The Washington herald., 1918-06-10


The Harvest.
The celebration of the Harvest,
which will be shown by the Jugoslav
Group SERBS. Croats and Slovenesy,
in the Fourth OF July pageant De-
mocracy Triumphant" to be given in
Washington under the joint auspices
Of the Community Center Department
of the Public Schools and the Drama
League Of America, is considered
throughout the Jugoslay lands as the
principal Popular festival OF the, year.
p The JuSosiavs are a peasant natioh,
ninety per cent of them being farm
ers. and their sentiments. their
thoughts and their labor Is closely
bound with the soil they till, and with
all events which are in the least cnr-
nected with their fields, vineyards and
orchards.
No love is deeper than that felt by
a Jugoslav peasant for his "crna
zemlja" Cblack SOLD. 1t is not only
his bread-winner, II is part OF himself,
a living being with its own soul full
Of miraculous whisperings. which
only he, the master and lover. under
stands. They are talking together,
they sing to each other wonderful
songs, they embrace each other In a
wanton profuslon of unearthly love,
and they both become innocent chill
dren, playing the game OF eternity.
They never part. Day and night they
are at work for the festival Of har-
vest. And not before the harvest Is
brought under the roof does the
thought OF profit enter the peasant
head. From the spring day on which
his plow makes the first cut into the
surface of his soil. to the day OF load
ing the grain for the market, the
farming is a succession of Joy and
poesy. or Of sorrow and anxiety, but
almost entirely devoid OF material
considerations.
Going to His Field.
Going to his field, working on his
field, and returning home from his
field, the Jugoslav peasant sings.
The song is the supreme expression
of his disposition all over the farm
ing seasons. Jugoslav folklore is
crowded with farmer-songs. And
everyone Of these songs breathes in
wonderful simplicity the thousand
fold perfume of natures magnitude,
And almost everyone has in 1t a
grain of that "voix de fecondite"i
which from NEUROLOGICAL times on
ward, and somewhat paganly exer-
cises the pale-yeilow golf or. har-
vest.
The harvest is the great event.
1t is the synthesis\of all that is es-
sential in the peasants life; II is
the reward for the work done, and
IL Is an answer for all the songs
with which his loving heart soften
ed the plough's' knife, with which
it intermingled the seed before de-
livering 1t to the bosom of the soil.
But it is something more. 1t is
the symbol of liberty, the image oil
independence. Centuries of slavery
and oppression have made harvest
home the festival of prayer and
longing. The peasants feel that
the soil they love and till does not
belong to them as their own fully
and limitIess, that they are tenants
OF a hated master who does notl
understand their language, their
songs and their soul. A master who
has put them into spiritual, ma
terial and economical bondage, and
NS cNpANiNo eiSAA bC6L dUlllLltS IOE
his antinational and selfish ends.
The love for the soil which ripens
his harvest extends to the soil Of
his neighbor in a sense of brotherly
cummunity, and from the neigh
bor's soil it spreads its wings over
and valleys. over fields
and forests, all over the lands
where live those akin to him, those
who understand his songs, and the
Joys and SORROWS Of ts~tunes. The
country and the nation! The ear oil
his wheat, the boundle of his
neighbors. the granary of his ma
tion all strive toward one goal-to-
wards the harvest OF liberty. And |
year after year the harvest home is,
a new candle lighted on the altar
OF freedom.
The Harvest Festival
Hervest-festival itself by its outer
appearance presents picture of wan-
ton JOY. Already the days of reaping |
make the fields shake with song and |
laughter. No day Is long enough. no
work Is hard enough to make people |
hred or morose. The old ones are
under the spell Of youth. and the
iouth is under the spell OF harvest
'airies. The pale-yellow gold trembles