Page:The Moslem World Vol XI.djvu/45

Rh children. The next baby was a girl, and she is now a fine child of over two years, having been well nourished by a black nurse whose ebony son makes a picture with the little ivory girl—for Kinza (a treasure) is very fairskinned.

But sometimes the girls are very unwelcome. There is a family living near us who have four little girls and one boy, and the last little girl had a very bad reception; even the mother said, "I don't want her, I don't like her — I'll never like her." The only sign of rejoicing in the house was over the mother. The mother-in-law and slaves said, "Well, at any rate—praise be to God that she has got over it, but we wanted a boy." The father even shed tears when he heard of her birth. She is now a pretty baby of some six months and is probably doing what the Moorish saying says a girl does—i. e.: "A boy, when he is born, is in the very centre of the liver (the liver is the seat of the human aflfections) but sometimes works his way out to its extreme edge. A girl, when she is born, is on the extreme edge of the liver, but she works her way into its very centre." When the baby is eight days old there is held a great reception of friends and relatives—a sheep is sacrificed for her and she receives her name—this eighth day feast is called the Sabaa or "Seventh," probably because it marks the beginning of the second set of seven days in her life. It sometimes goes on for several days. The first morning is given up to men guests who come very early to a very fine breakfast feast and are present at the offering of the sheep which is slaughtered in the beautifully tiled courtyard — the one who slaughters it having first inquired the name of the baby and mentioning her name as he kills the animal. The mother is in a room at hand with a curtain covering its doorway. This part of the ceremony (i. e. the slaughtering and naming) is called the Akeka or "Separation" because the child is "separated" or distinguished from all the rest of the family by having a separate name bestowed upon her. The Moors never name a child for a living person; but, if its grandfather is dead, then the first boy in a family is called for him;