re.{53}

In central Europe we see St. Lucia in other aspects. In the Boehmerwald
she goes round the village in the form of a nanny-goat with horns, gives
fruit to the good children, and threatens to rip open the belly of the
naughty. Here she is evidently related |223| to the pagan monsters
already described. In Tyrol she plays a more graceful part: she brings
presents for girls, an office which St. Nicholas is there supposed to
perform for boys only.{55}

In Lower Austria St. Lucia's Eve is a time when special danger from
witchcraft is feared and must be averted by prayer and incense. A
procession is made through each house to cense every room. On this
evening, too, girls are afraid to spin lest in the morning they should
find their distaffs twisted, the threads broken, and the yarn in
confusion. (We shall meet with like superstitions during the Twelve
Nights.) At midnight the girls practise a strange ceremony: they go to a
willow-bordered brook, cut the bark of a tree partly away, without
detaching it, make with a knife a cross on the inner side of the cut
bark, moisten it with water, and carefully close up the opening. On New
Year's Day the cutting is opened, and the future is augured from the
markings found. The lads, on the other hand, look out at midnight for a
mysterious light, the _Luzieschein_, the forms of which indicate coming
events.{56}

In Denmark, too, St. Lucia's Eve is a time for seeing the future. Here is
a prayer of Danish maids: "Sweet St. Lucy let me know: whose cloth
I shall lay, whose bed I shall make, whose child I shall bear, whose
darling I shall be, whose arms I shall sleep in."{57}

ST. THOMAS'S DAY.

Many and various are the customs and beliefs associated with the feast of
St. Thomas (December 21). In Denmark it was formerly a great children's
day, unique in the year, and rather resembling the mediaeval Boy Bishop
festival. It was the breaking-up day for schools; the children used to
bring their master an offering of candles and money, and in return he
gave them a feast. In some places it had an even more delightful side:
for this one day in the year the children were allowed the mastery in the
school. Testimonials to their scholarship and industry were made out, and
elaborate titles were added to their names, as exalted sometimes as
"Pope," "Emperor," or "Empress." Poor children used to go about showing
these |224| documents and collecting money. Games and larks of all
sorts went on