CHAPTER XI

DANCING AS A MOURNING AND BURIAL RITE

I

There is no instance to be found in the Old Testament of dancing being performed as a mourning or burial rite; that must be acknowledged; yet in spite of this there are strong reasons for believing that the custom did exist among the Israelites. The silence does not imply that the rite was not in vogue; there are, also, sufficient reasons to account for the absence of reference to it. In the first place, excepting incidentally we should not necessarily expect it to be mentioned at all; it was not a public rite; if it had been one might conceivably have looked for some reference to it in the records, supposing it to have been performed on some great or special occasion; but as a private rite there was no reason for its being recorded in Hebrew literature. Another reason for its not being mentioned is because its original significance and importance had, it may be confidently asserted, been forgotten; like some other mourning and burial customs it would have been kept up for no other reason than that it had been handed down from time immemorial; so that there was no point in speaking of it. Moreover, in the case of some other Israelite mourning customs there is only here and there incidental mention in the Old Testament, although some of them were certainly very often practised, _e.g._ flute-playing, laceration of the body (modified later by the rending of the garment), cutting off of the hair, baring the feet, covering the head, the funeral feast; it might easily have happened in the case of any one of these that the incidental mention had not occurred (as, indeed, is the case with flute-playing); but that silence would not have justified denial of its existence, provided always that there were reasons for believing that it was practised. Now, as we shall see, in the case of dancing as a mourning or burial rite there are reasons for believing that it was in vogue among the Israelites, and that therefore the silence of the Old Testament is not in itself sufficient reason for denying that it existed among them.

There is a further potent reason for this custom never being mentioned: its practice was incompatible with Jahwe-worship, because of its connexion with Ancestor-worship, and therefore the suppression (supposing it had been mentioned) of all reference to it would have been regarded as a sacred duty by the later redactors of the sacred text. As is well known, the Old Testament literature was subjected to such redactions in times when a full development in the direction of a more rigid insistence upon and a more emphatic declaration of monotheistic worship had taken place; under these circumstances it would have been the most natural thing in the world for any reference to this rite in the sacred literature to have been deleted. So that, on this ground, again, the silence in the Old Testament regarding this mourning rite is no reason for denying that it existed.

But there are, on the other hand, positive grounds for the belief that it was in existence among the Israelites:

If analogies count for anything (and in the case of ancient customs, and especially burial rites, they are of the greatest importance), then the fact that dancing as a mourning or burial rite either is, or has been, widespread among all kinds of peoples all over the world would suggest that the Israelites practised it too. There are a number of other mourning and burial rites common to the races of antiquity (including the Israelites) and to the uncultured races of the present day[346]; if dancing formed an exception to these, being practised by all excepting the Israelites, there would have to be some very special reason assigned for this; but it is evident that such reason is not forthcoming.

Another reason which suggests the probability of dancing as a mourning rite among the Israelites is that it was a natural concomitant to flute-playing, which, as we know from the New Testament, was a very usual mourning rite; the two belong together, and where the one was in vogue it is reasonable to suppose that the other was not wanting. This applies, of course, to early times; it is always possible that with the development of religious ideas an antique custom may be modified, or even fall into disuse; in the present case neither the dancing nor the flute-playing fell into disuse until well into the Christian era (indeed, the former is still performed), but a modification of the custom took place in so far that they were not necessarily performed at the same time.

Then we have this further reason: it will be seen, when we come to consider the _objects_ of dancing as a mourning rite, that they involve beliefs which seem to be common to man during some stages in his cultural and religious development. It is difficult to suppose that what had been characteristic of man generally should not have been so in the case of the Israelites. We touch upon this point again later.

But, finally, the strongest reason for believing that this custom was in vogue among the ancient Israelites is that it exists at the present day. Such things as mourning and burial customs are never innovations; modifications may arise, as we have just said; a custom may fall into disuse and be discontinued altogether; but when a rite is practised at the present day, it is not a new thing, but has a long history behind it. Regarding the particular example to be given presently it is known to go back at any rate to the beginning of the Christian era; but it is safe to say that it must be vastly older than that in reality; for of all customs none are so tenacious as those which have to do with mourning and burial, for they touch men at a very sensitive spot. If at _any_ time such a custom as we are thinking of is known to have existed, or to exist now, it may be taken for granted that, as a matter of fact, it goes back to very much earlier, indeed to prehistoric, times. That much may be safely gathered from what we know of the customs of savage man and the way in which so many of them are still existent in modified forms. So that since, at the least, something corresponding to the sacred dance as a mourning rite is still in vogue among some of the Jews, it is hardly too much to say that that _ipso facto_ proves its existence among their Hebrew ancestors in days gone by.

One other consideration may be urged. It must be allowed that the number of words found in the Old Testament for dancing is significant. When we know that dancing on various religious occasions formed an important element, as shown in the preceding chapters, the presumption is strong that it occurred also during the very solemn period of mourning.

It may, then, be contended that the cumulative effect of these arguments justifies the belief that the sacred dance as a mourning or burial rite was well known to, and practised by, the ancient Israelites, and that the silence of the Old Testament upon the subject is no reason to doubt this.

II

Among the Jews (both Ashkenazic and Sephardic) the sacred dance as a burial rite is known to have been in existence during the Christian era. During the Talmudic period (_i.e._ A.D. 500 and following centuries) it was customary, and is still, on occasion, for a laudatory speech to be made in the case of men either at the burial or afterwards. Such speeches were accompanied by what must be regarded as the remnant of some form of dance; while they were being delivered the mourners kept up a monotonous, but rhythmical, stamping of the feet; this was not applause, being too regular and incessant; it must be regarded as a means of giving vent to the emotions, just as the dance in the ordinary sense was. Its origin may have been, judging from parallels among other peoples, a sacred dance in honour of the deceased, which in course of time took this stereotyped and mechanical form. The word used is _raqaʿ_ which occurs also in the Old Testament for the stamping of feet (2 Sam. xxii. 43, Ezek. vi. 11), though in neither case is there the slightest suggestion of dancing; but, as we have said, it is only to be regarded as a remnant of the earlier custom, not in itself a dance. The fact that it was done collectively by the mourners is a point of significance, for from what we know of funeral dances among other peoples such collective action was usual. Not but that individuals expressed their emotions in their own way, too; for we read, for example, of mourners being often carried away by the intensity of their feelings and acting in an extravagant way, tearing off their sandals and beating themselves with them; women were known during a funeral procession to jump on to the coffin. Compared with such things a dance in honour of a respected relative deceased would be a decorous proceeding. And when we remember that dancing was performed as an act of honour to the deity, a similar means of showing respect to a greatly loved and honoured person at his funeral is not so out of the question as it might seem at first. Krauss says that at funerals, in all probability, both men and women performed dances fitting to the occasion; and they certainly gesticulated with hands and fingers. He gives a concrete instance of a woman dancing before the picture of her dead son; “a proceeding not unheard of during funeral processions[347]”; the word used is _rāqad_, on which see above, p. 46.

Again, the Sephardic Jews (_i.e._ Spanish and Portuguese) have retained some ancient elements in their worship and ritual which have disappeared among the Ashkenazim, who include the bulk of the Jews. A notable instance of this is the procession round the corpse at burials. Circumambulation, a processional march round an object, cannot in its origin be distinguished from the encircling dance, for in many cases the purpose of the rite is the same. Nor can it be doubted that all such circumambulations are modifications of earlier forms, in which the less restrained emotions of men in an earlier and lower stage of civilization required the more exuberant outlet afforded by a dance-step of the more literal kind. It is said that “dancing and procession are sometimes confused terminologically, a result partly due to the existence of processional dances, or the enlivening of a procession by the dance[348]”; but whatever may be the case terminologically, there can be no confusion between the two essentially, for they present two modes of emotional expression, comparable with the ordinary religious dance and the ecstatic dance. Therefore there is justification for regarding the Sephardic processions round the corpse at funerals as the modification or remnant of a ceremony which was originally performed in a less controlled manner. The original meaning of the rite has of course been forgotten long since; but, as so often happens, the rite itself, or some modification of it, is still kept up.

It is the custom at the burial of Sephardic Jews for the mourners to make seven circuits round the bier during which seven short supplications are chanted or monotoned, each supplication concluding with the words: “And continually may he walk in the land of life, and may his soul rest in the bond of life[349].” It is interesting to note that this Sephardic rite can be paralleled by something similar among other peoples. Its purpose will be considered later.

The custom seems to have been well-known as early as the time of Homer; in the _Iliad_ (XXIII. 13) the circumambulation round the corpse of Patroclus is described. Again, we read that five hundred disciples went in procession round the funeral pyre of Buddha, in consequence of which the pyre kindled spontaneously[350]. D’Alviella refers to the Latin poet Statius’s description of the funeral rites celebrated in honour of the son of Lycurgus; among these was included a threefold procession round the funeral pyre[351].

When the Argonauts in the poem of Apollonius Rhodius buried their dead comrade Mopsus, they marched round him thrice in their warrior-gear. So among the populations of India which practise cremation, the son or other relative who lights the pyre walks thrice round it. The custom of walking round the corpse, or the grave, after burial, is recorded of peoples as far apart in space and culture as the Central Eskimo, the Russian Tapps, the Buriats, the Shans, and the Arāwaks of British Guiana[352].

At Chinese burials, after the body has been placed in the tomb, the mourners join hands and perform a sort of merry-go-round about the tomb; they repeat this three days later[353]. The Irish, even at the present day, when burying their dead, move in procession, sometimes three times, but at least once, round the grave-yard, accompanying the coffin[354]. This must, in all probability, be a modification of an earlier form of the rite in which the mourners went round the coffin itself; unless this be regarded as a continuation of the funeral procession itself; but, generally speaking, the particular custom of which we are thinking is quite distinct from the funeral procession.

From these instances of a modification of the sacred dance as a mourning rite we turn now to some in which the dancing is performed in the more literal sense.

III

Among the Arabs at the present day, and doubtless the rite in one form or another goes back to times of antiquity, the women and the young girls, when on their way to the place of mourning, make two circles by holding hands and dance what is called the _Raḳṣa_ dance; while dancing they sing:

The Almighty, the Almighty, gives and takes; The path to the place of mourning I desire not for myself...[355].

Although other instances among the Arabs exist, they are not numerous. But as to other Semitic peoples we have been unable to discover examples.

On the other hand, there is a considerable amount of evidence regarding its existence among the Egyptians, both ancient and modern. In respect of the former this occurs mainly on inscriptions, so that it is graphic as well as informing. On one of these there is a representation of the ceremony of mourning in the chamber of the dead; harp-players, singers, and dancers appear as taking part in the ceremonies[356].

“The sculptures and paintings of the xviii-xx dynasties,” says Flinders Petrie[357], “show many scenes of funeral dances; usually one woman held a tambourine aloft and beat out a rhythm on it, while others danced round. Exactly this dance may be seen now when parties of women go up to the cemeteries a fortnight or a month after a funeral; an old negress is often the drummer, and the party stop every few hundred yards along the road for a dance.”

At the “Feast of Eternity” dancing always took place in honour of the dead; dancing men headed the procession in which the statue of the departed was borne. The step was rhythmic and slow, the arms being raised over the head during the dancing and the inside of the hands being turned upwards. Another position was that of stretching the right arm slantingwise upwards while the left arm was placed on the back. Behind the men three or four women follow, singing[358].

In an inscription on a tomb at Benihassan there is a representation of dances at the funeral festival of the monarch Chnomhôtep, of the period of the twelfth dynasty; the dancing is performed by women very slightly clad. Funeral processions were always accompanied by women dancing and singing[359]. In a grave near the royal tombs of Abydos, belonging to the first dynasty (before 5000 B.C.) Flinders Petrie found a curved wand, ending in a ram’s horn, used for beating time in dancing[360]. There can be little doubt that this was used during the performance of the funeral dance.

As already pointed out, this rite is still to be seen among the modern Egyptians. Lane gives the following interesting description of it:

It is customary among the peasants of Upper Egypt for the female relations and friends of a person deceased to meet together by his house on each of the first three days after the funeral, and there to perform a lamentation and a strange kind of dance. They daub their faces and bosoms, and part of their dress, with mud; and tie a rope-girdle, generally made of the coarse grass called “halfa,” round the waist[361]. Each flourishes in her hand a palm-stick, or a _nebboot_ (a long staff), or a spear, or a drawn sword, and dances with a slow movement, and in an irregular manner, generally pacing about, and raising and depressing the body. This dance is continued for an hour or more, and is performed twice or three times in the course of the day. After the third day the women visit the tomb, and place upon it their rope-girdles; and usually a lamb, or a goat, is slain there, as an expiatory sacrifice, and a feast is made on this occasion[362].

Whether the performers of this dance know the purpose and meaning of it or not now is not stated; but there can be little doubt, knowing what we do of the object of similar dances on similar occasions among other peoples, that it had originally a twofold purpose, though these have now been amalgamated in one rite. In the first place, it was performed as an act of honour to the departed; this would have been more appropriately done on the occasion of offering the sacrifice at the tomb; probably at one time this was the procedure. But it had the further object of combating the evil spirits which were usually supposed to gather in the vicinity of a corpse, hence the palm-stick, etc.; this would be done on behalf of the spirit of the departed as well as of the mourners; the daubing of mud on faces and bosoms was by way of protection against the evil spirits, for it acted as a disguise. There are cases on record in which it is the angry spirit of the deceased himself who is feared and against whom protective measures are taken; but in the example before us the fact that a lamentation is made rather points to the spirit of the deceased not being feared.

This custom among the modern Moslems of Egypt may be supplemented by one or two examples of something similar among some heathen inhabitants of another part of Egypt. In writing about the Lattuka tribe of negroes in the Egyptian Soudan Frobenius says that dances are performed in honour of the dead, and he gives Baker’s description of this mourning rite. The dancers are decorated in the most extraordinary manner, doubtless as a special mark of respect for the departed. About a dozen enormous ostrich feathers were stuck into the head-dress of each dancer; hanging down from the shoulder was either the skin of a leopard, or of a monkey; around the loins of every dancer was a broad piece of leather which concealed a large bell attached to the waist; these bells sounded during the dancing. Further, each dancer had the horn of an antelope hanging down from his neck, and whenever a high pitch of excitement was reached these horns were blown, whereby a sound was produced which might be described as a combination of the “hee-haw” of a donkey and the hooting of an owl. This was diversified every now and then by a circle-dance in which the women joined in with the men; this part of the performance was done by the whole company following a leader; it is described as a “Hell-gallop.” The women, who otherwise danced separated from the men, were led by one of their number who was exceedingly fat; but in spite of this physical handicap the brave old lady persevered in the dance right to the end. Children also took part in the rite[363].

