A story is told of
a farmer who, on the first of May discovered two old women in one of his
fields, drawing a hair rope along the grass. On being seen, they fled.
The farmer secured the rope, took it home with him, and hung it in the
byre. When the cows were milked every spare dish about the farm-house
was filled with milk, and yet the udders remained full. The farmer being
alarmed, consigned the rope to the fire, and then the milk ceased to
flow.
It was believed that first of May dew preserved the skin from wrinkles
and freckles, and gave a glow of youth. To this belief Ferguson refers
in the following lines:--
"On May day in a fairy ring,
We've seen them round St. Anthon's spring,
Frae grass the caller dew to wring,
To wet their een;
And water clear as crystal spring,
To synd them clean."
_MIDSUMMER._
To sun worshippers no season would be better calculated to excite
devotional feelings towards the great luminary than the period when he
attained the zenith of his strength. It is probable, therefore, that as
his movements must have been closely observed, and his various phases
regarded by the people, in the language of Scripture, "for signs and for
seasons, for days and for years," that the turning points in the sun's
yearly course, the solstices, would naturally become periods of worship.
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