Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/464

 434 Notes from Armenia.

mon sport of the boys, it does not differ from the Vartevar elsewhere in the matter of throwing water on the graves, it is still a serious function. Here again the Golden Bough furnishes us with parallels, e.g. (i., 91), "We are told of the Baronga in S. E. Africa that in time of drought the women must, w^hen they have cleansed the wells, go and pour water on the graves of their ancestors in the sacred grove." ' From this it appears that the Aintab custom is not modern ; it must have come down from a primitive rain- charm.

We come now to the ordinary usage of the Vartevar, and to the associated drenching of the rain-dolly. For the general illustration of water-throwing as a rain-charm, we might almost refer to Golden Bough passim.

Special cases of interest may be taken from Golden Bough, ii., 121: " We have seen that the custom of drench- ing with water a leaf-clad person, who undoubtedly per- sonifies vegetation, is still resorted to in Europe for the express purpose of producing rain. Similarly the custom of throwing water on the last corn cut at harvest, or on the person who brings it home (a custom observed in Germany and France, and till quite lately in England and Scotland), is in some places practised with the avowed intent to procure rain for the next year's crops. Thus in Wallachia and amongst the Roumanians of Transylvania, when a girl is bringing home a crown made of the last ears of corn cut at harvest, all who meet her hasten to throw water on her, and two farm-servants are placed at the door for the pur- pose ; for they believe that if this were not done the crops next year would perish from drought." And so on, in a number of similar parallels.

' Special attention is given to the graves of twins, who are called the children of the sky, and buried near a lake. Mr. Frazer says, "The reason for calling twins Children of the Sky is obscure. Are they supposed to stand in some mysterious way for the sun and moon ? " Perhaps the Dioscuri will help to explain the matter.