THE RENDEZVOUS OR MEETINGS OF WITCHES, SORCERERS, AND VILAS.--A
CONTINUATION OF SOUTH SLAVONIAN GYPSY-LORE.
In Eastern Europe witches and their kin, or kind, assemble on
the eve of Saint John and of Saint George, Christmas and Easter,
at cross-roads on the broad pustas, or prairies, and there brew
their magic potions. This, as Dr. Krauss observes, originated in
feasts held at the same time in pre-Christian times. "So it was
that a thousand years ago old and young assembled in woods or on
plains to bring gifts to their gods, and celebrated with dances,
games, and offerings the festival of spring, or of awaking and
blooming Nature. These celebrations have taken Christian names, but
innumerable old heathen rites and customs are still to be found in
them." It may be here observed that mingled with these are many of
a purely gypsy-Oriental origin, which came from the same source and
which it remains for careful ethnologists and critical Folk-lorists
to disentangle and make clear. The priestesses of prehistoric times
on these occasions performed ceremonies, as was natural, to protect
cattle or land from evil influences. To honour their deities the "wise
women" bore certain kinds of boughs and adorned animals with flowers
and wreaths. The new religion declared that this was all sorcery and
devil-work, but the belief in the efficacy of the rites continued. The
priestesses became witches, or Vilas, the terms being often confused,
but they were still feared and revered.
In all the South Slavonian country the peasants on Saint George's
Day adorn the horns of cattle with garlands, in gypsy Indian style,
to protect them from evil influences. I have observed that even in
Egypt among Mahometans Saint George is regarded with great reverence,
and I knew one who on this day always sacrificed a sheep. The cow or ox
which is not thus decorated becomes a prey in some way to witches. The
garlands are hung up at night over the stable door, where they remain
all the ensuing year. If a peasant neglects to crown his cow, he not
only does not receive a certain fee from its owner, but is in danger
of being beaten. On the same day the shepherdess, or cow-herd, takes
in one hand salt, in the other a potsherd containing live coals. In
the coals roses are burned. By this means witches lose all power over
the animal. Near Karlstadt the mistress of the family merely strikes
it with a cross to produce the same effect.
Among the Transylvanian Hungarian gypsies there is a magical
ceremony performed on Saint George's Day, traces of which may be
found in England. Then the girls bake a peculiar kind of cake, in
which certain herbs are mixed, and which Dr. von Wlislocki declares
has an agreeable taste. This is divided among friends and foes, and it
is believed to have the property of reconciling the bitterest enemies
and of increasing the love of friends. But it is most efficient as a
love-charm, especially when given by women to men. The following gypsy
song commemorates a deed of this kind by a husband, who recurred to
it with joy:--
"Kásáve romñi ná jidel,
Ke kásávo maro the del;
Sar m're gule lele pekel
Káná Sváto Gordye ável.
"Furmuntel bute luludya
Furmuntel yoy bute charma
Andre petrel but kámábe
Ko chal robo avla bake."
"No one bakes such bread as my wife, such as she baked me on
St. George's Day. Many flowers and dew were kneaded into the cake
with love. Whoever eats of it will be her slave."
In England I was told by an old gypsy woman named Lizzie Buckland,
that in the old time gypsy girls made a peculiar kind of cake, a Romany
morriclo, which they baked especially for their lovers, and used to
throw to them over the hedge by night. To make it more acceptable,
and probably to facilitate the action of the charm, they would put
money into the cake. It was observed of old among the Romans that
fascinatio began with flattery, compliments, and presents!
On the night of Saint John the witch climbs to the top of the hurdle
fence which surrounds the cow-yard, and sings the following spell:--
"K meni sir,
K meni maslo,
K meni puter,
K meni mleko
Avam pak kravsku kozu!"
"To me the cheese,
To me the tallow (or meat),
To me the butter,
To me the milk,
To you only the cowhide."
Or, as it may be expressed in rhyme:--
"The cheese, meat, butter, and milk for me,
But only the cowhide left for thee."
