Yet another kind of charm must be mentioned here which was used at
certain festivals, though apparently not at any of those belonging to
the authorised calendar. At the Compitalia, Paganalia, and _feriae
Latinae_ we are told that small images of the human figure, or masks, or
simply round balls (_pilae_), were hung up on trees or doorways, and
left to swing in the wind.[124] At the Compitalia the images had a
special name, _maniae_, of which the meaning is lost; but inasmuch as
the charms were hung up at cross-roads on that occasion, where the Lares
compitales of the various properties had their shrine, it was not
difficult to manufacture out of them a goddess, Mania, mother of the
Lares.[125] The common word for these figures was _oscilla_, and the
fact of their swinging in the wind suggested a verb _oscillare_, which
survives in our own tongue with the same meaning. Until lately it used
to be believed that they were substitutes for original human sacrifices:
a view for which there is not a particle of evidence, though it was
originated by Roman scholars.[126] Modern anthropology has found another
explanation, which is by no means improbable. Dr. Frazer, in an appendix
to the 2nd volume of the _Golden Bough_, has collected a number of
examples of the practice of swinging _by human beings_ as a magical
rite; they come from many parts of the world, including ancient Athens,
and even modern Calabria. He also points out that at the _feriae
Latinae_ the swingers seem to have been human beings, if we accept the
evidence of Festus, _s.v._ "oscillantes"; thus we are left with the
possibility that the oscilla were really imitations of men and women,
though not of human sacrificial victims.

Dr. Frazer is obviously hard put to it to explain the original meaning
and object of this curious custom. In the Paganalia, as described by
Virgil in the second _Georgic_,[127] the object would seem to be the
prosperity of the vine-crop.

coloni
versibus incomptis ludunt risuque soluto,
oraque corticibus sumunt horrenda cavatis,
et te Bacche vocant per carmina laeta, tibique
oscilla ex alta suspendunt mollia pinu.
hinc omnis largo pubescit vinea fetu, etc.[128]

But here we must leave a question which is still unsolved. All we can
say is that the old idea of substitutes for human sacrifice must be
finally given up, and that the _oscilla_, whether or not they were
substitutes for human swingers,