Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IVToy, Crawford Howell
HistoryHistory
Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV
Toy, Crawford Howell
Mythology; Religion -- History; Religions -- History; Rites and ceremonies
+434+. Proof is lacking also for Durkheim's theory. It is not probable
that the totem was regarded as divine in the period in which exogamy
arose--by the tribes whose ideas on this point are known the totem is
looked on as a friend and an equal but not as a god. And, as is pointed
out above, there is no such general religious respect for the clan blood
as would forbid sexual intercourse between persons of the same clan. The
demand for revenge for the murder of a clansman arises from the sense of
clan solidarity and the necessity of self-defense--it is only in this
regard that the blood of the clan is regarded as sacred.
+435+. Horror of marriage or of sexual intercourse in general, within
the prohibited degrees or areas, is universal in low communities;
violation of the tribal law on this point is severely punished,
sometimes with death. Whence this feeling sprang is not clear.[785] It
cannot have arisen from respect for the purity of women or from a belief
in the sanctity of the family--intercourse with girls before their
marriage is freely allowed, and lending or exchange of wives is common.
Magical dangers are supposed to follow on infringement of marriage
rules, but, as such results come from violation of any tribal custom,
this throws no light on the origin of the feeling of horror in question.
Absence of sexual attraction between persons brought up together,[786]
though the absence of such feeling is said to have been observed in some
of the lower animals, is not assured for savages; its existence in
civilized communities is due to the acceptance of the established
usage, which makes certain unions impossible, so that they are not
considered, and the germ of such a public opinion may perhaps be assumed
for early tribes. Probably the horror of incest is a derivation from
economic and other situations and laws that arose naturally in early
society--it is a habit hardened into an instinct.
+436+. Though exogamy differs from totemism in origin and function, the
two are often found associated--their conjunction may be said to be the
general rule. There are, however, exceptions.[787] Totemic clans are not
exogamous in Central Australia, the Melanesian Banks Islands, among the
Nandi of East Africa, and the Bakuana of South Africa. On the other
hand, exogamy is found without totemism in the tribes just mentioned,
among the Todas of Southern India, in Sumatra, among the African Masai
and Ashanti, and in Southern Nigeria, and local exogamy among tribes
(for example, the Kurnai of Southeast Australia, and the Californian
Maidu and Shasta) in which totemic divisions are not perceptible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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