THE GREAT MYTHIC SYSTEMS OF THE WORLD
It is now time to review briefly the great mythic systems of the
world and to examine and analyse as far as practicable their nature
and outstanding figures. This _résumé_ is added here merely for
completeness, because exhaustive works dealing with the several
mythological systems alluded to in these pages are included in this
series, and to these the student can refer.
GRÆCO-ROMAN MYTH
Starting with the mythic system practically common to Greece and Rome
as that with which our readers are likely to be most familiar, we find
a mythology a good deal more human than divine; although it would be
untrue to say that it possessed no divine characteristics. However, we
are not in this chapter dealing with the cults or religions underlying
the mythologies we treat of, but _with the mythologies themselves_,
or, as we have elsewhere named it, the theobiography, the gods, their
lives and histories. What status did the gods of Greece occupy in the
minds of those who believed in them? This, of course, differed with
the centuries, but there is pretty good evidence that as they grew
more enlightened the Hellenic people paid less and less reverence to
Olympus, until at last it became almost a byword among them.
In Greece more than in any other country religion and mythology were
two things separate and distinct. In Homer, the Greek gods, headed by
Zeus, dwelt in a condition of society very much akin to that of mortals
in the Homeric Age. Their government appears to have been modelled upon
the social polities of the various Hellenic city-states; and when
republics became the fashion, the gods, partaking of the older order of
affairs, fell somewhat into disrepute, just as the elder dynasties of
Cronus and Uranus, who represented the tribal system of government, had
given place to Zeus when a monarchical system came into vogue.
ZEUS--JUPITER
Zeus, the head of the Greek pantheon, was supposed to dwell on the
summit of Mount Olympus, where he disposed of the affairs both of the
gods and of men. He was probably originally a sky-god, symbolizing the
bright, clear expanse of the heavens, being later, like many other
sky-gods, anthropomorphized. The many stories told of his amorous
adventures in animal form are obviously totemic and fetishistic
legacies which as a great mythical figure he would undoubtedly attract
to himself. As a sky-god he wields the thunder and lightning, conquers
the Titans, and overcomes Gæa, probably the original Earth-Mother--just
as in Babylonian myth Merodach conquered Tiawath. He had several
spouses, the chief of whom was Hera. He was by no means a creative
deity, but he won a wide popularity, and through this and other causes
he came to be head of the pantheon, composed of other gods as well as
of his parents, children, brothers, sisters, or wives. Lang points out
that he may well have begun as a kindly supreme being, and his mythic
character may have been ultimately swamped by the accumulation around
his name of myths concerning older deities. The corresponding Roman god
is Jupiter.
APOLLO
Apollo in tradition is usually a solar deity, but also a civilizer
or culture-hero, and his functions and attributes are manifold. He
superintends the measurement of time, protects herds and flocks, and
is a patron of music and poetry. He has a very active solar connexion
when, for example, he slays with his golden arrows the Python, the
serpent of night or winter. His oracle at Delphi was the most famous in
Greece, and his priestesses were famed as prophetesses. He was usually
portrayed as a young and handsome man crowned with laurel and holding a
lyre in his hand. There is little doubt that many different and perhaps
contradictory myths went to the making of the personality and character
of Apollo, and he has decidedly totemic connexions, as, for example,
the dolphin, the wolf, and the mouse; and perhaps with lizards, hawks,
swans, ravens, and crows. Like Zeus, he attracted to himself the
legends of a great many lesser divinities of the same type.
HERMES--MERCURY
Hermes, called by the Romans Mercury, was the son of Zeus and the
messenger of the gods. Quick-witted, ready-tongued, and thievish, he is
the traditional patron of lightfingered, sharp people, who can charm
the senses of others as well as the money out of their pockets.
HEPHÆSTUS--VULCAN
Hephæstus or Vulcan was the god of fire, and the great artist among
the gods. It was he who constructed the shining palaces of Olympus,
the marvellous armour of Achilles, and the necklace of Harmonia. He
also invented the thunderbolt. As a later type of deity, he is the
smith or artificer deified, probably evolved from an older fire-god or
thunder-god.
HERA--JUNO
Among the goddesses of the Greek pantheon Hera, the Juno of the Romans,
was paramount because of her status as wife and sister of Zeus. She is
the divine prototype of the wife and mother and the special patroness
of marriage.
ATHENE--MINERVA
Pallas Athene, the Minerva of the Romans, is another composite
deity. She seems to have been a queen of the air or a storm-goddess,
and probably became a war-goddess through her possession of the
lightning-spear. In peace she was looked upon as a patroness of useful
crafts and even of abstract wisdom. She is often depicted with the owl
and the serpent, both emblems of wisdom. It is unusual to discover
a war-or storm-deity posing as the patron of learning, and the exact
manner in which Athene attained to the latter position is extremely
obscure.
APHRODITE--VENUS
Aphrodite or Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, was probably a
deity of Asiatic origin, and her birth from the sea-foam and home in
Cyprus, where her cult was very strong, confirm the identification of
her myth with that of Ashtaroth or Astarte.
EGYPTIAN MYTH
A good deal has been said in this volume about the mythology of Egypt,
and in especial Osiris, Thoth, and Ptah have already been considered,
so that we may say more here of some other important gods of the Nile
country. The reader is reminded that no definite Egyptian pantheon ever
existed, for as dynasties rose and fell, and as the various priestly
colleges throughout the land came into favour in turn, the deities
whose cults they represented rose and fell in popularity--that is, at
no time was there a fixed divine hierarchy like that of Greece.
RA
Ra, the great god of the sun, figured as the head of a hawk, voyaged
daily across the heavenly expanse in his bark. For many dynasties he
was regarded as the greatest of all the gods of Egypt. He is by no
means an intricate mythological figure, and it is plain that he is
neither more nor less than a personification of the sun.
ANUBIS
Anubis, the jackal, or dog-headed protector of the dead, presides over
the process of embalming. He seems to have evolved from the dog who
among many primitive people accompanies the deceased in the journey to
the Otherworld.
HORUS
Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, was a sun-god with many shapes, some
perhaps local, but most of which typified the various stages of the
sun's journey--its rising, its midday strength, its evening decline. He
was the eternal enemy of Set, the night-god, a deity of darkness with
whom he waged constant combat. From being a god of night and darkness
pure and simple, Set came to be regarded as a deity of evil, and was
placed in dualistic opposition to Horus, Ra, or Osiris, who thus
symbolize moral good, the emblem of which is light.
ISIS
Among the most important Egyptian goddesses is Isis, sister and wife
of Osiris, probably, like her husband, connected with the corn-plant,
although there are also indications that she is a wind-goddess.
She is the great corn-mother of Egypt, perhaps only because of her
connexion with Osiris, and she has the wings of a wind deity, restoring
Osiris to life by fanning him with them. She is a great traveller,
and unceasingly moans and sobs. At times she shrieks so loudly as to
frighten children to death. She typifies not only the dreaded blast,
but the revivifying power of the spring wind wailing and sobbing over
the grave of the sleeping grain.
Nephthys, her sister, is the female counterpart of Set and the
personification of darkness. As such she is also a funerary goddess.
BABYLONIAN MYTH
As with Egyptian religion, the faith of the Babylonians and Assyrians
varied with dynasties, for it depended upon the rise to power of a
certain city or province, whose god then became temporarily supreme.
