Edith Durham Albanian and Montinegrin Folklore

8/7/2019 Edith Durham Albanian and Montinegrin Folklore

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CORRESPONDENCE.

LIBRARY OF FOLK-LORE SOCIETY; CONGRES INTERNATIONALD'ANTHROPOLOGIEET D'ARCH]OLOGIE PREHISTORIQUES.

With reference to the arrangements for use by members of theSociety's Library, now housed at University College, London, Iam directed by the Council to state that a catalogue of the booksis in preparation, and that an announcement of the conditions ofuse will be made as soon as the catalogue has been completed.Gifts of books and pamphlets on folklore and kindred subjectswill be welcomed. I am also directed to draw the attention ofmembers to the holding at Geneva in the first week of September,I912, of the fourteenth meeting of the CongresInternationald'An-thropologieet d Archeologieprehistoriques, when opportunity will beafforded for the discussion of the many important discoveries madesince the last session, at Monaco in I906, and for excursions toplaces of scientific interest. Particulars may be obtained from thegeneral secretary of the Congress, M. W. Deonna, 16 Boulevarddes Tranchees, Geneva. F. A. MILNE,Secretary.

ALBANIANAND MONTENEGRINOLKLORE.[Communicatedby Dr. J. G. Frazer.]

Symbolicextinction of householdfire.-In Montenegro, when thelast male of a family was shot, it was customary for the chiefwoman of the house to throw water on the hearth and extinguishthe fire as a symbol of the extinction of the family. The custom

CORRESPONDENCE.

LIBRARY OF FOLK-LORE SOCIETY; CONGRES INTERNATIONALD'ANTHROPOLOGIEET D'ARCH]OLOGIE PREHISTORIQUES.

With reference to the arrangements for use by members of theSociety's Library, now housed at University College, London, Iam directed by the Council to state that a catalogue of the booksis in preparation, and that an announcement of the conditions ofuse will be made as soon as the catalogue has been completed.Gifts of books and pamphlets on folklore and kindred subjectswill be welcomed. I am also directed to draw the attention ofmembers to the holding at Geneva in the first week of September,I912, of the fourteenth meeting of the CongresInternationald'An-thropologieet d Archeologieprehistoriques, when opportunity will beafforded for the discussion of the many important discoveries madesince the last session, at Monaco in I906, and for excursions toplaces of scientific interest. Particulars may be obtained from thegeneral secretary of the Congress, M. W. Deonna, 16 Boulevarddes Tranchees, Geneva. F. A. MILNE,Secretary.

ALBANIANAND MONTENEGRINOLKLORE.[Communicatedby Dr. J. G. Frazer.]

Symbolicextinction of householdfire.-In Montenegro, when thelast male of a family was shot, it was customary for the chiefwoman of the house to throw water on the hearth and extinguishthe fire as a symbol of the extinction of the family. The custom


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Correspondence.is not yet extinct among the peasants when the last male of afamily dies.Communaljustice.-There has been recently (about February,1912) an extraordinary case of rude justice in the Fandi bariak ofMirdita. A certain family has long been a pest to its neighbours,robbing, shooting, and being generally objectionable. The localheads held a sitting and condemned the whole of the males of thefamily to death. Men were told off to ascertain the whereaboutsof the various victims, and pick them off. On the appointed daythe whole seventeen males were shot. Of them one was only five,and another twelve years old. To any protest against the brutalityof killing a child in cold blood, the reply is,-" It was bad blood,and must not be propagated!" It seems incredible, but I wasassured that it was actually intended to shoot a wretched womanbecause she was enceinte, and might bear a male who wouldcontinue the inherited evil. Three shots, which missed, were firedat her. She then rushed to a man and called on him to protecther, and he took her in besa (a peace oath), and she was spared.

Mourning custom.-It is perhaps noteworthy that, whereas inMontenegro face-scratching as a sign of mourning is done bywomen, in North Albania it is only done by men, and it is notproper for women to do it. I was at a funeral at Skreli beforeChristmas, and all the men had already clawed their temples,which were red and inflamed with scratches; no women wereclawed.

