James George Frazer

“ But in serving the cause of avarice and ambition it subserved the progress of civilization, by fostering conceptions of the rights of property and the sanctity of the marriage tie, — conceptions which in time grew strong enough to stand by themselves and to fling away the crutch of superstition which in earlier days had been their sole support. ”

“ In North America it is abundant. In Australia we hear of a medicine-man whose clan totem through his mother was kangaroo, but whose "secret" (i.e., individual) totem was the tiger-snake. Snakes of that species, therefore, would not hurt him. 14 An Australian seems usually to get his individual totem by dreaming that he has been transformed into an animal of the species. Thus a man dreamed three times he was a kangaroo ; hence he became one of the kangaroo kindred, and might not eat any part of a kangaroo on which there was blood ; he might not even carry home one on which there was blood. ”

“ It is not only the clans and the Indi- sexes that have totems ; individuals also have their own vidual special totems, i.e., classes of objects (generally species of animals) , which they regard as related to themselves by those ties of mutual respect and protection which are characteristic of totemism. This relationship, however, in the case of the individual totem, begins and ends with the individual man, and is not, like the clan totem, transmitted by inheritance. ”

“ But Mr R. Parkinson states that in New Britain (now New Pomerania) a person who violates a taboo-mark set on a plantation, tree, &c., is supposed to be "attacked by sickness and misfortune." To go through the similar customs observed by savages all over the world would be endless; we may, however, note that a regular system of taboo is said to exist among some of the wild tribes of the Naga Hills in India, [4] and that the rules not to touch food with the hands or the head with the hands are observed by tabooed women among one of the Fraser Lake tribes in North America. ”

“ In New Zealand, if a man wished to preserve his house, crop, garden, or anything else, he made it taboo; similarly he could appropriate a forest tree or a piece of drift timber, &c., by tying a mark to it or giving it a chop with his axe. In Samoa for a similar purpose a man would set up a representation of, e.g., a sea pike or a shark, believing that any one who meddled with property thus protected would be killed by a sea pike or shark the next time he bathed. ”

“ If a man kills one, they are as much enraged as if it was one of their children, and will strike him with their long poles." 12 The sex totem seems to be still more sacred than the clan totem ; for men who do not object to other people killing their clan totem will fiercely defend their sex totem against any attempt of the opposite sex to injure it. ”

“ In New Zealand this judicial robbery was reduced to a system. No sooner was it known that a man had broken a taboo than all his friends and acquaintances swarmed down on him and carried off whatever they could lay hands on. ”

“ A tabooed person might not eat his food with his hands, but was fed by another person; if he could get no one to feed him, he had to go down on his knees and pick up his food with his mouth, holding his hands behind him. A chief who was permanently taboo never ate in his own house but always in the open air, being fed by one of his wives, or taking his food with the help of a fern stalk so as not to touch his head with his hands ”

“ Clan Totem.The Clan Totem.—The clan totem is reverenced by a body of men and women who call themselves by the name of the totem, believe themselves to be of one blood, descendants of a common ancestor, and are bound together by common obligations to each other and by a common faith in the totem. Totemism is thus both a religious and a social system. In its religious aspect it consists of the relations of mutual respect and protection between a man and his totem; in its social aspect it consists of the relations of the clansmen to each other and to men of other clans. ”

“ The connexion between a man and his totem is mutually beneficent: the totem protects the man, and the man shows his respect for the totem in various ways, by not killing it if it be an animal, and not cutting or gathering it if it be a plant. As distinguished from a fetich, a totem is never an isolated individual, but always a class of objects, generally a species of animals or of plants, more rarely a class of inanimate natural objects, very rarely a class of artificial objects. ”

“ In the Marquesas Islands human flesh was tabooed from women. Sometimes certain fruits, animals, and fish were taboo for months together from both men and women. In the Marquesas houses were tabooed against water: nothing was washed in them; no drop of water might be spilled in them. If an island or a district was tabooed, no canoe or person might approach it while the taboo lasted; if a path was tabooed, no one might walk on it. Seasons generally kept taboo were the approach of a great religious ceremony, the time of preparation for war, and the sickness of chiefs. ”

