{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_The_Golden_Bough_Tabooed_Things/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_The_Golden_Bough_Tabooed_Things","id":"wikisource_The_Golden_Bough_Tabooed_Things","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Golden_Bough/Tabooed_Things","summary":null,"tags":["Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","Subpages"],"text":"CHAPTER XXI\n\nTABOOED THINGS\n\n\u00a7 1. The Meaning of Taboo.\u2014Thus in primitive society the rules of ceremonial purity observed by divine kings, chiefs, and priests agree in many respects with the rules observed by homicides, mourners, women in childbed, girls at puberty, hunters and fishermen, and so on. To us these various classes of persons appear to differ totally in character and condition; some of them we should call holy, others we might pronounce unclean and polluted. But the savage makes no such moral distinction between them; the conceptions of holiness and pollution are not yet differentiated in his mind. To him the common feature of all these persons is that they are dangerous and in danger, and the danger in which they stand and to which they expose others is what we should call spiritual or ghostly, and therefore imaginary. The danger, however, is not less real because it is imaginary; imagination acts upon man as really as does gravitation, and may kill him as certainly as a dose of prussic acid. To seclude these persons from the rest of the world so that the dreaded spiritual danger shall neither reach them nor spread from them, is the object of the taboos which they have to observe. These taboos act, so to say, as electrical insulators to preserve the spiritual force with which these persons are charged from suffering or inflicting harm by contact with the outer world.\n\nTo the illustrations of these general principles which have been\nalready given I shall now add some more, drawing my examples, first,\nfrom the class of tabooed things, and, second, from the class of\ntabooed words; for in the opinion of the savage both things and\nwords may, like persons, be charged or electrified, either\ntemporarily or permanently, with the mysterious virtue of taboo, and\nmay therefore require to be banished for a longer or shorter time\nfrom the familiar usage of common life. And the examples will be\nchosen with special reference to those sacred chiefs, kings and\npriests, who, more than anybody else, live fenced about by taboo as\nby a wall. Tabooed things will be illustrated in the present\nchapter, and tabooed words in the next.\n\n\u00a7 2. Iron tabooed.\u2014In the first place we may observe that the awful sanctity of kings\nnaturally leads to a prohibition to touch their sacred persons. Thus\nit was unlawful to lay hands on the person of a Spartan king: no one\nmight touch the body of the king or queen of Tahiti: it is forbidden\nto touch the person of the king of Siam under pain of death; and no\none may touch the king of Cambodia, for any purpose whatever,\nwithout his express command. In July 1874 the king was thrown from\nhis carriage and lay insensible on the ground, but not one of his\nsuite dared to touch him; a European coming to the spot carried the\ninjured monarch to his palace. Formerly no one might touch the king\nof Corea; and if he deigned to touch a subject, the spot touched\nbecame sacred, and the person thus honoured had to wear a visible\nmark (generally a cord of red silk) for the rest of his life. Above\nall, no iron might touch the king's body. In 1800 King\nTieng-tsong-tai-oang died of a tumour in the back, no one dreaming\nof employing the lancet, which would probably have saved his life.\nIt is said that one king suffered terribly from an abscess in the\nlip, till his physician called in a jester, whose pranks made the\nking laugh heartily, and so the abscess burst. Roman and Sabine\npriests might not be shaved with iron but only with bronze razors or\nshears; and whenever an iron graving-tool was brought into the\nsacred grove of the Arval Brothers at Rome for the purpose of\ncutting an inscription in stone, an expiatory sacrifice of a lamb\nand a pig must be offered, which was repeated when the graving-tool\nwas removed from the grove. As a general rule iron might not be\nbrought into Greek sanctuaries. In Crete sacrifices were offered to\nMenedemus without the use of iron, because the legend ran that\nMenedemus had been killed by an iron weapon in the Trojan war. The\nArchon of Plataea might not touch iron; but once a year, at the\nannual commemoration of the men who fell at the battle of Plataea,\nhe was allowed to carry a sword wherewith to sacrifice a bull. To\nthis day a Hottentot priest never uses an iron knife, but always a\nsharp splint of quartz, in sacrificing an animal or circumcising a\nlad. Among the Ovambo of South-west Africa custom requires that lads\nshould be circumcised with a sharp flint; if none is to hand, the\noperation may be performed with iron, but the iron must afterwards be buried. Amongst the Moquis of Arizona stone knives, hatchets, and\nso on have passed out of common use, but are retained in religious\nceremonies. After the Pawnees had ceased to use stone arrow-heads\nfor ordinary purposes, they still employed them to slay the\nsacrifices, whether human captives or buffalo and deer. Amongst the\nJews no iron tool was used in building the Temple at Jerusalem or in\nmaking an altar. The old wooden bridge (_Pons Sublicius_) at Rome,\nwhich was considered sacred, was made and had to be kept in repair\nwithout the use of iron or bronze. It was expressly provided by law\nthat the temple of Jupiter Liber at Furfo might be repaired with\niron tools. The council chamber at Cyzicus was constructed of wood\nwithout any iron nails, the beams being so arranged that they could\nbe taken out and replaced.\n\nThis superstitious objection to iron perhaps dates from that early\ntime in the history of society when iron was still a novelty, and as\nsuch was viewed by many with suspicion and dislike. For everything\nnew is apt to excite the awe and dread of the savage. \"It is a\ncurious superstition,\" says a pioneer in Borneo, \"this of the\nDusuns, to attribute anything--whether good or bad, lucky or\nunlucky--that happens to them to something novel which has arrived\nin their country. For instance, my living in Kindram has caused the\nintensely hot weather we have experienced of late.\" The unusually\nheavy rains which happened to follow the English survey of the\nNicobar Islands in the winter of 1886-1887 were imputed by the\nalarmed natives to the wrath of the spirits at the theodolites,\ndumpy-levellers, and other strange instruments which had been set up\nin so many of their favourite haunts; and some of them proposed to\nsoothe the anger of the spirits by sacrificing a pig. In the\nseventeenth century a succession of bad seasons excited a revolt\namong the Esthonian peasantry, who traced the origin of the evil to\na watermill, which put a stream to some inconvenience by checking\nits flow. The first introduction of iron ploughshares into Poland\nhaving been followed by a succession of bad harvests, the farmers\nattributed the badness of the crops to the iron ploughshares, and\ndiscarded them for the old wooden ones. To this day the primitive\nBaduwis of Java, who live chiefly by husbandry, will use no iron tools in tilling their fields.\n\nThe general dislike of innovation, which always makes itself\nstrongly felt in the sphere of religion, is sufficient by itself to\naccount for the superstitious aversion to iron entertained by kings\nand priests and attributed by them to the gods; possibly this\naversion may have been intensified in places by some such accidental\ncause as the series of bad seasons which cast discredit on iron\nploughshares in Poland. But the disfavour in which iron is held by\nthe gods and their ministers has another side. Their antipathy to\nthe metal furnishes men with a weapon which may be turned against\nthe spirits when occasion serves. As their dislike of iron is\nsupposed to be so great that they will not approach persons and things protected by the obnoxious metal, iron may obviously be\nemployed as a charm for banning ghosts and other dangerous spirits.