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BALKAN HOME-LIFE

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A ri'KKISH l,Ali\ IN oriDdOK |)kl-

BALKAN HOME-LIFE

BY

LUCY M. J. GARNETT

AUTHOR OF "the TURKISH PEOPLE"

WITH lO ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY

/ 2-

First Published in igij

Printed in Creat Britain

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PACK

I. The Albanians — Their Social Usages . i

II. Albanian Manners and Morals . . i8

III. Albanian Family Ceremonies . . 33

IV. Albanian Beliefs and Superstitions . 57

V. The Balkan Greeks — Their Domestic

Usages . . . . -83

VI. Greek Family Ceremonies . . . 102

VII. Greek Beliefs and Superstitions . . 128

VIII. The Wallachs— Their Customs and Beliefs 154

IX. The Bulgarians — Their Social Usages . 175

X. Bulgarian Family Ceremonies

XI. Bulgarian Beliefs and Superstitions

XIL The Osmanlis — Their Homes and Harems

XIII. Osmanli Home-Life .

XIV. Osmanli Family Ceremonies

XV. Osmanli Beliefs and Superstitions Index ....

192 206 219

237 257

287

307

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

A Turkish Lady in Outdoor Dress Frontispiece

From a photograph by Sebah, Constantinople.

FACING PAGB

UsKUP, Macedonia . . . i8

From a photograph by P. Zepdji, Salonica.

Old Stone Bridge at Uskup . . i8

From a photograph by P. Zepdji, Salonica.

Albanian Cavasses . . ... 26

From a photograph by P. Zepdji, Salonica.

Albani.an Peasant Woman in Gala Dress . . . 26

From a photograph by P. Zepdji, Salonica.

Moslem Albanians at Salonica . . . 58

From a photograph by P, Zepdji, Salonica.

Salonica, from the East . . ... 96

From a photograph by P. Zepdji, Salonica.

A Bulgarian Cavass or Orderly . . . 176

From a photograph by Sebah, Constantinople.

Bulgarian Peasants of Kiretz Keui, Macedonia. 180

From a photograph by P. Zepdji, Salonica.

Osmanli Ladies Going to a Picnic . 234

From a photograph by Sebati, Constantinople.

BALKAN HOME-LIFE

CHAPTER I THE ALBANIANS— THEIR SOCIAL USAGES

A

LB AN I A, as its native name of Schyiperi — the ' Land of Rocks ' — signifies, is one of the most mountainous divisions of Turkey. The principal chain runs north and south parallel with the Adriatic, and from it jut innumerable spurs which ramify in every direction. And as many of these are composed of mountains as lofty as the main range, almost the whole surface of the country is covered with rugged hills and deep valleys. The coast also is often grandly moun- tainous, the spurs here and there terminating in abrupt precipices whose rock-strewn bases are eternally beaten by the waves of the Adriatic.

Almost every variety of climate is found within the limits of Albania. In the south, and near the coast, the temperature is as mild as at Naples, and oranges, citrons, pomegranates, figs, and other fruits grow in abundance. But the cold increases with the distance from the sea, and only twenty miles inland the snowfalls are heavy, and

2 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

the frosts severe, the higher and more northern summits being clad in eternal snows. At lower elevations stretch vast forests of pine and other trees, interspersed with the rich pasturages over which great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle roam in summer. The land is cultivated to any considerable extent only in the south, where the climate is more suited to the production of crops and the character of the people to the pursuit of agriculture.

Albania, under Turkish rule, was divided into two vilayets, or provinces, designated by the names of their chief towns, Scutari and loannina, the residences of the Ottoman Governors. The former division, which is also called Northern Albania, is inhabited chiefly by the Ghegs and Miridites, and the latter by the Tosks, Khams, and Liaps, all of whom, however, are proud to call themselves by the national name of Schyipetar.

Though nominally brought under the Turkish yoke and partially converted to Islam in the fifteenth century, after a desperate struggle of twenty-five years' duration under the heroic Skanderbeg,! the Albanians long maintained a sort of semi-independence. As Moslems, they fought under their own chieftains in the armies of the Sultans, who esteemed them among their bravest soldiers and rewarded their services with numerous privileges and grants of property. The

^ Iskender Beg — ' the Lord Alexander.'

THE ALBANIANS 8

warlike Albanians were consequently never in spirit a conquered race, and the old feudal social system which they were still able to maintain, aided by the nature of their country, made it occasionally possible for their chieftains to throw off, for a time at least, the authority of the Sublime Porte. The most famous of these chieftains were Kara — * Black ' — Mohammed of Scutari, and Ali Pasha of loannina. The former, at the end of the eighteenth century, aimed at an independent sovereignty which his son, Mustapha Pasha, asserted in open rebellion in 1831 ; and the latter, notwithstanding the frightful cruelties of which he was guilty, still lives in national tale and song as the mighty upholder of Albanian indepen- dence against Ottoman tyranny. Subsequent risings, however, resulted only in the death or banishment of the most influential members of leading families, th e last coup d'etat of this descrip- tion having been carried out at Prisrend and Uskup in 1881. The great landholders are now all Moslems, the property of which the Christian proprietors were, at the end of last century, des- poiled by Ali Pasha having, on his death, been appropriated by the Sultan.

But whether Christian or Moslem, each section of the Albanian nation has its own special tradi- tional laws and usages, and by these alone is its social life regulated ; the Miridite tribes claiming to have received theirs from the Dukadjini princes.

4 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

who are held to have been the ancestors of their own chieftains. The internal government of these Highlanders may perhaps be best described as a species of aristocratic republic, all matters affecting the community being decided in council by the chiefs, the elders, and other hereditary functionaries.

The dwellings of the Albanians are quite in keeping with the character and mode of life of their occupants. Even at loannina, where Al- banian domestic and social customs have much in common with those of the Greeks of Epirus, their dwellings present externally a gloomy appear- ance, being shut in by high walls and courtyard gates, and having no windows to the street on the lower floor ; while, in the more remote towns, the narrow and ill-paved streets look dreary and deserted, and the bazaars and shops are the reverse of attractive. In common with Oriental urban dwellings generally, the houses consist of a ground floor and one upper story only, the latter being usually reached by an outside staircase of un- painted wood covered by the broad pent of the roof which shelters also the landing, or gallery, giving access to these upper rooms. The lime- washed walls of the principal rooms are often decorated with a frieze representing a landscape, executed in monochrome in the crudest possible style ; and between this and the narrow shelf which serves to hold the copper ihriks, or coffee-

THE ALBANIANS 5

pots, and other small miscellaneous articles, are usually hung the rich assortment of guns and small arms which constitute the cherished heir- looms of every Albanian family. The rest of the furniture will consist of low divans with very hard and uncompromising cushions, a number of cotton- stuffed mattresses and quilts, a few common chairs and a mirror.

In the mountain districts the houses of the Beys or chieftains are complete fortresses, being sur- rounded by high walls pierced with loopholes for musketry. Only in times of open hostility, how- ever, is it necessary to take any precautions against possible foes, as an Albanian's notion of honour does not allow him to slay a man in his own house, deadly as may be his feud with him. The villages of these districts are generally remote from each other, perched in high and inaccessible situations. The cottages of which they are composed are of one story only, and contain but two rooms, one of which is used as a storehouse for the produce of the little farmstead, the other serving as general living and sleeping apartment. The fire is made on the floor, the smoke escaping through a hole in the roof, the furniture being limited to a few mats and rugs, a sofra — the low stand on which meals are served in Turkish fashion, a well-scoured copper pan to mix the meal in, a wooden bowl or two, a few horn spoons, a copper ibrik and a brass lamp. Each dwelling has, however, its garden,

6 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

well stocked with fruit and vegetables, and its tobacco plot, the whole surrounded by a high loop- holed wall. In the vicinity of every village may also be seen the green, or common, with its paved threshing-floor, on which the golden corn is spread in autumn to be trodden by the hoofs of a pair of horses till the grain is separated from the chaff.

The physical characteristics of the Albanians vary considerably according to the district they inhabit, the tribe to which they belong, and the conditions under which they live. The Schyipetars of the Drin, and the Ghcgs and Miridites of North Albania generally are tall, handsome, and well- made folk, their women having good complexions and not infrequently fair hair, which, as the following verse from one of their folk-songs shows, is much admired : —

O maiden so tender.

No pipe of Vizier Was ever so slender

As thou art, my dear ! The soft silken tresses

Of thy yellow hair, The glad breeze caresses,

Like flax threads are fair.

They are also dignified in demeanour, capable of undergoing fatigue and hardship, and are exceed- ingly courageous. The Tosks also have frequently blonde or chestnut hair, blue eyes, and refined features, and are extremely elegant in figure and

THE ALBANIANS 7

deportment. The Khams, on the other hand, rather resemble the Greeks in complexion and feature, having black eyes and hair, and darker skins than the Ghegs. The least handsome of all the Albanians are the Liaps, and the laborious out-of-door life led by their women soon destroys any degree of beauty they may have possessed in youth. Both men and women are, however, expert swimmers and divers, this pastime affording almost their only distraction.

The national costumes of the Albanians are extremely varied and picturesque, and are still rigidly adhered to by all classes. The dress of a Schyipetar lady of rank is extremely rich and costly. Her under-garments will consist of a sleeved gown of striped white gauze, with very full Turkish trousers of red silk drawn in at the ankle, where they are finished off with a revers of heavy needlework ; while over these are worn a sleeve- less vest and coat reaching to the knees, both of crimson velvet handsomely trimmed round the borders with elaborate gold embroidery. Her hair is divided into three tresses, one of which hangs loosely, the other two being twisted round the little red fez worn on the head, and kept in place by a kerchief of silk ; the dark blue fez- tassel, which is very full and long, and droops on the left shoulder, being ornamented with tiny discs of gold or with seed-pearls. The Miridite tribeswomen wear a coat of thick white woollen

8 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

stuff, red trousers, an embroidered apron with fringe half a yard long, and on the head a blue kerchief. The veil and cloak of the Turkish women is worn out of doors by the Moslem women in the towns, and also, w^hen they live in close prox- imity to Moslems, by the Christian women. The cloak worn by the latter is, however, of a different shape and of a light red colour, with a cross em- broidered in front. This distinctive dress is said to have been imposed by a native pasha, who being attracted by a Christian girl, not knowing her to be such, asked her in marriage and was refused.

The country women, however, both of mountain and plain, and whether Christian or Moslem, go abroad unveiled. Their costumes vary extremely in detail, but are generally of stout homespun and felt, and in form resemble those of the Greek and Bulgarian peasants of Macedonia, the leading features of which are two aprons worn under a coat. In the villages of the plains, however, a blue petticoat, trimmed wdtli red bands, is worn over an embroidered linen gown, confined at the waist by a bodice of white cloth embroidered with quaint designs in black silk thread.

Albanian ladies appear to be even more addicted than Osmanlis to the use of cosmetics. For no sooner are they married than they begin to dye their hair with a decoction made from gall-nuts and palm oil, stain their eyelashes with antimony, and extend their eyebrows till they meet over the

THE ALBANIANS 9

nose. For their skins they use a ' wash ' in which various deleterious ingredients enter ; for their Hps and cheeks cochineal or carmine, while their nails and the palms of their hands are liberally stained of a deep orange hue with henna. The social status of Albanian women varies according to district and creed, the Liaps and the Christians of Southern Albania and Epirus generally occupying the least enviable position, as all the hard out-of-door work devolves upon them. The Northern Albanians, on the other hand, as also the Tosks, treat their wives with much greater consideration, consult them willingly in their affairs, both public and private, and accord them a position in the family almost equal to their own. And well do they merit the respect of their husbands and brothers, for full often have they proved themselves to be fit companions for men, unmindful of fatigue, danger, and even death in the cause of liberty. When the armies of the Sultan menaced the privileges of which the people of Scutari had always been proud, it was the women who were the first to give the alarm and urge their men to resist to the death, them- selves following to aid in the combat. Restraining the tears natural to their sex, they would carry the mutilated bodies of their loved ones among the combatants in order to excite them to avenge their deaths ; and they are said to have refused to receive back into their homes the husbands and

10 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

sons who had for a moment turned their backs upon the enemy.

Albanian women, too, are often entrusted with negotiations for truce or peace. For so great is the respect with which Albanians regard their women that they may traverse the camps of belligerents with greater safety than men. The terms of such treaties of peace, too, are often discussed in the privacy of the harems of the chieftains by the women belonging to the hostile parties before being settled in the camps of the belligerents. More ready are they, however, as a rule, to espouse and take part in the quarrels of their male relatives than to act as peacemakers; and, owing to their practice of carrying arms, they are always ready for a fray. Miss Mackenzie relates that, when traversing the Pass of Kat- chanik, her attention was directed by her escort to two Albanian women whom they chanced to meet. ' Look at them,' he cried ; ' they are women worth looking at, fur well do they know how to handle a gun ! '

' Are they Moslems ? ' asked the traveller.

' Assuredly.'

' But they do not wear the veil.'

* Not they, indeed,' was the reply. * They have never worn it, and why should they ? — for they are fiercer and more unapproachable than men ! '

Such being the character of the Albanian women, it is not surprising that they have played

THE ALBANIANS U

a considerable part in the history of their country. It was, indeed, to the indomitable energy and courageous spirit of his mother, Khamko, that Ali Pasha, the * Lion of loannina,' owed the earlier successes that paved the way for his sub- sequent brilliant career. Ali, who had during his father's lifetime been a wild and intractable boy, appears at his death to have submitted with the utmost docility to the authority of his mother. This lady, who was the daughter of a Bey of Konitza, and connected with some of the best Tosk families, had not, until the death of her husband placed the responsibility for the well- being of the family in her hands, given any signs of the extraordinary strength of character and readi- ness of resource which afterwards distinguished her, qualities which were, however, sullied by an im- placability which only too nearly resembled that displayed by Olympias, the mother of Alexander, herself a native of the same province of Epirus.

' To my mother,' said the tyrant of loannina, on one occasion, to the French Consul-General — * to my mother I owe everything, for my father left me but a mere hovel and a few fields. My imagination, fired by the counsels of her who had twice given me birth— for she has made me both a man and a vizier> — revealed to me the secret of my destiny.' The hereditary enemies of the family having taken advantage of its head being a minor by seizing upon some of his lands, Khamko

12 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

suddenly exchanged the distaff for the sword, and gathering around her the partisans of her house, with those among her late husband's vassals who still remained faithful, she tried in various skirmishes her strength against that of the enemies of her family. In these raids she was accompanied by her young son, to whom she pointed out the lands of which he had been despoiled, and the estates of the despoilers. Braving every danger, the Aghadina, as Khamko was called by her followers, continued to harass her enemies by open hostility or secret intrigue until she was finally taken in an ambuscade by the men of Gardiki and Tchormovo, together with Ali and her only daughter, Shainitza. After having been subjected to every indignity and outrage by their captors, Khamko and her children had finally the good for- tune to be ransomed by the generosity of a Greek merchant for the sum of 22,800 piastres G£3,70o). Hatred of those who had thus humiliated her had now taken entire possession of the Aghadina's soul, and her one idea thenceforward was to train up her son as the avenger of her wrongs. With this object she commenced to instil into his mind those pernicious principles which he was only too well disposed to receive, and which may be summed up in the words ' Might is Right ' — an adage sufficiently popular among the turbulent Albanian clans. All's first attempt to vindicate his rights in the field proved, however, a complete failure. Having met with a more vigorous

THE ALBANIANS 13

resistance than he expected, he fled from the fight, and was one of the first to re-enter Tepeleni. Khamko, furious at finding all her hopes frustrated by what she deemed her son's cowardice, loaded him with reproaches, and thrusting her distaff into his hand, added, * Go, coward, and spin with the women in the harem ; thou art fitter for that than for the career of arms ! ' Ali's fortunes indeed, at that period, fluctuated for some time between success and failure. While he was absent on a campaign, Khamko found herself on her death-bed, and, though repeated and urgent messages were despatched to him, the Aghadina's turbulent spirit had passed away before he could arrive. In her will she bequeathed to her son and daughter the task of immolating to her manes the inhabitants of Gardiki and Tchormovo, at whose hands the family had suffered such unpardonable indignities ; and over their mother's dead body the brother and sister swore to exterminate her enemies to the last man.

Some years later Shainitza was grieving for the death of her favourite son, Aden Bey ; and so wild was her sorrow that she smashed with a hammer all his and her own diamond ornaments, burnt all her cashmeres and valuable furs, and forced his young widow to sleep on the hard straw mats of the floor. The mirrors and ornaments of her serail were also destroyed, its doors and shutters were painted black, and ever3rthing which in any way recalled joy or happiness was banished

14 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

from the palace. Roused at length from this abandonment of grief by the news of the fall of Gardiki, she wrote to her brother reminding him of the oath they had sworn together over their mother's corpse, and of her wrongs and theirs, and urged him to have no mercy on the inhabitants of that town. * As for me,' she added in con- clusion, * it is only on cushions stuffed with the hair of the women of Gardiki that Shainitza will henceforward repose ! '

Faithfully was the terrible oath, sworn to the dead, kept both by brother and sister. The chief men of Gardiki, to the number of some three hundred, induced by fair promises to meet Ali at the Khan of Valiere, were there ruthlessly mas- sacred by the Christian troops under his Greek lieutenant, Thanase Vaghia, not one escaping. Shainitza then caused the town to be razed to the ground; and, after cutting off the hair of the women with every insult which she could heap upon them, this tigress in human form drove them forth with their children to the mountains, menac- ing with a like doom any who should venture to give food or shelter to the objects of her wrath. And the traveller, passing through the valley of Drynopolis, may to this day see in the wall of the khan the tablet which records, in letters of gold, the number of the dead and the date of their sacrifice to the manes of the mother and the fury of the sister of the Vizier of loannina.

THE ALBANIANS 15

In a codicil to her will, Khamko had directed that a hadji, or pilgrim, should be despatched on her part to lay offerings on the tomb of the Prophet, and pray there for the repose of her soul. Such pilgrimages and offerings may, however, only be made when the expenses are defrayed with money lawfully and honestly acquired. And as it was found on inquiry into the estate of the late Veli Bey, All's ancestor, that the property to be sold for this purpose had been taken by force or fraud from a Christian, this proposed pilgrimage was disallowed by the local religious authorities.

Such extreme ferocity of disposition as that manifested by Khamko and Shainitza is, however, happily exceptional among Albanian women, and even in Ali Pasha's own household was one whose character stands out in striking contrast to theirs. This was the Vizier's favourite wife, Emineh, the daughter of the Pasha of Delvino, a chieftain whose ruthless cruelty had gained for him the surname of ' the Tiger,' but who had fallen a victim to All's ambition. In the dirges sung by the Liaps on the death of the latter this lady is described as * the gentle hind of Mount Pelagos ' ; and her sympathy for the victims of the Vizier's rancour brought about her own untimely and tragical end.

For when the news arrived at loannina of the fall of Souli, Emineh, touched with the story of the heroism of its defenders, fell at the Vizier's

16 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

feet imploring his clemency on their behalf. * O Effendi ! ' she cried, clasping his knees, ' deign to listen to thy most devoted slave, and be not insensible to her tears ! Thy Fate has warned me in a dream that it will be well for thee to spare the Souhotes ! '

* The Souliotes ! ' exclaimed the Vizier, in a voice of thunder — * the Souliotes ! Barest thou intercede for my worst enemies and not tremble for thyself ? '

* Effendi,' replied the brave woman, rising with dignified firmness — ' Effendi, remember that I am the daughter of a Pasha. Yea, I dare inter- cede for them, and, moreover, dare to tell thee that their blood, and the blood of my unhappy father, which thou didst shed whilst I was yet a child, will be upon thy head ! '

* And upon thine also,' repUed the Vizier, beside himself with fury. Drawing from his girdle a pistol, he discharged it at his wife, who, falling in a swoon, was carried by her slaves into the haremlik. Ali, believing that he had killed her, and overcome with grief and remorse, shut him- self up in his most private apartments until he was informed by his physician that Emineh was not even wounded, but had merely fainted from emotion. His mind thus relieved, the tyrant shed tears, and, with all his tenderness for his favourite wife revived, proceeded to her apartment, which — admittance being from fear refused him — he

THE ALBANIANS 17

entered by force. But this further shock proved fatal to the tender Emineh, who expired during the night in a state of deUrium.

