Norwich bulletin., 1916-11-28
RUMANIAN CUSTOMS
 AND FOLKLORE
Peasant Are ar interesting Glass With Their Primitive Ways-Not Given to Thrift or Race Suicide.
Especial to The BuIletin.)

Washington. D. C. Nov. 27.-"The
 great bulk Of Puniania'S pvpu:atIon
 belongs to the peasant class, fJr there
 are comparatively few cities and most
 of them are small, says bulletin of
 the National Geographic Society on
 Rumanian folk-Ioce and customs, which
 gives an intimate insight f:to the
 home Iiie of tfe nation that SC recent
 iy aligned itself with the entente allies
 in the great European struggle The
 bulletin. which is based On conin1uni-
 cation to the society from John Oliver
 LaGorce, says: .its5etls s55
 Many Of these peasants live on the
 great estates, where their forebears
 for generations nave farmed for the
 absentee landlords. And an interest
 ing class these peasants form. with
 their peculiar customs, their primitive
 ways of looking at things in general.
 ".The evil Of race suicide has never
 invaded rural sRuman{a, It is regarded
 as worthy of honor o-be the head of
 large family AS in all lands where
 many of tine people are more or less il-
 literate there is a high daatE rate,
 though the fact that the bottle-fed
 baby is almost unknown in peasant
 Rumania tends tn overcome the high
 infant mortality that would otherwise
 result.
 not given to tho kind of thrift that
 leads him often to T savings bank. The patrimony of his sons and daugh- ters is more often good will, good health, and an .hohest mind that it is land, or money, oi. houses. So narrow
 is the margin upon which aa young couple starts out in life that it has come to be a proVerh among them, Married today and out at the elbows | tomorrow For children come apaee, and the prices of the things the peas ant has towseN are even lower shan. the L until his ownSlabors are supplemented by those of hiss ard daughters has 1 he much chance to prepare Cor even l the shortest of rainy days.
 l When a young Rumanian peasant 1 lads thoughts turn to love and his mind begins to incline toward mar 1 riage, he goes to his mother rather I than to his sweetheart with his tale. The mother acts as an ambassador to i the father, and if he ean be induced to 1 look with favor upon the lovers choice, l he calls in two oi his best friends in l the village, tells them of his son's dreams, and asks them to accompany | the said son to the house of the ob- | ject of loves young dreams. Mayhap the girl herself has not, received from | the youth single hint of his love, but even so, as he and his spokesmen ap- i! proach the house she suspects the ob- l ject of his visit and peeps through any crack or cranny that is convenient. If it happens to be winter the father of the girl invites the company in, and, surmisiny their nsson gives some hint as to his attitude by the way he looks after the fire. If he keeps it. burning brightly they know that he is favorable. If he lets it die down little, they understand that he Is only of an open mind on the, sub ject. But if he lets it go out entirely, there is no use arguing the question.
 The Runlanian peasant is much
 given to superstition, and he has a sign for everything. If shingles are
 not nailed on roof in the proper sign, they will turn up at the ends; if potatoessare not planted in the pro- per singn, they will grow on top of the soil and be a failure: if you have money in your pocket when you see ! the new moon, you will not sgo broke at least not until another new. moon has come SOn the. other hand, it is held to be- dangerous to announce to those in the house that the new moon I has appeared for in that case all the pots and pans in the kitchen will be | broken before the waning moon pass eS.
 When a peasant child is cf1ristened | all of those present assume the re- | lation of god-parents, and it is a 1 superstition that there must be no i inter maria ges between god fathers
 and god-mothers. The. result is that | christenings are not widely attended,
 and those with matrimonial ambitions | eschew them entirely. 1 eThe utmost care is taken by some
 to prevent child from seeing it's image in a mirror before 1t .s three
 years old. for if 1t does 1t will be-
 come a victim of the failing sickness l which will send it stumbling threugl' 1 life
 There are many customs whicf.
 c%ff n1@4,, fuence of Rome that have nersZtcd 1 through the centuries since the de- parture of~ller glory. For instance,
 there Is the old Pyrri1ic dance. the
 robes with bells on sleeves and gir- dles. The R,imaniana still shout in ' unison to prevent Saturn from hear
 ing t'e. voice Of the infant Junlter