Section 1. Royal and Priestly Taboos.
AT A CERTAIN stage of early society the king or priest is often thought to
be endowed with supernatural powers or to be an incarnation of a deity,
and consistently with this belief the course of nature is supposed to be
more or less under his control, and he is held responsible for bad weather,
failure of the crops, and similar calamities. To some extent it appears to be
assumed that the king's power over nature, like that over his subjects and
slaves, is exerted through definite acts of will; and therefore if drought,
famine, pestilence, or storms arise, the people attribute the misfortune to the
negligence or guilt of their king, and punish him accordingly with stripes
and bonds, or, if he remains obdurate, with deposition and death.
Sometimes, however, the course of nature, while regarded as dependent
on the king, is supposed to be partly independent of his will. His person is
considered, if we may express it so, as the dynamical centre of the
universe, from which lines of force radiate to all quarters of the heaven; so
that any motion of his-the turning of his head, the lifting of his
hand-instantaneously affects and may seriously disturb some part of
nature. He is the point of support on which hangs the balance of the world,
and the slightest irregularity on his part may overthrow the delicate
equipoise. The greatest care must, therefore, be taken both by and of him;
and his whole life, down to its minutest details, must be so regulated that no
act of his, voluntary or involuntary, may disarrange or upset the established
order of nature. Of this class of monarchs the Mikado or Dairi, the spiritual
emperor of Japan, is or rather used to be a typical example. He is an
incarnation of the sun goddess, the deity who rules the universe, gods and
men included; once a year all the gods wait upon him and spend a month
at his court. During that month, the name of which means "without gods," no
one frequents the temples, for they are believed to be deserted. The
Mikado receives from his people and assumes in his official proclamations
and decrees the title of "manifest or incarnate deity," and he claims a
general authority over the gods of Japan. For example, in an official decree
of the year 646 the emperor is described as "the incarnate god who
governs the universe." 1
The following description of the Mikado's mode of life was written about
two hundred years ago: 2
"Even to this day the princes descended of this family, more particularly
those who sit on the throne, are looked upon as persons most holy in
themselves, and as Popes by birth. And, in order to preserve these
advantageous notions in the minds of their subjects, they are obliged to
take an uncommon care of their sacred persons, and to do such things,
which, examined according to the customs of other nations, would be
thought ridiculous and impertinent. It will not be improper to give a few
instances of it. He thinks that it would be very prejudicial to his dignity and
holiness to touch the ground with his feet; for this reason, when he intends
to go anywhere, he must be carried thither on men's shoulders. Much less
will they suffer that he should expose his sacred person to the open air,
and the sun is not thought worthy to shine on his head. There is such a
holiness ascribed to all the parts of his body that he dares to cut off neither
his hair, nor his beard, nor his nails. However, lest he should grow too
dirty, they may clean him in the night when he is asleep; because, they
say, that which is taken from his body at that time, hath been stolen from
him, and that such a theft doth not prejudice his holiness or dignity. In
ancient times, he was obliged to sit on the throne for some hours every
morning, with the imperial crown on his head, but to sit altogether like a
statue, without stirring either hands or feet, head or eyes, nor indeed any
part of his body, because, by this means, it was thought that he could
preserve peace and tranquillity in his empire; for if, unfortunately, he turned
himself on one side or the other, or if he looked a good while towards any
part of his dominions, it was apprehended that war, famine, fire, or some
other great misfortune was near at hand to desolate the country. But it
having been afterwards discovered, that the imperial crown was the
palladium, which by its immobility could preserve peace in the empire, it
was thought expedient to deliver his imperial person, consecrated only to
idleness and pleasures, from this burthensome duty, and therefore the
crown is at present placed on the throne for some hours every morning. His
victuals must be dressed every time in new pots, and served at table in
new dishes: both are very clean and neat, but made only of common clay;
that without any considerable expense they may be laid aside, or broke,
after they have served once. They are generally broke, for fear they should
come into the hands of laymen, for they believe religiously, that if any
layman should presume to eat his food out of these sacred dishes, it would
swell and inflame his mouth and throat. The like ill effect is dreaded from the
Dairi's sacred habits; for they believe that if a layman should wear them,
without the Emperor's express leave or command, they would occasion
swellings and pains in all parts of his body." To the same effect an earlier
account of the Mikado says: "It was considered as a shameful degradation
for him even to touch the ground with his foot. The sun and moon were not
even permitted to shine upon his head. None of the superfluities of the body
were ever taken from him, neither his hair, his beard, nor his nails were cut.
