The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 09 of 12)

365

J. Anderson, Mandalay to Momien (London, 1876), p. 308.

366

United States Exploring Expedition, Ethnography and Philology, by H. Hale (Philadelphia, 1846), pp. 67 sq.; Ch. Wilkes, Narrative of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 90 sq., 342. According to the latter writer, the sea-slug was eaten by the men alone, who lived during the four days in the temple, while the women and boys remained shut up in their houses. As to the annual appearance and catch of the sea-slug in the seas of Fiji, see further B. Seeman, Viti, an Account of a Government Mission to the Vitian or Fijian Islands in the Years 1860-1862 (Cambridge, 1862), pp. 59-61; Basil Thomson, The Fijians (London, 1908), pp. 324-327. A somewhat different account of the appearance of the slug (Palolo veridis) in the Samoan Sea is given from personal observation by Dr. George Brown. He says: “This annelid, as far as I can remember, is about 8 or 12 inches long, and somewhat thicker than ordinary piping-cord. It is found only on two mornings in the year, and the time when it will appear and disappear can be accurately predicted. As a general rule only a few palolo are found on the first day, though occasionally the large quantity may appear first; but, as a rule, the large quantity appears on the second morning. And it is only found on these mornings for a very limited period, viz. from early dawn to about seven o'clock, i. e. for about two hours. It then disappears until the following year, except in some rare instances, when it is found for the same limited period in the following month after its first appearance. I kept records of the time, and of the state of the moon, for some years, with the following result: that it always appeared on two out of the following three days, viz. the day before, the day of, and the day after the last quarter of the October moon.” See George Brown, D.D., Melanesians and Polynesians (London, 1910), pp. 135 sq. The slug is also caught in the sea off Samoa, according to one account, at intervals of six months. One of its appearances takes place on the eighth day after the new moon of October. So regular are the appearances of the creature that the Samoans reckon their time by them. See E. Boisse, “Les îles Samoa, Nukunono, Fakaafo, Wallis et Hoorn,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris), vi. Série, x. (1875) pp. 430 sq. In antiquity every year vast shoals of a small fish used to ascend the river Olynthiac from the lake of Bolbe in Macedonia, and all the people of the neighbourhood caught and salted great store of them. They thought that the fish were sent to them by Bolbe, the mother of Olynthus, and they noted it as a curious fact that the fish never swam higher up than the tomb of Olynthus, which stood on the bank of the river Olynthiac. The shoals always made their appearance in the months of Anthesterion and Elaphebolion, and as the people of Apollonia (a city on the bank of the lake) celebrated their festival of the dead at that season, formerly in the month of Elaphebolion, but afterwards in the month of Anthesterion, they imagined that the fish came at that time on purpose. See Athenaeus, viii. 11, p. 334 f.

367

M. J. Erdweg, “Die Bewohner der Insel Tumleo Berlinhafen, Deutsch-New-Guinea,” Mittheilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien, xxxii. (1902) pp. 329 sq.

368

A. Humbert, Le Japon illustré (Paris, 1870), ii. 326.

369

A. Bastian, Die Völker des östlichen Asien, v. (Jena, 1869) p. 367.

370

W. G. Aston, Shinto (London, 1905), p. 309.

371

Lafcadio Hearn, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (London, 1894), ii. 498 sq. The writer agrees with Mr. Aston as to the formula of exorcism – “Oni wa soto! fuku wa uchi”, “Devils out! Good fortune in!”

372

Eitel, “Les Hak-ka,” L'Anthropologie, iv. (1893) pp. 175 sq.

373

Panjab Notes and Queries, ii. pp. 146 sq., § 792 (June, 1885); D. C. J. Ibbetson, Outlines of Panjab Ethnography (Calcutta, 1883), p. 119; W. Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India (Westminster, 1896), ii. 188, 295 sq.

374

John Richardson, Dictionary of Persian, Arabic, and English, New Edition (London, 1829), p. liii.

375

J. J. M. de Groot, The Religious System of China, vi. (Leyden, 1910) pp. 977 sq.

376

J. J. M. de Groot, op. cit. vi. 978.

377

J. J. M. de Groot, op. cit. vi. 979.

378

J. J. M. de Groot, The Religious System of China, vi. 944 sqq.; id., The Religion of China (New York, 1910), pp. 38 sq.; J. H. Gray, China (London, 1878), i. 251 sq.

