out on a napkin, with cheese grated over it. Then
follow sausages or roast meat. At the nuptial-banquet of the peasants of
Modica a dish is placed on the table intended to receive the gifts of
the guests for the bride: one gives money, another gold; one a ring,
another a dollar; nor do those who come last wish to be outdone by the
first. At the end of the banquet come the toasts, more or less lively
and witty.

After the banquet follows the ball, which at Favaratta is held eight
days after the wedding. The orchestra consists of two or three violins,
which play the whole evening, or afternoon if the marriage took place in
the daytime. The repertoire is that of the people, and embraces the
dances known as the _fasola_,[24] the _tarantella_, the _tarascuri_, the
_'nglisina_, the _capona_, the _chiovu_, etc. In some of the towns in
the province of Palermo it is the groom who engages the musicians and
conducts them to the house. In Modica they dance the _ciovu_ (the
_chiovu_ above mentioned) to the accompaniment not only of violins, but
also of tambourines, etc. The groom opens the ball, holding his hat in
his hand and making a profound bow to the bride, who rises with alacrity
and begins to dance with all her might. The groom makes another bow and
sits down again, and the bride, dancing alone, makes a turn round the
room and selects a partner from the guests, who in turn choose a woman,
and so on in graceful alternation.

In general, in large cities, there is no one who calls out the figures
at the ball: the musicians play what they please, unless they are asked
to change or continue a tune that has tired or pleased any one of the
guests. The dancing is without any rule or order: nevertheless, there is
some regularity in its execution, especially in the pantomime that
accompanies it. The bride and groom dance their share: the first one
with whom the bride dances is the groom, who permits her to dance with
others.

An interesting subject in the history of the Sicilian people would be
this ball after the nuptial-banquet if it could be illustrated in all
the varieties of ancient and modern customs. Buonfiglio, the historian
of Messina, has left us in his larger work an account of these customs
two centuries and a half ago. The peasants, he says, have not abandoned
the ancient custom of dancing in a crowd and in a circle to the sound of
the lyre and flute, although these have been changed for the songs of
the musicians; and