Untitled : Charles Godfrey Leland, who also wrote Aradia, Gospel of the Witches, was a 19th century journalist, author and folklorist, specializing in Native American, Gypsy and Italian traditions. This book is a classic study of the folklore of the Tuscan region of Italy (to the northwest of Rome, around...
Part One. Chapter Ii Maso : p. 49 CHAPTER II MASO Omnia transformat sese in miracula rerum."--VIRGIL, Georg,. 1. 4. As to what became of the old god of war Mars since the victory of the Christians I can tell you but little. I am inclined to believe that during the Middle Ages he exercised the law of the strong h...
Part One. Chapter Iii Feronia : p. 54 CHAPTER III FERONIA "The Etruscan Feronia--the Dawn--is also the goddess of trade."--The Etruscans, by JOHN FRASER "Vividi gaudens Feronia luco."--VIRGIL, "neid", viii., 800. "Ora manusque tus lavimus, Feronia, lympha."--HORACE, "Sat". i., V. 24 "THERE is a kind of argument very much...
Part One. Chapter Vii Tituno : p. 122 CHAPTER VII TITUNO "Tituno is the spirit of thunder--"forgore"--and he is known in all the Romagnie." So asserts Naudo Papetti. Another authority (Peppino) gives the name as Tit'uno "lo spirito del folgore"," adding that he regrets that he cannot communicate much on the subject, but th...
Part One. Chapter Viii Floria : p. 136 CHAPTER VIII FLORIA Dictes moy, en quel pays, Est Flora la belle Romaine." FRANOIS VILLON THIS very curious tale was one of my latest discoveries:-- "This spirit, Floria, was once a fair girl who loved a youth who loved her as well. But Floria had a female friend, and they trusted...
Part One. Chapter Ix Il Spirito Del Scaldino : p. 159 CHAPTER IX IL SPIRITO DEL SCALDINO DURING the reign of Charles the Second it was often said in England that the women of Holland became pregnant simply from their habit of carrying and keeping under their petticoats a small receptacle, or hand-stove, in which burning charcoals were placed...
Part Two. Chapter V The Amethyst : p. 349 CHAPTER V THE AMETHYST "The February-born will find Sincerity and peace of mind, Freedom from passion and from care, If they the Amethyst will wear." Birthday Mottoes "L'Amethiste a un lustre violet rouge, et est ainsi nomm, comme n'estant yure, aussi il resiste l'yuronguerie... et profite...
Part One. Chapter Iv Faflon : p. 65 CHAPTER IV FAFLON "Oh, Fufluns! Fufluns! awful deity!"--"Pumpus of Perusia in the Gaudeamus" of W. SCHEFFEL "But it went better with Bacchus than it did with Mars or Apollo after the grand retreat of the gods."--HEINE, "The Gods in Exile" THE Arno, which rushes roaring before the window...
Part One. Chapter X Cupra : p. 182 CHAPTER X CUPRA Ex eo tempore... illum sic concubisse secum, ut viri cum fminis solent, nec percipiente viro, cum simul in lecto essent,"--BODINUS, lib. 2, capit. 7 OF this spirit all that I know is given in the following strange story:-- "Cupra is a folletto, or spirit, who when "se prende...
Title Page : ETRUSCAN ROMAN REMAINS IN POPULAR TRADITION BY CHARLES GODFREY LELAND New York, C. Scribner's Sons, And London, T. F. Unwin [1892] Scanned , July 2002. J.B. Hare, Redactor. Frontispiece: TURAN, OR VENUS (From Gerhard, who gives it as one of the Dmonen der Aphrodite, Probably an error--Charles G...
Part One. Chapter V Lares, Lasa, And Lassi : p. 80 CHAPTER V LARES, LASA, AND LASSI "E nos Lases iuvate, Neve luerve Marmar sins incurrere in pleoris. Satur furere Mars limen sali, sta berber. Semunis alternei advocavit conctos E nos Marmo iuvato. Triumpe. Triumpe." "Song of the Arval Brothers" "BY the Latin words Lar" and "Lares" we...
Part Two. Chapter Iv Evil Incantations : p. 326 CHAPTER IV EVIL INCANTATIONS THERE exist among the Tuscan witches a very great number of spells, the object of which is to injure or even kill enemies, and there is reason to believe that these are the most ancient of all. For the further we go back behind the genial embodiment...
Part Two. Chapter Ii Birds And Treasures : p. 270 CHAPTER II BIRDS AND TREASURES No one knows better than a bird of the air Where treasures are concealed." ARISTOPHANES, "The Birds" IT was an ancient belief in many countries that the birds knew all things, and, as OVID says, announce the will of the gods, because they are near them; th...
Part One. Chapter Vi Carradora : p. 107 CHAPTER VI CARRADORA "CARRADORA was in her life una strega buona"--a good witch--who protected infants against other or evil witches. She appears to be well known. While the following story was being narrated, the one who told it paused, not remembering the name of the plant which was use...
Part Two. Chapter Iii The Exorcism Of Death : p. 303 CHAPTER III THE EXORCISM OF DEATH "Begone, O Death! I fear thee not!"--"Song of the Reaper", "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" "Carmen autem evocat: orium idem tradit.. qui pestem a suis aversam in hastes ferret."--Livy, 1. viii THE following very singular and uncanny spell involves one of the deep...
Part Two. Chapter I La Stalla Di Maiale : p. 251 PART SECOND INCANTATION, DIVINATION, CHARMS AND CURES, MEDICINE, AMULETS CHAPTER I LA STALLA DI MAIALE--DREAMING IN A PIGSTY AND SWINE LORE "WE are told in the Heimskringla", an early history of Norway, that when Ragnhild, the wife of King Halfdan the Swarthy, was with child she dreamed...
Introduction : p. 1 INTRODUCTION THERE is in Northern Italy a mountain district known as La Romagna Toscana, the inhabitants of which speak a rude form of the Bolognese dialect. These Romagnoli are manifestly a very ancient race, and appear to have preserved traditions p. 2 and observances little changed...
Part One. Chapter I Tinia : p. 18 CHAPTER I TINIA "Tinia was the supreme deity of the Etruscans, analogous to the Zeus of the Greeks and the Jupiter; 'the centre of the Etruscan god-world, the power who speaks in the thunder and descends in the lightning.' He alone had three separate bolts to hurl."--"The Cities of Etruria"...
