AMONG THE MOUJIKS. 117 



on Sunday they take her to the nearest pond or stream 

 and throw her in. 



On Whit-Sunday the Russian churches are decorated 

 with green as ours are on Christmas ; and the flowers 

 and branches are preserved and taken to their homes 

 by the peasants, who believe them to be efficacious in 

 keeping out witches, strange domovois, and epidemic 

 diseases. 



Many strange customs still obtain in different parts 

 of Russia in connection with spring, which have come 

 down from the ancient heathen worship of the vernal 

 Deity. All over Russia is held on Thursday, in the 

 seventh week after Easter, the feast, called Semik. 

 In most places, the Spring Goddess takes the form 

 mentioned above. In others, however, the handsomest 

 maiden of the village is chosen to represent Spring; 

 she is enveloped in boughs and blossoms and carried 

 about by the other girls. In the evening the girls and 

 young moujiks join in a circling dance, known as the 

 khorovod. The maidens wear floral wreaths and the 

 youths sport flowers in their hat-bands. After the 

 dancing is over, the girls repair to the nearest water 

 and toss in their wreaths, watching them anxiously to 

 see whether they sink or swim, float ashore, or turn 

 round in a circle. If a wreath doesn't run ashore, the 

 lucky damsel who has been wearing it will have long 

 life and a happy marriage. If it circles round, the 

 wearer will become the victim of unrequited love; 

 and if it sinks she will either become an old maid or 

 meet with an early death. 



When going to the forest to manufacture the god- 

 dess from a young birch, or to envelop the chosen one 



