570 MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE. 



In some parts of Germany &quot; a bride will tie a string of flax around her 

 left leg, in the belief that she will thereby enjoy the full blessing of the 

 married state.&quot; 



&quot;There was formerly a custom in the north of England, which will be 

 thought to have bordered very closely upon indecency . . . for the 

 young meu present at a wedding to strive, immediately after the cere 

 mony, who could first pluck off the bride s garters from her legs. This was 

 done before the very altar . . . 1 have sometimes thought this a frag 

 ment of the ancient ceremony of loosening the virgin zone, or girdle, a 

 custom that needs no explanation.&quot; &quot;It is the custom in Normandy for 

 the bride to bestow her garter on some young man as a favour, or some 

 times it is taken from her ... 1 am of opinion that the origin of 

 the Order of the Garter is to be traced to this nuptial custom, anciently 

 common to both court and country.&quot; 2 



Grimm quotes from Hincmar of Kheims to show the antiquity of the 

 use for both good and bad purposes of &quot;ligatures,&quot; &quot;cum tilulis colorum 

 inultiplicium.&quot; 3 



To undo the effects of a &quot; ligature,&quot; the following was in high repute: 

 &quot;Si quern voles per noctem cum ftjemina coire non posse, pistillum cor- 

 onatum sub lecto illius pone.&quot; Hut a pestle crowned with flowers could 

 be nothing more or less than a phallus, and, therefore, an offering to 

 the god Priapus. 



&quot;Owing to a supposed connection which the witches knew between 

 the relations of husband and wife and the mysterious knots, the bride 

 groom, formerly in Scotland and to the present day in Ireland, presents 

 himself occasionally, and in rural districts, before the clergyman, with 

 all knots and fastenings on his dress loosened, and the bride, imme 

 diately after the ceremony is perfoimed, retires to be undressed, and so 

 rid of her knots.&quot; 5 



USE OF COEDS AND KNOTS AND GIRDLES IN PABTUKITION. 



Folk medicine in all regions is still relying upon the potency of mys 

 tical cords and girdles to facilitate labor. The following are a few of 

 the many examples which might be presented: 



Delivery was facilitated if the man by whom the woman has con 

 ceived unties his girdle, and, after tying it round her, unties it, saying: 

 &quot;I have tied it and I will untie it,&quot; and then takes his departure. 6 



&quot;Henry, in his History of Britain, vol. 1, p. 4,&quot;&amp;gt;9, tells us that amongst 

 the ancient Britons, when a birth was attended with any difficulty, they 

 put certain girdles made for that purpose about the women in labour 

 which they imagined gave immediate and effectual relief. Such girdles 

 were kept with care till very lately in many families in the Highlands 



&quot;Hoffman, quoting Friend, in Jour. Am. Folk Lore, 1888, p. 134. 



2 Brand, Pop. Aiit., vol. 2, pp. 127 et aeq. 



3 Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, vol. 3, p. 1174. He also speaks of the &quot; iiouer 1 aignillette, ibid., p. 1175. 



4 Sasou Leeclidoiiis, vol. 1, p. xliv. 



Black, Folk-Mediciue, London, 1883, pp. 185, 180. 



Pliny, Nat. Hist., lib. 28, cap. 0. 



