DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0045
SiwAN Customs
25
If a donkey brays ten consecutive times near a house, one of the inmates of the house
will die. Similarly if a dog barks his usual bark near a house when he sees the moon,
someone in that house will die.
Ginns and afrits sometimes take the forms of animals. If they find that a man is not
afraid of them in this guise, the ginns leave him, but if he is cowardly they hurt him.84
Food.85 If a man eats milk and fish together he gets the skin disease called taenia.
The Siwah are very poor and they eat everything, even dead animals.
Iron. Although they have no superstition in regard to other metals they believe
that the ginns are afraid of anyone who carries iron.
Oaths. The Siwiah swear by God, by the Prophet, by the Koran, by Sidi Soliman, by
Sheikh Sennousy, or by Sheikh Madany. In the case of the first four oaths they may lie,
but if they swear the last two oaths they must tell the truth.
Magic at Siwah. The authorities on magic in Siwah are the old women.86 They use
their magic in curing diseases, in making love philtres, and in doing mischief. They do
extraordinary things such as washing themselves with milk, going to the grave in the
night, prowling about the desert, etc. They have authority over the ginn and the latter
serve them. The chief mischief that they do is to make a man ill, mad, or impotent.
There is the man who is impotent only in the presence of the wife; and there is impotence
brought on by the fact that at the moment of coition the man does not see his wife.87
In order for the magic to be effectual, a part of the man’s clothing must be procured.
It is also necessary to know his name, his mother’s name,
the name of his wife or mistress, and the names of her mother
and grandmother.
There were men in Siwah who used the Koran as a basis
for their magic. But these have disappeared or died.
All the Siwans believe in the evil eye, and in order to
protect their houses from it they put donkey’s leg bones
and broken pots over their doors [fig. 9].
Fig. 9.
84 In Morocco a man seized with a sudden fear is peculiarly liable to the attacks of the ginn. If, for example,
any one falls ill after having been frightened by a cat or a dog in a dark place, the animal is held to have been a
ginn and the man’s illness is explained by saying that the ginn entered into him; E. Westennarck, op. cit., p. 254.
85 Garlic is eaten in Siwah only once annually, and then with an idea of insuring health for the whole ensuing year.
About the end of October or the beginning of November, the people make up parties, the sexes keeping separate,
and go out of the town to the various gardens. For three or four days they eat garlic, consuming enormous quantities
of it. For the rest of the week they eat only meat, with some bread. During the remainder of the year garlic is not
eaten, even as a seasoning, though it is used medicinally. Cf. C. V. B. Stanley, op. cit., p. 11, swpru, n. 61. No
notice of Siwan food and drink, and of the ideas associated with them, would be complete without referring to the
great consumption of tea in the Oasis, and the ceremonial etiquette with which it is drunk. For this, Ibid., p. 22.
80 Among the Arabs, and to a great extent among the Berbers also, magic, divination, etc. are practiced by
women. Cf. E. DouttS, op. cit., p. 33 and chap. 1 passim.
87 Cf. Ibid., p. 288 sqq.
25
If a donkey brays ten consecutive times near a house, one of the inmates of the house
will die. Similarly if a dog barks his usual bark near a house when he sees the moon,
someone in that house will die.
Ginns and afrits sometimes take the forms of animals. If they find that a man is not
afraid of them in this guise, the ginns leave him, but if he is cowardly they hurt him.84
Food.85 If a man eats milk and fish together he gets the skin disease called taenia.
The Siwah are very poor and they eat everything, even dead animals.
Iron. Although they have no superstition in regard to other metals they believe
that the ginns are afraid of anyone who carries iron.
Oaths. The Siwiah swear by God, by the Prophet, by the Koran, by Sidi Soliman, by
Sheikh Sennousy, or by Sheikh Madany. In the case of the first four oaths they may lie,
but if they swear the last two oaths they must tell the truth.
Magic at Siwah. The authorities on magic in Siwah are the old women.86 They use
their magic in curing diseases, in making love philtres, and in doing mischief. They do
extraordinary things such as washing themselves with milk, going to the grave in the
night, prowling about the desert, etc. They have authority over the ginn and the latter
serve them. The chief mischief that they do is to make a man ill, mad, or impotent.
There is the man who is impotent only in the presence of the wife; and there is impotence
brought on by the fact that at the moment of coition the man does not see his wife.87
In order for the magic to be effectual, a part of the man’s clothing must be procured.
It is also necessary to know his name, his mother’s name,
the name of his wife or mistress, and the names of her mother
and grandmother.
There were men in Siwah who used the Koran as a basis
for their magic. But these have disappeared or died.
All the Siwans believe in the evil eye, and in order to
protect their houses from it they put donkey’s leg bones
and broken pots over their doors [fig. 9].
Fig. 9.
84 In Morocco a man seized with a sudden fear is peculiarly liable to the attacks of the ginn. If, for example,
any one falls ill after having been frightened by a cat or a dog in a dark place, the animal is held to have been a
ginn and the man’s illness is explained by saying that the ginn entered into him; E. Westennarck, op. cit., p. 254.
85 Garlic is eaten in Siwah only once annually, and then with an idea of insuring health for the whole ensuing year.
About the end of October or the beginning of November, the people make up parties, the sexes keeping separate,
and go out of the town to the various gardens. For three or four days they eat garlic, consuming enormous quantities
of it. For the rest of the week they eat only meat, with some bread. During the remainder of the year garlic is not
eaten, even as a seasoning, though it is used medicinally. Cf. C. V. B. Stanley, op. cit., p. 11, swpru, n. 61. No
notice of Siwan food and drink, and of the ideas associated with them, would be complete without referring to the
great consumption of tea in the Oasis, and the ceremonial etiquette with which it is drunk. For this, Ibid., p. 22.
80 Among the Arabs, and to a great extent among the Berbers also, magic, divination, etc. are practiced by
women. Cf. E. DouttS, op. cit., p. 33 and chap. 1 passim.
87 Cf. Ibid., p. 288 sqq.