The first day of our new year is called the _Serṣâlie_, i. e., the beginning of a year. It falls on the Wednesday of the first week in April.[48] On that day there must be meat in every family. The wealthy must slaughter a lamb or an ox; the poor must kill a chicken or something else. These should be cooked on the night, the morning of which is Wednesday, New Year’s day. With the break of day the food should be blessed. On the first day of the year alms should be given at tombs where the souls of the dead lie. Now the girls, large and small, are to gather from the fields flowers of every kind that have a reddish color. They are to make them into bundles, and, after keeping them three days, they are to hang them on the doors[49] as a sign of the baptism of the people living in the houses. In the morning all doors will be seen well decorated with red lilies. But women are to feed the poor and needy who pass by and have no food; this is to be done at the graves. But as to the _ḳawwâls_, they are to go around the tombs with timbrels, singing in the Kurdish language. For so doing they are entitled to money. On the above-mentioned day of _Serṣâlie_ no instruments of joy are to be played, because God is sitting on the throne (arranging decrees for the year),[50] and commanding all the wise and the neighbors to come to him. And when he tells them that he will come down to earth with song and praise, all arise and rejoice before him and throw upon each the squash of the feast. Then God seals them with his own seal. And the great God gives a sealed decision to the god who is to come down. He, moreover, grants him power to do all things according to his own will. God prefers doing good and charity to fasting and praying. The worship of any idol, such as Seyed-ad-Dîn or Šeiḫ Šams is better than fasting. Some layman is to give a banquet to a _kôchak_ after the fasting of the latter forty days, whether it be in summer or in winter. If he (the _kôchak_) says this entertainment is an alms given to the _sanjaḳ_, then he is not released from his fasting. When it comes to pass that the yearly tithe-gatherer finds that the people have not fully paid their tithes, he whips them till they become sick, and some even die. The people are to give the _kôchaks_ money to fight the Roman army, and thus save the sect (Yezidis) from the wrath of the man of the year. Every Friday a load of gifts is to be brought as an offering to an idol. At that time, a servant is to call the people aloud from the roof of a _kôchak’s_ house, saying, it is the call of the prophet to a feast. All are to listen reverently and respectfully; and, on hearing it, every one is to kiss the ground and the stone on which he happens to lean.