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Encyclopedia of Religion entry forBagdad, Jews InThe Bagdad Jew is described by E. J. Banks (Bismya, or The Lost City of Adab, 1912) as very superstitious. The following are examples of some of their superstitions. A wife may not look into a mirror, or sweep the floor of her house, or bring a saucepan into the house after sunset. " When her child dies, she forgets the old Hebrew Law, and takes a pig into the house to protect the other children from the evil eye; if the pig should die, a coat for the child is made from its skin." A large tomb in the desert to the East of Bagdad, which, though modern, is said to be the tomb of Joshua (Son of Nun), is a sacred place of pilgrimage for the Jewesses of the city. They gather also about a large English gun in a public square. Stroking it, they whisper their prayers, their troubles, and their hopes into its mouth. " They place lighted candles in tiny paper boats in the river, and, as the current bears them away, they read in the flickering flame whatever fate has in store for them." BAGHARRA DEO. A Hindu deity, the tiger, worshipped as the protector of cattle against wild animals by the Kawars, a primitive tribe living in the hills of the Chhattisgarh Districts north of the Mahanadi in India. citations: Encyc. of Rel., Canney
article created 2006-04-12 , last updated 2006-04-12 |
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