Whatever he eat was dressed in new vessels." 3
Similar priestly or rather divine kings are found, at a lower level of
barbarism, on the west coast of Africa. At Shark Point near Cape Padron, in
Lower Guinea, lives the priestly king Kukulu, alone in a wood. He may not
touch a woman nor leave his house; indeed he may not even quit his chair,
in which he is obliged to sleep sitting, for if he lay down no wind would
arise and navigation would be stopped. He regulates storms, and in general
maintains a wholesome and equable state of the atmosphere. On Mount
Agu in Togo there lives a fetish or spirit called Bagba, who is of great
importance for the whole of the surrounding country. The power of giving or
withholding rain is ascribed to him, and he is lord of the winds, including
the Harmattan, the dry, hot wind which blows from the interior. His priest
dwells in a house on the highest peak of the mountain, where he keeps the
winds bottled up in huge jars. Applications for rain, too, are made to him,
and he does a good business in amulets, which consist of the teeth and
claws of leopards. Yet though his power is great and he is indeed the real
chief of the land, the rule of the fetish forbids him ever to leave the
mountain, and he must spend the whole of his life on its summit. Only once
a year may he come down to make purchases in the market; but even then
he may not set foot in the hut of any mortal man, and must return to his
place of exile the same day. The business of government in the villages is
conducted by subordinate chiefs, who are appointed by him. In the West
African kingdom of Congo there was a supreme pontiff called Chitomé or
Chitombé, whom the negroes regarded as a god on earth and all-powerful
in heaven. Hence before they would taste the new crops they offered him
the first-fruits, fearing that manifold misfortunes would befall them if they
broke this rule. When he left his residence to visit other places within his
jurisdiction, all married people had to observe strict continence the whole
time he was out; for it was supposed that any act of incontinence would
prove fatal to him. And if he were to die a natural death, they thought that
the world would perish, and the earth, which he alone sustained by his
power and merit, would immediately be annihilated. Amongst the
semi-barbarous nations of the New World, at the date of the Spanish
conquest, there were found hierarchies or theocracies like those of Japan;
in particular, the high pontiff of the Zapotecs appears to have presented a
close parallel to the Mikado. A powerful rival to the king himself, this
spiritual lord governed Yopaa, one of the chief cities of the kingdom, with
absolute dominion. It is impossible, we are told, to overrate the reverence in
which he was held. He was looked on as a god whom the earth was not
worthy to hold nor the sun to shine upon. He profaned his sanctity if he
even touched the ground with his foot. The officers who bore his palanquin
on their shoulders were members of the highest families: he hardly deigned
to look on anything around him; and all who met him fell with their faces to
the earth, fearing that death would overtake them if they saw even his
shadow. A rule of continence was regularly imposed on the Zapotec
priests, especially upon the high pontiff; but "on certain days in each year,
which were generally celebrated with feasts and dances, it was customary
for the high priest to become drunk. While in this state, seeming to belong
neither to heaven nor to earth, one of the most beautiful of the virgins
consecrated to the service of the gods was brought to him." If the child she
bore him was a son, he was brought up as a prince of the blood, and the
eldest son succeeded his father on the pontifical throne. The supernatural
powers attributed to this pontiff are not specified, but probably they
resembled those of the Mikado and Chitomé. 4
Wherever, as in Japan and West Africa, it is supposed that the order of
nature, and even the existence of the world, is bound up with the life of the
king or priest, it is clear that he must be regarded by his subjects as a
source both of infinite blessing and of infinite danger. On the one hand, the
people have to thank him for the rain and sunshine which foster the fruits of
the earth, for the wind which brings ships to their coasts, and even for the
solid ground beneath their feet. But what he gives he can refuse; and so
close is the dependence of nature on his person, so delicate the balance
of the system of forces whereof he is the centre, that the least irregularity
on his part may set up a tremor which shall shake the earth to its
foundations. And if nature may be disturbed by the slightest involuntary act
of the king, it is easy to conceive the convulsion which his death might
provoke. The natural death of the Chitomé, as we have seen, was thought
to entail the destruction of all things. Clearly, therefore, out of a regard for
their own safety, which might be imperilled by any rash act of the king, and
still more by his death, the people will exact of their king or priest a strict
conformity to those rules, the observance of which is deemed necessary for
