The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-13

and it is used at all other ceremonies connected with children.
 Spirits Who Live Underground | The evil eye also is possessed by spir | it's who inhabit human beings. The peo- | ple here believe in one class of spirits who live underground, but who are fed | by those who live upon earth. They come up and take the wheat from the thrashing floors and the bread from the ovens, and the only way to keep them l from doing so is to utter a sentence rom the Koran or Bible as you put the bread in These same spirits hover about the fire, and if you quench 1t without asking Mahomet to protect you the spirits are liable to beat you or perhaps lame you for life.
 These underground spirits are known as the Jan. Their favorite place of resi- dence Is below the front doorsteps. and for this reason women are not allowed to sit on the doorsteps. The Jans are sup posed to be an organized body, having sultan a court and regular officials. They keep guard on the food stores and are on the whole fairly good fellows. They are said to be fond of human company, and it is whispered that they sometimes as- sume human shape and marry mortals. They are most common in Egypt. One may attract Jan by whistling. and it is said that the girls here frequently whistle. Some of the men of Palestine are jealous of the Jans, thinking they have associa- ton with their wives, and some will not look at a real woman for fear the Jan girls, whom they suppose to be in love with, will object.
 Married in a Cemetery
 One of the queer superstitions which prevails here in Jerusalem is that mar i,, x1yill at 10 Lord and cause Him to favor His people. This is believed by the native Jews. and instances of it have recently occurred OH account of the drought. We have had no rain for weeks. and the crops are drying up. People are crazy over the prospect. There is also an epidemic of infantile paralysis, which has been carrying off the children. The people think that God
 is angry with them, and perhaps wroth because the marriages have been few. To pacify Him they have had weddings in the cemeteries, which Is considered a most unlucky place for starting upon the life matrimonial Indeed, 1t is so unlucky that they have had to hire people to get married there. At wedding which took place this week the couple received S200 in gold and also food for two years, a present for having the ceremony there In this case the groom was a Jew from Yemen, Arabia and the bride JeWeSS from Aleppo, in Syria. The bride was late coming. and the 5000 worshipers who had assembled to see the ceremony had to wait for two hours She was finally carried In under a canopy, and took her place on one side of an open grave while the bridegroom stood on the other Standing thus the marriage vows were exchanged Two more cemetery weddings are planned, but it Is difficult to get will ing couples, as such marriages are su- posed to be disastrous Neverthless tho charm seems to be working The wind has changed since the first ceremony oc cured, and it may rain by and by.
 superstitious Pilgrims
 Not only the natives, but also the pill grims, who come here by the ten thou sand year. are superstitious. The most of them believe that every spot pointed out by the monks is the actual locality of the event alleged to have occurred there The pilgrims come from the bor- ders of Siberia and from all parts of western Asia and Africa, as well as from Greece and the islands of the Mediterra- mean sea They walk over the Holy Land with staffs in their hands and kneel down and kiss the places where they believe Jesus trod. They even kiss the stones of the streets here, not knowing or forgetting that there have been three or four Jerusalems buried below the site of the present one.
 I have seen these pilgrims crawling on their knees through the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They creep into the vestibule and kiss the stone of unction