| Show FESTIVAL or THE BATH how the qeeen of Obi tryes tha ceremony the proves de ilana a french journal published at gives an interesting description of the annual known as the festival of the bath which is held in madagascar on the of november the foreign ministers and the foreign residents are cited to abo ceremony which takes place in the royal palace the de ilana describes the queen of madagascar as being draped in a flowery robe of red scaled epou the throne with a y ung prince of the royal family at her beet the prime minister was seated to her right and to the the left upon a red velvet cushion was the royal crowns wild several of the princess and principal dignitaries of the court sealed as usual in the ground the european spectators all stood facing the throne the only one allowed a scat bein M le myre do villers the french minister behind the europeans stood the ladies of the court a number of officers and the choir of singers the queens bath was placed iu a corner of the room railed on with curtains after the queen bad taken her seat on the throne a cumber of came in with the water and other objects tu bo used for abo bath while underneath the bathe itself a fire was lighted As eoon as the water was heated the came down from her throne and took a beat to the left while a prayer was being recited and a hymn sun she then beut into the curtained and proceeded to take her bath a salvo of artillery announcing to the people that a sovereign wag going through the most part of the ceremony at the aud of about a quarter of an hour the queen came out from the balli in a scar let robe trimmed with lace wearing her crown and a ond necklace holding in her left hand the horn of an ox tipped with alver inside which was water from the bath accompanied by her prime minister she walked to the principal door of the throne room the spectators as she along salvos of artillery were fired all the time and until she had taken her beat on the throne again the princea of the royal family the of the different castes of the nobility and the min isteni then came to pay their respects to the queen and call down upon her head all the bacs ings of heaven speaking in the name of the people and the army as efell as bis own the prime min bater said id substance that they were all very pleased that the fan had come round that they all hoped her majesty would live long enough to see a thousand such ceremonies and that the queen could count upon the devotion of all her he concluded lla speech by that the relations ot madagascar with foreign nations were most satisfactory to which ahe queen replied very briefly thae being your worda lam very pleased and hopeful for the future may you live long gentlemen and may god bless you rice milk with pieces of beef since the previous years festival were then and after another ceremony for three days before the fi stival it is unlawful to kill oxen or cheep for food but the day alter the festival there is a wholesale slaughter of oxen it be ing estimated that from to fiobo bearta are killed in the four hours it alone it id the custom fur each family to fend a quarter of beef as u present to ita relative and moat friends the ibcal at which chii meat is eaten bein followed by national dances |
