The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead Volume I Part 1

The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead.

Volume I.

by Sir James George Frazer.

PREFACE

The following lectures were delivered on Lord Gifford's Foundation before the University of St. Andrews in the early winters of 1911 and 1912. They are printed nearly as they were spoken, except that a few pa.s.sages, omitted for the sake of brevity in the oral delivery, have been here restored and a few more added. Further, I have compressed the two introductory lectures into one, striking out some pa.s.sages which on reflection I judged to be irrelevant or superfluous. The volume incorporates twelve lectures on "The Fear and Worship of the Dead" which I delivered in the Lent and Easter terms of 1911 at Trinity College, Cambridge, and repeated, with large additions, in my course at St.

Andrews.

The theme here broached is a vast one, and I hope to pursue it hereafter by describing the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead, as these have been found among the other princ.i.p.al races of the world both in ancient and modern times. Of all the many forms which natural religion has a.s.sumed none probably has exerted so deep and far-reaching an influence on human life as the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead; hence an historical survey of this most momentous creed and of the practical consequences which have been deduced from it can hardly fail to be at once instructive and impressive, whether we regard the record with complacency as a n.o.ble testimony to the aspiring genius of man, who claims to outlive the sun and the stars, or whether we view it with pity as a melancholy monument of fruitless labour and barren ingenuity expended in prying into that great mystery of which fools profess their knowledge and wise men confess their ignorance.

J. G. FRAZER.

Cambridge, _9th February 1913._

CONTENTS

Dedication

Preface

Table of Contents

Lecture I.--Introduction

Natural theology, three modes of handling it, the dogmatic, the philosophical, and the historical, pp. 1 _sq._; the historical method followed in these lectures, 2 _sq._; questions of the truth and moral value of religious beliefs irrelevant in an historical enquiry, 3 _sq._; need of studying the religion of primitive man and possibility of doing so by means of the comparative method, 5 _sq._; urgent need of investigating the native religion of savages before it disappears, 6 _sq._; a portion of savage religion the theme of these lectures, 7 _sq._; the question of a supernatural revelation dismissed, 8 _sq._; theology and religion, their relations, 9; the term G.o.d defined, 9 _sqq._; monotheism and polytheism, 11; a natural knowledge of G.o.d, if it exists, only possible through experience, 11 _sq._; the nature of experience, 12 _sq._; two kinds of experience, an inward and an outward, 13 _sq._; the conception of G.o.d reached historically through both kinds of experience, 14; inward experience or inspiration, 14 _sq._; deification of living men, 16 _sq._; outward experience as a source of the idea of G.o.d, 17; the tendency to seek for causes, 17 _sq._; the meaning of cause, 18 _sq._; the savage explains natural processes by the hypothesis of spirits or G.o.ds, 19 _sq._; natural processes afterwards explained by hypothetical forces and atoms instead of by hypothetical spirits and G.o.ds, 20 _sq._; nature in general still commonly explained by the hypothesis of a deity, 21 _sq._; G.o.d an inferential or hypothetical cause, 22 _sq._; the deification of dead men, 23-25; such a deification presupposes the immortality of the human soul or rather its survival for a longer or shorter time after death, 25 _sq._; the conception of human immortality suggested both by inward experience, such as dreams, and by outward experience, such as the resemblances of the living to the dead, 26-29; the lectures intended to collect evidence as to the belief in immortality among certain savage races, 29 _sq._; the method to be descriptive rather than comparative or philosophical, 30.

Lecture II.--The Savage Conception of Death

The subject of the lectures the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead among certain of the lower races, p. 31; question of the nature and origin of death, 31 _sq._; universal interest of the question, 32 _sq._; the belief in immortality general among mankind, 33; belief of many savages that death is not natural and that they would never die if their lives were not cut prematurely short by sorcery, 33 _sq._; examples of this belief among the South American Indians, 34 _sqq._; death sometimes attributed to sorcery and sometimes to demons, practical consequence of this distinction, 37; belief in sorcery as the cause of death among the Indians of Guiana, 38 _sq._, among the Tinneh Indians of North America, 39 _sq._, among the aborigines of Australia, 40-47, among the natives of the Torres Straits Islands and New Guinea, 47, among the Melanesians, 48, among the Malagasy, 48 _sq._, and among African tribes, 49-51; effect of such beliefs in thinning the population by causing mult.i.tudes to die for the imaginary crime of sorcery, 51-53; some savages attribute certain deaths to other causes than sorcery, 53; corpse dissected to ascertain cause of death, 53 _sq._; the possibility of natural death admitted by the Melanesians and the Caffres of South Africa, 54-56; the admission marks an intellectual advance, 56 _sq._; the recognition of ghosts or spirits, apart from sorcery, as a cause of disease and death also marks a step in moral and social progress, 57 _sq._

