It Requires Three Full Days To Get Through This Business Of Visiting.
In
truth, it is a very serious affair, for we were obliged to eat cake, and
sip sherbet, or white brandy, at every house we went to, otherwise we
should confer an affront upon our friends.
At all times, a great
quantity of white brandy, which the Jews distil themselves, is drunk,
but especially on these occasions.
The Governor of Mogador gave orders, not long ago, that no Mussulman
should enter the Jewish quarter, to prevent the faithful from being
seduced into drinking this insidious spirit. I shall just mention what a
Christian is obliged to conform to, whilst visiting the Barbary Jews on
these high days and holidays.
1st. You must eat a piece of cake, at least of _one_ sort, if not of
several kinds, and drink a little brandy, wine somets, or boiled juice
of the grape, or sherbet. In many of the houses, they give nothing but
brandy, which is tastefully placed out on small round tables, as at a
pastrycook's shop.
2nd. You must admire the new dresses of the ladies, who are radiantly
and sumptuously attired "in flaming purple and refulgent gold," their
ornaments likewise of gold, silver, and all manner of precious stones;
for the daughters of Israel are, as on bridal days, all begemmed,
bejewelled, and diamonded, stuck over with gems as thick as stars "seen
in the galaxy or milky-way." On these festivals, it is absolutely a
matter of orthodox observance that the Jews and Jewesses should wear
something new.
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