The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-09-18
A STRANGE PEOPLE.
Red Heads Of Asiatic Turkey
Last of the BaaI Worshiuers.
HAVE SOME QUEER CUSTOMS.

All Males Wear Red Caps and Around
Their Threats Red knotted Cords and
Allow Their Wives to Beat Them-AIl
Babies Are Sailed When Born.
Strange people are the Red Heads of
Asiatic Turkey. They are the last of
the Baal worshipers. The men wear
red caps, hence their name Red Heads.
They also wear red knotted cords
around their necks. The cord is put
on during babyhood and is never re-
moved. 1t is inferred with tho body
after death. They shave their heads
except for a patch on the top, and
here they allow the hair to grow long
and plait 1t into pigtails, which hang
about their ears. They are tall, w1ry
fellows, with enormous appetites for
both food and drink.
The women, who do not veil them
selves and who dress simply in loosa
fitting garments, are thin and spare,
but wonderfully strong. In their
homes they wear breeches as well az
skirts. There Is no wife beating among
the Red Heads, but plenty Of husband
beating. The husbands take their fire.
quent Establishments meekly and pa
tiently. They employ themselves, both
the women and the men, in agriculture
and theft. They produce a couple Of
crops. tobacco and durra. The rest of
their time is given up to looting the
Turks crops and cattle.
In the center Of every village there
is small circle rallied of, and In this
space there is planted the special reli-
g1ous emblem, an evergreen oak. No
one except the father priest Of the VII
lage enters the Enclosed ground, which
Is decorated with small flags, strings
Of coins and bright colored beads.
Around and about the circle the Bed
Heads celebrate the only religious fes-
tival known to them, "the gathering Of
the new moon," which takes place ev-
cry month. Directly new moon makes
its appearance the people are called
together by lay priest beating q bar
rel shaped drum stuck end up on the
ground.
Fires are lit, the cooking utensils
placed thereon and the sheep killed by
tAe priest, who epr1nkles o httle d
the animals blood on The oak, and tbe
carcasses fayed and cut up into joints
and the latter cooked over the f1yes
before which millet and wheat cakes
are by this time baking on huge flags
In the meantime tables on trestles are
set up and laid with wooden plates
horn spoons and steel knives and forks
and soon the feasting begins. The
women wait on the men, who gorge
steadily for about an hour and then
while their wives and daughters are
clearing up the little they have left, In
dulge In dancing, drinking and general
merriment-
No religious Formally marks the
feast, no blessing or benediction o.
grace. Indeed, not at birth or burial
or marriage do these survivors Of the
ancient Baal worshipers employ any
formula or observe anything In the ma.
ture Of a religious ceremony. They
have no Bible, no prayer book, no lit
urgy, no place Of worship. Their one
and only sanctuary is the sacred tree
Enclosure, their only religious symbol
the evergreen oak.
| When a baby Is born 1t is warmly
| clothed, placed on q large wooden plat
ter and taken to the priest, who, ir
front Of the sacred tree, strips it and
salts 1t. Probably this accounts for the
few Red Heads that now survive, it be-
ing said that their numbers have OWN
died to a mere seven or eight thousand
For the service the priest is always
! given shoulder from the sheep which
1t is usual to kill on such occasions and
which forms the principal item in the
I birth feast Other duties that the priest
has to carry out are the cutting Of
three horizontal cuts with q dagger
just above the level Of the eyebrows Oh
the forehead Of the dead and the set
Ting Of all disputes.
When a couple becomes engaged the
woman spends most Of her time cook
ing dainty and tasty dishes and trot.
ting round with them to her lovers
home, followed by her father with wine
and spirits. Breach Of promise is al
most unknown, for the youth who 5ilts
has his throat cut. An erring husband
Is hanged on some remote tree by this
red cord he wears round his neck. and
the body is left as warning to others
An erring wife mysteriously disappears
: and no questions are asked. A mar
who deserts his wife also Is hanged
while the woman who deserts her hus
band is compelled to return to him.
There is a secret ceremony Of inltia
ton which every Red Head is compelled
to undergo on attaining his seventeenth
birthday. 1t involves seclusion for sew
en- days and going without food an(
drink for three days. At the termina
ton of this preliminary test the you'll
is taught certain passwords and grips
by which he may recognize his breth
ren, and red circle Is tattoOed on his
breast The strange people live OF
terms of friendship with the whole Of
| their neighbors. with the exception o.
| the Turks. whom they hate and treat