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diff --git a/42067-tei/42067-tei.tei b/42067-tei/42067-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8f446c --- /dev/null +++ b/42067-tei/42067-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,19013 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> + +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd" [ + +<!ENTITY u5 "http://www.tei-c.org/Lite/"> + +]> + +<TEI.2 lang="en"> +<teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)</title> + <author><name reg="Frazer, James George">James George Frazer</name></author> + </titleStmt> + <editionStmt> + <edition n="3">Edition 3</edition> + </editionStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date>February 10, 2013</date> + <idno type="etext-no">42067</idno> + <availability> + <p>This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and + with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it + away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg + License online at www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> + Created electronically. + </bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="en"></language> + <language id="sa"></language> + <language id="la"></language> + <language id="es"></language> + <language id="fr"></language> + <language id="de"></language> + <language id="el"></language> + <language id="ja"></language> + <language id="nl"></language> + <language id="he"></language> + <language id="gd"></language> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2012-02-10">February 10, 2013</date> + <respStmt> + <name> + Produced by David Edwards, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. + (This file was produced from images generously + made available by The Internet Archive.) + </name> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> +</teiHeader> + +<pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .boxed { x-class: boxed } + .shaded { x-class: shaded } + .rules { x-class: rules; rules: all } + .indent { margin-left: 2 } + .bold { font-weight: bold } + .italic { font-style: italic } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + </pgStyleSheet> + + <pgCharMap formats="txt.iso-8859-1"> + <char id="U0x2014"> + <charName>mdash</charName> + <desc>EM DASH</desc> + <mapping>--</mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2003"> + <charName>emsp</charName> + <desc>EM SPACE</desc> + <mapping> </mapping> + </char> + <char id="U0x2026"> + <charName>hellip</charName> + <desc>HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS</desc> + <mapping>...</mapping> + </char> + </pgCharMap> +</pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> + <front> + <div> + <divGen type="pgheader" /> + </div> + <div> + <divGen type="encodingDesc" /> + </div> + + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <p rend="font-size: xx-large; text-align: center">The Golden Bough</p> + <p rend="font-size: x-large; text-align: center">A Study in Magic and Religion</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">By</p> + <p rend="font-size: x-large; text-align: center">James George Frazer, D.C.L., LL.D., Litt.D.</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">Professor of Social Anthropology in the University of Liverpool</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Vol. VII. of XII.</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Part V: Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild.</p> + <p rend="font-size: large; text-align: center">Vol. 1 of 2.</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">New York and London</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">MacMillan and Co.</p> + <p rend="text-align: center">1912</p> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: always"> + <head>Contents</head> + <divGen type="toc" /> + </div> + + </front> +<body> + +<div> +<p rend='text-align: center'> +<figure url='images/cover.jpg' rend='width: 40%'> +<figDesc>Cover Art</figDesc> +</figure> +</p> +<p> +[Transcriber's Note: The above cover image was produced by the submitter at +Distributed Proofreaders, and is being placed into the public domain.] +</p> +</div> + +<pb n='v'/><anchor id='Pgv'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Preface.</head> + +<p> +In the last part of this work we examined the figure of +the Dying and Reviving God as it appears in the Oriental +religions of classical antiquity. With the present instalment +of <hi rend='italic'>The Golden Bough</hi> we pursue the same theme in other +religions and among other races. Passing from the East to +Europe we begin with the religion of ancient Greece, which +embodies the now familiar conception in two typical examples, +the vine-god Dionysus and the corn-goddess Persephone, +with her mother and duplicate Demeter. Both of these +Greek divinities are personifications of cultivated plants, and +a consideration of them naturally leads us on to investigate +similar personifications elsewhere. Now of all the plants +which men have artificially reared for the sake of food the +cereals are on the whole the most important; therefore it is +natural that the religion of primitive agricultural communities +should be deeply coloured by the principal occupation of +their lives, the care of the corn. Hence the frequency with +which the figures of the Corn-mother and Corn-maiden, +answering to the Demeter and Persephone of ancient Greece, +meet us in other parts of the world, and not least of all on +the harvest-fields of modern Europe. But edible roots as +well as cereals have been cultivated by many races, especially +in the tropical regions, as a subsidiary or even as a principal +means of subsistence; and accordingly they too enter largely +into the religious ideas of the peoples who live by them. +Yet in the case of the roots, such as yams, taro, and potatoes, +<pb n='vi'/><anchor id='Pgvi'/> +the conception of the Dying and Reviving God appears to +figure less prominently than in the case of the cereals, perhaps +for the simple reason that while the growth and decay +of the one sort of fruit go on above ground for all to see, the +similar processes of the other are hidden under ground and +therefore strike the popular imagination less forcibly. +</p> + +<p> +Having surveyed the variations of our main theme among +the agricultural races of mankind, we prosecute the enquiry +among savages who remain more or less completely in the +hunting, fishing, and pastoral stages of society. The same +motive which leads the primitive husbandman to adore the +corn or the roots, induces the primitive hunter, fowler, fisher, +or herdsman to adore the beasts, birds, or fishes which furnish +him with the means of subsistence. To him the conception +of the death of these worshipful beings is naturally presented +with singular force and distinctness; since it is no figurative +or allegorical death, no poetical embroidery thrown over the +skeleton, but the real death, the naked skeleton, that constantly +thrusts itself importunately on his attention. And +strange as it may seem to us civilised men, the notion of +the immortality and even of the resurrection of the lower +animals appears to be almost as familiar to the savage and +to be accepted by him with nearly as unwavering a faith as +the obvious fact of their death and destruction. For the most +part he assumes as a matter of course that the souls of dead +animals survive their decease; hence much of the thought +of the savage hunter is devoted to the problem of how he can +best appease the naturally incensed ghosts of his victims so +as to prevent them from doing him a mischief. This refusal +of the savage to recognise in death a final cessation of the +vital process, this unquestioning faith in the unbroken continuity +of all life, is a fact that has not yet received the +attention which it seems to merit from enquirers into +the constitution of the human mind as well as into the +history of religion. In the following pages I have collected +<pb n='vii'/><anchor id='Pgvii'/> +examples of this curious faith; I must leave it to others to +appraise them. +</p> + +<p> +Thus on the whole we are concerned in these volumes +with the reverence or worship paid by men to the natural +resources from which they draw their nutriment, both vegetable +and animal. That they should invest these resources +with an atmosphere of wonder and awe, often indeed with a +halo of divinity, is no matter for surprise. The circle of +human knowledge, illuminated by the pale cold light of +reason, is so infinitesimally small, the dark regions of human +ignorance which lie beyond that luminous ring are so immeasurably +vast, that imagination is fain to step up to the +border line and send the warm, richly coloured beams of her +fairy lantern streaming out into the darkness; and so, +peering into the gloom, she is apt to mistake the shadowy +reflections of her own figure for real beings moving in +the abyss. In short, few men are sensible of the sharp +line that divides the known from the unknown; to most +men it is a hazy borderland where perception and conception +melt indissolubly into one. Hence to the savage the +ghosts of dead animals and men, with which his imagination +peoples the void, are hardly less real than the solid shapes +which the living animals and men present to his senses; +and his thoughts and activities are nearly as much absorbed +by the one as by the other. Of him it may be said with +perhaps even greater truth than of his civilised brother, +<q>What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!</q> +</p> + +<p> +But having said so much in this book of the misty glory +which the human imagination sheds round the hard material +realities of the food supply, I am unwilling to leave my +readers under the impression, natural but erroneous, that +man has created most of his gods out of his belly. That is +not so, at least that is not my reading of the history of +religion. Among the visible, tangible, perceptible elements +by which he is surrounded—and it is only of these that I +<pb n='viii'/><anchor id='Pgviii'/> +presume to speak—there are others than the merely nutritious +which have exerted a powerful influence in touching +his imagination and stimulating his energies, and so have +contributed to build up the complex fabric of religion. To +the preservation of the species the reproductive faculties +are no less essential than the nutritive; and with them we +enter on a very different sphere of thought and feeling, to +wit, the relation of the sexes to each other, with all the +depths of tenderness and all the intricate problems which +that mysterious relation involves. The study of the various +forms, some gross and palpable, some subtle and elusive, in +which the sexual instinct has moulded the religious consciousness +of our race, is one of the most interesting, as it is +one of the most difficult and delicate tasks, which await the +future historian of religion. +</p> + +<p> +But the influence which the sexes exert on each other, +intimate and profound as it has been and must always be, is +far indeed from exhausting the forces of attraction by which +mankind are bound together in society. The need of mutual +protection, the economic advantages of co-operation, the +contagion of example, the communication of knowledge, the +great ideas that radiate from great minds, like shafts of light +from high towers,—these and many other things combine to +draw men into communities, to drill them into regiments, +and to set them marching on the road of progress with a +concentrated force to which the loose skirmishers of mere +anarchy and individualism can never hope to oppose a permanent +resistance. Hence when we consider how intimately +humanity depends on society for many of the boons which +it prizes most highly, we shall probably admit that of all +the forces open to our observation which have shaped +human destiny the influence of man on man is by far the +greatest. If that is so, it seems to follow that among the +beings, real or imaginary, which the religious imagination +has clothed with the attributes of divinity, human spirits are +<pb n='ix'/><anchor id='Pgix'/> +likely to play a more important part than the spirits of +plants, animals, or inanimate objects. I believe that a +careful examination of the evidence, which has still to be +undertaken, will confirm this conclusion; and that if we +could strictly interrogate the phantoms which the human +mind has conjured up out of the depths of its bottomless +ignorance and enshrined as deities in the dim light of +temples, we should find that the majority of them have +been nothing but the ghosts of dead men. However, to +say this is necessarily to anticipate the result of future +research; and if in saying it I have ventured to make a +prediction, which like all predictions is liable to be falsified +by the event, I have done so only from a fear lest, without +some such warning, the numerous facts recorded in these +volumes might lend themselves to an exaggerated estimate +of their own importance and hence to a misinterpretation +and distortion of history. +</p> + +<p> +J. G. Frazer. +</p> + +<p> +<hi rend='smallcaps'>Cambridge</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>4th May 1912</hi>. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='001'/><anchor id='Pg001'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter I. Dionysus.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Death and +resurrection +of +Oriental +gods of +vegetation. +The Dying +and Reviving +god of +vegetation +in ancient +Greece.</note> +In the preceding part of this work we saw that in antiquity +the civilised nations of western Asia and Egypt +pictured to themselves the changes of the seasons, and +particularly the annual growth and decay of vegetation, +as episodes in the life of gods, whose mournful death +and happy resurrection they celebrated with dramatic +rites of alternate lamentation and rejoicing. But if the +celebration was in form dramatic, it was in substance +magical; that is to say, it was intended, on the principles +of sympathetic magic, to ensure the vernal regeneration of +plants and the multiplication of animals, which had seemed +to be menaced by the inroads of winter. In the ancient +world, however, such ideas and such rites were by no means +confined to the Oriental peoples of Babylon and Syria, +of Phrygia and Egypt; they were not a product peculiar to +the religious mysticism of the dreamy East, but were shared +by the races of livelier fancy and more mercurial temperament +who inhabited the shores and islands of the Aegean. +We need not, with some enquirers in ancient and modern +times, suppose that these Western peoples borrowed from +the older civilisation of the Orient the conception of the +Dying and Reviving God, together with the solemn ritual, +in which that conception was dramatically set forth before +the eyes of the worshippers. More probably the resemblance +which may be traced in this respect between the religions of +the East and the West is no more than what we commonly, +though incorrectly, call a fortuitous coincidence, the effect of +<pb n='002'/><anchor id='Pg002'/> +similar causes acting alike on the similar constitution of the +human mind in different countries and under different skies. +The Greek had no need to journey into far countries to learn +the vicissitudes of the seasons, to mark the fleeting beauty +of the damask rose, the transient glory of the golden corn, +the passing splendour of the purple grapes. Year by year +in his own beautiful land he beheld, with natural regret, +the bright pomp of summer fading into the gloom and +stagnation of winter, and year by year he hailed with natural +delight the outburst of fresh life in spring. Accustomed +to personify the forces of nature, to tinge her cold abstractions +with the warm hues of imagination, to clothe her +naked realities with the gorgeous drapery of a mythic fancy, +he fashioned for himself a train of gods and goddesses, of +spirits and elves, out of the shifting panorama of the seasons, +and followed the annual fluctuations of their fortunes with +alternate emotions of cheerfulness and dejection, of gladness +and sorrow, which found their natural expression in alternate +rites of rejoicing and lamentation, of revelry and mourning. +A consideration of some of the Greek divinities who thus +died and rose again from the dead may furnish us with a +series of companion pictures to set side by side with +the sad figures of Adonis, Attis, and Osiris. We begin with +Dionysus. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Dionysus, +the god of +the vine, +originally +a Thracian +deity.</note> +The god Dionysus or Bacchus is best known to us as a +personification of the vine and of the exhilaration produced +by the juice of the grape.<note place='foot'>On Dionysus in general, see L. +Preller, <hi rend='italic'>Griechische Mythologie</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>4</hi> i. +659 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Fr. Lenormant, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +<q>Bacchus,</q> in Daremberg and Saglio's +<hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques +et Romaines</hi>, i. 591 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Voigt and +Thraemer, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Dionysus,</q> in W. H. +Roscher's <hi rend='italic'>Lexikon der griech. u. röm. +Mythologie</hi>, i. 1029 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; E. Rohde, +<hi rend='italic'>Psyche</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>3</hi> (Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903), +ii. 1 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Miss J. E. Harrison, <hi rend='italic'>Prolegomena +to the Study of Greek Religion</hi>, +Second Edition (Cambridge, 1908), +pp. 363 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Kern, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Dionysus,</q> +in Pauly-Wissowa's <hi rend='italic'>Real-Encyclopädie +der classischen Altertumswissenschaft</hi>, +v. 1010 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; M. P. Nilsson, <hi rend='italic'>Griechische +Feste von religiöser Bedeutung</hi> (Leipsic, +1906), pp. 258 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; L. R. Farnell, +<hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the Greek States</hi>, v. +(Oxford, 1909) pp. 85 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> The +epithet <hi rend='italic'>Bromios</hi> bestowed on Dionysus, +and his identification with +the Thracian and Phrygian deity +Sabazius, have been adduced as evidence +that Dionysus was a god of beer +or of other cereal intoxicants before +he became a god of wine. See W. +Headlam, in <hi rend='italic'>Classical Review</hi>, xv. +(1901) p. 23; Miss J. E. Harrison, +<hi rend='italic'>Prolegomena to the Study of Greek +Religion</hi>, pp. 414-426.</note> His ecstatic worship, characterised +by wild dances, thrilling music, and tipsy excess, appears to +<pb n='003'/><anchor id='Pg003'/> +have originated among the rude tribes of Thrace, who were +notoriously addicted to drunkenness.<note place='foot'>Plato, <hi rend='italic'>Laws</hi>, i. p. 637 <hi rend='smallcaps'>e</hi>; Theopompus, +cited by Athenaeus, x. 60, +p. 442 <hi rend='smallcaps'>e</hi> <hi rend='smallcaps'>f</hi>; Suidas, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> κατασκεδάζειν; +compare Xenophon, <hi rend='italic'>Anabasis</hi>, vii. 3. +32. For the evidence of the Thracian +origin of Dionysus, see the writers +cited in the preceding note, especially +Dr. L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> v. 85 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> +Compare W. Ridgeway, <hi rend='italic'>The Origin +of Tragedy</hi> (Cambridge, 1910), pp. +10 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Its mystic doctrines +and extravagant rites were essentially foreign to the clear +intelligence and sober temperament of the Greek race. Yet +appealing as it did to that love of mystery and that proneness +to revert to savagery which seem to be innate in most +men, the religion spread like wildfire through Greece until +the god whom Homer hardly deigned to notice had become +the most popular figure of the pantheon. The resemblance +which his story and his ceremonies present to those of +Osiris have led some enquirers both in ancient and modern +times to hold that Dionysus was merely a disguised Osiris, +imported directly from Egypt into Greece.<note place='foot'>Herodotus, ii. 49; Diodorus +Siculus, i. 97. 4; P. Foucart, <hi rend='italic'>Le Culte +de Dionyse en Attique</hi> (Paris, 1904), +pp. 9 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 159 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> (<hi rend='italic'>Mémoires de +l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres</hi>, +xxxvii.).</note> But the great +preponderance of evidence points to his Thracian origin, +and the similarity of the two worships is sufficiently +explained by the similarity of the ideas and customs on +which they were founded. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Dionysus +a god of +trees, especially +of +fruit-trees.</note> +While the vine with its clusters was the most characteristic +manifestation of Dionysus, he was also a god of trees +in general. Thus we are told that almost all the Greeks +sacrificed to <q>Dionysus of the tree.</q><note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Quaest. Conviv.</hi> v. 3: +Διονύσῳ δὲ δενδρίτῃ πάντες, ὡς ἔπος +εἰπεῖν, Ἕλληνες θύουσιν.</note> In Boeotia one of +his titles was <q>Dionysus in the tree.</q><note place='foot'>Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Ἔνδενδρος.</note> His image was +often merely an upright post, without arms, but draped in +a mantle, with a bearded mask to represent the head, and +with leafy boughs projecting from the head or body to shew +the nature of the deity.<note place='foot'>See the pictures of his images, +drawn from ancient vases, in C. +Bötticher's <hi rend='italic'>Baumkultus der Hellenen</hi> +(Berlin, 1856), plates 42, 43, 43 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a</hi>, +43 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b</hi>, 44; Daremberg et Saglio, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire +des Antiquités Grecques et +Romaines</hi>, i. 361, 626 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> On a vase his rude effigy is +depicted appearing out of a low tree or bush.<note place='foot'>Daremberg et Saglio, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. 626.</note> At Magnesia +on the Maeander an image of Dionysus is said to have +been found in a plane-tree, which had been broken by the +<pb n='004'/><anchor id='Pg004'/> +wind.<note place='foot'>P. Wendland und O. Kern, +<hi rend='italic'>Beiträge zur Geschichte der griechischen +Philosophie und Religion</hi> (Berlin, +1895), pp. 79 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Ch. Michel, <hi rend='italic'>Recueil +d' Inscriptions Grecques</hi> (Brussels, +1900), No. 856.</note> He was the patron of cultivated trees;<note place='foot'>Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae Compendium</hi>, +30.</note> prayers were +offered to him that he would make the trees grow;<note place='foot'>Pindar, quoted by Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis +et Osiris</hi>, 35.</note> and he +was especially honoured by husbandmen, chiefly fruit-growers, +who set up an image of him, in the shape of a natural tree-stump, +in their orchards.<note place='foot'>Maximus Tyrius, <hi rend='italic'>Dissertat.</hi> viii. 1.</note> He was said to have discovered +all tree-fruits, amongst which apples and figs are particularly +mentioned;<note place='foot'>Athenaeus, iii. chs. 14 and 23, +pp. 78 <hi rend='smallcaps'>c</hi>, 82 <hi rend='smallcaps'>d</hi>.</note> and he was referred to as <q>well-fruited,</q> +<q>he of the green fruit,</q> and <q>making the fruit to grow.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Orphica</hi>, Hymn l. 4. liii. 8.</note> +One of his titles was <q>teeming</q> or <q>bursting</q> (as of sap +or blossoms);<note place='foot'>Aelian, <hi rend='italic'>Var. Hist.</hi> iii. 41; +Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Φλέω[ς]. Compare +Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Quaest. Conviv.</hi> v. 8. 3.</note> and there was a Flowery Dionysus in Attica +and at Patrae in Achaia.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, i. 31. 4; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi> vii. 21. +6.</note> The Athenians sacrificed to him +for the prosperity of the fruits of the land.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 636, vol. +ii. p. 435, τῶν καρπῶν τῶν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ. +However, the words may equally well +refer to the cereal crops.</note> Amongst the +trees particularly sacred to him, in addition to the vine, +was the pine-tree.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Quaest. Conviv.</hi> v. 3.</note> The Delphic oracle commanded the +Corinthians to worship a particular pine-tree <q>equally with +the god,</q> so they made two images of Dionysus out of it, +with red faces and gilt bodies.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, ii. 2. 6 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Pausanias +does not mention the kind of tree; +but from Euripides, <hi rend='italic'>Bacchae</hi>, 1064 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, and Philostratus, <hi rend='italic'>Imag.</hi> i. 17 +(18), we may infer that it was a pine, +though Theocritus (xxvi. 11) speaks of +it as a mastich-tree.</note> In art a wand, tipped with +a pine-cone, is commonly carried by the god or his +worshippers.<note place='foot'>Müller-Wieseler, <hi rend='italic'>Denkmäler der +alten Kunst</hi>, ii. pll. xxxii. <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; A. +Baumeister, <hi rend='italic'>Denkmäler des klassischen +Altertums</hi>, i. figures 489, 491, 492, +495. Compare F. Lenormant, in +Daremberg et Saglio, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire des +Antiquités Grecques et Romaines</hi>, i. +623; Ch. F. Lobeck, <hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi> +(Königsberg, 1829), p. 700.</note> Again, the ivy and the fig-tree were especially +associated with him. In the Attic township of Acharnae +there was a Dionysus Ivy;<note place='foot'>Pausanias, i. 31. 6.</note> at Lacedaemon there was a +Fig Dionysus; and in Naxos, where figs were called <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>meilicha</foreign>, +there was a Dionysus Meilichios, the face of whose image +was made of fig-wood.<note place='foot'>Athenaeus, iii. 14, p. 78 <hi rend='smallcaps'>c</hi>.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='005'/><anchor id='Pg005'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Dionysus +as a god of +agriculture +and the +corn. +The winnowing-fan +as an emblem +of +Dionysus.</note> +Further, there are indications, few but significant, that +Dionysus was conceived as a deity of agriculture and the +corn. He is spoken of as himself doing the work of a +husbandman:<note place='foot'>Himerius, <hi rend='italic'>Orat.</hi> i. 10, Δίονυσος +γεωργεῖ.</note> he is reported to have been the first to yoke +oxen to the plough, which before had been dragged by hand +alone; and some people found in this tradition the clue to +the bovine shape in which, as we shall see, the god was +often supposed to present himself to his worshippers. Thus +guiding the ploughshare and scattering the seed as he went, +Dionysus is said to have eased the labour of the husbandman.<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, iii. 64. 1-3, iv. +4. 1 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> On the agricultural aspect of +Dionysus, see L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults +of the Greek States</hi>, v. (Oxford, 1909) +pp. 123 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +Further, we are told that in the land of the Bisaltae, +a Thracian tribe, there was a great and fair sanctuary +of Dionysus, where at his festival a bright light shone +forth at night as a token of an abundant harvest vouchsafed +by the deity; but if the crops were to fail that year, +the mystic light was not seen, darkness brooded over the +sanctuary as at other times.<note place='foot'>[Aristotle,] <hi rend='italic'>Mirab. Auscult.</hi> 122 +(p. 842 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a</hi>, ed. Im. Bekker, Berlin +edition).</note> Moreover, among the emblems +of Dionysus was the winnowing-fan, that is the large open +shovel-shaped basket, which down to modern times has been +used by farmers to separate the grain from the chaff by +tossing the corn in the air. This simple agricultural instrument +figured in the mystic rites of Dionysus; indeed the +god is traditionally said to have been placed at birth in a +winnowing-fan as in a cradle: in art he is represented as an +infant so cradled; and from these traditions and representations +he derived the epithet of <foreign rend='italic'>Liknites</foreign>, that is, <q>He of the +Winnowing-fan.</q><note place='foot'>Servius on Virgil, <hi rend='italic'>Georg.</hi> i. 166; +Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 35. The +literary and monumental evidence as +to the winnowing-fan in the myth and +ritual of Dionysus has been collected +and admirably interpreted by Miss J. +E. Harrison in her article <q>Mystica +Vannus Iacchi,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of Hellenic +Studies</hi>, xxiii. (1903) pp. 292-324. +Compare her <hi rend='italic'>Prolegomena to the Study +of Greek Religion</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> (Cambridge, 1908), +pp. 517 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> I must refer the reader +to these works for full details on the +subject. In the passage of Servius +referred to the reading is somewhat +uncertain; in his critical edition G. +Thilo reads λικμητὴν and λικμὸς instead +of the usual λικνιτὴν and λικνόν. But +the variation does not affect the meaning.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Use of the +winnowing-fan +to +cradle +infants. The winnowing-fan +sometimes +intended to +avert evil +spirits from +children.</note> +At first sight this symbolism might be explained +very simply and naturally by supposing that the divine +<pb n='006'/><anchor id='Pg006'/> +infant cradled in the winnowing-fan was identified with +the corn which it is the function of the instrument to +winnow and sift. Yet against this identification it may be +urged with reason that the use of a winnowing-fan as a +cradle was not peculiar to Dionysus; it was a regular +practice with the ancient Greeks to place their infants in +winnowing-fans as an omen of wealth and fertility for the +future life of the children.<note place='foot'>Ἐν γὰρ λείκνοις τὸ παλαιὸν κατεκοίμιζον +τὰ Βρέφη πλοῦτον καὶ καρπούς +οἰωνιζόμενοι, Scholiast on Callimachus, +i. 48 (<hi rend='italic'>Callimachea</hi>, edidit O. Schneider, +Leipsic, 1870-1873, vol. i. p. 109).</note> Customs of the same sort have +been observed, apparently for similar reasons, by other +peoples in other lands. For example, in Java it is or used +to be customary to place every child at birth in a bamboo +basket like the sieve or winnowing-basket which Javanese +farmers use for separating the rice from the chaff.<note place='foot'>T. S. Raffles, <hi rend='italic'>History of Java</hi> +(London, 1817), i. 323; C. F. Winter, +<q>Instellingen, Gewoontenen Gebruiken +der Javanen te Soerakarta,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Tijdschrift +voor Neêrlands Indie</hi>, Vijfde Jaargang, +Eerste Deel (1843), p. 695; P. J. Veth, +<hi rend='italic'>Java</hi> (Haarlem, 1875-1884), i. 639.</note> It is +the midwife who places the child in the basket, and as she +does so she suddenly knocks with the palms of both hands +on the basket in order that the child may not be timid and +fearful. Then she addresses the child thus: <q>Cry not, for +Njaï-among and Kaki-among</q> (two spirits) <q>are watching +over you.</q> Next she addresses these two spirits, saying, +<q>Bring not your grandchild to the road, lest he be trampled +by a horse; bring him not to the bank of the river, lest he +fall into the river.</q> The object of the ceremony is said to +be that these two spirits should always and everywhere guard +the child.<note place='foot'>C. Poensen, <q>Iets over de kleeding +der Javanen,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen van +wege het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, +xx. (1876) pp. 279 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> On the first anniversary of a child's birthday the +Chinese of Foo-Chow set the little one in a large bamboo +sieve, such as farmers employ in winnowing grain, and in the +sieve they place along with the child a variety of articles, +such as fruits, gold or silver ornaments, a set of money-scales, +books, a pencil, pen, ink, paper, and so on, and they draw +omens of the child's future career from the object which it +first handles and plays with. Thus, if the infant first grasps +the money-scale, he will be wealthy; if he seizes on a book, +he will be learned, and so forth.<note place='foot'>Rev. J. Doolittle, <hi rend='italic'>Social Life of the +Chinese</hi>, edited and revised by the +Rev. Paxton Hood (London, 1868), +pp. 90 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In the Bilaspore district +<pb n='007'/><anchor id='Pg007'/> +of India it is customary for well-to-do people to place a newborn +infant in a winnowing-fan filled with rice and afterwards +to give the grain to the nurse in attendance.<note place='foot'>Rev. E. M. Gordon, <q>Some Notes +concerning the People of Mungēli +Tahsīl, Bilaspur District,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the +Asiatic Society of Bengal</hi>, lxxi., Part +iii. (Calcutta, 1903) p. 74; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Indian +Folk Tales</hi> (London, 1908), p. 41.</note> In +Upper Egypt a newly-born babe is immediately laid upon a +corn-sieve and corn is scattered around it; moreover, on the +seventh day after birth the infant is carried on a sieve through +the whole house, while the midwife scatters wheat, barley, +pease and salt. The intention of these ceremonies is +said to be to avert evil spirits from the child,<note place='foot'>C. B. Klunzinger, <hi rend='italic'>Bilder aus +Oberägypten</hi> (Stuttgart, 1877), pp. 181, +182; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Upper Egypt, its People and +Products</hi> (London, 1878), pp. 185, +186.</note> and a like +motive is assigned by other peoples for the practice of +placing newborn infants in a winnowing-basket or corn-sieve. +For example, in the Punjaub, when several children of a +family have died in succession, a new baby will sometimes +be put at birth into an old winnowing-basket (<foreign rend='italic'>chhaj</foreign>) along +with the sweepings of the house, and so dragged out into +the yard; such a child may, like Dionysus, in after life be +known by the name of Winnowing-basket (<foreign rend='italic'>Chhajju</foreign>) or +Dragged (<foreign rend='italic'>Ghasitâ</foreign>).<note place='foot'>R. C. Temple, <q>Opprobrious +Names,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Indian Antiquary</hi>, x. (1881) +pp. 331 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Compare H. A. Rose, +<q>Hindu Birth Observances in the +Punjab,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Royal Anthropological +Institute</hi>, xxxvii. (1907) p. 234. +See also <hi rend='italic'>Panjab Notes and Queries</hi>, +vol. iii. August 1886, § 768, pp. +184 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>: <q>The winnowing fan in +which a newly-born child is laid, is +used on the fifth day for the worship +of Satwáí. This makes it impure, and +it is henceforward used only for the +house-sweepings.</q></note> The object of treating the child in this +way seems to be to save its life by deceiving the spirits, who +are supposed to have carried off its elder brothers and sisters; +these malevolent beings are on the look-out for the new baby, +but they will never think of raking for it in the dust-bin, +that being the last place where they would expect to find +the hope of the family. The same may perhaps be the +intention of a ceremony observed by the Gaolis of the +Deccan. As soon as a child is born, it is bathed and then +placed on a sieve for a few minutes. On the fifth day +the sieve, with a lime and <foreign rend='italic'>pan</foreign> leaves on it, is removed +outside the house and then, after the worship of Chetti +has been performed, the sieve is thrown away on the +<pb n='008'/><anchor id='Pg008'/> +road.<note place='foot'>Lieut.-Colonel Gunthorpe, <q>On +the Ghosí or Gaddí Gaolís of the Deccan,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Anthropological +Society of Bombay</hi>, i. 45.</note> Again, the same notion of rescuing the child from +dangerous spirits comes out very clearly in a similar +custom observed by the natives of Laos, a province of +Siam. These people <q>believe that an infant is the child, +not of its parents, but of the spirits, and in this belief they +go through the following formalities. As soon as an infant +is born it is bathed and dressed, laid upon a rice-sieve, and +placed—by the grandmother if present, if not, by the next +near female relative—at the head of the stairs or of the +ladder leading to the house. The person performing this +duty calls out in a loud tone to the spirits to come and take +the child away to-day, or for ever after to let it alone; +at the same moment she stamps violently on the floor to +frighten the child, or give it a jerk, and make it cry. If it +does not cry this is regarded as an evil omen. If, on the +other hand, it follows the ordinary laws of nature and begins +to exercise its vocal organs, it is supposed to have a happy +and prosperous life before it. Sometimes the spirits do +come and take the infant away, <hi rend='italic'>i.e.</hi> it dies before it is twenty-four +hours old, but, to prevent such a calamity, strings are +tied round its wrists on the first night after its birth, and +if it sickens or is feeble the spirit-doctors are called in to +prescribe certain offerings to be made to keep away the very +spirits who, only a few hours previously, were ceremoniously +called upon to come and carry the child off. On the day +after its birth the child is regarded as being the property no +longer of the spirits, who could have taken it if they had +wanted it, but of the parents, who forthwith sell it to some +relation for a nominal sum—an eighth or a quarter of a +rupee perhaps. This again is a further guarantee against +molestation by the spirits, who apparently are regarded as +honest folk that would not stoop to take what has been +bought and paid for.</q><note place='foot'>C. Bock, <hi rend='italic'>Temples and Elephants</hi> +(London, 1884), pp. 258 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Use of the +winnowing-fan +to +avert evil +from +children +in India, +Madagascar, +and +China. Karen +ceremony +of fanning +away evils +from +children.</note> +A like intention of averting evil in some shape from a +child is assigned in other cases of the same custom. Thus +in Travancore, <q>if an infant is observed to distort its limbs +as if in pain, it is supposed to be under the pressure of some +one who has stooped over it, to relieve which the mother +<pb n='009'/><anchor id='Pg009'/> +places it with a nut-cracker on a winnowing fan and shakes +it three or four times.</q><note place='foot'>S. Mateer, <hi rend='italic'>Native Life in Travancore</hi> +(London, 1883), p. 213.</note> Again, among the Tanala people +of Madagascar almost all children born in the unlucky month +of Faosa are buried alive in the forest. But if the parents +resolve to let the child live, they must call in the aid of a +diviner, who performs a ceremony for averting the threatened +ill-luck. The child is placed in a winnowing-fan along with +certain herbs. Further, the diviner takes herbs of the same +sort, a worn-out spade, and an axe, fastens them to the +father's spear, and sets the spear up in the ground. Then +the child is bathed in water which has been medicated with +some of the same herbs. Finally the diviner says: <q>The +worn-out spade to the grandchild; may it (the child) not +despoil its father, may it not despoil its mother, may it not +despoil the children; let it be good.</q> This ceremony, we +are told, <q>puts an end to the child's evil days, and the father +gets the spear to put away all evil. The child then joins its +father and mother; its evil days are averted, and the water +and the other things are buried, for they account them evil.</q><note place='foot'>J. Richardson, <q>Tanala Customs, +Superstitions, and Beliefs,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Antananarivo +Annual and Madagascar Magazine, +Reprint of the First Four Numbers</hi> +(Antananarivo, 1885), pp. 226 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +Similarly the ancient Greeks used to bury, or throw into the +sea, or deposit at cross-roads, the things that had been +used in ceremonies of purification, no doubt because the +things were supposed to be tainted by the evil which had +been transferred to them in the rites.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, ii. 31. 8; K. F. Hermann, +<hi rend='italic'>Lehrbuch der gottesdienstlichen +Alterthümer der Griechen</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> (Heidelberg, +1858), pp. 132 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, § 23, 25.</note> Another example of +the use of a winnowing-fan in what may be called a purificatory +ceremony is furnished by the practice of the Chinese of Foo-Chow. +A lad who is suffering from small-pox is made to +squat in a large winnowing sieve. On his head is placed a +piece of red cloth, and on the cloth are laid some parched +beans, which are then allowed to roll off. As the name for +beans, pronounced in the local dialect, is identical with the +common name for small-pox, and as moreover the scars left +by the pustules are thought to resemble beans, it appears to +be imagined that just as the beans roll off the boy's head, so +will the pustules vanish from his body without leaving a +<pb n='010'/><anchor id='Pg010'/> +trace behind.<note place='foot'>Rev. J. Doolittle, <hi rend='italic'>Social Life of the +Chinese</hi>, edited and revised by the Rev. +Paxton Hood (London, 1868), pp. 114 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> The beans used in the ceremony +had previously been placed before an +image of the goddess of small-pox.</note> Thus the cure depends on the principle +of homoeopathic magic. Perhaps on the same principle a +winnowing-fan is employed in the ceremony from a notion +that it will help to waft or fan away the disease like chaff +from the grain. We may compare a purificatory ceremony +observed by the Karens of Burma at the naming of a new-born +child. Amongst these people <q rend='pre'>children are supposed +to come into the world defiled, and unless that defilement is +removed, they will be unfortunate, and unsuccessful in their +undertakings. An Elder takes a thin splint of bamboo, +and, tying a noose at one end, he fans it down the child's +arm, saying:</q> +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='none'><q rend='pre'><hi rend='italic'>Fan away ill luck, fan away ill success:</hi></q></q></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Fan away inability, fan away unskilfulness:</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Fan away slow growth, fan away difficulty of growth:</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Fan away stuntedness, fan away puniness:</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Fan away drowsiness, fan away stupidity:</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Fan away debasedness, fan away wretchedness:</hi></l> +<l rend='margin-left: 8'><q rend='none'><q rend='post'><hi rend='italic'>Fan away the whole completely.</hi></q></q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The Elder now changes his motion and fans up the child's +arm, saying:</q> +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='none'><q rend='pre'><hi rend='italic'>Fan on power, fan on influence:</hi></q></q></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Fan on the paddy bin, fan on the paddy barn:</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Fan on followers, fan on dependants:</hi></l> +<l><q rend='post'><q rend='post'><hi rend='italic'>Fan on good things, fan on appropriate things.</hi></q></q><note place='foot'>Rev. F. Mason, D.D., <q>Physical +Character of the Karens,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of +the Asiatic Society of Bengal</hi>, New +Series, No. cxxxi. (Calcutta, 1866), +pp. 9 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Among the +reasons for +the use of +the winnowing-fan +in birth-rites +may +have been +the wish +to avert +evils and +to promote +fertility and +growth.</note> +Thus in some of the foregoing instances the employment +of the winnowing-fan may have been suggested by the proper +use of the implement as a means of separating the corn from +the chaff, the same operation being extended by analogy to +rid men of evils of various sorts which would otherwise adhere +to them like husks to the grain. It was in this way that +the ancients explained the use of the winnowing-fan in the +mysteries.<note place='foot'>Servius on Virgil, <hi rend='italic'>Georg.</hi> i. 166: +<q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>Et vannus Iacchi.... Mystica autem +Bacchi ideo ait, quod Liberi patris sacra +ad purgationem animae pertinebant: et +sic homines ejus mysteriis purgabantur, +sicut vannis frumenta purgantur.</foreign></q></note> But one motive, and perhaps the original one, +<pb n='011'/><anchor id='Pg011'/> +for setting a newborn child in a winnowing-fan and surrounding +it with corn was probably the wish to communicate to +the infant, on the principle of sympathetic magic, the fertility +and especially the power of growth possessed by the grain. +This was in substance the explanation which W. Mannhardt +gave of the custom.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <q>Kind und Korn,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi> (Strasburg, +1884), pp. 351-374.</note> He rightly insisted on the analogy +which many peoples, and in particular the ancient Greeks, +have traced between the sowing of seed and the begetting +of children,<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 351 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> and he confirmed his view of the function of +the winnowing-fan in these ceremonies by aptly comparing +a German custom of sowing barley or flax seed over weakly +and stunted children in the belief that this will make them +grow with the growth of the barley or the flax.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 372, +citing A. Wuttke, <hi rend='italic'>Der deutsche Volks-aberglaube</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> +(Berlin, 1869), p. 339, § 543; +L. Strackerjan, <hi rend='italic'>Aberglaube und Sagen +aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg</hi> (Oldenburg, +1867), i. 81.</note> An +Esthonian mode of accomplishing the same object is to set +the child in the middle of a plot of ground where a sower is +sowing hemp and to leave the little one there till the sowing +is finished; after that they imagine that the child will shoot +up in stature like the hemp which has just been sown.<note place='foot'>Boecler-Kreutzwald, <hi rend='italic'>Der Ehsten +abergläubische Gebräuche</hi> (St. Petersburg, +1854), p. 61. This custom is +also cited by Mannhardt (<hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi>).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Use of the +winnowing-fan +in +the rites of +Dionysus.</note> +With the foregoing evidence before us of a widespread +custom of placing newborn children in winnowing-fans we +clearly cannot argue that Dionysus must necessarily have +been a god of the corn because Greek tradition and Greek +art represent him as an infant cradled in a winnowing-fan. +The argument would prove too much, for it would apply +equally to all the infants that have been so cradled in all +parts of the world. We cannot even press the argument +drawn from the surname <q>He of the Winnowing-fan</q> which +was borne by Dionysus, since we have seen that similar +names are borne for similar reasons in India by persons who +have no claim whatever to be regarded as deities of the corn. +Yet when all necessary deductions have been made on this +score, the association of Dionysus with the winnowing-fan +appears to be too intimate to be explained away as a mere +reminiscence of a practice to which every Greek baby, whether +<pb n='012'/><anchor id='Pg012'/> +human or divine, had to submit. That practice would hardly +account either for the use of the winnowing-fan in the +mysteries or for the appearance of the implement, filled with +fruitage of various kinds, on the monuments which set forth +the ritual of Dionysus.<note place='foot'>Miss J. E. Harrison, <q>Mystica +Vannus Iacchi,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of Hellenic +Studies</hi>, xxiii. (1903) pp. 296 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Prolegomena to the Study of Greek +Religion</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> pp. 518 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; L. R. Farnell, +<hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the Greek States</hi>, v. +(Oxford, 1909) p. 243.</note> This last emblem points plainly to +a conception of the god as a personification of the fruits of +the earth in general; and as if to emphasise the idea of +fecundity conveyed by such a symbol there sometimes +appears among the fruits in the winnowing-fan an effigy of +the male organ of generation. The prominent place which +that effigy occupied in the worship of Dionysus<note place='foot'>Herodotus, ii. 48, 49; Clement of +Alexandria, <hi rend='italic'>Protrept.</hi> ii. 34, pp. 29-30, +ed. Potter; Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge +Inscriptionum Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 19, +vol. i. p. 32; M. P. Nilsson, <hi rend='italic'>Studia +de Dionysiis Atticis</hi> (Lund, 1900), pp. +90 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults of +the Greek States</hi>, v. 125, 195, 205.</note> hints broadly, +if it does not strictly prove, that to the Greek mind the +god stood for the powers of fertility in general, animal as +well as vegetable. In the thought of the ancients no sharp +line of distinction divided the fertility of animals from the +fertility of plants; rather the two ideas met and blended +in a nebulous haze. We need not wonder, therefore, that +the same coarse but expressive emblem figured conspicuously +in the ritual of Father Liber, the Italian counterpart of +Dionysus, who in return for the homage paid to the symbol +of his creative energy was believed to foster the growth of +the crops and to guard the fields against the powers of evil.<note place='foot'>Augustine, <hi rend='italic'>De civitate Dei</hi>, vii. 21.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Myth of +the death +and resurrection +of +Dionysus. Legend +that the +infant +Dionysus +occupied +for a short +time the +throne of +his father +Zeus. Death and +resurrection +of +Dionysus +represented +in +his rites.</note> +Like the other gods of vegetation whom we considered in +the last volume, Dionysus was believed to have died a violent +death, but to have been brought to life again; and his sufferings, +death, and resurrection were enacted in his sacred rites. +His tragic story is thus told by the poet Nonnus. Zeus in +the form of a serpent visited Persephone, and she bore him +Zagreus, that is, Dionysus, a horned infant. Scarcely was +he born, when the babe mounted the throne of his father +Zeus and mimicked the great god by brandishing the +lightning in his tiny hand. But he did not occupy the +throne long; for the treacherous Titans, their faces whitened +with chalk, attacked him with knives while he was looking +<pb n='013'/><anchor id='Pg013'/> +at himself in a mirror. For a time he evaded their assaults +by turning himself into various shapes, assuming the likeness +successively of Zeus and Cronus, of a young man, of a lion, +a horse, and a serpent. Finally, in the form of a bull, he +was cut to pieces by the murderous knives of his enemies.<note place='foot'>Nonnus, <hi rend='italic'>Dionys.</hi> vi. 155-205.</note> +His Cretan myth, as related by Firmicus Maternus, ran thus. +He was said to have been the bastard son of Jupiter, a +Cretan king. Going abroad, Jupiter transferred the throne and +sceptre to the youthful Dionysus, but, knowing that his wife +Juno cherished a jealous dislike of the child, he entrusted +Dionysus to the care of guards upon whose fidelity he +believed he could rely. Juno, however, bribed the guards, +and amusing the child with rattles and a cunningly-wrought +looking-glass lured him into an ambush, where her satellites, +the Titans, rushed upon him, cut him limb from limb, boiled +his body with various herbs, and ate it. But his sister +Minerva, who had shared in the deed, kept his heart and +gave it to Jupiter on his return, revealing to him the whole +history of the crime. In his rage, Jupiter put the Titans to +death by torture, and, to soothe his grief for the loss of his +son, made an image in which he enclosed the child's heart, +and then built a temple in his honour.<note place='foot'>Firmicus Maternus, <hi rend='italic'>De errore profanarum +religionum</hi>, 6.</note> In this version a +Euhemeristic turn has been given to the myth by representing +Jupiter and Juno (Zeus and Hera) as a king and +queen of Crete. The guards referred to are the mythical +Curetes who danced a war-dance round the infant Dionysus, +as they are said to have done round the infant Zeus.<note place='foot'>Clement of Alexandria, <hi rend='italic'>Protrept.</hi> +ii. 17. Compare Ch. A. Lobeck, +<hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi>, pp. 1111 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +Very noteworthy is the legend, recorded both by Nonnus +and Firmicus, that in his infancy Dionysus occupied for a +short time the throne of his father Zeus. So Proclus tells +us that <q>Dionysus was the last king of the gods appointed +by Zeus. For his father set him on the kingly throne, and +placed in his hand the sceptre, and made him king of all the +gods of the world.</q><note place='foot'>Proclus on Plato, <hi rend='italic'>Cratylus</hi>, p. 59, +quoted by E. Abel, <hi rend='italic'>Orphica</hi>, p. 228. +Compare Chr. A. Lobeck, <hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi>, +pp. 552 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Such traditions point to a custom of +temporarily investing the king's son with the royal dignity +as a preliminary to sacrificing him instead of his father. +<pb n='014'/><anchor id='Pg014'/> +Pomegranates were supposed to have sprung from the blood +of Dionysus, as anemones from the blood of Adonis and +violets from the blood of Attis: hence women refrained +from eating seeds of pomegranates at the festival of the +Thesmophoria.<note place='foot'>Clement of Alexandria, <hi rend='italic'>Protrept.</hi> +ii. 19. Compare <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi> ii. 22; Scholiast +on Lucian, <hi rend='italic'>Dial. Meretr.</hi> vii. p. 280, +ed. H. Rabe.</note> According to some, the severed limbs of +Dionysus were pieced together, at the command of Zeus, by +Apollo, who buried them on Parnassus.<note place='foot'>Clement of Alexandria, <hi rend='italic'>Protrept.</hi> +ii. 18; Proclus on Plato's <hi rend='italic'>Timaeus</hi>, iii. +p. 200 <hi rend='smallcaps'>d</hi>, quoted by Lobeck, <hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi>, +p. 562, and by Abel, <hi rend='italic'>Orphica</hi>, +p. 234. Others said that the mangled +body was pieced together, not by Apollo +but by Rhea (Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae +Graecae Compendium</hi>, 30).</note> The grave of +Dionysus was shewn in the Delphic temple beside a golden +statue of Apollo.<note place='foot'>Ch. A. Lobeck, <hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi>, pp. +572 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> See <hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, p. 3. For +a conjectural restoration of the temple, +based on ancient authorities and an +examination of the scanty remains, see +an article by J. H. Middleton, in +<hi rend='italic'>Journal of Hellenic Studies</hi>, ix. (1888) +pp. 282 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> The ruins of the temple +have now been completely excavated +by the French.</note> However, according to another account, +the grave of Dionysus was at Thebes, where he is said to +have been torn in pieces.<note place='foot'>S. Clemens Romanus, <hi rend='italic'>Recognitiones</hi>, +x. 24 (Migne's <hi rend='italic'>Patrologia +Graeca</hi>, i. col. 1434).</note> Thus far the resurrection of the +slain god is not mentioned, but in other versions of the myth +it is variously related. According to one version, which +represented Dionysus as a son of Zeus and Demeter, his +mother pieced together his mangled limbs and made him +young again.<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, iii. 62.</note> In others it is simply said that shortly after +his burial he rose from the dead and ascended up to heaven;<note place='foot'>Macrobius, <hi rend='italic'>Comment. in Somn. +Scip.</hi> i. 12. 12; <hi rend='italic'>Scriptores rerum +mythicarum Latini tres Romae nuper +reperti</hi> (commonly referred to as +<hi rend='italic'>Mythographi Vaticani</hi>), ed. G. H. +Bode (Cellis, 1834), iii. 12. 5, p. 246; +Origen, <hi rend='italic'>Contra Celsum</hi>, iv. 17 (vol. i. +p. 286, ed. P. Koetschau).</note> +or that Zeus raised him up as he lay mortally wounded;<note place='foot'>Himerius, <hi rend='italic'>Orat.</hi> ix. 4.</note> or +that Zeus swallowed the heart of Dionysus and then begat +him afresh by Semele,<note place='foot'>Proclus, <hi rend='italic'>Hymn to Minerva</hi>, +quoted by Ch. A. Lobeck, <hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi>, +p. 561; <hi rend='italic'>Orphica</hi>, ed. E. Abel, +p. 235.</note> who in the common legend figures +as mother of Dionysus. Or, again, the heart was pounded +up and given in a portion to Semele, who thereby conceived +him.<note place='foot'>Hyginus, <hi rend='italic'>Fabulae</hi>, 167.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Turning from the myth to the ritual, we find that the +Cretans celebrated a biennial<note place='foot'>The festivals of Dionysus were +biennial in many places. See G. F. +Schömann, <hi rend='italic'>Griechische Alterthümer</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>4</hi> +ii. 524 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> (The terms for the festival +were τριετηρίς, τριετηρικός, both terms +of the series being included in the +numeration, in accordance with the +ancient mode of reckoning.) Perhaps +the festivals were formerly annual and +the period was afterwards lengthened, +as has happened with other festivals. +See W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Baumkultus</hi>, pp. +172, 175, 491, 533 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 598. Some +of the festivals of Dionysus, however, +were annual. Dr. Farnell has conjectured +that the biennial period in +many Greek festivals is to be explained +by <q>the original shifting of land-cultivation +which is frequent in early +society owing to the backwardness of +the agricultural processes; and which +would certainly be consecrated by a +special ritual attached to the god of the +soil.</q> See L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults +of the Greek States</hi>, v. 180 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> festival at which the passion +<pb n='015'/><anchor id='Pg015'/> +of Dionysus was represented in every detail. All that he +had done or suffered in his last moments was enacted before +the eyes of his worshippers, who tore a live bull to pieces +with their teeth and roamed the woods with frantic shouts. +In front of them was carried a casket supposed to contain +the sacred heart of Dionysus, and to the wild music of +flutes and cymbals they mimicked the rattles by which the +infant god had been lured to his doom.<note place='foot'>Firmicus Maternus, <hi rend='italic'>De errore +profanarum religionum</hi>, 6.</note> Where the +resurrection formed part of the myth, it also was acted at +the rites,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Mythographi Vaticani</hi>, ed. G. H. +Bode, iii. 12. 5, p. 246.</note> and it even appears that a general doctrine of +resurrection, or at least of immortality, was inculcated on +the worshippers; for Plutarch, writing to console his wife on +the death of their infant daughter, comforts her with the +thought of the immortality of the soul as taught by tradition +and revealed in the mysteries of Dionysus.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Consol. ad uxor.</hi> 10. +Compare <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 35; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>De +E Delphico</hi>, 9; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>De esu carnium</hi>, i. 7.</note> A different +form of the myth of the death and resurrection of Dionysus +is that he descended into Hades to bring up his mother +Semele from the dead.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, ii. 31. 2 and 37. 5; +Apollodorus, <hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, iii. 5. 3.</note> The local Argive tradition was +that he went down through the Alcyonian lake; and his +return from the lower world, in other words his resurrection, +was annually celebrated on the spot by the Argives, who +summoned him from the water by trumpet blasts, while +they threw a lamb into the lake as an offering to the +warder of the dead.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, ii. 37. 5 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; Plutarch, +<hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 35; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Quaest. Conviv.</hi> +iv. 6. 2.</note> Whether this was a spring festival +does not appear, but the Lydians certainly celebrated the +advent of Dionysus in spring; the god was supposed to +bring the season with him.<note place='foot'>Himerius, <hi rend='italic'>Orat.</hi> iii. 6, xiv. 7.</note> Deities of vegetation, who are +<pb n='016'/><anchor id='Pg016'/> +supposed to pass a certain portion of each year under ground, +naturally come to be regarded as gods of the lower world +or of the dead. Both Dionysus and Osiris were so conceived.<note place='foot'>For Dionysus in this capacity see +F. Lenormant in Daremberg et Saglio, +<hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques +et Romaines</hi>, i. 632. For Osiris, see +<hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second Edition, +pp. 344 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Dionysus +represented +in +the form +of a bull.</note> +A feature in the mythical character of Dionysus, which +at first sight appears inconsistent with his nature as a deity +of vegetation, is that he was often conceived and represented +in animal shape, especially in the form, or at least with +the horns, of a bull. Thus he is spoken of as <q>cow-born,</q> +<q>bull,</q> <q>bull-shaped,</q> <q>bull-faced,</q> <q>bull-browed,</q> <q>bull-horned,</q> +<q>horn-bearing,</q> <q>two-horned,</q> <q>horned.</q><note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 35; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, +<hi rend='italic'>Quaest. Graec.</hi> 36; Athenaeus, xi. 51, +p. 476 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a</hi>; Clement of Alexandria, +<hi rend='italic'>Protrept.</hi> ii. 16; <hi rend='italic'>Orphica</hi>, Hymn xxx. +<hi rend='italic'>vv.</hi> 3, 4, xlv. 1, lii. 2, liii. 8; +Euripides, <hi rend='italic'>Bacchae</hi>, 99; Scholiast on +Aristophanes, <hi rend='italic'>Frogs</hi>, 357; Nicander, +<hi rend='italic'>Alexipharmaca</hi>, 31; Lucian, <hi rend='italic'>Bacchus</hi>, +2. The title Εἰραφιώτης applied to +Dionysus (<hi rend='italic'>Homeric Hymns</hi>, xxxiv. 2; +Porphyry, <hi rend='italic'>De abstinentia</hi>, iii. 17; +Dionysius, <hi rend='italic'>Perieg.</hi> 576; <hi rend='italic'>Etymologicum +Magnum</hi>, p. 371. 57) is etymologically +equivalent to the Sanscrit <foreign lang='sa' rend='italic'>varsabha</foreign>, +<q>a bull,</q> as I was informed by my +lamented friend the late R. A. Neil of +Pembroke College, Cambridge.</note> He +was believed to appear, at least occasionally, as a bull.<note place='foot'>Euripides, <hi rend='italic'>Bacchae</hi>, 920 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, +1017; Nonnus, <hi rend='italic'>Dionys.</hi> vi. 197 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> His +images were often, as at Cyzicus, made in bull shape,<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 35; +Athenaeus, xi. 51, p. 476 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a</hi>.</note> or +with bull horns;<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, iii. 64. 2, iv. 4. +2; Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae Compendium</hi>, +30.</note> and he was painted with horns.<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, iii. 64. 2; J. Tzetzes, +<hi rend='italic'>Schol. on Lycophron</hi>, 209, 1236; +Philostratus, <hi rend='italic'>Imagines</hi>, i. 14 (15).</note> Types +of the horned Dionysus are found amongst the surviving +monuments of antiquity.<note place='foot'>Müller-Wieseler, <hi rend='italic'>Denkmäler der +alten Kunst</hi>, ii. pl. xxxiii.; Daremberg +et Saglio, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire des Antiquités +Grecques et Romaines</hi>, i. 619 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 631; +W. H. Roscher, <hi rend='italic'>Lexikon d. griech. u. +röm. Mythologie</hi>, i. 1149 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; F. +Imhoof-Blumer, <q>Coin-types of some +Kilikian Cities,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of Hellenic +Studies</hi>, xviii. (1898) p. 165.</note> On one statuette he appears clad +in a bull's hide, the head, horns, and hoofs hanging down +behind.<note place='foot'>F. G. Welcker, <hi rend='italic'>Alte Denkmäler</hi> +(Göttingen, 1849-1864), v. taf. 2.</note> Again, he is represented as a child with clusters +of grapes round his brow, and a calf's head, with sprouting +horns, attached to the back of his head.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Archaeologische Zeitung</hi>, ix. +(1851) pl. xxxiii., with Gerhard's +remarks, pp. 371-373.</note> On a red-figured +vase the god is portrayed as a calf-headed child seated on a +woman's lap.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Gazette Archéologique</hi>, v. (1879) +pl. 3.</note> The people of Cynaetha in north-western +Arcadia held a festival of Dionysus in winter, when men, +<pb n='017'/><anchor id='Pg017'/> +who had greased their bodies with oil for the occasion, used +to pick out a bull from the herd and carry it to the sanctuary +of the god. Dionysus was supposed to inspire their choice +of the particular bull,<note place='foot'>Pausanias, viii. 19. 2.</note> which probably represented the deity +himself; for at his festivals he was believed to appear in +bull form. The women of Elis hailed him as a bull, and +prayed him to come with his bull's foot. They sang, <q>Come +hither, Dionysus, to thy holy temple by the sea; come with +the Graces to thy temple, rushing with thy bull's foot, O +goodly bull, O goodly bull!</q><note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Quaestiones Graecae</hi>, 36; +<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 35.</note> The Bacchanals of Thrace +wore horns in imitation of their god.<note place='foot'>J. Tzetzes, <hi rend='italic'>Schol. on Lycophron</hi>, +1236.</note> According to the +myth, it was in the shape of a bull that he was torn to +pieces by the Titans;<note place='foot'>Nonnus, <hi rend='italic'>Dionys.</hi> vi. 205.</note> and the Cretans, when they acted +the sufferings and death of Dionysus, tore a live bull to +pieces with their teeth.<note place='foot'>Firmicus Maternus, <hi rend='italic'>De errore profanarum +religionum</hi>, 6.</note> Indeed, the rending and devouring +of live bulls and calves appear to have been a regular feature +of the Dionysiac rites.<note place='foot'>Euripides, <hi rend='italic'>Bacchae</hi>, 735 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +Scholiast on Aristophanes, <hi rend='italic'>Frogs</hi>, 357.</note> When we consider the practice of +portraying the god as a bull or with some of the features of +the animal, the belief that he appeared in bull form to his +worshippers at the sacred rites, and the legend that in bull +form he had been torn in pieces, we cannot doubt that in +rending and devouring a live bull at his festival the +worshippers of Dionysus believed themselves to be killing +the god, eating his flesh, and drinking his blood. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Dionysus +as a goat. Live goats +rent and +devoured +by his worshippers.</note> +Another animal whose form Dionysus assumed was the +goat. One of his names was <q>Kid.</q><note place='foot'>Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Ἔριφος ὁ Διόνυσος, +on which there is a marginal gloss +ὁ μικρὸς αἴξ, ὁ ἐν τῷ ἔαρι φαινόμενος, +ἤγουν ὁ πρώϊμος; Stephanus Byzantius, +<hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Ἀκρώρεια.</note> At Athens and at +Hermion he was worshipped under the title of <q>the one of +the Black Goatskin,</q> and a legend ran that on a certain +occasion he had appeared clad in the skin from which he +took the title.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, ii. 35. 1; Scholiast on +Aristophanes, <hi rend='italic'>Acharn.</hi> 146; <hi rend='italic'>Etymologicum +Magnum</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Ἀπατούρια, p. 118. +54 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Suidas, <hi rend='italic'>s.vv.</hi> Ἀπατούρια and +μελαναίγιδα Διόνυσον; Nonnus, <hi rend='italic'>Dionys.</hi> +xxvii. 302. Compare Conon, <hi rend='italic'>Narrat.</hi> +39, where for Μελανθίδῃ we should +perhaps read Μελαναίγιδι.</note> In the wine-growing district of Phlius, where +in autumn the plain is still thickly mantled with the red and +<pb n='018'/><anchor id='Pg018'/> +golden foliage of the fading vines, there stood of old a +bronze image of a goat, which the husbandmen plastered +with gold-leaf as a means of protecting their vines against +blight.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, ii. 13. 6. On their +return from Troy the Greeks are said +to have found goats and an image of +Dionysus in a cave of Euboea (Pausanias, +i. 23. 1).</note> The image probably represented the vine-god +himself. To save him from the wrath of Hera, his father +Zeus changed the youthful Dionysus into a kid;<note place='foot'>Apollodorus, <hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, iii. 4. 3.</note> and when +the gods fled to Egypt to escape the fury of Typhon, +Dionysus was turned into a goat.<note place='foot'>Ovid, <hi rend='italic'>Metam.</hi> v. 329; Antoninus +Liberalis, <hi rend='italic'>Transform.</hi> 28; <hi rend='italic'>Mythographi +Vaticani</hi>, ed. G. H. Bode, i. 86, p. +29.</note> Hence when his +worshippers rent in pieces a live goat and devoured it raw,<note place='foot'>Arnobius, <hi rend='italic'>Adversus nationes</hi>, v. +19. Compare Suidas, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> αἰγίζειν. +As fawns appear to have been also torn +in pieces at the rites of Dionysus +(Photius, <hi rend='italic'>Lexicon</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> νεβρίζειν; +Harpocration, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> νεβρίζων), it is +probable that the fawn was another of +the god's embodiments. But of this +there seems no direct evidence. Fawn-skins +were worn both by the god and +his worshippers (Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae +Graecae Compendium</hi>, 30). Similarly +the female Bacchanals wore goat-skins +(Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> τραγηφόροι).</note> +they must have believed that they were eating the body and +blood of the god. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Custom of +rending +and +devouring +animals +and men +as a religious +rite. +Ceremonial +cannibalism +among +the Indians +of British +Columbia.</note> +The custom of tearing in pieces the bodies of animals +and of men and then devouring them raw has been practised +as a religious rite by savages in modern times. We need +not therefore dismiss as a fable the testimony of antiquity +to the observance of similar rites among the frenzied +worshippers of Bacchus. An English missionary to the Coast +Indians of British Columbia has thus described a scene like +the cannibal orgies of the Bacchanals. After mentioning that +an old chief had ordered a female slave to be dragged to +the beach, murdered, and thrown into the water, he proceeds +as follows: <q>I did not see the murder, but, immediately +after, I saw crowds of people running out of those houses +near to where the corpse was thrown, and forming themselves +into groups at a good distance away. This I learnt +was from fear of what was to follow. Presently two bands +of furious wretches appeared, each headed by a man in a +state of nudity. They gave vent to the most unearthly +sounds, and the two naked men made themselves look as +unearthly as possible, proceeding in a creeping kind of +stoop, and stepping like two proud horses, at the same time +<pb n='019'/><anchor id='Pg019'/> +shooting forward each arm alternately, which they held out +at full length for a little time in the most defiant manner. +Besides this, the continual jerking their heads back, causing +their long black hair to twist about, added much to their +savage appearance. For some time they pretended to be +seeking the body, and the instant they came where it lay +they commenced screaming and rushing round it like so +many angry wolves. Finally they seized it, dragged it out +of the water, and laid it on the beach, where I was told the +naked men would commence tearing it to pieces with their +teeth. The two bands of men immediately surrounded +them, and so hid their horrid work. In a few minutes +the crowd broke into two, when each of the naked cannibals +appeared with half of the body in his hands. Separating +a few yards, they commenced, amid horrid yells, their still +more horrid feast. The sight was too terrible to behold. +I left the gallery with a depressed heart. I may mention +that the two bands of savages just alluded to belong to that +class which the whites term <q>medicine-men.</q></q> The same +writer informs us that at the winter ceremonials of these +Indians <q>the cannibal, on such occasions, is generally +supplied with two, three, or four human bodies, which he +tears to pieces before his audience. Several persons, either +from bravado or as a charm, present their arms for him +to bite. I have seen several whom he has bitten, and I hear +two have died from the effects.</q> And when corpses were +not forthcoming, these cannibals apparently seized and +devoured living people. Mr. Duncan has seen hundreds of +the Tsimshian Indians sitting in their canoes which they +had just pushed off from the shore in order to escape being +torn to pieces by a party of prowling cannibals. Others +of these Indians contented themselves with tearing dogs +to pieces, while their attendants kept up a growling noise, +or a whoop, <q>which was seconded by a screeching noise +made from an instrument which they believe to be the abode +of a spirit.</q><note place='foot'>Mr. Duncan, quoted by Commander +R. C. Mayne, <hi rend='italic'>Four Years in British +Columbia and Vancouver Island</hi> (London, +1862), pp. 284-288. The instrument +which made the screeching sound +was no doubt a bull-roarer, a flat piece +of stick whirled at the end of a string so +as to produce a droning or screaming +note according to the speed of revolution. +Such instruments are used by +the Koskimo Indians of the same +region at their cannibal and other +rites. See Fr. Boas, <q>The Social +Organization and the Secret Societies +of the Kwakiutl Indians,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Report of +the U.S. National Museum for 1895</hi> +(Washington, 1897), pp. 610, 611.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='020'/><anchor id='Pg020'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Religious +societies of +Cannibals +and Dog-eaters +among the +Indians of +British +Columbia. Live goats +rent in +pieces and +devoured +by fanatics +in +Morocco.</note> +Mr. Duncan's account of these savage rites has been +fully borne out by later observation. Among the Kwakiutl +Indians the Cannibals (<foreign rend='italic'>Hamatsas</foreign>) are the highest in rank of +the Secret Societies. They devour corpses, bite pieces out +of living people, and formerly ate slaves who had been +killed for the purpose. But when their fury has subsided, +they are obliged to pay compensation to the persons whom +they have bitten and to the owners of slaves whom they +have killed. The indemnity consists sometimes of blankets, +sometimes of canoes. In the latter case the tariff is fixed: +one bite, one canoe. For some time after eating human +flesh the cannibal has to observe a great many rules, which +regulate his eating and drinking, his going out and his +coming in, his clothing and his intercourse with his wife.<note place='foot'>Fr. Boas, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 437-443, +527 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 536, 537 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 579, 664; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, +in <q>Fifth Report on the North-western +Tribes of Canada,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Report of the British +Association for 1889</hi>, pp. 54-56 (separate +reprint); <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, in <q>Sixth Report on the +North-western Tribes of Canada,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Report of the British Association for +1890</hi>, pp. 62, 65 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> (separate reprint). +As to the rules observed after the +eating of human flesh, see <hi rend='italic'>Taboo and +the Perils of the Soul</hi>, pp. 188-190.</note> +Similar customs prevail among other tribes of the same +coast, such as the Bella Coola, the Tsimshian, the Niska, +and the Nootka. In the Nootka tribe members of the +Panther Society tear dogs to pieces and devour them. They +wear masks armed with canine teeth.<note place='foot'>Fr. Boas, <q>The Social Organization +and the Secret Societies of the +Kwakiutl Indians,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Report of the U.S. +National Museum for 1895</hi> (Washington, +1897), pp. 649 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 658 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, +in <q>Sixth Report on the North-western +Tribes of Canada,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Report of +the British Association for 1890</hi>, p. 51; +(separate reprint); <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <q>Seventh +Report on the North-western Tribes +of Canada,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Report of the British +Association for 1891</hi>, pp. 10 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> (separate +reprint); <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <q>Tenth Report on +the North-western Tribes of Canada,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Report of the British Association for +1895</hi>, p. 58 (separate reprint).</note> So among the +Haida Indians of the Queen Charlotte Islands there is one +religion of cannibalism and another of dog-eating. The +cannibals in a state of frenzy, real or pretended, bite flesh +out of the extended arms of their fellow villagers. When +they issue forth with cries of <foreign rend='italic'>Hop-pop</foreign> to observe this solemn +rite, all who are of a different religious persuasion make +haste to get out of their way; but men of the cannibal creed +and of stout hearts will resolutely hold out their arms to be +<pb n='021'/><anchor id='Pg021'/> +bitten. The sect of dog-eaters cut or tear dogs to pieces +and devour some of the flesh; but they have to pay for the +dogs which they consume in their religious enthusiasm.<note place='foot'>G. M. Dawson, <hi rend='italic'>Report on the +Queen Charlotte Islands, 1878</hi> (Montreal, +1880), pp. 125 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b</hi>, 128 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b</hi>.</note> +In the performance of these savage rites the frenzied actors +are believed to be inspired by a Cannibal Spirit and a +Dog-eating Spirit respectively.<note place='foot'>J. R. Swanton, <hi rend='italic'>Contributions to +the Ethnology of the Haida</hi> (Leyden +and New York, 1905), pp. 156, 160 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +170 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 181 (<hi rend='italic'>The Jesup North Pacific +Expedition, Memoir of the American +Museum of Natural History</hi>). For details +as to the practice of these savage +rites among the Indian coast tribes of +British Columbia, see my <hi rend='italic'>Totemism +and Exogamy</hi> (London, 1910), iii. pp. +501, 511 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 515 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 519, 521, 526, +535 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 537, 539 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 542 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 544, +545.</note> Again, in Morocco there is +an order of saints known as Isowa or Aïsawa, followers of +Mohammed ben Isa or Aïsa of Mequinez, whose tomb is at +Fez. Every year on their founder's birthday they assemble +at his shrine or elsewhere and holding each other's hands +dance a frantic dance round a fire. <q>While the mad dance +is still proceeding, a sudden rush is made from the sanctuary, +and the dancers, like men delirious, speed away to a place +where live goats are tethered in readiness. At sight of these +animals the fury of the savage and excited crowd reaches its +height. In a few minutes the wretched animals are cut, or +rather torn to pieces, and an orgy takes place over the raw +and quivering flesh. When they seem satiated, the +Emkaddim, who is generally on horseback, and carries a +long stick, forms a sort of procession, preceded by wild +music, if such discordant sounds will bear the name. +Words can do no justice to the frightful scene which now +ensues. The naked savages—for on these occasions a +scanty piece of cotton is all their clothing—with their long +black hair, ordinarily worn in plaits, tossed about by the +rapid to-and-fro movements of the head, with faces and +hands reeking with blood, and uttering loud cries resembling +the bleating of goats, again enter the town. The place is +now at their mercy, and the people avoid them as much as +possible by shutting themselves up in their houses. A +Christian or a Jew would run great risk of losing his life if +either were found in the street. Goats are pushed out from +the doors, and these the fanatics tear immediately to pieces +with their hands, and then dispute over the morsels of +<pb n='022'/><anchor id='Pg022'/> +bleeding flesh, as though they were ravenous wolves +instead of men. Snakes also are thrown to them as tests +of their divine frenzy, and these share the fate of the goats. +Sometimes a luckless dog, straying as dogs will stray in +a tumult, is seized on. Then the laymen, should any +be at hand, will try to prevent the desecration of pious +mouths. But the fanatics sometimes prevail, and the +unclean animal, abhorred by the mussulman, is torn in +pieces and devoured, or pretended to be devoured, with +indiscriminating rage.</q><note place='foot'>A. Leared, <hi rend='italic'>Morocco and the Moors</hi> +(London, 1876), pp. 267-269. Compare +Budgett Meakin, <hi rend='italic'>The Moors</hi> +(London, 1902), pp. 331 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> The +same order of fanatics also exists +and holds similar orgies in Algeria, +especially at the town of Tlemcen. +See E. Doutté, <hi rend='italic'>Les Aïssâoua à Tlemcen</hi> +(Châlons-sur-Marne, 1900), p. 13.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Later misinterpretations +of the +custom of +killing a +god in +animal +form.</note> +The custom of killing a god in animal form, which we +shall examine more in detail further on, belongs to a very +early stage of human culture, and is apt in later times to be +misunderstood. The advance of thought tends to strip the +old animal and plant gods of their bestial and vegetable +husk, and to leave their human attributes (which are always +the kernel of the conception) as the final and sole residuum. +In other words, animal and plant gods tend to become +purely anthropomorphic. When they have become wholly +or nearly so, the animals and plants which were at first the +deities themselves, still retain a vague and ill-understood +connexion with the anthropomorphic gods who have been +developed out of them. The origin of the relationship +between the deity and the animal or plant having been +forgotten, various stories are invented to explain it. These +explanations may follow one of two lines according as they +are based on the habitual or on the exceptional treatment +of the sacred animal or plant. The sacred animal was +habitually spared, and only exceptionally slain; and accordingly +the myth might be devised to explain either why it +was spared or why it was killed. Devised for the former +purpose, the myth would tell of some service rendered to the +deity by the animal; devised for the latter purpose, the +myth would tell of some injury inflicted by the animal on +the god. The reason given for sacrificing goats to Dionysus +exemplifies a myth of the latter sort. They were sacrificed +<pb n='023'/><anchor id='Pg023'/> +to him, it was said, because they injured the vine.<note place='foot'>Varro, <hi rend='italic'>Rerum rusticarum</hi>, i. 2. 19; +Virgil, <hi rend='italic'>Georg.</hi> ii. 376-381, with the +comments of Servius on the passage +and on <hi rend='italic'>Aen.</hi> iii. 118; Ovid, <hi rend='italic'>Fasti</hi>, i. +353 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Metamorph.</hi> xv. 114 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; +Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae Compendium</hi>, +30.</note> +Now the goat, as we have seen, was originally an embodiment +of the god himself. But when the god had divested +himself of his animal character and had become essentially +anthropomorphic, the killing of the goat in his worship came +to be regarded no longer as a slaying of the deity himself, +but as a sacrifice offered to him; and since some reason had +to be assigned why the goat in particular should be sacrificed, +it was alleged that this was a punishment inflicted on the +goat for injuring the vine, the object of the god's especial +care. Thus we have the strange spectacle of a god sacrificed +to himself on the ground that he is his own enemy. And +as the deity is supposed to partake of the victim offered to +him, it follows that, when the victim is the god's old self, the +god eats of his own flesh. Hence the goat-god Dionysus is +represented as eating raw goat's blood;<note place='foot'>Euripides, <hi rend='italic'>Bacchae</hi>, 138 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>: ἀγρεύων +αἷμα τραγοκτόνον, ὠμοφάγον χάριν.</note> and the bull-god +Dionysus is called <q>eater of bulls.</q><note place='foot'>Schol. on Aristophanes, <hi rend='italic'>Frogs</hi>, 357.</note> On the analogy of +these instances we may conjecture that wherever a deity is +described as the eater of a particular animal, the animal in +question was originally nothing but the deity himself.<note place='foot'>Hera αἰγοφάγος at Sparta, Pausanias, +iii. 15. 9; Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +αἰγοφάγος (compare the representation +of Hera clad in a goat's skin, with the +animal's head and horns over her head, +Müller-Wieseler, <hi rend='italic'>Denkmäler der alten +Kunst</hi>, i. No. 229 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b</hi>; and the similar +representation of the Lanuvinian Juno, +W. H. Roscher, <hi rend='italic'>Lexikon d. griech. u. +röm. Mythologie</hi>, ii. 605 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>); Zeus +αἰγοφάγος, <hi rend='italic'>Etymologicum Magnum</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +αἰγοφάγος, p. 27. 52 (compare Scholiast +on Oppianus, <hi rend='italic'>Halieut.</hi> iii. 10; L. +Stephani, in <hi rend='italic'>Compte-Rendu de la Commission +Impériale Archéologique pour +l'année 1869</hi> (St. Petersburg, 1870), +pp. 16-18); Apollo ὀψοφάγος at Elis, +Athenaeus, viii. 36, p. 346 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b</hi>; Artemis +καπροφάγος in Samos, Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +καπροφάγος; compare <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> κριοφάγος. +Divine titles derived from killing +animals are probably to be similarly +explained, as Dionysus αἰγόβολος (Pausanias, +ix. 8. 2); Rhea or Hecate +κυνοσφαγής (J. Tzetzes, <hi rend='italic'>Scholia on +Lycophron</hi>, 77); Apollo λυκοκτόνος +(Sophocles, <hi rend='italic'>Electra</hi>, 6); Apollo σαυροκτόνος +(Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> xxxiv. 70).</note> +Later on we shall find that some savages propitiate dead bears +and whales by offering them portions of their own bodies.<note place='foot'>See below, vol. ii. pp. 184, 194, +196, 197 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 233.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Human +sacrifices +in the +worship of +Dionysus.</note> +All this, however, does not explain why a deity of +vegetation should appear in animal form. But the consideration +of that point had better be deferred till we have +<pb n='024'/><anchor id='Pg024'/> +discussed the character and attributes of Demeter. Meantime +it remains to mention that in some places, instead of +an animal, a human being was torn in pieces at the rites of +Dionysus. This was the practice in Chios and Tenedos;<note place='foot'>Porphyry, <hi rend='italic'>De abstinentia</hi>, ii. 55.</note> +and at Potniae in Boeotia the tradition ran that it had been +formerly the custom to sacrifice to the goat-smiting Dionysus +a child, for whom a goat was afterwards substituted.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, ix. 8. 2.</note> At +Orchomenus, as we have seen, the human victim was taken +from the women of an old royal family.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, pp. 163 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> As the slain bull +or goat represented the slain god, so, we may suppose, the +human victim also represented him. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +legendary +deaths of +Pentheus +and +Lycurgus +may be +reminiscences +of a custom +of sacrificing +divine +kings in +the character +of +Dionysus.</note> +The legends of the deaths of Pentheus and Lycurgus, +two kings who are said to have been torn to pieces, the one +by Bacchanals, the other by horses, for their opposition to +the rites of Dionysus, may be, as I have already suggested,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, pp. 332 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +distorted reminiscences of a custom of sacrificing divine +kings in the character of Dionysus and of dispersing the +fragments of their broken bodies over the fields for the +purpose of fertilising them. In regard to Lycurgus, king of +the Thracian tribe of the Edonians, it is expressly said that +his subjects at the bidding of an oracle caused him to be +rent in pieces by horses for the purpose of restoring the +fertility of the ground after a period of barrenness and +dearth.<note place='foot'>Apollodorus, <hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, iii. 5. 1.</note> There is no improbability in the tradition. We +have seen that in Africa and other parts of the world kings +or chiefs have often been put to death by their people for +similar reasons.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution +of Kings</hi>, i. 344, 345, 346, 352, 354, +366 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Further, it is significant that King Lycurgus +is said to have slain his own son Dryas with an axe in a fit +of madness, mistaking him for a vine-branch.<note place='foot'>Apollodorus, <hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, iii. 5. 1.</note> Have we not +in this tradition a reminiscence of a custom of sacrificing the +king's son in place of the father? Similarly Athamas, a +King of Thessaly or Boeotia, is said to have been doomed +by an oracle to be sacrificed at the altar in order to remove +the curse of barrenness which afflicted his country; however, +he contrived to evade the sentence and in a fit of madness +killed his own son Learchus, mistaking him for a wild beast. +<pb n='025'/><anchor id='Pg025'/> +That this legend was not a mere myth is made probable by +a custom observed at Alus down to historical times: the +eldest male scion of the royal house was regularly sacrificed +in due form to Laphystian Zeus if he ever set foot within +the town-hall.<note place='foot'>Herodotus, vii. 197; Apollodorus, +<hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, i. 9. 1 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; Scholiast on +Aristophanes, <hi rend='italic'>Clouds</hi>, 257; J. Tzetzes, +<hi rend='italic'>Schol. on Lycophron</hi>, 21; Hyginus, +<hi rend='italic'>Fabulae</hi>, 1-5. See <hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, pp. +161-163.</note> The close resemblance between the legends +of King Athamas and King Lycurgus furnishes a ground for +believing both legends to be based on a real custom of +sacrificing either the king himself or one of his sons for the +good of the country; and the story that the king's son +Dryas perished because his frenzied father mistook him for +a vine-branch fits in well with the theory that the victim in +these sacrifices represented the vine-god Dionysus. It is +probably no mere coincidence that Dionysus himself is said +to have been torn in pieces at Thebes,<note place='foot'>Clemens Romanus, <hi rend='italic'>Recognitiones</hi>, +x. 24 (Migne's <hi rend='italic'>Patrologia Graeca</hi>, i. +col. 1434).</note> the very place where +according to legend the same fate befell king Pentheus at +the hands of the frenzied votaries of the vine-god.<note place='foot'>Euripides, <hi rend='italic'>Bacchae</hi>, 43 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 1043 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Theocritus, <hi rend='italic'>Idyl.</hi> xxvi.; Pausanias, +ii. 2. 7. Strictly speaking, the murder +of Pentheus is said to have been perpetrated +not at Thebes, of which he +was king, but on Mount Cithaeron.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Survival of +Dionysiac +rites +among the +modern +Thracian +peasantry.</note> +The theory that in prehistoric times Greek and Thracian +kings or their sons may have been dismembered in the +character of the vine-god or the corn-god for the purpose of +fertilising the earth or quickening the vines has received of +late years some confirmation from the discovery that down to +the present time in Thrace, the original home of Dionysus, +a drama is still annually performed which reproduces with +remarkable fidelity some of the most striking traits in the +Dionysiac myth and ritual.<note place='foot'>See Mr. R. M. Dawkins, <q>The +Modern Carnival in Thrace and the +Cult of Dionysus,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of Hellenic +Studies</hi>, xxvi. (1906) pp. 191-206. +Mr. Dawkins describes the ceremonies +partly from his own observation, partly +from an account of them published by +Mr. G. M. Vizyenos in a Greek +periodical Θρακικὴ Ἐπετηρίς, of which +only one number was published at +Athens in 1897. From his personal +observations Mr. Dawkins was able to +confirm the accuracy of Mr. Vizyenos's +account.</note> In a former part of this work +I have already called attention to this interesting survival +of paganism among a Christian peasantry;<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, pp. 333 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> but it seems +desirable and appropriate in this place to draw out somewhat +<pb n='026'/><anchor id='Pg026'/> +more fully the parallelism between the modern drama and +the ancient worship. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Drama +annually +performed +at the +Carnival +in the +villages +round +Viza, +an old +Thracian +capital. +The actors +in the +drama.</note> +The drama, which may reasonably be regarded as a direct +descendant of the Dionysiac rites, is annually performed at +the Carnival in all the Christian villages which cluster round +Viza, the ancient Bizya, a town of Thrace situated about +midway between Adrianople and Constantinople. In antiquity +the city was the capital of the Thracian tribe of the +Asti; the kings had their palace there,<note place='foot'>Strabo, vii. frag. 48; Stephanus Byzantius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Βιζύη.</note> probably in the +acropolis, of which some fine walls are still standing. +Inscriptions preserved in the modern town record the names +of some of these old kings.<note place='foot'>R. M. Dawkins, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 192.</note> The date of the celebration is +Cheese Monday, as it is locally called, which is the Monday +of the last week of Carnival. At Viza itself the mummery +has been shorn of some of its ancient features, but these +have been kept up at the villages and have been particularly +observed and recorded at the village of St. George (Haghios +Gheorgios). It is to the drama as acted at that village that +the following description specially applies. The principal +parts in the drama are taken by two men disguised in +goatskins. Each of them wears a headdress made of a +complete goatskin, which is stuffed so as to rise a foot or +more like a shako over his head, while the skin falls over the +face, forming a mask with holes cut for the eyes and mouth. +Their shoulders are thickly padded with hay to protect them +from the blows which used to be rained very liberally on +their backs. Fawnskins on their shoulders and goatskins on +their legs are or used to be part of their equipment, and +another indispensable part of it is a number of sheep-bells +tied round their waists. One of the two skin-clad actors +carries a bow and the other a wooden effigy of the male +organ of generation. Both these actors must be married +men. According to Mr. Vizyenos, they are chosen for periods +of four years. Two unmarried boys dressed as girls and +sometimes called brides also take part in the play; and a +man disguised as an old woman in rags carries a mock baby +in a basket; the brat is supposed to be a seven-months' +child born out of wedlock and begotten by an unknown +<pb n='027'/><anchor id='Pg027'/> +father. The basket in which the hopeful infant is paraded +bears the ancient name of the winnowing-fan (<foreign rend='italic'>likni</foreign>, contracted +from <foreign rend='italic'>liknon</foreign>) and the babe itself receives the very +title <q>He of the Winnowing-fan</q> (<foreign rend='italic'>Liknites</foreign>) which in antiquity +was applied to Dionysus. Two other actors, clad in +rags with blackened faces and armed with stout saplings, +play the parts of a gypsy-man and his wife; others personate +policemen armed with swords and whips; and the +troupe is completed by a man who discourses music on a +bagpipe. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The ceremonies +include the +forging of +a ploughshare, +a +mock +marriage, +and a +pretence of +death and +resurrection.</note> +Such are the masqueraders. The morning of the day +on which they perform their little drama is spent by them +going from door to door collecting bread, eggs, or money. +At every door the two skin-clad maskers knock, the boys +disguised as girls dance, and the gypsy man and wife enact +an obscene pantomime on the straw-heap before the house. +When every house in the village has been thus visited, the +troop takes up position on the open space before the village +church, where the whole population has already mustered to +witness the performance. After a dance hand in hand, in +which all the actors take part, the two skin-clad maskers +withdraw and leave the field to the gypsies, who now pretend +to forge a ploughshare, the man making believe to hammer +the share and his wife to work the bellows. At this point +the old woman's baby is supposed to grow up at a great +pace, to develop a huge appetite for meat and drink, +and to clamour for a wife. One of the skin-clad men +now pursues one of the two pretended brides, and a +mock marriage is celebrated between the couple. After +these nuptials have been performed with a parody of a real +wedding, the mock bridegroom is shot by his comrade with +the bow and falls down on his face like dead. His slayer +thereupon feigns to skin him with a knife; but the dead +man's wife laments over her deceased husband with loud +cries, throwing herself across his prostrate body. In this +lamentation the slayer himself and all the other actors join +in: a Christian funeral service is burlesqued; and the pretended +corpse is lifted up as if to be carried to the grave. +At this point, however, the dead man disconcerts the +preparations for his burial by suddenly coming to life +<pb n='028'/><anchor id='Pg028'/> +again and getting up. So ends the drama of death and +resurrection. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The ceremonies +also +include a +simulation +of ploughing +and +sowing by +skin-clad +men, accompanied +by prayers +for good +crops.</note> +The next act opens with a repetition of the pretence of +forging a ploughshare, but this time the gypsy man hammers +on a real share. When the implement is supposed to have +been fashioned, a real plough is brought forward, the +mockery appears to cease, the two boys dressed as girls are +yoked to the plough and drag it twice round the village +square contrary to the way of the sun. One of the two +skin-clad men walks at the tail of the plough, the other +guides it in front, and a third man follows in the rear +scattering seed from a basket. After the two rounds have +been completed, the gypsy and his wife are yoked to the +plough, and drag it a third time round the square, the two +skin-clad men still playing the part of ploughmen. At Viza +the plough is drawn by the skin-clad men themselves. While +the plough is going its rounds, followed by the sower sowing +the seed, the people pray aloud, saying, <q>May wheat be ten +piastres the bushel! Rye five piastres the bushel! Amen, +O God, that the poor may eat! Yea, O God, that poor folk +be filled!</q> This ends the performance. The evening is +spent in feasting on the proceeds of the house-to-house +visitation which took place in the morning.<note place='foot'>R. M. Dawkins, <q>The Modern +Carnival in Thrace and the Cult of +Dionysus,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of Hellenic Studies</hi>, +xxvi. (1906) pp. 193-201.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Kindred +ceremony +performed +by a +masked +and skin-clad +man +who is +called a +king.</note> +A kindred festival is observed on the same day of the +Carnival at Kosti, a place in the extreme north of Thrace, +near the Black Sea. There a man dressed in sheepskins or +goatskins, with a mask on his face, bells round his neck, and +a broom in his hand, goes round the village collecting food +and presents. He is addressed as a king and escorted with +music. With him go boys dressed as girls, and another boy, +not so disguised, who carries wine in a wooden bottle and +gives of it to every householder to drink in a cup, receiving +a gift in return. The king then mounts a two-wheeled cart +and is drawn to the church. He carries seed in his hand, +and at the church two bands of men, one of married men +and the other of unmarried men, try each in turn to induce +the king to throw the seed on them. Finally he casts it on +the ground in front of the church. The ceremony ends with +<pb n='029'/><anchor id='Pg029'/> +stripping the king of his clothes and flinging him into the +river, after which he resumes his usual dress.<note place='foot'>R. M. Dawkins, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. +201 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Analogy +of these +modern +Thracian +ceremonies +to the +ancient +rites of +Dionysus.</note> +In these ceremonies, still annually held at and near an +old capital of Thracian kings, the points of similarity to the +ritual of the ancient Thracian deity Dionysus are sufficiently +obvious.<note place='foot'>They have been clearly indicated +by Mr. R. M. Dawkins, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. +203 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> Compare W. Ridgeway, <hi rend='italic'>The +Origin of Tragedy</hi> (Cambridge, 1910), +pp. 15 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, who fully recognises the +connexion of the modern Thracian +ceremonies with the ancient rites of +Dionysus.</note> The goatskins in which the principal actors are +disguised remind us of the identification of Dionysus with a +goat: the infant, cradled in a winnowing-fan and taking +its name from the implement, answers exactly to the +traditions and the monuments which represent the infant +Dionysus as similarly cradled and similarly named: the +pretence that the baby is a seven-months' child born out +of wedlock and begotten by an unknown father tallies +precisely with the legend that Dionysus was born prematurely +in the seventh month as the offspring of an intrigue between +a mortal woman and a mysterious divine father:<note place='foot'>Lucian, <hi rend='italic'>Dialogi Deorum</hi>, ix. 2; +Apollodorus, <hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, iii. 4. 4. +According to the latter writer Dionysus +was born in the sixth month.</note> the same +coarse symbol of reproductive energy which characterised +the ancient ritual of Dionysus figures conspicuously in the +modern drama: the annual mock marriage of the goatskin-clad +mummer with the pretended bride may be compared +with the annual pretence of marrying Dionysus to the +Queen of Athens: and the simulated slaughter and resurrection +of the same goatskin-clad actor may be compared with +the traditional slaughter and resurrection of the god himself. +Further, the ceremony of ploughing, in which after his +resurrection the goatskin-clad mummer takes a prominent +part, fits in well not only with the legend that Dionysus was +the first to yoke oxen to the plough, but also with the +symbolism of the winnowing-fan in his worship; while the +prayers for plentiful crops which accompany the ploughing +accord with the omens of an abundant harvest which were +drawn of old from the mystic light seen to illumine by night +one of his ancient sanctuaries in Thrace. Lastly, in the +ceremony as observed at Kosti the giving of wine by the king's +<pb n='030'/><anchor id='Pg030'/> +attendant is an act worthy of the wine-god: the throwing +of seed by the king can only be interpreted, like the ploughing, +as a charm to promote the fertility of the ground; and +the royal title borne by the principal masker harmonises +well with the theory that the part of the god of the corn and +the wine was of old sustained by the Thracian kings who +reigned at Bisya. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +modern +Thracian +celebration +seems to +correspond +most +closely to +the ancient +Athenian +festival of +the Anthesteria.</note> +If we ask, To what ancient festival of Dionysus does the +modern celebration of the Carnival in Thrace most nearly +correspond? the answer can be hardly doubtful. The +Thracian drama of the mock marriage of the goatskin-clad +mummer, his mimic death and resurrection, and his subsequent +ploughing, corresponds both in date and in character +most nearly to the Athenian festival of the Anthesteria, +which was celebrated at Athens during three days in early +spring, towards the end of February or the beginning of +March. Thus the date of the Anthesteria could not fall +far from, and it might sometimes actually coincide with, the +last week of the Carnival, the date of the Thracian celebration. +While the details of the festival of the Anthesteria +are obscure, its general character is well known. It was +a festival both of wine-drinking and of the dead, whose +souls were supposed to revisit the city and to go about the +streets, just as in modern Europe and in many other parts +of the world the ghosts of the departed are still believed to +return to their old homes on one day of the year and to be +entertained by their relatives at a solemn Feast of All +Souls.<note place='foot'>As to such festivals of All Souls +see <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, pp. 301-318.</note> But the Dionysiac nature of the festival was +revealed not merely by the opening of the wine-vats and +the wassailing which went on throughout the city among +freemen and slaves alike; on the second day of the festival +the marriage of Dionysus with the Queen of Athens was +celebrated with great solemnity at the Bucolium or Ox-stall.<note place='foot'>The passages of ancient authors +which refer to the Anthesteria are +collected by Professor Martin P. Nilsson, +<hi rend='italic'>Studia de Dionysiis Atticis</hi> (Lund, 1900), +pp. 148 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> As to the festival, which has +been much discussed of late years, see +August Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Heortologie</hi> (Leipsic, +1864), pp. 345 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der +Stadt Athen im Altertum</hi> (Leipsic, +1898), pp. 384 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; G. F. Schoemann, +<hi rend='italic'>Griechische Alterthümer</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>4</hi> (Berlin, 1902), +ii. 516 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; E. Rohde, <hi rend='italic'>Psyche</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>3</hi> +(Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903), i. 236 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Martin P. Nilsson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. +115 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; P. Foucart, <hi rend='italic'>Le Culte de +Dionysos en Attique</hi> (Paris, 1904), pp. +107 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Miss J. E. Harrison, <hi rend='italic'>Prolegomena +to the Study of Greek Religion</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> +(Cambridge, 1908), pp. 32 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the Greek +States</hi>, v. (Oxford, 1909) pp. 214 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> +As to the marriage of Dionysus to the +Queen of Athens, see <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art +and the Evolution of Kings</hi>, i. 136 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +<pb n='031'/><anchor id='Pg031'/> +It has been suggested with much probability<note place='foot'>By Professor U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, +<hi rend='italic'>Aristoteles und Athen</hi> +(Berlin, 1893), ii. 42; and afterwards +by Miss J. E. Harrison, <hi rend='italic'>Prolegomena +to the Study of Greek Religion</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> p. 536.</note> that at +this sacred marriage in the Ox-stall the god was represented +wholly or partly in bovine shape, whether by an +image or by an actor dressed in the hide and wearing the +horns of a bull; for, as we have seen, Dionysus was often +supposed to assume the form of a bull and to present himself +in that guise to his worshippers. If this conjecture should +prove to be correct—though a demonstration of it can +hardly be expected—the sacred marriage of the Queen to +the Bull-god at Athens would be parallel to the sacred +marriage of the Queen to the Bull-god at Cnossus, +according to the interpretation which I have suggested +of the myth of Pasiphae and the Minotaur;<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, p. 71.</note> only +whereas the bull-god at Cnossus, if I am right, stood for the +Sun, the bull-god at Athens stood for the powers of vegetation, +especially the corn and the vines. It would not be +surprising that among a cattle-breeding people in early days +the bull, regarded as a type of strength and reproductive +energy, should be employed to symbolise and represent more +than one of the great powers of nature. If Dionysus did +indeed figure as a bull at his marriage, it is not improbable +that on that occasion his representative, whether a real bull +or a man dressed in a bull's hide, took part in a ceremony +of ploughing; for we have seen that the invention of yoking +oxen to the plough was ascribed to Dionysus, and we know +that the Athenians performed a sacred ceremony of ploughing, +which went by the name of the Ox-yoked Ploughing +and took place in a field or other open piece of +ground at the foot of the Acropolis.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Conjugalia Praecepta</hi>, +42.</note> It is a reasonable +conjecture that the field of the Ox-yoked Ploughing may +have adjoined the building called the Ox-stall in which the +marriage of Dionysus with the Queen was solemnised;<note place='foot'>Miss J. E. Harrison, <hi rend='italic'>Mythology +and Monuments of Ancient Athens</hi> +(London, 1890), pp. 166 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> for +<pb n='032'/><anchor id='Pg032'/> +that building is known to have been near the Prytaneum or +Town-Hall on the northern slope of the Acropolis.<note place='foot'>Aristotle, <hi rend='italic'>Constitution of Athens</hi>, +3. As to the situation of the Prytaneum +see my note on Pausanias, i. 18. 3 (vol. +ii. p. 172).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Theory +that the +rites of the +Anthesteria +comprised +a drama +of the +violent +death and +resurrection +of +Dionysus.</note> +Thus on the whole the ancient festival of the Anthesteria, +so far as its features are preserved by tradition or can be +restored by the use of reasonable conjecture, presents several +important analogies to the modern Thracian Carnival in +respect of wine-drinking, a mock marriage of disguised actors, +and a ceremony of ploughing. The resemblance between +the ancient and the modern ritual would be still closer if +some eminent modern scholars, who wrote before the discovery +of the Thracian Carnival, and whose judgment was +therefore not biassed by its analogy to the Athenian festival, +are right in holding that another important feature of the +Anthesteria was the dramatic death and resurrection of +Dionysus.<note place='foot'>August Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Heortologie</hi>, +pp. 371 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt +Athen im Altertum</hi>, pp. 398 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; P. +Foucart, <hi rend='italic'>Le Culte de Dionysos en +Attique</hi>, pp. 138 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> They point out that at the marriage of Dionysus +fourteen Sacred Women officiated at fourteen altars;<note place='foot'>Demosthenes, <hi rend='italic'>Contra Neaer</hi>. 73, +pp. 1369 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; Julius Pollux, viii. 108; +<hi rend='italic'>Etymologicum Magnum</hi>, p. 227, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +γεραῖραι; Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> γεραραί.</note> that +the number of the Titans, who tore Dionysus in pieces, was +fourteen, namely seven male and seven female;<note place='foot'>Chr. A. Lobeck, <hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi>, +p. 505.</note> and that +Osiris, a god who in some respects corresponded closely +to Dionysus, is said to have been rent by Typhon into +fourteen fragments.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 18, 42.</note> Hence they conjecture that at Athens +the body of Dionysus was dramatically broken into fourteen +fragments, one for each of the fourteen altars, and that it +was afterwards dramatically pieced together and restored to +life by the fourteen Sacred Women, just as the broken body +of Osiris was pieced together by a company of gods and +goddesses and restored to life by his sister Isis.<note place='foot'>The resurrection of Osiris is not +described by Plutarch in his treatise +<hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, which is still our principal +source for the myth of the god; but +it is fortunately recorded in native +Egyptian writings. See <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, +Osiris</hi>, Second Edition, p. 274. P. +Foucart supposes that the resurrection +of Dionysus was enacted at the +Anthesteria; August Mommsen prefers +to suppose that it was enacted +in the following month at the Lesser +Mysteries.</note> The conjecture +is ingenious and plausible, but with our existing +sources of information it must remain a conjecture and +<pb n='033'/><anchor id='Pg033'/> +nothing more. Could it be established, it would forge +another strong link in the chain of evidence which binds +the modern Thracian Carnival to the ancient Athenian +Anthesteria; for in that case the drama of the divine death +and resurrection would have to be added to the other +features which these two festivals of spring possess in common, +and we should have to confess that Greece had what we +may call its Good Friday and its Easter Sunday long before +the events took place in Judaea which diffused these two +annual commemorations of the Dying and Reviving God +over a great part of the civilised world. From so simple a +beginning may flow consequences so far-reaching and impressive; +for in the light of the rude Thracian ceremony +we may surmise that the high tragedy of the death and +resurrection of Dionysus originated in a rustic mummers' +play acted by ploughmen for the purpose of fertilising the +brown earth which they turned up with the gleaming share +in sunshiny days of spring, as they followed the slow-paced +oxen down the long furrows in the fallow field. Later on +we shall see that a play of the same sort is still acted, or +was acted down to recent years, by English yokels on +Plough Monday. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Legends of +human +sacrifice in +the worship +of +Dionysus +may be +mere misinterpretations +of +ritual.</note> +But before we pass from the tragic myth and ritual of +Dionysus to the sweeter story and milder worship of Demeter +and Persephone, the true Greek deities of the corn, it is fair +to admit that the legends of human sacrifice, which have +left so dark a stain on the memory of the old Thracian god, +may have been nothing more than mere misinterpretations +of a sacrificial ritual in which an animal victim was treated +as a human being. For example, at Tenedos the new-born +calf sacrificed to Dionysus was shod in buskins, and the +mother cow was tended like a woman in child-bed.<note place='foot'>Aelian, <hi rend='italic'>De Natura Animalium</hi>, +xii. 34. Compare W. Robertson Smith, +<hi rend='italic'>Religion of the Semites</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> (London, +1894), pp. 300 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> At +Rome a she-goat was sacrificed to Vedijovis as if it were a +human victim.<note place='foot'>Aulus Gellius, v. 12. 12.</note> Yet on the other hand it is equally possible, +and perhaps more probable, that these curious rites were +themselves mitigations of an older and ruder custom of +sacrificing human beings, and that the later pretence of +<pb n='034'/><anchor id='Pg034'/> +treating the sacrificial victims as if they were human beings +was merely part of a pious and merciful fraud, which +palmed off on the deity less precious victims than living +men and women. This interpretation is supported by the +undoubted cases in which animals have been substituted +for human victims.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, p. 166 note 1, and below, p. <ref target='Pg249'>249</ref>.</note> On the whole we may conclude that +neither the polished manners of a later age, nor the glamour +which Greek poetry and art threw over the figure of +Dionysus, sufficed to conceal or erase the deep lines of +savagery and cruelty imprinted on the features of this +barbarous deity. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='035'/><anchor id='Pg035'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter II. Demeter And Persephone.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Demeter +and Persephone +as Greek +personifications +of +the decay +and revival +of vegetation.</note> +Dionysus was not the only Greek deity whose tragic story +and ritual appear to reflect the decay and revival of vegetation. +In another form and with a different application the +old tale reappears in the myth of Demeter and Persephone. +Substantially their myth is identical with the Syrian one of +Aphrodite (Astarte) and Adonis, the Phrygian one of Cybele +and Attis, and the Egyptian one of Isis and Osiris. In the +Greek fable, as in its Asiatic and Egyptian counterparts, a +goddess mourns the loss of a loved one, who personifies the +vegetation, more especially the corn, which dies in winter to +revive in spring; only whereas the Oriental imagination +figured the loved and lost one as a dead lover or a dead +husband lamented by his leman or his wife, Greek fancy +embodied the same idea in the tenderer and purer form of a +dead daughter bewailed by her sorrowing mother. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Homeric +<hi rend='italic'>Hymn to +Demeter</hi>. The rape +of Persephone. +The +wrath of +Demeter. The return +of Persephone.</note> +The oldest literary document which narrates the myth +of Demeter and Persephone is the beautiful Homeric <hi rend='italic'>Hymn +to Demeter</hi>, which critics assign to the seventh century before +our era.<note place='foot'>R. Foerster, <hi rend='italic'>Der Raub und die +Rückkehr der Persephone</hi> (Stuttgart, +1874), pp. 37-39; <hi rend='italic'>The Homeric +Hymns</hi>, edited by T. W. Allen and +E. E. Sikes (London, 1904), pp. 10 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> +A later date—the age of the Pisistratids—is +assigned to the hymn by A. +Baumeister (<hi rend='italic'>Hymni Homerici</hi>, Leipsic, +1860, p. 280).</note> The object of the poem is to explain the origin of +the Eleusinian mysteries, and the complete silence of the +poet as to Athens and the Athenians, who in after ages +took a conspicuous part in the festival, renders it probable +that the hymn was composed in the far off time when +Eleusis was still a petty independent state, and before the +stately procession of the Mysteries had begun to defile, in +<pb n='036'/><anchor id='Pg036'/> +bright September days, over the low chain of barren rocky +hills which divides the flat Eleusinian cornland from the +more spacious olive-clad expanse of the Athenian plain. Be +that as it may, the hymn reveals to us the conception which +the writer entertained of the character and functions of the +two goddesses: their natural shapes stand out sharply enough +under the thin veil of poetical imagery. The youthful +Persephone, so runs the tale, was gathering roses and lilies, +crocuses and violets, hyacinths and narcissuses in a lush +meadow, when the earth gaped and Pluto, lord of the Dead, +issuing from the abyss carried her off on his golden car to +be his bride and queen in the gloomy subterranean world. +Her sorrowing mother Demeter, with her yellow tresses +veiled in a dark mourning mantle, sought her over land and +sea, and learning from the Sun her daughter's fate she +withdrew in high dudgeon from the gods and took up her +abode at Eleusis, where she presented herself to the king's +daughters in the guise of an old woman, sitting sadly under +the shadow of an olive tree beside the Maiden's Well, to +which the damsels had come to draw water in bronze pitchers +for their father's house. In her wrath at her bereavement +the goddess suffered not the seed to grow in the earth but kept +it hidden under ground, and she vowed that never would she +set foot on Olympus and never would she let the corn sprout +till her lost daughter should be restored to her. Vainly the +oxen dragged the ploughs to and fro in the fields; vainly +the sower dropped the barley seed in the brown furrows; +nothing came up from the parched and crumbling soil. +Even the Rarian plain near Eleusis, which was wont to +wave with yellow harvests, lay bare and fallow.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Hymn to Demeter</hi>, 1 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 302 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 330 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 349 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 414 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 450 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Mankind +would have perished of hunger and the gods would have +been robbed of the sacrifices which were their due, if Zeus +in alarm had not commanded Pluto to disgorge his prey, to +restore his bride Persephone to her mother Demeter. The +grim lord of the Dead smiled and obeyed, but before he +sent back his queen to the upper air on a golden car, he +gave her the seed of a pomegranate to eat, which ensured +that she would return to him. But Zeus stipulated that +henceforth Persephone should spend two thirds of every +<pb n='037'/><anchor id='Pg037'/> +year with her mother and the gods in the upper world and +one third of the year with her husband in the nether world, +from which she was to return year by year when the earth +was gay with spring flowers. Gladly the daughter then +returned to the sunshine, gladly her mother received her and +fell upon her neck; and in her joy at recovering the lost +one Demeter made the corn to sprout from the clods of the +ploughed fields and all the broad earth to be heavy with +leaves and blossoms. And straightway she went and +shewed this happy sight to the princes of Eleusis, to +Triptolemus, Eumolpus, Diocles, and to the king Celeus +himself, and moreover she revealed to them her sacred rites +and mysteries. Blessed, says the poet, is the mortal man +who has seen these things, but he who has had no share of +them in life will never be happy in death when he has +descended into the darkness of the grave. So the two +goddesses departed to dwell in bliss with the gods on +Olympus; and the bard ends the hymn with a pious prayer +to Demeter and Persephone that they would be pleased to +grant him a livelihood in return for his song.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Hymn to Demeter</hi>, 310 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> With +the myth as set forth in the Homeric +hymn may be compared the accounts +of Apollodorus (<hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, i. 5) and +Ovid (<hi rend='italic'>Fasti</hi>, iv. 425-618; <hi rend='italic'>Metamorphoses</hi>, +v. 385 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The aim +of the +Homeric +<hi rend='italic'>Hymn to +Demeter</hi> +is to explain +the +traditional +foundation +of the +Eleusinian +mysteries +by +Demeter.</note> +It has been generally recognised, and indeed it seems +scarcely open to doubt, that the main theme which the poet +set before himself in composing this hymn was to describe +the traditional foundation of the Eleusinian mysteries by the +goddess Demeter. The whole poem leads up to the transformation +scene in which the bare leafless expanse of the +Eleusinian plain is suddenly turned, at the will of the +goddess, into a vast sheet of ruddy corn; the beneficent +deity takes the princes of Eleusis, shews them what she has +done, teaches them her mystic rites, and vanishes with her +daughter to heaven. The revelation of the mysteries is the +triumphal close of the piece. This conclusion is confirmed +by a more minute examination of the poem, which proves +that the poet has given, not merely a general account of the +foundation of the mysteries, but also in more or less veiled +language mythical explanations of the origin of particular +rites which we have good reason to believe formed essential +<pb n='038'/><anchor id='Pg038'/> +features of the festival. Amongst the rites as to which the +poet thus drops significant hints are the preliminary fast of +the candidates for initiation, the torchlight procession, the +all-night vigil, the sitting of the candidates, veiled and in +silence, on stools covered with sheepskins, the use of scurrilous +language, the breaking of ribald jests, and the solemn communion +with the divinity by participation in a draught of +barley-water from a holy chalice.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Hymn to Demeter</hi>, 47-50, 191-211, +292-295, with the notes of +Messrs. Allen and Sikes in their edition +of the Homeric Hymns (London, +1904). As to representations of the +candidates for initiation seated on stools +draped with sheepskins, see L. R. +Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the Greek States</hi>, +iii. (Oxford, 1907) pp. 237 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, with +plate xv <hi rend='italic'>a</hi>. On a well-known marble +vase there figured the stool is covered +with a lion's skin and one of the candidate's +feet rests on a ram's skull or horns; +but in two other examples of the same +scene the ram's fleece is placed on the +seat (Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 240 note a), +just as it is said to have been placed +on Demeter's stool in the Homeric +hymn. As to the form of communion +in the Eleusinian mysteries, see +Clement of Alexandria, <hi rend='italic'>Protrept.</hi> 21, +p. 18 ed. Potter; Arnobius, <hi rend='italic'>Adversus +nationes</hi>, v. 26; L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> +iii. 185 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 195 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> For discussions +of the ancient evidence bearing on the +Eleusinian mysteries it may suffice to +refer to Chr. A. Lobeck, <hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi> +(Königsberg, 1829), pp. 3 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; G. F. +Schoemann, <hi rend='italic'>Griechische Alterthümer</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>4</hi> +ii. 387 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Aug. Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Heortologie</hi> +(Leipsic, 1864), pp. 222 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt Athen im Altertum</hi> +(Leipsic, 1898), pp. 204 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; P. +Foucart, <hi rend='italic'>Recherches sur l'Origine et +la Nature des Mystères d'Eleusis</hi> +(Paris, 1895) (<hi rend='italic'>Mémoires de l'Académie +des Inscriptions</hi>, xxxv.); <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Les +grands Mystères d'Eleusis</hi> (Paris, +1900) (<hi rend='italic'>Mémoires de l'Académie des +Inscriptions</hi>, xxxvii.); F. Lenormant +and E. Pottier, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Eleusinia,</q> in +Daremberg et Saglio, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire +des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines</hi>, +ii. 544 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults +of the Greek States</hi>, iii. 126 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Revelation +of a reaped +ear of corn +the crowning +act +of the +mysteries.</note> +But there is yet another and a deeper secret of the +mysteries which the author of the poem appears to have +divulged under cover of his narrative. He tells us how, as +soon as she had transformed the barren brown expanse of the +Eleusinian plain into a field of golden grain, she gladdened +the eyes of Triptolemus and the other Eleusinian princes by +shewing them the growing or standing corn. When we +compare this part of the story with the statement of a +Christian writer of the second century, Hippolytus, that the +very heart of the mysteries consisted in shewing to the +initiated a reaped ear of corn,<note place='foot'>Hippolytus, <hi rend='italic'>Refutatio Omnium +Haeresium</hi>, v. 8, p. 162, ed. L. +Duncker et F. G. Schneidewin (Göttingen, +1859). The word which the +poet uses to express the revelation +(δεῖξε, <hi rend='italic'>Hymn to Demeter</hi>, verse 474) is +a technical one in the mysteries; the +full phrase was δεικνύναι τὰ ἱερά. See +Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Alcibiades</hi>, 22; Xenophon, +<hi rend='italic'>Hellenica</hi>, vi. 3. 6; Isocrates, <hi rend='italic'>Panegyricus</hi>, +6; Lysias, <hi rend='italic'>Contra Andocidem</hi>, +51; Chr. A. Lobeck, <hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi>, +p. 51.</note> we can hardly doubt that +<pb n='039'/><anchor id='Pg039'/> +the poet of the hymn was well acquainted with this solemn +rite, and that he deliberately intended to explain its origin +in precisely the same way as he explained other rites of the +mysteries, namely by representing Demeter as having set +the example of performing the ceremony in her own person. +Thus myth and ritual mutually explain and confirm each +other. The poet of the seventh century before our era +gives us the myth—he could not without sacrilege have +revealed the ritual: the Christian father reveals the ritual, +and his revelation accords perfectly with the veiled hint of +the old poet. On the whole, then, we may, with many +modern scholars, confidently accept the statement of the +learned Christian father Clement of Alexandria, that the +myth of Demeter and Persephone was acted as a sacred +drama in the mysteries of Eleusis.<note place='foot'>Clement of Alexandria, <hi rend='italic'>Protrept.</hi> +ii. 12, p. 12 ed. Potter: Δηὼ δὲ καὶ +Κόρη δρᾶμα ἤδη ἐγενέσθην μυστικόν; καὶ +τὴν πλάνην καὶ τὴν ἀρπαγὴν καὶ τὸ πένθος +αὐταῖν Ἐλευσὶς δᾳδουχεῖ. Compare +F. Lenormant, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Eleusinia,</q> in +Daremberg et Saglio, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire +des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines</hi> +iii. 578: <q><foreign lang='fr' rend='italic'>Que le drame mystique des +aventures de Déméter et de Coré constituât +le spectacle essentiel de l'initiation, +c'est ce dont il nous semble impossible +de douter</foreign>.</q> A similar view +is expressed by G. F. Schoemann +(<hi rend='italic'>Griechische Alterthümer</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>4</hi> ii. 402); +Preller-Robert (<hi rend='italic'>Griechische Mythologie</hi>, +i. 793); P. Foucart (<hi rend='italic'>Recherches +sur l'Origine et la Nature des Mystères +d'Eleusis</hi>, Paris, 1895, pp. 43 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Les Grands Mystères d'Eleusis</hi>, +Paris, 1900, p. 137); E. Rohde +(<hi rend='italic'>Psyche</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>3</hi> i. 289); and L. R. Farnell +(<hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the Greek States</hi>, iii. 134, +173 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Demeter +and Persephone +personifications +of +the corn. Persephone +the seed +sown in +autumn +and +sprouting +in spring. +Demeter +the old +corn of +last year. +The view +that +Demeter +was the +Earth +goddess is +implicitly +rejected by +the author +of the +Homeric +<hi rend='italic'>Hymn to +Demeter</hi>.</note> +But if the myth was acted as a part, perhaps as +the principal part, of the most famous and solemn religious +rites of ancient Greece, we have still to enquire, What +was, after all, stripped of later accretions, the original +kernel of the myth which appears to later ages surrounded +and transfigured by an aureole of awe and mystery, lit up +by some of the most brilliant rays of Grecian literature and +art? If we follow the indications given by our oldest +literary authority on the subject, the author of the Homeric +hymn to Demeter, the riddle is not hard to read; the figures +of the two goddesses, the mother and the daughter, resolve +themselves into personifications of the corn.<note place='foot'>On Demeter and Proserpine as +goddesses of the corn, see L. Preller, +<hi rend='italic'>Demeter und Persephone</hi> (Hamburg, +1837), pp. 315 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; and especially +W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi> +(Strasburg, 1884), pp. 202 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> At least this +appears to be fairly certain for the daughter Persephone. +<pb n='040'/><anchor id='Pg040'/> +The goddess who spends three or, according to another +version of the myth, six months of every year with the +dead under ground and the remainder of the year with the +living above ground;<note place='foot'>According to the author of the +Homeric Hymn to Demeter (verses +398 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 445 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>) and Apollodorus +(<hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, i. 5. 3) the time which +Persephone had to spend under ground +was one third of the year; according +to Ovid (<hi rend='italic'>Fasti</hi>, iv. 613 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>Metamorphoses</hi>, +v. 564 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>) and Hyginus +(<hi rend='italic'>Fabulae</hi>, 146) it was one half.</note> in whose absence the barley seed is +hidden in the earth and the fields lie bare and fallow; on +whose return in spring to the upper world the corn shoots +up from the clods and the earth is heavy with leaves and +blossoms—this goddess can surely be nothing else than a +mythical embodiment of the vegetation, and particularly of +the corn, which is buried under the soil for some months of +every winter and comes to life again, as from the grave, in +the sprouting cornstalks and the opening flowers and foliage +of every spring. No other reasonable and probable explanation +of Persephone seems possible.<note place='foot'>This view of the myth of Persephone +is, for example, accepted and +clearly stated by L. Preller (<hi rend='italic'>Demeter +und Persephone</hi>, pp. 128 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>).</note> And if the +daughter goddess was a personification of the young corn +of the present year, may not the mother goddess be a +personification of the old corn of last year, which has given +birth to the new crops? The only alternative to this view +of Demeter would seem to be to suppose that she is a +personification of the earth, from whose broad bosom the +corn and all other plants spring up, and of which accordingly +they may appropriately enough be regarded as the daughters. +This view of the original nature of Demeter has indeed been +taken by some writers, both ancient and modern,<note place='foot'>See, for example, Firmicus Maternus, +<hi rend='italic'>De errore profanarum religionum</hi>, +17. 3: <q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>Frugum substantiam volunt +Proserpinam dicere, quia fruges +hominibus cum seri coeperint prosunt. +Terram ipsam Cererem nominant, +nomen hoc a gerendis fructibus mutuati</foreign></q>; +L. Preller, <hi rend='italic'>Demeter und Persephone</hi>, +p. 128, <q><hi rend='italic'>Der Erdboden wird Demeter, +die Vegetation Persephone</hi>.</q> François +Lenormant, again, held that Demeter +was originally a personification of the +earth regarded as divine, but he +admitted that from the time of the +Homeric poems downwards she was +sharply distinguished from Ge, the +earth-goddess proper. See Daremberg +et Saglio, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire des Antiquités +Grecques et Romaines</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Ceres,</q> +ii. 1022 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Some light might be +thrown on the question whether +Demeter was an Earth Goddess or a +Corn Goddess, if we could be sure of +the etymology of her name, which has +been variously explained as <q>Earth +Mother</q> (Δῆ μήτηρ equivalent to Γῆ +μήτηρ) and as <q>Barley Mother</q> (from +an alleged Cretan word δηαί <q>barley</q>: +see <hi rend='italic'>Etymologicum Magnum</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Δηώ, +pp. 263 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>). The former etymology +has been the most popular; the latter +is maintained by W. Mannhardt. See +L. Preller, <hi rend='italic'>Demeter und Persephone</hi>, +pp. 317, 366 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; F. G. Welcker, +<hi rend='italic'>Griechische Götterlehre</hi>, i. 385 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +Preller-Robert, <hi rend='italic'>Griechische Mythologie</hi>, +i. 747 note 6; Kern, in Pauly-Wissowa's +<hi rend='italic'>Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft</hi>, +iv. 2713; W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, pp. +281 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> But my learned friend the +Rev. Professor J. H. Moulton informs +me that both etymologies are open to +serious philological objections, and that +no satisfactory derivation of the first +syllable of Demeter's name has yet +been proposed. Accordingly I prefer +to base no argument on an analysis of +the name, and to rest my interpretation +of the goddess entirely on her myth, +ritual, and representations in art. +Etymology is at the best a very slippery +ground on which to rear mythological +theories.</note> and it is +<pb n='041'/><anchor id='Pg041'/> +one which can be reasonably maintained. But it appears +to have been rejected by the author of the Homeric hymn +to Demeter, for he not only distinguishes Demeter from the +personified Earth but places the two in the sharpest opposition +to each other. He tells us that it was Earth who, in +accordance with the will of Zeus and to please Pluto, lured +Persephone to her doom by causing the narcissuses to grow +which tempted the young goddess to stray far beyond the +reach of help in the lush meadow.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Hymn to Demeter</hi>, 8 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Thus Demeter of the +hymn, far from being identical with the Earth-goddess, must +have regarded that divinity as her worst enemy, since it +was to her insidious wiles that she owed the loss of her +daughter. But if the Demeter of the hymn cannot have +been a personification of the earth, the only alternative +apparently is to conclude that she was a personification of +the corn. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Yellow +Demeter, +the goddess +who +sifts +the ripe +grain from +the chaff +at the +threshing-floor. The Green +Demeter +the goddess +of the +green corn.</note> +With this conclusion all the indications of the hymn-writer +seem to harmonise. He certainly represents Demeter +as the goddess by whose power and at whose pleasure +the corn either grows or remains hidden in the ground; +and to what deity can such powers be so fittingly ascribed +as to the goddess of the corn? He calls Demeter yellow +and tells how her yellow tresses flowed down on her +shoulders;<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Hymn to Demeter</hi>, 279, 302.</note> could any colour be more appropriate with +which to paint the divinity of the yellow grain? The same +identification of Demeter with the ripe, the yellow corn is +made even more clearly by a still older poet, Homer +himself, or at all events the author of the fifth book of the +<hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>. There we read: <q>And even as the wind carries the +chaff about the sacred threshing-floors, when men are +<pb n='042'/><anchor id='Pg042'/> +winnowing, what time yellow Demeter sifts the corn from +the chaff on the hurrying blast, so that the heaps of chaff +grow white below, so were the Achaeans whitened above by +the cloud of dust which the hoofs of the horses spurned to +the brazen heaven.</q><note place='foot'>Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>, v. 499-504.</note> Here the yellow Demeter who sifts +the grain from the chaff at the threshing-floor can hardly be +any other than the goddess of the yellow corn; she cannot +be the Earth-goddess, for what has the Earth-goddess to do +with the grain and the chaff blown about a threshing-floor? +With this interpretation it agrees that elsewhere Homer +speaks of men eating <q>Demeter's corn</q>;<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>, xiii. 322, xxi. 76.</note> and still more +definitely Hesiod speaks of <q>the annual store of food, which +the earth bears, Demeter's corn,</q><note place='foot'>Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>Works and Days</hi>, 31 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> thus distinguishing the +goddess of the corn from the earth which bears it. Still +more clearly does a later Greek poet personify the corn as +Demeter when, in allusion to the time of the corn-reaping, +he says that then <q>the sturdy swains cleave Demeter limb +from limb.</q><note place='foot'>Quoted by Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, +66.</note> And just as the ripe or yellow corn was +personified as the Yellow Demeter, so the unripe or green +corn was personified as the Green Demeter. In that +character the goddess had sanctuaries at Athens and other +places; sacrifices were appropriately offered to Green +Demeter in spring when the earth was growing green with +the fresh vegetation, and the victims included sows big +with young,<note place='foot'>Pausanias, i. 22. 3 with my note; +Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 615; J. de Prott et +L. Ziehen, <hi rend='italic'>Leges Graecorum Sacrae</hi>, +Fasciculus I. (Leipsic, 1896) p. 49; +Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae Compendium</hi>, +28; Scholiast on Sophocles, +<hi rend='italic'>Oedipus Colon.</hi> 1600; L. R. Farnell, +<hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the Greek States</hi>, iii. +312 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> which no doubt were intended not merely to +symbolise but magically to promote the abundance of the +crops. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The cereals +called +<q>Demeter's +fruits.</q></note> +In Greek the various kinds of corn were called by the +general name of <q>Demeter's fruits,</q><note place='foot'>Herodotus, i. 193, iv. 198; +Xenophon, <hi rend='italic'>Hellenica</hi>, vi. 3. 6; Aelian, +<hi rend='italic'>Historia Animalium</hi>, xvii. 16; Cornutus, +<hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae Compendium</hi>, +28; <hi rend='italic'>Geoponica</hi>, i. 12. 36; <hi rend='italic'>Paroemiographi +Graeci</hi>, ed. Leutsch et Schneidewin, +Appendix iv. 20 (vol. i. p. 439).</note> just as in Latin they +were called the <q>fruits or gifts of Ceres,</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Cerealia</hi> in Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> +xxiii. 1; <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>Cerealia munera</foreign> and <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>Cerealia +dona</foreign> in Ovid, <hi rend='italic'>Metamorphoses</hi>, xi. +121 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> an expression +<pb n='043'/><anchor id='Pg043'/> +which survives in the English word cereals. Tradition ran +that before Demeter's time men neither cultivated corn nor +tilled the ground, but roamed the mountains and woods in +search of the wild fruits which the earth produced spontaneously +from her womb for their subsistence. The +tradition clearly implies not only that Demeter was the +goddess of the corn, but that she was different from and +younger than the goddess of the Earth, since it is expressly +affirmed that before Demeter's time the earth existed and +supplied mankind with nourishment in the shape of wild +herbs, grasses, flowers and fruits.<note place='foot'>Libanius, ed. J. J. Reiske, vol. iv. +p. 367, <hi rend='italic'>Corinth. Oratio</hi>: Οὐκ αὖθις +ἡμῶν ακαρποσ ἡ γῆ δοκεῖ γεγονέναι? +οὐ πάλιν ὁ πρὸ Δήμητρος εἶναι βίος? +καί τοι καὶ πρὸ Δήμητρος αἱ γεωργίαι +μὲν οὐκ ἦσαν; οὐδὲ ἄροτοι, αὐτόφυτοι +δὲ βοτάναι καὶ πόαι; καὶ πολλὰ εἶχεν +εἰς σωτηρίαν ἀνθρώπων αὐτοσχέδια ἄνθη +ἡ γῆ ὠδίνουσα καὶ κύουσα πρὸ τῶν +ἡμέρων τὰ ἄγρια. Ἐπλανῶντο μὲν, +ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐπ᾽ ἀλλήλους; ἄλση καὶ ὄρη +περιῄσαν, ζητοῦντες αὐτόματον τροφήν. +In this passage, which no doubt represents +the common Greek view on the +subject, the earth is plainly personified +(ὠδίνουσα καὶ κύουσα), which points the +antithesis between her and the goddess +of the corn. Diodorus Siculus also +says (v. 68) that corn grew wild with +the other plants before Demeter taught +men to cultivate it and to sow the +seed.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Corn and +poppies as +symbols of +Demeter.</note> +In ancient art Demeter and Persephone are characterised +as goddesses of the corn by the crowns of corn which they +wear on their heads and by the stalks of corn which they +hold in their hands.<note place='foot'>Ovid, <hi rend='italic'>Fasti</hi>, iv. 616; Eusebius, +<hi rend='italic'>Praeparatio Evangelii</hi>, iii. 11. 5; +Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae Compendium</hi>, +28; <hi rend='italic'>Anthologia Palatina</hi>, +vi. 104. 8; W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 235; J. Overbeck, +<hi rend='italic'>Griechische Kunstmythologie</hi>, +iii. (Leipsic, 1873-1878) pp. 420, +421, 453, 479, 480, 502, 505, 507, +514, 522, 523, 524, 525 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; L. R. +Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the Greek States</hi>, +iii. 217 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 220 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 222, 226, 232, +233, 237, 260, 265, 268, 269 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +271.</note> Theocritus describes a smiling image +of Demeter standing by a heap of yellow grain on a +threshing-floor and grasping sheaves of barley and poppies in +both her hands.<note place='foot'>Theocritus, <hi rend='italic'>Idyl.</hi> vii. 155 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> +That the sheaves which the goddess +grasped were of barley is proved by +verses 31-34 of the poem.</note> Indeed corn and poppies singly or together +were a frequent symbol of the goddess, as we learn not only +from the testimony of ancient writers<note place='foot'>Eusebius, <hi rend='italic'>Praeparatio Evangelii</hi>, +iii. 11. 5; Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae +Compendium</hi>, 28, p. 56, ed. C. Lang; +Virgil, <hi rend='italic'>Georg.</hi> i. 212, with the comment +of Servius.</note> but from many existing +monuments of classical art.<note place='foot'>See the references to the works of +Overbeck and Farnell above. For example, +a fine statue at Copenhagen, in +the style of the age of Phidias, represents +Demeter holding poppies and ears +of corn in her left hand. See Farnell, +<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> iii. 268, with plate xxviii.</note> The naturalness of the symbol +<pb n='044'/><anchor id='Pg044'/> +can be doubted by no one who has seen—and who has not +seen?—a field of yellow corn bespangled thick with scarlet +poppies; and we need not resort to the shifts of an ancient +mythologist, who explained the symbolism of the poppy in +Demeter's hand by comparing the globular shape of the +poppy to the roundness of our globe, the unevenness of its +edges to hills and valleys, and the hollow interior of the +scarlet flower to the caves and dens of the earth.<note place='foot'>Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae Compendium</hi>, +28, p. 56 ed. C. Lang.</note> If only +students would study the little black and white books of +men less and the great rainbow-tinted book of nature more; +if they would more frequently exchange the heavy air and +the dim light of libraries for the freshness and the sunshine +of the open sky; if they would oftener unbend their minds +by rural walks between fields of waving corn, beside rivers +rippling by under grey willows, or down green lanes, where +the hedges are white with the hawthorn bloom or red with +wild roses, they might sometimes learn more about primitive +religion than can be gathered from many dusty volumes, in +which wire-drawn theories are set forth with all the tedious +parade of learning. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Persephone +portrayed +as the +young corn +sprouting +from the +ground.</note> +Nowhere, perhaps, in the monuments of Greek art is the +character of Persephone as a personification of the young +corn sprouting in spring portrayed more gracefully and more +truly than on a coin of Lampsacus of the fourth century +before our era. On it we see the goddess in the very act +of rising from the earth. <q>Her face is upraised; in her +hand are three ears of corn, and others together with grapes +are springing behind her shoulder. Complete is here the +identification of the goddess and her attribute: she is +embowered amid the ears of growing corn, and like it half +buried in the ground. She does not make the corn and +vine grow, but she <emph>is</emph> the corn and vine growing, and +returning again to the face of the earth after lying hidden in +its depths. Certainly the artist who designed this beautiful +figure thoroughly understood Hellenic religion.</q><note place='foot'>Percy Gardner, <hi rend='italic'>Types of Greek +Coins</hi> (Cambridge, 1883), p. 174, with +plate x. No. 25.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Demeter +invoked +and propitiated +by +Greek +farmers +before the +autumnal +sowing. Boeotian +festival of +mourning +for the +descent +of Persephone +at the +autumnal +sowing.</note> +As the goddess who first bestowed corn on mankind +and taught them to sow and cultivate it,<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, v. 68. 1.</note> Demeter was +<pb n='045'/><anchor id='Pg045'/> +naturally invoked and propitiated by farmers before they +undertook the various operations of the agricultural year. +In autumn, when he heard the sonorous trumpeting of the +cranes, as they winged their way southward in vast flocks +high overhead, the Greek husbandman knew that the rains +were near and that the time of ploughing was at hand; but +before he put his hand to the plough he prayed to Underground +Zeus and to Holy Demeter for a heavy crop of +Demeter's sacred corn. Then he guided the ox-drawn +plough down the field, turning up the brown earth with the +share, while a swain followed close behind with a hoe, who +covered up the seed as fast as it fell to protect it from the +voracious birds that fluttered and twittered at the plough-tail.<note place='foot'>Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>Works and Days</hi>, 448-474; +Epictetus, <hi rend='italic'>Dissertationes</hi>, iii. +21. 12. For the autumnal migration +and clangour of the cranes as the +signal for sowing, see Aristophanes, +<hi rend='italic'>Birds</hi>, 711; compare Theognis, 1197 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> But the Greeks also ploughed in +spring (Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> 462; Xenophon, +<hi rend='italic'>Oeconom.</hi> 16); indeed they ploughed +thrice in the year (Theophrastus, +<hi rend='italic'>Historia Plantarum</hi>, vii. 13. 6). At +the approach of autumn the cranes of +northern Europe collect about rivers +and lakes, and after much trumpeting +set out in enormous bands on their +southward journey to the tropical +regions of Africa and India. In early +spring they return northward, and +their flocks may be descried passing at +a marvellous height overhead or halting +to rest in the meadows beside some +broad river. The bird emits its +trumpet-like note both on the ground +and on the wing. See Alfred Newton, +<hi rend='italic'>Dictionary of Birds</hi> (London, 1893-1896), +pp. 110 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +But while the ordinary Greek farmer took the signal +for ploughing from the clangour of the cranes, Hesiod and +other writers who aimed at greater exactness laid it down +as a rule that the ploughing should begin with the autumnal +setting of the Pleiades in the morning, which in Hesiod's +time fell on the twenty-sixth of October.<note place='foot'>Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>Works and Days</hi>, 383 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +615-617; Aratus, <hi rend='italic'>Phaenomena</hi>, 254-267; +L. Ideler, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der mathematischen +und technischen Chronologie</hi> +(Berlin, 1825-1826), i. 241 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> According +to Pliny (<hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> xviii. 49) +wheat, barley, and all other cereals +were sown in Greece and Asia from +the time of the autumn setting of the +Pleiades. This date for ploughing +and sowing is confirmed by Hippocrates +and other medical writers. See +W. Smith's <hi rend='italic'>Dictionary of Greek and +Roman Antiquities</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>3</hi> i. 234. Latin +writers prescribe the same date for the +sowing of wheat. See Virgil, <hi rend='italic'>Georg.</hi> +i. 219-226; Columella, <hi rend='italic'>De re rustica</hi>, +ii. 8; Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> xviii. 223-226. +In Columella's time the Pleiades, he +tells us (<hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi>), set in the morning of +October 24th of the Julian calendar, +which would correspond to the October +16th of our reckoning.</note> The month +in which the Pleiades set in the morning was generally +recognised by the Greeks as the month of sowing; it +corresponded apparently in part to our October, in part to +<pb n='046'/><anchor id='Pg046'/> +our November. The Athenians called it Pyanepsion; the +Boeotians named it significantly Damatrius, that is, +Demeter's month, and they celebrated a feast of mourning +because, says Plutarch, who as a Boeotian speaks with +authority on such a matter, Demeter was then in mourning +for the descent of Persephone.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 69.</note> Is it possible to express +more clearly the true original nature of Persephone as the +corn-seed which has just been buried in the earth? The +obvious, the almost inevitable conclusion did not escape +Plutarch. He tells us that the mournful rites which were +held at the time of the autumn sowing nominally commemorated +the actions of deities, but that the real sadness +was for the fruits of the earth, some of which at that season +dropped of themselves and vanished from the trees, while +others in the shape of seed were committed with anxious +thoughts to the ground by men, who scraped the earth +and then huddled it up over the seed, just as if they were +burying and mourning for the dead.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 70. +Similarly Cornutus says that <q>Hades +is fabled to have carried off Demeter's +daughter because the seed vanishes +for a time under the earth,</q> and he +mentions that a festival of Demeter +was celebrated at the time of sowing +(<hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae Compendium</hi>, 28, +pp. 54, 55 ed. C. Lang). In a fragment +of a Greek calendar which is preserved +in the Louvre <q>the ascent (ἀναβάσις) of +the goddess</q> is dated the seventh day +of the month Dius, and <q>the descent or +setting (δύσις) of the goddess</q> is dated +the fourth day of the month Hephaestius, +a month which seems to be otherwise +unknown. See W. Froehner, +<hi rend='italic'>Musée Nationale du Louvre, Les Inscriptions +Grecques</hi> (Paris, 1880), pp. +50 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Greek inscriptions found +at Mantinea refer to a worship of +Demeter and Persephone, who are +known to have had a sanctuary there +(Pausanias, viii. 9. 2). The people of +Mantinea celebrated <q>mysteries of the +goddess</q> and a festival called the +<foreign rend='italic'>koragia</foreign>, which seems to have represented +the return of Persephone from +the lower world. See W. Immerwahr, +<hi rend='italic'>Die Kulte und Mythen Arkadiens</hi> +(Leipsic, 1891), pp. 100 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; S. +Reinach, <hi rend='italic'>Traité d'Epigraphie Grecque</hi> +(Paris, 1885), pp. 141 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Hesychius, +<hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> κοράγειν.</note> Surely this interpretation +of the custom and of the myth of Persephone is +not only beautiful but true. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Thank-offerings +of +ripe grain +presented +by Greek +farmers to +Demeter +after the +harvest. +Theocritus's +description +of +a harvest-home +in +Cos.</note> +And just as the Greek husbandman prayed to the Corn +Goddess when he committed the seed, with anxious forebodings, +to the furrows, so after he had reaped the harvest +and brought back the yellow sheaves with rejoicing to the +threshing-floor, he paid the bountiful goddess her dues in +the form of a thank-offering of golden grain. Theocritus +has painted for us in glowing colours a picture of a +<pb n='047'/><anchor id='Pg047'/> +rustic harvest-home, as it fell on a bright autumn day +some two thousand years ago in the little Greek island of +Cos.<note place='foot'>Theocritus, <hi rend='italic'>Idyl.</hi> vii.</note> The poet tells us how he went with two friends +from the city to attend a festival given by farmers, who +were offering first-fruits to Demeter from the store of +barley with which she had filled their barns. The day +was warm, indeed so hot that the very lizards, which +love to bask and run about in the sun, were slumbering in +the crevices of the stone-walls, and not a lark soared +carolling into the blue vault of heaven. Yet despite the +great heat there were everywhere signs of autumn. <q>All +things,</q> says the poet, <q>smelt of summer, but smelt of +autumn too.</q> Indeed the day was really autumnal; for a +goat-herd who met the friends on their way to the rural +merry-making, asked them whether they were bound for the +treading of the grapes in the wine-presses. And when they +had reached their destination and reclined at ease in the +dappled shade of over-arching poplars and elms, with the +babble of a neighbouring fountain, the buzz of the cicadas, +the hum of bees, and the cooing of doves in their ears, the +ripe apples and pears rolled in the grass at their feet and +the branches of the wild-plum trees were bowed down to the +earth with the weight of their purple fruit. So couched on +soft beds of fragrant lentisk they passed the sultry hours +singing ditties alternately, while a rustic image of Demeter, +to whom the honours of the day were paid, stood smiling +beside a heap of yellow grain on the threshing-floor, with +corn-stalks and poppies in her hands. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +harvest-home +described +by +Theocritus +fell in +autumn.</note> +In this description the time of year when the harvest-home +was celebrated is clearly marked. Apart from the +mention of the ripe apples, pears, and plums, the reference +to the treading of the grapes is decisive. The Greeks gather +and press the grapes in the first half of October,<note place='foot'>In ancient Greece the vintage +seems to have fallen somewhat earlier; +for Hesiod bids the husbandman gather +the ripe clusters at the time when +Arcturus is a morning star, which in +the poet's age was on the 18th of +September. See Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>Works and +Days</hi>, 609 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; L. Ideler, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch +der mathematischen und technischen +Chronologie</hi>, i. 247.</note> and +accordingly it is to this date that the harvest-festival described +by Theocritus must be assigned. At the present +<pb n='048'/><anchor id='Pg048'/> +day in Greece the maize-harvest immediately precedes the +vintage, the grain being reaped and garnered at the end of +September. Travelling in rural districts of Argolis and +Arcadia at that time of the year you pass from time to time +piles of the orange-coloured cobs laid up ready to be shelled, +or again heaps of the yellow grain beside the pods. But +maize was unknown to the ancient Greeks, who, like +their modern descendants, reaped their wheat and barley +crops much earlier in the summer, usually from the end of +April till June.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, p. 190 note 2.</note> However, we may conclude that the day +immortalised by Theocritus was one of those autumn days +of great heat and effulgent beauty which in Greece may +occur at any time up to the very verge of winter. I +remember such a day at Panopeus on the borders of Phocis +and Boeotia. It was the first of November, yet the sun +shone in cloudless splendour and the heat was so great, that +when I had examined the magnificent remains of ancient +Greek fortification-walls which crown the summit of the +hill, it was delicious to repose on a grassy slope in the shade +of some fine holly-oaks and to inhale the sweet scent of the +wild thyme, which perfumed all the air. But it was summer's +farewell. Next morning the weather had completely changed. +A grey November sky lowered sadly overhead, and grey +mists hung like winding-sheets on the lower slopes of +the barren mountains which shut in the fatal plain of +Chaeronea. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Greeks +seem to +have deferred +the +offering of +first-fruits +till the +autumn in +order to +propitiate +the Corn +Goddess +at the +moment of +ploughing +and sowing, +when +her help +was +urgently +needed.</note> +Thus we may infer that in the rural districts of ancient +Greece farmers offered their first-fruits of the barley harvest +to Demeter in autumn about the time when the grapes were +being trodden in the wine-presses and the ripe apples and +pears littered the ground in the orchards. At first sight the +lateness of the festival in the year is surprising; for in the +lowlands of Greece at the present day barley is reaped at +the end of April and wheat in May,<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, p. 190 note 2.</note> and in antiquity the +time of harvest would seem not to have been very different, +for Hesiod bids the husbandman put the sickle to the corn +at the morning rising of the Pleiades,<note place='foot'>Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>Works and Days</hi>, 383 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> which in his time +<pb n='049'/><anchor id='Pg049'/> +took place on the eleventh of May.<note place='foot'>L. Ideler, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der mathematischen +und technischen Chronologie</hi>, +i. 242.</note> But if the harvest was +reaped in spring or early summer, why defer the offerings +of corn to the Corn Goddess until the middle of autumn? +The reason for the delay is not, so far as I am aware, +explained by any ancient author, and accordingly it must +remain for us a matter of conjecture. I surmise that the +reason may have been a calculation on the part of the +practical farmer that the best time to propitiate the Corn +Goddess was not after harvest, when he had got all that was +to be got out of her, but immediately before ploughing and +sowing, when he had everything to hope from her good-will +and everything to fear from her displeasure. When he had +reaped his corn, and the sheaves had been safely garnered +in his barns, he might, so to say, snap his fingers at the +Corn Goddess. What could she do for him on the bare +stubble-field which lay scorched and baking under the fierce +rays of the sun all the long rainless summer through? But +matters wore a very different aspect when, with the shortening +and cooling of the days, he began to scan the sky for +clouds<note place='foot'>Compare Xenophon, <hi rend='italic'>Oeconomicus</hi>, +17, ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ὁ μετοπωρινὸς χρόνος +ἔλθῃ, πάντες που οἱ ἄνθρωποι πρὸς τὸν +θέον ἀποβλέπουσιν, ὅποτε βρέξας τὴν +γῆν ἀφήσει αὐτοὺς σπείρειν.</note> and to listen for the cries of the cranes as they flew +southward, heralding by their trumpet-like notes the approach +of the autumnal rains. Then he knew that the time had +come to break up the ground that it might receive the seed +and be fertilised by the refreshing water of heaven; then he +bethought him of the Corn Goddess once more and brought +forth from the grange a share of the harvested corn with +which to woo her favour and induce her to quicken the grain +which he was about to commit to the earth. On this theory +the Greek offering of first-fruits was prompted not so much +by gratitude for past favours as by a shrewd eye to favours to +come, and perhaps this interpretation of the custom does no +serious injustice to the cool phlegmatic temper of the bucolic +mind, which is more apt to be moved by considerations of profit +than by sentiment. At all events the reasons suggested for +delaying the harvest-festival accord perfectly with the natural +conditions and seasons of farming in Greece. For in that +country the summer is practically rainless, and during the +<pb n='050'/><anchor id='Pg050'/> +long months of heat and drought the cultivation of the two +ancient cereals, barley and wheat, is at a standstill. The +first rains of autumn fall about the middle of October,<note place='foot'>August Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt +Athen im Altertum</hi>, p. 193.</note> and +that was the Greek farmer's great time for ploughing and +sowing.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg044'>44</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Hence we should expect him to make his offering +of first-fruits to the Corn Goddess shortly before he ploughed +and sowed, and this expectation is entirely confirmed by +the date which we have inferred for the offering from the +evidence of Theocritus. Thus the sacrifice of barley to +Demeter in the autumn would seem to have been not so +much a thank-offering as a bribe judiciously administered +to her at the very moment of all the year when her services +were most urgently wanted. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The festival +of the +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Proerosia</foreign> +(<q>Before +the Ploughing</q>) +held +at Eleusis +in honour +of +Demeter.</note> +When with the progress of civilisation a number of +petty agricultural communities have merged into a single +state dependent for its subsistence mainly on the cultivation +of the ground, it commonly happens that, though +every farmer continues to perform for himself the simple old +rites designed to ensure the blessing of the gods on his +crops, the government undertakes to celebrate similar, though +more stately and elaborate, rites on behalf of the whole +people, lest the neglect of public worship should draw down +on the country the wrath of the offended deities. Hence it +comes about that, for all their pomp and splendour, the +national festivals of such states are often merely magnified +and embellished copies of homely rites and uncouth observances +carried out by rustics in the open fields, in barns, +and on threshing-floors. In ancient Egypt the religion of +Isis and Osiris furnishes examples of solemnities which have +been thus raised from the humble rank of rural festivities +to the dignity of national celebrations;<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, pp. 283 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> and in ancient +Greece a like development may be traced in the religion of +Demeter. If the Greek ploughman prayed to Demeter and +Underground Zeus for a good crop before he put his hand +to the plough in autumn, the authorities of the Athenian +state celebrated about the same time and for the same +purpose a public festival in honour of Demeter at Eleusis. +<pb n='051'/><anchor id='Pg051'/> +It was called the Proerosia, which signifies <q>Before the +Ploughing</q>; and as the festival was dedicated to her, +Demeter herself bore the name of Proerosia. Tradition ran +that once on a time the whole world was desolated by a +famine, and that to remedy the evil the Pythian oracle bade +the Athenians offer the sacrifice of the Proerosia on behalf +of all men. They did so, and the famine ceased accordingly. +Hence to testify their gratitude for the deliverance people +sent the first-fruits of their harvest from all quarters to +Athens.<note place='foot'>Scholiast on Aristophanes, <hi rend='italic'>Knights</hi>, +720; Suidas, <hi rend='italic'>s.vv</hi>. εἰρεσιώνη and +προηροσίαι; <hi rend='italic'>Etymologicum Magnum</hi>, +Hesychius, and Photius, <hi rend='italic'>Lexicon</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +προηρόσια; Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Septem Sapientum +Convivium</hi>, 15; Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge +Inscriptionum Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 521, +line 29, and No. 628; Aug. +Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt Athen im +Altertum</hi> (Leipsic, 1898), pp. 192 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> The inscriptions prove that the +Proerosia was held at Eleusis and that +it was distinct from the Great Mysteries, +being mentioned separately from them. +Some of the ancients accounted for +the origin of the festival by a universal +plague instead of a universal famine. +But this version of the story no doubt +arose from the common confusion between +the similar Greek words for plague +and famine (λοιμός and λιμός). That +in the original version famine and not +plague must have been alleged as the +reason for instituting the Proerosia, +appears plainly from the reference of +the name to ploughing, from the dedication +of the festival to Demeter, and +from the offerings of first-fruits; for +these circumstances, though quite appropriate +to ceremonies designed to +stay or avert dearth and famine, would +be quite inappropriate in the case of +a plague.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Proerosia</foreign> +seems to +have been +held before +the ploughing +in +October +but after +the Great +Mysteries +in September. However, +the date of +the Great +Mysteries, +being +determined +by the +lunar +calendar, +must have +fluctuated +in the solar +year; +whereas +the date +of the +<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Proerosia</foreign>, +being +determined +by observation +of +Arcturus, +must have +been fixed.</note> +But the exact date at which the Proerosia or Festival +before Ploughing took place is somewhat uncertain, and enquirers +are divided in opinion as to whether it fell before or +after the Great Mysteries, which began on the fifteenth or +sixteenth of Boedromion, a month corresponding roughly to +our September. Another name for the festival was Proarcturia, +that is, <q>Before Arcturus,</q><note place='foot'>Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> προηρόσια.</note> which points to a date +either before the middle of September, when Arcturus is a +morning star, or before the end of October, when Arcturus +is an evening star.<note place='foot'>August Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt +Athen im Altertum</hi>, p. 194.</note> In favour of the earlier date it may be +said, first, that the morning phase of Arcturus was well +known and much observed, because it marked the middle of +autumn, whereas little use was made of the evening phase of +Arcturus for the purpose of dating;<note place='foot'>August Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi></note> and, second, that in an +official Athenian inscription the Festival before Ploughing +(<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Proerosia</foreign>) is mentioned immediately before the Great +<pb n='052'/><anchor id='Pg052'/> +Mysteries.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 521, lines 29 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> On the other hand, in favour of the later date, it may +be said that as the autumnal rains in Greece set in about the +middle of October, the latter part of that month would be a +more suitable time for a ceremony at the opening of ploughing +than the middle of September, when the soil is still parched +with the summer drought; and, second, that this date is confirmed +by a Greek inscription of the fourth or third century +<hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, found at Eleusis, in which the Festival before Ploughing +is apparently mentioned in the month of Pyanepsion immediately +before the festival of the Pyanepsia, which was +held on the seventh day of that month.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 628.</note> It is difficult to +decide between these conflicting arguments, but on the whole +I incline, not without hesitation, to agree with some eminent +modern authorities in placing the Festival before Ploughing +in Pyanepsion (October) after the Mysteries, rather than in +Boedromion (September) before the Mysteries.<note place='foot'>The view that the Festival before +Ploughing (<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Proerosia</foreign>) fell in Pyanepsion +is accepted by W. Mannhardt and W. +Dittenberger. See W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und Feldkulte</hi> (Berlin, +1877), pp. 238 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 258; Dittenberger, +<hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> +note 2 on Inscr. No. 628 (vol. ii. pp. +423 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>). The view that the Festival +before Ploughing fell in Boedromion +is maintained by August Mommsen. +See his <hi rend='italic'>Heortologie</hi> (Leipsic, 1864), +pp. 218 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt +Athen im Altertum</hi> (Leipsic, 1898), +pp. 192 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> However, we +must bear in mind that as the Attic months, like the Greek +months generally, were lunar,<note place='foot'>See below, p. <ref target='Pg082'>82</ref>.</note> their position in the solar year +necessarily varied from year to year, and though these variations +were periodically corrected by intercalation, nevertheless +the beginning of each Attic month sometimes diverged by +several weeks from the beginning of the corresponding +month to which we equate it.<note place='foot'>L. Ideler, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der mathematischen +und technischen Chronologie</hi> +(Berlin, 1825-1826), i. 292 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; compare +August Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Chronologie</hi> +(Leipsic, 1883), pp. 58 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> From this it follows that the +Great Mysteries, which were always dated by the calendar +month, must have annually shifted their place somewhat in +the solar year; whereas the Festival before Ploughing, if it was +indeed dated either by the morning or by the evening phase +of Arcturus, must have occupied a fixed place in the solar +year. Hence it appears to be not impossible that the Great +Mysteries, oscillating to and fro with the inconstant moon, +<pb n='053'/><anchor id='Pg053'/> +may sometimes have fallen before and sometimes after the +Festival before Ploughing, which apparently always remained +true to the constant star. At least this possibility, which seems +to have been overlooked by previous enquirers, deserves to +be taken into account. It is a corollary from the shifting +dates of the lunar months that the official Greek calendar, in +spite of its appearance of exactness, really furnished the +ancient farmer with little trustworthy guidance as to the +proper seasons for conducting the various operations of agriculture; +and he was well advised in trusting to various +natural timekeepers, such as the rising and setting of the +constellations, the arrival and departure of the migratory +birds, the flowering of certain plants,<note place='foot'>For example, Theophrastus notes +that squills flowered thrice a year, and +that each flowering marked the time +for one of the three ploughings. See +Theophrastus, <hi rend='italic'>Historia Plantarum</hi>, vii. +13. 6.</note> the ripening of fruits, +and the setting in of the rains, rather than to the fallacious +indications of the public calendar. It is by natural timekeepers, +and not by calendar months, that Hesiod determines +the seasons of the farmer's year in the poem which is the +oldest existing treatise on husbandry.<note place='foot'>Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>Works and Days</hi>, 383 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> +The poet indeed refers (<hi rend='italic'>vv.</hi> 765 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>) +to days of the month as proper times +for engaging in certain tasks; but such +references are always simply to days +of the lunar month and apply equally +to every month; they are never to days +as dates in the solar year.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Offerings of +the first-fruits +of the +barley and +wheat to +Demeter +and Persephone +at +Eleusis. Isocrates +on the +offerings of +first-fruits +at Eleusis.</note> +Just as the ploughman's prayer to Demeter, before he +drove the share through the clods of the field, was taken up +and reverberated, so to say, with a great volume of sound +in the public prayers which the Athenian state annually +offered to the goddess before the ploughing on behalf of the +whole world, so the simple first-fruits of barley, presented to +the rustic Demeter under the dappled shade of rustling +poplars and elms on the threshing-floor in Cos, were repeated +year by year on a grander scale in the first-fruits of the +barley and wheat harvest, which were presented to the Corn +Mother and the Corn Maiden at Eleusis, not merely by +every husbandman in Attica, but by all the allies and +subjects of Athens far and near, and even by many +free Greek communities beyond the sea. The reason +why year by year these offerings of grain poured from +far countries into the public granaries at Eleusis, was +<pb n='054'/><anchor id='Pg054'/> +the widespread belief that the gift of corn had been first +bestowed by Demeter on the Athenians and afterwards +disseminated by them among all mankind through the +agency of Triptolemus, who travelled over the world in +his dragon-drawn car teaching all peoples to plough the +earth and to sow the seed.<note place='foot'>See below, p. <ref target='Pg072'>72</ref>.</note> In the fifth century before our +era the legend was celebrated by Sophocles in a play called +<hi rend='italic'>Triptolemus</hi>, in which he represented Demeter instructing +the hero to carry the seed of the fruits which she had +bestowed on men to all the coasts of Southern Italy,<note place='foot'>Dionysius Halicarnasensis, <hi rend='italic'>Antiquit. +Rom.</hi> i. 12. 2.</note> from +which we may infer that the cities of Magna Graecia were +among the number of those that sent the thank-offering of +barley and wheat every year to Athens. Again, in the +fourth century before our era Xenophon represents Callias, +the braggart Eleusinian Torchbearer, addressing the +Lacedaemonians in a set speech, in which he declared +that <q>Our ancestor Triptolemus is said to have bestowed the +seed of Demeter's corn on the Peloponese before any other +land. How then,</q> he asked with pathetic earnestness, <q>can +it be right that you should come to ravage the corn of the +men from whom you received the seed?</q><note place='foot'>Xenophon, <hi rend='italic'>Historia Graeca</hi>, vi. +3. 6.</note> Again, writing +in the fourth century before our era Isocrates relates with +a swell of patriotic pride how, in her search for her lost +daughter Persephone, the goddess Demeter came to Attica +and gave to the ancestors of the Athenians the two greatest +of all gifts, the gift of the corn and the gift of the mysteries, +of which the one reclaimed men from the life of beasts and +the other held out hopes to them of a blissful eternity beyond +the grave. The antiquity of the tradition, the orator proceeds +to say, was no reason for rejecting it, but quite the +contrary it furnished a strong argument in its favour, for +what many affirmed and all had heard might be accepted as +trustworthy. <q>And moreover,</q> he adds, <q>we are not driven +to rest our case merely on the venerable age of the tradition; +we can appeal to stronger evidence in its support. For +most of the cities send us every year the first-fruits of the +corn as a memorial of that ancient benefit, and when any of +<pb n='055'/><anchor id='Pg055'/> +them have failed to do so the Pythian priestess has commanded +them to send the due portions of the fruits and to +act towards our city according to ancestral custom. Can +anything be supported by stronger evidence than by the +oracle of god, the assent of many Greeks, and the harmony +of ancient legend with the deeds of to-day?</q><note place='foot'>Isocrates, <hi rend='italic'>Panegyric</hi>, 6 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Athenian +decree concerning +the offerings +of +first-fruits +at Eleusis.</note> +This testimony of Isocrates to the antiquity both of +the legend and of the custom might perhaps have been set +aside, or at least disparaged, as the empty bombast of a +wordy rhetorician, if it had not happened by good chance +to be amply confirmed by an official decree of the Athenian +people passed in the century before Isocrates wrote. The +decree was found inscribed on a stone at Eleusis and is +dated by scholars in the latter half of the fifth century before +our era, sometime between 446 and 420 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi><note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 20 (vol. i. +pp. 33 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>); E. S. Roberts and E. A. +Gardner, <hi rend='italic'>An Introduction to Greek +Epigraphy</hi>, Part ii. (Cambridge, 1905) +No. 9, pp. 22 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> It deals +with the first-fruits of barley and wheat which were offered +to the Two Goddesses, that is, to Demeter and Persephone, +not only by the Athenians and their allies but by the +Greeks in general. It prescribes the exact amount of barley +and wheat which was to be offered by the Athenians and +their allies, and it directs the highest officials at Eleusis, +namely the Hierophant and the Torchbearer, to exhort the +other Greeks at the mysteries to offer likewise of the first-fruits +of the corn. The authority alleged in the decree for requiring +or inviting offerings of first-fruits alike from Athenians +and from foreigners is ancestral custom and the bidding of +the Delphic oracle. The Senate is further enjoined to +send commissioners, so far as it could be done, to all +Greek cities whatsoever, exhorting, though not commanding, +them to send the first-fruits in compliance with ancestral +custom and the bidding of the Delphic oracle, and the state +officials are directed to receive the offerings from such states in +the same manner as the offerings of the Athenians and their +allies. Instructions are also given for the building of three +subterranean granaries at Eleusis, where the contributions +of grain from Attica were to be stored. The best of the corn +<pb n='056'/><anchor id='Pg056'/> +was to be offered in sacrifice as the Eumolpids might direct: +oxen were to be bought and sacrificed, with gilt horns, not +only to the two Goddesses but also to the God (Pluto), +Triptolemus, Eubulus, and Athena; and the remainder of +the grain was to be sold and with the produce votive offerings +were to be dedicated with inscriptions setting forth that they +had been dedicated from the offerings of first-fruits, and +recording the names of all the Greeks who sent the offerings +to Eleusis. The decree ends with a prayer that all who +comply with these injunctions or exhortations and render +their dues to the city of Athens and to the Two Goddesses, +may enjoy prosperity together with good and abundant crops. +Writing in the second century of our era, under the Roman +empire, the rhetorician Aristides records the custom which +the Greeks observed of sending year by year the first-fruits +of the harvest to Athens in gratitude for the corn, but he +speaks of the practice as a thing of the past.<note place='foot'>Aristides, <hi rend='italic'>Panathen.</hi> and <hi rend='italic'>Eleusin.</hi>, +vol. i. pp. 167 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 417 ed. G. Dindorf +(Leipsic, 1829).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Even after +foreign +states +ceased to +send first-fruits +of the +corn to +Eleusis, +they continued +to +acknowledge +the +benefit +which the +Athenians +had conferred +on +mankind +by diffusing +among +them +Demeter's +gift of +the corn. Testimony +of the +Sicilian +historian +Diodorus. Testimony +of Cicero +and +Himerius.</note> +We may suspect that the tribute of corn ceased to flow +from far countries to Athens, when, with her falling fortunes +and decaying empire, her proud galleys had ceased to carry +the terror of the Athenian arms into distant seas. But if +the homage was no longer paid in the substantial shape of +cargoes of grain, it continued down to the latest days of +paganism to be paid in the cheaper form of gratitude for +that inestimable benefit, which the Athenians claimed to have +received from the Corn Goddess and to have liberally communicated +to the rest of mankind. Even the Sicilians, who, +inhabiting a fertile corn-growing island, worshipped Demeter +and Persephone above all the gods and claimed to have been +the first to receive the gift of the corn from the Corn Goddess,<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, v. 2 and 4; +Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>In C. Verrem</hi>, act. ii. bk. iv. +chapters 48 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Both writers mention +that the whole of Sicily was deemed +sacred to Demeter and Persephone, +and that corn was said to have grown +in the island before it appeared anywhere +else. In support of the latter +claim Diodorus Siculus (v. 2. 4) asserts +that wheat grew wild in many parts of +Sicily.</note> +nevertheless freely acknowledged that the Athenians +had spread, though they had not originated, the useful +discovery among the nations. Thus the patriotic Sicilian +historian Diodorus, while giving the precedence to his fellow-countrymen, +<pb n='057'/><anchor id='Pg057'/> +strives to be just to the Athenian pretensions +in the following passage.<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, v. 4.</note> <q>Mythologists,</q> says he, <q>relate +that Demeter, unable to find her daughter, lit torches at the +craters of Etna<note place='foot'>This legend, which is mentioned +also by Cicero (<hi rend='italic'>In C. Verrem</hi>, act. ii. +bk. iv. ch. 48), was no doubt told to +explain the use of torches in the +mysteries of Demeter and Persephone. +The author of the Homeric <hi rend='italic'>Hymn to +Demeter</hi> tells us (verses 47 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>) that +Demeter searched for her lost daughter +for nine days with burning torches in +her hands, but he does not say that the +torches were kindled at the flames of +Etna. In art Demeter and Persephone +and their attendants were often represented +with torches in their hands. See +L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the Greek +States</hi>, iii. (Oxford, 1907) plates xiii., +xv. <hi rend='italic'>a</hi>, xvi., xvii., xviii., xix., xx., xxi. <hi rend='italic'>a</hi>, +xxv., xxvii. <hi rend='italic'>b</hi>. Perhaps the legend of the +torchlight search for Persephone and +the use of the torches in the mysteries +may have originated in a custom of +carrying fire about the fields as a charm +to secure sunshine for the corn. See +<hi rend='italic'>The Golden Bough</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> iii. 313.</note> and roamed over many parts of the world. +Those people who received her best she rewarded by giving +them in return the fruit of the wheat; and because the +Athenians welcomed her most kindly of all, she bestowed +the fruit of the wheat on them next after the Sicilians. +Wherefore that people honoured the goddess more than any +other folk by magnificent sacrifices and the mysteries at +Eleusis, which for their extreme antiquity and sanctity have +become famous among all men. From the Athenians many +others received the boon of the corn and shared the seed +with their neighbours, till they filled the whole inhabited +earth with it. But as the people of Sicily, on account of +the intimate relation in which they stood to Demeter and +the Maiden, were the first to participate in the newly +discovered corn, they appointed sacrifices and popular +festivities in honour of each of the two goddesses, naming +the celebrations after them and signifying the nature of the +boons they had received by the dates of the festivals. For +they celebrated the bringing home of the Maiden at the time +when the corn was ripe, performing the sacrifice and holding +the festivity with all the solemnity and zeal that might be +reasonably expected of men who desired to testify their +gratitude for so signal a gift bestowed on them before all +the rest of mankind. But the sacrifice to Demeter they +assigned to the time when the sowing of the corn begins; +and for ten days they hold a popular festivity which bears +the name of the goddess, and is remarkable as well for the +<pb n='058'/><anchor id='Pg058'/> +magnificence of its pomp as for the costumes then worn in +imitation of the olden time. During these days it is customary +for people to rail at each other in foul language, +because when Demeter was mourning for the rape of the +Maiden she laughed at a ribald jest.</q><note place='foot'>The words which I have translated +<q>the bringing home of the Maiden</q> +(τῆς Κόρης τὴν καταγωγήν) are explained +with great probability by Professor M. P. +Nilsson as referring to the bringing of the +ripe corn to the barn or the threshing-floor +(<hi rend='italic'>Griechische Feste</hi>, Leipsic, 1906, +pp. 356 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>). This interpretation +accords perfectly with a well-attested +sense of καταγωγή and its cognate verb +κατάγειν, and is preferable to the other +possible interpretation <q>the bringing +down,</q> which would refer to the +descent of Persephone into the nether +world; for such a descent is hardly +appropriate to a harvest festival.</note> Thus despite his +natural prepossession in favour of his native land, Diodorus +bears testimony both to the special blessing bestowed on +the Athenians by the Corn Goddess, and to the generosity +with which they had imparted the blessing to others, until it +gradually spread to the ends of the earth. Again, Cicero, +addressing a Roman audience, enumerates among the benefits +which Athens was believed to have conferred on the world, +the gift of the corn and its origin in Attic soil; and the +cursory manner in which he alludes to it seems to prove that +the tradition was familiar to his hearers.<note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>Pro L. Flacco</hi>, 26.</note> Four centuries +later the rhetorician Himerius speaks of Demeter's gift of +the corn and the mysteries to the Athenians as the source +of the first and greatest service rendered by their city to +mankind;<note place='foot'>Himerius, <hi rend='italic'>Orat.</hi> ii. 5.</note> so ancient, widespread, and persistent was the +legend which ascribed the origin of the corn to the goddess +Demeter and associated it with the institution of the +Eleusinian mysteries. No wonder that the Delphic oracle +called Athens <q>the Metropolis of the Corn.</q><note place='foot'>Μητρόπολις τῶν καρπῶν, Aristides, +<hi rend='italic'>Panathen.</hi> vol. i. p. 168 ed. G. Dindorf +(Leipzig, 1829).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Sicilians +seem to +have +associated +Demeter +with the +seed-corn +and Persephone +with the +ripe ears. Difficulty +of distinguishing +between +Demeter +and Persephone +as +personifications +of +different +aspects of +the corn.</note> +From the passage of Diodorus which I have quoted we +learn that the Sicilians celebrated the festival of Demeter +at the beginning of sowing, and the festival of Persephone at +harvest. This proves that they associated, if they did not +identify, the Mother Goddess with the seed-corn and the +Daughter Goddess with the ripe ears. Could any association +or identification be more easy and obvious to people +who personified the processes of nature under the form of +<pb n='059'/><anchor id='Pg059'/> +anthropomorphic deities? As the seed brings forth the ripe +ear, so the Corn Mother Demeter gave birth to the Corn +Daughter Persephone. It is true that difficulties arise when +we attempt to analyse this seemingly simple conception. +How, for example, are we to divide exactly the two persons +of the divinity? At what precise moment does the seed +cease to be the Corn Mother and begins to burgeon out +into the Corn Daughter? And how far can we identify the +material substance of the barley and wheat with the divine +bodies of the Two Goddesses? Questions of this sort probably +gave little concern to the sturdy swains who ploughed, +sowed, and reaped the fat fields of Sicily. We cannot imagine +that their night's rest was disturbed by uneasy meditations +on these knotty problems. It would hardly be strange if the +muzzy mind of the Sicilian bumpkin, who looked with blind +devotion to the Two Goddesses for his daily bread, totally +failed to distinguish Demeter from the seed and Persephone +from the ripe sheaves, and if he accepted implicitly +the doctrine of the real presence of the divinities in the corn +without discriminating too curiously between the material +and the spiritual properties of the barley or the wheat. +And if he had been closely questioned by a rigid logician as +to the exact distinction to be drawn between the two persons +of the godhead who together represented for him the annual +vicissitudes of the cereals, Hodge might have scratched his +head and confessed that it puzzled him to say where +precisely the one goddess ended and the other began, or +why the seed buried in the ground should figure at one time +as the dead daughter Persephone descending into the nether +world, and at another as the living Mother Demeter about +to give birth to next year's crop. Theological subtleties +like these have posed longer heads than are commonly to be +found on bucolic shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The time of +the year +when the +first-fruits +of the corn +were +offered to +Demeter +and Persephone +at +Eleusis is +not known.</note> +The time of year at which the first-fruits were offered +to Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis is not explicitly +mentioned by ancient authorities, and accordingly no +inference can be drawn from the date of the offering as +to its religious significance. It is true that at the Eleusinian +mysteries the Hierophant and Torchbearer publicly exhorted +the Greeks in general, as distinguished from the Athenians +<pb n='060'/><anchor id='Pg060'/> +and their allies, to offer the first-fruits in accordance with +ancestral custom and the bidding of the Delphic oracle.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 20, lines 25 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +E. S. Roberts and E. A. Gardner, +<hi rend='italic'>Introduction to Greek Epigraphy</hi>, ii. +(Cambridge, 1905) No. 9, lines 25 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, κελευέτω δὲ καί ὁ ἱεροφάντης καὶ ὁ +δᾳδοῦχος μυστηρίοις ἀπάρχεσθαι τοὺς +Ἔλληνας τοῦ καρποῦ κατὰ τὰ πάτρια καὶ +τὴν μαντείαν τὴν ἐγ Δελφῶν. By coupling +μυστηρίοις with ἀπάρχεσθαι instead +of with κελεύετω, Miss J. E. Harrison +understands the offering instead of the +exhortation to have been made at the +mysteries (<hi rend='italic'>Prolegomena to the Study of +Greek Religion</hi>, Second Edition, p. 155, +<q>Let the Hierophant and the Torchbearer +command that at the mysteries +the Hellenes should offer first-fruits of +their crops,</q> etc.). This interpretation +is no doubt grammatically permissible, +but the context seems to plead strongly, +if not to be absolutely decisive, in favour +of the other. It is to be observed +that the exhortation was addressed not +to the Athenians and their allies (who +were compelled to make the offering) +but only to the other Greeks, who +might make it or not as they pleased; +and the amount of such voluntary contributions +was probably small compared +to that of the compulsory contributions, +as to the date of which nothing is said. +That the proclamation to the Greeks in +general was an exhortation (κελευέτω), +not a command, is clearly shewn by +the words of the decree a few lines +lower down, where commissioners are +directed to go to all Greek states +exhorting but not commanding them +to offer the first-fruits (ἐκείνοις δὲ μὴ +ἐπιτάττοντας, κελεύοντας δὲ ἀπάρχεσθαι +ἐὰν βούλωνται κατὰ τὰ πάτρια καὶ τὴν +μαντείαν ἐγ Δελφῶν). The Athenians +could not command free and independent +states to make such offerings, still +less could they prescribe the exact date +when the offerings were to be made. +All that they could and did do was, +taking advantage of the great assembly +of Greeks from all quarters at the +mysteries, to invite or exhort, by the +mouth of the great priestly functionaries, +the foreigners to contribute.</note> +But there is nothing to shew that the offerings were made +immediately after the exhortation. Nor does any ancient +authority support the view of a modern scholar that the +offering of the first-fruits, or a portion of them, took place at +the Festival before Ploughing (<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Proerosia</foreign>),<note place='foot'>August Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt +Athen im Altertum</hi> (Leipsic, 1898), +pp. 192 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> though that festival +would no doubt be an eminently appropriate occasion for +propitiating with such offerings the goddess on whose bounty +the next year's crop was believed to depend. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Festival +of the +Threshing-floor +(<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Haloa</foreign>) +at Eleusis.</note> +On the other hand, we are positively told that the first-fruits +were carried to Eleusis to be used at the Festival of +the Threshing-floor (<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Haloa</foreign>).<note place='foot'>Eustathius on Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>, ix. +534, p. 772; Im. Bekker, <hi rend='italic'>Anecdota +Graeca</hi>, i. 384 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Ἁλῶα. Compare +O. Rubensohn, <hi rend='italic'>Die Mysterienheiligtümer +in Eleusis und Samothrake</hi> +(Berlin, 1892), p. 116.</note> But the statement, cursorily +reported by writers of no very high authority, cannot be +implicitly relied upon; and even if it could, we should +hardly be justified in inferring from it that all the first-fruits +of the corn were offered to Demeter and Persephone at this +<pb n='061'/><anchor id='Pg061'/> +festival. Be that as it may, the Festival of the Threshing-floor +was intimately connected with the worship both of +Demeter and of Dionysus, and accordingly it deserves our +attention. It is said to have been sacred to both these +deities;<note place='foot'>Eustathius on Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>, ix. +534, p. 772; Im. Bekker, <hi rend='italic'>Anecdota +Graeca</hi>, i. 384 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Ἁλῶα.</note> and while the name seems to connect it rather +with the Corn Goddess than with the Wine God, we are +yet informed that it was held by the Athenians on the +occasion of the pruning of the vines and the tasting of the +stored-up wine.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Scholia in Lucianum</hi>, ed. H. Rabe +(Leipsic, 1906), pp. 279 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> (scholium +on <hi rend='italic'>Dialog. Meretr.</hi> vii. 4).</note> The festival is frequently mentioned in +Eleusinian inscriptions, from some of which we gather +that it included sacrifices to the two goddesses and a so-called +Ancestral Contest, as to the nature of which we have +no information.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> Nos. 192, 246, +587, 640; Ἐφημερὶς Ἀρχαιολογική, +1884, coll. 135 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> The passages of +inscriptions and of ancient authors +which refer to the festival are collected +by Dr. L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the +Greek States</hi>, iii. (Oxford, 1907) pp. +315 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> For a discussion of the +evidence see August Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Feste +der Stadt Athen im Altertum</hi> (Leipsic, +1898), pp. 359 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Miss J. E. +Harrison, <hi rend='italic'>Prolegomena to the Study +of Greek Religion</hi>, Second Edition +(Cambridge, 1908), pp. 145 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> We may suppose that the festival or some +part of it was celebrated on the Sacred Threshing-floor +of Triptolemus at Eleusis;<note place='foot'>The threshing-floor of Triptolemus +at Eleusis (Pausanias, i. 38. 6) is no +doubt identical with the Sacred Threshing-floor +mentioned in the great +Eleusinian inscription of 329 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi> +(Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 587, line 234). We +read of a hierophant who, contrary to +ancestral custom, sacrificed a victim on +the hearth in the Hall at Eleusis during +the Festival of the Threshing-floor, +<q>it being unlawful to sacrifice victims +on that day</q> (Demosthenes, <hi rend='italic'>Contra +Neaeram</hi>, 116, pp. 1384 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>), but from +such an unlawful act no inference can +be drawn as to the place where the +festival was held. That the festival +probably had special reference to the +threshing-floor of Triptolemus has +already been pointed out by O. Rubensohn +(<hi rend='italic'>Die Mysterienheiligtümer in +Eleusis und Samothrake</hi>, Berlin, 1892, +p. 118).</note> for as Triptolemus was the +hero who is said to have diffused the knowledge of the +corn all over the world, nothing could be more natural +than that the Festival of the Threshing-floor should be +held on the sacred threshing-floor which bore his name. +As for Demeter, we have already seen how intimate was her +association with the threshing-floor and the operation of +threshing; according to Homer, she is the yellow goddess who +parts the yellow grain from the white chaff at the threshing, +and in Cos her image with the corn-stalks and the poppies +<pb n='062'/><anchor id='Pg062'/> +in her hands stood on the threshing-floor.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg041'>41</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg043'>43</ref>. Maximus +Tyrius observes (<hi rend='italic'>Dissertat.</hi> xxx. 5) that +husbandmen were the first to celebrate +sacred rites in honour of Demeter at +the threshing-floor.</note> The festival +lasted one day, and no victims might be sacrificed at it;<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg061'>61</ref>, note 4.</note> but +special use was made, as we have seen, of the first-fruits of +the corn. With regard to the dating of the festival we are +informed that it fell in the month Poseideon, which corresponds +roughly to our December, and as the date rests on +the high authority of the ancient Athenian antiquary Philochorus,<note place='foot'>Harpocration, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Ἁλῶα (vol. i. +p. 24, ed. G. Dindorf).</note> +and is, moreover, indirectly confirmed by inscriptional +evidence,<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 587, lines +124, 144, with the editor's notes; +August Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt +Athen im Altertum</hi>, p. 360.</note> we are bound to accept it. But it is +certainly surprising to find a Festival of the Threshing-floor +held so late in the year, long after the threshing, which in +Greece usually takes place not later than midsummer, though +on high ground in Crete it is sometimes prolonged till near +the end of August.<note place='foot'>So I am informed by my friend +Professor J. L. Myres, who speaks +from personal observation.</note> We seem bound to conclude that the +Festival of the Threshing-floor was quite distinct from the +actual threshing of the corn.<note place='foot'>This is recognised by Professor +M. P. Nilsson. See his <hi rend='italic'>Studia de +Dionysiis Atticis</hi> (Lund, 1900), pp. +95 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, and his <hi rend='italic'>Griechische Feste</hi>, p. +329. To explain the lateness of the +festival, Miss J. E. Harrison suggests +that <q>the shift of date is due to +Dionysos. The rival festivals of +Dionysos were in mid-winter. He +possessed himself of the festivals of +Demeter, took over her threshing-floor +and compelled the anomaly of a winter +threshing festival</q> (<hi rend='italic'>Prolegomena to +the Study of Greek Religion</hi>, Second +Edition, p. 147).</note> It is said to have included +certain mystic rites performed by women alone, who feasted +and quaffed wine, while they broke filthy jests on each other +and exhibited cakes baked in the form of the male and female +organs of generation.<note place='foot'>Scholiast on Lucian, <hi rend='italic'>Dial. Meretr.</hi> +vii. 4 (<hi rend='italic'>Scholia in Lucianum</hi>, ed. H. +Rabe, Leipsic, 1906, pp. 279-281).</note> If the latter particulars are correctly +reported we may suppose that these indecencies, like certain +obscenities which seem to have formed part of the Great +Mysteries at Eleusis,<note place='foot'>Clement of Alexandria, <hi rend='italic'>Protrept.</hi> +ii. 15 and 20, pp. 13 and 17 ed. +Potter; Arnobius, <hi rend='italic'>Adversus Nationes</hi>, +v. 25-27, 35, 39.</note> were no mere wanton outbursts of +licentious passion, but were deliberately practised as rites +calculated to promote the fertility of the ground by means +of homoeopathic or imitative magic. A like association of +<pb n='063'/><anchor id='Pg063'/> +what we might call indecency with rites intended to promote +the growth of the crops meets us in the Thesmophoria, a +festival of Demeter celebrated by women alone, at which +the character of the goddess as a source of fertility comes +out clearly in the custom of mixing the remains of the +sacrificial pigs with the seed-corn in order to obtain a +plentiful crop. We shall return to this festival later on.<note place='foot'>See below, p. <ref target='Pg116'>116</ref>; vol. ii. pp. +17 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Green +Festival +and the +Festival +of the +Cornstalks +at Eleusis. +Epithets of +Demeter +referring to +the corn.</note> +Other festivals held at Eleusis in honour of Demeter and +Persephone were known as the Green Festival and the +Festival of the Cornstalks.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 640; Ch. +Michel, <hi rend='italic'>Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques</hi> +(Brussels, 1900), No. 135, p. 145. +To be exact, while the inscription +definitely mentions the sacrifices to +Demeter and Persephone at the +Green Festival, it does not record the +deities to whom the sacrifice at the +Festival of the Cornstalks (τὴν τῶν +Καλαμαίων θυσίαν) was offered. But +mentioned as it is in immediate connexion +with the sacrifices to Demeter +and Persephone at the Green Festival, +we may fairly suppose that the sacrifice +at the Festival of the Cornstalks was +also offered to these goddesses.</note> Of the manner of their celebration +we know nothing except that they comprised sacrifices, +which were offered to Demeter and Persephone. But their +names suffice to connect the two festivals with the green +and the standing corn. We have seen that Demeter +herself bore the title of Green, and that sacrifices were +offered to her under that title which plainly aimed at promoting +fertility.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg042'>42</ref>.</note> Among the many epithets applied to +Demeter which mark her relation to the corn may further +be mentioned <q>Wheat-lover,</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Anthologia Palatina</hi>, vi. 36. 1 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> <q>She of the Corn,</q><note place='foot'>Polemo, cited by Athenaeus, iii. +9, p. 416 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b</hi>.</note> <q>Sheaf-bearer,</q><note place='foot'>Nonnus, <hi rend='italic'>Dionys.</hi> xvii. 153. The +Athenians sacrificed to her under this +title (Eustathius, on Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>, +xviii. 553, p. 1162).</note> +<q>She of the Threshing-floor,</q><note place='foot'>Theocritus, <hi rend='italic'>Idyl.</hi> vii. 155; <hi rend='italic'>Orphica</hi>, +xl. 5.</note> <q>She of the Winnowing-fan,</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Anthologia Palatina</hi>, vi. 98. 1.</note> +<q>Nurse of the Corn-ears,</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Orphica</hi>, xl. 3.</note> <q>Crowned with +Ears of Corn,</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Anthologia Palatina</hi>, vi. 104. 8.</note> <q>She of the Seed,</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Orphica</hi>, xl. 5.</note> <q>She of the Green +Fruits,</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> <q>Heavy with Summer Fruits,</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Orphica</hi>, xl. 18.</note> <q>Fruit-bearer,</q><note place='foot'>This title she shared with Persephone +at Tegea (Pausanias, viii. 53. 7), +and under it she received annual sacrifices +at Ephesus (Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge +Inscriptionum Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 655). +It was applied to her also at Epidaurus +(Ἐφημ. Ἀρχ., 1883, col. 153) and at +Athens (Aristophanes, <hi rend='italic'>Frogs</hi>, 382), and +appears to have been a common title of +the goddess. See L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The +Cults of the Greek States</hi>, iii. 318 note 30.</note> +<pb n='064'/><anchor id='Pg064'/> +<q>She of the Great Loaf,</q> and <q>She of the Great Barley +Loaf.</q><note place='foot'>Polemo, cited by Athenaeus, iii. +73, p. 109 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a</hi> <hi rend='smallcaps'>b</hi>, x. 9. p. 416 <hi rend='smallcaps'>c</hi>.</note> Of these epithets it may be remarked that though +all of them are quite appropriate to a Corn Goddess, some +of them would scarcely be applicable to an Earth Goddess +and therefore they add weight to the other arguments which +turn the scale in favour of the corn as the fundamental +attribute of Demeter. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Belief in +ancient +and +modern +times that +the corn-crops +depend on +possession +of an +image of +Demeter.</note> +How deeply implanted in the mind of the ancient +Greeks was this faith in Demeter as goddess of the corn +may be judged by the circumstance that the faith actually +persisted among their Christian descendants at her old +sanctuary of Eleusis down to the beginning of the nineteenth +century. For when the English traveller Dodwell revisited +Eleusis, the inhabitants lamented to him the loss of a +colossal image of Demeter, which was carried off by Clarke +in 1802 and presented to the University of Cambridge, +where it still remains. <q>In my first journey to Greece,</q> +says Dodwell, <q>this protecting deity was in its full glory, +situated in the centre of a threshing-floor, amongst the ruins +of her temple. The villagers were impressed with a persuasion +that their rich harvests were the effect of her bounty, +and since her removal, their abundance, as they assured me, +has disappeared.</q><note place='foot'>E. Dodwell, <hi rend='italic'>A Classical and +Topographical Tour through Greece</hi> +(London, 1819), i. 583. E. D. Clarke +found the image <q>on the side of the +road, immediately before entering the +village, and in the midst of a heap of +dung, buried as high as the neck, a +little beyond the farther extremity of +the pavement of the temple. Yet even +this degrading situation had not been +assigned to it wholly independent of its +antient history. The inhabitants of +the small village which is now situated +among the ruins of Eleusis still regarded +this statue with a very high +degree of superstitious veneration. +They attributed to its presence the +fertility of their land; and it was for +this reason that they heaped around it +the manure intended for their fields. +They believed that the loss of it would +be followed by no less a calamity than +the failure of their annual harvests; +and they pointed to the ears of bearded +wheat, upon the sculptured ornaments +upon the head of the figure, as a never-failing +indication of the produce of the +soil.</q> When the statue was about to +be removed, a general murmur ran +among the people, the women joining +in the clamour. <q>They had been +always,</q> they said, <q>famous for their +corn; and the fertility of the land +would cease when the statue was +removed.</q> See E. D. Clarke, <hi rend='italic'>Travels +in various Countries of Europe, Asia, +and Africa</hi>, iii. (London, 1814) pp. 772-774, +787 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Compare J. C. Lawson, +<hi rend='italic'>Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient +Greek Religion</hi> (Cambridge, 1910), +p. 80, who tells us that <q>the statue +was regularly crowned with flowers +in the avowed hope of obtaining good +harvests.</q></note> Thus we see the Corn Goddess Demeter +<pb n='065'/><anchor id='Pg065'/> +standing on the threshing-floor of Eleusis and dispensing +corn to her worshippers in the nineteenth century of the +Christian era, precisely as her image stood and dispensed +corn to her worshippers on the threshing-floor of Cos in the +days of Theocritus. And just as the people of Eleusis last +century attributed the diminution of their harvests to the +loss of the image of Demeter, so in antiquity the Sicilians, +a corn-growing people devoted to the worship of the two +Corn Goddesses, lamented that the crops of many towns had +perished because the unscrupulous Roman governor Verres +had impiously carried off the image of Demeter from her +famous temple at Henna.<note place='foot'>Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>In C. Verrem</hi>, act. ii. lib. +iv. 51.</note> Could we ask for a clearer proof +that Demeter was indeed the goddess of the corn than this +belief, held by the Greeks down to modern times, that the +corn-crops depended on her presence and bounty and +perished when her image was removed? +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Sacred +marriage +of Zeus +and +Demeter +at Eleusis. Homer on +the love of +Zeus for +Demeter. +Zeus the +Sky God +may have +been +confused +with Subterranean +Zeus, that +is, Pluto. Demeter +may have +been confused +with +Persephone; +in art the +types of +the two +goddesses +are often +very +similar.</note> +In a former part of this work I followed an eminent +French scholar in concluding, from various indications, that +part of the religious drama performed in the mysteries of +Eleusis may have been a marriage between the sky-god +Zeus and the corn-goddess Demeter, represented by the +hierophant and the priestess of the goddess respectively.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution +of Kings</hi>, ii. 138 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +The conclusion is arrived at by combining a number of +passages, all more or less vague and indefinite, of late +Christian writers; hence it must remain to some extent +uncertain and cannot at the best lay claim to more than +a fair degree of probability. It may be, as Professor W. +Ridgeway holds, that this dramatic marriage of the god and +goddess was an innovation foisted into the Eleusinian +Mysteries in that great welter of religions which followed +the meeting of the East and the West in the later ages of +antiquity.<note place='foot'>This view was expressed by my +friend Professor Ridgeway in a paper +which I had the advantage of hearing +him read at Cambridge in the +early part of 1911. Compare <hi rend='italic'>The +Athenaeum</hi>, No. 4360, May 20th, +1911, p. 576.</note> If a marriage of Zeus and Demeter did indeed +form an important feature of the Mysteries in the fifth century +before our era, it is certainly remarkable, as Professor +Ridgeway has justly pointed out, that no mention of Zeus +<pb n='066'/><anchor id='Pg066'/> +occurs in the public decree of that century which regulates +the offerings of first-fruits and the sacrifices to be made to +the gods and goddesses of Eleusis.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 20; E. S. Roberts +and E. A. Gardner, <hi rend='italic'>Introduction to Greek +Epigraphy</hi>, ii. (Cambridge, 1905) No. +9, pp. 22 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> See above, pp. <ref target='Pg055'>55</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At the same time we +must bear in mind that, if the evidence for the ritual marriage +of Zeus and Demeter is late and doubtful, the evidence for +the myth is ancient and indubitable. The story was known +to Homer, for in the list of beauties to whom he makes +Zeus, in a burst of candour, confess that he had lost his too +susceptible heart, there occurs the name of <q>the fair-haired +Queen Demeter</q>;<note place='foot'>Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>, xiv. 326.</note> and in another passage the poet represents +the jealous god smiting with a thunderbolt the favoured +lover with whom the goddess had forgotten her dignity +among the furrows of a fallow field.<note place='foot'>Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Odyssey</hi>, v. 125 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Moreover, according +to one tradition, Dionysus himself was the offspring of the +intrigue between Zeus and Demeter.<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, iii. 62. 6.</note> Thus there is no +intrinsic improbability in the view that one or other of these +unedifying incidents in the backstairs chronicle of Olympus +should have formed part of the sacred peep-show in the +Eleusinian Mysteries. But it seems just possible that the +marriage to which the Christian writers allude with malicious +joy may after all have been of a more regular and orthodox +pattern. We are positively told that the rape of Persephone +was acted at the Mysteries;<note place='foot'>Clement of Alexandria, <hi rend='italic'>Protrept.</hi> +12, p. 12, ed. Potter.</note> may that scene not have +been followed by another representing the solemnisation of +her nuptials with her ravisher and husband Pluto? It is to +be remembered that Pluto was sometimes known as a god +of fertility under the title of Subterranean Zeus. It was to +him under that title as well as to Demeter, that the Greek +ploughman prayed at the beginning of the ploughing;<note place='foot'>Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>Works and Days</hi>, 465 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> and +the people of Myconus used to sacrifice to Subterranean +Zeus and Subterranean Earth for the prosperity of the crops +on the twelfth day of the month Lenaeon.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 615, lines 25 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; Ch. Michel, <hi rend='italic'>Recueil d'Inscriptions +Grecques</hi>, No. 714; J. de Prott et L. +Ziehen, <hi rend='italic'>Leges Graecorum Sacrae</hi>, No. 4.</note> Thus it may +be that the Zeus whose marriage was dramatically represented +at the Mysteries was not the sky-god Zeus, but his +<pb n='067'/><anchor id='Pg067'/> +brother Zeus of the Underworld, and that the writers who +refer to the ceremony have confused the two brothers. This +view, if it could be established, would dispose of the difficulty +raised by the absence of the name of Zeus in the decree +which prescribes the offerings to be made to the gods of +Eleusis; for although in that decree Pluto is not mentioned +under the name of Subterranean Zeus, he is clearly referred +to, as the editors of the inscription have seen, under the +vague title of <q>the God,</q> while his consort Persephone is +similarly referred to under the title of <q>the Goddess,</q> and it +is ordained that perfect victims shall be sacrificed to both of +them. However, if we thus dispose of one difficulty, it +must be confessed that in doing so we raise another. For +if the bridegroom in the Sacred Marriage at Eleusis was +not the sky-god Zeus, but the earth-god Pluto, we seem +driven to suppose that, contrary to the opinion of the reverend +Christian scandal-mongers, the bride was his lawful wife +Persephone and not his sister and mother-in-law Demeter. +In short, on the hypothesis which I have suggested we are +compelled to conclude that the ancient busybodies who +lifted the veil from the mystic marriage were mistaken as to +the person both of the divine bridegroom and of the divine +bride. In regard to the bridegroom I have conjectured +that they may have confused the two brothers, Zeus of the +Upper World and Zeus of the Lower World. In regard to +the bride, can any reason be suggested for confounding the +persons of the mother and daughter? On the view here +taken of the nature of Demeter and Persephone nothing +could be easier than to confuse them with each other, +for both of them were mythical embodiments of the corn, +the mother Demeter standing for the old corn of last year +and the daughter Persephone standing for the new corn of +this year. In point of fact Greek artists, both of the archaic +and of later periods, frequently represent the Mother +and Daughter side by side in forms which resemble each +other so closely that eminent modern experts have sometimes +differed from each other on the question, which +is Demeter and which is Persephone; indeed in some +cases it might be quite impossible to distinguish the +two if it were not for the inscriptions attached to the +<pb n='068'/><anchor id='Pg068'/> +figures.<note place='foot'>See L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults of +the Greek States</hi>, iii. (Oxford, 1907), p. +259, <q>It was long before the mother +could be distinguished from the daughter +by any organic difference of form or by +any expressive trait of countenance. +On the more ancient vases and terracottas +they appear rather as twin-sisters, +almost as if the inarticulate artist were +aware of their original identity of substance. +And even among the monuments +of the transitional period it is +difficult to find any representation of +the goddesses in characters at once +clear and impressive. We miss this +even in the beautiful vase of Hieron in +the British Museum, where the divine +pair are seen with Triptolemos: the +style is delicate and stately, and there +is a certain impression of inner tranquil +life in the group, but without the aid +of the inscriptions the mother would +not be known from the daughter</q>; +<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, vol. iii. 274, <q>But it would be +wrong to give the impression that the +numismatic artists of this period were +always careful to distinguish—in such +a manner as the above works indicate—between +mother and daughter. The +old idea of their unity of substance still +seemed to linger as an art-tradition: +the very type we have just been examining +appears on a fourth-century coin +of Hermione, and must have been used +here to designate Demeter Chthonia +who was there the only form that the +corn-goddess assumed. And even at +Metapontum, where coin-engraving +was long a great art, a youthful head +crowned with corn, which in its own +right and on account of its resemblance +to the masterpiece of Euainetos could +claim the name of Kore [Persephone], is +actually inscribed <q>Damater.</q></q> Compare +J. Overbeck, <hi rend='italic'>Griechische Kunstmythologie</hi>, +iii. (Leipsic, 1873-1878), +p. 453. In regard, for example, to the +famous Eleusinian bas-relief, one of the +most beautiful monuments of ancient +religious art, which seems to represent +Demeter giving the corn-stalks to +Triptolemus, while Persephone crowns +his head, there has been much divergence +of opinion among the learned as +to which of the goddesses is Demeter +and which Persephone. See J. Overbeck, +<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> iii. 427 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; L. R. +Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> iii. 263 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> On the +close resemblance of the artistic types +of Demeter and Persephone see further +E. Gerhard, <hi rend='italic'>Gesammelte akademische +Abhandlungen</hi> (Berlin, 1866-1868), ii. +357 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; F. Lenormant, in Daremberg +et Saglio, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire des Antiquités +Grecques et Romaines</hi>, i. 2, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +<q>Ceres,</q> p. 1049.</note> The ancient sculptors, vase-painters, and engravers +must have had some good reason for portraying the two goddesses +in types which are almost indistinguishable from each +other; and what better reason could they have had than the +knowledge that the two persons of the godhead were one +in substance, that they stood merely for two different +aspects of the same simple natural phenomenon, the growth +of the corn? Thus it is easy to understand why Demeter +and Persephone may have been confused in ritual as well as +in art, why in particular the part of the divine bride in a +Sacred Marriage may sometimes have been assigned to the +Mother and sometimes to the Daughter. But all this, I +fully admit, is a mere speculation, and I only put it forward +as such. We possess far too little information as to a +Sacred Marriage in the Eleusinian Mysteries to be justified +in speaking with confidence on so obscure a subject. +</p> + +<pb n='069'/><anchor id='Pg069'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The date +of the +Eleusinian +Mysteries +in September +would +have been +a very appropriate +time for a +Sacred +Marriage +of the Sky +God with +the Corn +Goddess +or the +Earth +Goddess.</note> +One thing, however, which we may say with a fair +degree of probability is that, if such a marriage did take +place at Eleusis, no date in the agricultural year could well +have been more appropriate for it than the date at which +the Mysteries actually fell, namely about the middle of +September. The long Greek summer is practically rainless +and in the fervent heat and unbroken drought all nature +languishes. The river-beds are dry, the fields parched. The +farmer awaits impatiently the setting-in of the autumnal rains, +which begin in October and mark the great season for ploughing +and sowing. What time could be fitter for celebrating +the union of the Corn Goddess with her husband the Earth +God or perhaps rather with her paramour the Sky God, who +will soon descend in fertilising showers to quicken the seed +in the furrows? Such embraces of the divine powers or +their human representatives might well be deemed, on the +principles of homoeopathic or imitative magic, indispensable +to the growth of the crops. At least similar ideas have +been entertained and similar customs have been practised +by many peoples;<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution +of Kings</hi>, ii. 97 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> and in the legend of Demeter's love-adventure +among the furrows of the thrice-ploughed fallow<note place='foot'>Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Odyssey</hi>, v. 125 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +we seem to catch a glimpse of rude rites of the same sort +performed in the fields at sowing-time by Greek ploughmen +for the sake of ensuring the growth of the seed which they +were about to commit to the bosom of the naked earth. In +this connexion a statement of ancient writers as to the rites +of Eleusis receives fresh significance. We are told that at +these rites the worshippers looked up to the sky and cried +<q>Rain!</q> and then looked down at the earth and cried +<q>Conceive!</q><note place='foot'>Proclus, on Plato, <hi rend='italic'>Timaeus</hi>, p. +293 c, quoted by L. F. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The +Cults of the Greek States</hi>, iii. 357, +where Lobeck's emendation of ὔε, κύε +for υἶε, τοκυῖε (<hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi>, p. 782) +may be accepted as certain, confirmed +as it is by Hippolytus, <hi rend='italic'>Refutatio Omnium +Haeresium</hi>, v. 7, p. 146, ed. +Duncker and Schneidewin (Göttingen, +1859), τὸ μέγα καὶ ἄρρητον Ἐλευσινίων +μυστήριον ὔε κύε.</note> Nothing could be more appropriate at a +marriage of the Sky God and the Earth or Corn Goddess +than such invocations to the heaven to pour down rain and +to the earth or the corn to conceive seed under the fertilising +shower; in Greece no time could well be more suitable for +<pb n='070'/><anchor id='Pg070'/> +the utterance of such prayers than just at the date when the +Great Mysteries of Eleusis were celebrated, at the end of +the long drought of summer and before the first rains of +autumn. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Eleusinian +games +distinct +from the +Eleusinian +Mysteries. +The +Eleusinian +games +of later +origin +than the +Eleusinian +Mysteries. The +Eleusinian +games +sacred to +Demeter +and Persephone. Triptolemus, +the +mythical +hero of +the corn.</note> +Different both from the Great Mysteries and the offerings +of first-fruits at Eleusis were the games which were +celebrated there on a great scale once in every four years +and on a less scale once in every two years.<note place='foot'>As to the Eleusinian games see +August Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt +Athen im Altertum</hi>, pp. 179-204; P. +Foucart, <hi rend='italic'>Les Grands Mystères d'Éleusis</hi> +(Paris, 1900), pp. 143-147; P. Stengel, +in Pauly-Wissowa's <hi rend='italic'>Real-Encyclopädie +der classischen Altertumswissenschaft</hi>, +v. coll. 2330 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> The quadriennial +celebration of the Eleusinian Games is +mentioned by Aristotle (<hi rend='italic'>Constitution of +Athens</hi>, 54), and in the great Eleusinian +inscription of 329 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, which is +also our only authority for the biennial +celebration of the games. See Dittenberger, +<hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> +No. 587, lines 258 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> The +regular and official name of the games +was simply Eleusinia (τὰ Ἐλευσίνια), +a name which late writers applied incorrectly +to the Mysteries. See August +Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 179 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> No. 587, note 171.</note> That the +games were distinct from the Mysteries is proved by +their periods, which were quadriennial and biennial respectively, +whereas the Mysteries were celebrated annually. +Moreover, in Greek epigraphy, our most authentic evidence +in such matters, the games and the Mysteries are clearly +distinguished from each other by being mentioned separately +in the same inscription.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 246, lines 25 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi> No. 587, lines 244 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +258 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> But like the Mysteries the +games seem to have been very ancient; for the Parian +Chronicler, who wrote in the year 264 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, assigns the +foundation of the Eleusinian games to the reign of Pandion, +the son of Cecrops. However, he represents them as of +later origin than the Eleusinian Mysteries, which according +to him were instituted by Eumolpus in the reign of +Erechtheus, after Demeter had planted corn in Attica and +Triptolemus had sown seed in the Rarian plain at Eleusis.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Marmor Parium</hi>, in <hi rend='italic'>Fragmenta +Historicorum Graecorum</hi>, ed. C. +Müller, i. 544 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +This testimony to the superior antiquity of the Mysteries +is in harmony with our most ancient authority on the rites +of Eleusis, the author of the <hi rend='italic'>Hymn to Demeter</hi>, who +describes the origin of the Eleusinian Mysteries, but makes +no reference or allusion to the Eleusinian Games. However, +the great age of the games is again vouched for at a much +<pb n='071'/><anchor id='Pg071'/> +later date by the rhetorician Aristides, who even declares +that they were the oldest of all Greek games.<note place='foot'>Aristides, <hi rend='italic'>Panathen.</hi> and <hi rend='italic'>Eleusin.</hi> +vol. i. pp. 168, 417, ed. G. Dindorf.</note> With +regard to the nature and meaning of the games our information +is extremely scanty, but an old scholiast on Pindar +tells us that they were celebrated in honour of Demeter and +Persephone as a thank-offering at the conclusion of the corn-harvest.<note place='foot'>Schol. on Pindar, <hi rend='italic'>Olymp.</hi> ix. +150, p. 228, ed. Aug. Boeckh.</note> +His testimony is confirmed by that of the +rhetorician Aristides, who mentions the institution of the +Eleusinian games in immediate connexion with the offerings +of the first-fruits of the corn, which many Greek states sent +to Athens;<note place='foot'>Aristides, <hi rend='italic'>ll.cc.</hi></note> and from an inscription dated about the close +of the third century before our era we learn that at the +Great Eleusinian Games sacrifices were offered to Demeter +and Persephone.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 246, lines 25 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> The editor rightly points out +that the Great Eleusinian Games are +identical with the games celebrated +every fourth year, which are mentioned +in the decree of 329 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi> +(Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 587, lines 260 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>).</note> Further, we gather from an official +Athenian inscription of 329 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi> that both the Great and +the Lesser Games included athletic and musical contests, +a horse-race, and a competition which bore the +name of the Ancestral or Hereditary Contest, and which +accordingly may well have formed the original kernel of +the games.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 587, lines 259 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> +From other Attic inscriptions we learn +that the Eleusinian games comprised a +long foot-race, a race in armour, and +a pancratium. See Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>op. +cit.</hi> No. 587 note 171 (vol. ii. p. 313). +The Great Eleusinian Games also included +the pentathlum (Dittenberger, +<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> No. 678, line 2). The pancratium +included wrestling and boxing; +the pentathlum included a foot-race, +leaping, throwing the quoit, throwing +the spear, and wrestling. See W. +Smith, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionary of Greek and Roman +Antiquities</hi>, Third Edition, <hi rend='italic'>s.vv.</hi> <q>Pancratium</q> +and <q>Pentathlon.</q></note> Unfortunately nothing is known about this +Ancestral Contest. We might be tempted to identify it +with the Ancestral Contest included in the Eleusinian +Festival of the Threshing-floor,<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 246, lines 46 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Ch. Michel, <hi rend='italic'>Recueil d'Inscriptions +Grecques</hi>, No. 609. See above, +p. <ref target='Pg061'>61</ref>. The identification lies all the +nearer to hand because the inscription +records a decree in honour of a man +who had sacrificed to Demeter and +Persephone at the Great Eleusinian +Games, and a provision is contained in +the decree that the honour should be proclaimed +<q>at the Ancestral Contest of the +Festival of the Threshing-floor.</q> The +same Ancestral Contest at the Festival +of the Threshing-floor is mentioned in +another Eleusinian inscription, which +records honours decreed to a man who +had sacrificed to Demeter and Persephone +at the Festival of the Threshing-floor. +See Ἐφημερὶς Ἀρχαιολογική, +1884, coll. 135 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> which was probably held +<pb n='072'/><anchor id='Pg072'/> +on the Sacred Threshing-floor of Triptolemus at Eleusis.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg061'>61</ref>.</note> +If the identification could be proved, we should have +another confirmation of the tradition which connects the +games with Demeter and the corn; for according to the +prevalent tradition it was to Triptolemus that Demeter first +revealed the secret of the corn, and it was he whom she sent +out as an itinerant missionary to impart the beneficent discovery +of the cereals to all mankind and to teach them to +sow the seed.<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, v. 68; Arrian, +<hi rend='italic'>Indic.</hi> 7; Lucian, <hi rend='italic'>Somnium</hi>, 15; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, +<hi rend='italic'>Philopseudes</hi>, 3; Plato, <hi rend='italic'>Laws</hi>, vi. 22, +p. 782; Apollodorus, <hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, i. 5. +2; Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae Compendium</hi>, +28, p. 53, ed. C. Lang; +Pausanias, i. 14. 2, vii. 18. 2, viii. 4. +1; Aristides, <hi rend='italic'>Eleusin.</hi> vol. i. pp. 416 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, ed. G. Dindorf; Hyginus, <hi rend='italic'>Fabulae</hi>, +147, 259, 277; Ovid, <hi rend='italic'>Fasti</hi>, iv. 549 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Metamorph.</hi> v. 645 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +Servius, on Virgil, <hi rend='italic'>Georg.</hi> i. 19. See +also above, p. 54. As to Triptolemus, +see L. Preller, <hi rend='italic'>Demeter und Persephone</hi> +(Hamburg, 1837), pp. 282 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, +<hi rend='italic'>Griechische Mythologie</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>4</hi> i. 769 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> On monuments of art, especially in vase-paintings, +he is constantly represented along with Demeter +in this capacity, holding corn-stalks in his hand and sitting +in his car, which is sometimes winged and sometimes drawn +by dragons, and from which he is said to have sowed the +seed down on the whole world as he sped through the air.