American Missionary Lorenzo Warriner Pease observed the custom of the ‘kapnisma’ in the house of his host in Larnaca:
This afternoon the oldest child of Mr. Grollos has taken sick; the mother seemed to feel not a little anxiety on account of it. While Lucinda and I were in there, an old woman came in with a censor filled with live coals on which were placed small sticks of wood burning – this was waved three times by the mother around the cradle, then around his head and taken away. I have not yet asked the reason of this proceeding but I suppose that it was done for the purpose of driving off evil spirits.