Albanian and Montenegrin Folklore

Author(s): J. G. Frazer and Edith Durham

Source: Folklore, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Jun., 1912), pp. 224-229
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1255323
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 CORRESPONDENCE.

LIBRARY OF FOLK-LORE SOCIETY; CONGRES INTERNATIONAL

D'ANTHROPOLOGIEET D'ARCH]OLOGIE PREHISTORIQUES.

With reference to the arrangements for use by members of the

Society's Library, now housed at University College, London, I
am directed by the Council to state that a catalogue of the books
is in preparation, and that an announcement of the conditions of
use will be made as soon as the catalogue has been completed.
Gifts of books and pamphlets on folklore and kindred subjects
will be welcomed. I am also directed to draw the attention of
members to the holding at Geneva in the first week of September,
I912, of the fourteenth meeting of the Congres Internationald'An-
thropologie et d Archeologieprehistoriques, when opportunity will be
afforded for the discussion of the many important discoveries made
since the last session, at Monaco in I906, and for excursions to
places of scientific interest. Particulars may be obtained from the
general secretary of the Congress, M. W. Deonna, 16 Boulevard
des Tranchees, Geneva.
F. A. MILNE, Secretary.

ALBANIANAND MONTENEGRIN
FOLKLORE.

[Communicated by Dr. J. G. Frazer.]

Symbolic extinction of householdfire.-In Montenegro, when the

last male of a family was shot, it was customary for the chief
woman of the house to throw water on the hearth and extinguish
the fire as a symbol of the extinction of the family. The custom
 Correspondence. 225

is not yet extinct among the peasants when the last male of a
family dies.
Communal justice.-There has been recently (about February,
1912) an extraordinary case of rude justice in the Fandi bariak of
Mirdita. A certain family has long been a pest to its neighbours,
robbing, shooting, and being generally objectionable. The local
heads held a sitting and condemned the whole of the males of the
family to death. Men were told off to ascertain the whereabouts
of the various victims, and pick them off. On the appointed day
the whole seventeen males were shot. Of them one was only five,
and another twelve years old. To any protest against the brutality
of killing a child in cold blood, the reply is,-" It was bad blood,
and must not be propagated!" It seems incredible, but I was
assured that it was actually intended to shoot a wretched woman
because she was enceinte, and might bear a male who would
continue the inherited evil. Three shots, which missed, were fired
at her. She then rushed to a man and called on him to protect
her, and he took her in besa (a peace oath), and she was spared.
Mourning custom.-It is perhaps noteworthy that, whereas in
Montenegro face-scratching as a sign of mourning is done by
women, in North Albania it is only done by men, and it is not
proper for women to do it. I was at a funeral at Skreli before
Christmas, and all the men had already clawed their temples,
which were red and inflamed with scratches; no women were
clawed.
Divination.-It is of interest just now to note what attention is
being paid to the signs on bladebones and fowl breastbones.
They are read eagerly, and, I am earnestly assured, foretell
nothing but blood.
Folk-medicine.-I was recently down on the plains of Bregu
Mati distributing quinine to the luckless people who were penned
on the plains by the troops throughout last fever season. I found
a great many very bad cases of enlarged spleen. The local
remedy for this is to take a sheep's spleen, lay it over the seat of
disease, and then hang it by the fire and roast it all away, when
the disease will disappear with it.
If you see a snake swallowing a frog, this is a most valuable
opportunity to obtain a cure for epilepsy. You must throw a
P
226 Correspondence.

handkerchief, preferably a black one, over the snake. In its fright

it will disgorge the frog. Keep the handkerchief and, when any
one falls down in a fit, throw it over the patient's head. The
patient will then likewise disgorge the disease.
I am myself becoming the centre of a myth, and am supposed
to have wrought a cure on a man I never touched. He was shot
in the head during last year's revolution, and his recovery is
entirely ascribed to me, and not to the doctor to whom it was
due.
Taboos at childbirth.-In Montenegro, though a woman is
expected, among the peasants, to be fit to carry wood and water
three days after childbirth, she is not allowed to cook and make
bread until she has been "churched." I learnt this while living in
a peasant house at Njegush, through commenting with horror on the
case of a young married woman who, by carrying wood too early,
brought on her death. I was told that fetching wood was quite a
right and proper thing for her to do, but that, of course, she would
not be allowed to make bread or cook. When I asked " Why ?
I was told that bread so made could not possibly be eaten; it was
not right; it was never done;-and so forth. All the company
agreed on this point.
I have recently learnt also that in Montenegro it is regarded as
impossible for childbirth to be allowed at the house of the mother's
parents. Should such a thing be permitted, it would bring the
worst luck,-nay, absolute ruin,-on her brothers, who, of course,
live in the parental home. I know of a case even among the
upper and educated class. A young married lady went to visit
her mother, and had to shorten her stay for the above reason.
Her grandmother nearly drove her out of the house, and said
on her departure,-"Thank God! you have gone, and haven't
brought evil on the house !"
I have been making enquiries on the subject here in Scutari.
I find that a mother is not allowed to visit a married daughter
till after the birth of her first child. I enquired if under any
circumstances the daughter could go to her mother's for such an
event, but this seemed quite a new idea. People did not definitely
say that it was impossible, but they did not seem to imagine that
any such necessity could ever occur. The mother is not allowed
 Correspondence. 227

