o. The fourth for the inanimate
property, and the rest for each member of the household according to age.
Each portion is successively dipped in a cup of wine." He who finds the
cross or the coin in his share of the cake will prosper during the year.
The money is considered sacred and is used to buy a votive taper.{15}

In Macedonia when the New Year's supper is over, the table, with the
remnants of the feast upon it, is removed to a corner of the room in
order that St. Basil may come and partake of the food.{16} He appears to
have been substituted by the Church for the spirits of the departed, for
whom, as we have seen, food is left in the West on All Souls' and
Christmas Eves. Probably the Macedonian practice of setting aside a
portion of the cake for a saint, and the pieces cut in France for _le bon
Dieu_ and the Virgin or the three Magi, have a like origin. One may
compare them with the Serbian breaking of the _kolatch_ cake in honour of
Christ "the Patron Namegiver." Is it irrelevant, also, to mention here
the Greek Church custom, at the preparation of the elements for the
Eucharist, of breaking portions of the bread in memory of the Virgin and
other saints?

* * * * *

In many countries the Epiphany is a special time for the expulsion of
evils. At Brunnen in Switzerland boys go about in procession on Twelfth
Night, with torches and lanterns, and make a great noise with horns,
bells, whips, &c., in order to |342| frighten away two wood-spirits. In
Labruguiere in southern France on the Eve of Twelfth Day the inhabitants
rush through the streets, making discordant noises and a huge uproar,
with the object of scaring away ghosts and devils.{17}

In parts of the eastern Alps there takes place what is called
_Berchtenlaufen_. Lads, formerly to the number of two or three hundred,
rush about in the strangest masks, with cowbells, whips, and all sorts of
weapons, and shout wildly.{18} In Nuremberg up to the year 1616 on
_Bergnacht_ or Epiphany Eve boys and girls used to run about the streets
and knock loudly at the doors.{19} Such knocking, as we have seen, may
well have been intended to drive away spirits from the houses.

At Eschenloh near Partenkirchen in Upper Bavaria three women used to
_berchten_ on that evening. They all had linen bags over their heads,
with holes for the mouth and eyes. One carried a chain, another a rake,
and the third a broom. Going round to the houses, they kno