The reciter afterwards declares that he transfers the merit of this work to the soul of the deceased saint. Any private petition the visiter offers up on his own account, imploring a favourable answer for the sake of the saint, or through his intercession; holding his hands before his face like an open book, and then drawing them down his face. Many a visiter, on entering the tomb, kisses the threshold, or touches it with his right hand, which he then kisses; and, on passing by it, persons often touch the window, and kiss the hand thus honoured. The great periodical or annual festivals are observed with additional ceremonies, and by crowds of visiters. These are called Moolids (more properly Mólids); and are held on the anniversary of the birth of the saint, or in commemoration of that event. Persons are then hired to recite the Ḳur-án in and near the tomb, during the day; and others, chiefly darweeshes, employ themselves during the night in performing zikrs, which consist in repeating the name of God, or the profession of his unity, &c., in chorus, accompanying the words by certain motions of the head, hands, or whole body; munshids, at intervals, singing religious odes or love songs during these performances, to the accompaniment of a náy, which is a kind of flute, or the arghool, which is a double reed-pipe. These moolids are scenes of rejoicing and of traffic, which men and boys and girls attend, to eat sweatmeats, and drink coffee and sherbets, or to amuse themselves with swinging, or turning on a whirligig, or witnessing the feats of conjurers, or the performances of dancers; and to which tradesmen repair to sell or barter their goods. The visiters to the great moolids of the seyyid Aḥmad El-Bedawee, at Ṭanṭà, in the Delta of Egypt, which are great fairs as well as religious festivals, are almost as numerous as the pilgrims at Mekkeh. During a moolid, the inhabitants of the houses in the neighbourhood of the tomb hang lamps before their houses, and spend a great part of the night listening to the story-tellers at the coffee-shops, or attending the zikrs.