THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 JDzoicq* ** J^^
 
 THE 
 
 CUSTOMS AND LORE 
 
 OF 
 
 MODERN GREECE 
 
 BY 
 
 RENNELL RODD 
 
 AUTHOR OF "FREDERICK, CROWN PRINCE AND EMPEROR 
 ETC., ETC. 
 
 WITH SEVEN FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 BY 
 TRISTRAM ELLIS 
 
 LONDON 
 DAVID STOTT 370 OXFORD STREET W 
 
 1892
 
 OF 
 111 
 
 fa 
 
 D. M. C. F. 
 
 731722
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction i 
 
 Chat. I. Ethnology of Modern Greece and Historical .-ketch 
 
 of the Populations ... ... ... ... i 
 
 Chat. II. The Land and the People ... 46 
 
 Chap. III. Village Festivals, Fairs, Dances, and Marriages... 82 
 
 Chap. IV. Birth, Destiny, and Death 106 
 
 Chap. V. Beliefs and Ceremonies — Survivals of the . v ncient 
 
 in the New 13 2 
 
 Chap. VI. Luck, Divination, and Healing 156 
 
 Chap. VII. The Supernatural,— Genii, Nereids, Vampires, 
 
 Goblins, and Demons ... ... ... ... 168 
 
 CHAr. VIII. The Popular Poetry 205 
 
 Chap. IX. The Klephts and Klephtic Songs 218 
 
 Chap. X. The Saga of Suli 243 
 
 Chap. XL The Lyrical Poetry 264 
 
 Appendix 2S7 
 
 Glossary of Greek Words occurring in Text ... ... 291
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Dancers at Megara 
 
 Greek Soldiers 
 
 Greek Shepherd 
 
 Greek Islander 
 
 Greek Priests 
 
 Woman of Eleusis 
 
 Girl of Parnassus. 
 
 . . . Frontispiece 
 to face page 17 
 80 
 121 
 
 153 
 209 
 265
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE traveller who approaches Athens for the first time, 
 whether it be across that historic sea, over which, as the 
 last morning of his journey breaks, the shadowy forms of 
 opal-tinted isles float one after another into sight, until 
 before him the Acropolis grows out of the early haze, 
 framed in the hollow of Parncs, Pentelicon, and Hymettus, 
 or whether it be along the rich vineyard-clothed shore 
 of the Corinthian Gulf, in view of that unsurpassed 
 panorama where Parnassus and Helicon rise beyond the 
 bluest of blue waters, will probably find himself 
 susceptible to a twofold influence : a sense, on the one 
 hand, that is partly awe and partly gladness at finding 
 himself at last face to face with scenes that haw 
 hitherto belonged to imagination, so familiar and yet so 
 new, touched with the magic of youthful memories, and 
 sacred, perhaps, from maturer associations ; while, on 
 the other hand, he can hardly fail to be possessed by an 
 overwhelming feeling of wonder and delight at the 
 loveliness of the nature around him. What though the 
 rocks be treeless, the lower slopes barren of all save
 
 x Introduction. 
 
 flowering weeds and perfumed shrubs, such beauty of 
 form and colour he has rarely beheld, and the light that 
 is over all is such as he never dreamed could rest on 
 land and sea. The short space of time which it is 
 permitted to most travellers to devote to Greece will be 
 spent in realizing scenes made immortal by history and 
 achievement, in growing familiar with the ruins of her 
 ancient splendour, in studying the fragments of master- 
 pieces that are the noblest teachers still. The memory 
 of these, and an ineffaceable picture of the ever-changing 
 loveliness of scene— the gorges, red with oleander, 
 bounded by the island sea, the deep noon shadows on 
 far amethystine hills cheated into seeming nearness by 
 the limpid purity of air — are what he will bear away with 
 him. Of the inhabitants and their manner of life he can 
 know little or nothing, and will probably only gather a 
 few false impressions from rapid generalizations made 
 in the capital. 
 
 It is only after a long sojourn in this land of myth 
 and fable, of art and inspiration, and after many 
 wanderings, that one is able to learn how, in solitary 
 islands, in sequestered valleys — sundered by physical 
 conditions as effectively as they were two thousand 
 years ago — there lives a people who seem to have 
 preserved, in manner and in look, that old-world 
 freshness of our dreams, who still live the natural life
 
 Introduction. xi 
 
 with little heed or knowledge of the world beyond. 
 Many a change has overshadowed them since twilight 
 settled on their story, and men with strange tongues 
 and iron hands have wrought their will in the land, while- 
 still they turned the soil, and pressed the grape, and 
 gathered in the olive. They know that now a new life 
 has sprung up in their midst ; they can even feel its 
 pulse and throb; and many of them are drawn over the 
 mountains to take their part in the changed order. 
 But others and the elders remain, living out their simple, 
 uneventful lives, and the wrangle of voices over matters 
 that are too hard for them concerns them little. 
 
 it is among these dwellers of the upland pastures, 
 whose lives contrast so markedly with the keen working 
 mind, the restless, fretful activity of the Greek with 
 whom the world is more familiar, the little trader of the 
 coast towns, who fills the counting-houses of the West, 
 and becomes the pioneer of petty commerce throughout 
 the East — it is among these men, in whom the stationary 
 life of the country is perpetuated, that we find 
 any traces that may have survived of the old-world 
 attitude of thought in its more intimate aspects, its 
 domestic traits, its untutored feelings about life and 
 death, its awe of nature, and its need of God. 
 
 The pilgrim to the great historic sites will refer to the 
 pages of historian and orator, will recall the sounding
 
 xii Introduction. 
 
 lines which stirred the genius of a mighty people in the 
 hour of their highest attainment; but he who follows the 
 pathway to the mountain village, who sits with the 
 gossip, and watches the shepherd gathering in his flocks 
 at even, will rather have in mind the lilt of the earlier 
 epic, the pastoral muse, and the many voices of the little 
 lyrics of the anthology. And strangely real will the)' 
 seem to him when he sees the same old life lived out, 
 and the husbandman yoking his ox to the same old 
 plough ; as, little by little, he grows aware of the same 
 old haunting awe that clings to lonely places, of the 
 same familiar reverence at the shrine, the same grim 
 dread of sunless death, and the treachery of a hateful 
 sea. 
 
 It is this side of the Greek people of to-day which 
 will be examined in the following pages, the life and 
 manners especially of the country-folk, who are, in 
 reality, the fibre and heart of the nation, and who, 
 unrecognized perhaps in great measure amid the clamour 
 of noisy self-assertion, did her the greatest silent 
 service at the time of her direst need. Since those days 
 a spirit of change has undoubtedly come over the land, 
 and, slowly though it be, new ideas are filtering in. The 
 old customs will inevitably lose their individuality, as 
 the old songs are fast growing silent. Much, therefore, 
 that is recorded in the following pages can no longer be
 
 Introduction. xiii 
 
 regarded as the universal mental furniture of every 
 Greek peasant ; much can only here and there with 
 difficulty he traced out to-day as evidence of what once 
 was general, of what is not yet wholly dead. Even at 
 the present time, however, there is probably no country 
 in Europe where such a wealth of lore and fancy still 
 governs the daily life of the people, where superstition is 
 so historic and so interesting as it is here ; and, in 
 considering the people and their manner of life from 
 this point of view, we may form our own conclusions as 
 to how far the strong analogies between the ancient and 
 the new must be assigned to direct inheritance and 
 consanguinity. 
 
 The many nations that have passed through this 
 much-debated land have probably all contributed to 
 enrich the store of custom and legend. As regards the 
 popular tales current everywhere, of which every old 
 wife can tell a great number, their principal student, 
 von Hahn, has laid it down that quite as many of 
 them bear strong analogy to the Germanic folk- 
 story as betray evidence of Oriental infiltration, but 
 that there remains a considerable mass which are 
 easily recognizable as simple popularizations of the 
 Hellenic mythology. Similarly with customs and 
 superstitions ; while there are many which are common 
 also to Western and Northern nations the most
 
 xiv Introduction. 
 
 universally prevailing, the most characteristic, as well as 
 the most numerous, are those which preserve, often with 
 but slight modification, an old Hellenic savour. The 
 ubiquity of the Fates and the Nereids, the reappearance 
 of the ferryman of Styx as the grim angel of death, are 
 strong arguments, if a stronger one were needed than 
 the survival of language, against those who have main- 
 tained the extermination of the original inhabitants ; the 
 more so when we remember that these survivals exist 
 with comparative uniformity in numbers of different 
 centres, between which the rugged mountains have 
 opposed a continual barrier to mutual intercourse. 
 
 In quoting the interesting theories of Hahn and others 
 as to the origin of Albanian and Wallach, I am aware 
 that I have touched upon very debatable ground, and 
 that all theories as to the early inhabitants of Italy, 
 Greece, and the Balkans must be received as yet with 
 extreme reserve. Much light may still be thrown upon 
 the nature of that primitive people who once occupied 
 either side of the Adriatic, by the study of the masses of 
 still unexplored prehistoric remains in Italy, where they 
 had probably, owing to more favourable physical con- 
 ditions, developed contemporaneously a higher civiliza- 
 tion than their kinsmen farther east ; but at present all is 
 very conjectural, and the data are too slight to enable us 
 to form any satisfactory conclusions.
 
 Introduction. xv 
 
 The following chapters have been the occupation ot 
 my leisure during a stay of upwards of two years in 
 Greece. I have not hesitated to avail myself largely of 
 the labours of others, in endeavouring to present, in as 
 popular a form as the subject would admit of, much which 
 they as specialists in various directions had first investi- 
 gated ; but I have always endeavoured by personal 
 experience or interrogatory to test the accuracy of their 
 statements, and have been able to add perhaps some 
 details to the general record. Among the books and 
 treatises to which I am most indebted, I may mention 
 the"Albanesische Studien" of von Hahn ; the invaluable 
 little book of Dr. Bernhard Schmidt, of Jena, "Das Volks- 
 leben der Neugriechen," and the treatises of M. Politis, 
 of Athens, still unfortunately uncompleted, on the same 
 subject ; the notes and introductions to Fauriel's 
 " Chansons Populairesde la GreceModerne," and the earlier 
 parts of M. Kamporoglou's History of the Athenians. 
 I owe much to the kindness of friends in Greece in 
 furnishing me with notes and suggestions, and much 
 more to the ready hospitality with which as a traveller I 
 have been welcomed in town and village and monastery 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land. The 
 universal kindliness of the Greeks, from richest to poorest, 
 to the stranger who goes amongst them, and their 
 proud appreciation of the obligations of the host, will
 
 xvi Introduction. 
 
 ever be gratefully remembered by those who have 
 experienced it. 
 
 It is a matter of regret to me in issuing this volume 
 that before undertaking it I had no better equipment in 
 the knowledge of comparative folk-lore, no special title 
 to enter upon the subject, beyond the attraction which I 
 felt in its intrinsic interest. My object, however, has been 
 mainly to draw attention to an aspect of Greece which 
 it seemed to me had been hitherto rather neglected, by 
 the side of the more absorbing study of the antique, and 
 it will have been accomplished if I have succeeded in 
 showing that stones and sites and inscriptions need not 
 wholly monopolize the energies that are devoted to 
 " Hellenic Studies."
 
 The Customs and Lore of Modern 
 
 Greece. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ETHNOLOGY OF MODERN GREECE, AND HISTORICAL 
 SKETCH OF THE POPULATIONS. 
 
 It is usual to describe the population of modern Greece 
 as containing four principal elements ; one latent, the 
 Sclavonic, and three still apparent to-day, the Greek 
 proper,. the Albanian, and the Vlach or Wallach, which 
 exists in a much smaller proportion, and that only in 
 northern Greece. A few families of Latin origin arc 
 also to be found, descendants of Genoese or Venetians, 
 and even of the Frankish settlers, mainly confined 
 however, to the islands, and without ethnological 
 importance, as well as a small number of Jews and 
 gipsies. Of the origin and development of the ancient 
 Hellenic races it would be superfluous to speak, and it 
 is quite beyond the scope of the present work to discuss 
 all the arguments of the learned Fallmerayer, who first 
 advanced the theory that the old inhabitants of the 
 mainland had been wholly replaced by Sclavonic popu- 
 lations. His reasoning has since been confuted by many 
 competent authorities, and the most illustrious of these 
 
 B
 
 2 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Professor Hopf, has finally pronounced that but few 
 traces of Sclavonic nationality can be detected in the 
 Hellas of later times. 
 
 \ Probably no race is ever radically exterminated in 
 the country where it has long been established ; and 
 the fact that the same language which was written and 
 spoken by the ancient Greeks is still, with certain modi- 
 fications, the language of the country to-day affords the 
 strongest argument in favour of the historical continuity 
 of a people, whose extraordinary vitality has sufficed 
 to Hellenize beyond recognition the remnants of the 
 Sclave element by which it was at one time in danger 
 of being overwhelmed. Had the number of the invaders 
 been sufficient to suppress or oust the former inhabi- 
 tants, a Sclavonic language, or at any rate a Greek 
 dialect largely tinged with Sclave, would prevail in 
 Greece' to-day. But later and more critical investigators 
 than Fallmerayer 1 have failed to discover that any con- 
 siderable admixture of Sclavonic forms has influenced 
 the language of the modern Greeks ; and it rests there- 
 fore with those who maintain the substitution theory to 
 prove that such few instances as do occur may not have 
 found their way into the language through the inter- 
 mediary , of Turkish or Albanian, into both of which 
 no lack of Sclavonic words have been adopted. The 
 change which has come over the language, the tendency 
 to loss of inflection, the increased dependence on the 
 auxiliary, with the absorption of other similar foreign 
 forms, is- not greater than it is easy to account for, and is 
 Certainly far less striking than the transition from Latin 
 to the Romance languages. Moreover, there still prevail, 
 
 1 Miklosich, Thiersch, &c.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 3 
 
 as in ancient Greece, certain marked varieties of dialect, 
 which point rather to a direct inheritance of traditions 
 than to the artificial reintroduction of the language 
 
 o o 
 
 from Byzantium or elsewhere. There is direct literary 
 evidence for the existence of this language in the Morea 
 
 as much as 600 years ago, if not earlier. Again, when 
 geographical nomenclature is examined, it is found that 
 there are in the Morea at least ten Hellenic names of places 
 for every one that can be identified as Sclavonic ; and 
 yet the re-naming of the spots in which they settle is one 
 of the first cares of a conquering race. Once more, it 
 has been observed that herdsmen and husbandmen, the 
 classes among whom the stationary life is perpetuated, 
 employ a greater number of ancient words than are to 
 be found in the language of the townsfolk ; and this is 
 the more evident in districts remotest from old centres, 
 in the inaccessible region of Maina, in the mountains of 
 Crete and Naxos, and even in the outlying villages of 
 Corfu, pointing to the fact that the ancient race has 
 lived on in all its purity away from the beaten tracks. 
 
 Tradition has claimed, for certain districts in par- 
 ticular, a more direct survival of the Hellenic inhabi- 
 tants, taking as its point of departure that population 
 which, before the great period of migration, had absorbed 
 and Hellenized its Roman and alien colonists, exhibiting 
 in this country a fairly homogeneous whole, which 
 contrasted with the more mixed races of Asia and 
 Byzantium. The strongest advocates of the Sclavonic 
 substitution have generally admitted the freedom from 
 contamination of Patras, Corinth, and the islands of the 
 ^Egean Sea. The Mainotes, in their inhospitable moun- 
 tain promontory, claim to be direct descendants of the 
 
 1: 2
 
 4 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Spartans of old ; and there is every probability that they 
 are of the race of the Perieeci of Laconia, who occupied 
 the maritime country, while the Spartans proper were 
 for the most part established on the better land in the 
 interior. Their language abounds in Doricisms, and is 
 somewhat akin to that of the Cretan Sphakiotes, who 
 are held to be of Dorian origin. The Tzakonians, who 
 occupy a portion of the western shore of the old Argolic 
 Gulf (Gulf of Nauplia), preserve still more strictly than 
 the Mainotes the characteristics of the Dorian dialect, 
 and their language appears to have but little taint of 
 Sclavonic, in spite of the opinion of Hopf, who while 
 otherwise opposing the Fallmerayer theory, is inclined 
 to maintain it in respect of this particular tribe. The 
 name has been held to be a corruption of Laconia, but 
 there is no justification for such a phonetic change, 
 and it appears more probable that it owes its origin 
 to a small Sclavonic tribe settling on the borders and 
 subsequently disappearing in the general -suppression 
 of the Sclaves, their name being ignorantly extended 
 over a whole region where a language prevailed which 
 the rest of the Greeks did not understand. 2 The 
 language is conspicuous for its softness and richness of 
 vocalization, and contains, besides a large number of 
 obvious Doricisms, analogies with the still older epic 
 language, and even betrays evidence of an ante-Hellenic 
 period. Professor Thiersch, the principal student of the 
 language of the Tzakonians, also discovers traces of the 
 
 2 See Dr. A. von Philippson. " Zur Ethnographie des Peloponnes,"in 
 Petermann's Mitteilungen. 1S90, II. 
 
 In corroboration of this view, Stephen Gerlachius, chaplain to the 
 Imperial Ambassador at Constantinople in 1573, speaks of the Tzakones 
 as a people not understood by the rest of the Greeks.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 5- 
 
 Ionian dialect, which agrees with the statement of 
 Herodotus that the Cynurians who occupied these parts 
 were Ionians. :; The dialect is unfortunately falling into 
 disuse, and Colonel Leake, early in this century, estimated 
 the Tzakonians as numbering only some fifteen hundred 
 families. 
 
 In Attica, again, where Albanians have overrun the 
 whole province, Athens and Megara claim to have 
 remained to a great extent free from contamination. 
 But the population of Athens, which even in the days 
 of Tacitus is described bv that author as containing but 
 little of its ancient stock, had within comparatively 
 recent times dwindled to the level of that of a village, 
 and the present inhabitants have come together from 
 many quarters. And this suggests another point which 
 should not be ignored in reviewing the national descent 
 of the modern Greeks; namely, the constant influx of 
 population from the islands, and the tendency of Greeks 
 abroad to return to the land of their origin. 
 
 At least, it may be asserted without fear of con- 
 tradiction, that the Greeks of to-day form a nation of 
 
 3 Thiersch, " Ubet die Sprachedei Tzakonen." He thus concludes his 
 learned monograph : — " To sum up the result of foregoing observations, it 
 is clear that we have here a language which differs from common Greek, 
 particularly in the structure of the pronouns and the substantive verb, and 
 in the personal inflection of verbs, too widely to admit of its being a 
 dialect of that language ; and that this tongue is connected with the modern 
 Greek, the Doric, the Epic, and the ancient Laconic dialects, but that it 
 also diverges from them, and has relations in certain essential forms to a 
 language wherein the origines of Greek, Latin, and German are found." 
 
 This primitive language, he concludes, was that spoken by the primitive 
 race, which, for want of a better name, we must call Pelasgian, and. a> 
 will be seen later on, the Albanian language, identified by Ilahn with the 
 Pelasgic, is found by philologists to contain strong Gothic or Germanic 
 tendencies.
 
 6 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 considerable homogeneity from the Ionian Islands to 
 the shores of the Black Sea, speaking a common 
 language, exhibiting to those that know them well a 
 conspicuous resemblance in character to the Greeks of 
 antiquity, and still revealing ample evidence of that 
 obstinate nationality, which several times nearly 
 extinguished in its hereditary seat, has nevertheless 
 succeeded in reasserting itself, in overshadowing and 
 absorbing the various elements which had threatened to 
 overwhelm it. And not less remarkable than this 
 uniformity of language and character is the similarity of 
 custom, of lore, and of superstition, of all, in fact, that is 
 most ancient and most national, in portions of the 
 Hellenic kingdom the remotest from one another. The 
 customs of the mainland, which has been represented as 
 wholly re-peopled by Sclaves, are closely analogous to 
 those of the islands, which admittedly never were 
 subjected to Sclavonic influence, and they recur with but 
 slight variation all over those portions of the Turkish 
 empire where the Greek populations predominate. This 
 uniformity of thought and tradition will frequently come 
 to light in subsequent chapters. 
 
 In order to form a fair estimate of what part the 
 Sclaves may have played in the modification of the 
 present inhabitants of Greece, it is necessary to give a 
 cursory glance at the scanty materials afforded by 
 history ; and if such a rapid survey be continued through 
 subsequent centuries under the Turkish and Venetian 
 dominations, we shall be able to realize the full measure 
 of that extraordinary vitality which has succeeded in 
 reasserting itself, in spite of all the transformations and 
 vicissitudes though which this land has passed.
 
 litlinology of Modern Greece. \ 7. 
 
 The Hellenic populations were undoubtedly in a 
 rapidly diminishing state when the ancient /name of 
 Hellene fell into abeyance before the prouder and more 
 influential title of Roman. During the 3rd, 4th, and, 
 5th centuries, Goths, Herulians, and Vandals had passed 
 over the land, and pestilences scarcely less destructive 
 had decimated the inhabitants. Then the laws of 
 Justinian and the progress of Christianity blended the 
 various classes into a uniform whole, by enabling the 
 Christian slave to acquire his freedom with facility ; and 
 we must, at the outset, resign any attempt to speculate 
 how far the population became adulterated by inter- 1 
 mixture with freedman and slave. It would appear that 
 at this time also the lands were in the hands of 
 comparatively few proprietors, whose vast possessions 
 fell out of cultivation from a want of sufficient interest 
 to keep communications open ; while it is probable that 
 the Greeks of those days were, as they have ever been, 
 far more disposed to mercantile than agricultural 
 pursuits. The lands which rapidly fell waste passed 
 into the hands of Sclavonic invaders, descending from 
 the North, who, perhaps, in many cases occupied them 
 almost without a struggle, as they had already done in 
 Thrace and Illyria, while the Greek population prospered 
 with commerce and manufacture in the towns or under 
 their immediate shelter. It is possible that they found 
 not a few of their kinsmen already working in Greece 
 under Romaic masters, and that the preliminary estab- 
 lishment of many others as serfs facilitated their final 
 advance as enemies. 
 
 The first historically recorded invasion of Sclaves 
 seems to have been made under the auspices of the
 
 8 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 Avars, that mysterious dominant race, against whom their 
 Turkish vassals had arisen, expelling them from their 
 original home in Asia, who, after a singular career of 
 victory, have disappeared entirely from the map of the 
 world. The Avars appear to have employed vast hordes 
 of Sclaves as conscripts or allies ; much as did another 
 Tartar tribe, the Bulgarians, who, themselves numerically 
 small, were ultimately absorbed by the Sclavonic settle- 
 ments they had conquered, developed, and given their 
 name to. An ecclesiastical writer of the 6th century, 
 Evagrius, whose history is continued down to the year 
 593, mentions this invasion of Avars, or Sclaves and 
 Avars, as having taken place in 588 and 589, adding 
 that they plundered and laid waste the whole of Greece; 
 but there does not seem to be any sufficient evidence of 
 their having remained as settlers in the land. 4 On the 
 other hand, the Patriarch Nicolaos, in a letter written to 
 the Emperor Alexius I. in 1081, when alluding to the 
 famous defeat of the Sclaves and Avars before Patras 
 in 807, attributed to the miraculous intervention of St. 
 Andrew the Apostle, asserts that the Avars had at that 
 time held possession of the Peloponnese for 218 years, 
 thus making their domination date from the very year 
 of the invasion alluded to by Evagrius ; while he goes 
 on to say that, during this period, no Byzantine official 
 dared to set foot in the country. But this last state- 
 ment is manifestly false ; for the Emperor Constans II., 
 who had already subdued the northern Sclavonians, 
 was as near to the Peloponnese as Athens, which he 
 visited in 662, in order to assemble troops on his way 
 
 4 Prof. Hopf denies that any Sclavonic settlers were left in the country 
 after this invasion.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 9 
 
 to Italy ; and it is justly observed by Finlay 6 that, not 
 only is this casual mention of Athens by Latin writers 
 fair evidence of the tranquil condition of the city and 
 the surrounding country at this time, but that, further, 
 any Sclaves there might have been in the neighbourhood 
 must have owned perfect allegiance to the Byzantine 
 Emperor, or he would assuredly have first employed his 
 troops in subduing them. 
 
 The letter of the Patriarch may, however, be considered 
 as a confirmation of the statement of Evagrius, that a 
 Sclave-Avar invasion took place at the close of the 6th 
 century ; and while it is possible that many of the 
 conquerors acquired a permanent domicile in lands 
 where circumstances favoured their settlement, it can 
 by no means be admitted that this establishment was 
 more than partial, and it was certainly not of a kind 
 to exterminate the Greeks, who comparatively soon 
 afterwards turned the tables on them. Had the 
 immigration of the Sclaves at this epoch been as 
 universal as the Patriarch describes it to have been, it 
 would scarcely have escaped the notice of a somewhat 
 earlier writer, the Imperial author, Constantine Porphy- 
 rogenitus, who, in his work on the provinces of the 
 Empire, describes the continent of Greece as having 
 been subdued and rendered barbarous after the great 
 plague, which took place in the time of Constantine 
 Copronymous, had depopulated large districts ; and 
 who, again, in another passage alludes to the Sclavonic 
 colonization of the Peloponncse as having taken place 
 in 746, a time when also a number of Greeks, both from 
 
 5 " History of Greece," vol. i., chap, v., § 3. 
 6 Reigned 741 to 775.
 
 io The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 the islands and the mainland, were transferred to 
 Constantinople to restore the population which the 
 plague had attenuated. Again, in 727 we find the 
 Greeks in rebellion against Leo III., the Isaurian, and 
 Agallianos, the very officer entrusted with the command 
 of forces stationed to watch the Sclavonic settlers, 
 placed at the head of an expedition sent to assist the 
 Emperor in his capital. The enterprise and resources 
 of the Greeks, implied by their ability at this time to 
 fit out such an expedition, is another refutation of 
 the Patriarch's assertion. 
 
 After the great plague, throughout the middle and 
 latter half of the 8th century, a multitude of Sclaves, 
 hard pressed by Bulgars in the north, seem to have de- 
 scended upon the depopulated lands and gradually to have 
 possessed themselves of the plains. At the same time 
 the Iconoclastic Emperors set themselves the task 
 of repressing them throughout their dominions, and 
 in 783 the Empress Irene sent an army into Greece 
 to reduce to submission all those who had assumed 
 independence. It was, perhaps, these repressive measures, 
 and the necessity of striking a decisive blow for their 
 own existence, which led to the attack on Patras in 807* 
 in the accounts of which the Sclaves are again 
 confounded with the Avars. Here, in spite of the 
 concerted action of a Saracen fleet, they were absolutely 
 defeated by the townsmen, who did not wait for the 
 promised assistance of Byzantine troops from Corinth, 
 and were reduced to a state of serfdom and vassalage to 
 the Church of Patras, whose patron saint, St. Andrew, 
 was held to have fought on the side of his former 
 executioners. The Sclavonic populations of the
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece, i i 
 
 Peloponnese broke out into rebellion once more, some- 
 what later in the same century, during the reign of the 
 Emperor Thcophilus, but were soon reduced to obedience, 
 and the remnant were subjected to tribute and bound 
 by oaths of fealty, which, though often violated, were 
 constantly renewed ; and henceforth the)' gradually lose 
 importance, until, at the time of the Prankish invasion, 
 Sclavonic tribes are only found in the district of Mount 
 Taygetus, but north of the Taenarian promontory, where 
 the Mainotes had throughout held their own ; in the 
 heights of Elis bordering on the Olympian plain, and 
 in some of the mountains of Arcadia. The limits of 
 their progress in northern Greece it is still more 
 difficult to gauge. 
 
 As far, however, as the Peloponnese is concerned, it 
 would seem that the conclusions to be drawn from the 
 scanty evidence at hand are, that, although there had 
 been a gradual infiltration of Sclavcs into the rural 
 districts for some time previously, the great movement 
 of Sclavonic immigration took place in the middle 
 of the 8th century ; that they occupied large tracts of 
 country, but by no means the whole of it ; and that 
 the menace of their numbers induced the Greeks 
 themselves, with the assistance of the Byzantine 
 Emperors, to take energetic measures to arrest an 
 advance which threatened to overwhelm the native 
 element ; that after this revival the Greeks continued 
 to increase numericallv throughout the 9th century, 
 while the Sclave element was checked and kept under, 
 and finally absorbed and Hcllcnizcd, except in the 
 regions above referred to, which it needed several 
 more centuries to assimilate. Up to this point, there-
 
 1 2 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 fore, it seems clear that the Hellenic element remained 
 the preponderating one, if not actually in numbers 
 at any rate in wealth and vitality ; while the establish- 
 ment of the Sclaves was never more than partial, and 
 probably confined to particular localities. 
 
 This view receives additional weight from the 
 instructive story of Danelis, the widow of Patras, 
 recorded by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who speaks 
 with tolerable authority, inasmuch as the fortunes of 
 his grandfather and the foundation of the Macedonian 
 dynasty at Byzantium were closely bound up with 
 her early protection of Basil in the days of his obscurity. 
 It is recorded that she had inherited enormous wealth 
 from her husband, that her slaves numbered tens 
 of thousands, while her treasures in gold and silver 
 could scarcely be estimated, and this during the reign 
 of the Emperor Michael III., not fifty years after the 
 eventful battle of Patras. When, many years later, 
 the ambitious intrigues of Basil had placed him on 
 the Imperial throne, Danelis obtained permission to 
 visit him at Constantinople, and travelled thither over- 
 land in a litter borne by thirty relays of ten slaves, 
 while the gifts which she took with her are enumerated 
 as consisting of 500 slaves, among whom were 
 too eunuchs, of 100 women skilled in embroidery, 
 100 pieces of embroidered purple, 300 pieces of 
 woven linen of various kinds, and 100 pieces of silk 
 woven as fine as a spider's web, which could be rolled 
 inside the hollow of a cane. 7 It was Danelis again 
 
 7 This fine silk-weaving is one of the few arts still practised in Greece. 
 Gibbon points out that until the I2th century, when the victorious Normans 
 carried off into Italy the weavers of Thebes, Argos, and Corinth, Greece 
 alone of all European countries possessed the silkworm.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 13 
 
 who some years later provided the rich carpets destined 
 to cover the floor of a new and magnificent church 
 erected at Constantinople. The nature of these gifts 
 argues a high standard of artistic productiveness in 
 Greece, of luxury and of wealth, which the inroads 
 of barbarous Sclaves had not been able to stamp out. 
 The evidence of this story, which is valuable for the 
 almost solitary glimpse which we possess of the internal 
 state of Greece at this period, cannot but be true in 
 the main. s 
 
 From this period until the invasion of the Normans 
 and the Franks it would seem that Greece remained a 
 flourishing province, whose wealth and productiveness 
 were sufficient to allure those crusading buccaneers. 
 The language and literature of the Greeks, though 
 probably at this very time undergoing its most important 
 modifications, was predominant in the most civilized 
 part of the world ; the commerce of the Mediterranean 
 was chiefly in their hands ; the land was relatively 
 rich, and found ample markets for its produce ; the 
 silk manufacture was a source of abundant wealth ; 
 all of which resources were fostered and stimulated by 
 three centuries of comparative quiet. The fusion of 
 the Sclavonic settlers with the old inhabitants of the 
 rural districts brought new vigour into the blood ; 
 
 8 Finlay (vol.ii., bk. ii., chap, i.) describes lia.-il as a "Sclavonian groom," 
 
 and is led to conjecture that Danelis was also of Sclavonic origin, in order 
 to account for her patronage of him ; but the balance of evidence goes to 
 prove that Basil was of Armenian origin, and there is no other re. 
 assuming Danelis to have been a Sclavc : indeed, in the light oi previ 
 and subsequent events, there is every reason to believe the contrary. 
 Gibbon suggests that it was a very human weakness which brought about 
 an intimacy which the crafty Basil took every advantage of, an explanation 
 in itself more probable than Finlay 's suggestion of race-sympathy.
 
 14 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 much land that had fallen into neglect was again placed 
 under cultivation, and mountains were laboriously- 
 terraced, which the weed-growths have once more 
 invaded to-day. In the towns the closer attachment 
 of the province to the central authority had its effect ; 
 Byzantine manners and fashions became popular, and 
 the political and ecclesiastical administrations reflected 
 on a lesser scale the sun of the Eastern capital. There 
 can be but little doubt, though there is but scanty direct 
 evidence, that this was the time at which the nation 
 gradually acquired its new character, and that the 
 Moreots of to-day fairly represent that mixed popu- 
 lation of Sclave and Greek in the rural districts, and 
 those more cosmopolitan townsmen, whose respective 
 descendants still present the same sharp contrast. Only 
 the Mainotes and the Tzakonians remained isolated 
 and unchanged. This was also, as we might naturally 
 expect, the great era of church-building in Greece, 
 to which belong the greater part of those small Byzantine 
 edifices, which many of them in ruins, and all of them 
 but a poor remnant of their former magnificence in 
 marble and mosaic, are scattered throughout the length 
 and breath of the land. On the other hand, in spite 
 of this material progress and activity, society seems to 
 have remained in a stationary condition, and there 
 was no corresponding moral advancement. The Byzan- 
 tine system encouraged privileged classes, and their 
 own local jealousies became more important to the 
 Greeks than the service of the Empire which protected 
 them. 
 
 The successful invasion of Greece by Roger, the 
 Norman King of Sicily, in the middle of the 12th
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. i 5 
 
 century, dealt a severe blow to the silk industry, for 
 the greater part of the skilled artisans of Thebes and 
 Corinth were transferred by him to Palermo, and there 
 established under the most favourable circumstances. 
 Thebes, it is true, continued for some time to produce 
 the material in considerable quantities ; but competition 
 in the world's markets now set in, not only from Sicily, 
 but also from Persia ; and in the next century pro- 
 tective laws had to be introduced to keep a dying 
 industry alive. Beyond this removal, however, of the 
 inhabitants of the most flourishing manufacturing 
 centres, this passage of the Normans did not greatly 
 affect the population, nor can the domination of the 
 Franks or Latins, though it lasted between two and 
 three hundred years, and still longer in the islands, be 
 considered to have done so. The Franks were from the 
 outset very few in number ; and the feudal barons, 
 established throughout the Morea, must have recruited 
 their little bands of armed retainers largely on the spot. 
 The Greece of that time, with its local jealousies, the 
 selfishness of its privileged classes, and its want of 
 internal organization, was easily kept under control by 
 the scattered outposts of daring soldiers of fortune, 
 which the feudal system of the Franks had organized. 
 During the period of nearly four centuries, through 
 which the Italians, Venetians or Genoese, ruled in the 
 islands of the Archipelago, and the 250 years through 
 which the Prankish princes and their successors 
 were masters of a great part of the continent, the 
 native population here declined in numbers and in 
 national importance, while Western Europe was steadily 
 advancing. Among the islands a long series of bloody
 
 1 6 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 fights between Greeks and Venetians followed on the 
 
 expulsion of the Latins from Constantinople, and the 
 
 unfortunate inhabitants, in addition to being plundered 
 
 of all they possessed, were not unfrequently seized and 
 
 impressed as rowers in the galleys. The opposing fleets 
 
 degenerated into mere corsair bands, and the whole sea 
 
 was filled with marauding craft, who carried out the 
 
 work of devastation and depopulation, while the Spanish 
 
 adventurers of Roger de Luria sailed hither for a share 
 
 in the spoil. The Ottoman invasion followed, and these 
 
 seas remained a constant battle-field. Knights of Malta, 
 
 knights of St. Stephen, flotillas from Spain carried on 
 
 the trade of piracy under cover of a holy war. The 
 
 commerce of Venice in these waters, and the defenceless- 
 ness of the Greek coasts, tempted the Barbary corsair 
 
 from Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli ; the pirate craft of 
 
 Italy and Dalmatia ; while the Turkish admirals carried 
 
 off the populations of the islands as slaves, and the 
 
 system which produced the Klephts on the Continent led 
 
 many of the Greeks themselves to take to piracy at 
 
 sea. The islands still bear evidence of the struggle for 
 
 life through which they passed in these days, with their 
 
 fortress-like villages perched on the steepest rocks for 
 
 defence, and many of them were for a while totally 
 
 abandoned when their trees had been burned down, and 
 
 their olive groves destroyed. 
 
 During the two centuries which followed the Ottoman 
 
 conquest of Constantinople, the Greek nation sank to its 
 
 lowest ebb in civilization and numbers. The tribute of 
 
 Christian children was inexorably levied in every village, 
 
 and a fifth of the male population between the ages of 
 
 six and nine was regularly carried off to receive a new
 
 
 K 
 
 *W 
 
 
 TrsV^ 
 
 
 Greek Soldiers.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. i ~ 
 
 religion and nationality. Those who adopted the creed 
 of their conquerers, . in order to escape from these 
 indignities, as did a large portion of the inhabitants of 
 Eubcea, and subsequently of Crete, lost their national 
 character, and, becoming Mussulman, practically ceased 
 to be Greek ; indeed, from the time of the Ottoman con- 
 quest the question of nationality is largely merged in 
 the opposition of creeds. Sultan Mohammed II. appears 
 to have foreseen a safeguard against future insurrection 
 in draining the resources of the country, and literally 
 exhausting its population ; and he re-peopled the 
 vanquished Constantinople by transferring to that city 
 the wealthiest inhabitants of the lands he subsequently 
 reduced. Slavery awaited the Venetian subjects of 
 Modon and Nauplia when they fell into his hands in 
 1463, and a similar fate befell a number of the natives of 
 Eubcea in 1470. The Ionian Islands were called upon to 
 yield their quota to the re-population of Constantinople, 
 and a number of slaves were drawn from Rhodes in 
 1480. In the last year of the 15th century, and the 
 opening years of the 16th, when the Morea was again 
 the battle-field of Turk and Venetian, the occupants of 
 the plain of Argos and of portions of Attica were 
 practically exterminated, and .Albanian colonists began 
 to re-occupy the ruined lands. In the following century 
 the Ottoman admiral, Barbarossa, carried off the female 
 inhabitants of /Egina into slaver)', and massacred the 
 males, leaving the island entirely depopulated until it 
 was re-colonized by Albanians. He reduced the majority 
 of the /Egean Islands to subjection, expelled the Italian 
 nobles, and is said to have carried off 30,000 Greeks into 
 slavery. Meanwhile, piracy rendered the coasts
 
 1 8 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 uninhabitable ; the olive groves were cut down, and the 
 material of agriculture destroyed. As representative 
 of the Greek nation in Greece, therefore, there only- 
 remained the landowners of the rural districts in the 
 interior, and the peasant cultivators living isolated in 
 their separate valleys. Much land fell out of cultivation, 
 consumption was diminished, and the difficulties and 
 insecurity of transport increased. The landowners could 
 no longer avail themselves of the labour of slaves, and 
 were driven to till the land with their own hands ; while 
 the profits of pasturage and forest produce were 
 transferred to Turkish feudatories, and all inducement 
 towards a bettering of their condition was removed. 
 
 Meanwhile, the deserted lands were gradually occupied 
 by Christian Albanians, moving south before the wave 
 of Turkish advance. Their earliest immigrations are 
 lost in the silence of time, but the first recorded 
 mention of their appearance in Peloponnese occurs 
 in the middle of the 14th century, when Manuel 
 Kantacuzen 9 brought Albanian mercenaries to Mistra, 
 and later established colonies in the peninsula. Again, 
 at the close of the 14th century, in the reign of 
 John Palaeologus, some 10,000 of them crossed the 
 Isthmus, and in the latter days of the despots of the 
 Morea they are found serving as mercenaries in their 
 armies. The immigration continued through the 
 15th century, after the final reduction of Albania 
 by the Turks. They occupied the greater part of 
 Bceotia, Attica, and Megaris, portions of the Corinthian 
 territory, of Argolis and Achaia, as well as small districts 
 
 9 Second son of the Emperor John Kantacuzen, appointed Lord of 
 Mistra by his father in 1348.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 19 
 
 in Phocis, Elis, and Arcadia, forcing the remnant of the 
 Greeks into the towns, where they became tradesmen or 
 artisans. They entirely re-peopled the islands of Hydra, 
 Poros, the Spezzas, Psara, Salamis, and /Egina, and 
 spread over the southern end of Eubcea and the 
 northern section of Andros. In many of their colonics 
 they rapidly assimilated the manners and customs and 
 learned the language of their Greek co-religionists ; and 
 adopting the Hellenic ideal, they fought in the van, and 
 bore, indeed, the brunt of the fighting, in the war of 
 regeneration. The process of Hellenization is still going 
 on, and the Albanian language is doomed in Greece ; 
 at present it is kept alive by the women, who, speaking 
 no other, teach it to their children, and will continue to 
 do so until the system of primary education for women 
 is more widely extended in the Hellenic kingdom. 1 
 
 There still remains a period during which the population 
 of Greece was once more seriously affected by the 
 ravages of war and pestilence, the period of the 
 Venetian conquest of the Morea at the close of the 
 17th century. It is calculated that before the com- 
 mencement of hostilities, the Christian population of 
 
 1 The proportion of the Albanian-speaking population in the Hellenic 
 kingdom at the census of 1879 was as follows : — 
 
 Peloponnesus ... 90,000 
 
 Central Greece ... S4,ooo 
 
 Euboea 10.000 
 
 Andros 10,000 
 
 Total ■•• 224,000 
 
 that is to say, upwards of 11 percent, of the whole population ; and it must 
 not be forgotten that, besides these Albanian-speaking people, there are 
 great numbers who have lost their language and speak only (.nek, but 
 whose Albanian origin is historically certain. 
 
 C 2
 
 20 The Customs and Lore of Modern Gi-ecce. 
 
 the peninsula, including Greeks and Albanians, 
 amounted to 250,000, while the Mussulmans represented 
 50,000 more ; whereas, after the Venetians had established 
 themselves, their first census returned considerably less 
 than 100,000, a figure which is, however, probably 
 too low, as, early in the iSth century, under the 
 increased security of Venetian rule, these figures are 
 more than doubled. The Venetians, moreover, induced 
 many thousands of families from Northern Greece to 
 migrate to the Peloponnese, and assist in restoring the 
 ravages of the plague. The subsequent re-establish- 
 ment of the Ottoman rule was accomplished with 
 remarkable facility and without similar sufferings on 
 the part of the native populations. The final revolution 
 served to blend the Greek and Albanian elements more 
 closely together, and brought about the withdrawal of 
 the Mussulman minority; and the national regeneration 
 stimulated the increase of population and the return to 
 the parent country of many thousands of Greeks from 
 other parts of the Ottoman dominions. 
 
 Such is a hasty and too rapid survey of the vicissitudes 
 through which the Greek populations of this land have 
 passed. The salient feature is the rapid recovery from 
 what seemed almost extermination of that vigorous 
 nationality which reasserts itself after every blow, 
 absorbing, and assimilating, and stamping with its own 
 unmistakable impress all the heterogeneous elements 
 that may have accrued to it. The inevitable conclusion 
 which we must draw is that, in all its repeated disasters, 
 a far larger remnant of the original stock must have 
 survived and preserved its vital characteristics than one 
 would be led to suppose by dwelling on the details of
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 21 
 
 conquest and re-conquest, of periodical devastations and 
 re-populations ; and those who are familiar with the 
 present inhabitants, and with the life and story of 
 antiquity, will hardly fail to subscribe to the opinion of 
 Mr. Finlay, the historian of mediaeval and modern 
 Greece, who, after tracing all its vicissitudes, has, like 
 Professor Hopf, definitely decided in favour of this view, 
 and emphatically states, " No historical facts seem more 
 evident than that the modern Greeks are a modification 
 of the ancient Achaian, Dorian, Ionian, /Eolian, and 
 Hellenic population." 2 
 
 The Albanians, formerly better known under the 
 name of Arnauts, whose colonies have contributed 
 nearly a fifth part to the population of modern Greece, 
 are a distinct race among the families of Europe. Their 
 language, though resembling in its system of inflections 
 the Greek and Latin languages, stands by itself, and is an 
 independent offshoot of equal or greater antiquity from 
 the primitive Aryan language. 3 Their native mountains 
 are poor and unproductive, and they travel far in search 
 
 2 Finlay, Hist., vol. iii., book iii. , chap, iii., &c. 
 
 :! The philologist, Franz Bopp, working on the details supplied by von 
 Ilahn, has shown it to be an offshoot from the primitive Aryan language, 
 from which Sanskrit also was derived. Ilahn and others have dwelt on 
 certain points which it has in common with the Germanic or North European 
 languages. Cp. Thiersch's observations on the Tzakonian language, in Note 
 on p. 5, Leake considered the Gothic element in Albanian might, perhaps, 
 be accounted for by the passage of Alaric and Gothic settlements. It also 
 contains many Greek words, some of which are from the Romaic, and 
 others apparently absorbed before the deterioration of the language ; 
 a larger proportion of Latin words, but not as many as might be expected 
 in view of the constant communication with Italy, and the presence of the 
 Franks about these coasts over a number of years; and a number of 
 Sclavonic words ; but in view of the conquest and occupation of Albania 
 by Sclaves, and of their presence still on its northern and eastern frontier, 
 the proportion is comparatively small.
 
 22 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 of work, while some of them constitute a permanently- 
 nomad population. Nevertheless, they are passionately 
 devoted to their country, and have displayed the most 
 devoted courage in its defence throughout their history. 
 Circumstance and inclination have made them a race of 
 soldiers, and the energies which they devoted to the 
 defence of their country have also been displayed in 
 continual petty warfare among themselves or in 
 mercenary service abroad. They are keen and enter- 
 prising in action, if relentless in vengeance, and they 
 exhibit the most devoted fidelity to those to whom their 
 faith is pledged. 
 
 " Their wrath how deadly, but their friendship sure." 
 
 Their children are early trained to the use of arms, 
 and even the women are skilful with the gun ; while they 
 excel in activity, endurance, keenness of sight, and all 
 the qualities of the warrior-mountaineer. Agriculture, 
 on the other hand, is less popular among them, and the 
 more fertile districts of Albania are largely cultivated 
 by Vlachs and Bulgarians ; while the native population, 
 for the most part, follow the vocation of herdsman or 
 shepherd, bearing out the observation of Gibbon that, 
 " The pastoral manners which have been adorned with 
 the fairest attributes of peace and innocence are much 
 better adapted to the fierce and cruel habits of a 
 military life." 
 
 The physical type is not an unpleasing one ; the eyes 
 are light and often blue, the nose is straight and high, 
 the cheekbone inclined to be prominent, and the face 
 generally open, with a fair and healthy complexion. 
 But the type varies considerably, and different travellers 
 have gathered the most contradictory impressions.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 2 3 
 
 Their costume is notoriously picturesque. The Southern 
 Albanians, for the most part, wear the white kilt or 
 fustanella, embroidered jacket and gaiters, and shoes 
 with upturned pointed toes, a dress which was adopted 
 throughout Greece at the time of the revolution as the 
 national costume, and which replaced the loose blue or 
 brown knickerbockers still retained by the islanders. A 
 picturesque but fanciful legend records that this dress 
 derives its origin from the tunic skirt of the Roman 
 soldier, a colony of Praetorian guards having been 
 established here in the time of Septimus Sevcrus. In 
 northern Albania there are many dresses varying with 
 the locality; close-fitting crimson trousers, or trousers 
 of coarse white wool, tight from the knee down, and 
 loose above, with broad black seams, replace the 
 fustanella, and often a little white skull-cap is worn in 
 place of the fez. Heavy white woollen hooded cloaks, 
 or cloaks of thick goat's hair, impenetrable to rain, are 
 the covering by day and the bed by night of the 
 mountain shepherd. The sleeves and fronts of the 
 women's jackets arc covered with beautiful embroider}-, 
 as well as their long sleeveless coats, reaching to the 
 knee, while head-dresses of coins testify the amount of 
 the young women's dowries. 
 
 A great part of Albania is inhabited exclusivcly 
 by Mussulmans ; in other districts again, especially 
 in the south, Christians only arc found. A mixture of 
 religions is rarer, but, generally speaking, the predominant 
 and aristocratic elements have embraced the Mohammedan 
 creed, which has, however, now ceased to make progress. 
 The Miriditcs in the north, one of the most warlike 
 tribes, who claim to be descended from the followers
 
 24 Tks Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 of Skanderbeg, have maintained the Catholic religion, 
 which they had adopted before the Turkish invasion, 
 and have rigorously expelled from their midst all who 
 went over to the Mussulman faith. 
 
 The country now included under the general name 
 of Albania is co-extensive with ancient Epirus and 
 a part of Illyria. The name Albania, adopted by the 
 Italians— who were in the middle ages to the popu- 
 lations of the eastern Adriatic much what the Greeks 
 were to the Sclaves with whom they came into contact, 
 the superior race in arts and civilization — and through 
 them by the rest of Europe, is apparently derived 
 from an insignificant tribe mentioned by the geographer 
 Ptolemy, as occupying a town called Albanopolis- 
 This town, under the form of Albanon, reappears as 
 the centre of a prefecture in the 13th century, under 
 despots of Epirus, the Albani having in the meantime 
 acquired sufficient importance for other nations to 
 apply the name to the whole surrounding country. 
 The present inhabitants, however, speak of their country 
 as Skyperi, and of themselves as Skypetars, a name 
 which appears to mean " dwellers in the crags," being 
 also applied by them to the mountain eagle. 
 
 Herr von Hahn, the eminent student of the Albanian 
 people and their language, distinguishes two main 
 stocks among them ; the Gueg or Ngeg, occupying 
 central and northern Albania, and the Tosk in the 
 south. Their language reveals two dialects of the 
 same tongue, differing from one another in somewhat 
 the same measure as High from Low German. There 
 is complete separation and considerable rivalry between 
 the two branches. These two broad divisions are,
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 25 
 
 however, not acknowledged by the Albanians themselves, 
 though the Guegs describe all the southern tribes 
 as Tosks. Colonel Leake divides the southern Albanians 
 into three principal groups : the Tosks proper, whose 
 chief settlement is Berat and whose port is Avlona ; 
 the Liape, Liapids 4 or Iapids, whose name recalls 
 Iapygia, the country about Mount Gargano on the other 
 side of the Adriatic, and who occupy the district south 
 of Toskeria as far as Delvino ; and thirdly, the Tzame, 
 Tchamides, Shumiks or Tzamourians, as the Greeks call 
 them, the most famous tribe in recent history, who 
 extend inland as far as Jannina and southward to the 
 Gulf of Arta, and among whose chief settlements 
 were Suli, Paramithia, and Parga. This fourfold 
 division of the Skypetars into Guegs, Tosks, Liapids, 
 and Tchamides has been generally adopted by more 
 recent writers. In southern Albania there is a larce 
 Greek element, much Greek is spoken, and in the region 
 immediately north of the Gulf of Arta, Greeks are prob- 
 ably considerably more numerous than Albanians. In 
 central Albania there are few or none, but a mixed popu- 
 lation of Vlachs and Bulgars occupy the shores of 
 Lake Ochris, and to the extreme north a number of 
 Serbs are settled within the limits of Albania proper, 
 The colonists in Greece belong to the southern group, 
 and only a very small proportion of them ever professed 
 the Mussulman creed. 
 
 It would be beyond the scope of the subject in hand 
 to describe at length the internal economy of this curious 
 
 4 The name of Liapid, which has come to be a term of reproach among 
 their neighbours since the days when they served under the Hag of Ali 
 Pacha, is repudiated by this tribe, who prefer to call themselves Arvans.
 
 26 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 and interesting people, 5 since those that have found a 
 home in Greece have for the most part adopted the 
 Greek mode of life, and abandoned the patriarchal 
 institutions of their native land. A glance, however, at 
 the theories which have been suggested as to their origin 
 may assist us to realize why it has been so easy for them 
 to be assimilated by the Greeks, and how it has come 
 about, as will from time to time be pointed out in the 
 following pages, that so many of their customs and 
 superstitions are identical with those of their adopted 
 country. 
 
 Ponqueville, the author of travels in Greece and 
 Albania, who resided many years at Jannina as French 
 Consul-general, is inclined to trace their origin to 
 Caucasia, where he asserts there might be found in 
 Mingrelia a tribe calling themselves Toxides ; while he 
 quotes Pliny as an authority for Colchinium, the modern 
 Dulcigno, being a colony from Colchis. He would 
 identify Skypetar with Scythian, and quotes a sentence 
 from Macrius Patavinus to the effect that Albania took 
 its name from the Albans, an Asiatic people, who were 
 driven from their homes by the Tartars. 6 But he does 
 not go very deeply into the matter, nor is his reasoning 
 much more scientific than that of the learned Paduan 
 himself. 
 
 The principal authority on the language and ethnology 
 of this people is von Hahn, 7 for many years Consul- 
 
 5 Some account of the Suliotes and their institutions will be found in 
 chap. x. 
 
 6 " Albania dicitur ab Albanis, populis asiaticis, qui a Tartaris expul>i- 
 istic consederunt." 
 
 7 v. Hahn, " Albanesische Studien."'
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 27 
 
 general for Germany at various Eastern posts, who, 
 during his long residence in Albania, brought the 
 German critical method to bear on the large store of 
 evidence he was able to collect ; and in so doing 
 develops a curious and interesting theory, which, though 
 he may have pushed it rather far in application, is still 
 generally admitted to be, to a considerable extent at 
 any rate, warranted by the arguments he adduces. 
 
 The first question that arises is whether or no the 
 Albanians may be considered as autochthonous, the 
 word being, of course, used in a conventional sense, that 
 is to say, are they, as far as we know, or have material 
 for conjecture, the earliest inhabitants of the country ? 
 Albania comes to light but seldom in ancient history, 
 in fact, mention is made of it but twice from the days of 
 Ptolemy, who speaks of the Albani, to the period of the 
 Norman invasion. At the latter epoch a great part, if 
 not the whole, of Albania is included in the confines of 
 Bulgaria, and such geographical names within its limits 
 as are mentioned by mediaeval historians have a 
 Sclavonic form. Nevertheless, when the country 
 reappears in history, it is represented as being inhabited 
 by a people who do not speak Sclavonic, who are known 
 as Albanians, and who throughout several centuries 
 send out colonies in various directions. At the present 
 time, with the exception of a certain number of Sclavonic 
 words adopted into the language, the Sclavc clement, 
 for the predominance of which at one period there is 
 ample evidence, has disappeared even more completely 
 than in Greece. If, then, Sclaves occupied Albania after 
 the great Sclavonic invasion, and whether by subsequent 
 expulsion or absorption eventually disappeared among
 
 28 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 a people of different race who now occupy the land, two 
 alternatives arise : either the Albanians are the first 
 inhabitants of the country, and the Sclavonic domination 
 is a mere episode in their history ; or, like the Sclaves 
 themselves, they must have entered these regions 
 subsequently, and therefore within historic times. But 
 there is no evidence of any great immigration in this 
 direction, except the Sclavonic one ; therefore, since the 
 Albanians are not Sclaves, and present no close relation- 
 ship with any known people, they must be assumed to 
 be the descendants of the pre-Sclavonic inhabitants of 
 the country. 
 
 He then endeavours to establish that the Albanians 
 are the representatives of the ancient Illyrians and 
 Epirots. He finds the same sharp distinction existing 
 modern times between the Guegs and the Tosks, 
 divided by the river Schkumb, which Strabo noted as 
 existing between Illyria and Epirot in classic times, 
 the former looking to Monastir, the latter looking south, 
 and either mutually turning the back on the other. The 
 divergence between the two Albanian dialects he con- 
 siders to have been prehistoric, and he assumes that 
 their inter-relations have undergone no change, and that 
 though the Epirots were originally of a common stock 
 with the Illyrians, they had lost all feeling of kinship, 
 and stood to one another much in the same relation as 
 the Danes or the Dutch stand to the Germans to- 
 day. 
 
 Illyrians, Epirots, and Macedonians he looks upon as 
 offshoots of a common race, branches of which were 
 also to be found in Italy and in Thrace, and considers 
 this race to have been identical with that known to the
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 29 
 
 ancients as Pelasgian. The name Pelasgian has been 
 much abused, and it must not be looked upon as 
 indicating a particular nationality, but merely as an 
 expression, sanctioned by antiquity, to denote the 
 people inhabiting Greece and a part of the Balkan 
 peninsula before the Ionian and Dorian immigrations. 
 The question of interest is whether this primitive people 
 were of a kindred and Aryan stock less advanced in 
 arts and civilization, or whether they belonged to a 
 different family altogether. Strabo, Plutarch, Apollo- 
 dorus, and Stephanus of Byzantium may be quoted in 
 illustration of this Pelasgic origin of Epirots and 
 Macedonians, and the speech of the Argive king in 
 the suppliants of yEschylus, the great dramatist of 
 popular myth, includes the area of Macedonia, 
 which the Greeks evidently did not regard as Hellenic, 
 among the lands under the overlordship of the 
 eponymous king, Pelasgos ; while, according to Aristotle, 
 the Bottiseans derived their origin from Athens, an 
 early Pelasgian centre. The language of this primitive 
 people was apparently extinct in Greece proper at the 
 time of Herodotus, he was therefore not in a position 
 to record whether the first inhabitants of the country, 
 whom he describes as Pelasgians, were a people 
 speaking a tongue in any way resembling that of the 
 Epirots. 8 
 
 He discovers among the customs of the Albanians 
 
 8 His observations on the language are not very clear. But in those 
 unphilological clays it is not strange that he should have called a language 
 belonging to the same family as Greek " a Barbarian tongue." as he > iocs 
 the language spoken ai Kreston and on the Hellespont, which he describes 
 as Pelasgian. Any language which an ordinary Greek could not understand 
 he called Barbarian.
 
 30 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 analogies so remarkable to those of the Greeks and 
 Romans as to preclude the idea of their being 
 accidental, and the conclusion he draws is that these 
 point to a common origin for all. The analogies are 
 too close and too detailed to be traced back to a 
 prehistoric unity before the great " Volkerwanderung." 
 Then turning to the evidence of etymology, he traces 
 the analogy between the roots existing in the present 
 Albanian language and the nomenclature and attributes 
 of the oldest Greek theology, which Herodotus avers 
 the Hellenes owed to the people he calls Pelasgians ; 
 and he further shows how the names of tribes and 
 of places of the remotest antiquity still survive in the 
 spoken tongue. Again, the relations of this primitive 
 people to the ancient Hellenes find a close and interest- 
 ing parallel in the actual relations of the Albanians 
 with the Greeks of to-day in the same geographical area. 
 In modern times the Albanian element has merged 
 into the Greek, very much as in ancient days the prior 
 occupants were absorbed and dominated by it. In old 
 Arcadia there appears to have been little or no infiltration 
 of Hellenes among the original inhabitants ; nevertheless, 
 these, surrounded by Hellenes, gradually adopted the 
 manners and language, and, in fact, the nationality, 
 of the latter. Similarly, the Albanian immigrants into 
 the Morea and the islands for a time lived side by 
 side with the Greeks, a distinct people, speaking a 
 different tongue ; the Greek revolution broke the ice, 
 and the Hellenizing of the Albanians set in with such 
 vigour that it is probable that in a few generations 
 the Skyp language will have died out within the 
 confines of Greece proper ; for the Albanian does not
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 3 1 
 
 acquire a mixed dialect compounded of the two 
 languages, he speaks both, and eventually deliberately 
 abandons his own. 
 
 To sum up his theory, then, it is that the Balkan 
 and Italian peninsulas were, in prehistoric ages, 
 inhabited by kindred Aryan races; 1 ' that the Hellenes — 
 a later wave of immigration belonging to the same 
 stock — arrived in a Greece peopled by this race, whom 
 they called Felasgians, and gradually imposed on them 
 their language, which was already a finished and 
 perfected organ of speech ; but that the more northern 
 tribes of this family retained their original idiom till 
 the Bulgars overran Macedonia, and the Serbs, Illyria ; 
 that Albania was also traversed by Goths, Serbs, and 
 Bulgars, but that the original inhabitants prevailed 
 in the long-run against the new-comers, retained their 
 language until this day, and have survived, tolerably 
 free from alien immixture, the representatives, through 
 Illyrians and Epirots, of the primitive Aryan occupants 
 of the land. 1 
 
 Later writers have adopted the conclusions of Ilahn 
 so far as to identify the Albanians with the Illyrians, and 
 this view is now practically unquestioned ; 2 it is borne 
 out by a number of customs noted by Strabo, and other 
 
 9 This race, he believes, also spread over the Asiatic sideofthe Archipelago, 
 where the Argive and Macedonian (Pelasgic) name of Larissa occurs three 
 times, while the Asiatic Ilion reappears twice in Epirus. 
 
