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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[MAY, 1891.
sex totemism, and leads to an interesting set of seed is clearly the golden blood of the sun. The phenomena.
power of the fern-seed was to procure gold for its Tribal totems can be explained in the above possessor. manner. When a savage names himself after
Now, mistletoe is gathered at the solstices in in animal, calls it his brother, and refuses to kill
the same way as the fern-seed, and in Sweden is it, the animal is said to be his totem." The
used as a divining rod for discovering gold, no reason for the belief is that he believes that the life
doubt in its character of the Golden Bough. of each individual of the tribe is bound up with
Like the fern-seed, is the Golden Bough an some one animal or plant of the species. This
emanation of the sun's fire P The midsummer is the caso even when the current belief is that
bonfires were sun-charms to give the sun new fire there is more than one soul to each individual, as annually. These fires were supplied by the oak amongst the Caribs, Hidatsa Indians, the Laos,
the home-fire, whose life was in the mistletoe, and so on. The Battas of Sumatra who believe in
which therefore contained the seed of the sun's seven souls per man, one of which is always
fire. So the sun's fire was an emanation of outside him, thinks that he dies the moment the
the Golden Bough. So also Virbius, as the outside soul dies.
spirit of the oak on which grew the Golden This view of totemism is confirmed by the Bough, would be the Sun - as he was, -- and initiatory rites of boys at puberty amongst many Balder would be "so fair of face and so shining savages, which consist chiefly in transferring his that a light went forth from him." soul to his totem, and thus causing his temporary denth (i. e. trance) and bringing him to life
The result of the whole argument is, that again. Such rites are observed among the
the Rule of the Arician priesthood at Nemi Australians, the Fijians, the Africans of the Congo
represented the original worship of the and elsewhere, the North American Indians, the
Aryans, and that the Rex Nemorensis lived
and died as an incarnation of the supreme inhabitants of Polynesia, and the Malays. The
Aryan god, whose life was in the mistletoe or idea perhaps survives in the expression "twiceborn" among the higher castes of India, and in
Golden Bough. some of the ceremonies of tying on the sacred We have thus followed Mr. Frazer through thread, and so on,
some 800 pages of most interesting discussion, The argument, then, is that Balder's life backed in his case by innumerable facts gathered was in the mistletoe, and that when the mistletoe with immense pains from an extraordinarily large struck him he died. Balder was the oak-spirit, number of sources, and the only fault we have to and the life of the oak was in the mistletoe which find with his book is the way in which it is was between heaven and earth, and to kill the printed. There is nothing from end to end in vak-spirit it was necessary to get at the mistletoe. the typography to enable us to distinguish his
That the Golden Bough was the mistletoe argument from a discussion on the value of data, may be inferred from Virgil, who describes it as or his main argnment from a side issue. The growing on an oak and compares it with the book, therefore, though pleasant and entertaining mistletoe. The priest of the Arician Grove - the throughout, is exceedingly difficult to follow; 80 King of the Wood - was the personification of difficult, indeed, that, if we have not been able to the tree on which grew the Golden Bongh, i. e. do so clearly, we claim that it is not our fault. the oak-spirit; so it was necessary to pluck the No doubt, in its present shape, the book is more Golden Bough in order to kill him. And it was saleable than perhaps in any other; but to the necessary to'kill him, to carry out the annual
scientific student, for whom it appears to be Are festival held at midgummer at the Arician primarily meant, the free use of numbered para. Grove, no doubt, for the benefit of the crops and graphs, thick type, upper and lower case, italics, herde.
and other devices for differentiating the com
ponents of an intricate argument, would have been Why was the mistletoe called the Golden
invaluable. So would a table in the form of a Bough P This is the last question to be answered. It is so in Welsh, and we have an analogy in the
paragraphed and suitably indexed list of congolden fern-bloom or
tents, or in the form fern-seed of folklore.
of a tree, have been an This is supposed to bloom like gold on Midsummer
important aid in following the argument, -had Eve or at Christmas, and in a German story it
either been given. was got by shooting at the sun on Midaammer With this one criticism we take leave of Mr. Day at noon. Three drops of blood fell down Frazer with feelings of gratitude for an unusually and were the fern-Beed. Thus, the golden fern. important and interesting work,
