CARNIVALS IN MANY LANDS 229 



the demise of the saint. From those pilgrimages doubt- 

 less the dancing procession was evolved. Tradition 

 has it that the evolution was fairly rapid, and that 

 before the eighth century had waned it was already 

 the great religious ceremony of Echternach. An 

 epizootic distemper, it is said, seized the cattle in the 

 neighbourhood, and the people, distressed at seeing 

 the animals frantic and in convulsions, turned to the 

 shrine of the saint with their prayers and offerings. 

 A homoeopathy of faith made them proceed dancing 

 to the tomb. Their faith had its reward ; the animals 

 all got well. Authorities, civil and religious, have often 

 endeavoured to put a stop to the ceremony, which 

 lent itself to abuses, but only on one occasion did 

 they succeed. And then the disease reappeared amongst 

 the cattle. So it has been held ever since. Now, how- 

 ever, though the form of old is preserved, it is not 

 so much the welfare of the animals that the dancers 

 are concerned about. They hope to propitiate the spirit 

 which sends convulsive ailments to mankind. They dance 

 for personal reasons, and they may dance by deputy. 

 One member of a family may represent all the others ; 

 a boy may dance for his bedridden grandmother. 



Religious dancing is very old, but now it only exists 

 in odd corners of Europe. It is likely to live for 

 a long time yet in Echternach, for the people do not 

 give the slightest sign of becoming * modern ' enough 

 to disbelieve in this ancient rite. On the Prussian side 

 of the river, beyond the bridge, at the old cross where 

 the four roads meet, the thousands of dancers old, 

 middle-aged and young, male and female assemble 

 early in the morning. At eight o'clock, after a sermon 

 in the open air, the great Maximilian bell in the parish 