Thus we find Merodach regarded as the chief god in Babylonia, while
farther north in Assyria Asshur held sway, and Merodach had a fairly
long line of predecessors whose powers and dignities he had taken
over. Indeed, we find that he actually appropriated their myths. For
example, in the creation myth cited in our chapter on cosmogony,
Merodach is the hero-god who succeeded in slaying Tiawath, the monster
of the abyss; but in an older version of the story her slayer is the
god En-lil, whose place Merodach usurped later. Round the figure of
Merodach, alluded to as the Bel, the Babylonian title for the highest
divinity, are grouped the other deities in descending degrees of
importance, for, as in the worldly State, the king of the gods was
surrounded by officials of diverse rank.
MERODACH
Merodach, chief god of Babylon, possessed a solar significance; but
it may be improper to connect him in any manner with the sun in its
seasonal stages. He is, in fact, more the lord of light than of the sun
in any special aspect. Although there is evidence that he was regarded
as the spring sun, this was probably a secondary or derived conception
of him, like that which made him a god of battle.
EA
Ea was the Babylonian Neptune. He was figured as half man, half
fish, and was a great culture-hero and the lord of wisdom, probably
because of the depths whence he emanated, symbolic of the profundity
of knowledge. He came every day to the city of Eridu to instruct its
inhabitants in the arts of life, and he was the inventor of writing,
geometry, and law.
BEL
Bel, called the 'older Bel' to distinguish him from Bel-Merodach, was
also called Mul-lil or En-lil. He was a god of the Underworld and may
have been relegated thence, like many other deities, on the coming to
power of Merodach.
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven
seems to have been the thought of other ancient divinities than
Milton's Satan.
The Babylonians themselves seemed rather doubtful as to the exact
status of this god.
Nirig was a favourite deity in Assyria, and is called in inscriptions
'god of war.'
Anu was the father of the great gods. He may at one time have been the
supreme being of the Babylonian religion, and his cult is of extreme
antiquity.
Nusku was the messenger of the gods and without him the King of Heaven
could not pass judgment upon anything. He seems to have personified
flame or light.
Shamash was the sun in a different sense from Merodach, and he seems
also to have been looked upon as the great judge of the universe,
probably because the sun is able to direct his beams into the darkest
places. He it was who gave the famous code of laws into the hands of
King Hammurabi--according to the 'sun-god tablet' in the British Museum.
ISHTAR
Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven, was the great mother-goddess and sexual
goddess of Babylon, and among the Assyrians appears to have been looked
upon as a goddess of battle. She was identified with the planet Venus,
and her cult was associated with that of Tammuz. Her descent into
the Underworld stamps her as a corn-mother, like the Greek Demeter,
the reappearance of whose daughter Persephone clothes the earth with
fertility.
Allatu was the goddess of the Babylonian Otherworld. Nergal assisted
her, and he was also a god of conflict, disease, and pestilence,
symbolizing the misery and destruction which accompanies warfare.
Sin was the moon-god, and, probably from his connexion with the
calendar, was called 'lord of wisdom.' His worship was surrounded by
much mystery, and a beautiful and touching prayer in the library of
Assurbanipal describes him as being "full of love like the far-off
heaven and the broad ocean."
ASSHUR
Asshur, the head of the Assyrian pantheon, had attained to the position
of chief god in it because his city of Asshur was the capital of
Assyria. At the same time his worship was even more strongly national
than that of Merodach in Babylonia. He was the sun personalized, and
he was probably identical in most respects with Merodach. He was, in
fact, the national god of Assyria grafted on to a Babylonian myth.
HINDU MYTH
According to one of the oldest commentators on the Vedas, three
principal deities were known to the Hindus in Vedic times--Agni,
Vayu or Indra, and Surya. Agni appears to personify three forms of
fire--sun, lightning, and sacrificial fire, Indra was a god of the sky
or firmament, twin brother of Agni and king of the gods. Surya was
the sun himself. These three formed a triad. In later Vedic times the
number of the gods was increased to thirty-three, but behind all these
are two more ancient gods of the father and mother type--Dyaus (equated
with the Greek Zeus and an abstract deity of the sky), and Prithivi,
the Earth-Mother. Mitra was perhaps identical with the Persian Mithra
and seems to have ruled over day, while Varuna his companion, also
a sky-god, combined the divine attributes of the other gods. He was
the possessor of law and wisdom and ordered all earthly and heavenly
phenomena. Indra also appears to have been a god of the firmament, but,
in another sense, he was a god of storm and battle; while Soma has been
well described as "the Indian Bacchus."
The gods of the later ages of Hinduism naturally differ considerably
from those of the Vedic period, as might well be expected, considering
the time between the two epochs. It is true that the _Ramayana_ and the
_Mahabharata_ still keep the _personnel_ the old pantheon, but whatever
was animistic in the gods in Vedic times became in the later Puranic
period (named after the written Puranas or traditional myths) wholly
anthropomorphic. Moreover, a definite attempt to arrange a pantheon is
discernible. Eight of the principal gods are revealed as guardians of
the universe, each having rule over a definite domain. Some of them
have even changed their character entirely. For example, we now find
Varuna a god of water; Indra has all the characteristics of a great
earthly chief who has dealings with terrestrial monarchs and who may
be defeated by them in battle. In Hanuman, the monkey king, we perhaps
find a representative of the aboriginal tribes of Southern India.
BRAHMA
More important than all these is Brahma. Only a few hymns of the
Vedas appear to deal with him as the one divine, self-existent, and
omnipresent being, but in the later Puranic literature we find him
described as an abstract supreme spirit. With Brahma Hinduism reached
its greatest heights of mystical and metaphysical thought. Such
questions are asked in the _Vishnu Purana_, for example, as: How can a
creative agency be attributed to Brahma, who, as an abstract spirit,
is without qualities, illimitable, and free from imperfection? The
answer is that the essential properties of existent things are objects
of observation, of which no fore-knowledge is attainable, and the
innumerable phenomena are manifestations of Brahma, as inseparable
parts of his essence as heat from fire. Again, this Purana says:
"There are two states of this Brahma--one with, and one without shape;
one perishable, one imperishable; which are inherent in all beings.
The imperishable is the supreme being; the perishable is all the
world. The blaze of fire burning in one spot diffuses light and heat
around; so the world is nothing more than the manifested energy of the
supreme Brahma; and inasmuch as the light and heat are stronger or
feebler as we are near to the fire or far off from it, so the energy
of the supreme is more or less intense in the beings that are less or
more remote from him. Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are the most powerful
energies of God; next to them are the inferior deities; then the
attendant spirits; then men; then animals, birds, insects, vegetables;
each becoming more and more feeble as they are farther from their
primitive source."
The _Vishnu Purana_ gives the following derivation of the word Brahma:
It "is derived from the root _vriha_ (to increase) because it is
infinite (spirit), and because it is the cause by which the Vedas (and
all things) are developed." Then follows this hymn to Brahma: "Glory
to Brahma, who is addressed by that mystic word (_Om_) associated
eternally with the triple universe (earth, sky, and heaven), and who is
one with the four Vedas. Glory to Brahma, who alike in the destruction
and renovation of the world is called the great and mysterious
cause of the intellectual principle; who is without limit in time or
space, and exempt from diminution and decay.... He is the invisible,
imperishable Brahma; varying in form, invariable in substance; the
chief principle, self-engendered; who is said to illuminate the caverns
of the heart, who is indivisible, radiant, undecaying, multiform. To
that supreme Brahma be for ever adoration."
Brahma had his mythological side as Brahmā, apparently a development
specially intended for his employment in myth. There he appears as
the Creator of the world, born from a golden egg which floated on
the waters at the beginning. He went through many avatars or bodily
changes, and is thus the active manifestation of the First Cause,
Brahma. He was connected with two other gods, Vishnu and Siva.
