Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/62

 50 Some Notes on the Huculs.

the timber from the mountains as far as Odessa; and Armenian merchants brought them beautiful weapons from Hungary or Constantinople.

These happy times have passed away; the levelling modern institutions of school and the military system have proved unpropitious. To-day, owing to these courses, and more particularly to the settlement of Jews in their midst, one can hardly find one rich Hucul. All these circumstances have contributed to the fast decay of his wealth and his pride, and some twenty years ago the finishing touch was put, when the railway from Lemberg through Worochta to Hungary was opened.

The imaginary world in which the Hucul lives still differs widely from the real one. He believes that the air and surface of the earth are inhabited by innumer- able spirits (night-spirits, forest-spirits, etc.). He is extremely pious with regard to religious observances and ceremonies, although his morality would not be approved by an Englishman. On rising in the morning he makes the sign of the Cross three times, and recites a prescribed prayer. The same is done on going to bed and before and after every meal. When leaving his home he makes the sign of the Cross on the threshold of his room. Not only does he celebrate the numerous feasts prescribed by the Greek Church, but also those of Saint George, Elijah, and other saints. Many ceremonies which have been brought down from pagan times are observed on these days besides the religious ones, and even the religious ones are for the most part pagan in origin. Fasting in Lent is observed with the utmost rigour. For forty days the Huculs, as well as all other Ruthenian peoples, forego all meat : especially conscientious in this are the young girls, as they are persuaded that fasting assures them an early marriage.

Pagan creeds have so mingled with Christian ones that the latter are often degraded. A general belief is