When
she does go out, she must cover her head with a hood or mat; for if the
sun were to shine upon her, it is thought that one of her male relations
would die.[58] Again, mourners are everywhere taboo; accordingly in
mourning the Ainos of Japan wear peculiar caps in order that the sun may
not shine upon their heads.[59] During a solemn fast of three days the
Indians of Costa Rica eat no salt, speak as little as possible, light no
fires, and stay strictly indoors, or if they go out during the day they
carefully cover themselves from the light of the sun, believing that
exposure to the sun's rays would turn them black.[60] On Yule Night it
has been customary in parts of Sweden from time immemorial to go on
pilgrimage, whereby people learn many secret things and know what is to
happen in the coming year. As a preparation for this pilgrimage, "some
secrete themselves for three days previously in a dark cellar, so as to
be shut out altogether from the light of heaven. Others retire at an
early hour of the preceding morning to some out-of-the-way place, such
as a hay-loft, where they bury themselves in the hay, that they may
neither see nor hear any living creature; and here they remain, in
silence and fasting, until after sundown; whilst there are those who
think it sufficient if they rigidly abstain from food on the day before
commencing their wanderings. During this period of probation a man ought
not to see fire, but should this have happened, he must strike a light
with flint and steel, whereby the evil that would otherwise have ensued
will be obviated.
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