Vishnu is the preserver, as Brahmā is the creator, and he is closely
associated with Indra, whom he assisted to combat the powers of evil.
He it was who rendered the universe habitable for man, "made the
atmosphere wide and stretched out the world." He is a sort of demiurge
patrolling the earth and may have evolved from the idea that the
sun was a great watchful eye ever looking down to inspect what was
occurring on the world below, as do several other deities.
Siva, a development of a Vedic storm-god Rudra, was regarded as a
destroyer or regenerator. He is a god of reproduction and restoration,
but he has a dark side to his character, and has given rise to one of
the most revolting cults of any religion. Durga is a goddess of war and
destruction and the wife of Siva. She is also known as Kali, and, like
her husband, is placated by dreadful rites. Ganesa, the son of Siva, is
an elephant-headed god of wisdom and of good luck. He is also a patron
of learning and literature. He rather resembles the Egyptian Thoth.
A host of lesser deities follow these, notably the Gandharvas, who in
Vedic times constituted the body-guard of Soma, but in Puranic days
became heavenly minstrels, plying their art at the Court of Indra. The
Apsaras are the houris of Indra's court. Indian epics contain many
notices of numerous demigods, and the planets are also deified.
It may be said that in later times the fervour of Hindu worship has
concentrated itself round the two figures of Vishnu and Siva, who from
unimportant Vedic beginnings have evolved into deities of the first
importance. There is a certain rivalry between them, but they are also
complementary, being the beneficent and evil aspects of the divine
spirit. It would seem as if dualism and monotheism had almost met here
to form a third condition of godhead.
New gods of inferior kind have arisen in India and a small pantheon has
been apportioned to each of them, but they do not require description
here.
TEUTONIC MYTH
The mythology of the Teutonic peoples has a strong likeness to those of
the other Aryan races, notably the Greeks, Romans, and Celts. At the
head is Odin or Wotan, who in many respects resembles Zeus or Jupiter.
He is a divine legislator, cunning in Runic lore, and the creator of
mankind. His worshippers pictured him as a one-eyed man of venerable
aspect clad in a wide-brimmed hat and voluminous cloak, and travelling
through the world to observe the doings of men. With his brothers
Vili and Ve he raised the earth out of the waters of chaos. His name
of 'All-Father' shows the exact position he held in the minds of
Scandinavian and Germanic folk. His wife, Freya, is much akin to Juno
or Hera. She was the matron and housewife deified and the patroness of
marriage.
LOKI
The malevolent deity was represented by Loki, perhaps originally a
fire-god, and ever at the elbow of Odin offering him evil counsel. Loki
is one of the most interesting figures in any mythology. He is both
friend and foe to the Æsir or divine beings and seems to have reduced
to a fine art the policy of running with the hare and hunting with the
hounds. We find him assisting at the making of humanity and we also
discover him acting as steersman to the ship that brings the forces of
evil to combat with the gods on the last great day of reckoning. At
times he would employ his natural cunning on behalf of the gods, at
other times use it for their ignominious defeat. Protean in character,
he could assume any shape he chose at will. He has been alluded to as
the great riddle of Teutonic mythology, but it may be that this riddle
represents fire in its beneficent and maleficent aspects. Indeed, the
name Logi is given elsewhere to a certain fire-demon, and this almost
clinches the matter. His many evil deeds were at last punished by his
being chained to a rock like Prometheus, while over his head hung a
serpent whose venom fell upon his face. The fact that Prometheus, also
a fire-god, met the same fate is one of those baffling resemblances
which occasionally confront the student of myth, and set him on a
lifetime's search for the connexion between the stories. The great
danger is that such a seeker may become enamoured of some fantastic
solution. Frequently a possible solution leaps into consciousness
with all the rapidity of an inspiration; but there are true and false
inspirations, and the difficulty is to distinguish between them. They
should be ruthlessly subjected to a melting and remelting process in
the crucible of comparison until only the pure gold remains. Had this
scientific process been rigorously adopted by all mythologists, the
scientific value of the study would have been enormously enhanced and
it would possess greater uniformity; for although magnificent work
has been achieved, far too much loose thinking has been indulged in,
and at the present time we are reduced to groping for standards and
definitions in a manner quite extraordinary.
THOR
Thor, the god of thunder and lightning, possesses a hammer which
symbolizes the thunder, as the spear or arrow of some other gods
typifies the lightning. The hammer sometimes symbolizes the
world-shaping god, the creative divinity, but perhaps not in regard to
Thor. His red beard is probably symptomatic of the lightning, like the
red limbs of some American thunder-gods. He is the foe of the Jötunn
or giants, and he bulked very largely indeed in the myths of the
Norsemen. At the same time, like most thunder-gods who bring in their
train the fructifying winds and rains, Thor presided over the crops
and was thus the friend of peasants. Indeed his wife, Sif, is usually
portrayed as a peasant woman of the Scandinavian type. He is the patron
of countrymen, slow of speech and wit, if quick to strike with his
hammer Mjolnir.
CELTIC MYTH
The mythology of the Celts shows an early connexion with that of
the Teutons on the one hand and the Græco-Roman races on the other.
Perhaps originally all possessed a common mythology, which altered
upon their geographical separation. The priestly caste placed many of
the old myths upon a definite literary footing, but these again were
manufactured into pseudo-history by Geoffrey of Monmouth and kindred
writers, so that it is often impossible to discover their original
significance except by analogy. Animistic myths, however, survived the
establishment of anthropomorphic gods among the Celts. Agricultural
and seasonal deities were in the ascendant, as became an agricultural
people, but not to the exclusion of totemic influences. Later,
culture-gods of music, poetry, and the manual arts sprang up or were
developed from existing deities. In the Gaulish pantheon, concerning
which we have little information, we find Cæsar equating no less than
sixteen local gods with the Roman Mercury, many with Apollo (among chem
Borvo, Belenos, and Grannos), while with Mars other writers equate
Camulos, Teutates, Albiorix, and Caturix, probably tribal war-gods.
With Minerva was compared the horse-goddess Epona, while Berecyntia, a
goddess of Autun, is compared by Gregory of Tours with the Italian Bona
Dea. Inscriptions make Aeracura the equivalent of Dispater. Turning to
Ireland, we possess later and therefore more satisfactory data, based
on mythic tales of a far earlier date. These stories speak of immigrant
races named the Tuatha de Danann (children of the goddess Danu), the
Fomorians, the Firbolgs, and Milesians, of whom the first two classes
are divine. Among these warring elements the Fomorians are a race of
Titans. Balor, one of their leaders, is a personification of the evil
eye; nothing could live beneath his glance. Bres seems to have been
a deity of growth--a vegetation-god. Dea Domnann was a species of
Celtic Tiawath (Babylonian goddess of the abyss). Tethra was lord of
the Underworld. _Nét_ was a war-god. These were all gods of an early
aboriginal race, and in later Irish myth are regarded as uncouth giant
monsters.
THE CHILDREN OF DANU
Danu, mother of the race, was considered as a daughter of Dagda. She
seems to have been an Earth-Mother.
