thanksgiving to Jahwe, for the victory is ascribed solely to Him; so
that the passage presents the highest development of purpose for which
this type of dance was performed. It is the same in Ps. lxviii. 11, 12
(12, 13 in Hebr.), where there is an obvious reference to the custom:
“Jahwe giveth the word, the women that publish the tidings (_i.e._ of
victory) are a great host; kings of armies flee; and she that tarrieth at
home divideth the spoil[289].” True, there is no mention of singing and
dancing here; but if, as we may well believe, it was so well known that
the women who celebrated the victory did sing and dance, there was no
need to specify it.
In the example given in Judg. xi. 34 it is different, for the dancing and
singing here are in honour of the victorious warrior. Jephthah, on his
return from his victory over the Ammonites, is met by his daughter and
other maidens (her companions are spoken of in verse 38) “with timbrels
and with dances[290].” This is further illustrated by the well-known
passage 1 Sam. xviii. 6, 7:
And it came to pass as they came, when David returned from the
slaughter of the Philistines, that the women came out of the
cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with
timbrels, with joy and with instruments of music (_Shalishim_,
whatever this may mean); and the dancing women sang to one
another and said,
Saul hath slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands.
The corruptions in the Hebrew text of this passage need not trouble us
as they do not affect the special point with which we are concerned.
The same event is referred to in 1 Sam. xxi. 11, where the way in which
the custom is spoken of shows that it was a common one: “Did they not
sing one to another in the dances...?” See also xxix. 5. In passing, it
is worth offering an interesting parallel to this, although the actual
dancing is not mentioned. It is given in Pausanias in reference to the
victorious Aristomenes after his defeat of the Lacedaemonians:
When Aristomenes returned to Andania the women threw ribbons
and fresh flowers on him, and recited in his honour a song
which is sung to this day,—
To the midst of the Stenyclerian plain and to the top of the mountain
Aristomenes followed the Lacedaemonians[291].
In the light of these passages we may recall Judg. v. 28-30, where the
mother of Sisera is vividly depicted looking from the “window,” together
with her “wise ladies,” in expectation of the return of her victorious
son with the spoils of battle. It is not an undue stretch of the
imagination to suppose that if victory instead of defeat had fallen to
Sisera’s lot, we should have had a description of his mother watching the
women going forth with timbrels and dances to welcome home the victorious
warriors.
Taking these Old Testament passages by themselves, then, there is no
reason to suppose that the custom of which they speak is anything more
than a simple and natural expression of joy and in one case, at any
rate, of thankfulness to Jahwe, for victory in battle, together with an
appropriate tribute to the victorious leader. And the same is true in
the case of other civilized peoples of antiquity. But it is unnecessary
to give illustrations of this type of dance among them because this
would throw no light on the original object of it. For this we must go
to races in a lower stage of culture, among whom we are so often able to
see the antecedents of both the nature and the purpose of customs which
among civilized peoples appear in a developed form, and with a different
purpose and meaning. If the consideration of a few examples of this type
of dance among uncivilized peoples appears to lead us away somewhat
from our main point, the digression must be excused on the ground that
side-lights do inevitably, at times, cast their rays from a distance.
But before coming to these examples we should like to say a word about
the “consecration” for battle, as it is conceivable that this may have
had an indirect bearing on the “primitive” object of this type of dance.
The Old Testament tells us, as we have seen, that warriors consecrated
themselves before entering battle by assisting at a sacrifice[292]. The
sacrifice was a means of propitiation which would induce the national
God to look favourably upon the expedition and give His help to those
who were about to take part in it. But this is a relatively advanced
religious conception; there is a long history behind it, and some of the
stages in that history are discernible in the preparation for battle
among uncivilized races. We will give one instance, of many; more are
unnecessary, for the same idea underlies them all. Schoolcraft, quoted by
Frazer[293], tells us that
on extraordinary occasions the bravest warriors of the Dakotahs
used to perform a dance at which they devoured the livers of
dogs raw and warm in order thereby to acquire the sagacity and
bravery of the dog. The animals were thrown to them alive,
killed and cut open; then the livers were extracted, cut into
strips and hung on a pole. Each dancer grabbed at a piece of
liver with his teeth, and chewed and swallowed it as he danced;
he might not touch it with his hands, only the medicine-man
enjoyed that privilege. Women did not join in the dance.
To the savage this acquisition of bravery would be an appropriate
preparation for battle. In the many instances of analogous rites the
choice of the animal appears to depend upon some quality characteristic
of it. But it is possible that there is something more behind this. In
the case just cited there are two points which suggest that the choice
of the dog was not solely due to its qualities of sagacity and bravery;
the sacred dance performed during the eating of its liver, and the
prohibition to touch it, point to something sacrosanct about the animal.
