Note 538 — Chapter XII · THE SACRED MARRIAGE

F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie, i. 107-110, ii. 550. At Ragusa in Sicily an enormous effigy of a dragon, with movable tail and eyes, is carried in procession on St. George’s Day (April 23rd); and along with it two huge sugar loaves, decorated with flowers, figure in the procession. At the end of the festival these loaves are broken into little bits, and every farmer puts one of the pieces in his sowed fields to ensure a good crop. See G. Pitrè, Feste patronali in Sicilia (Turin and Palermo, 1900), pp. 323 sq. In this custom the fertility charm remains, though the marriage ceremony appears to be absent. As to the mummers’ play of St. George, see E. K. Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage (Oxford, 1903), i. 205 sqq.; A. Beatty, “The St. George, or Mummers’, Plays,” Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, xv. part ii. (October, 1906) pp. 273-324. A separate copy of the latter work was kindly sent to me by the author.