Lecture III.--Myths of the Origin of Death

Belief of savages in man's natural immortality, p. 59; savage stories of the origin of death, 59 _sq._; four types of such stories:--

(1) _The Story of the Two Messengers_.--Zulu story of the chameleon and the lizard, 60 _sq._; Akamba story of the chameleon and the thrush, 61 _sq._; Togo story of the dog and the frog, 62 _sq._; Ashantee story of the goat and the sheep, 63 _sq._

(2) _The Story of the Waxing and Waning Moon_.--Hottentot story of the moon, the hare, and death, 65; Masai story of the moon and death, 65 _sq._; Nandi story of the moon, the dog, and death, 66; Fijian story of the moon, the rat, and death, 67; Caroline, Wotjobaluk, and Cham stories of the moon, death, and resurrection, 67; death and resurrection after three days suggested by the reappearance of the new moon after three days, 67 _sq._

(3) _The Story of the Serpent and his Cast Skin_.--New Britain and Annamite story of immortality, the serpent, and death, 69 _sq._; Vuatom story of immortality, the lizard, the serpent, and death, 70; Nias story of immortality, the crab, and death, 70; Arawak and Tamanchier stories of immortality, the serpent, the lizard, the beetle, and death, 70 _sq._; Melanesian story of the old woman and her cast skin, 71 _sq._; Samoan story of the sh.e.l.lfish, two torches, and death, 72.

(4) _The Story of the Banana_.--Poso story of immortality, the stone, the banana, and death, 72 _sq._; Mentra story of immortality, the banana, and death, 73.

Primitive philosophy in the stories of the origin of death, 73 _sq._; Bahnar story of immortality, the tree, and death, 74; rivalry for the boon of immortality between men and animals that cast their skins, such as serpents and lizards, 74 _sq._; stories of the origin of death told by Chingpaws, Australians, Fijians, and Admiralty Islanders, 75-77; African and American stories of the fatal bundle or the fatal box, 77 _sq._; Baganda story how death originated through the imprudence of a woman, 78-81; West African story of Death and the spider, 81-83; Melanesian story of Death and the Fool, 83 _sq._

Thus according to savages death is not a natural necessity, 84; similar view held by some modern biologists, as A. Weismann and A. R. Wallace, 84-86.

Lecture IV.--The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of Central Australia

In tracing the evolution of religious beliefs we must begin with those of the lowest savages, p. 87; the aborigines of Australia the lowest savages about whom we possess accurate information, 88; savagery a case of r.e.t.a.r.ded development, 88 _sq._; causes which have r.e.t.a.r.ded progress in Australia, 89 _sq._; the natives of Central Australia on the whole more primitive than those of the coasts, 90 _sq._; little that can be called religion among them, 91 _sq._; their theory that the souls of the dead survive and are reborn in their descendants, 92 _sq._; places where the souls of the dead await rebirth, and the mode in which they enter into women, 93 _sq._; local totem centres, 94 _sq._; totemism defined, 95; traditionary origin of the local totem centres (_oknanikilla_) where the souls of the dead a.s.semble, 96; sacred birth-stones or birth-sticks (_churinga_) which the souls of ancestors are thought to have dropped at these places, 96-102; elements of a worship of the dead, 102 _sq._; marvellous powers attributed to the remote ancestors of the _alcheringa_ or dream times, 103 _sq._; the Wollunqua, a mythical water-snake, ancestor of a totemic clan of the Warramunga tribe, 104-106; religious character of the belief in the Wollunqua, 106.

