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

470

Gilbert White, The Natural History of Selborne, Part II. Letter 28 (Edinburgh, 1829), pp. 239 sq.; Francis Grose, A Provincial Glossary (London, 1811), p. 290; J. Brand, op. cit. iii. 287-292; R. Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England3 (London, 1881), pp. 415, 421; W. G. Black, Folk-medicine (London, 1883), pp. 67 sq.; W. Wollaston Groome, “Suffolk Leechcraft,” Folk-lore, vi. (1895) pp. 123 sq.; E. S. Hartland, in Folk-lore, vii. (1896) pp. 303-306; County Folk-lore, Suffolk, edited by Lady E. C. Gurdon (London, 1893) pp. 26-28; Beatrix A. Wherry, “Miscellaneous Notes from Monmouthshire,” Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) p. 65; Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 320. Sometimes the tree was an oak instead of an ash (M. Trevelyan, l. c.). To ensure the success of the cure various additional precautions are sometimes recommended, as that the ash should be a maiden, that is a tree that has never been topped or cut; that the split should be made east and west; that the child should be passed into the tree by a maiden and taken out on the other side by a boy; that the child should always be passed through head foremost (but according to others feet foremost), and so forth. In Surrey we hear of a holly-tree being used instead of an ash (Notes and Queries, Sixth Series, xi. Jan. – Jun. 1885, p. 46).

471

“Some West Sussex superstitions lingering in 1868, collected by Charlotte Latham, at Fittleworth,” Folk-lore Record, i. (1878) pp. 40 sq.

472

For the custom in Germany and Austria, see J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 ii. 975 sq.; A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube2 (Berlin, 1869), p. 317, § 503; A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Nord-deutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), pp. 443 sq.; J. F. L. Woeste, Volksüberlieferungen in der Grafschaft Mark (Iserlohn, 1848), p. 54; E. Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), p. 390, § 56; F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 301; Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern, ii. (Munich, 1863) p. 255; J. A. E. Köhler, Volksbrauch, Aberglauben, Sagen und andre alte Ueberlieferungen im Voigtlande (Leipsic, 1867), pp. 415 sq.; L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), i. 72 sq., § 88; K. Bartsch, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Mecklenburg (Vienna, 1879-1880), ii. 290 sq., § 1447; J. Haltrich, Zur Volkskunde der Siebenbürger Sachsen (Vienna, 1885), p. 264; P. Wagler, Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit, i. (Wurzen, 1891) pp. 21-23. As to the custom in France, see Marcellus, De medicamentis, xxxiii. 26 (where the tree is a cherry); J. B. Thiers, Traité des Superstitions (Paris, 1679), pp. 333 sq.; A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 231; L. J. B. Bérenger-Féraud, in Bullétins de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, iv. série, i. (1890) pp. 895-902; id., Superstitions et Survivances (Paris, 1896), i. 523 sqq. As to the custom in Denmark and Sweden, see J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 ii. 976; H. F. Feilberg, “Zwieselbäume nebst verwandtem Aberglauben in Skandinavien,” Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, vii. (1897) pp. 42 sqq. In Mecklenburg it is sometimes required that the tree should have been split by lightning (K. Bartsch, l. c.). The whole subject of passing sick people through narrow apertures as a mode of cure has been well handled in an elegant little monograph (Un Vieux Rite médical, Paris, 1892) by Monsieur H. Gaidoz, who rightly rejects the theory that all such passages are symbols of a new birth. But I cannot agree with him in thinking that the essence of the rite consists in the transference of the disease from the person to the tree; rather, it seems to me, the primary idea is that of interposing an impassable barrier between a fugitive and his pursuing foe, though no doubt the enemy thus left behind is apparently supposed to adhere to the further side of the obstacle (whether tree, stone, or what not) through which he cannot pass. However, the sympathetic relation supposed to exist between the sufferer and the tree through which he has been passed certainly favours the view that he has left some portion of himself attached to the tree. But in this as in many similar cases, the ideas in the minds of the persons who practise the custom are probably vague, confused, and inconsistent; and we need not attempt to define them precisely. Compare also R. Andree, Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche (Stuttgart, 1878), pp. 31 sq.; E. S. Hartland, The Legend of Perseus (London, 1894-1896), ii. 146 sq.; L. J. B. Bérenger-Féraud, Superstitions et Survivances (Paris, 1896), i. 523-540.