The Tuatha de Danann, or Tribe of the Goddess Danu, have many congeners
in British myth, and their worship appears to have been brought from
Gaul or Britain. They were conquered by the Milesians and, retiring to
the Underworld, appear to have taken the place of fairies, for they
are later called _sidhe_ or 'fairy folk.' Dagda (the 'good hand' or
'good god'), father of Danu, played the spring season into being with
his harp. He fed the whole earth out of an immense pot or cauldron
called Undry, the symbol of plenty. His was the perfection of knowledge
and understanding. He is undoubtedly the great Celtic god of growth,
and was probably originally a sun-deity, as his harp and his wisdom
show, Ængus, his son, who supplanted him, resembled him. Nuada of the
Silver Hand is a culture-hero and a cunning craftsman. He has a British
equivalent, Llud Llaw Ereint, the 'silver-handed,' and both, like all
culture-heroes, were connected with the sun and with growth. Manannan
is a sea-god, and the Isle of Man may perhaps have taken its name from
him when it was regarded as an Elysium. He is the same as the British
Manawyddan. Lug (Welsh _Lieu_) is a craftsman and inventor of many
arts, and is frequently alluded to as 'Lug of the Long Arm'; whence
some authorities have seen in him a solar god, as the beams or arms of
the sun reach from heaven to earth.
Ogma is master of poetry and the supposed inventor of the 'ogham'
script, which is said to be called after him. His eloquence excited the
gods to valour in battle. Diancecht ('swift in power') was a god of the
healing art. Goibniu, a god of smith-craft and magic, manufactured
arms for the gods and brewed ale for them. Brigit was a goddess of
poetry and wisdom, and, like the Greek Pallas Athene, may have been at
one time the goddess of a cult especially female. The Morrigan, Naman,
and Macha are war-goddesses of sanguinary character.
BRITISH GODS
Among purely British gods, Bran, son of Llyr, the sea-god, presided
over minstrelsy, and may have been a god of the fertile Underworld or
the realm of the dead, the Celtic Elysium. Gwydion, also a bard, is a
diviner as well, and, like the Greek Proteus, is expert at changing
his form. Amaethon appears to have been an agricultural deity, and the
name seems to be connected with _amaeth_, the Welsh for 'plough-man.'
He is credited with bringing certain domestic animals from the Land of
the Gods to the World of Men, and this suggests totemism. Arianrhod,
wife and sister of Gwydion, is perhaps an earth-goddess, but her
significance is obscure. Bilé is probably a sun-god, and is equated
with Apollo. Keridwen is a goddess dwelling in an under-water Elysium.
She is described as a goddess of inspiration and poetry, and possesses
a cauldron which is the source of all inspiration. Her son Avaggdu was
cursed with hideousness, so his mother resolved to boil the cauldron of
inspiration to compensate him for his ugliness. Gwion Bach, requested
to watch it until it boils, steals the gift of inspiration for himself.
He flees, and is pursued by Keridwen, but changes into various shapes.
She follows his example, and at length in the form of a hen she
swallows him as a grain of wheat. She later gives birth to him, throws
him into the sea, and he becomes the bard Taliesin, famous for his
poetic fire, the gift of the cauldron of inspiration.
MEXICAN MYTHOLOGY
The mythologies of America are chiefly of interest because they
illustrate and supplement the faiths of the Old World, and this is
especially the case with the mythology of Mexico, which represents
a phase of religious evolution considerably more advanced than the
beliefs of the red man of the North American plains or the barbarians
of the South American continent. In ancient Mexico we have one of
the only three American mythological systems which attained anything
like religious cohesion, or exemplified the higher reaches of
ethical religious thought. The religion of ancient Mexico has been
classified as a religion of the lower cultus, but the folly of such a
classification is extreme, and it has, of course, emanated from persons
who have made no especial study of the mythology of Mexico. To range it
with such religions as those of the aborigines of Australia or those of
some African tribes is incorrect, as a brief account of it will prove
to the reader.
When the Spaniards finally conquered Mexico the more intelligent among
them, although for the most part military men and priests, began to
interest themselves in the antiquities and religion of the people they
had conquered. The accounts they have left of the Aztec faith are,
of course, unscientific, but we can gather a great deal from them by
analogy and comparison with Old World faiths. We find that the Aztec
population of Mexico worshipped gods who, if they did not form a
pantheon or hierarchy, had each a more or less distinct sphere of his
own. One of these, Tezcatlipoca, has been called the Jupiter of the
Aztec pantheon, and seems to deserve this name.
Bernal Diaz, one of the Spanish conquerors, describes this god as
having the face of a bear, and this error has been handed down from
generation to generation of writers on Mexican mythology, is repeated
in books of reference, and is generally accepted because of its
antiquity. As I have shown elsewhere (_Edinburgh Review_ for October
1920), Tezcatlipoca was probably a development of the obsidian stone,
which was employed for the purpose of making both sacrificial knives
and polished mirrors in which future events were supposed to be viewed.
This stone, too, was regarded as capable of raising wind or tempests.
Tezcatlipoca was supposed to rush through the highways at night, and
in this connexion he probably symbolized the night wind, but from
analogy with other North American Indian gods of a like character it
is most probable that in later times he came to be thought of as a
personification of the breath of life. The wind is usually regarded
as the giver of breath and the source of immediate life. One of
Tezcatlipoca's names was Yoalli Ehecatl, or Night Wind, and this leads
us to suspect that he was the giver of all life. In many mythologies
the name of the chief deity is derived from the same root as the word
'wind,' and in others the words 'soul' and 'breath' have a common
origin. Thus the Hebrew word _ruah_ is equivalent to both wind and
spirit, as is the name of the Egyptian god Kneph. Strangely enough,
however, Tezcatlipoca was also regarded as a death-dealer, and some of
the prayers addressed to him are pitiful in their tone of entreaty that
he will refrain from slaying his devotees. The probable reason for this
is that his worship, however it became so, was so extremely popular
as almost to eclipse most other Mexican deities, and owing to this
popularity his idea achieved such an enormous significance in the Aztec
mind that he began to be regarded as a god of fate and fortune with
power to ban or bless as he saw fit, and therefore to be sedulously
placated by prayer and sacrifice.
THE AZTEC WAR-GOD[1]
Next to him in importance, but scarcely less in the popular estimation,
was Uitzilopochtli, tutelar deity of the Aztec people and god of war.
Legends told how he led the Aztec tribes from their home of origin into
the valley of Mexico in the shape of a humming-bird. He was represented
as wearing a garment of humming-bird's feathers, and his face and limbs
were painted black and yellow. Enormous sacrifices of human beings were
made at stated intervals to this god, whose great _teocalli_ or pyramid
temple in the city of Mexico was literally a human shambles, where
prisoners of war were immolated on his altar; but he also appears,
like some other war-gods, to have an agricultural significance. His
mother was the goddess of flowers, and he himself was associated with
the summer and its abundance of crops and fruit. This was because of
his possession of the war-spear or dart, which with the Aztecs as
with many another people symbolized the lightning and therefore the
thunder-cloud with its fructifying rain.
But the real rain-god, or rather the god of moisture, of the Aztecs
was Tlaloc, upon whose co-operation the success of the crops depended.
He dwelt in the mountains which surround the Mexican valley, and he is
represented in sculpture in a semi-recumbent position, with the upper
part of the body raised upon the elbows and the knees half drawn up,
to enable him to hold the vase in which the sacred grain was kept.
The _tlaloque_ or rain-spirits were regarded as his progeny, and he
manifested himself in three ways, by the flash, the thunder, and the
thunderbolt. His dwelling, Tlalocan, was a fruitful and abounding
Paradise where those who were drowned, struck by lightning, or who had
died of dropsy were certain to go. In the native paintings part of his
face is of a dark colour, probably to represent the thunder-cloud,
Numerous children were sacrificed to him annually, and if they wept it
was regarded as a happy omen for a rainy season.
