CHAPTER VI. JULY TO DECEMBER. July. THIS month is known to the peasant as the 'Thresher' (Αλωνιστής, Αλωντής, οι Αλωνάρης), as the threshing of corn begins in it: с Αλωνάρης τ ̓ ἁλωνίζει, Κῇ Αὔγουστος τὸ ξεχωρίζει. "July threshes it; but August winnows it." Another popular proverb declares Ἔτσι τὤχει τὸ λινάρι Ν ̓ ἀνθῇ τὸν ̔Αλωνάρη. "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: Τζίτζηκας ἐλάλησε, "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 grasshopper'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 wish them 'a happy year.' This cake is called 'Grasshopper-Cake' (TÇITYNPÓKλIKO), and is supposed to be a kind of offering to their favourite insect. The following rhymes express the insect's satisfaction at the sacrifice: Λωνίζετε, θερίζετε κῇ 'μένα κλίκι κάνετε, Καὶ ῥίξτε το 'ς τὴ βρύσι νὰ πάω νά το πάρω, 2 "Thresh and mow and make a cake for me. Throw it into the fount that I may go and fetch it, 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 (Η πρόοδος τοῦ τιμίου καὶ ζωοποιοῦ Σταυροῦ, popularly known as Toû Σтavрoû). Bonfires are the order of the evening. The boys jump over them shouting in vigorous, 1 Anacreon's ode, or rather the ode which passes under Anacreon's name, to the TérTi, 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 Α. Δ. Γουσίου, ‘Η κατὰ τὸ Παγγαιου Χώρα, p. 47. In America also, though 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. vII. p. 41. In England "when crickets chirp unusually, wet is expected." R. Inwards, Weather-Lore, p. 183. but sadly unenlightening, terms: Ανάχωστε! παράχωστε! “Dig up! bury!" whom or what, they know not. This exclamation supplies the name by which the custom is known at Melenik. At Shatista, in Western Macedonia, the same fires are called Kλadapiά or 'bush-fires,' and at Berat, in Albania, Trikka. The evening is a Meat-Feast ('ATокρеά), 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 koiμnois τῆς Θεοτόκου, popularly Τῆς Παναγίας). Nor do these exhaust the list of August celebrations. On the 23rd is held the Feast of the Return of the Feast of the Virgin ('Απόδοσις τῆς ἑορτῆς τῆς Θεοτόκου) or of The Holy Merciful (Τῆς ̔Αγίας Ελεούσης). 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 (Ἡ ἀποτομὴ τῆς τιμίας κεφαλῆς Ἰωάννου τοῦ ПIpodpóμov) is made the occasion of more abstinence. It is in harmony with this religious gloom that August is considered as the precursor of winter: Ὁ Αὔγουστος ἐπάτησε 'ς τὴν ἄκρα τοῦ χειμῶνα. Μαύρισ ̓ ἡ ῥῶγα ἀπὸ τὸ σταφύλι; "Has the grape grown black in the cluster? 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 παραχώνω and ἀναχώνω (or ξαναχώνω 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: Ὁ ἥλιος τοῦ Μαϊοῦ τ ̓ Αὐγούστου το φεγγάρι. "May's sun is August's moon." Some even go so far in their enthusiastic appreciation as to exclaim: Αὔγουστε, καλέ μου μῆνα, νἄσουν δυὸ φοραῖς τὸν χρόνο. "O 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-χείματος ὥρην δεικνύει ὀμβρηροῦ. 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; for unerring experience, assisted by a 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' (тà μepoμńvia).3 In like manner in England it was once a common superstition that the wind which blew on New Year's Eve prognosticated the character 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. 1 Cp. the English omens taken from the flight of geese. R. Inwards, Weather-Lore, p. 160. 2 Hes. W. and D. 450. 3 Or have we here a survival of the classical iepoμńvia (rá, Thuc. v. 54) 'the holy days of the month'? The jackdaw is the typical bird of this month: Κάθε πράμα 'ς τὸν καιρό του κῇ ὁ κολοιὸς τὸν Αὔγουστο. "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 (Apúμais). 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. 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." 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: 1 Coray gives the name as Apúμμara and derives it from dρúπт 'to tear,' while others spell it Apúμais and would have it from Spvμós a wood.' The spelling countenanced by Scarlatos the lexicographer is Δρίμαις, but Δρύμματα also is known: see G. Georgeakis et Léon 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. Rouse, Folklore from the Southern Sporades,' in Folk-Lore, June 1899, p. 179. · |