THE HOLY CARPET LEAVES FOR MECCA.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 September 1921, Page 4

THE HOLY CARPET LEAVES FOR MECCA.

«Hv A. Hriton in Egvpl). ' CAIRO. In the present state of the Mo year, which depends on the revolutions not of the sun Inn of the moon, h is towards the end of July Hint ihe Moliamcdans of Egypt undertake ihe annual pilgrimage to the holy place at. Mecca, bearing at the head of their procession the valuable tissue of gold and brocade known through the world as the llolv Carpet. The term is,, of course, a misnomer. The fabric is not a carpet at all. It is not even in one piece. * ft is a series of pieces of tapestry embroidered with texts of the Koran, worked in gold wire and destined to he hung round the walls ot the Kaaba, a square slon( building in the venire rf the court of the great, mosque at Mecca.

Must rosplomlently embroidered oi all these hangings is a scries oi pieces worked in green and gold, eompara uo lo a number of altar ciotms, known collectively as the “Kiswch,” anti tie-

signed to cover the tomb ot Moha mod. Attended by a brilliant cone, urse « i the sheikhs and doctors nf Islam, Hie learned men of the Azlmr Unitcrsity, the troops of the Egyptian Army, and representatives of the Sultan and the

Djilish (ioveinment, the departure of the pilgrimage and the “Kiswch” is celebrated by an elaborate ceremonial in the wide open square below list* citadel of Cairo.

In the centre of the square, guarded by troops, stands the “Kiswch,” draped on a species of ark modelled in s! ape and size on the Urophet’s tomb.

A string of camels, eac«)i hearing a piper playing an eerie and melancholy tune, marches slowly in procession three times round the elaborate display cf draperies to the thundering salute of guns. At the head of the line, carefully led l.y attendants holding hi iiliaiil !\ embroidered reins, marciies a superb specimen of a eream-eoloii:cd (an.el.

arhtg nn cinli:cidered palanquin hfMtrrifully worked in red and golf!. This is the “Mahmal.” It is empty save for two copies of die Koran, and year by year such a palanquin has marched at ihe head ol the Egyptian pilgrimage e\er since, in the iiiii teeiit!i (entttrv. tin* beautiful Turkid; Have ShagaMU-el-Diwr, who hecarce q>*:ee>: ol Egypt, made t he-pilgrimage to Mcf-ca in i’.isl such another erection. Tho camel that carries this light hut (*!aborate burden lias been hied for this day's work, and after the pilgrimage is completed he will never do a stroke* of work again. Three times roue-! Hw “Kiswch”

gvc- the precession, and thou to tin* sound of salutes and ‘••alvne- and the music of the soldier*-’ band it swings slowly down the road to ihe mosque of the 1 lassruien, whence the pilgrimage start- on ib- long iounier ac.oss l! c desert a journey in which, howove., modern convenience lias not disdained to invoke the secular assist a n c of the railway train and steamboat. What is tlu* origin of this old-time ceremonial it is hard to say. Its roots undoubtedly go far deeper in time than Islam, which, after all, is a comparatively modern ivligi n.

The “Kaaba** at M.eea is ol' course far older than Mohamed. It was a centre of idolatrous worship in his day, and we art* told that tlu* Prophet purged it of its idols. it- is a square stone building into the wall of which is built the “Rlack Stone.” the most venerated object ol the Islamic worship.

Indications are not Inckinp to connect Ihe iiripinnl worship of the Kaahtt willt an Asiatic version of Venus. Il may well he. then, that in the annua! pilprimape of the -Moslem world we have an echo of somethinp very like the processions in ancient Athens.