Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/473

 Notes from Armenia. 443

sanctifying of such first-fruits is a religious rite of the first order, and " after partaking of the sanctified fruits, a man is himself sanctified for the whole year, and may imme- diately get in his crops" {Golden Bough, ii., 326, &c.). The custom commonly marks the beginning of a new year amongst the tribe that practises it, and is associated with the purification of the home and the production of the new fire. The custom will, however, vary both as to the time of the year when it is practised and in the manner in which it is carried out, according as the harvest is one of corn, wine, oil, or other products ; and in the case of a vintage it may either be the first-fruits of the grapes or it may be the permission to drink the new wine of the year which has been produced from the new grapes.

Thus at Rome, if we may judge from the existence of two festivals by the name of Vinalia in the calendars, April ^3rd and August 19th, there was a day in spring for the sanctifying of new wine and a day in autumn for the sanctifying of the ripening grape. (See Warde Fowler, Roman Festivals, under Vinalia.)

It was my good fortune accidentally to light upon the Jacobite Syrian festival of the consecration of the grapes, and to take part in it. In passing through Adiaman I made the acquaintance of the priest of the old Syrian Church, and was invited by him to assist in the celebration of St. Thomas' day by reading a sedra at the Church service. This I consented to do, without reflecting that, even if I could decipher the Syriac of the hymn, I should be quite guiltless of the tune to which it ought to be sung. The result was, as might be expected, an ignominious break- down, and the going up higher of a more worthy guest, who made the welkin ring with the praises of the apostle. In the course of the service I was surprised to see bunches of new grapes brought forward, offered on the altar with appropriate prayers, and then disintegrated and given, berry after berry, with small fragments of blessed bread,