DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0040
20
M. M. 'Abd Allah
On the mouled of Sidi Soliman the fellaheen make up parties varying from seven to
thirty persons.' Each of these companies slaughters a sheep which they fry in oil. With
this meat, some spirit (generally pure alcohol67) and some peas and sugar they go to a
garden. With them they take a boy who is generally 1 married ’ to the head of the party.
Twenty or thirty days before the mouled this man goes to the boy’s father and gives
him two pounds and then takes the boy home as a catamite.68 He feeds him and sleeps
with him until the day of the mouled. On the day of the mouled the man gives the boy
fine womanly clothing and takes him to the garden. This boy dances before the party and
gives his master drink. This mirth continues until late in the evening when they return
to Sidi Soliman with their drums and pipes and torches. They stay near Sidi Soliman
until the morning, dancing and singing.
This performance is kept up for three days, but on the second and third days it is held
far from Sidi Soliman. The darwishes of Sidi Soliman hold a thikr throughout the night,
while the Medani and Senoussi hold their special thikrs and the Koran is recited.
If the mouled is not held the people believe that an epidemic of infectious disease will
come upon them and deaths will result. If there is an epidemic, a mouled is held at once
and the disease disappears.
Yearly Feasts. The principal feasts are those of the two Bayrams and of Ashoura. In
the feasts of the two Bayrams the people make cakes, boil eggs and stain them red, and
exchange visits.69
The feast of Ashoura is the most important.70 The people decorate the roofs of the
67 It is claimed that the saint permits this indulgence in strong drink — the usual intoxicant is palm wine—at his
annual festival.
68 The subject is not one on which it is desirable to dwell, but pederasty is too prominent a feature in Siwan society
not to be noticed here. The local explanation of the origin of this flagrant evil is that it originated on the desert roads
by which Siwah is reached, and on which women seldom travel. As a further excuse the unattractiveness of the Siwan
women is emphasized by the men. Until 1909 arrangements between men and boys were openly made by go-betweens,
who followed much the same tactics as does the Egyptian match-maker in promoting marriages. The boy received
an initial present of £E 5 or 6 —■ a fee which contrasts strongly with the bride price of £E 1 to 2. The age limits range
between 9 or 10 and the time when the boy marries. Men may have, in accordance with Moslem law, four wives
at once; but Siwan custom allows a man but one boy to whom he is bound by a stringent code of obligations. The
Siwan women can hardly be blamed, under such provocation, if, as is frequently the case, they revenge themselves
on their husbands by the aid of the male slaves.
69 The two Bair&ms are called in Egypt “the Great Festival” and “the Little Festival”. The former lasts for
the three days following Ramadan (el-id es-Sogheyr or Ramadan Bairdm); the latter takes place on the tenth of
el-Higgah, the last month of the lunar year (el-Id el-Kebir, el-Id el-Kurbdn, or Kurbdn Bairdm), and is the central
holiday in the Moslem calendar (cf. T. P. Hughes, op. cit., p. 192 sqq., s. v. “'Idu ’1-Azha”. Both in Egypt and at
Siwah these festivals are attended with a general house-cleaning and the donning of new or fine attire; cf. C. V. B.
Stanley, op. cit., p. 21; E. W. Lane, op. cit., p. 479 and 487.
70 'Ashura falls on the tenth of Moharram, the first month of the lunar year. Although kept by the eastern Sunnis
as a feast (cf. T. P. Hughes, op. cit., p. 25, s. v. “'Ashura”), it is observed throughout North Africa as a feast-day,
beans being so generally eaten on this occasion that it is often called the id el-Ful. E. Doutt£, op. cit., p. 496, 525
sqq. has pointed out that the 'Ashfird, was originally fixed by a solar, and not by a lunar, date, and that in North
Africa many agricultural rites have become attached to its celebration, converts to Islam readily transferring to the
M. M. 'Abd Allah
On the mouled of Sidi Soliman the fellaheen make up parties varying from seven to
thirty persons.' Each of these companies slaughters a sheep which they fry in oil. With
this meat, some spirit (generally pure alcohol67) and some peas and sugar they go to a
garden. With them they take a boy who is generally 1 married ’ to the head of the party.
Twenty or thirty days before the mouled this man goes to the boy’s father and gives
him two pounds and then takes the boy home as a catamite.68 He feeds him and sleeps
with him until the day of the mouled. On the day of the mouled the man gives the boy
fine womanly clothing and takes him to the garden. This boy dances before the party and
gives his master drink. This mirth continues until late in the evening when they return
to Sidi Soliman with their drums and pipes and torches. They stay near Sidi Soliman
until the morning, dancing and singing.
This performance is kept up for three days, but on the second and third days it is held
far from Sidi Soliman. The darwishes of Sidi Soliman hold a thikr throughout the night,
while the Medani and Senoussi hold their special thikrs and the Koran is recited.
If the mouled is not held the people believe that an epidemic of infectious disease will
come upon them and deaths will result. If there is an epidemic, a mouled is held at once
and the disease disappears.
Yearly Feasts. The principal feasts are those of the two Bayrams and of Ashoura. In
the feasts of the two Bayrams the people make cakes, boil eggs and stain them red, and
exchange visits.69
The feast of Ashoura is the most important.70 The people decorate the roofs of the
67 It is claimed that the saint permits this indulgence in strong drink — the usual intoxicant is palm wine—at his
annual festival.
68 The subject is not one on which it is desirable to dwell, but pederasty is too prominent a feature in Siwan society
not to be noticed here. The local explanation of the origin of this flagrant evil is that it originated on the desert roads
by which Siwah is reached, and on which women seldom travel. As a further excuse the unattractiveness of the Siwan
women is emphasized by the men. Until 1909 arrangements between men and boys were openly made by go-betweens,
who followed much the same tactics as does the Egyptian match-maker in promoting marriages. The boy received
an initial present of £E 5 or 6 —■ a fee which contrasts strongly with the bride price of £E 1 to 2. The age limits range
between 9 or 10 and the time when the boy marries. Men may have, in accordance with Moslem law, four wives
at once; but Siwan custom allows a man but one boy to whom he is bound by a stringent code of obligations. The
Siwan women can hardly be blamed, under such provocation, if, as is frequently the case, they revenge themselves
on their husbands by the aid of the male slaves.
69 The two Bair&ms are called in Egypt “the Great Festival” and “the Little Festival”. The former lasts for
the three days following Ramadan (el-id es-Sogheyr or Ramadan Bairdm); the latter takes place on the tenth of
el-Higgah, the last month of the lunar year (el-Id el-Kebir, el-Id el-Kurbdn, or Kurbdn Bairdm), and is the central
holiday in the Moslem calendar (cf. T. P. Hughes, op. cit., p. 192 sqq., s. v. “'Idu ’1-Azha”. Both in Egypt and at
Siwah these festivals are attended with a general house-cleaning and the donning of new or fine attire; cf. C. V. B.
Stanley, op. cit., p. 21; E. W. Lane, op. cit., p. 479 and 487.
70 'Ashura falls on the tenth of Moharram, the first month of the lunar year. Although kept by the eastern Sunnis
as a feast (cf. T. P. Hughes, op. cit., p. 25, s. v. “'Ashura”), it is observed throughout North Africa as a feast-day,
beans being so generally eaten on this occasion that it is often called the id el-Ful. E. Doutt£, op. cit., p. 496, 525
sqq. has pointed out that the 'Ashfird, was originally fixed by a solar, and not by a lunar, date, and that in North
Africa many agricultural rites have become attached to its celebration, converts to Islam readily transferring to the