The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 07 of 12)

The clyacksheaf in the dance.

“In some districts there used to be and still is dancing in the evening of the feast. ‘The sheaf’ figured in the dances. It was dressed as a girl and carried on the back of the mistress of the house to the barn or granary which served as a ballroom. The mistress danced a reel with ‘the sheaf’ on her back.

The clyacksheaf given to a mare in foal or to a cow in calf.

“The woman who gave me this account had been a witness of what she described when she was a girl. The sheaf was afterwards carefully stored till the first day of Christmas, when it was given to eat to a mare in foal, if there was one on the farm, or, if there was not, to the oldest cow in calf. Elsewhere the sheaf was divided between all the cows and their calves or between all the horses and the cattle of the farm. (Related by an eye-witness.)”[531 - W. Gregor, “Quelques coutumes du Nord-est du Comté d'Aberdeen,” Revue des Traditions populaires, iii. (October, 1888) pp. 484-487 (wrong pagination; should be 532-535). This account, translated into French by M. Loys Brueyre from the author's English and translated by me back from French into English, is fuller than the account given by the same writer in his Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-east of Scotland (London, 1881), pp. 181-183. I have translated “une jument ayant son poulain” by “a mare in foal,” and “la plus ancienne vache ayant son veau” by “the oldest cow in calf,” because in the author's Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-east of Scotland (p. 182) we read that the last sheaf was “carefully preserved till Christmas or New Year morning. On that morning it was given to a mare in foal,” etc. Otherwise the French words might naturally be understood of a mare with its foal and a cow with its calf.]

Sanctity attributed to the clyacksheaf. The sacrament of barley-meal and water at Eleusis.

In these Aberdeenshire customs the sanctity attributed to the last corn cut at harvest is clearly manifested, not merely by the ceremony with which it is treated on the field, in the house, and in the barn, but also by the great care taken to prevent it from touching the ground or being handled by any unchaste person. The reason why the youngest person on the field, whether a girl or a boy, is chosen to cut the last standing corn and sometimes to carry it to the house is no doubt a calculation that the younger the person the more likely is he or she to be sexually pure. We have seen that for this reason some negroes entrust the sowing of the seed to very young girls,[532 - See above, pp. 115 (#x_13_i5)sq.] and later on we shall meet with more evidence in Africa of the notion that the corn may be handled only by the pure.[533 - See below, vol. ii. p. 110.] And in the gruel of oat-meal and ale, which the harvesters sup with spoons as an indispensable part of the harvest supper, have we not the Scotch equivalent of the gruel of barley-meal and water, flavoured with pennyroyal, which the initiates at Eleusis drank as a solemn form of communion with the Barley Goddess Demeter?[534 - The drinking of the draught (called the κυκεών) as a solemn rite in the Eleusinian mysteries is mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (Protrept. 21, p. 18, ed. Potter) and Arnobius (Adversus Nationes, v. 26). The composition of the draught is revealed by the author of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (verses 206-211), where he represents Demeter herself partaking of the sacred cup. That the compound was a kind of thick gruel, half-solid, half-liquid, is mentioned by Eustathius (on Homer, Iliad, xi. 638, p. 870). Compare Miss J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, Second Edition (Cambridge, 1908), pp. 155 sqq.] May not that mystic sacrament have originated in a simple harvest supper held by Eleusinian farmers at the end of the reaping?

According to a briefer account of the Aberdeenshire custom, “the last sheaf cut, or ‘maiden,’ is carried home in merry procession by the harvesters. It is then presented to the mistress of the house, who dresses it up to be preserved till the first mare foals. The maiden is then taken down and presented to the mare as its first food. The neglect of this would have untoward effects upon the foal, and disastrous consequences upon farm operations generally for the season.”[535 - Rev. J. Macdonald, Religion and Myth (London, 1893), pp. 140 sq., from MS. notes of Miss J. Ligertwood.] In Fifeshire the last handful of corn, known as the Maiden, is cut by a young girl and made into the rude figure of a doll, tied with ribbons, by which it is hung on the wall of the farm-kitchen till the next spring.[536 - Folk-lore Journal, vii. (1889) p. 51; The Quarterly Review, clxxii. (1891) p. 195.] The custom of cutting the Maiden at harvest was also observed in Inverness-shire and Sutherlandshire.[537 - As to Inverness-shire my old friend Mr. Hugh E. Cameron, formerly of Glen Moriston, Inverness-shire, wrote to me many years ago: “As a boy, I remember the last bit of corn cut was taken home, and neatly tied up with a ribbon, and then stuck up on the wall above the kitchen fire-place, and there it often remained till the ‘maiden’ of the following year took its place. There was no ceremony about it, beyond often a struggle as to who would get, or cut, the last sheaf to select the ‘maiden’ from” (The Folk-lore Journal, vii. 1889, pp. 50 sq.). As to Sutherlandshire my mother was told by a servant, Isabella Ross, that in that county “they hang up the ‘maiden’ generally over the mantel-piece (chimney-piece) till the next harvest. They have always a kirn, whipped cream, with often a ring in it, and sometimes meal sprinkled over it. The girls must all be dressed in lilac prints, they all dance, and at twelve o'clock they eat potatoes and herrings” (op. cit. pp. 53 sq.).]

