458 Collectanea.
chairs, and from above hangs the abim, a brass lamp fed with walnut oil. About eight o'clock arrive the first-comers, — girls who carry with them spinning wheels, of which the rocks are decorated with ribbons and on which linen threads are being spun for their trousseaus {scherpia). The young wives with their babies follow, and the old women, who sew the ras (half-woollen dresses) or the thick -soled cloth shoes or slippers, which are called patusfy pedui, or scufui, according to the village. Before the men arrive the women sing the rosary in a cantiiefia or slow melody. The young men {buli) arrive in a body, wearing gorgeous kerchiefs around their necks and red waistbands. They sit beside the girls, talking merrily, and the boldest of them strive to steal one of the girls' kerchiefs, their good fortune being measured by the numbers of kerchiefs they succeed in obtaining. One youth whom I knew had collected no less than thirty kerchiefs, each with the initials of its owner's name ; one kerchief was square, and on it was embroidered with red thread these lines : —
" Fazzoletto volante, Vola in braccia al mio amante, Non posso volar io, Vola tu fazzoletto mio "
{i.e. "Flying handkerchief, fly into my lover's arms; I cannot myself fly, fly thou, my handkerchief"). About ten o'clock the older people come in, and the talk turns to local matters, such as taxes, foot-and-mouth disease, and so on. The village musician also will often join the party to play well-known popular airs, and in Carnival time the evening will end with dancing. At times the old women will stay the musician, and tell tales of the witches who assemble on the Pizzo d'Andola, or of the luminous foUetti (hobgoblins) and mysterious lights wandering amongst the black rocks of Gridone and of the Pioda di Orana, or of the Vaina, a wicked creature which imitates the wailing of a baby and rolls down from the mountain tops to crush any unfortunate passer- by. At midnight, or at one o'clock, the stove gets cold and empty, and all leave for their homes.
While the winter evenings of a courtship, — usually a long one, — are spent as above in stables or in hay lofts, the meetings of lovers at Antrona take place from spring to autumn on the Alpine
