James Weir - Religion and Lust

Abstraction also enters, to a certain extent, into the religious beliefs of most of these negroes, in whom primal materialism has given place to the unbridled superstition of crude spiritism. The curious habit these people have of scraping a little bone dust from the skull of a dead ancestor and then eating it with their food, thus, as they think, transmitting from the dead to the living the qualities of the former, is close kin to, and, in my opinion, is probably derived from, a worship of the generative principle. When we take into consideration the fact that circumcision, extensio clitoridis , and other phallic rites are exceedingly common and prevalent among these negroes, this opinion has strong evidence in its support. 16 16 Negroes of Benin and Sierra Leone (Bosman, loc. cit. , p. 526), Mandingoes (Waitz, vol. ii, p. 3), Bechuanas (Holub, loc. cit. , p. 398); quoted also by Westermarck, Human Marriage , p. 206.

The Wa-kamba may have some idea of immortality, though observers have never been able to determine this definitely. “The dead bodies of chiefs are not thrown to the hyenas, as with the Masai, but are carefully buried instead… The bodies of less important members of the tribe are simply thrown to the hyenas.” 17 17 Gregory: The Great Rift Valley , p. 351.

In this people, religious ideas are exceedingly primitive and indefinite. They seem to propitiate nature, however, when they wish rain, for they offer up to the rain-spirit votive offerings of bananas, grain, and beer, which they place beneath the trees. This seems to be their only religious rite according to Gregory, who, in all probability is in error. For, in the next sentence, he informs us that these negroes practice circumcision. He thinks that they perform this operation for sanitary reasons, “as the natives have continually to ford streams and wade through swamps abounding in the larvæ of Bilharzia haematuria , the rite no doubt lessens the danger of incurring hæmaturia.” 18 18 Gregory: The Great Rift Valley , p. 351. This is bestowing upon ignorant and savage negroes a psychical acuteness which far transcends that of the laity of civilized races! What do the Wa-kamba know of sanitation, hæmaturia, and the larva of Bilharzia! 19 19 Inasmuch as the hæmaturia occasioned by the larvæ of Bilharzia has its origin in the parenchyma of the kidney, and, since we have no reason for believing that this race has any idea of histology or pathology, it is manifest folly to ascribe circumcision as a prophylactic measure against this parasite. Bilharzia is now considered a true parasite by Wolfe. Circumcision among these people always occurs at puberty, and is, unquestionably, a phallic rite. Parenthetically, it may be stated here that a few of the primitive peoples still in existence appear to have grasped the idea of the life-giving principle, and to have established worship of the functio generationis without having experienced certain preliminary psychical stages necessary for its evolution from nature-worship. I believe, however, that this is apparent and not real; nature-worship, very probably, at one time existed among all these people.

The Kikuyu have a very elaborate system of theogony, in which all of the phenomena of nature with which they are acquainted are deified. A goat is invariably sacrificed to the sun when they set out on a journey, and its blood is carried along and sprinkled on the paths and bridges in order to appease the spirits of the forest and the river.

Stuhlmann places this tribe among the Bantu; from the evidence of other observers, however, they seem to be Nilotic Hamites, and belong properly to the Masai. 20 20 Stuhlmann: Mit Emin Pasha , p. 848. This would account for the similarity of method in circumcision, which, among both Kikuyu and Masai, is incomplete. Johnston calls attention to this very peculiar method and describes it minutely in a Latin foot-note. 21 21 Johnston: The Kilima-Njaro Expedition , p. 412.

The Masai are mixed devil, nature, and phallic worshipers; the last mentioned cult being evolved, beyond question, from nature-worship. It may be set down as an established fact that, where nature-worship does not exist in some form or other among primitive peoples, phallic worship is likewise absent. Indeed, such peoples generally have no religious feeling whatever. They may have some shadowy idea of an evil spirit like the “ Aurimwantya dsongo ngombe auri kinemu ,” the Old Man of the Woods 22 22 Gregory: The Great Rift Valley , p. 344. of the Wa-pokomo, but that is all.

Carl Lumholtz, writing of the Australians, says: “The Australian blacks do not, like many other savage tribes, attach any ideas of divinity to the sun or moon. On one of our expeditions the full moon rose large and red over the palm forest. Struck by the splendor of the scene, I pointed at the moon and asked my companions, ‘Who made it?’ They answered, ‘Other blacks.’ Thereupon I asked, ‘Who made the sun?’ and got the same answer. The natives also believe that they themselves can produce rain, particularly with the help of wizards. To produce rain they call milka . When on our expeditions we were overtaken by violent tropical storms, my blacks always became enraged at the strangers who had caused the rain.” 23 23 Lumholtz: Among Cannibals , p. 282. In regard to their belief in the existence of a double or soul, the same author sums up as follows: “Upon the whole, it may be said that these children of nature are unable to conceive a human soul independent of the body, and the future life of the individual lasts no longer than his physical remains.” 24 24 Ibid. , p. 279. Mr. Mann, of New South Wales, who, according to Lumholtz, has made a thirty years’ study of the Australians, says that the natives have no religion whatever, except fear of the “devil-devil.” 25 25 Lumholtz: Among Cannibals , p. 283. Another writer, and one abundantly qualified to judge, says that they acknowledge no supreme being, have no idols, and believe only in an evil spirit whom they do not worship. They say that this spirit is afraid of fire, so they never venture abroad after dusk without a fire-stick. 26 26 Ibid. , p. 283.

“I verily believe we have arrived at the sum total of their religion, if a superstitious dread of the unknown can be so designated. Their mental capacity does not admit of their grasping the higher truths of pure religion,” says Eden. 27 27 Eden: The Fifth Continent , p. 69; quoted also by Lumholtz: Among Cannibals . It is simply an inherent fear of the unknown; the natural, inborn caution of thousands of years of inherited experiences.

In these savages we see a race whose psychical status is so low in the intellectual scale that they have not evolved any idea of the double or soul. The mental capacity of the Australians, I take it, is no lower than was that of any race (no matter how intellectual it may be at the present time) at one period of its history. All races have a tendency toward psychical development under favorable surroundings; it has been a progress instead of a decadence, a rise instead of a fall! Evolution has not ceased; nor will it end until Finis is written at the bottom of Time’s last page.

There are yet other people who believe in the supernatural, yet who have no idea of immortality. When Gregory ascended the glacier of Mount Kenya, the water froze in the cooking-pots which had been filled over night. His carriers were terribly alarmed by the phenomenon, and swore that the water was bewitched! The explorer scolded them for their silliness and bade them set the pots on the fire, which, having been done, “the men sat round and anxiously watched; when it melted they joyfully told me that the demon was expelled, and I told them they could now use the water; but as soon as my back was turned they poured it away, and refilled their pots from the adjoining brook.” 28 28 Gregory: The Great Rift Valley , p. 170.