SOUTH SLAVONIAN AND OTHER GYPSY WITCH-LORE.--THE WORDS FOR A
WITCH--VILAS AND THE SPIRITS OF EARTH AND AIR--WITCHES, EGG-SHELLS,
AND EGG-LORE--EGG PROVERBS--OVA DE CRUCIBUS.
There is current in the whole of the Southern Slavonian provinces a
vast mass of legends and other lore relating to witches, which, in the
opinion of Dr. Friedrich S. Krauss, may also be regarded as Romany,
since it is held in common with the gypsies. There can, indeed, be
very little doubt that most of it was derived from, or disseminated
by, them, since they have been the principal masters in magic and
doctors in medicine in the Slavonic lands for many centuries. There
are others deeply learned in this subject who share the same opinion,
it being certain that the gypsies could hardly have a separate lore for
themselves and one for magic practices on others, and I entertain no
doubt that they are substantially the same; but to avoid possible error
and confusion, I give what I have taken in this kind from Dr. Krauss
[10] and others by itself.
As the English word witch, Anglo-Saxon Wicca, comes from a
root implying wisdom, [11] so the pure Slavonian word vjestica,
Bulgarian, vjescirica (masculine, viestae), meant originally the
one knowing or well informed, and it has preserved the same power
in allied languages, as Veaa (New Slovenish), knowledge, Vedavica,
a fortune-teller by cards, Viedma (Russian), a witch, and Vedwin,
fatidicus. In many places, especially in Dalmatia, witches are more
gently or less plainly called Krstaca, the crossed, from Krst, a cross,
i.e., christos, or Rogulja, "horned," derived from association with
the horns of devils. In Croatia the Italian Striga is used, while
among the Slovenes and Kai-Kroats the term copernica (masculine,
coprnjak). "But it enrages the witches so much to be called by
this word that when they hear that any one has used it they come
to his house by night and tear him in four pieces, which they cast
afar into the four quarters of the earth, yea, and thereunto carry
away all the swine, horses, and cattle, so intolerable is their
wrath." Therefore men use the word hmana zena, or "common woman,"
hmana being the Slavonic pronunciation of the German word gemein, or
common. In Dalmatia and far into Servia a witch is called macisnica,
and magic, macija, which is, evidently enough, the Italian magia. But
there are witches and witches, and it appears that among the learned
the vjestica differs from the macionica, and this from the Zlokobnica
who, as the "evil-meeter," or one whom it is unlucky to encounter in
the morning, is probably only one who has the evil eye. A quotation
from a Servian authority, given by Dr. Krauss, is as follows:--
"I have often heard from old Hodzas and Kadijas, that every female
Wallach, as soon as she is forty years old, abandons the 'God be
with us!' and becomes a witch (vjestica), or at least a zlokobnica
or macionica. A real witch has a mark of a cross under her nose, a
zlokobnica has some hairs of a beard, and a macionica may be known
by a forehead full of dark folds (frowns), with blood-spots in her
face" ("Niz srpskih pripoviedaka. Vuk. vit. Vecevica. Pancevo,"
p, 93. 1881).
Of the great number of South Slavonian terms for the verb to enchant
or bewitch, it may suffice to say that the commencement, carati,
cari carani, carovnik, &c., appear to have much more affinity to
the gypsy chor-ava, to steal or swindle, and chov-hani, a witch,
than to the Italian ciarlatano, and the French and English charlatan,
from which Dr. Krauss derives them.
THE VILAS-SYLVANA ELEMENTARY SPIRITS.
Among the Slavonic and gypsy races all witchcraft, fairy- and
Folk-lore rests mainly upon a belief in certain spirits of the wood and
wold, of earth and water, which has much in common with that of the
Rosicrucians and Paracelsus, but much more with the gypsy mythology
(as given by Wlislocki, "Vom Wandernden Zigeunervolke," pp. 49-309),
which is apparently in a great measure of directly Indian origin.
