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OF WHAT HAPPENS AT
THE RISE OF THE NEW-MOON.
When the new-moon is
risen, the night that men see her, they send word to each other saying: "The
new-moon has risen." And all men are glad, and pointing at her they do thus:
they say to her: "Arro l ) (or Helal) 2 ), [may we be] blessed!" and then they
say [lifting the right arm]: "This is my right arm," and [lifting the left arm]:
"This is my left arm." And they all ask to be blessed by her; but the women who
are at home ask their blessing by knocking at their doorposts. And they say
thus: "The moon brings so much luck ! Be thou to us a messenger of happiness and
of luck ! Let our fate be better through thee : may our distressed ones be eased
; our strangers arrive [safely] ; our people at home be [safe] in the morning;
our pregnant ones bring forth ; our women in childbed see [their children] creep
[until they walk] ; our little ones grow up ; our adults subsist ; our pasturing
flocks return at night; our flocks at home be [safe] in the morning, through
thee! O Lord, the evil of Balla and Kalla ') ; the evil of the envious ; the
evil of [the robber] who does not spare himself, and who does not wish that we
have property; the evil of him who is girded [to war against us] and who is
still sitting [but planning to do so] keep away from us! From bad things deliver
us: from the rumbling in the sky, from the creeping on the earth ; from the
wrong of the strong, from the curse of the weak deliver us! The evil of him who
does not fear nor~ love, who does not spare nor do well; the evil of what the
eye sees and the heart fears or, of what the heart fears and the ear hears keep
away from us. By thy good for- tune make us to praise thee ! We shall praise
thee for our property and our people. With luck and good fortune rise for us !"
With all this and the like they ask for blessing. And when they have finished
the prayer, the women pick up a few grains of salt and drop them into the fire
upon
1) The meaning of ^arro
is not known ; shepherds shout ^arro when they separate the flocks.
2) Helal is considered
to be a name for the new-moon; ge c ez helal.
i) Balla and Kalla are
probably Balau and Kalau, Hamitic tribes, who formerly must have been considered
dangerous enemies of the Mansa
OF WHAT IS BELIEVED
ABOUT THE DEATH OF THE MOON.
The moon dies
sometimes, and her death happens in this way. Her colour becomes red like blood
and her light be- comes weak. But after a short time she rises again. And P. 64.
when men see her death nobody sleeps in his house until she rises. And all men
pray for mercy: those who happen to be Christians say: "O Lord have mercy upon
us, Christ!" but the Mohammedans say: "O God, o Forgiver (?), forgive us!" And
they ask for mercy with such expressions; and they look at the moon, and then
they say: "She is alive, and her soul returns." And when she has come back to
her former size, they say: "She has become alive," and they are very glad. But
at the time of the death of the moon, even he who is on his way to the king with
his company, interrupts his journey until she becomes alive [again], and he
asks for mercy
together with his people. And when the moon revives, all men wonder, and they
say: "God has revived her quickly; and when God wishes, he revives [everything]
just as quickly." And they ask to be blessed by her, saying: "After thee may it
be better for us, become thou lucky and a messenger of good fortune for us." At
the time of her death, however, all men, and especially the chiefs and the
well-known people are sad. The reason for that is this: every time the moon
dies, a chief, or a great man who is known in his family or in his tribe, or a
man who is known for [his] religion as a leader of the priests, must die. And
therefore they say: "Let it be one whom we do not know!", that is to say, the
man who must die. And this sign comes true at once after the death of the moon.
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