There is a certain resemblance in the plan of some of the temples of the
South Sea Islands to those of Central America. A stepped pyramid in a
large court was the central shrine; “in front of which the images were
kept, and the altars fixed.”[426] In both cases the altars were outside
of the shrine,–at its threshold, as it were. A method of sacrificing was
by bleeding a pig to death before the altar, “washing the carcass with
the blood, and then placing it in a crouching position on the
altar.”[427] An uplifted hand was one of the symbols on these stepped
pyramid shrines.[428] The temple foundation, or the threshold of the
sacred building, was formerly laid in human blood.[429]
A recognition of the threshold, in a sacred service, and in a form of
covenanting, is found in the ceremonies of circumcision as observed in
Madagascar. This rite is not at infancy, as among the Jews, but is at
the threshold of young manhood. Its period is fixed by the king, who, on
“an application from the parents or the friends of any number of
children in a given province, appoints a time, and orders the observance
of the rite.” He is the “high-priest on this occasion.” The rite marks
the transition of the boy from his dependence on his parents to his
personal service of the king, as a member of the community.
Holy water is brought from a distance to the house of the master of
ceremonies, as the sanctuary for the occasion. A sheep is killed
immediately before this house, and the boys are caused to step across
its blood. This sacrifice is called “fahazza,” or “causing
fruitfulness,” and it is supposed to be the means of causing
fruitfulness in all the women who obtain a share of it.
A tree is planted at the northeast corner of the house, and a lamp is
fixed on it. Honey and water are poured upon the tree, and the boys
partake of this mixture. The next day the persons present walk three
times round the house, with various ceremonies, and then stop at the
doorway. The rite of circumcision is performed on each boy as he sits on
a drum at “the threshold of the door,” held firmly by several men. The
knife with which it is performed is previously dipped in the blood of a
young bullock, an ear of which is slit by the operator. A covenant of
fealty to the king is entered into by the youth on this occasion.
Sacrifices and feasting follow this ceremony.[430]
One of the ancient gods of Maui, an island of Hawaii, was Keoroeva. “In
all the temples dedicated to its worship, the image was placed within
the inner apartment, on the left-hand side of the door; and immediately
before it stood the altar, on which the offerings of every kind were
usually placed.”[431] The altar was at the doorway, in this case, as so
generally elsewhere. Tiha was a female idol, as Keoroeva was a male, and
much “the same homage and offerings” were given to her as to him.[432]
In Kohala, one of the large divisions of Hawaii, stood a prominent
temple called Bukohōla, built by King Kamehameha, at the time of his
conquest of the Sandwich Islands. “At the south end of this great
edifice was a kind of inner court, which might be called the _sanctum
sanctorum_ of the temple, where the principal idol used to stand,
surrounded by a number of images of inferior deities.” “On the outside,
near the entrance to the inner court [at the threshold of the _sanctum
sanctorum_] was the place of the _rere_ [or _lélé_] (altar), on which
human and other sacrifices were offered.”[433]
Human victims were ordinarily slain in sacrifice outside of the
sanctuary proper, and then their bodies, carefully preserved whole, were
taken within to be presented to the idol.[434]
There were Hawaiian cities of refuge, or _puhonuas_, as sanctuaries for
guilty fugitives. A thief, or a murderer, might be pursued to the very
gateway of one of those cities, but as soon as he crossed the threshold
of that gate, even though the gate were open, and no barrier hindered
pursuit, he was safe, as at the city altar. When once within the sacred
city, the fugitive’s first duty was to present himself before the idol,
and return thanks for his protection.[435] This was substantially the
Hebrew law as to the cities of refuge.[436] Safety was only within the
threshold.
There are traces of the primitive idea of a spring of life-giving waters
flowing from under the threshold of the goddess of life, in the Islands
of the Sea. According to the myths of that region, Vari, or
“The-very-beginning” of life was a woman. She plucked off a piece of her
right side and it became a man, or part man and part fish, known as
Vātea, or Avatea. From the under-world there came to Vātea a
supernatural woman called Papa, or Foundation. From this union the human
race began. Rongo was the first-born son. The Hades of Polynesia is
Avaika, or Hawaika. In the days of Rongo, and later, there was an
opening from earth to Avaika; but because of the misdoings of the
denizens of that realm, coming up through that passage-way, Tiki, a
lovely woman, a descendant of Rongo, “rolled herself alive down into the
gloomy opening, which immediately closed upon her.” She was the first to
die. And now “Tiki sits at the threshold” of her home below, to welcome
the descendants of Rongo, who bring her an offering. A sacred stream of
water, “Vairorongo,” comes up from below into the sacred grove devoted
to the worship of Rongo, and near that stream it is possible for a
spirit to be returned to life and to a home on earth again.[437]
It is obvious that the idea of the sacredness of the threshold, in home,
in temple, or in sanctuary, is not of any one time or of any one people,
but is of human nature as human nature everywhere. It shows itself all
the world over, and always. And it has to do with life, and its
perpetuation or reproduction.