<note place='foot'>C. Strube, <hi rend='italic'>Studien über den Bilderkreis +von Eleusis</hi> (Leipsic, 1870), +pp. 4 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; J. Overbeck, <hi rend='italic'>Griechische +Kunstmythologie</hi>, iii. (Leipsic, 1873-1880), +pp. 530 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; A. Baumeister, +<hi rend='italic'>Denkmäler des classischen Altertums</hi>, +iii. 1855 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> That Triptolemus sowed +the earth with corn from his car is +mentioned by Apollodorus, <hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, +i. 5. 2; Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae +Compendium</hi>, 28, pp. 53 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, ed. C. +Lang; Hyginus, <hi rend='italic'>Fabulae</hi>, 147; and +Servius, on Virgil, <hi rend='italic'>Georg.</hi> i. 19.</note> +At Eleusis victims bought with the first-fruits of the wheat +and barley were sacrificed to him as well as to Demeter and +Persephone.<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 20, lines 37 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; E. S. Roberts and E. A. Gardner, +<hi rend='italic'>Introduction to Greek Epigraphy</hi>, ii. +(Cambridge, 1905), No. 9, p. 24.</note> In short, if we may judge from the combined +testimony of Greek literature and art, Triptolemus was the +corn-hero first and foremost. Even beyond the limits of the +Greek world, all men, we are told, founded sanctuaries and +erected altars in his honour because he had bestowed on +them the gift of the corn.<note place='foot'>Arrian, <hi rend='italic'>Epicteti Dissertationes</hi>, i. +4. 30.</note> His very name has been +plausibly explained both in ancient and modern times as +<q>Thrice-ploughed</q> with reference to the Greek custom of +<pb n='073'/><anchor id='Pg073'/> +ploughing the land thrice a year,<note place='foot'>Scholiast on Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>, xviii. +483; L. Preller, <hi rend='italic'>Demeter und Persephone</hi>, +p. 286; F. A. Paley on Hesiod, +<hi rend='italic'>Works and Days</hi>, 460. The custom +of ploughing the land thrice is alluded +to by Homer (<hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>, xviii. 542, <hi rend='italic'>Odyssey</hi>, +v. 127) and Hesiod (<hi rend='italic'>Theogony</hi>, 971), +and is expressly mentioned by Theophrastus +(<hi rend='italic'>Historia Plantarum</hi>, vii. +13. 6).</note> and the derivation is said to +be on philological principles free from objection.<note place='foot'>So I am informed by my learned +friend the Rev. Professor J. H. +Moulton.</note> In fact it +would seem as if Triptolemus, like Demeter and Persephone +themselves, were a purely mythical being, an embodiment +of the conception of the first sower. At all events in +the local Eleusinian legend, according to an eminent scholar, +who has paid special attention to Attic genealogy, <q>Triptolemus +does not, like his comrade Eumolpus or other founders +of Eleusinian priestly families, continue his kind, but without +leaving offspring who might perpetuate his priestly office, he +is removed from the scene of his beneficent activity. As he +appeared, so he vanishes again from the legend, after he has +fulfilled his divine mission.</q><note place='foot'>J. Toepffer, <hi rend='italic'>Attische Genealogie</hi> +(Berlin, 1889), pp. 138 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> However, +the Eleusinian Torchbearer Callias +apparently claimed to be descended +from Triptolemus, for in a speech addressed +to the Lacedaemonians he is +said by Xenophon (<hi rend='italic'>Hellenica</hi>, vi. 3. 6) +to have spoken of Triptolemus as +<q>our ancestor</q> (ὁ ἡμέτερος πρόγονος). +See above, p. <ref target='Pg054'>54</ref>. But it is possible +that Callias was here speaking, not as +a direct descendant of Triptolemus, but +merely as an Athenian, who naturally +ranked Triptolemus among the most +illustrious of the ancestral heroes of his +people. Even if he intended to claim +actual descent from the hero, this +would prove nothing as to the historical +character of Triptolemus, for +many Greek families boasted of being +descended from gods.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Prizes of +barley +given to +victors in +the Eleusinian +games.</note> +However, there is no sufficient ground for identifying the +Ancestral Contest of the Eleusinian games with the Ancestral +Contest of the Threshing-festival at Eleusis, and accordingly +the connexion of the games with the corn-harvest and with +the corn-hero Triptolemus must so far remain uncertain. But +a clear trace of such a connexion may be seen in the custom +of rewarding the victors in the Eleusinian games with +measures of barley; in the official Athenian inscription of +329 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, which contains the accounts of the superintendents +of Eleusis and the Treasurers of the Two Goddesses, the +amounts of corn handed over by these officers to the priests +and priestesses for the purposes of the games is exactly +specified.<note place='foot'>The prize of barley is mentioned +by the Scholiast on Pindar, <hi rend='italic'>Olymp.</hi> +ix. 150. The Scholiast on Aristides +(vol. iii. pp. 55, 56, ed. G. Dindorf) mentions ears of corn as the prize without +specifying the kind of corn. In the +official Athenian inscription of 329 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, +though the amount of corn distributed +in prizes both at the quadriennial and at +the biennial games is stated, we are not +told whether the corn was barley or +wheat. See Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 587, +lines 259 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> According to Aristides +(<hi rend='italic'>Eleusin.</hi> vol. i. p. 417, ed. G. Dindorf, +compare p. 168) the prize consisted of +the corn which had first appeared at +Eleusis.</note> This of itself is sufficient to prove that the +<pb n='074'/><anchor id='Pg074'/> +Eleusinian games were closely connected with the worship of +Demeter and Persephone. The grain thus distributed in +prizes was probably reaped on the Rarian plain near Eleusis, +where according to the legend Triptolemus sowed the first +corn.<note place='foot'><foreign rend='italic'>Marmor Parium</foreign>, in <hi rend='italic'>Fragmenta +Historicorum Graecorum</hi>, ed. C. Müller, +i. 544. That the Rarian plain was the +first to be sown and the first to bear +crops is affirmed by Pausanias (i. 38. 6).</note> Certainly we know that the barley grown on that +plain was used in sacrifices and for the baking of the sacrificial +cakes,<note place='foot'>Pausanias, i. 38. 6.</note> from which we may reasonably infer that the prizes of +barley, to which no doubt a certain sanctity attached in the +popular mind, were brought from the same holy fields. So +sacred was the Rarian plain that no dead body was allowed +to defile it. When such a pollution accidentally took place, +it was expiated by the sacrifice of a pig,<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 587, lines +119 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> In the same inscription, a few +lines lower down, mention is made of +two pigs which were used in purifying +the sanctuary at Eleusis. On the pig +in Greek purificatory rites, see my notes +on Pausanias, ii. 31. 8 and v. 16. 8.</note> the usual victim +employed in Greek purificatory rites. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Eleusinian +games +primarily +concerned +with +Demeter +and Persephone. +The +Ancestral +Contest in +the games +may have +been +originally +a contest +between +the reapers +to finish +reaping.</note> +Thus, so far as the scanty evidence at our disposal permits +us to judge, the Eleusinian games, like the Eleusinian +Mysteries, would seem to have been primarily concerned +with Demeter and Persephone as goddesses of the corn. At +least that is expressly affirmed by the old scholiast on +Pindar and it is borne out by the practice of rewarding the +victors with measures of barley. Perhaps the Ancestral +Contest, which may well have formed the original nucleus of +the games, was a contest between the reapers on the sacred +Rarian plain to see who should finish his allotted task before +his fellows. For success in such a contest no prize could be +more appropriate than a measure of the sacred barley which +the victorious reaper had just cut on the barley-field. In +the sequel we shall see that similar contests between reapers +have been common on the harvest fields of modern Europe, +and it will appear that such competitions are not purely +<pb n='075'/><anchor id='Pg075'/> +athletic; their aim is not simply to demonstrate the superior +strength, activity, and skill of the victors; it is to secure for +the particular farm the possession of the blooming young +Corn-maiden of the present year, conceived as the embodiment +of the vigorous grain, and to pass on to laggard neighbours +the aged Corn-mother of the past year, conceived as an +embodiment of the effete and outworn energies of the corn.<note place='foot'>See below, pp. <ref target='Pg140'>140</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg155'>155</ref> +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg164'>164</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, compare <ref target='Pg218'>218</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +May it not have been so at Eleusis? may not the reapers +have vied with each other for possession of the young corn-spirit +Persephone and for avoidance of the old corn-spirit +Demeter? may not the prize of barley, which rewarded the +victor in the Ancestral Contest, have been supposed to house +in the ripe ears no less a personage than the Corn-maiden +Persephone herself? And if there is any truth in these conjectures +(for conjectures they are and nothing more), we may +hazard a guess as to the other Ancestral Contest which took +place at the Eleusinian Festival of the Threshing-floor. +Perhaps it in like manner was originally a competition between +threshers on the sacred threshing-floor of Triptolemus to determine +who should finish threshing his allotted quantity of +corn before the rest. Such competitions have also been +common, as we shall see presently, on the threshing-floors of +modern Europe, and their motive again has not been simple +emulation between sturdy swains for the reward of strength +and dexterity; it has been a dread of being burdened with +the aged and outworn spirit of the corn conceived as present +in the bundle of corn-stalks which receives the last stroke at +threshing.<note place='foot'>See below, pp. <ref target='Pg147'>147</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg221'>221</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +<ref target='Pg223'>223</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> We know that effigies of Demeter with corn and +poppies in her hands stood on Greek threshing-floors.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg043'>43</ref>.</note> +Perhaps at the conclusion of the threshing these effigies, as +representatives of the old Corn-spirit, were passed on to +neighbours who had not yet finished threshing the corn. At +least the supposition is in harmony with modern customs +observed on the threshing-floor. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Games at +harvest +festivals in +modern +Europe.</note> +It is possible that the Eleusinian games were no more +than a popular merrymaking celebrated at the close of the +harvest. This view of their character might be supported by +modern analogies; for in some parts of Germany it has been +<pb n='076'/><anchor id='Pg076'/> +customary for the harvesters, when their work is done, +to engage in athletic competitions of various kinds, which +have at first sight no very obvious connexion with the +business of harvesting. For example, at Besbau near Luckau +great cakes were baked at the harvest-festival, and the +labourers, both men and women, ran races for them. He or +she who reached them first received not only a cake, but a +handkerchief or the like as a prize. Again, at Bergkirchen, +when the harvest was over, a garland was hung up and the +harvesters rode at it on horseback and tried to bring it down +with a stab or a blow as they galloped past. He who +succeeded in bringing it down was proclaimed King. Again, +in the villages near Fürstenwald at harvest the young men +used to fetch a fir-tree from the wood, peel the trunk, and +set it up like a mast in the middle of the village. A handkerchief +and other prizes were fastened to the top of the pole +and the men clambered up for them.<note place='foot'>A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, <hi rend='italic'>Norddeutsche +Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche</hi> +(Leipsic, 1848), pp. 398, 399, 400.</note> Among the peasantry +of Silesia, we are told, the harvest-home broadened out into +a popular festival, in which athletic sports figured prominently. +Thus, for example, at Järischau, in the Strehlitz district, a +scythe, a rake, a flail, and a hay-fork or pitchfork were fastened +to the top of a smooth pole and awarded as prizes, in order +of merit, to the men who displayed most agility in climbing +the pole. Younger men amused themselves with running in +sacks, high jumps, and so forth. At Prauss, near Nimptsch, +the girls ran a race in a field for aprons as prizes. In the +central parts of Silesia a favourite amusement at harvest was +a race between girls for a garland of leaves or flowers.<note place='foot'>P. Drechsler, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und +Volksglaube in Schlesien</hi> (Leipsic, 1903-1906), +ii. 70 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Yet +it seems probable that all such sports at harvest were in +origin not mere pastimes, but that they were serious attempts +to secure in one way or another the help and blessing of the +corn-spirit. Thus in some parts of Prussia, at the close of +the rye-harvest, a few sheaves used to be left standing in the +field after all the rest of the rye had been carted home. +These sheaves were then made up into the shape of a man +and dressed out in masculine costume, and all the young +women were obliged to run a race, of which the corn-man +<pb n='077'/><anchor id='Pg077'/> +was the goal. She who won the race led off the dancing in +the evening.<note place='foot'>A. Kuhn, <hi rend='italic'>Märkische Sagen und +Märchen</hi> (Berlin, 1843), pp. 341 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Here the aim of the foot-race among the +young women is clearly to secure the corn-spirit embodied +in the last sheaf left standing on the field; for, as we shall +see later on, the last sheaf is commonly supposed to harbour +the corn-spirit and is treated accordingly like a man or a +woman.<note place='foot'>See below, pp. <ref target='Pg133'>133</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Date +of the +Eleusinian +games +uncertain.</note> +If the Ancestral Contest at the Eleusinian games was, as +I have conjectured, a contest between the reapers on the +sacred barley-field, we should have to suppose that the games +were celebrated at barley-harvest, which in the lowlands of +Greece falls in May or even at the end of April. This theory +is in harmony with the evidence of the scholiast on Pindar, +who tells us that the Eleusinian games were celebrated after +the corn-harvest.<note place='foot'>Scholiast on Pindar, <hi rend='italic'>Olymp.</hi> ix. +150, p. 228, ed. Aug. Boeckh.</note> No other ancient authority, so far as +I am aware, mentions at what time of the year these games +were held. Modern authorities, arguing from certain slight +and to some extent conjectural data, have variously assigned +them to Metageitnion (August) and to Boedromion +(September), and those who assign them to Boedromion +(September) are divided in opinion as to whether they +preceded or followed the Mysteries.<note place='foot'>The games are assigned to Metageitnion +by P. Stengel (Pauly-Wissowa, +<hi rend='italic'>Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft</hi>, +v. 2. coll. 2331 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>) +and to Boedromion by August Mommsen +and W. Dittenberger. The last-mentioned +scholar supposes that the games +immediately followed the Mysteries, +and August Mommsen formerly thought +so too, but he afterwards changed his +view and preferred to suppose that the +games preceded the Mysteries. See +Aug. Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Heortologie</hi> (Leipsic, +1864), p. 263; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt +Athen im Altertum</hi> (Leipsic, 1898), +pp. 182 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge +Inscriptionum Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. 587, +note 171 (vol. ii. pp. 313 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>). The +dating of the games in Metageitnion or +in the early part of Boedromion depends +on little more than a series of conjectures, +particularly the conjectural +restoration of an inscription and the +conjectural dating of a certain sacrifice +to Democracy.</note> However, the evidence +is far too slender and uncertain to allow of any conclusions +being based on it. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Why +should +games +intended to +promote +the annual +growth of +the crops +be held +only every +second or +fourth +year? The +Eleusinian +Mysteries +probably +much older +than the +Eleusinian +games.</note> +But there is a serious difficulty in the way of connecting +the Eleusinian games with the goddesses of the corn. How +is the quadriennial or the biennial period of the games to be +reconciled with the annual growth of the crops? Year by +year the barley and the wheat are sown and reaped; how +<pb n='078'/><anchor id='Pg078'/> +then could the games, held only every fourth or every second +year, have been regarded as thank-offerings for the annual +harvest? On this view of their nature, which is the one +taken by the old scholiast on Pindar, though the harvest +was received at the hands of the Corn Goddess punctually +every year, men thanked her for her bounty only every +second year or even only every fourth year. What were +her feelings likely to be in the blank years when she +got no thanks and no games? She might naturally +resent such negligence and ingratitude and punish them +by forbidding the seed to sprout, just as she did at Eleusis +when she mourned the loss of her daughter. In short, +men could hardly expect to reap crops in years in which +they offered nothing to the Corn Goddess. That would +indeed appear to be the view generally taken by the +ancient Greeks; for we have seen that year by year +they presented the first-fruits of the barley and the +wheat to Demeter, not merely in the solemn state ritual +of Eleusis, but also in rustic festivals held by farmers +on their threshing-floors. The pious Greek husbandman +would no doubt have been shocked and horrified at a +proposal to pay the Corn Goddess her dues only every +second or fourth year. <q>No offerings, no crops,</q> he would +say to himself, and would anticipate nothing but dearth and +famine in any year when he failed to satisfy the just and +lawful demands of the divinity on whose good pleasure he +believed the growth of the corn to be directly dependent. +Accordingly we may regard it as highly probable that from +the very beginning of settled and regular agriculture in +Greece men annually propitiated the deities of the corn with +a ritual of some sort, and rendered them their dues in the +shape of offerings of the ripe barley and wheat. Now we +know that the Mysteries of Eleusis were celebrated every +year, and accordingly, if I am right in interpreting them as +essentially a dramatic representation of the annual vicissitudes +of the corn performed for the purpose of quickening +the seed, it becomes probable that in some form or another +they were annually held at Eleusis long before the practice +arose of celebrating games there every fourth or every second +year. In short, the Eleusinian mysteries were in all probability +<pb n='079'/><anchor id='Pg079'/> +far older than the Eleusinian games. How old they +were we cannot even guess. But when we consider that the +cultivation of barley and wheat, the two cereals specially +associated with Demeter, appears to have been practised in +prehistoric Europe from the Stone Age onwards,<note place='foot'>A. de Candolle, <hi rend='italic'>Origin of Cultivated +Plants</hi> (London, 1884), pp. 354 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 367 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; R. Munro, <hi rend='italic'>The Lake-dwellings +of Europe</hi> (London, Paris, +and Melbourne, 1890), pp. 497 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +O. Schrader, <hi rend='italic'>Reallexikon der indogermanischen +Altertumskunde</hi> (Strasburg, +1901), pp. 8 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Sprachvergleichung +und Urgeschichte</hi> (Jena, 1906-1907), +ii. 185 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; H. Hirt, <hi rend='italic'>Die +Indogermanen</hi> (Strasburg, 1905-1907), +i. 254 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 273 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 276 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, ii. 640 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; M. Much, <hi rend='italic'>Die Heimat der +Indogermanen</hi> (Jena and Berlin, 1904), +pp. 221 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; T. E. Peet, <hi rend='italic'>The Stone +and Bronze Ages in Italy and Sicily</hi> +(Oxford, 1909), p. 362.</note> we shall +be disposed to admit that the annual performance of religious +or magical rites at Eleusis for the purpose of ensuring +good crops, whether by propitiating the Corn Goddess with +offerings of first-fruits or by dramatically representing the +sowing and the growth of the corn in mythical form, probably +dates from an extremely remote antiquity. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Quadriennial +period of +many of +the great +games of +Greece. Old octennial +period +of the +Pythian +and probably +of the +Olympian +games. +The octennial +cycle +was instituted +by +the Greeks +at a very +early era +for the +purpose of +harmonising +solar +and lunar +time.</note> +But in order to clear our ideas on this subject it is +desirable to ascertain, if possible, the reason for holding the +Eleusinian games at intervals of two or four years. The +reason for holding a harvest festival and thanksgiving every +year is obvious enough; but why hold games only every +second or every fourth year? The reason for such limitations +is by no means obvious on the face of them, especially +if the growth of the crops is deemed dependent on the +celebration. In order to find an answer to this question it +may be well at the outset to confine our attention to the +Great Eleusinian Games, which were celebrated only every +fourth year. That these were the principal games appears +not only from their name, but from the testimony of Aristotle, +or at least of the author of <hi rend='italic'>The Constitution of Athens</hi>, +who notices only the quadriennial or, as in accordance with +Greek idiom he calls it, the penteteric celebration of the +games.<note place='foot'>Aristotle, <hi rend='italic'>Constitution of Athens</hi>, +54, where the quadriennial (penteteric) +festival of the Eleusinian Games is +mentioned along with the quadriennial +festivals of the Panathenaica, the Delia, +the Brauronia, and the Heraclea. The +biennial (trieteric) festival of the Eleusinian +Games is mentioned only in the +inscription of 329 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi> (Dittenberger, +<hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> No. +587, lines 259 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>). As to the identity +of the Great Eleusinian Games +with the quadriennial games see Dittenberger, +<hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum</hi>, +No. 246 note 9, No. 587 note 171.</note> Now the custom of holding games at intervals of +<pb n='080'/><anchor id='Pg080'/> +four years was very common in Greece; to take only a few +conspicuous examples the Olympic games at Olympia, the +Pythian games at Delphi, the Panathenaic games at Athens, +and the Eleutherian games at Plataea<note place='foot'>As to the Plataean games see +Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Aristides</hi>, 21; Pausanias, +ix. 2. 6.</note> were all celebrated +at quadriennial or, as the Greeks called them, penteteric +periods; and at a later time when Augustus instituted, or +rather renewed on a more splendid scale, the games at +Actium to commemorate his great victory, he followed a well-established +Greek precedent by ordaining that they should +be quadriennial.<note place='foot'>Strabo, vii. 7. 6, p. 325; Suetonius, +<hi rend='italic'>Augustus</hi>, 18; Dio Cassius, li. +1; Daremberg et Saglio, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire +des Antiquités Grecques et Romaines</hi>, +<hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Actia.</q></note> Still later the emperor Hadrian instituted +quadriennial games at Mantinea in honour of his dead +favourite Antinous.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, viii. 9. 8.</note> But in regard to the two greatest of +all the Greek games, the Olympian and the Pythian, I have +shewn reasons for thinking that they were originally celebrated +at intervals of eight instead of four years; certainly +this is attested for the Pythian games,<note place='foot'>Scholiast on Pindar, <hi rend='italic'>Pyth.</hi>, Argument, +p. 298, ed. Aug. Boeckh; +Censorinus, <hi rend='italic'>De die natali</hi>, xviii. 6. +According to the scholiast on Pindar +(<hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi>) the change from the octennial to +the quadriennial period was occasioned +by the nymphs of Parnassus bringing +ripe fruits in their hands to Apollo, +after he had slain the dragon at Delphi.</note> and the mode of +calculating the Olympiads by alternate periods of fifty and +forty-nine lunar months,<note place='foot'>Scholiast on Pindar, <hi rend='italic'>Olymp.</hi> iii. 35 +(20), p. 98, ed. Aug. Boeckh. Compare +Boeckh's commentary on Pindar (vol. +iii. p. 138 of his edition); L. Ideler, +<hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der mathematischen und +technischen Chronologie</hi>, i. 366 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, ii. +605 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> which added together make up +eight solar years, seems to prove that the Olympic cycle of +four years was really based on a cycle of eight years, from +which it is natural to infer that in the beginning the +Olympic, like the Pythian, games may have been octennial +instead of quadriennial.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, chapter ii. +§ 4, <q>Octennial Tenure of the Kingship,</q> +especially pp. 68 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 80, 89 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Now we know from the testimony +of the ancients themselves that the Greeks instituted the +eight-years' cycle for the purpose of harmonising solar and +lunar time.<note place='foot'>Geminus, <hi rend='italic'>Elementa Astronomiae</hi>, +viii. 25 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, pp. 110 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, ed. C. +Manitius (Leipsic, 1898); Censorinus, +<hi rend='italic'>De die natali</hi>, xviii. 2-6.</note> They regulated their calendar primarily by observation +of the moon rather than of the sun; their months +were lunar, and their ordinary year consisted of twelve lunar +<pb n='081'/><anchor id='Pg081'/> +months. But the solar year of three hundred and sixty-five +and a quarter days exceeds the lunar year of twelve lunar +months or three hundred and fifty-four days by eleven and a +quarter days, so that in eight solar years the excess amounts +to ninety days or roughly three lunar months. Accordingly +the Greeks equated eight solar years to eight lunar +years of twelve months each by intercalating three lunar +months of thirty days each in the octennial cycle; they +intercalated one lunar month in the third year of the cycle, +a second lunar month in the fifth year, and a third lunar +month in the eighth year.<note place='foot'>Geminus, <hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi></note> In this way they, so to say, +made the sun and moon keep time together by reckoning +ninety-nine lunar months as equivalent to eight solar +years; so that if, for example, the full moon coincided with +the summer solstice in one year, it coincided with it again +after the revolution of the eight years' cycle, but not before. +The equation was indeed not quite exact, and in order to +render it so the Greeks afterwards found themselves obliged, +first, to intercalate three days every sixteen years, and, next, +to omit one intercalary month in every period of one hundred +and sixty years.<note place='foot'>Geminus, <hi rend='italic'>Elementa Astronomiae</hi>, +viii. 36-41.</note> But these corrections were doubtless refinements +of a later age; they may have been due to the +astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus, or to Cleostratus of Tenedos, +who were variously, but incorrectly, supposed to have instituted +the octennial cycle.<note place='foot'>Censorinus, <hi rend='italic'>De die natali</hi>, xviii. 5. +As Eudoxus flourished in the fourth +century <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, some sixty or seventy +years after Meton, who introduced the +nineteen years' cycle to remedy the +defects of the octennial cycle, the +claim of Eudoxus to have instituted +the latter cycle may at once be put out +of court. The claim of Cleostratus, +who seems to have lived in the sixth +or fifth century <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, cannot be dismissed +so summarily; but for the +reasons given in the text he can hardly +have done more than suggest corrections +or improvements of the ancient +octennial cycle.</note> There are strong grounds for +holding that in its simplest form the octennial cycle of +ninety-nine lunar months dates from an extremely remote +antiquity in Greece; that it was in fact, as a well-informed +Greek writer tell us,<note place='foot'>Geminus, <hi rend='italic'>Elementa Astronomiae</hi>, +viii. 27. With far less probability +Censorinus (<hi rend='italic'>De die natali</hi>, xviii. 2-4) +supposes that the octennial cycle was +produced by the successive duplication +of biennial and quadriennial cycles. +See below, pp. 86 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> the first systematic attempt to bring +solar and the lunar time into harmony. Indeed, if the +<pb n='082'/><anchor id='Pg082'/> +Olympiads were calculated, as they appear to have been, on +the eight years' cycle, this of itself suffices to place the origin +of the cycle not later than 776 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi>, the year with which +the reckoning by Olympiads begins. And when we bear in +mind the very remote period from which, judged by the +wonderful remains of Mycenae, Tiryns, Cnossus and other +cities, civilisation in Greek lands appears to date, it seems +reasonable to suppose that the octennial cycle, based as it +was on very simple observations, for which nothing but good +eyes and almost no astronomical knowledge was necessary,<note place='foot'>L. Ideler, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der mathematischen +und technischen Chronologie</hi>, +ii. 605.</note> +may have been handed down among the inhabitants of these +countries from ages that preceded by many centuries, possibly +by thousands of years, the great period of Greek literature +and art. The supposition is confirmed by the traces which +the octennial cycle has left of itself in certain ancient +Greek customs and superstitions, particularly by the evidence +which points to the conclusion that at two of the +oldest seats of monarchy in Greece, namely Cnossus and +Sparta, the king's tenure of office was formerly limited to +eight years.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, pp. 58 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> +Speaking of the octennial cycle Censorinus +observes that <q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>Ob hoc in +Graecia multae religiones hoc intervallo +temporis summa caerimonia coluntur</foreign></q> +(<hi rend='italic'>De die natali</hi>, xviii. 6). Compare +L. Ideler, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. 605 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; G. F. +Unger, <q>Zeitrechnung der Griechen +und Römer,</q> in Iwan Müller's <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch +der classischen Altertumswissenschaft</hi>, +i.<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> 732 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> The great age and +the wide diffusion of the octennial +cycle in Greece are rightly maintained +by A. Schmidt (<hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der griechischen +Chronologie</hi>, Jena, 1888, pp. 61 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>), who suggests that the cycle may +have owed something to the astronomy +of the Egyptians, with whom the inhabitants +of Greece are known to +have had relations from a very early +time.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The motive +for instituting +the +eight years' +cycle was +religious, +not practical +or +scientific.</note> +We are informed, and may readily believe, that the +motive which led the Greeks to adopt the eight years' cycle +was religious rather than practical or scientific: their aim +was not so much to ensure the punctual despatch of business +or to solve an abstract problem in astronomy, as to ascertain +the exact days on which they ought to sacrifice to the gods. +For the Greeks regularly employed lunar months in their +reckonings,<note place='foot'>Aratus, <hi rend='italic'>Phaenomena</hi>, 733 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +L. Ideler, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der mathematischen +und technischen Chronologie</hi>, i. +255 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> and accordingly if they had dated their religious +festivals simply by the number of the month and the day of +<pb n='083'/><anchor id='Pg083'/> +the month, the excess of eleven and a quarter days of the +solar over the lunar year would have had the effect of causing +the festivals gradually to revolve throughout the whole +circle of the seasons, so that in time ceremonies which +properly belonged to winter would come to be held in +summer, and on the contrary ceremonies which were only +appropriate to summer would come to be held in winter. +To avoid this anomaly, and to ensure that festivals dated by +lunar months should fall at fixed or nearly fixed points in +the solar year, the Greeks adopted the octennial cycle by +the simple expedient of intercalating three lunar months in +every period of eight years. In doing so they acted, as one +of their writers justly pointed out, on a principle precisely +the reverse of that followed by the ancient Egyptians, who +deliberately regulated their religious festivals by a purely +lunar calendar for the purpose of allowing them gradually to +revolve throughout the whole circle of the seasons.<note place='foot'>Geminus, <hi rend='italic'>Elementa Astronomiae</hi>, viii. 15-45.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>In early +times the +regulation +of the +calendar is +largely an +affair of +religion.</note> +Thus at an early stage of culture the regulation of the +calendar is largely an affair of religion: it is a means of +maintaining the established relations between gods and men +on a satisfactory footing; and in public opinion the great +evil of a disordered calendar is not so much that it disturbs +and disarranges the ordinary course of business and the +various transactions of civil life, as that it endangers the +welfare or even the existence both of individuals and of +the community by interrupting their normal intercourse with +those divine powers on whose favour men believe themselves +to be absolutely dependent. Hence in states which take +this view of the deep religious import of the calendar its +superintendence is naturally entrusted to priests rather than +to astronomers, because the science of astronomy is regarded +merely as ancillary to the deeper mysteries of theology. +For example, at Rome the method of determining the +months and regulating the festivals was a secret which the +pontiffs for ages jealously guarded from the profane vulgar; +and in consequence of their ignorance and incapacity the +calendar fell into confusion and the festivals were celebrated +out of their natural seasons, until the greatest of all the +Roman pontiffs, Julius Caesar, remedied the confusion and +<pb n='084'/><anchor id='Pg084'/> +placed the calendar of the civilised world on the firm foundation +on which, with little change, it stands to this day.<note place='foot'>Macrobius, <hi rend='italic'>Saturnalia</hi>, i. 15. 9 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Livy, ix. 46. 5; Valerius Maximus, +ii. 5. 2; Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>Pro Muraena</hi>, +xi. 25; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>De legibus</hi>, ii. 12. 29; +Suetonius, <hi rend='italic'>Divus Iulius</hi>, 40; Plutarch, +<hi rend='italic'>Caesar</hi>, 59.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The quadriennial +period of +games and +festivals in +Greece was +probably +arrived at +by bisecting +an +older +octennial +period.</note> +On the whole, then, it appears probable that the octennial +cycle, based on considerations of religion and on elementary +observations of the two great luminaries, dated from a very +remote period among the ancient Greeks; if they did not +bring it with them when they migrated southwards from the +oakwoods and beechwoods of Central Europe, they may +well have taken it over from their civilised predecessors of +different blood and different language whom they found +leading a settled agricultural life on the lands about the +Aegean Sea. Now we have seen reasons to hold that the +two most famous of the great Greek games, the Pythian and +the Olympian, were both based on the ancient cycle of +eight years, and that the quadriennial period at which they +were regularly celebrated in historical times was arrived at +by a subdivision of the older octennial cycle. It is hardly +rash, therefore, to conjecture that the quadriennial period in +general, regarded as the normal period for the celebration of +great games and festivals, was originally founded on elementary +religious and astronomical considerations of the same +kind, that is, on a somewhat crude attempt to harmonise +the discrepancies of solar and lunar time and thereby to +ensure the continued favour of the gods. It is, indeed, +certain or probable that some of these quadriennial festivals +were celebrated in honour of the dead;<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, pp. 92 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> but there seems to +be nothing in the beliefs or customs of the ancient Greeks +concerning the dead which would suggest a quadriennial +period as an appropriate one for propitiating the ghosts of +the departed. At first sight it is different with the octennial +period; for according to Pindar, the souls of the dead who +had been purged of their guilt by an abode of eight years +in the nether world were born again on earth in the ninth +year as glorious kings, athletes, and sages.<note place='foot'>Plato, <hi rend='italic'>Meno</hi>, p. 81 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a-c</hi>; Pindar, +ed. Aug. Boeckh, vol. iii. pp. 623 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +Frag. 98. See further <hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, +pp. 69 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Now if this +belief in the reincarnation of the dead after eight years were +<pb n='085'/><anchor id='Pg085'/> +primitive, it might certainly furnish an excellent reason for +honouring the ghosts of great men at their graves every +eight years in order to facilitate their rebirth into the world. +Yet the period of eight years thus rigidly applied to the life +of disembodied spirits appears too arbitrary and conventional +to be really primitive, and we may suspect that in this +application it was nothing but an inference drawn from the +old octennial cycle, which had been instituted for the purpose +of reconciling solar and lunar time. If that was so, it will +follow that the quadriennial period of funeral games was, +like the similar period of other religious festivals, obtained +through the bisection of the octennial cycle, and hence that +it was ultimately derived from astronomical considerations +rather than from any beliefs touching a quadriennial revolution +in the state of the dead. Yet in historical times it may +well have happened that these considerations were forgotten, +and that games and festivals were instituted at quadriennial +intervals, for example at Plataea<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Aristides</hi>, 21; Pausanias, ix. 2. 6.</note> in honour of the slain, +at Actium to commemorate the great victory, and at +Mantinea in honour of Antinous,<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg080'>80</ref>.</note> without any conscious +reference to the sun and moon, and merely because that +period had from time immemorial been regarded as the +proper and normal one for the celebration of certain solemn +religious rites. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +reasons for +bisecting +the old +octennial +period into +two quadriennial +periods +may have +been partly +religious, +partly +political.</note> +If we enquire why the Greeks so often bisected the old +octennial period into two quadriennial periods for purposes +of religion, the answer can only be conjectural, for no +positive information appears to be given us on the subject +by ancient writers. Perhaps they thought that eight years +was too long a time to elapse between the solemn services, +and that it was desirable to propitiate the deities at shorter +intervals. But it is possible that political as well as +religious motives may have operated to produce the change. +We have seen reason to think that at two of the oldest seats +of monarchy in Greece, namely Cnossus and Sparta, kings +formerly held office for periods of eight years only, after +which their sovereignty either terminated or had to be formally +renewed. Now with the gradual growth of that democratic +<pb n='086'/><anchor id='Pg086'/> +sentiment, which ultimately dominated Greek political life, +men would become more and more jealous of the kingly power +and would seek to restrict it within narrower limits, and one +of the most obvious means of doing so was to shorten the +king's tenure of office. We know that this was done at +Athens, where the dynasty of the Medontids was reduced +from the rank of monarchs for life to that of magistrates +holding office for ten years only.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, iv. 5. 10; compare +Aristotle, <hi rend='italic'>Constitution of Athens</hi>, iii. +1; G. Gilbert, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der +griechischen Staatsalterthumer</hi>, i.<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> +(Leipsic, 1893) pp. 122 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> It is possible that elsewhere +the king's reign was cut down from eight years to +four years; and if I am right in my explanation of the +origin of the Olympic games this political revolution actually +took place at Olympia, where the victors in the chariot-race +would seem at first to have personated the Sun-god +and perhaps held office in the capacity of divine kings +during the intervals between successive celebrations of the +games.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, pp. 89-92.</note> If at Olympia and elsewhere the games were of +old primarily contests in which the king had personally to +take part for the purpose of attesting his bodily vigour and +therefore his capacity for office, the repetition of the test at +intervals of four instead of eight years might be regarded +as furnishing a better guarantee of the maintenance of the +king's efficiency and thereby of the general welfare, which +in primitive society is often supposed to be sympathetically +bound up with the health and strength of the king. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The biennial +period +of some +Greek +games may +have been +obtained +by bisecting +the +quadriennial +period.</note> +But while many of the great Greek games were celebrated +at intervals of four years, others, such as the Nemean and the +Isthmian, were celebrated at intervals of two years only; and +just as the quadriennial period seems to have been arrived at +through a bisection of the octennial period, so we may surmise +that the biennial period was produced by a bisection of the +quadriennial period. This was the view which the admirable +modern chronologer L. Ideler took of the origin of the quadriennial +and biennial festivals respectively,<note place='foot'>L. Ideler, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der mathematischen +und technischen Chronologie</hi>, +ii. 606 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> and it appears far +more probable than the contrary opinion of the ancient chronologer +Censorinus, that the quadriennial period was reached by +doubling the biennial, and the octennial period by doubling +<pb n='087'/><anchor id='Pg087'/> +the quadriennial.<note place='foot'>Censorinus, <hi rend='italic'>De die natali</hi>, xviii. +2-4.</note> The theory of Censorinus was that the +Greeks started with a biennial cycle of twelve and thirteen +lunar months alternately in successive years for the purpose +of harmonising solar and lunar time.<note place='foot'>Censorinus, <hi rend='italic'>De die natali</hi>, xviii. 2.</note> But as the cycle so +produced exceeds the true solar time by seven and a half +days,<note place='foot'>L. Ideler, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der mathematischen +und technischen Chronologie</hi>, +i. 270.</note> the discrepancy which it leaves between the two +great celestial clocks, the sun and moon, was too glaring to +escape the observation even of simple farmers, who would +soon have been painfully sensible that the times were out of +joint, if they had attempted to regulate the various operations +of the agricultural year by reference to so very inaccurate an +almanac. It is unlikely, therefore, that the Greeks ever +made much use of a biennial cycle of this sort. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Application +of the +foregoing +conclusion +to the +Eleusinian +games.</note> +Now to apply these conclusions to the Eleusinian games, +which furnished the starting-point for the preceding discussion. +Whatever the origin and meaning of these games +may have been, we may surmise that the quadriennial and +biennial periods at which they were held were originally +derived from astronomical considerations, and that they had +nothing to do directly either with the agricultural cycle, +which is annual, nor with the worship of the dead, which can +scarcely be said to have any cycle at all, unless indeed it be +an annual one. In other words, neither the needs of +husbandry nor the superstitions relating to ghosts furnish +any natural explanation of the quadriennial and biennial +periods of the Eleusinian games, and to discover such an +explanation we are obliged to fall back on astronomy or, to +be more exact, on that blend of astronomy with religion +which appears to be mainly responsible for such Greek +festivals as exceed a year in their period. To admit this is +not to decide the question whether the Eleusinian games +were agricultural or funereal in character; but it is implicitly +to acknowledge that the games were of later origin +than the annual ceremonies, including the Great Mysteries, +which were designed to propitiate the deities of the corn +for the very simple and practical purpose of ensuring good +crops within the year. For it cannot but be that men +<pb n='088'/><anchor id='Pg088'/> +observed and laid their account with the annual changes of +the seasons, especially as manifested by the growth and +maturity of the crops, long before they attempted to reconcile +the discrepancies of solar and lunar time by a series of +observations extending over several years. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Varro on +the rites of +Eleusis.</note> +On the whole, then, if, ignoring theories, we adhere to +the evidence of the ancients themselves in regard to the +rites of Eleusis, including under that general term the +Great Mysteries, the games, the Festival before Ploughing +(<foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>proerosia</foreign>), the Festival of the Threshing-floor, the Green +Festival, the Festival of the Cornstalks, and the offerings +of first-fruits, we shall probably incline to agree with the +most learned of ancient antiquaries, the Roman Varro, +who, to quote Augustine's report of his opinion, <q>interpreted +the whole of the Eleusinian mysteries as relating +to the corn which Ceres (Demeter) had discovered, and +to Proserpine (Persephone), whom Pluto had carried off +from her. And Proserpine herself, he said, signifies the +fecundity of the seeds, the failure of which at a certain time +had caused the earth to mourn for barrenness, and therefore +had given rise to the opinion that the daughter of Ceres, that +is, fecundity itself, had been ravished by Pluto and detained +in the nether world; and when the dearth had been +publicly mourned and fecundity had returned once more, +there was gladness at the return of Proserpine and solemn +rites were instituted accordingly. After that he says,</q> +continues Augustine, reporting Varro, <q>that many things +were taught in her mysteries which had no reference but to +the discovery of the corn.</q><note place='foot'>Augustine, <hi rend='italic'>De civitate Dei</hi>, vii. 20. +<q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>In Cereris autem sacris praedicantur +illa Eleusinia, quae apud +Athenienses nobilissima fuerunt. De +quibus iste [Varro] nihil interpretatur, +nisi quod attinet ad frumentum, quod +Ceres invenit, et ad Proserpinam, +quam rapiente Orco perdidit. Et hanc +ipsam dicit significare foecunditatem +seminum.... Dicit deinde multa in +mysteriis ejus tradi, quae nisi ad +frugum inventionem non pertineant.</foreign></q></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The close +resemblance +between +the artistic +types of +Demeter +and Persephone +militates +against the +theory that +the two +goddesses +personified +two things +so different +as the +earth and +the corn.</note> +Thus far I have for the most part assumed an identity +of nature between Demeter and Persephone, the divine +mother and daughter personifying the corn in its double +aspect of the seed-corn of last year and the ripe ears of +this, and I pointed out that this view of the substantial +unity of mother and daughter is borne out by their portraits +<pb n='089'/><anchor id='Pg089'/> +in Greek art, which are often so alike as to be indistinguishable. +Such a close resemblance between the artistic types +of Demeter and Persephone militates decidedly against the +view that the two goddesses are mythical embodiments of +two things so different and so easily distinguishable from +each other as the earth and the vegetation which springs +from it. Had Greek artists accepted that view of Demeter +and Persephone, they could surely have devised types of +them which would have brought out the deep distinction +between the goddesses. That they were capable of doing +so is proved by the simple fact that they regularly represented +the Earth Goddess by a type which differed widely +both from that of Demeter and from that of Persephone.<note place='foot'>A. Baumeister, <hi rend='italic'>Denkmäler des +classischen Altertums</hi>, i. 577 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; +Drexler, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> "Gaia," in W. H. +Roscher's <hi rend='italic'>Lexikon der griech. und röm. +Mythologie</hi>, i. 1574 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; L. R. Farnell, +<hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the Greek States</hi>, +iii. (Oxford, 1907) p. 27.</note> +Not only so, but they sometimes set the two types of the +Earth Goddess and the Corn Goddess (Demeter) side by +side as if on purpose to demonstrate their difference. Thus +at Patrae there was a sanctuary of Demeter, in which she +and Persephone were portrayed standing, while Earth was +represented by a seated image;<note place='foot'>Pausanias, vii. 21. 11. At +Athens there was a sanctuary of Earth +the Nursing-Mother and of Green +Demeter (Pausanias, i. 22. 3), but we +do not know how the goddesses were +represented.</note> and on a vase-painting +the Earth Goddess is seen appropriately emerging from +the ground with a horn of plenty and an infant in her +uplifted arms, while Demeter and Persephone, scarcely distinguishable +from each other, stand at full height behind her, +looking down at her half-buried figure, and Triptolemus in +his wheeled car sits directly above her.<note place='foot'>L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the +Greek States</hi>, iii. 256 with plate xxi. b.</note> In this instructive +picture, accordingly, we see grouped together the principal +personages in the myth of the corn: the Earth Goddess, the +two Goddesses of the old and the new corn, and the hero +who is said to have been sent forth by the Corn Goddess +to sow the seed broadcast over the earth. Such representations +seem to prove that the artists clearly distinguished +Demeter from the Earth Goddess.<note place='foot'><p>The distinction between Demeter +(Ceres) and the Earth Goddess is clearly +marked by Ovid, <hi rend='italic'>Fasti</hi>, iv. 673 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>: +</p> +<p> +<q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>Officium commune Ceres et Terra tuentur;<lb/> +Haec praebet causam frugibus, illa locum.</foreign></q> +</p></note> And if Demeter did +<pb n='090'/><anchor id='Pg090'/> +not personify the earth, can there be any reasonable doubt +that, like her daughter, she personified the corn which was +so commonly called by her name from the time of Homer +downwards? The essential identity of mother and daughter +is suggested, not only by the close resemblance of their +artistic types, but also by the official title of <q>the Two +Goddesses</q> which was regularly applied to them in the great +sanctuary at Eleusis without any specification of their individual +attributes and titles,<note place='foot'>Dittenberger, <hi rend='italic'>Sylloge Inscriptionum +Graecarum</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> Nos. 20, 408, +411, 587, 646, 647, 652, 720, 789. +Compare the expression διώνυμοι θέαι +applied to them by Euripides, <hi rend='italic'>Phoenissae</hi>, +683, with the Scholiast's note.</note> as if their separate individualities +had almost merged in a single divine substance.<note place='foot'>The substantial identity of +Demeter and Persephone has been +recognised by some modern scholars, +though their interpretations of the +myth do not altogether agree with the +one adopted in the text. See F. +G. Welcker, <hi rend='italic'>Griechische Götterlehre</hi> +(Göttingen, 1857-1862), ii. 532; L. +Preller, in Pauly's <hi rend='italic'>Realencyclopädie der +classischen Altertumswissenschaft</hi>, vi. +106 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; F. Lenormant, in Daremberg +et Saglio, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire des Antiquités +Grecques et Romaines</hi>, i. 2. pp. 1047 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>As goddesses +of +the corn +Demeter +and Persephone +came to be +associated +with the +ideas of +death and +resurrection.</note> +Surveying the evidence as a whole, we may say that +from the myth of Demeter and Persephone, from their ritual, +from their representations in art, from the titles which they +bore, from the offerings of first-fruits which were presented +to them, and from the names applied to the cereals, we are +fairly entitled to conclude that in the mind of the ordinary +Greek the two goddesses were essentially personifications of +the corn, and that in this germ the whole efflorescence of +their religion finds implicitly its explanation. But to maintain +this is not to deny that in the long course of religious +evolution high moral and spiritual conceptions were grafted +on this simple original stock and blossomed out into fairer +flowers than the bloom of the barley and the wheat. +Above all, the thought of the seed buried in the earth in +order to spring up to new and higher life readily suggested +a comparison with human destiny, and strengthened the +hope that for man too the grave may be but the beginning of +a better and happier existence in some brighter world unknown. +This simple and natural reflection seems perfectly sufficient +to explain the association of the Corn Goddess at Eleusis +with the mystery of death and the hope of a blissful +immortality. For that the ancients regarded initiation in +<pb n='091'/><anchor id='Pg091'/> +the Eleusinian mysteries as a key to unlock the gates of +Paradise appears to be proved by the allusions which well-informed +writers among them drop to the happiness in store +for the initiated hereafter.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Homeric Hymn to Demeter</hi>, 480 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Pindar, quoted by Clement of +Alexandria, <hi rend='italic'>Strom.</hi> iii. 3. 17, p. 518, ed. +Potter; Sophocles, quoted by Plutarch, +<hi rend='italic'>De audiendis poetis</hi>, 4; Isocrates, +<hi rend='italic'>Panegyricus</hi>, 6; Cicero, <hi rend='italic'>De legibus</hi>, +ii. 14. 36; Aristides, <hi rend='italic'>Eleusin.</hi> vol. i. +p. 421, ed. G. Dindorf.</note> No doubt it is easy for us to +discern the flimsiness of the logical foundation on which such +high hopes were built.<note place='foot'>A learned German professor has +thought it worth while to break the +poor butterfly argument on the wheel +of his inflexible logic. The cruel act, +while it proves the hardness of the +professor's head, says little for his +knowledge of human nature, which +does not always act in strict accordance +with the impulse of the syllogistic +machinery. See Erwin Rohde, +<hi rend='italic'>Psyche</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>3</hi> (Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903), +i. 290 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> But drowning men clutch at straws, +and we need not wonder that the Greeks, like ourselves, +with death before them and a great love of life in their +hearts, should not have stopped to weigh with too nice a +hand the arguments that told for and against the prospect +of human immortality. The reasoning that satisfied Saint +Paul<note place='foot'>1 Corinthians xv. 35 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> and has brought comfort to untold thousands of +sorrowing Christians, standing by the deathbed or the +open grave of their loved ones, was good enough to pass +muster with ancient pagans, when they too bowed their +heads under the burden of grief, and, with the taper of +life burning low in the socket, looked forward into the +darkness of the unknown. Therefore we do no indignity +to the myth of Demeter and Persephone—one of the few +myths in which the sunshine and clarity of the Greek +genius are crossed by the shadow and mystery of death—when +we trace its origin to some of the most familiar, yet +eternally affecting aspects of nature, to the melancholy +gloom and decay of autumn and to the freshness, the brightness, +and the verdure of spring. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='092'/><anchor id='Pg092'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter III. Magical Significance of Games in Primitive +Agriculture.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Games +played as +magical +ceremonies +to promote +the growth +of the +crops. +The +Kayans +of central +Borneo, a +primitive +agricultural +people. The sacred +rice-fields +(<foreign rend='italic'>luma lali</foreign>) +on which +all religious +ceremonies +requisite +for agriculture +are +performed.</note> +In the preceding chapter we saw that among the rites +of Eleusis were comprised certain athletic sports, such as +foot-races, horse-races, leaping, wrestling, and boxing, the +victors in which were rewarded with measures of barley +distributed among them by the priests.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg071'>71</ref>, with the footnote 5.</note> These sports the +ancients themselves associated with the worship of Demeter +and Persephone, the goddesses of the corn, and strange as +such an association may seem to us, it is not without its +analogy among the harvest customs of modern European +peasantry.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg074'>74</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> But to discover clear cases of games practised for +the express purpose of promoting the growth of the crops, we +must turn to more primitive agricultural communities than +the Athenians of classical antiquity or the peoples of modern +Europe. Such communities may be found at the present +day among the savage tribes of Borneo and New Guinea, +who subsist mainly by tilling the ground. Among them we +take the Kayans or Bahaus of central Borneo as typical. +They are essentially an agricultural people, and devote themselves +mainly to the cultivation of rice, which furnishes their +staple food; all other products of the ground are of subordinate +importance. Hence agriculture, we are told, +dominates the whole life of these tribes: their year is the +year of the cultivation of the rice, and they divide it into +various periods which are determined by the conditions +necessary for the tilling of the fields and the manipulation +<pb n='093'/><anchor id='Pg093'/> +of the rice. <q>In tribes whose thoughts are so much engrossed +by agriculture it is no wonder that they associate +with it their ideas of the powers which rule them for good +or evil. The spirit-world stands in close connexion with +the agriculture of the Bahaus; without the consent of the +spirits no work in the fields may be undertaken. Moreover, +all the great popular festivals coincide with the different +periods of the cultivation of the rice. As the people are in +an unusual state of affluence after harvest, all family festivals +which require a large outlay are for practical reasons deferred +till the New Year festival at the end of harvest. The two +mighty spirits Amei Awi and his wife Buring Une, who, +according to the belief of the Kayans, live in a world under +ground, dominate the whole of the tillage and determine +the issue of the harvest in great measure by the behaviour +of the owner of the land, not so much by his moral conduct, +as by the offerings he has made to the spirits and the attention +he has paid to their warnings. An important part in +agriculture falls to the chief: at the festivals he has, in the +name of the whole tribe, to see to it that the prescribed conjurations +are carried out by the priestesses. All religious +ceremonies required for the cultivation of the ground take +place in a small rice-field specially set apart for that purpose, +called <foreign rend='italic'>luma lali</foreign>: here the chief's family ushers in +every fresh operation in the cultivation of the rice, such as +sowing, hoeing, and reaping: the solemn actions there performed +have a symbolical significance.</q><note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>Quer durch Borneo</hi> (Leyden, 1904-1907), i. 156 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Ceremonies +observed +at the +sowing +festival. Taboos +observed +at the +sowing +festival.</note> +Not only the chief's family among the Kayans has such +a consecrated field; every family possesses one of its own. +These little fields are never cultivated for the sake of their +produce: they serve only as the scene of religious ceremonies +and of those symbolical operations of agriculture which are +afterwards performed in earnest on the real rice-fields.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. 164.</note> +For example, at the festival before sowing a priestess sows +some rice on the consecrated field of the chief's family and +then calls on a number of young men and girls to complete +the work; the young men then dig holes in the ground +with digging-sticks, and the girls come behind them and +<pb n='094'/><anchor id='Pg094'/> +plant the rice-seed in the holes. Afterwards the priestesses +lay offerings of food, wrapt in banana-leaves, here and there +on the holy field, while they croon prayers to the spirits in +soft tones, which are half drowned in the clashing music of +the gongs. On another day women gather all kinds of edible +leaves in their gardens and fields, boil them in water, and +then sprinkle the water on the consecrated rice-field. But +on that and other days of the festival the people attend also +to their own wants, banqueting on a favourite species of rice +and other dainties. The ceremonies connected with sowing +last several weeks, and during this time certain taboos have +to be observed by the people. Thus on the first day of the +festival the whole population, except the very old and the +very young, must refrain from bathing; after that there +follows a period of rest for eight nights, during which the +people may neither work nor hold intercourse with their +neighbours. On the tenth day the prohibition to bathe is +again enforced; and during the eight following days the +great rice-field of the village, where the real crops are raised, +is sowed.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>Quer durch +Borneo</hi>, i. 164-167.</note> The reason for excluding strangers from the +village at these times is a religious one. It is a fear lest +the presence of strangers might frighten the spirits or put +them in a bad humour, and so defeat the object of the +ceremony; for, while the religious ceremonies which accompany +the cultivation of the rice differ somewhat from each +other in different tribes, the ideas at the bottom of them, +we are told, are everywhere the same: the aim always is to +appease and propitiate the souls of the rice and the other +spirits by sacrifices of all sorts.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. +163. The motive assigned for the exclusion +of strangers at the sowing festival +applies equally to all religious rites. +<q>In all religious observances,</q> says +Dr. Nieuwenhuis, <q>the Kayans fear +the presence of strangers, because these +latter might frighten and annoy the +spirits which are invoked.</q> On the +periods of seclusion and quiet observed +in connexion with agriculture by the +Kayans of Sarawak, see W. H. Furness, +<hi rend='italic'>Home-life of Borneo Head-hunters</hi> +(Philadelphia, 1902), pp. 160 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Games +played at +the sowing +festival. Masquerade +at the +sowing +festival.</note> +However, during this obligatory period of seclusion and +rest the Kayans employ themselves in various pursuits, +which, though at first sight they might seem to serve no +other purpose than that of recreation, have really in the +minds of the people a much deeper significance. For +<pb n='095'/><anchor id='Pg095'/> +example, at this time the men often play at spinning +tops. The tops are smooth, flat pieces of wood weighing +several pounds. Each man tries to spin his own top so that +it knocks down those of his neighbours and continues itself +to revolve triumphantly. New tops are commonly carved +for the festival. The older men sometimes use heavy tops +of iron-wood. Again, every evening the young men assemble +in the open space before the chief's house and engage in +contests of strength and agility, while the women watch +them from the long gallery or verandah of the house. +Another popular pastime during the festival of sowing is a +masquerade. It takes place on the evening of the tenth day, +the day on which, for the second time, the people are forbidden +to bathe. The scene of the performance is again +the open space in front of the chief's house. As the day +draws towards evening, the villagers begin to assemble in the +gallery or verandah of the house in order to secure good +places for viewing the masquerade. All the maskers at +these ceremonies represent evil spirits. The men wear +ugly wooden masks on their faces, and their bodies are +swathed in masses of slit banana leaves so as to imitate +the hideous faces and hairy bodies of the demons. The +young women wear on their heads cylindrical baskets, which +conceal their real features, while they exhibit to the spectators +grotesque human faces formed by stitches on pieces of white +cotton, which are fastened to the baskets. On the occasion +when Dr. Nieuwenhuis witnessed the ceremony, the first to +appear on the scene were some men wearing wooden masks +and helmets and so thickly wrapt in banana leaves that they +looked like moving masses of green foliage. They danced +silently, keeping time to the beat of the gongs. They were +followed by other figures, some of whom executed war-dances; +but the weight of their leafy envelope was such +that they soon grew tired, and though they leaped high, +they uttered none of the wild war-whoops which usually +accompany these martial exercises. When darkness fell, +the dances ceased and were replaced by a little drama +representing a boar brought to bay by a pack of hounds. +The part of the boar was played by an actor wearing a +wooden boar's head mask, who ran about on all fours and +<pb n='096'/><anchor id='Pg096'/> +grunted in a life-like manner, while the hounds, acted by +young men, snarled, yelped, and made dashes at him. The +play was watched with lively interest and peals of laughter +by the spectators. Later in the evening eight disguised +girls danced, one behind the other, with slow steps and +waving arms, to the glimmering light of torches and the +strains of a sort of jew's harp.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. +167-169.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Rites at +hoeing.</note> +The rites which accompany the sowing of the fields are +no sooner over than those which usher in the hoeing begin. +Like the sowing ceremonies, they are inaugurated by a +priestess, who hoes the sacred field round about a sacrificial +stage and then calls upon other people to complete the +work. After that the holy field is again sprinkled with a +decoction of herbs.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. +169.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Kayan +New Year +festival. +Offerings +and addresses +to +the spirits. Sacrifice +of pigs.</note> +But the crowning point of the Kayan year is the New Year +festival. The harvest has then been fully housed: abundance +reigns in every family, and for eight days the people, dressed +out in all their finery, give themselves up to mirth and jollity. +The festival was witnessed by the Dutch explorer Dr. +Nieuwenhuis. To lure the good spirits from the spirit land +baskets filled with precious objects were set out before the +windows, and the priestesses made long speeches, in which +they invited these beneficent beings to come to the chief's +house and to stay there during the whole of the ceremonies. +Two days afterwards one of the priestesses harangued the +spirits for three-quarters of an hour, telling them who the +Kayans were, from whom the chief's family was descended, +what the tribe was doing, and what were its wishes, not forgetting +to implore the vengeance of the spirits on the Batang-Lupars, +the hereditary foes of the Kayans. The harangue was +couched in rhyming verse and delivered in sing-song tones. +Five days later eight priestesses ascended a sacrificial stage, +on which food was daily set forth for the spirits. There +they joined hands and crooned another long address to the +spirits, marking the time with their hands. Then a basket +containing offerings of food was handed up to them, and one +of the priestesses opened it and invited the spirits to enter the +basket. When they were supposed to have done so, the lid +<pb n='097'/><anchor id='Pg097'/> +was shut down on them, and the basket with the spirits in +it was conveyed into the chief's house. As the priestesses +in the performance of the sacred ceremonies might not touch +the ground, planks were cut from a fruit-tree and laid on the +ground for them to step on. But the great feature of the +New Year festival is the sacrifice of pigs, of which the +spiritual essence is appropriately offered to the spirits, while +their material substance is consumed by the worshippers. +In carrying out this highly satisfactory arrangement, while +the live pigs lay tethered in a row on the ground, the +priestesses danced solemnly round a sacrificial stage, each of +them arrayed in a war-mantle of panther-skin and wearing a +war-cap on her head, and on either side two priests armed +with swords executed war dances for the purpose of scaring +away evil spirits. By their gesticulations the priestesses +indicated to the powers above that the pigs were intended +for their benefit. One of them, a fat but dignified lady, +dancing composedly, seemed by her courteous gestures to +invite the souls of the pigs to ascend up to heaven; but +others, not content with this too ideal offering, rushed at the +pigs, seized the smallest of them by the hind legs, and +exerting all their strength danced with the squealing porker +to and from the sacrificial stage. In the evening, before +darkness fell, the animals were slaughtered and their livers +examined for omens: if the under side of the liver was +pale, the omen was good; but if it was dark, the omen +was evil. On the last day of the festival one of the chief +priestesses, in martial array, danced round the sacrificial +stage, making passes with her old sword as if she would +heave the whole structure heavenward; while others stabbed +with spears at the foul fiends that might be hovering in +the air, intent on disturbing the sacred ministers at their +holy work.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>Quer durch Borneo</hi>, i. 171-182.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Dr. Nieuwenhuis +on +the games +played by +the Kayans +in connexion +with +agriculture.</note> +<q>Thus,</q> says Dr. Nieuwenhuis, reviewing the agricultural +rites which he witnessed among the Kayans on the Mendalam +river, <q>every fresh operation on the rice-field was ushered in by +religious and culinary ceremonies, during which the community +had always to observe taboos for several nights and to +play certain definite games. As we saw, spinning-top games +<pb n='098'/><anchor id='Pg098'/> +and masquerades were played during the sowing festival: +at the first bringing in of the rice the people pelted each other +with clay pellets discharged from small pea-shooters, but in +former times sham fights took place with wooden swords; +while during the New Year festival the men contend with +each other in wrestling, high leaps, long leaps, and running. +The women also fight each other with great glee, using +bamboo vessels full of water for their principal weapons.</q><note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. +169 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Serious +religious +or magical +significance +of +the games.</note> +What is the meaning of the sports and pastimes which +custom prescribes to the Kayans on these occasions? Are +they mere diversions meant to while away the tedium of the +holidays? or have they a serious, perhaps a religious or +magical significance? To this question it will be well to let +Dr. Nieuwenhuis give his answer. <q>The Kayans on the +Mendalam river,</q> he says, <q>enjoy tolerably regular harvests, +and their agricultural festivals accordingly take place every +year; whereas the Kayans on the Mahakam river, on +account of the frequent failure of the harvests, can celebrate +a New Year's festival only once in every two or three years. +Yet although these festivities are celebrated more regularly +on the Mendalam river, they are followed on the Mahakam +river with livelier interest, and the meaning of all ceremonies +and games can also be traced much better there. On the +Mendalam river I came to the false conclusion that the +popular games which take place at the festivals are undertaken +quite arbitrarily at the seasons of sowing and harvest; +but on the Mahakam river, on the contrary, I observed that +even the masquerade at the sowing festival is invested with +as deep a significance as any of the ceremonies performed by +the priestesses.</q><note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. +163 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The influence of religious worship, which dominates the +whole life of the Dyak tribes, manifests itself also in their +games. This holds good chiefly of pastimes in which all +adults take part together, mostly on definite occasions; it is +less applicable to more individual pastimes which are not +restricted to any special season. Pastimes of the former +sort are very rarely indulged in at ordinary times, and +properly speaking they attain their full significance only on +<pb n='099'/><anchor id='Pg099'/> +the occasion of the agricultural festivals which bear a strictly +religious stamp. Even then the recreations are not left to +choice, but definite games belong to definite festivals; thus +at the sowing festivals other amusements are in vogue than +at the little harvest festival or the great harvest festival at +the beginning of the reaping, and at the New Year festival.... +Is this connexion between festivals and games merely +an accidental one, or is it based on a real affinity? The +latter seems to me the more probable view, for in the case +of one of the most important games played by men I was +able to prove directly a religious significance; and although +I failed to do so in the case of the others, I conjecture, +nevertheless, that a religious idea lies at the bottom of all +other games which are connected with definite festivals.</q><note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>Quer durch +Borneo</hi>, ii. 130 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> The game as to +the religious significance of which Dr. +Nieuwenhuis has no doubt is the +masquerade performed by the Kayans +of the Mahakam river, where disguised +men personate spirits and pretend to +draw home the souls of the rice from +the far countries to which they may +have wandered. See below, pp. 186 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Kai, +an agricultural +people of +German +New +Guinea. Superstitious +practices +observed +by the Kai +for the +good of +the crops.</note> +If the reader should entertain any doubt on the subject, +and should suspect that in arriving at this conclusion the +Dutch traveller gave the reins to his fancy rather than +followed the real opinion of the people, these doubts and +suspicions will probably be dispelled by comparing the +similar games which another primitive agricultural people +avowedly play for the purpose of ensuring good crops. +The people in question are the Kai of German New Guinea, +who inhabit the rugged, densely wooded mountains inland +from Finsch Harbour. They subsist mainly on the produce +of the taro and yams which they cultivate in their fields, +though the more inland people also make much use of +sweet potatoes. All their crops are root crops. No patch +of ground is cultivated for more than a year at a time. As +soon as it has yielded a crop, it is deserted for another and +is quickly overgrown with rank weeds, bamboos, and bushes. +In six or eight years, when the undergrowth has died out +under the shadow of the taller trees which have shot up, the +land may again be cleared and brought under cultivation. +Thus the area of cultivation shifts from year to year; and +the villages are not much more permanent; for in the damp +tropical climate the wooden houses soon rot and fall into +<pb n='100'/><anchor id='Pg100'/> +ruins, and when this happens the site of the village is +changed.<note place='foot'>Ch. Keysser, <q>Aus dem Leben der +Kaileute,</q> in R. Neuhauss, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsch +Neu-Guinea</hi>, iii. (Berlin, 1911) pp. 3, +9 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 12 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> To procure good crops of the taro and yams, on +which they depend for their subsistence, the Kai resort to +many superstitious practices. For example, in order to +make the yams strike deep roots, they touch the shoots +with the bone of a wild animal that has been killed in +the recesses of a cave, imagining that just as the creature +penetrated deep into the earth, so the shoots that have been +touched with its bone will descend deep into the ground. +And in order that the taro may bear large and heavy fruit, +they place the shoots, before planting them, on a large and +heavy block of stone, believing that the stone will communicate +its valuable properties of size and weight to the future +fruit. Moreover, great use is made of spells and incantations +to promote the growth of the crops, and all persons who utter +such magical formulas for this purpose have to abstain from +eating certain foods until the plants have sprouted and give +promise of a good crop. For example, they may not eat +young bamboo shoots, which are a favourite article of diet +with the people. The reason is that the young shoots are +covered with fine prickles, which cause itching and irritation +of the skin; from which the Kai infer that if an enchanter +of field fruits were to eat bamboo shoots, the contagion of +their prickles would be conveyed through him to the fruits +and would manifest itself in a pungent disagreeable flavour. +For a similar reason no charmer of the crops who knows +his business would dream of eating crabs, because he is well +aware that if he were to do so the leaves and stalks of the +plants would be dashed in pieces by a pelting rain, just like +the long thin brittle legs of a dead crab. Again, were such +an enchanter to eat any of the edible kinds of locusts, it +seems obvious to the Kai that locusts would devour the +crops over which the imprudent wizard had recited his +spells. Above all, people who are concerned in planting +fields must on no account eat pork; because pigs, whether +wild or tame, are the most deadly enemies of the crops, +which they grub up and destroy; from which it follows, as +surely as the night does the day, that if you eat pork while +<pb n='101'/><anchor id='Pg101'/> +you are at work on the farm, your fields will be devastated +by inroads of pigs.<note place='foot'>Ch. Keysser, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 123-125.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Games +played by +the Kai +people +to promote +the growth +of the yams +and taro. Tales and +legends +told by the +Kai to +cause the +fruits of +the earth +to thrive.</note> +However, these precautions are not the only measures +which the Kai people adopt for the benefit of the yams and +the taro. <q>In the opinion of the natives various games +are important for a proper growth of the field-fruits; +hence these games may only be played in the time after +the work on the fields has been done. Thus to swing +on a long Spanish reed fastened to a branch of a tree is +thought to have a good effect on the newly planted yams. +Therefore swinging is practised by old and young, by men +and women. No one who has an interest in the growth of +his crop in the field leaves the swing idle. As they swing +to and fro they sing swing-songs. These songs often +contain only the names of the kinds of yams that have been +planted, together with the joyous harvest-cry repeated with +variations, <q>I have found a fine fruit!</q> In leaping from +the swing, they cry <q><foreign rend='italic'>Kakulili</foreign>!</q> By calling out the name +of the yams they think to draw their shoots upwards out of +the ground. A small bow with a string, on which a wooden +flag adorned with a feather is made to slide down (the Kai +call the instrument <foreign rend='italic'>tawatawa</foreign>), may only be used when the +yams are beginning to wind up about their props. The +tender shoots are then touched with the bow, while a song +is sung which is afterwards often repeated in the village. It +runs thus: <q><foreign rend='italic'>Mama gelo, gelowaineja, gelowaineja; kikí tambai, +kíki tambai.</foreign></q> The meaning of the words is unknown. The +intention is to cause a strong upward growth of the plants. +In order that the foliage of the yams may sprout luxuriantly +and grow green and spread, the Kai people play cat's cradle. +Each of the intricate figures has a definite meaning and a +name to match: for example <q>the flock of pigeons</q> (<foreign rend='italic'>Hulua</foreign>), +<q>the Star,</q> <q>the Flying Fox,</q> <q>the Sago-palm Fan,</q> <q>the +Araucaria,</q> <q>the Lizard and the Dog,</q> <q>the Pig,</q> <q>the Sentinel-box +in the Fields,</q> <q>the Rat's Nest,</q> <q>the Wasp's Nest in +the Bamboo-thicket,</q> <q>the Kangaroo,</q> <q>the Spider's Web,</q> +<q>the Little Children,</q> <q>the Canoe,</q> <q>Rain and Sunshine,</q> +<q>the Pig's Pitfall,</q> <q>the Fish-spawn,</q> <q>the Two Cousins, +Kewâ and Imbiâwâ, carrying their dead Mother to the +<pb n='102'/><anchor id='Pg102'/> +Grave,</q> etc. By spinning large native acorns or a sort +of wild fig they think that they foster the growth of the +newly-planted taro; the plants will <q>turn about and broaden.</q> +The game must therefore only be played at the time when +the taro is planted. The same holds good of spearing at +the stalks of taro leaves with the ribs of sago leaves used as +miniature spears. This is done when the taro leaves have +unfolded themselves, but when the plants have not yet set +any tubers. A single leaf is cut from a number of stems, and +these leaves are brought into the village. The game is played +by two partners, who sit down opposite to each other at a distance +of three or four paces. A number of taro stalks lie beside +each. He who has speared all his adversary's stalks first is +victor; then they change stalks and the game begins again. +By piercing the leaves they think that they incite the plants +to set tubers. Almost more remarkable than the limitation +of these games to the time when work on the fields +is going forward is the custom of the Kai people which +only permits the tales of the olden time or popular +legends to be told at the time when the newly planted +fruits are budding and sprouting.</q><note place='foot'>Ch. Keysser, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> iii. 125 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At the end of every +such tale the Kai story-teller mentions the names of +the various kinds of yams and adds, <q>Shoots (for the new +planting) and fruits (to eat) in abundance!</q> <q>From their +concluding words we see that the Kai legends are only +told for a quite definite purpose, namely, to promote the +welfare of the yams planted in the field. By reviving the +memory of the ancient beings, to whom the origin of +the field-fruits is referred, they imagine that they influence +the growth of the fruits for good. When the planting is +over, and especially when the young plants begin to sprout, +the telling of legends comes to an end. In the villages it is +always only a few old men who as good story-tellers can +hold the attention of their hearers.</q><note place='foot'>Ch. Keysser, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> iii. 161.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Thus +among +these New +Guinea +people +games are +played and +stories told +as charms +to ensure +good crops.</note> +Thus with these New Guinea people the playing of +certain games and the recital of certain legends are alike +magical in their intention; they are charms practised to +ensure good crops. Both sets of charms appear to be based +on the principles of sympathetic magic. In playing the +<pb n='103'/><anchor id='Pg103'/> +games the players perform acts which are supposed to mimic +or at all events to stimulate the corresponding processes in +the plants: by swinging high in the air they make the plants +grow high; by playing cat's cradle they cause the leaves of +the yams to spread and the stalks to intertwine, even as +the players spread their hands and twine the string about +their fingers; by spinning fruits they make the taro plants +to turn and broaden; and by spearing the taro leaves +they induce the plants to set tubers.<note place='foot'>On the principles of homoeopathic +or imitative magic, see <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art +and the Evolution of Kings</hi>, i. 52 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> +The Esquimaux play cat's cradle as a +charm to catch the sun in the meshes +of the string and so prevent him from +sinking below the horizon in winter. +See <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution +of Kings</hi>, i. 316 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Cat's cradle is +played as a game by savages in many +parts of the world, including the Torres +Straits Islands, the Andaman Islands, +Africa, and America. See A. C. Haddon, +<hi rend='italic'>The Study of Man</hi> (London and +New York, 1898), pp. 224-232; Miss +Kathleen Haddon, <hi rend='italic'>Cat's Cradles from +Many Lands</hi> (London, 1911). For example, +the Indians of North-western +Brazil play many games of cat's cradle, +each of which has its special name, such +as the Bow, the Moon, the Pleiades, the +Armadillo, the Spider, the Caterpillar, +and the Guts of the Tapir. See Th. +Koch-Grünberg, <hi rend='italic'>Zwei Jahre unter den +Indianern</hi> (Berlin, 1909-1910), i. 120, +123, 252, 253, ii. 127, 131. Finding +the game played as a magical rite to stay +the sun or promote the growth of the +crops among peoples so distant from +each other as the Esquimaux and the +natives of New Guinea, we may reasonably +surmise that it has been put to +similar uses by many other peoples, +though civilised observers have commonly +seen in it nothing more than a +pastime. Probably many games have +thus originated in magical rites. +When their old serious meaning was +forgotten, they continued to be practised +simply for the amusement they afforded +the players. Another such game seems +to be the <q>Tug of War.</q> See <hi rend='italic'>The +Golden Bough</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> iii. 95.</note> In telling the +legends the story-tellers mention the names of the powerful +beings who first created the fruits of the earth, and the +mere mention of their names avails, on the principle of +the magical equivalence of names and persons or things, +to reproduce the effect.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Taboo and the Perils of the +Soul</hi>, pp. 318 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> The recitation of tales as a charm +to promote the growth of the crops is not peculiar to the Kai. +It is practised also by the Bakaua, another tribe of German +New Guinea, who inhabit the coast of Huon Gulf, not far +from the Kai. These people tell stories in the evening at the +time when the yams and taro are ripe, and the stories always +end with a prayer to the ancestral spirits, invoked under +various more or less figurative designations, such as <q>a man</q> +or <q>a cricket,</q> that they would be pleased to cause countless +shoots to sprout, the great tubers to swell, the sugar-cane to +<pb n='104'/><anchor id='Pg104'/> +thrive, and the bananas to hang in long clusters. <q>From this +we see,</q> says the missionary who reports the custom, <q>that +the object of telling the stories is to prove to the ancestors, +whose spirits are believed to be present at the recitation of +the tales which they either invented or inherited, that people +always remember them; for which reason they ought to be +favourable to their descendants, and above all to bestow their +blessings on the shoots which are ready to be planted or on +the plants already in the ground.</q> As the story-teller utters +the prayer, he looks towards the house in which the young +shoots ready for planting or the ripe fruits are deposited.<note place='foot'>Stefan Lehner, "Bukaua," in R. +Neuhauss, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsch Neu-Guinea</hi>, iii. +(Berlin, 1911) pp. 478 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Yabim +of German +New +Guinea +also tell +tales on +purpose +to obtain +abundant +crops.</note> +Similarly, the Yabim, a neighbouring tribe of German +New Guinea, at the entrance to Huon Gulf, tell tales for +the purpose of obtaining a plentiful harvest of yams, taro, +sugar-cane, and bananas.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Taboo and the Perils of the +Soul</hi>, p. 386.</note> They subsist chiefly by the +fruits of the earth which they cultivate, and among which +taro, yams, and sugar-cane supply them with their staple +food.<note place='foot'>H. Zahn, <q>Die Jabim,</q> in R. +Neuhauss, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsch Neu-Guinea</hi>, iii. +(Berlin, 1911) p. 290.</note> In their agricultural labours they believe themselves +to be largely dependent on the spirits of their dead, the +<foreign rend='italic'>balum</foreign>, as they call them. Before they plant the first taro in +a newly cleared field they invoke the souls of the dead to +make the plants grow and prosper; and to propitiate these +powerful spirits they bring valuable objects, such as boar's +tusks and dog's teeth, into the field, in order that the ghosts +may deck themselves with the souls of these ornaments, +while at the same time they minister to the grosser appetites +of the disembodied spirits by offering them a savoury mess +of taro porridge. Later in the season they whirl bull-roarers +in the fields and call out the names of the dead, +believing that this makes the crops to thrive.<note place='foot'>H. Zahn, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 332 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Specimens +of Yabim +tales told +as charms +to procure +a good +harvest. Such tales +may be +called +narrative +spells.</note> +But besides the prayers which they address to the spirits of +the dead for the sake of procuring an abundant harvest, the +Yabim utter spells for the same purpose, and these spells sometimes +take the form, not of a command, but of a narrative. +Here, for instance, is one of their spells: <q>Once upon a time +a man laboured in his field and complained that he had no +<pb n='105'/><anchor id='Pg105'/> +taro shoots. Then came two doves flying from Poum. They +had devoured much taro, and they perched on a tree in the +field, and during the night they vomited all the taro up. +Thus the man got so many taro shoots that he was even +able to sell some of them to other people.</q> Or, again, if +the taro will not bud, the Yabim will have recourse to the +following spell: <q>A muraena lay at ebb-tide on the shore. +It seemed to be at its last gasp. Then the tide flowed +on, and the muraena came to life again and plunged +into the deep water.</q> This spell is pronounced over +twigs of a certain tree (<foreign rend='italic'>kalelong</foreign>), while the enchanter +smites the ground with them. After that the taro is sure to +bud.<note place='foot'>H. Zahn, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 333.</note> Apparently the mere recitation of such simple tales is +thought to produce the same effect as a direct appeal, whether +in the shape of a prayer or a command, addressed to the +spirits. Such incantations may be called narrative spells to +distinguish them from the more familiar imperative spells, +in which the enchanter expresses his wishes in the form +of direct commands. Much use seems to be made of such +narrative spells among the natives of this part of German +New Guinea. For example, among the Bukaua, who attribute +practically boundless powers to sorcerers in every +department of life and nature, the spells by which these +wizards attempt to work their will assume one of two +forms: either they are requests made to the ancestors, or +they are short narratives, addressed to nobody in particular, +which the sorcerer mutters while he is performing his +magical rites.<note place='foot'>Stefan Lehner, <q>Bukaua,</q> in R. +Neuhauss, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsch Neu-Guinea</hi>, iii. +(Berlin, 1911) p. 448.</note> It is true, that here the distinction is drawn +between narratives and requests rather than between +narratives and commands; but the difference of a request +from a command, though great in theory, may be +very slight in practice; so that prayer and spell, in the +ordinary sense of the words, may melt into each other +almost imperceptibly. Even the priest or the enchanter who +utters the one may be hardly conscious of the hairbreadth +that divides it from the other. In regard to narrative spells, +it seems probable that they have been used much more extensively +among mankind than the evidence at our disposal permits +<pb n='106'/><anchor id='Pg106'/> +us positively to affirm; in particular we may conjecture +that many ancient narratives, which we have been accustomed +to treat as mere myths, used to be regularly recited in +magical rites as spells for the purpose of actually producing +events like those which they describe. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Use of the +bull-roarer +to quicken +the fruits of +the earth.</note> +The use of the bull-roarer to quicken the fruits of the +earth is not peculiar to the Yabim. On the other side of +New Guinea the instrument is employed for the same +purpose by the natives of Kiwai, an island at the mouth +of the Fly River. They think that by whirling bull-roarers +they produce good crops of yams, sweet potatoes, and +bananas; and in accordance with this belief they call +the implement <q>the mother of yams.</q><note place='foot'>A. C. Haddon, in <hi rend='italic'>Reports of the +Cambridge Anthropological Expedition +to Torres Straits</hi>, v. (Cambridge, +1904) pp. 218, 219. Compare <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, +<hi rend='italic'>Head-hunters, Black, White, and +Brown</hi> (London, 1901) p. 104.</note> Similarly in +Mabuiag, an island in Torres Straits, the bull-roarer is looked +upon as an instrument that can be used to promote the +growth of garden produce, such as yams and sweet potatoes; +certain spirits were supposed to march round the gardens at +night swinging bull-roarers for this purpose.<note place='foot'>A. C. Haddon, in <hi rend='italic'>Reports of the +Cambridge Anthropological Expedition +to Torres Straits</hi>, v. (Cambridge, +1904) pp. 346 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Indeed a +fertilising or prolific virtue appears to be attributed to the +instrument by savages who are totally ignorant of agriculture. +Thus among the Dieri of central Australia, when a +young man had undergone the painful initiatory ceremony +of having a number of gashes cut in his back, he used to be +given a bull-roarer, whereupon it was believed that he +became inspired by the spirits of the men of old, and +that by whirling it, when he went in search of game before +his wounds were healed, he had power to cause a good +harvest of lizards, snakes, and other reptiles. On the other +hand, the Dieri thought that if a woman were to see a bull-roarer +that had been used at the initiatory ceremonies and +to learn its secret, the tribe would ever afterwards be +destitute of snakes, lizards, and other such food.<note place='foot'>A. W. Howitt, <q>The Dieri +and other kindred Tribes of Central +Australia,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Anthropological +Institute</hi>, xx. (1891) p. +83; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Native Tribes of South-East +Australia</hi> (London, 1904), p. +660. The first, I believe, to point +out the fertilising power ascribed to +the bull-roarer by some savages was +Dr. A. C. Haddon. See his essay, +<q>The Bull-roarer,</q> in <hi rend='italic'>The Study of +Man</hi> (London and New York, 1898), +pp. 277-327. In this work Dr. Haddon +recognises the general principle of +the possible derivation of many games +from magical rites. As to the bull-roarer +compare my paper <q>On some +Ceremonies of the Central Australian +Tribes,</q> in the <hi rend='italic'>Report of the Australasian +Association for the Advancement +of Science for the year 1900</hi> (Melbourne, +1901), pp. 313-322.</note> It may +<pb n='107'/><anchor id='Pg107'/> +very well be that a similar power to fertilise or multiply +edible plants and animals has been ascribed to the bull-roarer +by many other peoples who employ the implement in +their mysteries. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Swinging +as an agricultural +charm.</note> +Further, it is to be observed that just as the Kai of +New Guinea swing to and fro on reeds suspended from the +branches of trees in order to promote the growth of the +crops, in like manner Lettish peasants in Russia devote +their leisure to swinging in spring and early summer for +the express purpose of making the flax grow as high as +they swing in the air.<note place='foot'>J. G. Kohl, <hi rend='italic'>Die deutsch-russischen +Ostseeprovinzen</hi> (Dresden and Leipsic, +1841), ii. 25.</note> And we may suspect that wherever +swinging is practised as a ceremony at certain times of the +year, particularly in spring and at harvest, the pastime is +not so much a mere popular recreation as a magical rite +designed to promote the growth of the crops.<note place='foot'>For the evidence see <hi rend='italic'>The Dying +God</hi>, pp. 277-285.</note> +</p> + +<p> +With these examples before us we need not hesitate to +believe that Dr. Nieuwenhuis is right when he attributes a +deep religious or magical significance to the games which +the Kayans or Bahaus of central Borneo play at their +various agricultural festivals. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Analogy of +the Kayans +of Borneo +to the +Greeks of +Eleusis in +the early +time. The Sacred +Ploughing +at Eleusis.</note> +It remains to point out how far the religious or magical +practices of these primitive agricultural peoples of Borneo +and New Guinea appear to illustrate by analogy the original +nature of the rites of Eleusis. So far as we can recompose, +from the broken fragments of tradition, a picture of the +religious and political condition of the Eleusinian people +in the olden time, it appears to tally fairly well with the +picture which Dr. Nieuwenhuis has drawn for us of the +Kayans or Bahaus at the present day in the forests of +central Borneo. Here as there we see a petty agricultural +community ruled by hereditary chiefs who, while they +unite religious to civil authority, being bound to preside +over the numerous ceremonies performed for the good of +<pb n='108'/><anchor id='Pg108'/> +the crops,<note place='foot'>On the Kayan chiefs and their +religious duties, see A. W. Nieuwenhuis, +<hi rend='italic'>Quer durch Borneo</hi>, i. 58-60.</note> nevertheless lead simple patriarchal lives and +are so little raised in outward dignity above their fellows +that their daughters do not deem it beneath them to fetch +water for the household from the village well.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg036'>36</ref>.</note> Here as +there we see a people whose whole religion is dominated +and coloured by the main occupation of their lives; who +believe that the growth of the crops, on which they depend +for their subsistence, is at the mercy of two powerful spirits, +a divine husband and his wife, dwelling in a subterranean +world; and who accordingly offer sacrifices and perform +ceremonies in order to ensure the favour of these mighty +beings and so to obtain abundant harvests. If we knew +more about the Rarian plain at Eleusis,<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg074'>74</ref>.</note> we might discover +that it was the scene of many religious ceremonies +like those which are performed on the little consecrated +rice-fields (the <foreign rend='italic'>luma lali</foreign>) of the Kayans, where the +various operations of the agricultural year are performed +in miniature by members of the chief's family before the +corresponding operations may be performed on a larger +scale by common folk on their fields. Certainly we know +that the Rarian plain witnessed one such ceremony in the +year. It was a solemn ceremony of ploughing, one of the +three Sacred Ploughings which took place annually in +various parts of Attica.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Praecepta Conjugalia</hi>, +42. Another of these Sacred Ploughings +was performed at Scirum, and +the third at the foot of the Acropolis +at Athens; for in this passage of +Plutarch we must, with the latest +editor, read ὑπὸ πόλιν for the ὑπὸ +πέλιν of the manuscripts.</note> Probably the rite formed part of +the <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Proerosia</foreign> or Festival before Ploughing, which was intended +to ensure a plentiful crop.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg050'>50</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Further, it appears that the +priests who guided the sacred slow-paced oxen as they dragged +the plough down the furrows of the Rarian Plain, were drawn +from the old priestly family of Bouzygai or <q>Ox-yokers,</q> +whose eponymous ancestor is said to have been the first man +to yoke oxen and to plough the fields. As they performed +this time-honoured ceremony, the priests uttered many quaint +curses against all churls who should refuse to lend fire or water +to neighbours, or to shew the way to wanderers, or who should +<pb n='109'/><anchor id='Pg109'/> +leave a corpse unburied.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Etymologicum Magnum</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +Βουζυγία, p. 206, lines 47 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Im. +Bekker, <hi rend='italic'>Anecdota Graeca</hi> (Berlin, 1814-1821), +i. 221; Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> vii. +199; Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Βουζύγης; καθίστατο +δὲ παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς καὶ ὁ τοὺς ἱεροὺς +ἀρότους ἐπιτελῶν Βουζύγης; <hi rend='italic'>Paroemiographi +Graeci</hi>, ed. E. L. Leutsch und +F. G. Schneidewin (Göttingen, 1839-1851), +i. 388, Βουζύγης; ἐπὶ τῶν πολλὰ +ἀρωμένων. Ὁ γὰρ Βουζύγης Ἀθήνησιν ὁ +τὸν ἱερὸν ἄροτον ἐπιτελῶν ... ἄλλα τε +πολλὰ ἀρᾶται καὶ τοῖς μὴ κοινωνοῦσι κατὰ +τὸν Βίον ὕδατος ἢ πυρὸς ἢ μὴ ὑποφαίνουσιν +ὁδὸν πλανωμένοις; Scholiast on Sophocles, +<hi rend='italic'>Antigone</hi>, 255, λόγος δὲ ὅτι +Βουζύγης Ἀθήνησι κατηράσατο τοῖς +περιορῶσιν ἄταφον σῶμα. The Sacred +Ploughing at the foot of the Acropolis +was specially called <foreign rend='italic'>bouzygios</foreign> (Plutarch, +<hi rend='italic'>Praecepta Conjugalia</hi>, 42). Compare +J. Toepffer, <hi rend='italic'>Attische Genealogie</hi> (Berlin, +1889) pp. 136 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> If we had a complete list of the +execrations fulminated by the holy ploughmen on these +occasions, we might find that some of them were levelled at +the impious wretches who failed to keep all the rules of the +Sabbath, as we may call those periods of enforced rest and +seclusion which the Kayans of Borneo and other primitive +agricultural peoples observe for the good of the crops.<note place='foot'>Such Sabbaths are very commonly +and very strictly observed in connexion +with the crops by the agricultural hill +tribes of Assam. The native name +for such a Sabbath is <foreign rend='italic'>genna</foreign>. See T. +C. Hodson, <q>The <foreign rend='italic'>Genna</foreign> amongst the +Tribes of Assam,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the +Anthropological Institute</hi>, xxxvi. (1906) +pp. 94 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>: <q>Communal tabus are +observed by the whole village.... +Those which are of regular occurrence +are for the most part connected with +the crops. Even where irrigated +terraces are made, the rice plant is +much affected by deficiencies of rain +and excess of sun. Before the crop is +sown, the village is tabu or <foreign rend='italic'>genna</foreign>. +The gates are closed and the friend +without has to stay outside, while the +stranger that is within the gates remains +till all is ended. The festival +is marked among some tribes by an +outburst of licentiousness, for, so long +as the crops remain ungarnered, the +slightest incontinence might ruin all. +An omen of the prosperity of the crops +is taken by a mock contest, the girls +pulling against the men. In some +villages the <foreign rend='italic'>gennas</foreign> last for ten days, +but the tenth day is the crowning day +of all. The men cook, and eat apart +from the women during this time, and +the food tabus are strictly enforced. +From the conclusion of the initial crop +<foreign rend='italic'>genna</foreign> to the commencement of the +<foreign rend='italic'>genna</foreign> which ushers in the harvest-time, +all trade, all fishing, all hunting, +all cutting grass and felling trees is +forbidden. Those tribes which specialise +in cloth-weaving, salt-making +or pottery-making are forbidden the +exercise of these minor but valuable +industries. Drums and bugles are +silent all the while.... Between the +initial crop <foreign rend='italic'>genna</foreign> and the harvest-home, +some tribes interpose a <foreign rend='italic'>genna</foreign> +day which depends on the appearance +of the first blade of rice. All celebrate +the commencement of the gathering +of the crops by a <foreign rend='italic'>genna</foreign>, which +lasts at least two days. It is mainly +a repetition of the initial <foreign rend='italic'>genna</foreign> and, +just as the first seed was sown by the +<foreign rend='italic'>gennabura</foreign>, the religious head of the +village, so he is obliged to cut the first +ear of rice before any one else may +begin.</q> On such occasions among +the Kabuis, in spite of the licence +accorded to the people generally, the +strictest chastity is required of the +religious head of the village who initiates +the sowing and the reaping, +and his diet is extremely limited; for +example, he may not eat dogs or +tomatoes. See T. C. Hodson, <q>The +Native Tribes of Manipur,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal +of the Anthropological Institute</hi>, xxxi. +(1901) pp. 306 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; and for more +details, <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>The Naga Tribes of Manipur</hi> +(London, 1911), pp. 168 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> +The resemblance of some of these +customs to those of the Kayans of +Borneo is obvious. We may conjecture +that the <q>tug of war</q> which +takes place between the sexes on +several of these Sabbaths was originally +a magical ceremony to ensure good +crops rather than merely a mode of +divination to forecast the coming harvest. +Magic regularly dwindles into +divination before it degenerates into a +simple game. At one of these taboo +periods the men set up an effigy of a +man and throw pointed bamboos at +it. He who hits the figure in the +head will kill an enemy; he who hits +it in the belly will have plenty of food. +See T. C. Hodson, in <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the +Anthropological Institute</hi>, xxxvi. (1906) +p. 95; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>The Naga Tribes of Manipur</hi>, +p. 171. Here also we probably +have an old magical ceremony passing +through a phase of divination before it +reaches the last stage of decay. On +Sabbaths observed in connexion with +agriculture in Borneo and Assam, see +further Hutton Webster, <hi rend='italic'>Rest Days, +a Sociological Study</hi>, pp. 11 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> (<hi rend='italic'>University +Studies</hi>, Lincoln, Nebraska, +vol. xi. Nos. 1-2, January-April, +1911).</note> +</p> + +<pb n='110'/><anchor id='Pg110'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The connexion +of the +Eleusinian +games with +agriculture, +attested +by the +ancients, +is confirmed +by +modern +savage +analogies.</note> +Further, when we see that many primitive peoples +practise what we call games but what they regard in all +seriousness as solemn rites for the good of the crops, we +may be the more inclined to accept the view of the ancients, +who associated the Eleusinian games directly with the +worship of Demeter and Persephone, the Corn Goddesses.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg071'>71</ref>.</note> +One of the contests at the Eleusinian games was in leaping,<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg071'>71</ref> note 5.</note> +and we know that even in modern Europe to this day +leaping or dancing high is practised as a charm to make +the crops grow tall.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the +Evolution of Kings</hi>, i. 137-139.</note> Again, the bull-roarer was swung +so as to produce a humming sound at the Greek +mysteries;<note place='foot'>See the old Greek scholiast on +Clement of Alexandria, quoted by Chr. +Aug. Lobeck, <hi rend='italic'>Aglaophamus</hi> (Königsberg, +1829), p. 700; Andrew Lang, +<hi rend='italic'>Custom and Myth</hi> (London, 1884), p. +39. It is true that the bull-roarer seems +to have been associated with the rites +of Dionysus rather than of Demeter; +perhaps the sound of it was thought to +mimick the bellowing of the god in +his character of a bull. But the worship +of Dionysus was from an early +time associated with that of Demeter +in the Eleusinian mysteries; and the +god himself, as we have seen, had +agricultural affinities. See above, p. +<ref target='Pg005'>5</ref>. An annual festival of swinging +(which, as we have seen, is still practised +both in New Guinea and Russia +for the good of the crops) was held by +the Athenians in antiquity and was +believed to have originated in the +worship of Dionysus. See <hi rend='italic'>The Dying +God</hi>, pp. 281 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> and when we find the same simple instrument +whirled by savages in New Guinea for the sake of ensuring +good crops, we may reasonably conjecture that it was +whirled with a like intention by the rude forefathers of the +Greeks among the cornfields of Eleusis. If that were so—though +the conjecture is hardly susceptible of demonstration—it +would go some way to confirm the theory that the +<pb n='111'/><anchor id='Pg111'/> +Eleusinian mysteries were in their origin nothing more than +simple rustic ceremonies designed to make the farmer's +fields to wave with yellow corn. And in the practice of +the Kayans, whose worship of the rice offers many analogies +to the Eleusinian worship of the corn, may we not detect a +hint of the origin of that rule of secrecy which always +characterised the Eleusinian mysteries? May it not have +been that, just as the Kayans exclude strangers from their +villages while they are engaged in the celebration of religious +rites, lest the presence of these intruders should frighten or +annoy the shy and touchy spirits who are invoked at these +times, so the old Eleusinians may have debarred foreigners +from participation in their most solemn ceremonies, lest the +coy goddesses of the corn should take fright or offence at +the sight of strange faces and so refuse to bestow on men +their annual blessing? The admission of foreigners to the +privilege of initiation in the mysteries was probably a late +innovation introduced at a time when the fame of their +sanctity had spread far and wide, and when the old magical +meaning of the ritual had long been obscured, if not +forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The sacred +drama +of the +Eleusinian +mysteries +compared +to the +masked +dances of +agricultural +savages.</note> +Lastly, it may be suggested that in the masked dances +and dramatic performances, which form a conspicuous +and popular feature of the Sowing Festival among the +Kayans,<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg095'>95</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, and below, pp. <ref target='Pg186'>186</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> we have the savage counterpart of that drama +of divine death and resurrection which appears to have +figured so prominently in the mysteries of Eleusis.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg039'>39</ref>.</note> +If my interpretation of that solemn drama is correct, it +represented in mythical guise the various stages in the growth +of the corn for the purpose of magically fostering the natural +processes which it simulated. In like manner among the +Kaua and Kobeua Indians of North-western Brazil, who subsist +chiefly by the cultivation of manioc, dances or rather pantomimes +are performed by masked men, who represent spirits +or demons of fertility, and by imitating the act of procreation +are believed to stimulate the growth of plants as well as to +quicken the wombs of women and to promote the multiplication +of animals. Coarse and grotesque as these dramatic +performances may seem to us, they convey no suggestion of +<pb n='112'/><anchor id='Pg112'/> +indecency to the minds either of the actors or of the +spectators, who regard them in all seriousness as rites destined +to confer the blessing of fruitfulness on the inhabitants +of the village, on their plantations, and on the whole realm +of nature.<note place='foot'>Th. Koch-Grünberg, <hi rend='italic'>Zwei Jahre +unter den Indianern</hi> (Berlin, 1909-1910), +i. 137-140, ii. 193-196. As +to the cultivation of manioc among +these Indians see <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi> ii. 202 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> However, we possess so little exact information +as to the rites of Eleusis that all attempts to elucidate them +by the ritual of savages must necessarily be conjectural. +Yet the candid reader may be willing to grant that conjectures +supported by analogies like the foregoing do not +exceed the limits of a reasonable hypothesis. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='113'/><anchor id='Pg113'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter IV. Woman's Part in Primitive Agriculture.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Theory +that the +personification +of +corn as +feminine +was suggested +by +the part +played by +women in +primitive +agriculture.</note> +If Demeter was indeed a personification of the corn, +it is natural to ask, why did the Greeks personify the +corn as a goddess rather than a god? why did they ascribe +the origin of agriculture to a female rather than to a male +power? They conceived the spirit of the vine as masculine; +why did they conceive the spirit of the barley and wheat as +feminine? To this it has been answered that the personification +of the corn as feminine, or at all events the ascription +of the discovery of agriculture to a goddess, was suggested +by the prominent part which women take in primitive agriculture.<note place='foot'>F. B. Jevons, <hi rend='italic'>Introduction to the +History of Religion</hi> (London, 1896), +p. 240; H. Hirt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Indogermanen</hi> +(Strasburg, 1905-1907), i. 251 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +The theory illustrates a recent tendency of mythologists +to explain many myths as reflections of primitive +society rather than as personifications of nature. For that +reason, apart from its intrinsic interest, the theory deserves +to be briefly considered. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Among +many +savage +tribes the +labour of +hoeing the +ground and +sowing the +seed devolves +on +women. Agricultural +work +done by +women +among the +Zulus and +other tribes +of South +Africa.</note> +Before the invention of the plough, which can hardly be +worked without resort to the labour of men, it was and still +is customary in many parts of the world to break up the +soil for cultivation with hoes, and among not a few savage +peoples to this day the task of hoeing the ground and sowing +the seed devolves mainly or entirely upon the women, +while the men take little or no part in cultivation beyond +clearing the land by felling the forest trees and burning the +fallen timber and brushwood which encumber the soil. +Thus, for example, among the Zulus, <q>when a piece of land +has been selected for cultivation, the task of clearing it +<pb n='114'/><anchor id='Pg114'/> +belongs to the men. If the ground be much encumbered, +this becomes a laborious undertaking, for their axe is very +small, and when a large tree has to be encountered, they +can only lop the branches; fire is employed when it is +needful to remove the trunk. The reader will therefore not +be surprised that the people usually avoid bush-land, though +they seem to be aware of its superior fertility. As a general +rule the men take no further share in the labour of cultivation; +and, as the site chosen is seldom much encumbered +and frequently bears nothing but grass, their part of the +work is very slight. The women are the real labourers; +for (except in some particular cases) the entire business of +digging, planting, and weeding devolves on them; and, if +we regard the assagai and shield as symbolical of the man, +the hoe may be looked upon as emblematic of the woman.... +With this rude and heavy instrument the woman digs, +plants, and weeds her garden. Digging and sowing are +generally one operation, which is thus performed; the seed +is first scattered on the ground, when the soil is dug or +picked up with the hoe, to the depth of three or four inches, +the larger roots and tufts of grass being gathered out, but all +the rest left in or on the ground.