hey are cared for by grown-up persons, and here the
whole population will gather round the blazing pile and join in singing
choral hymns, which echo far and wide in the stillness of night.[350]

[The Easter fires in Muensterland, Oldenburg, the Harz Mountains and the
Altmark.]

In Muensterland these Easter fires are always kindled upon certain
definite hills, which are hence known as Easter or Paschal Mountains.
The whole community assembles about the fire. Fathers of families form
an inner circle round it. An outer circle is composed of the young men
and maidens, who, singing Easter hymns, march round and round the fire
in the direction of the sun, till the blaze dies down. Then the girls
jump over the fire in a line, one after the other, each supported by two
young men who hold her hands and run beside her. When the fire has
burned out, the whole assembly marches in solemn procession to the
church, singing hymns. They go thrice round the church, and then break
up. In the twilight boys with blazing bundles of straw run over the
fields to make them fruitful.[351] At Delmenhorst, in Oldenburg, it used
to be the custom to cut down two trees, plant them in the ground side by
side, and pile twelve tar-barrels, one above the other, against each of
the trees. Brushwood was then heaped about the trees, and on the evening
of Easter Saturday the boys, after rushing about with blazing beanpoles
in their hands, set fire to the whole. At the end of the ceremony the
urchins tried to blacken each other and the clothes of grown-up
people.[352] In Schaumburg the Easter bonfires may be seen blazing on
all the mountains around for miles. They are made with a tar-barrel
fastened to a pine-tree, which is wrapt in straw. The people dance
singing round them.[353] In the Harz Mountains the fire is commonly made
by piling brushwood about a tree and setting it on fire. At Osterode
every one tries to snatch a brand from the bonfire and runs about with
it; the better it burns, the more lucky it is. In Grund there are
torch-races.[354] In the Altmark the Easter bonfires are composed of
tar-barrels, bee-hives, and so forth, piled round a pole. The young folk
dance round the fire; and when it has died out, the old folk come and
collect the ashes, which they preserve as a remedy for the ailments of
bees. It is also believed that as far as the blaze of the bonfire is
visible, the corn will grow well throughout the year, and no
conflagration will brea