Chapter 54. Types of Animal Sacrament.
Section 1. The Egyptian and the Aino Types of Sacrament.
WE are now perhaps in a position to understand the ambiguous behaviour
of the Aino and Gilyaks towards the bear. It has been shown that the sharp
line of demarcation which we draw between mankind and the lower animals
does not exist for the savage. To him many of the other animals appear as
his equals or even his superiors, not merely in brute force but in
intelligence; and if choice or necessity leads him to take their lives, he
feels bound, out of regard to his own safety, to do it in a way which will be
as inoffensive as possible not merely to the living animal, but to its departed
spirit and to all the other animals of the same species, which would resent
an affront put upon one of their kind much as a tribe of savages would
revenge an injury or insult offered to a tribesman. We have seen that
among the many devices by which the savage seeks to atone for the wrong
done by him to his animal victims one is to show marked deference to a few
chosen individuals of the species, for such behaviour is apparently
regarded as entitling him to exterminate with impunity all the rest of the
species upon which he can lay hands. This principle perhaps explains the
attitude, at first sight puzzling and contradictory, of the Aino towards the
bear. The flesh and skin of the bear regularly afford them food and clothing;
but since the bear is an intelligent and powerful animal, it is necessary to
offer some satisfaction or atonement to the bear species for the loss which it
sustains in the death of so many of its members. This satisfaction or
atonement is made by rearing young bears, treating them, so long as they
live, with respect, and killing them with extraordinary marks of sorrow and
devotion. So the other bears are appeased, and do not resent the slaughter
of their kind by attacking the slayers or deserting the country, which would
deprive the Aino of one of their means of subsistence. 1
Thus the primitive worship of animals conforms to two types, which are in
some respects the converse of each other. On the one hand, animals are
worshipped, and are therefore neither killed nor eaten. On the other hand,
animals are worshipped because they are habitually killed and eaten. In
both types of worship the animal is revered on account of some benefit,
positive or negative, which the savage hopes to receive from it. In the
former worship the benefit comes either in the positive shape of protection,
advice, and help which the animal affords the man, or in the negative
shape of abstinence from injuries which it is in the power of the animal to
inflict. In the latter worship the benefit takes the material form of the animal's
flesh and skin. The two types of worship are in some measure antithetical:
in the one, the animal is not eaten because it is revered; in the other, it is
revered because it is eaten. But both may be practised by the same
people, as we see in the case of the North American Indians, who, while
they apparently revere and spare their totem animals, also revere the
animals and fish upon which they subsist. The aborigines of Australia have
totemism in the most primitive form known to us; but there is no clear
evidence that they attempt, like the North American Indians, to conciliate
the animals which they kill and eat. The means which the Australians adopt
to secure a plentiful supply of game appear to be primarily based, not on
conciliation, but on sympathetic magic, a principle to which the North
American Indians also resort for the same purpose. Hence, as the
Australians undoubtedly represent a ruder and earlier stage of human
progress than the American Indians, it would seem that before hunters think
of worshipping the game as a means of ensuring an abundant supply of it,
they seek to attain the same end by sympathetic magic. This, again, would
show-what there is good reason for believing-that sympathetic magic is
one of the earliest means by which man endeavours to adapt the agencies
of nature to his needs. 2
Corresponding to the two distinct types of animal worship, there are two
distinct types of the custom of killing the animal god. On the one hand,
when the revered animal is habitually spared, it is nevertheless killed-and
sometimes eaten-on rare and solemn occasions. Examples of this custom
have been already given and an explanation of them offered. On the other
hand, when the revered animal is habitually killed, the slaughter of any one
of the species involves the killing of the god, and is atoned for on the spot
by apologies and sacrifices, especially when the animal is a powerful and
dangerous one; and, in addition to this ordinary and everyday atonement,
there is a special annual atonement, at which a select individual of the
species is slain with extraordinary marks of respect and devotion. Clearly
the two types of sacramental killing-the Egyptian and the Aino types, as
we may call them for distinction-are liable to be confounded by an
observer; and, before we can say to which type any particular example
belongs, it is necessary to ascertain whether the animal sacramentally slain
belongs to a species which is habitually spared, or to one which is
habitually killed by the tribe. In the former case the example belongs to the
Egyptian type of sacrament, in the latter to the Aino type. 3
The practice of pastoral tribes appears to furnish examples of both types
of sacrament. "Pastoral tribes," says Adolf Bastian, "being sometimes
