Northern mythology

140 NORTH GERMAN CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS.
through it that reaches to the ground. When it is on
fire they swing the barrel round the pole amid great rejoicing.
In the neighbourhood of Bai-uth^ down to recent
times, St. John's fires were lighted, as well as in the
Catholic parts of Westphalia.
In Gandersheim a tall fir is set up, which is completely
stript to its summit; on this they hang handkerchiefs
and the like, to be climbed for.
In Sachsenburg, on St. John^s day, the children make
a ^ Rosenstock.' At night they barricade the street with
a rope, on which they hang wreaths of birch and flowers.
They also set birch-branches before the house and raise a
large tree, round which they dance. Whoever will pass
through the street must pay something, out of which the
music and the birch are paid for. In the parts south of
the Fiirstenwald, there is, about the same time, a shooting
for a hat, or a 'Rosenbaum.' A pole is raised, on which
are streamers, a wreath and a crown, also handkerchiefs
and the like, to be climbed for. The best climber up the
Rosenbaum' is rewarded with a bouquet in his hat.
'
In the neighbourhood of the Kyff'hauser the girls throw
at cocks.
In the 'Jantjenacht' (St. John's eve) the witches hold
their meeting, at which they eat the berries of the mountain-ash.
Moorhausen and Nordmoor in E. Friesland.
Treasures burn especially on St. John's night, and those
who know how can raise them. Ukermark.
On St. John's day there should be fetched nothing green,
it will cause cancer. Vegetables should be gathered the
evening before. Mellin in the Altmark.
On St. John's day, between twelve and one o'clock,
there grows in many places a hand out of the ground,
which they call St. John's hand.
Whoever possesses such
a hand is lucky, as its stroke is good against all kinds of
fluxions and other maladies. It is not to be confounded