Aftermath - A supplement to Golden Bough

515 Pages·1986·22.724 MB·English

by  Fraser J.G.

AFTERMATH
A SUPPLEMENT TO
THE GOLDEN BOUGH
BY
SIR JAMES GEORGE FRAZER
O.M., F.R.S., F.B.A.
This book iscopyright in allcountries which
aresignatoriesto theBerne Convention
All rightsreserved. No part ofthis publication
maybereproduced ortransmitted, in any form or
by anymeans without permission.
First Edition 1936
Reprinted 1951, 1955, 1963, 1966, 1976
Publishedby
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London andBasingstoke
Associatedcompanies in New York Dublin
Melbourne Johannesburg andMadras
ISBN 333 01282 8
Printedin HongKong by
C.T. P. S.
O
miserashominum mentes, opectoracaeca!
Qualibus in tenebris vitae quantisquepencils
Degitur hoc aeviquodcumquest/
Lucretius, Book II, lines 14-16.
This work is soldsubject
to the standardconditions
ofthe Net Book Agreement
PREFACE
THISbook isin no sensean independenttreatise; itissimply,
as the title purports, a supplement intended to provide some
fresh information on certain subjects which I have discussed
more at large in The Golden Bough. Much of the new
matter which the volume contains has been gathered from
works that have appeared since the third and last edition of
The Golden Bough was completed by the publication of the
index volume in 1915 but I have also drawn on earlier
;
sources which had escaped me when I wrote the original
work. In that work, as in all my other writings, I have
sought to basemy conclusions by strict induction on a broad
and solid foundation of well-authenticated facts. In the
present work I have extended and strengthened the founda-
tion without remodelling the superstructure of theory, which
on the whole I have seen no reason to change. But
now, as always, I hold all my theories very lightly, and
am ever readyto modifyor abandon them in the light ofnew
evidence. If my writings should survive the writer, they
will do so, I believe, less for the sake of the theories which
they propound than for the sake of the facts which they
record. They will live, if they live at all, as a picture or
moving panorama of the vanished life of primitive man all
over the world, from the Tropics to the Poles, groping and
stumbling through the mists of ignorance and superstition
in the eternal search after goodness and truth. When I
y
PREFACE
VI
first put pen to paper to write The Golden Rough I had
no conception of the magnitude of the voyage on which I
was embarking I thought only to explain a single rule of
;
an ancient Italian priesthood. But insensibly I was led on,
step by step, into surveying, as from some specular height,
spme Pisgah of the mind, a great part of the human race
;
I was beguiled, as by some subtle enchanter, into inditing
what I cannot but regard as a dark, a tragic chronicle of
human error and folly, of fruitkss endeavour, wasted time,
and blighted hopes. At the best the chronicle may serve as
a warning, as a sort ofAriadne's thread, to help the forlorn
wayfarer to shun some of the snares and pitfalls into which
his fellows have fallen before him in the labyrinth of life.
Such as it is, with all its shortcomings, I now submit The
Golden Bough in its completed form to thejudgment of my
contemporaries, and perhaps ofposterity.
G. FRAZER
J
August1936
CONTENTS
PREFACE
, Pp. v-vi
CHAPTER L MAGIC
Pp. 1-67
Magic may be divided into Homoeopathic or Imitative and Contagious
A
Magic. beliefinmagichasgreatlyaffectedthelivesofprimitivepeople,
leadingtoeconomicstagnationaswellas totragiclossoflife.
A
familiarexampleofhomoeopathicorimitative magicconsists inmaking
and injuring a magical image ofan enemy. Imitative magicis also em-
ployed to facilitate childbirth, as in the Malay States, to relieve pain, as
in Celebes, India, and Wales, and to cause sickness or death, as in New
Guinea.
Many acts are forbidden in primitive societylest they might, on the prin-
ciplesofhomoeopathicmagic, entailundesirableeffects. Certainfoods are
also forbiddenforthesamereason.
Amagicalsympathyisoftensupposedtoexistbetweenpeopleatadistance,
such that the actions ofthe one directly affect the other. Thus rules of
conduct are often imposed upon wives during their husbands' absence in
hunting,fishing, orfighting. Infidelityto anabsent spouseis particularly
dreadedandavoided.
Homoeopathicmagicisoftenemployed atsowingand plantingtopromote
thegrowthandqualityofthecrops.
A fruitful branch ofmagic consists in the employment ofthe relics ofthe
dead. By sympathetic magic birth and death are often associated with
theflowandebbofthetides.
Contagious magic is founded on the belief that things once conjoined
remain, even after being disjoined, in sympathetic relation. Contagious
magicissupposedtoexistbetweenamanandhisbodilyrelics,especiallyhis
hair,nails,navel-string,andafterbirth. Thishasledtomanyobservances
throughouttheworld. Clothingandbodilyimpressionsareoftenemployed
incontagiousmagic.
Vtt
CONTENTS
viii
.....
CHAPTER II. THE MAGICAL CONTROL OF
THE WEATHER Pp, 68-100
An important function of magic is to control the weather, ami wMthrr-
