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

472

For the custom in Germany and Austria, see J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,

ii. 975 sq.; A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube

(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,

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 Kind

(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,

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