CARNIVALS IN MANY LANDS 231 



then leave the church. It is said that in 1912 22 

 banner-carriers, 119 priests, 357 musicians, 3,913 

 singers, 3,402 praying pilgrims, and 12,163 dancers 

 took part in the procession, a total of 19,976. 



Though certainly picturesque, the procession un- 

 doubtedly has its painful and objectionable features. 

 It is pitiful to see a lot of old and infirm people, 

 who should be at home, struggling 1 along in this pain- 

 ful manner. Most of them, indeed, fall out long before 

 the end. The ceremony, however, is one which will 

 die hard ; every year it appears to grow more popular, 

 though, of course, it can scarcely be denied that religion 

 becomes ever a lesser factor in making people join 

 in it. For the occasion Echternach is always gaily 

 decorated. The windows of all the houses are 

 brightened with flowers ; flags and streamers float in 

 the air. As for the crowds of spectators, it is a marvel 

 where they all come from. People line the streets 

 thickly on both sides, and those who do not take part 

 in the procession or fill the passive r61e of spectators 

 crowd the churches of the town from as early an 

 hour as five o'clock. Early in the afternoon, when 

 the ceremony has concluded, a fair begins, and merri- 

 ment is the order for the .rest of the day among 

 the crowds of the streets, while stall and sideshow 

 and roundabout provide amusements until late at night, 

 with a fainter echo on the following day." 



Mr. Reginald Enock during his travels in Peru had 

 an experience of the carnival celebrations. He gives 

 a vivid description of the festivities in his volume on 

 the Peruvian Andes l : " During the three days of the 

 carnival it is absolutely impossible to walk up the 

 * See Bibliography, 40. 



