Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1891-08-25
a Curious Russian Custom.

A strange religious custom s practised by
the Russian peasants of Olone'sk and In ed
joining distrio,s OF Southern Arohsngel and
other governments. few days before the
calendar day OF E iiah the prophet (Aug. u
the peasants bring cattle to the courtyard Of
Of their churches, each according to hls
circumstances. II they are poor they throw
their donations together and buy one or two
heads of cattle Tor the wbo'e village. After
the morning services Of Elijsh's Day th o
priest comes out of the church In his official
veslmeDts and sprinkles holy water on the
cattle. During the noon services the cattle
are killed and boiled 10 large kettles Kept
srouod the church from year TO year for the
purpose. The priest again comes out and
sprinkles holy water on the meat. As soon
as this is done all the villagers fall to and
try. tn grab each as much OF che meat as he
can. Every pessast then distributes the meat
among the members OF his family or bis
nearest relatives, who consume it on the
spot. Many sturdy villsger gets hs
clothes torn or bis face scratched In the
senerol scramble for meat. But they do
not mind THE; they consider lt q necessary
auxiliary to the time-honored celebration.
The celebration is called the grabbing
iesst, "Khvatovstchina."
The clergy have tried to modify this semi.
savage ceremony. In some places they have
trsnsfe, red It to the day of the Ascension
OF the Holy Virgin (Aug 27), and cause the
cattle offered by the peassDts to be sold In
the interest OF the church. In other places
they have the meat distributed Ia regular
order, so as to avoid the savage scenes that
eusue at the general grabbing" scramble.
But such changes are not always acceptable;
In many places where they have been made
The people within few years abandoned
them and returned to the original usage OF
grabbing" They assert that when the
ceremony was not performed In the right
manner on E!ijsh's Day, their cattle were
10 that year destroyed by hall solmS and
lightning or by wild beasts
From the stories which the people tell.
nothing can be learned Of the origin Of the
feast, as there is not person living who re-
members the time when 1t was not celebrat-
ed. Students of ethnography having made
diligent inquiries about the subject all over
the vast regions, were informed by the oldest
peasants that they had inherited the tradi-
lions OF the feast from their grandslres. ALI
the popular stories of the feast tend merely
TO show the belief prevailing that II the feast
is not rightly celebrated osemiiies are I'm
minent py storm, thunder and lightning, or
the ravages OF Wild animate. The clergy Of
the whole region ascribe those beliefs to the
venerstion OF the people for "the holy proph.
ct Eijah," who Is esteemed more highly by
the Slavonian people than any saint In the
Greek calendar. In connection with this It
must be remembered that the belief In that
prophet prevails not only among the BUS
sian Slavs, but also among the Rathenians,
Bobemians, Bulgarisns and others. They
say that thunder ensues when Elijah's char
lot is rolling In heaven. aod pray that the
prophet may not drive about so frequently.
To the students of ethnology, on the other
hand, 1t appears that the preference which
the Slavs had for the Hebrew prophet shows
that to them be represents divinity wor-
SHIPPED before they accepted Christianity
Nev York Sun.