“ When the Persian war was over, the Delphic oracle bade the Athenians fetch the bones of Theseus from Scyrus, and lay them in Attic earth. It fell to Cimon's lot in 469 B.C. to discover the hero's grave at Scyrus, and bring back his bones to Athens. They were deposited in the heart of Athens, and henceforth escaped slaves and all persons in peril sought and found sanctuary at the grave of him who in his life had been a champion of the oppressed. His chief festival was on the 8th of the month Pyanepsion (October 21st) , but the 8th day of every month was also sacred to him. ”

“ Among some tribes the youths at initiation sleep on the graves of their ancestors, in order to absorb their virtues. 21 It is, however, a very notable fact that the initiation of an Australian youth is said to be conducted, not by men of the same totem, but by men of that portion of the tribe into which he may marry. 22 In some of the Victorian tribes no person related to the youth by blood can interfere or assist in his initiation. ”

“ Sir George Grey says of the western Australian tribes that a man will never kill an animal of his kobong (totem) species if he finds it asleep; "indeed, he always kills it reluctantly, and never without affording it a chance to escape. This arises from the family belief that some one individual of the species is their nearest friend, to kill whom would be a great crime, and to be carefully avoided." [11] Amongst the Indians of British Columbia a man will never kill his totem animal; if he sees another do it, he will hide his face for shame, and afterwards demand compensation for the act. ”

“ Red was the taboo colour in New Zealand; in Hawaii, Tahiti, Tonga, and Samoa it was white. In the Marquesas a man who had slain an enemy was taboo for ten days: he might have no intercourse with his wife and might not meddle with fire; he had to get some one else to cook for him. A woman engaged in the preparation of cocoa-nut oil was taboo for five days or more, during which she might have no intercourse with men. ”

“ Mothers after childbirth were taboo, and so were their new-born children. Women before marriage were noa, and could have as many lovers as they chose; but after marriage they were strictly tabooed to their husbands and from every one else. One of the strictest taboos was incurred by all persons who handled the body or bones of a dead person or assisted at his funeral. In Tonga a common person who touched a dead chief was tabooed for ten lunar months; a chief who touched a dead chief was tabooed for from three to five months according to the rank of the deceased. Burial grounds were taboo ”

“ The house where a death has taken place is pamali for twelve days, during which no one may enter it and nothing may be taken out of it. A tabooed Dyak may not bathe, meddle with fire, follow his ordinary occupation, or leave his house. Certain families are forbidden to eat the flesh of particular animals, as cattle, goats, and snakes. The taboo is often indicated by a bundle of spears or a rattan. The Motu of New Guinea also have the taboo: a man is tabooed after handling a corpse. He then keeps apart from his wife; his food is cooked for him by his sister ”

“ All the members of a totem clan regard each other as kins men or brothers and sisters, and are bound to help and protect each other. The totem bond is stronger than the bond of blood or family in the modern sense. ”

“ We have seen examples of Australian tribes in which members of any clan are free to marry members of any clan but their own; but such tribes appear to be excep tional. Often an Australian tribe is divided into two (exogamous) phratries, each of which includes under it a number of totem clans; and of tener still there are subphratries interposed between the phratry and the clans, each phratry including two subphratries, and the subphratries including totem clans. ”

“ Theseus was now declared heir to the throne, and the Pallantids, who had hoped to succeed to the childless king, conspired against Theseus, but he crushed the conspiracy. He then attacked the flame-spitting bull of Marathon and brought it alive to Athens, where he sacrificed it to Apollo Delphinius. Now comes the adventure of the Cretan Minotaur (see MINOS) , whom Theseus slew by the aid of Ariadne (q.v.) . While Theseus was in Crete, Minos, wishing to see whether Theseus was really the son of Poseidon, flung his ring into the sea. ”

“ In Timor and the neighbouring islands the word for taboo is pamali (or pomali) ; and during the long festival which celebrates a successful head-hunt the man who has secured the most heads is pamali; he must not sleep with his wife nor eat from his own hand, but is fed by women. ”

“ Rules of Descent.—In a large majority of the totem tribes at present known to us in Australia and North America descent is in the female line; i.e., the children belong to the totem clan of their mother, not to that of their father. In Australia the proportion of tribes with female to those with male descent is as four to one; in America it is between three and two to one. ”