The death of Emineh proved a terrible blow to her murderer. Her memory perpetually haunted him, whether seated at the festal board or presiding in the council chamber, and, above all, during the silent watches of the night. He feared to be left alone, and was frequently heard by his pages to start up, and exclaim : ' Emineh ! — it is she ! — it is she ! Save me from her vengeance ! ' And when, some years later, a Dervish, Sheikh Youssouf, boldly reproving the Vizier for his crimes and cruelties, pointed out from the window the tomb of the murdered Emineh, he was interrupted by Ali, who exclaimed, with tears : ' Stop, stop, my father ! Thou hast named the name of Emineh ! Let that suffice and overwhelm me not with the weight of thy maledictions ! '

A

CHAPTER II

ALBANIAN MANNERS AND MORALS

N account of the Albanians would hardly be complete without some mention of the terrible blood-feuds which, though often originating in the most trifling causes, not in- frequently result in great loss of life, and are occasionally handed down from generation to generation. Sometimes such feuds exist between individuals or families only ; at others, whole villages, or clans, are concerned in them. In carrying them on certain traditional rules are, however, punctiliously adhered to, and occasion- ally those concerned, finding the state of continual hostility irksome, may agree to a bessa, or truce, for a stipulated period. When entire clans take part in the feud, each keeps strictly to its own wells or fountains, its public ovens and its markets. These internecine dissensions, however, rarely interrupt the usual occupations of a district, the land being tilled and the flocks pastured as usual in the daytime, the combatants assembling for the fray at evening on the common, or in the market-place of the town or village. When a few men have bitten the dust, the hostile parties with-

USKL r. MA^ l.liuMA

OLD SIONK l:kllP(;K Al I'SKUP

ALBANIAN MANNERS AND MORALS 19

draw in order to bury their dead, and the battle is over for the time being.

Though women are not the principals in these vendetta, it is no uncommon thing for them to take part in the bloody frays to which they give rise, and for which their custom of carrying arms makes them always ready. Lady Blunt describes^ a combat of this description which took place in the neighbourhood of Uskup (Skopia), the cause of contention being merely a hare, to which two sportsmen laid equal claim. As neither would give in, it was decided that the case should be tried by combat on the village green. The duel, how- ever, soon became a general melee, relatives and friends joining the principals, and women fighting by the side of their husbands and brothers. One girl of seventeen, the sister of one of the sports- men, fought, it is said, with a desperation and success worthy of a better cause, and fourteen victims fell in the affray, thus perpetuating the feud among the survivors.

On another occasion, the breaking of a girl's pitcher at the fountain by two mischievous boys resulted in such a desperate quarrel between her friends and theirs that some sixty persons perished in the ensuing feud. It is said, however, that even on such occasions as these the men refrain, as far as possible, from striking or wounding their adversaries of the other sex, the Albanian code of

^ The People of Turkey, Vol. i. p. 8i.

20 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

honour making it impossible to attack a woman, whether armed or unarmed. And the sacredness attached to their persons extends also to those whom they take under their protection. For, escorted by a girl only, travellers may safely pass through the wildest parts of the country, and a man may cross, without fear, the lands of one with whom he is at feud, if he have the safe-conduct of a woman belonging to his enemy's family. To such an extent, indeed, is respect for women carried by the Albanians, that it is contrary to their notions of propriety ever to make women the subject of jokes or humorous stories ; and insult or annoyance offered to a girl, or the carrying off of one without the consent of her parents, almost in- variably results in bitter feuds between families, or fierce battles between tribes. And, as with most mountain people, the moral code is with the Schyipetars exceedingly strict. Among many of the tribes any lapse from virtue on the part of a woman is punished with death, a subsequent marriage not being allowed to condone the fault, while the penalty of adultery is of equally Draconic severity. The unfaithful wife is placed up to her shoulders in a pit, and then literally buried under a heap of stones, which are piled upon and around her ; and her husband has a right to slay the partner of her guilt wherever he may find him. Such cases are, however, of extremely rare occurrence.

ALBANIAN MANNERS AND MORALS 21

Considering this rigidity of morals it is a rather curious fact that two clans, or tribes — the Clementi and the Castrati — ascribe their origin to irregular connections between the daughters of shepherds and strangers from other countries. The stories are almost identical. That of the Clementi is as follows : —

A young man named Clement, clerk to a priest of Moratcha, a district of Montenegro, weary of the tyranny of his superior, ran away, and, not knowing which way to go, made for the road leading from Seize to Scutari. Arriving at a place called Tamara, he came upon a fiockmaster of Triepsei, who, astonished to see a youth dressed as he was in such a place, inquired his business there. Without disclosing whence he came, Clement related his misfortunes, and declared his intention of going to Scutari in order to seek service with some family of position. Touched with pity, and fearing for him the dangers of the way, the shepherd invited the stranger to stay with him and help him to keep his flocks. Clement accepted the offer ; and when the number of sheep he was to receive as wages was settled, he followed his new master home.

The shepherd was rich in flocks and lands, possessed of a second wife with a young family, and also of a grown-up daughter, Bubce, who was both plain of feature and lame. Clement, being young and active and also attentive to his new

22 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

duties, soon gained the affections of his master, and, at the same time, those of his daughter, who, seeing no chance of ever being asked in marriage by her equal, took it into her head to make the shepherd lad fall in love with her. Clement long resisted the allurements of the uncomely Bubcc, and on his pointing out to her the danger they would both run should any understanding between them come to her father's ears, and also the misery that would follow a union with a penniless man, the shrewd Bubce would reply : 'It is not our danger, but my deformity that thou fearcst,' and her devotion finally touching the heart of Clement, the lovers began to meet frequently in secret. Finding herself compelled to take her step- mother into her confidence, the latter, fearing that her husband's pride would impel him to some act of violence were the state of affairs to come sud- denly to his knowledge, tried to prepare him for the news, and made him swear by St. .' " "^^olas not to do harm to any one. The angry faxner, in spite of his oath, at first threatened to kill both his daughter and her lover, and reproached them bitterly for the dishonour they had brought upon his house. Bubce, however, took all the blame upon herself ; and her tears and prayers, joined to those of his wife, who reminded him of the oath he had sworn 'by St. Nicholas ' — of all oaths the most binding on an Albanian — finally prevailed with him. Clement might

ALBANIAN MANNERS AND MORALS 23

marry the girl, but on condition that neither of them ever again should appear before him. So the couple retired to the pasturages of Beston, which the shepherd gave to his daughter, taking with him the sheep which constituted Clement's wages. Here they settled down and prospered, leaving behind them great wealth in flocks and numerous descendants ; and at the present day the tribe of the Clementi number five hundred families.

It is, however, among the Miridite highlanders that social morality is pushed to its extremest limit. Though their women enjoy the greatest freedom, an unmarried girl may not, out of doors, speak to a man unrelated to her family without risking the loss of her reputation, a calamity which few would care to survive. M. Hecquard^ cites a case in point, related to him by a local ahhe, which well illustrates the value that an Albanian girl sets on her honour. A man hap- pened to remark in joke to a girl, the sister of one of his friends, and before several other persons, that he had seen her in conversation with a young man, whose name he mentioned. On the following Easter Sunday, when all the tribe were congre- gated, the girl, who was under fifteen, on leaving the church after partaking, as is customary on that day, of the Eucharist, called God to witness to her innocence, and seizing a pistol from one of

^ La Haute Alhanie.

24 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

her relatives, shot herself through the heart ; and two days afterwards, the man whose careless words had been the cause of the tragedy fell by the hand of the victim's brother.

Among the Albanians exogamy, or marriage outside the tribe, is the general rule, which is occasionally carried out by the Miridite chieftains to the extent of carrying off by force a woman from one of the neighbouring Moslem tribes. The wives of the principal inhabitants of Oroshi have, it is said, all been acquired in this way ; and far from resenting or being ashamed of the circum- stance, they are on the contrary proud of it, and their relatives accept the situation on payment of the usual dowry. And although these stolen brides may not embrace with enthusiasm the faith into which they are generally baptized as a preliminary to marriage, they, nevertheless, scrupulously observe its external forms, are much devoted to their husbands, of whose reputation and honour they are so jealous that, should occasion require, they are found ready either to defend or avenge it.

Among these exogamous tribes, succession is, as a rule, in the male line. If, however, there are no surviving sons, and a daughter chooses to remain single, she may enjoy the usufruct of her father's property, which on her death reverts to her nearest male relatives. If a man die childless, his property is divided among his male relatives

ALBANIAN MANNERS AND MORALS 25

who pay to his widow a pension, she having the option of remaining in his house or returning to her family, and retaining all that she has received from her parents either before or after her mar- riage. If the deceased husband has an unmarried brother, the latter has a right to marry the widow. In such an event she receives from him on the wedding-day the present of an ox, or its equiva- lent— four goats. If, however, a widow returns home and marries into another family, her father pays to her first husband's heirs, or to her son if she have one, half the dowry promised at her second betrothal. With the exception of her deceased husband's brother, a woman may not, however, re-marry in the same village without the consent of his relatives. In the mountains of Pulati this is never given, and should it be dis- pensed with a vendetta inevitably follows. If the betrothed man die, his brother has also the right to marry the betrothed maiden, but must pay to her parents, in addition to the dowry already promised, a hundred and fifty piastres.

An Albanian has a legal right to beat his wife if she misconducts herself, but this right is little exercised except among the Liaps, who are the rudest and most brutal of all the Albanian tribes. He must, however, be careful not to draw blood even in the most trifling degree ; for if a wife receive even a mere scratch in the course of a castigation, she complains to her parents, who

26 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

cite the husband before the authorities. The penalty consists chiefly in the payment of a con- siderable fine, which becomes the private property of the woman abused.

Divorce is not uncommon among the Moslem Albanians, who follow in this respect the customs of the Ottomans, the husband giving to the dis- carded wife the sum specified in the marriage contract in view of such a contingency. The divorce generally takes place at the instance of the husband, but the wife may also claim it for a limited number of reasons. If, for instance, a man has left his native town or village, and does not return within the period fixed b}^ the Kadi, his wife may claim to be released from her vows to him. Other sufficient causes for divorce are ill- treatment, aberration of mind, and excessive corpulence on the part of the husband.

The Moslem Albanian, when he marries, is, like the Osmanli, bound to provide his wife with food, clothes, and shelter in keeping with his position and means, and cannot, like his Christian neighbour, require her to earn money for herself or for him by her labour. She, on her side, is required to obey her husband in all things, and never oppose his wishes, to abstain from anything likely to annoy or vex him, and to watch over the interests of the family. If he be poor she must do the work of the house, cook the food, do the dairy work, and spin the wool and flax necessary for the

ALBANIAN MANNERS AND MORALS 27

family use. The Albanian peasant generally has no fondness for field labour, which he usually leaves to the women, children, and old men, and, when he does not follow the calling of a soldier or trader, prefers wood-cutting, attending to his vineyard, or, still more, tending sheep on the mountains, a pursuit which combines laziness with a possibility of exciting adventure.

Besides the considerable number of Albanians who have hitherto entered the military service of Turkey as volunteers, a very considerable section of the population have been in the habit of seeking fortune in the large towns of Turkey, as traders, artisans, cavasses,^ etc. As soon as they have amassed sufficient money to enable them to do so, they return home and marry, in order to prove themselves respectable members of society. After a brief sojourn in the bosom of their families they return to their employment, leaving their young wives in charge of their parents. For with the Schyipetars, as with the majority of Oriental peoples, patriarchal customs still survive, and all the sons bring home their brides to the paternal roof, there to remain in subjection to the parents-in-law until they shall themselves be heads of families.

The highest aspiration of an Albanian wife is to be the mother of boys, and she is less proud of

1 A kind of orderly attached to Embassies, Consulates, banks, and other public offices, in which capacity they are much esteemed for their devotion to their employers.

28 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

her own beauty and the rank of her family than of the number of her sons and of their valour. The mother of many boys is sure of the lasting affection of her husband, enjoys the respect and considera- tion of the rest of his family, and wields great authority in the household to which she has come as a stranger ; and as her sons never permanently leave the paternal roof, she may look forward to their support and affection in her old age, and to see their children growing up around her. When her husband leaves the paternal home for a sojourn at a distance, custom requires that a young wife should manifest no grief at his departure. Instead of accompanying him to the threshold, and watch- ing his familiar figure disappear in the distance, or going to meet him on his return, she hides herself both at the moment of his arrival and of his departure. * A woman's tears must not/ say the elders, * soften a man's heart when his duty lies before him.' Neither must they ask for news of their husbands at any time during their absence. Yet in the depth of their hearts no wives more regret the absence of their young spouses, as the touching little superstitious observances with which they console themselves testify. Unknown to their partners, they sew in their clothes small objects which they themselves have worn, as talismans to ensure their safe return ; and during their often protracted absences they resort to various methods of divination, either with or

ALBANIAN MANNERS AND MORALS 29

without the aid of a professional wise woman, in order to discover how their beloved husbands fare, where they sojourn, and how they are occupied.

The men on their side are not free from home- sickness, and many are the pathetic little exile- songs in which their longings for their native mountains and for the beloved ones from whom they are, for a time, separated, find expression. One may serve as a specimen : —

Now in Bender, now in Buda,

Bide we lone and desolate, Patience, heart ! What boots complaining ? —

So it hath been willed by Fate.

Yet this grievous bitter exile

Cannot longer still be borne ; Is't naught that we like felons wander

From Fatherland as outlaws lorn ?

Who the exile's griefs can number ?

Say whose woes can equal mine ? E'en the viper, should she sting me,

Poisoned by my blood would pine !

The amusements of Albanian women are, for the most part, limited to birth and wedding festivities, at which singing and dancing are the principal features. Albanian dances are of two kinds : the Pyrrhic, as it is called by travellers, which is usually indulged in by the men, and a kind of * kerchief dance,' which is affected by the women, for the sexes always perform separately. The women dance in couples, holding each other with one hand while they execute a step not

30 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

particularly graceful, composed of shuffles and leaps, waving at the same time over their heads a kerchief, or scarf, with their disengaged hand. Another dance of a pantomimic character is some- times performed at weddings for the amusement of the company. Three masked men, in the characters of a man, his wife, and his servant, perform a burlesque representing the weakness of man and the unfaithfulness of woman. The husband expresses by gesture his despair at seeing his wife make eyes at the wedding guests, while her servant, armed with a broom in lieu of a gun, threatens to shoot her mistress's lovers.

The Albanian nation has been described as * without a literature, without art, and almost without a history. '1 Their language, which is difficult to learn and difficult to pronounce, is a complete mosaic of fragments borrowed from many sources, though a native element naturally predominates. Greek and Turkish words abound, and many of Slav and Latin origin have become part of the vernacular. The language of the Schyipetars is also divided between the two dialects spoken respectively by the Tosks and the Ghegs, though there is no well-defined line of demarcation between them. The purest Albanian is said to be spoken at Elbassan, the inhabitants of which, according to the native saying : —

Turk of Stambolhit (Constantinople), Schyipe of Elbassanit,

^ Dozon, Manuel de la Langue Chkipe.

ALBANIAN MANNERS AND MORALS 31

are looked upon as representative Schyipetars. The total neglect of the mother tongue has been due in great measure to the profession of three creeds by the Albanian people, Turkish only being taught in the Moslem schools, Italian in the Roman Catholic, and in the Orthodox Christian, Greek. The only section of the Albanians who can boast of any degree of culture are the Khams, and even this is not indigenous, but is borrowed entirely from the Epirote Greeks of loannina and its neighbourhood.

The education of the vast majority of Albanian girls, whether Moslem or Christian, is still of a purely domestic character, and, with the exception of a small number of Gheg and Tosk maidens of the better class, who are taught a little reading and writing and a great deal of etiquette by old lady hodjas, they are entirely unlettered. From the age of twelve to the time of their marriage, which generally takes place before they are six- teen, both Moslem and Christian girls are con- demned to complete seclusion from the outer world. The customs of the Christian townsfolk in this respect are, indeed, more rigid than those of the Moslems, for their daughters are not, during this interval, even allowed to present themselves before visitors of their own sex. Time is not, however, allowed to hang heavily upon the hands of a maiden, whatever her position and prospects. For in addition to taking an active part in all

32 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

household duties, there is the important task to accomplish of getting ready her trousseau, and this involves first the spinning and weaving of the various stuffs, cotton, linen, woollen, and silken, of which it is to be composed, and, subsequently, their conversion into a multitude of elaborately embroidered garments and household gear.

The peasant and country girls generally, both of the mountains and of the plains, enjoy, as has been seen, much greater liberty than their sisters of the towns. With the exception of the Miridites, a certain amount of social intercourse with members of the other sex is also not denied to them, and, like the Greek and Wallachian maidens, they tend the flocks on the hills, fetch water from the fountain, and lead generally a life of healthy industry.

CHAPTER III

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES

THE domestic usages of the Albanians vary but slightly, according to locality and religion, and are, in their main features, identical ; and although the customs surrounding such family ceremonies as births, marriages, and deaths belong naturally more to the domain of women than of men, the latter are not less scrupulous in the fulfilment of the part in these observances which falls to their share.

Tribal and family pride being, as has been al- ready seen, the leading feature of Albanian char- acter, the desire of offspring, and especially of male offspring, is naturally very strong with them. A childless man is designated by an expression which signifies ' without a root,' and is looked upon as a most unlucky being. The wish, * May you be childless ! ' is also considered the most weighty curse that can be launched against a man by his enemy. As mentioned in the previous chapter, the aspiration of every woman's heart is, consequently, to be the mother of a numerous

3 33

34 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

family of boys, both for the sake of the future prosperity of the tribe and for the present social consideration which their birth ensures to her. Wlien the fact that an Albanian woman is about to become a mother is announced to her husband's family, she becomes thenceforward the object of the most devoted attention on their part, the slightest wish or preference she may express being immediately gratified. Custom, however, forbids her eating certain things, such as pomegranates and snails, and she must not dye her hair more than three times before her baby is born, or some unlucky accident would be sure to happen either to her or to the infant.

As soon as the baby is bom it is washed, and a sickle, with which straw has just been cut, is laid for a few seconds on its stomach — to prevent colics. The maternal grandmother, whose privi- lege it is to perform this office for the baby, then proceeds to swathe its little body tightly in broad swaddling bands of white woollen stuff, and finally deposits it in a narrow wooden cradle. A jar of water is taken to the Hodja or the Papas — accord- ing to the creed of the mother — to be blessed, and with a part of its contents all the women who officiated at the birth wash their hands. The rest of the water is placed near the mother's couch, and all the women who visit her during the five ensuing days dip their fingers in it and sprinkle her, expressing at the same time a wish that she

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 35

may have a plentiful supply of milk for the baby, Albanian women making a point of nursing their own children. The relatives are now admitted to felicitate the mother and admire the baby, with the exception of its father, whom custom obliges to keep out of the way and refrain from seeing his child until it is eight days old. The mother is presently placed on a state bed, over which a magnificently embroidered silk coverlet is spread, the national head-dress, ornamented with sequins, being placed on her head, and all her necklaces hung round her neck. She is now ready to receive the friends and acquaintances who at once arrive in crowds to offer their congratulations. In some parts of Albania, and especially among the Moslems, it was formerly customary to bring handsome and costly presents to the infant. As each visitor did her best to outshine her neighbour in the value of her gift, this usage became at length, among the Roman Catholic Miridites, so ruinously expensive that the ban of the Church was finally laid upon it. The visitors to the mother and baby consequently now bring with them only an egg, with which they rub the face of the new arrival, saying, ' Pashi bar — May it be always white ! ' i.e. never have cause to blush for its actions.