\nAnd often it is so used. Thus in the Highlands of Scotland the great\nsafeguard against the elfin race is iron, or, better yet, steel. The\nmetal in any form, whether as a sword, a knife, a gun-barrel, or\nwhat not, is all-powerful for this purpose. Whenever you enter a\nfairy dwelling you should always remember to stick a piece of steel,\nsuch as a knife, a needle, or a fish-hook, in the door; for then the\nelves will not be able to shut the door till you come out again. So,\ntoo, when you have shot a deer and are bringing it home at night, be\nsure to thrust a knife into the carcase, for that keeps the fairies\nfrom laying their weight on it. A knife or nail in your pocket is\nquite enough to prevent the fairies from lifting you up at night.\nNails in the front of a bed ward off elves from women \"in the straw\"\nand from their babes; but to make quite sure it is better to put the\nsmoothing-iron under the bed, and the reaping-hook in the window. If\na bull has fallen over a rock and been killed, a nail stuck into it\nwill preserve the flesh from the fairies. Music discoursed on a\nJew's harp keeps the elfin women away from the hunter, because the\ntongue of the instrument is of steel. In Morocco iron is considered\na great protection against demons; hence it is usual to place a\nknife or dagger under a sick man's pillow. The Singhalese believe\nthat they are constantly surrounded by evil spirits, who lie in wait\nto do them harm. A peasant would not dare to carry good food, such\nas cakes or roast meat, from one place to another without putting an\niron nail on it to prevent a demon from taking possession of the\nviands and so making the eater ill. No sick person, whether man or\nwoman, would venture out of the house without a bunch of keys or a\nknife in his hand, for without such a talisman he would fear that\nsome devil might take advantage of his weak state to slip into his\nbody. And if a man has a large sore on his body he tries to keep a\nmorsel of iron on it as a protection against demons. On the Slave\nCoast when a mother sees her child gradually wasting away, she\nconcludes that a demon has entered into the child, and takes her\nmeasures accordingly. To lure the demon out of the body of her\noffspring, she offers a sacrifice of food; and while the devil is\nbolting it, she attaches iron rings and small bells to her child's\nankles and hangs iron chains round his neck. The jingling of the\niron and the tinkling of the bells are supposed to prevent the\ndemon, when he has concluded his repast, from entering again into\nthe body of the little sufferer. Hence many children may be seen in\nthis part of Africa weighed down with iron ornaments.\n\n\u00a7 3. Sharp Weapons tabooed.\u2014There is a priestly king to the north of Zengwih in Burma, revered\nby the Sotih as the highest spiritual and temporal authority, into\nwhose house no weapon or cutting instrument may be brought. This\nrule may perhaps be explained by a custom observed by various\npeoples after a death; they refrain from the use of sharp\ninstruments so long as the ghost of the deceased is supposed to be near, lest they should wound it. Thus among the Esquimaux of Bering\nStrait \"during the day on which a person dies in the village no one\nis permitted to work, and the relatives must perform no labour\nduring the three following days. It is especially forbidden during\nthis period to cut with any edged instrument, such as a knife or an\naxe; and the use of pointed instruments, like needles or bodkins, is\nalso forbidden. This is said to be done to avoid cutting or injuring\nthe shade, which may be present at any time during this period, and,\nif accidentally injured by any of these things, it would become very\nangry and bring sickness or death to the people. The relatives must\nalso be very careful at this time not to make any loud or harsh\nnoises that may startle or anger the shade.\" We have seen that in\nlike manner after killing a white whale these Esquimaux abstain from\nthe use of cutting or pointed instruments for four days, lest they\nshould unwittingly cut or stab the whale's ghost. The same taboo is\nsometimes observed by them when there is a sick person in the\nvillage, probably from a fear of injuring his shade which may be\nhovering outside of his body. After a death the Roumanians of\nTransylvania are careful not to leave a knife lying with the sharp\nedge uppermost so long as the corpse remains in the house, \"or else\nthe soul will be forced to ride on the blade.\" For seven days after\na death, the corpse being still in the house, the Chinese abstain\nfrom the use of knives and needles, and even of chopsticks, eating\ntheir food with their fingers. On the third, sixth, ninth, and\nfortieth days after the funeral the old Prussians and Lithuanians\nused to prepare a meal, to which, standing at the door, they invited\nthe soul of the deceased. At these meals they sat silent round the\ntable and used no knives and the women who served up the food were\nalso without knives. If any morsels fell from the table they were\nleft lying there for the lonely souls that had no living relations\nor friends to feed them. When the meal was over the priest took a\nbroom and swept the souls out of the house, saying, \"Dear souls, ye\nhave eaten and drunk. Go forth, go forth.\" We can now understand why\nno cutting instrument may be taken into the house of the Burmese\npontiff. Like so many priestly kings, he is probably regarded as\ndivine, and it is therefore right that his sacred spirit should not\nbe exposed to the risk of being cut or wounded whenever it quits his\nbody to hover invisible in the air or to fly on some distant\nmission.\n\n\u00a7 4. Blood tabooed\u2014We have seen that the Flamen Dialis was forbidden to touch or even\nname raw flesh. At certain times a Brahman teacher is enjoined not\nto look on raw flesh, blood, or persons whose hands have been cut\noff. In Uganda the father of twins is in a state of taboo for some\ntime after birth; among other rules he is forbidden to kill anything\nor to see blood. In the Pelew Islands when a raid has been made on a\nvillage and a head carried off, the relations of the slain man are\ntabooed and have to submit to certain observances in order to escape\nthe wrath of his ghost. They are shut up in the house, touch no raw\nflesh, and chew betel over which an incantation has been uttered by the exorcist. After this the ghost of the slaughtered man goes away\nto the enemy's country in pursuit of his murderer. The taboo is\nprobably based on the common belief that the soul or spirit of the\nanimal is in the blood. As tabooed persons are believed to be in a\nperilous state--for example, the relations of the slain man are\nliable to the attacks of his indignant ghost--it is especially\nnecessary to isolate them from contact with spirits; hence the\nprohibition to touch raw meat. But as usual the taboo is only the\nspecial enforcement of a general precept; in other words, its\nobservance is particularly enjoined in circumstances which seem\nurgently to call for its application, but apart from such\ncircumstances the prohibition is also observed, though less\nstrictly, as a common rule of life. Thus some of the Esthonians will\nnot taste blood because they believe that it contains the animal's\nsoul, which would enter the body of the person who tasted the blood.\nSome Indian tribes of North America, \"through a strong principle of\nreligion, abstain in the strictest manner from eating the blood of\nany animal, as it contains the life and spirit of the beast.\" Jewish\nhunters poured out the blood of the game they had killed and covered\nit up with dust. They would not taste the blood, believing that the\nsoul or life of the animal was in the blood, or actually was the blood.\n\nIt is a common rule that royal blood may not be shed upon the\nground. Hence when a king or one of his family is to be put to death\na mode of execution is devised by which the royal blood shall not be\nspilt upon the earth. About the year 1688 the generalissimo of the\narmy rebelled against the king of Siam and put him to death \"after\nthe manner of royal criminals, or as princes of the blood are\ntreated when convicted of capital crimes, which is by putting them\ninto a large iron caldron, and pounding them to pieces with wooden\npestles, because none of their royal blood must be spilt on the\nground, it being, by their religion, thought great impiety to\ncontaminate the divine blood by mixing it with earth.