The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1918-06-13
4 STRANGE PEOPLE
Red Heads of Asiatic Turkey
Last of the BaaI Worshiners.
HAVE SOME QUEER CUSTOMS.

All Males Wear Red Caps and Around
Their Threats Red knottsd Cords and
Allow Their Wives to Beat Thsm-AlI
Babies Are Sailed When Born.
Strange people are the Red Heads OF
Asiatic Turkey. They are the last or
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 the body
after death. They shave their heads
except for a patch on the top. and
here they allow the hair to grow long
and plat 1t into pigtafls, which hang
about their ears. They are tall, wiry
fellows, with enormous appetites for
both food and drink.
The women, who do not veil them
selves and who dress simply In loose
fitting garments, are thin and spare,
but wonderfully strong. In their
ZONES they wear breeches as well as
skirts. There is no wife beating among
the Red Heads, but plenty Of husband
beating. The husbands take their IRE
quent chastisements meekly and pa
tiently. They employ themselves, both
the women and the men, In agriculture
and theft. They produce couple OF
crops, tobacco and durra. The rest OF
their time Is given up to footing the
Turks crops and cattle.
In the center Of every village there
u small circle rniled Cd, and In this
space there is planted the special relf-
gious 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 Red
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 . bar
rel shaped drum stuck end up on the
ground. rss 5.rE yE..11
u Fires are lit, the cooking utensils
placed thereon and the sheep killed by
the priest, who sprinkles a little OF
the animals blood on the oak, and the
carcasses fiayed and cut up into joints
and the latter. cooked over the fires.
before which millet and wheat cakes
are by this time baking on huge days.
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 formality marks the
feast, no blessing or benediction or
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 q 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 It is warmly
clothed, placed on a large wooden plat
ter and taken to the priest, who. In
front Of the sacred tree, strips 1t and
salts It. Probably this accounts for the
few Red Heads that now survive, 1t be-
ing said that their numbers have dwin-
died to a mere seven or eight thousand. /
For the service the priest Is always
given shoulder from the sheep which
It is usual to kill on such occasions and
which forms the principal item In the
birth feast Other duties that the priest
has to carry out are the cutting or
three horizontal cuts with q dagger,
Just above the level Of the eyebrows on
the forehead Of the dead and the set
Ting Of all disputes.
When q couple becomes engaged the
woman spends most OF her time cook |
ing dainty and tasty dishes and trot- |
ding round with them to her lovers |
home, Followed by her father with wine |
and spirits. Breach Of promise IL al
most unknown, FOR the youth who 5ilts
has his throat cut. An erring husband :
b hanged on some remote tree BY the
red cord he wears round his neck, and
the body IL left asa warning to others.
An ,erriag wife mysteriousIy disappears,
md NO questions are asked. A MIN
who deserts his wife also Is hanged.
while the woman who deserts her hus-
band Is compelled to return to him.
{ There Is q secret ceremony Of initia- |
Hon which every Red Head Is compelled 1
10 undergo on attaining his seventeenth
1t involves seclusion for sew
en- days and going without food and
drink for three days. At the termina-
hon of this preliminary test the youth
% taught certain passwords and grips i
5y which he may recognize his breth-
ZEN, and red circle Is tattooed on his
breast The strange people live on