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more complete data with regard to the spread of the observance and of the legendary traditions attached to it.
A later wave of orthodoxy, however, proceeding especially from Mecca, has purified the Islam of the East Indies of sundry heresies, and among them of the Ḥasan-Ḥusain feasts. The noisy celebration of these festivals, which may now be witnessed year by year at Kuta Raja, are for the most part got up by the Padang people who have settled there. Some Klings and Hindus[1] take part in them, but the Achehnese merely act as spectators. Wherever in Acheh or its dependencies many Klings or other Indian Mohammedons had settled, tabut[2] processions always took place; but the participation of the native people in these is undoubtedly a phenomenon of the later growth.
A further custom, which is really no more than an insignificant adjunct of the Ḥasan-Ḥusain festivals, but which exists elsewhere as an independent usage, is the cooking of special viands on the Ashura day.
In Hindustan the chosen dish seems to be that known as khichri[3]; in Cairo it is called ḥubub i. e. "seeds" or "grains"[4]. In Java the bubur sura as it is called, also consists of various grains or seeds such as jagong or maize, peas etc., mixed with pieces of cocoanut and placed on top of the rice. A similar custom is that of dedicating particular dishes on various occasions to particular prophets or saints to the spirits of the departed in general.
In Acheh this dish of porridge is called kanji[5] Achura and consists of rice, cocoanut milk, sugar and pieces of cocoanut, mixed with various fruits cut into small pieces such as papayas (bòh peutéʾ), peas (reuteuëʾ), pomegranates (bòh glima), plantains, sugarcane and various edible roots.
The kanji Ashura is not cooked in every separate house; one or two large pots full suffice for a whole gampōng. Those who undertake the cooking receive voluntary subscriptions from their fellow-villagers.
- ↑ According to the Qanoon-e-islam, pp. 122, 142, Hindus in British India also take a considerable part in the Ḥasan-Ḥusain feasts, pay vows to the holy relics paraded round on these occasions, etc.
- ↑ The symbolical coffin of the martyrs of Kerbela, which is carried about in the Muharram processions along with other symbolical objects such as figures of hands, banners etc.
- ↑ Qanoon-e-Islam, p. 144; also see the Faith of Islam by E. Sell, London 1880, p. 242.
- ↑ Lane, Manners and customs of the Modern Egyptians, 5th edn. II, p. 149.
- ↑ Kanji is exactly the same as the Javanese bubur, and means pottage or porridge.
