Page:Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization.djvu/269

Rh It appears, however, that the Eastern and Western churches differed widely in their treatment of the old rite. The Western clergy discountenanced, and, as far as they could, put down the needfire: but in Russia it was not only allowed, but was (and very likely may be still) practised under ecclesiastical sanction, the priest being the chief actor in the ceremony. This interesting fact seems not to have been known to Grimm and Kuhn, and the following passage, which proves it, is still further remarkable as asserting that the ancient fire-making by friction was still used in Russia for practical as well as ceremonial purposes in the last century. It is contained in an account of the adventures of four Russian sailors, who were driven by a storm upon the desert island of East-Spitzbergen. "They knew, however, that if one rubs violently together two pieces of dry wood, one hard and the other soft, the latter will catch fire. Besides this being the way in which the Russian peasants obtain fire when they are in the woods, there is also a religious ceremony, performed in every village where there is a church, which could not have been unknown to them. Perhaps it will be not disagreeable for me here to give an account of this ceremony, though it does not belong to the story. The 18th of August, Old Style, is called by the Russians Frol i Lavior, these being the names of two martyrs, called Florus and Laurus in the Roman Kalendar; they fall, according to this latter, on the 29th of the said month, when the Festival of the Beheading of John is celebrated. On this day the Russian peasants bring their horses to the village church, at the side of which they have dug the evening before a pit with two outlets. Each horse has his bridle, which is made of limetree bark. They let the horses, one after the other, go into this pit, at the opposite outlet of which the priest stands with an asperging-brush in his hand, with which he sprinkles them with holy water. As soon as the horses are come out, their bridles are taken off, and they are made to go between two fires, which are kindled with what the Russians call Givoy agon, that is, 'living fire,' of which I will give the explanation, after remarking that The peasants throw the bridles of the horses into one of