obliged to sell their herds to strangers who may handle the bones
disrespectfully, seek to avert the danger which such a sacrilege would
entail by consecrating one of the herd as an object of worship, eating it
sacramentally in the family circle with closed doors, and afterwards treating
the bones with all the ceremonious respect which, strictly speaking, should
be accorded to every head of cattle, but which, being punctually paid to
the representative animal, is deemed to be paid to all. Such family meals
are found among various peoples, especially those of the Caucasus. When
amongst the Abchases the shepherds in spring eat their common meal with
their loins girt and their staves in their hands, this may be looked upon both
as a sacrament and as an oath of mutual help and support. For the
strongest of all oaths is that which is accompanied with the eating of a
sacred substance, since the perjured person cannot possibly escape the
avenging god whom he has taken into his body and assimilated." This kind
of sacrament is of the Aino or expiatory type, since it is meant to atone to
the species for the possible ill-usage of individuals. An expiation, similar in
principle but different in details, is offered by the Kalmucks to the sheep,
whose flesh is one of their staple foods. Rich Kalmucks are in the habit of
consecrating a white ram under the title of "the ram of heaven" or "the ram
of the spirit." The animal is never shorn and never sold; but when it grows
old and its owner wishes to consecrate a new one, the old ram must be
killed and eaten at a feast to which the neighbours are invited. On a lucky
day, generally in autumn when the sheep are fat, a sorcerer kills the old
ram, after sprinkling it with milk. Its flesh is eaten; the skeleton, with a
portion of the fat, is burned on a turf altar; and the skin, with the head and
feet, is hung up. 4
An example of a sacrament of the Egyptian type is furnished by the
Todas, a pastoral people of Southern India, who subsist largely upon the
milk of their buffaloes. Amongst them "the buffalo is to a certain degree held
sacred" and "is treated with great kindness, even with a degree of
adoration, by the people." They never eat the flesh of the cow buffalo, and
as a rule abstain from the flesh of the male. But to the latter rule there is a
single exception. Once a year all the adult males of the village join in the
ceremony of killing and eating a very young male calf-seemingly under a
month old. They take the animal into the dark recesses of the village wood,
where it is killed with a club made from the sacred tree of the Todas (the
Millingtonia). A sacred fire having been made by the rubbing of sticks, the
flesh of the calf is roasted on the embers of certain trees, and is eaten by
the men alone, women being excluded from the assembly. This is the only
occasion on which the Todas eat buffalo flesh. The Madi or Moru tribe of
Central Africa, whose chief wealth is their cattle, though they also practise
agriculture, appear to kill a lamb sacramentally on certain solemn
occasions. The custom is thus described by Dr. Felkin: "A remarkable
custom is observed at stated times-once a year, I am led to believe. I have
not been able to ascertain what exact meaning is attached to it. It appears,
however, to relieve the people's minds, for beforehand they evince much
sadness, and seem very joyful when the ceremony is duly accomplished.
The following is what takes place: A large concourse of people of all ages
assemble, and sit down round a circle of stones, which is erected by the
side of a road (really a narrow path). A very choice lamb is then fetched by
a boy, who leads it four times round the assembled people. As it passes
they pluck off little bits of its fleece and place them in their hair, or on to
some other part of their body. The lamb is then led up to the stones, and
there killed by a man belonging to a kind of priestly order, who takes some
of the blood and sprinkles it four times over the people. He then applies it
individually. On the children he makes a small ring of blood over the lower
end of the breast bone, on women and girls he makes a mark above the
breasts, and the men he touches on each shoulder. He then proceeds to
explain the ceremony, and to exhort the people to show kindness... . When
this discourse, which is at times of great length, is over, the people rise,
each places a leaf on or by the circle of stones, and then they depart with
signs of great joy. The lamb's skull is hung on a tree near the stones, and
its flesh is eaten by the poor. This ceremony is observed on a small scale
at other times. If a family is in any great trouble, through illness or
bereavement, their friends and neighbours come together and a lamb is
killed; this is thought to avert further evil. The same custom prevails at the
grave of departed friends, and also on joyful occasions, such as the return
of a son home after a very prolonged absence." The sorrow thus manifested
by the people at the annual slaughter of the lamb seems to show that the
lamb slain is a sacred or divine animal, whose death is mourned by his
worshippers, just as the death of the sacred buzzard was mourned by the
Californians and the death of the Theban ram by the Egyptians. The
smearing each of the worshippers with the blood of the lamb is a form of
communion with the divinity; the vehicle of the divine life is applied
externally instead of being taken internally, as when the blood is drunk or
the flesh eaten. 5
Section 2. Processions with Sacred Animals.