"In the Vile" says Dr. Krauss, "also known as Samovile, Samodivi,
and Vilevrjaci, we have near relations to the forest and field
spirits, or the 'wood-' and 'moss-folk' of Middle Germany, France,
and Bavaria; the 'wild people' of Eifel, Hesse, Salzburg, and the
Tyrol; the wood-women and wood-men of Bohemia; the Tyrolese Fanggen,
Fänken, Nörkel, and Happy Ladies; the Roumanish Orken, Euguane,
and Dialen; the Danish Ellekoner; the Swedish Skogsnufvaz; and the
Russian Ljesje; while in certain respects they have affinity with the
Teutonic Valkyries." Yet they differ on the whole from all of these,
as from English fairies, in being more like divinities, who exert a
constant and familiar influence for good or evil on human beings, and
who are prayed to or exorcised on all occasions. They have, however,
their exact parallel among the Red Indians of North America as among
the Eskimo, and it is evident that they are originally derived from
the old or primeval Shamanic faith, which once spread all over the
earth. It is very true, as Dr. Krauss remarks, that in the West of
Europe it is becoming almost impossible to trace this true origin of
spirits now regarded as merely diabolical, or otherwise put into new
rôles; but among the South Slavonians and gypsies we can still find
them in very nearly their old form and playing the same parts. We can
still find the Vila as set forth in old ballads, the incarnation of
beauty and power, the benevolent friends of sufferers, the geniuses
of heroes, the dwellers by rock and river and greenwood tree. But
they are implacable in their wrath to all who deceive them, or who
break a promise; nay, they inflict terrible punishment even on those
who disturb their rings or the dances which they make by midsummer
moonlight. Hence the proverb applied to any man who suddenly fell ill:
"Naiso je na vilinsko kolo" ("He stepped on a fairy-ring"). From this
arbitrary exercise of power we find the Vila represented at times as
a spirit who punishes and torments.
Thus we are told that there was once a shepherd named Stanko, who
played beautifully on the flute. One evening he was so absorbed in
his own music that when the Ave Maria bell rung, instead of repeating
the prayer he played it. As he ended he saw a Vila sitting on a
hedge. And from that hour she never left him. By table, by his bed,
at work or play, the white form and unearthly eyes of the spirit were
close to him.
"By a spell to him unknown,
He could never be alone."
Witches and wizards were summoned to aid him, but to no avail; nay,
it made matters worse, for the Vila now often beat him, and when
people asked him why it was, he replied that the Vila did so because
he refused to wander out into the world with her. And yet again he
would be discovered in the top of a tree, bound with bast; and so it
went on for years, till he was finally found one morning drowned in
a ditch. So in the Wolf Dietrich legend the hero refuses the love
of die rauhe Else, and is made mad by the witch and runs wild. All
of which is identical with what is told in an Algonkin tale (vide
"The Algonkin Legends of New England").
There are three kinds of witches or spirits among the Southern
Slavonians which correspond in every respect exactly to those in
which the gypsies believe. The first of these are the Zracne Vile,
or aerial spirits. These, like the spirits of the air of Scripture,
are evily-disposed to human beings, playing them mischievous tricks
or inflicting on them fatal injuries. They lead them astray by night,
like Friar Rush and Robin Goodfellow, or the English gypsy Mullo doods,
or bewilder and frighten them into madness. Of the second kind are the
Earth spirits, Pozemne Vile, in gypsy Pcuvushi or Puvushi. These are
amiable, noble, and companionable beings, who often give sage counsel
to men. Thirdly are the Water sprites, in Slavonic Povodne Vile,
in gypsy Nivashi, who are to the highest degree vindictive at times,
yet who behave kindly to men when they meet them on land. But woe to
those who, while swimming, encounter them in streams or lakes, for
then the goblins grasp and whirl them about until they perish. From
this account by Dr. Krauss, it appears as if this Slavonic mythology
were derived from the gypsy, firstly, because it is more imperfect
than the latter, and secondly, because in it Vilas, or spirits,
are confused with witches, while among the gypsies they are clearly
separated and distinctly defined.
Dr. Wlislocki says ("Vom Wand. Zigeunervolke," p. 253) that "gypsies
are still a race given to Shamanism, but yet they reverence a
highest being under the name of devla or del." This is, however,
the case to-day with all believers in Shaman or Sorcery-religion, the
difference between them and monotheists being that this highest god
is little worshipped or even thought of, all practical devotion being
paid to spirits who are really their saints. By close examination the
Gypsy religion, like that of the country-folk in India, appears to
be absolutely identical in spirit with that of American Indians. And
I should say that the monk mentioned by Prætorius, who declared
that though God and Christ should damn him, yet he could be saved
by appealing to Saint Joseph, was not very far removed from being
a Shamanist.
