Chapter 51. Homeopathic Magic of a Flesh Diet.
THE PRACTICE of killing a god has now been traced amongst peoples who
have reached the agricultural stage of society. We have seen that the spirit
of the corn, or of other cultivated plants, is commonly represented either in
human or in animal form, and that in some places a custom has prevailed of
killing annually either the human or the animal representative of the god.
One reason for thus killing the corn-spirit in the person of his
representative has been given implicitly in an earlier part of this work: we
may suppose that the intention was to guard him or her (for the corn-spirit
is often feminine) from the enfeeblement of old age by transferring the spirit,
while still hale and hearty, to the person of a youthful and vigorous
successor. Apart from the desirability of renewing his divine energies, the
death of the corn-spirit may have been deemed inevitable under the
sickles or the knives of the reapers, and his worshippers may accordingly
have felt bound to acquiesce in the sad necessity. But, further, we have
found a widespread custom of eating the god sacramentally, either in the
shape of the man or animal who represents the god, or in the shape of
bread made in human or animal form. The reasons for thus partaking of the
body of the god are, from the primitive standpoint, simple enough. The
savage commonly believes that by eating the flesh of an animal or man he
acquires not only the physical, but even the moral and intellectual qualities
which were characteristic of that animal or man; so when the creature is
deemed divine, our simple savage naturally expects to absorb a portion of
its divinity along with its material substance. It may be well to illustrate by
instances this common faith in the acquisition of virtues or vices of many
kinds through the medium of animal food, even when there is no pretence
that the viands consist of the body or blood of a god. The doctrine forms
part of the widely ramified system of sympathetic or homoeopathic
magic. 1
Thus, for example, the Creeks, Cherokee, and kindred tribes of North
American Indians "believe that nature is possest of such a property as to
transfuse into men and animals the qualities, either of the food they use, or
of those objects that are presented to their senses; he who feeds on
venison is, according to their physical system, swifter and more sagacious
than the man who lives on the flesh of the clumsy bear, or helpless dunghill
fowls, the slow-footed tame cattle, or the heavy wallowing swine. This is
the reason that several of their old men recommend, and say, that formerly
their greatest chieftains observed a constant rule in their diet, and seldom
ate of any animal of a gross quality, or heavy motion of body, fancying it
conveyed a dullness through the whole system, and disabled them from
exerting themselves with proper vigour in their martial, civil, and religious
duties." The Zaparo Indians of Ecuador "will, unless from necessity, in most
cases not eat any heavy meats, such as tapir and peccary, but confine
themselves to birds, monkeys, deer, fish, etc., principally because they
argue that the heavier meats make them unwieldy, like the animals who
supply the flesh, impeding their agility, and unfitting them for the chase."
Similarly some of the Brazilian Indians would eat no beast, bird, or fish that
ran, flew, or swam slowly, lest by partaking of its flesh they should lose
their ability and be unable to escape from their enemies. The Caribs
abstained from the flesh of pigs lest it should cause them to have small
eyes like pigs; and they refused to partake of tortoises from a fear that if
they did so they would become heavy and stupid like the animal. Among
the Fans of West Africa men in the prime of life never eat tortoises for a
similar reason; they imagine that if they did so, their vigour and fleetness of
foot would be gone. But old men may eat tortoises freely, because having
already lost the power of running they can take no harm from the flesh of
the slow-footed creature. 2
While many savages thus fear to eat the flesh of slow-footed animals lest
they should themselves become slow-footed, the Bushmen of South Africa
purposely ate the flesh of such creatures, and the reason which they gave
for doing so exhibits a curious refinement of savage philosophy. They
imagined that the game which they pursued would be influenced
sympathetically by the food in the body of the hunter, so that if he had
eaten of swift-footed animals, the quarry would be swift-footed also and
