Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/349

 On the Origin of the Egyptian '' Zar^ 317

victims killed at previous car, and it was said that when enough had been collected they would be strung on a girdle, and be worn during a zdr by the person whose familiar had made him or her ill. A piece of white cloth was flung over the tripods and beneath this temporary shrine, among the properties, Rabinga and N'gurma were present.

Farag and Madigu were both bare to the waist, they wore belts decorated with feathers that hung to their knees and Madigu wore on his head a double crown of feathers with cowries sewn to the base. Farag had made use of an old sun helmet for the foundation of his feather head-dress. As soon as the drums were sounded Farag began to dance in front of the shelter, while Kaltuma stood on a mat on the right. Very soon she began to tremble, then her whole body quivered ; thus N'gurma manifested herself. The woman fell on her knees and pulled her red shawl over her face, and shook her head energetically, supporting herself with her hands on the ground, and every now and then dropping her head low ; occasionally she straightened her body only to bring her head down again with more violent shaking. Farag also fell on his knees, but soon sprang up again and danced, now leaping from side to side, now turning his body and. making his feathers fly out. A sheep was brought, washed and censed, and then amidst the sounds of drums, rattles, and the women's high pitched cries of lu-lu-lu {zarghuta), its throat was cut with a single stroke of the knife, while the woman kneeling on the mat quivered and jerked spasmo- dically. The blood, mixed with six kinds of scents, was poured into a bowl, which a woman took and knelt opposite Kaltuma. A cloth was held low over the two kneeling women, and now, while the music became fiercer and wilder, Kaltuma drank some of the blood from the bowl which the other woman held to her lips. Madigu too was dancing now ; while Farag leapt and twirled in quick succession, Madigu's movements were slower, stiffer and more jerky, with mouth open and lips pressed forward he breathed hard