child, and put them in a glass of
water. The branch of the lucky one will blossom.{23}

In Roumania St. Andrew's Eve is a creepy time, for on it vampires are
supposed to rise from their graves, and with coffins |216| on their
heads walk about the houses in which they once lived. Before nightfall
every woman takes some garlic and anoints with it the door locks and
window casements; this will keep away the vampires. At the cross-roads
there is a great fight of these loathsome beings until the first cock
crows; and not only the dead take part in this, but also some living men
who are vampires from their birth. Sometimes it is only the souls of
these living vampires that join in the fight; the soul comes out through
the mouth in the form of a bluish flame, takes the shape of an animal,
and runs to the crossway. If the body meanwhile is moved from its place
the person dies, for the soul cannot find its way back.{24}

St. Andrew's Day is sometimes the last, sometimes the first important
festival of the western Church's year. It is regarded in parts of Germany
as the beginning of winter, as witness the saying:--

"Suenten-Dres-Misse,
es de Winter gewisse."[93]{25}

The nights are now almost at their longest, and as November passes away,
giving place to the last month of the year, Christmas is felt to be near
at hand.

In northern Bohemia it is customary for peasant girls to keep for
themselves all the yarn they spin on St. Andrew's Eve, and the _Hausfrau_
gives them also some flax and a little money. With this they buy coffee
and other refreshments for the lads who come to visit the parlours where
in the long winter evenings the women sit spinning. These evenings, when
many gather together in a brightly lighted room and sing songs and tell
stories while they spin, are cheerful enough, and spice is added by the
visits of the village lads, who in some places come to see the girls
home.{26}

THE KLOePFELNAeCHTE.

On the Thursday nights in Advent it is customary in southern Germany for
children or grown-up people to go from house |217| to house, singing
hymns and knocking on the doors with rods or little hammers, or throwing
peas, lentils, and the like against the windows. Hence these evenings
have gained the name of _Kloepfel_ or _Knoepflinsnaechte_ (Knocking
Nights).{27} The practice is described by Naogeorgus in the sixteenth
century:--

"Three weekes before the day whereon was borne the Lord of Grace,