St. Paul daily globe., 1893-06-22
BARBARIC AND DoLEFUL.
A Reminder of the Ancients in a
Circus Tent.

In Ole of the side tents connected
with the Klngling Brothers circus was
enacted scene Tuesday afternoon,
which for its weird and mystic realism,
perhaps, stands unrivaled in this
country. To the student of the nine
teenth century it vividly recalled
the days of Moses, and the Patriarch
Jacob, when he was about to prOpitiate
the Gods by offering up his son Isaac.
Connected with the circus is troupe
of BedouijnS, or Arabs. headed by ST
Hassen Ben Ali, an exceedingly bright
representatives of the orient. and the
| only one in the party of ten that speaks
English.
According to tradition, Yesterday was
the anniversary of the return of Ma
homet to Mecca. after his flight from
Medina, and with all true Mohammed-
ans the occasion is celebrated with aus
| tere devotlOnS and burnt Offering
LII former years, as is the custom with
/ the Arabs, 81 Hassen Ben Ais, who
| offlclated as the high priest at yester
| day s ceremonies, has offered up lamb
| at the Temple Of the Holy of Holes at
Mecca, this being his sixth Offering, the
| o5hers fys having been made in the
| The ceremony yesterday begun at
| 4.30 O'Clock, when the Arabs entered
the tent off the dressing room, where
ell had been made ip readiness for the
| ceremony. One of the party led 4
| lamb and they were all dressed in the
Moslem costume, wearing long flowing
robes with white tunics, the Si Hassen
being distinguished by an under robe of
| purple.
The services were supposed to be ex-
| elusive, and only few outsiders were
permitted to be present, and even they
| were not allowed to witness the ESQ
teric portion of the offering. The place
| where the Offering was made had been
f, strewn with straw, and as the party
drew up in circle at the rude altar, 81
| HaSsen Ben stepped to the entrance OF
the tent, and, after saluting the sun, he
| paced off the time, after which the GER
| emOnieS commenced.
Suddenly the weird chanting was
| struck up and tine lamb was seized and
thrown to the ground in front of the
altar. Quick as thought, Si Hassen
| seized a long and cleaning blade and
drew it across the lambs throat. AS
warm life blood gushed forth, one of
the Arabs held cup and caught some
of the ruddy fluid. While it was
'Stlll warm cdcn III turn LOOK pen. ana
dipping it in the blood they wrote a
| record of the proceedings in the Arabic
| language. which was afterwards sealed
| with blood from the ends Of their
| fingers. This record Is sent to the holy
temple at Mecca: While this was going
| on one of the tribe played most dole
| full aud weird kind of music from long
reed pipe, which made the scene all tie
more barbaric and QOleful
| All at once three Of the men jumped
! in front of the dying lamb, and began
peculiar grotesque dance, which was
kept up for some minutes. A hollow
pipe was then stuck into the
animals side, and it WAS inflated with
wind, this being done in order to
| that it might be more easily dressed.
After this the lamb was dressed and
the heart taken out, being divided
equally batween them. The lamb was
then roaS ted and feast followed with
peculiar ceremonies that the outside
heathen were not permitted to see. All
in all, it was most singular and bar
baric ceremony.