The corn-spirit as a bride.

A somewhat maturer but still youthful age is assigned to the corn-spirit by the appellations of Bride, Oats-bride, and Wheat-bride, which in Germany are sometimes bestowed both on the last sheaf and on the woman who binds it.[538 - W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen (Berlin, 1868), p. 30.] At wheat-harvest near Müglitz, in Moravia, a small portion of the wheat is left standing after all the rest has been reaped. This remnant is then cut, amid the rejoicing of the reapers, by a young girl who wears a wreath of wheaten ears on her head and goes by the name of the Wheat-bride. It is supposed that she will be a real bride that same year.[539 - W. Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmütz, 1893), p. 327.] In the upland valley of Alpach, in North Tyrol, the person who brings the last sheaf into the granary is said to have the Wheat-bride or the Rye-bride according to the crop, and is received with great demonstrations of respect and rejoicing. The people of the farm go out to meet him, bells are rung, and refreshments offered to him on a tray.[540 - J. E. Waldfreund, “Volksgebräuche und Aberglaube in Tirol und dem Salzburger Gebirg,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iii. (1855) p. 340.] In Austrian Silesia a girl is chosen to be the Wheat-bride, and much honour is paid to her at the harvest-festival.[541 - Th. Vernaleken, Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), p. 310.] Near Roslin and Stonehaven, in Scotland, the last handful of corn cut “got the name of ‘the bride,’ and she was placed over the bress or chimney-piece; she had a ribbon tied below her numerous ears, and another round her waist.”[542 - Mr. R. Matheson, in The Folk-lore Journal, vii. (1889) pp. 49, 50.]

The corn-spirit as Bride and Bridegroom.

Sometimes the idea implied by the name of Bride is worked out more fully by representing the productive powers of vegetation as bride and bridegroom. Thus in the Vorharz an Oats-man and an Oats-woman, swathed in straw, dance at the harvest feast.[543 - W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen (Berlin, 1868), p. 30.] In South Saxony an Oats-bridegroom and an Oats-bride figure together at the harvest celebration. The Oats-bridegroom is a man completely wrapt in oats-straw; the Oats-bride is a man dressed in woman's clothes, but not wrapt in straw. They are drawn in a waggon to the ale-house, where the dance takes place. At the beginning of the dance the dancers pluck the bunches of oats one by one from the Oats-bridegroom, while he struggles to keep them, till at last he is completely stript of them and stands bare, exposed to the laughter and jests of the company.[544 - E. Sommer, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Sachsen und Thüringen (Halle, 1846), pp. 160 sq.; W. Mannhardt, l. c.] In Austrian Silesia the ceremony of “the Wheat-bride” is celebrated by the young people at the end of the harvest. The woman who bound the last sheaf plays the part of the Wheat-bride, wearing the harvest-crown of wheat ears and flowers on her head. Thus adorned, standing beside her Bridegroom in a waggon and attended by bridesmaids, she is drawn by a pair of oxen, in full imitation of a marriage procession, to the tavern, where the dancing is kept up till morning. Somewhat later in the season the wedding of the Oats-bride is celebrated with the like rustic pomp. About Neisse, in Silesia, an Oats-king and an Oats-queen, dressed up quaintly as a bridal pair, are seated on a harrow and drawn by oxen into the village.[545 - W. Mannhardt, l. c.; E. Peter, Volksthümliches aus Österreichisch-Schlesien (Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. 269.]

The corn-spirit in the double form of the Old Wife and the Maiden simultaneously at harvest in the Highlands of Scotland.

In these last instances the corn-spirit is personified in double form as male and female. But sometimes the spirit appears in a double female form as both old and young, corresponding exactly to the Greek Demeter and Persephone, if my interpretation of these goddesses is right. We have seen that in Scotland, especially among the Gaelic-speaking population, the last corn cut is sometimes called the Old Wife and sometimes the Maiden. Now there are parts of Scotland in which both an Old Wife (Cailleach) and a Maiden are cut at harvest. As the accounts of this custom are not quite clear and consistent, it may be well to give them first in the words of the original authorities. Thus the late Sheriff Alexander Nicolson tells us that there is a Gaelic proverb, “A balk (léum-iochd) in autumn is better than a sheaf the more”; and he explains it by saying that a léum-iochd or balk “is a strip of a corn-field left fallow. The fear of being left with the last sheaf of the harvest, called the cailleach, or gobhar bhacach, always led to an exciting competition among the reapers in the last field. The reaper who came on a léum-iochd would of course be glad to have so much the less to cut.”[546 - Alexander Nicolson, A Collection of Gaelic Proverbs and Familiar Phrases, based on Macintosh's Collection (Edinburgh and London, 1881), p. 248.] In further explanation of the proverb the writer adds:

“The customs as to the Cailleach and Maighdean-bhuana seem to have varied somewhat. Two reapers were usually set to each rig, and according to one account, the man who was first done got the Maighdean-bhuana or ‘Reaping-Maiden,’ while the man who was last got the Cailleach or ‘old woman.’ The latter term is used in Argyleshire; the term Gobhar-bhacach, the lame goat, is used in Skye.