One of the most important and picturesque Aztec deities was
Quetzalcoatl, probably a god of the pre-Aztec inhabitants of Mexico,
the Toltecs. The name signifies 'feathered serpent', and the myths tell
how he played the part of culture-hero in Mexico, teaching the people
the arts and sciences; but by the cunning of Tezcatlipoca he was driven
from the land, and, embarked upon a raft of serpents, he floated away
to the East, the land of sunrise, where dwelt his father, the sun. A
number of authorities have seen in Quetzalcoatl a god of the air, and
even a moon-deity. He is obviously the trade wind, which carries the
rain, and is driven from the country by Tezcatlipoca, the anti-trade
wind.
A regular group of gods presided over the food supply and agriculture
of Mexico: Xilonen and Chicomecohuatl were maize-goddesses, and
Centeotl, a god, also presided to some extent over the maize. The
earth-goddess Toci or Teteoinnan was regarded as the progenitrix or
mother of the gods. Sun-worship was extremely popular in Mexico, and
the sun was regarded as the god _par excellence_. Moreover, he was the
deity of warriors to whom he granted victory in battle that they might
supply him with food.
CHINOOK MYTH
The Chinook Indians of the north-west coast of America possess a
religious system of great interest to the student of myth, and we
must deal with it at some length. The Chinooks were divided into two
linguistic groups with numerous dialectic differences--Lower Chinook
(comprising Chinook proper and the Clatsop), and Upper Chinook
(comprising the rest of the tribe). The Lower Chinook dialects are
now practically extinct; of persons of pure Chinook blood only about
three hundred now exist. Upper Chinook is still spoken by considerable
numbers, but the mixture of blood on the Indian Reservation, where they
dwell, has been so great that the majority using the dialect are not
really Chinooks.
ZOOTHEISM
The stage of religious evolution to which the beliefs of the Chinooks
belong is 'zootheism,' where no line of demarcation exists between man
and beast, and all phenomena are explained in the mythic history of
zoomorphic personages who can hardly be described as gods. The original
totemic nature of these beings it would be difficult to gainsay, but
they occupy a position between the totem and the god proper--a rank
which has been the lot of many evolving deities.
Allied with these beliefs we find shamanistic medico-religious
practices invoking assistance for the sick.
Their mythological figures fall into four classes: (1) supernatural
beings of a zoomorphic type, with many of the attributes of deity; (2)
guardian spirits; (3) evil spirits; (4) culture-heroes.
The first class includes the Coyote, Blue Jay, Robin, Skunk, and
Panther, etc. As has been said, there is little doubt that such beings
were originally totems of various Chinookan clans, although these clans
are without special tribal names, being simply designated as 'those
dwelling at such and such a place.' They may, however, have lost their
tribal names--a common occurrence when tribes become sedentary--while
retaining their totemistic concepts.
Italapas, the Coyote, is one of the Chinook gods of the first class,
and may be regarded as the head of the pantheon. Nearly equal to him
in importance is Blue Jay, who figures in nearly every myth of Chinook
origin; but whereas Italapas the Coyote assisted Ikanam, the Creator,
in the making of men, and taught them various arts, Blue Jay's mission
is obviously dissension; and he well typifies the bird from which he
takes his name, and probably his totem derivation. He figures as a
mischievous tale-bearer, braggart, and cunning schemer, and resembles
Loki of Scandinavian mythology.
His origin is touched upon in a myth of the journey of the Thunderer
through the country of the Supernatural People, where, with Blue Jay's
help, the Thunderer and his son-in-law obtain possession of the bows
and targets of the inhabitants. They engage in a shooting-match and win
at first by using their own targets, but when the Supernatural People
suspect craft, they agree to the substitution of shining Supernatural
targets for their own, and lose; and, as they had staked their own
persons in the match, they fall into the power of the Supernatural
beings, who wreak vengeance upon Blue Jay by metamorphosing him into
the bird whose name he bears. "Blue Jay shall be your name and you
shall sing 'Watsetsetset-setse,' and it shall be a bad omen."
There is a trilogy of myths concerning Blue Jay and his sister Ioi.
Ioi begs him to take a wife to share her labour, and Blue Jay takes
the corpse of a chief's daughter from her grave and carries her to the
land of the Supernatural People, who restore her to life. The chief,
her father, discovers the circumstance, and demands Blue Jay's hair in
payment for his daughter, but Blue Jay changes himself into his bird
shape and flies away--an incident which suggests his frequent adoption
of human as well as bird form. When he flees, his wife expires again.
The ghosts then buy Ioi, Blue Jay's sister, for a wife, and Blue Jay
goes in search of her. Arriving in the country of the ghosts, he finds
his sister surrounded by heaps of bones, to which she alludes as her
relations by marriage. The ghosts take human shape occasionally, but
upon being spoken to by Blue Jay become mere heaps of bones again. He
takes a mischievous delight in reducing them to this condition, and
in tormenting them in every possible manner, especially by mixing the
various heaps of bones, so that, upon materializing, the ghosts find
themselves with the wrong heads, legs, and arms, In fact the whole myth
is obviously one which recounts the 'Harrying of Hell,' so common in
savage and barbarian myth, and probably invented to reassure the savage
as to the terrors of the next world, and to instruct him in the best
methods of foiling its evil inhabitants. We find the same atmosphere
in the myth of the descent into Xibalba of Hun-Apu and Xbalanque in
the _Popol Vuh_ of the Kiche of Guatemala, hero-gods who outwit and
ridicule the lords of Hell.
Skasa-it (Robin) is Blue Jay's elder brother, and his principal
occupation is making sententious comments on the mischievous acts of
his relative. The Skunk, Panther, Raven, and Crow are similar figures.
That most of these were anthropomorphic in shape--probably having
animals' or birds' heads upon men's bodies--is proved not only by the
protean facility with which they change their shapes, but by a passage
in the myth of Anektcxolemix, mentioning "a person who came to the fire
with a very sharp beak, and began to cut meat"; and another 'person'
splits logs for firewood with his beak. Such ideas are notoriously
incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the distorted appearance of
Nature--due to an intense familiarity with and nearness to her--in the
savage mind.
Evil spirits are many and various. The most terrible appears to be
the insatiable Glutton, who devours everything in a house, and when
the meat supply comes to an end kills and eats the occupants. In the
myth of Okulam he pursues five brothers, after eating all their meat,
and devours them one by one, except the youngest, who escapes by the
good offices of the Thunderer, Ikenuwakcom, a being of the nature of a
thunder-god, and marries his daughter.
Besides being reckoned as deities of zoomorphic or sometimes
anthropomorphic type, Blue Jay, Italapas, and the others may be
regarded as hero-gods or culture-heroes, although not always prompted
by the highest motives in their activities. They are markedly
egotistical, every action being dictated by a desire to prove superior
in force and cunning to the foe. To overcome difficulties by craft is
the delight of the savage, and those gods who are most skilled in such
methods he honours most. In the myths of Blue Jay and his sister Ioi,
Blue Jay repeatedly scores against his adversaries, but in the end he
is punished himself, and it is difficult to say whether or not the
world was any the wiser or better for his efforts. The idea of good
accomplished is a purely relative one in the savage mind, and cannot be
appreciated to any extent by uncivilized persons.
