Sook-es-Shookh, on the river Euphrates, in the Mesopotamian villayet,
though an interesting spot, is not an imposing or attractive place. Like
most of the townlets in this part of Asia Minor, it is just a straggling,
overgrown village, a few one-storied plastered houses, with flat roofs and
narrow doorways, dotted here and there, a number of wattled and mud-daubed
huts huddled irregularly about, a _mesjid_, of course, a khan or
caravanserai, and one or two open spaces with the inevitable refuse and
rubbish heaps, where a bazar or market is held on Fridays. It looks,
however, picturesque and peaceful enough, as we ride into it, in the
deepening twilight of a late September evening. The stars are beginning
already to twinkle overhead, but there is still sufficient light left to
note the strange, white-robed figures moving stealthily about in the
semi-gloom down by the riverside. Clad in long snowy garments, reaching
nearly to the ground, they pass to and fro near the edge of the water,
some wading into mid-stream, while the sound of a strange salutation
exchanged in a strange tongue, _Sood Havilakh_, strikes oddly upon the ear
long accustomed to the ordinary salutation, _Selam Alekum_, of the
Arab-speaking Moslemin. _Paderha Sutekh_, “their fathers were burned,”
cries our Persian _Charvadar_ and guide in disgust, as he catches a
glimpse of the white-robed figures, thus delicately hinting that they are
not followers of Islam; and a Jew from Hamadan who accompanies our party,
on his way to the tomb of Ezekiel, deliberately spits upon the ground and
exclaims, in pure Hebrew, _Obde kokhabim umazaloth_, “servants of the
stars and planets.” And the Hebrew is not wrong. The forms gathering by
the riverside in the twilight are those of “Star-worshippers,” the last
remnants of the famous magi of ancient Chaldea, and their followers, the
Babylonian adorers of the host of heaven. To the number of about four
thousand in all, they still survive in their Mesopotamian native land,
principally along the banks of the Euphrates river, where they form small
village communities. They invariably keep their settlements somewhere near
a stream, for their religious rites and ceremonies are preceded by
frequent bathings and ablutions, and a rill of flowing water passing near
or through their tabernacle or meeting-place is indispensable. Hence this
edifice is always raised quite close to the river. They call themselves
_Mandaya_, Mandaïtes, possessors of the “word,” the “living word,” keep
strictly to their own customs and observances and language, and never
intermarry with Moslems, who call them _Sabba_, Sabeans. Their dialect is
a remnant of the later Babylonian, and resembles closely the idiom of the
Palestinian Talmud, and their liturgy is a compound of fragments of the
ancient Chaldean cosmogony with gnostic mysticism influenced by later
superstitions. They are a quiet and inoffensive people noted, oddly
enough, for the quality of their dairy produce in the villages, and for
their skill as metal workers and goldsmiths in the towns where they
reside. Their principal settlement is, or was, at Mardin, in the Bagdad
district; but there has always been a small community of them at
Sook-es-Shookh, on the banks of their favorite stream, the Euphrates.
It happens to be the festival of the Star-worshippers celebrated on the
last day of the year and known as the _Kanshio Zahlo_, or day of
renunciation. This is the eve of the new year, the great watch-night of
the sect, when the annual prayer-meeting is held and a solemn sacrifice
made to Avather Ramo, the Judge of the under world, and Ptahiel, his
colleague; and the white-robed figures we observe down by the riverside
are those of members of the sect making the needful preparations for the
prayer-meeting and its attendant ceremonies. First, they have to erect
their _Mishkna_, their tabernacle or outdoor temple; for the sect has,
strange to say, no permanent house of worship or meeting-place, but raise
one previous to their festival and only just in time for the celebration.
And this is now what they are busy doing within a few yards of the water,
as we ride into the place. The elders, in charge of a _shkando_, or
deacon, who directs them, are gathering bundles of long reeds and wattles,
which they weave quickly and deftly into a sort of basket work. An oblong
space is marked out about sixteen feet long and twelve broad by stouter
reeds, which are driven firmly into the ground close together, and then
tied with strong cord. To these the squares of woven reeds and wattles are
securely attached, forming the outer containing walls of the tabernacle.
The side walls run from north to south, and are not more than seven feet
high. Two windows, or rather openings for windows, are left east and west,
and space for a door is made on the southern side, so that the priest when
entering the edifice has the North Star, the great object of their
adoration, immediately facing him. An altar of beaten earth is raised in
the centre of the reed-encircled enclosure, and the interstices of the
walls well daubed with clay and soft earth, which speedily hardens. On one
side of the altar is placed a little furnace of dark earthenware, and on
the other a little handmill, such as is generally used in the East for
grinding meal, together with a small quantity of charcoal. Close to the
southern wall, a circular basin is now excavated in the ground, about
eight feet across, and from the river a short canal or channel is dug
leading to it. Into this the water flows from the stream, and soon fills
the little reservoir to the brim. Two tiny cabins or huts, made also of
reeds and wickerwork, each just large enough to hold a single person, are
then roughly put together, one by the side of the basin of water, the
other at the further extremity of the southern wall, beyond the entrance.