“According to what appears to be the better version, the competition to avoid the Cailleach was not between reapers but between neighbouring crofters, and the man who got his harvest done first sent a handful of corn called the Cailleach to his neighbour, who passed it on, till it landed with him who was latest. That man's penalty was to provide for the dearth of the township, gort a' bhaile, in the ensuing season.

“The Maighdean-bhuana, again, was the last cut handful of oats, on a croft or farm, and was an object of lively competition among the reapers. It was tastefully tied up with ribbons, generally dressed like a doll, and then hung up on a nail till spring. On the first day of ploughing it was solemnly taken down, and given as a Sainnseal (or handsel) to the horses for luck. It was meant as a symbol that the harvest had been secured, and to ward off the fairies, representatives of the ethereal and unsubstantial, till the time came to provide for a new crop.”[547 - A. Nicolson, op. cit. pp. 415 sq.] Again, the Rev. Mr. Campbell of Kilchrenan, on Loch Awe, furnished Dr. R. C. Maclagan with the following account of the Highland customs at harvest. The recollections of Mrs. MacCorquodale, then resident at Kilchrenan, refer to the customs practised about the middle of the nineteenth century in the wild and gloomy valley of Glencoe, infamous in history for the treacherous massacre perpetrated there by the Government troops in 1692. “Mrs. MacCorquodale says that the rivalry was for the Maiden, and for the privilege she gave of sending the Cailleach to the next neighbour. The Maiden was represented by the last stalks reaped; the Cailleach by a handful taken at random from the field, perhaps the last rig of the reaper last to finish. The Cailleach was not dressed but carried after binding to the neighbour's field. The Maiden was cut in the following manner. All the reapers gathered round her and kept a short distance from her. They then threw their hooks [sickles] at her. The person successful in cutting her down in this manner was the man whose possession she became. Mrs. MacCorquodale understood that the man of a township who got the Cailleach finally was supposed to be doomed to poverty for his want of energy. (Gaelic: treubhantas– valour.)

“A sample of the toast to the Cailleach at the harvest entertainment was as follows: ‘The Cailleach is with … and is now with (me) since I was the last. I drink to her health. Since she assisted me in harvest, it is likely that it is with me she will abide during the winter.’ In explaining the above toast Mr. Campbell says that it signifies that the Cailleach is always with agriculturists. ‘She has been with others before and is now with me (the proposer of the toast). Though I did my best to avoid her I welcome her as my assistant, and am prepared to entertain her during the winter.’ Another form of the toast was as follows: ‘To your health, good wife, who for harvest has come to help us, and if I live I'll try to support you when winter comes.’

“John MacCorquodale, Kilchrenan, says that at Crianlarich in Strath Fillan, they make a Cailleach of sticks and a turnip, old clothes and a pipe. In this case the effigy passed in succession to seven farms, which he mentioned, and finally settled with an innkeeper. The list suggested that the upper farms stood a bad chance, and perhaps that a prosperous innkeeper could more easily bear up against the reproach and loss (?) of supporting the Cailleach.

“Duncan MacIntyre, Kilchrenan, says that in one case where the last field to be reaped was the most fertile land on the farm, the corn first cut in it, which was taken near the edge, was reserved to make a Cailleach, should the owner be so happy as to be able to pass her on to his neighbour. The last blades cut were generally in the middle or best part of the field. These in any event became the Maiden.” Lastly, Dr. Maclagan observes that “having directed the attention of Miss Kerr, Port Charlotte, Islay, to the practice of having two different bunches on the mainland of Argyle, she informs me that in Islay and Kintyre the last handful is the Cailleach, and they have no Maiden. The same is the custom in Bernara and other parts of the Western Isles, while in Mull the last handful is the Maiden, and they have no Cailleach. In North Uist the habit still prevails of putting the Cailleach over-night among the standing corn of lazy crofters.”[548 - R. C. Maclagan, “Corn-maiden in Argyleshire,” Folk-lore, vii. (1896) pp. 78 sq.]

In these customs the Old Wife represents the old corn of last year, and the Maiden the new corn of this year.

