290 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts , and Letters. 
I,V„. 
by a procession,, as in the Bohemian ceremony. The young 
girls go out to the woods, cut down a young tree, ornament it, 
and come marching back to the village singing: 
“Death we carried out of the village, 
Summer we carry into the village.” 1 
In still other ceremonies the resurrection is simply an¬ 
nounced, but the idea of the revived spring is as strongly in 
mind as in those in which it is clearly represented. 2 
Thus far we have directed our attention only to the death 
and resurrection incident. Let us now take some cases which 
are representative of their class, and which illustrate another 
incident in the St. George play. We noticed that there is 
a struggle and sometimes a melee in the play, and this is illus¬ 
trated in many of the folk-ceremonies. In the region of the 
Middle Rhine a representative of summer clad in ivy combats 
a representative of winter clad in straw or mioss and finally 
gains a victory over him. 3 In Bavaria the same drama used to 
be acted on the same day. Summer was dressed up in green and 
carried a blossom or a little tree hung with apples or pears, and 
Winter was muffled up in furs and carried a snow shovel or a 
flail. They and their retinues struggled, and Winter was beaten 
and driven out. In some parts of Bavaria the 1 boys who play 
Winter and Summer engage in a war of words before they como 
to blows. The dialogue is in verse and each character vaunts 
his own season. A few couplets may serve as specimens: 
summer. 
“Green, green are the meadows wherever I pass, 
And the mowers are busy among the grass.” 
WINTER. 
“White, white are the meadows wherever I go, 
And the sledges glide hissing across the snow.” 
1 Mannhardt, 1. c., vol. 1, p. 156. 
2 This class of ceremony is well represented in Frazer, 1. c., vol. 1, 
pp. 70-91. See Mannhardt, 1. c., vol. 1, passim. 
s Frazer, 1. c., vol. 1, p. 99. 