The same custom, though differently carried out, is in vogue among the Makarakâ tribe who also belong to the Egyptian Soudan. Ceremonial dances are performed round their slain enemies by the Dinka tribe, inhabiting the same country.

In the case of the Lattuka tribe it is clear that the rite had again a dual purpose; they dressed themselves and danced in honour of the deceased, while the bell-ringing and horn-blowing would have effectively scared away the evil spirits; the more excited part of the dance may also well have been a means of frightening away unwelcome visitors from the spirit-world.

The dance of the Dinkas round their slain enemies may have one of two objects. Such dances are undoubtedly at times intended to be a coaxing of the slain not to be angry at having been killed; the dance is meant to soothe them because it is done in their honour, and therefore their spirits, it is thought, will not harm the slayers. On the other hand, an encircling dance of this kind round enemies may have the purpose of preventing the spirits of the slain from getting abroad; the magic circle keeps them in, and thus harm is averted.

IV

The religious dance among the Greeks and Romans played, as we have seen, a very important part. We should, therefore, naturally expect to find it figuring also among customs connected with mourning and burial. And there is clear evidence that this was the case[364]. Among them dancing as a mourning or burial rite was included in funeral processions and funeral games[365]. All three, dancing, processions, and games, belong together. But it was during the funeral feast, which formed the conclusion to the mourning ceremonies, that the dance figured most prominently. Illustrations of this dance as a mourning rite are given in Daremberg and Saglio, II. 848, 1385, who write thus:

Ces repas funèbres étaient accompagnés de danse. Il semble même que ces danses étaient quelquefois exécutées à part, avec plus de solennité et par un personnel plus nombreux. Dans la _Grotta del Trichinio_ à Corneto elles se déroulent sur deux parois entières de la tombe; la scène se passe en plein air, sous les arbres où voltigent des oiseaux; dix danseurs s’y démènent en cadence; les hommes alternant aves les femmes, quelques-uns jouant de la lyre, de la flûte, ou des castagnettes. Parfois même ces danses donnaient bien à des concours; sur un bas-relief de Chiusi on voit, à droite, un groupe de pyrrhichistes et un musicien jouant de la double flûte; à gauche les juges sur une estrade[366].

The ancient Roman funeral procession was accompanied by musicians, singers, dancers and pantomimists[367].

Among funeral processions that of the ancient Roman _nobiles_ is remarkable. The dead man was accompanied by all his ancestors, represented by persons resembling them in form and stature and wearing wax portrait masks (_imagines_)[368].

These _imagines maiorum_ stood in the _alae_ of the _atrium_ of the houses of Roman nobles; they were brought out and carried in the funeral procession. The origin of this strange custom has been explained by O. Benndorf. Just as, according to antique belief, the dead lived on in the grave, which was, therefore, made into a kind of dwelling-place for them, so, it was believed, that by producing the likenesses of those who inhabited this dwelling-place, it was possible to keep in touch with their personalities[369]. Hence the setting-up of the _imagines_ in the _atrium_. When they were brought out to accompany the recently departed in the funeral procession, it meant that his ancestors were actually following his body. The descriptions which have come down to us are in reference to public funerals, or those of the wealthier classes who could afford to pay for sumptuous burials of an ostentatious character; but there is reason to believe that among the less well-to-do the same rites, though on a far more modest scale, were observed; for it has been rightly remarked that

all periods of the history of Roman burial are unified by the belief in the continued existence of the dead, and in his ghostly participation in the life of the family and the community, and by the consequent scrupulous care about proper burial, and the maintenance of right relations with the spirits of dead ancestors. The quick and the dead of ancient Rome were in a more than usually intimate communion[370].

The sacred dance, as a mark of honour to the deceased, is therefore not likely to have been neglected among the poor any more than among the rich.

V

We come now to consider some examples of dancing as a mourning or burial rite among some of the savage and semi-civilized peoples. What will strike us here as strange are the contradictory ideas regarding the purpose of the rite; but it is just these opposing ideas that will be found to be so instructive. Various customs in existence at the present day among civilized peoples are explained in the light of the ideas and practices now to be considered.

There is no doubt that the object of this rite among uncivilized races which is most common now is the honouring of the departed; but it is probably true to say that this represents the latest development regarding its purpose, and that the other reasons for which it was performed take us back to earlier stages of the growth of savage thought regarding the departed.

We will begin by offering examples of this most developed idea and purpose of the rite.

In writing of the Kol tribes of Chota Nagpur who are remarkable for their pathetic reverence for their dead, Tylor says:

When a Ho or Munda has been burned on the funeral pile, collected morsels of his bones are carried in procession with a solemn, ghostly, sliding step, keeping time to the deep-sounding drum, and when the old woman who carries the bones in her bamboo tray lowers it from time to time, then girls who carry pitchers and brass vessels mournfully reverse them to show that they are empty; thus the remains are taken to visit every house in the village, and every dwelling of a friend or a relative for miles, and the inmates come out to mourn and praise the goodness of the departed. The bones are carried to all the dead man’s favourite haunts, to the fields he cultivated, to the grove he planted, to the threshing-floor where he worked, to the village dance-room where he made merry. At last they are taken to the grave, and buried in an earthen vase upon a store of food...[371].

It is clear that the departed spirit is believed in some way to remain in the vicinity of the bones, or possibly to be inside them; and this reminds one of the quaint belief of life residing in the bones which occurs in the Old Testament[372]. In the case before us honour, affection, and solicitude are shown, and felt, for the departed: honour, in being borne in procession, which is performed rhythmically with a particular kind of step so that it must be regarded as coming under the category of the sacred dance; affection, because of the kind thought in taking him to the spots he loved; and solicitude, in that he is supplied with food. It is with the first of these that we are particularly concerned just now; and here is another illustration of it, also in India, but this time among the Musulmans; it is not strictly speaking a mourning rite, but it is an honorific ceremony for the departed and may therefore be appropriately given. During the _Muharram_[373] Festival in India one of the ceremonies is the parading of the standard of the martyr Qāsim. He is one of the sacred bridegrooms, for at the age of ten he was betrothed to Fātima, daughter of Husain, and was slain in battle. His standard is carried by a man on horseback, who is followed by girls dancing in his honour, and singing elegies while beating their breasts. During another part of this festival there is the dance of _Bharang_, or “foolish chatterer”; his whole body is smeared with red ochre mixed with water; his head is covered with a shawl, and a small flag is attached to it. On his legs he carries tinkling bells, and during his dance he cries out: “Ali, ali, ali, zang[374]!” This is all done in honour of the departed saint. It is not a hazardous surmise to suggest that we have here an example of an adaptation of a rite millenniums older than its present form; and its oldest element is, in all probability, the sacred dance. The _Bharang_, with bells, paint, and disguise represents a development to which reference will be made again below.

Dances in honour of the departed are recorded of the Conibos of the Ucayali river in Eastern Peru who, on certain occasions, perform them on the graves of the deceased[375]; also among the Maoris[376]. The inhabitants of Dutch New Guinea dance round the images of their departed on various festal occasions. Again, at the funeral feast among the Gilbert islanders dancing and singing is performed in honour of the dead; wailing is also included in these mourning rites[377]. It is also an important mourning rite among the Melanesians[378]. Similarly among the inhabitants of British New Guinea a high festival is held in honour of the departed at which a great dance takes place;

all the dancers are arranged in full dancing costume, including heavy head-dresses of feathers, and they carry drums and spears, sometimes also clubs and adzes. The dance lasts the whole night[379].

In New Britain, too, the Sulka, a tribe dwelling to the south of the Gazelle Peninsula, dance in honour of their dead at a funeral feast[380]. An interesting account, together with an illustration, of the Maquarri dance among the Arāwaks, one of the Indian tribes of Guiana, is given by W. H. Brett[381]; this is danced in honour of the departed. It is called the Maquarri dance from the “whip,” more than three feet long, which is waved about during the dance by each dancer; with it the dancers lash each other’s legs until the blood flows; the whips have a sort of sacred character among the natives. It is the flowing of the blood which is now supposed to be pleasing to the dead; but it is pretty certain that this is a development; at one time the dance would have been considered as all-sufficient. Once more, among the North American Indians the funeral dance is performed at the grave when a sacrifice is made for the dead; the dancing is done round the grave and is accompanied by drum-playing and singing[382]. A similar rite is practised by the Bondas of Guinea[383], and among the aborigines of Northern Australia[384].

A case of particular interest is that of the dance of the Tami inhabitants; for while this is in honour of the dead, a further idea regarding the departed appears in connexion with it which leads on to another purpose of this mourning rite. The people of Tami, an island in the Indian archipelago, belong to the Melanesian stock; when they mourn for their dead the whole village takes part in the lamentation; the women dance death-dances in honour of the dead person while the men make preparations for the burial. Now these people, like many others, believe that when anyone has died the ghosts of his dead kinsfolk gather in the village, and are joined by the ghosts of other dead people; these ghosts may or may not be friendly inclined towards the living; but in case they are not, the people of the village take care not to leave the dancing mourners alone, they remain close at hand to help in case of need. This belief in the vicinity of the ghosts of the dead is further illustrated by these Tami islanders, for they have regular dancing seasons during which they dance round men disguised as familiar spirits; true, the dance “consists of little more than running round and round in a circle, with an occasional hop[385],” but it is essentially a dance, and its essence is more important than its form. This is a case of personating the departed in the dance; and the idea seems to be that by doing so a proof is given that the departed are really still living and that their personality is imparted, for the time being, to the dancers. Something quite similar is found among the Pulu islanders, in the Torres Straits; the performers dance in pairs, personating the deceased, for this ceremony is sometimes performed for a number of recently deceased people at once; according to Haddon

the idea evidently was to convey to the mourners the assurance that the ghost was alive, and that in the person of the dancer he visited his friends; the assurance of his life after death comforted the bereaved ones[386].

If it be asked why this personating of the deceased should be accompanied by dancing, the answer probably is that as dancing was the most usual way of honouring the departed, it would be thought of as the most efficacious means of attracting them. The Sioux, another North American Indian tribe, also performed dances at graves as a mourning rite, for they believed that in doing so they were, in some undefined way, joined by the departed in this dance[387]. It is very likely that the common custom of dances at funeral feasts originally had a similar object. Among the Esquimaux, for example, there are always dances at the funeral feasts, the dead are invited in song to come to the feast; offerings of food are made to them, and they feast and dance together with the living. At their great festival of the dead, which is held every few years, the dances are an important feature. The dancers dance on the graves, and on the ice if the deceased met their death by drowning[388]. Here we seem to have the purposes separately; the dancing at the funeral feasts is a joining together with the departed, the dancing on the graves is in their honour.

A very different purpose of the dance as a mourning rite next claims attention. That it sometimes has the object of appeasing the wrath of the departed, _i.e._ of their ghosts, is shown, for instance, by the fact that when among the inhabitants of Timor, an island in the East Indies, a head-hunter returns home after a successful expedition, sacrifices are offered to the man who has lost his head; and part of the ceremony consists of a dance accompanied by a song in which the death of the slain man is lamented and his forgiveness is entreated.

“Be not angry,” they say, “because your head is here with us; had we been less lucky our heads might now have been exposed in your village. We have offered the sacrifice to appease you. Your spirit may now rest and leave us at peace[389].”

But even among friends there are cases in which the ghost of the deceased is annoyed and has to be kept in the grave so that the surviving relatives may not be molested by it; and the dance figures as part of the ceremony. Thus, among the Arunta of Central Australia as a finale to the mourning period the people gather on the spot where the deceased died, viz. the site where he once lived and which is now burnt and deserted. Here the men and women dance round the charred remains, the men beating the air with their spears, the women doing likewise with the palms of their hands and all shouting _Wah! Wah! Wah! wa-a-ah!_ This, we take it, is done to drive off both the ghost of the deceased and any evil spirits which may be lurking about the unhallowed spot. When the dancing, the description continues,

which lasted about ten minutes, was over, the party proceeded to the grave at a run, the leader making a circuit from the main party, shouting wildly with a very prolonged intonation, _Ba-au! Ba-au!_ The idea of the leading man making a circuit was, perhaps, though the natives could give no explanation, to prevent the spirit from doubling back to the camp from which they were supposed to be driving him.

When he reached the grave, into which the spirit of the dead man was supposed to have fled, he began dancing wildly upon it. He was soon joined by the rest of the party who began

to dance backwards and forwards on and around the grave, shouting _Wah! Wah!_ and beating the air downwards as if to drive the spirit down, while with their feet they stamped upon and broke the twigs with which a newly made grave is always covered. When these were thoroughly broken up the dancing ceased[390].

It must be confessed that the dancing here seems quite out of place, and yet there can be no doubt that it forms an integral part of the ceremonies. There seems to be something so entirely incongruous in scaring the ghost away by shouting at it and beating him down into his grave, and yet dancing on and around the grave which is so very frequently a mark of honour to the dead. The explanation is probably to be sought in the fact of the retention of a traditional custom concurrently with a later one which arose in consequence of the birth of new ideas regarding the activity of the spirits of the departed. We get a similar intermingling of rites among the Tarahumares of Mexico whose funeral ceremonies include the dance, though the object of the dance, in what is presumably a new form as compared with the original and traditional one, is the driving away of the ghost of the deceased. They have three funeral feasts; the first takes place a fortnight after the death, the second six months, and the last some months after that. At each of these feasts an important element is the ceremony of the _hikuli_ dance. The _hikuli_ is the sacred cactus, which is soaked in water and this is sprinkled over the dancers. The _hikuli_ is supposed to drive away the ghost of the departed[391]. Here again the original custom of the dance performed in honour of the departed is retained, and there is added to it a further rite because in course of time new beliefs regarding the activity of the spirits of the departed had arisen; these beliefs were in reference to the possibility of anger on the part of the spirits because of their being cut off from their usual mode of life and taken away from their familiar haunts; they might be envious of those who were left, and might show their envy by harming the living. It became necessary, therefore, to devise means to counter these evil intentions by driving away the ghost of the departed. What these means were we know in many cases, but why particular means were chosen, such as the _hikuli_, or why they should be supposed to drive the spirit away is a matter of savage philosophy, and not always possible to penetrate. It must be evident, however, that the idea of driving away a ghost, together with the rite whereby this is effected, is subsequent in time to the simple rite of dancing in honour of the departed, because while this latter does not involve any theory as to the activity of spirits, the former obviously points to speculations on the subject. And as we have already said, the explanation of the incongruity of the two rites, as seen in the examples given, is to be sought in the retention of the earlier traditional rite concurrently with a later one which arose in consequence of the birth of new ideas regarding the activity of the spirits of the departed.