Frazer points out elsewhere[294] that the custom of killing a god in
animal form
belongs to a very early stage of human culture, and is apt in
later times to be misunderstood. The advance of thought tends
to strip the old animal and plant gods of their bestial and
vegetable husk, and to leave their human attributes (which are
always the kernel of the conception) as the final and sole
residuum. In other words, animal and plant gods tend to become
purely anthropomorphic. When they have become wholly or nearly
so, the animals and plants which were at first the deities
themselves, still retain a vague and ill-understood connexion
with the anthropomorphic gods who have been developed out of
them. The origin of the relationship between the deity and the
animal or plant having been forgotten, various stories are
invented to explain it. These explanations may follow one of
two lines according as they are based on the habitual or on the
exceptional treatment of the sacred animal or plant. The sacred
animal was habitually spared, and only exceptionally slain; and
accordingly the myth might be devised to explain either why it
was spared or why it was killed.
The principle here laid down is only in part applicable to the case under
consideration; but it suggests that the dog, which was clearly sacred
to the Dakotahs, was not eaten solely on account of its qualities of
sagacity and bravery; these happened to be its characteristics which
were absorbed by eating it. As a sacred animal it possessed supernatural
powers, exemplified especially by its characteristic qualities. In a
different stage of the development of this general conception a sacred
animal would be partaken of, divine power being thereby acquired,
irrespective of any quality that it might possess[295].
“Holy animals,” says Robertson Smith, “and holy things
generally, are primarily conceived, not as belonging to the
deity, but as being themselves instinct with divine power or
life. Thus a holy animal is one which has a divine life; and
if it be holy to a particular god, the meaning must be that
its life and his are somehow bound up together. From what is
known of primitive ways of thought we may infer that this
means that the sacred animal is akin to the god, for all valid
and permanent relation between individuals is conceived as
kinship[296].”
In a still later stage of development, with an advanced conception of
deity, a sacrifice to the god would be regarded as the means of securing
what was desired, _e.g._ in the present case, divine aid to victory, as
we find in 1 Sam. xiii. 9, 10.
So that it is conceivable that in an earlier stage the Semitic forbears
of the Israelites partook of a sacrifice preparatory to battle in the
belief that by this means the strength of the god would be imparted to
them.
So much then for the question of consecration for battle. We turn now to
consider the purpose of the sacred dance in connexion with battle among
some of the uncivilized races.
II
As far as one can gather from the evidence there seem to be, in regard
to this type of dance in its more primitive forms, two purposes which
are apparently quite distinct. The first has for its object the quieting
or propitiation of the ghosts of those slain in battle; in this case
the dance is not the central rite, but none the less indispensable.
The following is an example of this among the natives of the Indian
Archipelago:
In the island of Timor, when a warlike expedition has returned
in triumph bringing the heads of the vanquished foe, the leader
of the expedition is forbidden by religion and custom to return
at once to his own house. A special hut is prepared for him,
in which he has to reside for two months, undergoing bodily
and spiritual purification. That these observances are dictated
by fear of the ghosts seems certain; for from another account
of the ceremonies performed on the return of a successful
head-hunter in the same island we learn that the sacrifices are
offered on this occasion to appease the soul of the man whose
head has been taken off. The people think that some misfortune
would befall the victor were such offerings omitted. Moreover,
a 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.
An argumentative plea, addressed to the slain man, is then pronounced in
extenuation of the unfortunate necessity of his having had to lose his
head[297]. It is evident that in this case the entire ceremony is an act
of propitiation to the soul of the slain lest his ghost should bring some
evil on the head of the slayer; the dance is, of course, performed as a
compliment to the enraged ghost.
We take another example from a different part of the world:
Among the Roro-speaking tribes of British New Guinea homicides
were secluded in the warriors’ club-house. They had to pass
the night in the building, but during the day they might paint
and decorate themselves and dance in front of it.... Finally,
those warriors who had never killed a man before assumed a
beautiful ornament made of fretted turtle shell, which none
but homicides were allowed to flaunt in their head-dresses.
Then came a dance, and that same night the men who wore the
honourable badge of homicide for the first time were chased
about the village; embers were thrown at them and firebrands
waved in order, apparently, to drive away the souls of the
dead enemies, who seemed to be conceived as immanent in some
way in the headgear of their slayers[298].
Here again, while the dance does not form the central part of the
ceremony, it is evidently an essential part of it, performed in honour
of the slain. The interior of the warriors’ club-house was evidently
considered a place of safety, hence the retirement into it during the
night, the time when the ghosts were most to be feared. The dance which
followed next day must be regarded as an act of propitiation; this
concerned the veterans. The novices had their special dance, also a
propitiatory rite, while the firebrands hurled at their heads in the
evening gave the quietus to the ghosts of the men slain by them.
