s.

Let us take first the horse-forms, seemingly connected with that
sacrificial use of the horse among the Teutons to which Tacitus and other
writers testify.{51} "Old Hob" is doubtless one form of the hobby horse,
so familiar in old English festival customs. His German parallel, the
_Schimmel_, is mostly formed thus in the north: a sieve with a long pole
to whose end a horse's head is fastened, is tied beneath the chest of a
young man, who goes on all fours, and some white cloths are thrown over
the whole. In Silesia the _Schimmel_ is formed by three or four youths.
The rider is generally veiled, and often wears on his head a pot with
glowing coals shining forth through openings that represent eyes and a
mouth.{52} In Pomerania the thing is called simply _Schimmel_,{53} in
other parts emphasis is laid upon the rider, and the name
_Schimmelreiter_ is given. Some mythologists have seen in this rider on a
white horse an impersonation of Woden on his great charger; but it is
more likely that the practice simply originated in the taking round of a
real sacrificial horse.{54} The _Schimmelreiter_ is often accompanied by
a "bear," a youth dressed in straw who plays the part of a bear tied to a
pole.{55} He may be connected with some such veneration of the animal as
is suggested by the custom still surviving at Berne, of keeping bears at
the public expense.

To return to Great Britain, here is an account of a so-called |201|
"hodening" ceremony once performed at Christmas-time at Ramsgate: "A
party of young people procure the head of a dead horse, which is affixed
to a pole about four feet in length, a string is tied to the lower jaw, a
horse-cloth is then attached to the whole, under which one of the party
gets, and by frequently pulling the string keeps up a loud snapping noise
and is accompanied by the rest of the party grotesquely habited and
ringing hand-bells. They thus proceed from house to house, sounding their
bells and singing carols and songs."{56}

Again, in Wales a creature called "the Mari Llwyd" was known at
Christmas. A horse's skull is "dressed up with ribbons, and supported on
a pole by a man who is concealed under a large white cloth. There is a
contrivance for opening and shutting the jaws, and the figure pursues and
bites everybody it can lay hold of, and does not release them except on
payment of a fine."{57} The movable jaws here give the thing a likeness
to certain Continental figures representing ot