Then the cow will die, the carcass be buried, and the skin sold. To
prevent all this the owner goes early on St. John's Day to the
meadow and gathers the morning dew in a cloak. This he carries home,
and after binding the cow to a beam washes her with it. She is then
milked, and it is believed that if all has gone right she will yield
four bucketsful.
In the chapter on "Conjurations and Exorcisms among the Hungarian
Gypsies," I have mentioned the importance which they attach to the
being born a seventh or twelfth child. This is the same throughout
South Slavonia, where the belief that such persons in a series of
births are exceptionally gifted is "shared by both gypsies, with whom
it probably originated, and the peasants. What renders this almost
certain is that Dr. Krauss mentions that the oldest information as to
the subject among the Slavs dates only from 1854, while the faith is
ancient among the gypsies. He refers here to the so-called Kerstniki,
who on the eve of St. John do battle with the witches. Krstnik is
a Greek word, meaning, literally, one who has been baptized. But the
Krstnik proper is the youngest of twelve brothers, all sons of the same
father. There appears to be some confusion and uncertainty among the
Slavs as to whether all the twelve brothers or only the twelfth are
"Krstnik"--according to the gypsy faith it would be the latter. These
"twelvers" are the great protectors of the world from witchcraft. [17]
But they are in great danger on Saint John's Eve, for then the witches,
having most power, assail them with sticks and stakes, or stumps of
saplings, for which reason it is usual in the autumn to carefully
remove everything of the kind from the ground.
A krstnik is described by Miklosic as "Clovek kterega vile
obljubiju"--"A man who has won the love of a Vila." The Vila ladies,
or a certain class of them, are extremely desirous of contracting the
closest intimacy--in short, of becoming the mistresses, of superior
men. The reader may find numerous anecdotes of such amours in the
"Curiosa" of Heinrich Kornmann, 1666, and in my "Egyptian Sketch Book"
(Trübner & Co., London, 1874). In the heathen days, as at present among
all gypsies and Orientals, it was believed to be a wonderfully lucky
thing for a man to get the love of one of these beautiful beings. What
the difficulties were which kept them from finding lovers is not very
clear, unless it were that the latter must be twelfth sons, or, what
is far more difficult to find, young men who would not gossip about
their supernatural sweethearts to other mortals, who would remain
true to them, and who finally would implicitly obey all their commands
and follow their advice. There is a vast array of tales--Gypsy, Arab,
Provençal, Norman, German, and Scandinavian, which show that on these
points the Vila, or forest-maiden, or spirit of earth or air, or fairy,
was absolutely exacting and implacable, being herself probably allowed
by occult laws to contract an intimacy only with men of a high order,
or such as are--
"Few in a heap and very hard to find."
On the other hand, the Vila yearns intensely for men and their
near company, because there is about those who have been baptized a
certain perfume or odour of sanctity, and as the unfortunate nymph is
not immortal herself, she likes to get even an association or sniff
of it from those who are. According to the Rosicrucian Mythology,
as set forth in the "Undine" of La Motte Fouqué, she may acquire a
soul by marrying a man who will be faithful to her--which accounts
for the fact that so few Undines live for ever. However this may be,
it appears that the Krstniki are specially favoured, and frequently
invited by the Vilas to step in--generally to a hollow tree--and make
a call. The hollow tree proves to be a door to Fairyland, and the
call a residence of seven days, which on returning home the caller
finds were seven years, for--
"When we are pleasantly employed, time flies."
These spirits have one point in common with their gypsy friends--they
steal children--with this difference, that the Vila only takes those
which have been baptized, while the gypsy--at present, at least--is
probably not particular in this respect. But I have very little
doubt that originally one motive, and perhaps the only one which
induced these thefts, was the desire of the gypsies, as heathens
and sorcerers, to have among them, "for luck," a child which had
received the initiation into that mysterious religion from which
they were excluded, and which, as many of their charms and spells
prove, they really regarded as a higher magic. It is on this ground
only, or for this sole reason, that we can comprehend many of the
child-stealings effected by gypsies; for it is absolutely true that,
very often when they have large families of their own, they will,
for no apparent cause whatever, neither for the sake of plunder,
profit, or revenge, adopt or steal some poor child and bring it up,
kindly enough after their rough fashion; and in doing this they are
influenced, as I firmly believe, far more by a superstitious feeling
of bak, or luck, and the desire to have a Mascot in the tent, than any
other. That children have been robbed or stolen for revenge does not
in the least disprove what I believe--that in most cases the motive
for the deed is simply superstition.
