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Circumcision (Operation consisting)

an operation consisting in removing circularly the prepuce of infants. God commanded Abraham to use circumcision as a sign of his covenant; and in obedience to this order, the patriarch at 99 years of age was circumcised, as also his son Ishmael, and all the males of his household (Gen. xvii: 10-12). God repeated the precept to Moses, and ordered that all who intended to partake of the Paschal sacrifice should receive circumcision, and that this rite should be performed on children on the eighth day after their birth (Ex. xii: 44). The Jews and all the other nations sprung from Abraham, as the Ishmaelites, the Arabians, etc., have always been very exact in observing this ceremony.

At the present day it is an essential rite of the Mohammedan religion, and though not enjoined in the Koran, prevails wherever this religion is found. A similar operation is performed among the Egyptians, Arabians, and Persians, on the females. The Jews esteemed uncircumcision as a very great impurity; and the greatest offense they could receive was to be called uncircumcised. Paul frequently mentions the Gentiles under this term, not opprobriously (Rom. ii: 26), but in opposition to the Jews, whom he names "the circumcised."

The feast of circumcision is a festival observed in the Roman Catholic Church and in some other denominations, in commemoration of the circumcision of Jesus Christ. It is held on Jan. 1.