University of Khartoum

BELIEFS ABOUT THE MANSIONS OF THE MOON

Author(s): J. W. CROWFOOT
Source: Sudan Notes and Records, Vol. 3, No. 4 (DEC. 1920), pp. 271-279
Published by: University of Khartoum
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41715731
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Notes and Records

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 BELIEFS ABOUT

THE MANSIONS OF THE MOON.

BY J. W. CROWFOOT.

The old astronomical division of the year into twelve Houses of

the Zodiac is familiar by name at least in Europe. In the countries
which have come under the influence of Islamic civilisation the

astronomical year is more commonly divided into twenty eight parts

which are known as Mansions of the Moon, and these are still of
considerable importance because, unlike the shifting months of the
Mohammedan Calendar, they give practically fixed dates year in,
year out. An almanac based on them can, therefore, be of immediate
practical use to the agriculturist, like the Coptic Calendar in Egypt.!1)

Each Mansion (menzil) has thirteen days except one which has
(2)fourteen and the twenty-eight therefore provide a year of 365 days :
in leap years here in the Sudan an extra day is generally added to
the last Mansion. Each is named after one or more of the stars
which lie about the ecliptic or apparent path way of the Sun, and the
table in the appendix gives a list of the star names in question with

i1) Cp . S. N, and R. /. p. 2q6> IL p . 10 f for examples of the

use of these divisions to agriculturists in the" Sudan. The writer of the
second article mentioned should not however have spoken of the " Man-
sions or phases of the Moon " . they are two quite different things .

(2) There is some difference of opinion in the Sudan as to whether

Jebha or 11 arfa should be given the extra day. The extrai day was
added , according to local report , zvhen Joshua the son of Nun was
fighting against the Amor ites and called upon the Sun and Moon to
stand still i{and the sun stayed in the midst of heaven , and hasted not
to go down about a whole day" ( Joshua X jj ) : the question in dispute
is whether he was in the Mansion of J ebha or Tarfa on that occasion.

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272 SUDAN NOTES AND RECORDS.

the identifications of the stars given by Ginzel (0 and the European

dates for the present beginning of each Mansion.
Calendars somewhat similar to those in use among the Arabs are
found in India and China, but the learned are not agreed as to where
the 28 fold division of the year originated. Some, such as Ginzel,
think that it came first from Mesopotamia, others, the writer of the
article 'Zodiac' in the Encyclopaedia Britannica for example, think
that the Arabs borrowed it from India.

In the Sudan this Calendar, as we have already said, is of genuine

practical value to the agriculturist, but it has many other uses besides.
Here, as elsewhere, the belief in the influence of the heavenly bodies
upon all human affairs is widely held, and those who know will not
contract a marriage r start any important business unless the Moon
is in a lucky Mansion. I am indebted to the most learned native
astronomer I know, Sheikh El jajjz Sulimn, for two documents
which bear upon these beliefs ; Sheikh El I^ajjz, I should say, is a
real astronomer and not an astrologist.
The first of these documents is a series of verses which are attribut-
ed to the Perfect Wall Sheikh El Taiyib El Sammni El Jami 'bi of
Khgalb, whose tomb is at Um Merhi where he is said to have died
in the year 1822.
The verses run as follows : -

"Oh you who wish to be happily married, do not be in a hurry

Do not get married except when the Moon is in a lucky Mansion :
For in some mansions it is lucky and in others it is not :
In Sharatn the wife will die ; in Butain the husband :

In Thuraiya the marriage will be happy : in Dabrn you will be-

come poor :

In Haq'a your wife will bear a son ; in Han'a only a girl :

(i) Handbuch der mathematischen u. technischen Chronologie ,

Leipzig , io , Vol . /. pp 7 2, 7j. So far as J can control them , his
identifications correspond with the stars and groups of stars recognized
by my local informant , except in Mansion 2 .
(2) I have to thank F er i d Eff. Atiy a for much help in translating
both these documents .

