Note 1103 — Chapter XIX · ST. GEORGE AND THE PARILIA

A. Strausz, Die Bulgaren, pp. 337, 385 sq. There seems to be a special connexion between St. George and serpents. In Bohemia and Moravia it is thought that up to the twenty-third of April serpents are innocuous, and only get their poison on the saint’s day. See J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren, §§ 326, 580, pp. 51, 81; W. Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren, p. 323. Various other charms are effected by means of serpents on this day. Thus if you tear out the tongue of a live snake on St. George’s Day, put it in a ball of wax, and lay the ball under your tongue, you will be able to talk down anybody. See J. V. Grohmann, op. cit., §§ 576, 1169, pp. 81, 166.