Lecture V.--The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of Central Australia (_continued_)

Beliefs of the Central Australian aborigines concerning the reincarnation of the dead, p. 107; possibility of the development of ancestor worship, 107 _sq._; ceremonies performed by the Warramunga in honour of the Wollunqua, the mythical ancestor of one of their totem clans, 108 _sqq._; union of magic and religion in these ceremonies, 111 _sq._; ground drawings of the Wollunqua, 112 _sq._; importance of the Wollunqua in the evolution of religion and art, 113 _sq._; how totemism might develop into polytheism through an intermediate stage of ancestor worship, 114 _sq._; all the conspicuous features of the country a.s.sociated by the Central Australians with the spirits of their ancestors, 115-118; dramatic ceremonies performed by them to commemorate the deeds of their ancestors, 118 _sq._; examples of these ceremonies, 119-122; these ceremonies were probably in origin not merely commemorative or historical but magical, being intended to procure a supply of food and other necessaries, 122 _sq._; magical virtue actually attributed to these dramatic ceremonies by the Warramunga, who think that by performing them they increase the food supply of the tribe, 123 _sq._; hence the great importance ascribed by these savages to the due performance of the ancestral dramas, 124; general att.i.tude of the Central Australian aborigines to their dead, and the lines on which, if left to themselves, they might have developed a regular worship of the dead, 124-126.

Lecture VI.--The Belief in Immortality among the other Aborigines of Australia

Evidence for the belief in reincarnation among the natives of other parts of Australia than the centre, p. 127; beliefs of the Queensland aborigines concerning the nature of the soul and the state of the dead, 127-131; belief of the Australian aborigines that their dead are sometimes reborn in white people, 131-133; belief of the natives of South-Eastern Australia that their dead are not born again but go away to the sky or some distant country, 133 _sq._; beliefs and customs of the Narrinyeri concerning the dead, 134 _sqq._; motives for the excessive grief which they display at the death of their relatives, 135 _sq._; their pretence of avenging the death of their friends on the guilty sorcerer, 136 _sq._; magical virtue ascribed to the hair of the dead, 137 _sq._; belief that the dead go to the sky, 138 _sq._; appearance of the dead to the living in dreams, 139; savage faith in dreams, 139 _sq._; a.s.sociation of the stars with the souls of the dead, 140; creed of the South-Eastern Australians touching the dead, 141; difference of this creed from that of the Central Australians, 141; this difference probably due in the main to a general advance of culture brought about by more favourable natural conditions in South-Eastern Australia, 141 _sq._; possible influence of European teaching on native beliefs, 142 _sq._; vagueness and inconsistency of native beliefs as to the state of the dead, 143; custom a good test of belief, 143 _sq._; burial customs of the Australian aborigines as evidence of their beliefs concerning the state of the dead, 144; their practice of supplying the dead with food, water, fire, weapons, and implements, 144-147; motives for the destruction of the property of the dead, 147 _sq._; great economic loss entailed by developed systems of sacrificing to the dead, 149.

Lecture VII.--The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of Australia (_concluded_)

Huts erected on graves for the use of the ghosts, pp. 150-152; the attentions paid by the Australian aborigines to their dead probably spring from fear rather than affection, 152; precautions taken by the living against the dangerous ghosts of the dead, 152 _sq._; cuttings and brandings of the flesh of the living in honour of the dead, 154-158; the custom of allowing the blood of mourners to drip on the corpse or into the grave may be intended to strengthen the dead for a new birth, 158-162; different ways of disposing of the dead according to the age, rank, manner of death, etc., of the deceased, 162 _sq._; some modes of burial are intended to prevent the return of the spirit, others are designed to facilitate it, 163-165; final departure of the ghost supposed to coincide with the disappearance of the flesh from his bones, 165 _sq._; hence a custom has arisen in many tribes of giving the bones a second burial or otherwise disposing of them when the flesh is quite decayed, 166; tree-burial followed by earth-burial in some Australian tribes, 166-168; general conclusion as to the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead among the Australian aborigines, 168 _sq._

Lecture VIII.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of the Torres Straits Islands

Racial affinities of the Torres Straits Islanders, pp. 170 _sq._; their material and social culture, 171 _sq._; no developed worship of the dead among them, 172 _sq._; their fear of ghosts, 173-175; home of the dead a mythical island in the west, 175 _sq._; elaborate funeral ceremonies of the Torres Straits Islanders characterised by dramatic representations of the dead and by the preservation of their skulls, which were consulted as oracles, 176.

Funeral ceremonies of the Western Islanders, 177-180; part played by the brothers-in-law of the deceased at these ceremonies, 177 _sq._; removal of the head and preparation of the skull for use in divination, 178 _sq._; great death-dance performed by masked men who personated the deceased, 179 _sq._

Funeral ceremonies of the Eastern Islanders, 180-188; soul of the dead carried away by a masked actor, 181 _sq._; dramatic performance by disguised men representing ghosts, 182 _sq._; blood and hair of relatives offered to the dead, 183 _sq._; mummification of the corpse, 184; costume of mourners, 184; cuttings for the dead, 184 _sq._; death-dance by men personating ghosts, 185-188; preservation of the mummy and afterwards of the head or a wax model of it to be used in divination, 188.

