The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-10-07
Queer Customs in Southern Eu.
rope.

Among ,he most interesting of the
Abruzzl customs are those which relate
to the dead. As Il general rule, cottag-
ers, before going to bed, rake together
the em6ers on the hearth, and cover
them up with cinders. But on the eve
of the Day of the Dead not a spark is
allowed to remain, fire beng the symbol
of life. In many places the remains of
that nights supper are not cleared
away, but are left to be distributed as
aims next morning. But at Pacentro a
meal is served at night for the special
use OF the dead. During the darkness
the souls II the departed are supposed
10 q ,ck on the table. In the morning
the food is given to the poor. Similar
banouets are still, it is said, offered to
the dead III Russia. Bat they are there
ultimately enjoyed by the living who
have provided them. At Gioia del
Marsi the first person who enters the
church at midnight, holding a taper in
his hand, is believed to obtain the privi-
leee of freeing a soul from purgatory.
At Perano the dead are supposed to re-
veal themselves in II basin OF water
tianked by two candles. The seer is
generally an Old woman who holds a
taper in her left hand and a linen cloth
in her right, and who places her neck in
the curve OF a wooden pitchfork, the
handle of which rests on the ground.
At ~Ilnodacqua the women dlsfgure
themselves when they marry by cutting
off their hair, obeving a custom mor
barbarous than that which. Of old
cropped a brides locks in Sparta, or still
hides away a married woman's tresses in
Russia. At Roccapia, when the marri-
age service is drawing to it's close, Il man
l::.gs two lighted candles, and gives
one 20 each of the welded couple.
Thenceforward he is their compare di
matrimonio, or wedding gossip. There
exist many kinds of gossipry beside the
usual form connected with christenings,
Most of them link girls together. Thus,
at Ortucchio, on st. Johns Day, w
girls will 90 out to a spot where there is
"a small fountain. Each one bares her
arm her companion washes it and dries
it. The two girls then become comari
Iii sciaquamento. According to another
form, the girls begin by turning three
times round the altar of a church.
Each of them plucks a hair from her
head and places it On the head CT her
friend. On May 18th, the eve of the
Feast of ST. Gemma, a picturesque pro-
cession keeps alive the memory of an
ancient friendship between two town
ships about ten miles apart. a damsel
is escorted by the priest and some of her
neighbors from Goriano Sicoli to San
Sebastian de Marsi. On arriving there
she is met by the clergy and the notables,
heading the deputy Of the feast" who
solemnly takes her in his arms and
kisses her. The whole party then enter
the church, where prayers are sad. y
procession is afterward formed to the
house in which St. Comma is believed
to have lived, and where a supper awaits
the festive party. Not 50 pleasing is
the custom Of tearing the warm heart
out of q swallow and administering it
to a child as a means OF rapidly acquir-
ing knowledge. Strangers are apt. to be
scandalized when they hear the church
service on Christmas Eve accompanied
by a most continued whistling or Kissing.
But they are informed that these appar-
ent interruptions are intended as "a
pious record of the pastoral sounds
which attended the birth Of the Lord"
\ two.tailed lizard is a bringer of
good fortune, provided its tails are
placed under the slab of an altar, left
there till mass has been said over them,
and then taken away and worn by the
finder IS an amulet. In Pratola Pelig-
ma, when a thunderstorm begins, the
women weep and pray. Fit continues,
they snatch from the hearth the chains
which hang above it and fling them out
of doors. In many places the peasants
are ~grievously afflicted by witches, who
60 about by night sucking the blood OF
babies. Watch is sometimes kept in
such cases by night for a whole week.
A light is hidden in a pitcher, ready to
be produced whenever a suspicious
sound is heard, in order that the blood
suckers may be revealed. II this does
not answer, a dog or a cat is killed and
placed behind the door. The strega
cannot enter until she has counted every
hair on its hide. Before she can 90 SO
the sun will rise, the coming OF which