another source of the tradition

Posted by Catherine Cartwright JOnes on December 17, 1999 at 16:04:40:

In Reply to: Harquus questions posted by Carrie on December 17, 1999 at 05:27:31:

Here's another source of the harquus tradition. Hard to say what any
lady's thinking when she gets dressed up to pary, but this is one line
of tradition that's got some provenance.

When Anath's consorts Baal and Aliyan were murdered by Mot (the epic
poem of Baal and Anath, [which seems to be where the oldest henna
traditions come from , about 3000 BCE Syria, but dating from a much
earlier period, 7000 BCE in Anatolia)] there was great grieving
because Baal and Aliyan were the gods that brought rain and growth,
and Mot was the god of summer heat which destroyed all life (prototype
for the evil eye). In memory of this annual event, women made little
cuts on themselves to shed a little blood, cutting between the eyes,
tip of nose, cheeks, tip of tongue, chin. Their blood sacrifice was
part of what brought Baal and Aliyan back to life (Anath went to the
underworld and retrieved Baal, and then slew Mot and all the enemies
of Baal. She harquused and hennaed to go to a big party and kill
everyone in sight to avenge Baals death. ) Harquus was in the same
places as the cuts, and probably were a gentler proxy for same.
The Hebrew Biblical injunction against tattooing and scarrification
may be seen as evidence of the popularity of this tradition in the
region.

The same cuts were made in one of the tribal groups in Morocco in the
last century. This time, the mother of a bride made these cuts on the
bride's face, then also the right shoulder, all the joints down the
right side and at the vulva. (During the night of the henna) They
dabbed up the blood with some cotton, and wrapped it up. When the
bride fixed her new husband their first meal in their new home, she
put the bloody cotton in the water with dates to soak. When her
husband ate the dates with her blood mingled, it made him faithful to
her.

Slipping a little blood into the new husbands food to insure fidelity
is NOT limited to Morocco!

Follow-ups:

• Re: another source of the tradition Kenzi 23:54:30 12/17/99 (2)
  • and the CUTEST harquus of all time, if you'll give me a hand Catherine Cartwright Jones 03:49:52 12/18/99 (1)
    • Re: and the CUTEST harquus of all time, if you'll give me a hand Kenzi 04:05:36 12/18/99 (0)