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Title: The sacred dance
A study in comparative folklore
Author: William Oscar Emil Oesterley
Release Date: July 9, 2023 [eBook #71153]
Language: English
Credits: Sonya Schermann and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SACRED DANCE ***
THE SACRED DANCE
A STUDY IN COMPARATIVE FOLKLORE
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
THE SACRED DANCE
A STUDY IN COMPARATIVE FOLKLORE
By
W. O. E. OESTERLEY, D.D.
Vicar of St Alban’s, Acton Green, W.
Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of London
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1923
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
PREFACE
The following study is an attempt to estimate the part played by the
Sacred Dance among the peoples of antiquity as well as among the
uncultured races in modern times; to account for its origin; to note the
occasions on which it was performed; and to indicate the purposes of its
performance.
The subject is more complicated than would appear at first sight; for
while the fact of its universal prevalence among all races at one time or
another of their cultural development shows how essential a rite it was,
its origin is obviously veiled in obscurity seeing that it developed in
prehistoric times. So that in seeking to throw light on the question of
its origin one has to try to get at the back of the mind of the savage,
and envisage things from his point of view; but that mind represents a
complex of such crass and illogical elements that one may easily be led
astray.
The purpose of the Sacred Dance, again, presents us with another set of
problems; for while in some cases this is clear enough, in others there
are alternatives which suggest themselves; and, further, it is probable
that a variety of motives not infrequently prompted its performance. To
disentangle these is not always easy.
On the other hand, the interest of the subject from the human point of
view is great; for, as an indispensable rite at all the crises of life,
it was evidently a means of emotional outlet. From the psychological
standpoint, therefore, its prevalence is not without importance. Indeed,
it will probably be thought that from the psychological side the subject
is inadequately treated in the following pages. And this is true, though
it does receive some attention; but in extenuation it must be said that
the writer’s main object has been merely to give some account of the
Sacred Dance as a widespread rite; and he feels that its treatment from
the psychological aspect would best be left to one who is an expert in
psychology.
That the Old Testament figures somewhat prominently in the following
pages is partly due to the fact that the writer has made a special study
of this body of literature, and it seemed wise to start from that with
which he was most conversant; but there is the further reason, as is
pointed out in the introductory chapter, that the Old Testament offers,
in most cases, an exceedingly convenient starting-point from which to
study the various “types” of sacred dance.
The writer desires to express his thanks to Dr Jevons, Dr Lukyn Williams,
and Dr S. A. Cook for a number of helpful suggestions, to Miss Bevan for
reading through the proofs, and his warm appreciation of the kindness and
courtesy of the Secretary of the University Press.
The minute care taken in pointing out oversights in the correction of
proofs, as well as other slips, is most gratefully acknowledged.
Finally, the writer would like to take this opportunity of thanking the
Curator of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities in the British
Museum for his ready help in arranging for the photographing of the Greek
Vase, representing a Maenad dancing in honour of Dionysos, which is
reproduced on the cover of this book.
W. O. E. O.
ST ALBAN’S VICARAGE, BEDFORD PARK.
_February 1923._
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SACRED DANCE 1
II. THE MEANING OF THE SACRED DANCE 5
III. THE REASON FOR USING THE OLD TESTAMENT AS THE
STARTING-POINT IN THE INVESTIGATION 8
IV. THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION: 9
(1) Inscriptions 10
(2) Pottery, etc. 10
(3) Ancient Literature 11
(4) Modern Literature 11
CHAPTER II
THE ORIGIN AND PURPOSES OF THE SACRED DANCE
I. THE ORIGIN OF THE SACRED DANCE 13
II. THE PURPOSES OF THE SACRED DANCE 19
CHAPTER III
THE SACRED DANCE AMONG THE ISRAELITES
I. THE SACRED DANCE AMONG THE ISRAELITES 31
II. TYPES OF THE SACRED DANCE AMONG THE ISRAELITES: 35
(1) The sacred processional dance 36
(2) The encircling of a sacred object 37
(3) The ecstatic dance 37
(4) Sacred dances at Vintage and Harvest Festivals 39
(5) Dances in celebration of victory 40
(6) The sacred dance as a Circumcision rite 41
(7) The sacred dance as a Marriage rite 41
(8) The sacred dance as a Burial or Mourning rite 42
CHAPTER IV
THE OLD TESTAMENT TERMS FOR “DANCING”
I. CONSIDERATION OF SOME HEBREW ROOTS 44
II. THE MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT TO DANCING 51
CHAPTER V
THE SACRED PROCESSIONAL DANCE, AND DANCES IN
HONOUR OF SUPERNATURAL POWERS
I. THE SACRED PROCESSIONAL DANCE AMONG THE ISRAELITES 54
II. AMONG THE SYRIANS AND ARABS, AND OTHER SEMITES 56
III. AMONG THE HITTITES 59
IV. AMONG THE EGYPTIANS 60
V. AMONG THE GREEKS 63
VI. AMONG THE ROMANS 73
VII. AMONG ASIATIC PEOPLES 76
VIII. AMONG UNCULTURED RACES 77
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 81
CHAPTER VI
THE RITUAL DANCE ROUND A SACRED OBJECT
I. AMONG THE ISRAELITES 88
II. AMONG OTHER SEMITES 94
III. AMONG THE GREEKS 97
IV. AMONG THE ROMANS 100
V. AMONG UNCULTURED RACES 101
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 104
CHAPTER VII
THE ECSTATIC DANCE
I. AMONG THE ISRAELITES 107
II. AMONG OTHER SEMITES 115
III. AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS 119
IV. AMONG UNCULTURED RACES 128
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 135
CHAPTER VIII
THE SACRED DANCE AT VINTAGE, HARVEST, AND OTHER
FESTIVALS
I. THE ISRAELITE FEASTS 140
II. CIRCUMCISION FEASTS AMONG THE SEMITES 144
III. THE SACRED DANCE AT EGYPTIAN FESTIVALS 145
IV. THE SACRED DANCE AT GREEK FESTIVALS 146
V. THE SACRED DANCE AT ROMAN FESTIVALS 149
VI. THE SACRED DANCE AT FESTIVALS AMONG UNCULTURED
RACES 151
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 154
CHAPTER IX
DANCES IN CELEBRATION OF VICTORY
I. AMONG THE ISRAELITES 159
II. THE ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF THIS TYPE OF DANCE AMONG
UNCULTURED RACES 167
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 173
CHAPTER X
THE SACRED DANCE AS A MARRIAGE RITE
I. AMONG THE ISRAELITES, THE “DANCE OF MAḤANAIM” 177
II. AMONG SOME UNCULTURED RACES 184
III. SOME FURTHER PURPOSES OF THIS TYPE OF DANCE 189
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 191
CHAPTER XI
DANCING AS A MOURNING AND BURIAL RITE
I. THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THIS TYPE OF DANCE 194
II. THE RITE AMONG MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN JEWS 198
III. THE RITE AMONG THE EGYPTIANS, ANCIENT AND MODERN 202
IV. THE RITE AMONG THE GREEKS AND ROMANS 207
V. THE RITE AMONG UNCULTURED RACES 209
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 219
INDEX 223
ABBREVIATIONS
_DB._ Hastings’ _Dictionary of the Bible_.
_EB._ Cheyne’s _Encyclopaedia Biblica_.
_ERE._ Hastings’ _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_.
_GB._ Frazer’s _The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and
Religion_ (3rd edition).
_JE._ _The Jewish Encyclopaedia._
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
I
Our study is concerned with the “sacred” dance; that this epithet applied
to the dance, at any rate during the earlier phases of its history and as
still practised among many uncultured and even some semi-cultured peoples
to-day, is more than justified, the following pages will, it is hoped,
show.
Its extreme importance in the eyes of early man, who regarded it as
indispensable at all the crises of life—initiation, puberty, marriage,
burial—who used it as one of the essentials in worship, who saw in
it a means of propitiating whatever supernatural powers he believed
in, a means of communion with the deity, a means of obtaining good
crops, fruitful marriages, and of communicating with the departed—to
mention only its more important uses, shows that it is a subject worth
investigating though the domain it occupies is but a modest one in the
great sphere of the history of Religion.
Probably one of the most instructive first-hand pieces of information
which we have on the subject is contained in the answers given to
Chalmers in reply to questions which he addressed to some natives of New
Guinea. He asked “_What does the dance signify?_” and he got two replies
from the natives of the two most important districts of this big island
respectively; the first ran thus:
When they dance all the spirits rejoice, as do all the people.
When dancing, all food grows well; but when not dancing, food
grows badly. No drums are beaten uselessly [the drum-beating
is the invariable accompaniment to dancing, one implies the
other]. When anyone dies drums are beaten to comfort friends.
The second was this:
Drum-beating and dancing are a sign of rejoicing and
thanksgiving, in order that by so doing there may be a large
harvest. If the dancing is not given there will be an end to
the good growth; but if it is continued, all will go well.
People come in from other villages and will dance all night.
There will be several feasts during the time, and each leader
of the dance will pray and thank the spirits for the good
harvest.
Among other questions he also asked: “_Is there any useless dancing?_”
and the two replies were: “No, the drum is never beaten uselessly”; and:
“Dances are never merely useless[1].”
* * * * *
The study of the subject brings out without a shadow of doubt that these
answers illustrate what were, and still are to a great extent, the
beliefs held in regard to the sacred dance by numbers of peoples in an
undeveloped stage of culture. It is a good illustration of what, within
a circumscribed area, holds good of the wider study of religions in
general, that, as Farnell has so well put it,
all through the present societies of savage men there prevails
an extraordinary uniformity, in spite of much local variation,
in ritual and mythology, a uniformity so striking as to suggest
belief in an ultimately identical tradition, or, perhaps more
reasonably, the psychologic theory that the human brain-cell in
different races at the same stage of development responds with
the same religious speech or the same religious act to the
same _stimuli_ supplied by its environment[2].
A survey over the whole field produces the conviction that the _stimuli_
which, in its beginnings, induced the sacred dance appear to have been
what we should now describe as the two prime spiritual and material
needs, respectively, of man, viz. the response to his “god,” and the
obtaining of food. To early savage man it was not, of course, a god as we
understand the word, nor yet even as it would have been understood for
millenniums among uncivilized men in remote ages; we merely use the word
as a convenient term for expressing a supernatural power, or powers, at
first vague, impersonal, “mana[3],” or something of that kind; at any
rate, some power beyond the ken of man, of whose existence he had no
doubt whatsoever, and to which he was impelled to respond to the best of
his very feeble powers. Why he should have chosen this form of response
(we are not contending that it was the only form) is a difficult, perhaps
an impossible, question to answer, though we shall make the attempt to do
so (see pp. 15 ff.); but that he did choose this form all the available
evidence goes to show. That the sacred dance should have been believed to
be the means of obtaining food is less difficult to understand when one
remembers the universal belief in the efficacy of imitative magic among
uncivilized men. The natives of New Guinea dance as a means of obtaining
a good harvest; but there is evidence for the presumption that early man
did the same thing for obtaining food long before harvests existed.
As a means of response to supernatural powers the dance was obviously
a sacred act; but the epithet may also be applied, though perhaps in a
modified way, to the dance as a means of obtaining food; for the belief
in the existence of supernatural powers once attained, the conviction of
their intrusion into all the affairs of life would naturally follow, as
indeed we know to have been the case. But this implies that savage man
believed that these supernatural powers were, in some sense, the givers
of food; and this is hardly compatible with the idea that the dance as an
act of imitative magic was the means of procuring food—an idea which is
abundantly proved by the evidence to exist. If an act of imitative magic,
such as the dance, is _ipso facto_ the means of bringing out what it
imitates, how can it be said that supernatural powers have anything to do
with the matter? And how can the dance in this case be called sacred? It
is a question, however, whether there was not a subconscious intention of
setting in motion the “machinery” which brought about the thing imitated
every time an act of imitative magic was performed. By the “machinery”
we mean the active intervention of supernatural powers in an undefined,
mysterious way. In this case the dance as a means of obtaining food would
likewise be, strictly speaking, a sacred act.
However this may be, there is a large consensus of opinion that the dance
in its origin was sacred, and that every other subsequent form of dance
was ultimately derived from this. It is true to say that “the ritual
or worship dance is the source of all others[4].” One of the earliest
modern writers on the subject, de Cahusac, likewise says: “Aussi la
danse sacrée est-elle la plus ancienne, et la source dans laquelle on a
puisé dans les suites toutes les autres[5].” This point is particularly
emphasized because it is only the dance in its _sacred_ aspect that will
be dealt with in the following pages.
II
As soon as one attempts to define what dancing in its essence is one
realizes the difficulty of doing so. It can be defined in such a number
of ways, all of which contain elements of truth; so much depends upon
the point of view taken in regard to it. The recording of a number of
definitions would be wearisome, Voss alone gives dozens by different
people[6]. But one thing which these various definitions teach must be
noted and insisted upon: they show that the term “dancing” connotes a
great deal more than is attached to it now-a-days. When, for example, de
Cahusac rightly defines dancing as “l’art des gestes[7],” it is obvious
that these cannot be restricted to the feet or legs. A number of the
Egyptian inscriptions make it clear that the arms played as important a
part in the dance as the legs; representations of it on Greek pottery
show that the motions of the head, and even more of the whole body, are
necessary parts in the movements of the dance; among some savages the
sacred dance is performed while the legs are more or less still, but the
arms and the body are constantly in motion. To make but one reference
to modern dancing: in some of the figures of the quadrille the dancers
simply advance and recede, and at times they are stationary, merely
bowing; yet this all belongs to the dance, and comes under the category
of dancing. Crawley truly says that “dancing is an instinctive mode of
muscular expression of feeling[8].” If, then, the feelings are restrained
the muscular expression may take the form of a staid procession, as seems
to be characteristic of the Assyrian sacred dance. We must, therefore,
include under the many forms of the sacred dance such as range from a
formal procession, stately and measured, to those of the wild orgy in
the Dionysiac ritual. As we shall see, the _intention_ which prompts the
dance will have a great deal to do with its external form; a fact which
gives point to Giraudet’s phrase that “la danse a été l’expression d’un
état d’âme[9].”
The wide connotation which must be accorded to the word “dancing” is
illustrated by what the Bedouin Arabs understand by it. They are a
race which, as is well known, has retained many beliefs, customs, and
practices which have been handed down from time immemorial; therefore
the evidence afforded by them is valuable. By dance, which they call
_raḳṣ_, they understand every rhythmic movement of hands or feet, whether
remaining on the same spot or not[10]. Of them as of all other peoples
rhythm is as inseparable from the movements of the dance “as it is from
other bodily functions, and therefore belongs to it without saying[11]”;
but, as the Arabs show, rhythmic movements can be performed while
standing on one spot; emotions can be expressed by the rhythmic movements
of the arms and of the body and of the head while the legs may be more or
less motionless.
“The human instinct of play,” says Crawley, “is closely
connected with the human love of excitement. The dance
satisfies both, and its rhythmical character also makes it
suitable for the expression of the most solemn and controlled
emotions. It is at once the servant of Apollo and of
Dionysus[12].”
The close, one may almost say the inseparable, connexion between the
dance and music is as marked in its sacred as in its secular character.
In the first instance it is the rhythmic instinct which demands this,
so that among many savages the “music” which accompanies the dance is
the mere clapping of hands, or the striking together of pieces of wood,
or the beating of the tom-tom, all in rhythmical time. The same is also
found among some peoples more advanced on the path of culture, though
they usually add the sound of other instruments, among which the flute
figures prominently. Singing is, of course, and always has been, another
favourite accompaniment to the dance. The Bedouin Arabs accompany their
dances by the beating of cymbals or of hand-drums, or by clapping of
hands; sometimes singing accompanies the dancing[13]. This was also the
case among the Israelites.
III
In the following discussion on the sacred dance we have made the Old
Testament our starting-point. In spite of some drawbacks which will
become very apparent, this course has its advantages. The Old Testament
offers, either explicitly or implicitly, as we hope to show, evidence
of the existence among the ancient Israelites of most of the typical
sacred dances of antiquity. By “typical” we do not mean dances in their
outward form, but in the intention and object for which they were
performed. In dealing with sacred dances it is only by considering their
intention and purpose that a classification of them can be attempted.
The Old Testament gives within the compass of its pages certain _points
d’appui_ which afford convenient starting-points for the consideration
of these different types of the sacred dance. Then, in each case we go
on to the further investigation of these among various other races. From
this we are often able to discern, with tolerable probability, the early
underlying ideas which prompted the performance of the type of dance in
question; for, as may well be supposed, it is not from the Israelites
that we can expect to discover, excepting in the one case of the ecstatic
dance, the root motives of the different types of the sacred dance.
The most promising sphere for the discernment of these is among the
uncivilized races; their _naïve_ and unsophisticated naturalness reveals
things which a gradually developing civilization obscures. Hence the
devoting of a good deal of attention to the sacred dance among savages in
the following pages.
Another advantage of using the Old Testament for our various
starting-points is that the Israelites were in that stage of culture
in which a people still retains many more or less primitive rites and
customs while pushing forward on the path of cultural development; so
that among them we are in touch with the past and yet experiencing
the upward trend that is taking place. Crawley truly says that “it is
in the middle stages of culture that dancing is seen at its highest
development[14]”; that applies to the Israelites. It is like standing on
an eminence and looking behind and before. That has its advantages.
At the same time, we are not blind to the drawbacks involved. For in some
important instances the Old Testament is silent. We give reasons which
we believe are sufficient to explain this silence. But when a particular
type of the sacred dance is not mentioned in the Old Testament it must
not be supposed that it did not exist; indirect evidence is forthcoming
which makes it highly probable that the reverse is the case. For this
reason we shall often refer to post-biblical Jewish custom and practice.
Such a thing as the sacred dance is not likely, from the very nature of
things, to have been an innovation of later ages; so that its existence
in post-biblical times may well be regarded as the continuance of
traditional custom; and if so, its existence among the Israelites of Old
Testament times may be taken for granted.
Still, we realize the precariousness of seeming, in some cases, to build
upon an apparently non-existing foundation; but the risk must be taken,
and, as we hope to show, the evidence from subsequent times justifies the
risk.
IV
A few words must be said about the sources from which information
regarding the sacred dance is to be gained.
(1) There are a certain number of ancient inscriptions of various kinds
upon which dancing is represented. On these the dancing is not always
of a religious character; but it is not difficult to discern when it
is religious and when secular. For example, there is a very valuable
fragment of an Egyptian fresco belonging to the 18th dynasty (B.C.
1600-1450) in the British Museum[15], on which two nude women dancers
are depicted; the dancing is accompanied by other women, some clapping
their hands, and others playing the flute. But another part of the fresco
shows clearly enough that the scene represents a banquet during which
professional dancing is being performed for the entertainment of the
guests. Though it is secular dancing that we have here the inscription
is important from the present point of view, because the dancing, which
is so graphically depicted, does not differ greatly from that shown on
other Egyptian inscriptions, where it is unmistakably sacred. Egyptian
inscriptions are those which offer most material here; one or two Hittite
and Assyrian inscriptions are also available, and will be described
later; but otherwise there is but little to be obtained from this source.
(2) Very prolific, on the other hand, is the second source, in the main,
Greek. There are large numbers of vessels of different kinds—vases,
bowls, cups, dishes, flasks, jugs, bottles, jars, pitchers, etc., on
which dancing is depicted[16]; many of these represent secular dancing;
some give dances of a quasi-religious kind, _e.g._ the dances of
satyrs; but most of them depict religious dances, sometimes of gods and
goddesses, at others of worshippers dancing in their honour; a very
favourite subject is the dancing of Maenads. Belonging to this source are
a variety of other kinds of vessels on which sacred dancing is depicted;
sometimes the vessel itself is in the form of a sacred dance. Excavations
in Cyprus have yielded some interesting material to which more detailed
reference will be made below. Some coins have also been found which throw
light on the subject. This source is, above all, valuable for showing us
the kind of dances in vogue among the ancient Greeks, and bears out the
truth of the remark that “the Greek dances may be divided and subdivided
_ad infinitum_[17].”
(3) Our third source also offers abundance of material, viz. ancient
literature; this source includes Egyptian literature (the Book of the
Dead); the Old Testament and post-biblical Jewish literature; ancient
Arabic literature; some of the ancient Church writers; and, above all,
Greek and Latin classical authors, quotations from whom would alone fill
a small volume.
(4) Lastly, there is modern literature. This must be divided into two
classes. The first is a small and very unsatisfactory class: treatises
which deal specifically with dancing. We have found this class of
literature unsatisfactory for two reasons; first, because there is,
comparatively, so little information of a tangible character to be gained
from it; and, secondly, because no references are given to authorities,
even when cited. Nevertheless, it is only fair to the respective authors
to say that they are mainly concerned with modern dancing. As Crawley
says, “there are no treatises written on any scientifically comprehensive
lines[18].” With one exception, moreover, we have found the articles on
the subject in all the well-known English and German Bible Dictionaries
of extraordinarily little help. The exception is Hastings’ _ERE_; here
articles by Crawley, Farnell and Blackman have been of real help, and the
writer gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to them.
As to the other class of modern literature, it can only be described as
limitless; we refer to the vast number of volumes dealing with uncultured
races. To mention even a tithe of those which have been used would be out
of the question; references to a good many will be found in the following
pages. But it is impossible for the present writer not to say how much he
owes to the works of Sir J. G. Frazer; without their stimulus these pages
would never have been written.
The material contained in this source would fill a number of volumes; we
have restricted ourselves to a certain number of more or less typical
illustrations chosen from a great mass.
* * * * *
More than a hundred and fifty years ago de Cahusac wrote in the Preface
to his _Historical Treatise on Dancing_: “J’ai traité assez sérieusement
un sujet qu’on ne regardera peut-être que comme très-futile.” The present
writer hopes and believes that his effort will not be regarded as
“très-futile”; for we in these days have come to realize more fully than
was possible in the eighteenth century the significance of the well-known
words of Terence:
_Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto._
CHAPTER II
THE ORIGIN AND PURPOSES OF THE SACRED DANCE
I
In his thoughtful and very suggestive volume, _The Threshold of
Religion_, Marett makes the assumption that
an inductive study of the ideas and customs of savagery will
show, firstly, that an awareness of a fundamental aspect of
life and of the world, which aspect I shall provisionally term
“supernatural,” is so general as to be typical, and, secondly,
that such an awareness is no less generally bound up with a
specific group of vital reactions (p. 124).
