The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 11 of 12)

211

Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Calendrier Belge, i. 423.

212

W. Kolbe, Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebräuche2 (Marburg, 1888), p. 72; Sophus Bugge, Studien über die Entstehung der nordischen Götter- und Heldensagen (Munich, 1889), pp. 35, 295 sq.; Fr. Kauffmann, Balder (Strasburg, 1902), pp. 45, 61. The flowers of common camomile (Anthemis nobilis) are white with a yellow disk, which in time becomes conical. The whole plant is intensely bitter, with a peculiar but agreeable smell. As a medicine it is useful for stomachic troubles. In England it does not generally grow wild. See James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. xiv. (London, 1802) p. 980.

213

A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 177, § 488.

214

M. Töppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren2 (Danzig, 1867), p. 71.

215

A. Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen (Vienna, 1878), p. 289, § 139.

216

W. J. A. von Tettau und J. D. H. Temme, Volkssagen Ostpreussens, Litthauens und Westpreussens (Berlin, 1837), p. 283.

217

James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. vii. (London, 1798), p. 487. As to great mullein or high taper, see id., vol. viii. (London, 1799), p. 549.

218

Tettau und Temme, loc. cit. As to mullein at Midsummer, see also above, vol. i. pp. 190, 191.

219

J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren, p. 205, § 1426.

220

J. V. Grohmann, op. cit. p. 93, § 648.

221

J. A. E. Köhler, Volksbrauch, Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte Ueberlieferungen im Voigtlande (Leipsic, 1867), p. 377.

222

Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), p. 84.

223

J. N. Ritter von Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols (Zurich, 1857), p. 397.

224

C. Russwurm, “Aberglaube aus Russland,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iv. (1859) pp. 153 sq. The purple loosestrife is one of our most showy English wild plants. In July and August it may be seen flowering on the banks of rivers, ponds, and ditches. The separate flowers are in axillary whorls, which together form a loose spike of a reddish variable purple. See James Sowerby, English Botany, vol. xv. (London, 1802) p. 1061.

225

J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, i. 314 sqq.; Hilderic Friend, Flowers and Flower Lore, Third Edition (London, 1886), pp. 60, 78, 150, 279-283; Miss C. S. Burne and Miss G. F. Jackson, Shropshire Folk-lore (London, 1883), p. 242; Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), pp. 89 sq.; J. B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions (Paris, 1679), p. 314; J. Lecœur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand, i. 290; P. Sébillot, Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne (Paris, 1886), p. 217; id., Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne (Paris, 1882), ii. 336; A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube2 (Berlin, 1869), pp. 94 sq., § 123; F. J. Vonbun, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie (Chur, 1862), pp. 133 sqq.; Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfesten, p. 144; K. Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg, ii. 288, § 1437; M. Töppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren,2 p. 72; A. Schlossar, “Volksmeinung und Volksaberglaube aus der deutschen Steiermark,” Germania, N.R., xxiv. (1891) p. 387; Theodor Vernaleken, Mythen und Bräuche des Volkes in Oesterreich (Vienna, 1859), p. 309; J. N. Ritter von Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols (Zurich, 1857), pp. 407 sq.; I. V. Zingerle, Sitten, Bräuche und Meinungen des Tiroler Volkes2 (Innsbruck, 1871), p. 103, § 882, p. 158, § 1350; Christian Schneller, Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol (Innsbruck, 1867), p. 237; J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren, p. 97, §§ 673-677; Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Fest-Kalendar aus Böhmen (Prague, n. d.), pp. 311 sq.; W. Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), p. 265; R. F. Kaindl, Die Huzulen (Vienna, 1894), p. 106; id., “Zauberglaube bei den Huzulen,” Globus, lxxvi. (1899) p. 275; P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 142, § 159; G. Finamore, Credenze, Usi e Costumi Abruzzesi (Palermo, 1890), p. 161; C. Russwurm, “Aberglaube in Russland,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iv. (1859) pp. 152 sq.; A. de Gubernatis, Mythologie des Plantes (Paris, 1878-1882), ii. 144 sqq. The practice of gathering ferns or fern seed on the Eve of St. John was forbidden by the synod of Ferrara in 1612. See J. B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions5 (Paris, 1741), i. 299 sq. In a South Slavonian story we read how a cowherd understood the language of animals, because fern-seed accidentally fell into his shoe on Midsummer Day (F. S. Krauss, Sagen und Märchen der Südslaven, Leipsic, 1883-1884, ii. 424 sqq., No. 159). On this subject I may refer to my article, “The Language of Animals,” The Archaeological Review, i. (1888) pp. 164 sqq.

226

J. V. Grohmann, op. cit. p. 97, §§ 673, 675.

227

Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iv. (1859) pp. 152 sq.; A. de Gubernatis, Mythologie des Plantes, ii. 146.

