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
Nobody was supposed to peep through the holes in the lattice-work, which
were besides partly stopped up with flowering shrubs.(469)
§ 5. Taboos on leaving Food over.
(M80) Again, magic mischief may be wrought upon a man through the remains
of the food he has partaken of, or the dishes out of which he has eaten.
On the principles of sympathetic magic a real connexion continues to
subsist between the food which a man has in his stomach and the refuse of
it which he has left untouched, and hence by injuring the refuse you can
simultaneously injure the eater. Among the Narrinyeri of South Australia
every adult is constantly on the look-out for bones of beasts, birds, or
fish, of which the flesh has been eaten by somebody, in order to construct
a deadly charm out of them. Every one is therefore careful to burn the
bones of the animals which he has eaten lest they should fall into the
hands of a sorcerer. Too often, however, the sorcerer succeeds in getting
hold of such a bone, and when he does so he believes that he has the power
of life and death over the man, woman, or child who ate the flesh of the
animal. To put the charm in operation he makes a paste of red ochre and
fish oil, inserts in it the eye of a cod and a small piece of the flesh of
a corpse, and having rolled the compound into a ball sticks it on the top
of the bone. After being left for some time in the bosom of a dead body,
in order that it may derive a deadly potency by contact with corruption,
the magical implement is set up in the ground near the fire, and as the
ball melts, so the person against whom the charm is directed wastes with
disease; if the ball is melted quite away, the victim will die. When the
bewitched man learns of the spell that is being cast upon him, he
endeavours to buy the bone from the sorcerer, and if he obtains it he
breaks the charm by throwing the bone into a river or lake.(470) Further,
the Narrinyeri think that if a man eats of the totem animal of his tribe,
and an enemy obtains a portion of the flesh, the latter can make it grow
in the inside of the eater, and so cause his death. Therefore when a man
partakes of his totem he is careful either to eat it all or else to
conceal or destroy the refuse.(471) In the Encounter Bay tribe of South
Australia, when a man cannot get the bone of an animal which his enemy has
eaten, he cooks a bird, beast, or fish, and keeping back one of the
creature’s bones, offers the rest under the guise of friendship to his
enemy. If the man is simple enough to partake of the proffered food, he is
at the mercy of his perfidious foe, who can kill him by placing the
abstracted bone near the fire.(472)
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account