379

W. Woodville Rockhill, “Notes on some of the Laws, Customs, and Superstitions of Korea,” The American Anthropologist, iv. (1891) p. 185.

380

S. Baron, “Description of the Kingdom of Tonqueen,” in J. Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, ix. (London, 1811) pp. 673, 695 sq.; compare Richard, “History of Tonquin,” ibid. p. 746. The account of the ceremony by Tavernier (whom Baron criticises very unfavourably) is somewhat different. According to him, the expulsion of wicked souls at the New Year is combined with sacrifice to the honoured dead. “At the beginning of every year they have a great solemnity in honour of the dead, who were in their lives renowned for their noble actions and valour, reckoning rebels among them. They set up several altars, some for sacrifices, others for the names of the persons they design to honour; and the king, princes, and mandarins are present at them, and make three profound reverences to the altars when the sacrifices are finished; but the king shoots five times against the altars where the rebels' names are; then the great guns are let off, and the soldiers give vollies of small shot, to put the souls to flight. The altars and papers made use of at the sacrifices are burnt, and the bonzes and sages go to eat the meat made use of at the sacrifice” (Tavernier, in John Harris's Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. i. (London, 1744) p. 823). The translation is somewhat abridged. For the French original, see J. B. Tavernier, Voyages en Turquie, en Perse, et aux Indes (The Hague, 1718), iii. 230 sq.

381

É. Aymonier, Notice sur le Cambodge (Paris, 1875), p. 62.

382

A. Bastian, Die Völker des östlichen Asien, iii. (Jena, 1867) pp. 237, 298, 314, 529 sq.; Mgr. Pallegoix, Description du Royaume Thai ou Siam (Paris, 1854), i. 252. Bastian (p. 314), with whom Pallegoix seems to agree, distinctly states that the expulsion takes place on the last day of the year. Yet both say that it occurs in the fourth month of the year. According to Pallegoix (i. 253) the Siamese year is composed of twelve lunar months, and the first month usually begins in December. Hence the expulsion of devils would commonly take place in March, as in Cambodia. In Laos the year begins in the fifth month and it ends in the fifth month of the following year. See Lieutenant-Colonel Tournier, Notice sur le Laos Français (Hanoi, 1900), p. 187. According to Professor E. Seler the festival of Toxcatl, celebrated in the fifth month, was the old Mexican festival of the New Year. See E. Seler, Altmexikanische Studien, ii. (Berlin, 1899) pp. 153, 166 sq. (Veröffentlichungen aus dem königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde, vi. Heft 2/4). Hence it appears that in some calendars the year is not reckoned to begin with the first month.

383

Ernest Young, The Kingdom of the Yellow Robe (Westminster, 1898), pp. 135 sq.

384

“Lettre de Mgr. Bruguière, évêque de Capse, à M. Bousquet, vicaire-général d'Aire,” Annales de l'Association de la Propagation de la Foi, v. (Paris and Lyons, 1831) p. 188. As to the temporary king of Siam, his privileges and the ceremony of ploughing which he performs, see The Dying God, pp. 149-151.

385

Charlevoix, Histoire et description generale du Japon (Paris, 1736), i. 128 sq.; C. P. Thunberg, Voyages au Japon (Paris, 1796), iv. 18-20; A. Bastian, Die Völker des östlichen Asien, v. (Jena, 1869) p. 364; Beaufort, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xv. (1886) p. 102; A. Morgan, in Journal of American Folk-lore, x. (1897) pp. 244 sq.; Lafcadio Hearn, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (London, 1894), i. 106-110, ii. 504 sq. The custom of welcoming the souls of the dead back to their old homes once a year has been observed in many lands. See Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 301 sqq.

386

Above, pp. 123 sq.

