Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/355

Rh thought she would raise chickens on her own account, and accordingly she set a few hens on eggs. Some few weeks later, I asked if the chickens were doing well, and she told me none had hatched out, adding that the old women on the farm had asked her how she could expect them to do so, seeing that she herself had hopes of becoming a mother at some rather distant date. I could not account for this, to me, quite new idea, but I always hoped to find some day an explanation of it. This I never did find till in reading Golden Bough ("The Magic Art," vol. i. p. 114) I found there was an idea prevalent among certain peoples or tribes that an influence benign or malignant might be exercised by an expectant mother. I then asked one of my old Gaelic speaking servants if they knew of the existence of any such fancies in the district, and she said "Yes," that the old people would be saying "that if a woman set a hen on eggs under these circumstances, either the eggs would hatch out, and the expected child would die before birth, or if all went well with the child, the eggs would certainly prove unfertile.

Phāg festival takes place at the full moon of the month of Phāgun (February-March), and corresponds with the Hindu celebrations of the Holi. The five deities hibernate during the winter months, going to sleep when snow commences to fall and not waking up again until their worshippers arouse them. The awakening takes place at the Phāg festival, and, although the rejoicings are often premature, they are intended to celebrate the advent of spring and the passing of winter. Each temple has a small window let into an outer wall of the second storey, and opening into the chamber where the images of the god are kept. A miniature image is placed below the window inside the room. A day or two previous to the full moon, two sides are chosen from the god's subjects, each consisting of from eight to eleven men. One party represents the god's defenders, the other his awakeners; but