object:1.50 - Eating the God
book class:The Golden Bough
author class:James George Frazer
subject class:Occultism
class:chapter
L. Eating the God
1. The Sacrament of First-Fruits
WE have now seen that the corn-spirit is represented sometimes in
human, sometimes in animal form, and that in both cases he is killed
in the person of his representative and eaten sacramentally. To find
examples of actually killing the human representative of the
corn-spirit we had naturally to go to savage races; but the
harvest-suppers of our European peasants have furnished unmistakable
examples of the sacramental eating of animals as representatives of
the corn-spirit. But further, as might have been anticipated, the
new corn is itself eaten sacramentally, that is, as the body of the
corn-spirit. In Wermland, Sweden, the farmer's wife uses the grain
of the last sheaf to bake a loaf in the shape of a little girl; this
loaf is divided amongst the whole household and eaten by them. Here
the loaf represents the corn-spirit conceived as a maiden; just as
in Scotland the corn-spirit is similarly conceived and represented
by the last sheaf made up in the form of a woman and bearing the
name of the Maiden. As usual, the corn-spirit is believed to reside
in the last sheaf; and to eat a loaf made from the last sheaf is,
therefore, to eat the corn-spirit itself. Similarly at La Palisse,
in France, a man made of dough is hung upon the fir-tree which is
carried on the last harvest-waggon. The tree and the dough-man are
taken to the mayor's house and kept there till the vintage is over.
Then the close of the harvest is celebrated by a feast at which the
mayor breaks the dough-man in pieces and gives the pieces to the
people to eat.
In these examples the corn-spirit is represented and eaten in human
shape. In other cases, though the new corn is not baked in loaves of
human shape, still the solemn ceremonies with which it is eaten
suffice to indicate that it is partaken of sacramentally, that is,
as the body of the corn-spirit. For example, the following
ceremonies used to be observed by Lithuanian peasants at eating the
new corn. About the time of the autumn sowing, when all the corn had
been got in and the threshing had begun, each farmer held a festival
called Sabarios, that is, "the mixing or throwing together." He took
nine good handfuls of each kind of crop--wheat, barley, oats, flax,
beans, lentils, and the rest; and each handful he divided into three
parts. The twentyseven portions of each grain were then thrown on a
heap and all mixed up together. The grain used had to be that which
was first threshed and winnowed and which had been set aside and
kept for this purpose. A part of the grain thus mixed was employed
to bake little loaves, one for each of the household; the rest was
mixed with more barley or oats and made into beer. The first beer
brewed from this mixture was for the drinking of the farmer, his
wife, and children; the second brew was for the servants. The beer
being ready, the farmer chose an evening when no stranger was
expected. Then he knelt down before the barrel of beer, drew a
jugful of the liquor and poured it on the bung of the barrel,
saying, "O fruitful earth, make rye and barley and all kinds of corn
to flourish." Next he took the jug to the parlour, where his wife
and children awaited him. On the floor of the parlour lay bound a
black or white or speckled (not a red) cock and a hen of the same
colour and of the same brood, which must have been hatched within
the year. Then the farmer knelt down, with the jug in his hand, and
thanked God for the harvest and prayed for a good crop next year.
Next all lifted up their hands and said, "O God, and thou, O earth,
we give you this cock and hen as a free-will offering." With that
the farmer killed the fowls with the blows of a wooden spoon, for he
might not cut their heads off. After the first prayer and after
killing each of the birds he poured out a third of the beer. Then
his wife boiled the fowls in a new pot which had never been used
before. After that, a bushel was set, bottom upwards, on the floor,
and on it were placed the little loaves mentioned above and the
boiled fowls. Next the new beer was fetched, together with a ladle
and three mugs, none of which was used except on this occasion. When
the farmer had ladled the beer into the mugs, the family knelt down
round the bushel. The father then uttered a prayer and drank off the
three mugs of beer. The rest followed his example. Then the loaves
and the flesh of the fowls were eaten, after which the beer went
round again, till every one had emptied each of the three mugs nine
times. None of the food should remain over; but if anything did
happen to be left, it was consumed next morning with the same
ceremonies. The bones were given to the dog to eat; if he did not
eat them all up, the remains were buried under the dung in the
cattle-stall. This ceremony was observed at the beginning of
December. On the day on which it took place no bad word might be
spoken.