Once more, among the Arunta of Central Australia it is likewise the
custom to perform a vigorous dance on the return from battle[299]. In
this case the dance comprises the whole ceremony, from which one can
gather the importance of it in the eyes of these people. It is difficult
to say whether the dance here is an act of propitiation or whether it
serves to frighten away the ghosts of the slain, who are supposed to
follow their slayers; probably, we should say, the former, since the
frightening away of ghosts usually takes a different form.
As a few examples of many these cases of the dance taking place after the
return from victory show that one of its purposes was the propitiation of
the ghosts of the slain.
We turn now to some other instances in which the dance had a different
purpose. An old historian of Madagascar informs us that
while the men are at the wars, and until their return, the
women and girls cease not day and night to dance, and neither
lie down nor take food in their own homes.... They believe
that by dancing they impart strength, courage, and good
fortune to their husbands; accordingly during such times they
give themselves no rest, and this custom they observe very
religiously[300].
A similar result is believed to be brought about by dancing, according to
Mr Fitzgerald Marriott, among West African tribes. He says that while the
Ashantee war was raging he
saw a dance performed by women whose husbands had gone as
carriers to the war. They were painted white, and wore nothing
but a short petticoat. At their head was a shrivelled old
sorceress in a very short white petticoat.... All carried white
brushes made of buffalo or horse tails, and as they danced they
sang, “Our husbands have gone to Ashanteeland; may they sweep
their enemies off the face of the earth[301]!”
Again, among the Thompson Indians of British Columbia, “when the men were
on the war-path, the women performed dances at frequent intervals. These
dances were believed to ensure the success of the expedition.” The same
holds good among the Yuki tribe of Indians in California; the women at
home danced, believing that this would ensure victory. So, too, among the
Haida women who danced and sang while their husbands were away fighting;
also among the women in the Kafir district of the Hindoo Koosh of whom
Sir George Robertson reports that he
more than once watched the dancers dancing at midnight and in
the early morning, and could see by the fitful glow of the
wood-fire how haggard and tired they looked, yet how gravely
and earnestly they persisted in what they regarded as a serious
duty[302].
In all these cases the dancing is in the nature of sympathetic magic, and
has, therefore, an entirely different purpose from that of the previous
instances cited, namely that of ensuring victory. While in the cases of
ghost-propitiation the dancing, though essential, is subordinate, in the
sympathetic magical, or telepathic, type it is central.
One other example is worth giving, for it is one in which the dancing
takes place as a welcome to the warriors on their return from battle, and
is, therefore, not of a telepathic nature; on the other hand, it does not
appear to be undertaken with the idea of propitiating the ghosts of the
slain, while the frightening of them away is not done by the dancers.
Frazer, quoting van der Roest[303], gives this example in the following
words:
In Windessi, Dutch New Guinea, when a party of head-hunters
has been successful, and they are nearing home, they announce
their approach and success by blowing on triton shells. Their
canoes are also decked with branches. The faces of the men who
have taken a head are blackened with charcoal. If several have
taken part in killing the same victim, his head is divided
among them. They always time their arrival so as to reach
home in the early morning. They come rowing to the village
with a great noise, and the women stand ready to dance in the
verandahs of the houses.... The day is spent very quietly. Now
and then they drum or blow on the conch; at other times they
beat the walls of the houses with loud shouts to drive away the
ghosts of the slain.
If, as seems probable, we have here a case of the dance taking place as
a welcome home, and as a mark of honour to the victorious warriors, then
we are justified in regarding it as the remains of the fuller form of the
dance which was performed during the _whole_ period of the absence of
the warriors, and with a different object. In any case, such a remnant,
involving a transition from one purpose to another, would be in the
natural order of things,—the original purpose of the dance being an act
of imitative magic to effect victory, the remnant being merely a form
of welcome home to the victorious warriors; and such a transition could
be paralleled by analogies, as every folklorist is well aware[304]. In
course of time the original purpose or purposes of the dance would be
completely forgotten, and when a reason was sought it would be simply and
solely that of the welcome to the home-coming victors.
It is this latter, and this alone, which is the purpose of this type
of dance in the Old Testament. But that the custom, like all ancient
customs, must have a long history behind it, and that the ostensible
purpose or purposes of such customs vary according to the cultural stage
of the people among whom they are in vogue, will be generally allowed.
We venture, therefore, to suggest the possibility that in its very much
earlier phases among the ancestors of the Israelites some such objects as
those indicated were connected with this type of dance.
