Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/206

 178 Folklore from the Southern Sporades.

a lamb or a kid is killed, put in a dish, and roasted in the oven, and afterwards eaten. A cross is then made over the door of the house. On Easter Day, a straw image is made of Judas which is hung up, shot at with guns, and finally burnt. ^ On the First of May, as elsewhere in Greek lands and here, garlands are hung over the doors, made of flowers, with (jKop^a (heads of garlic) in them. These are left hanging till they drop, as a protection against the Evil Eye. A curious custom is usual on June 24, the Birth of John the Baptist (6 7rp6Spofjio<i, "the Forerunner"). John is here called A^ Tcdvvr]<i 6 KkrjZova'i." The title is derived from kXtjScov, a "call," or "voice of omen." I have no particulars from Cos of the divination described in the authorities quoted above, though I have reason to know it is practised. But in Cos there is an addition to the ordinary custom. Villagers flock into the capital for this day, and some representative of each village bears a ring or some recognisable token. These are dropped into a cup of water, which is left out in the open air all night. Then in the morning all gather together ; a woman is chosen who knows many songs, and she repeats a nice and a nasty song [aa')(7] 1x0) alternately.

' The same custom is observed elsewhere. A photograph of Judas from

Thebes is shown herewith. Mr. M. E. Marriage writes: "Perhaps a per-

onification of winter now to be killed. In Heidelberg, winter as a straw man,

still driven out of the town on Laetare Sunday, three weeks before Easter. See Grimm, Myth. (Gott, 1854) p. 724 ff. ; Uhland, Abhandlungai iiber das Volkslicd, chap. i. In all or nearly all the sham fights between Summer and Winter so widespread in Germany, Summer wears ivy and winter straw."

- My informant derived this word from Kkvhiav (quasi icXvboyas), because "storms recur at that season." This, however, is a mistake. See A. Thumb, Zur Neugriechischen Volks\imde, Der Klidonas (Zeitschr. der Vereins f. Volks- kunde, 1892, pp. 392 ff.). Tiie custom is common. For Chios, see Ka»'eXXa)Cj;s, XiaKo. 'AvoXeicra (Athens, 1890), p. 321 ; for Crete, Jeannarakis, Cretas Volks- ieder (Leipz., 1876), p. 340 ; both these on the Feast of St. John. In Cyprus we find it on May i or 3 ; 2a/ceXXaptos, KvTrpiaKa, vol. i. p, 709. In Thessaly, May i ; 'Eerrta (1890) vol. i. p. 261. In Aegina, the Feast of John the Baptist and Ascension Day ; Tlpdypa/i/ia roi) ey Atyevr/'EAA. (T^oXelov, Athens, 1890, p. i. Compare Passow, Carmina Pop. Gr., p. 614, and see above, page 155.