Such was the custom about two hundred years or more ago. At the
present day in Lithuania, when new potatoes or loaves made from the
new corn are being eaten, all the people at table pull each other's
hair. The meaning of this last custom is obscure, but a similar
custom was certainly observed by the heathen Lithuanians at their
solemn sacrifices. Many of the Esthonians of the island of Oesel
will not eat bread baked of the new corn till they have first taken
a bite at a piece of iron. The iron is here plainly a charm,
intended to render harmless the spirit that is in the corn. In
Sutherlandshire at the present day, when the new potatoes are dug
all the family must taste them, otherwise "the spirits in them [the
potatoes] take offence, and the potatoes would not keep." In one
part of Yorkshire it is still customary for the clergyman to cut the
first corn; and my informant believes that the corn so cut is used
to make the communion bread. If the latter part of the custom is
correctly reported (and analogy is all in its favour), it shows how
the Christian communion has absorbed within itself a sacrament which
is doubtless far older than Christianity.
The Aino or Ainu of Japan are said to distinguish various kinds of
millet as male and female respectively, and these kinds, taken
together, are called "the divine husband and wife cereal" (_Umurek
haru kamui_). "Therefore before millet is pounded and made into
cakes for general eating, the old men have a few made for themselves
first to worship. When they are ready they pray to them very
earnestly and say: 'O thou cereal deity, we worship thee. Thou hast
grown very well this year, and thy flavour will be sweet. Thou art
good. The goddess of fire will be glad, and we also shall rejoice
greatly. O thou god, O thou divine cereal, do thou nourish the
people. I now partake of thee. I worship thee and give thee thanks.'
After having thus prayed, they, the worshippers, take a cake and eat
it, and from this time the people may all partake of the new millet.
And so with many gestures of homage and words of prayer this kind of
food is dedicated to the well-being of the Ainu. No doubt the cereal
offering is regarded as a tribute paid to a god, but that god is no
other than the seed itself; and it is only a god in so far as it is
beneficial to the human body."
At the close of the rice harvest in the East Indian island of Buru,
each clan meets at a common sacramental meal, to which every member
of the clan is bound to contribute a little of the new rice. This
meal is called "eating the soul of the rice," a name which clearly
indicates the sacramental character of the repast. Some of the rice
is also set apart and offered to the spirits. Amongst the Alfoors of
Minahassa, in Celebes, the priest sows the first rice-seed and
plucks the first ripe rice in each field. This rice he roasts and
grinds into meal, and gives some of it to each of the household.
Shortly before the rice-harvest in Boland Mongondo, another district
of Celebes, an offering is made of a small pig or a fowl. Then the
priest plucks a little rice, first on his own field and next on
those of his neighbours. All the rice thus plucked by him he dries
along with his own, and then gives it back to the respective owners,
who have it ground and boiled. When it is boiled the women take it
back, with an egg, to the priest, who offers the egg in sacrifice
and returns the rice to the women. Of this rice every member of the
family, down to the youngest child, must partake. After this
ceremony every one is free to get in his rice.
Amongst the Burghers or Badagas, a tribe of the Neilgherry Hills in
Southern India, the first handful of seed is sown and the first
sheaf reaped by a Curumbar, a man of a different tribe, the members
of which the Burghers regard as sorcerers. The grain contained in
the first sheaf "is that day reduced to meal, made into cakes, and,
being offered as a first-fruit oblation, is, together with the
remainder of the sacrificed animal, partaken of by the Burgher and
the whole of his family, as the meat of a federal offering and
sacrifice." Among the Hindoos of Southern India the eating of the
new rice is the occasion of a family festival called Pongol. The new
rice is boiled in a new pot on a fire which is kindled at noon on
the day when, according to Hindoo astrologers, the sun enters the
tropic of Capricorn. The boiling of the pot is watched with great
anxiety by the whole family, for as the milk boils, so will the
coming year be. If the milk boils rapidly, the year will be
prosperous; but it will be the reverse if the milk boils slowly.
Some of the new boiled rice is offered to the image of Ganesa; then
every one partakes of it. In some parts of Northern India the
festival of the new crop is known as _Navan,_ that is, "new grain."
When the crop is ripe, the owner takes the omens, goes to the field,
plucks five or six ears of barley in the spring crop and one of the
millets in the autumn harvest. This is brought home, parched, and
mixed with coarse sugar, butter, and curds. Some of it is thrown on
the fire in the name of the village gods and deceased ancestors; the
rest is eaten by the family.
The ceremony of eating the new yams at Onitsha, on the Niger, is
thus described: "Each headman brought out six yams, and cut down
young branches of palm-leaves and placed them before his gate,
roasted three of the yams, and got some kola-nuts and fish. After
the yam is roasted, the _Libia,_ or country doctor, takes the yam,
scrapes it into a sort of meal, and divides it into halves; he then
takes one piece, and places it on the lips of the person who is
going to eat the new yam. The eater then blows up the steam from the
hot yam, and afterwards pokes the whole into his mouth, and says, 'I
thank God for being permitted to eat the new yam'; he then begins to
chew it heartily, with fish likewise."
