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

162 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[135]at threshing is called the son of the Corn-mother; he is tied upin the Corn-mother, beaten, and carried through the village. Thewreath is dedicated in church on the following Sunday; and onEaster Eve the grain is rubbed out of it by a seven-years-old girland scattered amongst the young corn. At Christmas the straw ofthe wreath is placed in the manger to make the cattle thrive. 434Here the fertilising power of the Corn-mother is plainly broughtout by scattering the seed taken from her body (for the wreathis made out of the Corn-mother) among the new corn; and herinfluence over animal life is indicated by placing the straw in themanger. At Westerhüsen, in Saxony, the last corn cut is madein the shape of a woman decked with ribbons and cloth. It isfastened to a pole and brought home on the last waggon. Oneof the people in the waggon keeps waving the pole, so that thefigure moves as if alive. It is placed on the threshing-floor, andstays there till the threshing is done. 435 Amongst the Slavs alsothe last sheaf is known as the Rye-mother, the Wheat-mother,the Oats-mother, the Barley-mother, and so on, according to thecrop. In the district of Tarnow, Galicia, the wreath made outof the last stalks is called the Wheat-mother, Rye-mother, orPea-mother. It is placed on a girl's head and kept till spring, whensome of the grain is mixed with the seed-corn. 436 Here again thefertilising power of the Corn-mother is indicated. In France, also,in the neighbourhood of Auxerre, the last sheaf goes by the nameof the Mother of the Wheat, Mother of the Barley, Mother of theRye, or Mother of the Oats. They leave it standing in the field tillthe last waggon is about to wend homewards. Then they makea puppet out of it, dress it with clothes belonging to the farmer,and adorn it with a crown and a blue or white scarf. A branch ofa tree is stuck in the breast of the puppet, which is now called theCeres. At the dance in the evening the Ceres is set in the middle434 Ibid. pp. 317 sq.435 Ibid. p. 318.436 Ibid.