Abbott - Macedonian Floklore (1903)

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MACEDONIAN FOLKLORE
BY
G. F. ABBOTT, B.A.
EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE,
UNIVERSITY
_CA
CAMBRIDGE :
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

1903
RF^SE
PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY,

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
. DEDICATED
(WITHOUT PERMISSION)
TO THE AUTHOR
OF
THE GOLDEN BOUGH
118931
PREFACE.
rflHE present volume contains the results of some re-
searches into the folklore of the Greek-speaking parts

of Macedonia, carried on in 1900-1 by the author under the
auspices of the Electors to the Prendergast Studentship and
of the Governing Body of Emmanuel College. The materials
thus derived from oral tradition have, in some cases, been sup-
plemented from local publications. Among the latter, special

mention must be made of the two excellent booklets on the
antiquities and folklore of Liakkovikia, by A. D. Gousios, a
native schoolmaster, frequently quoted in the following pages.
The peasant almanacks have also yielded a few additional
sayings concerning the months.
The writer has not been content with a bare record of
Dreams, magic terrors, spells of mighty power,
Witches, and ghosts who rove at midnight hour,
but, induced by the example of his betters, has undertaken

some tentative flights to Zululand, Yungnulgra, Zamboanga,
the Seranglao and Gorong archipelagoes, and other resorts
now fashionable among folklorists. Ancient History and
modern, the Old World and the New have been laid under
contribution, to the limited extent of the author's reading,
with the result that many a nursery rhyme, shorn of all its
familiar simplicity, has been
Started at home and hunted in the dark
To Gaul, to Greece, and into Noah's ark.
x Preface
For these unknown, the
spiritual excursions into the vast
author is chiefly indebted to the guidance of Mr Tylor's and
Mr Frazer's monumental works, to some of Mr Andrew Lang's
essays, and to various other authorities mentioned in the foot-
notes. His thanks are also due to his forerunners in the

pursuit of Modern Greek folklore, and more particularly to
Mr Tozer, Herr Bernhard Schmidt, MM. Georgeakis et Pineau,

Sir Eennell Rodd and others whose labours it has been his
modest ambition to supplement. In conclusion, it is the
author's pleasant duty to acknowledge his obligations to the
readers of the Cambridge University Press, whose conscientious
and intelligent revision of the proofs has saved him from many
a slip.
G. F. A.
EMMANUEL COLLEGE,
CAMBRIDGE.
March 25, 1903.
CONTENTS.
CHAP.
CHAPTER I
THE FOLKLORIST IN MACEDONIA.
/L, IN the Near East, as elsewhere, Western civilization is

doing
its wonted work of reducing all racial and individual character-
istics to a level of dull uniformity. The process, however, is
much slower in Macedonia than it is in countries like Egypt,
Greece, or Roumania. The mountainous character of the
province, the backward state of commerce, lack of security, and
the conspicuous absence of means of communication obstruct
the progress of foreign influence. The same causes keep the
various districts, and their inhabitants, separated from each
other. To these impediments are further added the barriers
of language, creed, and race, all tending to foster that luxuriant
wealth of superstitious growth, which makes glad the heart
of the folklorist.
These features, naturally, are less prominent in the cosmo-
politan cities on the coast than in the interior of the country,
and prominent now than
in the interior, again, they are less
they were some years ago. The materials which I collected at

Salonica and Cavalla were mostly gleaned from the peasants,
who resort to those centres from the environs for commercial or
religious purposes, and only in very few cases from native
citizens. The Khans, or inns, in which these villagers stop,
may be worth
said to constitute the sole parts of the cities
and the is neither an easy nor a pleasant
exploring, exploration
task. My real harvest was gathered in the thoroughly provin-
cial towns of Serres and Melenik, the townships of Demir
Hissar and Nigrita, and the villages adjacent thereto as well ;
as in places of lesser note, such as Vassilika and Sochos in the
A. F. 1
2 Macedonian Folklore
Chalcidic Trident, the settlements in its three prongs, Provista
in the valley of the Struma, Pravi in the
neighbourhood of
Philippi, and some of the country around, and to the south of,
Drama. In all and sundry of these districts I found abundance
of the things of which I was in quest, and more than I could
possibly gather within the time allowed by circumstances.

At Serres was chiefly beholden for my materials to an
I
aged and half-blind nurse, whose acquaintance I made through

the kind offices of certain Greek ladies, the old woman's
quondam charges. Kyra Tassio was a rich mine of fairy-lore,
and though she would on going at a rate more in keeping
insist
with the pace of a motor-car than with the speed of an ordinary
human hand, I succeeded in filling several note-books from her
dictation, only to find on examination that a great many of her
tales had already been substantially reproduced by Hahn, while
some of the rest were not worth reproducing at all. Still,
out of the heap of dross, several nuggets of pure gold were
secured :
enough to satisfy the ambition of a moderately
sanguine explorer.
M. Tzikopoulos, a learned professor of that town, was good
enough to assist me in the elucidation of the stories obtained
from Kyra Tassio and other ancient sources, and to him I am
also indebted for much valuable information on the dialect of
the district, as well as for a number of notes on the language
and customs of South-Western Macedonia, the part of the
I am all the more grateful to
1
country from which he hailed.
M. Tzikopoulos because he made no secret of his hearty con-
tempt for rny pursuits. Philology was his particular hobby,
and, in proportion as he loved his own hobby, he scorned the
hobbies of other men. Old wives' tales had no charm for
"
M. Tzikopoulos. and sheer waste of time,"
It is all nonsense
he assured me
solemnly on more occasions than one, and yet he
never refused to be questioned.
M. Zographides of Melenik was another genial old teacher
1
For my introduction to this gentleman I am indebted to the courtesy of
M. P. N. Papageorgiou, the well-known scholar and archaeologist, whose
sympathetic interest in my work will always remain as one of the most pleasant
reminiscences of my tour.
The FolJdorist in Macedonia 3
to whose lessons and friendly guidance I owe much. Unlike

M. Tzikopoulos, this authority was conveniently eclectic in his
tastes, and his heart was impartially open to all kinds of
knowledge, from Anthropology to Demonology, and from Philo-

logy to Phrenology, provided the subject ended in -ology. It
istrue that he also professed the learned man's contempt for
popular superstition but, being of a more tolerant disposition,

;
he waived his prejudice, and saw no objection to cross-examining

his wife and all the old ladies of the neighbourhood on my
behalf. His exertions and those of other gentlemen were
local
crowned with success, as the results amply prove.
At Melenik I was doomed to a second disappointment at
the hands of an aged story-teller. Fame described her as a
walking Arabian Nights Entertainments in a complete and
unexpurgated edition. But, -when weighed in the balance, she
was found sadly wanting, and the few things which I lured out
of her reluctant mouth had to be expurgated to a point of total
annihilation. Athird female a renowned witch on whom I
had been led to build high hopes, showed her diabolical wicked-
ness by dying a short time before my arrival.
These failures shook my faith in old women of the fair
sex, at all events. But the fortune that favours the folklorist
enabled me, before leaving Melenik, to fall in with an old
woman of the opposite sex. Kyr Liatsos, though a mere
bearded man, was, from the student's point of view, worth at
least a dozen ordinary old dames rolled into one.
I found him in his workshop, sitting
cross-legged on a rush
mat, with his baggy breeches well-tucked between the knees.
Though the owner of broad acres in the vicinity of the town, he
was compelled, by the memory of past experiences at the hands
of Bulgarian brigands, and by the fear of similar treatment in
the future, to ply the needle and ell for a livelihood. In short,
Kyr Liatsos was a tailor. But, like the Great Mel his col-
league of Evan Harrington fame he was an individual far
above his station. This became patent from the manner in
which he received and entertained me. Nothing could be
more generous, kindly, philosophical, eccentric, and unsartorial
than his behaviour towards the strange collector of nonsense.
12
Aglance through a pair of brass-rimmed spectacles, un-
stably poised on an honestly red nose, satisfied Kyr Liatsos
that his visitor had not called for so commonplace an object as
a pair of trousers. With remarkable mental agility he adjusted
himself to these new circumstances. The fur-coat, on which he
was engaged at the moment of my entrance, flew to the other
end of the shop, one of the apprentices was despatched for a
bottle of arrack and tobacco, and in two minutes Kyr Liatsos
was a tailor transformed.
There being no chairs in the establishment we reclined, my
guide and I, a la Grecque on the rush mats which covered the
floor. I produced note-books, and my host, after a short,
my
and somewhat irrelevant preface concerning the political state
of Europe, the bloodthirsty cruelty of the Macedonian Com-
mittee, and the insatiable rapacity of the tax-gatherers,,
plunged into the serious business of the day. It is true that
his discourse was often interrupted by allusions to matters
foreign to the subject in hand, and still more often by impre-
cations and shoes addressed to the apprentices, who preferred
to listen to their master's tales rather than do his work. Yet,
in spite of these digressions, Kyr Liatsos never missed or
tangled the threads of his narrative.
Meanwhile his wife arrived, and after having given vent to
some natural astonishment at her lord's novel occupation, she
collapsed into a corner. Her protests, at first muttered in an
audible aside, grew fainter and fainter, and at last I thought
she had fallen asleep. On looking up, however, I discovered
that merely stood spell-bound by her gifted husband's,
she
eloquence. It was only when the latter got up and began to
romp about the room, that she felt it her duty to express her
strong disapprobation of the proceedings. This she did in the
following terms:
"
Art thou not ashamed of thyself, O my husband ? Thou
dancest and makest merry, and thy poor brother has been dead
scarcely a month."
Thereupon I perceived that Kyr Liatsos actually wore
round his fez a black crape band which had not yet had time
to turn green. I sympathized with the lady for an instant.
The FolJdorist in Macedonia 5
But the next moment I was completely reassured by her

husband's retort:
" "
Mind thy own business, O woman ! he answered, gravely,
"
but without interrupting his waltz, and I know how to mind
mine. unseemly joy that I dance; but in order
It is not for
to show this gentleman the steps of our country dance. My
motive is scientific. But women cannot comprehend such
things."
Having delivered this severe rebuke Kyr Liatsos resumed
his seat, his pipe and his story.
Soon after happened something which illustrated even more
vividly the close resemblance between Kyr Liatsos and the
Great Mel. A
customer was announced a big Turk, who :
wanted to see Master on business.

" "
Business and Turks be damned
was the emphatic and !
highly uncommercial answer, accompanied by a well-aimed

shoe at the head of a truant apprentice.
I insisted that Kyr Liatsos should not neglect his interests
on my account, and said that I should be extremely sorry if he
any money through his hospitality.
lost
" "
Nonsense, sir he thundered back, " What is money,
!
when compared with the satisfaction of conversing with a man

"
like you ?
I attempted to bow my thanks for the compliment as

gracefully as my attitude on the floor permitted.
It was dark ere I left Kyr Liatsos's cobweb-festooned
establishment. On my way out I nearly fell over a crowd of
small Melenikiotes, who, having been apprised of the fact that
there were glorious doings in the shop, had gathered outside
the door and were eagerly, though timidly, listening through
its numerous interstices.
Allsubsequent experiences at Melenik pale beside this
my
ever-memorable interview with her Great Tailor.
My visit to Petritz, though exceedingly fruitful in other
respects, proved comparatively barren of results so far as my

special object of research was concerned. I found the district
in an unsettled condition, and the Turkish authorities,
partly
from genuine fear lest I should come to grief and partly from
an equally lively apprehension that I might spy the nakedness
of the land and the wretchedness thereof, allowed me little
liberty for folklore. To interview people would have meant
getting them into trouble, and to be seen taking notes would
have resulted in getting into trouble myself. All my enquiries
had, therefore, to be conducted with the utmost secrecy and all
my writing to be done with curtains drawn closely.
For this unsuccess I was richly compensated at Nigrita.
In that township I had the privilege of being the guest of
a wealthy weaver, whose looms furnished employment to a
considerable number of hands. His workmen were easily
induced to dictate to me scores of the songs with which they
beguiled the tedium of their daylong toil, while many others
were likewise pressed into the service of Ethnology. So that
when I departed I had several note-books filled with multi-
farious information on men and things. In this place I also
had an opportunity of assisting at a local dance in the middle- '
'
space (/zeo-o^wpt) of the village. But my readers will be spared

the description of a function which is infinitely more interesting
in real than on paper.
life
The thing which impressed me most deeply throughout my

tour was the astonishing facility with which the people entered
into the spirit of the enterprise. That I w as the first person
r
who had ever explored the country with the avowed purpose of
picking up old wives' tales and superstitions was evident from
the surprise and incredulity with which my first questions were
everywhere received by the peasants. Yet no sooner were their
fears ofbeing the victims of a practical joke dispelled than they
evinced the shrewdest comprehension of the nature and value
of the work. In this I could not help thinking that the
Macedonian folk presented a most flattering contrast to the
rural population of western lands. Like the latter they are
naturally shy of divulging their cherished beliefs to a stranger ;
but it is not difficult to overcome their shyness. A little tact

in most cases and a little silver in some are sufficient to loosen
their tongues.
Another and more formidable obstacle was the suspicion
that my curiosity was prompted by sinister motives. The
The Folklorist in Macedonia 7
Christians in Turkey are so frequently harassed by the

authorities on account of their national aspirations and political
sympathies that a new-comer is always an object of mistrust.

Every stranger is a detective until he has proved himself to
be an honest man. For all these reasons it is imperative to
approach the humble folk through their betters; those who
are free from superstition themselves, and at the same time are
enlightened enough to appreciate the importance of the study of

superstition and courteous enough to exert their influence on
the student's behalf. To people of this class I seldom appealed
in vain. Their native urbanity, quickened by the Greek's love
for the Englishman, made them always ready to place their
services at my disposal. 1 On one occasion alone I failed, and
my failure deserves to be recorded as a warning to others. It
shows how the work is not to be done.
It happened in a small village on the eastern coast of the
Chalcidic Peninsula. I had been informed that two old
women, who dwelt in a certain cottage, were considered the
greatest living authorities on funeral laments. Confident in

my own powers of persuasion, I neglected to secure the support
of a local but I forthwith proceeded to the abode of
magnate ;
the Muses, note-book in hand, and explained to them the

object of my visit. As soon as the meaning of my errand
broke on their intelligence, their kindly faces assumed the
aspect of the Eumenides in pursuit of a matricide :
" " "

Whatthey exclaimed both in one voice, You good-for-
!
nothing You vagabond

! You want to hold us up to ridicule
!
"
all over the world ? Is that what you mean, eh ?
I assured them that nothing was further from my thoughts.
But my words had no other effect than to intensify the old
dames' choler, and I found it advisable to beat a hasty and
undignified retreat. As I fled, my ears continued ringing with

the shrill accents and angry expletives of the enraged menads.
1
Want it impossible to give a complete li^t of all the
of space renders
individuals obliged me with their aid. But I should be wanting in
who have
common gratitude if I forbore to mention M. Athenaeos, an official of the
Ottoman Kegie at Cavalla, who spared no pains in persuading the peasants, who
worked in the tobacco-stores, to disclose their treasures to me.
I did not repeat the experiment.
Great part of my material was collected during late summer
and early autumn, in the open fields and vineyards, whenever
the relative absence of brigandage and agitation rendered that
possible,and on the roads while travelling from one place to
another. On the latter occasions my fellow-travellers, and
more especially my muleteers, were made to supply me with
information. Very often the songs with which they cheered
the way were at the conclusion of the journey dictated to me.
But my best work was done by the cottage fireside. During
the long evenings of winter it is the custom for families to
meet and spend the time in social companionship (vvxrepi).
The women these reunions generally keep their hands
in
busy knitting, and, of course,, their tongues gossiping. The

men smoke and discuss politics. Now and again the work
is laid aside, the debate is adjourned, and they all listen
attentively to the tale which some ancient dame is telling for

the benefit of the youngsters. On special occasions, such as
the eves of saints' days, these gatherings assume an entirely
festive character. No work is done, but the time is devoted to
stories, riddles and songs, hence known as '
Sitting-up Songs
'
The sung not only on the

old Klephtic ballads are also still
mountains but in the fields

plains, and
and in all places where
the ear of the police cannot reach. Nay, at feasts and fairs,
and wherever Greeks are gathered together, a round or two of
" "
the bell-mouthed glass is enough to make them cast fear to
the winds and give musical expression to their patriotic feelings.
Even in the towns on the coast, where serenades and love-ditties
are so much in vogue and the Turkish commissaries of police
so much in evidence, the epic is not forgotten. At Cavalla
I met one evening an Epirot highlander, who invited me to
"
a tavern and promised to regale me with such songs as had
never been heard before." He fulfilled his promise to the
letter. When the habitues were gone, the shutters were
all
put up, and the lights, for the fear of the Turks, were turned
down, my friend cleared his throat and commenced one of the
wildest and most thrilling melodies that has ever assailed my
The Folklorist in Macedonia 9
ear. By little and

enthusiasm got the better of his
little his
discretion ;
and swelled until the grimy apart-
his voice rose
ment was peopled with the shades of heroes, the dark corners
were illuminated with the splendour of heroic deeds, and the
dirty tavern was transformed into a romantic battle-field on
which Freedom met and overcame Tyranny. It was a pathetic
scene, notwithstanding its grotesqueness. The tavern-keeper
and his servant were the only hearers besides myself. Through
the dim light of the apartment I could see their eyes glittering
with the sort of fire which has ere now kindled revolutions
and changed the map of South- Eastern Europe. A deep sigh
was the only applause which greeted the end of the song; but
the bard felt richly rewarded. He had relieved his own over-
burdened heart and had also succeeded in stirring the hearts of
his audience. He emptied his glass and departed with a brief
"
Good night."
Of the blind minstrels who once were so popular through-
out the Greek world I found few remnants in Macedonia. The
tribe has fallen on evil days. Civilization and barbarism have
proved alike fatal to its existence, and its few representatives

eke out a precarious livelihood by singing the products of their
rustic muse
at village fairs and weddings. Barba Sterios,
whom 1
described elsewhere, seems to have been in very truth
I
the last of the Macedonian minstrels.

From such sources are drawn most of the materials out of
which the present work has been compiled. 2 Even where the
information is not quite new, I venture to hope that it may be
found useful as a corroboration or correction at first hand of the
experiences already recorded by others. It is not to be pre-
sumed that this volume exhausts the wealth of Macedonian
folklore. It only represents the harvest gathered by one
individual of limited means within a limited space of time.
Songs of Modern Greece, pp. 5

1
foil.
2
A great many of the tales and songs
collected had to be excluded either
because they were too well known or because they lay beyond the scope of the
present volume. At some future date I may have an opportunity of publishing
a selection from them.
Another student with greater resources at his command might
find an aftermath well worth the trouble of gleaning.
Such a student, however, must be one not unwilling to face
hardship and danger. He must also be one prepared to look
upon brigands chiefly in the light of auxiliaries to the excite-
ment of rough travel, and upon Turkish Government officials
as interesting psychological phenomena. These qualifications,
a Colt revolver, a Turkish fez, a small medicine chest, a
moderate stock of humour, and a plentiful stock of insect-
killingpowder are among the absolutely indispensable items
of the complete Macedonian traveller's outfit. A kodak may
or may not prove useful but in either case it will have to be
;
smuggled into the country or imported on the clear under-

standing that it is not an infernal machine a point on which
the Custom House authorities are slow to be convinced, unless
argument is reinforced by bakshish. Note-books and maps are
to be used only in the dark, figuratively speaking; for a sight
may earn the traveller the reputation

of those suspicious articles
one dealing in "treasons, stratagems,
of a secret political agent,
and spoils" and lead to the awkward consequences which such
a reputation usually entails, including a rapid march under
escort to the nearest sea port. The escort will indeed be
described in parlance as a guard of honour, and the
official
expulsion as a signal proof of the Sultan's solicitude for the

traveller's safety but these polite euphemisms will not alter
;
the situation to any appreciable extent.

CHAPTER II.
THE FOLK-CALENDAR AND THE SEASONS.
TIME among the peasantry of Macedonia is measured not

so much by the conventional calendar as by the labours and
festivalswhich are proper to the various seasons of the year.
Seed-time, harvest, and vintage the Feast of St George, or the
;
bonfires of St John these are some of the landmarks in the
peasant's life. In most cases the Roman designations of the

months, meaningless to Greek ears, have been corrupted into
forms to which popular ingenuity has readily assigned a
plausible derivation in others they have been replaced by
;
names descriptive of the occupations which form the principal

feature of every month while a third class of months is known
;
by the name of the greatest saint whose feast occurs during

each one of them. These characteristic appellations lend to the
folk-calendar a variety and freshness of colour such as one
would vainly seek in the artificial almanacks of more highly
cultured communities a possible exception to this rule being
;
offered only by the picturesque nomenclature of the Dutch

months, and by the short-lived, because artificial, return to
Nature initiated by the French during their Revolution.
There are wise saws attached to each month ;
some con-
taining the fruit of past experience, others a shrewd forecast of
the future. Many of these products of rustic lore are from
time to time inserted in the cheap publications Kazamias of
Constantinople and Athens, which in some respects correspond
to our own Old Moore's Almanack. '
Many more are to be

culled in the country districts directly from the peasants
themselves. But, whether they are embodied in halfpenny
pamphlets or nourish freely in the open fields, these sayings
have their roots deep in the soil of popular conviction. The
weather is, of course, the theme upon which the village sage
mostly loves to exercise his wisdom for it is upon the weather
;
that the well-being of both herdsman and husbandman chiefly
depends. Several specimens of Macedonian weather-lore will

be found in the following pages. As a general rule they are in
verse, terse and concise as behoves the utterances of a popular
oracle. On the other hand, it must be confessed, these com-
positions sometimes exhibit all the insensibility to rhyme from
which suffer the illiterate everywhere. Most of these adages
are as widely known in Southern Greece as in the Greek-
speaking parts of Macedonia.
The Four Seasons.
The division of the year into four seasons

traditional is
recognized by the popular muse in the following distich :
elv rj "Avoi^L /cal rpeis TO Ka\o/caipi'
TO XtZ'OTTCOpO 1 Kdl T/96fc? /3apV<>
" Threemonths are Spring, and three Summer ;
Three are Autumn, and three keen Winter."
i.q.
CHAPTER III.
JANUARY, FEBRUARY 'AND MARCH.
THE month of the year is known as the 'Breeder'

first
(Tevvdprjs), the corruption of the name (from 'lavovdpios)

having suggested a meaning according well with the main
characteristic of the month for it is at this time of year that
;
cattle arewont to breed (yevvovv}. It is also called the 'Great'

or 'Long Month' (MeydXos or Tpaz/o? //^z/a?), in contradistinc-
tion to February and the 'Pruner' (KXaSeur^?).
;
It is good to
prune and trim trees and vines in this month, regardless of all
other considerations :
Tewdprj fjirjva x:\dSeve, (freyydpi fjurjv êrdfys.

"In January look thy plants to prune,
And heed thou not the progress of the moon."
The force of the injunction will be fully appreciated by

those who know how deep and universal is the importance
attributed to the moon by the popular mind.
An omen is drawn from the observation of the weather
on the Epiphany :
Xapa '9 rd QWTO, rd (rreyvd /cal Trj Aa/jLTrpr) j3p/j,ewr).
"A dry Epiphany and dripping Easter-tide

Betoken joy and plenty through the country-side."
"
This is the reverse of our English adages A green Yule
"
makes a fat
churchyard," January fair, the Lord have
mercy!" and other pessimistic proverbs well known to weather-
1
lorists.
1
See E. Inwards, Weather Lore, pp. 10 foil. ;
The Book of Days, ed. by
E. Chambers, vol. i. p. 22.
A piece of culinary advice is conveyed by these rhymes :
Tlrjrra, /corra rov Fevvdpr),

'
KoK/copa rov A.\covdprj.

"In January make of hen thy pie,
And leave the cock to fat until July."
February.
February (<&e/3povdpios) has had its name turned into
which, according to the folk-etymologist, means the
<l>Xe/3<7/3779,
'Vein-sweller,' because during this month the veins ($Xe/3e9) of

the earth are swollen with water an idea also expressed by our
own folk appellation of the month February fill-dyke. : The
same idea is embodied in the ominous saw :
'O <&\l3apr)<; <Xe/3e? dvoiyei KOI Troprais cr$a\,vdei.
"February opens many a vein and closes many a door,"
that is, it is the cause of many a death.

But, notwithstanding his ferocity, February still is the
forerunner of the blissful time in store for us :
av
Ma av Saxrrj ical fca/ciobcrr),

Mecr' '9 TO %toVt 6d yu-a
"February, though the veins he swell,

Still of spring and summer will he smell ;
But perchance he wrathful grows,

if
He'll bury us beneath the snows."
February is likewise called Mi/eô? /u,7/V<z9 or Kourcro-

1
or Lame February.'
'
,
that is,
'
Little Month '
On Feb. 2nd is celebrated the feast of the Purification of

the Virgin our Candlemas Day.
(rrjs 'TTraTravTrjs), The
weather which prevails on that day is expected to last forty
days a period which occurs constantly in modern Greek
1
The word lame is by some identified with the Albanian Koutzi
KOVTO-OS
' '
'
little,' word Koutzo-Vlach, where it is said to mean Little Wallach,
as in the
in contradistinction to the Great Wallachs of the mediaeval Me7aAo/3X<xxta
(Thessaly). The usual translation is 'lame' or 'lisping,' an epithet referring

to the pronunciation of the Wallachs. These derivations are given under all
possible reservations and should not be taken for more than they are worth.
/
January, February and Marc
prognostications concerning the weather and is also familiar

in the folklore of most European countries. The superstition
attached to this day is also common. Sir Thomas Browne,
in his Vulgar Errors, quotes a Latin distich expressive of a
parallel belief:
Si sol splendescat Maria purificante,
Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante ;
which is well reproduced in the homely Scottish rhyme :
If Candlemass day be dry and fair,

The half o' winter's to come and mair.
If Candlemass day be wet and foul,
The half o' winter's gane at Yule. 1
Another Scotch proverb refers distinctly to the "forty days."
Saint Swithin's day, gin ye do rain,

For forty days it will remain ;
Saint Swithin's day, an ye be fair,

For forty days 't will rain nae mair. 2
Gay also alludes to the superstition in his Trivia :
How, on Swithin's feast the welkin lowers,

if
And ev'ry penthouse streams with hasty showers,

Twice twenty days shall clouds their fleeces drain,
And wash the pavement with incessant rain. 3
still entertained by our own folk with
Similar beliefs are
regard about
to other
days this time of year, such as the
12th of January; the 13th (St Hilary's); the 22nd (St
Vincent's); and the 25th (St Paul's) of the same month
4
;
while the idea of the quarantaine (in the old sense of the word)
occurs in some French rhymes concerning St Medard's Day
(July 8) and the and Protais (June 5

Day of Saints Gervais 19).
1
R. Inwards, Weather Lore, p. 20 The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 214.
;
2
R. Inwards, Weather Lore, pp. 37, 38 ; The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 672.
3
Bk i. 183-6.
4 On the last mentioned day the learned writer in The Book of Days
(vol. i. p. 157) as well asR. Inwards (Weather Lore, pp. 15 foil.) should be
consulted by those interested in the subject.
S'il pleut le jour de Saint Medard,
11 pleut quarante jours plus tard ;
S'il pleut le jour de Saint Gervais et de Saint Protais,

II pleut quarante jours apres.
The Book of Days, vol. n. p. 63.
March.
'ATTO Ma^r?; /caXo/caipi, Krj air Kvyovaro

" Summer sets in with March and Winter with August,"
emphatically declares the popular proverb. In accordance with

this observation omens are especially looked for at this season
of the awakening of Nature. The sight of a lamb, for instance,
is a sign that he who has seen one first will be excessively fond
of sleep during the summer, the animal being regarded as a
symbol of sloth. The opposite conclusion is drawn from the

sight of a sprightly and restless kid.
During the first three days of the month the peasants, and
more particularly their wives and daughters, rise early in the
morning and hurry to the fields, vying with each other which of
them will be the first to hear "the herald melodies of spring."
The call of the cuckoo is anxiously expected, and lucky is he or she
who hears it first. Parties are formed and repair to the fields
on purpose and, as soon as it is heard, they gather wild berries
and bring them home. The voice of the bird is accepted as an
assurance that gloomy winter with its frosts and snows has
departed, and with it has disappeared the necessity of keeping
indoors a necessity peculiarly distasteful to the southern
temperament. congenial freedom is close at

Spring with its
hand. The trees begin to blossom and to burst into bud,

impelled thereto by the soft south-easterly breeze hence known
'
as the
'
tree-sweller (o (frovo-KoSevrpirr)?).
This is the glad
message which the cuckoo brings to the Macedonian. The

ancients regarded the appearance of the bird with similar
"
feelings, as is shown by Hesiod's words When the cuckoo :
begins to cry cuckoo ! amidst the foliage of the oak and fills
"
the hearts of men
over the boundless -earth with joy
However, the modern sage warns us not to be premature in
"
our rejoicings for eV9 KOVKKOS 8e' icdvei rrjv avoiî
;
One
cuckoo does not make a spring," another sentiment which finds
2
its prototype in antiquity.
1
W. and D. 486-7.
a
Cp. the ancient proverb /j,La x^XtStoj' Zap ov Troie?. Arist. Eth. N. i. 7, 15.
January, February and March 17
The very anticipations which make the farmer and the
shepherd rejoice are, nevertheless, a source of grief to those

whose livelihood depends on the duration of "keen winter."
Charcoal-burners hate the cuckoo whose notes announce the
approach of fine weather. Mischievous urchins turn this cir-
cumstance to account and delight in teasing the unfortunate
charcoal-burners by shouting cuckoo ! cuckoo ! after them.
The bird is also credited with a malicious sense of humour,
and in order to escape from its ridicule some of the peasants
avoid partaking of too sumptuous a breakfast during the
spring.
The cuckoo, viewed from another standpoint, is considered
an emblem of dreary desolation, a sentiment which finds ex-
pression in the popular saying e/xeti/e KOVK/COS, "lonely as a
cuckoo." It is further said of one who has wasted much money
on a profitless enterprise that " he has paid for a cuckoo the
"
price of a nightingale rov Ko<TTicrev o KOVKKOS drjbovi,. Such
penalty which the cuckoo has to pay for its popularity.

1
is the
The ^Russians also regard the cuckoo as " a type of the

orphan state." But nevertheless they, in common with most
Slavonic races, look upon it with much respect. 2 Our own
country-folk are not indifferent to the appearance of the cuckoo,
as the following rhymes, heard in Lancashire, testify :
"The cuckoo struts in April,
Sings in May,
Flies away
First cock of hay." 3
The mournful notes of the bird known as gyon are likewise

heard with pleasure and for a similar reason. But of all the
1
The game Hide and Seek (rb Kpv<f>r6) is also known by the name cuck
of
(n-aiôv/j-e rb from the cry used by the hiding children. This may be worth
KOIJK),
noting by students of cuckoo-customs. It has already been conjectured that the

game in question is perhaps related to a custom of hunting the cuckoo. See
Animal Superstitions and Totemism, by N. W. Thomas, in Folklore, vol. xi.
p. 260, n. 1.
2
Ealston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 214 foil.
3 For other English rhymes and the omens drawn from the call of the
bird when first heard, etc. see K. Inwards, Weather Lore, pp. 30, 164; The
Book of Days, vol. i. pp. 529 foil.
A. F. 2
forerunners of the vernal season none is
greeted with greater
joy than the swallow. In Macedonia, as in Southern Greece,
the return of the bird is hailed with hearty enthusiasm. Its
building under the eaves, or on the rafters of a house is
welcomed as an omen of wealth, and it is believed that he
who destroys its nest will be punished with freckles on his
face and hands. On the first of March the boys are in the
habit of constructing a wooden image of the bird, revolving on
a pivot, which they adorn with flowers, and with it in their
hands they go round the houses in groups a-gooding, that is
singing a song of congratulations in return for which they receive
various gifts. The following is a specimen of the Swallow-song
in use among the inhabitants of Liakkovikia, a village in south-
eastern Macedonia :
The Swallow-Song.
The swallow is coming from across the black sea.
It has crossed the sea for us and founded a fortress.

It has sat and sung in the middle of March's court.
"0 March, my goodly March, and thou dreadful February,

How far hast thou travelled to learn thy letters?
Letters royal, such as children learn?
" The schoolmaster has sent us that thou mayest give us five eggs,
And if thou hast not us the clucking hen,
five eggs, give
To lay eggs and brood over them and draw her chickens after her."
March is come he is welcome

:
;
The blossoms burst forth, the land is filled with scent.

Out with fleas and bugs, in with health and joy I
1
The allusion to fleas and bugs, irrelevant as it may seem, is

of considerable interest to the folklorist. Both insects appear
again and again in the Macedonian spring and summer cere-
monies, and we shall have an opportunity of returning to them
more than once in the sequel.
The custom of going about with the swallow existed among
1
The original is given in A. A. Tovviov, ''H Kara TO Hdyyatov Xwpa,' p. 43.
For variants see Songs of Modern Greece, p. 174 Passow, Nos. 305-308.
;
the ancient Greeks (êX^SoWfe^ ayelpctv rrj xêXiSovi), and

:
one of the swallow-songs popular in antiquity has fortunately

come down to us. 1 But the Romans also received the " har-
2
binger of spring" with cordial hospitality, and so did the
Teutons and the old Slavonians. The latter looked upon the
bird's early arrival as apromise of an abundant harvest, and
upon presence among them as a safeguard against fire and
its
lightning, and they supposed the robbing of its nest to bring

"
down terrible evils on the head of the robber." 3 Indeed the
springtime customs of the modern Russians are very much like
those prevalent in Macedonia. The first of March is by tradition
set apart for the reception of the Spring. Morning excursions
into the fields are in great vogue. The wooden image of the
image of the lark, and the

swallow finds a parallel in their clay
swallow-song in similar compositions sung in honour of Vesna,
the vernal season, or of Lada, the vernal goddess of love and
4
fertility.
On
the same day the Macedonian mothers tie round their
children's wrists a skein consisting of red and white yarn,
twisted together and called after the month (o fjudprrj^, or 17
fjidpra). The children at the sight of a swallow throw this

thread to the bird, as an offering, or place it under a stone. A
few days after they lift the stone and, if they find beneath it a
swarm of ants, they anticipate a healthy and prosperous year ;
the reverse, should the thread lie deserted. The explanation of
thiscustom must perhaps be sought in some forgotten notion of
a sympathetic relation between the skein and the child which
wore it. A parallel is offered by the practice of some of the
natives of New South Wales who placed the tooth extracted
from the gums of a lad under the bark of a tree, and " if the
ants ran "over it, the natives believed that the boy would suffer
from a disease of the mouth." 5 The presence of the ants is in
1
Athen. vm. 360 B.
2
Fallimur? an veris praenuntia venit hirundo? Ovid, Fast. n. 853.
3 4
Kalston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 211-214.
-
Cp. the Suffolk

sayings about the robin, "You must not take robin's eggs; if you do, you will
get your legs broken," "It is unlucky to kill a robin," etc., The Book of Days,
vol. i. p. 678.
5
F. Bonney, quoted by J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. p. 50.
22
Macedonia interpreted symbolically as indicating " health and
"
abundance but the custom bears a strong general analogy to
;
Our explanation derives additional support

the one cited above.
from another custom which seems to be based on a similar
idea.
Thefirst drawn tooth is kept by the child for a while care-
fully and then is thrown on the roof, accompanied with this

invocation of the crow :
Na, icovpovva JJL ,

KOKfca\o
Kat 809 IJLOV a&epevio,
Na poKavi^w ra Kov/c/cid,
" dear crow, here is a tooth of bone,

Take it and give me a tooth of iron instead,
That I may be able to chew beans
And to crunch dry biscuits."
Now, the practice of disposing of a child's first tooth in a

more or less mysterious way is well-nigh universal, and so is the
formula which accompanies the action. The closest parallel
to the Macedonian custom is, strangely enough, presented by
the natives of the Seranglao and Gorong archipelagoes, where
the tooth is thrown on the roof. The South Slavonians teach
their children to throw the tooth into a dark corner and say,
"
Mouse, mouse, there is a bone tooth give me an iron tooth ;
instead." The words, be seen, are almost identical with

it will
those used by the Macedonian children, but the animal appealed

to is, as in the majority of such cases, a mouse or rat, owing to
the firmness and excellence by which the teeth of these rodents
are distinguished. The practice in these cases is explained on the
doctrine of the sympathy which continues to subsist between the
extracted tooth and its former owner. 1
This idea connects the
Macedonian custom with the swallow custom already discussed,
and the appeal to the crow is probably due to an adaptation
of the tooth-ceremony to some child's crow-song correspond-
ing to the swallow-song, a hypothesis which becomes more than
1
J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. pp. 52, 53.
probable when we consider that such a song (KopwviafjLa) was

actually known in antiquity and is mentioned by Athenaeus 1
in connection with the swallow-song (êkuôvio-fjia}. In both

cases we find the bird appealed to as a bringer of good luck
generally, and in both cases something connected with the child
is thrown to it a skein to the swallow, a tooth to the crow.
:
The motive in both seems to be to draw upon the child

a blessing through the sympathetic agency of things which
belonged to it.
The three days of March are known by the name of

first
Dryrniais (Apv/jiiais). Daring those days the peasants refrain

from washing clothes and from bathing. They do not prune
their trees nor do they plant for they believe that the trees
;
will at once wither. The same belief holds with regard to the
last three days and all Wednesdays and Fridays of the month.
As a proof that those days are unlucky, especially for gardening
purposes, they advise you to try the following experiment :
Take seven twigs, strip mark them each

them of their leaves,
with the name of a day of the week, and then put them in a
jug filled with water. If you examine them a few days later,
you will find that they have all put forth new leaves, except
those marked with the names of the fatal days. 2
In some parts of Macedonia the superstition prevails that a
priest should not divulge to his parishioners on which day of
the week will be the first of March, or he will lose his wife.
The origin of this belief is enveloped in obscurity, the usual
attribute of folk-beliefs. It may possibly have arisen in an
effort on the part of the Church to prevent the people from
continuing the pagan rites customary on this day. In any case,

it is not devoid of interest as a historic survival from times
when village communes were so ignorant as to depend entirely

on their pastors for information regarding days and seasons.
The Macedonian peasants, partial as they are to March, are
not blind to his defects. The bitterness of March winds has
earned the month the nickname of the 'Flayer' (T&dprrjs).
1
Athen. vm. 359.
2
We shall speak on this subject at greater length in dealing with the same
superstition in the chapter on August'.
His mutability of mood and addiction to sudden changes are
emphasized by numerous sayings :
'O MapT?;? ot>5 TO JIM pa TO -^rofydei,

ft>? TO fipdSv TO
"Sir March before midday

With
frost the lamb will slay ;
But, ere the sun doth sink,

With heat he makes it stink."
Again,
M.dpTr)<? evi /cal %dlSia /cdvei
IIoT K\ail, 7TOT6

" whims
March, like a baby spoilt, is full of :
At times he cries, at times with fun he brims."
Our own peasants, a propos of the inconstancy of March

"
weather, observe : March comes in like a lamb, and goes out
like a lion." 1 The
reverse is also supposed to be true.
His apparently unaccountable transitions from a fine to
a foul temper are explained by the Macedonians on the
hypothesis that March has two wives, one of whom is young
and fair, gay and laughter-loving; the other old and ugly,
morose and peevish. When he looks at the former, he smiles
with pleasure; when at the latter, he frowns in anger.
The appetizing effect of March's chilly blasts is described as
the month's excessive greediness :
" March never, never has his fill ;
Meals five a day : he's hungry still."
The sun of March is supposed to be fatal to a girl's
complexion :
ToO MdpTrj 77X^0? l*>r)V Tf] Sifj.
"Who has a daughter fair

Of March's sun beware."
1 E. Inwards, Weather Lore, p. 24. Cp. "If the old year goes out like a
lion, the new year will come in like a lamb," ib. p. 5.
A red and white thread worn round the wrist is supposed

to act as a charm and to preserve a damsel from the rays
of March's sun.
To revert from the ornamental to the useful, the folk-sage
counsels his friends in didactic fifteen-syllable verse :
ToV M.dprrj fuXtt (frvXaye' p,r}v Ka^ry^ ra
" In the month of March save thy firewood, and do not burn up thy
stakes."
The same idea is implied in another saw, rather too
Hogarthian for translation :
KOI TraXov/co/cavrr)?.
It would not be amiss to conclude the delinquencies of this

eccentric month with the Macedonian version of a legend
familiar to students of our own North-country weather-lore.
It is said that there was once a poor old woman, and she had
an only goat, which she had preserved most anxiously through
a long and severe winter. At the end of March, deceived by
an exceptionally fine day, she ventured to let her goat out
to graze, and, in the exuberance of her joy, she defied March
by snapping her fingers at him and exclaiming in derision,

"pritz March, I fear thee no longer!" But alas! her self-
congratulation was premature. March, exasperated by_ the
insult, determined to punish the old lady and to this end he
borrowed three days from his neighbour April. During this
new lease of life he brought about so keen a frost, that the
poor old woman's goat was starved to death. Another form
of the same story, prevalent at Liakkovikia, allots to the old
woman three kids, and adds that not only the kids but their
mistress also were frozen to death on a spot outside the village,
to this day called The old woman's leap (Tfjs 7P#9 TO
1
A. A. Tovvlov, ''H Kara TO Hayyatov Xwpa,' p. 44.
This story will bring to most readers' minds the old Scotch
rhyme of
The Borrowing Days.

March borrowed from Aperill
Three days and they were ill.
The first began wi' wind and weet,
The next come in with snaw and sleet,
The third was sic a bitter freeze,
It froze the birds' claws to the trees.
"
A variant of this rhyme alludes to three hoggs upon a
"
hill." March for the purpose of garring them dee," borrowed
three days "from Aperill," and tried the "wind and weet" etc.
However the sheep, one is glad to hear, survived the ordeal, for
it is related that
When the three were past and gane,

The three silly hoggs came hirpling name.
1
1
The first version I had from the lips of an old Scotchman, and it differs
slightly from the text of the Newcastle Leader, reproduced in St James's Gazette,
April 2, 1901, whence comes the latter variant given above. For other versions
see E. Inwards, Weather Lore, pp. 27 foil.
Several interesting details concerning this mysterious loan and the kindred
superstition of the Faoilteach, or the first days of February, borrowed by that
month from January, are to be found in The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 448.
CHAPTER IV.
EASTERTIDE.
IT is perhaps more than a coincidence, and at all events
quite appropriate, that the great Christian feast of the Resurrec-

tion redemption and universal renovation should fall at
that time of year when Nature herself awakening hears
The new -creating word, and starts to life,
In every heighten'd form, from pain and death

For ever free. 1
This coincidence reveals itself in many curious customs con-

nected with the festival, and enables us to interpret several
popular practices which otherwise would be unintelligible.

In fact, we most probably have here one of the numerous
instances of old pagan observances surviving beneath the
tolerant cloak of Christianity the past peeping through the
mask of the present. It is a thesis no longer in need of
demonstration that the new religion, wherever it has penetrated,
from the shores of Crete to those of Iceland, has everywhere
displayed a far-seeing eagerness to enlist in its service what
might assist its own propagation in existing belief and prac-
tice. Macedonia forms no exception to this general rule.

The heathen festival on which Easter was grafted in Greek-
speaking countries most likely was the Lesser Eleusinia, the
return of Persephone, which symbolised the resurrection of
Nature and which the ancient Hellenes celebrated about this
1
Thomson's Seasons.
time of year. The modern Macedonians are, of course, utterly
unconscious of any incongruity between the creed which they
profess and the customs which they observe. To the peasant,
Easter is simply a season of rejoicing. If he were pressed for
the reason of his joy, he would probably be unable to give a
clear answer, or, if he gave one, red eggs and roasted lambs
would be found to play as important a part in his conception
of the festival as the religious ceremonies which accompany and
sanctify the proceedings. His view is vividly expressed in the

children's rhymes which are often heard in Macedonia at this
season :
Tiore vdpO* tj IlacrâXta,

Me rd KOKKIVO, r' av<yd,
Me r dpvov&i '? rov rafid, etc.
"
Oh, when will Easter come, bringing with her red eggs, a lamb in a
tray, etc."
The Easter ushered in by a long period of

festivities are
strict abstinence known as the Great Forty-Day Fast (77 MêyaXr)
Zapa/coo-rr} Lent). The two Sundays before Lent are re-

spectively called Meat-Sunday ('Ano/cped) and Cheese-Sunday
(Tvpivrj). The week between them answers to the Carnival
of Western Christendom, and during it, in the big towns on
the coast the usual merriment is heightened by masquerades
(/capva/3(i\ia or âaicapdê^), a custom which, as the name
implies, has been borrowed from Italy and is not to be confused
with similar observances prevalent in the interior of the
country at other times of the year. It also corresponds with
the Russian Mdslyanitsa, or Butter- Week. Cheese-Sunday is
made many interesting observances. Before
the occasion of
proceeding to a description of these, however, it may be well

to note some points of resemblance between the new and the
old celebrations.
The modern Western Carnival has been traced to the
ancient Roman Saturnalia, and this parallelism has led folk-
lorists to conjecture that Lent also may be the descendant
"under a thin disguise, of a period of temperance which was
annually observed, from superstitious motives, by Italian
Eastertide 27
1
farmers long before the Christian era/' Should this hypo-
thesis be established, then the Eastern Meat- Week might
likewise be ascribed to the old Cronia, which was the Greek
counterpart of the Saturnalia. The Eastern Lent might

further be compared with the fast which preceded the celebra-
tion of the mysteries of Eleusis, in commemoration of Demeter's
long abstinence from food during her search for her lost
daughter. But
precise identification is hardly possible owing to
the slightness of the evidence at our command. What is
absolutely certain is the fact that abstinence from food and
from the gratification ofall other appetites was and still is
practised by various races at seed-time "for the purpose of

2
thereby promoting the growth of the crops/' a kind of charm,
acting through the sympathetic connection which is
supposed
to exist between the sower and the seed.
Cheese- Sunday (Kvpia/crj rr)<;
The boys of each village rise early in the morning and,

divided into several parties, go forth collecting bundles of fire-
wood, which they pile up on the tops of the heights and hills
in the neighbourhood. These preparations completed, they
amuse themselves during the rest of the day by throwing
stones with a sling, each shot accompanied with these mys-
"
terious words Whithersoever this arrow hies, may the flea
:
3
follow in its track" (oir Tray rj aajira icy o 'v/ruXXo? /car air 6 8 i).
In some districts of Macedonia these slings are replaced by
actual cross-bows generally constructed of a fragment of a
barrel-hoop, which is passed through a hole at the end of a
stock. The missile, a long nail as a rule laid in the groove
of the stock, is
propelled by a string drawn tight across the
bow and held fast by a catch, which is nailed to the stock,
acting as a sort of trigger. At nightfall the bonfires built up

in the morning are kindled, and the boys jump over them.
1
J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. in. p. 146.
2
Ib. vol. ii. pp. 209 foil.
3
A. A. Tova-lov, *'H /card TO Tlayyaiov Xupa,' p. 41.
Identical customs are observed in several Slavonic countries.
"
In some parts of Russia," says Ralston, " the end or death of
winter is celebrated on the last day of the Butter- Week, by the
' '
burning of the straw Mujik a heap of straw, to which each

of the participators in the ceremony contributes his portion."
In Bulgaria "during the whole week, the children amuse them-
selves by shooting with bows and arrows, a custom which... is
supposed, by some imaginative writers, to have referred in
olden times to the victory obtained by the sunbeams the
arrows of the far-darting Apollo over the forces of cold and
darkness." 1
The custom of kindling bonfires on the first Sunday in Lent
and of throwing missiles into the air prevails in many parts of
Western Europe. In Swabia the arrows and stones are replaced
by thin round pieces of wood. In all these cases of pagan
2
survival the bonfires are built by boys on the crests of moun-
tains and hills as in Macedonia. Whether the Greeks of this
province have borrowed the pastime of stone and arrow shooting
from their Slav neighbours or have inherited it from their own
remote ancestors, 3 it would be difficult to say. But in any
case it is an interesting relic of bygone times. Apart from any
symbolical or ritual significance which may or may not lurk
in the practice, the use of the sling and the bow by the
Macedonian boys at play is instructive as a conspicuous
instance of a custom outliving in the form of a game the
serious business of which it originally was only an imitation.
Toy bows and slings are extremely popular among boys all
over Europe at certain times of the year, and keeping up, as

they do, the memory of a warlike art now extinct, are regarded
by ethnologists as sportive survivals of ancient culture, if not
4
of ancient cult. The bonfires and the flea will reappear in
connection with the Midsummer festivities.
1
Kalston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 210.
Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. in. pp. 238 foil.
2
J. G-.
In ancient times the Kaunians in Asia Minor, who regarded themselves as

3
being of Cretan origin, used to turn out armed, "hitting the air with their
spears and saying that they were expelling the foreign gods." Hdt. i. 172.
4
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 73.
Eastertide 29
In the evening of Cheese-Sunday it is the custom for the
younger members of the community to call on their elder

relatives, godfathers and godmothers, in order to beg forgiveness
for their trespasses and beseech their blessing. Women, for some
reason or other, take with them a cake, an orange or a lemon
as a propitiatory offering to those on whom they call. The sym-
bolic meaning of these gifts, if they ever had one, has long since
gone the way of all tradition. It may be worth while, however,

to recall that this amiable act of duty was once in vogue among
our own folk also. On the mid Sunday of Lent it was the
custom to go a-mothering, that is to pay a formal visit to one's
parents, especially the female one, and to take to them some
slight gift, such as a cake or a trinket. Whence the day itself
was named Mothering Sunday. 1
The similarity between the
old English and the modern Macedonian practice is well
illustrated by Herrick's lines to Dianeme :
He to thee a simnell 2 bring,

'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering ;
So that, when she blesseth thee,

Half that blessing thou'lt give me. 3
The analogy extends to the festivity peculiar to the day.

At supper-time a tripod is set near the hearth, or in the middle
of the room, and upon
it is
placed a wooden or copper tray
(cnvi}. Round
the table thus extemporized sit the members
of the family cross-legged, with the chief of the household at
the head. The repast is as sumptuous as befits the eve of a
long fast, and a cake forms one of the most conspicuous items
on the menu. Before they commence eating the younger
members of the family kneel to their elders (icdvovv or pdôvv
fjuerdvoia) and obtain absolution, after which performance the

banquet begins.
When the plates are removed there follows an amusing game
' '
called Gaping (^do-fca) and corresponding to our Christmas

game of Bob-cherry or Bobbing Apple. A long thread is tied
1
The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 336.
2
i.q. Lent-Cake.
3
Hesperides 685.
to the end of a stick, and from it is suspended a bit of con-
fectionery (x<zX/3a?), or a boiled egg. The person that holds it

bobs it towards the others who sit in a ring, with their mouths
wide open, trying to catch the morsel by turns. Their struggles
and failures naturally cause much jollity and the game soon
gets exciting. This amusement is succeeded by songs sung
round the table and sometimes by dancing.
A
quaint superstition attached to the proceedings of this
evening deserves mention. If anyone of those present happens
to sneeze, it is
imperative that he should tear a bit off the front
of his shirt, in order to ward off evil influences.
KaOapr) '/3So//,a8a.
The days that follow form a sharp contrast to this feast.

With Monday begins Cleaning- Week (KaOaprj '/38o//,aSa), a
period of purification both of body and of soul. The cooking

utensils are washed and polished with a vast deal of bustle and
noise ;
floors are scrubbed, all traces of the preceding
the
rejoicings are scrupulously effaced, and the peasant household

assumes an unwonted look of puritanical austerity. The gloom
is deepened by the total abstention from meat and drink,
which is attempted by many and accomplished by a few during
the first three days of the week. This period of rigid and
uncompromising fast, called Tpt/jiepo, is concluded on Wednesday

evening. Then a truly lenten pie of boiled cabbages and
pounded walnuts, called TpifjiepoTrrjTTa, is solemnly eaten and,
undoubtedly, relished by those who succeeded in going through

the three days' starvation.
In some
places, however, the sanctimonious misery of this
week disturbed by certain feeble reflections of the festivities
is
which went before. These spectral revivals of gaiety in various

districtstake various forms, and as a rule are confined to
Monday. At Salonica, for instance, on the KaOaprj kevrepa a

band of youths dressed in kilts, so as to represent brigands, but
wearing their masks on the back of their heads, are allowed by
the police to play at highwaymen. They parade the streets,
with a roasted lamb, stuck on the top of a pole, at the head of
Eastertide 31
the procession, singing Klephtic songs, and when they have

reached the open country, they seize a point of vantage, hold
up all to pass by, and extort from the not
carriages that happen
unwilling passengers a tribute of money. Then they adjourn
to a meadow where they eat, drink, sing, and make merry.
' '
The proceedings bear a close resemblance to the Montern
1
festivity once popular at Eton.
At Serres and Melenik the people
repair to picnics in the
country. In the latter place the usual resort is a hill crowned
by an old monastery. The natives in describing the festival
" "
told me that they went to pull out the serpent (va j3yd\ovv
TO 4>eiSi) now a mere and all but meaningless phrase, but
possibly a survival of a belief akin to the Highland superstition
that "a week previous to St Bridget's Day the serpents are
2
obliged to leave their holes under ground." The date of this
Western feast corresponds roughly with the
(1st Feb. o.s.)
time in which Lent usually begins. The evidence which we
possess does not warrant the assumption that the practice has
any connection with ophiolatry. Yet it seems to point to some
symbolic meaning of new life derived from the serpent's annual
"renewal by casting old slough." 3
its
At Sochos, again, during this week they have masquerades.

Youths dressed execute military dances with
in fustanellas
swords others array themselves in goat-skins, covering head
;
and face beneath a conical cap (/ca\7rdKi) decorated with flowers

and tassels, while strings of monstrous bells dangle from their
waists. Thus formidably adorned they stop the damsels in the
street, examining their head-gear for coins and abstracting as
many as they can find. They also lie in wait round the corners
and try to frighten the unwary passer-by into liberality. Finally
they betake themselves to the open space in the middle of
the village, reserved for dancing (êo-o^wpt), an d there they
make merry on the proceeds of their sportive robbery.
1
For a very interesting account of this festival see The Book of Days,
vol. ii. p. 665.
2
J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,
p. 225.
3
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. n. p. 241.
Tov Aa^dpov.
The Feast of Lazarus is also in some districts made the

occasion of song and rejoicing. At Nigrita, for example, on
that day girls and boys go about the streets singing and dancing
and collecting presents a form of begging known to the
ancients by the name of aêppos, and to our own peasants as
going a-corning, gooding, and so forth. The dancers are called

Aaâplvaw, and their songs Aaâpiava or Aaâpiwrnca (sc.
rpayovSia). Most of these compositions have been handed
down from mother to daughter for ages, and unfortunately
have suffered much in transmission. I give below some of the
least mutilated fragments which I was enabled to pick up.
As the reader will see, the subject of the song is for the most
part adapted to the circumstances of the person to whom it is

addressed.
I.
To a damsel betrothed.
IIft)9 irai^ 6 Tovptcos r a\oyo KJJ 6 <f>pd<yfco<? TO /capdfti,
"Ercr' Trcufei K evas veiovra-iicos jjue rrjv Ka\rjv a

'2 rd yovard TTJV eTrcupve, '9 T paria rr)v
'S rd fjbdria, '9 ra /jLar6(f>v\\a /cy dvd/jiecra '9 rd
"As the Turk dallies with his steed and the Frank with his ship,
Even so dallies a youth with his fair one.
He will take her on his knees and kiss her on the eyes,
On the eyes, on the eyelids, and between the eyebrows."
II.
To a love-lorn youth.
Ket V a/ya7ra9, \ej3evTr)

5/retXe rrjv dBepcfrr) crov 7Tpoi;6vr)Ticro-a.
K?} civ Se' crov Scacrovv, 7rd\i crvpe
'Ave(3a '9 TO 7rr)<yd<!)i K
NdpOfj KOL Keivr) TTOV 6e\, Kelvr) V d

Eastertide 33
y
rrjv, \/3evrrj /JL, K\ety TTJV, icXe-^r' rrjv TrepSi/ca,
^vp TTJV '?ra K0p/3ov\6yia, 1 '9 ra -^7j\d (Bovvd,

Ke TTOV \a\ovv T drjbovia fcdi r dypia irov\id.
"Where thy love dwells, my brave youth, thither send and ask.
Send thy sister as a match-maker.
And if they give her not to thee, go thyself.
Go up to the fountain and set to wooing,
That maidens passing fair may be gathered there,
That amongst them may also come she whom thou lovest.
Then carry her off, my brave youth, carry her off, carry off the pretty
partridge,
Take her to the hills, to the high mountain-peaks,
Where the nightingales and the wild birds sing."
III.
To a newly-married woman.
2
BovfrvSd /Jb, TL rpaveveo-cu ical crepveis rb
To TTW? vd fjurjv rpavevwâi /cal vepvo) TO
'E<y<o '^CD avrpa /3acrL\ed /cal TreOepbv d(f)vrrj t
Kal 7T0pd ftacri\t,(T(Ta KOI '70) ftaaCkoTrovKa.
"'My dear little bride, wherefore dost thou draw thyself up, and hold
thy head high?'
'
How can I but draw myself up and hold my head high ?
I have a king for a husband and a lord for a father-in-law,
My mother-in-law is a queen, and a princess I.'"
IV.
To a young mother.
M.dva V (re
%apVe o 6ebs rd Svb
Mai/a ft, vd TO, irepLKa\fj^ Kvpfco //,' vd rov
Na xalprjacu '9 TO yd/jio T?/9, v d\\d%r)s '? rrj
Na St^? ACT) Vo rov fcopfa Tr)<$ irepîKia vd <yvpiovv,
iKia, XpvaoTrepoiica, xpvad
1
This word is new to me, but I take it to be a synonym of Kop<j>opo6vta,
'hill-tops.'
2
A synonym of the dim. wfovSa,
'
a dear little bride,' from the Bulgarian
'
bozia, bride.'
A. F. 3
" Mother to whom God has
given this pair of tender dovelets,
Mother dear, pray for them and praise the Lord for them.
Mayest thou rejoice at her marriage, dress for her wedding ;
Mayest thou witness a flock of young partridges
encircling her bosom,
Young partridges, golden partridges, partridges of purest gold."
V.
The enterprising lover.
"Ez/a? Xe/8eWr?9 Kal vre\r)<$ Kal 'va 'fto 7ra\\r)/cdpi,

Me rat? aaâlpat^ Trepirarel, rrj
Trj %&>pa efyoftepiê Kal rovs
"
rid 86 (j? re rr) Ka\ov8d JJLOV, yid 86 fju re rrj Kakrf /JLOV,
Na (f)Kt,d(7CD crTTLTia Trerpcord Kal cr/cd\cus iJLapfjLapeviais.

Na <f)/d,d<ra) Kal r a\&vi fiov \ rrjv atcpa rrj Oa\daaa.
Na KoaKiviô) /jbd\a/j,a vd Tre^r' /Jbapyapirdpi,
KT) Vo rd KOGK.ivicriJi.ar a vd &iv r^9 Aaâpivais."
X
'A brave youth, a noble gallant lad,
Is strolling armed with knives and threatening the village ;
He threatened the village and its notables thus :
"Come, give my fair love to me, come give up my fair one,

That I may build a stone palace with marble stairs,
That I may build my threshing-floor on the shore of the sea,
To sift gold, and let pearls drop beneath,
And of the siftings give a share to the Maids of Lazarus.'"
At Liakkovikia the same custom prevails on the morning

of Palm Sunday (Kvpia/crj r&v BaiW). As the congregation
streams out of church, the girls of the village form parties
of threes and fours and, holding a gold-embroidered
each
handkerchief or two, go about singing outside each house
songs appropriate to the age and condition of the occupants.
The carol is accompanied by more or less elegant contortions
of the body and vigorous wavings of the handkerchiefs. The
'
songstresses are known as Batarpais or

(
Palm Maids and
their carols as
1
A. A. Tovcrlov, ''H KO.TO. TO na77atof Xwpa,' p. 45.
Eastertide 35
'
Holy Week (M.eya\7j
Holy Thursday (MeyakTj Tle^rrj). In some districts on

this day, as well as on Lady Day (March 25th), the people
are in the habit of hanging from the balconies and the windows
of their houses red kerchiefs or sashes. On this day also the
Paschal eggs are dyed. The peasant mother takes the first
coloured egg and with it crosses (Siaaravpoovei,) her child's face
and neck, saying KOK/CLVO arav r avyo, KCU yepo adv Trj Trerpa,
:
"
that is, Mayest thou grow red as is this egg, and strong as a
stone." This egg then placed near the icon of the Panaghia
is
and is left there until the following year, when a new one takes
its place. The red
colour of the Easter eggs and of the kerchiefs
mentioned above explained by folklorists as referring to the
is
brightness of spring. On this day they also make a kind of

" "
cakes, called from their shape turtle-doves (&/co%Tovpai<;),
with a clove or a grain of pepper doing duty as an eye.
Good Friday (M-eyakr] Tlapao-xevij). On this day the
peasants eschew all kinds of food prepared with
vinegar,
because, they say, it was on this day that the Jews moistened
our Lord's lips with vinegar.
Holy Saturday (Meyd\o Xa/3#<zTo). They are careful not
to wash their heads, lest their hair should turn grey.
Easter Sunday (Udcrâ, TLaaâXid, or Aa/jLTrptj, "Bright").
This last name corresponds to the Russian Svyetlaya and may
be compared with our own Easter, 1 both of which appellations

suggest brightness. The Resurrection is celebrated twice.
First at a midnight mass on the eve (npcarrj 'Avda-racris}, and
again about mid-day on Easter Day (Aeurepo, 'Az/acrrac?).
The first is also called KaXo? Aô?, or the " Good Word."
The gospel for the day is read out in the churchyard beneath the
star-bespangled sky and is immediately followed by the hymn
" "
beginning with the words Christ is risen (Xptcrro? dveo-rrj),
in which the whole congregation joins. The announcement
1
A. -Sax. Edstre, O.H.G. Ostard, a goddess of light or spring, in honour of
whom a festival was celebrated in April, whence this month was called Easter-
mondth. Dr Annandale's Diet. s.v.
32
of the "good word" is
greeted with loud peals of fire-arms
and with the sound of bells or the wood gongs (arjâvrpa} still
in use in some parts of the country. In the midst of this
uproar
the priest holds up a lighted candle and calls on the congregation
" "
to Come and receive light (Aeure \aftere <&>?). The faithful
obey the summons with great alacrity. There is an onrush at
the priest, and those who get near him first kindle their candles
at the very fountain-head of light the less fortunate, or less
;
muscular, ones have to be content with illumination at second

hand. 1 But the result from a purely aesthetic point of view is
the same. The dark night is suddenly lighted up with hundreds
of small flickering flames, trembling in the hands of people
anxious to escape from the fire-arms, squibs, and crackers, which
boom and hiss in dangerous proximity all round them.
On the tapers secured at the cost of so much exertion, not
unattended by some risk to life and limb, is set a propor-
tionally high value. The miraculous powers attributed to
these Easter tapers may be compared to those which were
ascribed to Candlemas
the candles in Catholic times in
England.
2
The women, on
their return from church, use
these tapers for the purpose of burning the bugs, in the pious
hope that they will thus get rid of them for ever a custom
which agrees well with the extermination of fleas the avowed :
object of the Macedonian bonfires.

" "
The ceremony of
receiving light is, of course, symbolical,
and true believers entertain no doubt that the light is the light
of Christ. Sceptical students, however, have long since arrived
at the conclusion that here again we are confronted by a survival
" "
of paganism : that the new light is only a cousin german to
"
the " new fire and to the
customary at this time of
bonfires,
year in many widely severed lands, and that the real remote
1
So far as my own experience goes, I am unable to confirm Mr Frazer's
"
impious suspicion that the matches which bear the name of Lucifer have some
"
share in the sudden illumination (The Golden Bough, vol. in. p. 247). The
people are too unenlightened to venture on such illicit methods of illumination,
and far too economical to waste a match, when there are so many candles
burning close at hand.
2
For some verses setting forth these wonderful virtues see The Book of
Days, vol. i. p. 213.
Eastertide 37
meaning of all these kindlings is to procure heat and sunshine

1
for the crops by means of magical ceremonies the destruction
of noxious vermin being a later development. The keeping of
the fire alive throughout the Paschal Week, which is the
practice in several parts of Macedonia, forms another proof

of the underlying notion. To make the case stronger, in some
country until quite recently the people indulged
districts of the
in the annual cremation of a straw 'Judas' an effigy which
finds its counterpart in many quarters and which is interpreted
as a representative of the old tree-spirit or spirit of vegetation. 2
To return to the service.
The congregation having lighted their tapers turn towards
the church and find the doors closed. They knock upon them
"
chanting in chorus : Lift the gates, ye rulers of ours, and
ye eternal gates be lifted ;
for there will enter Christ, the
King
"
of glory To this a voice from within answers "Who is this
! :
" "
King of glory ? Those without reply He is a Lord strong :
and powerful. He is a Lord mighty in war!" 3 Thereupon

the doors are thrown open, and the congregation troop into the
building, where the service is resumed.

"
The words " Christ is risen are the signal for breaking the
long fast of Lent, and many take to church a red egg and
a bun which, as soon as the words are uttered, they devour
with pardonable eagerness. After service the peasant mothers
secretly place under their children's pillows red eggs, and
when the little ones wake in the morning, they are told
that this is a present brought in the dead of night
by
Paschalia, a female personification of Easter, just as English
children believe, or used to believe, that the stocking which
1
G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. in. pp. 245 foil.
J.
2
The custom still survives in a vigorous form at Therapia, the
Ib. p. 314.
fashionable summer resort of Constantinople. The natives of that suburb are
in the habit of burning on Good Friday a number of Jews made of cast-off
' '
clothes stuffed with straw. The Daily Chronicle of May 2, 1902, contains a
graphic description of the custom by its Constantinople correspondent.
3
""Apctre Tri/Xas oi apxovres rin&v /cat eTrdpdrjTe TruXcu aluviai, et'<reXetf<reTcu yap 6
" Tis euros " "
/3a<riXei>s TTJS 56%-rjs X/H(rr6s." r^s 56^? ;
6 j8a<riXei>s Ktfpios /eparcuds
Kal dvvards, Ktfpios iaxvpbs iv TroXûy." A. A. Tov<riov, ''H Kara rb Udyyaiov Xwpa,'
p. 45.
is hung from the bedpost on Christmas Eve is filled
by Santa
Glaus.
To the second service, which takes place in the day-time,
the people go with lighted tapers, and when it is over, the
congregation embracej forgiving and forgetting mutual offences,
and salute each other with the formula " Christ is risen," :
" "
to which the answer is He is risen indeed !
('AX^tfw?
avecrrrj), and this continues to be the regular form of greeting
until Ascension Day. The Easter feast lasts three days, during
which visits are exchanged, the visitors being presented with
a red egg. The piece de resistance of the Easter banquet is
a lamb roasted whole (axâ^Ta/n). Indeed so indispensable
is this item, that it has
given rise to a proverb, Hao-âXid
"
%&>/9t9 dpvl Se'
yeverai, Easter without a lamb is a thjng that
cannot be," applied to those whose ambition exceeds their
means.
On
Easter Tuesday the people resort to the open country,
where the girls dance and the youths amuse themselves by
shooting at the mark (<rr]fid$i) wrestling (-TraXat/xa), jumping
t
(TrtjSrjfjia), running (rpegi/juo),

the throwing of heavy stones
(pi^vovv rrj Trerpa) and similar sports, all possible successors

to the old Greek games.
A favourite song at Easter is one beginning as follows :
TO
K 77 Aa/jLTTpofcvpia/cr) /xe rbv fca\b rbv \6yo.
'H pav a\\dêt, rov vyib K rj d$p<f>r) rov favei,
Tbv %(&v TO xpvaoôvvapo, ^pvab /ma\aiJ,aTevio.
Kal Kivr)(rav /cal Trdyvav va Trav vd /jLra\dj3ovv.
"Holy Saturday is come and Holy Thursday too,

The Bright Sunday is also come with the Good Word.
A mother dresses her son and his sister girds him,
She girds him with a gold girdle, a girdle of pure gold.
They set out to participate in the sacrament, etc."
The sequel is only a variant of the gruesome story published

elsewhere. 1
1
See Songs of Modern Greece, p. 184, "The Excommunicated."
Eastertide 39
In some places, as Serres, the fire is not allowed to go out

through the Paschal Week (Ata/ean^crtyito? e/38o/4a?), which is
considered as one day.
First Sunday after Easter, or St Thomas s Day (rov @o>/m).
This Sunday is also celebrated with great eclat After

morning service the villagers go out to an open space where
the sports are to be held. At Nigrita the favourite spot is on
the sloping banks of a watercourse (Xa/e/co?). To that place
may early in the forenoon be seen repairing a miscellaneous
crowd of country folk in festive mood and attire. A group
of some twenty or thirty maids, with snow-white kerchiefs
over their heads, leads the procession, singing various songs,
among which the following is perhaps the most popular :
f
H MapovSia 'Xmomcro-o. kevrepa fJLepa tcivrjcre
Na Trap yia
'
crrj/jio ^(o/jua, V?7/u.o^&>//,a, Traro^fjua,

Kal 0K67rapvt,a &ev eXaê, p,6v 'Xerê T dpyvpb
Kat Kpovei pta KOI tcpovt Svo, /cat Kpovei rpet? teal
Kat Trecre r' acrô^wyu-a KOI cr/ceTracre rrj MapouSta.
ty(,\r) \a\'n<Tav 6/3<ya%, "\a\iTcra JJL,
a/ciae ra ftovvd,
Na Tra? '? rrj jjudva /A /u^f/ua, va fyovKa\.Lcrr) r^?
"
Na o-rdiHT rov
"Maroudia, a maid of Achinos, set out on a Monday

1
To go for silver-earth, flooring-earth. 2

She took not a common spade, but took a silver spade.
She strikes once, she strikes twice, she strikes three and four times,
And there fell the silver-earth and covered up Maroudia.
She sent forth a shrill cry My voice, rend the mountains
:
*
And carry to my mother a message to sweep the courts clean,

'"
To spread the carpet ..........
The song is not of a very high order as poetry, yet it is
interesting as referring to an everyday occupation of the

women of the district.
1
A village close to the lake of the same name not far from Nigrita.
2
A kind of hard earth with which the inhabitants smear the floors of their
cottages.
Having reached the rendezvous, the damsels disperse and

pick from the stones in the torrent-bed a kind of moss locally
known as /iaô, and with it they dye their finger-tips and
palms. In this excursion they are usually escorted by a
cavalcade of young men, and, while they are busy embellishing
their hands, their cavaliers run races. In the meantime the
sports are in full swing. The prizes given to the winners vary
according to the different events. Thus, for instance, the
winner at running gets a lamb or a kid. He slings it across
his shoulders and, preceded by an ear-rending band of drums
(yraov\t,a) and pipes (foupmSe?), leads the crowd away the ;
damsels follow dancing and singing. This event comes off in

the morning. After lunch take place wrestling matches, the
combatants being stripped to the waist. The prize for this
event is likewise a lamb or kid, and the victor is greeted with
loud rolling of drums, shrill screaming of pipes, firing of pistols
and and promiscuous shouting and cheering from
flint-locks,
the crowd. These somewhat discordant noises gradually sub-
side into song, and dancing ensues.
This is only a local festival, but on the 2nd of May, I was
told, there are held international games in which join wrestlers
from as far as Sirpa, a village fifteen minutes' walk from
Nigrita. The prizes on that occasion are on a proportionally
larger scale, a bull or an ox being awarded to the first winner,
'
and a yearling goat (fjLrj\i&pt) to the second best.

'
The Feast of Rousa.
On the feast of Mid-Pentecost (Meo-oTrevrrj/coo-rrf), that

is on the twenty-fifth day after Easter, occurs a ceremony
which has for its object the warding off of scarlatina (KQK-
Kiviro-a). At Melenik it is called Rousa or Rosa, a designation
which some of the natives derive from the crimson colour of
the eruption, accompanying the fever but which may possibly
;
be a remnant of the old Roman Rosalia or Feast of the Roses.

Before entering upon a description of the rite as performed
at the present day in Macedonia, it will be well to glance
at the history of the festival in some other parts of the Greek
Eastertide 41
r
world. The name of the Roman festival ( Pov<rd\i,a) is pre-

served among the peasants of the Peloponnesus, though it is
no longer applied to a feast of roses. It is the common
designation of a Feast of the Dead held on the Saturday
before Whit-Sunday. This transference of the name, according
to some authorities, 1 points to a closer relation of the modern
observance to the ancient Greek Feast of Flowers (KvOecrrripia)
a three days' festival of Dionysos, in the month of Anthe-
sterion, that is about the end of February and beginning of
March which also was in a large measure a Feast of the
Dead.
Colonel Leake, writing at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, records some interesting details concerning the feast

at Parga. "They (viz. the customs) were collected on the
1st of May, and the seven days following, when there was a
festival (nrav^vpL) at the expense of Venice, which was called
the Rosalia (77
On the eighth day, the 'Pwcra-
'PcocraXia).
Xtomu, or keepers of the feast of Rosalia, had a sham fight
(7r\aa-Tov 7r6\6fj,ov), of two parties dressed, one as Italians,

the other as Turks. The latter were made prisoners and
carried before the Proveditore, who dismissed them with a
present. was customary for the Proveditore on this occasion

It
to pardon an exile or criminal for whom the archons might
intercede." 2
The performed at Melenik has nothing to do
festival as
either with the dead or with customs and criminals. Its aim
is
purely sanitary, and it is exclusively confined to children
of both sexes. The children rise betimes and assemble in a
place fixed upon on the eve. Three girls are deputed to go

round to three different houses and beg at each of them a
small quantity of flour, which they bring to the meeting-place.
This flour is handed to a girl who must bear a name unique
in the neighbourhood. She sifts it with a sieve which she
holds behind her back, then kneads it and forms it into
1
See the views of Prof. Politis summarised in Mr Kennell Kodd's The
Customs and Lore of Modern Greece, p. 139.
2
Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 524. Note II. to Ch. V.
On Parga.
ring-shaped cakes (tcoXovpia), which are baked in a small

toy-oven built for the nonce. While this is doing, the rest
of the girls and boys of the party run round to other houses
in the neighbourhood and collect flour, butter, honey, sesame-
oil, etc. Out of these materials the eldest among them make
a number of little rolls, which are baked
an ordinary public
in
oven, and cook other viands. When all is ready, boys and
girls sit down to a banquet, followed by songs and dancing.
Towards evening the party breaks up, and the children disperse
to their several homes.
The ring-shaped cakes, which were made by the girl of the
unique name and baked in the specially built little oven, are
divided among them and are hung up to dry behind a door.
Whenever anyone of the children who participated in the fete
is attacked by scarlatina, or any kindred disease, a piece of
these cakes is pounded and sprinkled over the skin, which
is previously smeared with molten sugar, honey, or sesame-oil.

This is supposed to be an infallible cure.
In certain other districts the rite has been simplified. The

children go round begging flour, oil, etc., and out of these
ingredients a pie (Trovydrcra) is made in each house separately.

The children partake of it singing.
Though I have noticed at some length the possible con-
nection of the festival with the Rosalia, I am inclined to
think that the Melenikiote interpretation is most likely correct.
In that case the Scarlet Fever is by the Macedonians personified
under the name of 'PoOem, or the Red Woman ' '
a personi-
1
fication highly probable in itself, and rendered especially so by
the circumstance that the same diseaseis personified by the
"
Persians in the shape of Al a blushing maid, with locks of
flame and cheeks all rosy red." 2
1
Parallel personifications of diseases will be noticed in the sequel.
2
CHAPTER V.
APRIL, MAY, AND JUNE.
THE
First of April (HpcoraTrpihia) is in some parts of
Macedonia, as in most parts of Europe, believed to authorize
harmless fibs, and many practical jokes are played on that day
by the Macedonian wags.

The sheep are shorn in this month, and for days together
the air is filled with the plaintive voices of lambs unable to
recognize their close-cropped dams, and by the impatient
bleatings of ewes unable to understand why their offspring

keep aloof. The shearing of sheep is especially associated with
the feast of St George, of which more anon.
Weather-lore also has something to say about April :
"
'A7r/9tX7?9, Ma?;? Kovra TO Oepos, April and May harvest is
'
drawing near," and ra>v aâpTwiK^v rrj xwpa rbv M.a'io7rpt\o

"
Xiovi&i, In the land of sinners it snows through April and
1
May."
April is also known among '
the peasants as St George's
'
Month (AryioyewpyiTrjs), from the feast of that saint on the
23rd. St George is a very popular saint. Even the brigands
regard him as their patron and, after a successful coup, they
generally assign a share of their booty to him, in the form of
offerings to his church or image. It is a somewhat strange
manifestation of piety yet the feelings by which it is dictated
;
are no less sincere and genuine than were those which prompted
the ancients to give a tenth of the enemy's spoil to the god
who had helped them to win the victory, and perhaps it is quite
as acceptable as any Te Deum. Besides, the St George of folk
1
For English folk-sayings concerning April weather see The Book of Days,
vol. i.p. 456 R. Inwards, Weather Lore, p. 28.
;
imagination is hardly the St George of the Church. Tradition

has invested his character with attributes and embellished his
career with achievements which would have surprised the old
gentleman considerably. Readers of Percy's Reliques will re-

member the romantic ballad 1 in which St George is described
"
as the son of an English lord, borne away in infancy by the
weird Lady of the woods," and all the other incidents woven
round his attractive personality. The Macedonian peasant also
has many a quaint story to tell of his favourite saint.
The song given below was dictated to the writer by a
peasant girl of Sochos. From this composition it appears that
St George is regarded as a kind of mediaeval knight on horse-
back, armed in the orthodox fashion,and as the bearer of gifts
to those who are fortunate enough to win his favour.
f
ToO 'A'i Tea)pj7j TO
" f/
At Tea)pyrj
Me cnraOi KCU /JL Kovrapi,,
Ao? TO K\lSaKL (70V
fJL
N' dvoigo) TO fjiaTa/ct, aov [?]

No, 810) TL e%et9
,
KpiOdpi,
"
Ao? TV) vv(j)rj
/cacTTava
Kat TOV ryafjuTTpo KapvSta,
Kat Trj /ca\rf yLta? iredepd
Kal ra
I. Ballad of St George.
" St and
George, knight of the sword spear,
Give me thy little key that I may open thy little eye, [?]
And what thou carriest within."

see
" Wheat and
barley, and grains of pearl."
"Give to the bride chestnuts and to the groom walnuts,
To our dear mother-in-law kerchiefs of pure gold,
And to the children pencils."
1
The Birth of St George.
April, May, and June 45
In another ballad sung, like the above, on the saint's feast,

St George plays rather an unchivalrous rdle. I will give here
only the translation, as the text, which I took down at Nigrita,
is merely a variant of a song already published in Passow's
collection (No. 587). 1
II. Ballad of St George.

"
A young Turk, the king's own grandson, falls in love with
a Christian maid and wishes to make her his. He desires her ;
but she desires him not.She runs away, placing hills and
mountains between her pursuer and herself. In the way
which she goes, she finds St George sitting at a deserted little
chapel.
St George, great be thy name
'
My lord I beseech thee hide !
me this instant. Oh save me from the hands of the Turk !'

The marble walls were rent asunder, and the maid entered.
At that very moment, lo the Turk arrived before St !
My lord St George, great be thy name The maid

'
George. !
whom thou keepest here, I beseech thee give her to me. I

will bring thee cartloads of candles, cartloads of frankincense,
On comparing my version with Passow's again I find that the former,

1
though by no means perfect, is not only fuller than Passow's but presents so
many points of difference that it may be worth while to insert it :
"Eva fUKpb TovpK6TTov\o, rov |3a<riXea dyy6vi,

Mid 'Pw/iflOTToOX' dyd-n-rja-e /cat 0Aet i>d TTJ Trapy.
T?? 0Aei, SeP TOV 0Aet.
Halpvei, ra oprj dfjurpoara Kal TO, fiovva Vd TT'KTW.
'~2i rb 5p6/j.o OTTOU irdawe, 's rb dpdfjio TTOV Traalvei,
Bpur/c' rbv "At Tewpyrj Kadovvrav <re /ua 'prjfjt,OKK\i]<rov8a'

""At Tei6py a^vrt] p., /xe-yaXo rwô/xd <rovt
A.t>T7) TT\V uipa Kpti\{/e fj.e 'TT TO, Toi/p/ct/ca ra
Ta ftdpfjiapa pai<TTT)Kat> AC' 17 K6pij /juraivfi nfoa.
Nd icg 6 TovpKos 7rp6(pTacre /-iTrpocrra. 's rbv "At
""A't Tewpy a<pvTrj fj.', fj.eyd\o TWO/AOL aov,
AVTT) rri Koprj Varêts Sw, 0Aw vd /d TTJ duff-gs.
0a (f>p afj.a.%1 TO Kepi, dyua^t rb 6v/judfji.a
Kai 's TO, f3ovf3a\OT6fj,apa da /coujSaXcS rb Xa'5t,

'2 TT7 TriVrt (rov da j3a<pTi<rT& Kal Teupyrj ruvofjid /J.QV."
Td /Aap/jLapa paicrT'rjKav K rj K6pvj f3yi]K 6'w.

J
TTJ 'irijp 6 ToupKOS K' 2<pvye.

and oil will I bring thee in big buffalo-skins. I will also be
christened into thy faith, and ray name shall be George/
The marble walls were rent asunder, and the maid came
forth. The Turk seized her and sped away."
The poet does not say whether the young Turk fulfilled his
vow but one would not be sorry to hear that he did not.
;
May.
Sicker this morrow, no longer ago,

I saw a shoal of shepheards outgo
With singing, and shouting, and jolly cheer.

Shepheards Calender.
"
The First of May (T[p WTO paid) is spent in dance and song
"
and game and jest." Parties are formed to fetchen home
May" (ya Tridcrovv rbv Ma?;) and go to picnic in the plains

and meadows. The youths weave wreaths of wild flowers arid
of sprays of the fragrant tree called after the day Protomam,
and hang them outside the doors of their sweethearts, accord-
ing to the common European custom which is explained by
folklorists as due to the belief in the fertilising power of the
tree-spirit.
1
Similar garlands adorn the lintels, beams, and
windows of each cottage and are allowed to remain there until
they are quite dry, when they are burnt.
2
One of the flowers gathered on this day is picked out by

the girls for purposes of divination on the subject which is
uppermost in maids' minds the world over. This privileged

blossom is the humble
in Macedonia called pappas.
daisy,
They pluck its white petals one by one, repeating the familiar
"
He loves me he loves me not " (M ayaTra, Be' /JL dyaTra). 3
1
Some of these blossoms are dried, to be used in winter as

medicine against coughs.
1
G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. p. 195.
J.
Cp. G. Georgeakis et Leon Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, p. 301.

2
Cp. Memoirs of the

3
A. A. Foutrt'ov, ''H Kara rb 110,770101' Xoy>a,' p. 46.
American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. pp. 44, 45.
Among the many songs sung on this occasion the following

is a great favourite:
Tcopa V o Ma?;? K 77
Twpa TO /caXofcalpi,
Tcopa Krj 6 fez/09 /3ov\TCU

'2 TOV T07TO TOV vd
"Now is May and Spring,

Now isthe fine weather,
Now the stranger bethinks himself
To return to his native land."
To these simple verses the country girls will dance for
hours, repeating them again and again.

Another song, which I heard at Melenik, impressed me with
its simple sentimentality. An enthusiast might even venture
to claim for it a place beside Anacreon's sweet ode, beginning
with the words 2u /juev (f>i\r) êXtS&V
/JLOV >y\v/c6,
ere
^vpe fey aXXoO /calferafe*

"fl^ OapOf) /cal rb Trovkl /JLOV,
Na fM a/cover) Tr] (frcovrf JJLOV ;
"
Tlovaav, TrovXi IJL, TOCTOV fcaipo,
Se /capTepovv' crav TOV Tpe\\o ;"
'
"Hyu-av '9 TO, opij, '9 TO, /Sovvd,
Mea-a '9 TO, rcpovcrTa\\a vepd.

"Hfiav fjueaa '9 T^9 SpocrdSrjs,
'2 TOV Mai'oj) r^9 TrpacrivdSrjs"
" sweet
My little swallow,
See how wretched I am,
rny dear swallow,
Sweet Morn's nightingale,
1 pray thee fly,
Go abroad and ask :
Oh will my own
bird ever come,
Will she ever listen to my voice ?
'Where wert thou, my own bird, this long while,
And I waiting for thee like one demented?'
'I dwelt in the mountains and in the hills,
Amidst the crystal springs.
I dwelt amidst the cooling dews,
In May's green plantations.' "
A third ballad, dealing with the balmy beauties of

May,
was dictated to me by a native of the isle of Thasos :
"Eva 7rov\l 6a\ao-(7Li>o K eva jrov\l

f
Qtovdêt, TO Qa\acrcrivQ KOI \ei TO

1
"Ti /JL <f)(0vdis, ftp dSp(f)6, Kal TL JAG 7rapa<y<ye\vi<; ;"

"
%Vp, 7TOV\i /JL, *9 TOV T07TO fJLOV, (7Up '9 T7] ywalicd fJLOV."
"
Poo /caprepo) TTJV "Avoi^t,, TOV Ma?;, TO
/ca\o/calpi,
~Na /jLTTov/jLTrov/cido-ovv TO, fiovvd, va o-Kitocrovv TO, \a<yfcd8ia,
Na ftyovv ol BXaô^ \
x
TO, ffovvd, tc
y BXa^9 '9 TO. Xay/cdSia,
Na Trdpa) TO Tov(f)Ki /jiov va /3ya> va Kvvr)yij(ra),
Kal vavpco TTJV dyaTrr) JAOV va T?)
f
y\v/co(f)i,\ijo'a)."
" There was a bird of the sea and a bird of

the hills.
The bird of the sea calls, and the bird of the hills replies :
brother, what is thy command

* '
Wherefore dost thou call me, ?
'Go, my dear bird, to my native land, go to my wife.'

