20 Conception, Birth and Infancy in 



may appeal also to the Madonna and even directly to God, al- 

 though direct addresses to the Supreme Deity are not, perhaps, so 

 usual in Roman Catholic circles as in Protestant. 



Let us consider now some Italian practices which have nought 

 to do with religion and are more or less replicas of ancient practices 

 in their spirit and certainly, in some cases, in their futility. It is, 

 indeed, pathetic to see how prone many ignorant mothers are to 

 turn to those who are reputed to be adepts in the operations of 

 magic rather than to the ministrations of a physician in their time 

 of special need 91 for the best of medical care. 



Collectors of folklore have noted some of the obstacles or rather 

 of the supposed obstacles to a favorable delivery which supersti- 

 tious Italians dread. For example, they deem it perilous to have in 

 the house of the woman who is lying in a member of her sex who 

 is of ill repute, in other words, una donna in disgrazia di Dio, 92 or 

 a female hunchback for fear of the power of the evil eye that is 

 credited to her, the ever-dreaded malocchio. No squint-eyed 

 woman should be allowed to enter the bedchamber, nor a woman 

 who has come with her distaff engaged in spinning, since the par- 

 turition will continue until the hemp or the wool has been spun, 

 and the spinster's mere coming must be taken as a hostile act. 93 

 It is not safe, either, to have a midwife, mammana, who is wearing 

 mourning. 94 



Always to be feared at this time are the evil influence of jetta- 

 tura, maleficent overlooking, and the workings of sorcery, stre- 

 gheria. Against these threatening perils Giuseppe Pitre, speaking 

 of his fellow Sicilians, lists a number of protectives, including the 

 use of saliva. This is an ever-dependable avertive, provided it be 

 spat under precisely the right conditions. No matter how many 

 amulets an Italian may wear, the product of his salivary glands 

 can always reinforce their power. 94 * 



While they are trying to avert various mystic terrors, those who 

 are attending a woman at her parturition can do some pretty 

 dreadful things. A doctor of Perugia tells how the common people 

 thereabouts sometimes seek to hasten the pains of their friend's 

 delivery by giving her a shock. Un forte spavento may be con- 

 trived by putting in the woman's soup (minestra) a huge spider, 

 a lizard, a snake, a toad, or a mouse. 95 Sometimes it suffices to 

 make her sneeze by sniffs of snuff. 96 



