Balder the Beautiful Part 11

[249] _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 1 _sqq._

[250] For a similar reason, perhaps, ancient Hindoo ritual prescribed that when the hair of a child's head was shorn in the third year, the clippings should be buried in a cow-stable, or near an _udumbara_ tree, or in a clump of _darbha_ gra.s.s, with the words, "Where Pushan, Brihaspati, Savitri, Soma, Agni dwell, they have in many ways searched where they should deposit it, between heaven and earth, the waters and heaven." See _The Grihya-Sutras_, translated by H. Oldenberg, Part ii.

(Oxford, 1892) p. 218 (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol. x.x.x.).

[251] Petronius, _Sat._ 48; Pausanias, x. 12: 8; Justin Martyr, _Cohort ad Graecos_, 37, p. 34 c (ed. 1742). According to another account, the remains of the Sibyl were enclosed in an iron cage which hung from a pillar in an ancient temple of Hercules at Argyrus (Ampelius, _Liber Memorialis_, viii. 16).

[252] A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _Nord-deutsche Sagen, Marchen und Gebrauche_ (Leipsic, 1848), p. 70, No. 72. i. This and the following German parallels to the story of the Sibyl's wish were first indicated by Dr. M.R. James (_Cla.s.sical Review_, vi. (1892) p. 74). I have already given the stories at length in a note on Pausanias, x. 12. 8 (vol. v.

pp. 292 _sq._).

[253] A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _op. cit._ pp. 70 _sq._, No. 72. 2.

[254] A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _op. cit._ p. 71, No. 72. 3.

[255] Karl Mullenhoff, _Sagen, Marchen und Lieder der Herzogthumer Holstein und Lauenburg_ (Kiel, 1845), pp. 158 _sg._, No. 217.

CHAPTER III

THE MYTH OF BALDER

[How Balder, the good and beautiful G.o.d, was done to death by a stroke of the mistletoe.]

A deity whose life might in a sense be said to be neither in heaven nor on earth but between the two, was the Norse Balder, the good and beautiful G.o.d, the son of the great G.o.d Odin, and himself the wisest, mildest, best beloved of all the immortals. The story of his death, as it is told in the younger or prose _Edda_, runs thus. Once on a time Balder dreamed heavy dreams which seemed to forebode his death.

Thereupon the G.o.ds held a council and resolved to make him secure against every danger. So the G.o.ddess Frigg took an oath from fire and water, iron and all metals, stones and earth, from trees, sicknesses and poisons, and from all four-footed beasts, birds, and creeping things, that they would not hurt Balder. When this was done Balder was deemed invulnerable; so the G.o.ds amused themselves by setting him in their midst, while some shot at him, others hewed at him, and others threw stones at him. But whatever they did, nothing could hurt him; and at this they were all glad. Only Loki, the mischief-maker, was displeased, and he went in the guise of an old woman to Frigg, who told him that the weapons of the G.o.ds could not wound Balder, since she had made them all swear not to hurt him. Then Loki asked, "Have all things sworn to spare Balder?" She answered, "East of Walhalla grows a plant called mistletoe; it seemed to me too young to swear." So Loki went and pulled the mistletoe and took it to the a.s.sembly of the G.o.ds. There he found the blind G.o.d Hother standing at the outside of the circle. Loki asked him, "Why do you not shoot at Balder?" Hother answered, "Because I do not see where he stands; besides I have no weapon." Then said Loki, "Do like the rest and shew Balder honour, as they all do. I will shew you where he stands, and do you shoot at him with this twig." Hother took the mistletoe and threw it at Balder, as Loki directed him. The mistletoe struck Balder and pierced him through and through, and he fell down dead. And that was the greatest misfortune that ever befell G.o.ds and men. For a while the G.o.ds stood speechless, then they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly. They took Balder's body and brought it to the sea-sh.o.r.e. There stood Balder's ship; it was called Ringhorn, and was the hugest of all ships. The G.o.ds wished to launch the ship and to burn Balder's body on it, but the ship would not stir. So they sent for a giantess called Hyrrockin. She came riding on a wolf and gave the ship such a push that fire flashed from the rollers and all the earth shook.

Then Balder's body was taken and placed on the funeral pile upon his ship. When his wife Nanna saw that, her heart burst for sorrow and she died. So she was laid on the funeral pile with her husband, and fire was put to it. Balder's horse, too, with all its trappings, was burned on the pile.[256]

[Tale of Balder in the older _Edda_.]