'I am waiting for Spring, for May, for the fine weather,
For the mountains to burst into bud, for the forests to grow shady,
For the shepherds to come forth on the hills, and the shepherdesses
into the woods,
That I may take my musket and go forth a-hunting,
That I may find my beloved and give her a sweet kiss.'"
It will be noticed that the conventional metaphor of the

birds is dropped towards the end of the song, and the speaker
2
resumes his human character and tastes.
As an instance of the perfect abandon, which characterizes

the May Day festivities of the modern Greeks, may be mentioned
a custom which until quite recently prevailed in the island of
and and shepherdesses.' The name Wallach

BXcixTjs,
'
shepherds
' '
iscommonly applied to all people leading a pastoral life, whether of Wallachian

nationality or not, and points to the nomadic character of this mysterious
tribe.
2
For English May-Songs ancient and modern, see The Book of Days,
vol. i. p. 546.
Syra in the Aegean. In the evening of that day the women

used to go down to the shore en masse and wash their feet
in the sea. Crowds of admiring males witnessed the per-
formance, which was accompanied by much laughter and
good-humoured horse-play. The custom may have originated
in some solemn ceremony of propitiation of the sea-nymphs, if
not of Aphrodite herself. The May festivities all over Europe
are permeated with symbolical allusions to fertility, and such
an appeal to the spirits of the water would harmonize well
with the analogous appeals to the tree-spirits, exemplified by
the wreaths already mentioned. The divinings by the flower
petals are also obviously connected with a similar idea.
There are several saws expressing popular opinion on the
character of this month : 'O Ma?/? e'êt r ovopa /cy 'A-Tr^tX???
rd \ov\ovSia, "May enjoys the fame, but April brings forth
the flowers." Weather-lore pronounces Ma?;? a/3pe%o?, xpovia :
vTvxi<Tfj,evrj,
"
A
rainless May portends a prosperous year." 1 The
serenity of May is, however, occasionally disturbed by hail-

storms. The folk muse turns this untoward circumstance to
account :
'Ai/ra VpeTre Sev e/3/36ê, TOV Ma?; âXaJcoz/et.
"
When it should it did not even rain ;
in May it hails,"
a proverb applied to those who display inopportune energy or

liberality.
An equivalent to our saying :
Change not a clout

TiU May be out, 2
is offered by the Macedonian commandment :

Mrjv gaXa^pcovys
"
TO Kopfjii a o<rov 6 "EXi;/i7ro9 elvai adTr^KT^kvo^, Do not
lighten your body so long as Mount Olympus is clad in white,"
an advice the prosaic import of which is redeemed by the poetic
form of the expression.
1
This especially applies to the vines, v. infra September.
2
For a variety of saws concerning! May see E. Inwards, Weather Lore,
pp. 31 foil.
A. F. 4
June.
This month is known as the

'
Harvester
'
because harvest begins during it. In fact, it is the

beginning
of the busiest time in the peasant's year, and the folk
poet
may well complain :
'ATT* TO 6epo o>9 ^
Aez^ a7ro\L7rovv 77
"From harvest till the olive's press'd

In life there is but little rest."
Nevertheless, this month enjoys the distinction of including

the very crown of Midsummer festivals. On the 24th of June
is celebrated the feast of the Nativity of St John the
Baptist
or,as he is termed in the Calendar of the Greek Church, the
Precursor ('O Upo&po/j-os), and popularly known as St John of
the Divination ("A'i Tidvvrjs rov KXrfo'ova), a name derived from
one of the many methods of fortune-telling which constitutes
the principal feature of the festival.
On the eve (dvrjêpa) of the feast parties of village maidens
are in the habit of gathering together in a purposely darkened
room, with a mirror. Having thus "taken darkness for an
ally," they all look into the magic
mirror by turns. Those
who are to marry within the year see, or fancy that they see,
the future husband's face in the glass peeping over their
shoulders, as it were. The less fortunate, or less imaginative,
ones are compelled to possess their souls in patience till
next year.
Another form of the same practice is the following each
:
maid separately takes a looking-glass into her bedroom and

after having undressed stands in front of it, uttering this
formula :
TIalpva) rov xaOpetyrij /cal rov Oeo rrepLKa\a>

elvau T7?9 Tt'vr79 v<ov a7rmW va rov bio).
"I take up this mirror and God I beseech,
Whosoever is to be my fate, may I see him this night."
She then puts the glass under her pillow and tries hard to
dream. This ceremony closely corresponds with the Hallowe'en
practice of the North, mentioned in Burns's poem of that name

(xiu). The custom for the Scotch maiden was to go alone
to a looking-glass, holding a candle. According to some
authorities she should eat an apple, 1 according to others she
should comb her
hair before the glass. Then the face of her
predestined partner would appear in the depths of the mirror.
This superstition is related to another, not unknown to
English school-girls of the present day. The first new moon
in the year is made to declare to them the husband that is
to be, and she isinvoked in the following words, pronounced
by the girl standing against a tree, with her foot on a
stone :
New Moon, New Moon, I hail thee

By the virtue in thy body,
all
Grant this night that I may see

Him who my true love is to be. 2
It is curious that the English girl's invocation should be
more pagan in tone than the Macedonian maiden's prayer.
The looking-glass form of divination is akin to the familiar,
and now fashionable, crystal-gazing. It is only one of a number
of superstitions belonging to an ancient and numerous family.
Visions are seen on walls or in water, in mirror or the moon ;
but the object is ever the same. "Ancient and modern
superstition... attributes the phantasms to spiritual agency/'
says Mr Andrew Lang.
3
A
third attempt at peering into futurity is made by means
of water and molten lead old spoons and forks often going
to the pot for this purpose. A
basin is filled with water and,
while an incantation is being muttered, the molten lead is
dropped into the vessel. The forms which the metal assumes
in congealing are interpreted symbolically. If, for example, the
lead spreads into an even surface, that is a sign that his or

her wishes will be fulfilled without difficulty; should, on the
contrary, the metal shape itself into a lump or 'mountain/
1
Cp. Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 38 ; pp. 55 foil.
2 '
School Superstitions, by T. Parker Wilson, in the Koyal Magazine of
'
Sept., 1901. For other versions of this appeal to the Moon see Memoirs of
the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. pp. 117 foil.
3
Cock- Lane and Common- Sense, pp. 69 foil.
42
it signifiesthat great obstacles lie in the way of his or her
happiness, and so forth.

An allusion to this form of divination is to be found in
a popular love-couplet which I heard at Salonica :
r/
Ez/a KO^jJian jjudXa/jia da piâ) '9 TO TrrjydSi,,
Na KaOapetyr) TO vepo, va Sia) vroio? 0d /j,e Trdprj.
"A lump of gold shall I drop into the well,
That the water may grow clear, and I may see who my husband is to be."
On
the same evening takes place another ceremony with a
similar end in view. Water is drawn from a well into a jug, in
perfect silence (ffovfto or dpL\r)To vepo).
1
Into it is thrown the
white of an egg, and then it is left out in the open air through
the night. The shapes which the egg assumes are examined
on the following morning and interpreted in the same way as
those of the lead. In Russia a parallel custom prevails on
Christmas Eve ; but, instead of lead or egg, the material used
'
is molten wax. The sinful professions of the wax-melter '
' '
(/crjpoxvTijs) and the lead-melter (/ôAv/SSoî/r?;?) are not

unknown to the islanders of the Aegean. 2
Of like spells we find many traces both in England and in
The Wake of Freya still survives as a memory,
' '
Scotland.
3
if not as an actual practice. Burns in a note to Halloween
gives an interesting description of the custom as it prevailed
4
in Scotland in his day, while Keats has immortalized a kindred
superstition in his beautiful poem, The Eve of St Agnes :
They told her how, upon St Agnes's Eve

Young virgins might have visions of delight,
And soft adorings from their loves receive
Upon the honey'd middle of the night,
6
If ceremonies due they did aright.
Ducange, Glossarium ad
1
This water is also called aXctXov, see scriptores
mediae et
infimae Graecitatis, s. v. naaTpaira.
2
W. H. D. Eouse, Folklore from the Southern Sporades in Folk-Lore,
' '
June, 1899, p. 152. Most of these methods of divination are common to many
parts of the Greek East ; see a few notes on AetcriScu/io^cu Kal "OpKoi in the
'
''E6vtKbv "H.fJLpo\Aytov Maplvov II. Bperou, Paris, 1866, pp. 219220; G.
Georgeakis et Leon Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, pp. 307
308.
3 G. 4
Borrow, Lavengro, ch. xx. N. 10.
6
VI. For a full description of this superstition see The Book of Days, vol. i.
p. 140.
Likewise Poor Robins Almanack for 1770 tells us how

On St Mark's Eve, at twelve o'clock,
The fair maid will watch her smock,
To find her husband in the dark,
By praying unto Good St Mark.
1
But allthe above modes of divination are in Macedonia

eclipsed by the picturesque rite which lends to the feast of the
Baptist its
popular designation. This is the rite known
throughout the Greek world as o K\r)ovas, and it well deserves
a chapter to itself. It is perhaps the most interesting form of
hydromancy which can be directly associated with the Mid-
summer ceremonies prevalent over Europe and regarded
all
by folklorists as having for their object the promotion of

fertility. The step from a rite of propitiation to one of divina-
tion is but a short one. Even after the idea had been abandoned
that the ceremonies in question operated to bring about the
desired effect, the wish to obtain an omen as to the future of
individuals, especially on matters matrimonial, might well have
"
continued to be cherished. It is thus that magic dwindles
2
into divination."
s
'O K.\r}Bova<;.
In Macedonia the ceremony, or pastime for, like most of

4
these rites, it has
long been shorn of its serious character
is performed as follows.
On the eve of the day young people of both sexes, for
this is a social spell, and not unfrequently married men and
women also, fix upon a certain spot where the performance is
to be held. Then a child is sent round to collect from the
'
members of the party different

*
tokens (o-rj/jidSia), consisting
1
Quoted The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 550.
iii
2
J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. u. p. 129.
3
The name is a modernized form of the ancient K\r)86i>, an omen contained
in a word, whence KXySovifa, to give an omen, etc. The peasants, however,
regard it as connected with the verb KXeiduvw, to lock, and this opinion has
given rise to some of the terms employed above.
4
Indeed K\-r)8ovas sometimes is used as a synonym for a frivolous sport, in
which any nonsense is permissible. Hence the popular saying, "cu/ra 's rbv
"
K\r)dova yd ra irrj$ (or vd ra TroiAâfls) conveying pretty nearly the same
meaning as our "tell that to the marines."
of rings, beads, buttons, or anything that the participators in
the ceremony are in the habit of wearing about their persons.
To each of these tokens is attached a flower, or a sprig of
basil, and then they are all cast into a jug or which
pitcher,
is also crowned with flowers, especially with and the
basil
blossom of a creeping plant, resembling the honeysuckle and
from its association with the rite called /cXrjSovas or St John's
Flower (Tor) "At Yidvvr] TO \ov\ovSi). 1 In some districts a gigantic
cucumber, or an onion, is cast in along with the tokens. The
vessel is then carried to the fountain, the spout (<rov\r)vdpt) of
which is likewise decorated in a
recalling the well- manner
flowering and tap-dressing customs once popular in England.
2
The maid who bears the vessel must not utter a single word,
and if spoken to she must not answer. Having filled the pitcher,
she carries it back in silence. A red kerchief is spread over
its mouth and
fastened round the edges with a ribbon, or a
string, and a padlock (rcXeiScovid). The last mentioned article

seems to be due partly to the mistaken etymology of the name
etymology has been suggested by
K\r)8ova<$ (unless, indeed, the
the and partly no doubt to the mystic significance
article),
attributed by popular superstition to a lock. 3 This part of
'
the ceremony is known as the locking (TO fcXeiSco/jua) and '
in some places, as Nigrita, for example, where the silence rule

is not observed, the action is accompanied by the following
song, sung by a chorus of maidens both on the way to the
fountain and round it, while the pitcher is filling :
To
Ma f ft)
vr)(70r),
Fta va K\ei8a>o-ovj,r rovv tc\eiBovva
Cp. the plants used for purposes of divination on St John's Day in other
1
countries, such as the Ciuri di S. Giuvanni in Sicily and St John's wort

in Prussia. J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. n. p. 129.
2
The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 819.
3
On the use of locks and knots as impediments to sorcery, see J. G. Frazer,
The Golden Bough, vol. i. pp. 400 foil.
song was taken down by a maid of Nigrita at my request. She could
4 This
only just write and so she unconsciously reproduced in her spelling the local
pronunciation, which I have endeavoured to retain in the above copy.
Me r'
'
A.l<yiavviov rovv K\ei$ovva.

IIo09 0"?) (frvTTjtyr}, 7TO09 (TV) TTOrKTrj (bis)
K?) fjiapad/cav ra \ov\ovSia a ;
Tpd fjLTj (frvrrj-^rr), yp'd /nrj TroTKrvj
KT) aapad/cav ra \ov\ov8ia p.

ov/jiaij /A, rrj 6v , rr) Owyarepa d
"A\\ovv veto va /JLIJV rrj Swo'rjS. (bis)
1
Aov/crjvd fji, 7770) rrjv dppa^doviaa- (bis)

M' evav Hovpyapov rfyXeTrr} (bis)
Me evav TTW^' ra î\La Trpofiara,
Ta
The locking of the vessel.
Come together, oh be ye gathered together,

That we may lock the pitcher
With St John's flower.
"Who planted thee ? Who watered thee,
And thy blossoms are faded?"
"An old woman planted me, an old woman watered me,
Therefore my blossoms are faded."
"0 Thomae, dear Thomae, thy daughter
Give her not to another youth."
"0 Doukena, dear Doukena, I have betrothed her
To a Bulgarian gentleman,
To the one who owns a thousand sheep,
"
And three hundred heifers !
"
The pitcher, thus prepared, is exposed to the light of
"
the stars ('<? rrjv do-rpofayyid, or TO ^darepo), or is placed
'9
under a rose-tree, where it remains during the night. Early

next morning it is taken indoors and set in the corner of a
room. In the afternoon of the festal day the young people
'
assemble once more round the pitcher and proceed to unlock '
it, accompanying the action with a variation of the same song :
To !;6/c\eiS(OfjLa.
Mai&)i>?7<7$77, crvvidfy(r0r),
TLCL va gr)K\et,$co(70V/jL'rj rovv /cheiSovva, etc.
The unlocking of the vessel.
Come together, oh be ye gathered together,

That we may unlock the pitcher, etc.
A little boy, the most guileless-looking that can be found,

is appointed to lift off the kerchief, which is then thrown over
his face, and thus blindfolded ('9 ra rv(j)\d) he dips his right
hand into the pitcher. While the boy is doing this, one of the
"
bystanders cries out : We open the vessel. May good luck
issue forth!" ('Avouyov/jie rbv /c\r)Sova, va ftyf) TO /caXoppify/co!). 1
Then the boy draws out the first token, singing
Tivovs (Tr)fjid$t, KTJ av /3yf),
Na Trap \ rd 2<eppas /JL

o\av rd tca\d.
"Whose token comes forth,

May they go to Serres and enjoy all manner of happiness."
The owner of this cheered by the others and

first token is
congratulated on his or her good luck. Then each of the

company by turns or some one, generally an old woman well
versed in Luck-lore, recites or improvises a couplet as each
token is being drawn. In some districts, in lieu of couplets,
2
they propound riddles. In either case the saying is considered
as foreshadowing the future of the person to whom the token
belongs. As may be imagined, all the predictions are not

equally pleasing. Some of them are grotesque and sometimes
even such as a more cultured audience would pronounce coarse.
These give rise to many sallies of rustic wit at one another's
expense.
The cucumber is drawn out last and eaten. Then the real
broad farce begins. The tokens
are flung back into the pitcher,
and the company give free play to their sense of fun in the way
of sayings which, when the circle is exclusively confined to
married women, are neither meant nor meet for male ears.
The festival generally ends with dancing and singing.
1
For other formulae customary at the opening of the jug elsewhere, see
Bernhard Schmidt, Lieder verschiedenen Inhalts, No. 63; Passow, Disticha,
No. 85.
2
A collection of both these kinds of folk literature will be found at the end
of the volume.
A performance essentially similar to the Greek fc
though wanting in many of its picturesque details, is popular

among the Russians. "At the Christmas festival a table is
covered with a cloth, and on it is set a dish or bowl containing
water. The young people drop rings or other trinkets into the
dish, afterwards covered with a cloth, and then the
which is
Podblyudnuiya Songs commence. At the end of each song one

of the trinkets is drawn at random, and its owner deduces an
omen from the nature of the words which have just been sung." 1
Bonfires.
Another important feature of the feast are the bonfires

2
((^cormfc?) kindled on the eve. It is the custom for boys to leap
' '
through the flames. This leaping the fleas (TTW&OVV

is called
TOL><? -fyv\\ovs\ that is leaping over the fire which is supposed to
burn and exterminate these enemies to the peace of southerners.

The same custom exists in some parts of Russia where "fires
are lighted on St John's night and people jump through them
themselves, and drive their cattle through them."
3
St John's
fires are also common throughout the Roman Catholic world
both in Europe and in South America, and the belief prevails
that the flames cannot hurt those who jump through them.
They survived until very late days in Ireland. Ralston remarks

that these festivals, bonfires, etc. connected with St John are
"
of thoroughly heathenish origin." 4 The justice of this remark
is
proved by the antiquity of the custom, which certainly dates
from pre-Christian times. We
read in the Old Testament 5 that
"
King Manasseh caused his children to pass through the fire
in the valley of the son ofHinnom." We also possess Ovid's
testimony that the practice was popular among the ancient
Romans :
Certe ego transilui positas ter in ordine flammas. 6
1
2
At Polygyros, in the Chalcidic Peninsula, these bonfires are known as
Trapa/ca/iVoi.
3 4
Ib. p. 240. 16. p. 241.
5 6
2 Chron. xxxiii. 6. Ovid. Fast. iv. 655.
In fact leaping through the flames played a prominent part in the
"
festival of Pales (Palilia), held on April 21st. Similarly at the
time of our Christmas, bonfires were kindled by the Norsemen in
honour of Thor and Odin, and it was an old Scotch custom to
'
light
'
a Candlemas Bleeze on February 2, possibly connected
with the old Italian rites of Februatio."
1
Thus far the Eve. 2
On the day itself in some parts of Macedonia the peasants

are in the habit of festooning their cottages and girding their
"
own waists with wreaths of the " St John's Flower as a charm
against various diseases. The village maidens boil the blossoms
and wash their hair with the elixir extracted therefrom, in the
same hope which prompts the use of eaux toniques to their
3
sisters of the West.
G. H. Hallam's edition of The Fasti of Ovid, note on iv. 655.

1
2
For descriptions of the St John's festivities in certain islands of the Aegean,
see W. H. D. House, Folklore from the Southern Sporades in Folk-Lore, June
' '
1899, pp. 178-9 G. Georgeakis et Leon Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, pp.

;
304 foil., and references to authorities for the custom in other parts of Greece.
In England also the St John's celebrations were very popular in olden
times, the bonfire being made out of contributions collected for the purpose.
On the superstitious notions about St John's Eve, prevalent in England
and Ireland, and other interesting particulars, see The Book of Days, vol. i.
pp. 814 foil. Frazer associates these midsummer rites with the ancient
ceremonies the object of which was to foster the growth of vegetation, one of
them being the Feast of Adonis, familiar to classical scholars through the
Fifteenth Idyll of Theocritus: see The Golden Bough, vol. n. pp. 115 foil.
3 On magic
'
plants,' and more especially St John's wort, culled on this day,
see J. G. Frazer, ib. vol. in. pp. 328 foil.
CHAPTER VI.
JULY TO DECEMBER.
July.
THIS month is known to the peasant as the 'Thresher'

f
7T779, 'AA,o)i>T7;9, or AX<w vdprjs), as the threshing of

corn begins in it :
T
KT) Avyov&Tos TO
" but August winnows
July threshes it ;
it."
Another popular proverb declares
"Ercrj, Target TO \ivdpi

N' dvOfj TOV 'AXcovdpTj.
"'Tis the wont of flax to blossom forth in July,"
the moral of which is that it is of no use fighting against the

laws of Nature.
A third saying contains an allusion to the grasshopper :
M.avp7j pcoya
" The grasshopper has chirped the black grape has begun to gleam."
;
The song of the grasshopper and the joys of the juice of the
grape are here coupled together in a manner which Anacreon
would have appreciated keenly. The Greek's attitude towards
" "
this melodious insect has undergone less change than the
name by which it is known. To the modern Hellene the grass-
"
hopper's chirping is still a sweet prophetic strain," and, had
he not ceased to believe in the Tuneful Nine and their divine
leader, he might still exclaim with the old poet :
" The Muses love thy shrilly tone ;
Apollo calls thee all his own." 1
The farmers of Macedonia out of the newly ground corn

make a large thin cake, which they take to the village fountain
or well. They sprinkle it with water and then distribute it
among the bystanders, who in return wishhappy them 'a

' '
year.' This cake is called Grasshopper-Cake (T&T&POKÎKO),

and is
supposed to be a kind of offering to their favourite
insect. The following rhymes express the insect's satisfaction
at the sacrifice:
e, Oepiêre KTJ 'fjueva K\LICL icavere,

Kal pi^re TO '9 rrj ftpvcn vd Trdco vd TO Trdpco,
Na /caro-co vd TO <f)d(o fia%v fj,e rd TrcuSid JAOV,
"Thresh and mow and make a cake for me.

Throw it into the fount that I may go and fetch it,
And sit and eat it with my children,

And then lay me down and die."
August.
Fasting and feasting are the two scales in which the modern
Greek's existence seems alternately to balance itself. August
begins with the Feast of the Progress of the Precious and
Vivifying Cross ( H TrôoSo? ToO TIJJLIOV Kal ZWOTTOIOV ^ravpov,
f
popularly known as ToO ^ravpov). Bonfires are the order of

the evening. The boys jump over them shouting in vigorous,
Anacreon's ode, or rather the ode which passes under Anacreon's name, to
1
the TerTt, translated by Thomas Moore. Cp. "This noise was so pleasing to the
ear of the Ancients, that their Poets are always using it as a simile for sweet
sounds." Liddell and Scott s.v. and references.
2 In America also, though
A. A. Tovffiov, ''H /card TO Ildyyaiov Xt6/>a,' p. 47.
in some parts the chirping of a cricket foretells sorrow, yet it is generally
deemed unlucky to kill one. Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society,
vol. vn. p. 41. In England " when crickets chirp unusually, wet is expected."
E. Inwards, Weather-Lore, p. 183.
July to December 61
but sadly unenlightening, terms 'Ai/a^wcrre/ Trapa^ftxjre/ "Dig :
"
up bury
! whom or what, they know not. 1 This exclamation
!
supplies the name by which the custom is known at Melenik.

At Western Macedonia, the same fires are called
Shatista, in
KXaSapid or 'bush-fires/ and at Berat, in Albania, Trikka.
The evening is a Meat-Feast ('A.7ro/cpea), a preparation for, and
a fortification against, a fortnight's fast, which again in its turn
is a prelude to the Feast of the Repose of the Virgin ('H Koiptjais
rrjs QeoTOKOv, popularly Tf)s Havaylas). Nor do these exhaust
the August celebrations. On the 23rd is held the Feast
list of
of the Return of the Feast of the Virgin ('ATroSoo-t? rr??
Ti79 6oroKov) or of The Holy Merciful (Tr;<? 'Ayia

This day is solemnized by much dancing and singing of the
mournful kind common in the East. The mournfulness among
the Bulgarians of Macedonia is further deepened by the dismal
droning of the bag-pipe an instrument whereof the strains
appear to delight the Bulgarian as much as the Highlander,
in proportion as they distress all other mortals. Again, on the
29th, the Cutting-off of the Precious head of St John the
Forerunner (
f
H aTroro/jirj r^? Tijjbias /ce(j)a\rj<; *\a)dvvov TOV
UpoSpo/jbov) is made the occasion of more abstinence.
It is in harmony with this religious gloom that August is
considered as the precursor of winter :
'O Avyouo-TO$ e7rdrr)(76 '9 rrjv d/cpa TOV êifjuwva.
"August has set his foot on Winter's edge."
*'
TI pwya CLTTO TO o-Ta(f)v\i ;

'
77 Kapo'ia TOV Kapafio/cvprj.

" Has the grape grown black in the cluster 1
The ship-captain's heart has grown dark."
In this symbolical style the man learned in weather-lore

warns his audience that summer calms are behind and winter
storms before us.
1
May not these words contain a hint of " the death and resurrection of
vegetation," which are said to be the ideas underlying the midsummer rites? It
should be noted that irapax^vw and avax^vw (or frvaxuvui) are the terms
commonly applied by the people to the burial and exhumation of the dead.
These pessimistic views are, however, contradicted by other
authorities who declare :
'O rjXios TOV M.alov T Avyovcrrov TO fayydpi.

"May's sun is August's moon."
Some even go so far in their enthusiastic appreciation as to

exclaim :
Avyovcrre, Ka\e JJLOV ^r\va^ vaaovv &vo <f>opai$ TOV xpovo.

" "
August, my fair month, that thou wert twice a year !
But this may be mere flattery.

In any case the wise man puts his trust not in traditional
lore but in scientific observation. A flock of wild geese flying
inland is taken as a promise of fine weather, while rains and
storms are prognosticated if the birds fly towards the sea. 1 The
flight of the crane was similarly considered by the ancients a
sign of approaching winter ê//z-aro? wprjv êiKvvet, opppripov?
The first twelve days of the month are closely watched, and
the weather which prevails on each one of them is carefully
committed to memory unerring experience, assisted by a
;
for
profound study of matters meteorological, has established the

rule that the same kind of weather will also prevail during each
of the succeeding twelve months. Hence these twelve days are
designated
'*
Month-Days' (TO. pepofjLrjvia).

3
In like manner in
England it was once a common superstition that the wind which
blew on NewEve prognosticated the character
Year's of the
ensuing twelve months :
If New Year's Eve night-wind blow south,

It betokeneth warmth and growth ;
If west, much milk, and fish in the sea ;
If north much cold and storm there will be ;
and so forth, in Hone's venerable verse.
Cp. the English omens taken from the flight of geese. E. Inwards,
1
Weather-Lore, p. 160.
2
Hes. W. and D. 450.
3 Or have we here a survival of the classical ifpowvia (rd, Thuc. v. 54)
*
the
holy days of the month '

?
July to December 63
The jackdaw is the typical bird of this month :
Ka#e TTpa/JLa '9 TOV /caipo TOV rcrj 6 /coXoto? TOV Avyov&TO.
"Everything in due season, and the jackdaw in August."
The Drymiais.
The first three days of August, like the corresponding days

in March already noticed, are sacred to the Drymiais (ApuyiuGu?).
Who or what these beings are is a mystery as yet unfathomed
by folklorists. The very name is a problem which still remains
to be solved. 1 The Drymiais appear to be of two kinds vernal :
and autumnal. During the periods of March and August,

referred to above, no tree or vine is cut, for fear lest it should
wither ;
no one bathes in the sea, for fear that their bodies will
swell and no clothes are washed, lest they should decay.
;
To
these days, which are observed everywhere along the coast and
in the islands of the Aegean, the Macedonians add the last
three days of either month as well as all the Wednesdays
and Fridays of each. 2
According to one hypothesis the Drymiais are a species of
nymphs, joining under one name the attributes both of the
Hamadryads and of the Naiads of old. In Spring they are
worshipped, or rather, dreaded, as wood-nymphs; in Autumn as
water-nymphs. This view is strengthened to some extent by
the following popular saying :
'O Avyovcrros yia ra iravia,

K?) o MapT??? yta ra
"August is bad for linen,

And March for trees."
Coray gives the name as Apvfj./m,aTa and derives it from dpiJTrTu

1 '
to tear,'
while others spell it Apifytcus and would have it from 5pv/j.6s 'a wood.' The
spelling countenanced by Scarlatos the lexicographer is A/>fyteus, but A/ju/i/xara
also is known see G. G-eorgeakis et Leon Pineau Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, p. 309.
:
In my spelling of the name I have endeavoured to conform as nearly as possible

to the pronunciation current at Nigrita and other parts of Macedonia. On the
superstition cp. W. H. D. Bouse, 'Folklore from the Southern Sporades,' in
Folk-Lore, June 1899, p. 179.
Another version of the same proverb, said to be current in
the peninsula of Cassandra (ancient Pallene), is still more
explicit :
T* AVJOVGT 77 AjOt'/xat? '9 ra

KT) rov Mapnov \ ra
" The Drymiais of August affect the linen,
And those of March affect the woods."
Some additional support for this theory may be derived

from the custom of bathers in August to arm themselves with
a rusty nail which, they believe, is efficacious in preventing the
Drymiais from coming near them. This seems to me to be a
fairproof that the Drymiais are, at any rate, regarded by the
popular consciousness in the light of personal beings, though the
personification is somewhat vague. For we know from other
sources that iron in any shape or form nail, ring, etc. is a
2
good defence against fairies, an idea as widely diffused as any
in folklore: "The Oriental jinn are in such deadly terror of
iron, that its very name is a charm, against them and so in ;
European folklore iron drives away fairies and elves, arid
destroys their power."

3
The old Scholiast on the xith book
of the Odyssey, quoted by Mr Andrew Lang, also informs us
4
"
that iron drives away devils and ghosts." Mr Tylor's explana-
tion is that fairies, elves, and jinn "are essentially, it seems,
creatures belonging to the ancient Stone Age, and the new
metal is hateful and hurtful to them." If that be the case, the
Drymiais (provided their title to personal existence is first
established) must have a pretty long pedigree, and should be
added to the number of shadowy survivals from a long-dead
past.
September.
'
This is the
'
Month of the Vintage (Tpvyrjr^), also called
,
or 'Month of the Cross,' from the Feast of the
1
See '
Qepftats,' by M. X. 'Iw&vvov, Athens, 1879, p. 58. This author holds

the above theory.
J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, p. 46.
2
3
4 Custom and Myth, p. 82.
July to December 65
Exaltation of the Precious Cross (

f
H {n/r&xrt? rov TI/JLLOV
^ravpov), held on the 14th. These events and the following

two prognostications one prospective and the other retro-
spective are September's chief claims to the folklorist's
attention.
" If "
September brings rain, joy to the cheese-maker !
Ma?;? a/3/?e^09, TpwyrjTr)? âpov/Jievo^.
"A rainless May means a mirthful September,"
that is, the vintage is particularly rich if the preceding May has
been dry.
On September 2nd is observed the Day of St John the
Faster ('Iwdwov TOV NrjarevTov), so called not because he fasts
himself though he probably did in his time but because he
is the cause of fasting to others. Not only meat but also
grapes are forbidden on this day. In return, the pious peasant
expects the saint to protect him against fevers.
1
October.
'
October is known as the

'
Month of St Demetrius
simply ^wrpicnris), from the feast of the

rnjLr)-rpi(iTr]s
or
saint celebratedon the 26th, a feast famous for the number
of weddings which enliven it, as will be noticed in our chapter
1
The following is the form of the same superstition which prevails in
Southern Greece :
" St John was a physician, and especially skilled in the
cure of fevers.... When he was aware that his death was approaching, he set up
a column, and bound to its foundations all manner of diseases with silken
threads of various colours : fevers with a yellow thread, measles with a red one,
and other diseases with other colours... and said, 'When I die, let whosoever is
sick come and tie to this column a silken thread with three knots of the colour
that his sickness takes, and say, Dear St John, I bind my sickness to the
'
"
column, and do by thy favour loose it from me,' and then he will be healed.'
Kamporoglou, Hist. Ath. in Rennell Rodd, The Customs and Lore of Modern
Greece, p. 167.
A. F. 5
on Marriage. It is also the commencement of seed-time,
according to the adage :
ft)
awpov^ 8ev
hich may be paraphrased thus :
" If in
October you forget to sow,
Expect a passing scanty crop to mow."

A spell of fine weather is recognized in the saw :
M.t/cpo /caXo/caipd/ci.
St Demetrius' month is a second little summer."
November.
'
This month is known as the

'
Sower
(^Tro/ota?) par excel-
lence. Sowing is so essentially a characteristic of the season,
and it concerns the peasant so nearly, that even religion is
forced to enlist the prevailing spirit in its service. The Virgin,
whose feast occurs on the 21st (Ta EtVoSta rfjs Seoro/cov)
generally goes by the name of
*
Patroness of the Seed-time
'
(EecrTropiTio-a-a). Nevertheless the secular appellation of the

month is in some parts supplanted by the religious name
'
Month of St Andrew ('A^rêa?), due to the feast of the
'
f/
Apostle on the last day of the month ( At *Avrpea). The saint

is pictured as a hoary old man with a long snowy beard, and a
gentle, though grave, countenance. His is a typical wintry
figure: frosty but kindly. The first snowfall is attributed to his
"
influence. T' avirpiae. ra yeveia r 6 "At 'Avrpea?, St Andrew has
washed his beard white," is the poetical form in which the event
isdescribed by the country-folk. They also perpetrate a profane
"
pun in saying, After the feast of St Andrew everything grows
1
strong" (vcrrep a rr rov" A.'i 'Avrpea o\a dvrpeievovv ['A^Syoea?

f
i>fy?eo?]), that is, the cold grows severer, and the storms more
frequent and fierce.
1
The word crwpbs is still used in the sense of '
a heap of corn,' as it was in
the days of Hesiod (ore idpis awpbv dyuarcu, W. and D. 778).
July to December 67
On the 18th
is held the Feast of St Plato the Martyr
wvos), whose name ingenious ignorance has transformed

f/
into St Plane-tree (
At Ii\dravo^). This is a very important
date in the weather-lore of the coast especially. It is said
that this holy day witnesses all known kinds of meteorological
vicissitude. But the weather which finally prevails at sundown
isthe one which will last through the Advent or 'the Forty
'
Days (Zapavrar/fjiepo). So deeply-rooted is this belief that a

learned farmer tried very earnestly to persuade me that the
failure of Napoleon's Moscow campaign was due to the omens
taken by the Russian Emperor and his counsellors from a careful
"
observation of the weather on St Plane-tree's Day. The Tsar
on hearing of Napoleon's approach called together his Council
of State.
'
'
What are we gentlemen ? asked His Majesty.
to do,
4
Wait for St Plane-tree, most serene master/ answered the
President of the Council.
The Tsar followed this sensible advice, and saved his
empire." Not a bad paraphrase of Nicholas the First's
dictum " Generals January and February will fight for us,"
:
and a good example of the mythopceic faculty of the people.
December.
The two months of the year together are designated

last
* '
Twins
(AtSf/xot) but December by itself rejoices in the
;
name of Nt/coXam?? or Month of St Nicholas,' from the '
name of the saint whose feast is held on the 6th. The same
saint wedded to St Barbara (Dec. 4th) figures in the adage :
Ni/co\iT(ra, Hap/BapLTcra, /UTT/JO? Kal Tricra 6 %ifjLwvas.

" St Nicholas and St Barbara behind winter."
:
before,
The folk punster also exercises his wit at the expense of

the most prominent saints of the month in alliterative doggerel
of this type :
Dec. 4. "At TSapfidpa /Bapffapwvei,

f/
5. At Sa/3/3a? cra/3ai>dt)vei,
f/
6. At Nt/coXa
12. "Ai 'S.Trvp&cov
52
"St Barbara behaves barbarously,
St Sabbas winds us up in a shroud (a-dftavov) (of snow),
St Nicholas buries us in the earth,
St Spyridion exhumes us."
He also says that after the Feast of St Spyridion the days
begin to grow longer by one grain (%7rvpiSa)v (nrvpi). The

incorrigibleone further maintains that on the Feast of
St Ignatius ("At 'lyvdnos, Dec. 20th) the sun stands facing
us (aiyvavrevei). The English reader, who will miss the point
of these jokes, need not bewail the loss.
Asa general epilogue to this survey of the peasant's year,
we may quote his opinion concerning the seasonableness and
unseasonableness of indulging in the juice that maketh glad
the heart of man :
M.rjvas fie TO p,
To Kpaal St^ft)? vepo'
M.r)vas 8/^ft)? p,
To Kpacrl fie TO vpo.
" Month with r,
Unmixed jar ;
Month sans r,
A mixed jar."
1
It should be noted that there are only four months in

the year "sans r," as against eight "with r," but the former
are the hottest (from May to August). Hence the wisdom
of the rule which at first sight looks somewhat whimsical.
On the whole, it is a vast improvement on the Hesiodic
" 2
principle of three measures of water to one of wine," which
in its severity almost verges on total abstinence.
Popular Astronomy.
Ere we proceed to describe the great Winter Festivities,

it may be well to enlarge a little more on a subject closely
connected with the weather-lore discussed in the preceding
1
Cp. the English saying, "When there is an r in the month oysters are in
son."
2
T/>ts vdaros Trpox^tv, TO 5e rtrparov it/me? otvov, W. and D. 596.
July to December 69
pages. The peasant's notions on the nature and the move-

ments of the heavenly bodies are as curious as his ideas on
matters sublunary. The bright starry band, which stretches
across the sky, and which has been compared by the fancy
of so many races to a road or way, is called by the Macedonian
'
country-folk
'
The Heap of corn (2ft>po9), or
'
The Priest's
Straw' (To a%vpo rov TraTra). In explanation of this quaint

appellation the following story is told :
"
There was once a village priest, in the dead of night who
purloined some grain from a heap which lay on a farmer's
threshing-floor, waiting to be winnowed. But as the thief
carried his booty away, the night breeze blew the straw or
chaff back, and thus laid a trail by means of which the unholy
father was easily tracked and brought to book."
It would be equally easy to track this idea to its oriental
source. We know that the Syrians, the Persians and the
Turks give to the Galaxy the name of Straw Road,' likening '
it to a lane littered with bits of straw that fall from the nets
in which they are in the habit of carrying it.

1
The Man in the Moon of English folklore is a conception

akin to that of the hero of the Milky Way adventure. Like
his Eastern cousin, he also is a person detected in the act
of gathering illicit
goods, though in his case these are but
sticks, the notion being derived from the story of the Sabbath-
breaker in the Bible (Numb. xv. 32 foil.). Chaucer goes
farther, and accuses him of actual theft, and by so doing
he brings him a step nearer to the Macedonian papas, or village
priest :
On her brest a chorle painted ful even

Bearing a bush of thorns on his backe,
Which for his theft might clime so ne'r the heaven. 2
The Greeks of the south call the Milky Way
'
River
Jordan.'
The tendency to compare the heavenly bodies to objects
familiar to a husbandman's mind displayed in the
is also
Macedonian names for various constellations. Thus the Great
1
2
See The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 52.
Bear, just as among our own peasants, is called the 'Plough'

('AXeTjOt), and the different parts of that implement furnish
names for other groups of stars, such as the Yoke (Zt^yo?), ' '
'
' 1
the Plough-feet (ra 'AXerpoTroSm), three stars in the neigh-
2
bourhood of the Pleiades.
The constellation of the Pleiades too, known in Greece
'
Proper as the HovXia), Poulia' (77 is called by the Macedonians

'
Clucking or Brooding Hen (77 KX&xrcrapta).

3
the
'
The setting
of this group towards the end of November is regarded as
an official announcement of the advent of winter, an idea
embodied in the following folk-rhymes from Southern Greece :
'2 T
Kal Triaa) 7rapay>ye\i>i'

Mrjre 7rov\d/ci '9 TO K\aSl,
M/?re yrjwpyo? '<? TOV KCL^TTO,
or
M?;e Tcro/jiTrdvos '? ra ftovvd,

M??8e yrjwpryos '? rot"?
" On the seventeenth, on the eighteenth (o. s.)

The Pleiades set
And leave behind them the command :
Let no bird rest on the bough ,

Nor husbandman in the plain,
or
Nor a shepherd in the mountains,

Nor a farmer in the plains."
1
Cp. the Homeric names a/*a|a, a wain, 'the great bear';
ploughman,
'
the constellation of Arcturus.'
2
The author's primitive acquaintance with Astronomy forbids any attempt
at more accurate identification, but he will hazard the suggestion that by the
'three stars' is probably meant the belt of Orion.
3 This modern
conception of the constellation as a bird supports to a certain
extent the suggestion that the ancient name, 7r\eid5ej, is not derived from TT\^W,
'to sail,' but stands for TreXetciSes, 'a flock of doves.' Mr Walter Leaf, in his
edition of Homer's Iliad (xvin. 486), argues with much force in favour of this
view, pointing out that the other names of stars mentioned by the poet are all
derived from a pastoral or agricultural and not from a seafaring life.
July to December 71
This advice with old Hesiod's warning:

tallies exactly
"When the from
Pleiades,
flying Orion's mighty strength,
sink into the shadow-streaked sea, it is then that gales from
all points of the sky are wont to rage beware of having :
1
a boat upon the murky billows at that time of the year."
Consequently, great attention is paid by the peasants to

the conditions attending the setting of this constellation, and
from those conditions are drawn omens as to the quantity
of the forthcoming crop and the fertility of cattle. If it sets
it is said to portend a rich harvest.
in a cloudy sky,
"
The rainbow, commonly called " bow (Sofa or Soâpi, from
TO%OV), is known at Liakkovikia as /cepao-ovXevrj, and in that
district the belief prevails that if a male child passes beneath
2
it, he turns into a girl ;
if a girl, she turns into a boy. In other
'
parts of the Greek world the rainbow is called

*
Heaven's Girdle
3
(a)vapi, rov ovpavov).
The falling of the wind towards evening is
popularly ex-
" "
pressed : He is gone to supper (H^ye va
The New Moon.
The new moon is observed with a view to ascertaining the

state of the weather for the ensuing quarter. Me TL fcaipo
TridvrrjKe TO tf>yyapt ; is the common expression. On this
notion, which the Macedonian peasants share with many people
in England that that the weather changes with the moon's
is,
quarterings Mr Tylor observes: "That educated people to

whom exact weather records are accessible should still find
satisfaction in the fanciful lunar rule,
an interesting case is
of intellectual survival." 4 According to the same author the

idea is a counterpart of the tendency to associate the growth
and death of plants with the moon's wax and wane, and, we
1
W. and D. 619 foil.
2
A. A. Tovfflov, ''H Kara TO Ildyyaiov Xcpct,' p. 77.
3 ' '
Scarlatos, Ae^t/cd? rijs Katf -^ctas 'EXXTjj/iK^s 5iaX<?/crou, s.v.
4
might add, it belongs to the stage of culture which prevailed

before the line was very rigidly drawn between meteorology
and theology to times when sky and heaven meant one and
the same thing. 1
Eclipse of the Moon.
An eclipse of the moon is considered by the Mohammedans

of Macedonia, as of other parts of the East, a portent of
bloodshed. It is met with reports of fire-arms, and the Imams
call from the minarets the faithful to public prayers in the
mosques.
This recalls in a striking manner the practices of many
savage and barbaric nations. The Indians of America, on
seeing the phenomenon, howled and bewailed and shot at the
sky in order to drive off the monsters which, they believed,
were trying to devour the moon. Similar ideas and similar
methods prevail among many African tribes. The great nations
of Asia, such as the Hindoos and the Chinese, still cling to the
belief in the Eclipse-monster. The latter meet it with prayers,
like the Turks.
But even in civilized Europe, both ancient and modern, we
find numerous proofs of this superstition. The Romans came
to the succour of the afflicted moon by flinging firebrands into
theair, by the blare of trumpets and the clang of brazen pots.
The superstition survived through the Middle Ages into a

very late period. France, Wales and Ireland offer many
2
instances as late as the 17th century.
1
For certain curious English superstitions regarding the moon see
E. Inwards, Weather Lore, p. 64 ;
The Boole of Days, vol. n. p. 202 ;
Memoirs
of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. pp. 121, 122. On the general
subject concerning the supposed influence of the moon on the life and
of plants
animals see J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. n. pp. 155 foil, and Note B.
pp. 457, 458.
2
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. pp. 328 foil.
CHAPTER VII.
WINTER FESTIVITIES.
Of Christmas' sports, the wassail bowl,

That's tost up after fox-i'-th'-hole ;
Of Twelfth-tide cakes, of pease and beans,

Wherewith ye make those merry scenes.
HERRICK, Hesperides.
'
'
Solemn scenes would have been better than '
merry
scenes' as a description of the Macedonian Yule-tide celebra-
tions in their entirety.
The period of Twelve Days, from the Nativity to the
Epiphany (Aa>Se/ca?7//,e/oo), is perhaps the most prolific in super-
stitious lore and practice presented by the Macedonian folk-
calendar. during this season that the natural horrors
It is
of winter are heightened by the mysterious beings known

and dreaded under the name of Karkantzari or Skatsantzari 1 .
1
Other forms of the name, current in various parts of Greece, are Ka.\rj-
KavTffapos, /caX/cdrcrapos, \vKOKdvT<rapos, Ko\'r]KdvT<rapos etc. Some spell it with i
instead of T; ; choice as both vowels are pronounced alike, and

but there is little
the spelling cannot be determined until the derivation is discovered. This last
has for many years afforded matter for speculation to the ingenious. The most
plausible of all the etymologies suggested is Bernhard Schmidt's (Das Volksleben
der Neugriechen, pp. 142 foil.). He derives the Greek from the Albanian
Karkandsoli, which in turn comes from the Turkish Kara (= black) -kond-
its
jolos (
= loup-garou). But
he does not state whether the Turks actually call the
monsters by that name, or whether they believe in them at all. For details
concerning the nature and attributes of these singular beings, as conceived by
the Greeks of the South, see Rennell Eodd, The Customs and Lore of Modern
Greece, pp. 197 foil.; W. H. D. Eouse, Folklore from the Southern Sporades in
Folk-Lore, June 1899, pp. 174 foil. ; G. Georgeakis et L<$on Pincau, Le Folk-Lore
de Lesbos, p. 349. The Macedonian conception is substantially the same.
These malicious fiends are wont to haunt the peasant's home
and make his life well-nigh unbearable. The belief prevails
that those who have a '
light
'
guardian angel (e\a(pp6v ayyeXov)

are from Christmas till Twelfth Day when " the waters are
"
blessed by the baptism (fta^Tiôvrai rd vepa) transformed
into monsters. Their nails suddenly grow to an abnormal
length, they turn red in the face, their eyes become bloodshot
and wild, and mouths excrete. In this hideous
their noses
guise they roam from house to house at night, knocking at

the doors. Should they be refused admittance, they climb
down through the chimney and terrify the inmates by pinching,
worrying and defiling them in their sleep. The only way to

escape from these torturers is to seize and bind them with a
straw-rope (-âOoaôivo}. Those who possess no such rope,
or do not feel equal to the task, take care to retire to their
dwellings before dark and to close their doors hermetically,

letting the diabolical creatures continue knocking until
"The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn,

Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat
Awake the god of day ; and at his warning,
Th' extravagant and erring spirit hies

To his confine."
During the day the Karkantzari resume their ordinary

human shapes. Millers for some reason or other perhaps for
their notorious inability to resist the insidious advice of the
" "
hopper, tak' it tak' it
;
seem to be the favourite victims
of the unclean monsters. The following characteristic tale
throws light on the kind of treatment which millers may expect

at the hands of the Karkantzari.
A miller was one evening riding home from his mill,
between two sacks of flour. Suddenly he espied a party of
Karkantzari a little way off on the road, and, seized with fear,
he crouched on the pack-saddle. The enemy soon caught him
up and set about cudgelling him without mercy, though not
without some sense of humour, accompanying each blow with
"
the exclamation : Here goes to the one sack, here to the
other, and here to the load between. The owner where is he ?"
Winter Festivities 75
(Nrt Krj '9 TO Va TO 0o/OTto, â ACT; 9 T aXXo, v<i icy 9 TO
^Traixoyofjui, o vouco/cvprjs TTOVVCU ;)
During the period when the Karkantzari are believed to be

loose no marriage is solemnized.
All the three great feasts, which are included in the Twelve
Days, are signalized by efforts towards the extinction of these

malevolent demons. In some districts it is the custom on
'
Christmas Eve
'
to burn (icaiovi>) the Karkantzari. Early
at dawn faggots of holm-oak (-rrovpvapio) are lighted and
cast out into the streets. In other places, notably at Melenik,
'they scald' (êâriôvv) the Karkantzari to death on New
Year's Eve. This is done in the following curious manner.
The housewife prepares a number of cakes, called \a\ayKiBta
(elsewhere \a\a<yfcirai,$ or \ovKovfj,dBes), which she fries in a

pan, assisted by her children. While this is going on within
the cottage, the goodman dressed in a fur coat, wrong side out,
stands outside the door dancing and singing:
Krj 700 cr/cavTôs, Krj crv
VOL
"I am a Skantzos, even as thou art one,

Come then, let us dance together
And let us moisten the pastry."
He continues romping and singing until he hears the hissing

of the syrup, as it is poured over the pancakes, and then he
opens the door and goes in.
In other districts again faggots are collected during the
whole of the Twelve Days and laid up by the hearth. On
Epiphany Eve, fire is set to them in order that the Karkantzari,
who are supposed to be lurking beneath the ashes, may perish.
But the orthodox way of getting rid of the demons is to wait till
the parish priest comes round followed by a verger or a boy,
carrying a copper vessel (pTra/c party) filled with holy water.

In this water the priest dips a cross, decorated with sprigs
of basil, and therewith sprinkles the rooms, chanting a canticle
appropriate to the day. The ceremony is the coup de grace

for the Karkantzari, who after this blow vanish completely, not
to re-appear next year.
till
The Karkantzari seem to be a species of werewolves, akin

to the Wild Boar and the Vrykolakas, to be described hereafter,
and the name (\vfcdv9pco7roi,), by which they are known in some
parts of Southern Greece, leaves little doubt that around them
still clings a shred of the ancient belief in
lycanthropy.
Christinas Eve.
At the village boys form parties and go about

evenfall
knocking at the doors of the cottages with sticks, shouting

' '
Kolianda Kolianda
! and receiving presents. Both the
!
custom and the stick are named after this cry, which, like
its variants to be noticed in the sequel, is an adaptation of the
Roman and Byzantine term Kalendae.
1
Incense is burnt before supper, a chief item of which is the

'
cake known as '
Christ's Cake (X/oio-TOTr^rra). In Southern
Greece it is also the custom to
day a special make on this
kind of flat loaves with a cross drawn on the top and called
'
'
Christ's Loaves (X/otcrroi/roj/ua). The cloth is not removed
from the table ;
but everything is left as it is, in the belief
"
during the night. A log is
"
that Christ will come and eat
left burning in the hearth, intended to ward off the Karkantzari.
In Thessaly an old shoe is also thrown into the fire the smoke :
and the smell of burnt leather being considered offensive to

the nostrils of these fiends.
With the custom of leaving the cloth on the table and a
burning log in the hearth may be compared the similar ob-
servance in Brittany and other parts of Western Europe on
the eve of All Souls' Day, the theory in those countries being
that the souls of the departed will come and partake of the
1
In Southern Greece the name retains more of its original form (Kd\avda)
and applied to the Christmas carols.
is The Eussians also call the Christmas
festival Kolydda, and the songs sung on Christmas Eve Kolyadki, a word
apparently introduced into Slavonic countries, along with the Christian religion,
from Constantinople.
supper and warm themselves at the fire, while their living

relatives are in bed. 1
On Christmas morning, on their way back from church,
the peasants each pick up a stone which they deposit in
the hearth-corner (ycovid), allowing it to remain there till
Twelfth Day, when it is thrown away. An analogous custom
prevails on New Year's Day in some of the islands of the
Aegean as, for instance, Chios. When the family return home
from morning service, the father picks up a stone which he
leaves in the yard, with the wish that the New Year may
"
bring with as much gold as is the weight of the stone."
it
He on entering into the house at the head of his family,

also,
takes a pomegranate out of his pocket and dashes it upon the
ground. On the symbolic significance ascribed to this fruit

I will comment later.
New Year's Day.
Far more interesting and suggestive are the customs con-

'
nected with the First of the Year (TLpa)To%povi,a), or St Basil's
'
ff
Day (rov Ai BacrtXT?).

On the Eve every household is provided with St Basil's '
'
Cake (BaertXoTTTjTTa), in which is concealed a silver coin and

a cross made of green twigs. This cake which corresponds
to our Ring-cakes of Twelfth Night, but in taste is very much
like ordinary short-bread occupies the post of honour on the
supper table. A candle is lighted by the housewife, who also
fumigates with frankincense first the table and then every
part of the dwelling. This ceremony over, the family take
their seats on cushions round the table. The father and the
mother seize the cake between them and break it into two
pieces, which are again subdivided by the head of the family

in'to shares. The first portion is destined for St Basil, the
Holy Virgin, or the patron saint whose icon is in the house.
The second stands for the house itself. The third for the
cattle and domestic animals belonging thereto. The fourth
1
for the inanimate property, and the rest for each member of
the household according to age. Each portion is
successively
dipped in a cup of wine, with an appropriate preface, e.g.
" r
This is for our grandfather, St Basil" (yua rov Trdinrov rdv 'A.l
~Ba<Ti\r)\ and so forth .
He who finds the cross or the coin in his share of the cake
isconsidered lucky, and whatever he undertakes to do during
the coming year is sure to prosper. The money is looked upon
as sacred and is devoted to the purchase of a votive taper. The
custom of hiding a ring, a coin, or a bean in a cake about the
time of the New Year is prevalent in many nations, our own
included. According to mythologists the ring represents the
sun, hidden and, as it were, buried by wintry storms and
1
clouds an ingenious theory, and quite as plausible as most
mythological interpretations of custom.
Supper over, the table is removed to a corner of the room,
with all the remnants of the feast left upon it, that " St Basil
may come and partake thereof." The fire is also kept up
throughout the night. The rest of the evening is spent in
games among which Divination holds a prominent position.
As the household sit round the hearth, some one lays upon
the hot cinders a pair of wild olive leaves (âpjBao-L\a},
mentally allotting each of them to a youth and a maid. If
the leaves crumple up and draw near each other, the on-
lookers conclude that the two young people represented thereby
love each other dearly, the reverse, if the leaves recoil apart.
If both leaves, instead of shrinking, flare up and are utterly
consumed, that is a sign that the couple are excessively fond of

each other. 2 This is the form of the game at Liakkovikia. 3 In
other districts, in lieu of leaves, they use the buds of a cornel-
branch (rcpavid),
and name the lad and lass to each particular
1
Ealston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 201.
2 A
slightly different meaning is attached to the performance in Herrick's
allusion to it :
"Of crackling laurel, which fore-sounds

A plenteous harvest to your grounds." Hesperides.
Cp. Divination by nuts in England on St Mark's Eve (April 25), The Book of
Days, vol. i. p. 550.
3 f
'H Kara rb Udyyatov
A. A. Tova-lov, Xcfy>a,' p. 49.
pair. two buds bursts and jumps up, it is taken

If either of the
as a proof that the person forwhom it stands is enamoured of
the other. Should they both burst and jump, the feeling is
reciprocated, the reverse being augured if the buds remain
impassive.
It is hardly necessary toremind the English, and still less
'
the Scotch reader, of the similar charm of burning the nuts

'
practised in the North on the eve or vigil of All Saints' Day,

and made classical by Burns's poem of Halloween. The custom
seems to be a relic of Roman superstition. On New Year's
Day (Kal. Jan.) the Romans took omens from pistils of the
saffron plant, as Ovid, so rich in folk-lore, informs us :
Cernis, odoratis ut luceat ignibus aether,

Et sonet accensis spica Cilissa focis ?*
'Guesses' or 'divinings' (Gadaniya) of various kinds are

also popular among the Russians, and are especially in vogue
2
during the evenings of the Twelve Days (Svyatki).
Maidens, not satisfied with this method of divination which,
besides being vague, labours under the disadvantage of being
regarded more or less in the light of a mere frivolous pastime,

have recourse to a much more serious and convincing expedient.
They steal a morsel of St Basil's Cake and conceal it in their
bosom, taking good care not to be seen by any one. On going

"
to bed they say St Basil, worker of wonders, grant that what-
f/
ever is destiny may appear to-night" ( At BacrtX?? 0a/Aa-
my
Tovpye, o, re eivai a9 <pavf} d'jro^jre). They then put the morsel
under their pillow and go to sleep in the certainty of dreaming
a true dream.
An aged lady, and a firm believer, related to me some of
her own early experiences in St Basil's dreamland. She had
in her youth been engaged to be married to a man of whom
she was extremely fond. On the Eve of St Basil's Feast she
performed the ceremony described above. She had scarcely
fallen asleep when her lover appeared to her, pale of face and
sad of mien. Another youth, whom she had never seen in
1
Ovid, Fast. i. 75.
2
the flesh, stood behind her betrothed and smiled at her over
his shoulder. Frightened at the apparition she awoke. Then
"
she made thesign of the cross, whispering far be the evil
from here!" (/jLaicpva TTO 'S<w), and relapsed into sleep. Where-
upon a second vision, more dreadful than the first, visited her.
A young man of supernatural beauty stood before her, floating
as it were in the air at a height of some three feet from the
ground. He was arrayed in a snow-white kilt and held a

canary in either hand. He strangled the one bird and pre-
sented the other to her. 1 And the fair maid awoke, and,
behold, it was a dream. But none the less her
'
spirit was
troubled' like Pharaoh's under similar circumstances. And
well might it be. For not long after her lover died, and in
course of time she was wooed and won by the strange youth
who smiled at her in her sleep, and whom she recognized
immediately on seeing him in real life.
The superstition is well-known in England. Girls who wish
to see their future husbands are in the habit of placing a
piece of wedding-cake under their pillows "and extracting

nuptial dreams therefrom," as Mr Meredith would say.
In some parts of Macedonia, as Shatista, on New Year's Eve
men or boys armed with bells (bibousaria) go about making
the night hideous, presumably with a view to frightening evil
spirits away. A similar custom in other districts prevails on

New Year's Day itself. Early in the morning, when the church
bells are ringing for divine service, groups of lads run up and
down the streets with sticks or clubs in their hands and knock
"
the people up, crying Health and joy to ye
:
May St Basil
!
bring plenty of wheat, plenty of barley, and plenty of children

" "
to ye !
(Tetd, %/>. /crj 6 A.I BacrtA?;? vroXXa airapia, TroXX-a
KpiOdpia, 7ro\\d TrrjSovSia), and persist in doing so until they
have received a gift rolls, nuts, dry figs etc., which they deposit
:
in a basket or bag carried for the purpose. A refusal to reward

these noisy well-wishers brings upon the inmates of the house
2
the reverse of a blessing. In some districts the sticks are
1
This youth she knew to be the Angel of Death.
" The
2
Cp. the old English Shrovetide custom :
boys go round in small
parties, headed by a leader, who goes up and knocks at the door, leaving his
replaced by green boughs of the cornel or the olive-tree, with

"
which the boys touch all whom they meet, shouting, Soorva !
Soorva (Bulgarian for boughs '), May I salute thee next year
*
I
also with the soorva." Those who are thus saluted pay tribute
in coin or kind.
The green bough is probably an emblem of summer fruit-
fulness and life, as contrasted with the deathly barrenness
1
of winter. noises and the hunting with clubs may
But the
'
more plausibly be ascribed to the belief in the ethereal
'
materiality of spirits and be compared to analogous practices

"
current among savage races : the Australians who annually
followers behind him, armed with a good stock of potsherds. When the door is
opened the hero sings :
A-shrovin, a-shrovin,
I be come a-shrovin;
A piece of bread, a piece of cheese,
A bit of your fat bacon,
Or a dish of dough-nuts,
All of your own making, etc.
Sometimes he gets a bit and cheese, and at some houses he is told to

of bread
be gone in which latter
; case, he calls up his followers to send their missiles in
a rattling broadside against the door." The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 239. Also
Ash- Wednesday, ibid.
1
Cp., however, the Scotch custom: "On the last night of the year they
(the Fairies) are kept out by decorating the house with holly." J. G. Campbell,
Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, p. 20.
With these celebrations: the procession of the boys, their green boughs,
theirdemand for presents, and their imprecations against those who refuse, we
may compare the May Day festivities in Western Europe, of which Mannhardt,
quoted by Mr Frazer, says: "These begging processions with May-trees or
May-boughs from door to door had everywhere originally a serious and, so to
speak, sacramental significance ; people really believed that the god of growth
was present unseen in the bough." "In other words, the mummer was
regarded not as an image but as an actual representative of the spirit of
vegetation ; hence the wish expressed by the attendants on the May-rose and
the May-tree that those who refuse them gifts of eggs, bacon, and so forth, may
have no share in the blessing which it is in the power of the itinerant spirit
to bestow." The Golden Bough, vol. i. p. 212. The same, or a closely similar
explanation might be extended to the begging or "gooding" processions of the
1st of March, of the Feast of Lazarus, and of Palm Sunday, already noticed,
as well as to that of the Feast of St John (Jan. 7th) to be described in the
sequel. They all have some of the main characteristics in common, though the
"
bough" does not figure in all of them.
A. F. 6
drive from their midst the accumulated ghosts of the last year's
dead," for example, or still better, the Gold Coast negroes who
"
from time to time turn out with clubs and torches to drive
the evil spirits from their towns ; rushing about and beating the
1
air,with frantic howling."
After service are exchanged the customary wishes " For
many years" (K?} '9 err; TroXXa), and the boys, holding olive-
branches in their hands, visit the various houses, singing The '
' f
Ballad of St Basil (KaXavBa, K6\iavra or K6\vvrpa TOV 'At y
EaaiXfj) a somewhat inconsequential composition, of which

the following is an example.
First of themonth, and first of the year may it prove a happy year ; !
St Basil coming from Caesarea,

is
He is holding a picture and a book a book and an inkhorn. ;
The inkhorn wrote and the book spoke.

"
my Basil, from whence art thou coming, from whence art thou
"
descending ?
"From my mother I am coming, to the schoolmaster I am going."

"Stay and stay and drink, stay and sing unto us."
eat,
" I arn learned in book-lore
songs I know not." :
"Since thou art book-learned, recite us the alpha-beta."

He leant upon his staff to recite the alpha-beta.
And, behold the staff, dry though it was, put forth green
!
twigs.
And upon its young twigs little birds were singing,
And beneath, at its young roots, springs were rippling,
And the partridges repaired thither to drink with the little birds,
And allwinged things, even the young doves,

They fill their claws with water, arid their wings with musk,
And they sprinkle our lord, may his years be many 2 !
These some places are sung by lantern-bearing

carols in
boys on the eve. The custom corresponds to the practice of

Russian boys who on New Year's Eve "go about from house to
house scattering grain of different kinds, but chiefly oats,
3
singing Ovsenevuiya Pyesni" It is also interesting to note
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. n. p. 199; J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough,

1
vol. in. pp. 70 foil.

2
The text of this song is given in A. A. Povaiov, ''H /caret rb Ildyyaiov
Xtipa,' p. 38. It presents few points of difference from the well-known versions
published by Passow (Nos. 294, 2968, etc.).
Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 202.
3
that the presents which the singers receive are considered by

Russian mythologists as "standing in lieu of the old contribu-
tions towards a sacrifice to the gods." 1
In older days parallel customs were current in Scotland and
the north of England. But instead of olive-boughs the visitors
used to carry round from house to house the Wassail bowl
adorned with ribbons, wishing the inhabitants a prosperous
year, and begging for the wherewithal to fill it. The songs
also find their counterparts in the New Year carols of north
Britain. 2
The dryand other sweet things, symbols of happiness,
figs
which are given to the boys on this day, might perhaps be
traced to the Roman New- Year's gifts.
3
The 2nd of January.
Early in the morning it is the custom in some districts of

Macedonia to carry water from the fountain without speaking
'" "
silent water and to pour it out across the yard and up the
expressing by this symbol the wish that the life of the
stairs,
family during the new year may run as smoothly as the water
1
ib. p. 206.
2
One of them, a Gloucestershire composition, began :
Wassail ! wassail ! over the town,

Our toast it is white, our ale it is brown :
Our bowl it is made of the maplin tree,

We be good fellows all ;
I drink to thee.
A still closer parallel is offered by an old English children's song :
Here we come a wassailing,

Among the leaves so green,
Here we come a wandering
So fair to be seen.
Chorus. Love and joy come to you,
And to your wassel too,
And God send you a happy New Year,
A New Year, etc.
The Book of Days, vol. i.

p. 28.
3
Ovid, Fast. i. 185.
62
flows. The Highlanders also in days gone by indulged in
mysterious water drawn over-night in solemn silence, of which
all the members of the household drank, and with which they
were sprinkled, in order to fortify themselves against the

attacks of witches and demons during the ensuing year.
Another superstitious custom belonging to this day is due
to the belief of the Macedonians in the good or ill influence of
the '
first foot.' He or she who enters a house first is supposed
to bring into it good or bad luck for the whole twelvemonth.
This belief gives rise to a curious observance. The visitor
before crossing the threshold picks up a stone token of
strength, or a green twig emblem of health and fruitful-
ness, and lays it on the hearth. He also brings with him

some grains of salt which he casts into the flames, and then,
"
squatting by the fire-side, wishes his hosts a prosperous year,
a plentiful crop, and many blessings" (KaXrj %povi,d, fca\rj
Vo&ta Kal TroXXa dyaOd). Then, as the grains of salt burst
and crackle in the fire, he utters the following quaint formula :
"As I am sitting, even so may sit the hen and warm the
eggs. As this salt splits, even so may split the eggs of the
"
clucking hen and the chickens come forth ("OTTO)? t
"
7&>, erffi vd federal, K rj bpviOa
vd ârralvrf r at/yd.
(7/cdêL avTO TO vd (Ticdôvv tcdl T* avyd -7-779 K\a)<r-
aXa<?, ercrt
crapias Kal vd fiyaivovv rd TrouXta).

1
In some villages, like
"
Pravi, the wish takes a slightly different form as many sparks :
fly from the splitting salt,

so many chickens may be hatched
by the brooding hen." In consistency and realistic vividness it

would not be easy to match these acts of folk symbolism.
The salt cast into the flames may perhaps have originally
been meant as a sacrifice to the ancestral spirits of the family,
and may be a survival of the mica salis, offered by the Romans
to the deified shades of the dead during the feast of the
Parentalia?
The ceremony is known as TroSdp/ciaa-jjia. The prosperity
or adversity of the household through the year is attributed
'
'
to the lucky or unlucky footing (TTO&ICUCO or TroSapirco) of the
1
A. A. Tovfflov, '
'H Kara TO Hdyyaiov Xwpa,' p. 39.
2
Ovid, Fast. n. 414.
'
visitor who was the first

'
to set foot (TroSap/aao-e) within the
house. It is well for those who believe themselves cursed with
an unlucky foot to refrain from visiting on this day.
The idea is as old as the Book of Genesis and possibly
derived thence. Jacob in setting forth the blessings which
accrued to his uncle Laban since he joined his household, lays
"
stress on the good luck due to him the Lord hath blessed :
thee since my coming" (Heb. at my foot, Sept. eVt rat TTO&L
There is no evidence that the ancient Greeks entertained

' '
a like superstition, unless the epithet fair footed (/caXoTrovs),

mentioned by Suidas, is taken to mean "with good, or auspicious
feet," an interpretation perfectly possible, but hardly sufficient
by itself to establish the prevalence of a superstition. 2
Nor is the dread of comers of ill omen confined to this
particular though, of course, the evil is most strictly

day,
guarded against at the beginning of the new year. The same
omen is taken from every visitor, new-comer, guest or servant,
throughout the year. It is especially observed in the case of
a newly-married couple. If the man's affairs take an excep-
"
tionally prosperous turn, it is said that the bride has brought
him good luck" (rov efape Ti>%rj), and she is henceforth re-
lucky woman (rvêpr) or Ka\opplfyfcr}). An
' '
garded as a
analogous belief attaches to the 'first handing' (êpt/cd).
Some persons are gifted with a good hand, others with an evil
one (icaXoppify/co and /caKoppi&tco xepi), an(^ a tradesman con-
strues the success or failure that attends his business during
the day into the good or evil influence of his first customer in
Further, a sponsor is said to have an unlucky
'
the morning.
'
hand if two of the children which he has helped to christen

die in succession. A cook
also said to possess a nice or a
is
'
'
'
nasty hand
*
(vocrnô or avocrro %ept) according to the quality
of his dishes.
1
Gen. xxx. 30. Cp. ib. xxxix. 5.
2
For an interesting account of the first-foot custom in Scotland see The
Twelfth-Day.
or ra
On the Eve of the Epiphany a general cleaning is carried

on in every house. The ashes, which accumulated in the
hearth during the Twelve Days, are swept away and along with
them the Karkantzari, who are believed to be hiding there.
'
In the evening a special Epiphany-Cake (ôjroTrrjrra), cor-
'
responding to the old English Twelfth-Cake, is prepared.

" "
Silly unidea'd girls sit up all night in the fond, though not
" "
unromantic, hope of seeing the heavens open (dvotyovv ra
ovpdvta). This event is expected to take place at dawn, and it
is held that all wishes uttered at that propitious moment will
be instantly realized.
With this Christian superstition may be compared a
Mohammedan practice. The followers of the Prophet on the
'
27th of Ramazan observe what they call the Night of Power
'
(Leil-ul-Kadr), the night which "is worth more than a thousand

months." That night, as well as all the four nights from the
26th to the 29th of the month, is spent in prayer, and the
belief prevails that at a certain, though unknown, moment
"
during that night all the requests of those who are found
worshipping are granted" a belief based on the saying of the

1
"
Koran that, in that night descend the angels and the spirit by
permission of their Lord, carrying His orders in every matter.
2
It is peace the rising of the dawn."
till
One is strongly tempted by the close similarity of the two

customs to suspect that the one is an offshoot of the other a
temptation rendered stronger by the proximity in which Moham-
medans and Christians have lived in Macedonia for so many
centuries. But this hypothesis is precluded by the fact that
the same, or closely analogous, superstitions exist in lands
never trodden by Mohammedan foot. In Russia the Twelve
or, as they are there termed, Holy Evenings are by the rustic
1 "
Odysseus," Turkey in Europe, p. 206.
2
The Koran, Sura xcvn. Alkadr.
mind associated with all sorts of wonderful revelations : hidden

treasures are disclosed during that period, the new-born Divinity
comes down from heaven and wanders about on earth, and,
above all, at midnight on the eve of Christmas and the
"
Epiphany the heavenly doors are thrown open the radiant ;
realms of Paradise, in which the Sun dwells, disclose their

treasures the waters of springs and rivers become animated,
;
turn into wine, and receive a healing efficacy ;

the trees put
forth blossoms, and golden fruitsripen upon their boughs/'
1
These ideas are also common among Teutonic races. It will,
therefore, be seen that the roots of the belief entertained by the

Christians of Macedonia too deep to be directly connected
lie
with the similar belief held by their Mohammedan neighbours.

The dawn of the Feast itself is in some districts hailed by
"
the cries of the boys, who run about the streets shouting Eo !
Eo !" After divine service the same boys go round from house
to house singing. But the chief observance on this day is the
one described below.
After matins it is the custom handed down from im-
memorial antiquity to thrust some one into the water the sea :
or the river, if the village happens to be situated near one or

the other, or, if too far from either, into a pond or a well. He
who singled out to play the principal part in the performance
is
afterwards receives a prize for his involuntary immersion. The

person thus distinguished can buy himself off by paying a
greater sum of money than the reward offered. He also has
the right to claim that the doubtful honour should be inflicted
upon the proposer instead a suggestion acted upon, unless the
latter bids
higher exemption. The one who is finally
for
doused, on emerging from the water sprinkles the bystanders,

and they all join in a banquet got up with the prize money. 2
This custom in Southern Greece, under the name of 'Diving
with a quasi-religious character, the
for the cross,' is invested
cross being generally thrown into the water with much pomp
and circumstance by the officiating priest or bishop at the close
of morning mass. But in either case, it seems to have its
1
2 '
A. A. Tovffiov, *'H Kara TO Hayyaiov Xwpa, p. 40.
" "
remote origin in the healing efficacy and other virtues
attributed to the waters at this time of year an idea, like so
many others, adopted by Christianity, but still
retaining enough
of its
primitive character to guide the student to its pre-
Christian source. It may be worth while to add that in one

case, in Western Macedonia, I heard the well, used as the scene
* '
of the performance, called the Well of the Drakos (TO TTTjjdBt

rov Apcitcov). If this was not a simple coincidence, it may be
taken as a hint obscure indeed, but not utterly valueless
that perhaps in this ceremony lurks a relic of an old human
Waters.
sacrifice to the Spirit of the
*lth.
January
On the following day is held one of the many feasts of

St John the Precursor and Baptist ('H crvva&s rov UpoSpo/jiov
teal BaTTTfco-Toi) 'Icodvvov). On that day in the villages of the
interior is observed a custom outwardly analogous to the
Carnival Festivities, which later in the year are popular in the
towns on the coast and in the islands of the Aegean.
Parties of men
disguised in old clothes, or goat-skins, and
girt with chains of bells, go about the streets making
a terrific
noise and levying blackmail. These mummers are called baboyeri
(fjLTrafjiTroyepoi), but, so far from conducing to merriment, their
object seems to be to strike terror into man, woman, and child.

This practice appears to be the descendant of manners much
earlier than the Italian carnovale, which has been grafted upon
it in the localities brought under Frank influence.
On this day also in some places occurs a custom identical
with those we have already noticed as belonging to the Day of
Lazarus and Palm-Sunday. The following details concerning
the practice at Kataphygi, a village on the slopes of Mount
Olympus, are culled from an interesting sketch by a native
of the district, published in an Athenian magazine several years
1
ago .
The choristers, corresponding to the Lazarus and Palm
1 '
in the'Ecrr/a of April 17, 1888.
T. Hairayeup'yiov, Ot IIpo5/)o/Atrai,'
Maids, are here grown up males and are called from the name
of the feast 'PrecursorMen' (HpoSpo/uVat). Groups of these
minstrels assemble after church in the market place, which in
common with the rest of the village is at this time of year
generally covered with snow. Out of the number four are
selected to lead the groups. These are considered the best
rhapsodes of the village, and represent the four parishes into
which it is divided. Each of them, followed by a cortege of
eight or ten individuals, goes round from house to house, where
they find a table ready-spread with sweets and refreshments.
Having partaken of the good cheer and made themselves
thoroughly at home, they proceed to fill the skins and bottles,
which boys carry for them, with everything that they cannot
carry off in any other way. Then, divided into two semi-
choruses, they sing by turns songs addressed to each member
of the family, beginning with a general panegyric on the
hospitable house itself. The hyperbolic tone of these com-

positions detracts nothing from their pretty naivete. Here
follow a few typical examples :
I. To the house.
Ve TOVTTJV rrjv av\r) rrj
î\ca Trpopara KOI Bvb

'2 TOV Ta /caTejSaâv vd ra 7repi,/3o<T/cr)(rovv,
/cd/jLTTO
Kal '<? TO povvb Tave/3aav vd ra vepOTroTiaovv.

K?) 6 /3acri\r]ds eStdffaivev djro TO rafet&o TOV.
To fjiavpu TOV KovTo/cpaTel, /cat TO ftocrico p
"
Bpe TaiofjLTrave, {3pe Trtcrrt
To rti>09 elv Ta TTpoffaTa T dpyvpofcovSrovaTa ;"
"T* d<f>evTrj /xa? TO, TrpoftaTa T d
"
Kai ri'i/05 elvai TO fjâvTpl fjue TO
"
T' d<f>evTrj yu,a? ical TO pavTpl /ite
TO <f)\a)pl
Here in this marble -paved court,

Here there are a thousand sheep and two thousand goats.
They were driven down to the plain to browse on the grass,
They were driven up to the hill to be watered at the springs.
Behold, the king is passing on his return from abroad.
He reins in his steed and of the shepherd asks :
"0 shepherd, O tender of flocks, thou of the arched eyebrows,

Whose are the sheep with the silver bells?"
"
My lord's are the sheep with the silver bells."
"And whose is the fold fenced round with a fence of golden coins ?
" the fold fenced round with a fence of golden coins."
My lord's is
II. To the master of the house.
JJUQV trpcorori/Jie KOI
Tlpwrd riâev
(re K vvrep
o Oeios o #007x0? 0X09,
2e rifjirjcre /crj 6 /3ao-i\.rjd<; va Tra? va

<&Kidvis o-recfrdvia Vo (f)\wpl Kal ra /crjpia
Kal TO (rreâvofjbdvrrf\o 0X0
r/
Ocr' d&rpa ^vai '9 rov ovpavo KOI <f)V\\a *vai '9 ra
Too-' ao-TTp* eî d(f>6i>Trjs pas, (f)\a)pid
Kal /capaypocria,
Me TO raydpi rov fierpa, yu/e TO fcoi\6 rov
'E/x6Tp770"6, %fjLerprj(re, rov \eiTrovv rpels

Kat rrjv Ka\r) rov pcorrjge teal rrjv Ka\r) rov \eei"
?; /JLOV, Trovvai raarcpd pas, Kal 7TOVVCU rd (frXwpid pas ;
6ya, d&evrrj pov, vd pr) JJLOV TO
Kai rcopa TTOV pe pwrTjges 6d aoi ro
IloXXoi <)i\oi xa9 eirecrav KOI
My worthy of the first honour and honoured first,

lord,
FirstHeaven hath honoured thee and then the whole world,
The King hath also honoured thee and summoned thee to be his best-man.
Thou rnakest the wedding wreaths of gold, and the tapers of silver,
And the wedding kerchief broidered with pure pearls.
As many and leaves upon the trees,

stars as are in the heavens
So many piastres hath and black ghroshes.
my lord, also florins
He measureth them out by the bag, he throweth them away by the
bushel.
One day he counted them, and counted them again : three thousand
are missing.
He questioned his
fair one. His fair one he questioneth :
" "
My where are our piastres, where are our florins ?
fair one,
"I
hoped, my lord, that thou wouldst not ask me,
But since thou dost ask me, I will confess unto thee :
We were beset by too many friends, and have squandered our fortune."
III. To the mistress of the house.
TrpeTTovv r pyup KO/JLTTLCL 9 TO irpffivo TO povô,

Aez> TrpeTTct rov dfyevrij ua<$ va irai^r) pe rrjv
'] TO, yovara vd rrjv /cparf), '9 rd fiana vd rrjv
"
Koprj /JL, Sev elcrai pobtvrj, /copr) IJL, ev elcrai
#6X779 vdfjuai poSivrj, adv 6e\rjs vd/juai

\ rrjv 'AvrptavovTroXi, avpe '9 irj
KT) dyopa&e JJLOU 'fcovrXaTo, (rep{3t(DTiKo

Na o-eta>/u,at ; vd Xvyi^co/jLai, vd <j>aii>a)VTcu rd
Silver buttons become not a garment worn green,

Nor does it become our lord to toy with a maid'
To hold her on his knees, to gaze into her eyes :
" Maid
mine, thou art not rosy maid mine, thou ;
art not fair."
" An thou wouldst me
be rosy an thou wouldst ;
me be fair,
Hie thee to Adrianople, hie thee to Salonike,
And purchase me a broad Servian girdle,
That I may swing and sway in it, and display my charms."
IV. To a newly-married pair.
(A fragment.)
'A??T09 ftacrra rrjv TrepBi/ca 'TTO nrdvw '9 rd (firepd TOU,

K* f) 7rep8i/ca \d%6v 13 ape id fcai pdiae TO <f>Tp6 rov.
/3aav '9 oXa rd

aSoXo /cal (f>\a)poKa7rvi<T/j,evo
a 8eo-' o z/ei09 TT) (frovvrd rov K 77 /copy rd yLtaXXta T??9.
An eagle carried aloft a partridge upon his wings.

The partridge chanced to be too heavy, and his wing broke.
They set criers in all the provinces :
"Who owns silver pure or plated with gold (let him produce it),
That the youth may tie therewith his tassel 1 and the maid her tresses."
1
That is, the tassel of his cap.
V. Farewell.
IToXXd ^7ra/jb KTJ rcopa icf) d,7ro (TifJid rov.

aTTOVTrafjbe,
Avare r\ d<f)6VTr) \V(T6 rrjv
/A, dpyvprj o-aKKov\a,
K^ av 6^779 aa-TTpa, 809 yu-9 ra, <f)\wpi,d ^77 ra \vrracrai,
Kr) av 6^779 Kava âip\e, /cepva rd Tra\\7jrcdpia.
Interval.
KOI '<ero icy o\o eva,

Na tya-ys xpovovs etcaro KOI TrevraKocna ^wra,
Na fô"779 <TOLV rov "EX^yLtTTO, Cray T ciypio 7repi(7Tpi.
We have sung much and have done with singing. Now let us be gone.
Loosen, my lord, loosen the strings of thy silver purse,
And if thou hast piastres, give of them to us gold pieces, spare them not.
;
And if thou happen'st to have a wine-jar, serve out wine to the lads. 1
They drink, and then continue :
As many healths (as we have drunk) so many rejoicings (may there be)
this year and for ever,
Mayest thou live a hundred years and five hundred Twelfth Days,
Mayest thou live as long as Olympus, as long as the rock-pigeon.
The goodman or his wife gives them some money at parting.

These donations are handed over to the churchwarden of the
parish, who as a reward for their labour invites them on the
following day to a sumptuous banquet. In the evening a dance
is set up in the public dancing-ground, which is thronged by
On the similarity between these carols and analogous compositions once

1
popular in England I have commented in a foregoing chapter. The following

description forms an especially close parallel to the Macedonian customs
described above " At:
Harrington, in Worcestershire, it is customary for
children on St Thomas's Day to go round the village begging for apples, and
singing-
Wassail, wassail, through the town,
If you've got any apples, throw them down ;
Up with the stocking, and down with the shoe,

If you've got no apples, money will do ;
The jug is white and the ale brown,

is
This is the best house in the town."
A kindred custom
still surviving in England is that of the 'Advent Images'
or going about with a 'vessel-cup,' the performers being styled 'vessel-cup

singers.' The Book of Days, vol. n. pp. 724 5.
Winter Festivities "93
allthe inhabitants of the village. The dance is accompanied
by various songs, among which the first place is held by the
Ballad of Captain Stathas, a famous Klepht of Agrapha, in
Aetolia. It runs as follows :
'2 T "Aypa(f>a K\aiei fiid Trcnra&id, fit/cprj 7ra7ra$07rov\a,
Hrjpav ol K\e(f)Tai,s TOV vyw, icy d\\ov vyio Sev eêi.

Ypd(f>ovv âpTid K.CLI 7rpo/3o$ovv, <ypd(f>ovv %apTid Kal crreXvov
"
'S ecreva, KaTrerav-^raOa, \ 6\a ra 7ra\\r)icdpi,a,
M?? fiov %a\do~T

f
TOV vyio, r* a\\ov vyio Sev 6
T&aTTpdfya '? rov ypa/jL/mariKo, 7ri,o\l \ TOV

KT) aTT&va 'a-ijfjLOfjLd'Xcupo '? o\a Ta 7ra\\7]icdpi,a.
In the town of Agrapha there weeps a priestess, the young wife of a priest ;
For the brigands have carried off her son, and she has no other son.
Letters are written and dispatched, letters are written and sent :
" To
thee, Captain Stathas, and all thy braves :
Kill ye not my son, for no other son have I.
promise) breast-plates for the Secretary, and a pioli for the Captain,
1
(I
And a silver knife apiece for all the braves."
The Basil.
In describing the mid-summer and mid-winter ceremonies

of the Macedonian peasantry I have had occasion more than
once to allude to the plant known to the ancients as ocimum '
royal' (WKLÔV ftaviXiicov) and now called simply 'royal'

(/3acrtXt/co9). We have seen
employed in the decorations of
it
'
the divining pitcher in June, and in the sprinkling away of

'
the dreadful Karkantzari in January. These are only two of

the many parts which the basil plays in the peasant's life,
religious as well as secular. Its title is not a misnomer. The
basil is really and truly considered by the peasants as a Prince
I know not whether it owes its
among plants. sovereignty to
the beautiful greenness of its leaves, or to the white purity of its
diminutive blossoms, or to the sweet aroma which clings to both,
even after they are dry and to all appearance dead. However
1
This is a word the meaning of which I neither know nor can guess. It
may be a form of 7ri(rr6Xi 'a pistol,' which would balance the
'breast-plates.'
that may be, the basil is held in very high esteem and seems
to know it, if any faith can be placed in the poetic conceits of
the following songs, which I heard at different times in two
different parts of Macedonia.
I. (From Melenik.)
TO <yap6v(f)v\\o, TO irpwro TO \ov\ovfti,

Ilot)TO <f>opovv rj /j,op(f>ai,s fcrj bXat? y
IIou TO (faopei dyaTTTj /JLOV avd/jiecra '9 TO,
The Pink and the Basil.
"
My basil, bloom thou not so proudly green
three-branched
I am
the pink, first among flowers,
Which the fair maidens and all the black-eyed ones wear,
Which my own love wears between her breasts."
II. (From Nigrita.)
'O 'Si> 607,609 KTJ o /3ao-tA,ttf09 Kal TO /jiaKSovrj(Ti

Td Svo Tpia fjidX-wvav Kal Trijyawav
TO, '9 rrj /cplcri.
Tvpiêi, 6 y8ao-fcXt/co9 KOI Xeet '9 T
d /3ao-i\iKO<; 6 /j,oo"xop,vpi,(T/j,evo<;,
'70) /jLvpiâ) TTpdo-tvos KaOcos Kal

fjLTraiva) '9 Tot9 dyiao-jjuovs K et9 TOV TraTra TO,
The Peppermint, the Basil, and the Parsley.
The peppermint, the basil, and the parsley,

The two between them, and all three amongst them wrangled and went
to judgment :
Then turns the basil and thus addresses the (other) plants :
" Hold
your tongues, ye ill-smelling herbs, and be ye not over-boastful :
I am basil the musk-scented.

I am sweetly fragrant when green and also when dry.
I enter into the Holy Services and into the Priest's own hands.
"
I kiss the fair maidens and the black-eyed ones !
CHAPTER VIII.
DIVINATION.
BESIDES the guesses and divinings already discussed in con-

nection with the Feast of St John in summer, and New Year's
Eve in winter, there are several methods of divination which
are not confined to any particular season of the year the oracle:
is
always open and ready to satisfy the cravings of the un-
tutoredmind with predictions certain to be fulfilled provided
the questioner has faith, and a moderate capacity for self-
delusion.
To the divination by tea, or cup-reading,' still remembered
'
in English, and more especially in Scotch country places, cor-
responds the Macedonian practice of divining by coffee One :
solitary bubble in the centre of the cup betokens that the

person holding it possesses one staunch and faithful friend. If
there are several bubbles forming a ring close to the edge of
the cup, they signify that he is fickle in his affections, and that
his heart divided between several objects of worship. 1 The
is
grounds of coffee are likewise observed and variously explained

according to the forms which they assume If they spread
:
round the cup in the shape of rivulets and streams money is
prognosticated, and so forth.

A
memory of another, now, to the best of my knowledge,
extinct form of divination, probably survives in the proverb :
$V te TTOIQV VCL pCOTrjarj KOI p(i)TOV(7 TO BcKaViKi TOV.

1
Coffee bubbles possess a meteorological meaning in English folk-lore, see
R. Inwards, Weather Lore, p. 199. In America, appropriately enough, "a group
of bubbles on a cup of coffee signifies money," Memoirs of the American Folk-
Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 87.
"
Some one in want of a counsellor consulted his staff." The
phrase seems to be a reminiscence of an old use of the wand for
purposes similar to those of the modern 'divining rod.' At
1
any rate, the demanding advice of the staff forcibly recalls the
"
biblical passage My people ask counsel at their stocks, and
their staff declareth unto them." 2
"
The riddles are working miracles and the sieves are
"
dropping (6a/jbarovpfyovv ra KoaKiva KOI trefyrovv y TrvKva&e<s)
is another popular saying, used to describe any unaccountable
or sudden noise in the house. It probably alludes to the " feats

of impulsive pots, pans, beds and chairs," spoken of by
Mr Andrew Lang,
3
with, perhaps, a faint reference to coscino-
mancy one of the commonest of classic and mediaeval methods
of divination. Its meaning, however, is entirely gone, and it
remains as a mere phrase or figure of speech.

It is with a sense of relief that one turns from the shadowy
regions of conjecture to the realms of reality. To the methods

of hydromancy, or divination by water, described already,
deserves to be added the art of divining by bones an art-
still resting upon the firm rock of credulity. The principal
instrument used in this kind of divination is the shoulder-blade
(ft)//-o7rXaT??) of a lamb
and hence the process is techni-
or kid,
cally termed omoplatoscopy. When the bone in question has

been carefully cleansed of the meat which adheres to it, it is
held up and subjected to the expert's scrutiny: if
to the light
its a glowing red, it portends prosperity if white, and
colour is ;
semi-transparent, it forebodes extreme poverty and misery.

This general interpretation is supplemented and modified by
various minor details. Thus, for example, black spots round
the edges and only a small darkish space in the middle are
omens of impending disaster. A
white transparent line running
across from end to end indicates a journey. Black veins fore-
See A. Lang, Custom and Myth, pp. 180-196.

1
2
Hosea iv. 12.
3
Cock Lane and Common Sense, p. 31.
The case from Mr Graham Dalyell's Darker Superstitions of Scotland, quoted
" The sive and the wecht dancit throw
by the same author (ib. p. 123) where
"
the hous is particularly in point.
Divination 97
shadow discord and war. A hollow or a tumour on the surface

isa sign of serious calamity, such as dangerous illness or even
death. The same rules apply to the examination of a fowl's
breast-bone (arvjOdpi), which the folk from its shape fantasti-
cally call 'saddle' (o-a/judpi) or 'camel' (/cafjLrj\a). For instance,
if it is clear and pale with only the three corners shaded, it
augurs great happiness to the owner. For this purpose a hen

or cock is the villager's poultry yard, and
specially kept in
after it has been immolated and cooked, the breast-bone is
"
extracted, and some modern Calchas sets to work to look for
"
the luck of the household (va Siov/jue rov O-TTLTIOV TO rvêpo).
Omoplatoscopy chiefly flourishes among the shepherds of

Western Macedonia, and is also extensively cultivated in
Albania. 1But, as folklorists are aware, this quaint art a
ancient haruspication
relic of is by no means confined to the
Balkan Peninsula. At one time it must have been spread far

and wide through Europe for we still find survivals of it both
;
on the continent and in the British Isles. In England it is

very appropriately termed
"
reading the speal-bone (speed
=
'
espaule shoulder ')." It is related to the old Chinese divination

by the cracks of a tortoise-shell on the fire. It is very popular
in Tartary, and on the discovery of the New World the North-
American Indians were found to be familiar with it. They
"
would put in the fire a certain flat bone of a porcupine
and judge from its colour if the porcupine hunt would be
successful." 2
The prevalence of this method of divination in lands and
races so remote as, say, Ireland and China, suggests the problem
which so frequently confronts the student of custom Is it due :
to transmission from one country to another, or is it a case of

independent production ? If the former, when and how and by
whom was it transplanted, and did it first see the light in
the East or in the West ? It is perhaps the difficulty, not to
say the impossibility, of giving a satisfactory answer to these
questions that usually induces folklorists to adopt the view of
spontaneous and independent development, though in many
1
Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of Turkey, vol. i. p. 331.
2
A. F. 7
cases and this is one of them it is not quite clear why different
nations should have hit upon exactly identical modes of action.
Another custom connected with a fowl's skeleton ought
perhaps to be mentioned here, though it is a mere game and
bears only a distant relation to divination. This is the pastime
'
known as Remembrance.' 1 The merry-thought

Yadis, or
' '
or, as it is still called in some parts of England and Ireland,

' '
wishing-bone of the fowl is picked out, and two persons take

hold of it, each gripping one arm with his little finger and
tugging until the fork has snapped. From that moment the
two parties arecareful not to accept any object handed by one
"
to the other, without saying Yadis." He who is the first
to forget forfeits something agreed upon beforehand. It is
a wager, or rather a trial of rival memories.

