windows. The boys, as they march along, sing a kind of prayer to the powers on high, beginning with the words: Βάϊ, βάϊ, Ντουντουλέ, Κῇ μυσίρκα, κῇ ψινίτσκα, "Hail, hail, Dudulé, (Bring us) both maize and wheat, Hail, hail, etc." Dudulé is the name given to the boy clothed in verdure. This is the form of the ceremony prevailing at Melenik, a Greek town surrounded by a Bulgarian-speaking rural population, 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: 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 (Пleртeрoûva) 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." Πιπεριά, πιπεριά δροσολογιά, etc. "Piperia, dew-collecting piperia" etc.1 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 Пeprepiά. 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 up in Dalmatia, where the chief performer is called Prpats, and his companions Prporushe, and in Bulgaria, where we again find a maiden undertaking the leading rôle 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 Pfingstkönig, who, according to him, are connected with the ancient rain-preserving rites.3 Of the magical ceremonies for making sunshine there is no vestige in Macedonia. But a relic of some old religious observance still survives in a sportive custom. The children at 1 Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, pp. 227 foll. 2 The 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 committed 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." 3 Ralston, ubi supra. 4 J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. 1. p. 115. Melenik are in the habit of offering up a prayer to the Sun, that he may come out and ripen the grapes : Ἔλα, πάππου Ηλιου, Νά σε δώσουμε κόκκινα ποδήματα, "Come, Grandfather Sun, That we may give thee red boots, Wherewith thou mayest 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."s Again, when it snows for the first time in the year, the boys hail the event with some rhymes which sound like unmitigated 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 : Χιονίζει, χιονίζει, Τὸ μάρμαρο ἀσπρίζει, Η γάτα μαγειρεύει, Ὁ πόντικας χορεύει, etc. "It snows, it 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 "Eğex', ŵ pix' ñλe, ‘Come out, dear Sun,' "when the god was overrun by a cloud,” Pollux Ix. 123. 2 Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. 1. p. 327. 3 Ralston, Russian Folk-Tales, pp. 263-6. To return to the subject of symbolism. When the farmers have finished digging in the fields, they throw their spades up into the air and, catching them again, exclaim: "May the crop grow as high, as the spade has gone!"1 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 forth abundantly next year.” "2 When a mother has done plaiting her daughter's braids she swings them thrice upwards saying: Πάνου τὸ κορίτσι, κάτου τὰ μαλλιά: "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 tall” (và тpavéчn). Some 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 is emptied 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" (ὅπως πάει τὸ νερὸ γλήγορα ἔτσι νὰ πάῃ κῇ ὁ ἄθρωπος). 1 This is undoubtedly a survival of what some authorities call imitative magic. For parallels-some of them extremely close-to this custom, see J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. 1. pp. 36–37. 2 Ib. p. 38. 3 Α. Δ. Γουσίου, ‘Η κατὰ τὸ Πάγγαιον χώρα, 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' (tŷs Havayiâs Tò Xépɩ), that is, some sprigs of it are thrown into the jug. 1 This is apparently one of the many plants endowed by popular superstition with magic virtues against ill. Such plants and herbs have been known in all lands and at all 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 and the attacks of fairies; the latter warded off fevers. The Macedonian equivalent is considered a powerful safeguard against both dangers. 2 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 J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, p. 49; Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. vi. pp. 100 foll. |