In some of the mountainous districts, the women, in order to be the less encumbered in their laborious occupations, have adopted the use of drawers with such scanty petticoats as to fall considerably short of the knee. Out of mere singularity, they load their legs with stockings, so plaited, as to give them a clumsy appearance. These stockings, being too thick to be covered by shoes, have no feet, so that the ankles are left quite bare. This practice occasions swelling of the legs or pains in the feet; but nothing can induce them to relinquish it, such is the influence of habit among all the nations of the earth.
The colour of the dress of the Tyrolese is different in every valley. The women in the environs of Hall and Inspruck, in general wear gowns half black and half blue, which produce a singular effect. The head is covered with a very lofty pyramidal cap, commonly of quilted cotton, decorated with transverse stripes. In summer they exchange this awkward head-dress for an elegant hat, and leave the hair loose.
The young girls have a remarkably simple costume. A ribbon tied round the top of the head constitutes the only head-dress. The throat and upper part of the neck are uncovered; but a handkerchief of rose-coloured crape is fastened together over the bosom. A broad ribbon passing round the waist is tied behind. A white corset with sleeves, a short green petticoat, and scarlet worsted stockings complete the dress of these peasants.
The women of this part of the Tyrol have such a predilection for red and blue stockings, that they seldom wear them of any other colour. When these stockings are not plaited, they load them with embroidery and all sorts of whimsical figures. With the women, the stockings, corset and girdle, are the articles in which finery is particularly studied, as the hat, the waistcoat, and the braces are with the men.
The manners of the women of the Tyrol are gentle and sedate. Equally chaste wives and tender mothers, they devote themselves entirely to their household affairs and to the care of their children. Constant in their sentiments, the man whom they once love is the object of their everlasting affection. Kind to all around them, they are not shy at the appearance of a stranger. On the contrary, when he approaches their habitation the mother sends her daughters to meet the traveller, and with engaging modesty they offer him fruit and present him with flowers. When once introduced into the cottage, the whole family throngs around him; the most delicious milk assuages his thirst, while a dish of smoked meat is prepared to appease the hunger excited by the keen air of the mountains.
Naturally quick and hasty, the Tyrolese prosecutes with heart and soul whatever he takes in hand. His dances alone, by their irregularity and vivacity, sufficiently attest the vehemence of his character. The music which excites him to pleasure is so brisk, that he can scarcely follow the measure. In short, these people cannot do any thing in a cool and quiet manner: if they fight, it is with an ardour which never allows them to calculate the danger; and when they indulge in pleasure, they give themselves up to it entirely. Is the country in danger? mourning is in every heart, and arms are in every hand: their very apparel acquaints the stranger with their feelings and their thoughts.
The national songs of the Tyrolese likewise prove the violence of their passions. Always lively and gay, they frequently pass from low natural tones to the highest sharps. From the expressions of these songs, you may know that they belong to men wandering in vast solitudes, and whose strains, crossing deep valleys, excite the voices of the herdsmen on the opposite hills. It is to this wildness and irregularity that the national airs of the Tyrol owe the celebrity which they have acquired. What traveller, who has ever witnessed the sensations they produce, could hear them without emotion!
The same man whom we have seen pursuing with such ardour, the innocent pleasure of a rustic dance, listens to the truths of religion with such profound respect, that in the attitude of devotion you would not know him again, or be tempted to believe that he is animated alternately by two different spirits. But that you may be able to appreciate his sensibility, follow him when at the decline of day, he leads his family from his humble abode to the tombs of his forefathers. Bareheaded, with downcast eyes and the chaplet in his hand, he walks first as the monarch of the family. Sometimes, indeed, he leads by the hand the youngest of his boys, while the elder follow. After them appears the mother, covered with a veil and surrounded by her daughters, who learn from her that modesty is woman’s brightest ornament. On reaching the grave of the person whose loss they deplore, they all kneel down and pray for that eternal repose in behalf of the soul of their friend, which will one day be solicited for themselves. After a few short prayers, the eldest of the boys rises, and thrice sprinkles holy water on the grave; all then strew over it flowers mingled with their tears. A practice so general, and which is repeated every day, cannot but have a strong tendency to preserve the prevailing simplicity and purity of manners.
The marriage ceremonies of the Tyrolese are not less interesting. It is seldom that young people marry from motives of interest, or in consequence of previous arrangements between the parents. It is in their walks, or at their rural meetings, that they become acquainted. When mutually agreeable, they respectively promise faith and love, and give each other their hand in ratification of this first contract. This promise made in the utmost purity of heart satisfies the lovers. Never is the chaste damsel of the Tyrol known to repent the acknowledgment of her secret sentiments to him to whom she has avowed them, nor the latter to take an improper advantage of this confession.