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

Heaps of stones, sticks, or leaves on scenes of murder. Heaps of stones or sticks on graves.

But it is on scenes of murder and sudden death that this rude method of averting evil is most commonly practised. The custom that every passer-by must cast a stone or stick on the spot where some one has come to a violent end, whether by murder or otherwise, has been observed in practically the same form in such many and diverse parts of the world as Ireland, France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Bohemia, Lesbos, Morocco, Armenia, Palestine, Arabia, India, North America, Venezuela, Bolivia, Celebes, and New Zealand. 43 43 A. C. Haddon, “A Batch of Irish Folk-lore,” Folk-lore , iv. (1893) pp. 357, 360; Laisnel de la Salle, Croyances et Légendes du Centre de la France (Paris, 1875), ii. 75, 77; J. Brand, Popular Antiquities , ii. 309; Hylten-Cavallius, quoted by F. Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde , p. 274; K. Haupt, Sagenbuch der Lausitz (Leipsic, 1862-1863), ii. 65; K. Müllenhoff, Sagen, Märchen und Lieder der Herzogthümer Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg (Kiel, 1845), p. 125; A. Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Märchen (Berlin, 1843), p. 113; A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (Leipsic, 1848), p. 85; A. Treichel, “Reisighäufung und Steinhäufung an Mordstellen,” Am Ur-Quelle , vi. (1896) p. 220; Georgeakis et Pineau, Folk-lore de Lesbos , p. 323; A. Leared, Morocco and the Moors (London, 1876), pp. 105 sq. ; E. Doutté, “Figuig,” La Géographie, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Paris), vii. (1903) p. 197; id. , Magie et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), pp. 424 sq. ; A. von Haxthausen, Transkaukasia (Leipsic, 1856), i. 222; C. T. Wilson, Peasant Life in the Holy Land (London, 1906), p. 285; W. Crooke, Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India (Westminster, 1896), i. 267 sq. ; J. Bricknell, The Natural History of North Carolina (Dublin, 1737), p. 380; J. Adair, History of the American Indians (London, 1775), p. 184; K. Martin, Bericht über eine Reise nach Nederlandsch West-Indien , Erster Theil (Leyden, 1887), p. 166; G. C. Musters, “Notes on Bolivia,” Journal of the Royal Geographical Society , xlvii. (1877) p. 211; B. F. Matthes, Einige Eigenthümlichkeiten in den Festen und Gewohnheiten der Makassaren und Büginesen , p. 25 (separate reprint from Travaux de la 6e Session du Congrès International des Orientalistes à Leide , vol. ii.); R. A. Cruise, Journal of a Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand (London, 1823), p. 186. In Fiji, for example, it was the practice for every passer-by to throw a leaf on the spot where a man had been clubbed to death; “this was considered as an offering of respect to him, and, if not performed, they have a notion they will soon be killed themselves.” 44 44 Ch. Wilkes, Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition , New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 50. Sometimes the scene of the murder or death may also be the grave of the victim, but it need not always be so, and in Europe, where the dead are buried in consecrated ground, the two places would seldom coincide. However, the custom of throwing stones or sticks on a grave has undoubtedly been observed by passers-by in many parts of the world, and that, too, even when the graves are not those of persons who have come to a violent end. Thus we are told that the people of Unalashka, one of the Aleutian Islands, bury their dead on the summits of hills and raise a little hillock over the grave. “In a walk into the country, one of the natives, who attended me, pointed out several of these receptacles of the dead. There was one of