RELIGION AND MYTH JAMES MACDONALD DAVID NUTT, STRAND LONDON REV. BY THE AUTHOR OJ!' U LIGHT IN AFRICA," ETO. ETO.

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4 RELIGION AND MYTH BY THE REV. JAMES MACDONALD AUTHOR OJ!' U LIGHT IN AFRICA," ETO. ETO. LONDON DAVID NUTT, STRAND 18 93

5 MY FRIEND THE REV. JAMES STEWART, M.D. OF LOVEDALE: IN A.DMIRATION OF IUB SERVICEB IN THE OAUBE

PREFACE THIS volume is an effort to put into popular form a number of facts connected with the religious observances and social customs of Mrican tribes.

6 PREFACE THIS volume is an effort to put into popular form a number of facts connected with the religious observances and social customs of Mrican tribes. No attempt is made to treat the subject exhaustively, and those who have made Ethnology a study will find in it little that is absolutely new. But the ordinary reader, who is interested in questions affecting a people slowly emerging from barbarism, may have his sympathies quickened. When I first began the study of Ethnology it opened to me a new world of thought. Reading Mr. J. G. Frazer's Golden Bough last winter, I found it touched so many subjects which long- residence in Africa had made familiar to me, that the idea of putting the results of my own observations into permanent form took shape. This has been supplemented by facts gleaned from such authorities as were at hand, and the result is the present volume. I have, in foot-notes, acknowledged my indebtedness to various authors.

7 viii PREFACE The facts have been gathered chiefly from Mr. Frazer's volumes; Bishop Callaway's Nursery Tales, Traditions and Histories of the Zulus; Miss C. G. Gordon-Cumming's In the New Hebrides; W. Mannhardt's Antike Wald-und Feld Kulte and his other works; Winterbotham's The Nigel}'" and Laire Tribes; Rowley's Africa Unveiled; Duff Macdonald's A.fricana; Schweinfurth's The Heart of Africa; Chalmers' Tiyo Soga; Brownlee's MS. notes; Felkin's Four Tribes of Central Africa; Ramseyer's and KUhne's Four Years in Ashantee; Ashe's Two Kings of Uganda; Arnot's Garanganze; the missionaries New and Krapf, G. M. Theal, and several others, without whose works my book could not have been written. Though living" at ~he back of the north wind," I still feel the African fever; that is to say, the charm which it has to draw back to itself all who have tasted its bitters and sweets. My object throughout has been to stimulate an interest ill African peoples. If the book serves this purpose, I shall be amply rewarded for the labour bestowed upon it; in the fullest sense a labour of love. JAMES MACDONALD. REAY FREE MANSE, Ohristmas, 1892.

8 CONTENTS OHAP. I. PRIMITIvE MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL I. Religion defined. 2. Incarnate gods 3. Sympathetic magic 4 Jt:in-making 5. Dangers of seeing divine persons 6. All property and subjects owned by ruler 7. Lubare of Uganda 8. Departmental kings PAGB IS 17 II. GUARDING DIVINITY I. Danger to man-god from exposure 2. The :Mikado. 3. Kings of Shark Point and Congo 4- Divine king may be deposed 5. Restrictions placed on king and heir to throne. 6. Separation of civil and divine functions 7. Killing the god III. EVOLUTION OF DEITY I. Doctrine of souls 2. Dangers of the soul 3. Worship of ancestors. 4. Other spirits than souls 5. Fetish. 6. Sengero selling Qf women. 7. Confusion of seasons 8. Offerings to spirit of vegetation 9. Offerings to goddess of fecundity