The general rule to which these various accounts point seems to be that, where both a Maiden and an Old Wife (Cailleach) are fashioned out of the reaped corn at harvest, the Maiden is always made out of the last stalks left standing, and is kept by the farmer on whose land it was cut; while the Old Wife is made out of other stalks, sometimes out of the first stalks cut, and is regularly passed on to a laggard farmer who happens to be still reaping after his brisker neighbour has cut all his corn. Thus while each farmer keeps his own Maiden, as the embodiment of the young and fruitful spirit of the corn, he passes on the Old Wife as soon as he can to a neighbour, and so the old lady may make the round of all the farms in the district before she finds a place in which to lay her venerable head. The farmer with whom she finally takes up her abode is of course the one who has been the last of all the countryside to finish reaping his crops, and thus the distinction of entertaining her is rather an invidious one. Similarly we saw that in Pembrokeshire, where the last corn cut is called, not the Maiden, but the Hag, she is passed on hastily to a neighbour who is still at work in his fields and who receives his aged visitor with anything but a transport of joy. If the Old Wife represents the corn-spirit of the past year, as she probably does wherever she is contrasted with and opposed to a Maiden, it is natural enough that her faded charms should have less attractions for the husbandman than the buxom form of her daughter, who may be expected to become in her turn the mother of the golden grain when the revolving year has brought round another autumn. The same desire to get rid of the effete Mother of the Corn by palming her off on other people comes out clearly in some of the customs observed at the close of threshing, particularly in the practice of passing on a hideous straw puppet to a neighbour farmer who is still threshing his corn.[549 - See above, p. 149 (#x_15_i16), where, however, the corn-spirit is conceived as an Old Man.]

Analogy of the harvest customs to the spring customs of Europe.

The harvest customs just described are strikingly analogous to the spring customs which we reviewed in the first part of this work. (1) As in the spring customs the tree-spirit is represented both by a tree and by a person,[550 - See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 73 sqq.] so in the harvest customs the corn-spirit is represented both by the last sheaf and by the person who cuts or binds or threshes it. The equivalence of the person to the sheaf is shewn by giving him or her the same name as the sheaf; by wrapping him or her in it; and by the rule observed in some places, that when the sheaf is called the Mother, it must be made up into human shape by the oldest married woman, but that when it is called the Maiden, it must be cut by the youngest girl.[551 - Above, pp. 134 (#x_14_i8), 137 (#x_14_i14), 138 (#x_14_i16)sq., 142 (#x_14_i24), 145 (#x_15_i1), 147 (#x_15_i5), 148 (#x_15_i12), 149 (#x_15_i16).] Here the age of the personal representative of the corn-spirit corresponds with that of the supposed age of the corn-spirit, just as the human victims offered by the Mexicans to promote the growth of the maize varied with the age of the maize.[552 - See below, pp. 237 (#x_22_i3)sq.] For in the Mexican, as in the European, custom the human beings were probably representatives of the corn-spirit rather than victims offered to it. (2) Again, the same fertilising influence which the tree-spirit is supposed to exert over vegetation, cattle, and even women[553 - The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 47 sqq.] is ascribed to the corn-spirit. Thus, its supposed influence on vegetation is shewn by the practice of taking some of the grain of the last sheaf (in which the corn-spirit is regularly supposed to be present), and scattering it among the young corn in spring or mixing it with the seed-corn.[554 - Above, pp. 134 (#x_14_i8), 135 (#x_14_i8).] Its influence on animals is shewn by giving the last sheaf to a mare in foal, to a cow in calf, and to horses at the first ploughing.[555 - Above, pp. 141 (#x_14_i24), 155 (#x_15_i24), 156 (#x_15_i26), 158 (#x_15_i32), 160 (#x_16_i6)sq., 162 (#x_16_i15), 165 (#x_16_i24).] Lastly, its influence on women is indicated by the custom of delivering the Mother-sheaf, made into the likeness of a pregnant woman, to the farmer's wife;[556 - See above, p. 135 (#x_14_i8).] by the belief that the woman who binds the last sheaf will have a child next year;[557 - Above, p. 145 (#x_15_i1). Compare A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. p. 185, § 516.] perhaps, too, by the idea that the person who gets it will soon be married.[558 - Above, pp. 136 (#x_14_i10), 139 (#x_14_i18), 155 (#x_15_i24), 157 (#x_15_i30)sq., 162 (#x_16_i15); compare p. 160 (#x_16_i6).]

The spring and harvest customs of Europe are parts of a primitive heathen ritual.

Plainly, therefore, these spring and harvest customs are based on the same ancient modes of thought, and form parts of the same primitive heathendom, which was doubtless practised by our forefathers long before the dawn of history. Amongst the marks of a primitive ritual we may note the following: —

Marks of a primitive ritual.

1. No special class of persons is set apart for the performance of the rites; in other words, there are no priests. The rites may be performed by any one, as occasion demands.