Images of the G.o.ds perhaps developed out of mummies of the dead, and a sacred or even secular drama developed out of funeral dances, 189.

Lecture IX.--The Belief in Immortality Among the Natives Of British New Guinea

The two races of New Guinea, the Papuan and the Melanesian, pp. 190 _sq._; beliefs and customs of the Motu concerning the dead, 192; the Koita and their beliefs as to the human soul and the state of the dead, 193-195; alleged communications with the dead by means of mediums, 195 _sq._; fear of the dead, especially of a dead wife, 196 _sq._; beliefs of the Mafulu concerning the dead, 198; their burial customs, 198 _sq._; their use of the skulls and bones of the dead at a great festival, 199-201; worship of the dead among the natives of the Aroma district, 201 _sq._; the Hood Peninsula, 202 _sq._; beliefs and customs concerning the dead among the natives of the Hood Peninsula, 203-206; seclusion of widows and widowers, 203 _sq._; the ghost-seer, 204 _sq._; application of the juices of the dead to the persons of the living, 205; precautions taken by manslayers against the ghosts of their victims, 205 _sq._; purification for homicide originally a mode of averting the angry ghost of the slain, 206; beliefs and customs concerning the dead among the Ma.s.sim of south-eastern New Guinea, 206-210; Hiyoyoa, the land of the dead, 207; purification of mourners by bathing and shaving, 207 _sq._; foods forbidden to mourners, 208 _sq._; fires on the grave, 209; the land of the dead, 209 _sq._; names of the dead not mentioned, 210; beliefs and customs concerning the dead among the Papuans of Kiwai, 211-214; Adiri, the land of the dead, 211-213; appearance of the dead to the living in dreams, 213 _sq._; offerings to the dead, 214; dreams as a source of the belief in immortality, 214.

Lecture X.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German New Guinea

Andrew Lang, pp. 216 _sq._; review of preceding lectures, 217 _sq._

The Papuans of Tumleo, their material culture, 218-220; their temples, 220 _sq._; their bachelors' houses containing the skulls of the dead, 221; spirits of the dead as the causes of sickness and disease, 222 _sq._; burial and mourning customs, 223 _sq._; fate of the human soul after death, 224; monuments to the dead, 225; disinterment of the bones, 225; propitiation of ghosts and spirits, 226; guardian-spirits in the temples, 226 _sq._

The Monumbo of Potsdam Harbour, 227 _sq._; their beliefs concerning the spirits of the dead, 228 _sq._; their fear of ghosts, 229; their treatment of manslayers, 229 _sq._

The Tamos of Astrolabe Bay, 230; their ideas as to the souls of the dead, 231 _sq._; their fear of ghosts, 232 _sqq._; their Secret Society and rites of initiation, 233; their preservation of the jawbones of the dead, 234 _sq._; their sham fights after a death, 235 _sq._; these fights perhaps intended to throw dust in the eyes of the ghost, 236 _sq._

Lecture XI.--The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German New Guinea (_continued_)

The Papuans of Cape King William, pp. 238 _sq._; their ideas as to spirits and the souls of the dead, 239 _sq._; their belief in sorcery as a cause of death, 240 _sq._; their funeral and mourning customs, 241 _sq._; the fate of the soul after death, 242.

The Yabim of Finsch Harbour, their material and artistic culture, 242 _sq._; their clubhouses for men, 243; their beliefs as to the state of the dead, 244 _sq._; the ghostly ferry, 244 _sq._; transmigration of human souls into animals, 245; the return of the ghosts, 246; offerings to ghosts, 246; ghosts provided with fire, 246 _sq._; ghosts help in the cultivation of land, 247 _sq._; burial and mourning customs, 248 _sq._; divination to discover the sorcerer who has caused a death, 249 _sq._; bull-roarers, 250; initiation of young men, 250 _sqq._; the rite of circ.u.mcision, the novices supposed to be swallowed by a monster, 251 _sq._; the return of the novices, 253; the essence of the initiatory rites seems to be a simulation of death and resurrection, 253 _sqq._; the new birth among the Akikuyu of British East Africa, 254.