his own preservation, and consequently for the preservation of his people
and the world. The idea that early kingdoms are despotisms in which the
people exist only for the sovereign, is wholly inapplicable to the
monarchies we are considering. On the contrary, the sovereign in them
exists only for his subjects; his life is only valuable so long as he
discharges the duties of his position by ordering the course of nature for his
people's benefit. So soon as he fails to do so, the care, the devotion, the
religious homage which they had hitherto lavished on him cease and are
changed into hatred and contempt; he is dismissed ignominiously, and may
be thankful if he escapes with his life. Worshipped as a god one day, he is
killed as a criminal the next. But in this changed behaviour of the people
there is nothing capricious or inconsistent. On the contrary, their conduct is
entirely of a piece. If their king is their god, he is or should be also their
preserver; and if he will not preserve them, he must make room for another
who will. So long, however, as he answers their expectations, there is no
limit to the care which they take of him, and which they compel him to take
of himself. A king of this sort lives hedged in by a ceremonious etiquette, a
network of prohibitions and observances, of which the intention is not to
contribute to his dignity, much less to his comfort, but to restrain him from
conduct which, by disturbing the harmony of nature, might involve himself,
his people, and the universe in one common catastrophe. Far from adding
to his comfort, these observances, by trammelling his every act, annihilate
his freedom and often render the very life, which it is their object to
preserve, a burden and sorrow to him. 5
Of the supernaturally endowed kings of Loango it is said that the more
powerful a king is, the more taboos is he bound to observe; they regulate
all his actions, his walking and his standing, his eating and drinking, his
sleeping and waking. To these restraints the heir to the throne is subject
from infancy; but as he advances in life the number of abstinences and
ceremonies which he must observe increases, "until at the moment that he
ascends the throne he is lost in the ocean of rites and taboos." In the crater
of an extinct volcano, enclosed on all sides by grassy slopes, lie the
scattered huts and yam-fields of Riabba, the capital of the native king of
Fernando Po. This mysterious being lives in the lowest depths of the crater,
surrounded by a harem of forty women, and covered, it is said, with old
silver coins. Naked savage as he is, he yet exercises far more influence in
the island than the Spanish governor at Santa Isabel. In him the
conservative spirit of the Boobies or aboriginal inhabitants of the island is,
as it were, incorporate. He has never seen a white man and, according to
the firm conviction of all the Boobies, the sight of a pale face would cause
his instant death. He cannot bear to look upon the sea; indeed it is said that
he may never see it even in the distance, and that therefore he wears
away his life with shackles on his legs in the dim twilight of his hut. Certain
it is that he has never set foot on the beach. With the exception of his
musket and knife, he uses nothing that comes from the whites; European
cloth never touches his person, and he scorns tobacco, rum, and even
salt. 6
Among the Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast "the king is at the
same time high priest. In this quality he was, particularly in former times,
unapproachable by his subjects. Only by night was he allowed to quit his
dwelling in order to bathe and so forth. None but his representative, the
so-called `visible king,' with three chosen elders might converse with him,
and even they had to sit on an ox-hide with their backs turned to him. He
might not see any European nor any horse, nor might he look upon the
sea, for which reason he was not allowed to quit his capital even for a few
moments. These rules have been disregarded in recent times." The king of
Dahomey himself is subject to the prohibition of beholding the sea, and so
are the kings of Loango and Great Ardra in Guinea. The sea is the fetish of
the Eyeos, to the north-west of Dahomey, and they and their king are
threatened with death by their priests if ever they dare to look on it. It is
believed that the king of Cayor in Senegal would infallibly die within the
year if he were to cross a river or an arm of the sea. In Mashonaland down
to recent times the chiefs would not cross certain rivers, particularly the
Rurikwi and the Nyadiri; and the custom was still strictly observed by at
least one chief within recent years. "On no account will the chief cross the
river. If it is absolutely necessary for him to do so, he is blindfolded and
carried across with shouting and singing. Should he walk across, he will go
blind or die and certainly lose the chieftainship." So among the Mahafalys
and Sakalavas in the south of Madagascar some kings are forbidden to sail
on the sea or to cross certain rivers. Among the Sakalavas the chief is
regarded as a sacred being, but "he is held in leash by a crowd of
restrictions, which regulate his behaviour like that of the emperor of China.
