The Slav Christmas

lt lias been said that the Slava of Darniola had no Christuias, and this is j Irue in the serae in which wc understand the word. Oí eourse there, as in all Catholic countries, Deo 25 ia a church festival, and the '-Mili a fast, the only joyoua fast of the year. The rapper ia unusually ínod and plenti al, bot no meat is served at it onleesit be wild dack or otter, both of which ;nv regarded by the ecelesiastical authorities as iish. The foreign visitor will probably receivehalf a dozen inviutions; the proper tiiing to do is to accept the one that comes from the landlord. in whose house one usually unes, and the fulfillment of this social fluty is generally its own rewanl. The dishes are strange but agreeable, and after the Christmafl tree in Carinthia, which is chiefly Germán, has been properly admired, and in all cases the necesgary presenta have been given to the children, and they have gone to bed, a tone of quiet satisfaetion becomes the leading note of the evening. Every subject that could lead to contention is avoided, and so one sits together till the time for the first mass, which is read at er shortly after miduight, and which one may attend or mot, just as one likes IMPRESSIVE SERVICES. The three iuorning masses when he.4 in a Tillage church in Austria are among the most impressive nervices of the church, though they are, of course, entirely wanting in pomp. The choir sing songs about the nativity in the national language and in such a way that both the words and the inusic correspond to the service at the altar. The stranger who has learned to look upon the inass, in spite of its entirely classical Latin, aa one of the greatest ioems of the Christian period is at first inclined to resent the introduetion of modern hymns and languages, but the fervor of the singers and the way in which they are joined by the congregation, similar to that which many readers may have remarked in the churches of Scotland, clearly show that the usage is dear to the heart of the people, though to us it may seem almost as offensive as if the divine comedy were publicly read with the accoinpaniment of music selected from Offenbach. Popular verse and music are always interesting and sometimesextremelygood; but they cannot quite supply the place of the Gloria and Agnus Dei, especially for foreign admirers of the church who do not belong to its communion. Still the jnidnight mass in an Alpine village is a thing to see. The long walk through the snow and darkness; the fnenuly hght from the windows of most houses; the groups of furcoated worshipers whom one overtakes or who overtake one, with their hearty Cliristmas greetings; the blaze of light on the altar, wtdch conrasts equally with the night outside and Ihe other unlighted parts of the church within, are all impressive. AN INTERKSTINQ PROCESSION. This Christmas in a Slav village has a pnrely religious character, thoagh, as it obliges one to sit up late or to rise early, it inay serve as an excuse for a longer chat than usual and an extra glass. But Advent is not, as in Germán or Protestant countries, concentrated into the single festival. In many villages on the first evening a kind of homely procession is formed, and the images of the Holy Virgin and St. Joseph are carried to the first house in the place, the inhabitants of which know exactly what is going to happen; then, where they sing, as they generally do in Carniola, a duet or doublé chorus follows. The attendants ' of the saints ask for a night's lodging, those within ask who the travelers are, and so gradually the whole history of the nativity is told in Old World verse and music. Then the doors aro thrown wide open; all who arewithin kneel, the images are borne to the altar that has been prepared for them, the two chorases join in ri liymn of praise, and evening prayer begins in their presence. On the following afternoon the two saints are carried to the next house, and the scène is repeated. It ïnay seem to the reader that the whole ceremony must be childishly grotosque; this is not the impression it makes on the non-Catholio bnt unprejudiced stranger. These peasants are evidently sincerely worshiping the true God after their own fashion. In convenís wfaere ehildren aro educated the same usage is practiced, but there the sacred guests are carried from cell to cell instead of from house to house. DEVOTftN OF THE KUÍOS. This cnstom is purely Christian, an attempt to bring the sacred story home to the imagination of the people; the ceremonies performed on the day set apart for devotion to the throo ltoly kings- the wise men of the east (our twelfth night)- are slightly different. They bear the trace, not of heathenism so inuch as of a strnggle against heathenism. The three appear in f uil costume - the ono Wlth bis face conscientiously blacked- with lioly water and censers filled with bnrnittg incensé. They bless every room in the house, and still more carefully the stalls and stables, and upon evory door they muko three crosses, in order to keep out Fra Perchta, wlio is the unhallowed and unhonored shade of the great goddess whom héroes once worshiped as Freya. Tliat twelfth night, the last of t hu twelve days of the great winter festival, which was celebrated aliko the Slavs and the Qérmaas, should bo chosen for these Btrange ceremonies i;i noteworthy; though one can not help feeling a certain Bympathy (01 the goddesa who is thus slr'.t out of human habitations on the when her presence was formerly invoked. It may b6 added that tlie crogEcsare treated wit li the greatest respect; what would happen t any one v!io willfully rnbbed them out no one