“Carnival.” These Pagan practices are sternly reprobated in the
“Liber Poenitentialis” of S. Theodore, seventh Archbishop of
Canterbury. In Book XXXVII is written: “If anyone at the Kalends of
January goeth about as a stag or a bull-calf, that is, making himself into
a wild animal, and dressing in the skins of a herd animal, and putting on
the heads of beast; those who in such wise transform themselves into the
appearance of a wild animal, let them do penance for three years, because
this is devilish.” See my “Geography of Witchcraft,” Chap.
II, pp. 65-73. The Council of Auxerre in 578 (or 585) forbade anyone
“to masquerade as a bull-calf or a stag on the first of January or
to distribute devilish charms.”