228

M. Longworth Dames and E. Seemann, “Folk-lore of the Azores,” Folk-lore, xiv. (1903) pp. 142 sq.

229

August Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen (Vienna, 1878), p. 275, § 82.

230

W. Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), p. 265; K. Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg, ii. p. 285, § 1431, p. 288, § 1439; J. Napier, Folk-lore, or Superstitious Beliefs in the West of Scotland (Paisley, 1879), p. 125.

231

A. Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Märchen (Berlin, 1843), p. 330. As to the divining-rod in general, see A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks2 (Gütersloh, 1886), pp. 181 sqq.; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 ii. 813 sqq.; S. Baring-Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages (London, 1884), pp. 55 sqq. Kuhn plausibly suggests that the forked shape of the divining-rod is a rude representation of the human form. He compares the shape and magic properties of mandragora.

232

F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), i. 296 sq.

233

E. Krause, “Abergläubische Kuren und sonstiger Aberglaube in Berlin und nächster Umgebung,” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, xv. (1883) p. 89.

234

J. N. Ritter von Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols (Zurich, 1857), p. 393.

235

Karl Freiherr von Leoprechting, Aus dem Lechrain (Munich, 1855), p. 98. Some people in Swabia say that the hazel branch which is to serve as a divining-rod should be cut at midnight on Good Friday, and that it should be laid on the altar and mass said over it. If that is done, we are told that a Protestant can use it to quite as good effect as a Catholic. See E. Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 244 sq., No. 268. Some of the Wends of the Spreewald agree that the divining-rod should be made of hazel-wood, and they say that it ought to be wrapt in swaddling-bands, laid on a white plate, and baptized on Easter Saturday. Many of them, however, think that it should be made of “yellow willow.” See Wilibald von Schulenburg, Wendische Volkssagen und Gebräuche aus dem Spreewald (Leipsic, 1880), pp. 204 sq. A remarkable property of the hazel in the opinion of Bavarian peasants is that it is never struck by lightning; this immunity it has enjoyed ever since the day when it protected the Mother of God against a thunderstorm on her flight into Egypt. See Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern, i. (Munich, 1860) p. 371.

236

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 iii. 289, referring to Dybeck's Runa, 1844, p. 22, and 1845, p. 80.

237

L. Lloyd, Peasant Life in Sweden (London, 1870), pp. 266 sq.

238

Heinrich Pröhle, Harzsagen (Leipsic, 1859), i. 99, No. 23.

239

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 ii. 812 sq., iii. 289; A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks2 (Gütersloh, 1886), pp. 188-193; Walter K. Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore (London, 1863), pp. 174-178; J. F. L. Woeste, Volksüberlieferungen in der Grafschaft Mark (Iserlohn, 1848), p. 44; A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 459, No. 444; Ernst Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 240 sq., No. 265; C. Russwurm, “Aberglaube in Russland,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iv. (Göttingen, 1859) p. 153; J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 88, No. 623; Paul Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), ii. 207 sq. In Swabia some people say that the bird which brings the springwort is not the woodpecker but the hoopoe (E. Meier, op. cit. p. 240). Others associate the springwort with other birds. See H. Pröhle, Harzsagen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 116, No. 308; A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers,2 p. 190. It is from its power of springing or bursting open all doors and locks that the springwort derives its name (German Springwurzel).

240

Pliny, Nat. Hist. x. 40.

241

Ernst Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), pp. 238 sq., No. 264.

242

See above, pp. 45, 46, 49, 54, 55, 59, 60, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67.

243

Le Baron de Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Calendrier Belge (Brussels, 1861-1862), i. 423 sq.

244

Anton Birlinger, Völksthumliches aus Schwaben, Freiburg im Breisgau, (1861-1862), i. 278, § 437.

245

Robert Eisel, Sagenbuch des Voigtlandes (Gera, 1871), p. 210, Nr. 551.

246

W. J. A. von Tettau und J. D. H. Temme, Die Volkssagen Ostpreussens, Litthauens und Westpreussens (Berlin, 1837), pp. 263 sq.

247

F. S. Krauss, Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Südslaven (Münster i. W., 1890), p. 128.

248

Pliny derives the name Druid from the Greek drus, “oak.” He did not know that the Celtic word for oak was the same (daur), and that therefore Druid, in the sense of priest of the oak, might be genuine Celtic, not borrowed from the Greek. This etymology is accepted by some modern scholars. See G. Curtius, Grundzüge der Griechischen Etymologie5 (Leipsic, 1879), pp. 238 sq.; A. Vaniček, Griechisch-Lateinisch Etymologisches Wörterbuch (Leipsic, 1877), pp. 368 sqq.; (Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Heathendom (London and Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 221 sqq. However, this derivation is disputed by other scholars, who prefer to derive the name from a word meaning knowledge or wisdom, so that Druid would mean “wizard” or “magician.” See J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 iii. 305; Otto Schrader, Reallexikon der Indogermanischen Altertumskunde (Strasburg, 1901), pp. 638 sq.; H. D'Arbois de Jubainville, Les Druides et les Dieux Celtiques à forme d'animaux (Paris, 1906), pp. 1, 11, 83 sqq. The last-mentioned scholar formerly held that the etymology of Druid was unknown. See his Cours de Littérature Celtique, i. (Paris, 1883) pp. 117-127.

