Index.
Reading edition
Aachen, effigy burnt at, i. 120, ii. 25
Aargau, Swiss canton, of, Lenten fire-custom in, i. 119;
superstition as to oak-mistletoe in, ii. 82;
mistletoe called “thunder-besom” in, 85, 301;
birth-trees in, 165
Abeghian, Manuk, on creeping through cleft trees in Armenia, ii. 172
Abensberg in Bavaria, burning the Easter Man at, i. 144
Abeokuta, use of bull-roarers at, ii. 229 n.
Aber, the Lake of, in Upper Austria, ii. 189
Aberdeenshire, custom at reaping the last corn in, i. 12;
need-fire in, 296;
holed rock used by childless women in, ii. 187
Aberfeldy, Hallowe'en fires near, i. 232
Aborigines of Victoria, their custom as to emu fat, i. 13
Abougit, Father X., S.J., on the ceremony of the new fire at Jerusalem, i. 130
Abruzzi, new Easter fire in the, i. 122;
water consecrated at Easter in the, 122 sqq.;
Midsummer rites of fire and water in the, 209 sq.
Acacia, the heart in the flower of the, ii. 135 sq.
Acarnanian story of Prince Sunless, i. 21
Achern, St. John's fires at, i. 168
Achterneed, in Ross-shire, Beltane cakes at, i. 153
Acireale, in Sicily, Midsummer fires at, i. 210
Adder stones, i. 15
Addison, Joseph, on witchcraft in Switzerland, ii. 42 n. 2
Adonis and Aphrodite, ii. 294 sq.
Aelst, Peter van, painter, ii. 36
Aeneas and the Golden Bough, ii. 285, 293 sq.
Africa, girls secluded at puberty in, i. 22 sqq.;
dread and seclusion of women at menstruation in, 79 sqq.;
birth-trees in, ii. 160 sqq.;
use of bull-roarers in, 229 n., 232
——, British Central, the Anyanja of, i. 81
——, British East, i. 81;
ceremony of new fire in, 135 sq.;
the Nandi of, ii. 229 n.;
the Akikuyu of, 262 sq.
——, East, ceremony of the new fire in, i. 135;
the Swahili of, ii. 160
——, German East, the Wajagga of, ii. 160;
the Washamba of, 183;
the Bondeis of, 263;
the Wadoe of, 312
——, German South-West, the Ovambo of, ii. 183
——, North, Midsummer fires in, i. 213 sqq.
——, South, the Thonga of, ii. 297
——, West, theory of an external soul embodied in an animal prevalent in, ii. 200 sqq.;
ritual of death and resurrection at initiation in, 251 sqq.
African stories of the external soul, ii. 148 sqq.;
Balders, 312 sqq.
Afterbirth buried under a tree, ii. 160 sq., 162, 163, 164, 165;
of child animated by a ghost and sympathetically connected with a banana-tree, 162;
regarded as brother or sister of child, 162 n. 2;
regarded as a second child, 162 n. 2;
regarded as a guardian spirit, 223 n. 2;
and navel-string regarded as guardian angels of the man, ii. 162 n. 2
Agaric growing on birch-trees, superstitions as to, i. 148
Aglu, New year fires at, i. 217
Air thought to be poisoned at eclipses, i. 162 n.
Aisne, Midsummer fires in the department of, i. 187
Aix, squibs at Midsummer in, i. 193;
Midsummer king at, i. 194, ii. 25;
bathing at Midsummer in, 216
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Agni, Hindoo deity, i. 99 n. 2;
the fire-god, ii. 1, 296
Ague, Midsummer bonfires deemed a cure for, i. 162;
leaps across the Midsummer bonfires thought to be a preventive of, 174
Agweh, on the Slave Coast, custom of widows at, ii. 18 sq.
Ahlen, in Munsterland, i. 247
Ahriman, the devil of the Persians, i. 95
Aht or Nootka Indians of Vancouver Island, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 43 sq.
Ahura Mazda, the supreme being of the Persians, i. 95
Ain, Lenten fires in the department of, i. 114
Ainos of Japan, their mourning caps, i. 20;
their use of mugwort in exorcism, ii. 60;
their veneration for mistletoe, 79
A-Kamba of British East Africa, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 23
Akikuyu of British East Africa, their dread of menstruous women, i. 81;
ritual of the new birth among the, ii. 262 sq.
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, Roman version of, ii. 105
Alaska, seclusion of girls at puberty among the Indians of, i. 45 sq.;
the Esquimaux of, ii. 155
Alastir and the Bare-Stripping Hangman, Argyleshire story of, ii. 129 sq.
Albania, Midsummer fires in, i. 212;
the Yule log in, 264
Albanian story of the external soul, ii. 104 n. 3
Albert Nyanza, the Wakondyo of the, ii. 162 sq.
Albino head of secret society on the Lower Congo, ii. 251
Alders free from mistletoe, ii. 315
Alfoors or Toradjas of Celebes, their custom at the smelting of iron, ii. 154;
their doctrine of the plurality of souls, 222
Algeria, Midsummer fires in, i. 213
Alice Springs in Central Australia, ii. 238
Allan, John Hay, on the Hays of Errol, ii. 283
Allandur temple, at St. Thomas's Mount, Madras, ii. 8
All-healer, name applied to mistletoe, ii. 77, 79, 82
All Saints' Day, omens on, i. 240;
the first of November, 225;
bonfires on, 246;
sheep passed through a hoop on, ii. 184
All Souls, Feast of, i. 223 sq., 225 n. 3
Almond-trees, mistletoe on, ii. 316
A-Louyi, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 28 n. 5
Alsace, Midsummer fires in, i. 169;
cats burnt in Easter bonfires in, ii. 40
Althenneberg, in Bavaria, Easter fires at, i. 143 sq.
Altmark, Easter bonfires in, i. 140, 142
Alum burnt at Midsummer, i. 214
Alungu, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 24 sq.
Alur, a tribe of the Upper Nile, i. 64
Alvarado, Pedro de, Spanish general, ii. 214
Amadhlozi, ancestral spirits in serpent form, ii. 211 n. 2
Amambwe, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 24 sq.
Amatongo, plural of itongo, ii. 302 n.
Amazon, ordeals of young men among the Indians of the, i. 62 sq.
Ambamba, in West Africa, death, resurrection, and the new birth in, ii. 256
Amboyna, hair of criminals cut in, ii. 158
Ambras, Midsummer customs at, i. 173
America, Central, the Mosquito territory in, i. 86
America, North, Indians of, not allowed to sit on bare ground in war, i. 5;
seclusion of girls at puberty among the Indians of, 41 sqq.;
dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the Indians of, 87 sqq.;
stories of the external soul among the Indians of, ii. 151 sq.;
religious associations among the Indian tribes of, 267 sqq.
——, South, seclusion of girls at puberty among the Indians of, i. 56 sqq.;
effigies of Judas burnt at Easter in, 128;
Midsummer fires in, 212 sq.
Ammerland, in Oldenburg, cart-wheel used as charm against witchcraft in, i. 345 n. 3
Amphitryo besieges Taphos, ii. 103
Amulets, rings and bracelets as, i. 92;
as soul-boxes, ii. 155;
degenerate into ornaments, 156 n. 2
Ancestor, wooden image of, ii. 155
Ancestors, worship of, in Fiji, ii. 243 sq.
Ancestral spirits incarnate in serpents, ii. 211
Anderson, Miss, of Barskimming, i. 171 n. 3
Andes, the Peruvian, effigies of Judas burnt at Easter in the, i. 128
Andjra, a district of Morocco, i. 17;
Midsummer fires in the, 213 sq.;
Midsummer rites of water in, 216;
animals bathed at Midsummer in, ii. 31
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Andreas, parish of, in the Isle of Man, i. 224, 305, 307 n. 1
Angass, the, of Northern Nigeria, their belief in external human souls lodged in animals, ii. 210
Angel, need-fire revealed by an, i. 287
—— -man, effigy of, burnt at Midsummer, i. 167
Angelus bell, the, i. 110, ii. 47
Angoniland, British Central Africa, customs as to girls at puberty in, i. 25 sq.;
customs as to salt in, 27
Angus, superstitious remedy for the “quarter-ill” in, i. 296 n. 1
Anhalt, Easter bonfires in, i. 140
Animal, bewitched, or part of it, burnt to compel the witch to appear, i. 303, 305, 307 sq., 321 sq.;
sickness transferred to, ii. 181;
and man, sympathetic relation between, 272 sq.
Animal familiars of wizards and witches, ii. 196 sq., 201 sq.
Animals burnt alive as a sacrifice in England, Wales, and Scotland, i. 300 sqq.;
witches transformed into, 315 sqq., ii. 311 sq.;
bewitched, buried alive, i. 324 sqq.;
live, burnt at Spring and Midsummer festivals, ii. 38 sqq.;
the animals perhaps deemed embodiments of witches, 41 sq., 43 sq.;
the language of, learned by means of fern-seed, 66 n.;
external soul in, 196 sqq.;
magical transformation of men into animals, 207;
helpful, in fairy tales. See Helpful
Ankenmilch bohren, to make the need-fire, i. 270 n.
Ankole, in Central Africa, i. 80
Annam, dread of menstruous women in, i. 85;
use of wormwood to avert demons in, ii. 61 n. 1
Anpu and Bata, ancient Egyptian story of, ii. 134 sqq.
Anthemis nobilis, camomile, gathered at Midsummer, ii. 63
Ant-hill, insane people buried in an, i. 64
Ants employed to sting girls at puberty, i. 61;
to sting young men, i. 62 sq.
Antonius Mountain, in Thuringia, Christmas bonfire on the, i. 265 sq.
Antwerp, wicker giants at, ii. 35 sq.
Anula tribe of Northern Australia, their rites of initiation, ii. 235
Anyanja of British Central Africa, their dread of menstruous women, i. 81 sq.
Apaches, i. 21;
use of bull-roarers among the, ii, 230 n.
Apala cured by Indra in the Rigveda, ii. 192
Ape, a Batta totem, ii. 223
Aphrodite and Adonis, ii. 294 sq.
Apollo, identified with the Celtic Grannus, i. 112
—— Soranus, ii. 14, 15 n. 3
Apollo's temple at Cumae, i. 99
Apple, divination by the sliced, i. 238;
and candle, biting at, 241, 242, 243, 245
Apple-tree as life-index of boy, ii. 165
—— -trees, torches thrown at, i. 108;
mistletoe on, ii. 315, 316 n. 5
Apples, dipping for, at Hallowe'en, i. 237, 239, 241, 242, 243, 245
Apricot-trees, mistletoe on, ii. 316
April, the twenty-seventh of, in popular superstitions of Morocco, i. 17 sq.;
ceremony of the new fire in, 136 sq., ii. 3;
Chinese festival of fire in, 3
Arab women in Morocco, their superstitions as to plants at Midsummer, ii. 51
Arabia, tree-spirits in snake form in, ii. 44 n. 1
Arabian, modern, story of the external soul, ii. 137 sq.
Arabian Nights, story of the external soul in the, ii. 137
Arabs of Morocco, their Midsummer customs, i. 214
Aran, in the valley of the Garonne, Midsummer fires at, i. 193
Arch, child after an illness passed under an, ii. 192;
young men at initiation passed under a leafy, 193;
triumphal, suggested origin of the, 195
Archer (Tirant), effigy of, ii. 36
Arches, novices at initiation passed under arches in Australia, ii. 193 n. 1
Archways, passing under, as a means of escaping evil spirits or sickness, ii. 179 sqq.
Ardennes, the Belgian, bonfires on the first Sunday of Lent in the, i. 107 sq.;
the French, Lenten fires and customs in the, 109 sq.;
Midsummer fires in the, 188;
the Yule log in the, 253;
cats burnt alive in Lenten bonfires, ii. 40
Argo, tree of which the ship was made, ii. 94 n. 1
Argyleshire stories of the external soul, ii. 127 sqq.
Argyrus, temple of Hercules at, i. 99 n. 3
Aricia, the priest of, and the Golden Bough, i. 1;
the priest of Diana at, perhaps a personified Jupiter, ii. 302 sq.
Arician grove, the Midsummer festival of fire in the, ii. 285;
the priest of the, a personification of an oak-spirit, 285
Ariminum, triumphal arch of Augustus at, ii. 194 n. 4
Arizona and New Mexico, use of bull-roarers in, ii. 230 n., 231
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Arks, sacred, of the Cherokees, i. 11 sq.
Armenia, were-wolves in, i. 316;
sick people creep through cleft trees in, ii. 173
Armenian church, bonfires at Candlemas in the, i. 131
—— idea of the sun as a wheel, i. 334 n. 1
Arms of youths punctured to make them good hunters, i. 58
Arnstadt, witches burnt at, i. 6
Arran, the need-fire in, i. 293
Arrows used as a love-charm, i. 14
Artemis Perasia, at Castabala in Cappadocia, ii. 14
Artemisia absinthium, wormwood, ii. 58 n. 3, 61 n. 1
—— vulgaris, mugwort, gathered at Midsummer, ii. 58 sqq.
