Sec. 3. The Purificatory Theory of the Fire-festivals

[Theory that the fires at the festivals are purificatory, being intended to burn up all harmful things.]

Thus far we have considered what may be said for the theory that at the European fire-festivals the fire is kindled as a charm to ensure an abundant supply of sunshine for man and beast, for corn and fruits. It remains to consider what may be said against this theory and in favour of the view that in these rites fire is employed not as a creative but as a cleansing agent, which purifies men, animals, and plants by burning up and consuming the noxious elements, whether material or spiritual, which menace all living things with disease and death.

[The purificatory or destructive effect of the fires is often alleged by the people who light them; the great evil against which the fire at the festivals is directed appears to be witchcraft.]

First, then, it is to be observed that the people who practise the fire-customs appear never to allege the solar theory in explanation of them, while on the contrary they do frequently and emphatically put forward the purificatory theory. This is a strong argument in favour of the purificatory and against the solar theory; for the popular explanation of a popular custom is never to be rejected except for grave cause. And in the present case there seems to be no adequate reason for rejecting it. The conception of fire as a destructive agent, which can be turned to account for the consumption of evil things, is so simple and obvious that it could hardly escape the minds even of the rude peasantry with whom these festivals originated. On the other hand the conception of fire as an emanation of the sun, or at all events as linked to it by a bond of physical sympathy, is far less simple and obvious; and though the use of fire as a charm to produce sunshine appears to be undeniable,[857] nevertheless in attempting to explain popular customs we should never have recourse to a more recondite idea when a simpler one lies to hand and is supported by the explicit testimony of the people themselves. Now in the case of the fire-festivals the destructive aspect of fire is one upon which the people dwell again and again; and it is highly significant that the great evil against which the fire is directed appears to be witchcraft. Again and again we are told that the fires are intended to burn or repel the witches;[858] and the intention is sometimes graphically expressed by burning an effigy of a witch in the fire.[859] Hence, when we remember the great hold which the dread of witchcraft has had on the popular European mind in all ages, we may suspect that the primary intention of all these fire-festivals was simply to destroy or at all events get rid of the witches, who were regarded as the causes of nearly all the misfortunes and calamities that befall men, their cattle, and their crops.[860]

[Amongst the evils for which the fire-festivals are deemed remedies the foremost is cattle-disease, and cattle-disease is often supposed to be an effect of witchcraft.]

This suspicion is confirmed when we examine the evils for which the bonfires and torches were supposed to provide a remedy. Foremost, perhaps, among these evils we may reckon the diseases of cattle; and of all the ills that witches are believed to work there is probably none which is so constantly insisted on as the harm they do to the herds, particularly by stealing the milk from the cows.[861] Now it is significant that the need-fire, which may perhaps be regarded as the parent of the periodic fire-festivals, is kindled above all as a remedy for a murrain or other disease of cattle; and the circumstance suggests, what on general grounds seems probable, that the custom of kindling the need-fire goes back to a time when the ancestors of the European peoples subsisted chiefly on the products of their herds, and when agriculture as yet played a subordinate part in their lives. Witches and wolves are the two great foes still dreaded by the herdsman in many parts of Europe;[862] and we need not wonder that he should resort to fire as a powerful means of banning them both. Among Slavonic peoples it appears that the foes whom the need-fire is designed to combat are not so much living witches as vampyres and other evil spirits,[863] and the ceremony, as we saw, aims rather at repelling these baleful beings than at actually consuming them in the flames. But for our present purpose these distinctions are immaterial. The important thing to observe is that among the Slavs the need-fire, which is probably the original of all the ceremonial fires now under consideration, is not a sun-charm, but clearly and unmistakably nothing but a means of protecting man and beast against the attacks of maleficent creatures, whom the peasant thinks to burn or scare by the heat of the fire, just as he might burn or scare wild animals.

[Again, the bonfires are thought to avert hail, thunder, lightning, and other maladies, all of which are attributed to the maleficent arts of witches.]

