_March 30th._
Good Friday....
The bells have ceased to ring,--even the bells for the dead; the hours
are marked by cannon-shots. The ships in the harbor form crosses with
their spars, turn their flags upside down. And the entire colored
population put on mourning:--it is a custom among them centuries old.
You will not perceive a single gaudy robe to-day, a single calendered
Madras: not a speck of showy color is visible through all the ways of
St. Pierre. The costumes donned are all similar to those worn for the
death of relatives: either full mourning,--a black robe with violet
foulard, and dark violet-banded headkerchief; or half-mourning,--a dark
violet robe with black foulard and turban;--the half-mourning being worn
only by those who cannot afford the more sombre costume. From my window
I can see long processions climbing the mornes about the city, to visit
the shrines and crucifixes, and to pray for the cessation of the
pestilence.
... Three o'clock. Three cannon-shots shake the hills: it is the
supposed hour of the Saviour's death. All believers--whether in the
churches, on the highways, or in their homes--bow down and kiss the
cross thrice, or, if there be no cross, press their lips three times to
the ground or the pavement, and utter those three wishes which if
expressed precisely at this traditional moment will surely, it is held,
be fulfilled. Immense crowds are assembled before the crosses on the
heights, and about the statue of Notre Dame de la Garde.
... There is no hubbub in the streets; there is not even the customary
loud weeping to be heard as the coffins go by. One must not complain
to-day, nor become angry, nor utter unkind words,--any fault committed
on Good Friday is thought to obtain a special and awful magnitude in the
sight of Heaven.... There is a curious saying in vogue here. If a son
or daughter grows up vicious,--become a shame to the family and a curse
to the parents,--it is observed of such:--"_Ça, c'est yon péché
Vendredi-Saint!_" (Must be a _Good-Friday sin!_)
There are two other strange beliefs connected with Good Friday. One is
that it always rains on that day,--that the sky weeps for the death of
the Saviour; and that this rain, if caught in a vessel, will never
evaporate or spoil, and will cure all diseases.
The other is that only Jesus Christ died precisely at three o'clock.
Nobody else ever died exactly at that hour;--they may die a second
before or a second after three, but never exactly at three.