Several other superstitions of a kindred nature may be
noticed in this connection.
A or an upright excrescence in
flickering flame in the fire,
a burning candle, is interpreted as predicting the arrival of a
guest, whose stature is judged by the length of the flame or

excrescence. This mode of divination by the fire is not un-
known Mrs Elizabeth Berry, for instance, " noted
in England.
a supernatural tendency in her parlour fire to burn all on
one and she very shrewdly concluded that a wedding
side,"
approached the house a conclusion fully justified by the

event, as readers of Mr Meredith's Richard Feverel will
remember. 2
If in carving bread a thin slice drops out of the loaf, it
is supposed to indicate the return of a friend or relative from
foreign parts. The same intimation is conveyed by bubbles
3 in
coffee, or by the accidental fall of a piece of soap on the floor.

If one drains a glass of the contents of which some one else
has partaken, he will learn the secrets of the latter.
1 '
Persian yad, memory. '
2
Fires and candles also prognosticate changes in the weather in English
folklore see E. Inwards, Weather Lore, p. 197.
;
3 In America " if you drop a slice of bread with the buttered side up, it is
a sign of a visitor." Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 89 ;
see also pp. 90 foil.

Divination 99
If two persons wipe their hands on the same towel at the

same time, they soon quarrel. 1 A similar rupture attends
will
the act of receiving a tablet of soap directly from another
person's hand. To avoid sad consequences people are careful

to lay the soap down, instead of handing it to each other
straightway.
If two persons raise their glasses to their lips simultaneously,
they are destined to die on the same day.

If a shoe is accidentally turned toes upward, it is im-
mediately set right, lest its owner should die. For this is the
position of a dead man's feet.
Lying in bed with the head towards the west is also a

posture to be avoided, as it resembles the position of the corpse
when lying in state.
For a similar reason three lights in a room constitute a fatal
sign, as they recall the three candles burning beside the corpse
2
before the funeral.
Likewise it is unlucky to be measured, for it suggests the
3
taking of one's measurements for the construction of one's coffin.
To sit with the face resting in one's hands portends the
loss of one's mother, or, as the peasants strangely put it,
" "
You devour your own mother's bones
will (da </>a? ra !
Ko/c/ca\a -7-779 pavvas crou). Sitting with the ringers interlocked

is likewise an evil omen. For both attitudes are typical of a
4
state of woe.
If one's girdle becomes loosened, it means that some woman
enceinte belonging to the family has just been delivered. This-
is undoubtedly an instance of divination derived from sym-
pathetic or imitative magic. A girdle loosened accidentally is
construed into an omen of an easy delivery. In olden times
most probably the girdle was deliberately loosened in order to
1
Cp. similar superstition in Pennsylvania, Memoirs of the American Folk-
2
In America also "Three lamps or candles burned close together mean
death." 16. p. 126.
3
Cp. the American superstition "If an infant be measured, it will die
before its growing time is over." Ib. p. 25.
4
Cp. G. Georgeakis et Leon Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, p. 335.
72
"
bring about this effect. Conversely, we are told, the physical
obstacle or impediment of a knot on a cord would create a
corresponding obstacle or impediment in the body of the

woman." 1 Perhaps a similar idea underlies the ancient Greek
expression %a>vr)v \veiv to unloose the girdle/ applied to Artemis
'
in her character of patroness of women in travail.

If one's leg grows numb, he must spit three times upon it,
that the stiffness may go to a female relative in an interesting
condition and accelerate her delivery.
If the thread gets tangled in sewing, that suggests that the
garment on which it is employed will bring health and prosperity

to the person who is to wear it (6d TO (fropeo-rj //,e %ap or //,e
vyeta), the influence of the tangled thread being akin to that

of a knot, with which we shall become more familiar in the
course of this treatise.
If the hem of a garment turns up on the back, the wearer
is destined to get a new one soon, 2 an omen resting on the
notion that a coat worn wrong side out brings luck to the owner
and protects him against sorcery (Se' TOV iriavovv ra pdyeia).
When one puts on a new dress, it is the custom to wish
him joy of it: "May you wear it with health" 3 (Na TO x a PV^-
Na TO (popecrys yLte ^yeta, etc.). Like wishes are offered on the
purchase of anything new, the building of a new house, etc.
4
At the end of a meal, or after having partaken of any re-

"
freshment, it is polite for the host to wish his guest with
"
health (Me T??? vyeicus era?).
If a visitor finds the people on whom he calls at table, it is
a sign that his mother-in-law will be fond of him, a blessing as

great as it is rare.
That he will be loved by his mother-in-law, or that he will
For an exhaustive dissertation on Knots at Childbirth, see J. G. Frazer,

1

2
The same superstition exists in America, Memoirs of the American Folk-
Cp. a similar custom

a the Celts G. Campbell, Superstitions of the
among : J.
Highlands and Islands of Scotland, p. 231.

4 The Arabs also on these occasions wish the owner that his
possession may
prove 'prosperous' (mabrook).
Divination 101
become a priest, is also prognosticated of one who likes to eat
the crust of bread.

If one, while eating, leaves a small bit inadvertently, it is
said that some member of the family is hungry. But if he
leaves it purposely, he is made to eat it, or else he will lose his
sweetheart.
something is broken, two more things will follow, that

If
the number of the Trinity may be completed (eyive dyia
Tpid&a). Such an accident is considered as appeasing Nemesis,
1
and some housewives console themselves with the reflection

that the 'ill luck' (<yovp<rov&d) has spent itself, and greater
evils have been averted. Others, of a more pessimistic turn,
however, look upon it as a forerunner of more serious calamities,
"
and cross themselves while despondently muttering may it
turn out well!" (ae /ca\o vd yita? @yfj /).
Eventide observances.
Sweeping after dark is bad, as it sweeps away the 'prosperity'

of the household (TO /juTrepe/ceri, rov O-TTLTLOV). The same super-
stition exists in some of the islands of the Aegean, 2 and other
parts of Greece, as well as in many other countries, including

America. 3 Nor is it advisable to give water out of the house
after sunset (lifjui {3aa-t,\etyr) 6 rJXto?). If pressed, one must
pour out into a cup some of the contents of the pitcher before
giving it away. The same restriction applies to leaven (TT/OO?U/U).
Vinegar also is not to be drawn after dark. 4
Salt or a sieve must not on any account be lent out of the
house at any time of day or night. It is believed that along
with these articles will depart the prosperity of the family.
1
Likewise in America it is held that " if there is a death there will be three
deaths in the family within a short time," and "if you break something, you
will break two other things," Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv.
pp. 130, 134.

2
W. H. D. House, 'Folklore from the Southern Sporades,' in Folk-Lore,
June, 1899, p. 181.
3
Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. pp. 82, 147.
4
For similar superstitions in Southern Greece, see Eennell Kodd, The
Customs and Lore of Modern Greece, p. 156.
In Lesbos onions, salt and matches are the articles forbidden
to be giveii out of the house after sunset. 1
It is interesting and instructive to compare with these
some superstitions prevailing in the Highlands of Scotland :
"
A sieve should not be allowed out of the house after dark,
and no meal, unless it be sprinkled with salt. Otherwise, the
Fairies may, by means of them, take the substance out of the
whole farm produce." 2
On certain days of the year also the Scotch forbore giving
fire out of the house. On Beltane and Lammas especially,
"
should not be given, even to a neighbour whose fire had gone
it
out. It would give .him the means of taking the substance or

3
benefit (toradti) from the cows."
The reason alleged for the Celt's custom corresponds with
the Macedonian expression that these articles, if allowed out
of the house, " will take away the prosperity of the family."
The concerning the loan of a sieve may more
prohibition
particularly be accounted for by the belief that a sieve forms
a strong safeguard against evil spirits and witches.

said that you should not "eat bread," that
It is further
is dine, at sundown. A
possible explanation of this behest
may be found in several Greek folk-songs. From these com-
positions we learn that Charontas (Death) and his wife

4
Charontissa sup at that time of the day.
etc.
Concerning bread, salt,
The spilling of wine is a sign of wealth ; the spilling of

5
pepper betokens a quarrel. But the spilling of oil, vinegar, or
arrack forebodes nothing less than the ruin of the household.
If one wilfully scatters salt upon the ground and does not
1 G. Georgeakis et Leon Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, p. 328.
2
p. 35.
3
16. p. 234.
Bernhard Schmidt, Lieder von Charos und der Unterwelt, Nos. 25-27.
4
It is perhaps significant that in some parts of Greece Proper, the name

5
for vinegar is the euphemistic term y\vKa5i 'sweet,' instead of e?5i 'sour,'
which is the ordinary word.

Divination 103
hasten to pick it up, it is believed that in the next world he

will be doomed to pick up grains of salt with his eyelids.
This belief exemplifies in a vivid manner the veneration
with which salt regarded by the people. It
is is looked upon
as a gift of God/ and any wanton waste of it
'
is certain to be
punished as a sacrilege.
Nor is the value set on salt less high elsewhere. Among
the Scotch Highlanders and Islanders the theft of salt was
considered an unpardonable crime to be severely punished both
1
in this and in the life to come. In America also spilling salt
2
is unlucky.
A like sacredness, even in a higher degree if possible,
attaches to bread. No crumbs are thrown out in the street.
When the peasants shake the table-cloth, they take care that the
crumbs shall fall into some out-of-the-way corner, where they
can be picked up by the If a piece of bread lies on the
birds.
road, the peasant dares not tread upon it on the contrary, he ;
stoops, picks it up and deposits it in some crevice in a wall or

"
hedge, beyond the reach of profane feet. By the bread which
"
we eat (Ma TO T/ra>/u TTOV rpcaê) isa usual form of emphatic
asseveration. Abuse of an enemy often finds expression in a
denunciation of his bread, just as of his faith (irian), religious
law (VO/AO), the parents who begot him (TO yoveio), or the saints
who protect him (ra ayia).
Women in kneading bread frequently draw the sign of the
cross upon the dough, before they proceed to separate it into
loaves. A cross is especially drawn on the first kneaded and
baked loaf (TrpcoTo^tojju), which should not be given out of the
house. It is also customary to make the sign of the cross with
the knife on the bottom of a loaf or cake before carving it.
The Mohammedans go even further in their veneration of
' '
this divine gift. They never cut bread with a knife, but break
it, explaining that it is impious to wound bread with steel.
Similar beliefs concerning this article of food prevail among
1
p. 236.
2
Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 82.
the Slavs. 1 We
have all heard of the 'bread and salt' offerings
of hospitality which in Slavonic lands form a chief item in the
reception of a guest, and which even figure in the enthrone-

ment of a new sovereign.
A kindred superstition was entertained by races even more
remote than the Slavs, as for example, by the Mexicans, among
whom " It was thought that if some grains of maize fell on the
ground, he who saw them
lying there was bound to lift them,
wherein, if
failed, he
heharmed the maize, which plained itself
of him to God, saying, 'Lord, punish this man, who saw me
fallen and raised me not again punish him with famine, that
;
a
he may learn not to hold me in dishonour '."
This Mexican prayer of the maize expresses with remarkable

accuracy the Macedonian peasant's feelings on the subject, arid
the motive which dictates his treatment of bread.
Augury.
vast majority of the omens observed by the Macedonian
The
peasantry are common to many lands besides Macedonia, and it
willbe one of the present writer's aims to point out some of
the most remarkable instances of similarity. Many of these
omens can easily be traced to the principle of symbolism. The
origin of others is not quite so plain. The people themselves
cling to their belief as a matter of tradition handed down to
them from early times, but they are unable to account for it.
Omens are often taken from the people or animals one
meets at the outset of a journey, or on going out in the
morning. It is, for example, unlucky to encounter a priest on
leaving one's house in the morning, or on setting forth on a
journey. In that case it is best to postpone the expedition.
It is worse if a priest is the first person you have seen on a
Monday everything will go wrong with you throughout the

:
week. 3 The evil can only be counteracted by tying a knot in

1
2
Sahagun, in A. Lang's Custom and Myth, p. 20.
3 The same
superstition exists in Russia, where it is explained by some as
being due to the fact that a priest formerly had the right to fine his parishioners
for non-attendance at Sunday mass.
Divination 105
" "
one's handkerchief, and thus binding the ill chance (SeWt?
TO Kaico).
A priest or monk is also considered of ill omen on board
ship. The presence
of such a passenger induces people to look
out for foul weather. 1 This superstition is shared by Italian
and English seamen :
"
Them two covies are parsons, I allow. If so, stand by for
2
foul winds," says the little sailor in a popular sea-story, and
his remark would be as natural on the lips of a Mediterranean
mariner as it is on those of the Channel sailor.
A similar dread attaches to meeting a beardless man

(oTTravos), such men being regarded as particularly ill-omened.
The evil character of the Beardless Man is illustrated by many
folk-tales in which such an individual often plays the role of
3
the villain.
Red-haired people are, as among ourselves, considered ill-

' *
tempered, though not necessarily ill-omened. Still, Red-hair

(gavOrj Tpi%a) is an expression to be avoided by all lovers of
peace. On the other hand, those born with a white tuft among
their hair are looked upon as lucky, the white tuft being
interpreted as an omen of wealth. Those who have two

crowns on the head (Svo rcopvtyais) are destined to marry twice. 4
At Liakkovikia a child born with two crowns will rob
5
someone of his fortune (j^kvo $10 Oa (f>drj).
'
Cripples and deformed persons are called marked (cr^/u-etw-

'
pevoi) by God as a warning to others, and their society is

eschewed.
As in England, Scotland, America and elsewhere, so in
Macedonia it is unlucky to turn back after
having gone out of
the house, a superstition recalling the command given to the 'man
of God' "nor turn again by the same way that thou earnest." 6
;
1
Cp. the proverb Tra-ira iraidL, 5ta/36X' dyyovi, "A priest's child, the Devil's
own grandchild."
2
W. Clark Kussel'sWhat Cheer!
3
The Bet icith the Beardless, in Hahn's Con tea Populaires
See, for example,
'
Grecs,' ed. by J. Pio. Tr. by E. M. Geldart, Folk-Lore of Modern Greece, p. 60.

4
Cp. Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 22.
5
A. A. Tovffiov, ''H Kara TO Hayyaiov Xwpa,' p. 76.
6
1 Kings xiii. 9.
A
hare crossing one's path is regarded as peculiarly un-
propitious, and the traveller, whether on foot or on horseback,
must turn back. The same dread extends to rabbits and
serpents.
1
The timidity of the first two animals and the pro-
verbial malignity of the last may satisfactorily account for the
omen. 2
significance of the
Some Albanian tribes consider it a sin to kill a hare, or
even to touch one that is dead. One day a friend of mine shot
a hare on the road and gave it to one of the two Albanian
gendarmes, who escorted us, to hold. The gendarme remarked
that his comrade would not touch the animal for the world.
In order to try him, we took the hare back and asked his
comrade to hold it while we remounted. But he refused in a
"
determined tone :
Lay it down on the ground, sir, we in our
"
village do not touch hares !
The Albanians are not unique in their

prejudice. The
Nam aqua of South Africa, for
example, object to eating the
hare and account for it by a curious myth, according to which
the hare was once sent to Men by the Moon to give this
"
message : Like as I die and rise to life again, so
you also shall
die and rise to life again," but the Hare changed the message
"
as follows : Like as I die and do not rise again, so you shall
3
also die and not rise to life again."
A hen crowing and it is im-

like a cock foretells death,
mediately killed. same We find the

superstition among the
4
Southern Greeks, the modern Albanians and the ancient
Romans. 5 It is also preserved in an English folk-proverb :
A whistling maid and a crowing hen

Are hateful alike to God and men. 6
Cp. J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,

1
pp. 223, 254 ; Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 83 ;
vn. p. 29. In Lesbos a rabbit is bad, but a serpent good to meet ; see
G. Georgeakis et Leon Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, p. 339.
2 3
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 121. Ib. vol. i.
p. 355.
4 5
Hahn, Albanesische Studien. Ter. Phormio, iv. 4, 27.
6
W. H. D. House, Folklore from the Southern Sporades,' in Folk-Lore,
'
June 1899, p. 181 n. 2. For some other rhymes on whistling girls and crowing
'
hens see Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 138 for the
'
;
omen vol. vii. p. 32.

Divination 107
The crowing of a cock before midnight is a portent of

death, or of a change in the weather. In England also the
crowing of a cock at an unusual hour sometimes is interpreted
as prognosticating a change in the weather, and sometimes it is
construed into a worse omen, 1 whereas in Scotland it is regarded
as an indication of coming news.
2
In America we find that
" "
a rooster crowing at odd times of the night signifies in some
parts death ;
in other parts, if it crows in the early hours of the
3
night, hasty news.
Death is also foreshadowed by the hooting of an owl on the
roof of the house, or by the howling of a dog either in or near
the house. The doleful nature of these sounds explains the
meaning attached to them by the Macedonians as well as by
other races, 4 while the unnaturalness of a crowing hen, or a
cock crowing out of the normal time, obviously suggests that
they forebode no good. The superstition about the howling
dog is shared by the modern Albanians, as it was by the ancient
Greeks :
ral Kvves apiv ava Trrokiv

t,
a #eo? ev rpcoBeo-ai' TO -âkKeov co? raô?
In exactly the same way the ancient Scandinavians held that

"the dogs could see Hela the death-goddess move unseen by
men." 6 Modern Jews and Mohammedans share this superstition,
believing that the dogs howl at the sight of the Angel of Death.
Beasts are credited by savages with the power of beholding
spirits invisible to the human eye. We find traces of the same

belief in ancient literature. Besides the passage from Theocritus
quoted above the reader will recall the apparition of Athene in
Homer 7 and similar incidents. The belief both in the dog's
1
Thomas Hardy, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, ch. xxxni.
2
p. 257.
3
Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. vu. pp. 31, 32.
4
16. pp. 20, 27, 33.
5
Theocr. Id. 11. 30-31.
6
7
Odyss. xvi. 162.
superhuman capacity for seeing the invisible, and in the funereal
significance of howl still survives among our own peasants.

its
A night-bird heard in the middle of the town portends a

pest or some serious public calamity. similar meaning A
attaches to the notes of a golden plover in the Highlands. 1
The screeching of the eagle-owl (///TTOIÔ?) is especially
considered as a portent of disaster, 2 and so is the cawing of a
crow on the housetop or chimney. Women on hearing them
" "
are in the habit of exclaiming Eat thine own head !
(Na c/>a?
TO /c(f)d\i a).
The ancient Greeks seem to have entertained a like fear of
" "
a crow sitting and cawing on the roof of the house. 3 Nor
has the character of this bird improved with age. Ingratitude
is the special vice with which the modern muse charges the
"
crow " Feed a crow that it may peck out your eyes (rpetye
:
Kpovva vd <?
ftydlC ra ^CLTLCL}.
If clothes are damaged by rats, it is taken as a hint that
there is a dishonest servant in the house. 4 On the other hand,
it is a good omen to see a weasel In connection
(vvcfriTo-a).
with this animal it is interesting to note a superstition pre-
valent at Melenik, and possibly in other districts of Macedonia.
Women, if, after having washed their heads with water drawn
1
p. 256.
2
This bird both in name and in character seems to be a descendant of the
Latin Cp. the epithets ignavus, profanus, funereus, sinister, etc.
strix bubo.
applied to this bird by the Roman writers. The same idea is embodied in
Virgil's lines :
Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo

Saepe queri, et longas in fletum ducere voces.
Aen. TV. 4623.
where the note of the bird is classed among the omens which terribili monitu
horrificant the wretched Dido and drive her to drown despair in death.
By the modern Greeks the name of the bird is also used as a contemptuous
term, denoting a person of superlative simplicity, in the same sense as wros,
the horned owl, was used by the ancient Greeks, and gull by us. Needless to
add that the /ATTOIÔS has nothing but the name in common with the buphus,
or egret, of Ornithology.
3 Hes. W. and D. 746-7.
4 In America " If rats will soon die," Memoirs of the

gnaw your clothes, you
American Folk-Lore Society, vol. vn. p. 30.
Div ination 109
overnight, they happen to get a headache, set it down to the

fact that in that water a weasel had its face reflected as in a
looking-glass (yvaXiarrjrce), and they carefully refrain from

it should cause the clothes
mentioning the animal's name, lest
in the wardrobes to decay.
This superstition regarding the weasel is
explained by a
legend current in Southern Greece. The name w^lro-a, or
kittle bride,' the story
so runs, was given to the animal
because it once was a bride, who for some forgotten reason was
transformed into a dumb creature. Hence she is envious of
brides and destroys their wedding dresses. 1
Atortoise is regarded as lucky, and the killing of one as a
sin. It is likewise sinful to turn a tortoise upside down, for
that attitude is explained as an insult to the Deity (ôvr^wvei

rov #ed).
Storks, both among the Christians and the Mohammedans,
but especially among the latter, are looked upon with a
favourable eye, and their arrival ishailed as a sign of peace.
The Turks call them hadjis or pilgrims, interpreting their
annual migration to the south as a pilgrimage to Mecca, and
believe that the house on which they breed is safe from plague
and fire alike.
Woodpigeons and turtle doves are also birds of good omen,

and them live unmolested in the enclosures of mosques.
flocks of
Sparrows are likewise respected by the Turks, who usually leave

holes in the walls of their houses purposely for the birds to
build their nests. A Greek writer tells a characteristic story
of a Turkish grandee, Tchelebi Effendi by name, who in ex-
treme old age was ordered by the doctors to eat nothing but
rice boiled in broth made of sparrows. The pious Turk
1
Kamporoglou, Hist. Ath. in Kennell Eodd, The Customs and Lore of
Modern Greece, p. 163. This legend is also made to account for a wedding
custom: "Therefore, in the house where these (viz. the wedding dresses) are
collected, sweetmeats and honey are put out to appease her, known as 'the
necessary spoonfuls,' and a song is sung with much ceremony in which the
weasel is invited to partake and spare the wedding array." In Macedonia also,
as will be noted in due time, sweetmeats are mixed with the bridal trousseau,
but no trace of the weasel is apparent either in the act or in the songs ac-
companying it.
durst not follow this advice until the Imam of the mahallah,
that the parish priest, gave him leave to do so on condition
is,
that for every sparrow he killed he should contribute a gold piece

to the Imaret, or Poor-house. 1
But of all animals the luckiest is the bat, and happy is he
who keeps a bat's bone about his person. So much so, that
people remarkable for their luck are figuratively said to carry

such a talisman (eêt TO KOKKO\,O rrjs vv%TpL$a<>}.
An insect, atLiakkovikia called o-wepjir^, which in the
summer enters the rooms and buzzes round the heads of people,
isregarded as bringing fever (avvepyw). One must spit three
times at it, in order to avoid its evil influence (yia va ^v rov
avvepyicrr))?
A magpie chattering on the housetop predicts the coming
of a friend or relative from abroad. Our Lancashire folk derive
different omens from this bird. According to the popular
rhyme, if you see
One, is sorrow,
Two, is mirth,
Three, is wedding,
Four, is birth. 3
The arrival of a friend is also signified by a gad-fly alighting

on one, and it is lucky to catch it and tie it up in the corner of
your handkerchief.
A cat washing its face foretells either the coming of a
friend or approaching rain. 4
The quarrels of cats at night are also regarded as a sign
of rain.
1
See *'H KuiHTTavTivotwoXisS By Scarlatos D. Byzantios, Athens, 1851,
vol. i. p. 91.
2
A. A. Tovo-lov, *'H /card TO IIa77ouof Xu>/m,' pp. 74, 86.
For analogous beliefs held by the Greeks and Turks of Asia Minor see
N. W. Thomas, 'Animal Superstitions,' in Folk-Lore, vol. xn. pp. 189 foil. In
that article (p. 190) is mentioned an insect as <rvyx ai P iaffT 'ns (?) Perhaps this is
the (rvvepyiTys of Liakkovikia.
3 is given as death, see The Booh of Days,
In a Suffolk variant the last word
vol. i. p. 678. The same rhymes
are applied to the crow in America, see
Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. vn. p. 33.
4 E. Weather Lore,
Cp. English superstitions regarding cats, Inwards,
pp. 151-2.
Divination 111
It is considered unlucky to kill a cat. 3
An
excessive lowing of the cattle, or chirping of the sparrows,
portends much rain or a snowfall.

2
Omens from words, so far as I know, are no longer in

fashion among the Greeks. Yet the Macedonians firmly believe
that to prophesy good or evil is to bring it about :
KaX,o//,eA,era K epêrat,,
"Keep mentioning good, and good will come."
" and
Keep mentioning evil, evil will come."
are two popular sayings.
Premonitions.
A ringing or tingling in the ears (f3ot%ovv r avna) in

Macedonia, as in many English country districts, denotes that
absent friends speak of you. In some places the tingling of
the left ear is considered a sign that they speak well, the
tingling of the right that they speak ill (ere tcaraa-epvow). In

other places it is the reverse. The ancient Greeks held the
same superstition.
3
Among the Scotch Highlanders the tingling
4
is explained as denoting news of a friend's death, while the
5
above interpretation is
applied to burning ears, as is also the
England and America.

6
case in parts of
Choking (TTvlyerai,) while eating or drinking is also a sign
1
Cp. a similar superstition prevailing in America, Memoirs of the American
Folk-Lore Society, vol. vn. p. 24.
2
Cp. "If sparrows chirp a great deal, wet weather will ensue," K. Inwards,
Weather Lore, p. 168. On cattle Ib. p. 153.
3
Lucian, Dial. Meretr. ix. 40. Ed. J. F. Keitz, vol. in.
4 In America also
"ringing in the ears is a sign of death," Memoirs of the
American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 129. Cp. pp. 138 foil.
5 J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,
p. 258.
6 " an' if the fust mate's ears didn't burn by reason of the things them
Cp.
two pore sufferers said about 'im, they ought to." W. W. Jacobs, Many
Cargoes, p. 9.
that one is ill
spoken So is the hiccough (Xoguyyas).
of.
1
The person afflicted must try and guess who his detractor is.
The hiccough will cease as soon as he has hit on the right
person. The point of this remedy seems to be to distract one's
attention from the hiccough, when it is supposed that it will
cease.Another ingenious, though more drastic, remedy is this :
some one present suddenly says something calculated to shock

or to surprise the sufferer, such as an accusation that the latter
has been maligning him and the like. In this case sudden
emotion acts as an antidote. But the simplest remedy is to sip
2
water slowly.
An itching in the palm of the hand foretells a money
transaction. If it is the left hand, it means that one will
receive money, if the right that he will have to pay (TO 8efl
&ivi, TO Zepfil Traipvei). But the right and left rule is some-
"
times reversed. In Scotland itching of the left hand denotes
money of the right, that one is soon to meet a stranger with
;
whom he will shake hands." 3 In America "if the right hand

itches, *you are going to get money; if the left, you will shake
hands with a friend." 4
An
analogous superstition is held regarding the eyes. A
twitching of the right or the left eye (vra/fet TO /JLO.TI,) means
that a friend or a foe will be seen, or that news good or bad
is coming. The old Greeks also derived a similar presage
from the "throbbing of the right eye." "AXkerai, o<l>6a\^6^
fiev o SefôV tfpd y l8rjcr(Z avrdv ; observes the love-lorn
shepherd in Theocritus, and the observation seems

5
to inspire
6
him with hope.
1
In America it means that " someone has told lies about you." Memoirs of
the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 147.
America " scare
2
On similar principles are based the cures practised in :
the one troubled with hiccoughs by some startling announcement or accusation,

repeat long rhymes in one breath, take nine sips of water, etc." See Memoirs of
the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. pp. 98, 99.
3
J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, p. 258.
4
5
Id. in., 37.
6 similar premonitions cp. W. H. D. House, Folklore from the Southern
On '
Sporades,' in Folk-Lore, June, 1899, p. 181 ; G. Georgeakis et Leon Pineau, Le

Folk-Lore de Lesbos, pp. 334-5.
Divination 113
diversity of the significance attached to right and left

The
respectively in different districts of Macedonia corresponds with
the difference which prevailed between the Greek and the
Roman systems of augury in ancient times. The Greek augur,
turning as he did to the North, regarded the bird's flight on the
right, that is from the East, as of good omen. His Roman col-
league, facing South, considered the flight on his left auspicious,
and vice versa. It is not improbable that the modern dis-
crepancy of views is due to a collision between Hellenic and

Roman traditions.
An itching in the nose, which in Scotland indicates the
1
arrival of a letter, and in America is explained as a sign that
one loved 2 or that visitors are coming, 3 to the Macedonian
is
prophesies corporal chastisement.

Sneezing is much too serious an act to be dealt with at the
end of a chapter.
Sneezing.
In Macedonia the act of sneezing is interpreted in three

different ways, and the formula of salutation varies according to
the occasion.
regarded as a confirmation of what the

First, sneezing is
person speaking has just said. In that case, he interrupts

himself in order to address the sneezer as follows " Health be :
"
to thee, for (thou has proved that) I am speaking the truth !
(Tei,d (7ov /cy d\rf6eia A,e'<ya>).
Secondly, it is taken as a sign that absent enemies are

speaking ill of the sneezer, and the bystanders express the
pious wish that those individuals, whoever they be, "may
"
split (ya
1
p. 258.
*
3 Ib. pp. 92 ; 135 ;
140.
Cp. W. H. D. House, Folklore from the Southern Sporades,' in Folk-Lore,

4 '
June 1899, p. 181. The writer, however, seems to have misunderstood the
meaning of the ejaculation uttered ireplSpoftos is a name given to the Devil
:
and not "to the Deity." It means one 'roaming about' with evil intent a very
apt definition of one who is in the habit of "going to and fro in the earth and
A. F. 8
Thirdly, it is considered as an indication of health, especially

if the sneezer is just recovering from an illness. The formula
"
appropriate in this instance is, Health to thee, and joy to
"
thee (Feia aov ical xapa
!
crov), to which some, facetiously
inclined,add by way of a crowning happiness " and may thy

"
mother-in-law burst (/cal va (T/cdcr rj iredepa aov).
!
On the evening of Cheese Sunday, as has been noticed

already, a special significance is attributed to sneezing, or at all
events extraordinary precautions are deemed necessary, and

the sneezer must tear off a piece from the front of his shirt in
order to counteract the evil.
Among the Turks also both the belief and the salutation
are in great vogue, as is shown by the humorous tale ascribed
to Nasreddin Khodja, the famous fourteenth century wit and
sage of Persia :
"Nasreddin Khodja commanded his disciples, when he sneezed,

to salute him by clapping their hands and crying out
'
Ha'ir :
Ollah Khodja/ that is Prosperity to thee,

;
Master'
Now it !
'
came to pass that on one of the days the bucket fell into the
well,and Nasreddin bade his pupils climb down and pick it

out. But they were afraid and refused to obey. So he stripped
and requested them to bind him with the rope and let him
gently down. Thus he descended, caught the bucket, and
the boys were already pulling him up, when, just as he was
drawing near the edge of the well, he chanced to sneeze.
Whereupon they, mindful of the master's behest, let go the
rope and, clapping their hands in high glee, cried out in
'
chorus :
'
Hair Ollah, Khodja Nasreddin was precipitated !
violently into the well, bruising himself sadly against the sides.
When he was rescued at length, he laid him down upon the
Well, boys, it was
'
ground and groaning with pain remarked :
not your fault, but mine too much honour is no good thing
:
"
for man.'
of walking up and down in it." The Greeks further use such expressions as
" He has eaten a devil of a lot." Kdvei Kptio
"E^crye rbv (or &>a) Treptdpofj.0,
" It is devilish cold " etc.
irepidpo/j-o
The epithet is employed in an uncomplimentary sense by Theognis :
5e yvvaiKa Trepidpo(j.ov,
" I hate a lewd woman," 581.
Div ination 115
An
eighteenth century traveller records that in Guinea,
"
when a principal personage sneezed, all present fell on their
knees, kissed the earth, clapped their hands, and wished him all
1
happiness and prosperity" a form of salutation identical in
almost every particular with the one prescribed by the worthy
Khodja.
The superstition concerning sneezing is based on the notion
that when sneezing an evil spirit is expelled from the body. 2
This idea, utterly forgotten by the higher races among whom
the salutation still exists as a survival, dimly and vaguely
realized by the less civilized nations, is plainly shown among
tribes in the lowest stage of intellectual development, such as
the Zulus, the Polynesians, the aborigines of America and other
peoples enumerated by Mr Tylor.
superstition, which is also known to the Hindus, the
The
Hebrews, the Persians and other nations of Asia, is as ancient
as it is wide-spread. Homer refers to it in the well-known
line:
, 6 n>o
" Dost thou not see that
my son has sneezed in confirmation of all that
I have said?"
Xenophon, clever Athenian that he was, turned the super-

stition to excellent account at a very critical time. While he
was addressing the assembly of the Ten Thousand, somebody
sneezed, and the men, hearing it, with one accord paid homage
to the god and Xenophon proceeded
;
:
"
Since, soldiers, while we were discussing means of escape, an omen
from Zeus the Preserver has manifested itself....... " 4
In addition to these authors, Aristotle, 5 Petronius Arbiter,6

and Pliny 7 bear witness to the prevalence of the superstition
'
among the Greeks and the Romans. Zev aouaov and Salve
'
1
2
Ib. p. 97 A. Lang, Custom and Myth, p. 14.
;
3
Odyss. xvn. 545.
4
Xen. Anab. in. ii. 9.
5
Probl. xxxvni. 7 ; epigram in Anthol. Graec. Brunck's ed., vol. in. p. 95.
6
Sat. 98.
7
xxvni. 5. These references are given in Tylor, ubi supra.
82
were the classical equivalents for the Macedonian forms of
salutation already quoted.
Through the middle ages the custom has lasted on into

'
modern Europe, the German salutation Gott hilf/ corresponding
'
to the English God bless you/ the Italian

' '
Felicita and the
various other forms of expression current among European
nations. The English story of the fiddler and his wife, where
his sneeze and her hearty 'God bless you!' brought about
the removal of the fiddle case, is conceived in exactly the
same spirit as the tale of Nasreddin Khodja. A propos of
these salutations Mr Tylor remarks, "The lingering survivals
of the quaint old formulas in modern Europe seem an un-
conscious record of the time when the explanation of sneezing
had not yet been given over to physiology, but was still in the
' " J
theological stage/
Prophets and Prophecies.-

Of seers Highland type I met with no traces
of the Scottish
in Macedonia the southern atmosphere is far too clear for
mysticism of that sort. Prophets however there are, and

though I was not fortunate enough to make the acquaintance
of any one of them in the flesh, I was favoured with several of
their predictions and, of course, their fulfilment. Needless to
say that prophets are popular only among the very lowest
ranks of the peasantry. Those who make any pretence to
education answer one's questions with a compassionate shrug of
the shoulders and a pantomimic tapping on the forehead, which
expresses more eloquently than any speech what they think
about the enquirer's mental condition. If they are sociably
"
inclined, they will even hurl at him the aphorism All :
"
prophets after Christ are asses !
(vra? Trpo^rij^ //.era Xpicrrov
The meaner sort, however, are not so critical, or so sceptical.
Many a farmer possesses and often thumbs a copy of the old

collection of prophecies which goes under the name of Agathan-
gelus ('AyaOciyyeXos), a gentleman

who holds in the estima-
tion of the Macedonian peasant the same high place which
1
16. p. 104.
Divination 117
some three and a half centuries ago was filled by Michael

Nostradamus in the eyes of Westerners of rank. There is one
great difference, however, between the French mystic and his
Greek counterpart. The latter never lowers the prestige of his
calling by attempting to prophesy whether "a black pig or a
white pig is to be served up at dinner."
Agathangelus
1
attempts higher nights. He talks of the blond race (TO

' '
'
%av6ov 7eVo<?) from the North driving the sons of Hagar out
'
of Europe, and generally speaking deals with the rise and fall
of empires and with questions of high diplomacy, entirely
ignoring matters domestic.

At Nigrita I also heard of several prophetic utterances
attributed to a holy hermit of the name of Makarios who lived
and fasted, prayed and prophesied, in the early days of the
nineteenth century. He did not specialize in politics, as will
appear from the following examples of his art :
"
Oeconomos, the rich and wicked steward who uses his
trust to indulge himself and who turns the poor from his door,
shall be lifted up by a cloud and shall be carried off to the
clouds." The gentleman in question was actually carried off
to the high mountain -peaks (the clouds) by a large band (a
cloud) of Albanians, who wrecked his farm and ruined its

master by exacting an immense ransom.
"
On the site of his big house a vineyard shall bloom, and
sheep shall graze where his hearth stands." This too has come
to pass.
The following is an oracle of high import, couched in
befittingly obscure language:
"The Agha shall not depart, until people have begun to eat grass.
Then he shall go, but as poor as they."
A
more pithy description of the Turkish hand-to-mouth
administration which, like Lamb's Chinaman, sets fire to the
house in order to roast the pig, could not easily be found.
The natives of Nigrita believe that this prophecy is destined
tocome true as the rest of Makarios's sayings have done.
1
Garencieres's Life of Nostradamus, prefixed to the English edition of the
Prophecies, 1672, in The Book of Days, vol. n. p. 13.
CHAPTER IX.
SYMBOLISM.
SYMBOLISM, as we have already seen, pervades modern

Greek life through all its branches. There is hardly a popular
festival or ceremony which does not exhibit, in a more or less
pronounced degree, this tendency to symbolic representation and

interpretation. The same spirit can be discerned in the religious
rites of the Eastern Church every part of the sacred building
:
to the minutest architectural detail ; every article of use or

ornament every vessel or vestment employed in divine service
;
contains a meaning, often too occult for the ordinary layman's
comprehension, but sometimes so simple as to suggest itself to

the dullest intelligence. In like manner, birth, marriage, and
funeral are all attended by observances which to the minds of
the initiated convey ideas concealed from the profane vulgar.
In many cases, however, the underlying signification is com-
pletely lost, and can only be surmised by a laborious comparison
of similar observances in countries where the meaning is still
apparent. To this category rites relating to

belong several
agricultural life. Some ofarethem
good examples of sym-
pathetic or symbolic magic based on the principle that like
produces like.
In time of drought the peasants have recourse to a curious
ceremony, which in many of its details resembles the rites
enacted in savage lands for the purpose of making rain. 1 A
poor orphan boy is adorned with ferns arid flowers, and, accom-
panied by other boys of about the same age, parades the streets,
while women shower water and money upon him from the
1
On this wide-spread custom see Mr Frazer's exhaustive discourse in The
Golden Bough, vol. i. pp. 81 foil.
Symbolism 119
windows. The boys, as they march along, sing a kind of prayer

to the powers on high, beginning with the words :
Bat, /Sat, NrovvrovXe,

K?) (JLvaLpKa, K,TI yfriviraKa,
Bat, /3at, etc.
"Hail, hail, Dudule,

(Bring us) both maize and wheat,
Hail, hail, etc."
Dudule is the name given to the boy clothed in verdure.

This is the form ceremony prevailing at Melenik, a
of the
Greek town surrounded by a Bulgarian- speaking rural popula-
tion, whence the Bulgarian terms used in the song. In other
districts of Macedonia, where the same custom exists, the words
are Greek. At Shatista, for instance, in the south-west, the
song generally sung on these occasions runs as follows :
TLepTrepovva nrepTrarel
KJ) TOV deo 7Tpi,fca\el'
Mta
f/
Ocr' d<7Taûa '9 ra
Totra Kovraovpa \ r a
etc.
"
Perpemna perambulates
And to God prays :
'My God, send a rain,

A right royal rain,
That as many (as are the) ears of corn in the fields,
So many stems (may spring) on the vines,'
etc.
In this alliterative composition the name of the principal

performer (UepTrepovva) is the only Slav word, indicating
perhaps the origin of the custom. At Kataphygi, again, the
Slav name, being unintelligible, has been corrupted into
"
Piperia, Pepper-tree."
TltTrepta, Trnrepia 8pocro\oyia, etc.

1
"Piperia, dew-collecting piperia" etc.
1
For similar songs, collected in other parts of Greece, see Passow, Nos.
311 313. In one of them the name is more correctly given as Hcpirepid.
Both the names given above, as well as the custom which

they designate, are to be met with in many Slavonic lands. In
Servia the rite is performed in a manner that differs from the
foregoing description only in one point the part played by the

:
boy among the Macedonians is there assigned to a girl who,

clad in nothing but leaves and flowers, is conducted through
the village, accompanied by other girls singing "Dodola Songs."
"
The people believe that by this means there will be extorted
'
from the
'
heavenly women the clouds the rain for which

thirsts the earth, as represented by the green-clad maiden
Dodola." The same custom, with slight variations, is kept
1
up in Dalmatia, where the chief performer is called Prpats,

and companions Prporushe, and in Bulgaria, where we
his
again find amaiden undertaking the leading rdle and called

Preperuga the original of the second name by which the
rite is known among the Greeks. The Wallachs also have
turned the same name into Papeluga, and the custom among
them is in all essentials identical with the Slav and the Greek. 2
The ceremony, now restricted within the limits of these
countries, once prevailed in many parts of Germany, and Jacob

Grimm has tried to identify the Dodola and Purpirouna with
the Bavarian Wasservogel, and the Austrian Pfingstkonig, who,
according to him, are connected with the ancient rain-preserving
3
rites.
Of the magical ceremonies for making sunshine 4 there is

no vestige in Macedonia. But a relic of some old religious
observance still survives in a sportive custom. The children at
1
Balston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 227 foil.
2The Vienna correspondent of the Standard (Aug. 18, 1902) reports a ghastly
application of the principle underlying this picturesque custom from the district
of Rogatza in Bosnia: "A peasant living in a village called Hrenovicza com-
mitted suicide by hanging himself. Shortly afterwards a severe drought set in,
which threatened to destroy the crops. The peasants held a council, and,
connecting the drought with the man's suicide, resolved to open the grave and
pour water on the corpse, in order that this might bring the longed-for rain.
Their intentions were carried out, and the grave was then filled again, after
prayer had been offered. The rain, however, did not come, and the villagers
who had taken part in this curious rite have been arrested by the gendarmes."
8
Kalston, ubi supra.
4 J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. p. 115.
Symbolism 121
Melenik are in the habit of offering up a prayer to the Sun,

that he may come out and ripen the grapes :
1
"EX,a, TraTTTTov "HXtou,
Na ere Stoo-ov/jie KOKKLVO, Trobrj/jLara,
No, /cXwrcra? ra ic\ijfj,aTa !
"
Come, Grandfather Sun,
That we may give thee red boots,
"
Wherewith thou rnayest kick at the vines !
There is in this form of address (" Grandfather Sun ") an

unmistakable and undisguised ring of paganism, reminding one
of the mythological idea of parentage still entertained by
" "
savages Yonder sun is my father
: exclaimed the Shawnee !
chief, proudly pointing to the luminary, and the boast was

more than an empty rhetorical figure to him. 2
With the promised gift of "red boots" may be compared
similar offers in Russian folk-tales. The elder brothers on
"
going away tell Emilian the fool Obey our wives... and we'll
:
buy you red boots, and a red caftan, and a red shirt." When
the king sends for him, the messengers say " Go to the king. :
He will give you red boots, and a red caftan, and a red shirt." 3
Again, when it snows for the first time in the year, the
boys hail the event with some rhymes which sound like un-
mitigated nonsense, though they may, and most likely do,
contain allusions impossible to verify at this time of day. The
following is a fragment from Melenik :
To /j,dpfA,apo
'H ydra
'O Trozm/ca? xopevei, etc.
" It it snows,
snows,
And white the flagstone grows,
Now cooks the cat,
And romps the rat, etc."
1
Cp. the custom of children in classical times to address the sun
w 0i\' T7\te, 'Come out, dear Sun,' "when the god was overrun by a cloud,"
Pollux ix. 123.
2
3
Kalston, Russian Folk-Tales, pp. 263 6.
To return to the subject of symbolism. When the farmers
have finished digging in the they throw their spades
fields,
"
up into the air and, catching them again, exclaim May the :
1
crop grow as high, as the spade has gone!"
The first fruit of a tree must not be eaten by a barren
woman, but by one who has many children. The sympathetic
influence of the woman's fecundity is too obvious to need
explanation. An analogous belief prevails among the Bavarian

"
and Austrian peasants, who think that if you give the first
fruit of a tree to a woman with child to eat, the tree will bring
2
forth abundantly next year."
When a mother has done plaiting her daughter's braids
she swings them thrice upwards saying :
Tldvov rb KopircrL, KCLTOV ra fjua\\td: s
"May the maid grow up, and her hair long below."
On a child's name-day, which in the East is observed with

as much ceremony as the birthday is in the West of Europe,
it is the custom to pull the child's ear slightly upwards, wishing
" "
that the child may live and grow
(va rpave^rf). Some
tall
peasants entertain the ungallant notion that girls need no such

inducement to grow " The Devil himself makes them grow by
:
pulling them up by the nose, sir," an old farmer at Provista

assured me.
A jug of water isemptied upon the ground after a departing
guest, that he may speed well on his journey, "As the water's
course is smooth and easy so may the traveller's path be"
(OTTOJ? irdet, TO vepo ry\rfyopa ercn va tray KTJ o
undoubtedly a survival of what some authorities call imitative

1
This is
magic. For parallels some of them extremely close to this custom, see
J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. pp. 3637.
2 16. p. 38.
3 A. A. TovvLov, ''H Kara rb Hdyyatov Xtu/xx,' p. 76.
CHAPTER X.
BIRTH.
THE rites and observances which precede and accompany

the young Macedonian's entry into the world afford much that
is of interest to the folk-lorist. When the first symptoms of his
approach have manifested themselves, great care is taken to
conceal the fact from the neighbours. Otherwise it is feared
that the confinement will be attended by much suffering, due
to the evil influence of ill-wishers or to the evil eye. For the
same reason the midwife is summoned in all secrecy and under
a false pretence. During travail the water of which the patient
drinks is medicated with a plant locally known as The Holy
'
'
Virgin's Hand (TT)? Tlavayias TO %/M), that is, some sprigs of

it are thrown into the jug.
apparently one of the many plants endowed by

This is
popular superstition with magic virtues against ill. Such

plants and herbs have been known in all lands and at all
1
periods of the world's history. Perhaps the most familiar of

them are those in use among the Celts, such as the Mothan,
or trailing pearlwort, and the Achlasan Challumchille, or St
John's wort. The former protected its possessor against fire
2
and the attacks of fairies the latter warded off fevers.
;
The
Macedonian equivalent is considered a powerful safeguard
against both dangers.
As soon as the child
is born, the servants or the boys of the
family hasten round to the houses of relatives and friends to
1
See A. Lang's essay on '
Moly and Mandragora,' in Custom and Myth,

pp. 143 155.
2
p. 49; Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. vn. pp. 100 foil.
announce the glad event and receive The reward of congratu-
'
lation' (TO, aâptf/cia). 1 The midwife then proceeds to hang

a clove of garlic and a gold ring or a gold coin on the mother's
hair, ornaments which she wears till her purification, as well
as on the new-born baby, in order to avert the evil eye.
A skein of red yarn (yve/jua) is also attached to the bedroom
"
door, as a symbol that the evil is bound," that is rendered
helpless. This operation is described at Melenik as "binding the
Armenos" (Sevovv rrjv "Appevov), a word of obscure meaning, but
evidently used in a personal sense, though who this lady is the

people, so far as I could discover, have not the faintest idea.
" "
We do this that the patient may not suffer from the Armenos
(yia va p,r]v apfjuevLaaOfi rj \eôvcra). This was their answer to
my queries. An identical practice with similar intent prevailed
once in the Highlands of Scotland. 2
On the same day comes the priest, and with the stole round
his neck reads a special prayer over a bowl of water (Biaffdêi,
TO vepo), with which the patient is sprinkled every evening
during her confinement.
The members of the family in which there is a woman in
child-bed make a point of retiring home before nightfall, or else
they are fumigated. Contrariwise, no visitor is allowed to
remain in the house after dark. If he is obliged to do so, he
throws upon the mother and the infant a shred of his raiment,
3
wishing them a peaceful night.
During" a whole fortnight the patient is never for a single
moment left alone, but day and night is watched either by the
midwife or by some friends, lest she should apfjueviacrdf), and no
light besides the one in the room is allowed to be brought in.
In the same way among the Celts " the first care was not to
leave a woman alone during her confinement. A houseful of
women gathered and watched for three days, in some places
for eight." 4
All these precautions appear to have one object in view,
" the reward for a

Cp. the word evptTr/Kia, rd,
1
thing found."
2
J. G. Campbell, ubi supra, p. 37.
3
A. A. Tovviov, ''H Kara rb Hdyyaiov Xwpa,' p. 75.
4
J. Or. Campbell, ubi supra, p. 36.
Birth 125
namely, to prevent the Nereids (Nepat'Se?) from carrying off the

infant, or hurting its mother. In this respect the modern Greek
nymphs correspond exactly to the mischievous fairies of the

north. Like the latter they are very fond either of abducting
new-born children or substituting their own offspring in their
stead. 1 The similarity of attributes is all the more striking
as it can hardly be accounted for by the borrowing theory.
Nor easier to explain it as being the result of independent
is it
growth.
"
The same tendency towards child-abduction seems to some
extent to have been attributed to the Nymphs in old times, for
in many epitaphs on children that died at an early age, they are
2
spoken of as having been carried off by Nymphs." Hesychius
also describes Te\\a) as "a female demon, said by the women to
be in the habit of carrying off new-born babes." 3
For forty days friends and relatives bring to the woman
in child-bed pancakes (\a\ay /circus) and sweetmeats. During
the three nights a small table covered with a cloth is
first
placed under the lamp which burns in front of the icon of the
Panaghia. Upon this table is laid bread, salt, and pieces of

money. On
the third day a maid whose parents are both
alive makes a honey
cake, which in the evening is set upon
the small table close to the baby's head. Upon the table is
likewise placed a mirror and some gold or silver pieces or
;
jewels are laid upon it or under the baby's pillow. These

offerings are intended for the Fates (Molpais) who are expected
to come during the night and bestow on the infant its destiny
in life (/jLOLpavovv or poipaôvv}. The sweet cake is meant to
propitiate or conciliate the Goddesses, while the mirror stands

as a symbol of beauty, and the money and jewels suggest
wealth. For the same reason a light is left burning all night
to enable the Fates to find their way to the cradle. In the
morning the midwife shares with the friends and relatives the
1
Cp. Pashley, Crete, n. p. 216, in Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of
Turkey, vol. n. p. 314.
2
Preller, Griechische Mythologie, i. p. 565 note, in Tozer, ubi supra.
3 The name of this demon has been derived by some from the verb pe\eTv in
analogy with the Teutonic Frau Holda.
cake, which eaten on the spot, not allowing one crumb to

is
get out of the room, lest it should fall into the hands of
enemies who could work a spell upon it. Similarly "the
German peasant, during the days between his child's birth and
baptism, objects to lend anything out of the house, lest witch-
craft should be worked through it on the yet unchristened
baby,"
1
an idea of which we find many illustrations in
Macedonia.
The Three Fates.
The and their visit is one of the most

belief in the Fates
deeply-rooted and most widely-spread superstitions that have

survived from ancient times. As in antiquity so at this day
the Moirais are represented as three in number. Their indi-
vidual names have been forgotten, but they are still described
as carrying a spindle and yarn wherewith is spun the infant's
destiny. This idea is graphically set forth in the following

popular distich :
r
H Molpa TTOV ere fjioipave a^pd^r el% do-rjjjuevio,
Kat vrj/jia CLTTO /judXaâ teal polpave ical aeva.

"The Fate who fated thee carried a silver spindle
And thread of gold, wherewith she fated thee."
People remarkable for their luck (/ca\6/406/oo?) are believed

to have received the Fate's benediction from her right hand :
'H Motpa /jiov fji pdfyricre /JLC TO Begi TT;? %e/0i,

"
My Fate has blessed me with her right hand,"
says a folk song.

The reverse (/ca/toôtpo?) is
expressed by the following :
'H M.o2pd /JLOV yu-e $a$Tia-e jjue

TO &p/3i TTI<$ %e/H,
"My Fate has blessed me with her left hand."
It is interesting that in these phrases the blessing of the

Fates should be described as "baptism." We probably have
here a popular confusion between Christian and Pagan belief
and practice, instances of which abound at every turn.
1
Birth 127
The following complaint, which I heard at Melenik, gives

utterance to the same superstition :
!
M.olpa
Ae' fjbe [JLoipaves /ca\d,
Ae' yu-e fjLoipaves K
rov Koa/jLOV TO.
"Wretched Fate mine,

My wretched Fate !
Thou didst not fate me well,

Thou didst not fate me
Like other men's children."
Such sentiments are plentiful both in verse and in prose.

"
A popular proverb declares that Where the poor man is, there
" f/
is his Fate too ( O7rof 6 ^TOJÔ?
K 77 Moipd rov) so true it
"
is that popular sayings, in some cases at all events, are chips
1
of mythology."
The belief in the three Fates
is also very
strong among the
Wallachs, but they seem to have borrowed it from the Greeks.
At any rate the name given to the goddesses by them (Mire)
is thoroughly Greek. The Albanians believe in the Fates
under the name of Fati, which is derived directly from the
Italian. Hahn, however, in an Albanian tale introduces them
by the Greek designation Moeren.*
The Fates of the ancient Greeks, and consequently their
modern representatives also, have been indentified with the
three Scandinavian Norm, whose names are Urdhr, Verdhandi,
and Skuld Was, Is, and Shall-be. This division of time
between them corresponds with the tasks allotted to the three
ancient Fates; Lachesis sings the past, Klotho the present,
and Atropos the future. 3
The following tales illustrate the impossibility of escaping
1
For the and the birth ceremonies observed in various
belief in the Fates
parts of Southern Greece see Bernhard Schmidt, Das Volksleben der Neugriechen ;
Eennell Kodd, The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece, ch. iv. G. Georgeakis ;
et Leon Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, p. 330.

2
Griechische und Albanesische Mdrchen, No. 103.
3
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 352 and authorities referred to there.
from the decrees of the Fates the stern, inexorable daughters
of dread Necessity.
/. The Youth and the Fates.
(From Sochos.)
A
youth once, while travelling, stopped at a peasant's
cottage to spend the night. He was received hospitably and
laid himself down to sleep in a corner of the common bed-room,
in which his host and hostess also slept. The woman had had a
female child two days before. As the youth lay on his mattress
awake, he perceived Fate, Fortune, and Death (Molpa, T 1/^77,
Xa/ao?) stalk into the room in order to allot to the baby her
portion in life.
They glanced at the stranger and then walked
out. The youth heard them holding a consultation amongst
themselves outside the door. At last Fate raised her eyes to
the bright star-lit sky and said " The little maid shall become
:
the strange youth's wife."

Our traveller was not at all pleased with this off-hand
way of disposing of him. For he was an ambitious youth,
and the prospect of marrying a poor peasant's daughter
accorded ill with his views. So, in order to avoid the fulfilment
of the Fatal decree, he got up softly, stole to the baby's cradle
and taking her in his arms crept out of the cottage. On the way
he threw her into a thorny hedge (7ra\ov/cdSa) and pursued his
journey, fondly confident that he had baffled Fate.
But next morning the peasant and his wife went in quest
of their offspring. They found and rescued her unscathed, save
for a scratch across the breast, the mark of which remained.
Years went by, and the stranger, now grown into a
prosperous man, chanced to journey that way again. Having

long forgotten the episode, he put up at an inn opposite the
peasant's cottage. A fair damsel appeared at the window, and
he was so smitten by her beauty that he forthwith stepped

across the road and asked her in marriage from her parents.
It was only after the wedding that the sight of the scar led
to the discovery that she was the infant he had sought to
destroy.
Birth 129
In this tale Fate figures in the company of Fortune and

Death. With the former she is very often confused. But
Tv^rj is also sometimes conceived of as a personal deity, cor-
responding to the Servian Sretya, and to the Turkish Bakht a
kind of guardian angel or spirit.
1
//. The story of Naidis the Foundling .
(From Salonica.)
Once upon a time there was a very wealthy man. He had

houses, furniture, sheep, goats, and is there anything he had
not ? He had of all that is good in the world in his house ;
even the cocks laid eggs, as the saying goes. But, in spite of
all this wealth, he was a miser, and mean as a Tzingan.
This man chanced to visit a big city, say Salonica but he ;
refrained from putting up at an inn, lest

he should spend
money. Nor would he go to some great man's palace, lest he
should incur an obligation. So he stopped at a poor man's
cottage. The house was only one big room and the hall, and
they put him up in a corner of the room his servant remained
in the yard with the horses. Now, the poor man's wife had
been delivered of a boy which was three days old when this
wealthy man arrived.
So they them down to sleep in the evening, the guest
laid
in one corner of the room and the woman in child-bed with her
husband in the other. These went to sleep at once and slept
soundly, for the poor have no cares. The wealthy man, however,
sleep would not seize on him, but he turned now on this side,
now on the other, thinking and calculating his wealth. While
he was thinking, all of a sudden he sees the door thrown open,
and in came three women clad in white. One of them was
taller and more beautiful than the others. They were the
three Fates, who allot the child's destiny on the third day
after birth.
So, as we said before, they entered the room and stood

where the one lay sleeping. The greatest of the Fates
little
touched him with her finger and said :
1
For the original Greek see Appendix I.
A. F. 9
" "
What
kind of destiny shall we allot him ?
Answered the others :
"
Let us make him be the heir to the wealthy man who is
lying in yon corner."

"
Agreed," said the others.
Thus they decreed and vanished.
The wealthy man heard these words and was afraid, and
could not close an eye from fear. He rose and began to stroll
iup and down in the room till daybreak. When God brought
the day, and the poor man rose from bed, then the stranger said
to him :
"
I am going home to-day. Children of my own I have
none. If you will give me your baby, my wife and I will bring
itup just as if it were our own flesh and blood. You are young
and, please God, you may have more."

Thereupon the poor man called to his wife to see what she
had to say, and she at first would not consent, for where is the
mother who will part with her child ? but at length, lest they
should spoil the child's chance, she answered, " Very well," and
consented to give it away, although she loved it as a mother
should. She suckled it well till it had enough milk, then
she dressed it in the best clothes she had and kissed it cross-
wise on the forehead. So the wealthy man took the child,
saddled his horse, was bidden "God speed" and went away
with his servant.
When they got outside the city and reached a desert place
in the midst of the standing corn it was summer he reined
in his mare and said to the servant :
"
Take this babe and slay it with a stone."
he was a God-fearing
The servant at first would not do it, for
man ;
but he obeyed his master and took
finally, will he nill he,
up the baby. However, instead of striking the child he struck

the earth with the stone, and his master thought that he had
struck the child. Then he suddenly made as though he saw
someone from afar, ran to his horse, pretending to be frightened,
and made off as speedily as he could. And so the little one
remained sleeping among the ears of corn.
Let us now leave the wealthy man and take up the child.
Birth 131
Those fields belonged to a rich farmer who had no children of

his own, and both his wife and he ever prayed to God that He
might give them one. They also wished to adopt a child in

the hope that God might take pity on them. On that evening
this rich man happened to be strolling in the fields and heard
the child crying. He stopped short and said to himself:
"
What can this be ? it is not a jackal, nor is it a dog. Let
me go and see."
Hewalked towards the voice and by and by found the little
one, and he wondered. And seeing the child so pretty and clean
and plump, he took a fancy to it and lifted it up in his arms
and carried it to his wife.
"
See what I have found in the fields, wife," said he. " We
wished for a child and behold a child God has sent us."
!
His wife would not believe him.

"
Fie upon thee, who knows who is the child's mother ? But,
let it be. I do not mind. Let us keep it."
They kept it and engaged a nurse to suckle it, and when it
grew up they sent it to school. And
the boy, being of a kindly
nature, made progress and was very fond of them, and they in
their turn were fond of him, and they called him Nai'dis, which
is, as we might say, Foundling.

Now come to the wealthy man. Time went by, and
to
Naidis became sixteen or seventeen years old. Then, one day
lo and behold that wicked wealthy man, who had tried to
!
destroy Naidis, chanced to come and put up in the very house

where he lived, and he heard the people call the boy Naidis,
and he was surprised at the name. He asks his hostess :
" "
Tell me, madam, wherefore do you call him so ?
"
We gave him that name because, to tell the truth, he is not
our own son. My husband found him some seventeen years since
in the fields amidst the standing crop. We had no children, so
we brought him up and love him as our own, and he loves us
very much indeed."
The wealthy man on hearing this was grieved at heart, for
he understood that it was the child which he had ordered his
servant to kill. Now, what was he to do ? He thinks it over
and over again. At length an idea occurred to him. He turned
92
and said that he had a letter to send home and that he wanted
a trusty man to carry it.
"
Why, we will send Naidis," they answered. They prepared
a cake and other food for Naidis, and he saddled his horse in
order to go. The wealthy man gave him a letter for his wife, in
which he told her to send the bearer up to the mountain
pastures where his flocks were grazing, and to bid the shepherds
cut him in pieces and fling him into a well.
Naidis took the letter without any suspicion, mounted his
horse, and set out. But before he set out his mother advised
him and not drink water when tired then she
to take care ;
kissed him and bade him Good-bye.

In the way which he was going he reached a fountain under
a tree, and he alighted in order to rest awhile and then drink,
according to his mother's advice for he was very thirsty. As ;
he was sitting there under the shadow of the tree, an old man
with a long white beard passed by and said to the boy :
" "
Whither, in good time, my son ?
"
A good time to thee, 1 grandfather, I am going to Such-
and-such a place with a letter for So-and-so."
"Give me that letter that I may see it; for methinks I know
the man."
The boy gave him the letter, and the old man passed his
hand over it, and then returned it and went his way.
To cut a long tale short, Naidis arrived at the wealthy man's
house towards evening. As he was dismounting he looked up
and saw a maid fair as the moon standing at the window. In
the twinkling of an eye he became enamoured of her. She
was the wealthy man's daughter for he had lied when he said ;
that he had no children : he had a daughter and a son.

1
"flpa KctX-^ ! This is the usual salutation of travellers meeting on the road.
Sometimes it is amplified into rhyme :
"fipa KoX'/f ffov, fjidria JJLOV,
Ki} ay pas 's ra iravid &ov,
Krj Va TTOV\i TTTOVfJI,VO

Na fJLTjv ftpedfj /j.Trpoa'Td crov !
"A good time to thee, my eyes. May thy sails be filled with wind, and may
not one bird impede thy course." This wish is specially meant for sailors, but
it is also humorously offered to sportsmen.
Birth 133
Naidis went into the house, and the wealthy man's wife
received him becomingly, " Welcome," " Well met." He de-
livered to her the letter, and she read it, and there was written
in it :
"Take this youth and our daughter, summon a priest and

wed them straightway. I am coming home eight days hence,
and I must find the thing done/'
Having read the the wife did as her husband bade,
letter,
her. She called in a
priest and without delay had them wedded.
They celebrated their wedding with much jollity and music till
daybreak.
Eight days after the wealthy man returned, and, as he
alighted at the gate, he lifted up his eyes and what does he see
but his own daughter standing by the side of Naidis at the
balcony. Then he was seized with giddiness like a fit of
apoplexy and fell down upon the ground. They ran and sum-
moned the doctors, and after a deal of trouble they managed to
bring him to.
"
What is amiss with thee ? " asks his wife.
"
Oh nothing. I was wearied of the journey, and the sun
struck me on the head," he answered. " But why hast thou not
"
done as I bade thee in my letter ?
"
I certainly have. Here is
thy letter. Look and see what
thou wrotest."
He takes the letter and reads it. He thought that he was
dreaming. He rubbed his eyes again and again, but could not
make out how it had all happened ;
for it was his own writing.
Then he says :
"Very well, it matters not. To-morrow thou must call
Naidis at dawn and send him up to the flocks with a letter

which I will give thee."
And he sat and wrote to the shepherds as before.
Next morning, very early, his wife got up and went to call
Naidis. But when she entered into the room and saw him
sleeping sweetly in her daughter's arms, she was sorry to wake
him, and let him sleep on for another hour. Instead, she went
to her own son and said :
" "
Art thou asleep, my boy ?
"
No, mother."
"
Get up, mount thy horse and take this letter to the
shepherds who tend the flocks."

The boy got up, mounted his horse, took the letter and
set out.
After a while her husband also got up and asked her :
" "
Hast thou sent him ?
" "
I was loth to wake Naidis," she answered, but be easy
in thy mind, my husband, thy letter I despatched safely by our
own son."
" "
What hast thou done, woman ! he cried, and in the
twinkling of an eye he runs out like one possessed to overtake

his son.
His wife thought that he was again taken ill as the day
before and ran after him. When he reached the uplands he
found that the shepherds had slain his son and thrown him
into a well. Driven by grief and remorse he flings himself into
the well and perishes. His wife on seeing her husband fall
into the well, lost her senses and threw herself into it, too, and
died. So Naidis remained heir. This is not a fairy tale. It
is a fact and shows that his Fate no one can escape. 1
Christening.
Eight or ten days after birth -generally on a Sunday takes
place the baptism (ra/Sa^rlo-La). The kinsfolk (TO awyyevo\6>yi\

having gathered together in the parents' house, are there joined
1
A very close parallel to this story is found in Albanian, see "L'enfant
vendu ou la Destinee," No. 13 in Contes Albanais, par Auguste Dozon, Paris,
1881.
Hahn (Griechische und Albanesische Marchen, No. 20) gives a story em-
bodying the same idea, only much shorter, and refers for a parallel to Grimm,
No. 29.
Classical literature supplies several anecdotes pointing the moral of the force
of destiny, all too familiar to be even mentioned here. The remark with which
"
my informant concluded her narrative 5ex" T&S ry fj,oipa TOV navtvas 5e'
:
"
fjiTropei vd T-TI &<f)6yr] is almost a literal modern reproduction of what Homer
said three thousand years ago :
5' oflTiva <j>ri/Jii Tre<f>vyju.tvov fytêpcu avdpuv.

II. vi. 488.
Birth 135
by the sponsor, followed by the invited guests. The sponsor's

1
office is no sinecure among the peasants of Macedonia. The

respect paid to him by his godchildren is even greater than
that accorded to their own parents, and his malediction is

dreaded even more than that of a Bishop. The office is
hereditary, and the sponsor or his heir is also expected to
assist as best man

at his godchild's marriage. It is only on
very rare occasions that a new godfather is invited to perform

these duties. For instance, if the new-born child is taken
suddenly and the family sponsor happens to live a long way
ill,
off, away on a journey, then a friend or relative takes

or to be
his place. The infringement of the rule is then justified by the
urgency of the case and the fear lest the child should die
unchristened a fear before which considerations of etiquette
must give way. But should the child survive, the regular
sponsor is afterwards asked to a banquet and is requested to
give it his blessing. He is likewise expected to waive his
he proves to be the owner of an 'unlucky hand,' as
right, if
2
has been mentioned before. In case he does not do so, the
child's parents are entitled to insist that he should nominate a
substitute. So great is the veneration paid to the spiritual
kinship between a godfather and his godchildren that a match
between a lad and a lass who both have the same godfather or
godmother is they being brother and sister

regarded as incest
in Christ. Nor is intermarriage allowed between the godchild's
and the godparent's families, as they are considered to be within
the prohibited degrees of kinship. The sponsor and the child's
father are termed Co-parents (^vvre/cvoi) and their mutual
3
relationship is that of spiritual brotherhood. These observa-
tions will enable the reader to appreciate the sponsor's position
in the ceremony that follows.
The party assembled, a procession is formed, and they all
1
KaXT/raras, at Melenik ; elsewhere Kovfj.Tra.pos or vowbs. If a woman, she is
designated Ka\-rj/j.dva at Melenik ; elsewhere Kov/j,Trdpa or vovva.

2
Supra, p. 85.
3
The same sacred relationshipis implied in our old word gossip [God-sib
'
relate:! in the service of God'], a word which experienced many vicissitudes ere
it sank to its present low position.
repair to the church. The cortege is headed by the midwife,

who carries the baby decked out in all possible .finery and
veiled with a thin gauze (a/ceTr-rj). At the church-door the

sponsor relieves the midwife of her burden, and they all march
1
up the nave to the font. After a preliminary prayer the priest
asks the sponsor for the name, which is expected by the
bystanders with breathless eagerness. When it is announced,

some boys hurry off to the baby's home to inform the parents.
They are received on the threshold by the father, who, on
hearing it, throws to the messengers sugar-plums to scramble
for. The name given frequently, though not invariably, is that
of one of the grandparents. Sometimes it belongs to some
other relative, or to the Saint on whose day the baptism takes
place. But
in all cases the sponsors are entitled to give any
name they please, and from their decision there is no appeal.
Hence the anxiety displayed by all parties concerned until the
name is announced.
The ceremony over, the sponsors distribute among the
children present, and the bystanders generally, dry figs, coins,
or, in the more highly civilized districts, cheap medals tied
"
with a ribbon, as tokens that they have " witnessed the
ceremony. For this reason these tokens are called paprvpid.
From the church the party, with the priest at the head, return
to the house,and offer to the parents their congratulations and
wishes for the child's prosperity (vd era? tyo-y, vd Trpotco^y,
etc.) The sponsor, who carries the baby home, hands it over to
the mother with these words :
"
I deliver it unto thee in this life ;
but I shall ask it back
from thee in the next. Guard it well from fire, water, and all
"
evil !
A
banquet is then spread. The midwife, who throughout
plays the part of Mistress of the Ceremonies, takes up a great
circular cake (/co\ovpa), prepared for the nonce. This cake is
smeared with honey and covered with sesame and almonds.
She places some walnuts upon it, and setting it on her head,
walks slowly round and round the table, crying ihoohoo !
1
The font in the Greek churches is a movable copper vessel.
Birth 137
mihoohoo ! until all the walnuts have dropped off one by one
and are picked up by the boys. Then the cake is laid on the
1
table, cut, and eaten.
Purification.
On the day after the baby's birth the mother,

fortieth
escorted by the midwife, who carries the baby in her arms,
betakes herself to church that she may receive the priest's
blessing and be purified by special prayers (yia va crap wrier)).
From that day, and not until then, she is at liberty to attend
2
divine service. On their way home they call upon the sponsor
and the nearest relatives. The mistress of each house takes an
egg, sugar, or a sweet cake and, passing it over the child's face,
bestows upon it the following benediction :
"Mayest thou live, my little one. Mayest thou grow old,

with hoary hair and eyebrows. With (if a male) a hoary beard
and moustache." (Na 77077?, /u/cpo fôv, va yepdarfs, va 761/779
aa-TTpa /j,a\\ia /cal (frpvSia, fjC aaTTpa yeveia /cat fiowTa/cia.)
fju
And, having put a lump of sugar into its mouth, she hands the
other gifts to the mother.
Superstitious observances connected with childbirth.
If a woman in an interesting condition suffers from an

inordinate longing for some particular, and unobtainable, kind
of food, her friends go out begging bread and other eatables
from three different houses and make the sufferer partake of
them. This operation is supposed to cure her.
When a mother loses child after child (Se' a-rpeyei Trai&La),
the proper course for her to pursue is to take her last-born
and expose it in the street. A
friend, by previous arrangement,
picks up the child and clothes it. A few days after she returns
it to the mother, and for three years it is clothed in strange
1
For a beautiful sketch of the christening ceremony among the peasantry of
Thessaly, nearly identical with the above description, see X. XptoTo/fo 0^X77, To,
'
Ba0n'<rta inAi^^/xara 0e(T<ra\t/ca,' Athens, 1900, pp. 39 foil.

2
"a mother must not go outside her own house-door till she goes
In Suffolk
to be 'churched'." 'Superstitions about new-born children' in The Book of
Days, vol. n. p. 39.
clothes, that is, clothes begged of relatives and friends. Some-

times, in addition to this ceremony, the child's right ear is
adorned with a silver ring which must be worn through life.
At Liakkovikia the precautions are more elaborate still.
The family sponsor being dismissed, the midwife takes the
new-born infant and casts it outside the house-door. The first
personwho happens to pass by is obliged to act as sponsor. If,
even after this measure, the children persist in dying, the
mother is delivered of her next in a strange house, surrounded
by all her kinswomen. As soon as the infant is born, the
midwife puts it in a large handkerchief and carries it round the
"
room, crying A child for sale
"
(TraiSl TrouXw).! One of the
women present buys it for a few silver pieces and returns it to
the mother. Then forty women, who have been married only
once (TTpcoToo-recâvoi), contribute a silver coin apiece, and out
of these coins a hoop is made through which the child is passed.
Afterwards this silver hoop is turned into some other ornament,
which the child must always wear. 1
These queer customs agree with the practice once prevalent
"
in Scotland. If the children of a family were dying in
infancy, one after the other, it was thought that, by changing

the name, the evil would be counteracted. The new name
was called a 'road name,' being that of the first person en-
countered on the road when going with the child to be
baptized."
2
The custom is explained by Mr Campbell on the
" "
principle of the luck of the person met. But by comparing
it with the Macedonian practice, it is possible to arrive
at a different interpretation. The stranger's name, like the
strange clothes, may well be intended to serve as a disguise
calculated to deceive the beings, fairies, witches, or what not,
to whose malevolent agency the evil is attributed. With regard
to the name, it should be added that in Macedonia, as elsewhere,
people avoid giving to a child the name of a brother or sister
recently dead. So much is there in a name when witches
and fairies are about.
1
A. A. Towiov, ''H KCLTO. rb Udyyatov Xcipa,' p. 75.
2
p. 245.
Birth 139
Another superstition connected with birth is the following:

women in a state of pregnancy do not weave or spin on the
feast of St Symeon (Feb. 3, o.s.), lest the child should be born
with a mark (o-rjâSia/co). This superstition, in its present
form at all events, is due to a fanciful analogy between the
" "
saint's name (Sfyu-ewi') and the Greek mark (crrj/uidSi,),
for a
and belongs to a class of notions based on nothing more serious
than mistaken etymology.
A woman whose first child has died is not allowed to follow
a funeral.
As in England so in Macedonia a child born with a caul
(ro-iTra) is considered fortunate. Pieces of the caul are sewed
up and worn by the father and the child round their necks. 1
The Evil Eye.
No superstition is more widely held than the belief in

the harmful influence of the human eye. It is common among
the Hindoos, the Hebrews, the Arabs, the Turks, and the
Moors. We find the belief rife amongst the lower classes in
Spain especially in Andalusia and we are also told that one
of the crimes of which the Gitanas in that country were most
commonly accused, and for which they suffered in olden times,

was that of casting the evil eye, or, as they in their own
" " 2
peculiar dialect phrase making sick (querelar nasula).
it,
Even in England those who know the West country are aware
that to this day the belief amongst the rural population is
not dead, but only dormant. Fear of ridicule generally compels
the English farmer to conceal his deep-rooted conviction, but
there come times when concealment is no longer possible, and
3
then the latent superstition is revealed in all its
ugliness.
Cp. G. Georgeakis et Leon Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos,

1
p. 331 ; J. G.
Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. pp. 53 foil.
2
G. Borrow, The Zincali, Part i. ch. vm.
3
The revelation is notînfrequently occasioned and accompanied by
circumstances far from laughable, as will be seen from the following report of a
case heard before the magistrates at Uxbridge in January, 1900.
A man and his wife were charged by the National Society for the Prevention
' '
The antiquity of the superstition is equal to its popularity.
It can with certainty be traced back to the earliest traditions
of the Hebrew race, recorded in the Talmud. The Greeks and
the Romans must have borrowed or independently originated
the belief at a very old date. There are several allusions in the
classical writers,which show that both the fear of the evil eye
and some of the means of averting it were identical with those
in vogue at the present day. Homer, indeed, is silent on the
subject. But so he is on the subjects of magic, purification,
ancestor- worship and many other practices of dateless antiquity.

These superstitions, avoided by Homer for some reason or
1
other, are mentioned by the authors of the other epics, known
as the Little Iliad, the Sack, the Gypria and the rest.
In Macedonia the superstition in force and extent is second
to none. Not only human beings, but also dumb creatures and
inanimate objects, are liable to be blighted by the evil eye
(TO fjudn). The curse is to be dreaded most when its object
is in an exceptionally flourishing condition a very healthy :
and good-looking child, a spirited horse, a blooming garden,

or a newhouse, are all subject to its influence. Nor is the
casting of the evil eye always an act of wilful wickedness.
The most innocent and well-meant expression of admiration
can bring about the undesired effect. For this reason people
are anxious to avoid such expressions, or, when uttered, to
counteract them.
One of the oldest and most prevalent methods for avoiding
of Cruelty to Children with causing the death of two of their children by wilful
neglect. The unhappy mites had died amid the filthiest of surroundings, and
three brothers and sisters who still survived were described as being in a
starving condition. To this most serious charge the prisoners merely replied
that they had had the misfortune some time ago to incur the wrath of a gypsy,
and they and theirs had consequently been 'overlooked.' Since then nothing
would prosper with them, and it was through the operation of the curse, and
not for lack of proper nutriment, that the children had grown emaciated, and
had finally died." The Morning Post, Jan. 19, 1900.
1
Prof. Gilbert Murray (History of Ancient Greek Literature, p. 47) thinks
that this silence has arisen "from some conventional repugnance, whether of
race, or class, or tradition." In any case, we need not assume that Homer
deliberately set himself the task of drawing a complete picture of contemporary

Greek life for the benefit of posterity.
Birth 141
the effects of excessive admiration is that of spitting at the
object which has evoked in Theocritus,

it. The shepherd
following the instruction of a wise old woman,
spits thrice into
his own lap in order to save himself from the consequences of
self-admiration. 1 The proud city beauty does the same thing
in order to shun the danger from the eye of the rustic admirer
whom she scorns. 2
The Romans entertained a similar notion concerning the
evil eye and its cure. 3
This is still the orthodox remedy for the evil eye among
the Greeks of Macedonia and elsewhere. For instance, if one
is moved
to admiration at the sight of a pretty child, he hastens
to avert the danger by spitting thrice in its face, and ac-
companies the action with words almost identical with those

employed by the ancient writers referred to above No <re
(frrvo-Q) va n/r) ftacricaOys \
Also persons seized by a sudden fright spit thrice into their

laps, just as the shepherd and the maid of Theocritus did.
<&Tvae '? TOV a-ov ! is a common expression often used
/c6p(f>o
ironically towards those who seem to think too much of their

own beauty. 4
Many and various are the safeguards recommended and
used against the evil eye. But the commonest perhaps
because the cheapest of all is garlic. clove of that A
malodorous plant is stitched to the cap of the new-born infant,
and a whole string of it is hung outside the newly-built house,
or from the branches of a tree laden with fruit. The formula
" "
garlic before your eyes '9 ra /judna aov) is also
!
(crtcopSa very
commonly used by the child's mother or nurse to the person
1
Idyl. vi. 39.
2
Ib. Incert. n. 11.
3
See Pliny : veniam a deis petimus spuendo in sinum xxvin. 4, 7 ; Tibullus :
Ter cane, ter dictis despue carminibus, Eleg. 56; Juvenal: conspuiturque
i. ii.
sinus, Sat. vn. 112. On its effect on sheep, cp. Virgil: Nescio quis teneros oculus
mihi fascinat agnos, Bucol. Eel. in. 103. On its general power, Horace : Non
istic obliquo oculomea commoda quisquam Limat Epist. I. xiv. 37.
4
For examples of the vast number of evils that can be averted by means of
saliva, see Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. vn. pp. 16 19.
who ventures to fix his glance upon their charge without
1
resorting to the traditional antidotes.
Other articles employed for the safety of babies are a small
cross, especially one made of rhinoceros' horn (novoicepo), an old
gold coin with the effigy of the Emperor Constantine upon it

(K.co(TTavTivdTo), and a
cock's spur (icevrpl rov IT ere LVOV). All
these heterogeneous amulets are attached to the front of the
baby's cap. But even then the child is not considered quite
beyond the reach of witchery. Further precaution is taken in

the form of a silver phylactery ((/)fXa^ro), containing cotton
wool kept from the inauguration ceremony of a new church
and, when possible, bits of the true cross, or, as it is termed,
" "
the precious wood (TO riîo f uXo). This phylactery is
slung under the child's arm.
With these preservatives resorted to by the mothers of
Macedonia may be compared those employed elsewhere. The
rhinoceros' horn, for example, reminds one of the stag's horn
which in Spain is considered an excellent safeguard. 2 The
phylacteries bear a strong resemblance to the devices
also
employed by the Jews and Moors of Barbary. 3 The Jews of

"
Turkey likewise carry about them bits of paper with David's
"
shield (magendavid) drawn upon them. This is the Hexagram
X^X regarded by
them as a symbol of the Almighty and known
to astrologers as the Macrocosm, while the Pentagram is ^
the mystic sign of man, or the Microcosm. The first of these
figures is further embroidered on clothes and engraven on
door-posts as a talisman against evil spirits and evil influences.
The Pentagram is also in use among the Jews. The Turks
have borrowed from them, and it can be found drawn both
it
in their charms (ha'imali) and on the walls of their mosques.

These places of worship are also commonly illuminated with
Cp. Eennell Kodd, The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece, pp. 161 foil.
1
2
"On that account a small horn, tipped with silver, is frequently attached
to the children's necks by means of a cord braided from the hair of a black
mare's tail. Should the evil glance be cast, it is imagined that the horn
receives it, and instantly snaps asunder." G. Borrow, The Zincali, Part i.
ch. vin.
s
16.
Birth 143
oil lamps hanging from a wooden frame in the form of the

1
mystic design.
To return to the child. Sometimes even the armour
described already is not deemed sufficiently strong to ward off
the evil. When a child is taken suddenly ill, its indisposition
is generally put down to the baneful influence of malignant
eyes. If there is any doubt, it iseither dispelled or confirmed
by the following test. The rhinoceros' horn cross, or a sea-
shell, is dropped into a bowl of water. If

as it usually
happens bubbles rise to the surface, that is taken as a certain

' '
proof that the child has been overlooked (fiaridadrjKe}.

In that case, it is either sprinkled with that water, or is made
to drink of it,and the rest is thrown out of the house. The
child's face is then marked with the dipped cross (Siao-ravpcovovv
TO TraiSi). In some districts the water used for the experiment

'
is what is called speechless or dumb/ that is, water drawn
overnight in perfect silence.
The cause of the illness thus ascertained, there ensues
the cure. Like the amulets, the cure also is of a miscellaneous
nature. Generally speaking it can be described as an act of
purification with fire and water. Sometimes it appears as a
purely Pagan rite saliva obtained from the person who is
:
suspected of having overlooked the child unintentionally is

mixed with water, and the patient is made to drink it. 2 Or
a piece is torn from that person's dress and burnt, and the
victim is fumigated with it. If the culprit cannot be identified,
or if he refuses to undo the harm, the sufferer is taken to
church, and the priest reads some prayers over it for sorcery ;
(pao-fcavla) is expressly recognized by the Greek Church as

one of Satan's weapons, to be fought against by Christian
1
The Greeks of Mytilene too were in older days in the habit of using such
candelabra at weddings as a symbolic wish for the health and general well-being
of the newly-married pair. Some interesting details about this custom are given
in a quaint Greek history of the island *'H Aecr/Stcis,' by S. A. 'Avayvucrrov,
Smyrna, 1850, p. 2ul. See also Coray "Araxra, torn. iv. pp. 405 foil.
2
An analogous practice was in vogue among the Koman old women : Ecce
avia...puerum...salivis expiat, urentis oculos inhibere perita. Pers. Sat. n. 30 foil.
Cp. Petr. 131.

means. Should religion also fail, a censer with frankincense
in it is placed on the floor, and the child's father, holding it in
his arms, jumps three times through the curling smoke.
A good guarantee against the evil eye and all witchery
pdyi,a) is afforded by a coat worn inside out.
1
(TO,
Horses and mules are safeguarded by means of blue glass
beads woven into their bridles and trappings, or into their
manes and tails. The Turks supplement these preservatives
by the addition of a wild boar's tusk or by a charm hung round
the beast's neck.
Houses, besides the heads of garlic already mentioned, are
sometimes protected, just as in England, by a horseshoe nailed
"
over the door. This is said to break the influence of the evil
"
eye (a-Trdvei TO fjudri). When the roof is placed over a house
in the course of erection, the bricklayers plant on the top two
Christmas trees each adorned with a cross, and they stretch a
string from one the other. Upon this string they hang
to
kerchiefs, sashes, and other articles with which the owner of

the house, the architect, and friendly neighbours are wont to
present them. The Jews in Salonica fix a hand of wood with
outstretched fingers high up in a corner of the house, and
suspend from it a string of garlic or an old shoe.
Fields, vines, and orchards are protected by the bleached
skulls of cattle, stuck on the top of stakes. These serve a
double purpose, first to ward off evil and secondly to scare
off crows. A similar custom prevails in some of the islands
of the but it is not confined to the Greeks, who in
Aegean;
2
allprobability have inherited it from their forefathers. 3 It is
equally popular among the Bulgarians of Macedonia, who regard

these ghastly scarecrows as bringers of prosperity.
1
In England it used to be considered lucky to put on any article of dress,
particularly stockings, inside out. But it should not be done on purpose.
The Book of Days, vol. n. p. 321. Cp. Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore
Society, vol. iv. p. 80; 141.
2
W. H. D. Rouse, 'Folklore from the Southern Sporades' in Folk-Lore,
June, 1899, p. 181.
3
Wachsmuth, Das alte Griechenland im neuen, p. 62, in Tozer, Researches in
the Highlands of Turkey, vol. i. p. 383.
Birth 145
As has been observed, the evil eye is not always cast

It often is the effect
designedly, or with an evil purpose.
of sincere, though ill-advised, admiration, which brings down
upon object the wrath of a jealous deity.

its
1
For a like reason
the pious Macedonian forbears to use boastful expressions :
"
"
Utter not a big word is a common
(/jirjv Xe? fiejd\o \6yo)
which recalls the moralizing of the chorus of old men

saying
in the tragedy :
/jLya\oi Be \6yot,
7r\r)<yas TWV
TO (frpovelv
"
The having paid a high penalty for their haughty
boastful,
words, by suffering severe affliction, have learnt wisdom in their
old age."
The Turks also express the same fear of uttering "big
"
words in their
homely proverb :
"
Eat a big mouthful, but speak not a big word." 3
"
Akin to this is the ancient Roman superstition of the evil
4
tongue."
Persons who, after having been weaned in their infancy,
took to sucking again, are especially endowed with an evil eye,
and are very chary of expressing enthusiasm, or, if they are
betrayed into undue praise, they are careful to save the object
by spitting and uttering the appropriate formula. There are,
however, those who either from innate malignity,
among them
or prompted by a sense of humour, delight in a wanton exercise
of their terrible power. I have heard of an ancient dame of
Salonica who had the reputation of possessing an evil eye.

Many of her achievements were whispered with becoming awe.
Cp. the ideas of the old Greeks on the subject

1
: TO detov irav ebv <j>0ovep6v,
Hdt. i. 32, in. 40; 6 5 deb's... '(p6ovepbs..,evpi(n<eTcu vm. 109; <pi\eeL
e&v, vn. 46,
ya.p 6 debs ra virepexovra TTOLVTO. KoKovew, vn. 10, etc.
2
Soph. Ant. 1350 foil. Cp. Aesch. Prom. 329 7X0)0-0-7; na.ro.ia. frfjda Trpo<rrplpeTai.
:
3
Booyook lokma ye, booyook shay soileme, which the Greeks render literally:
\6yo /J.TJ \es.
fjieyd\fj xcti/'ia <f>dye, fj.eyd\o
4
See Virgil: ne vati noceat mala lingua futuro, Bucol. Eel. vn. 28; Catullus:
mala fascinare lingua, vn. 12.
A. F. 10
One day, it was
said, as she sat at her window, she saw a young
man passing on horseback. He seemed to be so proud of himself
and his mount that the old lady who, like the Deity in
"
Herodotus, was fond of laying the exalted low," could not
resist the temptation of humbling him. One dread glance from
her eye and one short cry from her lips " Oh, what a gallant:
cavalier!" brought both horse and horseman to their knees.

