Chapter 32 Lytyrsis: Slay the Corn-spirit

In Phrygia there is a song similar to the above-mentioned evocative, which is sung by reapers when they are reaping and threshing, and it is called Lithyrsis.There is a story that Lytyrses was the illegitimate son of Midas, king of Phrygia, and lived in Sirena.He often harvests millet and eats a lot.If a stranger happened to walk into or pass by a cornfield, Lytyrses fed him, then led him into the cornfield by the Meander, and forced him to join him. harvest.In the end, he always likes to wrap the stranger in a sheaf, cut off his head with a sickle, and wrap his body in a stalk to take away.But then Hercules came and reaped with him, and likewise beheaded him with a scythe, and threw his body into the river.Since it is said that Hercules killed him in the same way that Lytyrses killed others, we can infer that Lytyrses also often threw the bodies of the people he killed into the river.According to another story, Lytyrses was the son of Midas, and was fond of inviting people to harvest contests with him, and whipping them if he lost them; but one day he met a stronger the harvester, the harvester killed him.

We have some reason to think that these Lythysian stories describe a Phrygian harvest custom, according to which certain persons, especially strangers who pass the crop fields, are as a rule regarded as embodying the corn-spirit. Yes, the reapers caught them as corn-spirits, wrapped them in sheaves, cut off their heads, bound his body with corn-stalks, and threw them into the water as a rain-witch.The reasons for this assumption are, first, that the story of Lytyrsis is similar to the harvest customs of European farmers, and second, that it is common for barbarian races to sacrifice human beings to promote the proliferation of fields.Let us examine these two reasons in turn, beginning with the first one.

Comparing the story with harvest customs in Europe, three points deserve special attention, namely: 1. the harvesting contest and the binding of men in the sheaves; 2. the killing of the corn-spirit or the representative of the corn-spirit; Reception of people and strangers passing by. 1. On the first point, we have already seen that in modern Europe the man who reaps, binds, and threshes the last sheaf is often ill-treated at the hands of his fellow laborers.For example, tying him in the last bundle, walking or carting him away after tying him, beating him, soaking him in water, throwing him on a dung heap, etc.Or he was spared the mischief, but at least he was the subject of ridicule, or was thought to be doomed to some kind of misfortune within a year.Naturally, therefore, the reapers do not want to cut the last handful at the reap, the last thresh at the threshing, or the last sheaf.When it comes time to finish, this reluctance to lag behind creates a race among the laborers, each scrambling to finish his piece of work as quickly as possible in order to avoid the unwelcome last.For example, in the Mittermark region of Prussia, when the last sheaf was to be finished at the rye harvest, the barbers stood facing each other in two rows, and each woman placed straw and straw rope before her.As soon as the signal was given, they straightened the sheaves before them as quickly as possible, and whoever finished last was ridiculed by the rest.Not only that, but the bundle she tied had to be made into a human form, called an old man, and taken back to the grain yard.In the cornfield the reapers stood in a circle around her and the sheaves and danced.Then they took the old man to the master, gave it to him, and said, "We'll bring the 'old man' to the master. The master can keep it until he gets a new old man next time." Then leaned the old man against a tree When it was put there for a long time, it became the laughing stock of everyone.At Achbach in Bavaria, when the reaping was about to be finished, the reapers said, "Well, we're going to drive the old man away." They each cut as hard as they could in a field; Whoever cuts the last handful or tree, the others shout to him with joy, "You've got the old man." Sometimes the reapers wear a black mask over their faces and women's clothes; if the reapers is a woman, she puts on a man's clothes.Then there is dancing.At dinner, the old man got twice as much food as the others.The same goes for threshing.Whoever hits the last one will be said to have won the old man.At the thresher's supper, he had to eat with a cream spoon and drink a lot of wine.Besides, people teased and teased him in all sorts of ways, and he couldn't get away until he bought a brandy or a beer.

