The Blind Owl (15 page)

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A stool under which is placed a lighted brazier and over which blankets are spread. People recline with the lower part of their bodies under the blankets.

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It is the custom of the last Wednesday before Nouruz for people to disguise themselves and go begging. The alms received on this occasion are believed to bring good luck.

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‘There is no god but God', part of the Moslem profession of faith.

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Mediaeval coins, corresponding roughly to the modern
kran
and
abbasi
respectively.

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‘In the name of God.' The formula pronounced by Moslems at the beginning of any important undertaking.

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A Persian superstition requires that, if anyone present should sneeze, any action which one may have been about to undertake be postponed.

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It was popularly believed that women could become pregnant through using the public baths, which were frequented (at different hours) by men also. The belief could be exploited to provide an explanation of otherwise inexplicable pregnancies.

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Another popular belief was that a baby would resemble the person at whom the mother happened to be looking when it stirred for the first time in the womb.