It is probable that a further step in the development of ideas regarding this activity is to be discerned in the belief that the spirit of the departed is joined by others who share with him his resentment against the living; and for safety the mourners disguise themselves, and, possibly, the dance then assumes a different purpose, namely, that of frightening the spirits away. This is said to be the purpose with which some of the tribes of Northern India dance at burials[392]; and the dance of the _Bharang_, disguised, to which reference was made above, points, perhaps, to the same thing; so also the custom of the inhabitants of the Aaru archipelago. Among them, when a member of the family dies, all the women leave the house with their hair hanging loose, to wail upon the shore; they tumble over one another head over heels in a strange kind of dance, and smear their bodies with dirt and mud[393].

SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS

Although in the Old Testament there is no mention of dancing as a mourning or burial rite, there are strong grounds for believing that it was practised. No customs are more tenacious than those which are concerned with the dead, and since some other mourning customs, known to have been in existence among the Hebrews, are not referred to in the Old Testament, the non-mention of this one is no reason for supposing that it was not practised. That the religious leaders looked upon this, as well as various other rites performed in connexion with the dead, as heathenish and superstitious, would of itself account for the silence of the Old Testament on the subject. The positive grounds for believing in its existence among the Israelites are: its very widespread vogue among different races all over the world; the object, or objects, for which it was performed, which involved beliefs regarding the departed common to all races during some stages of their cultural and religious development; and most important of all, its existence, though in a modified form, at the present day. Evidence is forthcoming of the rite among the Jews in post-Christian times.

Circumambulation round a corpse, which is in the nature of the sacred dance, was known and practised among the Greeks as early as the time of Homer, who mentions it; other examples are also recorded.

The rite is in vogue among the Arabs to this day who dance in circles on their way to the place of mourning; it is performed by women and young girls.

Much evidence is forthcoming as to its practice among the Egyptians, both ancient and modern, of which various examples are given above.

Among the Greeks and Romans dancing as a mourning or burial rite was included in funeral processions and funeral games; one of the most curious customs being that of the presence of the _imagines maiorum_, or images of ancestors, in the Roman funeral processions of the nobility, who were thus believed to follow the dead body of their descendant to the grave. That a meeting between the recently deceased and his ancestors was believed to take place in the tomb we may well conceive; it would be precisely parallel to the Israelite belief expressed by the phrase of being gathered to one’s fathers[394]. It was, however, during the funeral feast that dancing, in the more literal sense of the word, figured most prominently.

The sacred dance as a mourning or as a burial rite among uncivilized peoples plays an important part. Among them the objects of the rite are not only various, but contradictory; chief among these is, however, that of giving honour to the departed. A few examples, of very many, have been considered. They are taken from peoples in lands as widely spread as India, North America, South America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Guiana, the Indian archipelago, and the Torres Straits; and it would be easy to offer further instances from many other countries.

Taking these as a whole, they point indubitably to the fact that this rite was, and is, usually performed as an act of honour to the deceased. This represents, we believe, its final development, so far as intention is concerned; there are cases of its continuance in which probably no purpose could be assigned for its performance other than that of traditional use. From this point of view we shall not be far wrong in regarding the rite as a remnant of ancestor-worship; the Roman custom of carrying the _imagines maiorum_ in the funeral procession is clear evidence of this. The other purposes for which it was performed betray a far less developed outlook; and the fact that they exist side by side with that of the more rational object of honouring the dead offers but another illustration of a world-wide phenomenon, to be observed even among the most civilized peoples, viz. that more or less primitive ideas can be held on some things in conjunction with advanced thought on others.

By personating the deceased in the mourning dance it is believed by some that he can be induced to return to his friends and dance with them, greatly to the comfort of the relatives. The idea is about on a level with the Roman belief in the presence of a man’s ancestors, when their images are carried in the funeral procession. But the same rite can, among others, have the purpose of protecting the survivors from the spirit of the deceased; he is sometimes supposed to be annoyed at having been forcibly taken away from his familiar haunts, and lest he should vent his angry feelings on his relatives, they either dance to scare him away, or else propitiate him by various means. Another purpose of the rite is for the survivors to protect both themselves and their departed friend from the malice of other departed spirits who are believed to congregate in the vicinity of a corpse; in this case the dance is accompanied by sundry noises.

A variation of this is the dance round the corpse, whether by way of perambulation or dancing in the more literal sense. The magic circle thus formed keeps away unwelcome spirit-visitors. But this may have another purpose; it may possibly be a means of “keeping in” the spirit of the deceased, and thus preventing him from getting abroad and doing mischief. When the dance is performed round slain enemies the object of it seems to be that of propitiation.

If it be asked which of these purposes may be supposed to have been that for which the Israelites performed this rite, we imagine the reply would be: any or all of them, according to the stage of culture in which they found themselves. Two of them: that of honouring the dead, and that of forming the magic circle round the corpse (probably for keeping it safe), can be vouched for.

FOOTNOTES

[1] _Pioneering in New Guinea_, pp. 181 f. (1887); see further, J. E. Harrison, _Ancient Art and Ritual_, pp. 31 ff. (1913).

[2] _The Evolution of Religion_, p. 9 (1905); cp. the same author’s _Greece and Babylon_, p. 37 (1911).

[3] See Marett, _The Threshold of Religion_, pp. 128 ff. (1909).

[4] Mrs Lilly Grove (now Lady Frazer) and other writers, _Dancing_, p. 8 (1895); elsewhere in the same volume the writers say: “There must have been a period of the world’s history when every action in life, every game, every banquet, every dance, was a game, a repast, a dance, in honour of the gods,” p. 15. The evidence entirely bears this out if we take “gods” as meaning supernatural powers in general.

[5] _La danse ancienne et moderne, ou Traité Historique de la Danse_, p. 19 (1754). For a different opinion see Irving King, _The Development of Religion_, p. 58 (1910).

[6] _Der Tanz und seine Geschichte_, pp. 3-15 (1869).

[7] He says: “Les différentes affections de l’âme sont donc l’origine des gestes, et la danse qui en est composée, est par conséquent l’art de les faire avec grâce et mesure relativement aux affections qu’ils doivent exprimer,” _op. cit._ p. 17.

[8] _ERE_, X. 358 _a_.

[9] _Traité de la Danse_, p. 8 (1891). Jevons (in a private communication) lays much stress on the sacred dance being, like every rite, “an expression of will.”

[10] See Dalman, _Palestinischer Diwan_, p. 254 (1901); cp. Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 31.

[11] Crawley, _ERE_, X. 358 _a_.

[12] _Ibid._ See further Toy, _Intr. to the Hist. of Religions_, p. 50 (1913).

[13] Dalman, _op. cit._ pp. 254 f.

[14] _ERE_, X. 358 _a_.

[15] Numbered 37984.

[16] In the British Museum, _e.g._ see the specimens numbered B 36, B 167, B 625, B 643, E 20, E 35, E 137.

[17] Lilly Grove, _op. cit._ p. 41.

[18] _ERE_, X. 362 _b_.

[19] In _ERE_, X. 358 _a_; cp. Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 44; Leuba, _A Psychological Study of Religion_, pp. 62 f. (1912).

[20] Prof. J. Y. Simpson, _Man and the Attainment of Immortality_, p. 115 (1922).

[21] _Lectures on the origin and growth of Religion, as illustrated by the native religions of Mexico and Peru_, p. 224 (1895).

[22] Marett, _op. cit._ p. 127.

[23] Vormann, “Tänze und Tanzfestlichkeiten der Monumbo-Papua,” in _Anthropos_, VI. 415 ff. (1911).

[24] Frazer, _GB_, _Balder the Beautiful_, II. 274 (1913).

[25] _GB_, _The Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, II. 190 f., 195 (1912).

[26] See, _e.g._, Toy, _op. cit._ p. 491.

[27] Stow, _The Native Races of South Africa_, pp. 111 f.

[28] _Maori and Polynesian, their origin, history, and culture_, p. 203 (1907).

[29] Cp. de Cahusac, _op. cit._ p. 38.

[30] Frazer, _GB_, _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings_, I. 54 (1911).

[31] Millar in Hastings’ _DB_, I. 550 _b_.

[32] _The Classical Quarterly_, October 1907, pp. 202 f.

[33] _Op. cit._ p. 66, the expression is Hartland’s.

[34] In the Targum of Isa. lxvi. 20, however, we have the noun _kirkerān_ (fem. plur.) meaning “dances.”

[35] In Neo-Hebrew the word means “to dance.”

[36] In the Midrash _Bemidbar Rabba_ to xx. 11 it is said: “When a man plans a sin Satan dances before him....”

[37] The underlying idea regarding the threshold has continued through the ages in many localities, witches having taken the place frequently of evil spirits. Walpurgis Night (the eve of May Day) is the special time for their activity, and leaping over the threshold is then a necessary precaution.

[38] _Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft_, 1887, p. 719.

[39] _Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel_, p. 173 (1890).

[40] In “Handkommentar zum A.T.,” _Die Bücher Samuelis_, p. 143 (1902).

[41] _Reste Arabischen Heidenthums_, pp. 109 f. (1897).

[42] _Hebräisches und Aramäisches Wörterbuch_, p. 98 (1910).

[43] _Encycl. Biblica_, I. 999.

[44] _Beiträge_ ..., p. 92.

[45] _Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek des A.T._, p. 610 (3rd ed.).

[46] “He will protect and deliver it, _he will pass over_ and preserve it.”

[47] _Encycl. Britannica_, XVIII. 343 _b_ (9th ed.).

[48] But see Mic. iv. 6 f., Zeph. iii. 19, Jer. xx. 10, Ps. xxxv. 15, xxxviii. 18, Job xviii. 12, from which a clear meaning of the root is gained.

[49] Cp. Nowack, _Hebräische Archäologie_, I. 273 (1894), where an illustration of the Egyptian instrument is given.

[50] J. M. Brown, _Maori and Polynesian, their origin, history and culture_, p. 202 (1907).

[51] See the present writer’s _The Psalms in the Jewish Church_, pp. 5 ff. (1910).

[52] The text is clearly corrupt, but the above seems to be the best reconstruction; see Nowack, _Die Bücher Samuelis_, p. 172 (1902); the Septuagint reads lit. “with strength” (cp. 1 Chron. xiii. 8).

[53] See Renan, _Mission de Phénice_, pp. 355 f. (1864); Clermont-Ganneau, _Rec. d’Arch. Or._ I. 95, 103 (1896).

[54] De la Saussaye, _Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte_, I. 372, 380 (3rd ed.).

[55] Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, p. 95 (1894); Lagrange, _Études sur les religions Sémitiques_, p. 84 (1903).

[56] _Die Erdkunde im Verhältniss zur Natur und zur Geschichte des Menschen_, XV. 729 (1850).

[57] _Zeitschrift der Deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft_, XXII. 105 ff. (1868); on this see further below, p. 179.

[58] See M. Jastrow, _Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens_, I. 503 (1905).

[59] _Das alte Testament im Lichte des alten Orients_, p. 307 (1904); see also Schrader, _Die Keilinschriften und das alte Testament_, pp. 45 ff. (1883).

[60] _Kypros, die Bibel, und Homer_, I. 445, and the above numbered inscriptions in vol. II. (1893).

[61] A full illustration is given in Hommel’s _Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens_, between pp. 270-271 (1888). A good description will also be found in Messerschmidt’s “Die Hettiter,” in _Der alte Orient_, IV. 23 f.; Garstang, _The Land of the Hittites_, pp. 220 ff. (1910).

[62] _Op. cit._ I. 446; the inscription is numbered cxxvii. 1, in vol. II.

[63] A. M. Blackman, in Hastings’ _ERE_, X. 294 _b_; see also the same writer’s _The Rock Tombs of Meir_, I. 22 ff., plate II (1914-15).

[64] Erman, _Aegypten and aegyptisches Leben im Alterthum_, I. 335 f. (1885).

[65] Wiedemann, _Die Religion der alten Ägypter_, p. 87 (1890).

[66] _ERE_, XII. 780 _a_, 781 _b_; see also the same writer in the _Journal of Egyptian Archaeology_, VII. 22.

[67] _The Golden Ass_, XI. 8-17 (the date of Apuleius is the second half of the second century A.D.); see also Herodotus, II. 61 ff.

[68] II. 58-60.

[69] _Der Opfertanz des ägyptischen Königs_, pp. 105 ff. (1912); that the running step was really a ritual dance is shown on pp. 109-119.

[70] Erman, _op. cit._ I. 299-337; and see further generally, Champollion, _Monuments de l’Égypte_ (1844); Lepsius, _Denkmäler_ ... (1897 ...); cp. Reinach, _Orpheus_, p. 42 (1909). As to the sacred dancing among the _Therapeutae_, of later times, see Philo, _De Vita Contemplativa_, pp. 127-129 in F. C. Conybeare’s edition (1895).

[71] Its home was Sparta; it was introduced into Athens in the sixth century B.C. in the time of Pisistratus; ultimately it became a mere war game.

[72] See A. Mommsen, _Feste der Stadt Athen_, pp. 98 ff. (1898), where details will be found; an interesting account of the great procession is given on pp. 131 ff.; see also the same author’s _Heortologie_, pp. 116-205 (1864).

[73] Cp. Gruppe, _Griechische Mythologie_, I. 165, 167, II. 1198 f., etc. (1906).

[74] Hesiod, _Theog._ 259; Thucydides, IV. 3; Livy, XXVI. 9; Virgil, _Aeneid_ VIII. 285; Plutarch, _Thes._ 21 (_EB_, I. 998); and see especially Emmanuel, _La Danse Grecque antique_, pp. 285 ff. (1896).

[75] On the whole subject of the worship of Dionysos see Foucart, _Le culte de Dionysos en Attique_ (1906). For the dances in connexion with his worship see below, pp. 121 ff.

[76] Quoted by Andrew Lang, _Myth, Ritual and Religion_, I. 272 (1901). See also de la Saussaye, _op. cit._ II. 246.

[77] _The Cults of the Greek States_, II. 472 (1909).

[78] See the first line in the quotation from the _Iliad_ on p. 70.

[79] These details are from Sittl, _Archäologie der Kunst_, pp. 378 f. (1895), where much further information will be found.

[80] Ohnefalsch-Richter, _op. cit._ vol. II., No. cxxvii. 2.

[81] _Ibid._ No. cxxviii. 3.

