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ìãó äøàùé

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ìàúø äáéú ùì îñ"ò

 

From Cedar to Hyssop

II. Corn, Wine and Oil

I. Of Corn

Wheat (El Qamh)

WHEAT is noble, Wheat is holy. Wheat came down from Heaven wrapped in seven napkins (El qamh, nizil fi sab'a manadil). Bread made from it is holy, too; a crumb of it should never be dropped on the floor and trodden on. If a bit falls accidentally it should be picked up at once, kissed, and pressed to the forehead, and 'dustoor' is some­times said.[1] It is told that a black man once picked up a bit of dirty bread from the floor, kissed it and ate it. For a reward, one cheek became white, a somewhat agitating blessing to our way of thinking.

Oaths are sometimes taken on the holy thing. Bedouin use the "Wahyat el honta"[2] the Oath of the wheat, saying "By the life of the wheat" (Bi hayet el honta), and another oath runs "By bruised corn and flour" (El duqq w el daqiq). The binding power of the eating of bread and salt also must not be forgotten.

"Who eat bread and salt together will be true to each other" (Ille akal ma'ak malh, w 'esh ma behunak), as they say in Artas. We regret that another common proverb is: "He ate our bread and salt and went and cheated us" (Akal 'eshna w rah w rashna), but such unfaithfulness is reckoned a great sin.

That wheat should be so honoured is not strange; what is rather surprising is to find that in local story wheat figures as the forbidden fruit of Paradise. Mothers will show a grain to their children and point to the furrow in it, telling them, "See, that is where Eve put her two thumb nails when she divided the grain and gave Adam half."

[12]

A similar story was heard by Dalman[3] from a Bedouin in the Judaean wilderness; according to him the Wheat of Paradise, like the primaeval garlic of the Milkman's Story (p. 44), grew as tall as a tree, and its grain was "as large as an ostrich's egg." Can one suppose this legend to be of Arab origin and connect it with the traditional repug­nance of the Bedu for agriculture exemplified in the saying traditionally referred to Mohammed: "Infamy entered the tent with the plough"? Or shall one rather connect it with the ancient sacredness of the grain, revered in all lands, and mothered by such great goddesses as Isis of the Egyptians, Demeter of the Greeks and Ceres of the Romans? Whether on these reverend heights or in the more homely proverbs of daily life, wheat has always pride of place in Palestine. In love poems wheat is a symbol of ripe beauty, as in the verse:

"O Mother do not choose me a sickly bride

Mother, one as ready as wheat for the mill."[4]

In other poems her uses are extolled, as in "The Boasting of the Wheat":

 

I am wheat

Like a spear

Put before the guest

Without any condiments.[5]

 

which means that wheat is so perfect a food that it can be offered to the guest alone without other meats or seasoning.

 

Barley (El sha'ir)

On the whole, grateful as Palestinians ought to be to the hardy plant for continuing to grow for them with a minimum of attention, they do not seem to regard it with any particular ­reverence. There is an exception to this, however, one special kind of barley which is reckoned as holy. This is the "Prophet's Barley (Sha'ir el Nebawy), sanctified by the belief that Moham­med himself ate of it. If this holy barley is grown special precautions must be taken. It should be tended by 'pure men' who must take off their shoes while sowing or threshing it, and the threshing must be done by hand with a stick, not trodden out, for 'no animal or woman must go near it.' Even the men not touching it but standing near by must observe decorum and not smoke. Lastly, they who presume to eat it must likewise be holy men. A man of Bethlehem once grew some of this barley, but his conscience gave him no peace, for he feared he could not fulfil the conditions necessary for baking and eating it with safety; so he pulled it up before it ripened. It is com­monly said near Jerusalem that this barley is grown in Trans Jordan; we have not seen any specimens from those parts, but the fellahin there certainly know of it. A man from near Jerash said in answer to questions, "The Prophet's barley is that kind of barley of which the Prophet ate. He was not proud, he was 'humble' (nafsoh wati), God's peace upon him."

[13]

On similar grounds Moslems advise a mixing of barley (ordinary barley) with wheat in their bread, a practice not much liked by Christians. The following tale is quoted in support of it.

"Mohammed said to Fatma, his daughter, 'O Fatma, I wish to give thee in marriage to Ali.' Fatma replied, 'O my Father, Ali is poor.' Mohammed said to her:

'Bless God for a poor man, the son of a poor man,

Bless God for wheat mixed with barley'

(Tabarak Allah fi faqir ibn faqir',

Tabarak Allah fi qamh khult bi sha'ir).

Therefore wheat and barley are good mixed,"

When we enquired what was Mohammed's reason for advis­ing thus, this further explanation was given, "The Prophet loved the poor. When he lay dying, Fatma said to him, 'Father, I will make your shroud of silk.' 'No,' said he, 'make it of cot­ton.' 'Father, I will wash you with rose water.' 'No,' said he, 'use only spring water for me. For my people are poor and they will all wish to imitate me.' These things the Prophet said out of his love for the poor."