Artois, mugwort at Midsummer in, ii. 59
Arunta of Central Australia, their sacred pole, i. 7;
their dread of women at menstruation, 77;
legend that the ancestors kept their spirits in their churinga, ii. 218 n. 3;
rites of initiation among the, 233 sq.;
initiation of medicine-men among the, 238
Aryan god of the thunder and the oak, i. 265
—— peoples, stories of the external soul among, ii. 97 sqq.
Aryans of Europe, importance of the Midsummer festival among the, ii. 40;
the oak the chief sacred tree of the, 89 sq.
Ascension Day, parasitic rowan should be cut on, ii. 281
Asceticism not primitive, i. 65
Ash Wednesday, effigy burnt on, i. 120
Ash-trees, children passed through cleft ash-trees as a cure for rupture or rickets, ii. 168 sqq.
Ashes in divination, i. 243, 244, 245.
See also Sticks, Charred
—— of bonfires put in fowls' nests, i. 112, 338;
increase fertility of fields, 141, 337;
make cattle thrive, 141, 338;
placed in a person's shoes, 156;
administered to cattle to make them fat, ii. 4
—— of dead, disposal of the, i. 11
—— of Easter bonfire mixed with seed at sowing, i. 121
—— of Hallowe'en fires scattered, i. 233
—— of holy fires a protection against demons, ii. 8, 17
—— of Midsummer fires strewed on fields to fertilize them, i. 170, 190, 203;
a protection against conflagration, 174, 196;
a protection against lightning, 187, 188;
a protection against thunder, 190;
put by people in their shoes, 191 sq.;
a cure for consumption, 194 sq.;
rubbed by people on their hair or bodies, 213, 214, 215;
good for the eyes, 214
Ashes of the need-fire strewn on fields to protect the crops against vermin, i. 274;
used as a medicine, 286
—— of New Year's fire used to rub sore eyes, i. 218
—— of Yule log strewed on fields, i. 250;
used to heal swollen glands, 251
Ashur, Arab New Year's Day, i. 217, 218
Asia Minor, the Celts in, ii. 89;
cure for possession by an evil spirit in, 186;
creeping through rifted rocks in, 189
Aspen, mistletoe on, ii. 315
Aspidium filix mas, the male fern, superstitions as to, ii. 66 sq.
Ass, child passed under an, as a cure for whooping-cough, ii. 192 n. 1
Assam, the Khasis of, ii. 146;
the Lushais of, 185 sq.
Assiga, tribe of South Nigeria, ii. 204
Associations, religious, among the Indian tribes of North America, ii. 267 sqq.
Assyrian ritual, use of golden axe in, ii. 80 n. 3
Aston, W. G., quoted, i. 137 sq.;
on the fire-walk in Japan, ii. 10 n. 1
Astral spirit of a witch, i. 317
Atai, external soul in the Mota language, ii. 197 sq.
Ath, in Hainaut, procession of giants at, ii. 36
Athboy, in County Meath, i. 139
Athena, priestess of, uses a white umbrella, i. 20 n. 1
Athenians offer cakes to Cronus, i. 153 n. 3
Athens, ceremony of the new fire at Easter in, i. 130
Athis, in Normandy, Christmas bonfires at, i. 266
Athos, Mount, mistletoe at, ii. 319, 320 n.
Atrae, city in Mesopotamia, i. 82
Aubrey, John, on the Midsummer fires, i. 197
Aufkirchen in Bavaria, burning the Easter Man at, i. 144
August, procession of wicker giants in, ii. 36
——, first of, Festival of the Cross on the, i. 220
—— the eighteenth, feast of Florus and Laurus, i. 220
—— the sixth, festival of St. Estapin, ii. 188
Augustus, triumphal arch of Augustus at Ariminum, ii. 195 n. 4
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Aunis, wonderful herbs gathered on St. John's Eve in, ii. 45;
St. John's wort in, 55;
vervain gathered at Midsummer in, 62 n. 4;
four-leaved clover at Midsummer in, 63
—— and Saintonge, Midsummer fires in, i. 192
Aurora, in the New Hebrides, tamaniu in, ii. 198
Australia, dread and seclusion of women at menstruation in, i. 76 sqq.;
passing under an arch as a rite of initiation in, ii. 193 n. 1;
initiation of young men in, 227, 233 sqq.;
use of bull-roarers in, 228 n. 2
——, Central, pointing sticks or bones in, i. 14 n. 3;
its desert nature, ii. 230 n. 2
——, South-Eastern, sex totems among the natives of, ii. 214 sqq.
Australian languages, words for fire and wood in, ii. 296
Austria, Midsummer fires in, i. 172 sqq.;
the Yule log among the Servians of, 262 sqq.;
need-fire in Upper, 279;
fern-seed at Midsummer in, ii. 65;
mistletoe used to prevent nightmare in, 85
Autumn fires, i. 220 sqq.
Auvergne, Lenten fires in, i. 111 sq.;
story of a were-wolf in, 308 sq.
Ave Maria bell, ii. 47
Avernus, Lake, and the Golden Bough, ii. 285 n. 2
Awa-nkonde, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 28
“Awasungu, the house of the,” i. 28
Awka in South Nigeria, i. 4
Azemmur, in Morocco, Midsummer fires at, i. 214
Azores, bonfires and divination on Midsummer Eve in the, i. 208 sq.;
fern-seed at Midsummer in the, ii. 66
Aztecs, their punishment of witches and wizards, ii. 159
Baal and Beltane, i. 149 n. 1, 150 n. 1, 157
Babine Lake in British Columbia, i. 47
Backache at reaping, leaps over the Midsummer bonfire thought to be a preventive of, i. 165, 168, 189, 344 sq.;
set down to witchcraft, 343 n., 345;
at harvest, mugwort a protection against, ii. 59;
creeping through a holed stone to prevent backache at harvest, 189
Badache, double-axe, Midsummer King of the, i. 194
Badagas of the Neilgherry Hills, their fire-walk, ii. 8 sq.
Baden, Lenten fire-custom in, i. 117;
Easter bonfires in, 145;
Midsummer fires in, 167 sqq.
Badham Court oak, in Gloucestershire, ii. 316
Badnyak, Yule log, i. 259, 263
Badnyi Dan, Christmas Eve, i. 258, 263
Bag, souls of persons deposited in a, ii. 142, 153, 155
Baganda, children live apart from their parents among the, i. 23 n. 2;
seclusion of girls at puberty among the, 23 sq.;
superstition as to women who do not menstruate, 24;
abstain from salt in certain cases, 27 sq.;
their dread of menstruous women, 80 sq.;
their beliefs and customs concerning the afterbirth, ii. 162.
See also Uganda
Bahaus or Kayans of Central Borneo, i. 4 sq.
Bahima of Central Africa, their dread of menstruous women, i. 80
Bahr-el-Ghazal province, ceremony of the new fire in the, i. 134 sq.
Bakairi, the, of Brazil, call bull-roarers “thunder and lightning,” ii. 231 sq.
Baking-forks, witches ride on, ii. 73, 74
Bakuba or Bushongo of the Congo, i. 4
Balder, his body burnt, i. 102;
worshipped in Norway, 104;
camomile sacred to, ii. 63;
burnt at Midsummer, 87;
Midsummer sacred to, 87;
a tree-spirit or deity of vegetation, 88 sq.;
interpreted as a mistletoe-bearing oak, 93 sq.;
his invulnerability, 94;
why Balder was thought to shine, 293
—— and the mistletoe, i. 101 sq., ii. 76 sqq., 302;
his life or death in the mistletoe, 279, 283;
perhaps a real man deified, 314 sq.
——, the myth of, i. 101 sqq.;
reproduced in the Midsummer festival of Scandinavia, ii. 87;
perhaps dramatized in ritual, 88;
Indian parallel to, 280;
African parallels to, 312 sqq.
Balder's Balefires, name formerly given to Midsummer bonfires in Sweden, i. 172, ii. 87
—— Grove, i. 104, ii. 315
Balders-brâ, Balder's eyelashes, a name for camomile, ii. 63
Bâle, Lenten fire-custom in the canton of, i. 119
Balefires, Balder's, at Midsummer in Sweden, i. 172
Bali, filing of teeth in, i. 68 n. 2;
birth-trees in, ii. 164
Balkan Peninsula, need-fire in the, i. 281
Ball, game of, played to determine the King of Summer, i. 195
Ballyvadlea, in Tipperary, woman burnt as a witch at, i. 323 sq.
[pg 326]
Balnagown loch, in Lismore, i. 316
Balong of the Cameroons, their external souls in animals, ii. 203
Balquhidder, hill of the fires at, i. 149;
Hallowe'en bonfires at, 232
Balum, New Guinea word signifying bull-roarer, ghost, and mythical monster, ii. 242
Banana-tree, afterbirth of child buried under a, ii. 162, 163, 164
Bancroft, H. H., on the external souls of the Zapotecs, ii. 212
Banivas of the Orinoco, their scourging of girls at puberty, i. 66 sqq.
Baraka, blessed or magical virtue, i. 216, 218, ii. 51
Barclay, Sheriff, on Hallowe'en fires, i. 232
Bardney bumpkin, on witch as hare, i. 318
Bare-Stripping Hangman, Argyleshire story of the, ii. 129 sq.
Barker, W. G. M. Jones, on need-fire in Yorkshire, i. 286 sq.
Barley plant, external soul of prince in a, ii. 102
Ba-Ronga, the, of South Africa, their story of a clan whose external souls were in a cat, ii. 150 sq.
Barotse or Marotse of the Zambesi, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 28, 29
Barren cattle driven through fire, i. 203, 338
—— women hope to conceive through fertilizing influence of vegetables, ii. 51
Barricading the road against a ghostly pursuer, ii. 176
Barsana, in North India, Holi bonfires at, ii. 2, 5
Bartle Bay, in British New Guinea, festival of the wild mango tree at, i. 7 sqq.
Basque hunter transformed into bear, ii. 226, 270
—— story of the external soul, ii. 139
Bastar, province of India, treatment of witches in, ii. 159
Bastian, Adolph, on rites of initiation in West Africa, ii. 256 sq.
Basutos, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 31
Bata and Anpu, ancient Egyptian story of, ii. 134 sqq.
Bathing in the sea at Easter, i. 123;
at Midsummer, 208, 210, 216, ii. 29 sq.;
thought to be dangerous on Midsummer Day, 26 sq.
Bats, the lives of men in, ii. 215 sq., 217;
called men's “brothers,” 215, 216, 218
Battas, their doctrine of the plurality of souls, ii. 223;
their totemic system, 224 sqq.
Battel, Andrew, on the colour of negro children at birth, ii. 251 n. 1
Bavaria, Easter bonfires in, i. 143 sq.;
belief as to eclipses in, 162;
Midsummer fires in, 164 sqq.;
leaf-clad mummer at Midsummer in, ii. 26;
the divining-rod in, 67 sq.;
creeping through a holed stone or narrow opening in, 188 sq.
——, Upper, use of mistletoe in, ii. 85 n. 4
Bavarian peasants, their belief as to hazel, ii. 69 n.
Bavili, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 31
Beal-fires on Midsummer Eve in Yorkshire, i. 198
Bean, King of the, i. 153 n. 1
Beans, divination by, i. 209
Bear, external soul of warrior in a, ii. 151;
Basque hunter transformed into, 226, 270;
simulated transformation of novice into a, 274 sq.
—— clan, ii. 271, 272 n. 1
—— -dance of man who pretends to be a bear, ii. 274
Bear's skin, Lapp women shoot blindfold at a, ii. 280 n.
Bearers to carry royal personages, i. 3 sq.
Beating girls at puberty, i. 61, 66 sq.;
as a form of purification, 61, 64 sqq.
Beauce, festival of torches in, i. 113;
story of a were-wolf in, 309
—— and Perche, Midsummer fires in, i. 188
Beaver clan, ii. 272
Bechuana belief as to sympathetic relation of man to wounded crocodile, ii. 210 sq.
Bee, external soul of an ogre in a, ii. 101
Beech or fir used to make the Yule log, i. 249
—— -tree burnt in Lenten bonfire, i. 115 sq.
Beeches, struck by lightning, proportion of, ii. 298 sq.;
free from mistletoe, 315
Bees thought to be killed by menstruous women, i. 96;
ashes of bonfires used to cure ailments of, 142
Beetle, external soul in a, ii. 138, 140
Begetting novices anew at initiation, pretence of, ii. 248
Behar, the fire-walk in, ii. 5
Beifuss, German name for mugwort, ii. 60 n. 6
Bel, the fires of, i. 147, 157, 158 sq.
Beleth, John, his Rationale Divinorum Officiorum quoted, i. 161 n. 2
[pg 327]
Belford, in Northumberland, the Yule log at, i. 256
Belgium, Lenten fires in, i. 107 sq.;
Midsummer fires in, 194 sq.;
the Yule log in, 249;
bathing on Midsummer Day in, ii. 30;
divination by flowers on Midsummer Eve in, 53;
mugwort gathered on St. John's Day or Eve in, 59 sq.;
vervain gathered on St. John's Day in, 62;
four-leaved clover at Midsummer in, 63;
the witches' Sabbath in, 73
Bella Coola Indians of British Columbia, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 46;
custom of mourners among the, ii. 174
Belli-Paaro society in West Africa, rites of initiation in the, ii. 257 sqq.