Every student of such ideas and customs must know how thoroughly
justified this assumption is. In studying the particular custom, and
the ideas connected with it, with which we are here concerned, we find
that this “awareness of the supernatural,” together with the “vital
reactions,” are, at any rate in the earlier stages of its history,
invariably present. That much, at all events, we have to go upon in
seeking a theory as to the origin of the sacred dance. To account for its
origin is, however, difficult; that is fully realized; and the present
writer would desire to lay stress on the fact that as in seeking such
origin he is largely in the domain of speculation and theory, nothing
is further from his mind than to be dogmatic. The whole subject of the
sacred dance has been so little dealt with excepting as a mere rite, that
one is to a great extent on new ground; one must, therefore, be quite
prepared to be convicted of fallacies.
That the sacred dance originated in prehistoric times goes without
saying; but this means that no _proofs_ can be adduced in support of
any theory as to its origin; it must be a question of probabilities;
perhaps only of possibilities. What is, however, certain is that since
the sacred dance originated at a time when man was in a very primitive
stage of culture, what first induced him to perform it must have been
something very _naïve_ and childlike. That, presumably, everyone would
agree with. Now, there is no sort of doubt that one of the most ingrained
characteristics of human nature is the imitative propensity. This is more
pronounced in the child than in the grown man; and what holds good of the
individual applies also to the race; the more uncultured man is, the more
does he, mentally, approximate to the child; so that the further back we
go in the history of the race, the more pronounced and childlike will
be that imitative propensity. As Crawley has reminded us[19], Aristotle
maintained that dancing is imitative; and in all its forms it is an
artistic imitation of physical movement expressive of emotions or ideas.
Rightly or wrongly, then, we believe that the sacred dance owes its
origin to this imitative propensity in man.
Now, in the animistic stage what first suggested the presence of life in
anything was movement. The cause of the movement was neither understood
nor enquired into. A tree, swayed by the wind, moved; therefore it was
alive. But it would not strike a more or less primitive savage that it
was the wind which caused the movement. What he would instinctively have
recognized was that here was something which he did not understand;
and therefore there was a mystery about it which inspired awe. So,
too, with streams, and rivers, and the sea; they were alive because
they had motion. In course of time this would be modified in so far
that the belief arose that the tree or stream contained life because
of an indwelling spirit which caused the movement, thus indicating its
presence; but even so, it would have been difficult for the savage to
draw a distinction between the two at first. Whether the same course of
savage “reasoning” will apply in regard to the sun, moon, and, later,
to the stars, in the earlier stages of the period when he first began
to take “reasoning” note of his surroundings, is doubtful; for it is
probable that he looked around and downwards before he looked upwards.
At any rate, sooner or later he would have realized that they too moved,
and that therefore they were alive, either themselves, or animated by
something, more probably by somebody. Thus motion, movement, which, on
the analogy of man himself, was believed to denote life, was the first
thing which the savage mind connected with supernatural powers[20].
We suggest, then, that the origin of the sacred dance was the desire
of early man to imitate what he conceived to be the characteristic of
supernatural powers. Not that this was, in the first instance, a dance
in the generally accepted sense of the word; but merely a movement,
whether in the form of the swaying of the body in imitation of trees,
or a single-file running in imitation of a stream, or a more boisterous
movement in imitation of the waves of the sea or of a storm-swept lake.
The innate tendency to rhythmic motion would soon have asserted itself,
and primitive dance, in the more usual sense, would result. But it would
be a _sacred_ dance in so far that it was performed in imitation of some
supernatural power, vague and originally impersonal, as it undoubtedly
was; to honour such by an imitative dance denotes a religious intention.
The reasonable objection will be urged that it was not only things which
“moved” that early man regarded as living or as indwelt by a spirit, but
that stones, for example, were among the very early things which were
treated with veneration because they were believed to be the abodes of
spirits; these did not move, so that the suggested theory of the origin
of the sacred dance breaks down here. But when one seeks to penetrate
the mind of uncultured man and to get behind his mental outlook, and
especially when one contemplates the working of the child-mind which
offers so many analogies with, and illustrations of that of the mentally
immature savage, one becomes convinced that this veneration of stones,
early as it was in the history of religion, was later than that of things
which move. And the reason of this is simple; a moving thing attracts
attention before that which does not move; that lies in the nature of
things alike with the child and the savage mind. When once the moving
things are believed to be the abodes of spirits, and the existence of
these is universally recognized, then the further step that they exist in
other things follows easily and naturally. We are thinking of the time
when as yet early man was only impressed by those things which, because
of their motion, attracted his attention.
Réville says that
the dance was the first and chief means adopted by prehistoric
humanity of entering into active union with the deity adored.
The first idea was to imitate the measured movements of the
god, or at any rate what were supposed to be such. Afterwards
this fundamental motive was forgotten, like so many other
religious forms which tradition and habit sustained even when
the spirit was gone[21].
We entirely agree; but the question is whether this does not represent
a later stage in the religion of prehistoric humanity. Must there not
have been a prior stage in which a less concrete idea of supernatural
powers obtained? What induced the supposition that the god performed
“measured movements”? And what would have been thought to be the form
of these movements? Mr Marett, in the first essay of the volume already
referred to, brings forward incontrovertible arguments, as it seems to
us, for believing that there was a stage in the mental and religious
development of man in which he was not yet capable of other than a vague
sense of the supernatural; in which he had not yet associated definite
spirits or ghosts with what he conceived to be supernatural phenomena;
but in which the sense of mystery and consequently of awe in face of
these supernatural phenomena filled his heart. This is also dealt with
in the fourth essay: “The Conception of Mana.” It is in this stage that
we would locate the origin of the sacred dance, performed in imitation
of what were the movements of supernatural powers, but powers of the
vaguest kind; merely a something, unknown, mysterious, and therefore to
be feared; but associate yourself with it, and already you are in an
indefinable way in communion with it; you have in some sense made friends
with it, which makes things safer. “Given the supernatural in any form
there are always two things to note about it: firstly, that you are to
be heedful in regard to it; secondly, that it has power[22].” So that
what Réville says is true, but it must be referred to a later stage of
religious development.
Another consideration in connexion with the origin of the sacred dance
must be briefly dealt with. Many savage peoples trace the origin of their
sacred dances to various animals by which, as they maintain, they were
taught to dance; therefore they imitate, in their dances, the movements
of these animals. Thus, for example, we have kangaroo-dances, dog-dances,
and cassowary-dances among the Monumbo of New Guinea[23]; bear-dances
among the Carrier Indians[24], the Gilyaks (in Eastern Siberia), the
women of Kamtchatka[25], and others. It may, therefore, be urged that
the sacred dance originated in this way. But apart from other arguments,
it will suffice to point out that to early man the sight of animals was
probably so much in the natural order of things that there was nothing
about them to strike him; in any case there was nothing supernatural
or mysterious about them, nothing to be afraid about in the sense of
fear inspired by the unknown. Such being the case there would have been
no reason to imitate their movements, as there was in the case of what
were to early man those mysterious powers whose movements he could not
explain. The connexion of animals with gods, and the belief in descent
from animals belong to subsequent ages; such conceptions necessitate
reflexion during long periods of time. Therefore it cannot have been in
imitation of animals that the sacred dance took its origin.
The theory as to the origin of the sacred dance suggested may or may
not commend itself; but that it took its rise from supernatural powers
of some sort seems certain; and this is supported by the belief of many
savage peoples that their sacred dances were originally taught them by
their gods[26]. The ancient Greeks also held that their sacred dances
were performed in imitation of gods and goddesses. The Pyrrhic dance
was said to have been the invention of the Dioscuri by some; others
attributed it to Athena. Again, Artemis, Dionysos, and Zeus himself, were
all believed to have set men the example of dancing. Ḥatḥor among the
Egyptians and Baal-Marqôd among the Phoenicians are other examples. Is it
not quite conceivable that this echoes what obtained in more primitive
times?
II
We come now to consider the purposes of the sacred dance.
The whole idea and object of dancing, among civilized peoples, has now
become so purely a matter of pastime and enjoyment that it is, at first,
difficult to realize its very serious aspect among men in past ages, and
among uncivilized races to-day. It may be true enough that dancing has
always been a means of exercise and pleasure[27]; but from the earliest
historical times—and, judging from what can be gathered from its very
widespread practice among all known races of uncivilized men, the same
is probably true of remote prehistoric times—this purpose has always
been subordinated to religious uses primarily. There are, it is true,
many instances among savages at the present day of dances being nothing
more than a means of exercise and enjoyment; but it is not too much to
assert that in every case the elimination of the religious element is due
to extraneous influences. This is vividly illustrated in Polynesia, for
example.
“Polynesian dancing,” writes Mr Macmillan Brown, “has advanced
far on the road to conventionalism. It has shed much of its
pantomimic purpose and its religious meaning, and in this it
reveals the collision of two or more cultures. In a region
marked by so much that is so highly primitive, nothing but the
clash of different religious systems could explain its divorce
from rites and ceremonies and its appearance as an almost
purely secular art, intended to amuse and delight an assembly
of spectators.”
The same writer shows that the character of the dancing among them
presents the proof of its originally purely religious purpose; for
it is not like European dancing, a harmony of “twinkling feet.”
It is wholly occupied in posturing, waving the arms and bending
the body, as if before a shrine. It is the upper part of the
body that is chiefly engaged. Where the feet come in, it is
only to effect the occasional advances or retreats, as if to or
from the altar, or in the resounding thud of the war-dance. The
Polynesian dance is oftenest stationary[28].
At the same time it would be a mistake to suppose that all religious
dancing was necessarily of this more or less stationary character; we
shall refer to examples of a very different kind below; but it is well to
emphasize the truth that all dancing was originally religious, and was
performed for religious purposes.
Of course it often happens that the different objects of the dance
coalesce; religious and secular, or religious and utilitarian, or more
than one religious purpose, being combined in the same dance; this, as
we shall see, is illustrated in Israelite practice. Nevertheless, it is
very certain that in numberless instances all feelings of enjoyment had
ceased though the dance continued hour after hour because it was believed
that a sacred duty was being performed thereby. The young North American
Dakotahs, for example, did not go on dancing for a couple of days because
they were so enamoured of it; nor was it for pastime that the Thyiads
danced on madly in honour of Dionysos until they dropped to the ground
unconscious. The reasons which made this sort of thing necessary are
absurd to us, but from the point of view of antique thought it was a very
serious and solemn matter.
It is this serious aspect of our subject upon which stress must be laid
because now-a-days we naturally think of dancing as mere enjoyment and
pastime. Some of the dances and their objects, and the ways in which they
are performed, among savages are so funny that they would, we imagine,
provoke a smile on the face of a sphinx, were it capable of doing such a
thing; but while, at times, we cannot resist a laugh, we shall do well
to remember that it was far from being a laughing matter to the savage;
to do him justice we must seek to get to the back of his mind, to enter
into his feelings, and to look at things through his eyes; then it
will be realized what the sacred dance meant to him, and its essential
seriousness will become apparent.
What the sacred dance meant not only to uncivilized men, but also to the
most cultured races of antiquity, will be seen from the purposes for
which it was performed. These we will now briefly enumerate.
(_a_) It was, first and foremost, performed for the purpose of honouring
what were regarded as supernatural powers[29]. In the pre-animistic
stage these powers were entirely vague and undefined; in the animistic
stage they developed into spirits, some benevolent, others maleficent,
powerful for good or evil. Later they became gods and goddesses. _Why_
dancing was a means of honouring these supernatural, later superhuman,
powers was for these reasons: It was supposed to be an act of imitation,
and therefore flattering to the higher power (the imitative propensity
in man has already been referred to). Secondly, by “taking it out of
yourself” in the presence of the power or deity you were offering
something in the nature of a propitiation, whether as a gift or as an
act of self-sacrifice; in either case it would be honouring the higher
power. This taking it out of oneself in honour of a spirit or a god is an
interesting phenomenon, and in one form or another has asserted itself
throughout the history of religion. It is the earliest form of what in
course of time showed itself in such things as self-castigation and
self-mortification; its extreme form being the love of martyrdom; for to
whatever degree the cult of self may have entered into these things, it
would be grossly unfair not to recognize that they were believed to be
pleasing in the sight of the deity, and that they were, therefore, done
with a view to honouring him.
(_b_) Psychologically connected with the foregoing we have as another
purpose of the sacred dance that of “showing-off” before a higher power.
One must enter into the child-mind in order to grasp what a real thing
this is. The close analogy between the way-of-thinking in the child and
in the more or less primitive savage has already been referred to, and
is recognized on all hands. Here are two cases of great interest which
vividly illustrate the point under consideration. The present writer
vouches for the literal truth of each. A little girl, not exceeding five
years, was dancing before a picture of the Madonna and Child; after her
dance she turned to her mother and said: “Do you think the Baby Jesus
liked to see me dance?” It is not quite easy to say in this case in
how far the purpose was to please the “Baby Jesus,” and in how far the
perfectly natural and innocent purpose was to “show off” before Him;
probably both motives were combined. But the second is purely one of
“showing off.” A child of about three, a boy this time, kept on jumping
as high as he could in the fields; presently his father heard him say:
“See, God, how high I can jump!” We could hardly have more delightful and
instructive illustrations of the innate desire, common to the child and
to man of immature mental development, to show what they can do in the
sight of their betters. So that we may justly reckon among the purposes
of the sacred dance this desire to “show off” before a superhuman power,
or what is conceived to be such.
(_c_) Next; the honour done to the higher power by means of imitation
had, in the eyes of uncivilized man, some important consequences which
offer further reasons why the sacred dance was performed. Just as in
imitative magic the thing imitated was thereby effected, so by imitating
the supernatural power the imitator conceived himself to be making
himself one with him who was imitated. This purpose of the sacred
dance would not, however, have belonged to the earliest stage, for it
presupposes the recognition of personality in the supernatural power,
and that points to a distinct advance; and the possibility is worth
contemplating as to whether, and in how far, the sacred dance may have
contributed to this advance. At any rate, this idea that an undefined
union was brought about by means of the sacred dance seems to be the
precursor of the more developed form of the same idea that union could
be brought about by personating a god or a goddess. When, for example,
men and women, by disguising themselves as horses, cats, pigs, or hares,
personated Demeter and Persephone, and danced in their honour, they
believed that they were, in some inexplicable way, united with these
goddesses. In the earlier stage, by imitating what a god _does_, _i.e._
dancing, union with him is effected; in the later stage, the like result
is achieved by imitating what he is, and dancing in that guise. At the
bottom of all this lies the principle which looms so large in savage
philosophy that “like produces like,” _i.e._ sympathetic magic which
assumes that
things act on each other at a distance through a secret
sympathy, the impulse being transmitted from one to the other
by means of what we may conceive as a kind of invisible ether,
not unlike that which is postulated by modern science for a
precisely similar purpose, namely, to explain how things can
physically affect each other through a space which appears to
be empty[30].
As is well known, a more pronounced and realistic means of union was
that of eating the flesh or drinking the blood of a sacrificial victim
which represented the god; by receiving the god into himself a man became
identified with the god. So that we have in the course of the development
of religious thought and practice, in a materialistically ascending
scale, three means whereby union with a supernatural power was believed
to be effected: imitation, personation, and the act which produced
identification. But the important point for our present purpose, and it
is one which needs emphasis, is that over and over again it is found that
the two latter rites (_i.e._ those of personation and of absorbing the
god) are accompanied by the sacred dance as a necessary adjunct. It may
be argued that this is merely done on the principle of making certainty
doubly certain; but it is at least possible that we have here a case of
the retention of the earliest rite simply because it _is_ the earliest.
We are bound to look for great _naïveté_ in considering the ideas and
practices of backward races—and, indeed, not only backward races where
religious rites are concerned;—and if, in course of time, new means
suggested themselves of uniting oneself with a god or goddess, it is
quite in accordance with what we know of uncivilized man to suppose that
he continued the older method side by side with the newer ones, even
though there was not much meaning attached to it.
This theory that one of the earliest purposes of the sacred dance was
to imitate what supernatural powers did, and that this imitation was
believed to be the means of union with this supernatural being (as it
came to be), receives some support and confirmation from what we know to
have been the purpose of the ecstatic dance.
(_d_) Uncultured man believed that by dancing to such an extent that he
became unconscious he was not only doing something that was honouring
to the deity, not only offering something in the nature of sacrifice,
but that, he was, above all, making his body a fit temporary abode
for his god. He did not enquire how this came about. Conceivably, the
earliest idea, though unexpressed, was that by honouring the god to this
extent the god showed his approval by uniting himself with his dancing
worshipper. The earlier widespread belief that the deity took up his
abode at certain times in trees, stones, etc., may well have suggested
the possibility of the same thing occurring in men, but more especially
in those more intimately and directly dedicated to his worship. The
question would have arisen as to the means to be employed whereby this
end could be achieved in the case of men; and as dancing was the earliest
form of worship this would have been the most natural means to suggest
itself. The dance would then proceed; during it the performers would
be anxiously awaiting some inner indication of the entrance of the
deity; nothing, of course, would happen until the long-continued dance
would induce first giddiness, then semi-consciousness, and finally a
state of semi-delirium ending not infrequently in total unconsciousness
for some time. But it is easy to understand that the first signs of
semi-consciousness would have been interpreted as the advent of the
deity and the beginnings of the divine overpowering. Given belief in the
possibility of divine indwelling in a man, the further belief that the
god utilized his worshipper as his mouthpiece was a natural and easy
transition. Natural, because it could not be supposed that the god would
take up his abode in a man without some purpose, and what more obvious
purpose than that of making his will known? Easy, because the mechanism,
if one may so call it, of utterance was all ready to hand. Other things
would follow, also in the natural course; for if, on the one hand, the
god utilized the body of his worshipper as the vehicle for making his
will known, the worshipper could, on the other hand, utilize the divine
power with which he was suffused for other purposes. Thus, for example,
we have the Hebrew prophet who, in an ecstatic state, utters the will of
Jahwe, or gives an oracle; or, as illustrating the other side, we have
the Bodo-priest “devil-dancer” of Southern India who utilizes the divine
power within him for working cures.
But whatever the result might be, the important thing from our present
point of view is that the requisite state required for the accomplishment
of these things was brought about by the performance of the sacred dance.
The ecstatic dance will receive a good deal of notice below (pp. 107
ff.), so that we need not say more about it here.
(_e_) Another purpose of the sacred dance was to make the crops grow, or
of helping, or inducing the god to do so. From one point of view here the
sacred dance was an act of imitative magic. Thus, by a dance in which the
chief characteristic was high leaps it was believed by many peoples that
the corn would grow high. It is probable, as Frazer suggests, that this
was at any rate one of the purposes with which the Salii, the priests
of the old Italian god of vegetation, danced high and leapt. As an act
of imitative magic, again, the sacred dance had among some peoples the
purpose of helping the sun to run his course. For example, this was
probably at one time of its history the object of “Ariadne’s Dance”;
and the dance known by the name of the “Labyrinth” may well have been
believed to assist the stars in their courses. These, and many other
examples, are dealt with in the following pages.
(_f_) Further, there are instances on record of the sacred dance having
the purpose of hallowing or consecrating a victim for sacrifice, as in
the case of the Arabs performing a processional dance round a camel
destined for sacrifice, or of the Israelites making the circuit round the
altar, or of the Kayans of Sarāwak circling round their sacrificial pigs.
In all such cases it is an act of consecration by means of the magic
circle.
(_g_) As an adjunct to initiation ceremonies the sacred dance was also
believed to serve some useful purpose. Presumably it was an act of homage
to the god or goddess who was supposed to be present. This is suggested
by the dancing at the Brauronian ceremonies of Artemis which, according
to Farnell, was a kind of initiation ceremony by which young girls were
consecrated to the service of this goddess.
(_h_) There are some grounds for the belief that the sacred dance was
sometimes performed with the purpose of assisting warriors to gain a
victory in battle; here, too, it was an act of imitative magic. It had,
in this connexion, the further purpose of appeasing the spirits of slain
enemies.
(_i_) As a marriage rite the sacred dance, at any rate during some
time of its history, fulfilled, as was believed, one or two important
purposes. The reference to the “Sword-dance” in the Old Testament is in
all probability a relic of the antique custom of combating the vague
dangers which were supposed to menace those entering upon the marriage
state. These dangers, undefined but nevertheless very real to those who
believed in their existence, arose not only from the fact of the new
conditions of life that were beginning, but also because of a reciprocal
fear on the part of the sexes, and a close contact between them
emphasized this. Another way of combating, or at least averting these
dangers, was by means of a change of identity; hence the once world-wide
custom, still in existence in some countries, of the bridal couple
assuming “royal” state, and being treated as king and queen during the
period of the wedding festivities.
Further, there are some reasons for thinking that the sacred dance as
a marriage rite sometimes had the purpose of bringing about a fruitful
marriage; there are certain ceremonies during the period of celebration
in which the dance figures prominently which point to this, and the
analogy of the dance for making the crops grow offers some corroboration.
(_j_) There are special purposes for which the sacred dance was performed
as a mourning or a burial rite. At times these are of a curiously
contradictory character. The ghosts of the dead number among them those
who are kindly disposed towards the living, and those who are malevolent
in their attitude towards them; the latter are supposed to be able to
do harm. Speaking quite generally, it appears, upon the whole, that the
less advanced the cultural stage the greater the tendency to regard the
spirits of the departed as malevolent. Since the various races from which
illustrations of the sacred dance as a mourning rite are gathered were,
or are (as the case may be), in different stages of civilization, it
follows that the purposes of the rite vary; for the belief regarding the
attitude of the dead towards the living has a good deal to do with the
purpose for which the sacred dance was performed. Thus we find that it
sometimes has the object of driving away the ghost of the departed; or
else there will be a dance on the grave for the purpose of preventing the
ghost from roaming. At other times it is the means of scaring away evil
spirits who are believed to congregate in the vicinity of a corpse. Very
strange, but interesting, is the custom among some races of personating
the dead in the sacred dance; this is supposed to be a potent means of
bringing him back, and he is believed to join the survivors in the dance;
he is present, but invisible, in the man who personates him. This reminds
one of the union with a supernatural spirit by imitating him in the
dance, to which reference has been made above; the same idea underlies
each. But the purpose of the sacred dance as a mourning or burial rite
which appears as the most usual is that of honouring the departed. This
is doubtless very frequently simply a mark of affection; but at other
times it is in the nature of a propitiatory act whereby the spirit of the
departed is persuaded to refrain from molesting the living.
