232
Martinique
Sketches.
times to the ground or the pavement, and utter those three wishes which if expressed precisely at this traditional moment will surely, it is held, be fulfilled. Immense crowds are assembled before the crosses on the heights, and about the statue of Notre Dame de la Garde. . . . There is no hubbub in the streets ; there is not even the customary loud weeping to be heard as the coffins go by. One must not complain to-day, nor become angry, nor utter unkind words,—any fault committed on Good Friday is thought to obtain a special and awful magnitude in the sight of Heaven. . . . There is a curious saying in vogue here. If a son or daughter grow up vicious,—become a shame to the family and a curse to the parents,—it is observed of such : — " Ç a , à est yon péché Vendredi-Saint !" (Must be a Good-Friday sin
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There are two other strange beliefs connected with Good Friday. One is that it always rains on that day,— that the sky weeps for the death of the Saviour ; and that this rain, if caught in a vessel, will never evaporate or spoil, and will cure all diseases. The other is that only Jesus Christ died precisely at three o'clock. Nobody else ever died exactly at that hour ;—they may die a second before or a second after three, but never exactly at three. XXIV.
March 31st.
morning ;—nine o'clock. All the bells suddenly ring out ; the humming of the bourdon blends with the thunder of a hundred guns : this is the Gloria! . . . At this signal it is a religious custom for the whole coast-population to enter the sea, and for those living too far from the beach to bathe in the rivers. But rivers and sea are now alike infected ;—all the linen . . . HOLY S A T U R D A Y