DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0044
24
M. M. 'Abd Allah
name,81 and his reason for entering the man. The ginn begins to blame the man and the
sheikh asks his pardon and persuades the ginn to leave the man saying that he is poor,
harmless, etc. Then the ginn leaves him. During the whole time of the obsession the
victim is unconscious.
Sometimes the ginn merely hurts the man by letting him fall on his leg, arm, or head.
In such cases old women assemble together and burn incense and make a large porridge,
some of which they eat, and some of which is reserved for the angels. While they eat,
they pray, asking the pardon of the ginn. If, when they come the next day, a part of the
reserved porridge is found to have been eaten, this is considered a most efficacious medicine
for the patient and the rest of it is given to him to eat.82
Birds and Animals. The owl is the bird of ill omen. If it hoots on a house, some
misfortune will happen to the inmates of that house. On the other hand the cuckoo
brings good luck and the Siwiah always hang it in the granary so that the granary may
never be empty.83
81 In parts of Africa Minor, as in Arabia, the ginn are lacking in individuality, their characteristics being rather
those of a species or of a tribe, each class having its own color, and even its own religion. Cf. E. Westermarck,
op. cit., p. 259; W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,3 London, 1907, p. 121. At Tlemcen the ginn are named
after their various colors, el-Ahmar ("the Red”), el-Asfar ("the Yellow”), etc.; A. Bel, op. cit., p. 222; cf. some of
the names in the charm cited by E. Doutte, op. cit., p. 120 sq. Some of the negroes-of North Africa have brought
with them from the Sudan the names of various demons and spirits who in their new home appears as ginn; J. B.
Andrews, Les fontaines cles genies (Seba Aioun); croyances soudanaises a Alger, Algiers, 1903, p. 26 sq.
82 According to Captain Stanley, who describes this ceremony, the porridge is eaten in silence, and when the in-
cense is burnt, the oldest woman speaks an incantation to persuade the “Melaika”, or good spirits, to remove the
sickness, trying to stir the compassion of the ginn by dwelling on the virtues and poverty of the patient. Captain
Stanley further adds that “if the patient is unconscious, his clothes are taken with a sum of money to the Wakeel of
Sidi Sliman, who sleeps with them under his head for a night. This does the patient a power of good”; C. V. B.
Stanley, op. cit., p. 29. It may be added that the Siwans believe that in his stumbling the patient has injured one of
the ginn, an idea not unknown in Morocco; E. Westermarck, op. cit., p. 254. Captain Stanley might have added to
his account that when the sick man is unconscious, and his clothes are taken to the waktl of Sidi Simian, the wakil
prays and then sleeps on the clothes, assured that the spot where the man stumbled will be revealed to him in his
dreams: this, at least, is the procedure as related to me by Seyyid 'Abd Allah, a Siwan, in 1910. Similar rites, dis-
playing much variation in detail, are known elsewhere among the Berbers. In Morocco "a dish of fish or meat is
prepared without salt. Part of it, together with some saltless bread, is eaten by the patient, and another part is put
on a plate and taken by a black woman to some place haunted by gnun. She also takes with her in her basket, a
piece of looking glass, a miniature flag in seven colors, some sort of clumsy doll, and a copper coin, together with some
burning charcoal and incense. Besides the patient, the other members of his family may also partake of the dish
but, if they partake, they ought to salt what they eat. The woman who carries the basket must not speak to any-
body she happens to meet, for otherwise the gnun may go into her. Generally some hungry dogs eat the food after
the black woman has gone away. In Ebnt Hlu. again, the practice is to kill a cock, boil it, and to put its boiled flesh
into a dish of suksu. The dish, when thus filled, is surmounted by the feathers of a dead cock, care being taken that
none fall off. After the patient has tasted the dish, an old woman carries the rest to some spring which is haunted
by gnfm, and on the following morning, if the food has disappeared, the feathers are brought back to the house, and
burnt, and the patient inhales the smoke. If, on the other hand the food is left untouched, there is no hope of his
recovery”: E. Westermarck, op. cit., p. 256. The essence of such rites in their simplest form seems to lie in the fact
that the food, which by the exclusion of salt from it is obviously designed for the ginn, either serves as a food bond
between the patient and the spirits, or else catches their “holiness” when eaten by them. In the latter case the
“holiness” or baraka is conveyed to the patient by some such process as burning in his presence the feathers with
which the dish was decked. E. Westermarck offers a more detailed explanation (op. cit., p. 257).
