—— of the Gaboon, their theory of the external soul, ii. 200 _sqq._, 226 _n._ 1; guardian spirits acquired in dreams among the, 257 —— of West Africa, custom at end of mourning among the, ii. 18 Fast at puberty, ii. 222 _n._ 5 Fasting of girls at puberty, i. 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 66; of women at menstruation, 93, 94; as preparation for gathering magical plants, ii. 45, 55 _n._ 1, 58 —— men and women at a dancing festival, i. 8 _sqq._ Fasts imposed on heirs to thrones in South America, i. 19; rules observed in, 20 Fat of emu not allowed to touch the ground, i. 13; of crocodiles and snakes as unguent, 14 Fattening-house for girls in Calabar, ii. 259 Feast of Florus and Lauras on August 18th, i. 220; of the Nativity of the Virgin, 220 _sq._; of All Souls, 223 _sq._, 225 _n._ 3 _Fechenots_, _fechenottes_, Valentines, i. 110 Feet foremost, children born, curative power attributed to, i. 295 Fen-hall, i. 102 Ferintosh district, in Scotland, i. 227 Fern in a popular remedy, i. 17; the male (_Aspidium filix mas_), superstitions as 10, ii. 66 _sq._ —— owl or goatsucker, sex totem of women, ii. 217 —— -seed gathered on Midsummer Eve, magical properties ascribed to, ii. 65 _sqq._; blooms on Midsummer Eve, 287; blooms on Christmas Night, 288 _sq._; reveals treasures in the earth, 287 _sqq._; brought by Satan on Christmas night, 289; gathered at the solstices, Midsummer Eve and Christmas, 290 _sq._; procured by shooting at the sun on Midsummer Day, 291; blooms at Easter, 292 _n._ 2 Feronia, Italian goddess, ii. 14 Ferrara, synod of, denounces practice of gathering fern-seed, ii. 66 _n._ Fertility of women, magical ceremony to ensure, i. 23 _sq._, 31; of fields, processions with lighted torches to ensure the, 233 _sq._; of the land supposed to depend on the number of human beings sacrificed, ii. 32, 33, 42 _sq._ Fertilization of mango trees, ceremony for the, i. 10 Fertilizing fields with ashes of Midsummer fires, i. 170 Festival of the cold food in China, i. 137; Chinese, shifted in the calendar, 137; of the Cross on August 1st, 220; of the Dead, 223 _sq._, 225 _sq._ Fetish, the great, in West Africa, ii. 256 Fever, leaping over the Midsummer bonfires as a preventive of, i. 166, 173, 194; Midsummer fires a protection against, 190; need-fire kindled to prevent, 297; cure for, in India, ii. 190 _Fey_, devoted, i. 231 Fez, Midsummer custom at, i. 216, ii. 31 Field-mice, burning torches as a protection against, i. 114, 115 —— and moles driven away by torches, ii. 340