Among the Nandi of British East Africa, when the eleusine grain is
ripening in autumn, every woman who owns a corn-field goes out into
it with her daughters, and they all pluck some of the ripe grain.
Each of the women then fixes one grain in her necklace and chews
another, which she rubs on her forehead, throat, and breast. No mark
of joy escapes them; sorrowfully they cut a basketful of the new
corn, and carrying it home place it in the loft to dry. As the
ceiling is of wickerwork, a good deal of the grain drops through the
crevices and falls into the fire, where it explodes with a crackling
noise. The people make no attempt to prevent this waste; for they
regard the crackling of the grain in the fire as a sign that the
souls of the dead are partaking of it. A few days later porridge is
made from the new grain and served up with milk at the evening meal.
All the members of the family take some of the porridge and dab it
on the walls and roofs of the huts; also they put a little in their
mouths and spit it out towards the east and on the outside of the
huts. Then, holding up some of the grain in his hand, the head of
the family prays to God for health and strength, and likewise for
milk, and everybody present repeats the words of the prayer after
him.
Amongst the Caffres of Natal and Zululand, no one may eat of the new
fruits till after a festival which marks the beginning of the Caffre
year and falls at the end of December or the beginning of January.
All the people assemble at the king's kraal, where they feast and
dance. Before they separate the "dedication of the people" takes
place. Various fruits of the earth, as corn, mealies, and pumpkins,
mixed with the flesh of a sacrificed animal and with "medicine," are
boiled in great pots, and a little of this food is placed in each
man's mouth by the king himself. After thus partaking of the
sanctified fruits, a man is himself sanctified for the whole year,
and may immediately get in his crops. It is believed that if any man
were to partake of the new fruits before the festival, he would die;
if he were detected, he would be put to death, or at least all his
cattle would be taken from him. The holiness of the new fruits is
well marked by the rule that they must be cooked in a special pot
which is used only for this purpose, and on a new fire kindled by a
magician through the friction of two sticks which are called
"husband and wife."
Among the Bechuanas it is a rule that before they partake of the new
crops they must purify themselves. The purification takes place at
the commencement of the new year on a day in January which is fixed
by the chief. It begins in the great kraal of the tribe, where all
the adult males assemble. Each of them takes in his hand leaves of a
gourd called by the natives _lerotse_ (described as something
between a pumpkin and a vegetable marrow); and having crushed the
leaves he anoints with the expressed juice his big toes and his
navel; many people indeed apply the juice to all the joints of their
body, but the better-informed say that this is a vulgar departure
from ancient custom. After this ceremony in the great kraal every
man goes home to his own kraal, assembles all the members of his
family, men, women, and children, and smears them all with the juice
of the _lerotse_ leaves. Some of the leaves are also pounded, mixed
with milk in a large wooden dish, and given to the dogs to lap up.
Then the porridge plate of each member of the family is rubbed with
the _lerotse_ leaves. When this purification has been completed, but
not before, the people are free to eat of the new crops.
The Bororo Indians of Brazil think that it would be certain death to
eat the new maize before it has been blessed by the medicine-man.
The ceremony of blessing it is as follows. The half-ripe husk is
washed and placed before the medicine-man, who by dancing and
singing for several hours, and by incessant smoking, works himself
up into a state of ecstasy, whereupon he bites into the husk,
trembling in every limb and uttering shrieks from time to time. A
similar ceremony is performed whenever a large animal or a large
fish is killed. The Bororo are firmly persuaded that were any man to
touch unconsecrated maize or meat, before the ceremony had been
completed, he and his whole tribe would perish.
Amongst the Creek Indians of North America, the _busk_ or festival
of first-fruits was the chief ceremony of the year. It was held in
July or August, when the corn was ripe, and marked the end of the
old year and the beginning of the new one. Before it took place,
none of the Indians would eat or even handle any part of the new
harvest. Sometimes each town had its own busk; sometimes several
towns united to hold one in common. Before celebrating the busk, the
people provided themselves with new clothes and new household
utensils and furniture; they collected their old clothes and
rubbish, together with all the remaining grain and other old
provisions, cast them together in one common heap, and consumed them
with fire. As a preparation for the ceremony, all the fires in the
village were extinguished, and the ashes swept clean away. In
particular, the hearth or altar of the temple was dug up and the
ashes carried out. Then the chief priest put some roots of the
button-snake plant, with some green tobacco leaves and a little of
the new fruits, at the bottom of the fireplace, which he afterwards
commanded to be covered up with white clay, and wetted over with
clean water. A thick arbour of green branches of young trees was
then made over the altar. Meanwhile the women at home were cleaning
out their houses, renewing the old hearths, and scouring all the
cooking vessels that they might be ready to receive the new fire and
the new fruits. The public or sacred square was carefully swept of
even the smallest crumbs of previous feasts, "for fear of polluting
the first-fruit offerings." Also every vessel that had contained or
had been used about any food during the expiring year was removed
from the temple before sunset. Then all the men who were not known
to have violated the law of the first-fruit offering and that of
marriage during the year were summoned by a crier to enter the holy
square and observe a solemn fast. But the women (except six old
ones), the children, and all who had not attained the rank of
warriors were forbidden to enter the square. Sentinels were also
posted at the corners of the square to keep out all persons deemed
impure and all animals. A strict fast was then observed for two
nights and a day, the devotees drinking a bitter decoction of
button-snake root "in order to vomit and purge their sinful bodies."