Many illustrations of these various purposes of the sacred dance will be
offered in the following pages.
CHAPTER III
THE SACRED DANCE AMONG THE ISRAELITES
I
So far as the Old Testament is concerned this subject of the dance
in religious ritual illustrates a fact which biblical study, on the
comparative basis, is bringing more and more into prominence, and which
needs to be recognized both in the interests of truth and in order to
realize more fully the evolutionary development of religion as an eternal
principle in the divine economy. The original aims and objects of the
sacred dance were, as we have seen, “primitive”; the continuance of
the rite throughout the ages, even to comparatively recent times among
practically all peoples, does not in any way detract from the truth of
this, for everyone knows with what persistency religious custom and
ritual continues, not only after the original object and meaning has been
forgotten, but even when it has no meaning at all. Its existence among
the Israelites, therefore, shows them to have been and to have acted
throughout their religious history as other races did in this respect
(and it is only one of many other illustrations that could be given), in
spite of what we rightly believe to have been special opportunities for
more exalted forms of worship.
It must be confessed that the religious uniqueness of the Israelites, as
a nation, has been, and often still is, exaggerated to an undue extent.
Certainly there were among them those who may well be described as
unique, _sui generis_; but they were the great exceptions. The nation as
a whole was for many centuries no better and no worse than others; and
what stronger evidence for this could be afforded than that given in the
prophetical books of the Old Testament? Its ultimate emergence from the
religious norm of the world to a position of isolated superiority was due
to a mere handful of men who offered the greatest example that the world
had hitherto seen of what could be accomplished by subordinating will and
personality to the influence and guidance of the Divine Creator.
True, it was among some of these very prophets that the most interesting
kind of sacred dance—the ecstatic dance—was in vogue, with its wildness
and extravagances; in this they, or at least the earliest of them, did
not differ from certain classes of “holy men” all the world over; where
they did differ was in their development of the conception which underlay
the purpose of the ecstatic dance, _i.e._ union with the deity; and it is
just here that they stand out in such bold relief from all others. The
earliest prophets believed that this sacred dance was the means whereby
the divine spirit came upon them; this belief they shared with others;
but they rose to the higher belief that _this_ means was not necessary
for achieving the purpose for which it was used. It had served a useful
purpose; but having served its purpose it was dropped. The prophets came
to the realization that there were more spiritual means whereby union
with the deity was brought about; then the sacred dance found no further
place among them. They shed the husk, but retained the kernel. It was
the same principle upon which St Paul acted in later days in regard to
the Law. The sacred dance, too, was in its way a “school-master” (Gal.
iii. 24), leading men to better things. When, centuries later, the far
more cultured Greeks were still “raving” in honour of Dionysos, the
Hebrew prophets had long since learned that it is God Himself Who puts
His spirit upon men (cp. Isa. xlii. 1), and that this is not a thing to
be effected by the will or act of man. “Who hath directed the Spirit of
Jahwe?” asks one of them in fine irony (Isa. xl. 13).
Thus the history of the ecstatic dance among the Hebrew prophets is one
of many illustrations showing their uniqueness.
It is not, however, with these extraordinarily gifted prophets that we
are now concerned. We are thinking of the very ordinary and very human
Israelites as a whole who, like innumerable men and women of other races,
were endowed with emotions and aspirations which were common to humanity.
And it is a curious but interesting phenomenon that the sacred dance
was among the Israelites, as among all other peoples, one of the means
whereby these emotions and aspirations were expressed.
The fact that in the Mosaic legislation no provision is made for ritual
dancing when so many other minute details of ritual are given might seem
to suggest that such a thing was discountenanced. Without question it
is true to say that “the priestly historians and legislators resolutely
excluded, as far as possible, everything that could infer any similarity
between the worship of Jahwe and that of heathen deities[31].” But it
is doubtful whether the subject of the sacred dance would have come
into consideration in such a connexion; it was a practice too deeply
ingrained in human nature as a means of expressing religious emotion to
suggest that it implied assimilation to heathen worship. The bringing
of oblations, the offering of sacrifices, were also common to Israelite
and heathen worship, but that similarity would never have struck the
Israelite legislators as derogatory, because these, too, were means of
expressing religious emotion which, in one form or another, were common
to all races. The Mosaic legislation makes no provision for the posture
to be assumed in the presence of the deity, nor does it say anything
about singing in worship; but it is difficult to believe that there
were not fixed modes in regard to these which had been in vogue from
time immemorial; and therefore they needed no mention. The same may
be postulated in the case of the sacred dance. A thing which all the
evidence shows to have been a world-wide means of expressing religious
emotion and of honouring the deity during a long period in the history
of religious development, was not likely to have been wanting among the
Israelites.
In those passages in the Old Testament in which religious dancing is
recorded there is no hint of disapproval, let alone prohibition. It
is, therefore, evident that it must have been looked upon as a usual
and integral part of worship. It must also be remembered that the
sacred dance continued to be an important element in worship on special
occasions among the Jews in post-biblical times; the evidence will be
considered later. That this could have been an innovation is out of the
question; it was merely the continuation, in some cases quite possibly an
elaboration, of a rite familiar to the people from time immemorial.
The comparatively rare mention, therefore, of the sacred dance in
the Old Testament must not mislead us; the reasons for that are very
natural. And when it is realized what a number of words there are in
Hebrew for dancing (see pp. 44 ff.), and that only once is there a
possible reference to secular, as distinct from religious, dancing, the
conclusion will be forced upon us that it played a much larger _rôle_ in
the religious life of the people than first appearances would seem to
indicate.
As far as can be gathered, religious dancing among the Israelites was,
as a general rule, performed by the sexes separately; in the account of
the worship of the Golden Calf, however, it must be allowed that the
possibility of promiscuous dancing is not excluded, see especially Exod.
xxxii. 2, 3. Among other peoples it is found that, mostly, the sacred
dance was performed by men and women separately; but there are notable
exceptions among the Egyptians as well as the Syrians, also among the
Greeks; and the same applies to the uncultured races.
II
When all the _data_ in the Old Testament have been gathered it is
possible to discern certain types of the sacred dance; by this we
do not necessarily mean varieties of mode, not but that these also
occur; the type is indicated rather by the connexion in which the
dance occurs. Therefore, although it is not to be supposed that there
was, generally speaking, any idea of having particular kinds of dance
reserved for different occasions, it is possible to attempt some kind
of classification. At any rate, it is a convenient method to adopt in
reviewing the evidence.
Emphasis must again be laid on the fact that when one is speaking of
the “sacred dance” in past ages one has to allow to the term a wide
connotation. We have come to use the word “dance” in a very restricted
sense; in antiquity it was different; included in it are modes varying
from a staid, march-like rhythmic step, to the wilder movements of the
ecstatic dance.
(1) We draw attention first to the sacred _processional dance_. A cursory
reference to one or two examples will suffice here as a more detailed
examination of each type of dance will be found in the chapters to
follow. Judging from the few _data_ offered by the Old Testament, the
sacred processional dance among the Israelites was always performed in
honour of Jahwe. In the well-known instance of David and the Israelites
dancing in procession before the Ark, it is really in the presence of
Jahwe that it takes place since He is conceived as being present in the
Ark. The dance assumes various forms according to the degree of religious
excitement engendered. It is spoken of as being dancing of the ordinary
kind, _i.e._ the common Hebrew word for dancing is used; but presently
it takes on the character of a rotating dance, then there is jumping
followed by something in the nature of skipping, and it is also spoken
of as a whirling movement. It will be noticed that five different words
are used here to express the different ways in which the dancing was
performed. Although the occasion on which this took place was a very
special one, it would be a mistake to suppose that the sacred dance was
only reserved for such special occasions. It is rather to be gathered
from the incidental way in which the dancing is mentioned that the rite
was usual, and was only of a more elaborate character because of the
special occasion. A single mention of this kind must, it may be safely
asserted, imply a well-known and usual custom, otherwise it would be
commented upon as something out of the ordinary.
(2) The sacred dance also takes the form of _encircling a sacred object_,
either an idol, or a sacrificial victim, or an altar; in this last case
the sacrificial victim would, of course, be included. The form of this
type of dance was either a march-like step or a running step or else
the worshippers held hands and danced round. This latter is nowhere
specifically mentioned in the Old Testament; but it is such an obvious
form for a dance to take that we can scarcely doubt its having existed
among the Israelites. Besides, interesting examples of a concrete kind
have been found depicting this form of dance round sacred objects which
quite possibly owe their origin to Semitic inspiration; some of these are
described in Chapter VI below. This encircling dance was undoubtedly an
act of worship; it is also possible that in some cases it was intended
to have a consecrating effect either upon the worshippers or upon the
sacrificial victim; in the example given by Nilus (see p. 95) the latter
would seem to have been the case. The theory of some scholars that
the circle dance was a symbolic representation of the movement of the
heavenly bodies has also a good deal to commend it. As a funeral rite
this form of the sacred dance served some other purposes (see below).
(3) The _ecstatic dance_ is that which has received most attention from
scholars, and deservedly, for it is one of the most curious phenomena in
the history of religious ritual. In the exuberance of emotion engendered
by it the performers experienced what appeared to them to amount, for
the time being, almost to a metamorphosis; they believed themselves to
be infused and permeated by the influence—perhaps it would be truer to
say the essence—of the deity in whose honour they were dancing. Thus came
about what was conceived to be in some mystic, but wholly inexplicable
way, a union with the deity adored. In the Old Testament we have the
well-known example of the prophets performing this dance in 1 Sam. x.
5 ff.; its contagious character is graphically illustrated by the case
of Saul, whose condition becomes such that the people ask: “Is Saul
also among the prophets?” and he is spoken of as having been “turned
into another man” because as a result of the ecstatic dance the spirit
of Jahwe came mightily upon him. The language implies that when once
the required condition has been reached it is then Jahwe Who takes the
initiative; the body as such remains a passive instrument, but it becomes
a Beth-el, a temporary house of God from which He speaks forth through
the medium of the voice of the possessed.
As in the case of other types of the sacred dance, there cannot be
anything unique about this even though it is only referred to once or
twice in the Old Testament; its incidental mention without further
comment stamps it as being nothing out of the ordinary.
Another form of this ecstatic type of dance is mentioned in the Old
Testament, also in connexion with prophets, though not Israelite
prophets. There was a peculiar kind of limping dance performed, as it
would appear, on special occasions by the prophets of Baal. This began
with a limping step round the altar as though the performers were
lame, but soon developed into a wild jumping about on the altar, and
culminated in self-laceration with knives and the like. In how far a
state of semi-consciousness or total unconsciousness was attained is not
indicated; but in the light of analogous cases (referred to in Chapter
VII) it may be gathered that the loss of the physical sensation of pain
inflicted by the self-laceration must imply to some extent a loss of
consciousness so far as external surroundings were concerned. In writing
about the prophetic ecstasy of Syrian as well as Israelite prophets, Dr
T. H. Robinson well expresses the state in saying that it was
a peculiar psychic condition in which the subject seemed to be
possessed of powers, indeed of a whole sphere of consciousness,
which was denied to the ordinary individual, and to the prophet
himself in normal states. He did not cease to be conscious
of the world as it appeared to others, but he heard and saw
things which were beyond their range. There were a number of
well-marked physical phenomena connected with the condition of
ecstasy, though these were not invariable. The subject might be
affected with a certain constriction of the muscles, in which
case the state resembled that of a trance. On the other hand,
muscular activity might be largely increased. Leaping, bodily
contortions, and loud cries resulted, which, as they tended to
become regular and rhythmical, developed into dancing and song.
The subject frequently experienced a kind of anaesthesia, and
would slash wildly at his own body with knife or whip, without
showing any signs of physical pain[32].
We shall find all this illustrated in the examples, to be given in
Chapter VII, of this type of dance among a number of races.
Various means were employed to bring about this ecstatic state, such as
alcohol, and other drugs; but there can be little doubt that the most
frequent, and certainly the most primitive, means adopted was that of
dancing.
(4) The kind of sacred dance which was the most common among the
Israelites, as among other peoples, was that proper to _Vintage and
Harvest Festivals_. That it seems, from the scanty references to it
which we have in the Old Testament, as well as from many indications
in regard to its performance among other races, largely to have lost
its sacred character will not deceive us as to its originally religious
purpose. It was a characteristic of Israelite worship that the note of
joy should sound during its celebration; the command: “Ye shall rejoice
before Jahwe your God” sufficiently bears this out. Apart, therefore,
from the original purpose of this kind of sacred dance to which reference
will be made in Chapter VIII, there is no reason to doubt that Vintage
and Harvest dances among the Israelites were essentially of a religious
character, although the rejoicing, of which dancing was one of the
most natural modes of expression, might not always appeal to some of
the more austere prophets, see, _e.g._, Amos v. 21-23. The very rare
specific mention in the Old Testament of the festival dances is quite
comprehensible, for what was obviously proper to the celebration of a
feast it would be superfluous to speak about. Moreover, there is ample
evidence in post-biblical Jewish literature of the existence of the
sacred dance at festivals.
(5) _Dances in celebration of victory_ in battle are referred to several
times in the Old Testament. Taking the passages in which these are
mentioned by themselves the custom of which they speak is nothing more
than a simple and natural expression of joy and thanksgiving for victory.
But all such customs have a long history behind them; and when analogous
customs among other, less civilized, peoples are considered, some points
of interest and significance emerge which suggest the possibility of the
custom being, in its origin, due to a different and more practical cause.
There are some grounds for believing that the custom of which the Old
Testament speaks was a remnant of what was originally a dance performed
by women which had for its object the helping of the men to gain a
victory by means of imitative magic. In the Old Testament there is, of
course, no trace of this beyond the fact that the dance was performed
by women; and it has become simply an act of joyful thanksgiving to God
and a tribute to the returning victors. It is necessary to consider
the analogous rite in its earlier forms as seen among peoples of lower
civilization to estimate what justification there may be for this
supposition. If it should be the fact that this type of dance was,
in its origin, a means of effecting victory by magic, it would be an
interesting illustration of magic being, as Marett says, “part and parcel
of the ‘god-stuff’ out of which religion fashions itself.”[33] Indeed,
when dealt with in detail, this subject of the sacred dance in the Old
Testament receives its chief interest and importance from the fact that
at all events some of the types there mentioned are illustrations of the
development of religion out of magic.
(6) There is some reason to believe that the sacred dance had a part to
play during _the rite of circumcision_; late Rabbinic tradition seems to
imply as much. It had its place among the Arabs on such occasions; and at
initiation ceremonies all the world over the sacred dance was essential.
(7) Once more, the sacred dance during the _Wedding ceremony_, though
only once implied in the Old Testament, was in all probability a regular
institution; post-biblical Jewish literature offers presumptive evidence
of its existence in earlier times among the Israelites.
(8) And lastly, we have the sacred dance as a _Burial rite_. As in
other cases we have to rely, firstly, on the evidence of later Jewish
literature, and, secondly, upon the analogous practice among other
peoples. As we shall show, the emotions of fear, honour, and love, which
according to the cultural stages of uncivilized men are felt for the
spirits of the departed, are such as are common to mankind; and these
emotions are expressed, among other ways, by means of the sacred dance.
What cultural stage, or stages, are represented in the Old Testament
as that, or those, through which the Israelites passed may well be a
matter of difference of opinion; but that in both thought and practice
they were, as a whole, in many respects no more advanced than other
contemporary peoples does not admit of doubt. So that when we find
this rite in existence at burials or during the mourning period among
other Semites, and among the Egyptians, not to mention the Greeks, the
presumption is justified that the Israelites practised it too.
* * * * *
In regard to much that has been said we are prepared for the objection
that the evidence of the Old Testament does not offer sufficient
justification for the assumptions made. We agree that this is so if we
are to rely upon the Old Testament alone. But the object of the whole of
our investigation will be to show that the beliefs and practices of any
one race of people must, to do them full justice, be studied in the light
of analogous beliefs and practices of other peoples. Only so can one fill
up the _lacunae_ which inevitably exist in the records of the races of
antiquity. We have chosen as our illustration a rite which may, likely
enough, be regarded as of very secondary importance; yet it is one which
the evidence shows was at one time regarded as essential to man. It is
therefore a study worth undertaking; for apart from its interest as a
mere antiquarian investigation, we hope that it may be found to throw
some modest side-lights on various other subjects.
CHAPTER IV
THE OLD TESTAMENT TERMS FOR “DANCING”
I
How large a _rôle_ dancing in its various forms must have played among
the Israelites is shown by the fact that, either in the restricted or in
the more extended sense, no less than eleven Hebrew roots are used to
describe its different characteristics. This in what is a relatively poor
language is not without significance.
Before saying something about the meaning of these roots it will be well
to give a list of them:
_Sāḥaq_ and _tzāḥaq_, used in the intensive _piel_ form.
_Ḥūl_.
_Kārar_, used in the _pilpel_ form, also intensive.
_Pāzaz_, used in the _piel_ form.
_Rāqad_, used in the _piel_ form.
_Sābab_, used in the _hiphil_, causative, form.
_Qāphatz_, used in the _piel_ form.
_Dālag._
_Tzālaʿ_, occurs only once.
_Ḥāgag_.
_Pāsaḥ_, used in the _piel_ form.
The first thing to notice here is that most of these roots, when used in
reference to dancing, occur only in intensive forms; this is significant
as pointing to the nature and character of the sacred dance. Of the
exceptions, _ḥūl_ “to whirl” is intensive in its root-meaning; it has
no _piel_, and its other forms occur only rarely, and almost entirely
in the later poetical books. The roots _dālag_ and _tzālaʿ_, refer to a
particular kind of ritual step; and as to _ḥāgag_ more will be said in a
moment.
Now as to the meaning of these different words for dancing:
The root _sāḥaq_, in its intensive form _siḥēq_, means in the first
instance “to laugh,” and it is also used in the sense of “playing” (Job
xl. 29) and “merry-making” (Jer. xv. 17, xxx. 19, xxxi. 4, Zech. viii.
5; cp. also Judg. xvi. 25). In the specific sense of “dancing” it occurs
in 1 Sam. xviii. 7: “... and the dancing women answered one another
and said ...” (see also 1 Chron. xv. 29). Equivalent to this root is
_tzāḥaq_, also used in the intensive form _tziḥēq_, which occurs, _e.g._,
in Exod. xxxii. 6: “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to
dance.” It is also used of “playing” or “sporting,” _e.g._ Gen. xxi. 9,
Judg. xvi. 25, but in the second of these passages its obvious meaning
is “to dance,” for as we shall see later this was the custom at feasts.
This root, therefore, presents dancing in the aspect of a pleasant and
enjoyable pastime. Further, in various passages this root is used as
a parallel to other words for dancing. For example, in 1 Sam. xviii.
6, 7 just cited, it occurs as a parallel to the root which is the one
most frequently used in the Old Testament for dancing, viz. _ḥūl_. This
root expresses the “whirl” of the dance (_e.g._ Judg. xxi. 21, 23, Ps.
lxxxvii. 7). It is the word used of the “writhing” or “twisting” of a
woman in travail, _e.g._ Isa. xxvi. 17, xlv. 10, or of one in great pain,
Isa. xiii. 8, xxiii. 5, Jer. li. 29; so that when used in the sense of
dancing, contortions of the body are thought of, which suggests something
of a rather wild character.
The “whirling” idea is also contained in the root _kārar_ (in its
intensive _pilpel_ form, _kirkēr_), “to whirl about,” or “rotate.” It
occurs, in this sense, only once in the Old Testament, 2 Sam. vi. 14-16,
of David dancing before Jahwe[34]; and in this passage we have another
root which does not occur elsewhere in the sense of dancing, viz. _pāzaz_
(again in the intensive form _pizzēz_); this expresses the idea of agile
leaping as part of the dance[35], the cognate Arabic root means “to be
excited.” The idea of leaping is also contained in another root _rāqad_
(in its intensive form _riqqēd_) which in its ordinary sense means “to
skip about[36]”; as applied to dancing it occurs in the passage last
mentioned, and see further, Isa. xiii. 21, Job xxi. 11, Joel ii. 5,
Eccles. iii. 4, 1 Chron. xv. 29; in Ps. xxix. 6 it is used of a calf
“skipping.”
The root _sābab_, used of “going round” the altar, is spoken about below
(pp. 93 f.), so that we can leave this for the present.
So far, then, we have briefly touched on words used in reference to
dancing which either express or suggest the ideas of its being something
enjoyable, of its involving the bending about of the body, whirling
about, leaping, and skipping; as well as that of forming a circle,
perhaps round the altar, but in any case encircling something, or going
round about it.
Now we come to some rather special words. In including _dālag_ in our
category we realize that this is only justified because we are using
the word “dancing” in its extended, as well as in its more restricted,
sense; and we have shown above that this is not only permitted, but
necessary in view of the general ideas underlying the whole subject.
This word is used of the “leaping” of a hart in Isa. xxxv. 6, just as
the word _rāqad_ is used, as we have seen, of the “skipping” of a calf;
the latter, as already pointed out, occurs in several passages in the
sense of “dancing”; _dālag_ may, therefore, be regarded as in some sense
parallel to it. In Cant. ii. 8 _dālag_ certainly seems to refer to some
form of dancing. But in two other passages the word has a special sense;
in these, though the reference is not to dancing in the strict meaning
of the term, it is used of a ritual step of a leaping character, and may
justifiably be applied to dancing in the more extended sense. Thus, in 1
Sam. v. 5 it is said that no one ever treads on the threshold of Dagon’s
house in Ashdod. This is explained in the Septuagint by the addition
of the words “leaping over they leap over”; this is probably only an
explanatory gloss (though it is conceivable that they represent a text in
which _dālōg yidlōgū_ occurred), but it witnesses, at any rate, to what
was a well-known custom, for in the other passage, Zeph. i. 9, punishment
is pronounced against “all those who leap over the threshold,” without
further explanation, showing that something quite familiar is being
referred to. There was a similar Persian custom which forbad stepping
on the threshold, one had to leap over it with the right foot first.
The custom was due to the belief that evil spirits crouched down on the
threshold, and the leaping over it prevented coming into contact with
them, and the consequent risk of harm. The action implied the recognition
of an alien cult, hence its prohibition[37]. In Cant. ii. 8 the root
_qāphatz_ is used as a parallel to _dālag_, and also means “to jump,” or
the like; but this is the only passage in which the word is used in this
sense.
