A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

Religious Festivals 341
the shade may be appeased. After erecting the altars,
add prayers and suitable words.
But while they are celebrating these rites, remain un- "Let none
wedded, ye maidens; let the torch of pine wood await marry."
auspicious days. And let not the curved spear part thy (j^ie pine
virgin ringlets, thou maiden who appearest to thy impatorch
was
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.
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tient mother already of marriageable years.
^ ,
Conceal thy marriage
,
earned in the
torches, Hymenaeus, and remove them afar from these The'^^partirig
dismal fires,—the gloomy tombs have other torches than °^. ^j^^ ^^•''
''=''
with a spear
these. Let the gods, too, be concealed, with the doors was a marof
their temples closed; be the fires without incense, and mony- Hylet
the hearths stand without fire. Abroad now wander ^g"^"^ ^^^
phantom spirits, and bodies that have been committed to marriage.)
the tombs. Now the ghost feeds on the food left for
it. . . .
The kinsfolk, full of affection, have named the next day The
the Caristia, and the company of relatives assemble at the
family feast. In good truth it is a pleasant thing to turn
our attention from the tombs and from our relatives who
are dead, to those who survive; and after so many are
lost, to see all that remains of our family, and to reckon
the degrees of relationship. . . .
When the night has passed away, then let the god who The festival
by his landmark divides the fields be worshipped with the corneraccustomed
honors. Terminus, whether thou art a stone, stones,
or whether a stock sunk deep in the earth by the ancients,
yet even in this form dost thou possess divinity. Thee
the two owners of adjoining fields crown with chaplets
from their opposite sides,
and present with two garlands
and two cakes. They build an altar; the peasant's wife
brings in a broken pan the fire taken from the burning
hearth.
An old man cuts up the firewood, and piles it high when