When the baby is three days old the Fates are believed to arrive and decide what its fortune is to be. When two of the Weird Sisters have had

36 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

their say, the third speaks, and her decision is final. On the evening of this day — which is called the child's Poganik—all the relatives of the family assemble uninvited, each bringing a small loaf, a girdle cake, and a wooden flask of wine. On these simple viands they feast and drink healths to the mother and child, the formula addressed to the latter being : ' May he have strong legs ! ' The women then set to work to make a large cake, all present touching—' for luck '—the sieve used to sift the flour. As the dough is being kneaded coins are put into it, and when baked it is broken in pieces over the infant. In the case of a boy all now touch the cradle while they sing :—

Poganik ./—When the boy grows a man, A weaver we'll make him, And money he'll bring us ! ^

And for a girl : —

Poganik ./—When our girl grows up tall. She shall go to the valley. And bring us much water !

The company now separate, each person carrying home with her a piece of the Poganik cake, which is beheved to possess beneficial qualities, and distributes it among the members of her house- hold. When all have left, honey, milk and other

1 Weaving was formerly a trade in high repute with the artisan class of Albanians, who left their homes to work m the towns where it was carried on.

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 37

delicacies are laid out for the refection of the Fateful Three, the dogs are shut up, and the courtyard gate left open.

Until the baby is forty days old neither mother nor child must leave the house, nor, after sunset, the room, for fear of " Those Without." During this period the fire is carefully kept up, and an ember of it must on no account be given to a neighbour, or all kinds of evil will ensue; and whoever has occasion to enter the house after nightfall must leap over a firebrand laid on the threshold. Music and singing are also rigidly refrained from for fear of attracting these dreaded Powers of the Air.

The ceremony of naming the child is performed by the Christian Albanians according to the baptismal rite of the churches to which they respectively belong. With the Moslems no reli- gious character is attached to giving the baby a name, the eldest male relative of the family ful- filling this duty for its youngest member. If, how- ever, the child is a boy, the curious and interesting ceremony of cutting its hair is performed when it is a week old. The father invites to fulfil this office for his child the man he most esteems, be he Moslem or Christian, and a bond of friendship is thus formed, called ' the St. Nikolo,' similar in its character to the pohratim of the Slavs, or the ' brotherhood-bond ' of the Greeks, and also partaking in its assumed relationship of the nature

38 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

of the tie between a Greek Nono and the family of his godchild. This substitute for a godfather — who is considered a near relative, and may enter the women's apartments — cuts off with a pair of scissors some of the baby's hair in the form of a tonsure, and puts the lock, together with some coins, in a purse which is kept closed for three days. At the end of that period the money is taken out, and the hair is thrown into the fire.

A similar practice is observed by the Roman Catholic Miridites on the first anniversary of a boy's birth, with the difference that it is performed under the auspices of St. John, instead of those of St. Nicholas.

Although the Albanian Beys, or chieftains, have neither written charters, nor armorial bearings and insignia, matrimonial alliances between their famiUes are regulated with the most rigid observ- ance of rank and precedence. Their wives and mothers, like women generally, are well up in all the degrees of kinship and descent, and the pre- liminaries of betrothals are usually settled by them in the harem before they are submitted to the head of the family and communicated to the parties most nearly interested. Children are frequently betrothed before they are ten years of age, and occasionally while still in the cradle. In such cases, however, the arrangement is kept secret from the couple until the young man is in a

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 39

position to marry, this usage being intended to prevent Albanian youths marrying in the towns to which they resort for employment. A refusal on the part of a young man to fulfil an engage- ment made for him by his parents would inevitably result not only in a vendetta with the relatives of the rejected bride, but also in social ostracism ; but such cases are extremely rare. For, as a bridegroom elect has, as a rule, never beheld the bride chosen for him, he can have no reason for refusing to marry her.

Women in Albania being, as in the Balkans generally, less numerous than men, it is not customary to require a portion with the bride, who, on the contrary, as among the Wallachs and Bulgarians, is practically purchased from her father or brothers for a sum of money varying according to the wealth and standing of the respective families. The parents of the maiden, however, besides providing the materials for her trousseau, supply her with various articles of jewellery and a certain amount of household plenishing, the bridegroom supplying the rest.

With the exception of the nuptial benediction, the marriage customs of the Christian and Moslem Albanians are similar, and there is very little difference in the songs by which they are accom- panied. Among the Moslems the betrothal takes place in the presence of the Kadi. This legal func- tionary receives the declaration of mutual consent.

40 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

made on the part of the maiden by her natural guardians as her proxies, who undertake to prove it by the mouth of two Moslem witnesses. After a prayer for the benediction of Allah on the union, a contract is drawn up enumerating the articles to be given to the bride by her parents, and stipulating the sum to be paid to her by the husband in the event of his divorcing her. To this document the Kadi and the witnesses affix their seals, and this ceremony constitutes the legal marriage.

As with the Osmanlis, the bride remains, how- ever, in the house of her parents until the wedding festivities have taken place, the interval ranging in duration from a few weeks to a year, according to the convenience of the bridegroom's family. As the ceremonies observed in Epirus present so many points of similarity with those of the Greeks, I will here describe only those belonging to Upper Albania which present features peculiar to them- selves.

The festivities invariably begin on Thursday with a sending of the dunti by the bridegroom. This is the decorated box containing the presents to the bride of various articles of dress and orna- ment, including boots and shoes of yellow leather embroidered with gold, together with a loaf of sugar, some coffee, and other customary trifles. The dunti is carried by two boys belonging to the bridegroom's family, neither of whom must be

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 41

orphans. As they arrive at the house the women and girls sing a song beginning : —

O flaxen one, far whiter, Than foam on Drin's wave-crest,

sends to thee the dunti.

Within a golden chest !

The boys are received at the foot of the staircase by the assembled family and conducted with every mark of respect to the reception-room on the upper floor, where the dunti is placed on a coffer, while all present cry, ' Per heir ' — * Good luck ! ' The hosts remain standing until the envoys have been seated in the place of honour, when re- freshments, consisting of liqueurs and bonbons, are served twice in succession, complimentary speeches being exchanged meanwhile ; and after about an hour of polite attentions, the envoys depart. On the same day a youth is despatched by the bridegroom's parents to invite the wedding guests for the following Monday. The formula he makes use of is — ' So-and-so is to be married, and begs you to come on next Monday to the wedding with your family, or, if you prefer it, let the head of the family come alone.' At each house he receives in return for his invitation a present of a few piastres. The number of persons invited from each family is fixed according to the degree of kinship or friendship existing between them and the bridegroom's family.

42 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

The bride's family send out their invitations in the same way on the Friday. On this day, too, the matrons assemble to help in the preparations for the ceremony. Wliile some busy themselves with putting finishing touches to the trousseau, or helping in the kitchen, the others take the bride in hand and commence to ' busk ' her for the occasion. Compelled by custom to submit silently to whatever operation they may, in their zeal to make her as beautiful as possible, subject her, the poor bride is bathed, scrubbed, * massaged,' and depilee, her hair and eyebrows are dyed black, and her feet and hands stained red with henna.

On Sunday evening the bride, wearing her wedding-dress and decked in all her ornaments, is presented to the women of the family. If she is of a humble station, jewels are borrowed for her to wear for the occasion, so that, on this day at least, she may lack nothing. The work of the matrons who have dressed her is then freely and openly criticized, no word, however, being uttered which could possibly hurt the feelings of the bride ; for — according to the good ladies of Scutari — a bride can never be otherwise than beautiful. Later on the father and brothers enter, and the maiden, throwing herself at their feet, asks their pardon with tears for all the faults she has com- mitted during her childhood. Hardly has the father raised her than a chorus of sobs and cries is heard from all the company, who thus testify their

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 43

sorrow at the approaching separation of the girl from her family. The situation is, however, speedily relieved by the youngest matron present, who now raises her voice in song.

Early on Monday, the homes of both bride and bridegroom are thronged with guests, sometimes to the number of several hundreds, the head of each family contributing an oka^ of coffee and another of sugar for the benefit of the house. Each matron as she is ushered into the reception- room presents a gold coin to the bride who, arrayed in all her wedding finery, stands in a comer, motionless and speechless, with downcast eyes and hands crossed on her breast. These coins, the value of which varies with the degree of relationship of the giver, are subsequently strung into necklaces, and constitute part of the personal property of a married woman.

A couple of matrons posted on either side of the maiden now keep watch and ward over her, and the rest of the female guests, seated round the room on the divans, stare at the poor girl as if she were the idol of their worship. At meal-times, on this and the following days, the bride eats alone, covered with a veil, though if desirous of making a good impression she will partake of food only if compelled to do so, in order to show how great is her regret at leaving the paternal roof. Her behaviour, indeed, throughout the various stages

^ About 2j lbs. avoirdupois.

44 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

of the wedding ceremonies is intended to typify her reluctance to exchange the single for the married state. Meantime the guests divert them- selves with liqueurs, coffee, and sweets, and the performances of the professional musicians hired for the occasion.

About ten o'clock a cart leaves the bridegroom's abode to fetch the bride's baggage, which is packed in a large wooden box ornamented with designs of flowers rudely executed. As it starts all the assembled company cry ' Per heir ! ' — * Good luck ! ' and among the Christian Albanians several women follow the vehicle into the road, sprinkling both it and the wedding-chest with holy water as a protection from ' Those With- out.' A few minutes afterwards, all the male guests invited by the bridegroom's friends set out, preceded by his father, who leads a richly caparisoned horse on which the bride will ride home. As they leave the house the women sing : —

Happy may thy journey be. Patriarch of our family ! Holy sign of Cross now make, To the right thy way then take. H to us thou bring fair bride, May the sugar-plums taste sweet. If a foul one by thy side, That they bitter taste were meet.

Arrived at their destination, the party range themselves around the courtyard, where glasses

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 45

of cognac and water, and sweets and sugar-plums of various kinds are handed round by men- servants. During this ceremony, which every one endeavours to prolong, the bride, enveloped in a long cloak and covered with a veil, is led down- stairs. She walks as slowly as possible, supported on either hand by an attendant as if infirm, and is hidden from all eyes by silken draperies held on either side of her path until she has been seated on her horse. The procession then starts. The husband's guests walk first, then comes the bride, her horse led by a servant, guarded on either side by her brothers. Behind follow the musicians and singers, and the rear is brought up by a great concourse of relatives and friends. On leaving the door of her childhood's home, and at every street corner she passes, the bride inclines her head three times in token of farewell to the places she will never again, as a maiden, behold. ^

Arrived at the bridegroom's home, the same precautions are taken in dismounting the bride as were observed in placing her upon her horse. The women of the house come down to receive her, and, pushing her gently, lead her, as if against her will, into the nuptial chamber, where she is seated on cushions. Wlien coffee has been served and

^ This observance may possibly have its origin in the pro- pitiatory farewells paid by a bride, among the ancient Slavs, to her father's household gods. Compare Kovalevsky, Modern Customs . . . of Russia, pp. 33-4.

46 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

partaken of, the bride's friends take their leave, the eldest among them saying in a loud voice : —

' Until now she belonged to God and to us, now and henceforward she belongs to you and to God, who will protect her ! '

As they retire, the last message of the bride to her mother is sung : —

Stay, stay, O dearest brothers, stay ! A word to you the bride would say. Stay, stay, O dearest brothers, stay ! My greetings to my mother bear, My greetings to my sisters fair. Tell them my heart will love them e'er. Stay, stay, O dearest brothers, stay ! Each day, when comes the even glow. My prayers, on winds that softl}- blow. For them to God on high shall go — Sta^s stay, O dearest brothers, stay !

As soon as the bride's relatives have left, the women raise her veil with the silver handle of a dagger, or some other object made of the same metal, to which magical properties are attributed, and whether she comes up to their expectations or not, they are in duty bound to join in a song extolling her charms. And however plain the bride when unveiled may prove to be, no sign of disgust or annoyance is manifested, though should she be afflicted with any definite physical de- formity such as lameness, blindness, or a humped back, the husband may claim an indemnity from her parents, or — if prepared to abide the con-

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 47

sequences of such an insult — send her back to them.

Among the Christian Albanians, the religious ceremony is now performed in the nuptial chamber itself, where an altar is specially dressed for the occasion. The nearest relatives of the bridegroom only are present, and he, like the bride, simulates great unwillingness to enter the apartment. The mass performed, the priest asks the bride three times if she willingly accepts the man kneeling at her side for her husband. Convention, however, forbids her to reply, and at the third interrogation the women in attendance force her to bow her head in token of assent. The bridegroom, on the contrary, pronounces his consent in a loud voice.

The ceremony terminated, the bridegroom leaves the room and the female guests re-enter, extolling in song the graces and virtues with which, according to them, every bride is endowed. The feast is then served, the men sitting down by them- selves in one room, and the women in another, and the two parties amuse themselves separately for the rest of the evening. An hour before mid- night, the women conduct the bride to the nuptial chamber, and, having taken off her bridal finery, cover her face with a veil, and leave her. When the bridegroom enters, he simulates astonishment at finding a maiden there. Lifting the veil from her head, he declares himself to be enraptured with her beauty, and asks her a hundred questions.

48 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

The bride feigns sleep and pretends not to hear him. He offers her sweets which have been left there purposely, but still she heeds him not. This comedy may — if the bridegroom be timid and the bride reserved — be prolonged until the third evening after the marriage, in which case the courage and virtue of the bride are extolled by the women in song. On the third evening, however, custom requiras the bride to respond to her husband's advances. On the three days following the wedding the bride, dressed as before, stands like a statue in the reception-room to receive the women visitors who flock to the house in crowds.

The ceremonies attending the nuptials of the mountain people are almost precisely similar to those customary in the towns, with the exception that the bride is not veiled when conducted to her husband's home. A romantic reserve, however, surrounds the interviews between the young couple, who, especially if the husband be one of a numerous family and have no private apartments, can only meet in secret until they have children of their own. The mountaineers cherish this custom, which, they contend, by surrounding with a halo of romance and mystery the relations of the young couple, tends to keep their love for each other fresh and warm. The wedding processions of Moslem and Christian Albanians are only to be distinguished by the more picturesque effect of

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 49

those of the former. Many of the company, dressed in rich apparel ghttering with gold em- broidery, accompany the bride on horseback, indulging as they go — whenever they arrive at a spot sufficiently spacious — in the manly old Osmanli game of throwing the djerid, or spear. Pistols are fired incessantly, and the strains of wild music echoing from the surrounding hills add to the animation of the scene.

The wedding ceremonies observed in Southern Albania, in so far as they differ from those of the Northern Albanians, resemble very closely the Greek country customs described in another chapter.^

The funeral observances of the Albanians also resemble in some degree those of the Greeks. Family ties are equally strong in both races, and the death of a relative is always a source of poign- ant grief to the survivors, the demonstrations of sorrow being loudest and most heartrending when a man or woman dies in the prime of life. The women watching round the moribund give utter- ance to frightfully piercing cries and shrieks, upon hearing which the friends hasten to the house of mourning in order to take part in the death chorus. When the last breath is drawn, all the near female relatives of the deceased who are not past middle age — wife, sisters, sisters-in-law, and

^ See pp. 106-119. 4

50 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

daughters — testify their grief by beating their breasts, scratching their faces until the blood flows, and tearing out or cutting off their hair. In their utter abandonment of sorrow they also beat their heads against the walls of the room, calling wildly upon the deceased by his or her name, often exhausting themselves to such a degree as to lose for the time the use of their voices. With the weaker among them these frenzies of sorrow generally terminate in a fainting fit, while others have frequently to be restrained by their friends from doing themselves grievous bodily harm in their excitement.

The men of the family receive visits of condol- ence from those of their own sex, who are received in the courtyard of the house of mourning. The formula in which sympathy is usually expressed is — * May you continue to enjoy good health ! ' the speaker at the same time putting his right hand on the shoulder of the mourner, who re- sponds— ' May our friends also be well ! ' and the visitor enters the house to express in the same way his sympathy to the women of the family. The corpse is washed and laid out according to the usages of the faith. Christian or Moslem, professed during lifetime, and is dressed in its best clothes, which are, however, taken off before burial. And now begins the formal wailing round the body, in which the women of the family are assisted by their neighbours.

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 51

The majority of the dirges used are, like those of the Greeks, conventional, every woman having her memory well stored with a repertory, from which she selects those suited to the occasion. They are sung antiphonically, a verse or couplet being first chanted as a solo, and then repeated by the rest in chorus. The nearest relatives first lead the chant, and continue without interruption until either their voices or their memories are exhausted. It is then the turn of the other women, who, when they consider that one has had the lead long enough, stop her with a sign, and another lifts up her voice. Among the dirges sung for a youth killed in battle the following, which is in the Tosk dialect, is one of the oldest and best known. The ideas expressed in it may also be found in Greek and Roumanian folk- song : —

Kyabese's bridge hard by,

Slain by treach'rous foes I lie !

Comrades, greet my mother well,

Bid her my two oxen sell.

Asks she what doth me betide —

Say, I have wedded here a bride.

Asks she who holds me with her charms —

Tell her, three bullets in my breast,

Six in my legs and in my arms.

Asks she who came as bidden guests.

And at my wedding feast were seen —

The crows and ravens, say, were there ;

They have the friends and neighbours been,

'Twas they enjoyed the wedding fare !

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Sometimes animals and inanimate objects with which the deceased has been associated in his Hfetime are poetically represented as missing him and mourning his loss, as in this lament for a Tosk chieftain who has met with a violent death : —

Derven Agha, foully slain

With th}' followers on the plain ! —

Hear thy sword cry from the wall,

' Where's my lord ? ' in sorrow's thrall —

' Where's my lord, that he no more

Draws and wields nie as of yore ? '

Hear thy charger from his stall,

' Where's my lord ? ' complain and call —

' Where's my lord, to fill my rack,

Girth the saddle on my back ?

Where's my lord, that he bestride me,

Once more through the mountains ride me ? '

As I have already had occasion to mention, the women of South Albania especially manifest an excessive degree of grief for the death of children, and often refuse, when left childless, to survive them. Sometimes, too, as among the Greek w^omen, a mourner finds no adequate outlet for her grief in the conventional dirges, and, inspired by sorrow, bursts into an improvised lament for the lost son, brother, or husband, extolling his virtues and bewailing his fate.

It is said that when an Albanian of the moun- tains is led to execution by the authorities for any crime but that of theft — which is by these people alone considered disgraceful — he walks to his doom

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 53

with head erect and dignified bearing, improvising as he goes his own dirge, in which he relates the circumstances that have led to his premature departure from this world. His mother and sisters follow him to the place of execution, their hearts devoured with grief, but wearing smiles on their lips, in order that their relative may, on his side, show no sign of weakness. Intently they listen to his death-song, the words of which they treasure in their memories, and hand down to their posterity.^

An Albanian funeral, in conformity with the usual Eastern custom, takes place within four- and-twenty hours after death. Before the corpse leaves the house, it is measured with a string, which is then thrown up into the open rafters of the roof. If the deceased has not a silver ring on his finger, a coin is placed, as among the Greeks, on the mouth ; and one of the relatives seats him- self three times on that part of the floor on which he breathed his last. On the way to the burial- ground, the men surround the bier, the women

* This recalls Bums' spirited song, ' MacPherson's Lament,' the words of which might fittingly be used by an Albanian bravo : I've lived a life of sturt and strife ;

I die by treacherie ! It burns m^- heart, I must depart. And not avenged be !

Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,

Sae dauntingly gaed he ; He played a spring, and danced it round. Beneath the gallows tree !

54 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

follow behind, and resume their wailings as the procession leaves the house. Arrived at the mosque, or church, the men enter, but the women remain without, weeping, shrieking, and lamenting continually. Before leaving the church, the men salute the dead with a last kiss, the women doing the same at the grave. The body is laid in the bare earth, and a stone slab is placed over it, on which the soil is cast. At this stage of the pro- ceedings, the cries of the women become quite heartrending ; they crowd round the grave, and can with difficulty be prevented from throwing themselves into it, and even the men are frequently heard to sob aloud. As soon as it is filled up, how- ever, a sudden silence prevails, for now the kokiete, the Greek kdlyva, is handed round, and it is accounted sinful to mourn whilst eating it. As each person takes a handful of this funeral dish, he says, ' May he (or she) be forgiven ! '

On this and the two following days, the house of mourning is filled with a succession of condoling friends, who bring with them all the food necessary for the family, as no cooking is done in it during this period. Others send presents of wine or spirits, the bearer of which delivers them with the greeting : ' May I have come for your good ! ' On the third day the wailing at the grave is re- peated, and in the house of mourning continued for forty days, being performed by the women of the house and those who visit them for this

ALBANIAN FAMILY CEREMONIES 55

purpose, either early on the morning of each day, or on Sundays and feast days only.

The grief of relatives is, however, as a rule, less demonstrative for the death of a woman ; and for a man well stricken in years no wailing takes place. In the latter case, the deceased has usually set aside one or more sheep to be sacrificed on his death as an atonement for his sins, the flesh of which serves for the funeral feast. At this feast, the guests drink ' To the forgiveness ' of the departed, and sing funeral songs in his honour.

When, as often happens, a man dies at a distance from his home, on the arrival of the tidings of his death, the funeral ceremonies are, with the excep- tion of the actual interment, performed as above described. The women lament, friends hasten to comfort them, and the procession goes to church, the place of the bier being occupied by the youth who carries the dish of kolyva, on which is placed a cake for the priest.

Only slight changes are generally made in their dress by the Albanian women on the death of a relative. The chief mourners cut their hair short, turn their coats inside out, so that the fur lining alone is seen, and lay aside all ornaments. The nieces of the deceased allow their hair to hang loose for some months, or cut off a lock, and wear on their heads a black kerchief. A similar head- dress is assumed by the widow, who, if she has arrived at middle age, wears it for the rest of her

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life. If, however, she is still young, and intends to return to her father's house with the expectation of finding another husband, she wears at the same time her bridal apparel, and refrains from mani- festing such an exaggerated degree of grief. Sometimes, too, as illustrated in the history of Shainitza and also very frequently in folk-tale, the grief of the women finds expression in giving to their dwellings the most dismal and funereal appearance, by painting black either the whole of the outside of the house, or the shutters only, and covering up or removing from their usual places the mirrors and other ornaments.

CHAPTER IV

ALBANIAN BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS

THOUGH speaking the same language, observing the same customs, and cherish- ing the same traditions and aspirations, the Albanians, as may have been seen from the foregoing chapter, are, in matters of religious belief, divided by three Creeds, the Moslem, Orthodox Greek, and Roman Catholic. The Moslems constitute about one-half of the popula- tion, and of the remaining half the majority follow the rites of the Eastern Church.

After the loss of their independence the Al- banians began by degrees to abandon the faith of their forefathers for that of their conquerors. Islam, however, made but slow progress among them until towards the close of the sixteenth century, when the Porte promulgated a law assuring the possession of their property to those Albanian families who would allow one of their sons to be brought up as a Moslem. As the Tosk proverb says — ' Where the sword is, there is the Faith,' and the advantages which a nation of mercenary soldiers could not fail to find in belong- ing to the religion of the dominant race soon made

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conversion so general that the populations of whole villages, towns, and even districts, would simultaneously apostatize to Islam. Wholesale perversions such as these were not infrequent even in the nineteenth century ; and the prevail- ing tendency on the part of the highlanders to become Moslems, and of the Orthodox Christian agriculturists to emigrate to Greece and elsewhere, makes it probable that in course of time the country may become entirely Moslem.

Like the Kurds, however, the Moslem Albanians have among the Turks the reputation of being but indifferent followers of the Prophet, and the same opinion is entertained by their Greek neigh- bours of the Albanians who call themselves members of the Orthodox Church. Christian men marry Moslem women, and vice versa ; the sons being brought up in the faith of Mohammed, and the daughters in that of Christ ; Moslems revere the Virgin Mary and the Christian saints, and make pilgrimages to their shrines ; while Chris- tians reciprocally resort to the tombs of Moslem saints for the cure of ailments or in fulfilment of vows. And Christians and Moslems alike cherish innumerable ancient rites and superstitious usages, which both creeds have proved powerless to eradi- cate. The Miridites and some tribes of Ghegs on the coast adopted the Roman Catholic creed about the end of the eighteenth century, and follow the Latin rite with some Oriental differences — as,

.\IOSI,EM ALBANIANS AT SALONIC A

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 59

for instance, the administration of the Eucharist in both kinds to the laity.

The celebration of the Festival of Our Lady of Skodra (or Scutari), which is held in the Latin church on the anniversary of the departure of her image from that town, and in which Christians and Moslems participate, is a striking example of the half-hearted belief of the Schyipetars. The story goes that in the olden time, when all the country was Christian, there stood in the city of Scutari a beautiful image of the Virgin Mary, to whose shrine thousands flocked every year from all parts of the country to offer their gifts, perform their devotions, and be healed of their infirmities. Such, indeed, was the healing power of this Madonna that no sick person was ever known to kiss in faith her white feet and not depart com- pletely cured.

For some cause or other, however, it fell out that there arose dissension between the priest and the people, and one day the latter came to the church in great crowds declaring that unless the priest yielded to them they would then and there abjure the faith of Christ and embrace in its stead that of Mohammed. The priest, whether right or wrong, still remaining firm, his congregation tore the rosaries and crosses from their necks, trampled them under their feet, and, going to the nearest mosque, were received by the Mollah into the fold of the True Believers. Grieved and displeased at

60 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

this wholesale desertion of those who had received nothing but benefits at her hands, Our Lady of Skodra disappeared during the night from that ungrateful land. What new shrine the beautiful image had hallowed with its presence was, for a time, unknown. Some months later, however, tidings were brought that, on the night of her departure from Scutari, an image of the Madonna had miraculously entered the church of a remote village in Italy, and had there taken up its abode. A voice was also, it is said, heard crying over Scutari that not till the last Turki (Moslem) had left the land of Schyiperi would Our Lady of Scutari forgive her children, and return to her ancient shrine. The scene on the anniversary of this day in the great square building which, with its bare walls and absence of ornament, bears little re- semblance to a Romish church, is most striking and strange. The mass performed on the occasion is listened to by a congregation whose waist-belts — bristling as they do with pistols and yataghans of every shape and pattern — are perfect arsenals. Among them may be seen wild-looking, fierce- moustached Highlanders, white-kilted Mussul- mans, chieftains blazing with gold embroidery, and milder citizens in more homely garb, all assembled in honour of the Madonna, before whose shrine their ancestors had worshipped.

Yet, notwithstanding their participation in the religious rites of their neighbours, the Albanians

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 61

are not less tenacious of their own honour than of that of the creed they profess, any insult offered to a Christian church being promptly retaliated upon a Moslem mosque, and vice versa. Of this the following incident, which occurred in the latter half of last century, offers a striking illustra- tion.

A certain Tahir Mala of Bugna, belonging to the Moslem tribe of the Gascii, having married his son to a maiden of the Christian Schialla, set out to bring the bride home, accompanied according to national custom by a numerous train, and pre- ceded by the tribal banners. On the return journey, they stopped, as usual, every now and then to fire volleys into the air. Their way, however, lying past a Christian cemetery, the cross over its gateway offered a mark for their pistols too tempting to be resisted, and was soon riddled with balls. The tribe of the Schialla, having heard of this insult to their religion, prepared to take vengeance for it ; but, the offenders being out of reach, they made the family of Bobi, to which the bride belonged, responsible. The Bobi engaged to obtain satisfaction within a week, or pay the penalty, and on the moiTow the 3/oung men of the family set off for Bugna, where they killed two nephews of Tahir Mala. Not content, however, with this retribution, they entered the mosque, where they killed a pig, rubbed the doors with its blood, and placed the

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head on the ledge of the pulpit. The Moslems, at tliis profanation of their mosque, hastened to complain to Mustapha Pasha, of Skodra, who prepared to send a military expedition against the Bobi. The latter, with the rest of the Schialla tribe, then placed themselves under the protection of the Miridite Prince, Prenk Doda, who threatened the Pasha that, if troops were sent against the Schialla, he would not only support them, but call all the Christian highlanders to arms. The Pasha, alarmed at the prospect of a religious war for which he would be held responsible, then agreed to let the insulted cross atone for the polluted mosque, and cry quits with the Christians. The uncanny beings with which the Albanian women terrify themselves and their children appear to be for the most part, like those of the Bulgarians, personifications of the powers of Nature. Of these imaginary beings, some belong exclusively to Albania, while others may also be found among the superstitions of Slavs, Greeks, and Turks. The Vilas would seem to resemble most nearly our own fairies, though, like the Nereids of the Greeks, they are of the full stature of mortals. Like our fairies, too, it is unlucky to mention them by name, and they are generally referred to as 'Those Without,' 'the Happy Ones,' 'the Nymphs of May, 'or 'the Nymphs of the Mountain.' As a rule they are harmless, if not offended, and amuse themselves with elfish tricks, such as taking

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 63

children up to the roof of the house to play with and bringing them back safely. They, however, take it very ill when mortals disturb them in their haunts and interrupt their banquets ; and so capricious are they that they will place them- selves invisibly in spots where they are likely to be disturbed, in order to have a little vent for their pent-up malice. The unlucky wight who sets an irreverent foot within their elfin rings is believed to receive a stroke from an invisible hand from which he will ere long sicken and die. In con- sequence of this belief, it is said of one for whose death no adequate cause can be assigned, * He has received a blow.'

The favourite haunts of the Vilas are retired and shady spots, but they also have a partiality for the gutters on house-roofs, which it is a rather risky matter to clean out, especially after sunset. The Vilas are said, in North Albania, to be of two kinds — well-disposed and beautiful beings, who ride about on fleet horses ; and ill- disposed and hideous creatures, whose heads are covered with writhing serpents instead of hair. To meet the former is considered a good augury, but the appearance of the latter presages certain misfortune. Another and similar class of beings, known by the Turkish name of Djin, attach themselves to dwellings, in which they perform the role generally attributed to good fairies, setting the house in order, grooming the

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horses in the stable, and plaiting their manes and tails. Sometimes, too, like the Nereids and Lamias of the Greeks and the Samodivas of the Bulgarians, they form matrimonial alhances with mortals.

The Ore is a being who constantly wanders about in order to hear and carry into effect the blessings and curses pronounced by men on each other ; and in North Albania the usual formula with which a beggar concludes his thanks and blessings for alms received is, * May the Ore hear and bring it to pass.'

Among the malevolent ' Outsiders ' are three kinds of man-devouring female monsters — the Koutchedra, the * Dogsuckler,' and the Liouvia. The first figures frequently in folk-tale, and in addition to her cannibalistic propensities is cred- ited with the power of drying up the springs and fountains at which she drinks ; the Dogsuckler is endowed with four eyes, two in the front of her head and two in the back ; while the Liouvia is extremely partial to the flesh of little children.

The Dif, or Dev, is also a being possessed of extraordinary physical strength. ' He is a regular Dif ' is said of a remarkably strong man, as we say, ' He is another Samson.' According to the people of Elbassan, the Dif is an enormous giant who lives underground and never comes to the surface, and whose business is to keep the cauldrons boiling which supply the hot and medicinal

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 66

springs in the neighbourhood of that town. These springs, in common with those found in other parts of the country, are much resorted to for curative purposes. Their waters are, however, drunk indiscriminately for all kinds of ailments, without regard to their various medicinal pro- perties. The cures effected not being attributed to the water itself so much as to the influence of the magical beings who have their abodes in the springs and wells, people go from one spring to another in the hope of propitiating their various tutelary deities.

In Albania, as in all the remoter parts of Turkey, there is no Pelasgian ruin to which is not attached some legend of a hidden treasure, either ' guarded by word and by spell,' or placed in the safe keeping of a gigantic Negro, Djin, or other Supernal. Those who have concealed treasure in such places have also, it is beHeved, fixed the time at which it may be brought to hght, and have left to their heirs a document containing a description of the hiding-place, the formula of the magic spell pronounced over it at the moment of burial, together with the year, the day and the hour, on which alone it can be recovered. At the appointed time the heir goes to the spot indicated, pronounces the mysterious words, and the treasure is immediately brought to the surface by its guardian genius. Sometimes, however, the treasure is buried in such a way that, at the

5

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appointed time, it rises spontaneously to the surface, and anyone finding it may appropriate it. The lucky person must, however, be careful to keep his own counsel in the matter, or he will be punished by finding the gold turned to charcoal, and will not long survive the incident. When the treasure is in the keeping of a Negro, he occasion- ally spreads it out in the sunshine in order that it may not be damaged by the damp, and, at the appointed time, he never fails to bring it per- manently to the surface.

The majority of the ailments which afflict man- kind being believed by the Albanians to be caused by magical influences, I will now proceed to give some illustrations of their folk-remedies. These arc usually accompanied by some form of incanta- tion, the secret of which is possessed only by some wise-woman who has inherited it from her mother, and who will, in her turn, impart it to her daughter. If, for instance, a person bcUevcd himself to have received a blow from one of the invisible Vilas, or some other 'Outsider,' he has recourse to the witch-wife, who, after dressing the patient in white garments, conducts him to an uninhabited house in a retired situation. On arriving, she first ceremoniously greets the mysterious powers whom she believes to be invisibly present, and then plac- ing her patient in a suppliant posture, she gives him rose-water to drink, and both observe a solemn silence for some ten minutes, during which

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 67

she makes certain mysterious signs and motions. After again saluting the Vilas, the witch-wife leads her patient home by another road than that by which the couple have arrived.

Sometimes a magic circle is drawn by the witch- wife round a person so afflicted, in which he remains seated three days, at the end of which time he is washed with * unspoken-over ! ' water — i.e. water drawn from a well or fountain in silence and carried home without the bearer having spoken, or been spoken to, on the way — such water being held to possess highly salutary virtues. Into the water some ' sweet ' or * heavy ' leaves are thrown, the number and also the kind being determined by fixed rules, according to the nature of the malady. Among the * sweet ' leaves are those of the pomegranate, apple, and rose trees, and also, strange to say, of nettles ; among the * heavy,' those of the laurel, cypress, ivy, and other evergreens. Three days after such an ablu- tion the patient is expected either to recover or to die. Should he be able to indicate the spot on which he received the blow, the earth is there sprinkled with rose-water in order to appease the offended beings, who are said to be extremely fond of this scent ; or he there throws something, the nature of which is known only to himself, in the belief that the malady from which he suffers will be transferred to the being who may chance to tread upon it.

08 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

The effects of the ' evil eye ' are also removed by sprinkling the patient with ' unspoken-over ' water, three nettle-stalks being dipped into it for that purpose, and giving him to eat three mulberry buds, the mulberry tree being one of the sovereign antidotes for that much dreaded influence.

Rheumatism in the hands or feet is cured by bathing the affected member three times in warm water, rubbing it with salt, and finally passing over it the blade of a knife with the words, * As this salt melts, so may the evil milt ! ' The house is then swept with a new broom, the sweeper saying as the dust is swept out, ' So may all evil be swept away ! '

Wlien an Albanian wife has no children, or is the mother of girls only, she, like her Greek sister, attributes her misfortune to some enemy of her family having tied together a number of nettles with this object, and has recourse to counter-spells in order to remove the charm. If an Albanian, having lost his first wife, marries the second in what the relatives of the deceased may consider indecent haste, they revenge themselves upon him by pouring water upon the grave of his dead wife, in the belief that this will liave tlie effect of causing his second spouse to be childless.

Among the Christian Tosks, if two or more children of a family have died in infancy, the next born baby is passed three times through a kind of iron tripod. If yet another child dies, the next

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 69

baby is placed where four roads meet, a silver cross, for which nine women who bare the name of Maro have given the metal, is laid on its body, and the first passer-by is asked to be godfather or godmother to it.

In some places — the neighbom'hood of Dibra for instance — black sheep are said to be sacrificed by witch- wives for the benefit of sick persons. Similar sacrifices appear to be now substituted for those of human beings, who, in the popular tradi- tions of the Albanians, as in those of other nations, are said to have been formerly buried under the foundations of important buildings.

Very numerous are the ceremonies observed with the object of ensuring good, or averting bad, luck. In Northern Albania, when a youth, or man, is about to leave his home for a distant town a curious ceremony is performed, which is believed to ensure him a safe and successful journey. In front of the house-door the women place a jar filled with ' unspoken-over ' water, decorated with foliage and hung with ear-rings of gold and silver. The traveller touches the jar with his foot, takes in his hand the ear-rings and some of the foliage, and sets out, accompanied for a mile or two by his relatives, to whom, when they finally take leave of him, he returns the ear-rings. It is considered a bad omen for the journey if the traveller should for any reason turn or look back. If he have left anything behind, he sends another

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to fetch it ; and should a friend or stranger call to him from behind, he will not turn back to meet him, but remain standing where he is until the other comes up, a practice which foreigners, not understanding the reason for it, have put down to discourtesy. If on the road the traveller meets a fox, or a flock of sheep, he considers it a good augury ; a flock of goats, however, or a hare crossing the road, is held to signify ill-luck.

Omens and auguries, too, both good and evil, are drawn from all the trifling occurrences of every- day life, as well as from the observation of the phenomena of Nature, besides being sought for in the bones and entrails of slaughtered sheep and in the flight of birds. Among the omens read in the actions of the domestic animals arc the following : When introducing a newly purchased cow into the farmyard, some object, made of iron or silver, is placed across the gateway through which the animal is led. Should the cow step over the object with the right hoof, it is considered a good augury, but if with the left, the omen is unfavourable. If a hen shake her feathers in the house, or if one of her feathers hang askew without falling, it fore- tells the arrival of a friend, or the receipt of news from an absent relative. Should the hen crow like a cock without turning her head to the east, it signifies a death or other serious misfortune ; while the crowing of a cock at an unusual hour of the night is held to be either a sign of a change in

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the weather or that important news may be expected in the morning. To an expectant mother, however, the incident announces that her child will be a boy ; while, on the other hand, the croak of a raven or the hoot of an owl in the vicinity of the house announces merely that the * little stranger ' will be a girl. Should the dog howl while looking away from the dwelling, it is a sign of death ; and if the cat mew repeatedly, that a member of the family will shortly fall ill. If, how- ever, pussy should lick herself frequently, it is merely a sign of rain.

