FEASTS.
Ziafat, . ARAB., REM Bancbatto, . . . . Ir. Featin , FR. Banquete, . . . . Sr.
Feat, . . . . GER.
Feasts are often mentioned in the Old and New Testamemts, and the texts find many illus trations in India. Genesis xlv. 22 says, •To all of them he gave changes of raiment ; ' and at the close of a feast, Hindus, among other presents to the guests, commonly give now garment& A Ilindu garment is inerely a piece of cloth, requir ing no work of the tailor. Deuteronomy xxiii. 10 says, Ile shall not come within the camp; ' and Hindus iu a state of uncleanness are inter dicted from feasts, etc. Mark xiv. 20 says, 'It is one of the twelve that dipped' with me in the dish.' In the East, Hindus never eat together from ono dish, except where a strong attachment subsists between two or more persons of the same caste. In such a case, ono person sometimes invites another to come and sit by him, and eat from the same dish. It is highly probable that the same custom existed among the Jews, and that the sacred historian mentions this notice of our Lord's, It is one of the twelve that dippeth with me in the dish,' to mark more strongly the perfidy of the character of Judas. John ii. 8
says, Bear unto the governor of the feast.' It is customary, both with the Hindus and the Mahomedans, to appoint a person who is expert in conducting the ceremonies of a feast, to manage as governor of the feast. This person is rarely the master of the house. The numbers invited amount occasionally to hundreds, sometimes thousands, and a person to secure regularity is indispensable. In Asia the term is applied by Europeans to all the religious festival rites of the natives, as to the Ramzan and Maharram, etc., of the Mahomedans, to the Diwali and Dassarah, etc., of the Hindus, to the festivals of the Chinese, Burmese, Japanese, etc.—Ward's Hindoos.