sing sight to see the men trying
to catch the active jingler, running into each other's arms, and
catching every one but the right one. When the jingling match was
over, a pig with a short, well-soaped tail was turned out for the
people to run after, and he who could hold it by the tail without
touching any other part obtained it for his pains. There was also a
game called Pigeon-holes, which appears to have been somewhat
similar to our present game of bagatelle.

And so with laughter and with song the feast ended, the evening
shadows fell around, and the happy rustics retired to their humble
thatched-roofed homes. The proceeds of these church-ales were often
considerable. "There were no rates for the poor in my grandfather's
time," says one writer, "the church-ale of Whitsuntide did the
business"; and whether the parishioners had to pay a tax for the
support of the King's army, or to repair the church, or to maintain
some orphan children, it was generally found "that something still
remained to cover the bottom of the purse."

Of the "mysteries," or miracle plays, as they were called, which
were performed in towns on Corpus Christi Day and at other times, I
propose to write in another chapter; and we will now proceed to the
hillsides near our villages on the eve of St. John's Day, when we
should witness the lighting of large bonfires, and some curious
customs connected with that ceremony. Both the old and the young
people used to sally forth from the village to some neighbouring
height, and there, amidst much laughter and with many a shout, they
lighted the large bonfire. Then they danced round the blazing logs,
and afterwards leaped through the flames, and at the close of the
ceremony each person brought away with him a burning branch. This
rite appears to have been a relic of Paganism. Probably the fire was
originally lighted in honour of the sun, which our forefathers
worshipped before they became Christians. The leaping through the
flames had also a superstitious meaning, and the simple people
thought that in this way they could ward off evil spirits and
prevent sickness. The Roman shepherds used to leap through the
Midsummer blaze in honour of Pales. The Scandinavians lit their
bonfires in honour of their gods Odin and Thor, and the leaping
through the flames reminds us of the worshippers of Baal and Moloch,
who, as we read in the Bible, used to "pass their children through
the fire" in awe of their cruel god.