The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 02 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 02 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
Vestal fire at Rome rekindled by the fire-drill; use of the fire-drill
by savages; the fire-sticks regarded by savages as male and female;
fire-customs of the Herero; sacred fire among the Herero maintained in
the chief’s hut by his unmarried daughter; the Herero chief as priest of
the hearth; sacred Herero fire rekindled by fire-sticks, which are
regarded as male and female, and are made from the sacred ancestral
tree; the sacred Herero hearth a special seat of the ancestral spirits;
sacred fire-sticks of the Herero represent deceased ancestors; sacred
fire-boards as family deities among the Koryaks and Chuckchees.
Chapter XVI.—Father Jove and Mother Vesta Pp. 227-252
Similarity between the fire-customs of the Herero and the ancient
Latins; rites performed by the Vestals for the fertility of the earth
and the fecundity of cattle; the Vestals as embodiments of Vesta, a
mother-goddess of fertility; the domestic fire as a fecundating agent in
marriage ritual; newborn children and the domestic fire; reasons for
ascribing a procreative virtue to fire; fire kindled by friction by
human representatives of the Fire-father and Fire-mother; fire kindled
by friction by boy and girl or by man and woman; human fire-makers
sometimes married, sometimes unmarried; holy fire and virgins of St.
Brigit in Ireland; the oaks of Erin; virgin priestesses of fire in
ancient Peru and Mexico; the _Agnihotris_ or fire-priests of the
Brahmans; kinds of wood employed for fire-sticks in India and ancient
Greece.
Chapter XVII.—The Origin of Perpetual Fires Pp. 253-265
Custom of perpetual fires probably originated in motives of convenience;
races reported to be ignorant of the means of making fire; fire probably
used by men before they knew how to kindle it; savages carry fire with
them as a matter of convenience; Prometheus the fire-bringer; perpetual
fires maintained by chiefs and kings; fire extinguished at king’s death.
Chapter XVIII.—The Succession to the Kingdom in Ancient Latium Pp.
266-323
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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