Cats, I may here remark, are treated with great kindness by the Albanians, who, it is said, are not in the habit of laying to their charge the smashing of crockery, or the disappearance of provisions. According to a myth current among the Christian highlanders, the cat was created by Jesus, who produced one from the sleeve of His mantle when dining in a house infested with mice, while a Moslem legend relates that a cat having saved Mohammed from snake-bite the Prophet's blessing was conferred on the feline race generally. To kill a cat is, consequently, considered a most reprehensible action. When such a family pet dies, the children of the house call in their friends to assist in the obsequies, and, after the cat has been carried in solemn procession to the grave, the little party sit down to a funeral feast, for which the mother willingly furnishes the necessary viands.

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The cries of the wild beasts and birds, and also the circumstances under which they are heard, or the animals themselves met with, have also their signification. If wolves howl in packs, it betokens, in some districts, a death ; in others, severe frost. To meet a snake before sunrise, or about sunset, augurs the death of a relative. If the turtle-dove, which in Middle Albania builds in the towns and villages, sits on a roof and coos, it announces to the inmates the return of a relative from a foreign land. When a cuckoo, however, sits there and sings, or an owl hoots, it betokens a death in the house. Sparrows flying in large flocks are held to be a sign of severe cold, while various auguries are also drawn from the arrival in spring of the birds of passage, and the circum- stances under which they are first seen. To see, for instance, the first swallow or turtle-dove before breaking one's fast in the morning portends sickness. Accordingly, about the time when these birds are expected, and more particularly on May- Day, the precaution is taken of placing by the bedside a small piece of bread, which is eaten immediately on awakening in order to avoid any such risk. In Northern Albania, on the contrary, it is considered lucky to see the first swallow while fasting.

In addition to the everyday observances with respect to auspicious and inauspicious actions and events, so many are attached to certain seasons

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 73

and days of the year as to form quite a Calendar of Superstitions. Some tribes — the Ritza, for example — celebrate their New Year's Day on the first of September, and every incident that occurs during its twelve hours is believed to presage the events of the corresponding months of the coming year, while the events of the first day of each month foretell the character, lucky or unlucky, of the other days generally. It is considered most unlucky to work in the fields during the first week of October, and no corn is sown this month, as in that case the crop would be sure to fail.

The period between the 15th of November and the 6th of January is, like the Greek Fishoti and the Bulgarian Kulada, supposed to be the carnival time of the Vilas and other supernal beings, who are, at that season, not only more active, but more powerful than at other seasons, and especi- ally during the night. After sunset, consequently, people refrain from going abroad, and from drinking water, for fear of mischief, and give no credence to their dreams. They are also careful not to leave any article of wearing apparel out of doors after nightfall ; and if, by some oversight, a garment should be so left, it is washed before being used, in order to get rid of any spell cast upon it by ' Those Without.'

Christmas, which under its name of Kolend- ravet is apparently connected with those by which it is known among the Bulgarians and

74 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

Wallachians, is observed with ceremonies that recall those of more Northern nations, as well as with some similar to those of their last-mentioned neighbours. On the 24th and 25th of December the housewife bakes, besides other sweet cakes, some in the shape of rings, which are called Kolendhra. The one first made is termed * the cake of the oxen,' and is hung up on the wall ' for luck/ and left there until the farmer goes out with his team to the fields. On this occasion the cake is taken down and broken to pieces on the head of one of the yoked oxen, and then divided between the pair.

Fire-ceremonies also play a great part in the Christmas observances of the Albanian high- landers. As may have already been remarked in connection with birth-ceremonies, a protective and salutary character appears to attach to the fire on the hearth, and not only on such occasions, but likewise on the eve of every important festival, even in summer-time, the Albanian peasants light fires and keep them burning until sunset on the following day ; and from the crackling, or explod- ing noises emitted by the wood in burning, they learn when the enemies of their house are con- spiring against them, and whether the flocks will thrive, or the contrary. On ordinary occasions they consider it inauspicious when the thick end of a log bums before the thin, and are careful not to place one log across another. On Christmas

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 75

Eve, however, all such precautions are considered unnecessary, and the fire is piled up as high as the safety of the house will permit, this being supposed to neutralize all evil effects of the non-observance of the foregoing precautions during the coming year. The largest log that can be found is brought home at sunset, when all the family, reunited for the festival, rise to greet it with the words : * Welcome, our log ! God has destined thee for the fire ! Bring thou good luck to us and to our flocks ! ' and before the family sit down to supper a small quantity of food from every dish on the table is placed upon the burning log. Some branches of a cherry-tree are also thrown on the fire, and when partially burnt are taken off again and kept. Towards midnight the boys, in com- panies of from ten to fifteen, go singing from house to house, and receive, in reward for their carols, a ring-cake from each housewife.

On the Eve of St. Basil (December 31) the fire is also kept burning all night, and the half -burnt cherry branches are again thrown on and with- drawn, to be wholly consumed on the Eve of the Epiphany, when the ashes are collected and strewn in the vineyard of the homestead. The fire of St. Basil's Eve is often watched by an expectant mother, who thus hopes to ensure an easy confine- ment. In the morning the Albanian peasant folk wash themselves and their children with ' un- spoken-over ' water, and draw omens from the

76 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

character, gay or sad, of the person who enters the house as * first foot.' A cock is also sacrificed, as it is considered auspicious to spill blood in the house on St. Basil's Day.

On the Eve of the Epiphany the fire is also kept alight all night, and in the morning the character of the coming seasons is predicted from the set of the wind. If a south wind blows, it indicates a full harvest and sickness ; if the wind is from the east, a scanty harvest and a healthy year are expected, and if from the north, a late spring. The Christian peasants, on the Feast of the Epi- phany, sprinkle their vineyards with holy water in the hope of ensuring a plentiful crop of grapes, and place at the four corners of each plot four vine- stems tied together with straw bands, over a piece of a cake called a kophtopitc, made specially for the purpose, wine being one of its ingredients. A round loaf is rolled from the gate to the middle of the vineyard, and then distributed to the ravens, crows, and other birds which damage the grapes, with this invitation, ' Assemble, O Crows and Ravens, to your feast, and let us also eat and drink, and do us no more harm in the days to come ! '

On the first day of February, St. Tryphon's Day, it is considered lucky to work in the fields, but not in the vineyards, and on the second day, when the * Feast of the Purification ' is observed, all kinds of small pulse and cereals are cooked together in a pot, this mess, called karkasina, forming the staple

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 77

food of the day. On the eve of the first of March a kind of divination is performed by throwing into the fire a particular leaf and pronouncing at the same time the name of a member of the family. If the leaf makes an explosive noise while burning, it is held to be a good omen for the person indicated, but if it burns quietly, the reverse. In Southern Albania the women on this day twist together a number of coloured threads and tie them round the children's wrists and necks in order to preserve them from sunburn or sunstroke, and draw a similar thread along the threshold of the house. They also roll up tightly little balls of rag, at which they stitch assiduously with a needle and thread ; and when asked what they are doing, reply, * We are sewing up the plague, snake-bite, and all other kinds of sickness.' On this day no vegetables are eaten, the sweet cakes and dishes which are alone indulged in being believed to ensure a good summer. The whole of this month is also a close time for the ravens, as to kill one would bring bad luck to the vintage.

The people of North Albania celebrate their New Year on the first of March (old style). On this day the cattle are decked with garlands of flowers, and the Ghegs not only tie threads of many colours on the wrists and necks of their children, but themselves also wear one of red silk on the little finger of the right hand and the great toe of the right foot. When the first swallow has

78 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

been seen, they take off these threads, and hang them on the rose-bushes, in order that the swallows may carry them to their nests. This graceful little custom is not, however, apparently, indigenous, and may indeed have been partly borrowed either from the Bulgarians or, through the neighbouring Wallachians, from the Roumanians, among whom a similar usage exists. While I was at Salonica, one of these parti-coloured bracelets, with the tiny gold coin attached, was presented by the Roumanian Consul-General on this date to each lady of his acquaintance ; and I, for one, until the month was out, religiously wore my charm against the power of the March sun, which in the East generally is said to ' blacken ' the complexion. It was not, however, finall}^ thrown to the swallows, but carried off as a curiosity by an English naval officer.

Almost every Albanian tribe has a more or less mythical tradition of its origin, which is generally traced to some single ancestor. Of these I have already mentioned two, the legends of the Miridite clans of the Clementi and the Castrati. Another tradition, however, traces the descent of the entire tribe of the Miridites from one man, who, like the favourite hero of fairy tales generally, was the youngest of three sons. His father, according to the story, lived on Mount Pastrik, near Diakova, and at his death the three brothers divided their poor inheritance, the eldest taking the saddle (Shalla), the second the sieve (Shosh), the third

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 79

receiving only the salutation of ' Good-day ' (Mir did). As is, however, always the case in this class of story, the prosperity of the portionless one greatly excelled that of his brothers. For while they became the founders of the clans called Shialla and Shoshi, in remembrance of the saddle and sieve they had respectively inherited, he who had been dismissed with an ironical salutation be- queathed it as a name to a far more numerous and powerful tribe — the Miridites.

Though the Albanians cannot be called a musical people, singing is the favourite pastime of both men and women. Their airs have little variety, being for the most part monotonous recitatives, and the singer's merit depends upon his success in rivalling the violin, mandolin, or flute, by which his song is accompanied, in pro- longing the last note. The songs are generally long ballads, which recount the victories of the tribe, the doughty deeds of ancestors of the family, or the exploits of some national hero. For in the songs of the Schyipetars the later history of the country is preserved ; and in those of the Ghegs more particularly may be found the record of how they obstinately resisted, yard by yard, the Turkish advance into their mountains, and were only subdued at last by the overwhelming numbers and equal pertinacity of the foe. The record, too, of every insurrection — and they have been many — has thus from 1572 downwards been orally trans- mitted from generation to generation, keeping

80 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

alive in the memory of the Albanians the heroism of their ancestors, and inciting them in their turn to similar deeds of heroism. The songs vary greatly in literary merit. Poetical talent seems now to have died out in the country, though formerly Albania had her national poets, the last of them (so far as I can ascertain), Hussein Mollah, having flourished in the eighteenth century. The old ballads are consequently far superior to those of more recent date, which consist chiefly of de- tached couplets, and are very episodic, though they describe with sufficient accuracy the events they profess to record. It is said that in the more remote highlands some very ancient historical ballads are preserved, but unfortunately none of these have yet been collected.

One of the most striking songs of the Schyipe- tars commemorates the revolution of 1572 under Ibrahim Pasha of Scutari. The result of this in- surrection was the recognition by the Porte of its leader as Pasha of Scutari, he being the first Albanian since the Turkish conquest who had been allowed to assume that title. The song is, unfortunately, too long to give in full, but the following opening and concluding lines may give some idea of its spirit : —

No ! no ! our country only must we ' Mother * call,

For on her breast she us has nourished all.

She is the Wife we to our bosoms press,

Who wakes within our hearts love's tenderness.

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 81

Where is the man, love of such Mother, Wife, Who holds within his heart, counts not his life As naught, as naught whatever he May sacrifice, to keep his loved one free ?

Come ! Oh, ye loyal sons, brave children, come ! And you, ye cherished husbands, hasten home ! Come to the arms of those who, with your faU, Would have lost loved ones, country, home, and all ! Come back and rest from war's dread strife and din. And teach your sons a hero's name to win !

The national songs, as well as the folk-tales, of the land of their forefathers are also sacredly cherished by those exiled Albanians who have for centuries past been settled in Southern Italy and Sicily. There, too, the exploits of the valiant Scanderbeg are still celebrated, and at their feasts they sing how the hero of Croia

Of hares and capons ate the flesh. Of partridges the heads ate ;

and how

His cups and forks were all of gold. And of fine silk his napkins.

The women, too, in their Easter dances, relate how, as he went forth to battle. Death met him on the road, and revealed to him the secrets of the Book of Destiny ; how he called to him his young son and bade him tether his horse to a cypress on the seashore, plant his banner beside it, and on it

6

82 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

hang his sword, stained with the blood of the Turk :—

Within its blade Death yet shall sleep,

And, 'neath that sombre tree, The arms of their erst dreaded foe,

Shall they now silent be ?

Nay ! When the wind shall furious blow.

And waves my flag around. When whinnies my good charger there,

My sword makes clanking sound,

The Turk will hear, and, tremblingly.

Will flee, with bated breath, With visage blanched, and hear behind

Ride, swiftly following. Death !

CHAPTER V

THE BALKAN GREEKS-THEIR DOMESTIC USAGES

THE degree of seclusion observed by the women of the Christian races inhabiting the Balkan provinces has always varied according to external circumstances, and would appear to be due rather to considerations for their safety necessitated by their peculiar position among peoples of alien race and creed than to any desire on the part of their male relatives for their subjection. The social position of the women of a country being chiefly determined by the law of marriage of the established religion, the status of the Greek women, as of those belonging to all the other Christian nationahties of these Balkan regions, is primarily determined by that Christian law of marriage which abolished the old rights and privileges enjoyed by the women of the Roman Empire, and introduced the subjection of the wife to the husband in an indissoluble marriage. By the Greek Church, however, this general Christian law was modified so long ago as the eleventh century, when the Patriarch Alexius permitted the clergy to solemnize the second marriage of a divorced woman if the conduct of her first husband had occasioned the divorce.

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84 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

And at the present day little difficulty is experi- enced in dissolving an incompatible union without misconduct on either side, and whether the suit is brought by husband or wife, the case being tried by a Council of Elders presided over by the Arch- bishop of the diocese, who hears all the evidence in camera, thus avoiding the scandal attaching to divorce cases in the West.

It must, however, be said that the privilege of divorce among the Greeks is rarely made use of without good and serious reasons, both social opinion and pecuniary considerations weighing strongly against it, and in all my long acquaintance with persons of this nation, not more than half a dozen cases have come to my personal know- ledge. For though Greek matches are, to a great extent, mariages dc convenancc, marital dissensions are extremely rare, especially among the upper and middle classes, Greek men, besides being good sons and brothers, being exemplary husbands, and the women in their turn the most devoted of wives. There exist, too, as will appear elsewhere, considerable remains of patriarchal customs, even among the wealthy and educated classes. One of these is that the sons, on marrying, often bring their wives to the paternal home. The mother, on the death of her husband, is not banished to ' the dower house,' but retains the place of honour in the household, and receives every mark of attention and respect, not only from her sons.

THE BALKAN GREEKS 85

but from their wives, who consider it no indignity to kiss her hand, or that of their father-in-law, when receiving their morning greeting or evening benediction. And in these irreverent days it is very refreshing, on visiting a Greek family, to see the widowed mother at the head of the table, and remark the deference paid to her by her son and her daughter-in-law.

Though widely dispersed throughout the various Balkan provinces, the Greek peasants seldom occupy the same villages with those of other races. Some of the Greek villages, with the lands adjoin- ing, are owned and tilled by peasant proprietors. These are called * Head-villages,' or * Free- villages,' and many of them are tolerably wealthy and prosperous. The majority of the Greek agricultural population in these regions are, how- ever, tenants on the metayer system, who receive the seed grain from the landlord, for whom they cultivate the land, and share with him the produce of the fields. These yeradjis, as they are termed, labour under great disadvantages, and are, as a class, poor and much oppressed. Their dwellings present a pitiable aspect, being usually miserable one-storied huts, constructed of wattle, plastered with mud inside and out, and consisting at most of two rooms, with holes for windows. A fence encloses the small farmyard, with its granary and cattle-shed. The houses of the * Head ' or * Free ' villages are, however, often built of stone, some-

86 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

times of two stories, enclosed in a courtyard, and, when the locality is not subject to the attacks of brigands and other similar dangers, they may have shuttered glass windows. Tables, chairs, and even bedsteads, are not unknown luxuries among the more prosperous peasant farmers ; a few pictures hang on their whitewashed walls, and there is usually a rude cikon, or picture of the Virgin and Child, before which hangs a small oil-lamp. The kitchen is furnished with well-burnished copper pans, and the kiler, or storeroom, contains an ample supply of native wine, oil, and winter provisions.

Greek peasant women are not employed to any great extent in fieldwork, though they usually take an active part in much of the labour con- nected with the farm, and their household and dairy duties are many and varied. In Roumelia and Macedonia the girls and young women hire themselves out for the June harvest, and assist in the reaping and threshing. Agricultural machinery has found little favour in the East, being quite unsuited for the method of farming followed by the natives, and the implements of husbandry used are of the most rude and primitive description, entailing a great deal of hand-labour and involving a considerable amount of waste. Threshing is performed by the girls with the aid of an instrument which must surely have been used in Pelasgian times. It is composed of two pieces of wood joined together in something like

THE BALKAN GREEKS 87

the form of a horseshoe, and studded on the under- side with a number of flints. A couple of ponies are attached to the curved end of this implement, on which a girl stands, and are driven over the grain spread out on the threshing-floor. Un- scientific as this method may be, the scene pre- sented is very picturesque, when the presiding Kore is a lithe and lissome lass. The corn is winnowed by being thrown up in the air with wooden shovels, the chaff being carried away by the breeze. In some parts of Macedonia the process of threshing is even more primitive. A team of horses or oxen is driven round and round the threshing-floor, the women and children beat- ing out the remainder of the grain with sticks.

To the Greek peasant girl also is committed the care of her father's flock, which she must lead every day to the pasture, and fold at night. The voskopotila, or shepherdess, is one of the most prominent characters in rural folk-song, and many a charming idyll has been composed in her honour by amorous swains. But she has little time for sylvan dallying, for the sheep and goats must be milked, and the milk must be converted into cheese and yiaourti, a delicious and wholesome sour curd, which is in great demand in the towns. When the sheep have been shorn, the wool is bleached and spun, and then knitted and woven into garments for the family, or into cloth for sale. The cotton and flax grown on the farm must also

88 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

be gathered in their seasons, and prepared for use. The cotton pods are put through a small hand- machine called the mangano, which turns two rollers different ways, and separates the fibre from the seed. The instrument next used is the toxe- vein, a large bow made from a curved piece of wood five or more feet long, the two ends of which are connected by a stout string. The cotton is placed loosely on the string, which is made to vibrate by being struck with a stick, producing a not unmusical sound. This process detaches the particles of cotton, and it is now ready to use as wadding for the large quilts, which, with a sheet tacked to the underside, form all the winter bed- covering used by the lower orders of natives of every race. The mattresses arc also usually stuffed with cotton, and the palliasses with the husks of Indian corn.

If, however, the cotton is to be converted into yarn for weaving, it is twisted as it leaves the toxevein into a loose rope, wound round the distaff, and spun. When the yarn has been dyed or bleached, according to the use that is to be made of it, the women or girls set to work at the hand- looms which form an important part of the furniture of every cottage, and weave it into strong durable calico, or brightly striped stuff for dresses and household purposes. A certain proportion of the cotton and wool is reserved for knitting, and it is most pleasing to watch the graceful

THE BALKAN GREEKS 89

motions and picturesque poses of the women and girls as, standing on their balconies or terraced roofs, they send the spindle whirling down into courtyard or street while twisting the thread for this purpose. The knitting is done with five curved needles, having ends like crochet-hooks, and the stocking is always worked inside out, a method which produces a close, even stitch, and the work is extremely durable. The old women usually undertake this household duty, and with needles in hand and the * feed ' of the .yarn regulated by a pin fastened to their bodices, they sit in their doorways for hours together, gossiping with neighbours, or telling fairy tales and crooning old songs to the little ones.

In many districts the silkworm industry keeps the women fully occupied during the spring months. The long switch-like branches of the pollarded mulberry-trees are gathered every morn- ing, and their fresh leaves given to the cater- pillars ; and all the tedious and laborious details connected with the silkworm nurseries are care- fully performed in order to keep the worms in good health, and thus secure a successful crop.

