Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 February 1904 — An Odd Spanish Custom. [ARTICLE]

An Odd Spanish Custom.

An odd custom in Madrid is the manner of indicating the sleeping rooms of a house by a spray of palm leaves attached to the railing of the balcony. You will see palm leaves hanging to the balconies of nearly all the residences in town, those of the poor as well as tiie rich. A sheet of white paper tied to the iron railing means that the room is for rent; a palm leaf means that it is the sleeping chamber of a pious Catholic who brought it home from church on the last Palm Sunday and placed it there to keep away evil spirits, diseases and misfortunes. It re--mains there the entire year until the next anniversary, when a new palm, fresh from the blessing of the priest, is substituted.