2. No special places are set apart for the performance of the rites; in other words, there are no temples. The rites may be performed anywhere, as occasion demands.

3. Spirits, not gods, are recognised. (a) As distinguished from gods, spirits are restricted in their operations to definite departments of nature. Their names are general, not proper. Their attributes are generic, rather than individual; in other words, there is an indefinite number of spirits of each class, and the individuals of a class are all much alike; they have no definitely marked individuality; no accepted traditions are current as to their origin, life, adventures, and character. (b) On the other hand gods, as distinguished from spirits, are not restricted to definite departments of nature. It is true that there is generally some one department over which they preside as their special province; but they are not rigorously confined to it; they can exert their power for good or evil in many other spheres of nature and life. Again, they bear individual or proper names, such as Demeter, Persephone, Dionysus; and their individual characters and histories are fixed by current myths and the representations of art.

4. The rites are magical rather than propitiatory. In other words, the desired objects are attained, not by propitiating the favour of divine beings through sacrifice, prayer, and praise, but by ceremonies which, as I have already explained,[559 - The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 220 sqq.] are believed to influence the course of nature directly through a physical sympathy or resemblance between the rite and the effect which it is the intention of the rite to produce.

Reasons for regarding the spring and harvest customs of modern Europe as a primitive ritual.

Judged by these tests, the spring and harvest customs of our European peasantry deserve to rank as primitive. For no special class of persons and no special places are set exclusively apart for their performance; they may be performed by any one, master or man, mistress or maid, boy or girl; they are practised, not in temples or churches, but in the woods and meadows, beside brooks, in barns, on harvest fields and cottage floors. The supernatural beings whose existence is taken for granted in them are spirits rather than deities: their functions are limited to certain well-defined departments of nature: their names are general, like the Barley-mother, the Old Woman, the Maiden, not proper names like Demeter, Persephone, Dionysus. Their generic attributes are known, but their individual histories and characters are not the subject of myths. For they exist in classes rather than as individuals, and the members of each class are indistinguishable. For example, every farm has its Corn-mother, or its Old Woman, or its Maiden; but every Corn-mother is much like every other Corn-mother, and so with the Old Women and Maidens. Lastly, in these harvest, as in the spring customs, the ritual is magical rather than propitiatory. This is shewn by throwing the Corn-mother into the river in order to secure rain and dew for the crops;[560 - Above, p. 146 (#x_15_i3). The common custom of wetting the last sheaf and its bearer is no doubt also a rain-charm; indeed the intention to procure rain or make the corn grow is sometimes avowed. See above, pp. 134 (#x_14_i8), 137 (#x_14_i14), 143 (#x_14_i26), 144 (#x_14_i32), 145 (#x_15_i1); Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 195-197.] by making the Old Woman heavy in order to get a heavy crop next year;[561 - Above, pp. 135 (#x_14_i8)sq., 138 (#x_14_i16), 139 (#x_14_i18), 152 (#x_15_i20).] by strewing grain from the last sheaf amongst the young crops in spring;[562 - Above, p. 134 (#x_14_i8).] and by giving the last sheaf to the cattle to make them thrive.[563 - Above, pp. 134 (#x_14_i8), 155 (#x_15_i24), 158 (#x_15_i32), 161 (#x_16_i13).]

Chapter VI. The Corn-Mother in Many Lands

§ 1. The Corn-mother in America

The Corn-mother in many lands.

European peoples, ancient and modern, have not been singular in personifying the corn as a mother goddess. The same simple idea has suggested itself to other agricultural races in distant parts of the world, and has been applied by them to other indigenous cereals than barley and wheat. If Europe has its Wheat-mother and its Barley-mother, America has its Maize-mother and the East Indies their Rice-mother. These personifications I will now illustrate, beginning with the American personification of the maize.

The Maize-mother among the Peruvian Indians.

We have seen that among European peoples it is a common custom to keep the plaited corn-stalks of the last sheaf, or the puppet which is formed out of them, in the farm-house from harvest to harvest.[564 - Above, pp. 136 (#x_14_i10), 138 (#x_14_i16), 140 (#x_14_i20), 143 (#x_14_i26), 152 (#x_15_i20), 153 (#x_15_i20), 154 (#x_15_i22), 155 (#x_15_i24), 156 (#x_15_i26), 157 (#x_15_i30), 158 (#x_15_i32): W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen, pp. 7, 26.] The intention no doubt is, or rather originally was, by preserving the representative of the corn-spirit to maintain the spirit itself in life and activity throughout the year, in order that the corn may grow and the crops be good. This interpretation of the custom is at all events rendered highly probable by a similar custom observed by the ancient Peruvians, and thus described by the old Spanish historian Acosta: – “They take a certain portion of the most fruitful of the maize that grows in their farms, the which they put in a certain granary which they do call Pirua, with certain ceremonies, watching three nights; they put this maize in the richest garments they have, and being thus wrapped and dressed, they worship this Pirua, and hold it in great veneration, saying it is the mother of the maize of their inheritances, and that by this means the maize augments and is preserved. In this month [the sixth month, answering to May] they make a particular sacrifice, and the witches demand of this Pirua if it hath strength sufficient to continue until the next year; and if it answers no, then they carry this maize to the farm to burn, whence they brought it, according to every man's power; then they make another Pirua, with the same ceremonies, saying that they renew it, to the end the seed of maize may not perish, and if it answers that it hath force sufficient to last longer, they leave it until the next year. This foolish vanity continueth to this day, and it is very common amongst the Indians to have these Piruas.”[565 - J. de Acosta, Natural and Moral History of the Indies, bk. v. ch. 28, vol. ii. p. 374 (Hakluyt Society, London, 1880). In quoting the passage I have modernised the spelling. The original Spanish text of Acosta's work was reprinted in a convenient form at Madrid in 1894. See vol. ii. p. 117 of that edition.]