On another occasion she noticed a servant carrying a pie from
the oven in a tray poised on his head. The rosy colour and the
seductive smell of the pie induced the redoubtable lady to
express her admiration, and she did it in terms which brought
1
about the immediate ruin of the pie.
1
For a full and comprehensive "Account of this ancient and widespread
superstition" the reader is referred to Mr F. T. Elworthy's work on The Evil
Eye, London, 1895.

CHAPTER XI.
MARRIAGE.
Preliminary steps.
According to the Macedonians the age at which people

should marryis from fifteen to seventeen for women and from
eighteen to twenty for men. The match seldom is the result

of love, but, as in so many other countries,
it is arranged
between the parents on either with a keen eye to the

side,
material welfare of the contracting parties, rather than with
any reference to their sentimental predilections. And can we

wonder young Macedonian peasant's willingness to submit
at the
when we reflect that the
to the rulings of parental authority,
great Achilles himself the "author of the battle-din" and

the favoured of the Olympians in refusing the hand of
Agamemnon's daughter, contrasted her with the bride whom,

"
if the Gods spared him and he reached home safely," his own
father would choose for him? 1

Even in democratic Athens the young lady was allowed no
voice in the matter. Hermione undoubtedly gives utterance
to the prevailing notions of propriety when she declares :
"
Of my wedding my own father will take care, and 't is not
2
meet for me to decide in these matters."
Notwithstanding, however, this conventional rule, and the

by which intercourse between the sexes is circum-
restrictions
scribed, the lads and lasses of Macedonia manage to meet

occasionally either at the village fountain, where the latter
go for water, or at the public fairs and festivals (Travyyvpia)
or at weddings and other social gatherings. The classic custom
1 2
Horn. II. ix. 394. Eur. Andr. 987.
102
wooing a damsel by throwing an apple into her lap still exists,

1
of
though it is condemned by public opinion as improper, and is

strongly resented by the maid's kinsfolk as an impertinence.
In many cases the nuptial negotiations are carried on
through the medium of a match-maker
' '
male or female
(TTpo%evr)T'r)s or Trpogevr/rpa)? generally the latter. This matri-
monial agent some parts sent by the youth's parents to
is in
the girl's in others by the girl's parents to the
;
youth's.
' '
Through this channel a preliminary agreement (o-vfj,(j)a)via)

is arrived regarding the terms of the contract, namely,
at
whether the maid is to be provided with a trousseau
only
(7rpol/ca), or with a dowry in coin, kind, or landed property
as well (rpd^w/jLo).
Indeed, one regrets to have to record that too often the
question of money, or money's worth, is the chief subject of
these diplomatic negotiations. Even in Macedonia, where so
much of primitive tradition and culture is still kept up, the
times when princes wedded poor shepherd-maids if such times

ever were have passed away. An imprudent match, however
it may be applauded in the plot of a fairy tale, as an occurrence
cannot be too severely reprobated and deplored.

in real life
The bargain concluded, the match-makeris entrusted by
the bride's parents with a ring and a richly broidered hand-

kerchief,which she brings to the youth's home and exchanges
for a ring sewed with red silk thread on a black silk hand-
kerchief and a golden piece (</>Xoupt), as well as flowers and
sweets for the bride, and suitable presents for the rest of the
'
family. These mutual gifts are known as tokens (cr^yna&a), '
'
(Xoyo?), which on no
'
and their exchange as word of troth
account can be broken. The young people are henceforth
'
regarded as practically, though not yet formally, bound to-

3
gether' (<TV&6fJLVOl,).
1
Theocr. Id. xi. 10.
2
Cp. the TTpo/j-vriffTpia of the ancient Greeks and the Svat or Svakha of the
modern Eussians.
3 In some of the islands of the Aegean the betrothed are called apôarbs
and apfjKHTTf}, 'united,' a word that goes back to the 2nd century A.D.
'
W. H. D. Bouse, 'Folk-lore from the Southern Sporades in Folk-Lore^
June, 1899, p. 180 n. 2.
Marriage 149
The Macedonians have no objection to giving away their

daughters to strangers. They naturally prefer natives of their
own but are not averse to sending their daughters
village,
1
"abroad" (\ ra fei>a), which often means only two or three

"
miles off, or receiving daughters-in-law "from abroad (airb r. .).
The strong stress laid upon the evils of expatriation in the
wedding songs, to be noticed in the course of this sketch, is
a pure matter of fiction or rather of traditional convention ;
and the grievance is probably a mere survival of an old practice

of exogamy long extinct. The same idea seems to underlie the
complaints of Russian brides, who describe themselves as about
"
to be carried into far-off lands," when, perhaps, they are not
going to leave their native village. These conventional plaints

are by Russian folklorists explained as relics of the well-known
clan system of olden times, according to which the members of
the same community looked upon themselves as belonging to
one family, and so neither marrying nor giving in marriage was
possible within the limits of the clan. The girls had, therefore,
to go away from home when they married, and, considering the
relations between barbarous communities, a young bride might
well regard herself as migrating into the land of potential foes
2
to her own kith and kin.
As
a matter of fact, the state of things regarded by the
Russian folklorist as belonging to the dead past is actually
flourishing in certain parts of the Balkan Peninsula. The

Mirdites, a Catholic clan of Northern Albania, to this day
religiously refrain from intermarrying within their own tribe ;
but as a general rule they carry off wives from among their
Mohammedan neighbours.
3
Consequently a Mirdite wedding as
1
The Macedonian peasant is too shrewd and too patriotic not to feel the
force of the Hesiodic dictum :
TT)V <5e /j.d\iffTa ya.iJ.fiv, yns <rtdev eyytiBi vaiet. W. and D. 700.
"Marry thy neighbour." Indeed, he gives expression to the same idea in

more forcibly figurative, though somewhat less elegant, language :
Yla-n-ovrtn,
iraXrioTratrovrffo Kal vavai ir& TOV rbiro p.ov: "I am content with a shoe, even an
old shoe, so long as it is one made in my own native village."
2
3
"Odysseus," Turkey in Europe, p. 397; Tozer, Researches in the High-
lands of Turkey, vol. i. pp. 318, foil.
often as Dot preceded by a series of funerals. For, although

is
the Mohammedan maid may in some cases have no unconquer-

able aversion to being abducted, it frequently happens that her
kinsmen consider it a point of honour to defend her in
grim
earnest. Besides, an Albanian lives in a perpetual feud. He
loves a fight for its own sake ;
how much more ready he must
therefore be to shed his blood or that of his future son-in-law
in a cause wherein the honour of his clan is involved !
Among the Macedonians the capture of wives has long

ceased to be an actual practice but the memory thereof still
;
survives in of the symbolic customs connected with the

many
marriage ceremony. Abductions, however, are not rare, and
love sometimes triumphs over the barriers set up by use
and wont. 1
Betrothal.
On the Sunday following the '
agreement/ takes place the

formal betrothal (77 appaftwva). The engagement is sanctified
by an elaborate ceremony (^ravpo\oyia), to which are invited

the married relatives of both sides (crv^7re6epoL\
The youth's parents, preceded by the parish priest and
'
followed by the friends who are to act as witnesses (fjiaprvpoi), *
repair to the maid's house. On entering, they exchange with

her parents and friends good wishes for the prosperity of 'the
young pair. Then they take
their seats on the low divan
which runs round three sides of the room, and after a while
'
'
the match-maker rises, and in tones befittingly solemn
announces the object of the gathering. Thereupon the priest
and the parents on both sides draw near the icon-stand
(eiKovoa-rdai), under which is placed a small table with the
' '
'
tokens upon it. The priest in the presence of the
'
witnesses
1
Among the Bulgarians of Macedonia the purchase of wives seems to survive
in a modified form. At Petritz during the Feast of the Nativity of the God-
mother (To, yev6\ia TTJS 0eor6/cov Sept. 8 o.s. Popularly TO Travaytpi. rijs
Havayias) I witnessed two transactions of this kind. In one case the bridegroom
agreed to pay for the maid of his choice T 3 in the other he beat his ;
prospective father-in-law down to T 2. The average price of a Macedonian

cow is, I believe, JET 5.
Marriage 151
proceeds to question the parents concerning the terms of the

agreement,' and until the actual marriage he is held officially
'
cognizant of the contract, as a representative of the higher

ecclesiastical authorities.
This piece of business over, the religious part of the pro-
ceedings commences. After some prayers suitable to the
occasion, the priest takes up the rings and hands the youth's
to the maid's parents-and vice versa (d\\dei rd Sa^rv\iBta).
Then enters the bride and salutes the assembly by kissing
every one's hand (^pcx/nXâ), while they in their turn present

her with a gift of one or two golden pieces each. She then
offers them refreshments: jam (y\v/co), coffee, and wine or
arrack (fcepao-fjia), and presents her future parents-in-law, as .
well as the match-maker, with a pair of woollen socks (cr/cov-
(frovvia) knitted with her own hands. The usual wish to the
" "
bride is Mayest thou enjoy the kerchief in good health
(Me yeid tcfj TO âvrri\i}.
The company then rise and repair to the bridegroom's
house, where they are received by him on the door-step and
have their hands kissed. Refreshments follow in the same
way as before, and the guests while helping themselves wish
the affianced pair all prosperity. The party then breaks up.
Meanwhile the bride receives the visits and congratulations
of her maiden friends, who set up a dance, accompanied by
songs of which the following are examples.
I.
Tpayovbi T379 dppa/3u>va<s.
(from Thasos).
"TpavTa<f)v\\ov&i, /JL KQKKIVQ, fjurj\6 fjiov fjuapafjievo,
ere <^>tXw papaivecrai,, crdv ere Kparoo K\a)Vieaai.
b a\\ov dyaTras, a\\ov 6e\e^ va Trap???."
}
"
Bpe 8ev 7ri(TTV6t,s, aTTLcrre, KOI Sev TTO\V Trtcrreuet?,
Baz/e /3iy\a \ rd aTrlria JJLOV, Troprais KCLI
TrapaOvpia,
Kal a-vpe (fiepe roi/9 yLarpovs, rov? KapSioSidXexTaSes,
Na /JLOV Bia\ej~ovv rrf xap&id icrj 6\a rd (f)v\\o/cdp8ia,
Krj av evpys V aXkov veiov <$>t\l icy air a\\ov vaov d
r^>afe yu,'
d'rrdv \ rd yovard crpv
KGU fjidcre KOLITO alpd /JLOV \ eva %pvcro
Sup' TO '<? evvea %a)pi,d, avp TO \e StoSetca /eafaSe?,
K?) az> o-e pwrrjcrovv TL

'
V
avro ;' r\ dydTnjs /JLOV TO '
al/j,a.'"
6e\ei TaTreivcocrvvrj,
a va o-/cv(f>Tovv va Trrjyatvovv.
I. Betrothal Song.
"My blushing little rose, my bashful apple,

When I kiss thee thou fadest, when I embrace thee thou tremblest.
My dear maid, thou lovest another; 'tis another thou wishest to wed."
"Friend, thou wilt not trust me. unbelieving one, thou wilt put no
faith in my words !
Set a watch in my house, at both doors and windows,

And go and fetch the doctors, and the searchers of hearts,
That they may search my heart and all the petals of the heart,
And if thou findest therein a kiss from another youth, for another
youth love,
Then slay me, my lord, slay me upon thy knees,
And gather myblood in the folds of a gold-broidered kerchief,
Take it to nine villages, take it to twelve districts,
And when they question thee :
'
What is this 1
'
say :
*
The blood of my
beloved.'"
Love needs prudence, love needs modesty,
It also needsdowncast eyes, eyes that are bent low in walking.
II. "Erepov (rov

1
(from Nigrita).
Avra ra fjudna cr', AT)^,O //, Ta/jiop<f>a,
Ta <f>pv$ia cr ra ypafju/jueva,
Ze K\OLV TO, fjidrâ /AOV.
Avrd fjLe tcdvovv, Ar}//,o JJL, fey dppcacrTw,

Me KCLVOVV real TreOaiva).
2e K\alv rd a
i\ r dpyvpo
2e K\alv TO,
'
1
Another version of this song is to be found in A. A. Tovatov, Ta Tpayovdia
'
ttarpldos /xou. No. 107.

var. Trctpe.
Marriage 153
t paa TO, A?}/40 //./ /cat TO atyita
'S eVa xpvcro /jLavrrj\i,

Se K\alv ra fidna
Kat o~t;p' TO, A??//,6 '9 Ta evvea %copi,d,
yu,,'
Se K\alv ra fiana /JLOV.
Krj av a6 pwrrjdovv, A^/tto /*,'

"
T6 V avro
fjiov TO alfjia."
ra pana fiov.
II. Another (Dancing Song). 1
Refrain :
My eyes are weeping for thee.
These fair eyes of thine, my Demos,

These pencilled eyebrows,
'Tis these that make me, my Demos, fall ill,
That make me die.

Come draw, O my Demos, thy silver-hilted sword,
And cut off my head,
And gather up, my Demos, my blood
In a gold-broidered kerchief,
And take it, my Demos, to the nine villages,
To the ten Governments,
And if they ask thee, my Demos, "What is this?"
" 'Tis the blood of
Say my beloved."
'
Next day trays (vivid) of sweets and cakes are exchanged
'
between the two families twice: the first instalment being

distributedamong the various members of each family; the
second destined for the aflfianced pair. These cakes are also
accompanied with a number of gifts of a more lasting nature
A month later, upon a Sunday, takes place an official
interchange of visits. The bride's parents invite their nearest

relatives of both sexes and, accompanied by them, call upon the
bridegroom. The latter, escorted by his friends, returns the
call either on the same or on the following Sunday.
1
The ring of dancers is led by the 7rpa>T6<ru/>Tos who sings out each verse,
the chorus taking up the refrain
The bridegroom is expected to send presents to his be-
trothed from time to time, and more especially at Christmas
and Easter. These presents generally consist of articles of
apparel, such as belts, shoes, silk handkerchiefs, caps
and so
forth.During Cheese- Week he sends sweet cakes, on Easter
Eve a coloured candle and coloured eggs. The bride returns
analogous presents, except the candle.
The path of courtship, rough and beset by obstacles as it
isbefore the betrothal, is hardly made smoother by that event.
The bridegroom, ere he begins visiting his fiancee, must wait
to be asked by her father to dinner. Nor is he, on these rare
occasions, allowed a tete-a-tete with his future partner. As
a rule their intercourse is limited to a hand-shake at meeting,
when the maid kissing the young man's hand demurely bids
him welcome (/caXco? opLo-re), and then offers him refreshments,
and to a similar salutation at parting all this being done
under the severe eyes of her parents. No other communication
is allowed, though, of course, blood being thicker than water,
the young people often contrive to enjoy a clandestine con-
versation, which is none the less sweet because forbidden. The
difficulties and perils by which such an enterprise is attended
are illustrated by the following anecdote which I heard at
Nigrita.
A youth was very anxious to have a few minutes' chat with
his betrothed, and on a misty morning waylaid her close to
the fountain. The maid, the first surprise being over, was
nothing loth to see her beloved, and, shielded as she was by the
mist, she allowed him a modest embrace they fancied them-
:
selves alone. At that critical moment, however, some jealous

demon lifted the veil of vapour and exposed the hapless twain
to the censorious eyes of a party of women, who had meanwhile

arrived and, attracted by the sound of the lovers' whisperings,
stood listening. The pair shame-faced took to flight but ;
it was long ere the tongues of the village grew weary of
wagging at their expense.

Marriage 155
The Wedding Preparations.
The marrying season among the Macedonian peasants is the

end of October, about the time of the Feast of St. Demetrius
(Oct. 26th o. s.). At that time of year the labours of the field
are over, the vintage just concluded, and the villagers are in
possession of the two essentials of merry-making : leisure

and wine. The choice of time, as is seen, is dictated by purely
practical considerations. Yet, it could hardly be expected
that so important an event in a man's life should be entirely
free from the influence of superstition, which on so many other
occasions overrules expediency. We
accordingly find that there
are times and seasons, months and days, during which no one
dare marry. No wedding, for instance, can take place in a leap-
year. No wedding or even betrothal is celebrated, except on a
1
waxing moon. Monday (Aeirre/oa) is a bad day, for a marriage
solemnized on that day is apt to be 'repeated' (Sewrepwvei,).
This is a belief evidently arising from the name of the day, 2
and it does not hold among non-Greek populations. On the
contrary, among the Christian Albanians Monday is said to be
the day for marriage, and most weddings in that province take
3
place upon that day. Tuesday is also an unlucky day for
marrying as for most other things. But of all days of the week
the most fatal to conjugal felicity is Wednesday an opinion
very positively expressed by the popular saying:
"O\a pa? avairoâ /cfj
6 ydfjios rrj TerpaBrj
"
Everything is topsy-turvy with us : even our wedding was on a
Wednesday."
Of months May is looked upon as particularly unsuitable
for marriage. This prejudice against May is not confined to
Macedonia, or indeed to the Greek race. It is shared by nearly
1
The Orkney islanders likewise object to marrying on a waning moon, an
instance of symbolism, based on association of ideas, which imagines a sym-
pathy of growing and declining nature with the changes of the moon. See
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i.
p. 130.
2
Cp., however,Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 61.
3 "
Odysseus," Turkey in Europe, p. 386.
all European nations. It is met with in England, Italy and
France. In many French provinces one still hears the proverb:
"
May wedding, deadly wedding" (Noces de Mai, noces de mort).
We also know that itexisted in a very strong form in ancient
Rome. Ovid tells us that both maidens and widows avoided
lighting the bridal torch in that month, for fear lest it should
soon be turned into a burial torch. The same poet supplies
us with an explanation of the prevailing superstition. He
attributes it to the occurrence in that month of the funeral
rites of the Lemuralia. 1 If that explanation is correct, in the
modern objection to May weddings we have an interesting
survival, "a striking example how an idea, the meaning of
which has perished for ages, may continue to exist simply
because it has existed." 2
The Macedonians, like the Jews, are fond of stretching out
a utmost length, and a Macedonian wedding may
festival to its
be compared to a tedious fifteen-act play. It lasts for a whole
fortnight, each day having its own duties and delights. It
further resembles a Jewish wedding in its complex and alle-
gorical character, as will soon appear.
I.
When the date for the marriage ceremony has been fixed,
the bridegroom on the preceding Sunday sends to the bride a
quantity of henna, and soon after he calls in person. He kisses
the hands of his parents-in-law that are to be, and then without
further ado proceeds to the point, which is a pure matter of
business. If the bride, according to the 'agreement,' is to
bring him a portion in money, he receives it there and then,

or
if the Tpaywpa consists of land or real property he gets a

written security for it.
1
Nee viduaetaedis eadem, nee virginis apta
Tempora. Quae nupsit, non diuturna fuit.

Hac quoque de causa, si te proverbia tangunt,
Mense malas Maio nubere volgus ait.
Ovid. Fast. v. 487.
2
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. pp. 70 71.
Marriage 157
In the evening commence the festivities. The bridegroom's

comrades assemble in his house, where they sing and make
merry, while to the bride's house resort her maiden friends and
amuse themselves in like manner. These maidens assist in
the preparations throughout the week.
First of all, on the Monday they help the bride to dye her
hair with the henna received from the bridegroom. They also
dye their own hair with it. This act is accompanied by a
special song:
1
TpayovSi T?}9 %a/oa9.
(From Cavalla.)
"Qvras ftdvovv rrj vv<j>rj /cavd.

"
Ei/^crou //,, /jiavov\a /JLOV, va /3d\co rys (JLiroîals fj,ov."
"Me rrjv v%ij //,', Trai&d/ct, /AOV, va frjcrre, va
"*Az/ foOcre icy 6 Trarepas JJLOV, crdv ri %apd
*A.v ovcrav teal r dt)ep<f>ia JJUQV, aav ri XaP a
*
A? elv fca\d rf pava /j,ov, ird\i
Wedding Song.
The dyeing of the bride's hair.
"Bless me, my dear mother, that I may apply the dye."

" You both live and prosper."
have my blessing, my dear child May you :
" If
my father was in life, Oh, what a Rejoicing would there be !
If my brothers were in life, Oh, what a Rejoicing would there be!

2
May my inether be well, still a Rejoicing there shall be!"
Tuesday, being a day of ill-omen, is spent in idleness,

except that the bride and her maids wash their hair. Wed-
nesday witnesses the "folding up of the trousseau" (BiTrXoovovv
rrj Trpol/ca). The 'Inviter' (ica\ecnpa) with a tinsel-covered
Xapa Rejoicing' is the name by which the wedding (ya/u.o<>) is very usually
1 '
called. The 'Rejoicing Songs' (rpayoudia TT}S Xa/>as), however, as will be seen,
often are of a very unjoyful character. For other songs of this class from
Kephalonia see Bernhard Schmidt, Hochzeitslieder Nos. 40 43.
2
It need not be supposed that her father and brothers are really dead.
The Macedonians like to take their Rejoicings' sadly, or, may be, to enhance
'
the pleasure by the contrast of pain a trait of character which must constantly
be borne in mind.
nosegay on her right temple goes round to the houses of

friends and relatives and asks only married women to come in
the afternoon to assist at this function. Most of the articles
are deposited in brand-new and

gaily painted but chests,
others especially those which are intended as presents for the
kinsfolk and the best man (/caX^rdra^) are exhibited. All
this is done to the accompaniment of musical instruments.
II.
Thursday the busiest day of all, and in some districts the

is
preparations do not seriously begin till then. In such districts

the second dyeing of the bride's hair takes place in the morning.
In the afternoon both at the bridegroom's and the bride's house
are gathered their respective female relatives and friends
(crvuTreOepai?) with the 'best woman' (KaX^^dva) and prepare
the bread necessary for the feast to follow (iridvovv TO TT/OCOTO-
tyto/jLo
or rd Trpo^vjuua, 7rapSd\lôvv or ^V/AMVOVV, whence they
are called ^v/jLaoo-rpa^). Among other things, they make seven
bridal cakes in the following manner :
Three maidens each take a sieve and sift a small quantity of

flour. Then a maiden, whose parents are both alive, with
three once-married women (Trpcoroo-recfeavoL) knead the dough.
Little children help them by pouring hot water into it thus :
innocence lends a helping hand to purity the cakes in the :
circumstances are bound to bring good luck to all concerned.

In some parts, however, this task is performed by the bride-
groom's own sister or, in default of a sister, by one of his
cousins.
The marriedladies referred to above put into the dough
coins,with which the maidens afterwards buy buns and honey

and eat them with much solemnity (rpwyov/ê TO /mil-io). In
some districts they mix with the dough a symbolic pair of
hooks eye and hook (dpcrevi,Ko /cal
: 6r)\vfc6, lit.
*
male and
female'), a ring, and a copper coin.
While doing the bystanders sing in chorus various
this is
songs, beginning with the following :

Marriage 159
1
I. (From Liakkovikia. )
r/
/JLOV ^ravpe, peydke At

Na <7f/^/iacrou/u, TO veto
Me TT) d%api, #at yu-e
TO
"Great Holy Cross, and Great St. George,

Help us to unite together the young pair
With sugar and with honey."
II. (From Vassilika.)
rd 7rov\d/cia
K' eva ê\i^>6v
Ile/oVaTet '9 T<zt9 a<bvai<$ /cat \a\ei,
Kal dXi/Berai, /cal \eei
"
IIc39 va Trepda'Ci) rpeis ddXao'crai^
K?} aXXaf? T/36t9 '9 T?) fj,ava ftov va Tract) ;"
All thelittle birds walk in pairs;
But one swallow lonely

Wanders among the laurel-trees singing,
And wailing and saying :
"Ah me, how shall I cross these three seas,

And three more, in order to arrive at my mother?"
III. (From Nigrita.)
wpa vd V Ka\rf, XpicrTe

Na 7rtacrou/xe TO veto ^jrcofjii,
r dtfrpdro
K' 77 /coprj TTOU TO ^vfjicove /JL6 /j>dva fie Trarepa,
a fuyU-COO"' TO V10 TTpoty/JLl, VCL (f>drj ya/JLTTpOS Kal VV
Kal TO ^jrvia o\o.
May this evening be auspicious, Blessed Christ,

To knead the new bread, the frothy biscuit.
The maid who kneads it has both mother and father,
She will make the new dough, that groom and bride may eat,
And all their kindred.
1
A. A. Tovffiov '
Ta fpayotdia TT)S IlarptSos pov.' No. 37.
When the fermentation of the dough is completed (orav
<f>Taa-ovv) the Kalimana smears one of the cakes with honey,
sprinkles with sesame, and adorns it with almonds. This is
it
the cake which will be used for the holy communion in the
wedding ceremony. The other six, which are distributed
among the relatives after the service, are prepared in like

manner by the Sympetherais. In some districts two big ring-
shaped cakes (tcoXovpia) are made, which the bride wears round
her arms on her way to the bridegroom's house on the wedding-
day. She then breaks one of them half-way to the house and
the other at the entrance, and scatters the pieces among the
crowd. These pieces are picked up and religiously preserved,
for they are supposed to possess wondrous virtues for women
in child-bed.
While these cakes are in the course of preparation, the
bridegroom secretly sends to the bride's house a boy with a

little flour. Her friends lure her to a corner and there sprinkle
the flour over her (rr)v akevpwvovv). The same trick is played
upon any relatives of the bride who happen to call at the
bridegroom's during the day and vice versa. This custom of

"
beflouring," which is now-a-days regarded as mere horseplay,
may well have originated in the belief that flour keeps evil
spirits off. We find that oatmeal is used in the Highlands of

1
Scotland with an avowedly similar purpose.
In the evening one of the bride's maiden friends puts on a
man's cap thus symbolically representing the bridegroom
and dyes the bride's hair with henna, while the other maids
stand round singing. They then take the bride by the hand
and set up a dance. The following are some of the songs sung
on this occasion.
1
It was usual with people going on journeys after nightfall to take some
with them the pockets of boys were filled with it old men sprinkled them-
; ;
selves with it when going on a night journey. J. G. Campbell, Superstitions
of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, pp. 47 foil.

Marriage 161
I. (From Zichna and Pravi.)

a (f)opd V rj
a <f>opd V T veidra.
Me ov\\frav 77 epopcfxiis KTJ 6\a rd 7ra\\rj/cdpi,a,
Me ov\tye K 77 yitaVa //,OL> /cat 6e\et, vd yu,e $ia>i;r).
Atones //-e, yLtara yu,', Stcofe? /ê TTO\V fta/cpva \ rd feW,
Na /caâ) ez>at9 aSe/o<at? /cat emt9 irapa^dvai^,
EeVafc9 vd TrXeV ra pou^d pov, %evai<; ical rd /ca\d JJLOV,
Mam /xou, ra \ov\ovBt,a /JLOV ica\d vd ra /cvrrdfys.
'A/coyita atjfjLepd 'yuat Sco, avpio /cal TO Sa/S/3aro,
TT; Kvpia/crj a d<f)lva) yeid yue ^77X0 ââpdro.

'Afava) ryeid '9 roi/ yu,a%aXa /cat 7eta '9 ra 7ra\\7]/cdpia,
'A<iW /cat '? TT) yu-az/a ynoyrpta >yva\id <f>ap/j,d/ct,'
TtoVa vd TTLl'T) TO TTpCOL KOi T a\X' TO fJ,O-rj/jLpl,
1
Ta>va TO ftpdSv vd Senrva, vd Tretfrrr)
vd fcoi/Adrai .
Youth comes but once 2 ,
We are young only once.

The fair ones and all the brave lads are jealous of me.
My own mother also envies me and seeks to turn me out.

Turn me out, my mother, send me far away to foreign parts,
That I may make sisters of strange women, and foster-mothers of
foreigners,
That foreign women may wash my linen, and my best clothes.
my mother, tend my dear plants well.

'Tis but to-day, to-morrow, and on Saturday that I am here,
On Sunday I bid thee farewell with a sugar-sweet apple 3 .
'
1 leave a farewell' to the village, 'a farewell' to the brave lads,
And to my mother I leave three phials of poison: 4
One of which to drink at morn, the other at mid-day,

The third on which to sup at eve, and lay her down and sleep. 5
1
Avariant of the last four lines is given by Passow, No. 618.
2
Ancient Greek poetry abounds in similar sentiments. Theognis even
prefers death to loss of youth :
"A0/H'eS OLvdpUTTOi Kdl Vr/TTLOL, OIT doLVOVTOLS
K\aiov<r, ovd' 7^77$ avdos a.Tro\\u^vov. 1069. Cp. 877.

3
When
the bride leaves her home, her mother hands her an apple which
she throws back over her shoulder " that she may leave sweet memories behind
her " (v' d(f>r)(rr] yXtiica irlaw TTJS).
4
Cp. Kennell Rodd, The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece, p. 93.
5
The poison is, of course, figurative of the mother's grief at missing her
daughter every hour of the day.
A. F. 11
1
II. (From Melenik. )
'A/coyu.a arifjiep' elâi &w, Tlapav/cevr), â

Tr) Kvpiaicr) cr*
dfyivov >yi,d, '9 rd eprjfjua da TTCLVOV,
@d irdv '9 r' dijSovia r 7ro\\d KOI '9 rou? ôvrpovs roi>9
Na Trecro) i/ aTro/coiyu-T^ft), VOL Trdpa) oopav virvo,

N' CLKOVCF r drjSovia 7rc5? XaXoO^ /eat ra TrouXta TTW? K\ai-
I] <W9
Karapiovvrai TOV drjro yid ra
"
'A-r^re /*/ rti
vv%ia crov, rd vvôjroSapd aov,
va <a9
Tlov e</>a79
/JL
TO ralpi JJLOV aVo T^Z/ dy/ca\i,d /JLOV,
Hov rovâ fcal r d<yfcd\i,a%a /cat, TO j\VKO(f)iXovcra."
Yet this day I am

on Friday and Saturday.
here,
On Sunday bid thee farewell, to the wilderness shall I go.
I shall
I shall go to the flocks of nightingales and to the fat shadows,

To lay me down and slumber, to snatch an hour's sleep,
To listen to the nightingales' songs and to the birds' plaints:
How they curse the eagle for their young ones which he carries off:
"O
eagle, mayst thou eat away thine own claws, thy claws and talons ;
For thou hast eaten my mate from between my arms,

The mate whom I was wont to fondle and sweetly kiss."
While the kneading of the cakes is going on in the

bride's house, the bridegroom, accompanied by his friends,
calls on the best man and kneeling to him and kissing his
hand invites him officially to his house. On the same evening

a pie (TrovyaTo-a) is sent to the bride, and she breaks it herself
as a symbol that she has finally and irrevocably accepted him
as her lord and master. 2
A
great banquet (<^tXia ) at the
bridegroom's brings the day's doings to a close.
In some districts all these ceremonies occur on the Friday,
while Thursday is spent otherwise the bride through the :
1
The above version is word for word as I heard it at Melenik. I picked up
two more versions, one at Nevrokop and another at Nigrita. They both contain
the bird's plaint to the eagle. For parallels to this idea, see Passow, Nos.
404 407. Another variant will be found in A. A. Foucrfoi;, Ta Tpayotidia TTJS '
'
IlarptSos MOV No. 166.

2 Lit. 'friendship' or 'affection.'
Marriage 163
Ka\ea-rpa invites her maiden friends, who, after having danced

in her house to the strains of music, accompany her to a public
1
bath where they all bathe ,
the expenses being defrayed by the
bridegroom. Then they return to the bride's house and set
up another dance. If there is to be a banquet in the evening,

they stay, and after it a third dance ensues. Later on the
bridegroom, who has also performed his ablutions with his
friends and has feasted them, comes with them to the bride's,
and lads and lasses dance together till morning. If there is no
banquet they disperse early.
III.
is a busy day.
Friday also In the morning a party of
youths go forth "for the firewood" ('? ra %v\a) which is to
be used in the coming feast. This task is performed in true
Homeric style :
With proper instruments they take the road,

Axes to cut, and ropes to sling the load.
First march the heavy mules securely slow,
O'er hills, o'er dales, o'er crags, o'er rocks, they go.
Then
The wood the Grecians cleave, prepaid to burn ;
And the slow mules the same rough road return. 2
The return journey is accomplished with great pomp and

circumstance. The procession is led by a horse into whose
saddle planted a high pole with a banner flying from it.
is
An apple or orange is stuck on the top of the pole, and a

red handkerchief is tied round it. As they draw near the
village, they are met by a band of drums and pipes, which

accompanies them home, and on the way a special song
is sung.
" "
In the afternoon takes place the delivery of the trousseau
-t,).
The priest, accompanied by some of the
1
The custom ceremony (irpb -ya[j.iK&v} was
of bathing before the marriage
religiously observed
by the ancient Athenians, the water for this function being
drawn from the sacred spring known in the time of Thucydides as Kallirhoe or
Fair-fountain. (Thuc. n. 15 Pollux in.
; 3. )
2
Pope's Iliad xxm. 138 foil.
112
n6tables of the village (irpoKpiroi), calls at the bride's and
makes up an inventory of the trousseau (fed/Avow TO Trpoi/coa-v/ji-
<f)0)vo).
The bride's parents and herself affix their signatures,
or their marks, to the document, and then the trousseau is
" "
piled up (<7Tfc/3abuz>) in a conspicuous place, for the inspec-
tion and envy of the neighbours. Two hours before nightfall
various female relatives are invited to come and "turn over
"
the trousseau (<yvpl%ovv rrj Trpolfca), is, to arrange and that
put back into

it the boxes, throwing into them sugar-plums
"
and wishing that it may be " sweet as sugar (yavai yXv/ceia
(jav Tr) ^dâpi). An old woman is appointed to guard it till
1
the next day, when the best man gives her a present, that she
may allow it to be taken to the bridegroom's.
The arrangement of the trousseau is accompanied by this
song:
Koprj fjb
rl <r
rfp6e fjL7Jvu/j,a aTro rrj TreOepd GOV,
'
K6/9?7 ft T7) TTpoitcd (T

Op0(DV6 tCdl TQV SapO CT KOVO/Jia.
"
'70? TT) irpolicd fju o)p0a)cra /cal rov &apo /A Voz/oyu,Va.
2
'Ko/xa TO iia%L\dpi /JLOV opyd Od TO 7r\r)p(t)o~c0."
My dear maid, a message has come to thee from thy mother-in-law :
My dear maid, arrange thy trousseau, and thy gifts prepare.

" I have arranged my trousseau and my gifts have I prepared.
My bridal pillow still remains; but I shall soon finish that too."
In the evening, soon after sunset, invitations to the wedding

(/caXeo-fjiaTa) are issued by the two parties to their respective
friends. This is done as follows Two boys, one bearing a :
lantern and the other a flagon of wine (boukla), crowned with

flowers, and a parcel of cloves wrapt up in paper, are sent
"
round to deliver this message Take this clove, it is from :
So-and-so. Thou art asked to come to the 'Rejoicing.'" (Na

avTO TO <yapov<f)a\\o, elvai Vo TOV T<iSe.
supra p. 109 n.
1
v.
2
ir'h-ripuixi} in M. Gr. generally means 'to pay,' but in some parts of
Macedonia it is used in the sense of 'finishing.' Hence occasionally arise
amusing incidents:
Customer Let me have some wine.
:
' '
Tavern keeper TrA^puxre (' it is finished
: none left but also) pay! ;
'
Customer: How can you ask me to pay, before giving me the wine?
Marriage 165
'? rr) Xapfi.) The person thus invited drinks from the
" "
flagon, accepts the clove, which is kept, and wishes long life
to the betrothed pair.
IV.
On Saturday the dowry is taken to the bridegroom's. His

young friends, mounted on their steeds, ride to his house where
they alight, drink toasts, and set up a dance. Meantime two
of them gallop ostentatiously through the village on two of
the horses which are to carry the dowry. Then they return
to the bridegroom's in order to join their comrades, and the
whole cavalcade proceeds to the bride's, with presents from
the bridegroom to her parents and relatives. Having presented
these gifts, drunk, and danced, they load the horses with the
trousseau, placing a little boy on each horse. The bridal pillow
is by a boy on foot. He runs ahead, before the pro-
carried
cession has started, and delivers it to the bridegroom, from
whom he receives a remuneration. When the trousseau has
arrived, it is
piled up courtyard and the bridegroom's
in the
mother throws sugar-plums upon it from the window. Then
refreshments are served to the carriers, and singing and dancing
round the pile follow.
A barber is subsequently called in, and he shaves the
bridegroom, surrounded by his friends, with great solemnity.
I regret that I was not able to obtain a specimen of the
songs
sung on this occasion.
On the same day the bridegroom sends to the bride the
flowers, threads of gold (re\La or rpal^), veil (cr/ceTrrj), fur-lined
jacket (fcpovcreX\,a), and cap which she is to wear on the wedding

day in a word the whole bridal outfit. These presents are
called Kavicna. In some districts they are known as Vo0e<rt5.
In the evening the bridegroom sends to the bride a dinner
(o SetTTi/o?), consisting of three or four courses, and a cake
.
(K\iKi). The bride in the meantime is kept secluded in a
room with the bridesmaids, who on hearing that the dinner
has arrived close the door, crying from within " Not unless
you pay five (piastres) and a cake" (Me rd TreWe /cal TO
K\LKL). The
cake-bearer, one of the bridegroom's nearest
kinswomen, pays a sum of money to the bridesmaids and is
admitted into the room. The bride receives the cake standing
in a corner and breaks it upon her knee into two pieces.
During this performance, the male gift-bearers pass into the

room and partake of refreshments, while the train of youths
who accompanied them set up a dance in the courtyard outside.
In this dance joins the bride escorted by her brother, or nearest
male relative, her head covered with a gorgeous silk kerchief.
After three turns of the slow and sedate syrtos she retires,
and the guests depart. On their way back they are met by
the bridegroom, and they all together, with the band playing
go and take the best man to the bridegroom's house,
in front,
where they sit down to a banquet.
A dance follows and lasts till early dawn (padeials %a/oaafc),
when the youths, with the band, escort the best man home
and afterwards wander about the streets serenading (TraTivdSa).
A similar 'family feast' (avyyevi/cr)) takes place at the
bride's. The guests in both cases are invited by special
' ' '
inviters/ termed
bystanders (Trapao-roXta or Trapaare/cd-
fjLevoi), who accompany the invitation to the banquet with a
cake and a bottle of wine or arrack.
When the guests are assembled they are greeted by the
host in these words :
wp/crare, (f)i\oi ft /crj
Na <f>ajj,6
ra a-apavr dpvid, rd Se/eo^ra) Kpidpia,
Na 7n,ov/^ TO <y\v/co Kpa&l, TO
"My friends, my dearly beloved friends, welcome

To feast on forty sheep and eighteen rams,
To drink sweet wine, wine scented with musk."
To which they answer in chorus :
KOI vd
We have not come here to eat and drink,

We have come to see you because of our love for you."
Marriage 167
The entertainment is further enlivened by special songs

called 'Table-Songs' (rpaTrefy/cd) of which the following is a
fair example :
Yid St9 rpairefya dpyvpd, arivid (JLaka
Tpiyvpa) yvpa) apôvres, TT) fjiecrrj o '9
^dv ev\oyov(7 K e\6je, <rav eiikoya ical \eyei, :
"'2 aura rd (nrLna TrovpOaê Trerpa vd ^r/ pajto-rj,

K?) o voiKOKVpys rov o-TTiriov 7ro\\d ^povia vd
Behold tables of silver, trays of gold :
Bound about are sitting lords; in the midst the Bishop.

He uttered a benediction; in his blessing he said:
" Of the dwelling wherein we are gathered may not a stone ever crack,
"
And the lord of the house, may he live many a year !
The burdenof these banquets is not entirely borne by the

bride'sand bridegroom's parents. The guests contribute their
' '
quota, which consists of slaughtered lambs (o-</xz^ra) and

presents such as cooking utensils, lamps, and the like. To each
a wish, signed with the sender's name, e.g.
article is affixed
"
they live to grow old, and may God bestow upon them
May
the wealth of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" (No. tycrow, vd
ryrjpdaovv icy 6 #eo9 vd roi>9 âpi^rj rov 'A/Bpad/j,, 'Iaad/c KOI

*la/ca){3 TO,
dyaOd). These gifts are handed over to a specially
appointed steward (/ceXXapr^ or cellar-man).
The Wedding Procession.
At the day of days has dawned.

last Early on Sunday
morning the bride rises and helps to tidy up the home of
her maidenhood for the last time. Then she sets about her
own toilet. Her hair is combed and braided by her sisters
and bridesmaids. Her relatives, who assist at the performance,
shower upon her silver pieces, which are picked up by the
maids and preserved as lucky. She is then dressed in the
bridal attire sent by the bridegroom on the previous day. Her
head is adorned with gold threads reaching to the knees and
her face is covered with a long pink veil. One of her brothers
1
From A. A. Tovaiov, '
Ta Tpayotdia rrjs Uarpidos ûou,' No. 31.
binds a belt round her waist with three knots. When fully
arrayed, she kisses the hands of all present and with downcast
eyes demurely steps across the room and takes up her station
in a corner, specially decorated with a fine carpet and plants
of the season, chiefly ivy, which is an emblem of perennial
" "
youth and freshness. This spot is called The bride's corner
The bridesmaids then proceed to place on her head a

wreath of artificial flowers, singing the while the following
song :
"
Nv<f)OvSd jjb ,
TL pas [Jidvicres KOI TrXeta Se' /Lta? O-JJLTTOV-
Kal Se' 'yvpi&is vd yu-a? Si$9 yu/^Se vd

"
Ilco? i/a 'yvpiarco vd era? &iw KOI Trak vd era?
Me pdtyave ra fjbdna fj,ov fi evved \o<yiov
" Dear little bride, wherefore art thou angry with us and wilt no longer
speak to us?
Wherefore dost thou not turn to look at us, nor talk with us?"
" How can I turn to look at
you, how can I talk with you ?
2
My eyes are stitched with silk of nine sorts."
The bride in return for these attentions presents each of

the maids with a crape kerchief (aa^l) as a symbol of a speedy
entrance into the married state.
The bridegroom sends presents to her father, mother, sisters
and brothers, while she has ready a basketful of gifts for his
people. These mutual donations consist of articles of dress,
such as skirts, sashes, silk aprons, slippers, lace collars and
the like.
While the performance described above is enacted in the
young lady's house, the bridegroom also is donning his festive

attire with his friends' assistance. In some districts it is the
custom groom, as he is being decked out, to stand upon
for the
the nether stone of a handmill the appliance used by the
1
A Bulgarian synonym of the Greek 6/xtXu) (1. 2)
'
to converse.'
2
The song alludes to the bride's stiff and silent attitude prescribed by
convention.
Marriage 169
peasants for grinding grits When thoroughly

(Tr^Tjyovpt,).
1
equipped he kisses his parents' hands, and they give him their
blessing. Then he sets out with the priest and the assembled
guests in procession, headed by a band. On the way he picks
up the best man who, accompanied by the 'best woman' (his
wife or mother or sister), joins the train, carrying in his hands a
flask of wine, decorated with flowers, and a cake, while the
'
best woman '
bears a basket covered over with a silk hand-
kerchief and containing the wedding wreaths (ra o-reâva), a
piece of stuff for a gown, and sugar-plums. Thus escorted the

bridegroom proceeds to the bride's abode. The following song
is sung on the way:
2
(From Eleutheroupolis. )
Ve Trepift6\i, Ve
J$pl(7KC0 KOprj 7TOV KOlfJLOVVTCLV fjLOV KCil
vd rrj (f)i\r)(7a),
8e* /ze
TpeaKaae TO KOKVO %etXt KCLL
"TLovcrav, %eve //,',

TO êi^wi>a OVT
K' 77/9T69 Tcapa icdKofcalpi TTOV
"Hei/o9 tf/Jiovv r) Kavpevos, êva 8ov\va.
5* ecrretXa <yva\l /cal %rei/i KOI
vd pdfyys ra /jLa\\d/ctd er', ra âvdd
I entered into a royal garden

And there I found a maid sleeping all by herself.
I stooped to kiss her; but she spurned me.

I tried again, and she smiled.
She opened her rosy lips and spoke to me:
"Where wert thou, stranger, during the winter when I was ill,
1
In Molivo, a village of Lesbos, it was once the custom for the bridegroom
to stand on a large copper tray a custom in which a Greek writer sees a remi-
niscence of the Byzantine Coronation ceremony, in which the new Emperor
'
stood on a shield. S. A. A.vayv6<rTov, '
Ae<r/3ias,' p. 195. This theory, though

somewhat far-fetched at first sight, tallies well with the phraseology of the
wedding rites and songs (e.g. crTe<f)dv<jfJt.a, &pxovrfs etc. as well as with the regal
)
pomp which pervades the ceremony.

2 A small
town on the coast, a little to the west of Cavalla.
"
And thou comest now in the summer when I am recovered ?
" Alas I was a wanderer, I was working in
!
foreign parts,
I sent thee a mirror and a comb and dye,
Wherewith to colour thy dear tresses, thy golden locks."
By this time the cortege has reached its destination. In

some districts there takes place a sham fight between the
bridegroom's and the bride's friends. In most places, however,

the capture of the bride has dwindled to a mere shadow.
The bridesmaids shut the door in the bridegroom's face and
will not open it until he has offered them presents. In certain
parts 'the bridegroom's friends are compelled to dance and sing
to the maids, otherwise the latter refuse to deliver the bride.
Another trait of the ceremony deserving some notice is the
rule according to which the bridegroom on Hearing the bride's
house, must throw an apple or a pomegranate over the roof.
On the meaning of this we shall have occasion to comment at
a later stage of the proceedings.
When the bridegroom has gained admittance, he draws near
the bride, and accepts a glass of wine from the hands of her
sister, who afterwards ties a fine handkerchief round his neck
and slaps him in the face. At the same time the bride is
tying another handkerchief with three knots round the best

man's neck.
These tyings may be a the capture custom but it
relic of ;
is more likely that the knots are meant as a device against
sorcery. For the same reason among the Russians a net " from
its affluence of knots" is sometimes flung over the bride or the
"
bridegroom, and his companions are girt with pieces of net or
at least with tight-drawn girdles, for before a wizard can begin
to injure them he must undo all the knots in the net, or take
1
off the girdles."
The magic significance of the girdle is not unknown to the
Macedonian peasants. In a popular song a love-lorn prince
Meets on the way two witches, mother and daughter.
The daughter wist his woe and thus to her mother spoke:
'Seest thou, mother mine, this youth so worn with care?
1
Ealston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 390. Cp. G. Georgeakis et L6on
Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, p. 344.
Marriage 171
He loves a maiden fair, but she loves him not.'

The mother then addressed the prince and thus to him she spoke:
'
What thou give me, my son, that I may make her consent
wilt ?
'
'
If silver thou desirest take it, or take pearls.'
'Neither silver do I desire nor even pearls,
Only the girdle which thou wearest, that thou must give me.'
He unfastens his girdle and gives it to the witch. 1
The influence of knots and girdles over matters matrimonial

isnot to be denied or disputed. But a knot is a symbol that cuts
' '
both ways. In the above instances it is the tying of one that

safeguards the newly-married pair against sorcery. The belief
in the 'loosening' efficacy of a knot or a girdle is
equally
2
popular.
The two parties then form one procession and set forth on
their way to the church.
The bride on leaving her 'corner' makes the sign of the
cross; when she has reached the threshold of the room, she
bows three times to the ground a solemn farewell, upsets a
glass of wine with her right foot and moves out of the house
with feigned reluctance, supported on either side by her maids
or by her brothers, or, in some districts, by the best man and
the best woman who, being of the enemy's camp, thus keep up
the semblance of carrying her off as a captive. So the pro-
cession moves on, the bride walking slowly with downcast eyes
(/ca/jiapwvei,) and stopping to kiss the hands of her elders on the

way. The bridegroom and his cortege lead the van with the
band at the head, and the bride's party brings up the rear.
In some districts this party includes a person carrying a
gigantic spit with a lamb on his shoulder. Through the din
of fire-arms, with which the procession is greeted by the
bystanders, may be heard the voices of the bridesmaids singing:
1
For the original see A. A. Tovviov, 'To, Tpayovdta rrjs Harpidos /uou,' No. 35.
2
G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. pp. 394 foil. The sorcery dreaded
J.
by Greek married couples usually takes the form of rendering the husband
incapable of fulfilling his conjugal mission.This is technically called " bind-
The
process by which he is freed from the fetters of witchcraft is termed
ing."
"loosing." Prescriptions for the latter ceremony will be given in the sequel of
this work.
The Faithful Wife. 1

(From Shatista.)
The dawn has risen and the Pleiades have set.

The nightingales repair to their pastures and the fair ones to the fountain.
I take my black steed and go to give him to drink.
I meet one maid, I meet two, I meet three and five.
I find a young woman washing her husband's handkerchief.
I beg her for water to give my black steed to drink.
Forty cups she gave me; but in the eyes I could not look her,
But after the fortieth I looked and saw them tearful.
"What ails thee, my dear girl, wherefore dost thou shed black tears?"
" I have a husband who is in foreign parts, a husband who is abroad.
I have waited for him twelve years, I will wait three more,
And after the three years a nun will I become,
I will array myself in black, to the convent will I go."
"
I, my dear girl, am thy husband, I am thy beloved."
" If thou
truly art my husband, if thou truly art my beloved,
Show tokens of my body, tokens of my home."
"There is a mole between thy breasts, a vine in thy court-yard."
In some parts of Macedonia it is the custom for the bride

arid the groom to go to the church on horseback. As the
distance seldom justifies the habit, that may be taken as
another reminiscence of times when the bride was carried off by
force on her abductor's steed.
In other parts again, especially
among the Wallachs, a pole with an apple on top and a white
kerchief streaming from it ((f>\dfji7rovpo) is carried by a kilted
2
youth in front of the wedding procession.
This is one of the most wide-spread songs in Modern Greek folklore.

1
I myself collected no fewer than six different versions in different parts of

Macedonia. There is another in the Tpayotidia TOV '0\iVrov,' by A. K.
'
OlKovofJLidrjs, p. 132; also one from Zakynthos in Bernhard Schmidt's Liebeslieder,

No. 57 (see also references there), and six more in Passow, Nos. 441-6. They all
agree on the main incident, though they vary widely in the setting, and equally
in diction. The above I have selected not as the best, but as being the shortest
of my MSS.
2
This custom is also common among the Gipsies of Spain. " First of all
marched a villainous jockey-looking fellow, holding in his hands, uplifted,
a long pole, at the top of which fluttered in the morning air a snow-white
cambric handkerchief, emblem of the bride's purity." George Borrow, The
Zincali, Part n. Ch. vii.
Marriage 173
When the procession is within sight of the church the
following song is
sung a kind of triumphal paean reminding
the bride that her resistance was in vain:
The Boastful Partridge. 1 (From Kiup-Kioi.)
Mia TrepSifca TratveOrjKe roixê/a 8e

2az/ r' aicova-6 Krj 6 icvvrjybs TTO\V rov
^Tijvei rd /Spoîa '9 T (Bovvd, TO, *j;6/3pya '? roi>?
Hidvovv rd ^po-^La Trep&i/ccus, rd 'ôfiepya rpvywvys,
Kal rovra rd fjuera^wrd iridvovv TT;?
A partridge boasted that she feared not the gun.

When the fowler heard that, he was exceedingly offended.
He spreads his nets over the hills, the lime-twigs on the plains.
The nets catch partridges, and the lime-twigs turtle-doves,
And these silken toils catch the black-eyed maids.
In the Church and After.
At the entrance of the church the bride halts and bows

thrice. Then the procession enters and marches up the nave.
In front of the pair is set a table with the bridal cake
and a cup of wine upon it, from which the priest prepares
the holy communion, and administers it to the pair.
The best man, or his wife, exchanges the wreaths (d\\d%ovv
rd a-reâva) which in some places are woven by the bridesmaids
out of vine twigs, currants, and cotton-seed. In other less
primitive districts they are made of artificial flowers and are
provided by the best man, or lastly they are silver garlands
2
belonging to the church.
While performing this task the best man throws over the
bride's shoulders the stuff brought in the basket.
Whenthe 'crowning' is over, the bride pins bunches of
'
a yellow mountain flower (-%avTpo\ov\ov$o, lit. bead blossom ')
1
Cp. Passow, Nos. 493, 494.
2
The crowning ceremony
' '
(o-re^dvwâ) has been borrowed by the Kussians

"
who, just as the Greeks, use the word coronation" (vyenchanie) as a synonym
for a wedding.
on the guests' coats. The parents and all the guests in turn
embrace the newly-married couple, kissing them on the fore-
head and wishing them 'unbroken felicity' (ar^pewêva). In
some districts these wishes take a quaint turn "
May you "
:
live,may you grow white and old (Na ^fjare, v dcnrpicrTe,

va yrjpda-Te), each wish being accompanied with a jump. In
the villages near Mount Olympus to the above expressions is
added " like Olympus, like Kissavos
"
(crdv rov "EXv/jLTro crdv
rov Kicrcrafio).
A bronze ewer (y/ciovfjut) and basin (\ayrjvi or Xtjyevi,),
which form part of the bride's dowry, are then produced. The
bridegroom holds the basin, and the bride the ewer, and they
both help the best man and the best woman to wash their
hands a service which is requited with money thrown into
the basin.
The bridegroom then takes the bride by the arm, and they
march slowly and decorously homeward. The crowd which
lines the streets offers them loud congratulations. On ap-
proaching the house the bridesmaids burst into song:
I. (From Thasos.)
Tia %e{3ya, pdva rov âfJLTTpov /ecu rreOepd rijs vi

Nri Sifjs TO <yvio <r
crravpaerb rrj TrepSi/ca TTOV
'ATTO <f>\ovpl &e fyaiverai icy OLTTO /jLapyapirdpi,,
1
KT} drrb ya\dio /ca/jLTrov^d Sev eêt va \vyi<rr).
2
e a^corare, vd
1
Var. KT? airb yaXdfro /ca/A7rou0e TTOU Xd/x,7ret aav rbv 17X40.
" For velvet blue which shines like the sun."
In some versions two more lines are given :
0d ffe
%co/o<r' cforo rov yvi6 cr, airb rov
Avros jj,ava 5' <r' %x L

TrXeta, KCLI <ri) yvib
(A. A. Tova-Lov,
l
Td Tpayovdia
T-^S Uarpidos ftou,' No. 40.)
4 '
She will sever thee from thy son, thy beloved one :
He no longer calls thee mother, nor dost thou call him son " !
Cp. the classical mode of addressing the bridegroom

2
(n-poff^vrjfji.a) in
epithalamian songs :
"OX/3ie ya.fj.ppt Sapph. 50, 56 ; Theocr.
, ri/Me y. etc.
Id. xvni. 16, etc. The modern epithets atos, d^tc6raros etc., which are also
applied to the sponsor at a baptism and to the best man at a wedding (see
below Toasts n. p. 180), seem to be survivals of the Coronation ceremony of the
Marriage 175
Tr) vv<t>rj
TTOV ere Swrca/jue /ca\d vd TIJ
Ka\d vd TTJ (7To\t%6a'cu ryiarl Sev %
elvat, /Bao-iXi/cos K 77 vvifrt) yita? icave\\a>,
elvat, /SacrtXt/co? K 77 vv<j)fj /jLavrôvpdva.
7TOV <7T(j)dva)cr elvat, ^pvcrij \afjL7rdSa.
\ TO %6/H CTOV Kdl KClVe. TO (TTCLVpO
VV(f)rj fJL, (7OV,
Kat TrepiKaKei TO Oeo, vd %fj TO areâvo aov.
Come forth, O mother of the groom and the bride's mother-in-law,

To see thy young eagle what a partridge he is bringing home !
She cannot be seen for gold and pearls,

She cannot bend for brocade of gold. 1
Most worthy bridegroom, mayest thou live to a great age,
The wife we have given thee, be very attentive to her,
Watch tenderly over her for she has no mother.
The bridegroom is basil and our bride cinnamon,
The bridegroom is basil and the bride sweet marjoram.
The best man who held the crowns is a taper of gold.
Lift, dear bride, thy hand and make the sign of the cross,
And pray unto God that thy partner may live long !
II. (From Nigrita.)
The bride's mother sings :
Map /cvpdrcra av^TreOepa, TL /caico <re 7rij/ca 706,

K' ecTTetXe? TO (rravparjro crov,
Kai fJL6 7T7Jp6 TO 7TOV\i fJLOV,
Kal âvocrrrjv tf av\r} /JLOV ;
Byzantine Emperors. There we find the epithet" A <os used in the acclamations
of the people. It is still used by the Greeks at the Consecration of Bishops,
who in many respects may be considered as representing in Turkey the old
secular heads of the Greek nation, and are popularly called by the royal title of
Despots (Ae<T7r6Tr?s). When the congregation greet a Bishop with the cry
'Ai/dltos, it is time for the unpopular pastor to seek a new flock and pastures
fresh.
1
These expressions are not always to be taken as empty hyperboles. They
often represent reality. But as every peasant cannot afford to deck out his
daughter in brocade of gold and pearls, these gorgeous articles as well as the
bridal coronal and girdle are the property of the parish, temporarily used on
the payment of a fee. So that even the humblest maid can boast of having
appeared for once in her life in robes fit for a queen.
O thou fellow-mother-in-law, what harm have I done to thee,
That thou shouldst send thine eagle
To snatch away my dear bird
And to rob my courtyard of its beauty ?
1
III. (From Liakkovikia. )
Titopa rov ya/jLTTpov irepfyavevtTcn, teal \eei

f
pava 77
Tleptyavevercu KOI Xeer Tco *%a) yvibv icy aXXo? ev eêi,

TCD ';&> ryviov rcy aXXo? Sev e%ei,, <yw '%a> /ecu yttia dvjarepa
FOJ '%&> KOI fjna Owyarepa, Sevrpo e^&> '9 rrjv av\tf /JLOV,
Aez>r/9o e%&> 9 rrjv av\r) /JLOV, KVTrapia'Gi 9 rrj ycovia

Updo-iva Kaveu TO, (f>v\\a, vepoyaXaâ \ov\ov$i,a.
Now the groom's mother swells with pride and says :
I have a son and none else beside me (bis).

I have also a daughter (bis),
A tree in my courtyard (bis),
A cypress in my home. 2
It brings forth green leaves and sea-blue blossoms.
The bride on reaching the bridegroom's house bows three

times low, makes the sign of the cross with butter upon the
door-post, and then steps over the threshold, right foot
foremost. 3
On entering her new home the bride sets her right foot
upon a ploughshare purposely placed inside the door. This is

obviously an emblem of plenty, but it may also have a deeper
meaning, steel in any shape or form being a notorious preserva-
tive against evil spirits.
In some parts of Macedonia she breaks upon her own head
one of the honey cakes and scatters the pieces over her shoulder
into the yard. In places where two ring-shaped cakes are used
instead, she throws the pieces of one up the stairs and those of
'
1
A. A. Tov<rlov, 'Tct T/aayouSict rijs Harpidos ftoi, No. 41.
2
Lit. 'my corner.' The corner by the hearth is considered as the most
important part of the house, with which it is identified and for which it is often
used as a synonym. On the sacredness attaching to the upper corner in ' '
the Eussian folk household see Ealston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 135.
3
This observance has given rise to a proverb Throw out thy right foot,' ' '
As though '"
my bride,'
'
I meant to stay for good !
('Pi'e, vv<prj /*,',
TO 8eL. SAv
v&xp) ffKQirb VOL Acarcrw TTO\U/).
Marriage 177
the other into the yard. Sometimes these cakes are given to
her on leaving her father's roof. In that case she breaks one
on the way, and the other on entering her husband's house.
The pieces of the cake are picked up and kept by the bystanders
for a reason already stated.
At the foot of the staircase a ewer is handed to the bride,
and she pours some water on the steps as she mounts them, or
a jug full of water is placed in her way, and she upsets it with
her foot.
The bridegroom's mother and the bride's father, who

1
are not present at the wedding, stand the while upon the
landing and throw upon the couple, as they ascend, sugar-

plums, rice, cotton-seed, barley, chick-peas, and coins which are
scrambled for by the urchins. 2 In like manner among the
ancient Greeks and Romans a bride on entering her new home,
and thus passing from the patria potestas, was welcomed with
showers of nuts, figs, sugar-plums, and the like, a custom closely
associated with the idea of a bargain, as is shown by the fact
that even newly-bought slaves were treated to similar showers. 3
The custom survives among us in the rice with which the
bride is saluted.
When the pair have reached the topmost step, a woollen
blanket is spread on the floor with a pomegranate beneath.
The bride is obliged to stand upon it and crush it with her foot.
The pomegranate is a well-known symbol of fruitfulness often
occurring in Eastern folklore, especially Hebrew and Arabic.
4
When hall, the bride bows to her parents-in-law,

fairly in the
kisses their hands,and receives from them, into her mouth,
golden pieces which they hold to her between their teeth.
This is a pledge that nothing but 'words of gold' will ever
1
Cp. a Suffolk custom: "It is very remarkable that neither father nor
mother of bride or bridegroom come with them to church." The Book of Days,
vol. i. p. 723.
2
Cp. Catull. Epithal. 130 Da nuces pueris ; Virg. Eel. vm. 30 sparge, marite,
nuces, etc.
3
Aristoph. PL 768 ; Demosth. 1123. For other references, see Liddell and
Scott, s. v. Ko.raxufffJia.ra.
4 For a typical instance, see 'The History of Prince Codadad and his
'
brothers in the Arabian Nights.
A. F. 12
pass between them. Then she salutes all the guests, great and
small, who also give her presents in money.
When all the guests have partaken of refreshments
(/cepcur/jiaTa), the priestreads aloud the inventory of the
trousseau, which is then ratified by him and the bridegroom,
,and witnessed by some of those present. It is subsequently
handed to the bride's father who keeps it
carefully, so that in
the event of his daughter's premature death, he may claim
back the dowry. Thus these practical peasants, while intent on
symbolism and allegorical ceremonial, do not lose sight of the
prosaic realities of life.
The bride's kinsmen then offer to the bridegroom a cock,
accompany her parents home with music, and amuse them-
selves there till
evening.
The bride is shown into a room by an elderly female relative
and is made to sit on a chair placed for her in a corner by her
sisters-in-law. As she is sedately strutting to that corner, one
of the latter holds over her head a loaf of bread with a salt-cellar
on the top of it. She is surrounded by the best woman and
other female friends, and they all feast and sing songs together,
while the bridegroom and his comrades make merry in the hall
outside, and often become so elevated that they must needs
express their joy in the form of broken crockery.
In the midst of this uproar someone rushes downstairs,
catches the biggest cock in the yard and whirls it round twice.
Then he flings it off and they all run after it.
During this banquet many songs are sung :
I. (From Sochos.)
Na <f>a/jL6
va inovfJLe v dvd^r 6
Na 7TOv/ji va 'Cftd rj vvcfrr) icy 6
"Let's eat and drink and shake the room,

And wish long life to bride and groom."
II. (From Salonica.)
ap* elv 6 ya/JLTTpbs /cal fiaXaaa rj vv

OTTCUO? TOU9 (7T(f>dva)O' 7TO\\d %pOVia VCL
" A pearl the groom, and golden is the bride ;
Who held the crowns, long he on earth abide."

Marriage 179
After the banquet, late in the afternoon, the guests go out

with the band and set up a dance in the village 'middle space,'
leaving the bridegroom to enjoy his bride's society in the
company of her elderly chaperone.
Wedding Banquets.
In the evening a dinner given at which the bride assists

is
veiled. The guests drink different toasts of which the following

are characteristic examples :
I. To the newly married couple.

Na tyj(TOVV, o-Tpea)/jieva, iravra TeOot,a vaôvv, Xf/yo Kpaal
KOI 7roXX?7 d'yaTTrj.
"May they live long, secure; may they ever be engaged in feasting i
little wine and much love " !
II. To the best man and the best woman.
Hdvra afto9 6 KaX^rara? K ij Ka-X^ctâ.

"
Everlasting honour to them."
III. To the priest.
K' et9 rd lepoiraiSia era?.

" Same luck to your holy children."
IV. To lay guests.
K' et? r' dpôvTOTraibia era?.

" Same luck to your princely children."
V. To the host's family.

r
'Q(ra KaptpoTraTrf/nara '9 rov l&ap&apiov rov fcdfjuTro, roaa
/ca\d vd 8(0(7^ 6 6ebs '? TO O-TTLT TTOV Tpaya)$ov/jb.
" As
many as are the nail-prints on the plain of the Vardar, even so
many blessings may God bestow upon the house within which we are
singing."
122
The bride pours out wine for the guests, while they sing :
I. (From Kiup-Kioi.)
"
HepKTTepovSd fjC euopcfrrj /cal %a/j,arySr) Tpvywva,
*2< o\ov TOV KO(7fjLov rffjêp'T]
Ve ypOes dypia.
/jueva
'P/fe Tr)v dypioavvrj crov K e\a /caOov '9 TO yova JJL.
Na /JLe Kepvqs <y\vtco Kpacrl teal av va Xa/xTT?;? //,eVa,

No. Xa//,7T779 vav TOV 77X^0, va \d/j,7rrj<; adv TO
"n&>9 vapdco, @pe \e/3evTr) fjiov, avpio da ffyfjs of
"Of w '? TCL 7ra\\rjKdpt,a Kal 6d TrawrjOfjs fjunpoarTd
T&.OKKIVO %6tXt (j)L\r}cra epatye TO &IKO fjuov, K
Me aôvyjlard/ca K eâ^r TO (JLavTrfKovbl fju
TO /j,avTfj\i
JJL
Se Tpla 7roTa/j,ia T(&7r\vva K eftafyav Ta TTOTafjaa

Tpia Trep'crTepovbia Kovrjtyav K efia^frav TO, vv%ov$i,a T'?."
"My pretty pigeon, my low-flying turtle-dove,
To all the world tame, to me thou hast come wild.
Cast off thy wildness and come and sit on my knee.
Pour me out a cup of sweet wine and shine thou in it,
Shine like the sun, shine like the moon."

"How can I come, my gallant youth? to-morrow, methinks, thou
wilt go forth
Among thy comrades, and amongst them thou wilt boast :
I have kissed a pair of red lips and mine became red;

I dried them on my handkerchief, and my little handkerchief became
red,
I washed it in three streams and the streams became red,
Three little doves alighted there, and their little claws also became red." 1
2
II. (From Liakkovikia. )
va <re
Na ere TW^GM
fa%apt, //-ocrô, Kal
f/
O0-' acTTpd 'vat, \ TOV ovpavo Kal (f)vX)C airav \ TO,
Tocra Ka\a va SaW o #609 '9 T' devTr TO

" r/
O<7' a&Tpd Vat '9 TOV ovpavo Kal 0uAA' CLTCCLV \ Ta
Too-' aaTTpa ^coBetya 670), dyaTrrj p, vd ere Trdpa)."
1
With this conceit cp. To dia&yiov (1.
11 foil.) in E. Legrand, Eecueil de
Chansons Populaires Grecques, p. 222.
2
A. A. Tovfftov,
'
Td Tpayotidia rfjs ILarpidos ,uov,' No. 34.
Marriage 181
"
Aez/ Tft>'f epa, a<f>evr7j yu-ou, 7ro>9
Na 76^0) 777? z/a /jL6 Traras, yeffrvpi vd

Na yevco ^pva-orpaTreâ îrpoard \ rrjv dfyevnd crov,
Na yevco ^pvaoTrorrjpo fie TO Kpaal ye/Adro,
'E<7t; vd Trivys TO /cpavl icy '70) vd \dfj,7rco pecra"
Bride: "My wish to honour thee at this board,

lord, I
To honour thee with sugar, musk, and clove.
As many as are the stars in the sky and the leaves upon the
trees,
"
So many blessings may God bestow on my lord's board !
Groom: "As many as are the stars in the sky, and the leaves upon the
trees,
1
So many pieces have I spent, my love, to secure thee."
Bride: "I knew it not, my lord, that thou hadst spent money for me,
Or I would have become earth for thee to tread upon, a
bridge for thee to pass over,
I would have become a golden table before thy lordship,
I would have become a golden goblet filled with wine,
That thou mayst drink from it and I shine within it " !
In this way the convivial party amuse themselves. Nor

are the humble musicians forgotten. The guests now and
again rise from table, fix pieces of money on their foreheads
and pledge them with bumpers.
Cooking and eating continue all night promiscuously and
alternately, so that no one may have reason to complain that
he was not able " to put off from himself the desire of meat
and drink." But in the course of the evening, soon after the
main banquet is over, the bride's father arrives with his own
guests, and dancing commences. The bridegroom dances at
the end of the male chain, the best man holding him by the
right hand, while he clasps his bride's hand with the other.
1
Extremely curious is the recurrence of folk ideas. Cp. the following note
from Suffolk: " The bridegroom sometimes considers it his duty to profess that
he considers the job a very dear one not particularly complimentary to the
bride and once a man took the trouble to pay my fee entirely in threepenny
and fourpenny pieces which was, I suppose, a very good joke ; not so much so,
;
however, as when a friend of mine had his fee paid in coppers." The Book of
Days, vol. i. p. 723. Is this a survival from the times when a bride was
purchased in real earnest ?
Next after the bride comes the best woman, and then follow
the bridegroom's kinswomen in due order. Another chain,
formed by the bride's female relatives, winds its way behind
the bridegroom's ranks. The dance is a mere matter of form
and ceases after the third round. The new-comers help them-
selves to refreshments,and then depart. When the majority
of the guests have gone, the bride takes off her veil, and
remains with the flowers and gold threads on her head. To-
wards morning they all leave, and the band accompanies the
best man and his female colleague home.
After the Feast.
On Monday morning the bride enters upon her new duties

of housekeeper in a manner that emphasizes the state of
mild servitude, which is the peasant wife's lot in Macedonia.
She begins by helping all the members of her husband's family
in their matutinal ablutions (vtyipo), then kisses their hands
respectfully and prepares their breakfast. They, in their turn,

give her presents. Later in the day she distributes her bridal
threads of gold among the little girls of the neighbourhood.
About noon her nearest relatives call, the bridegroom's
return the visit, and thence go to the best man's. The band
of groomsmen, with music, first call on the bride's parents, then
on the best man and subsequently on the other guests, who
are invited to another banquet. But they each have to con-
tribute their shares, chiefly a pie (Trouydro-a), a tray of roast
meat, and a flagon of wine. These dishes and drinks are borne
to the bridegroom's house by the youths with much solemnity
and music. The best man
is expected to contribute a
larger
share than anyone else, and he generally sends a lamb roasted
whole, and a jar of wine. In the evening the banquet is spread,
and all the remnants of it are given to the poor.
After dinner an invitation is sent to the bride's relatives to
come and dance with her. The feast lasts through the am-
brosial night, and the guests do not depart until long after the
rosy-fingered Morn has spread her saffron-veil over the village
housetops.
Marriage 183
In some places a curious custom is observed on this day.

The cook, who superintends the culinary department of the
the bridegroom's, armed with a huge ladle hanging
festivities at
from his girdle sword-fashion, and followed by his assistants,

comes to the bride's old home. Her father and mother in
feigned alarm hide away their goods and chattels, and take
refuge on the hearthstone. But the inexorable cook claims
money. They refuse to pay. A
brawl ensues, and at last the
old couple are seized and suspended from the beams. They
then begin to offer fowls, water-melons, wine, and the like, as
a ransom. But they are not let down until the cook is satisfied.
This undoubtedly one more reminiscence of the distant ages

is
when such scenes were acted in grim earnest.

On Tuesday morning the bride presents each of the musicians
with a kerchief, and each of the groomsmen with a suitable
gift (Sapos). At midday her nearest relatives assemble, and
help her make a cake with milk and rice. She stands behind
a table in the middle of the hall, and as she moulds the dough
the others dance round her, and at intervals pause to cut it
with coins. When the cake is ready, it is taken in procession,
with music, to a public oven. In the evening it is fetched
home in like manner, and is eaten at dinner.
On Wednesday the bride, arrayed in her second best apparel,
and accompanied by two of her husband's nearest kinswomen,
or by her own mother and mother-in-law, repairs to the village
fountain. She carries thither a new pitcher, resting upon a
gorgeously embroidered rug on her left shoulder and held with
the right hand bent overhead, or, in some districts, two bronze
ewers. Similar vessels are borne by her companions, and the
procession looks not unlike a representation from an old Greek
vase one of those living pictures which are as common in
:
Hellenic countries at the present day as they were in the time

of Apelles. Into these vessels are thrown cloves, flowers, or
wheat and barley, and coins, which are then poured out into
the fountain as propitiatory offerings to the presiding nymph.
The vessels are washed, filled with water, and emptied outside
the entrance of the house. This act is repeated thrice at three
different fountains in succession.
"
On Thursday the bride " is churched (eKK\rj(TideTai), that
is, she attends divine service for the first time in her new
capacity as a married woman. Early in the morning married
relatives escort her to church (ftydovv rrj vvc^rj '? rrjv e'/c-
K\r)<Tia), and after matins accompany her back home, where
refreshments are served.
On
Friday evening she goes to her mother's home and has
her hair washed by her with water medicated with yellow
flowers and walnut leaves, purposely gathered and dried. The
bridegroom joins her later, and the newly-wedded pair stay to
dinner and remain there till Sunday. This visit is termed a
' ' '
'
Return or Counter- Wedding (eTricrTpocfria, Trio-rpocjjiKia,
dTroyvpio-fjia, or ayrf/yayito?).
Sunday, at midday, they are On
fetched back by the bridegroom's father and closest relatives
of both sexes.
Eight days after the same ceremony takes place at the best
man's, where a banquet is spread, songs are sung, and gifts
exchanged. This
the conclusion of the Macedonian peasant's
is
marriage In many of its details it bears a strong

festival.
Albanian wedding, and on the whole differs

1
analogy to the
little from the corresponding customs prevalent in Southern
Greece. 2
'
SONGS SUNG AT THE '
RETURN BANQUETS.
I.
C
O (j)v\aKLa/uLevos K 77
(From Eleutheroupolis).
'2 rr) /Spvcri, Trijya yi,d vepo, Kpvo vepo vd

Bapetd dSl/cia JJL ${3ya\av 7nw9 (f)L\r)(ra Kopdcn.
Ma '70) /jbavpos Se* rcofepa '9 rd fjudria Se' TO
'2 rrj (j)v\a/cr) /ie piâve Sid rpidvra fAepais
Kat TrapaTrecrav rd /c\iSia, KCLVW rpidvra
1
See descriptions of the latter in Hahn, Albanesische Studien, and in
Auguste Dozon, Contes Albanais, pp. 189 foil.
2
A short sketch of the Thessalian folk marriage is given in Songs of
Modern Greece, pp. 90 foil. See also Eennell Bodd, The Customs and Lore
of Modern Greece, ch. iii., and cp. Marriage Superstitions and Customs in The
' '

Marriage 185
K' etcava 7r^%69 ra fjbd\\i,d /cal TriOapals ra vv%i,a.

Ae<f>TOKapi,dv6 ecnreipa '9 TT)<$ <j)v\a/cfjs rrj Tropra
Kal \e(f)TO/cdpva (j)aya fia \evrepia 8ev
MoV [Aid Aa/jLTTpij, fJLid }Lvpiaicr),
v/jirf6r)/ca rd veidra JJLOV Kal rr) 7ra\\r)/captd JJLOV,
KT) dpîvrjcra vd Tpayov&w '? Tropra.

rrjs (f>v\a/crj<; rrj
Ba<7tX,07roi'Xa p aicovaev diro yfrr)\b 7ra\drt'

"
Iloto? elv CLVTOS TTOV rpayovBel \ r}9 (f>v\a/crj<? TTJ Tropra ;
Na rov %apia evved ^copid /cal SeKCLTrevre /cda-rpa."

"
Ae' Oe\d) '70) ra Vêa %(0p(,d, ovre rd Se/caTrevre
ov 6e\co rb KOp/jud/ci T7/9 vd TO
The Prisoner and the Princess.
I went to the fountain, to draw cool water.

They brought against me a heavy charge that I kissed a maid, forsooth.
:
I, the hapless one, knew her not, had never seen her with my eyes.
They cast me into prison for thirty days.
But the keys were mislaid, and I remained there thirty years.
1
My hair grew yard-long, my nails span -long.

1 planted a hazel-tree at the prison gates,
I tasted hazels therefrom, yet freedom I tasted not.
But on a Bright Day, on a Sunday, on an Easter Day,
I bethought me of my past youth and of my youthful prowess,
And I began to sing at the prison gates.

A Princess heard me from a lofty palace:
" Who is he that
sings at the prison gates 1
I will grant him nine villages and fifteen castles."

"I wish not for thy nine villages, nor for thy fifteen castles,
But I wish for thy beauteous body, to clasp it in mine arms "
!
II. 'H /caK07rovTpfJLvrj.
(From Zichna and Pram.)

/cal p eSw/ce? \ rou9
'70) '9 TO /cdfjia 8e' /5acrrft>, vepo
feo-To 8e' Trwa),
'Ec5 rpvyovia Se' \a\ovv K ol KOVKKOL Se' TO \eyovv,
To XeV ol ^\dôi '9 TO 'i/Bovvo, TO \e'v (rdv /JLVpio\6yL'
With the incident of the lost keys and consequent undue prolongation of
1
imprisonment cp. E. Legrand, Recueil de Chansons Populaires Grecques, No. 145,

the opening lines.
11
IIo09 e% avrpa '9 Tf) J~viTi>a, fjutcpd TraiBid '9 rd
He? rat? zâ yLt^ rot>9 tcaprepovv, vd /j,r)v TOV$
""BtrfVTa Kapd[3ia (3ov\iaâv '9 rfjs H6\r)<; rd
Fiftfyitajcr' J]
0d\a<Tcra Travid, K rj a/cpais Tr
K.\aiyovv y fjidvats */id rraiSid K y %r)pcus ytd rot'9 avrpes.
The Unhappy Bride.

Mother mine, thou hast wedded me ill, in giving me away to the lowlands.
I cannot bear the heat, warm water I cannot drink.
Here are no singing turtle-doves, the cuckoo is not heard here,
The shepherds sing on the hills, they sing a mournful lay :
"Who have husbands abroad, children in foreign parts,

little
Tell them to expect them not, to wait for them no more:

2
Sixty ships have sunk in the Straits of the Great City
1
,
The sea is covered with rent sails and the shores with the dead swains.
Mothers weep for their children, and widows for their husbands."
Adopted Brothers.
In some districts of Macedonia the bridegroom's comrades,
who play so important a role throughout the marriage fes-
tivities, are his 'adopted brothers' (dbeptyoTroLTOi, a-ravpaBepôi,
/3Xa/ia8e?, or fjiTrpdri/jLoi). The custom of forming fraternal

friendships, once very common in the Balkan Peninsula, is now
dying out but in some parts it is still kept up.
;
number of A
youths enter into a solemn compact to aid each other in all
circumstances even unto death. The relationship thus con-
tracted is more sacred than natural kinship. Nor is it confined
'
to one sex. Three or four brothers sometimes agree to take
'
an orphan girl and adopt her as their 'sister' (^Trparfjiiva).

The ceremony takes place in the church. The parish priest
sanctifies the compact by administering the sacrament to them
and binding them together with a blessed or
'
holy belt' (dyia
1
The Bosphorus.
2
Constantinople. It is interesting to recall that these are the straits
dreaded by the ancient mariner as the site of the Justling Eocks (at Sv/4-
TrXâSes), which, according to the fable, closed on all who sailed between them
on their way to the Inhospitable Sea. In historic times there stood on the
Asiatic shore a temple dedicated to Zeus Ourios or 'Giver of fair winds,' in
which voyagers to the Black Sea were wont to register their vows.
Marriage 187
wound round their waists. The damsel henceforth looks
upon the youths as her brothers, washes their clothes for them,
and ministers to their comforts, while they, on their part, are
bound by their vow to protect her and finally to contribute
towards her settlement in marriage.
The name /JLTT pantos is of Slav origin. The same "custom
prevails among the Albanian tribe of the Mirdites,
where the
ceremony of initiation is practically the same.
1
The name
given to the 'brothers' in Albania is pobratim, the same as
2
among the Servians.
Eight and Left.
In treating of the superstitions concerning Birth, we have

noticed that the favourites of Fate are believed to have been
blessed in infancy with her right hand, and the unfortunate
ones with her left. In the wedding ceremony also, the bride
is bound to enter her husband's dwelling right foot foremost
for luck. These are only two of a great number of examples

of the widespread association of ideas which connects right and
left with good and evil respectively. Further instances abound
among the Macedonians, as well as other members of the Greek
" "
race. May things turn out right (a/xTrore vapOovv Segid) is a
common wish. The Holy Virgin is sometimes worshipped under
thename of Right-handed (TLavayia Aef ia or Aefa), and is
' '
depicted carrying the Child in her right arm. To her are

offered up prayers by all those who are about to embark on
a new enterprise, " that she may conduct it to a right, that is,
"
auspicious issue (yi<a> va yu-a? ra (frepy Se^ta).
The idea was extremely common among the ancient Greeks,
as the use of the words 'right' (Sefto?) and 'left* (Wato?) in the
and unlucky shows. A bird was " of good
' ' ' '
sense of lucky
"
omen if it flew on the right, that is from the East, the reverse
if it flew from the left. Wine and lots were handed round
from left to right (ei/Begta), and a beggar begging round a table
1
Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of Turkey, vol. i. pp. 309 foil.
2
Among the Slavs of the North, this "mutual brotherhood by adoption " is
known as pobratimstvo. See Ealston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 217.

1
ought to move from left to right. Among the Romans similar
ideas prevailed, dexter and laevus* being the equivalents for
* '
and the opposite.

propitious
The same
idea is found underlying the Celtic folk-belief in
Deiseal, that is, doing everything with a motion from left to
right, and the German rechtshin. Moreover, German folk-lore
3
contains a rule forbidding getting out of bed left foot first, as

of ill omen 4 a superstition likewise expressed in the English
phrase "getting out of bed wrong foot foremost," and still

5
entertained in many parts of the English-speaking world.
In addition to classical and modern civilized nations, as
might be expected, we meet with the same idea among savage
races. Like the ancient Greek and Roman augurs, the modern
savage interprets the flight of birds as boding good or evil,
6
according as it is on his right or left.
Other superstitions connected with marriage.
It is not good to sit on the door-step, or the match-maker,

who may perchance be coining, will turn back.
A newly-wedded woman is not allowed to sweep the floor
"
of her house during the first week, lest she should sweep
members of her husband's family out of this world" an idea
derived from symbolic magic.
She is also forbidden to look upon a corpse, or to assist
at a wedding. The first act, it is believed, will bring death
into her own household the second will cause separation by
;
death or divorce to the pair who are just joined in the bonds
of matrimony.
Rain during a wedding is considered a good omen it bodes :
prosperity and fertility on the principals of the ceremony. It
1
Horn. II. i. 597; vn. 184; Od. xvn. 365.
2
This Latin word survives in Western Macedonia. At Shatista they call a
left-handed person Xid/3os.
3
p. 229.
4
5
6
Marriage 189
is with a like intent that the bride is made to overturn a vessel
containing water, or to besprinkle the stairs, on stepping into

her new home, as has been noticed already. But in some
districts, if it rains during the ceremony, it is said that the
bride is in the habit of crying 1 or that the newly-married pair
in their childhood used "to lick the frying-pans" (ey\v(f>av
2
TO, Tr)<ydvia).
Unlucky Days.
The world-old and world-wide belief in unlucky days, known
to the ancient Greeks as a7ro</ja8e? rjpepai and to the Romans
as dies nefasti, survives in Macedonia. Indeed, nearly all the
days of the week, except Sunday, are considered bad for some
occupation or other, differing only in the degree and direction
of their badness.
Monday. Married people must abstain from paring their
nails on this day. If one of them does so, the other will die.
Nor is it advisable to pay debts on a Monday, or they will
be doubled (Sevrepcovovv).
Tuesday, as a bad day, corresponds to the Western super-
stition regarding Friday.
It is unlucky to make purchases on a Tuesday, especially
to buy a trousseau. No dress certainly no bridal gown is
cut out on this day, nor any enterprise or journey entered upon.
Some explain the superlative ill-luck attending this day as
being due to the fact that Constantinople fell on a Tuesday. 3
1
Cp. in America, "If it rains on the wedding, the bride will cry all her
married life." Memoirs of American Folk-Lore Society, vol.
the rv. p. 61.
2
A. A. Tovcriov, ''H Kara TO Hdyyaiov Xwpa,' p. 74.
3
This is historically true. Constantinople was taken by the Turks on
May 29th, 1453, on the Third day of the week. The event is commemorated
in the following old ballad :
'0 0a.va.Tos rov KuvffTavrivov Apa.ya.fr).
'S TCL x^ ia
TrpaK6(Tia /ecu 's rd TrevrjvTa Tpia,
>
'H/Aôci TplTy, rov Mai'oO 's TCUJ el'/cocn evvta,
'^TTTjpav oi 'Ayapr/voi T-T\V KWVO'TO.VT'I.VOV irb\iv.
The Death of Constantine Dragazi.

In the year one thousand four hundred and fifty-three,
On a Tuesday, the twenty-ninth of May,
The sons of Hagar took Constantine's City.
E. Legrand, Recueil de Chansons Populaires Grecques, No. 48.
'
The City being justly regarded by the Macedonians

fall of the
'
and the rest of the Greeks as the fount and origin of all their
national woes, and the day on which it occurred as a black-
letter day in their annals.
Wednesday and Friday. These two days are considered as

relatively holy. During Lent, the fast is severer on these two
days. Those who are religiously inclined observe them through-
out the year as fasting days, that is, they abstain from meat.
It is generally held unlucky to pare the nails on either of them.
Clothes are not washed on a Wednesday, and on a Friday
neither clothes nor their owners must come in contact with
water. Women in childbed are especially warned not to in-
dulge in ablutions on a Friday. The following rhymes embody

this superstition :
TerpdSrj KOI Hapaa/cevrj ra vvx La (7OV

1
Tr) Kvpia/crj /JLTJV Xov&aai, av di\r)<s va
On Wednesday and Friday forbear to cut thy nails. 2
On Sunday wash thou not, if thou wishest to prosper.
It will be seen that they are here compared in sacredness

to Sunday itself. How much of the modern Greek's veneration
"
for Friday is a remnant of the Roman respect for the Day of
"
Venus it is difficult to say. It is worth while, however, to note
1
Var. /m^v oupi<TT77s, "do not shave."
superstition is as old as Hesiod, who in his allegorical style warns us
2
The
On the goodly feasts of the gods not to cut from the five-pointed
The dry from the quick with flashing iron.
W and D., 742 3. Cp. also Pliny's directions regarding nail- and hair-cutting.
.
The Nones are good for the former, the 7th and the 29th day of the month for
the latter operation. Nat. Hist. xxvm. 2. And the old English rhymes on the
subject of nail-cutting :
A man had better ne'er been born

Than have his nails on a Sunday shorn.
Cut them on Monday, cut them for health;
Cut them on Tuesday, cut them for wealth;
Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for news;
Cut them on Thursday, for a pair of new shoes ;
Cut them on Friday, cut them for sorrow;

Cut them on Saturday, see your sweetheart to-morrow.
The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 526 and Sir Thomas Browne's remarks on
;
it.
Cp. Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 144.

