[249]. Dyer, op. cit. p. 243.
[250]. W. H. D. Rouse, in Folk-lore, iv. (1893) p. 53. I have witnessed the ceremony almost annually for many years. Many of the hoops have no doll, and ribbons or rags of coloured cloth are more conspicuous than flowers in their decoration.
[251]. J. P. Emslie, in Folk-lore, xi. (1900) p. 210.
[252]. Memoirs of Anna Maria Wilhelmina Pickering, edited by her son, Spencer Pickering (London, 1903), pp. 160 sq.
[253]. Lady Wilde, Ancient Cures, Charms, and Usages of Ireland (London, 1890), pp. 101 sq. At the ancient Greek festival of the Daphnephoria or “Laurel-bearing” a staff of olive-wood, decked with laurels, purple ribbons, and many-coloured flowers, was carried in procession, and attached to it were two large globes representing the sun and moon, together with a number of smaller globes which stood for the stars. See Proclus, quoted by Photius, Bibliotheca, p. 321, ed. Bekker.
[254]. E. Cortet, Essai sur les fêtes religieuses (Paris, 1867) pp. 167 sqq.
[255]. Revue des traditions populaires, ii. (1887) p. 200.
[256]. W. Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Wien und Olmütz, 1893), pp. 319 sq., 355-359.
[257]. Folk-lore, i. (1890) pp. 518 sqq.
[258]. W. R. S. Ralston, Songs of the Russian People 2nd Ed., (London, 1872), pp. 234 sq.