He can undertake nothing whatever unless the sorcerers have declared the
omens favourable; he may not eat warm food: on certain days he may not
quit his hut; and so on." Among some of the hill tribes of Assam both the
headman and his wife have to observe many taboos in respect of food; thus
they may not eat buffalo, pork, dog, fowl, or tomatoes. The headman must
be chaste, the husband of one wife, and he must separate himself from her
on the eve of a general or public observance of taboo. In one group of
tribes the headman is forbidden to eat in a strange village, and under no
provocation whatever may he utter a word of abuse. Apparently the people
imagine that the violation of any of these taboos by a headman would bring
down misfortune on the whole village. 7
The ancient kings of Ireland, as well as the kings of the four provinces of
Leinster, Munster, Connaught, and Ulster, were subject to certain quaint
prohibitions or taboos, on the due observance of which the prosperity of
the people of the country, as well as their own, was supposed to depend.
Thus, for example, the sun might not rise on the king of Ireland in his bed at
Tara, the old capital of Erin; he was forbidden to alight on Wednesday at
Magh Breagh, to traverse Magh Cuillinn after sunset, to incite his horse at
Fan-Chomair, to go in a ship upon the water the Monday after Bealltaine
(May day), and to leave the track of his army upon Ath Maighne the
Tuesday after All-Hallows. The king of Leinster might not go round Tuath
Laighean left-hand-wise on Wednesday, nor sleep between the Dothair
(Dodder) and the Duibhlinn with his head inclining to one side, nor encamp
for nine days on the plains of Cualann, nor travel the road of Duibhlinn on
Monday, nor ride a dirty black-heeled horse across Magh Maistean. The
king of Munster was prohibited from enjoying the feast of Loch Lein from
one Monday to another; from banqueting by night in the beginning of
harvest before Geim at Leitreacha; from encamping for nine days upon the
Siuir; and from holding a border meeting at Gabhran. The king of Connaught
might not conclude a treaty respecting his ancient palace of Cruachan after
making peace on All-Hallows Day, nor go in a speckled garment on a grey
speckled steed to the heath of Dal Chais, nor repair to an assembly of
women at Seaghais, nor sit in autumn on the sepulchral mounds of the wife
of Maine, nor contend in running with the rider of a grey one-eyed horse
at Ath Gallta between two posts. The king of Ulster was forbidden to attend
the horse fair at Rath Line among the youths of Dal Araidhe, to listen to the
fluttering of the flocks of birds of Linn Saileach after sunset, to celebrate the
feast of the bull of Daire-mic-Daire, to go into Magh Cobha in the month of
March, and to drink of the water of Bo Neimhidh between two darknesses. If
the kings of Ireland strictly observed these and many other customs, which
were enjoined by immemorial usage, it was believed that they would never
meet with mischance or misfortune, and would live for ninety years without
experiencing the decay of old age; that no epidemic or mortality would
occur during their reigns; and that the seasons would be favourable and
the earth yield its fruit in abundance; whereas, if they set the ancient
usages at naught, the country would be visited with plague, famine, and
bad weather. 8
The kings of Egypt were worshipped as gods, and the routine of their
daily life was regulated in every detail by precise and unvarying rules.
