I have heard that in the villages of Bavaria and
Thuringia it is otherwise. There, upon the first of April, the young men disguise themselves as trees, are sprinkled with water by the maidens, and thereafter discard their leaves and dance all careless upon the granary floor. I have never witnessed such ceremonies, but I am assured that they persist. In Persia again I have seen the great festival of the New Day, the festival of No Ruz. For upon the Iranian tableland the seasons are most orderly, and punctually on March 2,ISt the wind turns to the south, the peach orchards (between 10.0 and 1 r.o a.m.) flush in the valleys, and the whole of Persia puts on new clothes, celebrates the little ceremony of the new grain, and in the afternoon sits out under the plane- trees making good resolutions, happy that the New Year has come. " Rejoicing," as the dramatist said, " in the hour of spring, when the plane-tree whispers to the elm." Even the Turks, who are not a sentimental race and have but small feeling for nature, are not unaffected by April 1st. Upon that day they buy lady tulips and for the whole season they have a pleasant name. They call it " First breezes." But we call ours " All Fools Day."
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