Scatalogic Rites of All Nations: A dissertation upon the employment of excrementitious remedial agents in religion, therapeutics, divination, witchcraft, love-philters, etc., in all parts of the globeBourke, John Gregory
Religion
Scatalogic Rites of All Nations: A dissertation upon the employment of excrementitious remedial agents in religion, therapeutics, divination, witchcraft, love-philters, etc., in all parts of the globe
Bourke, John Gregory
Scatology
Notwithstanding this abundant proof, which might, if necessary, be
swollen in volume, of the survival in domestic medicine, as well as in
medical practice of a more pretentious character, of the use of the
mistletoe, more particularly in cases of epilepsy, there is no instance
of its employment noticed in “Saxon Leechdoms.”
The explanation may be found in the fact that that compilation was rather
exponential of the knowledge still possessed by the monks of classical
therapeutics than of the skill attained by the Saxons themselves; there
are pages of quotations from Sextus Placitus and other authorities, but
scarcely anything to show that the ideas of the Saxons themselves were
represented.
THE LINGUISTICS OF THE MISTLETOE.
Other curious instances of survival present themselves in the linguistics
of the subject. The French word “gui,” meaning mistletoe, is not of
Latin, but of Druidical derivation, and so the Spanish “aguinaldo,”
meaning Christmas or New Year’s present, conserves the cry, slightly
altered, of the Druid priest to the “gui” at the opening of the new year.
“Aguillanneuf, et plus clairement, ‘au gui, l’an neuf,’ ou bien encore,
‘l’anguil l’an neuf.’”—(Le Roux de Lincy, Livre des Proverbes Français,
1848, Paris, tome 1, p. 2, quoted in Buckle’s “Commonplace Book,” vol.
ii. p. 440.)
“The next business was to arrange for the collection of the sacred
plant, and bards were sent forth in all directions to summon the people
to the great religious ceremony. The words of the proclamation are
believed to survive in the custom which prevails, especially at Chartres,
the old metropolis of the Druids, of soliciting presents on the New
Year, with the words ‘au gui l’an neuf.’”—(“Le Gui de Chêne et les
Druides,” Magdaleine, quoted by John Elliot Howard, in “Victoria Society
Transactions,” vol. xiv.)
“The Celtic name for the oak was ‘gue,’ or ‘guy.’”—(Brand, Pop. Ant.,
vol. i. p. 458.)
A writer in “Notes and Queries” shows (vol. ii. p. 163) that the word
mistletoe is “le gui” in French; the continental Druid was called Gui,
or a Guy, from “cuidare,” whence “Guide.” At the present day, while the
mistletoe itself is a charm, the name is a term of opprobrium,—guy, in
English.
M. C. H. Gaidoz takes exception to this interpretation. In his opinion,
the words “aguinaldo” and “à gui l’an neuf” are to be derived from the
Latin “ad calendas.”—(Personal letter, dated Paris, France, March 11,
1889.)
XVII.
COW DUNG AND COW URINE IN RELIGION.
The sacrificial value of cow dung and cow urine throughout India and
Thibet is much greater than the reader might be led to infer from the
brief citation already noted from Max Müller.
“Hindu merchants in Bokhara now lament loudly at the sight of a piece
of cow’s flesh, and at the same time mix with their food, that it may
do them good, the urine of a sacred cow, kept in that place.”—(Erman,
“Siberia,” London, 1848, vol. i. p. 384.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account