GREEK POPULAR CUSTOMS.*
So many books have been published about Greece from a historical, archaeological, or philological point of view ; scholars and students of folk-lore, discoverers and travellers, have so often described the result of their researches and experiences in the Little Kingdom, that it would at first sight appear that the market was already overstocked with works dealing with modern Greece. It is probable, however, that the moat recent addition to the list will find many readers, not only among those who have travelled in the East, but also among all in- terested in comparing and contrasting the popular traditions and national customs of different races. The pleasant style in which the book is written, and the absence of technicalities and the more recondite arguments of comparative folk-lore, will probably increase the circle of its readers, while they • The Customs and Lore of Modern Greece. By Bomal. Rodd. London : David Stott. 1892. cannot but be impressed by the abundant evidence of the author's entire sympathy with Greece and the Greeks, as he found them during a two years' sojourn in their midst. Changes are following one on another with such rapidity in that country, and the influence of Western civilisation on its inhabitants is so palpably increasing, that a book is welcome which attempts to collect and save from the fate which would otherwise overtake them, the traditions, customs, and super- stitions of a people with the past and the possible future of the Greeks.
Mr. Rodd, in his introduction, disclaims any "special equip- ment in the knowledge of comparative folk-lore," or any "special title to enter upon the subject;" he confines himself to giving a fairly complete account of the manners and customs of the people, collected from personal observation or from trustworthy authorities, with references, where possible, to the probable origin of each. This, the main body of his work, is prefaced by some description of the present population of the Kingdom, which the author groups under four headings,—Greeks proper, Albanians, Vlachs and Slays, or "Sclaves," as Mr. Rodd prefers to call them. This portion of his work is avowedly a compilation from various authorities—Fallmerayer, Hopf, Finlay, Von Hahn, and Pouqueville, among others—and this is scarcely the place to criticise the different theories advanced. While, how- ever, making fall allowance for the sentimental desire of the classical scholar to prove the Greeks of to-day the direct descendants of the ancient Hellenes in the largest measure possible, the author hardly does justice to the undoubted foreign element existing in the land. To take the argument from language first, his suggestion that such Slav words as are found in modern Greek may have been introduced into the language through the intermediary of Turkish or Albanian, is certainly untenable as far as the former is con- cerned, Turkish being perhaps less rich in Slav forms than even Greek itself ; in any case, it is unnecessary to seek so roundabout an explanation for their occurrence, seeing that Greeks and Slays were and are, throughout the districts in Europe inhabited by Greek-speaking populations, in direct contact. Again, in the question of geographical nomenclature, the author argues that the Slav element in Greece can never have been important, in view of the extreme scarcity of places bearing Slav names, adding that the "renaming of the spots in which they settle is one of the first cares of a conquering race." His argument is double-edged, and can be turned against himself. Does the author forget that during the last seventy years, since they have become a nation, the Greeks have, as it were, had one of the first cares of a con- quering race Since the Independence, they have either entirely rechristened, or have again called by their classical names, numerous towns and villages until quite recently known by Slav, Venetian, or Turkish names.
There is a similar objection to the statement that the Albanian element in Greece is rapidly becoming absorbed by the Greeks, and that their distinctive dialect will in a few gene. rations have completelydied out. What data has the author for making such a statement? The returns of each successive census held in Greece ? But these are notoriously untrustworthy, and until quite recently were little more than rough estimates com- piled at head-quarters. Perhaps Mr. Rodd is not aware that in Attica itself there are villages—Vrana, on the plain of Marathon, for instance—where scarce a soul understands Greek. We are convinced that, had he consistently spoken to all the peasants he met casually during his travels, he would have found that the Albanian is a very vigorous and flourishing language in the country. That it will eventually die out is
possible, owing to the free education, of which Albanian forms no part, which every child can now receive ; but there is no
reason for supposing that even if that be the case, the Albanians will be absorbed by the Greeks any more than they have been hitherto ; nay, more, such an event would be a national calamity. The Albanian element is the backbone of the country : a race of born soldiers, strong and active, leading a healthy outdoor life, they would be invaluable in war, and would at any time compare favourably with the younger Greeks, who, flocking to the towns, are exchanging the plough for the mock-gentility of place-seeking in the capital.
On the whole, the description of the peasants and the lives they lead is good, and the picture drawn is agreeably true without being exaggerated. Readers of the chapter entitled " The Land and the People" will have an excellent idea of village life in Greece, although Achmetaga is hardly a typical village. The fact that its landlord is a well-to-do Englishman living on his property, is sufficient to show that the advantages enjoyed by its inhabitants are above the average. But in any case, Achmetaga, governed as it is practically on the feudal system, differs in many essential particulars from the ordinary Greek village,—the system of land and property tenure is entirely different from that prevailing in the rest of Greece, and the appearance of general prosperity and comfort with which our author was struck, is certainly in some measure- due to the personal qualities of the landlord.
