,
some of it is poured on the place where the corn is threshed, and some
is used to water the money which is to be buried in the ground; for the
people think that the earth-spirits will not be able to steal the buried
treasures which have thus been sanctified with the holy water.[559]

[The Midsummer festival in Morocco seems to be of Berber origin.]

Thus the rites of fire and water which are observed in Morocco at
Midsummer and New Year appear to be identical in character and
intention, and it seems certain that the duplication of the rites is due
to a conflict between two calendars, namely the old Julian calendar of
the Romans, which was based on the sun, and the newer Mohammedan
calendar of the Arabs, which is based on the moon. For not only was the
Julian calendar in use throughout the whole of Northern Africa under the
Roman Empire; to this day it is everywhere employed among Mohammedans
for the regulation of agriculture and all the affairs of daily life; its
practical convenience has made it indispensable, and the lunar calendar
of orthodox Mohammedanism is scarcely used except for purposes of
chronology. Even the old Latin names of the months are known and
employed, in slightly disguised forms, throughout the whole Moslem
world; and little calendars of the Julian year circulate in manuscript
among Mohammedans, permitting them to combine the practical advantages
of pagan science with a nominal adherence to orthodox absurdity.[560]
Thus the heathen origin of the midsummer festival is too palpable to
escape the attention of good Mohammedans, who accordingly frown upon the
midsummer bonfires as pagan superstitions, precisely as similar
observances in Europe have often been denounced by orthodox
Christianity. Indeed, many religious people in Morocco entirely
disapprove of the whole of the midsummer ceremonies, maintaining that
they are all bad; and a conscientious schoolmaster will even refuse his
pupils a holiday at midsummer, though the boys sometimes offer him a
bribe if he will sacrifice his scruples to his avarice.[561] As the
midsummer customs appear to flourish among all the Berbers of Morocco
but to be unknown among the pure Arabs who have not been affected by
Berber influence, it seems reasonable to infer with Dr. Westermarck that
the midsummer festival has belonged from time immemorial to the Berber
race, and that so far as it is now observed by the Arabs of Morocco, it
has been learned by them from the Be