Many Calabrian Villages Still Possess
Their Distinctive Costumes - Marcellinara And Cimi-Gliano Are Celebrated
In This Respect - But It Would Be Difficult To Find Anywhere An Equal
Number Of Handsome Women On Such A Restricted Space.
In olden days it
was dangerous to approach these attractive and mirthful creatures; they
were jealously guarded by brothers and husbands.
But the brothers and
husbands, thank God, are now in America, and you may be as friendly with
them as ever you please, provided you confine your serious attentions to
not more than two or three. Secrecy in such matters is out of the
question, as with the Arabs; there is too much gossip, and too little
coyness about what is natural; your friendships are openly recognized,
and tacitly approved. The priests do not interfere; their hands are full.
To see these women at their best one must choose a Sunday or a
feast-day; one must go, morever, to the favourite fountain of Santa
Lucia, which lies on the hill-side and irrigates some patches of corn
and vegetables. Their natural charms are enhanced by elaborate and
tasteful golden ornaments, and by a pretty mode of dressing the hair,
two curls of which are worn hanging down before their ears with an
irresistibly seductive air. Their features are regular; eyes black or
deep gentian blue; complexion pale; movements and attitudes impressed
with a stamp of rare distinction. Even the great-grandmothers have a
certain austere dignity - sinewy, indestructible old witches, with tawny
hide and eyes that glow like lamps.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 309 of 488
Words from 82762 to 83018
of 131203
