The problem with Wilhelm Mannhardt

 Critics or Dr. Mannhardt’s research point out that he recorded the folklore and traditions in Forest and Field Cults in the 19th century, long after heathenism had been extirpated from Europe.  Germany had been converted around 800CE when Charlemagne defeated the heathen Saxons - over 1000 years before Mannhardt’s time.  Lithuania, the last European nation to adopt Christianity did so in the middle of the 14th century, around 500 years prior to Mannhardt.  The possibility was that traditions and folklore he recorded might not have had a heathen origin at all - they may have emerged after conversion and been entirely Christian.  

Despite this problem it is clear, at least in some cases, that he did record traditions rooted in heathenism.  For example, a large section of his book is devoted to traditions involving fire.  In it he describes a rural practice of setting fire to a wheel in the middle of the summer and rolling it downhill.  This practice matches an early 4th century record of heathens rolling a burning wheel down a hill and then reassembling the pieces in their sky god temple.  In this case, Mannhardt likely uncovered the remains of a heathen practice.  It seemed to me that his research must have some value but I decided to avoid the sticky question of whether or not he had uncovered the remnants of pre Christian societies for now.  Instead I went looking to see what he had to say about maypoles.