 1 Herodotus describes the Ionians as having been themselves Pelasgi 
 gradually differentiated hum other Pelasgian tribes, whereas the Dorians 
 were always Hellenes ; which might be interpreted, since the Dorians and 
 Ionians were obviously nearly related, to indicate three successive H 
 immigration by kindred peoples, all tracable to a common stock. 
 
 3 The Byzantine historian, Pachymer, speaks of the Albanians 
 indifferently as Albanians or Illyrians, while Nichephorus < hregoras always 
 calls them Illyrians.
 
 32 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 writers of antiquity, as peculiar to the Illyrians, which 
 the Albanians still keep up, such as the tattooing of the 
 body, and the cutting the hair away from the forehead, 
 while they constantly display the turbulent spirit, the 
 love of fighting, the intractability of that sturdy race 
 which gave the Romans so much trouble. On the other 
 hand, in view of the fact that the ancients drew a marked 
 line of distinction between Epirots and Illyrians, whom 
 they regarded as separate nations, whereas the 
 Albanians are manifestly one people, with varying 
 dialects of one language, it is now generally assumed that 
 the Illyrians were driven southwards by the pressure of 
 Sclavonic conquest, that they swallowed up the Epirots, 
 extinguished their language, and occupied districts to 
 which they had originally no claim ; a view which 
 receives confirmation from the fact that the Liapids or 
 Iapids, now a tribe of the southern Albanians, must be 
 assumed to bear the name of the ancient Iapodes, who 
 were originally settled much farther north, near Istria 
 and the Julian Alps, and whose district became the 
 Iapydia of Illyris Romana. Again, the theory has 
 recently been advanced that the Pelasgians, or whatever 
 we are to call the prehistoric occupants of these 
 countries, were an archaian race, a white people non- 
 Aryan and non- Semitic, perhaps connected with the 
 founders of the Chaldaean and Egyptian civilizations, 
 and that the Illyrians were a mixed race of this archaian 
 people with Aryan Thracians. The Albanians, there- 
 fore, their present representatives, are described as an 
 archaian Aryan people. 3 The Ionans and Dorians 
 
 3 Mr. Stuart Glennie, Introduction to Miss Garnett's "Women of 
 Turkey," 1890.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 33 
 
 were undoubtedly of Thracian origin, so that this theory 
 would equally well account for the easy fusion of the 
 Hellenic race with the former occupants. At the same 
 time, if it be true that the Tzakonian language shows 
 traces of an old parent tongue, containing the origins of 
 Greek, Latin, and German, immeasurably older than 
 any history we possess, 4 and if Albanian also be 
 correctly described by philologists as an offshoot from 
 the primitive Aryan language, from which Sanskrit was 
 derived, while it is also found to contain forms analogous 
 to the northern European languages, as well as the roots 
 of many names identifiable as Pclasgian appellations, 
 it will require considerable proof to establish the fact 
 that the people described by Herodotus as Pelasgians, 
 in the- midst of whom the Ionians arose, were not 
 essentially an Aryan race. 
 
 The ancient civilization of Epirus, which had 
 enjoyed all the benefits of the Roman provincial adminis- 
 tration, with its system of high roads and aqueducts, 
 its flourishing cities and development of local interests, 
 was first annihilated by the Goths at the close of the 
 4th century, when Alaric was driven back thither by 
 Stilicho, after his attempt to establish himself in the 
 Peloponnese, and the campaign in which the temple of 
 Eleusis was plundered and overthrown. In the ensuing 
 compromise he became Master-general of Eastern 
 Illyricum, and the countries which he had ravaged never 
 recovered the prosperous condition in which he had 
 found them. Throughout the 7th, 8th, and 9th cen- 
 turies Sclavonians, chiefly under the name of Bulgarians, 
 overran these provinces of the Empire, descending into 
 
 4 See note on p. 5. 
 
 D
 
 34 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Greece and the Morea. In the 7th century northern 
 Albania became a Servian province, and did not succeed 
 in tearing itself away from that allegiance until the 
 14th. It would appear that during the 10th century 
 all the more accessible parts of Epirus were occupied by 
 Sclaves, while the original inhabitants were driven into 
 the mountain strongholds, and Achris, the ancient 
 Lechidnus, was the residence of a Bulgarian king. 5 
 Early in the nth century the Emperor Basil II. 
 destroyed the First Bulgarian Kingdom, and the Eastern 
 Empire appears by that time to have generally repressed 
 the Sclavonian colonists of her European dependencies ; 
 And soon after this, for the first time since the days of 
 Ptolemy, the name of Albanians (Arvanitai) reappears 
 in history. 6 
 
 After the Franko- Venetian conquest of Constantinople 
 in 1204, and the disruption of the Byzantine Empire, 
 Epirus, Akarnania, and yEtolia formed a separate state, 
 known as the Despotate of Epirus, founded by a 
 bastard of the Comneni, who did homage for this 
 portion of the Empire to the Republic of Venice. 
 The Despotate continued in a precarious existence, with 
 varying fortunes and boundaries, until these countries 
 fell under the Ottoman yoke. During this time the 
 tribal name of Albanian was gradually extended to 
 all the inhabitants of southern Illyria and Epirus ; 
 while the native populations, long banished to the 
 
 5 By this time the distinction between Bulgarian and Sclave had 
 practically disappeared, though the two languages seemed to have been 
 distinct up to the 8th century. In the Second Bulgarian Kingdom (1116) 
 the Bulgarian language was extinct. 
 
 6 Anna Comnena speaks of Arvanoi (book iv. 8), Arvanilia 'book vi. 7), 
 and of Amotion (book xiii. 5).
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 35 
 
 mountains, expanded once more, and so grew in 
 numbers and importance, that among the honorary 
 titles granted by the despot Nichephorus to his son-in- 
 law, Philip, Duke of Taranto, we find that of Lord of 
 Albania. During the 14th century the Albanians con- 
 tinued at one time submissive and at another in rebellion 
 against the Palaeologi and the restored Byzantine 
 system, issuing from the mountains, which they had 
 always retained, to make successful raids on Jannina, 
 Arta, or Durazzo, and penetrating into Thessaly, 
 Akarnania, and Macedonia. The historian Chalcondylas 
 records that, in 1400, Charles Tocco, created despot 
 by Manuel Palaeologus, took Epirus and Akarnania 
 from the Albanians, which indicates that they must 
 for some time have overshadowed, and finally usurped, 
 a considerable portion of the Despotate, which was 
 probably always to a great extent a nominal sovereignty. 
 
 It was at the close of the 14th century that they 
 first came into conflict with the Turks, into whose 
 hands some of their towns at this time fell, while others 
 were secured by the Venetians. Then followed the 
 long and heroic struggle made against the Turkish 
 invaders by the Albanians, now awakened to a sense 
 of nationality and mutual reliance, under Arianitis and 
 his famous son-in-law, Kastrioti, better known as 
 Skanderbeg. The capitulation of Skodra in 1478 
 concluded this eventful war, and the defenders of the 
 last stronghold that had held out against Mahomet II. 
 were allowed to take refuge in Venetian territory, after 
 one of the most memorable sieges in history. 
 
 About this time considerable numbers of Albanians, 
 flying from the victorious Turks, passed over into 
 
 D 2
 
 36 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Apulia, and founded colonies in Italy and Sicily, where 
 Ferdinand I. of Naples granted several fiefs to the 
 settlers in return for assistance formerly received from 
 Kastrioti. Their presence in the Morea as mercenaries 
 of the later Frankish princes has already been alluded 
 to, and large bodies of them left their own barren 
 mountains at various times to take service abroad 
 in the army of any prince willing to employ them. 
 Henry IV. of France engaged Albanian mercenaries ; 
 they were found in the bodyguards of Barbary 
 sultans and Eastern magnates, and to this day 
 they are used as kavasses by the foreign residents in 
 Ottoman dominions. They all live in hopes of some 
 day returning to their own country ; and if death over- 
 takes them abroad, their bones are frequently brought 
 back by the care of a friend to repose in their native 
 mountains. 
 
 The history of the Albanians presents many analogies 
 to that of the Greeks ; in either case we see a vigorous 
 nationality surviving a long series of disasters 
 and defeats, gradually recovering and finally ousting 
 the alien element. When, however, the two nation- 
 alities come into contact, the Greek, which had, 
 perhaps, in the dim past absorbed a kindred race, asserts 
 itself as the dominant once more. 
 
 The Albanians who embraced the Mohammedan 
 creed became as fanatical as the proverbial convert 
 in their hostility to the old religion, without, at the 
 same time, becoming good Mussulmans ; and it was 
 probably as much due to the ensuing dissensions among 
 themselves as to the oppression of their masters, that 
 such large bodies of Christians moved south to occupy
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. i~; 
 
 the waste lands of Greece. The settlers in the Morea 
 are the most ancient, for there the Albanian tongue is 
 dying fast. The Hellenic revolution stimulated the 
 work of fusion ; the men of Suli, who spoke the Greek 
 language, are celebrated in popular song as national 
 heroes ; the islanders of Hydra and Spezza, who bore 
 off the honours of war, would to-day resent any other 
 name than Hellenes; 7 and the more prominent island 
 families, who have migrated to Athens and identified 
 themselves with the government of the young country, 
 have long ceased to teach their children to speak the 
 old Skyp tongue. 
 
 It remains to say a few words about the Vlachs or 
 Wallachs, who contribute a small proportion to the 
 population, but exclusively in central and northern 
 Greece. Permanent settlements of this people in 
 Greece proper are only to be found in the ranges of 
 Pindus and Olympus ; but they wander with their 
 flocks from pasture to pasture, and their reputation for 
 the management and breeding of sheep and goats is so 
 great that they are frequently hired for this purpose by 
 Greek proprietors. In fact, the word Vlach (BXdxos) 
 has come to be synonymous with shepherd in modern 
 Greek, and so is even applied to the Greek or Albanian 
 herdsmen in the Morea. 
 
 The name Vlach or Wallach would appear to be the 
 same as that employed by the Germanic races to signify 
 " foreign," which, passing from the Germans to the 
 Sclaves, was used by them to describe people of a 
 different race settled in their neighbourhood. The 
 
 7 At the same time, it must be remembered that the name Hellene is a 
 comparatively modem revival. See p. 1/2.
 
 38 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Welsch of the Germans, applied to the Romans or 
 Italians was similarly used by the Saxons in England 
 for the Celts of Wales, reappearing as Walloon in 
 Belgium, and Wloch in Poland. Similarly, the 
 Hungarians called the Italians Olach, and the in- 
 habitants of Wallachia Oidach ; these terms, as will 
 be illustrated by what follows, having about the same 
 differentiation as Roman and Rouman. The name is 
 not recognized by the people themselves, nor did it 
 exist among the Roumanians until the creation of the 
 Wallachian principality, the inhabitants of that region 
 being known amongst themselves as the folk of the 
 mountains, in contradistinction to the folk of the plains 
 in Moldavia, while their common name for themselves, 
 as well as for their kinsmen in Greece and Macedonia, 
 is Roumouni. The Turks and Albanians call the 
 Vlachs of Greece Tzubdn, a word signifying shepherd. 
 The Greeks distinguish the inhabitants of Wallachia 
 proper by the name of Black Vlachs (Mavp6{3\a)(oi) 
 from those of Thessaly and Macedonia, whom they call 
 Lame Vlachs (Kovr^o/SXa^oc), the latter name being 
 probably derived from an apparent lameness of speech, 
 which is also implied in another appellation Tsintsar, 
 bestowed on them owing to their inability to pronounce 
 ck, which they render by ts? The proper Greek name, 
 however, for these and similar tribes between northern 
 Greece and the Danube is Moeso-Dacians (MoiatoSafces), 
 a name which contributes important evidence to the 
 investigation of their historical origin. 
 
 8 The word " koutso " will, however, bear the meaning of "cut off," 
 "divided," and may therefore be interpreted as having its origin in their 
 separation from the larger population of Wallachia proper, and I have 
 heard this explanation given in Greece.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 39 
 
 Already in the time of Anna Comnena 9 they were 
 distinguished as a nomad shepherd race, and Pachymer ' 
 alludes to their skill in the chase, and the martial 
 habits which their mode of life had developed. They 
 appear in the 12th century to have occupied the same 
 regions north and south of the Danube, which as Wallachs 
 in Roumania, and as Vlachs in Macedonia, Thessaly, or 
 Epirus, they still occupy ; but the Turkish invasion drove 
 the southern group from the plains to the mountains, and 
 the two divisions, which seem for a long time to have 
 maintained a connecting link through possessions in 
 Mount Rhodope, are now geographically completcly 
 separated. The southern group must at one time have 
 been far more numerous in these parts than at the 
 present day, for historians of the later Empire speak of 
 Great Vlachia' 2 as including all the mountainous parts 
 of Thessaly ; while the Jewish traveller, Benjamin 
 of Tudela, mentions that he entered their country three 
 days' journey north of Thebes, which would imply that 
 it extended to the southern boundaries of Thessaly. 
 They were, however, apparently a distinct tribe from the 
 White Wallachians of the Balkans, who occupied a great 
 part of the present Bulgaria, and who, revolting from 
 the Empire in the reign of Isaac II., founded the 
 Wallachian or Second Bulgarian Kingdom. Byzantine 
 historians also distinguish between Black Wallachians 
 
 9 Anna Comnena, " Alexias," book viii., chap. 3. 
 
 1 Pachymer, " History of Andronicus," book i., chap. 37. They were at 
 this time apparently numerous in the vicinity of Constantinople, and fears 
 were entertained of their making common cause with the Scythians. 
 
 2 For this name Colonel Leake suggests the analogy of "Ma^na Graecia" 
 as applied to southern Italy; but Mr. Tozer shows, with more correctness, 
 that it was opposed to Lesser Vlachia in /Etolia and Akarnania.
 
 4-0 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 occupying the present Moldavia, and Hungaro- 
 
 Wallachians, who inhabited the Wallachia of to-day, as 
 
 well as between Great Vlachia and Lesser Vlachia, which 
 
 seems to have included a part, at any rate, of yEtolia 
 
 and Akarnania. 
 
 In the latter province of modern Greece is still found 
 
 a very individual and characteristic shepherd population 
 
 belonging to this family. They are known as Karag- 
 
 ounzdes, or Black Cloaks ; 3 they speak the Latinic 
 
 form of the Wallach language, and present quite a 
 
 different type to the Koutsovlach and Vlachs of Pindus. 
 
 The latter division own pleasant villages grouped in the 
 
 lower ranges, and enjoy considerable material prosperity 
 
 secured by their unceasing industry. At the time of the 
 
 Turkish invasion they took up positions in the mountains, 
 
 which enabled them to obtain favourable terms and 
 
 guarantee themselves against fiscal extortion ; at the same 
 
 time, the soil about their settlements is so unproductive 
 
 that it barely furnishes sufficient for a few months' 
 
 annual consumption, and the greater number of the 
 
 people are forced to seek employment abroad. The 
 
 poorer people become shepherds, carriers, or muleteers ; 
 
 others, again, manufacture the thick coarse frieze material 
 
 from which the cloak or capote of the peasant is made ; 
 
 while the more skilled among them are the principal 
 
 makers of the rough jewellery so much in vogue among 
 
 Greeks and Albanians, and excel in the chasing of 
 
 silver. They are also fair architects, and have a reputation 
 
 for the construction of cupolas. Others, again, go out 
 
 3 This appellation is also found in Thessaly, where it is applied to the 
 shepherds who come down into the plains. But it is a mere coincidence 
 derived from a similarity of costume, and is not due to any tribal 
 connection.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 41 
 
 as artisans or shopkeepers, and they are found as 
 proprietors of khans and caravanserais throughout the 
 East. The richer classes become merchants in various 
 parts of Europe ; but, nevertheless, like their humbler 
 kinsmen, they return eventually with their gains to their 
 native villages. Women, for the most part, cultivate the 
 land and tend the gardens, besides spinning the thread 
 and weaving the linen required for domestic uses. It 
 has been noticed that Vlachs in Greece speak a purer 
 and older form of Greek than even the Greeks them 
 selves, which is probably due to the fact that it has 
 always remained a foreign language to them, which is 
 taught to successive generations as it was originally 
 learned. 
 
 The geographical link between the Valchs south 
 of the Danube and the Wallachians north of that river 
 has entirely disappeared, but the difference in language 
 between them is but slight. The construction and 
 syntax of this language, as well as the larger pro- 
 portion of its vocabulary, are such as to have convinced 
 many students that it is a lineal descendant from the 
 Latin. The tradition of Roman descent is, moreover, 
 universally maintained by the various Wallachian tribes. 
 Those north of the Danube claim to be descended 
 from the military colonies planted in Dacia by the 
 Emperor Trajan in 106 ; while a tradition is also found 
 among the nomads of Megalovlachia that the}- owe 
 their origin to the scattered remnants of Pompey's 
 army defeated at Pharsalia. 4 Their Roman or Italian 
 descent was never doubted by the Byzantine historians ; 
 and Pope Pius II., accepting this theory with the 
 
 4 Pouqueville.
 
 42 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 facile etymological talent of an unscientific scholar, 
 
 derives the name of 'Vlachs from Flaccus, a Roman 
 
 general, quoting the lines of Ovid : 
 
 " Praefuit his, Graecine, locis modo Flaccus, et illo 
 Ripa ferox Istri sub duce tuta fuit." 5 
 
 The view of recent students is that the Vlachs 
 mainly represent what is now left of the ancient 
 Thracian race, their language being really the old 
 Thracian speech greatly modified by the intermixture 
 of Latin during the Roman occupation ; and thus 
 much of the myth and custom which the Roumans 
 appear to have inherited from the period of this 
 occupation may in reality be much more ancient, and 
 may date from an epoch before the dispersion of the 
 Western Aryans. 6 
 
 The question of the origin and migrations of the 
 Wallachian people has been exhaustively treated by 
 M. Robert Roesler, 7 and his conclusions, though they 
 may not be altogether acceptable to those to whom 
 their Roman descent is a matter of national honour, 
 are certainly well supported by the weight of historical 
 probability. He first endeavours to show that the 
 borderers on the Danube, previous to the Roman 
 conquest of Dacia, were of a kindred stock, allied to, 
 and sprung from, the Thracian people. Dacia was 
 finally subdued in 106 by Trajan, and converted into 
 an Imperial province ; but the populations remained 
 hostile, and the Roman system did not apparently strike 
 
 5 Ovid, " Epist. en Ponto IX.," 75. 
 
 6 Professor Thunmann, " Untersuchungen iiber Geschichte der ostlichen 
 Europaischen Volker. Prof. Freeman, " Historical Geography." Mr. 
 Stewart Glennie, &c. 
 
 7 Roesler, " Romanische Studien," Leipzig, 1S71.
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 4 J 
 
 deep roots, so that the province was little better than 
 a camp in a foreign land. Then came the pressure of 
 the Goths from the north, gradually forcing the Romans 
 out of Dacia, which was finally evacuated under 
 Aurelian. Fresh seats were found for the army, the 
 provincials, and all who moved in their train, in the 
 securer territory on the southern bank of the Danube, 
 where a portion of Mocsia was occupied by them and 
 re-named Dacia Ripensis, which also was officially 
 defined as a province under Diocletian. The evacuation 
 of Dacia proper was complete ; the culture which had 
 spread there for upwards of 150 years was wiped out; 
 and from the end of the 3rd to the 6th century the 
 country was re-peopled with folk of Germanic origin. 
 The old Dacian name was maintained in the Thracian 
 peninsula from which, according to his theory, it had 
 originally sprung, but it was borne and cherished by the 
 very Roman provincials who had eliminated it from 
 the names of nations. The Roman settlers then 
 mingled with the inhabitants of Moesia and Thrace, 
 who secured the advantages of the Roman provincial 
 system. Meanwhile, the ancient Dacia was occupied 
 by many tribes in succession — Goths and Vandals 
 fought for it ; the Huns followed and drove the Gothic 
 tribes across the Danube ; the Langobards and the 
 Avars occupied for a while in turn ; and then the great 
 Sclavonic movement ensued. Not only the old pro- 
 vince of Dacia was overrun, but Mocsia also, and 
 New Dacia and Thrace ; and then it was that the 
 Roumans, or Romanized Thracians, took to the inacces- 
 sible mountains for refuge, and became, for the most part, 
 a nomad shepherd population.
 
 44 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 He therefore concludes that the present inhabitants 
 of Roumania re-migrated northwards sometime not 
 long before the 13th century from Moesia, bringing 
 back with them a certain number of Greek and 
 Albanian words acquired from their contact with these 
 peoples, which they would never have adopted had 
 they been all along resident north of the Danube, as 
 they pretend. The Vlachs of Macedonia, Thessaly, and 
 Epirus represent a southward migration from Moesia ; 
 the original starting-point of all these movements being 
 the Roman province of Aurelia, Dacia or Dacia 
 Ripensis. In their re-migration northwards, the 
 Roumans must still have found considerable Sclavonic 
 settlements established in the better lands of ancient 
 Dacia ; there is, therefore, probably an important Sclave 
 element latent in the Roumanian people ; and if the 
 foregoing assumptions are true, we have here once more 
 the same phenomenon which we have already observed 
 in Greece and Albania— that of Sclaves— once firmly 
 established at the expense of the former inhabitants, 
 gradually merging in and disappearing before the older 
 nationality, which reasserts its supremacy in the long 
 lapse of time. 
 
 There can be no doubt that traditions and historical 
 references dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries 
 concerning the Roman origin of the Wallachians, 
 analogies of manners and customs, and a similarity of 
 language subject to certain definite changes and 
 modifications, all point to some original connection with 
 Rome ; and it is easily conceivable that the latter colo- 
 nists may have readily mingled with the remnants of a 
 Thracian people speaking a somewhat kindred language,
 
 Ethnology of Modern Greece. 
 
 h;> 
 
 and possessing a mythology and a folk-lore, which 
 though already considerably differentiated, was still 
 derived from a common source, and therefore capable 
 of receiving the new forms which the dominant caste 
 imposed ; that the pride and power of the Roman name 
 made it the ambition of all to claim a common orierin 
 with the colonists, with whom they gradually became 
 associated, and that so arose a race with many of the 
 characteristics of the Roman people, whose interest and 
 pride it would be to emphasize their distinctness from 
 Illyrian and Sclavonic neighbours ; that later they 
 dispersed in the general movement which modified the 
 geographical divisions of the Balkan peninsula, so that 
 some going north across the Danube became the 
 Roumanian people, while others drifting south 
 occupied the securer mountains, and became the 
 Vlachs or southern Wallachs, while a broad Sclavonic 
 band separated the two divisions. 
 
 The Vlachs of Greece, and even of Macedonia, though 
 an interesting and meritorious factor in the population, 
 are, however, not sufficiently numerous to influence the 
 present or future conditions of these countries ; and this 
 brief notice of their characteristics and possible origin is 
 only necessary because an ethnological examination of 
 the populations of modern Greece would be incomplete 
 without it.
 
 4 6 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Out of 2,000,000 and more of souls by whom the 
 kingdom of Greece, with its adjacent islands, is occupied, 
 upwards of forty per cent, are engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits, while nearly ten per cent, more follow the 
 occupation of shepherds. The country produces almost 
 exclusively raw material, and seventy per cent, of its 
 exports are the fruits of agricultural industry. It is, 
 therefore, rather village than town life with which the 
 student of national manners is confronted ; and after the 
 capital, which, with its port of Piraeus, has a population 
 of 150,000, there are only three other towns in which 
 it exceeds 20,000, and five more in which a total of 
 10,000 is reached. 1 Nevertheless, the Greeks are 
 gregarious, and live together in villages, while isolated 
 farms and cottages are rare ; so that the cultivator is often 
 at a considerable distance from the land he tills. This 
 is largely the case throughout the south of Europe, and 
 is to be attributed, in great measure, to the want of 
 security which has prevailed since the beginning of time, 
 a circumstance which also affects the situation of 
 villages, for they still, in the majority of cases, follow the 
 sites of ancient settlements, built where the mountains 
 offered natural guarantees against sudden attack or 
 invasion. It is among these villages that the manners 
 
 1 (a) Patras, Corfu, and Hermoupolis in Syra ; (/>) Zante, Larissa, 
 Tripolitza, Calamata, and perhaps Argos.
 
 The Land and the People. 47 
 
 and customs with which this volume deals are preserved ; 
 for although among the poorer citizens in Athens there 
 is still no lack of such traditions, a stranger might 
 remain there for a long while, mixing with the wealthier 
 classes, and with that numerous element of semi-foreign 
 Greeks who have reassembled there from all parts of 
 the East, and yet detect but little trace of that 
 individual life and peculiar bent of the popular mind 
 which is, perhaps, more characteristic and more full of 
 interest here than in any other European country. 
 
 The enterprising spirit of the Greeks carries many of 
 them abroad in pursuit of the different vocations for 
 which they have a special aptitude ; and there is also a 
 continual thronging towards the capital. In many 
 parts, and especially on certain of the islands, the nature 
 of the soil is wholly inadequate to supply the wants of 
 even a thin population, while there are none of the 
 conditions that favour the development of indigenous 
 industry ; a large proportion of the inhabitants arc 
 therefore forced to seek their fortunes elsewhere, 
 but a firmly-rooted local patriotism, which seems to 
 have the strongest hold in regions where nature is 
 sternest and most unproductive, brings many of them 
 back again ; while there is, of course, a preponderating 
 stationary element in a people one-half of whose total 
 number are employed in agricultural and pastoral 
 pursuits. Among these, the stationary character and 
 a marked separate individuality from valley to valley 
 and range to range has been accentuated by the 
 physical features of the country which they occupy, 
 by the difficulty of communication, and the long devious 
 paths which separate the dwellers in one plain from
 
 48 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 their immediate neighbours across the mountains ; by 
 the same conditions, in fact, which in ancient times 
 split up the Hellenic nation into a number of small, 
 independent, and mutually emulous units. To this day 
 traces of the ancient rivalries, the local jealousies may 
 be found, though modified by the circumstance of 
 altered aims. Without going to districts which have 
 for many centuries maintained the exclusive independence 
 of the famous men of Maina, the Boeotian will still be 
 found to be somewhat of a stranger in Sparta ; and I have 
 heard those in Sparta express themselves very dis- 
 paragingly of their neighbours across Taygetus, of the 
 race of Messenians in general. It would, therefore, be 
 necessary to deal with each of the provinces separately 
 in order to give a complete picture of the life and 
 characteristics of the people throughout a country so 
 small in area, so rich in vitality and interest ; but as 
 the majority of the customs and superstitions which 
 we are about to investigate are the common property of 
 the whole Hellenic race, and are not grouped according 
 to locality in the following chapters, a few general 
 remarks will suffice to give them the necessary relief 
 and environment. 
 
 It has been frequently observed that the Greek is not 
 by nature adapted for agricultural pursuits, and 
 undoubtedly the most is not made at present of a 
 country which alternates between rugged impracticable 
 mountain and alluvial plains of extreme fertility. 
 Methods and implements alike are antiquated, and 
 the peasant, by nature extremely quick up to a certain 
 age, is also very slow to adopt any innovation, and 
 content to go on with the ancestral system which his
 
 The Land and the People. 49 
 
 fathers used before him. On the other hand, in certain 
 regions where nature yields but the scantiest subsistence 
 in return for the hardest toil, the fact that anything is 
 produced at all is evidence of the effort of which he is 
 capable, while the laborious terracing of steep mountain 
 slopes, now often fallen out of cultivation, prove that, 
 under favourable circumstances, much more has been 
 and might be accomplished. Many districts, again, are 
 malarial, and a connection may be traced between 
 climatic influences and the indolence of the peasant. 
 The primitive tools in use often entail an unprofitable 
 expenditure of physical exertion. The plough has 
 scarcely altered since the days of Hesiod; and it is 
 characteristic that the land which is worked with the 
 hoe yields a better return than that which is ploughed 
 with horses or oxen. Where only the surface is 
 scratched there is but little use for the harrow, and 
 consequently this instrument of agriculture is also of 
 the most primitive kind. A horse draws, by a double 
 chain made fast to either end, a wedge-shaped board, 
 on which the driver stands, balancing himself by the 
 reins, and the seed is thus rather pressed down into the 
 ground than covered. Thrashing is carried on in much 
 the same manner ; a number of such boards, on which 
 the drivers ride, are drawn by a number of horses 
 abreast round and round the stone-paved thrashing- 
 floor. No use is made even of the simplest machinery, 
 although the magnificent unbroken plains of Thessaly 
 are admirably adapted for farming on a large scale ; 
 but there, at present, capital is wholly wanting, and the 
 peasant generally shows but little disposition to adopt 
 improvements, even when they are placed in his way. 
 
 E
 
 5<3 The Customs and Loj-e of Modern Greece. 
 
 Subsistence is easy, the climate yields a fair return to a 
 minimum of labour, and the prospect of improving his 
 condition by an increase of toil offers but little induce- 
 ment to him. 
 
 The fact is that the Greek peasant has yet to recover 
 from the moral deterioration of many centuries. All 
 stimulus to labour and improvement was taken from 
 him by perpetual insecurity and spoliation, and finally 
 by the conditions of his tenure under the Turkish 
 domination. Whether his lot was controlled by the 
 foreign Aga or the native Primate, the terms of culti- 
 vation were much the same, and care was taken that 
 he should never be out of their debt, nor able to glean 
 more than a bare subsistence by the toil of his hands. 
 The result was to engender an indifference to indebted- 
 ness and misery, and to remove all inducement to 
 develop his holding, since he knew that he would not 
 be allowed to retain whatever surplus over the 
 strictly necessary he might by increased exertion 
 produce. Continued misery and oppression enervated 
 his natural energies, and he had no part or lot in the 
 land, where even the fruits of his mountains, the 
 dye-plants and the vallonea, were all the perquisites 
 of the privileged class. Among the many historic 
 causes which contributed to bring about such a result 
 may be mentioned the " Konakia," or obligation to find 
 quarters for rapacious mercenaries ; the institution of 
 the Klephts, who requisitioned whatever the avarice 
 of the Agas had not seized upon ; the insecurity and 
 destruction of property caused by their raids, 2 and 
 the system of tax-farming, under which even their 
 
 2 Some account of the Klephts will be found in chap. ix.
 
 The Land and the People. 51 
 
 own countrymen grew rich at the expense of the 
 peasantry. These and many similar causes have 
 engendered habits which it will need much time 
 and encouragement, and the interest of ownership, or 
 secure tenure, to eradicate. 
 
 Religion, again, which has a strong disciplinary hold 
 upon the country folk, is not altogether favourable to the 
 development of industrious habits. The year is divided 
 between fast days, on which their nourishment is 
 insufficient to sustain men engaged in hard manual 
 labour, and feast days, upon which it is not lawful to 
 work, occupying about one-third of the year. Meat, 
 eggs, and milk are forbidden every Wednesday and 
 Friday, in addition to which there are long periods 
 of uninterrupted fast: forty-eight days before Easter, 
 the fast of the Holy Apostles, which must not be 
 observed for less than fifteen days ; the first fortnight 
 in August ; and a period of forty days before Christmas. 
 During the Lenten fast, fish and oil arc also prohibited, 
 and the diet consists only of bread and olives, with 
 caviare and vegetables for the few who can afford 
 them. 
 
 Nevertheless, the country people in Greece arc, as 
 a rule, a very attractive people ; proud, independent, and 
 hospitable to a fault, of extreme chastity, and sober 
 and temperate as becomes their thrift. The traveller 
 will notice that it is not so much the spots where good 
 wine may be obtained that his guide will indicate, but 
 the place where there is a good spring or a famous 
 well. "At such and such a spot," they say, "we will 
 halt, for there the water is good." They have the 
 passionate temper of a southern race when the blood 
 
 1 2
 
 52 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 is roused, and are too ready to exercise the ruder form 
 of justice, not having yet learned to appreciate the 
 extreme value that is set on human life among peoples 
 whom a long age of security has accustomed to the 
 blessings of peace ; but, on the other hand, they are 
 singularly free from many of the vices that a higher 
 civilization is familiar with. Their virtues are their 
 own ; their vices are, in a great measure, those of 
 circumstance. 
 
 In spite of the apparent poverty of the peasantry, 
 their excessive thrift, not to say penuriousness, together 
 with favourable conditions of tenure, have, since the 
 Independence, in many parts of the country enabled 
 them to accumulate a good deal of money, and in the 
 districts where climatic conditions are favourable, they 
 are rapidly buying out the larger proprietors, who have, 
 as a rule, but little taste for country pursuits, and 
 prefer the life of the city, so that peasant proprietor- 
 ship is gradually becoming more and more the rule. 
 Facilities for borrowing at exorbitant interest are, 
 unfortunately, only too ready to hand, for the Greek 
 who has gained a small competency abroad returns to 
 invest it in petty usury at home ; and it often happens 
 that the peasant turned proprietor is paying the double 
 in interest for money, borrowed to complete the 
 purchase or to build a house, of what would formerly 
 have fallen to the share of his landlord. 
 
 In the Peloponnese, where individual proprietorship 
 prevails, cultivation is chiefly carried on by hired 
 labour, notably the profitable currant industry, of which 
 the Hellenic kingdom has a monopoly, which entails 
 a considerable amount of work at two periods — in
 
 The Land and the People. 53 
 
 February, when the soil is hoed in order to expose 
 
 the roots of the plants, and heaped into little pyramids 
 
 between the vines ; and in May, when it is made level 
 
 again. Hired labour is very dear, owing to the cost 
 
 of living in a country suffering from abnormally heavy 
 
 taxation, but it is brought down by the competition 
 
 of Bulgarians, Albanians, and Montenegrins, who throng 
 
 the southern shore of the Gulf of Corinth at the period 
 
 of activity. 
 
 Generally speaking, however, a form of Metayer tenure 
 
 has, for the most part, prevailed — a system which is, 
 
 indeed, as old here as history, for Tyrtaeus sang of the 
 
 Messenians : 
 
 Aeo-7rocrwacri <pkpovre<; oivayKairjs vtto Xvyprjs 
 lijj.i(rv ttuv '6(T(tov Kapirov apovpa tpepei. s 
 
 In Thessaly, which is still in the hands of large pro- 
 prietors, the peasants as a rule pay one-third of the 
 produce in kind. The plains of Thessaly are, however, 
 subject to bad harvests, in consequence of a succession of 
 frost and snow too soon after the seed has been com- 
 mitted to the ground in autumn ; and a series of such 
 bad years, coupled with want of method and a want of 
 proper irrigation, have reduced the peasants to very sore 
 straits ; but facilities are now being offered them by the 
 Government for borrowing money upon easy terms, 
 which will enable them gradually to become proprietors 
 of their holdings. In Eubcea, where the return to 
 agriculture is large, the payment of a third and less 
 where the land is poor has enabled the peasantry to 
 buy out many of the original holders, and already a 
 greater part of the island is in their hands. In Bceotia, 
 
 3 Fragment preserved in Pausanias iv., chap. 14.
 
 54 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 I learned from several large proprietors that it was the 
 custom to advance seed to the cultivator, which advance 
 became the first charge on the produce of the harvest, 
 with fifteen per cent, more as the landlord's share. In 
 the Ionian islands two systems prevail. Under one, the 
 owner takes two-thirds of the total produce, but supplies 
 seeds and implements, manure, all, in short, except mere 
 manual labour ; the other system resembles the 
 Italian metairie, under which the tenant cannot be dis- 
 possessed, save in very exceptional circumstances, which 
 it is not practically possible to enforce ; a fifth of the 
 holding is looked upon as belonging absolutely to the 
 tenant, inalienable from his person and descending to 
 his next-of-kin. Peasants holding under this system 
 pay nominally one-half of the produce to the owner of 
 the land, and furnish themselves with the necessary 
 equipment ; but it seldom happens that the proprietor 
 obtains the stipulated share of his dues, and the 
 peasant is practically master of the situation. For 
 instance, the olive groves, which represent the chief 
 wealth of the islands, are approximately valued at their 
 estimated yield, while the fruit is still ripening, by the 
 peasant and a representative of the owner. The latter, 
 however, is generally himself of the peasant class, and in 
 sympathy with the tenant, and therefore inclined to 
 under-estimate the yield ; then, when the return has been 
 made, and the share of the landlord determined, he is 
 frequently informed after the harvest that such and such 
 of the trees were despoiled by insects, that hail or storm 
 damaged so many more, so that his part of the produce 
 is reduced to about half of the estimate. 
 
 The principal agricultural products on which the
 
 The Land and the People. 55 
 
 peasant industry of Greece is engaged are wheat and 
 barley, grown on the dry lands up to a height of 1,500 
 metres ; Indian corn and maize, on the well-watered 
 plains, and in such mountain districts as retain the 
 moisture in the soil, up to a level of over 1,000 metres ; 
 cotton, tobacco, olives, and grapes ; while in the 
 Peloponnese and the island of Zante, on the coasts, and 
 up to a height of 350 metres above the sea, the currant 
 vine flourishes, and furnishes the staple export of the 
 country. Among natural products of the forest may be 
 mentioned vallonea, carob - beans, gall - nuts, and 
 Prinokokki, 4 a red dye gathered from the holly-oak, one 
 of the commonest mountain shrubs. 
 
 The population of the Peloponnese is considerably 
 denser than that of central Greece, and central Greece, 
 again, more closely populated than Thessaly. If Athens 
 and the Piraeus be left out of consideration, central Greece 
 can only show twenty-two inhabitants to the square 
 kilometer, as against thirty-six in the Peloponnese. 
 
 Generally speaking, I think the traveller would notice 
 a considerable difference between the external aspect of 
 the villages in northern and central Greece, with which I 
 class Eubcea, and those of the Peloponnese ; while the 
 island villages, again, have a third and very distinct 
 individuality ; the first being much the poorest and 
 humblest in character, the second owing their prosperity 
 to the greater wealth of the soil, while the third are 
 maintained in tolerable comfort by the earnings of the 
 islanders abroad, and their extreme thrift and cleanliness 
 at home. There is also considerable contrast between 
 
 4 Qucrcus cocci/era. In Arabic Kermes, whence cramoisie and crimson. 
 
 The dye is formed by an insect on the leaves of the holly-oak.
 
 56 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 the east and western sides of central Greece. The east, 
 with a dry climate, in which the Aleppo pine flourishes 
 all over the lower ranges, comparatively easy of access, 
 with much cultivable land, is smiling, and prosperous, 
 and covered with towns and villages ; whereas the west, 
 with its wild mountain-ranges, its deep and gloomy 
 gorges, its forests of beech and oak, both evergreen and 
 deciduous, its damp climate and marshy plains, has 
 remained as in ancient times, undeveloped and cut off 
 from the rest of the world. 
 
 Let us look more closely at a village of the first 
 category. I will take one with which I am tolerably 
 familiar, Achmetaga, in the island of Eubcea, as typical 
 of a village occupied by Metayers, and it will serve for a 
 model of any other such village in Attica and central 
 Greece. The houses grouped round the little church are 
 all one-storied oblong cabins built of the stone which is 
 almost everywhere ready to hand, from thirty to thirty- 
 six feet in length by about twenty-four feet in width. 
 Two-thirds of this area are devoted to the dwelling part, 
 while the other third is reserved for the stabling of the 
 beasts in winter ; and there is seldom any partition wall 
 to screen it, for the peasant likes to keep them in sight, 
 having the same feeling about them which old Eumaeus 
 
 entertained for his swine : 
 
 ovSe avfiwrr) 
 ijvSavev o.vto0i koctos, vwv airo KOLjja)6i]vaL. b 
 
 The family live in common, men, women, and children 
 together ; often, indeed, several generations of them, in 
 the habitable end, which has a dried-clay flooring, or in 
 some cases wooden planking raised a foot or two above 
 
 5 " Odyssey, " xiv. 524.
 
 The Land and the People. ~ : j 
 
 the ground. The fire, on a hearth of stone, is against the 
 wall in the more recent and better-built cottages which 
 boast of a chimney, though in many villages it is still in 
 the middle of the room, the smoke escaping as best it 
 may through the holes in the roof. Furniture there is 
 generally none, unless it be a rude cupboard, or a 
 wooden chest, or, perhaps, a few shelves to hold their 
 simple cooking utensils. In one corner is a stack of 
 rugs, mattresses, and cushions. These laid upon the 
 ground form their beds at night. The mattresses, 
 stuffed with maize husks, are covered with a rough 
 carpet material which the women weave, and so are the 
 square cushions, which serve as seats by day when the 
 simple meal is spread upon the ground. Sometimes 
 there is a table, but not often, in the genuine peasant's 
 huts. 
 
 KAt'rru, rpo.—i^ai, Trpoa KttpaXaia, o-T/Ko/xara, 
 
 as Aristophanes summed up the household gear, are 
 still the limit of their ambition. Strings of onions- and 
 bunches of golden maize hang from the rafters, and a 
 large earthenware water-cooler, with a number of 
 smaller red jars and bowls of classic pattern, make up 
 the humble equipment of the cottage. No house is 
 complete without its ikon, generally a picture of the 
 Panaghia or Virgin, but occasionally representing the 
 saint whose name the householder bears, or in whose 
 especial protection family tradition has confidence. 
 Sometimes a little rude shrine is built up round the 
 picture, and in front of it is always a lamp, which many 
 families keep burning night and day, often stinting 
 themselves of oil to keep the saint supplied. On great 
 ,; Aristoph., "Acharn.," v. 10S9.
 
 58 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 occasions the holy picture, which represents the 
 " sacrarium " of the house, is decked out with wreaths 
 and flowers. It will be solemnly borne away to the 
 new dwelling if the family change quarters, like the 
 household gods of the olden time ; and should the 
 little lamp go out 'upon the road, it would be held to 
 forbode some grave misfortune. 
 
 Outside the door is the oven, a beehive-shaped 
 structure of clay, which is heated well-nigh red-hot with 
 wood, after which the fire is raked out, and the dough 
 wrapped round with leaves introduced for baking. 
 Generally, there is also set up without supporting posts 
 a primitive loom. Sometimes the loom is arranged 
 with cross-bars between two young trees, behind which 
 the lower hind-posts are driven into the ground, so that 
 the weaver sits in the shade of the trees at work, or else 
 a little thatch is built to shelter her from the sun ; for 
 the houses are only occupied at night or during bad 
 weather, and village life is entirely in the open air. All 
 the women who have not gone into the fields to work 
 with the men will be spinning in the doorways or 
 weaving at the loom; and wonderful is the work the 
 village wives produce from such rude implements, using 
 the natural dyes they extract from the plants that grow 
 in the neighbourhood — red from the holly-oak, and brown 
 from the heart of the plane-tree. 
 
 All this folk pay for their houses a nominal rental of 
 a bushel of wheat per annum, in order to secure the 
 owner's proprietory claim, which would otherwise pass to 
 the occupier by squatters' right after thirty years of 
 unmolested occupation. They are at liberty to cultivate 
 pretty well as much land as they care to, paying to the
 
 The Land and the People. 59 
 
 landlord one-third in kind. An attempt to convert this 
 form of metairie into a fixed rent-charge, calculated at 
 a far lower rate than the average annual return, with a 
 view to encouraging them to effort of which they should 
 reap the entire benefit, was unanimously rejected by the 
 peasants, whose congenital mistrust cannot yet place 
 confidence even in those of whose benevolence they have 
 experience. The produce here is almost exclusively 
 wheat or maize, but every family maintains a plot of 
 vineyard for home consumption. Many also keep silk- 
 worms, and a small quantity of silk is spun for dress. 
 This industry, which is of historic antiquity in Greece, 
 might be much developed in a country where the 
 mulberry-tree flourishes as it does here. Honey is also 
 produced in considerable quantities ; and this village,, 
 though not a large one, has produced as much as 
 25,000 lbs. in a year. Of late, however, this industry 
 had almost entirely ceased, owing to the destruction of 
 the vegetation in the mountains round by the forest fires 
 so disastrously frequent in Greece in summer, through 
 which great tracts are rapidly becoming disafforested, 
 The hives in use are cylinders of hollowed plane trunk 
 some two feet high, especially suited to the domestica- 
 tion of the wild bee, whose natural nest is built in a 
 hollow stem. 
 
 The amount that will suffice to support a peasant 
 family is extraordinarily small. Their wants arc nearly 
 all supplied by what they can grow ; a few sheep 
 furnish the wool which the women spin and weave, or if 
 they have none themselves they can procure it from the 
 shepherds in return for the breadstuff's which they grow ; 
 bread and olives furnish the staple of their food, and
 
 <5o The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 many of them hardly see money at all. I remember a 
 family of six in Boeotia whose actual money expenditure 
 was reduced to eight drachmas 7 a month ; a little 
 cotton, sugar, coffee, and tobacco was all they needed to 
 buy, the rest of their requirements were supplied by the 
 farm. In Eubcea ten pounds a year will amply support 
 a married man, and whatever he can make beyond this 
 is laid by. Thus it will easily be seen that, with wheat 
 fetching a good price, as it does in a country which only 
 produces sufficient grain to fed its population for half 
 the year, it is not difficult for the peasant to accumulate 
 considerable sums of money, where the land is fairly 
 good, and it is not surprising to find that in the case of 
 exemptions from forced military service, which the law 
 accords to widows' sons and certain other categories, the 
 Government has found it answer to require a conditional 
 contribution of ioo drachmas from those exempted, such 
 contributions being readily forthcoming. 
 
 The village of Achmetaga is one under extremely 
 favourable conditions, and the pappas, or village priest, 
 was enabled, by the encouragement he received, to pay 
 considerable attention to the elementary education of 
 the children of his flock. He was a very superior man 
 to the type of the priests in small villages, who often 
 differ only from the rest of the peasants by their 
 high-crowned hats and home-spun cassocks, and the 
 knowledge by heart of the simpler liturgies which they 
 frequently cannot read. The pappas of Achmetaga 
 counted himself a wealthy man, though his total income 
 fell considerably short of ^30 a year, to which stipend 
 each of the villagers contributed an annual bushel of 
 
 7 The value of the drachma is about eightpence.
 
 The Laud and the People. 61 
 
 wheat, with sundry offerings of loaves on days of 
 festival. He did no field work, and only cultivated a 
 little vineyard ; but he contrived to keep himself neat 
 and to bring up his family respectably. 
 
 Not many miles from Achmctaga might be found a 
 specimen of another Metayer colony under the worst 
 possible conditions, presenting a melancholy spectacle 
 of poverty and neglect. The owner of the land had 
 apparently been quite unconscious of the existence of 
 any duty towards his tenants, and had gleaned what he 
 could from them, without ever expending anything on 
 improvement or restoring its miserable tenements. The 
 little church was shored up on crutches, and appeared 
 to be in imminent danger of falling in ; the cottages 
 were wretched hovels, composed, many of them, of little 
 more than mud and wattles, with roofs so full of holes 
 as to afford no protection in the winter and the rainy 
 season. A strain of madness, generally very rare in 
 Greece, had crept in, and no care had been exercised to 
 isolate the wretched victims, or prevent them from inter- 
 marrying, and a number of children showed the 
 unmistakable signs of idiocy. The destitution of this 
 village was extreme, measured by the standard of 
 comfort in other lands, and it was instructive as a 
 contrast with other villages, where the peasants arc 
 themselves proprietors, and yet it was a misery much 
 tempered by the climate, the bright air, and the sun. 
 Moreover, the inhabitants had something better to look 
 forward to ; the lands had just passed into the hands of 
 a new owner, and their cottages were about to be 
 rebuilt of stone upon a better and a healthier site a few 
 hundred yards away. When I was among them the
 
 62 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 white-kilted peasants were busied shelling their maize 
 from the husks ; the winter provision was gathered in, 
 great heaps of golden grain lay piled against the 
 cottages, and they seemed bright and merry enough as 
 they squatted, men and women together, at work in the 
 sun. They had known no other experience, and life is 
 so easy here. 
 
 Within easy reach of these two places, the large and 
 flourishing village of St. Anna, on the heights above 
 the eastern coast, presents an example of the other form 
 of tenure, being inhabited exclusively by peasant 
 proprietors, who with their savings and borrowings 
 have bought out the original holders, and established 
 themselves as an independent commune. The country- 
 folk here make a decidedly good impression ; they are 
 more independent in their address, and lavish in that 
 ready hospitality which characterizes the Greek of the 
 country districts. The houses are larger and more 
 solidly built than in the Metayer colonies, consisting 
 o-enerally of two stories with several rooms in each, and 
 these for the most part clean and not without some 
 pretension to comfort. But herein also lies the burden 
 that weighs upon these villagers ; when they become 
 proprietors they are apt to grow too ambitious, and vie 
 with each other in the pride of their establishments. 
 Consequently they all get into debt over house-building, 
 and the rate of interest exacted by the small country 
 usurers is enormous. Meanwhile, the spirit of indepen- 
 dence which their new position fosters, makes them shy 
 of appealing to those who might be willing to help them 
 on reasonable terms, and they prefer to go on renewing 
 their bills at a ruinous rate. Externally, however, and
 
 The Land and the People. 63 
 
 in his surroundings, the peasant owner presents a far 
 more well-to-do appearance than the fanners of the 
 proprietary villages. They are a light-hearted people, 
 proud of being able to offer hospitality to the stranger, 
 fond of talking and amusement, with something in the 
 pocket always, as the doctor at St. Anna observed, to 
 pay the piper with when dancing is in prospect, though 
 less ready to remember his own little account. They 
 are famous dancers in Eubcea, and talking and dancing 
 are their chief distractions. Not long ago village 
 games were still an important feature in country life, 
 running and jumping, and the throwing of heavy stones, 
 a survival of the old athletic contests ; but change is 
 creeping in apace, the spread of cheap and worthless 
 newspapers is substituting rapidly a taste for political 
 discussion over the coffee or mastic, for the old healthy 
 competition of corporeal exercises ; nor does any man who 
 has held some small office under the Administration 
 care, at the expiration of his term, to return to simple 
 husbandry, but spends his time in political agitation, 
 and in disseminating the ineptitudes of petty partisan- 
 ship. 
 
 The description of one such village will answer 
 tolerably well for any other throughout central Greece : 
 small one-storied stone-built cottages, more often than 
 not set in a square or oblong round the little church, 
 all facing inwards and turning their backs on the 
 world outside. In the west, villages are rarer, and 
 great tracts, like the plain of the Achclous, are only 
 tenanted by nomad shepherds, who build themselves 
 a rude rush shelter for the severe weather, when winter 
 drives them to the lowlands. The little towns arc
 
 64 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 more pretentious, and many of them can boas 
 comfortable and roomy houses, owned by successfi 
 merchants. Some, like Chalcis or Naupaktus, ai 
 circumscribed by their mediaeval fortress ring, and L 
 these a richer quarter has sprung up as a suburb outside. 
 The port of Volo presents a flourishing appearance ; 
 and so does Lamia, with its rich tobacco-fields. Thebes, 
 with its three main streets, called after Pindar, Pelopidas, 
 and Epaminondas, retains some little trace of its 
 middle-age prosperity, and is very picturesque in 
 summer, with its open shops under their broad sheltering 
 roofs, the straw mats stretched as awnings across the 
 street, and the lines of young acacias down the main 
 thoroughfare, with its groups of white-kilted country- 
 men discussing bargains at the tables of the cafes which 
 straggle across the road. 
 
 In Thessaly there is still a Turkish character about 
 the villages, with the minarets of ruined mosques 
 standing solitary, like landmarks of a vanished race. 
 Those at the foot of the mountains and on the slopes 
 are also built of rough-hewn stone ; but in the great 
 plains, where the sites are far from the nearest quarry, 
 and even at the principal town, Larissa, the houses are, 
 for the most part, constructed of mud-bricks, or latl 
 and plaster, with the trellised windows and tr 
 enclosing wall which mark the Eastern character. Tl 
 population of the plains is much thinned since th 
 exodus of the Mussulman peasantry, and, as has bee; 
 already mentioned, impoverished by a succession o. 
 bad harvests and want of method. A favoura' 
 contrast is presented by the inhabitants of the floui 
 ing villages which cover the slopes of Mount Pe?
 
 The Land and the People. 65 
 
 nd the promontory of Magnesia. When the Turks 
 
 onopolized the plains they left the mountains to the 
 
 tive Greeks, who, however, in this region enjoyed 
 
 jnsiderable privileges and conditions, stimulating them 
 
 d unusual industry. The higher villages produce silk, 
 
 wine, honey, and garden-stuffs, and those at a lower 
 
 level, in addition to silk, oil, cotton, and abundance 
 
 of fruit and oranges. One of them, Zagora, was, 
 
 even under the Ottoman rule, an important commercial 
 
 centre, where the cloth for the rough overcoats of 
 
 the country people was manufactured, together with 
 
 a great deal of silk for export ; and to this day the 
 
 antique art of gem-cutting is preserved in Makrinitza, 
 
 whence hail many of the intagli offered for sale as 
 
 curiosities to the unwary traveller in Greece. Silken 
 
 cords, tassels, and girdles are also made, and the men 
 
 have a reputation for working in leather. The houses 
 
 are comfortably and stoutly built, many of them being 
 
 constructed tower-fashion to render them easily capable 
 
 of defence. Trikeri, situated on the heights at the 
 
 extreme end of the Magnesian promontory, is a 
 
 maritime colony, whose inhabitants are boat-builders, 
 
 or seamen, who cut sponges, or fit out small ventures 
 
 for the carrying trade, after the manner of the 
 
 •slanders. 
 
 The standard of comfort in the Peloponncse, where 
 
 he peasants are, for the most part, proprietors, is 
 
 generally higher. The southern shore of the Gulf of 
 
 Corinth, with its miles of currant vineyards, is the most 
 
 billable property in Greece; but being also the groat 
 
 hway to the capital from the west, traversed by the 
 
 pt railway of any considerable extent, it has, perhaps, 
 
 F
 
 66 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 fewer peculiarly individual characteristics. Patras, the 
 chief centre of export, has a very modern aspect, and a 
 cosmopolitan population, including a number of Italians 
 and a colony of foreign merchants ; while its quays are 
 thronged with Albanians, Montenegrins, and Jews. The 
 rich valley of ancient Lacedaemon, lying like a hollow 
 shield between Taygetus and Parnon, with no lack of 
 water from either slope, is full of wealthy farmers : a 
 truly idyllic land, in which one searches in vain for some 
 prototype in nature of the rugged ideal which the 
 Spartans set before themselves ; while Sparta itself, 
 fragrant with gardens and framed in groves of acacia, 
 mulberry, and poplar, is an important and busy little 
 centre not without some tinge of the ancient jealousy of 
 the capital, and a headquarters of provincial conservatism. 
 Tripolitza, the capital of the Morea before the insurrec- 
 tion, is famous for its smiths. Though neither iron nor 
 coal are to be had on the spot, and it is quite in the 
 centre of the peninsula, and stands at a height of 3,000 
 feet above the sea, this industry has for some 
 unaccountable reason established itself there, and 
 ploughshares and axe-heads, horseshoes and all kind of 
 iron and steel wares are sent out to all parts of the 
 Greek continent and islands. The greatest external 
 prosperity, however, is exhibited by the villages of the 
 fertile plain of Messenia. Kalamata, the principal town 
 and port, has an extensive bazaar, and a direct trade 
 with the north African coast. Dried figs are exported 
 in great quantities, as well as what currants are grown 
 in the south of the peninsula ; while the mulberry is 
 largely cultivated for the silk industry. The villages of 
 the plain are surrounded with thick hedges of the
 
 T/ie Land and the People. 67 
 
 prickly pear, which grows luxuriantly in the stoneless 
 soil, and walls in the fig plantations. The houses arc- 
 mostly two-storied, with glazed windows and balconies, 
 and vine-trellised pergolas below, presenting an appear- 
 ance of order, neatness, and comfort which contrasts 
 with the hovels in which the peasantry live in central 
 and northern Greece. There is a prosperous look, too, 
 about the people, whose linen kilts are of the cleanest, 
 and whose waistcoats are brave with various embroidery. 
 The condition of the villages is a certain indication of 
 the wealth or poverty of the soil, and in the mountains 
 of Arcadia every degree is represented, from the 
 picturesque tetrapolis of Andritzena, set in a bower-like 
 nook of fruitful slopes, with solid, well-built houses, 
 whose projecting roofs and balconies almost meet above 
 the climbing streets, and exclude the fierceness of the 
 summer suns, to the starving villages of the high central 
 plateau, where the ungrateful land yields so small a 
 return to laborious cultivation that it does not suffice to 
 feed the sparse population, and the inhabitants are 
 obliged to descend to the coasts and work as 
 labourers through the winter, returning to their homes 
 to cut timber in the spring. 
 
 One other district deserves special mention, on 
 account of the distinct individual character of its 
 inhabitants, and their curious mode of life, which 
 remains an anachronism even in Greece. The country 
 of the Mainotes, who have been alluded to in the previous 
 chapter, occupies the ancient Taenarian promontory, 
 which is a prolongation of the range of Taygetus 
 terminating in Cape Matapan. The modern province 
 extends westward to within a short distance of Kalamata 
 
 ]•' 2
 
 68 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 in Messenia, and eastward beyond Gythion, the port 
 of Sparta. But it is especially in the region of Mesa 
 Mani, or Inner Maina, including the south-western 
 coast as far as Matapan, the table-land between the 
 central spine and the cliffs arising abruptly from the sea, 
 that district which acquired for itself the ominous 
 name of "the land of evil counsel," s that a primitive 
 people have retained to this day their own peculiar 
 social code, a mode of life, and a number of curious 
 customs to which frequent allusion will be made in 
 subsequent pages. 
 
 It is the proud boast of the Mainotes that they 
 are the lineal representatives of the Spartans, unadul- 
 terated by foreign immigration, and that their rocky 
 promontory has never been conquered by the various 
 invaders of Greece. It appears, however, more probable 
 that they represent, in some remote degree, the Periceci 
 of Laconia, the descendants of the older Achaeans, 
 who preceded the Dorian invasion, and who were 
 secured with a certain independence in the enjoyment 
 of their property. For the Periceci seem to have 
 occupied the maritime districts, for the most part, at 
 the time of the Roman conquest, while such of the 
 genuine Spartans as still remained at that time 
 occupied lands in the interior ; and the southern 
 peninsula of Maina, the only part of the province in 
 which the inhabitants can claim immunity from foreign 
 immixture, is so barren that it would never have been 
 occupied by the invading Dorians while the vanquished 
 race were left in possession of the better lands. The 
 Roman conquest freed the Periceci from their traditional 
 
 8 KaKofiovXia Mavj).
 
 The Land and the People. 69 
 
 semi-servitude, and established the self-governing com- 
 munity of the Eleuthero-Laconians, whose chief town 
 was Tacnaron. Whatever may be the truth about 
 their origin, it seems certain that they are a very 
 ancient and unmixed race, differing in marked character- 
 istics from the people who surround them ; and though 
 their vaunt of never being vanquished may be a little 
 overstated, it is undoubtedly true that the various 
 invaders of the Morea found their inhospitable moun- 
 tains difficult to occupy, and preferred to conciliate 
 the dwellers in the rocky promontory with privileges 
 which ensured them against foreign colonization. The 
 Frankish princes overawed them w r ith the strong castle 
 of Passava, which guarded the northern passes, and 
 built later on the fortress of Maina, which gave its 
 name to the whole peninsula, in the neighbourhood 
 of Matapan, thus holding them in some sort of control. 
 After the battle of Lepanto, the narrow creeks became 
 the stronghold of corsairs, who kept up a desultory 
 warfare with the Sultan's fleets ; but a payment of 
 tribute to Constantinople was secured by the establish- 
 ment of Turkish garrisons in the castles. When Moro- 
 sini expelled the Turks from the Morea, the Mainotes 
 were the first to join his standard, and they gained 
 in return an independent administration with special 
 immunities ; and from this time probably began the 
 local feuds and jealousies which survive in the form 
 of the vendetta to this day. After the re-establishment 
 of the Ottoman rule, they became once more a 
 dependent, but never a servile, race, and were ever 
 ready to rise in rebellion against their foreign sovereign, 
 though following with a more than feudal loyalty their
 
 70 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 own patriarchal leaders and the Bey, elected by the 
 eight hereditary captains, the chiefs of the principal 
 Mainote families. 
 
