Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/398

 370 The Magical and Ceremonial Uses of Fi^^e.

saying that the new divine fire had purged away the sins of the past year. He told the women that if they had left any of the old fire burning, or if they were in any way impure, they must immediately depart "lest the divine fire should spoil both them and the people." Some of this new fire was then placed outside the holy ground and the women carried it home, and by it rekindled their own hearths. Sometimes this fire was carried for several miles. ^ Among all Slavic people the hearth-fire is sacred, it is never allowed to go out, and, should it do so, it is regarded as a great calamity. On certain festivals new fire is made, but the most highly prized of all is the " living fire." The methods of making this fire are interesting, as they are the more primitive processes of fire-making which were commonly used in the past, but are now survivals, used only for ceremonial purposes. In the mountains of Old Serbia two children are employed to make this fire — a boy and a girl of from eleven to fourteen years old. They are led into a perfectly dark chamber, where they have to strip off all their clothes, and are not allowed to speak a word. Two pieces of wood are handed to each of them, and by friction fire is produced, tinder, of course, being used. This fire is dedicated to sacred uses only.^

This idea of new fire at certain periods has been taken up by the Christian Church, and now forms part of the established ritual. On Holy Saturday, in the Roman Catholic Church, new fire is made. All the lights in the church having been extinguished for Good Friday, fresh fire, usually kindled with flint and steel, is made outside the church. This fire is blessed by the priest and is carried into the building, and the lamps and candles are lighted from it.

The following information I obtained from the Rev. V. W. Lucas, who has kindly allowed me to make use of

\T- G. Frazer, Spirits of the Corn and the Wild, vol. ii. pp. 73-74. "^Intern. Archiv. fiir Ethnog. xiii. 1900, pi. i. fig. I.