In spite of this, barley does not live in song as wheat does; her 'boasting' is not heard, only the lament of the grinding girls:

"O barley, hard one, You called me from my couch"      

(Ya sha'ir el arqadi, Qawamtni min merqadi);

because barley, especially the hard grain known as 'arqadi' requires long toil at the stone hand mill before it becomes a good fine flour.

 

Millet (El Dura)

Dura flaunts her beauty in verse, but not much is said of her virtue or uses.

 

The Boasting of the Dura

I am the shining dura

Like the tall spears,

My height is that of a lance,

My beauty is above all beauties.[6]

Her strength also is celebrated in the saying, "I am so strong that I can sprout through the sole of a fellah's shoe" (Baqda atlak min wata el fellah).

[14]

 

Rice (El Ruz)

Rice, in folk speech is alluded to with some contempt. It is never thought fit for the ceremonial dishes served at funerals, such as zalabie, which must be made of oil cakes and wheat only. Still, it is used a good deal at weddings, and favourite tags are often said or sung when it is being pressed on guests, which is our excuse for mentioning a grain that does not grow in the country. The following is one of these verses:

"Rice has a bread that won't feed an army" (El ruz mahu 'esh – Ma bitam wala jesh), which means something like "Eat all the rice you like, rice isn't worth thinking about" with a 'sous entendu' of a hope that the hungry visitors will take the rice rather than finish up the more costly dishes too soon.

 

Growth of the Corn

Before any work connected with corn the blessing of the Almighty should be asked. The same is true of any agricul­tural or household operation. Indeed a man will often enquire about the girl he is to marry, "Does she name the Name?" (Bitsammi), hoping that his house may be protected from lurk­ing spirits by her ready tongued piety. But the obligation is taken much more seriously where corn is concerned and 'Bis­millah' is often supplemented by poems and prayers.

 

Sowing

The following is the beautiful prayer used before sowing at Artas:[7]

"O Lord, feed us;

O Lord, feed others from us,

Thou who feedest the birds

In the dark of the night,

Thou who feedest the worm

In the dark stone."

After sowing the following is repeated: "We have sowed our grain and we depend on our Lord" (Badarna habbena w tewakalna 'ala Rabbena).

Once the grain is sown the fields are watched with intent and minute interest. Each stage of the growing corn has a special name. We give here some examples from Artas; there are similar names, often varying in niceties of definition in different parts of the country.

[15]

 

Stages of Wheat

Seed leaves (Samkha).

Split (Mifsikh).

Lifting the Banners (Qeim el Rayat).

Thickening for the ear (Embatn lil sabbal).

Swelling of the ear on the cornstalk (Nafad el mirwad), lit. mirwad is a Kohl stick.

Flowering (Emnowir).

Coming down of the Bread (Tah el 'esh fi).

Fit for the 'feriki' (Mifrik lil feriki).

Levelled for the sieve (Ibtudhruj 'ala el ghorbal).

Shining for harvest (Imlemmeh lil hasidi).

                                           

These expressions are also used for barley. Two others sometimes inserted are 'Imtabaq,' when the young plant lies spread out on the ground (like the basketwork dish called 'Tabaq'), and 'Ghulfe,' a term used while the green leaf still covers the ear but is ready to burst. Most of these stages are easily understood. 'Lifting the Banners' is an allusion to the young leaves fluttering in the wind, 'feriki' is the green corn rubbed out to be eaten, either raw, or grilled. 'Levelled for the sieve' we take to mean all of one height: the last line goes straight to the Palestinian heart, a dearly loved phrase 'Shining for harvest.' But many are the vicissitudes before that welcome time comes. The danger most to be feared is drought and many are the prayers for lain in folk use, and charms and songs in plenty too, which have already been much collected and studied.[8] The following are those described by women of Artas. It is interesting to note at once that rain ceremonies according to them, to be effective, should be carried out as far as possible by children, and the songs and rhymes sung by them are quite purposely childish with refrains including words in baby language, especially the often repeated cry 'Imbu Ya Rabbi,' the word 'imbu' being one used by infants when asking their mothers for a drink of water. This is to emphasize the help­lessness of the people crying in their need to God. The usual procedure is for the children to go in procession through the village. At each house the women come to the door and sprinkle water over the children, who say in reply, "May God give you to drink," "God refresh you," and "Fill your corn­bins" (Yisqiku. Yirwiku. Malli sawabiku). Sometimes a woman comes out grinding a corn mill as loud as she can, with no corn in it, 'like thunder' they say, or a child carries a cock along, who should crow, for rain, and the child's duty is to see that the poor bird does crow, loud and long. Other charms of like nature are practised. The following are examples of the verses sung by the children as they go about the village.[9]

[16]

"O our Lord, Lord of wealth,

Hasten upon us with thunders;

O our Lord, Lord of trees,

Hasten upon us with rain.