387

Hesychius, s. v. μιαραὶ ἡμέραι; τοῦ Ἀνθεστηριῶνος μηνός, ἐν αἶς τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν κατοιχομένων ἀνιέναι ἐδόκουν. Photius, Lexicon, s. vv. Θύραζε Κᾶρες; οὐκέτ᾽ Ἀνθεστήρια … τινὲς δὲ οὕτως τὴν παροιμίαν φασί; Θύραζε Κῆρες οὐκέτ᾽ Ἀνθεστήρια; ὡς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν τοῖς Ἀνθεστηρίοις τῶν ψυχῶν περιερχομένων. Id., s. vv. μιαρὰ ἡμέρα; ἐν τοῖς Χουσὶν Ἀνθεστηριῶνος μηνός, ἐν ᾧ δοκοῦσιν αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν τελευτησάντων ἀνιέναι, ῥάμνῳ ἕωθεν ἐμασῶντο καὶ πίττῃ τὰς θύρας ἔχριον. Pollux, viii. 141: περισχοινίσαι τὰ ἱερὰ ἔλεγον ἐν ταῖς ἀποφράσι καί τὸ παραφράξαι. As to the closing of the temples, see further Athenaeus, x. 49, p. 447 c. As to the Anthesteria in general, see E. Rohde, Psyche3 (Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903), i. 236 sqq., who rightly adopts Hesychius's second explanation of Κῆρες. The reasons given by August Mommsen for rejecting that explanation betray an imperfect acquaintance with popular superstition (Feste der Stadt Athen im Altertum, Leipsic, 1898, p. 386, note 1). Compare Miss J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, Second Edition (Cambridge, 1908), pp. 32 sqq. The Greeks thought that branches of buckthorn (rhamnus) fastened to doors or windows kept out witches (Dioscorides, De materia medica, i. 119). A similar virtue was attributed to buckthorn or hawthorn by the ancient Romans and modern European peasants. See A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks2 (Güterslöh, 1886), pp. 209 sq.; J. Murr, Pflanzenwelt in der griechischen Mythologie (Innsbruck, 1890), pp. 104-106; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 54 sq., 191. According to Mr. Murr, rhamnus is Lycium europaeum L. I learn from Miss J. E. Harrison that Sir Francis Darwin believes it to be buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus). In some parts of Bosnia, when peasant women go to pay a visit in a house where a death has occurred they put a little hawthorn (Weissdorn) behind their headcloth, and on returning from the house they throw it away on the street. They think that if the deceased has turned into a vampyre, he will be so occupied in picking up the hawthorn, that he will not be able to follow them to their homes. See F. S. Krauss, “Vampyre im südslavischen Volksglauben,” Globus, lxi. (1892) p. 326. At childbirth also the Greeks smeared pitch on their houses to keep out the demons (εἰς ἀπέλασιν τῶν δαιμόνων) who attack women at such times (Photius, Lexicon, s. v. ῥάμνος). To this day the Bulgarians try to keep wandering ghosts from their houses by painting crosses with tar on the outside of their doors, while on the inside they hang a tangled skein composed of countless broken threads. The ghost cannot enter until he has counted all the threads, and before he has done the sum the cock crows and the poor soul must return to the grave. See A. Strausz, Die Bulgaren (Leipsic, 1898), p. 454. The Servians paint crosses with tar on the doors of houses and barns to keep out vampyres. See F. S. Krauss, “Vampyre im südslavischen Volksglauben,” Globus, lxi. (1892) p. 326. In the Highlands of Scotland it was believed that tar put on a door kept witches away. See J. G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), p. 13. The Thompson Indians of British Columbia used to bar their houses against ghosts by means not unlike those adopted by the Athenians at the Anthesteria. When a death had happened, they hung a string of deer-hoofs across the inside of the house, and an old woman often pulled at the string to make the hoofs rattle. This kept the ghost out. They also placed branches of juniper at the door or burned them in the fire for the same purpose. See James Teit, “The Thompson Indians of British Columbia” (April 1900), p. 332 (The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History). With the Athenian use of ropes to keep ghosts out of the temples at the Anthesteria we may compare the Siamese custom of roping demons out of the city at the New Year (above, p. 149). Ropes of rice-straw, which are supposed to repel demoniacal and evil influences, are hung by the Japanese in front of shrines, and at the New Year they hang them also before ordinary houses. See W. G. Aston, Shinto (London, 1905), pp. 335 sq. Some of the Kayans of Borneo stretch ropes round their houses to keep out demons of disease; in order to do so more effectually leaves of a certain plant or tree are fastened to the rope. See A. W. Nieuwenhuis, Quer durch Borneo, i. (Leyden, 1904) p. 448.