[82] Cat. E, 695

[83] Such as Müller und Wieseler, _Denkmäler der alten Kunst_, see _e.g._ I. plate XLIV (1854 ...); Jane E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_ (1903), who gives a number of illustrations.

[84] These were sometimes of a lascivious character.

[85] _Op. cit._ II. 472; see also p. 463.

[86] III. x. 7 (Frazer’s ed.). See further, the interesting notes in Hitzig et Bluemner’s _Pausaniae Graeciae Descriptio_, I. 766 (1896).

[87] III. p. 320; see also Hitzig et Bluemner, _in loc._; Farnell, _op. cit._ II. 472.

[88] IV. xvi. 9. It recalls the episode of the maidens of Shiloh dancing in honour of Jahwe, Judg. xxi. 19 ff.

[89] Cp. Emmanuel, _La Danse Grecque antique_ (1896); for illustrations see Müller und Wieseler, _op. cit._ II. 17188 ff.

[90] Ramsay, in the _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, IV. 36 (1883).

[91] Cp. Reinach, _Orpheus_, p. 123 (1909): “Les jeunes filles athéniennes, qui célèbrent le culte de l’Artémis-ourse, s’habillent en ourses et se disent des ourses.”

[92] _Op. cit._ II. 436 f.; see further Gruppe, _op. cit._ II. 1284, 1293; Lobeck, _Aglaophamus_, 1086 (1829); Bekker, _Anecdota Graeca_, I. 445 (1814-21); Lübker, _Real-Lex. des Klassischen Altertums_, s.v. Artemis (1914); Hesychius, s.v. Βραυρωνίοις; Mommsen, _Feste der Stadt Athen_, pp. 456 ff.; _Heortologie_, pp. 406 ff.; and see also Pausan. I. xxiii. 7. Cp. the custom among the Azimba of east-central Africa, when maidens attain puberty they celebrate the occasion by a dance in which only women take part: see Hartland in _Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. Tylor_, p. 197 (1907).

[93] III. xi. 7.

[94] _Op. cit._ I. 162. Herodotus refers to the Carneian festival in VII. 206.

[95] _Op. cit._ I. 234.

[96] Gruppe, _op. cit._ I. 271.

[97] For its religious character see Mommsen, _Heortologie_, pp. 163 ff.

[98] See further, p. 71, and W. H. Matthews, _Mazes and Labyrinths_, pp. 19 ff., 156 ff. (1922).

[99] _Prolegomena of the History of Religions_, p. 123 (1884).

[100] Ohnefalsch-Richter, _op. cit._ I. 446, 448, and numbered cxxxii. 2.

[101] XVIII. 590-606 (Blakeney’s translation).

[102] _Aen._ V. 545-603.

[103] Frazer, _GB_, _The Dying God_, pp. 76 f. (1911).

[104] _GB_, _The Dying God_, p. 77.

[105] See Plutarch, _Theseus_, XXI.

[106] Cp. the “Ladies’ Chain” in modern dancing.

[107] _Op. cit._, and see also vol. I. 446.

[108] Ohnefalsch-Richter, _op. cit._ I. 448.

[109] Now in the Berl. Mus. Antiquarium.

[110] _Pro Murena_, VI. 13, quoted by Bender, _Rom und römisches Leben im Alterthum_, p. 452 (1880).

[111] Cp. Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_, I. 382 (1902).

[112] _Op. cit._ pp. 154 f.; cp. Warde Fowler, _ERE_, X. 820 _a_; Marquardt, _Das Privatleben der Römer_, p. 118 (1886); Dill, _Roman Society in the last century of the Roman Empire_, pp. 76 ff. (1910).

[113] _Op. cit._ I. 360.

[114] Cp. Marquardt, _Das Privatleben der Römer_, p. 118, and the reff. there given (1886).

[115] _GB_, _The Scapegoat_, p. 65 (1913), from Liv. vii. 1-3.

[116] In de la Saussaye, _Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte_, II. 33, cp. 149 (1905), and Reinach, _Orpheus_, p. 89. A great deal of information will be found scattered about in various volumes of the _Sacred Books of the East_ series, _e.g._ I, XV (Upanishads); XII, XXVI, XLI, XLIII, XLIV (Satapatha-Brâhmana); XXXIV, XXXVIII, XLVIII (the Vedânta-Sûtras); XLIX (Buddhist Mahâyâna Texts); XXIII, XXXI (the Zend-Avesta); XXVII, XXVIII, XL (the Sacred Books of China). Also the relevant articles, which are many, in _ERE_, where special literature in abundance will be found.

[117] Schoolcraft, _The Indian Tribes of the United States_, I. 191 (ed. by F. S. Drake, 1891); there is an illustration given of this dance.

[118] _Unknown Mexico_, I. 330 f. (1903).

[119] For the religious dance among the ancient Peruvians see Réville, _Hibbert Lectures_, pp. 224 ff. (1895); J. G. Müller, _Amerikanische Urreligion_, p. 385 (1867); Reinach, _Orpheus_, p. 230 (1909).

[120] Hahl, _Mittheilungen über Sitten und rechtliche Verhältnisse auf Ponape_, in “Ethnologisches Notizblatt,” II. ii. 1 (1901), quoted by Frazer, _Folk-lore in the Old Testament_, I. 40 (1918). The Maoris attributed the origin of dancing to two goddesses, Raukata-uri and Raukata-mea, J. Macmillan Brown, _Maori and Polynesian_, p. 208 (1907); see also the interesting illustrations in Caillot, _Les Polynésiens orientaux..._, Pls. XLVII, XLIX-LII (1909).

[121] _Les religions des peuples non-civilisés_, pp. 251 f. (1883).

[122] Réville, _Hibbert Lectures_, p. 194.

[123] Frazer, _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, I. 307, 309 ff. (1912). The supremely important _rôle_ assigned to the sacred dance among the natives of Australia is well known; see Spencer, _Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia_, pp. 32, 106, 139 ff., 173, and the illustrations on p. 186 (1914); Howitt, _The Native Tribes of South-east Australia_, pp. 330, 416 (1904); Brough Smith, _The Aborigines of Victoria_, I. 166 ff. (1878), cp. Reinach, _Orpheus_, pp. 228 f.

[124] _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn ..._, I. 311.

[125] See the whole of the Note on “The Pleiades in Primitive Calendars,” _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn ..._, I. 307-319.

[126] W. Schneider, _Die Religion der Afrikanischen Naturvölker_, p. 100 (1891).

[127] Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrika’s_, p. 91 (1872).

[128] Fritsch, _op. cit._ p. 352.

[129] W. Schneider, _op. cit._ pp. 89 f.

[130] For other dances in imitation of animals, see Ling Roth, _The Aborigines of Tasmania_, pp. 138 ff. (1899).

[131] Cp. the personating of spirits or legendary animals among the N. American Indians, Frazer, _GB_, _The Scapegoat_, p. 375.

[132] See, _e.g._, _GB_, _The Magic Art_, I. 302 ff.

[133] _E.g._ Gen. xii. 6 f., xiii. 18, xiv. 13, xxxv. 4, 8; Josh. xxiv. 26; Judg. ix. 37; Jer. ii. 20, iii. 6, 13, xvii. 2; Ezek. vi. 13; Hos. iv. 13; cp. Isa. i. 29.

[134] _E.g._ Gen. xiv. 7, xvi. 14; cp. xxi. 19, 33; Josh. xv. 7, xviii. 17, xix. 8.

[135] See above, pp. 33 ff.

[136] _Patrol. Graec._ (Migne), LXXIX. Col. 648.

[137] _Rel. of the Semites_, pp. 135 f.

[138] I. 189. Quoted by Buchanan Gray, _Numbers_ (Intern. Crit. Com.), pp. 288 f. (1903).

[139] Cp. Jane E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_, p. 127 (1903).

[140] A reading based on the Samaritan and the Septuagint.

[141] The name “calf,” _ʿēgel_, instead of “bull” or “cow,” refers to its smallness (perhaps in irony). Such images could not have been large as they were made of precious metal. But even when made of other materials, such as clay, they were small, to judge from the specimens found on the site of ancient Gezer.

[142] It is true that the word is used of “surrounding” a table in the Hebrew of Ecclus. xxxv. 1 (xxxii. 1 in Greek), but it would be precarious to cite this late Hebrew meaning of it in support of the R.V. rendering of the word in 1 Sam. xvi. 11. In Ecclus. ix. 9 it is used of “mingling” strong drink.

[143] Cp. Robertson Smith, _The Religion of the Semites_, p. 340, note 2: “The festal song of praise (_tahlil_) properly goes with the dance round the altar (cp. Ps. xxvi. 6 sq.), for in primitive times song and dance are inseparable.”

[144] _Psalms_ (Intern. Crit. Com.), II. 408 (1907).

[145] Cp. Job xxvi. 10: “He hath worked out a circle (_ḥôq ḥāg_) upon the face of the waters”; or perhaps better: “He hath circumscribed a boundary....” This illustrates the root meaning of _ḥag_, “a circle”; and this is the formation of the festival dance. See, further, Driver and Gray, _Job_, Part II., Philological Notes, pp. 154, 180 (1921); Budde, _Hiob_, p. 146 (1896); Ball, _The Book of Job_, p. 322 (1922). See also Prov. viii. 27, and cp. Isa. xix. 17: “And the land of Judah shall be for a reeling (_ḥagga’_) to Egypt,” _i.e._ Egypt will become giddy through fear at the sight of Judah, and will thus “reel.” _Ḥagga’_ “may either be from an original sense of _ḥāgag_, or it may be equivalent to being excited as at a _ḥag_” (Oxf. Hebr. Lex.). More probably it is simply a derivative from _ḥag_, giddiness as a result of going round at the festival dance; it is used in Isa. xix. 17 in a metaphorical way.

[146] Mishnah, _Sukkah_, iv. 2.

[147] See above, pp. 48 ff. The prince-poet Imra-al-Kais refers in one of his poems to girls, gown-clad, going swiftly round the _Davar_ (_EB_, I. 998).

[148] _Nili Opera_, Narrat. III. 8 (in Migne, _Patrol. Graec._ LXXIX. 612 f.) “In later Arabia, the _ṭawâf_, or act of circling the sacred stone, was still a principal part of religion; but even before Mohammed’s time it had begun to be dissociated from sacrifice, and became a meaningless ceremony,” Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ p. 340.

[149] “Damit wäre dann der kultische Tanz als Produkt der altorientalischen Vorstellungswelt erwiesen” (de la Saussaye, _Religionsgeschichte_, I. 380 [1905]).

[150] See p. 94.

[151] _De Dea Syria_, XLIX.; see Strong and Garstang, _The Syrian Goddess_, and Garstang’s notes on pp. 83 f. (1913).

[152] Robertson Smith, _op. cit._ pp. 185, 335.

[153] See Curtiss, _Primitive Semitic Religion To-day_, p. 91, where a good photograph of one of these trees is given.

[154] Nöldeke, _Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden_. Aus der arabischen Chronik des Tabari, p. 181 (1879). I am indebted to the kindness of Prof. Bevan, of Cambridge, for this reference.

[155] See Dussaud, _Histoire et Religion des Nosairis_, pp. 149 f. (1900).

[156] Ohnefalsch-Richter, _op. cit._ I. 360; it is numbered xvii. 5 in vol. II.

[157] Now in the Berlin Mus. Antiq., T.C. 668238.

[158] Ohnefalsch-Richter, _op. cit._ I. 360; numbered xvii. 6 in vol. II.

[159] _Op. cit._ I. 445; numbered cxxvii. 3 in vol. II.

[160] Cp. Suidas, s.v. Ἀμφιδρόμια.

[161] See Lobeck, _Aglao._, 237 ff., 639 ff., 695 (1829); Bekker, _Anecdota Graeca_, p. 207 (1814-1821); Pauly, _Realencycl. der classischen Alterthumswissenschaft_, IV. 1240 ff. (1862).

[162] Warde Fowler in _ERE_, X. 827 _b_.

[163] _Religion und Kultus der Römer_, p. 390 (1912).

[164] _Das Privatleben der Römer_, p. 83 and the notes (1886).

[165] _The Indian Tribes of the United States_, I. 146 ff.; ed. by F. S. Drake (1891).

[166] Speck, _Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians_, p. 28 (1909).

[167] _Les Religions des Peuples Non-civilisés_, I. 269 (1883).

[168] _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_..., I. 97.

[169] Frazer, _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_..., I. 240 ff., II. 326 ff.; _The Scapegoat_, 232 ff., 251 ff., 315.

[170] Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 190 ff. (1875-1877); _Wald- und Feldkulte_, I. 244 (1904-1905).

[171] Frazer, _GB_, _The Magic Art_, II. 47 ff.; see also the instances mentioned above, p. 98.

[172] Frazer, _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_..., I. 136 ff.

[173] Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 174; Frazer, _The Magic Art_, II. 58 ff.

[174] On the subject generally see Hölscher, _Die Profeten: Untersuchungen zur Religionsgeschichte Israels_, pp. 129-158 (1914).

[175] In speaking of the exercises of the early prophetical bands Robertson Smith says that “they were sometimes gone through in sacred processions, sometimes at a fixed place, as at the Naioth at Ramah, which ought probably to be rendered ‘dwellings’—a sort of coenobium. They were accompanied by music of a somewhat noisy character, in which the hand-drum and the pipe played a part, as was otherwise the case in festal processions to the sanctuary (2 Sam. vi. 5; Isa. xxx. 29). Thus the religious exercises of the prophets seem to be a development in a peculiar direction of the ordinary forms of Hebrew worship at the time, and the fact that the ‘prophesying’ was contagious establishes its analogy to other contagious forms of religious excitement” (_The Prophets of Israel_, p. 392 [1897]). See further, Gressmann, _Palestinas Erdgeruch in der Israelitischen Religion_, pp. 34 ff. (1909).

[176] Robertson Smith, _The Religion of the Semites_, p. 432.

[177] See, for interesting parallels, S. A. Cook, in _Essays and Studies presented to William Ridgeway_, p. 397 (1913).

[178] _The Religion of the Semites_, p. 432. But see S. A. Cook in the work just cited.

[179] The R.V. rendering of 1 Kings xviii. 26, “And they leaped about the altar,” is misleading.

[180] The text emendation here is obvious, it should be _yithgôdâdu_ (“they cut themselves”) for _yithgôrâru_ (“they assemble themselves”).

[181] This has been illustrated by the excavations on the site of ancient Gezer undertaken by the Palestine Exploration Fund.

[182] _Genesis_, p. 329 (1901).

