The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 07 of 12)

562

Above, p. 134 (#x_14_i8).

563

Above, pp. 134 (#x_14_i8), 155 (#x_15_i24), 158 (#x_15_i32), 161 (#x_16_i13).

564

Above, pp. 136 (#x_14_i10), 138 (#x_14_i16), 140 (#x_14_i20), 143 (#x_14_i26), 152 (#x_15_i20), 153 (#x_15_i20), 154 (#x_15_i22), 155 (#x_15_i24), 156 (#x_15_i26), 157 (#x_15_i30), 158 (#x_15_i32): W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen, pp. 7, 26.

565

J. de Acosta, Natural and Moral History of the Indies, 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.

566

W. Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, pp. 342 sq. Mannhardt's authority is a Spanish tract (Carta pastorale de exortacion e instruccion contra las idolatrias de los Indios del arçobispado de Lima) by Pedro de Villagomez, Archbishop of Lima, published at Lima in 1649, and communicated to Mannhardt by J. J. v. Tschudi. The Carta Pastorale itself seems to be partly based on an earlier work, the 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 (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 (Zaramamas) 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 Zaramamas, 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 (Axomamas) 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): “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 [household gods]. 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.” The exhibiciones 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, “Travels on the Boundaries of Bolivia and Argentina,” The Geographical Journal, xxi. (1903) pp. 517, 518. Compare E. J. Payne, History of the New World called America (Oxford, 1892), i. 414 sq.

567

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique et de l'Amérique Centrale (Paris 1857-1859), iii. 40 sqq. Compare id., iii. 505 sq.; E. J. Payne, History of the New World called America, i. 419 sq.

568

E. Seler, “Altmexikanische Studien, ii.,” Veröffentlichungen aus dem königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde, vi. (Berlin, 1899) 2/4 Heft, pp. 67 sqq. 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 (“Altmexikanische Studien,” Veröffentlichungen aus dem königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde, i. 4 (Berlin, 1890) pp. 117 sqq.). Sahagun's work as a whole is known to me only in the excellent French translation of Messrs. D. Jourdanet and R. Simeon (Histoire Générale des choses de la Nouvelle-Espagne par le R. P. Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, Paris, 1880). As to the life and character of Sahagun see M. R. Simeon's introduction to the translation, pp. vii. sqq.

569

B. de Sahagun, Aztec text of book ii., translated by Professor E. Seler, “Altmexikanische Studien, ii.,” Veröffentlichungen aus dem königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde, 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, Histoire Générale des choses de la Nouvelle Espagne (Paris, 1880), pp. 94-96.

570

J. Mooney, “Myths of the Cherokee,” Nineteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part I. (Washington, 1900) pp. 423, 432. See further Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 296 sq.

571

L. H. Morgan, League of the Iroquois (Rochester, 1851), pp. 161 sq., 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, op. cit. p. 199 note 1).

572

C. Lumholtz, Unknown Mexico (London, 1903), ii. 280.

573

H. M. Elliot, Supplemental Glossary of Terms used in the North-Western Provinces, edited by J. Beames (London, 1869), i. 254.

574

W. B. Harris, “The Berbers of Morocco,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxvii. (1898) p. 68.

575

Sir John Drummond Hay, Western Barbary, its Wild Tribes and Savage Animals (1844), p. 9, quoted in Folk-lore, vii. (1896) pp. 306 sq.

576

See above, pp. 70 (#x_9_i19)sqq.

577

R. J. Wilkinson (of the Civil Service of the Federated Malay States), Malay Beliefs (London and Leyden, 1906), pp. 49-51. On the conception of the soul as a bird, see Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 33 sqq. 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, “De Rijstmoeder in den Indischen Archipel,” p. 374 (see the full reference in the next note).

578

A. C. Kruyt, “De Rijstmoeder in den Indischen Archipel,” Verslagen en Mededeelingen der koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afdeeling Letterkunde, Vierde Reeks, v. part 4 (Amsterdam, 1903), pp. 361 sq. 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 “the Rice-mother.” Mr. Kruyt prefers to speak of “soul-stuff” rather than of “a soul,” 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, Het Animisme in den Indischen Archipel (The Hague, 1906), pp. 1 sqq. In the latter work (pp. 145-150) the writer gives a more summary account of the Indonesian theory of the rice-soul.

579

See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 28 sq.; A. C. Kruyt, “De Rijstmoeder,” op. cit. pp. 363 sq., 370 sqq.

580

See above, pp. 113 (#x_12_i38)sqq.

581

See above, p. 181 (#x_18_i33).

582

See Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 411 sq.; A. C. Kruyt, “De Rijstmoeder,” op. cit. p. 372.

583

See above, pp. 92 sqq.

584

A. W. Nieuwenhuis, Quer durch Borneo (Leyden, 1904-1907), i. 157 sq.

585

A. W. Nieuwenhuis, op. cit. i. 118-121. Compare id., In Centraal Borneo (Leyden, 1900), i. 154 sqq.

586

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.