Mandaean literature Oral Traditions and Folklore

#1
..A. CREATION
...B. CREATION AND THE FLOOD
...C. THE CREATION OF MAN
...D. AND E. THE FLOOD
...F. THE MANDAEAN NATION
...G. ANOTHER VERSION OF THE RED SEA STORY

#2--OF ABRAHAM AND YURBA

#3--HOW HIBIL ZIWA FETCHED RUHA FROM THE DARKNESS

#4--THE STORY OF QIQEL AND THE DEATH OF YAHYA

#5-- NEBUCHADNEZZAR`S DAUGHTER

#6--SUN STORIES

#7-- THE BRIDGE AT SHUSTER

#8-- THE FIRE-WORSHIPPER AND ADAM BUL FARAJ

#9-- HOW DANA NUK VISITED THE SEVENTH HEAVEN
#10-- THE MILLENNIUM

#11-- CONCERNING THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MADDAI AND HOW THE TURKS CAME TO TAKE IT

#12-- HOW THE MANDAI AND THEIR GANZIBRA LEFT THE MOUNTAIN FOR A BETTER COUNTRY

#13-- THE CHILD CONCEIVED ON THE 29th NIGHT OF THE MOON

#14-- THE KANSHI UZAHLA

#15-- THE HAUNTINGS

#16-- THE PLAGUE IN SHUSTER

#17-- THE STONE-THROWING

#18-- THE KAFTAR

#19-- BIBI`S SONS AND THEIR STRANGE ADVENTURE

#20-- SHAIKH ZIBID

#21-- OF BEHOLDING EVENTS IN TRANCE

#22-- HOW EVIL SPIRITS ABUSE THE DEAD, ETC.

#23-- MEN WHO HAVE RETURNED FROM DEATH, ETC.
#24-- OF THE POWER T0 SEE SPIRITS

#25-- THE SIMURGH: THE TRUE HISTORY OF RUSTAM AND HIS SON

#26-- HIRMIZ SHAH

#27--THE MAN WHO SOUGHT TO SEE SIN THE MOON

#28-- THE SIMURGH AND HIRMIZ SHAH

Oral Traditions and Folklore

#14 -- THE KANSHI UZAHLA
(The Sweeping and Cleansing)

With us Subba a great feast takes place about the time that the dates ripen. It is called the Dehwa Rabba and its eve, or dakhala, is called the Kanshi Zahla. The Kanshi Zahla lasts for two nights and the day between, and during that time all the Mandaeans remain in their houses, taking with them enough water and food to last over the period. They keep their fowls, dogs and cats, cows and buffaloes shut off in a place apart from the dwelling-rooms of the house. For during those two nights and a day the 'uthri of the sun, moon, and water go to Olma d Anhura, the World of Light, and while they are absent every Mandaean must remain n his house and his animals must be shut up. When the melki and 'uthri return, we go our and feast, wash in the river, and rejoice The '.uthri serve the melki and are under them. Thunder is the noise of combat between the 'uthri and the evil spirits, when the' 'uthri hurl the evil spirits down to the lower world. We feel the rush of air as they fall, and hear the noise and see the lightning.

If during Kanshi Zahhia a domestic animal escapes and comes into the house, it becomes unclean and cannot he eaten, and if it touches any one in the house, that person becomes unclean, and as soon as the feast has begun, he must be baptized seventy' times by the ganzowra, and may not eat or drink until so purified. If only a wasp comes in from the desert and stings a man during the Kanshi Zahla, he is unclean, and must abstain from food or drink or from touching anything in the house until the feast has dawned and he is cleaned by seventy maswettas (baptisms).

Now there was a darwish, a Subbi, called Majbur Subba, of the village of Umm Seyyidiyah, near Amarah, who was exceedingly devout. During the Kanshi Zahia he and his family remained within their hosh and inside hosh they constructed a reed-hut, with only one opening, which they kept shut, so that no fly or other impurity might enter it. He, and another of their kinsfolk, called Ujheyli and Ujheyli's wife, remained together in this hut. The woman went out to obey the call of nature, for at this time they are allowed to use the yard for such a purpose, but not to leave the courtyard or come into contact with an animal. A zorgi (a marsh bird, with a long bill) was sitting on the roof of the house, and as soon as the woman had come out it flew down and tore her kerchief from her head, so that she was bareheaded and defiled. She began to shriek, "This bird has made me unclean!" Ujheyli came out to see what it was, and as soon as he had come out the bird came and hit him with its wings. Ujheyli seized the bird and put it in the sadd (a clay bin for the storage of rice). He put it in that and covered the bin with a cover of clay, saying, "When the Kanshi is over, I will show it to Shaikh Zibid! Perhaps he will know what this bird is that has come and defiled me!" Shaikh Zibid was a very learned man, famed for his knowledge amongst us.

Ujheyli and his wife being then unclean enter no more into the reed hut but went to another place apart. Majbur now remained in the reed hut by himself and presently he mounted on the jawan in order to reach the water and food on a table set in the ch'ab (heel or further end) of the hut. The table was high and he could not reach it except by mountinfg on the jawan He reached up there by the water he saw a large frog! He called to Ujheyli who was outside "A frog is in here and has made all the water and food unclean! How could it have gotten in?"

Ujheyli ran in and seized the frog and put it in with the bird in the bin, but the food and water was defiled and the had to do without it and remained for that night and the day and night which were left, both hungry and thirsty. A soon as Kanshi was over, Ujheyli went to the sadd with the intention of taking the bird and frog to show them to Shaikh Zibid. As soon as day had dawned on the Great Feast he put on his clothes and went to the sadd and removed the cover. There was no bird and no frog! Nothing! They had disappeared.

They went to Shaikh Zibid and began to tell him and those with him what had happened. When Shaikh Zibid heard it he was amazed and said "Those were no doubt shiviahi in the shape of a bird and a frog and they did this in order to do you harm."

The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran By E.S. Drower Clarendon Press, Oxford,1937 (Reprint Leiden:E.J. Brill 1962) page 330-333
Narrator: Drower does not indentify