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
(M13) But it is on scenes of murder and sudden death that this rude method
of averting evil is most commonly practised. The custom that every
passer-by must cast a stone or stick on the spot where some one has come
to a violent end, whether by murder or otherwise, has been observed in
practically the same form in such many and diverse parts of the world as
Ireland, France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Bohemia, Lesbos, Morocco,
Armenia, Palestine, Arabia, India, North America, Venezuela, Bolivia,
Celebes, and New Zealand.(43) In Fiji, for example, it was the practice
for every passer-by to throw a leaf on the spot where a man had been
clubbed to death; “this was considered as an offering of respect to him,
and, if not performed, they have a notion they will soon be killed
themselves.”(44) Sometimes the scene of the murder or death may also be
the grave of the victim, but it need not always be so, and in Europe,
where the dead are buried in consecrated ground, the two places would
seldom coincide. However, the custom of throwing stones or sticks on a
grave has undoubtedly been observed by passers-by in many parts of the
world, and that, too, even when the graves are not those of persons who
have come to a violent end. Thus we are told that the people of Unalashka,
one of the Aleutian Islands, bury their dead on the summits of hills and
raise a little hillock over the grave. “In a walk into the country, one of
the natives, who attended me, pointed out several of these receptacles of
the dead. There was one of them, by the side of the road leading from the
harbour to the village, over which was raised a heap of stones. It was
observed, that every one who passed it, added one to it.”(45) The
Roumanians of Transylvania think that a dying man should have a burning
candle in his hand, and that any one who dies without a light has no right
to the ordinary funeral ceremonies. The body of such an unfortunate is not
laid in holy ground, but is buried wherever it may be found. His grave is
marked only by a heap of dry branches, to which each passer-by is expected
to add a handful of twigs or a thorny bough.(46) The Hottentot god or hero
Heitsi-eibib died several times and came to life again. When the
Hottentots pass one of his numerous graves they throw a stone, a bush, or
a fresh branch on it for good luck.(47) Near the former mission-station of
Blydeuitzigt in Cape Colony there was a spot called Devil’s Neck where, in
the opinion of the Bushmen, the devil was interred. To hinder his
resurrection stones were piled in heaps about the place. When a Bushman,
travelling in the company of a missionary, came in sight of the spot he
seized a stone and hurled it at the grave, remarking that if he did not do
so his neck would be twisted round so that he would have to look backwards
for the term of his natural life.(48) Stones are cast by passers-by on the
graves of murderers in some parts of Senegambia.(49) In Syria deceased
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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