In the older or poetic _Edda_ the tragic tale of Balder is hinted at rather than told at length. Among the visions which the Norse Sibyl sees and describes in the weird prophecy known as the _Voluspa_ is one of the fatal mistletoe. "I behold," says she, "Fate looming for Balder, Woden's son, the b.l.o.o.d.y victim. There stands the Mistletoe slender and delicate, blooming high above the ground. Out of this shoot, so slender to look on, there shall grow a harmful fateful shaft. Hod shall shoot it, but Frigga in Fen-hall shall weep over the woe of Wal-hall."[257] Yet looking far into the future the Sibyl sees a brighter vision of a new heaven and a new earth, where the fields unsown shall yield their increase and all sorrows shall be healed; then Balder will come back to dwell in Odin's mansions of bliss, in a hall brighter than the sun, shingled with gold, where the righteous shall live in joy for ever more.[258]

[The story of Balder as related by Saxo Grammaticus.]

Writing about the end of the twelfth century, the old Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus tells the story of Balder in a form which professes to be historical. According to him, Balder and Hother were rival suitors for the hand of Nanna, daughter of Gewar, King of Norway. Now Balder was a demiG.o.d and common steel could not wound his sacred body. The two rivals encountered each other in a terrific battle, and though Odin and Thor and the rest of the G.o.ds fought for Balder, yet was he defeated and fled away, and Hother married the princess. Nevertheless Balder took heart of grace and again met Hother in a stricken field. But he fared even worse than before; for Hother dealt him a deadly wound with a magic sword, which he had received from Miming, the Satyr of the woods; and after lingering three days in pain Balder died of his hurt and was buried with royal honours in a barrow.[259]

[Balder worshipped in Norway.]

Whether he was a real or merely a mythical personage, Balder was worshipped in Norway. On one of the bays of the beautiful Sogne Fiord, which penetrates far into the depths of the solemn Norwegian mountains, with their sombre pine-forests and their lofty cascades dissolving into spray before they reach the dark water of the fiord far below, Balder had a great sanctuary. It was called Balder's Grove. A palisade enclosed the hallowed ground, and within it stood a s.p.a.cious temple with the images of many G.o.ds, but none of them was worshipped with such devotion as Balder. So great was the awe with which the heathen regarded the place that no man might harm another there, nor steal his cattle, nor defile himself with women. But women cared for the images of the G.o.ds in the temple; they warmed them at the fire, anointed them with oil, and dried them with cloths.[260]

[The legendary death of Balder resembles the legendary death of the Persian hero Isfendiyar in the epic of Firdusi.]

It might be rash to affirm that the romantic figure of Balder was nothing but a creation of the mythical fancy, a radiant phantom conjured up as by a wizard's wand to glitter for a time against the gloomy background of the stern Norwegian landscape. It may be so; yet it is also possible that the myth was founded on the tradition of a hero, popular and beloved in his lifetime, who long survived in the memory of the people, gathering more and more of the marvellous about him as he pa.s.sed from generation to generation of story-tellers. At all events it is worth while to observe that a somewhat similar story is told of another national hero, who may well have been a real man. In his great poem, _The Epic of Kings_, which is founded on Persian traditions, the poet Firdusi tells us that in the combat between Rustem and Isfendiyar the arrows of the former did no harm to his adversary, "because Zerdusht had charmed his body against all dangers, so that it was like unto bra.s.s." But Simurgh, the bird of G.o.d, shewed Rustem the way he should follow in order to vanquish his redoubtable foe. He rode after her, and they halted not till they came to the sea-sh.o.r.e. There she led him into a garden, where grew a tamarisk, tall and strong, and the roots thereof were in the ground, but the branches pierced even unto the sky. Then the bird of G.o.d bade Rustem break from the tree a branch that was long and slender, and fashion it into an arrow, and she said, "Only through his eyes can Isfendiyar be wounded. If, therefore, thou wouldst slay him, direct this arrow unto his forehead, and verily it shall not miss its aim." Rustem did as he was bid; and when next he fought with Isfendiyar, he shot the arrow at him, and it pierced his eye, and he died. Great was the mourning for Isfendiyar. For the s.p.a.ce of one year men ceased not to lament for him, and for many years they shed bitter tears for that arrow, and they said, "The glory of Iran hath been laid low."[261]

[The myth of Balder was perhaps acted as a magical ceremony. The two chief incidents of the myth, namely the pulling of the mistletoe and the death and burning of the G.o.d, have perhaps their counterparts in popular ritual.]