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. J. Shooter, <hi rend='italic'>The Kafirs of +Natal and the Zulu Country</hi> (London, +1857), pp. 17 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Speaking of the +Zulus another writer observes: <q>In +gardening, the men clear the land, if +need be, and sometimes fence it in; +the women plant, weed, and harvest</q> +(Rev. L. Grout, <hi rend='italic'>Zulu-land</hi>, Philadelphia, +<hi rend='smallcaps'>n.d.</hi>, p. 110).</note> A special term of +contempt is applied to any Zulu man, who, deprived of the +services of his wife and family, is compelled by hard +necessity to handle the hoe himself.<note place='foot'>A. Delegorgue, <hi rend='italic'>Voyage dans l'Afrique +Australe</hi> (Paris, 1847), ii. +225.</note> Similarly among the +Baronga of Delagoa Bay, <q>when the rains begin to fall, sometimes +as early as September but generally later, they hasten +to sow. With her hoe in her hands, the mistress of the field +walks with little steps; every time she lifts a clod of earth +well broken up, and in the hole thus made she plants three +or four grains of maize and covers them up. If she has not +finished clearing all the patch of the bush which she contemplated, +she proceeds to turn up again the fields she tilled +last year. The crop will be less abundant than in virgin +soil, but they plant three or four years successively in the +<pb n='115'/><anchor id='Pg115'/> +same field before it is exhausted. As for enriching the soil +with manure, they never think of it.</q><note place='foot'>H. A. Junod, <hi rend='italic'>Les Ba-Ronga</hi> +(Neuchatel, 1908), pp. 195 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Among the Barotsé, +who cultivate millet, maize, and peas to a small extent and +in a rudimentary fashion, women alone are occupied with the +field-work, and their only implement is a spade or hoe.<note place='foot'>L. Decle, <hi rend='italic'>Three Years in Savage +Africa</hi> (London, 1898), p. 85.</note> Of +the Matabelé we are told that <q>most of the hard work is +performed by the women; the whole of the cultivation is +done by them. They plough with short spades of native +manufacture; they sow the fields, and they clear them of +weeds.</q><note place='foot'>L. Decle, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 160.</note> Among the Awemba, to the west of Lake Tanganyika, +the bulk of the work in the plantations falls on the +women; in particular the men refuse to hoe the ground. +They have a saying, <q>Is not each male child born for +the axe and each female child for the hoe?</q><note place='foot'>C. Gouldsbury and H. Sheane, <hi rend='italic'>The +Great Plateau of Northern Rhodesia</hi> +(London, 1911), p. 302.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Chastity +required in +the sowers +of seed.</note> +The natives of the Tanganyika plateau <q>cultivate the +banana, and have a curious custom connected with it. No +man is permitted to sow; but when the hole is prepared a +little girl is carried to the spot on a man's shoulders. She +first throws into the hole a sherd of broken pottery, and then +scatters the seed over it.</q><note place='foot'>L. Decle, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 295.</note> The reason of the latter practice +has been explained by more recent observers of these +natives. <q>Young children, it may here be noted, are often +employed to administer drugs, remedies, even the Poison +Ordeal, and to sow the first seeds. Such acts, the natives +say, must be performed by chaste and innocent hands, lest +a contaminated touch should destroy the potency of the +medicine or of the seedlings planted. It used to be a very +common sight upon the islands of Lake Bangweolo to watch +how a Bisa woman would solve the problem of her own +moral unfitness by carrying her baby-girl to the banana-plot, +and inserting seedlings in the tiny hands for dropping +into the holes already prepared.</q><note place='foot'>C. Gouldsbury and H. Sheane, <hi rend='italic'>The +Great Plateau of Northern Nigeria</hi> +(London, 1911), p. 179.</note> Similarly among the +people of the Lower Congo <q>women must remain chaste +while planting pumpkin and calabash seeds, they are not +allowed to touch any pig-meat, and they must wash their +<pb n='116'/><anchor id='Pg116'/> +hands before touching the seeds. If a woman does not +observe all these rules, she must not plant the seeds, or the +crop will be bad; she may make the holes, and her baby +girl, or another who has obeyed the restrictions, can drop in +the seeds and cover them over.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. J. H. Weeks, <q>Notes on +some Customs of the Lower Congo +People,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, xx. (1909) p. 311.</note> We can now perhaps +understand why Attic matrons had to observe strict chastity +when they celebrated the festival of the Thesmophoria.<note place='foot'>In order to guard against any +breach of the rule they strewed <foreign rend='italic'>Agnus +castus</foreign> and other plants, which were +esteemed anaphrodisiacs, under their +beds. See Dioscorides, <hi rend='italic'>De Materia +Medica</hi>, i. 134 (135), vol. i. p. 130, +ed. C. Sprengel (Leipsic, 1829-1830); +Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> xxiv. 59; Aelian, +<hi rend='italic'>De Natura Animalium</hi>, ix. 26; +Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> κνέωρον; Scholiast on +Theocritus, iv. 25; Scholiast on +Nicander, <hi rend='italic'>Ther.</hi> 70 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In +Attica that festival was held in honour of Demeter in the +month of Pyanepsion, corresponding to October,<note place='foot'>Scholiast on Aristophanes, <hi rend='italic'>Thesmophor.</hi> +80; Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Demosthenes</hi>, 30; +Aug. Mommsen, <hi rend='italic'>Feste der Stadt Athen +im Altertum</hi> (Leipsic, 1898), pp. 310 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> That Pyanepsion was the month +of sowing is mentioned by Plutarch (<hi rend='italic'>Isis +et Osiris</hi>, 69). See above, pp. <ref target='Pg045'>45</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> the season of +the autumn sowing; and the rites included certain ceremonies +which bore directly on the quickening of the seed.<note place='foot'>See below, vol. ii. p. 17 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> We may +conjecture that the rule of chastity imposed on matrons at +this festival was a relic of a time when they too, like many +savage women down to the present time, discharged the +important duty of sowing the seed and were bound for that +reason to observe strict continence, lest any impurity on their +part should defile the seed and prevent it from bearing fruit. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Woman's +part in +agriculture +among the +Caffres of +South +Africa in +general.</note> +Of the Caffres of South Africa in general we read that +<q>agriculture is mainly the work of the women, for in olden +days the men were occupied in hunting and fighting. The +women do but scratch the land with hoes, sometimes using +long-handled instruments, as in Zululand, and sometimes +short-handled ones, as above the Zambesi. When the ground +is thus prepared, the women scatter the seed, throwing it over +the soil quite at random. They know the time to sow by the +position of the constellations, chiefly by that of the Pleiades. +They date their new year from the time they can see this +constellation just before sunrise.</q><note place='foot'>Dudley Kidd, <hi rend='italic'>The Essential +Kaffir</hi> (London, 1904), p. 323. Compare +B. Ankermann, <q>L'Ethnographie +actuelle de l'Afrique méridionale,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Anthropos</hi>, i. (1906) pp. 575 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> As +to the use of the Pleiades to determine +the time of sowing, see note at the +end of the volume, <q>The Pleiades in +Primitive Calendars.</q></note> In Basutoland, where +<pb n='117'/><anchor id='Pg117'/> +the women also till the fields, though the lands of chiefs are +dug and sowed by men, an attempt is made to determine +the time of sowing by observation of the moon, but the +people generally find themselves out in their reckoning, and +after much dispute are forced to fall back upon the state of the +weather and of vegetation as better evidence of the season of +sowing. Intelligent chiefs rectify the calendar at the summer +solstice, which they call the summer-house of the sun.<note place='foot'>Rev. E. Casalis, <hi rend='italic'>The Basutos</hi> +(London, 1861), pp. 143 (with plate), +pp. 162-165.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Agricultural +work +done by +women +among the +Nandi, Baganda, the Congo, and +other tribes +of Central +and +Western +Africa.</note> +Among the Nandi of British East Africa <q>the rough +work of clearing the bush for plantations is performed by +the men, after which nearly all work in connexion with them +is done by the women. The men, however, assist in sowing +the seed, and in harvesting some of the crops. As a rule +trees are not felled, but the bark is stripped off for about +four feet from the ground and the trees are then left to die. +The planting is mostly, if not entirely, done during the first +half of the <foreign rend='italic'>Kiptamo</foreign> moon (February), which is the first +month of the year, and when the <foreign rend='italic'>Iwat-kut</foreign> moon rises +(March) all seed should be in the ground. The chief +medicine man is consulted before the planting operations +begin, but the Nandi know by the arrival in the fields of the +guinea-fowl, whose song is supposed to be, <foreign rend='italic'>O-kol, o-kol; mi-i +tokoch</foreign> (Plant, plant; there is luck in it), that the planting +season is at hand. When the first seed is sown, salt is +mixed with it, and the sower sings mournfully: <foreign rend='italic'>Ak o-siek-u +o-chok-chi</foreign> (And grow quickly), as he sows. After fresh +ground has been cleared, eleusine grain is planted. This +crop is generally repeated the second year, after which +millet is sown, and finally sweet potatoes or some other +product. Most fields are allowed to lie fallow every fourth +or fifth year. The Nandi manure their plantations with turf +ashes.... The eleusine crops are harvested by both men +and women. All other crops are reaped by the women only, +who are at times assisted by the children. The corn is +pounded and winnowed by the women and girls.</q><note place='foot'>A. C. Hollis, <hi rend='italic'>The Nandi</hi> (Oxford, +1909), p. 19. However, among the Bantu +Kavirondo, an essentially agricultural +people of British East Africa, both +men and women work in the fields +with large iron hoes. See Sir Harry +Johnston, <hi rend='italic'>The Uganda Protectorate</hi> +(London, 1904), ii. 738.</note> Among +<pb n='118'/><anchor id='Pg118'/> +the Suk and En-jemusi of British East Africa it is the +women who cultivate the fields and milk the cows.<note place='foot'>M. W. H. Beech, <hi rend='italic'>The Suk</hi> (Oxford, +1911), p. 33.</note> Among +the Wadowe of German East Africa the men clear the forest +and break up the hard ground, but the women sow and +reap the crops.<note place='foot'>F. Stuhlmann, <hi rend='italic'>Mit Emin Pascha +ins Herz von Afrika</hi> (Berlin, 1894), +p. 36.</note> So among the Wanyamwezi, who are an +essentially agricultural people, to the south of Lake Victoria +Nyanza, the men cut down the bush and hoe the hard +ground, but leave the rest of the labour of weeding, sowing, +and reaping to the women.<note place='foot'>F. Stuhlmann, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 75.</note> The Baganda of Central Africa +subsist chiefly on bananas, and among them <q>the garden +and its cultivation have always been the woman's department. +Princesses and peasant women alike looked upon +cultivation as their special work; the garden with its produce +was essentially the wife's domain, and she would under no +circumstances allow her husband to do any digging or +sowing in it. No woman would remain with a man who +did not give her a garden and a hoe to dig it with; if these +were denied her, she would seek an early opportunity to +escape from her husband and return to her relations to +complain of her treatment, and to obtain justice or a +divorce. When a man married he sought a plot of land +for his wife in order that she might settle to work and +provide food for the household.... In initial clearing of +the land it was customary for the husband to take part; +he cut down the tall grass and shrubs, and so left the +ground ready for his wife to begin her digging. The grass +and the trees she heaped up and burned, reserving only so +much as she needed for firewood. A hoe was the only +implement used in cultivation; the blade was heart-shaped +with a prong at the base, by which it was fastened to the +handle. The hoe-handle was never more than two feet long, +so that a woman had to stoop when using it.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. J. Roscoe, <hi rend='italic'>The Baganda</hi> +(London, 1911), pp. 426, 427; compare +pp. 5, 38, 91 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 93, 94, 95, +268.</note> In Kiziba, +a district immediately to the south of Uganda, the tilling of +the soil is exclusively the work of the women. They turn +up the soil with hoes, make holes in the ground with +digging-sticks or their fingers, and drop a few seeds into +<pb n='119'/><anchor id='Pg119'/> +each hole.<note place='foot'>H. Rehse, <hi rend='italic'>Kiziba, Land und Leute</hi> +(Stuttgart, 1910), p. 53.</note> Among the Niam-Niam of Central Africa <q>the +men most studiously devote themselves to their hunting, +and leave the culture of the soil to be carried on exclusively +by the women</q>;<note place='foot'>G. Schweinfurth, <hi rend='italic'>The Heart of +Africa</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>3</hi> (London, 1878), i. 281.</note> and among the Monbuttoo of the same +region in like manner, <q>whilst the women attend to the +tillage of the soil and the gathering of the harvest, the men, +unless they are absent either for war or hunting, spend the +entire day in idleness.</q><note place='foot'>G. Schweinfurth, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. 40.</note> As to the Bangala of the Upper +Congo we read that <q>large farms were made around the +towns. The men did the clearing of the bush, felling the +trees, and cutting down the undergrowth; the women +worked with them, heaping up the grass and brushwood +ready for burning, and helping generally. As a rule the +women did the hoeing, planting, and weeding, but the men +did not so despise this work as never to do it.</q> In this +tribe <q>the food belonged to the woman who cultivated the +farm, and while she supplied her husband with the vegetable +food, he had to supply the fish and meat and share +them with his wife or wives.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. J. H. Weeks, <q>Anthropological +Notes on the Bangala of the +Upper Congo River,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the +Royal Anthropological Institute</hi>, xxxix. +(1909) pp. 117, 128.</note> Amongst the Tofoke, a tribe +of the Congo State on the equator, all the field labour, +except the clearing away of the forest, is performed by the +women. They dig the soil with a hoe and plant maize and +manioc. A field is used only once.<note place='foot'>E. Torday, <q>Der Tofoke,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Mitteilungen +der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft +in Wien</hi>, xli. (1911) p. 198.</note> So with the Ba-Mbala, +a Bantu tribe between the rivers Inzia and Kwilu, the men +clear the ground for cultivation, but all the rest of the work +of tillage falls to the women, whose only tool is an iron +hoe. Fresh ground is cleared for cultivation every year.<note place='foot'>E. Torday and T. A. Joyce, +<q>Notes on the Ethnography of the +Ba-Mbala,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Anthropological +Institute</hi>, xxxv. (1905) p. 405.</note> +The Mpongwe of the Gaboon, in West Africa, cultivate +manioc (cassava), maize, yams, plantains, sweet potatoes, +and ground nuts. When new clearings have to be made +in the forest, the men cut down and burn the trees, and the +women put in the crop. The only tool they use is a dibble, +with which they turn up a sod, put in a seed, and cover it +<pb n='120'/><anchor id='Pg120'/> +over.<note place='foot'>P. B. du Chaillu, <hi rend='italic'>Explorations +and Adventures in Equatorial Africa</hi> +(London, 1861), p. 22.</note> Among the Ashira of the same region the cultivation +of the soil is in the hands of the women.<note place='foot'>P. B. du Chaillu, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 417.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Agricultural +work +done by +women +among the +Indian +tribes of +South +America.</note> +A similar division of labour between men and women +prevails among many primitive agricultural tribes of Indians +in South America. <q>In the interior of the villages,</q> says an +eminent authority on aboriginal South America, <q>the man +often absents himself to hunt or to go into the heart of the +forest in search of the honey of the wild bees, and he always +goes alone. He fells the trees in the places where he +wishes to make a field for cultivation, he fashions his +weapons, he digs out his canoe, while the woman rears the +children, makes the garments, busies herself with the +interior, cultivates the field, gathers the fruits, collects the +roots, and prepares the food. Such is, generally at least, +the respective condition of the two sexes among almost +all the Americans. The Peruvians alone had already, in +their semi-civilised state, partially modified these customs; +for among them the man shared the toils of the other sex or +took on himself the most laborious tasks.</q><note place='foot'>A. D'Orbigny, <hi rend='italic'>L'Homme Américain +(de l'Amérique Méridionale)</hi> (Paris, +1839), i. 198 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Thus, to take +examples, among the Caribs of the West Indies the men +used to fell the trees and leave the fallen trunks to cumber +the ground, burning off only the smaller boughs. Then the +women came and planted manioc, potatoes, yams, and +bananas wherever they found room among the tree-trunks. +In digging the ground to receive the seed or the shoots +they did not use hoes but simply pointed sticks. The men, +we are told, would rather have died of hunger than undertake +such agricultural labours.<note place='foot'>Le Sieur de la Borde, <q>Relation +de l'Origine, Mœurs, Coustumes, +Religion, Guerres et Voyages des +Caraibes Sauvages des Isles Antilles +de l'Amerique,</q> pp. 21-23, in <hi rend='italic'>Recueil +de divers Voyages faits en Afrique et +en l'Amerique</hi> (Paris, 1684).</note> Again, the staple vegetable food +of the Indians of British Guiana is cassava bread, made +from the roots of the manioc or cassava plant, which the +Indians cultivate in clearings of the forest. The men fell +the trees, cut down the undergrowth, and in dry weather set +fire to the fallen lumber, thus creating open patches in the +forest which are covered with white ashes. When the rains +<pb n='121'/><anchor id='Pg121'/> +set in, the women repair to these clearings, heavily laden with +baskets full of cassava sticks to be used as cuttings. These +they insert at irregular intervals in the soil, and so the field is +formed. While the cassava is growing, the women do just +as much weeding as is necessary to prevent the cultivated +plants from being choked by the rank growth of the tropical +vegetation, and in doing so they plant bananas, pumpkin +seeds, yams, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, red and yellow +peppers, and so forth, wherever there is room for them. At +last in the ninth or tenth month, when the seeds appearing +on the straggling branches of the cassava plants announce +that the roots are ripe, the women cut down the plants and +dig up the roots, not all at once, but as they are required. +These roots they afterwards peel, scrape, and bake into +cassava bread.<note place='foot'>E. F. im Thurn, <hi rend='italic'>Among the +Indians of Guiana</hi> (London, 1883), +pp. 250 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 260 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Cultivation +of manioc +by women +among the +Indian +tribes of +tropical +South +America.</note> +In like manner the cassava or manioc plant is cultivated +generally among all the Indian tribes of tropical South +America, wherever the plant will grow; and the cultivation +of it is altogether in the hands of the women, who insert the +sticks in the ground after the fashion already described.<note place='foot'>C. F. Phil. v. Martius, <hi rend='italic'>Zur Ethnographie +Amerika's, zumal Brasiliens</hi> +(Leipsic, 1867), pp. 486-489. On the +economic importance of the manioc or +cassava plant in the life of the South +American Indians, see further E. J. +Payne, <hi rend='italic'>History of the New World +called America</hi>, i. (Oxford, 1892) pp. +310 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 312 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +For example, among the tribes of the Uaupes River, in the +upper valley of the Amazon, who are an agricultural people +with settled abodes, <q>the men cut down the trees and +brushwood, which, after they have lain some months to +dry, are burnt; and the mandiocca is then planted by the +women, together with little patches of cane, sweet potatoes, +and various fruits. The women also dig up the mandiocca, +and prepare from it the bread which is their main subsistence.... +The bread is made fresh every day, as when +it gets cold and dry it is far less palatable. The women +thus have plenty to do, for every other day at least they +have to go to the field, often a mile or two distant, to fetch +the root, and every day to grate, prepare, and bake the +bread; as it forms by far the greater part of their food, and +they often pass days without eating anything else, especially +<pb n='122'/><anchor id='Pg122'/> +when the men are engaged in clearing the forest.</q><note place='foot'>A. R. Wallace, <hi rend='italic'>Narrative of +Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro</hi> +(London, 1889), pp. 336, 337 (<hi rend='italic'>The +Minerva Library</hi>). Mr. Wallace's +account of the agriculture of these +tribes is entirely confirmed by the +observations of a recent explorer in +north-western Brazil. See Th. Koch-Grünberg, +<hi rend='italic'>Zwei Jahre unter den +Indianern</hi> (Berlin, 1909-1910), ii. +202-209; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <q>Frauenarbeit bei den +Indianern Nordwest-Brasiliens,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Mitteilungen +der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft +in Wien</hi>, xxxviii. (1908) pp. +172-174. This writer tells us (<hi rend='italic'>Zwei +Jahre unter den Indianern</hi>, ii. 203) +that these Indians determine the time +for planting by observing certain constellations, +especially the Pleiades. +The rainy season begins when the +Pleiades have disappeared below the +horizon. See Note at end of the +volume.</note> Among +the Tupinambas, a tribe of Brazilian Indians, the wives +<q>had something more than their due share of labour, but +they were not treated with brutality, and their condition was +on the whole happy. They set and dug the mandioc; they +sowed and gathered the maize. An odd superstition prevailed, +that if a sort of earth-almond, which the Portugueze +call <foreign rend='italic'>amendoens</foreign>, was planted by the men, it would not grow.</q><note place='foot'>R. Southey, <hi rend='italic'>History of Brazil</hi>, +vol. i. Second Edition (London, 1822), +p. 253.</note> +Similar accounts appear to apply to the Brazilian Indians +in general: the men occupy themselves with hunting, war, +and the manufacture of their weapons, while the women +plant and reap the crops, and search for fruits in the forest;<note place='foot'>J. B. von Spix und C. F. Ph. +von Martius, <hi rend='italic'>Reise in Brasilien</hi> +(Munich, 1823-1831), i. 381.</note> +above all they cultivate the manioc, scraping the soil clear of +weeds with pointed sticks and inserting the shoots in the +earth.<note place='foot'>K. von den Steinen, <hi rend='italic'>Unter +den Naturvölkern Zentral-Brasiliens</hi> +(Berlin, 1894), p. 214.</note> Similarly among the Indians of Peru, who cultivate +maize in clearings of the forest, the cultivation of the fields +is left to the women, while the men hunt with bows and +arrows and blowguns in the woods, often remaining away +from home for weeks or even months together.<note place='foot'>J. J. von Tschudi, <hi rend='italic'>Peru</hi> (St. +Gallen, 1846), ii. 214.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Agricultural +work +done by +women +among +savage +tribes in +India, New +Guinea, +and New +Britain.</note> +A similar distribution of labour between the sexes prevails +among some savage tribes in other parts of the world. +Thus among the Lhoosai of south-eastern India the men +employ themselves chiefly in hunting or in making forays +on their weaker neighbours, but they clear the ground and +help to carry home the harvest. However, the main burden +of the bodily labour by which life is supported falls on the +women; they fetch water, hew wood, cultivate the ground, +<pb n='123'/><anchor id='Pg123'/> +and help to reap the crops.<note place='foot'>Captain T. H. Lewin, <hi rend='italic'>Wild Races +of South-Eastern India</hi> (London, 1870), +p. 255.</note> Among the Miris of Assam +almost the whole of the field work is done by the women. +They cultivate a patch of ground for two successive years, +then suffer it to lie fallow for four or five. But they are +deterred by superstitious fear from breaking new ground so +long as the fallow suffices for their needs; they dread to +offend the spirits of the woods by needlessly felling the +trees. They raise crops of rice, maize, millet, yams, and +sweet potatoes. But they seldom possess any implement +adapted solely for tillage; they have never taken to the +plough nor even to a hoe. They use their long straight +swords to clear, cut, and dig with.<note place='foot'>E. T. Dalton, <hi rend='italic'>Descriptive Ethnology +of Bengal</hi> (Calcutta, 1872), +p. 33.</note> Among the Korwas, a +savage hill tribe of Bengal, the men hunt with bows and +arrows, while the women till the fields, dig for wild roots, or +cull wild vegetables. Their principal crop is pulse (<foreign rend='italic'>Cajanus +Indicus</foreign>).<note place='foot'>E. T. Dalton, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 226, +227.</note> Among the Papuans of Ayambori, near Doreh +in Dutch New Guinea, it is the men who lay out the fields +by felling and burning the trees and brushwood in the +forest, and it is they who enclose the fields with fences, but +it is the women who sow and reap them and carry home +the produce in sacks on their backs. They cultivate rice, +millet, and bananas.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Nieuw Guinea, ethnographisch en +natuurkundig onderzocht en beschreven</hi> +(Amsterdam, 1862), p. 159.</note> So among the natives of Kaimani +Bay in Dutch New Guinea the men occupy themselves only +with fishing and hunting, while all the field work falls on +the women.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Op. cit.</hi> p. 119; H. von Rosenberg, +<hi rend='italic'>Der Malayische Archipel</hi> (Leipsic, +1878), p. 433.</note> In the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain, +when the natives have decided to convert a piece of grass-land +into a plantation, the men cut down the long grass, +burn it, dig up the soil with sharp-pointed sticks, and enclose +the land with a fence of saplings. Then the women plant +the banana shoots, weed the ground, and in the intervals +between the bananas insert slips of yams, sweet potatoes, +sugar-cane, or ginger. When the produce is ripe, they carry +it to the village. Thus the bulk of the labour of cultivation +devolves on the women.<note place='foot'>P. A. Kleintitschen, <hi rend='italic'>Die Küstenbewohner +der Gazellehalbinsel</hi> (Hiltrup +bei Münster, preface dated Christmas, +1906), pp. 60 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; G. Brown, D.D., +<hi rend='italic'>Melanesians and Polynesians</hi> (London, +1910), pp. 324 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<pb n='124'/><anchor id='Pg124'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Division of +agricultural +work +between +men and +women in +the Indian +Archipelago.</note> +Among some peoples of the Indian Archipelago, after +the land has been cleared for cultivation by the men, the +work of planting and sowing is divided between men and +women, the men digging holes in the ground with pointed +sticks, and the women following them, putting the seeds or +shoots into the holes, and then huddling the earth over +them; for savages seldom sow broadcast, they laboriously +dig holes and insert the seed in them. This division of +agricultural labour between the sexes is adopted by various +tribes of Celebes, Ceram, Borneo, Nias, and New Guinea.<note place='foot'>A. C. Kruijt, <q>Een en ander +aangaande het geestelijk en maatschappelijk +leven van den Poso-Alfoer,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche +Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, xxxix. +(1895) pp. 132, 134; J. Boot, <q>Korte +schets der noordkust van Ceram,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch +Aardrijkskundig Genootschap</hi>, Tweede +Serie, x. (1893) p. 672; E. H. Gomes, +<hi rend='italic'>Seventeen Years among the Sea Dyaks +of Borneo</hi> (London, 1911), p. 46; E. +Modigliani, <hi rend='italic'>Un Viaggio a Nías</hi> (Milan, +1890), pp. 590 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; K. Vetter, <hi rend='italic'>Komm +herüber und hilf uns!</hi> Heft 2 +(Barmen, 1898), pp. 6 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; Ch. Keysser, +<q>Aus dem Leben der Kaileute,</q> in +R. Neuhauss, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsch Neu-Guinea</hi>, +iii. (Berlin, 1911) pp. 14, 85.</note> +Sometimes the custom of entrusting the sowing of the seed +to women appears to be influenced by superstitious as well as +economic considerations. Thus among the Indians of the +Orinoco, who with an infinitude of pains cleared the jungle +for cultivation by cutting down the forest trees with their +stone axes, burning the fallen lumber, and breaking up the +ground with wooden instruments hardened in the fire, the +task of sowing the maize and planting the roots was +performed by the women alone; and when the Spanish +missionaries expostulated with the men for not helping their +wives in this toilsome duty, they received for answer that as +women knew how to conceive seed and bear children, so the +seeds and roots planted by them bore fruit far more +abundantly than if they had been planted by male hands.<note place='foot'>J. Gumilla, <hi rend='italic'>Histoire Naturelle, +Civile et Géographique de l'Orénoque</hi> +(Avignon, 1758), ii. 166 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 183 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> +Compare <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the +Evolution of Kings</hi>, i. 139 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Among +savages +who have +not learned +to till the +ground the +task of +collecting +the vegetable food +in the form +of wild +seeds and +roots +generally +devolves on +women. +Examples +furnished +by the +Californian +Indians.</note> +Even among savages who have not yet learned to +cultivate any plants the task of collecting the edible seeds +and digging up the edible roots of wild plants appears to +devolve mainly on women, while the men contribute their +share to the common food supply by hunting and fishing, +for which their superior strength, agility, and courage especially +<pb n='125'/><anchor id='Pg125'/> +qualify them. For example, among the Indians of +California, who were entirely ignorant of agriculture, the +general division of labour between the sexes in the search +for food was that the men killed the game and caught the +salmon, while the women dug the roots and brought in +most of the vegetable food, though the men helped them to +gather acorns, nuts, and berries.<note place='foot'>S. Powers, <hi rend='italic'>Tribes of California</hi> +(Washington, 1877), p. 23.</note> Among the Indians of +San Juan Capistrano in California, while the men passed +their time in fowling, fishing, dancing, and lounging, <q>the +women were obliged to gather seeds in the fields, prepare +them for cooking, and to perform all the meanest offices, as +well as the most laborious. It was painful in the extreme, +to behold them, with their infants hanging upon their +shoulders, groping about in search of herbs or seeds, and +exposed as they frequently were to the inclemency of the +weather.</q><note place='foot'>Father Geronimo Boscana, <q>Chinigchinich,</q> +in [A. Robinson's] <hi rend='italic'>Life in +California</hi> (New York, 1846), p. 287. +Elsewhere the same well-informed +writer observes of these Indians that +<q>they neither cultivated the ground, +nor planted any kind of grain; but +lived upon the wild seeds of the field, +the fruits of the forest, and upon the +abundance of game</q> (<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 285).</note> Yet these rude savages possessed a calendar +containing directions as to the seasons for collecting the +different seeds and produce of the earth. The calendar +consisted of lunar months corrected by observation of the +solstices, <q>for at the conclusion of the moon in December, +that is, at the conjunction, they calculated the return of the +sun from the tropic of Capricorn; and another year commenced, +the Indian saying <q>the sun has arrived at his home.</q> ... +They observed with greater attention and celebrated +with more pomp, the sun's arrival at the tropic of Capricorn +than they did his reaching the tropic of Cancer, for the +reason, that, as they were situated ten degrees from the +latter, they were pleased at the sun's approach towards +them; for it returned to ripen their fruits and seeds, to give +warmth to the atmosphere, and enliven again the fields with +beauty and increase.</q> However, the knowledge of the calendar +was limited to the <foreign rend='italic'>puplem</foreign> or general council of the tribe, who +sent criers to make proclamation when the time had come +to go forth and gather the seeds and other produce of the +earth. In their calculations they were assisted by a <foreign rend='italic'>pul</foreign> or +<pb n='126'/><anchor id='Pg126'/> +astrologer, who observed the aspect of the moon.<note place='foot'>Father Geronimo Boscana, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> +pp. 302-305. As to the <foreign rend='italic'>puplem</foreign>, see +<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi> p. 264. The writer says that criers +informed the people <q>when to cultivate +their fields</q> (p. 302). But taken +along with his express statement that +they <q>neither cultivated the ground, +nor planted any kind of grain</q> (p. 285, +see above, p. 125 note 2), this expression +<q>to cultivate their fields</q> must +be understood loosely to denote merely +the gathering of the wild seeds and +fruits.</note> When +we consider that these rude Californian savages, destitute +alike of agriculture and of the other arts of civilised life, yet +succeeded in forming for themselves a calendar based on +observation both of the moon and of the sun, we need not +hesitate to ascribe to the immeasurably more advanced +Greeks at the dawn of history the knowledge of a somewhat +more elaborate calendar founded on a cycle of eight +solar years.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg081'>81</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Among the +aborigines +of Australia +the +women +provided +the vegetable +food, +while the +men +hunted.</note> +Among the equally rude aborigines of Australia, to +whom agriculture in every form was totally unknown, the +division of labour between the sexes in regard to the collection +of food appears to have been similar. While the men +hunted game, the labour of gathering and preparing the +vegetable food fell chiefly to the women. Thus with regard +to the Encounter Bay tribe of South Australia we are told +that while the men busied themselves, according to the +season, either with fishing or with hunting emus, opossums, +kangaroos, and so forth, the women and children searched +for roots and plants.<note place='foot'>H. E. A. Meyer, <q>Manners and +Customs of the Encounter Bay Tribe,</q> +in <hi rend='italic'>Native Tribes of South Australia</hi> +(Adelaide, 1879), pp. 191 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Again, among the natives of Western +Australia <q>it is generally considered the province of women +to dig roots, and for this purpose they carry a long, pointed +stick, which is held in the right hand, and driven firmly +into the ground, where it is shaken, so as to loosen the +earth, which is scooped up and thrown out with the fingers +of the left hand, and in this manner they dig with great +rapidity. But the labour, in proportion to the amount +obtained, is great. To get a yam about half an inch in +circumference and a foot in length, they have to dig a hole +above a foot square and two feet in depth; a considerable +portion of the time of the women and children is, therefore, +passed in this employment. If the men are absent upon +any expedition, the females are left in charge of one who is +<pb n='127'/><anchor id='Pg127'/> +old or sick; and in traversing the bush you often stumble +on a large party of them, scattered about in the forest, +digging roots and collecting the different species of fungus.</q><note place='foot'>(Sir) George Grey, <hi rend='italic'>Journals of +Two Expeditions of Discovery in +North-West and Western Australia</hi> +(London, 1841), ii. 292 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> The +women also collect the nuts from the +palms in the month of March (<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi> +ii. 296).</note> +In fertile districts, where the yams which the aborigines use +as food grow abundantly, the ground may sometimes be seen +riddled with holes made by the women in their search for +these edible roots. Thus to quote Sir George Grey: <q>We +now crossed the dry bed of a stream, and from that emerged +upon a tract of light fertile soil, quite overrun with <foreign rend='italic'>warran</foreign> +[yam] plants, the root of which is a favourite article of food +with the natives. This was the first time we had yet seen +this plant on our journey, and now for three and a half consecutive +miles we traversed a fertile piece of land, literally +perforated with the holes the natives had made to dig this +root; indeed we could with difficulty walk across it on that +account, whilst this tract extended east and west as far as +we could see.</q><note place='foot'>(Sir) George Grey, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. 12. +The yam referred to is a species of +<foreign rend='italic'>Diascorea</foreign>, like the sweet potato.</note> Again, in the valley of the Lower Murray +River a kind of yam (<foreign rend='italic'>Microseris Forsteri</foreign>) grew plentifully +and was easily found in the spring and early summer, when +the roots were dug up out of the earth by the women and +children. The root is small and of a sweetish taste and +grows throughout the greater part of Australia outside +the tropics; on the alpine pastures of the high Australian +mountains it attains to a much larger size and furnishes a +not unpalatable food.<note place='foot'>R. Brough Smyth, <hi rend='italic'>The Aborigines +of Victoria</hi> (Melbourne, 1878), i. 209.</note> But the women gather edible herbs +and seeds as well as roots; and at evening they may be +seen trooping in to the camp, each with a great bundle of +sow-thistles, dandelions, or trefoil on her head,<note place='foot'>P. Beveridge, <q>Of the Aborigines +inhabiting the Great Lacustrine and +Riverine Depression of the Lower +Murray, Lower Murrumbidgee, Lower +Lachlan, and Lower Darling,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal +and Proceedings of the Royal Society of +New South Wales for 1883</hi>, vol. xvii. +(Sydney, 1884) p. 36.</note> or carrying +wooden vessels filled with seeds, which they afterwards +grind up between stones and knead into a paste with water +or bake into cakes.<note place='foot'>R. Brough Smyth, <hi rend='italic'>The Aborigines +of Victoria</hi>, i. 214.</note> Among the aborigines of central +Victoria, while the men hunted, the women dug up edible +<pb n='128'/><anchor id='Pg128'/> +roots and gathered succulent vegetables, such as the young +tops of the <foreign rend='italic'>munya</foreign>, the sow-thistle, and several kinds of fig-marigold. +The implement which they used to dig up roots +with was a pole seven or eight feet long, hardened in the +fire and pointed at the end, which also served them as a +weapon both of defence and of offence.<note place='foot'>W. Stanbridge, <q>Some Particulars +of the General Characteristics, Astronomy, +and Mythology of the Tribes in +the Central Part of Victoria, South +Australia,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Transactions of the Ethnological +Society of London</hi>, N.S., i. (1861) +p. 291.</note> Among the tribes of +Central Australia the principal vegetable food is the seed of +a species of Claytonia, called by white men <foreign rend='italic'>munyeru</foreign>, which +the women gather in large quantities and winnow by pouring +the little black seeds from one vessel to another so as to let +the wind blow the loose husks away.<note place='foot'>Baldwin Spencer and F. J. Gillen, +<hi rend='italic'>Native Tribes of Central Australia</hi> +(London, 1899), p. 22.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +digging of +the earth +for wild +fruits may +have led to +the origin +of agriculture.</note> +In these customs observed by savages who are totally +ignorant of agriculture we may perhaps detect some of the +steps by which mankind have advanced from the enjoyment +of the wild fruits of the earth to the systematic cultivation +of plants. For an effect of digging up the earth in the +search for roots has probably been in many cases to enrich +and fertilise the soil and so to increase the crop of roots or +herbs; and such an increase would naturally attract the +natives in larger numbers and enable them to subsist for +longer periods on the spot without being compelled by the +speedy exhaustion of the crop to shift their quarters and +wander away in search of fresh supplies. Moreover, the +winnowing of the seeds on ground which had thus been +turned up by the digging-sticks of the women would naturally +contribute to the same result. For though savages at the +level of the Californian Indians and the aborigines of +Australia have no idea of using seeds for any purpose but +that of immediate consumption, and it has never occurred to +them to incur a temporary loss for the sake of a future gain +by sowing them in the ground, yet it is almost certain that +in the process of winnowing the seeds as a preparation for +eating them many of the grains must have escaped and, +being wafted by the wind, have fallen on the upturned soil +and borne fruit. Thus by the operations of turning up the +ground and winnowing the seed, though neither operation +<pb n='129'/><anchor id='Pg129'/> +aimed at anything beyond satisfying the immediate pangs +of hunger, savage man or rather savage woman was unconsciously +preparing for the whole community a future and +more abundant store of food, which would enable them to +multiply and to abandon the old migratory and wasteful +manner of life for a more settled and economic mode of +existence. So curiously sometimes does man, aiming his +shafts at a near but petty mark, hit a greater and more +distant target. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The discovery +of +agriculture +due mainly +to women.</note> +On the whole, then, it appears highly probable that as a +consequence of a certain natural division of labour between +the sexes women have contributed more than men towards +the greatest advance in economic history, namely, the +transition from a nomadic to a settled life, from a natural to +an artificial basis of subsistence. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Women as +agricultural +labourers +among the +Aryans of +Europe. +The Greek +conception +of the +Corn +Goddess +probably +originated +in a simple +personification +of +the corn.</note> +Among the Aryan peoples of Europe the old practice +of hoeing the ground as a preparation for sowing appears to +have been generally replaced at a very remote period by +the far more effective process of ploughing;<note place='foot'>O. Schrader, <hi rend='italic'>Reallexikon der indogermanischen +Altertumskunde</hi> (Strasburg, +1901), pp. 6 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 630 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, +<hi rend='italic'>Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>3</hi> +(Jena, 1905-1907), ii. 201 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; H. +Hirt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Indogermanen</hi>, i. 251 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, +263, 274. The use of oxen to draw +the plough is very ancient in Europe. +On the rocks at Bohuslän in Sweden +there is carved a rude representation +of a plough drawn by oxen and guided +by a ploughman: it is believed to date +from the Bronze Age. See H. Hirt, +<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. 286.</note> and as the +labour of ploughing practically necessitates the employment +of masculine strength, it is hardly to be expected that in +Europe many traces should remain of the important part +formerly played by women in primitive agriculture. However, +we are told that among the Iberians of Spain and the +Athamanes of Epirus the women tilled the ground,<note place='foot'>Strabo, iii. 4. 17, p. 165; Heraclides +Ponticus, <q>De rebus publicis,</q> 33, +in <hi rend='italic'>Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum</hi>, +ed. C. Müller, ii. 219.</note> and +that among the ancient Germans the care of the fields was +left to the women and old men.<note place='foot'>Tacitus, <hi rend='italic'>Germania</hi>, 15.</note> But these indications of +an age when the cultivation of the ground was committed +mainly to feminine hands are few and slight; and if the +Greek conception of Demeter as a goddess of corn and +agriculture really dates from such an age and was directly +suggested by such a division of labour between the sexes, it +<pb n='130'/><anchor id='Pg130'/> +seems clear that its origin must be sought at a period far +back in the history of the Aryan race, perhaps long before +the segregation of the Greeks from the common stock and +their formation into a separate people. It may be so, but +to me I confess that this derivation of the conception appears +somewhat far-fetched and improbable; and I prefer to suppose +that the idea of the corn as feminine was suggested +to the Greek mind, not by the position of women in remote +prehistoric ages, but by a direct observation of nature, the +teeming head of corn appearing to the primitive fancy to +resemble the teeming womb of a woman, and the ripe ear +on the stalk being likened to a child borne in the arms or +on the back of its mother. At least we know that similar +sights suggest similar ideas to some of the agricultural +negroes of West Africa. Thus the Hos of Togoland, who +plant maize in February and reap it in July, say that the +maize is an image of a mother; when the cobs are forming, +the mother is binding the infant on her back, but in July +she sinks her head and dies and the child is taken away +from her, to be afterwards multiplied at the next sowing.<note place='foot'>J. Spieth, <hi rend='italic'>Die Ewe-Stämme</hi> (Berlin, +1906), p. 313.</note> +When the rude aborigines of Western Australia observe that +a seed-bearing plant has flowered, they call it the Mother of +So-and-so, naming the particular kind of plant, and they +will not allow it to be dug up.<note place='foot'>(Sir) G. Grey, <hi rend='italic'>Journals of Two +Expeditions of Discovery in North-west +and Western Australia</hi> (London, 1841), +ii. 292.</note> Apparently they think that +respect and regard are due to the plant as to a mother and +her child. Such simple and natural comparisons, which +may occur to men in any age and country, suffice to +explain the Greek personification of the corn as mother and +daughter, and we need not cast about for more recondite +theories. Be that as it may, the conception of the corn as +a woman and a mother was certainly not peculiar to the +ancient Greeks, but has been shared by them with many +other races, as will appear abundantly from the instances +which I shall cite in the following chapter. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='131'/><anchor id='Pg131'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter V. The Corn-Mother and the Corn-Maiden in +Northern Europe.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Suggested +derivation +of the name +Demeter.</note> +It has been argued by W. Mannhardt that the first part +of Demeter's name is derived from an alleged Cretan word +<foreign rend='italic'>deai</foreign>, <q>barley,</q> and that accordingly Demeter means neither +more nor less than <q>Barley-mother</q> or <q>Corn-mother</q>;<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi> (Strasburg, 1884), pp. +292 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> See above, p. <ref target='Pg040'>40</ref>, note 3.</note> +for the root of the word seems to have been applied to +different kinds of grain by different branches of the Aryans.<note place='foot'>O. Schrader, <hi rend='italic'>Reallexikon der indogermanischen +Altertumskunde</hi> (Strasburg, +1901), pp. 11, 289; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Sprachvergleichung +und Urgeschichte</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> (Jena, +1890), pp. 409, 422; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Sprachvergleichung +und Urgeschichte</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>3</hi> (Jena, +1905-1907), ii. 188 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Compare V. +Hehn, <hi rend='italic'>Kulturpflanzen und Hausthiere +in ihrem Uebergang aus Asien</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>7</hi> (Berlin, +1902), pp. 58 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +As Crete appears to have been one of the most ancient +seats of the worship of Demeter,<note place='foot'>Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>Theog.</hi> 969 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; F. +Lenormant, in Daremberg et Saglio, +<hi rend='italic'>Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecques +et Romaines</hi>, i. 2, p. 1029; Kern, in +Pauly-Wissowa's <hi rend='italic'>Real-Encyclopädie +der classischen Altertumswissenschaft</hi>, +iv. 2, coll. 2720 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> it would not be surprising +if her name were of Cretan origin. But the etymology is +open to serious objections,<note place='foot'>My friend Professor J. H. Moulton +tells me that there is great doubt as to +the existence of a word δηαί, <q>barley</q> +(<hi rend='italic'>Etymologicum Magnum</hi>, p. 264, lines +12 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>), and that the common form of +Demeter's name, <foreign lang='el' rend='italic'>Dâmâter</foreign> (except in +Ionic and Attic) is inconsistent with η +in the supposed Cretan form. <q>Finally +if δηαί = ζειαί, you are bound to regard +her as a Cretan goddess, or as arising +in some other area where the dialect +changed Indogermanic <foreign rend='italic'>y</foreign> into δ and +not ζ: since Ionic and Attic have ζ, +the two crucial letters of the name tell +different tales</q> (Professor J. H. +Moulton, in a letter to me, dated 19 +December 1903).</note> and it is safer therefore to lay +no stress on it. Be that as it may, we have found independent +reasons for identifying Demeter as the Corn-mother, +and of the two species of corn associated with her in Greek +<pb n='132'/><anchor id='Pg132'/> +religion, namely barley and wheat, the barley has perhaps +the better claim to be her original element; for not only +would it seem to have been the staple food of the Greeks in +the Homeric age, but there are grounds for believing that it +is one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, cereal cultivated +by the Aryan race. Certainly the use of barley in the +religious ritual of the ancient Hindoos as well as of the +ancient Greeks furnishes a strong argument in favour of the +great antiquity of its cultivation, which is known to have +been practised by the lake-dwellers of the Stone Age in +Europe.<note place='foot'>A. Kuhn, <hi rend='italic'>Die Herabkunft des +Feuers und des Göttertranks</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> (Gütersloh, +1886), pp. 68 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; O. Schrader, +<hi rend='italic'>Reallexikon der indogermanischen +Altertumskunde</hi>, pp. 11, 12, 289; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, +<hi rend='italic'>Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>3</hi> +ii. 189, 191, 197 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; H. Hirt, <hi rend='italic'>Die +Indogermanen</hi> (Strasburg, 1905-1907), +i. 276 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> In the oldest Vedic ritual +barley and not rice is the cereal chiefly +employed. See H. Oldenberg, <hi rend='italic'>Die +Religion des Veda</hi> (Berlin, 1894), p. 353. +For evidence that barley was cultivated +in Europe by the lake-dwellers of the +Stone Age, see A. de Candolle, <hi rend='italic'>Origin +of Cultivated Plants</hi> (London, 1884), +pp. 368, 369; R. Munro, <hi rend='italic'>The Lake-dwellings +of Europe</hi> (London, Paris, +and Melbourne, 1890), pp. 497 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> +According to Pliny (<hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> xviii. +72) barley was the oldest of all foods.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Analogies to the Corn-mother or Barley-mother of +ancient Greece have been collected in great abundance by +W. Mannhardt from the folk-lore of modern Europe. The +following may serve as specimens. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Corn-mother +among the +Germans +and the +Slavs.</note> +In Germany the corn is very commonly personified +under the name of the Corn-mother. Thus in spring, when +the corn waves in the wind, the peasants say, <q>There comes +the Corn-mother,</q> or <q>The Corn-mother is running over the +field,</q> or <q>The Corn-mother is going through the corn.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi> (Strasburg, 1884), p. 296. +Compare O. Hartung, <q>Zur Volkskunde +aus Anhalt,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift des +Vereins für Volkskunde</hi>, vii. (1897) +p. 150.</note> +When children wish to go into the fields to pull the blue +corn-flowers or the red poppies, they are told not to do so, +because the Corn-mother is sitting in the corn and will +catch them.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi> (Strasburg, 1884), p. 297.</note> Or again she is called, according to the crop, +the Rye-mother or the Pea-mother, and children are warned +against straying in the rye or among the peas by threats of +the Rye-mother or the Pea-mother. In Norway also the +Pea-mother is said to sit among the peas.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 297 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Similar +expressions are current among the Slavs. The Poles and +<pb n='133'/><anchor id='Pg133'/> +Czechs warn children against the Corn-mother who sits in +the corn. Or they call her the old Corn-woman, and say +that she sits in the corn and strangles the children who +tread it down.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 299. Compare R. Andree, +<hi rend='italic'>Braunschweiger Volkskunde</hi> (Brunswick, +1896), p. 281.</note> The Lithuanians say, <q>The Old Rye-woman +sits in the corn.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 300.</note> Again the Corn-mother is +believed to make the crop grow. Thus in the neighbourhood +of Magdeburg it is sometimes said, <q>It will be a good +year for flax; the Flax-mother has been seen.</q> At +Dinkelsbühl, in Bavaria, down to the latter part of the nineteenth +century, people believed that when the crops on a +particular farm compared unfavourably with those of the +neighbourhood, the reason was that the Corn-mother had +punished the farmer for his sins.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 310.</note> In a village of Styria it is +said that the Corn-mother, in the shape of a female puppet +made out of the last sheaf of corn and dressed in white, may +be seen at midnight in the corn-fields, which she fertilises +by passing through them; but if she is angry with a farmer, +she withers up all his corn.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 310 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Compare O. +Hartung, <hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Corn-mother +in +the last +sheaf. Fertilising +power of +the Corn-mother. The Corn-mother +in +the last +sheaf +among the +Slavs and +in France.</note> +Further, the Corn-mother plays an important part in +harvest customs. She is believed to be present in the +handful of corn which is left standing last on the field; and +with the cutting of this last handful she is caught, or driven +away, or killed. In the first of these cases, the last sheaf +is carried joyfully home and honoured as a divine being. +It is placed in the barn, and at threshing the corn-spirit +appears again.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 316.</note> In the Hanoverian district of Hadeln the +reapers stand round the last sheaf and beat it with sticks +in order to drive the Corn-mother out of it. They call to +each other, <q>There she is! hit her! Take care she doesn't +catch you!</q> The beating goes on till the grain is completely +threshed out; then the Corn-mother is believed to +be driven away.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 316.</note> In the neighbourhood of Danzig the +person who cuts the last ears of corn makes them into a +doll, which is called the Corn-mother or the Old Woman +and is brought home on the last waggon.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 316 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In some parts +<pb n='134'/><anchor id='Pg134'/> +of Holstein the last sheaf is dressed in woman's clothes and +called the Corn-mother. It is carried home on the last +waggon, and then thoroughly drenched with water. The +drenching with water is doubtless a rain-charm.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 317. As to such rain-charms +see <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, +Second Edition, pp. 195-197.</note> In the +district of Bruck in Styria the last sheaf, called the Corn-mother, +is made up into the shape of a woman by the +oldest married woman in the village, of an age from fifty to +fifty-five years. The finest ears are plucked out of it and +made into a wreath, which, twined with flowers, is carried on +her head by the prettiest girl of the village to the farmer or +squire, while the Corn-mother is laid down in the barn to +keep off the mice.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 317.</note> In other villages of the same district +the Corn-mother, at the close of harvest, is carried by two +lads at the top of a pole. They march behind the girl who +wears the wreath to the squire's house, and while he receives +the wreath and hangs it up in the hall, the Corn-mother is +placed on the top of a pile of wood, where she is the centre +of the harvest supper and dance. Afterwards she is hung +up in the barn and remains there till the threshing is over. +The man who gives the last stroke at threshing is called the +son of the Corn-mother; he is tied up in the Corn-mother, +beaten, and carried through the village. The wreath is +dedicated in church on the following Sunday; and on +Easter Eve the grain is rubbed out of it by a seven-years-old +girl and scattered amongst the young corn. At Christmas +the straw of the wreath is placed in the manger to +make the cattle thrive.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 317 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Here the fertilising power of the +Corn-mother is plainly brought out by scattering the seed +taken from her body (for the wreath is made out of the +Corn-mother) among the new corn; and her influence over +animal life is indicated by placing the straw in the manger. +At Westerhüsen, in Saxony, the last corn cut is made in the +shape of a woman decked with ribbons and cloth. It is +fastened to a pole and brought home on the last waggon. +One of the people in the waggon keeps waving the pole, +so that the figure moves as if alive. It is placed on the +threshing-floor, and stays there till the threshing is done.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 318.</note> +<pb n='135'/><anchor id='Pg135'/> +Amongst the Slavs also the last sheaf is known as the +Rye-mother, the Wheat-mother, the Oats-mother, the +Barley-mother, and so on, according to the crop. In the +district of Tarnow, Galicia, the wreath made out of the last +stalks is called the Wheat-mother, Rye-mother, or Pea-mother. +It is placed on a girl's head and kept till spring, +when some of the grain is mixed with the seed-corn.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> Here +again the fertilising power of the Corn-mother is indicated. +In France, also, in the neighbourhood of Auxerre, the last +sheaf goes by the name of the Mother of the Wheat, Mother +of the Barley, Mother of the Rye, or Mother of the Oats. +They leave it standing in the field till the last waggon is +about to wend homewards. Then they make a puppet out +of it, dress it with clothes belonging to the farmer, and adorn +it with a crown and a blue or white scarf. A branch of a tree +is stuck in the breast of the puppet, which is now called the +Ceres. At the dance in the evening the Ceres is set in the +middle of the floor, and the reaper who reaped fastest dances +round it with the prettiest girl for his partner. After the +dance a pyre is made. All the girls, each wearing a wreath, +strip the puppet, pull it to pieces, and place it on the pyre, +along with the flowers with which it was adorned. Then +the girl who was the first to finish reaping sets fire to the +pile, and all pray that Ceres may give a fruitful year. Here, +as Mannhardt observes, the old custom has remained intact, +though the name Ceres is a bit of schoolmaster's learning.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 318 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +In Upper Brittany the last sheaf is always made into human +shape; but if the farmer is a married man, it is made double +and consists of a little corn-puppet placed inside of a large +one. This is called the Mother-sheaf. It is delivered to the +farmer's wife, who unties it and gives drink-money in return.<note place='foot'>P. Sébillot, <hi rend='italic'>Coutumes populaires +de la Haute-Bretagne</hi> (Paris, 1886), +p. 306.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Harvest-mother +or +the Great +Mother in +the last +sheaf.</note> +Sometimes the last sheaf is called, not the Corn-mother, +but the Harvest-mother or the Great Mother. In the +province of Osnabrück, Hanover, it is called the Harvest-mother; +it is made up in female form, and then the reapers +dance about with it. In some parts of Westphalia the last +sheaf at the rye-harvest is made especially heavy by fastening +<pb n='136'/><anchor id='Pg136'/> +stones in it. They bring it home on the last waggon +and call it the Great Mother, though they do not fashion +it into any special shape. In the district of Erfurt a very +heavy sheaf, not necessarily the last, is called the Great +Mother, and is carried on the last waggon to the barn, +where all hands lift it down amid a fire of jokes.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 319.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Grandmother +in +the last +sheaf.</note> +Sometimes again the last sheaf is called the Grandmother, +and is adorned with flowers, ribbons, and a woman's +apron. In East Prussia, at the rye or wheat harvest, the +reapers call out to the woman who binds the last sheaf, +<q>You are getting the Old Grandmother.</q> In the neighbourhood +of Magdeburg the men and women servants strive +who shall get the last sheaf, called the Grandmother. Whoever +gets it will be married in the next year, but his or +her spouse will be old; if a girl gets it, she will marry a +widower; if a man gets it, he will marry an old crone. In +Silesia the Grandmother—a huge bundle made up of three +or four sheaves by the person who tied the last sheaf—was +formerly fashioned into a rude likeness of the human form.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 320.</note> +In the neighbourhood of Belfast the last sheaf sometimes +goes by the name of the Granny. It is not cut in the usual +way, but all the reapers throw their sickles at it and try to +bring it down. It is plaited and kept till the (next?) autumn. +Whoever gets it will marry in the course of the year.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 321.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Old +Woman or +the Old +Man in the +last sheaf.</note> +Oftener the last sheaf is called the Old Woman or the +Old Man. In Germany it is frequently shaped and dressed +as a woman, and the person who cuts it or binds it is said to +<q>get the Old Woman.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 321, 323, 325 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At Altisheim, in Swabia, when all +the corn of a farm has been cut except a single strip, all +the reapers stand in a row before the strip; each cuts his +share rapidly, and he who gives the last cut <q>has the Old +Woman.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 323; F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>Beitrag +zur deutschen Mythologie</hi> (Munich, +1848-1855), ii. p. 219, § 403.</note> When the sheaves are being set up in heaps, +the person who gets hold of the Old Woman, which is the +largest and thickest of all the sheaves, is jeered at by the +rest, who call out to him, <q>He has the Old Woman and +must keep her.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 325.</note> The woman who binds the last sheaf is +<pb n='137'/><anchor id='Pg137'/> +sometimes herself called the Old Woman, and it is said +that she will be married in the next year.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 323.</note> In Neusaass, +West Prussia, both the last sheaf—which is dressed up in +jacket, hat, and ribbons—and the woman who binds it are +called the Old Woman. Together they are brought home +on the last waggon and are drenched with water.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> In +various parts of North Germany the last sheaf at harvest is +made up into a human effigy and called <q>the Old Man</q>; +and the woman who bound it is said <q>to have the Old +Man.</q><note place='foot'>A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz, +<hi rend='italic'>Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und +Gebräuche</hi> (Leipsic, 1848), pp. 396 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +399; K. Bartsch, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Märchen und +Gebräuche aus Meklenburg</hi> (Vienna, +1879-1880), ii. 309, § 1494.</note> At Hornkampe, near Tiegenhof (West Prussia), +when a man or woman lags behind the rest in binding the +corn, the other reapers dress up the last sheaf in the form of +a man or woman, and this figure goes by the laggard's +name, as <q>the old Michael,</q> <q>the idle Trine.</q> It is brought +home on the last waggon, and, as it nears the house, the +bystanders call out to the laggard, <q>You have got the Old +Woman and must keep her.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 323 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In Brandenburg the young +folks on the harvest-field race towards a sheaf and jump +over it. The last to jump over it has to carry a straw +puppet, adorned with ribbons, to the farmer and deliver it to +him while he recites some verses. Of the person who thus +carries the puppet it is said that <q>he has the Old Man.</q> +Probably the puppet is or used to be made out of the last corn +cut.<note place='foot'>H. Prahn, <q>Glaube und Brauch +in der Mark Brandenburg,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift +des Vereins für Volkskunde</hi>, i. (1891) +pp. 186 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In many districts of Saxony the last sheaf used to be +adorned with ribbons and set upright so as to look like a +man. It was then known as <q>the Old Man,</q> and the +young women brought it back in procession to the farm, +singing as they went, <q>Now we are bringing the Old Man.</q><note place='foot'>K. Haupt, <hi rend='italic'>Sagenbuch der Lausitz</hi> +(Leipsic, 1862-1863), i. p. 233, No. +277 note.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Old +Man or +the Old +Woman in +the last +sheaf.</note> +In West Prussia, when the last rye is being raked +together, the women and girls hurry with the work, for none +of them likes to be the last and to get <q>the Old Man,</q> that +is, a puppet made out of the last sheaf, which must be carried +before the other reapers by the person who was the last +<pb n='138'/><anchor id='Pg138'/> +to finish.<note place='foot'>R. Krause, <hi rend='italic'>Sitten, Gebräuche und +Aberglauben in Westpreussen</hi> (Berlin, +preface dated March 1904), p. 51.</note> In Silesia the last sheaf is called the Old Woman +or the Old Man and is the theme of many jests; it is made +unusually large and is sometimes weighted with a stone. +At Girlachsdorf, near Reichenbach, when this heavy sheaf is +lifted into the waggon, they say, <q>That is the Old Man +whom we sought for so long.</q><note place='foot'>P. Drechsler, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und +Volksglaube in Schlesien</hi> (Leipsic, 1903-1906), +ii. 65 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Among the Germans of +West Bohemia the man who cuts the last corn is said to +<q>have the Old Man.</q> In former times it used to be +customary to put a wreath on his head and to play all kinds +of pranks with him, and at the harvest supper he was given +the largest portion.<note place='foot'>A. John, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und +Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen</hi> +(Prague, 1905), p. 189.</note> At Wolletz in Westphalia the last +sheaf at harvest is called the Old Man, and being made up +into the likeness of a man and decorated with flowers it is +presented to the farmer, who in return prepares a feast for the +reapers. About Unna, in Westphalia, the last sheaf at +harvest is made unusually large, and stones are inserted to +increase its weight. It is called <foreign rend='italic'>de greaute meaur</foreign> (the Grey +Mother?), and when it is brought home on the waggon +water is thrown on the harvesters who accompany it.<note place='foot'>A. Kuhn, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Gebräuche und +Märchen aus Westfalen</hi> (Leipsic, 1859), +ii. 184, §§ 512 b, 514.</note> +Among the Wends the man or woman who binds the last +sheaf at wheat harvest is said to <q>have the Old Man.</q> +A puppet is made out of the wheaten straw and ears in the +likeness of a man and decked with flowers. The person +who bound the last sheaf must carry the Old Man home, +while the rest laugh and jeer at him. The puppet is hung +up in the farmhouse and remains till a new Old Man is +made at the next harvest.<note place='foot'>W. von Schulenburg, <hi rend='italic'>Wendisches +Volksthum</hi> (Berlin, 1882), p. 147.</note> At the close of the harvest the +Arabs of Moab bury the last sheaf in a grave in the cornfield, +saying as they do so, <q>We are burying the Old Man,</q> +or <q>The Old Man is dead.</q><note place='foot'>A. Jaussen, <hi rend='italic'>Coutumes des Arabes +au pays de Moab</hi> (Paris, 1908), pp. +252 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Identification +of the +harvester +with the +corn-spirit.</note> +In some of these customs, as Mannhardt has remarked, +the person who is called by the same name as the last sheaf +and sits beside it on the last waggon is obviously identified +<pb n='139'/><anchor id='Pg139'/> +with it; he or she represents the corn-spirit which has been +caught in the last sheaf; in other words, the corn-spirit is +represented in duplicate, by a human being and by a sheaf.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 324.</note> +The identification of the person with the sheaf is made still +clearer by the custom of wrapping up in the last sheaf the +person who cuts or binds it. Thus at Hermsdorf in Silesia +it used to be the regular practice to tie up in the last sheaf +the woman who had bound it.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 320.</note> At Weiden, in Bavaria, it +is the cutter, not the binder, of the last sheaf who is tied +up in it.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 325.</note> Here the person wrapt up in the corn represents +the corn-spirit, exactly as a person wrapt in branches +or leaves represents the tree-spirit.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the +Evolution of Kings</hi>, ii. 74 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The last +sheaf made +unusually +large and +heavy.</note> +The last sheaf, designated as the Old Woman, is often +distinguished from the other sheaves by its size and weight. +Thus in some villages of West Prussia the Old Woman is +made twice as long and thick as a common sheaf, and a +stone is fastened in the middle of it. Sometimes it is made +so heavy that a man can barely lift it.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 324.</note> At Alt-Pillau, +in Samland, eight or nine sheaves are often tied together +to make the Old Woman, and the man who sets it up +grumbles at its weight.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 324 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At Itzgrund, in Saxe-Coburg, +the last sheaf, called the Old Woman, is made large with +the express intention of thereby securing a good crop next +year.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 325. The author of <hi rend='italic'>Die +gestriegelte Rockenphilosophie</hi> (Chemnitz, +1759) mentions (p. 891) the +German superstition that the last sheaf +should be made large in order that +all the sheaves next year may be of +the same size; but he says nothing as +to the shape or name of the sheaf. +Compare A. John, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und +Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen</hi> +(Prague, 1905), p. 188.</note> Thus the custom of making the last sheaf unusually +large or heavy is a charm, working by sympathetic magic, +to ensure a large and heavy crop at the following harvest. +In Denmark also the last sheaf is made larger than the +others, and is called the Old Rye-woman or the Old Barley-woman. +No one likes to bind it, because whoever does so +will be sure, they think, to marry an old man or an old +woman. Sometimes the last wheat-sheaf, called the Old +Wheat-woman, is made up in human shape, with head, +<pb n='140'/><anchor id='Pg140'/> +arms, and legs, and being dressed in clothes is carried +home on the last waggon, while the harvesters sit beside +it drinking and huzzaing.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 327.</note> Of the person who binds the +last sheaf it is said, <q>She or he is the Old Rye-woman.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 328.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Carlin +and the +Maiden in +Scotland. +The Old +Wife (<foreign rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign>) +at +harvest in +the Highlands +of +Scotland.</note> +In Scotland, when the last corn was cut after Hallowmas, +the female figure made out of it was sometimes called the +Carlin or Carline, that is, the Old Woman. But if cut +before Hallowmas, it was called the Maiden; if cut after +sunset, it was called the Witch, being supposed to bring bad +luck.<note place='foot'>J. Jamieson, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionary of the +Scottish Language</hi>, New Edition +(Paisley, 1879-1882), iii. 206, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +<q>Maiden</q>; W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 326.</note> Among the Highlanders of Scotland the last corn +cut at harvest is known either as the Old Wife (<foreign rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign>) +or as the Maiden; on the whole the former name seems to +prevail in the western and the latter in the central and +eastern districts. Of the Maiden we shall speak presently; +here we are dealing with the Old Wife. The following +general account of the custom is given by a careful and +well-informed enquirer, the Rev. J. G. Campbell, minister of +the remote Hebridean island of Tiree: <q>The Harvest Old +Wife (<foreign rend='italic'>a Chailleach</foreign>).—In harvest, there was a struggle to +escape from being the last done with the shearing,<note place='foot'>That is, with the reaping.</note> and when +tillage in common existed, instances were known of a ridge +being left unshorn (no person would claim it) because of it +being behind the rest. The fear entertained was that of +having the <q>famine of the farm</q> (<foreign rend='italic'>gort a bhaile</foreign>), in the shape +of an imaginary old woman (<foreign rend='italic'>cailleach</foreign>), to feed till next +harvest. Much emulation and amusement arose from the +fear of this old woman.... The first done made a doll of +some blades of corn, which was called the <q>old wife,</q> and +sent it to his nearest neighbour. He in turn, when ready, +passed it to another still less expeditious, and the person it +last remained with had <q>the old woman</q> to keep for that +year.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. J. G. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>Superstitions +of the Highlands and Islands of +Scotland</hi> (Glasgow, 1900), pp. 243 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Old +Wife +(<foreign rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign>) +in the last +sheaf at +harvest in +the islands +of Lewis +and Islay. The Old +Wife at +harvest in +Argyleshire. +The reaper +of the last +sheaf called +the Winter.</note> +To illustrate the custom by examples, in Bernera, +on the west of Lewis, the harvest rejoicing goes by +the name of the Old Wife (<foreign rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign>) from the last sheaf +<pb n='141'/><anchor id='Pg141'/> +cut, whether in a township, farm, or croft. Where there +are a number of crofts beside each other, there is always +great rivalry as to who shall first finish reaping, and so +have the Old Wife before his neighbours. Some people +even go out on a clear night to reap their fields after their +neighbours have retired to rest, in order that they may have +the Old Wife first. More neighbourly habits, however, +usually prevail, and as each finishes his own fields he goes +to the help of another, till the whole crop is cut. The reaping +is still done with the sickle. When the corn has been +cut on all the crofts, the last sheaf is dressed up to look as +like an old woman as possible. She wears a white cap, a +dress, an apron, and a little shawl over the shoulders fastened +with a sprig of heather. The apron is tucked up to form a +pocket, which is stuffed with bread and cheese. A sickle, +stuck in the string of the apron at the back, completes her +equipment. This costume and outfit mean that the Old +Wife is ready to bear a hand in the work of harvesting. +At the feast which follows, the Old Wife is placed at the +head of the table, and as the whisky goes round each of the +company drinks to her, saying, <q>Here's to the one that has +helped us with the harvest.</q> When the table has been +cleared away and dancing begins, one of the lads leads out +the Old Wife and dances with her; and if the night is fine +the party will sometimes go out and march in a body to a +considerable distance, singing harvest-songs, while one of +them carries the Old Wife on his back. When the Harvest-Home +is over, the Old Wife is shorn of her gear and used +for ordinary purposes.<note place='foot'>R. C. Maclagan, <q>Notes on folk-lore objects collected in Argyleshire,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, vi. (1895) pp. 149 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In the island of Islay the last corn +cut also goes by the name of the Old Wife (<foreign rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign>), and +when she has done her duty at harvest she is hung up on the +wall and stays there till the time comes to plough the fields +for the next year's crop. Then she is taken down, and on the +first day when the men go to plough she is divided among +them by the mistress of the house. They take her in their +pockets and give her to the horses to eat when they reach +the field. This is supposed to secure good luck for the next +harvest, and is understood to be the proper end of the Old +<pb n='142'/><anchor id='Pg142'/> +Wife.<note place='foot'>R. C. Maclagan, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 151.</note> In Kintyre also the name of the Old Wife is given +to the last corn cut.<note place='foot'>R. C. Maclagan, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 149.</note> On the shores of the beautiful Loch +Awe, a long sheet of water, winding among soft green hills, +above which the giant Ben Cruachan towers bold and rugged +on the north, the harvest custom is somewhat different. +The name of the Old Wife (<foreign rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign>) is here bestowed, not +on the last corn cut, but on the reaper who is the last to +finish. He bears it as a term of reproach, and is not +privileged to reap the last ears left standing. On the contrary, +these are cut by the reaper who was the first to finish +his <foreign rend='italic'>spagh</foreign> or strip (literally <q>claw</q>), and out of them is +fashioned the Maiden, which is afterwards hung up, according +to one statement, <q>for the purpose of preventing the +death of horses in spring.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 151 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In the north-east of Scotland +<q>the one who took the last of the grain from the field to +the stackyard was called the <q>winter.</q> Each one did what +could be done to avoid being the last on the field, and when +there were several on the field there was a race to get off. +The unfortunate <q>winter</q> was the subject of a good deal of +teasing, and was dressed up in all the old clothes that could +be gathered about the farm, and placed on the <q>bink</q> to eat +his supper.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. Walter Gregor, <hi rend='italic'>Notes on the +Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland</hi> +(London, 1881), p. 182.</note> So in Caithness the person who cuts the last +sheaf is called Winter and retains the name till the next +harvest.<note place='foot'>Rev. J. Macdonald, <hi rend='italic'>Religion and +Myth</hi> (London, 1893), p. 141.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Hag +(<foreign rend='italic'>wrach</foreign>) +at harvest +in North +Pembrokeshire.</note> +Usages of the same sort are reported from Wales. Thus +in North Pembrokeshire a tuft of the last corn cut, from six +to twelve inches long, is plaited and goes by the name of the +Hag (<foreign rend='italic'>wrach</foreign>); and quaint old customs used to be practised +with it within the memory of many persons still alive. +Great was the excitement among the reapers when the last +patch of standing corn was reached. All in turn threw +their sickles at it, and the one who succeeded in cutting it +received a jug of home-brewed ale. The Hag (<foreign rend='italic'>wrach</foreign>) was +then hurriedly made and taken to a neighbouring farm, +where the reapers were still busy at their work. This was +generally done by the ploughman; but he had to be very +<pb n='143'/><anchor id='Pg143'/> +careful not to be observed by his neighbours, for if they saw +him coming and had the least suspicion of his errand they +would soon make him retrace his steps. Creeping stealthily +up behind a fence he waited till the foreman of his neighbour's +reapers was just opposite him and within easy reach. +Then he suddenly threw the Hag over the fence and, if +possible, upon the foreman's sickle, crying out +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'><hi rend='italic'>Boreu y codais i,</hi></q></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Hwyr y dilynais i,</hi></l> +<l><q rend='post'><hi rend='italic'>Ar ei gwar hi.</hi></q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Hag +(<foreign rend='italic'>wrach</foreign>) at +harvest in +South +Pembrokeshire. +The Carley +at harvest +in Antrim.</note> +On that he took to his heels and made off as fast as he +could run, and he was a lucky man if he escaped without +being caught or cut by the flying sickles which the infuriated +reapers hurled after him. In other cases the Hag was +brought home to the farmhouse by one of the reapers. He +did his best to bring it home dry and without being observed; +but he was apt to be roughly handled by the people of +the house, if they suspected his errand. Sometimes they +stripped him of most of his clothes, sometimes they would +drench him with water which had been carefully stored +in buckets and pans for the purpose. If, however, he +succeeded in bringing the Hag in dry and unobserved, the +master of the house had to pay him a small fine; or sometimes +a jug of beer <q>from the cask next to the wall,</q> which +seems to have commonly held the best beer, would be +demanded by the bearer. The Hag was then carefully +hung on a nail in the hall or elsewhere and kept there all +the year. The custom of bringing in the Hag (<foreign rend='italic'>wrach</foreign>) into +the house and hanging it up still exists in some farms of +North Pembrokeshire, but the ancient ceremonies which have +just been described are now discontinued.<note place='foot'>D. Jenkyn Evans, in an article +entitled <q>The Harvest Customs of +Pembrokeshire,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Pembroke County +Guardian</hi>, 7th December 1895. In a +letter to me, dated 23 February 1901, +Mr. E. S. Hartland was so good as to +correct the Welsh words in the text. +He tells me that they mean literally, +<q>I rose early, I pursued late on her +neck,</q> and he adds: <q>The idea seems +to be that the man has pursued the +Hag or Corn-spirit to a later refuge, +namely, his neighbour's field not yet +completely reaped, and now he leaves +her for the other reapers to catch. +The proper form of the Welsh word for +Hag is <foreign rend='italic'>Gwrach</foreign>. That is the radical +from <foreign rend='italic'>gwr</foreign>, man; <foreign rend='italic'>gwraig</foreign>, woman. +<foreign rend='italic'>Wrach</foreign> is the <q>middle mutation.</q></q></note> +</p> + +<p> +Similar customs at harvest were observed in South +<pb n='144'/><anchor id='Pg144'/> +Pembrokeshire within living memory. In that part of +the country there used to be a competition between +neighbouring farms to see which would finish reaping +first. The foreman of the reapers planned so as to +finish the reaping in a corner of the field out of sight +of the people on the next farm. There, with the last +handful of corn cut, he would make two Old Women or +Hags (<foreign rend='italic'>wrachs</foreign>). One of them he would send by a lad +or other messenger to be laid secretly in the field where +the neighbours were still at work cutting their corn. The +messenger would disguise himself to look like a stranger, +and jumping the fence and creeping through the corn he +would lay the Hag (<foreign rend='italic'>wrach</foreign>) in a place where the reapers in +reaping would be sure to find it. Having done so he fled +for dear life, for were the reapers to catch him they would +shut him up in a dark room and not let him out till he had +cleaned all the muddy boots, shoes, and clogs in the house. +The second Hag (<foreign rend='italic'>wrach</foreign>) was sent or taken by the foreman +of the reapers to his master's farmhouse. Generally he tried +to pop into the house unseen and lay the Hag on the +kitchen table; but if the people of the farm caught him +before he laid it down, they used to drench him with water. +If a foreman succeeded in getting both the Hags (<foreign rend='italic'>wrachs</foreign>) +laid safe in their proper quarters, one at home, the other on a +neighbour's farm, without interruption, it was deemed a great +honour.<note place='foot'>M. S. Clark, <q>An old South +Pembrokeshire Harvest Custom,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, +xv. (1904) pp. 194-196.</note> In County Antrim, down to some years ago, +when the sickle was finally expelled by the reaping machine, +the few stalks of corn left standing last on the field were +plaited together; then the reapers, blindfolded, threw their +sickles at the plaited corn, and whoever happened to cut it +through took it home with him and put it over his door. +This bunch of corn was called the Carley<note place='foot'>Communicated by my friend Professor +W. Ridgeway.</note>—probably the +same word as Carlin. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Old +Woman +(the Baba) +at harvest +among +Slavonic +peoples.</note> +Similar customs are observed by Slavonic peoples. Thus +in Poland the last sheaf is commonly called the Baba, that +is, the Old Woman. <q>In the last sheaf,</q> it is said, <q>sits the +Baba.</q> The sheaf itself is also called the Baba, and is +<pb n='145'/><anchor id='Pg145'/> +sometimes composed of twelve smaller sheaves lashed together.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 328.</note> +In some parts of Bohemia the Baba, made out of +the last sheaf, has the figure of a woman with a great straw +hat. It is carried home on the last harvest-waggon and +delivered, along with a garland, to the farmer by two girls. +In binding the sheaves the women strive not to be last, for +she who binds the last sheaf will have a child next year.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 238.</note> +The last sheaf is tied up with others into a large bundle, and +a green branch is stuck on the top of it.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 328 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Sometimes the +harvesters call out to the woman who binds the last sheaf, +<q>She has the Baba,</q> or <q>She is the Baba.</q> She has then +to make a puppet, sometimes in female, sometimes in male +form, out of the corn; the puppet is occasionally dressed +with clothes, often with flowers and ribbons only. The +cutter of the last stalks, as well as the binder of the last +sheaf, was also called Baba; and a doll, called the Harvest-woman, +was made out of the last sheaf and adorned with +ribbons. The oldest reaper had to dance, first with this doll, +and then with the farmer's wife.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 329.</note> In the district of Cracow, +when a man binds the last sheaf, they say, <q>The Grandfather +is sitting in it</q>; when a woman binds it, they say, <q>The Baba +is sitting in it,</q> and the woman herself is wrapt up in the +sheaf, so that only her head projects out of it. Thus encased +in the sheaf, she is carried on the last harvest-waggon +to the house, where she is drenched with water by the whole +family. She remains in the sheaf till the dance is over, and +for a year she retains the name of Baba.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 330.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Old +Woman +(the Baba) +at harvest +in Lithuania.</note> +In Lithuania the name for the last sheaf is Boba (Old +Woman), answering to the Polish name Baba. The Boba is +said to sit in the corn which is left standing last.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> The +person who binds the last sheaf or digs the last potato is the +subject of much banter, and receives and long retains the +name of the Old Rye-woman or the Old Potato-woman.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 331.</note> +The last sheaf—the Boba—is made into the form of a +woman, carried solemnly through the village on the last +harvest-waggon, and drenched with water at the farmer's +house; then every one dances with it.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> +</p> + +<pb n='146'/><anchor id='Pg146'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Corn-queen +and +the +Harvest-queen.</note> +In Russia also the last sheaf is often shaped and dressed +as a woman, and carried with dance and song to the farmhouse. +Out of the last sheaf the Bulgarians make a doll +which they call the Corn-queen or Corn-mother; it is dressed +in a woman's shirt, carried round the village, and then thrown +into the river in order to secure plenty of rain and dew for +the next year's crop. Or it is burned and the ashes strewn +on the fields, doubtless to fertilise them.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 332.</note> The name Queen, +as applied to the last sheaf, has its analogies in central +and northern Europe. Thus, in the Salzburg district of +Austria, at the end of the harvest a great procession takes +place, in which a Queen of the Corn-ears (<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Ährenkönigin</foreign>) is +drawn along in a little carriage by young fellows.<note place='foot'>Th. Vernaleken, <hi rend='italic'>Mythen und +Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich</hi> +(Vienna, 1859), p. 310.</note> The +custom of the Harvest Queen appears to have been common +in England. Brand quotes from Hutchinson's <hi rend='italic'>History of +Northumberland</hi> the following: <q>I have seen, in some places, +an image apparelled in great finery, crowned with flowers, a +sheaf of corn placed under her arm, and a scycle in her hand, +carried out of the village in the morning of the conclusive +reaping day, with music and much clamour of the reapers, +into the field, where it stands fixed on a pole all day, and +when the reaping is done, is brought home in like manner. +This they call the Harvest Queen, and it represents the +Roman Ceres.</q><note place='foot'>Hutchinson, <hi rend='italic'>History of Northumberland</hi>, +ii. <hi rend='italic'>ad finem</hi>, 17, quoted by +J. Brand, <hi rend='italic'>Popular Antiquities of Great +Britain</hi>, ii. 20, Bohn's edition.</note> Again, the traveller Dr. E. D. Clarke tells +us that <q>even in the town of Cambridge, and centre of our +University, such curious remains of antient customs may be +noticed, in different seasons of the year, which pass without +observation. The custom of blowing horns upon the +first of May (Old Style) is derived from a festival in honour +of Diana. At the <foreign rend='italic'>Hawkie</foreign>, as it is called, or Harvest +Home, I have seen a clown dressed in woman's clothes, +having his face painted, his head decorated with ears of corn, +and bearing about him other symbols of Ceres, carried in a +waggon, with great pomp and loud shouts, through the +streets, the horses being covered with white sheets: and when +I inquired the meaning of the ceremony, was answered by +the people that they were drawing the Morgay (ΜΗΤΗΡ ΓΗ) +<pb n='147'/><anchor id='Pg147'/> +or Harvest Queen.</q><note place='foot'>E. D. Clarke, <hi rend='italic'>Travels in Various +Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa</hi>, +Part ii., Section First, Second Edition +(London, 1813), p. 229. Perhaps +<foreign rend='italic'>Morgay</foreign> (which Clarke absurdly explains +as μητὴρ γῆ) is a mistake for +<foreign rend='italic'>Hawkie</foreign> or <foreign rend='italic'>Hockey</foreign>. The waggon in +which the last corn was brought from +the harvest field was called the <foreign rend='italic'>hockey</foreign> +cart or <foreign rend='italic'>hock</foreign> cart. In a poem called +<q>The Hock-cart or Harvest Home</q> +Herrick has described the joyous return +of the laden cart drawn by horses +swathed in white sheets and attended +by a merry crowd, some of whom +kissed or stroked the sheaves, while +others pranked them with oak leaves. +See further J. Brand, <hi rend='italic'>Popular Antiquities</hi>, +ii. 22 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, Bohn's edition. +The name <foreign rend='italic'>Hockey</foreign> or <foreign rend='italic'>Hawkie</foreign> is no +doubt the same with the German +<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>hokelmei</foreign>, <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>hörkelmei</foreign>, or <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>harkelmei</foreign>, +which in Westphalia is applied to a +green bush or tree set up in the field at +the end of harvest and brought home in +the last waggon-load; the man who +carries it into the farmhouse is sometimes +drenched with water. See A. +Kuhn, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen +aus Westfalen</hi> (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 178-180, +§§ 494-497. The word is thought +to be derived from the Low German <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>hokk</foreign> +(plural <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>hokken</foreign>), <q>a heap of sheaves.</q> +See Joseph Wright, <hi rend='italic'>English Dialect +Dictionary</hi>, iii. (London, 1902) p. 190, +<hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Hockey,</q> from which it appears +that in England the word has been in +use in Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, and +Suffolk.</note> Milton must have been familiar with +the custom of the Harvest Queen, for in <hi rend='italic'>Paradise Lost</hi><note place='foot'>Book ix. lines 838-842.</note> +he says:— +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l rend='margin-left: 18'><q rend='pre'><hi rend='italic'>Adam the while</hi></q></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Waiting desirous her return, had wove</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Of choicest flow'rs a garland to adorn</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Her tresses, and her rural labours crown,</hi></l> +<l><q rend='post'><hi rend='italic'>As reapers oft are wont their harvest-queen.</hi></q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as +the Old +Woman or +Old Man +at threshing.</note> +Often customs of this sort are practised, not on the +harvest-field but on the threshing-floor. The spirit of the +corn, fleeing before the reapers as they cut down the +ripe grain, quits the reaped corn and takes refuge in the +barn, where it appears in the last sheaf threshed, either to +perish under the blows of the flail or to flee thence to the +still unthreshed corn of a neighbouring farm.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 333 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Thus the last +corn to be threshed is called the Mother-Corn or the Old +Woman. Sometimes the person who gives the last stroke +with the flail is called the Old Woman, and is wrapt in the +straw of the last sheaf, or has a bundle of straw fastened on +his back. Whether wrapt in the straw or carrying it on his +back, he is carted through the village amid general laughter. +In some districts of Bavaria, Thüringen, and elsewhere, the +man who threshes the last sheaf is said to have the Old +Woman or the Old Corn-woman; he is tied up in straw, +carried or carted about the village, and set down at last +<pb n='148'/><anchor id='Pg148'/> +on the dunghill, or taken to the threshing-floor of a neighbouring +farmer who has not finished his threshing.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 334.</note> In Poland +the man who gives the last stroke at threshing is called +Baba (Old Woman); he is wrapt in corn and wheeled +through the village.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, +p. 334.</note> Sometimes in Lithuania the last sheaf +is not threshed, but is fashioned into female shape and +carried to the barn of a neighbour who has not finished +his threshing.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 336.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The man +who gives +the last +stroke at +threshing +is called the +Corn-fool, +the Oats-fool, +etc.</note> +At Chorinchen, near Neustadt, the man who gives the +last stroke at threshing is said to <q>get the Old Man.</q><note place='foot'>A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz, +<hi rend='italic'>Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und +Gebräuche</hi> (Leipsic, 1848), p. 397.</note> +In various parts of Austrian Silesia he is called the corn-fool, +the oats-fool, and so forth according to the crop, and +retains the name till the next kind of grain has been reaped. +Sometimes he is called the <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Klöppel</foreign> or mallet. He is much +ridiculed and in the Bennisch district he is dressed out +in the threshing-implements and obliged to carry them +about the farmyard to the amusement of his fellows. In +Dobischwald the man who gives the last stroke at threshing +has to carry a log or puppet of wood wrapt in straw to a +neighbour who has not yet finished his threshing. There +he throws his burden into the barn, crying, <q>There you +have the Mallet (<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Klöppel</foreign>),</q> and makes off as fast as he can. +If they catch him, they tie the puppet on his back, and +he is known as the Mallet (<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Klöppel</foreign>) for the whole of the +year; he may be the Corn-mallet or the Wheat-mallet or +so forth according to the particular crop.<note place='foot'>A. Peter, <hi rend='italic'>Volksthümliches aus Österreichisch-Schlesien</hi> +(Troppau, 1865-1867), +ii. 270.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The man +who gives +the last +stroke at +threshing +is said to +get the Old +Woman +or the +Old Man. The Corn-woman +at +threshing.</note> +About Berneck, in Upper Franken, the man who gives +the last stroke at threshing runs away. If the others catch +him, he gets <q>the Old Woman,</q> that is, the largest dumpling, +which elsewhere is baked in human shape. The custom of +setting a dumpling baked in the form of an old woman +before the man who has given the last stroke at threshing is +also observed in various parts of Middle Franken. Sometimes +the excised genitals of a calf are served up to him +at table.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Bavaria Landes- und Volkskunde +des Königreichs Bayern</hi>, iii. (Munich, +1865) pp. 344, 969.</note> At Langenbielau in Silesia the last sheaf, which +<pb n='149'/><anchor id='Pg149'/> +is called <q>the Old Man,</q> is threshed separately and the +corn ground into meal and baked into a loaf. This loaf is +believed to possess healing virtue and to bring a blessing; +hence none but members of the family may partake of it. +At Wittichenau, in the district of Hoyerswerda (Silesia), +when the threshing is ended, some of the straw of <q>the +Old Man</q> is carried to a neighbour who has not yet finished +his threshing, and the bearer is rewarded with a gratuity.<note place='foot'>P. Drechsler, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und +Volksglaube in Schlesien</hi> (Leipsic, 1903-1906), +ii. 67.</note> +Among the Germans of the Falkenauer district in West +Bohemia the man who gives the last stroke at threshing +gets <q>the Old Man,</q> a hideous scarecrow, tied on his back. +If threshing is still proceeding at another farm, he may go +thither and rid himself of his burden, but must take care +not to be caught. In this way a farmer who is behind-hand +with his threshing may receive several such scarecrows, +and so become the target for many gibes. Among the +Germans of the Planer district in West Bohemia, the man +who gives the last stroke at threshing is himself called <q>the +Old Man.</q> Similarly at flax-dressing in Silberberg (West +Bohemia), the woman who is the last to finish her task is +said to get the Old Man, and a cake baked in human form +is served up to her at supper.<note place='foot'>A. John, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und +Volksglaube in deutschen Westböhmen</hi> +(Prague, 1905), pp. 193, 194, 197.</note> The Wends of Saxony say +of the man who gives the last stroke at threshing that <q>he +has struck the Old Man</q> (<foreign rend='italic'>wón je stareho bil</foreign>), and he is +obliged to carry a straw puppet to a neighbour, who +has not yet finished his threshing, where he throws +the puppet unobserved over the fence.<note place='foot'>R. Wuttke, <hi rend='italic'>Sächsische Volkskunde</hi> +(Dresden, 1901), p. 360.</note> In some parts +of Sweden, when a stranger woman appears on the +threshing-floor, a flail is put round her body, stalks of +corn are wound round her neck, a crown of ears is placed +on her head, and the threshers call out, <q>Behold the Corn-woman.</q> +Here the stranger woman, thus suddenly appearing, +is taken to be the corn-spirit who has just been expelled by +the flails from the corn-stalks.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt. <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 336.</note> In other cases the farmer's +wife represents the corn-spirit. Thus in the Commune +of Saligné, Canton de Poiret (Vendée), the farmer's wife, +<pb n='150'/><anchor id='Pg150'/> +along with the last sheaf, is tied up in a sheet, placed on a +litter, and carried to the threshing machine, under which +she is shoved. Then the woman is drawn out and the +sheaf is threshed by itself, but the woman is tossed in +the sheet, as if she were being winnowed.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 336; W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Baumkultus</hi>, p. 612.</note> It would be +impossible to express more clearly the identification of the +woman with the corn than by this graphic imitation of +threshing and winnowing her. Mitigated forms of the +custom are observed in various places. Thus among the +Germans of Schüttarschen in West Bohemia it was customary +at the close of the threshing to <q>throttle</q> the farmer's wife +by squeezing her neck between the arms of a flail till she +consented to bake a special kind of cake called a <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>drischala</foreign> +(from <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>dreschen</foreign>, <q>to thresh</q>).<note place='foot'>A. John, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und +Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen</hi> +(Prague, 1905), p. 194.</note> A similar custom of <q>throttling</q> +the farmer's wife at the threshing is practised in some +parts of Bavaria, only there the pressure is applied by means +of a straw rope instead of a flail.<note place='foot'>E. H. Meyer, <hi rend='italic'>Badisches Volksleben</hi> +(Strasburg, 1900), p. 437.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +child at +harvest.</note> +In these customs the spirit of the ripe corn is regarded +as old, or at least as of mature age. Hence the names of +Mother, Grandmother, Old Woman, and so forth. But in +other cases the corn-spirit is conceived as young. Thus at +Saldern, near Wolfenbuttel, when the rye has been reaped, +three sheaves are tied together with a rope so as to make a +puppet with the corn ears for a head. This puppet is called +the Maiden or the Corn-maiden (<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Kornjungfer</foreign>).<note place='foot'>A. Kuhn, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Gebräuche und +Märchen aus Westfalen</hi> (Leipsic, 1859), +ii. 184 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, § 515.</note> Sometimes +the corn-spirit is conceived as a child who is separated +from its mother by the stroke of the sickle. This last +view appears in the Polish custom of calling out to +the man who cuts the last handful of corn, <q>You +have cut the navel-string.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi> +(Berlin, 1868), p. 28.</note> In some districts of West +Prussia the figure made out of the last sheaf is called +the Bastard, and a boy is wrapt up in it. The woman who +binds the last sheaf and represents the Corn-mother is told +that she is about to be brought to bed; she cries like a +woman in travail, and an old woman in the character of +<pb n='151'/><anchor id='Pg151'/> +grandmother acts as midwife. At last a cry is raised that +the child is born; whereupon the boy who is tied up in the +sheaf whimpers and squalls like an infant. The grandmother +wraps a sack, in imitation of swaddling bands, round +the pretended baby, who is carried joyfully to the barn, lest +he should catch cold in the open air.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi></note> In other parts of North +Germany the last sheaf, or the puppet made out of it, is +called the Child, the Harvest-Child, and so on, and they +call out to the woman who binds the last sheaf, <q>you are +getting the child.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The last +corn cut +called the +<foreign rend='italic'>mell</foreign>, the +<foreign rend='italic'>kirn</foreign>, or +the <foreign rend='italic'>churn</foreign> +in various +parts of +England. The <foreign rend='italic'>churn</foreign> +cut by +throwing +sickles at it.</note> +In the north of England, particularly in the counties of +Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, the last corn cut +on the field at harvest is or used to be variously known +as the <foreign rend='italic'>mell</foreign> or the <foreign rend='italic'>kirn</foreign>, of which <foreign rend='italic'>kern</foreign> and <foreign rend='italic'>churn</foreign> are merely +local or dialectical variations. The corn so cut is either +plaited or made up into a doll-like figure, which goes by +the name of the mell-doll or the kirn-doll, or the kirn-baby, +and is brought home with rejoicings at the end of the +harvest.<note place='foot'>Joseph Wright, <hi rend='italic'>English Dialect +Dictionary</hi>, vol. i. (London, 1898) +p. 605 <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Churn</q>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, vol. iii. +(London, 1902) p. 453 <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Kirn</q>; +<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi> vol. iv. (London, 1903) pp. 82 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> +Sir James Murray, editor of the <hi rend='italic'>New +English Dictionary</hi>, kindly informs me +that the popular etymology which +identifies <foreign rend='italic'>kern</foreign> or <foreign rend='italic'>kirn</foreign> in this sense with +<emph>corn</emph> is entirely mistaken; and that +<q>baby</q> or <q>babbie</q> in the same +phrase means only <q>doll,</q> not +<q>infant.</q> He writes, <q><foreign rend='italic'>Kirn-babbie</foreign> +does not mean <q>corn-baby,</q> but +merely <foreign rend='italic'>kirn-doll</foreign>, <emph>harvest-home doll</emph>. +<foreign rend='italic'>Bab</foreign>, <foreign rend='italic'>babbie</foreign> was even in my youth the +regular name for <q>doll</q> in the district, +as it was formerly in England; the +only woman who sold dolls in Hawick +early in the [nineteenth] century, and +whose toy-shop all bairns knew, was +known as <q>Betty o' the Babs,</q> Betty +of the dolls.</q></note> In the North Riding of Yorkshire the last sheaf +gathered in is called the Mell-sheaf, and the expression +<q>We've gotten wer mell</q> is as much as to say <q>The +Harvest is finished.</q> Formerly a Mell-doll was made out of +a sheaf of corn decked with flowers and wrapped in such of +the reapers' garments as could be spared. It was carried with +music and dancing to the scene of the harvest-supper, which +was called the mell-supper.<note place='foot'>W. Henderson, <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore of the +Northern Counties of England</hi> (London, +1879), pp. 88 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; M. C. F. Morris, +<hi rend='italic'>Yorkshire Folk-talk</hi>, pp. 212-214. +Compare F. Grose, <hi rend='italic'>Provincial Glossary</hi> +(London, 1811), <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Mell-supper</q>; +J. Brand, <hi rend='italic'>Popular Antiquities</hi>, ii. +27 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, Bohn's edition; <hi rend='italic'>The Denham +Tracts</hi>, edited by Dr. James Hardy +(London, 1892-1895), ii. 2 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> The +sheaf out of which the Mell-doll was +made was no doubt the Mell-sheaf, +though this is not expressly said. Dr. +Joseph Wright, editor of <hi rend='italic'>The English +Dialect Dictionary</hi>, kindly informs me +that the word <emph>mell</emph> is well known in +these senses in all the northern counties +of England down to Cheshire. He +tells me that the proposals to connect +<emph>mell</emph> with <q>meal</q> or with <q>maiden</q> +(through a form like the German +<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Mädel</foreign>) are inadmissible.</note> In the north of Yorkshire +<pb n='152'/><anchor id='Pg152'/> +the mell-sheaf <q>was frequently made of such dimensions +as to be a heavy load for a man, and, within a few years +comparatively, was proposed as the prize to be won in a +race of old women. In other cases it was carefully preserved +and set up in some conspicuous place in the farmhouse.</q><note place='foot'>Joseph Wright, <hi rend='italic'>The English +Dialect Dictionary</hi>, vol. iv. (London, +1903) <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Mell,</q> p. 83.</note> +Where the last sheaf of corn cut was called the <foreign rend='italic'>kirn</foreign> or +<foreign rend='italic'>kern</foreign> instead of the <foreign rend='italic'>mell</foreign>, the customs concerned with it seem +to have been essentially similar. Thus we are told that +in the north it was common for the reapers, on the last day +of the reaping, <q>to have a contention for superiority in +quickness of dispatch, groups of three or four taking each a +ridge, and striving which should soonest get to its termination. +In Scotland, this was called a <foreign rend='italic'>kemping</foreign>, which simply +means a striving. In the north of England, it was a <foreign rend='italic'>mell</foreign>.... +As the reapers went on during the last day, they took +care to leave a good handful of the grain uncut, but laid +down flat, and covered over; and, when the field was done, +the <q>bonniest lass</q> was allowed to cut this final handful, +which was presently dressed up with various sewings, tyings, +and trimmings, like a doll, and hailed as a <emph>Corn Baby</emph>. It +was brought home in triumph, with music of fiddles and +bagpipes, was set up conspicuously that night at supper, +and was usually preserved in the farmer's parlour for the +remainder of the year. The bonny lass who cut this handful +of grain was deemed the <emph>Har'st Queen</emph></q>.<note place='foot'>R. Chambers, <hi rend='italic'>The Book of Days</hi> +(Edinburgh, 1886), ii. 377 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> The +expression <q>Corn Baby</q> used by the +writer is probably his interpretation of +the correct expression <foreign rend='italic'>kirn</foreign> or <foreign rend='italic'>kern</foreign> +baby. See above, p. <ref target='Pg151'>151</ref>, note 3. It is +not clear whether the account refers to +England or Scotland. Compare F. +Grose, <hi rend='italic'>Provincial Glossary</hi> (London +1811), <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Kern-baby,</q> <q>an image +dressed up with corn, carried before the +reapers to their mell-supper, or harvest-home</q>; +J. Brand, <hi rend='italic'>Popular Antiquities</hi>, +ii. 20; W. Henderson, <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore of +the Northern Counties of England</hi>, +p. 87.</note> To cut the +last portion of standing corn in the harvest field was known +as <q>to get the kirn</q> or <q>to win the kirn</q>; and as soon as +this was done the reapers let the neighbours know that the +harvest was finished by giving three cheers, which was +<pb n='153'/><anchor id='Pg153'/> +called <q>to cry or shout the kirn.</q><note place='foot'>Joseph Wright, <hi rend='italic'>The English +Dialect Dictionary</hi>, iii. (London, 1902) +<hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Kirn,</q> p. 453.</note> Where the last handful +of standing corn was called the <foreign rend='italic'>churn</foreign>, the stalks were +roughly plaited together, and the reapers threw their sickles +at it till some one cut it through, which was called <q>cutting +the churn.</q> The severed churn (that is, the plaited corn) was +then placed over the kitchen door or over the hob in the +chimney for good luck, and as a charm against witchcraft.<note place='foot'>Joseph Wright, <hi rend='italic'>The English +Dialect Dictionary</hi>, i. (London, 1898) +p. 605.</note> +In Kent the Ivy Girl is, or used to be, <q>a figure composed +of some of the best corn the field produces, and made as well +as they can into a human shape; this is afterwards curiously +dressed by the women, and adorned with paper trimmings, +cut to resemble a cap, ruffles, handkerchief, etc., of the finest +lace. It is brought home with the last load of corn from the +field upon the waggon, and they suppose entitles them to a +supper at the expense of the employer.</q><note place='foot'>J. Brand, <hi rend='italic'>Popular Antiquities</hi>, ii. +21 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The last +corn cut +called the +<foreign rend='italic'>kirn</foreign> in +some parts +of Scotland. +The <foreign rend='italic'>kirn</foreign> +cut by +reapers +blindfold.</note> +In some parts of Scotland, as well as in the north of England, +the last handful of corn cut on the harvest-field was called +the <foreign rend='italic'>kirn</foreign>, and the person who carried it off was said <q>to win the +kirn.</q> It was then dressed up like a child's doll and went by +the name of the kirn-baby, the kirn-doll, or the Maiden.<note place='foot'>J. Jamieson, <hi rend='italic'>Etymological Dictionary +of the Scottish Language</hi>, New +Edition (Paisley, 1879-1882), iii. 42 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Kirn.</q></note> In +Berwickshire down to about the middle of the nineteenth +century there was an eager competition among the reapers +to cut the last bunch of standing corn. They gathered +round it at a little distance and threw their sickles in turn +at it, and the man who succeeded in cutting it through gave +it to the girl he preferred. She made the corn so cut into +a kirn-dolly and dressed it, and the doll was then taken to +the farmhouse and hung up there till the next harvest, when +its place was taken by the new kirn-dolly.<note place='foot'>Mrs. A. B. Gomme, <q>A Berwickshire +Kirn-dolly,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, xii. (1901) +p. 215.</note> At Spottiswoode +(Westruther Parish) in Berwickshire the reaping of the last +corn at harvest was called <q>cutting the Queen</q> almost as +often as <q>cutting the kirn.</q> The mode of cutting it was +not by throwing sickles. One of the reapers consented to +be blindfolded, and having been given a sickle in his hand +<pb n='154'/><anchor id='Pg154'/> +and turned twice or thrice about by his fellows, he was +bidden to go and cut the kirn. His groping about and +making wild strokes in the air with his sickle excited much +hilarity. When he had tired himself out in vain and given +up the task as hopeless, another reaper was blindfolded and +pursued the quest, and so on, one after the other, till at last +the kirn was cut. The successful reaper was tossed up in +the air with three cheers by his brother harvesters. To +decorate the room in which the kirn-supper was held at +Spottiswoode as well as the granary, where the dancing +took place, two women made kirn-dollies or Queens every +year; and many of these rustic effigies of the corn-spirit +might be seen hanging up together.<note place='foot'>Mrs. A. B. Gomme, <q>Harvest +Customs,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, xiii. (1902) p. +178.</note> At Lanfine in Ayrshire, +down to near the end of the nineteenth century, the +last bunch of standing corn at harvest was, occasionally at +least, plaited together, and the reapers tried to cut it by +throwing their sickles at it; when they failed in the attempt, +a woman has been known to run in and sever the stalks at +a blow. In Dumfriesshire also, within living memory, it +used to be customary to cut the last standing corn by throwing +the sickles at it.