Note 36 — Chapter I · THE GODLINGS OF NATURE.

and Aubrey of the Yorkshire maids who “doe worship the new moon on their bare knees, kneeling upon an earth-fast stone.” Irish girls on first seeing the moon when new fall on their knees and address her with a loud voice in the prayer—“O Moon! Leave us as well as you found us!”36 It is a common practice in Europe to turn a piece of silver, which being white is the lunar metal, when the new moon is first seen. So Hindus at the first sight of the new moon hold one end of their turbans in their hands, take from it seven threads, present them to the moon with a prayer, and then exchange the compliments of the season. In Bombay37 on all new moon days Brâhmans offer oblations of water and sesamum seed to their ancestors, and those who are Agnihotris and do the fire sacrifice kindle the sacred fire on all new and full moon days. Musalmâns on the new moon which comes after the new year sprinkle the blood of a goat beside the house door. In Bombay a young Musalmân girl will not go out at the new moon or on a Thursday, apparently because this is the time that evil spirits roam abroad. In Upper India the houses of the pious are freely plastered with a mixture of earth and cow-dung, and no animal is yoked.