ircle, with one girl standing in the
centre, and pass from hand to hand a gold ring, which the maiden inside
tries to detect. Meanwhile a song is sung, "Gold I bury, gold I bury."
Some imaginative mythologists interpret the ring as representing the sun,
buried by the clouds of winter.{56}

|295| |296| |297|

CHAPTER XIII

MASKING, THE MUMMERS' PLAY, THE FEAST OF FOOLS, AND THE BOY BISHOP

English Court Masking--"The Lord of Misrule"--The Mummers' Play, the
Sword-Dance, and the Morris Dance--Origin of St. George and other
Characters--Mumming in Eastern Europe--The Feast of Fools, its
History and Suppression--The Boy Bishop, his Functions and
Sermons--Modern Survivals of the Boy Bishop.

[Illustration:

YORKSHIRE SWORD-ACTORS: ST. GEORGE IN COMBAT WITH ST. PETER.

From an article by Mr. T. M. Fallow in _The Antiquary_, May, 1895.

(By permission of Messrs. Elliot Stock.)]

We have already seen a good deal of masking in connection with St.
Nicholas, Knecht Ruprecht, and other figures of the German Christmas; we
may next give some attention to English customs of the same sort during
the Twelve Days, and then pass on to the strange burlesque ceremonies of
the Feast of Fools and the Boy Bishop, ceremonies which show an intrusion
of pagan mummery into the sanctuary itself.

CHRISTMAS MASKING.

The custom of Christmas masking, "mumming," or "disguising" can be traced
at the English court as early as the reign of Edward III. It is in all
probability connected with that wearing of beasts' heads and skins of
which we have already noted various examples--its origin in folk-custom
seems to have been the coming of a band of worshippers clad in this
uncouth but auspicious garb to bring good luck to a house.{1} The most
direct English survival is found in the village mummers who still call
themselves "guisers" or "geese-dancers" and claim the right to enter
every house. These will be dealt with shortly, after a consideration of
more courtly customs of the same kind.

|298| In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries the English
court masque reached its greatest developments; the fundamental idea was
then generally overlaid with splendid trappings, the dresses and the
arrangements were often extremely elaborate, and the introduction of
dialogued speech made these "disguises" regular dramatic performances. A
notable example is Ben Jonson's "Masque of Christmas."{2} Shakespeare,
however, g