stealthily behind a fence, waiting for the foremen of the harvest in the neighboring fields to be opposite him, within easy reach.Then suddenly he threw the witch over the fence, and if possible on the foreman's scythe.After that, he ran as fast as he could, and he was lucky if he wasn't caught and cut with the scythe thrown at him by the angry reapers.In other instances, one of the harvesters wanted to take the witch back to the farm house.He took it home as quickly as he could, out of sight; and if the people in the house suspected what he was up to, they beat him up.Sometimes they stripped him almost naked, and sometimes they took care to keep buckets and pans of water with which to wet him.If, however, he was able to bring the dry witch into someone's house without being noticed, the master of the house was obliged to pay him a small fine, or give him a pitcher of beer "from the barrel by the wall."It is generally agreed that this is the best beer, and it is also requested by the person who takes the witch.Then carefully hang the witch on a nail in the hall or elsewhere, and keep there all year round.The custom of bringing home a witch (wrach) and hanging it up persists in some North Pembrokeshire farms, but the ancient ritual just described is no longer present. In County Antlycombe, not so many years ago, when the scythe was at last replaced by the reaping machine, a few stalks of corn were at last left in the field, woven together, and blindfolded, the reapers paid for the woven corn. Cut it off with a scythe, and whoever happens to cut it off takes it home and puts it over the door, and the handful of corn is called Kari—probably the same word as Karin. Slavic peoples also follow similar customs.For example, in Poland, the last sheaf of millet is usually called Baba (Baba), which means old woman.It is said: "In the last handful of millet sits Baba".The handful of millet itself is also called Baba, and it is sometimes made by binding twelve small sheaves of millet together.In some parts of Bohemia the Baba, made of the last sheaf of corn, is shaped like a woman and wears a large straw hat.It was brought home in the last harvest cart, and the two girls handed it to the master with the corolla.When the women bind the grain, they are very afraid of being the last, because the person who binds the last handful of grain will have a child in the coming year.Sometimes the reapers shouted to the one who tied the last handful of corn, "She has got Baba," or shouted, "She is Baba." When a certain woman bundled the last handful of grain, people said, "Baba sit inside." The woman even wrapped herself in the grain sheaf, with only her head exposed.So packed in sheaves, they took her home in the last harvest wagon, and the whole family came and drenched her.And he let her out of the sheaf after the dance was over.She kept the name Baba throughout the year. In Lithuania, the last sheaf of millet is named Boba (old woman), which coincides with the Polish name Baba.It is said that Boba was sitting in the last remaining corn.Whoever binds the last sheaf of corn or digs the last potato is greatly jeered at, gets the title of Old Rye Mother, Old Potato Mother, and keeps it for a long time.The last handful of millet—the boba—in the shape of a woman is solemnly carried back to the village on the last harvest cart, where it is drenched in farmers' homes where people take turns dancing with it. In Russia, too, the last sheaf is often made in the shape of a woman, dressed in women's clothing, and carried home with singing and dancing.The Bulgarians make a doll out of the last sheaf of corn, which they call the Queen of the Corn, or the Mother of the Corn; they dress it in women's blouses, take it on a tour of the village, and throw it into the river, so that there will be plenty of rain for the next year's crop.Or burn it and scatter the ashes in the field, no doubt to fertilize it.Calling the last handful of millet by the queen is a similar situation