 

O our Lord, why this delay?

Wet the roots of the vetches.

O our Lord, O our Lord,

We are little, what are our offences?

We asked for bread from our Mothers,

They struck us on our mouths.

Give us to drink, O Lord."

 

"O Lord, the streams

For the watering of the fattening sheep!

O Lord, rain and clouds

For the watering of the cows and the horses!

O Lord, a sprinkling

For the watering of the he goats![10]

 

"She went, the mother of clouds, to give the rain.

She came not till the corn was as high as a tree.

If it rains we shall cook the lentils.

O our early wheat as high as a mare,

O our early wheat as high as a camel.

 

My waterskin is withered

From the farness of the springs.

Give us to drink, O Lord."[11]

 

"O Lord, wet the head veil

Before we load up and go,

Before we load up for Egypt.

In Egypt we shall be strangers.

O Lord, wet the black abaya,

We are under the measurers (of wheat).

O Lord, why this anger?

Wet the roots of the sorrel,

The bread is hard in my bosom,

From the farness of the springs.

Give us to drink, O Lord."[12]

 

[17]

"O Mother of clouds, O whiteness (lit: clots of sour milk)

We arc scorched with this heat.

O Mother of clouds, our clouds,

Wet the coat of our shepherd.

Our shepherd is Hasan the baldhead,

Never satisfied, never content,

He went to bring us henna.

If it rains we shall put on the henna (as a sign of joy),

If no rain comes no need for the henna."[13]

 

A remoter but even more fearful catastrophe that may over­take the crops is a visitation of locusts. Fellahin say that the 'hoppers' come marching, following a leader (hoja), having first sent out scouts to plan their route. Certainly they do have a most uncanny faculty for finding the one green patch in a bit of country far from their desert breeding place, and the hopping, crawling host is always accompanied by a few fliers, which has given rise to this idea.

There are charms, once fondly repeated, to drive the swarms away. Today, with reason, people believe more in energetic modern methods, the Flame Throwers, and winding ways of tin fences, along which the destroyers press and hurry to their doom in deep dug pitfalls.

 

A Charm to Drive Away Locusts

"High, you locusts, high;

Come not to my uncle's lands;

If I hunger they feed me,

If I am naked they clothe me.

 

High you locusts, high;

High, you locusts, of the gazelles,[14]

Graze not on the orphans' lands.

 

O Lord of the worshippers,

Drive the locusts

From the lands of the worshippers,

The poor."[15]

 

But the promise bolds, 'seed time and harvest shall not fail,' the bad years pass and again a good year comes and the sickle is put in once more. This is 'the welcome time' when there is work and plenty for all, every hand is needed, men and women are out in the fields all day long and even the most despised members of the community become quite precious.

[18]

We will give here some examples of the songs sung at har­vest time in Artas. Of course improvisations are very popular, but there are a few traditional songs of which variants are cur­rent also in other parts of the country.

 

The Song of the Standing Corn

"O my corn, my standing corn,

Food for my little ones,

O light of my eyes.[16]

 

O my corn, let us up and go

Ere the reaper comes,

Who gathers both thorns and marjoram."

 

The words at the end of these lines are diminutives, probably of endearment, as if it meant "O my dear little bit of corn," etc.

 

A Harvest Song

"O my corn, my tall one,

If it were not for God and myself,

The shepherds would have eaten you up,

Pasturing upon you their camels and sheep."[17]

This song has many more verses which we have not space to give here, this one is included as a reminder that the age-long trouble between Cain and Abel still exists in Palestine.

Here is a well-known folk tale concerning this: "Once the townsman, the Bedu and the fellah stood together looking up to heaven. 'God help us,' said they, 'how shall we live?' Then God gave to the citizen weights and measures (sa' w tabbi w dira) and to the fellah the plough, saying, 'Take the plough and sow' (Khud el sikke w izr'a). The Bedu said, 'What can I have? What is left for me?' God said to him, 'Take from both of them' (Khud min el etnen). Then said the Bedu, 'This is God's Justice for us.' "

And to this day he drives his flocks over land sown by others and says, "It is our right" (Halal andina).

Song of the Girls

"O maidens, why do you weep?

For the grapes and the figs

And the shade of the gardens."[18]

[19]

Song of the Lazy Man

"With the little sickle

I continue to reap;

With the large sickle

I am no harvester.

 

Should you, O my sickle,

Should you not reap,

In the market I'll sell you

And rest from this trouble."[19]

 

Song of the Sickle

"My sickle, who sharpened it?

