The characters of the Northern Heaven and Hell survive in the English
custom of burying the dead on the southern side of a church. How widely
this usage prevailed in Brand's time may be seen by reference to his
chapter on churchyards. The north side of the graveyard was set apart
for unbaptized infants and executed criminals, and it was permitted
the people to dance or play tennis in that part. Dr. Lee says that in
the churchyard at Morwenstow the southern portion only contains graves,
the north part being untenanted; as the Cornish believe (following old
traditions) that the north is the region of demons. In some parishes
of Cornwall when a baptism occurs the north door of the nave opposite
the font is thrown open, so that the devil cast out may retire to his
own region, the north. [49] This accords with the saying in Martin's
'Month's Mind'--ab aquilone omne malum.
Indeed, it is not improbable that the fact noted by White, in his
'History of Selborne,' that 'the usual approach to most country
churches is by the south,' indicated a belief that the sacred edifice
should turn its back on the region of demons. It is a singular instance
of survival which has brought about the fact that people who listen
devoutly to sermons describing the fiery character of Satan and his
abode should surround the very churches in which those sermons are
heard with evidences of their lingering faith that the devil belongs to
the region of ice, and that their dead must be buried in the direction
of the happy abodes of Brimir and Sindri,--Fire and Cinders!
M. François Lenormant has written an extremely instructive chapter
in comparison of the Accadian and the Finnish mythologies. He there
shows that they are as one and the same tree, adapted to antagonistic
climates. [50] With similar triad, runes, charms, and even names in
some cases, their regard for the fire worshipped by both varies in a
way that seems at first glance somewhat anomalous. The Accadians in
their fire-worship exhausted the resources of praise in ascription of
glory and power to the flames; the Finns in their cold home celebrated
the fire festival at the winter solstice, uttered invocations over
the fire, and the mother of the family, with her domestic libation,
said: 'Always rise so high, O my flame, but burn not larger nor more
ardent!' This diminution of enthusiasm in the Northern fire-worshipper,
as compared with the Southern, may only be the result of euphemism in
the latter; or perhaps while the formidable character of the fire-god
among the primitive Assyrians is indicated in the utter prostration
before him characteristic of their litanies and invocations, in the
case of the Finns the perpetual presence of the more potent cold
led to the less excessive adoration. These ventured to recognise the
faults of fire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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