. 1926. THE HOLY FIRE Jerusalem's Famous Spectacle : By F. Lyman MacCallum, Constantinople, May 13. Fortune was kind enough to send "us to Jerusalem this year just at the time of the Oriental Easter, - Which fell on the first Sunday of | May. 'There, through the very great Kindness of the Armenian Pa- h, we were given seats in His litude's own balcony overlooking interior of the Church of the ly Sepulchre on the Saturday morning when the amazing cere- mony of the Holy Fire took place. The Holy Fire is the last of the miracles. Two prelates are locked into the Holy Sepulchre with bun- thrust out of two port holes in te sides of the .Sepulchre .and the waiting multitude goes mad in-the Malis! that the fire has Mdescended tly from the altars of heaven. telegram used to be dispatched to His Majesty the Sultan notifying him that the heavenly had ar- rived, a fast ship would-be in walt- ng at Jaffa to carry the new fire to Sea port, whence it from candle to candle 'arthest corner of Russia. Capts of Egypt and the Abys- sinians still send off runners bear- j the Holy Fire to their distant 4 , The Armenians now teach r people plainly that there Is nothing miraculous about the, fire and the Greeks allow the same thing to be understood without openly confessing it, but some of the small- er Hastern churches make no such concession to rationalism. In the year 1000 a calif razed all the builld- 'Ings of the Holy Sepulchre because tales of the frauds practised at ceremony. Hundreds of people ve been killed in faction fights or 'trampled to death at these sacred gatherings. All this may be rather shocking to onr Western ideas of religion and conduct, but an Eastern prelate can make out a good case for most of what takes place. The . annual Holy Fire ceremony may be regarded as an ecclesiastical sport- "Ing event, which helps the churches 'much the same ways as football American fastitutions of high ---------- Sag ! Crowds Mass. 3 ." When we took our places at 9 a.m. in a little balcony high up above the floor, the crowd down below was 'feet shoulders. At this the clapping be small {came a hundred times louder and the : _ hundred Coptic pligrims 'Hgypt, wild-looking men in Arab robes and turbans, el clasping a bundle of candles, d, was almost everyone the bullding, A file of police these pligrims to their area of - Near the doof a double t police atood at ease leaning oak pickaxe handles, = 'which would subdue éven 'd Christian soldier. Copts harbored British Tommies, ws © whose job up the rush of {ing lines of Copts od and Syrians' attempted every year. of the British officers of the | ugly "black:snake : Bepulebre is a building Over a building. There is first the rotunda with its ugly iron dome open at the top to' admit light. This rotunda is built aroand and over the Tcmnb itself, which is a large marble mausoleum contain- ing on one side the Chapel of the Angels, from which a tiny door opens into the jewel encrusted cave. itself. At the back of this, but 'with no connecting door, is a chapel belong- ing to the Copts. There are, of course, many other parts to that conglomeration of buildings which is known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, for no less than six branches of the Christian Church, snd even a Moslum college, have their own places there. But the ro- tunda and this Tomb it covers are all which can be seen from the balcohy are [of the Armenian chapel. For yet another hour the crowd continued to gather. A troop of eighty small, khaki-clad Armenian] orphan boys were presently arranged | as an elastic border along some of the aisles which are to be kept The crowd behind them in most places, wedged #0 tightly "that movement was impossi- ble. That is to say, the upper parts of the bodies were so wedged. Down among their feet there would seem to have béen mors room, fof an occasional late pligrim was ob- served to rise from the floor in the very front place at the orphans' backs, having evidently wormed his wiy from the rear through the thicket of legs. There was a sur- prising number of infants and small teddlers about. These are brought because of the belief that to have viewed the ceremony ensures them entrance to Paradise should they die within a year. But shortly be- fore the service started, one father, with a girl perched on one shoul- der and a boy on the other, was ob- served making his way out. Bvi- dently he had 'decided that the chances of his children's attaining heaven were rather too good in that frenzied mob. #) Loud Chanting Heard. At 10.30 loud chanting was heard from the Syrian Chapel end the crown began to grow excited. A self-appointed cheer leader climbed on to the shoulders of his fellows and started them om a heavy chan, he chilling a line and they answering. He waved