had got used to the obscurity, we saw that cows, d<^, cats, and poultry were sharing their comforts with women and children, who grinned and seemed amused at our air of curiosity; the shelves were- well supplied with a winter store of smoked meats and other provisions, pork being plentiful. In several huts we observed suspended from the ceiling a ball of wool having four feathers stuck into it horizontally, with room for more; it was a Lent calendar, six feathers representing the six weeks' fast, one feather being removed at the expiration of each week. Hungry children, rebelling against lengthened abstinence, are immediately silenced by being threatened with some mysterious power for evil in the ball and feathers. A similar custom prevails in some parts of Armenia.
The Ossets, whether in the highlands or lowlands, can scarcely be considered a fine-looking race; they are of middle stature, with long features, fair hair and light-coloured eyes, the hair of the children being perfectly flaxen; the women are remarkably plain.
Many Ossets are Christians, but others are pagans, Mahomedans, or a mingling of the three. Those in the mountains usually shave their heads or keep the hair cut quite short, use ablutions, and are in favour of at least a duality of wives, in which they indulge in spite of the Russian laws. They reverence Christ and the Virgin Mary, venerate the Archangel Michael and St. Geoi^e, but their great divinity is Elias, whose festival is their principal holy-day, and to whom they pray for rain and for a good harvest, avoiding however Christian churches when they worship, because they prefer their own idols. Their name for the Supreme Being is H'tsaou, and their views of paradise are according to the promises made in the Koran. The Ossets are fully persuaded of a world to come, and look forward to meeting each other again after by Google
CUSTOMS OF THE OSSETS. at death, to ensure which, members of one family always seek to be buried in the same grave. They still hold that some of their woods are sacred, and that each is under the influence of its own good genius. No notice is taken of the birth of a female, but there is great rejoicing when a male is born, for numerous presents, especially of arms, are brought and laid by his side, and the child is named after the person who may first happen to approach it Wives were formerly obtained in exchange for cattle; now they are more frequently paid for in money. The old custom of stealing Uu bride is abandoned, yet the bride and bridegroom do not dare to show themselves tc^ether for many a day after marriage, as they would incur the reproach of their friends and neighbours if they did; but girls still observe the ancient practice of sewing themselves up tightly in stays which are never removed until the wedding-night, when it becomes the duty of the bridegroom to cut them asunder with his kytj'^/, although it is more propitious to unsew the stitches without breaking the thread. Females never wear stays after marri^e; a few years of suckling and manual labour produce a condition that is much admired.
At the burial of their dead, the pagan Ossets place by the side of the corpse three loaves of bread and a bottle of spirits, as refreshments on the journey to heaven; a horse is then led to the grave, and the bridle is placed for an instant in the dead man's hand that he may claim the animal in the next world; but the same horse is never again employed for a similar purpose, that no dispute may arise hereafter as to the right ownership. Before the subjugation of the country by Russia, it was the custom to cut off the widow's right ear and throw it into the grave, that the deceased might claim her after death; now her hair is shorn and laid in the tomb, the ear of the horse being thrown in, if the animal is the by Google property of the deceased. Graves are marked by a caim, or mound of earth; but when a man fell in battle, a staff and fis%
were placed over his tomb, to show that a warrior had died gloriously:
Alto morire ogni misfatto amenda.
Once during the year the Ossets have a feast in honour of the dead, called Baden-ty, which like the pam^nky, the ' day of remembrance ' of the Russians,' ends in drunken orgies.