On the eve of Saint George old women cut thistle-twigs and bring them
to the door of the stall. This is only another form of the nettle
which enters so largely into the Hungarian gypsy incantations, and
they also make crosses with cowdung on the doors. This is directly
of Indian origin, and points to gypsy tradition. Others drive large
nails into the doors--also a curious relic of a widely-spread ancient
custom, of which a trace may be found in the Vienna Stock im Eisen,
or trunk driven full of nails by wandering apprentices, which may be
seen near the church of Saint Stephen. But the thistle-twigs are still
held to be by far the most efficacious. In Vinica, or near it, these
twigs are cut before sunset. They are laid separately in many places,
but are especially placed in garlands on the necks of cattle. If
a witch, in spite of these precautions, contrives to get into the
stable, all will go wrong with the beasts during the coming year.
Now there was once a man who would have none of this thistle work--nay,
he mocked at those who believed in it. So it came to pass that all
through the year witches came every night and milked his cows. And
he reflected, "I must find out who does this!" So he hid himself in
the hay and kept sharp watch. All at once, about eleven o'clock,
there came in a milk-pail, which moved of its own accord, and the
cows began to let down their milk into it. The farmer sprang out and
kicked it over. Then it changed into a tremendous toad which turned
to attack him, so that in terror he took refuge in his house. That
proved to be a lucky thing for him. A week after came the day of Saint
George. Then he hung thistle-twigs on his stable door, and after that
his cows gave milk in plenty.
Witches may be seen on Saint George's Day, and that unseen by them if
a man will do as follows: He must rise before the sun, turn all his
clothes inside out and then put them on. Then he must cut a green
turf and place it on his head. Thus he becomes invisible, for the
witches believe he is under the earth, being themselves apparently
bewitched by this.
Very early on the day of Saint George, or before sunrise, the witches
climb into the church belfry to get the grease from the axle on which
the bell swings, and a piece of the bell-rope, for these things are
essential to them. Dr. Krauss observes that in the MS. from which
he took this, schmierfetet or axle-grease, is indicated by the word
svierc, "in which one at once recognizes the German word schwartz,
a black." It is remarkable that the Chippeway and other Algonkin
Indians attach particular value to the black dye made from the grease
of the axle of a grindstone.
The extraordinary pains which they took to obtain this had attracted
the attention of a man in Minnesota, who told me of it. It required
a whole day to obtain a very little of it. The Indians, when asked by
curious white people what this was for, said it was for dyeing baskets,
but, as my informant observed, the quantity obtained was utterly
inadequate to any such purpose, and even better black dyes (e.g.,
hickory bark and alum) are known to, and can be very easily obtained
by, them. The real object was to use the grease in "medicine," i.e.,
for sorcery. The eagerness of both witches in Europe and Indians in
America to obtain such a singular substance is very strange. However,
the idea must be a recent one among the Indians, for there were
certainly no grindstones among them before the coming of the white men.
"For all that I can tell, said he,
Is that it is a mystery."