The shamans of the Chinooks were a medico-religious fraternity,
the members of which worked individually, as a general rule, but
sometimes in concert. Their methods were much the same as those of the
medicine-men of other Indian tribes in a similar state of belief, but
were differentiated from them by various thaumaturgical practices which
they made use of in their medical duties. These were usually undertaken
by three shamans acting in concert for the purpose of rescuing the
'astral body' of a sick patient from the Land of Spirits. The three
shamans who undertook the search for the sick man's spiritual body
threw themselves into a state of clairvoyance; their souls, temporarily
detached from their bodies, then followed the spiritual track of the
sick man's soul. The soul of the shaman with a strong guardian spirit
was placed first, the next in degree last, and that of the priest with
the weakest guardian spirit in the middle. When the trail of the sick
man's soul foreshadowed danger or the proximity of any supernatural
evil, the soul of the foremost shaman sang a magical chant to ward it
off; and if a danger approached from behind, the shaman in the rear did
likewise. The soul was usually thought to be reached about the time
of the rising of the morning star. If possible, it was laid hands on
and brought back, after a sojourn of one or perhaps two nights in the
regions of the supernatural. The shamans next replaced the soul in the
body of their patient, who forthwith recovered. Should the soul of a
sick person take the trail to the left, the pursuing shamans would say,
"He will die"; whereas, if it took a trail toward the right, they would
say, "We shall cure him."
When the spirits of the shamans reached the well in the Land of the
Ghosts where the shades of the departed drink, their first care was to
ascertain if the soul of him they sought had drunk of these waters;
had it done so, all hope of cure was past. If they laid hold of a soul
that had drunk of the water, it shrank as they neared home, so that it
would not fill the sick man's body, and he died. The same superstition
applied to the spirit eating ghostly food. Did the sick man's soul
eat on the astral plain, then was he doomed indeed. In this belief
we have a Greek parallel: Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, the
corn-mother, might not return to earth permanently, because Pluto had
given her to eat of the seed of a pomegranate. The taboo regarding the
eating of the food of the dead is almost universal. We find it in the
Finnish _Kalevala_, where Waïnamoïmen, visiting Tuonela, the place of
the dead, refuses to drink, and in Japanese and Melanesian myth-cycles.
Likewise, if the spirit enters the house of the ghosts, it cannot
return to earth. These beliefs apply not only to human beings, but also
to animals, and even to inanimate objects. For example, if the astral
counterpart of a horse or a canoe be seen in ghost-land, unless they
are rescued from thence by the shaman they are doomed.
CHOCTAW MYTH
Another interesting North American mythology is that of the Choctaw
Indians, formerly occupying Middle and South Mississippi from Tombigbee
River to the borders of Dallas County, Georgia. The Choctaw religion
is almost unique among the North American Indian religions, as it is
a union of animism and sun-worship, or, more correctly speaking, the
two systems may be observed side by side among this and allied peoples
of the Muskhogean stock. They have a supreme being whom they designate
Yuba Paik, 'Our Father Above'; but whether this conception arose from
contact with missionaries or is genuinely aboriginal it is impossible
to say. The term may be collective, like the Hebrew _Elohim_ or the
Latin _Superi,_ and may include all the powers of the air. It is
perhaps more likely that it evolved from the word for sky, as did Zeus,
the Nottoway Qui-oki, the Iroquois Garonhia, and the ancient Powhatan
Oki. This supposition is strengthened by the cognate Greek expression,
signifying 'He who lives in the sky.' As usual among North American
Indian tribes, the Choctaws confound the sun with fire; at least they
refer to fire as Shahli miko,'the greater chief,' and speak of it as
Hashe ittiapa, 'He who accompanies the sun and the sun him.' On going
to war they call for assistance from both sun and fire, but, except
as fire, they do not address the sun, nor does he stand in any other
relation to their religious thought. He is not personified, as, for
example, among the Peruvians, or worshipped as the supreme symbol of
fire. In American religions, generally speaking, what appears on the
surface to be sun-worship pure and simple usually resolves itself, upon
closer examination, into the worship of light and fire. Indeed the
cognate Natchez word for 'sun' is derived from that for 'fire,' and the
sun is referred to as 'the great fire.' The expression 'sun-worship'
must, then, be understood to imply an adoration of all fire, symbolized
by the sun.
The Muskhogean tribes, according to tradition, were originally banded
in one common confederacy, and unanimously located their earliest
ancestry near an artificial eminence in the Valley of the Big Black
River in the Natchez country, whence they believed they had emerged.
Gregg states[2] that they described this to him and another traveller,
and calls it "an elevation of earth, about half a mile square, and
fifteen or twenty feet high. From its north-east corner a wall of
equal height extends for nearly half a mile to the high land."[3] This
eminence they designated Nunne Chaha, or Nunne Hamgeh, 'the High Hill,'
or 'the Bending Hill,' known to the Muskhogees as Rvne em mekko, or
'King of Mountains.' This looks as if the Choctaws alluded to some of
those immense artificial mounds so common in the Mississippi valley.
When De Soto passed through the Gulf State country in 1540-41, the
tribes inhabiting it--Creeks, Choctaws, etc.--were still using, and
probably constructing, mounds; and from this it is inferred that
they and no others were the famous 'Mound-builders' of American
archæology--a theory now adopted by the officials of the U.S. Bureau
of Ethnology and the majority of modern Americanists. Wilson, writing
in 1875, considerably before the modern theory of the 'Mound-builders'
gained general credence, states that "analogies to these structures
have been traced in the works of Indian tribes formerly in occupation
of Carolina and Georgia. They were accustomed to erect a circular
terrace or platform on which their council-house stood. In front
of this a quadrangular area was enclosed with earthen embankments,
within which public games were played and captives tortured.... Upon
the circular platform it is also affirmed that the sacred fire was
maintained by the Creek Indians as part of their most cherished rites
as worshippers of the sun."[4] He adds that, although the evidence does
not seem very clear, analogies point "to the possibility of some of
the Indian tribes having perpetuated on a greatly inferior scale some
maimed rites borrowed from their civilized precursors."
Several proved analogies between the worship of the 'Mound-builders'
and the Indians exist: for example, there is unmistakable evidence
that one of the sacred altars of 'Mound City' was specially devoted to
nicotian rites and offerings. The discarded stones, also, found in the
mound country are the same as those used by the Muskhogean people in
the name of _chunkey_, which has probably a solar significance.
Like the other Muskhogean tribes, the Choctaws believed that before
the Creation a great body of water alone was visible. Two pigeons flew
to and fro over its waves, and at last espied a blade of grass rising
above the surface. Dry land gradually followed, and the islands and
mainland took their present shapes. In the centre of the hill Nunne
Chaha, already mentioned, was a cave, the house of the Master of Breath
(Esaugetuh Emissee). There he took clay, and fashioned the first men;
and, as at that period the waters covered the earth, he raised a great
wall to dry them on. When the soft mud had hardened into flesh and
bone, he directed the waters to their present places, and gave the dry
land to the men he had made. The fact that the Choctaws were divided
into eight clans has been cited by Brinton[5] in confirmation of the
view that the myth of their origin was akin to those American legends
which give to the majority of the Indian tribes a descent from four
or eight brothers who emanated from a cave. Such a myth was in vogue
among the Tupi-Guarani of Brazil, the Muyscas of Bogota, the Nahua of
Mexico, and many other tribes. They possessed an ancient tradition
that the present world will be consumed by a general conflagration,
after which it will be made a much more pleasant place than it now
is, and that then the spirits of the dead will return to the bones in
the bone-mound, become covered with flesh, and once more occupy their
ancient territory.
The Choctaws believe that after death those "who have behaved well" are
taken under the care of Esaugetuh Emissee ('Master of Breath') and well
looked after; that those who have behaved ill are left "to shift for
themselves"; and that there is no further punishment. They also believe
that when they die the spirit flies westward "as the sun goes," and
there joins its family and friends "who went before it." They do not
believe in a place of punishment, or in any infernal power.
