Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/235

 Collectanea. 2 1 3

PlEDMONTESE FOLKLORE, I.

The following miscellaneous notes were gathered during rambles through Piedmont in 1911-12, at the same time as material which has already appeared in Folk-Lore}

Birth. — At Pragelato an infant to be baptized is always carried to the church by the godfather upon his shoulder, in a cradle covered with a white cloth decorated with coloured ribbons. After baptism the cliild is handed to the godmother, wlio returns it to the nurse. The godmother must also blow out the candle carried by her at the baptism ; if she succeeds at her first attempt, the child will live long and be fortunate, but if she fails there will be bad luck. (In some places, if the candle is blown out by the wind during the ceremony, it is most unlucky, and the child will die within the year.) The baptism is followed by a feast called the babiage. Many guests are invited, and they all kiss each other. It is held in the mother's house, and each comer, except the god- father, brings a basket of grissi/ii,- eggs, butter, sugar, and coffee as a present. At Rua all the women go together to visit the mother, and take her bread and sugar.

At Finestrelle it is said that the mother must never rock the cradle if the child is not in it, or the child will be ill.

Death. — If a child dies at Pragelato, its bier is ornamented with flowers and ribbons. In the funeral procession the nearest relations walk first and are expected to cry a great deal, and all who attend are given a candle, which is afterwards put in the church. There is no professional undertaker, but a neighbour fills his part, and after the burial is given a feast, together with those who have made the coffin and those who have watched the corpse. When parents die, children wear mourning for three years. During the first sixteen months women wear on their shoulders a white handkerchief, and then in succession handkerchiefs of black, coffee colour, and, last of all, green. Men wear first white ties and then black. For sisters and brothers mourning lasts a year; during the first six months a brown handkerchief is worn, for the next three

457-8 ; " Piedmontese Proverbs in Dispraise of Woman," supra, pp. 91-6.
 * "Courtship, Marriage, and Folk-Belief in Val d'Ossala," vol. xxiii., pp.

2 Grissttii are the hollow pieces of bread, about as thick as a finger and three yards long, which are common in Piedmont.