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 BELIEFS ABOUT THE MANSIONS OF THE MOON. 273

In Dira' perhaps an honourable and respected man :

It is your fault if you are married in Nathra and in Jarfa you will
certainly become poor :

Marriages in Jebha end in divorce, in Zubra they are lucky :

arfa brings ill luck and poverty, and 'Aww also avoid :
Simk is lucky and blessed and Ghafr too. is happy :
In Zabnn your wife will commit adultery, in Iklil you will be-
come poor :

In Qalb your wife will be loving, but Shaula is to be avoided :

In Na'aimyou will be prosperous, and happy too in Buida :
In Sa'd Dabih the husband will die the same year :
In Sa'd Bula' you will grow rich, so haste to be married then :
Happiness is in Sa'd El Su'ud and also in Sa'd El Akhbiya :
In Fargh El Muqaddim and Fargh El Mu'akhkhar it is said women
are childless : j
In Ht a wife will prove the best of women and bring you all
happiness :
* These rules are taken ifrom our ancestors who have tried them and
proved them :
But God is the only Judge and He may change thse rules :
So if things follow not according to* them, the change is also good :
We have given you our advice."
The second document given to me by Sheikh El Hajjz describes
the beliefs of the Fellata concerning the Mansions of the Moon, and is'
more interesting tban the first because it is not so exclusively concern-
ed with matrimony : in fact there must be little in "the common
round, the daily task" of the Fellata which does not -find mention in it.
Sheikh El Haj jaz tells me that the Fellata assert that Noah's ark
settled in Bornu (hence the ame - Barr-Nh ! ) and that these cret
lore of the lunar influences was written on the boards out of which the
ark was imade. This knowledge they will not part with for love or
money and few therefore know all the - details which the Sheikh
has managed to learn. He admits, however, that there are good
and learned people among the Fellata also who do not . believe these
1 9 *

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274 SUDAN NOTES AND RECORDS-

fables, for instance, a certain Sheikh 'Abdulla Ibn Fdi, who has
written a book to prove that those who believe them are erring
against the teaching of the Koran and should be regarded as unbelievers.
The Fellata Calendar is as follows : - (0

1. El Nath A mixed period. Good for writing charms to obtain

the love of women, for marriages, for buying men and women slaves,
for sawing and building. Bad for putting on new clothes which may
lead to wounds, . for approching and serving kings. Bad for business.
Do not make friends, treat patients, travel, measure grain, meddle
with alchemy or call up jinn. Men born now are bad and fail in
business : women immoral but their immorality not becoming public
they win and retain men's love/

2. El Butain. Lucky. Good for works of science (magic), sowing,

treating patients, approaching kings and sherifs, making friends,
writing love-charms. Men born now are good, wise, prosperous and
wealthy, though having many enemies : women grossly immoral,
evil-living and hateful.

3. El Thuraiya . Lucky. Good for mixing deadly poisons, for

'science', travel, petitions, approaching kings and sherifs ; for mar-
riages, purchases in general, building, intercourse with friends, sowing
and reaping, measuring grain, wearing new clothes. Children of both
sexes are happy aud good.

4. El Dabrun. Unlucky. Bad for approaching kings, starting

new projects, marriages, petitions, building, planting trees, meddling
with spirits and treating diseases. Good for writing charms to cause
separation and hatred. Men now born are vil-livers, vicious and
murderers ; women immoral and hateful.

5. El Haq'a . Mixed. Good for mixing poisons, making talis-

mans, psychical experiments, approaching kings, purchasing slaves,
wearing new clothes and travelling. Bad for petitions, marrying and
building. Men now born are unpopular and dangerous : women
good and moral, they have few children but are beloved by men and
do not want.

(*) I have abridged the accounts of the later Mansions because they
contain so much repetition .

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 BELIEFS ABOUT THE MANSIONS OF THE MOON. 275

6. Han'a. Lucky. Good for charitable actions, new projects and

for approaching kings. All born now of either sex are happy and
prosperous.

7. El Diri. Lucky. Like the preceding,

8. El Nathra, Mixed. Practically the same as No. 5.
9. El Tarfa. Unlucky. Good only for undertakings which lead
to destruction, war, nmity, separation and divorce. All born now
unlucky and blame-worthy.

