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

352 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[300]The corn-spirit as apig at sowing.the man who “carried the Pig” gets one or more dumplings madein the form of pigs; sometimes he gets a large dumpling and anumber of small ones, all in pig form, the large one being calledthe sow and the small ones the sucking-pigs. Sometimes he hasthe right to be the first to put his hand into the dish and take outas many small dumplings (“sucking-pigs”) as he can, while theother threshers strike at his hand with spoons or sticks. When thedumplings are served up by the maid-servant, all the people attable cry “Süz, süz, süz!” that being the cry used in calling pigs.Sometimes after dinner the man who “carried the Pig” has hisface blackened, and is set on a cart and drawn round the villageby his fellows, followed by a crowd crying “Süz, süz, süz!” as ifthey were calling swine. Sometimes, after being wheeled roundthe village, he is flung on the dunghill. 977Again, the corn-spirit in the form of a pig plays his part atsowing-time as well as at harvest At Neuautz, in Courland, whenbarley is sown for the first time in the year, the farmer's wifeboils the chine of a pig along with the tail, and brings it to thesower on the field. He eats of it, but cuts off the tail and sticksit in the field; it is believed that the ears of corn will then growas long as the tail. 978 Here the pig is the corn-spirit, whosefertilising power is sometimes supposed to lie especially in histail. 979 As a pig he is put in the ground at sowing-time, and as apig he reappears amongst the ripe corn at harvest. For amongstthe neighbouring Esthonians, as we have seen, 980 the last sheafis called the Rye-boar. Somewhat similar customs are observedin Germany. In the Salza district, near Meiningen, a certain bonein the pig is called “the Jew on the winnowing-fan.” The fleshof this bone is boiled on Shrove Tuesday, but the bone is put977 F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie, ii. pp. 221-224, §§ 409, 410,411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 418.978 W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, pp. 186 sq.979 Above, p. 272; compare 268.980 Above, p. 298.