Although the sun appears to have been their chief deity, the Choctaws
conceived Esaugetuh Emissee, or the 'Master of Breath,' as the creative
agency, at least where man was concerned, so that he may have acted as
a demiurge. This deity has many counterparts in American mythologies,
and appears to be the personification of the wind, the name being
onomatopoetic. The deification of the wind as soul or breath is common
to many mythologies.
We see a totemic significance in the fact that the alligator was
worshipped, or at least venerated, by the coast and river tribes of the
Muskhogeans, and never by any chance destroyed by them. The myth of
the horned serpent was also in vogue among them, and was practically
identical with that told by the Cherokees to Lieutenant Timberlake; and
the charm which they presented to their young men when they set out on
the war-path was composed of the bones of the panther and the horn of
the fabulous horned snake.
This snake dwelt in the waters, and the old people went to the shore
and sang sacred songs to it. It rose a little out of the water; the
magic chant was repeated, and it then showed its horns. They cut off
the horns, and, when occasion necessitated, placed a fragment of them
in their 'war-physic,' to ward off the arrows of enemies.
The priests of the Choctaws, as is usual among Indian tribes, were
medicine-men and diviners. The office of high priest, or 'Great Beloved
Man,' as he was called, was kept in one family, passing from father
to eldest son. The junior priests are described as dressed in white
robes and carrying on their head or arm a great owl-skin stuffed
very ingeniously, as a symbol of wisdom and divination. They were
distinguished from the rest of the tribe by their taciturnity, grave
and solemn countenance, and dignified carriage, and went about the
settlements singing to themselves in a low, almost inaudible voice.
They possessed an apparently esoteric language, which examination
by competent scholars has proved to be merely a modification of the
ordinary speech. It contains some words unknown in the idiom of daily
life, but they are archaisms, or borrowed from other peoples, along
with the ceremonies or myths to which they refer.
ARAUCANIAN MYTH
One of the best examples of a South American religion is that of the
Araucanian Indians of Chile. Early accounts credit them with a fairly
exalted theogony, with a supreme being, the author of all things,
called Pillan--a name derived from _pulli_ or _pilli_, 'the soul,'
and signifying Supreme Essence. Pillan is, according to the Austrian
missionary Dobrizhoffer,[6] their word for thunder. They also called
him Guenu-pillan, 'the Spirit of Heaven,' and Annolu, 'the Infinite,'
besides many other lesser names. The native tribal life was but a
microcosm of his celestial existence; everything was modelled upon the
heavenly polity of Pillan, who was called, in his aspect of Supreme
Ruler, Toquichen, or 'the Great Chief' of the invisible world. He had
his _apo-ulmenes_ and his _ulmenes_, or greater and lesser sub-chiefs,
like the chief of any prairie confederacy; and to them he entrusted the
administration of his affairs of lesser importance.
In Pillan it is easy to trace a mythological conception widely
prevalent among the indigenous American peoples. He is unquestionably
a thunder-god, similar to such deities as the Hurakan of the Kiches
of Guatemala, the Tlaloc of the Mexicans, and the Con or Cun, the
thunder-god of the Collao of Peru. The gathering of clouds round great
mountain peaks like those of the Andes, and the resultant phenomena
of thunder and lightning, kindle in the savage mind the idea that the
summits of these mountains are the dwelling-place of some powerful
supernatural being, who manifests his presence by the agencies of fire
and terrifying sound. Supernatural beings of this kind are usually
described by the Indians as red in colour, having neither arms nor
legs, but moving with incredible swiftness, difficult of approach
because of their irascibility, but generous to those who succeed in
gaining their favour. They are in general placated by libations of
native spirit poured into the pools below the snow-line, and in case
of drought are roused from inactivity by the sympathetic magic of
'rain-making,' in which the magician or priest sprinkles water from a
gourd over the thirsty soil.
The _apo-ulmenes_, or greater deities, subservient to Pillan are
several in number. The chief is Epunamun, or god of war, whose name
is apparently of Peruvian origin. He may have been a type adopted
from the Incan sun-idol Punchau Inca, or the 'Sun-Inca,' depicted
as a warrior armed with darts. There can be little doubt that the
mythology of the Araucanians, as opposed to their mere demon-worship,
was highly coloured by, if not altogether adopted from, that of their
Peruvian neighbours, the Aymara. And when we find that this Peruvian
sun-idol was originally brought to the Incan court by a chief of the
Collao who worshipped Cun (adored by the Araucanians under the name
of Pillan), it would seem as though Epunamun, with his Peruvian name
and probable likeness to Punchau, was also of northern origin, or
had been adopted by the Araucanians from the Aymara. Other inferior
deities were Meulen, a benevolent protector of the human race; and the
Guecubu, a malignant being, author of all evil, also known as Algue
or Aka-Kanet--at least, the similarity between him and the deities or
demons bearing these names is strong, although Aka-Kanet, throned in
the Pleiades, sends fruits and flowers to the earth, and is called
'Grandfather.' As Müller remarks: "Dualism is not very striking among
these tribes"; and again: "The good gods do more evil than good."[7]
Molina, who lived among the Araucanians for many years, says, speaking
of Guecubu: "From hence it appears that the doctrine of two adverse
principles, improperly called Manicheism, is very extensive, or, in
other words, is found to be established among almost all the barbarous
natives of both continents."[8] He goes on to compare the Guecubu
with the Persian Ahriman, and states that, according to the general
opinion of the Araucanians, he is the cause of all the misfortunes
that occur. If a horse tires, it is because the Guecubu has ridden
him. If the earth trembles, it is because the Guecubu has given it a
shock; nor does anyone die who is not suffocated by the Guecubu. The
name is spelt 'Huecuvu' by Falkner in his _Description of Patagonia_,
and is translated as 'the wanderer without,' an evil demon, hostile
to humanity, who lurks outside the encampment or on the outskirts of
any human habitation for the express purpose of working malignant
mischief upon unwary tribesmen--a very familiar figure to the student
of anthropology and folklore.
It is not clear to which of their gods the Araucanians gave the credit
for the creation of all things, and it is probable that they imagined
that one or other of the totemic beings from whom they were supposed
to be descended had fashioned the universe. They had, however, a very
clear tradition of a deluge, from which they were saved by a great hill
called Theg-Theg, 'the Thunderer,' with three peaks, and possessing
the property of moving upon the waters. Whenever an earthquake
threatens they fly to any hill shaped like the traditional Theg-Theg,
believing that it will save them in this cataclysm as it did in the
last, and that its only inconvenience is that it approaches too near
the sun. To avoid being scorched, says Molina, they always kept ready
wooden bowls to act as parasols.
The _ulmenes_ or lesser spirits of the celestial hierarchy of the
Araucanians, are the _gen_ ('lords'), who have the charge of created
things, and who, with the benevolent Meulen, attempt to stem the power
of the Guecubu. They are of both sexes, the females being designated
_amei-malghen_, or spiritual nymphs, who are pure and lead an existence
of chastity, propagation being unknown in the Araucanian spiritual
world. These beings, especially the females, perform for men the
offices of familiar spirits, and all Araucanians believe that they
have one of these minor deities or angels in their service. "_Nien cat
gni amehi-malghen_" ("I still keep my guardian spirit") is a common
expression when they succeed in any undertaking. These minor deities
remind us forcibly of the totemic familiars who are adopted by the
members of many North American Indian tribes at puberty, and appear
to them in dreams and hypnotic trances to warn them concerning future
events; and it is probable that the _gen_ and _amei-malghen_ are the
remnants of a totemic system.
The likeness between things spiritual and things material is carried
still further by the Araucanians; for, as their earthly _ulmenes_
have no right to impose any contribution or service upon the common
people, so they deny to supernatural beings worship or gifts. Thus
no outward homage is ordinarily paid to them. There is probably no
parallel to this lack of worship in the case of a people possessing
clearly defined religious ideas and conceptions of supernatural beings.
