popularly associated with the period of the Moon's fulness, when that
deity's surviving spark of life is deemed most active.
The cult of the Meleagrians for the Sun not only recognises his vital
warmth and fructifying properties, but also attributes to him the
gathering or dispersal of the clouds which drop the refreshing rain
upon the thirsty soil and swell the opening buds of tree and plant. The
winds are also under the Sun's control, and are apparently regarded as
his offspring, who sometimes disobey their august parent's injunctions,
and either sportively or maliciously vex the people of Meleager with
unwelcome gales that imperil the fisher-folk at sea, and injure the
springing crops on land. But speaking broadly, the Meleagrian is of
St James's opinion that "every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights with whom is no
variableness neither shadow of turning." And in truth the unchangeable
benignity and faithfulness of the Sun-god are so evident to his people
that one can scarcely wonder at their fixed belief in his omnipresent
power for good, and at his unsullied reputation of their sole
benefactor.
The scheme of public and private worship has evidently been modelled
on features found in Pagan, Mohammedan and Christian religious
systems. The brief prayer to the Sun's majesty, which I have quoted
elsewhere, that is uttered by all on their knees at the hours of
sunrise and sunset, savours in principle of the terse invocations to
Allah, deemed by Mahomet as most suitable to the human temperament
and understanding. On the other hand, the weekly obligatory holiday
derives probably from Jewish tradition. Again, the elaborate ceremonies
held annually in the principal temple whereat the King offers incense
in public at the crystal altar of the Sun seem to recall the mediæval
pageants of the Roman Church, though possibly they may be copied
from much older forms of worship on the Earth. But in contrast with
these strictly spiritual forms, it is noteworthy that the occasions
of births, deaths and marriages are treated in a civilian spirit,
if I may so express it. Births are merely registered or reported to
the appointed members of the council or their itinerant officials;
marriage is almost wholly a betrothal within the family circle, and
consists of an exchange of rings between the bride and bridegroom in
the presence of their respective relations. Death is accompanied with
small display of ceremony. Cremation is compulsory here, and after the
corpse has been duly prepared, a pyre is made either in the garden of
the deceased's home or else in a public enclosure utilised for the
purpose. In aristocratic or wealthy families the ashes are generally
preserved within the family chapel or mausoleum; those who are poor
or indifferent merely leave the little urn in the public columbarium.
There are regular charges by the Government for the performance of