10. El Jebh.a . Mixed. Good for relieving people from the effects
of charms. Bad for measuring grain which will be stolen. Men
born now are clever, crafty and deceitful, women much beloved and
very passionate.
11. El Khuras&ti. Lucky. Good for works designed to please
kings, princes and clerks.
12. El $arfa. Mixed. Do not fight your enemies for they
will beat you.
13. El 'Azvwa. Mixed. Good for making love-philtres.
14. El Simdik. Unlucky.

15. El G haf r. Lucky. Good for all useful projects. Men and
women born now are chaste, trustworthy and a blessing to their
parents.
16. El Zubvn*.. Mixed. Good for meeting kings, petitioning,
sowing, marrying, purchasing animals, making preparations for war
and for quarreling. Bad for putting on new clothes, any one doing so
will have a fit or fall from the roof. Children of both sexes bad.

17. El IkllL Unlucky.

18. El Qalb . Lucky.
19. El Shaula. Mixed.
20. El Na'alm. Lucky.
21. El Buida . Unlucky.
22. Sa'd El D<ibih. Mixed.

23. Sa'dHula*. Mixed,

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276 SUDAN NOTES AND RECORDS.

24. Sa'd El Su'd. Lucky. Especially good for marriages.

25. Sald El Akhblya . Unlucky.
26. El Fargh El Muqaddam . Lucky. Good for charms and for
counter-charms, for magic to find treasures, for beginning a journey.
27. El Fargh El Mu* akhkhar. Mixed. Good for approaching
kings but bad for marriage and wearing new clothes. Men born n<)jv
immoral, women chaste,
28. Batn El IJ/. Lucky.
Another Fellata document which I owe . to the same source is
concerned not with the Mansions of the Moon but with the days of
the ordinary Mohammedan months, the days of the week and the
hours of the day. It shows, as the Sheikh points out, the same
dangerous disbelief in Providence as the sole author and only foreseer
of human happiness and the reverse.
The days of the month which are unlucky are the third, the fifth,
the thirteenth, the sixteenth, the twenty first, the twenty fourth, the
twenty fifth and the last Wednesday in every month.
Of the days of the week, Saturday is good for sport both by land
and water, Sunday for beginning to build, Monday for starting a
journey, Tuesday for letting blood, Wednesday for taking medicine.
Thursday for proffering petitions to judges, kings and great ones, and
Friday for weddings.
It would be long and wearisome to transcribe the luck of each
hour of the day, as the day is divided by the Fellata into twelve hours
beginning with sunrise and each hour of each day has its own special
qualities, so I will be content with the hours of the first day of the
week which is Sunday. The first hour is good for making love, for
approaching rulers and for putting on new clothes : the second is
bad for everything : the third is good fo writing love charms and
requests : the fourth is bad, do nothing in it, neither buy nor sell :
the fifth is good for making trouble, quarrels and such like : in the
sixth ask kings for anything you want : the seventh is bad, do nothing
in it : the eighth is particularly fortunate for all purposes : in the ninth
write to win the affections of men and to incline their hearts : in the
tenth do anything you l&e for it is very fortunate: in the eleventh write
talismans and charms and such like, for it too is very fortunate ; the
twelfth is bad, do no fair action in it for it is good only for what harms.

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 RELIEFS ABOUT THE MANSIONS OF THE MOON. 2*77

This is what they say, writes the Sheikh in conclusion, things

advanced with no proof in support, pretending to a knowledge of the
hidden which is known only to God Almighty, things contrary to
Intelligence and the Faith.
The documents from which the extracts in the last sections have
been taken are interesting for the light which they throw upon the
little things with which the Fellata .is chiefly concerned. Interesting
further, I suggest, because they are so curiously like, even in small
details, the calendars which circulate elsewhere, for example in
English villages. In such a publication, for instance, as Raphael's
Prophetic Almanac you will find, side by side with forecasts of the
weather and tables of the dullest information, sections on the 'Voice
of the Heavens' for each month and an 'Every day Guide' for each
day in the year. I borrowed a- well-used copy last summer from, a
Lincolnshire shepherd and read as follows : -

1920 Jan. I. A very fortunate day for all purposes.

Jan. 2. Avoid females and keep quiet. Do not court or
marry.

