moon. To a people addicted to the idolatry of perfect form and
comeliness, no object could be more attractive than the queen of the
night. When Socrates was accused of innovating upon the Greek
religion, and of ridiculing the Athenian deities, he replied on his
trial, "You strange man, Meletus, are you seriously affirming that I
do not think Helios and Selene to be gods, as the rest of mankind
think?" [204] Pausanias, the historian, tells us that in Phocis there
was a chapel consecrated to Isis, which of all the places erected by
the Greeks to this Egyptian goddess was by far the most holy. It was
not lawful for any one to approach this sacred edifice but those
whom the goddess had invited by appearing to them for that purpose
in a dream. [205] By Isis, as we saw from Diodorus, the Greeks
understood the moon. Diana was also one of the Grecian moon-goddesses,
but Sir George C. Lewis thinks that this was not till a
comparatively late period. The religion of Greece was so mixed up,
or made up, with mythology, that for an interpretation of their
theogony we must resort to poetry and impersonation. Here again
we see the working of sexual anthropomorphism. _Ouranos_
espoused _Ge_, and their offspring was _Kronos_; which is but an
ancient mode of saying that chronology is the measurement on earth
of heavenly motion. Solar and lunar worship was but the recognition
in the primitive consciousness of the superior _worth-ship_ of these
celestial bodies. As Grote says: "To us these now appear puerile,
though pleasing fancies, but to our Homeric Greek they seemed
perfectly natural and plausible. In his view, the description of the
sun, as given in a modern astronomical treatise, would have
appeared not merely absurd, but repulsive and impious." [206] What
an amount of misunderstanding would be obviated if readers of the
Bible would bear this in mind when they meet with erroneous
conceptions in Hebrew cosmogony. Grote further says on the same
page of his magnificent history: "Personifying fiction was blended
by the Homeric Greeks with their conception of the physical
phenomena before them, not simply in the way of poetical
ornament, but as a genuine portion of their everyday belief." We
cannot better conclude our brief glance at ancient Greece than by
quoting that splendid comparison from the bard of Chios, which
Pope thought "the most beautiful night-piece that can be found in
poetry." Pope's own version is fine, but, as a translation, Lord
Derby's must be preferred:
"As when in heaven, around the glittering moon
The stars shine bright amid the breathless air;
And every crag and every jutting peak
Stands boldly forth, and every forest glade
Even to the gates of heaven is opened wide
The boundless sky; shines each particular star
Distinct; joy fills the gazing shepherd's heart." [207]
The Romans had many gods, superior and inferior. The former were
the _celestial_ deities, twelve in number, among whom was Diana;
and the _Dii Selecti_, numbering eight. Of these, one was Luna, the
moon, daughter of Hyperion and sister of the Sun. [208] Livy
speaks of "a temple of Luna, which is on the Aventine"; and Tacitus
mentions, in his Annals, a temple consecrated to the moon. In
Horace, Luna is "_siderum regina_"; [209] and in Apuleius,
"_Regina coeli_," [210] Bishop Warburton, in his synopsis of
Apuleius, speaks of the hopeless condition of _Lucius_, which
obliged him to fly to heaven for relief. "The _moon_ is in full
splendour; and the awful silence of the night inspires him with
sentiments of religion." He then purifies himself, and so makes his
prayer to the moon, invoking her by her several names, as the
celestial _Venus_ and _Diana_. [211] This whole section of the
_Divine Legation_ is worthy of close study.
"The ancient Goths," says Rudbeck ("Atalantis," ii. 609), "paid such
regard to the moon, that some have thought that they worshipped
her more than the sun." [212]
And of the ancient Germans Grimm says: "That to our remote
ancestry the heavenly bodies, especially the sun and moon, were
divine beings, will not admit of any doubt." [213] Gibbon, Friedrich
Schlegel, and others, say the same.
The Finns worshipped "Kun, the male god of the moon, who
corresponded exactly with the Aku, Enizuna, or Itu of the
Accadians." [214]
In ancient Britain the moon occupied a high position in the religion
of the Druids, who had superstitious rites at the lunar changes, and
who are "always represented as having the crescent in their hands."
[215] "From the _Penitential_ of Theodore, Archbishop of
Canterbury, in the seventh century, and the _Confessional_ of
Ecgbert, Archbishop of York, in the early part of the eighth century,
we may infer that homage was then offered to the sun and moon."