249

Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvi. 249-251. In the first edition of this book I understood Pliny to say that the Druidical ceremony of cutting the mistletoe fell in the sixth month, that is, in June; and hence I argued that it probably formed part of the midsummer festival. But in accordance with Latin usage the words of Pliny (sexta luna, literally “sixth moon”) can only mean “the sixth day of the month.” I have to thank my friend Mr. W. Warde Fowler for courteously pointing out my mistake to me. Compare my note in the Athenaeum, November 21st, 1891, p. 687. I also misunderstood Pliny's words, “et saeculi post tricesimum annum, quia jam virium abunde habeat nec sit sui dimidia,” applying them to the tree instead of to the moon, to which they really refer. After saeculi we must understand principium from the preceding principia. With the thirty years' cycle of the Druids we may compare the sixty years' cycle of the Boeotian festival of the Great Daedala (Pausanias, ix. 3. 5; see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 140 sq.), which, like the Druidical rite in question, was essentially a worship, or perhaps rather a conjuration, of the sacred oak. Whether any deeper affinity, based on common Aryan descent, may be traced between the Boeotian and the Druidical ceremony, I do not pretend to determine. In India a cycle of sixty years, based on the sidereal revolution of Jupiter, has long been in use. The sidereal revolution of Jupiter is accomplished in approximately twelve solar years (more exactly 11 years and 315 days), so that five of its revolutions make a period of approximately sixty years. It seems, further, that in India a much older cycle of sixty lunar years was recognized. See Christian Lassen, Indische Alter-thumskunde, i.2 (Leipsic, 1867), pp. 988 sqq.; Prof. F. Kielhorn (Göttingen), “The Sixty-year Cycle of Jupiter,” The Indian Antiquary, xviii. (1889) pp. 193-209; J. F. Fleet, “A New System of the Sixty-year Cycle of Jupiter,” ibid. pp. 221-224. In Tibet the use of a sixty-years' cycle has been borrowed from India. See W. Woodville Rockhill, “Tibet,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1891 (London, 1891), p. 207 note 1.

250

Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxiv. 11 sq.

251

Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxiii. 94.

252

Rev. John Batchelor, The Ainu and their Folk-lore (London, 1901), p. 222.

253

Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, v. (Cambridge, 1904) pp. 198 sq.

254

M. le baron Roger (ancien Gouverneur de la Colonie française du Sénégal), “Notice sur le Gouvernement, les Mœurs, et les Superstitions des Nègres du pays de Walo,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, viii. (Paris, 1827) pp. 357 sq.

255

Above, p. 77.

256

Compare The Times, 2nd April, 1901, p. 9: “The Tunis correspondent of the Temps reports that in the course of certain operations in the Belvedere Park in Tunis the workmen discovered a huge circle of enormous stumps of trees ranged round an immense square stone showing signs of artistic chisel work. In the neighbourhood were found a sort of bronze trough containing a gold sickle in perfect preservation, and a sarcophagus containing a skeleton. About the forehead of the skeleton was a gold band, having in the centre the image of the sun, accompanied by hieratic signs, which are provisionally interpreted as the monogram of Teutates. The discovery of such remains in North Africa has created a sensation.” As to the Celtic god Teutates and the human sacrifices offered to him, see Lucan, Pharsalia, i. 444 sq.:

Compare (Sir) John Rhys, Celtic Heathendom (London and Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 44 sqq., 232. Branches of the sacred olive at Olympia, which were to form the victors' crowns, had to be cut with a golden sickle by a boy whose parents were both alive. See the Scholiast on Pindar, Olymp. iii. 60, p. 102, ed. Aug. Boeck (Leipsic, 1819). In Assyrian ritual it was laid down that, before felling a sacred tamarisk to make magical images out of the wood, the magician should pray to the sun-god Shamash and touch the tree with a golden axe. See C. Fossey, La Magie Assyrienne (Paris, 1902), pp. 132 sq. Some of the ancients thought that the root of the marsh-mallow, which was used in medicine, should be dug up with gold and then preserved from contact with the ground (Pliny, Nat. Hist. xx. 29). At the great horse-sacrifice in ancient India it was prescribed by ritual that the horse should be slain by a golden knife, because “gold is light” and “by means of the golden light the sacrificer also goes to the heavenly world.” See The Satapatha-Brâhmana, translated by Julius Eggeling, Part v. (Oxford, 1900) p. 303 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xliv.). It has been a rule of superstition both in ancient and modern times that certain plants, to which medical or magical virtues were attributed, should not be cut with iron. See the fragment of Sophocles's Root-cutters, quoted by Macrobius, Saturn. v. 19. 9 sq.; Virgil, Aen. iv. 513 sq.; Ovid, Metamorph. vii. 227; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxiv. 68, 103, 176; and above, p. 65 (as to purple loosestrife in Russia). On the objection to the use of iron in such cases compare F. Liebrecht, Des Gervasius von Tilbury Otia Imperialia (Hanover, 1856), pp. 102 sq.; Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 225 sqq.