the time with his hands and swaying body and they took it up with slow clapping that soon be- gan fo beat on the brain. Finally he shatched a cane and rose in his excitement to do a sword dance standing at full height on sagging responsgs=fairly crashed out. At the end all the women joined in a lohg ¢ry or screech that sounded very much like the whistle of u loco motive, At 10.45 the Armenian eccleal- tics made a slow circuit' of the pulchré and retired. The priests' gowns are of striped crimson and gold with a pointed black silk hood covering the head to the level of the eyes, and from below project bushy beards. With them moved the Ar- menian Patriaréh of Jerusalem in a cope of gorgeous creamy brocade ornamented with an embroidered grape vine of green and red, his tall mitre thick with jewels. This pro- cession retired, and for half an hour nothing significant took place. Curv. olice with linked arms sthained Dae "against the compress- ed mass of humanity which rocked slowly and formed eddifs under the ishaft of dusty sunlight striking through the open dome. | At halt past eleven a rich, heavy bait began to toll, the spontaneous THE DAILY BRITISH WHIG Fae Robert Heford Co. Limited, Favonta, ne Ha Saint N. aif CUNARD ANCHOR'DONALDSON chating swelled again and a Mo- hammedan priest in turban and black gown advanced and applied wax seals and tape to the outer door of the Sepulchre. . For hundreds of years Mohammeadans have been the keepers of the coveted key of the Holy Sepulchre, which could. uot safely be placed in the hands of any of the interested Christian: bodies. A young British officer in khaki, re- presenting the High Commissioner of Palestine, advanced, bare-head- ed, and took a position directly ia front of the Sepulchre door. The Armenian Patriarch retired to his geat in the balcony far ahoye "the turmoil. A bishop dressed in his robes acts as his substitute in the ensuing ceremonfes. -- : Greek Procession. The Greek prosession, headed by eleven banners began to shoulder its way around the Sepulchre. Behind these banners came a dodble row consisting of ten priests each, wear- ing gorgeous creamy capes covered with gold embroidery. They were followed by their Patriaréh, similar. ly robed with the addition of a glo- bular, jewelled headdress, in his hands a cross and crogier. He is & tiny old man with a glorious golden white beard. He is over eighty and ing. Four or five priests in black form a protecting ring around him, touch his robe and are then drawn across the brofv of the devoted as a charm against illness and bad luck. After the procession bas completed three circuits round the Sepulchre the Patriarch Balted In fromt of the door and was there partly divested ot his robes, and white handker- chiefs were botind round each of his hands. A bundle of candles and two brass tubes or holders for car- rying such a bundle without its be- ing extinguished were placed in his dang honed off the door. Followed Armenian Bishop the Greek pent low and entered the Sepulchre, The Mohammedan pulled to the door after them, a either wall of the Sepulchre is a round port perhaps eight inches In diameter; out-of which the fire comes on one side for the Greeks, for the Armenians on the other. In front of these ports stood hall a dozen whitesclad' runners waiting to rush the new fire to:their Yespective al- tars. What I now mistook for a fight was merely a few marshals pushing the crowd back imto itself to leave room for the runners to get from the Sepulchre to thelr chaps els. The noise 'of the tense multi- tude. was tremendous, though 'not great that people standing side by side could mot speak to each other. The moment wis so dramatic that ever fotelgn speétators d thems selves "shakiig with excitement, Suddenly there 18 a glint of fire in the ports, a thrilling cry and rup- ners leap away. The Armenian Pa- repped to receive the fire aad we, his guests, turn our backs oun the scene below to watch for: the Just above our heads the Armenian bells ring out wildly and a lady who had found a pereh on the bracket from which they wore ang lo a bad five minutes. runner having ascended «long fights of stairs with unbelier- able speed, crosses the chapol st a jas over the heads of the people, who Toa nis with their cheers. must find the ceremonies exhaust-| But éven then hands reach out and army, The seals had before this Jthe exit, The British gladiators scattered in the path of the advancing pilgrims snd they had to work fast ~Pligrims who were st nding still were quite as soundly punched as those who were trying to fight forward. Gradu- ally each Tommy got a little space cleared about him, after which he began seising people and hurling them as projectiles against the crowd on either gide. Sometimes a Bewildered