Laborious as the lives of these thrifty country- folk may appear, Sunday and Saints' Days are holidays duly observed and thoroughly enjoyed. The working-dress of plain homespun is now laid aside, and the picturesque gala costume donned. That of the women consists of a skirt, woven in

90 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

stripes of silk and woollen, reaching to the ankles, with a tight-fitting bodice of the same, a cloth jacket braided or embroidered round the borders in gold thread, and in some districts a bright - coloured apron ornamented with needlework. The Greek maiden's carefully combed hair is plaited into innumerable little tails, and sur- mounted with a small cap of red felt, decorated with silver and gold coins similar to those she wears as a necklace. Thus adorned, she accom- panies her parents to the early Mass in the little whitewashed church, summoned by the sound of the primitive symandro — a board struck with a mallet — in lieu of bell. Returning home, the simple morning meal is soon despatched, the cattle and poultry are fed, and the rest of the day is given up to wfll-earned repose and amusement. In the afternoon the peasants resort en masse to the village green. The middle-aged and elderly men take their places in the background under the rustic vine-embowered verandah of the coffee- house ; the matrons with their little ones gather under the trees to gossip, while their elder sons and daughters perform the syrtbs, the * long-drawn ' classic dance. Each youth produces his handker- chief, which he holds by one corner, presenting the other to his partner. She, in her turn, extends her own to the dancer next to her. The line thus formed, * Romaika's dull round,' as Lord Byron termed it, is danced to the rhythm of a song

THE BALKAN GREEKS 91

chanted in dialogue form, with or without the accompaniment of pipe and viol, until the lengthening shadows of evening send the villagers home to their sunset meal. The kerchiefs of the youths are frequently love-tokens from their sweet- hearts, as sung by the love-sick swain in the following dancing song : —

Whoever did green tree behold — Thine eyes are black, thy hair is gold — That with silver leaves was set ? — Jet black eyes, and brows of jet—

And on whose bosom there was gold — O eyes that so much weeping hold ! — • At its foot a fountain flowing — Who can right from wrong be knowing ?

There I bent, the fount above, To quench the burning flame of love ; There I drank that I might fill me. That my heart I thus might cool me.

But my kerchief I let slip —

O what burning has my lip ! — Gold embroidered for my pleasure, 'Twas a gift to me, the treasure !

That one it was they broidered me. While sweetly they did sing for me ! —

Little maids so young and gay.

Cherries of the Month of May !

The music with which these rural dances are sometimes accompanied is supplied by a three- stringed viol, a primitive variety of mandolin, with the reed-pipe and drum ; but when girls and women dance by themselves it is usually to the

92 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

accompaniment of their voices alone. The dancing songs then used are often of a humorous character deahng with the romantic side of rural life, yet at the same time full of the rich imagery of flowers, fruits, gold, silver and jewels characteristic of Greek love-songs generally.

The majority of these dancing songs are sung antiphonically by two sets of voices. Sometimes, as in the above, one set begins the song and the other adds to each line in turn a kind of paren- thesis extending it. In the following song, and in many others, the end of the line is repeated, or altered, by the second set of voices : —

A youngster me an apple sent, he sent a braid of scarlet —

He sent a braid of scarlet. The apple I did cat anon, and kept the braid of scarlet —

And kept the braid of scarlet. I wove it in my tresses fair, and in my hair so golden —

And in my hair so golden ; And to the sea-beach I went down, and to the shore of ocean —

And to the shore of ocean. And there the women dancing were, and drew me in among them —

And drew me in among them. The youngster's mother there I found, and there too was his sister —

There was his eldest sister ; And as I leapt and danced amain, and as I skipped and strutted —

And as I skipped and strutted — My cap fell off, and ev'ry one could see my braid of scarlet —

Could see my braid of scarlet. ' Hallo ! the braid you're wearing there was to my son belonging —

My dearest son belonging ! '

THE BALKAN GREEKS 93

' And if the braid that now I wear was to your son belonging —

Your dearest son belonging — He sent an apple which I ate, my hair the braid I wound through ;

And I will soon be crowned^ too ! '

The Greek peasant women are, on the whole, honest and industrious, affectionate mothers, and devoted and virtuous wives ; and a striking proof of their moraUty is afforded by the long absences from home which their husbands are often com- pelled to make in the pursuit of their avocations — absences often extending over many years. Dur- ing this time the care and education of the children and the local interests of the family are left entirely in the hands of the wife, who generally proves herself equal to the occasion, and worthy of the trust reposed in her. There are many touching folk-songs describing the wife's grief and loneliness during her husband's absence, and the return of the husband so changed after long years of absence that his faithful wife fails to recognize him, and requires of him proofs before she can admit him within the house as her husband : —

' If thou art he, my husband dear, himself and not another, — Tell me the fashion of our house, and then I may believe thee.' ' An apple-tree grows at the gate, another in the courtyard ; And there's a golden candlestick that stands within thy

chamber.' ' That's known in all the neighbourhood, so all the world

may know it ! — Tell me the marks my body bears, and then I may believe

thee ? '

1 i.e. Crowned in marriage.

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' Thou hast a mole upon thy chest, another in thine armpit ; There lies between thy soft white breasts a grain that's white

and pearl-like.' ' Ah, now I know thou art my man ! — O welcome home, my

husband ! '

As girls of the peasant class can usually find plenty of occupation at home, they seldom go out to service, except when there happen to be more daughters in a family than the father can afford to portion. There is also a general prejudice against allowing girls to leave the paternal roof until they are married, and a reproach is implied in the expression, * Su-and-so has gone to strangers.' There are, however, districts which form an exception to this rule, and some of the Greek islands are famous f«»r their women cooks, who can always command good wages in the towns of the mainland. From the islands, too, come the good old nurses, bringing with them their antiquated costumes and charming lullabies and folk-lore. The girls who enter dc^mestic service save their wages carefully for a marriage dowry, and, in the country towns, wear the coins strung together round their necks, a fashion formerly common to all classes, when Venetian sequins were in great demand for this purpose. As the folk-song says :

I'll a lady to thee bring.

Who has sequins by the string !

The amount of a girl's dowry is thus easily ascer- tained by pallikars on the look-out for a ' weel

THE BALKAN GREEKS 95

tochered ' bride. In the maritime cities, however, the national costume has, unfortunately, been quite discarded by the women, and the collar of coins has also been laid aside. Many girls, and especially orphans, are taken when still quite young into wealthy families, and adopted as psychopaidid, or * soul children.' Until the age of thirteen or fourteen they attend the public schools, are clothed by the family, and assist in the lighter household duties, receiving presents at the New Year and other festivals ; and, after a dozen years or so of faithful service, a trousseau and small dowry are provided, and a husband found for them, generally a small shop- keeper or artisan. As there are in these Balkan provinces no savings banks, or other convenient methods of safely investing small sums, servants often allow their earnings to accumulate in their employers' hands until they marry or return to their homes. A laundry-maid in the house of one of my friends had upwards of ;fioo to receive when she left after a long period of service.

No social intercourse exists between the Greeks and their Turkish neighbours, although they usually live amicably enough together when fanatical feeling is not excited by war or other circum- stances. The prejudice against mixed marriages is naturally very great, and no alliance of the kind can take place without perversion on one side or the other. Such perversion must, however, be on

96 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

the side of the Christians, for apostasy is a crime in Islam. The laws, too, regulating the sexual relations of Christians and Moslems are exceed- ingly severe, and the probable fate of a Giaour hardy enough to fall in love with a fair Moslem is thus illustrated in Greek folk-song : —

Demos and the Turkish Maiden

They caught him, and they bound his arms, and to be

hanged they led him ; A thousand went in front of him, five hunilrcd walked

behind him ; And Demos walked amid them there, and mournful was

hi-7 asjiect.

Though one seldom hears of a Christian man who has embraced Islam for the sake of a Moslem love, it has been by no means of rare occurrence that a Christian peasant girl, prompted by vanity or ambition, has renounced the faith of her fathers in order that she might marry a Turk who had flattered her by his attentions. She may not, however, do this hurriedly or without due con- sideration, and her renunciation of Christianity must be made before competent witnesses, both Christian and Moslem.

The opposition displayed by a Christian com- munity to the perversion of one of its members, from such a motive, generally produces great ill- feeling between them and their Moslem neighbours, and sometimes leads to fatal results. Such was the case in 1876, when the apostasy of a village girl of doubtful reputation resulted in an out-

»~^

B^^

THE BALKAN GREEKS 97

break of fanaticism at Salonica, during which the French and German Consuls were cruelly mas- sacred. And another such catastrophe, arising from a similar love affair, was narrowly escaped at Larissa in 1880.

Townswomen of the middle classes present a curious medley of homeliness and pretension. They are good wives and devoted mothers, and often, though their education is but slight, are not without great good sense and intelligence. The great majority, however, while retaining the customs they dare not to throw aside with- out scandalizing the mahalla, seem possessed with a frantic desire to be considered in other respects 'Franks,' or foreigners. Having seldom any outside interests or occupations, their lives are passed for the most part in a dull routine of household duties, varied only by gossip at their doors in warm weather, occasional attendance at church, and a walk on the pubHc promenade on some great holiday. Some of the girls and young women earn their living by doing needlework and embroidery, or by lace-making ; and in districts where the culture of silk is carried on on a large scale, Greek girls and women find employment in the silk factories, this being especially the case at Broussa, where they work side by side with Armenian and Turkish women. But girls even of :he working-class cannot with propriety go out mless attended either by a relative or some elderly voman, so strict is national prejudice on this point.

98 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

Dress is a passion with girls of this class. On the rare occasions on which they are seen in public, their toilettes are wonderful — though, as I have said, they go hatless, and often gloveless — the great object of their ambition being to rival their wealthier neighbours, whose dresses, in the large towns, are sure to be copied by the carpenters', shoemakers', and boatmen's daughters.

Notwithstanding, however, these feminine weaknesses of petty vanity and love of display, tlie Greek women, besides being, as before- mentioned, faithful and affectionate wives, are also the most tender — if not always the most judicious — mothers to be found in any country. And well is their devotion usually repaid by the dutiful and affectionate regard shown them by their sons and daughters. Indeed, it would be difficult to find a people in whom family affection is more strongly developed, or with whom the ties of kindred are held more sacred. The young men who leave their native towns or villages to seek fortune in a distant town or foreign land, generally return home to marry the wives chosen for them by their parents, and, when they retire from commercial or professional pursuits, endeavour to spend the rest of their days in the midst of their kindred. When a youth is leaving for the first time the bosom of his family, it is customary for his relatives and friends to accompany him some distance on the road. Before taking her final

THE BALKAN GREEKS 99

leave of her son, the mother laments his departure in song, to which the youth responds, bewailing the hard fate which drives him forth from his home. These Songs of Exile are sometimes extempore effusions called forth by the circumstances which induce or compel the youth to leave his home. Others, more conventional, describe the condition of the stranger in a foreign land, without mother, wife, or sister to minister to his wants, or cheer him in sickness or sorrow. In one of these, which is entitled * The Last Farewell,' is depicted the evil augury of excessive sorrow at a son's de- parture : and in the following a husband thus addresses his young wife : —

Now's the hour of my departure, yearns and fails my heart

o'erflowing ; Shall I e'er return — who knoweth ? — To a stranger land

I'm going. Hill and valley must I traverse, rocky wild and desert

dreary, Where the timid game his haunt has, where the eagle builds

his eyrie. Now has come the hour despairful, hour which tears me

from my home ; Now has come the sentence fateful, which abroad doth

bid me roam ! Lassie like the gladsome dawning, gentle lassie, kind and true, Burns my heart with bitter anguish, now I'm bidding

thee ' Adieu ' !

The benefits of education have never been undervalued by the Greeks even in the darkest period of their enslavement ; and the excellent Greek schools at Salonica are by no means insti-

100 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

tutions of modern foundation, for it is to the public-spirited munificence of a lady of the sixteenth century that these schools chiefly owe their origin. This was the K3Tia Kastrissio, a native of loannina, the widow of a Greek of Salonica, who, at her death, bequeathed the whole of her large fortune to the schools of those two cities. The memory of this munificent lady, together with that of a later benefactor, Demetrius Roggt)ti, is annually honoured with a Mnemosynon, or Commemoration ceremony, by the Greek com- munity of Salonica, when the chief families of the city, together with all the officials, native and foreign, are invited to the school examination held on the occasion. It was always an interesting ceremony, and I never failed to avail myself of the kind invitation of the ' Ephors,' as the Managers are termed. The ceremony began with the bring- ing in of the Kolyva, or Funeral Dish of boiled wheat, decorated on the top with designs in coloured sugar, almonds and raisins, and other dried fruits, of crosses, coffins, leaves and flowers, monograms and inscriptions. A hymn was then sung by the pupils, followed by a song, ' Rejoice in Life,' which, though its words were translated from German, was in spirit truly classic ; this being followed by the * Ode to the Fatherland ' : —

Long as the universe shall last, Long as the sphere shall circling roll, Thy glory, O my Fatherland, And name thv sons shall still extol !

THE BALKAN GREEKS 101

And after an eloquent discourse on the great Macedonian philosopher, Aristotle, delivered by the Director of the Schools, questions were put on a variety of subjects, and answered with great intelligence and readiness by the Macedonian maidens, who also read passages from Homer and iEschylos with the soft, musical pronunciation which only modern Hellenes know how to give to the tongue of the ancient Greeks.

The women belonging to the remarkable little aristocratic community known by the name of ' Phanariots ' are worthy of special mention. These survivors of the noble Greek families of Byzantium take their distinctive name from the locality called the Fanar, or * Beacon,' allotted to them by Sultan Mohammed H at the conquest of Con- stantinople. At the present day they are repre- sented among others by the well-known names of Ypsilante, Karat heodory, Mavrogordatos, Mav- royenni, and Karadjas. The daughters of these ancient houses have long been as distinguished for the elegance of their appearance and manners as for their culture and accomplishments, and to many the language of Homer, Pindar, and the tragic poets is as familiar as the vernacular. Some of these able women, organized in societies, also devote much of their time to the management of schools, and to the supervision of hospitals and asylums.

A

CHAPTER VI

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES

GOODLY number of pagan beliefs and practices may still be found among the Greek populace generally, urban as well as rural, these remnants of an ancient cult lingering especially round such fateful domestic events as birth, marriage and death. In Southern Mace- donia the arrival of a ' little stranger ' is awaited in solemn silence by the mamme — as the Greek midwife is termed — and a group of elderly rela- tives, whose presence and prayers keep away * all things harmful.' As soon as the glad news of the baby's arrival has been circulated all the members of the family and household flock into the sick chamber to offer their congratulations, which are addressed to the unconscious infant as well as to the happy mother. Both parent and child must now be carefully watched over, and are never left alone, as the Nereids of the fountains and springs are sure to be hovering near a house in which a birth has recently taken place, on the look-out for an opportunity of exchanging one of their own fractious offspring for a mortal babe ; and during the next forty days the house-door

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 103

is kept closely shut between sunset and sunrise, lest perchance one of these greatly dreaded Beings should find her way into the dwelling.

On the third day the mother leaves her bed round which she walks in a stream of water, poured by the mamme from a jar in her path. The meaning of this custom is not very clear. Taken in connection, however, with the other superstitious rites, and also with the similar custom observed on wedding-days, it would appear rather to be either a libation to the earth, or a tribute to the elemental deities. The Fates, who are expected to arrive during the coming night to decide the infant's future, must also be pro- pitiated. If the new-born babe is a boy, coins of gold and silver, a sword, and a cake of bread are placed beneath its pillow to remind the ' Dealers out of Destinies ' that fortune, valour, and abundance are the best gifts ; if it is a girl, a distaff or spindle is substituted for the sword.

A Greek christening generally takes place before the infant is a week old, and is made the occasion of much display. The groomsman and first brides- maid who have officiated at the wedding of the parents now become sponsors for the children under the names of Nond and Nona, and synte- knoi^ to their father and mother. For, among members of the Greek Church, the terms ' god- father ' and * godmother ' are by no means the

^ i.e. God-sib, or ' Gossip.'

104 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

empty titles into which they have degenerated with us ; the responsibihties undertaken by baptismal sponsors are religiously fulfilled, and they are treated by their godchildren with an affectionate respect little less than that shown to their parents according to the flesh. The children of both families are considered brothers and sisters, and a conventional relationship is created which forms as complete a bar to intermarriage as the closest consanguinity. A man could not, for instance, wed a widow if he had acted as ' best man ' at her wedding or stood sponsor to her children at the baptismal font, and a Greek would as soon think of marrying his own sister as the daughter of his Nono. In some localities it has indeed become difficult for young people, and more especially those of the better classes, to find spouses, so closely are their families already connected by intermarriages and conventional relationships.

The expenses of the christening are borne by the Nono, who pays the priest's fees, buys the baptismal robe, and furnishes the customary refreshments of liqueurs, bonbons, etc. As the Greek Church prides itself — and not without reason — on keeping up primitive forms more strictl}^ than even the Roman Catholic, baptism is performed, not by any conventional sprinkling, but by trine immersion. The baby, carried by the mamme and escorted by a long irregular procession of sponsors, relatives and friends, is met at the

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 105

church door by the officiating priest, when the Nona, taking it from the nurse, holds his godchild in his arms while the preliminary prayers, to which he makes the usual responses, are read. He then delivers the infant to the papas who, turning to the East, makes with its little body the sign of the Cross. The party then enter the church and while the preparations for the sacred rite are being completed the candidate is laid, according to its sex, before an eikon of Christ or the Virgin. When all is ready the naked child is handed to the priest who dips it three times in the font to the water of which has been added a few drops of * holy oil.' Three tiny locks of hair are then cut from the baby's head and thrown into the font ' in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.' This dedication of hair was, no doubt, originally an offering to the elementary spirits, the water from the font being emptied into a pit or well under the floor of the church.^

Then follows the * Confirmation ' of the infant, which consists in anointing the head and certain parts of the body with consecrated oil. After being dressed it is carried three times round the font, prayers being meanwhile intoned, and then taken before the Holy Gates, where it receives the

1 This supposition, though questioned when first advanced some years ago, has been more than confirmed by Mr. Paton in his paper on 'The Holy Names of the Eleusinian Mysteries,' published in the Proceedings of the International Folklore Congress of 1891.

106 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

Eucharist in both kinds, administered, according to the practice of the Eastern Church, in a spoon. The christening party then return to the baby's home to congratulate the mother and partake of the customary refreshments, each guest receiving on taking leave a tiny cross attached to a white rosette as a souvenir of the happy event.