makers sometimes rise to positions of power and influence. Magicians
attempttocauseraintofall ortocease, sometimes by imitative magic and
sometimesbymethodsthatare partly magical, partly religious. Primitive
manalsosometimes attemptstocontrol thecourse ofthe gun,ami to raw
thewindtobloworbestillathisbidding. Acommonpracticeis"whistling
forawind.1'
CHAPTER III. MAGICIANS AS KINGS . Pp. 101-113
Gerontocracy &stateofsocietyinwhichauthorityfaheldbytheoldnu*nof
thetribe prevalentamongAustralian aboriginesandfoundelsewhere.
InAfricathepoliticalinfluenceofthemagicianisgreat, buttherainmaker
whofailstobringrainisoftenpunished,
In England sovereigns have been regarded as a sort ofdivinity. A relit*
ofthisbeliefpersistedinEnglandandFranceinthenotion thatthey rmM,
bytheirtouch,curescrofula,hencecalled"The King's Evil*'
CHAPTER IV. INCARNATE HUMAN GODS
. Pp, 114-123
Chiefsregardedasincarnatehumangodsaboundedamongthe P
of the Pacific Islands. Possession by divine spirit wa* not always per
manent, but was often temporary. In Africa also chiefi mad king! have
oftenclaimedtobedeities,andChristianEnglandhasnotlacked protendm
todivinity.
.....
CHAPTER V. DEPARTMENTAL KINGS OF
NATURE
. Pp. 124*125
Sometimes themagicianclaimsto controlonlyaparticulardepartment of
nature,ofwhichheproclaimshimselfking,such asthe 2Ung-of.the-W*tr
inNigeria.
CHAPTER VI. THE WORSHIP OF TREES
. Pp. 126-149
TInhdeiaw,oarsnhdipCeolfebteos. iTshweidbeeslpirefeatdhaitntSrueedsana,reainndhaibsiatlesdobfoyuinpduiifncNhi*gterliead,
ttawohonicdpcoeshrIsnmetdoshosneniypeeorssew*se.oprefscptAro,gofepafsimeptce,iucaintmadilioaltnnyyay,itnapfnAerfdlirlmiiaincrtgaei.vtaercecTec,oohrmiednmitunArngfeilert-yiscipeaein,srtirBthe*uaaravtrmeeead,soaflctaerndeodb-eCplhriioenvvaee,d.
CONTENTS
ix
CHAPTER VII. RELICS OF TREE-WORSHIP
IN EUROPE . . . . . . Pp. 150-152
Relics ofthe worship oftrees have survived in the popular observances of
Europe,forexampleinthe May Daycustoms ofWales.
CHAPTER VIII. THE INFLUENCE OF THE
SEXES ON VEGETATION .Pp.
. . 153-156
The intercourse ofthehuman sexes is believed to have a potentinfluence
in stimulating vegetation, and for this reason many restrictions are often
imposed atthe time ofsowing and planting. Twins and parents oftwins
are sometimes creditedwithapower of fertilizingatsuch times. Sexual
offences,especiallyincest, are believedto blightthecrops.
CHAPTER IX. THE SACRED MARRIAGE . Pp. 157-165
Themimicmarriageofthe kingandqueen ofMaywasprobablyintended
originally to promote the growth of plant-life in spring by the dramatic
representation of a bridal: examples from Morocco, the Punjab, and
Bengal.
In Africa womenwere oftenweddedto spiritsor deities. Storieslike that
of Andromeda, in which the heroine is exposed to a sea-monster, may
reflect an earlier custom of sacrificing virgins to water-spirits to be their
wives: examplesfromAfricajand China.
Water-spirits are often thought to bestow offspring on childless women,
especiallyinAfrica.
CHAPTER X. THE KING'S FIRE . . Pp. 166-168
With the Vestals ofAncient Rome, who maintained the fire on the royal
hearth, may be compared the African Vestals of Uganda, who maintain
perpetualfiresin thetemple.
CHAPTER XL THE FIRE-DRILL . * Pp. 169-173
The making offire by the fire-drill, that is, by revolving a pointed stick
in a grooved stick, seems to be the most widely diffused method among
primitive savages: it is found almost universally. Many savages see in
theworkingofthefire-drill ananalogytotheintercourse ofthesexes.
CHAPTER XII. FATHER JOVE AND MOTHER
VESTA Pp. 174-*76
Ancestral spiritsare supposedto haunt their old domestichearths,and for
thisreasonafirehassometimestob*-continuallymaintainedforthecomfort
ofthefamilyghosts.
CONTEArTS
In the kindling of new fire by the fire-drill both srx<?$ sometimes assist,
In Assam the ceremonyis performed by unmarried hoys, In Germany a
widespread beliefconnects a person's chastity with his Ability to blow up
adyingflame.
CHAPTER XIII. THE ORIGIN OF PER-
PETUAL FIRES
. , . . , Pp, 177-181
The custom of maintaining perpetual fires may have originated in the
difficulty ofkindlingnewfire by the laborious enrly method. Thv rustom
is prevalent in Africa. The Banyoro of Africa extinguish all tires on the
deathofaking, and the Birhors ofIndiaaftera funeral.
CHAPTER XIV. THE SUCCESSION TO THE
KINGDOM IN ANCIENT LATIUM
. , Pp. 182-185
In the old Latin kingship the crown seems to have desremhul to the man
whomarriedoneoftheking'sdaughters, kinshipbeingtracedin thefeiiule
line. Thesameruleofdescentisfoundelsewhere,usm Burmaand Assam.
Instances occur in Africa of the hereditary and elective priudpU-s lvm$
combined.
......
CHAPTER XV. ST. GEORGE AND THE
PARILIA
Pp. 186-187
In Hungarycattlearefirstdriven outto pasture, withspecialobservances,
onSt. George'sDay,April23,adatethatnearlycoincide*with theancient
Parilia,April21.
CHAPTER XVI.-THE OAK
. . , Pp. ,RJ.,OI
Prehistoric flint weapons are often regarded as thunderbolts m Europe.
Africa,andIndia.
CHAPTER XVH.-DUNUS AND DIANA
. Pp. ,92.I93
Diana
CHAPTER XVIII.-R.OYAL.AN.D .PRIE.STLY
TABOOS
.
Pp. 194-201