Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/276

 pay such a visit is not regarded as a serious breach of etiquette.

The prolix ceremonial with which such feasts used to be celebrated at the court in the brief period of prosperity of the port-kingship, and to which ancient documents (the sarakatas) bear witness, has been long since entirely forgotten. Within living memory the rajas of Acheh have but very rarely taken part in public worship and all that pertains to it.

On the second or third day of the month (never on the first) the ulèëbalangs in the neighbourhood of the Dalam together with some ulamas of distinction used to wait on the sultan during the course of the forenoon, on which occasion they were presented with some articles of dress. These visits were distinguished from other social gatherings of the Achehnese by the absence of all oratorical display. The Teuku Kali Malikōn Adé, who as master of court ceremonies was on terms of greater intimacy with the royal family than the rest, used to come and present his felicitations on the actual feast day, when he as well as the members of the Sultan’s family and his household servants, received a share of the royal slaughter.

These visits and friendly meetings last about five days. During these feast-days the men indulge to an excessive degree in gambling, strictly forbidden though it is by the law of Islam. The village authorities, who on other occasions oppose such practices, or at least prevent their taking place within the walls of the meunasah, are wont at these times to shut their eyes to such transgressions.

On the uròë raya, the first of the month, many go to visit their family burial-place (bhōm). This is another pious custom which is held in greater honour by the women than by the men. They decorate with flowers (jeumpa, seumanga and the bungòng peukan or "market-flowers" as they are called) the head of the tomb which they wish specially to honour, and burn some incense there. The more devout also offer up a prayer at the sacred spot, or else recite the fātiḥah, the Mohammedan Lord's Prayer.

The six days fast after the feast day, the observance of which is recommended in the books of the law, is kept by scarcely any one in Acheh. In Java, where the observers of such a fast are also few and far between, a small feast is often held on the 8$th$, properly speaking in celebration of the end of this period of abstinence. This feast, breaking a fast where no fast exists, is unknown in Acheh.