Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 22, 1911.djvu/193

 The Great Feast in Morocco. 165

connection. On the third day of the feast a man dresses himself up as a woman, and, accompanied by horsemen and a few musicians, makes a tour from village to village, himself dancing, the musicians playing, the horsemen firing their guns, and the people giving them food and money, which is spent in buying fodder for their horses. They pass the night away and then proceed to another village, accompanied by horsemen from the place where they stayed. Thus they go about day after day, until on the seventh day they retire to a saint's tomb, where they amuse themselves till the early morning and then return to their homes.

Among the Beni Ahsen the man who is dressed up in the skins of sacrificed sheep is called by the same name as among the Ulad Bu-'Aziz. He carries in his hands two sticks with which he beats the tents, and also the people who are pushing him. His "wife" is called Yissuma or Suna, and two other men are dressed up as a Jew and a pig. They all receive money, chickens, eggs, and other small presents from the people.

Among the Mnasara a man is on the second day of the feast dressed up in the bloody skins of sacrificed sheep. He is called s-Sba' Bulbtain (Jbu l-btain) (" the lion dressed in the sheepskins"), or simply Bubtain ("the one who is dressed in sheepskins"), and is accompanied by his wife Suna, a " Jew," a " leopard," and a " camel." They go about in their own village for three days, but may also visit other villages till the week of the feast comes to an end. The Sba' beats people and tents with the skin on his arm. A sick person is supposed to recover if thus treated by him, and anybody whom he beats on the head will be free from headache ; for in him is the baraka of the feast. The same beliefs prevail among the Arabs of the Sawia.

At Jraifi, in the Garb, the chief figure of the masquerade is dressed in goatskins and is called Bajlud. His "wife" is here also named Suna, whilst Sahsoh is the name of an