The Maize-mother, the Quinoa-mother, the Coca-mother, and the Potato-mother among the Peruvian Indians.

In this description of the custom there seems to be some error. Probably it was the dressed-up bunch of maize, not the granary (Pirua), which was worshipped by the Peruvians and regarded as the Mother of the Maize. This is confirmed by what we know of the Peruvian custom from another source. The Peruvians, we are told, believed all useful plants to be animated by a divine being who causes their growth. According to the particular plant, these divine beings were called the Maize-mother (Zara-mama), the Quinoa-mother (Quinoa-mama), the Coca-mother (Coca-mama), and the Potato-mother (Axo-mama). Figures of these divine mothers were made respectively of ears of maize and leaves of the quinoa and coca plants; they were dressed in women's clothes and worshipped. Thus the Maize-mother was represented by a puppet made of stalks of maize dressed in full female attire; and the Indians believed that “as mother, it had the power of producing and giving birth to much maize.”[566 - W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, pp. 342 sq. Mannhardt's authority is a Spanish tract (Carta pastorale de exortacion e instruccion contra las idolatrias de los Indios del arçobispado de Lima) by Pedro de Villagomez, Archbishop of Lima, published at Lima in 1649, and communicated to Mannhardt by J. J. v. Tschudi. The Carta Pastorale itself seems to be partly based on an earlier work, the Extirpacion de la Idolatria del Piru. Dirigido al Rey N.S. en Su real conseio de Indias, por el Padre Pablo Joseph de Arriaga de la Compañia de Jesus (Lima, 1621). A copy of this work is possessed by the British Museum, where I consulted it. The writer explains (p. 16) that the Maize-mothers (Zaramamas) are of three sorts, namely (1) those which are made of maize stalks, dressed up like women, (2) those which are carved of stone in the likeness of cobs of maize, and (3) those which consist simply of fruitful stalks of maize or of two maize-cobs naturally joined together. These last, the writer tells us, were the principal Zaramamas, and were revered by the natives as Mothers of the Maize. Similarly, when two potatoes were found growing together the Indians called them Potato-mothers (Axomamas) and kept them in order to get a good crop of potatoes. As Arriaga's work is rare, it may be well to give his account of the Maize-mothers, Coca-mothers, and Potato-mothers in his own words. He says (p. 16): “Zaramamas, son de tres maneras, y son las que se quentan entre las cosas halladas en los pueblos. La primera es una como muñeca hecha de cañas de maiz, vestida como muger con su anaco, y llicilla, y sus topos de plata, y entienden, que como madre tiene virtud de engendrar, y parir mucho maiz. A este modo tienen tambien Cocamamas para augmento de la coca. Otras son de piedra labradas como choclos, o mazorcas de maiz, con sus granos relevados, y de estas suelen tener muchas en lugar de Conopas [household gods]. Otras son algunas cañas fertiles de maiz, que con la fertilidad de la tierra dieron muchas maçorcas, y grandes, o quando salen dos maçorcas juntas, y estas son las principales, Zaramamas, y assi las reverencian como a madres del maiz, a estas llaman tambien Huantayzara, o Ayrihuayzara. A este tercer genero no le dan la adoracion que a Huaca, ni Conopa, sino que le tienen supersticiosamente como una cosa sagrada, y colgando estas cañas con muchos choclos de unos ramos de sauce bailen con ellas el bayle, que llaman Ayrihua, y acabado el bayle, las queman, y sacrifican a Libiac para que les de buena cosecha. Con la misma supersticion guardan las mazorcas del maiz, que salen muy pintadas, que llaman Micsazara, o Mantayzara, o Caullazara, y otros que llaman Piruazara, que son otras maçorcas en que van subiendo los granos no derechos sino haziendo caracol. Estas Micsazara, o Piruazara, ponen supersticiosamente en los montones de maiz, y en las Piruas (que son donde guardan el maiz) paraque se las guarde, y el dia de las exhibiciones se junta tanto de estas maçorcas, que tienen bien que comer las mulas. La misma supersticion tienen con las que llaman Axomamas, que son quando salen algunas papas juntas, y las guardan para tener buena cosecha de papas.” The exhibiciones here referred to are the occasions when the Indians brought forth their idols and other relics of superstition and delivered them to the ecclesiastical visitors. At Tarija in Bolivia, down to the present time, a cross is set up at harvest in the maize-fields, and on it all maize-spadices growing as twins are hung. They are called Pachamamas (Earth-mothers) and are thought to bring good harvests. See Baron E. Nordenskiöld, “Travels on the Boundaries of Bolivia and Argentina,” The Geographical Journal, xxi. (1903) pp. 517, 518. Compare E. J. Payne, History of the New World called America (Oxford, 1892), i. 414 sq.] Probably, therefore, Acosta misunderstood his informant, and the Mother of the Maize which he describes was not the granary (Pirua), but the bunch of maize dressed in rich vestments. The Peruvian Mother of the Maize, like the harvest-Maiden at Balquhidder, was kept for a year in order that by her means the corn might grow and multiply. But lest her strength might not suffice to last till the next harvest, she was asked in the course of the year how she felt, and if she answered that she felt weak, she was burned and a fresh Mother of the Maize made, “to the end the seed of maize may not perish.” Here, it may be observed, we have a strong confirmation of the explanation already given of the custom of killing the god, both periodically and occasionally. The Mother of the Maize was allowed, as a rule, to live through a year, that being the period during which her strength might reasonably be supposed to last unimpaired; but on any symptom of her strength failing she was put to death, and a fresh and vigorous Mother of the Maize took her place, lest the maize which depended on her for its existence should languish and decay.

