Section 3. Carrying out Death.
THE CEREMONY of "Carrying out Death" presents much the same
features as "Burying the Carnival"; except that the carrying out of
Death is generally followed by a ceremony, or at least
accompanied by a profession, of bringing in Summer, Spring, or
Life. Thus in Middle Franken, a province of Bavaria, on the fourth
Sunday in Lent, the village urchins used to make a straw effigy of
Death, which they carried about with burlesque pomp through the
streets, and afterwards burned with loud cries beyond the bounds.
The Frankish custom is thus described by a writer of the sixteenth
century: "At Mid-Lent, the season when the church bids us
rejoice, the young people of my native country make a straw image
of Death, and fastening it to a pole carry it with shouts to the
neighbouring villages. By some they are kindly received, and after
being refreshed with milk, peas, and dried pears, the usual food of
that season, are sent home again. Others, however, treat them with
anything but hospitality; for, looking on them as harbingers of
misfortune, to wit of death, they drive them from their boundaries
with weapons and insults." In the villages near Erlangen, when the
fourth Sunday in Lent came around, the peasant girls used to dress
themselves in all their finery with flowers in their hair. Thus attired
they repaired to the neighbouring town, carrying puppets which
were adorned with leaves and covered with white cloths. These
they took from house to house in pairs, stopping at every door
where they expected to receive something, and singing a few lines
in which they announced that it was Mid-Lent and that they were
about to throw Death into the water. When they had collected some
trifling gratuities they went to the river Regnitz and flung the
puppets representing Death into the stream. This was done to
ensure a fruitful and prosperous year; further, it was considered a
safeguard against pestilence and sudden death. At Nuremberg girls
of seven to eighteen years of age go through the streets bearing a
little open coffin, in which is a doll hidden under a shroud. Others
carry a beech branch, with an apple fastened to it for a head, in an
open box. They sing, "We carry Death into the water, it is well," or
"We carry Death into the water, carry him in and out again." In
some parts of Bavaria down to 1780 it was believed that a fatal
epidemic would ensue if the custom of "Carrying out Death" were
not observed. 1
In some villages of Thüringen, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, the
children used to carry a puppet of birchen twigs through the
village, and then threw it into a pool, while they sang, "We carry
the old Death out behind the herdman's old house; we have got
Summer, and Kroden's (?) power is destroyed." At Debschwitz or
Dobschwitz, near Gera, the ceremony of "Driving out Death" is or
was annually observed on the first of March. The young people
make up a figure of straw or the like materials, dress it in old
clothes, which they have begged from houses in the village, and
carry it out and throw it into the river. On returning to the village
they break the good news to the people, and receive eggs and
other victuals as a reward. The ceremony is or was supposed to
purify the village and to protect the inhabitants from sickness and
plague. In other villages of Thüringen, in which the population was
originally Slavonic, the carrying out of the puppet is accompanied
with the singing of a song, which begins, "Now we carry Death out
of the village and Spring into the village." At the end of the
seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century the custom
was observed in Thüringen as follows. The boys and girls made an
effigy of straw or the like materials, but the shape of the figure
varied from year to year. In one year it would represent an old man,
in the next an old woman, in the third a young man, and in the
fourth a maiden, and the dress of the figure varied with the
character it personated. There used to be a sharp contest as to
where the effigy was to be made, for the people thought that the
house from which it was carried forth would not be visited with
death that year. Having been made, the puppet was fastened to a
pole and carried by a girl if it represented an old man, but by a boy
if it represented an old woman. Thus it was borne in procession, the
young people holding sticks in their hands and singing that they
were driving out Death. When they came to water they threw the
effigy into it and ran hastily back, fearing that it might jump on their
shoulders and wring their necks. They also took care not to touch
it, lest it should dry them up. On their return they beat the cattle
with the sticks, believing that this would make the animals fat or
fruitful. Afterwards they visited the house or houses from which they
had carried the image of Death; where they received a dole of
half-boiled peas. The custom of "Carrying out Death" was
practised also in Saxony. At Leipsic the bastards and public
women used to make a straw effigy of Death every year at
Mid-Lent. This they carried through all the streets with songs and
showed it to the young married women. Finally they threw it into the
river Parthe. By this ceremony they professed to make the young
wives fruitful, to purify the city, and to protect the inhabitants for
that year from plague and other epidemics. 2
Ceremonies of the same sort are observed at Mid-Lent in Silesia.
Thus in many places the grown girls with the help of the young men
dress up a straw figure with women's clothes and carry it out of the
village towards the setting sun. At the boundary they strip it of its
clothes, tear it in pieces, and scatter the fragments about the fields.
