case they could be provided with husbands, taken to the 'Giritzimoos' for bachelors who were unable to make up their minds to marry. Es gab ferner öffentliche Ausrufe, in welchen auf ärgerlichen Lebenswandel angespielt wurde. So zog einst in einem Dorfe ein Ausrufer herum, welcher unter Hornstössen bekannt gab: 'De St. hed d' Frau gschlage, er gäb's Pfund für e Vierer, aher es stink, es well's niemer.'" And, for example, a drunken woman was sold as veal. All this makes it quite clear that matrimony was regarded as a social duty, and its avoidance as a social crime.[1]
Similarly in Rüthi (Canton St. Gall) a "Pfingstmannli" was painted (on Whit-Sunday?) on houses where a girl who had no sweetheart lived. In Oberriet, on the other hand, the Pfingstmannli was painted on the house of one who had a 'Schatz,' but Hofmann-Krayer is doubtless right in thinking that the custom originated in the public branding or moral punishment of celibacy.[2] He is equally justified in saying that folk-justice is supported by the Scriptural commandment to 'increase and multiply.'
At Dagmerstellen in Canton Luzern the "Giritzenmoos" ceased to be observed about 1870, and J. L. Arnold's account of it leaves some points obscure. Originally held on the Hirsmontag, the Monday after Invocavit, but later on Güdismontag, the Monday after Estomihi, it was an elaborate example of folk-justice. The Giritzvater was elected, and a youth chosen to represent each and every village belle, for which purpose he was masked. The proceedings were mainly directed against unmarried maidens whose ages ranged from 24 to 35, but other misdemeanants were not exempt. The Giritzvater and his scribe were seated on a big wain, covered in like those of travelling folk. Arriving at the door of an offending maid,
