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

T. J. Hutchinson, Impressions of Western Africa (London, 1858), p. 162; Rev. J. Macdonald, Religion and Myth (London, 1893), pp. 105-107; Hugh Goldie, Calabar and its Mission, New Edition (Edinburgh and London, 1901), pp. 49 sq.; Miss Mary H. Kingsley, Travels in West Africa (London, 1897), p. 495; Major A. G. Leonard, The Lower Niger and its Tribes (London, 1906), pp. 449-451. The ceremony takes place both in Creek Town and Duke Town. The date of it, according to Miss Kingsley, is either every November or every second November; but with the exception of Mr. Macdonald, who does not mention the period, the other authorities agree in describing the ceremony as biennial. According to Major Leonard it is celebrated usually towards the end of the year. Miss Kingsley speaks of the effigies being set up in the houses themselves; but all the other writers say or imply that they are set up at the doors of the houses in the streets. According to Mr. Goldie the spirits expelled are “all the ghosts of those who have died since the last lustration.” He makes no mention of devils.

509

Missionary F. Terrien, in Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, liv. (1882) pp. 375-377.

510

Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, ii. 58 sqq.

511

Jakob Spieth, Die Ewe-Stämme (Berlin, 1906), pp. 305-307. We have seen (above, p. 193) that these people used a toad as a scapegoat to free them from the influenza.

512

H. von Wlislocki, Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Zigeuner (Münster i. W., 1891), pp. 65 sq.

513

Major A. Playfair, The Garos (London, 1909), p. 92.

514

E. T. Atkinson, “Notes on the History of Religion in the Himalaya of the North-West Provinces,” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, liii. Pt. i. (1884) p. 62; id., The Himalayan Districts of the North-Western Provinces of India, ii. (Allahabad, 1884) p. 871.

515

Scotland and Scotsmen in the Eighteenth Century, from the MSS. of John Ramsay of Ochtertyre, edited by Alex. Allardyce (Edinburgh, 1888), ii. 439.

516

W. M. Beauchamp, “The Iroquois White Dog Feast,” American Antiquarian, vii. (1885) p. 237.

517

Ibid. p. 236; T. Dwight, Travels in New England and New York (London, 1823), iv. 202.

518

Above, p. 127 (#x_13_i9).

519

Leviticus xvi. The word translated “scapegoat” in the Authorised Version is Azazel, which appears rather to be the name of a bad angel or demon, to whom the goat was sent away. “In later Jewish literature (Book of Enoch) Azazel appears as the prince of the fallen angels, the offspring of the unions described in Gen. vi. 1 ff. The familiar rendering ‘scapegoat,’ i. e. the goat which is allowed to escape, goes back to the caper emissarius of the Vulgate, and is based on an untenable etymology” (Professor A. R. S. Kennedy, in his commentary on Leviticus xvi. 8, in the Century Bible). There is some ground for thinking that the animal was killed by being thrown over a certain crag that overhangs a rocky chasm not far from Jerusalem. See Encyclopædia Biblica, ed. T. K. Cheyne and J. S. Black, vol. i. (London, 1899) coll. 394 sqq., s. v. “Azazel.” Modern Jews sacrifice a white cock on the eve of the Day of Atonement, nine days after the beginning of their New Year. The father of the family knocks the cock thrice against his own head, saying, “Let this cock be a substitute for me, let it take my place, let death be laid upon this cock, but a happy life bestowed on me and on all Israel.” Then he cuts its throat and dashes the bird violently on the ground. The intestines are thrown on the roof of the house. The flesh of the cock was formerly given to the poor. See J. Buxtorf, Synagoga Judaica (Bâle, 1661), ch. xxv. pp. 508 sqq.

520

S. Crowther and J. C. Taylor, The Gospel on the Banks of the Niger (London, 1859), pp. 343-345. Compare J. F. Schön and S. Crowther, Journals (London, 1848), pp. 48 sq. The account of the custom by J. Africanus B. Horton (West African Countries and Peoples, pp. 185 sq.) is taken entirely from Taylor.

521

Major A. G. Leonard, The Lower Niger and its Tribes (London, 1906), pp. 446 sqq.

522

An Igbodu is a sacred grove in which oracles are given. It is divided into three compartments by fences of palm branches and the omu shrub. Into the first compartment women and uninitiated men may enter; into the other two only priestly officials are permitted, according to their rank in the hierarchy, to enter. See Bishop James Johnson, “Yoruba Heathenism,” quoted by R. E. Dennett, At the Back of the Black Man's Mind (London, 1906), p. 254.

523

Bishop James Johnson, op. cit. p. 263. Bishop Johnson is a native African. It does not appear whether the sacrifice which he describes is occasional or periodical.

524

Turpin, “History of Siam,” in J. Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels (London, 1808-1814), ix. 579.

525

The oho-harahi or “Great Purification” is a ceremony, which used to be performed in the Japanese capital twice every year, namely on the last days of the sixth and twelfth month. It included a preliminary lustration, expiatory offerings, and the recital of a norito or formula (not a prayer), in which the Mikado, by virtue of an authority transmitted to him from the Sun-goddess, pronounced to his ministers and people the absolution and remission of their sins. See W. G. Aston, Shinto (London, 1905), pp. 294 sqq. The writer adds (p. 295): “The Chinese had an oho-harahi, defined by Mr. Giles in his Chinese Dictionary as ‘a religious ceremony of purification performed in spring and autumn, with a view to secure divine protection for agricultural interests.’ ” The popular celebrations of the first of May and the first of November in Europe seem to be relics of similar biennial purifications.

526

W. G. Aston, Shinto, pp. 308 sq.

527

W. Ködding, “Die Batakschen Götter und ihr Verhältnis zum Brahmanismus,” Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift, xii. (1885) pp. 476, 478.

528

Aeneas Sylvius, Opera (Bâle, 1571), pp. 423 sq.

529

H. Usener, “Italische Mythen,” Rheinisches Museum, N.F., xxx. (1875) p. 198; id., Kleine Schriften, iv. (Leipsic and Berlin, 1913) pp. 109 sq. The custom seems to have been revived in the latter part of the nineteenth century; perhaps it may still be observed. See H. Herzog, Schweizerische Volksfeste, Sitten und Gebräuche (Aarau, 1884), pp. 293 sq.; E. Hoffmann-Krayer, Feste und Bräuche des Schweizervolkes (Zurich, 1913), p. 101.

530

L. Curtius, “Christi Himmelfahrt,” Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, xiv. (1911) p. 307, quoting the Münchener Neuesten Nachrichten, No. 235, May 21st, 1909.

531

The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 164 sqq.

532

On the use of eponymous magistrates as annual scapegoats see above, pp. 39-41 (#x_5_i15).

533