[183] See, further, von Gall, _Altisraelitische Kultstätten_, pp. 148 ff. (1898).

[184] The word is also used for limping, or stumbling, in a figurative sense (Jer. xx. 10 and elsewhere; in Job xviii. 12, Ball would read _balaʿ_). According to Driver the cognate Arabic word means “to curve” (_Oxford Hebr. Lex._); one thinks of the bent or curved position of the body during the performance of the “limping” dance.

[185] See the various works of Schrader, Winckler, Zimmern, Jensen, O. Weber, Jastrow, etc.

[186] See, _e.g._, Wiedemann, _Die Religion der alten Aegypter_, pp. 85-87 (1890); Erman, _Die ägyptische Religion_, pp. 61 f., 90 (1909), and the works of other authorities mentioned in previous chapters.

[187] _Eastern Customs in Bible Lands_, pp. 207-210 (1894); a good account of the Dancing Dervishes is given in W. Tyndale’s _An Artist in Egypt_, pp. 26-30 (1912); and see especially Gressmann, _Palestinas Erdgeruch in der Israelitischen Religion_, pp. 34 ff. (1909).

[188] See Herodotus, II. 133.

[189] _The Prophets of Israel_, p. 392 (1897); cp. Stade, _Geschichte des Volkes Israel_, I. 477 (1886).

[190] Snouck-Hurgronje, _Mekka_, II. 281 (1888-1889). And see, further, Doughty, _Arabia Deserta_, II. 119 (orig. ed.); Robinson Lees mentions this dancing as taking place at holy places in Palestine, _Village Life in Palestine_, pp. 27, 28 (1897).

[191] See Golénischeff, _Recueil de Travaux_, XXI. 22 f.; Gressmann, _Altorientalische Texte und Bilder zum A.T._, I. 225 ff. (1909).

[192] Regarding the musical accompaniment to such ecstatic dances, Iamblichus propounds the extraordinary theory that the reason why certain sounds and melodies produce an ecstatic state is because before the soul entered the body it was “an auditor of divine harmony,” and when, being in the body, it hears these, it recollects the divine harmony and participates in it; hence the cause of the ecstatic state and the faculty of divination (_De Mysteriis_, III. 9 end).

[193] Die sequenti variis coloribus indusiati et deformiter quisque formati, facie caenoso pigmento delita et oculis obunctis graphice prodeunt, mitellis et crocotis et carbasinis et bambycinis iniecti, quidam tunicas albas in modum lanciolarum quoquoversum fluente purpura depictas cingulo subligati, pedes luteis induti calceis; deamque serico contectam amicuio mihi gerendam imponunt brachiisque suis humero tenus renundatis, attollentes immanes gladios ac secures, evantes exsiliunt incitante tibiae cantu lymphaticum tripudium. Nec paucis pererratis casulis ad quandam villam possessoris beati perveniunt et ab ingressu primo statim absonis ululatibus constrepentes fanatice pervolant, diuque capite demisso cervices lubricis intorquentes motibus crinesque pendulos in circulum rotantes, et nonnunquam morsibus suos incursantes musculos, ad postremum ancipiti ferro quod gerebant sua quisque brachia dissicant. Inter haec unus ex illis bacchatur effusius ac de imis praecordiis anhelitus crebros referens, velut numinis divino spiritu repletus, simulabat sauciam vecordiam, prorus quasi deum praesentia soleant homines non sui fieri meliores sed debiles effici vel aegroti.... Arrepto denique flagro, quod semiviris illis proprium gestamen est, contortis taeniis lanosi velleris prolixe fimbriatum et multiiugis talis ovium tesseratum, indidem sese multinodis commulcat ictibus, mire contra plagarum dolores praesumptione munitus. Cerneres prosectu gladiorum ictuque flagrorum solum spurcitia sanguinis effeminati madescere.... The translation is that of S. Gaselee in “Loeb Classical Library” (1915).

[194] In _ERE_, VI. 403 _a_; we give the quotation in full as this large Encyclopaedia is not, for many, easily accessible.

[195] On the Korybantes, the mythical attendants on Kybele, who were supposed to dance in wild fashion with the goddess on the mountains, see Rohde, _Psyche_..., II. 48 ff. (1907); the name was also given to the eunuch priests of the goddess in Phrygia.

[196] Panofka, _Dionysos und Thyiden_, pl. I. 2 (1853).

[197] Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_, p. 453 (1903).

[198] The treasure is in the Berlin Museum, Cat. 2290; Harrison, _op. cit._, p. 428.

[199] Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 393; see also Gruppe, _Griechische Mythologie und Religionsgeschichte_, I. 162, II. 840, 1293; Lobeck, _Aglao._, II. 1085 ff.; Bekker, _Anecdota Graeca_, I. 234.

[200] Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 397; Gruppe, _op. cit._ II. 748, 1293; Reinach, _Orpheus_, p. 123.

[201] Philo, _De Vita Contempl._ II.

[202] Diodorus, IV. iii. 2.

[203] Rohde, _Psyche_, II. 11 ff.; Roscher, _Ausführliches Lexikon_..., II. 2243-2283 (1894-1897).

[204] Pausan. X. iv. 1, 2.

[205] Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 540 (omitting the interjected words of Xanthias and Dionysos).

[206] See Mommsen, _op. cit._ p. 224; cp. Foucart, _Les grands mystères d’Eleusis_, pp. 121 f.; and for the dancing at the celebration of the mysteries, see p. 142 (1904).

[207] Quoted by Harrison, _Pyth._ III. 77.

[208] Pausan. II. vii. 6. Cp. also Lobeck, _Aglao._, II. 1088; Reinach, _Orpheus_, pp. 153 ff.

[209] Lines 680-691.

[210] IV. 3.

[211] Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 500; and the same author’s _Themis_, pp. 23 ff. (1912). Rohde, _Psyche_, I. 272.

[212] _Protr._ II. 12. Concerning them Gruppe says: “Die Kureten, nach denen ein Magistratskollegium hiess, das unter dem _proto-koures_ mystische Opfer feierte, sollten durch den Lärm der Waffen Hera vertrieben haben; eine Sagenbildung, die auf eine Angleichung an die Riten die zwar ebenfalls euboisch-boiotischen, aber vielleicht erst hier mit dem Artemis-dienst in Verbindung gesetzten Kultus der grossen Göttin hinweist” (_Griech. Myth._ I. 284; see also II. 820, 898, 1106, 1198).

[213] Frazer, _GB_, _Adonis, Attis, and Osiris_, pp. 250 f. (1907). See further, Hepding, _Attis, seine Mythen und sein Kult_, pp. 128 ff. (1903).

[214] Ep. I. 49, II. 34, VI. 40; Dill, _Roman Society in the last century of the Western Empire_, p. 16 (1910).

[215] On the Galli see Lucian, _De Dea Syria_, XLIII, L-LX.

[216] Frazer, _op. cit._ p. 223. See further Cicero, _De Divinatione_, II. 50; Catullus, _Carm._ LXIII.; Lucretius, II. 598 ff.; Hepding, _op. cit._, pp. 142 ff.; Glover, _The Conflict of Religions in the early Roman Empire_, pp. 20 f. (1909).

[217] Fallaize, in _ERE_, X. 124 _b_.

[218] Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, II. 133 f. (1920); he also mentions this type of dance among the Patagonians, Fijians and others, pp. 419 ff.

[219] Frazer, _GB_, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, p. 61.

[220] Réville, _Les Religions des peuples non-civilisés_, p. 267 (1883); Schoolcraft, _op. cit._ I. 286.

[221] _Native Religions of Mexico and Peru_ (Hibbert Lectures, 1884), p. 225.

[222] _Malay Magic_, p. 463 (1900).

[223] Fallaize, in _ERE_, X. 124 _b_.

[224] Frazer, _GB_, _The Magic Art_, I. 408; N. Tsaki, _La Russie Sectaire_, pp. 66 ff. The Shakers of New Lebanon attempt in the dance to obtain the Holy Spirit, Lilly Grove, _op. cit._ p. 7.

[225] J. Macmillan Brown, _Maori and Polynesian_, p. 204 (1907).

[226] _Folk-lore in the Old Testament_, III. 277 (1918).

[227] In _Allerlei_, I. 164-168.

[228] _Introduction to the Study of Religion_, p. 174 (1904).

[229] “They prophesied until the time of the evening oblation” (‎‏עֲלוֹת הַמִּנְחָה‏‎), 1 Kings xviii. 29.

[230] An inspired prophet.

[231] A five-thonged scourge, with iron at the extremity of each thong.

[232] _The Sun and the Serpent_, pp. 99 f. (1905).

[233] The feast of _Pesach_ (“Passover”) coincided with this; it was also a spring festival at which the firstlings of the herds were offered (Exod. xxxiv. 25).

[234] _E.g._ 1 Kings viii. 2, xii. 32; Judg. xxi. 19; Lev. xxiii. 39, 41.

[235] This is also true of the Targums, where an allusion to the dance is sometimes strikingly obvious, _e.g._ in the Targ. of _Onkelos_ to Deut. xvi. 14; the people are bidden to rejoice at their feasts with the playing of flutes; this was one of the most usual accompaniments to the sacred dance all the world over.

[236] See Moore, _Judges_, pp. 304 f. (1903).

[237] Cp. Judges ix. 27.

[238] See _e.g._ Reinach, _Orpheus_, p. 273 (1909); Carl Rathjens, _Die Juden in Abessinien_, p. 78 (1921).

[239] _Talmudische Archäologie_, III. 101, and the references on p. 285.

[240] Mishnah, _Sukkah_, V. 1.

[241] _Sukkah_, IV. 1-4.

[242] Cp. Reinach, _op. cit._ p. 271.

[243] See _Megillath Taanith_, IV. 8-10; this was before the Day of Atonement had become a Fast-day; one sees, therefore, how ancient the custom was.

[244] _Megillath Taanith_, V.

[245] _Bell. Jud_. II. xvii. 6.

[246] See further on this, Krauss, _op. cit._ III. 102, 285.

[247] On these see further Doughty, _Travels in Arabia Deserta_, I. 340 ff., 391 f. (1921).

[248] Alois Musil, _Arabia Petraea_, III. 200 ff. (1908).

[249] Dalman, _Palestinischer Diwan_, p. 254 (1901).

[250] Featherman, _Social History of Mankind_, I. 334 f. (1881).

[251] See G. Friedlander’s edition of this work, p. 208 (1916).

[252] Cp. Enclow, _JE_, IV. 425 _b_, and Jacobs, _JE_, IV. 96 ff.

[253] See Curtiss, _op. cit._ pp. 164 ff.

[254] Kees, _Der Opfertanz des ägyptischen Königs_, pp. 105-226 (1912); Maspero, _Études de mythologie et de l’archéologie égyptiennes_, VIII. 313 (1893-1916); Blackman, _Rock Tombs of Meir_, I. 23 f., II. 25, and the same writer in the _Journal of Egyptian Archaeology_, VII. 21 f.

[255] Erman, _Aegypten_ ..., I. 336.

[256] Erman, _op. cit._ I. 340; see also Voss, _Der Tanz und seine Geschichte_, p. 20 (1869), who unfortunately omits references to authorities.

[257] See further, Flinders Petrie, _Stud. Hist._ III. 69 (1904), and for festivals generally the same author’s _Egyptian Festivals_ ... (1908).

[258] _Schol. in Luc. Dialog. Meretr._ VII. 4 (ed. Rabe, 1906), referred to by Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 146; see also Lübker, _op. cit._ 298 _b_.

[259] Mommsen, _Feste_ ..., pp. 359 ff.; Harpocration, _s.v._ Ἁλῷα, I. 24 (ed. Dindorf [1853]). For Vintage Festivals see, further, Mommsen, _Heortologie_, pp. 66 ff.

[260] Harrison, _op. cit._ pp. 146 f. On this festival see also Bekker, _op. cit._ I. 384 f.; Farnell, _Cults_ ..., III. 315 f.; Frazer, _GB_, _The Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, I. 60 ff.

[261] The author refers to his note on Pausanias, VIII. xxxvii. 3 in vol. IV. pp. 375 ff. of his _Pausanias_.

[262] _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, II. 339.

[263] Gruppe, _op. cit._ II. 783; Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_, pp. 618 ff. (1872).

[264] Cp. Pausan. VIII. xxv. 1 ff.; Ovid, _Metam._ V. 106; Pliny, XVI. 33; and for the _Charites_ see Gruppe, _op. cit._ I. 81, II. 1073, 1083, 1189, 1284; Lobeck, _op. cit._ II. 1085 ff.; _Julii Pol. Onom._ IV. 95. For the Thesmophoria see Frazer, _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_ ..., II. 16 ff.; Farnell, _Cults_ ..., III. 85-93; and for the Thargelia, _GB_, _The Scapegoat_, pp. 254 ff.; Farnell, _Cults_ ..., IV. 268 ff.

[265] _E.g._ in the cult of Ἄρτεμις Κορδάκα, see Lobeck, _De myst. priv._ II. 959; Farnell, _Cults_ ..., II. 445; Pausan. VI. xxii. 1. The procession called φαλλοφορία was especially associated with Dionysos and Hermes, see Farnell in _ERE_, VI. 417 _a_.

[266] See Farnell in _ERE_, VI. 403 _b_; he says: “this privilege of ecstasy might be used for the practical purposes of vegetation-magic.”

[267] Mars was originally a god of vegetation; he appears subsequently as the god of war.

[268] See Aust, _Die Religion der Römer_, p. 171 (1899).

[269] A translation in full is given by Carter in _ERE_, II. 10 _b_, 11 _a_.

[270] See further on the whole subject Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencycl. der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft_, II. 1463 ff. (1896).

[271] See Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, III. 444 (1885).

[272] Cp. the name of the month in which the festival was held, February, which gets its name from _februare_ “to purify.”

[273] March 19 was a special day as being the birthday of Minerva (Ovid, _Fasti_, III. 812; see Mommsen, _Feste_ ..., p. 59).

[274] “... per urbem ire canentes carmina cum tripudiis solemnique saltatu,” Liv. I. 20. 4. See, further, Wissowa, _op. cit._ I. 482, who refers to Dion. Hal. II. 70. 2. Cp. de la Saussaye, _op. cit._ II. 441 ff.; and see Seneca, _Epp._ XV.; Quintilian, I. 2. 18.

[275] _GB_, _The Scapegoat_, p. 232.