Again, the bonfires are often supposed to protect the fields against hail[864] and the homestead against thunder and lightning.[865] But both hail and thunderstorms are frequently thought to be caused by witches;[866] hence the fire which bans the witches necessarily serves at the same time as a talisman against hail, thunder, and lightning. Further, brands taken from the bonfires are commonly kept in the houses to guard them against conflagration;[867] and though this may perhaps be done on the principle of homoeopathic magic, one fire being thought to act as a preventive of another, it is also possible that the intention may be to keep witch-incendiaries at bay. Again, people leap over the bonfires as a preventive of colic,[868] and look at the flames steadily in order to preserve their eyes in good health;[869] and both colic and sore eyes are in Germany, and probably elsewhere, set down to the machinations of witches.[870] Once more, to leap over the Midsummer fires or to circumambulate them is thought to prevent a person from feeling pains in his back at reaping;[871] and in Germany such pains are called "witch-shots" and ascribed to witchcraft.[872]

[The burning wheels rolled down hills and the burning discs and brooms thrown into the air may be intended to burn the invisible witches.]

But if the bonfires and torches of the fire-festivals are to be regarded primarily as weapons directed against witches and wizards, it becomes probable that the same explanation applies not only to the flaming discs which are hurled into the air, but also to the burning wheels which are rolled down hill on these occasions; discs and wheels, we may suppose, are alike intended to burn the witches who hover invisible in the air or haunt unseen the fields, the orchards, and the vineyards on the hillside.[873] Certainly witches are constantly thought to ride through the air on broomsticks or other equally convenient vehicles; and if they do so, how can you get at them so effectually as by hurling lighted missiles, whether discs, torches, or besoms, after them as they flit past overhead in the gloom? The South Slavonian peasant believes that witches ride in the dark hail-clouds; so he shoots at the clouds to bring down the hags, while he curses them, saying, "Curse, curse Herodias, thy mother is a heathen, damned of God and fettered through the Redeemer's blood." Also he brings out a pot of glowing charcoal on which he has thrown holy oil, laurel leaves, and wormwood to make a smoke. The fumes are supposed to ascend to the clouds and stupefy the witches, so that they tumble down to earth. And in order that they may not fall soft, but may hurt themselves very much, the yokel hastily brings out a chair and tilts it bottom up so that the witch in falling may break her legs on the legs of the chair. Worse than that, he cruelly lays scythes, bill-hooks and other formidable weapons edge upwards so as to cut and mangle the poor wretches when they drop plump upon them from the clouds.[874]

[On this view the fertility supposed to follow the use of fire results indirectly from breaking the spells of witches.]

On this view the fertility supposed to follow the application of fire in the form of bonfires, torches, discs, rolling wheels, and so forth, is not conceived as resulting directly from an increase of solar heat which the fire has magically generated; it is merely an indirect result obtained by freeing the reproductive powers of plants and animals from the fatal obstruction of witchcraft. And what is true of the reproduction of plants and animals may hold good also of the fertility of the human sexes. We have seen that the bonfires are supposed to promote marriage and to procure offspring for childless couples. This happy effect need not flow directly from any quickening or fertilizing energy in the fire; it may follow indirectly from the power of the fire to remove those obstacles which the spells of witches and wizards notoriously present to the union of man and wife.[875]

[On the whole the theory of the purificatory or destructive intention of the fire-festivals seems the more probable.]

On the whole, then, the theory of the purificatory virtue of the ceremonial fires appears more probable and more in accordance with the evidence than the opposing theory of their connexion with the sun. But Europe is not the only part of the world where ceremonies of this sort have been performed; elsewhere the passage through the flames or smoke or over the glowing embers of a bonfire, which is the central feature of most of the rites, has been employed as a cure or a preventive of various ills. We have seen that the midsummer ritual of fire in Morocco is practically identical with that of our European peasantry; and customs more or less similar have been observed by many races in various parts of the world. A consideration of some of them may help us to decide between the conflicting claims of the two rival theories, which explain the ceremonies as sun-charms or purifications respectively.

Notes:

[796] Above, pp. 116 sq., 119, 143, 165, 166, 168 sq., 172.

[797] Above, pp. 116, 117 sq., 119, 141, 143, 161, 162 sq., 163 sq., 173, 191, 201.

[798] W. Mannhardt, Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstaemme (Berlin, 1875), pp. 521 sqq.

[799] E. Westermarck, "Midsummer Customs in Morocco," Folk-lore, xvi. (1905) pp. 44 sqq.; id., The Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas (London, 1906-1908), i. 56; id., Ceremonies and Beliefs connected with Agriculture, certain Dates of the Solar Year, and the Weather in Morocco (Helsingfors, 1913), pp. 93-102.

[800] E. Mogk, "Sitten und Gebraeuche im Kreislauf des Jahres," in R. Wuttke's Saechsische Volkskunde*[2] (Dresden, 1901), pp. 310 sq.

