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 old ways and cursing all such as may refuse their consent or violate
the new law thus solemnly enacted. Then all present betake themselves to
the river and erect another idol on the bank. In presence of this latter
idol the weights and measures are compared, and any that exceed the lawful
standard are at once reduced to it. When this has been done, they rock the
image to and fro to signify, or perhaps rather to ensure, thereby that he
who does not keep the new law shall suffer misfortune, or fall sick, or be
thwarted in some way or other. Then a pig is killed and eaten on the bank
of the river. The feast being over, each family contributes a certain sum
in token that they make restitution of their unlawful gains. The money
thus collected is tied in a bundle, and the priest holds the bundle up
towards the sky and down towards the earth to satisfy the god of the upper
and the god of the nether world that justice has now been done. After that
he either flings the bag of money into the river or buries it in the
ground beside the idol. In the latter case the money naturally disappears,
and the people explain its disappearance by saying that the evil spirit
has come and fetched it.(322) A method like that which at the present day
the people of Nias adopt for the sake of conjuring the demon of disease
was employed in antiquity by the Caunians of Asia Minor to banish certain
foreign gods whom they had imprudently established in their country. All
the men of military age assembled under arms, and with spear-thrusts in
the air drove the strange gods step by step from the land and across the
boundaries.(323)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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