\" When Kublai\nKhan defeated and took his uncle Nayan, who had rebelled against\nhim, he caused Nayan to be put to death by being wrapt in a carpet\nand tossed to and fro till he died, \"because he would not have the\nblood of his Line Imperial spilt upon the ground or exposed in the\neye of Heaven and before the Sun.\" \"Friar Ricold mentions the Tartar\nmaxim: 'One Khan will put another to death to get possession of the\nthrone, but he takes great care that the blood be not spilt. For\nthey say that it is highly improper that the blood of the Great Khan\nshould be spilt upon the ground; so they cause the victim to be\nsmothered somehow or other.' The like feeling prevails at the court\nof Burma, where a peculiar mode of execution without bloodshed is\nreserved for princes of the blood.\"\n\nThe reluctance to spill royal blood seems to be only a particular\ncase of a general unwillingness to shed blood or at least to allow\nit to fall on the ground. Marco Polo tells us that in his day\npersons caught in the streets of Cambaluc (Peking) at unseasonable\nhours were arrested, and if found guilty of a misdemeanor were\nbeaten with a stick. \"Under this punishment people sometimes die, but they adopt it in order to eschew bloodshed, for their Bacsis\nsay that it is an evil thing to shed man's blood.\" In West Sussex\npeople believe that the ground on which human blood has been shed is\naccursed and will remain barren for ever. Among some primitive\npeoples, when the blood of a tribesman has to be spilt it is not\nsuffered to fall upon the ground, but is received upon the bodies of\nhis fellow-tribesmen. Thus in some Australian tribes boys who are\nbeing circumcised are laid on a platform, formed by the living\nbodies of the tribesmen; and when a boy's tooth is knocked out as an\ninitiatory ceremony, he is seated on the shoulders of a man, on\nwhose breast the blood flows and may not be wiped away. \"Also the\nGauls used to drink their enemies' blood and paint themselves\ntherewith. So also they write that the old Irish were wont; and so\nhave I seen some of the Irish do, but not their enemies' but\nfriends' blood, as, namely, at the execution of a notable traitor at\nLimerick, called Murrogh O'Brien, I saw an old woman, which was his\nfoster-mother, take up his head whilst he was quartered and suck up\nall the blood that ran thereout, saying that the earth was not\nworthy to drink it, and therewith also steeped her face and breast\nand tore her hair, crying out and shrieking most terribly.\" Among\nthe Latuka of Central Africa the earth on which a drop of blood has\nfallen at childbirth is carefully scraped up with an iron shovel,\nput into a pot along with the water used in washing the mother, and\nburied tolerably deep outside the house on the left-hand side. In\nWest Africa, if a drop of your blood has fallen on the ground, you\nmust carefully cover it up, rub and stamp it into the soil; if it\nhas fallen on the side of a canoe or a tree, the place is cut out\nand the chip destroyed. One motive of these African customs may be a\nwish to prevent the blood from falling into the hands of magicians,\nwho might make an evil use of it. That is admittedly the reason why\npeople in West Africa stamp out any blood of theirs which has\ndropped on the ground or cut out any wood that has been soaked with\nit. From a like dread of sorcery natives of New Guinea are careful\nto burn any sticks, leaves, or rags which are stained with their\nblood; and if the blood has dripped on the ground they turn up the\nsoil and if possible light a fire on the spot. The same fear\nexplains the curious duties discharged by a class of men called\nramanga or \"blue blood\" among the Betsileo of Madagascar. It is\ntheir business to eat all the nail-parings and to lick up all the\nspilt blood of the nobles. When the nobles pare their nails, the\nparings are collected to the last scrap and swallowed by these\nramanga. If the parings are too large, they are minced small and\nso gulped down. Again, should a nobleman wound himself, say in\ncutting his nails or treading on something, the ramanga lick up\nthe blood as fast as possible. Nobles of high rank hardly go\nanywhere without these humble attendants; but if it should happen\nthat there are none of them present, the cut nails and the spilt\nblood are carefully collected to be afterwards swallowed by the\nramanga. There is scarcely a nobleman of any pretensions who does\nnot strictly observe this custom, the intention of which probably is to prevent these parts of his person from falling into the hands of sorcerers, who on the principles of contagious magic could work him harm thereby.\n\nThe general explanation of the reluctance to shed blood on the\nground is probably to be found in the belief that the soul is in the\nblood, and that therefore any ground on which it may fall\nnecessarily becomes taboo or sacred. In New Zealand anything upon\nwhich even a drop of a high chief's blood chances to fall becomes\ntaboo or sacred to him. For instance, a party of natives having come\nto visit a chief in a fine new canoe, the chief got into it, but in\ndoing so a splinter entered his foot, and the blood trickled on the\ncanoe, which at once became sacred to him. The owner jumped out,\ndragged the canoe ashore opposite the chief's house, and left it\nthere. Again, a chief in entering a missionary's house knocked his\nhead against a beam, and the blood flowed. The natives said that in\nformer times the house would have belonged to the chief. As usually\nhappens with taboos of universal application, the prohibition to\nspill the blood of a tribesman on the ground applies with peculiar\nstringency to chiefs and kings, and is observed in their case long\nafter it has ceased to be observed in the case of others.\n\n\u00a7 5. The Head tabooed.\u2014Many peoples regard the head as peculiarly sacred; the special\nsanctity attributed to it is sometimes explained by a belief that it\ncontains a spirit which is very sensitive to injury or disrespect.\nThus the Yorubas hold that every man has three spiritual inmates, of\nwhom the first, called Olori, dwells in the head and is the man's\nprotector, guardian, and guide. Offerings are made to this spirit,\nchiefly of fowls, and some of the blood mixed with palmoil is rubbed\non the forehead. The Karens suppose that a being called the tso\nresides in the upper part of the head, and while it retains its seat\nno harm can befall the person from the efforts of the seven\nKelahs, or personified passions. \"But if the _tso_ becomes\nheedless or weak certain evil to the person is the result. Hence the\nhead is carefully attended to, and all possible pains are taken to\nprovide such dress and attire as will be pleasing to the tso.\" The\nSiamese think that a spirit called _khuan_ or _kwun_ dwells in the\nhuman head, of which it is the guardian spirit. The spirit must be\ncarefully protected from injury of every kind; hence the act of\nshaving or cutting the hair is accompanied with many ceremonies. The\nkwun is very sensitive on points of honour, and would feel\nmortally insulted if the head in which he resides were touched by the hand of a stranger. The Cambodians esteem it a grave offence to touch a man's head; some of them will not enter a place where anything whatever is suspended over their heads; and the meanest Cambodian would never consent to live under an inhabited room. Hence the houses are built of one story only; and even the Government\nrespects the prejudice by never placing a prisoner in the stocks under the floor of a house, though the houses are raised high above the ground. The same superstition exists amongst the Malays; for an\nearly traveller reports that in Java people \"wear nothing on their heads, and say that nothing must be on their heads . . . and if any\nperson were to put his hand upon their head they would kill him; and\nthey do not build houses with storeys, in order that they may not\nwalk over each other's heads.\"\n\nThe same superstition as to the head is found in full force\nthroughout Polynesia. Thus of Gattanewa, a Marquesan chief, it is\nsaid that \"to touch the top of his head, or anything which had been\non his head, was sacrilege. To pass over his head was an indignity\nnever to be forgotten.