[801] The Golden Bough, Second Edition (London, 1900), iii. 312: "The custom of leaping over the fire and driving cattle through it may be intended, on the one hand, to secure for man and beast a share of the vital energy of the sun, and, on the other hand, to purge them of all evil influences; for to the primitive mind fire is the most powerful of all purificatory agents"; and again, id. iii. 314: "It is quite possible that in these customs the idea of the quickening power of fire may be combined with the conception of it as a purgative agent for the expulsion or destruction of evil beings, such as witches and the vermin that destroy the fruits of the earth. Certainly the fires are often interpreted in the latter way by the persons who light them; and this purgative use of the element comes out very prominently, as we have seen, in the general expulsion of demons from towns and villages. But in the present class of cases this aspect of fire may be secondary, if indeed it is more than a later misinterpretation of the custom."

[802] The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 311 sqq.

[803] See Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Second Edition, pp. 254 sqq.

[804] Manilius, Astronom. v. 206 sqq.:

"Cum vero in vastos surget Nemeaeus hiatus, Exoriturque Canis, latratque Canicula flammas Et rabit igne suo geminatque incendia solis, Qua subdente facem terris radiosque movente" etc.

Pliny, Naturalis Historic xviii. 269 sq.: "Exoritur dein post triduum fere ubique confessum inter omnes sidus ingens quod canis ortum vocamus, sole partem primam leonis ingresso. Hoc fit post solstitium XXIII. die. Sentiunt id maria et terrae, multae vero et ferae, ut suis locis diximus. Neque est minor ei veneratio quam descriptis in deos stellis accendique solem et magnam aestus obtinet causam."

[805] Specimens of Bushman Folklore collected by the late W.H.I. Bleek, Ph.D., and L.C. Lloyd (London, 1911), pp. 339, 341. In quoting the passage I have omitted the brackets which the editors print for the purpose of indicating the words which are implied, but not expressed, in the original Bushman text.

[806] "The sun is a little warm, when this star appears in winter" (Editors of Specimens of Bushman Folklore).

[807] "With the stick that he had held in the fire, moving it up and down quickly" (Editors).

[808] "They take one arm out of the kaross, thereby exposing one shoulder blade to the sun" (Editors).

[809] See above, pp. 161, 162 sq. On the wheel as an emblem of the sun, see J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] ii. 585; A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Goettertranks*[2] (Guetersloh, 1886), pp. 45 sqq.; H. Gaidoz, "Le dieu gaulois du soleil et le symbolisme de la roue," Revue Archeologique, iii. Serie, iv. (1884) pp. 14 sqq.; William Simpson, The Buddhist Praying Wheel (London, 1896), pp. 87 sqq. It is a popular Armenian idea that "the body of the sun has the shape of the wheel of a water-mill; it revolves and moves forward. As drops of water sputter from the mill-wheel, so sunbeams shoot out from the spokes of the sun-wheel" (M. Abeghian, Der armenische Volksglaube, Leipsic, 1899, p. 41). In the old Mexican picture-books the usual representation of the sun is "a wheel, often brilliant with many colours, the rays of which are so many bloodstained tongues, by means of which the Sun receives his nourishment" (E.J. Payne, History of the New World called America, Oxford, 1892, i. 521).

[810] Above, p. 169.

[811] Ernst Meier, Deutsche Sagen, Sitten und Gebraeuche aus Schwaben (Stuttgart, 1852), p. 225; F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 240; Anton Birlinger, Volksthuemliches aus Schwaben (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1861-1862), ii. 57, 97; W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, p. 510.

[812] Compare J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] i. 521; J.W. Wolf, Beitraege zur deutschen Mythologie (Gottingen und Leipsic, 1852-1857), ii. 389; Adalbert Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Goettertranks*[2] (Guetersloh, 1886), pp. 41 sq., 47; W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, p. 521. Lindenbrog in his Glossary on the Capitularies (quoted by J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] i. 502) expressly says: "The rustics in many parts of Germany, particularly on the festival of St. John the Baptist, wrench a stake from a fence, wind a rope round it, and pull it to and fro till it catches fire. This fire they carefully feed with straw and dry sticks and scatter the ashes over the vegetable gardens, foolishly and superstitiously imagining that in this way the caterpillar can be kept off. They call such a fire nodfeur or nodfyr, that is to say need-fire."

[813] Above, pp. 144 sq., 147 sq., 155, 169 sq., 175, 177, 179.

[814] J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] i. 509; J.W. Wolf, Beitraege zur deutschen Mythologie, i. 117; A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers,*[2] pp. 47 sq.; W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, p. 521; W.E. Kelly, Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folk-lore (London, 1863), p. 49.

