ere found in various parts of Germany. In Munich,
formerly, during the services on St. Stephen's Day more than two hundred
men on horseback used to ride three times round the interior of a church.
The horses were decorated with many-coloured ribbons, and the practice
was not abolished till 1876.{6} At Backnang in Swabia horses were ridden
out, as fast as possible, to protect them from the influence of witches,
and in the Hohenlohe region men-servants were permitted by their masters
to ride in companies to neighbouring places, where much drinking went
on.{7} In Holstein the lads on Stephen's Eve used to visit their
neighbours in a company, groom the horses, and ride about in the
farmyards, making a great noise until the people woke up and treated them
to beer and spirits.{8} At the village of Wallsbuell near Flensburg the
peasant youths in the early morning held a race, and the winner was
called Steffen and entertained at the inn. At Vioel near Bredstadt the
child who got up last on December 26 received the name of Steffen and had
to ride to a neighbour's house on a hay-fork. In other German districts
the festival was called "the great horse-day," consecrated food was given
to the animals, they were driven round and round the fields until they
sweated violently, and at last were ridden to the blacksmith's and bled,
to keep them healthy through the year. The blood was preserved as a
remedy for various illnesses.{9}

It is, however, in Sweden that the "horsy" aspect of the festival is most
obvious.{10} Formerly there was a custom, at one o'clock on St.
Stephen's morning, for horses to be ridden to water that flowed
northward; they would then drink "the cream of the water" and flourish
during the year. There was a violent race to the water, and the servant
who got there first was rewarded by a drink of something stronger. Again,
early that morning one |313| peasant would clean out another's stable,
often at some distance from his home, feed, water, and rub down the
horses, and then be entertained to breakfast. In olden times after
service on St. Stephen's Day there was a race home on horseback, and it
was supposed that he who arrived first would be the first to get his
harvest in. But the most remarkable custom is the early morning jaunt of
the so-called "Stephen's men," companies of peasant youths, who long
before daybreak ride in a kind of race from village to village and awaken
the inhabitants with a folk-song called _Sta