Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/237

 Baròë sa jéh, the day before that again (lit. "yesterday one more on that side").

Singòh, to-morrow.

Lusa, the day after to-morrow.

Lusa raya, the day after that again.

To denote the day of the month, in answer to the question "how many days moon?" (padum uròë buleuën) they say "one, two etc. days moon", si uròë, dua uròë etc. buleuën. For the first and thirtieth days of the month the reverse order is employed, as (buleuën siʾ uròë, buleuën lhèë plōh). The first of next month is denoted by the expression (when) the moon (is) visible (buleuën leumah) and the subsequent days of that month by "two, three etc. days visible moon (dua, lhèë etc. uròë buleuén leumah). Last month is called "a moon before", or a moon which is past" e. g. the fourth of last month, peuët uròë buleuën dilèë or buleuën nyang ka abéh.

We now enter upon our review of the Achehno-Mohammedan year and its appointed times and seasons.

1. Asan-Usén (= Muharram). In the books of Mohammedan law it is set down as sunat (that is, a meritorious though not obligatory work) to fast on the 10$th$ day of this month. None but very devout persons observe this custom, so that this day, which is named Ashura (in Acheh Achura and in Java Sura) passes almost unnoticed as far as concerns its celebration.

In Shiʾite countries it is quite the reverse. There the first ten days of this month are devoted to all manner of ceremonies, processions, discourses and theatrical representations, purporting to commemorate the conflict between Mohammad's grandson Ḥusain and the Umayyads. These festivities culminate in the Ashura, on which day he perished