These examples illustrate that the competition of cutting, beating, and binding arose among the reapers because they did not want to be the last to finish and to be mocked.Let us remember that the person who last reaps, threats, and binds is considered to represent the corn-spirit, and this idea is more fully illustrated by the practice of binding him or her in the stalk.We have already demonstrated the latter custom, but a few more examples may be added.In the village of Kloksin, near Szczecin [a port on the Oder in Poland], the reapers shouted to the woman binding the last sheaf: "You've got an old man, keep him." Until the 19th century There is also a custom in the first half of the time to tie the woman herself in straw and bring her to the sound of music to the farm house, where the reapers dance with her until the straw falls from her.In other villages near Szczecin, when it was time to load the last load of grain, the women raced as usual, and no one wanted to be left behind.For whoever puts the last sheaf on the wagon is the old man, who wraps her whole body in corn-stalks, and puts flowers on her body, and a hat of flowers and straw on her head.In a stately procession, she brings the crown of harvest she wears to her master, holds it on his head, and reads a wish.Then there was the dancing, and the old man had the right to choose his (or rather, her name) partner; it was an honor to dance with the old man.In the village of Gomern, near Magdeburg, the reaper who cuts the last handful is often so wrapped up in straw that it is almost impossible to tell whether there is anyone in the sheaf.After wrapping, another strong harvester carried him on his back and walked around the field amidst the cheers of the harvesters.In the village of Nuhausen, near Meersburg, the man who binds the last sheaf of oats wraps it in straw and is called the Oatman, and the others dance around him.On the French island of Brie, the farmer is bound with the first sheaf of straw.In the village of Dingelstedt in the area of ​​Erfurt [a city in Germany] it was customary until the first half of the 19th century to wrap people with the last sheaf of straw.His name was Old Man, and he drove home in the last car, with cheers and music.On the field, roll him along the barn and get him wet.In the Bavarian village of Norlingen, the person who gave the last stroke during threshing was wrapped in straw and made to roll on the threshing floor.In some parts of Oberfaz in Bavaria, it is said that he "got the old man," wrapped up straw, and took it to a neighbor who had not yet finished threshing.In Silesia the woman who binds the last sheaf of straw is greatly jeered at.Push her, drop her to the ground, tie her up with straw, and call her a corn doll (Kornpopel).

“The idea underlying all these cases is that the corn-spirit—the old plant—was driven out of the last corn cut or threshed, and lived in the barn all winter. When it was time to sow, he returned to the to the field, to continue his activity as a living force in the sprouted grain." 2. On the second point, comparing the story of Lytyrsis with European harvest customs, we should know whether in European harvest customs it is often believed that the corn-spirit was killed at harvest or threshing.In Romsdal and other parts of Norway, after the straw harvest, it is said that "the old straw man was killed."In other parts of Bavaria it is said that the man who threshed the last stroke killed the corn man, the oat man, the wheat man, etc., according to the crop.When the last grain was threshed in the village of Tilot in the Lorraine region of France, people threshed the grain with the rhythm of the flail and shouted: "We are killing the old woman, we are killing the old woman!" Women, people advised her to be careful, or she would be beaten to death.Near Ragnit in Lithuania, the last handful of corn was left unmoved in the field, and it was said that "the old woman (Boba) was sitting there".Then a young reaper sharpens his scythe and cuts the corn away with one blow.So people said "he cut off Boba's head"; the farmer gave him some money, and the farmer's wife poured a jug of water on his head.According to another version, the Lithuanian reapers hastened to cut their part, because the old rye woman lived in the last stalk, and whoever cut the last stalk killed the old rye woman and brought the old rye woman to himself. come to trouble.In Wickiscan, Tilsett, the man who cuts the last corn is called "the man who killed the rye woman."Also, in Lithuania it is believed that threshing, as well as harvesting, kills the corn-spirit.When the last heap of corn was left to be threshed, all the threshers suddenly stepped back, as if someone had issued an order to them.Then they set to work again, lashing the flails very fast and hard, until only the last sheaf remained.And so they worked like mad, with every nerve clenched, and the flails rained down on the corn, until the foremen shouted "Stop!"Immediately after the order to cease was given, the last flailer was surrounded by others, crying, "He has killed the old rye woman." It's called "The Man Who Killed the Old Rye Woman."In Lithuania, idols are sometimes used to represent the slain corn-spirit.A corn-stalk idol in women's clothing is placed under the last pile of straw on the threshing floor.Whoever makes the last blow during threshing "kills the old woman".We have already seen the example of the burning of the idol representing the corn-spirit.In East Riding, Yorkshire, there is a custom called "witch burning" on the last day of harvest.A little sheaf of corn was set ablaze on the stubble that had been cut in the field; peas were roasted and eaten over the fire, and ale was drunk freely;Sometimes a man is used to represent the corn-spirit, who lies under the last corn and threshing on him, and it is said that "the old man was beaten to death."We said that the farmer's wife was stuffed under the threshing machine at the same time as the last sheaf, as if to thresh her, and then to winnow her like chaff.At Volders in Tyrol, whoever threws the last threshing stroke puts the chaff in the nape of his neck, and puts a hat of straw on his head.If he is tall, it is assumed that the next year's crops will also grow tall.Then he was bound with a sheaf of corn and thrown into the river.In Carinthia, the last thresher of the threshing, and the last sheaf tie in the threshing floor, are bound hand and foot with straw ropes, and crowned with straw.Then the two were tied face to face, put on a sledge, pulled through the woods, and thrown into a stream.The custom of throwing the corn-spirit into the river, as of dousing him with water, is usually a rain-witch.

