The Handbook of Palestine/4/9

§ 9. Festivals.
The Great Feast of the year with the Moslems is that of the Sacrifice 'Id al-Adha (the Turkish Qurban Bairam), celebrated on the tenth day of the Pilgrimage Month. Among the Beduin a camel, if possible, is sacrificed ; elsewhere a sheep or goat. Scarcely less popular is that which is celebrated on the first day of the month Shawwal, which follows the fasting month of Ramazan; this is kept with enthusiasm even among tribes which neglect the fast. Among the Beduin an animal is slaughtered in every tent whose owners can afford the expense ; poorer families club together to provide one. In the towns and villages the people wear new clothes, and spend part of the day visiting the graves of their relations.

The Christian Easter attracts great numbers of pilgrims to Jerusalem, chiefly for the purpose of witnessing the sacred fire issue from the Holy Sepulchre on Easter Eve ; the notion that this is miraculous, which was long believed, is now scarcely maintained.

About the same time as the Christian Holy Week the Moslems of Jerusalem and the neighbourhood celebrate the Feast of the Prophet Moses (Nebi Musa), which lasts seven days. It is largely attended by the fellahin, who, in the course of it, visit the supposed tomb of Moses, which Moslem tradition places about an hour and a half south-west of Jericho. On the first day of this feast a religious service is held in the Haram al-Sherif in Jerusalem, attended by the chief functionaries ; after its conclusion the procession starts for the tomb.

The chief Feast of the Jews and Samaritans — the Passover — is celebrated about the same time. Many of the local saints, Moslem, Christian, and Jewish, have yearly feast-days, when their tombs are visited by the devout. A popular local feast among the Moslems is that of Nebi Saleh, celebrated at Ramleh one week after the return of the pilgrims from Nebi Musa.

1 Cf. also Part VII., §§ i and 2.