in Central and Northern Europe.For example, in the Salzburg area of ​​Austria, a grand parade is held at the end of the harvest. During the parade, young people pull an ear queen (Ahrenkonigin) in a small cart.The custom of Harvest Queens seems to have been common in England as well.Milton must have been familiar with it, for he says in: Adam had been eagerly awaiting her return, and he had chosen the best flowers for a wreath, and adorned her hair and her peasant cape, as reapers do to their harvest queens. Such customs are sometimes held not in the crop fields, but in the threshing floor.The corn-spirit, when the ripe corn is cut by the reapers, flees, leaves the harvest, and hides in the barn, where he hides in the last handful of threshing, where he is either flailed to death, or Flee to the unthreshed millet in the adjacent farm area.Therefore, the last threshed millet is called the grain mother or the old woman.Sometimes the last flailer is called the old woman, and is tied in the last sheaf, or a handful of straw is fastened to his back.Whether bundled in straw or carried on their backs, people loaded it into carts and walked through the village with everyone laughing.In some parts of Bavaria, Thuringia, and elsewhere, it is said that he who thrashes the last handful of corn gets an old crone or cornwoman; it is tied to the hay, and it is led or carted about the village, Stop at last on a dunghill, or go to the threshing floor of a neighboring farmer who hasn't finished threshing.In Poland, the person who gives the last stroke during threshing is called Baba (the old woman); he is wrapped in corn and pulled through the village in a cart.Sometimes in Lithuania, instead of threshing the last sheaf, it is tied in the shape of a woman and taken to the barn of a neighbor who has not finished threshing. In some parts of Sweden, when a strange woman comes to the threshing floor, a flail is put on her, a handful of corn is put round her neck, and a crown of corn is placed on her head, and the threshing man calls out: "Look at the corn-mother!" In this instance, the sudden appearance of the woman is taken for the corn-spirit, driven out of the stubble by the flail.In other instances, the master's wife represents the corn-spirit.As on the farm in Saligny (Vendée), the master's wife and the last sheaf of corn are bound with a sheet, placed on a stretcher, carried to the threshing machine, and pushed under the threshing machine.Then the woman was drawn out to thresh the sheaves, but they still wrapped the woman in the quilt and threw her, as if she were being winnowed as chaff.This apparent imitation of threshing and winnowing by women could not be more clearly shown than that the equality of women and corn. In these customs the corn-spirit of the ripe corn is regarded as very old, or at least a full-grown man.That's why there are names such as mother, grandma, and old woman.In other instances, however, the corn-spirit was thought to be very young.As in Salton, near Wolfenbütt [in Germany], after the rye had been harvested, three sheaves of rye were tied together with a rope, and an idol was made, with the ear of corn as its head.This idol is called Maiden or Wugu Maiden.The corn-spirit was sometimes regarded as a child, and the scythe cut him off, and separated him from his mother.There is a custom in Poland of shouting to the he who cuts the last handful of corn: "You have cut the umbilical cord." This custom expresses the opinion of the corn-spirit as a child.In some parts of West Prussia, a straw man made from the last sheaf of corn is called a "mongrel," and a boy is bound in it.The woman who binds the last handful of millet pretends to be the grain mother.She was told that she was going to give birth; she cried out like a woman in labor, and an old woman, pretending to be a grandmother, was midwife for her.At last, with a cry, the child was born; and now the boy bound in the sheaf cried and cried like a baby.The grandmother wrapped