The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 08 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 08 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
(M184) When the Koryak have killed a fox, they take the body home and lay
it down near the fire, saying, “Let the guest warm himself. When he feels
warm, we will free him from his overcoat.” So when the frozen carcase is
thawed, they skin it and wrap long strips of grass round about it. Then
the animal’s mouth is filled with fish-roe, and the mistress of the house
gashes the flesh and puts more roe or dried meat into the gashes, making
believe that the gashes are the fox’s pockets, which she thus fills with
provisions. Then the carcase is carried out of the house, and the people
say, “Go and tell your friends that it is good to visit yonder house.
‘Instead of my old coat, they gave me a new one still warmer and with
longer hair. I have eaten my fill, and had my pockets well stored. You,
too, go and visit them.’ ” The natives think that if they neglected to
observe this ceremonial they would have no luck in hunting foxes.(708)
When a Ewe hunter of Togoland has killed an antelope of a particular kind
(_Antilope leucoryx_), he erects an enclosure of branches, within which he
places the lower jawbones of all the animals he has shot. Then he pours
palm-wine and sprinkles meal on the bones, saying, “Ye lower jawbones of
beasts, ye are now come home. Here is food, here is drink. Therefore lead
your comrades (that is, the living beasts of the forest) hither
also.”(709) In the Timor-laut islands of the Indian Archipelago the skulls
of all the turtles which a fisherman has caught are hung up under his
house. Before he goes out to catch another, he addresses himself to the
skull of the last turtle that he killed, and having inserted betel between
its jaws, he prays the spirit of the dead animal to entice its kinsfolk in
the sea to come and be caught.(710) In the Poso district of central
Celebes hunters keep the jawbones of deer and wild pigs which they have
killed and hang them up in their houses near the fire. Then they say to
the jawbones, “Ye cry after your comrades, that your grandfathers, or
nephews, or children may not go away.” Their notion is that the souls of
the dead deer and pigs tarry near their jawbones and attract the souls of
living deer and pigs, which are thus drawn into the toils of the
hunter.(711) Thus in all these cases the wily savage employs dead animals
as decoys to lure living animals to their doom.
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