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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



brightly, they know he is favorable. If 

 he lets it die down a little, they under- 

 stand he is only of an open mind on the 

 subject. But if he lets it go out entirely, 

 there is no use arguing the question. 



It usually happens that the father of 

 the girl is of an open mind, and the boy's 

 spokesmen tell what a fine, husky young 

 fellow he is, what a good brother he is to 

 his sisters, what a good son to his mother, 

 what his patrimony is, how industrious 

 he is, etc. 



the national, dance 



The Roumanian peasants have a say- 

 ing that they must dance on Sunday to 

 keep the creak out of their bones on 

 Monday. Most of the dances are at the 

 public houses — dance halls under the 

 blue sky, as it were — and young and old 

 gather there. The old folk spend the day 

 with the tipple, while the young ones 

 dance. There is very little drinking on 

 any other day of the week, and a tipsy 

 man except on Sunday is seldom seen. 



The national dance is a sort of cross 

 between a jig and the game of ring- 

 around-the-rosie. All the dancers clasp 

 hands and form a ring. They then begin 

 a stepping, swaying motion that never 

 moves them out of their original tracks, 

 and to the music of the Tzigana band 

 they keep it up for hours. 



The dances are organized by the boys 

 of the community. They arrange for the 

 music, provide the refreshments, and pre- 

 side as masters of ceremonies. When the 

 girls reach a marriageable age and have 

 been sufficiently instructed in the house- 

 hold arts, they are allowed to attend these 

 dances as participants. "She dances at 

 the dance" is the peasant way of saying 

 that a girl has made her debut and is 

 eligible for matrimonial attentions. 



"Many hands make light work" is an- 

 other proverb of the Roumanian peasant, 

 often put into practice. Almost every 

 night there is a neighborhood gathering 

 like the old-fashioned apple-cutting or 

 apple-butter boiling in early American 

 rural history. The houses have their 

 turns at these parties, and there is always 

 a kettle of cornmeal mush and baked 

 pumpkin and potatoes and popcorn ready 

 for the occasion. All hands join in the 

 evening program of combing, carding. 



and spinning the household supply of 

 wool or flax, the while neighborhood 

 gossip passes current among the elders 

 and occasional words of love or childish 

 jest among the more youthful members 

 of the party. 



One-third of the area of the country 

 toward the north and west is inhabited 

 by semi-civilized shepherds. Up in the 

 Carpathians in summer and down in the 

 sheltered valleys in winter they lead their 

 flocks, sleeping in the open with them 

 and despising any other shelter than that 

 which primitive nature and the starry 

 sky afford. They seldom speak ; indeed, 

 their solitary lives leave them little op- 

 portunity for conversation. They wear 

 their hair and beards long, and have 

 coarse, white woollen shirts and long 

 mantles of wool-covered sheepskin. 



SIGNS AND PORTENTS GOVERN PEASANT 

 LIFE 



The Roumanian peasant is much given 

 to superstition, and he has a sign for 

 everything. If shingles are not nailed on 

 a roof in the proper sign, they will turn 

 up at the ends ; if potatoes are not planted 

 in the proper sign, they will grow on top 

 of the soil and be a failure ; if you have 

 money in your pocket when you see the 

 new moon, you will not "go broke," at 

 least not until another new moon comes. 

 On the other hand, it is held to be dan- 

 gerous to announce to those in the house 

 that the new moon has appeared, for in 

 that case all the pots and pans in the 

 kitchen will be broken before the waning 

 moon passes. 



When a peasant child is christened, all 

 of those present assume the relation of 

 god-parents, and it is a superstition that 

 there must be no intermarriages between 

 god-fathers and god-mothers. The re- 

 sult is that christenings are not widely 

 attended, and those with matrimonial 

 ambitions eschew them entirely. 



The utmost care is taken by some to 

 prevent a child from seeing its image in 

 a mirror before it is three years old, for 

 if it does it will become a victim of the 

 "falling sickness," which will send it 

 stumbling through life. 



The girls of Roumanian country dis- 

 tricts take great pride in a clear, healthy 