That the people outside the square might also be purified, one of
the old men laid down a quantity of green tobacco at a corner of the
square; this was carried off by an old woman and distributed to the
people without, who chewed and swallowed it "in order to afflict
their souls." During this general fast, the women, children, and men
of weak constitution were allowed to eat after mid-day, but not
before. On the morning when the fast ended, the women brought a
quantity of the old year's food to the outside of the sacred square.
These provisions were then fetched in and set before the famished
multitude, but all traces of them had to be removed before noon.
When the sun was declining from the meridian, all the people were
commanded by the voice of a crier to stay within doors, to do no bad
act, and to be sure to extinguish and throw away every spark of the
old fire. Universal silence now reigned. Then the high priest made
the new fire by the friction of two pieces of wood, and placed it on
the altar under the green arbour. This new fire was believed to
atone for all past crimes except murder. Next a basket of new fruits
was brought; the high priest took out a little of each sort of
fruit, rubbed it with bear's oil, and offered it, together with some
flesh, "to the bountiful holy spirit of fire, as a first-fruit
offering, and an annual oblation for sin." He also consecrated the
sacred emetics (the button-snake root and the cassina or
black-drink) by pouring a little of them into the fire. The persons
who had remained outside now approached, without entering, the
sacred square; and the chief priest thereupon made a speech,
exhorting the people to observe their old rites and customs,
announcing that the new divine fire had purged away the sins of the
past year, and earnestly warning the women that, if any of them had
not extinguished the old fire, or had contracted any impurity, they
must forthwith depart, "lest the divine fire should spoil both them
and the people." Some of the new fire was then set down outside the
holy square; the women carried it home joyfully, and laid it on
their unpolluted hearths. When several towns had united to celebrate
the festival, the new fire might thus be carried for several miles.
The new fruits were then dressed on the new fires and eaten with
bear's oil, which was deemed indispensable. At one point of the
festival the men rubbed the new corn between their hands, then on
their faces and breasts. During the festival which followed, the
warriors, dressed in their wild martial array, their heads covered
with white down and carrying white feathers in their hands, danced
round the sacred arbour, under which burned the new fire. The
ceremonies lasted eight days, during which the strictest continence
was practised. Towards the conclusion of the festival the warriors
fought a mock battle; then the men and women together, in three
circles, danced round the sacred fire. Lastly, all the people
smeared themselves with white clay and bathed in running water. They
came out of the water believing that no evil could now befall them
for what they had done amiss in the past. So they departed in joy
and peace.
To this day, also, the remnant of the Seminole Indians of Florida, a
people of the same stock as the Creeks, hold an annual purification
and festival called the Green Corn Dance, at which the new corn is
eaten. On the evening of the first day of the festival they quaff a
nauseous "Black Drink," as it is called, which acts both as an
emetic and a purgative; they believe that he who does not drink of
this liquor cannot safely eat the new green corn, and besides that
he will be sick at some time in the year. While the liquor is being
drunk, the dancing begins, and the medicine-men join in it. Next day
they eat of the green corn; the following day they fast, probably
from fear of polluting the sacred food in their stomachs by contact
with common food; but the third day they hold a great feast.
Even tribes which do not till the ground sometimes observe analogous
ceremonies when they gather the first wild fruits or dig the first
roots of the season. Thus among the Salish and Tinneh Indians of
North-West America, "before the young people eat the first berries
or roots of the season, they always addressed the fruit or plant,
and begged for its favour and aid. In some tribes regular
First-fruit ceremonies were annually held at the time of picking the
wild fruit or gathering the roots, and also among the salmon-eating
tribes when the run of the 'sockeye' salmon began. These ceremonies
were not so much thanksgivings, as performances to ensure a
plentiful crop or supply of the particular object desired, for if
they were not properly and reverently carried out there was danger
of giving offence to the 'spirits' of the objects, and being
deprived of them." For example, these Indians are fond of the young
shoots or suckers of the wild raspberry, and they observe a solemn
ceremony at eating the first of them in season. The shoots are
cooked in a new pot: the people assemble and stand in a great circle
with closed eyes, while the presiding chief or medicine-man invokes
the spirit of the plant, begging that it will be propitious to them
and grant them a good supply of suckers. After this part of the
ceremony is over the cooked suckers are handed to the presiding
officer in a newly carved dish, and a small portion is given to each
person present, who reverently and decorously eats it.