[276] Frazer, _ibid._; Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, III. 427 f. (1885); Aust, _op. cit._ p. 130; Cirilli, _Les Prêtres Danseurs de Rome_, pp. 97 ff. (1913); for Harvest Festivals generally among the Romans see Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_, pp. 191 ff., for the _Hilaria_, pp. 321 ff. (1912); Roscher, _Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie_, s.v. Attis, I. 715 ff. (1884); for the _Vinalia_, Aust, _op. cit._ p. 173. Cp. Farnell, _The Evolution of Religion_, p. 145 (1905).

[277] See, for illustrations not mentioned here, Lilly Grove, _op. cit._ pp. 65-92.

[278] This is given by Frazer, _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_ ..., I. 95 f., from A. W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch Borneo_, I. 167-169 (1904 ...).

[279] Frazer, _op. cit._ p. 107. See also Chalmers, _Pioneering in New Guinea_, pp. 323 ff. H. L. Roth, _The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo_, I. 262 (1896), says: “The Dyaks really seem to consider dancing as a part of divine service, attributing to it some mysterious and wholesome efficacy”;—they do not enquire why; it is taken for granted that it is so.

[280] _Malay Magic_, p. 462 (1900).

[281] Cp. Réville, _Les Religions des peuples non-civilisés_, p. 269, who tells of how the imitative magic dance develops into a specifically religious act.

[282] _Op. cit._ p. 464; see, further, pp. 465 ff., and also Skeat and Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, I. 364 f., II. 119 ff., 126 ff., 137 with the illustration on p. 138; and for the negro Baris, whose country is situated on either bank of the White Nile, see Featherman, _Social History of the Races of Mankind_, I. 74 (1881).

[283] W. Schneider, _Die Religion der Afrikanischen Naturvölker_, pp. 52-58 (1891); Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrika’s_, p. 327 (1872).

[284] On initiation dances see Harrison, _Themis_, pp. 24 f.

[285] Bab. Talm. _Rosh Ha-shanah_ 16 _a_, Mishnah, _Sukkah_, IV. 9; cp. Mishnah, _Berakôth_, V. 2; see also the curious story in Lucian, _De Dea Syria_, XIII.; and for numbers of examples of rain-charms see Frazer, _GB_, _The Magic Art_, I. 247-329.

[286] _The Threshold of Religion_, p. 76 (1909).

[287] _ERE_, X. 359 _b_.

[288] The root meaning of _ʿanah_ is “to sing,” see Isa. xxvi. 2, Exod. xxxii. 18, Ps. cxix. 172; and cp. the cognate Arabic root _ghanna_; in neo-Hebrew it is often used of singing in chorus.

[289] A different interpretation of the passage is given by a few commentators, _e.g._ Briggs in the _Intern. Crit. Com._, but the natural meaning seems to be as above.

[290] We have referred to this in another connexion, see p. 141. It is probable that we have in this episode a combination of an historical fact and some form of the Adonis myth.

[291] Pausan. IV. xvi. 4. See, further, Hermann, _Gottesdienstliche Alterthümer_, §§ 24, 50.

[292] Reference is made in 1 Sam. xxi. 5, 2 Sam. xi. 11 to an act of self-control which was also part of the consecration for battle; but this, which is found among many other races, had its special reason and does not come into consideration here.

[293] _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_ ..., II. 145, where other examples are given.

[294] _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_ ..., I. 22.

[295] The possibility is not excluded that in all cases of animals being eaten in order to absorb their qualities, their sacredness may have been the real reason at one time in the history of the rite. When this reason was forgotten and its qualities became the sole reason for eating an animal, the extension of the idea in other ways would be natural.

[296] _Religion of the Semites_, p. 288.

[297] _GB_, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 165 f. (1911); the account is taken from S. Müller, _Reizen en Ondergoekingen in den Indischen Archipel._, II. 252 (1857). For another example see Chalmers, _op. cit._ p. 182.

[298] C. G. Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, p. 298 (1910), quoted by Frazer, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 168.

[299] Spencer and Gillen, _The Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 493 f. (1899).

[300] De Flacourt, _Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar_, pp. 97 f. (1658), quoted by Frazer, _GB_, _The Magic Art_, I. 131 (1911).

[301] _The Secret Tribal Societies of West Africa_, p. 17, quoted by Frazer, _op. cit._ I. 132.

[302] Frazer, _op. cit._ I. 133 f.

[303] _Uit het leven der Bevolking van Windessi_, in the “Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-Landen Volkenkunde,” XL. 157 f. (1898); _GB_, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 169 f.

[304] _E.g._ in such cases as the May-pole dance, and the dances round the Midsummer fires.

[305] Robertson Smith, _The Religion of the Semites_, p. 455, where references to original authorities are given. See also Stade, _Biblische Theologie des Alten Testaments_, i. 148.

[306] _GB_, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 158; for further examples see pp. 161 ff., and _The Magic Art_, I. 125 ff. Conceivably the taboo on the persons left at home during the absence of the fighting men may have originally had something to do with the victory dance being performed by women alone.

[307] See the present writer’s _Immortality and the Unseen World_, chaps. VIII-X.

[308] _E.g._ Gen. xxiv. 49 ff., xxix. 27; Judg. xiv. 7; Isa. lxi. 10; Jer. ii. 32, vii. 34, xxv. 10; Ps. xlv. 10 ff.; Cant. iii. 6-11; cp. 3 Macc. iv. 8. In the New Testament we have more details, _e.g._ Matth. xxii. 2, xxv. 1 ff.; Lk. xii. 36; John ii. 1 ff.

[309] See König, _Hebr. und Aram. Wörterbuch_, p. 505, and cp. the Sept. τῇ Σουμανείτιδι (Cod. B).

[310] _Kimĕhôlath hammaḥanaim._ Cp. the Septuagint rendering: ὡς χοροὶ τῶν παρεμβολῶν.

[311] Curtiss, _Primitive Semitic Religion To-day_, p. 52, says, “The tenacity with which the Oriental mind, if left to itself, holds that which has always been, and turns to it as unerringly as the needle to the pole, has often been observed, and is our guaranty that we may find primitive religious conditions among people with whom, if we approach them in the right way, we may hold intercourse to-day.” This may certainly apply to the present instance.

[312] In the _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, pp. 287 ff. (1873).

[313] Cp. the reference to the king in Cant. i. 4.

[314] _Mittel-Syrien und Damascus_, p. 123 (1853).

[315] _Arabia Deserta_, II. 118 (1921).

[316] See Rothstein’s article, “Moslemische Hochzeitsgebräuche in Lifta bei Jerusalem,” in Dalman’s _Palästinajahrbuch_, 1910, pp. 102-123, especially 110-114; a photographic illustration of a sword-dance is given on p. 102; and Klein in the _Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästinischen Vereins_, VI. 94 ff. (1883).

[317] “Its general unscientific nature has been demonstrated by Mr Fison and Dr Westermarck.... The theory, then, that mankind in general, or even a particular section of mankind, even in normal circumstances were accustomed to obtain their wives by capture from other tribes, may be regarded as exploded. There have been, of course, and still are, sporadic cases of capture of wives from hostile tribes or others, but such cannot prove a rule.” Crawley, _The Mystic Rose: A Study of Primitive Marriage_, p. 367 (1902).

[318] _Op. cit._ pp. 323 ff.

[319] For the reasons why these maleficent influences should be believed to be present on such occasions see Crawley’s work, chaps, XIII, XIV.

[320] _Palestinischer Diwan_, p. 254 (1901). For the custom among the Arabs of the Hedjaz see Featherman, _op. cit._ V. 402.

[321] Krauss, _Talmudische Archäologie_, II. 39 (1911).

[322] Bacher, _Aggada der Palestinischen Amoraim_, III. 36 (1897); _JE_, VIII. 341 f.

[323] Abrahams, _Jewish Life in the Middle Ages_, p. 193 (1896).

[324] Abrahams, _op. cit._ pp. 195 f.; cp. with this the rite in the ancient Indian ritual, in which the bride takes seven steps towards the bridegroom; at the seventh he seizes her by the foot, Winternitz, _Das altindische Hochzeitsrituell_, in “Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften,” XL. 51 (1892).

[325] Grunwald, in _JE_, VIII. 346 _a_, quoting from Chorny, _Sefer ha-Massaʿot_, p. 298.

[326] Abrahams, _op. cit._ p. 196. For marriage rites among Jews and Mohammedans in Palestine to-day see Baldensperger in the _Quarterly Statement_ of the Pal. Exploration Fund, 1899, pp. 140 ff., 1900, pp. 181 ff., 1901, pp. 173 ff.

[327] Westermarck, _Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco_, p. 144 (1914).

[328] Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 388 (1910).

[329] On this, see further Crawley, _op. cit._ pp. 327 ff., 335 ff.

[330] _Op. cit._ p. 321.

[331] _Op. cit._ p. 344.

[332] Featherman, _Social History of the Races of Mankind_, V. 480 (1881).

[333] Westermarck, _op. cit._ p. 251.

[334] Winternitz, _Das altindische Hochzeitsrituell_, XL. 30.

[335] Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 374.

[336] Skeat, _op. cit._ p. 381.

[337] “For practical purposes, as is hardly necessary to premise, the complex fears of men and women are often subconscious, or are only expressed as a feeling of diffidence with regard to the novel proceedings, and also are not always focussed on the personality of either party with its inherent dangerous properties nor stimulated by conscious realisation of particular dangers.... We have, however, seen cases where the individual in marriage is consciously aware that it is his human partner who is to be feared” (Crawley, _op. cit._ p. 323).

[338] Skeat, _op. cit._ p. 377, and for other dances at weddings see pp. 388 f., 392.

[339] _The History of Human Marriage_, II. 584 (1921); see also Featherman, _op. cit._ I. 208.

[340] Frazer, _GB_, _The Scapegoat_, p. 171.

[341] Frazer, _GB_, _The Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, II. 255.

[342] Westermarck, _Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco_, p. 90.

[343] Westermarck, _op. cit._ p. 144.

[344] H. A. Metcalf’s translation, _The Idylls and Epigrams of Theocritus ..._ (1905).

[345] _The Mystic Rose_, pp. 337 ff.

[346] For these, see the present writer’s book, _Immortality and the Unseen World: a Study in Old Testament Religion_, pp. 141 ff. (1921).

[347] _Talmudische Archäologie_, II. 67 f., 483 (1911); cp. also Thomson, _The Land and the Book_: Lebanon, Damascus, and beyond Jordan, pp. 401 ff. (1886).

[348] Crawley, in _ERE_, X. 358 _a_.

[349] The mystic number, seven, in connexion with the rite will not escape notice. The whole service will be found in Gaster’s _Daily and Occasional Prayers_, vol. I. (1901). The supplications, though not in precisely the same form in which they now appear, are known to go back to pre-Christian times; the antiquity of the ritual by which they are accompanied, especially when its nature is considered, will obviously be at least as great, let alone the long history behind it.

[350] _Sacred Books of the East_, XI. 129 (1879-1910).

[351] In _ERE_, III. 658 _b_.

[352] Hartland, in _ERE_, IV. 426 _b_.

[353] Walse, in _ERE_, IV. 453 _b_.

[354] Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, I. 301 (1903).

[355] Alois Musil, _Arabia Petraea_, III. 203 (1908).

[356] For illustrations of this kind see, _e.g._, Rosellini, _Les Monuments de l’Égypte et de la Nubie_, Pl. CXIV. fig. 2, Pl. CXVI. fig. 6 (1831); Lepsius, _Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien_, Div. II, Pls. 52, 53 (1849); Perrot et Chipiez, _Histoire de l’art dans l’antiquité: l’Égypte_, p. 701 (1882).

[357] In _ERE_, V. 238 _a_.

[358] Erman, _Aegypten ..._, I. 336.

[359] Erman, _op. cit._ I. 338, II. 434.

[360] Reported in the _Times_, 29th June, 1922.

[361] Cp. Herodotus, II. 85.

[362] _An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians_, II. 272 (1871).

[363] _Op. cit._ pp. 344, 408 f., 452.

[364] Among the Romans, during the earliest periods, funerals always took place at night; for the evidence see Marquardt, _Das Privatleben der Römer_, pp. 343 f. (1886).

[365] As to funeral games see Daremberg et Saglio, _Dictionnaire des antiquités Greques et Romaines_, II. 1376 (1896 ...): “La présence de nombreux chars sur les vases peints du Dipylon fait croire qu’on continua à célébrer des jeux funèbres en l’honneur du mort, et cet usage persista longtemps encore, comme semble l’indiquer une peinture où un char de course est représenté à côté d’une stèle qu’on achève de décorer.” Cp. Rohde, _Psyche ..._, I. 224 f. As Hartland points out (_ERE_, IV. 437 _a_), “funeral games, familiar to us in classical literature, are of very wide distribution. They cannot be separated from dances, for there is no hard and fast line between the two.”

[366] See also Rohde, _Psyche ..._, I. 221.

[367] In Dionys. VII. 72 there is a description of such a procession in which troops danced in the dress of Sileni and Satyrs. Suet. _Caes._ 84 (Marquardt, _Das Privatleben der Römer_, pp. 352 f.).

[368] Crawley, in _ERE_, X. 356 _a_.

[369] _Antike Gesichtshelme und Sepulcralmasken_, p. 4 (1878), referred to by Marquardt, _Privatleben der Römer_, p. 241, and see further, pp. 353 ff.

[370] Showerman in _ERE_, IV. 505 _b_, 507 _b_. Cp. Daremberg et Saglio, _op. cit._ s.v. _Funus_.

[371] _Op. cit._ II. 32.

[372] See the present writer’s _Immortality and the Unseen World_, pp. 9, 21 f.

[373] _I.e._ “sacred,” the first month of the Musulman year.

[374] Jaʿfar Sharif, _Islam in India, or the Qānūn-i-Islam: The Customs of the Musulmans of India_, translated by G. A. Herklots, pp. 161-174 (1921).

[375] Frazer, _GB_, _The Magic Art_, II. 183.

[376] J. M. Brown, _Maori and Polynesian_, p. 203. “Funeral dances and death-bed dances are a world-wide custom. We hear of them in Patagonia, in Abyssinia, in North America, in the East Indian isles and in the Highlands of Scotland; we read about them in ancient Egypt, and we can see them to-day in Spain, in Ireland, and in the centre of France,” Lilly Grove, _op. cit._ p. 4.

[377] _ERE_, IV. 434 _b_.

[378] Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, pp. 358 ff., 716 (1910).

[379] Frazer, _The Belief in Immortality_, I. 200 (1913).

[380] Frazer, _op. cit._ I. 399.

[381] _The Indian Tribes of Guiana_, pp. 154 f. (1868).

[382] Schoolcraft, _op. cit._ I. 198, 234.