9 x CONTENTS CHAP. III. EVOLUTION OF DEITY-continued. 10. Muansa II. Rites at puberty 12. Souls dwelling in objects 13. Toad day 14- Origin of national festivals. 15. Khond sacrifices to Tan 16. Story of Balder 17. Midsummer fires. P.lGK IV. SACRIFICE I. Putting king to death. 2. Substitution 3. Soul of ancestor entering person 4. Kamr methods of directing course of nature 5. Propitiation 6. Thanksgiving. 7. Substitution for murderer 8. Offerings to Lubare 9. Parading victim before sacrifice 10. Festival and sacrifices of BantamS. I I. Messages to spirit-land 12. Descent of priest to the lower world SI V. TABOOS I. Charms against witchcraft 2. Banning by curses. 3. Sprinkling to exorcise evil 4. Eating in private 5. Position of divine persons 6. Power of superstition 7. Ceremonial purity. 8. Objections to iron 9. Power of iron against evil 10. Sanctity of objects belonging to sacred persons go 92 93

10 COKTENTS xi CHAP. V. TABOOS--continusa. I I. Dangers of barber's art 12. Rise of evil spirits. PAGB VI. EXPULSION OF DEMONS VII. WITOHCRAFT I. Taboos insufficient protection 2. Animals messengers of evil 3. Stone-throwing and cursing. 40 Expulsion of guile 5. Expulsion by carrying out in wicker baskets 6. "Raising" the devil 7. "Laying" the devil I. Crime of witchcraft 2. Persons presumed to practise the al t 3. Power of witchcraft 4. Methods of practising the art 5. Witch-doctoring 6. Prophetess as discoverer of witches 7. Magic roots 8. Wltchcraft prosecutions by ordeal 9. Mosaic trial by ordeal 10. History of witchoraft I I. Fairyland 12. Growth of idea of supreme spirits lis VIII. HARVEST FESTIVALS I. Yam festival 2. Pondo festival of first-fruits 3. Honour done to powers of nature. 4- Maize mother. 5. The"Maiden" a t:lurvival IX. PROPHECY I. The office and its development

11 :xii CONTENTS CHAP. IX. PBOPHECY-co1ltinued. 2. Causes of its gradual decay 3. False prophets 4. Converse with the unseen 5. Second sight 6. Foretelling events 7. Guarding against soul-sna.tching 8. Funeral rites 9. Guilds and sacred orders 10. Reading omens II. Heresies 12. Reforms among the order 13. Prejudices against religious teachers X. SOCIAL USAGES I. Ceremonial acts 2. Seeking a lady's hand 3. Succession to the throne 4- Courtesies to guests 5. Sanctuaries 6. Eating and drinking 7. Friendship XI. ACTS OF DEVOTION-MYTHS. XII. WOMAN I. Acts of ordinary life-religious 2 Caring for the soul 3. Soul dwelling apart from body 4. Giants and their souls. 5. Sacred animals and objects 6. Mermaids ashore I. Woman's position. 2. Woman as regent. 3. Danger of touching woman's blood 4. Dangers of girlhood PAGB J :1;95 197

12 CONTENTS xiii CRAP. PAG.E XII. WOM.A.N-continuea. 5. Uncleanness Woman's in:o.uence Aggressiveness Dog language ~02 9. Public morality 203 XIII. COUBTESIES OF LIFE-DRESS I. Hospitality Loyalty to chief Right and wrong Cannibalism Clothing Ceremonial courtesy Tein-egin Juju and the fairy bull 21 3 XIV. REFORMS I. Man's tenacity in holding fast all he startedwith How wide a gulf between savage and civilised Blanket!!, Bibles, or work Claims of commerce In:O.uence of clothing Work and conditions of soil MisSIons and how conducted Jews and ancients Difficulty of understanding new ideas Ideas become common as thought advance!! 232 INDEX

RELIGION AND MYTH BY REV. JAMES MACDONALD. London: D. Nutt; New York: Scribner ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1883 MY FRIEND THE REV. JAMES STEWART, M.D.

RELIGION AND MYTH BY REV. JAMES MACDONALD London: D. Nutt; New York: Scribner ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1883 TO MY FRIEND THE REV. JAMES STEWART, M.D. OF LOVEDALE IN ADMIRATION OF HIS SERVICES IN THE CAUSE