Page 15 Advertisements Column 2

Evening Post, Issue 149, 20 December 1935, Page 15

SUPERSTITIONS of SPAIN ■^ ray The healing ~;•:..„ kitchener qualities of , a dead lizard WHATEVER -else may be said of Superstition, hen on an Easter, morning. She must' break it withdraw.it and you.have a country without and swallow it. She will be cured." ' ' ' background and without a great element of "But Easter morning is nearly a year away!" romance, -' - ' ' ' .. They looked at me pityingly. ."She.■'will be The superstitions' of' Spain are woven inextric- cured," they repeated. And if illness Is a matter ably into tlie religion and life of its people. Know o£ degree, I have no doubt that her original ailthe peasant, yet hedged about with his old wives' ment would be rapidly forgotten. ■ tales. Know.lijs, guilelessness, his simple courtesy, this same village I found a child—a'small his great age-old humanity.' Then seek the city PCfson of such barbaric beauty that I wished to Spaniard," the' post-revolutionary, ■ emancipated, painf her.; ,1 asked her if she would sit-for me, freed from superstitions. ; Know his arrogance, his an(J ? he agre.ed. I noticed that she was curiously cunning,, arid -his ,cfuelty. and tell me, which you restless, lifting 'a hand involuntarily to. catch at would? ' • ■••<■■■' her small 'tight- bodice. She would look at me The superstitions ofSpain are probably those , aPP«*«?*ively and immediately resume her imof all Europe—change a.date and a day, and they . , -,'■-.. ''. '■ '. '■".'..'' are our own, or England's; 'The proverbs of the ■ . .: .. . ''-': land have-no unfamiliar, ring.. A. group of distail" , , ; , . . ' ■' crpnes^ab(>ut. a fuego will-draw closer, over the , ~ /^^"'" ' I carbon with "A" riioariing wind' brings misery!" -..;,.. M? * - ■ //^, II If a hush'fall 'suddenly' among them one will :■ ;. . m '^'^t'' ''' If whisper, "Art angel: passes. '. ■. ." . • . ■ .',-".'• .m".-^ ttJ&VMw t^^w/'^w- : ■It is-a gentlevthoughtl that the great peace and , :'-'■".-' Hf^ (C*i I<? / I serenity ; of .Heavenvh ; as. lain a moment on their . . r\ '^> /C«S4_Jc\ / souls—that a :majesty has beeni if but-for an . , /. >y/(\\V; /■•-i---nstant, among.;theni.;. ,W.hp,,indeed, would have .■ ~ .■■/■ /^~J^\.\ lj .J ' sMI ': It is ; to be expected -that most of the current j/* ' / \*. \>§i**J,-^s ' superstitibris; should'have"a' religious interpreta- '. / '•..'' I ' W T**T>: - tion. ■Religion; and'.Nature'are the two fields ■■'■/•' IC' Jfl^^Hfl^^^Bkr " wherein imagination.has most naturally developed. / '/Tif^^^^^^^^^^Ht '' ' Thus, lightning loses its power wherever voices 1/ s^S^^^E^K^^^^^^^K '' '' are audible at "prayer, arid'the small owl's cry V • ■'■' ' of "Cruz! Cruz!" is that he has looked upon the \_j^^ ' . •■ The Rose bf Jericho, so familiar, in Spain, was '. : /^* ■ . ~^*^W**7'- '■'■ oncewhite but-was; stained; on thatfell day by ' ' AjT '- : '*» ■ " ' the precious blbbd .of Christ. • : . ' '/^r- ■ l^VV' ■ It-is a; Spanish-belief, and a beautiful one, that ■ ' :.' // • -.■:•. ; ,W \ ■..■ ■ ■-■' swallows are loved and revered the world over for • ■ .■/--.' . ' M \ .'-•'''•- ---that they tore'in miserable compassion the thorns v ..-■•■ m V V fromHhe Crown".that' pressed so cruelly the im- '■ ■ ■ ■ ' ' ■ ~- ■i \ \\. ' i maculate Head. '..'■ ': .;: .;.. •. . -..-.' ...'" \\ : V\. ..'... Rosemary blossoms on a Friday because on that '": '. ■ : I u\ \\' bush Mary stretched her Child's garments to'dry— •■ .' -.'• , • '.".•■' //i \ ■ so, also, peace: and/good, will attend the house •■■•■-.•■-,•'■ ■■'/// ■ I '■-•'• where Rosemary'abides. • . , ■.'■;.•"• . 11l ■'■ ■''-'*■' On a little cUff in.Spain the tiny pines, bent ■.■..:'■ llalmost flat with the winds, grow right to the sky ■• .'.-■•.' / . . ' edge.' The rocky track that winds between leads > -.'.-'. I to a flattened! table of rock around which many ■ '.'...-■'-' ',■'■'. / • l\ -■ '. •'"'. tales are woven. There, under a brazen sky with : \-, '"."""/. j/k . ; the singing ■crickets, I. came one day upon two .' <.!•.". . ' ' . . " "" "!''' village maids, Marguerita and Katalina. We: sat • ' /' • ' '■',-. '/' ;;- ' in the ; small,, grateful shadow of the. little eyer- mobile attitude.: But it was disturbing ;i tried greens looking, ouf the _sea towards Italy, but failed,, to fathom it in the chUd's dark eyes! A"d Hj^^^^i-*?.* m 4 ,tKeir. sh.ade the Virgin ' Then, suddenly, on the fifth day, her eyes cleared and ChilcT had rested on their flight into Egypt. ' of tHeir shadows,* she smiled arid she told me. iiiey told me also how that on Ascension Day, at "It is over. I may take it off" the moment of thY raising> of'the Host .at High "What-is over?" I asked Mass, the leaves of certain trees lift in the motion- "It is dead" she said - ■ ■ v-. " les^ air and make; the-Sign of the Cross. "Dios!" I exclaimed. "What is dead?" •' ' How many-of- us touch wood—that pagan . She took from her bosom where it hung-'on a gesture? And many today will rub a sty with string a 1 piece/of sealed cane. She bade mV'open gold. A woman- in, that same village, hearing I it and I found a dead lizard ' suttered with-a1 slight swelling on the lid of one ' "You see," <she said, "at last ■it has'died I eye, came and stood in the doorway of my hut shall be well-now!" " ; ~ . , . ' while she gravely extracted her earring. She spoke Such customs as. these perhaps <are: not 'to-be no word whatever but advanced, touched myeye- sustained. But such are the- things that go-to YnJl the.gold, ; and as gravely withdrew. The make the .background of a people-the drop, scene touch apparently, she considered sufficient. against which moves. the life, distinct and indi^' But perhaps all-superstitions are not-so harm- vidual, of a nation , , less. In a village of the Balearic Islands I passed Why else should-there be a revival of customs !, X KIT a:younf eir\ had l ai» iH for.many of traditions, .. of dress, song, speech, in-this age months. There seemed excitement afoot. I. stopped o£.- curious ■ common sense? If it were not dis"S?t Ulc"3" ''■'„'-J „' ■ ■ covered, late;alas, that folklore, the superstitions she wilL-be well, now." they explained, of.a race,:are.colour,.breath,.and movement.to tta We have securedian.egg, the first laid by a young dull clay of.scientific fact vyeinei^.io me