Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-24
sUPERsTITIONs OF THE MoUuKs.
Barbaric Beliefs that Still Hold sway
with Russian Peasants.

From the nottingham Daily Express.
The Russians were the last European race to
be converted 10 Christianity, aud are still
within a distance of heathenism that is easily
measurable. Il is, therefore, little TO be won
dered at that number OF singular supersti-
tons should still survive among the peAsantry,
rather like those prevailing in France and Eng
land during the middle ages The Russian
journals are not much read in this country, but
If they were more within The linguistic re-
sources of English readers eager after novel;
ties, they would be much astonished at not
few items of news reported Had newspapers
been published IN AID. 400 in London. they
would, we fancy, have frequently chronicled
similar events TO those we find recorded in the
columns Of the Russian press today. Since the
time of Dadalus, flying men have been objects
OF suspicion, and We should certainly advise
eronauts TO hesitate before making an ascent
in Russia.
Not many years ago a Russian nobleman
made balloon ascent and had the misfortune
to come down somewhere in the Baltic prov
inces where not even picture OF a balloon had
penetrated There was of course. the chance
of his being mistaken for a messenger Ga the
gods and honored in consequence, but the
peasants who inhabited the district where he
alIghted were apparently victims of pessimism
and concluded he was the devil descended from
the sky to persecute them. They did not stay
to wonder what the evil one was doing 10 far
away from his usual habitat, which Is supposed
to be remote from the clouds but in a state Of
mixed thoologic and scientific ignorance the
paBic-stricken mob tore the aeronaut 20 pieces.
IL a similar descent could have beea made into
Yorkshire four hundred years ago the aeronaut
might have met with a similar fate or have
been regarded a. a messenger announcing tho
divine wrath and the final dissolution OF all
things-a panic 10 which the English people
has been peculiarly liable. This supersutious
terror sboc balloons. however. is an amiable
weakness wife compared with some others. II
only week or two ago that the Russian
newspapers related how a peasant had with
the approval OF his neighbors, murdered his
aged aunt because he believed her to be q
witch.
A still more revolving case Of superstition
was recently reported in the Kodkdz a leading
Russian journal The story would be too hor-
rible for belief if the evidence were less cir
cumstantial- An old peasant woman living
near Sookoom, in Caucasus, was suspected u
witchcraft Beyond the infrmities Of age, and,
perhaps Of i'll temper, the unhappy wretch was
no doubt as innocent as the victims of our own
''witehfnders" were. Her son died. and inn
mediately the rumor spread that she bad slain
him, with the assistance of the evil one, whose
cooperation she had claimed The neighbors
sat il judgment over her and decided that she
should be submitted to 1.-The ordeal BY fire.
that is to say, she to be burned and tor
tured in the hope that she would confess her
supposed crime. The terror of the poor Old
creature deprived her of coherent speech,
This was assumed to be q proof Of her guilt.
She was seized and tied 70 pole and burned to
death. What gives a still more fiendish aspect
TO this carnival of cruelty is that her sur.
viving son was among the most energetic Of
those who tortured his mother. II viii
take several generations of education and
progress before the peasantry Of these re-
mote districts get nd of such blood
thirsty superstitions. As race they are gen.
orally amiable and affeetionate, rarely QUARREL
ing in their cups, as is too frequently the case
in England; il is only when their supernatural
terrors are aroused that they seek what tkey
think is their own safety in malignant manifes-
tations Of fanatic cruelty. In the Ukraine the
people believe in all sorts Of supernatural be-
iDgs from vampires to water sprites. Among
the most grotesque of their superstitions ID the
ceremony performed in some remote places 70
bring on the rain in q season of drought. An
old woman, without a rag 10 cover her, 10 az
midnight harnessed TO Q plough and driven
through the village, while the male portion Of
the population 10 supposed TO be sleeping. Her
drivers are the village maidens, in their night
gowns. II any of the men, except the gray
boards, should be tempted by profane curiosity
TO look on this strange procession great mis-
fortune viii befall the community. There 10 .
romantic side to these degrading superstitions,
fortunately. In south Russia every stream
and tree is believed TO have IDS spiritual denison
bringing mortals to the luck they deserve.
Russia Is land Of contrasts, where obsolete
superstitions iostle with the latest inventions
of the nineteenth century.