1921.] LIST OF DOLMENS, MENHIRS, ETC. 63 



These traditions of the Guernsey Varous suggest : That 

 they were Werewolves — men who had the power of changing 

 themselves into animal forms, i.e., who disguised themselves 

 in the skins of animals; (2) that they were associated with 

 the dead or death, i.e., they were the representatives of the 

 god at the festival of the Dead ; (3) that they indulged in 

 gluttonous feastings and bacchanal orgies of drunkenness 

 and debauchery. Further, the frequent association of " Le 

 Courtil Varouf " near megalithic monuments in Guernsey 

 suggests that these orgies were celebrated near them. 



According to Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, in 

 Prussia, Livonia and Lithuania, it was on Christmas Eve 

 that men changed into wolves committed their greatest 

 ravages among the shepherds and their flocks. They also 

 entered into houses and cellars and emptied casks of beer 

 and amused themselves by stacking the empty casks in the 

 middle of the cellar. The Archbishop adds that great 

 barons did not disdain joining themselves to the evil con- 

 fraternity, being initiated into it by one of the older 

 members. (1) 



This extract suggests that in the North of Europe, at 

 least, the Werewolves were a band of persons who dis- 

 guised themselves in the skins of beasts at certain seasons of 

 the year, particularly on Christmas Eve, which corresponded 

 with the date of the pagan festival of the winter solstice — 

 the death of the old year and the birth of the new. 



If we turn to the "Homily " of St. Caesarius of Aries, 

 A.D. 1542, quoted by Mr. G. Metivier in his "Christianity in 

 Gaul's Franco-Norman Isles," we find him rebuking his 

 flock for very similar practices : — 



'These miserable fellows," he says, "nay what is in- 

 tolerable, men born again in the waters of Lloly Baptism 

 put on such monstrous shapes that it were hard to say 

 whether they were it ore worthy of laughter or of tears. 

 They disguise themselves so skilfully, some with the head, 

 some with the skins of some beast or other, that, by their 

 showing, they are more beasts within than without." 



An article in the Penitentiary of Angers condemned the 

 same practices, which were universal in Gaul, and " playing 

 the heifer and the stag" was also forbidden by the Synod 

 of Auxerre in 581. 



In England we also find the mummers, who* accompanied 

 the Lord of Misrule in his revels, represented in medieval 



(1) Metivier, Diet. F, N„ g. 185. Les Moeurs des Pen pies du Nord, par Olaus 

 Magnus. VI., p. 46. 



[2) MSS. Lukis Museum, Homilies, p. 237. 



