CHRISTMAS IN MECCA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 150, 27 June 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

CHRISTMAS IN MECCA

By Eldon Rutter. ‘•Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar!” The sound of a powerful Arabian voice comes through the closed shutters into the silent house, shattering the stillness which had settled on the marooned city of Mecca some hours before, and waking me from my dreamless slumber. It is five o’clock in the morning of De ccniber 25, and still dark. The cry is repeated by other voices, of muaddins stationed in the seven

minarets of the Great Mosque, it is the call to Prayer, summoning the sleeping Muslims t 0 the ritual of Salat cl Fajr (the Dawn Prayer). Jn the Muhammadan countries the human voice takes the place of the church bells of Christendom. I get up from my bed, a folded quilt laid on the carpeted floor, and perform .the ceremonial ablutions of the face, [hands and feet. Then, winding my turban about my head ; nd putting on my Arab cloak and sandals, I go down the dark stairway, accompanied by the master of the house, a bearded Meccan. We go in at one of the gates of the Mosque and take our place in one of the rows of worshippers, who are forming themselves into concentric circles round the central point, the House of Allah which stands in the middle of H u Mosque. Having prayed the two prostrations of the Dawn Prayer, we return to the house and eat our breakfast of beans cooked in melted butter. Christmas Day, as such, does not exist for the Muslims. The 25th. of December is like any other day to. them. But on this particular occasion there is one solitary person among lOO,OOO inhabitants for whom the day is of unusual interest. All day long, as 1 go about the city, or drink coffee in the houses of the Meccans, or eat fistfuls of rice from the common dish at mid-afternoon, thoughts come to my mind at; intervals of other Christmas Days spent in far different, surroundings. My thoughts are strangely vivid by reason of the contrast between them and the atmosphere of the place 1 am in. Instead of the waits, a halfnaked beggar stands in the narrow an paved street croaking a chant, about the Prophet Muhammad. Instead of mistletoe, an aloe plant hangs over the doorways or some of the houses. It is there for the purpose of keeping away evil spirits. The segregation of women is absolute in Mecca, so a bunch of mistletoe would be pointless. Whenever there is a marriage feast or any other festivity the women and girls keep in the harem apartments. They are never admitted T.o the lower rooms where the men arc gathered together. Except in its market places, where the vendors of foodstuffs and pettv wares yell themselves hiarse, Mecca is a silent city. The whispiring of the grim-faced Arabs who proudly pace in the dust of the lark lanes is like the hisiiig of snakes. Nobo.lv s : ngs a carol, for music, is unlawful under the Islamic ('’ode. Wine, too, is unlawful, and their most, potent tippl? is '.Jack coff?e, flavoured with cloves or ginger. Even smoking is banned by the puritanical Wahhabis who now rule in Mccct'. But .in spite of these prohibitions my Christmas IDay is aot a Fill one, for the monotonous daily round of this old city, where the life of everyone v ho is suspected of being an unbeliever would not be worth a noment’s purchase, makes, by its poignant contrast, a rich feast of my I have an unbounded store of Uionghts, and what is more real than thoug’it? (From “The Holy Cities of Arabia”) (Putnam •. E\cn in these hard times,” recently remarked Mr E. H. Mills, president of Longmans. Green ami Co., and of the National (U.S.A.) Association of Book .Publishers, “there are a great many 1 Amerieans who do not consider a hook :i luxury. Tlioso who prophesied that the book was doomed by modern inventions and amusements have been 1 proved to be. false projfliets. Reading lias not only held its own in the last , decade against jazz. backgammon, ) bridge, golf, automobiling. and even [against the novelty of the talkies and | radio, but the number of books sold an I nnally has doubled. ’ ’