This is called "Burying Death." As they carry the image out, they
sing that they are about to bury Death under an oak, that he may
depart from the people. Sometimes the song runs that they are
bearing Death over hill and dale to return no more. In the Polish
neighbourhood of Gross-Strehlitz the puppet is called Goik. It is
carried on horseback and thrown into the nearest water. The
people think that the ceremony protects them from sickness of
every sort in the coming year. In the districts of Wohlau and Guhrau
the image of Death used to be thrown over the boundary of the next
village. But as the neighbours feared to receive the ill-omened
figure, they were on the look-out to repel it, and hard knocks were
often exchanged between the two parties. In some Polish parts of
Upper Silesia the effigy, representing an old woman, goes by the
name of Marzana, the goddess of death. It is made in the house
where the last death occurred, and is carried on a pole to the
boundary of the village, where it is thrown into a pond or burnt. At
Polkwitz the custom of "Carrying out Death" fell into abeyance; but
an outbreak of fatal sickness which followed the intermission of the
ceremony induced the people to resume it. 3
In Bohemia the children go out with a straw-man, representing
Death, to the end of the village, where they burn it, singing-
"Now carry we Death out of the village,
The new Summer into the village,
Welcome, dear Summer,
Green little corn." 4
At Tabor in Bohemia the figure of Death is carried out of the town
and flung from a high rock into the water, while they sing-
"Death swims on the water,
Summer will soon be here,
We carried Death away for you
We brought the Summer.
And do thou, O holy Marketa,
Give us a good year
For wheat and for rye." 5
In other parts of Bohemia they carry Death to the end of the
village, singing-
"We carry Death out of the village,
And the New Year into the village.
Dear Spring, we bid you welcome,
Green grass, we bid you welcome." 6
Behind the village they erect a pyre, on which they burn the
straw figure, reviling and scoffing at it the while. Then they return,
singing-
"We have carried away Death,
And brought Life back.
He has taken up his quarters in the village,
Therefore sing joyous songs." 7
In some German villages of Moravia, as in Jassnitz and
Seitendorf, the young folk assemble on the third Sunday in Lent
and fashion a straw-man, who is generally adorned with a fur cap
and a pair of old leathern hose, if such are to be had. The effigy is
then hoisted on a pole and carried by the lads and lasses out into
the open fields. On the way they sing a song, in which it is said
that they are carrying Death away and bringing dear Summer into
the house, and with Summer the May and the flowers. On reaching
an appointed place they dance in a circle round the effigy with
loud shouts and screams, then suddenly rush at it and tear it to
pieces with their hands. Lastly, the pieces are thrown together in a
heap, the pole is broken, and fire is set to the whole. While it burns
the troop dances merrily round it, rejoicing at the victory won by
Spring; and when the fire has nearly died out they go to the
householders to beg for a present of eggs wherewith to hold a
feast, taking care to give as a reason for the request that they have
carried Death out and away. 8
The preceding evidence shows that the effigy of Death is often
regarded with fear and treated with marks of hatred and
abhorrence. Thus the anxiety of the villagers to transfer the figure
from their own to their neighbours' land, and the reluctance of the
latter to receive the ominous guest, are proof enough of the dread
which it inspires. Further, in Lusatia and Silesia the puppet is
sometimes made to look in at the window of a house, and it is
believed that some one in the house will die within the year unless
his life is redeemed by the payment of money. Again, after throwing
the effigy away, the bearers sometimes run home lest Death should
follow them, and if one of them falls in running, it is believed that he
will die within the year. At Chrudim, in Bohemia, the figure of Death
is made out of a cross, with a head and mask stuck at the top, and
a shirt stretched out on it. On the fifth Sunday in Lent the boys take
this effigy to the nearest brook or pool, and standing in a line throw
it into the water. Then they all plunge in after it; but as soon as it is
caught no one more may enter the water. The boy who did not
enter the water or entered it last will die within the year, and he is
obliged to carry the Death back to the village. The effigy is then
burned. On the other hand, it is believed that no one will die within
the year in the house out of which the figure of Death has been
carried; and the village out of which Death has been driven is
sometimes supposed to be protected against sickness and plague.
In some villages of Austrian Silesia on the Saturday before Dead
Sunday an effigy is made of old clothes, hay, and straw, for the
purpose of driving Death out of the village. On Sunday the people,
armed with sticks and straps, assemble before the house where the
figure is lodged. Four lads then draw the effigy by cords through
the village amid exultant shouts, while all the others beat it with
their sticks and straps. On reaching a field which belongs to a
neighbouring village they lay down the figure, cudgel it soundly,
and scatter the fragments over the field. The people believe that the
village from which Death has been thus carried out will be safe
from any infectious disease for the whole year. 9