Thursday of the Dead

Infobox Holiday
holiday_name=Thursday of the Dead


caption=
observedby=Arab Christians and Muslims in the Levant
date=On a Thursday that falls between the Holy Thursdays of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions
date2001=April 5
observances=Prayer, visiting cemeteries
celebrations=Festive family meals and the giving of food, coloured eggs and sweets to the poor, relatives and children
type=Popular feast day for women
significance=Honours the souls of the dead
relatedto=Easter, particularly Holy Thursday; possible relation to springtime Nebi Musa festival

Thursday of the Dead ( _ar. خميس الأموات, "Khamis al-Amwat"), also known as Thursday of the Secrets ( _ar. الأسرار خميس, "Khamis al-Asrar") or Thursday of the EggsMorgenstern, 1966, p. 158.] is a feast day shared by Christians and Muslims in the LevantPanzac, 1995, p. 381.] that falls sometime between the Holy Thursdays of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions. It is a day on which the souls of the dead are honoured. A popular day among women in the region, it underscores the mutual influences between Arab Christians and Arab Muslims.

Overview

In Julian Morgenstern's "The Rites of Birth, Marriage, Death, and Kindred Occasions Among the Semites" (1966), Thursday of the Dead is described as a universal day for visiting tombs, engaged in most assiduously by townspeople, followed by "fellaheen" ("peasants"), and then Bedouins. Women would go to the cemetery before sunrise to pray for the departed and distribute bread cakes known as "kaʿak al-asfar" ("the yellow roll") and dried fruit to the poor, to children, and to relatives. Children would also receive painted eggs, generally yellow in colour.

The sharing of this tradition between Christians and Muslims is thought to date back to at least the twelfth century when Saladin urged Muslims to adopt Christian customs in order to promote religious tolerance in the region. cite web|publisher=Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem|title=Three Faces of Monotheism: Bread Stamp|url=http://www.blmj.org/SpeciExh/3FacesMono/threeFaces/slideshow18.html|accessdate=2008-03-14]

In Lebanon

Anne N. Fuller in "Buarij, Portrait of a Lebanese Muslim Village" (1961), lists Thursday of the Dead among a series of springtime rituals preceded by Thursday of the Animals and Thursday of the Plants, and followed by Thursday of the Jumping.cite journal|journal=lectio difficilior|date=February 2004|author=Philippe Guillaume and Noga Blockman|title=By my God, I bull leap (Psalm 18:30 // 2 Samuel 22:30)|issn=1661-3317|url=http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/04_2/PDF/guillaume_blockman.pdf] Fuller writes that in it can be "seen that ancient Near East belief that the living as well as the dead form a single community."Fuller, 1968, p. 86.]

In Palestine and Syria

Letters from Captain Charles Warren which he composed in Palestine in 1901 identify the day as taking place "in Spring, about the Greek Easter." He describes the day as the culmination of seven consecutive Thursdays marked by wailing over the dead.cite journal|title=Quarterly Statement By Palestine Exploration Fund|journal=Palestine Exploration Fund|issue=Issue no. 8|author=Captain Warren|year=1936|pages=83] A 1948 article in "The Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society" places the day's commemoration at fourteen days before the Good Friday of the Eastern church.cite journal|title=Palestine Oriental Society|journal=Palestine Oriental Society|year=1948|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=GJQSAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Thursday+of+the+Dead%22&dq=%22Thursday+of+the+Dead%22&pgis=1|pages=p. 141] The same article notes that it is an important day, popular among women, and that, "The visiting of the dead is in most cases very superficial, and the time is actually spent in good company out." The carrying of dyed eggs by the women of Jerusalem on their afternoon visits to cemeteries on Thursday of the Dead is noted by Julian Morgenstern, who also writes that the day formed part of "djum'et al-amwat" ("the week of the dead"). According to Frederick Jones Bliss in his lecture on religions of Syria and Palestine in 1912, Thursday of the Dead formed a part of Muslim mourning practices: "The cemetery may be visited every Thursday after the death occurs and then annually on the Thursday of the dead."Bliss, 1912, p. 294.] In the 1892-1893 Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, it is noted that the practice of distributing food to the needy by the family of the deceased at the tomb site which begins immediately after their death is considered "rahmy" ("mercy"). For some, this practice would continue through until the first Thursday of the Dead after the person's passing.cite web|title=Quarterly Statement - Palestine Exploration Fund|author=Palestine Exploration Fund|publisher=Palestine Exploration Fund|year=1892-1893|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=7lU9AAAAMAAJ&q=%22Thursday+of+the+Dead%22&dq=%22Thursday+of+the+Dead%22&pgis=1]

Today

Commemorations of the day are less commonly observed throughout the region today, though the stamped cakes of bread continue to be distributed on the Thursday and Monday following the death of a family member and during the Easter season.

In the Syrian city of Homs, Thursday of the Dead is still commemorated in the same way. Many there now prefer to call it "Thursday of Sweetness", since the purchase of sweets by women and their distribution to children and the poor is seen as a double act of "sweetness".cite web|title=Thursday of the "Dead" alive in Homs (Arabic language)|url=http://www.bab.com/news/full_news.cfm?id=2453|date=April 22 2001|accessdate=2008-03-17|publisher=Bab al-Akhbar ]

ee also

* Day of the Dead
* Nabi Musa
* Feast of Saint George
* Pentecontad calendar

References

Bibliography

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