Oriental Women

by Edward B. Pollard

From these ample and often luxurious arrangements, it might be surmised that by the Moor water was regarded not as a luxury, but as an absolute necessity to a happy life. All classes shared more or less in the habits of cleanliness; for it is said that many of the poor would have spent "their last dirhem for soap, preferring rather to be dinnerless than dirty," while the Moors of the higher order were so scrupulously cleanly that they are said to have spent a very large part of their lives in the bath.

Strangely enough, the Catholics of Spain, determining to get as far away as possible from the customs of their Mohammedan captors, eschewed the bath because the Moors made so much of it; and men and women among them were known to be strangers to the touch of water. So far from cleanliness being regarded as next to godliness, dirt became the very emblem of Christian society, "monks and nuns boasted of their filthiness," and there is on record a female saint who boasted at the age of sixty that no drop of water had ever touched her body, except that the tips of her fingers had been dipped into the holy water at the mass!

Nine hundred well-equipped baths in the rich city of Cordova, and thousands throughout Spain, were destroyed by Philip II., the husband of Queen Mary of England, on the ground that they were but relics of Spain's occupancy by the infidel.

While Mohammed refused to Mohammedan women the right to marry any but a Mohammedan, yet he granted to his male followers the right to marry Christians or Jewesses if they saw fit. This privilege led to a considerable admixture of blood in Moorish Spain. Spanish pride did not suffice to prevent these intermarriages of Arab and Spaniard. Polygamy also being in vogue,--for their religion allowed the Moors four wives,--a blending of races went on rapidly, and the Moorish type of beauty may be discovered to-day in any part of southern Spain. The Christian influence in Spain tended to soften the almost necessary asperities of a life where plural marriages are sanctioned. The degradation incident to Mohammedan ideals concerning women was much checked by a counter current of Christian feeling, by which the Moors could not but be influenced. So, also, did poets and lovers in Moorish Spain show a respect for womanly worth and grace, if not womanly virtue, which marks an advance from the Mohammedan or even the earlier Arabian days.

As might be inferred from their Oriental antecedents, the Spanish Arabs gave much time to eating and drinking. The chief meal followed the evening prayer. The men ate alone, the women and children followed when their lord had finished his repast. The tray containing the food was placed upon an embroidered rug. Silver and fine earthenware were not wanting. Bread and limes were expected with every meal. A dish made of the flesh of a sheep or fowls stewed with vegetables was a common dish, as, indeed, it is a favorite among the Moorish people to-day. "The diner sat on a low cushion, with legs crossed. A servant poured water on his hands before eating, from a basin and ewer, which formed a necessary part of the table furniture. The meal then began with the Bismillah--'In the name of the most merciful God'--for grace. The right hand only was used in eating; and with it the host, if he had guests, transferred choice pieces from his own plate to theirs, and sometimes, as a mark of greater favor, to their very mouths. Ordinarily there were soups, boiled meats, stuffed lambs, and all meats not forbidden. Very little water was taken during the meal; in its place, and especially after the meal, sherbets were drunk, those flavored with violet and made very sweet being preferred."

The contact between the Mohammedans and the Christians in Moorish Spain inevitably brought conflict. Christians often unnecessarily threw away their lives in courted martyrdom. Many were the staunch women who thus willingly laid down their lives. The story of Flora, the beautiful daughter of a Moorish father and a Christian mother, has in it elements of the deepest pathos. The offspring of mixed marriages among the Moors was universally regarded by them as of necessity Mohammedan in faith. Flora's mother, however, had secretly instilled into her the beliefs of the Christian religion, though outwardly she was a good follower of the Prophet. At length, however, stirred by the sacrifices she saw the Christian martyrs making for their cause, her father being now dead, she fled from her home and took refuge among the Christians. Her Mohammedan brother searched for her, but in vain. Priests were charged with her abduction and were punished with imprisonment. Unwilling that they should be thus punished on her account, Flora returned and gave herself up, confessing that she was no longer a Moslem, but a Christian. All efforts to make her recant proved fruitless. There remained nothing except to bring her before the Mohammedan judge and try her for the capital offence of apostasy. The judge, however, willing to show mercy, sentenced Flora not to death as the law prescribed, but to a severe flogging. Her brother was enjoined to take the girl home and instruct her in the faith of Mohammed. It was not long, however, before she again made good her escape and joined some Christian friends, among whom a new experience awaited her. Here, Saint Eulogius, an enthusiast among the Christians, met Flora and conceived for her a love that was pure and tender, so admirable did he adjudge her steadfastness to the faith. It was a day when martyrs willingly laid down their lives, accounting it a proud distinction to die at the hands of the infidel. They courted death. So with Flora. Appearing before the judge one day with a Christian maiden who also sought a martyr's death, this girl of half Moorish blood, but with staunch Christian faith, reviled that officer and cursed his religion and the Prophet. The Mohammedan judge pitied the young girls, but had them thrown into prison. Here they might have weakened had not Eulogius urged them to stand fast in their holy faith. The sentence of death was passed upon them; and the girls were led away to execution. Eulogius, who loved Flora above all else on earth, and hence desired her to win what he considered the most glorious of all crowns, that of martyrdom, looked on in the hour of her death, and wrote: "She seemed to me an angel. A celestial illumination surrounded her; her face lightened with happiness; she seemed already to be tasting the joys of the heavenly home.... When I heard the words of her sweet mouth, I sought to establish her in her resolve, by showing her the crown that awaited her. I worshipped her, I fell down before this angel, and besought her to remember me in her prayers; and strengthened by her speech, I returned less sad to my sombre cell." Thus did Moorish blood and Christian faith unite to make a life of wonderful daring and fortitude.