<note place='foot'>J. G. Frazer, <q>Notes on Harvest +Customs,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, vii. (1889) p. +48.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The <foreign rend='italic'>churn</foreign> +in Ireland +cut by +throwing +the sickles +at it.</note> +In the north of Ireland the harvest customs were +similar, but there, as in some parts of England, the +last patch of standing corn bore the name of the <foreign rend='italic'>churn</foreign>, +a dialectical variation of <foreign rend='italic'>kirn</foreign>. <q>The custom of <q>Winning +the Churn</q> was prevalent all through the counties of Down +and Antrim fifty years ago. It was carried out at the +end of the harvest, or reaping the grain, on each farm or +holding, were it small or large. Oats are the main crop of +the district, but the custom was the same for other kinds of +grain. When the reapers had nearly finished the last field +a handful of the best-grown stalks was selected, carefully +plaited as it stood, and fastened at the top just under the +ears to keep the plait in place. Then when all the corn was +cut from about this, which was known as <foreign rend='italic'>The Churn</foreign>, and +the sheaves about it had been removed to some distance, +the reapers stood in a group about ten yards off it, and each +<pb n='155'/><anchor id='Pg155'/> +whirled his sickle at the <foreign rend='italic'>Churn</foreign> till one lucky one succeeded +in cutting it down, when he was cheered on his achievement. +This person had then the right of presenting it to the master +or mistress of the farm, who gave the reaper a shilling.</q> A +supper and a dance of the reapers in the farmhouse often +concluded the day. The <foreign rend='italic'>Churn</foreign>, trimmed and adorned with +ribbons, was hung up on a wall in the farmhouse and carefully +preserved. It was no uncommon sight to see six or +even twelve or more such <foreign rend='italic'>Churns</foreign> decorating the walls of +a farmhouse in County Down or Antrim.<note place='foot'>(Rev.) H. W. Lett, <q>Winning the +Churn (Ulster),</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, xvi. (1905) +p. 185. My friend Miss Welsh, +formerly Principal of Girton College, +Cambridge, told me (30th May 1901) +that she remembers the custom of the +<foreign rend='italic'>churn</foreign> being observed in the north of +Ireland; the reapers cut the last handful +of standing corn (called the <foreign rend='italic'>churn</foreign>) +by throwing their sickles at it, and the +corn so cut was taken home and kept +for some time.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The last +corn cut +called the +Maiden in +the Highlands +of +Scotland.</note> +In some parts of the Highlands of Scotland the last +handful of corn that is cut by the reapers on any particular +farm is called the Maiden, or in Gaelic <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Maidhdeanbuain</foreign>, +literally <q>the shorn Maiden.</q> Superstitions attach to the +winning of the Maiden. If it is got by a young person, +they think it an omen that he or she will be married before +another harvest. For that or other reasons there is a strife +between the reapers as to who shall get the Maiden, and +they resort to various stratagems for the purpose of securing +it. One of them, for example, will often leave a handful of +corn uncut and cover it up with earth to hide it from the +other reapers, till all the rest of the corn on the field is cut +down. Several may try to play the same trick, and the one +who is coolest and holds out longest obtains the coveted +distinction. When it has been cut, the Maiden is dressed +with ribbons into a sort of doll and affixed to a wall of +the farmhouse. In the north of Scotland the Maiden is +carefully preserved till Yule morning, when it is divided +among the cattle "to make them thrive all the year round."<note place='foot'>J. Jamieson, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionary of the Scottish +Language</hi>, New Edition (Paisley, +1879-1882), iii. 206, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Maiden.</q> +An old Scottish name for the Maiden +(<foreign rend='italic'>autumnalis nymphula</foreign>) was <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Rapegyrne</foreign>. +See Fordun, <hi rend='italic'>Scotichren</hi>. ii. 418, quoted +by J. Jamieson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> iii. 624, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +<q>Rapegyrne.</q></note> +In the island of Mull and some parts of the mainland of +Argyleshire the last handful of corn cut is called the Maiden +(<foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Maighdean-Bhuana</foreign>). Near Ardrishaig, in Argyleshire, the +<pb n='156'/><anchor id='Pg156'/> +Maiden is made up in a fanciful three-cornered shape, +decorated with ribbons, and hung from a nail on the wall.<note place='foot'>R. C. Maclagan, in <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, vi. +(1895) pp. 149, 151.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The cutting +of the +Maiden at +harvest in +Argyleshire.</note> +The following account of the Maiden was obtained in +the summer of 1897 from the manager of a farm near +Kilmartin in Argyleshire: <q>The <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Mhaighdean-Bhuana</foreign>, or +<emph>Reaping Maiden</emph>, was the last sheaf of oats to be cut on +a croft or farm. Before the reaping-machine and binder +took the place of the sickle and the scythe, the young +reapers of both sexes, when they neared the end of the +last rig or field, used to manœuvre to gain possession of +the <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Mhaighdean-Bhuana</foreign>. The individual who was fortunate +enough to obtain it was <foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>ex officio</foreign> entitled to be the King +or the Queen of the Harvest-Home festival. The sheaf so +designated was carefully preserved and kept intact until the +day they began leading home the corn. A tuft of it was +then given to each of the horses, as they started from the +corn-field with their first load. The rest of it was neatly made +up, and hung in some conspicuous corner of the farmhouse, +where it remained till it was replaced by a younger sister +next season. On the first day of ploughing a tuft of it +was given (as on the first day of leading home the corn) as +a <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Sainnseal</foreign> or handsel for luck to the horses. The <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Mhaighdean-Bhuana</foreign> +so preserved and used was a symbol that the +harvest had been duly secured, and that the spring work +had been properly inaugurated. It was also believed to +be a protection against fairies and witchcraft.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. M. MacPhail (Free Church +Manse, Kilmartin, Lochgilphead), +<q>Folk-lore from the Hebrides,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, +xi. (1900) p. 441. That the Maiden, +hung up in the house, is thought to keep +out witches till the next harvest is mentioned +also by the Rev. J. G. Campbell, +<hi rend='italic'>Superstitions of the Highlands and +Islands of Scotland</hi> (Glasgow, 1900), p. +20. So with the <foreign rend='italic'>churn</foreign> (above, p. <ref target='Pg153'>153</ref>).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The cutting +of the +Maiden at +harvest in +Perthshire.</note> +In the parish of Longforgan, situated at the south-eastern +corner of Perthshire, it used to be customary to give what +was called the Maiden Feast at the end of the harvest. The +last handful of corn reaped on the field was called the Maiden, +and things were generally so arranged that it fell into the +hands of a pretty girl. It was then decked out with ribbons +and brought home in triumph to the music of bagpipes and +fiddles. In the evening the reapers danced and made merry. +Afterwards the Maiden was dressed out, generally in the +<pb n='157'/><anchor id='Pg157'/> +form of a cross, and hung up, with the date attached to it, +in a conspicuous part of the house.<note place='foot'>Sir John Sinclair, <hi rend='italic'>Statistical +Account of Scotland</hi>, xix. (Edinburgh, +1797), pp. 550 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Compare Miss +E. J. Guthrie, <hi rend='italic'>Old Scottish Customs</hi> +(London and Glasgow, 1885), pp. +130 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In the neighbourhood +of Balquhidder, Perthshire, the last handful of corn is cut +by the youngest girl on the field, and is made into the rude +form of a female doll, clad in a paper dress, and decked +with ribbons. It is called the Maiden, and is kept in the +farmhouse, generally above the chimney, for a good while, +sometimes till the Maiden of the next year is brought in. +The writer of this book witnessed the ceremony of cutting +the Maiden at Balquhidder in September 1888.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore Journal</hi>, vi. (1888) pp. +268 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> A lady +friend<note place='foot'>The late Mrs. Macalister, wife of +Professor Alexander Macalister, Cambridge. +Her recollections referred +especially to the neighbourhood of Glen +Farg, some ten or twelve miles to the +south of Perth.</note> informed me that as a young girl she cut the Maiden +several times at the request of the reapers in the neighbourhood +of Perth. The name of the Maiden was given to the +last handful of standing corn; a reaper held the top of the +bunch while she cut it. Afterwards the bunch was plaited, +decked with ribbons, and hung up in a conspicuous place on +the wall of the kitchen till the next Maiden was brought in. +The harvest-supper in this neighbourhood was also called +the Maiden; the reapers danced at it. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Maiden at +harvest in +Lochaber. +The cutting +of the +Maiden at +harvest on +the Gareloch +in +Dumbartonshire.</note> +In the Highland district of Lochaber dancing and merry-making +on the last night of harvest used to be universal and +are still generally observed. Here, we are told, the festivity +without the Maiden would be like a wedding without the bride. +The Maiden is carried home with tumultuous rejoicing, and +after being suitably decorated is hung up in the barn, where +the dancing usually takes place. When supper is over, one +of the company, generally the oldest man present, drinks +a glass of whisky, after turning to the suspended sheaf +and saying, <q>Here's to the Maiden.</q> The company follow +his example, each in turn drinking to the Maiden. Then +the dancing begins.<note place='foot'>Rev. James Macdonald, <hi rend='italic'>Religion +and Myth</hi> (London, 1893), pp. 141 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> On some farms on the Gareloch, in +Dumbartonshire, about the year 1830, the last handful of +standing corn was called the Maiden. It was divided in two, +plaited, and then cut with the sickle by a girl, who, it was +<pb n='158'/><anchor id='Pg158'/> +thought, would be lucky and would soon be married. When +it was cut the reapers gathered together and threw their +sickles in the air. The Maiden was dressed with ribbons +and hung in the kitchen near the roof, where it was kept for +several years with the date attached. Sometimes five or six +Maidens might be seen hanging at once on hooks. The +harvest-supper was called the Kirn.<note place='foot'>From information supplied by +Archie Leitch, late gardener to my +father at Rowmore, Garelochhead. +The Kirn was the name of the harvest +festivity in the south of Scotland also. +See Lockhart's <hi rend='italic'>Life of Scott</hi>, ii. 184 +(first edition); <hi rend='italic'>Early Letters of Thomas +Carlyle</hi>, ed. Norton, ii. 325 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In other farms on the +Gareloch the last handful of corn was called the Maidenhead +or the Head; it was neatly plaited, sometimes decked with +ribbons, and hung in the kitchen for a year, when the grain +was given to the poultry.<note place='foot'>Communicated by the late Mr. +Macfarlane of Faslane, Gareloch.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The cutting +of the +<foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> +sheaf at +harvest in +Aberdeenshire.</note> +In the north-east of Aberdeenshire the customs connected +with the last corn cut at harvest have been carefully +collected and recorded by the late Rev. Walter Gregor of +Pitsligo. His account runs as follows: <q rend='pre'>The last sheaf cut +is the object of much care: the manner of cutting it, binding +it, and carrying it to the house varies a little in the different +districts. The following customs have been reported to me +by people who have seen them or who have practised them, +and some of the customs have now disappeared. The +information comes from the parishes of Pitsligo, Aberdour, +and Tyrie, situated in the north-east corner of the county of +Aberdeen, but the customs are not limited to these parishes.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Some particulars relating to the sheaf may be noted +as always the same; thus (<hi rend='italic'>a</hi>) it is cut and gathered by the +youngest person present in the field, the person who is +supposed to be the purest; (<hi rend='italic'>b</hi>) the sheaf is not allowed +to touch the ground; (<hi rend='italic'>c</hi>) it is made up and carried in +triumph to the house; (<hi rend='italic'>d</hi>) it occupies a conspicuous place +in the festivals which follow the end of the reaping; (<hi rend='italic'>e</hi>) it +is kept till Christmas morning, and is then given to one or +more of the horses or to the cattle of the farm.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The <foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> +sheaf cut +by the +youngest +girl and not +allowed to +touch the +ground.</note> +<q rend='pre'>Before the introduction of the scythe, the corn was cut +by the sickle or <foreign rend='italic'>heuck</foreign>, a kind of curved sickle. The last +sheaf was shorn or cut by the youngest girl present. As +the corn might not touch the ground, the master or <q>gueedman</q> +<pb n='159'/><anchor id='Pg159'/> +sat down, placed the band on his knees, and received +thereupon each handful as it was cut. The sheaf was bound, +dressed as a woman, and when it had been brought to the +house, it was placed in some part of the kitchen, where +everybody could see it during the meal which followed the +end of the reaping. This sheaf was called the <foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> sheaf.<note place='foot'>A slightly different mode of +making up the <foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> sheaf is described +by the Rev. Walter Gregor elsewhere +(<hi rend='italic'>Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-east +of Scotland</hi>, London, 1881, pp. 181 +sq.): <q>The <foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> sheaf was cut by +the maidens on the harvest field. On +no account was it allowed to touch the +ground. One of the maidens seated +herself on the ground, and over her +knees was the band of the sheaf laid. +Each of the maidens cut a handful, +or more if necessary, and laid it on +the band. The sheaf was then bound, +still lying over the maiden's knees, and +dressed up in woman's clothing.</q></note></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The manner of receiving and binding the last sheaf is +not always the same. Here is another: three persons hold +the band in their hands, one of them at each end, while the +third holds the knot in the middle. Each handful of corn +is placed so that the cut end is turned to the breast of those +who support the ears on the opposite side. When all is cut, +the youngest boy ties the knot. Two other bands are +fastened to the sheaf, one near the cut end, the other near +the ears. The sheaf is carried to the house by those who +have helped to cut or bind it (Aberdour).</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>Since the introduction of the scythe, it is the youngest +boy who cuts the last sheaf; my informant (a woman) told +me that when he was not strong enough to wield the scythe, +his hand was guided by another. The youngest girl gathers +it. When it is bound with three bands, it is cut straight, +and it is not allowed to touch the ground. The youngest +girls carry it to the house. My informant (a woman) told +me that she had seen it decked and placed at the head of +the bed. Formerly, and still sometimes, there was always a +bed in the kitchen (Tyrie).</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The corn is not allowed to fall on the ground: the +young girls who gather it take it by the ear and convey +it handful by handful, till the whole sheaf is cut. A woman +who <q>has lost a feather of her wing,</q> as an old woman put +it to me, may not touch it. Sometimes also they merely +put the two hands round the sheaf (New Deer).</q> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The <foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> +feast or +<q>meal and +ale.</q></note> +<q rend='pre'>Generally a feast and dance follow when all the wheat +is cut. This feast and dance bear the name of <foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> or +<pb n='160'/><anchor id='Pg160'/> +<q>meal and ale.</q> However, some people do not give <q>meal +and ale</q> till all the cut corn has been got in: then the feast +is called <q>the Winter</q> and they say that a farmer <q>has the +Winter</q> when all his sheaves have been carried home.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>At this feast two things are indispensable: a cheese +called the <foreign rend='italic'>clyack-kebback</foreign> and <q>meal and ale.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The cheese <foreign rend='italic'>clyack-kebback</foreign> must be cut by the master of +the house. The first slice is larger than the rest; it is known +by the name of <q>the <foreign rend='italic'>kanave's faang</foreign>,</q>—the young man's big +slice—and is generally the share of the herd boy (Tyrie).</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The dish called <q>meal and ale</q> is made as follows. +You take a suitable vessel, whether an earthenware pot or +a milk-bowl, if the crockery is scanty; but if on the contrary +the family is well off, they use other special utensils. In +each dish ale is poured and treacle is added to sweeten +it. Then oatmeal is mixed with the sweetened ale till the +whole is of a sufficient consistency. The cook adds whisky +to the mixture in such proportion as she thinks fit. In each +plate is put a ring. To allow the meal time to be completely +absorbed, the dish is prepared on the morning of the +feast. At the moment of the feast the dish or dishes containing +the strong and savoury mixture are set on the +middle of the table. But it is not served up till the end. +Six or seven persons generally have a plate to themselves. +Each of them plunges his spoon into the plate as fast as +possible in the hope of getting the ring; for he who is +lucky enough to get it will be married within the year. +Meantime some of the stuff is swallowed, but often in the +struggle some of it is spilt on the table or the floor.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The <foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> +sheaf in +the dance.</note> +<q rend='pre'>In some districts there used to be and still is dancing +in the evening of the feast. <q>The sheaf</q> figured in the +dances. It was dressed as a girl and carried on the back of +the mistress of the house to the barn or granary which +served as a ballroom. The mistress danced a reel with +<q>the sheaf</q> on her back.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The <foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> +sheaf given +to a mare +in foal or +to a cow +in calf.</note> +<q>The woman who gave me this account had been a +witness of what she described when she was a girl. The +sheaf was afterwards carefully stored till the first day of +Christmas, when it was given to eat to a mare in foal, if +there was one on the farm, or, if there was not, to the oldest +<pb n='161'/><anchor id='Pg161'/> +cow in calf. Elsewhere the sheaf was divided between all +the cows and their calves or between all the horses and +the cattle of the farm. (Related by an eye-witness.)</q><note place='foot'>W. Gregor, <q>Quelques coutumes +du Nord-est du Comté d'Aberdeen,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Revue des Traditions populaires</hi>, iii. +(October, 1888) pp. 484-487 (wrong +pagination; should be 532-535). This +account, translated into French by M. +Loys Brueyre from the author's English +and translated by me back from French +into English, is fuller than the account +given by the same writer in his <hi rend='italic'>Notes +on the Folk-lore of the North-east of +Scotland</hi> (London, 1881), pp. 181-183. +I have translated <q><foreign lang='fr' rend='italic'>une jument ayant +son poulain</foreign></q> by <q>a mare in foal,</q> +and <q><foreign lang='fr' rend='italic'>la plus ancienne vache ayant son +veau</foreign></q> by <q>the oldest cow in calf,</q> +because in the author's <hi rend='italic'>Notes on the +Folk-lore of the North-east of Scotland</hi> +(p. 182) we read that the last sheaf was +<q>carefully preserved till Christmas or +New Year morning. On that morning +it was given to a mare in foal,</q> etc. +Otherwise the French words might +naturally be understood of a mare +with its foal and a cow with its calf.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Sanctity +attributed +to the +<foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> +sheaf. +The sacrament +of +barley-meal +and +water at +Eleusis.</note> +In these Aberdeenshire customs the sanctity attributed +to the last corn cut at harvest is clearly manifested, not +merely by the ceremony with which it is treated on the +field, in the house, and in the barn, but also by the great +care taken to prevent it from touching the ground or being +handled by any unchaste person. The reason why the +youngest person on the field, whether a girl or a boy, is +chosen to cut the last standing corn and sometimes to carry +it to the house is no doubt a calculation that the younger +the person the more likely is he or she to be sexually pure. +We have seen that for this reason some negroes entrust the +sowing of the seed to very young girls,<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg115'>115</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> and later on we +shall meet with more evidence in Africa of the notion that +the corn may be handled only by the pure.<note place='foot'>See below, vol. ii. p. 110.</note> And in the +gruel of oat-meal and ale, which the harvesters sup with +spoons as an indispensable part of the harvest supper, have +we not the Scotch equivalent of the gruel of barley-meal and +water, flavoured with pennyroyal, which the initiates at Eleusis +drank as a solemn form of communion with the Barley +Goddess Demeter?<note place='foot'>The drinking of the draught (called +the κυκεών) as a solemn rite in the +Eleusinian mysteries is mentioned by +Clement of Alexandria (<hi rend='italic'>Protrept.</hi> 21, +p. 18, ed. Potter) and Arnobius (<hi rend='italic'>Adversus +Nationes</hi>, v. 26). The composition +of the draught is revealed by +the author of the Homeric <hi rend='italic'>Hymn to +Demeter</hi> (verses 206-211), where he +represents Demeter herself partaking +of the sacred cup. That the compound +was a kind of thick gruel, half-solid, +half-liquid, is mentioned by Eustathius +(on Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>, xi. 638, p. 870). +Compare Miss J. E. Harrison, <hi rend='italic'>Prolegomena +to the Study of Greek Religion</hi>, +Second Edition (Cambridge, +1908), pp. 155 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> May not that mystic sacrament have +<pb n='162'/><anchor id='Pg162'/> +originated in a simple harvest supper held by Eleusinian +farmers at the end of the reaping? +</p> + +<p> +According to a briefer account of the Aberdeenshire +custom, <q>the last sheaf cut, or <q>maiden,</q> is carried home +in merry procession by the harvesters. It is then presented +to the mistress of the house, who dresses it up +to be preserved till the first mare foals. The maiden +is then taken down and presented to the mare as its +first food. The neglect of this would have untoward +effects upon the foal, and disastrous consequences upon farm +operations generally for the season.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. J. Macdonald, <hi rend='italic'>Religion and +Myth</hi> (London, 1893), pp. 140 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +from MS. notes of Miss J. Ligertwood.</note> In Fifeshire the last +handful of corn, known as the Maiden, is cut by a young +girl and made into the rude figure of a doll, tied with ribbons, +by which it is hung on the wall of the farm-kitchen till the +next spring.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore Journal</hi>, vii. (1889) p. +51; <hi rend='italic'>The Quarterly Review</hi>, clxxii. +(1891) p. 195.</note> The custom of cutting the Maiden at harvest +was also observed in Inverness-shire and Sutherlandshire.<note place='foot'>As to Inverness-shire my old friend +Mr. Hugh E. Cameron, formerly of +Glen Moriston, Inverness-shire, wrote +to me many years ago: <q>As a boy, I +remember the last bit of corn cut was +taken home, and neatly tied up with a +ribbon, and then stuck up on the wall +above the kitchen fire-place, and there +it often remained till the <q>maiden</q> of +the following year took its place. +There was no ceremony about it, +beyond often a struggle as to who +would get, or cut, the last sheaf to +select the <q>maiden</q> from</q> (<hi rend='italic'>The Folk-lore +Journal</hi>, vii. 1889, pp. 50 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>). +As to Sutherlandshire my mother was +told by a servant, Isabella Ross, that +in that county <q>they hang up the +<q>maiden</q> generally over the mantel-piece +(chimney-piece) till the next +harvest. They have always a kirn, +whipped cream, with often a ring in it, +and sometimes meal sprinkled over it. +The girls must all be dressed in lilac +prints, they all dance, and at twelve +o'clock they eat potatoes and herrings</q> +(<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 53 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +bride.</note> +A somewhat maturer but still youthful age is assigned +to the corn-spirit by the appellations of Bride, Oats-bride, +and Wheat-bride, which in Germany are sometimes +bestowed both on the last sheaf and on the woman who binds +it.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi> +(Berlin, 1868), p. 30.</note> At wheat-harvest near Müglitz, in Moravia, a small +portion of the wheat is left standing after all the rest has been +reaped. This remnant is then cut, amid the rejoicing of +the reapers, by a young girl who wears a wreath of wheaten +ears on her head and goes by the name of the Wheat-bride. +It is supposed that she will be a real bride that same year.<note place='foot'>W. Müller, <hi rend='italic'>Beiträge zur Volkskunde +der Deutschen in Mähren</hi> +(Vienna and Olmütz, 1893), p. 327.</note> +<pb n='163'/><anchor id='Pg163'/> +In the upland valley of Alpach, in North Tyrol, the person +who brings the last sheaf into the granary is said to have +the Wheat-bride or the Rye-bride according to the crop, +and is received with great demonstrations of respect and +rejoicing. The people of the farm go out to meet him, bells +are rung, and refreshments offered to him on a tray.<note place='foot'>J. E. Waldfreund, <q>Volksgebräuche +und Aberglaube in Tirol und +dem Salzburger Gebirg,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift +für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde</hi>, +iii. (1855) p. 340.</note> In +Austrian Silesia a girl is chosen to be the Wheat-bride, and +much honour is paid to her at the harvest-festival.<note place='foot'>Th. Vernaleken, <hi rend='italic'>Mythen und +Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich</hi> +(Vienna, 1859), p. 310.</note> Near +Roslin and Stonehaven, in Scotland, the last handful of +corn cut <q>got the name of <q>the bride,</q> and she was placed +over the <foreign rend='italic'>bress</foreign> or chimney-piece; she had a ribbon tied +below her numerous <foreign rend='italic'>ears</foreign>, and another round her waist.</q><note place='foot'>Mr. R. Matheson, in <hi rend='italic'>The Folk-lore +Journal</hi>, vii. (1889) pp. 49, 50.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as +Bride and +Bridegroom.</note> +Sometimes the idea implied by the name of Bride +is worked out more fully by representing the productive +powers of vegetation as bride and bridegroom. Thus +in the Vorharz an Oats-man and an Oats-woman, swathed +in straw, dance at the harvest feast.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi> +(Berlin, 1868), p. 30.</note> In South Saxony +an Oats-bridegroom and an Oats-bride figure together at +the harvest celebration. The Oats-bridegroom is a man +completely wrapt in oats-straw; the Oats-bride is a man +dressed in woman's clothes, but not wrapt in straw. +They are drawn in a waggon to the ale-house, where +the dance takes place. At the beginning of the dance +the dancers pluck the bunches of oats one by one from the +Oats-bridegroom, while he struggles to keep them, till +at last he is completely stript of them and stands bare, +exposed to the laughter and jests of the company.<note place='foot'>E. Sommer, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Märchen und +Gebräuche aus Sachsen und Thüringen</hi> +(Halle, 1846), pp. 160 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi></note> In +Austrian Silesia the ceremony of <q>the Wheat-bride</q> is +celebrated by the young people at the end of the harvest. +The woman who bound the last sheaf plays the part of the +Wheat-bride, wearing the harvest-crown of wheat ears and +flowers on her head. Thus adorned, standing beside her +Bridegroom in a waggon and attended by bridesmaids, she +is drawn by a pair of oxen, in full imitation of a marriage +<pb n='164'/><anchor id='Pg164'/> +procession, to the tavern, where the dancing is kept up till +morning. Somewhat later in the season the wedding of the +Oats-bride is celebrated with the like rustic pomp. About +Neisse, in Silesia, an Oats-king and an Oats-queen, dressed +up quaintly as a bridal pair, are seated on a harrow and +drawn by oxen into the village.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi>; E. Peter, +<hi rend='italic'>Volksthümliches aus Österreichisch-Schlesien</hi> +(Troppau, 1865-1867), ii. +269.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +in +the double +form of the +Old Wife +and the +Maiden +simultaneously +at +harvest in +the Highlands +of +Scotland.</note> +In these last instances the corn-spirit is personified in +double form as male and female. But sometimes the spirit +appears in a double female form as both old and young, +corresponding exactly to the Greek Demeter and Persephone, +if my interpretation of these goddesses is right. We have +seen that in Scotland, especially among the Gaelic-speaking +population, the last corn cut is sometimes called the Old +Wife and sometimes the Maiden. Now there are parts +of Scotland in which both an Old Wife (<foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign>) and a +Maiden are cut at harvest. As the accounts of this +custom are not quite clear and consistent, it may be well +to give them first in the words of the original authorities. +Thus the late Sheriff Alexander Nicolson tells us that +there is a Gaelic proverb, <q>A balk (<foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>léum-iochd</foreign>) in autumn is +better than a sheaf the more</q>; and he explains it by saying +that a <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>léum-iochd</foreign> or balk <q>is a strip of a corn-field left +fallow. The fear of being left with the last sheaf of the +harvest, called the <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>cailleach</foreign>, or <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>gobhar bhacach</foreign>, always led to +an exciting competition among the reapers in the last field. +The reaper who came on a <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>léum-iochd</foreign> would of course be +glad to have so much the less to cut.</q><note place='foot'>Alexander Nicolson, <hi rend='italic'>A Collection +of Gaelic Proverbs and Familiar +Phrases, based on Macintosh's Collection</hi> +(Edinburgh and London, 1881), p. 248.</note> In further explanation +of the proverb the writer adds: +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>The customs as to the <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign> and <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Maighdean-bhuana</foreign> +seem to have varied somewhat. Two reapers were usually +set to each rig, and according to one account, the man who +was first done got the <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Maighdean-bhuana</foreign> or <q>Reaping-Maiden,</q> +while the man who was last got the <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign> or +<q>old woman.</q> The latter term is used in Argyleshire; the +term <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Gobhar-bhacach</foreign>, the lame goat, is used in Skye.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>According to what appears to be the better version, the +<pb n='165'/><anchor id='Pg165'/> +competition to avoid the <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign> was not between reapers but +between neighbouring crofters, and the man who got his +harvest done first sent a handful of corn called the <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign> +to his neighbour, who passed it on, till it landed with him +who was latest. That man's penalty was to provide for the +dearth of the township, <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>gort a' bhaile</foreign>, in the ensuing season.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Maighdean-bhuana</foreign>, again, was the last cut handful +of oats, on a croft or farm, and was an object of lively +competition among the reapers. It was tastefully tied +up with ribbons, generally dressed like a doll, and then +hung up on a nail till spring. On the first day of ploughing +it was solemnly taken down, and given as a <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Sainnseal</foreign> +(or handsel) to the horses for luck. It was meant as a symbol +that the harvest had been secured, and to ward off the +fairies, representatives of the ethereal and unsubstantial, till +the time came to provide for a new crop.</q><note place='foot'>A. Nicolson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 415 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Again, the +Rev. Mr. Campbell of Kilchrenan, on Loch Awe, furnished Dr. +R. C. Maclagan with the following account of the Highland +customs at harvest. The recollections of Mrs. MacCorquodale, +then resident at Kilchrenan, refer to the customs practised +about the middle of the nineteenth century in the wild +and gloomy valley of Glencoe, infamous in history for +the treacherous massacre perpetrated there by the Government +troops in 1692. <q rend='pre'>Mrs. MacCorquodale says that +the rivalry was for the Maiden, and for the privilege she +gave of sending the Cailleach to the next neighbour. +The Maiden was represented by the last stalks reaped; +the Cailleach by a handful taken at random from the +field, perhaps the last rig of the reaper last to finish. The +Cailleach was not dressed but carried after binding to +the neighbour's field. The Maiden was cut in the following +manner. All the reapers gathered round her and kept a +short distance from her. They then threw their hooks +[sickles] at her. The person successful in cutting her down +in this manner was the man whose possession she became. +Mrs. MacCorquodale understood that the man of a township +who got the Cailleach finally was supposed to be doomed to +poverty for his want of energy. (Gaelic: <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>treubhantas</foreign>—valour.)</q> +</p> + +<pb n='166'/><anchor id='Pg166'/> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>A sample of the toast to the Cailleach at the harvest +entertainment was as follows: <q>The Cailleach is with ... +and is now with (me) since I was the last. I drink to her +health. Since she assisted me in harvest, it is likely that it +is with me she will abide during the winter.</q> In explaining +the above toast Mr. Campbell says that it signifies that the +Cailleach is always with agriculturists. <q>She has been with +others before and is now with me (the proposer of the toast). +Though I did my best to avoid her I welcome her as my +assistant, and am prepared to entertain her during the winter.</q> +Another form of the toast was as follows: <q>To your health, +good wife, who for harvest has come to help us, and if I live +I'll try to support you when winter comes.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'>John MacCorquodale, Kilchrenan, says that at Crianlarich +in Strath Fillan, they make a Cailleach of sticks and +a turnip, old clothes and a pipe. In this case the effigy +passed in succession to seven farms, which he mentioned, and +finally settled with an innkeeper. The list suggested that +the upper farms stood a bad chance, and perhaps that a +prosperous innkeeper could more easily bear up against the +reproach and loss (?) of supporting the Cailleach.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Duncan MacIntyre, Kilchrenan, says that in one case +where the last field to be reaped was the most fertile land on +the farm, the corn first cut in it, which was taken near the edge, +was reserved to make a Cailleach, should the owner be so +happy as to be able to pass her on to his neighbour. The +last blades cut were generally in the middle or best part of +the field. These in any event became the Maiden.</q> Lastly, +Dr. Maclagan observes that <q>having directed the attention +of Miss Kerr, Port Charlotte, Islay, to the practice of having +two different bunches on the mainland of Argyle, she informs +me that in Islay and Kintyre the last handful is the Cailleach, +and they have no Maiden. The same is the custom in Bernara +and other parts of the Western Isles, while in Mull the +last handful is the Maiden, and they have no Cailleach. In +North Uist the habit still prevails of putting the Cailleach +over-night among the standing corn of lazy crofters.</q><note place='foot'>R. C. Maclagan, <q>Corn-maiden in Argyleshire,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, vii. (1896) +pp. 78 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>In these +customs +the Old +Wife represents +the +old corn of +last year, +and the +Maiden the +new corn +of this +year.</note> +The general rule to which these various accounts point +<pb n='167'/><anchor id='Pg167'/> +seems to be that, where both a Maiden and an Old Wife +(<foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign>) are fashioned out of the reaped corn at harvest, the +Maiden is always made out of the last stalks left standing, and +is kept by the farmer on whose land it was cut; while the Old +Wife is made out of other stalks, sometimes out of the first +stalks cut, and is regularly passed on to a laggard farmer +who happens to be still reaping after his brisker neighbour +has cut all his corn. Thus while each farmer keeps his own +Maiden, as the embodiment of the young and fruitful spirit +of the corn, he passes on the Old Wife as soon as he can to +a neighbour, and so the old lady may make the round of all +the farms in the district before she finds a place in which to +lay her venerable head. The farmer with whom she finally +takes up her abode is of course the one who has been the last +of all the countryside to finish reaping his crops, and thus the +distinction of entertaining her is rather an invidious one. +Similarly we saw that in Pembrokeshire, where the last corn +cut is called, not the Maiden, but the Hag, she is passed on +hastily to a neighbour who is still at work in his fields and +who receives his aged visitor with anything but a transport +of joy. If the Old Wife represents the corn-spirit of the +past year, as she probably does wherever she is contrasted +with and opposed to a Maiden, it is natural enough that +her faded charms should have less attractions for the husbandman +than the buxom form of her daughter, who may +be expected to become in her turn the mother of the golden +grain when the revolving year has brought round another +autumn. The same desire to get rid of the effete Mother +of the Corn by palming her off on other people comes out +clearly in some of the customs observed at the close of +threshing, particularly in the practice of passing on a hideous +straw puppet to a neighbour farmer who is still threshing +his corn.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg149'>149</ref>, where, however, +the corn-spirit is conceived as an +Old Man.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Analogy of +the harvest +customs to +the spring +customs of +Europe.</note> +The harvest customs just described are strikingly analogous +to the spring customs which we reviewed in the first +part of this work. (1) As in the spring customs the tree-spirit +is represented both by a tree and by a person,<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution +of Kings</hi>, ii. 73 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> so in +<pb n='168'/><anchor id='Pg168'/> +the harvest customs the corn-spirit is represented both by +the last sheaf and by the person who cuts or binds or +threshes it. The equivalence of the person to the sheaf is +shewn by giving him or her the same name as the sheaf; by +wrapping him or her in it; and by the rule observed in +some places, that when the sheaf is called the Mother, it +must be made up into human shape by the oldest married +woman, but that when it is called the Maiden, it must be +cut by the youngest girl.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg134'>134</ref>, <ref target='Pg137'>137</ref>, <ref target='Pg138'>138</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +<ref target='Pg142'>142</ref>, <ref target='Pg145'>145</ref>, <ref target='Pg147'>147</ref>, <ref target='Pg148'>148</ref>, <ref target='Pg149'>149</ref>.</note> Here the age of the personal +representative of the corn-spirit corresponds with that of the +supposed age of the corn-spirit, just as the human victims +offered by the Mexicans to promote the growth of the maize +varied with the age of the maize.<note place='foot'>See below, pp. <ref target='Pg237'>237</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> For in the Mexican, as +in the European, custom the human beings were probably +representatives of the corn-spirit rather than victims offered +to it. (2) Again, the same fertilising influence which the +tree-spirit is supposed to exert over vegetation, cattle, and +even women<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution +of Kings</hi>, ii. 47 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> is ascribed to the corn-spirit. Thus, its supposed +influence on vegetation is shewn by the practice of +taking some of the grain of the last sheaf (in which the +corn-spirit is regularly supposed to be present), and scattering +it among the young corn in spring or mixing it with the +seed-corn.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg134'>134</ref>, <ref target='Pg135'>135</ref>.</note> Its influence on animals is shewn by giving the +last sheaf to a mare in foal, to a cow in calf, and to horses +at the first ploughing.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg141'>141</ref>, <ref target='Pg155'>155</ref>, <ref target='Pg156'>156</ref>, <ref target='Pg158'>158</ref>, +<ref target='Pg160'>160</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg162'>162</ref>, <ref target='Pg165'>165</ref>.</note> Lastly, its influence on women is +indicated by the custom of delivering the Mother-sheaf, made +into the likeness of a pregnant woman, to the farmer's wife;<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg135'>135</ref>.</note> +by the belief that the woman who binds the last sheaf will +have a child next year;<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg145'>145</ref>. Compare A. +Kuhn, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen +aus Westfalen</hi> (Leipsic, 1859), ii. p. +185, § 516.</note> perhaps, too, by the idea that the +person who gets it will soon be married.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg136'>136</ref>, <ref target='Pg139'>139</ref>, <ref target='Pg155'>155</ref>, <ref target='Pg157'>157</ref> +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg162'>162</ref>; compare p. <ref target='Pg160'>160</ref>.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The spring +and harvest +customs of +Europe are +parts of a +primitive +heathen +ritual.</note> +Plainly, therefore, these spring and harvest customs are +based on the same ancient modes of thought, and form parts +of the same primitive heathendom, which was doubtless +practised by our forefathers long before the dawn of history. +<pb n='169'/><anchor id='Pg169'/> +Amongst the marks of a primitive ritual we may note the +following:— +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Marks of a +primitive +ritual.</note> +1. No special class of persons is set apart for the performance +of the rites; in other words, there are no priests. +The rites may be performed by any one, as occasion demands. +</p> + +<p> +2. No special places are set apart for the performance +of the rites; in other words, there are no temples. The +rites may be performed anywhere, as occasion demands. +</p> + +<p> +3. Spirits, not gods, are recognised. (<hi rend='italic'>a</hi>) As distinguished +from gods, spirits are restricted in their operations +to definite departments of nature. Their names are general, +not proper. Their attributes are generic, rather than individual; +in other words, there is an indefinite number of +spirits of each class, and the individuals of a class are all +much alike; they have no definitely marked individuality; +no accepted traditions are current as to their origin, life, +adventures, and character. (<hi rend='italic'>b</hi>) On the other hand gods, as +distinguished from spirits, are not restricted to definite +departments of nature. It is true that there is generally +some one department over which they preside as their +special province; but they are not rigorously confined to it; +they can exert their power for good or evil in many other +spheres of nature and life. Again, they bear individual or +proper names, such as Demeter, Persephone, Dionysus; and +their individual characters and histories are fixed by current +myths and the representations of art. +</p> + +<p> +4. The rites are magical rather than propitiatory. +In other words, the desired objects are attained, not by +propitiating the favour of divine beings through sacrifice, +prayer, and praise, but by ceremonies which, as I have already +explained,<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings</hi>, i. 220 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> are believed to influence the course of nature +directly through a physical sympathy or resemblance between +the rite and the effect which it is the intention of the rite +to produce. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Reasons +for regarding +the spring and +harvest +customs of +modern +Europe as +a primitive +ritual.</note> +Judged by these tests, the spring and harvest customs of +our European peasantry deserve to rank as primitive. For +no special class of persons and no special places are set +exclusively apart for their performance; they may be performed +by any one, master or man, mistress or maid, boy or +<pb n='170'/><anchor id='Pg170'/> +girl; they are practised, not in temples or churches, but in +the woods and meadows, beside brooks, in barns, on harvest +fields and cottage floors. The supernatural beings whose +existence is taken for granted in them are spirits rather than +deities: their functions are limited to certain well-defined +departments of nature: their names are general, like the +Barley-mother, the Old Woman, the Maiden, not proper +names like Demeter, Persephone, Dionysus. Their generic +attributes are known, but their individual histories and +characters are not the subject of myths. For they exist in +classes rather than as individuals, and the members of each +class are indistinguishable. For example, every farm has its +Corn-mother, or its Old Woman, or its Maiden; but every +Corn-mother is much like every other Corn-mother, and so +with the Old Women and Maidens. Lastly, in these harvest, +as in the spring customs, the ritual is magical rather than +propitiatory. This is shewn by throwing the Corn-mother +into the river in order to secure rain and dew for the +crops;<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg146'>146</ref>. The common +custom of wetting the last sheaf and +its bearer is no doubt also a rain-charm; +indeed the intention to procure +rain or make the corn grow is +sometimes avowed. See above, pp. +<ref target='Pg134'>134</ref>, <ref target='Pg137'>137</ref>, <ref target='Pg143'>143</ref>, <ref target='Pg144'>144</ref>, <ref target='Pg145'>145</ref>; <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, +Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second Edition, pp. +195-197.</note> by making the Old Woman heavy in order to get +a heavy crop next year;<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg135'>135</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg138'>138</ref>, <ref target='Pg139'>139</ref>, <ref target='Pg152'>152</ref>.</note> by strewing grain from the last +sheaf amongst the young crops in spring;<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg134'>134</ref>.</note> and by giving +the last sheaf to the cattle to make them thrive.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg134'>134</ref>, <ref target='Pg155'>155</ref>, <ref target='Pg158'>158</ref>, <ref target='Pg161'>161</ref>.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='171'/><anchor id='Pg171'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter VI. The Corn-Mother in Many Lands.</head> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='1. The Corn-mother in America.'/> +<head>§ 1. The Corn-mother in America.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Corn-mother +in +many +lands.</note> +European peoples, ancient and modern, have not been +singular in personifying the corn as a mother goddess. The +same simple idea has suggested itself to other agricultural +races in distant parts of the world, and has been applied by +them to other indigenous cereals than barley and wheat. If +Europe has its Wheat-mother and its Barley-mother, +America has its Maize-mother and the East Indies their +Rice-mother. These personifications I will now illustrate, +beginning with the American personification of the maize. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Maize-mother +among the +Peruvian +Indians.</note> +We have seen that among European peoples it is a common +custom to keep the plaited corn-stalks of the last sheaf, or the +puppet which is formed out of them, in the farm-house from +harvest to harvest.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg136'>136</ref>, <ref target='Pg138'>138</ref>, <ref target='Pg140'>140</ref>, <ref target='Pg143'>143</ref>, +<ref target='Pg152'>152</ref>, <ref target='Pg153'>153</ref>, <ref target='Pg154'>154</ref>, <ref target='Pg155'>155</ref>, <ref target='Pg156'>156</ref>, <ref target='Pg157'>157</ref>, <ref target='Pg158'>158</ref>: +W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +pp. 7, 26.</note> The intention no doubt is, or rather originally +was, by preserving the representative of the corn-spirit +to maintain the spirit itself in life and activity throughout +the year, in order that the corn may grow and the crops be +good. This interpretation of the custom is at all events rendered +highly probable by a similar custom observed by the +ancient Peruvians, and thus described by the old Spanish +historian Acosta:—<q>They take a certain portion of the most +fruitful of the maize that grows in their farms, the which +they put in a certain granary which they do call <foreign rend='italic'>Pirua</foreign>, +with certain ceremonies, watching three nights; they put +this maize in the richest garments they have, and being +thus wrapped and dressed, they worship this <foreign rend='italic'>Pirua</foreign>, and hold +<pb n='172'/><anchor id='Pg172'/> +it in great veneration, saying it is the mother of the maize of +their inheritances, and that by this means the maize augments +and is preserved. In this month [the sixth month, answering +to May] they make a particular sacrifice, and the witches +demand of this <foreign rend='italic'>Pirua</foreign> if it hath strength sufficient to continue +until the next year; and if it answers no, then they +carry this maize to the farm to burn, whence they brought +it, according to every man's power; then they make another +<foreign rend='italic'>Pirua</foreign>, with the same ceremonies, saying that they renew it, +to the end the seed of maize may not perish, and if it +answers that it hath force sufficient to last longer, they leave +it until the next year. This foolish vanity continueth to +this day, and it is very common amongst the Indians to +have these <foreign rend='italic'>Piruas</foreign>.</q><note place='foot'>J. de Acosta, <hi rend='italic'>Natural and Moral +History of the Indies</hi>, bk. v. ch. 28, +vol. ii. p. 374 (Hakluyt Society, +London, 1880). In quoting the passage +I have modernised the spelling. +The original Spanish text of Acosta's +work was reprinted in a convenient +form at Madrid in 1894. See vol. ii. +p. 117 of that edition.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Maize-mother, +the +Quinoa-mother, +the Coca-mother, +and the +Potato-mother +among the +Peruvian +Indians.</note> +In this description of the custom there seems to be +some error. Probably it was the dressed-up bunch of +maize, not the granary (<foreign rend='italic'>Pirua</foreign>), which was worshipped +by the Peruvians and regarded as the Mother of the +Maize. This is confirmed by what we know of the Peruvian +custom from another source. The Peruvians, we are told, +believed all useful plants to be animated by a divine being +who causes their growth. According to the particular plant, +these divine beings were called the Maize-mother (<foreign rend='italic'>Zara-mama</foreign>), +the Quinoa-mother (<foreign rend='italic'>Quinoa-mama</foreign>), the Coca-mother +(<foreign rend='italic'>Coca-mama</foreign>), and the Potato-mother (<foreign rend='italic'>Axo-mama</foreign>). Figures +of these divine mothers were made respectively of ears of +maize and leaves of the quinoa and coca plants; they were +dressed in women's clothes and worshipped. Thus the +Maize-mother was represented by a puppet made of stalks of +maize dressed in full female attire; and the Indians believed +that <q>as mother, it had the power of producing and giving +birth to much maize.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 342 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Mannhardt's +authority is a Spanish tract +(<hi rend='italic'>Carta pastorale de exortacion e instruccion +contra las idolatrias de los Indios +del arçobispado de Lima</hi>) by Pedro de +Villagomez, Archbishop of Lima, +published at Lima in 1649, and communicated +to Mannhardt by J. J. +v. Tschudi. The <hi rend='italic'>Carta Pastorale</hi> itself +seems to be partly based on an earlier +work, the <hi rend='italic'>Extirpacion de la Idolatria +del Piru. Dirigido al Rey N.S. en +Su real conseio de Indias, por el Padre +Pablo Joseph de Arriaga de la Compañia +de Jesus</hi> (Lima, 1621). A copy +of this work is possessed by the British +Museum, where I consulted it. The +writer explains (p. 16) that the Maize-mothers +(<foreign rend='italic'>Zaramamas</foreign>) are of three +sorts, namely (1) those which are +made of maize stalks, dressed up like +women, (2) those which are carved of +stone in the likeness of cobs of maize, +and (3) those which consist simply of +fruitful stalks of maize or of two +maize-cobs naturally joined together. +These last, the writer tells us, were the +principal <foreign rend='italic'>Zaramamas</foreign>, and were revered +by the natives as Mothers of the Maize. +Similarly, when two potatoes were +found growing together the Indians +called them Potato-mothers (<foreign rend='italic'>Axomamas</foreign>) +and kept them in order to +get a good crop of potatoes. As +Arriaga's work is rare, it may be well +to give his account of the Maize-mothers, +Coca-mothers, and Potato-mothers +in his own words. He says +(p. 16): <q><foreign lang='es' rend='italic'>Zaramamas, son de tres +maneras, y son las que se quentan entre +las cosas halladas en los pueblos. La +primera es una como muñeca hecha de +cañas de maiz, vestida como muger con +su anaco, y llicilla, y sus topos de +plata, y entienden, que como madre +tiene virtud de engendrar, y parir +mucho maiz. A este modo tienen +tambien Cocamamas para augmento de +la coca. Otras son de piedra labradas +como choclos, o mazorcas de maiz, con sus +granos relevados, y de estas suelen tener +muchas en lugar de Conopas</foreign> [household +gods]. <foreign lang='es' rend='italic'>Otras son algunas cañas fertiles +de maiz, que con la fertilidad de la +tierra dieron muchas maçorcas, y +grandes, o quando salen dos maçorcas +juntas, y estas son las principales, +Zaramamas, y assi las reverencian +como a madres del maiz, a estas llaman +tambien Huantayzara, o Ayrihuayzara. +A este tercer genero no le dan la +adoracion que a Huaca, ni Conopa, +sino que le tienen supersticiosamente +como una cosa sagrada, y colgando +estas cañas con muchos choclos de unos +ramos de sauce bailen con ellas el bayle, +que llaman Ayrihua, y acabado el +bayle, las queman, y sacrifican a Libiac +para que les de buena cosecha. Con +la misma supersticion guardan las +mazorcas del maiz, que salen muy +pintadas, que llaman Micsazara, o +Mantayzara, o Caullazara, y otros que +llaman Piruazara, que son otras +maçorcas en que van subiendo los +granos no derechos sino haziendo +caracol. Estas Micsazara, o Piruazara, +ponen supersticiosamente en los +montones de maiz, y en las Piruas (que +son donde guardan el maiz) paraque se +las guarde, y el dia de las exhibiciones +se junta tanto de estas maçorcas, que +tienen bien que comer las mulas. La +misma supersticion tienen con las que +llaman Axomamas, que son quando +salen algunas papas juntas, y las +guardan para tener buena cosecha de +papas.</foreign></q> The <foreign lang='es' rend='italic'>exhibiciones</foreign> here referred +to are the occasions when the Indians +brought forth their idols and other +relics of superstition and delivered +them to the ecclesiastical visitors. +At Tarija in Bolivia, down to the +present time, a cross is set up at +harvest in the maize-fields, and on it +all maize-spadices growing as twins +are hung. They are called Pachamamas +(Earth-mothers) and are thought +to bring good harvests. See Baron +E. Nordenskiöld, <q>Travels on the +Boundaries of Bolivia and Argentina,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>The Geographical Journal</hi>, xxi. (1903) +pp. 517, 518. Compare E. J. Payne, +<hi rend='italic'>History of the New World called +America</hi> (Oxford, 1892), i. 414 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Probably, therefore, Acosta misunderstood +<pb n='173'/><anchor id='Pg173'/> +his informant, and the Mother of the Maize which +he describes was not the granary (<foreign rend='italic'>Pirua</foreign>), but the bunch of +maize dressed in rich vestments. The Peruvian Mother of +the Maize, like the harvest-Maiden at Balquhidder, was kept +for a year in order that by her means the corn might grow +and multiply. But lest her strength might not suffice to last +<pb n='174'/><anchor id='Pg174'/> +till the next harvest, she was asked in the course of the +year how she felt, and if she answered that she felt weak, she +was burned and a fresh Mother of the Maize made, <q>to the +end the seed of maize may not perish.</q> Here, it may be +observed, we have a strong confirmation of the explanation +already given of the custom of killing the god, both periodically +and occasionally. The Mother of the Maize was +allowed, as a rule, to live through a year, that being the +period during which her strength might reasonably be supposed +to last unimpaired; but on any symptom of her +strength failing she was put to death, and a fresh and vigorous +Mother of the Maize took her place, lest the maize which +depended on her for its existence should languish and decay. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Customs of +the ancient +Mexicans +at the +maize-harvest.</note> +Hardly less clearly does the same train of thought come +out in the harvest customs formerly observed by the Zapotecs +of Mexico. At harvest the priests, attended by the nobles +and people, went in procession to the maize fields, where they +picked out the largest and finest sheaf. This they took +with great ceremony to the town or village, and placed it in +the temple upon an altar adorned with wild flowers. After +sacrificing to the harvest god, the priests carefully wrapped +up the sheaf in fine linen and kept it till seed-time. Then +the priests and nobles met again at the temple, one of them +bringing the skin of a wild beast, elaborately ornamented, in +which the linen cloth containing the sheaf was enveloped. +The sheaf was then carried once more in procession to the +field from which it had been taken. Here a small cavity or +subterranean chamber had been prepared, in which the +precious sheaf was deposited, wrapt in its various envelopes. +After sacrifice had been offered to the gods of the fields for +an abundant crop the chamber was closed and covered over +with earth. Immediately thereafter the sowing began. +Finally, when the time of harvest drew near, the buried sheaf +was solemnly disinterred by the priests, who distributed the +grain to all who asked for it. The packets of grain so distributed +were carefully preserved as talismans till the harvest.<note place='foot'>Brasseur de Bourbourg, <hi rend='italic'>Histoire +des Nations civilisées du Mexique et de +l'Amérique Centrale</hi> (Paris 1857-1859), +iii. 40 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> Compare <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, iii. +505 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; E. J. Payne, <hi rend='italic'>History of the +New World called America</hi>, i. 419 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +In these ceremonies, which continued to be annually celebrated +<pb n='175'/><anchor id='Pg175'/> +long after the Spanish conquest, the intention of keeping +the finest sheaf buried in the maize field from seed-time +to harvest was undoubtedly to quicken the growth of the +maize. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Sahagun's +account of +the ancient +Mexican +religion.</note> +A fuller and to some extent different account of the +ancient Mexican worship of the maize has been given us +by the Franciscan monk Bernardino de Sahagun, who arrived +in Mexico in 1529, only eight years after its conquest by +the Spaniards, and devoted the remaining sixty-one years +of his long life to labouring among the Indians for their +moral and spiritual good. Uniting the curiosity of a +scientific enquirer to the zeal of a missionary, and adorning +both qualities with the humanity and benevolence of a +good man, he obtained from the oldest and most learned +of the Indians accounts of their ancient customs and beliefs, +and embodied them in a work which, for combined interest +of matter and fulness of detail, has perhaps never been +equalled in the records of aboriginal peoples brought into +contact with European civilisation. This great document, +after lying neglected in the dust of Spanish archives for centuries, +was discovered and published almost simultaneously +in Mexico and England in the first half of the nineteenth +century. It exists in the double form of an Aztec text and +a Spanish translation, both due to Sahagun himself. Only +the Spanish version has hitherto been published in full, but +the original Aztec text, to judge by the few extracts of it +which have been edited and translated, appears to furnish +much more ample details on many points, and in the interest +of learning it is greatly to be desired that a complete edition +and translation of it should be given to the world. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Sahagun's +description +of the +Mexican +Maize-goddess +and her +festival.</note> +Fortunately, among the sections of this great work which +have been edited and translated from the Aztec original into +German by Professor Eduard Seler of Berlin is a long one +describing the religious festivals of the ancient Mexican +calendar.<note place='foot'>E. Seler, <q>Altmexikanische +Studien, ii.,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Veröffentlichungen aus +dem königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde</hi>, +vi. (Berlin, 1899) 2/4 Heft, +pp. 67 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> Another chapter of +Sahagun's work, describing the costumes +of the Mexican gods, has been edited +and translated into German by Professor +E. Seler in the same series +of publications (<q>Altmexikanische +Studien,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Veröffentlichungen aus dem +königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde</hi>, +i. 4 (Berlin, 1890) pp. 117 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>). +Sahagun's work as a whole is known +to me only in the excellent French +translation of Messrs. D. Jourdanet +and R. Simeon (<hi rend='italic'>Histoire Générale des +choses de la Nouvelle-Espagne par le +R. P. Fray Bernardino de Sahagun</hi>, +Paris, 1880). As to the life and +character of Sahagun see M. R. +Simeon's introduction to the translation, +pp. vii. <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> From it we learn some valuable particulars as to +<pb n='176'/><anchor id='Pg176'/> +the worship of the Maize-goddess and the ceremonies observed +by the Mexicans for the purpose of ensuring a good crop +of maize. The festival was the fourth of the Aztec year, +and went by the name of the Great Vigil. It fell on a date +which corresponds to the seventh of April. The name of +the Maize-goddess was Chicome couatl, and the Mexicans +conceived and represented her in the form of a woman, red +in face and arms and legs, wearing a paper crown dyed +vermilion, and clad in garments of the hue of ripe cherries. +No doubt the red colour of the goddess and her garments +referred to the deep orange hue of the ripe maize; it was +like the yellow hair of the Greek corn-goddess Demeter. +She was supposed to make all kinds of maize, beans, and +vegetables to grow. On the day of the festival the Mexicans +sent out to the maize-fields and fetched from every field +a plant of maize, which they brought to their houses and +greeted as their maize-gods, setting them up in their +dwellings, clothing them in garments, and placing food +before them. And after sunset they carried the maize-plants +to the temple of the Maize-goddess, where they +snatched them from one another and fought and struck +each other with them. Further, at this festival they brought +to the temple of the Maize-goddess the maize-cobs which +were to be used in the sowing. The cobs were carried by +three maidens in bundles of seven wrapt in red paper. One +of the girls was small with short hair, another was older +with long hair hanging down, and the third was full-grown +with her hair wound round her head. Red feathers were +gummed to the arms and legs of the three maidens and +their faces were painted, probably to resemble the red +Maize-goddess, whom they may be supposed to have +personated at various stages of the growth of the corn. +The maize-cobs which they brought to the temple of the +Maize-goddess were called by the name of the Maize-god +Cinteotl, and they were afterwards deposited in the granary +<pb n='177'/><anchor id='Pg177'/> +and kept there as <q>the heart of the granary</q> till the sowing +time came round, when they were used as seed.<note place='foot'>B. de Sahagun, Aztec text of book +ii., translated by Professor E. Seler, +<q>Altmexikanische Studien, ii.,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Veröffentlichungen aus dem königlichen +Museum für Völkerkunde</hi>, vi. 2/4 Heft +(Berlin, 1899), pp. 188-194. The +account of the ceremonies given in the +Spanish version of Sahagun's work is a +good deal more summary. See B. de +Sahagun, <hi rend='italic'>Histoire Générale des choses +de la Nouvelle Espagne</hi> (Paris, 1880), +pp. 94-96.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Corn-mother +among the +North +American +Indians.</note> +The eastern Indians of North America, who subsisted +to a large extent by the cultivation of maize, generally +conceived the spirit of the maize as a woman, and supposed +that the plant itself had sprung originally from the blood +drops or the dead body of the Corn Woman. In the sacred +formulas of the Cherokee the corn is sometimes invoked as +<q>the Old Woman,</q> and one of their myths relates how a +hunter saw a fair woman issue from a single green stalk of +corn.<note place='foot'>J. Mooney, <q>Myths of the +Cherokee,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Nineteenth Annual Report +of the Bureau of American Ethnology</hi>, +Part I. (Washington, 1900) pp. 423, +432. See further <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, +Second Edition, pp. 296 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> The Iroquois believe the Spirit of the Corn, the +Spirit of Beans, and the Spirit of Squashes to be three +sisters clad in the leaves of their respective plants, very fond +of each other, and delighting to dwell together. This divine +trinity is known by the name of <foreign rend='italic'>De-o-ha'-ko</foreign>, which means +<q>Our Life</q> or <q>Our Supporters.</q> The three persons of +the trinity have no individual names, and are never +mentioned separately except by means of description. The +Indians have a legend that of old the corn was easily +cultivated, yielded abundantly, and had a grain exceedingly +rich in oil, till the Evil One, envious of this good gift of +the Great Spirit to man, went forth into the fields and +blighted them. And still, when the wind rustles in the +corn, the pious Indian fancies he hears the Spirit of the +Corn bemoaning her blighted fruitfulness.<note place='foot'>L. H. Morgan, <hi rend='italic'>League of the +Iroquois</hi> (Rochester, 1851), pp. 161 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 199. According to the Iroquois +the corn plant sprang from the bosom +of the mother of the Great Spirit after +her burial (L. H. Morgan, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> +p. 199 note 1).</note> The Huichol +Indians of Mexico imagine maize to be a little girl, who +may sometimes be heard weeping in the fields; so afraid +is she of the wild beasts that eat the corn.<note place='foot'>C. Lumholtz, <hi rend='italic'>Unknown Mexico</hi> +(London, 1903), ii. 280.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='178'/><anchor id='Pg178'/> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='2. The Mother-cotton in the Punjaub.'/> +<head>§ 2. The Mother-cotton in the Punjaub.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Mother-cotton +in +the +Punjaub.</note> +In the Punjaub, to the east of the Jumna, when the +cotton boles begin to burst, it is usual to select the largest +plant in the field, sprinkle it with butter-milk and rice-water, +and then bind to it pieces of cotton taken from the other +plants of the field. This selected plant is called Sirdar or +<foreign rend='italic'>Bhogaldaí</foreign>, that is <q>mother-cotton,</q> from <foreign rend='italic'>bhogla</foreign>, a name +sometimes given to a large cotton-pod, and <foreign rend='italic'>daí</foreign> (for <foreign rend='italic'>daiya</foreign>), +<q>a mother,</q> and after it has been saluted, prayers are +offered that the other plants may resemble it in the richness +of their produce.<note place='foot'>H. M. Elliot, <hi rend='italic'>Supplemental Glossary +of Terms used in the North-Western +Provinces</hi>, edited by J. Beames +(London, 1869), i. 254.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='3. The Barley Bride among the Berbers.'/> +<head>§ 3. The Barley Bride among the Berbers.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Barley +Bride +among the +Berbers.</note> +The conception of the corn-spirit as a bride seems +to come out clearly in a ceremony still practised by +the Berbers near Tangier, in Morocco. When the women +assemble in the fields to weed the green barley or reap the +crops, they take with them a straw figure dressed like a +woman, and set it up among the corn. Suddenly a group of +horsemen from a neighbouring village gallops up and carries +off the straw puppet amid the screams and cries of the women. +However, the ravished effigy is rescued by another band of +mounted men, and after a struggle it remains, more or less +dishevelled, in the hands of the women. That this pretended +abduction is a mimic marriage appears from a Berber +custom in accordance with which, at a real wedding, the +bridegroom carries off his seemingly unwilling bride on horseback, +while she screams and pretends to summon her friends +to her rescue. No fixed date is appointed for the simulated +abduction of the straw woman from the barley-field, the time +depends upon the state of the crops, but the day and hour +are made public before the event. Each village used to practise +this mimic contest for possession of the straw woman, +who probably represents the Barley Bride, but nowadays the +custom is growing obsolete.<note place='foot'>W. B. Harris, <q>The Berbers of +Morocco,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Anthropological +Institute</hi>, xxvii. (1898) p. +68.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='179'/><anchor id='Pg179'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Another +account of +the Barley +Bride +among the +Berbers. +Competitions +for +the possession +of +the image +that represents +the +Corn-mother.</note> +An earlier account of what seems to be the same practice +runs as follows: <q>There is a curious custom which seems to +be a relic of their pagan masters, who made this and the +adjoining regions of North Africa the main granary of their +Latin empire. When the young corn has sprung up, which +it does about the middle of February, the women of the +villages make up the figure of a female, the size of a very +large doll, which they dress in the gaudiest fashion they can +contrive, covering it with ornaments to which all in the +village contribute something; and they give it a tall, peaked +head-dress. This image they carry in procession round +their fields, screaming and singing a peculiar ditty. The +doll is borne by the foremost woman, who must yield it to +any one who is quick enough to take the lead of her, which +is the cause of much racing and squabbling. The men also +have a similar custom, which they perform on horseback. +They call the image Mata. These ceremonies are said by +the people to bring good luck. Their efficacy ought to be +great, for you frequently see crowds of men engaged in +their performances running and galloping recklessly over the +young crops of wheat and barley. Such customs are +directly opposed to the faith of Islam, and I never met with +a Moor who could in any way enlighten me as to their +origin. The Berber tribes, the most ancient race now +remaining in these regions, to which they give the name, are +the only ones which retain this antique usage, and it is +viewed by the Arabs and dwellers in the town as a remnant +of idolatry.</q><note place='foot'>Sir John Drummond Hay, <hi rend='italic'>Western +Barbary, its Wild Tribes and Savage +Animals</hi> (1844), p. 9, quoted in <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, +vii. (1896) pp. 306 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> We may conjecture that this gaudily dressed +effigy of a female, which the Berber women carry about +their fields when the corn is sprouting, represents the Corn-mother, +and that the procession is designed to promote the +growth of the crops by imparting to them the quickening +influence of the goddess. We can therefore understand why +there should be a competition among the women for the +possession of the effigy; each woman probably hopes to +secure for herself and her crops a larger measure of fertility +by appropriating the image of the Corn-mother. The +competition on horseback among the men is no doubt to be +<pb n='180'/><anchor id='Pg180'/> +explained similarly; they, too, race with each other in their +eagerness to possess themselves of an effigy, perhaps of a +male power of the corn, by whose help they expect to procure +a heavy crop. Such contests for possession of the +corn-spirit embodied in the corn-stalks are common, as we +have seen, among the reapers on the harvest fields of +Europe. Perhaps they help to explain some of the contests +in the Eleusinian games, among which horse-races as well as +foot-races were included.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg070'>70</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='4. The Rice-mother in the East Indies.'/> +<head>§ 4. The Rice-mother in the East Indies.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Comparison +of the +European +ritual of +the corn +with the +Indonesian +ritual of +the rice.</note> +If the reader still feels any doubts as to the meaning +of the harvest customs which have been practised within +living memory by European peasants, these doubts may +perhaps be dispelled by comparing the customs observed at +the rice-harvest by the Malays and Dyaks of the East Indies. +For these Eastern peoples have not, like our peasantry, +advanced beyond the intellectual stage at which the customs +originated; their theory and their practice are still in +unison; for them the quaint rites which in Europe have +long dwindled into mere fossils, the pastime of clowns and +the puzzle of the learned, are still living realities of which +they can render an intelligible and truthful account. Hence +a study of their beliefs and usages concerning the rice may +throw some light on the true meaning of the ritual of the +corn in ancient Greece and modern Europe. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Indonesian +ritual of +the rice is +based on +the belief +that the +rice is +animated +by a soul.</note> +Now the whole of the ritual which the Malays and +Dyaks observe in connexion with the rice is founded on the +simple conception of the rice as animated by a soul like +that which these people attribute to mankind. They explain +the phenomena of reproduction, growth, decay and death in +the rice on the same principles on which they explain the +corresponding phenomena in human beings. They imagine +that in the fibres of the plant, as in the body of a man, +there is a certain vital element, which is so far independent +of the plant that it may for a time be completely separated +from it without fatal effects, though if its absence be +prolonged beyond certain limits the plant will wither and +<pb n='181'/><anchor id='Pg181'/> +die. This vital yet separable element is what, for the want +of a better word, we must call the soul of a plant, just as a +similar vital and separable element is commonly supposed +to constitute the soul of man; and on this theory or myth +of the plant-soul is built the whole worship of the cereals, +just as on the theory or myth of the human soul is built +the whole worship of the dead,—a towering superstructure +reared on a slender and precarious foundation. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Parallelism +between +the human +soul and +the rice-soul.</note> +The strict parallelism between the Indonesian ideas +about the soul of man and the soul of rice is well brought +out by Mr. R. J. Wilkinson in the following passage: <q>The +spirit of life,—which, according to the ancient Indonesian +belief, existed in all things, even in what we should now +consider inanimate objects—is known as the <foreign rend='italic'>sĕmangat</foreign>. It +was not a <q>soul</q> in the modern English sense, since it was +not the exclusive possession of mankind, its separation from +the body did not necessarily mean death, and its nature may +possibly not have been considered immortal. At the present +day, if a Malay feels faint, he will describe his condition by +saying that his <q>spirit of life</q> is weak or is <q>flying</q> from his +body; he sometimes appeals to it to return: <q>Hither, hither, +bird of my soul.</q> Or again, if a Malay lover wishes to +influence the mind of a girl, he may seek to obtain control +of her <foreign rend='italic'>sĕmangat</foreign>, for he believes that this spirit of active and +vigorous life must quit the body when the body sleeps and +so be liable to capture by the use of magic arts. It is, +however, in the ceremonies connected with the so-called +<q>spirit of the rice-crops</q> that the peculiar characteristics of +the <foreign rend='italic'>sĕmangat</foreign> come out most clearly. The Malay considers +it essential that the spirit of life should not depart from the +rice intended for next year's sowing as otherwise the dead +seed would fail to produce any crop whatever. He, therefore, +approaches the standing rice-crops at harvest-time in a +deprecatory manner; he addresses them in endearing terms; +he offers propitiatory sacrifices; he fears that he may scare +away the timorous <q>bird of life</q> by the sight of a weapon or +the least sign of violence. He must reap the seed-rice, but +he does it with a knife of peculiar shape, such that the cruel +blade is hidden away beneath the reaper's fingers and does +not alarm the <q>soul of the rice.</q> When once the seed-rice +<pb n='182'/><anchor id='Pg182'/> +has been harvested, more expeditious reaping-tools may be +employed, since it is clearly unnecessary to retain the spirit +of life in grain that is only intended for the cooking-pot. +Similar rites attend all the processes of rice-cultivation—the +sowing and the planting-out as well as the harvest,—for at +each of these stages there is a risk that the vitality of the +crop may be ruined if the bird of life is scared away. In +the language used by the high-priests of these very ancient +ceremonies we constantly find references to Sri (the Hindu +Goddess of the Crops), to the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, +and to Adam who, according to Moslem tradition, was the +first planter of cereals;—many of these references only +represent the attempts of the conservative Malays to make +their old religions harmonize with later beliefs. Beneath +successive layers of religious veneer, we see the animism of +the old Indonesians, the theory of a bird-spirit of life, and +the characteristic view that the best protection against evil +lies in gentleness and courtesy to all animate and inanimate +things.</q><note place='foot'>R. J. Wilkinson (of the Civil Service +of the Federated Malay States), +<hi rend='italic'>Malay Beliefs</hi> (London and Leyden, +1906), pp. 49-51. On the conception +of the soul as a bird, see <hi rend='italic'>Taboo and the +Perils of the Soul</hi>, pp. 33 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> The +Toradjas of Central Celebes think that +the soul of the rice is embodied in a +pretty little blue bird, which builds its +nest in the rice-field when the ears are +forming and vanishes after harvest. +Hence no one may drive away, much +less kill, these birds; to do so would +not only injure the crop, the sacrilegious +wretch himself would suffer from sickness, +which might end in blindness. +See A. C. Kruyt, <q>De Rijstmoeder +in den Indischen Archipel,</q> p. 374 +(see the full reference in the next +note).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The soul-stuff +of +rice.</note> +<q>It is a familiar fact,</q> says another eminent authority on +the East Indies, <q>that the Indonesian imagines rice to be +animated, to be provided with <q>soul-stuff.</q> Since rice is +everywhere cultivated in the Indian Archipelago, and +with some exceptions is the staple food, we need not +wonder that the Indonesian conceives the rice to be not +merely animated in the ordinary sense but to be possessed +of a soul-stuff which in strength and dignity ranks with that +of man. Thus the Bataks apply the same word <foreign rend='italic'>tondi</foreign> to +the soul-stuff of rice and the soul-stuff of human beings. +Whereas the Dyaks of Poelopetak give the name of <foreign rend='italic'>gana</foreign> to +the soul-stuff of things, animals, and plants, they give the +name of <foreign rend='italic'>hambaruan</foreign> to the soul-stuff of rice as well as of +<pb n='183'/><anchor id='Pg183'/> +man. So also the inhabitants of Halmahera call the soul-stuff +of things and plants <foreign rend='italic'>giki</foreign> and <foreign rend='italic'>duhutu</foreign>, but in men and +food they recognise a <foreign rend='italic'>gurumi</foreign>. Of the Javanese, Malays, +Macassars, Buginese, and the inhabitants of the island of +Buru we know that they ascribe a <foreign rend='italic'>sumangè</foreign>, <foreign rend='italic'>sumangat</foreign>, or +<foreign rend='italic'>sĕmangat</foreign> to rice as well as to men. So it is with the +Toradjas of Central Celebes; while they manifestly conceive +all things and plants as animated, they attribute a <foreign rend='italic'>tanoana</foreign> +or soul-stuff only to men, animals, and rice. It need hardly +be said that this custom originates in the very high value +that is set on rice.</q><note place='foot'>A. C. Kruyt, <q>De Rijstmoeder in +den Indischen Archipel,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Verslagen en +Mededeelingen der koninklijke Akademie +van Wetenschappen</hi>, Afdeeling Letterkunde, +Vierde Reeks, v. part 4 (Amsterdam, +1903), pp. 361 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> This +essay (pp. 361-411) contains a valuable +collection of facts relating to what the +writer calls the Rice-mother in the +East Indies. But it is to be observed +that while all the Indonesian peoples +seem to treat a certain portion of the +rice at harvest with superstitious respect +and ceremony, only a part of them +actually call it <q>the Rice-mother.</q> +Mr. Kruyt prefers to speak of <q>soul-stuff</q> +rather than of <q>a soul,</q> because, +according to him, in living beings the +animating principle is conceived, not +as a tiny being confined to a single +part of the body, but as a sort of fluid +or ether diffused through every part of +the body. See his work, <hi rend='italic'>Het Animisme +in den Indischen Archipel</hi> (The +Hague, 1906), pp. 1 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> In the +latter work (pp. 145-150) the writer +gives a more summary account of the +Indonesian theory of the rice-soul.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Rice +treated +by the Indonesians +as if it +were a +woman.</note> +Believing the rice to be animated by a soul like that +of a man, the Indonesians naturally treat it with the +deference and the consideration which they shew to their +fellows. Thus they behave towards the rice in bloom as +they behave towards a pregnant woman; they abstain from +firing guns or making loud noises in the field, lest they +should so frighten the soul of the rice that it would miscarry +and bear no grain; and for the same reason they will +not talk of corpses or demons in the rice-fields. Moreover, +they feed the blooming rice with foods of various kinds +which are believed to be wholesome for women with child; +but when the rice-ears are just beginning to form, they are +looked upon as infants, and women go through the fields +feeding them with rice-pap as if they were human babes.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution +of Kings</hi>, ii. 28 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; A. C. Kruyt, +<q>De Rijstmoeder,</q> <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 363 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +370 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +In such natural and obvious comparisons of the breeding +plant to a breeding woman, and of the young grain to a +young child, is to be sought the origin of the kindred Greek +<pb n='184'/><anchor id='Pg184'/> +conception of the Corn-mother and the Corn-daughter, +Demeter and Persephone, and we need not go further afield +to search for it in a primitive division of labour between the +sexes.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg113'>113</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> But if the timorous feminine soul of the rice can be +frightened into a miscarriage even by loud noises, it is easy +to imagine what her feelings must be at harvest, when +people are under the sad necessity of cutting down the rice +with the knife. At so critical a season every precaution +must be used to render the necessary surgical operation of +reaping as inconspicuous and as painless as possible. For +that reason, as we have seen,<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg181'>181</ref>.</note> the reaping of the seed-rice is +done with knives of a peculiar pattern, such that the blades +are hidden in the reapers' hands and do not frighten the rice-spirit +till the very last moment, when her head is swept off +almost before she is aware; and from a like delicate motive +the reapers at work in the fields employ a special form of +speech, which the rice-spirit cannot be expected to understand, +so that she has no warning or inkling of what is +going forward till the heads of rice are safely deposited in +the basket.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Taboo and the Perils of the +Soul</hi>, pp. 411 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; A. C. Kruyt, <q>De +Rijstmoeder,</q> <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 372.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Kayans +of Borneo, +their treatment +of +the soul of +the rice.</note> +Among the Indonesian peoples who thus personify the +rice we may take the Kayans or Bahaus of Central Borneo as +typical. As we have already seen, they are essentially an +agricultural people devoted to the cultivation of rice, which +furnishes their staple food; their religion is deeply coloured +by this main occupation of their lives, and it presents many +analogies to the Eleusinian worship of the corn-goddesses +Demeter and Persephone.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg092'>92</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> And just as the Greeks regarded +corn as a gift of the goddess Demeter, so the Kayans +believe that rice, maize, sweet potatoes, tobacco, and all the +other products of the earth which they cultivate, were +originally created for their benefit by the spirits.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>Quer durch +Borneo</hi> (Leyden, 1904-1907), i. 157 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Instruments +used +by the +Kayans for +the purpose +of +catching +and detaining +the +soul of +the rice. +Ceremonies +performed +by Kayan +housewives +at fetching +rice from +the barn.</note> +In order to secure and detain the volatile soul of the +rice the Kayans resort to a number of devices. Among the +instruments employed for this purpose are a miniature +ladder, a spatula, and a basket containing hooks, thorns, and +<pb n='185'/><anchor id='Pg185'/> +cords. With the spatula the priestess strokes the soul of +the rice down the little ladder into the basket, where it is +naturally held fast by the hooks, the thorn, and the cord; +and having thus captured and imprisoned the soul she +conveys it into the rice-granary. Sometimes a bamboo box +and a net are used for the same purpose. And in order to +ensure a good harvest for the following year it is necessary +not only to detain the soul of all the grains of rice which +are safely stored in the granary, but also to attract and +recover the soul of all the rice that has been lost through +falling to the earth or being eaten by deer, apes, and pigs. +For this purpose instruments of various sorts have been +invented by the priests. One, for example, is a bamboo +vessel provided with four hooks made from the wood of a +fruit-tree, by means of which the absent rice-soul may be +hooked and drawn back into the vessel, which is then hung +up in the house. Sometimes two hands carved out of the +wood of a fruit-tree are used for the same purpose. And +every time that a Kayan housewife fetches rice from the +granary for the use of her household, she must propitiate +the souls of the rice in the granary, lest they should be +angry at being robbed of their substance. To keep them +in good humour a bundle of shavings of a fruit-tree and +a little basket are always hung in the granary. An egg +and a small vessel containing the juice of sugar-cane are +attached as offerings to the bundle of shavings, and the +basket contains a sacred mat, which is used at fetching the +rice. When the housewife comes to fetch rice from the +granary, she pours juice of the sugar-cane on the egg, takes +the sacred mat from the basket, spreads it on the ground, +lays a stalk of rice on it, and explains to the souls of the +rice the object of her coming. Then she kneels before the +mat, mutters some prayers or spells, eats a single grain from +the rice-stalk, and having restored the various objects to +their proper place, departs from the granary with the +requisite amount of rice, satisfied that she has discharged +her religious duty to the spirits of the rice. At harvest the +spirits of the rice are propitiated with offerings of food and +water, which are carried by children to the rice-fields. At +evening the first rice-stalks which have been cut are solemnly +<pb n='186'/><anchor id='Pg186'/> +brought home in a consecrated basket to the beating of a +gong, and all cats and dogs are driven from the house before +the basket with its precious contents is brought in.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. +118-121. Compare <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>In Centraal +Borneo</hi> (Leyden, 1900), i. 154 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Masquerade +performed +by the +Kayans +before +sowing for +the purpose +of attracting +the +soul of +the rice.</note> +Among the Kayans of the Mahakam river in Central +Borneo the sowing of the rice is immediately preceded by a +performance of masked men, which is intended to attract the +soul or rather souls of the rice and so to make sure that the +harvest will be a good one. The performers represent +spirits; for, believing that spirits are mightier than men, +the Kayans imagine that they can acquire and exert superhuman +power by imitating the form and actions of spirits.<note place='foot'>A similar belief probably explains +the masked dances and pantomimes of +many savage tribes. If that is so, it +shews how deeply the principle of +imitative magic has influenced savage +religion.</note> +To support their assumed character they wear grotesque masks +with goggle eyes, great teeth, huge ears, and beards of white +goat's hair, while their bodies are so thickly wrapt up in +shredded banana-leaves that to the spectator they present +the appearance of unwieldy masses of green foliage. The +leader of the band carries a long wooden hook or rather +crook, the shaft of which is partly whittled into loose +fluttering shavings. These disguises they don at a +little distance from the village, then dropping down the +river in boats they land and march in procession to an open +space among the houses, where the people, dressed out in all +their finery, are waiting to witness the performance. Here +the maskers range themselves in a circle and dance for some +time under the burning rays of the midday sun, waving their +arms, shaking and turning their heads, and executing a +variety of steps to the sound of a gong, which is beaten +according to a rigidly prescribed rhythm. After the dance +they form a line, one behind the other, to fetch the vagrant +soul of the rice from far countries. At the head of the +procession marches the leader holding high his crook and +behind him follow all the other masked men in their leafy +costume, each holding his fellow by the hand. As he +strides along, the leader makes a motion with his crook +as if he were hooking something and drawing it to himself, +and the gesture is imitated by all his followers. What +<pb n='187'/><anchor id='Pg187'/> +he is thus catching are the souls of the rice, which +sometimes wander far away, and by drawing them home +to the village he is believed to ensure that the seed of +the rice which is about to be sown will produce a plentiful +harvest. As the spirits are thought not to possess the +power of speech, the actors who personate them may not +utter a word, else they would run the risk of falling down +dead. The great field of the chief is sown by representatives +of all the families, both free and slaves, on the +day after the masquerade. On the same day the free +families sacrifice on their fields and begin their sowing on +one or other of the following days. Every family sets up +in its field a sacrificial stage or altar, with which the sowers +must remain in connexion during the time of sowing. +Therefore no stranger may pass between them and the +stage; indeed the Kayans are not allowed to have anything +to do with strangers in the fields; above all they may not +speak with them. If such a thing should accidentally happen, +the sowing must cease for that day. At the sowing festival, +but at no other time, Kayan men of the Mahakam river, like +their brethren of the Mendalam river, amuse themselves +with spinning tops. For nine days before the masquerade +takes place the people are bound to observe certain taboos: +no stranger may enter the village: no villager may pass the +night out of his own house: they may not hunt, nor pluck +fruits, nor fish with the casting-net or the drag-net.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>Quer durch +Borneo</hi>, i. 322-330. Compare <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>In +Centraal Borneo</hi>, i. 185 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> As to the +masquerades performed and the taboos +observed at the sowing season by the +Kayans of the Mendalam river, see +above, pp. <ref target='Pg094'>94</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> In this +tribe the proper day for sowing is officially determined by +a priest from an observation of the sun setting behind the +hills in a line with two stones which the priest has set up, +one behind the other. However, the official day often does +not coincide with the actual day of sowing.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. 317.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Comparison +of the +Kayan +masquerade +with +the +Eleusinian +drama.</note> +The masquerade thus performed by the Kayans of the +Mahakam river before sowing the rice is an instructive +example of a religious or rather magical drama acted for +the express purpose of ensuring a good crop. As such it +may be compared to the drama of Demeter and Persephone, +<pb n='188'/><anchor id='Pg188'/> +the Corn-mother and the Corn-maiden, which was annually +played at the Eleusinian mysteries shortly before the +autumnal sowing of the corn. If my interpretation of these +mysteries is correct, the intention of the Greek and of the +Kayan drama was one and the same. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Securing +the soul of +the rice +among the +Dyaks of +Northern +Borneo.</note> +At harvest the Dyaks of Northern Borneo have a special +feast, the object of which is <q>to secure the soul of the rice, +which if not so detained, the produce of their farms would +speedily rot and decay. At sowing time, a little of the +principle of life of the rice, which at every harvest is secured +by their priests, is planted with their other seeds, and is thus +propagated and communicated.</q> The mode of securing the +soul of the rice varies in different tribes. In the Quop district +the ceremony is performed by the chief priest alone, first in the +long broad verandah of the common house and afterwards +in each separate family apartment. As a preparation for +the ceremony a bamboo altar, decorated with green boughs +and red and white streamers, is erected in the verandah, +and presents a very gay appearance. Here the people, old +and young, assemble, the priestesses dressed in gorgeous +array and the elder men wearing bright-coloured jackets and +trousers of purple, yellow, or scarlet hue, while the young +men and lads beat gongs and drums. When the priest, +with a bundle of charms in either hand, is observed to be +gazing earnestly in the air at something invisible to common +eyes, the band strikes up with redoubled energy, and the +elderly men in the gay breeches begin to shriek and revolve +round the altar in the dance. Suddenly the priest starts +up and makes a rush at the invisible object; men run to +him with white cloths, and as he shakes his charms over the +cloths a few grains of rice fall into them. These grains are +the soul of the rice; they are carefully folded up in the +cloths and laid at the foot of the altar. The same performance +is afterwards repeated in every family apartment. In +some tribes the soul of the rice is secured at midnight. Outside +the village a lofty altar is erected in an open space +surrounded by the stately forms of the tropical palms. +Huge bonfires cast a ruddy glow over the scene and light +up the dusky but picturesque forms of the Dyaks as they +move in slow and solemn dance round the altar, some +<pb n='189'/><anchor id='Pg189'/> +bearing lighted tapers in their hands, others brass salvers +with offerings of rice, others covered baskets, of which the +contents are hidden from all but the initiated. The corner-posts +of the altar are lofty bamboos, whose leafy tops are +yet green and rustle in the wind; and from one of them +a long narrow streamer of white cloth hangs down. Suddenly +elders and priests rush at this streamer, seize the end of it, +and amid the crashing music of drums and gongs and the +yells of the spectators begin dancing and swaying themselves +backwards and forwards, and to and fro. A priest or elder +mounts the altar amid the shouts of the bystanders and +shakes the tall bamboos violently; and in the midst of all +this excitement and hubbub small stones, bunches of hair, +and grains of rice fall at the feet of the dancers, and are +carefully picked up by watchful attendants. These grains +are the soul of the rice. The ceremony ends with several +of the oldest priestesses falling, or pretending to fall, senseless +to the ground, where, till they come to themselves, their +heads are supported and their faces fanned by their younger +colleagues. At the end of the harvest, when the year's crop +has been garnered, another feast is held. A pig and fowls +are killed, and for four days gongs are beaten and dancing +kept up. For eight days the village is tabooed and no +stranger may enter it. At this festival the ceremony of +catching the soul of the rice is repeated to prevent the crop +from rotting; and the soul so obtained is mixed with the +seed-rice of the next year.<note place='foot'>Spenser St. John, <hi rend='italic'>Life in the +Forests of the Far East</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> (London, +1863), i. 187, 192 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; W. Chalmers, +quoted in H. Ling Roth's <hi rend='italic'>Natives of +Sarawak and British North Borneo</hi> +(London, 1896), i. 412-414.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Recalling +the soul of +the rice +among the +Karens of +Burma.</note> +The same need of securing the soul of the rice, if the +crop is to thrive, is keenly felt by the Karens of Burma. +When a rice-field does not flourish, they suppose that the +soul (<foreign rend='italic'>kelah</foreign>) of the rice is in some way detained from the rice. +If the soul cannot be called back, the crop will fail. The +following formula is used in recalling the <foreign rend='italic'>kelah</foreign> (soul) of the +rice: <q>O come, rice-<foreign rend='italic'>kelah</foreign>, come! Come to the field. Come +to the rice. With seed of each gender, come. Come from +the river Kho, come from the river Kaw; from the place +where they meet, come. Come from the West, come from +<pb n='190'/><anchor id='Pg190'/> +the East. From the throat of the bird, from the maw of +the ape, from the throat of the elephant. Come from the +sources of rivers and their mouths. Come from the country +of the Shan and Burman. From the distant kingdoms come. +From all granaries come. O rice-<foreign rend='italic'>kelah</foreign>, come to the rice.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. E. B. Cross, <q>On the Karens,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Journal of the American Oriental +Society</hi>, iv. (1854) p. 309.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Securing +the soul of +the rice +in various +parts of +Burma.</note> +Among the Taungthu of Upper Burma it is customary, +when all the rice-fields have been reaped, to make a trail of +unhusked rice (paddy) and husks all the way from the fields +to the farm-house in order to guide the spirit or butterfly, +as they call it, of the rice home to the granary. Care is +taken that there should be no break in the trail, and the +butterfly of the rice is invited with loud cries to come to the +house. Were the spirit of the rice not secured in this +manner, next year's harvest would be bad.<note place='foot'>(Sir) J. G. Scott and J. P. +Hardiman, <hi rend='italic'>Gazetteer of Upper Burma +and of the Shan States</hi> (Rangoon, +1900-1901), Part i. vol. i. p. 559.</note> Similarly among +the Cherokee Indians of North America <q>care was always +taken to keep a clean trail from the field to the house, so +that the corn might be encouraged to stay at home and not +go wandering elsewhere,</q> and <q>seven ears from the last +year's crop were always put carefully aside, in order to +<emph>attract the corn</emph>, until the new crop was ripened.</q><note place='foot'>J. Mooney, <q>Myths of the +Cherokee,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Nineteenth Annual Report +of the Bureau of American Ethnology</hi>, +Part i. (Washington, 1900) p. 423. +Compare <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, pp. 296 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In Hsa +Möng Hkam, a native state of Upper Burma, when two men +work rice-fields in partnership, they take particular care as +to the division of the grain between them. Each partner +has a basket made, of which both top and bottom are +carefully closed with wood to prevent the butterfly spirit of +the rice from escaping; for if it were to flutter away, the next +year's crop would be but poor.<note place='foot'>(Sir) J. G. Scott and J. P. Hardiman, +<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> Part ii. vol. i. p. 172.</note> Among the Talaings of +Lower Burma <q>the last sheaf is larger than the rest; it is +brought home separately, usually if not invariably on the +morning after the remainder of the harvest has been carted +to the threshing-floor. The cultivators drive out in their +bullock-cart, taking with them a woman's comb, a looking-glass, +and a woman's skirt. The sheaf is dressed in the +skirt, and apparently the form is gone through of presenting +<pb n='191'/><anchor id='Pg191'/> +it with the glass and comb. It is then brought home in +triumph, the people decking the cart with their silk kerchiefs, +and cheering and singing the whole way. On their arrival +home they celebrate the occasion with a feast. Strictly +speaking the sheaf should be kept apart from the rest of the +harvest; owing, however, to the high price of paddy it often +finds its way to the threshing-floor. Even when this is not +the case it is rarely tended so carefully as it is said to have +been in former days, and if not threshed with the remaining +crop is apt to be eaten by the cattle. So far as I could +ascertain it had never been the custom to keep it throughout +the year; but on the first ploughing of the ensuing season +there was some ceremony in connection with it. The name +of the sheaf was <foreign rend='italic'>Bonmagyi</foreign>; at first I was inclined to fancy +that this was a contraction of <foreign rend='italic'>thelinbon ma gyi</foreign>, <q>the old +woman of the threshing-floor.</q> There are, however, various +reasons for discarding this derivation, and I am unable to +suggest any other.</q><note place='foot'>From a letter written to me by +Mr. J. S. Furnivall and dated Pegu +Club, Rangoon, 6/6 (<hi rend='italic'>sic</hi>). Mr. +Furnivall adds that in Upper Burma +the custom of the <foreign rend='italic'>Bonmagyi</foreign> sheaf is +unknown.</note> In this custom the personification of +the last sheaf of rice as a woman comes out clearly in the +practice of dressing it up in female attire. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Rice-mother +among the +Minangkabauers +of +Sumatra.</note> +The Corn-mother of our European peasants has her +match in the Rice-mother of the Minangkabauers of +Sumatra. The Minangkabauers definitely attribute a soul +to rice, and will sometimes assert that rice pounded in the +usual way tastes better than rice ground in a mill, because +in the mill the body of the rice was so bruised and battered +that the soul has fled from it. Like the Javanese they +think that the rice is under the special guardianship of a +female spirit called Saning Sari, who is conceived as so +closely knit up with the plant that the rice often goes by +her name, as with the Romans the corn might be called +Ceres. In particular Saning Sari is represented by certain +stalks or grains called <foreign rend='italic'>indoea padi</foreign>, that is, literally, <q>Mother +of Rice,</q> a name that is often given to the guardian spirit +herself. This so-called Mother of Rice is the occasion of a +number of ceremonies observed at the planting and harvesting +of the rice as well as during its preservation in the barn. +<pb n='192'/><anchor id='Pg192'/> +When the seed of the rice is about to be sown in the +nursery or bedding-out ground, where under the wet system +of cultivation it is regularly allowed to sprout before being +transplanted to the fields, the best grains are picked out to +form the Rice-mother. These are then sown in the middle +of the bed, and the common seed is planted round about +them. The state of the Rice-mother is supposed to exert +the greatest influence on the growth of the rice; if she +droops or pines away, the harvest will be bad in consequence. +The woman who sows the Rice-mother in the nursery lets +her hair hang loose and afterwards bathes, as a means of +ensuring an abundant harvest. When the time comes to +transplant the rice from the nursery to the field, the Rice-mother +receives a special place either in the middle or in a +corner of the field, and a prayer or charm is uttered as +follows: <q>Saning Sari, may a measure of rice come from a +stalk of rice and a basketful from a root; may you be +frightened neither by lightning nor by passers-by! Sunshine +make you glad; with the storm may you be at peace; and +may rain serve to wash your face!</q> While the rice is +growing, the particular plant which was thus treated as the +Rice-mother is lost sight of; but before harvest another +Rice-mother is found. When the crop is ripe for cutting, +the oldest woman of the family or a sorcerer goes out to +look for her. The first stalks seen to bend under a passing +breeze are the Rice-mother, and they are tied together but +not cut until the first-fruits of the field have been carried +home to serve as a festal meal for the family and their +friends, nay even for the domestic animals; since it is Saning +Sari's pleasure that the beasts also should partake of her +good gifts. After the meal has been eaten, the Rice-mother +is fetched home by persons in gay attire, who carry her very +carefully under an umbrella in a neatly worked bag to the +barn, where a place in the middle is assigned to her. Every +one believes that she takes care of the rice in the barn and +even multiplies it not uncommonly.<note place='foot'>J. L. van der Toorn, <q>Het +animisme bij den Minangkabauer der +Padangsche Bovenlanden,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Bijdragen +tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van +Nederlandsch Indië</hi>, xxxix. (1890) pp. +63-65. In the charm recited at sowing +the Rice-mother in the bed, I have +translated the Dutch word <foreign lang='nl' rend='italic'>stoel</foreign> as +<q>root,</q> but I am not sure of its precise +meaning in this connexion. It is +doubtless identical with the English +agricultural term <q>to stool,</q> which is +said of a number of stalks sprouting +from a single seed, as I learn from +my friend Professor W. Somerville of +Oxford.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='193'/><anchor id='Pg193'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Rice-mother +among the +Tomori of +Celebes. +Special +words used +at reaping +among the +Tomori. Riddles +and stories +in connexion +with +the rice.</note> +When the Tomori of Central Celebes are about to plant +the rice, they bury in the field some betel as an offering to +the spirits who cause the rice to grow. Over the spot where +the offering is buried a small floor of wood is laid, and the +family sits on it and consumes betel together as a sort of +silent prayer or charm to ensure the growth of the crop. +The rice that is planted round this spot is the last to be +reaped at harvest. At the commencement of the reaping +the stalks of this patch of rice are tied together into a sheaf, +which is called <q>the Mother of the Rice</q> (<foreign rend='italic'>ineno pae</foreign>), and +offerings in the shape of rice, fowl's liver, eggs, and other +things are laid down before it. When all the rest of the +rice in the field has been reaped, <q>the Mother of the Rice</q> +is cut down and carried with due honour to the rice-barn, +where it is laid on the floor, and all the other sheaves are +piled upon it. The Tomori, we are told, regard the Mother +of the Rice as a special offering made to the rice-spirit +Omonga, who dwells in the moon. If that spirit is not +treated with proper respect, for example if the people who +fetch rice from the barn are not decently clad, he is angry +and punishes the offenders by eating up twice as much rice +in the barn as they have taken out of it; some people have +heard him smacking his lips in the barn, as he devoured the +rice. On the other hand the Toradjas of Central Celebes, +who also practise the custom of the Rice-mother at harvest, +regard her as the actual mother of the whole harvest, and +therefore keep her carefully, lest in her absence the garnered +store of rice should all melt away and disappear.<note place='foot'>A. C. Kruijt, <q>Eenige ethnografische +aanteekeningen omtrent de +Toboengkoe en de Tomori,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen +van wege het Nederlandsche +Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, xliv. (1900) pp. +227, 230 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Among +the Tomori, as among other Indonesian peoples, reapers at +work in the field make use of special words which differ +from the terms in ordinary use; the reason for adopting this +peculiar form of speech at reaping appears to be, as I have +already pointed out, a fear of alarming the timid soul of the +rice by revealing the fate in store for it.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Taboo and the Perils of the +Soul</hi>, pp. 411 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> To the same +<pb n='194'/><anchor id='Pg194'/> +motive is perhaps to be ascribed the practice observed +by the Tomori of asking each other riddles at harvest.<note place='foot'>A. C. Kruijt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 228.</note> +Similarly among the Alfoors or Toradjas of Poso, in Central +Celebes, while the people are watching the crops in the fields +they amuse themselves with asking each other riddles and +telling stories, and when any one guesses a riddle aright, the +whole company cries out, <q>Let our rice come up, let fat ears +come up both in the lowlands and on the heights.</q> But all +the time between harvest and the laying out of new fields +the asking of riddles and the telling of stories is strictly +forbidden.<note place='foot'>A. C. Kruijt, <q>Een en ander +aangaande het geestelijk en maatschapelijk +leven van den Poso-Alfoer,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche +Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, xxxix. (1895) +pp. 142 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Thus among these people it seems that the +asking of riddles is for some reason regarded as a charm +which may make or mar the crops. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Rice-mother +among the +Toradjas +of Celebes.</note> +Among some of the Toradjas of Celebes the ceremony +of cutting and bringing home the Mother of the Rice +is observed as follows. When the crop is ripe in the +fields, the Mother of the Rice (<foreign rend='italic'>ânrong pâre</foreign>) must be +fetched before the rest of the harvest is reaped. The +ceremony is performed on a lucky day by a woman, who +knows the rites. For three days previously she observes +certain precautions to prevent the soul (<foreign rend='italic'>soemangâna âse</foreign>) of +the rice from escaping out of the field, as it might be apt to +do, if it got wind that the reapers with their cruel knives +were so soon to crop the ripe ears. With this view she ties +up a handful of standing stalks of the rice into a bunch in +each corner of the field, while she recites an invocation +to the spirits of the rice, bidding them gather in the field +from the four quarters of the heaven. As a further precaution +she stops the sluices, lest with the outrush of the +water from the rice-field the sly soul of the rice should make +good its escape. And she ties knots in the leaves of the +rice-plants, all to hinder the soul of the rice from running +away. This she does in the afternoon of three successive +days. On the morning of the fourth day she comes again +to the field, sits down in a corner of it, and kisses the rice +three times, again inviting the souls of the rice to come +thither and assuring them of her affection and care. Then +<pb n='195'/><anchor id='Pg195'/> +she cuts the bunch of rice-stalks which she had tied together +on one of the previous days. The stalks in the bunch must +be nine in number, and their leaves must be cut with them, +not thrown away. As she cuts, she may not look about +her, nor cry out, nor speak to any one, nor be spoken to; +but she says to the rice, <q>The prophet reaps you. I take +you, but you diminish not; I hold you in my hand and you +increase. You are the links of my soul, the support of my +body, my blessing, my salvation. There is no God but +God.</q> Then she passes to another corner of the field to +cut the bunch of standing rice in it with the same ceremony; +but before coming to it she stops half way to pluck another +bunch of five stalks in like manner. Thus from the four +sides of the field she collects in all fifty-six stalks of rice, +which together make up the Mother of the Rice (<foreign rend='italic'>ânrong +pâre</foreign>). Then in a corner of the field she makes a little +stage and lays the Mother of the Rice on it, with the ears +turned towards the standing rice and the cut stalks +towards the dyke which encloses the field. After that she +binds the fifty-six stalks of the Rice-mother into a sheaf +with the bark of a particular kind of tree. As she does so, +she says, <q>The prophet binds you into a sheaf; the angel +increases you; the <foreign rend='italic'>awâlli</foreign> cares for you. We loved and +cared for each other.</q> Then, after anointing the sheaf and +fumigating it with incense, she lays it on the little stage. +On this stage she had previously placed several kinds of +rice, betel, one or more eggs, sweetmeats, and young coco-nuts, +all as offerings to the Mother of the Rice, who, if she +did not receive these attentions, would be offended and visit +people with sickness or even vanish away altogether. Sometimes +on large farms a fowl is killed and its blood deposited +in the half of a coco-nut on the stage. The standing rice +round about the stage is the last of the whole field to be +reaped. When it has been cut, it is bound up with the +Mother of the Rice into a single sheaf and carried home. +Any body may carry the sheaf, but in doing so he or she +must take care not to let it fall, or the Rice-mother would be +angry and might disappear.