Heathens though they be, many gypsies have a superstitious belief in
the efficacy of the sacramental bread and wine, and there are many
instances of their stealing them for magical purposes. So in the
Middle Ages witches and sorcerers used these objects for the most
singular purposes, Paulus Grillandus, in his "Tractatus de Hereticis
et Sortilegiis," &c. (Lyons, 1547), assuring his readers that he had
known a witch who had two holy wafers inscribed with magical characters
which she used for debauching innocent girls and betraying them to men,
and that it was a belief that if a woman had the sacred oil fresh on
her lips no man could refrain from kissing her. This is the union of
two kinds of magic; a view which never once occurred to theological
writers. And here I may appropriately mention that while the proofs of
this work were passing through my hands accident threw into my way an
extremely rare work, which illustrates to perfection the identity of
popular and ecclesiastical sorcery. This is entitled "De Effectibus
Magicis, ac de Nuce Maga Beneventana," "Six Books of Magic Effects
and of the Witch Walnut-tree of Benevento. A work necessary, joyous,
and useful to Astrologists, Philosophers, Physicians, Exorcists,
and Doctors, and Students of Holy Scriptures. By the Chief Physician,
Peter Piperno." It appears to have been privately printed at Naples
in 1647, and came from a conventual library. It bore, written on a
fly-leaf, the word Proibito.
In it every kind of disorder or disease is declared to be caused
by devils and witches. The author believes with Delrio that disease
entered into the world as a consequence of sin (referenda sit ad primæ
nostræ matris peccatum)--a view held by John Milton; hence, of course,
all disease is caused solely by the devil. In his volume of two hundred
large and close pages, our Peter Piperno displays a vast erudition on
the origin of devils and diseases, is bitter on the rival school of
magical practitioners who use cures and incantations unlike his own,
and then gives us the name and nature of all diseases, according to the
different parts of the body, &c., the medical prescriptions proper for
them, and what is, in his opinion, most needful of all, the incantation
or exorcism to be pronounced. Sometimes there are several of these,
as one for making up a pill, another on taking it, &c. There are also
general conjurations--I mean benedictions--for the medicines altogether
or in particular, such as the Benedictio Syruporum, "The Blessing of
the Syrups," and there is a very affecting and appropriately moving one
for making or taking Castor Oil, and oils of all kinds, as follows:--
"Benedictio Olei.
"This begins with the In nomine Patris, &c., and Adjutorium
nostrum, &c., and then:
"I exorcise you all aromatics, herbs, roots, seeds, stones, gums,
and whatever is to be compounded with this oil, by God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, by the God triune yet one,
by the holy and single Trinity, that the impure Spirit depart from
you, and with it every incursion of Satan, every fraud of the
Enemy, every evil of the Devil, and that mixed with oil you may
free the subject from all infirmities, incantations, bindings,
witchcrafts, from all diabolical fraud, art, and power, by the
merits of our Lord Jesus Christ and the most beloved Virgin Mary,
and of all the saints. Amen."
The curses for the devils of colds, fevers, rheumatisms, gouts,
stomach-aches, &c., are awful, both in number, length, and quality;
enough to frighten a cowboy or "exhort an impenitent mule" into
docility. There is the Exorcismus terribilis, or "Terrible Exorcism"
of Saint Zeno, in which the disorder is addressed literally as "A
dirty, false, heretical, drunken, lewd, proud, envious, deceitful,
vile, swindling, stupid devil"--with some twenty more epithets which,
if applied in these our days to the devil himself, would ground an
action for libel and bring heavy damages in any court. It is to be
remarked that in many prescriptions the author adds to legitimate
remedies, ingredients which are simply taken from popular necromancy,
or witchcraft, as for instance, rue--fugæ dæmonum--verbena, and
artemisia, all of which are still in use in Tuscany against sorcery
and the evil eye.
The really magical character of these exorcisms is shown by the vast
array of strange words used in them, many of which have a common
source with those used by sorcerers of the Cabalistic or Agrippa
school, such as Agla, Tetragrammaton, Adonai, Fons, Origo, Serpens,
Avis, Leo, Imago, Sol, Floy, Vitis, Mons, Lapis, Angularis, Ischyros,
Pantheon, all of which are old heathen terms of incantation. These
are called in the exorcism "words by virtue of which"--per virtutem
istorum verborum--the devils are invited to depart. The whole is as
much a work of sorcery as any ever inscribed in a catalogue of occulta,
and it was as a specimen of occulta that I bought it.