[815] A. Kuhn, Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Goettertranks*[2] (Guetersloh, 1886), p. 47.

[816] Above, p. 179.

[817] F. Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie (Munich, 1848-1855), ii. 240, Sec. 443.

[818] Above, p. 177.

[819] Above, pp. 187 sq.

[820] Above, pp. 279 sq.

[821] Above, p. 188.

[822] Above, p. 159.

[823] Above, p. 116.

[824] Above, p. 201.

[825] L. Decle, Three Years in Savage Africa (London, 1898), pp. 160 sq.

[826] Rev. J. Shooter, The Kafirs of Natal and the Zulu Country (London, 1857), p. 18.

[827] Above, pp. 140, 142.

[828] Above, pp. 119, 165, 166, 173, 203.

[829] Above, p. 140.

[830] Above, p. 121.

[831] Above, pp. 141, 170, 190, 203, 248, 250, 264.

[832] Above, p. 251.

[833] Above, pp. 119, 165, 166, 168, 173, 174.

[834] Above, pp. 118, 163 sq.

[835] Above, p. 201.

[836] Above, p. 203.

[837] Above, p. 250.

[838] Above, pp. 251, 262, 263, 264.

[839] Above, p. 112.

[840] Above, p. 141.

[841] Above, p. 214.

[842] Above, p. 204.

[843] Above, p. 194.

[844] Above, p. 185, 189; compare p. 174.

[845] Above, p. 166.

[846] Above, pp. 249, 250.

[847] Above, pp. 107, 109, 111, 119; compare pp. 116, 192, 193.

[848] Above, p. 115.

[849] Above, p. 180.

[850] Above, pp. 113, 142, 170, 233. The torches of Demeter, which figure so largely in her myth and on her monuments, are perhaps to be explained by this custom. See Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, i. 57. W. Mannhardt thought (Baumkultus, p. 536) that the torches in the modern European customs are imitations of lightning. At some of their ceremonies the Indians of North-West America imitate lightning by means of pitch-wood torches which are flashed through the roof of the house. See J.G. Swan, quoted by Franz Boas, "The Social Organization and the Secret Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians," Report of the United States National Museum for 1895 (Washington, 1897), p. 639.

[851] Above, p. 203.

[852] Amelie Bosquet, La Normandie Romanesque et Merveilleuse (Paris and Rouen, 1845), pp. 295 sq.; Jules Lecoeur, Esquisses du Bocage Normand (Conde-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 126-129. See The Scapegoat, pp. 316 sq.

[853] Br. Jelinek, "Materialen zur Vorgeschichte mid Volkskunde Boehmens," Mittheilungen der anthropolog. Gesellschaft in Wien xxi. (1891) p. 13 note.

[854] Mrs. Bishop, Korea and her Neighbours (London, 1898), ii. 56 sq.

[855] Above, pp. 190 sq.

[856] Above, pp. 178, 205, 206.

[857] See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, i. 311 sqq.

[858] Above, pp. 108, 109, 116, 118 sq., 121, 148, 154, 156, 157, 159, 160, 170, 171, 174, 175, 176, 180, 183, 185, 188, 232 sq., 245, 252, 253, 280, 292, 293, 295, 297. For more evidence of the use of fire to burn or expel witches on certain days of the year, see The Scapegoat pp. 158 sqq. Less often the fires are thought to burn or repel evil spirits and vampyres. See above, pp. 146, 170, 172, 202, 252, 282, 285. Sometimes the purpose of the fires is to drive away dragons (above, pp. 161, 195).

[859] Above, pp. 107, 116, 118 sq., 159.