Bellochroy, i. 290
Bells worn by priest in exorcism, i. 5;
on his legs, ii. 8
——, church, silenced in Holy Week, i. 123, 125 n. 1;
rung on Midsummer Eve, ii. 47 sq.;
rung to drive away witches, 73
Beltane, popularly derived from Baal, i. 149 n. 1, 150 n. 1;
the need-fire at, 293;
the Yellow Day of, 293;
sheep passed through a hoop at, ii. 184
—— and Hallowe'en the two chief fire-festivals of the British Celts, ii. 40 sq.
—— cakes, i. 148 sq., 150, 152, 153, 154, 155
—— carline, i. 148, 153
—— Eve (the Eve of May Day), a witching time, i. 295
—— fire, pretence of throwing a man into the, i. 148, ii. 25;
kindled by the friction of oak-wood, i. 148, 155, ii. 91
—— fires, i. 146 sqq.;
in Wales, 155 sq.;
in Ireland, 157 sq.;
in Nottinghamshire, 157
Benametapa, the king of, in East Africa, i. 135
Bengal, seclusion of girls at puberty in, i. 68;
the Oraons of, ii. 311
Bengalee stories of the external soul, ii. 101 sq., 102
Beni Ahsen, a tribe in Morocco, ii. 31;
their Midsummer fires, i. 215 sq.
—— Mgild, a Berber tribe of Morocco, their Midsummer fires, i. 215
—— Snous, the, of Morocco, their Midsummer rites, i. 216
Bent, J. Theodore, on passing sick children through a cleft oak, ii. 172
Berber belief as to water at Midsummer, ii. 31
—— tale, milk-tie in a, ii. 138 n. 1
Berbers of North Africa, their Midsummer customs, i. 213 sqq., 219
Bergen, Midsummer bonfires at, i. 171
Bering Strait, the Esquimaux of, i. 91
Berleburg, in Westphalia, the Yule log at, i. 248
Berlin, the divining-rod at, ii. 68
Bern, Midsummer fires in the canton of, i. 172;
the Yule log in the canton of, 249;
witches put to death in the canton of, ii. 42 n. 2
Berry, Lenten fire custom in, i. 115;
Midsummer fires in, 189;
the Yule log in, 251 sq.;
four-leaved clover at Midsummer in, ii. 63
Besoms, blazing, flung aloft to make the corn grow high, i. 340;
used to drive away witches, ii. 74
Bethlehem, new Easter fire carried to, i. 130 n.
“Between the two Beltane fires,” i. 149
Beul, fire of, need-fire, i. 293
Bevan, Professor A. A., i. 83 n. 1
Beverley, on the initiatory rites of the Virginian Indians, ii. 266 sq.
Bewitched animals burnt alive, i. 300 sqq.;
buried alive, 324 sqq.
—— cow, mugwort applied to, ii. 59
—— things burnt to compel the witch to appear, i. 322
Bhils of India, torture of witches among the, ii. 159
Bhuiyars of Mirzapur, their dread of menstrual pollution, i. 84
Bhuiyas, a Dravidian tribe, fire-walk among the, ii. 5 sq.
Bhut, demon, ii. 312
Bidasari and the golden fish, Malay story of, ii. 147 sq., 220
Bilqula. See Bella Coola
Binbinga tribe of Northern Australia, their rites of initiation, ii. 234 sq.;
initiation of medicine-man in the, 239
Binding up a cleft stick or tree a mode of barricading the road against a ghostly pursuer, ii. 176
Bir, a tribal hero, ii. 6
Birch used to kindle need-fire, i. 291
—— and plane, fire made by the friction of, i. 220
——, branches of, on Midsummer Day, i. 177, 196;
a protection against witchcraft, ii. 185
—— trees set up at Midsummer, i. 177;
used to keep off witches, ii. 20 n.;
mistletoe on, 315
Bird, disease transferred to, ii. 187;
brings first fire to earth, 295
Bird-lime made from mistletoe, ii. 317
Birds, external souls in, ii. 104, 111, 119, 142, 144, 150;
carry seed of mistletoe, 316
Birseck, Lenten fires at, i. 119
Birth, the new, of novices at initiation, ii. 247, 251, 256, 257, 261
[pg 328]
Birth-names of Central American Indians, ii. 214 n. 1
—— -trees in Africa, ii. 160 sqq.;
in Europe, 165
Birthday of the Sun at the winter solstice, i. 246
Bisection of the year, Celtic, i. 223
Black Corrie of Ben Breck, the giant of, in an Argyleshire tale, ii. 129 sq.
—— Forest, Midsummer fires in the, i. 168
—— Isle, Ross-shire, i. 301
—— poplars, mistletoe on, ii. 316, 318 n. 6
—— spauld, a disease of cattle, cure for, i. 325
—— three-legged horse ridden by witches, ii. 74
Blackening girls at puberty, i. 41, 60
Blemishes, physical, transferred to witches, i. 160 n. 1
Blindness of Hother, ii. 279 n. 4
Block, the Yule, i. 247
Blocksberg, the resort of witches, i. 171;
the Mount of the Witches, ii. 74
Blood, girls at puberty forbidden to see, i. 46;
disastrous effect of seeing menstruous, 77;
drawn from women who do not menstruate, 81
—— -brotherhood between men and animals among the Fans, ii. 201, 226 n. 1
—— -covenant between men and animals, ii. 201, 214, 226 n. 1
——, human, used in rain-making ceremonies, ii. 232 sq.
——, menstruous, dread of, i. 76;
deemed fatal to cattle, 80;
miraculous virtue attributed to, 82 sq.;
medicinal application of, 98 n. 1
—— of St. John found on St. John's wort and other plants at Midsummer, ii. 56, 57
—— of sheep poured on image of god as a sin-offering, i. 82
Boa-constrictors, kings at death turn into, ii. 212 n.
Boas, Dr. Franz, on seclusion of Shuswap girls at puberty, i. 53;
on customs observed by mourners among the Bella Coola Indians, ii. 174;
on initiation into the wolf society of the Nootka Indians, 270 sq.;
on the relation between clans and secret societies, 273 n. 1
Boar's skin, shoes of, worn by a king at inauguration, i. 4
Boars, familiar spirits of wizards in, ii. 196 sq.;
lives of persons bound up with those of, 201, 203, 205;
external human souls in, 207
Bocage of Normandy, Midsummer fires in the, i. 185;
the Yule log in the, 252;
torchlight processions on Christmas Eve in the, 266
Body-without-soul in a Ligurian story, ii. 107;
in a German story, 116 sq.;
in a Breton story, 132 sq.;
in a Basque story, 139
Boeotian festival of the Great Daedala, ii. 77 n. 1
Bogota, rigorous training of the heir to the throne of, i. 19
Bohemia, water and fire consecrated at Easter in, i. 123 sq.;
bonfires on May Day in, 159;
Midsummer fires in, 173 sqq.;
need-fire in, 278 sq.;
charm to make corn grow high in, 340;
offering to water-spirits on Midsummer Eve in, ii. 28;
simples gathered on St. John's Night in, 49;
divination by means of flowers on Midsummer Eve in, 52 sq.;
mugwort at Midsummer in, 59;
elder-flowers gathered at Midsummer in, 64;
wild thyme gathered on Midsummer Day in, 64;
fern-seed at Midsummer in, 66;
“thunder besoms” in, 85;
fern-seed on St. John's Day in, 287, 288
Bohemian poachers, their use of vervain, ii. 62;
their use of seeds of fir-cones, 64
—— story of the external soul, ii. 110
Bohus, Midsummer fires in, i. 172
Boidès, bonfires, i. 111 n. 1
Boiling bewitched animal or part of it to compel witch to appear, i. 321 sq., 323
—— milk, omens drawn from, ii. 8
—— resin, ordeal of, i. 311
Boils, crawling under a bramble as a cure for, ii. 180
Bolivia, the Chiriguanos of, i. 56;
the Yuracares of, 57 sq.;
fires on St. John's Eve in, 213;
La Paz in, ii. 50
Boloki of the Upper Congo, birth-plants among the, ii. 161 sq.;
use of bull-roarers among the, 229 n.
Bondeis of German East Africa, rites of initiation among the, ii. 263 sq.
Bone used to point with in sorcery, i. 14;
incident of, in folk-tales, 73 n. 3;
of bird (eagle or swan), women at menstruation obliged to drink out of, 45, 48, 49, 50, 73 n. 3, 90, 92
Bones burnt in the Easter bonfires, i. 142;
burnt in Midsummer fires, 203
—— of dead husbands carried by their widows, i. 91 n. 4
Bonfire Day in County Leitrim, i. 203
Bonfires supposed to protect against conflagrations, i. 107, 108;
protect [pg 329] houses against lightning and conflagration, 344;
lit by the persons last married, 107, 109;
a protection against witchcraft, 108, 109, 154;
a protection against sickness, 108, 109;
a protection against sorcery, 156;
quickening and fertilizing influence of, 336 sqq.;
omens of marriage drawn from, 338 sq.;
protect fields against hail, 344;
at festivals in India, ii. 1 sqq.
See also Fires
Bonfires, Midsummer, intended to drive away dragons, i. 161;
protect cattle against witchcraft, 188;
thought to ensure good crops, 188, 336
Boniface, Archbishop of Mainz, i. 270
Bonnach stone in a Celtic story, ii. 126
Bordes, bonfires, i. 111 n. 1, 113
Borlase, William, on Midsummer fires in Cornwall, i. 199
Borneo, festivals in, i. 13;
seclusion of girls at puberty in, 35 sq.;
birth-custom in, ii. 154 sq.;
trees and plants as life-indices in, 164 sq.;
creeping through a cleft stick after a funeral in, 175 sq.;
giving the slip to an evil spirit in, 179 sq.
——, the Dyaks of, i. 5, ii. 222
——, the Kayans of, i. 4 sq.
Bororo of Brazil, their use of bull-roarers, ii. 230 n.
Borrow, witches come to, i. 322, 323, ii. 73
Bosnia, need-fire in, i. 286;
life-trees of children in, ii. 165
Bossuet, Bishop, on the Midsummer bonfires, i. 182
Bottesford, in Lincolnshire, mistletoe deemed a remedy for epilepsy at, ii. 83
Bottle, external soul of queen in a, ii. 138
Bougainville, use of bull-roarers in, ii. 229 n.
Bough, the Golden, ii. 279 sqq.;
and the priest of Aricia, i. 1;
a branch of mistletoe, ii. 284 sqq., 315 sqq.
See also Golden Bough
Boulia district of Queensland, i. 14
Bourbonnais, mistletoe a remedy for epilepsy in, ii. 83
Bourdifailles, bonfires, i. 111 n. 1
Bourke, Captain J. G., on the bull-roarer, ii. 231
Bowels, novice at initiation supplied by spirits with a new set of, ii. 235 sqq.
Bowes, in Yorkshire, need-fire at, i. 287
Box, external soul of king in a, ii. 102, 149;
external soul of cannibal in a, 117
Boxes or arks, sacred, i. 11 sq.
Box-tree, external soul of giant in a, ii. 133
Boxwood blessed on Palm Sunday, i. 184, ii. 47
Boy and girl produce need-fire by friction of wood, i. 281
Boys at initiation thought to be swallowed by wizards, ii. 233
Brabant, Midsummer fires in, i. 194;
St. Peter's bonfires in, 195;
wicker giants in, ii. 35
Bracelets as amulets, i. 92
Braemar Highlanders, their Hallowe'en fires, i. 233 sq.
Brahman, the Hindoo creator, i. 95
Brahman called “twice born,” ii. 276
—— boys forbidden to see the sun, i. 68 n. 2
—— student, his observances at end of his studentship, i. 20
Brahmanic ritual at inauguration of a king, i. 4
Bramble, crawling under a, as a cure for whooping-cough, etc., ii. 180
Brand, John, on the Yule log, i. 247, 255
Brandenburg, simples culled at Midsummer in, ii. 48
Brandons, the Sunday of the, i. 110;
torches carried about fields and streets, 111 n. 1
Brands of Midsummer fires a protection against lightning, conflagration, and spells, i. 183;
a protection against thunder, 191;
lighted, carried round cattle, 341
Braunrode in the Harz Mountains, Easter fires at, i. 142
Brazier, walking through a lighted, ii. 3 sqq.
