The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-05-07

annually, about one-half at one tim,
during the period of the Hadj, o.
great pilgrimage in the last month
of the Mohammedan year. The Mos
lem year changes in reference to oul
own because it Is a lunar year; but
just now the pilgrimage falls in oul
summer season.
Though pilgrims on the Hadj de
scend upon Mecca from every quarter
of the globe, they converge into some
half-dozen large caravans, along as
many routes. For centuries the two
principal groups have been those from
Damascus and Cairo.
Pilgrims Now Use Railway.
One modern touch in the Mecca pill
| grimage recently has been the use of
the relatively new Hedjaz railway
southwark from Damascus, passing
east of the Dead sea, and paralleling
the Red sea to Medina.
Imagine the Crusades conducted on
tourist trains at special convention
rates, and you sense something of the
incongruity which attaches to the
Moslem throngs who make the steel
rail pilgrimage to Mecca At Medina
the faithful leave the modern coaches
to proceed along the pilgrim trail to
Mecca.
All passengers other than Moham-
medans must leave the railway trains
at El-Ma'an and non Moslems who en-
ter Hedjaz by steamer approach no
nearer Mecca than the Holy city's
port, Judah. The city of Medina,
where the bones of the Prophet are
believed to repose, also Is forbidden,
though visitors are not excluded from
it's environs nor Z Is it so jealousy
guarded as Mecca.
The Damascus-Medina railway, built
to facilitate a religious ceremony, but
also as strategic aid In maintaining
the Turkish empire, enabled Feisal to
throw off the Turkish yoke along the
Red sea, turning over the sovereignty
there to his father, the present ruler,
while he entered Damascus ahead Of
Allenby and now sits on the throne Of
Iraq, Britain's Mesopotamia manda-
tory.
Last summer there was trouble be-
tween the king of the Hedjaz and the
Cairo pilgrims when the king refused
to let a medical mission accompany
the Egyptians. The fact that med
ical mission was the cause of the trou-
BILE emphasizes condition that |
aroused European interest years ago |
and caused steps to be taken to pre-
vent Meccas becoming menace to |
the rest of the world Pilgrims from
dozens of countries and thousands Of |
many no doubt harbor-
ing the germs of dangerous diseases,
in a city ill-equipped to
care for them. and during a portion
IF the religious observances occupy
crowded camps in little desert val
ey absolutely devoid Of sanitary ar
There was always likeli-
hood that pilgrims returning from such
would carry with them
Epidemic diseases, especially cholera,
o eastern Europe and to European
colonies in north Africa and Asia. An
conference called to con-
ider the matter in Paris In 1894 ar
anged for the inspection Of pilgrims
t ports of departure. detention when
necessary, and supervision of pilgrim
hips and caravans.
The thousands of pilgrims who !
each Mecca over the several routes ,
o take part in the annual Hadj oh
ervances, go through with ceremonies
hat seem rather tritiing TO western
RS. Before reaching Mecca they pre-
are for what might very literally be
allied "the exercises by bathing re- l.
and donning the ceremonial c
arb: two pieces of seamless cloth !
trapped about them In prescribed d
-ay. On reaching the holy city they a
o to the blacRdraped Kaaba, kiss the r
Black Stone set in its wall, and then |:
rcle the structure seven times, three
mes running and four times walking.
hey must next run up and down e
earby sacred hills On another day e
lie pilgrims take half-day's journey C
Mt. Arafat where the most impor- c.
INT feature of the ceremonies is OBJ Ii
,rved: they must stand on the little il
II throughout the afternoon and re- n
eat prayers and texts. The follow t,
g day they return toward Mecca, but
op at the village of Nina to sacrifice n
sheep, goat or camel A very i'm ;,
,rtant part of the observances at :.
ina Is the casting Of sevan stones NJ
each Of several cairns.