Also they leap over bonfires, shaking out their garments
as they do so; and in some districts they blow on long trumpets of
lime-tree bark to frighten him away. When he has fled to the wood,
they pelt the trees with some of the cheese-cakes and eggs which
furnished the feast.
In Christian Europe the old heathen custom of expelling the powers
of evil at certain times of the year has survived to modern times.
Thus in some villages of Calabria the month of March is inaugurated
with the expulsion of the witches. It takes place at night to the
sound of the church bells, the people running about the streets and
crying, "March is come." They say that the witches roam about in
March, and the ceremony is repeated every Friday evening during the
month. Often, as might have been anticipated, the ancient pagan rite
has attached itself to church festivals. In Albania on Easter Eve
the young people light torches of resinous wood and march in
procession, swinging them, through the village. At last they throw
the torches into the river, crying, "Ha, Kore! we throw you into the
river, like these torches, that you may never return.
Pages:
1544
1545
1546
1547
1548
1549
1550
1551
1552
1553
1554
1555
1556
1557
1558
1559
1560
1561
1562
1563
1564
1565
1566
1567
1568