Victorian comparative religion
Extensive documentation of European agricultural customs and beliefs about corn spirits (grain spirits). Frazer catalogs harvest rituals, personifications of the last sheaf, corn mothers and maidens, animal embodiments of crop spirits, and ceremonies surrounding sowing and reaping. The work explores how European peasants conceived of grain as animated by spirits that must be honored, captured, or transferred to ensure next year's harvest. Examples include corn wolves, rye dogs, harvest cats, and the widespread custom of fashioning human or animal figures from the last sheaf.
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