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS
Joyful expressions for victory in battle lie in the nature of things;
and since dancing is, and always has been, one of the means of giving
vent to this feeling, its mention in the Old Testament in this connexion
is what might be expected. In the few examples of this dance recorded
in the Old Testament the points to be noted are that it is performed as
an act of thanksgiving to Jahwe; this stamps it as in the nature of a
sacred rite. It is also a welcome home to the victorious warriors and
a tribute to their bravery; but in all probability at the back of this
there was always the thought of the real author of the victory, the
national God; for it was in His name that the warriors had consecrated
themselves for the battle, and in His name that they had, therefore, gone
forth to fight (cp. Deut. xx. 1 ff.). Moreover, it has to be remembered
that the nation’s enemies were always regarded as the enemies of the
national God. The religious character of the rite is thus emphasized. A
further point is that these dances, together with accompanying music,
were performed by women. As it was the men who had gone forth to fight it
will be argued that there could be none but women to perform the dances.
At the same time, it cannot be supposed that a district would be wholly
denuded of men; some, it may reasonably be expected, remained at home for
various reasons; see _e.g._ Deut. xx. 6-8, xxiv. 5. But the performance
of the rite seems to have been entirely restricted to women. It may be
that there was in its early origins some reason for this, for we find a
similar restriction among races of lower civilization.
This type of dance is quite distinct from the war-dance; whether there
was anything in the nature of a war-dance among the Israelites we have no
means of ascertaining; it is never even hinted at in the Old Testament.
On the other hand, there was preparation for battle in the form of
sacrifice to Jahwe.
There were some other customs regarding preparation and “consecration”
for battle among the Israelites which point to the lingering of very
old-world conceptions; this fact offers some justification for the
contention that this type of sacred dance may possibly be the remains,
in a developed form, of a rite which originally contained some similar
old-world conception. By “remains, in a developed form,” we mean a rite
shorn of its original content, but which continues to be observed, and
has a new meaning assigned to it. We have in the Old Testament distinct
references to the taboo on sexual intercourse for warriors previous to
battle (Deut. xxiii. 10, 11; 1 Sam. xxi. 4, 5 [5, 6 in Hebr.]; 2 Sam. xi.
11).
The extension of this kind of taboo to warriors on an
expedition is common among rude peoples, and we know that it
had place among the Arabs, and was not wholly obsolete as late
as the second century of Islām[305].
In reference to the rule laid down in Deut. xxiii. 10, 11, Frazer rightly
points out that
it suffices to prove that the custom of continence observed in
time of war by the Israelites, as by a multitude of savage and
barbarous peoples, was based on a superstitious, not a rational
motive. To convince us of this it is enough to remark that the
rule is often observed by warriors for some time after their
victorious return, as also by the persons left at home during
the absence of the fighting men. In these cases the observance
of the rule evidently does not admit of a rational explanation,
which could hardly, indeed, be entertained by anyone conversant
with savage modes of thought[306].
There is ample evidence to show that this custom was not observed
from fear of dissipating physical strength, but simply owing to the
belief that any contact whatsoever with women made a man effeminate; it
extended even to the touching of women’s apparel. We do not maintain
that the Israelites were necessarily conscious of the reason why they
observed this taboo; it may or may not have been so; but what we contend
is that the continued existence among them of such an old-world rite,
whatever purpose was assigned for its performance, justifies belief in
the possibility that the sacred dance in celebration of victory is the
remains of another old-world custom and conception to which a new meaning
was given. The consideration of some analogous examples of this type of
dance among the uncultured races suggests that in its origin it was a
magical rite performed by the women to ensure victory. This was, however,
only one of the purposes of this type of dance; another object of it was
the quieting or propitiating of the ghosts of those slain in battle.
That it ever had this object among the Israelites or their forbears it
would be rash to deny, knowing what is recorded in the Old Testament
regarding the attitude of the living towards the dead[307]; but no _data_
upon which to go occur in the Old Testament.
CHAPTER X
THE SACRED DANCE AS A MARRIAGE RITE
I
In the Old Testament there are quite a number of references to
marriage[308], but there is very little about the ritual in connexion
with or about the festivities which took place at weddings. The wedding
feast is mentioned in Judg. xiv. 12, 17, where it is spoken of as lasting
seven days; in the Apocrypha we also have mention of it in Tobit ix. 1
ff., xii. 1; according to x. 7 it lasts fourteen days. The _Chuppah_,
_i.e._ the canopy under which the bride and bridegroom stand during the
wedding-ceremony, is referred to in Ps. xix. 5 (6 in Hebr.), Joel ii. 16;
cp. Tobit vii. 14, 15. The marriage procession is mentioned in 1 Macc.
ix. 37 ff., in connexion with it “timbrels and minstrels” are spoken of.
The only place in the Old Testament in which the ceremonial dance at a
wedding is specifically referred to is in Cant. vi. 13 (vii. 1 in Hebr.);
this runs, according to the R.V. rendering:
Return, return, O Shulammite;
Return, return, that we may look upon thee.
