The Turks use the word rahmet for rain, which literally means "mercy," and recognises the fruitful showers as a heavenly blessing. Winter grain, the staple crop, cannot be sown in the autumn until the ground is softened by the "early rains," but special prayers are not offered then "because there is another chance." Seed may be sown at any time before the last snows melt. The "latter rains" are due in spring, when the grain begins its season of rapid growth. Then the need of moistening showers is most keenly felt. Protracted delay means crop failure, and that means grim hunger. So in the spring the village population, and in general all the people of Anatolia-the local name for Asia Minor-offer prayer and sacrifice to God for rain, and sometimes add other more surprising ceremonies. Every Turkish village, whether Sunnite or Shiite by profession, as a rule has a special place of prayer, not a mosque, to which any individual or the whole community resorts in an emergency. The spot is usually made sacred by a grave, and suppliants there confide in the intercession of their dead saint. Usually every year, and certainly in a season of drought, the villagers unite in providing one or two sheep or goats, or a cow or buffalo, a quantity of cracked wheat, and unleavened bread such as is found on every village table. The animal is slain with simple sacrificial rites and cooked, the cracked wheat is boiled in an immense cauldron of soup, the village hoja leads in a devout prayer, the burden of which is the appeal for God's mercy in the form of rain, and then all the people and any chance visitors partake together of the convivial meal. I have eaten sacrificial food, but none offered at a rain-service. In May of last year I rode into a Shia village on a Friday rather expecting to find the annual ceremony in progress, and quite confident of an invitation to use a wooden spoon at the table. The simple peasants received us cordially, and soon produced a small table with food for us, but there was no sign of the sacrificial ceremony. When I inquired about it, they said it would be held a week or two later. Accordingly the next Friday I made occasion to visit the same village. Again there was nothing unusual to be seen. Meeting a man of whom I could inquire without seeming we held that last week." To this day I do not know which of those men tricked me. Shia Turks says "Ibadet gizli; kababat gizli," which being interpreted means, "worshipping and sinning are secret." On another occasion I was more fortunate. The place was a spacious graveyard with a rich carpet of grass, a fountain playing at one side, and massive plane trees shading part of the ground. A few fields of snow still glistened on the mountain tops. The first comers had begun the service before the soft June daylight dawned, but the great crowd had assembled about sunrise, and could hardly have numbered less than 3000 men, when my friend the mufti, venerable in grey beard, white turban and fur robe, seated himself on a flight of stone stairs leading to a ruined place of prayer, and began to preach. The speaker urged his people to repent of their sins as the first condition of receiving divine favour. "Let us forsake our sins," he said, "and return with all our hearts to God. Let us say, 'O Allah, we have wandered from the right path, we have sinned against thee, but we have no other recourse, and we come back to thee for pardon and blessing."" "In any case," he continued, "we can plead with the Almighty not to keep the poor brutes in misery. They have committed no sin, and they deserve no punishment, though we men do. The Almighty once informed his servant Moses that there would be unusual cold and snow the next winter. The prophet informed the people, and everybody laid in an extra supply of wood and charcoal, but the air continued mild and there was no snow. At the end of the season the people turned on Moses and complained: 'You told us the cold would be excessive this winter, and we have spent all our money for fuel that we did not need: why is this?' The prophet, greatly ashamed, asked the Almighty for the explanation. He was answered, 'True, I intended to send unusual cold and snow, but a poor mangy dog, footsore and diseased, overheard my remarks. He cried to me, saying: "If the winter is severe what am I to do? These men can warm their houses with wood and charcoal. Other animals have their burrows, at least they have warm coats on their backs, while I have no home me a door by which to escape.' And for the sake of that poor animal the Most High withheld the intended cold and snow." The preacher, with frequent references to the Arabic Koran. before him, went on: "We too must cultivate the quality of mercy, and must show it to all, to Christians as well as to Mohammedans, to unbelievers as well as to the faithful. I hear that in yonder distant quarter of the city a poor woman is lying sick in an empty house. We must care for such. In another place I am told a woman's helpless condition becomes a source of temptation to her. We must care for such. "We have fallen upon evil times. Our crops have been thin, our poor have multiplied. Here is an appeal "-he