[383] Featherman, _Social History of the Races of Mankind_, I. 413 (1881).

[384] Baldwin Spencer, _The Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia_, pp. 234 ff. (1914).

[385] Frazer, _op. cit._ I. 293 f.

[386] _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Straits_, V. 256.

[387] _Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart_, V. 1070.

[388] Nelson, _The Eskimo about Bering Strait_, Eighteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, Pt. I. 363 (1899).

[389] Frazer, _GB_, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 166.

[390] Spencer and Gillen, _The Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 505 ff. (1899).

[391] Lumholtz, _Unknown Mexico_, I. pp. 384 ff. (1903).

[392] _ERE_, IV. 481 _a_.

[393] _ERE_, IV. 416 _b_.

[394] See on this the present writer’s _Immortality and the Unseen World_, p. 180.

INDEX

Aaron, 161

Ab, feast of, 143

_Abel-meḥolah_, 142

Abijah, 92

Absorbing the god, 25

Abydos, royal tombs at, 203

Achna, Kybele _temenos_ at, 99

Air a means of lustration, 99

Altar, dance round, 91 f. procession round, 94

Amalekites, David’s attack on the, 48

Amathus, 70

_Ambarvalia_, 100, 149

Ancestor-worship, 131 dancing connected with, 195

Animals, belief in descent from, 18, 78 holy, 166 imitated in dance, 18 sacred, 166

Animistic stage, 14

Aphrodite, 98

Aphrodite-Ariadne, 70

Apis festivals, 60

Apollo, 7, 63, 68, 74, 120

Apollo Karneios, 69

Apollo, Pythaean, 69

Apollonius Rhodius, 201

Apuleius, 118

Apuleius’ account of sacred dance, 61 f.

Arabi Pasha, 115

Arabs, 193 ancient, 116 _cultus_ of the, 49, 94 wedding dance among the, 181 mourning rite among the, 202 song round well of, 89

Arāwaks, funeral dance among the, 212 f. procession round corpse of, 201

Archigallus, 127

Ares, 63

Argonauts, 201

Ariadne, 70

Ariadne’s Dance, 27, 69, 71 f.

Aristomenes, 163

Aristophanes, _Frogs_ quoted, 123

Aristotle, 14

Ark, 36, 54, 94

_Arkteia_, 68, 102

Artemis, 19, 63, 66, 102 Brauronian ceremonies of, 68 Caryatis, 67 Koruthalia, 66 worship of, 67

Artemis-Kybele, groves of, 99

Arunta of Central Australia, 169 funeral dance among the, 216

Arval Brothers, 149

Ashantees, 170

Ashdod, 47

Ashkenazic Jews, 198

Asiatic peoples, sacred dance among, 76

_Asiph_, 140

Asshurbanipal, inscription of, 58

Assyrian festivals, 58 procession, 58 sacred dance, 6

Athena, 19, 64, 120

Athens, 123

Atonement, day of, 143

_Atrium_, 208

Attic women dancing in honour of Dionysos, 123

Attis, worship of, 126, 127

Baal, 38 Marqôd, 19, 56 of dancing, 56 prophets of, 111, 113, 131 f.

“Baby Jesus”, 23

Babylonian festivals, 57 hymns, 58

Bacchanalian assemblies, 124

Bacchantes, 121, 124

Bagobos of Mindanao, 103

_Bāmāh_, 108

Bambaras of Senegambia, 145

Barges, procession of, 62

Basket, 60

Baskets dancing, 67

Bear dance, 68, 102

Bechuanas, marriage dance among the, 181

Bedouin Arabs, 193 dance among the, 56 f.

Benihassan, inscription on tomb at, 203

Benjamites, 142

Bēs, 60

Bēsa, 61

Bethel, 38

_Bharang_, 211

Bheels, marriage dance among the, 181

Blood, flowing of during dance, 213

Bodo-priest, 27, 128

Boghazkeui, rock-inscription at, 59, 109

Bond of life, 200

Bondas, funeral dance among, 213

Bones venerated, 210

Book of the Dead, the, 11

Brahman worship, 77

Brauronian ceremonies, 68, 84

Brethren of the Ploughed Fields, 149

Bridal couples, royal state of, 29

Bride and bridegroom in a state of danger, 184

Buddha, pyre of, 201

Burial rite, dancing as a, 29 f., 42 customs not an innovation, 197 tenacity of, 197

Burials, Chinese, 201

Buriats, procession round corpse of, 201

Byblos, 116

Cactus, 217

Camel, processional dance round, 28, 95

Caryae, 67

Cassowary-dances, 18

Castor and Pollux, 67

Cattle increased by sacred dance, 103

_Charites_, 148

_Chela_, 133

Child mind, the, 22

Chinese burials, 201

_Chitôn_, 67

Chnomhôtep, 203

Choruses of Physcoa and Hippodamia, 124

_Chuppah_, 177

Cicero, 78

Circle-dance of men and women, 205 f.

Circle, magic, 28, 94

Circuit round sanctuary, 94 sacrifice, 94 sevenfold, 93, 94

Circuits round a corpse, 200

Circumambulation, 199

Circumambulatory procession, 100

Circumcision festivals, dancing at, 144 f. of Isaac, 145

City, encirclement of, 94

Clapping of hands, 7, 52

Clement of Alexandria, 125

_Coelibaris hasta_, 181

Coins from Tralles, 69

Conibos, funeral dances among the, 212

“Consecrated”, 94

Consecration of warriors, 161

Corinth, golden plate from grave near, 73

Corn-Mother, 103

Corneto, 207

Corybantes, 69

Crane dance, 72

Cremation in India, 201

Cretan labyrinth, 71

Cretan legend of birth of Zeus, 69

Cretan-Mycenaean creed, 120

Crete, 70

Crops made to grow by dancing, 27, 29

_Cultus_ of ancient Arabs, 94

Custom, traditional, retained, 217

Cylinder seals, 59

Cylix of Hieron, 122

Cymbals, 7, 52

_Cypresses_, 148

Cyprus, 70 excavations in, 11, 98 inscriptions from, 59 f., 72 f., 98 f.

Dagon, 47

_Daḥa_ dances, 144

Dakotahs, 21, 77, 83, 101, 165 f. sun worship among the, 77

_Dālag_, 44, 46, 47, 48

Dance accompanied by cymbals, 7 by hand-drums, 7 by singing, 7 by tambourine, 121, 203 among the Greeks, 11 the Israelites, 7 the natives of New Guinea, 1 f. the uncivilized races, 8 and music, 7 and religion, 69 applied to processions, 100 as a mourning rite among the Greeks and Romans, 207 ff. at funeral feasts, 207 at weddings as an initiatory ceremony, 188 ecstatic, 37 ff. encircling, 37, 183, 199, 205 funeral, 204 ff. funeral, purposes of, 204 ff. Hebrew terms for, 44 ff. _Hikuli_, 217 f. imitative, 14 in honour of the army of the heavens, 69 of the Egyptian gods, 61 in semi-circle, 98 limping, 87, 111 musical accompaniment to, 51 ff. never useless, 2 of Jewish maidens, 143 of maidens in the _forum_, 75 on graves, 29 orgiastic, 122 processional, 36 represented on Greek pottery, 5 round a sacred object, 88 ff. altar, 91 f. golden calf, 90 men disguised as familiar spirits, 214 slain enemies, 206 trees, 88 wells, 88 scaring away evil spirits, 30 the dead brought back by, 30 the dead personated in, 30

Dance-spirit, the, 153

Dancers sprinkled, 217

Dances and funeral games, 207 at Egyptian funerals, 203 at festivals among the Romans, 149 ff. in celebration of victory, 40 f., 159 ff. in honour of superhuman powers, 54 ff. of the dead, 205 f. of gods, 17 of the _Salii_, 150 performed under trees, 148

Dancing accompanied by instrumental music, 122 as an act of devotion, 129 as an expression of will, 6 as a mourning rite among savages, 209 ff. at celebration of Eleusinian mysteries, 124 at circumcision festivals, 144 f. at Egyptian festivals, 146 at feasts, 140 ff. at festivals among the Baris, 153 Hottentots, 153 f. Kai, 152 Kayans, 151 f. at Greek festivals, 146 ff. at the feast of Purim, 144 connected with ancestor-worship, 195 definitions of, 5 Dervishes, 115, 130, 137 during the making of vows, 145 field of, 142 Hebrew words for, 35 ff., 197 highest development of, 9 in honour of the dead, 203 f. in honour of the moon, 153 magical, 171 modern, 6 modes of, 5 f. of masked men and women, 148 priests, 150 religious in origin, 129 serious for savages, 21 spirit of, 130 to ensure a fruitful marriage, 191 to the point of unconsciousness, 129

Dancing-floor in Knossos, 70

Dancing-grounds, Greek, 65 [_See also_ Ecstatic Dance, Funeral Dance, Sacred Dance]

_Davar_, 49, 95

David, 36, 54, 162

Day of Atonement, 143 of Blood, 127

Dead, continued existence of the, 209 imitated in dance, 30 sacrifice for the, 213 the, brought back by dance, 30

_Decemviri_, 75

_Deir el-Ḳala_, 56

Delos, 70, 72

Delphian women dancing in honour of Dionysos, 123

Demeter, 24 dance in honour of, 90 mysteries of, 147

Departed, dance in honour of the, 198 f. personating the, 214 spirit of, feared, 205 f. wrath of, appeased by dance, 215

Dervishes, dancing, 115, 130, 137

Descent from animals, 18, 78

Development of ideas, 218

Devil dancers, 27, 128

_Dhāt anwāt_, 96

_Dies Sanguinis_, 127

Dinka, negro tribe in Soudan, 206

Diodorus, 124

Dionysiac ritual, 6

Dionysos, 7, 19, 21, 63, 64, 66, 120, 143, 147, 148 contact with through dance, 122 festivals, 122 orgies in honour of, 123 raving in honour of, 38 temple of, 124 under the influence of, 122 worship of, 120

Dioscuri, 19

Disguise of mourners, 205, 211

Divine indwelling, 26

Dog-dances, 18

Drum-beating, 2

Dutch New Guinea, funeral dance among inhabitants of, 212

Ecstatic dance, 32, 107 ff. a means of mystic experiences, 116 among Greeks, 119 ff. Israelite prophets, 109 ff. Romans, 126 Syrians, 116 ff. uncultured races, 128 ff. contagious, 108 means of divine indwelling, 32 means of union with the deity, 108 not confined to early Israelite prophets, 107 outcome of strong religious emotion, 107 two forms of, 114

Ecstatic state, 27 means of inducing an, 39, 120 voice of the god during, 129

Egyptian fresco, dancing depicted on, 10 inscriptions, 5 funeral dances, 203, 204 procession, 203 temples, sacred dance depicted on doors of, 62 f.

Egyptians, mourning rite among the, 202 f.

Eleusinian mysteries, dancing at the celebration of, 124

Eleusis, 90, 124

Elagabalus, 149

Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, 143

Elijah, 113

Elis, 68

Encirclement of city, 94

Encircling dance, 199, 206 procession of gods, 96

_Epithalamium_, 190

E-sagila, temple of, 57

Eskimo, procession round corpse of, 201

Esquimaux, funeral dances among, 215

Eteokles, the daughters of, 148

Eternity, Feast of, 203

Etruria, sacred dance introduced from, 75

Etruscan vase, 71

Etruscans influenced by Greeks, 76

Euripides, _Bacchae_ quoted, 124

Evil eye, 188

Evil spirits, 47, 132 combated in dance, 204 f. in vicinity of corpses, 205 protection against, 205 scared away by dance, 30

Excavations in Cyprus, 11, 70

Exegesis, Rabbinical type of, 86

Familiar spirits, men disguised as, 214

Fātima, 211

Faunus, 150

Fear of departed spirit, 205

Feast of Eternity, 203 of Tabernacles, dancing during, 94

Feet, stamping of, 198

Festival, funeral, 203

Field of dancing, 142

Figures, semi-human, 147

Fire as a lustration, 99

Flute-playing as a mourning rite, 196

_Forum_, dance of maidens in the, 75

_Fratres Arvales_, 149

Funeral dance among Aaru archipelago natives, 218 Aborigines of N. Australia, 213 Arāwaks, 212 f. Arunta, 216 Bondas, 213 Conibos, 212 Dutch New Guinea natives, 212 Esquimaux, 215 Gilbert islanders, 212 Indian tribes of Guiana, 212 Maoris, 212 Melanesians, 212 N. American Indians, 213 Pulu islanders, 214 Sioux, 214 Sulka, 212 Tami islanders, 213 f. Tarahumares of Mexico, 217 Timor islanders, 215

Funeral dances collective, 199 purposes of, 204 f.

Funeral festival, 203

Funeral games cannot be separated from dances, 207

Funeral procession, scenes at, 199

Funerals at night, 207

Gallas’ dance round sacred tree, 103

Game of Troy, 69, 71, 74

Games at funerals, 207

_Geranos_, 72

Ghosts of the dead, 29 propitiation of, 167 ff.

Gilbert islanders, funeral dance among, 212

Gilyaks, 18

Goddesses personated, 148

Golden calf, dance round the, 90

Grave a dwelling-place, the, 208

Greek influence on the Romans, 73 f. pottery, 66 dances represented on, 5 vases, 10

Greeks, dancing of the, 65 funeral processions among the, 207 national temperament of the, 76

Grotta del Trichinio, 207

_Gymnopaediae_, 68 f.

_Ḥāgag_, 44, 48 ff., 92

_Ḥagg_, 49, 51, 94, 141

Halfa, 204

_Ḥalîl_, 52

Hallel, 93

_Haloa_, 147

Hand-drums, 7

_Hantu mĕnāri_, 130

Harmony, 53

Harp-players, 202

Harpokrates, 61

Harvest festivals, 39 f. dancing at, 140 ff.

Ḥatḥor, 19, 60 f.

Head-hunters in Dutch New Guinea, 171 f.

Heavenly bodies, symbolic representation of movements of, 95

_Ḥebel_, 92, 108

Hebrew prophets, 33 terms for dancing, 44 ff., 197

Hebrews, festivals among the, 139 ff. religious superiority of the, 139

Heliodorus, 117

Hell-gallop, 206

Henna-dance, 187 f.

Hera, 64

Herakles, Tyrian, 117

Hermes, 148

Herodotus, 124

Herodotus’ account of Egyptian worship, 62

Hezekiah, 58

Hieron, cylix of, 122

_Hikuli_ dance, 217 f.

