DISCOVERY 



widow held two handkerchiefs knotted together, one 

 in each hand, and with these she alternately wiped the 

 tears from her cheeks and patted the grave. 



Meanwhile, in another part of the cemetery, a 

 Coptic priest was going from grave to grave, censing 

 both the mourners and the tombs, in return for which 

 service he was sometimes presented with additional 

 incense or with a certain amount of grain. Grain 

 thus collected is generally distributed afterwards to 

 the poor. \\'ater-carriers were busy plying their 

 trade, or occasionally offering a free drink in the name 

 of a dead relation. A sweet-seller was also adver- 

 tising her wares by means of a tin rattle, similar to 

 those bought as children's toys, fixed on to the top 

 of a long stick round which was twisted a thick sugary 

 substance. Close to the cemetery a market was in 

 full swing, where, besides various foods set out fcr 

 sale, rattles and other toys as well as small tin cups 

 could be bought for the children. The cups were hung 

 round with small heart-shaped pieces of tin, which 

 jingled against the sides. Such cups are bought and 

 presented to the children by their parents in memory 

 of this day's ceremony. On another part of the 

 ground a professional poet was entertaining a large 

 crowd. On seeing me, and on my presenting him with 

 a small sum of money, he started reciting a poem in my 

 honour, of which the only words to be distinguished 

 were those with which he wound up the oration — " God 

 will that you return safely." He very cleverly 

 twirled on one of his fingers a drum, resembling in 

 shape the nadam used by the wailing women, and in 

 it he collected money from the bystanders (Fig. on 

 cover). His attendant was provided with a similar 

 instrument on which he beat an accompaniment to the 

 poet's recitations. 



Gifts of bread, sometimes in the form of flat loaves, 

 sometimes in rings, as well as dates, sweets, etc., are 

 often given to the poor at this festival in the name of 

 a dead relation. 



The cemetery at Der el-Maharrak abutted on to the 

 desert which stretched away into the distance, where 

 rise the limestone cliffs, forming the barrier between 

 the lower and upper deserts. 



The festival lasts till sunset, when all who have 

 remained in the cemetery up to this time return home- 

 wards, wailing as they go. Often, even after they 

 have reached their homes, they continue their demon- 

 strations of grief, striking their faces and beating their 

 hands together, as they have done at the graveside. 

 On such occasions their neighbours will come to 

 condole with them. As night falls the wailing ceases, 

 and the next day work goes on as usual. 



A study of the religious ceremonies connected with 

 mourning for the dead among the ancient Egyptians, 



reveals interesting and instructive parallels to the 

 rites of both Copts and Muslims just described. 



I am indebted to my brother. Dr. A. M. Blackman, 

 for my information on these earher customs. From 

 the earliest times it was the custom to honour the 

 memory of the dead at certain definite periods. The 

 name given to this ancient rite was Prt, meaning " the 

 coming forth," or " the going up." The word Jala , 

 as I have stated above, has an exactly similar meaning. 

 Yvom the same root is derived Utlu' , used in the com- 

 bination tiilu' esh-shems (" sunrise "). Pri has also this 

 meaning in Egyptian. Both the Egyptian pry and 

 the Arabic iala' are the regular verbs used with the 

 meaning " to rise " of the sun. 



In ancient Egyptian prt (= Arabic /ala'). in its 



Fig. 3.— distributing BRE.^DRIXGS to FIlCiHS .\T THE 

 GR.\VESIDE. 



technical sense of " ascent," " going up to " or " pre- 

 cession to " the necropolis, nearly alwaj^s appears in the 

 combination prt-r-hrw, meaning " a coming forth," or 

 " a going up, at the voice " (i.e. with offerings to the 

 cemetery), the " voice " being originally that of the 

 living king (= Horus),' bidding the offerers draw 

 nigh to the grave of his predecessor, the dead king 

 (= Osiris). Later, of course, the " voice " was the 

 voice of the mortuary priest who replaced the king, 

 Horus, at the funerals of his subjects, or who acted 

 as king's deputy at royal tombs. 



In the tomb-chapel of Methen, who lived at the end 

 of the Third Dynasty, the following formula occurs : 

 " Grace granted by Anubis who presides in the Necro- 

 polis, a ' coming forth unto the voice ' there by all his 

 (i.e. the deceased Methcn's) villages (that formed his 

 mortuary endowment) on the uag festival, . . . the first 

 day of the month, the first day of the half-month, 



' N. de G. Davies and A. H. Gardiner, The Tomb of Anien- 

 emhet, London, 1915, p. 85. 



