The Padishah after the performance of prayers, returns to his palace at the Seraglio Point, where the throne room is always preserved. There he receives the compliments of the season from his ministers and officers of state.
The procession to the mosque being public, has been described by many who have witnessed it; but from the reception at the palace all foreigners are excluded.
The sultan is seated on a chair of state, with the princes and younger princesses of the royal blood on each side.
Behind the throne, in a semicircle, stand the personnel of the royal household.
Opposite the throne, at the farthest end of the hall, a band of musicians is stationed, and as they perform the national airs, the dignitaries enter the royal presence according to their respective ranks, to pay homage to their sovereign.
As has already been described, the usual mode of salutation in the east is the temennah, made by touching the hand to the lips and then to the forehead, which signifies affection and humility. With the desire, however, to be more respectful, they often bend down to the ground, as if willing to take up the very dust upon which the honored feet have rested, or attempt to kiss the hem of the garment. But all these ordinary modes of salutation are insufficient at a royal reception; when a beautifully embroidered rug is spread before the sultan, on one end of which his feet rest.
As they present themselves, they slowly bend their persons and touch their lips and foreheads to the border of the carpet, which ceremony is called the kissing of the sultan's feet; for, no one is allowed any actual proximity to the royal person--thus guarding him from the assassin's dagger.
After kissing the end of the carpet they arrange themselves in two opposite lines on each side of the sultan, to witness the homages of the various pashas and other dignitaries. Those who take their stand in the presence are only the heads of the departments, both civil and religious.
After the ceremony is over, every one retires to hit own dwelling, to enact the sultan to his subordinates.
The Courban Bairam is the great festival celebrated by the pilgrims at Mecca, in commemoration of the offering up of Ishmael; and is generally observed throughout the Mohammedan dominions,--on which occasion every Mussulman must kill a sheep with his own hand, and distribute the meat to the poor.