Section 1. The Whitsuntide Mummers.
IT remains to ask what light the custom of killing the divine king or
priest sheds upon the special subject to our enquiry. In an earlier
part of this work we saw reason to suppose that the King of the
Wood at Nemi was regarded as an incarnation of a tree-spirit or of
the spirit of vegetation, and that as such he would be endowed, in
the belief of his worshippers, with a magical power of making the
trees to bear fruit, the crops to grow, and so on. His life must
therefore have been held very precious by his worshippers, and
was probably hedged in by a system of elaborate precautions or
taboos like those by which, in so many places, the life of the
man-god has been guarded against the malignant influence of
demons and sorcerers. But we have seen that the very value
attached to the life of the man-god necessitates his violent death
as the only means of preserving it from the inevitable decay of age.
The same reasoning would apply to the King of the Wood; he, too,
had to be killed in order that the divine spirit, incarnate in him,
might be transferred in its integrity to his successor. The rule that he
held office till a stronger should slay him might be supposed to
secure both the preservation of his divine life in full vigour and its
transference to a suitable successor as soon as that vigour began
to be impaired. For so long as he could maintain his position by the
strong hand, it might be inferred that his natural force was not
abated; whereas his defeat and death at the hands of another
proved that his strength was beginning to fail and that it was time
his divine life should be lodged in a less dilapidated tabernacle.
This explanation of the rule that the King of the Wood had to be
slain by his successor at least renders that rule perfectly
intelligible. It is strongly supported by the theory and practice of the
Shilluk, who put their divine king to death at the first signs of failing
health, lest his decrepitude should entail a corresponding failure of
vital energy on the corn, the cattle, and men. Moreover, it is
countenanced by the analogy of the Chitomé, upon whose life the
existence of the world was supposed to hang, and who was
therefore slain by his successor as soon as he showed signs of
breaking up. Again, the terms on which in later times the King of
Calicut held office are identical with those attached to the office of
King of the Wood, except that whereas the former might be assailed
by a candidate at any time, the King of Calicut might only be
attacked once every twelve years. But as the leave granted to the
King of Calicut to reign so long as he could defend himself against
all comers was a mitigation of the old rule which set a fixed term to
his life, so we may conjecture that the similar permission granted to
the King of the Wood was a mitigation of an older custom of putting
him to death at the end of a definite period. In both cases the new
rule gave to the god-man at least a chance for his life, which
under the old rule was denied him; and people probably reconciled
themselves to the change by reflecting that so long as the
god-man could maintain himself by the sword against all assaults,
there was no reason to apprehend that the fatal decay had set
in. 1
The conjecture that the King of the Wood was formerly put to
death at the expiry of a fixed term, without being allowed a chance
for his life, will be confirmed if evidence can be adduced of a
custom of periodically killing his counterparts, the human
representatives of the tree-spirit, in Northern Europe. Now in point
of fact such a custom has left unmistakable traces of itself in the
rural festivals of the peasantry. To take examples. 2
At Niederpöring, in Lower Bavaria, the Whitsuntide representative
of the tree-spirit-the Pfingstl as he was called-was clad from top to
toe in leaves and flowers. On his head he wore a high pointed cap,
the ends of which rested on his shoulders, only two holes being left
in it for his eyes. The cap was covered with water-flowers and
surmounted with a nosegay of peonies. The sleeves of his coat
were also made of water-plants, and the rest of his body was
enveloped in alder and hazel leaves. On each side of him marched
a boy holding up one of the Pfingstl's arms. These two boys carried
drawn swords, and so did most of the others who formed the
procession. They stopped at every house where they hoped to
receive a present; and the people, in hiding, soused the leaf-clad
boy with water. All rejoiced when he was well drenched. Finally he
waded into the brook up to his middle; whereupon one of the boys,
standing on the bridge, pretended to cut off his head. At
Wurmlingen, in Swabia, a score of young fellows dress themselves
on Whit-Monday in white shirts and white trousers, with red
scarves round their waists and swords hanging from the scarves.
They ride on horseback into the wood, led by two trumpeters
blowing their trumpets. In the wood they cut down leafy oak
branches, in which they envelop from head to foot him who was the
last of their number to ride out of the village. His legs, however, are
encased separately, so that he may be able to mount his horse
again. Further, they give him a long artificial neck, with an artificial
head and a false face on the top of it. Then a May-tree is cut,
generally an aspen or beech about ten feet high; and being decked
with coloured handkerchiefs and ribbons it is entrusted to a special
"May-bearer." The cavalcade then returns with music and song to
the village. Amongst the personages who figure in the procession
are a Moorish king with a sooty face and a crown on his head, a
Dr. Iron-Beard, a corporal, and an executioner. They halt on the
village green, and each of the characters makes a speech in
rhyme. The executioner announces that the leaf-clad man has
been condemned to death, and cuts off his false head. Then the
riders race to the May-tree, which has been set up a little way off.
