certain fundamental ideas concerning
access to the deity and its consequences. That it was proper to wear
special garments (or at least to rearrange one's weekday clothes) on the
Jewish sabbath was recognized in the Talmud, and Mahommedans, after
discussing at length the most suitable raiment for prayer, favoured the
use of a single simple garment (Bukh[=a]ri, viii.). It was a deep-seated
belief that those who took part in religious functions were liable to
communicate this "holiness" to others (compare the complex ideas
associated with the Polynesian taboo). Hence priests would remove their
ceremonial dress before leaving the sanctuary "that they sanctify not
the people with their garments" (Ezek. xliv. 19; cf. xlii. 14), and
every precaution was taken on religious occasions to ensure purity by
special ablutions and by cleansing the clothes.[14] In the old ritual at
Mecca, the man who wore his own garments must leave them in the
sanctuary, as they had become "taboo"; hence the sacred circumambulation
of the Ka'ba was performed naked (prohibited by Mahomet), or in clothes
provided for the occasion. The old archaic waist-cloth was used, and at
the present day both male and female pilgrims enter bare-footed and clad
in the scanty _ihr[=a]m_ (C. M. Doughty, _Arabia Deserta_, ii. 479,
481, 537). In several old Babylonian representations the priests or
worshippers appear before the deity in a state of nature.[15] It is
known that laymen were required to wear special garments, and the
priests (who wore dark-red or purple) were sometimes called upon to
change their garments in the course of a ceremony. Thus the temples
required clothing not merely for the gods but also for the attendants
(so at Samaria, 2 Kings x. 22).

In the late usage at Harran the worshipper, after purifying his
garments and his heart, was advised to put on the clothing of the
particular god he addressed (de Goeje, _Oriental Congress_, Leiden,
1883, pp. 341 sqq.). The reason is obvious, and the principle could
be variously expressed. But we are not told whether the prophetess who
wore bands on her arm and drew a mantle over her head (so read in
Ezek. xiii. 17-23) actually used the clothing peculiar to some deity,
nor is it quite clear what is meant when a Babylonian ritual text
refers to the magical use of the linen garment of Eridu (seat of the
cult of Ea). The Bishop Gregentius denounced as heathenish the rites
in which the Arabs wo