Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/458

416 Armenian Bishop Ebedjesu their abstinence on Sunday was occasioned by their belief that the destruction of the world was going to take place on that day. There can be little doubt that the Harranian and Manichaean fasts were originally due, not to reverence, but to fear of evil influences; reverence can never be the primitive motive for a customary rite of fasting. The thirty days' fast which the Harranians observed in the month of Adsâr finds perhaps its explanation in the fact that, according to Babylonian beliefs, the month Adar was presided over by the seven evil spirits, who knew neither compassion nor mercy, who heard no prayer or supplication, and to whose baneful influence the popular faith attributed the eclipse of the moon. But it may also be worth noticing that the Harranian fast took place about the vernal equinox—a time when, as we have seen, the Brahmins of India use to fast, though only for a day or two.

It is highly probable that the thirty days' fast of the Harranians and Manichaeans is the prototype of the Muhammedan fast of Ramadan. During the whole ninth month of the Muhammedan year the complete abstinence from food, drink, and cohabitation from sunrise till sunset is enjoined upon every Moslem, with the exception of young children and idiots, as also sick persons and travellers, who are allowed to postpone the fast to another time. This fast is said to be a fourth part of Faith, the other cardinal duties of religious practice being prayer, almsgiving, and pilgrimage. But, as a matter of fact, modern Muhammedans regard the fast of Ramadan as of more importance than any other religious observance; many of them neglect their