News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-01-31
A STRANGE, WEIRD SIGHT,
THE PERSIAN PASSION PLAY.
the Death of Hussein, Son
of Ali, in COnstanIinOple.
TFrom the Utica Morning Herald.

TFrom the Utica Morning Herald.]
1t has been my privilege to witness
what travellers call the Persian Passion
Play. The Persians claim that Ali, the
son-in-law of the Prophet, was rightfully
the immediate successor to the kali
phate. Upon the death of Hussein Zone
of the two SONS of Alb, the Persians
found their great religious festival,
which occurs in and takes its name
from the month of Maharem in the Mo-
hammedan year. Not only in their own
country, but even here in CONSTANT
nopIe, they celebrate the day with a
grief apparently as fresh and poignant
as if the tragedy had occurred but yes
terday. DIR. Ledyard, an American dem
tist, Haynes, and I, finding the date of
the celebration was at hand, procured
through our legation an introduction
and recommendation to the Persian Am
bassador. who invited us to witness the
procession and exercises under his pro-
lection. Saturday last, the 11th of Mo
harem. At about half-past four in the
afternoon, we set out for Valide khan,
in Stamboul, the place of the meeting
and ceremonies. We passed the en-
trance and found the court packed. In
the midst of the throng were two furled
standards, behind which stood a horse
covered with rich Persian shawls. Two
long lines of men were drawn up facing
each other at distance of twelve feet
apart in a space which was readily kept
] clear for them.
There were about 200, all with bare
shaven heads, their dress mainly white
garment extending from the neck
before and behind-down to the hips.
They were barearmed and barefooted,
and each held in his right hand one
edged heavy-backed sabre three feet
|. ong and slightly curved, which he
brandished backward and forward over
his mead. At last we reached the side
opposite the entrance, where were the
Persian grandees. The lower corridor
was well and rather brilliantly lighted;
divans or chairs were set in it. Persian
emblems decorated the walls, and
altogether the effect was pleasing. The
consul welcomed and gave us chairs, and
we sat down until the ceremonies should
commence. Ropes were stretched IN
front of us to define the line of march
and at the same time to keep the mob
CT r1 nf
with fixed bayonets standing in the ring
At intervals of about thirty feet all
along the route of the procession stand |
ards were fixed in the ground, support
ing at height of five or six feet large |
receptacles of open iron work filled and |
and heaped with wood to furnish light |
for the occasion. Men went around |
lighting the .fambeaux of which I have
sr,olzen I,hnr hlaz.ed high aud BRIGHTLY. |
making it very easy to see with good
deal of distinctness what was going on
in the court.
Almost Immediately after they had
been lighted we heard the sound OF what
we knew to be the procession on its way.
At first it was a chant that we heard,
with sound as OF bare feet on the pave
ment, keeping time to the rythm then
fine, clear and pure in tone, and as 1t
scared up the other voices hushed, as
did the sounds and noises around it. 1t
was the recital in Eastern song of the
narrowing story they commemorate and
sung by one whose sole profession 1t Is
to touch the hearts of his listeners. The
voice was beautifully musical, and it
trilled and quavered through the pecu-
liar melody, while the dead silence
around testified to its effects upon the
people. When it ceased a great shout
arose. as of some name or names uttered
by all, and then the chanting and march
ing were resumed. 1t seemed a long
time for them to come to point near
enough for us to see them. When they
did come, we saw first the two banners,
then several men, naked to the waist and
each thrashing his own back with a
bunch of chains, which he welded with
all his might. After them came a horse
richly decked and bearing a little girl of
some three or four years, absolutely
swathed from head to foot in black.
Black bands partly concealed her fair
little face, and with her hands, which
were free, she was throwing ashes over
her head. She was followed by long
procession of men beating their bare
breasts with their palms, some violently,
and all groaning ''Hassan, Hussein, y to
this accompaniment.
So they moved past us very slowly,
only a few inches at a time, and we
could see that the regular beat, as of
tramphng feet, we had heard at dis
tance, was really alone this body of men
pounding their chests. Three times the
procession moved before us in the same
order, and with the same characteristics
as at first, though more rapidly, and
seemingly with greater numbers. At
the fourth circuit of the khan, following
the men with chains, whose backs looked
black where they had been beaten, but
who were working with the same energy
as before, were three horses. The white
trappings of the first We're sprinkIed
with blood. Upon its saddle stood two
white doves, whose plumage was dabbled
with blood, and upon the pommel of the
saddle We're fastened two short, curved,
naked swords. The second also had
bloody trappings, which were stuck full
of long feathers, made to represent
arrows. Then came the horse bearing
the little girl. But after the breast beat
ers who followed we could at first see a
CLEAN of white, and now and then the
glitter OF steel, and when they came
near 400 men with swords and clad as I
noted at first, the white almost covered
with blood, which flowed freely from
their heads, the swords brandished and
bloody, the men bowling like demons.
Each clutched with his left hand the
girdle of his companion, while he used
the sword in his hand to hack away at
his own head
1t was an awful sight, and weird one.
The moon, half covered with clouds.
peeping over the domes of the roof on
the opposite side, threw its light in upon
the red freight of the torches in the
great, dingy kahn, with its crowd of
frantic and gesticulating devotees. MAX
ing one imagine he had heaD suddanlv