Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 22, 1911.djvu/180

 152 The Popular Ritual of

butter. The Sluh of Aglu rub their faces with the skin immediately after it has been flayed off.

The same Berbers also kiss the sheep's mouth before it is killed. The Braber of the Ait Warain, again, tie round the horns of the sheep which is going to be slaughtered by the fki a silk kerchief or belt of some childless woman, who is thereby supposed to be cured of her barrenness.

Among the same tribe the barley and salt which remains in the mouth of the animal after it has been killed is removed and sewn up in a small rag or piece of leather to be hung on some child or animal as a charm against the evil eye. In various Berber tribes the barley which is found in the stomach of the sacrificed sheep is dried and afterwards sown in a special place of the field. The grain of the crop resulting from it is called " the barley of the Prophet " ^^ and regarded as holy. It is either sown separately or together with other seed, or, if there is much of it, partly used for food.

The holiness of the sacrificed animal is utilized not only with a view to deriving supernatural benefits from it, but also for the purpose of divination. It is believed throughout Morocco that, if the animal gets up after its throat has been cut, its owner will prosper and will have a long life ; it is said of him that "his days" or "his luck remained standing" or "stood up."i*^ On the other hand, if the animal dies at once, the days of its owner are supposed to be numbered. In towns the sheep sacrificed at the msalla is immediately and in great haste carried in a basket to the house of the kadi, or judge ; if it arrives there alive, the judge, or according to some the Sultan, will have a long life, whereas it is a bad omen if it arrives there dead. When the Sultan takes part in the ceremony

1^ Timzin nhibi (Ait Warain), tjinzin neiibi (Ait. Nder, At Ubahti), or imendi naibi (Ait W^aryagiil).

^^ Liydtn wdkfa (Fez), nikernt lidfttens (Igliwa), ibd Imdimuns (Aglu), or jniniMlnnes Ibedd (Ait Sadden).