The Origin of Man and of His SuperstitionsRead, Carveth
Philosophy
The Origin of Man and of His Superstitions
Read, Carveth
Animism; Human beings -- Origin; Magic; Superstition; Totemism
[311] Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp.
480-8.
[312] “Shamanism,” _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_,
XXIV. p. 130.
[313] Howitt, _op. cit._, p. 374.
[314] _Ibid._, p. 437.
[315] P. A. Talbot, _In the Shadow of the Bush_, p. 230.
[316] G. Borrow, _Wild Wales_, ch. lxxxviii.
[317] Spencer and Gillen, _op. cit._, p. 388.
[318] H. Spencer, _Principles of Sociology_, § 55.
[319] E. B. Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, I. 308 _et seq._
[320] In a paper on _Leopard Men of the Naga Hills_, read at a meeting
of the R.A.I. (December 9, 1919), Mr. J. J. H. Hutton reported that
such men do not change into leopards; but sometimes their souls
involuntarily pass into them. If the leopard be injured or killed he
whose soul was in it suffers or dies—when he hears of it. Such men are
not feared, because their leopards do very little harm.
For this reason (I suppose) the belief is not exploited by wizards, who
have no use for innocent superstition, and it remains pure folklore.
There may not be any connexion between this animistic doctrine of human
souls possessing animals and the magical doctrine of shape-changing. If
they are connected, it is easy to see that in a certain atmosphere of
popular philosophy, if shape-changing were believed in, the possession
theory might be accepted as the true explanation upon merely being
proposed. Indeed, it would make intelligible such a case as this: a
man’s leopard is seen on the skirts of the village; but he himself is
known to be in his hut.
Animistic explanation does not always follow culture: Europe adheres to
shape-changing. Yet in the _Volsung Saga_ the superstition is already
degenerate: Sigmund and his son change into wolves by putting on
wolf-skins belonging to two were-wolves whom they find asleep. This is
a rationalisation—disguise as a step toward change. An earlier step is
to say a man who would change must put on a belt of wolf-skin.
[321] Haddon, _Reports of the Cambridge Expedition to Torres Straits_,
V. p. 329.
[322] Grey, _op. cit._, “Legends of Maui and Tawhaki.”
[323] Wiedemann, _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, pp. 54-8.
[324] M. C. Stevenson, “The Sia,” _Am. B. of Ethn._, XI. p. 118.
[325] W. Grube, _Rel. u. K. d. Chinese_, p. 132.
[326] “Shamanism,” _Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute_,
ch. xxiv. p. 133.
[327] Stephánsen, _My Life with the Eskimo_, p. 391.
[328] D. Comparetti, _The Traditional Poetry of the Finns_, p. 26.
[329] _Natural and Social Morals_, ch. ii. § 4.
[330] See many examples in J. G. Frazer’s _Taboo and the Perils of the
Soul_, ch. i.
[331] Ch. vi.
[332] III. p. 31.
[333] Macdonell, _Sanskrit Literature_, pp. 73 and 183.
[334] Maspero, _The Dawn of Civilization_, p. 124.
[335] A. H. Sayce, _Religion of the Ancient Babylonians_, p. 319.
[336] _Religious Experience of the Roman People_, p. 202.
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