[860] "In short, of all the ills incident to the life of man, none are so formidable as witchcraft, before the combined influence of which, to use the language of an honest man who had himself severely suffered from its effects, the great laird of Grant himself could not stand them if they should fairly yoke upon him" (W. Grant Stewart, The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1823, pp. 202 sq.). "Every misfortune and calamity that took place in the parish, such as ill-health, the death of friends, the loss of stock, and the failure of crops; yea to such a length did they carry their superstition, that even the inclemency of the seasons, were attributed to the influence of certain old women who were supposed to be in league, and had dealings with the Devil. These the common people thought had the power and too often the inclination to injure their property, and torment their persons" (County Folklore, vol. v. Lincolnshire, collected by Mrs. Gutch and Mabel Peacock, London, 1908, p. 76). "The county of Salop is no exception to the rule of superstition. The late vicar of a parish on the Clee Hills, startled to find that his parishioners still believed in witchcraft, once proposed to preach a sermon against it, but he was dissuaded from doing so by the parish schoolmaster, who assured him that the belief was so deeply rooted in the people's minds that he would be more likely to alienate them from the Church than to weaken their faith in witchcraft" (Miss C.F. Burne and Miss G.F. Jackson, Shropshire Folk-lore, London, 1883, p. 145). "Wherever a man or any living creature falls sick, or a misfortune of any kind happens, without any natural cause being discoverable or rather lying on the surface, there in all probability witchcraft is at work. The sudden stiffness in the small of the back, which few people can account for at the time, is therefore called a 'witch-shot' and is really ascribed to witchcraft" (L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg, Oldenburg, 1867, i. p. 298, Sec. 209). What Sir Walter Scott said less than a hundred years ago is probably still true: "The remains of the superstition sometimes occur; there can be no doubt that the vulgar are still addicted to the custom of scoring above the breath (as it is termed), and other counter-spells, evincing that the belief in witchcraft is only asleep, and might in remote corners be again awakened to deeds of blood" (Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, London, 1884, p. 272). Compare L. Strackerjan, op. cit. i. p. 340, Sec. 221: "The great power, the malicious wickedness of the witches, cause them to be feared and hated by everybody. The hatred goes so far that still at the present day you may hear it said right out that it is a pity burning has gone out of fashion, for the evil crew deserve nothing else. Perhaps the hatred might find vent yet more openly, if the fear were not so great."

[861] For some evidence, see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings; ii. 52-55, 330 sqq. It is a popular belief, universally diffused in Germany, that cattle-plagues are caused by witches (A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube,*[2] Berlin, 1869, p. 149 Sec. 216). The Scotch Highlanders thought that a witch could destroy the whole of a farmer's live stock by hiding a small bag, stuffed with charms, in a cleft of the stable or byre (W. Grant Stewart, The Popular superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1823, pp. 201 sq.).

[862] The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, ii. 330 sqq.

[863] Above, pp. 282, 284 sq.

[864] Above, pp. 118, 121, 144, 145, 176.

[865] Above, pp. 121, 122, 124, 140 sq., 145, 146, 174, 176, 183, 184, 187, 188, 190, 191, 192, 249, 250, 252, 253, 254, 258.

[866] J. Grimm, Deutsch Mythologie,*[4] ii. 908 sqq.; J.V. Grohmann, Aberglauben und Gebraeuche aus Boehmen und Maehren (Prague and Leipsic, 1864), p. 32 Sec. 182; A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube*[2] (Berlin, 1869), pp. 149 sq., Sec.216; J. Ceredig Davies, Folk-lore of West and Mid-Wales (Aberystwyth, 1911), p. 230; Alois John, Sitte, Branch und Volksglaube im deutschen Westboehmen (Prague, 1905), p. 202.

[867] Above, pp. 108, 121, 140, 146, 165, 183, 188, 196, 250, 255, 256, 258.

[868] Above, pp. 107, 195 sq.

[869] Above, pp. 162, 163, 166, 171, 174.

[870] A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube*[2] (Berlin, 1869), p. 351, Sec. 395.

[871] Above, pp. 165, 168, 189, compare 190.

[872] A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube*[2] (Berlin, 1869), p. 351, Sec. 395; L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 298, Sec. 209. See above, p. 343 note.

[873] In the Ammerland, a district of Oldenburg, you may sometimes see an old cart-wheel fixed over the principal door or on the gable of a house; it serves as a charm against witchcraft and is especially intended to protect the cattle as they are driven out and in. See L. Strackerjan, Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg (Oldenburg, 1867), i. p. 357, Sec. 236. Can this use of a wheel as a talisman against witchcraft be derived from the practice of rolling fiery wheels down hill for a similar purpose?

[874] F.S. Krauss, Volksglaube und religioeser Brauch der Suedslaven (Muenster i. W., 1890), pp. 118 sq.

[875] In German such spells are called Nestelknuepfen; in French, nouer l'aiguilette. See J. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie,*[4] ii. 897, 983; A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube*[2] (Berlin, 1869), p. 252 Sec. 396; K. Doutte, Magic et Religion dans l'Afrique du Nord (Algiers, 1908), pp. 87 sq., 294 sqq.; J.L.M. Nogues, Les Moeurs d'autrefois en Saintonge et en Aunis (Saintes, 1891), pp. 171 sq.

THE END