Section 5. Battle of Summer and Winter.
SOMETIMES in the popular customs of the peasantry the contrast
between the dormant powers of vegetation in winter and their
awakening vitality in spring takes the form of a dramatic contest
between actors who play the parts respectively of Winter and
Summer. Thus in the towns of Sweden on May Day two troops of
young men on horseback used to meet as if for mortal combat. One
of them was led by a representative of Winter clad in furs, who
threw snowballs and ice in order to prolong the cold weather. The
other troop was commanded by a representative of Summer
covered with fresh leaves and flowers. In the sham fight which
followed the party of Summer came off victorious, and the
ceremony ended with a feast. Again, in the region of the middle
Rhine, a representative of Summer clad in ivy combats a
representative of Winter clad in straw or moss and finally gains a
victory over him. The vanquished foe is thrown to the ground and
stripped of his casing of straw, which is torn to pieces and
scattered about, while the youthful comrades of the two champions
sing a song to commemorate the defeat of Winter by Summer.
Afterwards they carry about a summer garland or branch and
collect gifts of eggs and bacon from house to house. Sometimes the
champion who acts the part of Summer is dressed in leaves and
flowers and wears a chaplet of flowers on his head. In the
Palatinate this mimic conflict takes place on the fourth Sunday in
Lent. All over Bavaria the same drama used to be acted on the
same day, and it was still kept up in some places down to the
middle of the nineteenth century or later. While Summer appeared
clad all in green, decked with fluttering ribbons, and carrying a
branch in blossom or a little tree hung with apples and pears,
Winter was muffled up in cap and mantle of fur and bore in his hand
a snow-shovel or a flail. Accompanied by their respective retinues
dressed in corresponding attire, they went through all the streets of
the village, halting before the houses and singing staves of old
songs, for which they received presents of bread, eggs, and fruit.
Finally, after a short struggle, Winter was beaten by Summer and
ducked in the village well or driven out of the village with shouts
and laughter into the forest. 1
At Goepfritz in Lower Austria, two men personating Summer and
Winter used to go from house to house on Shrove Tuesday, and
were everywhere welcomed by the children with great delight. The
representative of Summer was clad in white and bore a sickle; his
comrade, who played the part of Winter, had a fur-cap on his
head, his arms and legs were swathed in straw, and he carried a
flail. In every house they sang verses alternately. At Drömling in
Brunswick, down to the present time, the contest between Summer
and Winter is acted every year at Whitsuntide by a troop of boys
and a troop of girls. The boys rush singing, shouting, and ringing
bells from house to house to drive Winter away; after them come the
girls singing softly and led by a May Bride, all in bright dresses
and decked with flowers and garlands to represent the genial
advent of spring. Formerly the part of Winter was played by a
straw-man which the boys carried with them; now it is acted by a
real man in disguise. 2
Among the Central Esquimaux of North America the contest
between representatives of summer and winter, which in Europe
has long degenerated into a mere dramatic performance, is still kept
up as a magical ceremony of which the avowed intention is to
influence the weather. In autumn, when storms announce the
approach of the dismal Arctic winter, the Esquimaux divide
themselves into two parties called respectively the ptarmigans and
the ducks, the ptarmigans comprising all persons born in winter,
and the ducks all persons born in summer. A long rope of sealskin
is then stretched out, and each party laying hold of one end of it
seeks by tugging with might and main to drag the other party over
to its side. If the ptarmigans get the worst of it, then summer has
won the game and fine weather may be expected to prevail through
the winter. 3