We come now to two roots of which rather more must be said. The first
is _ḥāgag_. In 1 Sam. xxx. there is the account of David’s attack on an
Amalekite troop who had carried off all the women from Ziklag, among them
his two wives; the Egyptian slave of an Amalekite, who had been abandoned
by his master because he had fallen sick, is asked by David to lead him
to the spot where the Amalekites were encamped; this he undertakes to
do on condition that no harm comes to him; then we read in verse 16:
“And when he had brought him down, behold, they were sprawling about all
over the ground, eating and drinking and feasting” (_hōgĕgim_); that
is how the Revised Version renders this last word. To render it thus,
however, is pleonastic, for if they were eating and drinking they were
quite obviously “feasting”; the word, therefore, cannot well have this
meaning here. The more natural rendering would be “dancing”; and, indeed,
this would be the meaning that we should expect, for, as will be shown
below, “dancing” is almost synonymous with “feasting,” because it was
characteristic of feasts. Driver, in discussing this passage, says in
reference to the word:
Whether, however, the sense of _dancing_ is really expressed by
the word is very doubtful. Modern lexicographers only defend
it by means of the questionable assumption that _ḥāgag_ may
have had a similar signification to _ḥūg_, which, however, by
no means itself expresses the sense of _to dance_, but _to
make a circle_ (Job xxvi. 10).... It is best to acquiesce
in the cautious judgement of Nöldeke[38], who declares that
he cannot with certainty get behind the idea of a _festal
gathering_ for the common Semitic _ḥag_. Here then the meaning
will be “behaving as at a _ḥag_ or gathering of pilgrims,” i.e.
enjoying themselves merrily[39].
Nowack is of a similar opinion; he says that the word here can hardly
mean more than “to celebrate a feast”; but he adds: “perhaps the word is
originally used of the sacred dance[40].” But apart from the question
of the relationship between _ḥāgag_ and _ḥūg_, if the Arabic _Ḥagg_,
“the going round in a circle,” is the word from which the Hebrew _ḥag_
is derived, and presumably there is little doubt about that, then the
root-meaning of _ḥāgag_ will be “to go round in a circle,” and this was
the essence of the sacred dance—or of one type of the sacred dance—among
the Semites. Wellhausen points out that the central and most important
part of the _cultus_ of the ancient Arabs was the circuit round the
sanctuary, or, when this was offered, round the sacrifice. It is from
this fact, he says, that the _Ḥagg_, which means really “the sacred
dance,” is so called. He points out, further, that this original meaning
of the word has not even yet been entirely lost in Arabic, for the verb
still often has as its transitive object the stone or the “house.” The
holy stone is itself called _Davar_ “the object of the encirclement”
because of the custom of performing the sacred dance round it. Evidence
is forthcoming that this was done not only round the sacred stone, the
_Kaaba_, but also in all sanctuaries generally[41]. König gives as the
primary meaning of _ḥāgag_ “to make dancing movements,” “to turn,” and
regards the sense of “celebrating a feast” as secondary[42]. This is
borne out by the use of the word in Ps. cvii. 27, where it means “to go
round in a circle,” like a drunken man.
The chief original Hebrew term for a religious dance was
doubtless _ḥag_. The rendering “feast” or “festival” will
indeed suffice in most cases, but only because religious
festivals necessarily included the sacred dance, at least as
long as the sacred stones remained in the sanctuaries[43].
There is thus sufficient justification for reckoning this root among
those which are used for “to dance” in the Old Testament.
Then as to the root _pāsaḥ_ (in its intensive form _pisseaḥ_). According
to Exod. xii. 13, 23 the root-meaning of this word would appear to be “to
spare,” for we read there: “... and when I see the blood _I will pass
over_ you, and there shall be no plague upon you”; and again: “... and
when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, Jahwe
_will pass over_ the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into
your houses to destroy you.” Both Zimmern[44] and Schrader[45] hold that
the word is derived from the Assyrian _pasâḥu_, “to pacify,” which would
support the _Exodus_ interpretation. Robertson Smith, on the other hand,
thinks it by no means clear that this was the original meaning;
“there is,” he says, “no certain occurrence of the name before
_Deuteronomy_ (in Exod. xxxiv. 25 it looks like a gloss),
and the corresponding verb denotes some kind of religious
performance, apparently a dance, in 1 Kings xviii. 26. A
nocturnal ceremony at the consecration of a feast is already
alluded to in Isa. xxx. 29, who also perhaps alludes to
the received derivation of _pāsaḥ_ in xxxi. 5[46]. But the
Deuteronomic passover was a new thing in the days of Josiah (2
Kings xxiii. 21 f.). It underwent further modification in the
exile...[47].”
So that the opinion is worth hazarding as to whether _Pesaḥ_, the
Passover, did not originally get its name from the particular form of
limping dance peculiar to it, just as the ordinary feast got its name
from the sacred dance, the _Ḥagg_, which was characteristic of it. See
further p. 92.
A ritual dance of a somewhat similar character is mentioned in Gen.
xxxii. 31, 32, where Jacob, as he passed over Penuel, “limped upon his
thigh.” Here the root used is _tzālaʿ_, which in this sense occurs here
only[48]; but there is the place-name _tzēlaʿ_, Saul’s ancestral home (2
Sam. xxi. 14), which was possibly an ancient sanctuary where this special
kind of limping dance was performed.
These, then, are the words used in the Old Testament for “dancing” in its
various forms; they will come before us again and their meanings will be
more fully illustrated when we deal in the following chapters with the
nature of the sacred dance.
II
It will be appropriate if we add here a word or two about the musical
accompaniment (if this can in all cases be called “musical”) to dancing
so far as can be gathered from the Old Testament.
In its earliest and simplest form this accompaniment consisted of
the rhythmic beating of what is translated “timbrel” in the Revised
Version; the word is _tôph_ in Hebrew, and it was probably the most
primitive instrument among the Hebrews. It would be better described as
a hand-drum, or “tom-tom,” being made of a circular (though also square
and sometimes probably three-sided) piece of wood over which the skin of
an animal, after preparation, was tightly drawn and fastened with a thin
thong of skin. It was held in one hand and struck with the open palm of
the other. In addition to this two other instruments of percussion are
mentioned as accompanying dancing, namely “cymbals,” _tzeltzĕlim_, and
what are called _metziltaim_, evidently also cymbals in some form or
another as both words come from the same root; the latter must clearly
have been held one in each hand and struck together, the dual form of the
word shows this. Wind instruments for accompaniment were represented by
the _ḥalîl_, “flute,” and the _ʿugâb_, perhaps something in the nature of
a Pan’s-pipe, though this is quite uncertain; it is mentioned in Gen. iv.
21, where the Revised Version renders it “pipe.” Stringed instruments as
an accompaniment to dancing were a later development, though of course
used in what are to us early times, among the Israelites; the simplest
of these were the _kinnôr_, “lyre” and the _nēbel_, “harp.” For the
accompaniment to dancing of all three types of instruments, percussion,
wind, and string, see Job xxi. 11, 12. We also read of “rattles,”
_mĕnaʿnĕʿim_, probably something equivalent to the _sistrum_ of the
Egyptians[49].
Besides instrumental, there was also vocal accompaniment, and doubtless
the rhythmic clapping of hands, the most primitive form of accompaniment,
and the beating of the thighs, though neither of these is mentioned in
the Old Testament.
It has been truly said that
music is rarely divorced from dancing in the early stages of
culture, and seldom advances beyond mere rhythm into melody or
harmony. To a modern European ear it sounds not much more than
rhythmic noise, a mere marking of time for concerted movement
of the limbs, monotonous and unattractive, if heard without its
origin and inspiration—the dance[50].
But the writer is mistaken in his mention of harmony here; such a thing
was quite unknown in “the early stages of culture,” if he means by that
“culture” among uncivilized men[51].
The normal accompaniment to the sacred dance, then, among the Hebrews was
the beating of the drum and the blowing of the flute; this, as will be
seen in the following chapters, is true of all peoples. The accompaniment
of stringed instruments is, as we have said, a later development.
CHAPTER V
THE SACRED PROCESSIONAL DANCE, AND DANCES IN HONOUR OF SUPERHUMAN POWERS
I
An illustration of the processional type of dance among the Israelites
which immediately suggests itself is that of “David and all the house of
Israel dancing before Jahwe with all their might” (2 Sam. vi. 5)[52].
The picture is that of an imposing procession, headed by the king going
in front of the Ark into Jerusalem. The entire body of those forming
the procession is described as dancing, but special attention is drawn
to David, and the words used in reference to his mode of dancing are
instructive; he not only dances in the ordinary sense of the word
(_sāḥaq_), but he “rotates (_kārar_) with all his might” (verse 14),
and “jumps” (_pāzaz_, verse 16), and “whirls round” (_ḥūl_); and in
the parallel passage 1 Chron. xv. 29, his dancing is described as
“skipping” (_rāqad_) or the like; it is the word used in Isa. xiii. 21
of the “hopping” of satyrs, and also of “galloping” horses (Joel ii.
5) and “jolting” chariots (Nah. iii. 2). The self-abandonment of this
dancing can be imagined in the light of Michal’s jibe that the king had
shamelessly uncovered himself. Nevertheless, the religious character
of the processional dance is obvious, and is emphasized by the phrase
“before Jahwe,” and by the fact that David “was girded with a linen
ephod” (verse 14), the officiating priest’s dress (see 1 Sam. ii. 18).
It is probable that the sacred processional dance is again referred to,
though one cannot say so positively, in such passages as Ps. cxlix.
3: “Let them praise His name in the dance; let them sing praises unto
Him with timbrel (_tôph_) and lyre”; cl. 4: “Praise Him with timbrel
and dance,” etc.; and although in Ps. lxviii. 24, 25 (25, 26 in Hebr.)
there is no special mention of the dance, it is clearly implied by the
reference to the damsels playing on the timbrel, which was the usual
accompaniment to dancing; the passage runs: “They see Thy goings forth
[_i.e._ processions in honour of Jahwe], O God, the goings forth of my
God, my King, into the sanctuary; the singers go before, behind (are)
those playing stringed instruments, in the midst (are) damsels playing
timbrels,” see also Ps. lxxxvii. 7.
Further quotations are unnecessary, for it is clear that the sacred
processional dance formed a normal adjunct to worship among the
Israelites.
In studying these types of the sacred dance among other peoples we are
faced with the same difficulty that meets us in the case of various
passages where the dance is mentioned in the Old Testament, viz. it is by
no means always possible to say whether a _processional_ dance is meant
or not. It is, therefore, inevitable that some uncertainty should exist
in the case of some of the illustrations to be offered; but if not always
of the processional type, the examples to be given will all illustrate
the sacred dance as an act of honour to some superhuman power.
II
As to those peoples most closely allied to the Israelites, namely
the Syrians and Arabs, our _data_, so far as processional dances are
concerned, are very scanty, though we are not without information on
the general subject of the sacred dance among them. In one of the
inscriptions found in Deir el-Ḳala near Beirut there is a reference
to Θεω Βαλμαρκωδι; he is called upon as Βαλμαρκως κοίρανε κώμων; this
witnesses to the existence of a Phoenician god known as _Baal-Marqôd_,
according to the Semitic form, _i.e._ the “Baal, or Lord, of
dancing[53].” He was either thought of as the originator of the sacred
dance among the Phoenicians, just as the Greeks and others ascribed the
origin of dancing to certain gods and goddesses; or else he was so called
“because of a bacchanalian dance which was performed in his honour[54]”;
or because he was the god, _par excellence_, to whom dancing was due
as an act of homage[55]. The name shows that among the Phoenicians the
sacred dance had its place.
We shall come, later on, to other types of the sacred dance among the
Syrians and Arabs. Here we may, in passing, point to the fact that the
Bedouin Arabs of the Syrian Desert even at the present day perform dances
in honour of exalted personages; this may confidently be regarded,
especially in view of other evidence to be given below, as pointing to
similar dances being performed in earlier times in honour of gods; for
divinities were honoured in this way for ages before men were. Thus
Ritter describes the dancing of the Bedouin Arabs which he witnessed,
adding that the far-travelled sailors who were with him told him that
this mode of dancing was strikingly similar to that which they had seen
performed by the savage South Sea islanders[56]. Dancing in honour of
the newly married couple, regarded as king and queen, is interestingly
described by Wetzstein[57]. Such dances, though not now strictly sacred,
deserve a passing reference, for they have a long history behind them,
and at one time were certainly connected with religion.
In many Babylonian psalms and hymns which were sung in procession, and
which have come down to us, there is, it is true, no mention of dancing;
but it is difficult to believe that it did not take place, especially in
view of the evidence to be given below. The silence may well be due to
the fact that it was so obvious a part of the ritual that there would
have been no point in mentioning it. One can hardly conceive of its
absence, knowing what we do of the Semitic religious temperament, during
such a great festival, for example, as that of the re-entry of Marduk
on the 11th Nisan into the temple of E-sagila. On this occasion a great
procession of priests and choir was formed, and during the re-entry of
the god into his sanctuary they sang the hymn beginning:
“O Lord, at the entering-in into thy sanctuary...[58].”
At such a time of solemn religious rejoicing it can hardly be doubted,
judging from many analogies, that some form of sacred dance formed a
striking feature of the ritual. The dance-step may well have been of a
sedate character, but, as we have seen, the steps and performance of the
sacred dance range from an almost march-like, though rhythmical, tread to
antics of the most diverse character. It is important to remember that
in Assyrian the word for “to dance” (_rakâdu_) means also “to rejoice.”
Among all the Semites the religious festivals were special times of
rejoicing. So that when we read of processions during Babylonian and
Assyrian festivals it is justifiable to assume that sacred dances were
performed as a recognized part of the ritual.
But we are not without tangible evidence on the subject. On an
inscription discovered in the palace of Asshurbanipal a procession is
depicted which is led by men playing harps; the foremost among these,
each of whom has one of his legs raised, quite obviously represent
dancers. They are followed by women with arms uplifted, and also by
children who seem to be clapping their hands, apparently in rhythmical
time with the dancers. An illustration of this is given, _e.g._, by
Jeremias[59], who quotes from the inscription the Assyrian account of
Hezekiah’s subjection to Sennacherib. In this inscription, among other
things sent by the king of Judah to Nineveh, “playing men and women” are
mentioned; the illustration represents these as both dancing and playing
instruments. It is, therefore, as Jeremias rightly emphasizes, very
important for the light it throws on the subject of the Temple music and
worship in pre-exilic times. But it also throws light on Assyrian usage
since it is obvious that the inscription reflects Assyrian ideas.
Mention may be made here, but very tentatively, of three inscriptions
found in Cyprus by Ohnefalsch-Richter. It is conceivable that these bear
witness, though indirectly, to early Mesopotamian ritual, for in style
and representation they are somewhat reminiscent of ancient Babylonian
cylinder seals. They are numbered cxxviii. 4, 5, 6 and a sacred dance
is represented on each; they are cylindrical in form, and very ancient,
pre-Homeric and pre-Mycenaean, according to Ohnefalsch-Richter, who
says also that they bear a striking similarity to later Olympic
representations[60]. The dancers wear long dresses rather like those of
priests on Assyrian cylinder seals.
III
A religious processional dance of great interest is that represented on
the well-known Hittite rock-inscription at Boghazkeui, in Cappadocia.
The central portion of this inscription represents a company of gods and
goddesses; towards them, from either side, the procession moves; the
figures on the left hand which form the procession are almost exclusively
men, while those on the right are all women. The men all wear the
cone-shaped Hittite cap and tip-tilted shoes, and they are performing
a running-step dance, the right feet being partly raised and touching
the ground only with their toes. The inscription belongs approximately
to B.C. 1200[61]. That it represents a religious processional dance is
clear both because of the presence of gods and goddesses, and also from
the fact that in front of or over the heads of a number of the figures
there are hieroglyphic signs which denote the names of divinities.
A small inscription on a haematite cylinder, from Cyprus, also represents
a Hittite sacred processional dance. As in the previous inscription, the
procession, which is preceded and followed by a priest, moves towards
the god. Ohnefalsch-Richter thinks that the scene represents a moment at
which the dancers are resting[62].
IV
Although we find that among the Egyptians the _data_ leave something
to be desired, yet they are sufficient to suggest that dancing as a
religious ceremony formed an important feature among them. As is the case
among all other peoples the sacred dance has divine sanction.
Ḥatḥor, for example, was the goddess of music and dancing, and
is often depicted with a small boy rattling a sistrum in front
of her.... The king, in the capacity of Ḥatḥor’s son, similarly
rattles a sistrum in front of her and is called “goodly _Iḥy_
(the goddess’s child) of the golden one of the gods.”
The name _Iḥwy_, a variant form of _Iḥy_, is applied to the priests of
Ḥatḥor; they are represented as “dancing and clattering castanets[63].”
At the festivals held in honour of Ḥatḥor and Bastet dancing was an
indispensable feature; so, too, at the Apis festivals[64]. Again,
Bēs, or Bēsa, originally a dancing figure of the Sudanese type, is
represented on inscriptions as holding the youthful sun-god Harpokrates
in his left arm, and offering him food with the right hand; he also
provides for the young sun-god’s amusement, and is depicted performing
grotesque dances before him, and playing the harp and laughing. Thus he,
too, became in course of time, a god of dance, music, and merriment[65].
In dancing in honour of their gods and goddesses, therefore, the
Egyptians were employing a method of honouring which they imitated from
the gods themselves; and this seems to have been the case, at one time or
other, of their religious history, with most, if not all, races, so far
as the evidence enables us to judge.
As to processional dances Blackman says that
there is some reason for supposing that at Thebes and
elsewhere, on the occasion of the annual festival of Ḥatḥor,
that goddess’s priestesses, when the temple service and the
subsequent procession were ended, paraded the streets, and, in
company with the _Iḥwy_-priests, stopped at one house after
another in order to bestow Ḥatḥor’s blessing upon the inmates.
This they did by dancing and singing and holding out to their
audience—perhaps that they might touch them—the emblems of
their goddess, the sistra and _mnit_-necklaces[66].
Again, according to Apuleius, there was a sacred dance in connexion with
the worship of Isis. On stated days there was a great procession held in
honour of this goddess which went through the streets of the city; the
column was headed by a band of dancing masqueraders. He describes this
procession of the _Isidis Navigium_ minutely; among other details he
mentions that in one part of it there were musicians, playing on pipes
and flutes, followed by a chorus of chosen youths, clad in snowy white
garments; behind them came more musicians playing on pipes, and many
other men jingling on bronze, silver, and even golden sistra[67].
Another kind of procession, namely of barges, in which dancing also took
place, is described by Herodotus in speaking of the religious festivals
of the Egyptians. He says:
Now, when they are being conveyed to the city of Bubastis, they
act as follows,—men and women embark together, great numbers
of both sexes in every barge; some of the women have castanets
which they play, and the men play on the flute during the whole
journey; the rest of the men and women sing and clap their
hands together at the same time. When in the course of their
passage they come to any town, they lay their barge near to
the land and do as follows, some of the women do as I have
described ... some dance, and others stand up and pull up their
clothes. This they do at every town by the river-side[68].
Mention may be here appropriately made of a kind of ritual dance, though
not processional in the strict sense, which seems to be represented by
a scene very often portrayed on the doors of Egyptian temples. Here the
king is seen hastening towards the deity while performing a curious
dance-like running step in which only the fore-part of the foot touches
the ground. Kees has shown that this frequently occurring representation
on Egyptian temple-doors does in fact record a ritual dance in honour of
the god which was performed by the king when making his offerings[69].
Other types of the sacred dance among the Egyptians will come before us
later. It may be remarked here, however, that, in regard to the sacred
dance in general, it was, in the more ancient periods, of a staid and
measured character, if we may judge from the inscriptions. From the time
of the new empire onwards it assumed a form more like that of modern
times. As to the apparel worn for the sacred dance and the mode of its
performance, what held good of dancing in general applies also to this,
as may be gathered, again, from the inscriptions. In most representations
the women, like the men, wear quite short tunics, the former being decked
with all kinds of ornaments; sometimes long transparent robes are worn,
but this is exceptional. The women hold tambourines which they strike
with the open palm, others have castanets which they click. Mostly they
appear whirling about, evidently in quick time. The representations show
that there was much bending and other movements of body and limbs[70].
V
Among the Greeks dancing has from the earliest times been associated
with gods and goddesses. Thus, for example, Apollo, Ares, Dionysos,
Pan, are all described as dancers. Artemis dances with her companions,
and even Zeus and Hera do not disdain it. The “Pyrrhic Dance[71],”
accompanied by flute-players, which was performed during the festival
of _Panathenaia_[72], was said by some to be have been invented by the
Dioscuri[73], according to others it was originated by Athena. The Muses
danced on the Helicon around the altar of Zeus[74]. In the train of
Dionysos were the satyrs with their special dance, the _Sicinnis_[75].
That wherein the gods themselves delighted would, of course, delight
their worshippers; and it is true to say that there was scarcely ever
worship among the Greeks without song and dance. In his _Peri Orcheseōs_
(XV. 177) Lucian says:
... I pass over the fact that you cannot find a single ancient
mystery in which there is not dancing.... To prove this I
will not mention the secret acts of worship, on account of
the uninitiated. But this much all men know, that most people
say of those who reveal the mysteries, that they “dance them
out[76].”
There is abundant evidence to show the truth of Farnell’s statement that
“the dance and song were indispensable in Greek religious service[77].”
This fondness of the ancient Greeks for dancing necessitated suitable
places where it could be performed, whether for religious or secular
purposes. Ready-made plots for this were rarely to be looked for, since
what was wanted was a more or less circular level space. It happened far
more frequently that the ground had to be prepared artificially[78] and
a dancing-ground constructed by levelling up the soil which then had
sand strewn upon it. But wear and tear, as well as the dampness of the
ground, would soon have called for something more solid and abiding, and
therefore pavements were laid. By means of patterns formed of differently
coloured stones such pavements served also the purpose of facilitating
dance-formations. Such places for dancing were a source of pride to the
Greek cities in the time of Homer when there were as yet no open spaces
of public resort[79].