Why will ye look upon the Shulammite,
As upon the dance of Maḥanaim?
The passage may be explained in this way (the justification for the
interpretation will be given afterwards): It is the beginning of the
“king’s week”; the people are gathered to witness the sword-dance of the
bride; as she is the “queen” she is spoken of as the “Shulammite” (=
“Shunammite”)[309] because this was the type of a “fair damsel” (see 1
Kings i. 3, 4; cp. Cant. i. 8, v. 9); it is an honorific title conferred
on brides during their “queenship.” The people cry out to her: “Turn,
turn,” _i.e._ in her dance; it is a word of encouragement, they wish
also to observe all her movements. The bridegroom, who is standing by,
is pleased at the favourable reception accorded to his bride, and, in
oriental fashion, asks them why they gaze upon this fair damsel who is
dancing with a sword in her hand? They reply, as he expects them to, with
a song in praise of her beauty: “How beautiful are thy feet in sandals
...” (vii. 1 ff.), _i.e._ they begin with a reference to the dance she is
performing before them, to her step and other movements of her body. The
expression “dance of Maḥanaim[310]” is applied to the dance because of
the sword that is carried and waved about during its performance; there
is a warlike look about it, hence the name war-dance or “dance of hosts”;
probably also the name contains a reference to the purpose for which the
dance was performed; to this we shall come in a moment.
Now there can be little doubt but that this passage reflects the customs
at weddings such as are to be seen at the present day among the Syrian
peasants who, like the dwellers in the Arabian Desert, have preserved
their customs from time immemorial[311]. A most interesting account of
a wedding among the Syrian peasants, which throws a flood of light upon
this difficult passage in _Canticles_, is recorded by Wetzstein[312];
the points which specially concern us may be briefly mentioned here.
When, among these peasants, the day of a wedding is fixed the neighbours
gather at the village threshing-floor where the marriage takes place.
The bridegroom and bride are proclaimed king[313] and queen, and are
treated as such during the seven days after the wedding, which are
given up to dancing and feasting. The throne of the “royal” pair is the
threshing-sledge; here they sit and watch the festivities during the
“king’s week,” as these seven days are called. The threshing-floor is the
court of the king and queen. It is in the evening of the wedding-day that
the sword-dance takes place; this is performed by the bride alone before
the “king” and the assembled villagers. The sword which the bride carries
and brandishes during her dance is said to symbolize and proclaim the
fact that she is prepared to defend herself from all unlawful approach
from other suitors. This explanation is probably not the original one;
for it is questionable whether among the Syrian peasants this dance was
always performed by the bride. Kremer describes a marriage, for example,
in the neighbourhood of Beirut, at which during the wedding procession
a sword-dance took place; it was performed by two young men, friends
of the bridegroom; they were very lightly clad in light-blue _kumbâz_
with white turban. Each held a small round shield made of hide and a
sword; they fought in rhythmic time, smiting each other’s shields, and
moving forward the whole time with the procession[314]. Among the Bedouin
Arabs again, according to Doughty[315], a sword-dance forms one of the
ceremonies at weddings; here, too, it is performed by friends of the
bridegroom. This is also the case among the Moslems in Palestine[316].
The object and meaning of this sword-dance, by whomsoever performed, is
difficult to ascertain. It is held, and at first sight the contention
seems partly justified, that we have here a relic of the very ancient
custom of marriage by capture; but apart from the fact that the sword
in the hand of the _bride_ scarcely bears this out, grave doubts exist
as to whether there ever was such a custom[317]. There are reasons for
believing that this dance may originally have had a different purpose
altogether. The subject is far too large and intricate to go into here,
but Crawley has shown by numerous examples that certain evil influences
are supposed to be abroad at the time of marriages, and that these
have to be warded off by various means[318]. To give but one or two of
these examples: “Amongst the Bheels and Bheelalahs the groom touches the
‘marriage shed’ with a sword.” This, like the custom among the Bechuanas
of the bridegroom throwing an arrow into the hut before he enters to take
his bride, is done in order to scare away evil spirits or other harmful
influences; this is also the reason, as Crawley points out, of the old
Roman custom of a bridegroom combing the bride’s hair with a spear, the
_coelibaris hasta_. So that it is quite conceivable that the sword-dance
is a relic of the custom of warding off what are supposed to be invisible
foes who gather around at the time of marriages[319].
A dance of another kind, but which may also be a relic of the same
custom, is mentioned by Dalman as existing among the Bedouin Arabs.
When the bride comes into the house of the bridegroom she performs a
dance in slow movement while holding a lighted candle in each hand with
outstretched arms; she turns in all directions so as to appear like a
star[320].
