Clothed Straw Puppets in Estonian Folk Calendar Tradition

In our country at the time of the end of the rule of the Swedish kings there was in some places the pagan custom, known also elsewhere in the world. On Shrove Tuesday people made a puppet figure which they called metsik [the Wild One]. One year they put on it a man's hat and an old coat, the next year they put on it a coif and a woman's dress. They hoisted this figure up on a long pole and, dancing and singing, carried it across the border of their village, borough or parish and tied it to the top of a tree in the woods. This was to mean that all mishaps and bad luck were over and that grain and flax were to give good yield in this year. In Germany, where a similar thing was done in the past, people said that they were taking away winter or death. (

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• Grundzuge des Estnischen Volksglaubens I

  Thomas A Sebeok, Oskar Loorits•Journal of American Folklore•1950

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