Primitive Secret Societies: A Study in Early Politics and ReligionMacmillan, 1908 - 227 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
Amer ancestors Anthrop Archiv f Areoi Arunta associated Austr Banks Islands Bora boys bull-roarer Central Australia cere chief circumcision clan Coast Murring Codrington Congo customs dances degrees Dukduk Egbo elders Engwura Ethnogr Ethnol existence feast Fewkes Fijians fraternities Geogr Guinea Haddon Hopi Howitt in Jour Ibid Indians initiation ceremonies initiation rites initiatory rites Inst Islands Kamerun Katcina Kivas Kurnai Kwod lads lodge London magical masks Mathews in Jour Melanesian men's house Midewiwin Miss Kingsley mysteries Nanga Native Tribes novices Ojibwa ordeals organization performances priests primitive privileges Proc puberty puberty institution puberty rites pueblos Queensland religious sacred seclusion secret societies sexual Snake social South Wales Spencer and Gillen spirit subincision taboos tion Torres Straits totem tribal society Tribes of Central Tusayan uninitiated various village West Africa xxxii young youth
Popular passages
Page 70 - Temple, sits the chief priest regarding them with a fixed stare ; and between him and them lie a row of dead men, covered with blood, their bodies apparently cut open, and their entrails protruding. The Vere steps over them one by one, and the awestruck youths follow him until they stand in a row before the high priest, their " souls drying up '
Page 57 - Each lad is attended by one of the elders, who instructs him every evening in his duties, and gives him advice to regulate his conduct through life — advice given in so kindly, fatherly, and impressive a manner as often to soften the heart and draw tears from the youth.
Page 104 - So far as anything like moral precepts are concerned in these tribes — to which of course our remarks alone have reference — it appears to us to be most probable that they have originated in the first instance in association with the purely selfish idea of the older men to keep all the best things for themselves, and in no case whatever are they supposed to have the sanction of a superior being.
Page 65 - These boys, having lived so much among the whites, were thought by the old men to have departed too much from the good old ancestral virtues, and it was therefore necessary that the white man's influence should, if possible, be counteracted. It was thought that the lads had become selfish, and no longer willing to share that which they obtained by their own exertions, or had given to them, with their friends.
Page 75 - ... matrimony. ... It does not rest with the youth or maiden to determine when he or she will resume eating the various articles above mentioned, but with the chief, who decides when each individual's powers of endurance and self-denial have been sufficiently tested As at present understood, the fasting period is regarded as a test of the endurance, or, more properly speaking, of the self-denial of young persons, and as affording evidence of their fitness and ability to support a family.
Page 113 - Some of them have on their chest three cuts. When they were asked what was the reason of it they generally refused to answer ; but after gaining their confidence they confessed that they belonged to something like a secret society, and they said, " I can go through all the valleys inhabited by Korannas and by Griquas, and wherever I go, when I open my coat and show these three cuts I am sure to be well received.
Page 47 - ... Noeforeze in New Guinea are given a new name about the twelfth year. (8) II. s. 423. Among the other things and surroundings of childhood which the young man must forget is his name. MacDonald says, " It is a terrible way to tease a Wayao, to point to a boy and ask him if he remembers what his name was when he was about the size of that boy. Some would not mention their name for any consideration.
Page 39 - Now when they first come out, they are as poor as ever any creatures were;; for you must know several die under this diabolical purgation. Moreover, they either really are, or pretend to be dumb, and do not speak for several days, I think twenty or thirty...
Page 109 - I have not long to wait until there comes a man dressed in a tall hat, or mask, resembling some strange animal with peculiar mouth and sharp teeth ; his cloak and kilt are of yellow hibiscus fibre, and a small stick is in his hand. He has come from some distance back in the bush, where, I am told, many are assembled, and that all the masks and dresses I saw the other day in the dubu, with their owners, are there. He danced about for a short time, when an old man came before him with a large piece...
Page 102 - ... account of the Australian natives, " Koin, Tippakal, or Porrang, are their names, of an imaginary being, who, they say, always was as he now is, in figure like a Black; and who, they believe, resides in brushes and thick jungles, and appears occasionally by day, but mostly by night, and generally before the coming of the Natives from distant parts, when they assemble to celebrate certain mystic rites, such as some dances, or the knocking out of a tooth, which is performed in a mystic ring. They...