would escape him; whereas if he had eaten of slow-footed animals, the
quarry would also be slow-footed, and he would be able to overtake and
kill it. For that reason hunters of gemsbok particularly avoided eating the
flesh of the swift and agile springbok; indeed they would not even touch it
with their hands, because they believed the springbok to be a very lively
creature which did not go to sleep at night, and they thought that if they ate
springbok, the gemsbok which they hunted would likewise not be willing to
go to sleep, even at night. How, then, could they catch it? 3
The Namaquas abstain from eating the flesh of hares, because they think
it would make them faint-hearted as a hare. But they eat the flesh of the
lion, or drink the blood of the leopard or lion, to get the courage and
strength of these beasts. The Bushmen will not give their children a jackal's
heart to eat, lest it should make them timid like the jackal; but they give
them a leopard's heart to eat to make them brave like the leopard. When a
Wagogo man of East Africa kills a lion, he eats the heart in order to become
brave like a lion; but he thinks that to eat the heart of a hen would make him
timid. When a serious disease has attacked a Zulu kraal, the medicine-man
takes the bone of a very old dog, or the bone of an old cow, bull, or other
very old animal, and administers it to the healthy as well as to the sick
people, in order that they may live to be as old as the animal of whose
bone they have partaken. So to restore the aged Aeson to youth, the witch
Medea infused into his veins a decoction of the liver of the long-lived deer
and the head of a crow that had outlived nine generations of men. 4
Among the Dyaks of North-West Borneo young men and warriors may not
eat venison, because it would make them as timid as deer; but the women
and very old men are free to eat it. However, among the Kayans of the
same region, who share the same view as to the ill effect of eating venison,
men will partake of the dangerous viand provided it is cooked in the open
air, for then the timid spirit of the animal is supposed to escape at once into
the jungle and not to enter into the eater. The Aino believe that the heart of
the water-ousel is exceedingly wise, and that in speech the bird is most
eloquent. Therefore whenever he is killed, he should be at once torn open
and his heart wrenched out and swallowed before it has time to grow cold
or suffer damage of any kind. If a man swallows it thus, he will become very
fluent and wise, and will be able to argue down all his adversaries. In
Northern India people fancy that if you eat the eyeballs of an owl you will
be able like an owl to see in the dark. 5
When the Kansas Indians were going to war, a feast used to be held in
the chief's hut, and the principal dish was dog's flesh, because, said the
Indians, the animal who is so brave that he will let himself be cut in pieces
in defence of his master, must needs inspire valour. Men of the Buru and
Aru Islands, East Indies, eat the flesh of dogs in order to be bold and
nimble in war. Amongst the Papuans of the Port Moresby and Motumotu
districts, New Guinea, young lads eat strong pig, wallaby, and large fish, in
order to acquire the strength of the animal or fish. Some of the natives of
Northern Australia fancy that by eating the flesh of the kangaroo or emu
they are enabled to jump or run faster than before. The Miris of Assam prize
tiger's flesh as food for men; it gives them strength and courage. But "it is
not suited for women; it would make them too strong-minded." In Corea the
bones of tigers fetch a higher price than those of leopards as a means of
inspiring courage. A Chinaman in Seoul bought and ate a whole tiger to
make himself brave and fierce. In Norse legend, Ingiald, son of King
Aunund, was timid in his youth, but after eating the heart of a wolf he
became very bold; Hialto gained strength and courage by eating the heart
of a bear and drinking its blood. 6
In Morocco lethargic patients are given ants to swallow, and to eat lion's
flesh will make a coward brave; but people abstain from eating the hearts of
fowls, lest thereby they should be rendered timid. When a child is late in
learning to speak, the Turks of Central Asia will give it the tongues of
certain birds to eat. A North American Indian thought that brandy must be a
decoction of hearts and tongues, "because," said he, "after drinking it I fear
nothing, and I talk wonderfully." In Java there is a tiny earthworm which
now and then utters a shrill sound like that of the alarum of a small clock.
