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

354 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[302]shewn by mixing part of the Yule Boar with the seed-corn, andgiving part of it to the ploughman and his cattle to eat. Similarlywe saw that the Corn-wolf makes his appearance at midwinter,the time when the year begins to verge towards spring. 985 Wemay conjecture that the Yule straw, which Swedish peasants turnto various superstitious uses, comes, in part at least, from thesheaf out of which the Yule Boar is made. The Yule straw islong rye-straw, a portion of which is always set apart for thisseason. It is strewn over the floor at Christmas, and the peasantsattribute many virtues to it. For example, they think that someof it scattered on the ground will make a barren field productive.Again, the peasant at Christmas seats himself on a log; and hiseldest son or daughter, or the mother herself, if the children arenot old enough, places a wisp of the Yule straw on his knee. Fromthis he draws out single straws, and throws them, one by one, upto the ceiling; and as many as lodge in the rafters, so many will bethe sheaves of rye he will have to thresh at harvest. 986 Again, it isonly the Yule straw which may be used in binding the fruit-treesas a charm to fertilise them. 987 These uses of the Yule straw shewthat it is believed to possess fertilising virtues analogous to thoseascribed to the Yule Boar; we may therefore fairly conjecturethat the Yule straw is made from the same sheaf as the YuleBoar. Formerly a real boar was sacrificed at Christmas, 988 andapparently also a man in the character of the Yule Boar. This,at least, may perhaps be inferred from a Christmas custom stillobserved in Sweden. A man is wrapt up in a skin, and carriesa wisp of straw in his mouth, so that the projecting straws looklike the bristles of a boar. A knife is brought, and an old woman,985 Above, p. 275.986 L. Lloyd, Peasant Life in Sweden (London, 1870), pp. 169 sq., 182. OnChristmas night children sleep on a bed of the Yule straw (ibid. p. 177).987 U. Jahn, Die deutschen Opfergebräuche (Breslau, 1884), p. 215. CompareThe Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 17, 27 sq.988 A. A. Afzelius, op. cit. i. 31.