Hindoo Koosh, natives of, 171

Hippodamia, Chorus of, 124

Hittite inscriptions, 10, 59 f., 109

Homer, 122

Honouring the departed by dance, 30, 203 f., 209, 211

Hosea, 136

_Ḥūl_, 44

Human victim, dance round to make crops grow, 103

Husain, 211

Iacchus, 124

Iamblichus, theory of, 117

Ideas, development of, 218

Identification, 25

Identity, change of, 29

_Iḥwy_, 60

Ilabistan, wells of, 90

_Imagines_, 208

Imitation, 25

Imitative magic, 3, 4, 23, 183 propensity in man, 14

Indian, ancient ritual at weddings, 186

Initiation rite, 68

Inscription on tomb at Benihassan, 203

Inscriptions, dancing depicted on, 10 Egyptian, 5 from Cyprus, 65, 98 f. Hittite, 10

Inspiration gained by dancing, 128

Instinct of play, 7

Irish, procession round corpse, 201

Isaac, circumcision of, 145

_Isidis Navigium_, 62

Isis, worship of, 61

Israelite prophets, 38

Israelites and the nations of antiquity, 85 dancing, 7 religious uniqueness of, sometimes exaggerated, 31 f. sacred dance among the, 31 ff. stage of culture of the, 8 f.

Italian god of vegetation, 27

Jacob, 113, 118

Jahwe, 33, 36, 38, 54, 93, 94 possession by spirit of, 109

Jephthah, 141, 162

Jewish custom, post-biblical, 9 maidens, dance of, 143

Jews, Ashkenazic, 198 of post-biblical times, marriage dance among the, 181 f. of the Caucasus, marriage dance among the, 183 Sephardic, 198

_Juno Regina_, 74

_Kaaba_, 49, 95, 115

_Kailang Nāg_, 133

Kamtchatka, 18

Kangaroo-dances, 18

Kayans of Sarāwak, 28, 102, 106

_Ḳazir_, 140

Kazwini, 90

Killing a god in animal form, 165

King’s week, 178

_Kinnôr_, 52

Knossos, dancing-floor in, 70

Kol tribes of Chota Nagpur, 210

Kore, 147

Korybantes, 121

Kouretes, 125

Kûkubûry, 116

_Kumbâz_, 180

Kybele, 121, 126, 127

Kybele-_temenos_, 99

Labyrinth, 27, 69 f.

Lacedaemonians, 67, 163

Laconia, 67

Lameness simulated in dance, 111 f.

Lares, 149

Latona, 68, 69

Lattuka, negro tribe in Soudan, 205 f.

Law, the, 32

Leaping high to make crops grow, 150 over threshold, 47

Leukosia, 98

Limping dance, 87 at sunrise, 113 of Syrian origin, 114 step, 38, 51

Lucian, 96, 147 on dancing, 64

_Lupercalia_, 101, 149 f.

_Luperci_, 101

Lustration by air, 99 by fire, 99

Lycosura, 147

Lycurgus, the son of, 201

Madagascar, ancient natives of, 170

Madonna and Child, 23

Maenads, 11, 121 ff., 125

Magic and religion, 41 circle, 28, 94 to keep in angry spirits, 206 dance, 160, 171 imitative, 3, 23, 28, 183 sympathetic, 24, 28 vegetation, 149

Magna Mater, 126

Maidens’ chorus, 66

Makarakâ, negro tribe in Soudan, 206

Malayans, wedding dance among the, 186

_Malbûs_, 116

Mana, conception of, 3, 17

Mandan Indians, dancing among the, 189

Maoris, funeral dance among the, 212 war dance among the, 130

Maquarri dance, 212

Marduk, 57

Marqôd, Baal, 81

Marriage by capture, 180 fruitful, by means of dance, 1, 191 procession, 178, 186 rite, 28 state, dangers on entering, 28 f.

Mars, 149

Masked men and women, dancing, 148

Masks, 151 f., 208

May day, 47

May-pole, 103, 172

_Mazzôth_, 140

Medicine women, 130

Melanesians of British New Guinea, funeral dance among, 212

Mephibosheth, 111

Messenians, 67

Mexican Indians, beliefs of, 84

Michal, 54

Mindanao, 103

Minerva, 150

Minotaur, 71 f.

Miriam, 161

Mizpah, 141

Moon-worshippers, 153

Mopsus, 201

_Mormodellick_, 79

Morning Star, worship of, 95

Moroccans, wedding rite among the, 184, 186, 190

Mosaic legislation, 34

Mother and son, 125

Mourners disguised, 205

Mourning rite, dancing as a, why not mentioned in O.T., 194 f.

Mouth-pieces of the deity, 129

Movement, 14

_Muharram_ festival, 211

Music and dance, 7

Musical accompaniment to dancing, 51 ff.

_Muzzayîn_, 144 f.

Mycenae, 99

Myrtle-boughs, 182

_Mystae_, 123

Mysteries of Demeter, 147

Mystery, 14, 17

Naioth, 108

Nature-magic, 120

_Nebboot_, 204

_Nēbel_, 52

Nĕgrān, date-palm at, worshipped annually, 97

New Guinea, belief of natives of, 1 f.

Nilus, 89, 95

_Nobiles_, Roman, funeral procession of, 208

North American Indians, dancing among the, 129

Noṣairis, festival of St Barbe among the, 97

Oak, dance round sacred, 103

Objects of dance coalesce, 20 f.

Oceania, aborigines of, 129

Old Testament, dancing spoken of in, 8 f.

Olympian dance, 98

Onkelos, Targum of, 141

Orgiastic dance, 122 dance of priests, 126 f. frenzy, 112

Oriental influence on the Romans, 74

Origin of sacred dance, 13 ff.

Original object of wedding dances, 185

_Orkēsis Iōnikē_, 68

Orphic mysteries, 125

Osiris, king deified as, 146

Palatine hill, running round, 150

Palestine, peasants of, 145

Pan, 63, 124, 150

Pan’s-pipe, 52

_Panathenaia_, 64

Panopeus, 122

Parnassos, 66, 123

_Pāsaḥ_, 44, 50 f.

_Pasâḥu_, 50

Patroclus, 201

Pausanias quoted, 67, 69, 122, 123, 124, 163

Pektides, 117

Peniel, 113, 118

Perambulation, ritual, 95

Persephone, 24, 147

Persian custom of leaping over threshold, 47

Personating the dead, 30, 214

Personation, 25, 148

Philochorus, 147

Philosophy, savage, 218

Phrygia, goddess of, 121

Physcoa, chorus of, 124

Pigs, sacrifice of, 102

Pindar, Pythian Ode quoted, 124

Pine-cone, 121

Pisistratus, 64

Play, human instinct of, 7

Pleiades, worship of, 79

Plutarch, 143

Polynesian dancing, 20

Pompeii, mosaic at, 71

_Porta Carmentalis_, 74

Poseidon, month of, 147

Possession, 122, 128 by spirit of Jahwe, 109

Pottery, Greek, 68

Powers, supernatural, 3

Priests, dancing, 150 orgiastic dance of, 126

Procession, circumambulatory, among the Romans, 100 form of dance, 100 funeral, 199, 202 round altar, 94 corpse, 199 sacred, 150

Processional dance, 36, 54 ff. a normal mode of worship, 81 round camel, 28

Prophets, band of, 108 Hebrew, 33, 38 Israelite, ecstatic dance among the, 109 ff. of Baal, 38 Syrian, 39 the, 32

Propitiation of ghosts, 167 ff.

Ptah, 146

Pulu islanders, funeral dance among, 214

Purim, feast of, dancing at the, 144

Pyre, festival of the, 96 threefold procession round, 201

Pyrrhic Dance, 19, 64, 69

Pythaean Apollo, 69

Pythian Ode quoted, 124

Qāsim, 211

Rain charm, 157 f.

_Rakâdu_, 81

_Raḳṣ_, 6

_Raḳṣa_ dance, 202

Ramah, 108

_Raqaʿ_, 198

_Rāqad_, 199

Raving in honour of Dionysos, 33

_Raymi_, 129

Reasoning of savages, 15

Religion and magic, 41 connexion of dance with, 69

Religious customs, persistency of, 31 ideas, modification of, 196 uniqueness of Israelites exaggerated, 31 f.

Rhythm, 6 f.

Rhythmic instinct, 7

Rite, original meaning of forgotten, 200

Rites, intermingling of, 217

Romans, ecstatic dance among, 126 funeral processions among, 207 f. influenced by oriental cults, 127 national temperament of the, 76 sacred dancing among the, 73 ff.

Roro-speaking tribes of New Guinea, 168 f.

Royal state of bridal couples, 29

Royalty of bridal pair, 184

Running round newly born infants, 99

Russian Tapps, procession round corpse of, 201

_Sābab_, 44, 46, 92, 93

Sacred Dance a means of bringing back the dead, 214 a means of a fruitful marriage, 29 of obtaining food, 1, 4, 29, 103, 131 aiding the sun to run his course, 27 among Assyrians, 6 Bedouin Arabs, 6 f., 144 Greeks, 63 ff., 97 ff., 119 ff., 146 ff., 207 ff. Jews of all periods, 184 Romans, 73 ff., 100 f., 119 ff., 149 ff. Semites, 31 ff., 54 ff., 88 ff., 107 ff., 140 ff., 159 ff. uncultured races, 77 ff., 101 ff., 128 ff., 151 ff., 167 ff., 184 ff., 209 ff. appeasing wrath of departed, 214 f. as a marriage rite, 1, 28 f., 41 f., 177 ff. as a mourning and burial rite, 29 f., 42, 194 ff. assisting warriors in battle, 28, 167 ff. contagious, 38 departed personated in, 214 for magical purposes, 103, 148, 151 ghost of deceased driven away by, 217 f. in honour of supernatural powers, 22, 209, 218 in the Old Testament, 8 f., 33 ff., 89, 107 ff., 140 ff. introduced in Rome from Etruria, 75 led by Theseus, 70 many forms included under, 6, 35 f. objects of the, 3, 19 ff. origin of the, 13 ff. round tree, 99 sources of information regarding the, 9 ff. taught by animals, 18 unconsciousness brought about by the, 25 union brought about with god by the, 24, 32

Sacrifice, circuit round, 94 of pigs, 102

Sacrificial victim, 24

St Barbe, 97

St Paul, 32

_Salii_, the, 27, 150

Sanctuaries, limping dance performed at, 111

Sanctuary, circuit round, 94

Sarāwak, Kayans of, 28, 102

Satan dancing, 46

Saturn, 150

Satyrs, 64, 208

Saul among the prophets, 109 f.

_Sed_ festival, 146

Self-laceration, 38

Sennacherib, 58

Sephardic Jews, 198, 199 f. burial of, 200

Serpent worship, 133

Seven circuits round a corpse, 200

Sevenfold circuit, 93 f.

_Shabuôth_, 140

Shaman, 128

Shiloh, 142

“Showing off”, 22 f.

_Sicinnis_, 64

_Sileni_, 208

Siloam, 157

Sinaitic Peninsula, Arabs of the, 95

Singers and dancers at funerals, 202

Sioux, funeral dances among, 214 Indians, 102

Sisera, 163

_Sistrum_, 52, 60

“Sixteen Women,” the, 124

_Skēnē_, 147

Speech, laudatory at burials, 198

Spirit of dancing, possessed by, 130 of the departed kept in grave, 216 indwelling, 16

Spirits of fertility represented by masked men, 152

Stamping of feet, 198

Statius, 201

Statue of the departed, 203

Step, limping, 38, 51

Stringed instruments, 52

_Sukkah_, reference to, 94

_Sukkôth_, 140

Sulka, of New Britain, funeral dance among, 212

Sun aided to run its course by dancing, 27

_Sungal_, 134

Supernatural powers, 3 imitated in dance, 15 sense of the, 17 the, 13

Sword dance, 28, 180, 186, 188

Symmachus, 126

Sympathetic magic, 24, 28

Syrian goddess, 118 desert, Bedouin Arabs of the, 81 peasants, weddings among the, 178 ff. prophets, 39

Syrians, ecstatic dance among, 116 ff.

Tabari, ancient Arabian historian, 97

Tabernacles, feast of, 94, 141, 143, 157 f.

Taboo, 104, 174 f.

Talmudic period, 198

Tambourine accompanying dance, 121, 203

Tami islanders, funeral dance among, 213 f.

_Ṭaphaz_, 142

Tarahumares, funeral dance among, 217

Targum, 46

Targum of Onkelos, 141

Tarphon, Rabbi, 182

_Ṭawâf_, 95

Temple worship, 58

Terence quoted, 12

_Thargelia_, 148

_The Golden Ass_ quoted, 118 f.

Theocritus, 190

Theseus leading the sacred dance, 70

_Thesmophoria_, 148

Thompson Indians of British Columbia, 170

Threefold procession round pyre, 201

Threshing-floor, 147, 179

Threshold, 47

Thyia, first priestess of Dionysos, 121

Thyiads, 21, 121 ff.

_Thyrsus_, 121, 143

Timagani Indians, 102

Timor, inhabitants of, 167 f. island, inhabitants of, funeral dances among, 215

Tinnevelly, 132

Titans, 125

_Tithēnidia_, 66

Tom-tom, 7, 52

_Tôph_, 52, 55

Torch dance, 143

Torres Straits, 214

Tragliatella, 71

Tree, dance round to make crops grow, 103 for hanging things on, 96

Tree-spirits, 106

Trees, dance round, 88, 99 dancing performed under, 148

Troy, game of, 69, 71, 74

Tshi-speaking peoples of the Gold Coast, 128

_ʿUgâb_, 52

Unconsciousness brought about by dance, 25 dancing to the point of, 129

Uniformity in mythology, 2 in ritual, 2

Union brought about by dance, 24

Vedda, 128

Vedic worship, 77

Vegetation magic, 120, 149

Victory dances, 40 f.

Vine-leaves, 121

Vintage festivals, 39 f. dancing at, 140 ff.

Visions due to over-wrought state, 122

Vows, dancing during performance of making, 145

Walpurgis night, 47

Wand, curved, used during funeral dance, 203

Warriors dancing, 71

_Wazara_, 184

Wedding ceremony, dancing at, 41 f.

Wedding-feast, 177

Well of Fair Dances, 90

Well, song of the, 89

Wells, dance round, 88

Wen-Amon, 116

Wends’ dance round sacred oak, 103

Women under the influence of Dionysos, 122

Women, Bacchanalian assemblies of, 124

Xanthias, 123

_Xulophoria_, 144

Yuki tribes of California, 170 f.

_Zēlaʿ_, 114

Zeus, 19, 64, 69

Ziklag, 48

CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY W. LEWIS, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS