Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/207

 Folklore from the Southern Sporades, 179

After each song, a boy draws out one of the tokens at random ; and the song is taken to apply to the village that owns it. This, as may be imagined, is the cause of much fun and jollity, On the vigil [irapaixovrj) of St. John's Day, bonfires {(^avoi) are lighted, and the lads and lasses dance around them. The lads bind a black stone on their heads, signifying that they wish to become as strong as the stone ; they make the sign of the cross over feet and legs, and jump over the fire. As to these bonfires, an old woman of Cos suggested the following explanation, which is a good example of myth-making to explain ritual. " Doubtless," said she, " Elizabeth had arranged with her friends to announce in this way the birth of her expected son ; and the custom was kept up to commemorate it." The first three days of August are called the Spifiai<i. On these days women do no work (for it would not prosper), and wash no clothes (for they would soon wear out). The eleven days following are supposed to foreshadow the weather of the succeeding months : as the fourth is, so will September be, the fifth shows October, and so on. The fifteenth is the feast of the Assumption, closing a fortnight's strict fast. On Septem- ber I, a kind of tithe-offering is hung up in the houses, consisting of a bunch of red grapes, a pomegranate, a quince, and a bit of cotton.

At the @€0(f)dveia, or Feast of the Epiphany, twigs of olive are dipped in holy water and hung up by the icons against the Evil Eye {to fiaTi).

One quaint custom remains to be mentioned. In the centre of the island, at Antimachia, Kartarmita, and thereabout, come the month of March every one picks a switch and flicks the cattle with it, crying : MapxTy? koI Trdvoi vwpd ! " 'Tis March, and up with your tail ! " The cattle, if well and strong, at once flourish their tails and gallop away. The ceremony is supposed to be actually healthy for them, and to bring good luck. It is never done at other times, only in March. So far it is nothing out of the way, though one is reminded of

N 2