From Cedar to Hyssop
VII. El Khadr
El Khadr, the "Green One,"
has been already mentioned in our Peasant's Calendar as a "rainbringer and
a lover of young green things." He is a most popular saint in Palestine,
venerated by Moslems, Christians and Jews, though not always under this name,
for, – protean figure that he is – El Khadr is identified with Mar Elias
(Elijah) and Mar Jirjis (Saint George). Near East, usually as El Khidr, but in
same parts he is identified with St. Theodore and in Kurdistan with St.
Sergius. "Just as Syrian Moslems make pilgrimages to churches of St.
George, so do Kizilbash Kurds of the Dersim to Armenian churches of St.
Sergius."[1]
In Persia, stranger still, he becomes a water spirit and has a spring festival
of his own; in parts of Syria he is the "Old Man of the Sea." In all
these lands his feasts are usually in the spring or at the sowing time and he
is regarded as a rainbringer. In Palestine the rolling of thunder is said to be
the galloping of his horse in the sky. But he rides on earth too, on a white
horse and succours lost travellers, appearing to them by night and moving in
front of them to lead them in the right way.
Indeed he is ever wandering over the
face of the earth, for he is immortal; when he was young he made one of that
band of heroes who discovered the Fountain of Youth, and, outdaring Alexander,
he drank of the water and so lives for ever. We heard his immortality commented
on by a Moslem at Lidd, who, speaking of the Tomb of St. George in the church
there, said, "Haw is it that the Christians pretend to have this tomb,
when it is well known that El Khadr never died."
Now in most of these respects he is readily
identifiable with Elijah, who had command over the rain and who was caught up
alive into heaven, while he only resembles St. George in his habit of knight
errancy on a white horse, but what he is – or was – in himself, whether simply
a mixture of the two or some ancient deity of vegetation whom they have
annexed, or some later Moslem saint who has annexed them, is not clear. M.
Virolleaud derives the name El Khadr from Xisuthros who was Hasisatra one of
the names for the Phoenician god El, the Father of years, and finds close
resemblances to the god in the way El Khadr is regarded among the Alaouites of
today.[2] Hasluck, on
the other hand, says that the results of his analysis tend to show that
"in Khidr there is no independant Moslem or pre-Moslem element," i.e.,
that he is Elijah, with a Christian element superadded.
In local folklore, not content with
his composite honours, he continues, like other popular heroes, to accumulate
marvels and acquire merit for the deeds of others.
One legend tells that the architect
of Justinian was aided in the building of S. Sophia in Constantinople by El
Khadr, and another that when the dome of S. Sophia fell down in the year of the
Prophet's Birth, it could not be rebuilt until Elias (El Khidr) had appeared to
the Greeks and prescribed the use of mortar compounded of sand from Mecca,
water from the well Zemzem and saliva of the Prophet.[3] After this
the reader will be almost prepared to learn that in Jerusalem folklore it was
El Khadr who assisted Queen Helena to find the True Cross. We are far here from
our plants and El Khadr as the rainbringer, and the curious tale that follows
must be its own excuse; it is a strange mixture of history, and folktales,
streaked with local colour.
A Tale of El Khadr
The Feast of Mar Elias (El Khadr)[4] came and
the young men stood together making their vows. One said: "I will give a
goat," another "I will give a sheep." Then Jirjis, the son of a
widow, desired to offer something. They had but one cow. "Then," he
said, "I will sacrifice a cow," and he went and killed the cow.
At evening time his mother called to
him and said, "Where is the cow?" He said, "I gave it to El
Khadr." His mother said, "You have cut our lives (i.e., you
slay us). Let me not see your face again." That night the young man had a
vision. A white haired man appeared to him and said, "Fear not, I am El
Khadr; thou shalt go to Constantinople and to the king's palace. Only each day
thou shalt call a blessing upon me" (kulle yam bitesalili).
So the young man went far away to
Constantinople and he went to the King's Palace. But he was dressed as a fellah
and they sent him away from the door of the Palace. Again the vision appeared,
saying as before, "Fear not; I am with you. Only do not forget to ask a
blessing on me every day," and this he continued to do. After many nights
El Khadr came and showed him where seven storehouses of gold were hidden.
Then the young man went again to the
palace, offering to reveal his knowledge, and this time he was allowed to enter
in and was made welcome there and he gave all the gold to Queen Helena. Then
the saying came true,
"He
who gives gold
May marry the Sultan's
daughter,"
for Jirjis was dressed as a Prince and married to the King's
daughter.
That night, his wedding night, he
forgot to ask a blessing on El Khadr. In the morning he woke to find himself
back in Jerusalem, standing at the Bab el Khalil, dressed as a fellah and only
the ring on his finger to remind him of his bride, the King's daughter! Months
passed and he lived miserably in Jerusalem, ever imploring forgiveness of El
Khadr.
Now when time was accomplished Queen
Helena decided to travel and to build churches. At every place where she
stopped on her journey she built a pillar and a sign was placed on the pillar –
some say a light, some say a bell – so that news could be sent back to
Constantinople. At last the Queen arrived in Jerusalem and with her came the
King's daughter and her babe. Now the babe was not content, but cried for ever
for his father, day and night, and there was his father, a poor fellah out of
work, hanging round the Bab el Khalil!
One day those who stood near the
young man said to him, "Why do you not go and work for the Queen who is
trying to find the Cross? She needs many workmen to dig for her." So he
went and was accepted and worked with the workmen, and that same night El Khadr
appeared to him and showed him where the True Cross lay. Next morning he first
revealed the secret to the Queen and then showed the ring to the King's
daughter, and as soon as ever he came near her, the babe, his son, stopped
crying!
After
the Cross was found, Queen Helena sent the news to Constantinnple by means of
her pillars.
So by the wisdom of El Khadr the True
Cross was found and through the gold of El Khadr all the churches of Queen
Helena were built.