Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 22, 1911.djvu/194

 1 66 The Popular Ritjial of

old "Jew." The people tease Bajlud by saying to him, — A Bajliid l-aryan, biibi 'dlik j-jidydn (" O Bajlud the naked, the male goats made water on you "). He then beats them with his stick, and the person thus beaten is supposed to be benefited by it owing to the baraka possessed by Bdjlud.

Among the Arabs of the Hiaina a man, in the evening of the second day of the feast, has his face covered with a mask made of the skin of a sacrificed sheep with the wool turned outwards; a long beard is attached to it, and two locks are hung over the temples. He is called Basseh, and is considered to be an old Jew, whilst his wife Suna is a Jewess. There is besides a third person representing the rbtb, or servant, of the Jew. Suna dances, Bdsseh pretends to have intercourse with her on the ground, and the i^bib washes him clean with earth. They are surrounded by a ring of musicians playing the tambourine and others who simply mark time with the motions of their feet and bodies and the clapping of their hands. This performance is repeated in all the villages visited by the party, till the seventh day of the feast inclusive ; and wherever they go Bdsseh is presented with money, eggs, and dried meat.

The masquerade at the Great Feast is found not only among the Arabic-speaking tribes of Morocco, but among the various Berber groups as well. Among the Braber of the Ait Warjiin it takes place in the evenings of the three first days of the feast. A man has the whole of his body covered with the skins of sacrificed sheep, and puts over his face a mask of the same material ; he is called Buihedar, which means " one who is dressed in skins." His wife Tudeit, "Jewess," is nicely dressed in a woman's costume, and the two "Jews" {icdeiii) who go with them have long beards and teeth of pumpkin seeds. They are accompanied on their tour by people playing the tam- bourine {dlhm). Buihedar carries a stick in either hand, and beats everybody who comes near him ; this is said to be a