At least two inscriptions on which the sacred processional dance is
depicted have been found in Cyprus; one is a relief on limestone; it
represents a procession approaching the deity before whom an altar
stands; underneath on the left a sacred dance is vividly portrayed, and
on the right a sacred feast is taking place[80]. The other, which is of a
simpler character, shows the god seated under a tree, the worshippers are
coming towards him in solemn procession[81].
A great deal of light is thrown upon our subject by representations on
ancient Greek pottery, etc.; from a wealth of material we select the
following illustrations. On a vase-painting in the British Museum[82]
a triumphal dance procession is portrayed, it is in all probability
intended to be taking place in honour of Dionysos; men and women are
dancing, the latter playing tambourines and lyres; in the centre is
the god sitting on a camel. Some of the figures are Greek, others are
clearly oriental, thus illustrating the alien character of the cult of
Dionysos. The dancing in honour of this god is dealt with in Chapter VII;
this example of it is given here because it illustrates the processional
type of the sacred dance. Many illustrations can be seen in the British
Museum, and excellent reproductions of originals are given in various
books[83].
Our most informing source is, of course, Greek literature. In the
examples to be given we shall not restrict ourselves to processional
dances, for it is not always possible to say what formation a dance took.
Sacred dances were performed in honour of Artemis[84] at the feast of
_Tithēnidia_ which was celebrated in the temple of Artemis Koruthalia by
a stream outside Sparta; on this occasion sucking pigs and loaves were
sacrificed to the goddess. She was apparently also honoured with sacred
dance on Parnassos, for Farnell refers to a passage in the _Phoenissae_
according to which a maidens’ chorus was danced there “in honour of
the ἀθάνατoς Θεά, who, from the context, appears to be Artemis[85].” A
passage in Pausanias runs as follows:
A third cross-road leads on the right to Caryae, and to the
sanctuary of Artemis; for Caryae is sacred to Artemis and the
nymphs, and an image of Artemis Caryatis stands here under the
open sky. Here every year the Lacedaemonian maidens dance in
troops their national dance[86].
Frazer, in his notes on the passage, says that the dancing of the
Lacedaemonian maidens “is said to have been taught the Lacedaemonians by
Castor and Pollux (Lucian, _De Saltatione_, 10)....” “The name Caryae,”
he says further, “means ‘walnut-trees,’ and may have been given to the
town from the walnut-trees which grew there[87].” Further on Pausanias
tells of the Messenians who “waylaid by day the maidens who were dancing
at Caryae in honour of Artemis, and seizing the wealthiest and noblest
of them, carried them off to a village in Messenia[88].” When dancing in
honour of Artemis the maidens were dressed in short _chitôn_, and carried
a basket-like receptacle on their heads[89].
The worship of Artemis, as Curtius has observed, was peculiarly
associated with low-lying land and reed-covered marshes. The
reeds shared with men in the worship of the goddess, and moved
to the sound of the music in her festivals, or, as Strabo says,
the baskets danced, or in Laconia maidens crowned with reeds
danced[90].
At the Brauronian ceremonies of Artemis it was the custom for young
maidens to dance, in honour of the goddess, dressed in saffron robes; in
this dance both they and the priestess were called “bears.” The saffron
robe, according to Farnell, was “possibly worn in order to imitate the
tawny skin of the bear,” but he is doubtful of this; it is, however, very
probable, as he says, that in the earliest times of the rite an actual
bear-skin was worn by the dancers[91]. This dance was known by the name
of _Arkteia_; quite young girls took part in it, from the ages of five to
ten, and it appears to have been a kind of initiation by which they were
consecrated to Artemis before arriving at puberty[92].
On the dance called _Orkēsis Iōnikē_, which was performed in honour of
Artemis, see _Julii Pollucis Onomasticon_, IV. 193. Mention is also made
of the dancing in honour of this goddess at Elis, in Pisatid territory,
Pausan. VI. xxii. 1; see also Farnell, _The Cults of the Greek States_,
II. 445; and for other dances belonging to her worship see Gruppe, _op.
cit._ I. pp. 254, 283, 342, II. 842 and especially 1284; Lobeck, _Aglao._
II. 1085 ff.
The dancing performed at the festival of _Gymnopaediae_, also in honour
of Artemis, as well as Apollo and Latona, which was held in Sparta at
the beginning of July, is referred to by Pausanias; he says:
In the market-place at Sparta there are images of Pythaean
Apollo, Artemis, and Latona. This whole place is called
_Chorus_, because at the festival of _Gymnopaediae_, to which
the Lacedaemonians attach the greatest importance, the lads
dance choral dances in honour of Apollo[93].
Gruppe draws attention to the dancing performed in honour of Apollo
_Karneios_[94], so also Bekker[95]. Mention may also be made of the
Cretan legend of the birth of Zeus which is represented on coins from
Tralles; they have the inscription Διὸς γοναί, with Corybantes dancing in
honour of the new-born god, and striking their shields[96].
There can be no doubt that _every_ type of dance among the Greeks was in
its origin connected with religion; but in the case of some it is evident
that they quite lost their religious character. The “Pyrrhic Dance,”
which was at one time purely sacred and later lost this character, is
an instance[97]. Another is that of the dance called the “Labyrinth,”
known also as the “Game of Troy,” and “Ariadne’s Dance[98].” Réville, in
referring to it, says that
in certain mythologies it has been observed that all the stars
move, turning round the earth and following their regular
courses. Nothing more is wanted for these movements of the
stars to be likened to a rhythmic and complicated dance. The
consequence will be a religious dance in honour of the “army
of the heavens.” The dance will develop in a manner apparently
entangled, but nevertheless methodical. There were several
sacred dances having this character of imitation of the
movements of the stars; among others, that of the “Labyrinth,”
which was danced in Crete and Delos. The labyrinth itself, with
its thousand circuits, was a symbol of the starry heaven, and
the dance of the same name must have been a sort of animated
representation of it[99].
An interesting representation of this dance occurs on an Etruscan
Polledrara vase, painted by an Ionian artist, and found in Cyprus,
where the dance was at one time performed in Amathus in honour of
Aphrodite-Ariadne; according to tradition Theseus led the Attic youths
and maidens in this dance[100]. The representation is superbly executed.
The connexion of the name of Ariadne with this dance is sufficient to
show its originally religious character, and probably it remained so
always, theoretically; but even as early as the time of Homer, according
to the following account from the _Iliad_, the religious element does not
appear prominently:
Also with cunning art he wrought a dancing-floor; like unto
that which erst, in broad Knossos, Daidalos had made for
fair-haired Ariadne. Thereon young men and comely damsels were
dancing, that clasped each other by the wrist. The damsels were
arrayed in vestures of fine linen, and the men in fine-spun
tunics, glossy with oil. And the damsels wore fair coronals,
while the men carried golden dirks hanging from baldrics of
silver. Now they would dance with cunning feet, lightly, as
when a potter sitting at his task maketh trial of the wheel
that is ready to his hands, to see if it run; now they would
dance in long lines, facing one another. And a great company
stood around the beauteous dancing-place, rejoicing; and
two tumblers, leading the dance, kept whirling through the
midst[101].
This dance was adopted by the Romans from the Greeks. Virgil compares its
complicated evolutions with the windings of the Cretan labyrinth[102]; and
that the comparison is more than a mere poetical flourish
appears from a drawing on a very ancient Etruscan vase found
at Tragliatella. The drawing represents a procession of seven
beardless warriors dancing, accompanied by two armed riders on
horseback, who are also beardless. An inscription proves that
the scene depicted is the “Game of Troy”; and attached to the
procession is a figure of the Cretan labyrinth, the pattern of
which is well known from coins of Cnossus, on which it is often
represented. The same pattern, identified by an inscription,
_Labyrinthus, hic habitat Minotaurus_, is scratched on a wall
at Pompeii, and it is also worked in mosaic on the floor of
Roman apartments, with the figures of Theseus and Minotaur in
the middle[103].
After pointing out the widespread occurrence of this labyrinth pattern,
both for the purpose of games as well as of decorations, Frazer continues:
A dance or game which has thus spread over Europe, and survived
in a fashion to modern times must have been very popular, and
bearing in mind how often with the decay of old faiths the
serious rites and pageants of grown people have degenerated
into the sports of children, we may reasonably ask whether
“Ariadne’s Dance,” or the “Game of Troy,” may not have had its
origin in religious ritual. The ancients connected it with
Cnossus and the Minotaur. Now we have reason to hold, with many
other scholars, that Cnossus was the seat of a great worship
of the sun, and that the Minotaur was a representative or
embodiment of the sun-god. May not, then, “Ariadne’s Dance”
have been an imitation of the sun’s course in the sky? And may
not its intention have been, by means of sympathetic magic,
to aid the luminary to run his race on high?... If there is
any truth in this conjecture it would seem to follow that the
sinuous lines of the labyrinth which the dancers followed in
their evolutions may have represented the ecliptic, the sun’s
apparent annual path in the sky. It is some confirmation of
this view that on the coins of Cnossus the sun or a star
appears in the middle of the labyrinth, the place which on
other coins is occupied by the Minotaur[104].
Frazer’s interesting suggestion points to the originally religious
character of “Ariadne’s Dance,” which in course of time it lost. Like
the dances at Harvest and Vintage festivals, “Ariadne’s Dance” was
one of the mediums whereby the sacred dance developed into a purely
secular amusement. The same may be said of the _Geranos_, or “Crane
Dance,” danced at Delos, which was apparently derived from “Ariadne’s
Dance[105]”; and also of the _Hormos_, or “Chain Dance,” which was
also performed by youths and maidens holding their hands in a changing
line[106].
Finally, reference may be made to a few representations of the sacred
dance found in Cyprus, in addition to those already mentioned. On a vase,
numbered cxxxii. 1 by Ohnefalsch-Richter[107], a dance is represented in
which men and women are taking part, two of the former hold semi-circular
instruments with which they accompany the dance; also, three of the men,
one of whom seems to be acting as the leader, carry small swords at
their sides; this illustrates the words of Homer in the quotation given
above (lines 597-8). Again, on two bronze vases, numbered cxxix. 2 and
cxxx. 1, the dance represented shows women only, some of whom are playing
instruments, pipe, harp, and drum[108]; a similar representation occurs
on a painted Etruscan vase (cxxxii. 4), while on a thin golden plate from
a grave near Corinth[109] women are portrayed dancing and clothed with
long garments; this is numbered xxv. 15.
VI
In turning now to the sacred dance among the Romans we find that there is
not nearly the amount of material from which to gather information that
there is among the Greeks. Cicero said: “No man who is in a sober state
and not demented would dance either privately or in decent company[110].”
If, as we may suppose was the case, this reflected the general opinion,
one can well understand why it was that dancing never played such a part
in the national life of the Romans as it did in that of the Greeks.
Cicero, however, as is clear from the context of this quotation, was
referring to dancing as a pastime, which respectable Romans regarded as
inconsistent with their dignity. The dance in worship was a different
matter. Nevertheless, even in this domain it did not play the part, nor
anything like it, that it did among the Greeks. And what there was of it
was, in the main, due to Greek influence[111]. Not altogether, however;
and the influence of oriental cults must not be overlooked. Reinach,
in speaking of the effect that eastern religions produced upon that of
Rome, pointedly contrasts the hypocrisy of the sceptical priests in Italy
(“deux aruspices, disait Coton, ne peuvent se regarder sans rire”) with
the earnestness and sincerity of the oriental priest:
Quelle différence avec le prêtre oriental qui va droit au
fidèle, l’appelle son frère et le traite en conséquence,
éveille et nourrit les élans de sa dévotion, lui enseigne
l’exstase, l’espérance d’un monde meilleur....
Then he refers to the alien influences on the religion of Rome:
Juvénal se plaint que l’Oronte de Syrie se soit déversé dans le
Tibre; il aurait pu en dire autant du Nil, du Jourdain, et de
l’Halys... L’Empire romain se remplit des adorateurs d’Attis,
d’Isis, d’Osiris, de Sérapis, de Sabazios, de Zeus Dolichenos,
de Mithra. Les pratiques les plus étranges, empreinte d’un
sombre mysticisme, remplacèrent les froides et sévères coutumes
romaines[112].
But while giving due weight to the effect of these oriental influences,
the fact remains that it is chiefly to Greece that Rome owed the entry of
new cults. Within the small domain with which we are specially concerned
we have already considered the example of the “Game of Troy,” where it
was evident that this was borrowed from Greece. Another example which may
be cited is the ritual which accompanied the processions of supplication;
a solemn dance-step was characteristic of these; such, for instance, was
that which went from the temple of Apollo before the _Porta Carmentalis_
to that of _Juno Regina_ on the Aventine; to her an offering of two
white cows was made by the _Decemviri_. These latter formed the centre
of the procession, and in front of them were twenty-seven virgins who
had to sing in honour of Juno. The singing took place during a halt
in the _forum_; here the maidens sang their song while dancing with a
measured, stately tread. As Wissowa says, the entire ritual was Greek
from beginning to end[113]. It is probable that the dancing priests who
belonged to the early Roman _cultus_[114] witness also to Greek influence.
An interesting case of what may well have been an indirect importation
from Greece, and which records one of the earliest instances of the
sacred dance among the Romans, is mentioned by Frazer:
“In the fourth century before our era,” he writes, “the city
of Rome was desolated by a great plague which raged for three
years, carrying off some of the highest dignitaries and a
great multitude of common folk. The historian who records
the calamity informs us that when a banquet had been offered
to the gods in vain, and neither human counsels nor divine
help availed to mitigate the violence of the disease, it was
resolved for the first time in Roman history to institute
dramatical performances as an appropriate means of appeasing
the wrath of the celestial powders. Accordingly, actors were
fetched from Etruria, who danced certain simple and decorous
dances to the music of a flute. But even this novel spectacle
failed to amuse or touch, to move to tears or laughter, the
sullen gods[115]....”
The means which were subsequently found to be effective do not concern us
here; the point is that the sacred dance was imported from Etruria, and
it is well known that the Etruscans were largely indebted to Greece for
their religious ideas and ritual.
It will be unnecessary to offer further illustrations of this type of
religious dance among the Romans since it was mainly derived from Greece,
and we have already devoted a section to the rite among the Greeks. It
only remains to be said that there is a marked difference in the mode
of performing the sacred dance between the two peoples. Due largely
to national temperament, but also to earlier oriental influences, the
Greeks in their sacred dances gave freer vent to natural impulse, a
characteristic which was especially pronounced in the ecstatic dance,
with which we deal below (pp. 119 ff.). The Romans, on the other hand,
were far more restrained and dignified in their performance of them.
Nevertheless, among both peoples the sacred dance was a necessary adjunct
to worship, and that is the point with which we are specially concerned.
VII
We do not propose to deal, excepting incidentally, with the sacred dance
among the Asiatic peoples; firstly, because it would greatly increase the
bulk of this volume; and secondly, because it is doubtful whether our
doing so would really throw much further light on the subject than we
gain from the study of its prevalence among the peoples here considered.
It may be said generally, that the Asiatics are like the other peoples
with whom we deal in their belief that the sacred dance comes from the
higher powers. Among them, too, the sacred dance is an important part
of the ritual of worship, it has different purposes, and it is very
widespread. That much even a superficial knowledge of the religion of the
Asiatic peoples makes clear.
In referring to the subject of Vedic and Brahman worship in India Lehmann
says that the original character of Vedic sacrifice was a friendly feast
for the gods, and among the different ways of showing honour to the
exalted guests during the sacrifices were offerings of incense, music,
and dances, which were believed to give them pleasure[116].
VIII
Lastly, we come to consider a few examples of the sacred dance in general
among some of the uncultured races.
The Dakotahs perform a sacred dance in connexion with their worship of
the sun; it is executed by two young men “in a very singular attitude,”
as Schoolcraft says. These two young worshippers perform the dance while
in a state of almost complete nudity; each has a small whistle in his
mouth with which he accompanies the dance at intervals, and each faces
the sun while dancing, that is, as long as the sun is above the horizon.
The mode of dancing is a kind of hitch of first one leg and then the
other; they do this in a rhythmic manner and keep time by beating on raw
hides of parchment.... This dance is kept up for two, and occasionally
three, days, during which time the worshippers partake of no food[117].
To take, next, an example from Central America; Lumholtz[118] relates of
the Tarahumare Indians of Mexico that they believe that by dancing they
are able to gain the favour of their gods; their dancing is “a series of
monotonous movements, a kind of rhythmical exercise,” which they keep
up sometimes for two nights. “By dint of such hard work they think to
prevail upon the gods to grant their prayers.” According to the same
writer, the Tarahumares say that the animals taught them how to dance;
that is an interesting point which will come before us again in a moment.
They regard dancing as a very serious and ceremonious matter, it is “a
kind of worship and incantation rather than amusement.” The same is true
of the ancient Peruvians, to take a South American example; the sacred
dance was the “grand form of religious demonstration among them,” and
they were very assiduous in this form of devotion[119].
The belief of the Tarahumares that the animals first taught them how
to dance is interesting, for although it points to a relatively low
religious mentality, it is a stage in advance, for example, of that of
the natives of Ponape, one of the Caroline islands, in the Pacific; among
these
the different families suppose themselves to stand in a certain
relation to animals, and especially to fishes, and believe
in their descent from them. They actually name these animals
“mothers”; the creatures are sacred to the family and may not
be injured. Great dances, accompanied with the offering of
prayers, are performed in their honour[120].
These animals are their gods whom they honour by dancing; the Tarahumares
have separated their gods from the animals, but we may well surmise that
in an earlier stage among them their gods were the animals who taught
them to dance, and in whose honour they danced. Réville is certainly
right in his conjecture that the sacred dance among uncultured races was
the earliest form of adoration[121].
A good illustration of the way in which similar forms of worship are in
vogue among different peoples where there can be no question of borrowing
is afforded by the worship of the Pleiades. This was practised by the
ancient Peruvians[122], though whether dancing was performed in their
honour (which was highly probable) we are not told; but the aborigines of
Australia “sing and dance to gain the favour of the Pleiades” (whom they
call _Mormodellick_), they are worshipped as the givers of rain[123]. The
Blackfeet Indians of North America likewise worship the Pleiades;
at the general meeting of the nation there is a dance of
warriors, which is supposed to represent the dance of the seven
young men who are identified with the Pleiades. For the Indians
say that the seven stars of the constellation were seven
brothers, who guarded by night the field of sacred seed and
danced round it to keep themselves awake during the long hours
of darkness[124].
Frazer has collected many instances of the worship of this constellation
in lands widely separated; in most cases there is no mention of dancing
in its honour, but it is difficult to believe that this did not take
place during the celebration of the Festivals held at its appearance[125].
Finally, one or two examples of the sacred dance in the continent of
Africa may be offered. Speaking of the religion of the African aborigines
generally, Schneider says that a living faith in a beneficent god of
some kind is one of its characteristics. He is worshipped, on the one
hand, from fear; but on the other, as a mark of gratitude; and one of
the chief ways whereby this gratitude is shown is by songs and dances
accompanied by music[126]. Again, the Kaffirs perform ceremonious dances
on all sacred occasions; their mimic dances, performed with a view to
prepare for hunting or war, have also a serious side[127]. The same is
true of the Namaquas; among these when anyone embraces Christianity it is
said that “he has given up dancing[128].” The Masai worship the god Engai
whom they conceive as embodied in the sky, or at all events as dwelling
there; he, too, is worshipped with songs and dances[129].
Examples could, of course, be multiplied to any extent; those given
are, however, quite sufficient for our purpose; and, as will have been
noticed, they represent, apart from Europe, all the continents.
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS
The sacred dance among the Israelites was performed in honour of Jahwe,
their national God; and it is evident that the processional form of dance
was a normal mode in the ritual of worship. Although the evidence as to
the existence of this rite among the Syrians and Arabs is scanty, yet
its prevalence is sufficiently attested by the mention on an inscription
of Baal-Marqôd, “the lord of dancing”; this name may well point to the
belief among the Phoenicians that its divine bearer was the originator
of the sacred dance; so that in performing it his worshippers did it in
imitation of him, and therefore in his honour. Dances performed by the
Bedouin Arabs of the Syrian Desert in honour of exalted personages may
quite reasonably be regarded as an adaptation of the earlier religious
rite of dancing in honour of a god or spirit.
Religious processions which were common in the worship of Assyrians and
Babylonians must be regarded as a form of sacred dance in the extended
use of the term. In connexion with the well-known joyful character of
the religious festivals among the Semites it is worth remembering that
the Assyrian word _rakâdu_ means both “to rejoice” and “to dance”; where
there was rejoicing, whether of a secular or religious kind, there was
dancing; from which we may assume that at Assyrian religious festivals
the sacred dance had its place. Direct evidence of the processional dance
among the Assyrians is offered by an inscription found in the palace of
Asshurbanipal. Some inscriptions found in Cyprus may possibly reflect
Babylonian and Assyrian usage, but the dance represented on these is of a
less formal character than the processional dance.
Two inscriptions, one from Boghazkeui, the other from Cyprus, bear
unmistakable evidence of the religious processional dance among the
Hittites.
Dancing in honour of Egyptian divinities is well attested on
inscriptions; there is justification for the contention that the
Egyptians believed that their gods and goddesses danced, and that
therefore their worshippers performed the sacred dance in imitation of
them. Ḥatḥor, Bastet, Bēs, and Isis are Egyptian divinities in connexion
with whom dancing is mentioned. A special ritual dance was performed by
Egyptian kings in honour of the god when making their offerings.
Of particular interest is the sacred dance among the Greeks. They, too,
believed that gods and goddesses first danced; it was in honour of them,
and in imitation of what they did, that their worshippers danced. Apollo,
Ares, Pan, Zeus, Hera, the Dioscuri, Athena, and, above all, Dionysos
and Artemis are the deities especially mentioned in this connexion. The
evidence, which is abundant, is obtained from representations on pottery
and inscriptions, as well as from literary sources. Among the Greeks
the type of dances here considered was performed primarily in honour
of gods and goddesses; but there is reason to believe that some dances
had originally other purposes. “Ariadne’s Dance” is probably the most
striking example; for there are distinct indications of its having been
at one time an imitation of the sun’s course in the sky, and of having,
by means of imitative magic, the purpose of assisting the sun in running
its course.
The Romans were primarily indebted to the Greeks for their sacred dances,
though oriental influences were also pronounced.
The sacred dance was an important element in Vedic and Brahman worship;
it was, likewise, performed primarily in honour of divinities.