388

Scholiast on Aristophanes, Frogs, 218.

389

J. Perham, “Sea Dyak Religion,” Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 14, December 1884, pp. 296-298.

390

Ovid, Fasti, v. 419-486; Varro, quoted by Nonius Marcellus, p. 135 (p. 142 ed. Quicherat), s. v. “Lemures”; Festus, p. 87 ed. C. O. Müller, s. v. “Fabam.” Ovid, who is our chief authority for the ceremony, speaks as if the festival lasted only one day (the ninth of May). But we know from the inscribed calendars that it lasted three days. See W. Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the period of the Republic (London, 1899), pp. 106 sqq.

391

Max Buch, Die Wotjäken (Stuttgart, 1882), pp. 153 sq.

392

A. Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte (Leipsic, 1860), ii. 94; P. v. Stenin, “Ein neuer Beitrag zur Ethnographie der Tscheremissen,” Globus, lviii. (1890) p. 204.

393

Vincenzo Dorsa, La tradizione greco-latina negli usi e nelle credenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore (Cosenza, 1884), pp. 42 sq.

394

Vincenzo Dorsa, La tradizione greco-latina negli usi e nelle credenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore, p. 48.

395

J. G. von Hahn, Albanesische Studien (Jena, 1854), i. 160. Compare The Dying God, pp. 264 sq.

396

P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 86.

397

As to the activity of the evil powers on the twelve days from Christmas to Twelfth Night, see Gustav Bilfinger, Das germanische Julfest (Stuttgart, 1901), pp. 74 sqq.; as to witches on St. George's Eve, May Eve, and Midsummer Eve, see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 52 sqq., 127, 334 sqq.

398

G. Bilfinger, Das germanische Julfest (Stuttgart, 1901), p. 76.

399

J. M. Ritter von Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols (Zurich, 1857), pp. 260 sq. Compare J. E. Waldfreund, “Volksgebräuche und Aberglauben,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iii. (1855) p. 339. A Westphalian form of the expulsion of evil is the driving out the Süntevögel, Sunnenvögel, or Sommervögel, that is, the butterfly. On St. Peter's Day, 22nd February, children go from house to house knocking on them with hammers and singing doggerel rhymes in which they bid the Sommervögel to depart. Presents are given to them at every house. Or the people of the house themselves go through all the rooms, knocking on all the doors, to drive away the Sunnenvögel. If this ceremony is omitted, it is thought that various misfortunes will be the consequence. The house will swarm with rats, mice, and other vermin, the cattle will be sick, the butterflies will multiply at the milk-bowls, etc. See J. F. L. Woeste, Volksüberlieferungen in der Grafschaft Mark (Iserlohn, 1848), p. 24; J. W. Wolf, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie, i. (Göttingen and Leipsic, 1852) p. 87; A. Kuhn, Westfälische Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. pp. 119-121, §§ 366-374; Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbräuche, und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, n. d.), pp. 21 sq.; U. Jahn, Die deutschen Opfergebräuche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht (Breslau, 1884), pp. 94-96.

400

Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1866), ii. 272, iii. 302 sq., 934; O. Freiherr von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Das festliche Jahr (Leipsic, 1863), p. 137.

401

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ninth Edition, xx. 493.

402

R. Eisel, Sagenbuch des Voigtlandes (Gera, 1871), p. 210.

403

August Witzschel, Sitten, Sagen und Gebräuche aus Thüringen (Vienna, 1878), pp. 262 sq.

404

O. Freiherr von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Fest-Kalender aus Böhmen (Prague, preface dated 1861), pp. 210-212; id., Das festliche Jahr (Leipsic, 1863), p. 137; Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), pp. 70-73.

405

Alois John, op. cit. p. 71.

406

Willibald Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), p. 324.

407

P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 108-110. With regard to the dance of the witches in the snow, it is a common saying in the northern district of the Harz Mountains that the witches must dance the snow away on the top of the Blocksberg on the first of May. See A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 376. At Dabelow in Mecklenburg all utensils are removed from the fireplace on Walpurgis Night, lest the witches should ride on them to the Blocksberg. See A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz, l. c.

