Edwin Sidney Hartland

“ But in East and West alike human beings have been from time to time murdered as foundation-sacrifices for house or bridge, or as guardians of hidden treasure or against a foreign invader. In all these cases the disembodied soul of the deceased is believed to become a powerful protector. ”

“ Accordingly various churches of the city witnessed at different times a cult similar to that which has now concentrated at the Decollati. The lives of these deceased malefactors had presumably been passed in crime and deeds of blood, and their disembodied souls cannot forget blood. But, whereas in their earthly life they had no pity on their neighbours and paid regard neither to their substance nor their honour, being dead and reconciled to the Church they take the part of the weak; they become the shield and defence of those who are attacked. ”

“ The unfortunate man, not knowing what was best to do, turned with true faith, (an indispensable condition in such circumstances) , to the Decollati, and all at once you might have seen the skeletons of these executed criminals rising from the grave, laying hold of their bones and running to the help of their adorer, knocking the robbers right and left, killing some outright, and driving the others half-dead with terror to save themselves by flight. ”

“ The blinded man, or the loser of the wager, becomes a beggar and undergoes various adventures: among others, he overhears certain animals, or demoniacal personages, discussing subjects in which he at once becomes interested—his own misfortune, a cure for blindness, or for some disease under which another person is labouring, a hidden treasure and the means to recover it, etc. ”

“ The church in consequence is the shrine of a remarkable cult, the cult of the Anime dei Decollati. A tiny side-chapel opening directly on the burial ground forms the special centre of this cult (Plate VIII.) . It is filled with votive offerings of wax,—legs, heads, feet, babies, and so forth,—testifying to the various benefits for which the intercession of the Decollati is besought. In a side-case is a representation in relief of Purgatory with three or four persons in the flames. Their necks are hung with hearts and other amulets. ”

“ The soul of the victim seems to be attached to the skull, and becomes the bringer of luck to, and the guardian-spirit of, the murderer and possessor. So among the Eskimo of Behring Strait a man will sometimes cause the death of a new-born child and secretly steal its body to carry about with him. ”

“ In our own country we have only to refer to the honours paid to Saint Kenelm, king and martyr, to King Edward the Martyr, and to Simon de Montfort, Edward II., and Charles I., as examples of the extreme latitude of interpretation of the term martyr. More might easily be cited, and from other countries hundreds.
Some peoples indeed go to the length of putting to death a holy man in order to provide an object of devotion. At Gilgit there is the shrine of a famous Mohammedan saint who is said to have been thus murdered ”

“ A stranger of learning and bodily perfection coming that way would be put to death at sight,—not, they declared, for the purpose of robbery, but that his beauty and learning might abide in them and their country. ”

“ They hate violence, and, if they do not always punish it in those who commit it, at least they ward off its worst effects from the victims. They frequently interfere to protect their devotees from robbers. An old lithographic print reproduced year after year records one of these miracles. A warm adherent of the cult was once riding by night with a sum of money. Some robbers who had got wind of it were on his track armed with daggers, knives, and guns. ”

“ Following the directions given, he recovers his sight, heals the other person of disease, obtains the treasure and becomes wealthy. The other man learns of his good fortune and endeavours to imitate him by listening to the conversation of the animals or demons at the same place, but is discovered by them and punished for spying. ”

“ But it is not everybody who has a petition to the Decollati who can undertake a pilgrimage to their shrine. Where this cannot be done there is still the possibility of reaching their ears. In the stillness of the night a taper is kindled before their picture. A ghastly picture it is, of bodies hanging from the gallows or burning in the midst of the fire, the latter being usually taken for a scene in Purgatory. ”

“ Among her prayers she states in plain terms what she wants,—for there is no need to beat about the bush with the Decollati,—winding up with a last orison in rhyme threatening them with indifference for the future if they do not grant her what she has in mind. All sorts of petitions are thus presented, nor is it only women who are the petitioners. One man will ask for success in business, and another for three lucky numbers in the lottery. ”

“ But where it is not the expression of the collective will, where it is imposed by arms or more mysterious terrors on the part of a class or classes with interests opposed to the general interests of the community, and to that extent an anti-social force, then the shock and the terror reach their height, the whole sympathy of society goes out toward the victim, and he is surrounded with a halo of more than common radiance. ”

“ In the second the two persons quarrel over the question whether justice or injustice, truth or falsehood, pays better, or over some religious question, and lay a wager upon it. A decision is given against the person with whom the audience is expected to sympathize, for instance, the champion of justice. ”

“ Jean is also the same word as chien, a dog, whence cynical. The Gaelic for John is Jain, the Gaelic for Jean or Jane is Sine, with which I equate shine, shone and sheen, all of which have respect to the sun, as also had the Arabic jinne, genii, and Gian Ben Gian, a title of the fabulous world-ruler of the Golden Age. ”

“ The importance of securing the tomb of a holy man is still familiar in many places; for example, in Auvergne, where, when the curé of a parish dies, the inhabitants will not, if they can avoid it, permit his burial outside the parish bounds, even though his relatives desire it, lest the village be subject to hail-storms for seven years or some other calamities happen. ”

“ The unknown persons were of course Decollati. The poor carter in some way was discovered to be innocent, and reinstated in his position.
All this and more may be read in Dr. Pitrè's interesting pages. [1] The concentration of the cult in Palermo and at the little church beside the Oreto I have already accounted for. Its general popularity in the island is doubtless attributable to the generations of tyranny suffered by the inhabitants at large and particularly by the poorer classes. These classes supplied most of the victims of the law. Tyranny produced lawlessness. ”

“ On the other hand, superstitions like those concerning ghosts in the West and bhuts in the East exhibit souls disembodied by other than a natural death as vindictive and often extremely dangerous beings, who must be pacified and exorcised or even worshipped. ”

“ A reference to, and plan of, an alleged prehistoric building discovered by the author’s brother, and still unexcavated, somewhere in this country, inspire no confidence, since all information as to its situation and discovery is carefully withheld. Nor do frequent mis-spellings of the names of writers cited, and such blunders as the reference to Dr. Coneybeare (sic) as a “cleric” betray a very close attention to accuracy in detail. These trifies are of course insignificant in a “profound and far-reaching contribution to English Archaeology.” ”

“ These two streams often mingle, and the incidents get into other stories, while on the other hand incidents from other stories are frequently incorporated. The author finds his way through this almost inextricable tangle with ingenuity and patience; and the result is a very interesting discussion. He assumes that the complicated plot and structure require that the tale must have originated in some one place and cannot have arisen independently among different peoples, though single incidents may well have developed from the common stock of savage ideas. ”

“ The present work is a very careful and learned study of the many variants of a tale widely spread in Europe and Asia. The story concerns two persons who meet, or are travelling together. It takes two alternative forms. In the first type one of the travellers exhausts his means and applies to the other to give him food. ”

“ Space does not allow of the consideration of this work in detail, but it will be indispensable to all who are interested in these subjects. A book of the same type by the late Mr. R. V. Russell on the Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces was judiciously entrusted by the Local Government to a firm of English publishers, and it was issued in an attractive style with useful illustrations. Mr. Rose’s work was left to the mercy of the local Panjab presses, and the result is far from satisfactory. ”