\" The son of a Marquesan high priest has been\nseen to roll on the ground in an agony of rage and despair, begging\nfor death, because some one had desecrated his head and deprived him\nof his divinity by sprinkling a few drops of water on his hair. But\nit was not the Marquesan chiefs only whose heads were sacred. The\nhead of every Marquesan was taboo, and might neither be touched nor\nstepped over by another; even a father might not step over the head\nof his sleeping child; women were forbidden to carry or touch\nanything that had been in contact with, or had merely hung over, the\nhead of their husband or father. No one was allowed to be over the\nhead of the king of Tonga. In Tahiti any one who stood over the king\nor queen, or passed his hand over their heads, might be put to\ndeath. Until certain rites were performed over it, a Tahitian infant\nwas especially taboo; whatever touched the child's head, while it\nwas in this state, became sacred and was deposited in a consecrated\nplace railed in for the purpose at the child's house. If a branch of\na tree touched the child's head, the tree was cut down; and if in\nits fall it injured another tree so as to penetrate the bark, that\ntree also was cut down as unclean and unfit for use. After the rites\nwere performed these special taboos ceased; but the head of a\nTahitian was always sacred, he never carried anything on it, and to\ntouch it was an offence. So sacred was the head of a Maori chief\nthat \"if he only touched it with his fingers, he was obliged\nimmediately to apply them to his nose, and snuff up the sanctity\nwhich they had acquired by the touch, and thus restore it to the\npart from whence it was taken.\" On account of the sacredness of his\nhead a Maori chief \"could not blow the fire with his mouth, for the\nbreath being sacred, communicated his sanctity to it, and a brand\nmight be taken by a slave, or a man of another tribe, or the fire\nmight be used for other purposes, such as cooking, and so cause his\ndeath.\"\n\n\u00a7 6. Hair tabooed.\u2014When the head was considered so sacred that it might not even be\ntouched without grave offence, it is obvious that the cutting of the\nhair must have been a delicate and difficult operation. The\ndifficulties and dangers which, on the primitive view, beset the\noperation are of two kinds. There is first the danger of disturbing\nthe spirit of the head, which may be injured in the process and may\nrevenge itself upon the person who molests him. Secondly, there is\nthe difficulty of disposing of the shorn locks. For the savage\nbelieves that the sympathetic connexion which exists between himself\nand every part of his body continues to exist even after the\nphysical connexion has been broken, and that therefore he will\nsuffer from any harm that may befall the several parts of his body,\nsuch as the clippings of his hair his hair or the parings of his nails.\nAccordingly he takes care that these severed portions of himself\nshall not be left in places where they might either be exposed to\naccidental injury or fall into the hands of malicious persons who\nmight work magic on them to his detriment or death. Such dangers are\ncommon to all, but sacred persons have more to fear from them than\nordinary people, so the precautions taken by them are\nproportionately stringent. The simplest way of evading the peril is\nnot to cut the hair at all; and this is the expedient adopted where\nthe risk is thought to be more than usually great. The Frankish\nkings were never allowed to crop their hair; from their childhood\nupwards they had to keep it unshorn. To poll the long locks that\nfloated on their shoulders would have been to renounce their right\nto the throne. When the wicked brothers Clotaire and Childebert\ncoveted the kingdom of their dead brother Clodomir, they inveigled\ninto their power their little nephews, the two sons of Clodomir; and\nhaving done so, they sent a messenger bearing scissors and a naked\nsword to the children's grandmother, Queen Clotilde, at Paris. The\nenvoy showed the scissors and the sword to Clotilde, and bade her\nchoose whether the children should be shorn and live or remain\nunshorn and die. The proud queen replied that if her grandchildren\nwere not to come to the throne she would rather see them dead than\nshorn. And murdered they were by their ruthless uncle Clotaire with\nhis own hand. The king of Ponape, one of the Caroline Islands, must\nwear his hair long, and so must his grandees. Among the Hos, a negro\ntribe of West Africa, \"there are priests on whose head no razor may\ncome during the whole of their lives. The god who dwells in the man\nforbids the cutting of his hair on pain of death. If the hair is at\nlast too long, the owner must pray to his god to allow him at least\nto clip the tips of it. The hair is in fact conceived as the seat\nand lodging-place of his god, so that were it shorn the god would\nlose his abode in the priest.\" The members of a Masai clan, who are\nbelieved to possess the art of making rain, may not pluck out their\nbeards, because the loss of their beards would, it is supposed,\nentail the loss of their rain-making powers. The head chief and the\nsorcerers of the Masai observe the same rule for a like reason: they\nthink that were they to pull out their beards, their supernatural\ngifts would desert them.\n\nAgain, men who have taken a vow of vengeance sometimes keep their\nhair unshorn till they have fulfilled their vow. Thus of the\nMarquesans we are told that \"occasionally they have their head\nentirely shaved, except one lock on the crown, which is worn loose\nor put up in a knot. But the latter mode of wearing the hair is only\nadopted by them when they have a solemn vow, as to revenge the death\nof some near relation, etc. In such case the lock is never cut off\nuntil they have fulfilled their promise.\" A similar custom was\nsometimes observed by the ancient Germans; among the Chatti the\nyoung warriors never clipped their hair or their beard till they had\nslain an enemy. Among the Toradjas, when a child's hair is cut to\nrid it of vermin, some locks are allowed to remain on the crown of the head as a refuge for one of the child's souls. Otherwise the\nsoul would have no place in which to settle, and the child would\nsicken. The Karo-Bataks are much afraid of frightening away the soul\nof a child; hence when they cut its hair, they always leave a patch\nunshorn, to which the soul can retreat before the shears. Usually\nthis lock remains unshorn all through life, or at least up till\nmanhood.\n\n\u00a7 7. Ceremonies at Hair-cutting.\u2014But when it becomes necessary to crop the hair, measures are taken\nto lessen the dangers which are supposed to attend the operation.\nThe chief of Namosi in Fiji always ate a man by way of precaution\nwhen he had had his hair cut. \"There was a certain clan that had to\nprovide the victim, and they used to sit in solemn council among\nthemselves to choose him. It was a sacrificial feast to avert evil\nfrom the chief.\" Amongst the Maoris many spells were uttered at\nhair-cutting; one, for example, was spoken to consecrate the\nobsidian knife with which the hair was cut; another was pronounced\nto avert the thunder and lightning which hair-cutting was believed\nto cause. \"He who has had his hair cut is in immediate charge of the\nAtua (spirit); he is removed from the contact and society of his\nfamily and his tribe; he dare not touch his food himself; it is put\ninto his mouth by another person; nor can he for some days resume\nhis accustomed occupations or associate with his fellow-men.\" The\nperson who cuts the hair is also tabooed; his hands having been in\ncontact with a sacred head, he may not touch food with them or\nengage in any other employment; he is fed by another person with\nfood cooked over a sacred fire. He cannot be released from the taboo\nbefore the following day, when he rubs his hands with potato or fern\nroot which has been cooked on a sacred fire; and this food having\nbeen taken to the head of the family in the female line and eaten by\nher, his hands are freed from the taboo. In some parts of New\nZealand the most sacred day of the year was that appointed for\nhair-cutting; the people assembled in large numbers on that day from\nall the neighbourhood.\n\n\u00a7 8. Disposal of Cut Hair and Nails.\u2014But even when the hair and nails have been safely cut, there remains\nthe difficulty of disposing of them, for their owner believes\nhimself liable to suffer from any harm that may befall them. The\nnotion that a man may be bewitched by means of the clippings of his\nhair, the parings of his nails, or any other severed portion of his\nperson is almost world-wide, and attested by evidence too ample, too\nfamiliar, and too tedious in its uniformity to be here analysed at\nlength. The general idea on which the superstition rests is that of\nthe sympathetic connexion supposed to persist between a person and\neverything that has once been part of his body or in any way closely\nrelated to him. A very few examples must suffice. They belong to\nthat branch of sympathetic magic which may be called contagious.