Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and AdventureConder, C. R. (Claude Reignier)
History
Tent Work in Palestine: A Record of Discovery and Adventure
Conder, C. R. (Claude Reignier)
Palestine -- Description and travel
These details, with many more too minute to be now discussed, will be
found in Juynboll’s edition of the Samaritan Book of Joshua, in Nutt’s
“Sketch of Samaritan History,” and in Mills’ “Modern Samaritans.” It is
needless to say that the various accusations of idolatry which have been
brought against these unorthodox Israelites (unorthodox from a Jewish
point of view) are groundless. They do not and never have worshipped a
dove, the story originating probably in their belief in a miraculous
dove which carried letters for Joshua; as to the statement that they
hold the world to have been created by a goat, it appears to be
altogether an invention.
A few words must be added as to the great feasts held yearly, though I
have never been so fortunate as to witness the Passover on Gerizim. In
addition to this great festival, the Samaritans keep the Feast of
Pentecost, and the Fast of Atonement when the Torah is displayed and
kissed, the law read, and sleeping, eating, and talking alike forbidden.
On the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles they repair to booths of
arbutus boughs pitched on the side of Gerizim: these, with the Sabbath,
which is very strictly observed, and a feast in memory of the
deliverance from Egypt, form their principal festivals.
The sacrifice on Gerizim, called Karaban Afsah, has been graphically
described by one of the most picturesque writers on the Holy Land. A
brief _résumé_ of his and other accounts will render the present sketch
more complete.
After special preparation by prayer and the reading of the Law, the
congregation repair to the plateau or lower spur, running out west from
the high ridge of Gerizim, on which are the ruins of the ancient Temple,
and it is at this time covered with white tents; it is, however, only
within the last thirty years that this has been allowed by the Moslems.
At sunset on the 15th of Nizan the service begins, the high-priest
standing on a large stone surrounded by a low dry stone wall. A certain
proportion of the congregation wear long white robes, and all have white
turbans instead of the usual red one. Six sheep are slain, as the sun
goes down, by the Samaritan butcher cutting their throats; the entrails
and right fore-legs are cut off and burnt; the bodies are scalded with
water from two huge cauldrons heated over a fire of brushwood, the
fleeces removed, the legs skewered, and the bodies then thrust into a
sort of oven in the ground (Tannûr in Arabic), covered with a hurdle and
with sods of earth. Here for five hours they are baked. The oven, lined
with stone, can be seen on the mountain all the year round. The men of
the congregation gird themselves with ropes, and with staves in their
hands and shoes on their feet as though prepared for a journey, they
surround the meat when brought out, and generally eat standing or
walking; of late years, however, they have been seen seated. The Jews
have always eaten the Passover seated, in Palestine, but until lately
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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