The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 03 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 03 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
as to trickle on the ground: a special name (_outoni_) is given to the
cuts thus made; they must be made with a flint, not with an iron
tool.(599) Among the Bantu tribes of Kavirondo, in eastern Africa, when a
man has killed an enemy in warfare he shaves his head on his return home,
and his friends rub a medicine, which generally consists of goat’s dung,
over his body to prevent the spirit of the slain man from troubling
him.(600) Exactly the same custom is practised for the same reason by the
Wageia of German East Africa.(601) With the Ja-Luo of Kavirondo the custom
is somewhat different. Three days after his return from the fight the
warrior shaves his head. But before he may enter his village he has to
hang a live fowl, head uppermost, round his neck; then the bird is
decapitated and its head left hanging round his neck. Soon after his
return a feast is made for the slain man, in order that his ghost may not
haunt his slayer.(602) After the slaughter of the Midianites the
Israelitish warriors were obliged to remain outside the camp for seven
days: whoever had killed a man or touched the slain had to purify himself
and his captive. The spoil taken from the enemy had also to be purified,
according to its nature, either by fire or water.(603) Similarly among the
Basutos cattle taken from the enemy are fumigated with bundles of lighted
branches before they are allowed to mingle with the herds of the
tribe.(604)
(M109) The Arunta of central Australia believe that when a party of men
has been out against the enemy and taken a life, the spirit of the slain
man follows the party on its return and is constantly on the watch to do a
mischief to those of the band who actually shed the blood. It takes the
form of a little bird called the _chichurkna_, and may be heard crying
like a child in the distance as it flies. If any of the slayers should
fail to hear its cry, he would become paralysed in his right arm and
shoulder. At night-time especially, when the bird is flying over the camp,
the slayers have to lie awake and keep the right arm and shoulder
carefully hidden, lest the bird should look down upon and harm them. When
once they have heard its cry their minds are at ease, because the spirit
of the dead then recognises that he has been detected, and can therefore
do no mischief. On their return to their friends, as soon as they come in
sight of the main camp, they begin to perform an excited war-dance,
approaching in the form of a square and moving their shields as if to ward
off something which was being thrown at them. This action is intended to
repel the angry spirit of the dead man, who is striving to attack them.
Next the men who did the deed of blood separate themselves from the
others, and forming a line, with spears at rest and shields held out in
front, stand silent and motionless like statues. A number of old women now
approach with a sort of exulting skip and strike the shields of the
manslayers with fighting-clubs till they ring again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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