Whatever may be thought of an historical kernel underlying a mythical husk in the legend of Balder, the details of the story suggest that it belongs to that cla.s.s of myths which have been dramatized in ritual, or, to put it otherwise, which have been performed as magical ceremonies for the sake of producing those natural effects which they describe in figurative language. A myth is never so graphic and precise in its details as when it is, so to speak, the book of the words which are spoken and acted by the performers of the sacred rite. That the Norse story of Balder was a myth of this sort will become probable if we can prove that ceremonies resembling the incidents in the tale have been performed by Nors.e.m.e.n and other European peoples. Now the main incidents in the tale are two--first, the pulling of the mistletoe, and second, the death and burning of the G.o.d; and both of them may perhaps be found to have had their counterparts in yearly rites observed, whether separately or conjointly, by people in various parts of Europe. These rites will be described and discussed in the following chapters. We shall begin with the annual festivals of fire and shall reserve the pulling of the mistletoe for consideration later on.

Notes:

[256] _Die Edda_, ubersetzt von K. Simrock*[8] (Stuttgart, 1882), pp.

286-288. Compare pp. 8, 34, 264. Balder's story is told in a professedly historical form by the old Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus in his third book. See below, p. 103. In English the story is told at length by Professor (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_ (London and Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 529 _sqq._ It is elaborately discussed by Professor F.

Knuffmann in a learned monograph, _Balder, Mythus und Sage_ (Strasburg, 1902).

[257] Gudbrand Vigfusson and F. York Powell, _Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, i. (Oxford, 1883) p. 197. Compare _Edda Rhythmica seu Antiquior, vulgo Saemundina dicta_, Pars iii. (Copenhagen, 1828) pp. 39 _sq._; _Die Edda_, ubersetzt von K. Simrock*[8] (Stuttgart, 1882), p. 8; K.

Mullenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_, v. Zweite Abteilung (Berlin, 1891), pp. 78 _sq._; Fr. Kauffmann, _Balder, Mythus und Sage_, pp. 20 _sq._ In this pa.s.sage the words translated "b.l.o.o.d.y victim" (_blaupom tivor_) and "fate looming" (_rlog folgen_) are somewhat uncertain and have been variously interpreted. The word _tivor_, usually understood to mean "G.o.d," seems to be found nowhere else. Professor H.M. Chadwick has kindly furnished me with the following literal translation of the pa.s.sage: "I saw (or 'have seen') held in safe keeping the life of Balder, the b.l.o.o.d.y G.o.d, Othin's son. High above the fields (i.e. the surface of the earth) grew a mistletoe, slender and very beautiful. From a shaft (or 'stem') which appeared slender, came a dangerous sorrow-bringing missile (i.e. the shaft became a ... missile); Hodr proceeded to shoot. Soon was a brother of Balder born. He, Othin's son, proceeded to do battle when one day old. He did not wash his hands or comb his head before he brought Balder's antagonist on to the pyre. But Frigg in Fen-salir (i.e. the Fen-abode) lamented the trouble of Val-holl." In translating the words _rlog folgen_ "held in safe keeping the life" Professor Chadwick follows Professor F. Kauffmann's rendering ("_das Leben verwahrt_"); but he writes to me that he is not quite confident about it, as the word _rlog_ usually means "fate" rather than "life." Several sentences translated by Professor Chadwick ("Soon was a brother of Balder born ... he brought Balder's antagonist on the pyre") are omitted by some editors and translators of the _Edda_.

[258] G. Vigfusson and F. York Powell, _Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, i. 200 _sq._; _Edda Rhythmica seu Antiquior, vulgo Saemundina dicta_, Pars iii.

pp. 51-54; _Die Edda_, ubersetzt von K. Simrock,*[8] p. 10 _sq._; K.

Mullenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_, v. Zweite Abteilung, pp. 84 _sq._

[259] Saxo Grammaticus, _Historia Danica_, ed. P.E. Muller (Copenhagen, 1839-1858), _lib._ iii. vol. i. pp. 110 _sqq._; _The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus_, translated by Oliver Elton (London, 1894), pp. 83-93.

[260] _Fridthjofs Saga, aus dem Alt-islandischen_, von J.C. Poestion, (Vienna, 1879), pp. 3 _sq._, 14-17, 45-52.

[261] _The Epic of Kings, Stories retold from Firdusi_, by Helen Zimmern (London, 1883), pp. 325-331. The parallel between Balder and Isfendiyar was pointed out in the "Lexicon Mythologic.u.m" appended to the _Edda Rhythmifa seu Antiquior, vulgo Saemundina dicta_, Pars iii. (Copenhagen, 1828) p. 513 note, with a reference to _Schah Namech, verdeutscht von Gorres_, ii. 324, 327 _sq._ It is briefly mentioned by Dr. P. Wagler, _Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit_, ii. Teil (Berlin, 1891), p. 40.