THE FORM of communion in which the sacred animal is taken from house
to house, that all may enjoy a share of its divine influence, has been
exemplified by the Gilyak custom of promenading the bear through the
village before it is slain. A similar form of communion with the sacred snake
is observed by a Snake tribe in the Punjaub. Once a year in the month of
September the snake is worshipped by all castes and religions for nine
days only. At the end of August the Mirasans, especially those of the
Snake tribe, make a snake of dough which they paint black and red, and
place on a winnowing basket. This basket they carry round the village, and
on entering any house they say: "God be with you all! May every ill be far!
May our patron's (Gugga's) word thrive!" Then they present the basket with
the snake, saying: "A small cake of flour: a little bit of butter: if you obey the
snake, you and yours shall thrive!" Strictly speaking, a cake and butter
should be given, but it is seldom done. Every one, however, gives
something, generally a handful of dough or some corn. In houses where
there is a new bride or whence a bride has gone, or where a son has been
born, it is usual to give a rupee and a quarter, or some cloth. Sometimes
the bearers of the snake also sing:
"Give the snake a piece of cloth, and he will send a lively bride!"
When every house has been thus visited, the dough snake is buried and a
small grave is erected over it. Thither during the nine days of September
the women come to worship. They bring a basin of curds, a small portion of
which they offer at the snake's grave, kneeling on the ground and touching
the earth with their foreheads. Then they go home and divide the rest of the
curds among the children. Here the dough snake is clearly a substitute for
a real snake. Indeed, in districts where snakes abound the worship is
offered, not at the grave of the dough snake, but in the jungles where
snakes are known to be. Besides this yearly worship, performed by all the
people, the members of the Snake tribe worship in the same way every
morning after a new moon. The Snake tribe is not uncommon in the
Punjaub. Members of it will not kill a snake, and they say that its bite does
not hurt them. If they find a dead snake, they put clothes on it and give it a
regular funeral. 1
Ceremonies closely analogous to this Indian worship of the snake have
survived in Europe into recent times, and doubtless date from a very
primitive paganism. The best-known example is the "hunting of the wren."
By many European peoples-the ancient Greeks and Romans, the modern
Italians, Spaniards, French, Germans, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, English, and
Welsh-the wren has been designated the king, the little king, the king of
birds, the hedge king, and so forth, and has been reckoned amongst those
birds which it is extremely unlucky to kill. In England it is supposed that if
any one kills a wren or harries its nest, he will infallibly break a bone or
meet with some dreadful misfortune within the year; sometimes it is thought
that the cows will give bloody milk. In Scotland the wren is called "the Lady
of Heaven's hen," and boys say:
"Malisons, malisons, mair than ten,
That harry the Ladye of Heaven's hen!"
At Saint Donan, in Brittany, people believe that if children touch the young
wrens in the nest, they will suffer from the fire of St. Lawrence, that is, from
pimples on the face, legs, and so on. In other parts of France it is thought
that if a person kills a wren or harries its nest, his house will be struck by
lightning, or that the fingers with which he did the deed will shrivel up and
drop off, or at least be maimed, or that his cattle will suffer in their feet. 2
Notwithstanding such beliefs, the custom of annually killing the wren has
prevailed widely both in this country and in France. In the Isle of Man
down to the eighteenth century the custom was observed on Christmas
Eve, or rather Christmas morning. On the twenty-fourth of December,
towards evening, all the servants got a holiday; they did not go to bed all
night, but rambled about till the bells rang in all the churches at midnight.
When prayers were over, they went to hunt the wren, and having found
one of these birds they killed it and fastened it to the top of a long pole with
its wings extended. Thus they carried it in procession to every house
chanting the following rhyme:
"We hunted the wren for Robin the Bobbin,
We hunted the wren for Jack of the Can,
We hunted the wren for Robin the Bobbin,
We hunted the wren for every one."