The Thompson Indians of British Columbia cook and eat the sunflower
root (_Balsamorrhiza sagittata,_ Nutt.), but they used to regard it
as a mysterious being, and observed a number of taboos in connexion
with it; for example, women who were engaged in digging or cooking
the root must practice continence, and no man might come near the
oven where the women were baking the root. When young people ate the
first berries, roots, or other products of the season, they
addressed a prayer to the Sunflower-Root as follows: "I inform thee
that I intend to eat thee. Mayest thou always help me to ascend, so
that I may always be able to reach the tops of mountains, and may I
never be clumsy! I ask this from thee, Sunflower-Root. Thou art the
greatest of all in mystery." To omit this prayer would make the
eater lazy and cause him to sleep long in the morning.
These customs of the Thompson and other Indian tribes of North-West
America are instructive, because they clearly indicate the motive,
or at least one of the motives, which underlies the ceremonies
observed at eating the first fruits of the season. That motive in
the case of these Indians is simply a belief that the plant itself
is animated by a conscious and more or less powerful spirit, who
must be propitiated before the people can safely partake of the
fruits or roots which are supposed to be part of his body. Now if
this is true of wild fruits and roots, we may infer with some
probability that it is also true of cultivated fruits and roots,
such as yams, and in particular that it holds good of the cereals,
such as wheat, barley, oats, rice, and maize. In all cases it seems
reasonable to infer that the scruples which savages manifest at
eating the first fruits of any crop, and the ceremonies which they
observe before they overcome their scruples, are due at least in
large measure to a notion that the plant or tree is animated by a
spirit or even a deity, whose leave must be obtained, or whose
favour must be sought, before it is possible to partake with safety
of the new crop. This indeed is plainly affirmed of the Aino: they
call the millet "the divine cereal," "the cereal deity," and they
pray to and worship him before they will eat of the cakes made from
the new millet. And even where the indwelling divinity of the first
fruits is not expressly affirmed, it appears to be implied both by
the solemn preparations made for eating them and by the danger
supposed to be incurred by persons who venture to partake of them
without observing the prescribed ritual. In all such cases,
accordingly, we may not improperly describe the eating of the new
fruits as a sacrament or communion with a deity, or at all events
with a powerful spirit.
Among the usages which point to this conclusion are the custom of
employing either new or specially reserved vessels to hold the new
fruits, and the practice of purifying the persons of the
communicants before it is lawful to engage in the solemn act of
communion with the divinity. Of all the modes of purification
adopted on these occasions none perhaps brings out the sacramental
virtue of the rite so clearly as the Creek and Seminole practice of
taking a purgative before swallowing the new corn. The intention is
thereby to prevent the sacred food from being polluted by contact
with common food in the stomach of the eater. For the same reason
Catholics partake of the Eucharist fasting; and among the pastoral
Masai of Eastern Africa the young warriors, who live on meat and
milk exclusively, are obliged to eat nothing but milk for so many
days and then nothing but meat for so many more, and before they
pass from the one food to the other they must make sure that none of
the old food remains in their stomachs; this they do by swallowing a
very powerful purgative and emetic.
In some of the festivals which we have examined, the sacrament of
first-fruits is combined with a sacrifice or presentation of them to
gods or spirits, and in course of time the sacrifice of first-fruits
tends to throw the sacrament into the shade, if not to supersede it.
The mere fact of offering the first-fruits to the gods or spirits
comes now to be thought a sufficient preparation for eating the new
corn; the higher powers having received their share, man is free to
enjoy the rest. This mode of viewing the new fruits implies that
they are regarded no longer as themselves instinct with divine life,
but merely as a gift bestowed by the gods upon man, who is bound to
express his gratitude and homage to his divine benefactors by
returning to them a portion of their bounty.
2. Eating the God among the Aztecs
THE CUSTOM of eating bread sacramentally as the body of a god was
practised by the Aztecs before the discovery and conquest of Mexico
by the Spaniards. Twice a year, in May and December, an image of the
great Mexican god Huitzilopochtli or Vitzilipuztli was made of
dough, then broken in pieces, and solemnly eaten by his worshippers.