The Hungarian gypsies are divided into tribes, and one of these,
the Kukaya, believes itself to be descended from the Pçuvushi, or
earth-fairies, according to the following story, narrated by Dr. H. von
Wlislocki in his paper on the genealogy and family relations of the
Transylvanian Tent Gypsies:--
"Many thousand years ago there were as yet in the world very
few Pchuvushi. These are beings of human form dwelling under
the earth. There they have cities, but they very often come to
the world above. They are ugly, and their men are covered with
hair. (All of this indicates a prehistoric subterranean race
like the Eskimo, fur-clad. [12]) They carry off mortal girls for
wives. Their life is hidden in the egg of a black hen."
This is the same as that of the Orco or Ogre in the Italian tale, "I
Racconti delle Fate, Cesare da Causa," Florence, 1888. Whoever kills
the hen and throws the egg into a running stream, kills the pchuvush.
"Once a young Pchuvush woman came up to the world and sat in a
fair green forest. She saw a very beautiful youth sleeping in
the shade, and said: 'What happiness it must be to have such a
husband. Mine is so ugly!' Her husband, who had stolen silently
after her, heard this, and reflected: 'What a good idea it would
be to lend my wife to this young man till she shall have borne a
family of beautiful children! Then I could sell them to my rich
Pchuvus friends.' So he said to his wife: 'You may live with
this youth for ten years if you will promise to give me either
the boys or the girls which you may bear to him.' She agreed to
this. Then the Pchuvus began to sing:--
"'Kuku, kukáya
Kames to adala?
Kuku, kukaya.'
"That is in English:--
"'Kuku, kukaya
Do you want this (one) here?
Kuku, kukaya.'
"Then the young man awoke, and as the goblin offered him much gold
and silver with his wife, he took her and lived with her ten years,
and every year she bore him a son. Then came the Pchuvush to get
the children. But the wife said she had chosen to keep all the
sons, and was very sorry but she had no girls to give him! So he
went away sorrowfully, howling:--
"'Kuku, kukáya!
Ada kin jirklá!
Kuku, kukaya!'
"That is to say:--
"'Kuku, kukaya!
These are dogs here!
Kuku, kukaya!'
"Then the ten boys laughed and said to their father: 'We will
call ourselves Kukaya.' And so from them came the race."
Dr. Wlislocki points out that there are races which declare themselves
to be descended from dogs, or, like the Romans, from wolves. It is
a curious coincidence that the Eskimo are among the former.
In all parts of Eastern Europe, as in the West, many people are not
only careful to burn the parings of their nails [13] and the combings
of hair, for fear lest witches and imps should work sorcery with them
to the injury of those from whom they came, but they also destroy the
shells of eggs when they have eaten their contents. So A. Wuttke tells
us in his book, "Der Deutsche Volks Aberglaube der Gegenwart," 1869:
"When one has eaten eggs the shells must be broken up or burned,
or else the hens will lay no more, or evil witches will come over
them." And in England, Spain, the Netherlands, or Portugal, there are
many who believe or say that if the witches can get such shells from
which people have eaten, unbroken, they can, by muttering spells,
cause them to grow so large that they can use them as boats. Dom
Leitas Ganet ("Dona Branca ou a Conquista do Algarve," Paris, 1826),
however, assures us that is a very risky thing for the witches, because
if they do not return home before midnight the shell-boat perishes,
"whence it hath come to pass that many of these sorceresses have been
miserably drowned."
However, an egg hung up in a house is a lucky amulet, hence the
ostrich eggs and cocoanuts resembling them which are so common in the
East. And it is to be observed that every gypsy in England declares
that a pivilioi, or cocoanut, as a gift brings bak or luck, I myself
having had many given to me with this assurance. This is evidently
and directly derived from India, in which country there are a mass
of religious traditions referring to it.
"Once there was a gypsy girl who noticed that when anybody ate
eggs they broke up the shells, and asking why this was done
received for answer:--
"'You must break the shell to bits for fear
Lest the witches should make it a boat, my dear.
For over the sea away from home,
Far by night the witches roam.'
"Then the girl said: 'I don't see why the poor witches should not
have boats as well as other people.' And saying this she threw the
shell of an egg which she had been eating as far as she could, and
cried, 'Chovihani, lav tro bero!' ('Witch--there is your boat!') But
what was her amazement to see the shell caught up by the wind and
whirled away on high till it became invisible, while a voice cried,
'Paraka!' ('I thank you!')
