Halleux they set up a pole called _makral_ or "the witch," in
the midst of the pile, and the fire is kindled by the man who was last
married in the village. In the neighbourhood of Morlanwelz a straw man
is burnt in the fire. Young people and children dance and sing round the
bonfires, and leap over the embers to secure good crops or a happy
marriage within the year, or as a means of guarding themselves against
colic. In Brabant on the same Sunday, down to the beginning of the
nineteenth century, women and men disguised in female attire used to go
with burning torches to the fields, where they danced and sang comic
songs for the purpose, as they alleged, of driving away "the wicked
sower," who is mentioned in the Gospel for the day. At Maeseyck and in
many villages of Limburg, on the evening of the day children run through
the streets carrying lighted torches; then they kindle little fires of
straw in the fields and dance round them. At Ensival old folks tell
young folks that they will have as many Easter eggs as they see bonfires
on this day.[267] At Paturages, in the province of Hainaut, down to
about 1840 the custom was observed under the name of _Escouvion_ or
_Scouvion_. Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, which was called the
Day of the Little Scouvion, young folks and children used to run with
lighted torches through the gardens and orchards. As they ran they cried
at the pitch of their voices,

"_Bear apples, bear pears
And cherries all black
To Scouvion!_"

At these words the torch-bearer whirled his blazing brand and hurled it
among the branches of the apple-trees, the pear-trees, and the
cherry-trees. The next Sunday was called the Day of the Great Scouvion,
and the same race with lighted torches among the trees of the orchards
was repeated in the afternoon till darkness fell. The same custom was
observed on the same two days at Wasmes.[268] In the neighbourhood of
Liege, where the Lenten fires were put down by the police about the
middle of the nineteenth century, girls thought that by leaping over the
fires without being smirched they made sure of a happy marriage.
Elsewhere in order to get a good husband it was necessary to see seven
of the bonfires from one spot. In Famenne, a district of Namur, men and
cattle who traversed the Lenten fires were thought to be safe from
sickness and witchcraft. Anybody who saw seven such fires at once had
nothing to fear from sorcerers. An old saying ran, that if