Hence when a public dancing girl has screamed herself hoarse in the
exercise of her calling, the leader of the troop makes her eat some of these
worms, in the belief that thus she will regain her voice and will, after
swallowing them, be able to scream as shrilly as ever. The people of
Darfur, in Central Africa, think that the liver is the seat of the soul, and that
a man may enlarge his soul by eating the liver of an animal. "Whenever an
animal is killed its liver is taken out and eaten, but the people are most
careful not to touch it with their hands, as it is considered sacred; it is cut
up in small pieces and eaten raw, the bits being conveyed to the mouth on
the point of a knife, or the sharp point of a stick. Any one who may
accidentally touch the liver is strictly forbidden to partake of it, which
prohibition is regarded as a great misfortune for him." Women are not
allowed to eat liver, because they have no soul. 7
Again, the flesh and blood of dead men are commonly eaten and drunk to
inspire bravery, wisdom, or other qualities for which the men themselves
were remarkable, or which are supposed to have their special seat in the
particular part eaten. Thus among the mountain tribes of South-Eastern
Africa there are ceremonies by which the youths are formed into guilds or
lodges, and among the rites of initiation there is one which is intended to
infuse courage, intelligence, and other qualities into the novices. Whenever
an enemy who has behaved with conspicuous bravery is killed, his liver,
which is considered the seat of valour; his ears, which are supposed to be
the seat of intelligence; the skin of his forehead, which is regarded as the
seat of perseverance; his testicles, which are held to be the seat of
strength; and other members, which are viewed as the seat of other virtues,
are cut from his body and baked to cinders. The ashes are carefully kept in
the horn of a bull, and, during the ceremonies observed at circumcision,
are mixed with other ingredients into a kind of paste, which is administered
by the tribal priest to the youths. By this means the strength, valour,
intelligence, and other virtues of the slain are believed to be imparted to the
eaters. When Basutos of the mountains have killed a very brave foe, they
immediately cut out his heart and eat it, because this is supposed to give
them his courage and strength in battle. When Sir Charles M'Carthy was
killed by the Ashantees in 1824, it is said that his heart was devoured by
the chiefs of the Ashantee army, who hoped by this means to imbibe his
courage. His flesh was dried and parcelled out among the lower officers for
the same purpose, and his bones were long kept at Coomassie as national
fetishes. The Nauras Indians of New Granada ate the hearts of Spaniards
when they had the opportunity, hoping thereby to make themselves as
dauntless as the dreaded Castilian chivalry. The Sioux Indians used to
reduce to powder the heart of a valiant enemy and swallow the powder,
hoping thus to appropriate the dead man's valour. 8
But while the human heart is thus commonly eaten for the sake of imbuing
the eater with the qualities of its original owner, it is not, as we have
already seen, the only part of the body which is consumed for this purpose.
Thus warriors of the Theddora and Ngarigo tribes of South-Eastern
Australia used to eat the hands and feet of their slain enemies, believing
that in this way they acquired some of the qualities and courage of the
dead. The Kamilaroi of New South Wales ate the liver as well as the heart
of a brave man to get his courage. In Tonquin also there is a popular
superstition that the liver of a brave man makes brave any who partake of it.
With a like intent the Chinese swallow the bile of notorious bandits who
have been executed. The Dyaks of Sarawak used to eat the palms of the
hands and the flesh of the knees of the slain in order to steady their own
hands and strengthen their own knees. The Tolalaki, notorious
head-hunters of Central Celebes, drink the blood and eat the brains of their
victims that they may become brave. The Italones of the Philippine Islands
drink the blood of their slain enemies, and eat part of the back of their
heads and of their entrails raw to acquire their courage. For the same
reason the Efugaos, another tribe of the Philippines, suck the brains of their
foes. In like manner the Kai of German New Guinea eat the brains of the
enemies they kill in order to acquire their strength. Among the Kimbunda of
Western Africa, when a new king succeeds to the throne, a brave prisoner
of war is killed in order that the king and nobles may eat his flesh, and so
acquire his strength and courage. The notorious Zulu chief Matuana drank
the gall of thirty chiefs, whose people he had destroyed, in the belief that it
would make him strong. It is a Zulu fancy that by eating the centre of the
forehead and the eyebrow of an enemy they acquire the power of looking
steadfastly at a foe. Before every warlike expedition the people of
Minahassa in Celebes used to take the locks of hair of a slain foe and
dabble them in boiling water to extract the courage; this infusion of bravery
was then drunk by the warriors. In New Zealand "the chief was an atua
[god], but there were powerful and powerless gods; each naturally sought
to make himself one of the former; the plan therefore adopted was to
incorporate the spirits of others with their own; thus, when a warrior slew a
chief, he immediately gouged out his eyes and swallowed them, the atua
tonga, or divinity, being supposed to reside in that organ; thus he not only
killed the body, but also possessed himself of the soul of his enemy, and
consequently the more chiefs he slew the greater did his divinity
become." 9
It is now easy to understand why a savage should desire to partake of the
flesh of an animal or man whom he regards as divine. By eating the body of
the god he shares in the god's attributes and powers. And when the god is
a corn-god, the corn is his proper body; when he is a vine-god, the juice
of the grape is his blood; and so by eating the bread and drinking the wine
the worshipper partakes of the real body and blood of his god. Thus the
drinking of wine in the rites of a vine-god like Dionysus is not an act of
revelry, it is a solemn sacrament. Yet a time comes when reasonable men
find it hard to understand how any one in his senses can suppose that by
eating bread or drinking wine he consumes the body or blood of a deity.
"When we call corn Ceres and wine Bacchus," says Cicero, "we use a
common figure of speech; but do you imagine that anybody is so insane as
to believe that the thing he feeds upon is a god?" 10