a sack around the fake baby like a child's cloth, and they happily took him to the barn to save him from catching a cold in the open air.In another part of northern Germany, the last sheaf, or straw figures made of the last sheaf, are called "children," "harvest children," etc., and they call out to the woman binding the last sheaf: "You have a child." La." In some parts of Scotland and northern England, the last handful of corn cut in a crop field is called a kirn, and the person who carries the kirn "won the kirn."Then, dress it up as a child's play doll named Milky Kern, Baby Kern, or Maiden.In Berwickshire, until the middle of the 19th century, the reapers competed fervently for the last corn in the fields.They formed a circle not far from it, and took turns throwing sickles at the millet, and whoever could cut it off would give it to his beloved girl.She made a Kern doll out of the handful of millet, dressed it, and took the doll to the house, where it hung until a new Kern doll took its place at the next harvest.At Spottyswood, Berwickshire, the cutting of the last sheaf at harvest is called the "Queen of the Cut," and is almost as common as the "Cut of the Kern."The way to cut is not to throw a sickle.A reaper agrees to be blindfolded, and his companions give him a scythe and make him turn it two or three times before telling him to cut Kern.He fumbled and hacked in the air with a scythe, making his companions laugh. He was tired of cutting but failed to cut, so he felt that there was no hope, so he gave up. The other man blindfolded and did the same. Come one by one until the Kern is mowed down.The partners who cut the crops cheered three times and threw the successful harvester up.At Spottyswood, Kern feasts are held indoors and dances are held in the barn.There is a place dedicated to two women who make kern dolls or queens every year, decorating banquets and balls, and many of these rural corn-spirit idols are hung together. In certain parts of the Scottish Highlands, the last handful of corn cut by a reaper on any farm is called a "maidhdeanbuain" in Gaelic (Maidhdeanbuain, Maid of the Harvest).There are many superstitions about winning a girl.If a young man gets it, they take it as a sign that he or she will get married before the next harvest.For this reason or some other, the reapers competed among themselves to see who would get the maiden, and they devised various tricks to obtain it.For example, it is common for a person to leave a handful of crops uncut, to cover them with soil, and hide them from the sight of the other harvesters, until all the other crops in the field are harvested.Several people have played this trick, and whoever is the calmest and lasts the longest wins the coveted title.After the girl cut it off, she tied it with a ribbon, dressed it up as a doll, and hung it on the wall of the house.In northern Scotland, the maiden carefully preserves it until Christmas morning, when it is given to the cattle "to keep them strong throughout the year."Near Barquade in Perthshire, the last handful of corn was hewn by the youngest girl in the field and shaped roughly into the shape of a little girl doll, dressed in paper and laced with ribbons.Girl dolls are called "girls", and they are kept in houses, usually on top of the chimney, for a long period of time, sometimes until a new girl arrives in the next year.In September 1888, the author of this book saw the ritual of circumcision in Balquad.A girl friend told me that, when she was an older girl, she circumcised her daughters several times at the invitation of the reapers near Perth.The last handful in the field is called the Maiden; a reaper holds the top of the crop and sets her to cut it.Then tie up this handful of millet, tie it with a ribbon, and hang it in a conspicuous place on the kitchen wall until the next year when a new daughter is brought in.In this area, the harvest dinner is also called "daughter", and when the harvest meal is eaten, the