A few details may now be given of the dance as a marriage rite among the
Jews of post-biblical times who have in innumerable ways kept up customs
dating from time immemorial. We are not thinking here, any more than
in the preceding examples, of the ordinary dancing at weddings which
invariably took place as an expression of festive enjoyment; our concern
is with ritual dances which, originally at any rate, had a specific and
serious object, justifying the epithet “sacred” being applied to them.
During the wedding procession through the streets it was customary for
all who could do so to join in and dance in front of the bride, who is
spoken of as the “queen”; this was done in her honour. Rabbi Tarphon (2nd
century A.D.), we are told, on one such occasion caused the bride to be
brought into his house, where she was bathed, anointed, and adorned by
his mother and sister. Then he bade his pupils accompany her with songs
and dances to the house of the bridegroom[321]. Rabbis of high repute
danced in front of brides with myrtle-boughs in their hands. It was
also part of the marriage ceremony for a dance, in which the dancers
held myrtle-boughs in their hands, to be performed in front of the
bridal pair[322]. The perfume of the myrtle is mystically described as
dispelling the odour of hell-fire; though why there should be any danger
of that odour during the marriage ceremony is not stated. Doubtless we
have here an echo of the old-world conception mentioned above. We are
reminded of the same thing when we read that among the Jews of Egypt in
the Middle Ages during the wedding procession the bride wore a helmet,
and, with a sword in her hand, led the procession with a dance[323]. It
is possible that the same conception lies behind a custom noted among the
Jews of Persia and elsewhere:
traces of the well-known stepping of the bride into seven
circles towards the bridegroom appear in some forms of the
Jewish wedding service. The Jewish bridegroom was placed in the
centre, and the bride turned round him thrice. Or the bride and
bridegroom were seated side by side, and the assembled company
danced round them[324].
An encircling dance had the purpose (one among others, according to
circumstances) of keeping off evil influences.
A different purpose lies behind the dance performed among the Jews of the
Caucasus, though the dancers are probably not conscious of it: some days
before the wedding
three or four girls, relatives of the bride, put on her clothes
and invite other girls to sleep in a special room with her.
Toward evening the groom sends meat and rice-flour to the bride
and her friends. The latter go out and sprinkle the flour on
the young people who dance while the boys and girls clap their
hands[325].
This, in all probability, reflects an ancient rite, in the nature of
imitative magic, for the purpose of ensuring a fruitful marriage. A
similar purpose may be discerned in another custom at Jewish oriental
weddings, according to which the newly-married pair leapt thrice over a
bowl of water in which a fish was swimming about[326].
Among the Jews of all ages, then, the sacred dance as a wedding ceremony
had an important place, and though its purposes may have been entirely
forgotten, the rite itself continued.
II
A brief glance at some rites, analogous to those just referred to, as
existing among some other peoples will not be without interest. The idea
of “royalty” attaching to the bridal pair is seen in Morocco at the
present day; the bridegroom is looked upon and treated as a sultan, and
his bachelor friends act as his ministers (_wazara_)[327]. Among the
Malays the bride and bridegroom are called _Raja sari_, “the sovereigns
of the day,” and “it is a polite fiction that no command of their’s,
during their one day of sovereignty, may be disobeyed[328].” Many similar
examples could be given; the underlying idea is that by a change of
identity[329],—that it is purely fictitious is no matter—the dangers
which are conceived of, however vaguely, as attending those about to be
joined in marriage, are mitigated. Westermarck says:
A very large number of marriage ceremonies spring from the
feeling or idea that bride and bridegroom are in a state of
danger, and therefore stand in need of purification and of
special protection against magical influences and evil spirits;
in this class of customs he includes dancing[330]. _Why_ dancing should
be supposed to have this effect is another question to which, presumably,
different answers will be given. For our own part, we are inclined to
believe that at the bottom of it lies a connexion with the original idea
and purpose of the sacred dance, viz. the imitation, and therefore the
pleasing, of supernatural powers, as already pointed out (see p. 22);
not that there was necessarily any consciousness of this; but from the
earliest times dancing had had this purpose, and the custom continued
without a reason for it being assigned. Not but what the rite as a
marriage ceremony may, and doubtless did, have other purposes as well;
but these may either have been superimposed, or what is quite possible,
a different train of ideas gave rise to them. But behind them all lay,
in the first instance, this propitiatory act performed in honour of some
supernatural power. All festive dancing at weddings may be regarded as
having originated from this. To quote Westermarck again:
Ceremonies which once had a purpose may, in course of time,
become entirely meaningless, and yet continue to be practised;
and ceremonies may also be direct expressions of emotional
states, whether combined with a special purpose or not. Just
as funeral rites and mourning observances, even when they
are intended to protect the survivors against the dead man’s
ghost or the contagion of death, are very largely similar to
or identical with natural expressions of sorrow or grief, so
the precautions taken at a wedding assume the shape of joyful
performances, such as dancing, music, singing...[331].
