Page:The International Folk-Lore Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, July, 1893.djvu/563

 Rh people find it difficult to sleep. In the straightforward peasant language they therefore call Christmas eve and New-Year's eve, Vull-Bûks-Abend, or Full-Belly Night.

II.—Processions and Begging Songs.—Begging customs and songs are universal at Christmas and New Year. Grown people and children go begging freely, and gifts must be given, for it will not do to refuse on those sacred nights. Occasions have been known when thirty or forty people at once would enter a house and sing their song, after which they had to be entertained or receive presents. They go around, frequently, carrying a huge star, showing King Herod at a window. The songs are of a traditional character mixing biblical and profane elements, but their meaning has been lost.

A peculiar custom is what is known as Rummeltopf. They take a pot of earthenware, fasten a bladder skin over it tight, and pass through the bladder a piece of cane. Moistening the thumb and index finger and rubbing them along the cane, a peculiar muffled roar is produced, which serves as an accompaniment to the songs. In Ditmarsh the so-called Kaland singing obtained. The school teachers would pick out six to a dozen of their best singers and make the rounds with them, singing some Christmas carol, followed immediately by a begging song containing rather broad hints as to what would be acceptable in the way of presents, mostly sausages, bread, etc.

In Ditmarsh the new year is "shot in," and the shooters are entertained with cake and schnaps. Others will "throw in" the New Year, throwing bottles, plates, dishes, etc., against houses and doors. The owners of the houses do not enjoy this particular form of celebrating, and fights often follow. It used to be so common, however, that wheelbarrows were required in the morning to "remove the d6bris." Boys will knock at the walls of houses with hammers, or shoot pease at the windows. In the morning yon will find your door barricaded, your gates tied up or carried half a mile away. It has been known to happen that a shed was carried up to the roof of the main building.

III. The Twelve Nights.—The real festival begins Christmas eve, and lasts twelve days. During this time it is