 Their condition has been aptly compared to that of 
 the Highland clansmen in the latter days of the Stuarts. 
 They owed a nominal submission to the Sultan, and 
 paid their tribute to the Capitan Pasha, who had the 
 /Egean islands and Maina under his control ; but if the 
 tribute was not forthcoming, no Turkish emissary was 
 likely to advance far into Mesa Mani to demand it. 
 During the last century they acquired a bad name for 
 piracy and brigandage ; for the country is excessively 
 poor and sterile, and being for ever at daggers drawn 
 with the sovereign power, they were compelled to 
 support themselves by plunder and rapine. Their 
 services in the war of Independence under the famous 
 Petrobey are matter of history ; they were among the 
 first to take the field, and they held out to the last, 
 resisting all the attempts of Ibrahim to penetrate their 
 passes. It was with great difficulty only that they 
 could be induced to surrender their semi-independence 
 so long maintained, and accept absorption in the new 
 Hellenic kingdom ; and to this day they are treated with 
 peculiar indulgence, and conciliated by immunity from 
 taxation, granted under colour of the great services they 
 rendered to the cause of Greece. 
 
 The interior of Maina is the most barren land 
 imaginable: a plateau of rock and rolling stones; the 
 only trees are figs and stunted olives, and the most 
 laborious cultivation barely yields enough here to keep 
 body and soul together. The larger stones are collected 
 and built up into walls which intersect the plateau in
 
 The Land and tJie People. 7 1 
 
 labyrinthine lines ; in the narrow spaces enclosed by 
 these is grown a little thin grain, which there is no 
 moisture to swell, and which is plucked almost ear by 
 ear. Lupins, " the grapes of Maina," seem to flourish in 
 a land apparently devoid of soil. Terrible winds sweep 
 across the promontory, and it is necessary to build 
 sheltering walls of stone round the young figs and olives 
 until they grow strong enough to resist the force of the 
 blast. Wherever it is possible, a little red marl is 
 collected in the rock hollows to grow something in, and 
 many of the patches thus secured to cultivation are only 
 a few yards in area. There is no fuel but the wild 
 thyme from the mountain, and the roots of the stunted 
 rock-herbage, which scarcely suffices to feed a few- 
 undersized sheep and goats, and even this must be 
 fetched from a great distance. The pigs fare best, for 
 wild lupins are plentiful. There is no water but what 
 can be collected in underground reservoirs during the 
 rainy season, and this is always thick and muddy. It is 
 not strange that the inhabitants look prematurely old 
 from the hardness of their life, and the faces of the 
 children are often lined and contracted. 
 
 The old feudal chiefs are a more real power here than 
 the law or the gendarmerie, and it is still impossible to 
 put down the vendetta between family and family when 
 blood has once been spilt. The slayer flies to the 
 mountains, where he is safe from the gendarmerie, and 
 his relatives bring food to the appointed places ; his 
 enemies would never denounce him to the authorities, 
 but by the unwritten law of custom seek to avenge the 
 blow on himself or his nearest relative, who is consequently 
 always armed and on the alert. Sometimes these blood-
 
 J 2 The Customs mid Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 feuds have reached such a pitch that a whole village 
 becomes involved, and the men shut themselves up in 
 their towers and only the women go abroad. Then the 
 hereditary chief endeavours to compose the feud ; a truce 
 is declared and terms are drawn up, and he who has last 
 taken blood becomes the man of the family to which the 
 victim belonged, and serves them faithfully for the rest of 
 his life. Such truces were common enough in old times, 
 though well-nigh impossible now, and they were never 
 broken. 
 
 The character of the population is reflected in their 
 villages. Every house is a tower, loopholed for defence. 
 In the lower story is the stable or the olive-press, while the 
 upper chamber, reached by a ladder which can be drawn 
 up through a trap, is the dwelling-place of the family. 
 They present a most singular appearance, these nests of 
 square towers fretting the horizon above some blue rock 
 creek or dotted about on the mountain heights. Each 
 house has its own cistern outside the village, and its 
 circular stone-paved threshing-floor. The prickly-pear, 
 the little olives, and the fig-trees make a green belt round 
 the village, which is approached only by a narrow bridle- 
 path as rough and stony as a torrent bed. 
 
 The people, from their savage blood-feuds and their old 
 reputation for piracy, have a bad name among their 
 neighbours, and yet nowhere in Greece are the pre- 
 scriptions of the Church observed with greater exactness ; 
 and to those few who come amongst them with a word 
 of recommendation from one of their chiefs they exhibit 
 great hospitality, according to their powers. In physical 
 type they are not particularly prepossessing, but their 
 faces are finely cut, sensitive, and intelligent. This
 
 The Land and the People. J$ 
 
 characteristic applies generally to the peasant population 
 throughout Greece ; only in Arcadia it appeared to me 
 that the type was somewhat less refined and more like 
 that of the country-folk in heavier-soiled countries. The 
 men of Maina are spare and active, dark-haired and dark 
 in complexion, wearing a thin beard in full, with then< 
 prominent, the check slightly hollow, and the forehead 
 vertical and high. There is a general absence of 
 costume, due no doubt to the poverty which now prevails ; 
 a few old men still wear the baggy knickerbockers of the 
 Greek islanders, but the rags of European dress arc the 
 universal garb of the population. Only the women retain 
 some trace of it, in the presence of a broad red stripe 
 round the skirt, which is removed in mourning and not 
 worn for two years after the death of a relative. 
 
 Since the war of Independence, the Albanian costume 
 has become the national dress of continental Greece. 
 The white kilt {fustanelhi) with its many pleatings is 
 now worn quite short, though a few old-fashioned people 
 may still be seen with the more graceful skirt in use at 
 the beginning of the century, which fell an inch or two 
 below the knee. The fustanclla is really, I imagine, a 
 decorative development of the shirt, worn like a tunic 
 belted at the waist, as still seen among the poorer peasants 
 who cannot afford such "ungrudging" folds of linen. 
 Round the waist is a leathern belt with a large punch in 
 front, like a purse of many pockets, containing flint and 
 steel, tobacco, and a long knife in a sheath. The poorer 
 countrymen wear white woollen leggings descending like 
 gaiters over shoes with upturning points (tzaroukia), the 
 wealthier folk brocaded greaves of red, or blue or buff. 
 The shirt has loose hanging sleeves, and over it is worn
 
 74 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 a waistcoat, or rather, a short jacket, the sleeves of which 
 are allowed to hang from the shoulder behind. In some 
 cases the hanging sleeves have been replaced by a sort 
 of flat wing, and in others they have disappeared 
 altogether. In Euboea this jacket is generally of a dark- 
 blue colour, in Thebes black prevails, in Messenia the 
 buff or dark-blue cloth is elaborately embroidered with 
 brown or red ; each district has its own fashion, and on 
 festival days crimson velvet jackets worked with gold are 
 not uncommon. On the head a red cap with a long silk 
 tassel completes the costume, but the poorer people 
 merely knot a handkerchief round the hair. In Thessaly 
 the prevailing dress is a loose garment of coarse black 
 cloth belted at the waist, and reaching to the knee, with 
 white woollen leggings below. White or blue woollen 
 overcoats with a hood are worn in winter, or heavy cloaks 
 of impenetrable frieze. Every district has its own 
 peculiarities, which it would be only tedious to 
 enumerate. 
 
 The old dress of the Peloponnesian ladies is rarely seen 
 now with the exception of the cap, which is still much 
 worn in Patras, and is not yet rare in Athens. It con- 
 sisted of a short gold-embroidered velvet jacket, open on 
 the throat and breast, and fastened with a hook at the 
 waist, with sleeves tight to the elbow, and from thence 
 spreading into large hanging cuffs. With this a silk 
 skirt would be worn, and on the head was a loose red 
 cap (fezc), with a tassel of silk or gold wire hanging by a 
 cord some eight inches long. This dress was also worn by 
 the ladies of Hydra and Spezza, where, however, the cap 
 was replaced by an embroidered muslin veil, gracefully 
 arranged so as to frame the face.
 
 The Land and the People. 75 
 
 Outside the Peloponnesus, again, the older Greek dress 
 survives at Mcgara, where the women in holiday attire 
 don a jacket reaching to the hip, open at the neck, and 
 tight at the waist, which is cut very high. The front, the 
 shoulders, and the cuffs are elaborately embroidered with 
 gold or silver braid. The skirt is of a dark blue or green 
 material lined with white, and trimmed with a broad 
 band of red, which the unmarried girls turn back and 
 fasten up behind, so that the skirt is much shortened in 
 front. Over this is either a bright and rather crudely 
 embroidered apron, or a sash fastened gracefully round 
 the hips. The head is covered by a cap of cloth with 
 rows of overlapping coins stitched on to it, and over this 
 again a veil, often of the finest weft of silk with threads 
 of gold interwoven. Strings of coins and chains of gold 
 and silver hang down over the breast. 
 
 But the dress generally worn by the peasant women 
 in Greece is also of the Albanian type. The short 
 white jacket (kondogouni) has wide sleeves either plain 
 or embroidered with silk ; over it is a long sleeveless 
 coat {zipouni) reaching to the knee, of white wool 
 trimmed with a band of red, or blue, or black cloth, 
 embroidered with a similar colour at the arm-holes and 
 the corners. The skirt is also white, and has embroidery 
 of wool or silk of great richness for weddings or feast- 
 days. A yellow handkerchief of coarse muslin is 
 knotted round the face on working-days ; but veils 
 of silk and muslin, with a string of coins across the 
 forehead, are the proper complement of the costume. 
 In Eubcea the women also wear a broad plait of false 
 hair hanging down the back, and at St. Anna in that 
 island the coins of the head-dress are hung upon a red
 
 j6 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 band, which has a very pretty effect under the soft 
 shadow of the veil. 
 
 The general impression produced by a crowd in such 
 costume is very brilliant. White is the prevailing note, 
 relieved by the red of the men's caps and the bright 
 colours of the embroidery. It accords with the brilliancy 
 of the landscape, the vivid polished green of the foliage, 
 the intense sunlight with its purple shadows, the blue of 
 sea and sky, and the clearness of the atmosphere. 
 
 The islanders still retain a costume more genuinely 
 Oriental in character ; long blue or brown knicker- 
 bockers of voluminous fold hanging below the knee, 
 with shoes and stockings or high boots of yellow calf- 
 skin ; a blue embroidered jacket, and a sash wound 
 round and round the waist. In the smaller Greek 
 islands, where many of the population are compelled 
 to seek work abroad as sailors or artisans, and are 
 brought into frequent contact with other men, costume is 
 rapidly disappearing ; but in Crete and the other 
 Turkish islands it is seen in all its glory. The dress of 
 a Cretan chieftain, of the finest dark-blue cloth lined 
 with crimson, with his ample sash of silk sustaining his 
 silver-mounted pistols and yataghan, will often cost him 
 little short of fifty pounds, and may even far exceed this 
 sum when the workmanship of his weapons is 
 •exceptionally good. Two peculiarities of costume 
 struck me in the islands which I visited. At Kythnos 
 the women wear a sort of canvas mask over the face to 
 protect the complexion from the sun, and long coarse 
 gloves reaching above the elbow. The head is draped 
 in linen, and the mask begins just below the eyes. 
 And in the island of Nios, the ancient Ios, they dress
 
 The Land and the People. 
 
 their hair in a treble plait made to stand upright 
 behind the head, after the manner sometimes represented 
 in ancient sculpture, and especially in the small terra- 
 cotta figurines. 
 
 The smaller Cyclades are for the most part rocky 
 and bare. For centuries after the fall of Constantinople 
 the /Egcan was a perpetual scene of warfare between 
 the rival fleets of the Crescent and the Cross. Barbary 
 corsairs, pirates from Italy and Dalmatia, ravaged the 
 ancient sites, cut down the olive-groves, and bore the 
 population away into slavery, and the isles still bear the 
 trace of these long years of desolation. The delicate 
 mountain forms are very lovely still, as they show like- 
 pearls and amethysts across the sunrise haze, or when 
 they float like fretted rubies and sapphires at sunset on 
 a milky sea ; but within there is a total absence of 
 vegetation, and only in the interior mountain hollows 
 small olives cluster or the stunted Aleppo pine. 
 There is one moment in the early spring when all the 
 terraced heights are covered with the emerald verdure of 
 young corn, and whole slopes are a vermilion blaze of 
 poppies ; but the general aspect on the shore is sad, and 
 barren, and brown. 
 
 The scantiness of subsistence forces many of the 
 inhabitants to take service on the mainland, where they 
 have a high reputation for thrift, industry, and sobriety, 
 and many islands have developed their own particular 
 industry. Thus the Andros folk are famous as cooks, 
 and Tenos has for many years supplied even Constanti- 
 nople with nurses. But the majority of the male 
 population are sailors by nature and profession, or enga 
 in the kindred occupations of fishing and diving for
 
 78 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 sponges. A great deal of the minor carrying trade is done 
 by little vessels fitted out on the Greek islands, when the 
 owner, the captain, and the sailors all have shares in the 
 venture, the latter generally dividing a half among them 
 in lieu of all other demands. They are as abstemious 
 as their brethren of the mainland, and so little victualling 
 is required that such a venture is started with an 
 expenditure of capital slight enough to defy competition. 
 Bread, cheese, and a few olives are all the islander 
 demands, and it may be that even the ship is borrowed 
 under security, and the hire defrayed out of the profits 
 of the voyage. Consequently, in spite of the unpro- 
 ductiveness of these rocky isles, the people are generally 
 well-to-do, and their villages are better provided than 
 those of the mainland, and are models of order and 
 cleanliness. 
 
 The village or group of villages on the smaller 
 islands is generally high up in the interior, and its posi- 
 tion is due to the instinct of self-preservation and 
 defence dating from the old corsair days. A few houses 
 may cluster round the little port, where the caiques are 
 moored to the quay, and thence a rough bridle-path mounts 
 up the rocks behind. The hills will all be laboriously 
 terraced, and here and there the slow-growing olive is 
 reasserting its ancient right of tenure. In a nook 
 sheltered from the most prevailing wind you will come 
 upon the white village. Without, is a row of wind- 
 mills, round towers with five long poles crossed like the 
 spokes of a wheel, to which ten small jib-shaped sails 
 are attached. In the village all is dazzling white. The 
 church is whitewashed from foundation to cupola and 
 cross ; the little cube-shaped houses are whitewashed,
 
 The Land and the People. 79 
 
 roof and all, up to the chimneys made of earthenware 
 pots with the bottoms knocked out. The whiteniner is 
 perpetually renewed, and even the flags in the courtyard 
 are marked out white at the joints. Some houses have 
 little gardens, a few fig-trees, an oleander blossoming, or 
 a trellised vine supported on columns, all dazzling bright 
 and fresh to look upon — a perfect little idyll of white- 
 wash. Within, the houses are as clean and well-ordered 
 as without, the coppers and pans gleam on their shelves, 
 and the floors are evidently well scrubbed. The people 
 look cleanly and prosperous ; and the very dogs, unlike 
 the Molossian of the mainland, are gentle and friendly 
 here. 9 
 
 In conclusion, it remains to say a word about that 
 most distinctive and interesting feature in the population 
 of modern Greece, the race of nomad shepherds, who 
 cither as herdsmen earning a wage, or as owners with 
 their own. sheep and goats renting the pastures they 
 occupy, wander through the length and breadth of the 
 land. They are all generally known by the name of 
 Vlachs (BXd^ov), though by no means exclusively of 
 Wallach origin. In northern and central Greece they 
 are generally divided in Arvanit6vlachi, or Albanian 
 Vlachs, and Sarakotzani'vlachi, a name of which I have 
 not been able to discover the import, unless it perhaps 
 contains the same root as Koutzovlach, * the tribe to 
 which most of the Greek Wallachs belong. In the 
 Peloponnese the genuine Wallach is not found, but the 
 shepherds, Greek or Albanian, who occupy the more 
 
 9 In the above description I had especially in my mind the little island 
 of Siphnos ; but these characteristics apply to the Cyclades generally. 
 
 1 See chap. i. p. 38.
 
 8o The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 limited pasture lands, are also called by the generic title 
 of Vlach. 
 
 Whatever their race, however, their manner of life is 
 the same. Their days are spent entirely in the open 
 air, and in wet weather or dry they sleep with their 
 flocks, enveloped in their rough frieze cloaks, on the 
 mountain side. In the summer they explore the higher 
 altitudes, and make their halting-place in the lambing 
 season under some dark vallonea's shade. A blanket 
 stretched over crossed sticks serves as a shelter from 
 the sun, while around lie the churns, milk-pails, and 
 cheese-pans, their only household goods. In the winter 
 they come down to the plains and build themselves a 
 frail hut of twigs or rushes, fencing in some sheltered 
 angle of rock with a rude shelter of brushwood to 
 protect their flocks from the wind and weather — the 
 winter quarters (^ei/xepia) and the fold (/xavSpt). The 
 women share their free and roving life, but more often 
 take refuge during winter in the villages. Their diet is 
 of the simplest, being almost exclusively confined to 
 bread in the lambing season, with cheese and curds 
 when the milk can be spared for them, and a little wine 
 and tobacco are their only luxuries. Illness is unknown 
 amongst them, and they generally live to a very great 
 age. Gigantic dogs with shaggy coats follow them over 
 the mountains, alert to the master's voice, and trembling 
 at his least reproof, but ferociously savage to all the 
 world besides. The eyes of these hillsmen are keen as 
 the hawk's, and their voices reach, without effort, from 
 ridge to distant ridge ; the goats understand their 
 uncouth cries, and come in response to the call from 
 heights a mile away.
 
 Greek Shepherd.
 
 The Laud and the People. 8] 
 
 It is a curious sight to watch the shepherds moving 
 camp. One may often see them on a November 
 morning marching round the outskirts of Athens, when 
 they move down from the high pastures of Cithaeron to 
 winter in the lower slopes round the foot of Pentclikon : 
 the women accompany the mules, bearing the camp 
 gear, the rugs, and churns, and cauldrons ; the goats 
 march in companies two or three hundred strong, flanked 
 by their subalterns, the dogs ; the shepherds, like the 
 officers, in their brown hooded cloaks, with their crooks 
 across their shoulders, follow upon each company ; and 
 so they move, some thousand strong, with all the 
 regularity of an army. The goats appear to understand 
 perfectly what it all means, and lie down in groups when 
 a signal to halt is given, marshalling themselves in 
 perfect order again when the time comes to move on, 
 and all the air is alive with bells once more. 
 
 It is in this folk of the mountains and the open air, 
 living their changeless life apart, with their tanned faun- 
 like faces, and the laughing look in their clear brown 
 eyes under the matted curly hair, that the link with the 
 older world is closest. Their habits, their methods, their 
 very dress have hardly changed ; and living face to face 
 as they do with the miracle of nature, the wcirdness of 
 mighty forces unaccounted for, and the evidence of 
 strange phenomena which they cannot explain, still 
 keep alive in them the mystery of the ancient Pantheism. 
 
 G
 
 82 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 VILLAGE FESTIVALS. — FAIRS, DANCES, AND MARRIAGES. 
 
 The most important episodes in village life are 
 marriages and deaths, and the annual Panegnris, or 
 fair, held on the day of the saint to whom the local 
 church is dedicated. The very name Paneguris suggests 
 an historical connection between the modern festivals 
 and those ancient religious assemblies similarly 
 designated ; and were it possible to fix the dates of 
 the latter, we should probably find that they corre- 
 sponded precisely with the period of the modern 
 celebration ; and that, to take a suggestive instance, 
 the annual gathering at the monastery on the summit 
 of Mount Ithome in Messenia is merely a survival of 
 the musical contests of the primitive Ithomaea. In the 
 larger towns the peculiar customs of the people are 
 rapidly disappearing; but every Greek village celebrates 
 its fete, and nothing has as yet interfered with the 
 patriarchal picturesqueness of these occasions. 
 
 On the eve of the saint's day, the inhabitants of the 
 more distant villages of the neighbourhood come in 
 with their musicians and their store of provisions for 
 v the holiday, and each group establishes a little camp to 
 itself. Where the feast is of several days' duration, or 
 the reputation of the saint for miraculous cures is likely 
 to attract a very numerous attendance, tents and booths 
 are erected, and even in some cases, as before the 
 Church of the Virgin in the island of Amorgos,
 
 Village Festivals. 83 
 
 permanent stone huts have been constructed for use 
 during the Pancguris. Often, again, as in Rhodes and 
 Lesbos, the women are allowed to pass the night in the 
 church, a suggestive reminiscence of the antique custom. 
 On the following morning at daybreak the folk from 
 the nearer villages flock in on mules and donkeys, all 
 dressed in their cleanest kilts, their finest veils and 
 newest aprons, in honour of the saint. Mass is said in 
 the church, and offerings are made according to the 
 custom of the locality and the reputation of the saint 
 for the healing of disease, which may, perhaps, entail 
 on the patient an uninterrupted sojourn of two or three 
 days within the sacred precincts. Then the rustic feast 
 is prepared ; lambs are roasted whole on spits, and the 
 resinous wine is consumed in abundance, though scarcely 
 ever to excess. The rest of the day is spent in dancing, 
 in visiting, in listening to the musicians and rhapsodists, 
 now, alas, growing rarer and rarer, or in making, 
 purchases at the booths, which are furnished on these 
 occasions with all the stores and furniture their simple 
 wants require. 
 
 Of these festivals the most curious are those held at 
 the miracle-working shrines, such as the great Pancguris, 
 celebrated twice a year on the island of Tenos, to which 
 the sick and maimed are brought by their kinsmen from 
 all parts of Greece and orthodox Turkey. Others, again, 
 are merely viewed as pleasant holidays, generally held ;it 
 some chapel or monastery in the country, to which the 
 people flock with the sole object of amusement, after due 
 respect has been paid to the ikon of its saint and due 
 contribution made to the church, which has no small 
 interest in the maintenance of these annual gatherin 
 
 G 2
 
 84 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 The most frequented are those which fall in spring and 
 early summer, when the weather is settled and the even- 
 ings are growing long. The traveller will often come 
 upon them unawares. He will pass through a number 
 of apparently deserted villages, and suddenly, as he 
 enters some shady valley, round some little half- 
 ruined thirteenth-century chapel nestling in a clump of 
 plane-trees, he will see the whole area covered with 
 picturesque groups ; the mules tethered near, and feed- 
 ing quietly ; while in front of the very church door 
 perhaps, to the sound of the lyra, the pipes and the drum, 
 the women are dancing, led by some young pallikar in 
 spotless white, linked by his red handkerchief to the 
 many-coloured winding chain of girls. 
 
 Thus far of the Paneguris generally. Peculiarities of 
 worship and ceremony incidental to such gatherings 
 will be alluded to later on in their proper place, but I 
 cannot refrain here from mentioning a curious custom 
 which characterizes this festival at Limni, in Eubcea, 
 where I landed one September morning to find the 
 narrow shore, along which the brown houses of the 
 village are huddled together between the green slopes 
 and the sea, alive with a bright crowd moving to and fro 
 between rows of booths, where all the simple neces- 
 saries of peasant life were exposed for sale — iron spits 
 and cauldrons, red-leather shoes and brilliant coloured 
 handkerchiefs and counterpanes. A mile or so up the 
 steep mountain road in the interior is a little chapel 
 dedicated to the Virgin, and in the Church of Limni is an 
 ikon or picture of the Panaghia invested with a peculiar 
 sanctity. On the first day of the Paneguris this picture is 
 carried from the church to the chapel, and the privilege
 
 Village Festivals. S5 
 
 of carrying it is supposed to confer especial favour 
 on the bearer throughout the ensuing year. This 
 privilege is accordingly disposed of by auction, at the 
 instance of the priest in church, to the highest bidder, 
 and the Limniotes will offer as much as two hundred 
 drachmas for this distinction. The successful competitor 
 takes the picture in his arms, and runs all the way up 
 the mountain-side, with the crowd following at his heels, 
 while the virtue proceeding from the picture is held to 
 lend speed to his feet. Near the chapel is a spring and 
 a shady grove of plane-trees, and there, after the cere- 
 mony, the people encamp and spend the afternoon in 
 dancing, a pastime for which the inhabitants of Eubcea 
 are famous. 
 
 The dancing of the peasants is somewhat solemn, and 
 well befits the semi-religious character of these occasions. 
 There is little abandonment to the hilarity of motion, 
 apparently little sensuous pleasure in the common 
 rhythmic step ; but the suggestion is ever recurring that 
 some unconscious tradition of an ancient sacred 
 significance preserves the decorum of the dancers. 
 It has even been maintained that in the various local 
 figure-dances traces of some former pantomimic action 
 may be detected ; and as each dance in the different 
 localities has its own particular song of accompaniment, 
 this has, perhaps, replaced the narrative or dramatic part, 
 while the dance has taken the place of the mimic 
 representation. 
 
 Four principal forms may be distinguished among 
 the many varieties of the popular dance. That called 
 the Leventikos 1 is executed either by two men or two 
 
 1 From AefievTTis, nimble or quick.
 
 86 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 women, who stand side by side, a pace or two apart, 
 looking straight in front of them. They move forward 
 and backward, springing up and round, making long 
 turns, and then coming back to the original position, 
 each following the movements of the other, but always 
 dancing apart. The men frequently accompany their 
 steps with clapping of hands. 
 
 The Syrtos, a word signifying " drawn along," is danced 
 by men and women in a line ; but where there are male 
 dancers the leader is always a man. He holds with his 
 left hand the right of the next dancer, or is linked by a 
 handkerchief; the second in line similarly holds with his 
 or her left hand the right of the next dancer. The chain 
 winds round and round rather solemnly ; now one foot 
 is lifted, now the other ; and the bodies swing inwards 
 or outwards together, according to the rhythm of the 
 dancing song, or pipes and drum. 2 
 
 The Clistos z differs from the Syrtos only in the 
 manner in which the chain is linked. The leader has 
 the right hand free, and holds with the left the arm of 
 the second dancer. The second, with his right hand, 
 holds the right hand of the third, and with his left the 
 right hand of the fourth, and so hands are linked across 
 each alternate dancer along the whole line. 
 
 The Tsidmikos is a dance in which the leader of the 
 line does all the dancing ; the rest, who are linked to 
 him by a handkerchief held in his left hand, only follow 
 and keep time, generally singing in accompaniment a 
 martial air. When the leader gets tired, he drops to the 
 end of the line, and the second in order succeeds him. 
 
 - A note on the dance music will be found in an appendix. 
 3 K\«<tt6s = closed.
 
 Village Festivals. 
 
 The leader, who often waves a handkerchief in his fr 
 right hand, follows the measure of the pipes or the son 
 moving alternately fast or slow, leaping into the air- 
 then at regular intervals passing under his own and his 
 companion's linked hands, and occasionally enlivening 
 the step by falling forward on the knee and springing 
 up with a rebound from the floor. The great art 
 consists in throwing the head as far back as possible 
 without losing balance, and in this the second dancer 
 supports him. Sometimes even, to show his suppleness 
 and agility, he will place a glass of water on his forehead 
 and dance a round without spilling its contents. This is 
 the favourite dance of the soldiers, and they may often 
 be seen engaged in it when the word is given to fall out 
 in the intervals of drill. It is also danced by the 
 Albanians, and its name would seem to imply that it 
 owes its origin to the Tzame or Schumik tribes. 
 
 Of these dances, and especially of the last, there are 
 numberless variations, and each one has its distinctive 
 name ; such are the Siganos, Pediktos, Sousta, 
 Ankaliastos, the Tservos, probably of Sclavonic origin, 
 and the Syndetos and Gonatistos, which are favourite 
 dances in the islands. In these last the dancers 
 advance with two or three forward steps to the right 
 and one to the left, then retire again, and wind round 
 to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument called 
 the lyra. The differences between these various dances 
 are all well defined, and they are looked upon as quite 
 distinct ; but the general effect produced is much the 
 same in all. 
 
 In Rhodes there is yet another method of forming 
 the line. The girl immediately behind the leader, who
 
 88 TJie Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 will generally be her future bridegroom, holds fast by 
 his girdle with her right hand. His right is free, holding 
 the handkerchief which he waves, and with his left he 
 takes the right hand of the third in line, the second 
 being- linked to the fourth, and so on. On ancient 
 vases discovered in the island a dance extremely similar 
 to this Rhoditikos is found represented. 
 
 The famous dances at Megara, which are held on 
 Easter Tuesday, and on every subsequent feast-day 
 until the day of St. George (April 23, O.S.), are more 
 elaborate in character. The dances above described 
 may be seen there ; but it is the dance of the women 
 known as the Tratta, a word of Italian origin, but 
 similar in etymology to Syrtos, which has excited so 
 much curiosity. In the morning it may be seen outside 
 the town on a little plateau of hills among the trees, and 
 in the afternoon in the central square of the town. On 
 these occasions the whole population gathers at the 
 dancing place, while numbers of spectators flock in from 
 Athens, Corinth, and all the neighbourhood. 
 
 It has been suggested, and with much probability, 
 that this dance, as well as the Syrtos, is a rhythmic 
 adaptation of the familiar action of drawing in the 
 seine net. A row is formed of some twenty women, 
 each linking her hands to the right and left across her 
 immediate neighbour's to those of the dancer next but 
 one; so that here also, as in the Clistos, the line is joined 
 together by a chain of crossing arms. The married 
 women dance together, the unmarried women form 
 other chains, and a particularly pretty feature in the 
 festival are the lines of dancing children. The move- 
 ment is by the right, and the leader, who with her left
 
 Village Festivals. 89 
 
 hand holds the right of the third dancer, and with her 
 right the right of her neighbour, has to draw the whole 
 line along ; the work is very hard, and they often grow 
 tired out under the hot spring sun, There is plenty of 
 rude music of pipes, drums, and fiddles in the square ; 
 but these are chiefly engaged in playing the accompani- 
 ments of the men who are dancing the handkerchief 
 dance, while the girls and women move to a kind of low 
 twittering song of their own, in time with the step, 
 which sounds like the note of a large company of 
 swallows. The body is turned to the right, and the 
 line advances obliquely with four long rapid steps, all 
 the feet moving together with perfect precision, the 
 points of their red slippers coming rhythmically forward, 
 and all the bodies swinging as one. After the four 
 advancing steps follow three shorter ones backward, 
 and then the line winds round like a snake, always 
 moving by the right, with a moment's pause as the 
 leader and the last dancer stand back to back. The 
 step appears to be extremely simple, not to say 
 monotonous, and yet the precision with which it is 
 accomplished, the simultaneousness of every movement, 
 cannot be easy to^ acquire ; while the general effect of 
 these serpentining chains of linked figures, in their 
 bright dresses and floating veils, advancing, retiring, 
 and winding round, is particularly graceful and pretty. 
 Throughout there is no confusion nor noise ; a sense of 
 moderation and restraint prevails. It is a sight not 
 easily forgotten this village festival — for Mcgara, though 
 it covers a large area, is scarcely more than a big 
 village — the blaze of colour in the skirts and aprons of 
 the women, the red caps and clean white kilts of the
 
 90 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 men, the universal participation, the refined and pretty 
 features of the young girls, the handsome bronzed faces 
 of the pallikars — and all this in a wonderful setting of 
 mountain, sea, and Lies, under the April sun of 
 Greece. 
 
 The peasant's dance leads on by a natural sequence to 
 the consideration of the peasant marriage, for not only 
 is dancing one of the characteristic features of wedding 
 festivities, but it is also on the dancing ground, where all 
 the villagers assemble to make holiday, that marriages 
 are most commonly arranged. The social life of the 
 peasants in Greece abounds in symbolism and ceremony, 
 a ceremony which has very often long survived its 
 significance, and in no aspect of it is this more apparent 
 than in the customs which have attached themselves to 
 marriage. They are everywhere extremely elaborate, 
 and differ not a little in different parts according to 
 local and tribal tradition. 
 
 Marriages take place at all seasons, except during 
 the month of May ; but they are generally celebrated on 
 a Sunday, and the favourite seasons are the last weeks 
 before Lent, the late autumn after the vintage and the 
 olive gathering, and especially the last Sunday before 
 the Christmas fast begins. In Cyprus, the first Sunday 
 after the full moon is selected, and no marriages take 
 place there during leap-year. 
 
 Even in the larger towns such occasions are still 
 marked by a good deal of ceremonial. The wedding 
 gifts, which are generally of a practical kind, are boAe 
 round the streets in a procession of carriages, the first of 
 the file containing the bridal bed decked out with 
 flowers. The religious service is more often performed
 
 Village Festivals. 91 
 
 •in the house than in church, at an improvised altar in 
 the middle of the room, radiant with candles, round 
 which stand the priests in gold-embroidered robes, and 
 the bride and bridegroom both crowned with wreaths of 
 orange-blossom. At the close of the ceremony the 
 priest and the newly-married couple join hands and 
 solemnly walk three times round the altar through the 
 incense fumes, while the wedding guests pelt them with 
 sweetmeats, a symbolism which has its origin in anti- 
 quity, 4 and which among the peasantry takes the form 
 of the smearing of honey on the lintel of the young 
 bride's door. An important part is played on these 
 occasions by the Koumbaros, as he is called, an 
 influential friend or relative, who, among the poorer 
 people, provides the wedding entertainment, and is 
 saddled with a number of other responsibilities should 
 the wife and children be left destitute. He it is who 
 holds the orange-blossom crowns over the head of the 
 bride and bridegroom until the time comes to put them 
 on, and changes them at the given moment in the 
 ceremonial. The same name of Koumbaros is applied 
 to godfathers by their godchildren, and reciprocally to 
 the godchildren by the godfathers, and is extended to 
 cover all the members of families between which such a 
 tie exists. It acts as a bar on intermarriage, and creates 
 an artificial relationship, which is most solemnly 
 regarded, so that a man of property and influence will 
 often have the whole countryside attached to his 
 interest and service by such a connection. 
 
 Marriages are rather a matter of contract and arrange- 
 ment than of inclination among the peasantry ; and, 
 
 4 KaraxtV/uara : see " Schol. ad Aristoph.," Hut., 76S.
 
 92 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 indeed, the rules which govern them spread upward, and 
 have still considerable hold upon the educated and 
 wealthier classes. Such, for instance, is the notion that 
 it is wrong for the sons to marry until all the daughters 
 have been disposed of ; and, again, that the latter must 
 marry in order of seniority, so that the younger sister is 
 not entitled to contract an engagement while an elder 
 sister remains single. Under these circumstances, the first 
 and most anxious care of the parents is the provision of 
 a suitable dowry for their daughters, and to this the 
 brothers often contribute by their labour with exemplary 
 devotion, or provide it entirely if the father of the family 
 be dead. 
 
 In northern Greece and Epirus the prevailing customs 
 admit of a general description, though there are many 
 slight modifications depending on local usage. When a 
 man has made his choice, and secured the approval of 
 his future bride's parents, a day is immediately fixed for 
 the ceremony of the betrothal, until which the couple 
 must on no account be seen together. Upon the day 
 appointed, the parents on either side meet in the house 
 of the priest, where the young girl is introduced, veiled, 
 by two of her friends, and presented to her future 
 husband, who leads her up to the priest. The priest 
 blesses them, and rings are exchanged in his presence, 
 after which the obligation not to meet nor converse 
 until the wedding day is re-imposed. When the day 
 fixed for the marriage draws near, the invited guests and 
 relatives send presents, consisting generally of a goat, 
 a sheep, or a lamb dressed out with ribands, as their con- 
 tribution to the wedding fare. On the eve of the 
 ceremony the parents on either side provide a banquet
 
 Village Festivals. 
 
 v & 
 
 93 
 
 for their guests ; and in the house of the bridegroom, at 
 any rate, this banquet is prolonged all through the night ; 
 the pipers and musicians attend, and many songs are 
 sung till day-break, when the young man, escorted by 
 his friends, sets out to fetch the bride. The bride, mean- 
 while, is dressed by her girl friends, who accompany the 
 robing, hairdressing, and veiling with appropriate songs ; 
 she then takes formal leave of her parents and her home, 
 and as the procession sets out for the bridegroom's house, 
 on foot if it be in the same village, or on horse or mule 
 back if it be at a distance, the wedding songs are 
 
 sung 
 
 " To-day the sky is fair. 
 And bright to-day the morning ; 
 To-day they hold their wedding, 
 The eagle and the dove. 
 Or, again — 
 
 " I leave a ' farewell ' for my village, a 'farewell ' for my kin ; 
 And I leave for my mother three phials of bitter savour ; 
 From one she will drink at morning, from the second one at noon, 
 And the bitterest one of all, the third, she will taste on holidays." 
 
 The priest is fetched, and heads the train with the 
 Koumbaros or the Paranymphos, the bridegroom's best 
 man (for the old name has survived), and they proceed to 
 church for the religious ceremony, unless it be performed 
 in the house of the bride. From church they return to 
 the husband's house, and all sit down to the table except 
 the bride, who remains standing and veiled in the 
 deferential attitude which is considered becoming in a 
 bride, until a certain point in the feast, where the 
 Paranymphos goes up to her and removes the veil. At 
 the marriage-banquets of the ancients it would appear 
 that all the women sat at a separate table with the bride 
 still veiled amongst them. The banquet is followed by
 
 94 The Customs mid Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 dances and much firing-off of guns and squibs. The 
 ceremonial ends with a curious custom the second or 
 third day after the wedding, when the friends and 
 relatives of the newly-married couple escort them in 
 state to the village spring or fountain. The bride here 
 throws sweetmeats into the water, and fills a new jar, 
 after which the day is kept as a holiday and dances take 
 place round the spring. 
 
 In the villages of Mount felion the local custom pre- 
 sents certain interesting peculiarities. In the first place, 
 marriages are arranged between two families by a third 
 person as intermediary, related to neither house. The 
 priest is therefore generally selected, and conducts the 
 necessary bargain as to the amount of dowry which will 
 form a sufficient inducement to the bridegroom. The 
 latter is not bound here by the obligation which else- 
 where prevails to refrain from speaking to his future 
 bride until the wedding day. On the Thursday before the 
 Sunday fixed for the marriage the formal ceremony of 
 publicly kneading the wedding loaves takes place both in 
 the house of the bride.and bridegroom. The bridegroom's 
 male relatives and friends who conduct the festivities 
 on his behalf are known by the name of Vratimi, 
 and one of these, whose father and mother are both 
 alive, is selected to knead the dough, while the 
 others standing round throw into the kneading- 
 trough presents of money, which become his property. 
 On Friday morning the bride and bridegroom partake of 
 the communion together, and Saturday is spent in 
 feasting in the houses of the two families concerned. 
 On the morning of Sunday the bride's friends bear her 
 presents to the bridegroom, while she receives his in
 
 Village Festivals. 95 
 
 similar fashion; these presents consisting generally of. 
 articles of dress to be worn at the ceremony. Then the 
 Vratimi repair once more to the bride's house to fetch 
 the dowry and household gear, which is loaded on the 
 backs of mules amid much discharge of guns, while 
 the bride's mother throws upon each load a piece of raw 
 cotton, a custom which is repeated by the bridegroom's 
 mother on their arrival at his house. This is, perhaps, 
 symbolical of future abundance in the fruits of the 
 soil ; and if no very satisfactory explanation is forth- 
 coming, we may point to the analogous custom found in 
 Laconia and elsewhere of throwing cotton seed upon 
 a newly-married couple. The actual crowning of the 
 bride here takes place in her future home, to which 
 she is conveyed with the usual state, to the sound' of 
 pipes and musical instruments. 
 
 In the Morea the usage is tolerably similar, but of 
 course the nearer to the highway and the withering touch 
 of civilization, the less rigidly the old formalities are 
 observed. At a little village in the neighbourhood of 
 Sparta I noted two or three customs that were 
 particularly characteristic, such as, for instance, that 
 after the crowning, which here takes place in the house 
 of the bride's father, the newly-married couple take 
 their stand on a high wooden press, or on the sofa, 
 if there be one, while the rest of the company surround 
 them singing songs or making speeches in their honour, 
 to which they frequently bow their acknowledgments. 
 Rice and cotton seed is thrown over them on their 
 departure ; and upon their arrival at the bridegroom's 
 cottage, his mother stands waiting at the door holding a 
 glass of honey and water in her hand. From this glass
 
 g6 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 the bride must drink, that the words of her lips may 
 become sweet as honey ; while the lintel of the door is 
 smeared with the remainder, that strife may never enter 
 in ; and in the meantime one of the company breaks a 
 pomegranate on the threshold. 
 
 The symbolism of the honey, which recurs in many 
 places, has a curious parallel in the ancient law of Solon, 
 which prescribed that a newly-married couple upon 
 entering the bridal chamber should eat a quince 
 together, in order that their conversation might ever be 
 sweet as the savour of the fruit The use of honey is no 
 doubt as old or older, and probably the marriage custom 
 differed in its details from valley to valley in ancient 
 days much as it does now, while preserving a general 
 uniformity. 
 
 The usage of prolonging the banquet through the 
 night until the wedding morning seems to be universal. 
 While travelling once on a November night from 
 Pyrgos to Patras, I halted at Gasturi, a village of Elis, 
 to rest the horses. From a cottage by the roadside 
 came the lively sound of pipes and beating of drums, and, 
 impelled by curiosity as to what such strains might 
 portend in a quiet village at an hour long after midnig , 
 I opened the door with some hesitation. It was a two- 
 roomed cottage, and in the outer chamber a broad table 
 was spread with many meats and a host of wine-bottles, 
 while round it sat some twenty peasants in their white 
 kilts and goatskin cloaks, for the night was very cold. 
 The proprietor was a well-to-do peasant from Sparta, 
 and his son was to be married the next day. The old 
 mother was busy with much serving, and her pretty 
 daughter, who was assisting her, was the only other
 
 Village Festivals. gy 
 
 woman present. In a corner two gipsies from the 
 neighbouring village of Trajano were blowing on shrill 
 wooden pipes as if their cheeks would burst, producing a 
 wild and piercing sound like that of many bagpipes, 
 while a third was beating a drum. The pipes and the 
 music were exactly similar to the instruments and airs 
 one hears among the Egyptian villages, and in the 
 narrow space the noise was literally deafening. I was 
 made welcome, and accommodated with a seat at the 
 board. " Come and make merry," they cried; " we have 
 lots to eat and lots to drink ;" and thereupon the old lady 
 divided little cubes of meat imperfectly cooked and much 
 spiced, and impaling them on the first steel fork which 
 came to hand, and which had already done duty for 
 several hours, presented them to my unwilling lips, while 
 my tumbler was kept constantly replenished with 
 resinous wine. The pipes screamed louder and louder ■ 
 the barbaric music excited the wedding guests, who rose 
 and swayed their bodies like dervishes to the air, 
 clinking their glasses and joining in a wild chorus. 
 Then each of them in turn, as the impulse seized him, rose, 
 and pulling a hundred-drachma note from his pocket, 
 folded it, and inserted it between the gipsy's red cap and 
 his forehead, till a fringe of them surrounded his head. 
 At last there was a breathing space of silence, and the 
 notes were transferred to the piper's pockets. This pro- 
 cess, like the filling of our glasses, was repeated several 
 times, and the wealth and lavish expenditure of the 
 community surprised me not a little, until I afterwards 
 learned that a strict account is kept by each of what he 
 has given, and that in the cooler air of morning the 
 money is returned, and one per cent, only retained by 
 
 H
 
 98 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 the gipsies. It would seem, therefore, that there is a good 
 deal of vanity displayed in paying the p'iper. At the 
 same time it is difficult not to imagine that when the 
 drinking continues with the lanterns until dawn, there 
 may arise some slight confusion in the accounts, to the 
 obvious benefit of the musicians. It was past one 
 o'clock when I arrived, and they had only just got to 
 the dessert ; the next day, (Sunday), they said, after the 
 ceremony the feast would be resumed, and Monday 
 also would be spent as a holiday. The scene was a 
 bright but strange one : the old mother dancing before 
 me with flowing glasses in her hand, the quick welcome 
 and ready hospitality, the costume of the wedding guests, 
 and the wild physiognomy of the pipers in that little 
 cottage room, with the cold November stars burning out- 
 side. The next day at Patras it seemed as if all the 
 world were being married, for it was the eve of the long 
 fast which precedes Christmas, and in every street I met 
 wedding processions headed by the priest and the 
 Koumbaros on their way to fetch the bride. 
 
 It is interesting to compare with the usages described 
 the customs prevailing in some of the islands, and 
 especially in those in which, under the Turkish domina- 
 tion, the manners and population are essentially Greek. 
 
 In Rhodes, the wedding ceremony begins with an 
 exchange of presents ; the bridegroom sends his bride 
 a skirt, a braided jacket, a pair of shoes, and a veil 
 embroidered with gold, and receives in return a silken 
 shirt, and a tobacco pouch embroidered by her own 
 hands. The bride is then solemnly dressed by her 
 friends in the bridal clothes sent by the bridegroom ; 
 her hair is cut in front so as only to cover half the
 
 Village Festivals. 99 
 
 forehead, while the rest is plaited into several small 
 plaits hanging down behind ; then the veil is put on, 
 and the palms of her hands are anointed with cinnamon. 
 After this musicians arc introduced, who accompany 
 their strains with pantomimic gestures, passing their 
 instruments over the head of the bride, while those present 
 throw money to them. Much the same, in the mean- 
 time, takes place in the bridegroom's house, after which 
 the two parties proceed to the church, and are thence 
 solemnly conducted to the new dwelling, which constitutes 
 the dowry of the bride. The husband on arriving dips 
 his finger in a cup of honey and traces a cross over the 
 door, while those present cry aloud, " Be good and 
 sweet as this honey is." A pomegranate is placed on 
 the threshold, which the young husband crushes with 
 his foot as he enters, followed by his wife, over whom 
 the wedding guests throw corn and cotton seeds and 
 orange-flower water. Within, he takes his place on a 
 chair in the middle of the room, the bride sitting on a 
 pile of cushions set against the wall, while the musicians 
 again surround them, singing their praises, and passing 
 the instruments over their heads. The bride then 
 kneels and kisses the hands of her husband's father 
 and mother, after which she is conducted to a neigh- 
 bouring house, where food is prepared for her, while the 
 girls sing to the clashing of a kind of rude cymbal. At 
 night the dancing begins, and festivities continue during 
 two whole days. The patron saint of the new house is 
 not forgotten, and the water on which floats the oil in 
 the lamp before his ikon is replaced by wine. After the 
 wedding, it is usual to send to all the wedding guests a 
 cake made with honey and sesame. 6 
 
 Biliotti et Cottret, "L'lle de Rhock . 
 
 II 2
 
 IOO The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 As far away as the distant island of Cyprus we shall 
 
 find the same general forms prevailing, with one or two 
 
 very individual features which are, perhaps, not to be 
 
 found elsewhere. Here when two families of the 
 
 peasantry have agreed on a marriage alliance, the future 
 
 bridegroom and his parents are entertained by the parents 
 
 of the bride, and the father welcomes them to table with 
 
 a distich, which may be rendered : 
 
 1 ' My friends are welcome here from miles and miles away, 
 A thousand, thousand ducats less dear to me than they." 
 
 To which the bridegroom's father replies : 
 
 " We come to eat and drink with you, 
 Your love to win, and love bestow." 
 
 At this banquet the future bride does not appear. A 
 few days later the ceremony of betrothal takes place, 
 and a formal contract is drawn out, in which the amount 
 of the bride's dowry, as well as the property which the 
 young man will receive from his father, is specified. 
 
 Some days before the wedding the women and girls of 
 the village assemble at the spring or river side, and there 
 takes place a solemn washing of the fabric of the marriage 
 bed. The great antiquity of this custom as a preliminary 
 of the wedding festival is, perhaps, suggested by a line in 
 the " Odyssey," where on that famous washing-morning in 
 Phgeacia, Nausicaa, in craving her father's permission, 
 makes the raiment of her brothers the plea for her 
 expedition to the river side. 
 
 cu'SeTO yap OaXepbv ydjxov i^ovo/xyvai 
 irarpl <£i'A.co. 6 
 
 The filling of the mattress of the marriage bed is also 
 
 6 "Od." vi. 66, " For she shrank from speaking of her own ripe marriage 
 to her father dear."
 
 Village Festivals. 101 
 
 ■S5 
 
 a ceremony performed in the presence of the assembled 
 friends and kinsmen, who throw pieces of money into the 
 stuffing, which remain there until a year has elapsed* 
 when the mattress is ripped open, and the money put to 
 use. On the Saturday before the crowning, the 
 solemnity of bathing the bride and bridegroom takes 
 place in their respective houses — a custom also 
 universally observed by the ancients, who employed 
 for this purpose the water of particular springs, such 
 as the fountain of Kallirrhoe at Athens. 7 
 
 Two curious episodes mark the progress of the 
 bridegroom to the house of the bride on the wedding 
 morning. If he belong to the same village, he 
 is carried there by his friends, who, crossing arms 
 and joining hands, form a kind of chair, on which 
 he sits ; if, on the other hand, he come from a distance, 
 he and all his retinue arrive on horseback. The 
 young men of the bride's village go out to meet them, 
 and attempt to tear him from his horse ; his friends 
 endeavour to ward off the attack, and often the horseplay 
 degenerates into serious earnest. Should he be 
 dismounted, his comrades carry him into the village on 
 their shoulders, or in the manner alluded to above ; but 
 it is their ambition that he should, if possible, ride up to 
 where his bride awaits him, and his triumph is not to 
 draw bridle till safe in the court of her house. As he is 
 about to pass in, a fowl is brought and held down by 
 head and feet upon the threshold of the door ; 
 the bridegroom takes an axe, cuts off the head, and only 
 then may enter. 8 
 
 7 Thuc, ii. 15. 
 Sakellarios, KvirpiaKa. Athens, 1890.
 
 102 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Thus from island to island we shall find an infinite 
 number of local usages and traditions modifying the 
 general uniformity of the ancient rite, while in every region 
 the popular muse has stamped a different individuality 
 upon the lyrics and songs which accompany each stage of 
 the proceedings. I will quote but one more instance 
 from the island of Skarpanto (Carpathos), which lies half 
 way between Rhodes and Crete, and which, like its 
 greater neighbours, received a Dorian colony. The 
 interesting feature of the ceremonial here is the progress 
 of the bridegroom to the house of the bride on the 
 wedding morning. A girl precedes carrying a vessel full 
 of water containing some aromatic herb, a reminiscence 
 probably of the old lustral solemnity which still survives 
 in Cyprus. Arrived at the door of her house, he is 
 greeted by the mother of the bride, who touches the nape 
 of his neck with a censer containing incense, a proceed- 
 ing which is said by the islanders to symbolize pros- 
 perity in husbandry. She further gives him a present, 
 called embatikiou — that is to say, " the gift of in-going " — 
 and then places on the threshold a rug or blanket folded, 
 with a stick resting on one of the corners. The 
 bridegroom advances his right foot, breaks the stick, and 
 passes in ; and this is said to symbolize the future sub- 
 mission of the wife. 
 
 The kindred manners of the Albanians and their 
 capacity for assimilating Hellenic usages have been 
 alluded to, and this portion of the subject would there- 
 fore be incomplete without a brief description of the 
 ceremonies prevailing among the Christian Albanians of 
 the Orthodox creed, which, it will be observed, resemble 
 the Greek very closely, with the important distinction
 
 Village Festivals. 103 
 
 that the women, as a rule, receive no dowries, and that 
 the bridegroom, as it were, purchases his bride. 
 
 Marriages are arranged by the parents, and on the 
 Saturday before the wedding the bridegroom sends his 
 betrothed her trousseau and a sum of money, which is 
 practically the price for which she is purchased, and in 
 virtue of which he becomes her absolute master. The 
 wedding itself is celebrated on Sunday. On the pre- 
 vious Monday corn is ground for the wedding banquet, 
 while songs and salvoes of firing accompany the pro- 
 cession to the mill. On the Thursday the wood 
 for the fires is solemnly brought in, and the baking 
 of cakes takes place : the dough must be kneaded by a 
 young girl whose parents are both alive, and special 
 songs accompany this ceremony. A curious feature 
 in this part of the proceedings is that one of the girls 
 is selected to represent the bridegroom, and puts on 
 his clothes and weapons. She pursues the real bride- 
 groom, and tries to smear his face with dough ; while he 
 and his friends throw pieces of money into the kneading- 
 trough, which fall to her lot to keep. When work is 
 over, dancing begins. On the Saturday the bridegroom's 
 nearest relatives join him, each contributing a lamb to 
 the feast, and dancing and carousing are continued 
 throughout the day and night. Meanwhile, all is quiet 
 in the bride's house. 
 
 Early on Sunday the guests assemble at the bride- 
 groom's, each bringing bread, wine, and a small money 
 contribution to the wedding banquet. Then they repair 
 in procession to the bride's house, the Pappas walking in 
 front, or riding on a mule if the distance be great ; the 
 women close the train, leading a horse or mule decked
 
 104 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 out for the bride, while songs in her honour are 
 sung on the way. The bride's mother receives them at 
 the door, where the bridegroom kisses her hand ; then 
 she sprinkles him with water from a vessel held for the 
 purpose, with a dipper made of flowers. She also 
 gives him a handkerchief, which she places on his left 
 shoulder, giving a similar present also to the Vlam, the 
 bridegroom's friend or best man. The men then go 
 to a chamber, apart, where a meal is prepared 
 for them, while the bride is dressed by the women in 
 another. Last of all, the Vlam goes in to the bride, and 
 puts on her girdle and her shoes. And hereupon occurs 
 a curious feature in the ceremony. The Vlam has to 
 steal two spoons or other objects, which are placed ready 
 for him, and which are duly restored later on. This 
 would seem to suggest either a reminiscence of the 
 ancient forcible abduction of the bride, or represents the 
 propitiation of Nemesis during the general rejoicings by 
 some tangible loss. 
 
 Then the procession is reorganized, and all proceed to 
 the bridegroom's house, the Vlam attending the bride, to 
 see that she does not fall off her horse. On arriving, 
 particular care is taken that the threshold should be 
 crossed with the right foot foremost. The bride is 
 unveiled by the Vlam, the veil being lifted with some silver 
 instrument, such as the handle of a dagger or yataghan, 
 whereupon the wedding ceremony and the crowning of 
 the bride and bridegroom follow according to the rites 
 of the Orthodox Church. During the meal which ensues, 
 the bride stands with bowed head and crossed arms in a 
 corner of the room. The afternoon is spent in singing 
 and dancing, and the bride remains with the women in 
 the evening.
 
 Village Festivals. 105 
 
 On the Monday the wedding guests witness the 
 symbolical eating of bread and honey together by the 
 bride and bridegroom, and then a procession is formed 
 to the village well, where they sprinkle one another with 
 water. On this day the bridegroom entertains his 
 father-in-law, and on the following day is feasted by 
 him in return, together with the chief wedding guests. 
 The wedding ceremony is then closed, but custom 
 requires that the wife should be excused from all heavy 
 work during the first year of her marriage. 
 
 The marriages of the mountain shepherds, and 
 especially of the genuine Vlachs, exhibit a curious 
 survival from remote antiquity, when, like the Sabine 
 maidens, brides were carried off by force. A large 
 party strongly armed come down to fetch the bride, 
 and a concerted show of resistance to her abduction 
 is made — guns are fired, and there is much display 
 of mimic battle, till at length the willing bride is borne 
 off on horseback, surrounded by her suitor's comrades ; 
 whence comes a proverb often quoted in Greece, " Drive 
 on, and never mind my tears ! " 
 
 The various races, Greek, Albanian, and Wallach, 
 marry severally among their own folk, and mixed 
 marriages are rare. The chastity of the peasantry is 
 extreme, the family tie strong, and women are generally 
 well-treated, though a considerable portion of the heavy 
 work falls to their share, which tends to age them 
 prematurely ; while divorce, so prevalent in the upper 
 class, and rendered so facile by the Church, is quite- 
 unknown in village life. 
 
 9 Hahn, " Albanesische Studien."
 
 io6 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BIRTH, DESTINY, AND DEATH. 
 
 IN this and the following chapters I propose to deal 
 with a number of ideas and superstitions which consti- 
 tute the real spiritual equipment of the people in Greece. 
 In the ereater number of them the connection with 
 the old pagan mode of thought will be sufficiently 
 apparent. Some are disguised under a thin veil of 
 Christian assimilation, but many still wear the classic 
 garb unaltered. They are, no doubt, for the most part 
 superstitions which are common to all primitive people, 
 and which constitute among them the genuine popular 
 religion ; but a special interest attaches to them here, 
 because they have retained so vividly that individual 
 form in which the ideality of the ancient Greek en- 
 veloped them, and in which they have become familiar to 
 us. That the Church in Greece to-day still has a strong 
 hold upon the people, there is no doubt ; but it is rather 
 as a disciplinary and national institution than as a 
 spiritual force. The ignorance of the clergy is so great 
 that it would be idle to expect of the people even a 
 rudimentary understanding of the intent of doctrines to 
 which they all subscribe. The result is a curious mixture 
 of Christian symbolism with pagan tradition, an uncon- 
 scious effort to harmonize inherited superstition with the 
 dogma of authority. The peasant observes his fasts 
 strictly, abstains from manual labour on the days pre- 
 scribed, believes implicitly in the miraculous power of
 
 Birth, Destiny \ and Death. 107 
 
 his patron saint and the ikon in which his presence is 
 localized; but the human saint is the limit of his spiritual 
 capacity ; and much as he would shudder at the accusa- 
 tion of any taint of paganism, the ruling of the Fates is 
 more immediately real to him than Divine Omnipotence, 
 and the sunless Hades than the kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 The Greek child at birth is surrounded by an environ- 
 ment of spiritual influences, and evil spirits, on the look- 
 out for the control of its destiny, abound in the house in 
 which a woman has just been delivered of a child. These 
 are most readily rendered innocuous by fire, and at night, 
 therefore, the house should only be entered after flame 
 has been touched by the hand. From sunrise to sunset 
 the outer doors must be kept closed for fear of the 
 Nereids, 1 who are sure to be abroad on such an occasion, 
 and anxious to exchange one of their own offspring for 
 a human child. The newly-born infant is subjected to a 
 very singular treatment, being washed in luke-warm wine 
 with myrtle leaves, after which it is generally covered 
 with a layer of salt. This is, however, probably rather 
 sanitary than symbolical in intention. When the salt is' 
 being washed off, money is thrown into the water by the 
 relatives, and becomes the perquisite of the midwife. 
 
 In the island of Rhodes an elaborate ceremonial may 
 still be witnessed. On the eighth day after birth the child 
 is subjected to a final aromatic bath of wine and myrtle 
 leaves, and is then for the first time placed by the mid- 
 wife in a cradle surrounded by a number of lighted 
 tapers ; its lips are touched with honey by another child, 
 who must, according to prescribed usage, be the eldest 
 of a family, saying, " Be thou as sweet as this honey." 
 
