Paschal=Time Carols

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 13, 28 March 1907, Page 33

Paschal=Time Carols

We hear a great deal of Christmas carols (says the ' Aye Maria '), but there is one country of the earth where quite as much attention is ''paid -to 'sinking -of these joyous songs at the blessed Kasterside. In the beautiful, mountainous country of the Tyrol, the true Faith glows " still with the devotion of the - the Middle Ages ; and its' votaries still keep many ' beautiful customs with charming simplicity. They are hardy and brave, these Tyrolese mountaineers •; and they are devoutly religious. You scarce can pass a- -moun,r tain shrine-, perched high upon the hillside, above it the wild and- impenetrable waste of Alps,." with snowy glaciers, icebound- peaks, without seeing the figure of some pious peasant kneeling there to pray. All over the green and fertile valleys the ' Aye -Maria ' calls the faithfu'kto morning prayer ; as, -when the sun's last rays are gilding green valley and snowy mountain-top to rosy red, it rings the .Church's goodnight to her faithful children. " \- To these good souls the Easter time is a season of as great rejoicing as is the Ytile. If at Christmas Christ was born for the saltation of men, Easter is the • season of His Resurrection — ' the tangible proof of jevelation,' — and they -honor it equally: > . Over every sunlit valley travel bands of musicians (for which the happy peasants of the Tyrol are especially ' fitted) ;. and at each 'door they pause, with guitar and zither accompany ing* their musical voices in ' the Easter hymns of the Church. The peasants 'gather around them and join in the glad qhorus of these carols, and the scene is most picturesque. Very quaint and pretty are the costumes of the' people, — the men in short - trousers, velvet coats, " huge hats with feathers or wreaths upon . them -; the women- in short slJirts of homespun, full white waist, velvet bodices, and • spotless aprons. - Eggs, gaily cdlored and sometimes -made of sugar, are distributed by the housewives ; and often a glass of the country's simple wine is given to the musicians. Thus is Easter observed in a Catholic country, where the people consider the presence among them of a policeman, or gendarme, an insult , since crimes are almost unknown in the Tyrol, and all dwell- together in amity and good- Will. "- '.