"Now it came to pass some time after that the gypsy girl was on an
island, where she remained some days. And when she wished to return,
behold a great flood was rising, and it had washed her boat away, she
could see nothing of it. But the water kept getting higher and higher,
and soon there was only a little bit of the island above the flood,
and the girl thought she must drown. Just then she saw a white boat
coming; there sat in it a woman with witch eyes; she was rowing with
a broom, and a black cat sat on her shoulder. 'Jump in!' she cried
to the girl, and then rowed her to the firm land.
"When she was on the shore the woman said: 'Turn round three times
to the right and look every time at the boat.' She did so, and every
time she looked she saw the boat grow smaller till it was like an
egg. Then the woman sang:--
"'That is the shell you threw to me,
Even a witch can grateful be.'
"Saying this she vanished, cat, broom, shell, and all.
"Now my story is fairly done,
I beg you to tell a better one."
As regards these boats which grow large or small at will we find them
in the Norse ship Skidbladnir, which certain dwarfs made and gave to
Frey. It is so large that all the gods and their army can embark in
it. But when not in use it may be so contracted that one may hava i
pungi sino--put it in his purse or pocket. The Algonkin god Glooskap
has not only the counterpart of Skidbladnir, but the hammer of Thor
and his belt of strength. He has also the two attendant birds which
bring him news, and the two wolves which mean Day and Night.
Another legend given by Dr. Krauss, relative to witches and egg-shells
is as follows:--
"By the Klek lived a rich tavern-keeper and his wife. He was thin
and lean--hager und mager--while she was as fat as a well-fed pig.
"One day there came a gypsy woman by. She began to tell his
fortune by his hand. And as she studied it seriously she became
herself serious, and then said to him, 'Listen, you good-natured
dolt (moré)! Do you know why you are so slim and your wife so
stout?' 'Not I.' 'My good friend (Latcho pral), your wife is
a witch. Every Friday when there is a new moon (mladi petak)
she rides you up along the Klek to the devil's dance' (Uraze
kolo). 'How can that be?' 'Simply enough. As soon as you fall
asleep, she slips a magic halter over your head. Then you become a
horse, and she rides you over the hills and far away over mountains
and woods, cities and seas, to the witches' gathering.
"'Little you know where you have been,
Little you think of what you have seen,
"'For when you awake it is all forgotten, but the ride is hard
for you, and you are wasting away, and dying. Take great care of
yourself on the next Friday when there is a new moon!'
"So the gypsy went her way, and he thought it over. On the
next Friday when the moon was new he went to bed early, but
only pretended to sleep. Then his wife came silently as a cat
to the bed-side with the magic halter in her hand. As quick as
lightning he jumped up, snatched it from her, and threw it over
her head. Then she became, in a second, a mare. He mounted her,
and away she flew through the air--over hills and dales like the
wind, till they came to the witches' meeting.
"He dismounted, bound the mare to a tree, and, unseen by the
company, watched them at a little distance. All the witches carried
pots or jars. First they danced in a ring, then every one put
her pot on the ground and danced alone round it. And these pots
were egg-shells.
"While he watched, there came flying to him a witch in whom
he recognized his old godmother. 'How did you come here?' she
inquired. 'Well, I came here on my mare, I know not how.' 'Woe
to you--begone as soon as possible. If the witches once see you
it will be all up with you. Know that we are all waiting for one'
(this one was his wife), 'and till she comes we cannot begin.' Then
the landlord mounted his mare, cried 'Home!' and when he was
there tied her up in the stable and went to bed.
"In the morning his servant-man said to him: 'There is a mare in
the stable.' 'Yes,' replied the master; 'it is mine.' So he sent
for a smith, and made him shoe the mare. Now, whatever is done
to a witch while she is in the form of an animal remains on or
in her when she resumes her natural shape.
"Then he went out and assembled a judicial or legal commission. He
led the members to his house, told them all his story, led forth
the mare, and took off the halter. She became a woman as before,
but horse-shoes were affixed to her feet and hands. She began to
weep and wail, but the judge was pitiless. He had her thrown into
a pit full of quicklime, and thus she was burnt to death. And
since that time people break the shells of eggs after eating
their contents, lest witches should make jars or pots of them."
The following story on the same subject is from a different source:--
"There was once a gypsy girl who was very clever, and whenever
she heard people talk about witches she remembered it well. One
day she took an egg-shell and made a small round hole in it very
neatly, and ate the yolk and white, but the shell she put on a
heap of white sand by a stream, where it was very likely to be
seen. Then she hid herself behind a bush. By and by, when it was
night, there came a witch, who, seeing the shell, pronounced a
word over it, when it changed to a beautiful boat, into which
the witch got and sailed on the water, over the sea.
