The Tupelo journal., 1906-04-13
Caster Customs
of @anp 1anos
Quaint Practices Found Wherever
the Day Is Observed

toms are in vogue at the Eas-
~~~ ter season in many lands
Many &C these customs date back to
centuries ago. and the legends OF their
o%rigination 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 a 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 a 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 a very pretty
sight. After the young girls the older
people walk in procession. The cler-
gy, in their robes, and acolytes, car
rying a large gilded cross, walk at
the head of the procession to the
church. There the people lay offerings
of money Ut 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 it on the person who opens the
door, if it is a woman The funny
part is that the more drenched the vic
tins are the better they like it, as they
think it 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 a
window or door or as they. pass a
drinking place in the street.
Instilled by nursery lore and very
ancient is the belief of German chill
dren that on Easter eve a snow-white
hare visits every household where the
the little folks have been good, ODE
dent, truthful and kind to each 9TH
err" since the previous Easter. Timid
after the nature of it's kind. it waits
until everybody is asleep and then
soft-footed it brings and secretes in
odd out-of-the-way places any num-
Der of lovely, wonderful colored eggs
that the children may find and enjoy
on Easter morning.
Many familiar pictures of scenes in
the Tyrol are the representation of the
Easter custom. The men go about in
their picturesque costumes, their broad
brimmed hats trimmed with fresh
flowers, and sing the Easter hymns
to the accompaniment of their guitars.
The people come out to the doors Of
their houses and join in the choruses,
and treat the singers with hospitality,
giving them eggs and wine. All day
they continue their ceremony. and
when the night comes on children
accompany them, bearing lighted
torches.
In the Greek church the custom still
maintains Of exchanging an egg with
each person one meets, with the salu-
tation, Christ is risen," the person
accepting the egg replying: HE is
risen indeed" The eggs are colored
red in commemoration of the shedding
Of Christ's blood.
In ancient days it was a practice
among the preachers to introduce
facetious stories into their sermons on
Easter, to set the example OF the dis
persing of the gloom of the Lenten
season.