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
sport thoughtlessly and rashly all round the rooms, the terrace, and
bridging planks of travelling boat or floating house, and at times thou
didst fall into the stream, creek, or pond, among the floating
water-weeds, to the utter dismay of those to whom thy existence was most
dear. O gentle _kwun_, come into thy corporeal abode; do not delay this
auspicious rite. Thou art now full-grown and dost form everybody’s delight
and admiration. Let all the tiny particles of _kwun_ that have fallen on
land or water assemble and take permanent abode in this darling little
child. Let them all hurry to the site of this auspicious ceremony and
admire the magnificent preparations made for them in this hall.” The
brocaded cloth from the pagoda, under which lurks the captive spirit, is
now rolled up tightly and handed to the child, who is told to clasp it
firmly to his breast and not let the _kwun_ escape. Further, the child
drinks the milk of the coco-nuts which had been offered to the spirit, and
by thus absorbing the food of the _kwun_ ensures the presence of that
precious spirit in his body. A magic cord is tied round his wrist to keep
off the wicked spirits who would lure the _kwun_ away from home; and for
three nights he sleeps with the embroidered cloth from the pagoda fast
clasped in his arms.(923)
§ 8. Disposal of Cut Hair and Nails.
(M165) But even when the hair and nails have been safely cut, there
remains the difficulty of disposing of them, for their owner believes
himself liable to suffer from any harm that may befall them. The notion
that a man may be bewitched by means of the clippings of his hair, the
parings of his nails, or any other severed portion of his person is almost
world-wide,(924) and attested by evidence too ample, too familiar, and too
tedious in its uniformity to be here analysed at length. The general idea
on which the superstition rests is that of the sympathetic connexion
supposed to persist between a person and everything that has once been
part of his body or in any way closely related to him. A very few examples
must suffice. They belong to that branch of sympathetic magic which may be
called contagious.(925) Thus, when the Chilote Indians, inhabiting the
wild, deeply indented coasts and dark rain-beaten forests of southern
Chili, get possession of the hair of an enemy, they drop it from a high
tree or tie it to a piece of seaweed and fling it into the surf; for they
think that the shock of the fall, or the blows of the waves as the tress
is tossed to and fro on the heaving billows, will be transmitted through
the hair to the person from whose head it was cut.(926) Dread of sorcery,
we are told, formed one of the most salient characteristics of the
Marquesan islanders in the old days. The sorcerer took some of the hair,
spittle, or other bodily refuse of the man he wished to injure, wrapped it
up in a leaf, and placed the packet in a bag woven of threads or fibres,
which were knotted in an intricate way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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