The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-01
IN DARKEST RUSSIA.
crp-0Ts CFREMONIALs WHICH
MARK TIE BUD OF WINTER.


~ Peasantry of the Rural Regions
oftne Country the God
degs of Spring.
From the Chicago Tribune.
..Daath Week. the ''Snartun Nedelya,"
.s,be SIsyouic peoples, marks the end of
inter in rural Russia. It is kept during
last seven days of March, and is sur
,.i,,ol nure and simple of early paganism.
:, IS old Slavonic mythology, as in the
I'D If tn 70 mass of the untaught Russians
.,.odevs the idea of death and winter is
1I,.ar,, associated; and the ceremonies
,ro,sr to the death Week." from the sac
zifca To the 'Vodyanoi,n or water spirit
--rioh II berins, to the driving out and the
droWniug Of death, with which 1t terml-
,o,a, are based upon the superstition that
&C formerly universal in Northern Europe.
Th,t vvriters on Russia and the Russians
- GIVEN no account of the death Week.
celebration is due, no doubt, to the fact
that it takes place at time of the year
when travellers are rarely tempted to visit
prssie and is confined to rural districts
o,t If the beaten track, which are unlikely
IN attract foreigners.
Wben the ice begins to break on the
.,otar winter is considered over in Russia I;
md the breaking of the ice Is due, the Rus-
ian peasants hold, to the "Nodyanoi," or
49, snjr1t. who has his abode in the rivers
and streams. he has slept over the WIN,
far thew say, and awakes hungry and
angry with the first ray OF the returning
snH He bursts the CONCEALED covering of
tre water. sends the ice foes drifting,
5rives the fish from their haunts, and
causes the streams to overflow. In the last
week in March, therefore, before the ice be-
Gins to break, the peasants in rural Russia
Start the Death Week. celebrations by
nrena-ing q sacrifice for the "Vodyanoi,"
30 that he shall not be kept waiting when
he ayakes from his winter sleep. They
meet in a village where the celebration is
70 take place, and subscribe a sum of
money for the purchase Of young horse.
THE HORSE MUST NOT BE A GIFT.
The animal must not be gift. but bought
for money; It must not be bargalned for,
and no one person must contribute more
than another to the amount required. The
horse is taken to stable specially reserved
for the gift to the "Vodyanoi," and FED for
three days on bread and oilcaze. The
fourth day, at midnight. the horse Is taken
from the stall and conducted to the nearest
river or stream, the villagers following IN
body The name is decorated with red rib
bons, the head smeared with honey, the
legs are tied together and a couple of MILL
stones secured TO the neck. Then hole is
made in the ice and the horse thrown into
the water, living sacrifice TO the "Vod~
ysno."
Fisher folk in the Archangel district
pour quantity of fat into the water in
stead of throwing in horse; and the mil
Iers of the Ukraine cast the horses head
into the river, and not the living animal.
After appeAslng the Water Spirit, the
House Spirit the "Domovoi,n calls for a
sacrifice. He awakes on the night Of
March 25, and will only wait three days
for his offering. So on returning from the
riverside the villagers prepare a suitable
gift for him. They take fat. black pig f,
kill it, and cut it into as many pieces as
there ara residents in the place. Each resi-
dent receives one piece, which he straight
way buries under the doorstep at the en-
trance to his house. In some parts, it is
said, the country folk bury q few eggs be-
meath the threshold of the dwelling to pro-
pitiate the "Domovoi.p
ONE OF THE PECULIAR CEREMONIES.
On the following day the ceremony
known as the "Lyalya" takes place. The
''Lyalyan is not the goddess Of spring, but
a personihcation Of the season. Ths oere-
mony of the day is known as the "Lyalynik,"
and only young unmarried girls take part
in it. They all meet in a field outside she
village, and select one who is to be the
with crown Of green stuff on her head
and a staff, decorated with green leaves, in
her hands. Barefooted the girls perambu-
late the village. headed by the "Lyalya,"
stopping at certain dwellings settled upon
beforehand. At the first of the houses
where halt is made a cake prepared over
night is handed the party. At the next
they receive basket containing as many
eggs as there are girls III the procession, and
one over. At the third house they get a
measure Of mixed grain. Preceded still by
the "Lyalys," they leave the village, stop
ping, however at the last house, where an
egg Is taken from the hasketful and threwn
clear over the roof. The party now makes
the round of the fields belonging to the viii
lage, each one dipping her hand into the
grain measure, and strewing few OF the
seeds over the ground. This is supposed Co
insure fertility the coming year.
When all the fields have been travefsed
the procession returns to the spot whence
a start was made; the cake and eggs are di-
yded, and each girl returns to her home.
The egg and cake must not be eaten, but
are preserved as charms against ell sorts of
misfortune.
a MOST CURIOUS SUPERSTITION.
The young women who have taken part
N the procession Gao, IL they are curious
that gay, ascertain on the night of the
'Lyalya" whether they are likely to marry
N-lhlu me COURSE OF the neXC GWelVe months,
and II so, in which month. They must
procure an onion and take off twelve lay
ers, and put them in a row between the
pieces OF the "Lyalya" cake and egg.
Each layer Of onion represents a month,
and If one of them be quite dry in the morn
ing, 1t Is sign of marriage, and the order
IN which the pieos stands shows the month
In which the marriage will take place.
All Is now really for the ceremony of
driving out death, from which the week de
rlye3 its designation. Early in the morn-
Ing the residents of the village, men.
women and children, meet in the market
place. Some bring packages of rags and
Oh clothes, others bundles Of straw, long
SUCKS, and cross pieces. Out OF these, three
or four expert hands accustomed TO the
work manufacture dummy ngure resemb-
ing an old woman. The face is painted
and made as hideous as possible. This is
tne figure OF Desth-Death, according to
SIaVonic mythology, being a woman. The
dummy Is placed aloft upon a long pole,
which Is given to a sturdy peasant who is
dressed out in what is left Of the rngs and
tatters Used IN the construction of the fig
ure. The men then arm themselves with
WHIPS and whistles. the women and chill
uren BRING pots ana pans and iron kettles
any utensils, in fact, they can bang upon
auu make chatter with-and the process
elon starts, the peasant carrying the i'm