 1 Nereids, see chap. vii.
 
 io8 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 The midwife then comes forward with a loaf of bread 
 under the left arm, and a censer in her right hand ; the 
 infant is placed in her arms, and she advances three times 
 to the door, exchanging good-byes and being welcomed 
 back anew, on behalf of the child, by those who take 
 part in the ceremony. She then incenses the ikons 
 throughout the house, and restores the child to its mother ; 
 after which, collecting the tapers which were burning 
 round the cradle, she makes three crosses out of them ; 
 one is hung over the door, one by the bedside, and one 
 under the ikon — from this moment the mother takes over 
 the exclusive care of the infant. 2 
 
 In Cyprus, at the conclusion of a somewhat similar 
 procedure, the nurse solemnly carries the infant round 
 the hearth, on which a fire is expressly lighted. Here 
 also when the infant's first tooth appears the friends of 
 the family assemble, songs are sung celebrating the event- 
 and the child is bathed in water and boiled wheat. After 
 which thirty-two of the boiled grains are strung upon a 
 thread, and stitched to its cap or bonnet, to propitiate the 
 cutting of the teeth. 3 
 
 In Athens, among the poorer classes, it is customary 
 to cover the newly-born child with a dress made from 
 an old shirt of the father's ; while under the pillow is 
 placed a black-handled knife, a gold coin, and a gospel 
 in the case of a boy, or ornaments and jewels if it be a 
 girl, significant of the gifts that life should bring — 
 courage, and wealth, and piety. The mother is also 
 subjected to a somewhat tyrannical discipline. For 
 forty days she must not be seen ; then, after a bath, 
 
 2 Biliotti et Cottret, " L'lle de Rhodes." 
 
 3 Sakellarios, KviroiaKa.
 
 Birth, Destiny, ami Death. [09 
 
 taken with much ceremonious detail, she goes to church- 
 a relic of the ancient rule for purification. The day 
 upon which she may first get up is definitely prescribed, 
 as well as the manner in which her hair should be 
 dressed; and when she does rise, it is proper that she 
 should lean at first upon an iron spit, while for a long 
 time silence is imposed upon her, " lest the Fates should 
 snatch her speech." These customs are none the less 
 rigidly observed because the origin of many of them is 
 lost.' 
 
 Soon after the birth of the child appear the Fates, 
 under their ancient name of Moirai, to determine, like 
 the fairies of Northern lore, the fortunes of its life. 
 jThey are generally supposed to be three in number, 
 though it would appear that in the island of Zante they 
 are held to be twelve, while one of them has the 
 especial attribute of the Queen of the Fates." They 
 are conceived as wrinkled old women dressed in 
 black, who inhabit mountain tops, and, according to 
 one tradition, the summit of Olympus. They are 
 also frequenters of caves and grottoes, and there 
 especially invoked under one of their attributes, of 
 which more hereafter. The most universal superstition 
 with regard to the Moirai, and that still prevalent 
 
 4 The christening generally takes place before a week has elapsed. 
 Baptism, according to the Orthodox Church, involves complete immersion 
 three times ; and the priests are especially instructed how to hold the child, 
 so as to cover the mouth and nostrils with the fingers while it is dipped in 
 the font. After immersion, the child is passed through the air in the form 
 of a cross, and confirmed by anointment with consecrated oil. The god- 
 father is variously called in different parts Koumbaros, Anadochos, or 
 Nonos (godmother, Nona), and the relationship involved extends to the 
 whole family of the godchild. 
 
 5 See " Volksleben der Neugriechen," by Dr. Bernhard Schmidt, who 
 made a special study of the folklore of /ante.
 
 no The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 in Athens, is their appearance on the third night 
 after the child's birth, to decide upon the course of 
 its life. In some parts, however, it was observed by 
 Pouqueville, they are expected on the fifth day ; and 
 in certain islands their advent is postponed until the 
 seventh. In Epirus a distinct function is assigned to 
 each of the three; one bestows fortune, another mis- 
 fortune, while the third spins the thread which determines 
 the length of life. 
 
 Although the period of their visitation seems to differ 
 in different districts, the manner of receiving them 
 appears to be universally similar. The dogs must be 
 tied up, and superfluous furniture should be removed in 
 order that they may not trip. Moreover, the mother 
 must not be left alone about the time when they are 
 due, for the Fates are ever envious of child-bearing, and 
 might do her an injury. They are propitiated by a 
 banquet ; cakes, honey, sweetmeats, bread, and wine, 
 all or some of these are spread upon a table on the 
 night prescribed ; while in Corfu gold is also displayed, 
 as though even Fate could be amenable to corruption. 
 
 In the island of Kassos three lamps are also lit upon 
 the table, one for the Baptist, one for the Virgin, and 
 one for the Saviour, which is probably an instance of 
 the superimposition of a Christian application on the 
 three lamps originally lighted in honour of the three 
 Fates, who are then supposed to enter in. 
 
 On these occasions if the Moirai are mentioned at all, 
 it is only with honeyed speech, that they may not be 
 offended; and it is, perhaps, owing to their proximity, 
 and the vis maligna which they are apt to exercise, that 
 all allusion to the beauty or strength of the child is
 
 BirtJi, Destiny, and Death. i i i 
 
 carefully avoided ; or if the word should slip out 
 unawares, it is immediately atoned for by one of the 
 traditional expiatory formulae. The destiny of the 
 child is supposed to be written by the Moirai on the 
 nose or forehead, and any little mark or abrasion of the 
 skin found there is taken as evidence of the writing, and 
 called to fioipa)/jLa rwv Mocpcov, " the fating of the Fates.' 
 What once has been written (to ypa/xfiivo) has rarely 
 been reversed, nor do they ever spin the lot of a wholly 
 happy life. 
 
 Nevertheless, there is another aspect of the Fates who 
 preside over marriage and childbirth, under which they 
 are invoked in caves and grottoes, which would seem to 
 imply the belief that in this respect they are amenable 
 to prayer and propitiation, though it is, perhaps, rather 
 with interrogation as to the future that women approach 
 them than with invocation to change the doom assigned. 
 A custom, which is not quite extinct, is described by 
 ; writers of the last century and the beginning of this as 
 j generally prevalent among unmarried girls, of offering 
 i cakes made of honev in caves to the Moirai, with a view 
 jlto hastening marriage. Pausanias relates that among 
 the Sykionians honey was used as a libation in sacrific- 
 ing to the Eumenides, and similarly on the altars of the 
 Moirai. Athens has now become so large a capital and 
 so subject to Western influences that the old world 
 superstitions are more rarely met with, but former 
 travellers describe such invocations to the Moirai with 
 offerings of honey, salt, and bread, made especially on 
 nights of the new moon, in the neighbourhood of the 
 Panathenaic Stadium, or near the rock spring in the 
 
 6 Paus., "Cor." chap. j^qJ
 
 112 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 Ilissus bed known as the fountain of Kallirhoe. In con- 
 nection with these localities it is interesting to notice 
 that on one of the heights which form the sides of the 
 Stadium, there stood, according to Philostratus, a temple 
 of Fortune ; while, with regard to the latter, Pausanias 
 describes a temple of Aphrodite " in the gardens," near 
 the Ilissus, as you proceed from the columns of 
 Olympian Zeus— that is to say, close by the fountain — in 
 which there was an inscription alluding to Aphrodite as 
 the oldest of the Fates. 7 The intimate connection 
 between Aphrodite and these deities is established by 
 various inscriptions, by a fragment of Epimenides, 8 
 and especially by the Orphic Hymn, where she is 
 described as their ruler, and again as the " Mother of 
 Necessity." A similar cult observed by Pouqueville in 
 a cavern on the slopes of Mount Rigani in yEtolia, where 
 the Moirai are propitiated with honey cakes, recalls the 
 mention by Pausanias of a cave near Naupaktos, in which 
 Aphrodite was worshipped, and more especially entreated 
 by widows who desired to be married again. 9 Dodwell 
 also witnessed such an offering of cakes to the Moirai in 
 the rock chambers under the Museum Hill at Athens, 
 popularly known as the prison of Socrates, which are 
 now closed with gates, so that these female votaries are 
 perforce excluded ; and he deeply scandalized his 
 attendant by removing the delicacy in question, and 
 giving it to the donkey which had carried his camera 
 obscura up the hill. 1 Wordsworth, again, observed a 
 similar rite in a grotto near the village of Kephissia, 
 
 7 Paus., "Att.," chap. xix. 
 8 Schol. Soph., CEd. Col. 42. 
 9 Paus., " Phoc," chap, xxxviii. 
 1 Dodwell, " Tour through Greece."
 
 Birth, Destiny, and Death. 1 1 3 
 
 where the falling of a pebble from the roof was supposed 
 to signify the acceptance of a prayer by the Fates. 
 
 These are the principal functions of the Destinies, 
 according to popular tradition in Greece. The reappear- 
 ance at the deathbed is more rare, though a picturesque 
 superstition is found in Zante, that when a man dies, 
 " his Moirai " sorrow for him, and put on the dark dress 
 of mourning. 
 
 Side by side with the notion of a dominant Fate 
 directing the course of human life, is found in many 
 parts of the country the conception common to most 
 Christian peoples of an angel in charge of the soul, 
 which is warned or encouraged by this spiritual influence. 
 One is at once reminded of the demon of Socrates, the 
 genius of the Romans, and the guardian angel of the 
 Christians. This angel, the good angel, as he is called, 
 is frequently found contrasted with and struggling against 
 an opposing influence — the bad angel, or sometimes the 
 devil himself; and the same idea is perhaps implied by 
 the common expression of the good or evil " shadow." 
 Sometimes the good angel is permanently scared away, 
 and the destiny of the man is left in sole charge of his 
 darker genius. Very universal is the idea that in the 
 hour of death the angel becomes visible to the dying 
 man, and a number of phrases are found in different 
 districts for the agony of death which refer to this belief: 
 such as "he sees his angel," 2 or, again, "his angel shadows 
 him." 3 After death the angel takes the soul, which 
 resides in the interior of the body, ' and issues forth 
 
 2 In Cerigo and Kythnos. 
 
 3 In Crete, Rhodes, and Cyprus. 
 
 4 Whence the popular phrase for a pain in the stomach, jxk novti 77 
 \pvxv fJ.ov — literally, "my soul hurts me." 
 
 I
 
 114 TJie Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 from the mouth, as in the Homeric poems, to bear it away. 
 The soul retains the form which the body wore in life, 
 and not unfrequently has wings ; or, again, it takes the 
 form of a small winged child, 5 or even that of a butterfly. 
 It is borne by the angels over the spots which it has 
 known in life, and its good and evil deeds are revealed 
 to it ; and, according to a Cypriote song, after remaining 
 with the angel forty days, it is carried into the presence 
 of God. But more commonly it is the archangel Michael 
 whose duty it is to convey the departed into the presence 
 of their Maker ; and his appearance and equipment, as he 
 is represented in religious pictures, prove him to be the 
 direct successor of the ancient Hermes Psychopompos. 
 
 Such are some of the popular notions with regard to 
 death, which, in spite of the direct reminiscence of 
 antiquity in the last mentioned and the faint echo of 
 the Psyche myth, are shared by the Greeks in common 
 with most simple Christian folk, and suggest the 
 influence of the Church working on the old traditions. 
 But co-existent with these in strange confusion, and of 
 far more general prevalence in the popular attitude 
 towards death and the after life, are a number of ideas 
 directly connected with the grimmer conceptions of the 
 ancient world. 
 
 Of these the most important and the most widely 
 disseminated are the superstitions connected with 
 Charos, or Charontas, whose name is of course identical 
 with Charon. 6 But it is no longer as the boatman of 
 the forgetting river, who 
 
 " Batte col remo qualunque s'adagia," 
 
 5 At Arachova and in Zante. Schmidt, "Volksleben der Neugriechen. " 
 
 6 Compare the analogy of the substitution of 8p&Kos for Spanuv in certain 
 dialects ci the modern language.
 
 BirtJi, Destiny, and Death. 1 1 5 
 
 that Charon reappears in the popular tradition, but 
 
 rather as the angel of death, and the agent of Divine 
 
 Omnipotence. His character as the direct emissary of 
 
 the Deity is illustrated in a popular song, where the 
 
 following lines occur : — 
 
 " O Charos, I beseech thee, and I entreat thee, God, 
 To grant me yet ten other years to live." 7 
 
 or, again, where the line is put into his own mouth : 
 
 " For God has sent me hither to take thy soul away." 8 
 The identification of Charon with Thanatos occurs 
 [more than once in classical authors, 9 and the conception 
 'of the ferryman of Styx is unknown to Homer ; so that 
 it is not impossible that we have here surviving in 
 [popular superstition a still older and less complex idea. 
 He is pictured in the folk-poetry and folk-language as 
 an old man, sorrowful of face, and inexorable in 
 melancholy austerity ; like the Walkyre of the Norse- 
 men, or the rider of the pale horse in the Apocalypse, he 
 is constantly alluded to as on horseback — 
 
 " I see Charos approaching on horseback through the fields ; 
 Black he is, and black his raiment, black the horse he rides on, 
 And black the flowers are that spring up at his side." 1 
 
 Or, again, in that remarkable poem admired and trans- 
 lated by Goethe, which is quoted in full on page 286, 
 where the vis maligna of his presence casts a shadow and 
 a weirdness upon the mountains as he rides across then:, 
 driving the young before him, leading the old behind, 
 
 7 Lelekos, " Demotike Anthologia," p. 151. 
 
 8 Chasioti's " Collection of Popular Songs." 
 
 b Cp. Bianor (1st century a.d.) in the Greek Anthology. 
 
 HavTa Xdpoiv &Tr\ij<jre, ri rbv viov tfpiraaas ai'Vws 
 "AttclXov ; ov cos (rfv, k&v ddvf yr]pa.\4os ; 
 
 lelekos, " Epidorpion,*' p iXp. 
 
 I 2
 
 1 1 6 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 with the little dead children slung at his saddle-bow. 
 He is dressed in sable garments, and bears a sword to 
 strike with ; 2 and sometimes, like " far-darting " Apollo 
 or Artemis, he has his quiver full of arrows. Again, he 
 appears as a hero in strength and stature, wrestling 
 with human nerve and sinew, and using craft if 
 necessary to overcome ; or as a monster in size and 
 appearance, dark of visage, like the black Thanatos of 
 Euripides, 3 with the flashing eyes which Virgil, 4 doubt- 
 less quoting popular tradition, as was his wont, attributed 
 to Charon — 
 
 " The sun flashed in his hair, the lightning in his eyes." 5 
 Or again — 
 
 " Like lightning flashed his glance, his skin was hue of fire, 
 
 Two mountains were his shoulders, and like a tower his head. " 6 
 
 iiHe has, moreover, a Protean power of metamorphosis, 
 
 land appears at times in the form of an eagle, a swallow, 
 
 [or a snake. In a fresco in the monastery of Vatopedion 
 
 on Mount Athos is a representation of Charos, as is 
 
 indicated by the inscription beneath, in the form of a 
 
 skeleton with a scythe upon his shoulder, where he is 
 
 thus incorporated among the ministers of the Christian 
 
 Deity, just as Dante in the " Inferno," and Michael- 
 
 angelo in the Sistine Chapel, included the ferryman 
 
 of Hades in their visions of Judgment. 7 Far rarer 
 
 are instances in the popular poetry of his appearance as 
 
 a boatman, though traces of such a conception are said 
 
 to exist in the island of Zante, and a Greek author "has 
 
 s Cp. Eurip., " Alkestis," S43. 
 
 3 Troad, 131 5. 
 
 4 " Stant lumina flamma," /En. vi. 300. 
 
 5 6 Passow, Carmina Popularia. 
 
 7 Politis, MeXeT77 7repi rod f3iov tuv vewrepwv 'EXXj/i/oc, B. , p. 256.
 
 Birth, Destiny, and Death. 1 1 7 
 
 described the myth of the ferryman as still surviving 
 among certain Greeks of Asia Minor, who, moreover, 
 placed between the lips of the dead a coin which they 
 call TreiparUiov, signifying " passage-money." 8 Then, 
 exists, it is true, among the Mainotes a song in which 
 Charos is represented as a boatman, u but in this instance 
 he has none of his ancient characteristics ; and the con- 
 ception is easily accounted for in the wild peninsula, the 
 only passes into which were perpetually blockaded, so 
 that the inhabitants, engaged in seafaring and piratical 
 pursuits, would more naturally figure Charos as arriving 
 by sea than as riding over their pathless mountains. 
 
 A reminiscence of the ancient mistrust of Nemesis is 
 found in the Charos legends ; it is ill to speak lightly 
 of him, or to take too great pride in one's strength, to 
 glory in youth and health, and to defy his might. A 
 little bird bears the word to his ear, and he is tempted to 
 put it to the proof forthwith. l Sometimes he measures 
 his strength with the strong in jumping matches or 
 wrestling bouts, which almost always end in the same 
 way, though in the Cretan version of a song which is 
 otherwise nearly identical with one found by Fauricl in 
 Thessaly, he spares a young shepherd who has wrestled 
 well with him, because his wedding crowns are still 
 hanging in the Church, and even Charos honours the 
 love of married life. 2 This, however, is one of the few 
 instances to be found in the Charos songs in which he is 
 moved by prayer ; inexorable he is as the law of nature 
 
 8 Schmidt, " Volksleben dor Xeugriechen," p. 237. 
 ;) Translated on p. 283. 
 
 1 See the poem translated on p. 280, " Charos and the Maiden." 
 - This poem, as well as the Thessalian version, is translated on pp, 281, 
 282.
 
 n8 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 he represents : " deaf and hearing not," " cruel," " crafty," 
 " a subtle thief," " a prince of Klephts." Grimmest of all 
 is the picture given of him in the Cyprian songs of the 
 hero Digenis, the old man of eighty years who wrestled 
 with Charos for life ; and where Death gripped, the blood 
 flowed ; where Digenis gripped, bones were broken ; so 
 three days and nights they wrestled, till Digenis had the 
 mastery, and he opened his arms and gave praise to 
 God. But Charos is rebuked by God, " I sent thee to 
 take life, and not to wrestle" ; he therefore has recourse to 
 craft, and taking the form of a golden eagle, lights on 
 the head of Digenis, and driving the talons through his 
 skull, draws out the soul that way. 3 
 
 In the Ionian islands Charos is sometimes spoken of 
 as married ; his- wife is called Charontissa ; and there 
 exists an old song which gives a grimly grotesque 
 picture of their table, spread with its feast at sunset : the 
 linen is black instead of white, the plates are upside 
 down, the service is performed by the severed hands of 
 the brave, and children's heads are piled high upon the 
 board. 
 
 Among Athenian Paramythia, or folk-stories, such as 
 have been collected from the mouths of old women, and 
 thus saved from oblivion, is a curious and picturesque one 
 in which Charos figures in the character of Koumbaros, 
 and as such recognizes the obligation to do a good turn 
 to the family with which he is thus connected. 
 
 " The children of a couple who had celebrated their marriage in 
 May in violation of usage and tradition, did not live. Four had 
 
 3 Sakellarios, " Kypriaka." Legends and songs of the hero Digenis are 
 found in nearly every part of Greeee, but most of all in Cyprus. They 
 are perhaps scattered fragments of a long epic history.
 
 Birthy Destiny, mid Beat It. 1 19 
 
 already died, and when the fifth was born, they resolved to choose 
 the first passer-by as his Koumbdros. So seeing first by chance 
 an old man in rags, they called him in, and he duly went through 
 the necessary formalities, and disappeared. One day, some years 
 later, the husband came upon him, and asked him why he had 
 never seen him in the meantime. ' It had been better,' replied 
 the Koumbaros, ' if you had not seen me now: I am Charos.' 
 He was then entreated by the husband to reveal when he meant to 
 take him ; so Charos led him to a solitary church, where he showed 
 him a great number of lamps, some of which had much, and others 
 but little oil in them, while others again were at their last flicker. 
 " Every man,' said Charos, ' has his lamp.' Then he perceived 
 that his son's lamp was full of oil, and that his own contained but 
 little. So he said, ' Compere, will you not pour a little oil from my 
 son's lamp into mine — I want to live a few years yet, that I may 
 earn money and leave it to him?' In the first respect Charos 
 refused to assist him, on the ground that it was out of his power ; 
 but in the second matter he promised to advise him. He bade him 
 whenever any one was reported very ill, to set off at once, and when 
 he saw that Charos, who would be visible only to himself, was 
 sitting at the sick man's head, then he might be certain that the 
 sick man was going to die ; if, on the other hand, Charos were sitting 
 at his feet, he was destined to recover ; in this case he was to under- 
 take to cure him, and thus he would be able to earn a great deal of 
 money in the short time which was left him to live ; and so it fell 
 out." 4 
 
 Some vague ideas of heaven and hell are necessarily- 
 entertained by a people professing Christianity, and 
 these find expression, the former in the word Paradise, 
 and the latter as KoXao-ts, or punishment; while the 
 nature of such punishment is suggested by the synonyms 
 of Uiaaa, the "sea of pitch," or "the river of fire"; or again, 
 the familiar Tartara, the place of darkness. Paradise, 
 like the garden of Eden, is figured as a region abounding 
 
 4 Kamporoglou, 'laropia tQiv \\.0r)vaiwv, vol. i. p. 330,
 
 120 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 in all that is so often lacking in the wild mountain land, 
 in shady trees and broad perennial rivers. But quite 
 a different and a more purely pagan conception of the 
 after-life is revealed in the popular poetry — the truest 
 indication of the unassisted popular imagination. In 
 many a village where the priest is a tiller of the soil, as 
 ignorant as the other villagers, where his duties do not 
 extend beyond baptisms, burials, and the formal 
 repetition of a ritual he sometimes cannot read, much 
 less interpret, the people are quite dependent for their 
 notions of another world on these songs and the 
 unconscious tradition of antiquity. For them it has 
 remained the ancient Hades, a common meeting-place 
 of all whose lives are ended, without distinction of merit. 
 Death is deprivation of the joys of life, which, with all 
 its troubles and cares, is sweet. The old uneasy 
 feeling that after death it is not well is ever present ; 
 and the dying man laments that he must see the sun 
 no more, nor the light of the moon, the mountains, the 
 shade of plane-trees, and the cool fountain, because in 
 Hades there breaks no dawn, and sings no bird, and no 
 fountains of water flow. Body and soul are still 
 strangely identified, and the dying Klepht requires his 
 sons to make a window to his grave, that he may hear 
 the nightingale, and know when spring comes back. 
 The dead are always praying Charos to let them return 
 and see the sun, and commune with their children ; but 
 he is ever inexorable, "When the sea becomes a garden, 
 and the raven grows white like the dove, then will ye 
 get back to earth again." Instances are not wanting in 
 the folk-literature of attempts to escape from this dark 
 and dreary region ; one well-known song records how
 
 Birth, Destiny, and Death. 1 2 1 
 
 three braves determined to break away, when a young 
 mother, newly dead, appealed to them to take her up 
 with them, because her child is crying for the breast. 
 "We cannot do that, fair one," they reply; 
 
 " Because of the rustling of thy dress and the shining of thy hair, 
 The clank of thy gold and silver ornaments, Charos would overhear." 
 
 " Hut I'll take off my dress, and I will plait my hair, 
 And tie the gold and silver trinkets in my kerchief." 
 
 But Charos he is cunning, sharp as a prince of Klephts, 
 He knows all treacheries of Klephts, a wronger of women ; 
 And Chains in his craft met them in the narrow way, 
 He clutched the girl by the hair, the young men by the waist. 
 
 ' ' Let go my hair, O Charos, and only hold my hand ; 
 
 And if thou wilt give my child his milk, I'll not try to fly again ! " 5 
 
 In the stories and fables current among the people 
 there is not unfrequent mention of the expeditions of 
 mortals to a strange subterraneous world ; but it is 
 rather the kingdom of goblins and the realms of magic 
 that are here alluded to ; and these tales are all included 
 by Hahn, the principal authority on Greek and 
 Albanian folk-stories among those of Sclavonic or 
 Germanic origin. In the popular poetry I have only 
 come upon one instance which records the feat of the 
 hero Zachos, who rode down on a horse with a golden 
 saddle to visit his friends in Hades ; Charos wrestles 
 with him for his life, and is three times thrown to the 
 ground, but at last clutches him by the hair and over- 
 comes him, so that for Zachos also there is no return- 
 ing. 6 
 
 The superstitions regarding the dead are sometin 
 mutually contradictory, for while in the songs sung by 
 the Mainotes and others at the grave, messages are sent 
 
 5 ' G Passow, Carm. Top.
 
 122 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 by the dead they are lamenting to those who have gone 
 before, and while, again, the dead are represented as 
 questioning the latest comer about those in the world 
 above, it is maintained in other parts that the dead do 
 not recognize one another. And similarly, against the 
 often reiterated sentence of the popular poets, that from 
 Hades there is no return, we may set the prevailing 
 superstition of the Saturday of Souls, the Saturday 
 preceding Whitsunday, when from midnight until day- 
 break the dead are permitted to revisit earth ; and again 
 the period between Easter and Whitmonday, when the 
 same privilege is conceded to them. The haunting of 
 individuals by those whom when living they have wronged, 
 or who endeavour to exercise some particular influence 
 over them, and the manner of laying these ghosts, will be 
 dealt with in a latter chapter. Enough has perhaps been 
 said to indicate the close analogy between the modern 
 feeling towards death and the after-life, and the dreary 
 conception of the ancient world ; and in conclusion it 
 may be mentioned that just as in former times certain 
 caverns and gorges were reputed to be the entrances of 
 hell, so still to-day there are caves, and notably that 
 Taenarian grotto near Cape Matapan described by 
 Pausanias, which are alluded to in the people's language 
 as the Gate of Death. 
 
 All who have travelled in the East are familiar with the 
 picturesque but at first somewhat startling aspect of the 
 Greek funeral procession. First walks a bearer with 
 the coffin-lid carried erect, covered with black velvet or 
 white silk, with decoration of purple muslin, flowers, and 
 tinsel ; boys carrying the cross and banners of the 
 Church follow ; behind these are the priests in their
 
 Birth, Destiny, ana Death. 123 
 
 bright robes, and one or two professional mourners in 
 plain clothes, who sing a sort of low wailing lamentation 
 as they pass along ; while in front of the friends and 
 relatives, the coffin, open, with the corpse exposed, 
 propped up on a pillow, and dressed as for a festival, 
 is carried by four or six bearers. Various explanations 
 have been offered for this curious custom, to which a 
 stranger finds it difficult at first to become reconciled. 
 Until a year ago, high dignitaries of the Church, such as 
 the Metropolitan, were carried to the grave sitting erect 
 on the episcopal chair, and dressed in the full canonicals 
 of their office. This would seem to indicate the high 
 antiquity of the custom of carrying the dead uncovered ; 
 and without insisting too much upon a necessary con- 
 nection, it is interesting to recall to mind the existence 
 of a law of Solon, which, in order to guard against foul 
 play and make the whole Athenian public the witnesses 
 of death, enacted that corpses should be carried out to 
 burial exposed as far as the chest. At the grave the 
 clothes in which the corpse is dressed are, in the case of 
 the wealthy, cut up, so that they may not afford a temp- 
 tation to sacrilegious theft, and, in the case of the poorer 
 people, often removed and brought home. A pillow 
 filled with earth 7 is placed under the head, and the lid of 
 the coffin, which is made of the lightest and most 
 destructible material, being put on, the body is lowered 
 into the grave. When the earth is filled in, the wooden 
 bars on which the coffin was carried by the bearers are 
 stuck upright in the ground, and a candle is left burning. 
 
 7 In Cyprus the pillow is stuffed with flowers and leaves of the lenion-treo, 
 and there, it appears also, that a dish of flour or grain is interred with the 
 body, a provision for the last journey.— Sakellarios, KvirpiaKa.
 
 1 24 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 generally fixed in a hole bored in the bottom of an 
 earthenware pitcher, to shield it from the wind. 
 
 Upon the first Saturday in Lent, dedicated to the 
 " Holy Theodores," every one flocks to the cemeteries. 
 In Athens a mass is performed at the principal grave, 
 that of the patriot Michael Totsitzas, and afterwards a 
 discourse in honour of the dead is pronounced by the 
 Professor of Theology at the University. Outside the 
 door of the cemetery chapel the ikon of these saints is 
 exposed, the devout file past and kiss it, while a 
 plentiful supply of wax tapers are burnt in their honour. 
 Wreaths are hung on the graves by the relatives of the 
 dead, and the heroes of the revolution are not forgotten. 
 Among the Greeks of Asia Minor a similar celebration, 
 known as the Sai'a, takes place on the ~l of January. 
 
 But the more ancient usages connected with the inter- 
 ment of the dead are no longer to be found in the 
 capital, where the tendency to cosmopolitan uniformity 
 has set in ; for these we must go farther afield. 
 Tolerably universal still in the provinces and islands 
 is the custom of flinging an earthen pitcher out of the 
 door, so as to break it on the step when the funeral pro- 
 cession leaves the house ; and in Corfu, the poor people 
 throw water from the windows when a funeral has passed 
 by — a habit which is, perhaps, a survival of the ancient 
 feeling of the necessity for purification after contact with 
 death. There also it is made an invariable rule to return 
 from the cemetery by some other road than that which the 
 funeral procession has passed along; and, if it is possible, 
 the coffin is carried out of church by a different door to 
 that by which it entered. After a death the house is 
 kept unswept for a term of three days, and it is impera-
 
 Birth, Destiny, and Death. i 2 : 
 
 tive that the broom which is then used should be 
 burned immediately. This neglect of the house is, perhaps, 
 an outward indication of mourning ; another not un- 
 common one is the habit of allowing the beard to grow. 
 One curious little detail of domestic mourning I came 
 upon in a deme of northern Arcadia, while pa\ ing a 
 visit to the Demarch. His daughter, when serving the 
 usual refreshments which Greek hospitality offers to all 
 comers, brought in coffee, but none of the sweetmeats 
 which usually precede it. The Mayor apologizing for 
 this, explained that he had recently lost an aunt, and 
 that it was customary there when in mourning to abstain 
 from these delicacies, adding at the same time that in the 
 case of a foreign guest his daughter should have made an 
 exception. In Maina only, as far as I am aware, is 
 there to be found some trace of the ancient 
 custom of mutilation and disfigurement, the men 
 scratching their faces with their nails, and the women 
 cutting off locks of hair to fling into the grave, like 
 Electra at the tomb of Agamemnon. v In northern 
 Greece the women of the family in which a death has 
 occurred dress themselves in white for mourning, and 
 keep the head uncovered, with the hair hanging down ; 
 the doors of the house where the body lies are left open, 
 and the villagers flock in and out ; while those who have 
 recently lost a relative whisper messages, or lay upon 
 the bed some flower or little token to be conveyed to 
 their friends in the other world. 
 
 Allusion has already been made in passing to a survival 
 among the Greeks of Asia Minor of the ancient custom 
 of placing Charon's obol between the lips of the dead ; 
 
 8 Soph. EL, 448, &c.
 
 126 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 and traces of a similar survival are still to be found in 
 Macedonia and Thrace and the islands of the Archi- 
 pelago, as well as among the Albanians. Indeed, there 
 is considerable evidence that up to recent times the 
 custom was universally prevalent in European Greece, 
 where the coin was not unfrequently accompanied by a 
 key destined to open the gates of Paradise 9 The 
 Orthodox Church long waged an unsuccessful war 
 against this most tenacious superstition, and repeated 
 canons of holy synods forbade its continuance in vain. 
 Sir Charles Newton, in his Travels in the Levant, records 
 the measures which the Archbishop of Mytilene told 
 him he had taken to put an end to it in Macedonia, by 
 representing that a Turkish coin, inscribed with a quota- 
 tion from the Koran, was no fit object in a Christian 
 grave. Ingenious methods of evading the prohibition, 
 while fulfilling a superstitious obligation, may still be 
 found among the Orthodox peasants, such as, for in- 
 stance, the substitution of a little waxen cross for the 
 coin between the lips of the corpse, or, as in the island 
 of Rhodes, of a fragment of tile or pottery, inscribed 
 with the five letters, IOXON, known as the Pendalpha, 
 the monogram of the words, 'Irjaovs Xpicrrbs vaca. 
 
 In Rhodes, again, and in the Peloponnese, as well as 
 among the Greeks of the Turkish Empire, on certain 
 dates and anniversaries funeral cakes are made, known 
 as Kolliva, which name is also applied to the days on 
 which such cakes are baked and eaten, generally the third, 
 ninth,- twentieth, and fortieth days after burial, when 
 masses are also said for the departed. The ingredients 
 of these cakes are boiled grain, sugar, almonds, sesame 
 
 9 Schmidt, " Volksleben." pp. 238, 239.
 
 Birth, Destiny, and Death. 12J 
 
 parsley, and pomegranate seeds. When baked, they arc 
 taken to the priest to bless ; part is given away, part 
 consumed, and part broken up over the grave. There 
 is doubtless a symbolical significance in eai h of the 
 elements of which the Kolliva are composed ; and the 
 pomegranate seeds immediately recall the story of 
 Persephone. 
 
 Greeks and Orthodox Albanians alike dig up the bone- 
 after they have been three years underground. These 
 are washed in wine, and then deposited in an ossuary : 
 and the superstition not uncommonly prevails that it is 
 possible to determine the fate of the deceased by tri- 
 colour of the bones. At any rate, if they are bleached 
 and white, it is a sure sign that the soul is in heaven. 
 For the peace of mind of the relatives, it is to be hoped 
 that the converse docs not necessarily hold good ; but a 
 form of denunciation very common in the country, " May 
 earth not consume your body ! " would seem to indicate- 
 that it is held a very evil omen if decomposition does 
 not at once ensue, and may indicate that the departed is 
 haunting the earth as a vampire. ' 
 
 Among the Albanians, with their nomad and migratory 
 life, a very large proportion of the male population die- 
 abroad. The bones of these wanderers are afterwards 
 collected and sent home, or, at any rate, a portion of 
 them — a skull or a single bone is brought back to their 
 native place. In illustration of the probable great 
 antiquity of this custom, it is worthy of notice that 
 MM. Pottier and Reinach, in their work on the Necro- 
 polis of Myrina, draw attention to the fact that 
 in the course of their excavations they came upon a 
 1 See chap, vii., pp. 192, &c.
 
 128 The Ctistoms and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 number of skeletons in which the skull was absent, while 
 in certain cases both the skull and the feet were missing. 
 In the early days of Rome, when the practice of burning 
 the dead came in, some portion of the body, the os rescc- 
 tiun, was reserved for burial, in order to humour the old 
 conservative tradition which clung to the sentiment that 
 the dead man should be genuinely inhnmatus. As, 
 however, this custom of mutilation had an obvious senti- 
 mental objection, a law of the twelve tables in 450 B.C., 
 which is quoted by Cicero, put an end to it, sanctioning 
 it only in the case of persons who died abroad or in war, 
 so that a portion of their bodies might be restored to 
 their relatives for burial. At Myrina no traces of 
 ashes were found in connection with the bones which 
 would warrant the supposition of a double process 
 of inhumation and incineration ; and as, moreover, it is 
 always a small portion of the whole skeleton which is 
 wanting, the authors have adopted the conclusion that 
 these graves at Myrina are those of strangers, and that 
 the missing bones, like those of the Albanians to-day, 
 had been restored to the countries of their origin. 2 
 
 And finally it remains to speak of the myrologies 
 (fxvpoXojlat) or dirges for the dead, of which so much has 
 been written. The traveller in Greece, especially in the 
 remoter parts of the country, who passes a village burying- 
 ground will often come upon groups or pairs of women 
 sitting or kneeling by a grave, from whose lips proceeds 
 a strange sort of wail of lamentation. If he pauses to 
 listen, he will generally find that it consists of a rhythmic 
 song taken up in a broken voice by each woman in turn. 
 The burden of the song assumes the form of questions to 
 2 Pottier et Reinach, "La Necropole de Myrina," p. 75.
 
 Birtli, Destiny, and Death. \ : 
 
 the dead, such as " Why do you leave us ? " " Why did 
 you go so soon ? " " How do you think the house can get 
 on without you ? " From the tone of their voices, he- 
 will imagine they are in floods of tears, but their eyes are 
 dry ; and when they tire of the crooning song, they will 
 pause, and talk in a matter-of-fact way about every-day 
 things, until suddenly one of them takes up the wail 
 again. These are the relatives of the dead singing 
 myrologies on anniversaries or commemorative days. 
 
 In northern Greece the women of the family sing such 
 dirges from the moment of death until the corpse is put 
 in the ground, even in some cases accompanying the 
 funeral processions with their songs of lamentation, and 
 they will sing no other songs for a year. Xor will they 
 ever pass the churchyard without lingering to sing for a 
 few moments by the grave of a dead relative. This form 
 of lamentation is confined to the women ; the men content 
 themselves with a word of farewell, and a kiss on the lips 
 of the dead. 
 
 The genuine myrology is eminently topical and 
 spontaneous, evoked by strong emotion and therefore 
 improvised, to some air which custom prescribes, and 
 forgotten as soon as sung. Its archetype may be found 
 in the dirges sung over the body of Hector by 
 Andromache, Hecuba, and Helen. The women of the 
 family are often joined by other women of the 
 neighbourhood, who take their part in the dirge, 
 intoning messages for their own dead, which the passing 
 spirit is to deliver. Fauricl records that the myrologies 
 sung in Thessaly and northern Greece are of remarkable 
 beauty, and that the women of those parts seem tc 
 possess a peculiar poetic talent ; and it would be said 
 
 K
 
 130 The Customs mid Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 in praise of a certain woman that she was a noted 
 myrologist, just as in Italy a man might be pointed out 
 as a talented improvisatore. He mentions that he has 
 overheard them practising their muse while at work in 
 the fields, turning such episodes as a broken flower or 
 the death of a bird into symbolisms to sing at a grave. 
 
 Of these ephemeral flowers of sorrow and of song it is 
 difficult to give a specimen. Fauriel quotes the substance 
 of such an outburst as it was repeated to him by a 
 Greek who had heard it from the lips of a woman of 
 Metsovo, in Pindus, who had just lost her husband ; but 
 this only comes at third hand. The sense of it runs : — 
 
 " I saw, a day or two ago, at the door of our house, a 
 young man of lofty stature, with a glance of menace in 
 his eyes, with white wings extending from his shoulders; 
 he stood erect upon the threshold of our house, with a 
 drawn sword in his hand. ' Woman,' he asked me, ' is 
 thy husband in the house ? ' ' He is there,' I replied ; 
 ' he is combing the hair of our child, and caressing him 
 to prevent his crying ; but do not enter in, dread youth, 
 for you will frighten the child.' But the youth with the 
 white wings persisted, and would enter in. I tried to 
 thrust him out again, but I had not the strength. He 
 rushed into the house ; he rushed upon you, oh, my 
 well-beloved, and struck you with the sword. He 
 struck you, ill-fated one; and see, see here, your son he 
 tried to kill him too ! " And with these words she flune 
 herself upon her husband's body. 
 
 But besides this form of improvised dirge, there are a 
 number of songs known by heart to the women in other 
 districts, which it is customary for them to come and 
 sing over the dead. As I was riding through Maina, I
 
 Birth, Destiny, and Death. 131 
 
 came one day upon a group of some seventy women 
 sitting round the door of a tower where, two days before, 
 an old woman had died. They were chanting, to a 
 weird monotonous air, a series of songs peculiar to these 
 occasions, sung on the three days following a death, 
 most of them tinged with the savage character which 
 marks this wild and primitive race. I wrote down one 
 or two from their dictation. One of the shorter ones 
 ran: — 
 
 "Wife of Ligorou, Paraske, 
 When you come down to the world below, 
 If you chance upon men of ours, 
 Tell them the fort is taken. 
 It was Babouloyanni took it, 
 And the deacon Dikaiakas, 
 With Katsibarda's bastard, 
 And the children of Stella." 
 
 The character of these songs varies with the district, 
 and every woman will know a considerable number by 
 heart. There are special songs for the death of a 
 husband, a father, a son, or a daughter, and the custom 
 is still tolerably universal in Greece proper, in Macedonia, 
 Asia Minor, and the islands. They are generally 
 thoroughly pagan in inspiration, and it is from these 
 songs of death handed down through long tradition that 
 the popular ideas regarding the after-life are for the most 
 part drawn. 3 
 
 3 See chap, xi., pp. 2S1-6, for specimens of such myrologies. 
 
 K 2
 
 132 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BELIEFS AND CEREMONIES. 
 SURVIVALS OF THE ANCIENT IN THE NEW. 
 
 ALLUSION has already been made to the assimilation 
 and adaptation by the Church of certain primitive 
 pagan ideas, and there exists in new Greece very ample 
 material for remunerative investigation into this special 
 field of inquiry. It must suffice here to draw attention 
 to a few of the most obvious reminiscences of ancient 
 superstition in the modern worship, and in that still more 
 binding " religion," in the old sense of the word, by 
 which the daily life of the people is hemmed in. 
 
 In the first place, we are met by the survival in the 
 popular language of a number of attributes of the Diety, 
 connecting him with natural forces, and especially with 
 the control of the weather. The Zeus whose dominion 
 was the upper air, whose weapon was the thunderbolt, 
 and who with his " red right hand " struck the lofty 
 summits of the world, or sent " the snows and hailstorms 
 dire," has passed on his power over the elements to the 
 God of the Christians," so that Bpe^ei 6 &eo<; (God is 
 raining) is a common saying still to-day. 1 In the 
 popular poetry we find the lightning alluded to as the 
 " fire of God," 2 and, again, it is said that " He compels 
 
 1 The name of Zeus survives in Crete in a name ZotXawcov {The Valley of 
 Zeus) on Mount Ida, and in a common form of invocation 'EUoOre /mov Zuive 
 Qei ! {Divine Zeus, hear my prayer). 
 
 2 Passow, Carm. Pop. Dist., 287.
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies. 133 
 
 the clouds, He thunders and He rains." 3 The peasants 
 of Arachova describe an icicle as the " staff of God ;" 
 and stranger still, when some stout tree is struck by 
 lightning, they have been heard to say, " the stroke 
 consumed a demon," as though some dim echo of the 
 mythus of the Gigantomachia were still lingering here.' 
 The very name of the thunderbolt, ao-TpoireXe/ci {the 
 starry axe), would seem to suggest the idea of a weapon 
 in the hand of the Supreme, while there is surely a reminis- 
 cence of the earth-shaking Poseidon suggested in the phrase 
 which in the island of Zante, so subject to earthquakes, 
 such phenomena are wont to evoke, " God is shaking 
 His hair." 
 
 Of sun, moon, or star worship I have come upon few 
 survivals, but it has been suggested that there is perhaps 
 a trace of classic fancy in a myth current among the sea- 
 faring folk of the ^Egean, who tell that Orion is the 
 wooer of the Pleiades, and that these are six sisters who 
 have murdered the seventh ; behind which imager}- there 
 lies the fact that the constellation consists of seven stars, 
 of which only six are visible to the eye. 6 
 
 In Thessaly, Macedonia, and elsewhere, there exists a 
 pretty custom in seasons of drought when the water of 
 the village spring is dry. The children come together, 
 and one of them is selected, generally speaking an orphan, 
 since the prayers of orphans are always accepted, to 
 play the part of Perpcrouna or Perpcria. This child Is 
 stripped of its clothes, dressed in a garment of leaves, 
 and crowned with flowers ; the others form into pro- 
 
 ;; II)., Dist, 242 
 
 4 Schmidt, " Volksleben." 
 
 "' Wacismuth, " Das alte Griechenland im neuen."
 
 1 34 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 cession, and, with the Perperouna at their head, they go 
 from door to door of the village singing a song which 
 varies slightly in different districts, but of which the 
 burden is generally the same. At every door a few 
 drops of water are sprinkled on the head of the child. 
 The song runs as follows : — 
 
 " Perperouna goes her round, 
 Makes a prayer to God. 
 Let it rain a shower, Lord, 
 A shower of gentle rain ! 
 Let them sprout and let them flower, 
 Give the world their increase, 
 Growing corn and cotton plant 
 Every herb that is athirst ! 
 Give us, give us water, 
 Corn in heaped abundance, 
 Let each ear till a bushel, 
 And every vine a cask. " 6 
 
 The origin and nationality of this particular form of 
 intercession for rain I have not been able to trace, nor is 
 it easy to connect with any observance of antiquity 
 another singular piece of weather-lore which may be 
 found in the neighbourhood of Trcezen, in the Pelo- 
 pennese, a district very subject to severe hailstorms. 
 Here, when the peasants see the dark clouds gathering, 
 they take a black-handled knife — and it is only a black- 
 handled one that will serve — with which they make 
 passes in the air in order, as they say, to "cut the 
 storm." With this we may associate the not uncommon 
 usage of sailors in these waters, of fixing a knife upon 
 the mast, presumably with the same object of cutting, 
 and thus diminishing the strength of, the wind. 
 
 There is no lack of weather-superstitions for all the 
 different seasons. A popular proverb runs, " If you 
 
 6 Marcellus, "Chansons Populaires."
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies. 135 
 
 have a daughter dear to you, do not let the March 
 wind see her." And accordingly in March, when the 
 sun in these latitudes first finds its strength, it is usual 
 to tie round children's wrists or fingers a twisted thread 
 of red and gold, or blue and gold, which is supposed to 
 prevent the sun from tanning the skin. The colour of 
 the thread appears to be a matter of indifference, but 
 there must be gold in it, which, perhaps, represents the 
 survival of the propitiatory offering. Similarly in the 
 first weeks of August the rays of the sun are held to be 
 very pernicious, and during those days the people take 
 no sea baths, and hang no clothes out to dry. These 
 sun-rays are sometimes personified under the figure of 
 old women, known by the name of " Drymes," who will 
 make sore places in the skin of those exposed to them, 
 and will most certainly pierce holes in any linen put 
 out to bleach. Such a survival of the ancient Pantheism, 
 the attribution of a personal character to natural forces, 
 is by no means uncommon still. The p lague, for 
 instance, at the time of its appearance in Greece, was 
 sometimes typified as assuming the shape of a blind 
 woman rushing madly on her way ; or, again, was 
 represented as a trio of weird sisters, armed respectively 
 with a broom which sweeps all before it, with a roll 
 bearing the register of the doomed, and a pair of sheers 
 with which to cut the thread of life, like the dire sisters 
 of antiquity ; while the same personifying tendency, 
 coupled with the old euphemistic dread of offending 
 destructive omnipotence, is indicated by the word which 
 is still used for the small-pox, namely EuXoyia, or, " she 
 that must be named with respect." 
 
 Two domestic festivals associated with particular
 
 1 36 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 seasons are tolerably universal in Greece, the one on the 
 first day of the year, the day of St. Basilios, and the 
 other on the first of March, which, allowing for the 
 difference of climate, corresponds with the first of May 
 in northern Europe. The latter is directly inherited 
 from ancient times, and there is good reason to assume 
 that the former has a similar origin. 
 
 The custom of the first of March is in reality a 
 celebration of the return of spring: bands of boys carry 
 round a rudely carved figure of a bird fixed on a wooden 
 cylinder, and sing a song announcing the arrival of the 
 swallow, and all that she brings, begging a little gift in 
 acknowledgment of their good news. Such a custom, 
 we know, prevailed of old in the island of Rhodes, and it 
 is in its nature not likely to have been peculiar to one 
 locality. The song of the Rhodian boys preserved in 
 Athenaeus began : — 
 
 ? HA#' r\kBz y^eXiSwv, KaAas oipas 
 
 "Ayovcra kcu xaAovs evcavTovs 
 
 'Eirl yao-repa XevKa, kutt! vwTa fxeXaivaJ 
 
 and the version sung by the companies of boys to-day is 
 
 only an echo of this : — 
 
 ^YipOtv, fjpOe xeXiSova, 
 ^Hp6e ki <xAA?7 /zeAi^SoVa, 
 
 Kct^cre kou AaA?^cre 
 
 Kat yXvKa KeAaS^cre. 
 
 And very similar is the appeal to the householder for a 
 little gift, with which the two renderings close. There 
 exists also in the compilation of Athenaeus a song of 
 similar import, the song of the crow (Koronisma), which 
 
 7 Athenaeus, " Deipnon," viii. 360. Variations of the modern Chelidon- 
 isma, or Swallow Song, will be found in the chapter dealing with lyrical 
 poetry.
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies. 137 
 
 appears to have been sung under similar circumstances ; 
 and in the life of Homer, attributed to Herodotus, men- 
 tion is made of a collection made by boys singing a song 
 called " Eresione " at the festival of Apollo in Samos. 
 
 On New Year's day visits are made and presents 
 exchanged, and, as on the first of March, bands of boys 
 go from house to house, singing the song of St. Basil, 
 with others in honour of the master of the house and 
 the family, wishing them success in the coming year. 
 In the towns these boys receive in return small donations 
 of money ; in the country, presents of eggs, bread, and 
 cheese. On the analog}' of the swallow-custom, it is 
 perhaps justifiable to assume at once the sanction of 
 antiquity for this usage also ; but there is another point 
 in connection with it which tends to confirm the 
 assumption. In Athens, and, as far as I have been able 
 to ascertain, in Athens only, the boys carry round on this 
 occasion a rude model of a ship, and the first obvious 
 explanation assigned to this model is that it refers to the 
 opening line of the song, which begins — 
 
 "St. Basil is come from Cresarea," 
 
 since he could not well have come without a ship. But 
 it may be that, just as a number of other customs 
 sanctioned by the Church are only survivals of far older 
 institutions, upon which a new form has been imposed, 
 so this ship also may date back even to the ancient 
 worship of Theseus, instituted and developed by 
 Pisistratus, in which the ship of the famous Cretan 
 journey played so important a part. A trireme 
 figured in the Panathenaic ceremonies, and Dr. 
 Waldstcin has pointed out that this was probably due to 
 a blending of the Athena and the Theseus worships, so
 
 138 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 that at last the Peplon of Athena became the sail of the 
 ship of Theseus. The very name of Basil suggests an 
 adaption of the mythical King, turned to account in the 
 Christian conversion of popular usages, of which many 
 similar instances will be cited in their proper place. 
 Taking these facts in consideration, I am inclined to 
 think that the custom of St. Basil's day is probably no 
 less ancient than we know that of the the first of March 
 to be, and that it may present an extremely curious 
 form of survival. On the other hand, it may be main- 
 tained that a ship is a very natural symbol to select in 
 a land where a large number of the people follow sea- 
 faring pursuits, and that there is no necessity for seeking 
 a more elaborate explanation. 
 
 This may, perhaps, be the most appropriate place in 
 which to say a word about a festival once regularly 
 observed in mediaeval and modern Athens under the 
 name of Rousalia, which is now, however, practically 
 extinct, but which was undoubtedly the survival of some 
 Paneguris, the origin and occasion of which is lost in 
 obscurity. This festival was held in the open space 
 round the Theseion on Easter Tuesday, and not upon 
 the day of St. George, to whom this temple was 
 dedicated when consecrated as a church. It was 
 apparently an occasion upon which the countryfolk 
 flocked into the town ; for up to recent times the 
 inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, now occupied 
 exclusively by Albanians, who inherited from their 
 predecessors a custom which they could not explain, 
 came into the town on that day with drums and musical 
 instruments. Before starting, a song was sung, of which 
 the import is also lost, beginning —
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies, 139 
 
 KaXrj/Mepa crov, Kvpd jxov 
 
 K(U KaXQs TO. TO. 7TtttSltt uov. 
 
 " Good-day to you, my lady ; 
 
 And well be with you, my children ;" 
 
 while the male children were lifted three times into the 
 
 air, with prayers that they might grow up brave and 
 
 strong, and then the villagers marched into town to the 
 
 sound of rude music, to remain making merry all day 
 
 long in the space round the Theseion. 8 
 
 Politis, on the other hand, thinks there is evidence 
 
 for asserting that the Rousalia was in the beginning a 
 
 ceremonious observance in honour of the dead, and 
 
 maintains that in the interior and south-west of the 
 
 Peloponnese the name is occasionally found applied to 
 
 the Saturday of Souls ; while there existed also in 
 
 Roman Thrace a festival similarly called, held in 
 
 commemoration of the dead. 9 The Athenians of old 
 
 held their Nckusia or Thanqtousia in the month 
 
 Ajithcstcrion (= February and part of March), therefore 
 
 somewhere about the average date of the Rousalia at 
 
 Athens. In this connection the vicinity of the Theseion 
 
 to the old burial-ground is also suggestive. In the 
 
 month of Anthesterion were also celebrated the Dionysiac 
 
 Anthesteria, a name which means etymologically the 
 
 Feast of Flowers, just as Rousalia or Rosalia means the 
 
 Feast of the Roses ; and the chronicler Balsamon, in the 
 
 1 2th century, speaks of the icafc>] avv^Oeca, the " depraved 
 
 custom" of this Rosalia as though something of a Bacchic 
 
 character still attached to it. 1 In Greek Sicily and 
 
 southern Italy also it is not impossible that the formcr 
 
 8 Kamporoglou, Hist. Ath. 
 
 9 Journal, 'AearoXi/cv; 'Ewidtuptats, Jan. 15th, 1S73. 
 
 1 Balsamon, "Ad Concil." vi. 62.
 
 140 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 prevalence of some such festival similarly named may 
 account for the popularity of the Festival of St. Rosalia ; 
 but in the absence of any direct testimony this must 
 remain in mere hypothesis. As regards the modern 
 Greek Paneguris, its origin cannot now be definitely 
 accounted for ; but there seems to be some ground for 
 supposing that its name is virtually a modification of 
 the Anthesteria, and that it partook somewhat of the 
 character of that festivity, while it retained perhaps 
 here and there a trace of the ancient Thanatousia, an 
 aspect which the Church, if indeed it in any way 
 recognized the Rousalia, would, no doubt, have 
 endeavoured to substitute for the other less commend- 
 able form of celebration. 
 
 The numerous churches and chapels scattered over the 
 country in Greece, and frequently in spots far removed 
 from human habitation, are again and again found to 
 have been built upon the foundations as well as with the 
 materials of early pagan temples ; consequently it is not 
 surprising to find that the saint to whom they are dedicated 
 has, as it were, by compromise in the old struggle between 
 Paganism and Christianity, often inherited the miraculous 
 power attributed to the deity whom he has superseded ; 
 while the localization of the worship of certain saints is 
 strongly marked, just as in former times particular places 
 claimed the exclusive patronage of a particular god. 
 The ubiquity of little shrines, of rustic statues or altars, 
 of sacred enclosures in the ancient world may partially 
 account for the very large number of churches, mostly 
 half ruined, but none the less revered, which dot the 
 country side, when we realize that they would be 
 deliberately set up in many cases in order that the worship
 
 Beliefs ana Ceremonies. 141 
 
 of their saint might replace some Artemis of the cross- 
 ways, some Priapus of the garden, or Cypris of the sea- 
 shore. 
 
 It is sometimes the name, sometimes the attributes of 
 the ancient deity, and occasionally both, which the 
 modern saint has inherited. Thus a Church dedicated 
 to the Panaghi'a Blastike (the Virgin of Fecundity) has 
 been shown to occupy the site of a temple of Eilythuia, 
 the deity who presided over childbirth, represented also 
 not unfrequently now by St. Marina. In Crete, on the 
 other hand, a saint of the name of Eleutherios (the 
 Liberator) is appealed to on such occasions, and some 
 have endeavoured to trace in the name a corruption of 
 Eilythuia, a theory which becomes less improbable when 
 we take note of the fact that the ?/ is pronounced like/" 
 before tli. There is also reason for supposing that the 
 little church which stands by the side of the Metropolitan 
 church at Athens, and which is dedicated to the same St. 
 Eleutherios, occupies the site of a shrine of Eilythuia ; 
 it is much visited by those who would in ancient times 
 have deposited their ex voto at the altar of the pagan 
 divinity. 
 
 Similarly, a chapel of St. Cosmo and St. Damiano, 
 patrons of medicine, who are known by the joint title of 
 the ciyiot, avdpyvpoi (the saints who take no fee), is found 
 to have replaced a temple of yEsculapius ; and the 
 twelve Apostles have succeeded to the altar of the 
 "Twelve Gods." Churches dedicted to St. Demetrius 
 occupy the foundations of several shrines of Demcter, 
 and a portion of her attributes as the protector of 
 husbandry, and thence of cattle, have been passed on to 
 the saint, to whom the month of October, when the
 
 142 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 sowing takes place, is sacred under the name of 
 " Demetrite." St. George, whose name etymologically 
 signifies the husbandman, has also a share in the 
 protection of agriculture. St. Nicholas has taken 
 over the functions of the god of the sea, and is the 
 object of the prayers of those in danger of shipwreck. 
 He is appealed to under the name of NavTi)s or 
 0aX.aa-a-LT7]<i, and at Athens one of the churches 
 dedicated to him occupies the site of a Hieron of 
 Poseidon. 2 
 
 The legend of the expulsion of snakes from the island 
 of Crete by Herakles is now carried over to the credit 
 of the Apostle St. Paul, who in other parts, again, is said 
 only to have made them innocuous. Shrines of the 
 " Holy Virgins " are found near fountains once dedicated 
 to nymph and naiad, and the numberless virgins of the 
 cave and saints of the fountain have doubtless similarly 
 replaced the ancient protectors of the spot in the land 
 when every grotto and grove and glen had of old its 
 tutelary genius. 
 
 In the island of Naxos, once devoted to the worship 
 of Dionysus, popular tradition ascribes to St. Dionysius 
 the introduction of the grape ; while in the neighbouring 
 isle of Paros, St. George is worshipped under the title of 
 the "drunkard" {fjuedvcrry'-js:), because his festival there on 
 the j-V November is the signal for broaching the new 
 wine. The story of the introduction of the grape to 
 Naxos is told as follows : — 
 
 When Dionysius was still young, he made a journey through 
 Greece in order to cross to Naxos. Being tired upon his way, he sat 
 
 2 A similiar appropriation of a site sacred to Neptune has taken place at 
 Ancona. It is, in fact, one of the commonest instances of such transformation.
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies. 143 
 
 down upon a stone to rest. As he sat there, he perceived a very 
 small plant growing in the ground before him, which appeared to 
 him so beautiful that he determined to take it with him. to plant 
 there. But fearing lest the heat of the sun should wither it before 
 he got to Naxos, he placed it in the thigh-bone of a bird, the better 
 to carry. As he went on, however, the plant grew so rapidly in the 
 hand of the saint that the shoots came out at either end of the 
 bone. Fearing anew that it would wither in the sun, he cast about 
 what he should do, and finding the thigh-bone of a lion he inserted 
 into this the plant with the other bone. But still it grew and filled 
 the lion's bone. Then he lit on the bone of an ass, and into this he 
 slipped the two other bones with the plant, and so brought it safely 
 to Naxos. But when he came to plant it the roots were so firmly 
 fixed in the bones that he was forced to plant bone and root 
 together. The plant grew and prospered and bore magnificent 
 grapes, and from these they made the first wine, and the saint gave 
 it men to drink. And then the wonder of it was that when they 
 had drunk a little they sang like birds, when they drank more they 
 grew strong as lions, but then if they drank yet more they became 
 like asses. 3 
 
 One is once more reminded of Silenus and the Bacchic 
 rout of jollity in the curious mediaeval cult at Xaxos 
 of St. Pachys (St. Fat), a saint whose intervention was 
 held to confer the desirable gift of obesity, a quality 
 which must have been much esteemed in the early 
 middle ages, seeing what work Duke Sanudo had to put 
 this worship down. 
 
