Another item of evidence that the blood-covenant in its primitive form
was a well-known rite in primitive Europe, is a citation by Athenæus
from Poseidonios to this effect: “Concerning the Germans, Poseidonios
says, that they, embracing each other in their banquets, open the
veins upon their foreheads,[724] and mixing the flowing blood with
their drink, they present it to each other; esteeming it the farthest
attainment of friendship, to taste each other’s blood.”[725] As
Poseidonios was earlier than our Christian era, this testimony shows
that the custom with our ancestors was in no sense an outgrowth, nor
yet a perversion, of Christian practices.
In Moore’s Lalla Rookh, the young maiden, Zelica, being induced by
Mokanna, the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, to accompany him to the
charnel-house, pledged herself to him, body and soul, in a draught of
blood.
“There in that awful place, when each had quaffed
And pledged in silence such a fearful draught,
Such--oh! the look and taste of that red bowl
Will haunt her till she dies--he bound her soul
By a dark oath, in hell’s own language fram’d.”
It was after this, that he reminded her of the binding force of this
blood-covenant:
“That cup--thou shudderest, Lady--was it sweet?
That cup we pledg’d, the charnel’s choicest wine,
Hath bound thee--aye--body and soul all mine.”
And her bitter memory of that covenant-scene, in the presence of the
“bloodless ghosts,” was:
“The dead stood round us, while I spoke that vow,
Their blue lips echo’d it. I hear them now!
Their eyes glared on me, while I pledged that bowl,
’Twas burning blood--I feel it in my soul!”
Although this is Western poetry, it had a basis of careful Oriental
study in its preparation; and the blood-draught of the covenant is
known to Persian story and tradition.
One of the indications of the world-wide belief in the custom of
covenanting, and again of life seeking, by blood-drinking, is the fact
that both Jews and Christians have often been falsely charged with
drinking the blood of little children, at their religious feasts. This
was one of the frequent accusations against the early Christians (See
Justin Martyr’s _Apol._, I., 26; Tertullian’s _Apol._, VIII., IX.) And
it has been repeated against the Jews, from the days of Apion down
to the present decade. Such a baseless charge could not have gained
credence, but for the traditional understanding that men were wont to
pledge each other to a close covenant by mutual blood-drinking.