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

195to her at the harvest-festival. 541 Near Roslin and Stonehaven,in Scotland, the last handful of corn cut “got the name of ‘thebride,’ and she was placed over the bress or chimney-piece; shehad a ribbon tied below her numerous ears, and another roundher waist.” 542Sometimes the idea implied by the name of Bride is worked out The corn-spiritas Bride andmore fully by representing the productive powers of vegetationBridegroom.as bride and bridegroom. Thus in the Vorharz an Oats-man andan Oats-woman, swathed in straw, dance at the harvest feast. 543In South Saxony an Oats-bridegroom and an Oats-bride figuretogether at the harvest celebration. The Oats-bridegroom is a mancompletely wrapt in oats-straw; the Oats-bride is a man dressedin woman's clothes, but not wrapt in straw. They are drawn ina waggon to the ale-house, where the dance takes place. At thebeginning of the dance the dancers pluck the bunches of oats oneby one from the Oats-bridegroom, while he struggles to keepthem, till at last he is completely stript of them and stands bare,exposed to the laughter and jests of the company. 544 In AustrianSilesia the ceremony of “the Wheat-bride” is celebrated by theyoung people at the end of the harvest. The woman who bound thelast sheaf plays the part of the Wheat-bride, wearing the harvestcrownof wheat ears and flowers on her head. Thus adorned,standing beside her Bridegroom in a waggon and attended bybridesmaids, she is drawn by a pair of oxen, in full imitation ofa marriage procession, to the tavern, where the dancing is kept [164]up till morning. Somewhat later in the season the wedding of theOats-bride is celebrated with the like rustic pomp. About Neisse,in Silesia, an Oats-king and an Oats-queen, dressed up quaintly541 Th. Vernaleken, Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna,1859), p. 310.542 Mr. R. Matheson, in The Folk-lore Journal, vii. (1889) pp. 49, 50.543 W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen (Berlin, 1868), p. 30.544 E. Sommer, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Sachsen und Thüringen(Halle, 1846), pp. 160 sq.; W. Mannhardt, l.c.