 The French traveller Lenormant gives in his account 
 of the Sacred Way 4 a story which recalls the myth of 
 Demeter and Kore, told him by a centenarian priest at 
 Eleusis, and which is so interesting that I cannot refrain 
 from quoting its outlines in this connection, at the- same 
 
 3 Hahn's " Neugriechische Maichen." The story was picked up by 
 Christian Siegel in a Boeotian village in 1S46. 
 
 4 Francois Lenormant, " La Voie Sacree," chap. vi. note.
 
 144 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 time remarking that such tales of the seizure of maidens 
 by magicians or by Turkish Agas are not uncommon in 
 this country, and that the story would not necessarily 
 suggest the rape of Persephone if it were not for the 
 name of Demetria, who is described as a saint, though no 
 such saint occurs in Greek hagiology ; and for the locali- 
 zation of the scene at Eleusis, where the majority of the 
 people are, as a matter of fact, Albanians. The story is 
 rather Germanic or Sclavonic in character than Hellenic. 
 Many such tales of dragons and sorcerers have found 
 their way into Greek folk-lore, and it is just possible that 
 the tale is a hybrid one, the magician's dress being 
 fitted on to some tradition lingering here of the Demeter 
 myth, and the magician becoming a Turkish Aga at an 
 obviously later date. The story, which I quote with all 
 reserve, runs as follows: — 
 
 St. Demetria was an ancient dame of Athens, renowned for her 
 goodness and charity, who had a daughter of incomparable beauty. 
 A Turkish Aga, who was also a magician, fell madly in love with 
 this daughter, but she rejected his addresses. Thereupon he came 
 one night when her mother was in church and carried her off to 
 Epirus, where he lived. When the mother came back from church, 
 and found her daughter gone, she went with much tribulation 
 questioning every one for tidings ; but none could give her any. 
 She asked the tree before the house, but the tree made no answer ; 
 she asked the sun, the moon, and the stars, but these answered 
 not. Only the old stork on the roof, who had long been her 
 pensioner, answered saying, " A Turk who rode upon a black 
 horse has carried off thy daughter to the parts where the sun goes 
 down ; I will go with thee, and try to find her." After long 
 wanderings, the ancient dame came to Eleusis ; there she fell sick, 
 and her companion could do nothing to assist her. But the wife 
 of the Khodja Bachi Nikola found her, and cared for her, and his 
 son, a youth of great strength and comely withal, learned her story
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies. 145 
 
 and undertook to help her, asking only for her daughters hand as 
 his reward. So he went his way accompanied by the stork, and 
 after many wanderings they came to a forest, where they found 
 forty dragons sitting round an immense cauldron of boiling water. 
 The youth lifted the cauldron with one hand, and stirred the fire 
 with the other, and then replaced the cauldron. The dragons were 
 astonished at his being able to lift with one hand what it had 
 taken forty of them to move, and asked him, being so strong, to 
 rescue for them from a fortress a damsel who had been taken by an 
 Aga. They conducted him to a tower, which he climbed by driving 
 nails into the wall, so as to get in by a small doorway. He then 
 dared the dragons to follow him, and slew them one by one as they 
 came in. But he had hardly got rid of these dangerous guides 
 when the Aga returned, and a terrible combat ensued, which lasted 
 three days with varying fortunes, till, on the third day, the magician, 
 who had the power of assuming various forms, such as that of a 
 lion, a serpent, or a flame, got the better of the youth and cut him 
 into pieces. During the night, however, the faithful stork brought 
 a magic herb, by means of which he was restored whole. He then 
 appealed to the Panaghfafor assistance, vowing that if he prevailed 
 he would become a monk, and so the combat began again. The 
 stork came to his assistance, and pecked at the Aga's eyes as well 
 as at a white hair which grew in the midst of his black locks, and 
 in which lay the secret of his strength. So the youth conquered, 
 restored the damsel to her mother Demetria, and himself withdrew 
 into the monastery of the Phaneromene (the Virgin of the 
 Annunciation) in the island of Salamis. 
 
 The same writer mentions a tradition found in Epirus, 
 near the country assigned to the mythical king Aidoneus, 
 of the carrying off by the Tchiflick Bachi of a young 
 Demetrius, who being put to death was afterwards 
 venerated as a saint, and traces of the survival of the 
 myth are perhaps also to be found in the folk-talcs 
 collected by Hahn. In one case it is a demon who 
 assumes the form of thunder and lightning, and carries 
 off a king's daughter to a desert place, where, striking the 
 
 L
 
 146 The Ctistoms and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 ground with his hand, he opens a chasm in the earth and 
 bears her down to a subterraneous palace. In another we 
 have a hero descending through a chasm into the bowels 
 of the earth to bring back the purest woman in the world 
 kept a prisoner there, who, on arriving at the palace of 
 the king of the underworld, finds it guarded by a three- 
 headed dog. 
 
 Perhaps enough has been said to suggest what a large 
 field still remains open for investigation in this direction, 
 in examining into the re-occupation of ancient sites, and 
 following up analogies of name and worship in popular 
 lore and religion to-day. One must beware, however, of 
 pressing these analogies too far. It would seem to be a 
 little fantastic to seek to establish a corruption of 
 ' A'iBcovevs, as certain travellers have done, in the name 
 'AiSovdros, which is the popular form of r/ A<yio<; Aovdros, 
 (St. Donato), a saint well known on both sides of the 
 Adriatic, a bishop, and no legendary one, of Zara. Again, 
 the common identification of St. Elias, whose shrines 
 occupy the summits of rocks and mountains, with the 
 worship of the sun-god Helios, perhaps assumes too 
 much. For in ancient Greece a very limited number of 
 mountain summits were dedicated to the sun-god, whereas 
 in the modern landscape there is scarcely ever out of 
 range of the eye some little white chapel crowning a 
 prominent crest of rock, dedicated to the prophet whose 
 assumption would naturally suggest the high places as 
 the most appropriate for his altars. It is true that St. 
 Elias now occupies the highest peak in Taygetus, and 
 that on this summit, the Taletum of antiquity, horses 
 were sacrificed to the sun. But, on the other hand, he 
 has taken the place of Zeus Panhellenios in ^Egina, of
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies. 147 
 
 the Muses on Helikon, of Menelaus at the Menelaon of 
 Sparta. Of course, when the saint was once established 
 as the patron of a mountain summit, his shrines would 
 naturally multiply in a mountainous land, and it is not 
 impossible that the church on the Taletum may have 
 been one of the first ; but it must not by any means be 
 assumed, as some travellers appear to do, that every peak 
 now dedicated to him was once the home of sun-worship. 
 The exhibition and worship of plastic images or 
 statues of saints is forbidden by the Orthodox Church ; 
 but on the other hand a peculiar sanctity is attached to 
 their ikons, or pictures, which vie with one another in 
 the popular estimation for miraculous power; and 
 allusion has already been made to the ikon of his 
 patron saint, which hangs in the cottage of every 
 peasant, as well as to the lamp which is kept ever 
 burning before it. Many are the offerings in silver or in 
 wax, shaped to represent arms, and legs, and eyes, 
 suspended round the ikons, to which a miraculous power 
 of healing is ascribed; images of children stamped out 
 in silver are brought by grateful mothers, and model ships 
 are hung up by those who owe their rescue to the 
 intervention of the saint ; while no small part of the 
 revenues of churches and monasteries depends on the 
 offerings of tapers, of oil, of first-fruits, of a portion of 
 the profits of a business transaction which have been 
 vowed to the saint in acknowledgment of a successful 
 speculation. The ancients brought similar anatheniata 
 to the shrines of the patrons of healing; and numerous 
 specimens of votive tablets, on which the ailing member 
 was carved in marble, have been found on the sites once 
 sacred to Amphiaraus and /Ksculapius. Sometimes the 
 
 L 2
 
 148 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 ikon, or a part of it, is covered with silver or even with 
 gold by the grateful votary; and a more primitive form 
 of this intention may still be observed, among other 
 places, in the island of Rhodes, where golden coins are 
 sometimes stuck on to the faces of the saints in the ikom 
 with a piece of wax. Even for this an analogy can be 
 found in antiquity, for we read in Lucian 5 of a statue of 
 Pelichos, to the thighs of which silver coins were affixed 
 with wax, as were also plates of the same metal, 
 offered by some of his votaries in return for his curing 
 them of their fevers. 
 
 That the gods were amenable to gifts was the con- 
 viction of the ancient world, and following up the train 
 of ideas suggested by the permanence of this persuasion, 
 one is tempted to inquire whether any survival of the 
 rites of sacrifice may be detected. 
 
 One very curious relic of folk-custom undoubtedly has 
 its origin in sacrifice, and its continuance until the 
 present day, even in the capital of modern Greece, is the 
 more curious, inasmuch as it is bound up with a religious 
 observance which is never omitted. After the ground 
 has been cleared for the foundations of a new house, the 
 future owner, his family, and the workmen attend 
 together with the Pappas in full canonicals, accompanied 
 by incense, holy water, and all due accessories. A prayer 
 is said, and those present are aspersed, and the site is 
 sprinkled with the consecrated water. Then a fowl or 
 a lamb, which you will have noticed lying near with the 
 feet tied together, is taken by one of the workmen, 
 killed and decapitated, the Pappas standing by all the 
 while, and even giving directions ; the blood is then 
 s Lucian, " Philopseudes," § 20.
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies. 
 
 smeared on the foundation stone, in the fulfilment of the 
 popular adage that " there must be blood in the 
 foundations." The sacrifice, however, has no connection 
 with the prayer, and is, it would seem, rather intended 
 to propitatc the tnoi^eiov, or familiar of the spot, to the 
 belief in which, as well as to the custom here described, 
 we shall return in dealing with the supernatural. The 
 point of interest in the present connection is the 
 apparent sanction which is given to the superstition by 
 the presence of the priest. 
 
 Dr. Schmidt 6 is, moreover, of opinion that a sugg< 
 tion of the ancient sacred offering is to be found in those 
 cakes which are prepared on different festivals in 
 Greece under the names of Sperma, Stari, Koukkia, 
 and Kolliva, for the name Kolliva is not only applied 
 to the funeral cakes already described, but to others 
 similar in composition which are baked at the time of 
 the annual sowing, at harvest or at vintage time, and 
 which, being in the nature of a propitiatory or thank- 
 offering, are taken to the church, where a portion is 
 crumbled over the altar, while the rest is distributed 
 among those present, who consume it while expressing 
 some wish— for long life, or for abundant harvests in future. 
 More interesting and more suggestive yet in this respect 
 is a ceremony which he was fortunate enough to witness 
 himself one Christmas in the house of a priest, at Xante, 
 a ceremony which is also found in Cephalonia, but which 
 in Zantc itself is quite universal in the villages, and still 
 observed in some of the great houses. Throughout the 
 Ionian islands at Christmas a monster Koitlloiin, or ring- 
 shaped cake is prepared, in which a coin is concealed, as 
 "•• Volksleben," p. 59, &c.
 
 150 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 in the plum-pudding at home. The head of the house- 
 hold on these occasions fills a vessel with equal portions 
 of wine and olive-oil, adding a little incense and four 
 small fragments cut from the cake in different places. 
 Then, accompanied by his family, he proceeds to the 
 the hearth, and, either holding the Koidlouri himself or 
 giving it to two of his children to hold over the fire, pours 
 the contents of the vessel through the open ring of the 
 cake on to the flames in the form of the cross, at the 
 same time thrice repeating with his family a gloria 
 for the birth of Christ. The primitive sacrifice to 
 Hestia, the oldest of worships, has, as he points out, 
 undoubtedly here survived, and is renewed from year to 
 year on the day that is above all others a domestic 
 festival, when all the family are united together under 
 one roof. 
 
 It would be beyond the scope of the present chapters, 
 which are concerned rather with the beliefs and super- 
 stitions of the people, to enter at length upon the curious 
 and interesting ceremonial of the Greek Church at its 
 religious festivals, but a few words are necessary with 
 regard to the celebration of Easter, which, following upon 
 the long Lenten fast, observed here with great strictness, 
 is essentially a popular feast, with which not a few 
 singular and suggestive usages are connected. 
 
 Upon the eve of Good Friday takes place what is 
 called the reading of the twelve Gospels — that is to say, 
 the three concluding chapters from each of the four 
 evangelists — a somewhat exhausting proceeding, which 
 occupies about three hours. The night of Good Friday 
 is devoted to the ceremony of the EpitapJuon, or funeral 
 procession. In the centre of the church the ikon of the
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies. 1 5 1 
 
 Saviour is disposed on a kind of bier, with candles burn- 
 ing at the corners, and over it is a thin muslin veil on 
 which consecrated flowers are scattered. The devout 
 press round to kiss the ikon and obtain one of these 
 flowers. The latter, generally roses or detached rose- 
 leaves, arc particularly valued by sailors, who here, as 
 elsewhere, are notoriously superstitious. They endeavour 
 to secure several, which they wrap up in cotton wool and 
 preserve with the greatest care, being firmly persuaded 
 that if they are overtaken by a storm during the ensuing 
 year, they have only to throw two or three of these petals 
 on the waves in order to abate their violence ; but it is 
 essential that the leaves should not be quite dry or 
 withered. 
 
 Between nine and ten at night the funeral procession 
 is organized, and the ikon is carried round the streets as 
 if it were a corpse for burial, with all the funeral insignia, 
 the cross, the banners, and the officiating priests, amid a 
 blaze of lighted tapers. Such a procession is organized 
 from every church, attended by its own congregation. 
 The most remarkable for pomp is, of course, that from 
 the Cathedral at Athens, where the service is conducted 
 by the Metropolitan in person ; military bands playing 
 dead marches accompany the bier, which is borne by 
 the officiating priests in their gorgeous robes of golden 
 embroidery. The whole city is in the streets and in the 
 balconies, everywhere there is a blaze of lighted tapers 
 and Bengal lights, so that the whole effect is far more 
 that of a national festival than of an occasion of penitence 
 and mourning. 
 
 For some time previously the city will have assumed 
 a picturesque aspect from the number of shepherds who,
 
 152 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 with their flocks, have come down from the mountains, 
 and are camped in every available open space, to 
 negotiate the sale of their lambs, for there is no family 
 so poor that they will not break the long fast with an 
 Easter lamb, the value of which is about five francs, and 
 a veritable massacre of the innocents goes on. 
 
 It is late on Saturday night that the real Easter 
 celebration takes place. An immense crowd fills up all 
 the approaches to the Cathedral, and such parts of the 
 church as are not kept clear. Without, a raised plat- 
 form has been erected and decorated with evergreens. 
 In the Cathedral the Royal Princes, the Ministers 
 of State, and the high functionaries of the kingdom 
 assemble to attend the midnight service. As the hour 
 of midnight approaches, the Metropolitan with his 
 assistants, preceded by the cross and banners, advance 
 with lighted tapers. The various notabilities light their 
 tapers from that of the archbishop, and so the sacred 
 fire is communicated to the crowd. As the midnight 
 hour sounds, and Easter succeeds the last day of Lent, 
 the Metropolitan, a blaze of silver and gold, with his 
 tiara, the silver gospel, and the episcopal crozier, ascends 
 the platform outside the church, and proclaims to the 
 assembled people the tidings Kpiaro<; aveart], " Christ 
 has risen ! " In a moment all the bells are ringing far 
 and near; bands of music strike up, guns are discharged, 
 rockets ascend, Bengal fires are lighted, and the sparkle 
 of the tapers spreads from house to house, and from 
 street to street, till the whole city is alive with sound 
 and flame. The clergy return to the church, and the 
 Easter ritual continues, long and tedious. And now 
 the long fast is over, and the people, who for the last
 
 CjHt ff/estj
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies. 153 
 
 two or three days have tasted no food but bread and 
 olives and a little black coffee, and who have man)- of 
 them on Good Friday observed literally the rule, to 
 suffer no food to pass their lips between sunrise and 
 sunset, are released from their probation, and feasting 
 becomes the order of the night. Fires are kindled, ovi r 
 which early on Easter morning the lambs are roasted 
 whole. The ceremonial is over ; only the greeting 
 XplcrTG<; avearr), and the answer, '-4\?/#w9 dveari]. " He is 
 risen indeed," is in every mouth. During the afternoon 
 of Faster Sunday there is another service for those who 
 have not been able to attend the previous evening, at 
 which the Gospel is read in every known tongue, in 
 evidence presumably of the catholicity of the only 
 Orthodox faith. 
 
 In illustration of the adaptive capacities of the 
 Christian religion at a time when the earl)- Church was 
 with difficulty establishing its supremacy, it has been 
 pointed out how close is the analogy between this 
 festival of the Church and the prevailing ideas which 
 inspired that most solemn celebration of the ancient 
 world, the greater mysteries of Eleusis. The very time 
 of year was probably coincident with the average 
 recurrence of Easter, for it was towards the close of 
 March, that they celebrated the return of Persephone, 
 typifying the resurrection of the life of nature. Of old, 
 there was the same mournful nightly ritual — the torch- 
 light procession, the lamentation for the descent of 
 Demeter to the world below. The long fast had also 
 been observed in commemoration of the fast of 
 Demeter during the nine days through which she 
 sought her child. There followed the solemn celebra-
 
 154 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 tion on the twelfth night, when the search and probation 
 was concluded, and with it the sudden change from 
 mourning to joy for the return of Persephone, the release 
 from the long fast, and the abandonment to the same 
 feasting and rejoicings. 
 
 Similar in character to that in the capital, though less 
 pretentious in surroundings, is the observance of Easter 
 among all the Greek populations. In the Ionian islands 
 when the lamb is slain, it is usual to make a cross with 
 the blood over the door of the house, in accordance, no 
 doubt, with the instructions in the Book of Exodus, for 
 the observation of the Passover : " And they shall take 
 of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts, and on 
 the upper door-post of the houses." Here also at the 
 moment of the gloria, the proclamation of the fact of the 
 resurrection by the priest, the people run to the nearest 
 water and wash their faces ; tubs and troughs are even 
 put out in readiness in the street for this purpose. It 
 symbolizes, no doubt, the purification which the long 
 atonement of Lent has brought about. At this moment 
 also a very curious custom may still be occasionally 
 observed in Corfu, though it is said to be fast dying out, 
 namely, the throwing of broken pottery from the windows 
 by the women, accompanied by the utterance of sundry 
 curses and invectives against the Jews. The clatter of the 
 broken earthenware upon the stones has been held by- 
 some to have the same figurative meaning as the wooden 
 rattles sprung in other places at this season by the 
 children, the noise of which represents the breaking of 
 the bones of Judas. But it is more probable that the 
 origin of this custom will be found to be a material 
 expression given to the words which are sung in the
 
 Beliefs and Ceremonies. I 5 5 
 
 ritual on the night of Holy Thursday : " They stripped 
 me of my garments, and put upon me a scarlet cloak, 
 they set upon my head a crown of thorns, and in my 
 right hand they placed a reed, that I may break them in 
 pieces like a potter's vessel?
 
 156 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 LUCK, DIVINATION, AND HEALING. 
 
 Whilst fate still assumes a personified form in the 
 popular mind, fortune or luck, which plays a very- 
 important part in the superstitions of daily life, remains 
 rather an abstract than a concretely personified idea. 
 There is probably no other country in which the every- 
 day conduct of men is governed by a greater horde of 
 little maxims and superstitions : the manner of sitting 
 down to, and rising from meals, the way in which salt 
 should be pounded, the days on which it is permissible 
 to cut the nails, 1 and a host of other similar details, are 
 laid down with the utmost strictness ; and among the 
 simpler folk no one would think of borrowing soap in the 
 the evening, of speaking profanely with bread in the 
 ihand, nor of letting salt, fire, leaven, or an egg go out of 
 jthe house after sunset — the poultry would inevitably 
 sicken, and the wine most certainly turn sour. These 
 ■precepts were no doubt many of them based in their origin 
 ion some ethical rule of conduct, but it is not always 
 easy to recognize the principle involved in such a custom, 
 
 1 A similar superstition existed in ancient Italy. Pliny recommends the 
 cutting of the nails of the Nones, of the hair on the 7th and 29th 
 day of the moon.— "Nat. Hist." xxviii. 2. Indeed, most of these rules of 
 conduct are probably of extreme antiquity. The custom of saluting those 
 who sneeze, which is commonly referred to the Great Plague, is also spoken 
 of by Pliny, who mentions that the Emperor Tiberius never omitted this 
 formula.
 
 Luck, Divination, a)id Heali 157 
 
 for instance, as that which prescribes that the first sack 
 I brought from the mill must be opened by one who has 
 jalready christened a child. 
 
 Two superstitions still very prevalent in the country 
 villages seem to point to a dread of offending the forces of 
 nature by subjecting their gifts to unnatural treatment ; 
 according to one, it is held to be very unlucky for harvest 
 prospects to toast bread between the sowing time and 
 the reaping ; while the other forbids the cleaning of the 
 ,' oil-jar or the frying-pan with water, they must only be 
 wiped out with a cloth, or the olive crop will assuredly 
 I suffer. 
 
 It would occupy far too much space to enumerate even 
 a part of the various maxims and precepts dealing with 
 what is lucky or unlucky, and it must suffice to mention 
 a few of the most typical. And in the first place it is 
 held to be peculiarly inauspicious to meet a priest 
 immediately after leaving the house, for, as some would 
 tell you, all priests have the "evil eye." Should such an 
 untoward encounter occur at the outset on a journey, 
 many people would not hesitate to defer the expedition, 
 or, at any rate, would go back to the house and start 
 afresh. This superstitious dread of a man whose sup- 
 posed relations with a higher power surround him with 
 an uncanny atmosphere, is well known among primi- 
 tive people, and universal among sailors. At the same 
 time, it may occasionally admit of a perfectly rational 
 explanation, for in Russia, where it is unlucky to meet a 
 priest on Monday, the desire to avoid him was originally 
 quite a natural one, inasmuch as he was formerly 
 empowered to inflict a fine for non-attendance at church 
 on Sunday, and so, generally speaking, the guilty con-
 
 158 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 science would shrink from an interview with its spiritual 
 guardian. 2 
 
 A number of indications of good or evil fortune are 
 drawn from animals, and many of these, like the crossing 
 of the path by a hare, are by no means confined to 
 Greece. Besides the more elaborate manner of augury 
 still practised by those who have the special aptitude for 
 such a science, there exists a sort of rhyming popular 
 zoology, dealing with luck-lore or weather-lore, of which 
 the following translations will serve as specimens : — 
 
 " A dog that howls smells death 
 
 Approaching the house of his master." 
 
 The Albanians have a similar saying, " When a dog 
 howls with head averted from the house, it signifies a death 
 there. 
 
 " When you hear a hen crowing 
 Like a cock in the poultry-yard, 
 Having her head towards the east, 
 Know that this signifies good luck ; 
 And when towards the west, the contrary, 
 Unless you kill her there and then 
 And eat your victim." 
 
 The Albanian version runs, " When a hen crows like 
 a cock, it forbodes death or misfortune ; but if at the 
 time her head is turned to the east, it has no signification." 
 Albanians also consider that the death of a relation is 
 foreshadowed by meeting a snake before sunrise or at 
 sunset. 3 
 
 At the time of the latest troubles in Crete in 1889, a 
 
 2 Usus valde singularis praevalet apud Graecos, qui a domo proficiscentes, 
 si protinus sacerdoti per strata viarum occursent, quo averteretur omen, 
 manum in genitalia adhibent. Eadem consuetudo viget apud Italos. 
 Confer subter de fascinatione. 
 
 3 Hahn, " Albanesische Studien."
 
 Luck, Divination^ ami Healing. 159 
 
 rumour was abroad among the refugees from that island 
 in Greece that a mule had foaled in the spring, an event 
 which was supposed to prognosticate the approach of 
 some portent or calamity, recalling the story which 
 Herodotus thought worthy to mention respecting the 
 mule of Zopyrus, whose foaling was supposed to portend 
 the imminent capture of Babylon. 4 
 
 A graphic touch of superstitious awe represents a 
 rainbow arched over a cemetery as signifying theapproach 
 of an epidemic ; and not less picturesque is the popular 
 story of the ilex-tree, though I do not know that it i^ 
 solely confined to Greek legend-lore. It accounts for 
 the evil reputation of the ilex, or winter oak, as a tree of 
 ^ bad omen, because it was from its wood that the cross 
 was made. A miraculous foreknowledge of the 
 Crucifixion had spread among the forest trees, which 
 unanimously agreed not to allow their wood to serve 
 for the purpose of forming the cross, and when the 
 workmen came, they either turned the edge of the axe 
 or bent away from the stroke. Only the ilex consented 
 and passively submitted to be cut down ; therefore the 
 wood-cutters of the mountains will not soil their axes 
 with its bark, nor desecrate their hearths by burning it. 
 The unlucky day, corresponding to Friday with us, is 
 pretty generally throughout Greece the Tuesday, as it is 
 also in Spain, and as it was with the ancient Athenians. 
 But it appears that in Thessaly and Macedonia, Saturday 
 is considered inauspicious for beginning any under- 
 taking, which may perhaps be a reminiscence of the 
 Jewish Sabbath. 
 
 No belief is more universal throughout the country 
 
 4 Herodotus, iii. 153.
 
 
 160 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 than that of the malign power of the " evi^yo" It is 
 found in every grade of society, and even - acknowledged 
 by the Church, which has prayers against its potency. 
 Like the fta<TKavia of the ancient Greeks, corrupted into 
 fascinum or fascinatio in Latin, the mysterious influence 
 which the expression implies is not merely confined to 
 certain individuals, who consciously and even uncon- 
 ciously perpetually cast the baleful shadow by a look, 
 by the voice, or by the touch ; but it may also accident- 
 ally proceed from the innocent, who often unwittingly 
 convey by praise or flattery misfortune to what they too 
 indiscriminately admire. This deleterious influence of 
 approval which is supposed to surround its object with a 
 fatal " fascination " is closely connected in some sort with 
 the old idea, of Nemesis, a retribution for pride in what 
 excites the envy of others ; and, indeed, it appears that 
 in ancient Rome a statue of Nemesis on the Capitol was 
 invoked to ward off the evil eye from her votaries. 5 A 
 stain is thus frequently made on the white linen of a 
 new dress, lest the wearer by too great pride in the 
 bravery of her embroideries should incur the danger 
 of retribution, or lest an envious eye should cast a 
 withering glance upon it ; or, again, queer little signs and 
 symbols having the same exorcising power are worked 
 into the border. Children are especially susceptible to 
 the pernicious effect of the " evil eye," and no allusion 
 must on any account be made to the beauty or vigour 
 of a very young child. Even animals are not exempt, and 
 more especially the young, much as it was in Virgil's Day ; 
 
 " Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos." 6 
 
 5 Pliny, "Nat. Hist.," xxxviii. 2. 
 6 Virg., Eel., iii. 103.
 
 Luck, Divination, and Healing. 161 
 
 The most universal antidote against " fascination " is 
 garik, and a mother or nurse walking out with her 
 children will frequently take a clove in her pocket. 
 So to undo the evil omen of some inauspicious observa- 
 tion, the exclamation aicophov (garlic) is used with much 
 the same force as the German Unberufen t and in the island 
 of Rhodes appeal is made to the " garlic of Kalavarda," 
 which has a special efficacy in deprecation. With 
 children, again, a black s mud ge from the cauldron or 
 frying-pan applied behind the ear is considered as a 
 safeguard, and nurses are frequently found using this 
 preventive even after being sternly forbidden to do so. 
 
 The ancients seem to have held that a power which 
 brew out of envy was best thwarted by anything which 
 provoked laughter. Amulets of an indelicate character 
 were therefore very much worn as charms against the 
 "evil eye," 7 and spitting was a universal remedy ; either as 
 Tibullus 8 represents the process, by spitting into one's 
 own breast, or by repeating this process three times, 
 which Theocritus 9 sings, was the spell taught " by the 
 ancient crone Kotytaris," or by touching with the 
 middle finger fresh from the mouth the lips and fore- 
 head of the child that had been " overlooked," as 
 Persius 1 records. Again, Pliny writes, "There is power 
 in the human saliva against poisonings and fascinations ;" 
 and such instances might be multiplied. This antidote 
 has survived in Greece to-day, and the traveller Dodwell* 
 
 7 A pueris turpicula res in collo quaedam suspenditur. — Varro, "De Ling 
 Lat.," L. vi. ; cp. also Hor., " Epod." viii. iS. See note on p. 158. 
 8 Tibullus, "El.," I.ii. 56. 
 9 Theocritus, "Idyll," vi. 39. 
 'Persius, ii. 31. 
 2 Dod\voll, "Tour through Greece," vol. ii. 36. 
 
 M
 
 1 62 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 records a striking experience of its application, in Corfu, 
 where he had unwittingly praised the looks of his host's 
 two fine children, and was forthwith entreated, nay, 
 almost compelled by the family to spit in the faces of 
 the children he had praised. 
 
 F Every variety of amulet for the same purpose may also 
 be found in use ; corals and cornelians, bits of blue glass, 
 and Byzantine sequins are among the most common, and 
 may frequently be seen bound to the heads of mules or 
 horses, and more especially round the necks of colts. 
 Little charms representing rudely the hand with out- 
 stretched fore and little finger, and bracelets of blue 
 glass are universally worn ; and in certain districts of 
 Rhodes, the women in full-dress wear upon the forehead 
 a small triangular piece of silver inscribed with the 
 initials of the Pendalpha. 3 
 
 A third manner of guaranteeing the household against 
 this pernicious influence is by fumigation with burning 
 branches of dry olive, which have been blessed during 
 holy week, and it is supposed that the extent of danger 
 averted may be estimated by the number of times that 
 the burning leaves are heard to crackle. 
 
 Charms and amulets are also used to guard their 
 wearers against other dangers besides the " evil eye." 
 I remember a Cretan warrior who pretended to be 
 invulnerable in virtue of a medal of St. Constantine 
 which he wore suspended round his neek. Twice he 
 was hit without being wounded in the Cretan war, but 
 a third time he received a serious wound in the neck. 
 This, however, did not shake his confidence, and he 
 attributed his mischance to the fact that, in pursuance of 
 
 3 See p. 126.
 
 Luck, Divination, and Healing. 
 
 a vendetta, he had determined in his mind to take the 
 life of a fellow-Christian, whereupon the saint had with- 
 drawn his protection. 
 
 In illustration of the old-world notion alluded to 
 above, that too great pride in material success incur- the 
 the envy of a mysterious power, which must therefore 
 be propitiated in moments of prosperity, the popular 
 Athenian tradition of the Nyphitsa {NvfyLrcra) may be 
 appropriately mentioned here. The word is a diminutive 
 formed from vixfiy], i.e. i>vfi(p)}, a bride, and signifies a 
 weasel. The legend is that the weasel is envious of 
 brides, having been a bride herself, though the reas< -n or 
 manner of her metamorphosis into an animal is not 
 assigned. She exhibits her envy by making havoc 
 among the wedding gifts and provisions. Therefore, in 
 
 4 the house where these are collected, sweetmeats and 
 honey are put out to appease her, known as " the 
 necessary spoonfuls," and a song is sung with much 
 ceremony in which the weasel is invited to partake and 
 spare the wedding array. 4 
 
 The ancient belief in sorcery, magic, and witchcraft 
 has by no means passed away, and is said to be 
 especially prevalent in Thessaly, where the wise woman 
 
 ,»'may still be found at work with all the old-world 
 paraphernalia of her trade. The preparation of love- 
 philtres or antidotes for spells and incantations, the 
 reading of the stars, the interpretation of dream-, the 
 telling of fortunes, and the indication of hidden treasure, 
 are still the business of the witch. 
 
 But the power of second sight and of foretelling the 
 future docs not necessarily involve the uncanny reputa- 
 
 1 Kamporoglou, Hist. Alb. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 tion attaching to the wise woman. It is generally an 
 art handed down from father to son, and may not 
 impossibly be in some cases directly inherited from 
 the augurs and omen-readers of antiquity. There are 
 still found those who interpret the significance of the 
 flight of birds, and draw conclusions from the spleen, the 
 liver, or the entrails of animals. The Klephts and 
 Armatoli never failed to examine the shoulder-blade of 
 sheep or lambs which they slaughtered, in order to read 
 in the lines and markings a prediction of the success or 
 failure of their operations, and here and there you will 
 find a shepherd still who knows how to interpret the 
 ciphers on old bones. 
 
 The superstitious reverence attached to ikons or holy 
 pictures, has been already alluded to, with the gifts 
 suspended round them as propitiatory offerings or 
 tokens of gratitude ; but they are occasionally also 
 called upon to reveal the future, and indicate to the 
 votary whether his heart's desire will be accomplished. 
 The manner in which this is tested is by applying a coin 
 to the picture. If the coin adheres, it signifies the 
 affirmation, if it falls, the disappointment of the wish 
 which the applicant has in his mind. This ceremony may 
 be witnessed in several places, but nowhere better than in 
 the church of St. Paraskevi, at Chalcis in Eubcea, during 
 the celebration of the annual Paneguris on July 25th 
 (o.s.). It is largely frequented by those whose soberer 
 reason is temporarily deranged by the passion of love. 
 
 In such a country we shall, of course, find no lack of 
 those simples and herbal decoctions for the cure of all 
 the ills that flesh is heir to, of which old women in the 
 country h^ve the monopoly. Many of these are pro-
 
 Luck, Divination, and Healing. U 5 
 
 bably local. In the island of Crete a plant, which is 
 common by the roadside, with whose botanical name 1 
 am not familiar, but which is known in the island as 
 Ka\oKoin7]0eia (the giver of good sheep), was pointed out 
 as largely used by the good wives of the villages as a 
 household remedy for indigestion and sleeplessiu^, and 
 many were the stories told of its wonderful efficacy on 
 patients whose maladies had defied the usual medical 
 remedies. Elsewhere a potato suspended in a bag to 
 the person was recommended as a prophylactic against 
 rheumatism. Pounded onions are common as a dressing 
 for wounds, and garlic is not less frequently taken 
 internally as a medicine than used externally to ward off 
 evil from without. Such remedies are common enough 
 among the simple folk in every country ; more interesting 
 are those which connote a moral influence only, and 
 imply a belief in some supernatural agency. 
 
 Many illnesses, especially those of a nervous character, 
 are still attributed to demoniac influence, so that recourse 
 is rather had by those afflicted to the priest than to the 
 doctor, in order that the evil spirits by which they are 
 possessed may be authoritatively exorcised. Among 
 such influences are included nightmares, ascribed to 
 direct diabolic intervention, like the Ephialtcs of old. 
 To keep the evil spirit away, a black-handled knife is 
 frequently put under the pillow. 
 
 There is at Athens, under the observatory hill, a little 
 church dedicated to Sta. Marina, founded no doubt upon 
 the site of some ancient shrine, since all the rocks an mnd 
 are levelled for foundations, or cut for the insertion of 
 inscriptions and votive tablets. To this church mothers 
 bring sick children, and undress them, leaving the-
 
 1 66 The Customs and Lore of ITodern Greece. 
 
 old clothes behind, in confidence that the sickness 
 will be cast off with the abandoned garments. The 
 practice of suspending clothes and locks of hair in 
 churches is common also in southern Italy, and certainly 
 the usage was not unknown in antiquity. Rescued 
 mariners we know hung up the clothes in which they 
 were saved as a thank-offering to the god of the sea, 
 and Pausanius mentions a statue of Hygeia at Sicyon 
 which was so covered with locks of hair as to be 
 almost invisible. These offerings, however, seem rather 
 to have been made in gratitude for cures completed, than 
 to imply anticipation of the departure of disease by the 
 act of severance, which is the notion underlying the 
 curious custom in the church of Sta. Marina. Near this 
 same church is an inclined surface of rock, which has 
 received a high polish through being used as a slide by 
 the women of many generations, who, slipping down" 
 it in a sitting posture, have faith in this gymnastic 
 performance as a cure for barrenness. 
 
 In Athens, again, there is in the neighbourhood of 
 the old theatre, a little chapel dedicated to St. John the 
 Baptist, built round an antique column, and reaching to 
 about half its present height, for the level of the ground 
 has risen considerably. This column is looked upon as 
 exerting a magical or miraculous power over fevers and 
 other diseases. In August and September, when fever 
 is rife, patients throng to it, and fastening a silken 
 thread to the column with a piece of wax, have the firm 
 conviction that the fever will be drawn out along the 
 thread and into the column. The following is the 
 popular superstition of the Athenians with regard to the 
 column and the chapel : —
 
 Luck, Divination, and Healing. \6j 
 
 " St. J dim was a physician, and especially skilled in the cure of 
 fevers. He lived the life of an ascetic, and did many good works. 
 When he was aware that his death was approaching, he set up a 
 column, and bound to its foundations all manner of diseases with 
 silken threads of various colours : fevers with a yellow thread, 
 measles with a red one, and other diseases with other colours. 
 That they might go deep, he set the column on top of them, and 
 said, ' When I die, let whosoever is sick come and tie to this 
 column a silken thread with three knots of the colour that his 
 sickness takes, and say, ' Dear St. John, I bind my sickness to the 
 column, and do by thy favour loose it from me,' and then he will 
 be healed.'" 5 
 
 But stranger than any of these wild fancies is a case 
 reported in the Athenian press as having recently- 
 occurred in the deme of Arta, in the island of Andros, 
 where a sufferer from hereditary heart disease was said 
 to have instructed his family to disinter the body of a 
 kinsman who had recently died of the same malady, and 
 extract the heart, which was to be burned and given him 
 as ashes in a potion to drink. 
 
 It now remains to describe the popular conception of 
 the supernatural in various forms of personification, the 
 prototypes of which arc nearly all to be found in antiquity. 
 They have, however, been strangely confused in the 
 tradition of the illiterate, and sensibly modified by the 
 ban of religion, which has included them all among the 
 ministers of, or emanations from, the evil one, in the 
 efforts to mitigate what it was impossible wholly to 
 extirpate. 
 
 5 Kamporoglou, Hist. Ath. 
 
 6 This singular story was reported in the journal, the Ephcnuris, of 
 January 16th, 1890. I was unable to obtain either a definite confirmation 
 or contradiction of the facts, though I took some pains to do so. But the fact 
 of a foreigner investigating such a matter would naturally produce 
 reticence. — R. R.
 
 i68 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE SUPERNATURAL. 
 GENII, NEREIDS, VAMPIRES, GOBLINS, AND DEMONS. 
 
 THE custom of sacrificing a fowl or a lamb on the site 
 of a new house, and of sprinkling the foundations with 
 its blood, has been alluded to in a previous chapter. 
 The word employed for this proceeding is aroLx^vw, 
 a verb used transitively, which seems to imply that it is 
 an offering or sacrifice to the aToi^eLov, which signifies 
 literally element, and may here be interpreted genius of 
 the spot. This interpretation throws light on a passage 
 in the Epistle to the Galatians where the word crroi^eia 
 is rendered by " elements " in our version : — " the weak 
 and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire to be again 
 in bondage " — which means in reality the " wretched 
 genii of your superstition." The sacrifice is, however, it 
 would appear, not always carried out in its material form 
 with a fowl or lamb, and a suggestion may be found in 
 the popular beliefs that such ceremonies were at one 
 time attended with the grim rites of human sacrifice. 
 JDr. Schmidt observed in Zante and Cephalonia that 
 ^etiquette prescribed that the future owner of the house 
 [should first be led away by the master-builder, so as not 
 to be present at this part of the proceedings. The belief 
 still prevails that the attempt is -often made to lure 
 unwary persons to the spot, and without their know- 
 ledge to lay the stone across the shadow cast by them
 
 The Supernatural. 
 
 or over a thread surreptitiously attached to their persons, 
 and superstition maintains that those whose shadows 
 have thus been buried will die within the year. So real 
 is this superstition that children are warned by their 
 parents to keep away from building sites, lest their 
 shadows should thus be tampered with; and Dr. Schmidt 
 quotes the testimony of a monk in Zante, as to his con- 
 viction that only the fear of the law kept the people of 
 that island from actually burying a human bung under 
 works of peculiar importance, such as bridges, where 
 permanence was a primary consideration, a Jew or a 
 Mussulman being especially marked out by tradition as 
 suitable. The idea recurs not unfrequently in the 
 popular poetry. In a song, of which there arc several 
 versions, of the building of the bridge of Arta, it is 
 told how the bridge fell down as fast as it was built, 
 until at last the master-builder dreamed a dream that it 
 would only stand if his own wife were buried alive in the 
 foundations. He therefore sends for her, bidding her 
 dress in festival attire, and then finds an excuse to 
 make her descend into the central pile, whereupon they 
 heap the earth in over her, and thus the bridge stands 
 fast. 1 In another song the same story is told of the 
 bridge of Tricha, with the difference only that it is a 
 little bird that whispers in the architect's car how the 
 pile may be made to stand. 2 A similar superstition 
 connected with the building of the monaster}- Curtea dc 
 Argeslvin Wallachia, forms the subject of a fine poem 
 by the Roumanian poet Alexandri. 
 
 Of these local genii, the popular mind pictures on 
 
 1 A translation of the " Bridge of Arta" will be found on p. 278. 
 2 Lelekos, " Demotike Anthologia/'
 
 170 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 attached to every house. Their existence is often made 
 known by a thin voice, as of a little child crying. 
 Occasionally they are revealed in visible form, as a dog, 
 or cat, or even a little pig ; but most frequently they 
 assume the shape of a snake, and such a reptile appear- 
 ing in the house or on the threshing-floor is treated 
 with the utmost respect ; care is taken not to frighten it 
 away, and milk or food is sometimes set apart for it, 
 especially among the Albanians, as for the Kobold in 
 the north ; while many stories are told of the evil chance 
 which has followed on the ill-treatment of these tutelary 
 spirits — the falling in of the house, or the death of the 
 householder. 3 
 
 These tutelary genii are also represented as occupying 
 mountain summits and grottoes, and more especially 
 fountains and wells, where they are frequently supposed 
 to take the shape of a Moor CAparrdSes), and are pro- 
 pitiated before water is drawn. These Arapades may 
 also be compared to the Kobolds of German lore ; they 
 bring luck to those on whom they look with favourable 
 eye, and reveal treasure in dreams ; but should the 
 secret be revealed, the treasure will turn to ashes. 
 Those that they are displeased with they torment, and 
 they are even said to have taken life when seriously 
 offended. In Crete these "Arabs" reappear as 
 " Saracens," and they play the part of bogie in threats 
 to frighten children. The traveller Villoison found the 
 genius of the fountain appealed to in the island of 
 
 3 The ubiquity of the genius loci in the superstition of the ancients is well 
 illustrated by the following lines of the devout Prudentius (b. 348 a.d.) :— 
 " Quanquam cur genium Roma; mihi fingitis unum? 
 Cum portis, domibus, thermis, stabulis soleatis 
 Assignare suosgenios." — P. Contra Symmachum.
 
 The Supernatural. \j\ 
 
 Mykonos under the name of Teloni ; 4 but this appella- 
 tion is more frequently applied to the phenomenon 
 known to sailors as St. Elmo's fire, representee!, in 
 fact, as a genius of the air. 
 J In solitary places, in marshes, and especially in caves, 
 I the popular mind conceives the haunting spirit as 
 IJ assuming the form of a dragon (8pd/co<; or Spd/covras). 
 Sometimes it is a gigantic snake with a human head, 
 . always a creature monstrous to look upon, of super- 
 natural strength, and malignant in disposition, who is 
 supposed to guard a hidden treasure, as did the dragon 
 of Colchis, or the watcher in the garden of the Hesperides. 
 Such a dragon is said in Athenian folk tradition to have 
 inhabited the ancient Hellenic fortress of Phylae, and such 
 | names as Drakia or Drakontospela are not uncommon. 
 
 Trees of great age and size are also supposed to be 
 inhabited by a guardian genius, a reminiscence perhaps 
 of the Dryad. The woodsmen avoid lying under them ; 
 and if they are obliged to cut down such a haunted tree, 
 they will watch carefully for the moment when it is about 
 to fall, and lie down flat on the ground keeping religioin 
 silence, in order to avoid the wrath of the stoicheiou, 
 which will issue from the trunk at the moment of 
 severance. 
 
 The relics of antiquity have also frequently become 
 objects of such stoicheiolatry, and travellers have 
 recorded the difficulty with which pieces of ancient 
 sculpture have been removed from their place, owing to 
 the opposition of the country folk, who believed that the 
 welfare of the district was essentially connected with 
 these Palladia. 
 
 "Villoison, " Annates des Voyages," ii. p. 1S0.
 
 1/2 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Sometimes these local deities are at strife, as in a 
 curious legend quoted by Passow, where the spirit of the 
 plane tree waged war on the genius of the sea, and death 
 was abroad in the land ; again, in the phenomena of 
 nature, in storm and snow and thunder, the popular 
 mind conceives the elemental strife as a war between 
 these elemental genii. 
 
 Even so it was in the ancient world ; each spot had its 
 peculiar tutelary deity, its nymph or naiad, its 
 Hermes, Priapus, or Pan— the fountain, the copse, the 
 thicket, the garden, the mountain gorge, or the stretch 
 of sand by the sea. Simple among the Greeks, multi- 
 form and elaborate among the Romans, that familiar 
 Polytheism of nature undoubtedly survives to this day. 
 
 Here may also be mentioned the attitude of the modern 
 populations towards the Hellenes of old. Now that a 
 regenerate Greece has adopted once more the appella- 
 tion of Hellas, and that the name which all who border 
 on the ^Egean and all the dwellers of the islands 
 claim with pride is that of Hellene, it may be presumed 
 that a little historical knowledge will soon dispel the 
 ancient tradition ; but certainly at the beginning of the 
 century, and still to-day perhaps in remoter mountain 
 districts, the Hellenes were considered by the rude 
 inhabitants to have been a race of giants,having no connec- 
 tion with the present occupiers of the land. They only 
 knew that they were heathen — mythical beings of trans- 
 cendent strength, who lifted huge stones, and built the 
 mighty fortresses they still contemplate with supersti- 
 tious awe. The Greeks of the last century called themselves 
 Greeks, or, more commonly, Romans ; the name Hellene 
 belonged to that dim heathen race, " iron-men," " lion-like
 
 The Supernatural. i ; 
 
 men," " tall as trees," whose graves are still to be seen— 
 for so they described the huge piles of ruin scatten 
 through the land — speaking of the remote past as " in the 
 days of the Hellenes." Thus it happens that a kind of 
 magician-like reputation is attached to the memory of 
 Alexander the Great, whose sisters the Nereids are in one 
 Athenian child-tale said to be. Dr. Schmidt relates how 
 an old woman in Andros maintained that there had been 
 four ages in the world ; the first was that of the dragons, 
 the second that of the heathen Hellenes, the third that of 
 the Venetians, and the fourth was that of the Turks ;'' 
 a summary of her island's story which was, after all, not 
 wholly unjustifiable. 
 
 But it is not in the spirit alone that the old nature 
 deities survive in the superstition of the modern 
 populations ; the very names and attributes are often 
 but little modified. Of such survivals, the most 
 familar are the Nereids, who, though still connected in 
 the popular conception with the idea of water — the name 
 being etymologically identifiable with vepb, the 
 universal word for water in the modern language 
 — now include all that tradition has retained of those 
 mystical, half-human beings, who as Nymphs or 
 Naiads, Oreads or Hamadryads, haunted the forest, 
 the fountain, and the hill. Sometimes, indeed, they 
 ippcar in the popular poetry as genuine water-fays, 
 jivith pearls and corals in their sea-green hair. Generally 
 speaking, they are looked upon as light-hearted, irrational, 
 
 5 Schmidt, " Volksleben," p. 193. 
 
 6 The modern name has many variations — Xfpdi'Ses, 'ApepdiSes, Xtppoes, 
 ~Sepa~yioe$, 'Avepayda, &c. Sometimes they are merely alluded to as "the 
 maidens" ira Kovpirffia 1 , or again as the "good mistresses" [Ka\ah 
 apx&vTKraais I, like our "good people."
 
 174 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 capricious beings, of more than human grace and beauty; 
 their dress is white, they are decked with crowns and 
 garlands of flowers, and wear a veil, which flutters behind 
 them in the wind. Their nature is not always benignant ; 
 but although there is a feeling of awe, not unmixed with 
 fear, in the popular attitude towards these creatures of 
 their superstition, recalling the " nymphs that never 
 sleep, goddesses of dread to the country folk" 7 of 
 Theocritus, a general consent admits that they are 
 harmless to those who do not cross them. Their 
 supernatural gifts are the power of becoming suddenly 
 invisible, of attenuation, which enables them to slip 
 through chinks and key-holes, of riding through the air, 
 ' land passing from one place to another with the swiftness 
 of the wind. They are known to be accomplished in all 
 womanly arts, to spin and weave, and sing as no mortal 
 woman can. In fact, to be compared to a Nereid is the 
 greatest of compliments ; to be said to have a Nereid's 
 eyes or a Nereid's hair is the praise that is bestowed on 
 beauty ; to be said to sing, to weave, or to sweep like a 
 Nereid, is the praise that the housewife desires. They 
 are not immortal, but their lives exceed by ten times 
 those of men, and their beauty does not fade till death. 
 Dancing and music are their passion, and many have 
 seen their merry revels of a moonlit night on the level 
 space of the threshing floor, and often the shepherds in 
 the mountains have perceived that they were not piping 
 in solitude, but that mystic dancers were keeping time 
 to the notes of the reed-pipe, flitting among the shadows 
 of the pines. 
 
 It is probable that in many cases the actual spots 
 7 Theocritus, "Idyll," 13.
 
 The Supernatural. 175 
 
 which superstition represents as haunted by such 
 Nereids to-day were dedicated to the worship of Nymph 
 or Naiad of old. I remember a village in the highlands 
 of Arcadia, in the neighbourhood of which was a spring 
 and a grotto which bore evidences of the worship of the 
 nymph to whom tradition maintained that it had been 
 sacred, where the expression is still in use among the 
 men when they wish to describe the beauty of one of 
 the village maids, " She looks like the nymph under the 
 tree." And how deeply rooted is the belief is illustrated 
 by an experience, recorded by the historian Soutzo, 
 who was told by a peasant of Argos of a Nereid who 
 used by day to lay out her clothes upon the rocks to dry. 
 Upon his expressing his scepticism, the peasant repeat- 
 edly crossed himself, and said, "What, do you not 
 believe in apparitions ? " 
 
 In a story mentioned by Fauriel in the introduction 
 to his Collection of Popular Songs, there is a curious 
 blending of the Oread myth with a reminiscence of Pan 
 or of the Satyrs. He quotes from the notes of an 
 English traveller, who had heard it among the Mainotcs 
 of the range of Taygetus. " Three maids," the legend 
 runs, " of exquisite beauty, but with the legs and the feet 
 of a goat, are ever dancing round the summit of 
 Scardamyla. No man may approach them with 
 impunity, and should any one unwittingly venture 
 within the charmed precinct, he is fondled and embraced 
 and made much of ; but, none the less, it is his doom to 
 be thrown headlong from the precipice, and dashed to 
 pieces on the rocks below." These mountain fays 
 would undoubtedly be described as Nereids in the 
 district from which the legend hails ; but their
 
 176 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 malignant nature rather partakes of the character 
 ascribed to the Sirens, of whom also there is an echo of 
 suggestion in a popular song which another English 
 traveller heard sung in the neighbourhood of Cape 
 Malea. He was unable to give me the text, but the 
 substance of it ran : A fair maid sat on a rock and sang 
 to the ships that passed under. There came a ship from 
 Prevesa that way, and on board they heard her sing. 
 The captain bade them shorten sail, and they stopped 
 to listen. The burden of her song, however, with the 
 inconsequence of the popular muse, was only that her 
 husband had sent her to the mountain to get hare's 
 cheese, 8 that she was very long away, and that when 
 she came back he had married another wife. 
 
 Mineral springs and healing-waters are especially 
 under the protection of the Nereids, and those 
 who drink of them do so in silence and with a 
 certain awe. So Pausanias, in describing the river 
 Anigrus, mentions a cavern by the river sacred to the 
 Anigridan nymphs, and states that whoever bathes in 
 this stream, the waters of which have a very foul smell, 
 will be cured of all skin diseases, if he first makes due 
 prayer to the nymphs, and pays the proper sacrifice. 9 
 There exists, moreover, in the Anthology a little 
 dedicatory poem by the poetess Moero, written for 
 Cleonymus to the " Nymphs of Anigrus, maidens of the 
 river." The dripping water of a spring in a grotto 
 near Kotzanes, in Macedonia, is said to issue from 
 the Nereids' breasts, and to cure all human ills. Those 
 
 8 A mysterious product, not unfrequently alluded to in popular song and 
 story. 
 
 9 Pausanias, book v. (Eliacs), chap. v.
 
 The Supernatural. 177 
 
 who would drink of it must enter the cave with a 
 
 torch or lamp in one hand, and a pitcher in the other, 
 
 which they must fill with the water, and leaving some scrap 
 
 of their clothing behind them, must turn round without 
 
 being scared by the noises they may hear within, and 
 
 quit the cave without ever looking back. If any of these 
 
 conditions are unfulfilled, the water will lose its power. 1 
 
 It is believed that Nereids, though possessing certain 
 
 supernatural gifts, can be brought under human control 
 
 by those w r ho succeed in snatching some portion of 
 
 their garments and keeping it closely hidden. It is 
 
 generally the veil which is thus seized, and she who has 
 
 lost it must forego her power of invisibility, and follow 
 
 the ravisher as his slave. Thus many stories are told 
 
 of the loves of Nereids and mortals, and here and there 
 
 among the villagers certain families are pointed out as 
 
 of Nereid descent. Such a family is said to exist in the 
 
 little village of Menidhi, near Athens. 2 However, the 
 
 Nereid bride soon tires of human companionship, and 
 
 longs for the freedom of the mountains ; so she is for 
 
 ever looking for the stolen veil with which the secret of 
 
 her servitude is linked, and if she finds it, or succeeds in 
 
 persuading her husband to restore it, she will disappear 
 
 and leave him, although, if she has become a mother, 
 
 she can never be admitted again to the choir of her 
 
 sisters. This belief seems tolerably universal, and Dr. 
 
 Schmidt found further that the conviction prevails in 
 
 the island of Cephalonia, that she would yet have to 
 
 return to her husband after seven years, if during all 
 
 this while he never left the house. 
 
 1 Politis, " Mythologfa" (1S71), pt. i. p. 87. 
 1 Kamporoglou, Hist. Ath. 
 
 N
 
 178 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Sometimes it is the Nereid herself who falls in love 
 with the mortal, and those who are thus favoured are 
 sure of all good fortune and success as long as their 
 love remains faithful ; but should her lover prove untrue, 
 the Nereid's vengeance is unerring, and his life may 
 prove the forfeit. 3 
 
 One curious story of the union of a Nereid with a 
 mortal, told in the Cretica of Chourmouzi, may well be 
 quoted here, because it has a special interest, containing, 
 as it does, traces of connection with the oldest Hellenic 
 myths. 4 The tale was told to the author some sixty years 
 ago by an aged peasant, who described it as handed down 
 to him by his grandfather, in connection with a grotto in 
 the province of Pediada, in the island of Crete, which con- 
 tains a spring of excellent water, and is known to all 
 the dwellers round as the Nereids' cave. It runs as 
 follows : A youth of the village of Sgourokephali, who 
 had great skill upon the lyre, used to accompany the 
 Nereids to their cave and play to them. One of them 
 more especially excited his admiration, and he appealed 
 to a wise old woman of his village to reveal to him how 
 he might gain her for his bride. The old woman bade 
 him seize her by the hair when the time approached at 
 which the cock crows, and never let go, whatever forms 
 she might assume in order to terrify him or to elude his 
 grasp, until the cock had crowed. Accordingly, the 
 next time the Nereids took him to their cave, he played, 
 as was his wont, for them to dance to ; but when the hour 
 of cock-crow drew near, he flung the lyre aside and 
 
 3 For specimens of such tales of the loves of Nereids, see Hahn's 
 " Griechische und Albanesische Marchen." 
 
 4 The tale of Peleus and Thetis. Cp. Ovid, " Met." ix. 249, &c. 

 
 The Supernatural. 179 
 
 clutched his beloved by the hair. At once she changed 
 her aspect, and turned under his hand, like Proteus, into 
 a dog - , then into a snake, a camel, and at last into the 
 semblance of fire. Just then the cock crew, the other 
 Nereids disappeared, and his prisoner, reassuming her 
 natural form, followed him quietly to the village, where 
 within the space of a year she bore him a son. But all 
 this while she was never heard to utter a word. Again 
 he had recourse to the wise woman to aid him in break- 
 ing this spell of silence. She instructed him to heat the 
 oven, which stands outside every Greek cottage, and then 
 taking their boy, to say to the Nereid wife, " As thou wilt 
 not speak to me, I mean to burn the child," and to feign 
 the action of doing so. He again took her advice, and 
 the Nereid found her voice, but only to cry, " You hound, 
 let go my child ! " as she tore the infant from his hands 
 and fled. The story goes on to say, that, being a mother, 
 she could not return to her sisters, and took up her 
 abode in a neighbouring fountain, where now and then 
 she might be seen holding the child in her arms.'' 
 
 In some stories a masculine form of the word occurs, 
 NepdiSos, the husband of the Nereid. Such a bein- 
 plays a part in an account given me by the well-known 
 Cretan chieftain, Captain Christodoulaki, of a fellow 
 Sphakiote, whom he had known well, who was or 
 pretended to be a very mysterious person, and had 
 uncanny relations with powers mystical. As a child, he 
 had disappeared for a long while, and was sought for all 
 
 5 This story was repeated in 1S66 to Mr. W. J. Stillman, at that time 
 U. S. Consul in Crete, by a shepherd, apparently respecting the same rave. 
 His story was precisely similar in all details, except that in his version the 
 child was actually thrown into the oven, and that only then the Nereid 
 found her voice. 
 
 X 2
 
 1 80 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 over the mountains. It was only after long seeking 
 
 that his brother, who was calling his name, heard his 
 
 voice answered, and going to the spot, found him in a 
 
 strangely dazed condition. At length, he related that he 
 
 had been carried off by a man and a woman to the 
 
 high point where he was found ; he had heard the voices 
 
 of the seekers calling, but was prevented from answering 
 
 by the woman, for they were Nereids. At last, the man 
 
 and the woman fell out, and he took the opportunity of 
 
 their coming to blows to answer the cry, but when his 
 
 brother drew near, the Nereids disappeared. 
 
 From Crete also comes another story in which such 
 
 male Nereids occur, taken down by the traveller Pashley 
 
 in the early part of this century, as he heard it from the 
 
 lips of a Sphakiote. Two men, his informant told him, 
 
 went one fine moonlight night into the mountains to 
 
 hunt the Cretan wild goat. They heard a great tumult, 
 
 and at first supposed it to be a company of people 
 
 coming to fetch snow, to take to the city ; but as they 
 
 drew nearer, they heard the sound of musical instruments. 
 
 Soon they discovered these were not mortals, but an 
 
 assemblage of goblin beings, all clothed in varied 
 
 garments, " Both men and women, on foot and on 
 
 horseback, a multitude of people ; and the men were 
 
 white as doves, and the women beautiful as the 
 
 sunbeams." Also it was evident that they were 
 
 carrying something which resembled a bier. The 
 
 mountaineers determined to shoot at the aerial host as 
 
 they passed along singing — 
 
 " We go, we go to fetch the lady bride 
 From the steep rock, a solitary nymph." 
 
 As the shot was fired, those who were last in the procession
 
 The Supernatural. 181 
 
 exclaimed, "They've murdered our bridegroom — they've 
 murdered our bridegroom ! " and as they thus exclaimed 
 they wept, and shrieked, and fled/' 
 
 There must have existed among the ancient Greeks, 
 as there undoubtedly exists among the modern popula- 
 tions of this land, some subtle instinct suggesting a 
 divinity inherent in certain spots of earth of exceptional 
 beauty, of striking grandeur, or of solitude ; some close 
 sympathy with nature, due rather to feeling than to a 
 rational process, such as that which has evoked the 
 nature-lore of Northern poets. It is possible that this 
 very susceptibility makes it difficult for them to analyse 
 the feeling, and reason upon it, and we may be quite 
 wrong in attributing to the Southern character a want of 
 appreciation of what in reality they keenly feel, as 
 indeed they show when placed in other surroundings. 
 This same instinct perhaps it was that suggested the 
 anxious sense of the weirdness of midday, in the pause 
 and rest of nature in a summer land through the hottest 
 hours of noon, which, indeed, all who are sensitive to the 
 impressions of nature will acknowledge has some 
 intangible influence on man and beast, in its stillness, its 
 intensity, its brilliance, and which can only be compared 
 to the influence of the full moon on a summer night in 
 the South. It was this feeling which found expression 
 in the representation of the sleep of Pan, set in the 
 mouth of the swain of Theocritus — 
 
 " O shepherd, not at noon, we may not pipe at noon, 
 For Pan we dread, who then comes from the chase 
 Weary, and takes his rest.*' r 
 
 6 Pashley, "Travels in Crete," vol. ii. p. 217. 
 7 Theoc, "Idyll" i.
 
 
 1 82 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 This feeling which is implied in the distich of Ovid — 
 
 " Grant we meet not the Dryads nor Dian face to face, 
 Nor Faunus, when at noon he walks abroad " — 8 
 
 Mediaeval writers not unfrequently allude to the mid- 
 day demon, 9 and a somewhat analogous dread of the noon 
 hours I remember to have found among the Wends of 
 Lusatia, where the shores of a little lake in the middle 
 of the Spree marshlands are avoided between the hours 
 of eleven and noon, for fear of the Pschespomtza, the 
 midday witch, who lames or injures all that come in her 
 way. 
 