It went to the goldsmith who sharpened it,

He would not sharpen it but for a (perfume) box,

O that the box would cause wailing for him."[20]

 

Some of these songs are easy to understand, that of the Lazy Man for instance, that contemptible creature who has no shame in wishing to reap with the 'qalush,' the little sickle used by women, rather than with the 'manjal.' the large one used by men, or the Song of the Girls, who, binding sheaves in the burning heat, long for the cool shade of the gardens. But a little explanation seems necessary for the Song of the Sickle and we must summon up our courage and attempt it. The Pales­tinian sickle has, as a sickle should have, a serrated cutting edge, which has to be sharpened every year. This is not easily done and the craftsmen with the necessary skill often ask what the fellahin think is a high price for the job. The meaning then may be that the reaper in the song says deridingly that the man who sharpened it for him was a goldsmith and what he had to pay him was the value of a 'perfume' box, whatever that is, and he wishes the goldsmith would die of it. Perhaps also in Old England, the man with the speciality of putting teeth in sickles, who had a special name, the 'sickle tedder.' knew the value of his craft secret and made the best he could out of it at his one opportunity in the year.

Reaping, they say, should not be begun unless there is dew, for otherwise the corn will shake out of the ear. Sometimes, if the ideal moment arrives after a dry spell and there is need for haste in the cutting, the owner of the land will call for volun­teers. Then takes place what they term "El 'uni," a time of rapid work and fun, like the rural "Bees" or Apple Coring parties of America, where the farmer's helpers receive no pay, but there is plenty of good food going. Whether in this co-operation of willing hands in an urgency, or the more leisurely way of ordin­ary work, the girls and women bear an important part in binding up the sheaves. This, owing to the weeds being allowed to flourish, usually means a prickly task, hence the song of the Binders:

[20]

"O Binder of sheaves, unhappy one,

O thou buried within

Spines of the thorny Burnet

And Eryngium that is not soft."[21]

 

Threshing

A most primitive way of getting the corn out of the ear can be seen occasionally in Trans Jordan and among the tented folk on the coast lands near Caesarea. There the women beat the corn by hand with a wooden mallet, as seen in Plate 3. But in the far distant past some peasant, weary of this tedious labour, had the brilliant idea of making his cattle do the beating for him by the treading of their feet on the bare ground, and this method persists all over the country to this day, for threshing machines are still rare in Palestine.

This is the Blessing of the Threshing Floor, as repeated in Artas:

 

"The Bllessing of God

Fall here,

Chopped straw and grain

The Blessing of Hedar,[22]

Upon this threshing floor."

 

With harvest time the threshing floor becomes the chief centre of village activity, as the empty space, so hard and beaten down, receives the gathered grain. At first the heaps piled on it are small, beans, vetches and lentils are the early ripeners, but hard upon them the real harvest comes in, and the heaps of wheat and barley rise higher and higher till the special place of each family on the floor is full. Then bands of laughing girls climb up on the wheat stack in haste to pull some of the best straws out of the pile before the threshing begins; later, they will sit under shady trees and weave their patterned trays and baskets.

Now must the poor beasts go round and round, treading down the heaps to manageable proportions, and often have we seen them go muzzled, as if the kind words of Moses had never been spoken.

[21]

Trodden, broken, the corn lies ready for the tearing board (loh) studded with sharp volcanic stones on the underside which is harnessed to a horse or donkey and driven over it. This is fine fun for the children as they ride round on the board, and feel they are being useful too, as their weight helps in the work. In and out and round the heaps, men women and children are busy all day, the whole village is on the floor, and many sleep there at night too, to guard their treasure.

Then comes the winnowing with the long wooden forks, when the wind is right; strong arms fling the corn into the air, and clouds of dust fly down the vale.

Sieving next begins, hour after hour, and now at last the grain begins to emerge, freed from chopped straw and husks. One watches the long drawn out process with mingled feelings; it is beautiful to the eye and joyful to the heart, and yet through all these perpetual tramplings of animals and men, how, one wonders, can the grain ever come forth fit for food? In spite of the efforts of anxious little boys who flit around armed with bowls, dung often falls on the heaps, and earth and stones are always being ground round with them. What labour is necessary to remove all this extraneous material that has been so laboriously mixed with the corn! It is not even finished on the threshing floor for all their sweepings and sievings, as well the careful housewife knows who handpicks her corn all over again before she bakes her loaf.

Yet in the end the loaf is baked, – the marvellous, hard grain has survived through all rough handling and is still fit to support human life. Praise God now for the gathered harvest and hang up the pretty plaited "Blessing of the Harvest" (Barakat el hasidi)[23] in the house where now the grain is safely stored in the great clay corn bin. One of these "Blessings" from Artas is shown on Plate 2: it was made from the bearded wheat called Crow's Feather (Rish el Ghorab).

