WOMAN AS WITCH 41 



at many folk -festivals. It is closely connected with 

 the common and free meal of the ancient group. This 

 common meal occurs in the marriage rites of a later 

 age ; thus in Altenburg, at the time of a wedding, a 

 waggon is sent round to collect provisions; there is music, 

 and often dancing, even to the church ; and on the 

 evening of the wedding there is a feast free to all upon 

 the food collected, a general dancing, and in the old 

 times there was great licentiousness. In the early days 

 the food seems to have gone even into the church ; a fossil 

 of this old custom is still preserved in the wine and cake 

 handed round in some places at weddings inside the 

 church. In Mecklenburg at weddings we have dancing 

 out of the bridal house and down the village, also a pro- 

 cession of maidens with candles exactly as in the Friesian 

 wedding. This dancing down the public streets recurs 

 in many places ; for example, in old days the Faddy 

 dance on May Day in Cornwall in and out of the houses 

 and down the village. In Rottweil we find dancing 

 in the public streets and feasting on high festivals, 

 and even at weddings, accompanied, as usual, by great 

 license. In Thiiringen on Walpurgisnacht we have 

 dancing round the linden tree, and on Midsummer Night 

 a fire festival for maids and men. At Whitsuntide the 

 men collect food for a common meal, and it is followed 

 by a dance ; in return the maidens fetch the youths to 

 .a dance and give them a meal, paying for the music. 

 This is termed the feast of the Brunnenfege, and seems 

 to be a relic of an old well-worship. In Hesse we have a 

 decoration of the wells on May Day, and choral dances 

 of the maids on Midsummer Night ; in the very same 