When they had gone from house to house and collected all the money they
could, they laid the wren on a bier and carried it in procession to the parish
churchyard, where they made a grave and buried it "with the utmost
solemnity, singing dirges over her in the Manks language, which they call
her knell; after which Christmas begins." The burial over, the company
outside the churchyard formed a circle and danced to music. 3
A writer of the eighteenth century says that in Ireland the wren "is still
hunted and killed by the peasants on Christmas Day, and on the following
(St. Stephen's Day) he is carried about, hung by the leg, in the centre of
two hoops, crossing each other at right angles, and a procession made in
every village, of men, women, and children, singing an Irish catch,
importing him to be the king of all birds." Down to the present time the
"hunting of the wren" still takes place in parts of Leinster and Connaught.
On Christmas Day or St. Stephen's Day the boys hunt and kill the wren,
fasten it in the middle of a mass of holly and ivy on the top of a broomstick,
and on St. Stephen's Day go about with it from house to house, singing:
"The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze;
Although he is little, his family's great,
I pray you, good landlady, give us a treat."
Money or food (bread, butter, eggs, etc.) were given them, upon which
they feasted in the evening. 4
In the first half of the nineteenth century similar customs were still
observed in various parts of the south of France. Thus at Carcassone,
every year on the first Sunday of December the young people of the street
Saint Jean used to go out of the town armed with sticks, with which they
beat the bushes, looking for wrens. The first to strike down one of these
birds was proclaimed King. Then they returned to the town in procession,
headed by the King, who carried the wren on a pole. On the evening of the
last day of the year the King and all who had hunted the wren marched
through the streets of the town to the light of torches, with drums beating
and fifes playing in front of them. At the door of every house they stopped,
and one of them wrote with chalk on the door vive le roi! with the number of
the year which was about to begin. On the morning of Twelfth Day the King
again marched in procession with great pomp, wearing a crown and a blue
mantle and carrying a sceptre. In front of him was borne the wren fastened
to the top of a pole, which was adorned with a verdant wreath of olive, of
oak, and sometimes of mistletoe grown on an oak. After hearing high mass
in the parish church of St. Vincent, surrounded by his officers and guards,
the King visited the bishop, the mayor, the magistrates, and the chief
inhabitants, collecting money to defray the expenses of the royal banquet
which took place in the evening and wound up with a dance. 5
The parallelism between this custom of "hunting the wren" and some of
those which we have considered, especially the Gilyak procession with the
bear, and the Indian one with the snake, seems too close to allow us to
doubt that they all belong to the same circle of ideas. The worshipful animal
is killed with special solemnity once a year; and before or immediately after
death he is promenaded from door to door, that each of his worshippers
may receive a portion of the divine virtues that are supposed to emanate
from the dead or dying god. Religious processions of this sort must have
had a great place in the ritual of European peoples in prehistoric times, if
we may judge from the numerous traces of them which have survived in
folk-custom. For example, on the last day of the year, or Hogmanay as it
was called, it used to be customary in the Highlands of Scotland for a man
to dress himself up in a cow's hide and thus attired to go from house to
house, attended by young fellows, each of them armed with a staff, to
which a bit of raw hide was tied. Round every house the hide-clad man
used to run thrice deiseal, that is, according to the course of the sun, so as
to keep the house on his right hand; while the others pursued him, beating
the hide with their staves and thereby making a loud noise like the beating
of a drum. In this disorderly procession they also struck the walls of the
house. On being admitted, one of the party, standing within the threshold,
pronounced a blessing on the family in these words: "May God bless the
house and all that belongs to it, cattle, stones, and timber! In plenty of meat,
of bed and body clothes, and health of men may it ever abound!" Then
each of the party singed in the fire a little bit of the hide which was tied to
his staff; and having done so he applied the singed hide to the nose of
every person and of every domestic animal belonging to the house. This
was imagined to secure them from diseases and other misfortunes,
particularly from witchcraft, throughout the ensuing year. The whole
ceremony was called calluinn because of the great noise made in beating
the hide. It was observed in the Hebrides, including St. Kilda, down to the
second half of the eighteenth century at least, and it seems to have
survived well into the nineteenth century. 6