them, by the side of the road leading from the harbour to the village, over which was raised a heap of stones. It was observed, that every one who passed it, added one to it.” 45 45 Captain James Cook, Voyages (London, 1809), vi. 479. The Roumanians of Transylvania think that a dying man should have a burning candle in his hand, and that any one who dies without a light has no right to the ordinary funeral ceremonies. The body of such an unfortunate is not laid in holy ground, but is buried wherever it may be found. His grave is marked only by a heap of dry branches, to which each passer-by is expected to add a handful of twigs or a thorny bough. 46 46 E. Gerard, The Land beyond the Forest (Edinburgh and London, 1888), i. 311, 318. The Hottentot god or hero Heitsi-eibib died several times and came to life again. When the Hottentots pass one of his numerous graves they throw a stone, a bush, or a fresh branch on it for good luck. 47 47 H. Lichtenstein, Reisen im Südlichen Africa (Berlin, 1811-1812), i. 349 sq. ; Sir James E. Alexander, Expedition of Discovery into the Interior of Africa (London, 1838), i. 166; C. J. Andersson, Lake Ngami , Second Edition (London, 1856), p. 327; W. H. I. Bleek, Reynard the Fox in South Africa (London, 1864), p. 76; Th. Hahn, Tsuni-Goam, the Supreme Being of the Khoi-Khoi (London, 1881), p. 56. Compare The Dying God , p. 3. Near the former mission-station of Blydeuitzigt in Cape Colony there was a spot called Devil's Neck where, in the opinion of the Bushmen, the devil was interred. To hinder his resurrection stones were piled in heaps about the place. When a Bushman, travelling in the company of a missionary, came in sight of the spot he seized a stone and hurled it at the grave, remarking that if he did not do so his neck would be twisted round so that he would have to look backwards for the term of his natural life. 48 48 Th. Hahn, “Die Buschmänner,” Globus , xviii. 141. Stones are cast by passers-by on the graves of murderers in some parts of Senegambia. 49 49 Th. Waitz, Anthropologie der Naturvölker , ii. (Leipsic, 1860) p. 195, referring to Raffenel, Nouveau Voyage dans le pays des nègres (Paris, 1856), i. 93 sq. In Syria deceased robbers are not buried like honest folk, but left to rot where they lie; and a pile of stones is raised over the mouldering corpse. Every one who passes such a pile must fling a stone at it, on pain of incurring God's malison. 50 50 Eijūb Abēla, “Beiträge zur Kenntniss abergläubischer Gebräuche in Syrien,” Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palaestina-Vereins , vii. (1884) p. 102. Between sixty and seventy years ago an Englishman was travelling from Sidon to Tyre with a couple of Musalmans. When he drew near Tyre his companions picked up some small stones, armed him in the same fashion, and requested him to be so kind as to follow their example. Soon afterwards they came in sight of a conical heap of pebbles and stones standing in the road, at which the two Musalmans hurled stones and curses with great vehemence and remarkable volubility. When they had discharged this pious duty to their satisfaction, they explained that the missiles and maledictions were directed at a celebrated robber and murderer, who had been knocked on the head and buried there some half a century before. 51 51 Note by G. P. Badger, on The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema , translated by J. W. Jones (Hakluyt Society, 1863), p. 45. For more evidence of the custom in Syria see W. M. Thomson, The Land and the Book (London, 1859), p. 490; F. Sessions, “Some Syrian Folklore Notes,” Folk-lore , ix. (1898) p. 15; A. Jaussen, Coutumes des Arabes au pays de Moab (Paris, 1908), p. 336.

Stones and sticks hurled as missiles at dangerous ghosts and demons. Missiles to ward off dangerous ghosts.

