Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 3, 1892.djvu/230

222 same fashion, beginning with the first month-name, Alàhamàdy, at the north-eastern corner, that is, the sacred part of the house, where the family charm was placed, and where prayers and invocations were offered. The inmates, on each day, had to take particular care not to go to the corner or side assigned to that particular day, or, at all events, not to place a sick person there, for, by so doing, they would provoke the spirit of that region. (See diagram herewith given.)



Mr. Dahle says that the vìntana is really the key to the whole system of idolatry in Madagascar, and to everything connected with it, at least so far as it got any real hold on the people; while the sikìdy practice is also closely mixed up with it, although many points still need further investigation.

B.—The last division of the subject, that of San-àndro or Planetary Vìntana, must be discussed very briefly. The word san-àndro, in its use among the Malagasy, means the peculiarities or character of the days of the week as depending on the Seven Planets, considered as governors of these days. The following is a list of the days of the