The return of the pilgrims is quite an event in Cairo, but not so great as the departure, for the reason that the caravan straggles a great deal, and the individual members are inclined to hurry to their homes with as little delay as possible. Formerly there was a suspension of labor and a grand festival, but at present there is little more than a procession of the returning pilgrims.
There is a much more disagreeable occurrence on the birthday of Mohammed, when the ceremony of the doseh is performed.
The word in Arabic means “treading,” and is descriptive enough as far as it goes. The return of the pilgrims from Mecca is arranged so that it falls near the anniversary of the Moolid en-Nebbe, or birthday of the Prophet. There are many festivities on this day which correspond to our Christmas; services are held in all the mosques, and those who can afford a good dinner and suit of clothes are sure to have them. There are ceremonies not only in the mosques, but on the streets. Dervishes go about with pins sticking through their flesh, or bearing heavy burdens, and show no signs of pain or fatigue.
Formerly there were dervishes who went about with coils of live serpents around them, and occasionally they amused the crowd by eating one of the snakes. This pleasant practice has been discontinued, partly for the reason that many over-sensitive people objected to it, and partly because the dervish stomach could not easily digest this irregular food. A man may eat a live snake, but I doubt if he is likely to “hanker after it” any more than the countryman in the “crow” story.
The public squares are filled with booths, swings, and other means of amusement, and there is always a dense crowd around them. Reciters of romance are numerous, and any person familiar with the language of the country may hear the tales of the Arabian Nights, or similar works of fiction, chanted in slow, measured accents, by men who have carefully committed them to memory. Formerly there were many Ghawasee, or dancing girls; their employments were not entirely confined to dancing, and their appearance in public has been forbidden by the authorities. There are frequent processions of dervishes, and at night the streets are hung with lanterns and otherwise made more gay than usual.
The ceremony of the Doseh takes place just after the noon prayers, and a great crowd is always gathered to witness it. The Sheik of the Saadeeyah dervishes passes the night and forepart of the day at the Mosque of Hassaneyn and devotes the time to the repetition of prayers and invocations which shall fit him for the ceremony. When all is ready he mounts a horse and sets out, accompanied by a numerous delegation of Moslems from various parts of the city. His horse is led by two men, and he proceeds at a walking pace.
At the spot selected for the performance some two or three hundred persons lie down in the street, closely wedged together so that they make a very fine imitation of a corduroy road. Their heads are all one way and resting upon their folded arms, and the crowd ranges close against them in a very compact hedge. Their backs are upward, and they mutter “Allah!”
“Allah!” without intermission while waiting the conclusion of the ceremony.
When the Sheik approaches this novel causeway his horse becomes restive, and refuses to go on, but he is pulled by the two men who hold the bridle and urged by those behind so that he does not hesitate a great while. But evidently he does not like his employment.