\nDread of sorcery, we are told, formed one of the most salient\ncharacteristics of the Marquesan islanders in the old days. The\nsorcerer took some of the hair, spittle, or other bodily refuse of\nthe man he wished to injure, wrapped it up in a leaf, and placed the packet in in a bag woven of threads or fibres, which were knotted in an\nintricate way. The whole was then buried with certain rites, and\nthereupon the victim wasted away of a languishing sickness which\nlasted twenty days. His life, however, might be saved by discovering\nand digging up the buried hair, spittle, or what not; for as soon as\nthis was done the power of the charm ceased. A Maori sorcerer intent\non bewitching somebody sought to get a tress of his victim's hair,\nthe parings of his nails, some of his spittle, or a shred of his\ngarment. Having obtained the object, whatever it was, he chanted\ncertain spells and curses over it in a falsetto voice and buried it\nin the ground. As the thing decayed, the person to whom it had\nbelonged was supposed to waste away. When an Australian blackfellow\nwishes to get rid of his wife, he cuts off a lock of her hair in her\nsleep, ties it to his spear-thrower, and goes with it to a\nneighbouring tribe, where he gives it to a friend. His friend sticks\nthe spear-thrower up every night before the camp fire, and when it\nfalls down it is a sign that the wife is dead. The way in which the\ncharm operates was explained to Dr. Howitt by a Wirajuri man. \"You\nsee,\" he said, \"when a blackfellow doctor gets hold of something\nbelonging to a man and roasts it with things, and sings over it, the\nfire catches hold of the smell of the man, and that settles the poor\nfellow.\"\n\nThe Huzuls of the Carpathians imagine that if mice get a person's\nshorn hair and make a nest of it, the person will suffer from\nheadache or even become idiotic. Similarly in Germany it is a common\nnotion that if birds find a person's cut hair, and build their nests\nwith it, the person will suffer from headache; sometimes it is\nthought that he will have an eruption on the head. The same\nsuperstition prevails, or used to prevail, in West Sussex.\n\nAgain it is thought that cut or combed-out hair may disturb the\nweather by producing rain and hail, thunder and lightning. We have\nseen that in New Zealand a spell was uttered at hair-cutting to\navert thunder and lightning. In the Tyrol, witches are supposed to\nuse cut or combed-out hair to make hailstones or thunderstorms with.\nThlinkeet Indians have been known to attribute stormy weather to the\nrash act of a girl who had combed her hair outside of the house. The\nRomans seem to have held similar views, for it was a maxim with them\nthat no one on shipboard should cut his hair or nails except in a\nstorm, that is, when the mischief was already done. In the Highlands\nof Scotland it is said that no sister should comb her hair at night\nif she have a brother at sea. In West Africa, when the Mani of\nChitombe or Jumba died, the people used to run in crowds to the\ncorpse and tear out his hair, teeth, and nails, which they kept as a\nrain-charm, believing that otherwise no rain would fall. The Makoko\nof the Anzikos begged the missionaries to give him half their beards as a rain-charm.\n\nIf cut hair and nails remain in sympathetic connexion with the person from whose body they have been severed, it is clear that they can be used as hostages for his good behaviour by any on chance to possess them; for on the principles of contagious magic he\nhas only to injure the hair or nails in order to hurt simultaneously\ntheir original owner. Hence when the Nandi have taken a prisoner\nthey shave his head and keep the shorn hair as a surety that he will\nnot attempt to escape; but when the captive is ransomed, they return\nhis shorn hair with him to his own people.\n\nTo preserve the cut hair and nails from injury and from the\ndangerous uses to which they may be put by sorcerers, it is\nnecessary to deposit them in some safe place. The shorn locks of a\nMaori chief were gathered with much care and placed in an adjoining\ncemetery. The Tahitians buried the cuttings of their hair at the\ntemples. In the streets of Soku a modern traveller observed cairns\nof large stones piled against walls with tufts of human hair\ninserted in the crevices. On asking the meaning of this, he was told\nthat when any native of the place polled his hair he carefully\ngathered up the clippings and deposited them in one of these cairns,\nall of which were sacred to the fetish and therefore inviolable.\nThese cairns of sacred stones, he further learned, were simply a\nprecaution against witchcraft, for if a man were not thus careful in\ndisposing of his hair, some of it might fall into the hands of his\nenemies, who would, by means of it, be able to cast spells over him\nand so compass his destruction. When the top-knot of a Siamese child\nhas been cut with great ceremony, the short hairs are put into a\nlittle vessel made of plantain leaves and set adrift on the nearest\nriver or canal. As they float away, all that was wrong or harmful in\nthe child's disposition is believed to depart with them. The long\nhairs are kept till the child makes a pilgrimage to the holy\nFootprint of Buddha on the sacred hill at Prabat. They are then\npresented to the priests, who are supposed to make them into brushes\nwith which they sweep the Footprint; but in fact so much hair is\nthus offered every year that the priests cannot use it all, so they\nquietly burn the superfluity as soon as the pilgrims' backs are\nturned. The cut hair and nails of the Flamen Dialis were buried\nunder a lucky tree. The shorn tresses of the Vestal Virgins were\nhung on an ancient lotus-tree.\n\nOften the clipped hair and nails are stowed away in any secret\nplace, not necessarily in a temple or cemetery or at a tree, as in\nthe cases already mentioned. Thus in Swabia you are recommended to\ndeposit your clipped hair in some spot where neither sun nor moon\ncan shine on it, for example in the earth or under a stone. In\nDanzig it is buried in a bag under the threshold. In Ugi, one of the\nSolomon Islands, men bury their hair lest it should fall into the\nhands of an enemy, who would make magic with it and so bring\nsickness or calamity on them. The same fear seems to be general in\nMelanesia, and has led to a regular practice of hiding cut hair and\nnails. The same practice prevails among many tribes of South Africa,\nfrom a fear lest wizards should get hold of the severed particles\nand work evil with them. The Caffres carry still further this dread\nof allowing any portion of themselves to fall into the hands of an enemy; for not only do they bury their cut hair and nails in a\nsecret spot, but when one of them cleans the head of another he\npreserves the vermin which he catches, \"carefully delivering them to\nthe person to whom they originally appertained, supposing, according\nto their theory, that as they derived their support from the blood\nof the man from whom they were taken, should they be killed by\nanother, the blood of his neighbour would be in his possession, thus\nplacing in his hands the power of some superhuman influence.\"\n\nSometimes the severed hair and nails are preserved, not to prevent\nthem from falling into the hands of a magician, but that the owner\nmay have them at the resurrection of the body, to which some races\nlook forward. Thus the Incas of Peru \"took extreme care to preserve\nthe nail-parings and the hairs that were shorn off or torn out with\na comb; placing them in holes or niches in the walls; and if they\nfell out, any other Indian that saw them picked them up and put them\nin their places again. I very often asked different Indians, at\nvarious times, why they did this, in order to see what they would\nsay, and they all replied in the same words saying, 'Know that all\npersons who are born must return to life' (they have no word to\nexpress resurrection), 'and the souls must rise out of their tombs\nwith all that belonged to their bodies. We, therefore, in order that\nwe may not have to search for our hair and nails at a time when\nthere will be much hurry and confusion, place them in one place,\nthat they may be brought together more conveniently, and, whenever\nit is possible, we are also careful to spit in one place.'