Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/76

 44 Serbian Habits and Cnstonis.

of the State, of the laws, of the Christian religion provided with a greater authority, of the foundation of a good number of schools, of the installation of doctors, of national civilisation, of changes and amelioration of daily occupa- tion, in the free Serbian countries (Serbia and Montenegro) the ancient habits and customs are gradually disappearing.

The actual state of Serbian habits and customs is as follows : In the provinces which, all too recentl}-, were imder the Turkish domination and particularh' in the mountainous districts where the communications were difficult, and where the villages were small and scattered, they remained numerous and active. There even to-day the people live almost completely according to ancient customs, and from the time of their conception even to the time that follows their death they are surrounded with local traditions. The relation of the parents towards the foetus, birth, childhood, adolescence, marriage, daily life, death, and even the fate of the soul after death, — all is ruled by their traditions. It is not only the individual life that the customs rule, but it is also the life of the family, the commonality and the tribes. This state of affairs exists in several regions of Macedonia, Old Serbia, Dalmatia, Montenegro and Herzegovina.

Beyond these provinces in East and North, where com- munications are more developed and where civilisation has made some progress, habits and customs are much rarer and weaker ; there they have lost their restrictive power, and a good man\' have disappeared. This state of things exists in Serbia in the \alleys of the Bosnia, in Banat, in Slavonia and in Backa.

In big towns and in their surroundings, particularly in those which were not under the Turkish domination, modern civilisation had such an influence that the habits dis- appeared completely, or else the inhabitants preserved them simply as survivals, as holy relics of the past or as. national symbols.