The Day of Atonement (Lev. 23: 27; 25: 29) had a most important place in the Jewish ecclesiastical year. This was the occasion of a thorough purification of the whole nation and of every individual member thereof in their relation to Yahweh. It was designed to deepen afresh the national and individual sense of sin and dread of the judgment of God. According to Talmud (Mišna, Roš hašana, vol. I, 2) Roš hašana is the most important judgment day, on which all creatures pass for judgment before the Creator. On this day, three books are opened wherein the fate of the wicked, the righteous and those of the intermediate class are recorded. Hence prayer and works of repentance are performed on the New Year from the first to the tenth that an unfavorable decision might be averted (Jewish Ency., art. Penitential Day). R. Akiba says: “On New Year Day all men are judged; and the degree is sealed on the Day of Atonement (Ibid, art. Day of Judgment).
Moreover, the red lilies of the doors of the Yezidis remind us at once of the blood sprinkled on the doorposts of the dwellings of the Israelites in Egypt as a sign for the Destroying Angel to pass over. This notion is found also in a similar practice among the Parsees of India, who hang a string of leaves across the entrances to their houses at the beginning of every new year.
In the light of what has been said, the Yezidis’ idea in giving food to the poor at the grave on the day of Sarsal (New Year day), is to propitiate God on behalf of the dead, who are, according to their belief, reincarnated in some form or other.[157]
NOTES ON CHAPTER III
[150] S. G. M., ibid.
[151] Die Sabien, I, 296.
[152] Nineveh and Its Remains, vol. II, p. 239.
[153] Nestorians and Their Rituals, vol. I, p. 117.
[154] S. J. Curtis: Primitive Semitic Religion To-day, p. 96; J. A. O. S., vol. 8, 223.