Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/274

 262 Aiujital Superstitions and Totcmism.

In ancient Greece it was known as the brazen fly ;^ in Iceland as the fox-game f in Lithuania hare-catching is a similar game.^

The explanation of these names is that the players origin- ally wore masks ; the game is known in some cases as the " blinde Mumm,"* or blind mask. This is, perhaps, why in the Hahnenschlag the person who tries to kill the cock is frequently blindfolded ; this custom points to a practice of wearing masks at the sacrifice. The player who is "it" seems to be the sacrificer ; he bears the same name as the victim, just as in agricultural customs the reaper of the last corn bears the same name as the last sheaf.^

Blind man's buff is essentially a Christmas game ; we have already seen that the sacrifices of the winter solstice are highly important ; the distribution and wide popularity of blind man's buff bear further testimony to this. We may infer that the Christmas mummers originally officiated at a sacri- fice at this season. We know from Strutt and other authori- ties that the mummers frequently wore animal masks. We may further conjecture that the animals paraded at this season of the year were not tree or corn-spirits appearing after their winter sleep was over ; they were simply victims, like the wren and the squirrel. The custom of going dressed in skins of animals at this season, alluded to in the Peniten- tials of Theodore,'' is another form of the custom of wear- ing animal-masks. Klaus and other figures appearing at or near Christmas were possibly also connected with sacri- fices: Klaus, unlike other personages who lead animals

' Pollux, Onoiuasti/con, ix., 123, cf. 113.

■^ Cleasby and Vigfusson, Dictionary, s. v. Skolla. .

^ Globus, Ixxiii., 320.

^ Handelmann, p. 71; cf. Strwit, Sj>07'ts and Pastimes.

whole body of sacrificers wore masks and bore the name of the animal ; cf. Frazer, Patisanias, iv., 223 ; Davies, Mythology of the British Druid, p. 414.
 * Frazer, Golden Bough, passim. On the other hand, it may be that the


 * > Si quis in Kal. Jannar. in cervulo vel vilula vadit, &c.