Note 740 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
Footnote 740
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(return)
For some examples of such extinctions, see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 261 sqq., 267 sq.; Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, i. 311, ii. 73 sq.; and above, pp. 124 sq., 132-139. The reasons for extinguishing fires ceremonially appear to vary with the occasion. Sometimes the motive seems to be a fear of burning or at least singeing a ghost, who is hovering invisible in the air; sometimes it is apparently an idea that a fire is old and tired with burning so long, and that it must be relieved of the fatiguing duty by a young and vigorous flame.