harvesters dance. Around 1830 on the Gairlock River in Dumbardenshire, some farms called the last handful of millet in the field a "maiden".Divide it into two and tie it up, and let a girl cut it with a sickle. It is believed that she will be lucky and get married soon.After cutting, the reapers assembled there and threw their scythes into the air, and the maidens dressed and tied with ribbons, dated and hung in the kitchen near the roof, where they were kept for a few years.Sometimes five or six daughters can be seen hanging on the hook at the same time, calling the rice kern.On other farms near the Gairlock River, the last handful of corn is called Maiden's Head, or simply Head, neatly tied, sometimes with a ribbon, and hung in the kitchen for a year before being fed to the poultry. In Aberdeenshire, "the reapers form a merry procession to bring home the last handful or 'maiden' and present it to the housewife, who dresses it up and keeps it till the first mare bears a calf At this time the maiden is removed and given to the mare for its first feed. Neglect of this can have a bad effect on the foal and disastrous consequences for all the work of the season".In north-east Aberdeenshire, the last sheaf is generally called a Clyack.It is always cut by the youngest girl present, in full-grown women's clothing.People happily take it home and keep it until Christmas morning, and then give it to the pregnant mare, which means when the farm has such a horse, or to the oldest impregnated cow if it doesn't.Elsewhere the sheaf is divided among all the cows and calves or all the horses and cattle of the farm.In Fife the last handful of millet is called the maiden, and is cut by a young girl, and fashioned into the shape of a crude doll, laced with ribbons, which is hung on the farm kitchen wall until the following spring.Daughter circumcision was also practiced in Invernessshire and Sutherlandshire. To call the corn-spirit the bride, the bride of the oats, the bride of the wheat, is to give him a maturer, but still youthful, age.This is sometimes called in Germany both for the last sheaf and for the woman who tied it.Near Mugliz in Moravia [a region of the Czech Republic], when the wheat is harvested there is always a small piece of wheat left in the field.Then a young girl named the Bride of Wheat, wearing a crown of ears, cut off the remaining piece amidst the cheers of the reapers.It was thought that within the year she would be a real bride.Near Roslyn and Stonehaven in Scotland, the last handful of corn "called the 'Bride,' was placed on the mantelpiece; Also tie one." At this time, the meaning of the name Bride of Grain can more fully show that the plant has reproductive ability like the bride and groom.As in Wohlhaz, oat men and oat women dance at harvest feasts wrapped in straw.In South Saxony, both the oats bridegroom and oats bride are present at harvest celebrations.The Bridegroom of Oats is a man completely wrapped in a stalk of oats, and the Bride of Oats is a man in women's clothing, without straw.They drove to the hotel where the ball was being held.When the ball began, the dancers took turns plucking handfuls of oats from the oat groom, who was so protective of them that at last he was plucked and stood naked, mocked by his companions.In Silesia, Austria, at the end of the harvest, young people hold a "Bride of Wheat" ceremony.The woman who binds the last sheaf of wheat plays the wheat bride, wearing a harvest crown of wheat spikes and flowers on her head.Dressed up in this way, he went to the station next to his bridegroom, accompanied by the bridesmaids, and pulled them with two oxen, exactly like the wedding procession, to the inn, where they danced all night.Later in the season, honor the wedding of the Bride of the Oats with the same rural luxury.Near Nice in Silesia, an oat king and an oat queen, oddly dressed like a newlywed couple, sat on a rake and let the oxen be drawn into the village. In these last cases the corn-spirit has two incarnations, a male and a female.But sometimes the corn-spirit appears as two women, an old and a young, which, if my interpretation of Demeter and Persephone is right, fits with these two gods.We have already said that in Scotland, especially among the Gaelic-speaking inhabitants, the last-cut corn is sometimes called the old woman, and sometimes the maiden.In some parts of Scotland, the old woman (Cailleach) and the daughter are circumcised at the time of harvest.Accounts of this custom are unclear and inconsistent, but the general practice seems to be this: where the cut corn is used at harvest for both maiden and old woman (Cailleach), the maiden uses what is left in the field. The last stalk was made, as a rule, kept by the owner of the field from which the corn was cut, while the old woman was made of other stalks, sometimes the thickest ones, which were customarily handed over to a slow The farmer is still reaping after his fast-footed neighbor has reaped all the corn.Thus each farmer preserves his own maiden, who, as personification of the young and fertile corn-spirit, passes on to a neighbor as soon as he can, the venerable old lady may have to wait until she finds a place to live. Walk all over the farm.The farmer with whom she ended up living was, of course, the last to finish harvesting in that area, so it was a little annoying to receive her out of the ordinary.It was thought that the farmer was out of luck, or that he was trying to "prepare the town for famine" within the next season.We also remarked that in Pembrokeshire the last corn cut was not called a maid but a witch, and was promptly passed on to a neighbor who was still working in the field, and who received the elderly visitor The reader is really not happy.If the old woman represents the corn-spirit of the first year, she may represent the corn-spirit of the first year wherever she is contrasted with a daughter, and her aging features are naturally less alluring than her daughter's fit body. Man, when the next fall, her daughter will be the mother of the golden grain.In some of the customs followed after threshing, especially in the practice of passing on a hideous straw man to neighboring farmers who were still threshing, the same desire is evident: to get rid of the aging Corn-mother, She passes it on to others. 方才描写的这些收获风俗，与我们在前面考察过的春天风俗惊人的类似：(1)在春季风俗里，树精由树和人两者来代表，而在收获风俗里，则由最后一捆谷子代表，又由割它、捆它或给它脱粒的人来代表。人等于最后一捆谷，这一点表明在：他和最后一捆谷叫同一个名字，把他或她捆在最后一捆谷里。某些地方的规矩也表明了这一点：最后一捆谷如果叫做妈妈，就由一个最老的已婚妇女把它扎成人形，如称为闺女，则由一个最年轻的妇女收割。在这些风俗里，谷精的人身代表的年纪与人们假定的谷精的年纪是一致的，正如墨西哥人促进玉米生长时用作祭品的人牲，随着玉米的生长期而异。因为墨西哥的风俗也跟欧洲的风俗一样，人只是代表谷精，而不是献给谷精的祭品。(2)人们认为树精对植物、牲畜甚至妇女具有增殖的影响，人们也把这种影响力赋予谷精。如它对植物的所谓影响表现在这样的做法中：从最后一捆谷里取出一些谷粒(谷精照例被认为是在最后一捆谷子里)，把它们撒在春天的新谷中或拌在谷种里。它对动物的影响表现在：把最后一捆谷子给怀孕的母马或怀孕的母牛吃，给初次下地犁田的马吃。最后，它对妇女的影响则表现在这样的风俗中：把谷子妈妈捆成孕妇的样子，交给主人的妻子；还表现在这样的信念中：扎最后一捆谷子的妇女次年会生孩子；也许还表现在得到最后一捆的人会立即结婚这样的观念里。 所以，很明显，这些春天风俗和收获风俗都出于同样的古代的思想方式，都是同样的原始异教风俗的组成部分。毫无疑问，我们的祖先在有史以前很久就已遵循这些风俗了。在它们原始仪式的许多特点中，我们应注意以下这些： 1.并没有另外划出一批人专门执行这些仪式；换句话说，没有祭司。如情况需要，任何人都可以举行这些仪式。 2.并没有另外划出一些地方来举行这些仪式；换句话说，没有神殿。如情况需要，任何地方都可以举行这种仪式。 3.人们认的是精灵，不是神。(a)精灵与神不同。它们的活动限于自然的某些部门。它们的名字是大家共有的，不是专门的。它们的属性是普遍的，不是独特的，换句话说，各类精灵有一定数量，每一类的各个精灵彼此又都很类似，它们都没有明显不同的个性；关于它们的起源、生活、事迹和身份并无公认的传说流行。(b)另一方面，神与精灵不同，并不局限于自然的某些固定部门。不错，一般也有一个部门是他们掌管的特定领域；但是，他们并非严格地局限于这个部门之内；他们对自然和生命的许多其他领域也有致福或降灾的能力。而且，他们都有各自的或专门的名字，诸如德墨忒耳、珀耳塞福涅、狄俄尼索斯，等等；他们各自的身份和历史都为流行的传说和艺术表现所固定下来。 4.这些仪式是巫术，而不是祈祷。换句话说，人们达到希求的目的，不是依靠牺牲、祈祷和赞美，以求得神灵的恩惠，而是依靠我已经说明过的那些仪式，人们认为这些仪式通过仪式与仪式所要产生的效果之间的交感或相似就能影响自然进程。 根据这几点来衡量，欧洲农民的春季风俗和收获风俗应该算是原始的。因为没有划出一批专门的人来执行这些仪式，也没有划出专门的地方来举行这些仪式；任何人都可以举行这些仪式，主人或仆人，主妇或侍婢，男孩或女孩；举行仪式的地方也不是庙里，也不是教堂里，是在树林里或草地上，是在溪边，谷仓里，庄稼地里，茅屋里。人们认为仪式里自然是有超凡的东西存在，他们是精灵而不是神：他们的作用限于某些限定的自然部门里，他们的名字都是像大麦妈妈、老太婆、闺女这类一般的名字，而不是德墨忒耳、珀尔塞福涅、狄俄尼索斯这类的专有名称。他们的共同属性是清楚的，但他们个人的身份和历史并不是神话题材。他们作为类而存在，而不是作为个体而存在，每一类中的许多成员都是无法分辨的。例如，每个农场都有它自己的五谷妈妈，自己的老太婆或自己的闺女；但是每个五谷妈妈和其他的每个五谷妈妈都很相像，老太婆和闺女也是如此。最后，这些收获风俗同春季风俗一样，仪式都是巫术，不是祈祷。把五谷妈妈扔进河里为庄稼求雨求露，捆一个很重的老太婆，以求来年丰收；把最后一捆谷子撒在春天的新庄稼里，用最后一捆喂牛，使它们兴旺；——所有这些，都是证明。