Probably the most instructive area in which to study the sacred dance
and its objects is that of the uncultured races, for among them it is
seen in its native simplicity, unaffected, for the most part, by the
exigencies of a more advanced civilization. The dance in honour of the
sun, performed, for example, by the Dakotahs in a practically nude state
points to the belief of the sun being a person with whom it was possible
to have a more or less direct contact; the sensation upon the naked body
of the warmth of its rays would denote this contact. The long-continued
dance in its honour offers an example of touching, if _naïve_, devotion,
emphasized by the accompanying fast. The belief that by means of dancing
in honour of the gods they can be prevailed upon to answer prayers—as
exemplified by Central American Indians—reveals a mentality so deeply
ingrained in human nature that the underlying idea can be paralleled by
the religious exercises of people among the most civilized nations at the
present day. That is an interesting phenomenon about which much could be
said, but which would involve our straying far away from the immediate
subject in hand. These same Central American Indians say that the
animals taught them to dance; this belief is undoubtedly the explanation
of the form of many dances in vogue among savages; just as more civilized
peoples, such, for example, as the Greeks, imitated what they believed
to be the dances of their gods and goddesses, so these savages imitated
what they saw to be the movements of animals[130]. There, however, the
parallel ceases, for the savages believed they were descended from
these animals; it was, thus, their ancestors whom they honoured by
their imitative dances. Could the beliefs of these Mexican Indians have
developed spontaneously, untouched by extraneous influences—a thing
which is, of course, out of the question now—it is quite possible that
from these animals “high gods” would have been evolved. Perhaps an
illustration of this evolutionary process is to be seen in one of the
forms of the Greek worship of Artemis, viz. in that of the Brauronian
ceremonies. The high probability that in the dance performed during
these ceremonies it was at one time customary for the dancers to wear
bear-skins points to the connexion of Artemis with the bear. The meaning
of this ritual is clear if we suppose that some remote ancestors of
the Greeks danced in honour of the bear in the belief that they were
descended from bears. The dance in bear-skins would thus be a personating
of the goddess, that is to say, a means of union with her[131].
Another line in the process of religious evolution is seen in the
widespread worship of the Pleiades. Australian aborigines dance in
their honour for the purpose of inducing them to give rain, without,
apparently, forming any ideas as to the nature of the Pleiades; but the
Blackfeet Indians of North America imitate in dance seven young men,
identified with the Pleiades, who appear to be the guardians of the crops.
In the few examples of worship among different African aborigines given
above we have seen that dancing was in honour of their gods and an
essential part of their worship, and we may well believe that the reason
of this was the belief that the worshippers were imitating their gods in
doing so. While the purpose is always honorific, we may be sure that they
also had practical ends in view, viz. either the obtaining of food, or
effecting union with the god. So that it is true to say that the sacred
dance was the means of satisfying two essential needs of man: natural and
spiritual sustenance.
In asking, finally, what is the bearing of this short investigation upon
the religion of the Israelites we note first of all that the Israelites
were at one with practically all the nations of antiquity, as well as
with the uncivilized peoples, in performing the sacred dance in their
worship. The primary object was, among the Israelites, as among the
others, to honour their God. _Why_ this rite should have been thought
of as pleasing to the deity we have already considered. It is, however,
improbable that the question troubled the Israelites; it was sufficient
that it had been handed down from time immemorial as an essential
constituent in the ritual of worship.
Further, we have seen that there was a very widespread belief that the
sacred dance originated with the gods, or, in the case of savages,
with animals regarded as ancestors. While there is no hint in the Old
Testament of any similar belief among the Israelites, we may well ask,
in view of what has just been said about the ubiquity of the sacred dance
itself, whether such a belief, or the echo of it, may not actually have
existed among them. It can scarcely be without significance that we get
definite traces of it in the later Jewish literature which preserves in
such numberless instances ancient traditions. It is said, for example,
in the Midrash _Shir ha-Shirim_ to vii. 1 that God Himself will lead the
dance of the righteous in the world to come. In an exegetical exercise of
a typically Rabbinical type on Ps. xlviii. 13, 14 (14, 15 in Hebr.) we
are told that the words: “Mark well her bulwarks,” should be rendered:
“Direct your heart to the dance”; for instead of _lĕḥēlah_ one must
read _lĕḥūlah_ (“to the dance”). It is said, further, that, in that day
the righteous shall point with their fingers and say, “This is our God,
who will lead us,” _i.e._ in the dance. Then it is said that the last
word of the psalm _ʿal-muth_ (“unto death”) should be read _ʿalamôth_
(“maidens”), _i.e._ God will lead the dance of the righteous in the
world to come just as the maidens lead the dance in this world! We are
not concerned with the exegesis, but only with the idea put forth. It
is quite conceivable that some old-world tradition lies behind it. In
any case, it suggests a parallel to the belief of many other peoples. It
shows also that we may at times be justified in seeking for side-lights
upon the religion of Israel from quarters which may not appear promising;
we fully realize the pitfalls into which we may stumble in such cases,
and the consequent need of caution; but one must be venturesome on
occasion.
We drew attention just now to the belief of the Central American Indians
that their gods could be prevailed upon to answer prayer by means of the
sacred dance; the “limping” dance of the prophets of Baal had a similar
purpose, though in this case there is a toning down inasmuch as there is
an appeal to the pity of the god. Not very far removed from this is the
idea of putting compulsion upon the god; an idea familiar to uncivilized
man[132]; and it is quite possible that in some cases the sacred dance
was believed to have the effect of coercing the god to do what was
required of him. The underlying idea is similar to that expressed in Gen.
xxviii. 20-22:
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will
keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat,
and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father’s
house in peace, then shall Jahwe be my God....
CHAPTER VI
THE RITUAL DANCE ROUND A SACRED OBJECT
I
The ritual encircling dance, whether in procession with measured tread or
in the form of a dance-step—and both are varieties of what is essentially
the same thing—is perhaps the commonest kind of sacred dance. Its
occurrence is world-wide. The object around which it takes place was in
most cases, at any rate originally, a sacred one: an idol, an altar, a
sacrificial victim, a holy tree, or a well. The encirclement was also
performed round other things; but in these cases the dance is of another
type to which attention will be drawn later.
Of sacred trees[133] and wells[134] among the Israelites we have abundant
witness in the Old Testament; there is also plenty of evidence of their
existence among other Semitic peoples, see, for example, Baudissin,
_Studien zur Semitischen Religionsgeschichte_, II. 154 ff. (1876);
Robertson Smith, _The Religion of the Semites_, Lecture V. (1894);
Lagrange, _Études sur les religions sémitiques_, pp. 158 ff., 162 ff.
(1903), to mention but three of the foremost authorities. The Old
Testament nowhere mentions any details of the cult in connexion with
these sacred objects, for reasons which have been pointed out[135],
and therefore there is no allusion to the dance around them; but as we
know from so many sources that wherever sacred trees and springs existed
(which has been all the world over) part of the ritual in connexion with
them consisted of the sacred dance, we need not gather from the silence
of the Old Testament that it did not take place.
An interesting instance may be given of the way in which we are able to
supplement an Old Testament record from other sources. In Num. xxi. 17,
18, occurs this song to the well:
Spring up, O well. Sing ye unto it;
To the well which the princes digged,
Which the nobles of the people delved,
With the wand, and with their staves.
Here we have a song to the well, though no mention is made of the sacred
dance; but in a striking parallel, recorded by Nilus, we are told that
when the nomadic Arabs found a well they danced by it and sang songs to
it[136]. Both song and dance were sacred, for, as Robertson Smith says:
Of all inanimate things that which has the best marked
supernatural associations among the Semites is flowing (or, as
the Hebrews say, “living”) water ... and sacred wells are among
the oldest and most ineradicable objects of reverence among
all the Semites, and are credited with oracular powers and a
sort of volition by which they receive or reject offerings.
Of course these superstitions often take the form of a belief
that the sacred spring is the dwelling-place of beings which
from time to time emerge from it in human or animal form, but
the fundamental idea is that the water itself is the living
organism of a demoniac life, not a mere dead organ[137].
Kazwini[138] relates that “when the water [of the wells of Ilabistan]
failed, a feast was held at the source, with music and dancing, to induce
it to flow again.”
One thinks of the “Well of Fair Dances” at Eleusis; though not offering a
parallel to what has just been said, it is in so far an analogy in that
it was a spring at which sacred dancing took place, in this case by women
in honour of Demeter[139].
We have mention of sacred dancing, again, in another connexion, viz.
around the Golden Calf. The passage is Exod. xxxii. 5, 6, 19:
And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron
made proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast (_ḥag_)
to Jahwe. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered
burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people
sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to dance[140].... And it
came to pass, as soon as he [_i.e._ Moses] came nigh unto the
camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing....
This definite mention of the sacred dance here justifies the assumption
that it was also performed in honour of a similar idol set up in other
sanctuaries, such as those in Dan and Bethel (1 Kings xii. 28, 29, 2
Kings x. 29; cp. Hos. x. 5), in Samaria (Hos. viii. 5, 6), and possibly
in Gilgal (Hos. xii. 11 [12], Am. v. 4, 5)[141].
Again, there are several passages in which the encirclement of the altar
is mentioned; these merit a little attention. In 1 Sam. xvi. 11, where
there is, however, a little uncertainty about the reading, there is some
justification in translating the Hebrew thus: “And Samuel said ... we
will not go round, _i.e._ the altar, till he come.” The Revised Version
follows the Septuagint and the Vulgate in rendering: “We will not sit
down, _i.e._ to the feast, till he come”; but this use of the word is
otherwise unknown in the Old Testament[142]. Taking it in its natural
sense the word would here refer to the ceremonial encircling of the altar
which is mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament, and was a recognized
part of the ritual in offering sacrifices among other peoples. In Ps.
xxvi. 6 it is said: “I will wash mine hands in innocency and will go
round thy altar, Jahwe”; this points clearly to the ritual encircling of
the altar, and the incidental mention of it without further comment seems
to imply that it formed part of the ordinary ritual[143]. A procession on
a larger scale may well be in the mind of the writer of Ps. xlviii. 13
[12 in R.V.]: “Encompass ye Zion, and go round about her”; the context
points to the reference being to some act of ritual worship; and that it
is a literal, and not a figurative, encirclement that is meant is clear
both from the use of _sābab_, as well as of _nāqaph_, which refers often
to the surrounding of cities.
An interesting passage is Ps. cxviii. 27, though there is some
uncertainty again about the text. The R.V. reads: “Bind the sacrifice
with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.” The word _ḥag_ is here
translated “sacrifice”; but this is not justified (in spite of Mal.
ii. 3), for, as Briggs rightly points out, the procedure “would not be
in accord with sacrificial laws and usage[144].” On the other hand, to
translate it by “sacred dance” would be to give the word, as we have
seen, its essential meaning[145]. Then, further, the word rendered “bind”
(_ʾasar_) can equally well mean “join”; cp. this meaning of the word in 1
Kings xx. 14, “Who will join battle?” The same use is found in 2 Chron.
xiii. 3, “And Abijah joined battle”; in each case this root (_ʾasar_)
is used. So that our passage could be rendered quite correctly: “Join
the sacred dance.” As to the word translated “cords,” or “ropes,” this
would be used quite appropriately in connexion with dancing; it is the
same idea as that connected with _ḥebel_ (“chain,” or “band”), used of
prophets going about in single file (see further below, p. 108). In Hos.
xi. 4 the two words are used as parallels. So that the reference in the
psalm may well be to strings of worshippers being called upon to join in
the sacred dance. Briggs’ objection to an explanation of this kind on the
ground that this usage of _ḥag_ is rare and early, “not to be thought
of in so late a psalm,” is not valid when one remembers the tenacity
with which religious customs and expressions are clung to. It is well to
remember that this psalm belongs to the “Hallel” (Pss. cxiii.-cxviii.),
the most important of the festival psalms; the “Hallel” was sung at all
the great feasts. We shall see presently that very clear evidence exists
for the performance of the encircling of the altar during the singing
of this psalm in later days, as well as other dancing during the great
festivals. It may be taken for granted that both kinds of dance were not
innovations belonging to subsequent ages, but the continuance of what had
been handed down for ages.
Further, one must take into consideration the idea that underlies the
ritual of the encirclement of a city, such as we read of in Josh. vi.,
where the same root as that for the ritual encompassing of the altar
is used (_sābab_). Through the whole account the religious element in
the undertaking comes strongly to the fore; the encircling procession
is a sacred act: the sounding of the rams’ horns by the priests, seven
in number, the presence of the ark, the sevenfold encirclement on the
seventh day, all emphasize its religious character which receives its
highest stamp in the words which proclaim the presence of Jahwe Himself
in the procession: “And it was so, that when Joshua had spoken unto the
people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns
before Jahwe passed on, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the
covenant of Jahwe followed them.” The God of the nation is conceived as
being either identified with, or present in, the ark. The meaning and
object of the encirclement is clear from the words in vi. 17: “And the
city shall be devoted, even it and all that is therein, to Jahwe.” It
is, as it were, a magic circle, described around the thing “devoted”
in order that nothing shall escape; by the encirclement it becomes
“consecrated”; though, of course, in a different sense from that in which
the encirclement of the altar consecrates the sacrifice on it.
Before drawing attention to some instances of this type of dance among
other peoples, mention may be made of one among the Jews of post-biblical
times. At the Feast of Tabernacles, after the sacrifices had been
offered, the priests went in procession round the altar singing Ps.
cxviii. 25 on each of the seven days during which the feast lasted. On
the seventh day a sevenfold circuit was made round the altar[146]. A
ceremony of this kind, as will be readily understood, would not have been
an innovation introduced in post-biblical times; we may confidently take
for granted that the usage, in one form or another, had been handed down
from time immemorial.
II
We have already drawn attention to the fact that the central and most
important part of the _cultus_ of the ancient Arabs was the circuit round
the sanctuary, or, when this was offered, round the sacrifice; and that
it was from this fact that the _Ḥagg_, which really means the “sacred
dance,” got its name. This sacred dance was performed not only round the
_Kaaba_, but in every sanctuary round the sacred object. The holy stone
is itself called _Davar_, “the object of encirclement,” because of the
custom of performing the sacred dance round it[147].
Another illustration of this type of sacred dance is given by Nilus.
In speaking of the Arabs of the Sinaitic Peninsula, he says that they
did not worship any god or image of a god, but sacrificed to the
morning star at its rising. Then he goes on to describe how they took
for their sacrifice a white camel which they forced into a kneeling
posture and “went circling round it in a circuitous fashion,” the
reference being clearly to some form of processional dance, which is
not, however, further described; but he mentions singing which went on
at the same time, a very usual accompaniment to the sacred dance. When
the third circuit had been made, and while the singing was still going
on, the leader in the procession slaughtered the camel[148]. According
to Jeremias this ritual perambulation (_ṭawâf_) round the altar or a
sacrificial victim among the idolatrous Semites may be explained as
having been a symbolic representation of the movement of the heavenly
bodies, in which case, as he maintains, the ritual dance would be proved
to be a product of the ancient oriental world-concept[149]. But the rite
is susceptible of a different explanation as we have seen[150].
Another instructive example among the Semites, in which it is evident
that the perambulation is not a symbolic representation of the movement
of the heavenly bodies, is that which takes place at the festival of the
Pyre at Heliopolis. Lucian describes this as follows:
The greatest of the festivals that they celebrate is that held
in the opening of the spring; some call this the Pyre, others
the Lamp. On this occasion the sacrifice is performed in this
way. They cut down tall trees and set them up in the court;
then they bring goats and sheep and cattle and hang them living
to the trees; they add to these birds and garments, and gold
and silver work. After all is finished, they carry the gods
around the trees and set fire under; in a moment all is in a
blaze. To this solemn rite a great multitude flocks from Syria
and all the regions around. Each brings his own god and the
statues which each has of his own gods[151].
This encircling procession of the gods will be referred to again when
we review the instances of this type of sacred dance which have been
gathered.
The suspending of the animals on trees reminds us—but the object is
different—of the _Dhāt anwāt_, or “tree to hang things on”; the spirit of
a departed saint is supposed to take up his abode in the tree at certain
times, and his worshippers hang rags and ribbons on its branches as
“pledges of attachment[152]”; this is still very common at the present
day[153]. Dancing is, however, never mentioned in connexion with this.
But in the case of the holy tree spoken of by the ancient Arabian
historian, Tabari, it is very probable that dancing was performed round
it, even though it is not specifically mentioned. He tells of a lofty
date-palm in Nĕgrān which the inhabitants worshipped, and in honour
of which a festival was celebrated annually; on these occasions they
bedecked the tree with as many beautiful women’s garments as could be
procured, and during a whole day divine honours were paid to it[154].
Once more, to take a modern example which may well reflect traditional
usage; among the Noṣairis, a Semitic tribe inhabiting the mountainous
country to the south of the Orontes, and among whom many ancient customs
are preserved, a festival called the feast of St Barbe is observed. At
this feast the young men and women, after candles have been lighted,
dance round the festival board, which is covered with food of various
kinds, singing and shouting[155]. Apparently there is little religious
significance in this now; but it is safe to say that at some time of
its history this dance constituted an act of honour to the saint, or a
predecessor.
We have been unable to find any further instances of this type of sacred
dance among Semitic peoples, nor yet among the Egyptians.
III
Among the Greeks the dance round a sacred object must have been very
usual, judging from representations of it which have been found in
Cyprus. Thus, a votive offering made of clay, found near the villages
of Katydata-Linu and now in the Cyprus Museum, is a very interesting
example; it consists of three bearded men dancing round another, who is
also bearded and who accompanies the dance on a Pan’s-pipe. Aphrodite was
the chief goddess worshipped in the locality. The workmanship is very
rough and belongs, according to Ohnefalsch-Richter, to the 6th century
B.C. One of the dancing figures is lost, but the three were originally
clearly represented as dancing round the one in the centre with hands
joined. “It shows a dance-group such as was so often formed at festivals
of the gods by Aryans and Semites, Greeks and Hebrews[156].” Somewhat
similar to this is another group (cxxxv. 6) of three women holding
hands and dancing round another who is playing a Pan’s-pipe. Another
represents, as Ohnefalsch-Richter says, an Olympian dance (cxxxii. 3);
in this case seven women are dancing round in a circle; the arms of
each clasp the neighbour on either side round the waist. An example of
the sexes dancing together is cxxxv. 6; this is of terra-cotta from
Leukosia[157]; six figures are dancing in a semi-circle, two are playing
the tympanum; they are alternately men and women (cp. the quotation from
the _Iliad_ given above: “Young men and comely damsels were dancing,
that clasped each other by the wrist”). Again, a vessel of stone, which
Ohnefalsch-Richter believes to have been a vessel for incense, forms a
group of three women dancing in a circle with joined hands. It resembles
many similar vessels found in the Artemis-Kybele _temenos_ at Achna,
in Cyprus, as well as in Artemis-Kybele groves; they are not found
elsewhere; all represent three women, roughly formed in the “Egyptian
style,” and seem to have been a common cult-object in the worship of
Artemis-Kybele[158].
Two examples representing a dance round a sacred tree may be mentioned.
One is very roughly made of clay; three women holding hands are dancing
round it (cxxxv. 4). In this case the representation is formed on a
golden ring, from Mycenae; it is evidently intended to be a dance round
a sacred tree. This kind of sacred dance, says Ohnefalsch-Richter, often
occurs on Graeco-Phoenician bronze vases[159].
Finally, just a word may be said of the ceremony called the ἀμφιδρόμια,
“the running round”; this was a purificatory rite for new-born
infants[160]. The child was carried at a running pace round the domestic
hearth, the idea being, presumably, that the proximity of the fire acted
as a lustration; this does not, however, explain the running round for
which there must have been some special reason; is it possible that the
idea here was that the current of air, produced by the quick running
round, which played upon the child, also had a purifying effect? Air was
one of the means of lustration; the combination of fire and air would
have afforded all that could be desired[161].
While this rite cannot be described as magical, it is not, strictly
speaking, religious; it seems to be in a sphere between the two; at the
same time, judging from certain Roman rites to which we turn now, the
ἀμφιδρόμια at any rate approaches the border-line of religion.
IV
The type of sacred dance which we are considering does not seem to
have been in vogue among the Romans excepting in the form of the
circumambulatory procession; and although the word “dance” can only in an
extended sense be applied to a procession, yet, as we have seen (pp. 5
f.), this is justified. The Romans worshipped their gods with sacrifice
and prayer; the two, so far as is known, were invariably combined. But
on important occasions, and for particular reasons, these
were performed in the course of a procession or circuit round
some object—land, city, army, or instruments, such as arms
and trumpets—or, again, the whole Roman people, if supposed
to be in need of ‘purification’ from some evil influence; in
this extended form the ritual was called _lustratio_; and this
ceremonial was perhaps the most characteristic, not only of the
Roman, but of all ancient Italian forms of worship[162].
The object of this rite was, according to Wissowa[163], the purification
of all that was within the circle formed by the procession; and as the
sacred victims intended for sacrifice were taken round, the effect was to
keep away all evil influences outside the circuit made.
A striking example of this circumambulatory procession was its
performance by the _Fratres Arvales_ at the festival of the _Ambarvalia_,
to which reference is made below (p. 149). Another is that of the course
of the _Luperci_ round the Palatine Hill at the _Lupercalia_ (see
further, p. 150); this, too, had as its object purification whereby
fruitfulness was imparted to the fruits of the field, and to the flocks.
As among the Greeks, so, too, the Romans had a purificatory rite for
their new-born infants on the _dies lustricus_, _i.e._ on the ninth day
after birth for boys, on the eighth for girls. Marquardt thinks that
perhaps the Romans took over the rite from the Greeks[164].
V
Among uncultured races the sacred dance in a circle, or round some sacred
object, is widely spread; many illustrations of it could be given, but it
will suffice if quite a few examples are offered because, as there is a
great family likeness between them, a few will answer the same purpose as
a large number.
Schoolcraft tells us that among the Dakotahs a feast is held every now
and then at which a special dance is performed in honour of their god
Ha-o-Kah. He is a giant god, but subordinate to the Great Spirit. This
dance
is performed by the men only, within a wigwam, around a fire
over which are kettles of meat boiling. They have no clothing
except a conical cap made of birch bark with paint to represent
lightning, and some strips of the same material around the
loins. While hopping and singing around the kettles they
will thrust in their bare hands and pull out pieces of meat
and eat them while scalding hot. After the meat is all eaten
they will splash the hot water over their bare backs, all the
time hopping around and singing out, “oh, how cold it is!”
pretending that the hot water does not scald them, and that the
god will not allow any of his clan to be injured by it.