Divination.-It is of interest just now to note what attention isbeing paid to the signs on bladebones and fowl breastbones.They are read eagerly, and, I am earnestly assured, foretellnothing but blood.Folk-medicine.-I was recently down on the plains of BreguMati distributing quinine to the luckless people who were pennedon the plains by the troops throughout last fever season. I founda great many very bad cases of enlarged spleen. The localremedy for this is to take a sheep's spleen, lay it over the seat ofdisease, and then hang it by the fire and roast it all away, whenthe disease will disappear with it.If you see a snake swallowing a frog, this is a most valuableopportunity to obtain a cure for epilepsy. You must throw aP

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226 Correspondence.handkerchief, preferably a black one, over the snake. In its frightit will disgorge the frog. Keep the handkerchief and, when anyone falls down in a fit, throw it over the patient's head. Thepatient will then likewise disgorge the disease.I am myself becoming the centre of a myth, and am supposedto have wrought a cure on a man I never touched. He was shotin the head during last year's revolution, and his recovery isentirely ascribed to me, and not to the doctor to whom it wasdue.Taboos at childbirth.-In Montenegro, though a woman isexpected, among the peasants, to be fit to carry wood and waterthree days after childbirth, she is not allowed to cook and makebread until she has been "churched." I learnt this while living ina peasant house at Njegush, through commenting with horror on thecase of a young married woman who, by carrying wood too early,brought on her death. I was told that fetching wood was quite aright and proper thing for her to do, but that, of course, she wouldnot be allowed to make bread or cook. When I asked " Why ?I was told that bread so made could not possibly be eaten; it wasnot right; it was never done;-and so forth. All the companyagreed on this point.I have recently learnt also that in Montenegro it is regarded asimpossible for childbirth to be allowed at the house of the mother'sparents. Should such a thing be permitted, it would bring theworst luck,-nay, absolute ruin,-on her brothers, who, of course,live in the parental home. I know of a case even among theupper and educated class. A young married lady went to visither mother, and had to shorten her stay for the above reason.Her grandmother nearly drove her out of the house, and saidon her departure,-"Thank God! you have gone, and haven'tbrought evil on the house !"

I have been making enquiries on the subject here in Scutari.I find that a mother is not allowed to visit a married daughtertill after the birth of her first child. I enquired if under anycircumstances the daughter could go to her mother's for such anevent, but this seemed quite a new idea. People did not definitelysay that it was impossible, but they did not seem to imagine thatany such necessity could ever occur. The mother is not allowed


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Correspondence.to attend at the birth of her daughter's child, at any rate never thefirst time. Later on it appears not to matter so much,-but therewas uncertainty, and I gather that it is not done. Should nochild be borne after a year of marriage, the prohibition of themother's visit is removed.

It is customary to break an egg over the face of a newbornchild. Therefore eggs are a correct present to take to a houseafter the occurrence of a birth. The breaking of the egg is, sofar as I can make out, to avert the Evil Eye.Foundation sacrifices.-Cocks and lambs are still often sacrificedwhen foundations of houses are laid in North Albania. Thecitadel at Scutari is one of the many buildings of which it is toldthat a human being was built into the foundations. This par-ticular event, according to an old and powerfully dramatic ballad,occurred early in the fourteenth century, when this place wasunder Serb rule. Devils destroyed by night what was built byday, and only after sacrificing the young wife of one of the threeyoung Princes could the building be reared. The tradition ofsuch burials in foundations has survived till recent years. AnAustrian engineer in Bosnia told me in I906 that some twelveyears previously a panic was caused by a report that the Austrianswere going to brick a child into the foundations of a bridge.This bridge was being built over the Lim, and, owing to theincapacity of the engineer, was so badly constructed that itfell twice. When the third attempt to erect it was made, thepeople took fright, and were only with difficulty persuaded thatno human sacrifice would take place.

Objection to portraits.l-The late Mr. Holman Hunt hasrepeatedly told me that, when he began his painting in Palestine,he had the greatest difficulty in getting people to sit to him asmodels, owing to a belief that, when the Day of Judgment came,the portrait might arrive first at the Gates of Heaven and beadmitted, and the rightful owner of the name be dismissed asan impostor. A month or two ago I met again the aged manwho was afraid lest my sketch of him might cause his death,as mentioned in Dr. Frazer's book.2 He had not forgotten the

1Cf. 'olk-Lore, vol. xviii., p. 83 (Vaud).2 The GoldenBough, (3rd edition), Part ii., Tabooetc., p. Io0.