<note place='foot'>G. Maan, <q>Eenige mededeelingen +omtrent de zeden en gewoonten der +Toerateya ten opzichte van den +rijstbouw,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Tijdschrift voor Indische +Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde</hi>, xlvi. +(1903) pp. 330-337. The writer dates +his article from Tanneteya (in Celebes?), +but otherwise gives no indication of the +geographical position of the people he +describes. A similar omission is common +with Dutch writers on the +geography and ethnology of the East +Indies, who too often appear to assume +that the uncouth names of these barbarous +tribes and obscure hamlets are as +familiar to European readers as Amsterdam +or the Hague. The Toerateyas +whose customs Mr. Maan describes in +this article are the inland inhabitants +of Celebes. Their name Toerateyas or +Toradjas signifies simply <q>inlanders</q> +and is applied to them by their neighbours +who live nearer the sea; it is +not a name used by the people themselves. +The Toradjas include many +tribes and the particular tribe whose +usages in regard to the Rice-mother +are described in the text is probably +not one of those whose customs and +beliefs have been described by Mr. A. +C. Kruijt in many valuable papers. +See above, p. 183 note 1, and <hi rend='italic'>The Magic +Art and the Evolution of Kings</hi>, i. 109 +note 1.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='196'/><anchor id='Pg196'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The rice +personified +as a young +woman +among the +Bataks of +Sumatra.</note> +Among the Battas or Bataks of Sumatra the rice appears +to be personified as a young unmarried woman rather than +as a mother. On the first day of reaping the crop only a +few ears of rice are plucked and made up into a little sheaf. +After that the reaping may begin, and while it is going +forward offerings of rice and betel are presented in the +middle of the field to the spirit of the rice, who is personified +under the name of Miss Dajang. The offering is accompanied +by a common meal shared by the reapers. When +all the rice has been reaped, threshed and garnered, the little +sheaf which was first cut is brought in and laid on the top +of the heap in the granary, together with an egg or a stone, +which is supposed to watch over the rice.<note place='foot'>M. Joustra, <q>Het leven, de zeden +en gewoonten der Bataks,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen +van wege het Nederlandsche +Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, xlvi. (1902) pp. +425 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Though we are +not told, we may assume that the personified spirit of the +rice is supposed to be present in the first sheaf cut and in +that form to keep guard over the rice in the granary. +Another writer, who has independently described the customs +of the Karo-Bataks at the rice-harvest, tells us that the largest +sheaf, which is usually the one first made up, is regarded as +the seat of the rice-soul and is treated exactly like a person; +at the trampling of the paddy to separate the grain from +the husks the sheaf in question is specially entrusted to +a girl who has a lucky name, and whose parents are both +alive.<note place='foot'>J. H. Neumann, <q>Iets over den +landbouw bij de Karo-Bataks,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen +van wege het Nederlandsche +Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, xlvi. (1902) pp. +380 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> As to the employment in +ritual of young people whose parents +are both alive, see <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, +Second Edition, pp. 413 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<pb n='197'/><anchor id='Pg197'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The King +of the +Rice in +Mandeling.</note> +In Mandeling, a district of Sumatra, contrary to what +seems to be the usual practice, the spirit of the rice is personified +as a male instead of as a female and is called the Rajah +or King of the Rice. He is supposed to be immanent in +certain rice-plants, which are recognised by their peculiar +formation, such as a concealment of the ears in the sheath, +an unusual arrangement of the leaves, or a stunted growth. +When one or more such plants have been discovered in the +field, they are sprinkled with lime-juice, and the spirits are +invoked by name and informed that they are expected at +home and that all is ready for their reception. Then the +King of the Rice is plucked with the hand and seven +neighbouring rice-stalks cut with a knife. He and his seven +companions are then carefully brought home; the bearer +may not speak a word, and the children in the house may +make no noise till the King of the Rice has been safely +lodged in the granary and tethered, for greater security, with +a grass rope to one of the posts. As soon as that is done, +the doors are shut to prevent the spirits of the rice from +escaping. The person who fetches the King of the Rice +from the field should prepare himself for the important duty +by eating a hearty meal, for it would be an omen of a bad +harvest if he presented himself before the King of the +Rice with an empty stomach. For the same reason the +sower of rice should sow the seed on a full stomach, in +order that the ears which spring from the seed may be full +also.<note place='foot'>A. L. van Hasselt, <q>Nota, betreffende +de rijstcultuur in de Residentie +Tapanoeli,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Tijdschrift voor Indische +Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde</hi>, xxxvi. +(1893) pp. 526-529; Th. A. L. +Heyting, <q>Beschrijving der Onderafdeeling +Groot- mandeling en Batangnatal,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Tijdschrift van het Nederlandsch +Aardrijkskundig Genootschap</hi>, Tweede +Serie, xiv. (1897) pp. 290 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> As to +the rule of sowing seed on a full +stomach, which is a simple case of +homoeopathic or imitative magic, see +further <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution +of Kings</hi>, i. 136.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Rice-mother +and +the Rice-child +at +harvest in +the Malay +Peninsula.</note> +Again, just as in Scotland the old and the young spirit +of the corn are represented as an Old Wife (<foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign>) and +a Maiden respectively, so in the Malay Peninsula we find +both the Rice-mother and her child represented by different +sheaves or bundles of ears on the harvest-field. The following +directions for obtaining both are translated from a native +Malay work on the cultivation of rice: <q>When the rice is +<pb n='198'/><anchor id='Pg198'/> +ripe all over, one must first take the <q>soul</q> out of all the +plots of one's field. You choose the spot where the rice is +best and where it is <q>female</q> (that is to say, where the +bunch of stalks is big) and where there are seven joints in +the stalk. You begin with a bunch of this kind and clip +seven stems to be the <q>soul of the rice</q>; and then you clip +yet another handful to be the <q>mother-seed</q> for the following +year. The <q>soul</q> is wrapped in a white cloth tied with a +cord of <foreign rend='italic'>tĕrap</foreign> bark, and made into the shape of a little child +in swaddling clothes, and put into the small basket. The +<q>mother-seed</q> is put into another basket, and both are +fumigated with benzoin, and then the two baskets are +piled the one on the other and taken home, and put into +the <foreign rend='italic'>kĕpuk</foreign> (the receptacle in which rice is stored).</q><note place='foot'>W. W. Skeat, <hi rend='italic'>Malay Magic</hi> (London, 1900), pp. 225 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> The +ceremony of cutting and bringing home the Soul of the Rice +was witnessed by Mr. W. W. Skeat at Chodoi in Selangor +on the twenty-eighth of January 1897. The particular +bunch or sheaf which was to serve as the Mother of the +Rice-soul had previously been sought and identified by +means of the markings or shape of the ears. From this +sheaf an aged sorceress, with much solemnity, cut a little +bundle of seven ears, anointed them with oil, tied them +round with parti-coloured thread, fumigated them with +incense, and having wrapt them in a white cloth deposited +them in a little oval-shaped basket. These seven ears were +the infant Soul of the Rice and the little basket was its +cradle. It was carried home to the farmer's house by +another woman, who held up an umbrella to screen the +tender infant from the hot rays of the sun. Arrived at the +house the Rice-child was welcomed by the women of the +family, and laid, cradle and all, on a new sleeping-mat with +pillows at the head. After that the farmer's wife was +instructed to observe certain rules of taboo for three days, +the rules being in many respects identical with those which +have to be observed for three days after the birth of a real +child. For example, perfect quiet must be observed, as in +a house where a baby has just been born; a light was +placed near the head of the Rice-child's bed and might not +go out at night, while the fire on the hearth had to be kept +<pb n='199'/><anchor id='Pg199'/> +up both day and night till the three days were over; hair +might not be cut; and money, rice, salt, oil, and so forth +were forbidden to go out of the house, though of course +these valuable articles were quite free to come in. Something +of the same tender care which is thus bestowed on +the newly-born Rice-child is naturally extended also to its +parent, the sheaf from whose body it was taken. This +sheaf, which remains standing in the field after the Rice-soul +has been carried home and put to bed, is treated as a newly-made +mother; that is to say, young shoots of trees are +pounded together and scattered broadcast every evening for +three successive days, and when the three days are up you +take the pulp of a coco-nut and what are called <q>goat-flowers,</q> +mix them up, eat them with a little sugar, and spit +some of the mixture out among the rice. So after a real +birth the young shoots of the jack-fruit, the rose-apple, certain +kinds of banana, and the thin pulp of young coco-nuts are +mixed with dried fish, salt, acid, prawn-condiment, and the +like dainties to form a sort of salad, which is administered +to mother and child for three successive days. The last +sheaf is reaped by the farmer's wife, who carries it back to +the house, where it is threshed and mixed with the Rice-soul. +The farmer then takes the Rice-soul and its basket and +deposits it, together with the product of the last sheaf, in +the big circular rice-bin used by the Malays. Some grains +from the Rice-soul are mixed with the seed which is to be +sown in the following year.<note place='foot'>W. W. Skeat, <hi rend='italic'>Malay Magic</hi>, pp. 235-249.</note> In this Rice-mother and Rice-child +of the Malay Peninsula we may see the counterpart +and in a sense the prototype of the Demeter and Persephone +of ancient Greece. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Rice-bride +and +the Rice-bridegroom +at +harvest in +Java.</note> +Once more, the European custom of representing the +corn-spirit in the double form of bride and bridegroom<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg163'>163</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> has +its parallel in a ceremony observed at the rice-harvest in +Java. Before the reapers begin to cut the rice, the priest or +sorcerer picks out a number of ears of rice, which are tied +together, smeared with ointment, and adorned with flowers. +Thus decked out, the ears are called the <foreign rend='italic'>padi-pĕngantèn</foreign>, that +is, the Rice-bride and the Rice-bridegroom; their wedding +feast is celebrated, and the cutting of the rice begins immediately +<pb n='200'/><anchor id='Pg200'/> +afterwards. Later on, when the rice is being got +in, a bridal chamber is partitioned off in the barn, and +furnished with a new mat, a lamp, and all kinds of toilet +articles. Sheaves of rice, to represent the wedding guests, +are placed beside the Rice-bride and the Rice-bridegroom. +Not till this has been done may the whole harvest be housed +in the barn. And for the first forty days after the rice has +been housed, no one may enter the barn, for fear of disturbing +the newly-wedded pair.<note place='foot'>P. J. Veth, <hi rend='italic'>Java</hi> (Haarlem, +1875-1884), i. 524-526. The ceremony +has also been described by Miss +Augusta de Wit (<hi rend='italic'>Facts and Fancies about +Java</hi>, Singapore, 1898, pp. 229-241), +who lays stress on the extreme importance +of the rice-harvest for the Javanese. +The whole island of Java, she tells us, +<q>is one vast rice-field. Rice on the +swampy plains, rice on the rising ground, +rice on the slopes, rice on the very +summits of the hills. From the sod +under one's feet to the verge of the +horizon, everything has one and the +same colour, the bluish-green of the +young, or the gold of the ripened rice. +The natives are all, without exception, +tillers of the soil, who reckon their lives +by seasons of planting and reaping, +whose happiness or misery is synonymous +with the abundance or the dearth +of the precious grain. And the great +national feast is the harvest home, with +its crowning ceremony of the Wedding +of the Rice</q> (<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 229 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>). I have +to thank my friend Dr. A. C. Haddon +for directing my attention to Miss de +Wit's book.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Another +account +of the +Javanese +custom.</note> +Another account of the Javanese custom runs as +follows. When the rice at harvest is to be brought home, +two handfuls of common unhusked rice (paddy) are tied +together into a sheaf, and two handfuls of a special +kind of rice (<foreign rend='italic'>kleefrijst</foreign>) are tied up into another sheaf; +then the two sheaves are fastened together in a bundle +which goes by the name of <q>the bridal pair</q> (<foreign rend='italic'>pĕn-gantenan</foreign>). +The special rice is the bridegroom, the common +rice is the bride. At the barn <q>the bridal pair</q> is received +on a winnowing-fan by a wizard, who removes them from +the fan and lays them on the floor with a couch of <foreign rend='italic'>kloewih</foreign> +leaves under them <q>in order that the rice may increase,</q> and +beside them he places a <foreign rend='italic'>kĕmiri</foreign> nut, tamarind pips, and a top +and string as playthings with which the young couple may +divert themselves. The bride is called Emboq Sri and the +bridegroom Sadana, and the wizard addresses them by name, +saying: <q>Emboq Sri and Sadana, I have now brought you +home and I have prepared a place for you. May you sleep +agreeably in this agreeable place! Emboq Sri and Sadana, +you have been received by So-and-So (the owner), let So-and-So +<pb n='201'/><anchor id='Pg201'/> +lead a life free from care. May Emboq Sri's luck +continue in this very agreeable place!</q><note place='foot'>A. C. Kruijt, <q>Gebruiken bij den +rijstoogst in enkele streken op Oost-Java,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen van wege het +Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, +xlvii. (1903) pp. 132-134. Compare +<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <q>De rijst-moeder in den Indischen +Archipel,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Verslagen en Mededeelingen +der koninklijke Akademie van +Wetenschappen</hi>, Afdeeling Letterkunde, +Vierde Reeks, v. part 4 (Amsterdam, +1903), pp. 398 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The rice-spirit +as +husband +and wife +in Bali and +Lombok.</note> +The same idea of the rice-spirit as a husband and wife +meets us also in the harvest customs of Bali and Lombok, +two islands which lie immediately to the east of Java. <q>The +inhabitants of Lombok,</q> we are told, <q>think of the rice-plant +as animated by a soul. They regard it as one with a +divinity and treat it with the distinction and honour that are +shewn to a very important person. But as it is impossible +to treat all the rice-stalks in a field ceremoniously, the native, +feeling the need of a visible and tangible representative of +the rice-deity and taking a part for the whole, picks out +some stalks and conceives them as the visible abode of the +rice-soul, to which he can pay his homage and from which +he hopes to derive advantage. These few stalks, the foremost +among their many peers, form what is called the <foreign rend='italic'>ninin +pantun</foreign> by the people of Bali and the <foreign rend='italic'>inan paré</foreign> by the +Sassaks</q> of Lombok.<note place='foot'>J. C. van Eerde, <q>Gebruiken bij +den rijstbouw en rijstoogst op Lombok,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- +en Volkenkunde</hi>, xlv. (1902) pp. 563-565 +note.</note> The name <foreign rend='italic'>ina paré</foreign> is sometimes +translated Rice-mother, but the more correct translation is +said to be <q>the principal rice.</q> The stalks of which this +<q>principal rice</q> consists are the first nine shoots which the +husbandman himself takes with his own hands from the +nursery or bedding-out ground and plants at the upper end +of the rice-field beside the inlet of the irrigation water. They +are planted with great care in a definite order, one of them +in the middle and the other eight in a circle about it. When +the whole field has been planted, an offering, which usually +consists of rice in many forms, is made to <q>the principal +rice</q> (<foreign rend='italic'>inan paré</foreign>). When the rice-stalks begin to swell the +rice is said to be pregnant, and the <q>principal rice</q> is +treated with the delicate attentions which are paid to a +woman with child. Thus rice-pap and eggs are laid down +beside it, and sour fruits are often presented to it, because +pregnant women are believed to long for sour fruit. Moreover +<pb n='202'/><anchor id='Pg202'/> +the fertilisation of the rice by the irrigation water is +compared to the union of the goddess Batari Sri with her +husband Ida Batara (Vishnu), who is identified with the +flowing water. Some people sprinkle the pregnant rice +with water in which cooling drugs have been infused or with +water which has stood on a holy grave, in order that the +ears may fill out well. When the time of harvest has come, +the owner of the field himself makes a beginning by cutting +<q>the principal rice</q> (<foreign rend='italic'>inan paré</foreign> or <foreign rend='italic'>ninin pantun</foreign>) with his +own hands and binding it into two sheaves, each composed +of one hundred and eight stalks with their leaves +attached to them. One of the sheaves represents a man +and the other a woman, and they are called <q>husband and +wife</q> (<foreign rend='italic'>istri kakung</foreign>). The male sheaf is wound about with +thread so that none of the leaves are visible, whereas the +female sheaf has its leaves bent over and tied so as to +resemble the roll of a woman's hair. Sometimes, for further +distinction, a necklace of rice-straw is tied round the female +sheaf. The two sheaves are then fastened together and tied +to a branch of a tree, which is stuck in the ground at the +inlet of the irrigation water. There they remain while all +the rest of the rice is being reaped. Sometimes, instead of +being tied to a bough, they are laid on a little bamboo altar. +The reapers at their work take great care to let no grains of +rice fall on the ground, otherwise the Rice-goddess would +grieve and weep at being parted from her sisters, who are +carried to the barn. If any portion of the field remains +unreaped at nightfall, the reapers make loops in the leaves +of some of the standing stalks to prevent the evil spirits +from proceeding with the harvest during the hours of darkness, +or, according to another account, lest the Rice-goddess +should go astray. When the rice is brought home from +the field, the two sheaves representing the husband and +wife are carried by a woman on her head, and are the last +of all to be deposited in the barn. There they are laid to +rest on a small erection or on a cushion of rice-straw +along with three lumps of <foreign rend='italic'>nasi</foreign>, which are regarded +as the attendants or watchers of the bridal pair. The +whole arrangement, we are informed, has for its object +to induce the rice to increase and multiply in the granary, +<pb n='203'/><anchor id='Pg203'/> +so that the owner may get more out of it than he +put in. Hence when the people of Bali bring the two +sheaves, the husband and wife, into the barn, they say +<q>Increase ye and multiply without ceasing.</q> When a +woman fetches rice from the granary for the use of her +household, she has to observe a number of rules, all of +which are clearly dictated by respect for the spirit of the +rice. She should not enter the barn in the dark or at noon +perhaps because the spirit may then be supposed to be +sleeping. She must enter with her right foot first. She +must be decently clad with her breasts covered. She must +not chew betel, and she would do well to rinse her mouth +before repairing to the barn, just as she would do if she +waited on a person of distinction or on a divinity. No sick +or menstruous woman may enter the barn, and there must +be no talking in it, just as there must be no talking when +shelled rice is being scooped up. When all the rice in the +barn has been used up, the two sheaves representing the husband +and wife remain in the empty building till they have +gradually disappeared or been devoured by mice. The +pinch of hunger sometimes drives individuals to eat up the +rice of these two sheaves, but the wretches who do so are +viewed with disgust by their fellows and branded as pigs +and dogs. Nobody would ever sell these holy sheaves with +the rest of their profane brethren.<note place='foot'>J. C. van Eerde, <q>Gebruiken bij +den rijstbouw en rijstoogst op Lombok,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- +en Volkenkunde</hi>, xlv. (1902) pp. 563-573.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Father +and +Mother +of the Rice +among the +Szis of +Burma.</note> +The same notion of the propagation of the rice by a +male and female power finds expression amongst the Szis of +Upper Burma. When the paddy, that is, the rice with the +husks still on it, has been dried and piled in a heap for +threshing, all the friends of the household are invited to the +threshing-floor, and food and drink are brought out. The +heap of paddy is divided and one half spread out for +threshing, while the other half is left piled up. On the pile +food and spirits are set, and one of the elders, addressing +<q>the father and mother of the paddy-plant,</q> prays for +plenteous harvests in future, and begs that the seed may +bear many fold. Then the whole party eat, drink, and +make merry. This ceremony at the threshing-floor is the +<pb n='204'/><anchor id='Pg204'/> +only occasion when these people invoke <q>the father and +mother of the paddy.</q><note place='foot'>(Sir) J. G. Scott and J. P. Hardiman, +<hi rend='italic'>Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the +Shan States</hi>, Part i. vol. i. (Rangoon, +1900) p. 426.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='5. The Spirit of the Corn embodied in Human Beings.'/> +<head>§ 5. The Spirit of the Corn embodied in Human Beings.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The spirit +of the corn +sometimes +thought to +be embodied +in +men or +women.</note> +Thus the theory which recognises in the European Corn-mother, +Corn-maiden, and so forth, the embodiment in +vegetable form of the animating spirit of the crops is amply +confirmed by the evidence of peoples in other parts of the +world, who, because they have lagged behind the European races +in mental development, retain for that very reason a keener +sense of the original motives for observing those rustic rites +which among ourselves have sunk to the level of meaningless +survivals. The reader may, however, remember that according +to Mannhardt, whose theory I am expounding, the spirit +of the corn manifests itself not merely in vegetable but also +in human form; the person who cuts the last sheaf or gives +the last stroke at threshing passes for a temporary embodiment +of the corn-spirit, just as much as the bunch of corn +which he reaps or threshes. Now in the parallels which have +been hitherto adduced from the customs of peoples outside +Europe the spirit of the crops appears only in vegetable +form. It remains, therefore, to prove that other races besides +our European peasantry have conceived the spirit of +the crops as incorporate in or represented by living men +and women. Such a proof, I may remind the reader, is +germane to the theme of this book; for the more instances +we discover of human beings representing in themselves +the life or animating spirit of plants, the less difficulty will +be felt at classing amongst them the King of the Wood at +Nemi. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Old +Woman +who Never +Dies, the +goddess of +the crops +among the +Mandans +and Minnitarees.</note> +The Mandans and Minnitarees of North America used +to hold a festival in spring which they called the corn-medicine +festival of the women. They thought that a certain +Old Woman who Never Dies made the crops to grow, and +that, living somewhere in the south, she sent the migratory +waterfowl in spring as her tokens and representatives. Each +sort of bird represented a special kind of crop cultivated by +<pb n='205'/><anchor id='Pg205'/> +the Indians: the wild goose stood for the maize, the wild +swan for the gourds, and the wild duck for the beans. So +when the feathered messengers of the Old Woman began to +arrive in spring the Indians celebrated the corn-medicine +festival of the women. Scaffolds were set up, on which the +people hung dried meat and other things by way of offerings +to the Old Woman; and on a certain day the old women of +the tribe, as representatives of the Old Woman who Never +Dies, assembled at the scaffolds each bearing in her hand an +ear of maize fastened to a stick. They first planted these +sticks in the ground, then danced round the scaffolds, and +finally took up the sticks again in their arms. Meanwhile +old men beat drums and shook rattles as a musical accompaniment +to the performance of the old women. Further, +young women came and put dried flesh into the mouths of +the old women, for which they received in return a grain of +the consecrated maize to eat. Three or four grains of the +holy corn were also placed in the dishes of the young women, +to be afterwards carefully mixed with the seed-corn, which +they were supposed to fertilise. The dried flesh hung on +the scaffold belonged to the old women, because they represented +the Old Woman who Never Dies. A similar corn-medicine +festival was held in autumn for the purpose of +attracting the herds of buffaloes and securing a supply of +meat. At that time every woman carried in her arms an +uprooted plant of maize. They gave the name of the Old +Woman who Never Dies both to the maize and to those +birds which they regarded as symbols of the fruits of the +earth, and they prayed to them in autumn saying, <q>Mother, +have pity on us! send us not the bitter cold too soon, lest +we have not meat enough! let not all the game depart, that +we may have something for the winter!</q> In autumn, when +the birds were flying south, the Indians thought that they +were going home to the Old Woman and taking to her the +offerings that had been hung up on the scaffolds, especially +the dried meat, which she ate.<note place='foot'>Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, <hi rend='italic'>Reise in das innere Nord-America</hi> (Coblenz, +1839-1841), ii. 182 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Here then we have the +spirit or divinity of the corn conceived as an Old Woman +and represented in bodily form by old women, who in their +<pb n='206'/><anchor id='Pg206'/> +capacity of representatives receive some at least of the +offerings which are intended for her. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Miami +myth of +the Corn-spirit +in +the form +of a +broken-down +old man.</note> +The Miamis, another tribe of North American Indians, +tell a tale in which the spirit of the corn figures as a broken-down +old man. They say that corn, that is, maize, first +grew in heaven, and that the Good Spirit commanded it to +go down and dwell with men on earth. At first it was +reluctant to do so, but the Good Spirit prevailed on it to go +by promising that men would treat it well in return for the +benefit they derived from it. <q>So corn came down from +heaven to benefit the Indian, and this is the reason why +they esteem it, and are bound to take good care of it, and to +nurture it, and not raise more than they actually require, +for their own consumption.</q> But once a whole town of the +Miamis was severely punished for failing in respect for the +corn. They had raised a great crop and stored much of it +under ground, and much of it they packed for immediate +use in bags. But the corn was so plentiful that much of it +still remained on the stalks, and the young men grew reckless +and played with the shelled cobs, throwing them at each +other, and at last they even broke the cobs from the growing +stalks and pelted each other with them too. But a judgment +soon followed on such wicked conduct. For when the +hunters went out to hunt, though the deer seemed to abound, +they could kill nothing. So the corn was gone and they +could get no meat, and the people were hungry. Well, one +of the hunters, roaming by himself in the woods to find +something to eat for his aged father, came upon a small +lodge in the wilderness where a decrepit old man was lying +with his back to the fire. Now the old man was no other +than the Spirit of the Corn. He said to the young hunter, +<q>My grandson, the Indians have afflicted me much, and +reduced me to the sad state in which you see me. In the +side of the lodge you will find a small kettle. Take it and +eat, and when you have satisfied your hunger, I will speak +to you.</q> But the kettle was full of such fine sweet corn as +the hunter had never in his life seen before. When he had +eaten his fill, the old man resumed the thread of his discourse, +saying, <q>Your people have wantonly abused and +reduced me to the state you now see me in: my back-bone +<pb n='207'/><anchor id='Pg207'/> +is broken in many places; it was the foolish young men of +your town who did me this evil, for I am Mondamin, or +corn, that came down from heaven. In their play they +threw corn-cobs and corn-ears at one another, treating me +with contempt. I am the corn-spirit whom they have +injured. That is why you experience bad luck and famine. +I am the cause; you feel my just resentment, therefore +your people are punished. Other Indians do not treat me +so. They respect me, and so it is well with them. Had +you no elders to check the youths at their wanton sport? +You are an eye-witness of my sufferings. They are the +effect of what you did to my body.</q> With that he groaned +and covered himself up. So the young hunter returned and +reported what he had seen and heard; and since then the +Indians have been very careful not to play with corn in +the ear.<note place='foot'>H. R. Schoolcraft, <hi rend='italic'>Indian Tribes +of the United States</hi>, v. (Philadelphia, +1856) pp. 193-195.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +harvest-goddess +Gauri represented +by a girl +and a +bundle of +plants.</note> +In some parts of India the harvest-goddess Gauri is +represented at once by an unmarried girl and by a bundle +of wild balsam plants, which is made up into the figure of a +woman and dressed as such with mask, garments, and ornaments. +Both the human and the vegetable representative +of the goddess are worshipped, and the intention of the +whole ceremony appears to be to ensure a good crop of +rice.<note place='foot'>B. A. Gupte, <q>Harvest Festivals +in honour of Gauri and Ganesh,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Indian +Antiquary</hi>, xxxv. (1906) p. 61. +For details see <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the +Evolution of Kings</hi>, ii. 77 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='6. The Double Personification of the Corn +as Mother and Daughter.'/> +<head>§ 6. The Double Personification of the Corn as Mother +and Daughter.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Analogy of +Demeter +and Persephone +to +the Corn-mother, +the +Harvest-maiden, +and similar +figures in +the harvest +customs of +modern +European +peasantry. The rustic +analogues +of Demeter +and Persephone.</note> +Compared with the Corn-mother of Germany and the +Harvest-maiden of Scotland, the Demeter and Persephone +of Greece are late products of religious growth. Yet as +members of the Aryan family the Greeks must at one +time or another have observed harvest customs like those +which are still practised by Celts, Teutons, and Slavs, and +which, far beyond the limits of the Aryan world, have +been practised by the Indians of Peru, the Dyaks of +Borneo, and many other natives of the East Indies—a +<pb n='208'/><anchor id='Pg208'/> +sufficient proof that the ideas on which these customs rest +are not confined to any one race, but naturally suggest themselves +to all untutored peoples engaged in agriculture. It +is probable, therefore, that Demeter and Persephone, those +stately and beautiful figures of Greek mythology, grew out +of the same simple beliefs and practices which still prevail +among our modern peasantry, and that they were represented +by rude dolls made out of the yellow sheaves on many a +harvest-field long before their breathing images were wrought +in bronze and marble by the master hands of Phidias and +Praxiteles. A reminiscence of that olden time—a scent, so +to say, of the harvest-field—lingered to the last in the title +of the Maiden (<foreign rend='italic'>Kore</foreign>) by which Persephone was commonly +known. Thus if the prototype of Demeter is the Corn-mother +of Germany, the prototype of Persephone is the +Harvest-maiden, which, autumn after autumn, is still made +from the last sheaf on the Braes of Balquhidder. Indeed, if +we knew more about the peasant-farmers of ancient Greece, +we should probably find that even in classical times they +continued annually to fashion their Corn-mothers (Demeters) +and Maidens (Persephones) out of the ripe corn on the +harvest-fields.<note place='foot'>It is possible that the image of +Demeter with corn and poppies in her +hands, which Theocritus (vii. 155 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>) +describes as standing on a rustic threshing-floor +(see above, p. <ref target='Pg047'>47</ref>), may have +been a Corn-mother or a Corn-maiden +of the kind described in the text. The +suggestion was made to me by my +learned and esteemed friend Dr. W. +H. D. Rouse.</note> But unfortunately the Demeter and Persephone +whom we know were the denizens of towns, the majestic +inhabitants of lordly temples; it was for such divinities +alone that the refined writers of antiquity had eyes; the +uncouth rites performed by rustics amongst the corn were +beneath their notice. Even if they noticed them, they +probably never dreamed of any connexion between the +puppet of corn-stalks on the sunny stubble-field and the +marble divinity in the shady coolness of the temple. Still +the writings even of these town-bred and cultured persons +afford us an occasional glimpse of a Demeter as rude as the +rudest that a remote German village can shew. Thus +the story that Iasion begat a child Plutus (<q>wealth,</q> +<q>abundance</q>) by Demeter on a thrice-ploughed field,<note place='foot'>Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Odyssey</hi>, v. 125 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>Theog.</hi> 969 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> may +<pb n='209'/><anchor id='Pg209'/> +be compared with the West Prussian custom of the mock +birth of a child on the harvest-field.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg150'>150</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In this Prussian +custom the pretended mother represents the Corn-mother +(<foreign rend='italic'>Žytniamatka</foreign>); the pretended child represents the Corn-baby, +and the whole ceremony is a charm to ensure a crop +next year.<note place='foot'>It is possible that a ceremony +performed in a Cyprian worship of +Ariadne may have been of this nature: +at a certain annual sacrifice a young +man lay down and mimicked a +woman in child-bed. See Plutarch, +<hi rend='italic'>Theseus</hi>, 20: +ἐν δὴ τῇ θυσίᾳ τοῦ +Γορπιαίου μηνὸς ἰσταμένου δευτέρᾳ κατακλινόμενόν +τινα τῶν νεανίσκων φθέγγεσθαι +καὶ ποιεῖν ἅπερ ὠδινοῦσαι γυναῖκες. We +have already seen grounds for regarding +Ariadne as a goddess or spirit of vegetation. +See <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the +Evolution of Kings</hi>, ii. 138. Amongst +the Minnitarees in North America, the +Prince of Neuwied saw a tall strong +woman pretend to bring up a stalk of +maize out of her stomach; the object +of the ceremony was to secure a good +crop of maize in the following year. +See Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, <hi rend='italic'>Reise +in das innere Nord-America</hi> (Coblenz, +1839-1841), ii. 269.</note> The custom and the legend alike point to an +older practice of performing, among the sprouting crops in +spring or the stubble in autumn, one of those real or mimic +acts of procreation by which, as we have seen, primitive +man often seeks to infuse his own vigorous life into the +languid or decaying energies of nature.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the +Evolution of Kings</hi>, ii. 97 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Another glimpse +of the savage under the civilised Demeter will be afforded +farther on, when we come to deal with another aspect of +these agricultural divinities. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Why did +the Greeks +personify +the corn as +a mother +and a +daughter?</note> +The reader may have observed that in modern folk-customs +the corn-spirit is generally represented either by a +Corn-mother (Old Woman, etc.) or by a Maiden (Harvest-child, +etc.), not both by a Corn-mother and by a Maiden. +Why then did the Greeks represent the corn both as a +mother and a daughter? +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Demeter +was perhaps +the +ripe crop +and Persephone +the seed-corn.</note> +In the Breton custom the mother-sheaf—a large figure +made out of the last sheaf with a small corn-doll inside of +it—clearly represents both the Corn-mother and the Corn-daughter, +the latter still unborn.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg135'>135</ref>.</note> Again, in the Prussian +custom just referred to, the woman who plays the part of +Corn-mother represents the ripe grain; the child appears to +represent next year's corn, which may be regarded, naturally +enough, as the child of this year's corn, since it is from the +seed of this year's harvest that next year's crop will spring. +Further, we have seen that among the Malays of the Peninsula +<pb n='210'/><anchor id='Pg210'/> +and sometimes among the Highlanders of Scotland the spirit +of the grain is represented in double female form, both as old +and young, by means of ears taken alike from the ripe crop: +in Scotland the old spirit of the corn appears as the Carline +or <foreign lang='gd' rend='italic'>Cailleach</foreign>, the young spirit as the Maiden; while among +the Malays of the Peninsula the two spirits of the rice are +definitely related to each other as mother and child.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg140'>140</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg155'>155</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, +<ref target='Pg164'>164</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg197'>197</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Judged +by these analogies Demeter would be the ripe crop of this +year; Persephone would be the seed-corn taken from it and +sown in autumn, to reappear in spring.<note place='foot'>However, the Sicilians seem on the +contrary to have regarded Demeter as +the seed-corn and Persephone as the +ripe crop. See above, pp. <ref target='Pg057'>57</ref>, <ref target='Pg058'>58</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> The descent of +Persephone into the lower world would thus be a mythical +expression for the sowing of the seed; her reappearance in +spring would signify the sprouting of the young corn. In +this way the Persephone of one year becomes the Demeter +of the next, and this may very well have been the original +form of the myth. But when with the advance of religious +thought the corn came to be personified, no longer as a +being that went through the whole cycle of birth, growth, +reproduction, and death within a year, but as an immortal +goddess, consistency required that one of the two personifications, +the mother or the daughter, should be sacrificed. +However, the double conception of the corn as mother and +daughter may have been too old and too deeply rooted in +the popular mind to be eradicated by logic, and so room +had to be found in the reformed myth both for mother +and daughter. This was done by assigning to Persephone +the character of the corn sown in autumn and sprouting in +spring, while Demeter was left to play the somewhat vague +part of the heavy mother of the corn, who laments its annual +disappearance underground, and rejoices over its reappearance +in spring. Thus instead of a regular succession of +divine beings, each living a year and then giving birth to her +successor, the reformed myth exhibits the conception of two +divine and immortal beings, one of whom annually disappears +into and reappears from the ground, while the other has little +to do but to weep and rejoice at the appropriate seasons.<note place='foot'>According to Augustine (<hi rend='italic'>De civitate +Dei</hi>, iv. 8) the Romans imagined +a whole series of distinct deities, mostly +goddesses, who took charge of the corn +at all its various stages from the time +when it was committed to the ground +to the time when it was lodged in the +granary. Such a multiplication of +mythical beings to account for the +process of growth is probably late +rather than early.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='211'/><anchor id='Pg211'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Or the +Greeks +may have +started +with the +personification +of +the corn as +a single +goddess, +and the +conception +of a second +goddess +may have +been a +later +development. Duplication +of +deities as +a consequence +of the +anthropomorphic +tendency. +Example +of such +duplication +in Japan, +where there +are two +distinct +deities of +the sun. Perhaps +the Greek +personification +of +the corn as +a mother +and a +daughter +(Demeter +and Persephone) +is a +case of such +a mythical +duplication.</note> +This theory of the double personification of the corn +in Greek myth assumes that both personifications (Demeter +and Persephone) are original. But if we suppose that the +Greek myth started with a single personification, the after-growth +of a second personification may perhaps be explained +as follows. On looking over the harvest customs which have +been passed under review, it may be noticed that they involve +two distinct conceptions of the corn-spirit. For whereas in +some of the customs the corn-spirit is treated as immanent in +the corn, in others it is regarded as external to it. Thus +when a particular sheaf is called by the name of the corn-spirit, +and is dressed in clothes and handled with reverence,<note place='foot'>In some places it was customary +to kneel down before the last sheaf, in +others to kiss it. See W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Korndämonen</hi>, p. 26; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 339. The +custom of kneeling and bowing before +the last corn is said to have been +observed, at least occasionally, in +England. See <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore Journal</hi>, vii. +(1888) p. 270; and Herrick's evidence, +above, p. <ref target='Pg147'>147</ref>, note 1. The Malay +sorceress who cut the seven ears of +rice to form the Rice-child kissed the +ears after she had cut them (W. W. +Skeat, <hi rend='italic'>Malay Magic</hi>, p. 241).</note> +the spirit is clearly regarded as immanent in the corn. But +when the spirit is said to make the crops grow by passing +through them, or to blight the grain of those against whom +she has a grudge,<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg132'>132</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> she is apparently conceived as distinct +from, though exercising power over, the corn. Conceived in +the latter way the corn-spirit is in a fair way to become a +deity of the corn, if she has not become so already. Of +these two conceptions, that of the corn-spirit as immanent in +the corn is doubtless the older, since the view of nature as +animated by indwelling spirits appears to have generally +preceded the view of it as controlled by external deities; +to put it shortly, animism precedes deism. In the harvest +customs of our European peasantry the corn-spirit seems +to be conceived now as immanent in the corn and now as +external to it. In Greek mythology, on the other hand, +Demeter is viewed rather as the deity of the corn than as the +spirit immanent in it.<note place='foot'>Even in one of the oldest documents, +the Homeric <hi rend='italic'>Hymn to Demeter</hi>, +Demeter is represented as the goddess +who controls the growth of the corn +rather than as the spirit who is immanent +in it. See above, pp. <ref target='Pg036'>36</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> The process of thought which leads +<pb n='212'/><anchor id='Pg212'/> +to the change from the one mode of conception to the other +is anthropomorphism, or the gradual investment of the immanent +spirits with more and more of the attributes of +humanity. As men emerge from savagery the tendency to +humanise their divinities gains strength; and the more +human these become the wider is the breach which severs +them from the natural objects of which they were at first +merely the animating spirits or souls. But in the progress +upwards from savagery men of the same generation do +not march abreast; and though the new anthropomorphic +gods may satisfy the religious wants of the more developed +intelligences, the backward members of the community will +cling by preference to the old animistic notions. Now when +the spirit of any natural object such as the corn has been +invested with human qualities, detached from the object, and +converted into a deity controlling it, the object itself is, by +the withdrawal of its spirit, left inanimate; it becomes, so to +say, a spiritual vacuum. But the popular fancy, intolerant +of such a vacuum, in other words, unable to conceive anything +as inanimate, immediately creates a fresh mythical +being, with which it peoples the vacant object. Thus the +same natural object comes to be represented in mythology +by two distinct beings: first by the old spirit now separated +from it and raised to the rank of a deity; second, by the +new spirit, freshly created by the popular fancy to supply +the place vacated by the old spirit on its elevation to a +higher sphere. For example, in Japanese religion the solar +character of Ama-terasu, the great goddess of the Sun, has +become obscured, and accordingly the people have personified +the sun afresh under the name of <foreign lang='ja' rend='italic'>Nichi-rin sama</foreign>, <q>sun-wheeling +personage,</q> and <foreign lang='ja' rend='italic'>O tentō sama</foreign>, <q>august-heaven-path-personage</q>; +to the lower class of Japanese at the +present day, especially to women and children, <foreign lang='ja' rend='italic'>O tentō sama</foreign> +is the actual sun, sexless, mythless, and unencumbered by +any formal worship, yet looked up to as a moral being who +rewards the good, punishes the wicked, and enforces oaths +made in his name.<note place='foot'>W. G. Aston, <hi rend='italic'>Shinto</hi> (London, 1905), p. 127.</note> In such cases the problem for mythology +is, having got two distinct personifications of the same object, +what to do with them? How are their relations to each other +<pb n='213'/><anchor id='Pg213'/> +to be adjusted, and room found for both in the mythological +system? When the old spirit or new deity is conceived as +creating or producing the object in question, the problem is +easily solved. Since the object is believed to be produced +by the old spirit, and animated by the new one, the latter, as +the soul of the object, must also owe its existence to the +former; thus the old spirit will stand to the new one as producer +to produced, that is, in mythology, as parent to child, +and if both spirits are conceived as female, their relation will +be that of mother and daughter. In this way, starting from +a single personification of the corn as female, mythic fancy +might in time reach a double personification of it as mother +and daughter. It would be very rash to affirm that this was +the way in which the myth of Demeter and Persephone +actually took shape; but it seems a legitimate conjecture +that the reduplication of deities, of which Demeter and +Persephone furnish an example, may sometimes have arisen +in the way indicated. For example, among the pairs of +deities dealt with in a former part of this work, it has been +shewn that there are grounds for regarding both Isis and her +companion god Osiris as personifications of the corn.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, pp. 323 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 330 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 346 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> On +the hypothesis just suggested, Isis would be the old corn-spirit, +and Osiris would be the newer one, whose relationship +to the old spirit was variously explained as that of brother, +husband, and son;<note place='foot'>A. Pauly, <hi rend='italic'>Real-Encyclopädie der +classischen Alterthumswissenschaft</hi>, v. +(Stuttgart, 1849) p. 1011.</note> for of course mythology would always +be free to account for the coexistence of the two divinities +in more ways than one. It must not, however, be forgotten +that this proposed explanation of such pairs of deities as +Demeter and Persephone or Isis and Osiris is purely conjectural, +and is only given for what it is worth. +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<pb n='214'/><anchor id='Pg214'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter VII. Lityerses.</head> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='1. Songs of the Corn Reapers.'/> +<head>§ 1. Songs of the Corn Reapers.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Death and +resurrection +a +leading +incident in +the myth +of Persephone, +as in the +myths of +Adonis, +Attis, +Osiris, and +Dionysus.</note> +In the preceding pages an attempt has been made to shew +that in the Corn-mother and Harvest-maiden of Northern +Europe we have the prototypes of Demeter and Persephone. +But an essential feature is still wanting to complete the +resemblance. A leading incident in the Greek myth is the +death and resurrection of Persephone; it is this incident +which, coupled with the nature of the goddess as a deity of +vegetation, links the myth with the cults of Adonis, Attis, +Osiris, and Dionysus; and it is in virtue of this incident +that the myth finds a place in our discussion of the Dying +God. It remains, therefore, to see whether the conception +of the annual death and resurrection of a god, which figures +so prominently in these great Greek and Oriental worships, +has not also its origin or its analogy in the rustic rites +observed by reapers and vine-dressers amongst the corn-shocks +and the vines. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Popular +harvest +and vintage +customs in +ancient +Egypt, +Syria, and +Phrygia.</note> +Our general ignorance of the popular superstitions and +customs of the ancients has already been confessed. But +the obscurity which thus hangs over the first beginnings of +ancient religion is fortunately dissipated to some extent in +the present case. The worships of Osiris, Adonis, and Attis +had their respective seats, as we have seen, in Egypt, Syria, +and Phrygia; and in each of these countries certain harvest +and vintage customs are known to have been observed, the +resemblance of which to each other and to the national rites +struck the ancients themselves, and, compared with the +<pb n='215'/><anchor id='Pg215'/> +harvest customs of modern peasants and barbarians, seems +to throw some light on the origin of the rites in question. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Maneros, +a plaintive +song of +Egyptian +reapers.</note> +It has been already mentioned, on the authority of +Diodorus, that in ancient Egypt the reapers were wont to +lament over the first sheaf cut, invoking Isis as the goddess +to whom they owed the discovery of corn.<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, i. 14, ἔτι γὰρ +καὶ νῦν κατὰ τὸν θερισμὸν τοὺς πρώτους +ἀμηθέντας στάχυς θέντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους +κόπτεσθαι πλησίον τοῦ δράγματοσ καὶ τὴν +Ἶσιν ἀνακαλεῖσθαι κτλ. For θέντας +we should perhaps read σύνθεντας, +which is supported by the following +δράγματος.</note> To the plaintive +song or cry sung or uttered by Egyptian reapers the Greeks +gave the name of Maneros, and explained the name by a +story that Maneros, the only son of the first Egyptian king, +invented agriculture, and, dying an untimely death, was thus +lamented by the people.<note place='foot'>Herodotus, ii. 79; Julius Pollux, iv. +54; Pausanias, ix. 29. 7; Athenaeus, +xiv. 11, p. 620 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a</hi>.</note> It appears, however, that the name +Maneros is due to a misunderstanding of the formula +<foreign rend='italic'>mââ-ne-hra</foreign>, <q>Come to the house,</q> which has been discovered +in various Egyptian writings, for example in the dirge of +Isis in the Book of the Dead.<note place='foot'>H. Brugsch, <hi rend='italic'>Die Adonisklage und +das Linoslied</hi> (Berlin, 1852), p. 24. +According to another interpretation, +however, Maneros is the Egyptian +<foreign rend='italic'>manurosh</foreign>, <q>Let us be merry.</q> See +Lauth, <q>Über den ägyptischen +Maneros,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Sitzungsberichte der königl. +bayer.</hi> <hi rend='italic'>Akademie der Wissenschaften +zu München</hi>, 1869, ii. 163-194.</note> Hence we may suppose that +the cry <foreign rend='italic'>mââ-ne-hra</foreign> was chanted by the reapers over the cut +corn as a dirge for the death of the corn-spirit (Isis or Osiris) +and a prayer for its return. As the cry was raised over the +first ears reaped, it would seem that the corn-spirit was +believed by the Egyptians to be present in the first corn +cut and to die under the sickle. We have seen that in the +Malay Peninsula and Java the first ears of rice are taken to +represent either the Soul of the Rice or the Rice-bride and +the Rice-bridegroom.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg197'>197</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> In parts of Russia the first sheaf is +treated much in the same way that the last sheaf is treated +elsewhere. It is reaped by the mistress herself, taken home +and set in the place of honour near the holy pictures; afterwards +it is threshed separately, and some of its grain is +mixed with the next year's seed-corn.<note place='foot'>W. R. S. Ralston, <hi rend='italic'>Songs of the +Russian People</hi> (London, 1872), pp. +249 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In Aberdeenshire, +while the last corn cut was generally used to make the +<foreign rend='italic'>clyack</foreign> sheaf,<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg158'>158</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> it was sometimes, though rarely, the first corn +<pb n='216'/><anchor id='Pg216'/> +cut that was dressed up as a woman and carried home with +ceremony.<note place='foot'>W. Gregor, <q>Quelques coutumes +du Nord-est du comté d'Aberdeen,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Revue des Traditions populaires</hi>, iii. +(1888) p. 487 (should be 535).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Linus or +Ailinus, a +plaintive +song sung +at the +vintage in +Phoenicia.</note> +In Phoenicia and Western Asia a plaintive song, like +that chanted by the Egyptian corn-reapers, was sung at the +vintage and probably (to judge by analogy) also at harvest. +This Phoenician song was called by the Greeks Linus or +Ailinus and explained, like Maneros, as a lament for the +death of a youth named Linus.<note place='foot'>Homer, <hi rend='italic'>Iliad</hi>, xviii. 570; Herodotus, +ii. 79; Pausanias, ix. 29. 6-9; +Conon, <hi rend='italic'>Narrat</hi>. 19. For the form +Ailinus see Suidas, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi>; Euripides, +<hi rend='italic'>Orestes</hi>, 1395; Sophocles, <hi rend='italic'>Ajax</hi>, 627. +Compare Moschus, <hi rend='italic'>Idyl.</hi> iii. 1; +Callimachus, <hi rend='italic'>Hymn to Apollo</hi>, 20. +See Greve, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Linos,</q> in W. H. +Roscher's <hi rend='italic'>Ausführliches Lexikon der +griech, und röm. Mythologie</hi>, ii. 2053 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> According to one story +Linus was brought up by a shepherd, but torn to pieces by +his dogs.<note place='foot'>Conon, <hi rend='italic'>Narrat.</hi> 19.</note> But, like Maneros, the name Linus or Ailinus +appears to have originated in a verbal misunderstanding, and +to be nothing more than the cry <foreign rend='italic'>ai lanu</foreign>, that is <q>Woe to us,</q> +which the Phoenicians probably uttered in mourning for +Adonis;<note place='foot'>F. C. Movers, <hi rend='italic'>Die Phönizier</hi>, i. +(Bonn, 1841), p. 246; W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und Feldkulte</hi> (Berlin, +1877), p. 281. In Hebrew the expression +would be <foreign lang='he' rend='italic'>oï lanu</foreign> (אוי לנו), +which occurs in 1 Samuel, iv. 7 and 8; +Jeremiah, iv. 13, vi. 4. However, +the connexion of the Linus song with +the lament for Adonis is regarded by +Baudissin as very doubtful. See W. +W. Graf Baudissin, <hi rend='italic'>Adonis und +Esmun</hi> (Leipsic, 1911), p. 360, note 3.</note> at least Sappho seems to have regarded Adonis +and Linus as equivalent.<note place='foot'>Pausanias, ix. 29. 8.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Bormus, a +plaintive +song sung +by Mariandynian +reapers in +Bithynia.</note> +In Bithynia a like mournful ditty, called Bormus or +Borimus, was chanted by Mariandynian reapers. Bormus +was said to have been a handsome youth, the son of King +Upias or of a wealthy and distinguished man. One summer +day, watching the reapers at work in his fields, he went to +fetch them a drink of water and was never heard of more. +So the reapers sought for him, calling him in plaintive +strains, which they continued to chant at harvest ever afterwards.<note place='foot'>Julius Pollux, iv. 54; Athenaeus, +xiv. 11, pp. 619 <hi rend='smallcaps'>f</hi>-620 <hi rend='smallcaps'>a</hi>; Hesychius, +<hi rend='italic'>svv.</hi> Βῶρμον and Μαριανουνὸς θρῆνος.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='2. Killing the Corn-spirit.'/> +<head>§ 2. Killing the Corn-spirit.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Lityerses, +a song +sung at +reaping +and +threshing +in Phrygia. +Legend of +Lityerses.</note> +In Phrygia the corresponding song, sung by harvesters +both at reaping and at threshing, was called Lityerses. +<pb n='217'/><anchor id='Pg217'/> +According to one story, Lityerses was a bastard son of +Midas, King of Phrygia, and dwelt at Celaenae. He +used to reap the corn, and had an enormous appetite. +When a stranger happened to enter the corn-field or to +pass by it, Lityerses gave him plenty to eat and drink, +then took him to the corn-fields on the banks of the +Maeander and compelled him to reap along with him. +Lastly, it was his custom to wrap the stranger in a sheaf, +cut off his head with a sickle, and carry away his +body, swathed in the corn stalks. But at last Hercules +undertook to reap with him, cut off his head with the +sickle, and threw his body into the river.<note place='foot'>The story was told by Sositheus in +his play of <hi rend='italic'>Daphnis</hi>. His verses have +been preserved in the tract of an +anonymous writer. See <hi rend='italic'>Scriptores +rerum mirabilium Graeci</hi>, ed. A. +Westermann (Brunswick, 1839), pp. +220 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; also Athenaeus, x. 8, p. +415 <hi rend='smallcaps'>b</hi>; Scholiast on Theocritus, x. +41; Photius, <hi rend='italic'>Lexicon</hi>, Suidas, and +Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Lityerses</q>; Apostolius, +<hi rend='italic'>Centur.</hi> x. 74; Servius, on Virgil, +<hi rend='italic'>Bucol.</hi> viii. 68. Photius mentions the +sickle with which Lityerses beheaded +his victims. Servius calls Lityerses a +king and says that Hercules cut off his +head with the sickle that had been given +him to reap with. Lityerses is the subject +of a special study by W. Mannhardt +(<hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, pp. 1 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>), +whom I follow. Compare O. Crusius, +<hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Lityerses,</q> in W. H. Roscher's +<hi rend='italic'>Ausführliches Lexikon der griech. und +röm. Mythologie</hi>, ii. 2065 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> As Hercules +is reported to have slain Lityerses in the same way that +Lityerses slew others (as Theseus treated Sinis and Sciron), +we may infer that Lityerses used to throw the bodies of his +victims into the river. According to another version of the +story, Lityerses, a son of Midas, was wont to challenge +people to a reaping match with him, and if he vanquished +them he used to thrash them; but one day he met with a +stronger reaper, who slew him.<note place='foot'>Julius Pollux, iv. 54.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +story of +Lityerses +seems to +reflect +an old +Phrygian +harvest +custom of +killing +strangers +as embodiments +of +the corn-spirit.</note> +There are some grounds for supposing that in these +stories of Lityerses we have the description of a Phrygian +harvest custom in accordance with which certain persons, +especially strangers passing the harvest field, were regularly +regarded as embodiments of the corn-spirit, and as such were +seized by the reapers, wrapt in sheaves, and beheaded, their +bodies, bound up in the corn-stalks, being afterwards thrown +into water as a rain-charm. The grounds for this supposition +are, first, the resemblance of the Lityerses story to +the harvest customs of European peasantry, and, second, the +frequency of human sacrifices offered by savage races to +<pb n='218'/><anchor id='Pg218'/> +promote the fertility of the fields. We will examine these +grounds successively, beginning with the former. +</p> + +<p> +In comparing the story with the harvest customs of +Europe,<note place='foot'>In this comparison I closely follow +W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, +pp. 18 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> three points deserve special attention, namely: I. the +reaping match and the binding of persons in the sheaves; II. the +killing of the corn-spirit or his representatives; III. the treatment +of visitors to the harvest field or of strangers passing it. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Contests +among +reapers, +binders, +and +threshers +in order +not to be +the last at +their work.</note> +I. In regard to the first head, we have seen that in +modern Europe the person who cuts or binds or threshes the +last sheaf is often exposed to rough treatment at the hands +of his fellow-labourers. For example, he is bound up in the +last sheaf, and, thus encased, is carried or carted about, +beaten, drenched with water, thrown on a dunghill, and so +forth. Or, if he is spared this horseplay, he is at least +the subject of ridicule or is thought to be destined to suffer +some misfortune in the course of the year. Hence the +harvesters are naturally reluctant to give the last cut at +reaping or the last stroke at threshing or to bind the last +sheaf, and towards the close of the work this reluctance +produces an emulation among the labourers, each striving +to finish his task as fast as possible, in order that he +may escape the invidious distinction of being last.<note place='foot'>Compare above, pp. <ref target='Pg134'>134</ref>, <ref target='Pg136'>136</ref>, +<ref target='Pg137'>137</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg140'>140</ref>, <ref target='Pg142'>142</ref>, <ref target='Pg143'>143</ref>, <ref target='Pg144'>144</ref>, <ref target='Pg145'>145</ref>, +<ref target='Pg147'>147</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg149'>149</ref>, <ref target='Pg164'>164</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> On the other +hand, the last sheaf is sometimes an +object of desire and emulation. See +above, pp. <ref target='Pg136'>136</ref>, <ref target='Pg141'>141</ref>, <ref target='Pg153'>153</ref>, <ref target='Pg154'>154</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +<ref target='Pg156'>156</ref>, <ref target='Pg162'>162</ref> note 3, <ref target='Pg165'>165</ref>. It is so at +Balquhidder also (<hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore Journal</hi>, +vi. 269); and it was formerly so on +the Gareloch, Dumbartonshire, where +there was a competition for the honour +of cutting it, and handfuls of standing +corn used to be hidden under sheaves +in order that the last to be uncovered +should form the Maiden.—(From the +information of Archie Leitch. See +pp. 157 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>)</note> For +example, in the neighbourhood of Danzig, when the winter +corn is cut and mostly bound up in sheaves, the portion +which still remains to be bound is divided amongst the +women binders, each of whom receives a swath of equal +length to bind. A crowd of reapers, children, and idlers +gather round to witness the contest, and at the word, <q>Seize +the Old Man,</q> the women fall to work, all binding their +allotted swaths as hard as they can. The spectators watch +them narrowly, and the woman who cannot keep pace with +the rest and consequently binds the last sheaf has to carry +<pb n='219'/><anchor id='Pg219'/> +the Old Man (that is, the last sheaf made up in the form of +a man) to the farmhouse and deliver it to the farmer with +the words, <q>Here I bring you the Old Man.</q> At the supper +which follows, the Old Man is placed at the table and receives +an abundant portion of food, which, as he cannot eat it, falls +to the share of the woman who carried him. Afterwards the +Old Man is placed in the yard and all the people dance +round him. Or the woman who bound the last sheaf dances +for a good while with the Old Man, while the rest form a +ring round them; afterwards they all, one after the other, +dance a single round with him. Further, the woman who +bound the last sheaf goes herself by the name of the Old +Man till the next harvest, and is often mocked with the cry, +<q>Here comes the Old Man.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 19 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In the Mittelmark district of +Prussia, when the rye has been reaped, and the last sheaves +are about to be tied up, the binders stand in two rows +facing each other, every woman with her sheaf and her +straw rope before her. At a given signal they all tie up +their sheaves, and the one who is the last to finish is ridiculed +by the rest. Not only so, but her sheaf is made up into +human shape and called the Old Man, and she must +carry it home to the farmyard, where the harvesters dance in +a circle round her and it. Then they take the Old Man +to the farmer and deliver it to him with the words, <q>We +bring the Old Man to the Master. He may keep him till +he gets a new one.</q> After that the Old Man is set up +against a tree, where he remains for a long time, the butt of +many jests.<note place='foot'>A. Kuhn, <hi rend='italic'>Märkische Sagen und +Märchen</hi> (Berlin, 1843), p. 342.</note> At Aschbach in Bavaria, when the reaping is +nearly finished, the reapers say, <q>Now, we will drive out the +Old Man.</q> Each of them sets himself to reap a patch of +corn as fast as he can; he who cuts the last handful or the +last stalk is greeted by the rest with an exulting cry, <q>You +have the Old Man.</q> Sometimes a black mask is fastened on +the reaper's face and he is dressed in woman's clothes; or if +the reaper is a woman, she is dressed in man's clothes. A +dance follows. At the supper the Old Man gets twice as +large a portion of food as the others. The proceedings are +similar at threshing; the person who gives the last stroke is +<pb n='220'/><anchor id='Pg220'/> +said to have the Old Man. At the supper given to the +threshers he has to eat out of the cream-ladle and to drink a +great deal. Moreover, he is quizzed and teased in all sorts +of ways till he frees himself from further annoyance by +treating the others to brandy or beer.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 20; F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>Beitrag +zur deutschen Mythologie</hi> (Munich, +1848-1855), ii. p. 217, § 397; A. Witzschel, +<hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche +aus Thüringen</hi> (Vienna, 1878), p. 222, +§ 69.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Custom of +wrapping +up in +corn-stalks +the last +reaper, +binder, or +thresher.</note> +These examples illustrate the contests in reaping, threshing, +and binding which take place amongst the harvesters, +from their unwillingness to suffer the ridicule and discomfort +incurred by the one who happens to finish his work last. It +will be remembered that the person who is last at reaping, +binding, or threshing, is regarded as the representative of +the corn-spirit,<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg167'>167</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> and this idea is more fully expressed by +binding him or her in corn-stalks. The latter custom has +been already illustrated, but a few more instances may be +added. At Kloxin, near Stettin, the harvesters call out to +the woman who binds the last sheaf, <q>You have the Old +Man, and must keep him.</q> The Old Man is a great bundle +of corn decked with flowers and ribbons, and fashioned into +a rude semblance of the human form. It is fastened on a +rake or strapped on a horse, and brought with music to the +village. In delivering the Old Man to the farmer, the +woman says:— +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'><hi rend='italic'>Here, dear Sir, is the Old Man.</hi></q></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>He can stay no longer on the field,</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>He can hide himself no longer,</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>He must come into the village.</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Ladies and gentlemen, pray be so kind</hi></l> +<l><q rend='post'><hi rend='italic'>As to give the Old Man a present.</hi></q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +As late as the first half of the nineteenth century the +custom was to tie up the woman herself in pease-straw, and +bring her with music to the farmhouse, where the harvesters +danced with her till the pease-straw fell off.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 22.</note> In other +villages round Stettin, when the last harvest-waggon is being +loaded, there is a regular race amongst the women, each +striving not to be last. For she who places the last sheaf +on the waggon is called the Old Man, and is completely +<pb n='221'/><anchor id='Pg221'/> +swathed in corn-stalks; she is also decked with flowers, and +flowers and a helmet of straw are placed on her head. In +solemn procession she carries the harvest-crown to the squire, +over whose head she holds it while she utters a string of +good wishes. At the dance which follows, the Old Man +has the right to choose his, or rather her, partner; it is an +honour to dance with him.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 22.</note> At Blankenfelde, in the district +of Potsdam, the woman who binds the last sheaf at the rye-harvest +is saluted with the cry, <q>You have the Old Man.</q> +A woman is then tied up in the last sheaf in such a way +that only her head is left free; her hair also is covered with +a cap made of rye-stalks, adorned with ribbons and flowers. +She is called the Harvest-man, and must keep dancing in +front of the last harvest-waggon till it reaches the squire's +house, where she receives a present and is released from her +envelope of corn.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 22 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At Gommern, near Magdeburg, the +reaper who cuts the last ears of corn is often wrapt up in +corn-stalks so completely that it is hard to see whether +there is a man in the bundle or not. Thus wrapt up he is +taken by another stalwart reaper on his back, and carried +round the field amidst the joyous cries of the harvesters.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 23.</note> +At Neuhausen, near Merseburg, the person who binds the +last sheaf is wrapt in ears of oats and saluted as the Oats-man, +whereupon the others dance round him.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 23 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At Brie, Isle +de France, the farmer himself is tied up in the <emph>first</emph> sheaf.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 24.</note> +At the harvest-home at Udvarhely, Transylvania, a person +is encased in corn-stalks, and wears on his head a crown +made out of the last ears cut. On reaching the village he is +soused with water over and over.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 24.</note> At Dingelstedt, in the +district of Erfurt, down to the first half of the nineteenth +century it was the custom to tie up a man in the last sheaf. +He was called the Old Man, and was brought home on the +last waggon, amid huzzas and music. On reaching the farmyard +he was rolled round the barn and drenched with water.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 24.</note> +At Nördlingen in Bavaria the man who gives the last stroke +at threshing is wrapt in straw and rolled on the +<pb n='222'/><anchor id='Pg222'/> +threshing-floor.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 24 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In some parts of Oberpfalz, Bavaria, he is said to +<q>get the Old Man,</q> is wrapt in straw, and carried to a +neighbour who has not yet finished his threshing.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 25.</note> In Silesia +the woman who binds the last sheaf has to submit to a good +deal of horse-play. She is pushed, knocked down, and tied +up in the sheaf, after which she is called the corn-puppet +(<foreign rend='italic'>Kornpopel</foreign>).<note place='foot'>P. Drechsler, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und +Volksglaube in Schlesien</hi> (Leipsic, 1903-1906), +ii. 65.</note> In Thüringen a sausage is stuck in the last +sheaf at threshing, and thrown, with the sheaf, on the +threshing-floor. It is called the <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Barrenwurst</foreign> or <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Bazenwurst</foreign>, +and is eaten by all the threshers. After they have eaten it a +man is encased in pease-straw, and thus attired is led through +the village.<note place='foot'>A. Witzschel, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Sitten und +Gebräuche aus Thüringen</hi> (Vienna, +1878), p. 223, § 70.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit, +driven +out of the +last corn, +lives in the +barn during +the +winter.</note> +<q>In all these cases the idea is that the spirit of the +corn—the Old Man of vegetation—is driven out of the corn +last cut or last threshed, and lives in the barn during the +winter. At sowing-time he goes out again to the fields to +resume his activity as animating force among the sprouting +corn.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 25 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Similar +ideas as to +the last +corn in +India.</note> +Ideas of the same sort appear to attach to the last corn +in India. At Hoshangábád, in Central India, when the reaping +is nearly done, a patch of corn, about a rood in extent, is left +standing in the cultivator's last field, and the reapers rest a little. +Then they rush at this remnant, tear it up, and cast it into the +air, shouting victory to one or other of the local gods, according +to their religious persuasion. A sheaf is made out of this +corn, tied to a bamboo, set up in the last harvest cart, and +carried home in triumph. Here it is fastened up in the +threshing-floor or attached to a tree or to the cattle-shed, +where its services are held to be essential for the purpose of +averting the evil-eye.<note place='foot'>C. A. Elliot, <hi rend='italic'>Hoshangábád Settlement +Report</hi>, p. 178, quoted in <hi rend='italic'>Panjab +Notes and Queries</hi>, iii. §§ 8, 168 (October +and December, 1885); W. Crooke, +<hi rend='italic'>Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern +India</hi> (Westminster, 1896), ii. 306.</note> A like custom prevails in the eastern +districts of the North-Western Provinces of India. Sometimes +a little patch is left untilled as a refuge for the field-spirit; +sometimes it is sown, and when the corn of this patch has +been reaped with a rush and a shout, it is presented to the +<pb n='223'/><anchor id='Pg223'/> +priest, who offers it to the local gods or bestows it on a +beggar.<note place='foot'>W. Crooke, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. 306 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +supposed +to +be killed at +reaping or +threshing. Corn-spirit +represented +by +a man, +who is +threshed.</note> +II. Passing to the second point of comparison between +the Lityerses story and European harvest customs, we have +now to see that in the latter the corn-spirit is often believed +to be killed at reaping or threshing. In the Romsdal and +other parts of Norway, when the haymaking is over, the +people say that <q>the Old Hay-man has been killed.</q> In +some parts of Bavaria the man who gives the last stroke +at threshing is said to have killed the Corn-man, the Oats-man, +or the Wheat-man, according to the crop.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 31.</note> In the +Canton of Tillot, in Lothringen, at threshing the last corn +the men keep time with their flails, calling out as they +thresh, <q>We are killing the Old Woman! We are killing +the Old Woman!</q> If there is an old woman in the house +she is warned to save herself, or she will be struck dead.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 334.</note> +Near Ragnit, in Lithuania, the last handful of corn is left +standing by itself, with the words, <q>The Old Woman (<foreign rend='italic'>Boba</foreign>) +is sitting in there.</q> Then a young reaper whets his scythe, +and, with a strong sweep, cuts down the handful. It is now +said of him that <q>he has cut off the Boba's head</q>; and he +receives a gratuity from the farmer and a jugful of water over +his head from the farmer's wife.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 330.</note> According to another +account, every Lithuanian reaper makes haste to finish his +task; for the Old Rye-woman lives in the last stalks, and +whoever cuts the last stalks kills the Old Rye-woman, and by +killing her he brings trouble on himself.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> In Wilkischken, in +the district of Tilsit, the man who cuts the last corn goes by +the name of <q>the killer of the Rye-woman.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 331.</note> In Lithuania, +again, the corn-spirit is believed to be killed at threshing as +well as at reaping. When only a single pile of corn remains +to be threshed, all the threshers suddenly step back a few +paces, as if at the word of command. Then they fall to work, +plying their flails with the utmost rapidity and vehemence, +till they come to the last bundle. Upon this they fling +themselves with almost frantic fury, straining every nerve, +and raining blows on it till the word <q>Halt!</q> rings out +<pb n='224'/><anchor id='Pg224'/> +sharply from the leader. The man whose flail is the last to +fall after the command to stop has been given is immediately +surrounded by all the rest, crying out that <q>he has struck +the Old Rye-woman dead.</q> He has to expiate the deed by +treating them to brandy; and, like the man who cuts the +last corn, he is known as <q>the killer of the Old Rye-woman.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 335.</note> +Sometimes in Lithuania the slain corn-spirit was +represented by a puppet. Thus a female figure was made +out of corn-stalks, dressed in clothes, and placed on the +threshing-floor, under the heap of corn which was to be +threshed last. Whoever thereafter gave the last stroke at +threshing <q>struck the Old Woman dead.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 335.</note> We have already +met with examples of burning the figure which represents +the corn-spirit.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg135'>135</ref>, <ref target='Pg146'>146</ref>.</note> In the East Riding of Yorkshire a custom +called <q>burning the Old Witch</q> is observed on the last day +of harvest. A small sheaf of corn is burnt on the field in a +fire of stubble; peas are parched at the fire and eaten with +a liberal allowance of ale; and the lads and lasses romp +about the flames and amuse themselves by blackening each +other's faces.<note place='foot'>J. Nicholson, <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore of East +Yorkshire</hi> (London, Hull, and Driffield, +1890), p. 28, supplemented by a +letter of the author's addressed to Mr. +E. S. Hartland and dated 33 Leicester +Street, Hull, 11th September, +1890. I have to thank Mr. E. S. +Hartland for calling my attention to +the custom and allowing me to see +Mr. Nicholson's letter.</note> Sometimes, again, the corn-spirit is represented +by a man, who lies down under the last corn; +it is threshed upon his body, and the people say that +<q>the Old Man is being beaten to death.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 26.</note> We saw that +sometimes the farmer's wife is thrust, together with the last +sheaf, under the threshing-machine, as if to thresh her, and +that afterwards a pretence is made of winnowing her.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg149'>149</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At +Volders, in the Tyrol, husks of corn are stuck behind the +neck of the man who gives the last stroke at threshing, and +he is throttled with a straw garland. If he is tall, it is +believed that the corn will be tall next year. Then he is +tied on a bundle and flung into the river.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 50.</note> In Carinthia, +the thresher who gave the last stroke, and the person who +<pb n='225'/><anchor id='Pg225'/> +untied the last sheaf on the threshing-floor, are bound hand +and foot with straw bands, and crowns of straw are placed +on their heads. Then they are tied, face to face, on a +sledge, dragged through the village, and flung into a brook.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 50 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +The custom of throwing the representative of the corn-spirit +into a stream, like that of drenching him with water, is, +as usual, a rain-charm.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg146'>146</ref>, <ref target='Pg170'>170</ref> note 1; +<hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second Edition, +pp. 195 sqq.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Corn-spirit +represented +by +a stranger +or a visitor +to the +harvest-field, +who +is treated +accordingly.</note> +III. Thus far the representatives of the corn-spirit have +generally been the man or woman who cuts, binds, or +threshes the last corn. We now come to the cases in which +the corn-spirit is represented either by a stranger passing +the harvest-field (as in the Lityerses tale), or by a visitor +entering it for the first time. All over Germany it is +customary for the reapers or threshers to lay hold of +passing strangers and bind them with a rope made of +corn-stalks, till they pay a forfeit; and when the farmer +himself or one of his guests enters the field or the threshing-floor +for the first time, he is treated in the same way. +Sometimes the rope is only tied round his arm or his feet +or his neck.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschunge</hi> +pp. 32 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> Compare K. +Bartsch, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche +aus Meklenburg</hi> (Vienna, 1879-1880), +ii. 296 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; P. Drechsler, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch +und Volksglaube in Schlesien</hi> (Leipsic, +1903-1906), ii. 62 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; A. John, +<hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im +deutschen Westböhmen</hi> (Prague, 1905), +p. 193; A. Witzschel, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Sitten +und Gebräuche aus Thüringen</hi> (Vienna, +1878), p. 221, § 61; R. Krause, <hi rend='italic'>Sitten, +Gebräuche und Aberglauben in Westpreussen</hi> +(Berlin, preface dated March, +1904), p. 51; <hi rend='italic'>Revue des Traditions +populaires</hi>, iii. (1888) p. 598.</note> But sometimes he is regularly swathed in +corn. Thus at Solör in Norway, whoever enters the field, +be he the master or a stranger, is tied up in a sheaf and +must pay a ransom. In the neighbourhood of Soest, when +the farmer visits the flax-pullers for the first time, he is +completely enveloped in flax. Passers-by are also surrounded +by the women, tied up in flax, and compelled to +stand brandy.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 35 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At Nördlingen strangers are caught with +straw ropes and tied up in a sheaf till they pay a forfeit.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 36.</note> +Among the Germans of Haselberg, in West Bohemia, as soon +as a farmer had given the last corn to be threshed on the +threshing-floor, he was swathed in it and had to redeem +<pb n='226'/><anchor id='Pg226'/> +himself by a present of cakes.<note place='foot'>A. John, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch, und +Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen</hi>, +(Prague, 1905), p. 194.</note> In Anhalt, when the proprietor +or one of his family, the steward, or even a stranger +enters the harvest-field for the first time after the reaping +has begun, the wife of the chief reaper ties a rope twisted of +corn-ears, or a nosegay made of corn-ears and flowers, to +his arm, and he is obliged to ransom himself by the payment +of a fine.<note place='foot'>O. Hartung, <q>Zur Volkskunde aus +Anhalt,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift des Vereins für +Volkskunde</hi>, vii. (1897) p. 153.</note> In the canton of Putanges, in Normandy, a +pretence of tying up the owner of the land in the last sheaf +of wheat is still practised, or at least was still practised some +quarter of a century ago. The task falls to the women alone. +They throw themselves on the proprietor, seize him by the +arms, the legs, and the body, throw him to the ground, and +stretch him on the last sheaf. Then a show is made of +binding him, and the conditions to be observed at the +harvest-supper are dictated to him. When he has accepted +them, he is released and allowed to get up.<note place='foot'>J. Lecœur, <hi rend='italic'>Esquisses du Bocage +Normand</hi> (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), +ii. 240 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At Brie, Isle +de France, when any one who does not belong to the farm +passes by the harvest-field, the reapers give chase. If they +catch him, they bind him in a sheaf and bite him, one after +the other, in the forehead, crying, <q>You shall carry the key +of the field.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 36.</note> <q>To have the key</q> is an expression used +by harvesters elsewhere in the sense of to cut or bind or +thresh the last sheaf;<note place='foot'>For the evidence, see <hi rend='italic'>ibid.</hi> p. 36, +note 2. The <q>key</q> in the European +custom is probably intended to serve +the same purpose as the <q>knot</q> in +the Cingalese custom, as to which see +<hi rend='italic'>Taboo and the Perils of the Soul</hi>, pp. +308 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> hence, it is equivalent to the phrases +<q>You have the Old Man,</q> <q>You are the Old Man,</q> which +are addressed to the cutter, binder, or thresher of the last +sheaf. Therefore, when a stranger, as at Brie, is tied up in +a sheaf and told that he will <q>carry the key of the field,</q> it +is as much as to say that he is the Old Man, that is, an +embodiment of the corn-spirit. In hop-picking, if a well-dressed +stranger passes the hop-yard, he is seized by the +women, tumbled into the bin, covered with leaves, and not +released till he has paid a fine.<note place='foot'>From a letter written to me by +Colonel Henry Wilson, of Farnborough +Lodge, Farnborough, Kent. The +letter is dated 21st March, 1901.</note> In some parts of Scotland, +<pb n='227'/><anchor id='Pg227'/> +particularly in the counties of Fife and Kinross, down to +recent times the reapers used to seize and dump, as it was +called, any stranger who happened to visit or pass by the +harvest field. The custom was to lay hold of the stranger +by his ankles and armpits, lift him up, and bring the lower +part of his person into violent contact with the ground. +Women as well as men were liable to be thus treated. +The practice of interposing a sheaf between the sufferer +and the ground is said to be a modern refinement.<note place='foot'><q>Notes on Harvest Customs,</q> <hi rend='italic'>The Folk-lore Journal</hi>, vii. (1889) pp. 52 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Comparing +this custom with the one practised at Putanges in +Normandy, which has just been described, we may conjecture +that in Scotland the <q>dumping</q> of strangers on the +harvest-field was originally a preliminary to wrapping them +up in sheaves of corn. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Ceremonies +of the +Tarahumare +Indians +at hoeing, +ploughing, +and +harvest.</note> +Ceremonies of a somewhat similar kind are performed by +the Tarahumare Indians of Mexico not only at harvest but +also at hoeing and ploughing. <q>When the work of hoeing +and weeding is finished, the workers seize the master of the +field, and, tying his arms crosswise behind him, load all the +implements, that is to say, the hoes, upon his back, fastening +them with ropes. Then they form two single columns, the +landlord in the middle between them, and all facing the +house. Thus they start homeward. Simultaneously the +two men at the heads of the columns begin to run rapidly +forward some thirty yards, cross each other, then turn back, +run along the two columns, cross each other again at the rear +and take their places each at the end of his row. As they +pass each other ahead and in the rear of the columns they +beat their mouths with the hollow of their hands and yell. +As soon as they reach their places at the foot, the next pair +in front of the columns starts off, running in the same way, +and thus pair after pair performs the tour, the procession all +the time advancing toward the house. A short distance in +front of it they come to a halt, and are met by two young +men who carry red handkerchiefs tied to sticks like flags. +The father of the family, still tied up and loaded with the +hoes, steps forward alone and kneels down in front of his +house-door. The flag-bearers wave their banners over him, +and the women of the household come out and kneel on +<pb n='228'/><anchor id='Pg228'/> +their left knees, first toward the east, and after a little while +toward each of the other cardinal points, west, south, and north. +In conclusion the flags are waved in front of the house. +The father then rises and the people untie him, whereupon +he first salutes the women with the usual greeting, <q><foreign rend='italic'>Kwīra!</foreign></q> +or <q><foreign rend='italic'>Kwirevá!</foreign></q> Now they all go into the house, and the man +makes a short speech thanking them all for the assistance +they have given him, for how could he have gotten through +his work without them? They have provided him with a +year's life (that is, with the wherewithal to sustain it), and +now he is going to give them tesvino. He gives a drinking-gourd +full to each one in the assembly, and appoints one +man among them to distribute more to all. The same +ceremony is performed after the ploughing and after the +harvesting. On the first occasion the tied man may be +made to carry the yoke of the oxen, on the second he does +not carry anything.</q><note place='foot'>C. Lumholtz, <hi rend='italic'>Unknown Mexico</hi> +(London, 1903), i. 214 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> The meaning of these Mexican +ceremonies is not clear. Perhaps the custom of tying up +the farmer at hoeing, ploughing, and reaping is a form of +expiation or apology offered to the spirits of the earth, who +are naturally disturbed by agricultural operations.<note place='foot'>Compare <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, +Second Edition, pp. 75 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> When +the Yabim of Simbang in German New Guinea see that +the taro plants in their fields are putting forth leaves, they +offer sacrifice of sago-broth and pork to the spirits of the +former owners of the land, in order that they may be kindly +disposed and not do harm but let the fruits ripen.<note place='foot'>K. Vetter, <hi rend='italic'>Komm herüber und hilf +uns!</hi> Heft 2 (Barmen, 1898), p. 7.</note> +Similarly when the Alfoors or Toradjas of Central Celebes +are planting a new field, they offer rice, eggs, and so forth +to the souls of the former owners of the land, hoping that, +mollified by these offerings, the souls will make the crops to +grow and thrive.<note place='foot'>A. C. Kruijt, <q>Een en ander +aangaande het geestelijk en maatschappelijk +leven van den Poso-Alfoer,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche +Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, xxxix. +(1895) p. 137. As to influence +which the spirits of the dead are +thought to exercise on the growth of +the crops, see above, pp. <ref target='Pg103'>103</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, and +below, vol. ii. pp. 109 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> However, this explanation of the Mexican +ceremonies at hoeing, ploughing, and reaping is purely conjectural. +In these ceremonies there is no evidence that, as +in the parallel European customs, the farmer is identified +<pb n='229'/><anchor id='Pg229'/> +with the corn-spirit, since he is not wrapt up in the +sheaves. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Pretence +made by +the reapers +of killing +some one +with their +scythes.</note> +Be that as it may, the evidence adduced above suffices +to prove that, like the ancient Lityerses, modern European +reapers have been wont to lay hold of a passing stranger +and tie him up in a sheaf. It is not to be expected that +they should complete the parallel by cutting off his head; +but if they do not take such a strong step, their language +and gestures are at least indicative of a desire to do so. For +instance, in Mecklenburg on the first day of reaping, if the +master or mistress or a stranger enters the field, or merely +passes by it, all the mowers face towards him and sharpen +their scythes, clashing their whet-stones against them in +unison, as if they were making ready to mow. Then the +woman who leads the mowers steps up to him and ties +a band round his left arm. He must ransom himself by +payment of a forfeit.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, p. 39.</note> Near Ratzeburg, when the master +or other person of mark enters the field or passes by it, +all the harvesters stop work and march towards him in a +body, the men with their scythes in front. On meeting him +they form up in line, men and women. The men stick the +poles of their scythes in the ground, as they do in whetting +them; then they take off their caps and hang them on the +scythes, while their leader stands forward and makes a +speech. When he has done, they all whet their scythes in +measured time very loudly, after which they put on their +caps. Two of the women binders then come forward; one +of them ties the master or stranger (as the case may be) +with corn-ears or with a silken band; the other delivers +a rhyming address. The following are specimens of the +speeches made by the reaper on these occasions. In some +parts of Pomerania every passer-by is stopped, his way being +barred with a corn-rope. The reapers form a circle round +him and sharpen their scythes, while their leader says:— +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'><hi rend='italic'>The men are ready,</hi></q></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>The scythes are bent,</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>The corn is great and small,</hi></l> +<l><q rend='post'><hi rend='italic'>The gentleman must be mowed.</hi></q></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<pb n='230'/><anchor id='Pg230'/> + +<p> +Then the process of whetting the scythes is repeated.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 39 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At +Ramin, in the district of Stettin, the stranger, standing +encircled by the reapers, is thus addressed:— +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'><hi rend='italic'>We'll stroke the gentleman</hi></q></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>With our naked sword,</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Wherewith we shear meadows and fields.</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>We shear princes and lords.</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Labourers are often athirst;</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>If the gentleman will stand beer and brandy</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>The joke will soon be over.</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>But, if our prayer he does not like,</hi></l> +<l><q rend='post'><hi rend='italic'>The sword has a right to strike.</hi></q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 40. For the speeches made +by the woman who binds the stranger +or the master, see <hi rend='italic'>ibid.</hi> p. 41; C. +Lemke, <hi rend='italic'>Volksthümliches in Ostpreussen</hi> +(Mohrungen, 1884-1887), i. 23 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +That in these customs the whetting of the scythes is +really meant as a preliminary to mowing appears from the +following variation of the preceding customs. In the district +of Lüneburg, when any one enters the harvest-field, he is +asked whether he will engage a good fellow. If he says +yes, the harvesters mow some swaths, yelling and screaming, +and then ask him for drink-money.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 41 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Pretence +made by +threshers +of choking +a person +with their +flails.</note> +On the threshing-floor strangers are also regarded as +embodiments of the corn-spirit, and are treated accordingly. +At Wiedingharde in Schleswig when a stranger comes to +the threshing-floor he is asked, <q>Shall I teach you the flail-dance?</q> +If he says yes, they put the arms of the threshing-flail +round his neck as if he were a sheaf of corn, and press +them together so tight that he is nearly choked.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 42. See +also above, p. <ref target='Pg150'>150</ref>.</note> In some +parishes of Wermland (Sweden), when a stranger enters +the threshing-floor where the threshers are at work, they say +that <q>they will teach him the threshing-song.</q> Then they +put a flail round his neck and a straw rope about his body. +Also, as we have seen, if a stranger woman enters the +threshing-floor, the threshers put a flail round her body and +a wreath of corn-stalks round her neck, and call out, <q>See +the Corn-woman! See! that is how the Corn-maiden +looks!</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 42. See +above, p. <ref target='Pg149'>149</ref>. In Thüringen a being +called the Rush-cutter (<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Binsenschneider</foreign>) +used to be much dreaded. On the +morning of St. John's Day he was wont +to walk through the fields with sickles +tied to his ankles cutting avenues in the +corn as he walked. To detect him, +seven bundles of brushwood were +silently threshed with the flail on the +threshing-floor, and the stranger who +appeared at the door of the barn during +the threshing was the Rush-cutter. +See A. Witzschel, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Sitten und +Gebräuche aus Thüringen</hi> (Vienna, +1878), p. 221. With the <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Binsenschneider</foreign> +compare the <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Bilschneider</foreign> and +<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Biberschneider</foreign> (F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>Beitrag zur +deutschen Mythologie</hi>, Munich, 1848-1855, +ii. pp. 210 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, §§ 372-378).</note> +</p> + +<pb n='231'/><anchor id='Pg231'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Custom +observed +at the +madder-harvest +in +Zealand.</note> +In these customs, observed both on the harvest-field and +on the threshing-floor, a passing stranger is regarded as a +personification of the corn, in other words, as the corn-spirit; +and a show is made of treating him like the corn by mowing, +binding, and threshing him. If the reader still doubts +whether European peasants can really regard a passing +stranger in this light, the following custom should set his +doubts at rest. During the madder-harvest in the Dutch +province of Zealand a stranger passing by a field, where the +people are digging the madder-roots, will sometimes call out +to them <foreign lang='nl' rend='italic'>Koortspillers</foreign> (a term of reproach). Upon this, two +of the fleetest runners make after him, and, if they catch +him, they bring him back to the madder-field and bury him +in the earth up to his middle at least, jeering at him the +while; then they ease nature before his face.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 47 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The spirit +of the corn +conceived +as poor and +robbed +by the +reapers. Some of +the corn +left on the +harvest-field +for the +corn-spirit. Little fields +or gardens +cultivated +for spirits +or gods.</note> +This last act is to be explained as follows. The spirit of +the corn and of other cultivated plants is sometimes conceived, +not as immanent in the plant, but as its owner; hence the cutting +of the corn at harvest, the digging of the roots, and the +gathering of fruit from the fruit-trees are each and all of them +acts of spoliation, which strip him of his property and reduce +him to poverty. Hence he is often known as <q>the Poor +Man</q> or <q>the Poor Woman.</q> Thus in the neighbourhood +of Eisenach a small sheaf is sometimes left standing on the +field for <q>the Poor Old Woman.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 48.</note> At Marksuhl, near +Eisenach, the puppet formed out of the last sheaf is itself +called <q>the Poor Woman.</q> At Alt Lest in Silesia the man +who binds the last sheaf is called the Beggar-man.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi></note> In a +village near Roeskilde, in Zealand (Denmark), old-fashioned +peasants sometimes make up the last sheaf into a rude +puppet, which is called the Rye-beggar.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 48 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In Southern +Schonen the sheaf which is bound last is called the Beggar; +<pb n='232'/><anchor id='Pg232'/> +it is made bigger than the rest and is sometimes dressed +in clothes. In the district of Olmütz the last sheaf is called +the Beggar; it is given to an old woman, who must carry it +home, limping on one foot.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 49.</note> Sometimes a little of the crop +is left on the field for the spirit, under other names than +<q>the Poor Old Woman.</q> Thus at Szagmanten, a village of +the Tilsit district, the last sheaf was left standing on the +field <q>for the Old Rye-woman.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 337.</note> In Neftenbach (Canton +of Zurich) the first three ears of corn reaped are thrown +away on the field <q>to satisfy the Corn-mother and to make +the next year's crop abundant.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> At Kupferberg, in Bavaria, +some corn is left standing on the field when the rest has +been cut. Of this corn left standing they say that <q>it +belongs to the Old Woman,</q> to whom it is dedicated in the +following words:— +</p> + +<quote rend='display'> +<lg> +<l><q rend='pre'><hi rend='italic'>We give it to the Old Woman;</hi></q></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>She shall keep it.</hi></l> +<l><hi rend='italic'>Next year may she be to us</hi></l> +<l><q rend='post'><hi rend='italic'>As kind as this time she has been.</hi></q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 337 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note></l> +</lg> +</quote> + +<p> +These words clearly shew that the Old Woman for whom +the corn is left on the field is not a real personage, poor and +hungry, but the mythical Old Woman who makes the corn +to grow. At Schüttarschen, in West Bohemia, after the +crop has been reaped, a few stalks are left standing and a +garland is attached to them. <q>That belongs to the Wood-woman,</q> +they say, and offer a prayer. In this way the +Wood-woman, we are told, has enough to live on through +the winter and the corn will thrive the better next year. +The same thing is done for all the different kinds of corn-crop.<note place='foot'>A. John, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube +im deutschen Westböhmen</hi> (Prague, +1905), p. 189.</note> +So in Thüringen, when the after-grass (<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Grummet</foreign>) is +being got in, a little heap is left lying on the field; it belongs +to <q>the Little Wood-woman</q> in return for the blessing she +has bestowed.<note place='foot'>A. Witzschel, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Sitten und +Gebräuche aus Thüringen</hi> (Vienna, +1878), p. 224, § 74.</note> In the Frankenwald of Bavaria three handfuls +of flax were left on the field <q>for the Wood-woman.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde +des Königreichs Bayern</hi> (Munich, 1860-1867), +iii. 343 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +<pb n='233'/><anchor id='Pg233'/> +At Lindau in Anhalt the reapers used to leave some stalks +standing in the last corner of the last field for <q>the Corn-woman +to eat.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde</hi>, +vii. (1897) p. 154.</note> In some parts of Silesia it was till lately +the custom to leave a few corn-stalks standing in the field, +<q>in order that the next harvest should not fail.</q><note place='foot'>P. Drechsler, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch, und +Volksglaube in Schlesien</hi> (Leipsic, 1903-1906), +ii. 64, § 419.</note> In Russia +it is customary to leave patches of unreaped corn in the fields +and to place bread and salt on the ground near them. <q>These +ears are eventually knotted together, and the ceremony is +called <q>the plaiting of the beard of Volos,</q> and it is supposed +that after it has been performed no wizard or other evilly-disposed +person will be able to hurt the produce of the fields. +The unreaped patch is looked upon as tabooed; and it is +believed that if any one meddles with it he will shrivel up, +and become twisted like the interwoven ears. Similar customs +are kept up in various parts of Russia. Near Kursk and +Voroneje, for instance, a patch of rye is usually left in honour +of the Prophet Elijah, and in another district one of oats is +consecrated to St. Nicholas. As it is well known that both +the Saint and the Prophet have succeeded to the place once +held in the estimation of the Russian people by Perun, it +seems probable that Volos really was, in ancient times, one +of the names of the thunder-god.</q><note place='foot'>W. R. S. Ralston, <hi rend='italic'>Songs of the +Russian People</hi>, Second Edition +(London, 1872), pp. 251 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> As to +Perun, the old Slavonic thunder-god, +see <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution +of Kings</hi>, ii. 365.</note> In the north-east of +Scotland a few stalks were sometimes left unreaped on the +field for the benefit of <q>the aul' man.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. Walter Gregor, <hi rend='italic'>Notes on the +Folk-lore of the North-east of Scotland</hi> +(London, 1881), p. 182.</note> Here <q>the aul' +man</q> is probably the equivalent of the harvest Old Man of +Germany.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg136'>136</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Among the Mohammedans of Zanzibar it is +customary at sowing a field to reserve a certain portion of it +for the guardian spirits, who at harvest are invited, to the +tuck of drum, to come and take their share; tiny huts are +also built in which food is deposited for their use.<note place='foot'>A. Germain, <q>Note zur Zanzibar +et la Côte Orientale d'Afrique,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Bulletin +de la Société de Géographie</hi> (Paris), Vème +Série, xvi. (1868) p. 555.</note> In the +island of Nias, to prevent the depredations of wandering +spirits among the rice at harvest, a miniature field is dedicated +<pb n='234'/><anchor id='Pg234'/> +to them and in it are sown all the plants that grow in the +real fields.<note place='foot'>E. Modigliani, <hi rend='italic'>Un Viaggio a Nías</hi> +(Milan, 1890), p. 593.</note> The Hos, a Ewe tribe of negroes in Togoland, +observe a similar custom for a similar reason. At the entrance +to their yam-fields the traveller may see on both sides of the +path small mounds on which yams, stock-yams, beans, and +maize are planted and appear to flourish with more than +usual luxuriance. These little gardens, tended with peculiar +care, are dedicated to the <q>guardian gods</q> of the owner of +the land; there he cultivates for their benefit the same +plants which he cultivates for his own use in the fields; +and the notion is that the <q>guardian gods</q> will content +themselves with eating the fruits which grow in their little +private preserves and will not poach on the crops which are +destined for human use.<note place='foot'>J. Spieth, <hi rend='italic'>Die Ewe-Stämme</hi> (Berlin, +1906), p. 303. In the Central +Provinces of India <q>sometimes the +oldest man in the house cuts the first +five bundles of the crop and they are +afterwards left in the fields for the +birds to eat. And at the end of harvest +the last one or two sheaves are left +standing in the field and any one who +likes can cut and carry them away. In +some localities the last sheaves are left +standing in the field and are known as +<foreign rend='italic'>barhona</foreign>, or the giver of increase. Then +all the labourers rush together at this +last patch of corn and tear it up by the +roots; everybody seizes as much as he +can [and] keeps it, the master having +no share in this patch. After the <foreign rend='italic'>barhona</foreign> +has been torn up all the labourers +fall on their faces to the ground and +worship the field</q> (A. E. Nelson, +<hi rend='italic'>Central Provinces Gazetteers, Bilaspur +District</hi>, vol. A, 1910, p. 75). This +quotation was kindly sent to me by +Mr. W. Crooke; I have not seen the +original. It seems to shew that in the +Central Provinces the last corn is left +standing on the field as a portion for +the corn-spirit, and that he is believed +to be immanent in it; hence the name +of <q>the giver of increase</q> bestowed on +it, and the eagerness with which other +people, though not the owner of the +land, seek to appropriate it.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Hence +perhaps +we may +explain the +dedication +of sacred +fields and +the offering +of first-fruits +to +gods and +spirits.</note> +These customs suggest that the little sacred rice-fields +on which the Kayans of Borneo perform the various +operations of husbandry in mimicry before they address +themselves to the real labours of the field,<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg093'>93</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> may be dedicated +to the spirits of the rice to compensate them for +the loss they sustain by allowing men to cultivate all +the rest of the land for their own benefit. Perhaps the +Rarian plain at Eleusis<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg036'>36</ref>, <ref target='Pg074'>74</ref>.</note> was a spiritual preserve of the +same kind set apart for the exclusive use of the corn-goddesses +Demeter and Persephone. It may even be that +the law which forbade the Hebrews to reap the corners and +gather the gleanings of the harvest-fields and to strip the +<pb n='235'/><anchor id='Pg235'/> +vines of their last grapes<note place='foot'>Leviticus, xix. 9 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, xxiii. 22; +Deuteronomy, xxiv. 19-21.</note> was originally intended for the +benefit, not of the human poor, but of the poor spirits of +the corn and the vine, who had just been despoiled by the +reapers and the vintagers, and who, if some provision were +not made for their subsistence, would naturally die of hunger +before another year came round. In providing for their +wants the prudent husbandman was really consulting his +own interests; for how could he expect to reap wheat and +barley and to gather grapes next year if he suffered the +spirits of the corn and of the vine to perish of famine in +the meantime? This train of thought may possibly explain +the wide-spread custom of offering the first-fruits of the +crops to gods or spirits:<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg046'>46</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg053'>53</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, +and below, vol. ii. pp. 109 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> such offerings may have been +originally not so much an expression of gratitude for benefits +received as a means of enabling the benefactors to continue +their benefactions in time to come. Primitive man has +generally a shrewd eye to the main chance: he is more +prone to provide for the future than to sentimentalise over +the past. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Passing +strangers +treated as +the spirit +of the +madder-roots.</note> +Thus when the spirit of vegetation is conceived as +a being who is robbed of his store and impoverished +by the harvesters, it is natural that his representative—the +passing stranger—should upbraid them; and it +is equally natural that they should seek to disable him +from pursuing them and recapturing the stolen property. +Now, it is an old superstition that by easing nature on the +spot where a robbery is committed, the robbers secure +themselves, for a certain time, against interruption.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 49 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; A. Wuttke, +<hi rend='italic'>Der deutsche Volksaberglaube</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> (Berlin, +1869), p. 254, § 400; M. Töppen, +<hi rend='italic'>Aberglaube aus Masuren</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> (Danzig, +1867), p. 57. The same belief is held +and acted upon in Japan (L. Hearn, +<hi rend='italic'>Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan</hi>, London, +1904, ii. 603).</note> Hence +when madder-diggers resort to this proceeding in presence +of the stranger whom they have caught and buried in the +field, we may infer that they consider themselves robbers +and him as the person robbed. Regarded as such, he must +be the natural owner of the madder-roots, that is, their +spirit or demon; and this conception is carried out by +<pb n='236'/><anchor id='Pg236'/> +burying him, like the madder-roots, in the ground.<note place='foot'>The explanation of the custom is +W. Mannhardt's (<hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, +p. 49).</note> The +Greeks, it may be observed, were quite familiar with the +idea that a passing stranger may be a god. Homer says +that the gods in the likeness of foreigners roam up and +down cities.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Odyssey</hi>, xvii. 485 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> Compare +Plato, <hi rend='italic'>Sophist</hi>, p. 216 A.</note> Once in Poso, a district of Celebes, when a new +missionary entered a house where a number of people were +gathered round a sick man, one of them addressed the newcomer +in these words: <q>Well, sir, as we had never seen +you before, and you came suddenly in, while we sat here by +ourselves, we thought it was a spirit.</q><note place='foot'>A. C. Kruijt, <q>Mijne eerste +ervaringen te Poso,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen +van wege het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, +xxxvi. (1892) p. 402.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Killing +of the +personal +representative +of the +corn-spirit.</note> +Thus in these harvest-customs of modern Europe the +person who cuts, binds, or threshes the last corn is treated as +an embodiment of the corn-spirit by being wrapt up in +sheaves, killed in mimicry by agricultural implements, and +thrown into the water.<note place='foot'>For throwing him into the water, +see p. <ref target='Pg225'>225</ref>.</note> These coincidences with the +Lityerses story seem to prove that the latter is a genuine +description of an old Phrygian harvest-custom. But since in +the modern parallels the killing of the personal representative +of the corn-spirit is necessarily omitted or at most enacted +only in mimicry, it is desirable to shew that in rude society +human beings have been commonly killed as an agricultural +ceremony to promote the fertility of the fields. The following +examples will make this plain. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='3. Human Sacrifices for the Crops.'/> +<head>§ 3. Human Sacrifices for the Crops.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Human +sacrifices +for the +crops in +South and +Central +America.</note> +The Indians of Guayaquil, in Ecuador, used to sacrifice +human blood and the hearts of men when they sowed their +fields.<note place='foot'>Cieza de Leon, <hi rend='italic'>Travels</hi>, translated +by C. R. Markham, p. 203 +(Hakluyt Society, London, 1864).</note> The people of Cañar (now Cuenca in Ecuador) used +to sacrifice a hundred children annually at harvest. The +kings of Quito, the Incas of Peru, and for a long time the +Spaniards were unable to suppress the bloody rite.<note place='foot'>Juan de Velasco, <hi rend='italic'>Histoire du +Royaume de Quito</hi>, i. (Paris, 1840) pp. +121 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> (Ternaux-Compans, <hi rend='italic'>Voyages, +Relations et Mémoires Originaux pour +servir à l'Histoire de la Découverte de +l'Amérique</hi>, vol. xviii.).</note> At a +<pb n='237'/><anchor id='Pg237'/> +Mexican harvest-festival, when the first-fruits of the season +were offered to the sun, a criminal was placed between two +immense stones, balanced opposite each other, and was +crushed by them as they fell together. His remains were +buried, and a feast and dance followed. This sacrifice was +known as <q>the meeting of the stones.</q><note place='foot'>Brasseur de Bourbourg, <hi rend='italic'>Histoire +des Nations civilisées du Mexique et +de l'Amérique Centrale</hi> (Paris, 1857-1859), +i. 274; H. H. Bancroft, <hi rend='italic'>Native +Races of the Pacific States</hi> (London, +1875-1876), ii. 340.</note> <q>Tlaloc was +worshipped in Mexico as the god of the thunder and the +storm which precedes the fertilising rain; elsewhere his wife +Xochiquetzal, who at Tlaxcallan was called Matlalcuéyé or +the Lady of the Blue Petticoats, shared these honours, and +it was to her that many countries in Central America +particularly paid their devotions. Every year, at the time +when the cobs of the still green and milky maize are about +to coagulate and ripen, they used to sacrifice to the goddess +four young girls, chosen among the noblest families of the +country; they were decked out in festal attire, crowned with +flowers, and conveyed in rich palanquins to the brink of the +hallowed waters, where the sacrifice was to be offered. +The priests, clad in long floating robes, their heads encircled +with feather crowns, marched in front of the litters carrying +censers with burning incense. The town of Elopango, +celebrated for its temple, was near the lake of the same +name, the etymology of which refers to the sheaves of tender +maize (<foreign rend='italic'>elotl</foreign>, <q>sheaf of tender maize</q>). It was dedicated to +the goddess Xochiquetzal, to whom the young victims were +offered by being hurled from the top of a rock into the +abyss. At the moment of consummating this inhuman rite, +the priests addressed themselves in turn to the four virgins +in order to banish the fear of death from their minds. They +drew for them a bright picture of the delights they were +about to enjoy in the company of the gods, and advised +them not to forget the earth which they had left behind, but +to entreat the divinity, to whom they despatched them, to +bless the forthcoming harvest.