In these latter cases it may perhaps be thought that the sticks and stones serve no other purpose than to keep off the angry and dangerous ghost who might be supposed to haunt either the place of death or the grave. This interpretation seems certainly to apply to some cases of the custom. For example, in Pomerania and West Prussia the ghosts of suicides are much feared. Such persons are buried, not in the churchyard, but at the place where they took their lives, and every passer-by must cast a stone or a stick on the spot, or the ghost of the suicide will haunt him by night and give him no rest. Hence the piles of sticks or stones accumulated on the graves of these poor wretches sometimes attain a considerable size. 52 52 A. Treichel, “Reisig- und Steinhäufung bei Ermordeten oder Selbstmördern,” Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, 1888 , p. (569) (bound up with Zeitschrift für Ethnologie , xx. 1888). Similarly the Baganda of Central Africa used to stand in great fear of the ghosts of suicides and they took many precautions to disarm or even destroy these dangerous spirits. For this purpose the bodies of suicides were removed to waste land or cross-roads and burned there, together with the wood of the house in which the deed had been done or of the tree on which the person had hanged himself. By these means they imagined that they destroyed the ghost so that he could not come and lure others to follow his bad example. Lest, however, the ghost should survive the destruction of his body by fire, the Baganda, in passing any place where a suicide had been burnt, always threw grass or sticks on the spot to prevent the ghost from catching them. And they did the same, for the same reason, whenever they passed the places on waste ground where persons accused of witchcraft and found guilty by the poison ordeal had been burnt to death. Baganda women had a special reason for dreading all graves which were believed to be haunted by dangerous ghosts; for, imagining that they could conceive children without intercourse with the other sex, they feared to be impregnated by the entrance into them of the ghosts of suicides and other unfortunate or uncanny people, such as persons with a light complexion, twins, and particularly all who had the mishap to be born feet foremost. For that reason Baganda women were at pains, whenever they passed the graves of any such persons, to throw sticks or grass upon them; “for by so doing they thought that they could prevent the ghost of the dead from entering into them, and being reborn.” Hence the mounds which accumulated over these graves became in course of time large enough to deflect the path and to attract the attention of travellers. It was not merely matrons who thus took care not to become mothers unaware; the same fears were entertained and the same precautions were adopted by all women, whether old or young, whether married or single; since they thought that there was no woman, whatever her age or condition, who might not be impregnated by the entrance into her of a spirit. 53 53 Rev. J. Roscoe, The Baganda (London, 1911), pp. 20 sq. , 46 sq. , 124 sq. , 126 sq. , 289 sq. Stones are not mentioned among the missiles hurled at ghosts, probably because stones are scarce in Uganda. See J. Roscoe, op. cit. p. 5. In these cases, therefore, the throwing of sticks or grass at graves is a purely defensive measure; the missiles are intended to ward off the assaults of dangerous ghosts. Similarly we are told that in Madagascar solitary graves by the wayside have a sinister reputation, and that passers-by, without looking back, will throw stones or clods at them “to prevent the evil spirits from following them.” 54 54 Father Finaz, S.J., in Les Missions Catholiques , vii. (1875) p. 328. The Maraves of South Africa, like the Baganda, used to burn witches alive and to throw stones on the places of execution whenever they passed them, so that in time regular cairns gradually rose on these spots. 55 55 “Der Muata Cazembe und die Völkerstämme der Maraves, Chevas, Muembas, Lundas, und andere von Süd-Afrika,” Zeitschrift für allgemeine Erdkunde , vi. (1856) p. 287. No doubt with these Maraves, as with the Baganda, the motive for throwing missiles at such places is to protect themselves against the ghosts. A protective motive is also assigned for a similar custom observed in Chota Nagpur, a region of India which is the home of many primitive tribes. There heaps of stones or of leaves and branches may often be seen beside the path; they are supposed to mark the places where people have been killed by wild beasts, and the natives think that any passer-by who failed to add a stone or a stick to the pile would himself be seized and devoured by a wild animal. 56 56 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal , lxxii. Part iii. (Calcutta, 1904) p. 87. Here, though the ghost is not explicitly mentioned, we may perhaps suppose that out of spite he is instrumental in causing others to perish by the same untimely death by which he was himself carried off. The Kayans of Borneo imagine that they can put evil spirits to flight by hurling sticks or stones at them; so on a journey they will let fly volleys of such missiles at the rocks and dens where demons are known to reside. 57 57 A. W. Nieuwenhuis, In Centraal Borneo (Leyden, 1900), i. 146. Hence, whenever the throwing of stones at a grave is regarded as an insult to the dead, we may suppose that the missiles are intended to hit and hurt the ghost. Thus Euripides represents the murderer Aegisthus as leaping on the tomb of his victim Agamemnon and pelting it with stones; 58 58 Euripides, Electra , 327 sq. and Propertius invites all lovers to discharge stones and curses at the dishonoured grave of an old bawd. 59 59 Propertius, v. 5. 77 sq.