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
+515+. In fact certain ideas and customs that occur in connection with
savage totemism are found abundantly among ancient Semites, Greeks and
Romans, and in Celtic and Teutonic lands. They are such as the
following: a tribe or clan bears an animal name, and regards itself as
akin to the animal in question and as descended from it; this animal is
sacred, not to be killed or eaten (except ceremonially), and, when it
dies, is to be buried solemnly; sacred animals aid men by furnishing
omens, or even by protecting from harm; they are sacrificed on critical
occasions (sometimes once every year), and in some cases the killing of
the sacrificial animal is treated as a crime; animal-gods are worshiped,
and gods are thought to be incarnate in animals; men change into animals
and animals into men; certain animals are sacred to certain deities;
human worshipers dress in imitation of animal forms (by wearing skins of
beasts and by other devices); a man's tribal mark is derived from the
form of an animal; the death of the sacrificial animal comes to be
regarded as the death of a god; the form of social organization in
certain ancient communities is similar to that with which totemism is
usually found associated.
+516+. Not all of these points are found in any one case, but their
occurrence over so wide an area, it is argued, is most naturally
explicable by the assumption of an original totemism of which these are
the survivals. It is suggested also that they may be an inheritance from
savage predecessors of the civilized peoples.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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