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

Evils transferred to animals in various parts of the world.

When the cattle of the Huzuls, a pastoral people of the Carpathians, are sick and the owner attributes the sickness to witchcraft, he throws glowing coals into a vessel of water and then pours the water on a black dog; thus the sickness passes into the dog and the cattle are made whole. 103 103 Dr. R. F. Kaindl, “Zauberglaube bei den Huzulen,” Globus , lxxvi. (1899) p. 254. In Arabia, when the plague is raging, the people will sometimes lead a camel through all the quarters of the town in order that the animal may take the pestilence on itself. Then they strangle it in a sacred place and imagine that they have rid themselves of the camel and of the plague at one blow. 104 104 J. Goldziher, Muhammedanische Studien (Halle a. S., 1888-1890), i. 34. In Annam, when sickness is caused by the presence of a demon in the body of the sufferer, a skilful exorcist will decoy the unwary devil into a fowl and then, quick as thought, decapitate the bird and throw it out of the door. But lest the fiend should survive this severe operation, cabalistic figures are posted on the outside of the door, which preclude him from entering the premises and assaulting the patient afresh. 105 105 E. Diguet, Les Annamites (Paris, 1906), pp. 283 sq. It is said that when smallpox is raging the savages of Formosa will drive the demon of disease into a sow, then cut off the animal's ears and burn them or it, believing that in this way they rid themselves of the plague. 106 106 W. Müller, “Über die Wildenstämme der Insel Formosa,” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie , xlii. (1910) p. 237. The writer's use of the pronoun ( sie ) is ambiguous. When a Kabyle child is pining for jealousy of a younger brother or sister, the parents imagine that they can cure it as follows. They take fifteen grains of wheat, wrap them up in a packet, and leave the packet all night under the head of the jealous child. Then in the morning they throw the grains into an ant-hill, saying, “Salutation to you, oh beautiful beings clad in black; salutation to you who dig the earth so well without the aid of any hoe by the help of God and the angels! May each of you take his share of the jealousy attached to these grains!” 107 107 Father E. Amat, in Annales de la Propagation de la Foi , lxx. (1898) pp. 266 sq.

Vehicles for the transference of evils in Madagascar.

Amongst the Malagasy the vehicle for carrying away evils is called a faditra . “The faditra is anything selected by the sikidy [divining board] for the purpose of taking away any hurtful evils or diseases that might prove injurious to an individual's happiness, peace, or prosperity. The faditra may be either ashes, cut money, a sheep, a pumpkin, or anything else the sikidy may choose to direct. After the particular article is appointed, the priest counts upon it all the evils that may prove injurious to the person for whom it is made, and which he then charges the faditra to take away for ever. If the faditra be ashes, it is blown, to be carried away by the wind. If it be cut money, it is thrown to the bottom of deep water, or where it can never be found. If it be a sheep, it is carried away to a distance on the shoulders of a man, who runs with all his might, mumbling as he goes, as if in the greatest rage against the faditra, for the evils it is bearing away. If it be a pumpkin, it is carried on the shoulders to a little distance, and there dashed upon the ground with every appearance of fury and indignation.” 108 108 Rev. W. Ellis, History of Madagascar (London, n. d.), i. 422 sq. ; compare id. , pp. 232, 435, 436 sq. ; Rev. J. Sibree, The Great African Island (London, 1880), pp. 303 sq. As to divination by the sikidy , see J. Sibree, “Divination among the Malagasy,” Folk-lore , iii. (1892) pp. 193-226. A Malagasy was informed by a diviner that he was doomed to a bloody death, but that possibly he might avert his fate by performing a certain rite. Carrying a small vessel full of blood upon his head, he was to mount upon the back of a bullock; while thus mounted, he was to spill the blood upon the bullock's head, and then send the animal away into the wilderness, whence it might never return. 109 109 W. Ellis, op. cit. i. 374; J. Sibree, The Great African Island , p. 304; J. Cameron, in Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine, Reprint of the First Four Numbers (Antananarivo, 1885), p. 263.

Extraction of kleptomania by spiders and crabs. Evils transferred to birds, which fly away with them.

Among the Toradjas of Central Celebes a chief's daughter, who suffered from kleptomania, was healed by a wise woman, who placed a bag containing spiders and crabs on the patient's hands. The physician calculated that the prehensile claws of these creatures, so suggestive of a thief's hands in the act of closing on his prey, would lay hold of the vicious propensity in the young woman's mind and extract it as neatly as a pair of forceps nips out a thorn from the flesh. 110 110 N. Adriani en Alb. C. Kruijt, De Bare'e-sprekende Toradja's van Midden-Celebes , i. (Batavia, 1912) p. 399. The Battas of Sumatra have a ceremony which they call “making the curse to fly away.” When a woman is childless, a sacrifice is offered to the gods of three grasshoppers, representing a head of cattle, a buffalo, and a horse. Then a swallow is set free, with a prayer that the curse may fall upon the bird and fly away with it. 111 111 W. Ködding, “Die Batakschen Götter,” Allgemeine Missions-Zeitschrift , xii. (1885) p. 478; Dr. R. Römer, “Bijdrage tot de Geneeskunst der Karo-Batak's,” Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Land- en Volkenkunde , l. (1908) p. 223. “The entrance into a house of an animal which does not generally seek to share the abode of man is regarded by the Malays as ominous of misfortune. If a wild bird flies into a house, it must be carefully caught and smeared with oil, and must then be released in the open air, a formula being recited in which it is bidden to fly away with all the ill-luck and misfortunes ( sial jambalang ) of the occupier.” 112 112 W. E. Maxwell, “The Folklore of the Malays,” Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society , No. 7 (June, 1881), p. 27; W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic (London, 1900), pp. 534 sq. In antiquity Greek women seem to have done the same with swallows which they caught in the house: they poured oil on them and let them fly away, apparently for the purpose of removing ill-luck from the household. 113 113 Dio Chrysostom, Orat. liii. vol. ii. pp. 164 sq. ed. L. Dindorf (Leipsic, 1857). Compare Plato, Republic , iii. 9, p. 398 a, who ironically proposes to dismiss poets from his ideal state in the same manner. These passages of Plato and Dio Chrysostom were pointed out to me by my friend Professor Henry Jackson. There was a Greek saying, attributed to Pythagoras, that swallows should not be allowed to enter a house (Plutarch, Quaest. Conviv. viii. 7, 1). The Huzuls of the Carpathians imagine that they can transfer freckles to the first swallow they see in spring by washing their face in flowing water and saying, “Swallow, swallow, take my freckles, and give me rosy cheeks.” 114 114 Dr. R. F. Kaindl, “Zauberglaube bei den Huzulen,” Globus , lxxvi. (1899) pp. 255 sq. At the cleansing of a leper and of a house suspected of being tainted with leprosy among the Hebrews the priest used to let a living bird fly away into the open field, 115 115 Leviticus xiv. 7, 53. no doubt in order to carry away the leprosy with it. Similarly among the ancient Arabs a widow was expected to live secluded in a small tent for a year after her husband's death; then a bird or a sheep was brought to her, she made the creature touch her person, and let it go. It was believed that the bird or the sheep would not live long thereafter; doubtless it was supposed to suffer from the uncleanness or taint of death which the widow had transferred to it. 116 116 J. Wellhausen, Reste arabischen Heidentumes (Berlin, 1887), p. 156; W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites , New Edition (London, 1894), pp. 422, 428.