As the city stands at the bottom of an immense ravine,
and the Indians of the neighbourhood take a pride in kindling bonfires
on heights which might seem inaccessible, the scene is very striking
when the darkness of night is suddenly and simultaneously lit up by
hundreds of fires, which cast a glare on surrounding objects, producing
an effect at once weird and picturesque.[551]
[The Midsummer fires among the Mohammedans of Morocco and Algeria.]
The custom of kindling bonfires on Midsummer Day or on Midsummer Eve is
widely spread among the Mohammedan peoples of North Africa, particularly
in Morocco and Algeria; it is common both to the Berbers and to many of
the Arabs or Arabic-speaking tribes. In these countries Midsummer Day
(the twenty-fourth of June, Old Style) is called [Arabic: _l'ansara_].
The fires are lit in the courtyards, at cross-roads, in the fields, and
sometimes on the threshing-floors. Plants which in burning give out a
thick smoke and an aromatic smell are much sought after for fuel on
these occasions; among the plants used for the purpose are giant-fennel,
thyme, rue, chervil-seed, camomile, geranium, and penny-royal. People
expose themselves, and especially their children, to the smoke, and
drive it towards the orchards and the crops. Also they leap across the
fires; in some places everybody ought to repeat the leap seven times.
Moreover they take burning brands from the fires and carry them through
the houses in order to fumigate them.
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