136 _sq._
[418] J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie,_*[4] i. 517 _sq._
[419] From information supplied by Mr. Sigurd K. Heiberg, engineer, of
Bergen, Norway, who in his boyhood regularly collected fuel for the
fires. I have to thank Miss Anderson, of Barskimming, Mauchline,
Ayrshire, for kindly procuring the information for me from Mr. Heiberg.
The Blocksberg, where German as well as Norwegian witches gather for
their great Sabbaths on the Eve of May Day (Walpurgis Night) and
Midsummer Eve, is commonly identified with the Brocken, the highest peak
of the Harz mountains. But in Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and probably
elsewhere, villages have their own local Blocksberg, which is generally
a hill or open place in the neighbourhood; a number of places in
Pomerania go by the name of the Blocksberg. See J. Grimm, _Deutsche
Mythologie_*[4] ii. 878 _sq._; Ulrich Jahn, _Hexenwesen und Zauberei in
Pommern_ (Breslau, 1886), pp. 4 _sq._; _id._, _Volkssagen aus Pommern
und Ruegen_ (Stettin, 1886), p. 329.
[420] L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_ (London, 1870), pp. 259, 265.
[421] L. Lloyd, _op. cit._ pp. 261 _sq._ These springs are called
"sacrificial fonts" (_Offer kaellor_) and are "so named because in
heathen times the limbs of the slaughtered victim, whether man or beast,
were here washed prior to immolation" (L. Lloyd, _op. cit._ p. 261).
[422] E. Hoffmann-Krayer, _Feste und Braeuche des Schweizervolkes_
(Zurich, 1913), p.
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