Anne wants so little
keeping up.
I have explained in my book Ex Voto, but should perhaps repeat here,
that the distinguishing characteristic of the Birth of the Virgin,
as rendered by Valsesian artists, is that St. Anne always has eggs
immediately after the infant is born, and usually a good deal more,
whereas the Madonna never has anything to eat or drink. The eggs
are in accordance with a custom that still prevails among the
peasant classes in the Valsesia, where women on giving birth to a
child generally are given a sabaglione--an egg beaten up with a
little wine, or rum, and sugar. East of Milan the Virgin's mother
does not have eggs, and I suppose, from the absence of the eggs at
Oropa, that the custom above referred to does not prevail in the
Biellese district. The Virgin also is invariably washed. St. John
the Baptist, when he is born at all, which is not very often, is
also washed; but I have not observed that St. Elizabeth has anything
like the attention paid her that is given to St.
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