ts, and a curious custom is
connected with them. It is usual for the maids to visit their relations
during the Christmas holidays and share with them their _zelten_. A young
man who wishes to be engaged to a maid should offer to carry her pie for
her. This is his declaration of love, and if she accepts the offer she
signifies her approval of him. To him falls the duty or privilege of
cutting the _zelten_.{40}

|291| Other cake customs are associated with the Epiphany, and will be
considered in connection with that festival. We may here in conclusion
notice a few further articles of Christmas good cheer.

In Italy and Spain{41} a sort of nougat known as _torrone_ or _turron_
is eaten at Christmas. You may buy it even in London in the Italian
quarter; in Eyre Street Hill it is sold on Christmas Eve on little
gaily-decked street stalls. Its use may well be a survival of the Roman
custom of giving sweet things at the Kalends in order that the year might
be full of sweetness.

Some Little Russian feasting customs are probably pagan in origin, but
have received a curious Christian interpretation. All Little Russians sit
down to honey and porridge on Christmas Eve. They call it _koutia_, and
cherish the custom as something that distinguishes them from Great and
White Russians. Each dish is said to represent the Holy Crib. First
porridge is put in, which is like putting straw in the manger; then each
person helps himself to honey and fruit, and that symbolizes the Babe. A
place is made in the porridge, and then the honey and fruit are poured
in; the fruit stands for the body, the honey for the spirit or the
blood.{42}

Something like this is the special dish eaten in every Roumanian peasant
household on Christmas Eve--the _turte_. It is made up of a pile of thin
dry leaves of dough, with melted sugar or honey, or powdered walnut, or
the juice of the hemp-seed. The _turte_ are traditionally said to
represent the swaddling clothes of the Holy Child.{43}

In Poland a few weeks before Christmas monks bring round small packages
of wafers made of flour and water, blessed by a priest, and with figures
stamped upon them. No Polish family is without these _oplatki_; they are
sent in letters to relations and friends, as we send Christmas cards.
When the first star appears on Christmas Eve the whole family, beginning
with the eldest member, break one of these wafers between themselves, at
the same time exchanging good wishes. Afterwa