and the congregation around repeated the sign of the cross and bowed in prayer.
At Smolensk they danced naked, and the people, in derision, nicknamed them "Cupids." All mystical and religious symbolism disappeared, and their meetings are simply disgusting orgies.
To the erotic and libidinous rites of these and similar sects were sometimes joined cruel and bloody ceremonies, which are relics of ancient paganism, preserved in popular tradition. Suffering and death, as well as voluptuousness and sensuality, the mysteries of the grave like the wonderful reproduction of life, appeal strongly to the imagination of a simple, childishly ignorant, and credulous race.
Human sacrifices and a species of devout cannibalism, exalted to religious significance, are alleged against some of these crazed fanatics. It is said they baptize and slay an infant born of an unmarried woman, and commune with its heart and blood, mixed with honey, as emblematic of the blood of the Lamb;[1] and that on Easter night, when they celebrate the worship of the Mother of God, they cut out pieces from the breast of a young girl, and share the morsels among them, while they sing and dance around her. The victim, who is persuaded by promises of glory in the life to come and honor in this world, to offer up herself a living sacrifice, is ever afterwards held as holy.[2] Ferocious and savage practices of this nature are totally at variance with the naturally mild and kindly character of the Russian peasant; but under the influence of religious exaltation he is transformed into a wild beast, reckless of consequences; ready in the past for murder
