Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-04-23

| annually, about one-half at one time
during the period of the Hadj, or
| "great pilgrimage" in the last month
| of the Mohammedan year. The Mos
| lem year changes in reference to our
own because it Is a lunar year; but
| just now the pilgrimage falls in our
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, Jiddah. The city of Medina,
where the bones of the Prophet are
| though visitors are not excluded from
| its environs nor is it so jealousy
| guarded as Mecca
The Medina railway, built
| to facilitate 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 Mesopotalnia 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-
! bic emphasizes condition that
aroused European interest years ago
| and caused steps to be taken to pre-
| vent Mecca's becoming a menace to
the rest of the world. Pilgrims from
| dozens of countries and thousands of
communities, many no doubt harbor-
ing the germs of dangerous diseases,
congregate in city ill-equipped 10
care for them, and during a portion
Of the religious observances occupy
crowded camps in a little desert val
| ley absolutely devoid of sanitary ar
rangements. There was always likeli-
hood that pilgrims returning from such
surroundings would carry with them
epidemic diseases, especially cholera,
to eastern Europe. and to European
colonies in north Africa and Asia. An
international conference called to con-
slider the matter in Paris in 1894 ar
ranged for the inspection Of pilgrims
at ports of departure, detention when
necessary, and supervision of pilgrim
ships and caravans.
The thousands Of pilgrims who
reach Mecca over the several routes
to take part in the annual Hadi OBJ
servances, go through with ceremonies
that seem rather trifling to western
ers. Before reaching Mecca they pre-
pare for what might very literally be
called "the exercises" by bathing re-
peatedly and DOMINIC the ceremonial
garb: two pieces of seamless cloth
wrapped about them in a prescribed
way. On reaching the holy city they
go to the black-draped Kaaba, kiss the
BLACK Stone" set in its wall. and then
circle the structure seven times, three
times running and four times walking.
They must next run up and down
nearby sacred hills. On another day
the pilgrims take a half-day's Journey
to Mt. Arafat where the most imnor-
tant feature of the ceremonies is OBJ
served: they must stand on the little
hill throughout the afternoon and re-
peat prayers and texts The follow
ing day they return toward Mecca. but
stop at the village of Nina to sacrifice
a sheep, goat or camel A very Inn
portant part of the observances at
Nina Is the casting of seven stones
at each of several cairns