The May ceremony is thus described by the historian Acosta: "The
Mexicans in the month of May made their principal feast to their god
Vitzilipuztli, and two days before this feast, the virgins whereof I
have spoken (the which were shut up and secluded in the same temple
and were as it were religious women) did mingle a quantity of the
seed of beets with roasted maize, and then they did mould it with
honey, making an idol of that paste in bigness like to that of wood,
putting instead of eyes grains of green glass, of blue or white; and
for teeth grains of maize set forth with all the ornament and
furniture that I have said. This being finished, all the noblemen
came and brought it an exquisite and rich garment, like unto that of
the idol, wherewith they did attire it. Being thus clad and deckt,
they did set it in an azured chair and in a litter to carry it on
their shoulders. The morning of this feast being come, an hour
before day all the maidens came forth attired in white, with new
ornaments, the which that day were called the Sisters of their god
Vitzilipuztli, they came crowned with garlands of maize roasted and
parched, being like unto azahar or the flower of orange; and about
their necks they had great chains of the same, which went
bauldrick-wise under their left arm. Their cheeks were dyed with
vermilion, their arms from the elbow to the wrist were covered with
red parrots' feathers." Young men, dressed in red robes and crowned
like the virgins with maize, then carried the idol in its litter to
the foot of the great pyramid-shaped temple, up the steep and narrow
steps of which it was drawn to the music of flutes, trumpets,
cornets, and drums. "While they mounted up the idol all the people
stood in the court with much reverence and fear. Being mounted to
the top, and that they had placed it in a little lodge of roses
which they held ready, presently came the young men, which strewed
many flowers of sundry kinds, wherewith they filled the temple both
within and without. This done, all the virgins came out of their
convent, bringing pieces of paste compounded of beets and roasted
maize, which was of the same paste whereof their idol was made and
compounded, and they were of the fashion of great bones. They
delivered them to the young men, who carried them up and laid them
at the idol's feet, wherewith they filled the whole place that it
could receive no more. They called these morsels of paste the flesh
and bones of Vitzilipuztli. Having laid abroad these bones,
presently came all the ancients of the temple, priests, Levites, and
all the rest of the ministers, according to their dignities and
antiquities (for herein there was a strict order amongst them) one
after another, with their veils of diverse colours and works, every
one according to his dignity and office, having garlands upon their
heads and chains of flowers about their necks; after them came their
gods and goddesses whom they worshipped, of diverse figures, attired
in the same livery; then putting themselves in order about those
morsels and pieces of paste, they used certain ceremonies with
singing and dancing. By means whereof they were blessed and
consecrated for the flesh and bones of this idol. This ceremony and
blessing (whereby they were taken for the flesh and bones of the
idol) being ended, they honoured those pieces in the same sort as
their god. . . . All the city came to this goodly spectacle, and
there was a commandment very strictly observed throughout all the
land, that the day of the feast of the idol of Vitzilipuztli they
should eat no other meat but this paste, with honey, whereof the
idol was made. And this should be eaten at the point of day, and
they should drink no water nor any other thing till after noon: they
held it for an ill sign, yea, for sacrilege to do the contrary: but
after the ceremonies ended, it was lawful for them to eat anything.
During the time of this ceremony they hid the water from their
little children, admonishing all such as had the use of reason not
to drink any water; which, if they did, the anger of God would come
upon them, and they should die, which they did observe very
carefully and strictly. The ceremonies, dancing, and sacrifice
ended, the went to unclothe themselves, and the priests and
superiors of the temple took the idol of paste, which they spoiled
of all the ornaments it had, and made many pieces, as well of the
idol itself as of the truncheons which they consecrated, and then
they gave them to the people in manner of a communion, beginning
with the greater, and continuing unto the rest, both men, women, and
little children, who received it with such tears, fear, and
reverence as it was an admirable thing, saying that they did eat the
flesh and bones of God, where-with they were grieved. Such as had
any sick folks demanded thereof for them, and carried it with great
reverence and veneration."
From this interesting passage we learn that the ancient Mexicans,
even before the arrival of Christian missionaries, were fully
acquainted with the doctrine of transubstantiation and acted upon it
in the solemn rites of their religion. They believed that by
consecrating bread their priests could turn it into the very body of
their god, so that all who thereupon partook of the consecrated
bread entered into a mystic communion with the deity by receiving a
portion of his divine substance into themselves. The doctrine of
transubstantiation, or the magical conversion of bread into flesh,
was also familiar to the Aryans of ancient India long before the
spread and even the rise of Christianity. The Brahmans taught that
the rice-cakes offered in sacrifice were substitutes for human
beings, and that they were actually converted into the real bodies
of men by the manipulation of the priest. We read that "when it (the
rice-cake) still consists of rice-meal, it is the hair. When he
pours water on it, it becomes skin. When he mixes it, it becomes
flesh: for then it becomes consistent; and consistent also is the
flesh. When it is baked, it becomes bone: for then it becomes
somewhat hard; and hard is the bone. And when he is about to take it
off (the fire) and sprinkles it with butter, he changes it into
marrow. This is the completeness which they call the fivefold animal
sacrifice."