Brazil, the Guaranis of, i. 56;
seclusion of girls at puberty among the Indians of, 56, 59 sq.;
the Uaupes of, 61;
ordeals undergone by young men among the Indians of, 62 sq.;
effigies of Judas burnt at Easter in, 128;
fires of St. John in, 213;
the Caripunas of, ii. 230;
the Bororo of, 230 n.;
the Nahuqua of, 230;
the Bakairi of, 231
Bread, reverence for, i. 13
Breadalbane, i. 149;
treatment of mad cow in, 326
Breadfruit-tree planted over navel-string of child, ii. 163
“Breath, scoring above the,” cutting a witch on the forehead, i. 315 n. 2
Breitenbrunn, the “Charcoal Man” at, ii. 26 n. 2
Brekinjska, in Slavonia, need-fire at, i. 282
Bresse, Midsummer bonfires in, i. 189
Brest, Midsummer fire-custom at, i. 184
[pg 330]
Breteuil, canton of, Midsummer fires in the, i. 187
Breton belief that women can be impregnated by the moon, i. 76
—— stories of the external soul, ii. 132 sq.
Brezina, in Slavonia, need-fire at, i. 282
Briar-thorn, divination by, i. 242
Bri-bri Indians of Costa Rica, seclusion of women at menstruation among the, i. 86
Bride not allowed to tread the earth, i. 5;
last married, made to leap over bonfire, ii. 22
—— and bridegroom, mock, at bonfires, i. 109 sq.
Bride, parish of, in the Isle of Man, i. 306, 307 n. 1
Bridegroom not to touch the ground with his feet, i. 5
Brie, Isle de France, effigy of giant burnt on Midsummer Eve at, ii. 38
Brihaspati, Hindoo deity, i. 99 n. 2
Briony, wreaths of, at Midsummer, i. 210
Brisbane River in Queensland, use of bull-roarers on the, ii. 233 sqq.
British Columbia, seclusion of girls at puberty among the Indians of, i. 46 sqq.;
dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the Indians of, 89 sq.;
the Kwakiutl of, ii. 186;
Koskimo Indians of, 229;
rites of initiation among the Indians of, 270 sqq.;
the Thompson Indians of, 297;
the Shuswap Indians of, 297 n. 3
Brittany, Midsummer fires in, i. 183 sqq.;
stones thrown into the Midsummer fires in, 240;
the Yule log in, 253;
mistletoe hung over doors of stables and byres in, ii. 287;
fern-seed used by treasure-seekers in, 288
Brochs, prehistoric ruins, i. 291
Brocken, in the Harz mountains, associated with witches, i. 160 n. 1, 171 n. 3
Broom, a protective against witchcraft, i. 210
“Brother” and “sister,” titles given by men and women to their sex totems, ii. 215, 216, 218
Brotherhood of the Green Wolf at Jumièges in Normandy, i. 185 sq.
Brothers, ancient Egyptian story of the Two, ii. 134 sqq.
Brown, Dr. George, quoted, i. 32 sqq.;
on external soul in Melanesia, ii. 199
Brughe, John, his cure for bewitched cattle, i. 324 sq.
Brund (or brand), the Christmas, the Yule log, i. 257
Brunswick, belief as to menstruous women in, i. 96;
Easter bonfires in, 140;
need-fire in, 277 sq.
Buchan, Hallowe'en fires in, i. 232 sq.
Bûche de Noël, the Yule log, i. 249
Buddha and the crocodile, Indian story, ii. 102 n. 4
Buffalo, external souls of a clan in a, ii. 151;
a Batta totem, 223
—— clan in Uganda, i. 3
Buffaloes, external human souls in, ii. 207, 208
Bühl, St. John's fires at, i. 168
Bukaua, the, of New Guinea, girls at puberty secluded among the, i. 35;
their rites of initiation, ii. 239 sqq.
Bu-ku-rú, ceremonial uncleanness, i. 65 n. 1, 86
Buléon, Mgr., quoted by Father H. Trilles, ii. 202 n. 1
Bulgaria, the Yule log in, i. 264 n. 1;
need-fire in, 281, 285;
simples and flowers culled on St. John's Day in, ii. 50;
creeping through an arch of vines as a cure in, 180;
creeping under the root of a willow as a cure for whooping-cough in, 180 sq.
——, Simeon, prince of, ii. 156 sq.
Bullet blessed by St. Hubert used to shoot witches with, i. 315 sq.
Bullock, bewitched, burnt to cause the witch to appear, i. 303
Bull-roarers swung, i. 133;
sounded at initiation of lads, ii. 227, 228 sqq., 233 sqq., 240, 241;
used as magical instruments to make rain, 230 sqq.;
sounded at festivals of the dead, 230 n.;
made from trees struck by lightning, 231;
sounded to make the wind blow, 232;
called “thunder and lightning,” 232;
sounded to promote the growth of the crops, 232;
originally magical instruments for making thunder, wind, and rain, 233;
not to be seen by women, 234, 235, 242;
called by name which means a ghost or spirit of the dead, 242;
called by the same name as the monster who swallows lads at initiation, 242;
kept in men's club-house, 242;
named after dead men, 242 n. 1
——, sound of, thought to resemble thunder, ii. 228 sqq.;
supposed to increase the food supply, 230;
supposed to be the voice of a spirit, 233, 234, 235
Burchard, Bishop of Worms, his condemnation of a heathen practice, ii. 191
Bures, bonfires, i. 110 n. 1, 111 n. 1
Burford, in Oxfordshire, Midsummer giant and dragon at, ii. 37
Burghead, the burning of the Clavie at, i. 266 sq.;
the old rampart at, 267 sq.
[pg 331]
Burgundy, Firebrand Sunday in, i. 114;
the Yule log in, 254
Burma, the Karens of, ii. 157
Burne, Miss F. C., and Jackson, Miss G. F., on the fear of witchcraft in Shropshire, i. 342 n. 4
Burning the witches on May Day, i. 157, 159, 160;
of effigies in the Midsummer fires, 195;
of the witches in the Hallowe'en fires, 232 sq.;
of the Clavie at Burghead, 266 sq.;
of a bewitched animal or part of it to cause the witch to appear, 303, 305, 307 sq., 321 sq.;
of human beings in the fires, ii. 21 sqq.;
of live animals at spring and Midsummer festivals, 38 sqq.;
the animals perhaps deemed embodiments of witches, 41 sq., 43 sq.;
of human victims annually, 286 n. 2
—— discs thrown into the air, i. 116 sq., 119, 143, 165, 166, 168 sq., 172
—— the Easter Man, i. 144
“—— the Old Wife (Old Woman),” i. 116, 120
“—— the Witches,” i. 116, 118 sq., 154;
a popular name for the fires of the festivals, ii. 43
—— wheels rolled down hill, i. 116, 117 sq., 119, 141, 143, 161, 162 sq., 163 sq., 166, 173, 174, 201, 328, 334, 337 sq.;
rolled over fields at Midsummer to fertilize them, 191, 340 sq.;
perhaps intended to burn witches, 345
Burns, Robert, i. 207;
on Hallowe'en, 234
Burnt sacrifices to stay cattle-plague in England, Wales, and Scotland, i. 300 sqq.
Burs, a preservative against witchcraft, i. 177
Burying bewitched animals alive, i. 324 sqq.
—— girls at puberty in the ground, i. 38 sqq.
Bushmen, their dread of menstruous women, i. 79;
their way of warming up the star Sirius, 332 sq.
Bushongo, royal persons among the, not allowed to set foot on the ground, i. 4;
use of bull-roarers among the, ii. 229;
rites of initiation among the, 264 sqq.
Butter thought to be improved by the Midsummer fires, i. 180;
bewitched, burnt at a cross-road, 322
“—— -churning,” Swiss expression for kindling a need-fire, i. 279
Byron, Lord, and the oak, ii. 166
Cabbages, divination by, at Hallowe'en, i. 242.
See also Kail
Caesar on the fortification walls of the Gauls, i. 267;
on human sacrifices among the Celts of Gaul, ii. 32
Caesarea. See Everek
Caffre villages, women's tracks at, i. 80
Caffres of South Africa, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 30;
use of bull-roarers among the, ii. 229 n., 232
Cages, girls at puberty confined in, i. 32 sqq., 44, 45
Cailleach beal-tine, the Beltane carline, i. 148
Cairnshee, in Kincardineshire, Midsummer fires on, i. 206
Caithness, need-fire in, i. 290 sqq.
Cake, St. Michael's, i. 149, 154 n. 3;
salt, divination by, 238 sq.;
the Yule or Christmas, 257, 259, 261
Cakes, Hallowe'en, i. 238, 241, 245;
Beltane, 148 sq., 150, 152, 153, 154, 155;
divination by, 242, 243
Calabar, soul of chief in sacred grove at, ii. 161;
negroes of, their belief in external or bush souls lodged in animals, 204 sqq., 220, 222 n. 5;
the fattening-house for girls in, 259
Calabria, holy water at Easter in, i. 123
Calamities, almost all, set down to witchcraft, ii. 19 sq.
Calendar, change in the Chinese, i. 137;
Mohammedan, 216 sq., 218 sq.;
the Julian, used by Mohammedans, 218 sq.;
the reform of, in relation to floral superstitions, ii. 55 n. 1
Calendars, conflict of, i. 218
Calendeau, calignau, the Yule-log, i. 250
Calf burnt alive to stop a murrain, i. 300 sq.
California, seclusion of girls at puberty among the Indians of, i. 41 sqq.;
ordeals among the Indians of, 64;
the Senal Indians of, ii. 295;
the Maidu Indians of, 295, 298
Callander, the parish of, Beltane fires in, i. 150 sqq.;
Hallowe'en fires in, 231
Calves burnt to stop disease in the herds, i. 301, 306
Calymnos, a Greek island, superstition as to menstruous women in, i. 96 sq.;
Midsummer fires in, 212
Cambodia, seclusion of girls at puberty in, i. 70;
ritual at cutting a parasitic orchid in, ii. 81
Cambodian or Siamese story of the external soul, ii. 102
Cambridgeshire, witch as cat in, i. 317
Cambus o' May, near Ballater, holed stone at, ii. 187
Cameroons, life of person bound up with tree in the, ii. 161;
theory of the external soul in, 200, 202 sq.
[pg 332]
Camomile (Anthemis nobilis) burnt in Midsummer fire, i. 213;
sacred to Balder, ii. 63;
gathered at Midsummer, 63
Campbell, Rev. J. G., on deiseal, i. 151 n.
Campbell, Rev. John, on Coranna customs, ii. 192, 192 n. 1
Campo di Giove, in the Abruzzi, Easter candles at, i. 122
Candle, the Easter or Paschal, i. 121, 122, 125;
divination by the flame of a, 229;
the Yule or Christmas, 255, 256, 260;
external soul in a, ii. 125 sq.
—— and apple, biting at, i. 241, 242, 243, 245
Candlemas in the Armenian church, bonfires at, i. 131;
the Yule log at, 256 n.
—— candles, i. 264 n. 4
Candles used to keep off witches, i. 245
Canopus and Sirius in Bushman lore, i. 333
Capart, Jean, on palettes found in Egyptian tombs, ii. 155 n. 3
Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, i. 37, 38
Caper-spurge (Euphorbia lathyris) identified with mythical springwort, ii. 69
Capital of column, external soul in, ii. 156 sq.
Capitol at Rome, the oak of Jupiter on the, ii. 89
Cappadocia, the fire-walk at Castabala in, ii. 14
Capri, feast of the Nativity of the Virgin in, i. 220 sq.
Capricorn, time when the sun enters the tropic of, ii. 1
Caps worn in mourning, i. 20
Cardiganshire, Hallowe'en in, i. 226
Caribs, their theory of the plurality of souls, ii. 221
Carinthia, new fire at Easter in, i. 124
Caripunas Indians of Brazil, use of bull-roarers among the, ii. 230 n.
Carmichael, Alexander, on need-fire, i. 293 sqq.;
on snake stones, ii. 311
Carn Brea, in Cornwall, Midsummer fires on, i. 199
Carnarvonshire, the cutty black sow in, i. 240
Carnival, effigy burnt at end of, i. 120;
wicker giants at the, ii. 35
Carnmoor, in Mull, need-fire kindled on, i. 289 sq.
Carnwarth, in Cornwall, Midsummer fires at, i. 199
Caroline Islands, traditionary origin of fire in the, ii. 295
Carpathian Mountains, Midsummer fires on the, i. 175;
need-fire in the, 281;
the Huzuls of the, ii. 49
Carrier Indians of North-Western America, funeral custom of the, i. 11;
their dread and seclusion of menstruous women, 91 sqq.;
their honorific totems, ii. 273 sqq.
Carver, Captain Jonathan, his description of the rite of death and resurrection, ii. 267 sq.
Casablanca, Midsummer fires at, i. 214
Cashmeer stories of the external soul, ii. 100 sq., 138 n. 1
Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior, the Three Holy Kings, ii. 68
Cassel, in France, wicker giants on Shrove Tuesday at, ii. 35
Cassowaries, men disguised as, in Duk-duk ceremonies, ii. 247
Castabala, in Cappadocia, the fire-walk at, ii. 14
Castiglione a Casauria, Midsummer customs at, i. 210
Castle Ditches, in the Vale of Glamorgan, bonfires at, i. 156
Castres, in Southern France, ii. 187
Cat, a representative of the devil, ii. 40;
story of a clan whose souls were all in one, 150 sq.;
a Batta totem, 223.