[216] Again, "There are many proofs, direct and circumstantial, that
place it beyond all doubt that the moon was one of the objects of
heathen worship in Britain. But under what name the moon was
invoked is not discoverable, unless it may have been Andraste,
the goddess to whom the British queen Boadicea, with hands
outstretched to heaven, appealed when about to engage in battle
with the Romans." [217] A writer of the seventeenth century, says:
"In Yorkeshire, etc., northwards, some country woemen do-e
worship the New Moon on their bare knees, kneeling upon an
earthfast stone. And the people of Athol, in the High-lands in
Scotland, doe worship the New Moon." [218] Camden writes of the
Irish: "Whether or no they worship the moon, I know not; but, when
they first see her after the change, they commonly bow the knee,
and say the Lord's Prayer; and near the wane, address themselves to
her with a loud voice, after this manner: 'Leave us as well as thou
foundest us.'" [219] Sylvester O'Halloran, the Irish general and
historian, speaking of "the correspondent customs of the
Phoenicians and the Irish," adds: "Their deities were the same. They
both adored Bel, or the sun, the Moon, and the stars. The house of
Rimmon (2 Kings v. 18), which the Phoenicians worshipped in, like
our temples of Fleachta, in Meath, was sacred to the moon. The
word 'Rimmon' has by no means been understood by the different
commentators; and yet by recurring to the Irish (a branch of the
Phoenicians) it becomes very intelligible; for _Re_ is Irish for the
moon, and _Muadh_ signifies an image; and the compound word
_Reamham_ signifies prognosticating by the appearances of the
moon. It appears by the life of our great St. Columba, that the Druid
temples were _here_ decorated with figures of the sun, the moon,
and the stars. The Phoenicians, under the name of Bel-Samen,
adored the Supreme; and it is pretty remarkable that _to this very
day_, to wish a friend every happiness this life can afford, we say in
Irish, '_the blessings of Samen and Eel be with you_!' that is, of all
the seasons; Bel signifying the sun, and Samhain the moon." [220]
And again: "Next to the sun was the moon, which the Irish
undoubtedly adored. Some remains of this worship may be traced,
even at this day; as particularly borrowing, if they should not have it
about them, a piece of silver on the first night of a new moon, as an
omen of plenty during the month; and at the same time saying in
Irish, 'As you have found us in peace and prosperity, so leave us in
grace and mercy.'" [221] Tuathal, the prince to whom the estates
(_circa_ A.D. 106) swore solemnly "by the sun, moon, and stars," to
bear true allegiance, "in that portion of the imperial domain taken
from Munster, erected a magnificent temple called Flachta, sacred
to the fire of Samhain, and to the Samnothei, or priests of the moon.
Here, on every eve of November, were the fires of Samhain lighted
up, with great pomp and ceremony, the monarch, the Druids, and
the chiefs of the kingdom attending; and from this holy fire, and no
other, was every fire in the land first lit for the winter. It was
deemed an act of the highest impiety to kindle the winter fires from
any other; and for this favour the head of every house paid a
Scrubal, or threepence, tax, to the Arch-Druid of Samhain." [222]
Another writer mentions another Irish moon-god. "The next heathen
divinity which I would bring under notice is St. Luan, _alias_
Molua, _alias_ Euan, _alias_ Lugidus, _alias_ Lugad, and Moling,
etc. The foundations, with which this saint under some of his
_aliases_ is connected, extend over eight counties in the provinces
of Ulster, Leinster, and Munster. Luan is to this; day the common
Irish word for the moon. We read that there were fifteen saints of
the name of Lugadius; and as Lugidus was one of Luan's _aliases_, I
have set them all down as representing the moon in the several
places where that planet was worshipped as the symbol of Female
nature." [223] We have already seen that the moon was the
embodiment of the female principle in China, and now we see that
the primitive Kelts associated sexuality with astronomy and
religion. It but further proves that "one touch of nature makes the
whole world kin."
Moreover, to show that former moon-worship still colours our
religion, it is not to be overlooked that, as our Christmas festivities
are but a continuation of the Roman saturnalia, with their
interchanges of visits and presents, so "the Church, celebrating in
August the festival of the harvest moon, celebrates at the same time
the feast of the Assumption and of the Sacred Heart of the Virgin.