Now, too, we can perfectly understand why on the day of their solemn
communion with the deity the Mexicans refused to eat any other food
than the consecrated bread which they revered as the very flesh and
bones of their God, and why up till noon they might drink nothing at
all, not even water. They feared no doubt to defile the portion of
God in their stomachs by contact with common things. A similar pious
fear led the Creek and Seminole Indians, as we saw, to adopt the
more thoroughgoing expedient of rinsing out their bodies by a strong
purgative before they dared to partake of the sacrament of
first-fruits.
At the festival of the winter solstice in December the Aztecs killed
their god Huitzilopochtli in effigy first and ate him afterwards. As
a preparation for this solemn ceremony an image of the deity in the
likeness of a man was fashioned out of seeds of various sorts, which
were kneaded into a dough with the blood of children. The bones of
the god were represented by pieces of acacia wood. This image was
placed on the chief altar of the temple, and on the day of the
festival the king offered incense to it. Early next day it was taken
down and set on its feet in a great hall. Then a priest, who bore
the name and acted the part of the god Quetzalcoatl, took a
flint-tipped dart and hurled it into the breast of the dough-image,
piercing it through and through. This was called "killing the god
Huitzilopochtli so that his body might be eaten." One of the priests
cut out the heart of the image and gave it to the king to eat. The
rest of the image was divided into minute pieces, of which every man
great and small, down to the male children in the cradle, receive
one to eat. But no woman might taste a morsel. The ceremony was
called _teoqualo,_ that is, "god is eaten."
At another festival the Mexicans made little images like men, which
stood for the cloud-capped mountains. These images were moulded of a
paste of various seeds and were dressed in paper ornaments. Some
people fashioned five, others ten, others as many as fifteen of
them. Having been made, they were placed in the oratory of each
house and worshipped. Four times in the course of the night
offerings of food were brought to them in tiny vessels; and people
sang and played the flute before them through all the hours of
darkness. At break of day the priests stabbed the images with a
weaver's instrument, cut off their heads, and tore out their hearts,
which they presented to the master of the house on a green saucer.
The bodies of the images were then eaten by all the family,
especially by the servants, "in order that by eating them they might
be preserved from certain distempers, to which those persons who
were negligent of worship to those deities conceived themselves to
be subject."
3. Many Manii at Aricia
WE are now able to suggest an explanation of the proverb "There are
many Manii at Aricia." Certain loaves made in the shape of men were
called by the Romans _maniae,_ and it appears that this kind of loaf
was especially made at Aricia. Now, Mania, the name of one of these
loaves, was also the name of the Mother or Grandmother of Ghosts, to
whom woollen effigies of men and women were dedicated at the
festival of the Compitalia. These effigies were hung at the doors of
all the houses in Rome; one effigy was hung up for every free person
in the house, and one effigy, of a different kind, for every slave.
The reason was that on this day the ghosts of the dead were believed
to be going about, and it was hoped that, either out of good nature
or through simple inadvertence, they would carry off the effigies at
the door instead of the living people in the house. According to
tradition, these woollen figures were substitutes for a former
custom of sacrificing human beings. Upon data so fragmentary and
uncertain, it is impossible to build with confidence; but it seems
worth suggesting that the loaves in human form, which appear to have
been baked at Aricia, were sacramental bread, and that in the old
days, when the divine King of the Wood was annually slain, loaves
were made in his image, like the paste figures of the gods in
Mexico, and were eaten sacramentally by his worshippers. The Mexican
sacraments in honour of Huitzilopochtli were also accompanied by the
sacrifice of human victims. The tradition that the founder of the
sacred grove at Aricia was a man named Manius, from whom many Manii
were descended, would thus be an etymological myth invented to
explain the name _maniae_ as applied to these sacramental loaves. A
dim recollection of the original connexion of the loaves with human
sacrifices may perhaps be traced in the story that the effigies
dedicated to Mania at the Compitalia were substitutes for human
victims. The story itself, however, is probably devoid of
foundation, since the practice of putting up dummies to divert the
attention of ghosts or demons from living people is not uncommon.
