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Entered according to Act of Congress, in J une, 1869, by J. W. Burke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgii
Vol. III—No. 46.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE
EGYPTIANS,
4IIP GYPTIANS live beneath a
sky peculiar to themselves ;
their country is watered by a
river different from all other rivers ; and
then they have established laws and
customs, which are, for the most part,
the opposite of those of the rest of hu
man beings. With them the women go
to market and trade ; the men stay at
home and weave. Everywhere else the
weavers pass the woof above, the Egypt
ians pass it below. The men carry bur
thens on their heads, the women carry
them on their shoulders. No woman
has the office of priesthood for gods of
either sex ; the men only can be priests.
The young men are never constrained
to support their parents, if such be not
their own wish; but the girls are com
pelled to do so even against their will.
Elsewhere the priests of the gods
wear long hair, in Egypt they shave ;
among other men the custom is to cut
the hair when mourning commences for
any near relative; the Egyptians, to
show respect for the dead, let the hair
and the beard which previously they
shaved off, grow on their heads and un
der their chins. Other men live separ
ate from their animals; the Egyptians
live pell mell with them. Elsewhere,
wheat and barley are staples of food,
but the Egyptians consider it a disgrace
to live upon that diet; they use dour ah.
They knead dough with their feet and
clay with their hands, and they lift ma
nure with both hands. Every man
wears two garments ; the woman has
only one. Other people fasten the
rings and the cables of their sails in
side ; the Egyptians fasten them out
side. The Greeks write and count from
left to right; the Egyptians go from
right to left, and, in doing so, claim that
they go to the right and the Greeks to
the left. They have two kinds of let
ters—the sacred and the vulgate char
acters.*
* The hieroglyphics and demotic charac
ters.
MACON, GEORGIA, MAY 14, 1870.
As they are observers of ceremonies
more than other men they practice the
following customs : they drink from a
brazen cup which they cleanse every
An Egyptian Princess in her palanquin (according to Wilkinson).
day; and this not some only but all of
them do. They wear linen garments,
and are very careful to have them al
ways fresh and clean. They deem it
better to be neat than to be handsome.
Every three days the priests shave their
whole bodies, so that no vermin may
defde them while they are serving the
gods. They wear nothing but linen
garments and shoes of papyrus bark,
and they are not permitted to use oth-
ers. They wash themselves with fresh
water twice each day and twice each
night. They accomplish other rites in
numerable, one might say, but they en-
joy uncommon advantages. They nei
ther wear out nor spend what belongs
to them ; sacred viands are cooked for
them ; every day plenty of beef and
geese are sent to them; grape wine is
distributed to them ; but, at the same
time they cannot eat fish. No beans
are planted throughout all Egypt, and
if any come up, they are not eaten,
cither raw or cooked. The priests can
not bear the sight of them, since they
Whole No. 150.
look upon the vegetable as impure.
Each god is served not by one priest
only, but by several, one of whom is the
high priest, and when he dies his son
succeeds him.
The Egyptians regard the hog as an
impure animal. Consequently, should
one of them in passing near a pig, be
touched by him, he is made to go down
into the river without undressing, and
they bathe him in his clothing; on the
other hand, the Egyptian swineherds
only, among all the population, cannot
enter any temple in the country. No
one gives them his daughters in marri
age, and no one marries their daugh
ters, nor can they intermarry excepting
among themselves. The Egyptians do
not think it proper to sacrifice a pig to
any other deities than the Moon and
Bacchus;* to them only they sacrifice
that animal, at the same moment, du
ring the full Moon, and eat the flesh of
the victim. The manner of making this
sacrifice of swine is as follows: When
the victim has been slaughtered, they
fasten together the extremity of the
tail, trie spleen, and the kidneys. These
are then wrapped in all the fat found
in the stomach, and are burned upon
the altar. The remainder of the flesh
is eaten during the same day at the
close of the sacrifice: no one would
taste it on any other day.
At the evening repast, on the day
previous to the festival of Bacchus,
(Asiri,) every man, in front of his own
door, having slaughtered a young pig
gives it to the swineherd who had sold
it to him to take away. The Egyptians
celebrate the rest ot the festival as the
Greeks do, in all but the music and
singing.
Extracts from Herodotus.
».«>•
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
A Chicken Without a Handle.
Little Malcolm, three years old, es
pying a fowl which, by some accident,
had lost its tail feathers, exclaimed in
great surprise:
“0, mamma! There’s a chicken
that hasn't any handle /”
* Isis andfAsiri.