And Catholic painters, following the description in the Apocalypse,
fondly depict her as 'clothed with the sun, and having the moon
under her feet,' and both as overriding the dragon. Even the triumph
of Easter is not celebrated until, by attaining its full, the moon
accords its aid and sanction. Is it not interesting thus to discover the
true note of Catholicism in the most ancient paganisms, and to find
that the moon, which for us is incarnate in the blessed Virgin Mary,
was for the Syrians and Greeks respectively personified in the virgin
Ashtoreth, the queen of heaven, and Diana, or Phoebe, the feminine
of Phoebus?" [224]
A recent contributor to one of our valuable serials writes: "I take the
following extract from a little book published under the auspices of
Dr. Barnardo. It is the 'truthful narrative' of a little sweep-girl picked
up in the streets of some place near Brighton, and 'admitted into Dr.
Barnardo's Village Home.' 'She had apparently no knowledge of
God or sense of His presence. The only thing she had any reverence
for was the moon. On one occasion, when the children were going
to evening service, and a beautiful moon was shining, one of them
pointed to it, exclaiming, 'Oh, mother! look, what a beautiful moon!'
Little Mary caught hold of her hand, and cried, 'Yer mustn't point at
the blessed moon like that; and yer mustn't talk about it!' Was it
from constantly sleeping under hedges and in barns, and waking up
and seeing that bright calm eye looking at her, that some sense of a
mysterious Presence had come upon the child?" [225] To this query,
the answer we think should be negative. The cause more likely was
that she had heard the common tradition which is yet current in East
Lancashire, Cumberland, and elsewhere, that it is a sin to point at
the moon. Certain old gentlemen, who ought to be better informed,
still touch their hats, and devout young girls in the country districts
still curtsey, to the new moon, as an act of worship.
The American races practise luniolatry very generally. The
Dakotahs worship both sun and moon. The Delaware and Iroquois
Indians sacrifice to these orbs, and it is most singular that "they
sacrifice to a hare, because, according to report, the first ancestor of
the Indian tribes had that name." But, although they receive in a
dream as their tutelar spirits, the sun, moon, owl, buffalo, and so
forth, "they positively deny that they pay any adoration to these
subordinate good spirits, and affirm that they only worship the true
God, through them." [226] This reminds us of some excellent
remarks made by one whose intimate acquaintance with North
American Indians entitled him to speak with authority. We have
seen from Dr. Legge's writings that though the Chinese worshipped
a multitude of celestial spirits, "yet the monotheism remained." Mr.
Catlin will now assure us that though the American Indians adore
the heavenly bodies, they recognise the Great Spirit who inhabits
them all. These are his words: "I have heard it said by some very
good men, and some who have even been preaching the Christian
religion amongst them, that they have no religion--that all their zeal
in their worship of the Great Spirit was but the foolish excess of
ignorant superstition--that their humble devotions and supplications
to the sun and the moon, where many of them suppose that the
Great Spirit resides, were but the absurd rantings of idolatry. To
such opinions as these I never yet gave answer, nor drew other
instant inferences from them, than that, from the bottom of my
heart, I pitied the persons who gave them." [227] Mr. Catlin
undoubtedly was right, as the Apostle Paul was right, when he
acknowledged that the Athenians worshipped the true God, albeit in
ignorance. At the same time, though idolatry is in numberless
instances nothing more than the use of media and mediators, in
seeking the One, Invisible, Absolute Spirit, it is so naturally abused
by sensuous beings who rest in the concrete, that no image
worshipper is free from the propensity to worship the creature more
than the Creator, and to forget the Essence in familiarity with the
form. The perfection of worship, we conceive, is pure theism; but
how few are capable of breathing in such a supersensuous air! Men
must have their "means of grace," their visible symbols, their holy
waters and consecrated wafers, their crucifixes and talismans, their
silver shrines and golden calves. "These be thy gods, O Israel."
"The Ahts undoubtedly worship the sun and the moon, particularly
the full moon, and the sun while ascending to the zenith. Like the
Teutons, they regard the moon as the husband, and the sun as the
wife; hence their prayers are more generally addressed to the moon,
as being the superior deity. The moon is the highest of all the
objects of their worship; and they describe the moon--I quote the
words of my Indian informant--as looking down upon the earth in
answer to prayer, and as seeing everybody." [228] Of the Indians of
Vancouver Island, another writer says: "The moon is among all the
heavenly bodies the highest object of veneration. When working at
the settlement at Alberni in gangs by moonlight, individuals have
been observed to look up to the moon, blow a breath, and utter
quickly the word, '_Teech! teech!_' (health, or life). Life! life! this is
the great prayer of these people's hearts." [229] "Among the
Comanches of Texas, the sun, moon, and earth are the principal
objects of worship." The Kaniagmioutes consider the moon and sun
to be brother and sister. [230]
Meztli was the moon as deified by the Mexicans. In Teotihuacan,
thirty miles north of the city of Mexico, is the site of an ancient city
twenty miles in circumference. Near the centre of this spot stand the
Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. The Pyramid of
the Sun has a base 682 feet long and is 180 feet high (the Pyramid
of Cheops is 728 feet at the base, and is 448 feet in height). The
Pyramid of the Moon is rather less, and is due north of that of the
Sun. [231] No doubt the philosophy of all pyramids would show
that they embody the uplifting of the human soul towards the
Heaven-Father of all.
