THE DOSEH: A RELIGIOUS CEREMONY AT CAIRO.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5414, 3 August 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE DOSEH: A RELIGIOUS CEREMONY AT CAIRO.

The Saturday Review has the following description of'the terrible ceremony of the U>oseh, performed at Cairo on the anniversary of the birthday of the Prophet : “ The interval of a day at least is necessary to brace your nerves for the great ceremonial of the Prophet’s birthday. In Lane and other authors you have seen accounts of it. The : pictures which showed the long row of bodies, and the horse pacing over them, are familiar among your childish recollections. Somekow, a Boseh has never appeared to your mind to bo a reality. It was a traveller’s tale, or at . best a thing long ago abolished and forgotten. • But, in truth, fanaticism . among Moslems iu Egypt was never stronger than at the present moment. Every, second Arab in Cairo belongs to some religious order, and not one Doseh, but three at least, take place in the course of the year. At the festival of Sultan Hauafeh, and that of Tashtoosheh, the Sheyk of the Saadi'ch dervishes rides over the bodies of his devoted disciples, as well as on the great day ©f the Prophet. The horse on which he makes his fearful journey from the Hassaueyn to the ' Esbekieh is used for no other purpose. Pop seven years lit least no less ■ sacred personage has mounted him than Ahmed el Knclari, the chief of the order. As you wait under a tent in the full noontide heat, crowds of all classes and countries around you, carriages full of beautiful Circassians opposite, banners flying, drums boating, and policemen in line walking up and down to keep the way clear, you find it hard to realise that you are assisting at a religious ceremony and not at a horse-race. The few historical and local particulars you cau learn help the truthfulness of yuur impressions; but though one or two learned Europeans cau give you information, it is for the most part extremely difficult to obtain anything better than vague tradition from a native.’ On the ceremonies of his religion he is studiously reticent. Hero, on the spot, you may interrogate him in vain. He is altogether taken up with the enthusiasm of the occasion. 'Co him the Boseh is a miracle, a great proof of the power of Allah, whoso name be exalted, ana proves that the .faithful are superior to the ordinary laws of nature. In • spite of the excitement visible on every brown face, the crowd is perfectly orderly; and, what is more extraordinary, the hundreds of infidels present are never, at least openly, insulted. As the crowd becomes greater, the noise • more deafening, the . sunshine more blinding* a sudden movement far away to the right announces the approach of the procession. The entrance to what you cannot help calling the racecourse is el-'se to the English church. The open space formally used has baen built over, and the present one is surrounded by the new quarter and by European houses. At the Monlid cl Nebi this open space is covered With booths and tents as if for a fa’r. ' Every night during the festival the faithful assemble, each under his own religious chief in his own conventicle, and revival meotings are held, lasting far into'*’ th© night. Eoreigneers are fond of visiting the show, and a dragoman or a donkeyboy who is a dervish cau generally place ■ them where the religious exorcises may bo witnessed. Exercises tiny literally are. No Ranter, or Shaker, or Methodist of the wildest sect ever set his hearers harder physical tasks. When the great day comes all are excited to the highest pitch, and, if necessary, hashish does the rest. Fighting your way with difficulty to the edge of the living pave- ' ment, you see some. 2*oo men lying close, side .by side, all their bare feet turned one way, all their faces bidden iu their folded arms. A man walks along on them, aud jambs them closer and closer. Then, one after another, six men, bearing tall standards, tread heavily past. The road is not quite straight, the crowd presses close, and you cannot see more than a few yards in either direction. By the feet of tho prostrate dervishes their best friends stand chanting a hymn, and fanning them with a regular motion. At length the sheyk appears. , Ho is preceded by a standard-bearer, Tho horse is led by two men.- His gait is very unsteady,' and. tho sheyk, a large dark man of middle ago, appears to bo asleep or fainting in tlm saddle, and, though he is supported by two men, rocks heavily from side to side. The horse, a fine grey Arab, goes very slowly, as if impressed with the solemnity of tho occasion. They are passed iu a moment, bub not before •you have heard the sound of tho-horse’s hoofs on the men’s bodies, a hollow thump which haunts your ears all the rest of tho day. y The Review adds :—“ Horrible as the Bosch 1 seems, it is but seldom anyone is hurt’by the* horse’s hoofs. Ho wears no shoes, and is carefully led ; but-the performance is not approved by orthodox moslcms, and it must bo allowed that it savours unpleasantly of Juggernaut.”