The Globe-republican., 1906-04-12
Caster Customs
Of @lanp lambs
Quaint Practices Found Wherever
the Day Is Observed


1df toms are in vogue at the Eas-
~%V ter season in many lands.
Many of these customs date back to
centuries ago, and the legends of their
origination are almost obscured in an
tiquity. Such, for example, is the
practice of lifting" from which our
present nursery game of making a
chair" by two children clasping hands
for a third to sit upon was derived.
This was an old Easter custom in
which two persons lifted a third three
times.
If anyone refused to be lifted, he or
she must pay slight forfeit, forfeits
being applied to buy refreshments
after the village games. A kindred
custom was that which prevailed in
the Yorkshire villages, Of taking the
buckles from each others shoes and
demanding forfeit for their return,
the earnings being applied to the same
end as those obtained in the lifting
In Hungary, when Easter Sunday
comes everything Is gladness.
Wreaths of green leaves are hung in
the windows, and the young girls of
the towns and villages, all dressed In
white, walk in a procession to the
church, carrying branches of the bud
ding spring leaves. 1t is very pretty
sight. After the young girls the older
people walk In procession. The cler-
gy, in their robes, and acolytes, car
rying large gilded cross, walk at
the head Of the procession to the
church. There the people lay offerings
of money at the feet of the holy image.
Easter Monday is the favorite we'd
ding day among the Hungarians, as
it is thought that marriages made on
that day are sure to be fortunate, so
the priests are kept very busy.
The custom called watering" on
Easter Monday is extremely odd, and
people who have Travelled and studied
much say that it is not to be found
in any other country save Hungary
he men take water in bottles and
pitchers and throw it over the girls
they meet in the street, whom they
know, or call at their houses and
throw 1t on the person who opens the
door, If 1t Is a woman. The funny
part is that the more drenched the vic
Tins are the better they like it, as they
think 1t brings them good fortune for
the year. Everybody used to do this,
but now the fashionable young men
take spraying bottles of perfume. On
Tuesday the young women retaliate,
and the men often find themselves
drenched, most Unexpectedly, from q
window or door or as they pass
place in the street
Instilled by nursery lore and very
ancient is the belief of German chill
lren that on Easter eve snow-white
hare visits every household where the
The little folks have been good, ODE
lient, truthful and kind to each 9TH
Or" since the previous Easter. Timid
after the nature of its kind. 1t waits
Until everybody is asleep and then |
1t brings and secretes in
i'd out-of-the-way places any num-
Der of lovely, wonderful colored eggs
hat the children may find and enjoy |
IN Easter morning.
Many familiar pictures Of scenes in
he Tyrol are the representation of the |
Caster custom. The men go about in |
heir picturesque costumes, their broad |
hats trimmed with fresh |
lowers, and sing the Easter hymns
o the accompaniment Of their guitars.
rhe people come out to the doors of
heir houses and join In the choruses,
md treat the singers with hospitality,
diving them eggs and wine. All day
they continue their ceremony, and
when the night comes on children
accompany them, bearing lighted
orches.
In ancient days 1t was a practice
.mong the preachers to introduce
acetious stories into their sermons on
Iaster, to set the example of the dis
'ersing Of the gloom Of the Lenten
eason. !