Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-09-04
MOUJIK SUPERSTITIONS.
Bar al ic Beliefs That Still Hold Swa
With Russian Peasants.

With Russian Peasants.
From the Noting ham Daily Express.
The Russians were the last European
race to be converted to Christianity.
and are still within d distance OF
heathenism that is easily measurable.
It is therefore little to be wondered at
that number of singular superstitions
should still survive among the peas
antry rather like those prevailing in
France and England during the Middle
Ages The Russian journals are not
much read in this country, but if there
were more within the linguistic re-
sources of English readers eager after
novelties, they would be much aston
ished at not a few items of news re-
ported. Had newspapers been pub
lished in A. ID. 400 in London, they
would, we fancy, have frequently
chronlcled similar events to those we
find recorded in the columns of the
Russian press to-day. Since the time of
D8dalus, flying men have been objects
OF suspicion, and we should certainly
advise aeronauts to hesitate before max
ing an ascent in Russia.
Not many years ago a Russian noble
man made balloon ascent, and had the
misfortune to come down somewhere
a picture had penetrated. There was,
of course, the chance Of his being mis-
taken for a messenger of the gods and
honored In consequence, but the peas
ants who inhabited the district where
he alighted were apparently victims of
pessimism, and concluded he was the
devil descended from the sky to perse-
cute them. They did not stay to wonder
what the Evil One was doing SO far away
from his usual habitat. which is supposed
to be remote from the clouds, but in a
state OF mixed theological and scien-
tifc ignorance, the panic-stricken mob
tore the aeronaut to pieces. If d SINH
lar descent could have been made into
Yorkshire 400 years ago the aeronaut
might have met with similar tate, or
have been regarded as a messenger an
nounclng the Divine wrath and the
final dissolution of all things-a panic to
which the English people have been
peculiarly liable. This superstitious
terror about balloons, however, is an
amiable weakness when compared with
some others. 1t was only week or
two ago that the Russian newspapers
related how peasant had, with the APP
proval of his neighbors, murdered his
aged aunt because he believed her to
be witch.
A still more revolving case of super
stition was recently reported in the
Kadkaz, leading Russian journal.
The story would be too horrible Tor be-
lief ifthe evidence were less circumstan-
tia. An old peasant woman living near
Sokoom, at Caucasus, was suspected OF
witchcraft. Beyond the in6rmities of
age, and, perhaps, of ill-temper, the
unhappy wretch was no doubt as inno-
cent as the victims of our own witch
finders" were. Her son died, and i'm
mediately the rumor spread that she
had slain him, with the assistance of
the Evil One. whose cooperation she
had claimed. The neighbors sat in
judgment over her and decided that she
should be submitted to 1.-The ordeal by
fire'-that is to say, she was to be
burned and tortured in the hope that
she would confess her supposed crime.
The terror of the poor old creature de-
prived her of coherent speech. This
was assumed to be proof Of her guilt.
She was seized and led to a pole and
burned to death. What gives a still
more fiendish aspect to this carnival of
cruelty Is that her surviving son was
among the most energetic of those who
tortured his mother. 1t will take sever
al generations of education and progress
before the peasantry OF these remote
districts get rid OF such blOOd-thlrsty SUI
perstitions. AS race they are gem
orally amiable and affectionate, rarely
quarreling in their cups, as is too fire.
quently the case in England; it is only
when the supernatural terrors are
aroused that they seek what they think
is their own safety in malignant mani
festations of fanatic cruelty. In the
Ukraine the people believe in all sorts
of supernatural beings, from vampires
to water sprites. Among the most gro
tesque of their superstitions is the Ger
emony performed in some remote places
TO bring on a rain in season of drought.
An old woman, without rag to cover
her, is at midnight harnessed to pillow
and driven through the village, while
the male portion of the population is
supposed to be sleeping. Her drivers
are the village maidens, in their night
gowns. If any of the men, except the
graybeards, should be tempted by pro-
fame curiosity to look on this strange
procession great misfortune will befall
the community. There is a romantic
side to these degrading superstitions,
fortunately. In South Russia every
stream and tree is believed to have its
spiritual denizen, bringing mortals to
the luck they deserve. Russia is 4 land
of contrasts, where obsolete supersti-
items jostle with the latest inventions of
r no frrvx