The second of these cabins or huts is sacred to the _Ganzivro_ or high
priest of the Star-worshippers, and no layman is ever allowed to even so
much as touch the walls with his hands after it is built and placed in
position. The doorway and window openings of the edifice are now hung with
white curtains; and long before midnight, the hour at which the prayer
meeting commences, the little _Mishkna_, or tabernacle open to the sky, is
finished and ready for the solemnity.
Towards midnight the Star-worshippers, men and women, come slowly down to
the _Mishkna_ by the riverside. Each, as he or she arrives, enters the
tiny wattled hut by the southern wall, disrobes and bathes in the little
circular reservoir, the _tarmido_, or priest, standing by and pronouncing
over each the formula, “_Eshmo d’haï, Eshmo d’manda haï madhkar elakh_”
(“The name of the living one, the name of the living word, be remembered
upon thee”). On emerging from the water, each one robes himself or herself
in the _rasta_, that is, the ceremonial white garments peculiar to the
Star-worshippers, consisting of a _sadro_, a long white shirt reaching to
the ground; a _nassifo_, or stole, round the neck falling to the knees; a
_hiniamo_, or girdle of woollen material; a _gabooa_, square head-piece
reaching to the eyebrows; a _shalooal_, or white overmantle and a
_kanzolo_, or turban, wound round the _gabooa_ head-piece, of which one
end is left hanging down over the shoulder. Peculiar sanctity attaches to
the _rasta_, for the garments composing it are those in which every
Star-worshipper is buried, and in which he believes he will appear for
judgment before Avather in the nether world _Materotho_. Each one, as soon
as he is thus attired, crosses to the open space in front of the door of
the tabernacle, and seats himself upon the ground there, saluting those
present with the customary _Sood Havilakh_, “Blessing be with thee,” and
receiving in return the usual reply, _Assootah d’haï havilakh_, “Blessing
of the living one be with thee.” The numbers increase as the hour of the
ceremonial comes nearer, and by midnight there are some twenty rows of
these white-robed figures, men and women, ranked in orderly array facing
the _Mishkna_, and waiting in silent expectation the coming of the
priests. A couple of _tarmidos_, lamp in hand, guard the entry to the
tabernacle, and keep their eyes fixed upon the pointers of the Great Bear
in the sky above. As soon as these attain the position indicating
midnight, the priests give a signal by waving the lamps they hold, and in
a few moments the clergy of the sect march down in procession. In front
are four of the _shkandos_, young deacons, attired in the _rasta_, with
the addition of a silk cap, or _tagha_, under the turban, to indicate
their rank. Following these come four _tarmidos_, ordained priests who
have undergone the baptism of the dead. Each wears a gold ring on the
little finger of the right hand, and carries a tau-shaped cross of olive
wood to show his standing. Behind the _tarmidos_ comes the spiritual head
of the sect, the _Ganzivro_, a priest elected by his colleagues, who has
made complete renunciation of the world and is regarded as one dead and in
the realms of the blessed. He is escorted by four other deacons. One holds
aloft the large wooden tau-cross, known as _derashvod zivo_, that
symbolizes his religious office; a second bears the sacred scriptures of
the Star-worshippers, the _Sidra Rabba_, “the great Order,” two-thirds of
which form the liturgy of the living and one-third the ritual of the dead.
The third of the deacons carries two live pigeons in a cage, and the last
a measure of barley and of sesame seeds. The procession marches through
the ranks of the seated worshippers, who bend and kiss the garments of the
_Ganzivro_ as he passes near them. The _tarmidos_, guarding the entrance
to the tabernacle, draw back the hanging over the doorway and the priests
file in, the deacons and _tarmidos_ to the right and left, leaving the
_Ganzivro_ standing alone in the centre, in front of the earthen altar
facing the North Star, Polaris. The sacred book, _Sidra Rabba_, is laid
upon the altar folded back where the liturgy of the living is divided from
the ritual of the dead. The high priest takes one of the live pigeons
handed to him by a _shkando_, extends his hand towards the Polar Star upon
which he fixes his eyes, and lets the bird fly, calling aloud, _Bshmo
d’haï rabba mshabbah zivo kadmaya Elaha Edmen Nafshi Eprah_, “In the name
of the living one, blessed be the primitive light, the ancient light, the
Divinity self-created.” The words, clearly enunciated within, are
distinctly heard by the worshippers without, and with one accord the
white-robed figures rise from their places and prostrate themselves upon
the ground towards the North Star, on which they have silently been
gazing.
