The Blood Covenant: A Primitive Rite and its Bearings on ScriptureTrumbull, H. Clay (Henry Clay)
Religion
The Blood Covenant: A Primitive Rite and its Bearings on Scripture
Trumbull, H. Clay (Henry Clay)
Blood -- Folklore; Covenants -- Religious aspects
It is not improbable, indeed, that the armlets, or bracelets, which
were found on the arms of Oriental kings, and of Oriental divinities
as well, were intended to indicate, or to symbolize, the personal
inter-union claimed to exist between those kings and divinities. Thus
an armlet, worn by Thotmes III., is preserved in the museum at Leyden.
It bears the cartouche of the King, having on it his sacred name, with
its reference to his inter-union with his god. It was much the same in
Nineveh.[148] Lane says, that upon the seal ring commonly worn by the
modern Egyptian “is engraved the wearer’s name,” and that this name
“is usually accompanied by the words ‘His servant’ (signifying ‘the
servant, or worshiper of God’), and often by other words expressive of
the person’s trust in God.”[149]
As the token of the blood-covenant is sometimes fastened about the
_arm_, and sometimes about the _neck_; so the encircling necklace, as
well as the encircling armlet, is sometimes counted the symbol of a
covenant of very life. This is peculiarly the case in India; where the
bracelet-brotherhood has been shown to be an apparent equivalent of
the blood-brotherhood. Among the folk-lore stories of India, it is a
common thing to hear of a necklace which holds the soul of the wearer.
That necklace removed, the wearer dies. That necklace restored, the
wearer lives again. “Sodewa Bai was born with a golden necklace about
her neck, concerning which also her parents consulted astrologers, who
said, ‘This is no common child; the necklace of gold about her neck
contains your daughter’s soul; let it therefore be guarded with the
utmost care; for if it were taken off, and worn by another person, she
would die.’” On that necklace of life, the story hangs. The necklace
was stolen by a servant, and Sodewa Bai died. Being placed in a
canopied tomb, she revived, night by night, when the servant laid off
the stolen necklace which contained the soul of Sodewa Bai. The loss
was at last discovered by her husband; the necklace was restored to
her, and she lived again.[150] And this is but one story of many.
In the Brahman marriage ceremony the bridegroom receives his bride by
binding a covenanting necklace about her neck. “A small ornament of
gold, called _tahly_, which is the sign of their being actually in the
state of marriage, ... is fastened by a short string dyed yellow with
_saffron_.”[151] And a Sanskrit word for “saffron” is also a word for
“blood.”[152]
The importance of this symbolism of the token of the blood-covenant,
in its bearing on the root-idea of an inter-union of natures by an
inter-commingling of blood, will be more clearly shown, by and by.
8. THE RITE AND ITS TOKEN IN EGYPT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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