</q><note place='foot'>Brasseur de Bourbourg, <q>Aperçus +d'un voyage dans les États de San-Salvador +et de Guatemala,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Bulletin +de la Société de Géographie</hi> (Paris), +IVème Série, xiii. (1857) pp. 278 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> We have seen that the +ancient Mexicans also sacrificed human beings at all the +<pb n='238'/><anchor id='Pg238'/> +various stages in the growth of the maize, the age of the +victims corresponding to the age of the corn; for they +sacrificed new-born babes at sowing, older children when +the grain had sprouted, and so on till it was fully ripe, +when they sacrificed old men.<note place='foot'>Herrera, quoted by A. Bastian, <hi rend='italic'>Die +Culturländer des alten Amerika</hi> (Berlin, +1878), ii. 379 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> See <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, +Osiris</hi>, Second Edition, pp. 338 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> No doubt the correspondence +between the ages of the victims and the state +of the corn was supposed to enhance the efficacy of the +sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Human +sacrifices +for the +crops +among the +Pawnees.</note> +The Pawnees annually sacrificed a human victim in +spring when they sowed their fields. The sacrifice was +believed to have been enjoined on them by the Morning +Star, or by a certain bird which the Morning Star had sent +to them as its messenger. The bird was stuffed and preserved +as a powerful talisman. They thought that an +omission of this sacrifice would be followed by the total +failure of the crops of maize, beans, and pumpkins. The +victim was a captive of either sex. He was clad in the +gayest and most costly attire, was fattened on the choicest +food, and carefully kept in ignorance of his doom. When +he was fat enough, they bound him to a cross in the presence +of the multitude, danced a solemn dance, then cleft his head +with a tomahawk and shot him with arrows. According to +one trader, the squaws then cut pieces of flesh from the +victim's body, with which they greased their hoes; but this +was denied by another trader who had been present at the +ceremony. Immediately after the sacrifice the people proceeded +to plant their fields. A particular account has been +preserved of the sacrifice of a Sioux girl by the Pawnees in +April 1837 or 1838. The girl was fourteen or fifteen years +old and had been kept for six months and well treated. +Two days before the sacrifice she was led from wigwam to +wigwam, accompanied by the whole council of chiefs and +warriors. At each lodge she received a small billet of wood +and a little paint, which she handed to the warrior next to +her. In this way she called at every wigwam, receiving at +each the same present of wood and paint. On the twenty-second +of April she was taken out to be sacrificed, attended +by the warriors, each of whom carried two pieces of wood +<pb n='239'/><anchor id='Pg239'/> +which he had received from her hands. Her body having +been painted half red and half black, she was attached to a +sort of gibbet and roasted for some time over a slow fire, then +shot to death with arrows. The chief sacrificer next tore +out her heart and devoured it. While her flesh was still +warm it was cut in small pieces from the bones, put in little +baskets, and taken to a neighbouring corn-field. There the +head chief took a piece of the flesh from a basket and +squeezed a drop of blood upon the newly-deposited grains of +corn. His example was followed by the rest, till all the seed +had been sprinkled with the blood; it was then covered up +with earth. According to one account the body of the victim +was reduced to a kind of paste, which was rubbed or sprinkled +not only on the maize but also on the potatoes, the beans, +and other seeds to fertilise them. By this sacrifice they +hoped to obtain plentiful crops.<note place='foot'>E. James, <hi rend='italic'>Account of an Expedition +from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains</hi> +(London, 1823), ii. 80 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; H. R. +Schoolcraft, <hi rend='italic'>Indian Tribes of the United +States</hi> (Philadelphia, 1853-1856), v. +77 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; J. De Smet, in <hi rend='italic'>Annales de la +Propagation de la Foi</hi>, xi. (1838) pp. +493 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, in <hi rend='italic'>Annales de la Propagation +de la Foi</hi>, xv. (1843) pp. 277-279; +<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Voyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses</hi>, +Nouvelle Edition (Paris and Brussels, +1873), pp. 121 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> The accounts by +Schoolcraft and De Smet of the sacrifice +of the Sioux girl are independent and +supplement each other. According to +De Smet, who wrote from the descriptions +of four eye-witnesses, the procession +from hut to hut for the purpose +of collecting wood took place on the +morning of the sacrifice. Another +description of the sacrifice is given by +Mr. G. B. Grinnell from the recollection +of an eye-witness (<hi rend='italic'>Pawnee Hero Stories +and Folk-tales</hi>, New York, 1889, pp. +362-369). According to this last +account the victim was shot with arrows +and afterwards burnt. Before the body +was consumed in the fire a man pulled +out the arrows, cut open the breast of +the victim, and having smeared his face +with the blood ran away as fast as he +could.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Human +sacrifices +for the +crops in +Africa.</note> +A West African queen used to sacrifice a man and +woman in the month of March. They were killed with +spades and hoes, and their bodies buried in the middle of a +field which had just been tilled.<note place='foot'>J. B. Labat, <hi rend='italic'>Relation historique +de l'Ethiopie occidentale</hi> (Paris, 1732), +i. 380.</note> At Lagos in Guinea it +was the custom annually to impale a young girl alive soon +after the spring equinox in order to secure good crops. +Along with her were sacrificed sheep and goats, which, with +yams, heads of maize, and plantains, were hung on stakes on +each side of her. The victims were bred up for the purpose +in the king's seraglio, and their minds had been so powerfully +wrought upon by the fetish men that they went cheerfully to +<pb n='240'/><anchor id='Pg240'/> +their fate.<note place='foot'>John Adams, <hi rend='italic'>Sketches taken during +Ten Voyages in Africa between the years +1786 and 1800</hi> (London, <hi rend='smallcaps'>n.d.</hi>), p. +25.</note> A similar sacrifice used to be annually offered +at Benin, in Guinea.<note place='foot'>P. Bouche, <hi rend='italic'>La Côte des Esclaves</hi> +(Paris, 1885), p. 132.</note> The Marimos, a Bechuana tribe, +sacrifice a human being for the crops. The victim chosen +is generally a short, stout man. He is seized by violence +or intoxicated and taken to the fields, where he is killed +amongst the wheat to serve as <q>seed</q> (so they phrase it). +After his blood has coagulated in the sun, it is burned along +with the frontal bone, the flesh attached to it, and the brain; +the ashes are then scattered over the ground to fertilise it. +The rest of the body is eaten.<note place='foot'>T. Arbousset et F. Daumas, +<hi rend='italic'>Voyage d'exploration au Nord-est de +la Colonie du Cap de Bonne-Espérance</hi> +(Paris, 1842), pp. 117 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> The +custom has probably long been obsolete.</note> The Wamegi of the Usagara +hills in German East Africa used to offer human sacrifices +of a peculiar kind once a year about the time of harvest, +which was also the time of sowing; for the Wamegi have +two crops annually, one in September and one in February. +The festival was usually held in September or October. +The victim was a girl who had attained the age of puberty. +She was taken to a hill where the festival was to be +celebrated, and there she was crushed to death between two +branches.<note place='foot'>From information given me by +my friend the Rev. John Roscoe, who +resided for some time among the +Wamegi and suppressed the sacrifice +in 1886.</note> The sacrifice was not performed in the fields, +and my informant could not ascertain its object, but we may +conjecture that it was to ensure good crops in the following +year. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Human +sacrifices +for the +crops in the +Philippines.</note> +The Bagobos of Mindanao, one of the Philippine Islands, +offer a human sacrifice before they sow their rice. The victim +is a slave, who is hewn to pieces in the forest.<note place='foot'>F. Blumentritt, <q>Das Stromgebiet +des Rio Grande de Mindanao,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Petermanns +Mitteilungen</hi>, xxxvii. (1891) +p. 110.</note> The +natives of Bontoc, a province in the interior of Luzon, +one of the Philippine Islands, are passionate head-hunters. +Their principal seasons for head-hunting are the times +of planting and reaping the rice. In order that the +crop may turn out well, every farm must get at least one +human head at planting and one at sowing. The head-hunters +go out in twos or threes, lie in wait for the victim, +<pb n='241'/><anchor id='Pg241'/> +whether man or woman, cut off his or her head, hands, and +feet, and bring them back in haste to the village, where they +are received with great rejoicings. The skulls are at first +exposed on the branches of two or three dead trees which +stand in an open space of every village surrounded by large +stones which serve as seats. The people then dance round +them and feast and get drunk. When the flesh has decayed +from the head, the man who cut it off takes it home and +preserves it as a relic, while his companions do the same +with the hands and the feet.<note place='foot'>A. Schadenberg, <q>Beiträge zur +Kenntniss der im Innern Nordluzons +lebenden Stämme,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Verhandlungen der +Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, +Ethnologie und Urgeschichte</hi>, +1888, p. (39) (bound with <hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift +für Ethnologie</hi>, xx. 1888).</note> Similar customs are observed +by the Apoyaos, another tribe in the interior of Luzon.<note place='foot'>Schadenberg, in <hi rend='italic'>Verhandlungen +der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, +Ethnologie und Urgeschichte</hi>, +1889, p. (681) (bound with <hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift +für Ethnologie</hi>, xxi. 1889).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Human +sacrifices +for the +crops +among the +Wild Wa +of Burma.</note> +The Wild Wa, an agricultural tribe on the north-eastern +frontier of Upper Burma, still hunt for human +heads as a means of promoting the welfare of the crops. +The Wa regards his skulls as a protection against the +powers of evil. <q>Without a skull his crops would fail; +without a skull his kine might die; without a skull the +father and mother spirits would be shamed and might be +enraged; if there were no protecting skull the other spirits +who are all malignant, might gain entrance and kill the +inhabitants, or drink all the liquor.</q> The Wa country is +a series of mountain ranges shelving rapidly down to narrow +valleys from two to five thousand feet deep. The villages +are all perched high on the slopes, some just under the +crest of the ridge, some lower down on a small projecting +spur of flat ground. Industrious cultivation has cleared +away the jungle, and the villages stand out conspicuously +in the landscape as yellowish-brown blotches on the hillsides. +Each village is fortified by an earthen rampart so +thickly overgrown with cactuses and other shrubs as to be +impenetrable. The only entrance is through a narrow, low +and winding tunnel, the floor of which, for additional +security, is thickly studded with pegs to wound the feet of +enemies who might attempt to force a way in. The Wa +depend for their subsistence mainly on their crops of +<pb n='242'/><anchor id='Pg242'/> +buckwheat, beans, and maize; rice they cultivate only to +distil a strong spirituous liquor from it. They had need be +industrious, for no field can be reached without a climb up +or down the steep mountain-side. Sometimes the rice-fields +lie three thousand feet or more below the village, and they +require constant attention. But the chief crop raised by +the Wa is the poppy, from which they make opium. In +February and March the hill-tops for miles are white +with the blossom, and you may travel for days through +nothing but fields of poppies. Then, too, is the proper +season for head-hunting. It opens in March and lasts +through April. Parties of head-hunters at that time go +forth to prowl for human prey. As a rule they will not +behead people of a neighbouring village nor even of any +village on the same range of hills. To find victims they go +to the next range or at any rate to a distance, and the +farther the better, for the heads of strangers are preferred. +The reason is that the ghosts of strangers, being unfamiliar +with the country, are much less likely to stray away from +their skulls; hence they make more vigilant sentinels than +the ghosts of people better acquainted with the neighbourhood, +who are apt to go off duty without waiting for the +tedious formality of relieving guard. When head-hunters +return to a village with human heads, the rejoicing is +uproarious. Then the great drum is beaten frantically, +and its deep hollow boom resounding far and wide through +the hills announces to the neighbourhood the glad tidings of +murder successfully perpetrated. Then the barrels, or rather +the bamboos, of rice-spirit are tapped, and while the genial +stream flows and the women and children dance and sing +for glee, the men drink themselves blind and mad drunk. +The ghastly head, which forms the centre of all this +rejoicing, is first taken to the spirit-house, a small shed +which usually stands on the highest point of the village +site. There, wrapt in grass or leaves, it is hung up in +a basket to ripen and bleach. When all the flesh and +sinews have mouldered away and nothing remains but the +blanched and grinning skull, it is put to rest in the village +Golgotha. This is an avenue of huge old trees, whose interlacing +boughs form a verdant archway overhead and, with the +<pb n='243'/><anchor id='Pg243'/> +dense undergrowth, cast a deep shadow on the ground below. +Every village has such an avenue stretching along the hillside +sometimes for a long distance, or even till it meets the +avenue of the neighbouring village. In the solemn gloom +of this verdurous canopy is the Place of Skulls. On one side +of the avenue stands a row of wooden posts, usually mere +trunks of trees with the bark peeled off, but sometimes +rudely carved and painted with designs in red and black. +A little below the top of each post is cut a niche, and in +front of the niche is a ledge. On this ledge the skull +is deposited, sometimes so that it is in full view of +passers-by in the avenue, sometimes so that it only grins +at them through a slit. Most villages count their skulls by +tens or twenties, but some of them have hundreds of these +trophies, especially when the avenue forms an unbroken +continuity of shade between the villages. The old skulls +ensure peace to the village, but at least one new one should +be taken every year, that the rice may grow green far down +in the depths of the valley, that the maize may tinge with +its golden hue the steep mountain-sides, and that the hilltops +may be white for miles and miles with the bloom of +the poppy.<note place='foot'>(Sir) J. G. Scott and J. P. +Hardiman, <hi rend='italic'>Gazetteer of Upper +Burma and the Shan States</hi> (Rangoon, +1900-1901), Part i. vol. i. pp. 493-509.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Human +sacrifices +for the +crops +among the +Shans of +Indo-China +and the +Nagas and +other tribes +of India.</note> +The Shans of Indo-China still believe in the efficacy of +human sacrifice to procure a good harvest, though they act +on the belief less than some other tribes of this region. +Their practice now is to poison somebody at the state +festival, which is generally held at some time between March +and May.<note place='foot'>Col. R. G. Woodthorpe, <q>Some +Account of the Shans and Hill Tribes +of the States on the Mekong,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal +of the Anthropological Institute</hi>, xxvi. +(1897) p. 24.</note> Among the Lhota Naga, one of the many +savage tribes who inhabit the deep rugged labyrinthine glens +which wind into the mountains from the rich valley of +Brahmapootra,<note place='foot'>For a general description of the +country and the tribes see L. A. +Waddell, <q>The Tribes of the Brahmaputra +Valley,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Asiatic +Society of Bengal</hi>, lxix. Part iii. +(Calcutta, 1901), pp. 1-127.</note> it used to be a common custom to chop +off the heads, hands, and feet of people they met with, +and then to stick up the severed extremities in their +fields to ensure a good crop of grain. They bore no +<pb n='244'/><anchor id='Pg244'/> +ill-will whatever to the persons upon whom they operated +in this unceremonious fashion. Once they flayed a +boy alive, carved him in pieces, and distributed the flesh +among all the villagers, who put it into their corn-bins to +avert bad luck and ensure plentiful crops of grain. The +Angami, another tribe of the same region, used also to relieve +casual passers-by of their heads, hands, and feet, with the +same excellent intention.<note place='foot'>Miss G. M. Godden, <q>Naga and +other Frontier Tribes of North-Eastern +India,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Anthropological +Institute</hi>, xxvii. (1898) pp. 9 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 38 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> The hill tribe Kudulu, near +Vizagapatam in the Madras Presidency, offered human +sacrifices to the god Jankari for the purpose of obtaining +good crops. The ceremony was generally performed on the +Sunday before or after the Pongal feast. For the most part +the victim was purchased, and until the time for the sacrifice +came he was free to wander about the village, to eat and +drink what he liked, and even to lie with any woman he +met. On the appointed day he was carried before the +idol drunk; and when one of the villagers had cut a hole +in his stomach and smeared the blood on the idol, the +crowds from the neighbouring villages rushed upon him +and hacked him to pieces. All who were fortunate enough +to secure morsels of his flesh carried them away and presented +them to their village idols.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>North Indian Notes and Queries</hi>, +i. p. 4, § 15 (April 1891).</note> The Gonds of India, a +Dravidian race, kidnapped Brahman boys, and kept them as +victims to be sacrificed on various occasions. At sowing and +reaping, after a triumphal procession, one of the lads was +slain by being punctured with a poisoned arrow. His blood +was then sprinkled over the ploughed field or the ripe crop, +and his flesh was devoured.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Panjab Notes and Queries</hi>, ii. pp. +127 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, § 721 (May 1885).</note> The Oraons or Uraons of +Chota Nagpur worship a goddess called Anna Kuari, who +can give good crops and make a man rich, but to induce her +to do so it is necessary to offer human sacrifices. In spite +of the vigilance of the British Government these sacrifices are +said to be still secretly perpetrated. The victims are poor +waifs and strays whose disappearance attracts no notice. +April and May are the months when the catchpoles are out +on the prowl. At that time strangers will not go about the +<pb n='245'/><anchor id='Pg245'/> +country alone, and parents will not let their children enter +the jungle or herd the cattle. When a catchpole has found +a victim, he cuts his throat and carries away the upper +part of the ring finger and the nose. The goddess takes up +her abode in the house of any man who has offered her a +sacrifice, and from that time his fields yield a double harvest. +The form she assumes in the house is that of a small child. +When the householder brings in his unhusked rice, he takes +the goddess and rolls her over the heap to double its size. +But she soon grows restless and can only be pacified with +the blood of fresh human victims.<note place='foot'>Rev. P. Dehon, S.J., <q>Religion +and Customs of the Uraons,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Memoirs +of the Asiatic Society of Bengal</hi>, vol. i. +No. 9 (Calcutta, 1906), pp. 141 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Human +sacrifices +for the +crops +among the +Khonds.</note> +But the best known case of human sacrifices, systematically +offered to ensure good crops, is supplied by the +Khonds or Kandhs, another Dravidian race in Bengal. Our +knowledge of them is derived from the accounts written by +British officers who, about the middle of the nineteenth +century, were engaged in putting them down.<note place='foot'>Major S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>Memorials +of Service in India</hi> (London, +1865), pp. 113-131; Major-General +John Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>Wild Tribes of Khondistan</hi> +(London, 1864), pp. 52-58, etc. +Compare Mgr. Neyret, Bishop of Vizagapatam, +in <hi rend='italic'>Annales de la Propagation +de la Foi</hi>, xxiii. (1851) pp. 402-404; +E. Thurston, <hi rend='italic'>Ethnographic Notes on +Southern India</hi> (Madras, 1906), pp. +510-519; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Castes and Tribes of +Southern India</hi> (Madras, 1909), iii. +371-385.</note> The sacrifices +were offered to the Earth Goddess, Tari Pennu or Bera +Pennu, and were believed to ensure good crops and immunity +from all disease and accidents. In particular, they were +considered necessary in the cultivation of turmeric, the +Khonds arguing that the turmeric could not have a deep red +colour without the shedding of blood.<note place='foot'>J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 56.</note> The victim or Meriah, +as he was called, was acceptable to the goddess only if he +had been purchased, or had been born a victim—that is, the +son of a victim father, or had been devoted as a child +by his father or guardian. Khonds in distress often +sold their children for victims, <q>considering the beatification +of their souls certain, and their death, for the benefit of +mankind, the most honourable possible.</q> A man of the +Panua tribe was once seen to load a Khond with curses, +and finally to spit in his face, because the Khond had sold +for a victim his own child, whom the Panua had wished to +<pb n='246'/><anchor id='Pg246'/> +marry. A party of Khonds, who saw this, immediately +pressed forward to comfort the seller of his child, saying, +<q>Your child has died that all the world may live, and the +Earth Goddess herself will wipe that spittle from your face.</q><note place='foot'>S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. +115 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +The victims were often kept for years before they were +sacrificed. Being regarded as consecrated beings, they were +treated with extreme affection, mingled with deference, and +were welcomed wherever they went. A Meriah youth, on +attaining maturity, was generally given a wife, who was herself +usually a Meriah or victim; and with her he received +a portion of land and farm-stock. Their offspring were +also victims. Human sacrifices were offered to the Earth +Goddess by tribes, branches of tribes, or villages, both at +periodical festivals and on extraordinary occasions. The +periodical sacrifices were generally so arranged by tribes and +divisions of tribes that each head of a family was enabled, at +least once a year, to procure a shred of flesh for his fields, +generally about the time when his chief crop was laid +down.<note place='foot'>S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. +117 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 112.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Ceremonies +preliminary +to the +sacrifice.</note> +The mode of performing these tribal sacrifices was as +follows. Ten or twelve days before the sacrifice, the victim +was devoted by cutting off his hair, which, until then, had +been kept unshorn. Crowds of men and women assembled +to witness the sacrifice; none might be excluded, since the +sacrifice was declared to be for all mankind. It was preceded +by several days of wild revelry and gross debauchery.<note place='foot'>S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. +117 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +On the day before the sacrifice the victim, dressed in a new +garment, was led forth from the village in solemn procession, +with music and dancing, to the Meriah grove, a clump of +high forest trees standing a little way from the village and +untouched by the axe. There they tied him to a post, which +was sometimes placed between two plants of the sankissar +shrub. He was then anointed with oil, ghee, and turmeric, +and adorned with flowers; and <q>a species of reverence, +which it is not easy to distinguish from adoration,</q> was paid +to him throughout the day. A great struggle now arose to +obtain the smallest relic from his person; a particle of the +<pb n='247'/><anchor id='Pg247'/> +turmeric paste with which he was smeared, or a drop of his +spittle, was esteemed of sovereign virtue, especially by the +women.<note place='foot'>S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 118.</note> The crowd danced round the post to music, and, +addressing the earth, said, <q>O God, we offer this sacrifice to +you; give us good crops, seasons, and health</q>; then speaking +to the victim they said, <q>We bought you with a price, +and did not seize you; now we sacrifice you according to +custom, and no sin rests with us.</q><note place='foot'>J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 54 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Consummation +of the +sacrifice.</note> +On the last morning the orgies, which had been scarcely +interrupted during the night, were resumed, and continued +till noon, when they ceased, and the assembly proceeded to +consummate the sacrifice. The victim was again anointed +with oil, and each person touched the anointed part, and +wiped the oil on his own head. In some places they took +the victim in procession round the village, from door to door, +where some plucked hair from his head, and others begged +for a drop of his spittle, with which they anointed their +heads.<note place='foot'>J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 55, 112.</note> As the victim might not be bound nor make any +show of resistance, the bones of his arms and, if necessary, +his legs were broken; but often this precaution was rendered +unnecessary by stupefying him with opium.<note place='foot'>S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. +119; J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 113.</note> The mode of +putting him to death varied in different places. One of the +commonest modes seems to have been strangulation, or +squeezing to death. The branch of a green tree was cleft +several feet down the middle; the victim's neck (in other +places, his chest) was inserted in the cleft, which the priest, +aided by his assistants, strove with all his force to close.<note place='foot'>S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 127. +Instead of the branch of a green tree, +Campbell mentions two strong planks +or bamboos (p. 57) or a slit bamboo +(p. 182).</note> +Then he wounded the victim slightly with his axe, whereupon +the crowd rushed at the wretch and hewed the flesh from the +bones, leaving the head and bowels untouched. Sometimes +he was cut up alive.<note place='foot'>J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 56, 58, +120.</note> In Chinna Kimedy he was dragged +along the fields, surrounded by the crowd, who, avoiding his +head and intestines, hacked the flesh from his body with +their knives till he died.<note place='foot'>E. T. Dalton, <hi rend='italic'>Descriptive Ethnology +of Bengal</hi> (Calcutta, 1872), p. 288, +quoting Colonel Campbell's <hi rend='italic'>Report</hi>.</note> Another very common mode of +<pb n='248'/><anchor id='Pg248'/> +sacrifice in the same district was to fasten the victim to the +proboscis of a wooden elephant, which revolved on a stout +post, and, as it whirled round, the crowd cut the flesh from +the victim while life remained. In some villages Major +Campbell found as many as fourteen of these wooden +elephants, which had been used at sacrifices.<note place='foot'>J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 126. The +elephant represented the Earth Goddess +herself, who was here conceived +in elephant-form (Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. +51, 126). In the hill tracts of Goomsur +she was represented in peacock-form, +and the post to which the victim was +bound bore the effigy of a peacock +(Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 54).</note> In one district +the victim was put to death slowly by fire. A low +stage was formed, sloping on either side like a roof; upon it +they laid the victim, his limbs wound round with cords to +confine his struggles. Fires were then lighted and hot +brands applied, to make him roll up and down the slopes of +the stage as long as possible; for the more tears he shed the +more abundant would be the supply of rain. Next day the +body was cut to pieces.<note place='foot'>S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 130. +In Mexico also the tears of the human +victims were sometimes regarded as an +omen of rain (B. de Sahagun, <hi rend='italic'>Histoire +générale des Choses de la Nouvelle Espagne</hi>, +traduite par D. Jourdanet et R. +Simeon, Paris, 1880, bk. ii. ch. 20, +p. 86).</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Flesh of +the victim +used to +fertilise the +fields.</note> +The flesh cut from the victim was instantly taken home +by the persons who had been deputed by each village to +bring it. To secure its rapid arrival, it was sometimes +forwarded by relays of men, and conveyed with postal fleetness +fifty or sixty miles.<note place='foot'>E. T. Dalton, <hi rend='italic'>Descriptive Ethnology +of Bengal</hi>, p. 288, referring to Colonel +Campbell's <hi rend='italic'>Report</hi>.</note> In each village all who stayed at +home fasted rigidly until the flesh arrived. The bearer +deposited it in the place of public assembly, where it was +received by the priest and the heads of families. The priest +divided it into two portions, one of which he offered to the +Earth Goddess by burying it in a hole in the ground with +his back turned, and without looking. Then each man +added a little earth to bury it, and the priest poured water +on the spot from a hill gourd. The other portion of flesh +he divided into as many shares as there were heads of +houses present. Each head of a house rolled his shred of +flesh in leaves, and buried it in his favourite field, placing it +in the earth behind his back without looking.<note place='foot'>S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 129. +Compare J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 55, +58, 113, 121, 187.</note> In some +<pb n='249'/><anchor id='Pg249'/> +places each man carried his portion of flesh to the stream +which watered his fields, and there hung it on a pole.<note place='foot'>J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 182.</note> For +three days thereafter no house was swept; and, in one +district, strict silence was observed, no fire might be given +out, no wood cut, and no strangers received. The remains +of the human victim (namely, the head, bowels, and bones) +were watched by strong parties the night after the sacrifice; +and next morning they were burned, along with a whole +sheep, on a funeral pile. The ashes were scattered over +the fields, laid as paste over the houses and granaries, or +mixed with the new corn to preserve it from insects.<note place='foot'>S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. +128; E. T. Dalton, <hi rend='italic'>Descriptive Ethnology +of Bengal</hi>, p. 288.</note> +Sometimes, however, the head and bones were buried, not +burnt.<note place='foot'>J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 55, 182.</note> After the suppression of the human sacrifices, inferior +victims were substituted in some places; for instance, +in the capital of Chinna Kimedy a goat took the place of +a human victim.<note place='foot'>J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 187.</note> Others sacrifice a buffalo. They tie it +to a wooden post in a sacred grove, dance wildly round it +with brandished knives, then, falling on the living animal, +hack it to shreds and tatters in a few minutes, fighting and +struggling with each other for every particle of flesh. As +soon as a man has secured a piece he makes off with it at +full speed to bury it in his fields, according to ancient +custom, before the sun has set, and as some of them have far +to go they must run very fast. All the women throw clods +of earth at the rapidly retreating figures of the men, some of +them taking very good aim. Soon the sacred grove, so +lately a scene of tumult, is silent and deserted except for a +few people who remain to guard all that is left of the buffalo, +to wit, the head, the bones, and the stomach, which are +burned with ceremony at the foot of the stake.<note place='foot'>E. Thurston, <hi rend='italic'>Castes and Tribes of +Southern India</hi> (Madras, 1909), iii. +381-385.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>In these +Khond +sacrifices +the human +victims +appear to +have been +regarded as +divine.</note> +In these Khond sacrifices the Meriahs are represented +by our authorities as victims offered to propitiate the Earth +Goddess. But from the treatment of the victims both +before and after death it appears that the custom cannot +be explained as merely a propitiatory sacrifice. A part of +the flesh certainly was offered to the Earth Goddess, but the +<pb n='250'/><anchor id='Pg250'/> +rest was buried by each householder in his fields, and the +ashes of the other parts of the body were scattered over the +fields, laid as paste on the granaries, or mixed with the new +corn. These latter customs imply that to the body of the +Meriah there was ascribed a direct or intrinsic power of +making the crops to grow, quite independent of the indirect +efficacy which it might have as an offering to secure the +good-will of the deity. In other words, the flesh and ashes +of the victim were believed to be endowed with a magical or +physical power of fertilising the land. The same intrinsic +power was ascribed to the blood and tears of the Meriah, +his blood causing the redness of the turmeric and his tears +producing rain; for it can hardly be doubted that, originally +at least, the tears were supposed to bring down the rain, not +merely to prognosticate it. Similarly the custom of pouring +water on the buried flesh of the Meriah was no doubt a rain-charm. +Again, magical power as an attribute of the Meriah +appears in the sovereign virtue believed to reside in anything +that came from his person, as his hair or spittle. The +ascription of such power to the Meriah indicates that he was +much more than a mere man sacrificed to propitiate a deity. +Once more, the extreme reverence paid him points to the +same conclusion. Major Campbell speaks of the Meriah as +<q>being regarded as something more than mortal,</q><note place='foot'>J. Campbell, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 112.</note> and +Major Macpherson says, <q>A species of reverence, which it is +not easy to distinguish from adoration, is paid to him.</q><note place='foot'>S. C. Macpherson, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 118.</note> In +short, the Meriah seems to have been regarded as divine. +As such, he may originally have represented the Earth +Goddess or, perhaps, a deity of vegetation; though in later +times he came to be regarded rather as a victim offered to a +deity than as himself an incarnate god. This later view of +the Meriah as a victim rather than a divinity may perhaps +have received undue emphasis from the European writers +who have described the Khond religion. Habituated to the +later idea of sacrifice as an offering made to a god for the +purpose of conciliating his favour, European observers are +apt to interpret all religious slaughter in this sense, and to +suppose that wherever such slaughter takes place, there must +necessarily be a deity to whom the carnage is believed by +<pb n='251'/><anchor id='Pg251'/> +the slayers to be acceptable. Thus their preconceived ideas +may unconsciously colour and warp their descriptions of +savage rites. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Traces of +an identification +of +the human +victim with +the god in +other +sacrifices.</note> +The same custom of killing the representative of a god, +of which strong traces appear in the Khond sacrifices, may +perhaps be detected in some of the other human sacrifices +described above. Thus the ashes of the slaughtered Marimo +were scattered over the fields; the blood of the Brahman +lad was put on the crop and field; the flesh of the slain +Naga was stowed in the corn-bin; and the blood of the +Sioux girl was allowed to trickle on the seed.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg239'>239</ref>, <ref target='Pg240'>240</ref>, <ref target='Pg244'>244</ref>.</note> Again, the +identification of the victim with the corn, in other words, +the view that he is an embodiment or spirit of the corn, is +brought out in the pains which seem to be taken to secure +a physical correspondence between him and the natural +object which he embodies or represents. Thus the Mexicans +killed young victims for the young corn and old ones for the +ripe corn; the Marimos sacrifice, as <q>seed,</q> a short, fat man, +the shortness of his stature corresponding to that of the +young corn, his fatness to the condition which it is desired +that the crops may attain; and the Pawnees fattened their +victims probably with the same view. Again, the identification +of the victim with the corn comes out in the African +custom of killing him with spades and hoes, and the Mexican +custom of grinding him, like corn, between two stones. +</p> + +<p> +One more point in these savage customs deserves to be +noted. The Pawnee chief devoured the heart of the Sioux +girl, and the Marimos and Gonds ate the victim's flesh. If, +as we suppose, the victim was regarded as divine, it follows +that in eating his flesh his worshippers believed themselves +to be partaking of the body of their god. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='4. The Corn-spirit slain in his Human Representatives.'/> +<head>§ 4. The Corn-spirit slain in his Human Representatives.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Analogy +of these +barbarous +rites to the +harvest +customs of +Europe.</note> +The barbarous rites just described offer analogies to the +harvest customs of Europe. Thus the fertilising virtue +ascribed to the corn-spirit is shewn equally in the savage +custom of mixing the victim's blood or ashes with the seed-corn +and the European custom of mixing the grain from +<pb n='252'/><anchor id='Pg252'/> +the last sheaf with the young corn in spring.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg134'>134</ref>.</note> Again, the +identification of the person with the corn appears alike in +the savage custom of adapting the age and stature of the +victim to the age and stature, whether actual or expected, of +the crop; in the Scotch and Styrian rules that when the corn-spirit +is conceived as the Maiden the last corn shall be cut +by a young maiden, but when it is conceived as the Corn-mother +it shall be cut by an old woman;<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg134'>134</ref>, <ref target='Pg157'>157</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> in the Lothringian +warning given to old women to save themselves when the +Old Woman is being killed, that is, when the last corn +is being threshed;<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg223'>223</ref>.</note> and in the Tyrolese expectation that +if the man who gives the last stroke at threshing is tall, +the next year's corn will be tall also.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg224'>224</ref>.</note> Further, the same +identification is implied in the savage custom of killing the +representative of the corn-spirit with hoes or spades or by +grinding him between stones, and in the European custom of +pretending to kill him with the scythe or the flail. Once +more the Khond custom of pouring water on the buried flesh +of the victim is parallel to the European customs of pouring +water on the personal representative of the corn-spirit or +plunging him into a stream.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg170'>170</ref>, with the references +in note 1; <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, pp. 195-197.</note> Both the Khond and the +European customs are rain-charms. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Human +representative +of the +corn-spirit +slain on the +harvest-field.</note> +To return now to the Lityerses story. It has been +shewn that in rude society human beings have been commonly +killed to promote the growth of the crops. There is +therefore no improbability in the supposition that they may +once have been killed for a like purpose in Phrygia and +Europe; and when Phrygian legend and European folk-custom, +closely agreeing with each other, point to the conclusion +that men were so slain, we are bound, provisionally +at least, to accept the conclusion. Further, both the Lityerses +story and European harvest-customs agree in indicating that +the victim was put to death as a representative of the corn-spirit, +and this indication is in harmony with the view which +some savages appear to take of the victim slain to make the +crops flourish. On the whole, then, we may fairly suppose +that both in Phrygia and in Europe the representative of +<pb n='253'/><anchor id='Pg253'/> +the corn-spirit was annually killed upon the harvest-field. +Grounds have been already shewn for believing that similarly +in Europe the representative of the tree-spirit was annually +slain. The proofs of these two remarkable and closely +analogous customs are entirely independent of each other. +Their coincidence seems to furnish fresh presumption in +favour of both. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The victim +who represented +the +corn-spirit +may have +been a +passing +stranger or +the reaper, +binder, or +thresher +of the +last corn.</note> +To the question, How was the representative of the corn-spirit +chosen? one answer has been already given. Both +the Lityerses story and European folk-custom shew that +passing strangers were regarded as manifestations of the +corn-spirit escaping from the cut or threshed corn, and as +such were seized and slain. But this is not the only answer +which the evidence suggests. According to the Phrygian +legend the victims of Lityerses were not simply passing +strangers, but persons whom he had vanquished in a reaping +contest and afterwards wrapt up in corn-sheaves and +beheaded.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg217'>217</ref>.</note> This suggests that the representative of the +corn-spirit may have been selected by means of a competition +on the harvest-field, in which the vanquished +competitor was compelled to accept the fatal honour. +The supposition is countenanced by European harvest-customs. +We have seen that in Europe there is sometimes +a contest amongst the reapers to avoid being last, and that +the person who is vanquished in this competition, that is, +who cuts the last corn, is often roughly handled. It is true +we have not found that a pretence is made of killing him; +but on the other hand we have found that a pretence is +made of killing the man who gives the last stroke at threshing, +that is, who is vanquished in the threshing contest.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg224'>224</ref>.</note> +Now, since it is in the character of representative of the +corn-spirit that the thresher of the last corn is slain in +mimicry, and since the same representative character attaches +(as we have seen) to the cutter and binder as well as to the +thresher of the last corn, and since the same repugnance is +evinced by harvesters to be last in any one of these labours, +we may conjecture that a pretence has been commonly made +of killing the reaper and binder as well as the thresher of the +last corn, and that in ancient times this killing was actually +<pb n='254'/><anchor id='Pg254'/> +carried out. This conjecture is corroborated by the common +superstition that whoever cuts the last corn must die soon.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 5.</note> +Sometimes it is thought that the person who binds the last +sheaf on the field will die in the course of next year.<note place='foot'>H. Pfannenschmid, <hi rend='italic'>Germanische +Erntefeste</hi> (Hanover, 1878), p. 98.</note> The +reason for fixing on the reaper, binder, or thresher of the +last corn as the representative of the corn-spirit may be this. +The corn-spirit is supposed to lurk as long as he can in the +corn, retreating before the reapers, the binders, and the +threshers at their work. But when he is forcibly expelled +from his refuge in the last corn cut or the last sheaf bound +or the last grain threshed, he necessarily assumes some other +form than that of the corn-stalks which had hitherto been his +garment or body. And what form can the expelled corn-spirit +assume more naturally than that of the person who +stands nearest to the corn from which he (the corn-spirit) +has just been expelled? But the person in question is +necessarily the reaper, binder, or thresher of the last corn. +He or she, therefore, is seized and treated as the corn-spirit +himself. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Perhaps +the victim +annually +sacrificed +in the +character +of the +corn-spirit +may have +been the +king +himself.</note> +Thus the person who was killed on the harvest-field as +the representative of the corn-spirit may have been either +a passing stranger or the harvester who was last at reaping, +binding, or threshing. But there is a third possibility, to +which ancient legend and modern folk-custom alike point. +Lityerses not only put strangers to death; he was himself +slain, and apparently in the same way as he had slain others, +namely, by being wrapt in a corn-sheaf, beheaded, and cast +into the river; and it is implied that this happened to +Lityerses on his own land.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg217'>217</ref>. It is not expressly +said that he was wrapt in a +sheaf.</note> Similarly in modern harvest-customs +the pretence of killing appears to be carried out +quite as often on the person of the master (farmer or squire) +as on that of strangers.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg225'>225</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg229'>229</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Now when we remember that +Lityerses was said to have been a son of the King of +Phrygia, and that in one account he is himself called a king, +and when we combine with this the tradition that he was +put to death, apparently as a representative of the corn-spirit, +we are led to conjecture that we have here another +<pb n='255'/><anchor id='Pg255'/> +trace of the custom of annually slaying one of those divine +or priestly kings who are known to have held ghostly sway +in many parts of Western Asia and particularly in Phrygia. +The custom appears, as we have seen,<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, pp. 160 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> to have been so far +modified in places that the king's son was slain in the king's +stead. Of the custom thus modified the story of Lityerses +would be, in one version at least, a reminiscence. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Relation of +Lityerses +to Attis: +both may +have been +originally +corn-spirits, +or +the one a +corn-spirit +and the +other a +tree-spirit. Human +representatives +both +of Lityerses +and Attis +annually +slain.</note> +Turning now to the relation of the Phrygian Lityerses +to the Phrygian Attis, it may be remembered that at Pessinus—the +seat of a priestly kingship—the high-priest appears +to have been annually slain in the character of Attis, a god +of vegetation, and that Attis was described by an ancient +authority as <q>a reaped ear of corn.</q><note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, pp. 231 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, 239 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Thus Attis, as an +embodiment of the corn-spirit, annually slain in the person +of his representative, might be thought to be ultimately +identical with Lityerses, the latter being simply the rustic +prototype out of which the state religion of Attis was +developed. It may have been so; but, on the other hand, +the analogy of European folk-custom warns us that amongst +the same people two distinct deities of vegetation may have +their separate personal representatives, both of whom are +slain in the character of gods at different times of the year. +For in Europe, as we have seen, it appears that one man +was commonly slain in the character of the tree-spirit in +spring, and another in the character of the corn-spirit in +autumn. It may have been so in Phrygia also. Attis was +especially a tree-god, and his connexion with corn may have +been only such an extension of the power of a tree-spirit as +is indicated in customs like the Harvest-May.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the Evolution +of Kings</hi>, ii. 47 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Again, the +representative of Attis appears to have been slain in spring; +whereas Lityerses must have been slain in summer or +autumn, according to the time of the harvest in Phrygia.<note place='foot'>I do not know when the corn is +reaped in Phrygia; but the high upland +character of the country makes it likely +that harvest is later there than on the +coasts of the Mediterranean.</note> +On the whole, then, while we are not justified in regarding +Lityerses as the prototype of Attis, the two may be regarded +as parallel products of the same religious idea, and may have +stood to each other as in Europe the Old Man of harvest +<pb n='256'/><anchor id='Pg256'/> +stands to the Wild Man, the Leaf Man, and so forth, of +spring. Both were spirits or deities of vegetation, and the +personal representatives of both were annually slain. But +whereas the Attis worship became elevated into the dignity +of a State religion and spread to Italy, the rites of Lityerses +seem never to have passed the limits of their native Phrygia, +and always retained their character of rustic ceremonies performed +by peasants on the harvest-field. At most a few +villages may have clubbed together, as amongst the Khonds, +to procure a human victim to be slain as representative of the +corn-spirit for their common benefit. Such victims may have +been drawn from the families of priestly kings or kinglets, +which would account for the legendary character of Lityerses +as the son of a Phrygian king or as himself a king. When +villages did not so club together, each village or farm may +have procured its own representative of the corn-spirit by +dooming to death either a passing stranger or the harvester +who cut, bound, or threshed the last sheaf. Perhaps in the +olden time the practice of head-hunting as a means of promoting +the growth of the corn may have been as common +among the rude inhabitants of Europe and Western Asia as +it still is, or was till lately, among the primitive agricultural +tribes of Assam, Burma, the Philippine Islands, and the +Indian Archipelago.<note place='foot'>See above, pp. <ref target='Pg240'>240</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; and +<hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second Edition, +pp. 247-249. As to head-hunting in +British Borneo see H. L. Roth, <hi rend='italic'>The +Natives of Sarawak and British North +Borneo</hi> (London, 1896), ii. 140 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; in +Central Celebes, see A. C. Kruijt, +<q>Het koppensnellen der Toradja's van +Midden-Celebes, en zijne Beteekenis,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Verslagen en Mededeelingen der koninklijke +Akademie van Wetenschappen</hi>, +Afdeelung Letterkunde, Vierde Reeks, +iii. part 2 (Amsterdam, 1899), pp. 147-229; +among the Igorot of Bontoc in +Luzon, see A. E. Jenks, <hi rend='italic'>The Bontoc +Igorot</hi> (Manilla, 1905), pp. 172 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; +among the Naga tribes of Assam, see +Miss G. M. Godden, <q>Naga and other +Frontier Tribes of North-East India</q>, +<hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Anthropological Institute</hi>, +xxvii. (1898) pp. 12-17. It must not, +however, be thought that among these +tribes the custom of procuring human +heads is practised merely as a means +to ensure the growth of the crops; it is +apparently supposed to exert a salutary +influence on the whole life of the people +by providing them with guardian spirits +in the shape of the ghosts of the men +to whom in their lifetime the heads +belonged. The Scythians of Central +Europe in antiquity set great store on +the heads of the enemies whom they +had slain in war. See Herodotus, +iv. 64 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> It is hardly necessary to add that in +Phrygia, as in Europe, the old barbarous custom of killing +a man on the harvest-field or the threshing-floor had doubtless +passed into a mere pretence long before the classical era, +<pb n='257'/><anchor id='Pg257'/> +and was probably regarded by the reapers and threshers +themselves as no more than a rough jest which the license +of a harvest-home permitted them to play off on a passing +stranger, a comrade, or even on their master himself.<note place='foot'>There are traces in Greece itself of +an old custom of sacrificing human +victims to promote the fertility of the +earth. See Pausanias, vii. 19. 3 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> +compared with vii. 20. 1; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, viii. +53. 3; L. R. Farnell, <hi rend='italic'>The Cults of the +Greek States</hi>, ii. (Oxford, 1896) p. 455; +and <hi rend='italic'>The Dying God</hi>, pp. 161 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Similarity +of the +Bithynian +Bormus +to the +Phrygian +Attis.</note> +I have dwelt on the Lityerses song at length because it +affords so many points of comparison with European and +savage folk-custom. The other harvest songs of Western +Asia and Egypt, to which attention has been called above,<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg215'>215</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +may now be dismissed much more briefly. The similarity +of the Bithynian Bormus<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg216'>216</ref>.</note> to the Phrygian Lityerses helps to +bear out the interpretation which has been given of the +latter. Bormus, whose death or rather disappearance was +annually mourned by the reapers in a plaintive song, was, +like Lityerses, a king's son or at least the son of a wealthy +and distinguished man. The reapers whom he watched +were at work on his own fields, and he disappeared in going +to fetch water for them; according to one version of the +story he was carried off by the nymphs, doubtless the +nymphs of the spring or pool or river whither he went to +draw water.<note place='foot'>Hesychius, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> Βῶρμον.</note> Viewed in the light of the Lityerses story +and of European folk-custom, this disappearance of Bormus +may be a reminiscence of the custom of binding the +farmer himself in a corn-sheaf and throwing him into the +water. The mournful strain which the reapers sang was +probably a lamentation over the death of the corn-spirit, +slain either in the cut corn or in the person of a human +representative; and the call which they addressed to him +may have been a prayer that he might return in fresh vigour +next year. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +Phoenician +Linus song +at the +vintage. Linus +identified +with +Adonis, +who may +have been +annually +represented +by a +human +victim.</note> +The Phoenician Linus song was sung at the vintage, at +least in the west of Asia Minor, as we learn from Homer; +and this, combined with the legend of Syleus, suggests that +in ancient times passing strangers were handled by vintagers +and vine-diggers in much the same way as they are said to +have been handled by the reaper Lityerses. The Lydian +<pb n='258'/><anchor id='Pg258'/> +Syleus, so ran the legend, compelled passers-by to dig for +him in his vineyard, till Hercules came and killed him and +dug up his vines by the roots.<note place='foot'>Apollodorus, <hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, ii. 6. 3.</note> This seems to be the outline +of a legend like that of Lityerses; but neither ancient writers +nor modern folk-custom enable us to fill in the details.<note place='foot'>The scurrilities exchanged both in +ancient and modern times between +vine-dressers, vintagers, and passers-by +seem to belong to a different category. +See W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 53 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +But, further, the Linus song was probably sung also by +Phoenician reapers, for Herodotus compares it to the +Maneros song, which, as we have seen, was a lament raised +by Egyptian reapers over the cut corn. Further, Linus was +identified with Adonis, and Adonis has some claims to be +regarded as especially a corn-deity.<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, pp. 188 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> Thus the Linus +lament, as sung at harvest, would be identical with the +Adonis lament; each would be the lamentation raised by +reapers over the dead spirit of the corn. But whereas Adonis, +like Attis, grew into a stately figure of mythology, adored +and mourned in splendid cities far beyond the limits of his +Phoenician home, Linus appears to have remained a simple +ditty sung by reapers and vintagers among the corn-sheaves +and the vines. The analogy of Lityerses and of folk-custom, +both European and savage, suggests that in Phoenicia the +slain corn-spirit—the dead Adonis—may formerly have +been represented by a human victim; and this suggestion +is possibly supported by the Harran legend that Tammuz +(Adonis) was slain by his cruel lord, who ground his bones +in a mill and scattered them to the wind. For in Mexico, +as we have seen, the human victim at harvest was crushed between +two stones; and both in Africa and India the ashes or +other remains of the victim were scattered over the fields.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg236'>236</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg240'>240</ref>, <ref target='Pg243'>243</ref>, +<ref target='Pg244'>244</ref>, <ref target='Pg248'>248</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> But +the Harran legend may be only a mythical way of expressing +the grinding of corn in the mill and the scattering of the +seed. It seems worth suggesting that the mock king who was +annually killed at the Babylonian festival of the Sacaea on +the sixteenth day of the month Lous may have represented +Tammuz himself. For the historian Berosus, who records +the festival and its date, probably used the Macedonian +<pb n='259'/><anchor id='Pg259'/> +calendar, since he dedicated his history to Antiochus Soter; +and in his day the Macedonian month Lous appears to have +corresponded to the Babylonian month Tammuz.<note place='foot'>The probable correspondence of +the months, which supplies so welcome +a confirmation of the conjecture in the +text, was pointed out to me by my +friend W. Robertson Smith, who furnished +me with the following note: +<q>In the Syro-Macedonian calendar +Lous represents Ab, not Tammuz. +Was it different in Babylon? I think +it was, and one month different, at +least in the early times of the Greek +monarchy in Asia. For we know +from a Babylonian observation in the +Almagest (<hi rend='italic'>Ideler</hi>, i. 396) that in 229 +<hi rend='smallcaps'>b.c.</hi> Xanthicus began on February 26. +It was therefore the month before the +equinoctial moon, not Nisan but Adar, +and consequently Lous answered to the +lunar month Tammuz.</q></note> If this +conjecture is right, the view that the mock king at the Sacaea +was slain in the character of a god would be established. +But to this point we shall return later on. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +in +Egypt +(Osiris) +annually +represented +by a human +victim.</note> +There is a good deal more evidence that in Egypt the +slain corn-spirit—the dead Osiris—was represented by a +human victim, whom the reapers slew on the harvest-field, +mourning his death in a dirge, to which the Greeks, through +a verbal misunderstanding, gave the name of Maneros.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg215'>215</ref>.</note> For +the legend of Busiris seems to preserve a reminiscence of +human sacrifices once offered by the Egyptians in connexion +with the worship of Osiris. Busiris was said to have been +an Egyptian king who sacrificed all strangers on the altar +of Zeus. The origin of the custom was traced to a dearth +which afflicted the land of Egypt for nine years. A Cyprian +seer informed Busiris that the dearth would cease if a man +were annually sacrificed to Zeus. So Busiris instituted the +sacrifice. But when Hercules came to Egypt, and was being +dragged to the altar to be sacrificed, he burst his bonds +and slew Busiris and his son.<note place='foot'>Apollodorus, <hi rend='italic'>Bibliotheca</hi>, ii. 5. +11; Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, +<hi rend='italic'>Argon.</hi> iv. 1396; Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Parall.</hi> 38. +Herodotus (ii. 45) discredits the idea +that the Egyptians ever offered human +sacrifices. But his authority is not to +be weighed against that of Manetho +(Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 73), who +affirms that they did. See further +Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge, <hi rend='italic'>Osiris and +the Egyptian Resurrection</hi> (London +and New York, 1911), i. 210 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, +who says (pp. 210, 212): <q>There is +abundant proof for the statement that +the Egyptians offered up sacrifices of +human beings, and that, in common +with many African tribes at the present +day, their customs in dealing with +vanquished enemies were bloodthirsty +and savage.... The passages from +Egyptian works quoted earlier in this +chapter prove that human sacrifices +were offered up at Heliopolis as well +as at Tetu, or Busiris, and the rumour +of such sacrifices has found expression +in the works of Greek writers.</q></note> Here then is a legend that +in Egypt a human victim was annually sacrificed to prevent +<pb n='260'/><anchor id='Pg260'/> +the failure of the crops, and a belief is implied that an +omission of the sacrifice would have entailed a recurrence of +that infertility which it was the object of the sacrifice to +prevent. So the Pawnees, as we have seen, believed that an +omission of the human sacrifice at planting would have been +followed by a total failure of their crops. The name Busiris +was in reality the name of a city, <foreign rend='italic'>pe-Asar</foreign>, <q>the house of +Osiris,</q><note place='foot'>E. Meyer, <hi rend='italic'>Geschichte des Altertums</hi>, +i. (Stuttgart, 1884), § 57, +p. 68.</note> the city being so called because it contained the +grave of Osiris. Indeed some high modern authorities +believe that Busiris was the original home of Osiris, from +which his worship spread to other parts of Egypt.<note place='foot'>E. Meyer, <hi rend='italic'>Geschichte des Altertums</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> +i. 2 (Stuttgart and Berlin, +1909), p. 97; G. Maspero, <hi rend='italic'>Histoire +Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classique, +Les Origines</hi> (Paris, 1895), pp. +129 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> Both these eminent historians +have abandoned their former theory +that Osiris was the Sun-god. Professor +E. Meyer now speaks of Osiris as <q>the +great vegetation god</q> and, on the +same page, as <q>an earth-god</q> (<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> +i. 2. p. 70). I am happy to find the +view of the nature of Osiris, which I +advocated many years ago, supported +by the authority of so distinguished an +Oriental scholar. Dr. E. A. Wallis +Budge holds that Busiris was the +oldest shrine of Osiris in the north of +Egypt, but that it was less ancient +than his shrine at Abydos in the south. +See E. A. Wallis Budge, <hi rend='italic'>Osiris and +the Egyptian Resurrection</hi> (London +and New York, 1911), ii. 1.</note> The +human sacrifices were said to have been offered at his grave, +and the victims were red-haired men, whose ashes were +scattered abroad by means of winnowing-fans.<note place='foot'>Diodorus Siculus, i. 88; Plutarch, +<hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 73, compare 30, 33.</note> This tradition +of human sacrifices offered at the tomb of Osiris is +confirmed by the evidence of the monuments; for <q>we find +in the temple of Dendereh a human figure with a hare's +head and pierced with knives, tied to a stake before Osiris +Khenti-Amentiu, and Horus is shown in a Ptolemaic sculpture +at Karnak killing a bound hare-headed figure before the +bier of Osiris, who is represented in the form of Harpocrates. +That these figures are really human beings with the head of +an animal fastened on is proved by another sculpture at +Dendereh, where a kneeling man has the hawk's head and +wings over his head and shoulders, and in another place a +priest has the jackal's head on his shoulders, his own head +appearing through the disguise. Besides, Diodorus tells us +that the Egyptian kings in former times had worn on their +heads the fore-part of a lion, or of a bull, or of a dragon, +<pb n='261'/><anchor id='Pg261'/> +showing that this method of disguise or transformation was +a well-known custom.</q><note place='foot'>Margaret A. Murray, <hi rend='italic'>The Osireion +at Abydos</hi> (London, 1904), p. 30, +referring to Mariette, <hi rend='italic'>Dendereh</hi>, iv. +plates xxxi., lvi., and lxxxi. The passage +of Diodorus Siculus referred to is i. +62. 4. As to masks of animals worn +by Egyptian men and women in religious +rites see <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the +Evolution of Kings</hi>, ii. 133; <hi rend='italic'>The +Dying God</hi>, p. 72.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Assimilation +of +human +victims to +the corn +which they +represent.</note> +In the light of the foregoing discussion the Egyptian +tradition of Busiris admits of a consistent and fairly probable +explanation. Osiris, the corn-spirit, was annually +represented at harvest by a stranger, whose red hair made +him a suitable representative of the ripe corn. This man, +in his representative character, was slain on the harvest-field, +and mourned by the reapers, who prayed at the same time +that the corn-spirit might revive and return (<foreign rend='italic'>mââ-ne-rha</foreign>, +Maneros) with renewed vigour in the following year. Finally, +the victim, or some part of him, was burned, and the ashes +scattered by winnowing-fans over the fields to fertilise them. +Here the choice of the victim on the ground of his resemblance +to the corn which he was to represent agrees with +the Mexican and African customs already described.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg237'>237</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg240'>240</ref>, <ref target='Pg251'>251</ref>.</note> +Similarly the woman who died in the character of the Corn-mother +at the Mexican midsummer sacrifice had her face +painted red and yellow in token of the colours of the corn, +and she wore a pasteboard mitre surmounted by waving +plumes in imitation of the tassel of the maize.<note place='foot'>E. J. Payne, <hi rend='italic'>History of the New +World called America</hi>, i. (Oxford, +1892) p. 422.</note> On the +other hand, at the festival of the Goddess of the White +Maize the Mexicans sacrificed lepers.<note place='foot'>Brasseur de Bourbourg, <hi rend='italic'>Histoire +des Nations civilisées du Mexique et +de l'Amérique Centrale</hi> (Paris, 1857-1859), +iii. 535.</note> The Romans sacrificed +red-haired puppies in spring to avert the supposed +blighting influence of the Dog-star, believing that the crops +would thus grow ripe and ruddy.<note place='foot'>Festus, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <hi rend='italic'>Catularia</hi>, p. 45 ed. +C. O. Müller. Compare <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> +<hi rend='italic'>Rutilae canes</hi>, p. 285; Columella, <hi rend='italic'>De +re rustica</hi>, x. 342 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; Ovid, <hi rend='italic'>Fasti</hi>, iv. +905 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> xviii. +14.</note> The heathen of Harran +offered to the sun, moon, and planets human victims who +were chosen on the ground of their supposed resemblance +to the heavenly bodies to which they were sacrificed; for +example, the priests, clothed in red and smeared with blood, +offered a red-haired, red-cheeked man to <q>the red planet +<pb n='262'/><anchor id='Pg262'/> +Mars</q> in a temple which was painted red and draped with +red hangings.<note place='foot'>D. Chwolsohn, <hi rend='italic'>Die Ssabier und +der Ssabismus</hi> (St. Petersburg, 1856), +ii. 388 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Compare <hi rend='italic'>ibid.</hi>, pp. 384 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 386 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 391, 393, 395, 397. +For other instances of the assimilation +of the victim to the god, see H. Oldenberg, +<hi rend='italic'>Die Religion des Veda</hi> (Berlin, +1894), pp. 77 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 357-359.</note> These and the like cases of assimilating the +victim to the god, or to the natural phenomenon which he +represents, are based ultimately on the principle of homoeopathic +or imitative magic, the notion being that the object +aimed at will be most readily attained by means of a sacrifice +which resembles the effect that it is designed to bring about. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Remains of +victims +scattered +over the +fields to +fertilise +them.</note> +Again, the scattering of the Egyptian victim's ashes over +the fields resembles the Marimo and Khond custom,<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg240'>240</ref>, <ref target='Pg249'>249</ref>.</note> and the +use of winnowing-fans for the purpose is another hint of his +identification with the corn. So in Vendée a pretence is +made of threshing and winnowing the farmer's wife, regarded +as an embodiment of the corn-spirit; in Mexico the victim +was ground between stones; and in Africa he was slain with +spades and hoes.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg149'>149</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg237'>237</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg239'>239</ref>.</note> The story that the fragments of Osiris's +body were scattered up and down the land, and buried by +Isis on the spots where they lay,<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 18.</note> may very well be a reminiscence +of a custom, like that observed by the Khonds, of +dividing the human victim in pieces and burying the pieces, +often at intervals of many miles from each other, in the +fields.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg248'>248</ref>; and compare +<hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second Edition, +pp. 331 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> However, it is possible that the story of the dismemberment +of Osiris, like the similar story told of Tammuz, +may have been simply a mythical expression for the scattering +of the seed. Once more, the legend that the body of +Osiris enclosed in a coffer was thrown by Typhon into the +Nile, perhaps points to a custom of casting the body of the +victim, or at least a portion of it, into the Nile as a rain-charm, +or rather to make the river rise. For a similar +purpose Phrygian reapers seem to have flung the headless +bodies of their victims, wrapt in corn-sheaves, into a river, +and the Khonds poured water on the buried flesh of the +human victim. Probably when Osiris ceased to be represented +by a human victim, an image of him was annually +thrown into the Nile, just as the effigy of his Syrian counterpart, +<pb n='263'/><anchor id='Pg263'/> +Adonis, used to be cast into the sea at Alexandria. +Or water may have been simply poured over it, as on the +monument already mentioned<note place='foot'>See <hi rend='italic'>Adonis, Attis, Osiris</hi>, Second +Edition, p. 323.</note> a priest is seen pouring water +over the body of Osiris, from which corn-stalks are sprouting. +The accompanying legend, <q>This is Osiris of the +mysteries, who springs from the returning waters,</q> bears out +the view that at the mysteries of Osiris a charm to make +rain fall or the river rise was regularly wrought by pouring +water on his effigy or flinging it into the Nile. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The black +and green +Osiris like +the black +and green +Demeter.</note> +It may be objected that the red-haired victims were +slain as representatives, not of Osiris, but of his enemy +Typhon; for the victims were called Typhonian, and red +was the colour of Typhon, black the colour of Osiris.<note place='foot'>Plutarch, <hi rend='italic'>Isis et Osiris</hi>, 22, 30, +31, 33, 73.</note> The +answer to this objection must be reserved for the present. +Meantime it may be pointed out that if Osiris is often +represented on the monuments as black, he is still more +commonly depicted as green,<note place='foot'>Sir J. G. Wilkinson, <hi rend='italic'>Manners and +Customs of the Ancient Egyptians</hi> (ed. +1878), iii. 81.</note> appropriately enough for a +corn-god, who may be conceived as black while the seed is +under ground, but as green after it has sprouted. So the +Greeks recognised both a Green and a Black Demeter,<note place='foot'>Pausanias, i. 22. 3, viii. 5. 8, viii. +42. i.</note> and +sacrificed to the Green Demeter in spring with mirth and +gladness.<note place='foot'>Cornutus, <hi rend='italic'>Theologiae Graecae Compendium</hi>, +28. See above, p. <ref target='Pg042'>42</ref>.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The key +to the +mysteries +of Osiris +furnished +by the +lamentations +of the +reapers for +the annual +death of the +corn-spirit.</note> +Thus, if I am right, the key to the mysteries of Osiris is +furnished by the melancholy cry of the Egyptian reapers, +which down to Roman times could be heard year after year +sounding across the fields, announcing the death of the corn-spirit, +the rustic prototype of Osiris. Similar cries, as we +have seen, were also heard on all the harvest-fields of +Western Asia. By the ancients they are spoken of as songs; +but to judge from the analysis of the names Linus and +Maneros, they probably consisted only of a few words uttered +in a prolonged musical note which could be heard for a +great distance. Such sonorous and long-drawn cries, raised +by a number of strong voices in concert, must have had a +striking effect, and could hardly fail to arrest the attention +<pb n='264'/><anchor id='Pg264'/> +of any wayfarer who happened to be within hearing. The +sounds, repeated again and again, could probably be distinguished +with tolerable ease even at a distance; but to a +Greek traveller in Asia or Egypt the foreign words would +commonly convey no meaning, and he might take them, not +unnaturally, for the name of some one (Maneros, Linus, +Lityerses, Bormus) upon whom the reapers were calling. +And if his journey led him through more countries than one, +as Bithynia and Phrygia, or Phoenicia and Egypt, while the +corn was being reaped, he would have an opportunity of +comparing the various harvest cries of the different peoples. +Thus we can readily understand why these harvest cries +were so often noted and compared with each other by the +Greeks. Whereas, if they had been regular songs, they +could not have been heard at such distances, and therefore +could not have attracted the attention of so many travellers; +and, moreover, even if the wayfarer were within hearing of +them, he could not so easily have picked out the words. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Crying +<q>the neck</q> +at harvest +in Devonshire.</note> +Down to recent times Devonshire reapers uttered cries +of the same sort, and performed on the field a ceremony +exactly analogous to that in which, if I am not mistaken, the +rites of Osiris originated. The cry and the ceremony are +thus described by an observer who wrote in the first half of +the nineteenth century. <q>After the wheat is all cut, on +most farms in the north of Devon, the harvest people have +a custom of <q>crying the neck.</q> I believe that this practice +is seldom omitted on any large farm in that part of the +country. It is done in this way. An old man, or some one +else well acquainted with the ceremonies used on the +occasion (when the labourers are reaping the last field of +wheat), goes round to the shocks and sheaves, and picks out +a little bundle of all the best ears he can find; this bundle +he ties up very neat and trim, and plats and arranges the +straws very tastefully. This is called <q>the neck</q> of wheat, +or wheaten-ears. After the field is cut out, and the pitcher +once more circulated, the reapers, binders, and the women +stand round in a circle. The person with <q>the neck</q> stands +in the centre, grasping it with both his hands. He first +stoops and holds it near the ground, and all the men forming +the ring take off their hats, stooping and holding them +<pb n='265'/><anchor id='Pg265'/> +with both hands towards the ground. They then all begin +at once in a very prolonged and harmonious tone to cry +<q>The neck!</q> at the same time slowly raising themselves +upright, and elevating their arms and hats above their heads; +the person with <q>the neck</q> also raising it on high. This is +done three times. They then change their cry to <q>Wee +yen!</q>—<q>Way yen!</q>—which they sound in the same prolonged +and slow manner as before, with singular harmony +and effect, three times. This last cry is accompanied by the +same movements of the body and arms as in crying <q>the +neck.</q>... After having thus repeated <q>the neck</q> three +times, and <q>wee yen,</q> or <q>way yen</q> as often, they all burst +out into a kind of loud and joyous laugh, flinging up their +hats and caps into the air, capering about and perhaps +kissing the girls. One of them then gets 'the neck' and +runs as hard as he can down to the farmhouse, where the +dairymaid, or one of the young female domestics, stands at +the door prepared with a pail of water. If he who holds +<q>the neck</q> can manage to get into the house, in any way +unseen, or openly, by any other way than the door at which +the girl stands with the pail of water, then he may lawfully +kiss her; but, if otherwise, he is regularly soused with the +contents of the bucket. On a fine still autumn evening the +<q>crying of the neck</q> has a wonderful effect at a distance, far +finer than that of the Turkish muezzin, which Lord Byron +eulogises so much, and which he says is preferable to all the +bells in Christendom. I have once or twice heard upwards +of twenty men cry it, and sometimes joined by an equal +number of female voices. About three years back, on some +high grounds, where our people were harvesting, I heard six +or seven <q>necks</q> cried in one night, although I know that +some of them were four miles off. They are heard through +the quiet evening air at a considerable distance sometimes.</q><note place='foot'>W. Hone, <hi rend='italic'>Every-day Book</hi> (London, <hi rend='smallcaps'>n.d.</hi>), ii. coll. 1170 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +Again, Mrs. Bray tells how, travelling in Devonshire, <q>she +saw a party of reapers standing in a circle on a rising +ground, holding their sickles aloft. One in the middle held +up some ears of corn tied together with flowers, and the +party shouted three times (what she writes as) <q>Arnack, +arnack, arnack, we <foreign rend='italic'>haven</foreign>, we <foreign rend='italic'>haven</foreign>, we <foreign rend='italic'>haven</foreign>.</q> They went +<pb n='266'/><anchor id='Pg266'/> +home, accompanied by women and children carrying boughs +of flowers, shouting and singing. The manservant who +attended Mrs. Bray said <q>it was only the people making +their games, as they always did, <emph>to the spirit of harvest</emph>.</q></q><note place='foot'>Miss C. S. Burne and Miss G. F. +Jackson, <hi rend='italic'>Shropshire Folk-lore</hi> (London, +1883), pp. 372 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, referring to Mrs. +Bray's <hi rend='italic'>Traditions of Devon</hi>, i. 330.</note> +Here, as Miss Burne remarks, <q><q>arnack, we haven!</q> is +obviously in the Devon dialect, <q>a neck (or nack)! we have +un!</q></q> <q>The neck</q> is generally hung up in the farmhouse, +where it sometimes remains for two or three years.<note place='foot'>W. Hone, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. 1172.</note> A +similar custom is still observed in some parts of Cornwall, +as I was told by my lamented friend J. H. Middleton. +<q>The last sheaf is decked with ribbons. Two strong-voiced +men are chosen and placed (one with the sheaf) on opposite +sides of a valley. One shouts, <q>I've gotten it.</q> The other +shouts, <q>What hast gotten?</q> The first answers, <q>I'se gotten +the neck.</q></q><note place='foot'>The Rev. Sydney Cooper, of 80 +Gloucester Street, Cirencester, wrote +to me (4th February 1893) that his +wife remembers the <q>neck</q> being +kept on the mantelpiece of the parlour +in a Cornish farmhouse; it generally +stayed there throughout the year.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Other +accounts +of cutting +and crying +<q>the neck</q> +in Devonshire.</note> +Another account of this old custom, written at Truro in +1839, runs thus: <q>Now, when all the corn was cut at +Heligan, the farming men and maidens come in front of the +house, and bring with them a small sheaf of corn, the last +that has been cut, and this is adorned with ribbons and +flowers, and one part is tied quite tight, so as to look like a +neck. Then they cry out <q>Our (my) side, my side,</q> as loud +as they can; then the dairymaid gives the neck to the head +farming-man. He takes it, and says, very loudly three times, +<q>I have him, I have him, I have him.</q> Then another farming-man +shouts very loudly, <q>What have ye? what have ye? +what have ye?</q> Then the first says, <q>A neck, a neck, a +neck.</q> And when he has said this, all the people make a +very great shouting. This they do three times, and after +one famous shout go away and eat supper, and dance, and +sing songs.</q><note place='foot'><q>Old Harvest Customs in Devon +and Cornwall,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, i. (1890) p. +280.</note> According to another account, <q>all went out +to the field when the last corn was cut, the <q>neck</q> was tied +with ribbons and plaited, and they danced round it, and +carried it to the great kitchen, where by-and-by the supper +<pb n='267'/><anchor id='Pg267'/> +was. The words were as given in the previous account, and +<q>Hip, hip, hack, heck, I have 'ee, I have 'ee, I have 'ee.</q> It +was hung up in the hall.</q> Another account relates that one +of the men rushed from the field with the last sheaf, while the +rest pursued him with vessels of water, which they tried to +throw over the sheaf before it could be brought into the barn.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Cutting +<q>the neck</q> +in Pembrokeshire.</note> +Similar customs appear to have been formerly observed +in Pembrokeshire, as appears from the following account, +in which, however, nothing is said of the sonorous cries +raised by the reapers when their work was done: <q>At +harvest-time, in South Pembrokeshire, the last ears of +corn left standing in the field were tied together, and the +harvesters then tried to cut this neck by throwing their +hatchets at it. What happened afterwards appears to have +varied somewhat. I have been told by one old man that +the one who got possession of the neck would carry it over +into some neighbouring field, leave it there, and take to his +heels as fast as he could; for, if caught, he had a rough +time of it. The men who caught him would shut him up +in a barn without food, or belabour him soundly, or perhaps +shoe him, as it was called, beating the soles of his feet with +rods—a very severe and much-dreaded punishment. On +my grandfather's farm the man used to make for the house +as fast as possible, and try to carry in the neck. The maids +were on the look-out for him, and did their best to drench +him with water. If they succeeded, they got the present of +half-a-crown, which my grandfather always gave, and which +was considered a very liberal present indeed. If the man +was successful in dodging the maids, and getting the neck +into the house without receiving the wetting, the half-crown +became his. The neck was then hung up, and kept until +the following year, at any rate, like the bunches of flowers +or boughs gathered at the St. Jean, in the south of France. +Sometimes the necks of many successive years were to be +found hanging up together. In these two ways of disposing +of the neck one sees the embodiment, no doubt, of the two +ways of looking at the corn-spirit, as good (to be kept) or +as bad (to be passed on to the neighbour).</q><note place='foot'>Frances Hoggan, M.D., <q>The +Neck Feast,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, iv. (1893) p. +123. In Pembrokeshire the last sheaf +of corn seems to have been commonly +known as <q>the Hag</q> (<foreign rend='italic'>wrach</foreign>) rather +than as <q>the Neck.</q> See above, +pp. <ref target='Pg142'>142-144</ref>.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='268'/><anchor id='Pg268'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Cutting +<q>the neck</q> +in Shropshire. +Why the +last corn +cut is +called <q>the +neck.</q></note> +In the foregoing customs a particular bunch of ears, +generally the last left standing,<note place='foot'>J. Brand, <hi rend='italic'>Popular Antiquities</hi>, ii. +20 (Bohn's edition); Miss C. S. Burne +and Miss G. F. Jackson, <hi rend='italic'>Shropshire +Folk-lore</hi>, p. 371.</note> is conceived as the neck +of the corn-spirit, who is consequently beheaded when the +bunch is cut down. Similarly in Shropshire the name +<q>neck,</q> or <q>the gander's neck,</q> used to be commonly given +to the last handful of ears left standing in the middle of +the field when all the rest of the corn was cut. It was +plaited together, and the reapers, standing ten or twenty +paces off, threw their sickles at it. Whoever cut it through +was said to have cut off the gander's neck. The <q>neck</q> +was taken to the farmer's wife, who was supposed to keep +it in the house for good luck till the next harvest came +round.<note place='foot'>Burne and Jackson, <hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi></note> Near Trèves, the man who reaps the last standing +corn <q>cuts the goat's neck off.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 185.</note> At Faslane, on the +Gareloch (Dumbartonshire), the last handful of standing +corn was sometimes called the <q>head.</q><note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg158'>158</ref>.</note> At Aurich, in +East Friesland, the man who reaps the last corn <q>cuts the +hare's tail off.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 185.</note> In mowing down the last corner of a field +French reapers sometimes call out, <q>We have the cat by the +tail.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> In Bresse (Bourgogne) the last sheaf represented the +fox. Beside it a score of ears were left standing to form +the tail, and each reaper, going back some paces, threw his +sickle at it. He who succeeded in severing it <q>cut off the +fox's tail,</q> and a cry of <q><foreign rend='italic'>You cou cou!</foreign></q> was raised in his +honour.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Revue des Traditions populaires</hi>, +ii. (1887) p. 500.</note> These examples leave no room to doubt the +meaning of the Devonshire and Cornish expression <q>the +neck,</q> as applied to the last sheaf. The corn-spirit is conceived +in human or animal form, and the last standing corn +is part of its body—its neck, its head, or its tail. Sometimes, +as we have seen, the last corn is regarded as the +navel-string.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg150'>150</ref>.</note> Lastly, the Devonshire custom of drenching +with water the person who brings in <q>the neck</q> is a rain-charm, +such as we have had many examples of. Its parallel +<pb n='269'/><anchor id='Pg269'/> +in the mysteries of Osiris was the custom of pouring water on +the image of Osiris or on the person who represented him. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Cries of the +reapers in +Germany.</note> +In Germany cries of <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Waul!</foreign> or <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Wol!</foreign> or <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Wôld!</foreign> are +sometimes raised by the reapers at cutting the last corn. +Thus in some places the last patch of standing rye was +called the <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Waul</foreign>-rye; a stick decked with flowers was inserted +in it, and the ears were fastened to the stick. Then +all the reapers took off their hats and cried thrice, <q><foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Waul!</foreign> +<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Waul!</foreign> <foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Waul!</foreign></q> Sometimes they accompanied the cry by +clashing with their whetstones on their scythes.<note place='foot'>E. Meier, in <hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift für deutsche +Mythologie und Sittenkunde</hi>, i. (1853) +pp. 170-173; U. Jahn, <hi rend='italic'>Die deutschen +Opfergebräuche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht</hi> +(Breslau, 1884), pp. 166-169; +H. Pfannenschmid, <hi rend='italic'>Germanische Erntefeste</hi> +(Hanover, 1878), pp. 104 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; A. +Kuhn, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen +aus Westfalen</hi> (Leipsic, 1859), ii. pp. +177 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, §§ 491, 492; A. Kuhn und +W. Schwartz, <hi rend='italic'>Norddeutsche Sagen, +Märchen und Gebräuche</hi> (Leipsic, 1848), +p. 395), § 97; K. Lynker, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsche +Sagen und Sitten in hessischen Gauen</hi> +(Cassel and Göttingen, 1860), p. 256, +§ 340.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<pb n='270'/><anchor id='Pg270'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Chapter VIII. The Corn-Spirit as an Animal.</head> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='1. Animal Embodiments of the Corn-Spirit.'/> +<head>§ 1. Animal Embodiments of the Corn-spirit.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as an +animal.</note> +In some of the examples which I have cited to establish +the meaning of the term <q>neck</q> as applied to the last sheaf, +the corn-spirit appears in animal form as a gander, a goat, a +hare, a cat, and a fox. This introduces us to a new aspect +of the corn-spirit, which we must now examine. By doing +so we shall not only have fresh examples of killing the god, +but may hope also to clear up some points which remain +obscure in the myths and worship of Adonis, Attis, Osiris, +Dionysus, Demeter, and Virbius. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +in the +form of an +animal is +supposed +to be +present in +the last +corn cut or +threshed, +and to be +caught or +killed by +the reaper +or thresher.</note> +Amongst the many animals whose forms the corn-spirit is +supposed to take are the wolf, dog, hare, fox, cock, goose, quail, +cat, goat, cow (ox, bull), pig, and horse. In one or other of +these shapes the corn-spirit is often believed to be present in the +corn, and to be caught or killed in the last sheaf. As the corn +is being cut the animal flees before the reapers, and if a reaper +is taken ill on the field, he is supposed to have stumbled +unwittingly on the corn-spirit, who has thus punished the +profane intruder. It is said <q>the Rye-wolf has got hold of +him,</q> <q>the Harvest-goat has given him a push.</q> The person +who cuts the last corn or binds the last sheaf gets the name +of the animal, as the Rye-wolf, the Rye-sow, the Oats-goat, +and so forth, and retains the name sometimes for a year. +Also the animal is frequently represented by a puppet made +out of the last sheaf or of wood, flowers, and so on, which is +carried home amid rejoicings on the last harvest-waggon. +Even where the last sheaf is not made up in animal shape, +it is often called the Rye-wolf, the Hare, Goat, and so forth. +<pb n='271'/><anchor id='Pg271'/> +Generally each kind of crop is supposed to have its special +animal, which is caught in the last sheaf, and called the +Rye-wolf, the Barley-wolf, the Oats-wolf, the Pea-wolf, or the +Potato-wolf, according to the crop; but sometimes the figure +of the animal is only made up once for all at getting in the +last crop of the whole harvest. Sometimes the creature is +believed to be killed by the last stroke of the sickle or scythe. +But oftener it is thought to live so long as there is corn still +unthreshed, and to be caught in the last sheaf threshed. +Hence the man who gives the last stroke with the flail is told +that he has got the Corn-sow, the Threshing-dog, or the like. +When the threshing is finished, a puppet is made in the +form of the animal, and this is carried by the thresher of the +last sheaf to a neighbouring farm, where the threshing is still +going on. This again shews that the corn-spirit is believed +to live wherever the corn is still being threshed. Sometimes +the thresher of the last sheaf himself represents the animal; +and if the people of the next farm, who are still threshing, +catch him, they treat him like the animal he represents, by +shutting him up in the pig-sty, calling him with the cries +commonly addressed to pigs, and so forth.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi> +(Berlin, 1868), pp. 1-6.</note> These general +statements will now be illustrated by examples. +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='2. The Corn-spirit as a Wolf or a Dog.'/> +<head>§ 2. The Corn-spirit as a Wolf or a Dog.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +wolf or +a dog, +supposed +to run +through +the corn.</note> +We begin with the corn-spirit conceived as a wolf or +a dog. This conception is common in France, Germany, +and Slavonic countries. Thus, when the wind sets the +corn in wave-like motion the peasants often say, <q>The +Wolf is going over, or through, the corn,</q> <q>the Rye-wolf +is rushing over the field,</q> <q>the Wolf is in the corn,</q> +<q>the mad Dog is in the corn,</q> <q>the big Dog is there.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Roggenwolf und +Roggenhund</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> (Danzig, 1866), pp. 6 +<hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und Feldkulte</hi> +(Berlin, 1877), pp. 318 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, +<hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, p. 103; A. +Witzchel, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche +aus Thüringen</hi> (Vienna, 1878), p. 213; +O. Hartung, <q>Zur Volkskunde aus +Anhalt,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift des Vereins für +Volkskunde</hi>, vii. (1897) p. 150; W. +Müller, <hi rend='italic'>Beiträge zur Volkskunde der +Deutschen in Mähren</hi> (Vienna and +Olmütz, 1893), p. 327; P. Drechsler, +<hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in +Schlesien</hi> (Leipsic, 1903-1906), ii, +60.</note> +When children wish to go into the corn-fields to pluck ears +<pb n='272'/><anchor id='Pg272'/> +or gather the blue corn-flowers, they are warned not to do so, +for <q>the big Dog sits in the corn,</q> or <q>the Wolf sits in the +corn, and will tear you in pieces,</q> <q>the Wolf will eat you.</q> +The wolf against whom the children are warned is not a +common wolf, for he is often spoken of as the Corn-wolf, +Rye-wolf, or the like; thus they say, <q>The Rye-wolf will +come and eat you up, children,</q> <q>the Rye-wolf will carry +you off,</q> and so forth.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Roggenwolf und +Roggenhund</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> pp. 10 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Antike +Wald- und Feldkulte</hi>, p. 319.</note> Still he has all the outward appearance +of a wolf. For in the neighbourhood of Feilenhof (East +Prussia), when a wolf was seen running through a field, the +peasants used to watch whether he carried his tail in the air +or dragged it on the ground. If he dragged it on the +ground, they went after him, and thanked him for bringing +them a blessing, and even set tit-bits before him. But if he +carried his tail high, they cursed him and tried to kill him. +Here the wolf is the corn-spirit whose fertilising power is in +his tail.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Roggenwolf und +Roggenhund</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> pp. 14 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +dog at +reaping +and +threshing.</note> +Both dog and wolf appear as embodiments of the corn-spirit +in harvest-customs. Thus in some parts of Silesia the +person who cuts or binds the last sheaf is called the Wheat-dog +or the Peas-pug.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 104; P. Drechsler, +<hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in +Schlesien</hi>, ii. 64.</note> But it is in the harvest-customs of +the north-east of France that the idea of the Corn-dog comes +out most clearly. Thus when a harvester, through sickness, +weariness, or laziness, cannot or will not keep up with the +reaper in front of him, they say, <q>The White Dog passed +near him,</q> <q>he has the White Bitch,</q> or <q>the White Bitch +has bitten him.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 104.</note> In the Vosges the Harvest-May is called +the <q>Dog of the harvest,</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 104 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> On the Harvest-May, +see <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the +Evolution of Kings</hi>, ii. 47 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> and the person who cuts the last +handful of hay or wheat is said to <q>kill the Dog.</q><note place='foot'>L. F. Sauvé, <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges</hi> +(Paris, 1889), p. 191.</note> About +Lons-le-Saulnier, in the Jura, the last sheaf is called the +Bitch. In the neighbourhood of Verdun the regular expression +for finishing the reaping is, <q>They are going to kill the +Dog</q>; and at Epinal they say, according to the crop, <q>We +will kill the Wheat-dog, or the Rye-dog, or the +<pb n='273'/><anchor id='Pg273'/> +Potato-dog.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 105.</note> In Lorraine it is said of the man who cuts the +last corn, <q>He is killing the Dog of the harvest.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 30.</note> At +Dux, in the Tyrol, the man who gives the last stroke at +threshing is said to <q>strike down the Dog</q>;<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 30, 105.</note> and at Ahnebergen, +near Stade, he is called, according to the crop, +Corn-pug, Rye-pug, Wheat-pug.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 105 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +wolf at +reaping.</note> +So with the wolf. In Silesia, when the reapers gather +round the last patch of standing corn to reap it they are +said to be about <q>to catch the Wolf.</q><note place='foot'>P. Drechsler, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und +Volksglaube in Schlesien</hi> (Leipsic, 1903-1906), +ii. 64.</note> In various parts of +Mecklenburg, where the belief in the Corn-wolf is particularly +prevalent, every one fears to cut the last corn, because they +say that the Wolf is sitting in it; hence every reaper exerts +himself to the utmost in order not to be the last, and every +woman similarly fears to bind the last sheaf because <q>the +Wolf is in it.</q> So both among the reapers and the binders +there is a competition not to be the last to finish.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Roggenwolf und +Roggenhund</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> pp. 33, 39; K. Bartsch, +<hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus +Meklenburg</hi> (Vienna, 1879-1880), ii. +p. 309, § 1496, p. 310, §§ 1497, +1498.</note> And in +Germany generally it appears to be a common saying that +<q>the Wolf sits in the last sheaf.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, p. 320.</note> In some places they call +out to the reaper, <q>Beware of the Wolf</q>; or they say, <q>He +is chasing the Wolf out of the corn.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Roggenwolf und +Roggenhund</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> p. 33.</note> In Mecklenburg the +last bunch of standing corn is itself commonly called the +Wolf, and the man who reaps it <q>has the Wolf,</q> the animal +being described as the Rye-wolf, the Wheat-wolf, the Barley-wolf, +and so on according to the particular crop. The reaper +of the last corn is himself called Wolf or the Rye-wolf, if the +crop is rye, and in many parts of Mecklenburg he has +to support the character by pretending to bite the other +harvesters or by howling like a wolf.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Roggenwolf und +Roggenhund</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> pp. 33 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; K. Bartsch, +<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. p. 309, § 1496, p. 310, §§ +1497, 1500, 1501.</note> The last sheaf of +corn is also called the Wolf or the Rye-wolf or the Oats-wolf +according to the crop, and of the woman who binds it they +say, <q>The Wolf is biting her,</q> <q>She has the Wolf,</q> <q>She +must fetch the Wolf</q> (out of the corn). Moreover, she +<pb n='274'/><anchor id='Pg274'/> +herself is called Wolf; they cry out to her, <q>Thou art the +Wolf,</q> and she has to bear the name for a whole year; +sometimes, according to the crop, she is called the Rye-wolf +or the Potato-wolf.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Roggenwolf und +Roggenhund</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> pp. 33, 34.</note> In the island of Rügen not only is the +woman who binds the last sheaf called Wolf, but when she +comes home she bites the lady of the house and the +stewardess, for which she receives a large piece of meat. +Yet nobody likes to be the Wolf. The same woman may +be Rye-wolf, Wheat-wolf, and Oats-wolf, if she happens to +bind the last sheaf of rye, wheat, and oats.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Roggenwolf und +Roggenhund</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> p. 38; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- +und Feldkulte</hi>, p. 320.</note> At Buir, in the +district of Cologne, it was formerly the custom to give to the +last sheaf the shape of a wolf. It was kept in the barn till +all the corn was threshed. Then it was brought to the +farmer and he had to sprinkle it with beer or brandy.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Roggenwolf und +Roggenhund</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> pp. 34 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At +Brunshaupten in Mecklenburg the young woman who bound +the last sheaf of wheat used to take a handful of stalks out +of it and make <q>the Wheat-wolf</q> with them; it was the +figure of a wolf about two feet long and half a foot high, the +legs of the animal being represented by stiff stalks and its +tail and mane by wheat-ears. This Wheat-wolf she carried +back at the head of the harvesters to the village, where it +was set up on a high place in the parlour of the farm and +remained there for a long time.<note place='foot'>K. Bartsch, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. p. 311, § +1505.</note> In many places the sheaf +called the Wolf is made up in human form and dressed in +clothes. This indicates a confusion of ideas between the +corn-spirit conceived in human and in animal form. Generally +the Wolf is brought home on the last waggon with +joyful cries. Hence the last waggon-load itself receives the +name of the Wolf.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Roggenwolf und +Roggenhund</hi>,<hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> pp. 35-37; K. Bartsch, +<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. p. 309, § 1496, p. 310, +§§ 1499, 1501, p. 311, §§ 1506, +1507.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as +a wolf +killed at +threshing.</note> +Again, the Wolf is supposed to hide himself amongst the +cut corn in the granary, until he is driven out of the last +bundle by the strokes of the flail. Hence at Wanzleben, +near Magdeburg, after the threshing the peasants go in procession, +leading by a chain a man who is enveloped in the +<pb n='275'/><anchor id='Pg275'/> +threshed-out straw and is called the Wolf.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, p. 321.</note> He represents +the corn-spirit who has been caught escaping from the +threshed corn. In the district of Treves it is believed that +the Corn-wolf is killed at threshing. The men thresh the +last sheaf till it is reduced to chopped straw. In this way +they think that the Corn-wolf, who was lurking in the last +sheaf, has been certainly killed.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 321 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-wolf +at +harvest in +France. +The corn-wolf +killed +on the +harvest-field.</note> +In France also the Corn-wolf appears at harvest. Thus +they call out to the reaper of the last corn, <q>You will +catch the Wolf.</q> Near Chambéry they form a ring round +the last standing corn, and cry, <q>The Wolf is in there.</q> +In Finisterre, when the reaping draws near an end, the +harvesters cry, <q>There is the Wolf; we will catch him.</q> +Each takes a swath to reap, and he who finishes first calls +out, <q>I've caught the Wolf.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 320.</note> In Guyenne, when the last +corn has been reaped, they lead a wether all round the field. +It is called <q>the Wolf of the field.</q> Its horns are decked with +a wreath of flowers and corn-ears, and its neck and body are +also encircled with garlands and ribbons. All the reapers +march, singing, behind it. Then it is killed on the field. In this +part of France the last sheaf is called the <foreign lang='fr' rend='italic'>coujoulage</foreign>, which, in +the patois, means a wether. Hence the killing of the wether +represents the death of the corn-spirit, considered as present +in the last sheaf; but two different conceptions of the corn-spirit—as +a wolf and as a wether—are mixed up together.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 320 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-wolf +at +midwinter.</note> +Sometimes it appears to be thought that the Wolf, +caught in the last corn, lives during the winter in the farmhouse, +ready to renew his activity as corn-spirit in the spring. +Hence at midwinter, when the lengthening days begin to +herald the approach of spring, the Wolf makes his appearance +once more. In Poland a man, with a wolf's skin +thrown over his head, is led about at Christmas; or a +stuffed wolf is carried about by persons who collect money.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 322.</note> +There are facts which point to an old custom of leading +about a man enveloped in leaves and called the Wolf, while +his conductors collected money.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 323.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='276'/><anchor id='Pg276'/> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='3. The Corn-spirit as a Cock.'/> +<head>§ 3. The Corn-spirit as a Cock.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +cock at +harvest.</note> +Another form which the corn-spirit often assumes is that +of a cock. In Austria children are warned against straying +in the corn-fields, because the Corn-cock sits there, and will +peck their eyes out.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 13.</note> In North Germany they say that <q>the +Cock sits in the last sheaf</q>; and at cutting the last corn the +reapers cry, <q>Now we will chase out the Cock.</q> When it is +cut they say, <q>We have caught the Cock.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi>; J. H. Schmitz, +<hi rend='italic'>Sitten und Sagen, Lieder, Sprüchwörter +und Rathsel des Eifler Volkes</hi> (Treves, +1856-1858), i. 95; A. Kuhn und W. +Schwartz, <hi rend='italic'>Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen +und Gebräuche</hi> (Leipsic, 1848), p. 398.</note> At Braller, in +Transylvania, when the reapers come to the last patch of corn, +they cry, <q>Here we shall catch the Cock.</q><note place='foot'>G. A. Heinrich, <hi rend='italic'>Agrarische Sitten +und Gebräuche unter den Sachsen +Siebenbürgens</hi> (Hermannstadt, 1880), +p. 21.</note> At Fürstenwalde, +when the last sheaf is about to be bound, the master releases +a cock, which he has brought in a basket, and lets it run +over the field. All the harvesters chase it till they catch it. +Elsewhere the harvesters all try to seize the last corn cut; +he who succeeds in grasping it must crow, and is called +Cock.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 13. Compare A. Kuhn and W. +Schwartz, <hi rend='italic'>l.c.</hi></note> Among the Wends it is or used to be customary +for the farmer to hide a live cock under the last sheaf as it +lay on the field; and when the corn was being gathered up, +the harvester who lighted upon this sheaf had a right to +keep the cock, provided he could catch it. This formed the +close of the harvest-festival and was known as <q>the Cock-catching,</q> +and the beer which was served out to the reapers +at this time went by the name of <q>Cock-beer.</q><note place='foot'>K. Haupt, <hi rend='italic'>Sagenbuch der Lausitz</hi> +(Leipsic, 1862-1863), i. p. 232, No. +277 note.</note> The last +sheaf is called Cock, Cock-sheaf, Harvest-cock, Harvest-hen, +Autumn-hen. A distinction is made between a Wheat-cock, +Bean-cock, and so on, according to the crop.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 13.</note> At +Wünschensuhl, in Thüringen, the last sheaf is made into +the shape of a cock, and called the Harvest-cock.<note place='foot'>A. Witzschel, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Sitten und +Gebräuche aus Thüringen</hi> (Vienna, +1878), p. 220.</note> A +figure of a cock, made of wood, pasteboard, ears of corn, +<pb n='277'/><anchor id='Pg277'/> +or flowers, is borne in front of the harvest-waggon, especially +in Westphalia, where the cock carries in his beak fruits of +the earth of all kinds. Sometimes the image of the cock is +fastened to the top of a May-tree on the last harvest-waggon. +Elsewhere a live cock, or a figure of one, is attached to a +harvest-crown and carried on a pole. In Galicia and elsewhere +this live cock is fastened to the garland of corn-ears +or flowers, which the leader of the women-reapers carries on +her head as she marches in front of the harvest procession.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +pp. 13 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; J. H. Schmitz, <hi rend='italic'>Sitten und +Sagen, Lieder, Sprüchwörter und +Räthsel des Eifler Volkes</hi> (Treves, 1856-1858), +i. 95; A. Kuhn, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Gebräuche +und Märchen aus Westfalen</hi> +(Leipsic, 1859), ii. 180 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; H. Pfannenschmid, +<hi rend='italic'>Germanische Erntefeste</hi> +(Hanover, 1878), p. 110.</note> +In Silesia a live cock is presented to the master on a plate. +The harvest-supper is called Harvest-cock, Stubble-cock, etc., +and a chief dish at it, at least in some places, is a cock.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 14; H. Pfannenschmid, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. +111, 419 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> If +a waggoner upsets a harvest-waggon, it is said that <q>he has +spilt the Harvest cock,</q> and he loses the cock, that is, the +harvest-supper.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 15. So in Shropshire, where the +corn-spirit is conceived in the form of +a gander (see above, p. <ref target='Pg268'>268</ref>), the +expression for overthrowing a load at +harvest is <q>to lose the goose,</q> and the +penalty used to be the loss of the goose +at the harvest-supper (C. S. Burne and +G. F. Jackson, <hi rend='italic'>Shropshire Folk-lore</hi>, +London, 1883, p. 375); and in some +parts of England the harvest-supper was +called the Harvest Gosling, or the +Inning Goose (J. Brand, <hi rend='italic'>Popular Antiquities</hi>, +ii. 23, 26, Bohn's edition).</note> The harvest-waggon, with the figure of +the cock on it, is driven round the farmhouse before it is +taken to the barn. Then the cock is nailed over or at the +side of the house-door, or on the gable, and remains there +till next harvest.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 14.</note> In East Friesland the person who gives +the last stroke at threshing is called the Clucking-hen, and +grain is strewed before him as if he were a hen.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 15.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +killed +in the form +of a live +cock.</note> +Again, the corn-spirit is killed in the form of a cock. +In parts of Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Picardy the +reapers place a live cock in the corn which is to be cut last, +and chase it over the field, or bury it up to the neck in the +ground; afterwards they strike off its head with a sickle or +scythe.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 30.</note> In many parts of Westphalia, when the harvesters +bring the wooden cock to the farmer, he gives them a live +<pb n='278'/><anchor id='Pg278'/> +cock, which they kill with whips or sticks, or behead with +an old sword, or throw into the barn to the girls, or give to +the mistress to cook. If the harvest-cock has not been +spilt—that is, if no waggon has been upset—the harvesters +have the right to kill the farmyard cock by throwing stones +at it or beheading it. Where this custom has fallen into +disuse, it is still common for the farmer's wife to make +cockie-leekie for the harvesters, and to shew them the +head of the cock which has been killed for the soup.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 15.</note> In +the neighbourhood of Klausenburg, Transylvania, a cock is +buried on the harvest-field in the earth, so that only its head +appears. A young man then takes a scythe and cuts off +the cock's head at a single sweep. If he fails to do this, +he is called the Red Cock for a whole year, and people +fear that next year's crop will be bad.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 15 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Near Udvarhely, +in Transylvania, a live cock is bound up in the last sheaf +and killed with a spit. It is then skinned. The flesh +is thrown away, but the skin and feathers are kept till next +year; and in spring the grain from the last sheaf is mixed +with the feathers of the cock and scattered on the field which +is to be tilled.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 15; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, +p. 30.</note> Nothing could set in a clearer light the +identification of the cock with the spirit of the corn. By +being tied up in the last sheaf and killed, the cock is identified +with the corn, and its death with the cutting of the corn. +By keeping its feathers till spring, then mixing them with +the seed-corn taken from the very sheaf in which the bird +had been bound, and scattering the feathers together with +the seed over the field, the identity of the bird with the corn +is again emphasised, and its quickening and fertilising power, +as an embodiment of the corn-spirit, is intimated in the +plainest manner. Thus the corn-spirit, in the form of a +cock, is killed at harvest, but rises to fresh life and activity +in spring. Again, the equivalence of the cock to the corn is +expressed, hardly less plainly, in the custom of burying the +bird in the ground, and cutting off its head (like the ears of +corn) with the scythe. +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='279'/><anchor id='Pg279'/> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='4. The Corn-spirit as a Hare.'/> +<head>§ 4. The Corn-spirit as a Hare.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +hare at +harvest. The corn-spirit +as a +hare killed +in the last +corn cut.</note> +Another common embodiment of the corn-spirit is the +hare.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 1.</note> In Galloway the reaping of the last standing corn +is called <q>cutting the Hare.</q> The mode of cutting it is as +follows. When the rest of the corn has been reaped, a +handful is left standing to form the Hare. It is divided +into three parts and plaited, and the ears are tied in a knot. +The reapers then retire a few yards and each throws his or +her sickle in turn at the Hare to cut it down. It must be +cut below the knot, and the reapers continue to throw their +sickles at it, one after the other, until one of them succeeds +in severing the stalks below the knot. The Hare is then +carried home and given to a maidservant in the kitchen, who +places it over the kitchen-door on the inside. Sometimes +the Hare used to be thus kept till the next harvest. In the +parish of Minnigaff, when the Hare was cut, the unmarried +reapers ran home with all speed, and the one who arrived +first was the first to be married.<note place='foot'>W. Gregor, <q>Preliminary Report +on Folklore in Galloway, Scotland,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Report of the British Association for +1896</hi>, p. 623.</note> In Southern Ayrshire the +last corn cut is also called the Hare, and the mode of cutting +it seems to be the same as in Galloway; at least in the neighbourhood +of Kilmarnock the last corn left standing in the +middle of the field is plaited, and the reapers used to try to +cut it by throwing their sickles at it. When cut, it was carried +home and hung up over the door.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore Journal</hi>, vii. (1889) pp. +47 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In the Vosges Mountains +the person who cuts the last handful of hay or wheat is sometimes +said to have caught the Hare; he is congratulated by +his comrades and has the honour of carrying the nosegay or +the small fir-tree decorated with ribbons which marks the conclusion +of the harvest.<note place='foot'>L. F. Sauvé, <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore des Hautes-Vosges</hi> +(Paris, 1889), p. 191.</note> In Germany also one of the names +for the last sheaf is the Hare.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi>, +p. 3.</note> Thus in some parts of +Anhalt, when the corn has been reaped and only a few stalks +are left standing, they say, <q>The Hare will soon come,</q> or +the reapers cry to each other, <q>Look how the Hare comes +<pb n='280'/><anchor id='Pg280'/> +jumping out.