Zar
A Zar is in Middle Eastern lore, a spirit that possesses mostly married women, providing an acceptable opportunity for oppressed women to manipulate men. The zar are malign, man-hating type of Djinn (genie), capricious and much feared.
The zar attack women and demand beautiful clothes, jewelry, perfume, better treatment, and luxurious food and surroundings before they can be persuaded to depart. Such appeasement can get expensive, and many husbands suspect they are being manipulated, but they acquiesce, fearing punishment by the zar.
The Possession and Exorcism of the zar typically proceeds as follows: the victim, suffering from some minor complaint, blames possession by the zar, and other female relatives keep her from seeing a medical doctor, preferring the services of a female shaman, called shechah-ez-Zar.
For a fee, the shechah identifies a zar as the source of the woman’s troubles and interrogates the zar, sometimes in a recognizable language and sometimes in zar language, understood only by the shechah. After repeated conversations, the zar offers to leave once the possessed victim receives lavish gifts and attention from her husband.
On the afternoon of the zar’s scheduled departure, a “beating the zar” ceremony is performed. The victim’s female friends and relatives join her for the ceremony, much like a tea or party, often accompanied by a flute performance. The shechah and her assistants chant the final exorcism rites, with music, and then often sacrifice a lamb. The lamb’s blood is rubbed on the victim’s forehead and elsewhere.
She then dances madly, sways and finally faints. The zar leaves. Zar exorcisms have become part of contemporary urban Islamic culture. In many large cities, such as Cairo, regular public exorcisms have been held. Women from all walks of life participate, whirling and dancing until the spirit leaves them and they return home, exhausted but entertained.
Relief from the possession may be only temporary, returning upon another infraction committed by a husband. Men are expected to believe in the possession, which, in addition to giving women the freedom to ask for gifts, permits them to scold and upbraid their husbands in a manner that would be forbidden under normal circumstances.
Further Reading :
- Ebon, Martin. The Devil’s Bride, Exorcism: Past and Present. New York: Harper & Row, 1974.
- Lewis, I. M. Ecstatic Religion: An Anthropological Study of Spirit Possession and Shamanism. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1971.
- Oesterreich, T. K. Possession: Demoniacal and Other. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1966. First published in 1921.Zar
The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits – Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley
