The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 01 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 01 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
A somewhat similar ceremony is performed by men of the manna totem
in the Arunta tribe for the increase of their totem. This manna is
a product of the mulga tree (_Acacia aneura_), and resembles the
better-known sugar-manna of gum trees. When the men of the totem wish
to multiply the manna, they resort to a great boulder of grey rock,
curiously streaked with black and white seams, which is thought to
represent a mass of manna deposited there long ago by a man of the
totem. The same significance is attributed to other smaller stones
which rest on the top of the boulder. The headman of the totem begins
the ceremony by digging up a sacred bull-roarer (_churinga_), which
is buried in the earth at the foot of the boulder. It is supposed to
represent a lump of manna and to have lain there ever since the remote
_alcheringa_ or dream time, the farthest past of which these savages
have any conception. Next the headman climbs to the top of the boulder
and rubs it with the bull-roarer, and after that he takes the smaller
stones and with them rubs the same spot on the boulder. Meantime the
other men, sitting round about, chant loudly an invitation to the dust
produced by {p89} the rubbing of the stones to go out and generate a
plentiful supply of manna on the mulga-trees. Finally, with twigs of
the mulga the leader sweeps away the dust which has gathered on the
surface of the stone; his intention is to cause the dust to settle on
the mulga-trees and so produce manna.[296]
[Sidenote: Euro ceremony.
Cockatoo ceremony.]
Again, in a rocky gorge of the Murchison Range there are numbers of
little heaps of rounded, water-worn stones, carefully arranged on beds
of leaves and hidden away under piles of rougher quartzite blocks. In
the opinion of the Warramunga tribe, these rounded stones represent
euros, that is, a species of kangaroo. According to their size they
stand for young or old, male or female euros. Any old man of the euro
totem who happens to pass the spot may take the stones out, smear
them with red ochre and rub them well. This is supposed to cause the
spirits of euros to pass out from the stones and to be born as animals,
thus increasing the food supply.[297] Again, in the Warramunga tribe
Messrs. Spencer and Gillen saw and heard a ceremony which was believed
to multiply white cockatoos to a wonderful extent. From ten o’clock
one evening until after sunrise next morning the headman of the white
cockatoo totem held in his hand a rude effigy of the cockatoo and
imitated the harsh cry of the bird, with exasperating monotony, all
night long. When his voice failed him, his son took up the call and
relieved the old man until such time as his father was rested enough to
begin again.[298]
[Sidenote: Homoeopathic or imitative character of these rites.
Use of human blood in these ceremonies.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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