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 symbolic meaning of these gifts, if they ever had one, has long since gone the way of all tradition. 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. The similarity between the old English and the modern Macedonian practice is well illustrated by Herrick's lines to Dianeme: Ile to thee a simnell2 bring, 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 (ovi). 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 (κάνουν οι βάζουν μeTávola) and obtain absolution, after which performance the banquet begins. When the plates are removed there follows an amusing game called 'Gaping' (xáoκa) and corresponding to our Christmas game of Bob-cherry or Bobbing Apple. A long thread is tied 1 The Book of Days, vol. 1. p. 336. 2 i.q. Lent-Cake. 3 Hesperides 685. to the end of a stick, and from it is suspended a bit of confectionery (xaẞâs), 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. Καθαρὴ βδομάδα. The days that follow form a sharp contrast to this feast. With Monday begins Cleaning-Week (Καθαρὴ 'βδομάδα), 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; the floors are scrubbed, all traces of the preceding 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 Tpíμepo, is concluded on Wednesday evening. Then a truly lenten pie of boiled cabbages and pounded walnuts, called Тρiμepóπηττа, 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 is disturbed by certain feeble reflections of the festivities which went before. These spectral revivals of gaiety in various districts take various forms, and as a rule are confined to Monday. At Salonica, for instance, on the Kalapǹ ▲evтépa 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 up the procession, singing Klephtic songs, and when they have reached the open country, they seize a point of vantage, hold all carriages that happen to pass by, and extort from the not 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 'Montem' festivity once popular at Eton.1 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" (và Byáλovv Tò deîdɩ)—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 obliged to leave their holes under ground." The date of this Western feast (1st Feb. o.s.) corresponds roughly with the 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 its old slough.": At Sochos, again, during this week they have masquerades. Youths dressed in fustanellas execute military dances with swords; others array themselves in goat-skins, covering head and face beneath a conical cap (каλяáкı) 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 (μeσoxŵpɩ), and 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. I. p. 241. Τοῦ Λαζάρου. 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 ἀγερμός, and to our own peasants as going a-corning, gooding, and so forth. The dancers are called Λαζαρίναις, and their songs Λαζαριανὰ or Λαζαριώτικα (sc. τραγούδια). 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. K Ι. To a damsel betrothed. Πῶς παίζ ̓ ὁ Τοῦρκος τ ̓ ἄλογο κῇ ὁ Φράγκος τὸ καράβι “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. Κεῖ 'π ̓ ἀγαπᾷς, λεβέντη μ', στείλε γύρεψε, Κλέψ' την, λεβέντη μ', κλέψ' την, κλέψ ̓ τὴν πέρδικα, Κεῖ ποῦ λαλοῦν τ ̓ ἀηδόνια καὶ τ ̓ ἄγρια πουλιά. “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. Βουζουδά μ', τί τρανεύεσαι καὶ σέρνεις τὸ καμάρι ; Καὶ πεθερὰ βασίλισσα καὶ ἐγὼ βασιλοποῦλα. "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. Μάνα 'π' σὲ χάρισε ὁ θεὸς τὰ δυὸ περιστερούδια, 1 This word is new to me, but I take it to be a synonym of κορφοβούνια, hill-tops.' 2 A synonym of the dim. νυφούδα, ‘a dear little bride, from the Bulgarian bozia, 'bride.' Α. Γ. 3 |