reply, 'We are Bo Bedou,' of which the Americanism would be, 'We are Hay-seeds, and you must not expect too much of us.'"' In China, according to Marshall Broomhall, "a Koranic name, King-ming, has to be given to a child within seven days of its birth, upon which occasion a feast has to be made. [Still-born children are not to be named.] The rich are expected to kill a sheep, two if the child is a male, and the poor are to be fed with the meat. In selecting the name the father has to hold the child with its face turned toward Mecca and repeat a prayer in each ear of the child. Then taking the Koran he turns over any seven pages, and from the seventh word of the seventh line of the seventh page gives the name. At seven years of age the child is taught to worship and is circumcised." In Egypt when the child is to be named, three candles are taken and called by the chosen names. They are then lighted simultaneously, and the one burning longest is the name given to the child. One the seventh day, if the child is a boy-girls are not worth the trouble-he will be placed in a sieve with several grains of wheat, barley, etc. The mixture is then shaken while the midwife says: "Everything is shaken that it may benefit, and I am shaking you that you may learn to be good when you are chastised." Among the Moslems of India, who follow the traditions of their sect, "at the birth of a child, after he has been properly washed with water and bound in swaddling clothes, he is carried by the midwife to the assembly of male relatives and friends, who have met for the occasion, when the chief Maulawi, or some person present, recites the Azan, or summons to prayer, in the infant's right ear, and the Iquamah, which is the Azan with the addition of the words 'We are standing up for prayers,' in the left ear; a custom which is founded on the example of the Prophet, who is related to have done so at the birth of his grandson Hasan. The Maulawi then chews a little date fruit and inserts it into the infant's mouth, a custom also founded upon the example of Mohammed. ["Mishkat," Book XVIII, chap. iv, 1.] This ceremony being over, alms are distributed, and fatihahs are recited for the health and prosperity of the child. According to the traditions, the amount of silver given in alms should be of the same weight as the hair on the infant's headthe child's hair being shaved for this purpose.' (Hughes, "Dictionary of Islam," p. 50.) This ceremony of shaving the head of the infant child and offering a sacrifice is based on the practice of Mohammed himself and the custom was probably current in Arabia long before his day. It is called the Aqiqah. Two sheep are sacrificed for a boy and one for a girl, and it is interesting to note that, on the testimony of Ayesha, no bone of this sacrifice is to be broken. I have often called the attention of Moslem parents who observe this ceremony to the redemption of the first-born as related in the Book of Exodus, and the fulfilment of this type in Jesus Christ on the Cross, of Whom no bone was broken. This dedication ceremony, or something equivalent to it, is found in all Moslem lands. From its very birth the Moslem child is a Moslem. The naming of the child, according to orthodox tradition, takes place on the seventh day. The child is named either after some Moslem saint or prophet, especially Mohammed, Hassan, or Hussein; after one of the attributes of God, with the prefix Abd (slave or servant of); and more rarely because of circumstances suggested by the auspicious hour, the planet, or the sign of the zodiac. In India, Madagascar, and the East Indies many other customs are observed which are not purely Moslem, but have been adopted from other religions. In India, for example, Miss Martin of Calcutta tells us that in the fifth month they "observe the ceremony of Khir Khitai, or feeding the child with milk, rice, and sugar cooked together. The stuff is taken from the plate with an old rupee, and a little put into the child's |