CHAPTER V.

_THE MOST WIDE-SPREAD PHASE OF ANIMISM._

Deification of fountains and rivers a general cult—Max Müller’s theory of poetic personification—The spiritual element uppermost in the worship of water—Water an important factor during the first three days of Creation—Rabbi Ismael’s saying—Babylonian conception of the god Nun—Rising of Shu from water—The Akkad triad of gods—Worship of streams absorbed by the Hittites into their pantheon—Two triads sacred to the Phœnicians—The Vedic god Varuna—How the conception of the night served to convey the idea of the ocean—Greek beliefs—Okeanos and Skamandros—Neptune, the Latin sea-god—Nēreus, the Old Man of the Sea—The Scandinavian god Niörd—Midsuno Kami, the water-god of Japan—The Peruvian sea-god Virakocha—Worship of Mamacocha, Mother Sea—The Egyptian Nile-god—Parsi festival in honour of Ardevi Sur Anahita—The Greek goddess Aphrodite—Wells of water bestowed by Greek saints—Healing virtues of the waters of Egeria—Dedication of likenesses of diseased limbs to the water-nymph Egeria—Similar offerings to Virgin Mary at Mount Mary’s Chapel at Bandra—The holy well of Smyrna Cathedral—Cures effected with ordinary water just as well as with the sanctified water—Archæological evidence of the British cult—American examples of animistic ideas concerning water—African rites of water-worship 29-39