80 F E T E S A N D P R O C E S S I O N S .
great. It is necessary to obtain permission
of Monsieur le Curé, before a Savoyard can
have a little dance, even in his own house;
and in many parts of Savoy, dancing is
entirely prohibited.
The religious fêtes and processions, which
are more strictlv observed here than in
France, form an innocent amusement and
an agreeable variety to so simple a people
as the Savoyards : these fêtes must also
tend to civilise them and soften their manners
; perhaps, there may not be much
religious feeling connected with such observances,
but this may be said of ceremonial
worship of all kinds, in every age and
country.
Between the procession of the fête Dieu,
as observed at Paris and in the valleys of
Savoy, there is, however, an amazing difference,
greatly in favour of the latter.
We had an opportunity of seeing the ceremony
at Duing and Talloires in 1821, and
the following year at Paris. The branches
of trees and garlands of flowers that overhang
or adorn the path along which the
procession was to pass at Duing, seemed
a more appropriate tribute of respect
to the supposed presence of the Deity,
F E T E S A N D P R O C E S S I O N S . 81
than the Gobelin tapestry at Paris, on
which were wrought the loves of Mars and
Venus, with battles and sieges, and scenes
from the history of the French court, with
figures of men in bag-wigs, and women in
hoop-petticoats, in every variety of fantastic
attitude. This tapestry was extended in
frames on each side the road from the
Tuilleries to the church of St. Germain.
At Duing, the serious and devout appearance
of the people excited feelings of
respect; nearly the whole of the population,
consisting of about two hundred and fifty
persons, assisted at the ceremony, dressed
in their best holiday suits. At Paris, the
gaudy appearance of the priests, weighed
down beneath their mantles of cloth of
gold, and headed by John the Baptist
in his vestment of camels’ hair, excited
nothing but feelings of disgust or merriment,
even among the catholics themselves ;
nor can it possibly be otherwise, when religion
is presented as a splendid farce to a
well-informed people.
But it is not from their public processions
that we can judge of the religious
feelings of the Savoyards. The churches
here, as in other Catholic countries, are
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