The ''Scroll of the Ancestors'' ( ) is a Mandaean religious text that describes the rituals of the Ṭabahata (ancestors')

masiqta The masiqta () is a mass or ritual practiced in the Mandaean religion in order to help guide the soul ('' nišimta'') towards the World of Light in Mandaean cosmology. They are typically performed as funerary rites for Mandaeans who have just di ...

, held during the 5-day

Parwanaya Parwanaya (; ) or Panja (Mandaic: , from Persian 'five') is a 5-day religious festival in the Mandaean calendar. The 5 epagomenals (extra days) inserted at the end of every Šumbulta (the 8th month) constitute the Parwanaya intercalary feast. ...

festival.

Manuscripts

Copies of the scroll include Manuscript 42 of the

Drower Collection This article contains a list of Mandaic manuscripts, which are almost entirely Mandaean religious texts written in Classical Mandaic. Well-known Mandaean texts include the ''Ginza Rabba'' (also known as the ''Sidra Rabbā''), the ''Mandaean B ...

(DC 42), currently held at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

. The scroll was originally transcribed in 1743 and has 834 lines. It is similar to Prayer 170 of the

Qulasta The Qulasta, also spelled Qolastā in older sources (; ), is a compilation of Mandaean prayers. The Mandaic word ''qolastā'' means "collection". The prayerbook is a collection of Mandaic prayers regarding baptisms ('' maṣbuta'') and other sa ...

, but some names are different. DC 42

verso ''Recto'' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. In double-sided printing, each leaf h ...

, copied at

Basra Basra () is a port city in Iraq, southern Iraq. It is the capital of the eponymous Basra Governorate, as well as the List of largest cities of Iraq, third largest city in Iraq overall, behind Baghdad and Mosul. Located near the Iran–Iraq bor ...

in 1248 A.H. (1832–3 A.D.), contains six texts: *''Šarḥ ḏ-ahaba ḏ-mania b-iuma ḏ- paruanaiia'' *''Aprišata ḏ-ahaba ḏ-mania'' *''Šarḥ ḏ-ahaba ḏ-mania ḏ-tarmida ʿu ganzibra kḏ napiq'' *''Šarḥ ḏ-ṭabahata qria b-šuma ḏ-gabrauʿnta'' *''Šarḥ ḏ-dukrana ḏ-šumaiia'' *''Šarḥ ḏ-

zidqa brika In Mandaeism, the zidqa brikha (or ''zidqa brika''; ) is a type of ritual meal blessed by Mandaean priests. '' Zidqa'' means oblation and can also mean alms, while ''brikha'' means blessed.Drower, Ethel Stefana. 1937. ''The Mandaeans of Iraq and I ...

ḏ- paruanaiia''

Ṭabahata Masiqta

The Ṭabahata

Masiqta The masiqta () is a mass or ritual practiced in the Mandaean religion in order to help guide the soul ('' nišimta'') towards the World of Light in Mandaean cosmology. They are typically performed as funerary rites for Mandaeans who have just di ...

, or the "masiqta of the Parents", is held only once a year during the

intercalary Intercalation may refer to: *Intercalation (chemistry), insertion of a molecule (or ion) into layered solids such as graphite *Intercalation (timekeeping), insertion of a leap day, week or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follo ...

festival. Priests recite dozens of prayers, prepare 72 ''

faṭira In Mandaeism, faṭira (; plural form: ''faṭiri''Drower, Ethel Stefana. 1937. ''The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran''. Oxford At The Clarendon Press.) is a small, round, saltless, half-baked biscuit. Faṭiras are used in rituals such as the Ṭabah ...

s'' (small, round, saltless, half-baked biscuits for ritual use) symbolizing ancestors, and also sacrifice a white dove, called ''ba'', which symbolizes the spirit (''

ruha Ruha (pronounced /ˈruːhə/) is a term with spiritual connotations found across various religious traditions. In Arabic, Ruh () signifies "spirit" or "soul" and is a fundamental concept in Islam, referring to the divine breath of life.Esposito, ...

''). According to ''

The Thousand and Twelve Questions ''The Thousand and Twelve Questions'' ( ; Modern Mandaic: ''Alf Tressar Ešyāli'') is a Mandaean religious text. The ''1012 Questions'' is one of the most detailed texts on Mandaean priestly rituals. It is kept by Mandaean priests in the shk ...

'', this masiqta cannot be held at any other time other than during the

. For a more detailed description of the Ṭabahata Masiqta according to the ''Scroll of the Ancestors'', see chapter 8 in Buckley (2002). Below is the

prayer sequence (i.e., order of prayers to be recited) for the Ṭabahata Masiqta, following the numbering in Drower's 1959 '' Canonical Prayerbook''. Some of the prayers involve

fatira In Mandaeism, faṭira (; plural form: ''faṭiri''Drower, Ethel Stefana. 1937. ''The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran''. Oxford At The Clarendon Press.) is a small, round, saltless, half-baked biscuit. Faṭiras are used in rituals such as the Ṭaba ...

s that must be signed by a priest, who dips it with four fingers, tips pressed together, into sacramental masiqta oil and signs the fatira with oil three times, from left to right (similar in some ways to the

sign of the cross Making the sign of the cross (), also known as blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is both a prayer and a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. It is a very significant prayer because Christians are acknowledging ...

). The

has 3 parts. The first two parts are known as the "Mother Masiqta," while the final part is known as the "Father Masiqta."

References

External links

Transliterated text
(''The

Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (CAL) is an online database containing a searchable dictionary and text corpora of Aramaic dialects. CAL includes more than 3 million lexically parsed words. The project was started in the 1980s and is currently ...

'') {{Authority control Mandaean texts Mandaean rituals

Manuscripts

Ṭabahata Masiqta

See also

References

External links