amatesura:

May Day festivals. Primitive man lived and died by his harvest. The purpose of his spring ceremonies was to ensure a plentiful autumn. Relics of these fertility dramas are to be found all over Europe. In Great Britain, for example, one can still see…harmless versions of them danced in obscure villages on May Day. Their cast includes many alarming characters: A man-animal, or hobbyhorse, who canters at the head of the procession charging at the girls; A man-woman, the sinister teaser, played by the community leader or priest; And a man-fool, Punch, most complex of all the symbolic figures - the privileged simpleton and king for a day. Six swordsmen follow these figures and at the climax of the ceremony lock their swords together. In a clear symbol of the Sun. In pagan times, however, these dances were not simply picturesque jigs. They were frenzied rites ending in a sacrifice by which the dancers hoped desperately to win over the goddess of the fields. In good times, they offered produce to the gods and slaughtered animals, but in bad years, when the harvest had been poor, the sacrifice was a human being.