LITTLE-KNOWN SARDINIA 



117 



noon, some may wish you a "buon appe- 

 tite" Even the young boys are taught to 

 take their hats off when strangers pass 

 by ; and if one is in an automobile and 

 happens to stop to get out his kodak, a 

 crowd of youngsters seem to spring up 

 around the car, all anxious to be in the 

 picture. To refuse a cup of coffee or a 

 liqueur when visiting the house of an in- 

 habitant of a village is an act of great dis- 

 courtesy, and even the poorest have some 

 beverage to offer. 



NATIVES EXCESSIVELY POLITE 



Generally speaking, the peasants seem 

 to be somewhat downtrodden and do not 

 realize their just rights. We thought the 

 attitude of the man in the following inci- 

 dent most unusual : When motoring along 

 one of the straight roads down through 

 the valley to Cagliari, we saw a man 

 ahead on horseback. He jumped off in a 

 great hurry and, holding the horse by the 

 end of the reins, got down into the deep 

 ditch at the side of the road. As the car 

 came up he was so interested in probably 

 the first automobile he had ever seen that 

 he forgot his horse, which, unexpectedly, 

 gave a jump down into the ditch almost 

 on top of the man, upsetting him and his 

 saddle-bags into the mud. When we 

 stopped to examine the harm done and to 

 help him up he was very gratified and 

 most profuse in his apologies for having 

 disturbed us, saying : "Excuse me, excuse 

 me ; it was all my fault." 



The music of the Sards is character- 

 istic ; not all quick and vivacious like that 

 of the Sicilians or other southern Ital- 

 ians, but monotonous and slow, resem- 

 bling very much the music of northern 

 Africa. Often a long song will be sung 

 to one phrase of a melody, like a sorrow- 

 ful chant. The accordion is a favorite 

 instrument, and in the villages on Sun- 

 days or other festas most of the inhabit- 

 ants congregate in the principal piazza 

 and dance to its' music. The men and 

 women form in a circle and dance slowly 

 forward and backward, some of the 

 younger men adding more complicated 

 steps, occasionally breaking away from 

 the circle and dancing with their part- 

 ners ; but the whole effect is dignified and 

 staid. 



Each "paese" or village has its annual 

 festival to celebrate the birthday of its 

 own particular saint or some other church 

 feast. The most renowned of these is the 

 "fes|a" of "Saint' Efisio," the national 

 feast of the island. The ceremony is in 

 the form of a procession from Cagliari to 

 Pula, a village 9 miles away, with the re- 

 turn to Cagliari. The saint was an offi- 

 cial in the army of Diocletian, and for his 

 conversion to Christianity was beheaded 

 at Pula. On midday of May 1 the pro- 

 cession leaves and returns on the evening 

 of May 4. It is composed of a cavalcade 

 of horsemen all in the costume of the 

 ancient Sardinian militia, escorting the 

 image of the saint, which is preceded by 

 musicians playing the "launeddas," an in- 

 strument made of three or four reeds of 

 different lengths and like the pipe of 

 ancient times. 



In the region about Iglesias where the 

 mines are, the workmen celebrate an- 

 nually the festa of Santa Barbara, "the 

 god of fire," which usually results in 

 much wine drinking, followed by a few 

 days' absence from work, so as to re- 

 cuperate. 



PICTURESQUE COSTUMES OP SARDS 



The Sards' costumes are one of their 

 greatest attractions. They are of rich, 

 harmonious, though brilliant, colors, each 

 village having its own distinctive type, 

 which does not change from year to year ; 

 so the men and women are thus known 

 by the clothes they wear. Unfortunately 

 the general European type of dress is 

 being adopted by the younger generation, 

 and it is now difficult to find many towns 

 in which the native dress is used by all 

 the inhabitants. 



There are a few such villages up in the 

 mountains near Nuoro, where the rail- 

 road has not penetrated, and here it is 

 most interesting to see the women and 

 little girls all dressed alike. The skirts 

 are usually very full, accordion plaited in 

 some villages, with a distinctive trimming : 

 white waists with full sleeves, and over 

 these short jackets, open in front or laced 

 around the waist. All in a town have the 

 same combination of color, perhaps a 

 dark red skirt and the jacket in bright red 

 and bright blue, a diagonal stripe of each 



