Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-06-22
FRANK c. CARPENTER WRITES OF THE STRANGE
COSTUMES OF THE GIRLS OF NORTH AFRICA.

public festivities begin ana from, that
time on the girl has TO 80 through a.
lot of ceremonies without power OF hlr-
diance, Tho Older women ~ the FAM
lily take hold of her. they FIRST put hey
IN bath, where her body Is covered
with an ointment which, when dry. IS
pulled off, leaving the skin perfectly
clean and as soft as when She was born.
Her hair Is then suoiEtcd with lot
black pomatum, which gives IL u gloss.
her eYelids are blackened ana her eye
brows are marked out ana ioncd by a
thick line OF red paint Al the sumo
time her finger nails arc covered with
henna, and even her toenails arc made
red.
After marriage The woman becomes
10 a large extent the servant of her
husband. II she Is poor she cooks
the meals. ana. no matter how Well ofl
her husband is, she Is expected 70 make
he's bed and wait upon him, She nj.
ways eats az the seoond table for H. tho
ordInar-' Jewish household OF runls
there is always ;wo meals, the first Of
which Is for the men.
JEWISH CEMETERIES.
rho Jews here are very particular
as TO their religious obsefvapces Thcir
shops are shut upon Saturday Rnd
their wives do not cook or sweep On
that day. They are affcctionate VITA
one another. and Jewish funeral with
its accompanying mourning is a sight
TO be seen. The Jewish cemeteries nre
nothing like ours, They have no tall
monuments. The vaults are dug out
80 that their tops rest even with the
surface of the earth. and they are
covered with marble slabs Of the same
size and height so that the whole Gem
etery appears to be one great marble
floor.
Upon each slab are carved Hebrew
characters giving the names ana ages
of those who lie below; and. when the
women so out to mourn they sit down
on the slabs over their dead and bob
up and down as they wall out their
grief / visited one of the largest OF
these cemeteries this afternoon. It's
marble floor seemed to be spotted with
white tents, and as ] got closer | could
see that each OF these tents was a
Jewish woman shrouded in white
mourning her dead
A FUNERAL AND IT'S HIRED
MOURNERS.
There was a chapel at one end OF
the graveyard. from which came n
great noise. ! entered and found that
II funeral was being celebrated. In
one room was a coffin standing up
right against the wall, and, beside II.
on the stone floor, covered by a silk
sHeet OF bright RED, lay the corpse of Il
man. About him were a number of
Jewish men in Arab clothing, weeping
softly; while I'm the next room were
the hired mourners, who are brought In
for such occasions at SO much per
wall. These mourners We're Jewish
women. ranging In age from fat maid
of is to Il weighty old lady of so or
morn. They numbered Is. and T
venture they would pull down the
scales at a ton and a half They sat
on the marble floor. with their feet un
der them. and swung back and forth.
bobbing their heads to the ground. as
they fairly howled out chorus for
when the fat old lady kept the time.
AS the mourners saw me making n note
the wailing subsidized for n moments
but as one of the bereaved family came
in II burst out louder than ever. Such
mourners are common to all oriental
countries, and they wall here Tor the
Arabs as we'll as the Jews
FRANK G. CARPENTER.