Feast of St. Bartholomew (24th August), or that of St. Sixtus (6th
August), or of our fruit on the feast of St. James and St. Christopher"
(25th July). [With reference to this feast, Mr. Rockhill gives (Rubruck,
p. 241, note) extracts from Pallas, Voyages, IV. 579, and Professor
Radloff, Aus Siberien, I. 378. - H. C.] The Yakuts also hold such a
festival in June or July, when the mares foal, and immense wooden goblets
of kumiz are emptied on that occasion. They also pour out kumiz for the
Spirits to the four quarters of heaven.
The following passage occurs in the narrative of the Journey of Chang
Te-hui, a Chinese teacher, who was summoned to visit the camp of Kublai in
Mongolia, some twelve years before that Prince ascended the throne of the
Kaans:[4]
"On the 9th day of the 9th Moon (October), the Prince, having called his
subjects before his chief tent, performed the libation of the milk of a
white mare. This was the customary sacrifice at that time. The vessels
used were made of birch-bark, not ornamented with either silver or gold.
Such here is the respect for simplicity....
"At the last day of the year the Mongols suddenly changed their
camping-ground to another place, for the mutual congratulation on the 1st
Moon. Then there was every day feasting before the tents for the lower
ranks. Beginning with the Prince, all dressed themselves in white fur
clothing....[5]
"On the 9th day of the 4th Moon (May) the Prince again collected his
vassals before the chief tent for the libation of the milk of a white
mare. This sacrifice is performed twice a year."
It has been seen (p. 308) that Rubruquis also names the 9th day of the May
moon as that of the consecration of the white mares. The autumn libation
is described by Polo as performed on the 28th day of the August moon,
probably because it was unsuited to the circumstances of the Court at
Cambaluc, where the Kaan was during October, and the day named was the
last of his annual stay in the Mongolian uplands.
Baber tells that among the ceremonies of a Mongol Review the Khan and his
staff took kumiz and sprinkled it towards the standards. An Armenian
author of the Mongol era says that it was the custom of the Tartars,
before drinking, to sprinkle drink towards heaven, and towards the four
quarters. Mr. Atkinson notices the same practice among the Kirghiz: and I
found the like in old days among the Kasias of the eastern frontier of
Bengal.
The time of year assigned by Polo for the ceremony implies some change.
Perhaps it had been made to coincide with the Festival of Water
Consecration of the Lamas, with which the time named in the text seems to
correspond. On that occasion the Lamas go in procession to the rivers and
lakes and consecrate them by benediction and by casting in offerings,
attended by much popular festivity.
Rubruquis seems to intimate that the Nestorian priests were employed to
consecrate the white mares by incensing them. In the rear of Lord
Canning's camp in India I once came upon the party of his Shutr Suwars,
or dromedary-express riders, busily engaged in incensing with frankincense
the whole of the dromedaries, which were kneeling in a circle. I could get
no light on the practice, but it was very probably a relic of the old
Mongol custom. (Rubr. 363; Erman, II. 397; Billings' Journey, Fr.
Tr. I. 217; Baber, 103; J. As. ser. V. tom. xi. p. 249; Atk. Amoor,
p. 47; J. A. S. B. XIII. 628; Koeppen, II. 313.)
NOTE 8. - The practice of weather-conjuring was in great vogue among the
Mongols, and is often alluded to in their history.
The operation was performed by means of a stone of magical virtues, called
Yadah or Jadah-Tash, which was placed in or hung over a basin of water
with sundry ceremonies. The possession of such a stone is ascribed by the
early Arab traveller Ibn Mohalhal to the Kimak, a great tribe of the
Turks. In the war raised against Chinghiz and Aung Khan, when still
allies, by a great confederation of the Naiman and other tribes in 1202,
we are told that Sengun, the son of Aung Khan, when sent to meet the
enemy, caused them to be enchanted, so that all their attempted movements
against him were defeated by snow and mist. The fog and darkness were
indeed so dense that many men and horses fell over precipices, and many
also perished with cold. In another account of (apparently) the same
matter, given by Mir-Khond, the conjuring is set on foot by the Yadachi
of Buyruk Khan, Prince of the Naiman, but the mischief all rebounds on the
conjurer's own side.
In Tului's invasion of Honan in 1231-1232, Rashiduddin describes him, when
in difficulty, as using the Jadah stone with success.
Timur, in his Memoirs, speaks of the Jets using incantations to produce
heavy rains which hindered his cavalry from acting against them. A
Yadachi was captured, and when his head had been taken off the storm
ceased.
Baber speaks of one of his early friends, Khwaja Ka Mulai, as excelling in
falconry and acquainted with Yadagari or the art of bringing on rain and
snow by means of enchantment. When the Russians besieged Kazan in 1552
they suffered much from the constant heavy rains, and this annoyance was
universally ascribed to the arts of the Tartar Queen, who was celebrated
as an enchantress. Shah Abbas believed he had learned the Tartar secret,
and put much confidence in it. (P. Delia V. I. 869.)
[Grenard says (II. p. 256) the most powerful and most feared of sorcerers
[in Chinese Turkestan] is the djaduger, who, to produce rain or fine
weather, uses a jade stone, given by Noah to Japhet.