\"\nSimilarly the Turks never throw away the parings of their nails, but\ncarefully stow them in cracks of the walls or of the boards, in the\nbelief that they will be needed at the resurrection. The Armenians\ndo not throw away their cut hair and nails and extracted teeth, but\nhide them in places that are esteemed holy, such as a crack in the\nchurch wall, a pillar of the house, or a hollow tree. They think\nthat all these severed portions of themselves will be wanted at the\nresurrection, and that he who has not stowed them away in a safe\nplace will have to hunt about for them on the great day. In the\nvillage of Drumconrath in Ireland there used to be some old women\nwho, having ascertained from Scripture that the hairs of their heads\nwere all numbered by the Almighty, expected to have to account for\nthem at the day of judgment. In order to be able to do so they\nstuffed the severed hair away in the thatch of their cottages.\n\nSome people burn their loose hair to save it from falling into the hands of sorcerers. This is done by the Patagonians and some of the Victorian tribes. In the Upper Vosges they say that you should never leave the clippings of your hair and nails lying about, but burn them to hinder the sorcerers from using them against you. For the same reason Italian women either burn their loose hairs or throw them into a place where no one is likely to look for them. The almost universal dread of witchcraft induces the West African\nnegroes, the Makololo of South Africa, and the Tahitians to burn or bury their shorn hair. In the Tyrol many people burn their hair lest\nthe witches should use it to raise thunderstorms; others burn or\nbury it to prevent the birds from lining their nests with it, which\nwould cause the heads from which the hair came to ache.\n\nThis destruction of the hair and nails plainly involves an\ninconsistency of thought. The object of the destruction is avowedly\nto prevent these severed portions of the body from being used by\nsorcerers. But the possibility of their being so used depends upon\nthe supposed sympathetic connexion between them and the man from\nwhom they were severed. And if this sympathetic connexion still\nexists, clearly these severed portions cannot be destroyed without\ninjury to the man.\n\n\u00a7 9. Spittle tabooed.\u2014The same fear of witchcraft which has led so many people to hide or\ndestroy their loose hair and nails has induced other or the same\npeople to treat their spittle in a like fashion. For on the\nprinciples of sympathetic magic the spittle is part of the man, and\nwhatever is done to it will have a corresponding effect on him. A\nChilote Indian, who has gathered up the spittle of an enemy, will\nput it in a potato, and hang the potato in the smoke, uttering\ncertain spells as he does so in the belief that his foe will waste\naway as the potato dries in the smoke. Or he will put the spittle in\na frog and throw the animal into an inaccessible, unnavigable river,\nwhich will make the victim quake and shake with ague. The natives of\nUrewera, a district of New Zealand, enjoyed a high reputation for\ntheir skill in magic. It was said that they made use of people's\nspittle to bewitch them. Hence visitors were careful to conceal\ntheir spittle, lest they should furnish these wizards with a handle\nfor working them harm. Similarly among some tribes of South Africa\nno man will spit when an enemy is near, lest his foe should find the\nspittle and give it to a wizard, who would then mix it with magical\ningredients so as to injure the person from whom it fell. Even in a\nman's own house his saliva is carefully swept away and obliterated\nfor a similar reason.\n\nIf common folk are thus cautious, it is natural that kings and\nchiefs should be doubly so. In the Sandwich Islands chiefs were\nattended by a confidential servant bearing a portable spittoon, and\nthe deposit was carefully buried every morning to put it out of the\nreach of sorcerers. On the Slave Coast, for the same reason,\nwhenever a king or chief expectorates, the saliva is scrupulously\ngathered up and hidden or buried. The same precautions are taken for\nthe same reason with the spittle of the chief of Tabali in Southern\nNigeria.\n\nThe magical use to which spittle may be put marks it out, like blood or nail-parings, as a suitable material basis for a covenant, since\nby exchanging their saliva the covenanting parties give each other a\nguarantee of good faith. If either of them afterwards foreswears\nhimself, the other can punish his perfidy by a magical treatment of\nthe purjurer's spittle which he has in his custody. Thus when the\nWajagga of East Africa desire to make a covenant, the two parties\nwill sometimes sit down with a bowl of milk or beer between them,\nand after uttering an incantation over the beverage they each take a mouthful of uthful of the milk or beer and spit it into the other's mouth. In\nurgent cases, when there is no time to spend on ceremony, the two\nwill simply spit into each other's mouth, which seals the covenant\njust as well.\n\n\u00a7 10. Foods tabooed.\u2014As might have been expected, the superstitions of the savage cluster\nthick about the subject of food; and he abstains from eating many\nanimals and plants, wholesome enough in themselves, which for one\nreason or another he fancies would prove dangerous or fatal to the\neater. Examples of such abstinence are too familiar and far too\nnumerous to quote. But if the ordinary man is thus deterred by\nsuperstitious fear from partaking of various foods, the restraints\nof this kind which are laid upon sacred or tabooed persons, such as\nkings and priests, are still more numerous and stringent. We have\nalready seen that the Flamen Dialis was forbidden to eat or even\nname several plants and animals, and that the flesh diet of Egyptian\nkings was restricted to veal and goose. In antiquity many priests\nand many kings of barbarous peoples abstained wholly from a flesh\ndiet. The Gangas or fetish priests of the Loango Coast are\nforbidden to eat or even see a variety of animals and fish, in\nconsequence of which their flesh diet is extremely limited; often\nthey live only on herbs and roots, though they may drink fresh\nblood. The heir to the throne of Loango is forbidden from infancy to\neat pork; from early childhood he is interdicted the use of the\ncola fruit in company; at puberty he is taught by a priest not to\npartake of fowls except such as he has himself killed and cooked;\nand so the number of taboos goes on increasing with his years. In\nFernando Po the king after installation is forbidden to eat cocco\n(arum acaule), deer, and porcupine, which are the ordinary foods\nof the people. The head chief of the Masai may eat nothing but milk,\nhoney, and the roasted livers of goats; for if he partook of any\nother food he would lose his power of soothsaying and of compounding\ncharms.\n\n\u00a7 11. Knots and Rings tabooed.\u2014We have seen that among the many taboos which the Flamen Dialis at\nRome had to observe, there was one that forbade him to have a knot on any part of his garments, and another that obliged him to wear no\nring unless it were broken. In like manner Moslem pilgrims to Mecca\nare in a state of sanctity or taboo and may wear on their persons\nneither knots nor rings. These rules are probably of kindred\nsignificance, and may conveniently be considered together. To begin\nwith knots, many people in different parts of the world entertain a\nstrong objection to having any knot about their person at certain\ncritical seasons, particularly childbirth, marriage, and death. Thus\namong the Saxons of Transylvania, when a woman is in travail all\nknots on her garments are untied, because it is believed that this\nwill facilitate her delivery, and with the same intention all the\nlocks in the house, whether on doors or boxes, are unlocked. The\nLapps think that a lying-in woman should have no knot on her\ngarments, because a knot would have the effect of making the\ndelivery difficult and painful. In the East Indies this superstition is extended to the whole time of pregnancy; the people believe that\nif a pregnant woman were to tie knots, or braid, or make anything\nfast, the child would thereby be constricted or the woman would\nherself be \"tied up\" when her time came. Nay, some of them enforce\nthe observance of the rule on the father as well as the mother of\nthe unborn child. Among the Sea Dyaks neither of the parents may\nbind up anything with a string or make anything fast during the\nwife's pregnancy. In the Toumbuluh tribe of North Celebes a ceremony\nis performed in the fourth or fifth month of a woman's pregnancy,\nand after it her husband is forbidden, among many other things, to\ntie any fast knots and to sit with his legs crossed over each other.