 We need, therefore, not be surprised to find that the 
 popular mind is filled with little awes respecting the 
 danger of approaching certain spots at noon : cross-ways 
 and mills are under the ban, and especially the neigh- 
 bourhood of streams and springs is to be shunned, for 
 the haunting Nereids grow harmful at this hour, and 
 children are warned not to stray out of sight, for the 
 Nereids have been known to strike their victim dumb, 
 especially if he replies to their enticing questions when 
 they speak him fair. In the island of Melos they are 
 actually called by the name of Mea7]/xep'yidTai<;, the 
 "midday maidens." There is on the summit of Mount 
 Hymettus a small round space known as the " level," 
 which is carefully avoided at the hour of noon by any 
 shepherds who may be pasturing their flocks on the 
 mountain, and they tell the story of one who had in 
 ignorance ventured within the charmed circle, and who 
 was at once overpowered by a whirling wind which 
 
 8 Ovid, "Fasti." iv. 761. 
 
 9 Dr. Schmidt points out that in the Septuagint version of the 91st Psalm, 
 " Thou shalt not be afraid .... for the destruction that wasteth at noon- 
 day," is rendered by airo av/J.TrTilj/j.aTos /cat dai/jioviov fieari/m^pivov.
 
 The Supernatural. 1 3 ■ 
 
 knocked him prostrate, and kept him a prisoner there 
 till late in the afternoon. 
 
 An uncanny side to these personified materializations 
 of the spirit of nature was conceived by the ancients, 
 who gave the name of " Nympholepsy " to a disturbance 
 of the rational mental state. It is curious to find a 
 reference to the current superstition put into the mouth 
 of Socrates in the " Phaedrus." 1 Those whom the nymphs 
 had influenced became afflicted with depression, with 
 a desire for solitude, and strange fits of frenzy, and 
 occasionally the death of children is referred to in 
 monumental inscriptions as the work of the nymphs. 
 Similarly, to-day, a tendency to melancholy, a preference 
 for solitude is also ascribed to the pernicious influence 
 of the Nereids — those who have been struck by them fly 
 from their kind — 
 
 " Es treibt ein wildes Sehnen 
 Hinauf zur Waldeshohe ; " 
 
 they wander out by lonely paths, returning late at night, 
 and death overtakes them young. People born on a 
 Saturday are said to be especially susceptible to the 
 Nereids' spell. 
 
 In another characteristic of the Nereids there may, 
 perhaps, be detected a reminiscence of the Harpies. 
 The whirlwind, which is not uncommon in Greece, even 
 in summer, is symptomatic of their presence, and in this 
 wind they lift the wayfarer off his feet and bear him 
 way through the air. Therefore, those who see the 
 dead leaves circling and the dust, and feel the whirlwind 
 near, bow down the head and whisper, " Milk and honey 
 be in thy path," the due offering to propitiate these 
 
 1 Plato, " Phaedrus," 23S.
 
 184 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 deities of the storm. 2 Such a story is told in Athens of 
 the Nereids who haunt the stream known as the 
 Kakoremma, and who are said to fling stones at those 
 who approach the spot. A young man, who had been 
 hunting, sat down there to rest under a tree, when he 
 heard the sound of fairy music, and rose to see whence 
 it proceeded. Suddenly he was aware of a rushing 
 wind that snatched him up and whirled him round and 
 round, and bore him at last stunned and confused 
 to the top of a high tree, where he was flung upon a 
 golden bed. There he was kept eight days and nights 
 bound and unable to move. The ninth day he was 
 liberated, and climbing down, escaped. But he 
 remained for as many days in a half-dazed condition, 
 till at last he went to church, and so the spell was 
 broken. 3 
 
 It has been mentioned in an earlier chapter that Nereids 
 are supposed to steal newly-born children, and some- 
 times to substitute their own, like fairies in other 
 lands. Therefore, the house-door is kept shut for many 
 days after a child is born ; and Greek mothers never 
 leave their babies to the care of older brothers and 
 sisters, but take them out when they go to the fields, 
 and sling them in their little leather hammocks to a 
 tree, or to three sticks crossed in a shady place, where 
 they may be continually kept in view. 
 
 Finally, the Nereids in their capacity as water-fays, 
 preside over and control a ceremony known as the 
 " Kledona," which takes place on St. John's Day (June 
 
 2 Cp. Theoc, "Idyll" v. "And I will dedicate a great bowl of white milk 
 to the nymphs." 
 
 3 Kamporoglou, Hist. Ath.
 
 The Supernatural. 185 
 
 24, o.s.). The previous evening a new earthen jar is 
 filled with water by a boy ; a girl may fill it, but a boy 
 is better, that all the conditions may be complete. 
 Whoever fills it must not speak while doing so, and if 
 spoken to must not answer. Then a company of girls 
 who have associated themselves together to test their 
 fortune by the " Kledona," drop into the water, each for 
 herself, some token which will be easily recognizable — a 
 button, a ring, a key, and so on. The jar is next 
 covered with a cloth, securely fastened, and left out all 
 night that the Nereids may place it under a spell. In 
 the morning all the girls meet, and the jar is then 
 opened by the same individual who closed it. The girls 
 then each in turn sing a rhyming distich in the nature 
 of a love motto, while the person holding the jar dives 
 in the hand and brings out the first object touched. 
 The distich which accompanies the extraction is held 
 to apply to the girl to whom the object in question 
 belongs. 
 
 One other form of divination by water was told me 
 by a girl from the island of Andros, where she said it 
 was the custom for girls to hold a mirror over a well, 
 and to look in it for the face of their future husband 
 reflected from the well below. My informant added 
 that she knew that the process was infallible, for a 
 servant girl there had lately tried her fate, and saw 
 reflected in the mirror the face of her master, a wealthy 
 man who was already married. In spite of the apparent 
 improbability of such a prospect being realized, the wife 
 soon after died, and the master married his maid. 
 
 The Lamia or Lamna (Aafxla, Ad/xva, or Adfiviaaa), 
 who sometimes figure singly in popular tradition and
 
 1 86 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 I sometimes in companies, are akin to the Nereids, but 
 j always malign in influence. In classical lore, the 
 Lamia is of frequent occurrence, but her characteristics 
 are not always identical. In the older myth, she may 
 perhaps be counted among the deities of the sea. 
 Aristophanes and Philostratus represent her along with 
 
 Ithe Mormo and Empusa, as a monstrous and malignant 
 being; 4 but she is also able to assume an attractive form, 
 the better to ensnare her victim. So in the modern 
 folk-poetry the Lamia occasionally appears as a nymph 
 who dances to the shepherd and lures him to his doom, 5 
 and as such is generally spoken of as a spirit of the sea 
 or the seashore, while in Elis she is even, described as the 
 queen of the Nereids. More frequently, however, she 
 is portrayed as a monstrosity, hideous and deformed, 
 hungry for human flesh to eat, partaking rather of the 
 nature of the Harpy, the Gorgon, or the Empusa, which 
 • last apparition of dread is said still to find believers in 
 the valley of the Spercheius. 
 
 Athenian folk-lore has a story of a Lamia who hid in 
 a well, and lived on the blood of living beasts. At length 
 she was shot by a peasant, whose two oxen had thus 
 been destroyed ; none had ventured to fire at her before, 
 for fear the bullets would return and strike their owner, 
 but this peasant shot with the left hand. The body of 
 the Lamia was three fathoms long, and where her blood 
 had dripped, no green thing would ever grow. Another 
 
 4 Horace alludes to the current superstition : — 
 
 " Nee, quod cumque volet, poscat sibi fabula credi " 
 Neu pransa; Lamias vivum puerum alvo. — (Ars. Poet 340) ; 
 and Lucian in the " Fhilopseudes " represents the Mormo and Lamia as 
 bugbears to children. 
 
 5 See p. 279.
 
 
 The Supernatural. 187 
 
 Lamia is the Mora, and she has great possessions. She 
 is abroad by night only, and if she espies a sleeper by 
 the road, she sits upon his chest and grows so heavy 
 that he " bellows like a bull." But if by chance her 
 destined victim were not quite fast asleep, and seeing 
 her approach could stealthily snatch her cap, she would 
 fall into his power, and would grant him all he wished 
 for to get her cap back again. 
 
 Another mysterious evil spirit of antiquity, the Gillo, 
 whose origin may be traced to the island of Lesbos, is 
 frequently alluded to by mediaeval writers. More 
 universal to-day is the dread of the Strigla ( oTpyr/kaisi) , 
 the St rix of the Rom ans. 7 In modern Italy the Strega, 
 like the Greek Strigla, is looked upon as a witch-woman, 
 who has the power of changing her form, and flying by 
 night in the shape of a crow, sucking human blood, with 
 breath of deadly poison ; distinct, however, from the 
 vampire, which is generally held to be a material resusci- 
 tation of a dead person, while the Strigla is a living 
 being who has assumed a birdlike form. This view of 
 the Strix is curiously illustrated by a law of Charle- 
 magne's for the province of Saxony, which decrees the 
 penalty of capital punishment on any " who led away 
 by the devil to believe, after the manner of pagans, that 
 a certain man or women be a Strix, and feed upon human 
 beings, should therefore burn such, or distribute their 
 
 6 Kamporoglou, Hist. Ath., Hapadoaeis. 
 
 7 Cp. Ovid— 
 
 " Carpere dicuntur lactentia viscera rostro 
 
 Et plenum poto sanguine guttur habent : 
 Est illis strigibus nomen." 
 
 A fragment of an ancient popular song exorcising the Strix is fount? 
 in Festus.
 
 1 88 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 flesh to be eaten, or eat thereof himself." s Such it 
 appears was the barbarous antidote, as it formerly was 
 in Russia and Poland against the vampire, where blood 
 of the body from which it was supposed to emanate was 
 eaten in a paste of meal. 
 
 The modern Strix appears more rarely in a masculine 
 
 /form (arpLyXos), and the name is applied as an epithet 
 
 I of hatred or contempt to old men as well as to aged 
 
 ' crones who have an uncanny reputation. In this appli- 
 
 > cation it is about equivalent to our witch. 
 
 The genuine vampire is the Vourkolakas, of whom a 
 number of stories are still current, though Colonel Leake 
 more than fifty years ago expressed the opinion that it 
 would be difficult in Greece to find any one who still 
 believed in such a barbarous superstition. The 
 Albanians call it Wurwolakas, and the name has a 
 number of slightly varying forms in different parts of 
 Greece. 9 The word itself is undoubtedly of Sclavonic 
 origin, being found in Bohemia, Dalmatia, Montenegro, 
 Servia, and Bulgaria ; while it reappears as Vilkolak 
 among the Poles, with the signification rather of weir- 
 wolf than vampire. The superstition itself is, however, 
 of extreme antiquity, and the name only was introduced 
 by the Sclavonic immigrants, for we find the vampire 
 in Crete and Rhodes, where the Sclaves never pene- 
 trated, under the name of Katakhanas (icaTaxavas) , 
 the " destroyer," in Tenos as the Anakathoumenos 
 (Ava/caOov/j,evos), the " snatcher," and again in Cyprus 
 as the Sarkomenos (XapKOjAevos), a name implying 
 either that the dead body from which the vampire issues 
 
 8 " Capitularia pro partibus Saxonioe," i. 6. 
 
 9 BovptcoXcLKas, BpvK&\aKas, BovpodXaKas, &C, &c.
 
 The Supernatural. 189 
 
 has retained its flesh, or that it must be gorged with 
 flesh. 
 
 It is not necessary here to point out what traces of 
 vampirism are to be found in the oldest literatures ; it 
 will be sufficient for the present purpose to indicate that 
 there is suggestion of such a belief in classical authors. 
 
 The idea most generally prevailing with regard to 
 vampires, is that they are dead folk who cannot rest in 
 their graves, and who prey upon the living, in order to 
 obtain the draught of blood which is essential to them 
 for the renewal of their vitality. The analogy 
 immediately suggests itself of the desire of the dead 
 souls, evoked by Odysseus, to drink the blood of the 
 sacrifice, and the instructions of Circe, that he should 
 suffer none to taste it until Teiresias had drunk and 
 prophesied. x It would seem that the drinking of blood 
 was considered a necessary condition of temporary 
 vitality, and doubtless it was some such popular 
 superstition which was embodied in the epic. The 
 same idea may perhaps underlie the human sacrifice to 
 the mighty dead as practised among primitive people. 
 At the grave of Patroclus, twelve Trojan prisoners were 
 slain, 2 and the " Hecuba " of Euripides records the 
 immolation of Polyxena, to appease the shade of 
 Achilles, who is invited by Neoptolemus to drink the 
 maiden's blood. 
 
 Pausanias also describes the destruction of infants at 
 Corinth through the agency of Medea's murdered sons, 3 
 and tells a similar story of one of the companions of 
 
 1 Odyssey ix. 48, &c. 
 
 2 Iliad xxiii. 181, &c. 
 
 3 Paus. ii. 3.
 
 190 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Odysseus, who was stoned to death by the inhabitants of 
 Temessa, where he had ravished a virgin. He became 
 a "demon," and preyed upon the inhabitants of Temessa 
 in revenge, until the Pythian deity, called into 
 consultation, found a way for them out of their troubles. 4 
 Again, this indefatigable collector of myths and miracles 
 tells us how the land of Orchomenus was afflicted by a 
 spectre, which sat upon a stone, and that when the 
 oracle was consulted, its answer was that the men 
 of Orchomenos should search for and bury the remains 
 of Actaeon ; make a brazen image of the spectre, and 
 fasten it to the stone. In the " Phaedo " of Plato there is 
 allusion to the soul which, being impure at its release, 
 haunts graves and tombs, and still clings to the visible ; 
 and many suggestive passages might be cited from later 
 writers. Finally, the Mormo, the Empusa, and the 
 Lamia possessed the blood-sucking reputation of the 
 vampire in the popular superstitions of antiquity. 
 
 And here it may be mentioned that the Vourkolakas 
 is not invariably the blood-sucking vampire in recent 
 tradition, but that the name is sometimes extended to 
 include mere spectres of the departed who return to 
 earth, and that in this sense, at any rate, the superstition 
 is by no means so extinct as Colonel Leake appears to 
 have believed. 5 In the memoirs of M. Nicholas 
 Dragoumis there is an interesting account of its effect 
 on the population of Naxos, where early in the thirties 
 a cholera epidemic had carried off a great number of 
 victims. The rumour was circulated that the Naxian 
 dead in the other world were so numerous that they 
 
 4 Paus. vi. 6. 
 
 5 Leake, " Northern Greece," vol. iv. chap. 38.
 
 The Supernatural. 191 
 
 had overpowered Charos, and were coming back again 
 to earth to take possession of their own. The fear of 
 these Vourkolakes, as they called them, was so great 
 that the inhabitants rushed to their houses at sunset, 
 barred doors and windows, and piled the furniture 
 against them ; but often in vain, for the spectres entered 
 through the keyholes and scared the living for many an 
 anxious day. 6 
 
 The Vourkolakas is, however, generally ravenous. 
 In the Naxian story, those who saw them referred to 
 their horrible appearance and their urgent demands for 
 food. Sometimes, again, they arc represented as robbing 
 eggs and cattle. When the}- are bent upon human prey 
 it is with their nearest relatives that they begin ; but if 
 the husband be abroad at the time of their visit, and 
 only the wife at home, as Pashley suggestively remarks 
 in his account of the Cretan Katakhanas, she generally 
 survives the interview. 
 
 Colonei Leake, in the passage above referred to, states 
 that the tradition connected with these vampires in 
 Epirus was as follows : " The devil is supposed to enter 
 the Vourkolaka, who, rising from his grave, torments first 
 his nearest relations and then others, causing their death 
 or loss of health. The remedy is to dig up the body, 
 and if, after it has been exorcised by the priest, the 
 demon still persists in annoying the living, to cut the 
 body into small pieces, and, if that be not sufficient, to 
 burn it." He goes on to describe the difficulties which 
 the Metropolitan of Grevena had met with in quieting 
 the vampires of his province. To their credit be it 
 said, the Orthodox bishops have always struggled hard 
 
 6 N. SpayovfJLT]s. 'IffTdpLKCu'Avani'ricTeis, vol. i. p. 117-
 
 192 TJie Customs mid Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 to put down such superstitions, though not always with 
 success. 
 
 Leo Allatius, in his essay on the superstitions of the 
 Greeks, also inclines to the theory that it is a demon 
 which enters the body of the dead man, which in con- 
 sequence of his sins has not disintegrated. He further 
 records that in the Chios the opinion prevailed that 
 when the Vourkolakas called, knocking at the door, he 
 who should reply was doomed to be his victim. But as 
 the spectre does not call twice, the inhabitants never 
 answer a first summons, but if it be repeated they know 
 there is nothing to fear. 7 
 
 In Albania it is maintained that only on Fridays and 
 Saturdays can the vampire be found in his grave; and 
 in Greece he is said only to rest quietly on the latter. 
 It was on these days, therefore, that the corpse would be 
 exhumed, and tradition records that it was invariably 
 found undecomposed. 8 The burning of a body which 
 had once been anointed with holy oil would, of course, 
 only be attempted as a last resource ; but not long ago 
 a rumour was circulated in the Athenian press that such 
 a proceeding had taken place quite recently in a deme 
 of the island of Andros. 
 
 The Benedictine Abbot, Augustine Calmet, in his 
 book on magic, witchcraft, and superstition, quotes, not 
 without a certain scepticism, the account of a singular 
 experiment made at Constantinople in the 15 th century, 
 at the instance of the Sultan, to test the superstition 
 prevalent among the Christian Greeks, that the bodies 
 of those who died under excommunication would not 
 
 7 "De quorundam Graecorum Superstitionibus," p. 142, &c. 
 8 Comp. p. 127.
 
 The Supernatural. 193 
 
 decay in the grave. The Patriarch, therefore, caused the 
 grave of a woman to be opened who had been placed 
 under the ban for participation in a scandal in which an 
 archbishop had been concerned, and the body was 
 found intact, but black and swollen. It was accordingly 
 enclosed in a chest, which was locked and sealed with 
 the Sultan's own seal. The Patriarch, meantime, offered 
 prayer, and revoked the sentence of excommunication. 
 Three days later the chest was opened, whereupon it 
 was found that the body had fallen to dust 
 
 A somewhat analogous tale is told by Sir Paul 
 Ricaut, who was for many years British Ambassador at 
 Constantinople, and previously consul at Smyrna, dur- 
 ing the latter half of the 17th century. His authority 
 was a monk named Sophronius, of high standing in 
 Smyrna, who had himself been an eye-witness of what 
 he related in the island of Milos, where the inhabitants 
 had been for a long time disturbed by a ghastly noc- 
 turnal apparition, which was supposed to proceed from 
 the grave of a man who had died excommunicated. 
 The grave was accordingly opened, and the body was 
 found intact, with the veins full of blood. The monks 
 of St. Basil then took counsel together, and their collec- 
 tive wisdom decided that the proper course to take was 
 to cut the body up and boil it in wine, for so tradition 
 prescribed. The relatives of the deceased, however, 
 succeeded in having the execution of this verdict post- 
 poned, and sent to Constantinople to implore the 
 Patriarch to revoke the excommunication. Meanwhile, 
 the body was placed in the Church, where masses were 
 continually said for the repose of the soul. Now, it 
 happened one day that Sophronius himself was directing
 
 194 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 the ceremonies, when a sudden crack was heard in the 
 coffin. It was opened, and then it was seen that the 
 body was all consumed away, like that of a man who 
 had been " dead for seven years." The hour of this 
 occurrence was duly noted, and when the deputation 
 returned frorn Constantinople, it was discovered that it 
 coincided precisely with the time when the Patriarch 
 had rescinded the dead man's sentence. 
 
 The islanders appear to have been especially addicted 
 to the belief in this superstition. Hydra is said to 
 have been formerly infected by vampires, but a zealous 
 bishop succeeded in transferring them all to the un- 
 occupied island of Therasia, in the Santorin group, where 
 they still walk at night, but being unable to cross salt 
 water find no one to torment ; and Tournefort in 1701 
 was eye-witness of the laying of such a Vourkolakas, 
 who haunted the island of Myconos, and whose body 
 was not only transferred to the neighbouring islet of St. 
 George, but was there consumed with fire. 
 
 In examining the causes to which the popular mind 
 ascribes vampirism, it becomes evident that at some- 
 time or another the Church must have turned a prevailing 
 superstition to account, in order to exercise a terrorizing 
 influence against the violation cf its canons. We have 
 seen that as late as the 18th century the opinion still 
 prevailed that those who die under the ban of excom- 
 munication are liable to become vampires, a notion not 
 wholly extinct to-day, though sentences of excommuni- 
 cation are rarer. A Cretan told me that the same fate 
 befell those at whose baptism some portion of the 
 ceremony had been left incomplete ; and in Cephalonia 
 marriage with a Koumbaros is said to have the same
 
 The Supernatural. 195 
 
 effect. Children conceived upon a great religious festival 
 are also under the ban, as well as those who have 
 received a parent's curse. But there are other causes 
 which prevent the dead from resting. Those over whose 
 corpse a cat has jumped, and those who die a violent 
 death, are liable to wander from their graves ; and the 
 Mainotes maintain that only when a murder is avenged 
 will its victim cease to haunt the earth. 
 
 In conclusion, the following story, taken down word 
 for word by Mr. Pashley during his travels in Crete, 
 furnishes a curious instance of the extravagance of a 
 superstition which, though rapidly disappearing, is still 
 not wholly extinct. 9 
 
 " Once on a time, the village of Kalikrati, in the district of 
 Sfakia, was haunted by a Katakhanas, and people did not know 
 what man he was or from what part. This Katakhanas destroyed 
 both children and many full-grown men ; and desolated both that 
 village and many others. They had buried him at the Church of 
 St. George at Kalikrati, and in those times he was a man of note, 
 and they had built an arch over his grave. Now, a certain shep- 
 herd, his mutual Synteknos, 1 was tending his sheep and goats 
 near the church, and on being caught by a shower, he went to the 
 sepulchre that he might be shaded from the rain. Afterwards, he 
 determined to sleep, and to pass the night there, and after taking 
 off his arms, he placed them by the stone which served him as his 
 pillow, cross wise. And people might say that it was on this 
 account that the Katakhands was not permitted to leave his tomb. 
 During the night, then, as he wished to go out again, that 
 he might destroy men, he said to the shepherd, 'Gossip, get up 
 hence, for I have some business that requires me to come out.' 
 The shepherd answered him not, either the first time, or the 
 second, or the third : for thus he knew that the man had become a 
 
 9 Pashley, "Travels in Crete," ii. chap. 36. London, 1837. 
 1 A word used to describe the relation of a person to his godchild's 
 father. The spiritual father and the natural father being brothers, as it were. 
 
 O 2
 
 196 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Katakhanas, and that it was he who had done all those evil deeds. 
 On this account he said to him, on the fourth time of his speaking, 
 ' I shall not get up hence, gossip, for I fear that you are no better 
 than you should be, and may do me some mischief; but if I must 
 get up, swear to me by your winding-sheet, 3 that you will not hurt 
 me, and on this I will get up. And he did not pronounce the pro- 
 posed words, but said other things.' Nevertheless, when the shep- 
 herd did not suffer him to get up, he swore to him as he wished. 
 On this he got up, and, taking his arms, removed them away from 
 the monument, and the Katakhanas came forth, and, after greeting 
 the shepherd, said to him, ' Gossip, you must not go away, but sit 
 down here, for I have some business which I must go after ; but 
 I shall return within the hour, for I have something to say to you.' 
 So the shepherd waited for him. 
 
 " And the Katakhanas went a distance of about ten miles, where 
 there was a couple recently married, and he destroyed them. On 
 his return his gossip saw that he was carrying some liver, his 
 hands being moistened with blood ; and, as he carried it, he blew 
 into it, just as the butcher does, to increase the size of the liver. 
 And he showed his gossip that it was cooked, as if it had been 
 done on the fire. After this he said, ' Let us sit down, gossip, that 
 we may eat.' And the shepherd pretended to eat it, but only 
 swallowed dry bread, and kept dropping the liver into his bosom. 
 Therefore, when the hour for their separation arrived, the Katak- 
 hanas said to the shepherd, ' Gossip, this which you have seen you 
 must not mention, for if you do, my twenty nails will be fixed in 
 your children and yourself.' Yet the shepherd lost no time, but 
 gave information to priests and others, and they went to the tomb, 
 and there they found the Katakhanas just as he had been buried. 
 And all people became satisfied that it was he who had done 
 all the evil deeds. On this account they collected a great deal of 
 wood, and they cast him on it, and burnt him. His gossip was not 
 present, but when the Katakhanas was already half consumed, he 
 too came forward in order that he might enjoy the ceremony. And 
 the Katakhanas cast, as it were, a single spot of blood, and it fell 
 upon his foot, which wasted away as if it had been roasted on a 
 
 2 The only oath binding on a vampire.
 
 The Supernatural. 197 
 
 fire. On this account they sifted even the ashes, and found the 
 little finger-nail of the Katakhanas unburnt, and burnt it too." 
 
 Pashley's experience, of course, dates back a good 
 many years, but I was myself told a story in Crete of a 
 man well known to my informant, who had the power 
 of foretelling when people were going to die. From 
 time to time this man would fall ill in a mysterious 
 manner, and his invariable explanation was that the 
 dead whose doom he had foretold were returning as 
 Katakhanades to torment him in various manners, 
 though it would seem rather as ghosts of the common 
 sort than as vampires, and in this explanation he 
 appeared to be perfectly sincere. 
 
 It would be strange if, with such ample survival of 
 the ancient polytheism in modern lore, there were no 
 reminiscence of the Fauns, the Satyrs, and the Pans of 
 the olden world. And so we shall find that in one of 
 the most universal and widespread superstitions, that 
 dual half-human nature of these dwellers in the forest, is 
 blended with, and at the same time obscured by, the 
 non-Hellenic conceptions of elf and gnome. 3 
 
 The Kalikantsari, to adopt their most general appella- 
 tion, are diminutive beings, with the legs of an ass or 
 goat, hirsute of body, and swarthy of skin ; benign for 
 the most part in character, though mischievous and 
 tricksy ; addicted to dancing, and very amatory in 
 disposition, who, if they get the opportunity, will carry 
 fair women away to the caves they haunt, during the 
 twelve days for which they are suffered to emerge into 
 the upper air, between Christmas and the Epiphany. It 
 
 3 Sir Charles Newton, in his "Travels and Discoveries," mentions that 
 Rhodian peasants described their woods as haunted by a dancer with the 
 legs and tail of a goat.
 
 198 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 is only at night that they issue from caves and dens, 
 where they spend the day feasting on toads and lizards. 
 When the twelve days of their sojourn are past they 
 return to the bowels of the earth, where once more they 
 set to work, trying to saw through the trunk of the 
 great tree by which it is supported. 
 
 Several etymologies of the name have been suggested. 
 It is written as KaXrjKdvTcrapos, Ko\7]tcdvTcrapo<;, or 
 KaXKciraapo^ ; or, again, Avtco/cdvT&pos, while in 
 Albanian the root reappears in Kap/cavr^oXoi. 
 
 Some have pretended that KaXrj or KoXr) is a mere 
 metathesis of Xvko ; 4 while Kavraapos is a vulgar form 
 of icdvOapos, and that the word signifies, therefore, 
 wolf-beetle, the former referring to the supposed hirsute 
 appearance of these creatures, the latter to the dark 
 skin with which they are credited. Others, again, 
 have interpreted the first part of the word as a simple 
 euphemism. 5 Dr. Schmidt, however, has suggested 
 with more probability that the Greek word is derived 
 through the Albanian Karkandsoli, from the Turkish 
 Kara-kond-jolos ( = loup - garou). In Athens the 
 Kalikantsari are known by the name of Kolovelones 
 (KwXofieXoviyi), which may also be a corruption of the 
 name of a mischievous Albanian sprite, but which etymo- 
 logically has a meaning not incongruous with the popular 
 conception of the creatures, namely "needle-back." 6 
 
 These satyr-goblins are said to become visible a 
 little before midnight. Sometimes they are represented 
 
 * The value of the vowels t, rj, and v is identical, and they are pro- 
 miscuously used by the illiterate in spelling. 
 'Ecprjfxepis tQv QiXufxaduv, 1862, No. 437. 
 6 If spelt with an instead of an w, it might be traced to koXo/36s, deformed.
 
 The Supernatural. 199 
 
 with one leg only like that of a goat or ass, but more 
 commonly both the legs arc those of animals. During 
 the twelve days of their presence people keep all shut 
 at night for fear they should get into the house ; but 
 those who keep a b^ckcock 7 arc safe, for the little 
 beings have a mortal aversion to that animal, as they also 
 have to fire. Their mischievous nature leads them into 
 tricks, the commonest of which is the defiling of wells 
 and fountains. Hot coals are, therefore, dropped into 
 the water on these twelve nights, and burnt sticks laid 
 across the wells to keep the Kalikantsari away. They 
 have wives, presumbly those whom they have carried off, 
 for the name has no feminine form, and children, and 
 they are said to be devotedly attached to their male 
 offspring. 
 
 A story was told me in Spetsa, which my informant 
 had from his grandfather, of the adventures of a woman 
 of that island with these singular beings. She had gone 
 with two others to collect wood on the far side of the 
 island, some distance from the town, and in the neigh- 
 bourhood of a cave by the sea, with which a number of 
 other superstitions are connected, when suddenly she dis- 
 appeared, and all efforts of her companions to find her 
 proved unavailing. Some days latter a cai'que was 
 rounding the point of the island, when the sailors saw 
 the missing woman standing on the rocks. They went 
 ashore and brought her back to the town, but she had 
 been struck dumb and could give no account of herself. 
 It was only after she had been taken to church, and that 
 the rites had been duly performed by which evil spirits 
 are exorcised, that she regained the power of speech, 
 
 " llav8u>pa, vol. xvi. No. 454.
 
 200 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 and then related that she had been carried off by the 
 Kalikantsari, who had taken away her voice that she 
 might not be able to tell. 
 
 Side by side with this elfin view of the Kalikantsari, 
 there is another aspect, in which they approach more 
 nearly to the conception of the weir-wolf, and the 
 original significance of the Turkish derivative. In Crete, 
 infants born at Christmas are said to become 
 Kalikantsari, the punishment for the sin of the parents 
 being thus visited on the children, who are impiously 
 
 ifonceived, and sacrilegiously brought into the world on 
 a day which should admit of no rivalry. 8 Leo Allatius, 
 whose experiences are chiefly concerned with the island 
 of Chios, asserts that all children born between Christmas 
 and New Year's day are involved in a similar doom, 
 and in Zante the superstition prevailed as regards 
 Christmas eve. Such weir-wolves are eminently 
 malignant in character during the twelve days of their 
 reign ; the devil enters into the human being, and 
 drives him abroad at night hither and thither. The 
 fiend - possessed creature rends those he meets with 
 claws like a tiger, flings them down, and sitting on their 
 chests, leaves them half suffocated and nearly dead with 
 fright. 
 
 Generally speaking, however, the Kalikantsari are 
 easily deceived, and there are plenty of antidotes which 
 disarm their power of mischief. When such a one asks, 
 as he will do, if you meet him, " Will you have tow of 
 me or lead ? " you have only to answer, " Tow," and his 
 influence is gone. Or a sieve may be handed to him, 
 whereupon he will set to work to count the holes, and as 
 
 8 Politis, " Neoell. Myth.," pt. i. p. 70.
 
 The Supernatural. 201 
 
 he cannot count beyond two, this will take him till the 
 morning. 9 In Athenian folk-lore, there is a story of the 
 trick played upon them by a woman whom the 
 Kolovelonides had taken by night, and whose bread 
 they wanted to steal. She consented to go with them, 
 but proposed first to tell them a story. The story was 
 a long one, and during the telling the first cock crew. 
 " Black ! " said the goblins, " we are not afraid of you : " 
 meaning that it was still night. As she proceeded with 
 her story, a second cock crew, " Red ! " they cried, " we 
 are not afraid of you : " for it was only nearing dawn. 
 But before the story was ended, the third cock crew, 
 " White ! " they exclaimed, meaning it was day, and so 
 ran off, singing the song with which they always 
 disappear at the Epiphany, the season when the priest 
 goes round to bless the houses, the wells, and the fountains 
 and to sprinkle them with consecrated water 1 : — 
 
 Qeuyare, va (pevyw/xev Fly, let us fly away ! 
 
 Tiar epxer 6 TovpXdirawas For here comes the fat Pappas, 
 
 Mi tt]v ayiacTripd tov With his holy water 
 
 Kcu fit T7] TrXacrTrjpd tov' And his sprinkling brush ; 
 
 Kal 6e\e yu£s pavricei And he will sprinkle us, 
 
 Kcu wXtd p.as /xayaplaeu " And so contaminate us. 
 
 It has been pointed out in a former chapter how 
 under the influence of Christianity many benignant 
 qualities of the old deities have passed down to the 
 saints of the new order, who have taken over in some 
 
 ;i A somewhat analogous form of self-protection is to be found in Italy, 
 where, on the eve of St. John's day, the night when witches are abroad, 
 the holiday-makers carry about an onion-flower or a red carnation, the idea 
 being that if this be handed to the witch there will be time to escape while 
 she is counting the leaves. 
 
 1 Kamporoglou, Hist. Ath., vol. i. p. 231. 
 
 2 There are several variations of the song of the Kalikantsari. The 
 version quoted here is from an article by M. Politis in the "Pandora," 
 vol. xvi. p. 454.
 
 202 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 cases the attributes, in others the shrines, and even the 
 festivals of their predecessors. Similarly, the malignant 
 forces of the ancient nature-worship live on, and if they 
 are ever reasoned upon by those among whom they 
 survive, it is only to set them down as the manifesta- 
 tions or the ministers of the evil one whose name is 
 Legion. The devil is thus to them both one and many, 
 and is here a very real and awe-inspiring fact, not to be 
 named save indirectly, or under some euphemistic title, 
 such as 6 iT\avr]T7)^, " the wanderer " ; 6 afie\irr)TO'i, " the 
 unmentionable " ; 6 /xavpos, " the black one " ; 6 /caXbs 
 avOpwrros, " the good man " ; or even, as in Rhodes and 
 elsewhere, 6 e£ airo 'Sw, which may be interpreted, " the 
 get thee behind me ! " :1 
 
 Sometimes he is manifested to the eye of sense in the 
 form of an animal, a black horse or a black ass. The 
 Mainotes, in whose land is the famous cave of Taenaron, 
 the " Tacnarii fauces," preserve the tradition of a black 
 dog, that issues from its recesses, and runs about the 
 earth — an unconscious reminiscence perhaps of Cerberus. 
 More commonly it is the form of goat which the 
 demoniac power assumes ; and in Maina, again, there is 
 a folk-song which tells how one who was on his way to 
 avenge an insult by shooting his enemy evoked the 
 devil's aid, addressing a goat which he hears bleating by 
 the name of Satan : — 
 
 2rd 8p6uo irov eirriyave Upon the way he went 
 
 "Evas fttrovXas e(3i\a%e A goat bleated ; 
 
 "E\a Kovrd fiov, Sarava, " Come to my side, Satan," said he, 
 
 Tlo. va TeXeiQcroj tt] dovkeid. 4 "That I may do what I have to do." 
 
 3 Literally " out from here," from this a single word is formed, 
 6 o^airoSos. 
 
 4 There are several versions of this passage in this well-known murder- 
 song. The above is, however, as I took it down from my guide in Maina, 
 who knew it by heart.
 
 The Supernatural. 205 
 
 The shepherds of Parnassus, who live all their lives in 
 the open air on the mountain side, keenly sensitive to 
 those impressions which affect all simple people who live 
 face to face with nature at her wildest and ruggedest, 
 bear testimony to the apparition of a monstrous he-goat 
 among their flocks in the rutting season. Again, in \ 
 many parts of Greece there is great fear of the half- 
 human, half-animal Kovrao8aifiovo<i, or " limping demon, '* 
 a creature of hideous exterior, with the legs of a goat, with 
 a hairy face, a long bearded chin, and a horned head 
 that butts with terrible effect. He generally appears in 
 company with the Kalikantsari, but from his lameness 
 lags behind, and he is the most dreaded, the most relent- 
 less and terrible of all the emanations of the evil spirit 
 with which Greek superstition is familiar, combining the 
 grosser characteristics of Hephaestus and Pan with the 
 typical representations of the devil in early ecclesiastical 
 art. The dragons already alluded to are to the popular 
 mind another form of this manifestation of the diabolic 
 nature. 
 
 Other attributes of the devil, the manner and 
 motives of his appearance, and the methods by which 
 he may be exorcised, are less individual in character and 
 more or less analogous to the traditions of the illiterate 
 in other lands. 
 
 Enough has perhaps now been said to present a 
 general idea of the prevailing tendency of the popular 
 mind in Greece. With increased facilities of communi- 
 cation and the extension of primary education these 
 ideas will doubtless gradually lose the strong hold they 
 still maintain in remoter districts, and disappear as the 
 popular muse is gradually disappearing. But it is to be
 
 204 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 hoped that before it is too late the work of collection and 
 classification may be carried out more thoroughly than 
 it has been, and a valuable chapter added to the history 
 of natural development. There is probably no accessible 
 portion of the world where a greater wealth of popular 
 lore and fancy is scattered abroad, and though much is 
 being done to record these valuable traditions, there 
 still remains much to do. 
 
 In conclusion, we may turn back to the question which 
 was suggested at the outset, and fairly ask whether 
 enough has not been adduced to prove that, in spite of 
 all the vicissitudes through which this land has passed, 
 the olden spirit is still the same, the spirit manifested 
 not so much in the classic masterpieces produced under 
 exceptional circumstances and at a particular time, but 
 rather in glimpses of the more intimate life revealed to 
 us in the simpler epic or the homelier lyrics of the 
 anthology, and that a people which has retained through 
 inevitable transformations so much that is directly trace- 
 able to the Hellenic fountainhead, must therefore be 
 looked up to as the genuine representatives of those 
 whose language they still speak and whose name they 
 still assume.
 
 20 = 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE POPULAR POETRY. 
 
 The mother of the arts still lives, like Niobe, only 
 with the memory of her dead children. When the 
 West re-awoke from the darkness of the middle ages, 
 when the lowering cloud of barbarian invasion had 
 ceased to menace there, and the Italian townships in 
 their reviving prosperity began to rival one another in 
 the sumptuousness and decoration of their palaces and 
 shrines, Greece enjoyed no such respite. The few 
 individuals who, in the comparative security of the 
 Eastern Court, or in the mountain hermitages of 
 monasticism, still preserved the dying light of culture 
 and of learning, gradually found their way to Italy and 
 to the rising universities of the North, while perpetual 
 invasions of successive nationalities confounded the 
 speech and disturbed the traditions of this ill-fated 
 land. Art and even industry disappeared, and if now, 
 after half a century of security, the first symptoms of 
 a revival are anxiously awaited, it must yet be very 
 long before it can arrive at any maturity, for the taste 
 and the demand have first to be created ; and until 
 material development has duly paved the way, it would 
 be unreasonable to look for spiritual or moral advance- 
 ment. And yet, as we have seen, there is abundant 
 evidence that the temperament which produced the 
 highest poetic and artistic ideal which the world has 
 known did not entirely die, and that the vital qualities
 
 206 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 of this extraordinary people have survived and even 
 imposed themselves upon the new populations in 
 sufficient measure to give hopes for the future. It 
 has often been pointed out by the historians of the 
 war of independence that the Greek peasantry are the 
 salt of the nation ; that in spite of the endless intrigues 
 and self-seeking which characterized the conduct of so 
 many of the leaders, it was the consistent patriotism 
 and devotion of the peasantry which enabled the 
 struggle to be prolonged, and which finally brought 
 about the reconstitution of the Greeks as a nation. 
 And once more, it is the peasantry, the people in a 
 limited sense, which, unconsciously no doubt, has never 
 let the ideal go. When the groves of Academy lay 
 desolate, when the slopes of Parnassus were abandoned 
 to the Wallach nomad, when the hill of the Museion 
 was covered with batteries which played upon the 
 masterpieces of their votaries, the banished muses took 
 refuge in the cottage and the mountain fastness, and 
 the voice of the people became instinct with a form of 
 poetic expression, which produced a wealth of un- 
 written song such as the popular poetry of few other 
 lands can boast. 
 
 These sonsrs, some of which have become almost 
 universal throughout Greece, while others, especially 
 those of the islands, have remained strictly local, are 
 now in great measure guaranteed against the gradual 
 oblivion to which the opening-up of the country, the 
 new interests of political life, the spread of education, 
 and the reading of the newspapers would inevitably 
 have soon consigned them by the patient efforts during 
 the present century of four foreigners — the French
 
 The Popular Poetry. 207 
 
 collectors, Fauriel, Marcellus, and Legrand ; the German, 
 Passow ; and among Greek authors by Zampeiios, 
 Razelos, Sakcllarios, and Michael Lelckos, who is still 
 engaged in the arduous work of transcribing from the 
 mouths of the people their songs, their folk-lore, their 
 proverbs, and their stories. There must yet be much to 
 do in this respect ; the Hellenic populations scattered 
 over the Turkish empire doubtless possess a similar 
 wealth of poetic expression which still remains to be 
 collected, but there is now, at any rate, no fear that 
 these songs, which apart from their intrinsic beauty are 
 invaluable to the student of custom and myth, will ever 
 be wholly lost in the day — one is tempted to hope 
 somewhat remote — when the Greeks have gone the way 
 of the Western nations. 
 
 The poems may be divided into two main divisions, 
 
 according to their subject matter ; those of which the 
 
 spirit is epical, if the expression maybe used in a rather 
 
 loose sense, and those of which the spirit is purely 
 
 lyrical. The first division will include all those poems 
 
 which celebrate the heroes of the war of independence, 
 
 the so-called Klephtic songs of somewhat older origin, 
 
 the stories of Suli and the wars of Ali Pacha, the 
 
 Cretan battle-songs, and generally all the records of 
 
 famous Armatoli and chieftains. These, though not 
 
 necessarily differing in form from the other division, 
 
 may be fairly described as epic in spirit, and they were 
 
 during the last century and the early part of this sung 
 
 or recited, and for the most part composed or even 
 
 improvised by the blind beggars, who went from village 
 
 to village at the season of the annual P;ineguris, 
 
 accompanying themselves on the lyra or rustic viol,
 
 2o8 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 and who constituted a class that would seem to have 
 been the lineal descendants of the bards and rhapsodists 
 of ancient days. In Spain to this day a similar custom 
 prevails, where the blind men, who formerly were the 
 chief exponents of the romances of the Cid, now find 
 occupation in putting a rough narrative form on the 
 latest crime or catastrophe which excites the public 
 mind, and singing it about the streets to eager audiences. 
 In the new Greece, alas ! there will be few or none such 
 found to-day, the resources of modern life have destroyed 
 their occupation, and the free Greeks no longer need the 
 ideals of an Androutzos, a Katzantonis, or a Boukovalas. 
 In Crete alone, in the mountains of Sphakia, may be 
 found men who sing the old heroic sagas, and still in the 
 remoter mountain valleys of Greece, a few old wives 
 recite the Klephtic songs they heard in their youth ; but 
 these belonged especially to the time of struggle ; the 
 days of the Klephts, of the irregular mountain fighting, 
 are over now, and in future these poems will only live 
 recorded in the national literature. They have furnished 
 the chief source of inspiration to the most characteristic 
 and most national poet of modern Greece, Aristoteles 
 Valaoritis, of Santa Maura, who adopting their language 
 as well as their matter and form, and infusing it with 
 the fire of true poetic genius, has sung the exploits of 
 the mountaineers in a series of poems, which, were they 
 not necessarily restricted to a small circle of readers, 
 would have won for him the high place among European 
 writers which he occupies in his own country. 
 
 The second division, which has been described as 
 rather lyrical in character, will include those songs 
 which record an incident of popular fable or super-
 

 
 The Popular Poetry. 209 
 
 tition — the love-songs of the people, the songs which 
 accompany various rites and solemnities, especially 
 marriages, cradle and nursery songs, dancing songs, 
 and finally the myrologies or elegies for the dead, 
 improvised or sung for the most part by the women 
 over the graves of the departed. Their various uses 
 and occasions will be more fully described hereafter, 
 as they occur ; it is necessary, by way of introduction, 
 to say a few words about the form and character which 
 is common to Greek popular poetry generally. 
 
 In the first place, there is seldom any long sustained 
 interest or effort ; the poems arc for the most part 
 short, seldom exceeding thirty lines, dealing with one 
 episode, and characterized by directness and sponta- 
 neity. They are without any particular structural 
 grace, but certain definite frameworks are of constant 
 recurrence, which are filled up according to the subject 
 in hand, or perhaps the incident to be described is 
 improvised within the limits of the given mould. In 
 the Klephtic poems especially certain preludes consist- 
 ing of two or three introductory lines occur frequently, 
 such as, for instance — 
 
 " The fields are athirst for water, the mountains long for snow, 
 The falcons for their prey, and the Turks for Christian heads"; 
 
 or, 
 
 " Three birds have alit on the heights of Monastir, 
 One looks toward Jannina, another to Bitolia, 
 And the third, the bonniest one, makes comment thus, and says " — 
 
 this with variations on the names, according to the 
 
 subject, serves to introduce the episode — or, again, 
 
 " What noise is this, what mighty tumult ? 
 Are they slaughtering oxen, or are wild beasts at battle ? 
 They are not slaughtering oxen, nor are wild beasts at battle ; 
 It is Boukovalas fighting," &c. 
 
 V
 
 210 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 The terminations are often abrupt, and there is 
 frequently an unaccountable inconsequence and generally 
 an absence of art in these compositions, which does not 
 detract from the natural poetry, however wanting they 
 may be in dignity and reserve. Effect is obtained by 
 well-balanced repetition, answer following question in 
 almost identical words. They draw largely upon nature 
 for their inspiration ; mountains and animals, especially 
 birds, are made to speak with a human voice, and they 
 strike one as essentially products of the open air, and of 
 the simple life. The vis maligna and the weird of 
 natural forces, the separation from the sun and light 
 involved in death, and the dread that all cannot be well 
 away from the human companionship, the passionate 
 love inspired by the mountains, the glory of youth and 
 strength — all these are ever present. 
 
 The language is often very difficult, for' popular songs 
 are naturally affected by the dialects of the districts in 
 which they "are sung. Thus we frequently find the same 
 song with many variations of the text to suit the speech 
 of various provinces. Turkish words and even Italian 
 occasionally occur, and the popular corruptions of the 
 purer Greek are not easy to identify at first sight ; the 
 language, moreover, is very elliptical, and there is an 
 entire absence of syntax, and yet this very simplicity 
 the directness of expression inherent in such unliterary 
 compositions constitutes one of the especial charms of 
 the people's poetry. 
 
 The large majority of these songs, and nearly all the 
 Klephtic poems, are written in a swinging metre of 
 fifteen syllables to the line, which is divided by a strict 
 caesura in two hemistiches, the first of eight, and the
 
 The Popular Poetry. 21 1 
 
 second of seven syllables. The prosody is purely 
 accentual. ' Sometimes the couplets rhyme and some- 
 times they do not, while occasionally a poem in which 
 blank verse has prevailed throughout, concludes with 
 a rhyming couplet. The metre is practically the same 
 as that of our own ballad poetry, where the two 
 hemistiches are written as two lines, the second having 
 sometimes six and sometimes seven syllables. Such 
 was already the metre of the political verses written at 
 Constantinople in the nth century, and such, with the 
 addition of rhyme, continued to be the form of heroic 
 verse ever after. In this metre also, and without rhyme, 
 is the Chronicle of the Wars of the Franks in the Morea, 
 along and tedious composition, devoid of poetical merit, 
 composed early in the 14th century. Rhyme was 
 probably introduced by the Italians, the Genoese at 
 Constantinople, and the Venetians in Crete and 
 elsewhere, and there is a class of Romaic poetry which 
 shows deliberate imitation of the Italian romance, 
 Such a poem is the "Erotocritus" of Vincenzo Cornaro, a 
 Cretan of Venetian extraction, which was written about 
 300 years ago. The following couplets from this poem 
 will serve as a specimen of the rhyming fifteen-syllable 
 metre : — 
 
 Ma r aa-Ti-jp, /J.a tov ovpavov, fx dvaToXr) kcu Svctl, 
 Kcu fxd Trjv yrjv, ttov to. Kopjxid 61 vd fxds KaTaAucra, 
 Kcu fxd tov ?)Aiov tov £eo-Tov, fid c/>€yyos, fxd creAi)v?/, 
 IIoTe vd fir] <5oAojcroj/xev €touto ottov eylvrj. 1 
 
 1 It must be remembered in reading the above, that the pronunciation 
 is according to accent, and not according to quantity, as laid down by- 
 prosody. 
 
 P 2
 
 212 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Of the unrhymed verse, the following little Klephtic 
 
 song will give an adequate idea : — 
 
 X.opevovv Ta KAec^ToVovAa, yAevTave to. /cavpei'a, 
 k' eva fjiiKpb KXecfrroTTOvko Sev iraifei, 8e ^opei'ei, 
 pov Tap/xara crvyvpaye /cat to o-iradl rpo^dei. 
 TOv<jieKL fjiov 7repq<f>avo, <j—adl p.ov 7raivepevo, 
 7roAAes <£opes p eyAurcoo-es ktj a/copa tovtijv wpa • 
 ToYe da 7raco 's to o-paArta, #a 7ra va o~as o-paATcocrto. 
 
 Besides this form, there are a number of graceful 
 lyric metres, the language is plastic, and lends itself to 
 metrical variety. Not to multiply examples indefinitely 
 the following extracts, which, like the preceding poem, are 
 quoted from the " Epidorpion " : of Lelekos, will serve to 
 give some idea of the lyrical capacity of the language : — 
 
 'Eracrov, Kop?/, pi) cr7rot'Sa£>/s 
 tov Kaipo p?) Aoyapta^s, 
 Krj 6 Kcupos 6eXa <tov c/>epet 
 a^TvAtot peer s to X € P l i 
 8a)(TvXtSi KTj dppejiutva 
 KCLl S Tipv K€CJ)aXl] Kopiova. 
 
 * $ * 
 
 0eAco v'ap^tv-^cra), 
 c/>ws pov, va Opyvijcnn 
 
 Kal SirjyrjOQ 
 T7) davpLacrTr) dvSpa'a, 
 'EAA^vwv eKcrrparda. 
 
 * * * 
 
 K' ?^vpa 7re<9ep<x 
 crav ttjv TparTa<pvAA?;a, 
 k' ?pjpa Tredepb 
 rrav to /JacriAiKo, 
 /07 avTpaSepc/na Suo 
 crav tov dp.apa.6o. 
 Ma to piKpoTepo, 
 to Sia/3oA6Yepo, 
 Keivo pou 'Aeye, /ceivo u'aou^veue.
 
 The Popular Poetry. 213 
 
 A special feature in the popular poetry are the distiches 
 or rhyming couplets with fifteen syllables to the line, of 
 which a large number have been collected. These 
 frequently combine a very poetic thought with particular 
 felicity of expression, and may be compared to the 
 stornelli of modern Italy. The following couplet will 
 serve as an example : — 
 
 "Orav <T€ fiXkiro} k ep^ecrat jx\ TdAAa —aW^Kapta, 
 'ecr' et'crat to yapv<jja\o Kal TaAAa rh KXojvapia. 
 
 The date of many of these poems cannot be fixed 
 with any approximation to truth. The evidence of 
 Anna Comnena in the nth century proves the existence 
 of a folk-poetry in which current events were celebrated, 
 and quotations in her biography of the Emperor Alexis 
 show the vulgar language of that time to have been 
 somewhat analogous to the modern idiom. But to go 
 back further still, the song of Hybrias the Cretan, the 
 song of Harmodius and Aristogiton, and the swallow- 
 song of the Rhodian boys are testimony of the existence 
 of a form of folk-poetry among the ancient Greeks ; while 
 the pastorals of Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus are only 
 idealizations of the ruder measures which the unlettered 
 herdsmen improvised to beguile a summer day. 
 
 The Klephtic songs, which record the exploits of some 
 well-known warrior, and the poems which deal with the 
 incidents of the war of independence are, of course, 
 easily relegated to a given period, and the majority of 
 the former fall within the latter half of the last century. 
 Others, again, must be a great deal older, and where we 
 find a poem like that of " Charos and the Youth," 
 translated on p. 281, existing in northern Greece, and
 
 214 The Customs and Lore of Modem Greece. 
 
 a textually different but materially similar composition 
 in Crete, the assumption of considerable antiquity is 
 warranted. Such a poem, again, as the " Bridge of 
 Arta " (p. 278), which occurs in several variations, deals 
 with an episode which is the outcome of a very ancient 
 superstition, probably closely connected with the 
 stoicheiolatry described in an earlier chapter. 2 Emile 
 Legrand has published in his collection a number of 
 Greek songs which are, at any rate, not later in date 
 than the 15th century, for they are preserved in a 
 certain theological manuscript codex, sent to Vienna in 
 the middle of the 16th century by Augier Busbecq, 
 Austrian ambassador to the Porte, who occupied him- 
 self in collecting for the Vienna Library such manuscripts 
 as had escaped destruction at the fall of Constantinople. 
 There are no heroics, no martial songs among them, no 
 trace of idealism ; they are nearly all erotic, or, at any 
 rate, sensuous in character. Some of these have served 
 again in modified forms, or rather, portions of them are 
 found in other love songs more recently recorded, and 
 the language does not differ sufficiently from that of the 
 great mass of popular poetry to indicate a much later 
 date for the rest. On the other hand, the extreme 
 naivete and simplicity of idea expressed in the religious 
 poems does not necessarily prove their antiquity, for 
 the ignorance of the people in religious matters is still 
 phenomenal, and was, if anything, probably rather less 
 profound in the days when their religion was not 
 practised without fear of persecution. The wedding 
 songs and dancing songs are doubtless of great antiquity, 
 and, generally speaking, the oldest of these popular 
 
 2 Chap, vii., p. 169.
 
 The Popular Poetry. 215 
 
 poems are probably those which accompany a 
 ceremonial or celebrate an anniversary, and those which 
 partake of the nature of our nursery rhymes. We must, 
 however, be content to renounce any attempt to fix 
 their date, except in the cases where it is clearly 
 indicated by the subject. 
 
 As regards the Klephtic songs, Fauriel considers that 
 a few may be traceable to the real actors in the scenes 
 described, just as the beautiful myrology for his own 
 death has been authentically traced to the lips of Thanase 
 Diakos, the young and self-devoted soldier-monk, who 
 was taken alive and put to death after the latest battle 
 of Thermopylae. 
 
 Tib. I8es Kuipd ttov ISidXe^ev 6 Xapos va jA irapy 
 Twpa ttov dvdl^ovv to. K/Vapta, ttov fiydv i] yrj ^oprapi. 
 
 " Behold and see what time has Charos chosen to call me hence, 
 
 Now when the branches are in bloom and the earth grows green again." 
 
 But he attributes the composition of the majority to the 
 blind rhapsodists above alluded to. The authorship of 
 the love-songs is lost for ever, the wealth of such creation 
 was too great for it to attract any particular attention, 
 and many an Anacreon of the islands sleeps, inglorious 
 though not mute. Fauriel also remarks that during his 
 sojourn at Jannina in the beginning of the century it 
 was especially the tanners who appeared to have the 
 song-making faculty, while in the country it was the 
 shepherds who most often heard them, that loved to 
 sing how the partridges were calling on the mountain. 
 As has been already pointed out, the myrologies or 
 dirges for the dead are often improvised by the 
 women, and thus forgotten as soon as sung. It is,
 
 216 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 therefore, difficult to obtain genuine specimens of such 
 compositions. 
 
 Where there is a musical accompaniment to the voice, 
 it is furnished either by a small pear-shaped fiddle with 
 three strings, held upright upon the knee and played 
 with a bow, or by the lyra, a kind of rustic mandoline 
 with five wire strings. The airs are minor and melan- 
 choly, and to our ears often unmusical, as also is the dron- 
 ing nasal singing in which the people seem to take so 
 much pleasure. The character of the music generally is 
 Oriental, and appears to be a legacy from the Turkish 
 domination ; at any rate, there is little in common 
 between the singing with which travellers in Greece are 
 familiar, and the merry tunes which I have heard shep- 
 herd boys piping in ^tolia on the reed-pipe cut from 
 the fen, and which, in that isolated mountain-land, are 
 perhaps as ancient as the form of the instrument itself. 
 
 The popular songs of Greece have an exceptional 
 value as illustrating contemporary manners, and from 
 the fact that they have preserved reminiscences of 
 ancient customs and superstitions, while the Klephtic 
 poems stand for the evidence of the ideal, behind and 
 above all the brutality and bloodshed which characterized 
 an era of resistance and revolution. For the Klephts 
 and the corsairs were the protest of liberty against the 
 tyranny of a foreign domination, and the poems in 
 which they are glorified, in which their exploits are 
 recorded with a fierce pride of approval, while all the 
 darker side is passed over with sympathetic indulgence, 
 are the voice of the humbler people, who were loyal to 
 their country's cause through a long period of struggle, 
 and who have painted their heroes not wholly as they
 
 The Popular Poetry. 217 
 
 were, but as they wanted them to be. The nobilities 
 which we might question were intensely real to them, 
 and the pathos of their sympathy is no less genuine for 
 the partiality of their judgment. A passion of national 
 hatred had blunted the natural feelings and established 
 a standard of virtues which were crimes, but side by side 
 with these, an ardent love of personal liberty, a loyalty 
 of comradeship, a stoic indifference to hardship, pain, 
 and death, still made appeal to the highest instincts of 
 mankind ; and now that the long lapse of time has 
 severed us from the actual horrors of a century of blood 
 and rapine, it is this aspect which these poems have 
 preserved to us, the witness of an ideal that never was 
 abandoned, the roses on the tomb. 
 
 In attempting to give some idea of these productions 
 of the popular muse, I have refrained, as a rule, from 
 any attempt at metrical translation, giving merely as 
 literal a rendering as is consistent with the different 
 idiom of the two languages, for the transformation into 
 English verse would inevitably entail the loss of that 
 spontaneity and simplicity which is their especial charm, 
 and would convey a false impression of their unlettered 
 art. The student of modern Greek can read them in 
 the various collections referred to, and as it is chiefly 
 the matter with which we are here concerned, I have not 
 thought it necessary to place the text beside the transla- 
 tion.
 
 218 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE KLEPHTS AND KLEPHTIC SONGS. 
 
 THE word KlepJit, of course, signifies robber, but the 
 famous Klephts of the 18th century in Greece had 
 nothing in common with the ordinary bandit, and they 
 have become as firmly established as popular heroes as 
 our own Robin Hood and William of Cloudesley, and 
 all the other outlaws of ballad poetry. A number of 
 commonplace brigands were subsequently included in 
 the category of Klephts ; and many, no doubt, of those 
 that have become popular heroes had a questionable 
 right to this distinction ; while the latter-day kings of 
 the mountain brought the name into deep discredit ; the 
 looseness, therefore, with which this name has been 
 applied, must excuse the length of the following investi- 
 gation. Moreover, considerable obscurity shrouds the 
 first institution of those armed bands of outlaws who at 
 the end of the last century made the name of Klepht 
 famous. Their history, like that of the Armatoli, is yet 
 to be written. Apart from such scanty records as are 
 available, and the popular songs in which they are 
 celebrated, there is, perhaps, something still to be 
 gleaned from oral tradition, and it is not impossible that 
 the monasteries of Thrace, Macedonia, and Epirus may 
 furnish interesting details to the patient investigator. 
 
