Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/306

 258 The Dancing-Tower Processions of Italy.

At Gubbio, Florence, and Viterbo the objects are known as Ceri ; at Vicenza as the R^ia ; at Nola as Gigli. They range from 16 feet to lOO feet in height and are conical and hollow. As a rule, they seem to be slender, though that of Palermo was 72 feet broad ; and they are in some cases composed of platforms from four to seven in number, one above the other. The whirling movement is recorded of all save those of Palermo and Viterbo.

Many details are given, but it is difficult to lay much stress on them owing to the great diversity of the different celebrations. At the present day it is difficult to say what is modern accretion, what is really of olden time. Even in the case of the features whose antiquity is vouched for we have to face the question of how far syncretism, or, if not syncretism, convergence of type, has been at work. Until we have a complete collection both of the older accounts (Montaigne gives one of the Florence celebration, and there are possibly many more) and of more modern descriptions, it seems hopeless to try to extract the kernel and say " this is a portion of the original festival." But until this can be done we are dealing with aitiological myths, not scientific theories.

On the whole, the most hopeful side on which to approach the problem is that of the date and general character of the celebration. The whirling motion cannot, it is true, be satisfactorily explained ; but we have a sufficient number of analogies in the way of spring and summer processions to be able to offer an opinion on the basis suggested above.

There are two well-marked types of processions : the first moves in an odour of sanctity and dispenses the holy influence wherever the holy image goes. Of this type are the progresses of Nerthus and Nehalennia, of Ceres and Dionysus, of the Babylonian gods, and perhaps even of Jaganarth. In more modern times we have the carrying of images round the fields in order to bless the crops. The second is intended, not to diffuse utana, but to disinfect the locality by attracting the evil influences with a view to their removal. On the west coast of Africa we find such an expulsion of evils, animal figures being made, into which the evil spirits are believed to pass, and which are subsequently thrown into the river. Of this type, too, are, in all probability, some familiar European celebrations.