Note 14 — Muhammadan Religion

Either on the same day as the Ukīka sacrifice or soon afterwards the child’s hair is shaved for the first time. By the rich the hair is weighed against silver and this sum is distributed to beggars. It is then tied up in a piece of cloth and either buried or thrown into a river, or sometimes set afloat on a little toy raft in the name of a saint. Occasionally tufts of hair or even the whole head may be left unshaven in the name of a saint, and after one or more years the child is taken to the saint’s tomb and the hair shaved there; or if this cannot be done it is cut off at home in the name of the saint.14