Jan. '5. Ask favours until 4.42 p.m. : after that avoid
doing so, avoid superiors.

Jan. 6. Buy, speculate, and push thy business before 3 p.m.

Jan. 7. Be careful. Avoid females, sign ilo writings.
Jan. 13. In the P.M. travel, remove and deal with females.
Jan. 22.* Court, marry, and ask favours in the P.M. and
evening.

On the sam page one learnt that "Mercury in the ninth is good for
science and many discoveries in psychical and metaphysical sciences
are denoted." From other pages I learnt when the rising of the moon
is likely to accelerate the germination and growth of seeds, what re
the most favourable times for gathering herbs for purposes of
astrology and medicine, and on what days in each month maid-
servants and men-servants respectively should be hired. With regard
to the last point, which of course recalls the Fellata's periods when
it is lucky to buy men or women slaves, I was surprised to find that
there are only about half the days in the year when you can safely hire
either men-servants or maid -servants and not a single day on which
you can safely hire both together.

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278 SUDAN NOTES AND RECORDS.

"The Companion to Raphael's Almanac'** which follows the "Prophetic

Messages" contains birthday information respecting the fate of any
child born during the year 1920, as for example : -
14th. March. A child born on this day will have to work hard for
its living. It will meet with many troubles, particularly if a
female, her husband will be far from an ideal one.

29th. March. A child born on this day will be quiet in temper but
fortunate in business. It will rise rapidly in life. If a female,
a happy and successful marriage.
Th book from which these quotations are made is very popular in
England and editions of it are published in India, Australia, South
Africa, Canada and the United States, but the differences between
this book and the Fellata Calendar are, I submit, more external, less
fundamental* than the resemblances. The same principles underlie
both ; in the one they are applied day by day to the Gregorian
Calendar, in the other they are applied to the larger units of the
Mansions. A few very old and once widely held beliefs, such as the
dangerousness or "sacredness" of putting on new clothes and measur-
ing grain, have dropped out of the English Calendar, but the greater
part of the contents of the two almanacs is the same, the Fellata
version being rather the more primitive, picturesque and fullblooded,
but still essentially the same in kind. The reason is not far to seek :
both have drawn their knowledge of the heavens from the same
ultimate source in the East. The fact, none the less, seems worth
considering (which word also carries you back to the stars).

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 BELIEFS ABOUT THE MANSIONS OF THE MOON. 279

APPENDIX.

ARABIC NAME. STARS. DATE OF BEGINNING.

K El Sharatrv or
El Nath. a Aries. 23rd April.
2. El Butain. abe Musca. Sth May.
3. El Thuraiya. Pleiades n Taurus. 18th May.
4. El Dabrn. mByic Taurus. 3't May.
5. EI Haq'a. <2>Orion. I3th June.
6. El Han'a. njlvy Gemini. 26th June;
7. El Dira'. Gemini. 9th July.
8. El Nathra. ye Cancer. 22nd July.
9. El Tarfa. ' Cancer X Leo. 4th August.
10. El Jabha. any Leo. 18th August.
11. El Zubra or El
Khurasn. 00 Leo. 31st August.
12. El ijarfa. Leo. ^th September.
13. El 'Awwa. iryde Virgo. 26th September.
14. El.Simk. d Virgo. 9th October.
15. El Simk. ,x^ Virgo. 22nd October.
16. El Zubn. ! a g Libra. 4^ November.
17. El Iklil. : g Scorpio. *7th November.
18. El Qalb. j a scolio. 30th November.
19. El Shaula. ; X Scorpio. I2t^ December.
20. El Na'alm. | yen<fT^ Sagittary. 25th December.
21. El Buida. 1 Starless region near if
Sag : 8th January.
22. Sa'd El Dbih. a 6 Capricorn 21st January.
23. Sa'd Bula'. 1 EflV quarius. 3rd February.
24. Sa'd El Su'd. ' Aquarius. l6th ebruar.
25. Sa'd El Akhblya Aquarius. 29th February.
26. El Fargh '
El Awwal. OL 6 Pegasus. 14th March.
27. EI Fargh ElTni Y Pegasus Andromeda 27th March.
28. Batn EI Hut, 6 Andromeda. 9th April.

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