Folk-lore from the Dominican republic / by Manuel J. Andrade.

Folk-Lore from the Dominican Republic

413

ROSARIOS.
This is the name given to certain religious processions which
start from some convenient place in a village or a farm and go
either to a church or to one or more of the many calvarios which
may be found in the environs of any village, or by the roadside
even in places where no house is visible. The calvario may be just
a heap of stones which hold one or three rustic wooden crosses in
an upright position, or they may be iron crosses set on a stone and
mortar pedestal. A good example of the latter may be seen at the
entrance to Higiiey, the easternmost village in the republic. I was
told that most of the towns had formerly three of these crosses
at the entrance, and that they may yet be found in a few villages,
but I have not seen them conspicuously located, facing the main
road that leads into the town, as at this isolated village.
The purpose of the rosario is to ask for rain, to check a plague, or to
eradicate any common evil. The procession is composed mainly of
women, children and pious old men. At least, these are the ones
who take an active part in them. As all such occasions are taken
advantage of for courtship, a number of young men usually follow
at the end of the procession, waiting for an opportunity in some
dark part of the road to woo the young singers. This is regarded
by the old folks as the natural thing to do - almost an indispensable complement of the rosario. lQue se le va a hase? Esa
e la juventu, was the reaction of a very pious old lady whom I
questioned on this feature.
At the head of the procession an image of some saint or virgin
is carried in the usual manner of Catholic processions. Sometimes no
porcelain or wooden image is available and a lithograph is affixed
to a pole. Behind the image bearer an old lady or a pious grandfather leads the singing. This person is referred to by the phrase
ei que yeva ei teisio. He carries a large rosary whose beads are made
of large, irregular pieces of wood. Some of these rosaries are said to
be very old, being transmitted from generation to generation.
Immediately behind the leader the main musicians march with
their accordions and drums. I was told that the native instrument
called gairol is never played in the rosarios, but guitars are played
in some localities.
These general features seem to be uniform to all the rosarios, but
the other details differ considerably with the locality. In the rural
districts of Bonao all the singers that follow the musicians play
tambourines, which they call panderos. In the environs of San Jos6
de las Matas tambourines are not used, but most of the singers
1A large dried calabash on the surface of which a number of parallel transversal incisions are made. A small blade made of bone, steel, or some other
hard substance is rubbed across these incisions producing a kind of scraping sound.