In Northern Mexico still "the Ceris superstitiously celebrate the new
moon." [232] This luniolatry the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg
explains by a novel theory. He holds that the forefathers of
American civilization lived in a certain Crescent land in the Atlantic
that a physical catastrophe destroyed their country whereupon the
remnant that was saved commemorated their lost land by adopting
the moon as their god. [233] "The population of Central America,"
says the Vicomte de Bussierre, "although they had preserved the
vague notion of a superior eternal God and Creator, known by the
name Teotl, had an Olympus as numerous as that of the Greeks and
the Romans. It would appear that the inhabitants of Anahuac joined
to the idea of a supreme being the worship of the sun and the moon,
offering them flowers, fruits, and the first fruits of their fields."
[234] Dr. Reville bids us "note that the ancient Central-American
cultus of the sun and moon, considered as the two supreme deities,
was by no means renounced by the Aztecs." [235] Regarding this
remarkable race, a writer in the _Quarterly Review_ for April, 1883,
says: "Even the Chaldaeans were not greater astrologers than the
Aztecs, and we need no further proof that the heavenly bodies were
closely and accurately observed, than we find in the fact that the
true length of the tropical year had been ascertained long before
scientific instruments were even thought of. Their religious festivals
were regulated by the movements of these bodies; but with their
knowledge was mingled so vast a mass of superstition, that it is
difficult to discern a gleam of light through the thick darkness."
"The Botocudos of Brazil held the moon in high veneration, and
attributed to her influence the chief phenomena in nature." [236]
The Indian of the Coroados tribe in Brazil, "chained to the present,
hardly ever raises his eyes to the starry firmament. Yet he is
actuated by a certain awe of some constellations, as of everything
that indicates a spiritual connection of things. His chief attention,
however, is not directed to the sun, but to the moon; according to
which he calculates time, and from which he is used to deduce good
and evil." [237]
The celebrated Abipones honour with silver altars and adoration the
moon, which they call the consort of the sun, and certain stars,
which they term the handmaids of the moon: but their most singular
idea is that the Pleiades represent their grandfather; and "as that
constellation disappears at certain periods from the sky of South
America, upon such occasions they suppose that their grandfather is
sick, and are under a yearly apprehension that he is going to die; but
as soon as those seven stars are again visible in the month of May,
they welcome their grandfather, as if returned and restored from
sickness, with joyful shouts, and the festive sound of pipes and
trumpets, congratulating him on the recovery of his health." [238]
The Peruvians "acknowledge no other gods than the Pachacamac,
who is the supreme, and the Sun, who is inferior to him, and the
Moon, who is his sister and wife." [239] In the religion of the Incas
the idol (huaco) of the Moon was in charge of women, and when it
was brought from the house of the Sun, to be worshipped, it was
carried on their shoulders, because they said "it was a woman, and
the figure resembled one." [240]_Pachacamac_, the great deity
mentioned above, signifies "earth-animator."