CHAPTER IV

THE FIRE-FESTIVALS OF EUROPE

-- 1. _The Lenten Fires_

[European custom of kindling bonfires on certain days of the year, dancing round them and leaping over them. Effigies are sometimes burnt in the fires.]

All over Europe the peasants have been accustomed from time immemorial to kindle bonfires on certain days of the year, and to dance round or leap over them. Customs of this kind can be traced back on historical evidence to the Middle Ages,[262] and their a.n.a.logy to similar customs observed in antiquity goes with strong internal evidence to prove that their origin must be sought in a period long prior to the spread of Christianity. Indeed the earliest proof of their observance in Northern Europe is furnished by the attempts made by Christian synods in the eighth century to put them down as heathenish rites.[263] Not uncommonly effigies are burned in these fires, or a pretence is made of burning a living person in them; and there are grounds for believing that anciently human beings were actually burned on these occasions. A general survey of the customs in question will bring out the traces of human sacrifice, and will serve at the same time to throw light on their meaning.[264]

[Seasons of the year at which the bonfires are lit.]

The seasons of the year when these bonfires are most commonly lit are spring and midsummer; but in some places they are kindled also at the end of autumn or during the course of the winter, particularly on Hallow E'en (the thirty-first of October), Christmas Day, and the Eve of Twelfth Day. We shall consider them in the order in which they occur in the calendar year. The earliest of them is the winter festival of the Eve of Twelfth Day (the fifth of January); but as it has been already described in an earlier part of this work[265] we shall pa.s.s it over here and begin with the fire-festivals of spring, which usually fall on the first Sunday of Lent (_Quadragesima_ or _Invocavit_),[266] Easter Eve, and May Day.

[Custom of kindling bonfires on the first Sunday in Lent in the Belgian Ardennes.]

The custom of kindling bonfires on the first Sunday in Lent has prevailed in Belgium, the north of France, and many parts of Germany.

Thus in the Belgian Ardennes for a week or a fortnight before the "day of the great fire," as it is called, children go about from farm to farm collecting fuel. At Grand Halleux any one who refuses their request is pursued next day by the children, who try to blacken his face with the ashes of the extinct fire. When the day has come, they cut down bushes, especially juniper and broom, and in the evening great bonfires blaze on all the heights. It is a common saying that seven bonfires should be seen if the village is to be safe from conflagrations. If the Meuse happens to be frozen hard at the time, bonfires are lit also on the ice.

At Grand Halleux they set up a pole called _makral_ or "the witch," in the midst of the pile, and the fire is kindled by the man who was last married in the village. In the neighbourhood of Morlanwelz a straw man is burnt in the fire. Young people and children dance and sing round the bonfires, and leap over the embers to secure good crops or a happy marriage within the year, or as a means of guarding themselves against colic. In Brabant on the same Sunday, down to the beginning of the nineteenth century, women and men disguised in female attire used to go with burning torches to the fields, where they danced and sang comic songs for the purpose, as they alleged, of driving away "the wicked sower," who is mentioned in the Gospel for the day. At Maeseyck and in many villages of Limburg, on the evening of the day children run through the streets carrying lighted torches; then they kindle little fires of straw in the fields and dance round them. At Ensival old folks tell young folks that they will have as many Easter eggs as they see bonfires on this day.[267] At Paturages, in the province of Hainaut, down to about 1840 the custom was observed under the name of _Escouvion_ or _Scouvion_. Every year on the first Sunday of Lent, which was called the Day of the Little Scouvion, young folks and children used to run with lighted torches through the gardens and orchards. As they ran they cried at the pitch of their voices,

"_Bear apples, bear pears And cherries all black To Scouvion!_"

At these words the torch-bearer whirled his blazing brand and hurled it among the branches of the apple-trees, the pear-trees, and the cherry-trees. The next Sunday was called the Day of the Great Scouvion, and the same race with lighted torches among the trees of the orchards was repeated in the afternoon till darkness fell. The same custom was observed on the same two days at Wasmes.[268] In the neighbourhood of Liege, where the Lenten fires were put down by the police about the middle of the nineteenth century, girls thought that by leaping over the fires without being smirched they made sure of a happy marriage.

Elsewhere in order to get a good husband it was necessary to see seven of the bonfires from one spot. In Famenne, a district of Namur, men and cattle who traversed the Lenten fires were thought to be safe from sickness and witchcraft. Anybody who saw seven such fires at once had nothing to fear from sorcerers. An old saying ran, that if you do not light "the great fire," G.o.d will light it for you; which seems to imply that the kindling of the bonfires was deemed a protection against conflagrations throughout the year.[269]

[Bonfires on the first Sunday of Lent in the French department of the Ardennes.]