We cannot help feeling that Mr. Rodd has been extremely lucky with the specimens of shepherds he met in Greece. He describes them as men "with tanned, faun-like faces, and a laughing look in their clear brown eyes, under the matted hair." We are not quite sure what a " faun-like" face means, but if it resembles that of the average Greek shepherd, we should say it was hardly complimentary to the faun. We have had considerable experience of the Greek shepherd ; he has usually encouraged his dogs to worry ours, and we have- known that any harm done to them, even in self-defence, would be avenged by a bullet from his rifle ; and he has always looked a fierce, sulky, unwashen savage. A shepherd never changes his white kilt more than once a year, at Greek Easter : it would bring him unspeakable ills to do so ; he lives in it by night and by day, makes cheese and butter in it, and uses it as a pocket-handkerchief. Its condition after a few months of such service is better imagined than described, and we are bound to suppose that Mr. Rodd's acquaintance with shep- herds was confined to the time immediately after Easter ; else would he hardly have had the fortitude to remain close enough to them to observe them as well as he seems to have done.
We now come to that portion of the book which deals more particularly with the manners and customs of the people ; and here the author is admirable. His chapters are rich in quaint anecdote and superstition, and his description of the different ceremonies and functions which he saw extremely well drawn. We confess some of his tales are new to us ; the author, how- ever, undoubtedly made use of opportunities for picking up information which we should have perhaps let slip. For instance, he arrives at the village of Ga,stuni—which, by-the- bye, he calls Gasturi—about midnight, and hearing strains of music from a cottage opposite the inn, walks in to discover what it means. His energy is striking; he is making a long night-journey, and is probably tired ; however, the opportunity for rest offered by the midnight halt is insufficient to damp.
his enthusiasm, which is richly rewarded. We quote his own words as to what took place :—
"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 en 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 ex- cited the wedding guests, who rose and swayed their bodies like dervishes in 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 cf silence, and the notes were transferred to the piper's pockets—"
to be returned subsequently, alas, as it was only for show
We can pass rapidly over the chapters dealing with " Village Festivals," "Birth," "Destiny and Death," "Beliefs and Ceremonies," and " Luck, Divination, and Healing," inasmuch as the author is quite at his best here, and there is notbing calling for special mention. There is, as Mr. Rodd justly remarks, such a mass of popular ceremonies, local tradi- tions, and quaint usages in Greece, that all interested in such subjects must consult the book itself. Were
any particular belief or usage to be singled out as a sample of the whole of these chapters, so full of interest and of information, it would fail to give anything like an adequate impression of the countless fences and barriers by which the daily life of the Greek peasant is circumscribed, of the picturesque customs and symbolic ceremonies to which he still holds, and perhaps of the crass ignorance which pre- vents him from breaking free from it all for good. But it may be allowed to point out one or two omissions or correc- tions, especially regarding traditions and ceremonies in con- nection with the dead. Mr. Rodd would localise the habit of putting a coin or cross into the mouth of the dead, wherewith to pay the ferryman of the Dark River, to the Greek popula- tions outside the Kingdom, and chiefly to those in Asia Minor. This is incorrect ; the custom still prevails widely in Greece, and in the neighbourhood of Adrianople and in South Bul- garia, at any rate, it is practically universal, for all the ingenious Bishops of Mitylene who have tried to suppress it. We have also looked in vain for some mention of the custom, general in the Greek world, of opening a window or door in the death-chamber immediately after death, whereby the soul mly escape. Is not this superstition to some extent a set-off against the belief in " the body and soul being still strangely identified," of which our author speaks ?
There remain a few words to be said about the popular poetry of the country, and the specimens of it published in this book. With a few exceptions, there is no fault to find with the translated pieces ; they run smoothly enough for translations in which elegance is evidently sacrificed to accuracy ; yet are they not always correct. " Clove-trees " (pp. 229-30) do not grow outside the tropics, and xapvocpOtAt here, as so often, means " carnation." No praise, however, can be given to the extracts in the original Greek : they abound in inaccuracies, and the mistakes in spelling and accentuation can be counted by the score. In fact, any one to whom these extracts are the first introduction to modern Greek cannot but imagine that the difference between the ancient and the modern language is much greater than is the case,—a result undoubtedly far from the wishes of the author. Yet what other conclusion could the reader possessed of a most elementary knowledge of classical Greek arrive at, when he finds Iyee and ej repeatedly followed by a verb in the indicative, and the accents scattered haphazard as from a pepper-box ? It is, of course, possible that Mr. Rodd's diplomatic duties prevented his correcting the proofs himself, but that is scarcely an excuse for giving these barbarities to the world. A like carelessness is visible in the spelling of proper names, especially those of places. One such error has been already pointed out, but we cannot refrain from adding one other instance,—the island of Spetsai is mentioned three times in the book, on pp. 19, 37, and 199 : it is called successively " the Spezzas," " Spezza," and "Spetsa." It is to be regretted the author had not occasion to mention the place again ; his fourth shot might have been more successful.
The work is to some extent marred by the absence of an index, which would greatly increase the value of subsequent editions for purposes of reference : precise particulars as to page and line should also be given in the case of quotations; the toil of searching through the ten thousand odd lines of the Erolocritus for the quotation out of it on p. 211, could so easily be avoided. The book as a whole, however, is readable and interesting, and for reasons specified above, is likely to become popular. Too many errors have been allowed to creep in for it to be a trustworthy book of reference, unless revised; but there is little room for doubt that Mr. Rodd will have succeeded in his object of " showing that stones and sites and inscriptions need not wholly monopolise the energies devoted to Hellenic studies."
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