The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1890-12-18
AN INTERESTING PROCESSION.

AN INTERESTING PROCESSION.
This Christmas in Slay village has a
purely religious character, though, as it
obliges one to sit up late or to rise early,
it may serve as an excuse for longer
chat than usual and an extra glass. But
Advent is not as in German or Protes-
tant countries, concentrated into the
single festival. In many villages on the
first evening kind of homely procession
is formed, and the images of the Holy
Virgin and ST. Joseph are carried to the
first house in the place, the inhabitants
of which know exactly what Is going to
happen; then, where they sing, as they
generally do in Carniola, duet or
double chorus follows. The attendants
Of the saints ask for Il nights lodging,
those within ask who the travellers are,
and so gradually the whole history Of
the nativity is told in Old World verse
and music. Then the doors are thrown
wide open; all who are within kneel, the
images are borne to the altar that has
been prepared for them, the two choruses
join in hymn of praise, and evening
prayer begins in their presence. On the
following afternoon the two saints are
carried to the next house, and the scene
is repeated. 1t may seem to the reader
that the whole ceremony must be child
ishly grotesque; this is not the impress
sion it makes on the non-Catholic but
unprecedented stranger. These peasants
are evidently sincerely worshiping the
true God after their own fashion. In
70 oh a obi Tod
the same usage is practiced, but there
the sacred guests are carried from cell
to cell instead of from house to house.
DEVOTION OF THE KINGS.
This custom is purely Christian, an at
tempt to bring the sacred story home to
the imagination Of the people; the cere-
monies performed on the day set apart
for devotion to the three holy kings
the wise men of the east (our twelfth
night)-are slightly different, They bear
the trace. not of heathenism so much as
of a struggle against heathensm. The
three appear in full costume-the one
with his face conscientiously BACKED
with holy water and censers filled with
burning incense. They bless every room
in the house, and still more carefully
the stalls and stables, and upon every
door they make three crosses, in order
to keep out Fra Perchta, who is the I'M
hallowed and unhonored shade of the
great goddess whom heroes once wor-
SHIPPED as Freya. That twelfth night,
the last of the twelve days of the great
winter festival, which was celebrated
alike by the Slavs and the Germans,
should be chosen for these strange cere-
monies is noteworthy; though one can
not help feeling a certain sympathy for
the goddess who is thus shut out of hu-
man habitations on the very day when
her presence was formerly invoked. 1t
may be added that the crosses are treated
with the greatest respect; what would
happen to any one who willfully rubbed
them out no one knows. A COW maid
who by chance obliterated two had to
dance for a whole night over rough
stones with q young man, whom she
upposed to be the devil, and fell into
fever afterward. Particularly devout
persons often endeavor to connect the
crosses 80 that they form one Of the
names or symbols Of our Saviour. II
they succeed it is favorable omen.
BKIIKFs OF THE SEASON.
The stories that are told about Christ
mas, particularly in the Gail Thai, .
valley in Carinthia inhabited almost ex-
clusively by Slavs, are most remarkable,
and seem to have been hardly even colored
BY Christianity. The belief that horses
and cattle talk in human language with
each other on the night between the oath
and 25th Of December is universal there.
Whether the roes and chamois enjoy the
same privilege or are subject to thesame
penalty seemed to be m open question,
e. few persons care to wade through the
snow, to climb mountain, or even to take
up their abode in . wood, in order to
listen to their discourses. Even with re-
spect to domestic animals everything has
not hitherto been rendered Is clear ~
We should like 1t to be. For example, q
Village priest was kind enough to furnish
Us with the following story, which WA
written down at once, - much ~ pos
dble in his own words It is Gn to
listen to what the animals ny, and Il
always brings III luck. A farm servant
from . distance did not believe the story
"a din which, It may b feared, VA
shared both BY tho present writer and
his informant. SIN b retained such Z
half belief = induced him 10 hide him
~ IN ~ stable. Ths Two horses which
u contained tallsd 70 sach other = fol
lows: ave shall have hard work - d.
~ day week" "Y0, ~ s9vant /
heU.' .Ae4the ~ = ~ eDh