 The first historical glimpse obtainable of such armed 
 bands takes us back to the period immediately succeed- 
 ing the Turkish conquest of Constantinople, and the
 
 The KlepJits and Klephtic Songs. 219 
 
 final extinction of the Byzantine Empire. Among the 
 most distinguished of the Greek exiles who were 
 endeavouring to secure the sympathies of Rome and 
 Europe for a new crusade against the Ottoman advance, 
 were Theodore, Bishop of Ephesus, and Nicephorus, 
 Bishop of Heraclea, one of the most eminent of 
 those Orthodox ecclesiastics who had accepted the 
 proposed union with the Roman Church at the Council 
 of Florence in 1438, a step which he, however, soon after- 
 wards retracted. When at the death of Pius II. (/Eneas 
 Sylvius) all prospects of the new crusade were at an 
 end, Nicephorus returned to the East to expiate what 
 he considered to be his crime, and spent many years 
 preaching an unsectarian gospel to Christians of either 
 communion in the pestilential prisons and galleys of 
 Constantinople, to die at last as a martyr, having his 
 limbs broken one by one with an iron mallet. His 
 former antagonist and subsequent coadjutor in the 
 cause of the Greeks, Theodore, Bishop of Ephesus, a 
 man of high spirit and unbroken resolution, disdaining 
 tamely to submit to the force of circumstances, left Italy 
 for Epirus, where he landed with no earthly goods 
 beyond his crozier and his Bible. It is recorded that he 
 found among her least accessible mountains a wild 
 shepherd race who had preserved the national traditions 
 free from all barbarian influence, and had never even 
 submitted to the Byzantine emperors. Now surrounded 
 by the hated Turks, who were gradually establishing 
 their dominion over the whole Balkan peninsula, their 
 days were passed in continual guerilla warfare with the 
 invaders. Their villages had all been burned, and they 
 made their moving camp in caverns or rude shelters
 
 220 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 built from day to day, and there on the mountain tops, 
 under the roof of heaven, they preserved the tradition of 
 liberty, and defended it with heroic fortitude. These 
 men, Christians in the midst of the advancing tide of 
 Islamism, received the Bishop with joy, and he found a 
 mission and a work to do through the remaining years 
 of his life among these early Klephts, of whom we have 
 through him some scanty knowledge. 
 
 It is said that he succeeded in softening the rugged 
 manners of these mountaineers ; that under his influence, 
 their treatment of the weak became more generous, 
 their attitude towards women more reverent ; and 
 while he never ceased to prophesy the ultimate 
 regeneration of Greece, the recovery of Constantinople, 
 and spread through the mountain fastnesses of Epirus 
 and Thessaly that ideal which never wholly died, he 
 taught them first the watchward, Xplo-ros dveaTTj, 
 " Christ has risen," the Easter greeting, which was ever 
 on the lips of those who fought for liberty, down to the 
 days of the last and final uprising. A letter of 
 Theodore to Lascaris, the saviour of learning, is 
 preserved, in which he writes, " Endeavour to rouse 
 your polished nations (to the cause), I am firing the 
 hearts of our barbarians." When at last he died, they 
 hollowed his grave among the rocks which had 
 sheltered him, and there was great sorrow as the 
 mournful tidings spread from summit to summit, along 
 the range of Pindus, and eastward to old Olympus, and 
 men came from far to beg for a scrap of his garments, 
 or a leaf from his well-worn Gospel, which were treasured 
 and revered like the relics of a saint. 1 
 
 ' Villemain, '•'Lascaris."
 
 The KlcpJits and Klephtie Songs. 221 
 
 Thus we see that already in the 15th century the 
 mountains of Pindus were occupied by bands of outlaws, 
 who lived by plunder, and who resisted with success the 
 advance of a foreign domination. But whether these 
 men were merely a race of shepherds, who clung with 
 desperate tenacity to independence, or were composed, at 
 any rate in part, of the old local militia, which in the 
 latter days of the Byzantine Empire had to some 
 extent protected the native population against Franks 
 and Servians, and now, from fear of being disbanded, had 
 taken to the mountains, it would be hard to say. 
 
 Armed bands of Greeks or Christian Albanians re- 
 appear in recorded history at the close of the 17th 
 century, fighting a gallant fight in northern Greece, 
 while Venice was driving the Turks from the Morea 
 under the victorious Morosini, when for a while it seemed 
 as though the dominion of the Crescent was on the 
 wane. The Bishop Philotheus in the Parnassus range, 
 the chieftains Kourmas in Doris, Soumilas, Vlakhos and 
 Christos Valaoritis in western Greece were the heroes of 
 a desperate struggle, which was prolonged for a space of 
 thirty years (1 684-171 5). 
 
 But it is to the beginning of the 18th century that the 
 few authentic traditions which exist about the Klephts 
 must be ascribed, This was the age of the oldest heroes 
 of popular song, Boukovalas and Christos Milionis, whose 
 name has survived in the familiar long gun of the 
 mountaineer (Milioni). 
 
 It was the policy of the Ottoman invaders to endcavour 
 to secure by special privileges the allegiance of the 
 armed bands which held out in the mountains, long after 
 the Turkish domination had been established in the
 
 222 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 plain, and to enrol those of them whose adherence they 
 could secure in the local militia ; and many writers have 
 ascribed the institution of the so-called Armatolik militia 
 to the Turkish conquerors, but it appears to be more 
 probable that the invaders found the institution already 
 developed by the Byzantine emperors, and adopted it, 
 being themselves few in number, and unable to keep 
 head against the mountain bands which remained defiant 
 without the assistance of the Armatoli. Byzantine 
 historians mention a soldier cast, known by the name of 
 u7re\dT7)<i, or " outlawed," with a distinction of outlaws of 
 the mountain and outlaws of the coast, which may perhaps 
 have corresponded to the distinction of " wild Klephts " 
 and "subject Klephts" found in Thessaly under the 
 Turkish domination. 
 
 The greater part of the Greek and semi-Greek popula- 
 tions submitted without a struggle to the Ottoman 
 occupation, but the mountaineers of Olympus and 
 Pelion, of Pindus and Agrapha maintained an armed 
 resistance to the victors. From their mountain strong- 
 holds they made constant descents to the plain to 
 pillage the invaders there established, and sometimes 
 also those of the natives who had tamely submitted ; nor 
 did they spare those monasteries which had made terms 
 and secured privileges from the new masters. Accord- 
 ing to the popular tradition, these men first received the 
 appellation of Klephts. 
 
 As time went on, the conquering Turks wearied of the 
 perpetual desultory war resulting from this state of 
 things, and offered easy terms to such of the mountain 
 clans as would accept them. In return for a small 
 tribute, they suffered them togovern themselves according
 
 The Klephts and Klephtic Songs. 223 
 
 to their own laws, and maintain a state of semi-independ- 
 ence in their mountains, carrying arms for their own 
 defence. A certain number of these clansmen, however, 
 refused all manner of terms, and continued to defy the 
 invaders throughout the Turkish occupation. The 
 others established a kind of militia, for the vindication 
 and defence of the rights accorded them ; and while on 
 the one hand they formed a barrier against the encroach- 
 ments of the Pachas, they were also made use of by the 
 latter for protection against the irreconcilable Klephts. 
 The Armatoli — for by this name the irregular militia was 
 known — and the Klephts were thus thrown into 
 antagonism, but their antagonism was more apparent 
 than real. The Armatole recognized the Klepht as his 
 kinsman, and was often upon the best of terms with 
 him ; while the Turk, to whom he owed allegiance, was 
 his natural enemy. If he quarrelled with his masters, 
 he fled at once to the mountains, and thus sometimes 
 whole companies would desert together, and resume the 
 title of Klepht, which soon grew to be an honourable 
 distinction. When once such a band had taken to the 
 mountains, there was no difficulty in finding recruits 
 among the vanquished but resentful population. 
 
 The history of the Armatoli is still to be written, and 
 of their constitution but little has been recorded as 
 yet. The Ottoman government is said originally to 
 have recognized fourteen Armatoliks ; at another time it 
 would appear as if only seven Capitanliks had existed in 
 northern Greece. The institution was never introduced 
 into the Peloponnese. The captain of each body was 
 known as the Protaton or Armatolik, and these posts 
 were generally hereditary in certain families. The
 
 224 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 soldiers were known as Pallikars, and the lieutenant or 
 second in command as the Protopallikar. They wore 
 the Albanian dress, and were indeed very many of them 
 of the Albanian race. For the Christian Albanians 
 gradually identified themselves with the Greeks, and 
 under the Turkish occupation, as at the time of the 
 final uprising against it, race feeling was of less import- 
 ance than the association of creeds. 
 
 The Armatoli were at first entrusted with the care of 
 the highways, but as they became more formidable, a 
 new Ottoman functionary was appointed, under the title 
 of Dervenipacha, or " Warden of the Passes," having 
 under his orders a second militia composed of the rival 
 element and very largely of Mussulman Albanians, 
 commanded by captains known as Derveniagas. After 
 the peace of Belgrade in 1739, the Sultan initiated the 
 policy of curtailing the numbers, and diminishing the 
 powers of the Christian Armatoli, taking advantage of 
 the feuds between the captains to supplant them with 
 Mussulman Albanians. In 1787 the famous Ali of 
 Tepelen filled the office of Dervenipacha, and carried 
 cut this policy with remarkable success, reducing the 
 influence of the Armatoli to a mere shadow, and even 
 encouraging the Klephts, in order to provide an excuse 
 for introducing more Mussulman troops into the 
 Armatoliks without actually abrogating their charters. 
 With the decline of the Armatoli the importance of the 
 Klephts increased, and the policy of Ali drove a great 
 number of the former to the mountains, so that from 
 this time forth the names are readily confused, in fact, it 
 maybe said that Ali ended by making all the Armatoli into 
 Kelphts, and the old distinction virtually passed away.
 
 The Klephts and Klephtic Songs. 225 
 
 In spite of the large preponderance in numbers, the better 
 arms and ample resources of his Albanians, they were not 
 more than a match for the Klephts, and the difficulty of 
 dealing with an enemy which never admitted itself to be 
 beaten, induced Ali to adopt those treacherous methods 
 which have made his name a byword. The battle was 
 henceforth not for privileges, but for existence. 
 
 The Klephtic bands varied in numbers from fifty to two 
 and three hundred. They had no fixed quarters, but 
 there was generally some rendezvous, some station high 
 up towards a mountain summit approached by an almost 
 inaccessible gorge, where they would from time to time 
 re-muster, where they concealed their plunder and their 
 ammunition. Such stations were known as Limcria. 
 Limeri is a contraction of o\t)v i)aepav (all the day), for 
 their forays and marches were generally made after 
 darkness had fallen. On moonless and stormy nights 
 they set out from the Limeri to pillage and destroy, 
 sparing theoretically the property of their own country- 
 men, though the principle was by no means always 
 adhered to in practice, and frequently carrying off the 
 Turkish Beys and Agas, whom they retained in captivity 
 till a ransom was forthcoming ; and while they did not 
 spare the monks and bishops who had made peace with 
 the invader, they showed the utmost veneration for 
 churches and relics, and were never known to have 
 abandoned their religion even to save their lives. 2 
 
 2 Their attitude towards the Church is illustrated by the saying of Lord 
 Byron's Greek guide quoted in one of his letters : " Our religion is good, 
 but our priests are all thieves." This was, however, overstated, for some 
 of the most disinterested leaders in the national movement were draw n 
 from the ranks of the Church. 
 
 With regard to distinctive treatment in favour of their own countrymen on
 
 226 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 They knew every gorge and angle of the mountains, 
 over which they moved with extraordinary rapidity, 
 being thus enabled frequently to defeat bodies vastly 
 superior in numbers by drawing them on into a trap, 
 from which there was no exit, and then shooting them 
 down from posts of vantage. Their spare time in the 
 Limeri was spent in practising their aim, and in 
 gymnastic exercises, consequently they wasted but little 
 powder, firing from their concealment, behind boulders 
 of rock, or any available shelter, and fighting each man 
 for himself, without definite plan or tactics. They are 
 even said to have developed a skill and a rapidity of 
 eye, which enabled them at night to aim at the flash of 
 their enemy's gun with deadly success. At night they 
 lay on the ground by the torrent bed with their arms, 
 their ammunition, and the bread they eat, rolled up in 
 pitched canvas. They were indifferent to hunger, 
 thirst, and want of sleep, and their capacity for 
 physical endurance, through running fights which 
 lasted for two and three days together, was extra- 
 ordinary. The spirit of comradeship, and of personal 
 devotion to one another, was exemplary ; and not less 
 remarkable was their firmness in capture and courage 
 under the torture. To fall into the Pacha's hands was 
 their especial dread, or to be mutilated after death by 
 their enemies, and instances are quoted where in direst 
 
 the part of the Klephts, Colonel Leake, on the authority of the Bishop of 
 Jannina, tells a curious story of the men of Khormova, whose operations 
 were mostly in the Pass of Tepelen, near the site of the ancient oracle at 
 Dodona. They used to place a priest in a hollow oak, and bring their 
 prisoners to the tree for judgment. If he were a Mussulman, the voice 
 from the tree ordered him to be stripped and hung. If a Christian, his Hie 
 was spared, but he was generally stripped of all that he had.
 
 The KlcpJits and KlcpJitic Songs. 227 
 
 need a comrade would decapitate the fallen Klepht, 
 that the head might not be carried off in evidence of 
 triumph. Death in the field was the best end they 
 could anticipate, and though towards women of all 
 denominations they showed a marked respect, with 
 Mussulmans they neither gave nor accepted quarter. 
 
 In the winter many of these bands were obliged to 
 disperse, when snow rendered the higher ranges unin- 
 habitable, and conceal themselves among the peaceful 
 populations, hiding their weapons away in caves. Many 
 of them passed over regularly to the Ionian Islands, where 
 under the rule of Venice they were secure from the 
 reach of their enemies. 
 
 Their affection for the mountains, where they lived in 
 perpetual communion with nature, became a passion, 
 and those who had once taken to the nomad life of the 
 marauder became unfitted for any other. It is not 
 strange that the sympathies of the down-trodden people 
 were with them, in spite of the personal losses entailed 
 by their raids, and that in a country with great traditions, 
 but hopeless of deliverance, these men who kept alive the 
 flame of liberty became the national heroes — the sub- 
 jects of a thousand songs. Among the Klephts of latter 
 days were doubtless plenty of Mussulman renegades, 
 and many were more powerfully inspired by the hope of 
 plunder than the sentiment of patriotism, but the 
 popular songs are evidence that the latter feeling was 
 keenly present, and that the better ideal behind the 
 actual was never quite forgotten. 3 
 
 3 Finlay, whose personal bitterness leads him into several contradictions, 
 and often blinds him to all save the faults of the Greeks, has contended in 
 his history that the folk-poetry of the Greeks was neither national nor 
 
 Q - 1
 
 228 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 If the authorship of the Klephtic poems is for the 
 most part to be attributed to the blind beggars who in 
 times gone by frequented the village fairs, their naive 
 and artless spontaneity is accounted for by the fact that 
 they were composed by men who could neither read nor 
 write, and had no literary knowledge. There is, however, 
 one poet of the people, whose name is preserved, 
 together with a considerable number of rhymes. Panag- 
 hiotes Tsopanakos, the dwarf of Dimitzana in Arkadia, 
 was born at the close of the last century, and grew up 
 amidst the stirring scenes of the Greek revolution. 
 Being prevented by the infirmity of his body from tak- 
 ing an active part in the struggle, like Tyrtaeus of old 
 he inspired his countrymen with martial songs, and was 
 the protege of the well-known Captain Niketaras. He 
 died in 1825, at the age of thirty-six. 
 
 The eight poems, of which the renderings follow, are 
 all of general import, and explain themselves. The first 
 is among the most famous in Greece. The translation 
 is from the text of Fauriel, who considers it to be among 
 the oldest ; Passow has two slightly different versions. 
 
 MOUNT OLYMPUS. 
 
 Olympus and Kissavos, the two mountains, were at strife, 
 Thereon Olympus turned and cried to Kissavos : 
 " Revile me not, O Kissavos, trampled by Turkish feet ! 4 
 I am the old Olympus, in all the world renowed ; 
 
 influential. The mere fact of the existence of such poetry at all does not 
 strike him as remarkable. His opinion is, however, not supported by the 
 testimony of other and less biassed foreign historians of modern Greece. 
 
 4 The word here is nov<.a.poira.T7}ij.{ve : the Turks in Macedonia and 
 Thessaly were called by the Greek Kovi&pLdes, or Iconians, a name which 
 calls to mind the most ancient capital of the Turkish power in Asia 
 Minor. In Passow's version the word is TovpKoiraT7)p.ive.
 
 The KlepJits and Klephtic Songs. 229 
 
 I have two and forty summits and two and sixty springs — 
 
 For each spring I have a banner, for every branch a Klephi ; 
 
 Upon my highest summit an eagle is alit, 
 
 And in her talons she holds a hero's head. 
 
 ' O head, what hast thou done to be entreated so ?' — 
 
 1 Feed on, O bird, upon my youth, and feast upon my manhood, 
 
 Thy wing will grow a cubit long, and thy talon to a span. 
 
 I was a Armatole in Louros and Xerome'ros, 5 
 
 And twelve years through a Klepht on Khasia and Olympus : 
 
 I have killed sixty Agas, and I have burned their villages, 
 
 And for the rest, Turks and Albanians, that I have left laid low, 
 
 They are many in number, bird, and never have been counted ; 
 
 And then to me my turn came too to perish in the fight.' ' : 
 
 THE KLEPHTS PARTING. 6 
 
 The mother plied her weeding, her son was at her side, 
 
 And all the while she counselled him, and all the while she taught: 
 
 " My son, despise not wisdom, if thou wouldst make thy way." 
 
 And thus her son made answer, and thus her son replied : 
 
 " I have told thee, O my mother, I can serve no Turk as slave, 
 
 I cannot and I know not how, my heart here gathers moss. 
 
 I will shoulder my rifle, get hence and turn a Klepht, 
 
 Will dwell among the mountains, and on the lofty ridges ; 
 
 Grow familiar with the gorges, and have converse with wild beasts, 
 
 Will have the snows for cover, the rugged rocks for bed, 
 
 Will make my winter station the Limeri of the Klephts. 
 
 I go, my mother ; do not weep, but only bid me speed, 
 
 And pray, my little mother, that I may slay many a Turk ; 
 
 And do thou plant a rose-tree, and plant a dusky clove, 
 
 And water them with sugar, and water them with musk. 
 
 So long they blosom, mother, so long they put forth flowers, 
 
 This son of thine will not be dead, but meet the Turks in battle 
 
 But if the day of sorrow, the bitter day should come, 
 
 5 The ancient Acarnania. 
 ,; Lelekos,
 
 230 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 If the two trees fade together, and if their flowers fall, 
 Then I too shall be smitten, and thou shalt wear the black." 
 
 Twelve years went by, and fifteen months went after, 
 Through which the rose-tree flourished, and ever new buds bloomed, 
 Till on one morning of the spring, upon a first of May, 
 When all the birds are singing and heaven is full of smiles, 
 There came a sudden lightning flash, thunder and darkness 
 
 followed ; 
 The clove-tree groaned aloud, and the rose-tree shed tears ; 
 In a moment both were withered, and all the flowers dropped ; 
 And, with the flowers, lifeless his wretched mother fell. 
 
 THE SONG OF THE DREAM OF DIMOS. 7 
 
 Did I not tell thee, Dimos ? Did I not say it three times and five? 
 Humble the pride of thy turban, and cover thy martial trappings, 8 
 Lest the Albanians get sight of thee, mark thee down and slay 
 
 thee, 
 For all this silver's sake, and for thou art so proud. 
 The cuckoos call on the mountains, the partridges on the mountain 
 
 flanks, 
 And there's a little bird discoursing over the head of Dimos. 
 But her voice is not a bird's voice, nor the voice of any swallow, 
 It is a little human voice she speaks with : 
 
 "Why are you so pale, O Dimos, and why look you so forlorn?" 9 
 " Little bird, since thou inquirest, I will tell thee — 
 I had turned back to rest awhile, to take a spell of slumber, 
 And I saw in my slumber, the slumber I lay deep in, 
 I saw the heaven troubled, and all the stars blood-red, 
 And my Damascus sword blade was also dyed with blood." 
 
 7 Fauriel. 
 
 8 " Trappings " = Tcrairpagia, silver ornaments worn on the cloth 
 gaiters or greaves as protection to the knee. 
 
 9 " Forlorn " = a.paxviafffj.ivo$, a very picturesque word, and character- 
 istic of the popular muse, which means literally covered with spiders' webs, 
 hence neglected, forlorn. *
 
 The Klephts and KUphtic Songs. 231 
 
 THE SICK KLEPHT. 1 
 
 We were forty Klephts together, forty brave Pallikars — 
 
 We had good bread for food, and tender goats' flesh, 
 
 We drank good wine . . . . - 
 
 And we made oath upon the cross, and by the Gospel, 
 
 If one fell sick amongst us, that we would not desert him ; 
 
 And the bravest of us all fell sick, the worthiest Pallikar : — 
 
 For forty days they carried him, forty days and nights together ; 
 
 But his shoulders withered, he could hold his arms no longer. 
 
 .... and one said to the other : 3 
 
 " Brothers, shall we deny him ; brothers, shall we forsake him ?" 
 
 But he perceived their thoughts, he knew what they were saying. 
 
 " Brothers, do not forsake me ; do not deny me, brothers ; 
 
 But bear me on the mountain, and right up to the summit, 
 
 Cut branches, lay me down there, cut myrtles, stretch me on them, 
 
 Then turn my face towards the ground, that I may not see you pass. 
 
 And do not tell my mother the manner of my death, _ 
 
 But tell her, tell my mother, that I have taken service, 
 
 Against the Barbary folk, the Turkish fleet, enlisted, 
 
 And that I died in battle, sword in hand." 
 
 THE KLEPHT'S FAREWELL. « 
 
 " Go down to the shore beneath, down there to the seashore, 
 
 And let thy hands serve thee for oars, thy chest for a rudder, 
 
 And thy nimble body let it be thy boat ! 
 
 If God and the Virgin aid thee to swim, to reach the other side, 
 
 To arrive at our Limeri, where we were used to take counsel, 
 
 Where one day we roasted the two goats, Floras and Tombras, 
 
 If there any of our comrades should question thee about me, 
 
 Then say not I have perished, am dead with my evil star, 
 
 Say only that I have married in a lonely foreign land ; 
 
 That I have taken the flat stone to be my mother-indaw, 
 
 The side-stones for my brothers-indaw, and the black earth for wife." 
 
 1 Legrand. 
 
 2 3 The rest of these two lines is wanting in the text. 
 4 Fauriel.
 
 232 The Customs and Love of Modern Greece. 
 
 THE TOMB OF THE KLEPHT. 5 
 
 The sun was setting, and Dimos gave command : 
 " My sons, go and fetch water, water for your evening meal ; 
 And thou, my nephew Lamprakis, sit down there by my side ; 
 Take these my arms and put them on, be captain in my place ; 
 And you, my children, take my sword, my sword that has no 
 
 master, 
 Cut down green branches and make me a bed to lie on, 
 And bring me a holy monk that I may confess me, 
 That I may tell him all the sins I ever sinned. 
 I was thirty years an Armatole, and twenty years a Klepht, 
 And now the day of death has come, and I am about to die. 
 Make my grave broad and build it lofty, 
 
 That I may stand erect to fight and load my gun beside me ; 
 And leave a window open on my right, 
 
 That the swallow may come there and bring me back the spring, 
 That nightingales may sing me in the merry month of May." 
 
 THE GRAVE'S VOICE. 6 
 
 We had drunk all Saturday, and Sunday all day long, 
 
 And on the Monday morning our wine had all been drunk. 
 
 The captain sent me to go and fetch more wine. 
 
 A stranger in the country, I did not know my way; 
 
 So I went by devious paths, unfriendly narrow roads; 
 
 And these narrow roads led me to a high hillock, 
 
 And it was full of graves, and all of Pallikars : 
 
 But one of them was all alone, a way off from the rest ; 
 
 I saw it not, and stepped on it, and walked upon the head. 
 
 I heard a voice, a thunder, from the world where are the dead ; 
 
 " What ails thee, grave, to make complaint, to groan so loud and 
 
 long? 
 Does earth weigh heavy on thee, earth or the great black stone ?" 
 
 5 Fauriel. 
 
 6 The text is Fauriel 's. Passow has also a version of this song, containing 
 several additional lines dealing with the exploits of the buried Klepht, but 
 the effect is stronger and more suggestive, terminating as in Fauriel's text.
 
 The Klephts and Klephtic Songs. 233 
 
 " It is not that earth weighs heavy, nor yet the great black stone, 
 
 But sorrow and affront it is, and grief to me and pain, 
 
 That thou has dealt contemptuously with me, and walked upon my 
 
 head. 
 Was not I once a young man too, was I not a Pallikar ? 
 Did I not walk at night of old by the light of the moon ?," 
 
 THE KLEPHT'S LIFE. 7 
 
 Night is black upon the mountains, 
 Snow falls in the ravines, 
 Where ways are wild and gloomy, 
 Through rocks abrupt and gorges, 
 The Klepht unsheathes his sword. 
 
 And in his right hand naked 
 He bears the lightning flash, 
 The mountains are his palaces, 
 He has the sky for cover, 
 He has his gun for hope. 
 
 The pallid tyrants flee 
 Before his dreadful sword ; 
 His bread is steeped with sweat, 
 He knows how to live with honour, 
 He knows too how to die. 
 
 In the world fraud has her way, 
 And injustice, so wills fate, 
 The wicked are the wealthy ; 
 But here upon the mountains 
 Sequestered virtue dwells. 
 
 This fine poem is too long to quote in entirety. 
 There follows a dramatic picture of the young Klepht 
 bidding his mother farewell, and making his way to the 
 mountains. A shot is fired, the battle opens, and they 
 have killed the Klepht. 
 
 7 Marcellus,
 
 234 The Customs and Lore of Modern Gi'eece. 
 
 His comrades with uncovered head 
 March back with him lamenting, 
 And thus they sing together : 
 "The Klepht he lives unfettered, 
 The Kelpht unfettered dies." 
 
 One of the oldest of the Klephtic heroes celebrated in 
 popular song was Janni Boukovalas, who was Proto- 
 pallikar in the band of Stathas, a chieftain of the Valtos 
 and Agrapha. In 1767, at the head of three hundred 
 Armatoli, he routed at Kerasovo the forces despatched 
 against him by Kourt Pacha, under Mourto Khouso, the 
 the grandfather of Ali of Tepelen. Later he fought 
 under the Russian flag, and being wounded in a combat 
 with the Turks at Eleusis, died at Salamis. His victory 
 over the Bey of Tepelen is recorded in the following 
 poem, of which several variants occur in the different 
 collections : — 
 
 BOUKOVALAS. 
 
 What noise is this, what mighty tumult ? 
 
 Are they slaughtering oxen, or are wild beast at battle ? 
 
 They are not slaughtering oxen, nor are wild beast at battle ; 
 
 Boukovalas is fighting with fifteen hundred Turks. 
 
 The guns rattle like rain, the bullets fall like hail, 
 
 A fair girl calls from the window : 
 
 " Let the combat cease ; O Janni, stay the firing ! 
 
 The dust will drop, the mist will draw away, 
 
 And we will count thy band to see how many remain ! " 
 
 The Turks have called the muster over three times — there are five 
 
 hundred missing. 
 The sons of the Klephts call the muster — there are but three braves 
 
 missing : 
 There's one has gone for water, and ome has gone for bread, 
 The third, he was the bravest one, lies dead across his gun
 
 The Klephts and Klephtic Songs. 235 
 
 Of sea-fights and corsair songs there are but few to 
 hand, but the following poem which records the victory 
 at Kassandra in 1772 of Janni Stathas, the son of 
 the Stathas above referred to, may be placed appro- 
 priately after the song of Boukovalas. 
 
 JANNI STATHAS. 9 
 
 A black ship was skirting the coast of Kassandra — 
 
 Black sails made shadow over her, and a flag blue as the sky : 
 
 A corvette comes to meet her with a red flag flying. 
 
 " Heave to !" she cries ; and " furl the sails," says she ; 
 
 " Heave to ! not I ; nor will I furl my sail ; 
 
 Do you take me for a newly-married bride to do you reverence? 1 
 
 My name is Janni Stathas, the son-in-law of Boukovalas ! 
 
 Let go the anchor, my brave lads, and face her with the prow : 
 
 Let the blood of the Moslem flow, spare not the unbelievers ! " 
 
 The Turks tack round and come about ; 
 
 Janni leaps on board the first, his sabre in his hand, 
 
 The blood runs down upon the ballast, and all the sea grows red, 
 
 And the infidels surrender, crying " Allah ! Allah ! " 
 
 Another member of the same group was known by 
 the nickname of Ghiphtakis, or " little gipsy," he was 
 killed in battle, fighting against Jousouf the " blood- 
 drinker," a lieutenant of Ali Pacha of Tepelen. 
 
 GHIPHTAKIS. 2 
 
 The fields are athirst for water, the mountains long for snow, 
 The falcons for little birds, and the Turks for (slaughtered) heads. 
 " What has become of the mother of Ghiphtakis, 
 
 9 Fauriel. 
 
 1 Alluding to the demure and modest attitude hecoming a young bride. 
 See p. 93. 
 
 2 Fauriel.
 
 236 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 She who aforetime lost her two sons, and her brother makes a 
 
 third, 
 And who now goes wandering witless and laments ? 
 She is seen no more in the lowlands, nor among the mountains." 
 " They say that she went by here, has gone to the shepherds' 
 
 villages, 
 And the rattle of musketry was heard there, the terrible thunder. 
 It was not for a wedding or a village feast it thundered, 
 But Ghiphtakis was wounded in the hand and in the knee. 
 He staggered like a tree, and fell like a cypress, 
 He gave a mighty cry, brave Pallikar that he was : 
 'Where art thou, my good brother, my well-beloved? 
 Come back and take me up, or (at least) bear off my head, 
 That Jousouf Arab and his soldiers may not get it, 
 And bear it off to Jannina to Ali Pasha, the dog.'" 
 
 But more famous than any of these, most renowned 
 of all Klephts, was Androutzos, father of the well-known 
 Odysseus, and adoptive son of another veteran warrior 
 Vlacho-thanasi, whose myrology he thus sung : — 
 
 " They have killed five braves of mine, and Vlacho-thanasi, 
 They have broken me five ribs and my right shoulder." 
 
 Androutzos, or Andn'kos, whose real name was Andreas 
 Verousis, was early named captain of the Armatoli in 
 the province of Livadia, and was driven by the attempt 
 to suppress this ancient institution to take to the 
 mountains and become a Klepht. When in 1769 the 
 Morea, relying on the co-operation of Russia, made an 
 abortive attempt to rise against the Turkish domination, 
 he threw himself into the movement. A Russian 
 squadron under Alexis Orloff had appeared on the coast 
 and disembarked six or seven hundred men, who 
 occupied Navarino, whereas the Mainotes, who were to
 
 The Klephts and KlcpJitic Songs. 237 
 
 act in concert, expected the support of six or seven 
 thousand. The Russians were equally surprised to find 
 the Greeks totally unprepared, and many of them even 
 without arms. Androutzos with between two and three 
 hundred men set out to join the rising ; he crossed the 
 Isthmus without opposition, and hastened to effect a 
 union with the Greco-Russian force. But the latter had 
 already dispersed ; the Russians had re-embarked, the 
 compromised Greeks were hiding in the mountains, or 
 had sought a refuge on the Russian ships, while 
 thousands of Turkish and Albanian troops were on the 
 march to quell the rising. Androutzos had to retreat 
 through the very midst of this army. He obtained a 
 firman from the Pacha of Tripolitza, guaranteeing the 
 safe return of his little band ; but on reaching the 
 Isthmus he fell in with a considerable number of the 
 Turko-Albanian troops, who attacked him. He succeeded 
 in repulsing their attack, but was unable to cut his way 
 through the large body of the enemy which occupied 
 the direct road home, and was therefore compelled to 
 take a line due west along the southern shore of the 
 Gulf of Corinth. The smallness of his band compelled 
 them to remain perpetually on the alert, and their march 
 was one continual running fight through the mountains, 
 with little food and no sleep. The spirits of his 
 followers began to flag, but the indomitable energy of 
 Androutzos sustained them, and, arriving safely at 
 Vostitza, they were enabled to take up a very strong 
 position before the Turks attacked them in full force. 
 
 The battle lasted three days and nights without 
 intermission, and the extraordinary vigour and training 
 of the mountaineers enabled them to keep it up without
 
 238 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 repose ; at last, early on the morning of the fourth day, 
 when the Turks thought their resources were quite 
 exhausted, Androutzos issued from his lair and fell 
 upon them. A desperate hand-to-hand fight ensued, 
 and, incredible as it may appear, the Turks are said, in 
 the panic, to have lost some 3,000 men ; while of the 
 little band of Klephts a fourth part were killed ; the 
 chief part of the enemy's stores and baggage fell into 
 their hands. They had tasted no food for three days, 
 and food was all that they took of the spoil ; then 
 entering Vostitza, they found some ships of Zante and 
 Cephalonia, on board of which they embarked for 
 Preveza, at that time under the protection of Venice. 3 
 
 With the amnesty which accompanied the peace of 
 Kainardji, he returned to Livadia and resumed the 
 habits of the Klepht, fighting with the Suliotes against 
 Ali Pacha ; but after the peace of Jassi, the Suliotes 
 retired into their mountains, whither the vengeance of 
 Ali was not slow to follow them, and Androutzos, pro- 
 scribed once more, took refuge again at Preveza. He 
 determined to make a voyage to Russia, the power on 
 which the patriots of Greece at this moment had con- 
 centrated all their hopes ; but upon his landing at 
 Cattaro, he was seized by the Venetian authorities, who 
 were now coquetting with Turkey, and despatched in 
 the first available Turkish ship to Constantinople. It is 
 asserted that he was offered his liberty if he would 
 become a Mussulman, but that he indignantly refused. 
 
 3 Finlay, in his account of the Russian expedition under the two Orloffs 
 and Admiral Elphinston, studiously avoids all mention of the gallant 
 retreat of Androutzos, to which, however, other historians have done 
 ample justice ; among others, Villemain in his " Essai sur l'etat des Grecs 
 depuis la conquete Musulmane."
 
 The Klephts and Kkphtic Songs. 239 
 
 The mountain eagle's wings were clipped, but his spirit 
 remained unbroken ; and thus betrayed by Venice and 
 abandoned by Russia, he languished in a Turkish prison 
 until his death, which occurred about the beginning of 
 the century. 
 
 Among the songs which celebrate his exploits, there 
 is one most characteristic of the genius of Greek 
 popular poetry, in which the mountains arraign the 
 plains that have stolen their hero from them, when the 
 chieftain had descended from his lair on some one of his 
 expeditions. This song, however, will hardly bear 
 translation, the spirit and the expression are too closely 
 wedded ; at its close, the summit of Liakoura (Parnassus) 
 cries : — 
 
 . . . . " Plain of pestilence, plain of desolation, 
 Didst thou think to deck thyself in my bravery ? 
 Surrender this thy glory, and give me back my bravery, 
 Or I will melt my snows upon thee, and turn thee to a sea." 
 
 There is another fragment 4 : — 
 
 The mother of Andrikos is mourning, the mother of Andn'kos 
 
 weeps ; 
 And oft she turns to the mountains, and arraigns them one and all : 
 "Wild mountains of Agrapha, crests of the mountains of Agrapha, 
 What have you done with my dear son, with Andrikos the 
 
 captain ? 
 Where can he be that all this summer has not seen him? 
 Neither Aspropotamos nor Karpenisi have heard of him : 
 My curse on you, ye elders ; my curse on you, Black George ! 
 It was you that sped my son away, the bravest of the brave. 
 O rivers, straighten in your beds, or let your streams run back, 
 And open the road for Andrikos to come again to Karpenisi." 
 
 4 l'auriel.
 
 240 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Another favourite hero of the Klephtic songs, who 
 also with Vlachavas and Astrapojannis has been since 
 immortalized in the " Mnemosyna " of Valaoritis, was 
 the intrepid and audacious Vlachiote, Katzantonis. The 
 story of his death illustrates the capacity of endurance 
 and the indifference to physical suffering manifested by 
 these men of the mountains. Between 1805 and 1806 
 the principal Armatolik chieftains of the Pindus and 
 ^Etolia had assembled together at the summons of Count 
 Jean Capodistria in Santa Maura, to concert a common 
 plan of action for the furtherance of the idea which was 
 then fermenting in the hearts of the Greeks and their 
 sympathizers. AH Pacha, who was at that time engaged 
 in the suppression of the Armatoli, under the instructions 
 of the Porte, assembled a numerous force in the Ambra- 
 cian Gulf, and himself lay in wait for the conspiring 
 chieftains at Preveza. An attack on the island was 
 anticipated, and Katzantonis was appointed to the com- 
 mand of the irregular forces which had accompanied 
 their chieftains to Santa Maura. He conceived the 
 audacious plan of carrying the war into the enemy's 
 quarters, and was on the point of crossing to the main- 
 land when he was struck down by small-pox. As soon 
 as he had partially recovered, he escaped from Santa 
 Maura, and with his brother George made his way to 
 Agrapha and the Thessalian border, intending there to 
 muster forces and create a diversion on the mainland. 
 After a few days spent in a monastery, fearing treachery, 
 with cause, as the event proved, they retired to a cave in 
 the mountains, where they were betrayed by the priest 
 who supplied them with food. Sixty Albanians, under 
 the redoutable Jousouf Arab, surrounded their refuge.
 
 The Klephts and Klephtic Songs. 241 
 
 The Klephtic chieftain, who had had a relapse, was too 
 weak to fight himself, but his brother George, bearing 
 him on his shoulders, issued from the cavern after clear- 
 ing a road with his rifle, and literally cut his way- 
 through their assailants, but was eventually overpowered 
 in the open and made prisoner with his brother. All 
 efforts to extort the names of the promoters of the move- 
 ment were vain, and the two brothers were sentenced to 
 have their limbs broken with a mallet. It is recorded 
 that while the torture was being inflicted, Katzantonis 
 was overheard crying to the Mussulmans who stood 
 round him looking on, that they would not dare to 
 stand so near if his legs were still unbroken. One of the 
 best known Klephtic songs is the following short one 
 recording the capture of Katzantonis : — 
 
 " Farewell, ye lofty mountains, and you cool springs, farewell ! 
 And you Tsoumeria and Agrapha, the shelters of the Klepht ; 
 If ye should see my wife, and should ye see my son, 
 Then tell them how they took me by treachery and fraud : 
 They found me lying sick, unarmed upon my bed, 
 Like an infant in its cradle, bound fast in swaddling clothes. 
 You two must be my witnesses, and you must bear record 
 What hosts of Turks I fought against, and ever was victorious, 
 My gun called Panic, and my sword called Fear ! " 5 
 
 There is no lack of song from the popular muse 
 celebrating the episodes and heroes of the final 
 outbreak, but the genuine inspiration rather belongs 
 to the older period, when the unself-conscious popular 
 lyre was the only lyre of Greece. The later poems miss 
 the spontaneous ring, the natural touch of the genuine 
 Klephtic song. In other moods, the poetic achievement 
 
 5 Lelckos. 
 
 R
 
 242 The Customs and Lore of Alodem Greece. 
 
 of Greece since the beginning of the century has been 
 remarkable, since the latent force, revealed in a partial 
 degree in these untutored efforts, has had free vent and 
 play. 
 
 Meanwhile, in Greece itself the song of the Klepht is 
 heard no more, the old sources of inspiration have ceased 
 with the pulsations which kept them alive. Perhaps 
 still in Sphakia, in the mountains of Crete, where a spirit 
 akin to the old Klephtic protest still survives, such songs 
 may yet be heard. A number dating from former 
 periods of insurrection and ferment have been collected, 
 but the Cretan muse is more diffuse, and they are most 
 of them too long for quotation. There is, however, one 
 savage little quatrain which is still remembered in 
 Sphakia, and with it this chapter may fitly close : — 
 
 " When spring takes hold of earth again, and when the summer 
 
 comes, 
 Then I will take my rifle, my silver-mounted pistols, 
 I will go down to Omalos, the highway of Mousouri, 
 I will make the mothers childless, and motherless the sons."
 
 243 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE SAGA OF SULI. 
 
 The story of Suli occupies an important place in the 
 folk-poetry of the early part of the century. Its fortunes 
 became identified with those of Hellenism, and, when it 
 fell, the scattered remnant of its people devoted their 
 swords to the cause of Greece. The heroic struggle of 
 the little commonwealth over a number of years against 
 all the resources and ingenuity of Ali Pacha is very 
 stirring and full of episode ; and, since it is rapidly 
 passing away among things forgotten, the Iliad of Suli 
 may well be told again. 
 
 Soon after the failure of the Orloff expedition, referred 
 to in connection with the career of Androutzos, there 
 arose upon the scene an extraordinary man, who was 
 destined to exercise no little influence, both directly 
 and indirectly, upon the fortunes of the Greeks. The 
 methods are well known by which Ali, the son of a Bey 
 of Tepelen, a Tosk Albanian, whose utmost ambition 
 had been to preserve for himself a revenue of forty 
 purses paid him by the district of Zagora, took advan- 
 tage of the semi-feudal and wholly anarchical condition 
 of Epirus to centre in his own person the authority 
 which had been exercised by his victims, until he had 
 gradually acquired the sovereignty over a population of 
 nearly two million Albanians, Greeks, and Turks, in 
 Acarnania, Livadia, Arta, and Prevesa — as well as 
 Macedonia — with the titles of Vizir of Jannina and 
 
 R 2
 
 244 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Tricala. When he was at the height of his power, there 
 remained, however, within the immediate vicinity of 
 Jannina, in the mountains of Chamouri, a military 
 population which still ventured to deny his authority, 
 and maintain their own time-honoured independence. 
 
 The policy of Turkey throughout the century had 
 been the gradual weakening of the powerful Armatoli 
 in Greece and Epirus ; the attempt to withdraw, little 
 by little, privileges which were becoming dangerous, 
 and to supplant the Christian bands with a new 
 Mussulman militia. No more zealous agent for this 
 object could be found than Ali of Tepelen, who, in 
 1787, was appointed Dervenipacha, or Warden of the 
 Passes, with a tolerably free hand. The Suliotes, who 
 apprehended the fate which was in store for them, 
 uniting with several bands of Klephts from Thessaly, 
 and notably with that of the famous Androutzos, 
 descended from their mountains, and, trusting in the 
 assistance which they fondly anticipated from the Phil- 
 hellenic sentiments of the Empress Catherine, took the 
 initiative by attacking the armies of Ali, who was able 
 to dispose of from ten to twelve thousand trained 
 Albanians, and gained considerable successes against 
 forces very superior numerically. The sovereigns of 
 Europe were, however, at this period, too much disturbed 
 by the outbreak of the French Revolution and subsequent 
 developments to take their eyes off their own immediate 
 interests ; and the Suliotes, finding themselves without 
 prospect of support, retired into their mountains to await 
 the vengeance of Ali. The fate of Androutzos has been 
 already recorded. 
 
 The origin of the Suliotes is lost in obscurity. A
 
 The Saga of Suli. 245 
 
 work, written by a native of Parga, entitled " A Concise 
 History of Suli and of Parga," which is dated 1801, 
 professes to be able to trace their history back for 150 
 years. The chief families traced their origin to different 
 villages and districts ; and, though their language was 
 Greek, they appear to have consisted, for the most part, 
 of Christian Albanians, with a small admixture of 
 Greeks, who, flying from the oppression of the invaders, 
 had taken refuge in the well-nigh inaccessible mountains 
 of Chamouri (Chimari), and had there established a 
 curious patriarchal community. In former times, Suli 
 was a Spahilik ; the Haratch and the dues of the Spahi 
 were regularly paid by the various villages ; but the last 
 Spahi of Suli, Bekir Bey, was imprisoned and put to 
 death by Ali, who had failed by other means to obtain 
 the Spahilik for himself. 
 
 Colonel Leake thus describes the famous gorge of 
 Suli. 1 " At the end of the pass," he says, " formed by 
 the hollow between the mountain of Suli and the hill 
 of Trypa, stands the ruined village of Avariko, from 
 whence there is a descent into a deep ravine, formed 
 by the meeting of the two great mountains of Suli and 
 Tzikurates — one of the darkest and the deepest of the 
 glens of Greece. On either side rise perpendicular rocks, 
 in the midst of which are little intervals of scanty soil, 
 bearing holly-oaks, ilices, and other shrubs, and which 
 admit occasionally a view of the higher summits of the 
 two mountains, covered with oaks, and, at the summit 
 of all, with pines. Here the road is passable only on 
 foot, by a perilous ledge along the side of the mountain 
 of Suli, terminating at a narrow opening, where the 
 1 Leake, " Travels in Northern Greece," vol. i.
 
 246 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 Acheron enters the defile from the vale of Tervitziana. 
 The river in the pass is deep and rapid, and is seen at 
 the bottom falling, in many places, in cascades over the 
 rocks, though at too great a distance to be heard, and in 
 most places inaccessible to any but the foot of a goat or 
 a Suliote." A fit setting for one of the grimmest fights 
 that was ever fought, that gloomy gorge, which rises 
 from the river of death, running silent from very distance 
 in the depths below. 
 
 At the time when they became conspicuous in history 
 the Suliotes were possessed of four villages in the great 
 ravine of Suli, namely, Kiapha, Avariko, Samoniva, and 
 Kako-Suli, composing a group known as the Tetra- 
 chorion ; and seven villages in the plains, whose inhabi- 
 tants, being considered genuine Suliotes, were allowed 
 to retire into the mountain in time of war. This Hepta- 
 chorion consisted of Tzikurates, Perikhates, Vela, Also- 
 chori, Kondates, Gkinola, and Tzefiiki. They also con- 
 trolled between fifty and sixty tributary villages, with a 
 mixed population of Greeks and Albanians ; but these 
 were abandoned to their fate in war. In the early part 
 of the last century the Suliotes are said not to have had 
 more than 200 fighting-men, although they were almost 
 always engaged in petty warfare and marauding expe- 
 ditions ; and at the period of their extraordinary suc- 
 cesses the numbers of the Suliotes proper never exceeded 
 5,000 souls, with a fighting strength of 1,500 men, who 
 were, however, reinforced at need by the women. Their 
 government was purely patriarchal ; they had neither 
 written laws nor law courts, and the family formed the 
 political unit of the State. The families were grouped 
 together in tribal alliances called Pharas, of which there
 
 The Saga of Suit. 247 
 
 were twenty-nine in the Tetrachorion and eighteen in 
 the Heptachorion. All disputes were settled by arbitra- 
 tion by the heads of the Pharas ; and these forty-seven 
 elders formed a sort of general Council, the matter for 
 discussion being almost exclusively war. As they were 
 gradually driven from the plains which had supported 
 them to the mountains, which produced nothing but 
 pasture for their flocks, they were of necessity compelled 
 to support themselves by marauding expeditions, which 
 involved them in perpetual difficulties with the sur- 
 rounding Ottoman governors. The historian of Suli 
 enumerates no less than eight wars in which the 
 community was involved before their great struggle 
 with Ali, throughout which they maintained their 
 position with tolerable success, and secured considerable 
 material advantage by the ransom of prisoners. Arts 
 and commerce were unknown to them, and the training 
 to arms formed the sole occupation of their youth. 
 Each individual had his appointed place in war, men, 
 women and children, their distinctive duties, though 
 little or nothing has been recorded of their manner of 
 organization. On the approach of an enemy the Suliotes 
 of the Heptachorion abandoned their villages and 
 blocked the defiles, while their kinsmen from the 
 heights came down to their assistance, the women 
 and children retiring into the mountain, which was 
 looked upon as the citadel and sacrum of the whole 
 community. Their manner of warfare was regulated 
 by the scanty number of fighting-men of whom they 
 were able to dispose. When, therefore, a large body 
 of enemies was to be encountered, they would send but 
 few to meet them, opposing against some thousands
 
 248 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 only from one to two hundred Suliotes, who looked on 
 themselves as a forlorn hope, and pursued the Klephtic 
 tactics, attacking from scattered posts of vantage on 
 the heights in cover of rocks and trees. Where a 
 small body was reported to be advancing, they sallied 
 forth in equal strength, hoping thus to inflict a summary 
 defeat and to secure spoil and prisoners to ransom. 
 Only after years of training were they permitted to 
 take part in more difficult enterprises, where it was 
 necessary that every unit should follow the movements 
 of his neighbour ; and this apparent individual initiative, 
 was really the result of intelligently concerted action. 
 To be wounded by unnecessary exposure was in itself 
 disgraceful. The women often accompanied their forays, 
 carrying arms and ammunition, and sometimes fighting 
 themselves. They were unsparing critics of the mettle 
 of their men, and kept the standard of military honour 
 high, having privileges amongst themselves of precedence 
 when filling their jars or watering their flocks at the 
 fountain, according to the merits and services of their 
 husbands ; and it was at these meetings in the daily life 
 of the village communities that the wives of men who 
 had failed to acquit themselves bravely were subjected 
 to all the indignities which the shrewish tongues of their 
 neighbours could heap on them. The vendetta existed 
 among them ; but family quarrels were generally stopped 
 by the intervention of the women, and a fine was not 
 unfrequently imposed in commutation for a life, since 
 the killing of a single individual was a serious loss to 
 the commonwealth at large. At the head of this little 
 republic at the period of their final crisis in the struggle 
 for existence was an ascetic monk named Samuel, who
 
 The Saga of Suli. 249 
 
 combined in his person the double character of warrior 
 and priest. His influence with the Suliotcs was un- 
 bounded ; and he believed himself, and was certainly- 
 held by his followers, to be an inspired prophet. Such 
 were the famous inhabitants of the mountain fastnesses of 
 Chamouri, who had ventured to defy the rising star of Ali 
 of Tepelen. 
 
 His vengeance was not slow to follow. In 1792, 
 he collected a considerable force, and, announcing 
 an expedition against Argyrocastro, invited the 
 chiefs of the two principal families of Suli — those of 
 Tzavellas and Botzaris — to take part, offering double pay 
 to all who would accompany him. Botzaris declined, 
 but Tzavellas, with some seventy adherents, joined the 
 expedition. At the end of the first day's march, how- 
 ever, when the Suliotes had laid aside their arms to rest, 
 they were treacherously seized, and all made prisoners, 
 with the exception of three, who escaped. Of these two 
 were shot, but the third succeeded in eluding the aim of 
 his pursuers, and got away to Suli in time to warn his 
 countrymen. When Ali arrived before the ravine of 
 Suli, he found all the passes guarded ; he therefore 
 addressed himself to Tzavellas, and threatened him with 
 all the tortures which his dungeons at Jannina could 
 devise if he did not succeed in obtaining the submission 
 of Suli. Tzavellas undertook to negotiate terms, sending 
 for his young son Photos, a youth of eighteen, to take 
 his place as a hostage in the Pacha's hands. Ali re- 
 mained encamped at the foot of the mountains of Suli, 
 where he soon received the following letter : — 
 
 " Ali Pacha, I am proud to have succeeded in 
 cheating a scoundrel ; it is to defend my country against
 
 250 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 a robber that I have come here. My son will die, but I 
 have good hope of avenging him, before I die also. 
 Certain Turks of your own sort will assert that I am an 
 unnatural father to sacrifice my son for my freedom. I, 
 in answer, say, if you had taken our mountain, you 
 would have killed my son, my whole family, and all my 
 countrymen, nor could I have avenged their death. If, 
 on the other hand, we conquer, I shall have other 
 children, for my wife is young. As to my son, young as 
 he is, he will be proud to be sacrificed for his country. 
 Were he not, he would be unworthy to live, or to be 
 my son. He will meet death with courage ; or he 
 would not deserve to be called a true son of Greece, our 
 country. Come quickly, infidel ; I burn for vengeance ! — 
 TZAVELLAS." 
 
 This letter has a special interest, as showing that 
 already so far north, and among a community at most 
 only very partially of Hellenic origin, the idea of Greece 
 as the common fatherland had been developed. The 
 rage of the Pacha at the trick which had been played on 
 him knew no bounds ; but he did not, strange to say, 
 wreak his vengeance on his young hostage, who was 
 reserved for a time, and who, indeed, survived to become 
 the hero of Suli's final struggle. The boy was, however, 
 brought before Veli, the son of Ali, who told him that in 
 consequence of his father's treachery, he would be roasted 
 alive, to which he simply replied, " My father will roast 
 your father, if he catches him." 
 
 Ali assembled some seven or eight thousand of 
 his best troops, and harangued them, promising a 
 gratuity of 500 piastres a man if they succeeded in 
 reaching and mastering Kako-Suli ; and on the 20th
 
 The Saga of Suli. - 5 i 
 
 July, 1792, they entered the defile, which was defended by 
 1,300 men. The Suliotes, from various points of vantage, 
 inflicted terrible losses on his compact body of troops, 
 without suffering any proportionate injury, and, gradually 
 retreating before their overwhelming numbers, drew them 
 on further and further into the gorges. As they were 
 nearing Suli itself, and success seemed to be favouring 
 the Pacha's troops, they were suddenly attacked in front 
 by a band of Suliotc women, led by Moscho the wife of 
 Tzavellas, who poured a deadly fire on them from 
 close quarters, and then with naked swords rushed 
 shrieking on their hesitating assailants. The men of 
 Suli now poured down the mountain sides, attacking 
 them on either flank, responding to the orders of 
 Botzaris and Tzavellas to fling away their rifles and only 
 use their swords. Panic-struck, the disciplined Albanians 
 broke, and a wild rout ensued. They fled in every 
 direction, abandoning their arms and their baggage, 
 pursued down the gorge by the warriors and the amazons 
 of Suli. Ali himself, who had watched the combat from 
 a distance, killed two horses in his panic-stricken flight 
 to Jannina, where he shut himself up in his palace for a 
 fortnight, seeing and speaking to no one, and, in the 
 words of Valaoritis — 
 
 " All the after-days he lived on earth 
 He seemed to see that white kilt of Tzavellas.*' 
 
 In this defeat it is said that some 3,000 Albanians 
 perished ; of the Suliotes, 74 were killed and 100 
 wounded. Ali was compelled to offer terms of peace 
 through the intervention of an Orthodox bishop, making 
 concessions of territory ; releasing all his prisoners,
 
 252 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 including Photos Tzavellas ; and paying a ransom of 
 100,000 piastres for the recovery of those who had fallen 
 into the hands of the Suliotes. That this defeat was 
 really a serious blow to him is proved by the fact that 
 in a long panegyric of Ali, composed by an Albanian of 
 Jannina, in which most of his reverses are passed over, 
 it is alluded to in the following terms : — 
 
 " To-day we have been ruined ; to-morrow I shall conquer, 
 And I will roast the monk at Suli." 
 
 The story of Moscho, the wife of Tzavellas, is a 
 favourite topic in the people's poetry ; here is a frag- 
 ment, transcribed by Fauriel : — 
 
 A bird is alit on the span of the bridge ; 
 It sings a song of sorrow, and says to Ali Pacha, 
 " Not here is Jannina, for you to deck with fountains ; 
 Not here is PreVeza, for you to 'stablish fortresses ; 
 This is the famous Suli, is Suli the renowned, 
 Where the little children march to war, the women and the 
 
 children ; 
 Where the wife of Tzavellas combats, her sabre in her 
 
 hand, 
 Her babe upon one arm, her gun upon the other, 
 And her apron filled with cartridges " 
 
 Similarly, another ends : — 
 
 " This is that Evil-Suli, in all the world renowned, 
 Where the wife of Tzavellas fights like the best of heroes ; 
 She carries cartridges in her apron, the sabre in her hand, 
 
 And with her rifle leads all the others on.' 
 
 The defeat of Ali's army, which has been described 
 above, is graphically told in the following song :—
 
 The Saga of Suli. 253 
 
 TZAVELLAS. 2 
 
 The priest's wife called from Avarikos : 
 '• Where are you, children of Tzavellas ? where are you, children of 
 Botzaris ? 
 
 A great dark cloud comes up against you of footmep and of 
 horsemen. 
 
 They are not one, nor two, nor three, nor yet five thousand — 
 
 They are eighteen thousand, they are nineteen thousand in 
 numbers." 
 " Let them come, this wretched horde of Turks, 3 what can they do 
 to harm us ? 
 
 Let them come and see a battle and know the Klephtic muskets ; 
 
 Let them know the sword of Lambros, the musket of Botzaris, 
 
 The arms of Suli's women, of Moscho the well-renowned ! " 
 
 When the fight had begun, and in the midst of the firing, 
 
 Tzavellas cried to Zervas and Botzaris : 
 " Now let the firing cease ; the time has come for the sabre." 
 
 From his post Botzaris answered, answered stoutly. 
 " Not yet," he cried, " has come the moment for the sabre ! 
 
 Keep close yet in the cover, behind your sheltering boulders ; 
 
 For the Turks are very many, and few the men of Suli." 
 
 Then cried Tzavellas to his pallikari : 
 " Will ye wait for these Albanian curs one moment longer ? " 
 
 Then they snatched the scabbards from their swords, and broke 
 them ; 
 
 And as it were a flock of sheep they drove the Turks before them. 
 
 Veli Pacha cried to his men to turn and face them ; 
 
 But with tears in their eyes his men made answer : 
 " Ah, this is not Delvino, and this is never Widin ; 
 
 This is Suli the famous, renowned the whole world over ; 
 
 Here is the sword of Lambros, with Turkish blood stained crimson, 
 
 Which has made all Albania wear the dress of mourning, 
 
 Made widows weep their husbands, and mothers weep their 
 children." 
 
 2 Fauriel. 
 
 3 The word Turk is loosely used for Mussulman. There was very 
 possibly not a single Turk in the army of Ali.
 
 254 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 After this success, the Suliotes were left in peace for 
 seven vears. In the meantime Lambros Tzavellas died, 
 and George Botzaris, with his Phara, which included two 
 hundred fighting men. had abandoned Suli and its cause. 
 This defection encouraged the Pacha of Jannina, whose 
 prosperity had gone on increasing, and who could now 
 reckon upon an army of upwards of twenty thousand 
 men, to return to the attack. It was at the beginning of 
 his campaign in 1800, that Photos Tzavellas, the son of 
 Lambros, at the head of a small band, distinguished him- 
 self by several acts of surprising and successful audacity, 
 which led to his selection as chief commander of the 
 Suliote forces. These reverses, and the memory of his 
 former disaster, suggested to Ali the policy of blockad- 
 ing the Suliotes in their mountains, and reducing them 
 by famine, and having drawn a close cordon round all 
 the passes, he proceeded to construct small torts or 
 towers, with which to overawe them. This form of 
 blockade was continued during nine months without any 
 relief from without to Suli, save the scanty supplies 
 which they were able to secure by their daring raids on 
 the stores of their besiegers. Romantic stories are told 
 of the methods by which they obtained provisions. A 
 Suliote dressed in his grey cloak succeeded in eluding 
 notice, and creeping in among a herd of the enemy's 
 cattle, was enabled during the night to conduct 
 them into the ravine of Suli. A party of old men and 
 children marched successfully away to the Ionian 
 Islands; and a foraging expedition, consisting of some 
 six hundred men and women, managed to reach Taiga, 
 now a dependency of Corfu, in safety, whence they 
 returned laden with supplies to the relief of the well-
 
 The Saga of Sit/i. 255 
 
 nigh exhausted garrison, who had been reduced to 
 munching acorns and bark, and boiling the rude herbage 
 of the rocks fcjr food. 
 