For example, the Tibetans stand in fear of innumerable earth-demons,
all of whom are under the authority of Old Mother Khn-ma. This
goddess, who may be compared to the Roman Mania, the Mother or
Grandmother of Ghosts, is dressed in golden-yellow robes, holds a
golden noose in her hand, and rides on a ram. In order to bar the
dwelling-house against the foul fiends, of whom Old Mother Khn-ma
is mistress, an elaborate structure somewhat resembling a chandelier
is fixed above the door on the outside of the house. It contains a
ram's skull, a variety of precious objects such as gold-leaf,
silver, and turquoise, also some dry food, such as rice, wheat, and
pulse, and finally images or pictures of a man, a woman, and a
house. "The object of these figures of a man, wife, and house is to
deceive the demons should they still come in spite of this offering,
and to mislead them into the belief that the foregoing pictures are
the inmates of the house, so that they may wreak their wrath on
these bits of wood and to save the real human occupants." When all
is ready, a priest prays to Old Mother Khn-ma that she would be
pleased to accept these dainty offerings and to close the open doors
of the earth, in order that the demons may not come forth to infest
and injure the household.
Again, effigies are often employed as a means of preventing or
curing sickness; the demons of disease either mistake the effigies
for living people or are persuaded or compelled to enter them,
leaving the real men and women well and whole. Thus the Alfoors of
Minahassa, in Celebes, will sometimes transport a sick man to
another house, while they leave on his bed a dummy made up of a
pillow and clothes. This dummy the demon is supposed to mistake for
the sick man, who consequently recovers. Cure or prevention of this
sort seems to find especial favour with the natives of Borneo. Thus,
when an epidemic is raging among them, the Dyaks of the Katoengouw
River set up wooden images at their doors in the hope that the
demons of the plague may be deluded into carrying off the effigies
instead of the people. Among the Oloh Ngadju of Borneo, when a sick
man is supposed to be suffering from the assaults of a ghost,
puppets of dough or rice-meal are made and thrown under the house as
substitutes for the patient, who thus rids himself of the ghost. In
certain of the western districts of Borneo if a man is taken
suddenly and violently sick, the physician, who in this part of the
world is generally an old woman, fashions a wooden image and brings
it seven times into contact with the sufferer's head, while she
says: "This image serves to take the place of the sick man;
sickness, pass over into the image." Then, with some rice, salt, and
tobacco in a little basket, the substitute is carried to the spot
where the evil spirit is supposed to have entered into the man.
There it is set upright on the ground, after the physician has
invoked the spirit as follows: "O devil, here is an image which
stands instead of the sick man. Release the soul of the sick man and
plague the image, for it is indeed prettier and better than he."
Batak magicians can conjure the demon of disease out of the
patient's body into an image made out of a banana-tree with a human
face and wrapt up in magic herbs; the image is then hurriedly
removed and thrown away or buried beyond the boundaries of the
village. Sometimes the image, dressed as a man or a woman according
to the sex of the patient, is deposited at a cross-road or other
thoroughfare, in the hope that some passer-by, seeing it, may start
and cry out, "Ah! So-and-So is dead"; for such an exclamation is
supposed to delude the demon of disease into a belief that he has
accomplished his fell purpose, so he takes himself off and leaves
the sufferer to get well. The Mai Darat, a Sakai tribe of the Malay
Peninsula, attribute all kinds of diseases to the agency of spirits
which they call _nyani;_ fortunately, however, the magician can
induce these maleficent beings to come out of the sick person and
take up their abode in rude figures of grass, which are hung up
outside the houses in little bell-shaped shrines decorated with
peeled sticks. During an epidemic of small-pox the Ewe negroes will
sometimes clear a space outside of the town, where they erect a
number of low mounds and cover them with as many little clay figures
as there are people in the place. Pots of food and water are also
set out for the refreshment of the spirit of small-pox who, it is
hoped, will take the clay figures and spare the living folk; and to
make assurance doubly sure the road into the town is barricaded
against him.
With these examples before us we may surmise that the woollen
effigies, which at the festival of the Compitalia might be seen
hanging at the doors of all the houses in ancient Rome, were not
substitutes for human victims who had formerly been sacrificed at
this season, but rather vicarious offerings presented to the Mother
or Grandmother of Ghosts, in the hope that on her rounds through the
city she would accept or mistake the effigies for the inmates of the
house and so spare the living for another year. It is possible that
the puppets made of rushes, which in the month of May the pontiffs
and Vestal Virgins annually threw into the Tiber from the old
Sublician bridge at Rome, had originally the same significance; that
is, they may have been designed to purge the city from demoniac
influence by diverting the attention of the demons from human beings
to the puppets and then toppling the whole uncanny crew, neck and
crop, into the river, which would soon sweep them far out to sea. In
precisely the same way the natives of Old Calabar used periodically
to rid their town of the devils which infested it by luring the
unwary demons into a number of lamentable scarecrows, which they
afterwards flung into the river. This interpretation of the Roman
custom is supported to some extent by the evidence of Plutarch, who
speaks of the ceremony as "the greatest of purifications."
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