Marriage being looked forward to as a matter of course, the preparation of a girl's trousseau is often, especially among the working and peasant classes, begun by the careful mother while her daughter is still a child. The daughter of a well- to-do peasant will receive as her portion a sum ranging from £30 to £100, a good stock of house- linen and home-made carpets and rugs, several articles of furniture, and two or three outfits of clothing, including a gala costume for Sundays and holidays. This varies according to locality. In Lower Macedonia a full skirt and short-waisted bodice are worn over a long gown of native linen crepe, this costume in some districts not being considered complete without a brightly coloured apron, thickly embroidered on the lower edge, and a belt or girdle. For out-of-door wear a jacket is added, fitting tightly to the figure, and reaching below the knees. This is usually of fine cloth, ornamented round the borders and sleeves with gold thread or coloured silks, and is invariably lined with fur. Among the middle classes of the

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 107

towns from £300 to £500 is the average dowry, and the trousseau will be for the most part of European fashion and materials. As a portionless girl, however comely, has little chance of finding a husband, a Greek father will, consequently, make it his first duty to save a dot for his daughters ; and brothers, in a father's place, consider it in- cumbent on them to see their sisters satisfactorily settled in life before taking wives themselves. Social opinion is very strong on this point among the Greeks, with whom fraternal affection is apparently allowed to cover a multitude of sins. In the matter of marriage, national etiquette decrees that the principals should ostensibly take no part in the preliminary arrangements, which are carried out by the parents of the contracting parties with the help of a professional female go- between, known as the proxenetra. This agent is commissioned by the parents of a marriageable girl to find a suitable husband for her ; or, it may be, to open negotiations with the parents of a young man whom they have themselves selected among the eligible partis of their acquaintance. When all the preliminary negotiations have been arranged to the satisfaction of the two contract- ing famihes, and the go-between arrives to inform the maiden's parents that the other party are satisfied with the amount of her dowry, a stick of cinnamon is produced and broken between the girl's mother and the proxenetra, who consume in

108 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

silence this symbolic spice. The amount of dowry the maiden will bring is then formally agreed upon in the presence of witnesses, and the first of the three betrothals is concluded. As soon as it is made public, the accepted suitor accompanied by his relatives pays a ceremonial visit to the family of his future wife. The party are received with great formality, the maiden standing in a posture of affected humility and modesty, with hands crossed on her breast and downcast eyes, to receive the felicitations of the visitors, a custom which has given rise to the Greek saying, ' as affected as a bride.' When all the customary compliments have been inter- changed, the inevitable glyco — preserves served with glasses of cold water — is handed round, followed after an interval by coffee and cigarettes, and the party then take their leave. The be- trothed maiden accompanies them to the head of the staircase, kisses the hands of her future spouse and his relatives and receives from them in return a gift of gold coins and a bunch of the symbohc sweet basil.

Some of the most interesting old customs in connection with the marriage ceremony may still be found lingering in Southern Macedonia, and especially at, and in the neighbourhood of, its ancient capital, Edessa — now called by the Slav name of Vodhena, ' the Waters,' from its magni- ficent cascades. Here a week or more is devoted

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 109

to the preparatory nuptial observances and festivi- ties. On the Sunday, a copy of the marriage contract is formally delivered at the house of the bridegroom, who sends in return a present to the bride, consisting of sugar-plums, henna, rouge, soap, etc., and a large jar of wine for her parents. On Monday, the maiden friends of the bride arrive to assist her in sifting and otherwise preparing the grain, which they subsequently carry to the mill. On the morning of Wednesday, they again assemble to fetch home the fiour, and in the evening a number of female relatives and friends come in to help in the making of the wedding-cakes. The long wooden kneading trough is brought in and filled with the yellow flour. A boy, armed with a sword, seats himself at one extremity, and at the other is placed a little girl, who, as she pretends to mix the dough with her tiny hands, hides in it the wedding-ring and some coins. Bright and joyful must the lives of these little ones have been, and unclouded by any family bereavement. The boy with his weapon evidently signifies that the husband is the natural guardian of the home, and the kneading girl that domestic duties are woman's sphere. The bread-making is then performed in earnest by experienced hands amid songs and laughter — for these occasions are red-letter days in the monotonous lives of the Greek women of the interior — and then left till the morrow to * rise.'

110 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

On Thursday the kncadcrs again assemble and divide the dough into portions, each girl and woman searching in her portion for the ring and coins, the bridegroom being in honour bound to redeem the ring with a present from the one who has been lucky enough to find it. The dough is then returned to the kneading-trough, and made into a variety of cakes, among them a large one, called the propkasto. On the afternoon of Thurs- day, the bridegroom arrives with his bachelor friends ; the propkasto is placed over a bowl of water, and round it the assembled youths and maidens dance three times, singing the ' Song of the Wedding Cake.' The cake is then broken into small pieces, which arc showered over the heads of the young couple, interspersed with figs and other fruits, for which the children delightedly scramble.

On Friday, the bride and bridegroom exchange presents. The bearers of the bridegroom's gifts set out, preceded by music, for the abode of the bride, who awaits their arrival with eager expecta- tion. The envoys, after having been warmly welcomed, thanked, and refreshed with wine and special nuptial viands, are in turn entrusted with the bride's presents to her betrothed, these being carefully wrapped in embroidered hoktchas, or bundle wraps, tied up with strands of tinsel thread. If the bridegroom's home is in the same neighbour- hood as that of the bride, parties of the near relatives of the couple go from house to house

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 111

bearing invitations to all the guests who are to take part in the festivities of that evening and the following day, a ceremony also extended to the happy pair, who invite one another. The koum- baros and koumbara, groomsman and head brides- maid, are the last called upon, and, accompanied by the band, proceed to the house of rejoicing. Music, dancing and feasting occupy the time until the evening, when the maidens carry off the bride to perform part of her toilette for the morrow. After washing, perfuming, and perhaps dyeing her long hair, they plait it in a multitude of long braids, amid jokes and merry laughter, one after another bursting into hymeneal song of a highly complimentary character, such as the following : —

Dress thee, and busk thee, winsome one,

Dress thee, and busk thee, lassie! That to the bridegroom thou appe ar

As flowery field and garden ! The nightingales all envy thee,

They fly in flocks before thee, Singing and saying in their song,

' Joy we all in thy beauty ! ' So brightly shine the golden locks

Rippling upon thy shoulders ; Angels have surely combed them out.

With combs of silver smoothed them.

Or this :—

Thou didst but sit upon the chair, When, lo ! its wood, all hfeless.

Thy beauty quickened into leaf. And flushed all o'er with blossom.

112 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

The very deer made holiday

The day thy mother bore thee ! For dowry the Apostles twche

Bestowed on thee thy beauty. Of all the stars of heaven so bright,

One only thee resembles, The star that shines at early dawn

When sweet the morn is breaking. From out of hea\'en the Angels came

The Saviour's orders bearing ; The brightest radiance of the sun

They brought thee on descending. Thou hast the hair of Absalom,

The comeliness of Joseph ; He'll lucky be and prosperous,

The }outh who thee shall marr}'. Hail to the bridegroom's mother dear.

Hail to the bride's new mother ! Who such a noble son has borne.

Fit mate for such a maiden ! What proxenelra made the match.

Who cinnamon has eaten, ^ \\'hen such a partridge was betrothed,

And pledged to such an eagle ?

The bridegroom has, in the meantime, been con- ducted by his friends to another room, where the local barber proceeds to shave him carefully, a considerable time being devoted to the operation, as is usual in the East, this ceremony being also enlivened with music and complimentary songs.

As there are ' lucky ' and ' unlucky ' days for every incident of domestic life, Sunday is con- sidered the most propitious for the termination

^ Alluding to the little ceremony described on pp. 107-8.

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 113

of the wedding festivities. On the morning of this

day, accordingly, friends and relatives assemble

at the house of the bridegroom, embrace and

congratulate him on the auspicious event, and

escort him to the home of the bride. As they

leave the house, his mother, in accordance with

ancient custom, pours a libation of water before

him at the gate, and lays across his path a girdle,

over which he steps. If the parties are well-to-do,

or the distance is long, he may ride to the

ceremony ; but most frequently the procession

takes its way on foot, calling on the way for the

koumbdros and koumbdra, and singing as they

go:—

Set out, my tree, start gaily, Set out, set out, my cypress. Set forth to seek the poplar. With long and slender branches. Beside thee shalt thou plant it, And tenderly bedew it ; And when the breezes bend thee, Thou'lt stoop, and kiss it sweetly !

Arrived at the home of the bride, the ceremony commences with the exchange of the documents containing the marriage contracts, which are presented by the priest to the respective parents of the bride and bridegroom. The amount of the dowry is then paid in cash to the bridegroom, some of whose friends convey it forthwith to his residence, and the second betrothal, a cere- mony similar to that observed in classical times, 8

114 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

takes place, the father of the bride, or, faihng him, her nearest male relative, offering to the corre- sponding relative of the bridegroom some sweet basil on a plate, thrice repeating the words : ' Accept the betrothal of my daughter to your son ! ' When the same ceremony has been per- formed by the bridegroom's nearest of kin, a male relative of the bride — who has not previously made his appearance — presents on her part to her future spouse a glass of wine, a konhi/ra, or ring-shaped cake, and a spoon. After drinking the wine, he drops some coins into the glass for the bride, eats half the cake, and gives the remainder, with the spoon, into the keeping of the koumhdros. Another envoy from the bride then comes up to gird the bridegroom, and while doing this he essays to lift him from the ground, the happy man resisting to the best of his ability. And now the bride, garbed in all her wedding finery, her rouged and spangled cheeks partl}^ hidden by a gauze veil, over which hang long streamers of tinsel thread, is led in to be shod by the best man with the embroidered slippers provided by her bridegroom. Conducted to the courtyard gate, she steps over the threshold into the street across a libation of water poured before her by her mother, wedding marches and hymeneal songs enlivening the procession as it takes its way in leisurely fashion to the church. The bridal pair, carrying tapers decorated with flowers and knots of white ribbon, take their places before the Holy

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 115

Table, the bride standing to the left of the bride- groom, and the third arrhavon is now performed by the priest. When the first part of the ritual has been read, the papas makes the sign of the Cross three times with the rings over the heads of the couple, and then places them on their respective hands, saying, ' Give thy troth, servant of God (adding the man's name), to the servant of God (adding the woman's name), in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.' The priest then takes the wedding wreaths — construc- tions of white artificial flowers and ribbons — from the hand of the kotimbdros — and places them on the heads of the bride and bridegroom with the words, ' Crown thyself, servant of God,' etc., as above. The groomsman, standing behind the couple, changes the wreaths three times, while the priest repeats these words. The bride, bride- groom, and koumbdros then drink from a glass of wine which has been blessed by the papas ; and the pair, holding each other's hands, are led three times round the Holy Table, the best man following, with his hands on the * crowns.' The remainder of the liturgy chanted — with nasal in- tonation, and many repetitions of Kyrie eleison — the priest removes first the wreath of the bride- groom, and then that of the bride, pronouncing at the same time a blessing upon them in scriptural language.

The koumbdros having set the example by kissing

116 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

the bride and bridegroom, the assembled friends now crowd round to offer their felicitations. On the return of the procession to the bride's home, her mother places a loaf on the heads of the newly wedded pair, while comfits are showered over them by the rest of the company. The bridal feast follows, and is prolonged until it is time for tlie departure of the wedded couple. After drinking healths the glasses are thrown away over the shoulder, and if they do not break it is considered a bad omen. And then comes the farewell to the paternal home, which is expressed in many a touching folk-song, sung while the bride is weeping in her mother's arms : —

Fare thee well, father dear, farewell !

Good-bye, my sweet kind mother, Fare ye well, loving brothers all !

And you, my friends and kinsfolk ! For to my mother-in-law's I go,

To my new home I'm going ; And letters there I'm going to learn,

To write down all my treasures. Farewell ! adieu ! my neighbours all,

And you my neighbours' daughters, For to my mother-in-law's I go, etc.

As the bride leaves the house, a loaf is divided, one-half of which she takes with her to her new home. The guests now escort the pair to the village green, where the bride and bridegroom will open the dance. As they go, they sing : —

To-day the heavens are decked in white, This is the day right gladsome ;

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 117

To-day we have in marriage joined

An eagle and a partridge ; A little spotted partridge here

Has come to us a stranger ; Her little claws are coloured red.

And finely marked her feathers. She in her claws has water ta'en.

And oil upon her feathers, That she may wash her ladyship,

That she may preen her beauty. To-day it is a worthy day,

With sequins in its pocket ; For we two birds have wedded now,

And we a pair have made them.

Fierce shone the sun, and down swooped an eagle, Seized he a birdling, far off with her flew ;

White-skinned and lovely was she, yea, and black-eyed. Tiny as partridge that crouches in dew.

The syrtbs danced, the procession re-forms, and the happy pair are conducted with songs and music to the paternal roof of the bridegroom. Some of the songs sung on this occasion are in dialogue form, and, like the foregoing, which comes from loannina, express the bride's regret at leaving the home of her youth : —

' O wand'ring nightingale, and exiled birdie,

Where wert yestre'en, and where wilt be this even ? *

' Ah, yesternight I slept all safely with my parents, i

Now father-in-law's and husband's roof must shield me j

Yea, 'neath my husband's roof shall I abide at even ! '

' O wand'ring nightingale, O exiled swallow.

Why art thou now so sad? Why is thy face o'erclouded?

Behold thy bridegroomtdear, how he upon thee gazes !

See how for joy he leaps and with his eyes devours thee ! '

118 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

Red and white cherry' on a branch, in newly planted orchard,

She hangs like tassel on the horse, like saddle rayed with sunshine.

Happy will be he who may kiss the winter and the summer ;

The summer rosy red who'll kiss, who'll kiss the winter snow- white !

When the party approach their destination, the bridegroom's mother is thus addressed : —

Dame and mother-in-law, forth come. Welcome now the partridge home ! Take the bird to your abode, Lightly trips she o'er the road.

Receive her now,

Receive her now. Both sun and moon command thee now !

O see her as she walks along, She's like an angel 'mid the throng ! O rise, go forth and thou shalt see Both sun and moon appear to thee !

Dame and mother-in-law, forth come, Welcome now the }>artridge home ! Within the cage thou her must bring, As nightingale to thee she'll sing !

On the following morning, friends assemble before the house to greet the young couple with songs and music. The koumbdros arrives to break- fast, bringing with him the half cake and the spoon \:onfided to his care on the preceding day. The bride uses the spoon in commencing her meal, and eats the cake. The meal concluded, she proceeds, accompanied by the women and girls who have serenaded her,to the well from which her husband's family draw their supply of water, in order to

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 119

perform the ceremony, observed from time im- memorial, of propitiating the Nereid of the spring or well with the gift of a coin dropped into it from her lips. She then draws a pailful of water and pours it into one of those classically shaped earthern jars still in common use in Eastern lands, which she carries home on her shoulder. On entering the house, the bride pours some of the water over the hands of her husband, and presents him with a towel on which to dry them, receiving in return a little present. Feasting and dancing occupy the rest of the day, after which the young wife settles down quietly m her new home, reheving her mother-in-law of many of the household duties.

On the following Friday, however, the bride, accompanied by her husband, returns to spend twenty-four hours under the paternal roof, and pays her mother another visit on the subsequent Wednesday, when she takes with her a bottle of the native spirit called raki, or mastic, bringing back with her an equal quantity from the family store The nuptial observances are finally termi- nated three days later by a feast given by the bride's father to all the relatives of the couple.

The ceremonies observed by the Greeks in connection with death and burial are almost everywhere identical, and include many archaic customs and time-honoured traditions curiously associated with the rites of the Eastern Church.

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After the first burst of natural grief is ex- hausted, the body is left to the ministrations of the * washers of the dead.' The customary ablutions performed, the corpse is anointed with oil and wine, and sprinkled with earth. A clean mattress and bed-linen are spread on a long table, and the dead person, dressed in his holiday garments, is laid out on it, with his feet pointing towards the door and his hands crossed on his breast. The bier is decked with fresh flowers and green branches, and three large wax tapers, ranged at the foot, are kept burning the night through. The female relatives of the deceased, with dishevelled hair and disordered dress, now enter the death chamber to perform the duty of watchers. Seated round the room on the floor, they take it in turn to chant dirges for the departed, lamenting his loss, extolling his virtues, and, in some cases, describing the cause of his death. Greek women have in all times played a conspicuous part in funeral observances, and from the days of Anti- gone onward the fulfilment of the rites of sepulture has been observed by them as one of their most sacred duties. Homer describes how Andromache chanted a dirge to her dead husband and her son Astyanax, how the mother and sister-in-law took up the lament, the burden of which was repeated by a chorus of other women, and at the present day similar scenes may be witnessed in many a Greek home on the death of one of its inmates.

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These myriologia are essentially pagan in senti- ment ; they contain no assurance that the dead are in a state of bliss, and no hope of a happy meeting in Paradise, the lost ones being usually mourned as carried off by the vindictive and remorseless Charon from home and friends and all the joys and pursuits of the upper cosmos to his dreary realm of Hades. This * lower world ' is often in folk fancy pictured as a tent, green or red outside but black within, under which are held dismal banquets on the bodies of the dead. Charon goes out hunting on his black horse, and returns laden with human spoil of both sexes and all ages :

The young men he before him drives, and drags the old

behind hin^i, While ranged upon the saddle sit with him the young and

lovely.

Crudely expressed though they often are in the mixed and ill-pronounced dialects of the various localities to which they belong, these death-ballads are by no means devoid of finely imaginative and poetic ideas. Many are, no doubt, of considerable antiquity, and have been transmitted as heirlooms from mother to daughter through countless generations. Every woman knows by heart a considerable number, suited to all occasions ; and if these are found insufficient to express the over- wrought feelings of a bereaved mother, daughter, wife, or sister, her grief will find vent in an im-

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proviscd myriologos, less measured and rhythmical perhaps, than the conventional dirge, but equall} marked by touching pathos and poetic imagery The following are a few representative pieces ir the metre and rhythm of the originals, which ma} give some idea of the style of lamentation usee on these occasions.

Dirge for a Father

Now sit around iiie, children mine, and let us see who's

absent : The glory of the house has gone, the family's sujjporter, Who to the house a banner was, and in the church a lantern The banner's staff is broke in twain, the lantern is extin- guished !

Why stand ye, orphaned children there, like wayfarers and

strangers ? Why from your lips conies forth no wail like nightingale's sad

singing ? Your eyes, why weep they not amain, and stream like flowing

rivers ? — Your tears should s|)read as spreads a mere, should flow a

cooling fountain, To bathe the weary traveller, and give the thirsty water !

Dirge for a House-Mistress

What is this noise falls on our ears, and what is this loud

tumult ? — Say, can it for a wedding be, or is it for a feast-day ? The goodwife now is setting forth, to Hades she's departing ; She hangs her ke3'S upon the wall, and sets her house in order, A yellow taper in her hand. The mourners chant sad dirges ; And all the neighbours gather around, all those whom death

has stricken.

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Whoso would now a message send, a letter let him give her. She who a son unarmed mourns, now let her send his weapons : Write, mothers, to your children dear, and ye, wives, to your

husbands, Your bitter grief, your suffering, and all your weight of sorrow !

Dirge for a Daughter

' O tell me, tell me, daughter mine, how long shall I await thee ?—

Say, six months shall I wait for thee, or in a year expect thee ?

Six months — it is a weary time ; a year — it is unending ! '

' My mother, were it but six months, or were it but a twelve- month—

Then would the evil be but small, the time would fly full quickly.

Now will I tell thee, mother mine, when to expect my coming :

When thou shalt see the ocean dry, and in its bed a garden ;

When thou shalt see a dead tree sprout, and put forth leaves and branches ;

When thou shalt see the raven black, white-feathered like a pigeon ! '

The interment usually takes place on the day after the death. The invited guests assemble at the house of mourning, bringing with them flowers to lay on the occupant of the coffin. In some localities the coin to pay his passage across the Styx — the ndvlon for Charon — is still, as in classical times, placed between the lips of the corpse. In others the coin is placed in the hand, or a fragment of tile on which the priest has drawn the mystic sign of the pentacle and the words ' Christ has conquered ' is placed on the mouth of the dead, in order to prevent his returning to earth as a vampire. Wine and

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funeral cakes are then handed round, and the company, as they partake of these funeral cakes, murmur reverentially, ' God rest him ! ' After the preliminary prayers have been offered, the corpse is taken up by the bearers, and the pro- cession follows it to the church. In front walk the priests, carrying crosses and chanting the prayers for the dead ; behinrl them are the chief mourners on either side of the open coffin, holding the ends of black streamers attached to it. In some inland towns the relatives continue to chant myriologia all the way to church, and afterwards to the burial ground. On arriving at the church the body is placed on a bier in the nave and the funeral Mass follows. The relatives are then invited to give the deceased the farewell kiss, and the procession sets out for the cemetery. Anived here, the coffin is placed by the side of the grave, the concluding prayers are offered, and the lid is then nailed down. \Vlien the body has been lowered into the grave, the priest throws on the coffin a spadeful of earth in the form of a cross, and then hands the spade to the relatives, who do the same in turn, saying * God rest his soul,' or simply, 'God rest him.' The grave is then filled up, and the funeral party return to the house of sorrow, where, after performing a ceremonial ablution, they sit down to a repast at which fish, eggs, and vegetables alone are served. The house must not be swept for three days after the dead

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 125

has been carried out of it, and the broom used on this occasion is immediately afterwards burnt.

