addison's west barb ary.
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in the lunar mutations, continue the fall for thirty days, being aflured that in thatperiod the moon muft fulfil her courfe.
A winter ramadan is very welcome to the Moors , becaufe their labours are notthen fo preflive, and better then to be endured, by reafon of the coldnefs of the feafon:and the faff is not fo afflictive, becaufe the days are fhort, and the nights long torevel in.
Though this be the fevered: precept in the Mahumedan law, yet it is not without allcapacities of indulgence, for therein is had fpecial regard to the wayfaring and infirm,who have licence to eat in the day time, with this caution, that at the end of theirjourney, and upon their recovery from ficknefs, they perform the full account of theirLent . As for the reft, they are enjoined no more than a diurnal abftinence, havingthe night at liberty for all fruitions they can procure, wine only excepted, which bythofe who at other times liberally drink it, is for this moon totally renounced. Thebreach of this faft they punifh with ftoning to death, and there is no neceffity canprivilege any (except travellers and infirm perfons) to eat or drink till the eveningftar witneffeth that the day is fhut in.
They make great provifion for this ramadan, wherewith they furnifh out theirnofturnal feftivals; and for this end, ufe a great frugality before for fome days.
They place a great fan&ity in this faft, which yet to a fcrupulift fcarce would feemto deferve that name, for the day is ufually paft away in a loitering lleepinefs, and thenight in junketing : the one is at beft but a drowfy Lent , and the other a luxuriouscarnival. Yet there is a devouter fort of bigots, who fpend the day in the churchand devotion, and are very referved in their nightly carrefles, living for the wholemoon feparate from women, where they fupererogate, their law no where exactingthis feverity: for fuch was the carnal temper of their prophet, that he thought it animpofiibility to live a whole day continent. Both fexes are bound to begin this faftat the twelfth year of their age, and it is placed among the articles neceffarily requifiteto the conftitution of a per feci Mahumetan.
The laft day of the moon, the Moors fpend in doleful lamentations of their deceafedrelations, and with their yearly connnemoratives end the faft.
v CHAP. XVII .—The Morefco Feajls.
AT the end of their Lent , Mahumed inftituted a feftival folemnity, as hath beenimagined in imitation of the Chriftians’ Eafter. The Turks call it Bairam; the Moors ,El Ed Geer, or the little feaft : little, not in refpeQ: of its duration, but expence; forit lafts three days, which equals it in length with any of the reft.
On the firft day thereof they fpread the floor of their giammas with colouredleather, and then entertain each other with honey, fweet butter, and wafers. Andaccording to the performance of this feftival, they divine, as the Egyptians by theirNilefcope, the bleffings and plenty of the defending year.
About two months after, the Moors have another feftival, by them called, El EdGueber, or the great feaft, in refpedt of the expences and charges thereof. Thisfeftival ftill commenceth with a fermon, which the alcalib or chief prieft makes concern-ing its inftitution, with amplification of its praifes. Returning home from the fermon,the Moors fall to killing fuch fheep as they have made choice of for their entertainmentat this folemnity, and there is not the meaneft fortune but now has his fheep, whichis killed by cutting the throat thereof, with their faces towards Mecha, and fwearingby Alquibla . This done, every family takes the heart and appurtenances, and im-mediately