The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 09 of 12)

387

Hesychius, s. v. μιαραὶ ἡμέραι; τοῦ Ἀνθεστηριῶνος μηνός, ἐν αἶς τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν κατοιχομένων ἀνιέναι ἐδόκουν. Photius, Lexicon, s. vv. Θύραζε Κᾶρες; οὐκέτ᾽ Ἀνθεστήρια … τινὲς δὲ οὕτως τὴν παροιμίαν φασί; Θύραζε Κῆρες οὐκέτ᾽ Ἀνθεστήρια; ὡς κατὰ τὴν πόλιν τοῖς Ἀνθεστηρίοις τῶν ψυχῶν περιερχομένων. Id., s. vv. μιαρὰ ἡμέρα; ἐν τοῖς Χουσὶν Ἀνθεστηριῶνος μηνός, ἐν ᾧ δοκοῦσιν αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν τελευτησάντων ἀνιέναι, ῥάμνῳ ἕωθεν ἐμασῶντο καὶ πίττῃ τὰς θύρας ἔχριον. Pollux, viii. 141: περισχοινίσαι τὰ ἱερὰ ἔλεγον ἐν ταῖς ἀποφράσι καί τὸ παραφράξαι. As to the closing of the temples, see further Athenaeus, x. 49, p. 447 c. As to the Anthesteria in general, see E. Rohde, Psyche

(Tübingen and Leipsic, 1903), i. 236 sqq., who rightly adopts Hesychius's second explanation of Κῆρες. The reasons given by August Mommsen for rejecting that explanation betray an imperfect acquaintance with popular superstition (Feste der Stadt Athen im Altertum, Leipsic, 1898, p. 386, note 1). Compare Miss J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, Second Edition (Cambridge, 1908), pp. 32 sqq. The Greeks thought that branches of buckthorn (rhamnus) fastened to doors or windows kept out witches (Dioscorides, De materia medica, i. 119). A similar virtue was attributed to buckthorn or hawthorn by the ancient Romans and modern European peasants. See A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks

(Güterslöh, 1886), pp. 209 sq.; J. Murr, Pflanzenwelt in der griechischen Mythologie (Innsbruck, 1890), pp. 104-106; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 54 sq., 191. According to Mr. Murr, rhamnus is Lycium europaeum L. I learn from Miss J. E. Harrison that Sir Francis Darwin believes it to be buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus). In some parts of Bosnia, when peasant women go to pay a visit in a house where a death has occurred they put a little hawthorn (Weissdorn) behind their headcloth, and on returning from the house they throw it away on the street. They think that if the deceased has turned into a vampyre, he will be so occupied in picking up the hawthorn, that he will not be able to follow them to their homes. See F. S. Krauss, “Vampyre im südslavischen Volksglauben,” Globus, lxi. (1892) p. 326. At childbirth also the Greeks smeared pitch on their houses to keep out the demons (εἰς ἀπέλασιν τῶν δαιμόνων) who attack women at such times (Photius, Lexicon, s. v. ῥάμνος). To this day the Bulgarians try to keep wandering ghosts from their houses by painting crosses with tar on the outside of their doors, while on the inside they hang a tangled skein composed of countless broken threads. The ghost cannot enter until he has counted all the threads, and before he has done the sum the cock crows and the poor soul must return to the grave. See A. Strausz, Die Bulgaren (Leipsic, 1898), p. 454. The Servians paint crosses with tar on the doors of houses and barns to keep out vampyres. See F. S. Krauss, “Vampyre im südslavischen Volksglauben,” Globus, lxi. (1892) p. 326. In the Highlands of Scotland it was believed that tar put on a door kept witches away. See J. G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), p. 13. The Thompson Indians of British Columbia used to bar their houses against ghosts by means not unlike those adopted by the Athenians at the Anthesteria. When a death had happened, they hung a string of deer-hoofs across the inside of the house, and an old woman often pulled at the string to make the hoofs rattle. This kept the ghost out. They also placed branches of juniper at the door or burned them in the fire for the same purpose. See James Teit, “The Thompson Indians of British Columbia” (April 1900), p. 332 (The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History). With the Athenian use of ropes to keep ghosts out of the temples at the Anthesteria we may compare the Siamese custom of roping demons out of the city at the New Year (above, p. 149 (#x_14_i9)). Ropes of rice-straw, which are supposed to repel demoniacal and evil influences, are hung by the Japanese in front of shrines, and at the New Year they hang them also before ordinary houses. See W. G. Aston, Shinto (London, 1905), pp. 335 sq. Some of the Kayans of Borneo stretch ropes round their houses to keep out demons of disease; in order to do so more effectually leaves of a certain plant or tree are fastened to the rope. See A. W. Nieuwenhuis, Quer durch Borneo, i. (Leyden, 1904) p. 448.

388

Scholiast on Aristophanes, Frogs, 218.