"The life of the kings of Egypt," says Diodorus, "was not like that of other
monarchs who are irresponsible and may do just what they choose; on the
contrary, everything was fixed for them by law, not only their official duties,
but even the details of their daily life... . The hours both of day and night
were arranged at which the king had to do, not what he pleased, but what
was prescribed for him... . For not only were the times appointed at which
he should transact public business or sit in judgment; but the very hours for
his walking and bathing and sleeping with his wife, and, in short,
performing every act of life were all settled. Custom enjoined a simple diet;
the only flesh he might eat was veal and goose, and he might only drink a
prescribed quantity of wine." However, there is reason to think that these
rules were observed, not by the ancient Pharaohs, but by the priestly kings
who reigned at Thebes and Ethiopia at the close of the twentieth
dynasty. 9
Of the taboos imposed on priests we may see a striking example in the
rules of life prescribed for the Flamen Dialis at Rome, who has been
interpreted as a living image of Jupiter, or a human embodiment of the
sky-spirit. They were such as the following: The Flamen Dialis might not
ride or even touch a horse, nor see an army under arms, nor wear a ring
which was not broken, nor have a knot on any part of his garments; no fire
except a sacred fire might be taken out of his house; he might not touch
wheaten flour or leavened bread; he might not touch or even name a goat,
a dog, raw meat, beans, and ivy; he might not walk under a vine; the feet
of his bed had to be daubed with mud; his hair could be cut only by a free
man and with a bronze knife and his hair and nails when cut had to be
buried under a lucky tree; he might not touch a dead body nor enter a
place where one was burned; he might not see work being done on holy
days; he might not be uncovered in the open air; if a man in bonds were
taken into his house, the captive had to be unbound and the cords had to
be drawn up through a hole in the roof and so let down into the street. His
wife, the Flaminica, had to observe nearly the same rules, and others of
her own besides. She might not ascend more than three steps of the kind of
staircase called Greek; at a certain festival she might not comb her hair; the
leather of her shoes might not be made from a beast that had died a natural
death, but only from one that had been slain or sacrificed; if she heard
thunder she was tabooed till she had offered an expiatory sacrifice. 10
Among the Grebo people of Sierra Leone there is a pontiff who bears the
title of Bodia and has been compared, on somewhat slender grounds, to the
high priest of the Jews. He is appointed in accordance with the behest of
an oracle. At an elaborate ceremony of installation he is anointed, a ring is
put on his ankle as a badge of office, and the door-posts of his house are
sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificed goat. He has charge of the public
talismans and idols, which he feeds with rice and oil every new moon; and
he sacrifices on behalf of the town to the dead and to demons. Nominally
his power is very great, but in practice it is very limited; for he dare not
defy public opinion, and he is held responsible, even with his life, for any
adversity that befalls the country. It is expected of him that he should cause
the earth to bring forth abundantly, the people to be healthy, war to be
driven far away, and witchcraft to be kept in abeyance. His life is
trammelled by the observance of certain restrictions or taboos. Thus he may
not sleep in any house but his own official residence, which is called the
"anointed house" with reference to the ceremony of anointing him at
inauguration. He may not drink water on the highway. He may not eat while
a corpse is in the town, and he may not mourn for the dead. If he dies while
in office, he must be buried at dead of night; few may hear of his burial, and
none may mourn for him when his death is made public. Should he have
fallen a victim to the poison ordeal by drinking a decoction of sassywood,
as it is called, he must be buried under a running stream of water. 11
Among the Todas of Southern India the holy milkman, who acts as priest
of the sacred dairy, is subject to a variety of irksome and burdensome
restrictions during the whole time of his incumbency, which may last many
years. Thus he must live at the sacred dairy and may never visit his home
or any ordinary village. He must be celibate; if he is married he must leave
his wife. On no account may any ordinary person touch the holy milkman
or the holy dairy; such a touch would so defile his holiness that he would
forfeit his office. It is only on two days a week, namely Mondays and
Thursdays, that a mere layman may even approach the milkman; on other
days if he has any business with him, he must stand at a distance (some
say a quarter of a mile) and shout his message across the intervening
space. Further, the holy milkman never cuts his hair or pares his nails so
long as he holds office; he never crosses a river by a bridge, but wades
through a ford and only certain fords; if a death occurs in his clan, he may
not attend any of the funeral ceremonies, unless he first resigns his office
and descends from the exalted rank of milkman to that of a mere common
mortal. Indeed it appears that in old days he had to resign the seals, or
rather the pails, of office whenever any member of his clan departed this
life. However, these heavy restraints are laid in their entirety only on
milkmen of the very highest class. 12