 Meanwhile, the troops of Ali, who were getting tired 
 of the blockade, began to desert, and no pains were spared 
 by the Pacha to procure the disaffection of the various 
 leaders of Pharas in Suli, by individual offers of a 
 tempting character, and by offers to the community in 
 general of money and lands, in return for submission. 
 Occasional suspensions of hostilities for the discussion of 
 terms enabled the Suliotes to renew their supplies ; but 
 they had no faith in Ali's professions, and his execution 
 of the Suliote hostages, whom the Pacha of Delvino had 
 retained as a guarantee of alliance, when they fell into 
 his hands, confirmed their mistrust. Then a new 
 incident occurred. Ali received orders from Con- 
 stantinople to march on Adrianople, which was in revolt, 
 and was compelled to partially raise the blockade. The 
 Suliotes replenished their granaries and storehouses, and 
 constructed, under the guidance of the monk Samuel, 
 who had discovered the Book of Revelation to be a 
 series of denunciations and predictions levelled against 
 their implacable enemy, the fortress of Kunghi, to serve 
 as a receptacle for their stores. The fortress, and the 
 custody of their material, was placed under the care of 
 this extraordinary man, who, sabre in one hand and 
 cross in the other, was ever in the front of battle, and 
 who was now honoured by them with the ancient title of 
 Polemarch. 
 
 At this crisis in their fortunes, there arrived a new- 
 parliamentary from Ali, in the person of Kitzo Botzaris, 
 the son of that George whose defection was looked on as a
 
 256 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 national disgrace, and who had since died or been 
 poisoned by the master whose service he had entered. 
 Kitzo, however, had not fought against his country, and 
 his known personal valour secured him a favourable 
 hearing ; a little later he nobly vindicated the honour of 
 his family, and proved himself a true son of Suli. The 
 terms proposed by Ali were, that Kitzo should undertake 
 the government of Suli, with a guard of forty Albanian 
 soldiers, introduced to guarantee the vizir's lands and 
 villages against any raids ; and that Photos Tzavellas 
 should be exiled. Councils were divided ; many were 
 weary of the war, which had now lasted almost without 
 intermission for two years ; and during this suspension 
 of hostilities rivalries of headship had grown up, to the 
 detriment of the common cause. Tzavellas, perceiving 
 the spirit of the assembly, and unwilling to be an 
 obstacle to peace, with disinterested patriotism, set fire 
 to his house, and with tears in his eyes withdrew from 
 the mountains he had defended so well. He was induced 
 to go to Jannina, whence he undertook a mediatory 
 expedition to Suli, as the other condition of peace had 
 not been complied with. On his arrival, his repentant 
 countrymen endeavoured to retain him, but he had 
 pledged his word to return to Jannina, and would not 
 stay. He had only undertaken the mission in order to 
 see Suli once again ; but he assured them that Ali was 
 implacable, that no terms offered and accepted would be 
 observed, and, therefore, that they had no choice but 
 war. Then, faithful to his promise, he returned to 
 Jannina, and was immediately thrown into prison. 
 
 The popular muse has thus recorded the departure of 
 Photos and his message to the men of Suli : —
 
 The Saga of Suit. 257 
 
 " ' My children, no submission, endure not to be rayahs ; 
 While Photos is alive, he will not bow to any Pacha ; 
 For Pacha Photos has his sword, his musket for Vizir.' 
 And they have banished him to Frankland, to stranger kingdoms. 
 A curse upon you Botzaris, and on you, Koutsonfka, 
 For the work that you have done this summer — 
 'Twas you showed Veli Pacha the way to Kako-Suli ! " 
 
 The material aid in the way of powder and lead which 
 Suli received from the French enabled the Pacha to 
 obtain from Constantinople an order for its reduction, 
 and the siege was pressed on with renewed vigour. The 
 Suliotes pursued their old tactics — drawing the enemy 
 on into the ravine by declining an engagement, and 
 then repulsing the first attack on the strongholds with 
 loss. But a traitor arose in the camp. The liberty of 
 his son-in-law and a beggarly sum of money were the 
 bribes for which Pylios Gousi undertook to secrete 200 
 Albanians by night in his own house. There were 
 only fifty-five defenders in Suli, when a night-assault 
 was made in force, and the 200 sallying out attacked 
 these in the rear simultaneously. Kako-Suli was lost 
 through the treachery of Pylios Gousi, as also was 
 Avariko ; only Kiapha and the fort of Kunghi remained. 
 
 At this juncture Tzavellas, who had now languished 
 in prison for nearly a year at Jannina, succeeded in 
 obtaining an audience of Ali, and in persuading him of 
 his ability, if permitted to go to Kiapha, to draw off all 
 the adherents of his Phara, which would leave the 
 remaining Suliotes at Ali's mercy. The Pacha, who 
 now looked upon the fall of Suli as a mere matter of 
 time, consented, having nothing to lose by such a 
 proposal, and hoping to precipitate the crisis ; but he 
 
 s
 
 258 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 exacted that his wife and children should be detained 
 as hostages for his loyalty. Returning to Kiapha, 
 Photos persuaded his countrymen to use this oppor- 
 tunity to get rid of all the infirm and aged, obtaining 
 hostages for their security from the Pacha, as though 
 they were able-bodied,, and, having taken the necessary 
 precautions for their safe transmission to Parga, and 
 thence to the Ionian Islands, he returned to Kiapha, 
 where he found the forces of the Suliotes so much 
 weakened by disaffection and desertions that he deter- 
 mined to remain, abandoning his wife and children to 
 the Pacha's mercy if he chose to take his advantage, 
 while he entrenched himself with Samuel and all the 
 loyal Suliotes he could collect in the fortress of Kunghi. 
 Here they were besieged by Ali's son, Veli, with a very 
 large force of Albanians ; and when at last reduced by 
 want of water to make terms, they obtained a written 
 permission to depart, couched in the most reassuring 
 terms, and guaranteed by a grim oath, which was signed 
 by all the chief beys and agas. Relying on this docu- 
 ment they marched out, some two-thirds of them accom- 
 panying Photos Tzavellas, and marching towards Parga, 
 the remainder retiring with Kitzo Botzaris to the moun- 
 tain of Zalongos. 
 
 Only the monk Samuel, with five wounded Suliotes, 
 remained behind. It is recorded that he had collected 
 all the powder in his charge into the little church at 
 Kunghi, and there, with his five companions, he awaited 
 the summons of Veli to surrender his trust. He had 
 laid aside his sword, and now issued from behind 
 the painted screen holding the sacred cup in one hand 
 and a lighted fuse in the other ; he administered the
 
 The Saga of Suli. 259 
 
 communion to his five comrades, drank of the cup 
 himself, and swore that neither on earth nor in heaven 
 
 1 
 
 would he surrender the keys of Kunghi. As the blows 
 fell upon the door and the Albanians broke in, he 
 plunged the fuse into the powder and perished with 
 many beside. The story was told by two of the 
 Suliotes, who miracuously escaped with their lives. 
 
 Veli's first act, on becoming master of Suli, was to 
 violate his most sacred promise by despatching a force 
 of 4,000 men to attack the band which was marching 
 upon Parga. Photos, however, had already reached 
 protected territory, and his followers were allowed to 
 take refuge in the Ionian Islands, then under Russian 
 protection. Veli next surrounded the mountain of 
 Zalangos, and proceeded to storm the position which 
 Kitzo Botzaris and his followers had occupied. Fighting 
 went on without intermission by day and by night. On 
 the second day of the battle occurred the famous incident 
 which showed the desperate determination and courage 
 of the women who suckled these Klephts of the moun- 
 tain. Some sixty of these, with their children, were 
 assembled on a ledge of rock overhanging a sheer 
 precipice, and, having witnessed the gradual extermina- 
 tion of their defenders, they resolved to die by their own 
 act rather than fall into the hands of the grisly tyrant 
 of Jannina. The position which they occupied suggested 
 an easy form of death, and the manner in which they 
 sought it was tragically weird and grim. First, each 
 mother took her child, embraced it, and, turning her 
 own head away from the pitiful scene, pushed it over 
 the edge of the abyss. Then these sixty women linked 
 their hands together, and, singing the familiar dancing 
 
 S 2
 
 260 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 song of Suli above the rattle of the musketry, danced 
 the old syrtos measure round and round the ledge of 
 rock, having each her back to the void as the winding 
 chain approached the brink. And every time the chain 
 wound round, one dancer, the last in line, unlinked her 
 hand, took one step back, and fell down into annihilation. 
 One by one, without haste, without pause, singing the 
 dancing song, they followed each other down that leap 
 of death, until the last sprung over alone, consecrating 
 the mountain with their blood an altar of liberty, from 
 which, ere long, a flame arose that fired those ancient 
 ranges from historic sea to sea. 
 
 The surviving defenders of Zalongos, placing their 
 women in their midst, while many of the men carried a 
 child in one arm, and a sword in the other, cut their way 
 through the besieging lines. Some 150 succeeded thus 
 in escaping under the leadership of Kitzo Botzaris, and 
 joined a considerable band of their countrymen, who had 
 at various times seceded, and occupied the village of 
 Bougareli. They had learned, however, that whatever 
 had been their policy in the past, the name of Suliote 
 was sufficient to single them out for Ali's ultimate 
 vengeance. They therefore retired to a strong position 
 in the Agrapha mountains, where in 1804 they were 
 besieged by seven thousand Albanians, and after some 
 four months fighting, were eventually all slain or 
 captured, with the exception of 160 women, who threw 
 themselves into the Achelous, and were drowned, and of 
 fifty-five men and one woman, who, under Kitzo Botzaris, 
 escaped to Parga, and thence to the Ionian Islands. 
 
 One other famous incident marks the close of this 
 tragic tale. In the Suliote village of Reniassa, the
 
 The Saga of Suit. 261 
 
 Albanians found only a few women and children, whom 
 they murdered or carried off. But from one fortified 
 tower, the Suliotc wife, Despo, with her seven daughters 
 and daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren, poured a 
 ^ severe fusillade upon the invaders. Then, knowing 
 their inevitable doom, they gathered round an open 
 case of ammunition in the central room, while Despo 
 thrust a burning fuse into the midst of the powder, and 
 all perished together in the ruins of their tower. 
 
 Thus, after a war of nearly twenty years against all 
 the resources and the best troops of the Sultan's most 
 powerful satrap, the little commonwealth ceased to exist. 
 The survivors of this unequal struggle were dispersed, and 
 dwelt as refugees under the shelter of foreign flags. Hence- 
 forth they were identified with the cause of Greece, and in 
 her roll of honour is written many a Suliote name. Twenty 
 years later, another Tzavellas and another Botzaris 1 were 
 leading the forlorn hope from the walls of the heroic 
 Misolonghi. 
 
 The immolation of Samuel is recorded in many songs. 
 Here is one which rings like a wail from the mountains : — 
 
 A little bird has come the way from Suli — 
 The men of Parga questioned it, the men of Parga ask : 
 " Whence art thou, little bird, and whither, bird, art going ?" 
 " I come from Suli, and I go to the land of the Franks." 
 " Tell us some news, little bird, tell us good tidings." 
 " Ah ! what tidings shall I bring you ? what story shall I tell ? 
 They have taken Suli, have taken it, and Avarikos too ; 
 They have taken dread Kiapha, and taken Kunghi, 
 And there they burned the monk, and other four beside him." ' 
 
 4 Kitzos Tzavellas and Noti Botzaris were at the head of two divisions in 
 the famous last sorties from Misolonghi, on the 22nd of April, 1S26. 
 
 5 Fauriel.
 
 262 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 The story of Despo is thus sung by the popular 
 muse : — 
 
 DESPO. 6 
 
 A grim noise is heard — the sound of musketry in quick succes- 
 sion ; 
 
 Do they fire for a wedding-feast, or is it a day of rejoicing ? 
 
 It is for no wedding-feast they fire, for no day of rejoicing — 
 
 It is Despo fighting, her daughters and her sons' wives beside her ; 
 
 The Albanians have assailed her in the tower of Dimoulas. 
 " Wife of George, lay down your arms, for this is not your Suli ; 
 
 Here you are the Pacha's slave, the prisoner of the Albanians." 
 " And if Suli be yielded, and Kiapha now be Moslem, 
 
 Still Despo owns not, will not own, the Liapids her masters." 
 
 She took a fuse up in her hand, she called her daughters round 
 her — 
 " Slaves of the Turks we will not live ; so follow me, my children ! " 
 
 She thrust it in the powder pile, and in the flame they vanished! 
 
 The following song records the capture and release 
 of Photos Tzavellas : — 
 
 PHOTOS. 7 
 
 What was the evil-hap that fell this summer-tide, 
 
 That all the Klephts bewail and find no consolation 
 
 Their limeria have been ravaged, and the very mountain herbage, 
 
 Since their chief was taken prisoner, the Captain Tzavellas, 
 
 Whom they bore off to Jannina with thrice a thousand Turks — 
 
 A thousand marched before him, two thousand followed after ; 
 
 The Derveni-aga brought him to the gate of Ali Pacha. 
 
 And Ali, when he learned, was very glad at heart ; 
 
 He gave his guards the order to bring him up before him, 
 
 That he might see him face to face, and talk with him awhile. 
 
 He scarce had finished speaking, when they brought Photos in, 
 
 And Ali Pacha addressed him, and spoke him fair : 
 
 6 Fauriel. 7 Lelekos.
 
 The Saga of Suli. 263 
 
 " Friend Photos, why so witless, refusing me thine homage ; 
 It ever was my will to number thee with mine, 
 To have thee for an armatole, and name thee my chief captain ? " 
 And Photos he made answer, and fearlessly he said, 
 
 " I will not be an armatole, I will not be a captain, 
 To bend the knee to Lidpids, to bend the knee to tyrants." 
 Ali Pacha, when he heard him, was very wrath indeed. 
 He called to Morebret, and said to him in anger, 
 
 " Lead forth this cuckold rascal, lead forth this robber, 
 And cast him into prison, in the dungeon underground." 
 And, there and then, they shut him up in the gloomy dungeon, 
 And Photos writes a letter, and sends it to Kakosuli : 
 
 " My mother, oft I greet thee, and much I kiss thy hand ; 
 To Hdida my greeting's, and kisses on her eyes. 
 Now, never let the fighting cease by day and night as well ; 
 They hold me fast in the island, and in the monastery 
 At Paneleemon, in the prison bound, 
 With two chains on my neck, and four upon my hands, 
 And irons on my feet, to a tree fast riveted ; 
 And there are eighteen pallikars for sentinels without. 
 My mother, send my children, and send me here my wife, 
 That I may yield them to the Pacha, as hostages to the Vizir, 
 That I may get out of prison, escape from these my chains, 
 That I may gird my sword on and come and rescue them. 
 And hearken, sons of Photos, and Pallikars of Drakos, 
 While Photos lives he bends the knee before no Pacha ; 
 He knows no Pacha, save the sword that is dyed in Turkish 
 blood ! "
 
 264 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 LYRICAL POETRY. 
 
 HITHERTO we have been considering such elements of 
 the folk-poetry as have been included under the general 
 classification of epical in sentiment. It remains to 
 glance briefly at the far more extensive and by no 
 means less interesting development of the popular muse, 
 which, for the convenience of arrangement, has been 
 described as lyrical in spirit. A few specimens will be 
 given of the natural lyric, as expressed in love songs, or 
 as responding to the inspiration of nature ; of domestic 
 poems and songs belonging to special occasions and 
 anniversaries ; of narrative poems, partaking rather of 
 the ballad character ; and, finally, of the songs of death 
 and lamentation. 
 
 To begin with those of whose antiquity there is 
 ample evidence, it has been mentioned that there exists 
 in the Vienna Library a certain Codex manuscriptus 
 theologicus Grcscus, which was among the documents 
 collected at Constantinople in the 16th century by Augier 
 Busbecq, Austrian Ambassador to the Porte, from the few 
 remnants which had escaped destruction at the fall of the 
 Byzantine Empire. This Codex contains a considerable 
 number of Greek popular songs of a date anterior to the 
 1 5th century. 1 The majority of them are erotic, or at any 
 rate sensuous, bright, and fierce, without any trace of the 
 Northern idealism. 
 
 1 Published in the collection of Emile Legrand, Paris, 1S74.
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 265 
 
 The following translation is an extract from a long 
 poem called the " Seduction," and many of its lines are 
 found repeated and remoulded in songs of a more recent 
 date : — 
 
 " When the raven shall grow white as is the dove, 
 When you shall see the raven pursue the falcon, 
 When the sea shall be sown with wheat and barley, 
 And when you see the fishes wander in the mountains, 
 When the dog and the hare shall be as brothers, 
 When the cat and the mouse shall ply their trade together, 
 When the ass becomes an angel and grows wings to fly with, 
 When you see the sun alter his course in heaven, 
 And when you see the white thorn turn to myrtle, 
 When the apple-tree becomes the scrub that clothes the valleys, 
 When you shall see the ocean foam no longer, 
 Then you and I, my lady, are likely to be wed ! " 
 The maiden had a ready wit, and she perceived his meaning, 
 And thus to the young man she made answer : 
 "When the wide heaven drops down upon the earth, 
 When truth, young man, shall pass for falsehood, 
 When you find the sea beginning to turn sweet, 
 And when among the dead springs up the herb of resurrection. 
 When the moon drops from the sky to earth and is extinguished, 
 Then I will give you a sweet kiss, oh, my master ! " 
 
 Which elaborate defiance is, of course, only the prelude 
 to mutual surrender. 
 
 Another from the same collection has a very modern 
 ring :— 
 
 " I would I were a swallow to fly into thy bed, 
 To make my nest among thy pillows, 
 
 To wake thee with my twitter, that thou mightest not forget me ; 
 Have me in memory, loved one, through all the days thou livest. 
 Of this be well assured, and know that I have told thee, 
 My love for thee is rooted fast to last for evermore."
 
 266 TJie Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 The same motives recur again and again. A little 
 snatch which Fauriel heard sung as a complete song in 
 the islands, and of which several variants may be found 
 in Passow's collection, is embodied in a longer poem 
 recorded by Legrand, and in either case reads almost 
 like a distant echo of Meleager's unsurpassable rhythm . — 
 
 Ni>£ iep?) koX Xv^ve, crvvlcTTopas oirriva? aAAovs 
 opKOLS, aAA.' i'/Aeas ciAo/ac^' a/x<£dre/)oi. 2 
 
 The island version runs : — 
 
 " When we kissed each other, dear, it was night — who could have 
 seen us ? 
 It was night and dawn that saw us, the stars saw and the moon ; 
 But a star dropped down and told it to the sea, 
 The sea has told the oar-blade, the oar has told the sailor, 
 And the sailor went and sang it at the window of his love." 
 
 The longer poem is as follows : — 
 
 I pass and say no word ; the maiden greets me : 
 " Whither away, filcher of kisses, deceiver in love ? ' 
 " If I am a filcher of kisses, if I am a deceiver in love, 
 Why did you surrender me your lips to kiss tenderly ? " 
 " And if I surrendered you my lips to kiss tenderly, 
 It was night — who could have seen us ? it was day-dawn— who 
 
 was looking?" 
 " The night and the day -dawn saw us, the star saw and the 
 
 moon ; 
 The star leaned down and told it to the sea, 
 The sea told it to the oar, and the oar to the sailor, 
 And the sailor went and published it to all the wide world. 
 I kissed the red lips, and they stained my own lips, 
 
 2 " Holy night, and thou, O lamp, you, and you two only, did we take to be 
 witness of our vows."
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 267 
 
 I dried them on the handkerchief, the handkerchief was stained, 
 
 I washed it in the river, and the river caught the staining. 
 
 The river waters a fair garden, 
 
 Waters the trees, the fruit trees and the coppice. 
 
 But for one tree— a sweet apple— there was not enough water — 
 
 There is one tree whose leaves are dying, turning yellow, 
 
 And another apple questions it, another makes inquiry, 
 
 ' What ails thee, apple tree, to wither and turn yellow ? 
 Art thou in need of water, or have they cut thy branches?' 
 
 ' I do not want for water, they have not cut my branches, 
 But they plighted a youth and maiden beneath my shelter ; 
 They swore by my branches that they would cling together, 
 And now, because I know they part, my leaves are turning 
 yellow.' " 
 
 Many of the islands have quite a little literature of 
 their own. Thus, the next in order is from a collection 
 of some fifty songs, peculiar to the island of Karpathos 
 (Scarpanto). 
 
 A little bird was singing high up on the rough hill-side, 
 
 And a king's daughter listened from her window, 
 
 " Ah, bird, that I had thy beauty, and would 1 had thy song, 
 
 And would I had such golden plumes for hair upon my head ! " 
 
 " Why dost thou crave my beauty ? why dost thou crave my song ? 
 
 Why dost thou crave my golden plumes for hair upon thy head ? 
 
 For thou hast cakes to feed on, as many as thou wilt, 
 
 I eat my scanty portion from herbage in the fields ; 
 
 Thou sleepest on a lofty couch, with sheets of thread of gold, 
 
 But I lie out in solitude among the dews and snows ; 
 
 And when thou drinkest water thou hast a gleaming cup, 
 
 But I must drink my water from the spring thou bathest in ; 
 
 Thou waitest for the priest to come thy way to bless thee. 
 
 But I await the huntsman, who comes to shoot me down." ■ 
 
 While, from still further away from the other side of the 
 JEgean, Smyrna sends the following : —
 
 268 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 " In a fair garden 
 Bejewelled with flowers 
 One morning I wandered 
 To solace my care, 
 To distract my heart 
 From all its brooding ; 
 For I am tortured 
 By a maiden that I love. 
 And there, as I wandered 
 About the garden, 
 I stayed to gaze on 
 The flowers that I love best. 
 In the branches of a citron 
 A little bird was sitting, 
 And the pretty bird 
 Was warbling sweetly ; 
 And, as it warbled, 
 It seemed to me to say : 
 " Consider, youth, the flowers, 
 How ephemeral are they ! 
 Youth and maid, be glad of joy, 
 Never lose an hour ; 
 Time is ever marching on, 
 And nevermore comes back." 3 
 
 Here, again, is a pretty little song from Crete : — 
 
 Maiden, red as roses and white as marble is, 
 
 Did an angel from the sky come down to fashion thee? 
 
 I trust to find my rose perennial in new bloom, 
 
 And many a thorn for its dear sake I cherish and abide. 
 
 I water this my rose-tree, and prune its branches well, 
 
 And when the rose-thorns wound me, I find my joy therein. 4 
 
 A very distinctive feature of the popular muse is the 
 distich, or rhyming couplet, embodying a single thought 
 
 3 Marcellus. 
 
 4 Elpis Helena : K/^tiktj MAtatra. Athens, 1888.
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 269 
 
 of a more or less epigrammatical character, or some 
 graceful simile, dedicated to the eyes, or the lips, or the 
 hair of the beloved. As with the Tuscan stormlli, every 
 peasant knows a number of such distiches by heart, and 
 many have a talent for improvising them. In the intro- 
 ductory chapter, in dealing with the rhythm of the folk- 
 songs, a specimen of the rhyming distich was duly 
 included. I propose, however, to quote a few more here 
 in the original text, which, read by the light of the 
 translation, may serve to convey, even to those who have 
 no knowledge of modern Greek, some idea of the delicate 
 charm of the language, the balance and contrast in the 
 lines which clothe an idea, often in itself so slight as to 
 be lost in the endeavour to convey its interpretation. 
 
 'Att' oXa T'ao-Tpa t' ovpavov eVa Vat ttov <tov 'p.oid(ei, 
 Uov '/3ycuvei to, [xecrdvvKTa, kou 6'A.a to. o-Koreti'ta^et. 
 
 Of all the stars in heaven, but one is like to thee — 
 
 The star that comes at midnight and makes all the others dim. 5 
 
 'larpiKuv kcu larpos eicrai orav deXi'jcnjs, 
 
 M'eva a-ov (3Xefip.a IXupov £an)v 6a p.ov x^-P^V^ 
 
 6 
 
 Drug and physician both thou art, whene'er it is thy will ; 
 Renew the gladness of my lite with one look of thine eyes. 
 
 Bowa, p.r] Trpao-wto-eTe, Trovkta, flrjv KeAaeiS^-re, 
 M' a.pvr)6i]K 1) dydiri] p.ov, oAa va Xv7n]6qT€.' 
 
 Be green no more, ye mountains, and sing no more, ye birds , 
 Because my love is faithless let all the world be sad. 
 
 s Elpis Helena. 'j3yaii>ei = i^aivet, the star Aphrodite called AvyfpLvds, 
 the star of dawn. 
 
 6 Ibidem. 
 
 7 AAe/cos. Epidorpion.
 
 270 The Customs a) id Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 "OAa Ta AeAouSa tt)s y^S, ravOr] tov TLapaSelcrov 
 Ma£e^ave ol ayyeA.01 ko.1 Kafiav to Kopjxi o~ov. s 
 
 All flowers that are found in earth, and the blooms of Paradise, 
 The angels brought together to fashion this thy form. 
 
 "" Two eyes of blue thou hast, of blue as the hue of heaven, 
 And like the Pleiads near to dawn, they sparkle each and other. 9 
 
 " Thou hast kissed me once and sick am I, kiss me again and 
 heal me, 
 And kiss me yet a third time that I may not sicken more. 1 
 
 " My fair one, bid thy mother bring forth another like thee, 
 That here on earth one other heart may be consumed as 
 
 Sometimes, without an effort, without losing the value 
 of a word, they fall into corresponding verse : — 
 
 " The sun when first it rises is cradled in thy breast, 
 And lingers on thy yellow hair what time he sinks to rest." 
 
 " I weep and tell of what befel the first time love drew near, 
 Like lightning in the mountains, it flashed to disappear." 
 
 Whene'er I meet thee moving among the other braves, 
 'Tis thou art the carnation, the others are the leaves." 
 
 " I would I were a plane-tree, and that thou, thou wert a vine, 
 That fruit of grapes might cluster where the branches intertwine." 4 
 
 Not infrequently we find a double distich, either in 
 the form of question and answer, or a continuation 
 through two further lines of an idea suggested by the 
 first couplet, though complete in itself : — 
 
 8 Ibid. 9 Fauriel. l Ibid. - Ibid. 
 
 3 Elpis Melena. 
 
 4 This and the three preceding are from AeXe'/cos.
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 2~\ 
 
 " I shal cross the plain, the mountains, and ask the wild things in 
 them, 
 Can they not find me a drug will teach me to forget you. 
 And the field will say to me, ' Get hence ! How have I wronged 
 
 thee, 
 That the shadow of thy presence takes all my beauty from me?"' 
 
 Of the swallow song, sung upon the first of March, 
 there are many varieties, beside the one alluded to in 
 chapter V, which resembles the song of the Rhodian 
 boys of old in its appeal to the householder for a little 
 gift. Two versions of the CJielidonisma follow, of which 
 the former is from Corfu. 
 
 Swallow mine, oh, swift one ! 
 Swallow mine, the swift one, 
 Whence come you, from the wilderness? 
 What good gifts do you bring ? 
 You bring me health and gladness, 
 And eggs of rosy hue. 5 
 
 The swallow has come, 
 
 Has crossed the sea, 
 
 Has built her nest, 
 
 And sits and sings. 
 
 Oh, March ! oh, March, the snowy, 
 
 And rainy February ! 
 
 The sweet month April 
 
 Draws nigh ; that stays not long, 
 
 The little birds are singing, 
 
 The trees are blossoming, 
 
 5 Passow. In the last line the words are k^kklvo. avya, lit., red eggs. 
 This epithet of eggs recurs occasionally in the popular poetry, and either it 
 must be taken, like the Latin purpuretts, to mean bright, or it may be inter- 
 preted as referring to Easter, when red-stained eggs are largely consumed, 
 following soon after the swallows' arrival.
 
 272 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 The fowls begin 
 
 To brood and hatch ; 
 
 The flocks prepare 
 
 To seek the mountains, 
 
 The kids to skip, 
 
 And browze the herbage ; 
 
 Man, bird, and beast 
 
 Are merry from the heart. 
 
 The frozen time is over, 
 
 The north wind and the snow. 
 
 Oh, March ! oh, March, the snowy, 
 
 And rainy February ! 
 
 Fair April is at hand, 
 
 March, February, get ye gone ! 6 
 
 The song of St. Basilios, which is sung upon the first 
 day of the year, has also been alluded to in the same 
 chapter. It is probably of great antiquity, and may be 
 taken as a specimen of the inconsequent type of Greek 
 folk-song. 
 
 St. Basil is come from Cassarea, 
 
 He carries a book and paper, paper and ink, 
 
 He writes in the book, and he reads from the paper : 
 
 "Basil, do you know your letters, and do you know any songs ?" 
 
 " I have learned my letters, but I don't know any songs." 
 
 And he leaned upon his staff to say his alpha, beta ; 
 
 The staff was of dry wood, but it put forth green shoots, 
 
 Till up in its branches there were partridges singing, 
 
 Not partridges only, but doves were up there too. 7 
 
 Every kind of song may be used as accompaniment to 
 the dance — plaintive airs or notes of defiance, according 
 to the measure of the step ; but more generally love-songs 
 or distiches, such as have been already quoted, are em- 
 ployed. Here is a little dancing-song from Thessaly : — 
 
 6 Passovv. 7 Ibid.
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 273 
 
 " Come to the dance, lads ; maidens, come and sing, 
 And behold and learn of love, and the way he goes ; 
 By the eyes he enters in, and climbs down on to the lips, 
 And through the lips he slips away, to take root in the heart. " 8 
 
 Another version of the same song runs : — 
 
 " I met love once in a little narrow lane ; 
 I made him sit, and questioned him of the way love enters in — 
 Love enters through the eyes, drops down upon the lips, 
 Puts out his branches in the heart, takes root, and there 
 remains. " 9 
 
 Wedding songs are generally local, and, as each part 
 of the ceremony has its own particular verses or series 
 of verses, they are for the most part too long to quote. 
 The following little series belongs to the wedding day 
 only, but the preliminary ceremonies and the subsequent 
 banquets have all their proper musical accompaniment. 
 
 ( While they are dressing the Bride's Hair.) 
 
 " Hair thou hast of fourfold fairness 
 Falling on thy shoulders, 
 And the angels comb it for thee 
 With their golden combs. 
 
 ( While they are robing the Bride.) 
 
 " When thy mother bore thee 
 All the trees were blossoming ; 
 And the little birds in their nests, 
 They, too, were singing. 
 
 ( While they put on her Ornaments.) 
 
 " When thy mother bore thee 
 The sun came from on high, 
 Bestowed on thee thy beauty, 
 And then went back again. 
 
 8 Fauriel. : ' A.eX6cos.
 
 274 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 ( When the Bride sets out.) 
 " To-day the sky is bright, 
 And bright to-day the morning ; 
 To-day he holds his wedding, 
 The eagle with the dove. 
 
 (When they give the Bride to the Bridegroom.) 
 
 " We have borne away the partridge 
 Of the many-coloured plumes, 
 And we have left the neighbourhood 
 Like a land made desolate. 
 
 (The Mother's Song.) 
 
 " The seven heavens are opened, 
 And the evangels twelve, 
 And they have borne my child away 
 From these two arms of mine." ' 
 
 The cradle song, with its monotonous soothing cry of 
 u Nani, Nani," is found throughout Greece in infinite 
 variety. Of the two specimens here quoted the first is, 
 perhaps, not more inconsequent than nursery rhymes 
 are apt to be ; while the second reveals the untrained 
 imaginative instinct struggling with a poetic conception 
 almost too difficult for its inadequate power of expres- 
 sion. 
 
 " The rose is sleeping beside the marjoram, 
 My little child is sleeping by his sweet mother's side ; 
 My child is sleeping in his silver cradle, 
 In his cradle made of silver and of gold. 
 Sleep on, my child, and I will rock thee, 
 And I will rock thy cradle, that sweet thy slumber be ; 
 Sleep star, new moon and morning, sleep, 
 And lady ocean with thy silver fishes, sleep ! " 
 
 1 Marcellus. The last stanza is obscure. It is probably only a hyper- 
 bolical expression, signifying the happiness awaiting the bride.
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 275 
 
 " Make no noise, no sudden shock, 
 
 My little child is sleeping ; 
 
 Ndni, Ndni, Ndni, Ndni, 
 
 Be all his ailir.gs healed ! 
 The sun sleeps on the mountains, the partridge in the fields, 
 My little child is sleeping between the linen white ; 
 Sleep sleeps upon the mountain, the partridge in the wood, 
 My little child is sleeping to take his fill of sleep. 
 
 Sleep, my child, with fond caresses, 
 
 Sleep nourished with perfumes, 
 
 Joy be with thine awakening, 
 
 And cakes for thy wedding day ! " - 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 "Take him in charge, kind sleep ; three sentinels I'll give him, 
 Three sentinels, three guardians, and mighty ones all three — 
 The sun upon the mountains, the eagle in the fields, 
 And Sir Boreas, the cool wind, for guardian on the sea." 
 The sun went down, and the eagle fell asleep ; 
 Sir Boreas, the cool wind, went in to the mother's house. 
 
 " My son, where wert thou yesterday, the day and the night before? 
 
 Or wast thou warring with the stars, or was it with the moon, 
 
 Or was it with the morning-star— and we good friends together?" 
 " I was not warring with the stars, nor warring with the moon, 
 
 Not warring with the morning - star — and ye good friends 
 together ; 
 
 But I watched by the silver cradle that held a golden boy." : 
 
 A little song for children on their way to school is 
 included in Passow's collection among those which he 
 found in the island of Andros. It is, however, also 
 quoted, with a slight change in the last two lines, in the 
 Memoirs of Nicholas Dragoumis, who traces it to Asia 
 Minor, to a district where the Hellenic language was 
 proscribed in the schools, so that the young Greeks 
 
 - AeX^/cos. " Fauriel. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 were obliged to go stealthily by night to the teachers 
 who gave lessons in their own tongue. It runs : — 
 
 " Moon, bright moon of mine, 
 Shine on me that I may go, 
 That I may go to school, 
 That I may learn my letters, 
 May learn the works of God ; 
 How to 'broider, how to sew, 
 And all the will of God to know." 4 
 
 The familiar nursery rhyme has also a place in popular 
 literature, and the following fragments — for a few lines 
 will suffice to show their kinship — are as difficult to 
 repeat and as inexhaustibly recurrent as the " House 
 that Jack Built," or the old woman with the refractory 
 pig, of our own infancy. 
 
 " I wish I had — what do I wish 
 
 I had? 
 I wish I had an old man, 
 To take care of my garden, 
 My garden with the roses. 
 I wish I had — what do I wish 
 
 I had ? 
 I wish I had a donkey, 
 For the old man to ride on, 
 Who takes care of my 
 
 garden, 
 My garden with the roses. 
 I wish I had — what do I wish 
 
 I had ? 
 I wish I had a horse-fly, 
 To sting the donkey, 
 Make him throw off the old 
 
 man, 
 
 4 Passow, No. 278. Dragoumis. 
 
 5 Passow (from Salonika). 
 
 That takes care of my garden, 
 
 &c. 
 I wish I had, &c, 
 I wish I had a bird, 
 To swallow the horse-fly, 
 That stung the donkey, 
 That threw off the old man, 
 
 &c. 
 I wish I had, &c, 
 I wish I had a fox, 
 To eat up the bird, 
 That swallowed the horse-fly, 
 
 &c. 
 I wish I had a dog, 
 To kill the fox, 
 That ate up the bird, &c. 
 I wish I had a stick, 
 To beat the dog," &c. 5 
 
 Ava/xv7}<Tei$, vol. i., p. 214.
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 277 
 
 And so on without any limit, but that of patience. 
 
 There was an old man, 
 And he had a cock, 
 That crew and awoke 
 The lonely old man. 
 There came a fox, 
 And ate the cock, 
 That crew and awoke 
 The lonely old man. 
 There came a dog, 
 And killed the fox, 
 That ate the cock, &c. 
 
 A tree fell down, 
 And crushed the dog, 
 That killed the fox, &c. 
 Then came the fire, 
 And burned the tree 
 That crushed the dog, &c. 
 Then came the stream, 
 And quenched the fire 
 That burned the tree, &c. 
 Then came an ox, 
 Drunk up the stream, &c. 6 
 
 And so on — the wolf killed the ox, the shepherd 
 killed the wolf, and the plague killed the shepherd, and 
 there that story ends. 
 
 Thus far we have glanced at the domestic side of the 
 folk-poetry in its lyrical aspect. A few specimens will 
 now be given of the narrative verse which records a 
 legend or tells a tale, and which has something of the 
 spirit that inspired the ballad of Northern lands. 
 
 With such it is impossible not to class the Charos 
 poems, which, however, frequently serve as myrologies, 
 in the wider sense of the word, for, as has been already 
 laid down, the genuine myrology is topical and spon- 
 taneously improvised. 
 
 The well-known poem of the " Bridge of Arta " has 
 been alluded to in another place," and an explanation 
 has been offered of the superstition upon which it is 
 based ; no further introduction, therefore, is needed 
 here. 
 
 (; Passow, 
 
 7 See p. 169.
 
 278 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 THE BUILDING OF THE BRIDGE OF ARTA. 
 There were five-and-forty masons, and sixty workmen more, 
 Who toiled to build the tower-pile upon the bridge of Arta ; 
 The whole day through they built it up, and at night it tumbled down. 
 The builders groaned and fretted, and ever made lament ; 
 The workmen they were merry, to have earned a new day's wage. 
 It fell on one fine Sunday — it was a high feast-day — 
 The master-builder laid him down to take a little sleep, 
 And in his sleep he had a dream — a vision as he slumbered — 
 Unless a victim perished the pile would never hold. 
 And neither rich nor poor man, nor any one on earth, 
 Save his, the master-builder's, wife, would make the foundation stand. 
 He called out to a labourer to go and do his bidding : 
 " Now go and tell thy mistress, the mistress of the house, 
 To dress herself and deck herself, put on her golden gauds, 
 Put on her gauds of silver, put on her silken gown — 
 Now swiftly speed and swift return and swiftly tell her thus." 
 He went and found her where she sat at sewing and at song. 
 ' ; Now greet thee well, my mistress, the mistress of the house, 
 The master-builder sends me, bids you put on the gold, 
 Put on the gauds of silver, put on your silken gown, 
 
 And come to feast with us " 
 
 She dressed herself, she decked herself, put on her gauds of gold, 
 Put on her gauds of silver, put on her silken gown ; 
 And there she went to find them, whereas they sat at meat. 
 " Now greet thee well, my mistress, the mistress of my house, 
 My wooing-ring has fallen down — the first I ever wore — 
 And therefore did I send for thee to come and pick it up." 
 Then, as they let her down into the midst of the tower-pile, 
 One heaped in earth upon her, another heaped in lime, 
 And he. the master-builder, he struck her with his mallet. 
 " Three sisters were we once, and all three of us were slain. 
 There was one killed in the church, and one in the monastery, 
 And the third, the fairest of the three, upon the bridge of Arta. 
 Now as my hands do tremble may its pillars tremble too, 
 And as my heart is throbbing, so may the bridge throb too ! " 8 
 
 8 Fauriel.
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 279 
 
 There are several variant versions of this poem. It 
 reappears almost textually elsewhere as the " Bridge of 
 Tricha " ; but the mysterious commands are not con- 
 veyed by a dream, but in the voice of a little bird. 
 
 A little bird alit and sat on the middle of the arch, 
 It did not sing as sings a bird, nor as a swallow calls, 
 It only sang and said a word in human speech : 
 " If here be no life taken, the bridge will never stand, 
 No humble man, nor great one, no wayfarer may it be, 
 Only the master-builder's, the master's wife will do." 
 And when the master heard it his tears began to flow. '•' 
 
 The next poem is interesting, as illustrating the 
 popular view of the uncanny side of Nereid and Lamia 
 lore. 
 
 Nine times a thousand sheep, and nine times a thousand goats, 
 Nine brothers that kept watch on them, and nine that pastured 
 
 them. 
 Now five were gone for bread, and three where black eyes wooed 
 
 them ; 
 Janni was left alone, the guardian of the flocks. 
 His mother gave him counsel, his mother spake and said, 
 " My Janni, so your prayers be heard, and as you wish to prosper, 
 Lie never down beneath the fir, nor fold the flock by the bramble ; 
 Nor tune the pipe by the rocks that the Nereids haunt, 
 The Lamias of the shore can hear, can catch thy music." 
 But he, he never heeded the words his mother spake, 
 He went and sat beneath the fir, and folded the flock by the 
 
 bramble, 
 And by the Nereid-haunted rocks he played upon the pipe. 
 The Lamias of the shore o'erhear, they catch his music ; 
 One Lamia, a fair Lamia, stands by him, and thus says she : 
 " Pby on, play, Janni, three days and nights play on — 
 If you out-tire me in the dance, you shall have me for a wife, 
 
 9 AeX^/cot.
 
 2 So The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 And if I tire your music out, I'll take you for my husband ;" 
 He played, poor wight, three days he played and three nights 
 
 long, 
 Until his lips had rotted off and fell down at his feet, 
 Until his hands dropped from him, as he played upon his pipe. 1 
 
 The characteristics of Charos as the personification 
 of an inexorable law of nature have been dwelt upon at 
 some length, and among them the vindictive retribu- 
 tion they are supposed to provoke who defy his power 
 in the pride of their youth and strength. This trait is 
 brought out in the following poem, which is also 
 remarkable for its dramatic force and pictorial concen- 
 tration. 
 
 There was a maid who used to boast she had no fear of Charos, 
 
 For she had brothers nine, and Constantine for lover, 
 
 The lord of many houses, whose palaces were four. 
 
 So Charos turned into a bird, turned into a black swallow, 
 
 Came flying, and let go a shaft at the maiden's heart : 
 
 And her mother wept over her, her mother weeps over her ; — 
 
 " O Charos, sorrow hast thou sent for this my only daughter, 
 
 My one, my only daughter, my fair daughter ! " 
 
 Then Constantine appeared, coming down the lofty gorge, 
 
 With four hundred following in his train, and sixty-two 
 
 musicians ; — 
 " Now let the wedding mirth be still, and stilled the sound of 
 
 music, 
 For there's a cross to see at the door of my bride's mother, 
 The mother of my bride is dead, or dead her father, 
 Or one of my brothers-in-law it is that has been wounded." 
 He strikes his black steed with his heel, and goes towards the 
 
 church, 
 And finds the master-mason busied about a grave. 
 " Live long, O master-mason, and say whose grave is this ?" 
 
 1 AeX^/coj.
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 281 
 
 "A grave for the fair-haired maid, with the fair hair and dark 
 
 eyes. 
 She who had brothers nine, and Constantine for lover, 
 The lord of many houses, whose palaces were four.' 
 " I pray you, master-mason, make this grave a little longer, 
 Make it a little broader, and large enough for two ? " 
 He drew his gilded dagger, and plunged it in his heart, 
 They tombed them both together, together in one grave. 1 
 
 It is curious to compare the following two versions of 
 the song of Charos and the Youth who wrestled with him. 
 The first was found by Fauriel in Thessaly, the second 
 is still sung as a myrology in Crete ; the two opposite 
 extremes, that is, of the country mainly occupied by 
 the Hellenic-speaking race ; the former divided by 
 difficult mountain ranges from the rest of Greece almost 
 as effectually as is the latter by a treacherous sea. 
 And yet it is almost impossible not to postulate a 
 common origin for the two versions in spite of the 
 different issue of the contest. 3 
 
 A nimble youth went swiftly down the steep mountain way, 
 He wore his cap upon one side, and had the plaited hair ; 
 And as he went Charos espied him from a crest of hill, 
 Descended to the straight defile and waited for him there. 
 " Where do you come from, nimble youth, and whither do you go?" 
 
 2 Fauriel. 
 
 '• Many parallel cases, however, may be cited. The school song, already 
 quoted, as found in both Andros and Smyrna, is a case in point. Another 
 Cretan distich — 
 
 " The stream consumes the earth, the earth consumes the dead ; 
 And maidens fair consume the young men in their pride " — 
 
 is derived from the same inspiration as that which accompanies the 
 Eubivan dance : 
 
 " The sea consumes the mountain, the mountains the wild beasts ; 
 The black-eyed and the fair ones consume the pallikars."
 
 282 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 " I come from my flock," he answered, " and I am going home, 
 
 1 am going to fetch bread, and then return again." 
 
 " But God has sent me," Charos said, " to fetch thy soul away." 
 
 " Let me live, Charos ; oh, let me live, I entreat thee ! 
 
 For I have a young wife, and widowhood ill beseems her ; 
 
 If swift she walk, folks say she seeks a husband, 
 
 If slow she walk, folks chide her affectation ; 
 
 And I have little children, and these will be left orphans." 
 
 But Charos never hearkened, for Charos meant to take him. 
 
 " Then, Charos, if thou art resolved, and 'tis thy mind to take me, 
 
 Come now, and let us wrestle upon this marble floor ; 
 
 And Charos, if thou conquerest, then thou shalt take my soul ; 
 
 But if 'tis I that conquer, then go thy way in peace." 
 
 And so they went and wrestled from morning till midday, 
 
 But by the hour of the noonday meal Charos had got him under." 
 
 And thus the story is told in Crete : 4 — 
 
 Charos was pursuing a goodly youth along the shore ; 
 
 The youth turned up the mountain slope — that way went Charos 
 
 too, 
 And he whistled to him, crying out, " Wayfarer, wait for me ! " 
 "What dost thou bring me, Charos, that thou shouldst bid me wait ? " 
 " I bring a target and a sword, a bow and a lance I bring thee, 
 And to thy wife I bring a sable veil to wear." 
 So they went along their way to the iron-paved threshing-floor, 
 And there they fought and wrestled from morning till the eve, 
 From evening on till morning, and on to the middle day. 
 And nine times over in that space the youth threw Charos down, 
 But after the ninth encounter the wayfarer got a fall from Charos, 
 And with a bound he flung himself upon the young man's chest. 
 " Oh, Charos, only forty days yet let me joy in life, 
 Because my wedding crowns are hanging in the church, 
 Because my wedding cakes are still in the guest-folks' houses !" 5 
 
 4 Elpis Melena. 
 
 5 The crowns used in the wedding ceremony are afterwards suspended in 
 church, and the wedding cakes are distrihuted among the guests. The 
 passage indicates he was but newly married.
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 283 
 
 " Thou askest me for forty days — then live for forty years ; 
 Thou art as brave in battle as gallant in thy prayer, 
 So take this 'kerchief from me, and bind it round the wreaths." 
 They gave the farewell greeting — good comrades each to other — 
 And Charos took the mountain way, the young man took the 
 
 path ; 
 So even Charos honours the love of married life. 6 
 
 The next myrology is one of the few in which Charos 
 figures as a boatman. 
 
 A bark has set sail laden with young folk, 
 
 At the stern the sick, the wounded in the bows, 
 
 Beneath the sail those that were drowned in the sea. 
 
 It seeks a port to enter, a haven to anchor in, 
 
 And in a fair harbour it made fast the cable. 
 
 Rumour went through the villages, it was noised among the people, 
 
 " Widows, they are selling your husbands ; mothers, they sell your 
 
 sons, 
 And you, unhappy sisters, your brothers are being sold ! " 
 The mothers run with silver, the sisters come with gifts, 
 And the widows, the hapless widows, with keys in their hands, 
 And they that have nought come with hands clasped together. 
 But suddenly Charos changed his mind, and cut the cables, 
 And the mothers recrossed the mountains, the sisters the hills, 
 And the widows, the hapless widows, went across the lonely 
 
 valleys. 
 
 This translation is from the text of Legrand. Another 
 version, differing considerably, but substantially the 
 same, is quoted by Politis from the collection of M. 
 Razelos, and said to come from Maina. In this case 
 the presentation of Charos as a boatman is rather due to 
 the character of the country to which the poem belongs > 
 than to any reminiscence of the traditional classical 
 
 6 Lit. : " the love of the Marriage crown."
 
 284 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 conception, a country rarely, if ever, of old entered by 
 the land approaches, and keeping contact with the rest 
 of the continent only by sea. In the latter version, how- 
 ever, the name of Charos does not occur, and, from its 
 internal evidence, I should think it more probable 
 that the origin of this poem was to be sought in the 
 piratical descents with which of old these coasts were 
 familiar, when the populations were transferred to 
 Constantinople, and Barbary corsairs carried off 
 numbers of their inhabitants to supply the slave-markets 
 of the East. At a later date, when the recollection ot 
 these times had passed away, the name of Charos was, 
 perhaps, inserted as the captain of the ill-omened ship, and 
 the song, which had survived the memory of the circum- 
 stances it recorded, was adopted as a myrology. 
 
 If it is, unfortunately, impossible to reproduce here 
 any of those fugitive poetic outbursts of grief which are 
 improvised at the bedside of the dead and over the 
 graves on anniversaries and commemoration days, there 
 is, on the other hand, a great wealth of songs recorded 
 which also serve on such occasions. In Maina they are 
 generally grim in character — records of battle and 
 murder and sudden death, such as it will please the 
 dead to hear — messages of consolation, that the secret 
 shot which laid low some relative has been avenged. 
 Others, again, describe the garden of Charos in the 
 other world, or the efforts of the dead to get away 
 from his all-seeing vigilance. Some are mere outbursts 
 of inconsolable sorrow, and hopeless longings to see 
 those who have passed away once more. And some- 
 times, again, the mourner speaks with the dead man's 
 voice, regretting the world he has passed away from, or
 
 Lyrical Poetry. 285 
 
 giving instructions what flowers shall be planted round 
 his grave. The distich, the commonest vehicle for the 
 expression of love and longing, is also used for the 
 passionate outcry of sorrow, but set to a different 
 cadence. Here are a few shorter specimens of these 
 songs of lamentation : — 
 
 Young men farewell, farewell old wives, and farewell maidens 
 
 sweet, 
 I have bound the iron fetters of Charos round my feet. 
 
 God made so many good things, but one thing failed to make, 
 
 A bridge athwart the sea, and a stair to the underworld, 
 
 That one might cross, one might descend and go to the world 
 
 beneath, 
 And see the young folk where they sit, the old folk where they lie, 
 And see the little children how they fare without their mothers. 
 
 Round all the world God planted pinks and pomegranate 
 
 flowers ; 
 But only in my dwelling-place myrologies and tears. 
 
 Charos, what have I done to thee, that thou shouldst take my child, 
 And leave me here to pass my days in solitude, alone ? 
 
 Like the sun he rose in splendour, and like the moon went down, 
 And like a branch of basil he withered where he fell. 
 
 God made so many good things, but one thing failed to make, 
 That as the trees take leaf, and the meadows put forth flowers, 
 That so the graves should open, if it were but thrice a year, 
 At Easter and at Christmas and Good Friday all day through. 
 
 The arms that once the brave have borne, the clothes of the 
 
 luckless dead, 
 They never should be worn again, they never should be sold ; 
 They only should be hung at the gate of the Virgin's shrine, 
 For the rust to eat the iron, and the moth to eat the cloth.
 
 286 The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. 
 
 There stood a tower at his gate, and a tree within his court, 
 But now the tree is rooted up, and fallen is the tower. 
 
 Charos go back to Hades, and stay there for a while, 
 
 That there be no more weeping, and love be free from pain ! 
 
 There is an infinite number and variety of these little 
 poems, and I do not necessarily pretend to have selected 
 the best among them. But in concluding this brief sum- 
 mary of the themes and the forms of Greek folk-poetry, I 
 cannot refrain from quoting once more that most beautiful 
 of all the myrologies, which is perhaps already familiar 
 to many readers, through the rendering of the great 
 German poet, who was so deeply moved by its simple 
 and suggestive pathos. 
 
 Why are the mountains dark, and why so woe-begone ? 
 
 Is it the wind at war there, or does the rain storm scourge them ? 
 
 It is not the wind at war there, it is not the rain that scourges, 
 
 It is only Charos passing across them with the dead ; 
 
 He drives the youths before him, the old folk drags behind, 
 
 And he bears the tender little ones in a line at his saddle-bow. 
 
 The old men beg a grace, the young kneel to implore him, 
 
 " Good Charos, halt in the village, or halt by some cool fountain, 
 
 That the old men may drink water, the young men play at the 
 
 stone-throwing, 
 And that the little children may go and gather flowers." 
 " In never a village will I halt, nor yet by a cool fountain, 
 The mothers would come for water, and recognize their children, 
 The married folk would know each other, and I should never 
 
 part them." 7 
 
 7 Passow.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 DANCE MUSIC. 
 
 The music of the people in Greece is Oriental in cha- 
 racter, incomprehensible and generally unsympathetic to 
 a Western ear. The peasant at the plough, the idler in 
 the street, and the boatman steering his caique, sing the 
 whole livelong day ; but their song is a minor cadence of 
 semitones recurring with melancholy iteration, and end- 
 ing in a kind of nasal drone. The women, with their 
 shrill voices piping their semitones in concert as they 
 dance, produce a weird sort of bird-like twittering sound. 
 It is not possible for one without musical knowledge 
 to analyse or even adequately describe these unfamiliar 
 sounds. The only observations which I was able to 
 make myself upon the subject were, that the singing of 
 the people had nothing in common with the merry tunes 
 which I heard shepherd boys in /Etolia playing on the 
 six-stopped pipe cut from a hollow cane in the old tra- 
 ditional way, and which are possibly as old as the instru- 
 ment itself, and that it is no less widely removed in 
 character from the chants of the Orthodox Church. I 
 should therefore be inclined to conclude that this mode 
 of singing dates from the Turkish occupation.
 
 288 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 The instruments with which the accompaniment of 
 the dance is played have been already alluded to ; the 
 three-stringed almond-shaped fiddle of the islands, the 
 rude mandolin played with a plectrum of quill or tortoise- 
 shell, the drum, and the screeching reed-pipes, like those 
 of the Italian pifferari. The general effect produced is 
 not unlike the music of the pipes and drums of an Arab 
 village band. A few of the popular dances have been 
 arranged for the piano, so that it is possible to give some 
 idea of the measure, though the character of the music 
 lies chiefly in the nature of the instruments. A few 
 bars will suffice to convey the lilt to which the livelier 
 Tziamikos is executed : 
 
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 Appendix. 
 
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 IBESE^£EE[E^
 
 GLOSSARY OF WORDS OF GREEK OR FOREIGN 
 ORIGIN OCCURRING IN THE TEXT. 
 
 Aga — a subordinate district governor under the Turkish domina- 
 tion. 
 
 Anathemata — votive offerings. 
 
 Armatoli — the local militia in northern Greece, perhaps already 
 existing under the Byzantine emperors, recognized and 
 developed by the Turkish invaders, p. 221, &c. 
 
 Clistos (= closed) — a Greek dance, p. 86. 
 
 Demarch — governor of a deme, corresponds to mayor, though the 
 authority of the demarch in the country extends over a wide 
 area, the deme being a subdivision of a province. 
 
 EpiJaphion — the religious procession in imitation of a funeral on 
 the night of Good Friday, p. 1 50. 
 
 Fez6 ( = fez)— the red cap worn by women in the Morea. p. 74. 
 
 Fustanella— the white linen skirt or kilt of the Albanian dress now 
 generally adopted as the Greek national costume, p. 73. 
 
 Iko7i (— image, likeness)— the sacred pictures in churches, portraits 
 of the Virgin and saints. 
 
 Kalikanisari — goblins which appear between Christmas and the 
 Epiphany. Probably from Turkish Kara-kono-jolos, loup- 
 garou. p. 198. 
 
 Katakhanas — Cretan name for the vampire, p. 188, &c.
 
 292 Glossary of Words occurring in the Text. 
 
 Klepht (= robber)— the name given to the guerilla bands which 
 infested the mountains of Greece and Albania during the 
 Turkish domination. See chap. ix. 
 
 Kolliva — cakes prepared on special occasions, for funerals and 
 solemnities, pp. 126, 149. 
 
 Kolovelones — Athenian name for the Kalikantsari. 
 
 Kondogouni — a short white jacket worn by women in Greece and 
 Albania, p. 75. 
 
 Koullouria — cakes or biscuits made in the shape of a ring. 
 
 Koumbdros (= compere, //. compare) — the name is reciprocally 
 given by godchildren to godfathers, and godfathers to god- 
 children, and covers all members of a family between whom 
 such a tie exists. This artificial relationship acts as a bar 
 on intermarriage. At weddings also an influential friend or 
 relation is named Koumbaros to the bride, and among the 
 poorer people he provides a part at any rate of the wedding 
 entertainment, and is bound to care for the wife and children 
 should they be left destitute, pp. 91 and 109, note. 
 
 Lamia — a malignant fairy, p. 185. 
 
 Leventikos—a. dance executed by two dancers, p. 85. 
 
 Limeri (Limeria, pi.) — the place of rendezvous of the Klephts ; 
 said to be derived from oX-qv Tj^ipav = all day, because the 
 Klephts remained during the day in their mountain hiding- 
 places, and only issued upon their forays by night, p. 225. 
 
 Mora — the name of a Lamia in Athenian folk-lore. p. 187. 
 
 Myrology—a dirge sung by the women over the dead, or at the 
 side of the grave on anniversaries ; often improvised. 
 p. 128, and chap. xi. 
 
 Nereids — now about equivalent to our fairy. Chap, vii., passim.
 
 Glossary of Words occurring in the Text. 293 
 
 Pallikar — the rank and file of the Amatoli were called pallikari, 
 and the lieutenant was known as the proto-pallikar. Thence 
 the name was given to the Kleptic warriors, and is now 
 used merely in the sense of a " young gallant." 
 
 Panag/iia—ihe Virgin ; etymologically, the all-holy one ; whence 
 the common Christian name Panaghiotes. 
 
 Paneguris — a fair or festival, generally celebrated on the day of 
 the patron saint of the church in the neighbourhood of 
 which it takes place. Sometimes the religious, sometimes 
 the secular character predominates, but the same name 
 is used in either case. p. 82. 
 
 Fappas— the Pope or Priest of the Greek Church. 
 
 Paramythia — fables or folk-stories. 
 
 Parajiyiuphos — the "best man " at a wedding. 
 
 Pendalpha—the. five letters I OXON, monogram of 'IrjjoOs xptoros 
 vikS., "Jesus Christ is victorious," symbolically engraved on 
 charms and amulets, p. 126. 
 
 Primate — Latinised form of Turkish Kodja-bashi. 
 
 " The primates in Greece formed a substitute for an 
 
 aristocracy A voivode or bey purchased the 
 
 taxes of a district as farmer-general. He then sublet the 
 different branches of revenue to Greek primates, who again 
 usually relet their portions in smaller shares to the local 
 magistrates." — Finiay, "Hist- of Greece? vol. vi., book /'., 
 chap. i. 
 
 Stoicheion — lit., element. The elementary spirit or deity inherent 
 in natural objects, places, &c, genius of the spot. p. 168. 
 
 St rigla — witch or weir-wolf. p. 187. 
 
 Syrios — a dance executed by a number of dancers in a line. p. 86. 
 
 Tratta — the dance peculiar to Megara. p. 88.
 
 294 Glossary of Words occurring in the Text. 
 
 Tsiamikos — a dance which takes its name from the Tzame or 
 Schumik Albanians. 
 
 Tsaroukia— leather shoes with upturning points worn by country- 
 folk in Greece. 
 
 Vlach (= Wallach) — a name given throughout Greece to the nomad 
 shepherds, owing to so many of them being of Wallach 
 origin. 
 
 Vlani — the bridegroom's friend or " best man " in the Albanian 
 marriage ceremony, p. 104. 
 
 Vonrkolakas — a word of Sclavonic origin ; generally = vampire, 
 but it is also used for ghost or phantom, p. 188. 
 
 Vraiimi — the conductors of the wedding ceremony in northern 
 Greece (Mount Pelion). p. 94. 
 
 Zipoitni — the long sleeveless coat worn by women in the Albanian 
 costume now generally adopted in Greece. 
 
 Henderson &> Spalding {Limited), Printers, 3 & 5, Marylebone Lane, London, W*
 
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