See also Cats
Caterpillars, bonfires as a protection against, i. 114
Catholic Church, its consecration of the Midsummer festival to St. John the Baptist, i. 181
Cato on a Roman cure for dislocation, ii. 177
Cats burnt in bonfires, i. 109, ii. 39 sq.;
perhaps burnt as witches, 41;
witches changed into, i. 315 n. 1, 317, 318, 319 sq., ii. 311 sq.
Cattle sacrificed at holy oak, i. 181;
protected against sorcery by sprigs of mullein, 190;
fire carried round, 201, 206;
driven out to pasture in spring and back in autumn, 223;
acquire the gift of speech on Christmas Eve, 254;
driven through the need-fire, 270 sqq.;
killed by fairy darts, 303;
lighted brands carried round, 341;
thought to benefit by festivals of fire, ii. 4, 7;
fumigated with smoke of Midsummer herbs, 53
—— and sheep driven through, round, or between bonfires, i. 108, 109, 141, 154, 157, 158, 159, 165, 175, 176, 179, 185, 188, 192, 202, 203, 204, 301, ii. 8, 9, 11 sq., 13
—— disease, the Midsummer fires a protection against, i. 176;
attributed to witchcraft, 302 sq., 343
[pg 333]
—— -plague, need-fire kindled as a remedy for, i. 270 sqq.;
sacrifice of an animal to stay a, 300 sqq.
—— -rearing tribes of South Africa, their dread of menstruous women, i. 79 sq.
Cave, initiation of medicine-men by spirits in a, ii. 237 sqq.
—— of Cruachan, the “Hell-gate of Ireland,” i. 226
Cedar-bark, red, used in ceremonies of a secret society, ii. 271
Celebes, Macassar in, i. 14;
souls of persons removed for safety from their bodies in, ii. 153 sq.
——, Central, the Toradjas of, i. 311 sqq.
——, Southern, birth-trees in, ii. 164
Celibacy of the Vestal Virgins, i. 138 n. 5
Celtic bisection of the year, i. 223
—— population, their superstition as to Snake Stones, i. 15
—— stories of the external soul, ii. 126 sqq.
Celts, their two great fire-festivals on the Eve of May Day and Hallowe'en, i. 222, 224;
the oak worshipped by the, ii. 89
——, the British, their chief fire-festivals, Beltane and Hallowe'en, ii. 40 sq.
—— of Brittany, their use of mistletoe, ii. 320
—— of Gaul, their human sacrifices, ii. 32 sq.;
the victims perhaps witches and wizards, 41 sq.;
W. Mannhardt's theory, 43
—— of Ireland, their new fire on Hallowe'en, i. 139
—— of northern Italy, ii. 320
Celts (prehistoric implements) called “thunderbolts,” i. 14 sq.
Central Provinces of India, cure for fever in the, ii. 190
Ceos, Greek island of, sick children passed through a cleft oak in, ii. 172
Ceram, seclusion of girls at puberty in, i. 36;
belief that strength of young people is in their hair in, ii. 158;
rites of initiation to the Kakian association in, 249 sqq.
Ceremony, magical, to ensure fertility of women, i. 23 sq., 31
Cetraro in Calabria, Easter custom at, i. 123
Ceylon, the king of, and his external soul, ii. 102
Chaco, the Gran, i. 58;
marriage custom of Indians of the, i. 75;
Indians of the, i. 98 n. 1
——, the Paraguayan, i. 56
Chadwick, Professor H. M., i. 103 n.
Chaka, Zulu king, ii. 212 n.
Chalk, white, bodies of newly initiated lads coated with, ii. 241
Chambers, E. K., on the Celtic bisection of the year, i. 223
“Charcoal Man” at Midsummer, ii. 26 n. 2
Charente Inférieure, department of, St. John's fires in the, i. 192
Chariot, patient drawn through the yoke of a, ii. 192
Chariots used by sacred persons, i. 4 n. 1
Charlemagne, i. 270
Chaste young men kindle need-fire, i. 273
Chastity associated with abstinence from salt, i. 27 sq.
Château-Tierry, Midsummer fires at, i. 187 sq.
Chatham Islands, birth-trees in the, ii. 165
Chavandes, bonfires, i. 109 n. 2
Cheadle, in Staffordshire, the Yule log at, i. 256
Cheese, the Beltane, kept as a charm against the bewitching of milk-produce, i. 154
Chêne-Doré, “the gilded oak,” in Perche, ii. 287 n. 1
Chepstow oak, in Gloucestershire, ii. 316
Cheremiss of the Volga, their Midsummer festival, i. 181
Cherokees, their sacred arks, i. 11 sq.;
their ideas as to trees struck by lightning, ii. 296 sq.
Cherry-tree wood used for Yule log, i. 250
—— -trees, torches thrown at, i. 108
Chervil-seed burnt in Midsummer fire, i. 213
Chesnitsa, Christmas cake, i. 261
Chester, Midsummer giants at, ii. 37
Chevannes, bonfires, i. 111 n. 1
Cheyenne Indians, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 54 sq.
—— women secluded at menstruation, i. 89
Chiaromonte, Midsummer custom at, i. 210
Chibisa, an African chief, ii. 314
Chicha, a native intoxicant, i. 57, 58
Chicory, the white flower of, opens all locks, ii. 71
Chief's daughter, ceremonies observed by her at puberty, i. 30, 43
Chikumbu, a Yao chief, ii. 314
Chilblains, the Yule log a preventive of, i. 250
Childbirth, customs observed by women after, i. 20
Childless couples leap over bonfires to procure offspring, i. 214, 338
[pg 334]
Childless women creep through a holed stone, ii. 187
Children live apart from their parents among the Baganda, i. 23 n. 2;
born feet foremost, curative power attributed to, 295;
passed across the Midsummer fires, 182, 189 sq., 192, 203;
passed through holes in ground or turf to cure them, ii. 190 sq.
Chillingworth, Thomas, passed through a cleft ash-tree for rupture, ii. 168 sq.
Chimney, witches fly up the, ii. 74
—— -piece, divination by names on, i. 237
China, were-wolves in, i. 310 sq.;
annual ceremony of the new fire in, 136 sq., ii. 3;
use of fire to bar ghosts in, 17 sq.;
spirits of plants in snake form in, 44 n. 1;
use of mugwort in, 60
Chinese festival of fire, ii. 3 sqq.;
story of the external soul, 145 sq.;
theories as to the human soul, 221
Chinook Indians, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 43
Chippeway Indians, their dread and seclusion of menstruous women, i. 90 sq.
Chiquites Indians of Paraguay, their theory of sickness, ii. 226 n. 1
Chirbury, in Shropshire, the Yule log at, i. 257
Chiriguanos of Bolivia, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 56
Choctaw women secluded at menstruation, i. 88
Chopping-knife, soul of woman in childbirth transferred for safety to a, ii. 153 sq.
Chota Nagpur, the fire-walk in, ii. 5
Chouquet, in Normandy, the Green Wolf at, i. 185
Christbrand, the Yule log, i. 248
Christenburg Crags, in Northumberland, Midsummer fires at, i. 198
Christian Church, its treatment of witches, ii. 42
Christklotz, the Yule log, i. 248
Christmas, an old pagan festival of the sun, i. 246, 331 sq.;
new fire made by the friction of wood at, 264;
mistletoe gathered at, ii. 291
—— cake, i. 257, 259, 261
—— candle, the, i. 255, 256, 260
—— Eve, cattle acquire the gift of speech on, i. 254;
trees fumigated with wild thyme on, ii. 64;
the fern blooms at, 66;
witches dreaded on, 73;
sick children passed through cleft trees on, 172
—— night, fern-seed blooms on, ii. 289
—— pig, i. 259
—— visiter, the, i. 261 sq., 263, 264
Church, the Christian, its treatment of witches, ii. 42
—— bells on Midsummer Eve, custom as to ringing, ii. 47 sq.;
rung to drive away witches, 73
Churches used as places of divination at Hallowe'en, i. 229
Churinga, sacred sticks and stones of the Arunta, ii. 218 n. 3, 234
Chu-Tu-shi, a Chinese were-tiger, i. 310 sq.
Ciotat, Midsummer rites of fire and water at, i. 194
Circumambulating fields with lighted torches, i. 233 sq.
Circumcision, custom at, among the Washamba, ii. 183;
of lads at initiation in Australia, 227 sq., 233, 234, 235;
in New Guinea, 240 sq.;
in Fiji, 243 sq.;
in Rook, 246;
custom of, on the Lower Congo, 251, 255 n. 1
Clach-nathrach, serpent stone, ii. 311
Clam shell, sacred, of the Omahas, i. 11
Clan of the Cat, ii. 150 sq.
Clappers, used instead of church bells in Holy Week, i. 125;
wooden, used in China, 137
Classificatory system of relationship, ii. 234 n. 1, 314 n. 4
Claudius, the emperor, i. 15
Clavie, the burning of the, at Burghead, i. 266 sq.
Clay plastered on girls at puberty, i. 31;
white, bodies of novices at initiation smeared with, ii. 255 n. 1, 259
Cleary, Bridget, burnt as a witch in Tipperary, i. 323 sq.
——, Michael, burns his wife as a witch, i. 323 sq.
Clee, in Lincolnshire, the Yule log at, i. 257
—— Hills, in Shropshire, fear of witchcraft in the, i. 342 n. 4
Cleft stick, passage through a, in connexion with puberty and circumcision, ii. 183 sq.
Climacteris scandens, women's “sister” among the Kulin, ii. 216
Clodd, Edward, on the external soul, ii. 96 n. 1
Clog, the Yule, i. 247
Clonmel, trial for witch-burning at, i. 324
Clover, four-leaved, a counter-charm for witchcraft, i. 316;
found at Midsummer, ii. 62 sq.
Clue of yarn, divination by a, i. 235, 240, 241, 243
Coal, magical, that turns to gold at Midsummer, ii. 60 sq.
Coast Murring tribe of New South Wales, the drama of resurrection exhibited to novices at initiation in the, ii. 235 sqq.
[pg 335]
Cobern, effigy burnt at, i. 120
Coblentz, i. 248
Coccus Polonica and St. John's blood, ii. 56
Cock, effigy of, in bonfire, i. iii;
a black, used as counter-charm to witchcraft, 321;
white, burnt in Midsummer bonfire, ii. 40;
external soul of ogre in a, 100;
killed on harvest-field, 280 n.;
red, killed to cure person struck by lightning, 298 n. 2
—— or hen, striking blindfold at a, ii. 279 n. 4
Cock's blood poured on divining-rod, ii. 282
Cockchafer, external soul in a golden, ii. 140
Cockchafers, witches as, i. 322
Coco-nut, soul of child deposited in a, i. 154 sq.
—— palm planted over navel-string and afterbirth of child, ii. 161, 163, compare 164;
attracts lightning, 299 n. 2
Codrington, Dr. R. H., on the Melanesian conception of the external soul, ii. 197 sq.
Coel Coeth, Hallowe'en bonfire, i. 239
Cohen, S. S., i. 128 n. 1
Coil, sick children passed through a, ii. 185 sq.
Cold food, festival of the, in China, i. 137
Cole, Lieut.-Colonel H. W. G., on a custom of the Lushais, ii. 185 sq.
Colic, popular remedies for, i. 17;
leaping over bonfires as a preventive of, 107, 195 sq., 344;
attributed to witchcraft, 344
Coll, the Hole Stone in the island of, ii. 187
Colleda, an old Servian goddess, i. 259
Cologne, St. John's fourteen Midsummer victims at, ii. 27
Colombia, the Goajiras of, i. 34 n. 1;
Guacheta in, 74
Combe d'Ain, i. 114
Comminges, Midsummer fires in, i. 192 sq.
Community, welfare of, bound up with the life of the divine king, i. 1 sq.;
purified in the persons of its representatives, ii. 24
Condé, in Normandy, i. 266
Conductivity, electric, of various kinds of wood, ii. 299 n. 2
Conflagrations, bonfires supposed to protect against, i. 107, 108, 140, 142, 344;
brands of Midsummer bonfires thought to be a protection against, 165, 174, 183, 188, 196;
the Yule log a protection against, 248 sq., 250, 255, 256, 258;
Midsummer flowers a protection against, ii. 48;
mountain arnica a protection against, 58;
oak-mistletoe a protection against, 85
Conflict of calendars, solar and lunar, i. 218
Congo, seclusion of girls at puberty on the Lower, i. 31;
birth-trees on the, 161 sq.;
theory of the external soul on the, ii. 200;
use of bull-roarers on the, 229
——, the French, the Fans of, ii. 161
——, the Lower, rites of initiation on the, ii. 251 sqq.
Connaught, Midsummer fires in, i. 203;
cave of Cruachan in, 226;
palace of the kings of, ii. 127
Connemara, Midsummer fires in, i. 203
Constance, the Lake of, ii. 26
Constantinople, column at, ii. 157
Consumption, ashes of the Midsummer fires a cure for, i. 194 sq.;
transferred to bird, ii. 187
Consumptive patients passed through holes in stones or rocks, ii. 186 sq.