Now is the time when the Alms of the threshing floor (Zakat el Jurn) should be given. These are not obligatory, as are the Alms of Ramadan. Then every member of a family must give alms to the poor, or all their fasting will be for noth­ing. The right amount of grain to give, if it can be done, is 'Nine waqias'[24] and a third, picked and sieved and salted.' The 'third' is added so that there is no fear of the offering not being perfect. When collected the offerings are divided between the needy ones: first of all the blind, the

[22]

orphans, and the strangers should have a share, then others according to their poverty. Sometimes a really poor man or a blind one will get enough at Ramadan to keep him a whole year. But the Alms at the threshing floor are voluntary, the overflowing of abundance. Vows are now paid, and gifts given to the muezzin. Once much alms of corn, and of oil too, used to be given: from Artas to Abu Zakariye (at Beit Izkariye). But one night the saint appeared to a man of Artas in a vision and said: "Why do you give to me who am neither hungry nor thirsty? Give to the poor" (Lesh ati li ana, wala ana atshan wala ja'an. Ati lil fuqara). Abu Zakariye guards any crops confided to his charge; sometimes sacks of grain, etc., are left up at his mosque while the owner is on a journey. Once some lentils were left there in this way and some young men stole some of them. Then were they struck with blindness, but when they repented and threw back the lentils into the sack they recov­ered their sight. Another time a man stole some chick peas and they turned to scorpions in his pockets! The holy man knows well how to protect those who trust their goods to his care.

Generosity at the time of threshing is always to be praised, and is often in Artas commended with the saying: "O blessing of the two brothers who did not cheat each other" (Ya barakat el akhen ille ma khanu ba'adu).

Miss Baldensperger first heard this story as a little girl, when an old sheikh visited Bishop Gobat's School and declared that the school was built on the site of the threshing floor of the Two Brothers and that therefore a blessing rested on the school, giv­ing health to all the children who lived there. But who were the two brothers and why were they blessed? This is the story of the two brothers.

"There were once two brothers; one brother was blessed with boys and girls, one had no children. Their threshing floors lay side by side, and the brother that had no children said to himself, 'My brother has a large family, he needs more than I do.' So during the night he took corn from his floor and put it on to that of his brother. Next day the one with the large family thought 'My brother has no children. I will make him happy with more corn. I will put some for a surprise on his floor tonight.' And he did so. Therefore the Two Brothers were blessed."

 

Bread

To conclude this chapter we add a few notes from the rich folklore of this subject.

Broadly, bread made in Palestinian villages is of two kinds, Oven Bread (Khubz el tabun), and Girdle Bread (Khubz el Saj).

[23]

The Saj is an iron plate like a girdle, but shaped like a shallow inverted bowl, placed bowl side over the fire, and on it a very slack dough, which may be either leavened or unleavened, is thrown. The result is often bread as thin as a wafer and most delicious, especially when fresh. The tabun is a round pan of sun-baked clay with a movable lid; sometimes it has a flat bot­tom, but more usually none. This little oven is placed inside a small hut, and on its bottom, or underneath it, bits of small stones, preferably either flints, or tessera from old mosaics are laid. The fuel (brushwood and dung) is heaped round the tabun and fired and burns all night, till in the morning all is hot and glowing, with no smoke and the bread cakes can safely be laid on the little stones (irdefe) and baked. So much trouble is required to get the oven just right that the saying is, "The oven is a fine lady, one has always to dance attendance on her" (El tabun siriya bidha khidmi temelli).

Now there is a common saying about bread:

"Bless God for the hidden bread;

Bless God for that which no eye has seen."

Tabarak Allah fi mull w el mamlul (mamlul=covered or buried)

Tabarak Allah fi ma shafetu el eyyun.

 

This appears to refer to a more ancient way of making bread than either of those described above, the 'mulla' of camel men and other travellers, a bread cake thrust into the heart of the hot coals in a hole dug in the ground. Such bread can cer­tainly be described as buried or hidden, but today the saying is also applied to oven bread, which is equally hidden from the eyes of men during the baking, not, however, to Saj bread, which is exposed to view. Bread that is open to view, or any other food, may easily become 'manfus' because the eye of the hungry has dwelt on it. It is difficult to get a clear idea of the sense of this word or the idea it represents. The people speak as if the 'nafs,' the 'Spirit,' of the desirous one gazing on the food goes into it and makes it evil – even quite poisonous. One day a man stood chaffering for a melon and a crowd gathered idly watching him. The melon was very large and the bargain­ing prolonged. Suddenly the man became aware of the crowd and turning round cried bitterly "Manfus" and abandoned the melon.

[24]

This is all part and parcel of that belief in the Evil Eye, which is held in Palestine in a most pernicious form and of which much study has already been made.[25] It is an evil belief wherever it is still met, in Egypt or Italy or elsewhere, but generally in Italy it is a prerogative of singular people of supposedly peculiar malignance. But in Palestine the Eye may be exercised by pious kind folk quite unwittingly. So it is to a certain extent in Egypt, but in Palestine it is in such a form that where still believed in it can quite poison family life. What can one say of a belief that may go so far that, as one observer says, "a mother dare not look with the eye of love on her own child"? One can only wish that such a folk belief would disappear quickly from the earth, it makes only for unhappiness; in contrast with it let us end by telling of another folk belief which makes for kind charity and hospitable feeling. We have already noted the holiness of bread, however it is baked. Never must a bit of it be refused to any poor person. This is firmly held to by the villagers, and marvellous is the hospitality of the poor to the poor. There are various stories told of what hap­pens to those who would refuse such charity. Commonly it is said in Artas to one who is not ready to give when asked: "Take care or you will share the fate of the tortoise, the accursed woman."