held up the paper-"from a minor official who has had no pay for three months. But the higher officials who employ him have had no pay for six months. We are all suffering together. The officers cannot pay except as they tax people, and the people cannot pay taxes except as God gives us a harvest. May God have mercy upon us, and reform us from all our sins!" And the great congregation cried "Amin, Amin," and rocked to and fro upon their bended knees. "And let us offer our plea," said the mufti, "not only in the name of our Prophet of Exalted Memory, but in the name of Noah, of Abraham, of Moses, and of Jesus, all of Exalted Memory." And 3000 men swaying as one in the morning sunshine replied, "Amin, Amin." A few days later on a horseback ride of fifty miles I found how prayer and sacrifice had been offered in every village, and when I gave myself the pleasure of telling some of the heavy-hearted farmers that the rain was just at hand, for the barometer was falling, their politeness to me could hardly have been greater if I had been the actual cause of the rain. Flocks of lambs are sometimes brought to such services that their bleating may ascend to the Lord's ears and move his Heart to pity. Sometimes they "read" from a sacred book over several stones, place them in a pond or tank of water for three days, and then, if rain has not come in the interval, repeat the ceremony. This, I suppose, is sympathetic magic, and perhaps there is also the idea of breaking the spell of some evil eye. Similarly, they place give money or food to the boys who carry it about. A more extreme measure is to burn a snake, "for they say if you burn a snake rain will come undoubtedly." One custom is for a man or boy to wrap himself in a blanket with a rope tied round his waist. The rope is held by a second man, and together they parade the streets. "What does Jejoumena ask for?" says the second to his companion, who impersonates Jejoumena, whatever that may mean. "Jejoumena asks rain of heaven and money of men," is the answer. People from their windows and house-doors then give small presents of money to the Jejoumena and pour pails of water over his head in imitation of a rainstorm. Sometimes a broom is dressed up instead of a human being, marched about and soused with water. The most peculiar combination of horse-play with such a pathetic appeal to the mercy of God consists in dressing a donkey like a bride with silk drawers, gold fillet across the forehead, etc. Then a kind of carnival crowd escorts the animal through the streets, the idea being to shame the clouds into doing their duty, to show the clouds that their conduct is as unnatural as it would be to substitute a donkey for a real bride. As the crowd escorts its monstrosity they shout a ditty which may be roughly rendered by: Pitter, patter, Lord give rain; Can the earth in drought abide? The madramagh is evidently some evil spirit or evil eye. Turkish officials have recently in some cases prohibited these coarser ceremonies, and it is only a question of time when faith in God will find truer outlets for its expression, and such customs wil be a thing of the past. G. E. WHITE, Anatolia College, Marsovan. A SURVIVAL OF INCUBATION? (In the Abruzzi.) WITH PLATE VII. THE festival of the Madonna della Libera is held on the first Sunday in May at Pratola Peligna, a few miles from Sulmona. All the preceding day a constant succession of waggons full of country women and parties of pilgrims on foot, singing the Viva Maria as they went, had been passing through Sulmona on their way to the sanctuary of this renowned Madonna, where they would pass the night in the church before taking part in the procession. Early on the Sunday morning we (Don Antonio de Nino, with his wife and niece and myself) reached the foot of the steep road leading from the valley to the little town of Pratola Peligna, which stands on an eminence facing Mount Morrone, with its hermitage of Celestino V. and the ruins of Ovid's villa, and looking over the fertile valley of Sulmona. The way was crowded with country folk, who had come to look on at the famous procession. Before we had gone many steps upward we could hear strange cries and shouts ahead, and then saw lying in the centre of the road a poor cripple sufficiently uncovered to show his terrible deformity, while a young man, apparently in charge of the cripple, gesticulated and uttered loud cries and appeals for help to the passers-by. A few paces further on was another similar object, also with a lad in attendance, shouting and gesticulating, and all the way up there lay at short intervals at least twenty of these poor deformed creatures, each lying in the centre of the road. Once within the town gates we made our way through the streets, crowded with peasants-the women and older men mostly in the picturesque and distinctive costumes of the different mountain villages of the Abruzzi. Among them we noticed the women of Introdacqua, in dark skirts and bodices, showing the white chemise and sleeves, with embroidered apron, a long white tovaglia or head-cloth covering the shaven heads of the married women; the women of Cocullo and Sulmona in bright coloured |