Among these ceremonies which have become entirely meaningless, but are
continued as a joyful or picturesque performance, was the sword-dance
referred to in the Old Testament. This, as we have already noticed, is
in all probability the relic of a rite which had the purpose of averting
evil influences; it was a more aggressive means of combating these, the
change of identity being a passive form serving the same purpose. But as
the sword-dance had this combative purpose, any other weapon might have
been equally efficacious; indeed, if, as we have reason to suppose, the
sword-dance is but the latest form of a very ancient rite, we should
expect to find that in its more primitive forms other weapons would be
employed, for the sword was, comparatively speaking, a modern weapon.
So that while, on the one hand, _e.g._ among the Druses of Syria, the
sword-dance figures as a necessary rite at weddings[332], and among
the Moroccans the bridegroom carries a sword as long as the marriage
ceremonies continue[333], we find that in the ancient Indian ritual the
bride when formally presented to the bridegroom at the wedding ceremony
places a whip or an arrow in his hand[334]. That in some cases the
carrying or presenting the weapon is unaccompanied by the dance need
cause no surprise; they are but exceptions to the general rule, and it is
made up for afterwards. An echo of the primitive rite is doubtless to be
discerned among the Malayans; at a royal wedding a performance is given
by dancing girls and fencers[335]; and at ordinary weddings during the
marriage procession there is dancing and fencing to the accompaniment of
music and singing[336].
There are various other wedding ceremonies, some accompanied by dancing
and some not, which originally had, and often still have, the purpose
of counteracting malign influences at the time of marriage; these
influences are, or rather were, partly due to the belief in mysterious,
vaguely-conceived dangers which the sexes reciprocally ascribed to
each other[337], and partly to the strangeness of feeling generated by
the knowledge that a new state of life was about to be entered upon
which would bring about new experiences as regards oneself, and new
relationships as regarded others. As to the former; it is very likely
that the “Henna-dance,” which always takes place at weddings among the
Malays, had the original purpose of counteracting the dangers alluded
to, _e.g._, the evil eye, possibly; this dance takes its name from the
ceremony of dabbing henna on the centre of the palm of the bride. Skeat,
in describing the dance, says:
A picturesque feature of it is a small cake of henna, which is
contained in a brazen cup and surrounded by candles. This cup
is carried by the dancer who has to keep turning it over and
over without letting the candles be extinguished by the wind
arising from the rapid motion.
The step is called the “Henna-dance step,” and the tune accompanying
it is called the “Henna-staining tune[338].” Doubtless this is an
elaboration of the original form of the dance, and a further purpose
has been superimposed—the turning of the cup without extinguishing the
candles may be differently explained, though it must be a magical rite
of some kind—but the henna on the palms certainly seems to point to a
means of averting the evil eye.
As to the fears at entering upon a new state, we may be pardoned for
quoting Westermarck once more, for he is our foremost authority on the
whole subject. He writes:
A marriage implies not only that the parties enter into new
relations to each other’s people, but very frequently that
one of them, through the change of domicile, is actually
transferred to the other one’s family group. And it implies
other changes in the social grouping of people: either party
passes from one social class into another, the bridegroom from
the class of the bachelors to that of the married men, the
bride from the class of the girls to that of the married women.
This re-grouping also finds expression in the marriage ritual,
as when the hair of the bride is arranged in the fashion of
married women, or she ceremonially assumes the head-dress worn
by them, or when the bride dances first with the unmarried
girls and then with the married women, and the bridegroom first
with the bachelors and then with the married men[339].
Here the dance is clearly in the nature of an initiatory ceremony into
one class from another, and it has the effect of familiarizing each party
with the new status and condition; it may, therefore, be regarded as
serving a kind of prophylactic purpose.
This has taken us some way from the sword-dance; but it all really
arises from this; for all that has been said points to the belief in the
existence of undefined dangers in marriage, and the means to counteract
these; and numberless other examples are available. But our main point
here is to show how frequently, for whatever reasons, the dance has a
part to play in the rites performed.
III
We take now a brief glance at one or two other wedding ceremonies in
which the dance figures prominently. We have seen that at Harvest
Festivals dances were performed by some peoples for the purpose of
making the crops grow. Either by leaping high during the dance, or by
the dancers personating the spirits of fertility, or by dances of other
kinds, it was believed that the desired effect could be produced. Two
ideas often coalesce in such dances: that of a propitiatory act in honour
of the god of fertility, and that of an act of imitative magic; but,
of course, the two are not always or necessarily combined in the same
dance. The purpose of this type of dance, however, is not confined to
that of ensuring good crops. We are told, for example, that among the
Mandan Indians on the occasion of their great annual festival, a man
acts the part of a buffalo bull in the buffalo dance, “the object of
which was to ensure a plentiful supply of buffaloes during the ensuing
year[340].” To the same circle of ideas belongs that according to which
a plentiful supply of fish can be procured by dancing[341]. Instances
need not be multiplied. It is evident that the belief was, and probably
still is, widespread of dancing being the means of ensuring fertility.
