The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

161and honoured as a divine being. It is placed in the barn, andat threshing the corn-spirit appears again. 429 In the Hanoveriandistrict of Hadeln the reapers stand round the last sheaf and beatit with sticks in order to drive the Corn-mother out of it. They callto each other, “There she is! hit her! Take care she doesn't catchyou!” The beating goes on till the grain is completely threshedout; then the Corn-mother is believed to be driven away. 430 Inthe neighbourhood of Danzig the person who cuts the last earsof corn makes them into a doll, which is called the Corn-motheror the Old Woman and is brought home on the last waggon. 431In some parts of Holstein the last sheaf is dressed in woman's [134]clothes and called the Corn-mother. It is carried home on thelast waggon, and then thoroughly drenched with water. Thedrenching with water is doubtless a rain-charm. 432 In the districtof Bruck in Styria the last sheaf, called the Corn-mother, is madeup into the shape of a woman by the oldest married woman in thevillage, of an age from fifty to fifty-five years. The finest earsare plucked out of it and made into a wreath, which, twined withflowers, is carried on her head by the prettiest girl of the villageto the farmer or squire, while the Corn-mother is laid down inthe barn to keep off the mice. 433 In other villages of the samedistrict the Corn-mother, at the close of harvest, is carried by twolads at the top of a pole. They march behind the girl who wearsthe wreath to the squire's house, and while he receives the wreathand hangs it up in the hall, the Corn-mother is placed on the topof a pile of wood, where she is the centre of the harvest supperand dance. Afterwards she is hung up in the barn and remainsthere till the threshing is over. The man who gives the last stroke429 W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 316.430 Ibid. p. 316.431 Ibid. pp. 316 sq.432 Ibid. p. 317. As to such rain-charms see Adonis, Attis, Osiris, SecondEdition, pp. 195-197.433 W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 317.