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Correspondence.episode, and was glad to hear that the sketch was locked upquite safely.Tabu on names.-I have been for the last seven monthsengaged in distributing relief (clothing, roofing material, etc.) tothe luckless Albanians whose property was entirely destroyedin the disturbances last year. This necessitates keeping a listof the families who have received relief, and it is usually onlywith great difficulty that a woman can be induced to give herhusband's name. She always gives her own maiden name.When pressed as to her husband's name, she very often says,-"Ask that other woman," pointing to a comrade, "she knows."The only reason I can obtain for this is,-" Modesty; of courseshe is too modest to say to which man she belongs." Even herein Scutari, until very recently, it was never the custom of a(Christian) man and wife to recognise each other in the street,and they very seldom, if ever, went out together. I was giventhe same reason,-" She would not like people to know he washer husband." The last ten years, however, have seen rapidchanges. It was fortunate that I visited the Albanian moun-taineers when I did, for that year (I908) was the last in whichthey were to be seen in their primitive state.Burial customfs.-It is customary in the mountains of Shalu andDushmani, and possibly elsewhere, to leave some iron article ina new-made grave until the corpse is brought for interment. Itis unlucky to step over an empty grave.Bridal customs.-In the Crmnica valley in Montenegro (andpossibly in other parts), it was, and among peasants may stillbe, the duty of the two djevers (bride-leaders) who came to fetchthe bride to see that no one tied knots in the fringe of her strukka(a long straight shawl, worn like a Scottish plaid and with verylong fringes at each end). Should some malevolent person suc-ceed in doing this, the bride would either miscarry with her firstchild or bear a cripple.Divine right.-It is amazing how greatly the tribesmen believein "the divine right of kings." The hereditary chief of theMirdites, Prenk Pasha, was looked on as but little short of agod when he returned from exile in I908. Now, although afterthree years' experiences the Mirdites and other tribes are

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Correspondence.orrespondence.disappointedin him, they still have a superstitiousbelief in hispower. I have frequentlybeen told that "The Mirdites cannotdo [so and so], because Prenk will not allow them. They wouldlike to, of course. But what can they do?" When I havepointed out that one man cannotpossiblyprevent thirty thousandpeople taking separate action if they wish, I am always told,-"But he was born chief. He is sent by God. They have todo whathe says."

Scutari. EDITH DURHAM.

"THE HAIR OF THE DOG THAT BIT HIM."I was, manyyears ago, at Panda-ma-tenka,-then the terminusof the wagon-road towards the Zambesi,-in company withthe late George Westbeach, one of the last of the old-time far-interiortraders,and a man so intimatelyconversantwith nativelife and customs that he was usually described as a "whiteinduna." Westbeach had a dog named Tau (Lion), almost aswell known as himself, and a powerful mongrel animal famousfor havingthree distinct types of deportmentfor as manyclassesof humanity,-one of cordiality and submission for his master

and, in a lesser degree, his master's most special intimates,another of a sort of indifferentfriendliness (not amounting tobonhomie) or white men generally, and a third of uncompro-mising hostility towards all natives not included in the firstcategory.Whilst I was at the place mentioned,a partyof Bushmen(notKaffirs, f I rememberrightly)came in, with some honeycombforbarter. They found it difficult to approach on account of thedog, and at last one man was bitten. The bite was a bad one,and the suffererwas not satisfied until he had obtained,throughWestbeach,some of the dog's hairs, which he placed upon thewound.This incident was broughtback to my mind by reading,someyears afterwards,in Cervantes'La Gitanilla, how a stranger,bitten in approachingan encampmentof gipsies, is treated by

disappointedin him, they still have a superstitiousbelief in hispower. I have frequentlybeen told that "The Mirdites cannotdo [so and so], because Prenk will not allow them. They wouldlike to, of course. But what can they do?" When I havepointed out that one man cannotpossiblyprevent thirty thousandpeople taking separate action if they wish, I am always told,-"But he was born chief. He is sent by God. They have todo whathe says."Scutari. EDITH DURHAM.

"THE HAIR OF THE DOG THAT BIT HIM."I was, manyyears ago, at Panda-ma-tenka,-then the terminusof the wagon-road towards the Zambesi,-in company withthe late George Westbeach, one of the last of the old-time far-interiortraders,and a man so intimatelyconversantwith nativelife and customs that he was usually described as a "whiteinduna." Westbeach had a dog named Tau (Lion), almost aswell known as himself, and a powerful mongrel animal famousfor havingthree distinct types of deportmentfor as manyclassesof humanity,-one of cordiality and submission for his master

and, in a lesser degree, his master's most special intimates,another of a sort of indifferentfriendliness (not amounting tobonhomie) or white men generally, and a third of uncompro-mising hostility towards all natives not included in the firstcategory.Whilst I was at the place mentioned,a partyof Bushmen(notKaffirs, f I rememberrightly)came in, with some honeycombforbarter. They found it difficult to approach on account of thedog, and at last one man was bitten. The bite was a bad one,and the suffererwas not satisfied until he had obtained,throughWestbeach,some of the dog's hairs, which he placed upon thewound.This incident was broughtback to my mind by reading,someyears afterwards,in Cervantes'La Gitanilla, how a stranger,bitten in approachingan encampmentof gipsies, is treated by

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Edith Durham Albanian and Montinegrin Folklore