"The girl remembered the word, and soon ate another egg and turned
it into a boat. Whenever she willed it went over the world to
places where fruit and flowers abounded, or where people gave her
much gold for such things as knives and scissors. So she grew rich
and had a fine house. The boat she hid away carefully in a bush.
"There was a very envious, wicked woman, whom the girl had
befriended many a time, and who hated her all the more for it. And
this creature set to work, spying and sneaking, to find out the
secret of the girl's prosperity. And at last she discovered the
boat, and, suspecting something, hid herself in the bush hard by
to watch.
"By and by the girl came with a basket full of wares for her
trade, and, drawing out the boat, said, 'To Africa!'--when off
it flew. The woman watched and waited. After a few hours the girl
returned. Her boat was full of fine things, ostrich feathers and
gold, fruit and strange flowers, all of which she carried into
her house.
"Then the woman put the boat on the water, and said, 'To
Africa!' But she did not know the word by means of which it was
changed from an egg-shell, and which made it fly like thought. So
as it went along the woman cried, 'Faster!' but it never heeded
her. Then she cried again in a great rage, and at last exclaimed,
'In God's name get on with you!' Then the spell was broken, and
the boat turned into an egg-shell, and the woman was drowned in
the great rolling sea."
Egg-lore is inexhaustible. The eggs of Maundy Thursday (Witten
Donnertag), says a writer in The Queen, protect a house against thunder
and lightning, but, in fact, an egg hung up is a general protection,
hence the ostrich eggs and cocoanuts of the East. Some other very
interesting items in the communication referred to are as follows:--
"Witches and Eggs.--'To hang an egg laid on Ascension Day in the
roof of a house,' says Reginald Scot in 1584, 'preserveth the
same from all hurts.' Probably this was written with an eye to the
'hurts' arising from witchcraft, in connection with which eggs were
supposed to possess certain mysterious powers. In North Germany,
if you have a desire to see the ladies of the broomstick on May
Day, their festival, you must take an egg laid on Maundy Thursday,
and stand where four roads meet; or else you must go into church
on Good Friday, but come out before the blessing. It was formerly
quite an article of domestic belief that the shells must be broken
after eating eggs, lest the witches should sail out to sea in them;
or, as Sir Thomas Browne declared, lest they 'should draw or prick
their names therein, and veneficiously mischief' the person who
had partaken of the egg. North Germans, ignoring this side of the
question, say, 'Break the shells or you will get the ague;' and
Netherlanders advise you to secure yourself against the attacks
of this disagreeable visitor by eating on Easter Day a couple of
eggs which were laid on Good Friday.
"Scottish Superstitions.--Scotch fishers, who may be reckoned
among the most superstitious of folks, believe that contrary
winds and much consequent vexation of spirit will be the result of
having eggs on board with them; while in the west of England it
is considered very unlucky to bring birds' eggs into the house,
although they may be hung up with impunity outside. Mr. Gregor,
in his 'Folklore of the North-East of Scotland,' gives us some
curious particulars concerning chickens, and the best methods of
securing a satisfactory brood. The hen, it seems, should be set on
an odd number of eggs, or the chances are that most, if not all,
will be addled--a mournful prospect for the henwife; also they
must be placed under the mother bird after sunset, or the chickens
will be blind. If the woman who performs this office carries the
eggs wrapped up in her chemise, the result will be hen birds; if
she wears a man's hat, cocks. Furthermore, it is as well for her
to repeat a sort of charm, 'A' in thegeethir, A' oot thegeethir.'
"Unlucky Eggs.--There are many farmers' wives, even in the present
day, who would never dream of allowing eggs to be brought into
the house or taken out after dark--this being deemed extremely
unlucky. Cuthbert Bede mentions the case of a farmer's wife in
Rutland who received a setting of ducks' eggs from a neighbour at
nine o'clock at night. 'I cannot imagine how she could have been so
foolish,' said the good woman, much distressed, and her visitor,
upon inquiry, was told that ducks' eggs brought into a house
after sunset would never be hatched. A Lincolnshire superstition
declares that if eggs are carried over running water they will be
useless for setting purposes; while in Aberdeen there is an idea
prevalent among the country folks that should it thunder a short
time before chickens are hatched, they will die in the shell. The
same wiseacres may be credited with the notion that the year the
farmer's gudewife presents him with an addition to his family
is a bad season for the poultry yard. 'Bairns an' chuckens,'
say they, 'dinna thrive in ae year.' The probable explanation
being that the gudewife, taken up with the care of her bairn,
has less time to attend to the rearing of the 'chuckens.'