Continence as preparation for walking through fire, ii. 3
Conty, Lenten fires at, i. 113
Conway, Professor R. S., on the etymology of Soranus, ii. 15 n. 1
Cook, A. B., on the oak of Errol, ii. 284 n. 1
Cook, menstruous women not allowed to, i. 80, 82, 84, 90
Copper needle, story of man who could only be killed by a, ii. 314
Corannas, a Hottentot people, children after an illness passed under an arch among the, ii. 192
Cords tied tightly round the bodies of girls at puberty, i. 92 n. 1
Corea, custom observed after childbirth by women in, i. 20;
use of torches to ensure good crops in, 340
Cormac, on Beltane fires, i. 157
Cor-mass, procession of wicker giants at Dunkirk, ii. 34
Corn, charm to make the corn grow tall, i. 18;
thrown on the man who brings in the Yule log, 260, 262, 264;
blazing besoms flung aloft to make the corn grow high, 340
—— -spirit in last standing corn, i. 12;
human representatives of, put to death, ii. 25;
in animal shape, 43
Cornel-tree wood used to kindle need-fire, i. 286
Cornwall, Snake Stones in, i. 15, 16 n. 1;
Midsummer fires in, 199 sq.;
burnt sacrifices to stay cattle-disease in, 300 sq.;
holed stone through which people used to creep in, ii. 187
Corpse, priest of Earth forbidden to see a, i. 4
[pg 336]
Corpus Christi Day, processions on, i. 165
Corrèze and Creuse, departments of, St. John's fires in the, i. 190
Corsica, Midsummer fires in, i. 209
Cos, effigies of Judas burnt at Easter in, i. 130;
Midsummer fires in, 212
Cosquin, E., on helpful animals and external souls in folk-tales, ii. 133 n. 1
Cosse de Nau, the Yule log, i. 251
Costa Rica, Indians of, their customs in fasts, i. 20;
ceremonial uncleanness among the, 65 n. 1;
the Bri-bri Indians of, 86;
the Guatusos of, ii. 230 n.
Coudreau, H., quoted, i. 63 sq.
Coulommiers, in France, notion as to mistletoe at, ii. 316 n. 1
Counter-charm for witchcraft, “scoring above the breath,” i. 316 n. 2
Couples married within the year obliged to dance by torchlight, i. 115, 339
Coventry, Midsummer giants at, ii. 37
Cows, witches steal milk from, i. 343;
mistletoe given to, ii. 86;
milked through a hole in a branch or a “witch's nest,” 185
Crackers burnt to frighten ghosts, ii. 17, 18
Cracow, Midsummer fires in the district of, i. 175
Cream, ceremony for thickening, i. 262
Creek Indians, their dread of menstruous women, i. 88
Creeping through a tunnel as a remedy for an epidemic, i. 283 sq.;
through cleft trees as cure for various maladies, ii. 170 sqq.;
through narrow openings in order to escape ghostly pursuers, 177 sqq.
Creuse and Corrèze, departments of, St. John's fires in the, i. 190
Criminals shorn to make them confess, ii. 158 sq.
Croatia, Midsummer fires in, i. 178
Croats of Istria, their belief as to the activity of witches on Midsummer Eve, ii. 75
Crocodile, a Batta totem, ii. 223
Crocodiles, fat of, i. 14;
lives of persons bound up with those of, ii. 201, 202, 206, 209;
external human souls in, 207, 209
Cronus, cakes offered to, i. 153 n. 3
Crops supposed to be spoiled by menstruous women, i. 79, 96;
leaping over bonfires to ensure good, 107;
Midsummer fires thought to ensure good, 188, 336;
torches swung by eunuchs to ensure good, 340;
bull-roarers sounded to promote the growth of the, ii. 232
Cross River natives, their lives bound up with those of certain animals, ii. 202 sq., 204
—— -roads, ceremonies at, i. 24;
witches at, 160 n. 1;
Midsummer fires lighted at, 172, 191;
divination at, 229;
bewitched things burnt at, 322
Crosses chalked up to protect houses and cattle-stalls against witches, i. 160 n. 1, ii. 74
Crow, hooded, sacrifice to, i. 152
Crowdie, a dish of milk and meal, i. 237
Crown or garland of flowers in Midsummer bonfire, i. 184, 185, 188, 192;
of Roses, festival of the, 195.
See also Flowers
Cruachan, the herdsman or king of, Argyleshire story of, ii. 127 sqq.;
in Connaught, the cave of, i. 226
Cryptocerus atratus, F., stinging ants, i. 62
Cuissard, Ch., on Midsummer fires, i. 182 sq.
Cumae, the Sibyl at, i. 99
Cumanus, inquisitor, ii. 158
Cumberland, Midsummer fires in, i. 197
Cups, special, used by girls at puberty, i. 50, 53
Curative powers ascribed to persons born feet foremost, i. 295
Cures, popular, prescribed by Marcellus of Bordeaux, i. 17
Cursing a mist in Switzerland, i. 280
Cuzco, ceremony of the new fire in, i. 132
Cycle of thirty years (Druidical), ii. 77
Cycles of sixty years (Boeotian, Indian, and Tibetan), ii. 77 n. 1
Cythnos, Greek island, sickly children pushed through a hole in a rock in, ii. 189
Czechs cull simples at Midsummer, ii. 49
Dacotas or Sioux, ritual of death and resurrection among the, ii. 268 sq.
Daedala, Boeotian festival of the Great, ii. 77 n. 1
Dairy, mistletoe used to make the dairy thrive, ii. 86
Daizan, king of Atrae, i. 83
Dalhousie Castle, the Edgewell Tree at, ii. 166
Dalmatia, the Yule log in, i. 263
Dalyell, J. G., on Beltane, i. 149 n. 1
Damun, in German New Guinea, ceremony of initiation at, ii. 193
Danae, the story of, i. 73 sq.
Dance at Sipi in Northern India, i. 12;
of young women at puberty, ii. 183;
in the grave at initiation, 237;
in honour of the big or grey wolf, 276 n. 2
[pg 337]
Dances of fasting men and women at festival, i. 8 sq.;
of Duk-duk society, 11;
of girls at puberty, 28, 29, 30, 37, 42, 50, 58, 59;
round bonfires, 108, 109, 110, 111, 114, 116, 120, 131, 142, 145, 148, 153 sq., 159, 166, 172, 173, 175, 178, 182, 183, 185, 187, 188, 189, 191, 193, 194, 195, 198, 246, ii. 2, 39;
masked, bull-roarers used at, 230 n.;
of novices at initiation, 258, 259
Dancing with the fairies at Hallowe'en, i. 227
Dandelions gathered at Midsummer, ii. 49
Danger apprehended from the sexual relation, ii. 277 sq.
Dangers thought to attend women at menstruation, i. 94
Danish stories of the external soul, ii. 120 sqq.
—— story of a girl who was forbidden to see the sun, i. 70 sqq.
Danserosse or danseresse, a stone, i. 110
Danube, worship of Grannus on the, i. 112
Danzig, the immortal lady of, i. 100
Daphne gnidium gathered at Midsummer, ii. 51
Dapper, O., on ritual of death and resurrection at initiation in the Belli-Paaro society, ii. 257 sqq.
Daramulun, a mythical being who instituted and superintends the initiation of lads in Australia, ii. 228, 233, 237;
his voice heard in the sound of the bull-roarer, 228.
See also Thrumalun and Thuremlin
“Darding Knife,” pretence of death and resurrection at initiation to the, ii. 274 sq.
Darling River, the Ualaroi of the, ii. 233
Darma Rajah, Hindoo god, ii. 6
Darowen, in Wales, Midsummer fires at, i. 201
Darwin, Charles, on the cooling of the sun, ii. 307
Darwin, Sir Francis, on the Golden Bough, ii. 318, 319 n. 3
Dashers of churns, witches ride on, ii. 73 sq.
Date of Chinese festival changed, i. 137
Dathi, king of Ireland, and his Druid, i. 228 sq.
Davies, J. Ceredig, as to witches in Wales, i. 321 n. 2
Dawn of the Day, prayers to the, i. 50 sq., 53;
prayer of adolescent girl to the, 98 n. 1
Dawson, James, on sex totems in Victoria, ii. 216
Dead, festival of the, i. 223 sq., 225 sq.;
souls of the, sit round the Midsummer fire, 183, 184;
sacrifice of reindeer to the, ii. 178;
incarnate in serpents, 211 sq.;
bull-roarers sounded at festivals of the, 230 n.;
first-fruits offered to the souls of the, 243
“Death, carrying out,” i. 119;
“the burying of,” 119;
effigies of, burnt in spring fires, ii. 21 sq.;
omens of, 54, 64;
customs observed by mourners after a death in order to escape from the ghost, 174 sqq.;
identified with the sun, 174 n. 1
Death and resurrection, ritual of, ii. 225 sqq.;
in Australia, 227 sqq.;
in New Guinea, 239 sqq.;
in Fiji, 243 sqq.;
in Rook, 246;
in New Britain, 246 sq.;
in Ceram, 249 sqq.;
in Africa, 251 sqq.;
in North America, 266 sqq.;
traces of it elsewhere, 276 sq.
Debregeasia velutina, used to kindle fire by friction, ii. 8
December, the last day of, Hogmanay, i. 266;
the twenty-first, St. Thomas's Day, 266
Decle, L., quoted, i. 4 n. 1
Dee, holed stone used by childless women in the Aberdeenshire, ii. 187
Deer and the family of Lachlin, superstition concerning, ii. 284
Deffingin, in Swabia, Midsummer bonfires at, i. 166 sq.
Dehon, P., on witches as cats among the Oraons, ii. 312
Deiseal, deisheal, dessil, the right-hand turn, in the Highlands of Scotland, i. 150 n. 1, 154
Delagoa Bay, the Thonga of, i. 29
Delaware Indians, seclusion of girls at puberty among the, i. 54
Delivery, charms to ensure women an easy, i. 49, 50 sq., 52;
women creep through a rifted rock to obtain an easy, ii. 189
Delmenhorst, in Oldenburg, Easter fires at, i. 142
Delos, new fire brought from, i. 136
Delphi, perpetual fire at, ii. 91 n. 7;
the picture of Orpheus at, 294;
Stheni, near, 317
Demeter, the torches of, i. 340 n. 1;
serpents in the worship of, ii. 44 n.
Demnat, in the Atlas, New Year rites at, i. 217, 218
Demon supposed to attack girls at puberty, i. 67 sq.;
festival of fire instituted to ban a, ii. 3
Demons attack women at puberty and childbirth, i. 24 n. 2;
expelled at the New Year, 134 sq.;
abroad on Midsummer Eve, 172;
ashes of holy [pg 338] fires a protection against, ii. 8, 17;
vervain a protection against, 62;
guard treasures, 65.
See also Evil Spirits
Déné or Tinneh Indians, their dread and seclusion of menstruous women, i. 91 sqq.;
the Western, tattooing among the, 98 n. 1
See also Tinneh
Denham Tracts, on need-fire in Yorkshire, i. 287 sq.
Denmark, fires on St. John's Eve in, i. 171;
passing sick children through a hole in the ground in, 190, 191;
children passed through a cleft oak as a cure for rupture or rickets in, ii. 170, 172
Dessil. See Deiseal
Deux-Sèvres, department of, Midsummer fires in the, i. 191;
fires on All Saints' Day in the, 245 sq.
Devil, the, seen on Midsummer Eve, i. 208
Devil's bit, St. John's wort, ii. 55 n. 2
Devils, ghosts, and hobgoblins abroad on Midsummer Eve, i. 202
Devonshire, need-fire in, i. 288;
animals burnt alive as a sacrifice in, 302;
belief in witchcraft in, 302;
crawling under a bramble as a cure for whooping-cough in, ii. 180
Dew, rolling in the, at Midsummer, i. 208, with n. 1;
at Midsummer a protection against witchcraft, ii. 74
Diana and Juno, ii. 302 n. 2
Diana, priest of, at Nemi, ii. 315
Diana's Mirror, the Lake of Nemi, ii. 303
Dieri of Central Australia, their dread of women at menstruation, i. 77;
use of bull-roarers among the, ii. 229 sq., 232;
bleed themselves to make rain, 232
Dijon, Lenten fires at, i, 114
Dingle, church of St. Brandon near, ii. 190
Diodorus Siculus, on the human sacrifices of the Celts, ii. 32
Dioscorides on mistletoe, ii. 318 n. 1
Dipping for apples at Hallowe'en, i. 237, 239, 241, 242, 245
Discs, burning, thrown into the air, i. 116 sq., 119, 143, 165, 166, 168 sq., 172, 328, 334;
burning, perhaps directed at witches, 345
Disease, walking through fire as a remedy for, ii. 7;
conceived as something physical that can be stripped off the patient and left behind, 172
Diseases of cattle ascribed to witchcraft, i. 343
Dish, external soul of warlock in a, ii. 141
Dishes, special, used by girls at puberty, i. 47, 49
Dislocation, Roman cure for, ii. 177
Divination on St. John's Night (Midsummer Eve), i. 173, ii. 46 n. 3, 50, 52 sqq., 61, 64, 67 sqq.;
at Midsummer in Spain and the Azores, i. 208 sq.;
at Hallowe'en, 225, 228 sqq.;
by stones at Hallowe'en fires, 230 sq., 239, 240;
by stolen kail, 234 sq., 241;
by clue of yarn, 235, 240, 241, 243;
by hemp seed, 235, 241, 245;
by winnowing-basket, 236;
by thrown shoe, 236;
by wet shirt, 236, 241;
by white of eggs, 236 sq., 238;
by apples in water, 237;
by a ring, 237;
by names on chimney-piece, 237;
by three plates or basins, 237 sq., 240, 244;
by nuts in fire, 237, 239, 241, 242, 245;
by salt cake, or salt herring, 238 sq.;
by the sliced apple, 238;
by eavesdropping, 238, 243, 244;
by knife, 241;
by briar-thorn, 242;
by melted lead, 242;
by cabbages, 242;
by cake at Hallowe'en, 242, 243;
by ashes, 243, 244, 245;
by salt, 244;
by raking a rick, 247;
magic dwindles into, 336.