The first man who succeeds in wrenching it from the ground as he
gallops past keeps it with all its decorations. The ceremony is
observed every second or third year. 3
In Saxony and Thüringen there is a Whitsuntide ceremony called
"chasing the Wild Man out of the bush," or "fetching the Wild Man
out of the wood." A young fellow is enveloped in leaves or moss
and called the Wild Man. He hides in the wood and the other lads
of the village go out to seek him. They find him, lead him captive
out of the wood, and fire at him with blank muskets. He falls like
dead to the ground, but a lad dressed as a doctor bleeds him, and
he comes to life again. At this they rejoice, and, binding him fast on
a waggon, take him to the village, where they tell all the people
how they have caught the Wild Man. At every house they receive
a gift. In the Erzgebirge the following custom was annually
observed at Shrovetide about the beginning of the seventeenth
century. Two men disguised as Wild Men, the one in brushwood
and moss, the other in straw, were led about the streets, and at last
taken to the market-place, where they were chased up and down,
shot and stabbed. Before falling they reeled about with strange
gestures and spirted blood on the people from bladders which they
carried. When they were down, the huntsmen placed them on
boards and carried them to the ale-house, the miners marching
beside them and winding blasts on their mining tools as if they had
taken a noble head of game. A very similar Shrovetide custom is
still observed near Schluckenau in Bohemia. A man dressed up as
a Wild Man is chased through several streets till he comes to a
narrow lane across which a cord is stretched. He stumbles over the
cord and, falling to the ground, is overtaken and caught by his
pursuers. The executioner runs up and stabs with his sword a
bladder filled with blood which the Wild Man wears round his body;
so the Wild Man dies, while a stream of blood reddens the ground.
Next day a straw-man, made up to look like the Wild Man, is
placed on a litter, and, accompanied by a great crowd, is taken to
a pool into which it is thrown by the executioner. The ceremony is
called "burying the Carnival." 4
In Semic (Bohemia) the custom of beheading the King is observed
on Whit-Monday. A troop of young people disguise themselves;
each is girt with a girdle of bark and carries a wooden sword and a
trumpet of willow-bark. The King wears a robe of tree-bark
adorned with flowers, on his head is a crown of bark decked with
flowers and branches, his feet are wound about with ferns, a mask
hides his face, and for a sceptre he has a hawthorn switch in his
hand. A lad leads him through the village by a rope fastened to his
foot, while the rest dance about, blow their trumpets, and whistle. In
every farmhouse the King is chased round the room, and one of the
troop, amid much noise and outcry, strikes with his sword a blow
on the King's robe of bark till it rings again. Then a gratuity is
demanded. The ceremony of decapitation, which is here somewhat
slurred over, is carried out with a greater semblance of reality in
other parts of Bohemia. Thus in some villages of the Königgrätz
district on Whit-Monday the girls assemble under one lime-tree
and the young men under another, all dressed in their best and
tricked out with ribbons. The young men twine a garland for the
Queen, and the girls another for the King. When they have chosen
the King and Queen they all go in procession two and two, to the
ale-house, from the balcony of which the crier proclaims the
names of the King and Queen. Both are then invested with the
insignia of their office and are crowned with the garlands, while the
music plays up. Then some one gets on a bench and accuses the
King of various offences, such as ill-treating the cattle. The King
appeals to witnesses and a trial ensues, at the close of which the
judge, who carries a white wand as his badge of office,
pronounces a verdict of "Guilty," or "Not guilty." If the verdict is
"Guilty," the judge breaks his wand, the King kneels on a white
cloth, all heads are bared, and a soldier sets three or four hats,
one above the other, on his Majesty's head. The judge then
pronounces the word "Guilty" thrice in a loud voice, and orders the
crier to behead the King. The crier obeys by striking off the King's
hats with the wooden sword. 5
But perhaps, for our purpose, the most instructive of these mimic
executions is the following Bohemian one. In some places of the
Pilsen district (Bohemia) on Whit-Monday the King is dressed in
bark, ornamented with flowers and ribbons; he wears a crown of gilt
paper and rides a horse, which is also decked with flowers.
Attended by a judge, an executioner, and other characters, and
followed by a train of soldiers, all mounted, he rides to the village
square, where a hut or arbour of green boughs has been erected
under the May-trees, which are firs, freshly cut, peeled to the top,
and dressed with flowers and ribbons. After the dames and maidens
of the village have been criticised and a frog beheaded, the
cavalcade rides to a place previously determined upon, in a
straight, broad street. Here they draw up in two lines and the King
takes to flight. He is given a short start and rides off at full speed,
pursued by the whole troop. If they fail to catch him he remains
King for another year, and his companions must pay his score at
the ale-house in the evening. But if they overtake and catch him
he is scourged with hazel rods or beaten with the wooden swords
and compelled to dismount. Then the executioner asks, "Shall I
behead this King?" The answer is given, "Behead him"; the
executioner brandishes his axe, and with the words, "One, two,
three, let the King headless be!" he strikes off the King's crown.
Amid the loud cries of the bystanders the King sinks to the ground;
then he is laid on a bier and carried to the nearest farmhouse. 6
In most of the personages who are thus slain in mimicry it is
impossible not to recognise representatives of the tree-spirit or
spirit of vegetation, as he is supposed to manifest himself in spring.
