Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/228

220 of these heavenly bodies, and consequently at the mercy of those who are supposed to understand these often very intricate affairs. People are generally under the spell of those who know their destiny beforehand (while they do not know it themselves), who have the power of remedying the evils of it, and are able to tell them both what they ought to do, and when they should do it. When we remember the great influence that astrologers had over emperors, kings, and princes during the Middle Ages, and even far into the 17th century, we can easily understand what powers they must have had (and still have) in a country like Madagascar."

With regard to lucky and unlucky days, the following remarks may be made:

1. Although the different months were thought to have their peculiar character (according to the constellations they were named from) and their special piacula and offerings, etc., it does not appear that one month was considered more unlucky than another. The difference in this respect was a difference between the different days of the month; which, it must be remembered, were named after the month-names also, eight having two, and four three, days respectively allotted to each, as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of Alàhamàdy; 1st and 2nd of Adaoro; and so on, but each of the twenty-eight being also called by the names of the Manazil-ul-kamari, or moon-stations.

2. The characters of the days evidently did not depend so much on from what month-name it took, as on what moon-station it represented. Therefore we often find two successive days with the same name common to both, of which one was considered good, the other bad. E.g., the 1st and 2nd of Asòrotàny were good, and were, and are still, favourite days for fàmadìhana (the ceremony of removing corpses from an old family grave to a new one); but the 3rd day was considered bad.

3. Some days were considered absolutely bad; e.g., the 3rd of Asòrotàny the 2nd of Asombòla, the 2nd of