36 WOMAN AS WITCH 



which take place on the great witch-nights. In Esthonia, 

 where the Virgin Mary has taken the place of an old 

 goddess of fertility, there is a ceremonial planting of 

 cabbages by the women on the Feast of her Annuncia- 

 tion shortly before Midsummer Day. In Brandenburg 

 there is a ceremonial gathering of herbs on May Day. 

 Once when I was ill in the Black Forest I had herb- 

 tea brought to me by an old peasant woman, the herbs 

 having been gathered on St. John's night. In Mecklen- 

 burg herbs are gathered on Midsummer Night, which 

 protect people against witches. In Thiiringen caterpillars 

 are banished from the cabbage plot by a woman running 

 naked round the field or garden before sunrise on the 

 eve of the annual fair. In the Pfalz, flax will not 

 thrive unless it is sown by the women, and it has to be 

 done with strange ceremonies, including the scattering- 

 over the field of the ashes of a fire made of wood 

 consecrated during matins. As high as the maids jump 

 over the fires on the hilltops on Midsummer Night, so 

 high will the flax grow ; but we find also that as high 

 as the bride springs from the table on her marriage 

 night, so high will the flax grow in that year. Green 

 cabbages gathered at Yule-tide or on Twelfth Night, 

 and eaten by man and beast, protect them against 

 witches ; in other words, those who eat it, like those 

 who eat the paschal lamb, are performing a rite which 

 protects them from the anger of the deity. 



Besides this relation to herbs and plants, the 

 goddess shows her relation to fruitfulness in the 

 matter of wells, springs, and ponds. At the Sive- 

 ringer spring, near Vienna, crowds of people come on 