to attend at the birth of her daughter's child, at any rate never the
first time. Later on it appears not to matter so much,-but there
was uncertainty, and I gather that it is not done. Should no
child be borne after a year of marriage, the prohibition of the
mother's visit is removed.
It is customary to break an egg over the face of a newborn
child. Therefore eggs are a correct present to take to a house
after the occurrence of a birth. The breaking of the egg is, so
far as I can make out, to avert the Evil Eye.
Foundation sacrifices.-Cocks and lambs are still often sacrificed
when foundations of houses are laid in North Albania. The
citadel at Scutari is one of the many buildings of which it is told
that a human being was built into the foundations. This par-
ticular event, according to an old and powerfully dramatic ballad,
occurred early in the fourteenth century, when this place was
under Serb rule. Devils destroyed by night what was built by
day, and only after sacrificing the young wife of one of the three
young Princes could the building be reared. The tradition of
such burials in foundations has survived till recent years. An
Austrian engineer in Bosnia told me in I906 that some twelve
years previously a panic was caused by a report that the Austrians
were going to brick a child into the foundations of a bridge.
This bridge was being built over the Lim, and, owing to the
incapacity of the engineer, was so badly constructed that it
fell twice. When the third attempt to erect it was made, the
people took fright, and were only with difficulty persuaded that
no human sacrifice would take place.
Objection to portraits.l-The late Mr. Holman Hunt has
repeatedly told me that, when he began his painting in Palestine,
he had the greatest difficulty in getting people to sit to him as
models, owing to a belief that, when the Day of Judgment came,
the portrait might arrive first at the Gates of Heaven and be
admitted, and the rightful owner of the name be dismissed as
an impostor. A month or two ago I met again the aged man
who was afraid lest my sketch of him might cause his death,
as mentioned in Dr. Frazer's book.2 He had not forgotten the
1Cf. 'olk-Lore, vol. xviii., p. 83 (Vaud).
2 The GoldenBough, (3rd edition), Part ii., Tabooetc., p. Io0.
228 Correspondence.

episode, and was glad to hear that the sketch was locked up
quite safely.
Tabu on names.-I have been for the last seven months
engaged in distributing relief (clothing, roofing material, etc.) to
the luckless Albanians whose property was entirely destroyed
in the disturbances last year. This necessitates keeping a list
of the families who have received relief, and it is usually only
with great difficulty that a woman can be induced to give her
husband's name. She always gives her own maiden name.
When pressed as to her husband's name, she very often says,-
"Ask that other woman," pointing to a comrade, "she knows."
The only reason I can obtain for this is,-" Modesty; of course
she is too modest to say to which man she belongs." Even here
in Scutari, until very recently, it was never the custom of a
(Christian) man and wife to recognise each other in the street,
and they very seldom, if ever, went out together. I was given
the same reason,-" She would not like people to know he was
her husband." The last ten years, however, have seen rapid
changes. It was fortunate that I visited the Albanian moun-
taineers when I did, for that year (I908) was the last in which
they were to be seen in their primitive state.
Burial customfs.-It is customary in the mountains of Shalu and
Dushmani, and possibly elsewhere, to leave some iron article in
a new-made grave until the corpse is brought for interment. It
is unlucky to step over an empty grave.
Bridal customs.-In the Crmnica valley in Montenegro (and
possibly in other parts), it was, and among peasants may still
be, the duty of the two djevers (bride-leaders) who came to fetch
the bride to see that no one tied knots in the fringe of her strukka
(a long straight shawl, worn like a Scottish plaid and with very
long fringes at each end). Should some malevolent person suc-
ceed in doing this, the bride would either miscarry with her first
child or bear a cripple.
Divine right.-It is amazing how greatly the tribesmen believe
in "the divine right of kings." The hereditary chief of the
Mirdites, Prenk Pasha, was looked on as but little short of a
god when he returned from exile in I908. Now, although after
three years' experiences the Mirdites and other tribes are
 Correspondence. 229

disappointedin him, they still have a superstitiousbelief in his

power. I have frequentlybeen told that "The Mirdites cannot
do [so and so], because Prenk will not allow them. They would
like to, of course. But what can they do?" When I have
pointed out that one man cannot possibly prevent thirty thousand
people taking separate action if they wish, I am always told,-
"But he was born chief. He is sent by God. They have to
do what he says."
Scutari. EDITH DURHAM.

"THE HAIR OF THE DOG THAT BIT HIM."

I was, many years ago, at Panda-ma-tenka,-then the terminus

of the wagon-road towards the Zambesi,-in company with
the late George Westbeach, one of the last of the old-time far-
interior traders, and a man so intimatelyconversant with native
life and customs that he was usually described as a "white
induna." Westbeach had a dog named Tau (Lion), almost as
well known as himself, and a powerful mongrel animal famous
for having three distinct types of deportment for as many classes
of humanity,-one of cordiality and submission for his master
and, in a lesser degree, his master's most special intimates,
another of a sort of indifferent friendliness (not amounting to
bonhomie)for white men generally, and a third of uncompro-
mising hostility towards all natives not included in the first
category.
Whilst I was at the place mentioned,a party of Bushmen(not
Kaffirs,if I rememberrightly)came in, with some honeycombfor
barter. They found it difficult to approach on account of the
dog, and at last one man was bitten. The bite was a bad one,
and the suffererwas not satisfied until he had obtained, through
Westbeach, some of the dog's hairs, which he placed upon the
wound.
This incident was brought back to my mind by reading, some
years afterwards, in Cervantes' La Gitanilla, how a stranger,
bitten in approachingan encampment of gipsies, is treated by