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
(M198) In the same part of Africa we hear of a fetish called Malassi, the
votaries of which form a secret order of the usual sort with a variety of
ranks to which the initiates are promoted. “The candidate is plunged into
a magic sleep within the temple-hut, and while he sleeps he beholds a bird
or other object with which his existence is henceforth sympathetically
bound up, just as the life of the young Indian is bound up with the animal
which he sees in his dream at puberty. All who have been born again at
initiation, after their return to a normal state, bear the name of Swamie
(a sacred designation also in India) or, if they are women, Sumbo (Tembo),
and wear as a token the ring called _sase_, which consists of an iron hoop
with a fruit attached to it.”(645) Similarly among the Fans of the Gaboon
a young warrior acquires his guardian spirit by dreaming. He is secluded
in the forest, drinks a fermented and intoxicating liquor, and smokes
hemp. Then he falls into a heavy sleep, and next morning he must describe
exactly to the fetish priest the animal, tree, mineral, or whatever it may
have been which he saw in his dream. This magical dream is repeated on
three successive nights; and after that the young man is sent forth by the
priest to seek and bring back the beast, bird, reptile, or whatever it was
of which he dreamed. The youth obeys, reduces the animal or thing to
cinders or ashes, and preserves these calcined remains as a talisman which
will protect him against many dangers.(646) However, in these rites there
is no clear simulation of dying and coming to life again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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