Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/209

 Folklore from the Southern Sporades. i8i

lay them upon the tombs of their dead. Children, beggars

or strangers may eat them. The feast at the tomb was a

regular institution amongst the ancients, and this is no

doubt a survival of it. On May 21, in February before the

Carnival, and at one other time, they make dishes of

macaroni and cheese, or boil corn, and the dishes are taken

from one house to the next. The same quantity is brought

in as was taken out.

Miscellaneous Superstitions and Omens. The Evil Eye

{to /adri, /SaaKavla), which has already been mentioned, is

feared in these islands, as everywhere. Skulls are set up in

the vineyards on stakes, to ward it off, in Rhodes, Cos, and

Samos. On the lintel of a new house a piece of wild onion

{dypioKpofi/jivSa or daKcXapovSa) is hung to keep off the

Evil Eye. There is a Sacred Tree in Cos, near the village

of Aspendiou, beside a little chapel. Opposite the tree

there is a small window in the chapel. A sick child is

brought in by the door and passed out through the window,

if not too big, three times ; then some prayer is said, and a

rag of the child's clothes is hung on the tree. Large trees

are for the most part haunted (crTot^^etara), and if you sleep

under one of them the spirit strikes you {^vKaei)} Rivers

and springs are haunted likewise; the spirits usually appear

as beautiful women, but sometimes they take the shape of

foam. Spirits of the springs throttle men. You must

never sweep after sunset, for this is a sin. A sneeze means

that some one is speaking of you ; a loud sneeze that he is

speaking ill of you. People on hearing a sneeze utter some

prayer or ejaculation, in which the title of 7repi8pofio<i

(" run-about ") is given to the Deity. A noise in the ear

betokens some evil which is to befall you. If a hen makes

a noise like crowing, it is a bad omen." When a woman

' Cos, Samos.


 * Mr. Marriage sends me the couplet :

A whistling maid and a crowing hen

Are hateful alike to God and men. Compare also Teience, J'honnio, iv. 4, 27, ^allina cccinit, a portent.