The bark, leaves, and flowers in which the actors are dressed, and
the season of the year at which they appear, show that they belong
to the same class as the Grass King, King of the May,
Jack-in-the-Green, and other representatives of the vernal spirit
of vegetation which we examined in an earlier part of this work. As
if to remove any possible doubt on this head, we find that in two
cases these slain men are brought into direct connexion with
May-trees, which are the impersonal, as the May King, Grass
King, and so forth, are the personal representatives of the
tree-spirit. The drenching of the Pfingstl with water and his wading
up to the middle into the brook are, therefore, no doubt rain-charms
like those which have been already described. 7
But if these personages represent, as they certainly do, the spirit
of vegetation in spring, the question arises, Why kill them? What is
the object of slaying the spirit of vegetation at any time and above
all in spring, when his services are most wanted? The only
probable answer to this question seems to be given in the
explanation already proposed of the custom of killing the divine
king or priest. The divine life, incarnate in a material and mortal
body, is liable to be tainted and corrupted by the weakness of the
frail medium in which it is for a time enshrined; and if it is to be
saved from the increasing enfeeblement which it must necessarily
share with its human incarnation as he advances in years, it must
be detached from him before, or at least as soon as, he exhibits
signs of decay, in order to be transferred to a vigorous successor.
This is done by killing the old representative of the god and
conveying the divine spirit from him to a new incarnation. The
killing of the god, that is, of his human incarnation, is therefore
merely a necessary step to his revival or resurrection in a better
form. Far from being an extinction of the divine spirit, it is only the
beginning of a purer and stronger manifestation of it. If this
explanation holds good of the custom of killing divine kings and
priests in general, it is still more obviously applicable to the custom
of annually killing the representative of the tree-spirit or spirit of
vegetation in spring. For the decay of plant life in winter is readily
interpreted by primitive man as an enfeeblement of the spirit of
vegetation; the spirit has, he thinks, grown old and weak and must
therefore be renovated by being slain and brought to life in a
younger and fresher form. Thus the killing of the representative of
the tree-spirit in spring is regarded as a means to promote and
quicken the growth of vegetation. For the killing of the tree-spirit is
associated always (we must suppose) implicitly, and sometimes
explicitly also, with a revival or resurrection of him in a more
youthful and vigorous form. So in the Saxon and Thüringen custom,
after the Wild Man has been shot he is brought to life again by a
doctor; and in the Wurmlingen ceremony there figures a Dr.
Iron-Beard, who probably once played a similar part; certainly in
another spring ceremony, which will be described presently, Dr.
Iron-Beard pretends to restore a dead man to life. But of this revival
or resurrection of the god we shall have more to say anon. 8
The points of similarity between these North European personages
and the subject of our enquiry-the King of the Wood or priest of
Nemi-are sufficiently striking. In these northern maskers we see
kings, whose dress of bark and leaves along with the hut of green
boughs and the fir-trees, under which they hold their court,
proclaim them unmistakably as, like their Italian counterpart, Kings
of the Wood. Like him they die a violent death, but like him they
may escape from it for a time by their bodily strength and agility; for
in several of these northern customs the flight and pursuit of the
king is a prominent part of the ceremony, and in one case at least if
the king can outrun his pursuers he retains his life and his office for
another year. In this last case the king in fact holds office on
condition of running for his life once a year, just as the King of
Calicut in later times held office on condition of defending his life
against all comers once every twelve years, and just as the priest
of Nemi held office on condition of defending himself against any
assault at any time. In every one of these instances the life of the
god-man is prolonged on condition of his showing, in a severe
physical contest of fight or flight, that his bodily strength is not
decayed, and that, therefore, the violent death, which sooner or
later is inevitable, may for the present be postponed. With regard to
flight it is noticeable that flight figured conspicuously both in the
legend and in the practice of the King of the Wood. He had to be a
runaway slave in memory of the flight of Orestes, the traditional
founder of the worship; hence the Kings of the Wood are described
by an ancient writer as "both strong of hand and fleet of foot."
Perhaps if we knew the ritual of the Arician grove fully we might
find that the king was allowed a chance for his life by flight, like his
Bohemian brother. I have already conjectured that the annual flight
of the priestly king at Rome (regifugium) was at first a flight of the
same kind; in other words, that he was originally one of those
divine kings who are either put to death after a fixed period or
allowed to prove by the strong hand or the fleet foot that their
divinity is vigorous and unimpaired. One more point of resemblance
may be noted between the Italian King of the Wood and his
northern counterparts. In Saxony and Thüringen the representative
of the tree-spirit, after being killed, is brought to life again by a
doctor. This is exactly what legend affirmed to have happened to
the first King of the Wood at Nemi, Hippolytus or Virbius, who after
he had been killed by his horses was restored to life by the
physician Aesculapius. Such a legend tallies well with the theory
that the slaying of the King of the Wood was only a step to his
revival or resurrection in his successor. 9