389

J. Perham, “Sea Dyak Religion,” Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 14, December 1884, pp. 296-298.

390

Ovid, Fasti, v. 419-486; Varro, quoted by Nonius Marcellus, p. 135 (p. 142 ed. Quicherat), s. v. “Lemures”; Festus, p. 87 ed. C. O. Müller, s. v. “Fabam.” Ovid, who is our chief authority for the ceremony, speaks as if the festival lasted only one day (the ninth of May). But we know from the inscribed calendars that it lasted three days. See W. Warde Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the period of the Republic (London, 1899), pp. 106 sqq.

391

Max Buch, Die Wotjäken (Stuttgart, 1882), pp. 153 sq.

392

A. Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte (Leipsic, 1860), ii. 94; P. v. Stenin, “Ein neuer Beitrag zur Ethnographie der Tscheremissen,” Globus, lviii. (1890) p. 204.

393

Vincenzo Dorsa, La tradizione greco-latina negli usi e nelle credenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore (Cosenza, 1884), pp. 42 sq.

394

Vincenzo Dorsa, La tradizione greco-latina negli usi e nelle credenze popolari della Calabria Citeriore, p. 48.

395

J. G. von Hahn, Albanesische Studien (Jena, 1854), i. 160. Compare The Dying God, pp. 264 sq.

396

P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 86.

397

As to the activity of the evil powers on the twelve days from Christmas to Twelfth Night, see Gustav Bilfinger, Das germanische Julfest (Stuttgart, 1901), pp. 74 sqq.; as to witches on St. George's Eve, May Eve, and Midsummer Eve, see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 52 sqq., 127, 334 sqq.

398

G. Bilfinger, Das germanische Julfest (Stuttgart, 1901), p. 76.

399

J. M. Ritter von Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols (Zurich, 1857), pp. 260 sq. Compare J. E. Waldfreund, “Volksgebräuche und Aberglauben,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, iii. (1855) p. 339. A Westphalian form of the expulsion of evil is the driving out the Süntevögel, Sunnenvögel, or Sommervögel, that is, the butterfly. On St. Peter's Day, 22nd February, children go from house to house knocking on them with hammers and singing doggerel rhymes in which they bid the Sommervögel to depart. Presents are given to them at every house. Or the people of the house themselves go through all the rooms, knocking on all the doors, to drive away the Sunnenvögel. If this ceremony is omitted, it is thought that various misfortunes will be the consequence. The house will swarm with rats, mice, and other vermin, the cattle will be sick, the butterflies will multiply at the milk-bowls, etc. See J. F. L. Woeste, Volksüberlieferungen in der Grafschaft Mark (Iserlohn, 1848), p. 24; J. W. Wolf, Beiträge zur deutschen Mythologie, i. (Göttingen and Leipsic, 1852) p. 87; A. Kuhn, Westfälische Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. pp. 119-121, §§ 366-374; Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbräuche, und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, n. d.), pp. 21 sq.; U. Jahn, Die deutschen Opfergebräuche bei Ackerbau und Viehzucht (Breslau, 1884), pp. 94-96.

400

Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern (Munich, 1860-1866), ii. 272, iii. 302 sq., 934; O. Freiherr von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Das festliche Jahr (Leipsic, 1863), p. 137.

401

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Ninth Edition, xx. 493.

402

R. Eisel, Sagenbuch des Voigtlandes (Gera, 1871), p. 210.

403

August Witzschel, Sitten, Sagen und Gebräuche aus Thüringen (Vienna, 1878), pp. 262 sq.

404

O. Freiherr von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, Fest-Kalender aus Böhmen (Prague, preface dated 1861), pp. 210-212; id., Das festliche Jahr (Leipsic, 1863), p. 137; Alois John, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westböhmen (Prague, 1905), pp. 70-73.

405

Alois John, op. cit. p. 71.

406

Willibald Müller, Beiträge zur Volkskunde der Deutschen in Mähren (Vienna and Olmutz, 1893), p. 324.

407

P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 108-110. With regard to the dance of the witches in the snow, it is a common saying in the northern district of the Harz Mountains that the witches must dance the snow away on the top of the Blocksberg on the first of May. See A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 376. At Dabelow in Mecklenburg all utensils are removed from the fireplace on Walpurgis Night, lest the witches should ride on them to the Blocksberg. See A. Kuhn and W. Schwartz, l. c.

408

R. Wuttke, Sächsische Volkskunde (Dresden, 1901), p. 359.

409

Lady Agnes Macdonell, in The Times, May 3rd, 1913, p. 6. In a letter to me (dated 31, Kensington Park Gardens, May 5th [1913]) Lady Macdonell was kind enough to give me some further particulars as to the custom. It seems that the boys use their horns on May Day as well as on the thirtieth of April. Processions of boys and girls decorated with flowers and leaves, and carrying flags and horns, went about Penzance on May Day of the present year (1913). The horns are straight; some of them terminate in a bell-shaped opening, others have no such appendage. The latter and plainer are the older pattern.

410

P. Drechsler, Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien (Leipsic, 1903-1906), i. 15-18. With regard to the superstitions attached to these twelve days or twelve nights, as the Germans call them, see further A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), pp. 408-418; A. Kuhn, Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 111-117; L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), ii. 28 sqq.; M. Toeppen, Aberglauben aus Masuren