The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 11 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 11 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
honest man, and would only return in time to share the booty. After a
while, however, the excitement created by the resurrection would wear off;
the dead folk come to life were expected to have learned their lessons,
and if they forgot themselves, their memory was promptly refreshed by the
law.(643)
(M197) The following account of the rites, as practised in this part of
Africa, was given to Adolf Bastian by an interpreter. “The great fetish
lives in the interior of the forest-land, where nobody sees him and nobody
can see him. When he dies, the fetish priests carefully collect his bones
in order to bring them to life again, and they nourish them, that he may
be clothed anew in flesh and blood. But it is not good to speak of it. In
the land of Ambamba every one must die once, and when the fetish priest
shakes his calabash against a village, all the men and lads whose hour is
come fall into a state of lifeless torpidity, from which they generally
arise after three days. But if the fetish loves a man he carries him away
into the bush and buries him in the fetish house, often for many years.
When he comes to life again, he begins to eat and drink as before, but his
understanding is gone and the fetish man must teach him and direct him in
every motion, like the smallest child. At first this can only be done with
a stick, but gradually his senses return, so that it is possible to talk
with him, and when his education is complete, the priest brings him back
to his parents. They would seldom recognize their son but for the express
assurances of the fetish priest, who moreover recalls previous events to
their memory. He who has not gone through the ceremony of the new birth in
Ambamba is universally looked down upon and is not admitted to the
dances.”(644)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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