Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/333

 0)1 the Origin of l/ic Egyptian '' Zar^ }^oi

over tlicsc women ; a sudden impulse would seize them and they would become frenzied. One crept along the floor, her head rubbing the carpet, one arm moving spasmodically as though swimming in some impal{)able fluid. Soon about ten of them were dancing, intoxicated by the reeking atmos- phere and the sound of the drums. A ram was brought and decorated with ribbons and ornaments ; the patient gripped its woolly mane, and tottering and shaking passed thrice round the room before going into the yard. Soon the sick woman and her companions came back with blood-stained hands and veils, the Goiidia holding a dish heaped with ornaments covered with blood. The dance beg'an again and became more and more frantic until a sudden silence struck the performers motionless, some falling on their knees, others on the ground completely dazed. The Goudia ministered to them all, touching them and whispering holy words. At length, soothed, they went back to their seats, with unfaltering gait and placid expression, respectable matrons all, who had merely carried out some health-giving exercise.

The great annual festival lasts about a week. Each even- ing there is a ceremony, masses of provisions sent by devotees being distributed to the performers. On the last" evening animals are sacrificed and the victims of the zdr observed by Niya Salima included sheep, goats, calves, a young camel and many fowls. This zdr was held in a clean, well-kept house where the barbaric ceremonial seemed utterly out of place. Soon eight women became possessed and one of the onlookers was heard to say that they were the great ones {bashawat) of the demon world. To each of them was given a tarbush and many scarves, and a sword or a stick as they moved rhythmically round and round, some with eyes shut, others w^th a fixed glassy stare. Incoherent words, hoarse exclamations, and bayings as of a dog, came from their mouths, scattering the froth that whitened their lips. One of them, tall and strongly built., kept on raising