Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/216

192 and the God of my fathers, to preserve this child from the evil eye, and sickness and all misfortune.”

II. Reverse.—The letter ה = He, for the name “Jehovah,’ enclosing two hands symbolic of the priestly blessing (Numbers vi. 24). The central inscription is: “Bless thee, ה = (Jehovah’) and keep thee,” and underneath the word “Jerusalem.” The encircling legend is the blessing of Joseph (Gen. xlix. 22): “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a spring.” “Ain.” Possibly the charm was made to be worn by a child named Joseph.

Rachel’s Tomb is on the road to Bethlehem, and this is a very good likeness of it. It will be remembered that she died in childbirth, and as her tomb is visible from Bethlehem one the better understands the reference to “Rachel weeping for her children.” The tomb (restored by Sir Moses Montefiore) is of great antiquity, and on certain days one sees it surrounded by women, Jews, Christians, and Moslems, many of whom are offering prayers and vows in the hope of becoming mothers, others praying for the welfare of young children. A. G. F..

is a somewhat dangerous procedure to call religious ceremonies “superstitions,” for then there will be no possible definition for “superstition.” The outgrowth from or beyond the regular form of worship and the addition of principles not recognised by the ruling faith would appear to me to cover the ground, if we carefully abstain from confusing the one with the other. The so-called worship of the moon (p. 187) is an example in point. There is not the remotest connection between the regular form of prayer to God as Creator of the moon and “superstition,” for He is praised as in every other case and as on many other occasions. The renewal of the moon at the end of its evolution and complete disappearance is taken as an occasion for uttering a prayer, which is not by a single word directed to the moon. It must be remembered that the revolution of the moon is the basis of the religious calendar, hence the immense importance attached to its appearance and to the exact notation of that period. Connected with this calendaristic importance is the