\n\nIn all these cases the idea seems to be that the tying of a knot\nwould, as they say in the East Indies, \"tie up\" the woman, in other\nwords, impede and perhaps prevent her delivery, or delay her\nconvalescence after the birth. On the principles of homoeopathic or\nimitative magic the physical obstacle or impediment of a knot on a\ncord would create a corresponding obstacle or impediment in the body\nof the woman. That this is really the explanation of the rule\nappears from a custom observed by the Hos of West Africa at a\ndifficult birth. When a woman is in hard labour and cannot bring\nforth, they call in a magician to her aid. He looks at her and says,\n\"The child is bound in the womb, that is why she cannot be\ndelivered.\" On the entreaties of her female relations he then\npromises to loosen the bond so that she may bring forth. For that\npurpose he orders them to fetch a tough creeper from the forest, and\nwith it he binds the hands and feet of the sufferer on her back.\nThen he takes a knife and calls out the woman's name, and when she\nanswers he cuts through the creeper with a knife, saying, \"I cut\nthrough to-day thy bonds and thy child's bonds.\" After that he chops\nup the creeper small, puts the bits in a vessel of water, and bathes\nthe woman with the water. Here the cutting of the creeper with which\nthe woman's hands and feet are bound is a simple piece of\nhomoeopathic or imitative magic: by releasing her limbs from their\nbonds the magician imagines that he simultaneously releases the\nchild in her womb from the trammels which impede its birth. The same\ntrain of thought underlies a practice observed by some peoples of\nopening all locks, doors, and so on, while a birth is taking place\nin the house. We have seen that at such a time the Germans of\nTransylvania open all the locks, and the same thing is done also in\nVoigtland and Mecklenburg. In North-western Argyllshire\nsuperstitious people used to open every lock in the house at\nchildbirth. In the island of Salsette near Bombay, when a woman is\nin hard labour, all locks of doors or drawers are opened with a key\nto facilitate her delivery. Among the Mandelings of Sumatra the lids\nof all chests, boxes, pans, and so forth are opened; and if this\ndoes not produce the desired effect, the anxious husband has to\nstrike the projecting ends of some of the house-beams in order to\nloosen them; for they think that \"everything must be open and loose\nto facilitate the delivery.\" In Chittagong, when a woman cannot bring her child to the birth, the midwife gives orders to throw all\ndoors and windows wide open, to uncork all bottles, to remove the\nbungs from all casks, to unloose the cows in the stall, the horses\nin the stable, the watchdog in his kennel, to set free sheep, fowls,\nducks, and so forth. This universal liberty accorded to the animals\nand even to inanimate things is, according to the people, an\ninfallible means of ensuring the woman's delivery and allowing the\nbabe to be born. In the island of Saghalien, when a woman is in\nlabour, her husband undoes everything that can be undone. He loosens\nthe plaits of his hair and the laces of his shoes. Then he unties\nwhatever is tied in the house or its vicinity. In the courtyard he\ntakes the axe out of the log in which it is stuck; he unfastens the\nboat, if it is moored to a tree, he withdraws the cartridges from\nhis gun, and the arrows from his crossbow.\n\nAgain, we have seen that a Toumbuluh man abstains not only from\ntying knots, but also from sitting with crossed legs during his\nwife's pregnancy. The train of thought is the same in both cases.\nWhether you cross threads in tying a knot, or only cross your legs\nin sitting at your ease, you are equally, on the principles of\nhomoeopathic magic, crossing or thwarting the free course of things,\nand your action cannot but check and impede whatever may be going\nforward in your neighbourhood. Of this important truth the Romans\nwere fully aware. To sit beside a pregnant woman or a patient under\nmedical treatment with clasped hands, says the grave Pliny, is to\ncast a malignant spell over the person, and it is worse still if you\nnurse your leg or legs with your clasped hands, or lay one leg over\nthe other. Such postures were regarded by the old Romans as a let\nand hindrance to business of every sort, and at a council of war or\na meeting of magistrates, at prayers and sacrifices, no man was\nsuffered to cross his legs or clasp his hands. The stock instance of\nthe dreadful consequences that might flow from doing one or the\nother was that of Alcmena, who travailed with Hercules for seven\ndays and seven nights, because the goddess Lucina sat in front of\nthe house with clasped hands and crossed legs, and the child could\nnot be born until the goddess had been beguiled into changing her\nattitude. It is a Bulgarian superstition that if a pregnant woman is\nin the habit of sitting with crossed legs, she will suffer much in\nchildbed. In some parts of Bavaria, when conversation comes to a\nstandstill and silence ensues, they say, \"Surely somebody has\ncrossed his legs.\"\n\nThe magical effect of knots in trammelling and obstructing human\nactivity was believed to be manifested at marriage not less than at\nbirth. During the Middle Ages, and down to the eighteenth century,\nit seems to have been commonly held in Europe that the consummation\nof marriage could be prevented by any one who, while the wedding\nceremony was taking place, either locked a lock or tied a knot in a\ncord, and then threw the lock or the cord away. The lock or the\nknotted cord had to be flung into water; and until it had been found\nand unlocked, or untied, no real union of the married pair was possible. Hence it was a grave offence, not only to cast such a spell, but also to steal or make away with the material instrument\nof it, whether lock or knotted cord. In the year 1718 the parliament\nof Bordeaux sentenced some one to be burned alive for having spread\ndesolation through a whole family by means of knotted cords; and in\n1705 two persons were condemned to death in Scotland for stealing\ncertain charmed knots which a woman had made, in order thereby to\nmar the wedded happiness of Spalding of Ashintilly. The belief in\nthe efficacy of these charms appears to have lingered in the\nHighlands of Pertshire down to the end of the eighteenth century,\nfor at that time it was still customary in the beautiful parish of\nLogierait, between the river Tummel and the river Tay, to unloose\ncarefully every knot in the clothes of the bride and bridegroom\nbefore the celebration of the marriage ceremony. We meet with the\nsame superstition and the same custom at the present day in Syria.\nThe persons who help a Syrian bridegroom to don his wedding garments\ntake care that no knot is tied on them and no button buttoned, for\nthey believe that a button buttoned or a knot tied would put it\nwithin the power of his enemies to deprive him of his nuptial rights\nby magical means. The fear of such charms is diffused all over North\nAfrica at the present day. To render a bridegroom impotent the\nenchanter has only to tie a knot in a handkerchief which he had\npreviously placed quietly on some part of the bridegroom's body when\nhe was mounted on horseback ready to fetch his bride: so long as the\nknot in the handkerchief remains tied, so long will the bridegroom\nremain powerless to consummate the marriage.\n\nThe maleficent power of knots may also be manifested in the infliction of sickness, disease, and all kinds of misfortune. Thus among the Hos of West Africa a sorcerer will sometimes curse his enemy and tie a knot in a stalk of grass, saying, \"I have tied up So-and-so in this knot. May all evil light upon him! When he goes into the field, may a snake sting him! When he goes to the chase, may a ravening beast attack him! And when he steps into a river, may the water sweep him away! When it rains, may the lightning strike him! May evil nights be his!