83 The little wag-tail, hagg-mawlah, is also auspicious.
M. M. 'Abd Allah
name,81 and his reason for entering the man. The ginn begins to blame the man and the
sheikh asks his pardon and persuades the ginn to leave the man saying that he is poor,
harmless, etc. Then the ginn leaves him. During the whole time of the obsession the
victim is unconscious.
Sometimes the ginn merely hurts the man by letting him fall on his leg, arm, or head.
In such cases old women assemble together and burn incense and make a large porridge,
some of which they eat, and some of which is reserved for the angels. While they eat,
they pray, asking the pardon of the ginn. If, when they come the next day, a part of the
reserved porridge is found to have been eaten, this is considered a most efficacious medicine
for the patient and the rest of it is given to him to eat.82
Birds and Animals. The owl is the bird of ill omen. If it hoots on a house, some
misfortune will happen to the inmates of that house. On the other hand the cuckoo
brings good luck and the Siwiah always hang it in the granary so that the granary may
never be empty.83
81 In parts of Africa Minor, as in Arabia, the ginn are lacking in individuality, their characteristics being rather
those of a species or of a tribe, each class having its own color, and even its own religion. Cf. E. Westermarck,
op. cit., p. 259; W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites,3 London, 1907, p. 121. At Tlemcen the ginn are named
after their various colors, el-Ahmar ("the Red”), el-Asfar ("the Yellow”), etc.; A. Bel, op. cit., p. 222; cf. some of
the names in the charm cited by E. Doutte, op. cit., p. 120 sq. Some of the negroes-of North Africa have brought
with them from the Sudan the names of various demons and spirits who in their new home appears as ginn; J. B.
Andrews, Les fontaines cles genies (Seba Aioun); croyances soudanaises a Alger, Algiers, 1903, p. 26 sq.
82 According to Captain Stanley, who describes this ceremony, the porridge is eaten in silence, and when the in-
cense is burnt, the oldest woman speaks an incantation to persuade the “Melaika”, or good spirits, to remove the
sickness, trying to stir the compassion of the ginn by dwelling on the virtues and poverty of the patient. Captain
Stanley further adds that “if the patient is unconscious, his clothes are taken with a sum of money to the Wakeel of
Sidi Sliman, who sleeps with them under his head for a night. This does the patient a power of good”; C. V. B.
Stanley, op. cit., p. 29. It may be added that the Siwans believe that in his stumbling the patient has injured one of
the ginn, an idea not unknown in Morocco; E. Westermarck, op. cit., p. 254. Captain Stanley might have added to
his account that when the sick man is unconscious, and his clothes are taken to the waktl of Sidi Simian, the wakil
prays and then sleeps on the clothes, assured that the spot where the man stumbled will be revealed to him in his
dreams: this, at least, is the procedure as related to me by Seyyid 'Abd Allah, a Siwan, in 1910. Similar rites, dis-
playing much variation in detail, are known elsewhere among the Berbers. In Morocco "a dish of fish or meat is
prepared without salt. Part of it, together with some saltless bread, is eaten by the patient, and another part is put
on a plate and taken by a black woman to some place haunted by gnun. She also takes with her in her basket, a
piece of looking glass, a miniature flag in seven colors, some sort of clumsy doll, and a copper coin, together with some
burning charcoal and incense. Besides the patient, the other members of his family may also partake of the dish
but, if they partake, they ought to salt what they eat. The woman who carries the basket must not speak to any-
body she happens to meet, for otherwise the gnun may go into her. Generally some hungry dogs eat the food after
the black woman has gone away. In Ebnt Hlu. again, the practice is to kill a cock, boil it, and to put its boiled flesh
into a dish of suksu. The dish, when thus filled, is surmounted by the feathers of a dead cock, care being taken that
none fall off. After the patient has tasted the dish, an old woman carries the rest to some spring which is haunted
by gnfm, and on the following morning, if the food has disappeared, the feathers are brought back to the house, and
burnt, and the patient inhales the smoke. If, on the other hand the food is left untouched, there is no hope of his
recovery”: E. Westermarck, op. cit., p. 256. The essence of such rites in their simplest form seems to lie in the fact
that the food, which by the exclusion of salt from it is obviously designed for the ginn, either serves as a food bond
between the patient and the spirits, or else catches their “holiness” when eaten by them. In the latter case the
“holiness” or baraka is conveyed to the patient by some such process as burning in his presence the feathers with
which the dish was decked. E. Westermarck offers a more detailed explanation (op. cit., p. 257).
83 The little wag-tail, hagg-mawlah, is also auspicious.