Marriage 191
that the Slavs also hold similar occupations as sinful on that
day. According to an old tradition "it is a sin for a woman to

sew, or spin, or weave, or buck linen on a Friday."
1
It is needless to refer to the mythological significance of
Freya's Day or the Roman Dies Veneris, whence

' '
the Teutonic
the Germanic and the Latin races derive their respective
names of this day of the week, and partly their superstitious
2
dread of it.
Whatever may be the origin of the sacred character of

Friday in the eyes of the modern Greeks, there can be little
doubt that Wednesday owes its

privileged place to Christian
influence ; Wednesday, like Friday, having been early asso-
ciated by the Church with some of the most tragic events in
the life of Jesus Christ.
Saturday. unlucky to finish any work, especially a

It is
wedding on a Saturday; the end of the week being

dress,
considered as in some way connected with the end of the
owner's life.
It is equally unlucky to cut out a new dress, lest the life of

the person for whom it is intended should be cut short. 3
1
Kalston, Russian Folk-Tales, p. 199.
2
How far-reaching this superstition is, is shown by the fact that even the
Brahmins of India share in it. They say that "on this day no business must
be commenced." Dr Buchanan, Asiat. Res., vol. vi. p. 172 in The Book of Days,
vol. i. p. 42.
3 On
lucky and unlucky days generally cp. Memoirs of the American Folk-
Lore Society, vol. iv. pp. 79, 144 foil.
CHAPTER XII.
FUNERAL RITES.
IN the funeral rites of the modern Macedonians can still be

discerned vestiges of primitive ideas concerning death, and the
state of the soul after death. These beliefs and practices may
be said to connect the present with the past, on one hand,
and the remnants of an ancient civilization with contemporary
savagery, on the other. Many popular observances, which are
here kept up as mere matters of traditional ceremonial, find
their true interpretation in like observances among races in
a lower stage of culture. It is only by investigating the latter
that we are enabled to recover the half-forgotten meaning of
the former. In other words, what in Macedonia are but the
lifeless fossils of old superstition, embedded in the new religion,
can, by comparison with analogous specimens still living else-
where, be reconstructed into something resembling their original
forms.
The is far from being an easy one,
operation, however,
and it is renderedthe more difficult by the multitude and
all
diversity of the extraneous elements, which in the course of ages

have accumulated round these remnants, have been assimilated
by them, and have often disguised them to a degree which
and classification. As will be
defies all attempts at analysis
seen, some of the ceremonies described in the sequel are a

continuation of Hellenic or Roman ritual, but slightly affected
by Christianity others can be connected with the practices of
;
the Slav populations who, on being admitted into the com-

munion of the Greek Church, retained a great deal of their
Funeral Rites 193
pagan forms of belief and helped to modify classic tradition a

process facilitated by own early
the close similarity of their
culture with that of the early Greeks and Romans. Yet, both
classes of ceremonies, whether directly traceable to a classic or
to a Slavonic origin, bear a strong likeness to ceremonies in
vogue among races with which neither the civilized Hellene

nor the homely Slav ever came in contact.
It is precisely from this point of view that an attempt can
be made to establish the relation of Macedonian belief and
custom to savage culture, and thus assign to the former their
proper place in the field of universal folklore.
The lying in state.
After confession and absolution, the dying partakes of the

sacrament. When he is breathing his last, or, to use the local
" "
phrase, when
his soul is breaking out of his mouth (ftyaivei
1
j] tywxr)
rov or -^vôppajel ), only one or two of the nearest
relatives are allowed to remain by the bedside. Upon them
devolves the duty of closing the eyes and mouth of the deceased.
As soon as the latter has given up the ghost, the face is
sprinkled with a piece of cotton wool soaked in wine a
dwindled remnant of the ancient custom of washing the body.
He is then arrayed in his best clothes or in a brand-new dress
(d\\dovv rov If he is betrothed or newly married,
TreOa/jievo).
the wedding wreath placed on his head. In the case of
is
young women and children, their heads are crowned with

flowers, and flowers, occasionally mixed with sugar-plums, are
also scattered over the body. In some districts, Charon's penny
is still put under the tongue or in the lap of the deceased.
" with the soul between one's

1
Cp. the idiom ^
TTJ ^vx^l 's TO. dbvrta, teeth,"
i.e. to be at one's last gasp. This is one of the many popular expressions to
be found in many languages, all pointing to the prevalent idea that the soul
at death escapes through the mouth. On this subject see J. G. Frazer, The
Golden Bough, vol. i. p. 252. It may be interesting to note here that in Modern
Greek the word tyvxn "soul" is often used by the ignorant to denote that
which we call "stomach"; for instance, a Greek will say irovei r/ tyvxh and
//,
clap his hands over his stomach in a manner which shows that his ailment is
not of a spiritual nature. Hence \j/vx&Troi>os = Koi\6Trovos.
A. F. 13
This is, of course, a survival of the Hellenic custom of
providing the dead with the ferry-boat fee, and has no direct
relationship with the similar practice of Western peasants.
The money offerings to the dead in Germany, France, and
other parts of Europe are intended to furnish the spirit of the
departed with the means of buying refreshments on his weary

1
journey.
Thus arrayed and provided for, the corpse is laid out facing
East the head and shoulders resting upon a cushion, the hands
folded upon the breast and is covered over with a winding
sheet or shroud (o-dftavov). Three candles are lit, two at the
head and one at the feet. All these duties are usually per-
formed by the nearest female relatives and not by paid strangers,
except when unavoidable. The same relatives also watch and
bewail the dead. The body is especially watched lest a cat
should jump over it, and that for a reason to be explained later.
The laments or dirges (fjLvpio\6yia) in some cases are im-

provised by the mother, wife, or sisters of the deceased; in
others, they are sung by professional wailers (/jLvpioXoylaTpais),
who make a business of composing or committing to memory
suitable songs, and are paid for their mournful labour in food,
rarely in money. In the majority of cases it is some old

woman, who has witnessed many a funeral in her own family
and has, by bitter experience, acquired the gift of fluency, who
volunteers to sing the dirge. If the deceased is a youth or
damsel, the laments are sung by young maidens. But in all

cases the best of the wailers, or the most nearly related to the
deceased, leads the dirge, in which the other women join with
'arefrain ending in exclamations of ah ah ! !
It is almost superfluous to refer for parallel cases to the
Oprjvwboi of the ancient Greeks and the praeftcae of the Romans.

Yet anyone who has assisted at the funeral lamentations of the
modern Greeks, whether in Macedonia or in Greece proper,
cannot but have recalled to mind the pathetic picture of the
Trojan women wailing over the body of Hector.
2
The very
1
p. 494.
2
II.xxiv. 720 foil.
Funeral Rites 195
words used by Homer (" she led their sore lament ") are illus-
trated in a forcible manner by these modern performances. 1
The following song is perhaps the most wide-spread of all

traditional dirges. In my wanderings through Macedonia I
collected four different versions from Melenik, Nigrita, Kozani,
and the island of Thasos respectively.
I give below a translation of that one of my copies which
bears the least resemblance to published versions. 2
I.
All the mothers were sending off their sons to prosper,
Except one mother, a bad mother, Yanni's mother.

She sat at the window and uttered bitter curses :
" Go to
foreign lands, Yanni, and mayst thou never return home !
The swallows will come back year after year,

But thou, O Yanni, mayst thou never appear, never return home " !
"
Hush, my dear mother, hush curse thou me not
! !
There will come round, my mother, the Feast of St George, the holiest
day of the year,
And thou wilt go, my mother, to church, thou wilt go to worship,
And there thou wilt see maids, thou wilt see youths, thou wilt see the
gallant lads,
Thou wilt see my own place empty and my stall tenantless,
And thou wilt be seized with remorse and shame of the world;
Thou wilt take thy way over the hills and through the woods,
To the sea-shore thou -wilt descend, and of the seamen thou wilt ask:
'0 seamen, my dear lads, and ye friendly clerks:
Have you seen my dear Yanni, my right noble son ? '
*
Lady, there are many strangers in foreign lands and 1 know not thy son.
Show tokens of his body; what was he like?'
'He was tall and slender and had arched eyebrows,
And on his off-finger he wore a betrothal ring.'
'We saw him, lady, stretched upon the sand.
Black birds devoured him and white birds circled over him.
Only one sea-bird paused and wailed :
Ah perchance he had a mother perchance he had a wife

!
;
!
' "
1
Professional crieresses (PlakaVshchitsa or Voplenitsa) are also employed by
the Russians, and their funeral wailings (Zaplachki) bear a strong analogy to
the Greek jjivp(i)o\6yia.. See Ealston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 332 foil.
2
See Bernhard Schmidt, Nos. 67, 68 (from the Ionian Islands) Passow, ;
Nos. 343349; Chassiotis, No. 18 (from Epirus) ; Jeannarakis, No. 195;

Legrand, Recueil des Chansons Populaires Grecques, No. 123, etc.
132
1
II. (From Cavalla. )
Mta jjbdva fjuvpio\6<yae yid TOV povd/cpipo TT;

"
Tlai&d/ct fjiov TOV TTOVO crov /cal TTOV vd TOV
Na rov epi^d) '9 TO l/3ovvo TOV Traipvovv rd TrovXdtcia,
Na TOV tpifm '9 TOV <yia\6 TOV Tpwyovv TO, ifrapd/cia,
Na TOV epi^co Slo-Tparo 6d TOV TTCLTOVV
"A? TOV epiâ) '9 Tr) fcapftid TTOVVCLI
Na /cdOovjjiai, o~dv ere TTOVO), vd jepvco o~dv //-e a^d^y,
%dv 7r6(f)TCt) '9 TO Trpoa/cetyaXo vd \a%Tap(o TOV VTTVO
'
KT; o Xa/oo? 'TrôyijQrj/ce, KTJ 6 Xaô9

"f
'O\ov TOV KOO~IULO yvpiaa, Trj 7779, TTJV
K' el8a /juavdSes '9 TOV y/cprj/jivo, etS'
dSepâLs '9 TOZ^ ftpd%o,
Tvvai/ces TWV fca\a)v dvTpwv '9 TTJV d/cprj '9 TOL
Ma 7rd\i, âvanrepaaa o-vvdvTrjâ TOV %povov,

K' elSa fjiavabes '9 TOV %o/>o, eZ8' dSepcfrais '9 TOI/
TWV /cdXwv dvTp&v '9 ra Vop^>a 7ravr)
r
yvpia
TTOI) Sez^ ry\e7rovTai, j\ijyopa \vjo-fjLOVovvTai.
The Mothers lament.
A mother was lamenting her only son :
"My darling child, my grief for thee where shall I cast it?
If I cast it on the mountains, the little birds will pick it,
If I cast it into the sea, the little fishes will eat it,
If I cast iton the highway, the passers-by will trample it under foot.
Oh, let me cast it into my own heart which swells with many sorrows,
Let me sit down with my pain, lay me down with my pangs,

"
And, when I rest rny head upon my pillow, pine for sleep !
Death made answer to her, Death answered thus :
"
Over the world have I wandered, over the universal earth ;
I have seen mothers on the brink of the precipice, sisters on the edge of
the rock,
And wives of brave men on the margin of the stream.
Yet once more I went that way, in the course of the meeting years,
1
This dirge was dictated to me by M. J. Constantinides of that town, a
gentleman well-versed in folklore and himself a poet of merit. He described it
as of Epirotic origin.
Funeral Rites 197
And lo ! I beheld the mothers in the dance, the sisters in the wedding-
feast,
And the wives of brave men in the merry fairs."
1
Eyes which are not seen are soon forgotten.
These laments are also repeated round the grave before the
coffin is lowered into it.
The funeral.
The corpse is never kept for more than twenty-four hours,

and seldom even so long. As a general rule the funeral takes
place on the day after death. At the moment when the coffin
is carried out of the house, the women break forth into loud
piercing cries (ê^wva'yiâra}. Those amongst them who have

recently lost a relative bid the newly-departed bear greetings
(xaiperrffjiaTa) and affectionate messages to their friend in the
other world. Some of them also thrust an apple, or a quince,
or some other kind of fruit, between the feet of the dead. This
gift may be regarded either in the light of an offering to the
departed, to serve as food on the way to Hades, or as a gift

committed tohis care and meant for the relative who preceded
him on the dread journey. Objects dear to the deceased are
also frequently placed in the coffin and buried with the body,
such as a child's playthings, a young scholar's books and
inkstand, or a maiden's trinkets.
is not clear to the spectator, and
Now, it
hardly to the
performers themselves, what is the motive which
prompts these
touching acts. If a by-stander is
questioned, he will most
likely explain them as befitting tributes of affection, or as the
results of custom handed down from "olden times." Never-
theless, it is not unprofitable to compare these customs with
similar practices, prevailing in countries where an adequate
motive can be assigned to the action. Both the messages
still
and the offerings delivered to the dead are well known among
savages. The natives of Guinea, for example, are in the habit
of sending messages to the dead by the dying, while the
This verse is a popular proverb, corresponding to our own

1 " Out of sight
out of mind," the French " Loin des yeux, loin du cceur " etc.
offering of fruit and other articles figures in the funerals of

innumerable nations. In many cases these offerings can be
proved to be the outcome of a widely-held belief according to
which objects considered by civilized man as inanimate are by
the savage and barbaric mind endowed with a soul which, on
the dissolution of the objects in question, either by fire or by
the decomposing influence of the earth, is set free and at the
disposal of the disembodied spirit. This belief is again con-
nected with the similar, and to the ordinary European more
intelligible, superstition which
responsible for the sanguinary
is
sacrifices of human beings and animals, prevailing in ancient

times among the Greeks, as is shown by Homer's description of
the burial of Patroklos 1among the Thracians, who slaughtered
;
the favourite wife of the deceased over his tomb 2 among the ;
Gauls, Scandinavians, and Slavs ;

and in more recent times
among the nations of America and Eastern Asia, especially
India, where it assumed the well-known form of
widow-burning;
a practice which is still carried on by the aborigines of Africa
3
and elsewhere
How closely the kindly ceremonies of the modern Mace-
donians are related to these ferocious funeral rites, and how
farthey owe their origin to a long-forgotten doctrine of object
phantoms, it is too late in the day to establish with certainty.
Yet one thing can safely be asserted, namely, that they are
based on beliefs never taught or countenanced by the Christian
Church.
When the coffin is borne out of the house, an earthenware
vessel, or a tile, is thrown and smashed after it. With this
practice be compared the custom of the Russian Chuwashes

may
who "fling a red-hot stone after the corpse is carried out, for
an obstacle to bar the soul from coming back," and of the
Brandenburg peasants who "pour out a pail of water at the
door after the coffin to prevent the ghost from walking." 4 A
still closer parallel is to be met with in parts of Russia, where
"after a man's body has left the house his widow takes a new
2
1
IL xxm. 170 foil. Hdt. v. 5.
3
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. pp. 458 foil.
4
Ib. vol. ii. pp. 26, 27.
Funeral Rites 199
pitcher and breaks it to pieces on the earth, and afterwards

strews oats over the ground traversed by the funeral proces-
sion." 1 In all these instances the object is to prevent the
departed spirit from returning to its earthly habitation, and

we should not be far wrong in ascribing a like motive to the
Macedonian mourners.
The funeral procession offers little food for speculation.
Yet it is not devoid of interest. The coffin is carried un-
covered, a custom said to be due to an old decree of the

Turkish Government, issued in order to prevent the clandestine
transmission of arms and ammunition in a closed coffin but ;
this explanation is rendered improbable by the fact that the

same custom prevails in Russia, where the decrees of the
Turkish Government would be of little avail. The custom
probably dates from Byzantine, if not from older, times.
The appearance of the corpse is the subject of reverent
comment on the part of the spectators. The beauty and
calmness of a dead youth or maid call forth the ill-suppressed
admiration of the crowd, and one often hears such remarks as
" "
What a lovely, or what a gentle relic
(ri wpalo, or TL rjjjiepo
!
\etyavo), whispered in awestruck tones. This gratification of

the aesthetic instinct of the Greek is, however, not unfrequently
checked by superstitious fear. It is popularly believed that if
a corpse wears a smile, it is a sign that it will " draw after it
"
another member of the family 2 (da rpaprfgrj icy aXkov).
At the head of the procession marches the bearer of the lid,
holding it
upright and followed by boys carrying bronze candle-
sticks (fjuavovaXia), with burning tapers, a cross, and six-winged
images of the cherubim (êcfrrepia = e% aTrrepwya). Then come
the priests and chanters with lit tapers in their hands, singing
the funeral service. The coffin is borne by means of bands
1
Ralston, Songs of the Russi/m People, p. 318.
2
Similarly in Suffolk "if a corpse does not stiffen after death, or if the
rigor mortis disappears before burial, it is a sign that there will be a death in the
family before the end of the year." The Book of Days, vol. n. p. 52. The same
superstitionis alluded to by Sir Thomas Browne in his Vulgar Errors, Bk. v.
ch. xxiii.In America also "if a corpse remains soft and supple after death,
another death in the family will follow." Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore
Society, vol. iv. p. 126.
passed underneath, by four or six men, according to its weight

and size. The chief mourners march close behind. In country
districts it is the custom for both sexes to attend, excepting
newly-married women and women who happen to have lost
their iirstborn. But in the towns the female mourners keep
decorously aloof. In these places the guilds of artisans (la-vd(f>ia)
are paid to swell the train. People along the road rise at the
approach of the cortege and stand bareheaded, until it has
gone by.
The taken to the church where the burial
coffin is first
service and a profoundly affecting service it is. The
is held ;
solemn chant and the twinkle of many candles amidst clouds

of frankincense involuntarily dispose the mind to reflections on
the hereafter a mood intensified by the sonorous hymn :
" "
Vanity are all human things that exist not after death
ra dv6pa) mva oaa
r
(MaratoT??? Trdvra ov% VTrdpêi /xera
Odva/rov).
Service over, the procession resumes its march to the
burial ground.
When the coffin is lowered into the grave, a pillow filled
with earth placed under the head, the shroud is drawn over
is
the face, wine is sprinkled upon it, and a handful of earth is

thrown in by the priest, after which the coffin is covered with
the lid. All the bystanders, relatives and friends, make a
point of casting in a handful of earth, uttering such wishes

" "
as May Heaven forgive him or her (#609 (r^wpecroi rov
" ''
or TTjv) ; May his or her memory (alwvia rov or
live for ever
" "
T?/9 TI fJivrf^T]) ; May the earth light upon thee
lie (yaiav !
6%oL<s e\a<f>pdv) a wish taken from the burial service and

1
recalling classical times.
1
Cp. Kov(f>a ffoi X.6&V eirdvwde TT&TOI, ytivai, Eur. Ale. 463 ; Sit tibi terra levis,
Mart. ix. 29. 11, etc.
The custom throwing a handful of earth into the grave exists among the
of
Bussians, and considered by them as a remnant of a still older custom,

is
according to which "everyone who was present at a funeral deemed it a religious

duty to assist in the erection of the mound." Ealston, Songs of the Russian
People, p. 330.
Allusions to the funeral service are contained in the following popular
imprecations :
Funeral Rites 201
After the grave in, the mourners spread over it

is closed
baskets bread or buns, also plates of parboiled
full of pieces of
wheat (/eoXXu/Sa), bottles of wine or arrack, and in the case of

young persons, sweetmeats. All comers are free to partake of
"
this sad repast, and express a wish that his or her soul may
repose in bliss."
All the details of the funeral described above are vividly
set forth in the following song, which is often sung as a
lament.
(From Eleutheroupolis.)
\epovid yu-ecr' '9 T* avOrj

Trjv wpa TTOV a dyaTrrjcra Sev r/rav /3\oyr)/jLvr).
'Appa)(7Trjo-a teal eicava aapdvra fJLid rjfjue

T' d/covo-ave K ol <f)i\oi, /JLOV /cal icXalve
T d/cova-e K 77 fjLava /JLOV /cal pTrfj/ce peer '9 ra fiavpa.
"E\a, Tpavra$>v\\evia IJLOV, teal Tridcre p air TO X^P L >
" "
Kal pa)ra rr) /juavovXa (JLOV, Kvpd JJL,
ri KCLV 6 71/^09 <rov ;
Kat tcelvij 6a '^77X0777^7? fte rr) rcapBid /cajjievrj'

"
Tta rof?, 7*a rof? TTOV /ceirerai, fcal Xe' TTW?
"EXa, rpavra(f)v\\6via /w-ou, KaTcre. '9 rrj /ce(f)a\r) JJLOV,
Kat TTid&e TO %epdfci, /JLOV oo~o vd

f/
Oi/ra9 6d ftyfj ^vîTda yLto
BaXe fjie TO ovvdpi /j,ov, TO Treio

f/
O^T<z9 6d ftyf) ûôOXa IJLOV, (TV vd ue
Na tfXe/o-779 TO, /lara/cta juov, ra \epia (JL
vd
f/
Oj/ra9 Qdpdf) (f>rj/jL6pi,os /JL OvîaTO '9 TO %e/ot,
Na AcXat9, vd Xe9, Tpavracf)v\\t,d /JL\ "TTOV Tras, <y\v/co /JLOV Talpi ;"
f/
Oz^ra9 6d fie ar)K(t)crovi>6 Teacrapa 7raX\rjtcdpi,a y
Na /cpovys TO icefyaXi o~ov />te 7rerpa^9 /JLC \i6dpia.
Nd rov Try 6 iraTras 's T avri,

K?) 6 5i6,KOS '? TT] KOpV(f)T].
"
May the priest mutter in his ear, and the deacon over his head " !
Nd <rou TTfl rbv a-rri\oyo, "May (the priest) utter over thee the epilogue,"
i.e. "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory!"
Nd rov idf, rb '65i, "May he submit to the carrying out service" (e65ios
'
dxciXovdla), hence the epithet govdidpiKos "one deserving death."

Od fie Trepdaovve CLTTO TO fiaâXd crov,
a /cpv(f)d OLTT TV] /jidva crov /cal rpd/3a rd fiaXXid aov.
Od /AC irrjyalvovve '<?
rf)<$ 6KK\r]crias rrj Tropra,
Na /3yd\rjs pid -fyt\r] (f>covrj,
vd ^LapaOovv rd %6pra.
r
'Ovra<; 6d fjL d/covfjL7rr)O'ovv6 \ rrjs etctchrjo-ids rrj
Ntt /3yd\rj(; /jitd tyiJ\r} (fxovrj, o KpdftffaTOS vd Trearj.
Od fte /juoipdcrovve rd ep pa /c6\v/3d /JLOV,
KOI (TV, dyaTrr) JJLOV, yid rrj Trapijyopid /JLOV.

'
Ovras 6d pe potpdaovve TraTraSe? rd rcepia (JLOV,
Tore?, Tpavra<f)v\\evia /aou, xcopiêis V TT; /capSid
well- trained lemon- tree, in blossoms arrayed,

The hour in whichI became enamoured of thee was not a propitious hour.
1 fell and suffered for forty and one days.

ill
My friends heard of it, and wept for me.

My mother also heard of it and put herself in black.
Come, my rosy One, take me by the hand
And ask of dear mother, " Lady, how fares thy son ? "
my
She will answer thee from a heart charred with grief:
" Behold
him, behold him, he is lying yonder, and says that he is dying."
Come, my rosy One, sit by my pillow,
And hold my hand until my soul has flown
forth.
When my poor soul has flown, thou bough of a rose-tree,
Gird me with my sash, my best Lahore sash ;
When my poor soul has flown, 'tis thou must wind me in the shroud,
Close my poor eyes and cross my hands upon my breast;
When the priest is come, censer in hand,
Weep thou, O my rose-tree, and say :
"Whither art thou going, O my sweet mate?"

When four lads have lifted me up,
Smite thy head with rocks and stones;
When they carry me past thy neighbourhood,
Come thou forth, without thy mother's ken, and tear thy tresses ;
When they have taken me to the church-door,

Give thou a shrill cry that the plants may wither.
When they have laid me down in the nave of the church,
Give thou a shrill cry that the coffin may collapse;
When they are distributing the wretched boiled-corn,

Eat thou also, my love, for my soul's sake.
When the priests are distributing the candles,
Then, my rosy One, thou wilt be severed from my heart.
Cp. Passow (Myrologia), Nos. 377, 377 a. Somewhat similar in tone and
1
structure is No. 122 in E. Legrand, Eecueil de Chansons Populaires Grecques.

Funeral Rites 203
The funeral-feast
When who have escorted the corpse to its

the mourners
resting-place return to the house, they are met at the door by

a servant holding a ewer and basin, in which they all wash their
hands by turns before crossing the threshold. Then, inside the
1
house, takes place the funeral banquet (pafcapib or /Aa/capta, )
to which they all sit down, offering their consolations to the
survivors, "Life to your worships" (wr) Ve \6yov 0-09), and

their wishes for the welfare of the departed, whose deeds and
virtues form the chief subject of conversation. Toasts and
libations aresometimes indulged in so heartily that the ban-
queters are apt to forget the mournful occasion of the feast.
" "
The dead with the dead, and the living with the living (O*
TreOafiev fie rsoi TreOa/jiev' K ol ôvvravol pe r?ol ôvvravoi)
"
the Macedonian equivalent for our Let the dead bury their
dead" was the pithy way in which I once heard a merry
mourner trying to defend his boisterous resignation to the
common lot.
The funeral feast of the modern Greeks may reasonably be

regarded as a lineal descendant of the classic TrepiSeijrvov, by
Homer called racô?, and the lustration preceding it as a survival
of the ablution, which in ancient times took place before the
"carrying out" of the corpse (eicfyopa). Even the excessive

indulgence in funereal pleasures can be shown to be a matter
of ancient tradition. Solon's regulations about funerals include
a the quantity of meat and drink admissible
strict limitation of
for the banquet, whence Grote justly infers that "both in

Greece and Rome, the feelings of duty and affection on the
part of surviving relatives prompted them to ruinous expense
in a funeral, as well as to unmeasured effusions both of grief
and conviviality."
2
1
From the ancient alfj.a,Kovpiai
'
made upon the grave to
offerings of blood
'
appease the manes, Find. 0. i. 146. The word has probably been modified by
'
false analogy to /j-axapia bliss.' Cp. /j.aKapiTT]s still commonly used in the
sense of 'one blessed,' i.e. dead, 'late,' just as in JSsch. Pers. 633 etc.
History of Greece, vol. n.
55
p. 506.
Similar survivals from olden times are to be found among
the Slavs. An old woman, with a vessel containing live coals,
meets the mourners on their return from the funeral, and they
pour water on the coals, taking one of them and flinging it
over their heads. In this instance the purification is
performed
with both fire and water. Water is likewise used by the
Lusetian Wends in their funeral rites. The repast on the
tornb and the subsequent banquet are also essential accom-
"
paniments of the Slav funeral, the participators in which eat
and drink to the memory of the dead," a relic of the ancient
1
Strava.
If we go further afield, we find the concluding features of
the Macedonian funeral in striking accordance with the practices
of some rude tribes of North-East India, who after the burial
"proceed the river and bathe, and having thus lustrated

to
themselves, they repair to the banquet and eat, drink, and make
merry as though they never were to die."
2
The Macedonian's
philosophy, be observed, is somewhat more advanced and
it will
in closer agreement with the doctrine expounded on a like

occasion by the inebriated demigod :
All mortals are bound to die,
Therefore, having learnt wisdom from me,

Make merry, drink, the passing day
3
Regard as thine, the rest as Chance's.
After the funeral.

The attentions to the dead do not end with the funeral
ceremonies. The sense of bereavement is kept alive by the
mourning, which varies in duration according to the district,
the average being one year. During that twelvemonth men
and women appear in old clothes, the former let their beards
grow, and the latter draw their head-kerchiefs round their faces
more closely than usual. The mother and the widow of the
deceased avoid going out of doors altogether.
Ealston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 319-20.

1
Hodgson, quoted by Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. n. p. 31.

3 Eur. Ale. 782 foil.
Funeral Rites N. .
205
On
the third day after the funeral, the friends call on the
mother of the deceased, and comfort her with mournful music.
The song given beneath is an example :
(From Kozani.}
"
KoA,?) pepa a avToi) \ T dvdOi OTTOV ela-ai"
"
Ti Ka\rj pepa e%a) ja), e'Sco '9 T' dvd6i Trov/juat ;
Trj Ka\rj fjuepa e^re cret9 TTOV jXeTrere TOV r/Xto,

Tlov y\7T6T6 TTJV "Avotî, TTCiTe '9 TO, TTavrjyvpia,
Kat 70) TO ep'fJLO K\6i<TT7)Ka /jieaa '9 TO fiavp" dvdOi.
'Hepi/caXa) ere, Mavpy

Fr), TrepiicaXia peyaXrj
AVTOV TO d
eaTGiKa, fca\a va rov KVTTa^rjt;.
veto TTOV
NapOfj 2a/9/3aro vd TOV \ovcr\, T^ Kvpiatcrj v a

Kat TO dpjd dpyovrcritca vd iraTe '9 TO
'Aez' elfjbai, fjudva vd TTOVCO, TraTepas vd
'Mei/a /J, Xeve M.avp7j Tij KOI 'paxviacrpev dvdOi,.'" 1
" Good day to thee who dwellest in this cave !

"
"What kind of a good day can be mine in my cave-home ?
The good day is yours who behold the light of the sun, 2
Who behold the Spring, who go to the fairs,
Whereas I, am imprisoned in a black cave.
the hapless one,
'
I offer
up Black Earth, a great prayer
to thee, :
The youth whom I have committed to thy care, tend him lovingly.
When Saturday comes, wash him on Sunday clothe him in holiday ;
attire ;
With the last six lines cp. a short piece (6 lines) from Zakynthos included
1
as a Myrologue (No. 9) in Bernhard Schmidt's Griechische Mdrchen, Sagen und

Volkslieder. It is an address to the marble slab (TrXd/ca) or tombstone, praying
to it to spare the youth and " wither him not." The slab answers :
efyicu fj.dva TOV, wyapis adep<f>i?i TOV,

va
"
eZ/tcu Trpwrofleid,, fj.i]v Tove fia.pa.vu;
"Am I his mother, am I his sister,

Am I his aunt, that I should wither him not?"
Also cp. Passow, No. 384, a Myrologue, "The Stranger's Tomb" ('0 rdôs TOV
&ov).
2
Cp. 8rjpbv ev ftbeiv Kal 6p$v 0<ios êXt'oio, Horn. Hymn. iv. 105.
To live and to see the light of the sun are to the
modern, as they were to the
ancient, Greek synonymous terms conversely, death and darkness are ideas
;
indissolubly associated in the Greek mind, despite the belief in a Paradise

" "
resplendent with light ;
v. infra, p. 210.
Late in the afternoon take him to the village-feast.'
4
1 am no mother that I should care for him, I am no father that I
should feel for him.
me "
The names by which men call are : Black Earth and gloomy cave !
'
This grim ballad in a few bold strokes presents to us a most

vivid picture of the modern Greek's conception of death a
conception which differs little from that of his far-off ancestors.
Another song, or rather the broken pieces of a song, which
I picked up at Nigrita, may be worth quoting for the sake of
the idea which it embodies :
evved dbepfyia /cal pid Ka\rj d

HoXi) rjrav âvpo^fidra.
"
"EySaXai/ (Bov\r) rd evved d$ep(f)ia vd ftyovv aTro TOV A.Bfj.
"
To TTOV Od Trare, dSepîa fjiov, Onpdo) icy <ya> Kovrd era.?."
"To TTOV 6d ?ra9, fjiwp d$ep(f)rf, TroXu elcTdi fjiavpofA/jbdra,

H/z.et9 6e vd Trepdo'ovfjie 'TT' TOV Xapoi/ra TT} TropTa,
<&d fi<yf) 6 Xapovras vd
There were nine brothers who had a beauteous sister,
A maiden with deep black eyes.
The nine brothers resolved to escape from Hades.
" Whithersoever dear brothers, thither will I follow you."
you go, my
" Thou canst not follow O
us, sister, maiden with the deep black eyes.
We shall pass through Death's gates,
"
Death will come out and accost us ____
Unfortunately my informant had only a confused and

imperfect recollection of the sequel. But the above few lines
are sufficient to show that the idea, as well as the name of
Hades, has undergone little modification in the course of ages.
Time has not prevailed against "the gates of Hell." They
are still the Shades, who still make attempts to
closed to
appears less as a ruler than as

1
escape. Charos, however,
a porter of the subterranean kingdom, and seems to keep
watch near its gates, ready to pounce upon the would-be
fugitive. In fact, we have here a confusion not unintelligible
between the roles of the ancient Pluto and the monster
1
A like idea is embodied in some songs published by Passow (Nos. 420425),
and translated by Sir Bennell Kodd, The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece,
p. 121, and Mr Tozer, Eesearches in the Highlands of Turkey, vol. n. p. 327.
Funeral Rites 207
Cerberus. Nor are these the only two functions attributed

toDeath by the popular imagination. He is also a messenger
and a soul-abductor, moving on the back of a fiery steed.
He is sometimes armed with a sword or with a deadly bow
and arrows, sometimes he makes his appearance as a black
bird of prey or as a black swallow, bearing the fatal summons.
No place is inaccessible to him, except the lofty peaks of
the mountains. Generally he is represented as a gaunt,
cruel and crafty old man clad in black, deaf to the prayers
of parents, and blind to the charm of beauty. His heart
is not to be softened by appeals for mercy, not even by those-
of his own mother. On one occasion she bids him :
Spare thou mothers who have young children, brothers who have sisters ;
Spare thou also newly-wedded pairs.
But he grimly replies:

Wherever I find three I carry off two, and where I find two I carry
off one,
Where I find one alone, him also do I carry off.
1
A
picture of Death, sombrely magnificent, is drawn in a
well-known ballad (
f
O
Xapo9 KCLI al tyvyai)?' The poet depicts
Charos on horse-back, driving troops of youthful souls before
him, dragging crowds of aged souls after him, while his saddle-
bow is loaded with the souls of little children. At his passage
the earth quakes beneath the hoofs of his steed, and the
mountains are darkened by his shadow. 3
Feasts of the Dead.
At fixed periods, such as the eighth ('9 rafc O%TO>) and the
fortieth day ('9 rat? aapavra) after burial, as well as on the anni-
versary rov %poi>o) of the death, a "feast of remembrance"
('9
(/jLvrj/jLoavvo) is celebrated. The grave is decorated with flowers,,

a mass is sung, and offerings are made in the church. These
1
teal rj /jidva rov, Passow, No. 408.
'0 *Kdpos
2
Passow, No. 409, translated by Sir Kennell Eodd, The Customs and Lore of
Modern Greece, p. 286.
'
3
For a brief study of the Modern Greek conception of Death see '
'H(j.epo\6yiov,' Maplvov II. BperoO, Paris, 1866, p. 217.

offerings consist of a tray of parboiled wheat (/co\\v/3a) mixed

with pounded walnuts, raisins and parsley, and covered over with
a coating of sugar, with the sign of the cross, and sometimes the
initials of the deceased, worked on it in raisins. The wheat is
interpreted as a symbol of the resurrection as the grain is
:
buried in the earth, rots, and rises again in the shape of a

blooming plant, so will the soul rise from its tomb. An occult
meaning is also attached to the sugar and the raisins the :
sweetness of the one representing the sweets of the heavenly

paradise, and the shrivelled appearance of the other suggesting
the state of the soul before it is admitted to the bliss of the
Christian Elysium.
In addition to these ceremonies, held in everlasting re-
membrance of individuals, there are certain days in the year
set apart for the celebration of feasts of the dead collectively.
" "
These are called Souls' Sabbaths ("^fvôo-d/S/Sara), and the
times in which they occur coincide roughly with the seasons
of spring and harvest, of the decline and death of the year.
Two of these Sabbaths are especially dedicated to " those
gone to rest" (rcov KeKOifju^êvutv). The first falls on the
eve of Meat Sunday, and the other on the eve of Whitsunday,
that is in
February and May respectively their exact date
depending, of course, on the date of Easter thus corre-
sponding with the Feralia and Lernuralia of the Romans,
which were held in those two months. The eve of Cheese
Sunday and the first Saturday of Lent are likewise devoted
to the same purpose, the latter being also a Feast "in com-
memoration of the miracle performed by means of parboiled
wheat" (MvijfjiT) rov Sid ico\\vft(0v Qav/jbaros). The Saturday
preceding the feast of St Demetrius (Oct. 26 0. S.) is another
"
of these Souls' Sabbaths."
Onthe above days sweetmeats, parboiled corn, small loaves
of pure wheat (Xeirovpyiai) stamped with a wooden stamp
(o-<f)pa>yiSi
or <j<j>pa<yicrTepo), which bears the sign of the cross
with the words "Jesus Christ prevaileth" abbreviated, and cakes
are laid on the graves that the people, especially the poor, may
" "
eat thereof and absolve the dead ones (via va d^wpea-ovv
ra Tredafieva). The relatives kneel and cry beside the tombs
Funeral Rites 209
and employ the priests prayers over them.

to 1
The
read
fragrance of flowers mingles with the fumes of frankincense.

The piercing wails of the women are blended with the whining
benedictions of beggars; and the cemetery is a vast scene
in which the living and the dead seem to meet in a holiday
of mourning. But from amidst the cries of uncontrolled
sorrow rises the voice of the praying priest, giving utterance
to "the hope that keeps despair alive."
Similar customs prevail in Russia, but they are cast after
Greek models, the very names in common use being either
translated or borrowed directly from the Greek (e.g. "chants
of remembrance
"
= pvrjpocrvva ; kolyvo
= /c6\\vfio, etc.). The
corresponding rite inWestern Europe is the celebration of
All Souls' Day. By comparing these feasts of the dead with
analogous ceremonies among races in a primitive state of
culture, ethnologists have arrived at the conclusion that they
rest upon the view that the souls of the deceased come
back to the world to visit their living relatives and receive
from them offerings of food and drink. 2 This seems to have
been the idea underlying the vetcvo-ia of the ancients, and
itcan still be dimly recognized in the formalities and ceremonies
of the Greek Church.
A practice connected with these celebrations brings into
relief meaning which the Macedonian peasants uncon-
the
sciously attach to the feasts of the dead. It shows how far
they believe in the actual presence of the spirits of the

departed at the banquets prepared for them. It is said that,
if on going to bed on a Souls' Sabbath you place under your

pillow a few grains of parboiled wheat taken from three
different those offered at church, you will dream
plates of
something true. This superstition tallies with that part of the

animistic doctrine according to which the ghosts of the dead
appear to their surviving friends in dreams, a theory shared

by many widely separated races. 3 How firmly the ancient
Cp. analogous practices in the islands of the Aegean, W. H. D. Kouse,

1
Folklore from the Southern Sporades in Folk-Lore, June 1899, pp. 180181.
< '
2
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. n. pp. 30 43.
3 Ib. vol. i. pp. 442 foil.
A. F. 14
Greeks and Romans held this superstition is shown by the
dreams recorded in classical literature from Homer onwards. 1
Exhumation,
Three years after burial the body is disinterred and, if
found thoroughly decomposed, the bones are carefully washed

with wine and placed in a linen bag, or a wooden box, labelled
with the name of the deceased and the date of death. The
receptacle of the remains is then deposited in a mortuary chapel
or charnel-house, emphatically called cemetery (/coifjLrjrijpiov)
that "sleeping place"; the name "burial-ground" (veicpo-
is
Tafyelov) being applied to the graveyard. This performance

" "
is designated the Lifting of the remains ('Am/co/uS?) rwv
Great importance is attributed to the appearance of the

dead at the opening of the tomb. Complete dissolution is a
certain proof that the soul of the deceased is at rest. The
colour and odour of the bones are also critically observed,
and a yellow redolent skeleton fills the relatives with the
assurance that their dear departed is enjoying everlasting bliss
"in the regions resplendent with and flowers," 2 as
light
described by the Church in language which sounds not unlike
an echo of the classic notions concerning
the Elysian lawns,

Where paced the Demigods of old.
Nor ismere popular belief. The Church officially

this a
"
recognizes it, and a petition that the body may be dissolved
"
into its component elements (SiaXvaov et? ra e'f &v avveredr])
forms an essential part of the burial service. It follows as
a logical corollary that the partial or total absence of decom-
position indicates the sinfulness and sad plight of the deceased.
In that case the body is buried again either in the same or
in a new grave, and special prayers are offered up for its
1
Horn. II. xxin. 59 foil.; Cic. De Divinat. i. 27, etc.
2
'Ev rbir(f (f>wTiv$, iv rbiri^ x^ oe PV ^s the expression in the Mass or Prayer for
the Dead
Funeral Rites 211
speedy decay. It is especially held that this disaster overtakes

those who committed died under a parent's
suicide, or who
curse, or under the ban of excommunication, or of a Bishop's
1
anathema. This last cause of a soul's misery is expressly

mentioned in the Mass for the Dead and is prayed against
"
in the words Unbind the curse, be it of priest or of arch-
priest" (Av&ov Kardpav, etVe lepecos etre apxiepecos).
How great is the dread of an ecclesiastic's wrath can
be realized from the following anecdote related to the writer
as a "true story" by a person who entertained no doubts
"
as to its authenticity. Many years ago there was an
Archbishop of Salonica who once in a moment of anger
"
cursed a man of his diocese :
May the earth refuse to receive
"
thee !
(77 77)9 va /JLTJ
ae Se^r?}). Years went by, and the
Archbishop embraced Islam. Owing to his erudition and
general ability, he was raised by the Mohammedans to the
office of head Mullah. Meanwhile, the individual who had
incurred the prelate's wrath died, and was buried in the
usual fashion. Now it came
when, at the
to pass that
expiration of three years, the tomb was opened, the inmate

was found intact, just as if he had been buried the day before.
Neither prayers nor offerings availed to bring about the desired
dissolution. He was inhumed once more; but three years
later he was still found in the same condition. It was then
recalled to mind by the widow that her late husband had
been anathematized by the apostate Archbishop. She forthwith
went to the. ex-prelate and implored him to revoke the sen-
tence. This dignitary promised to exert his influence, which
it
appears had not been diminished a whit by his apostasy;
for once a bishop always a bishop. Having obtained the
Pasha's permission, he
repaired to the open tomb, knelt
beside it, up hands and prayed for a few minutes.
lifted his
He had hardly risen to his feet when, wondrous to relate,
the flesh of the corpse crumbled away from the bones, and
the skeleton remained bare and clean as if it had never
known pollution."
1
On
the terrible power ascribed by the Slavs to a parent's curse see Kalston,
Russian Folk-Tales, p. 358.
142
In perfect agreement with the foregoing tradition is the
account of an experiment, made at
Constantinople in the 15th
century by order of Mohammed the Conqueror, and recorded in
a Byzantine chronicle recently published.
According to this
authority the first Sultan of Constantinople was distinguished
as much by his liberal curiosity as by his prowess in the battle-
field. He took an enlightened interest in the religion of the
people whom he had conquered and delighted in enquiries
concerning the mysteries of their faith. "Among other things,"
"
says the chronicler, he was informed about excommunication,
namely that those who have died in sin and cursed by an
Archbishop the earth dissolves not ;
but they remain inflated
like drums and black for a thousand years. At hearing this he
marvelled greatly and enquired whether the Archbishops who
have pronounced the excommunication can also revoke it. On
being told that they can, he forthwith sent a message to
the Patriarch bidding him find a person who had been long
dead under the ban. The Patriarch and the clergy under him
could not at first think of such an individual, and demanded a
period of several days in which to find one. At last they
recollected that a woman, a presbyter's wife, used once upon a
time to walk in front of the church of the All-Blessed. She
was a shameless wench and, owing to her personal charms, had
had many lovers. Once, on being rebuked by the Patriarch,
she falsely accused him of having had improper relations with
her. The rumour spread, and some credited it, while others
disbelieved it. The Patriarch, not knowing what to do, on a
certain great festival pronounced a heavy sentence of excom-
munication against the woman who slandered him. This was
the woman of whom they bethought themselves for she had
;
been long dead. On opening her grave they found her sound,
not even the hair of her head having fallen off. She was black
and swollen like a drum and altogether in a lamentable condition.
They reported the fact to the Sultan, and he sent men of his
own to inspect her. They were astonished at the sight and
related to their master how they had found her. He thereupon
sent other officials with his seal, who deposited the corpse in a
chapel and sealed it. The Patriarch appointed a day on which
Funeral Rites 213
he intended to sing a special mass, when she would be taken

out,and he also drew up a letter of forgiveness. The Sultan's
messengers came on the appointed day and took her out.
After divine service, the Patriarch standing with tears in his
eyes read aloud the letter of forgiveness, and all at once, oh
wonder while the Patriarch was reading the letter, the joints
!
of her hands and feet began to dissolve, and those who stood
close to the remains heard the noise. At the conclusion of the
mass, they lifted the corpse and deposited it again in the
chapel, which they sealed carefully. Three days later, when
they came and broke the seals, they found her completely
dissolved and in dust,and were astonished at the sight. They
returned to their master and informed him of all they saw, and
he on hearing their account marvelled greatly and believed
1
that the faith of the Christians is a true faith."
The narrated by Csaplovics as an

following occurrence,
eyewitness and quoted by Mr Ralston, brings out more vividly
the similarity between the Greek practice of exhumation and
some customs prevailing among the Slavs " A Slovene, whose :
mother had died, dug up the corpse of his father, collected his
bones, washed them with red wine, tied them up in a clean
white towel, placed the bundle on his mother's coffin, and then
buried the remains of his two parents together." The writer
goes on to remark that in Bulgaria also "it is said," "if no
relative dies within the space of three years, the family tomb is
opened, and any stranger who happens to expire is buried in

it a custom due to the lingering influence of the old idea,
that the grave required a victim." 2
The opening of the tomb, the collecting, washing, and tying
up of the bones witnessed among the Slovenes, and the period
of three years observed by the Bulgarians, taken together,
constitute a complete parallel to what happens in Macedonia,
1
Ecthesis Chronica, ed. by S. P. Lambros, Methuen and Co., 1902, pp. 36
38. The same
story is quoted by Sir Eennell Rodd from Augustine Calmet's
book on magic, and another similar tale is given on the authority of Sir Paul
Bicaut, British Ambassador at Constantinople during the latter part of the
17th century. See The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece, p. 193.
2
Songs of the Russian People, p. 332.
and among the Greeks generally, as a regular, time-honoured,
and officially recognized practice. Indeed, so general and
prominent is the custom that there is hardly any burying
" "
ground which does not boast a cemetery in which the bones
of past generations are preserved, neatly ranged on shelves,
like so many deed-boxes in a solicitor's office. Visitors to the
monasteries on Mount Athos, and other convents both in
Macedonia and elsewhere in the Near East, are familiar with
the crypts, the walls of which are covered with a multitude of
skulls duly labelled, while the centre is often taken up by a
miscellaneous heap of thigh-bones, ribs, and other minor con-
stituents of human anatomy. The washing of the bones with
wine and the depositing of them in a bag or box, to be kept for
ever, are probably survivals of the ancient practice of extin-
guishing the pyre with wine, collecting and washing the bones
after cremation and then preserving them in a cinerary urn
1
(tcakTTis). In connection with the significance attached to the
state of the body in the grave, it is well to refer to a similar
belief entertained by the Slavs: "The bodies of vampires, of
wizards,and of witches, as well as those of outcasts from the
Church, and of people cursed by their parents, are supposed not
' '
to decay in the grave, for moist mother-earth will not take
them to herself/' 2
Before concluding these remarks on the burial-customs, it
may be worth while to notice a practice which, though not
confined to the Macedonians, is popular among them. The
parings of the nails both of fingers and of toes are collected
and put into a hole, that, in the resurrection of the dead, they
may easily join the body again.
3
The Jews of Salonica also
preserve the parings of their nails and are careful not to mislay
them, for they must be buried with them. This custom is said
to be due to the belief that on the Day of Judgment the nails
will help the owner to dig his way out of the grave. The Russian
1
See the Homeric funeral in II. xxm. 236 foil. The bones of Patroklos are
there put in a golden urn or bowl (eV xpvefy <MM?) and folded up in fat (diirXaia
of the sacrificial victims.
2
Balston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 412.
3
A. A. Tovffiov, *'H Kara TO Hayyaiov Xw/>a,' p. 76.
Funeral Rites 215
peasants also place the parings of a dead person's nails along

with the body in the grave, in the belief that the soul has to
climb a steep hill-side in order to reach the heavenly Paradise
situated on the summit The Jewish habit, however,
of a hill.
1
may be explained as being due to the fear lest these cuttings

should fall into the hands of an enemy who might do a mischief
to the owner by means of magic a consideration which induces
2
the Parsis to have their cut hair and nails buried with them,
and other races to hide them in various ways. 3 But the first
explanation seems to be the more correct one, as the same custom
"
exists among the Turks who keep the parings of their nails in
the belief that they will be needed at the resurrection." 4
The Wild Boar Superstition.
In the district of Melenik I met with a superstition which

presents some of the features of the world-wide belief in the
power possessed by certain individuals to transform themselves
into wild beasts, such as lions, leopards, hyaenas, or wolves.
The "were-wolf" of English aod the "loup-garou" of French folk-
"
lore find in the Macedonian wild-boar" (dypioyovpovvo) a not
unworthy cousin. The belief, though not quite so general at
present as it used to be, cannot be considered extinct yet.
According to it, Turks, who have led a particularly wicked life,
when at the point of death, turn into wild boars, and the ring
worn by the man on his finger is retained on one of the boar's
forefeet. The metamorphosis takes place as follows the sinner :
first begins to grunt like a pig

(dpxivdei va povy/cplfy), he then
falls on all fours
(rerpaTroBiêt), and finally rushes out of the
house grunting wildly and leaping over hedges, ditches, and
rivers until he has reached the open country. At night he
visits the houses of his friends, and more especially those of his
1
2
3 G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. pp. 382 foil.
J.
4
The People of Turkey, by a Consul's daughter and wife, quoted in
J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. p. 385. Mr Frazer discusses the whole
subject of hair and nail superstitions at great length. Ib. pp. 368 foil.
foes, and knocks at their doorsadmittance. He chases with

for
evil intent all those whom

he meets in the way, and generally
makes himself disagreeable. This he continues doing for forty
days,and at the end of that period he betakes himself to the
mountains, where he abides as a wild beast.
The ring noticed above reminds one forcibly of the ear-ring
worn by the tribe of Budas in Abyssinia, a tribe much addicted
to turning into hyaenas. It is said that this ornament has
been seen "in the ears of hyaenas shot in traps," and it has
been suggested that it is put there by the Budas in order " to
1
encourage a profitable superstition." It is not unlikely that in
the case of the Macedonia boar also the ring might be traced to
a similar origin.
This superstition is closely related to a Slav belief, quoted
as an instance of metempsychosis. The Bulgarians hold that
Turks who have never eaten pork in life will become wild boars
after death. It is related that a party assembled to feast on a
"
boar was compelled to throw it all
away, for the meat jumped
off the spit into the fire, and a piece of cotton was found in the
ears, which the wise man decided to be a piece of the ci-devant

Turk's turban." 2
The Bulgarian superstition is practically the same as that
of the Melenikiote peasantry, but the latter presents the curious
point that the transformation of the Turk into a boar is supposed

to occur before death and to be gradual. This peculiarity seems
to identify it rather with a process of metamorphosis than of
metempsychosis, especially as the doctrine of transmigration is

so rarely found in Christian countries. This belief concerning
the future state of the Turks is one of several superstitions held
by other races both geographically and ethnologically allied to
the Macedonians. The Albanians in some strange
believe
beings which they call liougat or liouvgat, defined by Hahn as

"
Dead Turks, with huge nails, who wrapped up in their winding
sheets devour whatever they find and throttle men." 3
1
p. 311.
2
Ib. vol. n. pp. 15 foil.
8
Stud. Alb. i. p. 16.
Funeral Rites 217
Akin both to the above superstition and to those that

follow the Wallachian belief in a being called priccolitsch
is
and described as " a man who wanders by night in the shape of

a dog over the fields and commons and even
and as he villages,
passes kills by touching horses, cows, sheep, pigs, goats and

other animals, and derives from them a vitality which makes
him look always healthy."
1
Vampire.
A
short step from the strange beliefs recorded in the last
chapter brings us to the equally strange, though better known,

superstition concerning the vampire. The name given to this
hideous monster in Macedonia is, generally speaking, the same
as that by which it is known in some parts of Greece proper ;
but its form isslightly modified in various districts. Thus at

Melenik (North-East) it is called Vrykolakas (o /3pvic6\aKa<;
or TO /3ovpico\dKi\ or Vampyras (o ffdpTrvpas) ;
whereas at
Kataphygi (South- West) it appears as Vroukolakas, or Vompiras,
the latter form being also used as a term of abuse. The name
has been variously derived by philologists, some holding that it
comes from the ancient Greek poppoXv/ceiov, a hobgoblin. This
is the view of some modern Greek scholars, followed by Hahn.
2
Others, like Bernhard Schmidt, more plausibly assign to it a
Slavonic origin. 3
The Macedonian Vrykolakas is conceived of as an animated
corpse throttling people and sucking the blood of men and
beasts, or damaging household utensils, ploughs, etc. He is
described as being in personal appearance like a bull-skin full
of blood, with a pair of eyes on one side, gleaming like live
1
Schott, Walachische Mdrchen, p. 298. On this and the following
superstitions see also Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of Turkey, vol. n.
pp. 80 foil.
2
Das Volksleben der Neugriechen, p. 159.
3
The following are some of the Slavonic forms of the name : ulkodlak
(Bohemian), vukodlak (Servian), vrkolak (Bulgarian). The Albanians call it
vurvulak, and the Turks vurkolak. The form /Sd/xTrtpas or /3d/A7rt/ras also may be
compared with the Kussian vampir or upuir (anc. upir), and the Polish upior.
coals in the dark. 1 The Macedonian, and the modern Greek
Vrykolakas generally, agrees in his attributes with the Slavonic
creature of the same name, and with the ghouls of the Arabian
Nights. Like them it is imagined as being a corpse imbued
with a kind of half-life, and actuated by murderous impulses
and by an unquenchable thirst for blood. This conception does
not differ materially from the kindred beliefs of the Scandinavians
and Icelanders, yet on the whole it is nearer to the Slavonic
than to any other version of the vampire superstition. But we
need not, therefore, conclude that the modern Greeks have
borrowed much more than the name from their Slav neighbours.
The superstition is closely related to the lycanthropy and to the
belief in spectres of the ancient Greeks, and the fact that in the
2
Greek islands known by other and purely Hellenic names
it is
goes far to prove that the idea has originated among the Greeks
independently, though those of the mainland who have come
into contact with the Slavs may, in adopting the Slav name,
have also modified their own views and customs respecting the
vampire in harmony with those of their neighbours.
The accordance between the Greek and the Slavonic con-
ceptions of the vampire is nowhere more apparent than in
Macedonia, a province which for many centuries past has been
the meeting point of Slav and Hellene. It is believed that a
dead person turns into a vampire ((3pvKo\a,Ki,dZei), 3 first, if at
the unearthing of the body the latter is found undecayed and
turned face downwards. In such an emergency the relatives of
the deceased have recourse to a ceremony which fills the
beholder with sickening horror. I was creditably informed of
a case of this description occurring not long ago at Alistrati,
one of the principal villages between Serres and Drama.
Someone was suspected of having turned into a vampire. The
corpse was taken out of the grave, was scalded with boiling oil,
1
It will be seen from this that Mr Tylor's description of the Vrykolakas as
"a man who falls into a cataleptic state, while his soul enters a wolf and goes
"
ravening for blood (Prim. Cult. vol. i. p. 313) is scarcely accurate.
2
KaraxavS.*, in Crete and Rhodes ; dva.iKadovfj.evos, in Tenos ; (TapKUfdvos, in
Cyprus.
3
ppvKo\aKia<T ! is said in jest of one who cannot sleep of nights.
Funeral Rites 219
and was pierced through the navel with a long nail. Then the
tomb was covered in, and millet was scattered over it, that, if
the vampire came out again, he might waste his time in
picking up the grains of millet and be thus overtaken by dawn.

For the usual period of their wanderings is from about two
hours before midnight till the first crowing of the morning
cock. At the sound of which "fearful summons" the Vrykolakas,
like the Gaelic sithche, or fairy, vanishes into his subterranean
abode. 1
Another cause leading to the transformation of a human
being into a Vrykolakas is the leaping of a cat over the corpse
while lying in state. To guard against such an accident the
body is watched all night by relatives and friends, who consider
" "
it a deed good for their own souls (\lrv%ifc6) to wake by the
dead. despite their watchfulness, a cat does jump across
If,
"
the body, the latter is immediately pierced with two big sack-
needles" (o-a,KKoppd<f)cu<;) in order to prevent the dread calamity.
The visits of a vampire are further guarded against by scattering
mustard seed 2 over the tiles of the roof, or by barricading the

door with brambles and thorn-bushes.
The superstition regarding the leaping of the cat is shared
1
Tournefort, the eighteenth century French traveller, narrates a similar
occurrence which he witnessed in the island of Myconos. The body in that
case was not simply scalded, but actually burnt to ashes. Voyage to the Levant,
Eng. Tr. i. pp. 103 foil., in Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of Turkey,
vol. n. pp. 92 foil. See also Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 492 ;
vol. rv. p. 216.
2
The mustard, like the millet mentioned already, is intended to make the
Vrykolakas waste his time in counting. The same fatal weakness for arithmetic
seems to beset the Kalikantzari of Southern Greece. If a sieve is handed to one,
he work to count the holes, as though his life depended on it. As
will set to
his mathematics do not go beyond the figure two, he is overtaken by morning.
The Italians use a similar antidote on the Eve of St John's Day, when they
carry about an onion-flower or a red carnation. This flower is meant for the
witches, who are believed to be abroad on that evening. When it is given
to them, they begin to count the petals, and long before they have accomplished
this feat you are out of their reach. See Sir Eennell Bodd, The Customs and Lore
of Modern Greece, p. 201. In America also a sieve placed under the door-step,
or hung over the door, keeps the witches out of the house, for they cannot enter
until they have counted, or even crawled through, every hole : Memoirs of the
American Folk-Lore Society, vol. vn. p. 16.
by both Servians and Bulgarians, for which reason a corpse is

always carefully watched while it is in the cottage before the
funeral. But the Slavonic races go even further than the
Greeks " In some places the jumping of a boy over the corpse
:
is considered as fatal as that of a cat. The flight of a bird

above the body may also be attended by the same terrible
result and so may
;
in the Ukraine the mere breath of the
wind from the Steppe." J This belief survives in the northern
counties of England, although its explanation has been long
forgotten. If a cat or dog pass over a corpse, the animal must

2
be killed at once.
The piercing of the corpse is also a practice well-known to
the Slavs. In Russia they drive a stake through it, and in
Servia, after having pierced it with a white-thorn stake, they
commit it to the flames.
3
Likewise in Iceland, we are told, in
order to prevent a dead person from "going again" needles or
pointed spikes should be driven into the soles of his feet. The
same end would be attained by driving nails into the tomb
during high-mass, between the reading of the Epistle and
the Gospel. With the scattering of millet or mustard-seed
4
in order to obstruct the vampire's progress may be compared

"
the funeral practice of the Pomeranians, who on returning
from the churchyard leave behind the straw from the hearse,
that the wandering soul may rest there, and not come back
5
so far as home." Also the Russian custom of the widow, who,
after the body is carried out, "strews oats over the ground
6
traversed by the funeral procession."
With the blood-sucking Vrykolakas is somewhat distantly
connected the murony of the Wallachs, which has also the
1
2
Henderson, Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties of England, p. 43, in
Ralston, Russian Folk-Tales, p. 323, n. 2 Tozer, Researches in the Highlands
;
of Turkey, vol. n. p. 84, n. 10.

3
Ealston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 413. It is with a like intent that
the negroes of America sometimes drive a stake through a grave, as soon as one
is buried. Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. vn. p. 15.
4
Islenzkar tyoftsogur, i. 224, 3 7.
5
6
Ib. p. 318.
Funeral Rites 221
power of assuming many shapes, such as that of a cat, frog,
flea, or spider.
In addition to the ordinary Vrykolakas who delights in
human blood, the Macedonians believe in the existence of a
Vrykolakas of sheep and cattle. He is represented as riding
on their shoulders, sucking their blood, and killing them.
Quacks, especially Mohammedan dervishes, profess to have the
power of exterminating these whence they
inferior vampires,
"
are known as vampire-killers," and go about ostentatiously
parading an iron rod ending in a sharp point (shish), or a long
stick armed with a small axe on the top.
People born on a Saturday (hence called 2a{3/3anavol or

Sabbatarians) are believed to enjoy the doubtful privilege of
seeing ghosts and phantasms, and of possessing great influence
over vampires. A
native of Sochos assured the writer that such
a one was known to have lured a Vrykolakas into a barn and
him to count the grains of a heap of millet. While
to have set
the demon was thus engaged, the Sabbatarian attacked him
and succeeded in nailing him to the wall. The story presents
several points of interest. First, the nailing of an evil being to
a wall is a notion familiar to the Macedonian mind. It may
even be found embodied in folk-songs. Some children's rhymes,
which I heard from a girl of the same village, began with the
words :
'2 rbv rol%o fcap<f)Q)fjt,evo.
thou Ghost buried

And to the wall nailed !
is closely connected with the ancient Roman

This notion
practice of warding off evil by driving a nail into a wall, and
the kindred superstitions still prevalent among the peasants of
European countries. The Macedonian belief may be regarded

1
as more primitive than any of these parallels for it is based ;
on the idea that personal and, so to speak, substantial spirits

can thus be transfixed not only abstract calamities. Another
;
interesting point offered by the above tale is the belief in the
1
For illustrations see J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. in. pp. 33 foil.
exceptional endowment of people born at a certain time. With

this superstition may be compared the one mentioned by
Mr Andrew Lang as prevailing in Scotland, namely, "that
children born between midnight and one o'clock will be
1
second-sighted." Furthermore, as Saturday the birthday of
the Macedonian Sabbatarians is the seventh
day of the week,
these favoured mortals may claim kinship with the seventh
sons, who among
ourselves are credited with the faculty of
by the touch, and the like.

2
curing diseases In this connection
it may also be noted that a firstborn child is in Macedonia
supposed to possess supernatural powers over a hail-storm. If

such a child swallows a few grains of hail, the storm will im-
mediately cease.
At Liakkovikia it is held that the Sabbatarian owes his
power to a littledog, which follows him every evening and
drives away the Vrykolakas. It is further said that the Sabba-
tarian on those occasions is invisible to all
dog. but the little
3
Perhaps it would not be a mistake to explain the little dog as

" "
representing the Fetch or natal spirit of the Sabbatarian, a
spirit which to this day is fond of assuming a canine form in
Iceland. 4
1
Cock Lane and Common Sense, p. 238 ; cp. the American superstition that
"a person born on Halloween is said to be possessed of evil spirits" (Memoirs
of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. p. 149), and that "those born with a
caul over the face can see ghosts," 16. vol. vn. p. 22.
2
For several curious instances of
this belief in England see The Book of
Days, pp. 166 foil.

vol. i.
3
A. A. Tovfflov, ''H Kara TO Hayyaiov Xw/m,' p. 75.
4
The northern term " Fylgja " has two meanings after-birth and fetch, :
which was believed to inhabit the after-birth. It generally assumed the shape
of some animal birds, flying dragons,
:
bears, horses, oxen, he-goats, wolves,
foxes; but in modern times in Iceland its favourite guise is that of a dog.
This spirit followed through life every man of woman born. See Islenzkar
\>jo$sogur, i. 354 357 ;
Finn Magnusson, Eddalaeren, iv. 35 foil. For this
note I am indebted to the kindness of my friend Mr Eirikr Magnusson, of
Trinity College, Cambridge.
CHAPTER XIII.
SPIRITS AND SPELLS.
DISEASES of men and beasts are often regarded as evil

be expelled by means of incantations, prayers, and
spirits to
other rites analogous to those practised against the Evil Eye. 1
In this belief the Macedonian peasants are not singular. It is
a belief chiefly prevailing among races in the lowest stage of
culture and thought, but surviving in many forms among
peoples which have long out-grown that early state. The
Russian peasant, for instance, maintains the same attitude
as the Macedonian and endeavours to drive away disease " by
purification with fire and water, and so the popular practice of

physic founded on a theory of fumigations, washings, and
is
2
sprinklings attended by exorcisms of various kinds."
At Nigrita, in Southern Macedonia, I had an opportunity
of witnessing a ceremony of this description a Benediction of
Beasts. The cattle of the district had been attacked by a
disease which was, as a matter of course, set down to the agency
of the Evil One. The people, therefore, resolved to have it
exorcised. On a Saturday evening the town-crier ({,a\a\r)Tijs,
Turk, dellal) proclaimed that the cattle affected should be
driven next morning to the enclosure of the church. On the
morrow many head of cattle of all ages and complexions, and of
both sexes, congregated in the churchyard, awaiting the special
ceremony, which was to be performed for their benefit. When
the ordinary Sunday service was over, the priest came out and,
with the hand of St Dionysios, the patron saint of the village,
1
v. supra, p. 143.
2
Kalston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 379 foil.
before him, read the customary prayer, recommending each
particular ox, cow, and calf by name to the mercy of Heaven.
At the mention of the bovine names such as Black, Red,
Dapple, Moraite, etc., the officiator was so strongly moved by
the humour of the situation that he could hardly refrain from
bursting into laughter an emotion in which some of the
farmers themselves were not disinclined to join. But, though
farfrom blind to the ludicrous side of the affair, they were too
much in earnest about their cattle to interrupt the rite. 1
Another method of delivering suffering cattle from an evil
spirit is the following. A dervish, or Mohammedan mendicant

friar, is called, and he draws a circle round the afflicted herd,
uttering the while some mystic words, or pure gibberish, in an

undertone. He then proceeds to cast amid the close-gathered
cattle a charm consisting of a verse of the Koran sewed up in
leather (nuska). The animal hit by the nuska is the one
harbouring the evil spirit. The nuska is, therefore, hung round
its In the case of sheep, they are likewise circumscribed
neck.
with a magic circle, but the nuska, instead of being thrown
at random, is forthwith suspended from the neck of the leader
of the flock.
In the same district I came
across several instances of people
who attributed their physical ailments to the malignity of the
" "
Spirits of the Air ('Ayepuca).
2
An old woman was complain-
ing to me of a chronic low fever. I naturally asked her whether
"
she had consulted a physician. What can physicians do ? "
she answered, peevishly, "it is an Ayeriko, and physic avails
it."
nothing against
The marshes and fens which stretch unchecked over the
valley of the Struma, where the village
is situated, are the
prolific nurseries
of malaria and other disorders alike fatal to
Cp. similar religious services performed on St Anthony's Day in Koman

1
Catholic countries. The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 126.

" from the air"
2 The Turks also
regard diseases as coming (hawadan) and
to be cured with a nuska containing a verse of the Koran. This prescription is
eitherworn round the neck as a phylactery, or is burned and the patient is

fumigated with the smoke thereof, or, still better, it is washed in a bowl of water
which is afterwards drunk by the patient. See ''H KujxTravrivovTroXis' by
Searlatos D. Byzantios, vol. i. p. 94.
Spirits and Spells 225
bipeds and to quadrupeds. But the people are firmly convinced

that these things have nothing to do with the disease, which
can have none but a supernatural origin a belief corresponding
to the superstition known throughout Northern Europe as elle-
skiod, elle-vild, and in some parts

England as elf-shot.
of
Women belated on the road are sometimes seized with
sudden terror, which results in temporary loss of speech, moping
madness, or malignant ague. These ailments, too, are promptly
set down to the invisible agency of an Ayeriko.
1
Recourse is
immediately had to some renowned dervish or khodja (Moham-
medan religious minister) of the neighbourhood, who pretends
to trace the evil to its source, and to discover the exact spot
where the attack occurred. That part of the road is sprinkled
with petmez, or boiled grape-juice, on three consecutive nights,
"
that the " Spirit's temper may be sweetened (yia va
It should be observed that the Mohammedan ministers and

monks enjoy a far higher reputation as wielders of magical
powers than their Christian confreres. Likewise the most
famous fortune-tellers of either sex belong to the Moham-
medan persuasion. This is partly due to the fact that the
Mohammedans, being as a rule far more ignorant than their
Christian neighbours, are more strongly addicted to superstitious
beliefand practice; but it may also arise from the universal
tendency to credit an intellectually inferior race with greater
2
proficiency in the black arts.
The dervishes, however, have formidable competitors in old
Gipsy women, and other hags, suspected of intimate relations
with the powers of darkness, and propitiated with presents
accordingly. To these sorceresses âtarpai^) the peasants
1
Cp. the ancient Greek belief that a trance or spiritual ecstasy was due to
"
the Nymphs, a belief vividly illustrated by the words of Socrates :
Verily the
place seems to be god-haunted. Therefore, if in the course of our discourse
I often chance to become entranced (vv/j.<t>o\r)TTTos, lit. caught by
nymphs), wonder
thou not." Plat. Phaedr. 238 D. The Latin epithet lymphaticus, frantic, panic-
struck, crazy, also embodies the same idea and accurately describes the symptoms
attributed to the agency of the Ayeriko by the Macedonians.
2
For illustrations of this principle see Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i.
pp. 113 foil.
A. P. 15
often have recourse for the recovery of lost and for the cure
of ailing cattle, as well as for the interpretation of dreams. 1
Also people who believe themselves to be under the influence
of an enemy's witchery (fâyeia) go to these sibyls for a counter-
charm in order to break the first. Their concoctions (madjoon)
are likewise supposed to remove barrenness, to restore youth
and beauty, and to work many other wonderful effects. Their
methods can best be illustrated by a personal experience.
An old Gipsy woman at a fair at Petritz, after having told
the writer his fortune, by looking upon a shell, assured him
that he was the victim of an enemy's curse, and that she had
"
the means of defeating its operation. It appears that when I
was leaving my country, a woman and her daughter had cast
dust after me and pronounced a spell." The " casting of dust "
as an accompaniment of an anathema, by the way, is a well-
known practice of Hindoo witches. The Prophetess then
taking me aside offered to supply me, for a consideration,
with a liquid which I ought to make my enemies drink or
to pour outside their door.
These hags provide young people with various philtres which
sometimes are less innocent than pure water. But lovers need
not always resort to a professional magician. There are a few
recipes familiar to most of those who have ever suffered from
an unrequited passion. One of the most popular philtres is to
1
There is little originality in the dreams of the modern Greeks or in their
interpretation. Some of them are interpreted symbolically, e.g. to dream of an
ugly old hag forebodes illness ;

a serpent indicates an enemy ; raw (indigestible)
meat signifies trouble. Very often dreams among the Greeks, and in these
remarks I include the Greeks of Macedonia, are interpreted just as among the
Zulus, the Maoris and others, on the principle of contraries, e.g. if you dream
that you are the possessor of a hoard of gold pieces, you are destined to die
a pauper. Lice, which so often go with extreme poverty, on the other hand,
are regarded as omens of wealth. The ancient rule that he who dreams he
' '
hath lost a tooth shall lose a friend" still holds its place in modern Greek
oneiromancy as does in the chap-books of modern Europe. See Tylor,
it
Primitive Culture, vol. i. pp. 122 foil. The dreams concerning treasure-trove
are governed by the same law of secrecy as in Southern Greece. A breach
of this rule involves the transformation of the treasure into coals. Cp.
W. H. D. Eouse, 'Folk-lore from the Southern Sporades,' in Folk-Lore,
June 1899, p. 182. The dream of Saturday night must come true before
Sunday noon.
be obtained by the following simple but efficacious method :
Take three live fishes and place them in a row upon a gridiron
over the fire. While the fishes are broiling, hit them in turns
with two small sticks, repeating this incantation :
"As these fishes are panting, even so may the maiden whom
f/
I love pant with longing" ( O7ra><? \a%Tapovv avrd rd tydpia
Tcn vd Xa^rap^jay K fj veid TT dryaTrco).
When they are thoroughly charred, pound them in a mortar

and reduce them to fine powder, out of which concoct a potion
and then endeavour to make the maid drink of it.
Folk-Medicine.
Besides the official operations, which are performed by the

recognized ministers of the Crescent and of the Cross, the
peasantry have recourse to a good many expedients on their own
account. An amateur method of curing mild complaints, such
as swollen glands and the like, is to write an exorcism any
passage from the Bible will do upon the patient's cheek or
neck.
At Cavalla I was shown an old manuscript of the New
Testament. It seemed to have been used a great deal. To
my comment to that effect, my hostess eagerly replied :
"
Oh yes, we have been lending it out a lot."
"
It is a pity so many pages have been torn out," I remarked.
"That couldn't be helped. You can't use the leaves, 'unless
you tear them out," was her naive answer, and it enlightened
me on the meaning of the word "use." The leaves of the
manuscript were used as the leaves of the lemon-tree are used
for medicinal purposes, that is, by soaking them in water, and
then washing the ailing part with the juice thereof, or drinking
the latter
Like him that took the doctor's bill,
And swallowed it instead o' th' pill. 1
The charm of the red and white thread used in Spring has
already been mentioned. It should be added here that the

1
Hudibras, Part I, Canto I.
152
same amulet is considered highly efficacious against agues,
fevers, The practice is also very common
and sun-strokes.
among the Russians who sometimes use merely a knotted
thread, sometimes a skein of red wool wound about the arms and
legs, or nine skeins fastened round a child's neck, as a preserva-
tive against scarlatina. 1 The efficacy of these tied or knotted
amulets depends to a great extent upon the magical force
of their knots. 2 This is illustrated by the very important part
played by the 'binding' and 'loosing' processes in popular magic,
and by the prominence given to these knots in the marriage
ceremonies of the Macedonian peasantry described elsewhere.
Another point relating to this amulet and deserving attention
is the fact that in Macedonia it is especially used during the
month of March, that is in early spring. This circumstance

connects with the other springtide observances dealt with in
it
a previous chapter, and particularly with the children's Feast of

the Rousa, the object of which it is to ward off scarlatina. 3
A practice not confined to young people is resorted to by all
those who suffer red pimples, which
from the irritating little
burst forth upon the skin in the dog-days of a southern summer.

These pimples are known as hararet at Melenik elsewhere as ;
SpoTcri&La. Relief from them

sought in a very queer fashion
is :
the sufferer, male or female, repairs before sunrise to a lonely

spot, where there is a quince-tree, and, standing naked beneath
itsboughs, pronounces three times the following formula :
"I want a man and want him at once!" ("Avrpa 6e\w, rcopa
TOV fle'Xco) a phrase which has passed into proverb, applied to
people who will brook no delay.
Then they pick up their clothes and walk off forty paces,
without looking back. Having reached that point, they stop

and dress. This must be done three days in succession. 4
1
2
On the subject of ' Knots as amulets see J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough,
'
vol. i. pp. 398 foil.

3
v. supra, pp. 40 42.
4
The formula employed seems to suggest that the ceremony was at one time
confined to women alone. In that case the custom can be connected with
numerous similar customs prevalent in various countries and explained as owing
their origin to "the belief of the fertilising power of the tree spirit." For
The mystic "forty paces" reappear in a recipe against no

less an
than lightning. It is believed that if one struck by
ill
lightning is immediately removed from the spot, where the

accident befell him, to the prescribed distance, he will recover.
At Cavalla I came across a cure of rheumatism by the
sand-bath. There is a spot a little way from the beach, to
the east of the town, remarkable for its light colour. It is
a patch of fine yellowish sand which looks very much as though
it once was the bed of a salt pond, whose waters have been
evaporated by the sun. A
local legend, however, ascribes to it
a miraculous origin.
In olden times, it is said, there was a shepherd who had a
flock of beautiful white sheep. He once made a vow to sacrifice

1
one of his sheep, but he failed to fulfil it. The gods in their
wrath waited for an opportunity of punishing him, and this
soon offered itself. One fine afternoon, as the shepherd stood
on that spot, tending his beautiful white sheep, a monstrous
wave rose out of the sea and swallowed up both shepherd and
flock. The spot has ever since remained white, and the flock
were transformed into fleecy white wavelets, hence called "sheep"
The spot is now known as the "White Sand" (called

f/
by the Greeks, Bias koom by the Turks) and is supposed

A/-t/io?
to possess healing virtues. People suffering from rheumatism
and paralysis are cured if on three successive days they go there
and bury themselves up to the waist in the sand. In fact
" "
White Sand of Cavalla is quite a fashionable health resort,
especially among the Turks of the town and environs. 3
illustrations see J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. p. 195. On the other
hand, viewed as a cure, it may be compared with the widely-spread practice of
transferring ills to trees discussed by Mr Frazer, vol. in. pp. 26 foil. The
injunction against looking back finds many parallels among the cases cited by
Mr Frazer.
1 The faithless shepherd appears in a Spanish story. The promise of a lamb
is there made to March, who revenges himself afterwards by borrowing three
days from April, see E. Inwards, Weather Lore, p. 27.
2
Our " white horses."
Cp. Mr Tozer's account of the same method as practised on
3
Mount Athos,
Researches in the Highlands of Turkey, vol. i. p. 75.
The cure recommended by the folk-physician for the bite of a
mad dog is to
apply to the wound a tuft of hair cut off from the
dog that bit you. This is a relic of the ancient and once world- wide
homoeopathic doctrine, according to which the cause that produced
the harm can also effect its cure (similia similibus curantur).
It is mentioned in the Scandinavian Edda " Dog's hair heals
dog's bite," and it also survives in the English expression "a hair
of the dog that bit you," although its original meaning is no
longer remembered.
1
A bleeding of the nose is stopped by a
2
large key placed on the nape of the sufferer's neck. In Russia
the sufferer grasps a key in each hand, or the blood is allowed
to drop through the aperture of a locked padlock a practice
connected by mythologists with the worship of Perun the
Thunder-God. 3 The key cure is not unknown in this country
4
also.
A small
wart, which sometimes appears on the lower eyelid
'
and which, from its shape, is known as a little grain of barley
*
(/cpiOapdtci, or KpiOapiTcra), is cured if someone bearing a rare

name barks at it like a dog. 6
Nothing shows more clearly how strong and general is the
conviction that physical ailments are due to non-physical causes
than the fact that in systematic treatises on folk-medicine
among the prescribed remedies are frequently included prayers
and spells. The following are examples, literally translated
from a tattered old MS. which I obtained in Macedonia.
Useful Medical Treatise*
The above
is the modest title of the MS. which is dateless,
nameless, and endless. So far as the writing is a criterion of

age, the document seems to be the work of an eighteenth
1
2
The same cure is used in America, see Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore
Society, vol. iv. p. 99.
3
4
For "superstitions about diseases" and folk medicine generally in England,
see The Book of Days, vol. i. p. 732.
5
A. A. rWoiv''H Kara rb Udyyaiov Xt6/ra,' p. 76.
6 For the original Greek see Appendix III.
century scribe, whose identity, however, in the absence of direct

evidence, must remain a problem unsolved and insoluble. But
judging by certain points of similarity between the hand of the
present and that of another MS. of a similar nature, bound in
the same volume, I am inclined to attribute it to the author of
the latter, who reveals his name
an apologetic note appended, in
by way of postface, at the end of his work: "Hand of

Constantine Rizioti, by trade a physician. If aught be wrong
in the book, set it right, and grant your forgiveness to me, as to
one who is
ignorant of the science of his own trade. Besides,
I was a beginner when I wrote it." x
The MS. begins with a recipe for sleeplessness. Says the
author :
1. "He who wishes to watch and not feel sleepy there is a bird :
named sparrow of this bird the eyes, and the eyes of the crab, and of the
;
\blan1c\ likewise, wrap them up in white linen and tie them to his right
arm, and he shall not be sleepy."
This is followed by prescriptions, more or less unconventional,

for tooth-cleaning, toothache, wounds, stomach-ache (lit. soul-
2
ache), pains in the abdomen, childbirth, headache for driving ;
away caterpillars from a garden for pain in a man's body and

; ;
for thirst.
The caterpillar remedy is characteristic and deserves re-
production :
" For the

9. chasing of caterpillars take 3 caterpillars from the garden,
:
take also fire [?] and fumigate the garden or park, and they will go away."
Next comes another prescription for toothache :
" In the event of

12. pain in the teeth make this sign, and plant the
knife before the aching tooth, and say the ' Our Father,' and the sufferer
must say the Kyrie eleison.' And when the pain is gone from the first
*
tooth, let him put it in the second, likewise in the third, and, by the grace
of God, he will be cured."
1 '
X *-P KWVffTdVTiVOV piflOTL' KO.1 T^V T^V^V tttT/OofO] KO.1 TJTl (T0aXe/>" etfcTTCtTCU
avrb /ecu <rvyyvib[/j.r]v] JJLOI dupricraTai' cJs a./j.a0eis ijirapx^v TTJS ideias
a/Ad e Ko.1 dpxcuos [ apx&pios] et/j.1 6're rb
There follow recipes for pains in the belly, pains internal
and external, and for vomiting. To these ensues the heading
"
For loosing a man who is bound or a woman, write:" but the
prescription does not actually occur till later. Instead of it, we
here get two recipes for ague :
" In the event of write upon an apple or pear '

1 7. ague-fever :
Holy :
Angel, chosen of our Lord Jesus Christ, who presidest over ague and fever
secondary [?], tertian, quartan, and quotidian, break off the ague-fever from
the servant of God So-and-So, in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Ghost."
" In the event of fever quotidian and tertian pound green sow-
18. :
thistle, mix it with blessed water of the Holy Epiphany spread it well,
;
and water and write on the first day at sunrise upon his right shoulder
it,
'
Christ is born on the second day [likewise] also write upon an apple
'
; ;
the Trisagion and the Stand we fairly,' 1 and let him eat it fasting."
*
After these come recipes for preventing the generation of

lice, for knife-thrusts, for hemorrhage, and several other
commonplace complaints, which are followed by the prescrip-

tion :
" For
loosing a man who is bound
2
23. take a knife that has
:
committed murder, and, when the person who is bound goes to bed, let
him place the knife between his legs, and go to sleep. And when he
awakes, let him utter these words 'As this knife has proved capable of
:
committing murder, that is to say, of killing a man, even so may mine own
body prove capable of lying with my wife and he forthwith lies with his
;
wife."
" When
one disowns his wedded wife coeatque cum scorto, take
24.
and therewith fumigate the man's clothes
stercus uxoris simile stercoris scorti
secretly, and he will straightway conceive an aversion for her. Likewise

in the event of the reverse."
" For one
25. possessed of demons let the sufferer wear the glands
:
from the mouth of a fish, and let him be fumigated with them, and the
demons will flee from him."
A
somewhat similar treatment is recommended for the gout
(podagra). Then comes :
1
These are the words which the deacon says in the part of the liturgy known
as the Anaphora.
Cp. analogous documents from the Aegean W. H. D. House,
2 v.
supra p. 171 n.
'
Folk-lore from the Southern Sporades,' in Folk-Lore, June 1899, pp. 156 foil.
" For curing the bite of serpents and other wild beasts, and that
27. [?]
they not touch him, not even the dogs, but flee from him pound
may :
sorrel and [?], and strain [?] them well, and then smear with the juice of
all, and you shall marvel."
28.
" To succeed in fishing let the fisher wear on him
:
sand-fleas,
bound up in dolphin skin, and he is always successful."
29. "To pacify one's enemies: write the psalm 'Known in Judaea,'
dissolve it in water, and give your enemy to drink thereof, and he will be
pacified."
31. "That wayfarers may not become weary : let them carry in their
belts nerves from a crane's legs."
" For a startled and
32. frightened man take 3 dry chestnuts : and
sow-thistle and 3 glasses of old wine, and let him drink thereof early and
'
late ;
write also the *
In the beginning was the word by the aid of Jesus,
and let him carry it."
34.
" For cut 3 pieces of bread and write on the 1st Love the '
ague :
Father,' on the 2nd Life the Son,' on the 3rd Comfort the Holy Ghost.
' '
Amen.' And when the shivering and the fever commence, let the patient
perform 3 genuflexions in the name of St John the Forerunner and let him
1
eat the 1st piece, and the fever will leave off. And, if it does not leave off
at the first, do the same thing at the second. Truth for ever."
Omitting some comparatively ordinary remedies for ailments

"
of the stomach, for drawing a tooth without the use of forceps
" "
or iron," heartache, and a marvellous cure for cough, we
come to a humorous recipe :
40.
" For a bleeding nose say to the part whence the blood
:
flows,
secretly in the ear (!) 'mox, pax, ripx,' and it will stop."
The following is a remedy recommended to the attention of

advocates of total abstinence :
" For
41. preventing a man from getting drunk put two ounces of :
[unfortunately the name conveys nothing to the present writer]; give it

to him every morning to drink, and he will not get drunk."
" To
41 b. make a woman have milk take a cow's hoof and burn : it
well, give it to the woman to eat or drink it."
" That thou

42. mayst not fear thief or robber : take the herb named
azebotanon, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost, and carry it wherever thou wishest to walk, and, with God's help,
thou shalt not be afraid."
1
v. supra p. 65 n.
"
43. To stop a serpent coming towards thee when thou seest it :
coming towards thee say these words Moses set a javelin, deliverer from '
:
harmful things, upon a column and a rod, in the form of a cross, and upon
it he tied an earth- crawling serpent, and
thereby triumphed over the evil.
Wherefore we shall sing to Christ our God for he has been glorified '." ;
"
47. That a woman may become pregnant take the gall of a he-goat, :
and let the husband smear his body therewith at the moment when he is
going to lie with his wife."
" In
upon new paper
'
49. case of a fright write : : Elohim God,' and
this character a~x 0% and carry it."
50. "To cure a woman

hemorrhage write on a piece of papyrus,
of
and thread, and say the Our Father and the
'
tie it to her belly with 1
'
following prayer The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of
:
'
Jacob, the God who stayed the river Mortham on the 6th day, stay also
the flowing of the blood of thy servant So-and-So, and the seal of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Stand we fairly, stand we with fear of God, Amen. And
may the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John cure the patient.'
ove leaf
Writee thiss on an olive a-xv 6"
ea ^la-x^v^
Several recipes follow for toothache, eyesores, and swarms

of ants. Then comes another prescription for the " loosing of
a bound man " :
55. "Take cotton pods and bind them with 12 knots 1 and say over
his head :
'
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost,' and also say these words Let the limbs of So-and-So be set
*
:
free,
as Lazarus was set free from the tomb V
After an uninteresting prescription for earache we have

another cure :
" For
57. ague and fever write on a cup the exorcism these names
: : :
4
Christ was born, Christ was crucified, Christ is risen Our Lord Jesus .
Christ being born in Bethlehem of Judaea, leave, O head-demon, the servant

of God So-and-So in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the
;
Holy Ghost, now and ever and in the aeons V

After two more ordinary prescriptions, the text continues on
the favourite subject :
"
59. For the loosing of a man : write these words on a piece of bread,
and give it to him to eat :
'
akoel, eisvil, ampelouras, perimarias, kame-
nanton, ektilen, ekpeilen, vriskadedeos, dedeousa.' Tosyphasatodios has
discovered this loosing."
170.
"
A remedy for " heat in the head and two for sore eyes come
next, and then the following charm :
"
For pain in the breast say this prayer
62. St Kosmas and :
*
Damian, Cyrus and St John, St Nicholas and St Akindynos, who hold

1
the scythes and cut the pain, cut also the pain of the servant of God
So-and-So'."
" When a man is
63. possessed of a demon, or [illegible], or phantasm,
write on [illegible] paper on the 6th day, on a waning moon, and let him
hold it ; also say in his right ear In the name of the Father and of the Son
:
*
and of the Holy Ghost.' This phylactery was given to Moses in Egypt hy
the Archangel Michael. Afterwards it was given to King Solomon, that
he might smite therewith every unclean spirit, either of illness, or of fear, or
of fright, or of ague-fever, either tertian or quotidian, or of encounter, or of
temptation, or infernal, or oblique [?], or created by magic, or deaf, or once [?],

or speaking, or speechless, 2 or of epilepsy, or lying-by, or setting-forth, or of
and second encounter or of meeting. God is the helper of thy servant
first
So-and-So. Through Diadonael, ebarras. Preserve in every time, day,

and night, and hour preserve him,
; God, from all mischief and all peril.
God hath reigned in the aeons. Amen. Stand we fairly, stand we with
fear of God '."
Two pages of common prescriptions are followed by a dis-

sertation on the virtues of various herbs, and more prescriptions
for a large number of diseases. Fumigation is again recom-
mended for people troubled with demons or phantasms, and
special herbs are indicated. Then comes a variety of plasters,

and the MS. ends with a fragment of a prescription :
"
106. For a man whose wife has run away : write the name of the man
and the woman on paper [half a word]"
The rest, most unfortunately, is missing.