The tortoise is really an enchanted woman and she can still understand all that is said to her, although she is for ever dumb and so can make no reply. This fate fell upon her in this wise. Our Lady Fatma once begged a little bit of bread from a woman who was baking. When the bread was unkindly refused she put a curse on the woman saying that she should henceforward go about with the oven (the tabun) on her back. So the accursed woman became a tortoise and the shell on her back is the tabun and you can see the marks of the burning upon it to this day.

 

II. The Vine

Artas, a village of olive yards, is naturally richer in lore of the olive than in that of the vine. They have the usual proverb about the way to grow the vine: "In Winter lay me down, in Summer raise me up" (Fi el shita irmini Fi el sef qimini), and faithfully follow it, laying the stems to lie flat on the ground till the early summer, when they raise them on stones or on poles crossed over so as to bear the weight of grapes to come; this is shown in our photographs on Plates 4 and 5.

Of course, as good Moslems should, they have a Cautionary Tale to tell to the young, how the stock was once watered by a lion, a peacock, a monkey and a pig, since when he who drinks of the fruit of the vine becomes successively fierce as a lion, proud as a peacock, garrulous as a monkey, and finally somno­lent and disgustful as a pig. To contrast with this we will give the Story of the Creation of the Vine as told by the Christians of Beit Jala.[26]

[25]

"When Adam and Eve were in Paradise God sent His Angel to drive them forth. The Angel grieved for them, and when returned to Paradise he thrust the staff into the ground and lean­ing on it wept bitterly over it. Then the staff grew and in a little while became a tree and the fruit of it was like the tears of the Angel. He ate of it and saw that it was sweet. Then he gave of it to Adam and said to him 'Sow seed of this.' And Adam did so and the name of the tree is the Vine." The word used for 'vine' here is 'dalye'; it is heard in Artas in common talk as well as in tales or proverbs; they will say of a beautiful girl: "Beautiful as a bunch of grapes between the vine leaves" (Zey el kutuf bein waraq el dalye). The word has a plural "dawali." Hence an old man in the village used to commend the happy time of camping in the vineyards for the gathering in of the grapes as a cure or all human ills, ending by chuckling over his own favourite pun: "The vines are my medicine" (Dawali, Dawa li).

Though in our pleasure at the sound of the old phrase "Corn, Wine and Oil" we could not resist putting it at the head of this section, we must confess that 'Wine' has nothing to do with Artas, a Moslem village. Such grapes as are not eaten raw, green or ripe (and the people of Artas, as already noticed, seem almost to prefer them green) are made into grape treacle (dibs), or raisins (zebib). Dibs is made thus. The grapes, gathered by the women, are crushed by the men in a rock cut vat. The juice flows from one vat into another and is then scooped out and poured into large kettles, where it is boiled; it is said to be sometimes cleared by throwing in a bit of clay (howari). Then the women store the treacle up in the large jars they have been getting ready for the purpose.

The process for making raisins is simpler still. Ripe grapes are chosen, and are dipped into a lye of wood ash and water, with a little olive oil floating all top of it. After draining they are spread on the roof to dry on red earth in the sun. Some­times leaves of Varthemia iphionoides Boiss. et Bl. (Shteli; Ikteli) are spread out for the fruit to lie on, in the same way as they are used for drying figs. It takes about two weeks to dry raisins well and during that time they need no attention, unless there is much dew, in which case they have to be covered at times.

The vine leaves are also important in Palestinian house­keeping, for there is no more favourite dish than rissoles of chopped meat and rice wrapped up in them. A store of the leaves dried is kept for winter use; they are generally threaded on a string and the wreaths are hung in festoons on the walls of the living room, giving it a decorated and festive air.

[26]

The vine is delicate and requires care, the olive grows out on the mountains and can protect itself, while the fig tree, which is hardly less important to the fellah than the other two, is homely and is planted near the village. Hence the proverb: "The vine is a town lady, the olive an Arab and the fig a peasant woman" (El dalye siriya el zeitun bedawiya el tin fellaha).