408

R. Wuttke, Sächsische Volkskunde (Dresden, 1901), p. 359.

409

Lady Agnes Macdonell, in The Times, May 3rd, 1913, p. 6. In a letter to me (dated 31, Kensington Park Gardens, May 5th [1913]) Lady Macdonell was kind enough to give me some further particulars as to the custom. It seems that the boys use their horns on May Day as well as on the thirtieth of April. Processions of boys and girls decorated with flowers and leaves, and carrying flags and horns, went about Penzance on May Day of the present year (1913). The horns are straight; some of them terminate in a bell-shaped opening, others have no such appendage. The latter and plainer are the older pattern.

410

P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 15-18. With regard to the superstitions attached to these twelve days or twelve nights, as the Germans call them, see further A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), pp. 408-418; A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 111-117; L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), ii. 28 sqq.; M. Toeppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren2 (Danzig, 1867), pp. 61 sqq.; A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube2 (Berlin, 1869), pp. 61 sqq., § 74; E. Mogk, “Mythologie,” in H. Paul's Grundriss der germanischen Philologie,2 iii. (Strasburg, 1900) pp. 260 sq.; Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), pp. 11 sqq.

411

O. Freiherr von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Fest-Kalender aus Böhmen (Prague, preface dated 1861), p. 602.

412

W. G. Aston, Shinto (London, 1905), p. 312, referring to Lady Burton's life of her husband.

413

T. Thiselton Dyer, British Popular Customs (London, 1876), p. 506.

414

J. G. Dalyell, The Darker Superstitions of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1834), p. 670.

415

H. Usener, “Italische Mythen,” Rheinisches Museum, N.F., xxx. (1875) p. 198; id., Kleine Schriften, iv. (Leipzic and Berlin, 1913), p. 109; E. Hoffmann-Krayer, Feste und Bräuche des Schweizervolkes (Zurich, 1913), p. 101.

416

H. Herzog, Schweizerische Volksfeste, Sitten und Gebräuche (Aaran, 1884), pp. 212 sq.

417

A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes, et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 81, 85.

418

As to Befana and her connexion with Epiphany, see J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 234. The personified Befana, an ugly but good-natured old woman, is known in Sicily as well as Italy. See G. Pitrè, Spettacoli e Feste Popolari Siciliane (Palermo, 1881), p. 167. As to the ceremony in the Piazza Navona, see H. Usener, “Italische Mythen,” Kleine Schriften, iv. (Leipsic and Berlin, 1913) pp. 108 sqq., who rightly compares it to the Swiss ceremonies observed at and near Brunnen on Twelfth Night. I witnessed the noisy scene in the Piazza Navona in January, 1901.

419

P. Fabbri, “Canti popolari raccolti sui monti della Romagna-Toscana,” Archivio per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Popolari, xxii. (1903) pp. 356 sq.; H. Usener, Kleine Schriften, iv. 108 note 62. In the Abruzzi, on the evening before Epiphany, musicians go from house to house serenading the inmates with songs and the strains of fiddles, guitars, organs, and so forth. They are accompanied by others carrying lanterns, torches, or burning branches of juniper. See Antonio de Nino, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi (Florence, 1879-1883), ii. 178-180; G. Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi (Palermo, 1890), pp. 88 sq. Such house to house visitations may be a relic of an old expulsion of witches and demons.

420

Rev. Biot Edmondston and Jessie M. E. Saxby, The Home of a Naturalist (London, 1888), p. 136. Compare County Folk-lore, vol. iii. Orkney and Shetland Islands, collected by G. F. Black (London, 1903), p. 196. As to the Trows, whose name is doubtless identical with the Norse Trolls (Swedish troll, Norwegian trold), see Edmondston and Saxby, op. cit. pp. 189 sqq.; John Jamieson, Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, New Edition, edited by J. Longmuir and D. Donaldson (Paisley, 1879-1882), iv. 630 sq., who observes that “while the Fairies are uniformly represented as social, cheerful, and benevolent beings, the Trows are described as gloomy and malignant, ever prone to injure men.”