473

L. Strackerjan, l. c.; K. Bartsch, l. c.

474

E. Meier, l. c.; Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern, ii. 255; A. Wuttke, l. c.

475

H. F. Feilberg, “Zwieselbäume nebst verwandtem Aberglauben in Skandinavien,” Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, vii. (1897) p. 44.

476

J. Theodore Bent, The Cyclades (London, 1885), pp. 457 sq.

477

H. Ploss, Das Kind2 (Leipsic, 1884), ii. 221.

478

R. Baier, “Beiträge von der Insel Rügen,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, ii. (1855) p. 141.

479

Manuk Abeghian, Der armenische Volksglaube (Leipsic, 1899), p. 58.

480

Fr. Kramer, “Der Götzendienst der Niasser,” Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde, xxxiii. (1890) pp. 478-480; H. Sundermann, Die Insel Nias und die Mission daselbst (Barmen, 1905), pp. 81-83. According to the latter writer the intention of passing through the cleft stick is “to strip off from himself (von zich abzustreifen) the last spirit that may have followed him.” The notion that the sun causes death by drawing away the souls of the living is Indian. See The Satapatha Brâhmana, ii. 3. 3. 7-8, translated by Julius Eggeling, Part I. (Oxford, 1882) p. 343 (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xii.): “Now yonder burning (sun) doubtless is no other than Death; and because he is Death, therefore the creatures that are on this side of him die. But those that are on the other side of him are the gods, and they are therefore immortal… And the breath of whomsoever he (the sun) wishes he takes and rises, and that one dies.”

481

Fr. Boas, in Seventh Report on the North-Western Tribes of Canada, p. 13 (separate reprint from the Report of the British Association, Cardiff meeting, 1891). The Shuswap Indians of the same region also fence their beds against ghosts with a hedge of thorn bushes. See Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, p. 142.

482

C. Hose, “In the heart of Borneo,” The Geographical Journal, xvi. (1900) pp. 45 sq. Compare C. Hose and W. McDougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo (London, 1912), ii. 36 sq., where, after describing the ceremony of passing through the cloven stick, the writers add: “In this way the Kayans symbolically prevent any of the uncanny influences of the graveyard following the party back to the house; though they do not seem to be clear as to whether it is the ghosts of the dead, or the Toh of the neighbourhood, or those which may have contributed to his death, against whom these precautions are taken.”

483

Cato, De agri cultura, 159 (pp. 106 sq. ed. H. Keil, Leipsic, 1884): “Luxum siquod est, hac cantione sanum fiet. Harundinem prende tibi viridem P. III. aut quinque longam, mediam diffinde, et duo homines teneant ad coxendices. Incipe cantare in alio s. f. moetas vaeta daries dardaries asiadarides una petes, usque dum coeant. Motas vaeta daries dardares astataries dissunapiter, usque dum coeant. Ferrum insuper jactato. Ubi coierint et altera alteram tetigerint, id manu prehende et dextera sinistra praecide, ad luxum aut ad fracturam alliga, sanum fiet.” The passage is obscure and perhaps corrupt. It is not clear whether “usque dum coeant” and “ubi coierint” refer to the drawing together of the bones or of the split portions of the reed, but apparently the reference is to the reed. The charm is referred to by Pliny, Nat. Hist., xvii. 267: “Quippe cum averti grandines carmine credant plerique, cujus verba inserere non equidem serio ausim, quamquam a Catone proditis contra luxata membra jungenda harundinum fissurae.” Compare J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 i. 186, ii. 1031 sq.

484

Pinabel, “Notes sur quelques peuplades dépendant du Tong-King,” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, Septième Série, v. (Paris, 1884) p. 430; A. Bourlet, “Funérailles chez les Thay,” Anthropos, viii. (1913) p. 45.

485

S. Krascheninnikow, Beschreibung des Landes Kamtschatka (Lemgo, 1766), pp. 268, 282.

486

N. Adriani en Alb. C. Kruijt, “Van Posso naar Parigi, Sigi en Lindoe,” Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap, xlii. (1898) p. 502. The poles are of a certain plant or tree called bomba.