Prescott, in describing the temple of the Sun, at Cuzco in Peru, tells
us that "adjoining the principal structure were several chapels of
smaller dimensions. One of them was consecrated to the Moon, the
deity held next in reverence, as the mother of the Incas. Her effigy
was delineated in the same manner as that of the Sun, on a vast plate
that nearly covered one side of the apartment. But this plate, as well
as all the decorations of the building, was of silver, as suited to the
pale, silvery light of the beautiful planet." [241]
In the far-off New Hebrides the Eramangans "worship the moon,
having images in the form of the new and full moons, made of a
kind of stone. They do not pray to these images, but cleave to them
as their protecting gods." [242]
We have now circumnavigated the globe, touching at many points,
within many degrees of latitude and longitude. But everywhere,
among men of different literatures and languages, colours and
creeds, we have discovered the worship of the moon. No nation has
outgrown the practice, for it obtains among the polished as well as
the rude. One thing, indeed, we ought to have had impressed upon
our minds with fresh force; namely, that we often draw the lines of
demarcation too broad between those whom we are pleased to
divide into the civilized and the savage. Israelite and heathen,
Grecian and barbarian, Roman and pagan, enlightened and
benighted, saintly and sinful, are fine distinctions from the Hebrew,
Greek, Roman, enlightened, and saintly sides of the question; but
they often reflect small credit upon the wisdom and generosity of
their authors. The antipodal Eramangan who cleaves to his moon
image for protection may be quite equal, both intellectually and
morally, with the Anglo-Saxon who still wears his amulet to ward
off disease, or nails up his horse-shoe, as Nelson did to the mast of
the _Victory_, as a guarantee of good luck. Sir George Grey has
written: "It must be borne in mind, that the native races, who
believed in these traditions or superstitions, are in no way deficient
in intellect, and in no respect incapable of receiving the truths of
Christianity; on the contrary, they readily embrace its doctrines and
submit to its rules; in our schools they stand a fair comparison with
Europeans; and, when instructed in Christian truths, blush at their
own former ignorance and superstitions, and look back with shame
and loathing upon their previous state of wickedness and credulity."
[243]
IV. THE MOON A WATER-DEITY.
We design this chapter to be the completion of moon-worship, and
at the same time an anticipation of those lunary superstitions which
are but scattered leaves from luniolatry, the parent tree. If the new
moon, with its waxing light, may represent the primitive
nature-worship which spread over the earth; and the full moon, the deity
who is supposed to regulate our reservoirs and supplies of water: the
waning moon may fitly typify the grotesque and sickly superstition,
which, under the progress of radiant science and spiritual religion, is
readier every hour to vanish away.
"The name Astarte was variously identified with the moon, as
distinguished from the sun, or with air and water, as opposed in
their qualities to fire. The name of this goddess represented to the
worshipper the great female parent of all animated things, variously
conceived of as the moon, the earth, the watery element, primeval
night, the eldest of the destinies." [244] It is worthy of note that Van
Helmont, in the seventeenth century, holds similar language. His
words are, "The moon is chief over the night darkness, rest, death,
and the waters." [245] It is also remarkable that in the language of
the Algonquins of North America the ideas of night, death, cold,
sleep, water, and moon are expressed by one and the same word.
[246] In the oriental mythology "the connection between the moon
and water suggests the idea that the moon produces fertility and
freshness in the soil." [247] "Al Zamakhshari, the commentator on
the Koran, derives _Manah_ (one of the three idols worshipped by
the Arabs before the time of Mohammad) from the root 'to flow,'
because of the blood which flowed at the sacrifices to this idol, or,
as Millius explains it, because the ancient idea of the moon was that
it was a star full of moisture, with which it filled the sublunary
regions." [248] The Persians held that the moon was the cause of an
abundant supply of water and of rain, and therefore the names of the
most fruitful places in Persia are compounded with the word _mah_,
"moon"; "for in the opinion of the Iranians the growth of plants
depends on the influence of the moon." [249] In India "the moon is
generally a male, for its most popular names, _Candras_, _Indus_,
and _Somas_, are masculine; but as Somas signifies ambrosia, the
moon, as giver of ambrosia, soon came to be considered a
milk-giving cow; in fact, moon is one among the various meanings given
in Sanskrit to the word Gaus (cow). The moon, Somas, who
illumines the nocturnal sky, and the pluvial sun, Indras, who during
the night, or the winter, prepares the light of morn, or spring, are
represented as companions; a young girl, the evening, or autumnal
twilight, who goes to draw water towards night, or winter, finds in
the well, and takes to Indras, the ambrosial moon, that is, the Somas
whom he loves. Here are the very words of the Vedic hymn: 'The
young girl, descending towards the water, found the moon in the
fountain, and said: I will take you to Indras, I will take you to
Cakras; flow, O moon, and envelop Indras.'" [250] Here in India we
again find our old friend "the frog in the moon." "It is especially
Indus who satisfies the frog's desire for rain. Indus, as the moon,
brings or announces the Somas, or the rain; the frog, croaking,
announces or brings the rain; and at this point the frog, which we
have seen identified at first with the cloud, is also identified with the
pluvial moon." [251] This myth is not lacking in involution.