257

Étienne Aymonier, “Notes sur les Coutumes et Croyances Superstitieuses des Cambodgiens,” Cochinchine Française, Excursions et Reconnaissance No. 16 (Saigon, 1883), p. 136.

258

See above, vol. i. pp. 2 sqq.

259

Ernst Meier, “Über Pflanzen und Kräuter,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, i. (Göttingen, 1853), pp. 443 sq. The sun enters the sign of Sagittarius about November 22nd.

260

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 iii. 533, referring to Dybeck, Runa, 1845, p. 80.

261

Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 87.

262

Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvi. 250, “Omnia sanantem appellantes suo vocabulo.” See above, p. 77.

263

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 ii. 1009: “Sonst aber wird das welsche olhiach, bretagn. ollyiach, ir. uileiceach, gal. uileice, d. i. allheiland, von ol, uile universalis, als benennung des mistels angegeben.” My lamented friend, the late R. A. Neil of Pembroke College, Cambridge, pointed out to me that in N. M'Alpine's Gaelic Dictionary (Seventh Edition, Edinburgh and London, 1877, p. 432) the Gaelic word for mistletoe is given as an t' uil, which, Mr. Neil told me, means “all-healer.”

264

A. de Gubernatis, La Mythologie des Plantes (Paris, 1878-1882), ii. 73.

265

Rev. Hilderic Friend, Flowers and Flower Lore, Third Edition (London, 1886), p. 378. Compare A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks2 (Gütersloh, 1886), p. 206, referring to Keysler, Antiq. Sept. p. 308.

266

A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 102 sq. The local name for mistletoe here is besq, which may be derived from the Latin viscum.

267

A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks2 (Gütersloh, 1886), p. 205; Walter K. Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore (London, 1863), p. 186.

268

“Einige Notizen aus einem alten Kräuterbuche,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iv. (Göttingen, 1859) pp. 41 sq.

269

Francis Pérot, “Prières, Invocations, Formules Sacrées, Incantations en Bourbonnais,” Revue des Traditions Populaires, xviii. (1903) p. 299.

270

County Folk-lore, v. Lincolnshire, collected by Mrs. Gutch and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), p. 120.

271

Prof. P. J. Veth, “De Leer der Signatuur, iii. De Mistel en de Riembloem,” Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, vii. (1894) p. 111. He names Ray in England (about 1700), Boerhaave in Holland (about 1720), and Van Swieten, a pupil of Boerhaave's (about 1745).

272

County Folk-lore, vol. v. Lincolnshire, collected by Mrs. Gutch and Mabel Peacock (London, 1908), p. 120.

273

Rev. Mr. Shaw, Minister of Elgin, quoted by Thomas Pennant in his “Tour in Scotland, 1769,” printed in J. Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, iii. (London, 1809) p. 136; J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), iii. 151.

274

Walter K. Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore (London, 1863), p. 186.

275

On this point Prof. P. J. Veth (“De Leer der Signatuur,” Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, vii. (1894) p. 112) quotes Cauvet, Eléments d'Histoire naturelle medicale, ii. 290: “La famille des Loranthacées ne nous offre aucun intéret.”

276

A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks2 (Gütersloh, 1886), p. 205, referring to Dybeck, Runa, 1845, p. 80.

277

A. Kuhn, op. cit. p. 204, referring to Rochholz, Schweizersagen aus d. Aargau, ii. 202.

278

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 153.

279

J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 37, § 218. In Upper Bavaria the mistletoe is burned for this purpose along with the so-called palm-branches which were consecrated on Palm Sunday. See Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern, i. (Munich, 1860), p. 371.

280

A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks,2 p. 206, referring to Albertus Magnus, p. 155; Prof. P. J. Veth, “De Leer der Signatuur,” Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, vii. (1904) p. 111.

281

J. N. Ritter von Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols (Zurich, 1857), p. 398.

282

A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 97, § 128; Prof. P. J. Veth, “De Leer der Signatuur,” Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, vii. (1894) p. 111.

283

A. Wuttke, op. cit. p. 267, § 419.

284

W. Henderson, Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (London, 1879), p. 114.