487

Alb. C. Kruijt, “Eenige ethnografische aanteekeningen omtrent de Toboengkoe en de Tomori,” Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche Zendelinggenootschap, xliv. (1900) p. 223.

488

For examples of these ceremonies I may refer to my article, “On certain burial customs as illustrative of the primitive theory of the soul,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xv. (1886) pp. 64 sqq.

489

S. Krascheninnikow, Beschreibung des Landes Kamtschatka (Lemgo, 1766), pp. 277 sq.

490

W. H. Furness, Folk-lore in Borneo, a Sketch, p. 28 (Wallingford, Pennsylvania, 1899, privately printed). Compare id., The Home-life of Borneo Head-hunters (Philadelphia, 1902), p. 28: “Here a halt for final purification was made. An arch of boughs about five feet high was erected on the beach, and beneath it a fire was kindled, and then Tama Bulan, holding a young chicken, which he waved and brushed over every portion of the arch, invoked all evil spirits which had been accompanying us, and forbade them to follow us further through the fire. The fowl was then killed, its blood smeared all over the archway and sprinkled in the fire; then, led by Tama Bulan, the whole party filed under the arch, and as they stepped over the fire each one spat in it vociferously and immediately took his place in the boats.”

491

T. F. Thiselton Dyer, English Folk-lore (London, 1884), pp. 171 sq.; W. G. Black, Folk-medicine (London, 1883), p. 70; R. Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England, Third Edition (London, 1881), pp. 412, 415; Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 320.

492

A. de Nore, Coutumes, Mythes et Traditions des Provinces de France (Paris and Lyons, 1846), p. 152; H. Gaidoz, Un Vieux Rite médical (Paris, 1892), pp. 7 sq.

493

A. Strausz, Die Bulgaren (Leipsic, 1898), p. 414.

494

A. Strausz, op. cit. p. 404. As to the Bulgarian custom of creeping through a tunnel in a time of epidemic, see above, vol. i. pp. 282-284.

495

Last Journals of David Livingstone in Central Africa (London, 1874), i. 60.

496

Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda (London, 1911), p. 343. Compare id., “Notes on the Manners and Customs of the Baganda,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxi. (1901) p. 126; id., “Further Notes on the Manners and Customs of the Baganda,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxii. (1902) pp. 42 sq.

497

Ch. Keysser, “Aus dem Leben der Kaileute,” in R. Neuhauss's Deutsch Neu-Guinea, iii. (Berlin, 1911) pp. 141 sq.

498

J. Kreemer, “De Loeboes in Mandailing,” Bijdragen tot de Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indie, lxvi. (1912) p. 327.

499

Hermann Tönjes, Ovamboland, Land, Leute, Mission (Berlin, 1911), pp. 139 sq. The writer was unable to ascertain the meaning of the rite; the natives would only say that it was their custom.

500

A. Karasek, “Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Waschambo,” Baessler-Archiv, i. (Leipsic and Berlin, 1911) p. 192.

501

H. F. Feilberg, “Zwieselbäume nebst verwandtem Aberglauben in Skandinavien,” Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, vii. (1897) pp. 49 sq.

502

H. F. Feilberg, op. cit. p. 44.

503

J. G. Dalyell, The Darker Superstitions of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1834), p. 121; Ch. Rogers, Social Life in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1884-1886), iii. 239.

504

John Ramsay of Ochtertyre, Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, edited by A. Allardyce, (Edinburgh and London, 1888), ii. 454. Immediately after mentioning this custom the writer adds: “And in Breadalbane it is the custom for the dairymaid to drive the cattle to the sheals with a wand of that tree [the rowan] cut upon the day of removal, which is laid above the door until the cattle be going back again to the winter-town. This was reckoned a preservative against witchcraft.” As to the activity of witches and fairies on Hallowe'en and the first of May, see above, vol. i. pp. 226 sqq., 295; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 52 sqq.; J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1900), p. 18; id., Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), p. 270. As to the power of the rowan-tree to counteract their spells, see W. Gregor, Notes on the Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland (London, 1881), p. 188; J. C. Atkinson, Forty Years in a Moorland Parish (London, 1891), pp. 97 sqq.; The Scapegoat, pp. 266 sq.

505

L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 364, § 241.