3
1
On July 1st and Nov. 1st (0. S.) is held the feast of these two saints who are
collectively known by the name of Anargyroi (Koo-fj.3, KCU Aa/juavov rCov 'Avapyvpwv).
In Bussian mythology these two saints have usurped the functions of the old
Slavonic Vulcan, or divine blacksmith (Kuznets), and are treated as one under
the double name Kuz'ma-Dem'yan. See Ealston, Songs of the Russian People,
p. 199.
2 "
He rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou
Cp. dumb and deaf
spirit, I charge thee come out of him." Mark ix. 25.
3
For some more recipes of the same type see Appendix IV.
The Small-Pox.
Somewhat similar to the Scarlatina rite is the treatment

prescribed for This terrible scourge is both
the Small-pox.
by the modern Greeks and by the Slavs conceived of, and
personified, as a supernatural female being. The Servians call

her bogine or "goddess," and the Greeks designate her by
" " " "
various flattering epithets, such as the Gracious or Pitiful
and Vloya, a name which is by some con-
(%v<yxa)pe/jLev7)),
1
sidered a euphemistic term meaning a "Blessing" (B\oyia from
EuXoyta) others, however, take it to mean nothing more than

;
a vulgar inflammation (evôyia). Among the Greeks of

Macedonia both the personification and the euphemism are
emphasized by the term "Lady Small-Pox" (Kvpa ~B\oyid),
applied to the disease.
She is propitiated in the following manner: stool or a A
small table, covered with a snow-white cloth, is placed beside
the bed in which the patient is lying. Upon it are laid two
or three buns (ai/jiiTta) and bouquets of flowers, adorned
with gold leaf. The room is kept scrupulously clean and
" "
tidy, so that the Lady may not be offended. No spinning,
"
knitting, weaving, or any other woman's labour," is allowed in
" "
the dwelling throughout the Lady's presence in it for it is ;
believed that she likes to repose upon the wool and cotton.
For a like reason there is no washing of clothes with hot water,
lest the steam should
disturb the goddess. These negative
attentions are supplemented by the sprinkling of honey over
the walls in various parts of the house, and especially in the
sick-room, that the goddess may taste thereof, and her temper
may contract some of its sweetness. She is further conciliated
in some places by sugar-plums scattered over the stairs, and by
instrumental music, though singing is strictly prohibited. These
efforts atrendering the goddess sweet-tempered are reinforced
by the benedictions used by visitors. Instead of the customary
" "
wish May the illness be transient (irepacrriKa vavai), in case
Cp. the Celtic appellation of the Small-Pox, 'the good woman,'

1 J. G.
Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, p. 237.
" "
of Small-pox people wish May she be sweet as honey (/te TO
/JL\L r?79 vavaC).
The Bulgarians also treat the bogine with every token of
fear-inspired respect. They also regard her in the light of a

feminine deity but, not content with making the best of her
;
presence, they endeavour to speed her departure as delicately

and politely as possible. According to an old tradition, when
the Small-pox wishes to quit the village, she expresses her
desire tosomeone in his sleep and points out the place to which
she would like to be conveyed. " The person thus designated
takes bread smeared with honey, salt, and a flask of wine, and
leaves them, before sunrise, at the appointed spot. After this
the epidemic disappears, having accompanied the bearer of the
food out of the village." 1
The Russians, again, entertain the awkward superstition that
vaccination is a sin equivalent to impressing upon children " the
"
seal of Antichrist/' and that whoever dies of small-pox will
"
walk in the other world in golden robes a superstition which
Professor Buslaef has attempted to account for by tracing
a relationship between the modern personification of the
disease and the spectral creature known to the ancient Greeks
by the name of 'AX^trco, a bugbear with which nurses

frightened naughty children. He remarks that this name is
supposed be akin to that of the German Elbe, and the
to
English Elves, and he refers to the kindred word aX<o9, which

means a skin disease, apparently a form of leprosy. 2
From this would seem that the Slavonic conception
it
differs little from the modern Greek, and that both are
possibly
connected with a classical goddess, who, in her turn, may be
regarded as a sort of cousin or aunt to our own Elves. This
theory elucidates to a certain extent the family connexions of
the terrible female, but it does not carry us very far towards
ascertaining her more remote genealogy.

The Plague (Havov/c\a)is also pictured by popular
imagina-
tion as a gaunt and grim old hag, with deep-sunk eyes, hair
1
Kalston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 401-2.
2
16. p. 403.
dishevelled, and hollow cheeks. The name -rravovicKa is

applied
as a term of abuse to females whose appearance
corresponds
with that picture. It is also used as a synonym for
everything
that is filthy and foul :
1
'ATT' offt> /cov/cXa,
ATTO jueaa TravovtcXa
"Outward fair as a doll,
Within foul as the plague,"
a proverb conveying the same idea as the Biblical

phrase
"
whited sepulchres."
Charms.
Protection against evil

sought in many other ways,
is
the commonest being the use of phylacteries or charms. At

Melenik I was favoured by a gentleman of that town with a
view of a charm of this nature, drawn up by a priest of the
eighteenth century for the use of the present owner's great
grandfather. The document was dated 1774 and consisted of
long strips of paper rolled in a piece of linen and originally
sewed up in a leather bag, which again was kept in a small
silver case. The exorcism begins with a long list of gentlemen
saints and martyrs called upon to protect " the servant of God
Ducas." Then follows an invocation of the "All-Blessed,
All-Holy Lady Mother of God" to help "the s. of G. D."
After this comes another long list of lady saints and martyrs ;
of prophets and of all the heavenly hosts of angels and
archangels dominions, cherubim, and seraphim. These powers

:
are adjured to ward off many and manifold diseases, difficult to
identify. After a doxology " Glory be to the Father and to

:
the Son and to the Holy Ghost," comes a vigorous and

exhaustive anathema against the enemies of "the servant of
God Ducas":
1
This is one of the very few words of Slavonic origin in modern Greek. In
Kussian kukla (dim. kukolka) designates any sort of puppet, or other figure
representing either man or beast. By the modern Greeks it is chiefly applied
to a feminine doll.
"As the leaders [or spokesmen] of the

messengers, lit.
demons were bound and may be bound the

bridled, even so
enemies of the s. of G. D. their tongues, their lips, and their
:
hearts; their nerves, and their joints, and their eyes to the end
of his life. And, if any of them should assault the s. of G. D.,
bind ye their feet, that they may not be able to run; bind ye
their hands, that they may not be able to handle musket or
sword, or to hurl a spear upon the s. of G. D. May the bullet,
which they may shoot at the s. of G. D., be turned by the herb 1
into cotton-wool, and may the Archangel Michael push it aside
to a distance of three fathoms from the s. of G. D., and may
the s. of G. D. escape scatheless, and may the enemies of the
s. of G. D. be bound. As were bound the mouths of the lions
before the holy martyrs, even so may their mouths be bound
before the s. of G. D. May the fire of their muskets become
ether, and their swords cotton-wool. Save, Lord, the s. of
G. D. and chase away the Eastern and Northern and Western
and Southern demons, that they may hold aloof from the
s. of G. D., and in the name of the Great God Sabaoth
I exorcise the seventy-two diseases 2 from which man suffers.
Flee from the s. of G. D. whether you come down from the
:
sky, or from a star, or from the sun, or from the moon, or from
darkness, or from a cold wind, or from water, or from lightning,
or from an earthquake, or from a wound, or from murder, or
from valley, or from plain, or from river, or from field ;
either
in garden, or orchard, or park, or in the crossing of two or
three roads, or in the way-in or the way-out of a bath, oven,
consecrated ground : either at a gate or a wicket, in attic or
3
cellar, threshing-floor, etc." [The strain continues in picturesque
confusion.]
Next comes an adjuration of more subtle complaints.
"
From poison or envy, or jealousy, or from evil shameless
1
This allusion is as obscure as the holy father's grammar and spelling.
Perhaps a miraculous herb accompanied the exorcism originally.
2
With the seventy-two diseases mentioned here cp. the seventy-two veins of
the head referred to in a charm against sunstroke from the isle of Cos in
W. H. D. Rouse, 'Folk-lore from the Southern Sporades,' Folk-Lore, June
1899, p. 166.
Cp. a charm against erysipelas
3
ib. p. 168.
eyes, or from sorcery, or any other exalted calamity, or from

Spirit of the Air, or Nereid, or one of those that flit through
the air in darkness and have come to injure the s. of G. D.
Lord preserve him O Lord guard him from rein-disease,
!
hand-disease, etc., etc., etc. I exorcise you all ;

for it is not
just that you should attack the s. of G. D."

[The writer
concludes with a conscientious, though somewhat tedious
enumeration of all the parts of Mr Ducas's face, head,
1
limbs, etc.]
This extraordinary document in tone and style so like
parts of the Litany good affords a illustration of the com-
promise by which Christianity has adopted pagan beliefs too

firmly-rooted to be swept away. The names of heathen gods,
which must have figured in ancient charms of this kind, were
superseded by those of saints and martyrs, of prophets and
angels, and a Hebrew pantheon was established in the place
of the Hellenic. The same process occurred in most countries
where Christianity supplanted an older cult, as for example in
2
Eussia. Although Pan has been chased off the highways of
modern Europe, he is not dead, as has been prematurely reported.
He has only retired to a quiet country life.
3
f>
The Prophet Elijah (Upot^r 'HXtV or Al 'HXui?) who

among the Slavs has inherited the attributes of the Thunder-
God Perun 4 their representative of the Teutonic Thor in the
modern Greek Pantheon seems to fill the throne vacated by
the ancient "HXô?, the Sun, or of Apollo the God of Light.
The highest summits of mountains are generally dedicated
to him and are often chosen for his shrines. He is also, like
Apollo of old, regarded as a Healer a capacity recognized by
the Church in whose Hagiology he is described as empowered
to "drive away diseases and to purify lepers, wherefore he
1
For extracts from the original see Appendix V.
2
3 Mr Tylor, a propos of tree- worship in India observes: "The new
philosophic religion (viz. Buddhism) seems to have amalgamated, as new
religions ever do, with older native thoughts and rites." Primitive Culture,
vol. ii. p. 218. We shall find further instances of this amalgamation in the
case of the wood and water nymphs of the Macedonians.
4
Ealston, Russian Folk-Tales, pp. 337 foil.
showers remedies upon those who honour him." (Noo-ou?

d7roBto)Kt, KOL \eirpov^ KaOapiêi, &LO KCLI rot? Ti^waiv avrov
fipvei, Idfjuara.) The similarity between the names 'HXta? and
"EDuo? seems to have helped, if not originated, this identification
of characters.
Lunatics and all possessed (SaifjLovia-fjLevoi,) are
persons
recommended to the mercy of St Anthony, whose celebrated
exploits in the field of vision and demoniacal temptation
render him an appropriate and duly qualified patron of patients

1
similarly afflicted.
Cripples and the blind have a ready succourer in St All-
Merciful ("At HavreKeriiJLovas), hence the popular saying: "Be
they lame, be they blind, they all flock to St All-Merciful."

f/
(Koimroi (TTpafioi '9 rov A'i HavreXe^/jiova.)

St Modestos, in accordance with the humility implied by
his name, is content with a provincial practice as cattle-doctor,
and he deeply revered by shepherds and farmers.
is
St Nicholas is held in even higher esteem by sea-farers.

There is no vessel,
great or small, upon Greek waters, which
has not the saint's icon in its stern, with an ever-burning lamp
in front of it, or a small silver-plated picture of the saint
attached to its mast. In time of storm and stress it is the
name of St Nicholas that instinctively rises to the lips of the
Greek mariner, and to him candles are promised, and vows
registered. He is to the modern sailor all that Poseidon was
to his ancestors. 2 The fires of St Elmo which the ancients
ascribed to the Twins (Aiocrfcovpoi, Gemini), the tutelar deities
of sailors, are by the modern Greek mariners called TeXaivia
'
or
'
and treated as such the sailors look upon them as
Devils :
presages of disasterand try to frighten them away by dint of

exorcisms and loud noises an instance of beneficent pagan
deities degraded to the rank of malignant demons, a process
of which we shall see several other illustrations in the sequel.
1
This, it will be acknowledged, is a far more honourable role than the one
assigned to the saint by the Roman
Church, where St Anthony is the patron
and protector of nothing more exalted than pigs.
2
For further details concerning this substitution of Christian saints for
Pagan gods in the Greek Church see Sir Eennell Eodd, The Customs and Lore of
Modern Greece, pp. 140 foil.
. A. F. 16
Nymphs.
The Ayeriko is only one variety of a group of supernatural
beings included in the generic name of 'Efcort/ca. Under this

comprehensive head are classed many species of spirits, not
always easy to differentiate. By far the most eminent of them

are the feminine deities known as Neraides (Ne/aai'&e?) to
the Southern Macedonians as well as to the rest of the Greeks,
and as Samovilas to the inhabitants of the northern districts,
such as Melenika name curiously compounded of two Slavonic
words Samodiva and Vila. In default of a more accurate
equivalent, we may call them Fairies, though, as will soon
appear, they many important points from the beings

differ in
so designated in Northern Europe. These nymphs of modern

Greek mythology are very closely related to the Naiads,
Hamadryads, and Oreads of classical antiquity on one hand,
and to the Rusalkas of the Russians, the Vilas of the Servians,
and the Samodivas of the Bulgarians on the other. They are
represented as tall and slim, clad in white, with flowing golden
hair, and divinely beautiful, so much so that the highest
compliment which can be paid to a Greek maiden is to compare

her in loveliness to a Neraida a form of adulation not neglected
u "
by the Greek lover.
1
In the same way lovely as a Vila is a
common expression among the Servians. 2 In malice the Greek

Neraides equal their Servian sisters. In an amatory distich
the outraged swain can find no stronger language, in which to
denounce his sweetheart's cruelty, than by addressing her as
"a Neraida's offspring." 3
The beauty of these southern fairies is fatal to the beholder,
and many are the stories told of people who, by exposing them-
selves to its fascination, were bereft of speech, or otherwise
suffered.The dumbness of an old man near Nigrita was put
down to an early encounter of this kind. He was returning
home one night across the fields, when he perceived, under a
1
See Passow, Disticha Amatoria, No. 692.
2
3
Passow, ubi supra, No. 653.
tree path-side, a young woman adorned with pieces of

by the
gold (<f>\ovpt,d), such as are usually worn by peasant maids on
festive occasions. She looked "like a bride" (aav vixfrrj) and
was exceedingly fair. But no sooner did the peasant accost
" "
her than he lost his power of speech his tongue was tied
;
(SeO/ce TI y\a)(T(7d T'), and remained so ever after. You should

on no account speak to a Neraida if you do, "she takes away
;
"
your voice (ere Traipvei rr] (frcovr}). A similar opinion was once
"
held in England regarding the Fairies : he that speaks to
1
them, shall die," says Falstaff.
Unlike the fairies of the North, these beings are all of one
sex, and they form no community, but generally lead an isolated
existence, dwelling chiefly in trees and fountains. The traveller

in Macedonia often sees newly-built fountains decorated with
cotton or wool threads of many colours. These threads are
torn by wayfarers from their dress on seeing the fountain for
the first time. They alight, and, after having slaked their
thirst in the waters of the fountain, leave these offerings as
tokens of gratitude to the presiding nymph. In like manner
the peasants of Little Russia propitiate the Rusalkas by hanging
on the boughs of oaks and other trees rags and skeins of thread 2 ;
the negro tribes of West Africa adorn similarly the trees by the
road-side, and even in distant Japan we find parallels to this all
but universal custom. The peasants of that country are in the
habit of decking out the sacred tree of the village with a fringe
formed of a straw-rope and pendants of straw and paper. 3
All springs and wells, all forests and trees, are haunted by
these wood and water nymphs
to-day, as they were in the days
of yore. Christianity has degraded, but has proved unable to
suppress their cult. In some cases the water-nymphs have not
been banished, but only converted to Christianity. The Church
has sanctioned the popular faith by substituting Christian saints
in lieu of the old pagan deities. Many springs in Macedonia
are known and venerated as 'sacred waters' (djida/jLara)
1
Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, Act v. Sc. 5.
2
3
H. Munro Chadwick, The Oak and the Thunder-God, Anthropological
Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Jan. 9, 1900.
162
dedicated to St Friday ('Ayia Hapaa-fcevrj) and St Solomone
among feminine saints, or to St Paul and St Elias among their

male colleagues. The water of such springs is
regarded as
efficaciousagainst diseases,
especially eye-complaints. They
are generally enclosed within a stone parapet, and sometimes
roofed in, as a protection from accidental pollution. Even
"
so stood enclosed the fair-flowing fountain built by man's
hand, whence the citizens of Ithaca drew water," and close
to it "an altar erected in honour of the Nymphs, upon
which the wayfarers offered sacrifice."
1
Like the Homeric
" '
fountain of the Nymphs," many a modern holy spring is

'
overshadowed by " water-bred poplars," or broad-leaved fig-trees,

and weeping willows.
With regard to the Neraides as tree-spirits, the precise
relation of the nymph to the tree is not easy to define.
It is not clear whether the Macedonian folk look upon these
spirits as dwelling in the trunks of the trees, animating them,
as a man's soul animates his body, or whether they regard the
trees as simply affording shelter to them. 2 The latter view
seerns to be the one most commonly held. Be that as it may,
trees are most sincerely believed to be the haunts of nymphs,
and this belief leads the peasant to many curious acts of
omission and commission. Labourers working out in the fields
are careful not to lie down in the shade of a tree. They
especially eschew the plane, the poplar, and the fig-tree for ;
these are the favourite abodes of fairies. It is beneath the

foliage of these trees that they love to repose at midday, and
ill fares the mortal who dares disturb them. It is related
that many, who, neglecting this rule, sought a refuge from the
scorching rays of the midday sun under such a tree, had reason
to rue their temerity. The fairy is apt to resent the liberty by
inflicting a stroke upon the offender. This penalty is known
1
Horn. Od. xvn. 206-211.
The same ambiguity attends the worship of tree-spirits in all lands.
2
"
According to one theory the spirit is viewed by the believer as incorporate in
the tree." "But, according to another and probably later opinion, the tree
is not the body, but merely the abode of the tree-spirit." J. G. Frazer, The
Golden Bough, vol. i. p. 180.

as ogratisma. The person who has incurred the

displeasure
of the supernatural tenant, or guardian spirit, of the tree can
only atone for his trespass by a special ceremony. This consists

in sprinkling honey round the trunk of the tree and in de-
positing at its root a number of small sweet cakes prepared for

the purpose. It is believed that the nymph on partaking of
this expiatory sacrifice will be appeased and restore the patient
to health.
In close analogy to this superstition stands the belief of the
ancients, according to which Pan rested from his labours at
"
noon-tide 'Tis not meet,
:
shepherd, for us, 'tis not meet to
play the pipe at midday. We
fear Pan for in very truth at ;
that hour he rests his weary limbs from the fatigue of the
chase, and he is harsh and cruel : fierce wrath ever sits upon
his nose "*
Similarly the Lusatians at the present day hold
!
that the Pripolnica a species of the Rusalka appears in the

2
fields exactly at noon, holding a sickle in her hand.
It is a well-established fact that huts and houses and all
more or less elaborate dwellings are the result of a relatively

modern invention, and that our remote forefathers were content
to live and die beneath the roofs afforded by the foliage of the
trees. An
extremely interesting, albeit unconscious, remi-
niscence of this primordial state of the human race is embedded
in a Macedonian superstition. As the trees so the projecting
eaves of the houses (ao-rpiâl^) which correspond to the
outspreading boughs are believed by the Macedonians to be

haunted by Nymphs. For this reason it is not lawful to
commit a nuisance under them. Thus the Nymphs are made
to the duties of policemen, and they do it most effectively.
fulfil
He who transgresses the regulations of these invisible powers

is sure to pay for his disobedience with a broken limb or some
other equally unpleasant experience (6a ovypariar)).
The prevailing ideas as to the looks, habits, and character
of the Macedonian Neraides are well illustrated by a widely-
known legend which I heard at Melenik.
1
Theocr. Id. i. 15 foil.
2
The Shepherd and the Nymphs.
There was once a shepherd who one moonlit summer night

tended his flock in a meadow. Suddenly he was startled by the
sound of many musical instruments, such as drums and pipes,
in the distance. The sounds drew nearer and nearer, and at last
there appeared before him a long chain of maids dressed in long
white robes and dancing to the tune. The leader of the dance
(TTpwroo-vpros) was a youth carrying in one hand the wooden
wine-flagon (plotska or tchotra) used by the peasants. He
halted in front of the shepherd and held the flagon out to him.
The shepherd accepted the offer, but before proceeding to raise
the flagon to his lips, he, according to the custom of the

country, made the sign of the cross. When lo and behold !
both dancers and leader vanished, the music ceased, and the
shepherd was left alone, holding in his hand in lieu of the
flagon a human skull ! His piety saved him from any con-
sequences more serious than a wholesome fright.
One is strongly tempted to see in this legend a lingering
memory of the Muses and their chorus-leader Apollo.
A
story of a similar type was told me on another occasion
at Cavalla by a native of Chios. There is in that island a bridge
called the Maid's Bridge (XT)? /copy? TO êfyvpi) and popularly

believed to be haunted by a Water-Spirit. Early one morning
a man was crossing the bridge on his way from the village of
Daphnona when he met a tall young

to the capital city (^copa),
woman She took him by the hand and made
dressed in white.
him dance with her. He was foolish enough to speak and was
immediately struck dumb. He recovered, however, some days
after, thanks to the prayers and exorcisms of a priest.
One more feature these nymphs have in common with our
Fairies, and that is their propensity to carry off new-born
children. On this practice, and the means used to avert the
danger, I have dwelt at some length in a former chapter. 1
Here I will try to make the conception of the Nymph a little
more vivid by relating another story from Melenik.

1
v. supra, p. 125.
The Prince and the Nymph.

There was once a young prince who had a mother, and who
without her knowledge maintained relations with the sylvan
nymphs (Yougovitsas) who dwelt in the palace-garden. He
was wedded to the fairest of them. Neither she nor any of
her companions would permit the prince to hold oral com-
munication with any of his friends, or even with his own
mother, nor would they allow him to admit a mortal into the
garden. His mother, not knowing the cause of his strange
behaviour, was deeply distressed, and had recourse to a friend
of hers who had three daughters exquisitely beautiful. She
took the eldest of them home to the palace to wait on the
prince, in the hope that he might be induced by the damsel's
charms to break his silence. But all her efforts were in vain.
He remained dumb. The prince's mother then brought to the
palace the second daughter but she was equally unsuccessful.
;
At last the youngest of the three maidens begged to take her

sister's place. Her request was granted, and she began to wait
on the prince. She made his bed, assisted him at his ablutions,
laid the table for him, but she never addressed a word to him.
Instead, she carried about with her a kitten, and addressed
her remarks to The prince's mother, who listened at the
it.
keyhole, imagined that the maid had succeeded in overcoming

the youth's taciturnity and carried on a conversation with him,
and she was therefore overjoyed and happy. One day she begged
the rnaid to ask permission from the prince for herself and her
to take a walk in the garden. The maid on hearing this
was plunged into grief, for she never hoped to loosen the
prince's tongue. She went in and out of the room in very
low spirits. The prince, who had already been fascinated by
the maid's charms, on seeing her so sad began to speak to his
candlestick for, as has been said before, he was forbidden to
address a human being. He spoke and said " My dear candle-:
"
stick, wherefore art thou so sad ?
The maid readily seized the opportunity, and answered :
"
My dear candlestick, I am so sad because thy mother wants
permission for herself and me to take a walk in the garden."
The prince replied :
"
My dear candlestick, you have my permission to go and
walk in the garden to-morrow morning but you must quit the
;
grounds before the sun rises."

On the morrow, long before dawn, the prince's mother,
accompanied by the maid and several female servants, entered
the garden and walked about admiring its many beauties, for
the Nymphs tended it. When the sun was on the point of
rising, they hastened to depart but ere they could reach
;
the gates the sun burst upon them. As they were drawing
near the gates, they perceived a child's cot hanging from a
tree, and in the cot there reposed a beautiful baby. Then
the maid took off the red gauze kerchief, which she wore
folded across her bosom, and covered the baby's face with it,
in order to protect it from the rays of the sun. Soon after
this they quitted the garden.
The prince later in the day came to the garden for he ;
was compelled to spend most of his time with his nymph-wife

and her friends. The latter was so deeply moved by the maid's
kindness to her baby, that she gave the prince leave to break
his silence and marry the fair maid, and all at once both she and
her nymph-companions vanished from the garden, carrying off
the baby with them. The prince, elated with joy, returned to
the palace, embraced his mother with tears in his eyes, and
explained the cause of his long silence. He solemnized his
wedding with the poor maid, and they lived happy ever
after.
In this story another trait common to the Gaelic sithche or

Fairy is brought out, namely the anxiety of the nymphs to form
connexions with mortals who are held in love's sweet bondage
sorely against their will.

1
These misalliances were familiar to
the nymphs of old, but they never prospered. The reader will
remember the romantic attachment of Kalypso, the fairy-queen
of Ogygeia, to the elderly homesick hero, who scorned her love
and all her promises of perennial youth and immortality, longing
1
Cp. J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,
p. 41.
for nothing but his middle-aged spouse and the rugged shores
1
of his native isle.
From the above sketch it will be seen that the Macedonian

nymphs, though they bear a certain degree of resemblance to
the Celtic Fairies, and to the Slavonic Rusalkas, Vilas and
Samodivas, are really identical with the southern Neraides,
who, notwithstanding a general likeness to the beings just
mentioned, have an individuality of their own and are fully
entitled to be regarded as direct descendants of the classical
2
Nymphs. It was not, of course, to be expected that the
ancient idea should have remained and we ac-
unaltered,
cordingly find that it has undergone such modifications as
lapse of time and intercourse with other nations were bound
to bring about. The principal point of difference between the
old and the new nymph is one of character. The modern
Neraida is as a general rule represented as a malicious fiend
to be propitiated or conciliated, and failing that, to be exorcised
as an unclean spirit. This degeneration is most probably due
to the influence of Christianity. The Nymphs have shared the
gods and goddesses of antiquity.
fate of their betters, the greater
Their honours, when they could not possibly or conveniently be
abolished, were transferred to saints, and the poor Nymphs,
like all dethroned deities, have had to sink to the level of
demons : discredit a god and exorcise him.
Wood-Spirits and Water-Spirits.
In addition to the Neraides, the Macedonians recognize the

existence of various other supernatural beings known as " Spirits
"
of the Elements (Srot%eta). The word, in the sense of the
four primary elements namely, fife, water, air and earth
dates from the time of Plato. 3 The Neo-Platonists subse-
1
Horn. Od. i. 13 foil. ;
v. 13 foil.
2
See Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of Turkey, vol. n. p. 314; Bernhard
Schmidt, Das Volksleben der Neugriechen und das hellenische Alterthum,p&ssim;
Kalston, Songs of the Russian People, preface to 2nd ed. 1872.
3
0-Totxeta TOV iravTos, 'elements of the universe,' Plat. Tim. 48s. These
'
are the pifw/xara or '
roots of Empedocles.
quently applied it to the spirits which were supposed to

animate the four elements. At a still later date, the name
came to mean spirits or demons generally. Nowadays it is
applied both to demons and to human souls or ghosts, in fact
to spiritual beings of all denominations. The confusion is
evidently due to the universal animistic doctrine, according to
which " Souls of dead men are considered as actually forming
one of the most important classes of demons or deities." 1 We
shall first treat of the
Sroêta as demons, and afterwards as
ghosts, although it is not always easy to draw the line between
the two classes.
These demons reside woods, hills, dales, rivers and
in
fountains. There
hardly a
is nook or corner of Macedonia
so insignificant as not to boast one or more of these spirits,
who make their presence felt and feared in various more or
less ingenious ways. Thus Mount Ecato, near the village of
Sochos in the Chalcidic Peninsula, reechoes both by night and
by day with shrill laughter, loud wailing, and other weird
sounds, which proceed not from mortal lungs. The best thing
for the traveller to do in the circumstances is to make the
" "
sign of the cross, muttering :
Holy Cross assist me !
(Zravpe
fforjQa IJL /) and to hurry on his way.
Noises of this description are by the Russians attributed to
the wood-demons. The same demons are also held responsible
for whirlwinds. In Macedonia, whirlwinds and other injurious
phenomena of a kindred nature are certainly set down to
supernatural agency but whether to wood-demons as among
;
the Slavs, to Djins as among the Mohammedans, or to the

Neraides as among the southern Greeks, it is hard to deter-
mine. In any case, they do not attempt to drive the evil being
away by violent means, but are content to exorcise it. In
the district of Liakkovikia, the whirlwind is called dve/juo-
and during one the people are accustomed to
1
ai/e/x,os, wind, and either o-TriXas, or
2
This term seems to be a compound of
(= (TTToSds, ashes, or rather dust, as in Hdt. iv. 172 rrjs x<x/t0ei'
:
dust from the ground '). It is now the fashion among a certain school
of philologists to ridicule the search for antique terms in Modern Greek. This
"
murmur the following curious incantation : Alexander the
Great liveth, aye he doth live and reign" (Zfj, ffj /cal
1
fiao-tXevei 6 Me7a? 'AXefaj/S/oo?) a formula analogous to
the one formerly uttered by old women at Athens for a similar
"
purpose : Milk and honey in your path." 2
The inhabitants of Vassilika, a village in the valley of the

river anciently called Anthemus, have some strange experiences
locally known as the

to relate concerning a phenomenon
" "
Passage (TO Trepao-jjia}. It is a rush of wind which suddenly
as it seems, from the Well of Murat (rov
rising, Movpdry ro
7r?77<7&fc) at one end of the village, sweeps furiously through the
village and then as suddenly sinks into the Tomb of Ali (rov
'AX?? TO nvripopi) on the edge of a watercourse at the other end.
As it speeds on, it fills the countryside with horrible noises
which sometimes are like the bellowing of cattle, sometimes
like the bleating of goats or the grunting of pigs, and often
like the shrieks and wails of human beings. It blasts every-
thing it blows upon. Whoever happens to be saluted by its
blighting breath is instantly struck dumb. Some of the
peasants boast of having followed these mysterious sounds, and
affirm that they cease on the spot indicated above. Two
reasons can be assigned for the alleged sudden ceasing of the
tendency is a natural reaction against the opposite extreme, which was in vogue
some thirty or forty years ago. Still, no one who has explored the by-ways of
the Greek world can fail to notice extremely old words and phrases turning up
at unexpected corners. For the following example I am indebted to M. P. N.
Papageorgiou. He one day met at Salonica a peasant woman from Kohakia, a
small hamlet close to the estuary of the Vardar. She had brought her boy to
town to consult a doctor. The lad had broken his head by falling 's TO, dtferaXa,
as she expressed it. The word being new to that scholar (as, I venture to think,
it will be to most Greek scholars), he asked her what she meant by it, and she
explained "i/ci, /cet TTOU Ko\vîrovae îrecre pta" 's rrjs "Don't you see, as
TT^T/XUS."
he was swimming he fell in among the stones. " This explanation made it quite
word was a survival of an extremely ancient term, which, in
clear that the
common with many others, did not happen to find its way into Hellenic
literature. According to my authority it can be nothing but a compound of
dvff- (mis-) and aXs (the sea) meaning the dangerous or rocky parts of the sea.
1
A. A. ''H Kara TO Hdyyaiov Xwpa,' p. 79.
Tovffiov, On the lingering
memories of Alexander and Philip of Macedon, v. infra ch. xv.
2
Koss, Inselreisen, in. p. 182, in Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of
Turkey, vol. n. p. 310.
" "
noise at that place. If the Passage is be regarded as
to
the work or the vehicle of demons, it is bound to stop on the
"
bank of the stream as no demon can cross running water."
It should be noticed, however, that the gust is said to rise from,
and to sink into, places connected with the memory of a Turk;
and, knowing as we do what
the Christian belief concerning
is
the ultimate fate of a Turkish soul, we may reasonably surmise

that the "Passage" is due to the joint efforts of the two dead
Turkish worthies Murat and Ali. That it is the work of evil
spirits none can be such a sceptic as to dispute. The fact rests
on the unimpeachable authority of an old woman of the village
who assured the writer in the most confident and confidential
manner imaginable that her own father, " peace to his soul !"
(#eo? d^wped TOV), once as the wind was rushing through the
village actually saw amid the clouds of dust a child carrying a
pitcher on either shoulder a feat of which no ordinary child is
capable. He pursued the apparition ((fravracr/jLa) down to the
river-side and there lost sight of it it vanished as a % thing
of air.
These manifestations correspond very closely to the gambols

of the Lyeshy, or wood demon, of Slavonic mythology. He is
said to be very fond of diverting himself after a similar fashion
"
in the woods. At such times he makes all manner of noises,
clapping his hands, shrieking with laughter, imitating the
neighing of horses, the lowing of cows, the barking of dogs
sometimes by night a forest-keeper would hear the wailing of a
child, or groans apparently proceeding from some one in the
1
agonies of death."
It would not be difficult to fill a volume with stories
illustrating the various forms under which these wicked spirits

appear to the eyes of men. A caravan, it is said, was one night
going to Yenidje, a town to the west of Salonica. On the way
they were joined by a little dapple dog (o-fcv\d/ct, 7rap8a\6),
which, coming no one knew whence, kept worrying the mules.
One of the muleteers mustered sufficient courage to dismount
and try to catch it; but he failed ignominiously. This hap-
pened several times, and every time, as soon as the man
1
stretched out his hand, the dog melted into air (^kvovrav
It did not cease to annoy the
ae'pa?). party until they reached
the banks of the Vardar and then it vanished.
A peasant at Galatista, in the Chalcidic Peninsula, was
known as Crook-neck (o-râ/Soo-z//^?) and was said to owe his
deformity to a similar accident. One evening, as he was

walking home from the fields, he perceived what he took to be
a harmless, though erring, goat, browzing in a meadow. He
approached it and was lifting the animal on his shoulder, with
the laudable intention of taking it as a present to his wife, when
the goat melted into space, leaving its captor a lasting souvenir
of the adventure.
Another peasant told me the following experience. He
one day alighted with his comrades under a fig-tree which
stood close to a "Holy Spring" dedicated to St Friday. All
of a sudden a ball of cotton-wool sprang from the ground
and rolled down the slope. They pursued it until it stopped
and shot up into a white column. There it stood for a while
and then disappeared.
All these tales embody ideas familiar to the student of
comparative For instance, the inability of some

folk-lore.
"
of the apparitions described above to cross a "
running stream
is a well-known feature of the evil
spirits and spectres of the
Highlands of Scotland, and it forms the basis of Burns's Tarn
1
0' Shanter :
Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg,

And win the key-stane of the brig ;
There at them thou thy tail may toss,

A running stream they dare na cross.
A similar superstition is alluded to by Scott in the well-

known lines :
He 2 led the boy o'er bank and fell,

Until they came to a woodland brook;
The running stream dissolved the spell,
And his own elvish shape he took.
1
p. 50.
2
Viz. the goblin page, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, c. in. 13.
The Karens of Birma, so little like the Scotch Highlanders
or the Macedonians in other respects, entertain the same
common notion and exemplify it by stretching threads across
1
forest brooks for the ghosts to pass along.
Again, the shapes which the Macedonian phantasms oc-

casionally assume remind one of the transformation of Celtic
fairies into deer, of witches into hares, cats, and the like, of the
devil into a he-goat, of the Glaistig of Ardnadrochit, which
J
appeared in the guise of a dog,' or of the Slav Marui, who

sometimes turn themselves into horses or tufts of hair. 3
The mysterious apparition of a ball of cotton wool may also

be compared with the practice of Russian witches to change
into balls of thread and other objects connected, according to
4
mythologists, with clouds.
There are many songs illustrating the belief in Water-spirits
haunting rivers and wells (o-Tot,-%io TOV Trora/jLov and
TOV Trrjyao'Lov). The following is one of them.
To
(From Zichna.)
Ta Tea-crepa, ra TreWe, ra evvedbepcpa,

Ta Se/eo%Tft> âSepcfua ra
Ta r)p6e fji^vv/jua CLTTO TOV /3ao-i\rja
Na trav vd 7ro\jj,r)(7ovv icdrov \ rrj <&pay/cid'
"Me rrjv VKTJ <rov, fj,dva /JL,
va Trrjyaivov/jLe."
"
Na Trar evvea ^Sep^d/cia /cat vdpOfjr* O
f
O Yidvvns vd IJLTIV epOrj 6
KLvrfcrav KOI Trdve \ rov
/xepat? icdvovv Sl^co? TO

^ XXat9 (TapdvTd Trevre Si%a)$ TO vepo,
1
2
J. G-. Campbell, ubi supra, p. 175.
4 Ib.
3
p. 405.
5
For a much shorter version of the same incident (17 lines = one half of the
present text) see Passow, No. 523 'H pdyio-a-a. I picked up another version
at Nigrita but it is inferior to the above both in length (26 lines) and in
;
workmanship. At Cavalla I obtained a version of To oroixeid TOV iroTa.fjt.ov,

different from the one embodied in Songs of Modern Greece, p. 178.
Kal /Spiv/cow fjiid /3pvaiTo-a, o-Toi%ei,O7rr}yaSo,

W 6p<yviaLS TO f$a6o<$, 7rXaT09 ei/cocri.
aBep^d/cia, vd \a^viaovfjL6 }
5*6 Troiov 6d TreV 6 \a%vos /celvos I'd efjiirr)"
'5 TOV Ytavvt] 7T6(f)T 6 \a^vb<^ '9 TOV /jLi/cporepo.

Toy eSecrav TOV Yidvvr] Kal rov anroXvovv
, d&eptyd/cia, va /JLC ftyakere,
vepo 3e^ 6^', ôv 6êt crTO/êtw/ia."
"
Tpa/3ovjjt,6, Yidvv , rpaftovfju â 8e' rapdêcrat."
"
Me rv\iê TO (j)6i&\ TO aroiêio pe Kparei.
Fid j3d\T KOI TOV fjLavpo vd <ra9 /3o7j6f}."
atcovae icy o /zaOyoo? ^tXêTîcre,
a yovara (rr)Ka)0'tce <yid vd TOV /3yd\y.
/3ydr) T dp/naTa TOV, \d/jL7rovv Ta ffovvd,
B7afet Kal TO wnaQi TOV, \dfjLir y 6d\ao-<ra,
T6i> (3yd\av TOV Pidvv jjua^v /jue
TO crTOiêio,
^tj/cayaav Ta %avT^dpta vd TO /cotyovve,
M' dvT\$ 0-TOL%610 VCL
KO^JTOVV, KOWTOW TO CfKOtVi,
Kal Trdrj 6 Yt,dvv7)<s ^kd fj,e
TO
ep<pi,a, dcrT vd
TrfjTe Trj fjiavov\d fju 7rw9
Na Trjv elirfiT ,
dSeptyia, TTW?
Trj 7T\d/ca TT'fjpa TreBepd, TTJ /mavpr) 7^9 yvval/ca,
KT; avTa Ta \eiavo%6pTapa o\a yvvai/ca8ep(f)i,a"
The Haunted Well.
Four and five, nine brothers,

Eighteen cousins, lads of little luck:
A message came to them from the King, bidding them
To go forth and fight in the far-off land of the Franks :
"Thy blessing, mother, that we may go forth!"

"
May ye go forth nine brothers and come back eight ;
"
May John the youngest never return !
They set forth, and as they crossed the vast plain,

They days without bread,
lived forty
Forty-five more without water,

And then they found a dear little fount but 'twas a spirit-haunted well
;
J
Twas thirty fathoms in depth in breadth twenty. ;
"Halt, dear brothers, and let us cast lots,

He on whom the lot will fall, let him go in."
The on John, the youngest.
lot falls
They bind John and let him down :
"
Draw, dear brothers, draw me out,
Here there is no water but only a ; Spirit."
"We are drawing, John, we are drawing; but thou stirrest not."
"The serpent has wound itself round my body, the Spirit is holding me.
Come, set the Black One also to help you."
When the Black One heard, he neighed loud,
He reared on his haunches to draw him out.
When he drew out his arms, the mountains gleamed.
He draws out his sword also, and the sea gleamed.
They drew out John together with the Spirit,
They lifted their knives to cut it asunder,
But instead of cutting the Spirit they cut the rope,
And John falls in together with the Spirit :
"Leave me, brothers, leave me and go home,

Do not tell my dear mother that I am dead,
Tell her, brothers, that I am married,
That I have taken the tombstone for a mother-in-law,
Black Earth for a wife,
And the fine grass-blades all for brothers and sisters-in-law." 1
In the ballad of The Haunted Well, as the reader may have

noticed, there occurs a curious, though by no means uncommon,
blending of ideas. The Spirit or Demon of the Well is con-
founded with the Water-Serpent. This confusion between the
spiritual water-demon and the material water-monster pervades
"
the folk-lore of many nations : it runs into the midst of
European mythology in such conceptions as that of the water-
kelpie and the sea-serpent."
2
We shall meet with still more
flagrant instances of it in dealing with the mythical being
Drakos.
But ere we cross the fine line which divides the regions of
living belief from those of idle mythological fiction, we must
1
The sentiment contained in the last four lines is a commonplace of modern
Greek folklore. The last two lines
especially are repeated verbatim in many
a ballad cp. Passow, No. 381 last two lines No. 380 last line &c. It will be
:
; ;
observed that the concluding two lines in the original of the above piece are in
the fifteen-syllable ballad-metre, whereas the rest of the poem is in a twelve-
syllable metre.
2
mention a monster which, like the Water- Spirit, is actually

supposed to haunt wells, rivers, and fountains. This is the
Black Giant (\\pd7rrjs), a crafty demon of Oriental origin who
lures the guileless to destruction by various stratagems, as, for
example, by assuming the form of a fair maid. He is a being

most sincerely dreaded by the peasantry, and, though not half
so popular as the Water-Spirit, he is to be met with here and
there. At Dervinato, a village in the island of Chios, there is
"
a spring, or, to use the common Greek
expression, a water-
mother" (fjudva TOV vepov, 'fountain-head'), called Plaghia.
This spring is reputed to be the haunt of a Black Giant, and
the natives have adventures of the usual type to relate.
many
The Sroêfco and the 'Apavr?;? may be described as Kindred
Spirits in every sense of the term.
House-Spirits.
Besides the spirit denizens of woods and waters, the

Macedonian peasant owns his belief in a class of spirits which
make themselves at home in the ordinary human habitations.
He has no special name for them, but calls them Sroêta, and
" "
the house haunted by them o-TO%eta>//,ei>o o-Trln. These
domestic demons may be divided into two categories. First,
there malignant spirits, which occasionally disturb
are the
the slumbers of the household by making terrible noises, by
throwing bricks and stones down the chimney, by sitting on
the sleepers' chests in the form of a hideous nightmare or
' '
shadow (IV/ao? or la/ciwpa), 1 and by teasing and worrying the
inmates of the house at unreasonable hours. These seem to be
the disembodied souls of people who have met with a violent
death, or whose mortal remains have been buried secretly,
1
The Macedonian women are in the habit of saying to their children :
" Do
not mock at your shadow, or it will come and "
sit upon you (Mrp* Trep'ye\g.s rbv
tffKib (TOV yiarl da ae TrXa/coxr^). M. X. 'ludvvov, 'Gep/xcus,' p. 34. From this it
appears that the shadow is by the Macedonians, as by so many other races,
identified with the soul (see J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. i. pp. 285
foil.),
and as "the soul of a sleeper is supposed to wander away from his body"
(i5. pp. 255 foil.), if you anger it, it may return and punish you in the form of a
nightmare (-rrXaKwtry in its technical sense).
A. F. 17
without the usual funeral rites. Such persons become ghosts
(o-TOLêiwvovv). They roam restlessly about and visit their
old haunts, inspired with an intense longing for revenge. This
idea, so strongly held by the ancient Greeks and Romans,
survived through the middle ages into modern Europe; but
at the present day it finds its most emphatic expression in
the practices of savage races, such as the natives of Australia,
North and South America, North and South Asia, etc. 1 The
belief fully accounts for the extreme horror with which the
modern Greeks contemplate the possibility of a body being
denied Christian burial. It is partly this fear that makes exile
so abhorrent to the Greek, and the danger of dying in a remote
country or being shipwrecked at sea, far from those whose duty

it is to accord to the remains the funeral rites, is frequently
" "
dwelt upon in the Songs of Farewell (TpayovSia rrjs
The malevolent spirits belonging to this category can only

be expelled by a religious ceremony. The papas, or parish
priest, is summoned. He reads a special service over a bowl
of water in which, thus sanctified (dyiaaôs), he dips a cross
and a bunch of basil, and with this brush besprinkles the
dwelling, charging the while all evil and unclean spirits to
depart. But
sometimes happens that the demons defy
it
prayers, and, in spite of holy water and exorcisms, persist in

vexing the inhabitants. In that case the house is deserted
'
and henceforth shunned as haunted.'
Far different in disposition and behaviour are the spirits
'
known and cherished as

'
masters of the house (VOLKOKV prices
rov cririTiov). They are supposed to be the ghost-souls of
ancestors lingering in their old home and watching over
still
the welfare of their posterity, according to a universal doctrine

"
which is indeed rooted in the lowest levels of savage culture,
extends through barbaric life almost without a break, and
survives largely and deeply in the midst of civilization." 2
These benignant beings manifest their presence at night by
1
Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. n. pp. 27 foil.
2
Tylor, ib. pp. 24 foil.
treading softly on the floor, which creaks under their ghostly

footsteps.
The Macedonian spirits of the latter class are in all pro-
bability the degraded descendants of the Manes and Lares

of classical antiquity, and the kindly feelings with which they
are regarded may be the attenuated relics of ancient ancestor-
worship. To these remnants of classical cult was perhaps at

a later period superadded a coating of Slavonic colour.
In both the foregoing classes of spirits the English reader
which haunt
will recognize close relatives of the familiar ghosts,
many an English house and form the subject of many a con-

versation, and of an occasional angry controversy between
believers and sceptics. The Teutonic Brownie and the Celtic
Glaistig are also branches of the same genealogical tree
a tree whose boughs may justly be said to overshadow the
universe. But a closer relationship can perhaps be established
with the Domovoys of the Russian peasant which, like their
Macedonian cousins, are of two kinds benevolent or male-
:
volent, according as they belong to his own family or to that

of his neighbour. 1
1
Kalston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 129 foil.
172
CHAPTER XIV.
MACEDONIAN MYTHOLOGY.
The Drakos.
IT is extremely difficult much more so than folklorists

sometimes imagine in investigating the folklore of a country
to fix with absolute certainty where real superstition ends
and pure mythology begins. The peasant story-teller, though
conscious of the fact that he is narrating a myth, is all the
time more than half inclined to believe that the world which
he describes is not an improbable world, that in the mysterious
" "
times of old all things were possible ('? rov TraXyov /cypo o\a
ryevovvrav). This was the expression with which one of that
class once silenced my prosaic attempts at criticism. He went
even farther, and, having once confessed his own belief in the
historic truth of mythological creations, launched forth into
" "
a tirade against some learned men and schoolmasters (ypa/m-
/jLano-fjuevoL KOI Sacncakot) of his acquaintance, who were so
stupid as to deny that there ever were such beings as the

Lamia and the Drakos. His words, which I quote from notes
taken down at the time, will perhaps be of interest to the
student of peasant psychology :
"Why," he exclaimed in accents of triumph, "I myself

remember seeing, as a child, monstrous horned snakes swarming
on yonder plain (Trepa '? rov tca^-rro). Where are they now 1
There also used to be lions and bears; but they have dis-
appeared before modern guns. The same thing must surely
have happened to the Lamias and the Drakoi."
Both these monsters may be said to dwell in the debatable
borderland between the two worlds : Faith and avowed Fiction.
Macedonian Mythology 261
The Drakos (Apa/eo? or Apa/cozrra?) can be described as

a cousin-german to the Black Giant already disposed of. Like
him he haunts the wells (hence called Aparcovepia), and works
mischief on the people by withholding the water. This habit
of the monster is alluded to in the following lines, which form
the beginning of a song heard at Nigrita :
"
Kara) '? rov At 6&c0po, Kara) '9 rov "At Tecopyrj
HavrjyvpiTO-i, yevovrav, /jL6<yd\o iravrjyvpi.
To Travijyvpi
1
\av piKpo tc
77 rcKawr} *rav
TLparel o Ap:o? TO vepo, Sti/ra TO
At\|ra KOI fjna dpôvricrcra irovrav

Yonder at St Theodore's, yonder at St George's
A fair was held, a great fair.
The space was narrow and the crowd was large.

The Drakos held back the water and the people were athirst,
Athirst was also a lady who was heavy with child.
A similar circumstance forms the groundwork of a little tale
from Southern Greece :
The Drakos and the Bride. 2
Once upon a time there was held a wedding. The groom's

party started from his house on their way to the bride's, who
lived in a neighbouring village. They got there safely; but
on their way back, when they reached the middle of the road,
lo and behold there sprang before the procession a Drakos.
!
He was a lame one, 'tis true, but still he was terrible. He

held them for half an hour in a ravine with the intention of
hurting them, who knows \ perhaps even of eating them. The
people were all paralyzed with fear. The bride alone retained
her presence of mind. She bethought herself of a means of
escape, and stepping forth stood in front of the monster
and said :
Bride: I am Lightning's child, Thunder's grandchild.

I am the Hurler of Thunderbolts, she who flashes and booms.
1
It will be noticed that the word is used in three senses :
/air, the place
where the fair is held, and the people at the fair.
2 ' 1
NeoeXX^tKct Hapa^d;a,' Athens, I. Nicolaides, 1899, Part I. p. 63.

Once when I flashed I burnt up forty Dragons,
One was left, a lame one can that be your lordship : 1
Dragon : I am he.
Bride: Stand aside, friends, that I may flash and burn him up.
Dragon (frightened}: Come, pass on ; come, go your way ; good luck to
1
your wedding.
So thanks to the bride's cleverness they all escaped.
In another popular legend, a bridegroom had bound himself

by a solemn vow to go to a Dragon and submit to be treated
as breakfast. I translate the version of the story current at
Liakkovikia. 2
B. Wherefore art thou sad, Yanni, and rejoicest not?

Perchance thou art displeased with me, my person or my portion?
G. I am pleased with thee, my Fair One, both with thy person and
with thy portion ;
But the Dragon has asked me to go to breakfast.
B. Whithersoever thou goest, my Yanni, thither shall I come with thee.
G. Where 1 am Fair One, no maid can go.
going, my
B. Whithersoever thou goest, my Yanni, thither shall I come with thee,
I willcook for thee thy dinner, I will spread for thee thy mattress.
G. Where I am going, my Fair One, no maid can go.
There is nor cooking nor eating nor mattress-spreading nor sleeping

;
there.
So the two set forth to go, like a pair of pretty doves,
And they found the Dragon leaning against the fountain.
When the Dragon espied them, he said in high glee :
D. Double has come my breakfast, double has come my dinner !
When Yanni heard this, he said to his Fair One :
TS d(TTpaTri)s Traidi, TTJS Ppovrapas eyybvi

'E7W/XCU d<rrpa7r6/3oAos V dcrrpd^rw /cat
Mid 0opd <rav ^rrpai/'a aapavTa. Apd/c' ou\' r's

"Eâs Kovrabs aTro/Jieve' fjLirds K' eT<r' 77 dfievTeid <rov
Apd/cos
, <rv/j,iredepoi, v' aarpfyu vd TOV xai/'w."
ApctKos
(In his fear he apparently forgets the fifteen- syllable metre, and answers lamely)
""AiVre, TrepdVre, aiVre 's TO Ka\6, KaXopptft/c' rj x aP^ 0"as."
2 A. A. Tovcriov, Ta Tpayotidia rrjs Harpidos /*ou' No. 130, '0 ApaKovras.
'
Cp. Passow, Nos 509, 510, which refer to the same subject, treated in a different
manner.
G. Did I not tell thee, my Fair One, that thou shouldst not come
with me?
B. Go on, my Yanni, go on go on and fear not.
;
Nine Dragons have I eaten up, and this one will be the tenth.
When the Dragon heard this, he was mortally afraid :
D. Pray, friend Yanni, whose daughter is she ?

The Fair One answered and to the Dragon said :
B. I am Lightning's daughter, Thunder's grand-daughter,

If I like, I may flash and thunder and overwhelm thee on the spot.
She flashed and thundered and overwhelmed the Dragon on the spot.
In these legends the Drakos figures as a large uncouth

monster akin to the Troll of Norse, the Ogre of southern, and
the Giant of our own folk-tales. His simplicity of mind is
equal and he is easily outwitted. Indeed, the

to his might,
Drakos compares most unfavourably with the Devil of the
Bible and the Koran. He has none of the subtlety of the
Tempter of Hebrew and Christian tradition, or of the Moham-
medan Afrit, who is considered the embodiment of cleverness,
so much so that to call one afrit is the highest compliment
a Mohammedan can pay to one's intelligence.
His similarity to the Teutonic Giant is accentuated by the
fact that the Drakos, like his northern counterpart, is also
regarded as the performer of feats beyond ordinary human

strength. As in Ireland, for example, we hear of a Giant's
" "
Causeway, so in Macedonia we come across a Drakos's Weight
(TOV Apdtcov TO Spd/ju) a big stone to the south of Nigrita ;
"
a " Drakos's Shovelful (77 (j)/cvapia TOV &pd/cov) a mound
of earth near the other monument (rov ;
a
"
Drakos's Tomb "
Apd/cov TO fjLvijfjLopi)
a rock in the same neighbourhood, in
which peasant imagination detects a resemblance to a high-
capped dervish, resting against the slope of the hill; and a
"Drakos's Quoits" (Apa/coVerâ^) 1 two solitary rocks standing
1
Cp. "In the island of Carystos, in the Aegean, the prostrate Hellenic
columns in the neighbourhood of the city are said to have been flung down
from above by the Drakos.
In Tenos, a smooth rock, which descends precipitously into the sea, is called
the Dragoness's Washing-board, from its resemblance to the places where Greek
women wash their clothes." Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of Turkey,
vol. n. p. 294.
in the plain of Serres, not far from the village of Liakkovikia.
Concerning these rocks is told the following tale :
The Princess and the Two Dragons. 1
There was once in the country a king who had an only

daughter. She was a lovely, beautiful maiden, and her name
was Photeine. Two princes in the neighbourhood were
enamoured of her. They both were marvellously tall and
strong, and men called them Dragons. The king feared
them greatly. One day they both came to Princess Photeine's
father and asked for his daughter's hand. The king, on
hearing the object of their visit, was seized with alarm
and knew not what to do. For he feared lest, by pre-
ferring of them, he should incur the wrath of the
one
other. He
suddenly bethought himself of this plan. He
proposed to his daughter's suitors to throw the quoit, saying
that the one who beat the other should become Photeine's
husband. They agreed with pleasure, and they each took
up a rock of an equal size and flung it with all their
might from the same spot. But neither of them won for ;
the rocks both fell in the same place. Photeine's father then
bade them build each a castle of the same size, saying that
the one who finished his first, should take his daughter
for wife. Again the lovesick Giants began and ended their
task at exactly the same time. They then decided to engage
in single combat. They fought with so great a fury that they
both fell. When the Princess Photeine heard that these brave
suitors had fallen victims to their love for her, she grieved
profoundly and resolved to live and die a maiden. She retired

to a lonely part of her father's dominions, and there spent the
remainder of her life in saintly seclusion.
The Drakos when conceived of as a giant sometimes has
a spouse (Apdicaiva or Apatcovrio-cra), quite as big, strong, and
stupid as himself. The family is occasionally increased by a

number of daughters who are remarkable for size, strength
1
A. A. Tovfflov, ''H Kara rb Udyyaiov Xw/m,' pp. 27 foil.
and partiality for human_flesh, and who inherit their parents'

abundant lack of wit.
But the Drakos is very frequently identified with the
serpent (Spd/cwv, 'dragon'), out of whom he was possibly
evolved in the course of time. The Scythic Nagas are similarly
confounded with serpents, 1 while in Russian folklore the Snake
"
sometimes retains throughout the story an exclusively reptilian
character sometimes he is of a mixed nature, partly serpent
;
"
and partly man. 2 In Albanian mythology also the Negro, who
corresponds to the Greek Black Giant and, like the latter, owes
his origin to the Arabian Nights, absorbs and is in his turn
absorbed by the serpent, while in Wallachian folk-tales the
serpent element has superseded entirely the giant attributes,

and the Wallachian dragon, like the Russian Zmyei, 3 appears
in all the monstrous glory of wings and claws, breathing fire
and threatening ruin to all whom it may concern.
Mythologists agree in regarding the Drakos as a member
of a large family of children of death, darkness, and natural
forces hostile to man. The Drakos is said to embody the idea
of a thunderstorm,4 and from that point of view he may be
considered as the modern^ representative of the ancient Python
slain by Apollo, even as the thunder-cloud is dispelled and
destroyed by the rays of the Sun. On the other hand, two of
the legends given above rather suggest that the Drakos is a
personification of the drought and therefore dreads the Bride,

who wields the powers of thunder and lightning. But where
all is so dark it would be rash to be
dogmatic.
The Lamia.
The Lamia (Aa/ua) is connected with the Drakos Jjy
affinity of disposition and very often by the bonds of matrimony.
She shares to the full his cannibal propensities and his infantile
simplicity of mind. Her voracity has given rise to the proverb
1
Wheeler, History of India, vol. i. p. 147.
2
Balston, Russian Folk-Tales, p. 65.
3
4
For an exhaustive disquisition on the Modern Greek Drakos see Tozer,
Researches in the Highlands of Turkey, vol. n. pp. 294 foil.
"to eat like a Lamia" (rpaxyet aav Aa/ua). In spite of this
unladylike trait, she is of noble descent and can point with
pride to the pages of classical literature in proof of her pedigree,
though, it must be added, the circumstances in which she
figures therein are not such as a noble lady would be anxious
to recall. 1
In Liddell and Scott's Greek Lexicon Lamia is defined as
"
a fabulous monster said to feed on man's flesh." This is true,
but does not contain the whole truth. Lamia was not always
a monster. She was once a fair maiden, so fair that Zeus
himself succumbed to her charms. The result of this admira-
tion was a number of beautiful children, which, however, Hera,
the jealous spouse of the " Father of gods and men," snatched
from their mother's arms. The latter went to hide her grief
and despair amongst the rocks of the sea, and it was there that
her beauty decayed, and she became a cruel, hideous monster,
the terror of children and the laughing-stock of the Athenian
play-goer. Another ancient tradition describes her as a beau-
tiful sorceress who upon occasion assumed the form of a snake.
In the modern conception of the Lamia we recognize these

ancient traits, and more especially the first. The sudden death
of a child is sometimes attributed to her cruelty. But on the
other hand she, like her modern husband, the Drakos, is often
represented as withholding the water from a district, until a
human victim is offered to her. In the tale given below she is
"
pictured as a great marvellous monster with crooked claws and
"
a pair of wings, each of which reached down to yonder plain
apparently a winged serpent of the mythical dragon species,
2
although she is also given four legs and three heads.
For this tale I am indebted to Kyr Khaidhevtos (lit.
Mr Worth-to-be-petted) of Vassilika. Kyr Khaidhevtos is a
For instance,
1
the scandalous story of
ws 17 Aa/tf dXoDo-'
eirtpdero (Ar.
Vesp. 1177) seems to have been notorious at Athens in the year 422 B.C., and
one can imagine the peals of laughter which must have greeted the comedian's
allusion toit on the stage.
Of the Strifjla, an evil monster akin to the Lamia and equally popular in
2
Southern Greek mythology, I found no vestiges in Macedonia, except the name,

which is very common but only as a term of abuse, applied to wicked hags,
pretty nearly in the same way as our witch.
character worth-to-be-studied as a type of a large class of

Macedonian peasants, who shrewd-
to a plentiful share of native
ness add an equal portion of faith, if we accept the Sunday
schoolgirl's definition of faith as a capacity

for believing
"
what you know is not true."
Kyr Khaidhevtos enjoys the reputation of an ardent lover
and eloquent retailer of folk-tales. Nor does Fame flatter him,
as will presently appear. In my search after folklore I could not,
therefore, do better than apply to Kyr Khaidhevtos for a few
scraps from his rich store. He readily promised me that favour

and, unlike some other local folklorists, did not forget to fulfil
his promise. He upon me one evening after the day's

called
work was done, and regaled my ears till long after " the Moon
and the Pleiades had sunk to rest/'
Kyr Khaidhevtos is a great actor, as well as a great nar-
rator. His hands, his head, his face were all in perpetual motion,
and they kept pace with the narrative so well that even one
deaf could have followed the drift of the story. His eyes now
glittered in wrath, now vanished behind the swelling curves
of his rosy cheeks, according as he was engaged in a fierce
or funny episode. For instance, in order to express the
hurly-burly of battle and the tug of war, he would hook his
two forefingers together and, with eyes flashing and bristling
moustache, tug ferociously at them. To describe the majestic
flight of an eagle, he spread his arms and swayed them slowly
upwards, accompanying the action with a solemn look at the

beams of the ceiling. If he wanted to give an idea of a hero's
physique, he would square his own broad shoulders and swell
his chest. The rapid movement of a man running away from
danger was indicated with a quick opening and closing of
the fingers of the right hand. The roar of rushing water was
likewise made by a deep rumbling noise which issued
real
from Kyr Khaidhevtos's inner self.
It was easy to see that he had worked himself into sincere
self-delusion the privilege of genius and the secret of success.
Though he occasionally helped himself to a pinch of snuflf, he

did not allow this indulgence to interfere with the performance.
Like a true artist he knew the value of a spell and was anxious
not to break it
by interrupting the narrative, except now and
again to moisten his lips with a drop of arrack and water.
Let us now listen to the raconteur himself.
The Story of the Prince and the Eaglet

"
Here begins the tale. Good evening to you.
Once upon a time there was a king who had three sons.
The youngest was the bravest and handsomest of the lot.
A time came when the king was taken dangerously ill. He
was at the point of death, and the doctors said that, in order
to recover, he should eat the fat of a male hare. He called to
himself the princes and said to them :
"
My children, I am dangerously ill, and the doctors have said
that, in order to recover, I must eat the fat of a male hare. So

I beg of you to go out to hunt and to bring me a male hare."
"Very well, father," said the boys and, having taken their
bows and clubs, they set out on their way to the far-off forests,
in order to find hares.
The two elder sons did not succeed in killing one, but the
youngest killed three. Unfortunately, none of them were male.

His brothers began to be envious of him, because he had proved
abler than they. Next day they went out once more to hunt,
and again the same thing happened. The two elder ones failed
to do anything, while the youngest killed two hares, and one of
these two hares was a male. Their envy grew thereat, and they
said one to the other :
"
Let us kill him and then say to our father that robbers
came and slew him."
Close by there was a well, a very ancient well with marble
slabs round about, and the water issued forth from within
and flowed over the marble slabs. When the younger brother
joined them, they said to him :
"
May we not drink some of the water of this well, especially
as we are so thirsty?"
" "
Right," answered he, let us drink."
1
For the original Greek see Appendix II .
"We must, however, drink in due order," said the eldest,

"First one, then the other, and next after him the third."
So first drank the eldest, next the second, and last of all the
youngest. He put his club and his bow under his arm and laid
himself down upon his face, in order to drink of the water
which flowed over the marble-slabs. Then one of them seized
him by one foot, and the other by the other, and they flung him
into the well. So the prince fell in, and his brothers fled and
returned to the palace. When they got home, they took the
hare to their father and said :
"Father, behold, we have succeeded at last in finding a

"
male hare but we have lost our brother
;
and they pretended
to be overwhelmed with sorrow.
" "
What what
did you say ? how has that happened ?
! asks
the king, rushing out of bed for he loved his youngest son
;
more dearly than the others.

"
"
What
can we say, father ? answered they. " As we were
hunting, suddenly a band of robbers came, and they meant to
destroy us all we two managed to escape but our poor
:
;
1
brother perished."
Then great wailing arose in the palace. The king and the
queen put on black, and wept bitterly.
Now let us leave those wailing, and let us go to the
prince. The well into which they threw him was exceedingly
deep. He fell forthree years before he touched bottom. After

three years he set foot on the ground and came out at the
other end. He opens his eyes and sees that he is in another
world was the Nether World. Far, far away he espies a
: it
light. He
walks on and on and at last arrives at a cottage.
Within there was an old woman kneading dough iri a small
trough, in order to make a cake. The prince noticed that the
old woman had no water, but only wept and kneaded the flour
with her tears, and she also spat. And as she wept and spat
and kneaded the dough, she sang a sorrowful dirge.
The prince wondered greatly at seeing her spitting and
weeping, and took pity on her.
1
This part of the narrative recalls, and perhaps is an echo of, the history
of Joseph. Gen. xxxvii.
"
Good evening, grandmother," says he.
"
Good be to my child," says she, and she looked at him in
amazement; for he was a

brave-looking youth and carried
big,
"
the club in one hand and his bow on his shoulder. Whence
comest thou my son ? Thou art not one of these parts. Art
"
thou perchance come from the Upper World ?
"
Yes, I come from the Upper World but how did you find ;
"
that out, grandmother ?
"
Oh, we have no such men like thee here. It is easy to
see that thou art from above. And how didst thou get down
"
here ?
Then the prince told her everything how his brothers had :
thrown him into the well and all the rest.

"
But wilt thou not tell me," he says to the old woman,
"
Wherefore dost thou not get some water wherewith to knead
the bread, but thou kneadest it with tears and saliva, and
"
wherefore dost thou weep and wail ?
"
Ah, my son, water we have none in these regions. There
is a well but it is guarded by a Lamia, a monster with four
;
legs and three heads, and it demands every month a maiden to

devour, in order to let the water issue forth. This month the
lot fell only daughter Maruda, and she is now bound
upon my
with chains to a plane-tree. To-morrow the monster will come
out and eat her. Therefore do I weep and wail."
When the Prince heard these words, he said :
"
I will kill this monster and rescue both thy daughter and
the whole country. 2 Only give me a morsel of this cake, when
it is baked."
1
This description sounds like a reminiscence of Cerberus, the three-headed
dog which guarded the gates of the nether world of the ancients. It is not
impossible that the raconteur's mind had come under classical influence ; for
he told me that one of the despised tribe of schoolmasters obliged him with
occasional readings from Greek History, which an artist like Kyr Khaidhevtos
would find no difficulty in assimilating and turning to good account.
2
The incident of a monster withholding the water, until a maiden is given
to him, and the hero killing the monster and rescuing the maiden, is a common-
place in the folklore of many nations.
[Cp. Le petit Eouget sorcier, a Modern Greek tale in a French translation

first published by J. A. Buchon, in his La Grece Contlnentale et la Moree,
"Ah, my son, how canst thou kill the monster, since even
the king of this city and his army have been fighting it so
"
many years and have not prevailed ?
"
answers the Prince.
I will kill it,"
"
Go thou not, or it will devour thee also."
"
I fear it not. Either shall I destroy this monster, or I
will die."
As they were talking, he suddenly heard a cry Kra, kra. :
He turned his head round and saw a great bird standing in

a corner of the cottage. It was an eagle golden like an angel.
He asks :
"What is this bird?"

"
This bird my husband on dying left to me. It is now a
hundred years since then. I have reared it, till it grew and
became as thou seest it."
" "
And that she-buffalo, what is she ?
"That buffalo also my husband left me, a hundred years
ago, and I reared her," says the old woman.

So she gave him a morsel of the cake to eat, after having
baked it, and the Prince set forth, with his club and bow, to go
where Maruda stood bound, waiting for the monster to come
out and devour her.
When he got there and saw her, he said :
" "
Wherefore art thou here ?
"It is my destiny. The lot has fallen on me and I am
Paris, 1843, and reproduced by E. Legrand in his Eecueil de Contes Populaires

Grecs, Paris 1881. Also Hahn, Griechische und Albanesische Mdrchen, No. 98.]
It recalls vividly the legends of Perseus and Andromeda and of Herakles and
" a
Hesione, which are by modern mythologists interpreted as description of the
Sun slaying the Darkness." Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 339.
The appreciation of water in the Near East, and the common occurrence
of drought, may have given birth to the idea, apart from all mythological
allegory. [Cp. Pindar's dpurrov p.h vdwp.] Most travellers from Col. Leake
to Mr H. F. Tozer, and since, have noticed and commented upon the value set
on water by the natives of these lands. They often describe one kind of it as
"light" (e\a0/)6) and another as "heavy" (J3ap6) or "hard" (crK\-r)p6) and,
in a word, display all the delicacy of taste of trained connoisseurs. At one
place my host, in pressing a huge quantity of food on me at dinner, assured me

that I need not be afraid of over-eating myself, as their water was good enough
to bring about the digestion even of stones (/cat Trtrpais vavai TCUJ
waiting for the monster to come out and eat me, in order to let
the water issue forth."
Then the Prince drew his sword, cut the chains asunder,
and said to her:
"Fear not, I will rescue thee."
She, seeing a youth fair like a star, as he was, took pity on
him and said :
"
Flee far from hence, or thou also wilt perish as so many
others have perished. Look, yonder is the graveyard where lie
buried all those who have died these many years past in trying
to rescue the country."
"
Be thou
easy in thy mind," says the Prince, and he turned
and looked, and saw the whole plain covered with graves. But
he was not daunted. And as they were talking, there came a
fearful din like thunder, and the ground shook as though there
were an earthquake.
"
The monster is coming out. Flee, flee, or it will eat thee
also," Maruda cries.

But the Prince seized her in his arms and carried her to
a height some way off, and then came back to wrestle with the
Lamia. And the Lamia was a great marvellous monster with
crooked claws and a pair of wings, each of them reaching
from here down to yonder plain. She issued from the well and
clutched the earth with her claws, ready to pounce. And when
she saw the Prince she said :
"
Ah, well did
my Lamia-mother tell me Many a man
old :
'
wilt thou eat, but one day there will come such a one, and of
him thou must be afraid.'" 1
Then the Prince rushed upon the Lamia, club in hand, and
belaboured her, and he cut off with his sword first one head
1
The Cyclops in Homer on a similar occasion bethinks himself, when too
late, of an old prophecy :
fj yudXa Srj fj.e 7raXa/0ara 6t(f(f>a6'
TLS evddSe yu.dj'Tis dvijp rjtis re fj.^yas re,
6s /AOL (f>r)
ra.de iravra
)(ei.pCjv % 'Odwrjos a/j-apr^crea'dai OTTWTTT}?.

Odyss. ix. 507 foil.
and then another, till he slew her utterly, and there was not
even a nostril left, as the saying goes. 1
people, great and small, every one of them, and the

The
King with his Council of Twelve, were on the walls of the city
watching the fight. And when the monster was slain, the
water began to issue forth with a loud roar, and all cisterns and
fountains were filled, and the cauldrons which the people held
ready.
Then the Prince took Maruda by the hand in order to lead
her back to her mother, and she gave him her ring and said :
"
I am thine now."
And when they came to the cottage, and the old woman saw
them, she would not yet believe that the monster had really
perished, but in the end she believed. Then says the Prince :
"
have achieved this feat thanks to the morsel which thou
I
gavest me; the morsel which thou hadst kneaded with thy
tears. It was that which gave me strength, and I overcame
the monster. Now thou wilt give me thy daughter for wife,
and I shall be for ever thy son."
So they embraced each other, and Maruda gave him her
ring, and he gave her his, and the betrothal was concluded.
But the King and his council were displeased that a stranger
should have succeeded in accomplishing so great a feat, while
they had fought for so many years and failed. And they wished
to destroy him. They came forth with bows and swords, a great
army, and they marched towards the cottage in order to seize

him. When the old woman heard of this, she said :
"
You two must now flee and escape. I am an old woman,
leave me here, I do not care if I die."
" "
How shall we flee, my dear mother ? answers the Prince.
"
Can become an eagle and fly
I ? I am but a man. Let them
come, and God's will be done."
1
The combat between the hero and the monster, while the maiden for whom
they are fightingis looking on from the summit of a height, presents exactly the
same picture as that drawn by Sophocles in the description of the fight between
Herakles and the Biver-god Achelous, the prize being Deianeira the soft and ' '
"
beauteous nymph who the while "sat on a conspicuous
all mound awaiting
him who was to be her spouse." Track. 517 foil.
A. F. 18
Then the old woman said :
"
This eagle which my husband left me, and which I have
nourished for so many years, 'tis he who will carry you out."
They asked the eagle and said :
"
It is thy turn now to help us, who have nourished thee for
so many years."
"
is the very hour for which I have been waiting,"
This
answered the eagle. "You two mount on my neck, and take
with you many provisions. Take three hundred okes of meat
and three hundred okes of water, and let us fly."
"
Where shall we find the meat, and where shall we find a
bottle big enough to hold so much water ? " they asked.
"
Slay the she-buffalo which also you have nourished for so
many years. Flay her and on her flesh we shall feed, and of
her skin make a bottle and fill it with water."
They slew the she-buffalo and loaded the eagle with the
meat on one side and the skin on the other, and the Prince
with the maiden mounted on his neck, and the eagle spread
his wings and by little and little soared up.
" down and
God be with you," cried the old woman, and fell
died.
The eagle soared and soared for twelve long years,
and by
little and little the provisions began to fail.
"
Kra, kra" cried the eagle.
"What dost thou want?"
"I am hungry."
Then the Prince cut off the muscle from his left arm and
put into the eagle's beak.
it
"Kra, kra," cried the eagle again.

"What dost thou want?"
"I am thirsty."
Then the Prince set his mouth close to the eagle's beak and
gave him saliva to drink.

So day by day they drew nearer to the Upper World. But
once more the eagle grew hungry and the Prince cut off the
muscle from his right arm and gave it to him to eat. Then he
cut off the muscle from his left leg, and next from his right
leg. And he watered him from his own mouth, till they
reached the Upper World, and saw the light of the sun, and
they alighted on a mountain close to the city of his father.
Then the eagle said :
"
remain on the top of this mountain. You go into
I will
the city, and if perchance you ever be in need, think of me.
Take this feather, burn it, and I shall understand from the
smell and come at once." And he pulled a golden little feather
from his brow and handed it to them.
When they reached the city, the Prince asked :
" "
Where is the road which leads to the
palace ? and the
people showed it to him.
Twenty-five or thirty years had gone by since he had left,

and his father and mother had grown old, and he himself
had grown taller and looked even more heroic than before.
Yet his mother, as soon as she saw him, knew him at once.
Eh, does a mother ever forget her child ? Let ever so many
years go by, when she sees it, she will still know it, even as a
ewe, when she has lost her young one, seeks for it here and
there and everywhere, and finds it by the smell.
Even so the Prince's mother, as soon as she saw him, rose
from the throne on which she was sitting with the king, opened
her arms and cried out :
"
Our son our son whom we deemed lost. Dost thou not
!
know him, husband ? "

The King on hearing this, rose too; but the others the
Council of Twelve said to him
1
:
"
Thou must first examine him, lest he be an impostor for ;
we know that thy youngest son has been dead ever so many
years."
Then the King set about examining him, and the Prince
related everything as it had happened but they would not
;
believe him.
" " "
How can that be ? These things thou
says the King.
speakest of: a Nether World and Lamias are things we have
never heard of."
1
The kings in modern Greek fairy-tales are generally constitutional
monarchs, ruling in accordance with the advice of a Privy Council, or Cabinet,
of Twelve.
182
Then said the Queen:
"
My husband, thou art not right. own child.This is our
I know him my heart tells me that."
:
Then the King ordered his secretaries to find in their books

the time when the Prince disappeared, and other secretaries to
write down everything as he narrated it now. Afterwards he
turned to the Prince and said :
"
Well, suppose we credit what thou sayest about going
"
down below, how hast thou come back ?
Then the Prince related how the eagle had brought them
to the Upper World, and they wondered even more, and
refused to believe him.
"
This thing must be attested by witnesses," said the
"
King. Where is this eagle ? What has become of the
bird?"
"
Look at my limbs which I have cut in order to feed him,
ifyou will not believe otherwise," answers the Prince, and he
showed his arms and his legs, from which he had cut off the
flesh. But still they found it hard to believe.
Then Maruda bethought herself of the feather, and said :
"
What
hast thou done, my husband, with the feather which
the eagle gave us ? Now is the time to burn it, and he will
come to bear witness for us."
" "
Thou speakest I had forgotten it,"
well," says the Prince,
and he takes the feather from his pocket. And when the
others saw it, they wondered, for they had never in their lives
seen such a beautiful golden feather.
Then the Prince put it close to the fire in the charcoal-pan,
which stood in the middle of the room, and ignited it, and the
palace was filled with a fine odour.

Itbecame known outside in the city that such a bird would
come, and all the people went out to see it. As they were
awaiting the eagle's coming, they suddenly saw a great cloud,
and by little and little the eagle came down with a loud whirr
and sat upon the terrace of the palace.
Then said the Prince :
"
My King, let us all go up to the terrace, and the eagle
will come there."
And they all went up to the terrace, and saw the eagle, and
the eagle did homage to the King, and the King asked him :
"
Tell us, O eagle, how didst thou ascend from the Nether
World?"
And the eagle spoke and related everything. And when he
finished, he cried glu, glu and vomited forth one piece of flesh.
"
This is," he said, " from thy left arm, which thou cutst off
in order to feed me," and he set it in its place, spat, and stuck
it. Next he brought out another piece and stuck it to the
right arm, and likewise to the legs.

Then they all believed, and the king embraced his son and
Maruda, and seated them near him, and said :
" "
So thy brothers sought to destroy thee ? and he ordered
them to be seized and slain but the Prince fell to his feet and
;
kissed the hem of his robe, and begged him to forgive them.
" "
They sought to do me ill," he said, but it has turned out
well ;
for had they not flung me into the well, I should not
have seen that world, nor should I have performed so many
featsand deeds of valour, and become famous."
After a deal of trouble he prevailed on the king to forgive
them. Then they embraced all round, and lived happy ever
after. May we be happier still !
At that was present, and it is there that

judgment I also
1
I got the tale which I have told you this evening."
The conclusion of the narrative was followed by a critical
discussion. My informant's transcendent contempt for consis-
tency led me to point out timidly that, if the hero had spent
three years going down and twelve coming up, and there is
no allowance made for residence in the Nether World, he
could hardly be said to have been absent from his native land
"
twenty-five or thirty years." I thought this an unanswerable
argument. But I was mistaken. It was beautiful to observe
1
For a parallel to this story in a French translation, see G. Georgeakis and
Leon Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, pp. 38 foil. Also, in a German translation,
Hahn, Mcirchen, No. 70. The eagle incident also occurs in " La Belle de la
Terre," an Albanian story in Auguste Dozon, Contes Albanais, No. 5; other
references are given in Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, pp. 39 and 40, notes. I have
never seen the story in a Greek text.

the tolerant smile with which Kyr Khaidhevtos waved aside
"
my objections. You have no imagination, sir, I can see that,
and am sincerely sorry for you," that is what his eyes said.
But what his courteous lips actually uttered was " This is but
:
"
a fairy-tale (avro 'vat, irapa/jLvBi) a stereotyped phrase from
which he refused to depart. And yet it was Kyr Khaidhevtos
"
who later delivered the vigorous denunciation of learned men
"
and schoolmasters recorded at the beginning of this chapter.
CHAPTER XV.
ALEXANDEK AND PHILIP IN FOLK-TRADITION.
EVERYTHING that savours of antiquity is by the Macedonian
peasant attributed to the two great kings of his country. His

songs and traditions, of which he is vastly and justly proud, are
"
often described as having come down from the times of Philip
and Alexander and Herakles," a comprehensive period to
which all remnants of the past are allotted with undiscrimi-
nating impartiality.
On the way from Drama to Cavalla, and a little back from
the road, stand the massive relics of an ancient gate, facing the
ruins of Philippi. This pile is known to the people by the
" "
name of Alexander the Great's Palace (TO IlaXcm rov
Me<yaXou *A\eJ;dv$pov).
"
At Demir Hissar, or The Iron Castle," on the Salonica-
Serres railway line, there are some remnants of an old citadel,
or fortress (/cdo-rpo), overlooking the ravine between the flanks
of which the town is wedged. These ruins are assigned to
King Philip. A big stone jar discovered among them some
time ago was promptly labelled " King Philip's money-jar, or
treasury." The same romantic tradition discerns in two smooth
stones, lying on the rocky bank of the local river, the " Washing-
"
boards on which " The Princesses" (Bao^XoTrouXa^) the
daughters of King Philip used to bleach (\v/caivovv) their
clothes in the manner of Macedonian women at the present day.
The two solitary rocks in the plain of Serres, already noted
as the "Dragon's Quoits," are by the inhabitants of Nigrita
" "
called the Quoits of Alexander the Great (Herpais rov
Meyd\ov 'A\e%dvSpov), who is supposed to have thrown them ;
for did he not the age when, according to a muleteer's

live in
phrase, "God was wont to vouchsafe heroic might to men"

(aftct)z/e row? avrpeito/jievovs) ?
Again, near the village of Stavros, or "The Cross," close to
the eastern coast of the Chalcidic Peninsula, and a little to the
north of the site where Stageira, Aristotle's birthplace, is
generally located, there rises a mountain, unnamed in maps, but
1
known to the peasantry as "Alexander's Mount " (TO Bouz/o rov

'
*A\et;dvSpov, or, less correctly, -7-779 AXegdvSpas) a designation

especially appropriate in a neighbourhood which is associated
with the name of Alexander's famous tutor.
To the south of Stavros lies the village of Lympsiasda,
which the natives derive from the name of Alexander's mother
"
(Olympias), according to Col. Leake not without probability."
This traveller gives the name, less correctly, as Lybjadha and
on the local etymology remarks that " the omission of the
initial o, the third case, and the conversion of Av/j,7ri,d&a into
AvfjLTTT&dSa, are all in the ordinary course of Romaic corrup-

tion."
In the same paragraph he records that "a situation a
littlebelow the serai of the Aga at Kastro, where some
fragments of columns are still seen, is said to have been the
site of Alexander's mint. Both Turks and Greeks, and even
the poorest peasants, are full of the history of Alexander,
though sometimes strangely disfigured, and not unfre-
it is
2
quently Alexander is confounded with Skanderbeg."
The incantation in which the name of Alexander the Great
3
is
employed to drive away the demons of the whirlwind is a
further instance of the tenacity of tradition, and it also points
to the curious halo which in the course of centuries of ignorance
1
Col. Leake thinks that the village itself is on the site of the old Stageirus :
" These remains

(viz. of ancient walls), the position, and the name Stavros,
which, the accent in Zrdyeipos being on the first syllable, is a natural con-
traction of that name, seem decisive of Stavros being the site of Stageirus."
Travels in Northern Greece, vol. in. p. 168.
2 3 v.
II). p. 166. supra, p. 251.
Alexander and Philip in Folk- Tradition 281
has gathered round the great King's personality. In popular

estimation Alexander fills a place analogous to that occupied by
Solomon in the Arabian Nights and other oriental compositions.
He is credited with a mysterious power over the spirits of evil,
and his is a name to conjure with.
Legendary History of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great has from the earliest times been the
favourite hero of romance. Even in his life-time, so strong was
the glamour of his wonderful personality and exploits, that no
legend was deemed by his contemporaries too wild for credence.
"
In Strabo's words all those who attended on Alexander pre-
1
ferred the marvellous to the true." If such was the tendency
among men who knew the hero in the flesh, we can easily
imagine the attitude of people removed from him in time and
space. Hence arose a cycle of narratives, at first nebulous
enough, no doubt, but which were soon condensed into the fable
known as the Alexander story. It has been surmised that this
extraordinary production, which is redeemed from the charge of
being a bad history by being a bad romance, originated in the
Valley of the Nile immediately after the conqueror's death, and
thence spread like an epidemic over Europe and Asia. How-
ever that may be, the oldest version that has come down to us
is Greek and goes under the name of Pseudo-Callisthenes,
in
who supposed to have lived in the second century of our era.
is 2
'
This Greek Life of Alexander (Bio? A\e%avpov) has directly
or indirectly been the prolific parent of a numerous
progeny
extending through many ages and languages. In the East we
find the legend popular the Syrians, the Armenians, the
among
Copts, the Abyssinians, the Arabs, the Persians, the Turks, the
Malays and the Siamese. Hebrew literature is also rich in
storiesconcerning Alexander's career; but for these neither
Pseudo-Callisthenes nor his conjectural Egyptian progenitor
1
Trdvres fj-ev yap ol irepl 'A\âvdpov TO 6avfj.a.ffTOv avrl raXydovs a.Tre^x VTO
fjidXXov. Geogr. xv. 1. 28.
2
Several of the extantGreek MSB. have been collated and edited. See
C. Miiller, Pseudo-CaUisthenes
(in Arriani Anabasis, by F. Diibner), Paris, 1846
H. Meusel, Pseudo-CaUisthenes, Leipzig, 1871.
can be held responsible. In the West the Historia de
preliis
and many other Latin works, both in prose and in verse, held
the field for centuries until
they passed into the vernacular of
various countries and became known
to French, Italians,
Spaniards, Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians and Slavonians. In
the hands of the Troubadours Alexander was metamorphosed
into a mediaeval knight, and in this guise he crossed the
channel and found a home as Kyng Alisaunder among our old
1
English metrical romances. Needless to say, the Macedonian
in these posthumous peregrinations was obliged to
change not
only his garb and speech but also his religion. In the East, as
in the West, he frequently adopts the Christian creed and
distinguishes himself by his piety and scriptural erudition.
Some of these traits of character will appear in the History of
the Great Alexander of Macedon: his life, wars, and death*, of
which a resume is given below.
Whether this modern edition is the lineal descendant of
a version from an old Greek text, or is derived from some
mediaeval source, Eastern or Western, is a question to which I
dare give no answer. Its vocabulary and style, though modern
in the main, reveal numerous traces of a mediaeval origin.
The story itself bears to that of Pseudo-Callisthenes the same
degree of relationship which is found in most of the other
romances. But this is not the place for a minute comparison
and analysis. For our present purpose it is sufficient to state
"
that the story, under the popular designation of Chap-book of
Alexander the Great" (<&v\\da TOV MeydXov 'A\et;dv&pov),
has long been, and still is, a favourite reading among the lower
classes all over the Greek world, and has helped more than
anything else to keep the Conqueror's memory fresh and

1
Amongthe works to be consulted by those interested in the development
of the Alexander myth are E. A. Wallis Budge, The History of Alexander the
Great (Syriac version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes ; text with English translation
and notes), Cambridge, 1889; The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great
(Translation of the Ethiopia versions of Pseudo-Callisthenes and other writers),
London, 1896; Giusto Grion, I Nobili Fatti di Alessandro Magno (Old Italian
versions from the French), Bologna, 1872 etc. ;
2
''loTo/w'a TOV Me-ydXov 'AXefaz'Spou TOV Ma/ce56fos :
Bt'os, II6Xe/Aoi KCU Qdvaros
O,' Athens, I. Nicolaides, 1898.
Alexander and Philip in Folk-Tradition 283
confused. Numbers of these pamphlets are yearly sold to the

peasants of Macedonia by itinerant booksellers, and it was from
one of these diffusers of doubtful light that I obtained my
copy for the modest sum of one piastre (equal to 2Jd. sterling).
After what has already been said about the other versions
of the Alexander legend it would be superfluous to add that
this a "History" beside which Milton's History of

also is
England reads like a sober record of facts. A flippant critic

might describe it as a work conceived in dyspepsia and
executed in delirium.
In this mytho-historical composition, as in all the kindred
productions mentioned above, the birth of Alexander is attributed
to the miraculous intervention of the god Ammon, assisted by
1
a somewhat questionable character, Nektenabos, late king of
Egypt, subsequently Court magician and astrologer in ordinary
to Philip of Macedon. The child's entry into the world was
heralded by much thunder and lightning and other indications of
an abnormal origin. His education was entrusted to Aristotle and
Nektenabos jointly. " The lad used to go to the former in the
morning and to the latter in the afternoon": the one taught
him his letters, the other initiated him into the mysteries of
the stars.
Alexander's boyhood was signalized by many deeds fore-

shadowing his future pushfulness. One of these was the act
by which he repaid Nektenabos for his tuition. Master and
disciple were one evening standing on the top of a high tower
gazing at the heavenly bodies. Alexander suddenly, and rather
remarked
irrelevantly, :
"
O
thou who knowest so many things, dost thou know how
thou wilt come by thy death ?"
"
I shall meet my death at the hands of my son," answered
the astrologer.
1
The name Ne/crej/a/Sos of our text appears in the old MSS. of the Pseudo-
Callisthenes as Ne/craê/3ws or USeKTavafius, and occasionally as Ne/crej/a/Scis ;
in
the Syriac version as Naktibos; in the Ethiopic as Bektanis etc. In the Italian
versions Nattanabus, Natanabus, Nathabor, Natabor, Natanabor or Natanabo.
it is
All these and innumerable other forms are corruptions of the Egyptian Nekht-
neb-f, or Nectanebus II, who was defeated by the Persians in about 358 B.C.
"
Howcan a son slay his own father?" said Alexander, and
forthwith pushed his tutor over the parapet. Then, adding
insult to injury, he cried after the fallen sage, " Methinks thou
"
hast lost thine art, O master !
" "
It is not so, for thou art my son !
"
How can I be thy son, since Philip is my father ?" retorted
the disciple in a manner which showed that Aristotle's lessons
in Logic had not been wasted on him.
Thereupon Nektenabos, presumably interrupting his descent

(for these things happened before the discovery of the law of
gravitation), narrated to him at great length the secret story of

his birth, the truth whereof was known only to himself and
Alexander's mother, and then expired.
And now Alexander, having bewailed and buried his real
father befittingly, and done many other wondrous deeds in the
meantime, succeeds to the throne vacated by the death of his
presumed parent and sets out on his grand tour round the
globe. One of his earliest achievements is the conquest of
Western Europe, all the Potentates whereof were forced to do
homage and to pay tribute to him. The Romans, among other
things, endeavoured to win his favour by offering him Solomon's
great coat, which that eccentric individual Nebuchadnezzar had
stolen from Jerusalem also twelve jugs full of precious stones,
;
which had likewise belonged to Solomon and were kept by him

in the Holy of Holies in Holy Ziou ;
also Solomon's crown, set
with three gems which at night gleamed like lit candles, and
encircled with a wreath of twelve diamonds bearing the names
of the twelve months inscribed on them also the crown of the ;
great "Queen Sibyl"; also the royal armour of Priam, which

they had carried off from Troy, and a few other trifles of a
similar kind.
While doing Rome and the Romans, Alexander visited the
famous " temple of Apollo in that city," and the god's high-
priest "presented unto him myrrh, frankincense, and other
royal gifts." He likewise produced a book and read from it
the following
Prophecy from the Book of "In the year 5,000
the Hellenes :
there shall come forth a one-horned he-goat and shall put to flight
the leopards of the West. To the South shall he also go. And
in the East he shall meet the marvellous ram of the spread horns,
one whereof reaches to the South, and the other to the North.
The one-horned he-goat shall smite the marvellous ram in the
heart and slay him. Whereby all the rulers of the East shall be
terror-stricken, and all the swords of Persia shall be broken in
pieces. He shall also come to mighty Rome and shall be

unanimously acclaimed King of the Universe."
The Greek philosophers who attended the King in his
travels interpreted the oracle as follows :
" x
King Alexander, in the Vision of the prophet Daniel
the Empires of the West are named leopards, those of the South
lions, those of the East a two-horned ram to wit the empire
of the Medes and the empire of the Phoenicians and the
one-horned he-goat is the empire of the Macedonians."
King Alexander elated by the prophecy forthwith ordered
the Lords of England to build him a small fleet of some twelve
thousand stout galleys (fcdrepya ôvBpa eW Sco&e/ca ^tXiaSe?),
each galley to hold one thousand armed men and their provisions.
This was the beginning of his Eastern campaign. He sent his
cavalry under the command of Ptolemy and Philones to Barbary
"
by land," while he himself sailed to Egypt. After a prosperous
voyage of thirty days and thirty nights he reached the mouth
of the Gold Stream (xpvaoppoas 7rora//o?), where he built a
walled city and called it Alexandria. There his generals,
Ptolemy and Philones, joined him in the evening, fresh from
the conquest of Barbary.
Having allowed himself a few days' rest, Alexander
proceeded Troy, the city of Helen, the virtuous woman
to
who had said that "she preferred an honourable death to a
"
dishonourable and refused to become another man's wife.
life
The Lords Troy crowned him with the Queen's own crown,
of
which shone like the sun, and at night gleamed like the light,
owing to the precious stones with which it was adorned. They
2
likewise presented him with a casket [?] which had once been
1
Daniel vii. viii.
2
K\ipavov,
'
an oven '
[?]. Perhaps it is a printer's error for Kifiurbv, '

a
wooden box, chest, coffer.'
and with the Book of Homer, in which is set forth the
Hector's,
War from the beginning to the fall of the City.
history of the
Alexander read, and then gave utterance to the following
chivalrous sentiment :
"
Alas ! how many heroes have perished for the sake of a
"
paltry woman !
He then visits the tombs of the heroes and tells them how
sorry he is to find them dead. Had he met them before, he
would have honoured them with rich gifts.
" "
But now," he pathetically exclaims, that you have died,
what gifts can I honour you with ? There is no other honour
possible to the dead than that of frankincense and myrrh.
May the gods reward you for the deeds of valour which you
"
have performed, according to Homer !
After a short trip home to Macedonia, in which he was

accompanied by all his armies and the captive kings of the
West, Alexander sets out against Darius but on the way he ;
halts to tamper with the Jews. He pens and despatches the

following epistle to the Hebrews:
"
Alexander, by the grace of the Most High, King of Kings,
to you who dwell in Jerusalem, and confess your faith in one
God of heaven and earth, the All-powerful God Sabaoth
cordial greetings. As soon asyou have received this, bow down
to me and come forth to meet me ;
for I by the might of the
All-powerful God Sabaoth will deliver you from the hands of
the image-worshippers. Do not act contrary to my behests,
and bestow upon you good laws, such as you will like."
I will
But the wily Hebrews were not to be won by empty
words :
" "
O King Alexander," they answered, we have duly re-
ceived thy letter, and have bowed down to thee. May your
God Sabaoth
Majesty please to know that we are worshippers of
who delivered us once from our bondage in Egypt, and we
crossed the Red Sea and came to this land to live; but now
owing to our sins He has delivered us into the hands of Darius.

