Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/12

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [ii8.xii.juLY3.i9i5.

FOLK-LORE OF CYPRUS. (Concluded from US. xi. 488.)

PARTICULAR foods are " by custom " only eaten at particular times. During the Lent and Advent fasts snails are much eaten, boiled and mixed into a pilaf of rice. But .although the natives eat garden snails, shell- fish are practically unknown as an article of food. A kind of caviar is also prepared for the fasting periods, but never eaten at other times. The native cuisine is of the most 'limited kind, and -seems to consist of the eternal greasy stew of mutton and vegetables, without variety in flavour or materials. Cold meat is absolutely unknown to the Cypriot, and he eats a plate of boiled beans in oil during the fasting days only. Goats- milk cheese is also eaten at all times except during Lent and Advent. William Turner in his 'Travels,' published in 1815, refers to the peasants of Cyprus, who have a curious superstition which prevents them from eating the flesh of oxen, cows, or calves, or drinking cows' milk. He supposes this superstition to have descended from the ancient Egyp- tians, when the island was under the govern- ment of the Ptolemies. In the rural dis- tricts this prejudice against beef and cows' milk still continues, although in the towns a taste for veal and butter is certainly increasing.

I may add a few notes as to popular super- stitions with regard to good fortune or the contrary. When a funeral passes down a street the house servants throw a cup of Water on the doorsill of each house before which the body is carried. When any one leaves home on a journey, no brushing-up or cleaning of the floor may take place " behind him," but such necessities must be deferred until the morrow. To spill oil is of bad augury, but to upset wine is a good sign, if the direction which it takes is observed. Upsetting salt or pepper brings about a quarrel. One should never pass' in front of any one asleep ; and to move the feet about after one is seated is supposed to presage evil.

There are several words which, although understood, are never used if another ex- pression, or the form omoloitos ("it is under- stood"), can be substituted for them. For example, it is supposed that if the word "bilious" is used to a person suffering from colic, he will be prevented from vomiting, however much he may desire it.

Magic and exorcism the one to counter- act the other are freely practised and believed in. Professional magicians are to

be found in all corners of the island, enjoying more or less reputation for all the various services which such people usually perform in an ignorant community.

The manner in which religious shrines come into existence, not only in the primitive Levant, but elsewhere, is often very curious. A priesthood compelled to maintain its existence with difficulty amidst poverty and ignorance, crushed beneath the exactions of an alien government, appears unable to control superstitious developments among its people, or prevent the frauds and impostures to which all religions are susceptible.

In Cyprus, as in other districts of the Levant, may be found private speculative shrines within the houses of the people. These are usually in the form of a chamber set apart for the worship of an eikon. In Nicosia there is to be seen, within a small ordinary room, an eikon in embossed silver representing the Annunciation, the two heads of Virgin and Angel being painted ; its box-like frame is surrounded by tawdry curtains and a number of wax candles, and in front of it hangs a lighted lamp. The wall on which the eikon hangs is also festooned with a string of small gilt coins, bracelets, beads, &c., and little figures in silver, all of which are evidently votive offerings. Amongst its decorations are also flowers and sprays of orange-blossom. Beneath the eikon is a small closed box for money offerings.

As is here described, such a shrine, containing a wonder - working picture, is intended to attract worshippers for medico - religious purposes ; their offerings go to the owner of the eikon, who in this particular instance claims that it was painted by an ancestor in Smyrna two hundred years ago, who was a very holy man. In course of time, with additional enterprise on the part of some speculating " puppa," this shrine will develope into a frequented church, or even a monastery.

"Piles of stones are built up and still venerated on the sites of hundreds of churches which have long ago fallen into ruins, and the Cypriote is never at a loss to ascribe the holy spot to a par- ticular saint. On the patron's festival a little incense is still burnt there, and the ashes placed on the altar in a potsherd. When no stone of the walls remains upon another, loose stones are col- lected and piled up rudely in the outline of a church." Hogarth's ' Devia,' p. 30.

So strongly rooted is the belief in the efficacy of holy eikons in cases of sickness, that St. George seems to usurp the functions of Apollo, and Aphrodite, in some of her attributes, appears under the form of the Virgin Mary.