506

L. Strackerjan, op. cit. i. p. 364, § 240.

507

Lieutenant-Colonel H. W. G. Cole, “The Lushais,” in Census of India, 1911, vol. iii. Assam, Part i. Report (Shillong, 1912), p. 140.

508

Franz Boas, in Eleventh Report on the North-Western Tribes of Canada, pp. 3 sq. (separate reprint from the Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Liverpool meeting, 1896).

509

Rev. G. E. White, Dean of Anatolia College, Survivals of Primitive Religion among the People of Asia Minor, p. 12 (paper read before the Victoria Institute or Philosophical Society of Great Britain, 6 Adelphi Terrace, Strand, London).

510

John Ramsay, Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, edited by Alex. Allardyce (Edinburgh, 1888), ii. 451 sq.

511

J. G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), p. 100.

512

Mr. James S. Greig, in a letter to me dated Lindean, Perth Road, Dundee, 17th August, 1913.

513

W. Borlase, Antiquities, historical and monumental, of the County of Cornwall (London, 1769), pp. 177 sq.

514

Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England, Third Edition (London, 1881), pp. 176, 415.

515

Thomas-de-Saint-Mars, “Fête de Saint Estapin,” Mémoires de la Société Royale des Antiquaires de France, i. (1817) pp. 428-430.

516

J. Deniker, “Dolmen et superstitions,” Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, v. série, i. (1900) p. 111. Compare H. Gaidoz, Un Vieux Rite médical (Paris, 1892), pp. 26 sq.; G. Fouju, “Légendes et Superstitions préhistoriques,” Revue des Traditions Populaires, xiv. (1899) pp. 477 sq.

517

F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 48 § 61.

518

F. Panzer, op. cit. ii. 431 sq.

519

Marie Andree-Eysn, Volkskundliches aus dem bayrisch-österreichischen Alpengebiet (Brunswick, 1910), pp. 1, 9, with the illustrations on pp. 10, 11.

520

F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie, ii. 431.

521

J. Theodore Bent, The Cyclades (London, 1885), p. 437.

522

E. H. Carnoy et J. Nicolaides, Traditions populaires de l'Asie Mineure (Paris, 1889), p. 338.

523

Rev. George E. White (of Marsovan, Turkey), Present Day Sacrifices in Asia Minor, p. 3 (reprinted from The Hartford Seminary Record, February 1906).

524

Central Provinces, Ethnographic Survey, vii. Draft Articles on Forest Tribes (Allahabad, 1911), p. 46.

525

So my friend Dr. G. W. Prothero informs me in a letter.

526

Census of India, 1911, vol. xiv. Punjab, Part i. Report, by Pandit Harikishan Kaul (Lahore, 1912), p. 302.

527

H. Gaidoz, Un Vieux Rite médical (Paris, 1892), p. 10.

528

H. Gaidoz, op. cit. p. 21.

529

H. Gaidoz, Un Vieux Rite médical (Paris, 1892), p. 21. Compare J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,4 ii. 975 sq.

530

H. F. Feilberg, “Zwieselbäume nebst verwandtem Aberglaube in Skandinavien,” Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, vii. (1897) p. 45.

531

H. Gaidoz, Un Vieux Rite médical (Paris, 1892), pp. 22 sq., referring to Nyrop, in Dania, i. No. 1 (Copenhagen, 1890), pp. 5 sqq.

532

Rev. John Campbell, Travels in South Africa, Second Journey (London, 1822), ii. 346. Among the same people “when a person is ill, they bring an ox to the place where he is laid. Two cuts are then made in one of its legs, extending down the whole length of it. The skin in the middle of the leg being raised up, the operator thrusts in his hand, to make way for that of the sick person, whose whole body is afterwards rubbed over with the blood of the animal. The ox after enduring this torment is killed, and those who are married and have children, as in the other case, are the only partakers of the feast.” (J. Campbell, op. cit. ii. 346 sq.). Here the intention seems to be not so much to transfer the disease to the ox, as to transfuse the healthy life of the beast into the veins of the sick man. The same is perhaps true of the Welsh and French cure for whooping-cough, which consists in passing the little sufferer several times under an ass. See J. Brand, Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1882-1883), iii. 288; L. J. B. Bérenger-Féraud, in Bulletins de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris, Quatrième Série, i. (1890) p. 897; id., Superstitions et Survivances (Paris, 1896), i. 526. The same cure for whooping-cough “is also practised in Ireland; only here the sufferer is passed round, that is, over and under, the body of an ass” (letter of Miss A. H. Singleton to me, dated Rathmagle House, Abbey-Leix, Ireland, 24th February 1904). But perhaps the intention rather is to give the whooping-cough to the animal; for it might reasonably be thought that the feeble whoop of the sick child would neither seriously impair the lungs, nor perceptibly augment the stentorian bray, of the donkey.