If we surrender to thee, without his leave, he will surely come
and reduce us to utter slavery. Go thou, therefore, first against
Darius and, if thou vanquishest him, then we will be thy
Alexander and Philip in Folk- Tradition 287
f&ithful servants. Come then into Jerusalem, and we will

hail theeKing of the Universe."
Thus answered the Hebrews, mindful of their own safety.
But Alexander's wrath rose thereat, and he wrote :
"
King Alexander, the servant of the All-powerful God, to
all who dwell in Jerusalem. I did not think you to be such
great cowards as to fawn on Darius, you who worship the

All-powerful God Sabaoth. Wherefore should you be the slaves
of image- worshippers and not mine, who also worship the same
God ? I will not go against Darius, but will come straightway
against you, and you may do as you deem best."
Shortly after this ultimatum Alexander entered Jerusalem
and worshipped in the Temple. The Hebrews bowed to the
inevitable with a good grace. The prophet Jeremiah especially
distinguished himself by his tact. Accompanied by all the
notables of the city and loaded with gifts he came to do homage
to Alexander. But the king generously waived his claims to
the gifts on behalf of the God Sabaoth, to whom they were
accordingly presented. Jeremiah, however, by step won this
the King's favour, and the two used to take walks together.
The prophet turned this intimacy to account by confirming the
King in the faith, and, pleased with his success, one afternoon,
as they were strolling out, he delivered himself of the following
prediction :
"
Thou
shalt conquer Egypt and slay the Emperor of India,
and thou shalt fall ill. But our God will help thee, and thou
shalt become ruler of the Universe. Thou shalt go near Paradise
and there thou shalt find men and women confined on an island.
Their food is the fruits of trees, and their name is The Blessed.
They shall prophesy unto thee concerning thy life and death.
All these things shalt thou see and many more. My blessing
"
be upon thee !
Jeremiah, after the fashion of a perfect guide, pressed some

of the antiquities of the country upon the
King precious stones
:
with the name of the God Sabaoth inscribed upon them, from
Joshua's helmet; Goliath's sword; Samson's casque, adorned with
"
the claws of dragons " the spear of the diamond point
; Saul's ;
mantle, which steel could not pierce, and many other presents
useful as well as ornamental. From Jerusalem Alexander
proceeded to Egypt, where he caught a chill by bathing while
warm in a very cold lake, but happily the illness did not prove
fatal.
The magician Nektenabos, before he became Court astrologer

to Philip of Macedon, had been king of the Egyptians. On
quitting his kingdom owing to circumstances over which he
had no control he had left the following message to his subjects :
"
I, being unable to withstand the might of Darius, depart
from amongst you. But I will come back again thirty years
hence. 1 Erect a pillar in the centre of the city, carve upon it
my head and round my forehead put the royal crown. There

will come to you one who will stand under the pillar, and the
crown will drop upon his head. To him do ye homage : he will
"
be my son !
In pursuance of these instructions the Egyptians recognized

Alexander as their king, for the crown did drop on his head,
according to the prediction.
It would be tedious to follow the hero in his supernatural
progress through Asia. Suffice it to say that everywhere he
went, he saw, and he annexed. Such a life, however, could not

close quite in the ordinary way. The end of his career was
signalized on his way to Babylon, among other things, by a
nocturnal call from his friend Jeremiah, who being unable to
come in the body (owing to the fact that he was dead) sent his
spirit to visit the King in a dream and prophesy to him as
follows :
"
Be Alexander, to come to the abode prepared for
ready,
thee; for thy days are numbered out, and thou shalt receive thy
death from the hands of thy nearest and dearest. Go thou to
Babylon and arrange the affairs of thy kingdom."
Having delivered this message, Jeremiah vanished.
Soon after the prophet's departure another visitor came;
but this one in the body. It was his old tutor Aristotle, who
was the bearer of gifts and messages from Olympias. His
1
At the beginning of the narrative the same message is given in the following
words, "I will return after twenty-four years. I now go as an old man but
I will return young (meaning thereby his son Alexander)."
arrivalwas an agreeable diversion from the painful thoughts

aroused by the prophet's visit, and Alexander greeted him with
royal effusion :
"Welcome, precious head," said he, throwing his arms

round the philosopher's neck and kissing him affectionately,
" "
who shinest like the sun among all the Hellenes !
A friendly interchange of news and narratives followed, and

there was much feasting. But the shadow of death already-
darkened the glory-crowned head.
In the King's household there were two brothers Leucadouses
and Bryonouses, by name one of them was master of the horse,
:
the other cup-bearer to the King. Their mother, who had seen
neither of them for years, wrote to them repeatedly urging them
to return home. But the King always refused to grant
permission.This circumstance, added to the fact that Alexander
had knocked the cup-bearer a few days before "with a stick
on the head" for breaking a valuable goblet, aroused much
disaffection in the brothers' breasts. The arrival of a fresh
"
letter from home added the spark The crafty to the fuel.
devil entered into the cup-bearer's heart," and he resolved to
poison his master. The plot found supporters among many of

the courtiers all of them being among the King's dearest friends.
Some of the conspirators were actuated by nostalgia, others by
wicked ambition. During a banquet a poisoned cup was offered
to the King. He quaffed it
unsuspectingly and died.
The Romance, which has been much condensed in the above
synopsis, ends with the King's will and testament, his death,
the death of his murderer, the death of his steed Bucephalus,
1
the wailings and demise of his wife Rhoxandra, their joint
"
funeral, a sermon, and the moral Vanity of vanities all is :
;
"
vanity !
1
This is the form under which the name appears in the Eomance.
A. F. 19
CHAPTER XVI.
BIRD LEGENDS.
CLASSICAL scholars are familar with the beautiful old myths

in which the origin of certain birds is traced to a transfiguration
brought about by the direct agency of the gods. The fables of

Philomela and Procne, of Itys and Tereus, and of lynx are
fresh in every student's memory. Still more so is perhaps the
metamorphosis of Halcyon, wife of Ceyx, King of Thessaly, who,
in the words of the poet, "flitting along the rocky ridges on
the shore of the sea sings her plaintive lay, ever lamenting the
1
loss of her spouse."
Several more or less close parallels to this legend due

either to survival or to revival exist at the present day in
Macedonia.
First among them ranks the widely-known story of the
gyori (y/cvcov), a bird, which, so far as I could identify it, seems

to be a species of plover.
I. The Gyon.
(From Salonica and Serres.)
There lived once two brothers, who were very jealous of

They had a mother
each other and were constantly quarrelling.
who was wont to say to them :
"
Do
not wrangle, 2 my boys, do not wrangle and quarrel, or
Heaven will be wroth against you, and you shall be parted."
1
Eur. Iph. in Taur. 1089 foil.
2 "
pty rpuryeo-re, lit. do not eat each other up."
Bird Legends 291
But the youths would not listen to their parent's wise

counsels, and at lastHeaven waxed wroth and carried off one
of them. Then the other wept bitterly, and in his grief and
remorse prayed to God to give him wings, that he might fly in
quest of his brother. God in His mercy heard the prayer and
transformed the penitent youth into a gyon.
The peasants interpret the bird's mournful note gyon!
gyon ! as Anton Anton or Gion Gion (Albanian form of
! ! ! !
John) the departed brother's name and maintain that it

lets fall three drops of blood from its beak every time it calls.
Whether the alleged bleeding is a reminiscence of Philomela's
tongue cut off by Tereus, it is impossible to say with certainty.
Bernhard Schmidt l compares the name of the bird (o 7/a&>i>,
or <y/ci,a)vr)<;)
with the Albanian form (<yjovve or yjov) and refers to
Hahn's Tales 2 for an Albanian parallel, in which the gyon and
the cuckoo are described as brother and
sister. He also quotes
Carnarvon's account of a Southern Greek legend about a bird
called /cvpd.
"
That bird had once been a woman, who, deprived of all
her kindred by some great calamity, retired to a solitary moun-
tain to bewail her loss, and continued on the summit forty days,
repeating in the sad monotony of grief the lamentation of the

country 'Ah me ah me !' till at the expiration of that period
!
she was changed by pitying Providence into a bird." 3

The same industrious collector refers to Newton for a
"
similar story : The other day we heard a bird uttering a
plaintive note, towhich another bird responded. When Mehe-

met Chiaoux (sic) heard this note, he told us with simple
earnestness that once upon a time a brother and sister tended
their flocks together. The sheep strayed, the shepherdess
wandered on in search of them, till at last, exhausted by fatigue
and sorrow, she and her brother were changed into a pair of
birds, who go repeating the same sad notes. The female bird
says:
'
Quzumlari gheurdunmu Have you seen my sheep?'

1
Griech. Marchen, Sagen und Volkslieder, n. 3. Der Vogel Gkion, pp.
2413.
2
Marchen, No. 104.
3
Carnarvon, Reminiscences of Athens and the Morea, p. 111.
192
to which her mate replies :
'
Gheurmedum I have not seen
them'." 1
"
The brother and sister" version is
characteristically Moham-
medan. But with the quest for lost sheep may be compared
the following Macedonian legend.
II. The Pee-wit and the Screech-owl.
(From Serres.)
There were once two brothers, the elder called Metro (short
for Demetrius), and the younger Georgo. They were horse-
dealers by trade. One day there came to them a stranger who
wished to purchase eight horses. Metro sent his younger
brother to fetch them. Georgo came back with seven horses,
besides the one on which he was riding. Metro, who was not
remarkable counted only seven, without taking
for cleverness,
into account the one on which his brother rode. So he said

to him :
"
Go back and find the horse you've lost."
Georgo, who apparently was as clever as his brother, went

away and spent the whole day looking for the missing horse,
without for a moment reflecting that he was sitting on its back.
In the evening he returned home empty-handed. His
brother called to him from afar :
" "
Eh, Georgo, have you found the horse ?
The youth replied :
"
No, I have found no horse!"
Thereupon Metro lost his temper and slew his brother.
He did not realize his mistake until the latter had fallen off
the horse's back and lay upon the ground. In his despair
still
Metro called on God to change him into a bird. He was trans-

formed into a pee-wit, and ever since cries Foot ? poot ? :
that is 'Where is it? where is it?' (TTOV TO; TTOV TO;). To

which his brother, who was turned into a screech-owl, replies in
anguish 'Ah! ah!'
2
Newton, Travels and Discoveries in the Levant, n. p. 263.

1
2 Pineau
Cp. Le chat-huant, le coucou et la huppe,' G. Georgeakis
'
et Le"on
Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, pp. 3378.

Bird Legends 293
A third story embodying a similar idea, but possessing a

more romantic interest, is the one told about the ring-dove
(Se/co^rovpa)
1
III. The Ring-dove.
(From Serres.)
It is said that this gentle and affectionate bird was once a

young married woman, who was passionately fond of knitting.
She had a wicked old woman for a mother-in-law, who always
sought or invented pretexts for scolding and beating her. One
day, after having maltreated her as usual, she went out to pay
calls,and left her daughter-in-law to make bread. The latter
kneaded and baked the bread eighteen loaves in all and
then sat down to her favourite occupation. The old woman on
her return home found her knitting and began to upbraid her,
saying that there were only seventeen loaves and that she had
stolen one. The poor girl protested that there were eighteen.
But the other, who could not bear contradiction, grew angry
and began to beat her ruthlessly. The girl, no longer able to
submit to this injustice, besought God that she might be trans-
formed into a bird and thus escape from her cruel tyrant's
clutches. Her prayer was answered and she suddenly became
a ring-dove. She still protests sadly that the loaves were
eighteen by crying Decochto ! decochto ! (Se/to%Ta>), whence her
name decochtura, and to this
day retains the circular dark
marking on her
left neck by the thread which she had round it,
while knitting, at the moment of her change.
These quaint tales, so full of simple sympathy with the
feathered creatures to which human passions and human
feelings are naively ascribed, find their counterparts in several
Slavonic folk-stories, which, however, are mostly conceived in a
religious spirit. The piteous cry of the pee-wit has suggested

to the Russian peasant the notion that it is begging for water
1
This story was told to me by M. Horologas, the theological master at the
Gymnasium of Serres, who is a native of Asia Minor. But, as I heard it in
Macedonia and have no evidence that it is not known in that province, I venture
to include it in the present collection.
(peet,
'
to drink '),
and a pious legend has been invented to
account for its thirst it is a punishment for the bird's dis-
:
obedience to the Lord's behest to aid in the creation of the

seas, rivers, and lakes of the earth. The sparrow's chirping is
explained as Jif ! Jif! or "He (viz. Christ) is living! He is
living thus urging on His tormentors to fresh cruelties but

!" ;
"
the swallow, with opposite intent, cried Umer ! Umer ! He is :
dead ! He is dead !" Therefore it is that to kill a swallow is a

1
sin, and that its nest brings good luck to a house.
1
Kalston, Russian Folk-Tales, pp. 331332. The Indians of America have
also construed the notes of birds, like the robin and the tomtit, into human
language, see Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. vn. p. 58.
CHAPTER XVII.
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
A far-travelled Game.
ONE of the favourite pastimes of the Macedonian peasantry

"
is the game known by the name of The Meeting of Three
"
Roads (TO rpioSt). It is identical with our Nine Men's Morris
and is played in the following manner. A diagram consisting
of three squares, one within the other, is drawn with a piece of
chalk or charcoal upon a flat surface, a stone or board or table,
as the case may be. are joined with lines drawn
The squares
across from the middle of the inner to the middle of the outer
sides (fig. 1) and sometimes with diagonals as well (fig. 2).
Fig. 1. Fig. 2.
The battle-field thus prepared, each of the two combatants

is armed with nine pebbles, beans, grains, sticks, bits of paper
or what not, of a colour different from that of the pieces of his
opponent. The lead is decided by an appeal to chance. This

is done in one or the other of several ways. First by means of
the familiar odd or even ? (pova rj vyd ;). Next, by concealing
a small object in one hand and then putting the question :
cuckoo or wind? (KOVKKOS 77 az/eyu-o?;), cuckoo representing the

fistwhich contains the object, and wind the other. Thirdly, by
wetting one side of a sherd of pottery and throwing it up into
the air. Before it has come to the ground the question sun or
rain ? (fyXto? 17 j3po^ ;) is asked, sun being the dry, and rain
the wet side. Lastly, by tossing up a coin and asking the
Greek equivalent of our heads or tails? (rovpas f/ ypd/ju/jiara,
i.e.
Imperial cipher or letters ?).
The winner opens the campaign by planting down one of

his pieces at some point of intersection, and is followed by
his opponent. done by the two players alternately
This is
until all the pieces are placed. The end towards which each of
them strives is to get three pieces in a row to make a trio
(ya Kavr) rpLoSt) and to prevent his adversary from attaining
the same end. When all the pieces are disposed of, they are
moved, one place at a time, by turns, with the same object in

view. He who has made a trio is entitled to one of his
opponent's pieces. The struggle goes on with varying fortune
until one of the combatants is left with only two pieces. Then
the battle and won.
is lost
The game, as may be imagined, gives scope for considerable

display of strategical skill both in the placing and in the moving
of the pieces. By a judicious choice of captives the winner can
render his enemy helpless. The decisive advantage, and the
one at which both sides aim, is the establishment of what is
"
technically known double door" (SiTropro), that is, two
as a
trios, which can be managed by moving one piece to and fro ;
"
opening" one and "closing" the other simultaneously. When
this advantage is secured the victory is a foregone conclusion.
The game also popular in Southern Greece.
is Its name
seems to point to the antiquity of its origin, 1 though evidence

of its being known in classical times is wanting. essentially An
similar, though simpler game, however, was known to the Romans.
The Latin form corresponded to our Elizabethan Nine-holes,
1
rpL68i(ov) is not used in Modern Greek except in reference to the game, the
ordinary name for a meeting of three roads being rpiffTparo.
Miscellaneous Notes 297
and was played with three instead of nine pebbles. The

point, nevertheless, was the same "to range one's pebbles in a
:
1
continuous line."
Like most popular sports the Triodi in various forms, more

or less developed, has helped many and widely -separated races
to kill the universal enemy. In Rome the game was considered
favourable to the promotion of friendly intercourse between
youths and maidens, so much so that Ovid, than whom none

was more deeply versed in matters of this kind, pronounces it
"a shame for a damsel not to know how to play it"; for
"
ludendo saepe paratur amor." The old Egyptians also loved
their own variant of the game, while the fierce Vikings of the
North beguiled with it the tedium of their long sea- voyages.
Their favourite variety of the game, to judge from a fragment

of a board found in a Viking ship some years ago, corresponds to
our fig. 1. Shakespeare mentions the more complex form
of the game, 2 which under various denominations still survives
in many English counties. The most familiar of all the
varieties is, of course, the Noughts and Crosses in which school-
boys, those great preservers of ancient tradition, indulge to
this day. a
The game of Morra.
the Jews of Salonica, the vast majority of whom are

Among
the descendants of Spanish refugees expelled by Ferdinand
and Isabella, there survives a game common throughout
Southern Europe and known to the French as mourre, and to
the Italians and the Spaniards as morra. It is by the latter
name that the Jews of Salonica call it.
Groups of shoeblacks
can be seen at times of the day, sitting on the pavement
all
either as players or as lookers on. It is played by two, each
1
parua tabella capit ternos utrimque lapillos, in qua uicisse est continuasse
suos. Ovid, Ars Am. in. 365 ; Trist. n. 481.
2 "
The nine-men's morris is fill'd up with mud." Midsummer Night's
Dream, Act n. Sc. 2.
* For a full
account of the game and its history, so far as it has been
'
investigated, see A. K. Goddard, Nine Men's Morris in the Saga-Book of the

'
Viking Club, Jan. 1901, pp. 376 foil.

throwing out a hand and both vociferating simultaneously the

sum of all the fingers stretched out. He who succeeds in
guessing the right number scores a point.

"
It is a variety of the class designated " addition games or
"
counting games," which under one form or another are
prevalent in many widely distant parts of the globe. The
"
morra, or a near relative to it, under the name of finger-
"
flashing (micare digitis), was very popular among the ancient
"
Romans, who
1
also had a proverb derived from it : You can
play at finger-flashing with him in the dark!" they used to
2
say of an exceptionally scrupulous and honest man. variety A

of the game can be seen in English nurseries another in ;
English country lanes, the latter being also mentioned by

Petronius Arbiter, who lived in the time of Nero. The New
Zealanders, Samoans, Chinese, and Japanese among modern
nations, and the sculptures of the ancient Egyptians, supply us
with a variety of finger-games, more or less closely akin to the
Fire-Ordeal.
"Even if he bite red-hot iron, I will not believe him."
(Kal crLBepo tcafjbevo va Saytcda &e' rov Triareva).)
"Even if she tread upon fire, I will not believe her."
(Kal '9 Trj (j)a)TLa va rrarâ Se' Qd rrjv
These two phrases, which I heard on two different occasions

in two different towns of Macedonia, Salonica and Serres,
apparently embody a reminiscence of the ancient

rite of passing
an ordeal
through fire or leaping over burning brands or coals
familiar to the reader of mediaeval histories and not yet quite

4
forgotten even in this country.
1
Cic. De Div. n. 85 ;
De Off. in. 90.
2
dignum esse, dicunt, quicum in tenebris mices, Cic. De Off. in. 77.
3
Tyler, Primitive Culture, vol. i. pp. 74 foil.
4
Tylor, 16. vol. i.
p. 85.
The two expressions, taken together, form a strikingly close,

though of course quite fortuitous, paraphrase of the allusion to
the same ordeal, contained in the Guard's speech in Sophocles :
"We masses of red-hot iron in our hands,

are ready to lift
and to pass through fire, and to appeal to the gods by oath

that we neither did it, etc."
1
The Ass.
The peasants
of the peninsula of Cassandra (ancient Pallene)
callthe ass by the name of Kyr (Mister) Mendios. The name
seems to be derived from Mende, an ancient Eretrian colony in
this part of Macedonia. That the ass was held in high esteem
among the inhabitants of Mende is a fact resting on the
tangible evidence of the coins of the colony. The ass, or the
head of one, is a favourite device on these coins. In the oldest
specimens the animal figures on the obverse with a phallic
significance. Most of the later types represent Dionysos in
various postures, sometimes lying on the back of an ass, or
bear the effigy of that animal on the reverse.
The culture of the vine, for which Mende was famed,
accounts for the veneration paid to the god of wine, and the ass,
apart from all phallic significance, enjoyed a full share of
recognition as being the animal above all others useful to the

Macedonian peasant in olden times as it is to this day. It is not
,
unlikely that for this very reason the asses of Mende may have
excelled those of less favoured districts, and a
"
Mendaean ass "
(oi>o9Mez/Sato?) may have been a common phrase, whence the
modern humorous appellation Mister Mendios (Meiô?).
It must further be observed that in Modern Greek, even
more than in .English, the term ass (ydlftapos) suggests an

insult, and the Greeks (especially the peasants) are always
anxious to avoid it in ordinary conversation. This feeling of
"
delicacy forces them to use euphemisms, for example, the
5' ^roi/uoi Kal

nvdpovs atpfiv
Kal irvp difyireiv Kal deovs opKU/AOTeiv
7-6 /j,r)Te dpa<rai etc. Soph. Ant. 264 foil.
beast" 1
(TO &)') par One of the most amusing
excellence.
subterfuges of this description which came to my notice was

at Nigrita. In that district the title of Exarch (e'fa/oôs) is
familiarly applied to the ass, the sobriquet having originated as
an expression of Orthodox Hellenic contempt for the schismatic
Bulgarian ecclesiastic of that title.
When a euphemism or a sobriquet is not ready at hand, and
the Macedonian peasant finds himself compelled to call an ass

an ass, he introduces the offensive term with the formula
" "
b e ggi n g y ur P ardon (IJL avfiTrdOeio), a formula likewise
accompanying the mention of a mule (fjiovXapi), a cucumber
(dyyovpt,), and other words which to the rustic ear sound

impolite.
The perils of portraiture.
At Salonica day witnessed a scene which was both

I one
entertaining and instructive. An old negress was sitting on

the pavement with a small basket of baked chick-peas on one
side,a small tray of honey cakes on the other, and a stout
her knees. The old lady was on the look out for
staff across
customers and on her guard against the mischievous street
urchins. Suddenly an enemy of a different type aroused her
wrath. This was no other than a French tourist who, attracted
by her picturesque appearance, had taken up his station on
the opposite side of the street and was complacently placing
his camera in position, preparatory to snap-shotting the black
lady. But he was not destined to carry out his design. The
Frenchman proposed but the negress disposed, and that in
a manner not calculated to encourage a repetition of the
attempt. The old lady's emotion evidently sprang from deeper
sources than mere feminine modesty. Though I did not deem
it approach her on the subject, she seemed to be animated
safe to
by the fear lest a portrait of her face should be followed by

her death.
Cp. the analogous use of the word "animal" for "bullock" in English,
1
"
and of "irrational" (sc. animal) (01X070) for "horse in Modern Greek.
This superstition is exceedingly wide-spread. parallel A

instance from a Greek island is quoted by Mr Frazer, who
has also collected and classified a number of analogous cases
1
from all parts of the world ,
from Scotland to the lands of
the Battas, the Canelos Indians, and other brother- barbarians
of East and West.
A School Superstition.
Salonica schoolboys hold that a hair stretched across the
palm of the hand will make the master's cane split. English
schoolboys entertain an identical belief in a hair, but it must
be a horsehair. "If the hair be plucked fresh from the tail
of a living horse so much the better." 2 Their Macedonian
contemporaries are not so fastidious any hair will do for;
them, provided it is not thick or dark enough to attract the

master's attention.
1
2
T. Parker Wilson, School Superstitions,' in The Royal Magazine, Sept. 1901.
CHAPTER XVIII.
RIDDLES. 1
THE
riddles given below form an inexhaustible source of
amusement to the peasants. When conversation flags, it is the
riddle that saves the face of the host. At weddings and other
festivals the gaps between the songs. At
they serve to fill
the midsummer KX^Soz/a? in some parts the

feast of the
riddles take the place of the love-couplets in general
vogue.
This last is the only occasion on which the riddle may be said
to retain some shred of the dignity which mythologists ascribe
to it.
According to many authorities, Mr Tylor among them,
"the sense riddle" was in earlier times "an enigma fraught
with mythical meaning an oracular utterance, clothed in dark
language."
2
The oracular significance of the riddle has been
completely lost in Macedonia, with the exception of the dim
memory which lingers in the KA^Soi/a? divining rites. At all
other times the riddle is a pastime pure and simple.

Many of the following examples are ingenious; some far-
fetched, and a few positively absurd, though this is largely a

matter of taste. They all, or nearly all, however, in order to
be estimated at their true value, or indeed in order to be at all
understood, require a certain familiarity with the Macedonian
peasant's life. Some of them are purposely couched in am-
1
These riddles have been collected by the writer during his travels up and
down the country but he afterwards compared his own stock with the contents
;
of a booklet already mentioned (A. A. Tovfflov, '

'H Kara TO Hayyaiov Xwpo ')
and found that several of them are given in it. Cp. G. Georgeakis et Leon
Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, pp. 289 foil.
2
Riddles 303
biguous phraseology for the Macedonian farmer, like the

;
French wit of a certain class, delights in double-entendre. Of

this last category I will translate only those which can be
read without a blush. The rest may remain in the decent

obscurity of the original.
1
In justice to the ingenious authors
of these risque compositions, it should be observed that what
to a school-bred ear may sound coarse, is nothing but legitimate
humour to the less fastidious and more natural folk of the
fields. The songs and tales incorporated in the present volume
amply testify to the Macedonian's delicacy of taste, where this
quality is called for. If he ocpasionally likes to indulge in a
kind of drollery which reminds one too forcibly of Balzac's
tales, the offence may readily be pardoned.
I have made no attempt at geographical classification ; for,
with a few exceptions duly noted, I heard the same riddles over
and over again in different parts of the country, as the number
of variants shows. With regard to the translations I have
above things aimed at accuracy and lucidity, two qualities
all
which can best be secured in plain prose but in some cases

;
I have ventured to limp in numbers, when the numbers came.
1
See Appendix VI.
1
Bpera.
1.
Kg CLTTO fjLeaa /Jba\\i,ap6,

XT' V V / \ -v-\\
JV77 arro ijueaa ? TO fjua\M
/ua fjLTTOV/cid /ca\r). (icdo-ravo.)
2.
\arjvi
7TOT69
3.
KOI KpLvei TTj ^LKaiocTvvr]. (tcavrdpi.}
4.
Me (TTeVOVTCTKO
^KV(f)r' 6 \d<j)Tapos Kal Trivet,,
Our' o \d(f>rapo<; ôpralvei,

Qvre TO TrrjydS' fypalvet,. (@vL)
5.
fjiavpa 7rp6/3ara, gvXevio? raofiTrdvrj^. (d/ji7r\i.)
Or
acnrpa ra \a )(Tevra Kal Vat
/
MaOpa ^tjprj 97 jrercra.
1
Lit. 'things to be found out.' The modern word Pptro may either be a
modification of the old form evperbv, as is commonly held, or it may have
originated in the question which generally follows the enunciation of the riddle:
Bpe? TO (pi. B/J<? ra) "find it out!"
!
2
var. d,r6s.
3 var.
"AyyeXos VUX^TOS Kal ffKavT<ra.pwva,Tos.
4This variant I obtained at Melenik, but there is strong internal evidence
to show that it comes from Western Macedonia for the word Xax^vra is peculiar
;
to the dialect of the latter district. It is Wallachian, and, like its Latin original
(lactentia),means (1) sucking lambs,' (2) milky, i.e. juicy things.' At Melenik
' '
'
my informant vaguely and erroneously interpreted it trifles (/j.iKpa TTpaypara). '

Riddles 305
RIDDLES.
1.
Without as smooth as glass,

Within a woolly mass.
But hid amid the wool
There lurks a nice mouthful. (A chestnut.)
2.
A pitcher with a thousand chinks,

Yet ne'er lets out the water it drinks. (A sponge.)
3.
A cock with claws and hooked feet,

He proudly struts along the street
And gives each man what's fair and meet. (A steelyard.)
To silver spring with narrow chink

The thirsty stoops his fill to drink.
But neither does he have his till,
Nor does he drain the silver rill. (A mother's breast.)
5.
White sheep and black sheep

Wooden shepherds keep. (Grapes and the vine stakes.)
Or
Black or white are the juicy things, 1 and dry is their skin. (Grapes.)
1
See note on the original.
A. P. 20
6.
M O"Tt,\v 77 /Jbdva /JLOV vd yue Scaa'rjs TO TO~ivT(ri\i,, TO

jjLLVTO'iX.t, yid va Tat,vTcn\i,dcrovfjie teal va /jLtvT<Tt\tdcrovfJi, fcal
7rd\i, vd a TO (f)pco. (fcavrdpi.)
7.
icy
8.
irvov crv Trjyvi,

'ATTO KCLTOV crdv /3a/uL/3d(C(,,
KT; a?ro Triaov <rav

Tt
9.
fcal
10.
TO
<ya/jL7Tp,
TleOepa Kal TreOepo.
11.
Mecr' '? eV
Me TroXXa
Kal Ka\d
*A.V TO %<r' aUTO TO
Tt TO êX' TO
12.
'OXr; /u-epa Tpwet, Kpeas, teal TO ftpdo /jueTpa TCL daTpa.

Riddles 307
6.
My mother's love, and give to me

The chink-chink, the jingle-jingle,
To chink-chink and jingle-jingle,
And then she'll send it back to thee. (A steelyard.)
7.
Hoary beard and hoary hair,

'Neath the earth he has his lair. (A leek.)
8.
My back as frying-pan does appear ;
Beneath a snowy breast ;
A pair of scissors jut in the rear ;
What am I ? have you guessed ? (A swallow.)
9.
A lanky monk and lean,

Yet not a bone is seen. (A column of smoke.)
10.
I chop the pine and find inside

A mother, father, groom and bride. (A walnut.)
11.
I keep a tiny something in a tiny box,

Secured under many keys and many locks :
If the tiny something breaketh loose,

Of the tiny box what is the use 1 (The soul.)
12.
He feeds on beef the livelong day,

At night he scans the Milky Way 1
.
(A prod or goad.)
1
Theprod, with which the husbandman urges ou his team in ploughing, is
left at night outside the cottage in a corner, the sharp point upwards, staring, as
it were, at the star- bespangled sky.
202
13.
KOI TQV /cXe^>r' d<f)ivco
Or
>z>o> TO cnriraKi JJLOV KCLL fjueaa K\e(f>Trj<;
14.
elvai TO
Kat /j,6\ay%poivos 6 0-770/309,
Kat /jLiXelKOI a-vvrvâiveL
eicelvov TTOV TO (TTrepvei.
15.
ou 7T6\6Kr)Trj,
Kat a/ca/jL/iievr) KOI X VT7J>
Tldet 17 /xaz/a /tof z/a TT^*
OVT' 17 /j,dva /jiov ôpraLvei,
Qvr rj yovpva Sev d&eidêi,. (/jL6Ta\a/3(,d.)
16.
>
To 64^^ r(t> T7 6d\a(Tcra y

K r Qa\aa<ja TO
17.
, dâde yaou,
M' eSeipes /cal e(f>vya.
'S TW Spo/juov OTTOV Trdaiva
Meya Oijpio d jrdvT7)aa'

r
K<f>d\ia irevre,
Xe/ota, TToSdpia eitcocn,
"Av rcovpys, ri V auTo ; (\etyavo.)

18.
Bao-tXea9 Sev eZyu-at, /copwva (ô/ow,

'PoXot Sez^ eâ), T??9 w/3at9 perpw.
1
var.
z
var.
Riddles 309
13.
The doors are fast with locks and chains,

And yet the thief admittance gains. (The sun.)
14.
The seed dark, but white the field,

is
It speaks and talks as he who tilled. 1 (Writing.)
15.
To yonder carved, golden lake

My mother goes her thirst to slake.
But nor does she her thirst allay,
Nor fails the carved, golden bay. (Holy Communion.)
16.
A little snake swallows the lake,

And then the lake swallows the snake. (The wick of an oil lamp.)
17.
My master, you'd flog me I ; fled,

And on as I sped,
A horrid beast I meet:
With twice five hands and feet,
Of heads it owned five
With breathings four alive,
Of nails five score,
Neither more nor less,
Master, can't you guess? (A funeral.)
18.
King am I none,
Yet a crown on my head I wear.
Watch have I none,

Yet the time I declare. (A cock.)
Cp. the Albanian riddle: "The field is white, the seed is black; it is sown
1
with the hand and reaped with the mouth What is it?" "A letter." Hahn,
in Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of Turkey, vol. i. p. 211.
19.
Tpiyvpa), yvpto icdyKe\a teal /jLeaa Trdina K6\alBel.
20.
Vo /capapd/ci \ rrj cr7T??Xeta iraaiv fey dpdêi.
21.
Mta /judva el%e eVa Tra&i, KOI fjiid a\\rj /judva elê V aXXo
Si, KOI \ rb Sofaro rpet? fcdOovvrav.
(Mavid, dvyarepa icy dyyovij.)
22.
(O/* literary or perhaps priestly origin.)
ycrTal KaTa\i)(rcu rrjv Trokw, Kal 17 /j,ev Tro
,
01 Be /cdroitcoi
23.
Me TOI/ ^Xto ra ftydêi,

Me TW ^Xto ra fjLTrdêi.
1
(ra
24.
Ta fjLaicpvd Kovrd,
Ta Suo ere rpia, (
.
(yepdpara.)
25.
T\(OV
Kovftapia
Or
/cava, tcava,
d '9 TW TOL%O Kal yevva. (/co\ofcv0id.)
o /copr)T<Tov&ia air rd yu-aXXta rpaftiovvrai. (\avapia.)
1
The Macedonian farmer 5tt6x"ei TO, fwa ro rax5, ad ra d^rai TO fipddv.
These are the technical terms for "driving out" and "driving in" cattle-.
Riddles 311
19.
A fence of stakes all round the pen,

And in the midst a cackling hen. (The tongue.)
20.
A hollow ship with freight of slops

Inside a cave her anchor drops. (A spoon.)
21.
A daughter had a mother,

A second had another,
They sittogether in the hall,
And yet there are but three in all.
(Grandmother, daughter and granddaughter.)
22.
Pirates came a town to sack:

The folk are caught, the town falls back.
(Fishermen and the seine ; the fish are caught, the sea escapes through
the meshes of the net.)
23.
Out with the sun,
In with the sun. (The cattle.)
24.
The long short, (eyes),

The two three, (legs plus walking staff),
The castle ruined, (teeth). (Old age.)
25.
It spreads out ropes and gathers up coils.
Or
A hen clucks, clucks. She then springs upon the wall and lays her
eggs there. (The pumpkin-plant.)
26.
Two little maids tearing each other's hair. (A pair of wool-cards.)

27.
IT/crft) 9 TO crTTirdtci fi W(f)iTO'a Ka/j,apci)vei. (tcoTrpid.)
28.
f
O Oeios fiov KovroOoScopos ae crapdwra TraTrXcoyLtara TV\I-
29.
KOI Trrjrra '? TO tce<f>d\i,.
30.
6 (BdOpatcas, fcdOerai 6
31.
'^ TT) /tteV^ l^TffovBt. (fcd(7Tavo.)
32.
'O
Or
1
avrpa //.e Se/co^Tco ôvvdpia.

Or
e crapdvra
33.
"E%&) ez/a {3ape\d/ci,

Me Suo \ojia) tcpaa-aKi. (avyo.)
34.
/caraiavet.
'II' avaiftaiv teal Karaiftalvei,.
1
var. crapavToxru or (English)
Riddles
27.
At the back of my cottage there is a little bride standing proudly.

(A dunghill.)
28.
Uncle Theodore the Short wrapt up in forty blankets.

My
(A cabbage.)
A tall lanky monk with a pie on his head. (The oil-lamp-stand.)
30.
The frog spreads out his legs and Blackbeard sits on him.
(The kettle on the trivet,)
31.
Skin on top, skin beneath, in the middle a morsel. (A chestnut.)
My Uncle Hadji -Theodore girt with eighteen belts.
Or
I have a husband girt with eighteen belts.
Or
My Uncle Stubby-jar girt with forty belts. (A cask.)
33.
I have a little barrel containing two sorts of wine. (An egg.)
34.
A smart maid comes up,

little
A smart maid goes down.

little
Oh joy to the smart little maid

Who goes up and down (A broom.) !
35.
KOVTTJ K evas
rj KOVTIJ, xopev' 6 -^17X09.

(rcriKpiia /cy
36.
T a\\o Kvvijya. (a
37.
'O Oeios fiov KovToOoSwpos /u-ecr' '9 V a^vpa tcv\ierai.
(avyo.)
38.
X/Xtot yLtuXtot /ca\oypot,

'2 eVa /oacro TV\ifjLevoi.
Or
XtXt?;? /jLv\irj<; /ceparo-ovSais '9 eW TraTrXw/ua
Or
XtXta fjivXia Yevurcrdpia \ eva povô
39.
rj
Sev
Kat TT) 7779 Tpvjra KCLI ftyaivei.
(fiavrdpL.)
40.
Trapvei Ka Tpe%i.
41.
"A/z,aXXo9 /xaXXl Sez/

Riddles 315
35.
A short maid and a tall youth :
The short maid plays the pipe, the tall youth dances. 1
(The spinning wheel and the winding frame.)
36.
Four boys chasing one another. (The winding frame.)
37.
My little Uncle Theodore rolling in the straw. (An egg.)
38.
A thousand, ten thousand monks wrapt up in one cassock.
Of
A thousand, ten thousand maids wrapt up in one blanket.
Or
A thousand, ten thousand Janizaries wrapt up in one cloak.
(A pomegranate.)
39.
He is soulless, has no soul, yet he pierces through the earth and comes
out. (A mushroom.)
40.
She is soulless, has no soul, yet she takes souls and flees. (A ship.)
41.
He is hairless, has no hair ;

he has a hind part, but has no tail. 2
(A snail.)
1
The Albanian version of this riddle is "The monkey dances, while the
white cow is milked. What is it?" "The spinning wheel." Hahn, in Tozer,
Researches in the Highlands of Turkey, vol. i. p. 211.
2
Cp. the Albanian version: "Though it is not an ox, it has horns; though
it is not an ass, it has a pack-saddle; and wherever it goes it leaves silver
behind. What is it?" "A snail." Hahn, in Tozer, ib.
42.
TT; VV%TO, /cvpdj TTJ pepa Bov\a.

43.
Trj /juepa rv\i TV\I,

aTTOTuXet. (arpwpa.)
44.
Kal TO @pd8v (rr)/c(i)}jLevos.
45.
To fjua\\l fia\\l TrXatcoovei /cat rrj rpvTra 6epairevei,.

(fjLan.
46.
TTIVCO
vepo ; Kpaa-i.
vepo; Trlvco vepo.
47.
az/a<7\a, îXta irpovfjivra-
48.
vo) '9 TO (TTTLTaKL fji

va <f)i\l
7r67rovt,. (<f)6<yydpi,.)
49.
Tldvca '9 ra fCpa/j,L$ia

r/
Ei/a KO(7Kivo /capvoia. 1 (a
1
var. xaptidia a
Riddles 317
42.
At night an idle lady, in the day-time a housemaid. (A broom.)
43.
In the day rolled up, at night rolled out. (A mattress.)
44.
All day lying down, he rises in the evening. 1 (The door-bolt.)
45.
Hair meets hair, and they protect the hole. (The eye.)
46.
Have I water? I drink wine.

Have I no water? I drink water. (A miller.)
;>
47.
A thousand legs up, a thousand noses down. (The tiles on the roof.)
2
48.
Over the roof of my cottage there is a slice of melon. (The inoon.)
49.
Over the tiles of my roof there is a sieve full of nuts. 3 (The stars.)
1
Cp. the Zulu riddle on the same subject :
Q. "Guess ye a man who does not lie down at night: he lies down in the
morning until the sun sets ; he then awakes, and works all night ; he does not
work by day; he is not seen when he works."
A. "The closing-poles of the cattle-pen."
Callaway, in Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. i. p. 91.
2
The tiles are curved and lie in rows convex and concave alternately.
:
3 With this riddle cp. the Spanish :
"What is the dish of nuts that is gathered by day, and scattered by night?"
"The stars." Tylor, ib., p. 92.
A still closer parallel is furnished by the Lithuanian zagddka in which the
sky is likened to "a sieve full of nuts." The idea is also found in one of its
Slovak cousins, in which there is further mentioned a very big nut which is the
moon. Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 347, 348. Ealston remarks :
The oldest zagadki seem to have referred to the elements and the heavenly
bodies, finding likenesses to them in various material shapes.
50.
KOKKIVO jjLovao-rfjpi, //,e pavpovs /caXoyepovs.

51.
To &vo) TrepTrarei, TO \vvco aTK6Tai,.
52. 1
"A/ca/37ro9 <re a/capTrov /u-e Svo T<rovftd\i,a dvvfyavra ypOe teal
1
This riddle I heard at Cavalla from a native of Southern Greece.
Riddles 319
50.
A red monastery inhabited by black monks. (A water-melon.)
51.
I bind it, and it walks; I loose it, and it stops. (A sandal.)
52.
A fruitless one conies to a fruitless one, with two sacks which had not
been woven, and begs of him blood from wood. (A bachelor comes to
another bachelor, with a couple of goatskins and asks him for wine.)
Theological Riddles.
Perhaps would not be uninteresting to give in this

it
connection a few examples of a branch of popular literature

which resembles the riddle in form, though its origin is entirely
different. This is a kind of Catechism, a lesson in scriptural
lore,consisting of questions and answers; a method of con-
veying knowledge once extremely popular in the East and by
no means confined to sacred subjects. Indeed all sciences from
Theology to Philology were once treated in this manner, and
the earliest modern text-book of Greek Grammar the Erote-
mata of Manuel Chrysoloras, who lectured on Greek at Florence
from 1397 to 1400 was written in that form. The volume of 1
MSS. which has already yielded a plentiful crop of medical

lore 2 supplies me with the following selection of theological
riddles.
1
Sir R. C. Jebb, 'The Classical Eenaissance,
'
Cambridge Modern Histoiy,

vol. i. pp. 5412.
2
v. supra, pp. 230 foil. ; infra, Appendix IV.
rrakaia KOI aTro
Ep. Tt9 /-&? <yevwr)0els drredave ical drroOavav els rrjv

/coiXiav T79 fJ-rjrpbs avrov erd^rj ;
'ATT.
r
O '
'E/o. "AXaXo? aypatftov emo~ro\r)v /3a<rrdcov epêrat
'A?r. 'A-TToo-ToXo? fj Trepiarepd, e7n(7TO\r] TO /cdp<f>o$

OU Nwe.
'Ep. riore e^dpij 0X09 o ico
'ATT. "Qrav e^fj\0ov ol pera Ncoe t9 [=a7ro?] T
'Ep. ITore aireOave TO TerapTov rov KO

v
'ATT.
f
'Orav aTreicTeivev o KtV rov A/3eX.
'E/o. T/9 direOave ical ovtc tofqcrev, aXX' oiJre evpeOr) ovre
'ATT. ToO Acor 77 <yvvri, ore aVeXt^co^T; /cat eyevero

aXaro9.
'Ep. T/9 T>;y t8/ai/ Ovyarepa

J
A?r. 'O 'ASa//- T/)i/ Ei/az/, [r/] e Ti79 7rXeu/oa9 avrov ^v.
'E/o. Tt9 ^rev/jiara elrrav o-eorwo-rai, ical d\rj0eiav elir
'ATT. nerpo9 dpwrjcrdfj<vo<; rov Xpio~rov ea'toOrj, /cal
eirrwv, ov av <f)i\,ij(Ta) avros eo~ri,v, drrw\ero.
'E/o. Ti \eyet,' rrarras d%eipor6wriro$, Sid/covos dpvr]O~i6eo<s,
/cyTTOVpos dyevvrjros ;
'ATT. IIa7ra9 (i%eipor6vr)ros 'Icodvvrjs 6 BaTTTifrr^, SK'I/COVOS

6 Herpo?, KijTTOvpbs 6 'ASa/4.
1
The spelling is reduced to the uniformity of accepted rules. A servile
adherence to the scribe's orthographical eccentricities would have served no
purpose but to enhance the reader's mystification. These eccentricities belong
to the class abundantly illustrated in Appendices III. and IV.
Riddles 321
Ancient Questions and Answers.
Q. Who not being born died, and having died was buried in his
mother's womb?
A. Adam.
Q. A messenger that could not speak, bearing a letter that was not
written, came to a city that had no foundations?
A. Messenger the dove, letter the olive leaf, city Noah's ark.
Q. When did the whole of mankind rejoice ?

A. When those who were with Noah came out of the ark.
Q. When did a quarter of mankind die?

j._When Cain killed Abel.
Q. Who died and did not smell, but was neither found nor buried ?
A. The wife of Lot, when she was petrified and became a pillar
of salt.
Q. Who took his own daughter to wife ?
A. Adam took Eve, who was born of his rib.
Q. Who having lied was saved, and who having spoken the truth
perished ?
A. Peter by denying Christ was saved, and Judas by saying "Whom-
"
soever I shall kiss, that same is he perished.
Q. What is the meaning of : an unordained priest, a renegade deacon,

&n unborn gardener ?
A. The unordained priest is John the Baptist, the deacon is Peter,
the gardener is Adam.
A. F. 21
Analogous to these question and answer compositions are

the old French and English collections which would now be
One of them, entitled Demands Joyous,
called riddle-books.
which may be rendered Amusing Questions, was printed in
English by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1511. From this work, of
which one copy only is said to be extant, the writer in The
"
Book of Days has culled a few " demands with their
" 1
responses."
With some of these specimens also compare the riddles
(ten questions) propounded by the Drakos in Hahn (III. TrjviaKd
2
1. To TrapafjivOi, rov ApaKou), where the hero by the help of the
wise old woman answers them all and the Drakos bursts.
Riddle-stories of this description are likewise common among
the Slavs. 3
Two Poems of Mystic Meaning.
Extract from E. B. Tylor's Primitive Culture, Vol. I.

pp. 86 87.
" There are two

poems kept in remembrance among the modern Jews,
and printed at the end of their book of Passover services in Hebrew and
English. One is that known as Chad gadyd it begins, A kid, a kid, my
'
:
father bought for two pieces of money and it goes on to tell how a cat
'
came and ate the kid, and a dog came and bit the cat, and so on to the
end. Then came the Holy One, blessed be He and slew the angel of
'
!
death, who slew the butcher, who killed the ox, that drank the water, that
quenched the that burnt the stick, that beat the dog, that bit the cat,
fire,
that ate the kid, that my father bought for two pieces of money, a kid, a
kid.' This composition is in the Sepher Haggadah,' and is looked on by
'
some Jews as a parable concerning the past and future of the Holy Land.
According to one interpretation, Palestine, the kid, is devoured by Babylon

the cat; Babylon is overthrown by Persia, Persia by Greece, Greece by
Rome, till at last the Turks prevail in the land ;
but the Edomites (i.e.
the nations of Europe) shall drive out the Turks, the angel of death shall
destroy the enemies of Israel, and his children shall be restored under the
rule of Messiah. Irrespectively of any such particular interpretation, the
solemnity of the ending may incline us to think that we really have the
composition here in something like its first form, and that it was written
to convey a mystic meaning. If so, then it follows that our familiar
1
The Book of Days, vol. i.
p; 332.
2
Contes Populaires Grecs, edited by J. Pio, Copenhagen, 1879.
3
Balston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 353.
Mystic Poems 323
nursery tale of the old woman who couldn't get her kid (or pig) over the
stile, and wouldn't get home till midnight, must be considered a broken-
down adaptation of this old Jewish poem.
The other composition is a counting-poem, and begins thus :
'
Who knoweth one ? I (saith Israel) know One :
One is God, who is over heaven and earth.

Who knoweth two? I (saith Israel) know two:
Two tables of the covenant but One is our God

;
Who is over the heavens and the earth.'
(And so forth, accumulating up to the last verse, which is )

1
Who knoweth thirteen ? I (saith Israel) know thirteen : Thirteen
divine attributes, twelve tribes, eleven stars, ten commandments, nine
months preceding childbirth, eight days preceding circumcision, seven
days of the week, six books of the Mishnah, five books of the Law, four
matrons, three patriarchs, two tables of the covenant; but One is our God
who is over the heavens and the earth.'
This is one of a family of counting-poems, apparently held in much
favour in mediaeval Christian times for they are not yet quite forgotten
;
in country places. An old Latin version runs :

'
Unus est Deus,' etc., and
one of the still-surviving English forms begins, One's One all alone, and '
evermore shall be so,' thence reckoning on as far as Twelve, the twelve *
apostles.' Here both the Jewish and Christian forms are or have been
serious, so it is possible that the Jew may have imitated the Christian,
but the nobler form of the Hebrew poem here again gives it a claim to be
thought the earlier." 1
The pieces given below are some of the Macedonian parallels

to the compositions discussed in the foregoing paragraph.
1
Mendes, Service for the First Nights of Passover, London, 1862 (in the
Jewish interpretation, the word shunra, 'cat,' is compared with Shindr)^
Halliwell, Nursery Rhymes, p. 288; Popular Rhymes, p. 6.
212
I.
1. (From Salonica.)
1117769 '? TO
Toz>
Me Kpdrrjo-es teal êva;

2e Kparrjaa.
Tlov V TO?;
TO
Kpitc, KpaK ea-Tracre TO

Tlov V o \ayos;
Tbv <f)a r] ydra.

Tlov Vjdra; r)
'S Ta /co/cKiva ra
Tlov V Ta KOKKLva ra
TO KOK/CIVO TO
Tlov V TO KOKKIVO TO
TO
Tlov V TO
To pov(j)i^
Tlov V 77
a
Tî/ eV(a' 6
Hoi) V o
Tlpdcra, yevia KOL
2. (^Vow Vassilika.)
fiid /jLTrd/jiTrov, Trdet \ rij KOTrptd,

T$pio-Kei fJiid /copid.
TTdei, \ TO TôpfjLTraT^rj'
rj yu-',
So yu-' eW
Na /3p%Q) TT) KOpld,
Na $poo~LO~ci) rr) fcapbid
Mystic Poems 325
1. The Hare.
(Played between the nurse and the child.)
Hast thou been shooting?
I have.
Hast thou killed a hare ?
I have.
Hast thou cooked it ?
I have.
Hast thou eaten ?
I have.
Hast thou kept a portion for me ?
I have.
Where is it?
In the cupboard.
(Here the child is made to hold its fists tightly clenched one over the
other so as to represent a cupboard, while the nurse tries to open them
with her forefinger and thumb.)
Crick, crack the key's broken.
Where is the hare ?
The cat has eaten it.
Where is the cat ?
On the red tiles.
Where are the red tiles?

In the red earth.
Where is the red earth.
In the river.
Where is the river 1

The cow has swallowed it up.
Where is the cow ?
The butcher has slaughtered her.
Where is the butcher?
He is dead.
Leeks, beards and moustaches !
and the nurse proceeds to tickle the child under the chin and make it
laugh.
2. The Old Woman.
There was an old woman. She went to a dung-hill,

She found a crumb of bread.
She goes to the soup-maker:
"
Soup-maker, give me some soup,
That 1 may moisten my crumb,
That I may refresh my heart."
'O r
Tldet, '9 TO
"
TâvaKT^rj //,', eva râvd/ci,
Na Traco rov
Na fji
Scocr' eva
Na ySpefa) TT) KOpia,
Na Spocria'Gi) TTJ /capSid.'
*O Tâva/CT^rj^ yvpetye ^tw/z-a.
Ilaet '? TT) 7179*
Na Tract) roi)
Na AcaV eVa râvd/ci,

etc."
*H 7^9 yvpetye Spo&ov.

'9 ra ovpdvia'
"
Qvpdvia fjC , eva 8/3ocro,
Na ScoffCD Trj 77)9,
Na //,e
Bcwa"' e
etc."
Ta ovpdvia yvpetyav Qvîdâ.

Tldei '9 TO TTpa
/JL, eva
Na dvfAiaTicra) rd ovpdvia,
Na Scocrovv Spocro rrj 7779,
etc."
*O TrpafJbarevTrjs yvpetye (îXrjâ.

Udei '9 T^ rcoprj-
"
Koprj fjC , eva
Na 8cocr&) TO Trpa' '/
Na yu-e
Swcr' eiâ
etc."
*H tcopT) yvpe^re /covrovpai?.

Ilaet TO Kovrovpr^rj'
'9
"
KoVTOVpT^ fjL, B6 jJLe KOVTOVpaiS,
Na S(WO~ft) T^ KOpJ],
Na /ze Scocr* eiâ (f)i\rjfia,
etc."
Mystic Poems 327
The soup-maker asked for a bowl.

She goes to the bowl-maker :
"
Bowl-maker, give me a bowl,
That I may take it to the soup-maker,
That he may give me some soup,
To moisten my crumb,
To refresh my heart."
The bowl-maker asked for earth.

She goes to the earth :
"O Earth, give me some earth,

That I may take it to the bowl-maker,
That he may make a bowl, etc."
The earth asked for dew.

She goes to the heavens.
"
Heavens, give me some dew,
That I may take it to the earth,
That she may give me some earth, etc."
The Heavens asked for frankincense.

She goes to the merchant:
"0 merchant, give me some frankincense,
That I may fumigate the Heavens,
That they may give some dew to the earth, etc."
The merchant asked for a kiss.

She goes to the maid:
"
maid, give me a kiss,
That I may take it to the merchant,
That he may give me some frankincense, etc."
The maid asked for a pair of shoes.

She goes to the shoe-maker :
"
shoe-maker, give me a pair of shoes,
That I may take them to the maid,
That she may give me a kiss, etc."
'O KovrovpT^ris yvpetye
ITaet '9 rrjv dye\d$a
JJL,
eva
Na Sober' TO
etc."
'H dye\d$a yvpetye ôprdpi'
Yldei '9 TO
JJL\ eva
Na Sft)<r'
etc. etc. etc."
The reciter here broke off out of breath and nothing would
induce him to proceed. Nor did I insist, as from what he said
I gathered that the everlasting cow had eaten up the grass and
was, in her turn, eaten up by the butcher, who in his turn was
eaten up by Death, and so the song came to a natural end.
II.
The following two poems are taken from Gousios' Songs of

my Fatherland, Nos. 104 and 105.
1. Ot Se/ca d
y
\6yo 0e\ va TTCO-

" r/
Eiâ? /xoz/09 Kupto9."
, Kvpie.
Auo \6yia #eX' vd TTW'
"
Aevrep* elv* r) Havayid,
etc.
Tpia \6jia 6e\' vd TTCO*
'
elv rj Tlavayid,
ea? //.oi'o
etc.
Tecro-apa \6yia êX' vd

"
Tecrcrape?
T/Jt<ru7rocrTaT09 609,
etc."
'Avv/j,vovfjLv etc.
Mystic Poems 329
The shoe- maker asked for leather.

She goes to the cow :
"0 cow, give me some leather,

That I may take it to the shoe-maker, etc."
The cow asked for grass.

She goes to the gardener:
"0 gardener, give me some grass,
That I may take it to the cow, etc."
"
For other songs of the type of " the house that Jack built
see Passow Nos. 273275; A. A. Tovtriov, 'Ta TpayovSia rfj?
'
HarpiSos IJLOV No. 102. This last and Passow No. 274 are
very close parallels to the Hebrew Chad gadyd, mentioned by
Mr Tylor.
1. The Ten Numbers.
I wish to say one :
"One only Lord."

We praise Thee, we glorify Thee, Lord !
I wish to say two :
"Second is the Holy Virgin,

One only Lord."
We praise Thee, etc.
I" wish to say three :
"Three are the persons of the Trinity,

Second is the Holy Virgin,
One only Lord."
I wish to say four :
"Four are the Evangelists,

Three are the persons of the Trinity,
etc."
TleWe \o<yta 0eX' va TTCO'
11
Ilez'Te nrapOevwv
etc."
etc.
\6yia 6e)C va TTCO*
TIevre irapOevwv %opot,

etc."
etc.
aarepes T ovpavov,
(8)eof),
etc."
etc.
va
<)Ta aarepes r ovpavov,

etc."
'A.vvfj,vov/jLev etc.
\6<yia OcX* va TTCO*
etc."
etc.
Ae/ca \6yia êX' zâ TTCO,

Kat z/a <rft)o-ft) TOV CT/COTTO'
"
Ae/ca Vat 77 e
etc.
A.vvfj,vov/jiev, etc.
2. Oi ScoSe/ca d
f/
Ezâ, fjLwpe, eva. "A9 TO TTOV/JLC eva'

"f
'E>va rb 7rov\ovî, TO ê\i,BovovBi, TTOV \a\ei TO
AaXet /cal Kvp\a\el."
Mystic Poems 331
I wish to say five :
" Five are the choirs of virgins,

Four are the Evangelists,
etc."
I wish to say six :
"Six- winged are the angels of God,

Five are the choirs of virgins,
etc."
I wish to say seven :
" Seven are the stars of heaven,

Six- winged are the angels of God,
etc."
I wish to say eight :
"Eight tunes are sung at church,

Seven are the stars of heaven,
etc."
I wish to say nine :
y Nine are the legions of the angels,

Eight tunes are sung at church,
etc."
I wish ten to say,

And conclude my lay :
"Ten are the Commandments,

Nine are the legions of the angels,
etc."
2. The Twelve Numbers.
One, friend, one. Let us call it one :
" One the

is little bird, the little swallow that sings in the evening,
Sings and warbles."
"A 9 TO 7TOV/JL6 6Vd. Na TTCLfJUe KOi \ Ta Bv6'
"
Ai;o TrepSifces ypa/jb/juevcus,
r
'Etva TO TTOuXovSi etc."
"A9 TO TroO/Lte Svo. Na Trayu-e /cat '9 ra rpia

"
Tpia Trooia 'XeTpovroSta, $vo Trepoitce?
TO 7rov\ovSi etc."
'
A? TO Trovfjie rpia. Na Tra/i-e ^<zl '9 T reo'o'rjpa

'
Auo 7T6pSt/c65 ypa/ju/jievais etc."
"A? TO TTov/jue reo-a-rjpa. Na Tra/Lte /cal '9 Ta

"
Ilei^Te Sa^TuXa '9 TO %ept, rea-a^pa fivfya
Tpia TroSia 'XerpoTToSia etc."
"A9 TO 7rov/ji Trevre. Na vra/xe /tat '9 Ta efi;*
Cff/
Ef7; fjufjves /uo-09 -%P VO<*> Trevre Sd%Tv\a \ TO
Teacrypa ftvîd 'yeXdSas etc."

V
A9 TO Trovfjue e^rj. Na 7ra/xe :al '9 Ta e<^Ta*
<f
E^)T 6(f)Td/COl\O TO /C\f)/AO,, %
Ile^Te Sa^TuXa '9 TO %e/o^ etc."
"A9 TO Trovfji <f)Ta.

Na TrayLte /cat '9 Ta
"
'O^TaTroSt Toy ddXacraov, e^>Ta e<pTdtcoi\o TO
f/
Ef7/ fjurfves /uo-09 %povo9 etc."
"A9 TO TTOuyu,' o^TW. Na 7ra//,6 /cat '9 TO evved'

"'Ez/z/ea /Jifjves elvat, TO TratSt, o^Ta?ro8t TOU QaKdacrov,
f
E<^>Ta e(f>Td/coi,\o TO K\r)fjia etc."
"A9 TO TTOV/JL evved. Na Trafie /cal \ Ta Se'/ca*

"
Ae/ca/otfet TO ôtptSt, evved /jirjves elvau TO
'O^TaTroSt TOU OaXda-orov etc."

"A9 TO 7TOV/JL6 Se/ca. Na Tra/jue /cal '9 Ta evTe/ca"
'
TO
'Ez/i/ea jjL7jv$ elvat, TO ?ratSt etc."
"A9 TO TTOv/jbe evrefca. Na TrayLte /cat '9 Ta Sa)Se/ca
/jLrjvw 6%p6vo$ t
evreica
TO otiSt etc."
Mystic Poems 333
Let us call it one. Let us go to the two :
"Two striped partridges, one is the little bird etc."
Let us call it two. Let us go to the three :
" Three are the feet of the

plough, two striped partridges,
One is the little bird etc."
Let us call it three. Let us go to the four :
" Four are the teats on a cow's udder, three the feet of the plough,
Two striped partridges etc."
Let us call it four. Let us go to the five :
"Five are the fingers of the hand, four the teats on a cow's udder,
Three the feet of the plough etc."
Let us call it five. Let us go to the six :
"Six months make half-a-year, five are the fingers of the hands,
Four the teats on a cow's udder etc."
Let us call it six. Let us go to the seven :
"Seven bushels bears the vine, six months make half-a-year,

Five are the fingers of the hand etc."
Let us call it seven. Let us go to the eight :
"Eight arms has the cuttle-fish, seven bushels bears the vine,
Six months make half-a-year etc."
Let us Let us go to the nine

call it eight. :
" Nine monthsthe child in the womb, eight arms has the cuttle-fish,
is
Seven bushels bears the vine etc."
Let us call it nine. Let us go to the ten :
" Ten months the young pig, nine months

1
is the child in the womb,
Eight arms has the cuttle-fish etc."
Let us call it ten. Let us go to the eleven :
"Eleven months the foal, ten mouths the young pig,

Nine months is the child in the womb etc."
Let us call it eleven. Let us go to the twelve :
"Twelve months has the year, eleven months the foal,

Ten months the young pig etc."
1
I am not at all certain of the correctness of my translation of this line.
Gousios spells xet/oi5t, which means nothing %etpi5a, " the handle of the
;
plough," makes no sense. Nor is the meaning of deKapifa quite clear. It has
been suggested to me that x P^ i might mean hand and 5e/capifei that the ' '
L
hands have 'ten roots (fingers).' The suggestion is certainly ingenious; but,
I fear, hardly borne out by the Greek as it stands.
CHAPTER XIX.
AeiavorpdyovSa.
[The majority of the following couplets were collected at

Salonica, those that I picked up in other parts of Macedonia
are specially indicated.]
1.
air rrj KaKoyvwiJiia IJLOV.

r
Tcopa Tr) <y\7ra) '9 d\\ove KOL KCLIGT 77 Kapîd pov.

2.
AyaTrr) fjuov %pv(r OVO/JLO,, Tr/? yeiTOveias Kopoova,
Ao? /AC TO Sa%TV\iBi crov va KCLVOVp dppaftcova.
8.
, ri /cepSe^ra; TT}? 7^)9 rr/v otyl Trrjpa,

Tov KOdfjiov rat? KaraKpicnaLs o\a^ eyw rat?
4.
,
ri icepê^ra ; 7779 7779 rrjv oifri Trrjpa,
Tov Koa/jiov ra?9 KaTafypovials, teal Iraki 8e' ae Trrjpa.
5.
' '
K eya> pfyavrjs eva KOfJUfJidri %iovi,

K efceivo TO ôvXerave ol CLTTOVOL
1
At Nigrita these distichs are called Galates (raXdrcus), a word of (to me)
unknown affinities.
a
Cp. Passow, Disticha Amatoria, No. 8.
Love-Couplets 335
Love-Couplets.
l.
I had a ladylove and lost her through my folly.

Now I see her in another's arms, and my heart is consumed with grief.
my love, name of gold, crown of the neighbourhood !
Give me thy ring that we may be betrothed.
3.
1 have fallen in love. What have I gained ? I have assumed the hue
of the earth,
And the blame of the world is all mine.
4.
I have fallen in love. What have I gained ? I have earned the hue
of the earth,
And the contempt of the world, and yet thee have I earned not.
I, poor orphan, am in love with a snow-flake ;
Even that the cruel neighbours envy me.

6.
o TL 6d yew?} TO l&irco fjua
Trapa, 6Yô>9 $ov\id KTJ dyaTrrj TO
7.
'AvdOeaa rr) Tv%rj /JLOV Kal T?) KO,K.ia rrjv wpa,

Hov & elbav rd pard/cia /JLOV, Kal rt vd tcdvco rwpa;
8.
*Az/ &cb<ra) Kal o~6 BvfJirjOa) dirdvay '9 rrj Bov\6id /JLOV,
To /3\Ovd/Cl 7TOV paCTTG) TO fJLTnjJO) '? T^ KapSld /JLOV.
9.
(From Melenik.)
"Azôtê, ^9, /JLeaa vd /JLTTW, teal ^co//-a,
o~tfe7rao~e yite,
Fict zâ j\VT(t)(7' a-TTO aefivTa Kal irdKi e/3ya\6 /JLC.
10.
*A?ro T^ Tropra crov Trepvco Kal /3pi<TKO)
11.
(From Zichna.)
elaai <rav TO ^lovi, KOKKIVV] crdv rr) (f>a)Tid,
'
TO, fidp/jLapa rsr) TL6\7j(; irovvai '9 rrjv Ay id So^â.

12.
"A<e9 /A6 /XT; /xe Treipd^r)?, dfas pe '9 TO %Xt yu-ou,
Su /AC 7T^p69 /OU TOV I/Ol) yLtOU Vo (JL6(T V TO K6(f)d\l, fjLOV.
13.
FYa Ste9K6ivo TO fiovvo, TTov avatye Kal Kalyei,,

Ka7T7TOfO9 dyaTrr) eâae Kal KaOerat Kal K\aiyei.
14.
(From Melenik.)
'700 aeftvra Sev ov& aKovard TOV
ijêpa, elâ.
Ta)pa fjie 7repiKVK\a)(76V airo Kopcfrrj '9 Ta vv%ia.
Love-Couplets 337
6.
Alas ! how end

will this state of ours ?
No money, no work and love to boot !
7.
Accursed be my fortune, and the evil hour

In which my eyes beheld thee. Now what am I to do?
8.
If ever I chance to think of thee while at work,

The needle which I hold in my hand I plunge it into my heart. 1
9.
Open, earth, that I may enter, and thou, O dust, cover me up,
That I may be cured of my passion. Then let me out again.
10.
I pass by thy door and find it locked,

I stoop and kiss the lock, and pretend to be kissing thee.
11.
Thou art white as snow, ruddy as the fire,

Tall and slim like the columns of St Sophia in Constantinople.
12.
Leave me alone and tease me not. Leave me alone in my misery

'Tisthou who hast taken away even my senses from my head.
13.
Behold yon mountain which is kindled and aflame !
Perhaps some wretch is bewailing his lost love.
14.
Once I knew nothing of passion, not even its name.

But now it has compassed me from head to foot !
1
This, among several other distichs, was dictated to me by a gifted young
tailor, and a great gallant, of Salonica. This one was perhaps a product of his
own genius.
A. F. 22
15.
(From Zichna.)
TraVia, elaai xrfva,, eld dyyeXifco /cop/j,l,
aav TOV 77X^0, TrpoGwrro o~dv "fiacrepi.
16.
(From Kataphyghi.)
TT X aP Ka T7?
Kai. <)aLVTal te 7ra>9 4>oa) TOV /3acri\.r)d ra
17.
'Ecru Vat TO crTa(j)v\i teal yco TO ra-dfjLTrovpo,

1
/Xa fie (TV '9 r aêtXt, /cal 7^ '9 TO /jidyov\o.
18.
TO 7TOV\l 7TOV TO \JOVV KCLVCLpi,

vv rd (prepd TOV KiTpiva KOI 77 /capoid TOV
19.
TpiofcaTapTo, Tpepets va Trdprjs /36\Ta,

T/oeyitet /cat 97 tcapoov\d /JLOV QVTCLS ere 8t<w '9 TT) TropTa.
20.
l^virapiaaaKt, ^77X0, '9 TJ) /otfa e^;et9 %ft>yu/a,

JJLOV
K' e^ft) pi/epos KOI crv /Jbiicpr], /catpos pas Be* v d/co/jia.
21.
, KOVT6VO)
'S TOZ^ TTOVO /3pi(7K:a) <yiarpeia, '9 TO VTepTi TI vd /cdvco ;
22.
'O epa>Ta9 TOZ/ adpwiro 7TW9 TOZ/ icaTaaTiftdêi'

KopyLtt craz; Tp(,avTa(f)v\\6 TO /cdvet, /cal
^Ti/ccdêi.
23.
f/
OXo9 O KOO-/JLOS Kr) O VTOVVid? Ta ^6(f)Kt,a KaVOVV %"'t,
Kat 77 St/c^ yu-ou 77 /capSid K\ai<yei icr) d
1
Cp. Passow, No. 361, a slightly different version given as a dirge (Mvpo\6yi),
rather improbably.
Love-Couplets 339
15.
You are a duck, you are a goose, you have the 1

figure of an angel.
You have eyes like the sun, a face like jasmine.
16.
I have won the joy and the love that I courted,

And it seems to me that I am now arrayed in a king's robes.
17.
Thou art the grape and I am the stalk :
Kiss me on the lips, arid I will kiss thee on the cheek !
18.
Thou art the bird which men call canary,

Whose feathers are golden, but whose heart is black.
19.
O three-masted galley, thou art trembling to veer round,

Even so trembles my poor heart when I behold thee standing at thy door.
20.
O dear slender cypress, there is still earth about thy roots.

Both thou and I are too young, our season has not come yet.
21.
Love and pain hold me fast, I am at the point of death.

Against pain I can find a remedy, against love what can I do?
22.
Look how love wears out a man !
A body that is blooming like a rose, decays and dies !
23.
All the people, the whole world, enjoys feasting ;
But my own heart can only weep and sigh.
1
This word is never used in modern Greek as a term of ridicule. Here it
refers to the bird's beauty and grace, without any allusion to its supposed
intellectual poverty.
222
24.
06\et, v d
va
Tlp67Ti dairpa va
Kai va JAIJV TO, \o ryapidar).
25.
(From Serres.)
Hav TrepSi/ca TreptTraret?, crav ê
Xapa '<?
r^ efjiopcfxiSa aou /cal ralpi va
26.
av reOoia reOoia \d%ava, aav reOoiaw

K 70) '? TOl^ /CTJTTO /AOU (TapCLVTa 7T6VT6
27.
(From Kataphyghi.)
rerotat? T6rota<9 peTravais Kai reroiat?
/c'
670) '9 TOZ/ /CT}TTO /i-oy Se/ca
28.
(From Nigrita.)
'S- TOI/ KOfjUTTO, '9 T?) /Stfa KofioVV TT)V 6\rjd,
'S ra fjudrta, '9 ra <f>pvSia fyiKovv rrj
29.
Ta /jbdna <r'
eôvv epcora /cal fiecra
KT} aTrdvct) *9 TO ^tâXtcr/i/a (frpeydSes dpfj,eviôvv.
30.
Ta ira\aid yu,a9 Bdcrava Trepdcrave teal Trdve.
Ta rwpivd yevij/cave fai&ia <yi,d vd /ua9 (/>ai>e.
31.
Tt iâ crov TTCO; rt i/

/>tou 77^79; ecru
t' ât r/7 KapSid //,'

ecru
1
The metre is somewhat lame there is one syllable more than should be in
the second verse but the peasants are not over-fastidious.
Love-Couplets 341
24.
He who will court a maiden fair,

Must needs waste much time.
He must needs spend many piastres too,
And count them not. 1
25.
Thy walk is like the walk of the partridge, thy run is like the flight of the
swallow.
Great is thy beauty, and yet thou hast no mate !
26.
Oh, of cabbages and radishes of this sort,

I have forty-five roots in my kitchen-garden.
27.
Oh, of radishes and horse-radishes of this sort

I have ten thousand roots in my kitchen-garden.
28.
The olive is plucked at the joint, at the root :
The maid is kissed in the eyes, between the eye-brows.
29.
Thy eyes are brimming with love and are moist with dew,
And on the bosom of the dew frigates are sailing.
30.
Our old troubles are past and gone.

Our present ones have grown into serpents and will devour us.
31.
What need of words? thou art well aware

That both my heart and my soul are thine to command.
1
The young tailor often complained to me, with a comical sigh, that his
heart had well-nigh ruined him.
32.
To d% ! be Tw%epa Trore? vd TO <f)a)vda).
Tcopa Bev direpva o~TLfJirj

va fj,r)v
d
33.
To /jbTTol
a elvai, /juvapes, ra %e/9m aov
To O-TT}Ô? aov irapdêiaos, yu-Tra^To-e? yLte
34.
To vreprL TWV TrdXXrjfcapicov rj ^paw TO

Kat rd Sia/3o\OKopiT(7a Kpv(j)d TO p,ovpjjbovpi%ovv.
35.
v<y6i$ /cai <f>ev<y r) ryvw/jLrj IJLOV. Tlov ?ra9 Traprjyopid

Tiov Tra? tc\et,ol TOV *po\o<yiov, TT dvoiyeis TTJ /capStd jj,ov ;
36.
^tA,' ol o^rpol 'yevrfKave teal 01 Si/cot /JLOV evoi,
K' 77 fidva TTOV fj,e yevvae Se' O\L vd yLte %epr).
37.
TTO
<&vye TTO fjueva, o-v\\oyij ! <f)vye fjieva, Trl/cpa !
Ae' o-e o-T6<>ava)6r)/ca vd o~' e<
Tllvovv.
38.
'O VTTVOS 6p^>C TO TCdlS'l, T)\LOS TO

Kat TO 7ra\rjo /cpaal /cdvei TOV jepo 7ra\\r)/cdpi.
39.
Xa/>a *9 TOV TroO TO Trivet,
Xaôa '? TOZ^ TTOV /cepva,
Xapd '? T^ tco/jL7ravla

Kai '9 o\* T^
Love-Couplets 343
32.
Time was when I knew not how to cry Ah me !
Now hardly a minute passes without my heaving a sigh.
33.
Thy body is a minaret, thy hands a pair of tapers,

Thy bosom a park a garden alive with songs of love.
:
34.
The youths' passion is well-known to the widows,

And the sly maidens whisper of it secretly amongst themselves.
*
35.
Thou departest, and my senses depart with thee. Whither away, O my

comfort ?
Whither art thou going, key of gold which openest my heart ?
36.
My have become my friends. Yet mine own kindred are estranged

foes
from me.
The very mother who bore me will no longer know me !
37.
Away from me, Sorrow Grief begone

! !
I have not wedded thee, that thou shouldst abide with me day and night.
Drinking rhymes.
38.
Sleep nourishes the child, and the sun the calf,

And old wine makes the old young.
39.
Joy to him who drinks it,

Joy to him who pours it out,
Joy to the party,
And all the good company !
I\a TT;? yWUK$.

O 60? TOV avTpa 67T\acre yu/e SiaiJuavTevia Trerpa
KT) orav <f>/ciav rrj yvvaltca eirr)pe
r/
O7TOto? e%' /ca/crj yvvaifca '? rov vexpo Be' TrpeV va Tray
Tov veicpo rov e^' '? TO O-TTLTL r.
H yvvai/ca elv arco\\a \\

KOI %a\evet, avro o\a.
f
H yvvai/ca pa/cpva fiaXkia /cal
Or
Tpavd /LtaXXta, ||
KOVTO,
1
This distich I heard at Serres, but it is not of Macedonian origin. My
informant was a Cretan Mohammedan one of those who on the declaration
of Cretan autonomy preferred exile to peaceful existence with the despised
Christians.
2
A. A. Tovalov, *'H /cara TO Hdy-ycuov Xwpa,' p. 89. Cp. /j.Tr6i rpavb /cat
fj.va\a \iya, ibid.

Love-Couplets 345
Greek folk-opinion on the fair sex.
When God created man, he used a diamond-drill ;
When he created woman, he used a pickaxe.
He who has a bad wife need not go to the funeral :
The funeral is in his own home.
Woman is like paste : she sticks to everything.
Woman :
long hair, short wits.
1
1
The same proverb, word for word, is common both among the Russians
and the Tartars: see Ralston, Russian Folk-Tales, p. 38.
APPENDIX I.
T6 TTApAMyGl TOY NA'l'NTIC.

1
Mia /?oAa K' ?vav Katpo rjrav evas a$pa>7ros TroAv TrAouo'tos.
o-TTtria, tSioyxaTa, dpvta, /carcriKia Kai TI Scv *X ' a7ro â Ta Ka ^- a TOV
KOO"/XOV, *S TO O"7TITI T* <OS K Ol TTCTCIVOI yVVOVO"aV avyO, 7TOV AeCl KT^ 6 AoyOS.
Ma TI Ta #$; ?/Tav <r<^t^TOS, T^cyKcve's. AVTOS 6 a$pw7ro9 CTV^C rapOrj ere

/xta 7roXtTta fjLyd\f)j (rav va Xe/xc '? T-^ âXovi/oy, xat yia va /x-î/
ôSetacrT^ 8c' O\(TC va Koveif/r) *s r^ XoKai/ra, /xTyre 7rdr)<T erf. Kavtva
rpavov T dpôvTiKO, yia va /x-î/ Aa^ry KT) Tro^pctu^. Mdvo Koveif/c '?
Iva
<f>rn)ôv rr) KaXvfia, Ka\rj wpa crav T-^ ^KT; /xas. To o-TrtV lyrav /xovaâ
Ivas ovras rpavos KT) 6 SoaVos at TOJ/ I^SaAav va KOL/JirjOfj o~e /xia ywvta,
6 SoSAos T* a7ro/xtv oôv 's Tr)v avA^ dvra/xa /AC ra Trpa/xara. Tov
^>TO)ÔV 77 yvvalKa e*^ \VTpo)@rj 8a> Kai Tpci? p:pais, yevo^c eva Tratoi
Trovrav Tpio3 /xepcu ovras ^p^ avros 6 TrAovo-ios. "Ero-t TTOV Acs, 7rAaytao*av
TO /SpaSv, 6 fj.ov<ra.(j>ipr)<s
o-e /xta KO^ry K' ^ Aeôô-a /xc TOJ' avTpa T'? *s T^V
aAAiy. A.VTOL TOV? Tnype vTrvos dyAiyyopa feat KOifjiovvrav //.ta pâpa, yiar
ot <f>T(D\ol yKaTjAeSes 8v lôvv. Ma 6 TrAovo-tos 8e" TOV 7ratpv VTTVO?,
yvpvovo~ a.7ro T^ /xia /xpia, yvpvoi)o- TTO TT)V aAAry /<at

o*vAAoyiovvTav Kat
Aoyaptaê TO ^8to TOV.
Kct TTOV o-vAAoyiovvTav aa<J>va yAeVet KT} avoty' 17 Tropra KOLL
<Tef$K.a.v
fj.cra Tpets yvvatKes vTV/xevats '5 T a(nrpa. 'H /xta ^Tav 7rt(o \j/rj\.r)
KOL
Treio /zop^>77 TTO T'S aAAat?. *HTav r) Tpets Motpats TTOV />totpaovi' TO
vo-Tpt5 a^>ov yevOrj. "ETO-t TTOV Ae?, ae^Kav /xeo*a '5

TratSt TT} Tptrrj /xepa
TOV ovTa Kat o*Ta^Kav Kct TTOV KOLJJLOVVTCLV TO ytxajpo, K' /xcyaAetTepri TTO 77*
TTJS Moipats TO ayytê /xe TO Sa'^TvAo T'S Kat Aeet- "Tt va TO /xoipdVrov/xc;"
Aev 71 aAAats* " Na TO yuotpdVoiyxc va ycvry KAripovoytxos 's avTov TOV
" "
TrAovcrto TTOV Vat TrAaytao-p-tvos Kt Trepa 's T^ KO^." Aev Ta/xa/x.' TJ
aAAats Kat TO /xotpao-av K' vo-Tpts yci'Kav aâvTat?.

*O 7rAovo*ios T' aKovo" avTa TO, Aoyta Kat Tpo/xaê, KT} a?r TO <jf>oy8o
T'
Sc' fJLTTOpOV<T Vtt

(T(fta\L^r] /XttTl. ^Vw^KC Kttt O-QvAaTâpt^C TTCtVOV KO.TOV
? TOV ovTa cus TO Trpw't. "Ayaa <^>ê 6 6ê6s T^/V r^/xepa Kai or KOJ^KC 6
u
TO ytaTaKt T', TOT9 TOV Aeei 6
'
TTO ^cvos
<^>T(o^6<; 'Eyw <^>vy(o cnjfAepis
yia TO ^toptd' /A',

TratSta ^Va /x' 8ev â). Av o"Tpy>ys va p- oa)O"iys TO
1
My raconteuse informed me that she heard this tale many years ago from
a Koumanian friend of hers (Kapct/SXdxa). According to her Naidis is the
Wallachian for the Greek "
Evpea-rjfj.i.6, foundling."
6 KO a- TO /Awpo, yw K' 77 yvvaiKoi fM Od r ava^pe'i/fov/xe <ro.v vavat TratSt
/xas. Set? euTTe veot, TrpooYa 6 0eos Oa KaWe KI) aXXa."
Tore? 6 ^>T(oôs Kpae TT) ywatKtt T* va 81$ Tt Xeet /cat
KetV^. *H
yuvatKa T' TrptuTa 8ev rjQeXe, yiarl TTOIO, /xa'va 8tvet TO /xtKpo T'S; /xa uo-Tepts
aV' " KaXa'"
TO. TroXXa, yta va /xr)v KO\f/ovv TT) Tir^r; TOV TratStov, Xe'ct K'
va TO SoW av xat' T'

a'ya,7ro{5o-
crav iratSt T'S TrovTav. TOTC? TO
c KaXa /caXa, ok Troii
\6pracrf. yaAa, Ttui/Tvcrc /txe
TOL TTCIO
KaXXtrepa
Troupe, TO </>t'Xo"e (rravpioTa 's TO yXecâpo KT) 6 TrXovo-ios TO irr/pe 's
TO,
X*P ia T'> o-^XXojj/' T^ <^>opa8a T' KT; TOI/ êTrpoySoSô-av /cat Tract 's TO
KaXo /xa^v /x,e
TO 8oi)Xo T'.
"Oi/Tas /3-yfJKO.v
oov TTO T^ TroXtTeta K' e^)Tao-av 's ei/a /xepos tpyfj-o
/xeVa s Ta yevvT/jtxaTa ^Tav KaXo/catpt o-Ta/xaTaet T-^ <opaSa T' /cat Xeet
TOV oovXo T u IIcipc avTO TO fjiwpb KOL vo. TO o*KOT<oo*!7s /x, ytxta 'O
TTCTpa."
SovXos T' '5 T^V apx"^ &V TjOeXe va TO Kaj/r/, yum i;Tav a^pcoTros 6fo<j>o-
f3ovfjivo<s ) (ML vo-Tpts êXovTas /x^ êXovTa? TOJ/ a/covo-e TOJ/ a^vrrj T' /cat'
TO Tn^pe TO p.o)p6. Ma ai/Tts va xrvTrrfo-rj TO Traiol XTVTTO.CL Trj yrjs /xe TJ)
TreVpa Kat TO tt<^>j/Tt/co T'

Odpptij/e TTojs /?apeo*e TO rratSt. TOTCS aâfyva
CKai/e o-av vaeiSe KOTTOIOV TTO fia/cpva, yata Kat SDO TrXaXa'ct 's T'
aXoyaTo,
o-av vaTav TaâTes Tpo/xao-/jtVos, KT) aV6 8c3 Trav K' ot aXXot. "ETO~t TTOV
Xes, TO /xwpo aTro/xve Kot/xto-jUeVo /xeV 's T' a'o-Ta^va.

