Viscount Amberley, in his able _Analysis of Religious Belief_ points
out that everywhere the religious instinct leads to the consecration of
certain actions, places, and things. If this instinct is analysed, it is
found at bottom to spring from fear. Certain places are to be dreaded as
the abode of evil spirits; certain actions are calculated to propitiate
them, and certain things are dangerous, and are therefore tabooed.
From Polynesia was derived the word _taboo_ or _tapu_, and the first
conception of its importance as an element lying at the bottom of many
of our religious and social conventions; though this is not as yet by
any means sufficiently recognised.
The term _taboo_ implies something sacred, reserved, prohibited by
supernatural agents, the breaking of which prohibition will be visited
by supernatural punishment. This notion is one of the most widely
extended features of early religion. Holy places, holy persons, and holy
things are all founded on this conception. Prof. W. Robertson Smith,*
says: "Rules of holiness in the sense just explained, i.e., a system of
restrictions on man's arbitrary use of natural things enforced by the
dread of supernatural penalties, are found among all primitive peoples."
* Religion of the Semites, p. 142.
The holy ark of the North American Indians was deemed "so sacred and
dangerous to be touched" that no one except the war chief and his
attendant will touch it "under the penalty of incurring great evil. Nor
would the most inveterate enemy touch it in the woods for the very same
reason."*
* Adair, History of the American Indians, p. 162.
In Numbers iv. 15 we read of the Jewish ark, "The sons of Kohath shall
come to bear it; but they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die."
In 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7, we are told how the Lord smote Uzzah so that he
died, simply for putting his hand on the ark to steady it. So the Lord
punished the Philistines for keeping his ark, and smote fifty thousand
and seventy men of Bethshemesh, "because they had looked into the ark of
the Lord" (1 Sam. v. 6).
Disease and death were so constantly thought of as the penalties of
breaking taboo that cases are on record of those who, having unwittingly
done this, have died of terror upon recognising their error. Mr. Frazer,
in his _Golden Bough_, instances a New Zealand chief, who left the
remains of his dinner by the way side. A slave ate it up without asking
questions. Hardly had he finished when he was told the food was the
chief's, and taboo. "No sooner did he hear the fatal news than he was
seized by the most extraordinary convulsions and cramp in the stomach,
which never ceased till he died, about sundown the same day."
All the old temples had an adytum, sanctuary, or holy of holies--a place
not open to the profane, but protected by rigid taboos. This was the
case with the Jews. It was death to enter the holy places, or even to
make the holy oil of the priests. Even the name of the Lord was taboo,
and to this day cannot be pronounced.
Take off your sandals, says God to Moses, for the place whereon you
stand is taboo. The whole of Mount Horeb was taboo, and we continually
read of the holy mountain. The ideas of taboo and of holiness are
admitted by Prof. Robertson Smith to be at bottom identical.
Some taboos are simply artful, as the prohibition of boats to
South Pacific women, lest they should escape to other islands. When
Tamehameha, the King of the Sandwich Islands, heard that diamonds had
been found in the mountains near Honolulu, he at once declared the
mountains taboo, in order that he might be the sole possessor.
In Hawai the flesh of hogs, fowls, turtle, and several kinds of fish,
cocoa-nuts, and nearly everything offered in sacrifice, were reserved
for gods and men, and could not, except in special cases, be consumed
by women* Some taboos of animals being used for food seem to have been
dictated by dread or aversion, but others had a foundation of prudence
and forethought. Thus there is little doubt that the prohibition of the
sacred cow in India has been the means of preserving that animal from
extermination in times of famine.
Various reasons have been assigned for the taboos upon certain kinds of
food found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. As we have these laws they seem
to represent a rough attempt at classifying animals it was beneficial
or hurtful to eat. Some ridiculous mistakes were made by the divine
tabooist. The hare, a rodent, was declared to "chew the cud" (Lev. xi.
6, Deut. xiv. 7). The camel was excluded because it does not divide the
hoof; yet in reality it has cloven feet. But doubtless it was seen it
might be disastrous to kill the camel for food. Mr. Frazer is of opinion
that the pig was originally a sacred animal among the Jews.
The cause of the custom of tabooing certain kinds of food, which was
in existence long before the Levitical laws were written, perhaps arose
partly from reverence, partly from aversion. It may, too, have been
connected with the totemism of early tribes. No less than one hundred
and eighty Bible names have a zoological signification. Caleb, the dog
tribe; Doeg, the fish tribe; may be instanced as specimens.
Touching the carcass of a dead animal was taboo, and the taboo was
contagious. In Lev. xi. 21--25 we find rigorous laws on the subject.
Whoever carries the carcass of an unclean animal must wash his garments.
The objects upon which a carcass accidentally falls, must be washed, and
left in water till the evening, and if of earthenware the defilement is
supposed to enter into the pores, and the vessel, oven, or stove-range
must be broken.
Touching a corpse was taboo among the Greeks,* Romans,** Hindoos,***
Parsees,**** and Phoenicians.(v) If a Jew touched a dead body--even a
dead animal (Lev. xi. 89)--he became unclean, and if he purified not
himself, "that soul shall be cut off from Israel" (Num. xix. 13). So
"those who have defiled themselves by touching a dead body are regarded
by the Maoris as in a very dangerous state, and are sedulously shunned
and isolated."(v*) Doubtless it was felt that death was something which
could communicate itself, as disease was seen to do.