An illustration is given of the worshippers hopping round the fire[165].
Again, the Timagani Indians have a “Bear Dance” which is performed in the
form of a circle led by the chief playing a drum and singing the “Bear
Dance” song; the circle goes round counter-clockwise.
The leader sometimes dances backwards, turns round, stoops, and
in other ways imitates the bear.... The circling keeps up until
the song is finished. The idea of this dance seems to be to
honour the bear by imitating him[166].
The performers in this dance do not encircle any object; it is simply
a dance in the form of a circle; they do not hold hands, but go round
in a follow-my-leader style. Although the dancing in honour of the bear
reminds one of the Ἀρκτεία performed in honour of Artemis, it differs
from this in that only men take part in it; and the Ἀρκτεία, in which
the performers are only young girls is, as we have seen, an initiation
ceremony. A closer parallel of the dance of the Timagani Indians is the
“Bear Dance” among the Sioux Indians mentioned by Réville[167].
At the New Year festival of the Kayans of Sarāwak, to come to another
part of the world, there is a great sacrifice of pigs, whose “spiritual
essence is appropriately offered to the spirits, while their material
substance is consumed by the worshippers.”
“In carrying out this highly satisfactory arrangement,” says
Frazer, “while the live pigs lay tethered in a row on the
ground, the priestesses dance solemnly round a sacrificial
stage, each of them arrayed in a war-mantle of panther skin,
and wearing a war-cap on her head, and on either side two
priests armed with swords execute war-dances for the purpose of
scaring away evil spirits...[168].”
This encirclement of the sacrificial victims seems to be a kind of
consecrating act prior to the sacrifice similar to the rite of the
heathen Arabs in encircling their white camel destined for sacrifice to
the morning star. The same is probably the case among the Bagobos of
Mindanao, one of the Philippine islands, who
perform a sacred dance round a human victim prior to his
sacrifice, offered for the purpose of making the crops
grow[169].
But the more usual rite for making the crops grow is the sacred dance
round a tree; the propitiation of the tree-spirit is believed to be a
potent means for securing this end[170]. Thus the Gallas dance in couples
round sacred trees, praying for a good harvest. Every couple consists
of a man and a woman, who are linked together by a stick, of which each
holds one end. Under their arms they carry green corn or grass[171]. This
is the underlying idea of the dances of a quasi-religious character round
the May-pole, and round the “Corn-Mother[172],” of which there are such
numberless instances. It is also supposed to make the cattle thrive; one
instance of numbers may be given; the Wends used to attach an iron cock
to an oak; they danced round this and then drove their cattle round it
in the belief that by this means their cattle would increase[173].
We refrain from offering further examples, for everyone knows how common
this custom was, and still is.
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS
The objects around which dances were performed were various. In the
Old Testament dancing is not mentioned around trees and wells, but as
these were often sacred and as, in consequence, the dance around them
was very common among many peoples, it is a reasonable assumption that
the Israelites did the same. The song to the well in Num. xxi. 17, 18
strengthens this assumption, especially in view of the two parallels
given. The definite mention of dancing in connexion with the Golden
Calf (it is not specifically stated that the dancing was _round_ it,
but this would have been the most obvious form for it to take) suggests
the probability that similar idols in other sanctuaries were similarly
honoured.
The ceremonial encirclement of the altar, whatever the form of the
encircling procession, is sufficiently attested in the Old Testament,
though the text is uncertain in three of the passages cited. The usage in
later days among the Jews must be regarded as the continuance of ancient
custom. The analogy of the encirclement of a city is appropriate in this
connexion. The object of the encircling procession round a city seems
to be that of “devoting” all that is within it, which thereby becomes
_taboo_. The encirclement of the altar is an act of consecration, _i.e._
of the sacrifice upon it. This explanation of the rite is suggested
by the analogous custom among the Arabs of encircling a sacrificial
victim. The contention that the encircling procession was a symbolic
representation of the movement of the heavenly bodies does not explain
why it should take place round a _sacrificial victim_. The rite seems
more likely to have had the object of consecration; and this receives
confirmation from the instance recorded by Lucian among the Syrians who
perambulated their gods round the sacrificial victims; this can scarcely
have had any other meaning than that of sanctifying all within the divine
circle traced by the gods.
The dance round a sacred object must have been very common among the
Greeks, judging by the large number of representations of it which have
come down to us; the Cyprus “finds” are full of interest. Those which
represent the dance round a person who accompanies it on a Pan’s-pipe
probably portrays the kind of dancing which took place at festivals
when numbers of such groups were formed. Such dances must often have
degenerated into mere “fun”; but that they originally had a serious
side and were performed with the single purpose of doing something
pleasing in the sight of a god or goddess, does not admit of doubt.
The representations may well reflect one form of dancing at Israelite
festivals. Among the Greeks we have direct evidence of these “ring”
dances being performed by men and women together; and it is known that
this led at times to unseemly licence. What little evidence we have on
the subject so far as the Israelites were concerned points to the fact
that the sexes danced separately; whether this was always so must be
left undetermined. The examples of the dance round the sacred tree are
instructive; it was undoubtedly practised by all peoples among whom
trees were objects of worship, and therefore in all probability among
the Israelites. The ἀμφιδρόμια, or purificatory rite of running round
new-born infants, practised by the Greeks and Romans, had no parallel
among the Israelites, so far as we know. But the ritual _lustratio_ of
the Romans may well throw light on the Israelite ritual of encircling the
altar, referred to above.
The dance of the Dakotahs round the flesh-pot was performed purely in
honour of the god; it partakes in some sense of an act of faith, for
the believers persuade themselves that their god will not permit his
worshippers to be scalded by the boiling water; whether their faith ever
reached the height of neutralizing sensation is not recorded. The Bear
Dance of the Timagani Indians and of the Sioux North American Indians
must have a point of attachment somewhere with the Ἀρκτεία danced in
honour of Artemis. The dance of the Kayans, as well as the Bagobos,
around sacrificial victims appears to serve a consecrating purpose.
One of the original objects of the dance round the sacred tree is seen
from the practice among the Gallas to be to make the crops grow; the
tree-spirit who looks after these things is propitiated by the dance
in his honour. It is difficult to resist the surmise that at one time
the Israelites did the same thing. Tree-spirits, it is true, have not
necessarily anything to do with the crops, and we may be certain that in
many cases there was no connexion between sacred trees and the growth of
the crops among the Israelites; but they were an agricultural people,
and the belief in the influence of tree-spirits upon the growth of the
crops is so widespread that the probability of its existence among the
Israelites must be reckoned with.
CHAPTER VII
THE ECSTATIC DANCE
I
An important department of our subject is that of the type of dance
performed by the early prophets of Israel. We say the “early” prophets
because the one account which the Old Testament gives us of this kind of
dance refers to it among the early prophets. There is, however, no reason
for supposing—rather the contrary[174]—that this type of the sacred dance
was confined to the _early_ prophets of Israel. Its purpose was connected
with an aspiration deeply seated in human nature; its performance has
been very widespread among peoples of antiquity; and it is found to exist
at the present day among uncultured races. So that the presumption is
that it did not cease abruptly among the Israelites, but continued, at
any rate, up to the time of the Exile.
This type of dance is the outcome of strong religious emotion which
necessitates some bodily expression. It may be paralleled with the
exuberance of physical health which demands vigorous exercise. While it
begins with moderated movements, held in check by rhythmical restraint,
yet as the nervous excitement of the performer becomes increasingly
intense and the physical exertion more exacting, so does the dance
get wilder and wilder until, as the result of the abandonment of all
self-control, the dancer ultimately loses consciousness. Its contagious
character has often been remarked upon.
But the religious emotion which thus finds expression is engendered by
an aspiration which is believed to be attained by means of the dance;
and this aspiration is nothing less than union with the deity. The loss
of consciousness which eventually takes place is replaced, so it is
believed, by the indwelling of the divine spirit; the body thus becomes
the temporary abode of the deity, and is utilized for divine purposes.
The first passage in the Old Testament with which we are specially
concerned is 1 Sam. x. 5 ff.:
... and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to
the city, that thou shalt meet a band (_ḥebel_) of prophets
coming down from the high place (_bāmāh_), and in front of
them harp and drum and pipe and lyre, and they shall be
prophesying...,
cp. xix. 20-24. It is true, no direct mention of the sacred dance is
made here, but in view of the enumeration of musical instruments which,
as we have seen, usually accompanied dancing, it is reasonable to assume
that a ritual dance was taking place. That it was a religious exercise
of some kind is made clear by the fact that they had come down from the
high place (_bāmāh_), _i.e._ a sanctuary. The technical name for such a
band of prophets, _ḥebel_, “rope” or “string” (cp. Josh. ii. 15), shows
that the procession was in single file[175]; with which we may compare
the sacred dance in single file depicted on the Hittite inscription at
Boghazkeui (see p. 59). The account given in the Old Testament of the
“prophesying” of these early prophets, and of the means employed whereby
they reached the pitch of excitement required for the purpose, is so
sober and restrained that it would be difficult to form a picture of
the whole proceeding without the help of analogous performances among
other peoples. And we are justified in believing that the practice of
this type of dance among other peoples does throw light on its mode of
performance among these Israelite prophets, because it is a question
here of a phenomenon, a curious phenomenon, which appears at a certain
stage of religious development, with few exceptions, all over the world.
Its details may, and do, differ; but the essence of the rite is the
same. There are innate tendencies in human nature which produce similar
results; and this is one of them. So that when the means used for
producing such results are given in greater detail in many cases, we are
justified in believing them to have been similar in a case in which, for
some reason or other, the details are only partially described. But if
the details of the means used to produce the result are somewhat lacking
in the Old Testament account, the result itself is stated clearly enough.
The object of all that took place was to be “possessed,”—in this case
by the spirit of Jahwe; for it was this “possession,” this indwelling
of the deity, which enforced the “prophesying.” In the passage before
us the centre of interest, in the eyes of the writer, is Saul. Of him
it is said that, as a result of his contact with the “rope” of prophets
prophesying, “the spirit of Jahwe” would come “mightily” upon him, and
that he, too, would prophesy with them, and “be turned into another man”;
the context shows that his contact with the prophets meant joining in
their ecstatic dance, the effect of which is graphically described in
verses 11, 12:
And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw
that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people
said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of
Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?...
The surprise here expressed was natural enough seeing the extravagances
to which the ecstatic state led, for in xix. 24 it is said of Saul that
as one of the results of his “possession” he “stripped off his clothes
... and lay down naked all that day and all that night.”
The point with which we are primarily concerned is the means employed
to get oneself into the ecstatic state required in order to become
“possessed.” As is well known, these were of various kinds; but the one
most prevalent in antiquity, as well as among men in a low stage of
culture at the present day, was, and is, the sacred dance accompanied
by music. While there is only one other passage (on which see below) in
the Old Testament which deals in any detail with this type of sacred
dance, it would be the greatest mistake to suppose that it was of only
rare occurrence[176]. In the passage just referred to, there is no hint
as to its being anything unusual; the only thing unusual was Saul’s
“possession,” while the very saying, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
points to the peculiarity of the prophets as something recognized and
well known. And from what we gather as to the existence of the ecstatic
dance among other peoples, the fact of its existence among the Israelites
does not strike one as other than what one would expect.
But we turn now to another passage in which we read of a sacred dance of
a peculiar kind which seems to develop into an orgiastic form of ecstatic
dance. This was a ritual limping dance performed at sanctuaries, and
apparently in cases of great emergency. Its object was not the same as
that form of it to which we have just referred; however, as it evidently
must belong to the category of ecstatic dances, we consider it here. The
passage is the familiar one, 1 Kings xviii. 26, where it is said that
the prophets of Baal executed a special kind of limping dance around
the altar: “They limped about the altar which was made.” This was done
after the ineffectual calling upon the name of their god from morning
till noon, so that it seems to have been regarded by them as a special
means of appeal to which recourse was had as a last resort. The dance
consisted of a step which had the effect of making the dancers look
lame[177]. This is clear from the use of the root in other connexions.
Thus, Mephibosheth “became lame” (2 Sam. iv. 4 and ix. 13), as the result
of a fall. The same root is used in reference to men who are lame in 2
Sam. v. 6-8, and also in Lev. xxi. 18, where a lame man is not permitted
“to offer bread to his God.” It is also used in reference to animals not
regarded as fit to be sacrificed because of lameness (Deut. xv. 21, Mal.
i. 8-13; cp. also Isa. xxxiii. 23, xxxv. 6, Jer. xxxi. 8, Prov. xxvi. 7,
Job xxix. 15; and as a proper name it occurs in 1 Chron. iv. 12, Ezra
ii. 49, Neh. iii. 6, vii. 51). In a figurative way, but connoting the
same idea, the word occurs in 1 Kings xviii. 21: “How long will ye limp
upon two legs?” That the prophet is making a word-play here is obvious;
but the passage raises the question as to the kind of step in which
the dance was performed. Limping on two legs can hardly mean that the
“limping” was done on both legs at the same time, for a frog-leap of this
kind would not suggest lameness! The limp must have been done on either
leg alternately, yet neither leg being raised from the ground; as this
involves the bending of the knees, one can form a fairly clear idea of
what this dance looked like. The word for “legs” is used in Isa. xvii.
6, xxvii. 10 of the forked branches of a tree, cp. Ezek. xxxi. 6-8; if
one pictures to oneself such a fork, gnarled and bent, it might certainly
suggest the position of a man’s legs while performing this dance. The
purpose of this curious dance-step may well have been that by simulating
lameness it was thought that the pity of the god would be aroused, and
that he would therefore be moved to answer petitions. As Robertson Smith
says, “the limping dance of the priests of Baal in 1 Kings xviii. 26 is
associated with forms of mournful supplication, and in Syriac the same
verb, in different conjugations, means ‘to dance’ and ‘to mourn[178].’”
While the dance began in sober style[179] it gradually increased to an
orgiastic frenzy, as is clear from verse 28: “And they cried aloud, and
cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, till the blood
gushed out upon them”; cp. Hos. vii. 14[180].
This dance was performed by the prophets of Baal, and it may therefore be
objected that it does not reflect Israelite usage because the worship of
these prophets was Phoenician (cp. 1 Kings xvi. 30-33); but to this it
must be replied that the Old Testament gives ample evidence to show that
the influence of the indigenous cults of the land was very powerful upon
the Israelites[181]; the prophet Elijah himself regards practically the
whole nation as under this influence (1 Kings xix. 10, 18). Moreover, we
have mention of a ritual dance similar to that just referred to in Gen.
xxxii. 30, 31 (31, 32 in Hebr.), though the word used is a different one
(_zalaʿ_):
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for I have seen
God face to face, and my life is preserved. And the sun rose
upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh.
We must see here, as Gunkel points out, an aetiological _trait_: “Just
as, and because, Jacob limped in Penuel, so are we also wont to limp
in Penuel[182].” The name implies that it was a sanctuary, a name such
as “the face of God” proves that here a god was believed to manifest
himself[183]; and, whatever may have originally been the reason for it,
it was the custom at this sanctuary to perform the “limping” dance. It
took place at sunrise (see verse 31), so that it may at one time have had
something to do with sun-worship.
Conceivably another ancient sanctuary where this special kind of
dance was performed was _Zēlaʿ_[184], the name of Saul’s ancestral
dwelling-place (2 Sam. xxi. 14).
Although the passages in the Old Testament in which this type of sacred
dance is referred to are not numerous, they are sufficient to show that
the ecstatic dance was not unknown among the Israelites. We have already
shown reasons to account for the comparative paucity of references in the
Old Testament to the religious dance generally; what we have said applies
to this limping dance with special force, since there are grounds for
believing it to have been of Syrian origin; as characteristic of Syrian
religion it would have been regarded with special abhorrence by Israelite
religious leaders as being the heathen rite of that form of alien cult to
the influence of which the Israelites were most exposed.
It will have been noticed that mention has been made of what are,
in effect, two distinct forms of what for the want of a better term
we have called the ecstatic dance, viz. that which had for its
object the bringing about of a state of semi-consciousness, or total
unconsciousness, during which state the deity was believed to take up
his abode in the body of the worshipper, _i.e._ union with the deity;
and that which had for its purpose the enforcing of the deity to answer
prayer. They differed in important particulars, to which we shall refer
again; but that wherein they were similar was the state of wild frenzy
which both ultimately assumed.
We shall now draw attention to some examples of both forms of this
ecstatic dance among other peoples.
II
It is a significant fact that, with the exception of Syria, there is
scarcely any evidence of the existence of the ecstatic dance among the
Semites. In the great mass of Babylonian and Assyrian texts of which
translations have been published[185] many refer to ritual of various
kinds; in these some incidental references to this type of dance might
have been expected to occur had such been in existence. We have sought
in vain among many of these translated texts for any hint of it; nor
have we been able to find in the works of authoritative writers on
Assyro-Babylonian religion any allusion to it. It may, we believe, be
accepted as a fact that the ecstatic dance was unknown among these
people; and this would accord with what is otherwise known of their
religious practices, which were austere and restrained.
What has been said applies also to the ancient Egyptians; evidence for
the existence of this type of religious dance does not appear on the
inscriptions, nor yet in Egyptian texts[186]. On the other hand, one
has only to think of the Dancing Dervishes to realize that the ecstatic
dance exists in Egypt at the present day. Tristram compares the dancing
of the modern dervishes with that of the early Israelite prophets; and
he gives an interesting description of Arabi Pasha leading a procession
with the sacred carpet for the Kaaba of Mecca out of Cairo on its way to
the Prophet’s shrine; “in front,” he says, “was a vast crowd of ulemas
and dervishes, leaping, bounding, swaying their arms, and whirling
round in time to the din of drums, trumpets, and cymbals which followed
them[187].” One feels that there must be a long history behind this, and
though the evidence is wanting it is difficult to believe that there was
not something of the kind in ages long since past.
Again, as to the ancient Arabs, there is almost as great a dearth of
evidence, though some slight indications exist of this type of dance
having been performed in days gone by[188]. Thus, a proceeding very
similar to that of Saul is mentioned by Robertson Smith of Kûkubûry, who
used “under the influence of religious music, to become so excited as to
pull off part of his clothes”; like Saul he was what the Arabs would now
call _malbûs_[189]. This type of dance exists at the present day among
the Arabs, and it is interesting to note, among other things, that it is
regarded as a means to mystic experiences[190].
Fuller information is forthcoming with regard to the ancient Syrians.
There is the interesting story of Wen-Amon, an Egyptian official who
came to Byblos in Phoenicia in the 11th century B.C. Here we are told of
how a noble youth, while he was sacrificing to his gods, was seized by
the god who caused him to fall into a state of ecstasy; the hieroglyph
depicts a man rushing forward with outstretched arms. While the youth is
in this state he prophesies, declaring that a certain messenger who had
arrived had indeed brought the image of a god, and must be received, for
he had been sent by Amon. This occurs as the messenger with his god is
on the point of being sent away. We are not concerned with the various
details of this story; the point is that a youth is supposed to have been
caused by the will of the god to fall into an ecstasy; the hieroglyph
clearly implies an ecstatic dance; and as a result he reveals the arrival
of another god brought by the messenger. He speaks while in this state
of ecstasy words which are divinely put into his mouth, so that he is
the mouthpiece of the god[191]. This is precisely the same idea as that
of the spirit of Jahwe coming mightily upon Saul, he prophesies, and is
turned into another man.
Another example is given by Heliodorus (_Aethiopica_, IV. 16 f.), who
describes the sacred dance of the Tyrian seafarers in the worship of the
Tyrian Herakles; he says:
And I left them there with their flutes and their dances,
which they performed after the manner of the Assyrians [_i.e._
Syrians], hopping to the accompaniment of the quick music of
the Pektides, now jumping up with light leaps, now limping
along on the ground, and then turning with the whole body,
spinning around like men possessed[192].
The limping here recalls the dance of the prophets of Baal, or rather of
its earlier phase, and that of Jacob at Penuel. For the wilder phase of
the dance of these prophets we have a very interesting parallel given by
Apuleius of the ecstatic dance of the priests of the Syrian goddess. This
is well worth giving in full; it occurs in _The Golden Ass_, VIII. 27, 28:
The day following I saw them apparelled in divers colours, and
hideously tricked out, having their faces ruddled with paint,
and their eyes tricked out with grease, mitres on their heads,
vestments coloured like saffron, surplices of silk and linen;
and some ware white tunics painted with purple stripes which
pointed every way like spears, girt with belts, and on their
feet were yellow shoes. And they attired the goddess in silken
robe, and put her upon my back. Then they went forth with their
arms naked to their shoulders, bearing with them great swords
and mighty axes, shouting and dancing, like mad persons, to
the sound of the pipe. After that we had passed many small
villages, we fortuned to come to a certain rich man’s house,
where, at our first entry, they began to howl all out of tune
and hurl themselves hither and thither as though they were mad.
They made a thousand gests with their feet and their heads;
they would bend down their necks, and spin round so that their
hair flew out at a circle; they would bite their own flesh;
finally, everyone took his two-edged weapon and wounded his
arms in divers places. Meanwhile, there was one more mad than
the rest, that fetched many deep sighs from the bottom of his
heart, as though he had been ravished in spirit, or replenished
with divine power, and he feigned a swoon and frenzy, as if
(forsooth) the presence of the gods were not wont to make men
better than before, but weak and sickly.... And therewithal he
took a whip, such as is naturally borne by these womanish men,
with many twisted knots and tassels of wool, and strung with
sheep’s knuckle-bones, and with the knotted thongs scourged
his own body, very strong to bear the pain of the blows, so
that you might see the ground to be wet and defiled with the
womanish blood that issued out abundantly with the cutting of
the swords and the blows of the scourge...[193].
The close parallel of this procedure of these Syrian priests with that of
the prophets of Baal needs no insisting upon.
III
We turn now to Greek sources; and here the material is as abundant as
it is interesting; the examples to be given are therefore restricted in
number, but they will be sufficient to illustrate the important part that
this type of dance played in Greek religious ritual.
