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
the Cobham family, no successor was found for him, and the priesthood has
become extinct.”(69) One of the practical inconveniences of such an office
is that the house of the fetish king enjoys the right of sanctuary, and so
tends to become little better than a rookery of bad characters. Thus on
the Grain Coast of West Africa the fetish king or Bodio, as he is called,
“exercises the functions of a high-priest, and is regarded as protector of
the whole nation. He lives in a house provided for him by the people, and
takes care of the national fetiches. He enjoys some immunities in virtue
of his office, but is subject to certain restrictions which more than
counterbalance his privileges. His house is a sanctum to which culprits
may betake themselves without the danger of being removed by any one
except by the Bodio himself.”(70) One of these Bodios resigned office
because of the sort of people who quartered themselves on him, the cost of
feeding them, and the squabbles they had among themselves. He led a
cat-and-dog life with them for three years. Then there came a man with
homicidal mania varied by epileptic fits; and soon afterwards the
spiritual shepherd retired into private life, but not before he had lost
an ear and sustained other bodily injury in a personal conflict with this
very black sheep.(71)
(M17) At Porto Novo there used to be, in addition to the ordinary monarch,
a King of the Night, who reigned during the hours of darkness from sunset
to sunrise. He might not shew himself in the street after the sun was up.
His duty was to patrol the streets with his satellites and to arrest all
whom he found abroad after a certain hour. Each band of his catchpoles was
led by a man who went about concealed from head to foot under a conical
casing of straw and blew blasts on a shell which caused every one that
heard it to shudder. The King of the Night never met the ordinary king
except on the first and last days of their respective reign; for each of
them invested the other with office and paid him the last honours at
death.(72) With this King of the Night at Porto Novo we may compare a
certain king of Hawaii who was so very sacred that no man might see him,
even accidentally, by day under pain of death; he only shewed himself by
night.(73)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account