3. So far the corn-spirit is usually represented by the man or woman who reaps, binds, and threats the last corn.We now come to the case where the corn-spirit is represented by a stranger who passes by the edge of the field where the corn is being harvested (as in the story of Lytyrsis), or by someone who visits the field for the first time.It is the custom all over Germany that the reapers or threshers catch passers-by, tie them up with ropes of straw, and pay a fine, and that the farmer himself or his guests, when they first go out to the fields or to the cornfields, are not obliged to pay a fine. Treat it like this.Sometimes only his arms or feet or neck were tied.Sometimes he is wrapped in grain stalks.For example, in Thorol, Norway, no matter who goes into the field, whether the owner of the field or a stranger, he is tied up with straw and a ransom is required.Near Soest, when the owner first went to see the flax pullers, his whole body was wrapped in flax.The women also surrounded the passer-by, bound him with flax, and made him buy brandy.In Nedlingen, tie a stranger with straw and tie him to a sheaf of corn, and he must be fined.Among the Germans of Hezelberg in western Bohemia, as soon as the farmer brought out the last corn to be threshed in the threshing-floor, he was wrapped up in it and had to redeem himself by offering pancakes .The village of Putingui in Normandy, France, still pretends to bind the landlord with the last sheaf of wheat, at least more than twenty years ago.This is a matter entirely for women.They threw themselves upon the landlord, seized him by the arms, legs, and body, and held him down so that he lay upright on the last sheaf.Then pretend to tie him up and read to him the conditions to be observed at the harvest dinner.If he accepts these conditions, let him go.On the Ile of Brie in France, whenever a man who is not from the farm walks past the edge of the field, the reapers run after him.If you catch him, tie him in a grain handle, bite his forehead one by one, and shout: "You should take the key of this field." The key" refers to cutting, binding, or threshing the last handful of grain.So, as in Bree, to bind a stranger in the corn, and to say to him, "Bring the key of the field," is to say that he is the old man, the embodiment of the corn-spirit.When picking hops, if a well-dressed stranger passed through a field of hops, the women caught him, put him in a hop-sack, covered it with leaves, and paid a fine before releasing him.

In this way, the reapers of modern Europe, like the ancient Lytyrses, love to catch the passing stranger and tie him in the sheaf.Of course they did not cut off the heads of strangers as Lytyrsis did, but if they did not take such a violent step, their words and actions at least indicated a desire to do so.In Mecklenburg, for example, on the first day of harvest, if the farmer or housewife or a stranger comes into the field, or simply passes by it, all reapers sharpen their sickles facing him, and everyone They tapped the whetstone with their sickles in unison, as if they were about to cut.Then the women who led the reapers came up to him and tied a sash around his left arm.He had to pay the fine as his ransom.In the vicinity of Radsburg, when a farmer or other conspicuous personage goes down or passes by the field, all the reapers stop their work, and all move towards him, the man with the scythe in front.When they came up to him, men and women lined up.The men stuck the scythe-heads in the ground as if they were sharpening them; then they took off their hats and hung them on the scythes, and the foreman stood in front and spoke.When the talk was over, they sharpened their scythes loudly and rhythmically together, and then they put on their hats.Then two binder women come out; one of them binds the farmer or the stranger (whichever he is) with a straw or ribbon; the other reads a rhyme.The following are examples of what the reapers said at this time.In some districts of Pomerania [a region between Poland and Germany] every passerby cannot pass, because the road is blocked by ropes of straw.The reapers surrounded him, sharpening their scythes, and their foremen said:

man is ready, The sickle bends into a curve, Millets are big and small, The gentleman must be killed. Then continue to sharpen the sickle.In the village of Lamin in the Szczecin region, the reapers stood in a circle around the stranger and said to him: We shall use this shining knife, cut off the gentleman's head, We mow the pastures and cornfields with our knives, And cut off the princes of the world with the sword. Those who work hard are always thirsty, Gentlemen, if you want some beer and brandy, The joke is off right away. If he refuses this little request, Our precious sword is enough for him.

The threshing floor also regards the stranger as the embodiment of the corn-spirit, and treats him as he was treated to the corn-spirit.In the village of Widdinghard in Schleswig, when a stranger comes to the threshing floor, they ask him, "Shall I teach you the flail dance?" around his neck, as if he were a sheaf of corn.Clamping the two poles tightly almost stuck him dead.In certain parishes of Värmland (Sweden), when strangers come into the threshing-floor where the threshing man is working, they say "they'll teach him to play google."Then they put the flail around his neck, and tied straw ropes about his body.We have said that if a strange woman came to the threshing floor, the thresher put a flail around her, made a wreath of corn stalks around her neck, and called out, "Look at the corn lady! Look at her!" Wow, this is what a girl from the five grains looks like!"

Thus, in these modern European harvest customs, the person who cuts, binds, and threats the last corn is the embodiment of the corn-spirit, who surrounds the corn, pretends to kill him with a farm implement, and throws him into the water.These parallels with the Lytyrsis story seem to prove that the Lytyrsis story is indeed a description of an ancient harvesting custom in Phrygia.Since the corresponding custom in modern times had to omit the section on the personal representation of the corn-slayer, and in the end it was just an imitative performance, so it needs to be proved that in primitive societies, in order to increase the production of corn fields, killing people is usually used as a farming ritual of.The following example will show this clearly.