The essentially pagan character of the Easter fire festival appears plainly both from the mode in which it is celebrated by the peasants and from the superstitious beliefs which they associate with it.  All over northern and central Germany, from Altmark and Anhalt on the east, through Brunswick, Hanover, Oldenburg, the Harz district, and Hesse to Westphalia the Easter bonfires still blaze simultaneously on the hill-tops.  As many as forty may sometimes be counted within sight at once.  Long before Easter the young people have been busy collecting firewood; every farmer contributes, and tar-barrels, petroleum cases, and so forth go to swell the pile.  Neighbouring villages vie with each other as to which shall send up the greatest blaze.  The fires are always kindled, year after year, on the same hill, which accordingly often takes the name of Easter Mountain.  It is a fine spectacle to watch from some eminence the bonfires flaring up one after another on the neighbouring heights.  As far as their light reaches, so far, in the belief of the peasants, the fields will be fruitful, and the houses on which they shine will be safe from conflagration or sickness.  At Volkmarsen and other places in Hesse the people used to observe which way the wind blew the flames, and then they sowed flax seed in that direction, confident that it would grow well.  Brands taken from the bonfires preserve houses from being struck by lightning; and the ashes increase the fertility of the fields, protect them from mice, and mixed with the drinking-water of cattle make the animals thrive and ensure them against plague.  As the flames die down, young and old leap over them, and cattle are sometimes driven through the smouldering embers.  In some places tar-barrels or wheels wrapt in straw used to be set on fire, and then sent rolling down the hillside.  In others the boys light torches and wisps of straw at the bonfires and rush about brandishing them in their hands.  Where the people are divided between Protestantism and Catholicism, as in Hildesheim, it has been observed that among Protestants the Easter bonfires are generally left to the boys, while in Catholic districts they are cared for by grown-up persons, and here the whole population will gather round the blazing pile and join in singing choral hymns, which echo far and wide in the stillness of night.[350]

[The Easter fires in Muensterland, Oldenburg, the Harz Mountains and the Altmark.]

In Muensterland these Easter fires are always kindled upon certain definite hills, which are hence known as Easter or Paschal Mountains.  The whole community assembles about the fire.  Fathers of families form an inner circle round it.  An outer circle is composed of the young men and maidens, who, singing Easter hymns, march round and round the fire in the direction of the sun, till the blaze dies down.  Then the girls jump over the fire in a line, one after the other, each supported by two young men who hold