knows. A cow maid who by chance obliterated two had to dance Por a whcle night over rough stones with n young man, whom she süppoti to be the devil, aud feil into a fever afterward. Particularly devout persons of ten endeavor to connect the crosses so that they form one of the names or syuibols of our Saviour. If they succeed it is a favorable omen. BF.I.IEFS OF THE SEASON. The stories that are told about Cliristmas, particularly in the Gail Thai, a valley in Carinthia inhabited almost exclusively by Slavs, are most remarkable, andsccin to have been hkrdlyeven colored by Christianity. The belief that horses and cattle talk in traman language with each otheron the night between the 24th and 25th of December is universal there. Whethcr the roea and chamoia enjoy the same privilege or are subject to the same penalty Beemed to be an open question, as few persons care to wade through the snow. to climbmountain, or ( ven to take up their abode in a wood, in order to listen to their discourses. Even with respeet to domeetic animáis everytbingtaaa not hitherto been rendered as clear as we shonld like it to be. For example, a village priest was kind enough to furnish ns with the following 6tory, which was written down at once, as much as possible in his own words. It is a sin to listen to wh.-it the animáis say, and it always brings ill Inck. A fann servant from a distance did not believe the story - a sin which, it may be feared, was shared both by the present writer and his informant. Still he retained such a half belief as induced him to hide himself in the stable. The two horees which it contained talked to each other as follows: "We shall have hard work to do this day week." "Yes, the servant is heavy." "And the way to the churchyard is long and steep." The man took to his bed and died. He was buried that day week. Here we have at least the Christian idea of a sin that is punished - a little too heavily, one is inclined to think- but what are we to say to the following story, which was told in the Slav dialect of Caniiola by a traveling workman, at once translated into üerman and noted down. The story was read aloud in rough Germán, which was translated almost sentence by sentence to the narrator, who firmly believed in the truth of the tale, and corrected by him in one or two small points, which were directly altered. It is evidently a f ar older, or at least more authentic, version than the last: IIOW TO HEAR THE AMMALS TALK. No ono can hear the animáis talk unless he has boots with nine soles and fern leaves in them. There was a farm servant iknecht) in the Gail Thai who had a pair of very strong shoes made, which were afterward frequently repaired, so that they had the requisite nnmber of soles, though he did not know it. Ho lived in a loft above astall where two oxen were kept, and between the loft and stall there was a trap door, which he often lef t open. One Christraas eve he went to visit a girl with whom he was in love in a village about a mile and a half away. The path led through a wood, in which there were a great number of ferns. He staid too long, and hastened back in sach a hurry that he did not stop to fasten bis boots, the laces of which had become loose. It is to be supposed that this was the reason why some fern leaves.got into tüein. As Scn as he had reached the loft he hearcl a great lamentation below, and called through the traphole to ask what was the matter. As no answer was given he put out his lantern, but remained standing. "What are you complaining about?" asked t voice below. "Why should I not complain," answered a second voice, "when in six months 1 amtobe slaughtered?" "That is quite true, but I have a better reason to lament, for I shall be slaughtered in two days for a funeral feast, and you in sis months for a marriage, which is better." "Who will die, then?" "Our mistress." "How?" "You know she has a cat that always sits beside her at meals and eats out of her plate. To-morrow there will be a great dinner, and the cat will come as usual, but she will be angry and push it roughly away. It will spring to the top of the stove; there it will stay for a time, but when the soup is brought in it will junip down upon the table, and from thence over the tureen and its mistress' head. In doing this it will let a hair fall, and that hall will choke her." Here the conversation ended. Next morning the servant looked gloomy among his jovial fellows, and his inaster asked hiin what was the matter. For a long time he refused to reply, but at last he entreated his master to have the cat killed at once. It was no use telling :i story that nobody would believe, he said, but his whole manner made such an impression on the proprietor that I13 consented to his request. The wife, however, said she was fond of the cat; it had been long in the house, and if it were killed for a mere fancy she herself would go away. Everything, of course, happened exactly as the oxen had foretold. In six montos the master married again, and said: "I don't like to see that ox; it used to draw with ono that was slaughtered at my first wife's funeral. llave it killed for dinner." Ono does not quite envy the wedding iJui'sts their beef. This was not, however, the moral the narrator drew from the story. He said: "One can seo how much more cattle know than on e thinks; if the servunt had not happened 10 have fern leaves in his boots thoy would have spoken just as they (lid, and nobody would have known anything about it." We for onr part can only leave the story to those who are interested in snch matters, in the hope that it will not prove Be indigestible as the beef was Hkely to