See also Divining-rod
Divine personages not allowed to touch the ground with their feet, i. 2 sqq.;
not allowed to see the sun, 18 sqq.;
suspended for safety between heaven and earth, 98 sq.
Divining-rod cut on Midsummer Eve, ii. 67 sqq.;
made of hazel, 67 sq., 291 n. 3;
made of mistletoe in Sweden, 69, 291;
made of four sorts of wood, 69;
made of willow, 69 n.;
made out of a parasitic rowan, 281 sq.
Divisibility of life, doctrine of the, ii. 221
Dobischwald, in Silesia, need-fire at, i. 278
Dodona, Zeus and his sacred oak at, ii. 49 sq.
Dog not allowed to enter priest's house, i. 4;
beaten to ensure woman's fertility, 69;
charm against the bite of a mad, ii. 56;
a Batta totem, 223
—— Star, or Sirius, supposed by the ancients to cause the heat of summer, i. 332
Dolac, need-fire at, i. 286
Dolmen, sick children passed through a hole in a, ii. 188
Dommartin, Lenten fires at, i. 109
Door, separate, for girls at puberty, i. 43, 44
Doorie, hill of, at Burghead, i. 267
Doors, separate, used by menstruous women, i. 84
Doorway, creeping through narrow opening in, as a cure, ii. 181 sq.
[pg 339]
Dosadhs, an Indian caste, the fire-walk among the, ii. 5
Dosuma, king of, not allowed to touch the ground, i. 3
Douay, procession of the giants at, ii. 33 sq.
Double-axe, Midsummer king of the, i. 194
Dourgne, in Southern France, crawling through holed stones near, ii. 187 sq.
Dove, the ceremony of the fiery, at Easter in Florence, i. 126;
a Batta totem, ii. 223
Doves, external soul of magicians in, ii. 104;
Aeneas led by doves to the Golden Bough, 285, 316 n. 1
Dragon at Midsummer, effigy of, ii. 37;
external soul of a queen in a, 105;
of the water-mill, Servian story of the, 111 sqq.
Dragons driven away by smoke of Midsummer bonfires, i. 161;
St. Peter's fires lighted to drive away, 195
Draguignan, in the department of Var, Midsummer fires at, i. 193
Draupadi, the heroine of the Mahabharata, ii. 7
Dread and seclusion of menstruous women, i. 76 sqq.;
dread of witchcraft in Europe, 342
Dream, guardian spirit or animal acquired in a, ii. 256 sq.
Dreaming on flowers on Midsummer Eve, i. 175
Dreams, oracular, i. 238, 242;
of love on Midsummer Eve, ii. 52, 54;
prophetic, on the bloom of the oak, 292;
prophetic, on mistletoe, 293
Driving away the witches on Walpurgis Night, i. 160;
at Midsummer, 170, 171
Drobede (Draupadi), the heroine of the epic Mahabharata, ii. 7
Drömling district, in Hanover, need-fire in, i. 277
Drought attributed to misconduct of young girls, i. 31
Druid, etymology of the word, i. 76 n. 1
Druidical custom of burning live animals, ii. 38;
the animals perhaps deemed embodiments of witches, 41 sq., 43 sq.;
festivals, so-called, of the Scotch Highlanders, i. 147, 206
—— sacrifices, W. Mannhardt's theory of the, ii. 43
Druidism, so-called, remains of, i. 233, 241;
and the Christian Church in relation to witchcraft, ii. 42
Druid's Glass, the, i. 16; prediction, the, 229
Druids' Hill, the, i. 229
Druids, their superstition as to “serpents' eggs,” i. 15;
their human sacrifices, ii. 32 sq.;
in relation to the Midsummer festival, 33 sqq., 45;
their worship of the mistletoe and the oak, 76 sq., 301;
their cycle of thirty years, 77;
catch the mistletoe in a white cloth, 293
—— of Ireland, i. 157
Drynemetum, “the temple of the oak,” ii. 89
Duck baked alive as a sacrifice in Suffolk, i. 304
Duck's egg, external soul in a, ii. 109 sq., 115 sq., 116, 119 sq., 120, 126, 130, 132
Duk-duk, secret society of New Britain, i. 11, ii. 246 sq.
Duke of York Island, ii. 199 n. 2;
Duk-duk society in, 247;
exogamous classes in, 248 n.
Duke Town, on the Calabar River, ii. 209
Dukkala, New Year customs in, i. 218
Dumbartonshire, Hallowe'en in, i. 237 n. 5
Dunbeath, in Caithness, i. 291
Dunkeld, i. 232
Dunkirk, procession of giants on Midsummer Day at, ii. 34 sq.
Durandus, G. (W. Durantis), his Rationale Divinorum Officiorum, i. 161
Durham, Easter candle in the cathedral of, i. 122 n.
Durris, parish of, Kincardineshire, Midsummer fires in the, i. 206 sq.
Dusk of the Evening, prayers to the, i. 53
Düsseldorf, Shrove Tuesday custom in the district of, i. 120
Dutch names for mistletoe, ii. 319 n. 1
Dwarf-elder at Midsummer detects witchcraft, ii. 64
Dyaks of Borneo, trees and plants as life indices among the, ii. 164 sq.;
their doctrine of the plurality of souls, 222;
of Landak and Tajan, marriage custom of the, i. 5;
birth-trees among the, ii. 164;
of Pinoeh, their custom at a birth, ii. 154 sq.
Eagle, sacrifice to, i. 152
—— bone, used to drink out of, i. 45
—— clan, ii. 271, 272 n. 1
—— -hawk, external soul of medicine-man in, ii. 199
—— -spirits and buried treasures, i. 218
Earth, taboos observed by the priest of, in Southern Nigeria, i. 4;
prayers to, 50;
and heaven, between, 1 sqq.
Easter, fern-seed blooms at, ii. 292 n. 2
—— candle, i. 121, 122, 125
[pg 340]
—— ceremonies in the New World, i. 127 sq.
—— eggs, i. 108, 143, 144
—— Eve, new fire on, i. 121, 124, 126, 158;
the fern blooms at, ii. 66
—— fires, i. 120 sqq.
—— Man, burning the, i. 144
—— Monday, fire-custom on, i. 143
—— Mountains, bonfires on, i. 140, 141
—— Saturday, new fire on, i. 121, 122, 124, 127, 128, 130;
the divining-rod baptized on, ii. 69
—— Sunday, red eggs on, i. 122
Eavesdropping, divination by, i. 238, 243, 244
Echternach in Luxemburg, Lenten fire-custom at, i. 116
Eclipses attributed to monster biting the sun or moon, i. 70;
air thought to be poisoned at, 162 n.;
thought to be caused by a monster attacking the luminary, 162 n.
Edda, the prose, story of Balder in, i. 101;
the poetic, story of Balder in, 102
Eddesse, in Hanover, need-fire at, i. 275 sq.
Edersleben, Midsummer fire-custom at, i. 169
Edgewell Tree, oak at castle of Dalhousie, ii. 166, 284
Effect, supposed, of killing a totem animal, ii. 220
Effigies burnt in bonfires, i. 106, 107, 116, 118 sq., 119 sq., 121, 122, 159, 167;
of Judas burnt at Easter, 121, 127 sq., 130 sq.;
burnt in the Midsummer fires, 172 sq., 195;
of witches burnt in the fires, 342, ii. 19, 43;
of human beings burnt in the fires, 21 sqq.;
of giants burnt in the summer fires, 38
Effigy of absent friend cut in a tree, ii. 159 sq.
Efik, a tribe of Calabar, their belief in external or bush souls, ii. 206
Egede, Hans, on impregnation by the moon, i. 76
Egg broken in water, divination by means of, i. 208 sq.
Eggs, charm to ensure plenty of, i. 112, 338;
begged for at Midsummer, 169;
divination by white of, 236 sq., 238;
external souls of fairy beings in, ii. 106 sqq., 110, 125, 132 sq., 140 sq.
——, Easter, i. 108, 122, 143, 144
Egypt, the Flight into, ii. 69 n.;
deified kings of, their souls deposited during life in portrait statues, 157
Egyptian, ancient, story of the external soul, ii. 134 sqq.
—— doctrine of the ka or external soul, ii. 157 n. 2
—— tombs, plaques or palettes of schist in, ii. 155
Egyptians, human sacrifices among the, ii. 286 n. 2
Eifel Mountains, Lenten fires in the, i. 115 sq., 336 sq.;
Cobern in the, 120;
St. John's fires in the, 169;
the Yule log in the, 248;
Midsummer flowers in the, ii. 48
Eighty-one (nine times nine), men make need-fire, i. 289, 294, 295
Eket, in North Calabar, ii. 209
Ekoi, a tribe of Calabar, their belief in external or bush souls, ii. 206 sqq.
Elangela, external soul in Fan language, ii. 201, 226 n. 1
Elbe, the river, dangerous on Midsummer Day, ii. 26
Elder-flowers gathered at Midsummer, ii. 64
Elecampane in a popular remedy, i. 17
Electric conductivity of various kinds of wood, ii. 299 n. 2
Elephant hunters, custom of, i. 5
Elephants, lives of persons bound up with those of, ii. 202, 203;
external human souls in, 207
Elgin, medical use of mistletoe in, ii. 84
Elk clan of the Omaha Indians, i. 11
Elm wood used to kindle need-fire, i. 299
Embers of bonfires planted in fields, i. 117, 121;
stuck in cabbage gardens, 174, 175;
promote growth of crops, 337.
See also Ashes and Sticks, charred
—— of Midsummer fires a protection against conflagration, i. 188;
a protection against lightning, 190
Emily plain of Central Australia, ii. 238
Emmenthal, in Switzerland, superstition as to Midsummer Day in the, ii. 27;
use of orpine at Midsummer in the, 62 n.
Emu fat not allowed to touch the ground, i. 13
—— -wren, called men's “brother” among the Kurnai, ii. 215 n. 1, 216, 218
Encounter Bay tribe in South Australia, their dread of women at menstruation, i. 76
Energy, sanctity and uncleanness, different forms of the same mysterious, i. 97 sq.
England, belief as to menstruous women in, i. 96 n. 1;
Midsummer fires in, 196 sqq.;
the Yule log in, 255 sqq.;
the need-fire in, 286 sqq.;
Midsummer giants in, ii. 36 sqq.;
divination by orpine at Midsummer in, 61;
fern-seed [pg 341] at Midsummer in, 65;
the north of, mistletoe used to make the dairy thrive in, 85 sq.;
birth-trees in, 165;
children passed through cleft ash-trees as a cure for rupture or rickets in, 168 sqq.;
oak-mistletoe in, 316
English cure for whooping-cough, rheumatism, and boils, ii. 180
Ensival, bonfires at, i. 108
Entrails, external soul in, ii. 146 sq., 152
Epic of Kings, Firdusi's, i. 104
Epidemic, creeping through a tunnel as a remedy for an, i. 283 sq.
Epilepsy, yellow mullein a protection against, ii. 63;
mistletoe a cure for, 78, 83, 84
Épinal, Lenten fires at, i. 109
Eriskay, fairies at Hallowe'en in, i. 226;
salt cake at Hallowe'en in, 238 sq.
Errol, the Hays of, their fate bound up with oak-mistletoe, ii. 283 sq.
Escouvion or Scouvion, the Great and the Little, i. 108
Esquimaux, their superstition as to various meats, i. 13 sq.;
seclusion of girls at puberty among the, 55;
ceremony of the new fire among the, 134;
their custom at eclipses, 162 n.
—— of Alaska, child's soul deposited in a bag among the, ii. 155
—— of Bering Strait, their belief as to menstruous women, i. 91
Esthonia, bathing at Midsummer in, ii. 29;
flowers gathered for divination and magic at Midsummer in, 53 sq.