Customs of the ancient Mexicans at the maize-harvest.

Hardly less clearly does the same train of thought come out in the harvest customs formerly observed by the Zapotecs of Mexico. At harvest the priests, attended by the nobles and people, went in procession to the maize fields, where they picked out the largest and finest sheaf. This they took with great ceremony to the town or village, and placed it in the temple upon an altar adorned with wild flowers. After sacrificing to the harvest god, the priests carefully wrapped up the sheaf in fine linen and kept it till seed-time. Then the priests and nobles met again at the temple, one of them bringing the skin of a wild beast, elaborately ornamented, in which the linen cloth containing the sheaf was enveloped. The sheaf was then carried once more in procession to the field from which it had been taken. Here a small cavity or subterranean chamber had been prepared, in which the precious sheaf was deposited, wrapt in its various envelopes. After sacrifice had been offered to the gods of the fields for an abundant crop the chamber was closed and covered over with earth. Immediately thereafter the sowing began. Finally, when the time of harvest drew near, the buried sheaf was solemnly disinterred by the priests, who distributed the grain to all who asked for it. The packets of grain so distributed were carefully preserved as talismans till the harvest.[567 - Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique et de l'Amérique Centrale (Paris 1857-1859), iii. 40 sqq. Compare id., iii. 505 sq.; E. J. Payne, History of the New World called America, i. 419 sq.] In these ceremonies, which continued to be annually celebrated long after the Spanish conquest, the intention of keeping the finest sheaf buried in the maize field from seed-time to harvest was undoubtedly to quicken the growth of the maize.

Sahagun's account of the ancient Mexican religion.

A fuller and to some extent different account of the ancient Mexican worship of the maize has been given us by the Franciscan monk Bernardino de Sahagun, who arrived in Mexico in 1529, only eight years after its conquest by the Spaniards, and devoted the remaining sixty-one years of his long life to labouring among the Indians for their moral and spiritual good. Uniting the curiosity of a scientific enquirer to the zeal of a missionary, and adorning both qualities with the humanity and benevolence of a good man, he obtained from the oldest and most learned of the Indians accounts of their ancient customs and beliefs, and embodied them in a work which, for combined interest of matter and fulness of detail, has perhaps never been equalled in the records of aboriginal peoples brought into contact with European civilisation. This great document, after lying neglected in the dust of Spanish archives for centuries, was discovered and published almost simultaneously in Mexico and England in the first half of the nineteenth century. It exists in the double form of an Aztec text and a Spanish translation, both due to Sahagun himself. Only the Spanish version has hitherto been published in full, but the original Aztec text, to judge by the few extracts of it which have been edited and translated, appears to furnish much more ample details on many points, and in the interest of learning it is greatly to be desired that a complete edition and translation of it should be given to the world.

Sahagun's description of the Mexican Maize-goddess and her festival.

