The History of the Crusades (vol. 2 of 3)Michaud, J. Fr. (Joseph Fr.)
History
The History of the Crusades (vol. 2 of 3)
Michaud, J. Fr. (Joseph Fr.)
Crusades
Near Perkunas, _Potrimpus_ appeared, in the form of a young man,
wearing a crown of wheat-ears; he was adored as the god of waters and
rivers; he preserved mankind from the scourge of war, and presided over
the pleasures of peace. By a strange contradiction, they offered up to
this pacific divinity, the blood of animals, and that of the captives
slaughtered at the foot of the oak; sometimes children were sacrificed
to him; the priests consecrated the serpent to him, as symbolical of
fortune.
Beneath the shade of the sacred tree, was still another idol, called
_Pycollos_, the god of the dead; he bore the form of an old man, with
grey hair, hollow eyes, and a pale countenance, his head enfolded in a
shroud; his altars were heaps of human bones; the infernal deities were
obedient to his laws; he inspired both grief and terror.
A fourth divinity, _Curko_, whose image ornamented the branches of the
oak of Remové, furnished mankind with the necessaries of life. Every
year, at autumnal seed-time, his image was renewed; it consisted of a
goat-skin, elevated upon a pole eight feet high, crowned with blades
of corn; the priest sacrificed upon a stone, honey, milk, and the
fruits of the earth, whilst the youth of both sexes formed a circle
round the idol.
The Prussians celebrated several other festivals during spring and
summer, in honour of the same god; at the spring festival, which took
place on the 22nd of March, they addressed Curko in these words: “It is
thou who hast chased away winter, and brought fair and fine days back
to us; by thee the gardens and the fields rebloom; by thee the forests
and the woods resume their verdure.” The inhabitants of Prussia had a
crowd of other gods, whom they invoked for their flocks, their bees,
the forests, the waters, harvest, commerce, the peace of families, and
conjugal happiness; a divinity with a hundred eyes watched over the
threshold of houses; one god guarded the yard, another the stable;
the hunter heard the spirit of the forest howl amidst the tree-tops;
the mariner recommended himself to the god of the sea. _Laimelé_ was
invoked by women in labour, and spun the lives of mankind. Tutelary
divinities arrested the progress of conflagrations, caused the sap
of the birch-trees to flow, guarded roads, and awakened workmen and
labourers before the dawn of day. The air, the earth, the waters were
peopled by gnomes or little gods, and with ghosts and goblins, which
they called _arvans_. It was believed by all that the oak was a tree
dear to the gods, and that its shade offered an asylum against the
violence of men or the assaults of destiny. In addition to the oak of
Remové, the Prussians had several other trees of the same kind, which
they considered the sanctuaries of their divinities. They consecrated
also linden-trees, firs, maples, and even whole forests; they held in
reverence fountains, lakes, and mountains; they adored serpents, owls,
storks, and other animals: in short, in the countries inhabited by
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