RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Mandaeans
the priest. Modern travelers record the use of Thursday also as holy and as sacred to Hibil Ziwa.
The Ginza does not enjoin other sacred
7. System seasons, but it seems clear that cer-
of Cere- tain festivals have been long in use.
monial. New Year's Day is mentioned in the
Ginza as a time to abstain from ablutions in running water, probably on the ground that on that day the angel who protects the waters is engaged in celebrating a festival and consequently the evil powers find their opportunity for assailing men; Mandaeans are therefore on that day not to leave the house and especially not to approach water. Yet scholars testify to the celebration of a New Year's festival, called Nauruz rabba, beginning on the first day of the first winter month and continuing six days, or seven, if with them be reckoned the last day of the old year. On the first day of the year the priests and scholars forecast the prospects of that year. From the eighteenth to the twenty-second of the fourth month is celebrated the feast of the ascension of Hibil Ziwa from the regions of darkness to his own realm of light. The five days intercalated between the eighth and ninth months of the year are a great festival of baptism during which all Mandaeans must bathe three times daily, before meals, and dress wholly in white. The first day of the eleventh month is a feast in honor of the 360 Uthras. The first day of the fifth month is employed to commemorate the Egyptians who perished in the Red Sea. The last day of the old year is preparatory to the New Year's festival. The Mandaean year is solar, divided into twelve months of thirty days each, with five days intercalated between the eighth and ninth months. The year is further divided into seasons of three months each, beginning with winter. The week has seven days, named after the planets. In the matter of the time for prayer there is some contradiction; one passage seems to require it three times a day and twice in the night, another seems to forbid it during the darkness. Prohibition of fasting appears as a mark of opposition to Christianity, though a pretense of fasting is said now to be made because of fear of the Mohammedans. Yet spiritual fasts are enjoined in keeping the members and organs of the body from sinning; moreover, there are times when the priests abstain from flesh. Mandaeans may not eat of the blood of animals, of anything that is pregnant, or of that which still has life or which a beast of prey has pulled down. What has been killed with iron, cleansed, and purified is edible, provided it has not been prepared by others than the faithful. There is no distinction made between what in the natural world is clean and unclean, since " all things which Petahil has made were made for Adam." Of Mandaean sacraments the chief is baptism, with which is bound up communion. Unbaptized children are not reckoned as belonging to the Mandaean community. Baptism must be performed in running water and not in pools or tanks, and is by complete and trine immersion. The baptism of adults is required in a great number of cases; when demanded by an act of consecration or of sin, on Sunday and festivals, on return from a foreign laud, after contact with a
corpse, after being bitten by a snake or a wild animal, or when a ceremony has been omitted. In the Eucharist are used two elements, corresponding to the Host and wine of Catholic ceremonial. Its purpose is to consecrate the participant by imparting special strength. Prerequisities are baptism, good repute, and adherence to the Mandaean faith. It is received at the festivals. The bread is prepared from fine white flour by priests, without salt or leaven, divided into small portions, and baked in a new oven. It is kept in the priest's house, and is received directly into the mouth from the priest's fingers. Another usage connected with baptism and with Sunday observance is the giving of the hand, called by the Mandaeans kusta (" fidelity "), which may be understood from a corresponding Manichean custom to signify mutual support. As a provision against sudden death, unprovided with the common consecration, there is a sort of mass for the soul by the bishop, by which the beneficiary is obligated to an ascetic life. The church building proper of the Mandaeans is for the priests and their helpers only; the laity remain at the entrance. It is small, holding only a very few persons, has only two windows, and the door is always at the south, so that the entrant may look at the North Star. It contains no altar and no ornament, but has a few shelves in the corners for vessels. It is always near running water. At the consecration of a church a dove is sacrificed — a trace of the old Ishtar worship. The injunction to marry and people the earth is stringent, and condemnation of Christian asceticism severe.
The Mandaean ministry has three grades. The first is that of Shkanda, deacon. The candidate must be without physical blemish, and is generally taken from the family of a priest or a bishop. He undergoes a preliminary training of twelve years under priests, accompanying them on their journeys, and at the age of nineteen is ordained and begins to assist the priest or bishop in 8. The the services. After a year in this Clergy. grade, he is admitted to the second grade, that of Tarmida, priest or presbyter, being ordained by a bishop and two priests or by four priests empowered by the bishop, but only on condition that the candidate is approved by the community. The period of probation involves a trial lasting over at least sixty-two days, and may through inadvertence or accident in the conduct of the trial be prolonged for several months. A part of the ceremony is bathing three times daily in a river in full clothing, the wet robes being changed only after the candidate has completed a ritual of prayer. The ordination is terminated by baptism, in which the candidate's wife and mother participate, if they are still living, and a feast in which presents are given to the poor. The highest grade is Ganzivra, " treasurer," or bishop. The candidate, who is chosen from among the presbyters, must show his ability to explain difficult passages in the Mandaean scriptures. Still another grade is reported by Petermann, that of Rish amma, " head of the people," a rank corresponding to that of patriarch or pope. This grade, according to the Mandaeans, has been filled only twice, once befora
Mandseans Maude