Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese Vol II. - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/242



These five examples will suffice to give some notion of how much of the real rateb there is in this performance; it will be seen that we did not go too far in characterizing the latter as a caricature of the true ratéb, which is a chant in praise of God and his apostle. The "nonsense verses" to which these lagèës form the accompaniment are repeated over and over again, time after time, until the leading party has exhausted all the gymnastic exercises at its command in respect of that particular tune.

As soon as the first ratéb duëʾ is finished an expert of the same party which has hitherto taken the lead in the performance, commences to "meunasib". The nasib of the ratéb sadati consists of a dialogue between the two parties, beginning with mutual greetings, after which it takes the form of question and answer. The questions are in outward appearance of a religious or philosophical nature, but as a matter of fact the nasib is as much a caricature of a learned discussion as the whole ratéb is a travesty of a service of prayer and praise. The players, however, as well as most of the audience, who have but little knowledge