“ He might eat cooked kangaroo ; but, if he were to eat the meat with the blood on it, the spirits would no longer take him up aloft 15 In America the individual totem is usually the first animal of which a youth dreams during the long and generally solitary fasts which American Indians observe at puberty. He kills the animal or bird of which he dreams, and henceforward wears its skin or feathers, or some part of them, as an amulet, especially on the war-path and in hunting. 16 A man may even (though this seems exceptional) acquire several totems in this way ”

“ But, if a man found that he had already (unknowingly) eaten with tabooed hands, he sat down before a chief, took up the foot of the latter, and pressed it against his stomach to counteract the effect of the food inside. In New Zealand a taboo could be taken off by a child or grandchild. The tabooed person touched the child and took drink or food from its hands; the man was then free, but the child was tabooed for the rest of the day. A Maori chief who became taboo by touching the sacred head of his child was disinfected, so to speak, as follows. ”

“ If the man respects and cares for the totem, he expects that the totem will do the same by him. In Senegambia the totems, when they are dangerous animals, will not hurt their clansmen; e.g., men of the Scorpion clan affirm that scorpions (of a very deadly kind) will run over their bodies without biting them. 1 A Snake clan (Ophiogenes) in Asia Minor, believing that they were descended from snakes, and that snakes were their kinsmen, submitted to a practical test the claims of any man amongst them whom they suspected of being no true clansman. ”

“ Thus the taboo of chiefs, priests, and temples might be described as a privilege, while the taboo imposed on the sick and on persons who had come in contact with the dead might be regarded as a disability ”

“ Thus the Narrinyeri youth at initiation are forbidden to eat twenty different kinds of game, besides any food belonging to women. If they eat of these forbidden foods it is thought they will grow ugly. 14 In the Mycoolon tribe, near the Gulf of Carpentaria, the youth at initiation is forbidden to eat of eagle- hawk and its young, native companion and its young, some snakes, turtles, ant-eaters, and emu eggs. 15 The Kurnai youth is not allowed to eat the female of any animal, nor the emu, nor the porcupine. He becomes free by having the fat of the animal smeared on his face. ”

“ Cases are on record in which persons who had unwittingly broken a taboo actually died of terror on discovering their fatal error. Chiefs and priests, however, could in the case of involuntary transgressions perform certain mystical ceremonies which prevented this penalty from taking effect. The civil penalty for breaking a taboo varied in severity. In Hawaii there were police officers appointed by the king to see that the taboo was observed, and every breach of it was punished with death, unless the offender had powerful friends in the persons of priests or chiefs. ”

“ Similarly in New Zealand a taboo was commonly laid on places where farming operations were going on; and among the Basutos, before the corn on the threshing-floor can be touched, a religious ceremony has to be performed, and all "defiled" persons are carefully kept from seeing it. ”

“ Theseus had promised Ægeus that, if he returned successful, the black sail with which the fatal ship always put to sea [3] should be exchanged for a white one. But he forgot his promise; and, when from the Acropolis at Athens Ægeus descried the black sail out at sea, he flung himself from the rock, and died. Hence at the festival which commemorated the return of Theseus there was always weeping and lamentation. ”

“ The Dards, who with the kindred Siah Posh Kâfirs on the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush — tribes which probably of all Aryan peoples retain a social state most nearly approximating to that of the primitive Aryans — abstain from sexual intercourse during the whole of the fighting season, from May to September; and "victory to the chastest" is said to be a maxim of all the fighting tribes from the Hindu Kush to Albania. [6] The same rule of continence in war is observed by some Indian tribes of North America. ”

“ TOTEMISM.A totem is a class of material objects which a savage regards with superstitious respect, believing that there exists between him and every member of the class an intimate and altogether special relation. ”

“ The clans of the Osages are divided into war clans and peace clans; when they are out on the buffalo hunt, they camp on opposite sides of the tribal circle; and the peace clans are not allowed to take animal life of any kind; they must therefore live on vegetables unless they can obtain meat in exchange for vegetables from the war clans. ”