The mourning worn by Greeks of both sexes is of a most austere character. Ornaments are rigidly set aside, and all articles of dress are of the plainest black materials, cotton or woollen, and made in the simplest fashion possible. In some districts the Greeks, on the death of a near relative, send all their wardrobes, not excepting underlinen and pocket-handkerchiefs, to the dyers, the result, as may be supposed, being funereal in the extreme. Women, too, frequently cut off their hair at the death of their husbands and bury it with them ; men, on the other hand, allow their beards to grow as a sign of sorrow. Mourning is also worn for a considerable period. Girls, after their fathers' death, usually retain it until they marry, and widows and elderly women as their permanent attire. For in many country districts custom does not allow a widow to enter a second time into wedlock, and one who ventured thus to violate public opinion would receive but scant re- spect from her neighbours for the rest of her days.

On the eve of the third, the ninth, the twentieth, and the fortieth days after burial, Masses are per- formed for the soul of the departed. These func- tions are termed kolyva ; and on the fortieth kolyva two sacks of flour are converted into bread, a loaf of which is sent to each family of friends by way of invitation to the commemoration service to

126 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

be held in tlie church. One of the large circular copper trays used for baking, which are surrounded by a rim about two inches high, is filled with boiled wheat, ornamented, as already described,^ with elaborate patterns in almonds and raisins, sesame seeds, cinnamon, sugar-plums, sprigs of sweet basil, etc., and, accompanied by a bottle of wine for the priests, sent to the church to be blessed. The kolyva is said to be symbolical of the death and rebirth of Nature, like the myth of Demeter and her daughter ; and also to typify, according to the Christian doctrine, that man is * sown in corruption, and raised in incorruption.' When the company have assembled each person present takes a handful of the kolyva, with the words : * God rest him,' and in silence consumes his portion of this funcTal dish. On the following day the ceremony is repeated ; and after eating a frugal meal together, the mourners and their friends proceed to the cemetery, accompanied by the priest, to erect a tombstone over the grave. The poor of the neighbourhood are in the evening regaled with a supper, during which their good wishes for the welfare of the soul of the departed are repeatedly expressed, the plates and other articles of pottery used at these funeral feasts being afterwards broken and left at the grave.

During the forty days following, tapers are kept burning in the house, and, on the fortieth, the

^ Page loo.

GREEK FAMILY CEREMONIES 127

genealogy of the deceased is read before the assembled company, prayers being offered for the repose of the souls of all his ancestors. These ceremonies are repeated at intervals during the space of three years, at the expiration of which the grave is opened, and the body exhumed. If it is found to be sufficiently decomposed, the bones are collected in a linen cloth, and conveyed in a basket, adorned with flowers, to the church, where they remain for nine days. The relatives visit the remains every evening, taking with them more kolyva, and, if the deceased has been a person of some standing in the neighbourhood, twelve priests and a bishop take part in the solemn Mass performed on the ninth day. The bones are then either put in a box and replaced in the grave, or added to the other ghastly heaps in the charnel- house of the church.

If the body is not found at the end of the three years to be satisfactorily decomposed, grave fears are entertained that the spirit is not at rest, and has not entirely abandoned the body. The most terrible curse that can be pronounced against a Greek is couched in the words : * May the earth not eat you ! ' For, if this curse take effect, the object of it will after death, it is believed, become that most dreaded of all spectres, a vampire. In order, therefore, to induce the body to ' dissolve,' the same ceremonies and prayers are repeated during another three years.

CHAPTER VII

GREEK BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS

THE essential points in which the Orthodox Greek differs from the Roman Catholic Church are : (i) the Holy Ghost being held to proceed from the Father only ; (2) the administration of the Eucharist in both kinds to the laity ; and (3) the substitution of pictures for images of the Virgin and Saints. Celibacy is required of the higher clergy, but not of the papas or secular priests, though they are forbidden to contract a second marriage. The former are drawn chiefly from the better classes, and in their capacities of Bishops and Archbishops wield a temporal as well as a spiritual authority over their flocks, the Ottoman Government having never interfered in the internal affairs of its Christian subjects, which are regulated in each diocese by a council of the chief inhabitants, presided over by the Bishop or Archbishop. These Primates also act as intermediaries between the Cliristians and Turkish civil authorities when they have any disagreement with Moslems.

Regular attendance at the services of the Greek Church is not required of women, especially before

128

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 129

marriage. Girls, as a rule, go to Mass only on great festivals and special occasions, when they sit — or rather stand, for seats are almost unknown in Eastern churches — apart from the men in a gallery called the gynaikonitis, which extends to the hema, or chancel, and is approached by an external staircase. It is recorded that St. Basil, having once detected a woman making signs to the officiating assistant-deacon during the celebration of the Mass, made it a rule that the eastern- most part of the gynaikonitis should be fitted with a curtain. The elderly women are the most assiduous church-goers, as they are less occupied with household duties, and their frequent appear- ance out of doors is not calculated to give rise to gossip. The churches are, however, open on week- days, and the younger women may then frequently be seen making their obeisances before the * Holy Gates,' or lighting a taper in honour of an eikon of the Virgin-Mother or a favourite saint. Greek women and girls are also the most scrupulous observers of all the formulas prescribed by the Church and by custom with respect to fasts and feasts and the events of the ecclesiastical year generally. Like the Roman Catholics, they make the sign of the Cross before and after meals, and before their morning and evening prayers, which they repeat standing before the picture of the Panaghia, the * All Holy ' Virgin Mother, which is always illuminated by a tiny lamp.

9

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Although Greek monasteries arc to be found in every part of the Empire inhabited by members of the Orthodox Church, testifying to the popu- larity among men of a conventual life — at least in the past — few nunneries exist at the present day, and the number of inmates in those which still survive is very small. A cloistered life natur- ally offers but few attractions to women with whom marriage is the rule, and in whom family sentiment is so strongly developed. The nuns, who are popularly termed kaloyerai — * good old women,' are generally elderly and childless widows, or plain and portionless spinsters who, being without family ties or means of support, are glad of the asylum offered by the nunneries. The com- munities are, as a rule, very small, consisting sometimes of not more than six members, and the discipline is by no means very strict. The morals of the nuns generally at the present day would seem to be fairly good — so far, at least, as I have been able to ascertain. If, however, folk-poesy is any authority, this does not appear always to have been the case, for the humorous songs and stories of the Greeks contain, perhaps, as many allusions to the shortcomings of the ' good old women ' as they do to those of the ' good old men.'

The Greek year may be said, roughly speaking, to be divided pretty equally between fast days and feast days, both being observed with equal fidelity.

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 131

The long and frequent periods of abstinence ordained by the Church are indeed most rigorously kept, it being, apparently, accounted a greater sin to eat of forbidden food than to break one of the Ten Commandments. The women and girls of the lower orders especially often incapacitate themselves for work during Lent by living ex- clusively on bread and vegetables ; and to house- wives in the Levant this period and the subsequent Easter feasting are a yearly trial, as all the native servants are more or less unfit for their duties. Even when seriously ill, no nourishing food will be taken, the patient deeming it * better to fast and die than to eat and sin.' For no ' indulgences ' are granted by the clergy in this respect, though, if representations are made to them by a doctor, they will promise absolution to the sufferer for infringing the commands of the Church.

Besides Lent, there are three other great fasts — that of the Holy Apostles, which begins a week after Pentecost and terminates on the 29th of June ; that preparatory to the Feast of the Assumption, from the ist to the 15th of August, when women and girls abstain even from oil ; and the forty days of Advent ; while Wednesdays and Fridays are, all the year round, days of abstinence. All sorts of strange beliefs and odd customs are found connected with these fasts and festivals, the origin and meaning of many of which it is impossible to discover ; the usual reply received

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to inquiries being merely : ' Eh — wc have it so,' accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders, indi- cating the superior position and privileges of the Orthodox.

In common with all the other Eastern Christians the Greeks adhere to the Old or Julian Calendar, and their year begins twelve days later than ours. The 1st of January is dedicated to St. Basil, who, in common with St. George, appears to have been a native of Caesarea — or, as it is locally called, Kaisariyeh, in Cappadocia ; and on this day, children go from house to house singing odes in honour of the Saint, which invariably conclude with some complimentary lines to the occupants, wishing them * a good year,' and requesting largesse. St. Basil is always described in these songs as a schoolboy, whose touch quickens inanimate objects into renewed life : —

The month's first day, the year's first day, the first of January,

The circumcision day of Christ, the feast-day of St. Basil !

St. Basil, see, is coming here, from Cajjpadocia coming ;

A paper in his hands he holds, and carries pen and ink- horn.

With pen and inkhorn dotli he write, and reads he from the paper.

' Say, Basil, say, whence comest thou, and whither art thou wending ? '

' I from my home have now come forth, and I to school am going.'

' Sit down and eat, sit down and drink, sit down and sing thou for us ! '

' 'Tis only letters that I learn, of singing I know nothing.'

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' O, then, if you your letters know, say us your Alpha,

Beta I ' He leant him there upon his staff, to say his Alpha, Beta ; And though the staff was dry and dead, it put forth freshest

branches. And on the topmost branch of all there perched and sang a

partridge.

The Eve of Epiphany is in some locahties observed by the Greeks as a Day of the Dead ; and, according to popular beUef, a stream of gold is to be found in running water during a few minutes of this night. The country people accordingly hasten about midnight with their pitchers to the fountains and brooks, in order to catch, if possible, some of the precious fluid. Another superstition says that the plants bend their stems, and the trees bow their summits in adoration of Jesus Christ, on this Eve of the ' Feast of the Lights.' Popular tradition relates that a certain pious poor woman witnessed this miracle several times ; and one night she succeeded in tying her kerchief to the topmost branch of a tall poplar at the moment the tree was making its obeisance. Next day the kerchief was found flying from the crest, a proof of the miracle which could not fail to convince the hitherto incredulous. On this festival also the Papas goes round his parish to * bless ' each house in turn with holy water, using as aspergilhis a bunch of sweet basil ; and

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towards niglitlall C(_)mpanics of boys with lanterns parade the streets singing before the houses of the wealthier citizens ' Odes ' dramatically describing the Baptism of Christ. These ditties end with a couplet expressing the singers' good wishes for the morrow's festival and are acknowledged by the inmates with a handful of sweet biscuits and some small coins.

The Greek observance of the Carnival varies according to locality, but it is only hi large towns that it at all partakes of the popular character of the Roman Catholic Carnival which precedes it. It is, however, chiefly to the Greek women of the better classes that the Carnival furnishes much amusement in the shape of fancy balls and masqued parties, the women of the lower orders being, as a rule, content with listening to the pass- ing music — generally of a very primitive kmd — and occasionally exchanging a little badinage through their grated windows with the young men of the quarter, who roam the streets after sunset in various disguises. On the last Sunday of the festal season this species of amusement begins in the afternoon, and is kept up till nine or ten o'clock. Then the shutters are closed, the Carnival is over, and a hard-boiled egg is handed to each person before going to bed, which * shuts the mouth to flesh ' until Easter Day, when it is * opened ' with another egg.

The Eve of Palm Sunday is sacred to Lazarus.

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Most of the songs sung in the streets on this occasion are a curious medley of dialogue between Christ, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and compli- mentary speeches and good wishes to the neigh- bours. On the following day, which is called Vaia, similar songs are sung. On Holy Thursday every housewife boils a number of eggs with cochineal for the approaching Easter festival, and also bakes a quantity of cakes and sweet biscuits. At the hour when the Gospels are read in the churches she takes eggs to the number of the household, including the servants, and one over, places them in a napkin, and carries them to church, where she leaves them until Sunday. The supplementary egg is laid before the Eikonostasion, or Place of the Holy Pictures, and is afterwards kept as a remedy against all kinds of ills. Many of these eggs have traced upon them in elegant characters texts of Scripture and other sacred words.

Late in the evening of Good Friday, a solemn service is held in the churches. I was present on one of these occasions at the Metropolitan Church at Salonica, and was much impressed by the ceremonial. On entering we were conducted to stalls facing the archiepiscopal throne where sat the Archbishop in his resplendent sacerdotal robes and mitre, glittering with gold and gems. Near us, supported on trestles, was the epitdphios — a full- length picture of the Christ, to which all the Orthodox worshippers, as they entered the sacred

i;i6 BALKAN HOME-LIFE

building, advanced, and then reverently kissed the semblance of the dead Saviour. Every class of the Orthodox community was represented in the congregation, from the polished Russian and Roumanian diplomat and Greek archon of name and lineage, to the ragged and barefooted urchin, who, unreproved by pompous verger or beadle, pushed his way through the throng to take the place to which, as a son of the Church, he had an equal right with every other worshipper. When the ritual of chant and prayer had been performed, lighted tapers were distributed, the dead Christ was taken up by the clergy and carried outside and round the church, followed by the whole congregation.

The Resurrection is commemorated by the Eastern Church strictly ' in the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawTi towards the first day of the week ' — ^that is, about one o'clock on the morning of Easter Sunday — when a ceremony takes place of the same character as that performed in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. On the stroke of midnight the Archbishop, or chief officiating priest, presents to the congregation a lighted taper with the words : * Arise, and take the flame from the Eternal Light, and praise Christ, who is risen from the dead ! ' Those nearest to him light their tapers from his, and then pass on the flame to those behind them, until all the tapers are kmdled. And then arises from a

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 137

thousand throats the triumphant Resurrection- Song of the Eastern Church : —

Christ has arisen from the dead,

By death He death hath trampled on ;

To those laid in the graves Life having given !

At its conclusion, the Easter greeting, 'Christ is risen ! ' accompanied by a kiss on the cheek, is given by one friend to another, which is responded to by another kiss and the words : * Truly He is risen ! ' On emerging into the open air, shots are discharged from fire-arms in honour of the event, an old custom which is still adhered to, in spite of the prohibitions annually issued by the authorities.

At the hour of early Mass the churches are again crowded with the worshippers who have been shriven on the previous day, and now partake of the Communion. At its conclusion more salu- tations of ' Christ is risen ! ' are exchanged as they wend their way homewards to breakfast on red eggs, Easter cakes, and coffee ; and then, as an old writer says, * they run into such excesses of mirth and riot, agreeable to the light and vain humour of that people, that they seem to be revenged of their sobriety, and to make compensa- tion to the devil for their late temperance and mortification towards God.' The rest of the day is given up to relaxation and feasting, the most important event for the women and girls especially being the public promenade in the afternoon, for which they don their new summer dresses, the

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preparation of which has, it may well be supposed, much occupied their minds during the season of mortification.

The changes of the seasons are still popularly celebrated by the Greeks, and more especially the coming of the spring and the rebirth of Nature. In April the swallows are welcomed with songs, which recall the Khelidonisma of the ancients ; while on May-Day wreaths of flowers and branches are twined and hung over courtyard gateways in honour of the season, and children go from house to house chanting their May-day songs.

An interesting custom called the * Klithona ' is observed in Thessaly at the Feast of the Summer Solstice, or the * Eve of St. John.' It is, however, as a rule, performed only in the family circle, and many people long resident in the country are ignorant of it. At sunset, a large jar is filled with water and placed in the garden. Round it the family assemble, each with a leaf or flower, which he or she throws in, a wild dance and chant being kept up all the time. The jar is then carefully covered with a linen cloth, and the youngest of the party goes through the ceremony of * locking ' it with the house-key. It is finally set aside until the following day at noon, when the family assemble for the ' unlocking.' The cloth is removed, and each looks anxiously to see if his or her leaf or flower is floating on the water, as that foretells a long life, while an immersed leaf or

BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS 139

flower portends an early death. A general sprink- ling then ensues. The young people chase each other with glasses of water from the jar, and consider a thorough drenching lucky. Singing is kept up all the time, and an occasional improvised couplet containing a sly personal allusion adds to the general merriment.

In Macedonia the ceremony differs a little, and is generally observed only by young girls and un- married women, who often make up little parties for the occasion. One of the number is sent to fill a large jar of water at the well or fountain, with the injunction not to open her lips until she returns, no matter who may accost her. Into this jar each maiden drops some small object, such as a ring, bead, or glass bracelet, which is called the klithona. A cloth is then carefully tied over the mouth of the jar, which is left out all night under the stars. The youths of the neighbourhood are not unfrequently on the alert to discover the hiding-place of the jar, which, if found, they rob of its contents, which the owners recover only by paying a forfeit. If all, however, goes well, the jar is uncovered on the following evening at sunset, and one of the maidens, blindfolded, plunges her bared arm into the water, and, draw- ing out the objects one by one, recites over each a distich, which is received as an augury propitious or the reverse of the matrimonial prospects of its owner. After supper the bonfire of St. John is

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lighted before the courtyard gate ; and after taking down and casting into it the now faded gar- lands hung over the doors on May-Day, the young people leap through the flames, fully persuaded that * the fire of St. John will not burn them.'

In Thessaly and Macedonia it is customary in times of prolonged drought to send a procession of children round to all the wells and springs of the neighbourhood. At their head walks a girl adorned with flowers, whom they drench with water at each halting-place while singing tliis invocation : —

Perperia, all fresh bedewed, Freshen all the neighbourhood ; By the woods, on the highway. As thou goest, to God now pray : ' O my God, upon the plain, Send thou us a still, small rain ; That the fields may fruitful be, And vines in blossom we may see ; That the grain be full and sound. And wealthy grow the folks around ; Wheat and barley, Ripen early.

Maize and cotton now take root, Rice and rye and currant shoot ; Gladness fill our gardens all, For the drought may fresh dews fall ; Water send us by the pail, Grain in heaps beneath the flail ; Bushels grow from every ear. Each vine-stem a burden bear ! Out with drought and poverty — / Rain and plenty let us see ! '

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The Greeks would seem to have assimilated, to a greater extent than any other Christian nation, the heathen festivals and observances of their ancestors ; and the classical genii loci have only slightly changed their names. At sanctuaries, for instance, formerly dedicated to the Sun, homage is now paid to the Prophet — or rather * Saint ' — Elias, and almost every high hill and promontory is now, as of old, sacred to him. Power over rain is also attributed to this Saint ; and, in time of drought, people flock to his churches and monas- teries to supplicate the Sun-god in his other character of * The Rainy Zeus.' Athena, the divine Virgin, is now the Panaghia, the * All Holy ' Virgin Mother, and she has also supplanted Eos, the Dawn, the Mother of the Sun, who opens the gates of the East through which her Son will pass. The Christian celebrations of the annual festivals of these Saints are, consequently, merely survivals of pagan anniversaries, held at the church or monastery of the Saint who has replaced the heathen divinity. At the more celebrated of these Paneghyria a kind of fair is held, which is resorted to by crowds of pilgrims from the country round and the adjacent towns.