"Fortune-telling in Northumberland.--Besides the divination
practised with the white of an egg, which certainly appears
of a vague and unsatisfactory character, another species of
fortune-telling with eggs is in vogue in Northumberland on the eve
of St. Agnes. A maiden desirous of knowing what her future lord
is like, is enjoined to boil an egg, after having spent the whole
day fasting and in silence, then to extract the yolk, fill the
cavity with salt, and eat the whole, including the shell. This
highly unpalatable supper finished, the heroic maid must walk
backwards, uttering this invocation to the saint:--
"'Sweet St. Agnes, work thy fast,
If ever I be to marry man,
Or man be to marry me,
I hope him this night to see.'"
Friedrich and others assert that the saying in Luke xi. 12--"Or if he
shall ask an egg shall he give him a scorpion?"--is a direct reference
to ancient belief that the egg typified the good principle, and the
scorpion evil, and which is certainly supported by a cloud of witnesses
in the form of classic folk-lore. The egg, as a cosmogenic symbol, and
indicating the origin of all things, finds a place in the mythologies
of many races. These are indicated with much erudition by Friedrich,
"Symbolik der Natur," p. 686.
In Lower Alsatia it is believed that if a man will take an Easter egg
into the church and look about him, if there be any witches in the
congregation he may know them by their having in their hands pieces
of pork instead of prayer-books, and milk-pails on their heads for
bonnets (Wolf, "Deutsche Mährchen und Sagen," p. 270). There is also
an ancient belief that an egg built into a new building will protect
it against evil and witchcraft. Such eggs were found in old houses in
Altenhagen and Iserlohen, while in the East there is a proverb, "the
egg of the chamber" ("Hamasa" of Abu Temman, v. Rückert, Stuttgart,
1846), which seems to point to the same practice.
The Romans expressed a disaster by saying, "Ovum ruptum est" ("The
egg is smashed"). Among other egg-proverbs I find the following:--
His eggs are all omelettes (French); i.e., broken up.
Eggs in the pan give pancakes but nevermore chicks (Low German).
Never a chicken comes from broken eggs (Low German).
Bad eggs, bad chickens. Hence in America "a bad egg" for a man
who is radically bad, and "a good egg" for the contrary.
Eggs not yet laid are uncertain chickens; i.e., "Do not count
your chickens before they are hatched."
Tread carefully among eggs (German).
The egg pretends to be cleverer than the hen.
He waits for the eggs and lets the hen go.
He who wants eggs must endure the clucking of the hen
(Westphalian).
He thinks his eggs are of more account than other people's hens.
One rotten egg spoils all the pudding.
Rotten eggs and bad butter always stand by one another; or "go
well together."
Old eggs, old lovers, and an old horse,
Are either rotten or for the worse.
(Original:
Alte Eyer
Alte Freier--
Alter Gaul
Sind meistens faul.)
"All eggs are of the same size" (Eggs are all alike), he said,
and grabbed the biggest.
As like as eggs (Old Roman).
As sure as eggs.
His eggs all have two yolks.
If you have many eggs you can have many cakes.
He who has many eggs scatters many shells.
To throw an egg at a sparrow.
To borrow trouble for eggs not yet hatched.
Half an egg is worth more than all the shell.
A drink after an egg, and a leap after an apple.
A rotten egg in his face.
In the early mythology, the egg, as a bird was hatched from it, and as
it resembled seeds, nuts, &c., from which new plants come, was regarded
as the great type of production. This survives in love-charms, as when
a girl in the Tyrol believes she can secure a man's love by giving
him a red Easter egg. This giving red eggs at Easter is possibly
derived from the ancient Parsees, who did the same at their spring
festival. Among the Christians the reproductive and sexual symbolism,
when retained, was applied to the resurrection of the body and the
immortality of the soul. Hence Easter eggs. And as Christ by His
crucifixion caused this, or originated the faith, we have the ova
de crucibus, the origin of which has puzzled so many antiquaries;
for the cross itself was, like the egg, a symbol of life, in earlier
times of reproduction, and in a later age of life eternal. These eggs
are made of a large size of white glass by the Armenian Christians.