Volume 1

Spirits of the corn and of the wild / by J.G. Frazer.

  • James George Frazer
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Spirits of the corn and of the wild / by J.G. Frazer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    The reapers stand at a distance and throw their sickles at it; he who cuts it through has the prize, with acclamations and good cheer. After it is cut the reapers cry thrice with a loud voice, *' I have her ! Others answer thrice, What have you ? — A Mare ! a Mare ! a Mare ! — Whose is she ? is next asked thrice. A. B.'s, naming the owner thrice. Whither will you send her ? — To C. D., naming some neighbour who has not reaped all his corn.1 In this custom the corn-spirit in the form of a mare is passed on from a farm where the corn is all cut to another farm where it is still standing, and where therefore the corn-spirit may be supposed naturally to take refuge. In Shropshire the custom is similar. Crying, calling, or shouting the mare is a ceremony performed by the men of that farm which is the first in any parish or district to finish the harvest. The object of it is to make known their own prowess, and to taunt the laggards by a pretended offer of the ' owd mar'' [old mare] to help out their ' chem ' [team]. All the men assemble (the wooden harvest-bottle being of course one of the company) in the stackyard, or, better, on the highest ground on the farm, and there shout the following dialogue, preceding it by a grand ' Hip, hip, hip, hurrah !' ' I 'ave 'er, I 'ave 'er, I 'ave 'er !' ' Whad 'ast thee, whad 'ast thee, whad 'ast thee ?' ' A mar'! a mar'! a mar'!' ' Whose is 'er, whose is 'er, whose is 'er ?' ' Maister A.'s, Maister A.'s, Maister A.'s !' (naming the farmer whose harvest is finished). 'W'eer sha't the' send 'er? w'eer sha't the' send 'er? w'eer sha't the' send 'er ? ' 'To Maister B.'s, to Maister B.'s, to Maister B.'s' (naming one whose harvest is not finished). 1 'Uth a hip, hip, hip, hurrah !' (in chorus). The farmer who finishes his harvest last, and who therefore cannot send the Mare to any one else, is said to keep her all winter. The mocking offer of the Mare was sometimes responded to by a mocking acceptance of her help. Thus an old man told an enquirer, While we wun at supper, a mon cumm'd wi' a autar [halter] to fatch 1 J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, ii. 24, Bohn's edition.
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