533

H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda (Berlin, 1894), p. 495. According to a fuller account, Indra drew her through three holes, that of a war-chariot, that of a cart, and that of a yoke. See W. Caland, Altindisches Zauberritual (Amsterdam, 1900), p. 31 note 5.

534

Dr. E. Werner, “Im westlichen Finsterregebirge und an der Nordküste von Deutsch-Neuginea,” Petermanns Mitteilungen, lv. (1909) pp. 74 sq. Among some tribes of South-Eastern Australia it was customary at the ceremonies of initiation to bend growing saplings into arches and compel the novices to pass under them; sometimes the youths had to crawl on the ground to get through. See A. W. Howitt, “On some Australian ceremonies of Initiation,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xiii. (1884) p. 445; id., Native Tribes of South-East Australia (London, 1904), p. 536.

535

Livy iii. 28, ix. 6, x. 36; Dionysius Halicarnasensis, Antiquit. Roman. iii. 22. 7. The so-called yoke in this case consisted of two spears or two beams set upright in the ground, with a third spear or beam laid transversely across them. See Livy iii. 28; Dionysius Halicarnasensis, l. c.

536

Livy i. 26: “Itaque, ut caedes manifesta aliquo tamen piaculo lueretur, imperatum patri, ut filium expiaret pecunia publica. Is quibusdam piacularibus sacrificiis factis, quae deinde genti Horatiae tradita sunt, transmisso per viam tigillo capite adoperto velut sub jugum misit juvenem. Id hodie quoque publice semper refectum manet; sororium tigillum vocant;” Festus, s. v. “Sororium Tigillum,” pp. 297, 307, ed. C. O. Müller (Leipsic, 1839); Dionysius Halicarnasensis, Antiquit. Roman. iii. 22. The position of the beam is described exactly by the last of these writers, who had evidently seen it. According to Festus, the yoke under which Horatius passed was composed of three beams, two uprights, and a cross-piece. The similarity of the ceremony to that which was exacted from conquered foes is noted by Dionysius Halicarnasensis as well as by Livy. The tradition of the purification has been rightly explained by Dr. W. H. Roscher with reference to the custom of passing through cleft trees, holed stones, and so on. See W. H. Roscher, Ausführliches Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii. (Leipsic, 1890-1897) col. 21. Compare G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer2 (Munich, 1912), p. 104.

537

Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 165 sqq.

538

Pliny, Natur. Histor. xv. 135: “Quia suffimentum sit caedis hostium et purgatio.”

539

Cicero, In Pisonem, xxiii. 55; Josephus, Bellum Judaicum, vii. 5. 4.

540

It was not till after I had given this conjectural explanation of the “Sister's Beam” and the triumphal arch at Rome that I read the article of Mr. W. Warde Fowler, “Passing under the Yoke” (The Classical Review, March 1913, pp. 48-51), in which he quite independently suggests practically the same explanation of both these Roman structures. I have left my exposition, except for one or two trivial verbal changes, exactly as it stood before I was aware that my friend had anticipated me in both conjectures. The closeness of the coincidence between our views is a welcome confirmation of their truth. As to the Porta Triumphalis, the exact position of which is uncertain, Mr. Warde Fowler thinks that it was not a gate in the walls, but an archway standing by itself in the Campus Martius outside the city walls. He points out that in the oldest existing triumphal arch, that of Augustus at Ariminum, the most striking part of the structure consists of two upright Corinthian pillars with an architrave laid horizontally across them; and he ingeniously conjectures that we have here a reminiscence of the two uprights and the cross-piece, which, if our theory is correct, was the original form both of the triumphal arch and of the yoke.