1
Ta>pa v d<j>rjo-ov/ji TOV 7rXovo-to Kat va TrtaVov/xe TO TratSt. Ta

ô>pa^>ia Kctva ^Tai/ TTO eva TrXovcrto T^t^Xr/Ka. AVTO? 6 TrXovo-tos 8ev
ctê 7rat8t ^KO T' KT) oXov TrcptKaXova-av TOI/ ^co K>) avros K' 17 ywatKa T'
va TOVS 8(00*77 cva 7rai8t. "H^cXav vavpow Kaveva i//vô7rat8t /JLTT\K Kat
TOVS Xv-rrrjO-fj
6 êos. CTV^C va <rcpyiaviy avTO? 6
Kctvr; TT) ySpaScta
TrXovo-tos '? Ta ^wpcxîa Kat aKOvo-e TO /xwpo ^Ta'^Ke Kat Xeet
TrwKXatye.
" Tt vavat
TTO /xeo~a T' avTo; TâKaXt 8e'v Vat, o-KuXt 8e'v Vat. *As va Ww
StoJ." Kat TraatvovTas KaTa yaXta yaXta /?pt<rKi TO /xwpo K>}
TT) <f>(Dvr) TTO
ap.a TwetSe ^7rao-TtKe. Ma yXeTrovTas avTo TOO~O e/AOp^>o Kat Trao-TptKO

/cat
TraxovXo TO Xt/XTTto-Tr/Ke Kat TO a'yKaXta T' Kat TO Trdr)o~e 's
7r?7pe 's TT)V
TT; yvvatKa T'. "Ate TO ^wpac^t, ywatKa," TT; Xeet, " e/xet?
Tt ftprJKa '?
?rat8t
yvpeva/xe KT-)
6 êos TratSt /xas eo-TetXe." 'H ywatKa T' 8e' TOV
"V
TTtO-TClê AtVT 7TO 8(O, 7TOIOS ^pt O"V /X TTOtO, T(OKaV5 ttVTO TO TTatSl,
/xa as etvat 8e* /ue /xe'Xet, as TO <^)vXaôv/Ae."

To <f>v\.ac;(LV Kat Taxêpav /xta Trapatiava yta va TO fiv^d^y Ky atta
TpdYei/fe TO o-7rovSaâv. Kat TO TratSt TrovTav O-WIKO, TrpOKOi/ê Kat T*S
ayaTTOvae TroXu, KTJ avroi T ayaTrovcrav Kat TwXeyai/ NatvTts, o*av va Xe/ote
1
This is a stock form of transition, as hackneyed in Modern Greek folk-
tales as it is in similar compositions in other languages. Cp. the Italian
"Lassamu a lu pappa gaddu e pigghiarnu a lu cavaleri," Fiabe, novelle, e
raconti siciliani, by J. Pitre, Palermo, 1875, vol. i. p. 9.
Appendix I. 349
Evpeo-ry/xto. Ttopa vap0ov/xe 's TOV TrXovVto. Ilepaorav xpoVta Ka/XTroo-a KT)
6 NaiVTts yevKe 8eKa, &Ka.e<j>ra ^poi/w. Tores /xta /xepa va o~ov K'
'? To X 310 K*"' ? o KOKOS 6 TrXovonos, 6 TêyKeves, rrov Trao-Kto-e
epxeTat */
va TOV X a'7/ K> * rcrt T(*>< Pe *7

TV X r7 m KO-TaXvo-ry s TO CTTTITI TrovTav 6
NeitKTiS. "AKOVO-C TTOV TOV <tovaav NCUVTIS Kat TrapaêvevVryKe /xe T*
ovo/xa. Pa>Taet TT) yui/atKa-

"Ae' /xe Acs, *vpa, yiari rov (^cova^re ercri;"
"Toy /3yaA.a/xe NauTiS yiart,
i/a ore TTW T-^V cxAr/êia, 8ei/ emu yvtos /xas,
rov ftprJKe 6 avr/jas /xov 's TO ^wpd^L, /xeV 's ra yev^vy/xara 8(3 /cat
ScKae^ra xpo^ 101 - Mets aAAa TratSia 8ev eixa/xe K* ITO-I TOV ava^/ae'i/â/xe
Kat TOV aya7roi)/xe crav TratSt' /xas, /cat /cetvos juas ayaTraet TroXv."
'A/covovras avra 6 TrXovcrtos TrtKpa^Ke KaraKapSa ytart KaraAa/3e TTW?
^rav TO 7rat8t TTOV Trpoo-Taê TOV 8oOXo' TOV va TO âXda"r). Tcopa TI va

Kaivy ; CTvAAoyteTat TTO Sco
o"vXXoyieTat TTO Ket. 2 Ta vo"Teptva TOV rfpOf.
fJLLoi vevarr]. Tvpi&i /cat Xeet TTCOS exet va o-TtX>y /xia ypa<f>7] 's TO âpio r
/cat $e'Xet eva
/XTrto-Tejaevo a^pWTro
va' TT;V Trary.
"
MTra, va o-TetXov/xe TOV Nati/Tt?," TOV Xev.
'ETOt/xao-av TOV NatvTts /xta TrovyaYo-a Kat ^>ayta, /cat o-eXXwo-e T'
aXoyaro T'
yta va Trdrj.
O ?rXovo~tO9 TOV locoKe xua ypa.<f>r] yta Tiy
yvvat/ca T' Kat TT^V eXeye /xeVa 's TT^ ypac/>^ auT-^ va TOV o-Tet'X^ aTravov
's TCX POVVCL TTOV e^8oo-Kav Ta Trpoftard r Kat va TrapayyetXry TOVS Tcro/xTra-
vapeovs va TOV Koi<yxaTtao'ovv Kat va TOV yKp^/xvtVovv /xeo"a 's eva TrryyaSt.
'O NatvTts Tr^pe T-^ KaâXXtKeiê Kat Ktv?;cre
ypa(f>r) 8t'xws Ka/x/xta Troi^ta,
vex Trai?.
Ilptv vex KLvrja-y rf /xava
TOV TOV op/xT/veiê va /XT)V Xax>7 Kat Trti^
vepo aVoo-Ta/Aevos, K' vo*Tepts TOV (j>iX.r)<re

Kat TOV etTre TO KaTevo8io.
'^ TOV 8pd/xo TTOI) Traatve c/>Tavet o-e /xta ftpva-r) CLTTO KCITOV Trcova Sevrpo
Kat ^Kay5aXXtKiê yta va âTroa-rdcrr) i/'t'xa
K' vo-Tepts va TTIT^ vepo, KaTa
TTWS TOV op/x^veiê
>
S
\
TOV
V /
77 /xava
V
T',
/c//\
ytaT* ^Tav
va o"ov Kat Trepvaet evas yepos /xe /xaKpva ao"7rpa yeveta Kat
to"Kto
8tiâo-/xe'vos.
\
Ket
V
TTOV KdOovrav
/ /
TOV Xeet- " IIou topa KaXry, yute /xov;" ""flpa KaX>y, TraTTTrov, Traatvw 's TO
Ta8e TO ~^(j)pLO /xe /x/.a ypac^>^ yta TOV Ta8e.' " Aooê
yuov Try va Try 8tw
avTTy TT) ypac/tty, ytaTt Oappw TTWS TOV epo avTov TOV dOpwiro." To 7rat8t
TOV StVet TT;
ypa^T/, KT) o yepos Tre'pao-e TO X^/ l TOV ^ ndvov Kat Try yv'pio-e
TrtVov, K' vcrTeptg Trcny 's T)) SovXeta T'.

Na /xryv Ta TroXvXoyov/xe, ava^8pa8a dva/3pa8a <f>rdvi o NatvTts 's TO
o-TTtTt TOV TrXovo-tov. Ket TTOV êTre'êve xrc^C t a?ravov 's TO Tra.pa.6vpi Kat
yXeTret eva Kopirort e/xopc/>o crav TO c/>eyyapt. ""Aiê <r/3va- TOV /XTT^KC
/xtpaKt. *HTav TOV TrXovo-tov, ytaT* etxe Triy i/ê/xaTa TTCO? 8ev eTxe
77 Kopry
TratSta- etxe /xta Kopiy K' ei/a TraXXr/Kapt. 'O Nat'vTis o-e^Ke /xeo-a 's TO
"
o-7rtTt K' T;
yvvatKa TOV TrXovVtov TOV 8e'xT>yKe KaTa TTCOS eTrpeTre. KaXcGs
" "
wptcres KaXoa? o-as ^8p>yKa/xe," T^/ 8t'vet TT/ ypa<f>r) Kat Ketvry TT) 8ta^3ao-e
K'
" Na avrov TO veto Kat Kat va
eypaê /xeVa Trapry? Try Kopry /xas
tva TraTra Kat vd Toi>9 crTe^>avwa">79 r
dyA^yoptoTepo. 'Eyw OapOw '9 O^TO>
/xepai9 Kat TrpeVetva /?p<o TO 7rpa/xa TeAeao/xevo."
'A/xa Sta/?ao-e TT) ypac/>7/ eKave /ceiVr/ Kara TTOJ? rryv TrapayyeAvev 6
avrpa? r 9, Kpaet TOV TraTra /cat /xta Kat Svo TOD? crrecâvcovet. "EKavav
ia 009 TO,
Na /X77'v
TU TToAvAoyor/xe, vo-Tepi9 TT'
O^TW ttepat9 va o-ou K'
o TrA-otxrios, /cat /cet TTOV êTre^ve 's TI) TropTa o-Koivet Ta adna r
Kttt TC va Ovyarepa r TTOV arreKovrav o-t/xa 's roi/ NoiKTi* aTravov
8f>7 / T-^
'? TO,
KttyKcXAa. TOTCS Toi) ^p^c /xto, ^dXrj <rav Ta^SXas Kat 7re^>Tt
â/xov. nXaXovv, Kpdôvv ytaTpov? Kat jue Ta 7roA.Xa TOI/ ^>epvovv '9 TOV
" Tt TOV pwTact
\oyaptao-/xo. eTraês, avrpa /^';" T; yvvatKa T'. ""As,
,
aTToo-Tao-a '9 TOI/ 8po/xo KT) o 17X109 /xe ^Sapeo-e '9 TO Ke<aAi," Aeet
, "/na ytaTt Sev Kaê9 KaTa 7Ttu9 o-e TrapayyctXa /xeaa '9 T^
a "
II(O9 oe To>Kai/tt, j/a o"' 8te Tt
>^ ypa^>^ p.' eypa09.
T-^ Tratpvet T^ ypa^rj Kat Tr; 8ta/3a'êt. 'Eâppei/ê 7ra>9
Tpt/3et Ta ytxaTta T* KaXa KaXa Kat
va KaTaXdjSrj 7TW9 yei/K 8e' [Liropovo't
auTO TO Trpayaa ytaTt TO ypai/u/xo ^Tav ^KO T'. ToT9 Xeet " KaAa, 8e'
Tretpa^ct. Avpio TO Trpai't, yAf Kiat9 âpaai9 va TOV o~ Ka>o"ry9 TOP' Nat'vTt9
Kat va TOV o-Tt'A>79 aTravof '9 Ta Trpoftara /x p.ta ypa(f>rj irov Od a~ 8wo-o>."
K Karcr K'
cypaiê 's TOV9 TO"Oja7ravapeoi;9 Kara 7ra>9 Kat TrpcoTa.
T-^v aAAr; TO Trpcot ra^yvrjaa Q-'KCO^KC 77 yvvatKa T' Kat Tr^ye va vTrvyarr)
TOV NatvTt9. Ma ttâa crifiKf. '9 TOV ovTa Kat TOV eiSe 7ro9 Kot/xowTav
5
yAvKa yAvKa /xecr* T^ Kopi; T 9 TT)V ayKaAta, AvTrry^Kf va TOV ^VTrvijcrr) Kat
5
TOV va \opTacrri TOV VTTVO a*KO//.a
acj>K Ka/x/xta wpa. Ilat '9 TO yvto T 9
Kat TOV Acet " Koi/aao-at, TratSt /x';"
"
""O^t, /xa'va /z,V S^'KOV va
Ka/?aAAtKei^7/9 Kat va 7ra9 avr-)) T^ ypa(f>rj '?

TOi
Ta Trpofiara." ^Vcoi/eTat TO TraiSt Ka^8aAAtKi;et Tratpvet T^ ypa(f>rj
"Yo-Tept9 avro Ka/XTroo-r; wpa cr'Kwt'eTat KT) o avTpa9 T*9
"Tov " Tov

eorTeiAe9;" AvTTT/^Ka va TOV VTTVIJO-W TOV Nat'vTt9," Acct
"
Ket'vr;, jaa /XT) votaêo-at, avTpa //, ry ypaîj Trdrjae /xe TO yvto /xa9."
" Tt "
Kai/9 ^8pe ywatKa / <wvai Ketvo9 Kat /xta Kat Svo o-av va TOV
/xta dvaXafirj, Tpeêt oôu yta i>a TOV 7rpo</>Tao->y. 'H yvvatKa T'
/
7T(io9 TOV ^p^ Tra'At aâ/xva crav Kat X T ? KC" T P X t â-TaTroSt T'.
'9 TO jSovi'o j3p?)Kf 7ra>9 ot TO"o/x7ravot TOV eTâv âXdcrrj TOV
ywo' T' Kat TOV etâv pt^Ty ttco*' '9 TO TTTyyaSt, KT]
a,7r'
TI) TrtKpa T' KT) aV' TO
Ot^Tt
T' 7T<^Tt K]7 ttVTO9 /XfiVa
Kttt
âVTttt. yVVtttKtt yAe7TOVTa9 TOV
H
avTpa T'? TTOI) 7To- /xco"' '9 TO TT^yaSt Taâo~ Kat pi^veTat Kat Ktv>y /xeo-a
Kat TrtOavf K-f) avrifj. K' enrt aTrottvc o NaivTt9 KAvypovo/xo?.
AVTO Sev 'vat Trapa/xv^t. Etvat Trpa/xa TTOV yevK Kat Set^vet 7ro>9 Tr/
Motpa T' Kaveva9 Se* ttTropet va T>;

APPENDIX II.
To BACiAdnoyAo KA? 6 AHTOC.
>)
TOV 7rapativ0tov. KaAry cnrepa eras.
Mta /3oAa K' evav Katpo i^Taj/ cvas /?ao-tAeas K'

*^ Tpta TratSta, /xa 6
jTdV 6 7TIO dvTpltottVOS Kl^ 6 7TIO OyXOp<oS (ITT OvAvOt.
*Hp$e Katpos KT) dppwcTTô-e 6 /Sao-tAeas TroAv ftapeid, rfrav 7Tta yia
âvaro, K' clTrav ot

ytarpot TTCO? yta va y\VT(o<r' TrptTrct va <^>a^ ôvyyt aTT*
dpcrevtKO Aayo. Tore? <^cova^ TO. ^SacrtXoTrovXa /cai TO, etTre'

" IlaiSia 7roA.v fiapeid, K
ot ytarpoi etTrav rrtos
/x', i/xcu appworros yta
va ycvto /caA.a TrpcVct va <aa> ôvyyt aTr' dpo-evtKO Aayo. 2as TrcptKaAtu
AOITTOV va Trare '? TO KvvrjyL Kat va /* ^>pre ev' dpo-viKo Aayo."
" etTrav TO, 7rat8ta Kat
KaAa, Trarepa," rat? /cat T*Trrjpav cratrats TOVS
ap/xara Kat Kiv^crav yta va ?rav. Il^yav dAdpya 's TO, ovp/xdvta yta va
T*S
j3povv Aayovs. Ot Svo ot rpavvrepot ot ytot 8e' Kardc^cpav va O-KOTWO-OVV

Kav Kaveva, /xa 6 /xtKporepos o-Korwcre rpets, tta Kavcvas aTro 8avrov9 8ev
ijrav dpcrevtKO?. Ot dSepôt T' dp^tV>;o-av va TOV ôvAevovv ytart <f>dvi<c

Treto a^tos d.7r' avrovs. T^v aAAry TT) /xepa âva^Syi^Kav 's TO KvvrjyL KCU
TrdAt TO, tota* ot ovo ot Tpavot oe /x7rdpO*av va Kavovv TtTroTes tta 6
/xtKporcpos OTKOTWCTC 8v6 K' ?vas aTT* TOV? Suo Aayoi^s lAa^c vav' dpo-evtKog.
TOV ôvAeiâv aKott' TTCIO Trapa TTCXVCO K* etTrav 6 cvas
/x
TOV aAAo-
A? TOV O-KOTWO-OV/XC K vaTept? va Trovtie TOV TraTepa /xa? Trcos rjpOav
9 Kat TOV âAao-av."
Ke? KOVTO, rfrciv va Tnrjydot TroAv TraAryo tie
/xapttapa yvpo yvpo Kat TO
vepo c^yatvc TTO /xeo-a Kai ^C^ctXt^c TTO Tptyvpo 's TO. ttap/xapa. "A/xa ^pê
K7] 6 tUKpOTepOS TOT69 TOV CtTTttV
" Ae' TrtVovtte avTO TO TrrjydBi, Irtri TTCOS et/xao-T
TT'
vcpo Sti/'acr/xevot;"
" ctTre KCIVOS,
" va
MTrpa^So," 7rtov/xe."
" Ma "
7rp7Tt va 7rtov/xe tie T^V dpa'Sa," Aect 6 TpaviJrcpo?, Trpwra o
cvas, vo~Tpts o aAAos Kat 's TO, vaTepva o TptVos."
Tore? yjiTLf Trpcora d rpavvVepos, vo-Tepis d SevVepos K vo-Tepvos o
/xtKpdrepos. "E/i?aAe rr) rraAa r KOI TT) craifa T' euro /car' air* TT) /xao-âA.7;
Kat a7rA<o$K TO, /XTrpov/xvTa yta va 71-117

a.7r' TO vepo TTOV eVpexe air' ow V
TO, /xap/xapa. Tores d evas TOV TrtdV d?r' ru>va TroSapt K$ o' aAAos CXTT' T'
aAAo Kai TOV pt'xvovv /xeo-a TO mjydSt. "ETreo-e TO AOITTOV TO /3acriA.O7rouAo

'9
/xeo"a K' ot dSepcôt' TOV e<^>vyav Kat yvpcrav -rt<ra) 's TO TraXaTi.
"Ayu,a
e<^)Tao-av exet TOV Tr^yav TOT) TraTepa TODS TOV Xayo /cat Tou?rai/'
"
Na, TraTe'pa, KaTaêpa/xe Kat /3pr/Kayu,e dpo*evtKO Xayo o-r;/x,ept5, /xa
TOV a'8epqf>d /xas," K' eWvai/ TTCOS ^Tav TroXv TrtKpa/xeVot.
e, Tt AeTe; TTOOS
yevrjKf 8a{;To;" pwTaet d ^8ao"tAea<; Kat TreTa^ri^Ke
o^w V TO Kpe^8^3aTi, ytaTt TOV ayaTrovo-e TOV /xtKpOTepo TOJ/

ytd TOV Treto
Trepto-o-oTepo TT T'S aAvot.
" Tt va o~e TTOV/XC,
" Ket TTOV
TraTepa," Aev, Kvvr^yovo-a/xe aâ^>va rfpOav
K/\e'</>Tats
K' rjOfXav va /xas KaTaTTOVTiVouv, K' ^/xet? ot 8vo ê^vyajae, /xa o*
ToTes yevr/Ke /xeyas Oprjvos 's TO TraAaTt, KT) d /3ao-iAeas K' ry
v 's TO, ttaOpa K'

eVAatyav Kat uXifiorvvTav TroAv.
Tcopa va T'S a^Tyo-ov/xe Ket TTOV @prjvov(rav Kat va Tra/xe 's TO
TrovAo. To TrryyaSt TTOV TOV epptâv /xeo-a -^rav TroAi; fiaOv, Kat Tpta
vavpy 7ra.ro. "Yo-Tepa TTO Tpta ^pdvta

^pdvta 7re<^T 8tâ>s TrctTô-e y^s
Kai /SyrJKt V T' aAAo /xepos. *Avoty' Ta ttaTta T' Kat yAeVei TTWS ^Tav 's
T
aAAo KOO-/XO. HTave d Karw KoV/xos. Kat Ket /xaKpva /xaKpva yAeVet
eva <^>a>s. EEepTraTOVTas, TreprraTOVTas, TrepTraToYTas ^)Tavet ore /xta Ka\v(3a.
'EKet /xeo-a ^rav /xta ypâ K' 7rAa$e ^v/xapt /xeo-a o-e /xta KotrrravtVo-a
yta
va Kavr; /xta 7rovya.T<ra. ToTes TO y8ao-tAcVovAo xTaet 7r("5 >; yp??
a 8ev
etê vepo', /xdvo eKAatye Kat u/xa>ve TO aAevpt /xe TO, SctKpva T'S K' e^Tvve.
Kat Ket 7ro9 eKAatye K' e^)TW Kat v/xu>ve TO â/xoi)pt TpayovSovore
To y8ao-tAo7rovAo aTrdpecre TroAv yAeTrovTas Tiyv va <^Tar;

Kat va icAoiy
Kat T^V aAvTnf^Ke.

" Aeet.
KaA-^ o-Tre'pa, Kvpa /xavtw," T^
" KaAo TO TratSt /xov," Aeet Kat KVTTaê ero-t TTWS
's Ketvry /xe aVopta
^Tav veos vraAA^Kapas KTT) avTpetw/xevos Kat T^ TraAa Kat T^ o-atra Travw
/xe
" 'ATTO TTOV etcrat aVo rovra
*S TOV vw/xd TOV. epxecrai, yte /xov; eVv Sev
TO, ntpy], ft^v epêo-at V
Tov"Ava> KOO-/XO;"
MaAto-Ta, epô/xat TTO TOV "Avw KOQ-/XO, /xa

<( T'
7r<os aTretKao-Tr/Kes,
/xavtcx;"
e8w Sev eôv/xe Teôtovs avTpes o-av Kat o-eva. $atveo-at
"*A/x e/xets
TTOJS elo-at V eKet Travw. Kat TTWS KaTe^)Kes eSw;"

TO âo-tAo7rovAo
" TO Kat TO Kai TTWS
ToVes T^/V d(t>rfyr)6Ke /xe yeVr/Ke,"
Appendix II. 353
TOV epptâv r a8ep<ia T* TO " Ma Se* /AC Xes," Xeei TT)

/xeV 's
ir-qya&i.
ypyd, "ytaTi Se' Tratpvets vepo va ^vfjuao-ys TO â/xovpi /xe vepo', /xoV TO
u/xwveis /A
TO, SctKpva o-' Kai /xe TO cf>rvfJLa,
/cat
ytaTi KXats Kai /xupo-
Xoyas;"
"*A yie' /xov, vepo Sev eôv/xe o-e TOVTO TOV TOTTO. Eu/' eva 7r7;ya8i, /xa
TO <f>vkai /xta Acx/xta, <?i/a
Orjpib TTpa7ro8o /x Tpta Ke^>aXta Kai ^Tat TOV
7rao-a /xTyi/a
Vo Ira Kopircn va (âiy K' TO~t v* d<f>ijcrrj TO vcpo va rpc^y.
Avrov TOV topa 7To- o Xa^vos *s T^ /xovaÔKOpr/ /xov T^ MapovSa Kat Tr;v
lôw Tu>pa Se/xt'vr; '? TOV TrAaTavo /u.e T'S dA-uao-tSats, KT) aupto 6a j8y^ TO
OrjpLO Kai Od rr] ^>ar/. Fia SavTO KAatyw Kai ^pi/vai."
"A/xa T* OLKOVCTC avra ra Xoyta TO ^Sao-tXoTrovXo elTTC'
"
'Eyw â TO O-KOTWO-O) avro TO BrjpLo KOL Oa yA.VT(oo*a)
Kai TO Kopirai cr
KY) OvAo TOV TO7TO. MovO 8oO* /XOV ttlO, [ATTOVKOVCTia Vtt ^>a(O 7T aVTITj T7J
TTOuyaVo-a a/xa T^ lfnprflS"

"*A yte /A', TTWS â tiTropeo-r;? eo-v va TO Q-KOTWO-^S TO Orjpio, TTOV Ky o
fja(TL\a.<s O-TT*
avT^ T^ TroXtTCta KT) ovXo T' ao-Kpt T* Too*a ^povia T<opa TO
"
TroXc/xovv Kat TITTOTCS 8e' /XTTopow va Kttvouv;
"
'Eyw 0a TO crKOT(oo"<D," Xeet TO ^8ao-tXo7rovXo.
"
MT)V Tras va yu,7/
o~
</>ar;
K' eo-eVa."
" *H â TO KaTaTrovTurca avro TO OrjpLo
'Eyw Se' tfroftovfjiai. rj
va
7re$ava>."
'EKt TTOV /xtXovo- aâ<^)v' aVovct /xta tfnovrj, Kpa, Kpa. Fuptêi Kat
eva tieyaXo TrovXt TTOVTOV
yXeTret o~
/xtaywvta '? T^ KaXvySa* 2va? aiyros
Xpuo-os aai/ ayyeXo?. PtoTaet
" Tt V avTO TO TrovXt;"
" AVTO
/x T* d^)K o'
avTpas /x' ovTa? TreOavc cSw K' KaTO ^pdvta, K'
eya) T ava^peiâ <o? TTOV Tpavciê Kat

yevKC ero-t TTOV TO yXeVeis."
"'A/xe KtV^ 77 /3ov/2aXa Kt Tt tvat;"
"
K>) avTr; T>) /3ov/3d\a /xe TT^V a^)Ke o avTpas /x'
eSw K' CKaTO ^povta
yo> T>;V ava'^pei/Aa," Xeet

K' >) ypâ.
*ETO*I TTOV Xe/xe TOV ISwKe K' e^>ae Trta /XTTOVKOVO-IO, V TI} Trovydrcra,
a/xa TT)V ei/oyo-e, Kat TO /Sao-tXoTrouXo Ktvô-e tie
TT} WXa T' Kat T>; o-atYa T*
yta va Trary Ket TrovTav i/ MapovSa de/xevr; '5 TOV TrXaTavo Kai KapTepovVe
va /3y^ TO OTJPLO va T>; ^>aiy. "A/xa <pTa(T Ket Kat TT;V eiSe, TT) Xeci-
" Ilto? etcrat TI 8<o; Kavets;"
""ETO-I r^Tav TT;S Tv'^ry? /xov, eTreo-e o Xa^vo? Ve /xeva Kai KapTepw va
Py?7 TO vypto Kat va /xe ^>a>7 yta v'
d^ycrr) TO vepo."
ToTes TO )8ao-tXo7rovXo /3yaet TO cnraOi r Kat KO/?I Tats aXvcro-iSai?
Kat TT; Xeet
"
M?} <t>oj3dara.L eyw #a a-e
yXvTo>o-a>."
KetVT/ TO-t 7TOV TOV t8e Vtt Vc'o OraV OLO-TpO, TOV a'XvTT^KC Kttt \f
A. F. 23
/xaKpva eco, yidr a Xa T?

s K *"v orrw<s \OKav Totrot
aXvot. Ate, Kel Trepa elvat ovXot TTOV

TO. /xvTi/xopta Trovvat $a/x/xeVot
(TW0KO.V e8a> Kat ToVa xpovia va TOV TOTTO." "
yta yXvT<oo-ovv MT; (re
/xeX77/' Xeet TO y8ao~tXo7rovXo, /cat
yvpo~e Kai KVTTaê TTOV ovXos o Ka/X7ros
7?Tav yep-oVo? aVo /xvTy/xopta, /xa 8e' <o/?77$Ke. Kat KCI TTOV /xtXovcrav
a/covyerat 2va <^>o/3epo Ta/Sarovpt. crai/ Ppovrr], KOI rpavraê ?y y^s crav va
yeVoui/rai/ crcicr/xos.
"
"To
OypLo /JyatVci, ^>evya, <cvya va ^77 (re <â/; Kat creVa/ tfxai'd^' y
'
MapovSa, jaa TO f3ao-L\oTrov\6 Trjv Trrjpt \ TO, X P ta Kat T1? v eâXe 's ei/a
ij/rjX.o //.epos aAapya Kat yvpo"e va TraXaLij/rj p.. rr) Aa/xta.

K rjrav avro (.va.
/xeyaXo Ozoparo Or^pio /x vvx ta ayKa^wTa Kat 8uo
</>Tpa TTOV <jf>Tavav a,7r6 8w KT) ws KCITO) '5 TOV KCL/X-TTO TO Traaa ei/a. Kat
"*
]3yr)K airb /xeo"' d?r' TO TrrjydBi Kai TTtao-TT/KC />(,
TO,
vv^ ta T> tt 71 T/
^ y^S
ITOI/XO yta va xifjurjo-y. Kr) a/x,a ctSc TO âo*tXo7rovAo etTrc-
" KaXa /x* -^Xeye 77* /nava /xov 77 Aa/xta TroXvot â ^>as /xa OapOrj /xta
ju,epa cvas Teôtos KTJ

a,7ro Ketvov va (fro/SrjOrjs."
ToVes TO âo-tXoTrovXo pi)(nfK aTravoo TOV /ne TT) TraXa Kai TwSo)K
TO)8a>K Kai TrptoTa eKoif/e //,
TO o"?ra^t Twva TO K<aXt K'
vo"Tepa TO dXXo
ok TTOV TO âXaiCri Trepa Trepa Kat 8ev a,7ro/xve povOovvt TTOV Xeet KT) o
Xoyos.
'O Koo~ttos ovXos KT) o VTOuvias, /xiKpot yaeyaXot, o' 7rao*as evas KT) o
c T>) SwSeKaSa /xa^v, /Tav a.7raVw 's TO Kaorrpo Kat Owpoixrav TO
KT) a/xa O-OJ^KC TO Orjpio, apxivrjo-e vap^cTat TO vepo /xe ^077

Kat ytuo-ai> oXats >j o-TCpvat? K'
TJ ^>ovo*KtVats Kat TO, Ka^
01 d^pojTrot xaîpiKO..
Tore? TTT^pe TO /SacrtXoTrovXo TT) MapovSa V

TO X P l 7 ta v * Tr? v
/
TTICTO) *S T7^ /XaVtt T S, Kttt KCtVTy TO^ ;8(OK TO Sa^T^XtSt T S Kttt TOV ctTTC'
"
Et/xat Twpa ^KT; crov."
Ki) d/xa rfpOav \ rrj KaXvfta Kat TOVS ctSe 77 ypj?ct)

8ev ^cXe a,Ko/xa va
TTLorr&f/r] TTWS TO Orjptb O-OO^KC, /xa uo-Tepa TTL(j-re\j/.

Aeet TO ftaaiXoirovXo'
"TwKava avTO TO dvTpayd^7//xa /xe 777 /xTrovKOvo-ta TTOI) /xov8o>KS, TTOV
T71V tX 6S ^V/XO)/XV7/ /X
TO. 8o.KpVOL CT\ ttVTO /X*
ISfOKC aVTpCltt Kat TO VLKfjCTa
TO 6r)pi6. Twpa â tie 8wo"7is TT) KopTi o*ov yuvatKa Kat va/xat TravTa ytos
o-ov."
v
ETO"t ^tX^Kav Kat TOV e8o)Ke 77 MapovSa TO 8axrvXt8t T'S Kat Ketvos
TT/V eSwKe TO ^KO TOV Kat yevKe 6 dppayScova?.

Ma 6 /3ao-tXeas K' 77 8a>SeKa8a'TOvs KaKo<^>avK TTOJS eva? ê'vos KaTaêpe
K' cKave eva Teôto /xeyaXo avrpaydOrjâ., TTOV avrot TOO"a ^povLa. TroXe-
/xovo-av Kat 8e' /X7ropeo-av, K' êXav va TOV KaTaTrovTtaovv. By^Kav /xe
o-atYat? Kat o"7ra$ia ; TroXv ao-Ke'pt, K' epxovvTav KaTa TT) KaXv/?a yta va TOV
A/xa T' aKovcre avTO 77 ypâ Xeef
Appendix II. 355
'
'Eo-ts ot 8v6 Twpa TrpeTrei vo. <f>vyr)T yta va yAvTworc. 'Eyu>/xai
yprja- yvvaiKa, va /x' a</;o*Te 8o3 /cat 8e" /xe /xeAet, as 7re#avw."
" Kai TraJs $a <vyov/xe, /xava ti'," ACI TO /Jao-iAoVovAo, " va yevw
ar/Tos va TTCTCI^W; a$poo7ros et/xai. *As ZpOovv icy on 0eA' o 6 cos as
"
Tores Aei T; ypyd' AVTOS 6 ar^Tos TTOV /^.
TOV a<^K 6 dvrpas /u,'
TOV <i@p\l/a.
Too-a ^pdvta, avros $a o~as fiydXr) oâ>."
Tov ptarrjâv TOV drjTO KOL Aev "Twpa TrpCTrei K' co-u va tias
TTOV ere ^pei/'a/xc roVa xpo^ta-"
u a
A.vTrj TTJV a>pa Kaprfpoixro. KCU y<u," Acet 6 aS^ros. *Eo"ets ot SDO
va Kaf3a\\Kif/TC 's TOV Ar^/xo' /x,' /cat va Traprf ^poâts, va Traprc rptaKOO-tats
OKaScs Kpeas, /cat rpta/coVtats oKaSes vepo, Kat va ^>vyov/x.c."
" Kai TTOV $a TO TO Kat TTOV â
(3povfji Kpas, y8pov/x TOvAov/xt /xeyaAo
yta va ^wpeoTy TOOTO vepo;" TOV pooTovv.
" Na o-<aT6 TTOV /cat T ^ Optyare rocra ^povta, va'
1
T^ (3ov(3d\a /cctV/y
T^ y8apT Kat /x TO Kpeas T'S â ^pa^)ov/xe, KT) CITT' TO 7TTo*t T*S va KCIVTC
rovAoC/xt Kat va TO ye/Atorc vepo."

T^v 0-<ââv TT) f3ovj3a.Xa KOU <^)o'pT(oo-av TO Kpeas a7r' Twva TO tiepos
Kai TO TovAov/xt O-TT' T' aAAo K]7 dv<^Kav TO y8ao-iAo7rovAo /* TO KoptVo~t
aTravw 's TOV AT^/XO, Kat crtya, atya avot^c TOL ^>Tpa T' 6 arjTOs KT)
dp\ivr)<r
va TreTary.
""ftpa aas KaAvy/" ^xovaê r; ypj/a K* CTTCO-C Kat ci{/vxTr]crc.
'O ar/Tos avey8atv, avcâivc 8w8Ka ^povta Kat

o*tya, ortya
"
Kpa, Kpa,"
ToTS Ko7?l TO /?aO"tAo7TOvAo TO /XTTOVTt V TO ^fpfti TOV X*P L Kat/ To

^t 's T^ turn? V
TOV a'?;To. "
Kpa, Kpa," <wvai WAc
"
Aw/rw."
TOTCS )8a^t TO o-To/xa T' Kovrd 's 7~^ /U-VTT; Kai TOV 8iv^ va Trirj TO <^>Tvtia T'.
/xpa /xc T^ /Exepa ^vywvav 's TOV "Avw KOO-/XO. Ma TraAi âva-
7TlVaO" O ar^TOS Kttl TO /8ao-lAo7TOuAo KO(f/
TO /XTTOVTl V TO 8c^l TOV Ypl
Kat TOV e8(OK va âTy. "Yo-Tpts CKO^C TO /XTTOVTI TO ^cpySt TOV ?ro8i K* V
vo*Tpis a?r' TO Seî TOV 7ro8i Kai TOV TTOTI^C TO o-To/xa T' cos TTOV ave^Kav V
aTravw K' t8av <cos Kat KO.T^KOLV 's cva fiovvo o~i/xa 's 7 TOV
TOTCS o a^Tos ctTTC- a *Eyw â /xaVw 8c3 aTravw 's avTo TO ySovvo, Kai
o-ets va 7raT s TT; TroAtTcta KT) av TvôV TTOTCS
e^T T^/V ava'y/cry /x' vex /xe
SoKrj$rjTe. Na avTo TO <^>Tpo, va TO Ka\j/T KOI yw ^' aVctKcto-to aV T^
232
/xvpa>8ia /cat 6ap6o) 's TT? O-TI/XT;." K' /3yaXe eva /xtKpo xpv<ro <f>rcpo V TO
yXe<apo T Kat TOVS Tw8<i)Ke.
TO /?ao-tX6VovXo ptarrjê " IIov etvat o
"A/xa c/>Tao-av 's TT} TroXn-eta
8pd/xos TTOV Tract 's TO TraXdVt;" Kat TOV TOI/ e8etav.
Etâi/ 7Tia Trcpao-r; etKoo- TTCVTC, Tpiavra. xpovia oV* TOV Katpo TOV T/Tav
c/>evyaVos KTJ 6 TraTepas T' K' T; /xava T' cTâi/ yepao-ry, KT) avTos ctê rpaveij/r)
KOL (fraLVOVVTav TTCIO TTaXX^KapttS 7TO TTpCOTtt.
"A/xa r; /xai/a T' TOI/ eTSc TOV yvwpto-c 's TT) O-TI/XT;. At ^c^vaet TTOTC? ry
/xa'va TO TratSt; 6Va ^povta KT) av Trcpao-ow va' TO Stry TraXt TO yvcopt^ct, o-av
/xta TrpoySaTiVa a/xa X*"]7 TO />"

K po T'S TO yvpevci TTO 8w TTO /cct /cat' TO /3pto*/cet
/A
e
-n) /xvpwSta. "ETO-I TTOV Xe/x K* >y />tava T' a/xa TOV elSe crrjKwQKc V TO
OpavLO Ki TTOV /caôwTav /xa^v /xe TOV y8ao-tXea, avot^c Tr)v ay/caXta T'S Kal
" 'O 6 ytos /xas TTOV TOV
^>wva^ yto's /xa?, ftâtte â/xevo / Ac* TOV
yvojpiêt?, avTpa /xov/"

T' a/covo~V avTa 6
/3ao-iA.a<; O-^KW^/CC /cat /cetvo?, /xa ot aXvot, i;
enrav " IIpeTrct TrpwTa va TOV ^Ta^r/s tt-^v etvat Kavevas

, ytaTt /xct? êpov/xc TTCO? 6 ytos crov 6 /xt/cpOTcpos Treâve 8(3 /cat
Too*a xpovta."
TOTCS 6 /3ao-tA.eas dp^tvr/o-c va TOV ^Ta^) ^ a ^ ftvd? TOV a<f>r)yr)OK TO

Kat TO ovXa OTTCOS ctâv yevry, /xa 8cv "
êXav va TOV TTto-Teiôvv. Hcos
" avTa TTOV
ycvTat avTo;" Xeet 6 ySao-tXca?, /xas Xes yia TOV KctTw KOO-/XO
/cat Aa/xtats 7//xts TTOTCS 8c' T' d/covo-a/xc."
ToVes ctTTC r; /3ao-tXto-ora ""Avrpa /xov Scv l^s 8i/c?yo. AVTO Vat TO
7rat8t /xas. 'Eyw TO lepoo, 77 KapSta /x' /xe TO Xcei."
TOTS 6 /Jao-tXeas Trpdo-Taê Tots ypa/x/xaTt/cot va fipovv *s TO. T<^>Tpta
TOV Katpo TTOI)

â.&K TO j8ao"tXo7rovXo /o) aXvot ypa/x/xaTt/coi va Ta ypaôvv
OvXtt /CttTO, TTtOS TOVS TOITTC Twpa. "Yo-TptS yvpl^t *S TO /SaCTtXo'TTOvXo Kttt
TO Xe'ct'
" At va Ta avTa TTOV /xas Xes, TTCOS KaTec/>/ces
KttXa', Trto-Teiôv/xc
/cet KaTO), /xa TTUJS yvpto~S aTro /cct;"

ToTts TO ySao-iXoTrovXd TOVS a^ryy^KC TTOJS 6 a^Tos TOVS a'vc'ySao-e 's TOV
Travw KoV/xo Kat â/xaâv aKo/xa Treto Trepio-o-oTcpo Kat 8v êXav va
" AVTO "
7TlO'Tl/'OVV 7rp7Tt VO, /XttS TO Sta/XttpTVpTyV^S
'
Xc'd 6 j3oL(Tl\a^.
" IIov etvat avTos 6 5'
ar/Tos; Tt ycvKe TO TrovXt;

TO, KpeaTa /x TTOV TOLKOIJ/OL yta va TOV 0peâ), o~av oc
*
7TIO-T6VTC," Xet TO âO-tXoTTOvXo K* eSet^C TO, X P ia T> Ktt ' Ta Ô^ 101 T
6/
KO V T0 K Pâs, /xa TraXi SvcrKoXcvovTav yta va

" Tt
ToVes >y MapovSa SOK^KC TO <f>repo Kat Xect* TWKa/xes, avTpa /x,
TO <jf)TCpO
7TOV /XttS t8(OK 6 tt^To's,' TCOptt Vttt KatpOS Vtt TO KCtJ/^S Kat
'
va Sta/xapTVpô-r/.
" KaXa
Xcs," Xect TO )8ao-tXo7rovXo, "Tovâ ao-Tox^Vr/," Kat /2ya'
Appendix II. 357
rr) To-eTr/; T* TO <f>Tpo, KT) a/xa TO eTSav ot aXvot $a/xaav ytaTt TTOTCS TOVS
Sev etâv 8177 rcOoLO xpv<ro KT) a>p:op<o <f>Tpo. TOTCS TO ySao-tXoVovXo
T(0/3aXe KOVTO. '? T7) C/>ama *S TO //.ayKClXl

TTOVTttV *S TT/ /X0-' TTJ KO.jJI.apa Kal
f dva\f/ Kal ye/u.to'e
TO TraXaVt TTO /^.ia /xvpo>8ia tupaia.
oa> 's T^ TroXtTCta TTWS OapOrj cva reOoio TrovXt Kai ovXot ot
vd TO Stow /cat /cet TTOV Kaprepova-av TOV d-rjrov TO

Kai <^>avpajvTat eVa /xcyaXo (rvyv<f>o KT) ayaX' ayaXta
KaTO" s TOJ/ ryXtaKO TOV TraXaTtov.
1
//. ySo ^ K'

" BacrtXea
TOTS cTrrc TO /3ao-tXo7rouXo /w,',
v' aVcySov/xc ouXot aTravw *s
TOV r^XtaKO KT)
o a^Tos Oapuy Kt."
KT) dv(j>Kav ovXot K' etSav TOV ar/To, KT) 6 ar/TO9 Trpoo'Kvvo'e TOV
ySao-tXea KT^ o*
ySao-tXeas TOV pam^c' "lies /xa?, ^3pc a^TC, TTWS dvc<f>K<s
d.rr TOV KaTw KOO-/XO;" Ki7 d ar/Tos /xtXrycre Kat

T'
a^^yT/^KC ovXa, KT^
" "
lo-coo-e TOV Xo'yo KCIVCI
yXov, yXov Kai ^cpvact Ttuva KOÔLTL TO
" AVTO Vat" " aTT* TO
^p/8t <rov \ipL, TTOV TO CKOI/^S yta va
-
Xcct,
"
^w, Opfij/rjs Kal Tw/?aXe *? TOV TOTTO TOV, K'
e<f>TV<T
Kal r a/coXXô-e. K'
'
vo"Tpt5 !/3yaXe T' aXXo Koya/xaTt /cat T' a/coXXô-e 's TO Se^t TO X^P l > K
vo-Tpt? Ta TroSia.
TOTCS ovXot TTto-TCiâv K^ d âo-tXea? ayKaXiao- TO TratSt T* Kat r^
MapovSa Kat T'S e/?aXc K' KaTO*av KovTa T' Kat Xeet- "jEJrcri XotTrov T'
a8ep<ia o-' êXav va o~e KaTaTrovTiVovv;" Kai Trpoa-ra^f va TOVS TrtdVovv

Kai va TOVS o"<aovv, //.a TO ^8ao~tXo7rovXo e7TO" 's TO, yovaTa Kat TOV
^tXryo-e T^ TroSta Kat TOV TrepiKaXeo'e va TOVS (TVfJLTraOtjcrr) ""H^Xav va
/AC
Kavovv KOKO," Xect, " /xa fiyfjKf Ve KaXd, ytaTi av 8e* /A' Ipptî/av 's TO
TT-^ya'St
8e' 0ayXe7ra Kat Ketvo TOV KOO-/XO Kai Se' OaKava rocra crr)fjiLa Ky
dvrpay aOijpara Kal Se' â Soaovju.ovi'." Kai /u.
Ta TroXXa TOV Kardfape
TOV ySao-tXea va TOVS (TvuTraOijcrri Kal <f>i\TJ8Kav ovXot K' c^ryo-av KaXa Kai
's T^ 1
Kpicrr) -tjuovva K cyw K|) (XTTO KCI Ta Tr^pa Kai o~as

APPENDIX III.
'
'l<yrpoco'<j>iON
a'. "OTTOIOS tfeXet j/a dypVTrv^'o-T? Kai va /jLrjv o*v vvo-Ta^y TrovXtv
eu/at TO 6vo/xao/Avov Trvpyir^s, TOVTOV TOVS d<0aX//,ovs Kai TOV KaySovpov
TO. o/x/xara Kai T^9 .
6/zoia>s cis acnrpov Traviv evTvXtov, Kai va
. .
ra Scar/s 19 TOV 8eîoi/ TOV /?pa^tova, Kai ov vv<TTa^t.

^'. Ilept TOV Siwât Ka/>t7ra9* tTrapov /ca/Z7nas y' (XTTO TOV K^TTOV,
1
Kai a-rrvpLov [?] Kat KaVvitrov TOV K^Trov ^ TO Trepi/JoAtoi/, /cat
2
t/8'. Ets TTOPOV 6Soi/T(ov Ka^tc TOVTO TO o-Ty/xaStv, Kat o-Tô-at TO
TO KaKoCSt TO e/Arrpos Kat Xey TO ELaTCp -qfjuZv KOI cKetvos
ets
3
OTTOV 7rovt va Xe'yr/ T[O Kvpte] eXoyaov Kat voraTov
<^>t;[y/ (?)] aTro TO
a ov/
KavKovSt [s^c] as ^8aA.ry cts TO ScvTCpov, 6/xoto>s Kat ts TO TptVov, Kai
4
Ets Sta iâ Xvo-rys
avSpa Sc/xevov 17 ywatKa, ypa<f>e:
t^'. Ets ptyov [sic] TrvpeTOv ypd(j/ov ets tnyXov 77 ts dirtSti/' "Ayte
KAeT [sic] TOV Kvptov r/^xaJv Iv Xv oVou eto'at KaTa TTOLVOV TOV
5
ptyov [sic] Kat TOV TrvpcTOv Siov, [?] TptTatov, TCTapTatov, Kat Ka^/xcptvov,
'
Stappryôv TO[V] ptyoTrvpeTOV [sic] TOV SovXov TOV ^v o 5 [= Setva],

a.7ro ts
V
TO oVojuux TOV IIp9 Kat TOV Ytov Kat ToO 'Aytov IlFv/>t[aTOs].
Ets ptyov KaOrjfjiepLvov Kai TptTatov KOTraVwroi/
07'. [sic] ^(ioôv
o/xov /xeTo, a,ytao-p:aTos

TWV dytwv eoâveuov, Kai
Kat 7r6Yioi> Kat ypaiôv T>J a T^/xcpa orav dvaTeXAct
1?'
o
6 v
cts TOV Scîdv TOV (3/xov
*
X? T6î7, Kat t9 T^V ScvYep^v [sic] rffAt
7
Kat ypdi// ts f^rjKov TO Tpto^dyiov Kat TO 2T(3/xv KaXws, Kai as TO <^>dy^
8
Ky'. Ata va Xvo-rys dvSpav [sic] Se/xcvov, CTrapoi/ ttaâipiv OTTOV
2 3
686vTwv. a hole in the MS.
4 5 6
Ets 5ta va X/oi's. Perhaps for devrepaiov. VO/J-QV,
Appendix III. 359
}
<ovtKov Kal 6Vav viTay?) va KOijArjOy d 8Sttvo9 a 9 fidvy TO /xaâipiv 19
TO. O-KeXr; TOV, Kttl TOT a9 KGl/XT^]}' Kat OTttV C^VTTVTJOy a 9 CtTTTJ TOVTtt TO.
1
Xdyta- cos avTovYo [sic] TO /xaâiptv tSvvyOr) va Ka/xiy ôvtKoi/ ^fyovv va ,
2
ovcoTOHTTy avov [= av^ptoTTov], ovTa>9 va SwrjOrj Kai TO e8iKov /xov o-<t)/xa va
'
7reo-a>
[sic] /xTa TT^S yvvatKo9 fiov, TOV a>
8l/
[ Sctva], Kal Trdpavra TTCVTCJ.
/AC TT)V yvvatKa TOU.

xS'. "OTav apvr)6rj Tivas T^V yvvat^ca TOV TT/V evXoyrfriKrjv Kal VTrdyrj
errapov KOTrpov T^S yvvaiKos otov T^S Tropvrys Kat Ko/JTVLfrov TO.
'
ts Tropvijv
V avSpos Kpv</>a- Kat vôos êXct TT/V p-Lcrijcrr) o/xot'a>s Kal 19 TO
KC'. Et9 Sat/xoviapr/v, T^9 fieXaviSo ; TOV oi/âptov TO o-TO/xa a9 1

<f>opcZ
4
6 8at/xovtapr^9 Kat a9 Ta KaTrvt^CTat Kat veXovv <j>vyrj
avr' avTOV TO.
Sat/xdvta.
5
K^' 8aK>J Ttva9 aTTo [illegible] o^tStwv ?/
Kat aXXwv Orjptwv Kat va
/x-^ TOV cyyto-ovi/- ctKOftry Kat ol o-KvA.ot 6 va <vyovv aTr' avTOV KOTTO.VL-
Sei/
<rov TO Xa.ira.6ov KUI TO KtySXa/xevov Kai

a7roo-^>ovyyt^tv TO KaXXa [stcj- Kat
7
aXctiôv TOV â)/xov 6'Xwv Kat 0cXei9 âv/aacret.
8
KT;'.
Ata va Kvvrjyija-r) Ttva9 oi/'apta Kat va cTrtTv^r/, a9 ^>opet d i/rapa9
7rav<o TOV Tov9 i/'vXXovs TT^9 6aXa.(T(rrj<; Sc/xei/ovs t9 SepyaaTt [si
9
[SIC],
Kttt
7TtTVâtVt TTaVTOTC.
K^'. Ata va flprjvfvcrr} Ttva.9 TOV? \0pov<s TOV ypai/'ov TOV
10 11
Fvcoo-Tos cv T^ 'lovSata, Xvwo-e TO fie vepov Kat 809 TOV fyOpov <rov va
Trny Kat ^c'Xct tlpyvevo-r).
Xa'. Ata va KOvpa^covTat avTtVot [sic] OTTOV TrcptTraTOvv
yw,^v
*
vcvpa
aTro TO. <TKf.\.ri
TOV ycpavov a9 ^>opovo"t t9 TO ôvvaptv TOV9.
X^8'. Et9 eô-K7rao-/xevov [sic]

Kat <o/?iO7xeVov 7rapov y ypa
KacrTava Kat TÔÔV [= ^wôv] Kat y TroTT/pta Kpacrlv TraXatov Kai a9
TO TTivr) Ta^v Kat apya, Kat ypa^> Kat TO 'Ev Q-PXy ^v d Xdyo9, ^M. TOV
Iv TT)V (3oÔLar Kat a9 TO /3ao~Tat. )
2
X8 . Et9 ptytov [sic] KOI^ KO/xpuxTta i^w/xtov y Kat,
ypaiôv TO 5OI// ,
ayaV^ d II^'p, 19 TO /?, 17 â>-^ d YiO9j et9 TO y' ?; 7rapaKXô-t9 TO Ilva TO

13
aytov, dfjcrfv.
Kai 6Vav ap^t^r/ d ptyo9 Kat d 7rvpTO9, a9 TTOIT^
d aV0evt-
/xevo9 [sic] ytxTavotat9 y TO ovo/xa TOV aytov I<D OV TOV IIpo8pd/xov, Kat
19
14
0,9
<^>ay>y
TO a KOfjLfjiaLTL Kat êXct Trav<rr) d 7rvpTO9" Kat eav 8ev Travoy t9
5 '
TO TTpWTOV, Ka/X TO 19 TO ScvVcpOV 1^ aX^ta' 7TOIVTOTC.
1 2
(f)(i)VlK6v. <r/Carr(T.
4 6
dejiuvidpis here. ...a5ta/c^.
13 14 15
apYtfeii'. 5e.
1 2
/A. Ilepi /xvTiyv OTTOV Tpe^ct, Xeyc cts TO /xepos eKcTvo 3 OTTOV
Kpv<t(os TO avrt* /xo, 7ra', pt7r, Kai 0Xei Travcrr).

ts
/xa'. Ata va
/xr; /xe^r}
d dvos' /?dXe 7TVTovtKa [?] ovyytas /3, 8t'8ov
TOV 7rao*a [sic] Ta^v va rrtv^ Kai ov /x$t.

4 5
fjLaj3
. Ata va TTOLrjcrrf 77 yvvatKa ydXa* zTrapov dycXd8as ovvvtv Kat
6 7
Kavo-dv To KaXd, 8os TT;S yvvatKos vd TO <f>aiyy, 17 va TO Trij/ .
fj./3 . Ata va /xr^v <o/3ao'at TrXcTTTT/v Kai po/x7rapw [sic] errapov TO

\oprov TO Xeyo/xevov d^r//3oTavov, ets TO dvo/xa TOV lips Kai TOV Ytov Kai
TOV dytov IIvs, Kai /^dora TO OTTOV êXcts va TreptTraTTjs, Kai /xe Tr)v
iv TOV $v 8ev d>ol3oicrcLi .
/xy'.
Ata vd (rrijcrrjs d^>tv ep^d/xevov ?rpds o-c* OTav TOV 18775 OTI
CTTI o-T^X^s aKtov [s^c] ^ôpOTroiaJv XvT>;ptov Kat

vA.ov TVTTOV aTavpov TOV Trpos y^s o~vpo/xi/ov o^>tv irpocr&tcrf. eyKapo-tov,
v TOVTU) 6pLaiJL(3tvcra.<s
TO Triy/xa, 8to X<3 ao-w/xcv TW &3 ^/xwv OTt 8c8o-
. Ata va eyya<TrpwOfj rj yvvatKa- Tpdyov ôX^v eTrapov Kat as

6 avSpas TO o-co/xa TOV T^V wpav OTTOV Tvâtvet va Treo*?/ /w, TT)V
yuvatKa TOV.
/x^'. Et? <J>oficpL(T[Ji6v ypa<c cts ayytKTov X a P T ^ dyvvr/TOv [?]
'EXa>t
o 9' Kat T^V [sic] xapaKTTJpa ravTfjv Kat /3curra o-^ cr^.
^
Et? at/xoppoovo-av ypa^>e ts ^/3ptvov x aP T L Ka^ ^" ov ^ s
j/'.
^^
xotXtav Tr/s /xTa a KXwarrjs Kat Xcye Kat TO IIc'p rj/mcuv Kat TT/V
r
'O 9 TOV 'A^paa'/x, 6 ?' TOV 'Io-aaK, o' s' TOV 'IaK<o/?, o s' d
10
TOV TTOTayotov Mopâ/x ev T$ ^' ?;/xepa, <nfjcrov Kai T)V po^v TOV
at/xaTOS T^S 8ovXrys 8v' [=8ctva], Kat >y o~(/>payts

TOV Kv ly^xajv Iv Xv.
KaXws, o"T<o/xev /XCTO, </>o/3ov 6^v, d/XT^v. Ot Se EvayycXto-Tat

s, MapKOs, AOVKCIS Kat 'IwavvTys tavavrrvwo-t [?] app<oo-Tov ypa</>
ets <^>vXXov 8a<^v7ys ^taxa-v ^> 0:
ve'.
[Ata v]a XVO-T;? av8pa 8e/xevov 7rapov Kapv8ta 7ra/X7raKiov Kat
Srov avTa KO/XTTOVS t/8
Kat Xeye aTra'va) O-T-^V KCâXiyv TOV cts TO oi/o/xa
TOV ?rps Kai TOV vtov Kai TOV dytov TTVS, Kat Xeyc TavTa TO,
Xdy ta aTroXv^Ty-
11
Two-av TOV to' [= Setva] ws aTreXv^r; Adâpo? aTro TOV Ta<ov.
TO, tteX?;
Ets ptyov Kat TrvpeTOV ypd0

v^'. ts KOVTrav d<opio-/xov [?] Tavra TO.
v v v
ovo/xaTa: Xs yvvr]0r), Xs eo-Tavpw^, Xs dveo-ny,

TOV Kv r//xwv Iv Xv
3 tueivov.
4 6 6
a7e\â<r.
7
TT^.
10
picriv.
Appendix III. 361
yevv7$evTO9 ev BÂee/x r^s 'lovSata?, 7ravo-ov, Sat/xova Ke<aAe, O-TTO TOV

V
SovAov TOV v 8v [=8ea'a], eis TO dvo/xa TOV !!/DS Kat TOV Ytov Kat TOV
dytov IIvs, vvV Kat del Kat eis TOV? at[ajvas].

v$'. Eis AvViv dvov ypa<e ravra cts i^co/xtv Kat Sos TOV va TO (frayy '
i5/37;A, d/x7reAovpas, Trepi/xapias, Ka/xevavToov,

eSeos, SeSeovcra, TO Q-vq!)ao-aTo8io5 rjvpe 1 rrjv AvVtv
^/3'. Ets TTOVOV (TTrjOov^ Aeye TavTryv TÎ/ v^TJv ayt Koo-/xa Kat
3
Aaîtave, Kvpe Kat la/, NtKoAae Kat 'A/ctvSwc O'TTOV TO, SpeTrava j3a.crTa.Tf
Kttt TOV 7TOVOV KOTTTCTC, KOl//aT Kttt TOf 7TOVOV TOV SovAoV TOV $v' 8
[= Setva].
^y'. "OTOV 6^17
o avo<s Sat/xova, rj
TO yAv...[^] TOV, ^ ^>avTao~/xa,
ypa<^> cts dyvvrjTO [M âpTt ^ymepa

5"'
6Atya)O"tvTOV <^>eyyaptov Kat a?
4
Aeye Kat eis TO Se^tdv TOV avrtv
/3a(TTa, 'Ev 6vo/xaTt TOV lips Kat TOV
Ytov Kat TOV 'Aytov IIvs. TOVTO TO </>vAaKT?yptov eSo^ry TO) Mwvo*^ ev
AtyvTrra) VTTO TOV 'ApâyyeAov MtâryA, vo-Tepov 8e tSoOrj T<O

6
2oAoyu,(3vTt OTTOOS TraTa^r) TTO.V aKa.Oa.pTov Trvev/xa, ^ ao-êvetas ^ ^ ,
7
77 <^ptKtao-tiov, -^ ptyoTrvpeTov , ^ TptTatov, -^ a(^)7y/x,eptvov, ^ TOV o-vvavT?;-
8
^ TrAaytov, tie
/xaTOs, >/ e7rt/3ovAi^, ry KaTaôvtov , T^ ttayetas TreTrotryttevov,
9
17 KOXÔ'V, ^ a7ra, ^ AaAovv, ^ aAaAov, ^ eTTiA^TrriKov, ^ 7rpoo-Ket/x,[ev]ov ,
^ aôptiov, ^ TrpcoT-^s Kat SevTepas o-vvavT?;o-ea)S, ^ TOV aTravT^juaTos, ^ TOV

10
aTravT^'iUiTOs. 'O s' eo~Ttv /SorjOos TOV SovAov crov 8ov [= Setva] 8ta
Atuva7;A, 'E/?appas, 8ia^)vAaôv ev TravTi Katpa), ^ttepa Kat WKTt 11 Kat <opa,
8ta^>vAaôv avTOV d $9' aTro TravTos KaKov Kat TravTOS KtvSvvov. 'Eâo-t-
v
Aevo-e d $<? ets TOVS atwvas, a/xTyv. ^TaJ/xev KaAws, crTw/xev /xeTa
p". Ilept av8pa [sic]

oVov TOV ^>evyet 77 yvvauca, ypaiôv TO ovo/xa TOV
avSpos Kat T^S yvvatKos ets âpTtv aye desunt cetera.
7 8 y
piyoTTijpeTov. Ko.ra.'xQdivlwv. Trp6(rid'/j.oi>.
10 11
-
i07?ô5. îJ/crai'.
235
APPENDIX IV.
[From another MS. probably by the same hand.]
TO?/. Eis /xuroKec/>aXov /cat

Kec/>aXaXytav :
1
Fpacpe ts ayevrov [?] âprt' o 0s TOV 'A/Jpaa/x o $s TOV 'I(raa/c, ,
2
o 0s TOT) 'IaKw/3, Xvo-ov TO Sat/xovtov TOV /zto-OKc/>aXov OTTO TT)V K<^)aX^v
TOV 8ovXov O-QV, dpKta> o-e TO a.Ka.Oaprov TTVO. TO Kaêô/xevov TTCIVTOTC cts
T^V K<f>aX'Y)v TOV dvov, tTrapov TO o~ov ?rovr;/xa Kat ^.tcrevo-e aTro T^S
3 4
ctTTO
/xto~OK^>aXov [sic], /utXtyKOVs xat o-<^)ov8vXov ctTfo TOV
TOV 0V Ov' (TT Ji K \ 0"T ]i JL T <f> (3 6v tt/A I
- [o-T<3/AV KttXoJ
/XCTO, <f>6(3ov Oeov 'A/xryv].

TO^'. Ets TraiSt OTTOV lêt KUKOV vow ts [MaO-qam/ TCOV tepwv
T>)V ct'yS is 8to~KOv OTTOV KO'TTTOVV TO avTtSwpov, xai 8os TO va

/cat cocrav TeXeioo^wo-tv TO,
XfLTOvpyrjOrj â^8/?aTO)KvpiaKa y y âftjSaTd)-
5
Kv[ptcxKa] Xvwo-e To /AC Kpacrl TraXaiov aSoXov" Kai TTOTL^ TO TraiSl KOL ctTro-
X[vo-t] o' voi;s TOV /cat oTav TTOTt'^ct TO 7rat8t a? Xeyt o SiSao-KaXo? Tr)v
Ke o 6s ly/Awv o'
vt/cryo-as /cat ôruras TO.S /capSias TWV \ illegible^
irpco-fivTcpoL MeXxicreSe/c, Na^Swt, 'Icoâ/x^ [there follows a long list of
Hebrew names], avroi /SorjOrfcraTe 7 TravTes Kat avotâTe TOV vovv /cat TT/I'
xapStav TOV SovXov TOV $v 8v ets T~>)V fjidOrjo'iv TOJV tepo>v ypayu,/x,aTO)v.
[Two more prayers in almost the same terms follow.]

f5
*As Xeyet Kat TOV i/AaX/xov EvXoy7;o-(o TOV icv ev Travrt Katpa), Kat as
fj
TO TratSt a7ro TO Kc^>aXtv o St8ao"KaXo9 Kat as Xeyct :
[Here follows another long prayer.]
Na ypdij/ys Tpta âpTta, va Ta Ka^s aTravov ets TO,

povâ TOV /x,eo~a
1 2
avpad/m. Xftre.
4
Appendix IV. 363
15 xovXidpw Kt OTTOV TOV TTOvet rj <nr\f)va TV) va-Ttpwrj TOV c/>yyaptov

e' -
Kat ctvat avra TO, o^/xaSta OTTOV 0eAet5 va ypai/^S t5 TO, Tpta
M
M
"Oraj/ 18775 va Tre^r^ 2 âXa^tv T^? a>p[as] va
OTTOV dp^t^ct
3 4
fj-avpOfJidvLKOv ^taâtptv ^ ^vXtva ^ KOKaXevia TO, /tavr/Kta, va TO Trapes
15 TO \tpiv (TOV TO Sc^tov, va (rTafjLaTtj(rrj<; TO, ve^r; Ka^w? elvai, ^yovv va
5
Ta oTTpcoo-r/? TOV ovpavov, OTTOV ptKTOvv [sic] T-)V ^Spo^^v Kat TO
ets
XaAaiv, ^ a eiTT^? CT^T;

'Ev ap^ ^v o' Xoyos, Kai o Xoyos ^v Trpos TOV 0v,
:
/cat ^s ^
o A.oyos, Kat Ka0cos TO CITT^? Trapcv^v? va /capc/>a)o*^s TO /xaâtptv
t5 Ta/3A,av
6 7
^ et5 r^v y^v, Kat Tr/5 wpa5 o-TCKCTat TO âXa^tv. Et 8e 8 av
to-at 15 Kapa^Stv Kat ov^t t5 aAAov TOTTOV:
[The scribe here changes the subject abruptly.]
Translation.
For megrim and headache :
Write on a piece of paper : God of Abraham, God of Isaac,

God of Jacob, loose the demon of the
9
megrim from the head of
1 2
crrct/idTt'creis. TTC1JT1J.
4 6 6
Trdpts. <TTpO<TlS. raOXa.
9
T6 (or 6 /Ato-o/c^0aXos), half-head, is a literal rendering of the
/ju<roKt<t>a\ov
ancient a neuralgic pain on one side of the head or face, whence our
i)iJ.iKpai>la,
own word megrim (through the French migraine = hemicraine). This pain is
by the modern folk-physician, consistently enough, attributed to a special
demon, with whom I personally am not acquainted but Mr W. H. D. Bouse, ;
more fortunate, in his interesting paper on 'Folk-lore from the Southern

Sporades' (Folk-Lore, June 1899, pp. 171 172) was able to quote a charm
from a MS. similar to mine, in which this '
half -head demon is described as
'
"a
youth standing beyond Jordan and crying with a loud voice that he wants
man's flesh to eat."
Thy servant. I charge thee, unclean spirit, which ever sittest in

the head of man, take thy pain and depart from the head from :
half-head, membrane, and vertebra, from the servant of God

So-and-So. Stand we fairly, stand we with fear of God. Amen.
For a child which has a mind unable to learn the sacred

letters :
Write the A. B.C. on a platter used for holy bread and give it to
be blessed in the liturgy on three Saturdays and Sundays, and when
the three Saturdays and Sundays are complete, dissolve it [?] in
unadulterated old wine and give the child to drink, and his brain
will be set free. And while the child is drinking let the school-
master say the prayer :
Lord our God, who hast overcome and enlightened the hearts of
etc. help ye all,
[illegible], presbyters Melchisedeck, Naboi, Jochami,
and open the mind and the heart of the servant of God So-and-So,
that he may learn the sacred letters.
Let him also recite the psalm: "I will bless the Lord in all
time," and let the schoolmaster hold the child by the head and
For affections of the spleen :
Write on three and burn them in a spoon over

pieces of paper
where the spleen ails, on the fifth day of the
his clothes, in the part
moon and these are the signs which thou shalt write on these three
;
pieces of paper :
To stay a hail-storm :
When
thou seest that hail begins to fall, at that same time take
a black-handled knife, the handle being either wood or bone, hold it
in thy right hand, in order to stay the clouds as they are, namely to
scatter them over the sky, which pour the rain and the hail, and say
thus: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God," and as soon as thou hast said this,
forthwith plant the knife into a table or into the earth, and at once
the hail- storm ceases. But if thou happenest to be on board ship,
and not in any other place,
APPENDIX V.
Extracts from a Phylactery dated 1774, in the possession of

M. Demetrius Lascaris of Melenik, Macedonia. Copied Sept. 17,
1900 1 .
Ylavv\oyrjfj,vrj Ilavayta Aeo-Trotva COTOKC, /Jor^r/trov TOV 8. T. 0.
A :
[i.e.
8ovXov TOV #cov AovKav]
.
eovo-iat,
ew7rvpTOv ptyos, KpaTatovs /3po\rj<;, KVprjKas XI/XT/TIKOV?, voVov /3Xa/?pas,

voVov âA.7r^9, vocrwSvvr/s, TTC/U-TTTIK^S Kai TrexiTTT^/txcvtys, Ao'a TW Ilarpt
/cat
Tip YtaJ Kat TW 'Aytw Ilvcv/xaTt.
/cai TOV? p^ropas TOJV 8at/xovcuv Se/xevovs Kat âXtvw/xevovs, OVTOS

ol e^^pot TOV SovAou TOV ôv AovKa At yXwo-o-at avTcoi/, Ta : :
avTwv Kai iy KapSta avroov, TO, ^vpa avrcoi/ Kat ot ap/x,ot avrwi/ Kat TO,
o/x/xaTa ecu? TeXo? avTov. Kai av Tt? vTray^ cts TOV 8. T. 0. : A : 8eo* TOV?
TOV9 TOV TpC^CtV, 8O~OV Ttt? ^6tpa? TOV5 TO
1 1
/X ^ /X ^ SvKÔ-QVTat TTldvCLl
Kt 77 o"7ra^t ^ Kovro.pt va. ptovv aTravco cts TOI/ 8. T. 0. : A : To
^8t OTTOV va ptôvv 7ravo> t? TOV 8. T. 0. A. /xc /?oTavt va yivj;
Kat 6 'ApâyyeXos Mtâ-^X va TO 7rapa/xptV]7 Iws Tpet? opyvtas
KOVTO. TOV 8. T. #. A. Kttt 6 8. T. 0. A. Vtt
y[X]vTWQ-7/ VyeiTJS Kttl Ot
ttTTO
fyBpol TOV 8. T. $. A. {:
SovKa :|
va tvat Se/xei'ot. oj? Se^Kav TO. o~TO/xaTa
TWV XeoVTwv ts TOV? /xapTvpas TOV? dytovs OVTO>S va Scôvi/ Kat TO, o~TO/xaTa
avTwv KaTa TOV 8. T. $. : A :
TJ
TOV TOV^>KIOV TWV va
^>a>Tta ytvr; at^cpas
Kttt TO CTTTtt^t TWV /8a/Xj8ttKt. ScOQ-OV, Kvpt, TOV 8. T. ^. A I I Kat 8tO)oV
1
The text is given with all its eccentricities of spelling, style, and grammar
faithfully preserved.
TOVS 'AvaToXiKovs Bopeivovs KCU AUTIKOVS Kai NOTIKOVS Sai/xovas va
KCU.
a7T^0)0-t (XTTO 0. A Kttt V OVO/AttTl TOV /ACydXou $OV

TOV 8. T. I I
c
o pKtu> ra? IftSo/Ji'iJKovTa &vo do-^cj/ciais as ^t o av^pcoTro?
a,7r6 TOV 8ovXo r. ^. : Sovica Kat ^ a7ro ovpavovs Kar^KBev dorêVeta Kai 77
1
aTTo atrrpov, 17
aTro r;A.iov ^ a,7ro
(rcX^VT/s ?;
ctTro ^d^>ou ^ O-TTO Kpvov aepos 17
a7ro j/cpo ^ a7ro dorTpaTr^? Kar^Xêv -7

aTro (reioyzov ^ aTro KTT/TTOV Kar^Xêv,
77
aTro (faovov ^ aTTO Ka/JLirov rj
TrcSiov 77
aTro TTora^tov ry aypov rj ?Tpi/?oXov
77
v AO/TTO) >;
i/
7rapaSeio-a) >J
cv 8to8u> 77 r/3io8u 77
ev i<ro8a) 77
ev ô
1
Xovrpov, <f>ovpvov, rpo^dXov 77

ev 6*vpa T; Ovpi&a dvwyeov,
7;
aTro <^dp/xa/cos 77 (f>66vov 77 77X01; /cat ctTro ^3apwv aio-^p(5v 6<0aX/xa)i' 77
(XTTO aXX77? o-v/xôpas vcpat'Sov

j3a.(TKO(rvvr)<; 77 f7rr)p[jicvr)<; 77 ayepi/cov 77 77
Twv ev o<a> aepOTrerw/Aevcov /cal rj\6a,T aStKTôâi TOV 8. T. ^. : A :

Kvpte
ve<p07rovov, êipoTrovov, Sixrovptas ...

t^w v/xas OTI O-TI d'StKov cts TOV 8. T. ^. : A :
1
'ground marked out for the erection of a church,' according to my
informant.
APPENDIX VI.
Quaedam Anglice non reddenda.
1.
To fJLCLKpV /XOV '? TO OTKHTTQ <TOV.

(*XlSapia, a lock.)
2.
tj, crepitus ventris.)
3.
KotXia /w, KotXta,

To naKpv KO.V 8ov\ta. (TTtâpt, a wine-jar.)
4.
o*
'Avoty' yu-aAAiapos
M?raiV* o*
yKoXtapos. (ro-ovpctTri, a sock.)
5.
XiXiat?, /w,uXtat9 Kuparo-ovSeus /xia V T-^V aXXry KaTovpiowrav.

Or
XtAtat?, />ii;Atat5 KVpaTO*oi)oats avao^KeXa Kar pow.
(o-rpextats, the eaves.)
6.
Fia TOI/ KojXo crov KaX^. (yta/xTroXr;,

a woollen blanket.)
7.
KOKKIVOS FiavtVo-apo? TO"aKôv8i 's TOV /ccoXo' rov.
(xpaVo, the cornelian-cherry.)

8.
Vw, /3yaivo> '9 TOV 6Wa Kai

KO.L ore.
(O-CVTOVKI, a trunk.)
9.
BaA.' rry Kat (rra^ci,
ByaA' T>7 K?7 dxi/tei.
a/fya TOV <f>ovpvov, the rag with which the oven is swept.)
10.
rap, TraYap, ere Try /3a'a>,
KT) a7roKOvp8w(Jivrj ySyatvet. (TnjTTa, a pie.)
11.
2 TO /?owo ye^vTy^Ka, '9 TO fiovvo Tpavciâ,
pa di/ao-Tr/^Ka va yXeVa) TOV ai/Tpa Kat T?T; yvi/aucas.

t, the door-sill.)
ADDENDA.
PAGE 13.
Col.Leake gives a pretty variant of the weather-lore on the Epiphany, from

Acarnania :
Xctpa (Tra XpLffTtryeva areyva,

Ta
M^ XT?!'
Td. fj,irdpia
"Joy to a dry Christmas, a snowy Epiphany, and a rainy Easter, then the
barns will be filled."
He also quotes the Sicilian saying Gennaro sicco borghese ricco.

:
Travels in Northern Greece, Vol. in. p. 515.
PAGE 123.
Concerning the plant popularly called

'
The Holy Virgin's Hand,' Scarlatos
D. Byzantios says: Xfyi r^s nava-yi'as ovofj-dfrvv 77 yvvaiKes el&os TL <f>vrov, rb
OTTOIOV tKdtTovviv ets ray yfrva ;, 1
(re/36/xei'ai, /cat /j.e O.VTO pavrLôvv rb oiKyna TUV
\exd>vwv. He identifies it with the peony, Ae^/cov rrjs Ka.6' iâs 'E\\r]i>iKTJs
INDEX.
Agathangelus, prophecies of, 116-7 caterpillars, recipe for driving away, 231
Alexander the Great, in incantations, cattle, weather-lore about, 111 ; cure
251; in folk tradition, 279-81; of ailing, 224
legendary history of, 281-9 caul, mysterious veneration of the, 139
ants, omen from, 19 charms, 19, 23, 124, 228, 238-40,
April, 43-6 258-366
Armenos, 124 Charos, 102, 128; penny of, 193;
arrack, omen from spilling, 102 popular conception of, 206-7
arrow-shooting, 27-8 Cheese-Sunday, 26-7, 29
ass, the, in ancient and modern Mace- child-birth, superstitions connected
donia, 299-300 with, 124-6, 137-9
augury, 104-111 choking, omen from, 111-2
Ayeriko, 224-5, 240-2 christening, 134-7
Christmas, 76-7
Baboyeri, 88 Cleaning Week, 30
basil, its uses, ; songs about the, 94
93 cock, weather-lore about the, 107
bat, superstition about the, 110 cock's spur, safeguard against the Evil
beardless men, superstitious dread of, Eye, 142
105 coffee, divination by, 95
beasts, benediction of, 223-4 cornel buds, divination by, 78-9
bellg, on New Year's Day, 80 cripples, superstition about, 105
betrothal, 150-4; songs, 152-3 Cronia, 27
Bible, the, in folk-medicine, 227 Cross, Feast of the, 60; "Month of
"binding" of married people, 171, the," 64; Diving for the, 87-8
232, 234 cross-bows, 27-8
birds, legends about, 290-4 crowns, child born with two, 105
birth, 123-146 cuckoo, 16-7
bite, cure for, 230, 233 curse, dread of parent's, 135, 195, 211,
bleeding, cure for, 230, 233 226 Bishop's, 211 foil.
;
bones, divination by, 96-7

bonfires, 27-8, 57, 60 daisy, divination by plucking a, 46
"Borrowing Days," the, 23-4 Days, unlucky, 189-91
boughs, New Year's, 81 dead, feasts of the, 207-10
bread, superstitions about, 98; sacred- December, 67-8
ness of, 103-4 dervishes, as vampire-killers, 221 ; as
"Breeder," popular name for January, expellers or propitiators of evil
13 spirits, 224-5
"Bright," popular name for Easter, 35 dirges, 194-6, 201-2, 205-6
brothers, adopted, 18# 'divination, 95-117
bugs, 18, 36 dog, omen from a howling, 107 as a
;
guardian spirit, 222 ; as a wood-

candles, Easter, 36 spirit, 252
Carnival, 26 Drakos, wells haunted by the, 18,
carols, New Year's, 82 260-1 ; legends about the, 261-3,
cat, omens from, 110-1 ; leaping over 264 mythological interpretation of
;
corpse, 219-20 the, 265

370 Index
dreams, 79, 209; interpretation of, gyon, forerunner of spring, 17 ; legend
226 of, 290-1
drinking rhymes, 342-3
drought, ceremonies in time of, 118-20 hair, school superstition about, 301
drunkenness, recipe against, 233 half-head, demon of the, 363 n.
Drymiais, 21, 63-4 hand, premonitions from itching, 112
Dudule-song, 119 hare, superstition about the, 106
"
Harvester," popular name for June,
Eagle, "The Prince and the," 268-77, 50
351-7 hemorrhage, cure for, 234
ears, premonitions derived from burn- hen, omen from a crowing, 106
ing and ringing, 111 hexagram, symbolic significance of the,
Easter, weather-lore, 13 ; rhymes, 26 ;
142
customs, 25-42 Sunday, 35 Tues-
; ;
hide and seek, game of, 17 n.
day, 38 song, 38
; holy springs, 243-4; water, 75, 258
Elijah, the Prophet, 240 Holy Week, 35
Epiphany, weather-love, 13, 368 ; house-spirits, 257-9
Feast, 86-8
Evil Eye, 123-4, 139-46 January, 13-4
exhumation, 210-214 "Judas," 37
eyes, premonitions from twitching, 112 July, 59-60
June, 50-58
Fates, 125-8; ''The Youth and the,"
128 Karkantzari, 73-6, 219 n.
fatigue, recipe against, 233 kid, omen from the sight of a, 16
February, 14 kings, in M. Gr. folk-tales, 275
Fetch, 222 Kledonas, rite of, 53-7
fever, cause of, 224 ;
cures for, 225, knots, magic significance of, 100, 105,
228, 232-4 170, 228, 234
fire, divination by, 98 ; ordeal, 298-9 Koran, the, in folk- medicine, 224
first-foot, 84-5
first-fruit, 122 lamb, omen from the sight of a, 16;
fishing, recipe for success in, 233 Easter, 38
"Flayer," popular name for March, 21 "Lame Month," popular name of
flea, 18, 27 February, 14
flowers, divination by, 46 Lamia, the, 265 foil.
Fortune, 128-9 Lazarus, Feast of, 32-4
forty days, 14-5; paces, 229 lead, divination by molten, 51-2
Forty-day fast, 26 Lent, 26-8
Friday, 21, 63, 190-1 light, ceremony of receiving, 36
fright, recipes against, 225, 233-4 lightning, recipe against, 229
funeral rites, 192-222; procession, 197 ;
"Little Month," 14
service, 200 ; feast, 203-4 mourn-
; "Long Month," 13
ing, 204-6
mad dog, cure for the bite of a,
gad-fly, omenfrom, 110 230
games, Easter, 38 ; St Thomas's, 40 magpie, omen from a, 110
"Gaping," game of, 29-30 Makarios, prophecies of, 117
garlic, as a safeguard against the Evil March, 16-24
Eye, 124, 141 marriage, 147-91
geese, wild, weather-lore, 62 May, 43, 46-9
Gipsy fortune-tellers, 225-6 Meat-Sunday, 26
girdle, superstitions about the, 99-100 medical treatises, 230-6, 358-64
Good Friday, 35 medicine, folk-, 227-30
"Good Word," 35 Mid-Pentecost, 40
"gooding," 18, 32, 89 Milky Way, popular names for the,
grasshopper, 59-60 and legend, 69
Great Bear, folk names for the, 70 mirror, divination by, 50-1
" Great Mohammed the Conqueror and
Month," popular name for ex-
January, 13 communication, 212-3
Index 371
Mohammedan wizards, 225 "Pruner," popular name for January,

Moirais, 126-8 13
"Month-days," 62 Purification, feast of the, 14-5 ; after
moon, new, 71 ; eclipse of the, 72 child-birth, 137; after a funeral,
morra, game of, 297-8 203-4; for the Evil Eye, 143; in
"mothering," 29 folk-medicine, 223
mummers, 88
quince-tree, in folk-medicine, 228
NaTdis, story 129-34, 247-50
of,
nail, a safeguard against evil, 64 ; rabbit, omen from the encounter of a,
nailing the Vampire, 221 106
nail-cutting, superstition about, 189- rainbow, superstitious belief about
90 ; nail-parings, preserved, 214-5 the, 71
name-day, 122 rats, omen from, 108
Nasreddin Khodja, story of, 114 red-haired people, 105
Neraides, 125, 240 foil. red yarn, charm of the, 19, 23, 124, 228
New Year's Day, 77-83 " 98
Remembrance," game of,
"Night of Power," 86 rheumatism, cure 229
for,
nightbird, omen from a, 108 rhinoceros' horn, safeguard against
nose, premonition from itching, 113; the Evil Eye, 142-3
cure for a bleeding, 230, 233 riddles, 302 foil., 367 foil,
November, 66-7 right and left, 113, 187-8.
nuskas, use of, 224 ring-dove, legend of the, 293
robbers, charm against, 233
October, 65-6 Rousa, feast of the, 40-2
offerings, to the dead, 197, 208-9
oil, omen from spilt, 102 Sabbatarians, 221-2
olive leaves, divination by, 78 St " Month
Andrew, of," 66
owl, omen from a hooting, 107, 108 Anthony, 241
Barbara, 67
Palm Sunday, 34 Basil, 77-83
"pappas," popular name for the daisy, Demetrius, "Month of," 65
46 Elias, 240
Paschal eggs, 35 Elmo, fires of, 241
Paschalia, 37 Friday, 243
"
pee-wit, legend of the, 290 George, Feast of, 11, 43-6 ; Month
pentagram, symbolic significance of of," 43
the, 142 ,, Gervais, 15
pepper, omen from spilt, 102 Hilary, 15
Perperuna-song, 119 ,, Ignatius, 68
Philip, in folk tradition, 279 John, Feast of, 11, 50, 61-88;
philtres, 226-7 curer of fevers, 65, 233
phylacteries, 238-40, 365-6 ,, John's wort, 123
plague, the, 237-8 ,, Eosmas and Damian, 235
plants, magic, 123, 368 Medard, 15
Pleiades, the, 70 Modestos, 241
' ' " " "
Plough, Plough-feet, popular Nicholas, "Month of," 67; patron
names for constellations, 70 of mariners, 241
portraiture, superstitious dread of, Panteleemon, 241
300-1 Paul, 15
possession, by demons, 232, 235, 241 Plato, 67
"Precursor Men," 89 Protais, 15
premonitions, 111-3 Solomone, 243
priests, superstition about, 104-5 ,, Spyridion, 68
Prince and the Eagle, story of the, Thomas, Feast of, 39
268-77, 351-7 ,, Vincent, 15
Princess and the two Dragons, story salt, symbolical use in wishing, 84 ;
of the, 264 giving out of the house, 101 sacred-
;
prophecies, 116-7 ness of, 102

Protomaia, 46 sand-bath, 229
372 Index
Saturnalia, 26 toothache, cure for, 231
Scarlatina, 40 about the, 109
tortoise, superstition
Seasons, rhymes on the, 12 Triodi, game 295-7
of,
September, 64-5 turning back, unlucky, 105
serpent, superstition about, 106; "turtle-doves," 35; the bird, 109
charms against, 233-4 "Twelve-Days," 73
shadow, as a nightmare, 257 "Twins," popular name for November
Shepherd and his flock, legend of the, and December, 67
229
Shepherd and the Nymphs, story of vinegar, giving out of the house, 101 ;
the, 246 omen from spilt, 102

" Month of
sieve, saying about the, 96 giving
; Vintage, the," 64
out of the house, 101 as a safe-
; Virgin, Feasts of the, 61, 66
guard against evil, 219, n. 2 Vrykolakas, 217-22
sleepiness, cure for, 231
slings, 27-8 warts, cure for, 230
"
Small-pox, 236-7 water, speechless," 52, 83 ; giving
sneezing, 30, 113-6 out of the house, 101 ; symbolical
snow, children's rhymes about the, 121 use of, 122; "holy," 124
soul, ideas concerning the, 193 Water- Spirits, 246, 249-56; -serpent,
Souls' Sabbaths, 208-9 256, 265
"
Sower," popular name for November, wax, divination by molten, 52
66 weasel, omen from the, 108 supersti-
;
sparrows, omen from, 109, 111 tion and legend about, 109
Spirits of the Air, 224-5 wedding, preparations, 155-67 cere- ;
storks, omen from, 109 mony, 167-79; banquets, 179-82;

Strigla, 266 songs, 157-86; toasts, 179
Struma, 2, 224 Wednesday, 21, 63, 190-1
Sun, children's rhymes to the, 121 whirlwind, incantation, 250-1
swallow, 18-21; song, 18 Wild Boar, superstition about the,
sweeping, after dark, 101 215-6
symbolism, 118-22 wine, rhymes on, 68 ; omen from
sympathetic magic, 19 spilt, 102
women, popular opinion on, 122 ;
Testament, New, in folk-medicine, 227 rhymes on, 344-5
"Thresher," popular name for July, 59 wood-pigeons, omen from, 109
tooth superstition, 20 Wood- Spirits, 250
CAMBRIDGE : PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

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{All Rights reserved.]

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY,

THE GOLDEN BOUGH

rflHE present volume contains the results of some re-

searches into the folklore of the Greek-speaking parts

plemented from local publications. Among the latter, special

but, induced by the example of his betters, has undertaken

notes. His thanks are also due to his forerunners in the

Mr Tozer, Herr Bernhard Schmidt, MM. Georgeakis et Pineau,

THE FOLKLORIST IN MACEDONIA.

/L, IN the Near East, as elsewhere, Western civilization is

they were some years ago. The materials which I collected at

Hissar and Nigrita, and the villages adjacent thereto as well ;

as in places of lesser note, such as Vassilika and Sochos in the

possibly gather within the time allowed by circumstances.

aged and half-blind nurse, whose acquaintance I made through

to whose lessons and friendly guidance I owe much. Unlike

knowledge, from Anthropology to Demonology, and from Philo-

popular superstition but, being of a more tolerant disposition,

he waived his prejudice, and saw no objection to cross-examining

eloquence. It was only when the latter got up and began to

But the next moment I was completely reassured by her

wanted to see Master on business.

highly uncommercial answer, accompanied by a well-aimed

when compared with the satisfaction of conversing with a man

I attempted to bow my thanks for the compliment as

respects, proved comparatively barren of results so far as my

space (/zeo-o^wpt) of the village. But my readers will be spared

The thing which impressed me most deeply throughout my

but it is not difficult to overcome their shyness. A little tact

Christians in Turkey are so frequently harassed by the

sympathies that a new-comer is always an object of mistrust.

enlightened enough to appreciate the importance of the study of

women, who dwelt in a certain cottage, were considered the

greatest living authorities on funeral laments. Confident in

the Muses, note-book in hand, and explained to them the

" " "

nothing You vagabond

undignified retreat. As I fled, my ears continued ringing with

busy knitting, and, of course,, their tongues gossiping. The

attentively to the tale which some ancient dame is telling for

The sung not only on the

mountains but in the fields

ear. By little and

proved alike fatal to its existence, and its few representatives

the last of the Macedonian minstrels.

Songs of Modern Greece, pp. 5

smuggled into the country or imported on the clear under-

may earn the traveller the reputation

expulsion as a signal proof of the Sultan's solicitude for the

the situation to any appreciable extent.

THE FOLK-CALENDAR AND THE SEASONS.

TIME among the peasantry of Macedonia is measured not

bonfires of St John these are some of the landmarks in the

peasant's life. In most cases the Roman designations of the

names descriptive of the occupations which form the principal