To-day in Moorish states the strictest seclusion prevails for the women. The love of idleness, ignorance, and sensuality are their dominating traits. They are veiled when in public, and in the north of Africa wear a striped white shawl, called a haik, of coarser or finer material, according to the wealth or position of the wearer. This piece of apparel is thrown over the head and conceals the person down to the feet, the face being hidden by a white linen handkerchief, called the adjar, tied tightly across the nose just under the eyes. Says Sequin, in Walks about Algiers, in describing the Moorish women of that region: "In the street they present the appearance of animated clothes-bags, and walk with a curious shuffling gait, very far removed from the unfettered dignity of their lords and masters. They are not 'emancipated'; and though in the houses of the richer Moors the slavery of their women may be gilded, it is but slavery after all. The Mohammedan invariably buys his wife--that is to say, he pays a price for her to her family, large or small, according to her reputed beauty, or accomplishments as a housewife; and though when a girl is born to him, an Arab laments, a man with many daughters, if he knows how to dispose of them well, in time becomes rich. Arab women, unlike the men, are small in stature, and the wearing of the adjar has flattened their noses and made their faces colorless. It is a curious fact that this disguise was unknown among Arab women until the time of Mahommed's marriage with his young and beautiful wife Ayesha, as to whose conduct, indeed, it became needful for the angel Gabriel to make a special communication, before the Prophet's uneasiness could be removed. The jealousy of one man has been powerful enough to cover the faces of all Moslem wives and daughters for twelve hundred years."

The Moorish women of the better class are rarely seen upon the streets or in public places. Indeed, they are not expected to cross their threshold for at least twelve months after their marriage; and when that time has elapsed, it is seldom they are seen abroad. They go to the baths, and sometimes on Fridays they visit the cemeteries. Other recreations or amusements are not open to them, except that in the marriage ceremonies women have peculiar privileges, since these ceremonies are held in the women's apartments. "Marriage festivities last a week, during which time the chief amusement is the eating of sweetmeats and the dressing, bejewelling, dyeing, painting, and generally adorning of the bride, who is, as a rule, a girl of some thirteen or fourteen years old, and who is compelled to sit idle and immovable the whole time without showing the slightest interest in anything. She has probably never seen and has certainly never been seen by the bridegroom. At the conclusion of the ceremonies the bridegroom is introduced to the women's apartments, and permitted to raise his bride's veil, but etiquette obliges the lady to keep her eyes tightly closed on the occasion, and in some cases the unfortunate young woman's eyelashes are gummed down to her cheeks, to save the possibility of an indiscreet glance. If the face of the bride is displeasing to the bridegroom, he is at liberty after this one glance to reject her. If, on the contrary, he is satisfied, he drinks a few drops of scented water from the bride's hand, offers her the same from his, and the marriage is concluded."

In contrast with their once great enemies, the Spaniards, the Moors have no kind of public spectacle. For the Moors of Africa, story-telling, in which the Arabs have time out of mind delighted, the recitation of poems, to which is usually added a dance of almehs, generally negresses, expert in their art of pleasing the native assemblies. These entertainments are held in the open courtyard of some quaint old Moorish house; the centre of the court being reserved for the dancers and the musicians. The men fill the space around, beneath the arches, while in the galleries are the ghostly forms of veiled women.

It cannot be said that the Moorish women of to-day still retain that grace of form and charm of manner which the Moorish lady of five centuries ago possessed. A prominent woman, who has travelled widely in Moslem countries, has given this rather repellent description of the women of the Moors of to-day. "They are huge puncheons of greasy flesh, daubed with white and scarlet, strung with a barbaric wealth of jewels and scented beads. They eat and sleep, and then for variety's sake they sleep and eat. They gossip, scold, and intrigue; and are valued according to their weight. They blacklead their eyes, and paint their cheeks like Jezebel; beat their slaves, drink tea and chat and quarrel." Not a very attractive picture is this,--and perhaps a little gloomy,--but it is given as presenting a marked and altogether truthful contrast between the Moorish women of the days when chivalry flourished in southern Spain, and the women of the Morocco of to-day in their poverty and degradation. Once the women exerted a strong influence over the men; the truth is that frequently the "power behind the throne" was to be located within the harem. This was probably true during the reign of Hakam II., who was so fond of books that war and the practical concerns of government had little charm for him. He was the son of the great Kalif of Cordova, Abd-er-Rahman III. The latter had built a city to please his Ez-Zahra, and called it "City of the Fairest," but he did not turn over the government to his spouse. His son Hakam, however, allowed the influence of the women of the court to become dominant, and on his death the Sultana Aurora, mother of the young Kalif Hisham, became the most important personage in the state. It was she who was chiefly instrumental in introducing into power the young Almanzor. Gifted in the fine art of flattery and being brilliant withal, the princesses, and more particularly Aurora herself, fell in love with the talented young man, and turned all the currents of influence and power toward him. Thus did the women of the court succeed in developing one of the most successful and unscrupulous of Moorish leaders. He made all Spain tremble by his victories, and Christians sighed with relief when death at last conquered the conqueror.