Noiselessly the worshippers resume their seated position on the ground
outside. Within the _Mishkna_, or tabernacle, the _Ganzivro_ steps on one
side, and his place is immediately taken by the senior priest, a tarmido,
who opens the _Sidra Rabba_ before him on the altar and begins to read the
_Shomhotto_, “confession” of the sect, in a modulated chant, his voice
rising and falling as he reads, and ever and anon terminating in a loud
and swelling _Mshobbo havi eshmakhyo Manda d’haï_, “Blessed be thy name, O
source of life,” which the congregants without take up and repeat with
bowed heads, their hands covering their eyes. While the reading is in
progress two other priests turn, and prepare the _Peto elayat_, or high
mystery, as they term their Communion. One kindles a charcoal fire in the
earthenware stove by the side of the altar, and the other grinds small
some of the barley brought by the deacon. He then expresses some oil from
the sesame seed, and, mixing the barley meal and oil, prepares a mass of
dough which he kneads and separates into small cakes, the size of a
two-shilling piece. These are quickly thrust into or on the oven and
baked, the chanting of the liturgy of the _Shomhotto_ still proceeding
with its steady sing-song and response, _Mshobbo havi eshmakhyo_, from
outside. The fourth of the tarmidos now takes the pigeon left in the cage
from the _shkando_, or deacon, standing near him, and cuts its throat
quickly with a very sharp knife, taking care that no blood is lost. The
little cakes are then brought to him by his colleague, and, still holding
the dying pigeon, he strains its neck over them in such a way that four
drops fall on each one so as to form the sacred _tau_, or cross. Amid the
continued reading of the liturgy, the cakes are carried round to the
worshippers outside by the two principal priests who prepared them, who
themselves pop them direct into the mouths of the members, with the words
_Rshimot bereshm d’haï_, “Marked be thou with the mark of the living one.”
The four deacons inside the _Mishkna_ walk round to the rear of the altar
and dig a little hole, in which the body of the dead pigeon is then
buried. The chanting of the confession is now closed by the officiating
_tarmido_, and the high priest, the _Ganzivro_, resuming his former place
in front of the Sacred Book, begins the recitation of the _Massakhto_, or
“renunciation” of the dead, ever directing his prayers towards the North
Star, on which the gaze of the worshippers outside continues fixed
throughout the whole of the ceremonial observances and prayers. This star
is the _Olma d’nhoora_, literally “the world of light,” the primitive sun
of the Star-worshippers theogony, the paradise of the elect, and the abode
of the pious hereafter. For three hours the reading of the “renunciation ”
by the high priest continues, interrupted only, ever and anon, by the
_Mshobbo havi eshmakhyo_, “Blessed be thy name,” of the participants
seated outside, until, towards dawn, a loud and ringing _Ano asborlakh ano
asborli ya Avather_, “I mind me of thee, mind thou of me O Avather,” comes
from the mouth of the priest, and signalizes the termination of the
prayers.
Before the North Star fades in the pale ashen grey of approaching dawn, a
sheep, penned over night near the river, is led into the tabernacle by one
of the four _shkandos_ for sacrifice to Avather and his companion deity,
Ptahiel. It is a wether, for the Star-worshippers never kill ewes, or eat
their flesh when killed. The animal is laid upon some reeds, its head west
and its tail east, the _Ganzivro_ behind it facing the Star. He first
pours water over his hands, then over his feet, the water being brought to
him by a deacon. One of the _tarmidos_ takes up a position at his elbow
and places his hand on the _Ganzivro’s_ shoulder, saying, _Ana shaddakh_,
“I bear witness.” The high priest bends towards the North Star, draws a
sharp knife from his left side, and reciting the formula, “In the name of
Alaha, Ptahiel created thee, Hibel Sivo permitted thee, and it is I who
slay thee,” cuts the sheep’s throat from ear to ear, and allows the blood
to escape on to the matted reeds upon which the animal is stretched out.
The four deacons go outside, wash their hands and feet, then flay the
sheep, and cut it into as many portions as there are communicants outside.
The pieces are now distributed among the worshippers, the priests leave
the tabernacle in the same order as they came, and with a parting
benediction from the _Ganzivro, Assootad d’haï havilakh_, “The benison of
the living one attend thee,” the prayer-meeting terminates, and the
Star-worshippers quietly return to their homes before the crimson sun has
time to peep above the horizon.(163)