 

III. The Olive Tree

The Olive Tree is often called "the Blessed Tree" (El shajarah el mubarakah) and fellahin sometimes swear by it on this wise: "By the Life of the Tree of Light (Whyat shajarah el nur).[27] They believe that the tree is sacred, not sacred as those trees are which are haunted by spirit or 'wely,' but, as the giver of food and light, blessed by God Himself, Who will punish any man who should cut one down so that he should have no peace after. Yet they provoke the Lord daily, not only by cutting wood for fuel, which in His mercy may be pardoned to their need, but by their destroying of beautiful and fruitful trees in the spite of their village feuds. This is the more grievous because the trees take long to grow to maturity for bearing. A man will often in meditating over planting decide to plant figs or other fruit trees rather than olives because he may hope to eat of the fruit of the former himself, while the latter will benefit only his sons. Olives are grown from the shoots round the tree roots and after transplantation and coming to robustness must be grafted. The stocks arc also taken from wild trees and these have a reputation for greater strength, although, of course, the shoots from the cultivated trees are also 'wild' in a sense. This belief in the greater powers of resis­tance of a wild tree is expressed in the saying, "This one is from a sweet tree" (Hatha min shajara helwe), said of some darling but weakly child as the gossips shake their heads and wonder if it will ever be reared.

When at last, after fifteen years or so, the trees are in bear­ing, a full crop cannot be expected every season, the year may be fertile (khasab) or infertile (mahil), for reasons not under­stood by the fellah, or weather conditions, on which he is very wise, may affect the crop unfavourably. He especially dislikes dew and heavy moisture while the trees are in flower, when the pollen may be injured. There is a story, used proverbially in Artas, about two women, one of whom owned olive trees, and the other a wheat field. She who had olive trees said: "O Lord, send the sirocco to set the olives" (Ya Rabbi el simun, 'ind 'aqad el zeitun). She who had wheat said, "O Lord, send dew that the ear may be formed on the cornstalk" (Ya rabbi el nada, 'Ind nafad el minwada). [27]

The moral of which is that each prays for his own need without thought of other. As they say also, "Everyone would draw the stream to his own cistern" and "Everyone takes the best bit of the fire for his own loaf." When the crop is ripe, in November, there is a busy time picking; children enjoy their 'olive holidays,' and women and men all bear a part. That of the men is to climb into the trees and throw the olives dawn to the women, who have spread cloths to receive them, but in many villages they do not use these refine­ments, but beat the trees with long sticks, which is very harmful to them, and gather the fruit from the dirty ground. Songs are sung during the picking, mostly improvisations and chorus, in Artas the favourite refrain runs: "O olives, become lemons; O lemons, become olives" (Ya zeitun eklib limun, Ya limun eklib zeitun), which expresses a never to be realised desire that their olives may grow as large as lemons. Other verslets run: "O olive of the marl, give oil for my pancakes" (Ya zeitun el howari, Eklib zeitak maqali), and "What is the fatness of the year? Rain in December and January. This is oil from the olive tree which has drunk af the water of January."[28]

When gathered the olives are packed into baskets or goat­skin bags, "never, without calling on the name of the Lord to prevent the Jins eating part of the fruit,"[29] and are carried to the mill. There the olives are piled in a great stone basin and crushed by an upright millstone, through the centre of which goes a long pole harnessed at the other end to some animal. This is usually a camel, and is blindfolded so that it shall not grow dizzy, and round and round it goes all day until the olives are reduced to pulp. The pulp, or marc, is then put into flat baskets or bags, which are placed one on top of another and pressed in a rude kind of press until the oil runs out. From this work at the mill we have the following proverbs, all very pertinent and telling in everyday life:

"Only the press will give the oil" (Ma bejib el zeit ille el 'assarat), "Who will say his own oil is not clear?" (Mini bequl 'an zeitun 'eikir), "You measure my oil in the dark, but God sees" (Ya imkayal el zeit bil 'atmi, Allah nadhar w besir).

[28]

But sometimes the women make ail themselves in a more primitive way, from olives which they carefully gather for their ripeness and size. At Artas there is a rock face with a shelf in it and there are holes on the floor of the shelf in which the women beat and bruise the olives with .a stone pounder. When crushed the pulp is placed in hot water and the oil skimmed from the top when it rises, and this oil is thought to be very pure and peculiarly suitable for offerings to holy places to be burnt in the lamps hung there.[30] This manner of making the oil and its special use has caused it to be likened to the 'pure olive oil beaten' which the children of Israel were hidden to bring to the Tabernacle 'to cause a lamp to burn continually.'[31]

In Palestine it is still the common use to light churches, mosques and shrines with olive oil (it should always be olive oil and not simsin or any other kind) in spite of the invasion of modern methods. The lamps are usually of glass, small open vessels, made at Hebron, hung in metal containers, and they are lit by cotton wicks supported by little tin and cark holders soaking in the oil floated on water. Not only is there a blessing on oil vowed and given for this holy use, whether of the 'pure beaten oil' or of whatever quality the donor can afford, but the oil placed in such lamps acquires an added sanctity and is reckoned of curative value. This reminds one of the Story of Marco Polo and how he went to Jerusalem to procure the holy oil from the lamp that hung before the Holy Sepulchre so as to have an acceptable gift for the great Kublai Khan himself. We are not told if he was anointed with the oil or whether he drank it; both uses are known in Palestine and Canaan tells us that at the holy places of "several 'aulia,' local saints," the women are not content with merely drinking the oil from the lamps, but eat the wicks as well![32]