* Eurip. Alcest, 100.
** Virgil Æn., vi. 221; Tacit. Annal., 162.
*** Manu, y. 59, 62, 74-79.
**** Vendid iii. 25-27.
(v) Lucian Dea Syr., 523
(v*) J. Gk Frazer, Golden Bough, vol. i., p. 169.
When iron was first discovered it was invested with mystery and held as
a charm. It was tabooed. The Jews would use no iron tools in building
the temple or making an altar (Ex. xx. 25, 1 Kings vi. 7). Roman and
Sabine priests might not be shaved with iron but only with bronze, as
stone knives were used in circumcision (Ex. iv. 25, Josh. v. 2). To
this day a Hottentot priest never uses an iron knife, but always a sharp
splint of quartz in sacrificing an animal or circumcising a boy. In the
boys' game of touch iron we may see a remnant of the old belief in its
charm. When Scotch fishermen were at sea and one of them happened to
take the name of God in vain, the first man who heard him called out
"Cauld airn," at which every man of the crew grasped the nearest bit of
iron and held it between his hand for a while.*
* E. B. Guthrie, Old Scottish Customs, p. 149. Charles
Rogers, Social Life in Scotland, iii. 218.
Women were especially tabooed after childbirth and during menstruation
(Lev. xii. and xv.) Among the Indians of North America, women at this
time are forbidden to touch men's utensils, which would be so defiled by
their touch that their subsequent use would be attended with misfortune.
They walk round the fields at night dragging their garments, this being
considered a protection against vermin. Among the Eskimo, of Alaska, no
one will eat or drink from the same cup or dishes used by a woman at her
confinement until it has been purified by certain incantations.
In the Church of England Service, what is now called the "Thanksgiving
of Women after Childbirth, commonly called the Churching of Women," was
formerly known as _The Order of the Purification of Women_, and was
read at the church door before the "unclean" creatures were permitted to
enter the "holy" building. This should be known by all women who think
it their duty to be "churched" after fulfilling the sacred office of
motherhood.
In Hebrew the same word signifies at once a holy person, a harlot and a
sodomite--sacred prostitution having been common in ancient times. Mr.
Frazer, noticing that the rules of ceremonial purity observed by divine
kings, priests, homicides, women in child-births, and so on, are in some
respects alike, says: "To us these different classes of persons appear
to differ totally in character and condition; some of them we should
call holy, others we might pronounce unclean and polluted. But the
savages make no such moral distinction between them; the conceptions of
holiness and pollution are not yet differentiated in his mind. To him
the common feature of all these persons is that they are dangerous and
in danger, and the danger in which they stand and to which they expose
others is what we should call spiritual or supernatural--that is,
imaginary."*
Few would suspect it, but it is likely that the custom of wearing Sunday
clothes comes from certain garments being tabooed in the holy places.
Among the Maoris "A slave or other person would not enter a _wahi tapu_,
or sacred place, without having first stripped off his clothes; for the
clothes, having become sacred the instant they entered the precincts
of the _wahi tapu_, would ever after be useless to him in the ordinary
business of life."** According to the Rabbins, the handling of
the scriptures defiles the hands--that is, entails a washing of
purification. This because the notions of holiness and uncleanness
are alike merged in the earlier conception of taboo. Blood, the great
defilement, is also the most holy thing. Just as with the Hindus to this
day, the excrements of the cow are the great means of purification.
* Golden Bough, vol. i., p. 171.
** Shortland's Southern Districts of New Zealand, p. 293.
Dr. Kalisch says, "Next to sacrifices purifications were the most
important of Hebrew rituals."* The purpose was to remove the stain
of contact either with the holy or unclean taboos. A holy, or taboo
water--or, as it is called in the Authorised Version, "water of
separation"--was prepared. First, an unblemished red heifer was slain by
the son of the high priest outside the camp, then burnt, and as the ash
mingled with spring water, which was supposed to have a magical effect
in removing impurities when the tabooed person was sprinkled with it on
the third and again on the seventh day. It was called a "purification
for sin" (Num. xix. 9), and was doubtless good as the blood of the Lamb,
if not equal to Pear's soap.
* Leviticus, pt. ii., p. 187.
In the ninth edition of the _Encylopedia Britannica_, Mr. J. G. Frazer
says: "Amongst the Jews the vow of the Nazarite (Num. vi. 1--21)
presents the closest resemblance to the Polynesian taboo. The meaning
of the word Nazarite is 'one separated or consecrated,' and this is
precisely the meaning of taboo. It is the head of the Nazarite that is
especially consecrated, and so it was in the taboo. The Nazarite might
not partake of certain meats and drinks, nor shave his head, nor touch a
dead body--all rules of taboo." Mr. Frazer points out other particulars
in the mode of terminating the vow. Secondly that some of the rules of
Sabbath observance are identical with the rules of strict taboo; such
are the prohibitions to do any work, to kindle a fire in the house, to
cook food and to go out of doors.
We still have some remnant of the Sabbath taboo, and many a child's
life is made miserable by being checked for doing what is tabooed on the
Lord's Day. Other taboos abound. We must not, for instance, question
the sacred books, the sacred character of Jesus, or the existence of the
divine being. These subjects are tabooed. For reverence is a virtue much
esteemed by solemn humbugs.