Part 29 (1/2)

[532] Rev. Dr. George Lawrie, in Sir John Sinclair's _Statistical Account of Scotland_, iii. (Edinburgh, 1792) p. 105.

[533] Letter from Dr. Otero Acevado of Madrid, published in _Le Temps_, September 1898. An extract from the newspaper was sent me, but without mention of the day of the month when it appeared. The fires on St.

John's Eve in Spain are mentioned also by J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities of Great Britain_, i. 317. Jacob Grimm inferred the custom from a pa.s.sage in a romance (_Deutsche Mythologie_,*[4] i. 518). The custom of was.h.i.+ng or bathing on the morning of St. John's Day is mentioned by the Spanish historian Diego Duran, _Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espana_, edited by J.F. Ramirez (Mexico, 1867-1880), vol. ii. p. 293. To roll in the dew on the morning of St. John's Day is a cure for diseases of the skin in Normandy, Perigord, and the Abruzzi, as well as in Spain. See J.

Lecoeur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_, ii. 8; A. de Nore, _Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France_, p. 150; Gennaro Finamore, _Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_ (Palermo, 1890), p. 157.

[534] M. Longworth Dames and Mrs. E. Seemann, ”Folklore of the Azores,”

_Folk-lore_, xiv. (1903) pp. 142 _sq._; Theophilo Braga, _O Povo Portuguez nos seus Costumes, Crencas e Tradicoes_ (Lisbon, 1885), ii.

304 _sq._, 307 _sq._

[535] See below, pp. 234 _sqq._

[536] Angelo de Gubernatis, _Mythologie des Plantes_ (Paris, 1878-1882), i. 185 note 1.

[537] _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 202 _sq._

[538] G. Finamore, _Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_ (Palermo, 1890), pp. 154 _sq._

[539] G. Finamore, _Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi_, pp. 158-160. We may compare the Provencal and Spanish customs of bathing and splas.h.i.+ng water at Midsummer. See above, pp. 193 _sq._, 208.

[540] Giuseppe Pitre, _Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane_ (Palermo, 1881), pp. 246, 308 _sq._; _id., Usi e Costumi, Credenze e Pregiudizi del Popolo Siciliano_ (Palermo, 1889), pp. 146 _sq._

[541] J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,*[4] i. 518.

[542] V. Busuttil, _Holiday Customs in Malta, and Sports, Usages, Ceremonies, Omens, and Superst.i.tions of the Maltese People_ (Malta, 1894), pp. 56 _sqq._ The extract was kindly sent to me by Mr. H.W.

Underwood (letter dated 14th November, 1902, Birbeck Bank Chambers, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.). See _Folk-lore_, xiv.

(1903) pp. 77 _sq._

[543] W. R. Paton, in _Folk-lore_, ii. (1891) p. 128. The custom was reported to me when I was in Greece in 1890 (_Folk-lore_, i. (1890) p.

520).

[544] J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,*[4] i. 519.

[545] G. Georgeakis et L. Pineau, _Le Folk-lore de Lesbos_ (Paris, 1894), pp. 308 _sq._

[546] W.R. Paton, in _Folk-lore_, vi. (1895) p. 94. From the stones cast into the fire omens may perhaps be drawn, as in Scotland, Wales, and probably Brittany. See above, p. 183, and below, pp. 230 _sq._, 239, 240.

[547] W.H.D. Rouse, ”Folklore from the Southern Sporades,” _Folk-lore_, x. (1899) p. 179.

[548] Lucy M.J. Garnett, _The Women of Turkey and their Folk-lore, the Christian Women_ (London, 1890), p. 122; G.F. Abbott, _Macedonian Folklore_ (Cambridge, 1903), p. 57.

[549] J.G. von Hahn, _Albanesische Studien_ (Jena, 1854), i. 156.

[550] K. von den Steinen, _Unter den Natur-Volkern Zentral-Brasiliens_ (Berlin, 1894), p. 561.

[551] Alcide d'Orbigny, _Voyage dans l'Amerique Meridionale_, ii. (Paris and Strasbourg, 1839-1843), p. 420; D. Forbes, ”On the Aymara Indians of Bolivia and Peru,” _Journal of the Ethnological Society of London_, ii.

(1870) p. 235.

[552] Edmond Doutte, _Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord_ (Algiers, 1908), pp. 566 _sq_. For an older but briefer notice of the Midsummer fires in North Africa, see Giuseppe Ferraro, _Superstizioni, Usi e Proverbi Monferrini_ (Palermo, 1886), pp. 34 _sq._: ”Also in Algeria, among the Mussalmans, and in Morocco, as Alvise da Cadamosto reports in his _Relazione dei viaggi d'Africa_, which may be read in Ramusio, people used to hold great festivities on St. John's Night; they kindled everywhere huge fires of straw (the _Palilia_ of the Romans), in which they threw incense and perfumes the whole night long in order to invoke the divine blessing on the fruit-trees.” See also Budgett Meakin, _The Moors_ (London, 1902), p. 394: ”The Berber festivals are mainly those of Islam, though a few traces of their predecessors are observable. Of these the most noteworthy is Midsummer or St. John's Day, still celebrated in a special manner, and styled _El Ansarah_. In the Rif it is celebrated by the lighting of bonfires only, but in other parts there is a special dish prepared of wheat, raisins, etc., resembling the frumenty consumed at the New Year. It is worthy of remark that the Old Style Gregorian calendar is maintained among them, with corruptions of Latin names.”