The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 03 of 12)

Ch. Dallet, Histoire de l'Église de Corée (Paris, 1874), i. pp. xxiv. sq.; W. E. Griffis, Corea, the Hermit Nation (London, 1882), p. 219. These customs are now obsolete (G. N. Curzon, Problems of the Far East (Westminster, 1896), pp. 154 sq. note).

707

Macrobius, Sat. v. 19. 13; Servius on Virgil, Aen. i. 448; Joannes Lydus, De mensibus, i. 31. We have already seen (p. 16 (#x_3_i37)) that the hair of the Flamen Dialis might only be cut with a bronze knife. The Greeks attributed a certain cleansing virtue to bronze; hence they employed it in expiatory rites, at eclipses, etc. See the Scholiast on Theocritus, ii. 36.

708

Acta Fratrum Arvalium, ed. G. Henzen (Berlin, 1874), pp. 128-135; J. Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, iii.

(Das Sacralwesen) pp. 459 sq.

709

Plutarch, Praecepta gerendae reipublicae, xxvi. 7. Plutarch here mentions that gold was also excluded from some temples. At first sight this is surprising, for in general neither the gods nor their ministers have displayed any marked aversion to gold. But a little enquiry suffices to clear up the mystery and set the scruple in its proper light. From a Greek inscription discovered some years ago we learn that no person might enter the sanctuary of the Mistress at Lycosura wearing golden trinkets, unless for the purpose of dedicating them to the goddess; and if any one did enter the holy place with such ornaments on his body but no such pious intention in his mind, the trinkets were forfeited to the use of religion. See Ἐφημερὶς ἀρχαιολογική (Athens, 1898), col. 249; Dittenberger, Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum,

No. 939. The similar rule, that in the procession at the mysteries of Andania no woman might wear golden ornaments (Dittenberger, op. cit. No. 653), was probably subject to a similar exception and enforced by a similar penalty. Once more, if the maidens who served Athena on the Acropolis at Athens put on gold ornaments, the ornaments became sacred, in other words, the property of the goddess (Harpocration, s. v. ἀρρηφορεῖν, vol. i. p. 59, ed. Dindorf). Thus it appears that the pious scruple about gold was concerned rather with its exit from, than with its entrance into, the sacred edifice. At the sacrifice to the Sun in ancient Egypt worshippers were forbidden to wear golden trinkets and to give hay to an ass (Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 30) – a singular combination of religious precepts. In India gold and silver are common totems, and members of such clans are forbidden to wear gold and silver trinkets respectively. See Totemism and Exogamy, iv. 24.

710

Callimachus, referred to by the Old Scholiast on Ovid, Ibis. See Callimachea, ed. O. Schneider, ii. p. 282, Frag. 100

E.; Chr. A. Lobeck, Aglaophamus, p. 686.

711

Plutarch, Aristides, 21. This passage was pointed out to me by my friend Mr. W. Wyse.

712

Theophilus Hahn, Tsuni-Goam, the Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi (London, 1881), p. 22.

713

Dr. P. H. Brincker, “Charakter, Sitten und Gebräuche speciell der Bantu Deutsch-Südwestafrikas,” Mittheilungen des Seminars für orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin, iii. (1900) Dritte Abtheilung, p. 80.

714

A. van Gennep, Tabou et totémisme à Madagascar (Paris, 1904), p. 38.

715

W. H. Furness, The Island of Stone Money, Uap of the Carolines (Philadelphia and London, 1910), p. 151.

716

J. G. Bourke, The Snake Dance of the Moquis of Arizona (New York, 1891), pp. 178 sq.

717

G. B. Grinnell, Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-tales (New York, 1889), p. 253.

718

See above, pp. 205 (#x_12_i21)sq.

719

E. W. Nelson, “The Eskimo about Bering Strait,” Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Part I. (Washington, 1899) p. 392.

720

E. W. Nelson, op. cit. p. 383.

721

Fr. Boas, “The Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Bay,” Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, xv. Part I. (1901) p. 149.

722

C. F. Gordon Cumming, In the Hebrides (ed. 1883), p. 195.

723

James Logan, The Scottish Gael (ed. Alex. Stewart), ii. 68 sq.

724

J. G. Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), pp. 262, 298, 299.

725

R. C. Maclagan, M.D., “Notes on Folklore Objects from Argyleshire,” Folk-lore, vi. (1895) p. 157; J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1900), pp. 263-266. The shoulder-blades of sheep have been used in divination by many peoples, for example by the Corsicans, South Slavs, Tartars, Kirghiz, Calmucks, Chukchees, and Lolos, as well as by the Scotch. See J. Brand, Popular Antiquities, iii. 339 sq. (Bohn's ed.); Sir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury), Origin of Civilisation,

pp. 237 sq.; Ch. Rogers, Social Life in Scotland, iii. 224; Camden, Britannia, translated by E. Gibson (London, 1695), col. 1046; M. MacPhail, “Traditions, Customs, and Superstitions of the Lewis,” Folk-lore, vi. (1895) p. 167; J. G. Dalyell, Darker Superstitions of Scotland, pp. 515 sqq.; F. Gregorovius, Corsica, (London, 1855), p. 187; F. S. Krauss, Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Südslaven, pp. 166-170; M. E. Durham, High Albania (London, 1909), pp. 104 sqq.; E. Doutté, Magie et religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), p. 371; W. Radloff, Proben der Volksliteratur der türkischen Stämme Süd-Sibiriens, iii. 115, note 1, compare p. 132; J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,

ii. 932; W. W. Rockhill, The Land of the Lamas (London, 1891), pp. 176, 341-344; P. S. Pallas, Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des russischen Reichs, i. 393; J. G. Georgi, Beschreibung aller Nationen des russischen Reichs, p. 223; T. de Pauly, Description ethnographique des peuples de la Russie, peuples de la Sibérie orientale (St. Petersburg, 1862), p. 7; Krahmer, “Der Anadyr-Bezirk nach A. W. Olssufjew,” Petermann's Mittheilungen, xlv. (1899) pp. 230 sq.; W. Bogoras, “The Chuckchee Religion,” Memoir of the American Museum of Natural History, The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, vol. vii. part ii. (Leyden and New York) pp. 487 sqq.; Crabouillet, “Les Lolos,” Missions Catholiques, v. (1873) p. 72; W. G. Aston, Shinto, p. 339; R. Andree, “Scapulimantia,” in Boas Anniversary Volume (New York, 1906), pp. 143-165.

726

C. F. Gordon Cumming, In the Hebrides, p. 226; E. J. Guthrie, Old Scottish Customs (London and Glasgow, 1885), p. 223.

727

1 Kings vi. 7; Exodus xx. 25.

728

Dionysius Halicarnasensis, Antiquit. Roman. iii. 45, v. 24; Plutarch, Numa, 9; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 100.