510 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1907. 
places usually are, the Christian may not camp near one because he 
might defile it. Religious orders and sects play a great part in 
Berber life. Those of the Ma el Ainin in southern Morocco are 
very important at present. 
The Berbers use the Mohammedan calendar in political, municipal), 
and religious affairs, while for the seasons of the agricultural year 
the Roman or Christian calendar is in use. The great agricultural 
feast of Ansera therefore falls on the summer solstice. 
The agricultural calendar of the Moroccan Berbers, as well as that 
of the Faheya, has the following months: Jenair, Febrair, Mars, 
Ebril, Maio, Junio, Juliuz, Aghocht, or Ghocht, Chutembir, Octuber, 
Nuambir, Dudjambir. Even the Tuaregs of the desert still have this 
reckoning of time. The Shauia of the Aures Mountains, who still 
keep up many old, originally Christian customs, still celebrate Christ- 
mas under the name Bu Ini. The first day of the year is universally 
called Junar (January). On this day all clothes are washed and all 
utensils in use changed. The new year’s night is celebrated by a 
feast at which meat and eggs are eaten. Six weeks later, when spring 
begins, the people of Menaa have a country feast, when they march 
into the woods to the sound of the flute and come back decorated with 
branches and _ herbs. 
The Berbers are a thoroughly democratic folk, especially the 
mountain people. In this they differ fundamentally from the Arabs. 
The Jemaa, a common council of the elder and more important men 
of the village or tribe, takes care of the local affairs. Every village 
has its common hall, Beit-es-Corfa, which often also serves for a 
magazine for weapons and gunpowder, as among the Jebala. In 
Jurjura the common hall is generally a simple stone structure with 
benches within, at the entrance of the village. 
The consciousness of any racial connection seldom goes further 
than the tribe. There are a number of confederations, however, 
which prevent in a measure the eternal feuds between the tribes. 
As far as the French have carried their dominion they have put a 
stop to these feuds. The facilitation of travel for which they are 
responsible, and the activity of the widely distributed religious 
orders, has had the result, however, of making the widely separated 
tribes known to each other and of wakening and strengthening the 
idea of national unity among them. This condition will be of great 
importance in future events. 
The settlements of the Berbers are consistent with the warlike 
nature of the people, to the prevailing insecurity and to the topo- 
graphical conditions. These are always small villages, as is natural 
in an essentially agricultural population, and are known as Dehar 
(plural Dehur), Ksar (plural Ksur), and also as Dechera. Large 
settlements like cities are found only in the oases and in a few wide 
