The Encyclopædia Britannica explains: “Originally such rites were intended to ensure fertility to the crops, and by extension to cattle and human beings, but in most cases this significance was gradually lost, and the practices survived merely as popular festivities. ”
توضح دائرة المعارف البريطانية :‏ ‏ « في البداية ،‏ كان الهدف من ممارسة هذه الشعائر تأمين وفرة المحاصيل وخصوبة المواشي والبشر .‏