James Frazer - The Golden Bough - A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 11 of 12)

A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks 2(Gütersloh, 1886), p. 205, referring to Dybeck, Runa , 1845, p. 80.

A. Kuhn, op. cit. p. 204, referring to Rochholz, Schweizersagen aus d. Aargau , ii. 202.

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie , 4i. 153.

J. V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebräuche aus Böhmen und Mähren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 37, § 218. In Upper Bavaria the mistletoe is burned for this purpose along with the so-called palm-branches which were consecrated on Palm Sunday. See Bavaria, Landes- und Volkskunde des Königreichs Bayern , i. (Munich, 1860), p. 371.

A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertranks , 2p. 206, referring to Albertus Magnus, p. 155; Prof. P. J. Veth, “De Leer der Signatuur,” Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie , vii. (1904) p. 111.

J. N. Ritter von Alpenburg, Mythen und Sagen Tirols (Zurich, 1857), p. 398.

A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube 2(Berlin, 1869), p. 97, § 128; Prof. P. J. Veth, “De Leer der Signatuur,” Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie , vii. (1894) p. 111.

A. Wuttke, op. cit. p. 267, § 419.

W. Henderson, Notes on the Folk-lore of the Northern Counties of England and the Borders (London, 1879), p. 114.

Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 88.

L. Lloyd, Peasant Life in Sweden (London, 1870), p. 269.

Above, pp. 77, 78.

Above, pp. 82, 84.

Above, pp. 83, 86.

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie , 4iii. 353, referring to Dybeck, Runa , 1844, p. 22.

Marie Trevelyan, Folk-lore and Folk-stories of Wales (London, 1909), p. 88.

See above, p. 86.

G. Wahlenberg, Flora Suecica (Upsala, 1824-1826), ii. No. 1143 Viscum album , pp. 649 sq. : “ Hab. in sylvarum densiorum et humidiorum arboribus frondosis, ut Pyris, Quercu, Fago etc. per Sueciam temperatiorem passim .”

Above, vol. i. pp. 171 sq.

L. Lloyd, Peasant Life in Sweden (London, 1870), p. 259.

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie , 4iii. 78, who adds, “ Mahnen die Johannisfeuer an Baldrs Leichenbrand? ” This pregnant hint perhaps contains in germ the solution of the whole myth.

Above, vol. i. p. 148.

Above, vol. i. p. 186.

Above, p. 26.

As to the worship of the oak in Europe, see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings , ii. 349 sqq. Compare P. Wagler, Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit , in two parts (Wurzen, n. d., and Berlin, 1891).

Strabo, xii. 5.1, p. 567. The name is a compound of dryu , “oak,” and nemed , “temple” (H. F. Tozer, Selections from Strabo , Oxford, 1893, p. 284). We know from Jerome ( Commentar. in Epist. ad Galat. book ii. praef.) that the Galatians retained their native Celtic speech as late as the fourth century of our era.

The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings , ii. 365.

J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie , 4i. 55 sq. , 58 sq. , ii. 542, iii. 187 sq. ; P. Wagler, Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit (Berlin, 1891), pp. 40 sqq. ; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings , ii. 363 sqq. , 371.

L. Preller, Römische Mythologie 3(Berlin, 1881-1883), i. 108.

Livy, i. 10. Compare C. Bötticher, Der Baumkultus der Hellenen (Berlin, 1856), pp. 133 sq.

C. Bötticher, op. cit. pp. 111 sqq. ; L. Preller, Griechische Mythologie , 4ed. C. Robert, i. (Berlin, 1894) pp. 122 sqq. ; P. Wagler, Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit (Berlin, 1891), pp. 2 sqq. It is noteworthy that at Olympia the only wood that might be used in sacrificing to Zeus was the white poplar (Pausanias, v. 14. 2). But it is probable that herein Zeus, who was an intruder at Olympia, merely accepted an old local custom which, long before his arrival, had been observed in the worship of Pelops (Pausanias, v. 13. 3).

Without hazarding an opinion on the vexed question of the cradle of the Aryans, I may observe that in various parts of Europe the oak seems to have been formerly more common than it is now. See the evidence collected in The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings , ii. 349 sqq.

However, some exceptions to the rule are recorded. See above, vol. i. pp. 169, 278 (oak and fir), 220 (plane and birch), 281, 283, 286 (limewood), 282 (poplar and fir), 286 (cornel-tree), 291 (birch or other hard wood), 278, 280 (nine kinds of wood). According to Montanus, the need-fire, Easter, and Midsummer fires were kindled by the friction of oak and limewood. See Montanus, Die deutschen Volksfeste, Volksbräuche und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, n. d.), p. 159. But elsewhere (pp. 33 sq. , 127) the same writer says that the need-fire and Midsummer fires were produced by the friction of oak and fir-wood.

Above, vol. i. p. 177.

M. Prätorius, Deliciae Prussicae , herausgegeben von Dr. William Pierson (Berlin, 1871), pp. 19 sq. W. R. S. Ralston says (on what authority I do not know) that if the fire maintained in honour of the Lithuanian god Perkunas went out, it was rekindled by sparks struck from a stone which the image of the god held in his hand ( Songs of the Russian People , London, 1872, p. 88).

See above, vol. i. pp. 148, 271, 272, 274, 275, 276, 281, 289, 294.

Above, vol. i. pp. 148, 155.

The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings , ii. 186.

The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings , ii. 366. However, sacred fires of other wood than oak are not unknown among Aryan peoples. Thus at Olympia white poplar was the wood burnt in sacrifices to Zeus (above, p. 90 n. 1); at Delphi the perpetual fire was fed with pinewood (Plutarch, De EI apud Delphos , 2), and it was over the glowing embers of pinewood that the Soranian Wolves walked at Soracte (above, p. 14).

Montanus, Diedeutschen Volksfeste, Volksbräuche und deutscher Volksglaube (Iserlohn, n. d.), pp. 127, 159. The log is called in German Sckarholz . The custom appears to have prevailed particularly in Westphalia, about Sieg and Lahn. Compare Montanus, op. cit. p. 12, as to the similar custom at Christmas. The use of the Scharholz is reported to be found also in Niederlausitz and among the neighbouring Saxons. See Paul Wagler, Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit (Berlin, 1891), pp. 86 sq.