</q><note place='foot'>O. Hartung, <q>Zur Volkskunde +aus Anhalt,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift des Vereins für +Volkskunde</hi>, vii. (1897) p. 154.</note> In East Prussia they say that the Hare sits in +the last patch of standing corn, and must be chased out by the +last reaper. The reapers hurry with their work, each being +anxious not to have <q>to chase out the Hare</q>; for the man +who does so, that is, who cuts the last corn, is much laughed +at.<note place='foot'>C. Lemke, <hi rend='italic'>Volksthümliches in Ostpreussen</hi> +(Mohrungen, 1884-1887), i. +24.</note> At Birk, in Transylvania, when the reapers come to the +last patch, they cry out, <q>We have the Hare.</q><note place='foot'>G. A. Heinrich, <hi rend='italic'>Agrarische Sitten +und Gebräuche unter den Sachsen Siebenbürgens</hi> +(Hermannstadt, 1880), p. 21.</note> At Aurich, +as we have seen,<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg268'>268</ref>.</note> an expression for cutting the last corn is +<q>to cut off the Hare's tail.</q> <q>He is killing the Hare</q> is +commonly said of the man who cuts the last corn in Germany, +Sweden, Holland, France, and Italy.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 29.</note> In Norway +the man who is thus said to <q>kill the Hare</q> must give +<q>hare's blood</q> in the form of brandy, to his fellows to +drink.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 29 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Die +Korndämonen</hi>, p. 5.</note> In Lesbos, when the reapers are at work in two +neighbouring fields, each party tries to finish first in order +to drive the Hare into their neighbour's field; the reapers +who succeed in doing so believe that next year the crop +will be better. A small sheaf of corn is made up and kept +beside the holy picture till next harvest.<note place='foot'>Georgeakis et Pineau, <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore de +Lesbos</hi> (Paris, 1894), p. 310.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='5. The Corn-spirit as a Cat.'/> +<head>§ 5. The Corn-spirit as a Cat.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as +a cat +sitting in +the corn. +The corn-spirit +as a +cat killed at reaping +and +threshing.</note> +Again, the corn-spirit sometimes takes the form of a cat. +Near Kiel children are warned not to go into the corn-fields +because <q>the Cat sits there.</q> In the Eisenach Oberland they +are told <q>the Corn-cat will come and fetch you,</q> <q>the Corn-cat +goes in the corn.</q> In some parts of Silesia at mowing +the last corn they say, <q>The Cat is caught</q>; and at threshing, +the man who gives the last stroke is called the Cat. In +the neighbourhood of Lyons the last sheaf and the harvest-supper +are both called the Cat. About Vesoul when they +cut the last corn they say, <q>We have the Cat by the tail.</q> +At Briançon, in Dauphiné, at the beginning of reaping a +<pb n='281'/><anchor id='Pg281'/> +cat is decked out with ribbons, flowers, and ears of corn. It +is called the Cat of the ball-skin (<foreign lang='fr' rend='italic'>le chat de peau de balle</foreign>). +If a reaper is wounded at his work, they make the cat lick +the wound. At the close of the reaping the cat is again +decked out with ribbons and ears of corn; then they dance +and make merry. When the dance is over the girls solemnly +strip the cat of its finery. At Grüneberg, in Silesia, the +reaper who cuts the last corn goes by the name of the +Tom-cat. He is enveloped in rye-stalks and green withes, +and is furnished with a long plaited tail. Sometimes as a +companion he has a man similarly dressed, who is called the +(female) Cat. Their duty is to run after people whom they +see and to beat them with a long stick. Near Amiens the +expression for finishing the harvest is, <q>They are going to +kill the Cat</q>; and when the last corn is cut they kill a cat +in the farmyard. At threshing, in some parts of France, a +live cat is placed under the last bundle of corn to be +threshed, and is struck dead with the flails. Then on +Sunday it is roasted and eaten as a holiday dish.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, pp. 172-174; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 30; P. +Drechsler, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube +in Schlesien</hi> (Leipsic, 1903-1906), +ii. 64, 65.</note> In the +Vosges Mountains the close of haymaking or harvest +is called <q>catching the cat,</q> <q>killing the dog,</q> or more +rarely <q>catching the hare.</q> The cat, the dog, or the hare +is said to be fat or lean according as the crop is good +or bad. The man who cuts the last handful of hay or of +wheat is said to catch the cat or the hare or to kill the dog. +He is congratulated by his comrades and has the honour of +carrying the nosegay or rather the small fir-tree decked +with ribbons which marks the end of the haymaking or of +the harvest.<note place='foot'>L. F. Sauvé, <hi rend='italic'>Le Folk-lore des +Hautes-Vosges</hi> (Paris, 1889), p. 191.</note> In Franche-Comté also the close of harvest is +called <q>catching or killing the cat.</q><note place='foot'>Ch. Beauquier, <hi rend='italic'>Les Mois en +Franche-Comté</hi> (Paris, 1900), p. 102.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='6. The Corn-spirit as a Goat.'/> +<head>§ 6. The Corn-spirit as a Goat.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as +a goat +running +through +the corn +or sitting +in it. +The corn-goat +at +reaping +and +binding +the corn.</note> +Further, the corn-spirit often appears in the form of a +goat. In some parts of Prussia, when the corn bends before +<pb n='282'/><anchor id='Pg282'/> +the wind, they say, <q>The Goats are chasing each other,</q> +<q>the wind is driving the Goats through the corn,</q> <q>the +Goats are browsing there,</q> and they expect a very good +harvest. Again they say, <q>The Oats-goat is sitting in the +oats-field,</q> <q>the Corn-goat is sitting in the rye-field.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, pp. 155 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +Children are warned not to go into the corn-fields to pluck +the blue corn-flowers, or amongst the beans to pluck pods, +because the Rye-goat, the Corn-goat, the Oats-goat, or the +Bean-goat is sitting or lying there, and will carry them away +or kill them.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 157 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> When a harvester is taken sick or lags +behind his fellows at their work, they call out, <q>The Harvest-goat +has pushed him,</q> <q>he has been pushed by the Corn-goat.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 159.</note> +In the neighbourhood of Braunsberg (East Prussia) +at binding the oats every harvester makes haste <q>lest the +Corn-goat push him.</q> At Oefoten, in Norway, each reaper +has his allotted patch to reap. When a reaper in the middle +has not finished reaping his piece after his neighbours have +finished theirs, they say of him, <q>He remains on the island.</q> +And if the laggard is a man, they imitate the cry with which +they call a he-goat; if a woman, the cry with which they +call a she-goat.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> pp. 161 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Near Straubing, in Lower Bavaria, it is said +of the man who cuts the last corn that <q>he has the Corn-goat, +or the Wheat-goat, or the Oats-goat,</q> according to +the crop. Moreover, two horns are set up on the last heap +of corn, and it is called <q>the horned Goat.</q> At Kreutzburg, +East Prussia, they call out to the woman who is binding the +last sheaf, <q>The Goat is sitting in the sheaf.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 162.</note> At Gablingen, +in Swabia, when the last field of oats upon a farm is +being reaped, the reapers carve a goat out of wood. Ears +of oats are inserted in its nostrils and mouth, and it is +adorned with garlands of flowers. It is set up on the field +and called the Oats-goat. When the reaping approaches an +end, each reaper hastens to finish his piece first; he who is +the last to finish gets the Oats-goat.<note place='foot'>F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>Beitrag zur deutschen +Mythologie</hi> (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. +pp. 232 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, § 426; W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und Feldkulte</hi>, p. 162.</note> Again, the last sheaf +is itself called the Goat. Thus, in the valley of the Wiesent, +Bavaria, the last sheaf bound on the field is called the Goat, +<pb n='283'/><anchor id='Pg283'/> +and they have a proverb, <q>The field must bear a goat.</q><note place='foot'>F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. pp. 228 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +§ 422; W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- +und Feldkulte</hi>, p. 163; <hi rend='italic'>Bavaria, +Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs +Bayern</hi>, iii. (Munich, 1865) p. 344.</note> At +Spachbrücken, in Hesse, the last handful of corn which is +cut is called the Goat, and the man who cuts it is much +ridiculed.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, p. 163.</note> At Dürrenbüchig and about Mosbach in Baden the +last sheaf is also called the Goat.<note place='foot'>E. H. Meyer, <hi rend='italic'>Badisches Volksleben</hi> +(Strasburg, 1900), p. 428.</note> Sometimes the last sheaf +is made up in the form of a goat, and they say, <q>The Goat +is sitting in it.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, p. 164.</note> Again, the person who cuts or binds the +last sheaf is called the Goat. Thus, in parts of Mecklenburg +they call out to the woman who binds the last sheaf, <q>You +are the Harvest-goat.</q> Near Uelzen, in Hanover, the harvest +festival begins with <q>the bringing of the Harvest-goat</q>; +that is, the woman who bound the last sheaf is wrapt in +straw, crowned with a harvest-wreath, and brought in a wheelbarrow +to the village, where a round dance takes place. +About Luneburg, also, the woman who binds the last corn is +decked with a crown of corn-ears and is called the Corn-goat.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 164.</note> +At Münzesheim in Baden the reaper who cuts the +last handful of corn or oats is called the Corn-goat or the +Oats-goat.<note place='foot'>E. H. Meyer, <hi rend='italic'>Badisches Volksleben</hi> +(Strasburg, 1900), p. 428.</note> In the Canton St. Gall, Switzerland, the person +who cuts the last handful of corn on the field, or drives the +last harvest-waggon to the barn, is called the Corn-goat or the +Rye-goat, or simply the Goat.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, pp. 164 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In the Canton Thurgau he +is called Corn-goat; like a goat he has a bell hung round his +neck, is led in triumph, and drenched with liquor. In parts +of Styria, also, the man who cuts the last corn is called +Corn-goat, Oats-goat, or the like. As a rule, the man who +thus gets the name of Corn-goat has to bear it a whole year +till the next harvest.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 165.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as the +Cripple +Goat in +Skye.</note> +According to one view, the corn-spirit, who has been +caught in the form of a goat or otherwise, lives in the farmhouse +or barn over winter. Thus, each farm has its own +embodiment of the corn-spirit. But, according to another +view, the corn-spirit is the genius or deity, not of the corn +<pb n='284'/><anchor id='Pg284'/> +of one farm only, but of all the corn. Hence when the corn +on one farm is all cut, he flees to another where there is still +corn left standing. This idea is brought out in a harvest-custom +which was formerly observed in Skye. The farmer +who first finished reaping sent a man or woman with a +sheaf to a neighbouring farmer who had not finished; the +latter in his turn, when he had finished, sent on the sheaf to +his neighbour who was still reaping; and so the sheaf made +the round of the farms till all the corn was cut. The sheaf +was called the <foreign rend='italic'>goabbir bhacagh</foreign>, that is, the Cripple Goat.<note place='foot'>J. Brand, <hi rend='italic'>Popular Antiquities</hi>, +ii. 24, Bohn's edition, quoting <hi rend='italic'>The +Gentleman's Magazine</hi> for February, +1795, p. 124; W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> +p. 165.</note> +The custom appears not to be extinct at the present day, +for it was reported from Skye only a few years ago. We +are told that when the crofters and small farmers are cutting +down their corn, each tries his best to finish before his +neighbour. The first to finish goes to his neighbour's field +and makes up at one end of it a bundle of sheaves in a +fanciful shape which goes by the name of the <foreign rend='italic'>gobhar bhacach</foreign> +or Lame Goat. As each man in succession finishes reaping +his field, he proceeds to set up a lame goat of this sort in +his neighbour's field where there is still corn standing. No +one likes to have the Lame Goat put in his field, <q>not from +any ill-luck it brings, but because it is humiliating to have it +standing there visible to all neighbours and passers-by, and +of course he cannot retaliate.</q><note place='foot'>R. C. Maclagan, <q>Notes on folk-lore +objects collected in Argyleshire,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, vi. (1895) p. 151, from information +given by Mrs. C. Nicholson.</note> The corn-spirit was probably +thus represented as lame because he had been crippled +by the cutting of the corn. We have seen that sometimes +the old woman who brings home the last sheaf must limp +on one foot.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg232'>232</ref>.</note> In the Böhmer Wald mountains, between +Bohemia and Bavaria, when two peasants are driving home +their corn together, they race against each other to see who +shall get home first. The village boys mark the loser in the +race, and at night they come and erect on the roof of his +house the Oats-goat, which is a colossal figure of a goat made +of straw.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, p. 165.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +killed +as a goat +on the +harvest-field.</note> +But sometimes the corn-spirit, in the form of a goat, is +<pb n='285'/><anchor id='Pg285'/> +believed to be slain on the harvest-field by the sickle or +scythe. Thus, in the neighbourhood of Bernkastel, on the +Moselle, the reapers determine by lot the order in which they +shall follow each other. The first is called the fore-reaper, +the last the tail-bearer. If a reaper overtakes the man in +front he reaps past him, bending round so as to leave the +slower reaper in a patch by himself. This patch is called +the Goat; and the man for whom <q>the Goat is cut</q> in this +way, is laughed and jeered at by his fellows for the rest of +the day. When the tail-bearer cuts the last ears of corn, it +is said, <q>He is cutting the Goat's neck off.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 166; +<hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, p. 185.</note> In the neighbourhood +of Grenoble, before the end of the reaping, a live +goat is adorned with flowers and ribbons and allowed to run +about the field. The reapers chase it and try to catch it. +When it is caught, the farmer's wife holds it fast while the +farmer cuts off its head. The goat's flesh serves to furnish +the harvest-supper. A piece of the flesh is pickled and kept +till the next harvest, when another goat is killed. Then all +the harvesters eat of the flesh. On the same day the skin of +the goat is made into a cloak, which the farmer, who works +with his men, must always wear at harvest-time if rain or +bad weather sets in. But if a reaper gets pains in his back, +the farmer gives him the goat-skin to wear.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, p. 166.</note> The reason +for this seems to be that the pains in the back, being inflicted +by the corn-spirit, can also be healed by it. Similarly, we +saw that elsewhere, when a reaper is wounded at reaping, a +cat, as the representative of the corn-spirit, is made to lick +the wound.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg281'>281</ref>.</note> Esthonian reapers in the island of Mon think +that the man who cuts the first ears of corn at harvest will +get pains in his back,<note place='foot'>J. B. Holzmayer, <q>Osiliana,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Verhandlungen +der gelehrten Estnischen +Gesellschaft zu Dorpat</hi>, vii. Heft 2 +(Dorpat, 1872), p. 107.</note> probably because the corn-spirit is +believed to resent especially the first wound; and, in order to +escape pains in the back, Saxon reapers in Transylvania gird +their loins with the first handful of ears which they cut.<note place='foot'>G. A. Heinrich, <hi rend='italic'>Agrarische Sitten +und Gebräuche unter den Sachsen Siebenbürgens</hi> +(Hermannstadt, 1880), p. 19. +Compare W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Baumkultus</hi>, +pp. 482 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +Here, again, the corn-spirit is applied to for healing or protection, +<pb n='286'/><anchor id='Pg286'/> +but in his original vegetable form, not in the form of +a goat or a cat. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +in the +form of a +goat supposed +to +lurk among +the corn in +the barn, +till he is +expelled by +the flail at +threshing.</note> +Further, the corn-spirit under the form of a goat is sometimes +conceived as lurking among the cut corn in the barn, +till he is driven from it by the threshing-flail. Thus in +Baden the last sheaf to be threshed is called the Corn-goat, +the Spelt-goat, or the Oats-goat according to the kind of +grain.<note place='foot'>E. L. Meyer, <hi rend='italic'>Badisches Volksleben</hi> +(Strasburg, 1900), p. 436.</note> Again, near Marktl, in Upper Bavaria, the sheaves +are called Straw-goats or simply Goats. They are laid in +a great heap on the open field and threshed by two rows +of men standing opposite each other, who, as they ply +their flails, sing a song in which they say that they see the +Straw-goat amongst the corn-stalks. The last Goat, that is, +the last sheaf, is adorned with a wreath of violets and other +flowers and with cakes strung together. It is placed right +in the middle of the heap. Some of the threshers rush at +it and tear the best of it out; others lay on with their flails +so recklessly that heads are sometimes broken. In threshing +this last sheaf, each man casts up to the man opposite +him the misdeeds of which he has been guilty throughout +the year.<note place='foot'>F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>Beitrag zur deutschen +Mythologie</hi>, ii. pp. 225 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>, § 421; +W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und Feldkulte</hi>, +pp. 167 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At Oberinntal, in the Tyrol, the last thresher is +called Goat.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, p. 168.</note> So at Haselberg, in West Bohemia, the man +who gives the last stroke at threshing oats is called the Oats-goat.<note place='foot'>A. John, <hi rend='italic'>Sitte, Brauch und +Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen</hi> +(Prague, 1905), p. 194.</note> +At Tettnang, in Würtemburg, the thresher who +gives the last stroke to the last bundle of corn before it is +turned goes by the name of the He-goat, and it is said, <q>He +has driven the He-goat away.</q> The person who, after the +bundle has been turned, gives the last stroke of all, is called +the She-goat.<note place='foot'>E. Meier, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsche Sagen, Sitten +und Gebräuche aus Schwaben</hi> (Stuttgart, +1852), p. 445, § 162; W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und Feldkulte</hi>, p. 168.</note> In this custom it is implied that the corn is +inhabited by a pair of corn-spirits, male and female. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +in the +form of a +goat passed +on to a +neighbour +who has +not finished +his +threshing.</note> +Further, the corn-spirit, captured in the form of a goat at +threshing, is passed on to a neighbour whose threshing is not +yet finished. In Franche Comté, as soon as the threshing is +over, the young people set up a straw figure of a goat on the +<pb n='287'/><anchor id='Pg287'/> +farmyard of a neighbour who is still threshing. He must +give them wine or money in return. At Ellwangen, in +Würtemburg, the effigy of a goat is made out of the last +bundle of corn at threshing; four sticks form its legs, and +two its horns. The man who gives the last stroke with +the flail must carry the Goat to the barn of a neighbour +who is still threshing and throw it down on the floor; if he +is caught in the act, they tie the goat on his back.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 169.</note> A +similar custom is observed at Indersdorf, in Upper Bavaria; +the man who throws the straw Goat into the neighbour's +barn imitates the bleating of a goat; if they catch him, they +blacken his face and tie the Goat on his back.<note place='foot'>F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>Beitrag zur deutschen +Mythologie</hi>, ii. pp. 224 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, § 420; +W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und Feldkulte</hi>, +p. 169.</note> At Zabern, +in Elsace, when a farmer is a week or more behind his neighbours +with his threshing, they set a real stuffed goat or fox +before his door.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 169.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +in +goat form +killed at +threshing.</note> +Sometimes the spirit of the corn in goat form is believed +to be killed at threshing. In the district of Traunstein, +Upper Bavaria, they think that the Oats-goat is in the last +sheaf of oats. He is represented by an old rake set up on +end, with an old pot for a head. The children are then told +to kill the Oats-goat.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 170.</note> Elsewhere, however, the corn-spirit +in the form of a goat is apparently thought to live in the +field throughout the winter. Hence at Wannefeld near +Gardelegen, and also between Calbe and Salzwedel, in the +Altmark, the last stalks used to be left uncut on the harvest-field +with the words, <q>That shall the He-goat keep!</q> +Evidently the last corn was here left as a provision for the +corn-spirit, lest, robbed of all his substance, he should die of +hunger. A stranger passing a harvest-field is sometimes +taken for the Corn-goat escaping in human shape from the +cut or threshed grain. Thus, when a stranger passes a +harvest-field, all the labourers stop and shout as with one +voice, <q>He-goat! He-goat!</q> At rape-seed threshing in +Schleswig, which is generally done on the field, the same +cry is raised if the stranger does not take off his hat.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 170. As to the custom +of leaving a little corn on the field for +the subsistence of the corn-spirit, see +above, pp. <ref target='Pg231'>231</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<pb n='288'/><anchor id='Pg288'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Old +Prussian +custom of +killing a +goat at +sowing.</note> +At sowing their winter corn the old Prussians used to +kill a goat, consume its flesh with many superstitious ceremonies, +and hang the skin on a high pole near an oak and +a large stone. There it remained till harvest, when a great +bunch of corn and herbs was fastened to the pole above the +goat-skin. Then, after a prayer had been offered by a peasant +who acted as priest (<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Weidulut</foreign>), the young folks joined hands +and danced round the oak and the pole. Afterwards they +scrambled for the bunch of corn, and the priest distributed +the herbs with a sparing hand. Then he placed the goat-skin +on the large stone, sat down on it, and preached to the +people about the history of their forefathers and their old +heathen customs and beliefs.<note place='foot'>M. Praetorius, <hi rend='italic'>Deliciae Prussicae</hi> +(Berlin, 1871), pp. 23 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Baumkultus</hi>, pp. 394 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> The goat-skin thus suspended +on the field from sowing time to harvest perhaps represents +the corn-spirit superintending the growth of the corn. The +Tomori of Central Celebes imagine that the spirits which +cause rice to grow have the form of great goats with long +hair and long lips.<note place='foot'>A. C. Kruijt, <q>Eenige ethnografische +aanteekeningen omtrent de +Toboengkoe en de Tomori,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen +van wege het Nederlandsche +Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, xliv. (1900) p. +241.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='7. The Corn-spirit as a Bull, Cow, or Ox.'/> +<head>§ 7. The Corn-spirit as a Bull, Cow, or Ox.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +in the +form of a +bull +running +through +the corn or +lying in it. +The corn-spirit +as a +bull, ox, or +cow at +harvest.</note> +Another form which the corn-spirit often assumes is that +of a bull, cow, or ox. When the wind sweeps over the corn +they say at Conitz, in West Prussia, <q>The Steer is running +in the corn</q>;<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 58.</note> when the corn is thick and strong in one +spot, they say in some parts of East Prussia, <q>The Bull is +lying in the corn.</q> When a harvester has overstrained and +lamed himself, they say in the Graudenz district of West +Prussia, <q>The Bull pushed him</q>; in Lothringen they say, +<q>He has the Bull.</q> The meaning of both expressions is +that he has unwittingly lighted upon the divine corn-spirit, +who has punished the profane intruder with lameness.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> So +near Chambéry when a reaper wounds himself with his +sickle, it is said that he has <q>the wound of the Ox.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 62.</note> In +<pb n='289'/><anchor id='Pg289'/> +the district of Bunzlau (Silesia) the last sheaf is sometimes +made into the shape of a horned ox, stuffed with tow and +wrapt in corn-ears. This figure is called the Old Man. +In some parts of Bohemia the last sheaf is made up in +human form and called the Buffalo-bull.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 59.</note> These cases shew +a confusion of the human with the animal shape of the corn-spirit. +The confusion is like that of killing a wether under +the name of a wolf.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg275'>275</ref>.</note> In the Canton of Thurgau, Switzerland, +the last sheaf, if it is a large one, is called the Cow.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 59.</note> +All over Swabia the last bundle of corn on the field is called +the Cow; the man who cuts the last ears <q>has the Cow,</q> +and is himself called Cow or Barley-cow or Oats-cow, according +to the crop; at the harvest-supper he gets a nosegay of +flowers and corn-ears and a more liberal allowance of drink +than the rest. But he is teased and laughed at; so no one +likes to be the Cow.<note place='foot'>E. Meier, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsche Sagen, Sitten +und Gebräuche aus Schwaben</hi> (Stuttgart, +1852), pp. 440 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, §§ 151, 152, +153; F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>Beitrag zur deutschen +Mythologie</hi>, ii. p. 234, § 428; W. +Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, +p. 59.</note> The Cow was sometimes represented +by the figure of a woman made out of ears of corn and corn-flowers. +It was carried to the farmhouse by the man who +had cut the last handful of corn. The children ran after +him and the neighbours turned out to laugh at him, till the +farmer took the Cow from him.<note place='foot'>F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. p. 233, § +427; W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 59.</note> Here again the confusion +between the human and the animal form of the corn-spirit is +apparent. In various parts of Switzerland the reaper who +cuts the last ears of corn is called Wheat-cow, Corn-cow, +Oats-cow, or Corn-steer, and is the butt of many a joke.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 59 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +In some parts of East Prussia, when a few ears of corn have +been left standing by inadvertence on the last swath, the +foremost reaper seizes them and cries, <q>Bull! Bull!</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 58.</note> On +the other hand, in the district of Rosenheim, Upper Bavaria, +when a farmer is later of getting in his harvest than his +neighbours, they set up on his land a Straw-bull, as it is +called. This is a gigantic figure of a bull made of stubble +on a framework of wood and adorned with flowers and +leaves. Attached to it is a label on which are scrawled +<pb n='290'/><anchor id='Pg290'/> +doggerel verses in ridicule of the man on whose land the +Straw-bull is set up.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 58 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +in the +form of a +bull or ox +killed at +the close +of the +reaping.</note> +Again, the corn-spirit in the form of a bull or ox is +killed on the harvest-field at the close of the reaping. At +Pouilly, near Dijon, when the last ears of corn are about to +be cut, an ox adorned with ribbons, flowers, and ears of corn +is led all round the field, followed by the whole troop of +reapers dancing. Then a man disguised as the Devil cuts +the last ears of corn and immediately slaughters the ox. +Part of the flesh of the animal is eaten at the harvest-supper; +part is pickled and kept till the first day of sowing +in spring. At Pont à Mousson and elsewhere on the evening +of the last day of reaping, a calf adorned with flowers and +ears of corn is led thrice round the farmyard, being allured +by a bait or driven by men with sticks, or conducted by the +farmer's wife with a rope. The calf chosen for this ceremony +is the calf which was born first on the farm in the spring of +the year. It is followed by all the reapers with their tools. +Then it is allowed to run free; the reapers chase it, and +whoever catches it is called King of the Calf. Lastly, it is +solemnly killed; at Lunéville the man who acts as butcher +is the Jewish merchant of the village.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 60.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +bull or +cow at +threshing.</note> +Sometimes again the corn-spirit hides himself amongst +the cut corn in the barn to reappear in bull or cow form at +threshing. Thus at Wurmlingen, in Thüringen, the man who +gives the last stroke at threshing is called the Cow, or rather +the Barley-cow, Oats-cow, Peas-cow, or the like, according +to the crop. He is entirely enveloped in straw; his head +is surmounted by sticks in imitation of horns, and two lads +lead him by ropes to the well to drink. On the way thither +he must low like a cow, and for a long time afterwards he +goes by the name of the Cow.<note place='foot'>E. Meier, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsche Sagen, Sitten +und Gebräuche aus Schwaben</hi>, pp. 444 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, § 162; W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 61.</note> At Obermedlingen, in +Swabia, when the threshing draws near an end, each man +is careful to avoid giving the last stroke. He who does give +it <q>gets the Cow,</q> which is a straw figure dressed in an old +ragged petticoat, hood, and stockings. It is tied on his back +<pb n='291'/><anchor id='Pg291'/> +with a straw-rope; his face is blackened, and being bound +with straw-ropes to a wheelbarrow he is wheeled round +the village.<note place='foot'>F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>Beitrag zur deutschen +Mythologie</hi>, ii. p. 233, § 427.</note> Here, again, we meet with that confusion +between the human and animal shape of the corn-spirit +which we have noted in other customs. In Canton Schaffhausen +the man who threshes the last corn is called the +Cow; in Canton Thurgau, the Corn-bull; in Canton Zurich, +the Thresher-cow. In the last-mentioned district he is +wrapt in straw and bound to one of the trees in the orchard.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 61 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +At Arad, in Hungary, the man who gives the last stroke at +threshing is enveloped in straw and a cow's hide with the +horns attached to it.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 62.</note> At Pessnitz, in the district of Dresden, +the man who gives the last stroke with the flail is called +Bull. He must make a straw-man and set it up before a +neighbour's window.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 62.</note> Here, apparently, as in so many +cases, the corn-spirit is passed on to a neighbour who has +not finished threshing. So at Herbrechtingen, in Thüringen, +the effigy of a ragged old woman is flung into the barn of +the farmer who is last with his threshing. The man who +throws it in cries, <q>There is the Cow for you.</q> If the +threshers catch him they detain him over night and punish +him by keeping him from the harvest-supper.<note place='foot'>E. Meier, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsche Sagen, Sitten +und Gebräuche aus Schwaben</hi>, pp. 445 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, § 163.</note> In these +latter customs the confusion between the human and the +animal shape of the corn-spirit meets us again. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +in the +form of a +bull supposed +to be +killed at +threshing.</note> +Further, the corn-spirit in bull form is sometimes believed +to be killed at threshing. At Auxerre, in threshing the last +bundle of corn, they call out twelve times, <q>We are killing +the Bull.</q> In the neighbourhood of Bordeaux, where a +butcher kills an ox on the field immediately after the close +of the reaping, it is said of the man who gives the last +stroke at threshing that <q>he has killed the Bull.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 60.</note> At +Chambéry the last sheaf is called the sheaf of the Young +Ox, and a race takes place to it in which all the reapers +join. When the last stroke is given at threshing they +say that <q>the Ox is killed</q>; and immediately thereupon +<pb n='292'/><anchor id='Pg292'/> +a real ox is slaughtered by the reaper who cut the last +corn. The flesh of the ox is eaten by the threshers at +supper.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 62.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +calf at +harvest or +in spring.</note> +We have seen that sometimes the young corn-spirit, +whose task it is to quicken the corn of the coming year, is +believed to be born as a Corn-baby on the harvest-field.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg150'>150</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +Similarly in Berry the young corn-spirit is sometimes +supposed to be born on the field in calf form; for when a +binder has not rope enough to bind all the corn in sheaves, +he puts aside the wheat that remains over and imitates the +lowing of a cow. The meaning is that <q>the sheaf has given +birth to a calf.</q><note place='foot'>Laisnel de la Salle, <hi rend='italic'>Croyances et +Légendes du Centre de la France</hi> (Paris, +1875), ii. 135.</note> In Puy-de-Dôme when a binder cannot +keep up with the reaper whom he or she follows, they say +<q>He (or she) is giving birth to the Calf.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 62: <q><foreign lang='fr' rend='italic'>Il fait le veau.</foreign></q></note> In some parts of +Prussia, in similar circumstances, they call out to the woman, +<q>The Bull is coming,</q> and imitate the bellowing of a bull.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi></note> +In these cases the woman is conceived as the Corn-cow or +old corn-spirit, while the supposed calf is the Corn-calf or +young corn-spirit. In some parts of Austria a mythical calf +(<foreign lang='de' rend='italic'>Muhkälbchen</foreign>) is believed to be seen amongst the sprouting +corn in spring and to push the children; when the corn waves +in the wind they say, <q>The Calf is going about.</q> Clearly, as +Mannhardt observes, this calf of the spring-time is the same +animal which is afterwards believed to be killed at reaping.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 63.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='8. The Corn-spirit as a Horse or Mare.'/> +<head>§ 8. The Corn-spirit as a Horse or Mare.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +horse or +mare +running +through +the corn. +<q>Crying +the Mare</q> +in Hertfordshire +and Shropshire.</note> +Sometimes the corn-spirit appears in the shape of a +horse or mare. Between Kalw and Stuttgart, when the corn +bends before the wind, they say, <q>There runs the Horse.</q><note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>Ibid.</hi> p. 167.</note> +At Bohlingen, near Radolfzell in Baden, the last sheaf of +oats is called the Oats-stallion.<note place='foot'>E. H. Meyer, <hi rend='italic'>Badisches Volksleben</hi> +(Strasburg, 1900), p. 428.</note> In Hertfordshire, at the +end of the reaping, there is or used to be observed a ceremony +called <q>crying the Mare.</q> The last blades of corn left +standing on the field are tied together and called the Mare. +<pb n='293'/><anchor id='Pg293'/> +The reapers stand at a distance and throw their sickles at +it; he who cuts it through <q>has the prize, with acclamations +and good cheer.</q> After it is cut the reapers cry thrice with +a loud voice, <q>I have her!</q> Others answer thrice, <q>What +have you?</q>—<q>A Mare! a Mare! a Mare!</q>—<q>Whose is +she?</q> is next asked thrice. <q>A. B.'s,</q> naming the owner +thrice. <q>Whither will you send her?</q>—<q>To C. D.,</q> naming +some neighbour who has not reaped all his corn.<note place='foot'>J. Brand, <hi rend='italic'>Popular Antiquities</hi>, ii. 24, Bohn's edition.</note> In this +custom the corn-spirit in the form of a mare is passed on +from a farm where the corn is all cut to another farm where +it is still standing, and where therefore the corn-spirit may +be supposed naturally to take refuge. In Shropshire the +custom is similar. <q rend='pre'>Crying, calling, or shouting the mare is +a ceremony performed by the men of that farm which is the +first in any parish or district to finish the harvest. The +object of it is to make known their own prowess, and to +taunt the laggards by a pretended offer of the <q>owd mar'</q> +[old mare] to help out their <q>chem</q> [team]. All the men +assemble (the wooden harvest-bottle being of course one of +the company) in the stackyard, or, better, on the highest +ground on the farm, and there shout the following dialogue, +preceding it by a grand <q>Hip, hip, hip, hurrah!</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'><q>I 'ave 'er, I 'ave 'er, I 'ave 'er!</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'><q>Whad 'ast thee, whad 'ast thee, whad 'ast thee?</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'><q>A mar'! a mar'! a mar'!</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'><q>Whose is 'er, whose is 'er, whose is 'er?</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'><q>Maister A.'s, Maister A.'s, Maister A.'s!</q> (naming the +farmer whose harvest is finished).</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'><q>W'eer sha't the' send 'er? w'eer sha't the' send 'er? +w'eer sha't the' send 'er?</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend='pre'><q>To Maister B.'s, to Maister B.'s, to Maister B.'s</q> +(naming one whose harvest is <emph>not</emph> finished).</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q><q>'Uth a hip, hip, hip, hurrah!</q> (in chorus).</q> +</p> + +<p> +The farmer who finishes his harvest last, and who +therefore cannot send the Mare to any one else, is said +<q>to keep her all winter.</q> The mocking offer of the Mare +was sometimes responded to by a mocking acceptance of +her help. Thus an old man told an enquirer, <q>While we +wun at supper, a mon cumm'd wi' a autar [halter] to fatch +<pb n='294'/><anchor id='Pg294'/> +her away.</q> But at one place (Longnor, near Leebotwood), +down to about 1850, the Mare used really to be sent. +<q>The head man of the farmer who had finished harvest +first was mounted on the best horse of the team—the +leader—both horse and man being adorned with ribbons, +streamers, etc. Thus arrayed, a boy on foot led the pair in +triumph to the neighbouring farmhouses. Sometimes the +man who took the <q>mare</q> received, as well as plenty of +harvest-ale, some rather rough, though good-humoured, treatment, +coming back minus his decorations, and so on.</q><note place='foot'>C. F. Burne and G. F. Jackson, +<hi rend='italic'>Shropshire Folk-lore</hi> (London, 1883), +pp. 373 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as a +horse in +France.</note> +In the neighbourhood of Lille the idea of the corn-spirit +in horse form is clearly preserved. When a harvester grows +weary at his work, it is said, <q>He has the fatigue of the +Horse.</q> The first sheaf, called the <q>Cross of the Horse,</q> is +placed on a cross of boxwood in the barn, and the youngest +horse on the farm must tread on it. The reapers dance +round the last blades of corn, crying, <q>See the remains of the +Horse.</q> The sheaf made out of these last blades is given +to the youngest horse of the parish (<foreign rend='italic'>commune</foreign>) to eat. This +youngest horse of the parish clearly represents, as Mannhardt +says, the corn-spirit of the following year, the Corn-foal, +which absorbs the spirit of the old Corn-horse by eating the +last corn cut; for, as usual, the old corn-spirit takes his +final refuge in the last sheaf. The thresher of the last +sheaf is said to <q>beat the Horse.</q><note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 167. We may compare +the Scotch custom of giving the +last sheaf to a horse or mare to eat. +See above, pp. <ref target='Pg141'>141</ref>, <ref target='Pg156'>156</ref>, <ref target='Pg158'>158</ref>, <ref target='Pg160'>160</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +<ref target='Pg162'>162</ref>.</note> Again, a trace of the +horse-shaped corn-spirit is reported from Berry. The +harvesters there are accustomed to take a noonday nap +in the field. This is called <q>seeing the Horse.</q> The leader +or <q>King</q> of the harvesters gives the signal for going to +sleep. If he delays giving the signal, one of the harvesters +will begin to neigh like a horse, the rest imitate him, and +then they all go <q>to see the Horse.</q><note place='foot'>Laisnel de la Salle, <hi rend='italic'>Croyances et +Légendes du Centre de la France</hi> (Paris, +1875), ii. 133; W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, pp. 167 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> +We have seen (above, p. <ref target='Pg267'>267</ref>) that in +South Pembrokeshire the man who cut +the <q>Neck</q> used to be <q>shod,</q> that +is, to have the soles of his feet severely +beaten with sods. Perhaps he was +thus treated as representing the corn-spirit +in the form of a horse.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='295'/><anchor id='Pg295'/> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='9. The Corn-spirit as a Bird.'/> +<head>§ 9. The Corn-spirit as a Bird.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as +a quail. +The rice-spirit +as a +blue bird. The rice-spirit +as +a quail.</note> +Sometimes the corn-spirit assumes the form of a bird. +Thus among the Saxons of the Bistritz district in Transylvania +there is a saying that the quail is sitting in the last +standing stalks on the harvest-field, and all the reapers rush +at these stalks in order, as they say, to catch the quail.<note place='foot'>G. A. Heinrich, <hi rend='italic'>Agrarische Sitten +und Gebräuche unter den Sachsen +Siebenbürgens</hi> (Hermannstadt, 1880), +p. 21.</note> +Exactly the same expression is used by reapers in Austrian +Silesia when they are about to cut the last standing corn, +whatever the kind of grain may be.<note place='foot'>A. Peter, <hi rend='italic'>Völksthumliches aus +Österreichisch-Schlesien</hi> (Troppau, +1865-1867), ii. 268.</note> In the Bocage of +Normandy, when the reapers have come to the last ears of +the last rig, they surround them for the purpose of catching +the quail, which is supposed to have taken refuge there. They +run about the corn crying, <q>Mind the Quail!</q> and make +believe to grab at the bird amid shouts and laughter.<note place='foot'>J. Lecoeur, <hi rend='italic'>Esquisses du Bocage +Normand</hi> (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), +ii. 240.</note> +Connected with this identification of the corn-spirit with a +quail is probably the belief that the cry of the bird in spring +is prophetic of the price of corn in the autumn; in Germany +they say that corn will sell at as many gulden a bushel as +the quail uttered its cry over the fields in spring. Similar +prognostications are drawn from the note of the bird in +central and western France, in Switzerland and in Tuscany.<note place='foot'>A. Wuttke, <hi rend='italic'>Der deutsche Volks +aberglaube</hi><hi rend='vertical-align: super'>2</hi> (Berlin, 1869), p. 189, +§ 277; Chr. Schneller, <hi rend='italic'>Märchen und +Sagen aus Wälschtirol</hi> (Innsbruck, +1867), p. 238; Rev. Ch. Swainson, +<hi rend='italic'>The Folk Lore and Provincial Names of +British Birds</hi> (London, 1886), p. 173.</note> +Perhaps one reason for identifying the quail with the corn-spirit +is that the bird lays its eggs on the ground, without +making much of a nest.<note place='foot'>Alfred Newton, <hi rend='italic'>Dictionary of +Birds</hi>, New Edition (London, 1893-1896), +p. 755.</note> Similarly the Toradjas of Central +Celebes think that the soul of the rice is embodied in a +pretty little blue bird which builds its nest in the rice-field +at the time when the rice is beginning to germinate, and +which disappears again after the harvest. Thus both the +place and the time of the appearance of the bird suggest to +the natives the notion that the blue bird is the rice incarnate. +And like the note of the quail in Europe the note of this +<pb n='296'/><anchor id='Pg296'/> +little bird in Celebes is believed to prognosticate the state +of the harvest, foretelling whether the rice will be abundant +or scarce. Nobody may drive the bird away; to do so +would not merely injure the rice, it would hurt the eyes of +the sacrilegious person and might even strike him blind. +In Minahassa, a district in the north of Celebes, a similar +though less definite belief attaches to a sort of small quail +which loves to haunt the rice-fields before the rice is reaped; +and when the Galelareeze of Halmahera hear a certain kind +of bird, which they call <foreign rend='italic'>togè</foreign>, croaking among the rice in ear, +they say that the bird is putting the grain into the rice, so +they will not kill it.<note place='foot'>A. C. Kruijt, <q>Eenige ethnografische +aanteekeningen omtrent de +Toboengkoe en de Tomori,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Mededeelingen +van wege het Nederlandsche +Zendelinggenootschap</hi>, xliv. (1900) pp. +228, 229; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <q>De rijstmoeder in den +Indischen Archipel,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Verslagen en +Mededeelingen van der koninklijke +Akademie van Wetenschappen</hi>, Afdeeling +Letterkunde, Vierde Reeks, v., +part 3 (Amsterdam, 1903), pp. 374 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='10. The Corn-spirit as a Fox.'/> +<head>§ 10. The Corn-spirit as a Fox.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as +a fox +running +through +the corn or +sitting in it. +The corn-spirit +as a +fox at +reaping +the last +corn. The corn-spirit +as a +fox at +threshing. +The +Japanese +rice-god +associated +with the +fox.</note> +Another animal whose shape the corn-spirit is sometimes +thought to assume is the fox. The conception is recorded +at various places in Germany and France. Thus at Nördlingen +in Bavaria, when the corn waves to and fro in the +wind, they say, <q>The fox goes through the corn,</q> and at +Usingen in Nassau they say, <q>The foxes are marching +through the corn.</q> At Ravensberg, in Westphalia, and at +Steinau, in Kurhessen, children are warned against straying +in the corn, <q>because the Fox is there.</q> At Campe, near +Stade, when they are about to cut the last corn, they call +out to the reaper, <q>The Fox is sitting there, hold him fast!</q> +In the Department of the Moselle they say, <q>Watch +whether the Fox comes out.</q> In Bourbonnais the expression +is, <q>You will catch the Fox.</q> When a reaper +wounds himself or is sick at reaping, they say in the Lower +Loire that <q>He has the Fox.</q> In Côte-d'or they say, <q>He +has killed the Fox.</q> At Louhans, in Sâone-et-Loire, when +the reapers are cutting the last corn they leave a handful +standing and throw their sickles at it. He who hits it is +called the Fox, and two girls deck his bonnet with flowers. +<pb n='297'/><anchor id='Pg297'/> +In the evening there is a dance, at which the Fox dances +with all the girls. The supper which follows is also called +the Fox; they say, <q>We have eaten the Fox,</q> meaning that +they have partaken of the harvest-supper. In the Canton +of Zurich the last sheaf is called the Fox. At Bourgogne, +in Ain, they cry out, <q>The Fox is sitting in the last sheaf,</q> +and having made the figure of an animal out of white cloth +and some ears of the last corn, they dub it the Fox and +throw it into the house of a neighbour who has not yet got +in all his harvest.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 109 note 2.</note> In Poitou, when the corn is being +reaped in a district, all the reapers strive to finish as quickly +as possible in order that they may send <q>the Fox</q> to the +fields of a farmer who has not yet garnered his sheaves. +The man who cuts the last handful of standing corn is said +to <q>have the Fox.</q> This last handful is carried to the +farmer's house and occupies a place on the table during the +harvest-supper; and the custom is to drench it with water. +After that it is set up on the chimney-piece and remains +there the whole year.<note place='foot'>L. Pineau, <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore du Poitou</hi> +(Paris, 1892), pp. 500 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> At threshing, also, in Sâone-et-Loire, +the last sheaf is called the Fox; in Lot they say, +<q>We are going to beat the Fox</q>; and at Zabern in Alsace +they set a stuffed fox before the door of the threshing-floor +of a neighbour who has not finished his threshing.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 109 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, note 2.</note> With +this conception of the fox as an embodiment of the corn-spirit +may possibly be connected an old custom, observed in +Holstein and Westphalia, of carrying a dead or living fox +from house to house in spring; the intention of the custom +was perhaps to diffuse the refreshing and invigorating +influence of the reawakened spirit of vegetation.<note place='foot'>J. F. L. Woeste, <hi rend='italic'>Völksüberlieferungen +in der Grafschaft Mark</hi> (Iserlohn, +1848), p. 27; W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, p. 110 note.</note> In Japan +the rice-god Inari is represented as an elderly man with a +long beard riding on a white fox, and the fox is always +associated with this deity. In front of his shrines may +usually be seen a pair of foxes carved in wood or stone.<note place='foot'>Lafcadio Hearn, <hi rend='italic'>Glimpses of Unfamiliar +Japan</hi> (London, 1894), ii. +312 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; W. G. Aston, <hi rend='italic'>Shinto</hi> +(London, 1905), pp. 162 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> At the +festival of the Roman corn-goddess +Ceres, celebrated on the nineteenth of +April, foxes were allowed to run about +with burning torches tied to their tails, +and the custom was explained as a +punishment inflicted on foxes because +a fox had once in this way burned +down the crops (Ovid, <hi rend='italic'>Fasti</hi>, iv. +679 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>). Samson is said to have +burned the crops of the Philistines in +a similar fashion (Judges xv. 4 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>). +Whether the custom and the tradition +are connected with the idea of the fox +as an embodiment of the corn-spirit is +doubtful. Compare W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, pp. 108 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; +W. Warde Fowler, <hi rend='italic'>Roman Festivals +of the Period of the Republic</hi> (London, +1899), pp. 77-79.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<pb n='298'/><anchor id='Pg298'/> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='11. The Corn-spirit as a Pig (Boar or Sow).'/> +<head>§ 11. The Corn-spirit as a Pig (Boar or Sow).</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as +a boar +rushing +through +the corn. +The corn-spirit +as a +boar or +sow at +reaping. +The corn-spirit +as a +sow at +threshing.</note> +The last animal embodiment of the corn-spirit which we +shall notice is the pig (boar or sow). In Thüringen, when +the wind sets the young corn in motion, they sometimes say, +<q>The Boar is rushing through the corn.</q><note place='foot'>A. Witzschel, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Sitten und +Gebräuche aus Thüringen</hi> (Vienna, +1878), p. 213, § 4. So at Klepzig, in +Anhalt (<hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift des Vereins für +Volkskunde</hi>, vii. (1897) p. 150).</note> Amongst the +Esthonians of the island of Oesel the last sheaf is called the +Rye-boar, and the man who gets it is saluted with a cry of +<q>You have the Rye-boar on your back!</q> In reply he +strikes up a song, in which he prays for plenty.<note place='foot'>J. B. Holzmayer, <q>Osiliana,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Verhandlungen +der gelehrten Estnischen +Gesellschaft zu Dorpat</hi>, vii. Heft 2 (Dorpat, +1872), p. 107; W. Mannhardt, +<hi rend='italic'>Mythologische Forschungen</hi>, p. 187.</note> At +Kohlerwinkel, near Augsburg, at the close of the harvest, +the last bunch of standing corn is cut down, stalk by stalk, +by all the reapers in turn. He who cuts the last stalk <q>gets +the Sow,</q> and is laughed at.<note place='foot'>A. Birlinger, <hi rend='italic'>Aus Schwaben</hi> (Wiesbaden, +1874), ii. 328.</note> In other Swabian villages +also the man who cuts the last corn <q>has the Sow,</q> or <q>has +the Rye-sow.</q><note place='foot'>F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>Beitrag zur deutschen +Mythologie</hi> (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. +pp. 223, 224, §§ 417, 419.</note> In the Traunstein district, Upper Bavaria, +the man who cuts the last handful of rye or wheat <q>has +the Sow,</q> and is called Sow-driver.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 112.</note> At Bohlingen, near +Radolfzell in Baden, the last sheaf is called the Rye-sow or +the Wheat-sow, according to the crop; and at Röhrenbach +in Baden the person who brings the last armful for the last +sheaf is called the Corn-sow or the Oats-sow. And in the +south-east of Baden the thresher who gives the last stroke at +threshing, or is the last to hang up his flail on the wall, is +called the Sow or the Rye-sow.<note place='foot'>E. L. Meyer, <hi rend='italic'>Badisches Volksleben</hi> +(Strasburg, 1900), pp. 428, 436.</note> At Friedingen, in Swabia, +the thresher who gives the last stroke is called Sow—Barley-sow, +Corn-sow, or the like, according to the crop. +<pb n='299'/><anchor id='Pg299'/> +At Onstmettingen the man who gives the last stroke at +threshing <q>has the Sow</q>; he is often bound up in a sheaf +and dragged by a rope along the ground.<note place='foot'>E. Meier, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsche Sagen, Sitten +und Gebaüche aus Schwaben</hi> (Stuttgart, +1852), p. 445, § 162.</note> And, generally, +in Swabia the man who gives the last stroke with the flail is +called Sow. He may, however, rid himself of this invidious +distinction by passing on to a neighbour the straw-rope, +which is the badge of his position as Sow. So he goes to a +house and throws the straw-rope into it, crying, <q>There, I +bring you the Sow.</q> All the inmates give chase; and if +they catch him they beat him, shut him up for several hours +in the pig-sty, and oblige him to take the <q>Sow</q> away +again.<note place='foot'>A. Birlinger, <hi rend='italic'>Volksthümliches aus +Schwaben</hi> (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), + ii. p. 425, § 379.</note> In various parts of Upper Bavaria the man who +gives the last stroke at threshing must <q>carry the Pig</q>—that +is, either a straw effigy of a pig or merely a bundle of straw-ropes. +This he carries to a neighbouring farm where the +threshing is not finished, and throws it into the barn. If the +threshers catch him they handle him roughly, beating him, +blackening or dirtying his face, throwing him into filth, +binding the Sow on his back, and so on; if the bearer of +the Sow is a woman they cut off her hair. At the harvest +supper or dinner the man who <q>carried the Pig</q> gets one +or more dumplings made in the form of pigs; sometimes he +gets a large dumpling and a number of small ones, all in +pig form, the large one being called the sow and the small +ones the sucking-pigs. Sometimes he has the right to be +the first to put his hand into the dish and take out as many +small dumplings (<q>sucking-pigs</q>) as he can, while the other +threshers strike at his hand with spoons or sticks. When +the dumplings are served up by the maid-servant, all the +people at table cry <q>Süz, süz, süz!</q> that being the cry used +in calling pigs. Sometimes after dinner the man who <q>carried +the Pig</q> has his face blackened, and is set on a cart and +drawn round the village by his fellows, followed by a crowd +crying <q>Süz, süz, süz!</q> as if they were calling swine. +Sometimes, after being wheeled round the village, he is flung +on the dunghill.<note place='foot'>F. Panzer, <hi rend='italic'>Beitrag zur deutschen +Mythologie</hi>, ii. pp. 221-224, §§ 409, +410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 418.</note> +</p> + +<pb n='300'/><anchor id='Pg300'/> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +as +a pig at +sowing.</note> +Again, the corn-spirit in the form of a pig plays his part +at sowing-time as well as at harvest At Neuautz, in Courland, +when barley is sown for the first time in the year, the +farmer's wife boils the chine of a pig along with the tail, +and brings it to the sower on the field. He eats of it, but +cuts off the tail and sticks it in the field; it is believed that +the ears of corn will then grow as long as the tail.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, pp. 186 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> Here +the pig is the corn-spirit, whose fertilising power is sometimes +supposed to lie especially in his tail.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg272'>272</ref>; compare <ref target='Pg268'>268</ref>.</note> As a pig he is +put in the ground at sowing-time, and as a pig he reappears +amongst the ripe corn at harvest. For amongst the neighbouring +Esthonians, as we have seen,<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg298'>298</ref>.</note> the last sheaf is called +the Rye-boar. Somewhat similar customs are observed in +Germany. In the Salza district, near Meiningen, a certain +bone in the pig is called <q>the Jew on the winnowing-fan.</q> +The flesh of this bone is boiled on Shrove Tuesday, but the +bone is put amongst the ashes which the neighbours exchange +as presents on St. Peter's Day (the twenty-second of +February), and then mix with the seed-corn.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 187.</note> In the whole +of Hesse, Meiningen, and other districts, people eat pea-soup +with dried pig-ribs on Ash Wednesday or Candlemas. The +ribs are then collected and hung in the room till sowing-time, +when they are inserted in the sown field or in the seed-bag +amongst the flax seed. This is thought to be an infallible +specific against earth-fleas and moles, and to cause the flax +to grow well and tall.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> pp. 187 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; A. Witzschel, <hi rend='italic'>Sagen, Sitten und +Gebräuche aus Thüringen</hi>, pp. 189, +218; W. Kolbe, <hi rend='italic'>Hessische Volks-Sitten +und Gebräuche</hi> (Marburg, 1888), +p. 35.</note> In many parts of White Russia +people eat a roast lamb or sucking-pig at Easter, and then +throw the bones backwards upon the fields, to preserve the +corn from hail.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Mythologische +Forschungen</hi>, p. 188; W. R. S. Ralston, +<hi rend='italic'>Songs of the Russian People</hi> +(London, 1872), p. 220.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The corn-spirit +embodied +in +the Yule +Boar of +Scandinavia. The Yule +straw in +Sweden.</note> +But the idea of the corn-spirit as embodied in pig form +is nowhere more clearly expressed than in the Scandinavian +custom of the Yule Boar. In Sweden and Denmark at +Yule (Christmas) it is the custom to bake a loaf in the form +of a boar-pig. This is called the Yule Boar. The corn of +<pb n='301'/><anchor id='Pg301'/> +the last sheaf is often used to make it. All through Yule +the Yule Boar stands on the table. Often it is kept till the +sowing-time in spring, when part of it is mixed with the +seed-corn and part given to the ploughmen and plough-horses +or plough-oxen to eat, in the expectation of a good +harvest.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Antike Wald- und +Feldkulte</hi>, pp. 197 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; F. Panzer, +<hi rend='italic'>Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie</hi>, ii. +491; J. Jamieson, <hi rend='italic'>Etymological +Dictionary of the Scottish Language</hi>, +New Edition (Paisley, 1879-1882), +vol. iii. pp. 206 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>s.v.</hi> <q>Maiden</q>; +Arv. Aug. Afzelius, <hi rend='italic'>Volkssagen und +Volkslieder aus Schwedens älterer und +neuerer Zeit</hi>, übersetzt von F. H. +Ungewitter (Leipsic, 1842), i. 9.</note> In this custom the corn-spirit, immanent in the +last sheaf, appears at midwinter in the form of a boar made +from the corn of the last sheaf; and his quickening influence +on the corn is shewn by mixing part of the Yule Boar with +the seed-corn, and giving part of it to the ploughman and +his cattle to eat. Similarly we saw that the Corn-wolf +makes his appearance at midwinter, the time when the year +begins to verge towards spring.<note place='foot'>Above, p. <ref target='Pg275'>275</ref>.</note> We may conjecture that +the Yule straw, which Swedish peasants turn to various +superstitious uses, comes, in part at least, from the sheaf out +of which the Yule Boar is made. The Yule straw is long +rye-straw, a portion of which is always set apart for this +season. It is strewn over the floor at Christmas, and the +peasants attribute many virtues to it. For example, they +think that some of it scattered on the ground will make a +barren field productive. Again, the peasant at Christmas +seats himself on a log; and his eldest son or daughter, or the +mother herself, if the children are not old enough, places a +wisp of the Yule straw on his knee. From this he draws +out single straws, and throws them, one by one, up to the +ceiling; and as many as lodge in the rafters, so many will +be the sheaves of rye he will have to thresh at harvest.<note place='foot'>L. Lloyd, <hi rend='italic'>Peasant Life in Sweden</hi> +(London, 1870), pp. 169 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 182. +On Christmas night children sleep on +a bed of the Yule straw (<hi rend='italic'>ibid.</hi> p. 177).</note> +Again, it is only the Yule straw which may be used in binding +the fruit-trees as a charm to fertilise them.<note place='foot'>U. Jahn, <hi rend='italic'>Die deutschen Opfergebräuche</hi> +(Breslau, 1884), p. 215. +Compare <hi rend='italic'>The Magic Art and the +Evolution of Kings</hi>, ii. 17, 27 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> These uses +of the Yule straw shew that it is believed to possess fertilising +virtues analogous to those ascribed to the Yule Boar; +we may therefore fairly conjecture that the Yule straw is +<pb n='302'/><anchor id='Pg302'/> +made from the same sheaf as the Yule Boar. Formerly a +real boar was sacrificed at Christmas,<note place='foot'>A. A. Afzelius, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. 31.</note> and apparently also +a man in the character of the Yule Boar. This, at least, +may perhaps be inferred from a Christmas custom still +observed in Sweden. A man is wrapt up in a skin, and +carries a wisp of straw in his mouth, so that the projecting +straws look like the bristles of a boar. A knife is brought, +and an old woman, with her face blackened, pretends to +sacrifice him.<note place='foot'>A. A. Afzelius, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> i. 9; L. +Lloyd, <hi rend='italic'>Peasant Life in Sweden</hi>, pp. +181, 185.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The Christmas +Boar +among the +Esthonians.</note> +On Christmas Eve in some parts of the Esthonian +island of Oesel they bake a long cake with the two ends +turned up. It is called the Christmas Boar, and stands +on the table till the morning of New Year's Day, when +it is distributed among the cattle. In other parts of the +island the Christmas Boar is not a cake but a little pig +born in March, which the housewife fattens secretly, often +without the knowledge of the other members of the family. +On Christmas Eve the little pig is secretly killed, then +roasted in the oven, and set on the table standing on all +fours, where it remains in this posture for several days. In +other parts of the island, again, though the Christmas cake +has neither the name nor the shape of a boar, it is kept till +the New Year, when half of it is divided among all the +members and all the quadrupeds of the family. The other +half of the cake is kept till sowing-time comes round, when +it is similarly distributed in the morning among human +beings and beasts.<note place='foot'>J. B. Holzmayer, <q>Osiliana,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Verhandlungen +der gelehrten Estnischen +Gesellschaft zu Dorpat</hi>, vii. Heft 2 +(Dorpat, 1872), pp. 55 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In other parts of Esthonia, again, the +Christmas Boar, as it is called, is baked of the first rye cut +at harvest; it has a conical shape and a cross is impressed +on it with a pig's bone or a key, or three dints are made in +it with a buckle or a piece of charcoal. It stands with a +light beside it on the table all through the festal season. +On New Year's Day and Epiphany, before sunrise, a little of +the cake is crumbled with salt and given to the cattle. The +rest is kept till the day when the cattle are driven out to +pasture for the first time in spring. It is then put in the +<pb n='303'/><anchor id='Pg303'/> +herdsman's bag, and at evening is divided among the cattle +to guard them from magic and harm. In some places the +Christmas Boar is partaken of by farm-servants and cattle +at the time of the barley sowing, for the purpose of thereby +producing a heavier crop.<note place='foot'>F. J. Wiedemann, <hi rend='italic'>Aus dem inneren +und äussern Leben der Ehsten</hi> (St. +Petersburg, 1876), pp. 344, 485.</note> +</p> + +</div> + +<div> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf' level1='12. On the Animal Embodiments of the Corn-spirit.'/> +<head>§ 12. On the Animal Embodiments of the Corn-spirit.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Sacramental +character +of the +harvest-supper.</note> +So much for the animal embodiments of the corn-spirit +as they are presented to us in the folk-customs of Northern +Europe. These customs bring out clearly the sacramental +character of the harvest-supper. The corn-spirit is conceived +as embodied in an animal; this divine animal is slain, and +its flesh and blood are partaken of by the harvesters. Thus, +the cock, the goose, the hare, the cat, the goat, and the ox +are eaten sacramentally by the harvesters, and the pig is +eaten sacramentally by ploughmen in spring.<note place='foot'>Above, pp. <ref target='Pg277'>277</ref> <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, <ref target='Pg280'>280</ref>, <ref target='Pg281'>281</ref>, <ref target='Pg285'>285</ref>, +<ref target='Pg290'>290</ref>, <ref target='Pg300'>300</ref>, <ref target='Pg301'>301</ref>. In regard to the hare, +the substitution of brandy for hare's +blood is probably modern.</note> Again, as +a substitute for the real flesh of the divine being, bread or +dumplings are made in his image and eaten sacramentally; +thus, pig-shaped dumplings are eaten by the harvesters, and +loaves made in boar-shape (the Yule Boar) are eaten in +spring by the ploughman and his cattle. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Parallelism +between the +conceptions +of the +corn-spirit +in human +and animal +forms.</note> +The reader has probably remarked the complete parallelism +between the conceptions of the corn-spirit in human +and in animal form. The parallel may be here briefly +resumed. When the corn waves in the wind it is said +either that the Corn-mother or that the Corn-wolf, etc., +is passing through the corn. Children are warned against +straying in corn-fields either because the Corn-mother or +because the Corn-wolf, etc., is there. In the last corn cut or +the last sheaf threshed either the Corn-mother or the Corn-wolf, +etc., is supposed to be present. The last sheaf is itself +called either the Corn-mother or the Corn-wolf, etc., and is +made up in the shape either of a woman or of a wolf, etc. +The person who cuts, binds, or threshes the last sheaf is +called either the Old Woman or the Wolf, etc., according to +<pb n='304'/><anchor id='Pg304'/> +the name bestowed on the sheaf itself. As in some places +a sheaf made in human form and called the Maiden, the +Mother of the Maize, etc., is kept from one harvest to the +next in order to secure a continuance of the corn-spirit's +blessing; so in some places the Harvest-cock and in others +the flesh of the goat is kept for a similar purpose from one +harvest to the next. As in some places the grain taken +from the Corn-mother is mixed with the seed-corn in spring +to make the crop abundant; so in some places the feathers +of the cock, and in Sweden the Yule Boar, are kept till spring +and mixed with the seed-corn for a like purpose. As part +of the Corn-mother or Maiden is given to the cattle at +Christmas or to the horses at the first ploughing, so part of +the Yule Boar is given to the ploughing horses or oxen in +spring. Lastly, the death of the corn-spirit is represented by +killing or pretending to kill either his human or his animal +representative; and the worshippers partake sacramentally +either of the actual body and blood of the representative +of the divinity, or of bread made in his likeness. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The reason +why the +corn-spirit +is thought +to take the +forms of so +many animals +may +be that wild +creatures +are commonly +penned by +the advance +of the +reapers into +the last +patch of +standing +corn, which +is usually +regarded as +the last +refuge of +the corn-spirit.</note> +Other animal forms assumed by the corn-spirit are the +stag, roe, sheep, bear, ass, mouse, stork, swan, and kite.<note place='foot'>W. Mannhardt, <hi rend='italic'>Die Korndämonen</hi> (Berlin, 1868), p. 1.</note> +If it is asked why the corn-spirit should be thought to +appear in the form of an animal and of so many different +animals, we may reply that to primitive man the simple +appearance of an animal or bird among the corn is probably +enough to suggest a mysterious link between the creature +and the corn; and when we remember that in the old days, +before fields were fenced in, all kinds of animals must have +been free to roam over them, we need not wonder that the +corn-spirit should have been identified even with large +animals like the horse and cow, which nowadays could not, +except by a rare accident, be found straying in an English +corn-field. This explanation applies with peculiar force to +the very common case in which the animal embodiment of +the corn-spirit is believed to lurk in the last standing corn. +For at harvest a number of wild animals, such as hares, +rabbits, and partridges, are commonly driven by the progress +of the reaping into the last patch of standing corn, and +make their escape from it as it is being cut down. So +<pb n='305'/><anchor id='Pg305'/> +regularly does this happen that reapers and others often +stand round the last patch of corn armed with sticks or +guns, with which they kill the animals as they dart out of +their last refuge among the stalks. Now, primitive man, to +whom magical changes of shape seem perfectly credible, +finds it most natural that the spirit of the corn, driven from +his home in the ripe grain, should make his escape in the +form of the animal which is seen to rush out of the last +patch of corn as it falls under the scythe of the reaper. +Thus the identification of the corn-spirit with an animal +is analogous to the identification of him with a passing +stranger. As the sudden appearance of a stranger near the +harvest-field or threshing-floor is, to the primitive mind, +enough to identify him as the spirit of the corn escaping +from the cut or threshed corn, so the sudden appearance of +an animal issuing from the cut corn is enough to identify +it with the corn-spirit escaping from his ruined home. The +two identifications are so analogous that they can hardly be +dissociated in any attempt to explain them. Those who +look to some other principle than the one here suggested +for the explanation of the latter identification are bound +to shew that their theory covers the former identification +also. +</p> + +</div> + +</div> + +<pb n='307'/><anchor id='Pg307'/> + +<div rend='page-break-before: always'> +<index index='toc'/> +<index index='pdf'/> +<head>Note. The Pleiades in Primitive Calendars.</head> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Importance +of the +Pleiades in +primitive +calendars.</note> +The constellation of the Pleiades plays an important part in the +calendar of primitive peoples, both in the northern and in the +southern hemisphere; indeed for reasons which at first sight are +not obvious savages appear to have paid more attention to this +constellation than to any other group of stars in the sky, and in +particular they have commonly timed the various operations of the +agricultural year by observation of its heliacal rising or setting. +Some evidence on the subject was adduced by the late Dr. Richard +Andree,<note place='foot'>R. Andree, <q>Die Pleiaden im +Mythus und in ihrer Beziehung zum +Jahresbeginn und Landbau,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Globus</hi>, +lxiv. (1893) pp. 362-366.</note> but much more exists, and it may be worth while to put +certain of the facts together. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Attention +paid to the +Pleiades +by the +Australian +aborigines.</note> +In the first place it deserves to be noticed that great attention +has been paid to the Pleiades by savages in the southern hemisphere +who do not till the ground, and who therefore lack that incentive to +observe the stars which is possessed by peoples in the agricultural +stage of society; for we can scarcely doubt that in early ages the +practical need of ascertaining the proper seasons for sowing and +planting has done more than mere speculative curiosity to foster +a knowledge of astronomy by compelling savages to scrutinise the +great celestial clock for indications of the time of year. Now +amongst the rudest of savages known to us are the Australian +aborigines, none of whom in their native state ever practised +agriculture. Yet we are told that <q>they do, according to their +manner, worship the hosts of heaven, and believe particular constellations +rule natural causes. For such they have names, and +sing and dance to gain the favour of the Pleiades (<foreign rend='italic'>Mormodellick</foreign>), +the constellation worshipped by one body as the giver of rain; but +if it should be deferred, instead of blessings curses are apt to be +bestowed upon it.</q><note place='foot'>Mr. McKellar, quoted by the Rev. +W. Ridley, <q>Report on Australian +Languages and Traditions,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of +the Anthropological Institute</hi>, ii. (1873) +p. 279; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Kamilaroi</hi> (Sydney, 1875), +p. 138. Mr. McKellar's evidence was +given before a Select Committee of the +Legislative Council of Victoria in 1858; +from which we may perhaps infer that +his statement refers especially to the +tribes of Victoria or at all events of +south-eastern Australia. It seems to +be a common belief among the aborigines +of central and south-eastern +Australia that the Pleiades are women +who once lived on earth but afterwards +went up into the sky. See W. E. Stanbridge, +in <hi rend='italic'>Transactions of the Ethnological +Society of London</hi>, N.S. i. (1861) +p. 302; P. Beveridge, <q>Of the Aborigines +inhabiting the great Lacustrine +and Riverine Depression of the Lower +Murray,</q> etc., <hi rend='italic'>Journal and Proceedings +of the Royal Society of New South Wales</hi>, +xvii. (Sydney, 1884) p. 61; Baldwin +Spencer and F. J. Gillen, <hi rend='italic'>Native +Tribes of Central Australia</hi> (London, +1899), p. 566; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <hi rend='italic'>Northern Tribes +of Central Australia</hi> (London, 1904), +p. 628; A. W. Howitt, <hi rend='italic'>Native Tribes of +South-East Australia</hi> (London, 1904), +pp. 429 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Some tribes of Victoria +believed that the Pleiades were originally +a queen and six of her attendants, +but that the Crow (Waa) fell in love +with the queen and ran away with her, +and that since then the Pleiades have +been only six in number. See James +Dawson, <hi rend='italic'>Australian Aborigines</hi> (Melbourne, +Sydney, and Adelaide, 1881), +p. 100.</note> According to a writer, whose evidence on +<pb n='308'/><anchor id='Pg308'/> +other matters of Australian beliefs is open to grave doubt, some of +the aborigines of New South Wales denied that the sun is the +source of heat, because he shines also in winter when the weather is +cold; the real cause of warm weather they held to be the Pleiades, +because as the summer heat increases, that constellation rises higher +and higher in the sky, reaching its greatest elevation in the height +of summer, and gradually sinking again in autumn as the days grow +cooler, till in winter it is either barely visible or lost to view +altogether.<note place='foot'>J. Manning, <q>Notes on the +Aborigines of New Holland,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal +and Proceedings of the Royal Society of +New South Wales</hi>, xvi. (Sydney, 1883) +p. 168.</note> Another writer, who was well acquainted with the +natives of Victoria in the early days of the colony and whose testimony +can be relied upon, tells us that an old chief of the Spring +Creek tribe <q>taught the young people the names of the favourite +planets and constellations, as indications of the seasons. For +example, when Canopus is a very little above the horizon in the +east at daybreak, the season for emu eggs has come; when the +Pleiades are visible in the east an hour before sunrise, the time +for visiting friends and neighbouring tribes is at hand.</q><note place='foot'>James Dawson, <hi rend='italic'>Australian Aborigines</hi>, +p. 75.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Attention +paid to the +Pleiades by +the Indians +of Paraguay +and +Brazil.</note> +Again, the Abipones of Paraguay, who neither sowed nor reaped,<note place='foot'>M. Dobrizhoffer, <hi rend='italic'>Historia de Abiponibus</hi> +(Vienna, 1784), ii. 118.</note> +nevertheless regarded the Pleiades as an image of their ancestor. +As that constellation is invisible in the sky of South America +for several months every year, the Abipones believed that their +ancestor was then sick, and they were dreadfully afraid that he +would die. But when the constellation reappeared in the month +of May, they saluted the return of their ancestor with joyous shouts +and the glad music of flutes and horns, and they congratulated +him on his recovery from sickness. Next day they all went out to +collect wild honey, from which they brewed a favourite beverage. +Then at sunset they feasted and kept up the revelry all night by the +<pb n='309'/><anchor id='Pg309'/> +light of torches, while a sorceress, who presided at the festivity, +shook her rattle and danced. But the proceedings were perfectly +decorous; the sexes did not mix with each other.<note place='foot'>M. Dobrizhoffer, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> ii. 77 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +101-105.</note> The Mocobis of +Paraguay also looked upon the Pleiades as their father and creator.<note place='foot'>Pedro de Angelis, <hi rend='italic'>Coleccion de +Obras y Documentes relativos a la +Historia antigua y moderna de las +Provincias del Rio de la Plata</hi> (Buenos +Ayres, 1836-1837), iv. 15.</note> +The Guaycurus of the Gran Chaco used to rejoice greatly at the +reappearance of the Pleiades. On this occasion they held a festival +at which men and women, boys and girls all beat each other soundly, +believing that this brought them health, abundance, and victory over +their enemies.<note place='foot'>P. Lozano, <hi rend='italic'>Descripcion chorographico +del terreno, rios, arboles, y +animales del Gran Chaco</hi> (Cordova, +1733). p. 67.</note> Amongst the Lengua Indians of Paraguay at the +present day the rising of the Pleiades is connected with the beginning +of spring, and feasts are held at this time, generally of a markedly +immoral character.<note place='foot'>W. Barbrooke Grubb, <hi rend='italic'>An Unknown +People in an Unknown Land</hi> +(London, 1911), p. 139.</note> The Guaranis of Paraguay knew the time of +sowing by observation of the Pleiades;<note place='foot'>Pedro de Angelis, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> iv. 14.</note> they are said to have +revered the constellation and to have dated the beginning of their +year from the rising of the constellation in May.<note place='foot'>Th. Waitz, <hi rend='italic'>Anthropologie der +Naturvölker</hi>, iii. (Leipsic, 1862) p. 418, +referring to Marcgrav de Liebstadt, +<hi rend='italic'>Hist. rerum naturalium Brasil</hi>. (Amsterdam, +1648), viii. 5 and 12.</note> The Tapuiyas, +formerly a numerous and warlike tribe of Brazil, hailed the rising +of the Pleiades with great respect, and worshipped the constellation +with songs and dances.<note place='foot'>M. Dobrizhoffer, <hi rend='italic'>Historia de Abiponibus</hi>, +ii. 104.</note> The Indians of north-western +Brazil, an agricultural people who subsist mainly by the cultivation +of manioc, determine the time for their various field +labours by the position of certain constellations, especially the +Pleiades; when that constellation has sunk beneath the horizon, +the regular, heavy rains set in.<note place='foot'>Th. Koch-Grünberg, <hi rend='italic'>Zwei Jahre +unter den Indianern</hi> (Berlin, 1909-1910), +ii. 203.</note> The Omagua Indians of Brazil +ascribe to the Pleiades a special influence on human destiny.<note place='foot'>C. F. Phil. v. Martius, <hi rend='italic'>Zur Ethnographie +Amerika's, zumal Brasiliens</hi> +(Leipsic, 1867), p. 441.</note> +A Brazilian name for the Pleiades is <hi rend='italic'>Cyiuce</hi>, that is, <q>Mother +of those who are thirsty.</q> The constellation, we are told, <q>is +known to the Indians of the whole of Brasil and appears to +be even worshipped by some tribes in Matto Grosso. In the +valley of the Amazon a number of popular sayings are current +about it. Thus they say that in the first days of its appearance +in the firmament, while it is still low, the birds and especially the +fowls sleep on the lower branches or perches, and that just as it +rises so do they; that it brings much cold and rain; that when the +constellation vanishes, the serpents lose their venom; that the reeds +<pb n='310'/><anchor id='Pg310'/> +used in making arrows must be cut before the appearance of the +Pleiades, else they will be worm-eaten. According to the legend +the Pleiades disappear in May and reappear in June. Their +reappearance coincides with the renewal of vegetation and of animal +life. Hence the legend relates that everything which appears before +the constellation is renewed, that is, the appearance of the Pleiades, +marks the beginning of spring.</q><note place='foot'>Carl Teschauer, S.J., <q>Mythen +und alte Volkssagen aus Brasilien,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Anthropos</hi>, i. (1906) p. 736.</note> The Indians of the Orinoco +called the Pleiades <foreign rend='italic'>Ucasu</foreign> or <foreign rend='italic'>Cacasau</foreign>, according to their dialect, +and they dated the beginning of their year from the time when these +stars are visible in the east after sunset.<note place='foot'>J. Gumilla, <hi rend='italic'>Histoire Naturelle et +Civile et Géographique de l'Orenoque</hi> +(Avignon, 1758), iii. 254 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Attention +paid to the +Pleiades by +the Indians +of Peru and +Mexico.</note> +By the Indians of Peru <q>the Pleiades were called <foreign rend='italic'>Collca</foreign> +(the maize-heap): in this constellation the Peruvians both of +the sierra and the coast beheld the prototype of their cherished +stores of corn. It made their maize to grow, and was worshipped +accordingly.</q><note place='foot'>E. J. Payne, <hi rend='italic'>History of the New +World called America</hi>, i. (Oxford, +1892) p. 492.</note> When the Pleiades appeared above the horizon on or +about Corpus Christi Day, these Indians celebrated their chief festival +of the year and adored the constellation <q>in order that the maize +might not dry up.</q><note place='foot'>P. J. de Arriaga, <hi rend='italic'>Extirpacion de +la Idolatria del Piru</hi> (Lima, 1621), +pp. 11, 29 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> According to Arriaga, +the Peruvian name for the Pleiades is +<foreign rend='italic'>Oncoy</foreign>.</note> Adjoining the great temple of the Sun at Cuzco +there was a cloister with halls opening off it. One of these halls +was dedicated to the Moon, and another to the planet Venus, the +Pleiades, and all the other stars. The Incas venerated the Pleiades +because of their curious position and the symmetry of their shape.<note place='foot'>Garcilasso de la Vega, <hi rend='italic'>First Part +of the Royal Commentaries of the Yncas</hi>, +translated by (Sir) Clements R. Markham +(London, 1869-1871, Hakluyt +Society), i. 275. Compare J. de +Acosta, <hi rend='italic'>Natural and Moral History of +the Indies</hi> (London, 1880, Hakluyt +Society), ii. 304.</note> +The tribes of Vera Cruz, on the coast of Mexico, dated the beginning +of their year from the heliacal setting of the Pleiades, which in the +latitude of Vera Cruz (19° N.) in the year 1519 fell on the first of +May of the Gregorian calendar.<note place='foot'>E. Seler, <hi rend='italic'>Alt-Mexikanische Studien</hi>, +ii. (Berlin, 1899) pp. 166 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, referring +to Petrus Martyr, <hi rend='italic'>De nuper sub D. +Carolo repertis insulis</hi> (Basileae, 1521), +p. 15.</note> The Aztecs appear to have attached +great importance to the Pleiades, for they timed the most solemn +and impressive of all their religious ceremonies so as to coincide with +the moment when that constellation was in the middle of the sky at +midnight. The ceremony consisted in kindling a sacred new fire +on the breast of a human victim on the last night of a great period +of fifty-two years. They expected that at the close of one of these +periods the stars would cease to revolve and the world itself would +come to an end. Hence, when the critical moment approached, +<pb n='311'/><anchor id='Pg311'/> +the priests watched from the top of a mountain the movement of +the stars, and especially of the Pleiades, with the utmost anxiety. +When that constellation was seen to cross the meridian, great was the +joy; for they knew that the world was respited for another fifty-two +years. Immediately the bravest and handsomest of the captives +was thrown down on his back; a board of dry wood was placed on +his breast, and one of the priests made fire by twirling a stick +between his hands on the board. As soon as the flame burst +forth, the breast of the victim was cut open, his heart was torn out, +and together with the rest of his body was thrown into the fire. +Runners carried the new fire at full speed to all parts of the kingdom +to rekindle the cold hearths; for every fire throughout the +country had been extinguished as a preparation for this solemn rite.<note place='foot'>B. de Sahagun, <hi rend='italic'>Histoire Générale +des choses de la Nouvelle Espagne</hi> (Paris, +1880), pp. 288 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 489 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi>; A. de +Herrera, <hi rend='italic'>General History of the Vast +Continent and Islands of America</hi>, +translated by Capt. J. Stevens (London, +1725-1726), iii. 222; F. S. Clavigero, +<hi rend='italic'>History of Mexico</hi>, translated by C. +Cullen (London, 1807), i. 315 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; J. G. +Müller, <hi rend='italic'>Geschichte der amerikanischen +Urreligionen</hi> (Bâle, 1867), pp. 519 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>; +H. H. Bancroft, <hi rend='italic'>The Native Races of +the Pacific States of North America</hi> +(London, 1875-1876), iii. 393-395.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Attention +paid to the +Pleiades by +the North +American +Indians.</note> +The Blackfeet Indians of North America <q>know and observe +the Pleiades, and regulate their most important feast by those stars. +About the first and the last days of the occultation of the Pleiades +there is a sacred feast among the Blackfeet. The mode of observance +is national, the whole of the tribe turning out for the celebration +of its rites, which include two sacred vigils, the solemn blessing +and planting of the seed. It is the opening of the agricultural +season.... In all highly religious feasts the calumet, or pipe, is +always presented towards the Pleiades, with invocation for life-giving +goods. The women swear by the Pleiades as the men do by +the sun or the morning star.</q> At the general meeting of the nation +there is a dance of warriors, which is supposed to represent the +dance of the seven young men who are identified with the Pleiades. +For the Indians say that the seven stars of the constellation were +seven brothers, who guarded by night the field of sacred seed and +danced round it to keep themselves awake during the long hours of +darkness.<note place='foot'>Jean l'Heureux, <q>Ethnological +Notes on the Astronomical Customs +and Religious Ideas of the Chokitapia +or Blackfeet Indians,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Journal of the +Anthropological Institute</hi>, xv. (1886) +pp. 301-303.</note> According to another legend told by the Blackfeet, the +Pleiades are six children, who were so ashamed because they had +no little yellow hides of buffalo calves that they wandered away on +the plains and were at last taken up into the sky. <q>They are not +seen during the moon, when the buffalo calves are yellow (spring, +the time of their shame), but, every year, when the calves turn +brown (autumn), the lost children can be seen in the sky every +night.</q><note place='foot'>Walter McClintock, <hi rend='italic'>The Old North +Trail</hi> (London, 1910), p. 490.</note> This version of the myth, it will be observed, recognises +<pb n='312'/><anchor id='Pg312'/> +only six stars in the constellation, and many savages apparently see +no more, which speaks ill for the keenness of their vision; since +among ourselves persons endowed with unusually good sight are +able, I understand, to discern seven. Among the Pueblo Indians +of Tusayan, an ancient province of Arizona, the culmination of the +Pleiades is often used to determine the proper time for beginning +a sacred nocturnal rite, especially an invocation addressed to the six +deities who are believed to rule the six quarters of the world. The +writer who records this fact adds: <q>I cannot explain its significance, +and why of all stellar objects this minute cluster of stars of a +low magnitude is more important than other stellar groups is not +clear to me.</q><note place='foot'>J. Walter Fewkes, <q>The Tusayan +New Fire Ceremony,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Proceedings of +the Boston Society of Natural History</hi>, +xxvi. (1895) p. 453.</note> If the Pueblo Indians see only six stars in the +cluster, as to which I cannot speak, it might seem to them a reason +for assigning one of the stars to each of the six quarters, namely, +north, south, east, west, above, and below. +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Attention +paid to the +Pleiades by +the Polynesians.</note> +The Society Islanders in the South Pacific divided the year into +two seasons, which they determined by observation of the Pleiades. +<q>The first they called <foreign rend='italic'>Matarii i nia</foreign>, Pleiades above. It commenced +when, in the evening, these stars appeared on or near the horizon; +and the half year, during which, immediately after sunset, they were +seen above the horizon, was called <foreign rend='italic'>Matarii i nia</foreign>. The other season +commenced when, at sunset, the stars were invisible, and continued +until at that hour they appeared again above the horizon. This +season was called <foreign rend='italic'>Matarii i raro</foreign>, Pleiades below.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. W. Ellis, <hi rend='italic'>Polynesian Researches</hi>, +Second Edition (London, +1832-1836), i. 87.</note> In the Hervey +Islands of the South Pacific it is said that the constellation was +originally a single star, which was shattered into six fragments by +the god Tane. <q>This cluster of little stars is appropriately named +Mata-riki or <emph>little-eyes</emph>, on account of their brightness. It is also +designated Tau-ono, or <emph>the-six</emph>, on account of the apparent number +of the fragments; the presence of the seventh star not having been +detected by the unassisted native eye.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. W. W. Gill, <hi rend='italic'>Myths and +Songs from the South Pacific</hi> (London, +1876), p. 43.</note> Among these islanders the +arrival of the new year was indicated by the appearance of the constellation +on the eastern horizon just after sunset, that is, about the middle +of December. <q>Hence the idolatrous worship paid to this beautiful +cluster of stars in many of the South Sea Islands. The Pleiades +were worshipped at Danger Island, and at the Penrhyns, down to +the introduction of Christianity in 1857. In many islands extravagant +joy is still manifested at the rising of this constellation out of +the ocean.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. W. W. Gill, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 317, +compare p. 44.</note> For example, in Manahiki or Humphrey's Island, +South Pacific, <q>when the constellation Pleiades was seen there was +unusual joy all over the month, and expressed by singing, dancing, +<pb n='313'/><anchor id='Pg313'/> +and blowing-shell trumpets.</q><note place='foot'>G. Turner, <hi rend='italic'>Samoa</hi> (London, 1884), +p. 279.</note> So the Maoris of New Zealand, +another Polynesian people of the South Pacific, divided the year +into moons and determined the first moon by the rising of the +Pleiades, which they called <foreign rend='italic'>Matariki</foreign>.<note place='foot'>E. Shortland, <hi rend='italic'>Traditions and +Superstitions of the New Zealanders</hi>, +Second Edition (London, 1856), p. +219.</note> Indeed throughout Polynesia +the rising of the Pleiades (variously known as Matariki, Mataliki, +Matalii, Makalii, etc.) seems to have marked the beginning of +the year.<note place='foot'><hi rend='italic'>The United States Exploring Expedition, +Ethnography and Philology</hi>, +by Horatio Hale (Philadelphia, 1846), +p. 170; E. Tregear, <hi rend='italic'>Maori-Polynesian +Comparative Dictionary</hi> (Wellington, +N.Z., 1891), p. 226.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Attention +paid to the +Pleiades by +the Melanesians.</note> +Among some of the Melanesians also the Pleiades occupy an +important position in the calendar. <q>The Banks' islanders and +Northern New Hebrides people content themselves with distinguishing +the Pleiades, by which the approach of yam harvest is marked.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. R. H. Codrington, <hi rend='italic'>The +Melanesians</hi> (Oxford, 1891), p. 348. +In the island of Florida the Pleiades +are called <foreign rend='italic'>togo ni samu</foreign>, <q>the company +of maidens</q> (<hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 349).</note> +<q>Amongst the constellations, the Pleiades and Orion's belt seem to +be those which are most familiar to the natives of Bougainville +Straits. The former, which they speak of as possessing six stars, +they name <foreign rend='italic'>Vuhu</foreign>; the latter <foreign rend='italic'>Matatala</foreign>. They have also names for +a few other stars. As in the case of many other savage races, the +Pleiades is a constellation of great significance with the inhabitants +of these straits. The Treasury Islanders hold a great feast towards +the end of October, to celebrate, as far as I could learn, the +approaching appearance of the constellation above the eastern +horizon soon after sunset. Probably, as in many of the Pacific +Islands, this event marks the beginning of their year. I learned +from Mr. Stephens that, in Ugi, where of all the constellations the +Pleiades alone receives a name, the natives are guided by it in +selecting the times for planting and taking up the yams.</q><note place='foot'>H. B. Guppy, <hi rend='italic'>The Solomon Islands +and their Natives</hi> (London, 1887), p. +56.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Attention +paid to the +Pleiades by +the natives +of New +Guinea and +the Indian +Archipelago.</note> +The natives of the Torres Straits islands observe the appearance +of the Pleiades (<foreign rend='italic'>Usiam</foreign>) on the horizon at sunset; and when they +see it, they say that the new yam time has come.<note place='foot'>A. C. Haddon, <q>Legends from +Torres Straits,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Folk-lore</hi>, i. (1890) p. +195. We may conjecture that the +<q>new yam time</q> means the time for +planting yams.</note> The Kai and +the Bukaua, two agricultural tribes of German New Guinea, also +determine the season of their labour in the fields by observation of +the Pleiades: the Kai say that the time for such labours is when +the Pleiades are visible above the horizon at night.<note place='foot'>R. Neuhauss, <hi rend='italic'>Deutsch Neu-Guinea</hi> +(Berlin, 1911), pp. 159, 431 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> In some +districts of northern Celebes the rice-fields are similarly prepared for +cultivation when the Pleiades are seen at a certain height above the +<pb n='314'/><anchor id='Pg314'/> +horizon.<note place='foot'>A. F. van Spreeuwenberg, <q>Een +blik op de Minahassa,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Tijdschrift +voor Neerlands Indië</hi>, Vierde Deel +(Batavia, 1845), p. 316; J. G. F. +Riedel, <q>De landschappen Holontalo, +Limoeto, Bone, Boalemo, en Kattinggola, +of Andagile,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Tijdschrift voor +Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde</hi>, +xix. (1869) p. 140; <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, in <hi rend='italic'>Zeitschrift +für Ethnologie</hi>, iii. (1871) p. 404.</note> As to the Dyaks of Sarawak we read that <q>the Pleiades +themselves tell them when to farm; and according to their position +in the heavens, morning and evening, do they cut down the forest, +burn, plant, and reap. The Malays are obliged to follow their +example, or their lunar year would soon render their farming operations +unprofitable.</q><note place='foot'>Spenser St. John, <hi rend='italic'>Life in the +Forests of the Far East</hi>, Second +Edition (London, 1863), i. 214. +Compare H. Low, <hi rend='italic'>Sarawak</hi> (London, +1848), p. 251.</note> When the season for clearing fresh land in +the forest approaches, a wise man is appointed to go out before +dawn and watch for the Pleiades. As soon as the constellation is +seen to rise while it is yet dark, they know that the time has come +to begin. But not until the Pleiades are at the zenith before dawn +do the Dyaks think it desirable to burn the fallen timber and to sow +the rice.<note place='foot'>Dr. Charles Hose, <q>Various +Modes of computing the Time for +Planting among the Races of Borneo,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Straits Branch of the +Royal Asiatic Society</hi>, No. 42 (Singapore, +1905), pp. 1 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Compare +Charles Brooke, <hi rend='italic'>Ten Years in Sarawak</hi> +(London, 1866), i. 59; Rev. +J. Perham, <q>Sea Dyak Religion,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Straits Branch of the +Royal Asiatic Society</hi>, No. 10 (Singapore, +1883), p. 229.</note> However, the Kenyahs and Kayans, two other tribes of +Sarawak, determine the agricultural seasons by observation of the +sun rather than of the stars; and for this purpose they have devised +certain simple but ingenious mechanisms. The Kenyahs measure +the length of the shadow cast by an upright pole at noon; and the +Kayans let in a beam of light through a hole in the roof and +measure the distance from the point immediately below the hole to +the place where the light reaches the floor.<note place='foot'>Dr. Charles Hose, <hi rend='italic'>op. cit.</hi> p. 4. +Compare <hi rend='italic'>id.</hi>, <q>The Natives of Borneo,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Anthropological +Institute</hi>, xxiii. (1894) pp. 168 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, +where the writer tells us that the +Kayans and many other races in Borneo +sow the rice when the Pleiades appear +just above the horizon at daybreak, +though the Kayans more usually determine +the time for sowing by observation +of the sun. As to the Kayan +mode of determining the time for sowing +by the length of shadow cast by an +upright pole, see also W. Kükenthal, +<hi rend='italic'>Forschungsreise in den Molukken und +in Borneo</hi> (Frankfort, 1896), pp. 292 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Some Dyaks employ a species of +sun-dial for dating the twelve months +of the year. See H. E. D. Engelhaard, +<q>Aanteekeningen betreffende +de Kindjin Dajaks in het Landschap +Baloengan,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Tijdschrift voor Indische +Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde</hi>, xxxix. +(1897) pp. 484-486.</note> But the Kayans of the +Mahakam river, in Dutch Borneo, determine the time for sowing by +observing when the sun sets in a line with two upright stones.<note place='foot'>A. W. Nieuwenhuis, <hi rend='italic'>Quer durch +Borneo</hi> (Leyden, 1904-1907), i. 160.</note> In +Bali, an island to the east of Java, the appearance of the Pleiades at +sunset in March marks the end of the year.<note place='foot'>F. K. Ginzel, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der +mathematischen und technischen Chronologie</hi>, +i. (Leipsic, 1906) p. 424.</note> The Pleiades and +<pb n='315'/><anchor id='Pg315'/> +Orion are the only constellations which the people of Bali observe +for the purpose of correcting their lunar calendar by intercalation. +For example, they bring the lunar year into harmony +with the solar by prolonging the month Asada until the Pleiades +are visible at sunset.<note place='foot'>R. Friederich, <q>Voorloopig Verslag +van het eiland Bali,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Verhandelingen +van het Bataviaasch Genootschap +van Kunsten en Wetenschappen</hi>, xxiii. +(1849) p. 49.</note> The natives of Nias, an island to the +south of Sumatra, pay little heed to the stars, but they have +names for the Morning Star and for the Pleiades; and when +the Pleiades appear in the sky, the people assemble to till their +fields, for they think that to do so before the rising of the constellation +would be useless.<note place='foot'>J. T. Nieuwenhuisen en H. C. B. +von Rosenberg, <q>Verslag omtrent het +eiland Nias en deszelfs Bewoners,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch +Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen</hi>, +xxx. (Batavia, 1863) p. 119.</note> In some districts of Sumatra <q>much +confusion in regard to the period of sowing is said to have arisen +from a very extraordinary cause. Anciently, say the natives, it was +regulated by the stars, and particularly by the appearance (heliacal +rising) of the <foreign rend='italic'>bintang baniak</foreign> or Pleiades; but after the introduction +of the Mahometan religion, they were induced to follow the returns +of the <foreign rend='italic'>puāsa</foreign> or great annual fast, and forgot their old rules. The +consequence of this was obvious; for the lunar year of the <foreign rend='italic'>hejrah</foreign> +being eleven days short of the sidereal or solar year, the order of the +seasons was soon inverted; and it is only astonishing that its inaptness +to the purposes of agriculture should not have been immediately +discovered.</q><note place='foot'>W. Marsden, <hi rend='italic'>History of Sumatra</hi>, +Third Edition (London, 1811), p. +71.</note> The Battas or Bataks of central Sumatra date +the various operations of the agricultural year by the positions of +Orion and the Pleiades. When the Pleiades rise before the sun at +the beginning of July, the Achinese of northern Sumatra know that +the time has come to sow the rice.<note place='foot'>F. K. Ginzel, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der +mathematischen und technischen Chronologie</hi>, +i. (Leipsic, 1906) p. 428.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>Attention +paid to the +Pleiades by +the natives +of Africa, Greeks, and Romans.</note> +Scattered and fragmentary as these notices are, they suffice to +shew that the Pleiades have received much attention from savages +in the tropical regions of the world from Brasil in the east to +Sumatra in the west. Far to the north of the tropics the rude +Kamchatkans are said to know only three constellations, the Great +Bear, the Pleiades, and three stars in Orion.<note place='foot'>S. Krascheninnikow, <hi rend='italic'>Beschreibung +des Landes Kamtschatka</hi> (Lemgo, +1766), p. 217. The three stars are +probably the Belt.</note> When we pass to +Africa we again find the Pleiades employed by tribes in various +parts of the continent to mark the seasons of the agricultural year. +We have seen that the Caffres of South Africa date their new year +from the rising of the Pleiades just before sunrise and fix the time +for sowing by observation of that constellation.<note place='foot'>See above, vol. i. p. <ref target='Pg116'>116</ref>.</note> <q>They calculate +<pb n='316'/><anchor id='Pg316'/> +only twelve lunar months for the year, for which they have descriptive +names, and this results in frequent confusion and difference of +opinion as to which month it really is. The confusion is always +rectified by the first appearance of Pleiades just before sunrise, and +a fresh start is made and things go on smoothly till once more the +moons get out of place, and reference has again to be made to the +stars.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. J. Macdonald, <hi rend='italic'>Light in +Africa</hi>, Second Edition (London, +1890), pp. 194 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Compare J. +Sechefo, <q>The Twelve Lunar Months +among the Basuto,</q> <hi rend='italic'>Anthropos</hi>, iv. +(1909) p. 931.</note> According to another authority on the Bantu tribes of +South Africa, <q>the rising of the Pleiades shortly after sunset was +regarded as indicating the planting season. To this constellation, +as well as to several of the prominent stars and planets, +they gave expressive names. They formed no theories concerning +the nature of the heavenly bodies and their motions, and were not +given to thinking of such things.</q><note place='foot'>G. McCall Theal, <hi rend='italic'>Records of +South-Eastern Africa</hi>, vii. (1901) p. +418. Compare G. Thompson, <hi rend='italic'>Travels +and Adventures in Southern Africa</hi> +(London, 1827), ii. 359.</note> The Amazulu call the Pleiades +<foreign rend='italic'>Isilimela</foreign>, which means <q>The digging-for (stars),</q> because when the +Pleiades appear the people begin to dig. They say that <q><foreign rend='italic'>Isilimela</foreign> +(the Pleiades) dies, and is not seen. It is not seen in winter; and +at last, when the winter is coming to an end, it begins to appear—one +of its stars first, and then three, until going on increasing it +becomes a cluster of stars, and is perfectly clear when the sun is +about to rise. And we say <foreign rend='italic'>Isilimela</foreign> is renewed, and the year +is renewed, and so we begin to dig.</q><note place='foot'>Rev. H. Callaway, <hi rend='italic'>The Religious +System of the Amazulu</hi>, Part iii. +(London, etc., 1870), p. 397.</note> The Bechuanas <q>are +directed by the position of certain stars in the heavens, that the +time has arrived, in the revolving year, when particular roots can be +dug up for use, or when they may commence their labours of the +field. This is their <foreign rend='italic'>likhakologo</foreign> (turnings or revolvings), or what we +should call the spring time of the year. The Pleiades they call +<foreign rend='italic'>seleméla</foreign>, which may be translated <q>cultivator,</q> or the precursor of +agriculture, from <foreign rend='italic'>leméla</foreign>, the relative verb to cultivate <emph>for</emph>; and <foreign rend='italic'>se</foreign>, +a pronominal prefix, distinguishing them as the actors. Thus, +when this constellation assumes a certain position in the heavens, +it is the signal to commence cultivating their fields and gardens.</q><note place='foot'>R. Moffat, <hi rend='italic'>Missionary Labours and +Scenes in Southern Africa</hi> (London, +1842), pp. 337 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> +Among some of these South African tribes the period of seclusion +observed by lads after circumcision comes to an end with +the appearance of the Pleiades, and accordingly the youths are +said to long as ardently for the rising of the constellation as +Mohammedans for the rising of the moon which will put an end +to the fast of Ramadan.<note place='foot'>Stephen Kay, <hi rend='italic'>Travels and Researches +in Caffraria</hi> (London, 1833), +p. 273.</note> The Hottentots date the seasons of the +<pb n='317'/><anchor id='Pg317'/> +year by the rising and setting of the Pleiades.<note place='foot'>Gustav Fritsch, <hi rend='italic'>Die Eingeborenen +Süd-Afrika's</hi> (Breslau, 1872). p. 340.</note> An early Moravian +missionary settled among the Hottentots, reports that <q>at the return of +the Pleiades these natives celebrate an anniversary; as soon as these +stars appear above the eastern horizon mothers will lift their little ones +on their arms, and running up to elevated spots, will show to them +those friendly stars, and teach them to stretch their little hands towards +them. The people of a kraal will assemble to dance and to sing +according to the old custom of their ancestors. The chorus always +sings: <q>O Tiqua, our Father above our heads, give rain to us, that +the fruits (bulbs, etc.), <foreign rend='italic'>uientjes</foreign>, may ripen, and that we may have +plenty of food, send us a good year.</q></q><note place='foot'>Theophilus Hahn, <hi rend='italic'>Tsuni-Goam, +the Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi</hi> +(London, 1881), p. 43, quoting the +Moravian missionary George Schmidt, +who was sent out to the Cape of Good +Hope in 1737.</note> With some tribes of British +Central Africa the rising of the Pleiades early in the evening is the +signal for the hoeing to begin.<note place='foot'>H. S. Stannus, <q>Notes on some +Tribes of British Central Africa,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Journal of the R. Anthropological Institute</hi>, +xl. (1910) p. 289.</note> To the Masai of East Africa the +appearance of the Pleiades in the wrest is the sign of the beginning +of the rainy season, which takes its name from the constellation.<note place='foot'>M. Merker, <hi rend='italic'>Die Masai</hi> (Berlin, +1894), pp. 155, 198.</note> +In Masailand the Pleiades are above the horizon from September +till about the seventeenth of May; and the people, as they express +it themselves, <q>know whether it will rain or not according to the +appearance or non-appearance of the six stars, called The Pleiades, +which follow after one another like cattle. When the month which +the Masai call <q>Of the Pleiades</q><note place='foot'>May.</note> arrives, and the Pleiades are no +longer visible, they know that the rains are over. For the Pleiades +set in that month and are not seen again until the season of +showers has come to an end:<note place='foot'>June-August.</note> it is then that they reappear.</q><note place='foot'>A. C. Hollis, <hi rend='italic'>The Masai</hi> (Oxford, +1905), p. 275, compare p. 333. The +<q>season of showers</q> seems to be a +name for the dry season (June, July, +August), when rain falls only occasionally; +it is thus distinguished from the +rainy season of winter, which begins +after the reappearance of the Pleiades +in September.</note> +The only other groups of stars for which the Masai appear to +have names are Orion's sword and Orion's belt.<note place='foot'>A. C. Hollis, <hi rend='italic'>The Masai</hi>, pp. +275 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi></note> The Nandi +of British East Africa have a special name (<foreign rend='italic'>Koremerik</foreign>) for the +Pleiades, <q>and it is by the appearance or non-appearance of these +stars that the Nandi know whether they may expect a good or a +bad harvest.</q><note place='foot'>A. C. Hollis, <hi rend='italic'>The Nandi</hi> (Oxford, +1909), p. 100.</note> The Kikuyu of the same region say that <q>the +Pleiades is the mark in the heavens to show the people when to +plant their crops; they plant when this constellation is in a certain +position early in the night.</q><note place='foot'>C. W. Hobley, <q>Further Researches +into Kikuyu and Kamba +Religious Beliefs and Customs,</q> +<hi rend='italic'>Journal of the Royal Anthropological +Institute</hi>, xli. (1911) p. 442.</note> In Sierra Leone <q>the proper time +<pb n='318'/><anchor id='Pg318'/> +for preparing the plantations is shewn by the particular situation in +which the Pleiades, called by the Bulloms <foreign rend='italic'>a-warrang</foreign>, the only stars +which they observe or distinguish by peculiar names, are to be seen +at sunset.</q><note place='foot'>Thomas Winterbottom, <hi rend='italic'>An Account +of the Native Africans in the Neighbourhood +of Sierra Leone</hi> (London, +1803), p. 48.</note> We have seen that ancient Greek farmers reaped their +corn when the Pleiades rose at sunrise in May, and that they ploughed +their fields when the constellation set at sunrise in November.<note place='foot'>Hesiod, <hi rend='italic'>Works and Days</hi>, 383 +<hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi>, 615 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> See above, pp. <ref target='Pg045'>45</ref>, <ref target='Pg048'>48</ref>.</note> The +interval between the two dates is about six months. Both the Greeks +and the Romans dated the beginning of summer from the heliacal +rising of the Pleiades and the beginning of winter from their heliacal +setting.<note place='foot'>Aratus, <hi rend='italic'>Phaenomena</hi>, 264-267; +Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> ii. 123, 125, xviii. +280, <q><foreign lang='la' rend='italic'>Vergiliae privatim attinent ad +fructus, ut quarum exortu aestas incipiat, +occasu hiems, semenstri spatio +intra se messes vindemiasque et omnium +maturitatem conplexae.</foreign></q> Compare L. +Ideler, <hi rend='italic'>Handbuch der mathematischen +und technischen Chronologie</hi> (Berlin, +1825-1826), i. 241 <hi rend='italic'>sq.</hi> Pliny dated +the rising of the Pleiades on the 10th +of May and their setting on the 11th of +November (<hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> ii. 123, 125).</note> Pliny regarded the autumnal setting of the Pleiades as the +proper season for sowing the corn, particularly the wheat and the +barley, and he tells us that in Greece and Asia all the crops were +sown at the setting of that constellation.<note place='foot'>Pliny, <hi rend='italic'>Nat. Hist.</hi> xviii. 49 and 223.</note> +</p> + +<p> +<note place='margin'>The +widespread +association +of the +Pleiades +with agriculture +seems to be +based on +the coincidence +of +their rising +or setting +with the +commencement +of +the rainy +season.</note> +So widespread over the world has been and is the association of +the Pleiades with agriculture, especially with the sowing or planting +of the crops. The reason for the association seems to be the coincidence +of the rising or setting of the constellation with the commencement +of the rainy season; since men must very soon have learned +that the best, if not the only, season to sow and plant is the time +of year when the newly-planted seeds or roots will be quickened by +abundant showers. The same association of the Pleiades with rain +seems sufficient to explain their importance even for savages who +do not till the ground; for ignorant though such races are, they yet +can hardly fail to observe that wild fruits grow more plentifully, and +therefore that they themselves have more to eat after a heavy fall of +rain than after a long drought. In point of fact we saw that some +of the Australian aborigines, who are wholly ignorant of agriculture, +look on the Pleiades as the givers of rain, and curse the constellation +if its appearance is not followed by the expected showers.<note place='foot'>See above, p. <ref target='Pg307'>307</ref>.</note> On the +other side of the world, and at the opposite end of the scale of +culture, the civilised Greeks similarly supposed that the autumnal +setting of the Pleiades was the cause of the rains which followed it; +and the astronomical writer Geminus thought it worth while to argue +against the supposition, pointing out that the vicissitudes of the +weather and of the seasons, though they may coincide with the +risings and settings of the constellations, are not produced by them, +<pb n='319'/><anchor id='Pg319'/> +the stars being too distant from the earth to exercise any appreciable +influence on our atmosphere. Hence, he says, though the constellations +serve as the signals, they must not be regarded as the causes, +of atmospheric changes; and he aptly illustrates the distinction by a +reference to beacon-fires, which are the signals, but not the causes, +of war.<note place='foot'>Geminus, <hi rend='italic'>Elementa Astronomiae</hi>, +xvii. 10 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi> If <q>the sweet influences +of the Pleiades</q> in the Authorised +Version of the English Bible were an +exact translation of the corresponding +Hebrew words in Job xxxviii. 31, we +should naturally explain the <q>sweet influences</q> +by the belief that the autumnal +setting of the constellation is the cause +of rain. But the rendering of the +words is doubtful; it is not even certain +that the constellation referred to is the +Pleiades. See the commentaries of +A. B. Davidson and Professor A. S. +Peak on the passage. The Revised +English Version translates the words +in question <q>the cluster of the +Pleiades.</q> Compare H. Grimme, <hi rend='italic'>Das +israelitische Pfingstfest und der Plejadenkult</hi> +(Paderborn, 1907), pp. 61 <hi rend='italic'>sqq.</hi></note> +</p> + +</div> + +</body> +<back rend="page-break-before: right"> + <div id="footnotes"> + <index index="toc" /> + <index index="pdf" /> + <head>Footnotes</head> + <divGen type="footnotes"/> + </div> + <div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <divGen type="pgfooter" /> + </div> +</back> +</text> +</TEI.2> diff --git a/42067-tei/images/cover.jpg b/42067-tei/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c3b3c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/42067-tei/images/cover.jpg |
