Ii8 THROUGH RUSSIA ON A MUSTANG. 



in foliage, the maidens sing an ode addressed to the 

 trees, which is evidently a relic of ancient tree-worship. 

 The oak is the Summer tree, and the birch the tree of 

 Spring. They first address the oaks, singing : 



Rejoice not, Oaks ; 



Rejoice not, green Oaks. 



Not to you go the maidens, 



Not to you do they bring pies, cakes, omelettes. 



Then turning to the birches, which are the Semik 

 or seventh week (after Easter) trees, they sing, raising 

 their voices to a shout : 



Io, Io, Semik and Troitsa (Trinity) ! 

 Rejoice, Birches, rejoice green trees! 

 To you go the maidens, 

 To you they bring pies, cakes, omelettes. 



At the present day, in India, the natives of remote 

 villages, in which there is no large idol, place offerings 

 of food at the foot of trees that have been made 

 sacred to certain of their gods. And a common 

 enough sight is to see the people bowing to the 

 ground, apparently worshiping these trees. In reality 

 they are paying their devotions to the god, whom the 

 tree, in the absence of the idol itself, is believed to 

 represent. The above song of the Russian village 

 maidens seems to point to a time in the past when 

 offerings of food were also made to trees in that 

 country. 



From one end of Russia to the other there is one 

 form of amusement that is common to the whole peo- 

 ple. It is the circling dance known as the khorovod. 

 It is common also to the Slavs of other countries, be- 