Fortunately, among the sections of this great work which have been edited and translated from the Aztec original into German by Professor Eduard Seler of Berlin is a long one describing the religious festivals of the ancient Mexican calendar.[568 - E. Seler, “Altmexikanische Studien, ii.,” Veröffentlichungen aus dem königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde, vi. (Berlin, 1899) 2/4 Heft, pp. 67 sqq. Another chapter of Sahagun's work, describing the costumes of the Mexican gods, has been edited and translated into German by Professor E. Seler in the same series of publications (“Altmexikanische Studien,” Veröffentlichungen aus dem königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde, i. 4 (Berlin, 1890) pp. 117 sqq.). Sahagun's work as a whole is known to me only in the excellent French translation of Messrs. D. Jourdanet and R. Simeon (Histoire Générale des choses de la Nouvelle-Espagne par le R. P. Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, Paris, 1880). As to the life and character of Sahagun see M. R. Simeon's introduction to the translation, pp. vii. sqq.] From it we learn some valuable particulars as to the worship of the Maize-goddess and the ceremonies observed by the Mexicans for the purpose of ensuring a good crop of maize. The festival was the fourth of the Aztec year, and went by the name of the Great Vigil. It fell on a date which corresponds to the seventh of April. The name of the Maize-goddess was Chicome couatl, and the Mexicans conceived and represented her in the form of a woman, red in face and arms and legs, wearing a paper crown dyed vermilion, and clad in garments of the hue of ripe cherries. No doubt the red colour of the goddess and her garments referred to the deep orange hue of the ripe maize; it was like the yellow hair of the Greek corn-goddess Demeter. She was supposed to make all kinds of maize, beans, and vegetables to grow. On the day of the festival the Mexicans sent out to the maize-fields and fetched from every field a plant of maize, which they brought to their houses and greeted as their maize-gods, setting them up in their dwellings, clothing them in garments, and placing food before them. And after sunset they carried the maize-plants to the temple of the Maize-goddess, where they snatched them from one another and fought and struck each other with them. Further, at this festival they brought to the temple of the Maize-goddess the maize-cobs which were to be used in the sowing. The cobs were carried by three maidens in bundles of seven wrapt in red paper. One of the girls was small with short hair, another was older with long hair hanging down, and the third was full-grown with her hair wound round her head. Red feathers were gummed to the arms and legs of the three maidens and their faces were painted, probably to resemble the red Maize-goddess, whom they may be supposed to have personated at various stages of the growth of the corn. The maize-cobs which they brought to the temple of the Maize-goddess were called by the name of the Maize-god Cinteotl, and they were afterwards deposited in the granary and kept there as “the heart of the granary” till the sowing time came round, when they were used as seed.[569 - B. de Sahagun, Aztec text of book ii., translated by Professor E. Seler, “Altmexikanische Studien, ii.,” Veröffentlichungen aus dem königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde, vi. 2/4 Heft (Berlin, 1899), pp. 188-194. The account of the ceremonies given in the Spanish version of Sahagun's work is a good deal more summary. See B. de Sahagun, Histoire Générale des choses de la Nouvelle Espagne (Paris, 1880), pp. 94-96.]

The Corn-mother among the North American Indians.

The eastern Indians of North America, who subsisted to a large extent by the cultivation of maize, generally conceived the spirit of the maize as a woman, and supposed that the plant itself had sprung originally from the blood drops or the dead body of the Corn Woman. In the sacred formulas of the Cherokee the corn is sometimes invoked as “the Old Woman,” and one of their myths relates how a hunter saw a fair woman issue from a single green stalk of corn.[570 - J. Mooney, “Myths of the Cherokee,” Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part I. (Washington, 1900) pp. 423, 432. See further Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 296 sq.] The Iroquois believe the Spirit of the Corn, the Spirit of Beans, and the Spirit of Squashes to be three sisters clad in the leaves of their respective plants, very fond of each other, and delighting to dwell together. This divine trinity is known by the name of De-o-ha'-ko, which means “Our Life” or “Our Supporters.” The three persons of the trinity have no individual names, and are never mentioned separately except by means of description. The Indians have a legend that of old the corn was easily cultivated, yielded abundantly, and had a grain exceedingly rich in oil, till the Evil One, envious of this good gift of the Great Spirit to man, went forth into the fields and blighted them. And still, when the wind rustles in the corn, the pious Indian fancies he hears the Spirit of the Corn bemoaning her blighted fruitfulness.[571 - L. H. Morgan, League of the Iroquois (Rochester, 1851), pp. 161 sq., 199. According to the Iroquois the corn plant sprang from the bosom of the mother of the Great Spirit after her burial (L. H. Morgan, op. cit. p. 199 note 1).] The Huichol Indians of Mexico imagine maize to be a little girl, who may sometimes be heard weeping in the fields; so afraid is she of the wild beasts that eat the corn.[572 - C. Lumholtz, Unknown Mexico (London, 1903), ii. 280.]

§ 2. The Mother-cotton in the Punjaub

The Mother-cotton in the Punjaub.