Introduction to the History of Religions Part 39

[327] H. Webster, _Primitive Secret Societies_, chap. ii ff.

[328] The office of sponsor exists in embryonic form in many savage communities; for boys the sponsor is the father or other near relation, for girls an old woman. The duties of savage sponsors usually continue only during the period of initiation.

[329] Westermarck, _Human Marriage_; H. N. Hutchinson, _Marriage Customs in Many Lands_; Ch. Letourneau, _The Evolution of Marriage and of the Family_; Crawley, _The Mystic Rose_; and the references in G. E. Howard's _History of Matrimonial Inst.i.tutions_, i, chaps. i-iv; cf. Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_.

[330] See below, -- 429 ff.

[331] Similar restrictions existed in Greece and Rome. An Athenian citizen was not allowed to marry a foreign woman.

In Rome connubium held in the first instance between men and women who were citizens, though it might be extended to include Latins and foreigners. In India marriage came to be controlled by caste. These local and national rules gradually yielded to rules based on degrees of consanguinity. Marriage between near relations was looked on with disfavor in Greece and Rome and by the Hebrews, and the Old Testament law on this point has been adopted (with some variations) by Christian nations. For the Arab customs see W. R. Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_, chap.

iii.

[332] Cf. Crawley, _The Mystic Rose_, p. 462 ff.; W. R.

Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_, 1st ed., p.

62 ff.; Hartland, _Primitive Paternity_, chaps. v, vi.

[333] In some cases, among the Todas of South India for example, the defloration takes place shortly before the girl reaches the age of p.u.b.erty (Rivers, _The Todas_, p. 703); more generally it is performed when she reaches this age.

This difference of time is not essential as regards the significance of the ceremony.

[334] Cf. Frazer, _Golden Bough_, 2d ed., i, 224. For the Old Testament Song of Songs see Budde's commentary on that book.

[335] Sacrifices to local or other deities formed a part of marriage ceremonies in Greece and Rome; Hera and Juno were guardians of the sanct.i.ty of marriage. No religious ceremony in connection with marriage is mentioned in the Old Testament; a trace of such a ceremony occurs in the book of Tobit (vii, 13).

[336] _The Mystic Rose_, p. 322, etc.

[337] Hughes, _Dictionary of Islam_, article "Marriage."

[338] The danger might continue into early childhood and have to be guarded against; for a Greek instance see Gardner and Jevons, _Greek Antiquities_, p. 299.

[339] For details see Ploss, _Das Kind_, and works on antiquities, Hebrew, Greek, and Roman.

[340] Cf. Frazer, _Totemism and Exogamy_, i, 72 ff.; iv, 244 ff.

[341] Dixon, _The Northern Maidu_, p. 228 ff.; and _The Shasta_, p. 453 ff.; Rivers, _The Todas_, p. 313 ff.; Hollis, _The Nandi_, p. 64 f.; D. Kidd, _Savage Childhood_, p. 7; Lev. xii; article "Birth" in Hastings, _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_.

[342] See above, -- 55 f.

[343] Tylor (_Primitive Culture_, ii, 3 ff.) suggests that such an idea may have been supposed to account for the general resemblance between parents and children.

[344] R. H. Na.s.sau, _Fetichism in West Africa_, p. 212.

[345] Haddon, _Head-hunters_, p. 353 ff.

[346] Turner, _Samoa_, chap. iii. In some Christian communities the saint on whose festival day a child is born is adopted as the child's patron saint. In the higher ancient religions there were religious observances in connection with the birth and rearing of children, special divine care being sought; see, for example, the elaborate Roman apparatus of divine guardians.

[347] Dixon, _The Northern Maidu_, p. 231; H. Webster, _Primitive Secret Societies_, p. 40 f.

[348] For methods of burial see article "Funerailles" in _La Grande Encyclopedie_.

[349] Robertson, _The Kafirs_, chap. x.x.xiii; Batchelor, _The Ainu_, chap. xlviii (the G.o.ddess of fire is asked to take charge of the spirit of the deceased).

[350] The food and drink (of which only the soul is supposed to be consumed by the deceased) are often utilized by the surviving friends; such funeral feasts have played a considerable part in religious history and survive in some quarters to the present day.

[351] A. B. Ellis, _The E?e_ (Dahomi), chap. viii; A. G.

Leonard, _The Lower Niger and its Tribes_, p. 160 f.; Herodotus, iv, 71 f. (Scythians); v, 5 (Thracians). Cf. the Greek Anthesteria and the Roman Parentalia.

[352] _Journal of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, xxi, 121.

[353] Spencer and Gillen, _Native Tribes of Central Australia_, p. 498.

[354] For elaborate Sioux ceremonies on the death of a child see Miss Fletcher, _Indian Ceremonies_ (the Shadow or Ghost Lodge).

[355] On the disposal of the corpse, by inhumation, cremation, exposure, etc., see article "Funerailles" cited above; O. Schrader, in Hastings, _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_, ii, 16 ff.

[356] This may be in part a hygienic precaution.

[357] Haddon, _Head-hunters_, p. 91. Cf. G. L. Kittredge, "Disenchantment by Decapitation," in _Journal of American Folklore_, vol. xviii, no. 68 (January, 1905).

[358] De Groot, _Religion of the Chinese_, chap. iii.

[359] Cf. Westermarck, _Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_, chap. x.x.xvii ff.; Saussaye, _Science of Religion_ (Eng. tr.), chap. xviii; and the references given in these works.

[360] See below, on removal of taboos.

[361] Fraser, _Golden Bough_, 2d ed., i, 306 f.

[362] Cf. Westermarck, _Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas_, index, s.v. _Homicide_.

[363] See below, -- 201; cf. the Athenian Anthesteria and Thargelia.

[364] In Ex. iv, 24 f., Yahweh is about to kill Moses, apparently for neglecting a ritual act.

[365] Examples in Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, ii, 429 ff.; cf. Knox, _Religion in j.a.pan_, p. 39.

[366] See the practices described by Rivers, in _The Todas_, Index, s.vv. _Bathing_, _Purification_.

[367] Schneckenburger, _Proselytentaufe_; article "Proselyten" in Herzog, _Real-Encyklopadie_.

[368] In the New Testament baptism is said to be "for the remission of sins" (Acts ii, 38), and is called "bath of regeneration" (t.i.t. iii, 3); a quasi-magical power is attributed to it in 1 Cor. xv, 29.

[369] For the Mazdean use of urine see _Vendidad_, Fargard v, 160; xvi, 27, etc.; for use of buffalo's dung, Rivers, _The Todas_, pp. 32, 173 f., etc.

[370] Rivers, op. cit., p. 367.

[371] Compare, however, the use of natural pigments for decorative and religious purposes; see above, -- 115 ff.

[372] The Toda ceremony of burning a woman's hand in the fifth month of pregnancy, and a child's hand on the occasion of a funeral (Rivers, _The Todas_, pp. 315, 374), may be purificatory, but this is not clear; cf. Frazer, in _Journal of the Anthropological Inst.i.tute_, xi.

[373] Lev. xv, 30; xvi, 15 ff.