Esthonians, Midsummer fires among the, i. 179 sq.;
of Oesel cull St. John's herbs on St. John's Day, ii. 49
Eteobutads as umbrella-bearers at the festival of Scira, i. 20 n. 1
Eton, Midsummer fires at, i. 197
Eunuchs perform a ceremony for the fertility of the fields, i. 340
Euphorbia lathyris, caper-spurge, ii. 69
Euripides, his play on Meleager, ii. 103 n. 2
Europe, superstitions as to menstruous women in, i. 96 sq.;
the fire-festivals of, 106 sqq.;
great dread of witchcraft in, 342;
birth-trees in, ii. 165;
belief in, that strength of witches and wizards is in their hair, 158
Eurydice, Orpheus and, ii. 294
Eve of Samhain (Hallowe'en) in Ireland, i. 139
Everek (Caesarea), in Asia Minor, creeping through a rifted rock at, ii. 189
Evil eye, protection against, i. 17
—— spirit, mode of cure for possession by an, ii. 186
Evil spirits driven away at the New Year, i. 134 sq.;
kept off by fire, 282, 285 sq.;
St. John's herbs a protection against, ii. 49;
kept off by flowers gathered at Midsummer, 53 sq.;
creeping through cleft trees to escape the pursuit of, 173 sqq.
See also Demons
Ewe negroes, their dread of menstruous women, i. 82
Exogamous classes in Duke of York island, ii. 248 n.
Exorcizing vermin with torches, i. 340
Exorcism of evil spirits, i. 5;
and ordeals, 66;
at Easter, 123;
use of St. John's wort in, ii. 55;
use of mugwort in, 60;
by vervain, 62 n. 4
Expulsion of demons, annual, i. 135
External soul in folk-tales, ii. 95 sqq.;
in folk-custom, 153 sqq.;
in inanimate things, 153 sqq.;
in plants, 159 sqq.;
in animals, 196 sqq.;
kept in totem, 220 sqq.
See also Souls, External
Extinction of common fires before the kindling of the need-fire, i. 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277 sq., 279, 283, 285, 288, 289, 289 sq., 291, 291 sq., 292, 294, 297, 298 sq.;
ceremonial, of fires, ii. 297 sq.
Eye, the evil, cast on cattle, i. 302, 303;
oleander a protection against the, ii. 51
Eyes, looking through flowers at the Midsummer fire, thought to be good for the, i. 162, 163, 165 sq., 171, 174 sq., 344;
ashes or smoke of Midsummer fire supposed to benefit the, 214 sq.;
sore, attributed to witchcraft, 344;
mugwort a protection against sore, ii. 59;
of newly initiated lads closed, 241
Eyre, E. J., on menstruous women in Australia, i. 77
“Faery dairts” thought to kill cattle, i. 303
Failles, bonfires, i. 111 n. 1
Fair, great, at Uisnech in County Meath, i. 158
Fairies let loose at Hallowe'en, i. 224 sqq.;
carry off men's wives, 227;
at Hallowe'en, dancing with the, 227;
thought to kill cattle by their darts, 303;
active on Hallowe'en and May Day, ii. 184 n. 4, 185
Fairy changelings, i. 151 n.;
mistletoe a protection against, ii. 283
Falcon stone, at Errol, in Perthshire, ii. 283
Falkenstein chapel of St. Wolfgang, creeping through a rifted rock near the, ii. 189
Falling sickness, mistletoe a remedy for, ii. 83, 84
[pg 342]
Famenne in Namur, Lenten fires in, i. 108
Familiar spirits of wizards in boars, ii. 196 sq.
Fans of the French Congo, birth-trees among the, ii. 161
—— of the Gaboon, their theory of the external soul, ii. 200 sqq., 226 n. 1;
guardian spirits acquired in dreams among the, 257
—— of West Africa, custom at end of mourning among the, ii. 18
Fast at puberty, ii. 222 n. 5
Fasting of girls at puberty, i. 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 66;
of women at menstruation, 93, 94;
as preparation for gathering magical plants, ii. 45, 55 n. 1, 58
—— men and women at a dancing festival, i. 8 sqq.
Fasts imposed on heirs to thrones in South America, i. 19;
rules observed in, 20
Fat of emu not allowed to touch the ground, i. 13;
of crocodiles and snakes as unguent, 14
Fattening-house for girls in Calabar, ii. 259
Feast of Florus and Lauras on August 18th, i. 220;
of the Nativity of the Virgin, 220 sq.;
of All Souls, 223 sq., 225 n. 3
Fechenots, fechenottes, Valentines, i. 110
Feet foremost, children born, curative power attributed to, i. 295
Fen-hall, i. 102
Ferintosh district, in Scotland, i. 227
Fern in a popular remedy, i. 17;
the male (Aspidium filix mas), superstitions as 10, ii. 66 sq.
—— owl or goatsucker, sex totem of women, ii. 217
—— -seed gathered on Midsummer Eve, magical properties ascribed to, ii. 65 sqq.;
blooms on Midsummer Eve, 287;
blooms on Christmas Night, 288 sq.;
reveals treasures in the earth, 287 sqq.;
brought by Satan on Christmas night, 289;
gathered at the solstices, Midsummer Eve and Christmas, 290 sq.;
procured by shooting at the sun on Midsummer Day, 291;
blooms at Easter, 292 n. 2
Feronia, Italian goddess, ii. 14
Ferrara, synod of, denounces practice of gathering fern-seed, ii. 66 n.
Fertility of women, magical ceremony to ensure, i. 23 sq., 31;
of fields, processions with lighted torches to ensure the, 233 sq.;
of the land supposed to depend on the number of human beings sacrificed, ii. 32, 33, 42 sq.
Fertilization of mango trees, ceremony for the, i. 10
Fertilizing fields with ashes of Midsummer fires, i. 170
Festival of the cold food in China, i. 137;
Chinese, shifted in the calendar, 137;
of the Cross on August 1st, 220;
of the Dead, 223 sq., 225 sq.
Fetish, the great, in West Africa, ii. 256
Fever, leaping over the Midsummer bonfires as a preventive of, i. 166, 173, 194;
Midsummer fires a protection against, 190;
need-fire kindled to prevent, 297;
cure for, in India, ii. 190
Fey, devoted, i. 231
Fez, Midsummer custom at, i. 216, ii. 31
Field-mice, burning torches as a protection against, i. 114, 115
—— and moles driven away by torches, ii. 340
Fields, cultivated, menstruous women not allowed to enter, i. 79;
protected against insects by menstruous women, 98 n. 1;
processions with torches through, 107 sq., 110 sqq., 113 sqq., 179, 339 sq.;
protected against witches, 121;
made fruitful by bonfires, 140;
fertilized by ashes of Midsummer fires, 170;
fertilized by burning wheel rolled over them, 191, 340 sq.;
protected against hail by bonfires, 344
Fig-trees, charm to benefit, i. 18; sacred among the Fans, ii. 161
Fights between men and women about their sex totems, ii. 215, 217
Figo, bonfire, i. 111
Fiji, brides tattooed in, i. 34 n. 1;
the fire-walk in, ii. 10 sq.;
birth-trees in, 163;
the drama of death and resurrection exhibited to novices at initiation in, 243 sqq.
Filey, in Yorkshire, the Yule log and candle at, i. 256
Finchra, mountain in Rum, ii. 284
Fingan Eve in the Isle of Man, i. 266
Finistère, bonfires on St. John's Day in, i. 183
Finland, Midsummer fires in, i. 180 sq.;
fir-tree as life-index in, ii. 165 sq.
Finsch Harbour in German New Guinea, ii. 239
Fir-branches, prayers to, i. 51;
at Midsummer, 177;
Midsummer mummers clad in, ii. 25 sq.
—— -cones, seeds of, gathered on St. John's Day, ii. 64
—— -tree as life-index, ii. 165 sq.;
mistletoe on fir-trees, 315, 316
—— -wood used to kindle need-fire, i. 278, 282
—— or beech used to make the Yule log, i. 249
[pg 343]
Firdusi's Epic of Kings, i. 104
Fire, girls at puberty forbidden to see or go near, i. 29, 45, 46;
menstruous women not allowed to touch or see, 84, 85;
extinguished at menstruation, 87;
in fire-festivals, different possible explanations of its use, 112 sq.;
made by flints or by flint and steel, 121, 124, 126, 127, 145, 146, 159;
made by a burning-glass, 121, 127;
made by a metal mirror, 132, 137, 138 n. 5;
made by the friction of wood, 132, 133, 135, 136, 137, 138, 144 sq., 148, 155, 169 sq., 175, 177, 179, 220, 264, 270 sqq., 335 sq., ii. 8, 90, 295;
not to be blown up with breath, i. 133;
year called a fire, 137;
thought to grow weak with age, 137;
pretence of throwing a man into, 148, 186, ii. 25;
carried round houses, corn, cattle, and women after child-bearing, 151 n.;
used to drive away witches and demons at Midsummer, 170;
as a protection against evil spirits, 282, 285 sq.;
made by means of a wheel, 335 sq., ii. 91;
as a destructive and purificatory agent, i. 341;
used as a charm to produce sunshine, 341 sq.;
employed as a barrier against ghosts, ii. 17 sqq.;
as a purificatory agency, 19;
used to burn or ban witches, 19 sq.;
extinguished by mistletoe, 78, 84 sq., 293;
of oak-wood used to detect a murderer, 92 n. 4;
life of man bound up with a, 157;
perpetual, of oak-wood, 285 sq.;
conceived by savages as a property stored like sap in trees, 295;
primitive ideas as to the origin of, 295 sq.
——, living, made by friction of wood, i. 220
——, new, kindled on Easter Saturday, i. 121 sqq.;
festivals of new, 131 sqq.;
made by the friction of wood at Christmas, 264
“—— of heaven,” term applied to Midsummer bonfire, i. 334, 335
—— -drill used to kindle need-fire, i. 292
Fire-festivals of Europe, i. 106 sqq.;
interpretation of the, 328 sqq., ii. 15 sqq.;
at the solstices, i. 331 sq.;
solar theory of the, 331 sqq.;
purificatory theory of the, 341 sqq.;
regarded as a protection against witchcraft, 342;
the purificatory theory of the, more probable than the solar theory, 346;
elsewhere than in Europe, ii. 1 sqq.;
in India, 1 sqq., 5 sqq.;
in China, 3 sqq.;
in Japan, 9 sq.;
in Fiji, 10 sq.;
in Tahiti, the Marquesas Islands, and Trinidad, 11;
in Africa, 11 sqq.;
in classical antiquity in Cappadocia and Italy, 14 sq.;
their relation to Druidism, 33 sqq., 45
Fire-god, Armenian, i. 131 n. 3;
of the Iroquois, prayers to the, 299 sq.
—— -walk, the, ii. 1 sqq.;
a remedy for disease, 7;
the meaning of the, 15 sqq.
Firebrand, external soul of Meleager in a, ii. 103
Firebrands, the Sunday of the, i. 110, 114
Fires extinguished as preliminary to obtaining new fire, i. 5;
annually extinguished and relit, 132 sqq.;
to burn the witches on the Eve of May Day (Walpurgis Night), 159 sq.;
autumn, 220 sqq.;
the need-fire, 269 sqq.;
extinguished before the lighting of the need-fire, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277 sq., 279, 283, 285, 288, 289 sq., 291, 291 sq., 292, 294, 297, 298 sq.;
of the fire-festivals explained as sun-charms, 329, 331 sqq.;
explained as purificatory, 329 sq., 341 sqq.;
the burning of human beings in the, ii. 21 sqq.;
perpetual, fed with oak-wood, 91;
with pinewood, 91 n. 7;
the solstitial, perhaps sun-charms, 292;
extinguished and relighted from a flame kindled by lightning, 297 sq.
See also Fire, Bonfires
——, the Beltane, i. 146 sqq.
——, the Easter, i. 120 sqq.
——, Hallowe'en, i. 222 sq., 230 sqq.
——, the Lenten, i. 106 sqq.
——, Midsummer, i. 160 sqq.;
a protection against witches, 180;
supposed to stop rain, 188, 336;
supposed to be a preventive of backache in reaping, 189, 344 sq.;
a protection against fever, 190
——, Midwinter, i. 246 sqq.
—— of St. John in France, i. 183, 188, 189, 190, 192, 193
—— on the Eve of Twelfth Day, i. 107
First-born lamb, wool of, used as cure for colic, i. 17
—— sons make need-fire, i. 294;
special magical virtue attributed to, 295
First-fruits offered to the souls of the dead, ii. 243
Fish frightened or killed by proximity of menstruous women, i. 77, 93;
external soul in a, ii. 99 sq., 122 sq.;
golden, external soul of girl in a, 147 sq.;
lives of people bound up with, 200, 202, 204, 209
Fisheries supposed to be spoiled by menstruous women, i. 77, 78, 90 sq., 93
Fison, Rev. Lorimer, on Fijian religion, ii. 244 n. 1, 2, 3, 246 n. 1