Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 3 (Celtic and Slavic).djvu/363

Rh women chant dirges of a peculiar sort, while the men roll eggs blessed by the priest. A cloth is then spread over the family grave, and the provisions and a bottle of vodka arc placed upon it, after which the family sit in a circle round It and invite the forefathers to join their banquet. All present eat and drink, talking about the dead; and what is left of the food is distributed among the beggars, a great number of whom assemble at the cemetery, or else it is left on the graves. Egg-shells and even whole eggs are buried in the grave, and lamentations and funeral dirges conclude the ceremony.

The summer dziadys are kept in a similar way on the Saturday preceding Whitsunday, when the graves are swept clean with sprigs of birch, this being called "giving the Dziadys a steam-bath."

All who desire to avoid the anger of the forefathers and thus guard their family against misfortune should keep the dziadys, the only persons exempt being those families that have removed to a new dwelling erected in another place. As soon, however, as a member of the household dies In the new home, the dziadys ought to be celebrated; and If the family has moved into a house where the dziadys were previously observed, It is necessary for them to Inquire as to the way In which this was done, since any deviation from the usual ceremony, as In the serving of the dishes, may rouse the anger of the forefathers and bring misfortune.

Other designations of the funeral ceremonies (pominki) are found In Russia: the autumnal rites are termed roditelskiye suhoty ("parental Saturdays"), the vernal are navskiy velikden or naviy den ("great death-day," or "death-day"), and the summer semik ("Whitsunday").

In Bulgaria the common obsequies (zadušnica) are celebrated five or four times annually, but mostly thrice, i. e. on the Saturday before St. Demetrius, before the Great Fast (Lent), and before Whitsunday, the commemorations being similar to the spring dziadys in Russia. Besides these, there are rites