Читать книгу The Shores of the Adriatic - F. Hamilton Jackson - Страница 14

The peasants practise astrology to find lucky times to commence undertakings. Falling stars are considered to be the opening of heaven, and anything asked for at that moment will be granted. Thunders are the rumbling which S. Elias makes with his car. Amulets are worn, especially near the Turkish border. It is considered lucky to spill wine on oneself. To meet a snake, a viper in the house, or a centipede crawling over the walls is also lucky. On the other hand, misfortune attends crackling wood, the birth of black lambs, the entering a house left foot first, sitting at table seven or thirteen in number, giving drink with the left hand, spilling oil or salt, and leaving two rods or knife and spoon crosswise. A crowing hen means domestic misfortune—she must be killed to avoid it; and the baying of a dog or hooting of an owl at night imports the death of a neighbour. Their customs are patriarchal. The father has full authority over his sons, and their wives are merely fresh daughters of the house. Every boy is held to be worth more than the women, from the age of eight, and girls and women who meet a man are expected to salute him. In some places, in the middle of the last century, this salutation was accompanied with a kiss. The oldest man in the house (stareshina) was the only one who could leave anything by will. He said prayers morning and evening, blessed the table, welcomed the guests, sat with them at table, and hurried the service of his family. He arranged the work of each member of the household, carried on all commercial transactions, and disposed of the results as he pleased. If he found the duties too heavy for him he transferred the responsibility to some other male member. The stopanjica (the mistress) was the directress of the house, and the other women worked under her orders. These people are exceedingly honest, and in some of the villages no locks are to be found either on door or chest.

They have a ceremony by which two persons swear friendship before the altar, and are then called half-brothers or half-sisters. At one time the usage was also practised between persons of different sex. They are also tenacious in prosecuting a vendetta, and, till about seventy years ago, there was but one way in which a blood feud could be extinguished. It was called the Karvarina, or price of blood, and its acceptance was preceded by several very curious ceremonies. The relations dipped the murdered man's shirt in his blood, and kept it till he was avenged, or the price of blood was arranged. The family of the murderer asked for a truce of several weeks, and sent a solemn embassy of twelve young women with their babies. Arrived at the house, the babies were put down, and the women wept, asking for peace and pity in the name of S. John the Baptist, and the putting away of anger for pity of the little ones. After a time the people of the house picked up the children and promised to bring to the font twelve of their children yet unborn to be attendants at the marriage of as many girls, and gave the mothers a piece of silver, a veil, and a cloth in sign of peace. Then the relations of the slain chose twenty-four judges, who were entreated by the other side to serve, and could not refuse, nor might they receive payment. To the preliminaries of the judgment on the appointed day the "dance of blood" succeeded. The criminal, with joined hands, and with the fatal sword at his neck, extricated himself from the slow, melancholy dance, and cried three times: "Pardon!" The nearest relation ordered the principal judge to drive him ignominiously away. The judge obeyed, and struck him to the earth with his foot, but as soon as his forehead touched the ground he turned and cried again: "In the Name of God, pardon me!" The dancing stopped, and the dancers burst into tears. The embittered relative of the murdered man went to him, raised him, embraced him, and kissed him on the forehead, and, turning to the rest, cried out: "This man has been my enemy hitherto, but shall be my friend—my brother—henceforward, to me and to you all also, and to any who were blood-relations of our dear friend who was killed," and then broke a silver coin in two, giving him one half. Then the oldest of the judges read the sentence imposing the price of blood, from 50 to 140 zecchins of gold. Part of the money went to the Church, a third to the expenses of the judgment, and the rest to the family, who generally applied it to some pious use.

Marriage customs vary slightly. About Pola and Parenzo the country people make a great display, and go through ceremonies pointing to the capture or purchase of the bride. The cortège is headed by a standard-bearer, an unmarried relation, carrying a linen flag of different colours, and on it a wheel-shaped loaf with a great apple on the point of a long pole. The guests knock loudly at the door: after a time a voice asks who they are and what they want. The oldest man answers: "A rose out of the garden," or "A hind out of the thicket." After some debate, first an old woman is brought out, then a younger, then the bridesmaids. They take them all, but want another—"A barefoot girl is still there." At last the bride appears. "That is the right one; we will take her away," all cry, and the bride-leader asks for her stockings and fine shoes, which generally contain a silver coin. These she herself puts on. The bridegroom gives shoes or some other gift to the mother and all the home people. Then one of the guests fires at an apple on a stick fixed to the roof, or on a tree-top, and it is considered a disgrace to all if he misses. Now the bride comes down, garlanded and with one or two apples in her hand, which she throws at the bridegroom, who tries to cover her with the flag. Whether struck or not, he picks the apples up, to eat with his bride after the ceremony. Then they go off to church. Other customs accompany the journey home.

The Morlacchi are very hospitable; if any one approaches one of their houses they ask him in, and will not let him go without his tasting bread and wine. They are exceedingly loyal and devoted to their native land. They are very fond of proverbs, of which I quote a few: "The empty sack does not stand upright"; "Penitence does not make the madman well again"; "If you will not be a thief I will not watch"; "You can't shut out the sun with the palm of your hand"; "Be married by your ears and not your eyes"; "There is most milk in other people's cows"; "He who cries most loudly works the least"; "Promises console the foolish"; "He who has been bitten by a viper fears the lizard"; "The wolf changes his skin, but not his habits"; "As the mother spins, so the daughter weaves"; "Horses by their pace, maidens by their stock."

They are a powerful and a proud race, as the following story from Fortis shows, and will without doubt leave their mark on European history when their culture equals their physical powers; but the present race-animosity between Croat and Italian is deplorable. The Croats, being in the majority, are using their power to oppress the Italian-speaking portion of the population. The schools are now all Croat, and the Italians have no means of instruction for their children in their own language except at Zara. At Spalato the race-feeling is especially bitter; it is the only city in Dalmatia in which the anniversary of the Italian defeat at Lissa is fêted with display of flags and music by the municipio. The Italian theatre was burnt down some years ago, and the Croat majority on the council voted a large sum of money (stated to have been £60,000) to build a new Croat theatre to replace it; and this they refused to let to Italian companies. But there are no Croat companies ready to bear the expense of coming to Spalato, so the theatre remains closed!

The story told by Fortis is as follows: "Venice was exchanging prisoners-of-war with the Turks, and gave several Turkish soldiers for each Dalmatian. A deputy of the Porte observed that this was scarcely fair, to whom a Morlacco of Sinj replied fiercely: 'Know that our prince willingly gives many asses for a horse.'"