These drinkings of and anointings with holy oil seem to rise quite naturally from the great esteem in which olive oil is held in daily life. On festive occasions heads are still anointed with oil, and it still drips down the beard and on to the skirts or the clothing; we noted that in the sad recalling of the famine years of the war one of the commonest laments was: "We were so poor we hadn't even a thimble full of oil to put on our heads." Babies, too, are rubbed with oil and salt to make them strong. Did not the Prophet Mohammed himself say "Eat of the oil and anoint yourself with it, for it is from a blessed tree"? So also there are stories and proverbs alluding to the high value of oil, wether used raw or cooked. Old-fashioned people will often begin the day by drinking a little cupful of it, and all are glad to dip their bread in it, and of course to use it in all manner of cooked food. And now a story to show how nourishing olive oil is.

[29]

"A man had two wives, one the beloved one and one the hated one, – for how shall he lave two at once? Can a head wear two caps? Therefore the beloved one and her child were fed with semn (clarified butter) and the hated one and her child had oil to eat. The children were of the same age and the mothers perceived that when they quarrelled the eater of oil was the stronger. So the beloved wife went to a wise man and asked 'Why is it that my child who has good food is not the stronger?' He replied, 'Semn for beauty, but oil for strength' (El semn lil zen, w el zeit lil 'asaben)," and his saying is re­peated as a proverb to this day. Another similar one is, "Eat oil and butt the wall" (Kul zeit 'W entah el heit), i.e., you will be as strong as a goat which butts its head against the wall.

The wood of the olive tree is, as all know, an excellent fuel, but its excessive consumption in Palestine is due to the needs of Europeans and townsfolk, and scarcely at all to those of the fellahin. For this reason probably it does not figure in verses and sayings about fuel – no doubt also the feeling that it was too sacred to be felled lightly had more power in olden days than now. The feeling of its sanctity has passed over into the affec­tion for pious objects and souvenirs carved from choice pieces of the wood which are carried away in such quantities, every year by pilgrims and tourists. This may all have arisen from Christian veneration of the land and of the olive trees of Gethsemane in particular; we know of no such custom in earlier days, perhaps also the beauty of the wood itself with its streaked markings may account for something of its popularity. These markings have given rise to the following folktale:

 

How the Olive Tree Mouned for Mohammed

"When the Prophet Mohammed died all the trees mourned and cast down their leaves. Then came one and said to the Olive Tree: 'O Olive Tree, the Prophet is dead and all the trees mourn and why do you not mourn?' The Olive Tree replied, 'Break my wood and see the grief within at my heart.' So he broke a branch from the Olive Tree and saw the grief in her heart. For her grief was within and not to be seen of men."

So to this day you can see the black streak in the wood of the Olive, that is the sign of her mourning.[33]

 [30]

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[1] what is here meant by 'dustoor' (permission) is not quite clear, but it is usually said when a person is doing anything considered likely to vex the 'earth spirits.'  

[2] "Honta" is also used in a general sense, as 'the crops.'

[3] Da1man, op. cit., p. 569.

[4] Appendix A 4.

[5] Appendix A 5.

[6] Appendix A 6.

[7] Appendix A 7.

[8] See Dalman, op. cit., p. 137.

[9] Appendix A 8.

[10] Appendix A 9.

[11] Appendix A 10.

[12] Appendix A 11.

[13]  Appendix A 12.

[14] Meaning that locusts, like gazelles, breed in the desert.

[15] Appendix A 13.

[16] See Appendix A 14.

[17] Or "pasturing upon you the destroyers." Appendix A I5.

[18] Appendix A 16.

[19] Appendix A 17.

[20] Appendix A 18.

[21] Appendix A 22.

[22] Hedar is a 'wely,' or Moslem saint.

[23] Sometimes called the Comb (Misht). In Egypt it is also made and is there called the "Bride of the Corn" (Aruset el Qamh); it is thought to be represented in certain Ancient Egyptian tomb scenes. (See Blackman, "The Pellahin of Egypt." pp. 171 and 307.)

[24] A waqia is about 1/2 lb.

[25] cf. Canaan, "Aberglaube"; Einsler, "Mosaik."

[26] Collected by Mrs. Wahby.

[27] Another version is "By the life of the tree of light which lights the mosque," because mosque lamps are lit with olive oil.

[28] Appendix A 20.

[29] Daldensperger, "Woman in the East." P.E.F. Quarterly, 1901, p.68.

[30] See Plate 6. This oil is called in Artas Zeit Jul or Jol.

[31] Exodus, XXVII. 20.

[32] Canaan, "Light and Darkness in Palestine Folklore." J.P.O.S., vol. 2. 1931.

[33] Appendix A 21.