Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-11

friends Dancing of almost any kind is
said 10 be among the healthiest and
MOST CoSD;-ivE TO LONGEVITY.
OF all occupations, hut .Iorris dancing
would seem entitled 10 the palm il those
respects if we are 10 believe pamphlet
printed during the reign of James l., which
states that the united ages OF ten retired
fordshire amounted to 200 years,
while Of eight others the youngest was
seventy-nine and the Oldest one hundred
and nine years. their united ages being
$40 years. Morris dancing continued to be
favorite Whitsuntide diversion in Eng
land down to the early years of the present
century, and was publicly danced in Cos
well street road, London, as late as 1926.
Down 10 the middle of the Seventeenth
century the representation of ''mystcr-
les and miracle plays always took
place at INhitsuntide throughout Great
Britain and in many countries of
continental Europe. They We're dramatic
spectacles devised during the dark ages
when the Bible was an interdicted book-to
instruct the people in sacred story The
mysteries represented the narratives OF
the Old and New Testaments, while the
miracle plays" deiineated the lives Of the
saints. Originally written and acted by
monks, they continued fdvorite Whitsun-
tide diversion for nearly two centuries after
strongly condemned by some churchmen-
among them being Nickliffe and his follow
er5-as protane treatment of sacred sub
Jects, yet Luther gave them his sanction,
saying that in his opinion ''such spectacles
often do more good and produce more i'm
preston than sermons
These religious dramas were usually
performed in churches, though fire.
qucntly in cemeteries, market places
ana public squares as well. Three
stages were usually erected one above the
other. Upon the highest was q representa-
ton of the Creator and His angels and
upon the next lower of the saints, while the
action of the drama took place upon the
lowest. Upon one side of the last named
there was representation OF
THE MOUTH OF HE'LL
whence came fire and smoke and the cries
of the lost. Demons also issued from it
their coarse jests and horse play forming
the low comedy part of the entertainment
and affording infinite amusement to the
audience.
1t was my good fortune, while sojourning
IN Naples some Years ago, TO participate in
the elaborate fiesta di Monte Eirginie,
which the Neapolitans annually celebrate
on Whit Sunday and during the two sue
ceeding days. The principal features Of
the celebration take place at a church
erected upon a mountain near Avelino.
prettiest, most interesting part of the cere-
mony is the long train of carriages, wagons,
carretas, and all sorts of nondescript We
hicles, gaiiy decorated with flowers, rib
bons and garlandS-as are also the horses,
oxen and asses drawing them, which winds
from the city along picturesque roads to
the summit of the mountain. attended by
great crowds OF merry makers on foot,
singing and dancing untiringly and bearing
sticks which support brightly colored pic
lures of the Madonna
In st. Petersburg in 1875 I witnessed
what was perhaps the last observance of
Whitsuntide custom, which though once
highly popular, had long been gradually
dying out. 1t was a show of marriageble
women and girls desirious of obtaining
husbands, and took place on Whit Sunday
afternoon il the Summer Garden u
place of popular resort. The young women
We're attended by their parents or some
other elderly relative through whom, if
young man was smitten with maid, he
conducted his negotiation for her hand.
1t is, of course, needless to say that this
usage was confined TO the lower and middle
classes. ..sss