The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 09 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 09 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
the long hours of the night. Day broke at last, and then we silently
advanced and entered the hills. Very weird and fantastic in their rugged
outline were they, and here and there a cairn of stones marked where some
caravan had been attacked, and as we passed these each man threw one more
stone on the heap.”(37) In the Norwegian district of Tellemarken a cairn
is piled up wherever anything fearful has happened, and every passer-by
must throw another stone on it, or some evil will befall him.(38) In
Sweden and the Esthonian island of Oesel the same custom is practised on
scenes of clandestine or illicit love, with the strange addition in Oesel
that when a man has lost his cattle he will go to such a spot, and, while
he flings a stick or stone on it, will say, “I bring thee wood. Let me
soon find my lost cattle.”(39) Far from these northern lands, the Dyaks of
Batang Lupar keep up an observance of the same sort in the forests of
Borneo. Beside their paths may be seen heaps of sticks or stones which are
called “lying heaps.” Each heap is in memory of some man who told a
stupendous lie or disgracefully failed in carrying out an engagement, and
everybody who passes adds a stick or stone to the pile, saying as he does
so, “For So-and-so’s lying heap.”(40) The Dyaks think it a sacred duty to
add to every such “liar’s mound” (_tugong bula_) which they pass; they
imagine that the omission of the duty would draw down on them a
supernatural punishment. Hence, however pressed a Dyak may be for time, he
will always stop to throw on the pile some branches or twigs.(41) The
person to start such a heap is one of the men who has suffered by a
malicious lie. He takes a stick, throws it down on some spot where people
are constantly passing, and says, “Let any one who does not add to this
liar’s heap suffer from pains in the head.” Others then do likewise, and
every passer-by throws a stick on the spot lest he should suffer pains. In
this way the heap often grows to a large size, and the liar by whose name
it is known is greatly ashamed.(42)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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