The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought: Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-DayChamberlain, Alexander Francis
Science
The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought: Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-Day
Chamberlain, Alexander Francis
Child rearing; Children -- Folklore; Folklore and children
One of the charms in use in the Rhine country of Germany in the eleventh
century, as recorded by Burchard of Worms, was this: "A little girl,
completely undressed and led outside the town, had to dig up henbane
with the little finger of her right hand, and tie it to the little toe
of her right foot; she was then solemnly conducted by the other maidens
to the nearest river, and splashed with water" (462. II. 593).
In Servia the rain-maker is well known, and the procedure is as follows:
"A girl, called the _dodola_, is stript naked, but so wrapt up in
grass, herbs, and flowers, that nothing of her person is to be seen, not
even the face. Escorted by other maidens, _dodola_ passes from
house to house; before each house they form a ring, she standing in the
middle and dancing alone. The goodwife comes out and empties a bucket of
water over the girl, who keeps dancing and whirling all the while; her
companions sing songs, repeating after every line the burden _oy dodo,
oy dodo le_." Following is one of the rain-songs:--
"To God doth our doda call, oy dodo oy dodo le!
That dewy rain may fall, oy dodo oy dodo le!
And drench the diggers all, oy dodo oy dodo le!
The workers great and small, oy dodo oy dodo le!
Even those in house and stall, oy dodo oy dodo le!"
Corresponding to the Servian _dodola_, and thought to be equally
efficacious, is the [Greek: _pyrperuna_] of the Modern Greeks. With
them the custom is: "When it has not rained for a fortnight or three
weeks, the inhabitants of villages and small towns do as follows. The
children choose one of themselves, who is from eight to ten years old,
usually a poor orphan, whom they strip naked and deck from head to foot
with field herbs and flowers: this child is called pyrperuna. The others
lead her round the village, singing a hymn, and every housewife has to
throw a pailful of water over the pyrperuna's head and hand the children
a para (1/4 of a farthing)" (462. I. 594).
In a Wallachian song, sung by children when the grain is troubled by
drought, occurs the following appeal: "Papaluga (Father Luga), climb
into heaven, open its doors, and send down rain from above, that well
the rye may grow!" (462. II. 593). This brings us naturally to the
consideration of the rain-rhymes in English and cognate tongues.
_Rain-Rhymes_.
Mr. Henderson, treating of the northern counties of England, tells us
that when the rain threatens to spoil a boy's holiday, he will sing
out:--
"'Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another summer's day;
Rain, rain, pour down,
And come no more to our town.'
or:--
'Rain, rain, go away,
And come again on washing day,'
or, more quaintly, yet:--
'Rain, rain, go to Spain;
Fair weather, come again,'
and, _sooner_ or _later_, the rain will depart. If there be a
rainbow, the juvenile devotee must look at it all the time. The
Sunderland version runs thus:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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