| BELIEFS OF MODERN GREECE: A TRANSLATION OF LEO ALLATIUS’ DE GRAECORUM HODIE QUORUNDAM OPINATIONIBUS |
| <<< previous | next >>> |
| Title Page I II III IV V VI VII VIII XIX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII XXIX XXX XXXI Addenda |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Skipping over, then, all that material which writers, ancient and modern, have gathered about the words ‘Strix’, ‘Lamia’ and what Jewish people call ‘Lilith’, as well as all information which anyone anywhere may come across, I will speak of what contemporary Greeks think of such matters. They believe that there are some little old women, conspicuous in their poverty and misery, who, since they cannot do anything decent for humanity, turn their mind to evil; and so, once they have started a relationship with a demon, they plot with great energy at the things which please him. Therefore, since they are very fearful by nature and take precautions not to be caught in the act, they use powders, ointments, herbs, and other suchlike things; and so they cause men little or no trouble, but to women, as they are weaker, and especially children, they bring grief and a lot of suffering, exhaling so dangerous a breath that by itself can drive people to insanity or put their lives in danger. They attack babies when they are newly born and still crying, and they drain their blood with such greed that they leave them almost dead; and they so taint their victims by contact with something harmful that they always spend the remainder of their lives as invalids. Therefore, newborn children, before they are bathed in the sacred waters of baptism (which is done the eighth day after birth there), are never left alone and out of somebody’s sight. But, if parents sense that their children are in danger before the witches have had the chance to drink their blood, they chase them away with shouts and clapping their hands, and the witches immediatelly rush outside to avoid being caught. Still, even if the child does not die right away, because of that contact the child fares badly afterwards, until, crying because of headaches or stomach pain, and refusing to eat or rest, he finally dies. And I have often wondered why the Greeks, who could rely on baptismal water as an immediate remedy to this evil, defer baptism to the eighth day after birth. Nor did I accomplish much trying to convince them: they prefer to wait a long time, sleepless and with danger looming, than to relax this rule a little. So much they love their own traditions. And although they have changed almost countless rules which even they had to admit were too rigid, they uncautiously go on ignoring this one (a change which would be so useful and convenient), to their own manifest detriment. But these rituals of the Greeks will be discussed in another passage. |
|
|
Forthcoming |
|