Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion: A Study in Survivals

[195] Probably meaning the brigand’s ‘comrades.’ The term ξεφτέρι, ‘hawk,’ is commonly so applied.

[196]Πολίτης, op. cit. p. 246 (from Λελέκης, Δημοτ. ἀνθολ. p. 57).

[197]e.g. Passow, Popul. Carm. nos. 426–429.

[198]Σακελλάριος, Κυπριακά, vol. III. p. 48. Cf. Πολίτης, op. cit. p. 239.

[199] The word for ‘black’ includes the sense of ‘grim,’ ‘gloomy,’ ‘sorrowful.’ Tears are commonly described as ‘black,’ μαῦρα δάκρυα.

[200] Passow, op. cit. distich no. 1155.

[201] Cf. Passow, no. 408.

[202] Cf. Passow, nos. 414, 415, 417.

[203] Passow, no. 424.

[204] Aesch. Eum. 237.

[205] Fauriel, Chants populaires de la Grèce Moderne, Discours préliminaire, p. 85.

[206] Schmidt, Märchen etc. Song no. 38.

[207]Ibid. no. 37.

[208] Schmidt, Märchen etc. Song no. 7.

[209]Das Volksleben, p. 237.

[210]Märchen etc. Song no. 10.

[211]Πολίτης, Μελέτη κ.τ.λ. p. 272.

[212] Passow, no. 371.

[213]Ἰατρίδης, Συλλογὴ δημοτ. ἀσμάτων, p. 17. Cf. Schmidt, op. cit. p. 236.

[214] So in some districts of Macedonia up to the present day; Abbott, Macedonian Folklore, p. 193.

[215]Πρωτόδικος, περὶ τῆς παρ’ ἡμῖν ταφῆς, p. 14. The form περατίκιον which the writer gives can hardly be popular. It might be, as Schmidt points out, περατίκιν in the local dialect. I have given the form which the word would assume in most districts.

[216]Σκορδέλης in the periodical Πανδώρα, XI. p. 449. Cf. Schmidt, op. cit. p. 238.

[217]περὶ πένθους, § 10.

[218] For this term see above, p. 68, and below, p. 283.

[219] Below, p. 285.

[220] See above, p. 13.

[221] Passow, no. 432.

[222] This is shown later to be the first form of the superstition. See below, pp. 433-4.

[223] Newton, Travels and Discoveries in the Levant, I. p. 289 (cited by Schmidt, das Volksleben, p. 239).

[224] The use of the coin, quite apart from any such variation of the custom, was forbidden by several councils of the Church between the 4th and 7th centuries, cf. Πολίτης, Μελέτη etc. p. 269.

[225] Cf. Ricaud, Annales des conciles généraux et particuliers (1773), vol. I. p. 654 (from Πολίτης, Μελέτη, p. 269).

[226] According to Bent (Cyclades, p. 363) the object used thus in Naxos is a wax cross with the initial letters Ι. Χ. Ν. engraved upon it, and it still bears the old name ναῦλον, ‘fare.’

[227]Κωνστ. Κανελλάκης, Χιακὰ Ἀνάλεκτα, pp. 335 and 339.

[228] Newton, Travels and Discoveries in the Levant, I. p. 212. The exact details of the custom in each place are given below, p. 406.

[229] See below, pp. 433-4.

[230] In Rhodes, according to Newton, l.c., the Christian symbol Ι. Χ. Ν. Κ. is combined with that to which I now come, the ‘pentacle.’

[231] Cf. Πολίτης, Παραδόσεις, I. 573, where it is said that in Myconos the symbol is sometimes carved on house doors to keep vrykolakes (on which see below, cap. IV.) from troubling the inmates at night.

[232] Cf. Lucian, ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἐν τῇ προσαγορεύσει πταίσματος, 5.

[233] apud Pausan. x. 28. 1.

[234]e.g. Eur. Alc. 252, 361, Heracl. 432, Arist. Ran. 184 ff., Lysistr. 606, Plut. 278.

Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion: A Study...

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