pllgrimy was "thus pungh- ed and thrown to one spot only to bé seized there by another Tommy, punched and th¥own back. An of- ficer, a nice little English boy, had a Copt by the throat backed against the Sepulchre and gave him two or three cracks 'with the black-spake, although plainly he was not hitting hard. Rough as are these methods it must be remembered that they are kindness itself tompared with what the pilgrims would do to each other if they got out of hand. And still one-half of the "roaring throng was without fire and with no means of getting it until it should spread around the réar of the Sepul- ohré and back, for im fromt thére was a wide aisle which it could not cross. But sitting on the marble balustrade of the steps leading to the door of thé Sepulghre was a lit- tle girl, perhaps twelve. She had come with some bigger companions who had been chased frof their perch by the police before the ser- vice began. She had stuck to her place like a limpet and had not been noticed, curled up there with her back against the Sepulchre, She had no expensive bundle of candles like most people, but only one little taper. But now she could wait ao longer for her }ight. She slipped down and ran across the open space behind the British Commissioner and lighted her candle from tha Armenian side. When she hurried back triumphantly to her place a dozen arms stretched their candles towards her and with eihidish seri. ousneéss she extended her spark to one and another. And so it hap- pened that a little girl sittifig chin of knees on the balustrade of the Holy Sepulchre 'Watched the fire, her fire, grow and spread, struggled tor by hundreds of . anxious men, rolling smokily over one-half that gréat congregation' and mounting clear to the topmost balcony by {means of candles Jot down oh strings. Aen Fight Over Danner. Towards the front pf the Sepal- chre four Armeniah banner bearers had struggled into position to head off the procession, Farfther arounl. where the Syrlans were linitg up, la banner was being fought over. Now the priests wonld faise it elear, now other hands 'would snatch & it and drag it down. An excited tace-bearer near the colors was using his badge of office as a spear, driving its sharp end with all his too dcp in the crowd to have any meank 'of striking Back. The police had by now formed themwelves into an effective farewell party, reachs ing from the centre of the floor to A# fast as they could the constables at the head were seizing people and giving them & throw that sent them into the arms of the next official, who passed them along, and so the worshippers were képt on the run until they found themselves out in the courtyard. As Space was thus cleared in the floor orphans began to appear, those little orphans. who had made such an ore dearly hedge at the beginning of the services. They had doubtless had a bad time of -it in the scrimmage and were now, most of them, as Blind - andl furious as bees. 'Thelr heads would be down and their fists working like pistons 'Bgainst any stomach of back that came in the way. Eves when orphan happened to meet orphan there was generally a blow or two exchanged before they opened surprised eyes to find friend smiting friend. Meanwhile a few more individu- als, including the Bishop in the Pa- triareh's robes, had been got intd position behind the Armenian banner bearers, and, at balf-past twelve, the procession moved off chasily. Very slowly they pushed their way around and the Coptit and Syrian Airound the Sepulchre, each group conducting its own Servies might into the ribs of some offender A NEW AND BETTER SHEATHING - "BUILD FOR WARMTH" ALLAN LUMBER CO. "Phone 1042. 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This occurs when the Armenian Bishop, having com- pleted three rounds of the Sepul- chre, enters it to pray and them re- turns to the door, where he reads aloud the story "They have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have Iald him," This coms who £0.10 say mass in their own chapel, while the Copts have thelr turn ia the Sepulchre proper. Thevw in turn are followed by the Syrians, whose robes were of red, gold, green or blue, other year and the swéapers came to gather up baskets of broken candles, ttments of footwear and head: most famous ceremony. A PERFECT NEDICINE Faby Own Tablets Should be In Every Home Where There Are is found in Baby's Own Tablets. They which regulate the boweld, sweeten and indigestion; break up colds and simple fevers and promote healthful refreshing sleep. It is Infpossible tor Baby's Owl Tablets to harm even the new-born babe, as they are absolutely guaran{eed free from opiates Or any other injurious drug. Congérning the Tablets, Mrs. Alex. J. 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