"They possess neither temples nor idols, nor are they in the habit of
offering any sacrifice except in some severe calamity, or on concluding
a peace."[9] Upon such occasions the offerings were usually animals
and tobacco, the latter being burned as incense and supposed to be
peculiarly agreeable to their gods. This custom recalls that of the
North American Indian peoples, with whom the Araucanians exhibit some
points of resemblance in the ceremonial use of tobacco, such as blowing
the smoke to the four cardinal points, as a sacrifice to the god of
the elements, probably Pillan. On urgent occasions only were these
sacrificial rites employed, omen Pillan and Meulen chiefly were adored
and implored to assist their people. The absolute indifference of the
Araucanians to mere ritual was well exemplified by the manner in which
they ignored the elaborate ritualistic practices of the early Roman
Catholic missionaries, although they displayed no hostility to the new
creed, but tolerated its institution throughout their territories.
Although the Araucanians did not practise any rites, they were not
behind other American aboriginal peoples in superstition. They were
firm believers in divination, and paid marked attention to favourable
or unfavourable omens. Appearances in dreams, the songs and flight of
birds, and all the usual machinery of augury were pressed into the
service of their priests or diviners; and the savage who dreaded naught
on the field of battle would tremble violently at the mere sight of an
owl.
The priests, or rather diviners, were called by the Araucanians
_gligua_ or _dugol_, and were subdivided into _guenguenu, genpugnu_,
and _genpiru_, meaning respectively 'masters of the heavens,' 'of
epidemics,' and 'of insects or worms.' There was also a sect called
_calcu_, or 'sorcerers,' who dwelt in caves and were served by
_ivunches_, or 'man-animals,' to whom they taught their terrible arts.
The Araucanians believed that these wizards had the power to transform
themselves at night into nocturnal birds, to fly through the air, and
to shoot invisible arrows at their enemies, besides indulging in the
malicious mischief with which folklore credits the wizards of all
countries. Their priests proper they believed to possess numerous
familiars who were attached to them after death. Thus they resemble the
'magicians' of the Middle Ages. These priests were celibate, and led an
existence apart from the tribe, in some communities being garbed as
women. The tales told of their magical prowess lead us to believe that
they were either natural epileptics or ecstatics, or excited themselves
by drugs. The Araucanians also held that the knowledge of their real
personal names gave dangerous magic power over them.
They firmly believed in the immortality of the soul. They held that the
composition of man was twofold--the _anca_, or corruptible body, and
the _am_ or _pulli_, the soul, which they believed to be _ancanolu_
('incorporeal'), and _mugcalu_ ('eternal' or 'existing for ever'). So
thoroughly a matter of everyday allusion had these distinctions become
that they frequently made use of the word _anca_ in a metaphorical
sense, to denote a part, the half, or the subject of anything. They
differed about details of life after death. All held that after death
they would go west, beyond the sea--a conception of the soul's flight
held by many other American tribes. The west, the 'grave' of the sun,
was supposed also to be the goal of man in the evening of his days--a
place where the tired soul might find rest.
"The old notion among us," said an old chief, "is that, when we die,
the spirit goes the way the sun goes, to the west, and there joins
its family and friends who went before it."[10] The country to which
the Araucanians believed their dead went was called Gulcheman, 'the
dwelling of the men beyond the mountains.' The general conception
of this Otherworld was that it was divided into two parts, one
pleasant, and filled with everything that is delightful, the abode
of the good; and the other desolate and in want of everything, the
habitation of the wicked. Some of the Araucanians held, however,
that all indiscriminately enjoyed eternal pleasures, saying that
earthly behaviour had no effect upon the immortal state. The amount of
spirituality in their belief is shown by their funerary practices.
The relatives of the deceased person seated themselves round his
body and wept for a long time, afterward exposing it for a space
upon a raised bier, called _pilluay_, where it remained during the
night. During this time they watched over and 'waked' it, eating and
drinking with those who came to console them. This meeting was called
_curicahuin_, or the 'black entertainment,' as black was the symbolical
colour of mourning with them. About the second or third day the body
was laid to rest in the _eltum_, or family burying-ground. The _eltum_
was usually situated in a wood or on a hill, and the procession to it
was preceded by two young men on horseback, riding full speed. The bier
was carried by the nearest relatives of the deceased, and surrounded by
women who mourned and wept during the entire ceremony. On arrival at
the _eltum_ the corpse was laid on the ground and surrounded by arms
in the case of a man, or by feminine implements in that of a woman.
Provisions, _chica_ (native spirit), wine, and sometimes even a dead
horse were placed beside the deceased to serve him in the Otherworld.
The Pehuenches believed that the Otherworld was cold, and so sought to
warm the corpse with fire, after which they bound it to a horse, placed
the bridle in its hand, killed the steed, and buried both together in
the grave. The relatives and friends of the dead man then wished him
a prosperous journey, and covered the body with a pyramid or cairn of
stones, over which they poured large quantities of _chica_.
After they had departed, an old woman called Tempuleague came to the
grave in the shape of a whale, and transported the soul of the deceased
to the Otherworld. Probably the Araucanians of the Chilean coast were
acquainted with the spermaceti, or southern variety of whale, and
regarded it as the only method of locomotion for a spirit across the
great waters, or it is probable that they borrowed the conception from
the Peruvians of the coast, who regarded the sea as the most powerful
among the gods, and called it Mama-cocha or 'Mother Sea.' The whale was
a general object of worship all along the Peruvian coast, while each
of the Peruvian coastal districts worshipped the particular species of
fish that was taken there in the greatest abundance. This fish-worship
was not mere superstition, and it was very elaborate, the fish-ancestor
of each variety or 'tribe' of fish holding a special place in the
heavens in the form of a constellation. The Collao tribes to the south,
on the shores of Lake Titicaca, some fifty miles or so from the
Chilean frontier, also worshipped a fish-god; so that in all likelihood
the fish-goddess of the Araucanians was originally borrowed from
the Collao, who were probably ethnologically akin to the Araucanian
tribes. This theory is confirmed by the nature of the fish-deity
worshipped by the Collao; its name was Copacahuana, 'valuable stone to
be looked upon,' the idol being carved from a bluish-green stone, with
the body of a fish surmounted by a rude human head. This deity, like
Tempuleague, was female.
The deceased, however, must pay a toll to another old woman, of
malicious character, for permission to pass a narrow strait on the
road; otherwise she would deprive him of an eye.
The life after death was very similar to earthly existence, but without
fatigue or satiety. Husbands had the same wives as on earth, but had no
children, as the Otherworld was inhabited by the spirits of the dead
alone.
Certain vestiges of sun- and moon-worship were known among some tribes,
who called the sun Anti, and the moon Kayan; but recognition of these
luminaries as deities was intermittent and probably seasonal.
[1] See p. 32.
[2] _Commerce of the Prairies_, vol. ii, p. 235.
[3] Heart, _Trans. Am. Phil. Soc._, vol. iii, p. 216.
[4] _Prehistoric Man_, vol. i, p. 276 (London, 1876).
[5] _Myths of the New World_, p. 101 (1896).
[6] _Abipones_, vol. ii, p. 101 (London, 1822).
[7] _Amer. Urreligionen_, pp. 265, 272 (Basel, 1855).
[8] _History of Chile_, vol. ii, p. 85 (1809).
[9] Molina, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 87.
[10] Hawkins, _Sketch of the Creek Country_, p. 80 (Savannah, 1848).
INDEX
A