2. The feast of licence of the Hos of North-East India is called by
Dalton 'a saturnale.' It is held in January, 'when the granaries are
full of grain, and the people, to use their own expression, are full of
devilry.' With prayers for a good new year the devil is beaten out of
the bounds.
3. At the similar Mundari festival 'the servants are feasted by their
masters.' So far nothing is noted about swilling for the good of the
crops; _that_ is not 'an excuse for the glass.'
4. In the Hindoo Koosh a little licence exists at the end of harvest:
devils are driven out, and then seed is sown.
5. In Tonquin from January 25 to February 25 was a season of dormant
law: 'only treason and murder were taken account of, and the
malefactors detained till the great seal should come into operation
again.' Then offerings were made to evil spirits, for 'it is usual and
customary among them to feast the condemned before their execution.'
The devils were then expelled.[5]
6. In Cambodia, after the expulsion of devils (_diabolo-fugium_),
gambling is universal.
7. In Nepaul, in October, feasting and drinking occur, and presents are
made by masters to slaves. There may be, perhaps, expulsion of devils;
for the army fire salutes.[6]
In these cases of licence Mr. Frazer thinks that men rejoice either
before the expulsion of devils, because that ceremony will carry off
their sins, or after the expulsion, when their minds are at ease.[7]
Thus men enjoy these bursts either, by the first hypothesis, to improve
the prospects of agriculture; or, on the second theory, because a
ceremony will cleanse the sins of the 'burst;' or because a ceremony
has freed their minds from fear of devils. When the harvest is just in,
then, in fact, men have plenty of food, and, as we saw, are 'full of
devilry.' So they play it off. In at least four out of our seven cases
fulness of bread and drink appears to me to account for the 'burst.'
This also explains (8) the Zulu licence at the rejoicing for the first
fruits, 'a saturnalia, people are not supposed to be responsible for
what they say or do.'[8]
9. The same facts mark the Pondo feast of first fruits.[9]
10. In Ashanti the harvest feast is in September. 'During its
continuance the grossest licence prevails; theft, intrigue, and
assault go unpunished, and both sexes abandon themselves to their
passions.'[10] By an extraordinary coincidence, which Mr. Frazer does
not quote, 'on the _fifth_ day' of the Ashanti harvest festival 'a
criminal is sacrificed,' says Sir A. B. Ellis, 'sent as a messenger to
the deceased kings.' Is the criminal attired as a mock-king?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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