Now if this was so in regard to crops and animals, may it not be possible
that the same belief existed in regard to human beings? Even though the
purpose might have been entirely forgotten the practice might still
be continued. It is conceivable that this idea, though forgotten, may
underlie the ceremony of “the cleaning of the wheat” to be used at the
wedding feast among the Moroccans; this is performed by married women and
girls; while some of them are cleaning the wheat others dance and sing,
keeping time by clapping their hands; it is so necessary that the dancing
should continue during the whole ceremony that when the dancers get tired
others take their place[342]. Among the same people the _wazara_ (see
p. 184) perform a ceremonial dance in the house of the bride[343]. This
may also have been the original purpose of the _epithalamium_ among the
Greeks, sung after the wedding feast in the evening before the door of
the bridal chamber by a chorus of maidens who danced while they sang;
Theocritus refers to this in his eighteenth Idyll (“The Epithalamium of
Helen”):
And so in Sparta long ago the maids
With blooming hyacinths their locks among,
Within the halls of fair-haired Menelaus
Before the newly-limnèd bride chamber
Their dances set—twelve girls, the city’s pride,
The flower of Lacedemon’s maids,—what time
The younger son of Atreus wooed and won
Helen, the darling child of Tyndareus,
And took her to his bower. In one accord
They sang, with measured beat and woven steps,
While loud the halls rang with the marriage-lay[344].
Other instances of a similar character could easily be adduced. The idea
is not so fantastic as, at first sight, it may appear to some. When we
are dealing with things from the point of view of uncultured man we must
not look for the laws of cause and effect to follow the course which
would appeal to us. He believes that he can put into motion the working
of Nature by means of his own devising; and if he induce or assist
the spirits of fertility in producing corn and buffaloes, there is no
reason why he should not by the same means assist them in quickening the
child-bearing capacity of a woman.
Many other examples could be given of the dance as a marriage rite, but
we must content ourselves with the few following references to it among
peoples in very different parts of the world:
The Indians of British Columbia, Westermarck, _The History of Human
Marriage_, I. 458 f.; the natives of Central Africa, Miss Alice Werner,
_The Natives of British Central Africa_, p. 131 (1906); the Kayans of
Borneo, H. Ling Roth, _The Natives of Sarawak and North Borneo_, I. 114
f. (1896); the aborigines of Australia, Howitt, _The Native Tribes of
South Eastern Australia_, pp. 233 f., 245 (1904); the natives of Tahiti,
Featherman, _op. cit._ II. 33 f.; the natives of New Britain, George
Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 116 (1910).
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS
Once only in the Old Testament is there mention of a ceremonial wedding
dance, though there are frequent references to other marriage customs.
We have to look in other directions for the meaning and purpose of this
type of sacred dance. From the custom among the Bedouin Arabs it seems
that at their weddings the sword-dance forms one of the most important
ceremonies; and from this we may gather that the “dance of Maḥanaim,”
mentioned in Canticles, was a similar sword-dance. Various considerations
point to the probability of this sword-dance being a relic of the custom
of warding off what were conceived to be malign influences at the times
of weddings. Traces of the same old-world idea, though, of course,
entirely forgotten, are to be discerned in some of the customs among the
Jews of the Middle Ages. It is possible that among them certain other
ceremonies which were performed on these occasions had the object of
ensuring a fruitful marriage.
Very widely spread is the custom of calling the bridegroom and the bride
“king” and “queen,” and of treating them as a royal pair during the whole
period of the wedding festivities. The reason for this was originally
that, by means of change of identity, the bridal pair might avoid the
mysterious dangers which were supposed to be present. The idea presumably
was that a disguise puzzled the malign visitors so that they did not know
on whom to vent their spleen. It is evident that a similar purpose was
served by the custom of substituting a mock bride for the real one, or
of bride and bridegroom being attended by one or more persons dressed up
to resemble her or him; Crawley gives interesting illustrations of both
customs[345].
Some other dances in connexion with the marriage ceremony are considered;
they have either the purpose of counteracting the evil influences already
referred to; or else, as there are some reasons for believing, they were
supposed to ensure a fruitful marriage.
It is not to be expected that we should find any trace of these purposes
in the Old Testament; but the analogy of Bedouin Arab custom and that of
the Jews at later periods offers presumptive evidence that the customs
existed among the Israelites, though their original purpose was entirely
forgotten.
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).