\" It is believed that in the knot the sorcerer has bound up the life of his enemy. In the Koran there is an allusion to the mischief of \"those who puff into the knots,\" and an Arab commentator on the passage explains that the words refer to women who practise magic by tying knots in cords, and then blowing and spitting upon them. He goes on to relate how, once upon a time, a wicked Jew bewitched the prophet Mohammed himself by tying nine knots on a string, which he then hid in a well. So the prophet fell ill, and nobody knows what might have happened if the archangel Gabriel had not opportunely revealed to the holy man the place where the knotted cord was concealed. The trusty Ali soon fetched the baleful thing from the well; and the prophet recited over it certain charms, which were specially revealed to him for the purpose. At every verse of the charms a knot untied itself, and the prophet experienced a certain relief.\n\nIf knots are supposed to kill, they are also supposed to cure. This follows from the belief that to undo the knots which are causing\nsickness will bring the sufferer relief. But apart from this\nnegative virtue of maleficent knots, there are certain beneficent\nknots to which a positive power of healing is ascribed. Pliny tells\nus that some folk cured diseases of the groin by taking a thread\nfrom a web, tying seven or nine knots on it, and then fastening it\nto the patient's groin; but to make the cure effectual it was\nnecessary to name some widow as each knot was tied. O'Donovan\ndescribes a remedy for fever employed among the Turcomans. The\nenchanter takes some camel hair and spins it into a stout thread,\ndroning a spell the while. Next he ties seven knots on the thread,\nblowing on each knot before he pulls it tight. This knotted thread\nis then worn as a bracelet on his wrist by the patient. Every day\none of the knots is untied and blown upon, and when the seventh knot\nis undone the whole thread is rolled up into a ball and thrown into\na river, bearing away (as they imagine) the fever with it.\n\nAgain knots may be used by an enchantress to win a lover and attach\nhim firmly to herself. Thus the love-sick maid in Virgil seeks to\ndraw Daphnis to her from the city by spells and by tying three knots\non each of three strings of different colours. So an Arab maiden,\nwho had lost her heart to a certain man, tried to gain his love and\nbind him to herself by tying knots in his whip; but her jealous\nrival undid the knots. On the same principle magic knots may be\nemployed to stop a runaway. In Swazieland you may often see grass\ntied in knots at the side of the footpaths. Every one of these knots\ntells of a domestic tragedy. A wife has run away from her husband,\nand he and his friends have gone in pursuit, binding up the paths,\nas they call it, in this fashion to prevent the fugitive from\ndoubling back over them. A net, from its affluence of knots, has\nalways been considered in Russia very efficacious against sorcerers;\nhence in some places, when a bride is being dressed in her wedding\nattire, a fishing-net is flung over her to keep her out of harm's\nway. For a similar purpose the bridegroom and his companions are\noften girt with pieces of net, or at least with tight-drawn girdles,\nfor before a wizard can begin to injure them he must undo all the\nknots in the net, or take off the girdles. But often a Russian\namulet is merely a knotted thread. A skein of red wool wound about\nthe arms and legs is thought to ward off agues and fevers; and nine\nskeins, fastened round a child's neck, are deemed a preservative\nagainst scarlatina. In the Tver Government a bag of a special kind\nis tied to the neck of the cow which walks before the rest of a\nherd, in order to keep off wolves; its force binds the maw of the\nravening beast. On the same principle, a padlock is carried thrice\nround a herd of horses before they go afield in the spring, and the\nbearer locks and unlocks it as he goes, saying, \"I lock from my herd\nthe mouths of the grey wolves with this steel lock.\"\n\nKnots and locks may serve to avert not only wizards and wolves but\ndeath itself. When they brought a woman to the stake at St. Andrews\nin 1572 to burn her alive for a witch, they found on her a white\ncloth like a collar, with strings and many knots on the strings.\nThey took it from her, sorely against her will, for she seemed to\nthink that she could not die in the fire, if only the cloth with the\nknotted strings was on her. When it was taken away, she said, \"Now I\nhave no hope of myself.\" In many parts of England it is thought that\na person cannot die so long as any locks are locked or bolts shot in\nthe house. It is therefore a very common practice to undo all locks\nand bolts when the sufferer is plainly near his end, in order that\nhis agony may not be unduly prolonged. For example, in the year\n1863, at Taunton, a child lay sick of scarlatina and death seemed\ninevitable. \"A jury of matrons was, as it were, empanelled, and to\nprevent the child 'dying hard' all the doors in the house, all the\ndrawers, all the boxes, all the cupboards were thrown wide open, the\nkeys taken out, and the body of the child placed under a beam,\nwhereby a sure, certain, and easy passage into eternity could be\nsecured.\" Strange to say, the child declined to avail itself of the\nfacilities for dying so obligingly placed at its disposal by the\nsagacity and experience of the British matrons of Taunton; it\npreferred to live rather than give up the ghost just then.\n\nThe rule which prescribes that at certain magical and religious\nceremonies the hair should hang loose and the feet should be bare is\nprobably based on the same fear of trammelling and impeding the\naction in hand, whatever it may be, by the presence of any knot or\nconstriction, whether on the head or on the feet of the performer. A\nsimilar power to bind and hamper spiritual as well as bodily\nactivities is ascribed by some people to rings. Thus in the island\nof Carpathus people never button the clothes they put upon a dead\nbody and they are careful to remove all rings from it; \"for the\nspirit, they say, can even be detained in the little finger, and\ncannot rest.\" Here it is plain that even if the soul is not\ndefinitely supposed to issue at death from the finger-tips, yet the\nring is conceived to exercise a certain constrictive influence which\ndetains and imprisons the immortal spirit in spite of its efforts to\nescape from the tabernacle of clay; in short the ring, like the\nknot, acts as a spiritual fetter. This may have been the reason of\nan ancient Greek maxim, attributed to Pythagoras, which forbade\npeople to wear rings. Nobody might enter the ancient Arcadian\nsanctuary of the Mistress at Lycosura with a ring on his or her\nfinger. Persons who consulted the oracle of Faunus had to be chaste, to eat no flesh, and to wear no rings.\n\nOn the other hand, the same constriction which hinders the egress of the soul may prevent the entrance of evil spirits; hence we find rings used as amulets against demons, witches, and ghosts. In the Tyrol it is said that a woman in childbed should never take off her wedding-ring, or spirits and witches will have power over her. Among the Lapps, the person who is about to place a corpse in the coffin receives from the husband, wife, or children of the deceased a brass ring, which he must wear fastened to his right arm until the corpse\nis safely deposited in the grave. The ring is believed to serve the\nperson as an amulet against any harm which the ghost might do to\nhim. How far the custom of wearing finger-rings may have been\ninfluenced by, or even have sprung from, a belief in their efficacy\nas amulets to keep the soul in the body, or demons out of it, is a\nquestion which seems worth considering. Here we are only concerned\nwith the belief in so far as it seems to throw light on the rule\nthat the Flamen Dialis might not wear a ring unless it were broken.\nTaken in conjunction with the rule which forbade him to have a knot\non his garments, it points to a fear that the powerful spirit\nembodied in him might be trammelled and hampered in its goings-out\nand comings-in by such corporeal and spiritual fetters as rings and\nknots.","title":"The Golden Bough/Tabooed Things","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":12201}