By way of introduction the following words of Farnell[194] will be found
instructive; he is dealing with the earliest period of Greek religion,
and in writing about the worship of Dionysos, says he was
vaguer in outline (than Apollo or Athene), a changeful power
conceived more in accordance with daimonistic, later with
pantheistic, thought, incarnate in many animal-shapes, and
operative in the life-processes of the vegetative world; and an
atmosphere of Nature-magic accompanied him;
then he goes on to say that
the central motives of this oldest form of ritual were the
birth and death of the god—a conception pregnant of ideas that
were to develop in the religious future, but alien to the
ordinary Hellenic theology, though probably not unfamiliar to
the earlier Cretan-Mycenaean creed. But the death of this god
was partly a fact of ritual; he was torn to pieces by his mad
worshippers and devoured sacramentally, for the bull or the
goat or the boy that they rent and devoured was supposed to
be his temporary incarnation, so that by this savage, and at
times cannibalistic, communion they were filled with his blood
and his spirit, and acquired miraculous powers. By such an
act, and—we may suppose—by the occasional use of intoxicants
and other nervous stimulants, the psychic condition that
this worship evoked was frenzy and ecstasy, which might show
itself in a wild outburst of mental and physical force, and
which wrought up the enthusiastic feeling of self-abandonment,
whereby the worshipper escaped the limits of his own nature
and achieved a temporary sense of identity with the god, which
might avail him even after death. This privilege of ecstasy
might be used for the practical purposes of vegetation-magic,
yet was desired and proclaimed for its own sake as a more
intense mood of life. This religion preached no morality, and
could ill adapt itself to civic life; its ideal was supernormal
psychic energy.
It is only one aspect of the ritual of this religion with which we are
now concerned, and which is to be illustrated by the examples given,
namely, the ecstatic dance which played such an important part in it.
Therefore we naturally think of the mythic Maenads[195], and more
especially of their historical counterpart, the Thyiads, who are much
the same as the female Bacchantes. According to the myth concerning the
origin of the Thyiads, they were so called because the first priestess
of Dionysos was named Thyia, and she performed orgiastic dances in his
honour; hence all women who danced, or “went mad,” in honour of Dionysos
were called Thyiads after her. The Maenads are depicted on many Greek
vases and bas-reliefs, so that we can form a good idea of the kind of
dances they were supposed to perform; and these were, of course, the
actual form of the dances executed by the Thyiads. Thus, for example,
on a vase in the Naples Museum four Maenads are represented dancing;
two, with head thrown back, carry the thyrsus, a staff with vine-leaves,
at the top of which was a pine-cone. One of them has also a torch; two
others, while dancing, play, one a tambourine, the other a pipe[196]. Or
again, on a cup in the Athens National Museum a Maenad is represented
playing a tambourine, or timbrel, and dancing in wild fashion[197].
Another example is the dancing, accompanied by instrumental music,
which is portrayed on the beautiful cylix of Hieron, “perhaps the most
exquisite that ceramography has left us[198]”; the movements of the
maidens are superbly executed. But instances of this kind could be
greatly multiplied; they all exhibit one or other phase of orgiastic
dance, “the same mad revelry, the utter exhaustion and prostrate
sleep[199]”; and they represent the kind of dancing which historically
was performed by the Thyiads. “Maenad,” as Miss Harrison says, “is the
Mad One, Thyiad the Rushing Distraught One, or something of the kind ...
Mad One, Distraught One, Pure One, are simply ways of describing a woman
under the influence of a god, of Dionysos[200]”; and, of course, this
madness could be caused by any other orgiastic divinity.
Those who took part in these dances are described as “raving and
possessed”; their over-wrought state caused them to see visions[201]; the
god was believed to be present, though invisible; and at the Dionysos
festivals the maidens celebrated his presence[202], thus direct contact
with him by his worshippers was effected[203].
In an interesting passage in Pausanias we read:
But I could not understand why he (_i.e._ Homer, in _Od._ XI.
581) spoke of the fair dancing grounds of Panopeus till it was
explained to me by the women whom the Athenians call Thyiades.
The Thyiads are Attic women who go every other year with the
Delphian women to Parnassos, and there hold orgies in honour
of Dionysos. It is the custom of these Thyiads to dance at
various places on the road from Athens, and one of these places
is Panopeus. Thus, the epithet which Homer applies to Panopeus
seems to allude to the dance of the Thyiads[204].
The finest and most graphic description of this ecstatic dance is that
given by Aristophanes in the _Frogs_, 325 ff. which is sung by the chorus
of the Mystae:
Thou that dwellest in the shadow
Of great glory here beside us,
Spirit, Spirit, we have hied us
To thy dancing in the meadow!
Come, Iacchus; let thy brow
Toss its fruited myrtle bough;
We are thine, O happy dancer; O our comrade, come and guide us!
Let the mystic measure beat:
Come in riot fiery feet;
Free and holy all before thee,
And thy Mystae wait the music of thy feet!
Spirit, Spirit, lift the shaken
Splendour of thy tossing torches!
All the meadow flashes, scorches:
Up, Iacchus, and awaken!
Come, thou star that bringest light
To the darkness of our rite,
Till thine old men dance as young men, dance with every thought forsaken.
Of the dulness and the fear
Left by many a circling year:
Let thy red light guide the dances
Where thy banded youth advances,
To be joyous by the blossoms of the mere![205]
Iacchus was the name by which Dionysos was known at Eleusis[206].
Pindar, in the Pythian Ode, refers to the dancing of the Thyiads at
the annual festival celebrated in honour of Pan, when, according to
Herodotus, VI. 105, sacrifice was offered and a torch procession took
place:
I would pray to the Mother to loose her ban,
The holy goddess to whom, and to Pan,
Before my gate, all night long,
The maids do worship with dance and song[207].
Reference may also be made to Pausanias, V. xvi. 5, where we read of the
“Sixteen Women” who get up two choruses, that of Physcoa and that of
Hippodamia; the former was loved by Dionysos, and she is said to have
been the first to pay reverence to him; and therefore “among the honours
which Physcoa receives is a chorus named after her and arranged by the
Sixteen Women.”
The Thyiads are, as already mentioned, the same as the female Bacchantes
often spoken of Pausanias, for example, makes a reference to them:
... Beyond the theatre is a temple of Dionysos; the image
of the god is of gold and ivory, and beside it are female
Bacchantes in white marble. They say that these women are
sacred, and that they rave in honour of Dionysos[208].
It is to these that Euripides refers in the _Bacchae_[209]. Diodorus
speaks of them thus:
... In many towns of Greece every alternate year Bacchanalian
assemblies of women gather together, and it is the custom for
maidens to carry the thyrsus and to revel together, honouring
and glorifying the god; and for the (married) women to worship
the god in organized bands, and to revel in every way to
celebrate the presence of Dionysos, imitating thereby the
Maenads who from of old, it is said, constantly attended the
god[210].
The male correlatives of Maenads, or rather Thyiads, are the Kouretes,
who took their part in the Orphic mysteries. They were
the young population considered as worshipping the young male
god, the Kouros; they were “mailed priests” because the young
male population were naturally warriors. They danced their
local war-dance over the new-born child, and, because in those
early days the worship of the Mother and the son was not yet
sundered, they were attendants (_prospoloi_) on the Mother also
... they are divine (_theoi_), and their dancing is sacred[211].
Clement of Alexandria refers to them thus:
The mysteries of Dionysos are wholly inhuman; for while he
was still a child and the Kouretes were dancing their armed
dance about him, the Titans stole upon him, deceived him with
childish toys, and tore him to pieces[212].
A typical instance of myth regarded as reality. We are only dealing here,
however, with a _few_ examples of the ecstatic dance among the Greeks.
Those given will suffice for present purposes.
It will have been noticed that all these examples present the ecstatic
dance in its milder form; it is comparable with the dance of the
Israelite prophets, not with that of the Syrian prophets of Baal. The
fact is that this latter form of worship was not popular among the
Greeks. It is true, the worship of Attis, in which the ecstatic dance
in its most barbaric form figured prominently, is mentioned in Pausan.
VII. xvii. 9, XX. 3; but this is quite exceptional, for the rites, of
Syrian origin, which were performed in honour of Kybele and Attis were
un-Hellenic and did not appeal to the Greeks.
“The barbarous and cruel character of the worship, with its
frantic excesses, was doubtless repugnant to the good taste
and humanity of the Greeks, who seem to have preferred the
kindred but gentler rites of Adonis. Yet,” continues the same
writer, “the same features which shocked and repelled the
Greeks may have positively attracted the less refined Romans
and barbarians of the West. The ecstatic frenzies, which were
mistaken for divine inspiration, the mangling of the body, the
theory of a new birth, and the remission of sins through the
shedding of blood, have all their origin in savagery, and they
naturally appealed to peoples in whom the savage instincts were
still strong[213].”
Among the Romans, under the Empire and onwards, this worship became
prominent, and was still existent in the 4th century, for Symmachus tells
of the celebrations of the festivals of Magna Mater[214]. Its special
feature was the orgiastic dance of the priests[215], accompanied by
song, which culminated in self-laceration. The third day of this festival
of Kybele and Attis was known as the Day of Blood (_Dies Sanguinis_); the
Archigallus or high-priest drew blood from his arms and presented it as
an offering. Nor was he alone in making this bloody sacrifice:
Stirred by the wild barbaric music of clashing cymbals,
rumbling drums, droning horns, and screaming flutes, the
inferior clergy whirled about in the dance with waggling heads
and streaming hair, until, rapt in a frenzy of excitement, and
insensible to pain, they gashed their bodies with potsherds or
slashed them with knives in order to bespatter the altar and
the sacred tree with their flowing blood[216].
Thus, while among the Romans during the early centuries of the Christian
era, and owing to the influx of oriental cults, the ecstatic dance in
its most barbaric form was prominent, among the Greeks this form of it
made but little appeal, and it is only rarely that reference is made to
it. But although this extreme and sanguinary form was distasteful to the
Greeks, the ecstatic dance was with them of a very wild character; and
it is possible that the _purpose_ of this type of dance among Greeks and
Romans respectively may have had something to do with its form. Reference
is made to this point below (see p. 138), but we must first take a brief
glance at the ecstatic dance as practised among some of the uncultured
races.
IV
Among uncultured peoples the ecstatic dance appears both in its milder
and its more barbaric forms. To take a few examples of the former first.
The means employed to become “possessed” are various, but the most usual
is the dance accompanied by the rhythmic beating of a drum or other
instrument; this is persisted in until with the rising excitement it
becomes wilder and wilder, and ultimately brings about unconsciousness,
or at least semi-consciousness, in the dancer. Thus, the Vedda form of
“possession” is attained by a dance which began with moderate movements
in which “the shaman, while uttering invocations to the spirits, circles
round the offerings; the dance increases in speed until the seizure
takes place[217].” Again, in Southern India we have the example of the
so-called “devil-dancers,” who work themselves into paroxysms in order to
gain inspiration,
whereby they profess to cure their patients. So, with furious
dancing to music and chanting of the attendants the Bodo priest
brings on a fit of maniacal inspiration in which the deity
fills him and gives oracles through him[218].
Another instructive instance is that of the Tshi-speaking peoples of the
Gold Coast whose priests and priestesses are believed to be from time to
time
possessed or inspired by the deity whom they serve; and in that
state they are consulted as oracles. They work themselves up to
the necessary pitch of excitement by dancing to the music of
drums; each god has his special hymn, sung to a special beat
of the drums, and accompanied by a special dance. It is while
thus dancing to the drums that the priest or priestess lets
fall the oracular words in a croaking or guttural voice which
the hearers take to be the voice of the god. Hence dancing has
an important place in the education of priests and priestesses;
they are trained in it for months before they may perform
in public. These mouth-pieces of the deity are consulted in
almost every concern of life, and are handsomely paid for their
services[219].
Among the North American Indians with whom the sacred dance acts as the
expression of religious feeling to a greater degree than perhaps among
any other uncultured races with the exception of the aborigines of
Oceania, dancing to the point of unconsciousness is an act of devotion to
the god[220].
This is further illustrated by the ancient Peruvians; among them the
religious dance was “the grand form of religious demonstration.” The very
name of their principal festivals, _Raymi_, means “dance.” Their dances
at these festivals are of such a violent character that the dancers seem
to be out of their senses. “It is noteworthy,” says Réville, “that the
Incas themselves took no part in the violent dances, but had an ‘Incas’
dance of their own, which was grave and measured[221].”
Another example, offered by Skeat, is from a very different centre. In
writing about dances among the Malays, which, as he says, are almost all
religious in their origin, he goes on to tell of one which “began soberly
like the others, but grew to a wild revel until the dancers were, or
pretended to be, possessed by the Spirit of Dancing, _hantu mĕnāri_ as
they called it ...[222].”
Lastly, in Borneo the Kayan medicine-women, in the course of exorcism of
the evil spirit for the cure of disease, whirl round until they fall in a
faint[223].
A modern European example of this type of dance is that performed
among some Russian sectaries; in order to produce a state of religious
exaltation wild, whirling dances, like those of the dancing dervishes,
are executed[224].
These are but a very few examples of many which could be given; but they
are sufficient to answer our purposes.
Before coming to one or two illustrations of the more barbaric form of
this type of dance, one instance may be offered of the ecstatic dance of
the milder kind being performed with an object different from those which
are usually connected with it. Among the Maoris the war-dance, which was
looked upon as a religious act, was often performed on the eve of battle
in order to impart daring and bravery to the warriors; and this dance
often assumed the form of frenzy when accompanied by the beating of drums
and the shouting of the dancers. An eye-witness describes it thus:
The Maoris turned their faces into close imitations of their
demonlike carved images. But the thrust-out tongue, the wild
rolling eyes standing out of the head, the fierce grimaces, and
the quivering hands and fingers, with the accompaniment of the
deep-drawn cries and the stamp of feet, had all the advantages
of living movement to add to the terrifying effect. It is
difficult to efface the deep impression that its massive energy
and furious, almost epileptic, passion makes on the mind, when
produced by hundreds. It surpassed in fury anything that kava
or any other drug or fermented liquor could have given to the
harmonious movements of a mass of warriors[225].
Strictly speaking, this hardly belongs to the category of ecstatic
dances because it is not performed with any idea of communication with
a supernatural power, whether as a means of effecting union with it, or
honouring it, or as a form of supplication to it; nevertheless, it is
worth recording here, if only because it affords an illustration of the
extended use of a rite for purposes with which originally it had nothing
to do.
And now to give, finally, an example or two of the ecstatic dance in its
most extreme and barbaric form. Frazer tells us that
when game was very scarce, certain Basuto tribes which lived
partly by the chase, were wont to assemble and invoke the
spirit of a famous dead chief and other ancestral deities.
At these ceremonies they cut themselves with knives, rolled
in ashes, and uttered piercing cries. They also joined in
religious dances, chanted plaintive airs, and gave vent to loud
lamentations. After spending a whole day and night in wailing
and prayer, they dispersed next morning to scour the country in
search of the game which they confidently expected the ghosts
or gods would send in answer to their intercession[226].
He compares this with the frenzied rites of the Canaanite prophets
of Baal, and refers to another well-known case among the Israelites
themselves (Hos. vii. 14), in which they lacerated their bodies by
way of appealing to the deity on behalf of their corn and vines. The
non-mention of the sacred dance in this passage does not imply that it
did not take place; analogies suggest that it was an indispensable part
of the rite.
Another instructive example is given by Jevons which he takes from Bishop
Caldwell’s “very careful observations in Tinnevelly[227].” He says:
In Tinnevelly evil spirits have no regular priests; but when
it becomes necessary, in consequence of some pressing need,
to resort to the aid of these spirits, some one is chosen,
or offers himself, to be the priest for the occasion, and
is dressed up in the insignia of the spirit. As blood is
the sacrifice to a god, so in the dance with which the evil
spirits, like the tribal god, are worshipped, the dancer in
an ecstasy draws his own blood and drinks that of the victim,
a goat, say, and thus the spirit passes into him, and he has
the power of prophecy. As the sacrifice of the sacred victims
was a solemn mystery to be celebrated by night, and terminated
before sunrise, so the worship of the evil spirits must be
performed by night, and the general opinion is that night is
the appropriate time for their worship[228].
Here we have another interesting parallel to the procedure of the priests
of Baal, though, as the Canaanite worship had reached, in comparison, a
higher stage, the parallel does not hold good in all particulars. But we
have the pressing need of the Baal-worshippers, the sacrifice to the god,
the dance round the altar, the dancers in an ecstasy drawing their own
blood, and the spirit of prophecy passing into them[229]; the sacrifice
takes place after sunset. They do not drink the blood of the sacrificial
victim in order to become possessed by the god because this is effected
by means of the ecstatic dance whereby they prophesy; and probably
this points to an advance in religious conception; for the belief that
union is effected by the ecstatic dance is certainly not so crass and
materialistic as that which requires the essence of the deity to pass
into his worshippers by drinking the blood of the sacrificial victim
offered to him, and which is supposed to become identified with the god.
In other respects the parallel is sufficiently striking. In each case it
is clear that the ecstatic dance is an essential part of the ritual.
The pressing needs which this type of sacrifice with its ecstatic
dance are supposed to supply are various, but there is a curious and
instructive similarity in most of the details of the ritual wherever it
is practised, showing that the underlying ideas are generally the same in
every case. Here is one more example. In his book on Serpent-worship in
India Mr C. F. Oldham describes what he saw during the great sacrifice to
_Kailang Nāg_, which was celebrated in the village of the Ravi, and which
had for its object the obtaining of fine weather for the sowing,—this
had been delayed owing to storms. _Kailang_, a demi-god, is supposed to
control the weather. The writer says:
On my arrival I found the people assembled on the open grassy
space in front of the temple. The men and the boys sat
together, the women and the girls being at a little distance.
Soon the music struck up, and some of the men and boys began
to dance in a circle, the _chela_[230] dancing in the centre.
After a time the music became wilder and the dance more
energetic. Some of the men, when tired, sat down, and others
took their places. The _chela_ continued dancing, and he
applied the _sungal_[231] to his own back and shoulders, and
to those of some of the other dancers. Some of the men then
applied another similar scourge to their backs, with great
effect, amid shouts of _Kailang Mahārāi ki jāi_ (“Victory to
the great king Kailang”). Then, all being ready, a victim (a
ram) was led out, and having shown, by shivering, that it was
acceptable to the deity, its head was struck off. The body
was immediately lifted up by several men, and the _chela_,
seizing upon it, drank the blood as it spouted from the neck,
amid renewed shouts of _Kailang Mahārāi ki jāi_. The carcase
was thrown down upon the ground, and the head, with a burning
coal upon it, placed before the threshold of the temple. The
dancing was then renewed, and became more violent, until the
_chela_ gasped out _Kailang āya_ (“Kailang has come”). All then
became silent, and the prophet announced that the sacrifice was
accepted, and that the season would be favourable. This was
received with a storm of shouts of _Kailang Mahārāi ki jāi_,
and the _chela_ sank down upon the ground exhausted. Water was
poured over him, and he was vigorously fanned till he showed
signs of revival. The assembly then began to disperse[232].
These three examples exhibit essentially the same _traits_ and
sufficiently illustrate this type of dance in its extreme form among
peoples of low civilization, so that it is unnecessary to multiply
illustrations. It must, however, be said that this more barbarous form
of the ecstatic dance is not nearly so prevalent as the form previously
mentioned; it seems to be resorted to in times of emergency, and in this
offers a further parallel to the case of the prophets of Baal.
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS
The ecstatic dance is performed as the outcome of strong religious
emotion; it begins quietly and without any indication of what is to come;
but the intention to increase it gradually to an extravagant pitch is
there from the commencement, and it continues until semi-consciousness,
and even total unconsciousness is reached. The excitement caused by the
dance frequently becomes contagious, so that others join in. The purpose
of this dance is to effect union with a superhuman spirit; the body,
temporarily “emptied” of consciousness, is believed to be entered by the
god or spirit in whose honour the dance takes place. Among peoples of low
culture, among whom belief in the “external soul” is common, there can
be no doubt that the conviction existed that the soul took its departure
from the body for the time being, thus making room for the higher spirit
of the god. While thus inhabiting the body, the god utilized it for his
own purposes. The prime motive of the ecstatic dance was union with the
deity; that being once effected other things might or might not follow.
The ecstatic dance takes, however, a different form, and has a different
purpose under special circumstances. It acts sometimes as a means of
forcing the deity (or, rather, it is believed to do so) to answer prayer;
then during the ecstatic state self-laceration takes place, apparently
with little or no sensation of pain; the loss of consciousness does not
necessarily ensue. Both these forms of the ecstatic dance are met with
among the Israelites. The former was practised by the prophets, and its
contagious character is forcibly illustrated; as a result the spirit
of Jahwe comes upon the performer. The latter is mentioned as a Syrian
rite practised in time of emergency by the prophets of Baal; but the
influence of Syrian, or Canaanite, practice upon the Israelites here
is plainly indicated by the prophet Hosea who tells of how the people
“cut themselves for corn and wine,” thus rebelling against their God.
Though in this instance the dance is not mentioned we know from the
parallel case of the prophets of Baal that it was part of the ritual, and
therefore took place; and this quite apart from the analogous practice
elsewhere. It was done with the purpose of forcing the god (in this
case some local Baal) to give good crops. It was, so we may believe, an
emergency rite; the more normal method may have been the dance round
the sacred tree (see above, pp. 96, 99, 103). As to the special form of
dance on these occasions, it is probable, so far as the prophetic dance
was concerned, that it began in quite moderate style, and in single file
formation; as the excitement increased it is obvious that it assumed a
very different form, a whirling round with head thrown back, judging
from analogy. In the case of the wilder, Syrian, form, there is reason
to suppose that it began also quietly, with the “limping” step, and
presently got wilder and wilder, until knives and other sharp instruments
were seized, and self-inflicted wounds caused blood to flow from the
bodies of the performers. The purpose of the “limping” step is believed,
with good reason, to have been to arouse the pity of the god, or else to
imitate him and thus induce him to hear the prayers addressed to him; the
flowing blood may be regarded as having been a means of forcing the god
to answer prayer.
The ecstatic dance, at any rate in its more barbarous form, is unknown
among other Semitic peoples. This holds good also of the Egyptians,
though the present day existence of it, in its less barbarous form, among
the Dancing Dervishes supports the belief of its having been in vogue in
earlier times.
With regard to the Syrians, however, there is the clearest evidence of
its existence in both forms; for we have the story of Wen-Amon, and the
detailed accounts of Heliodorus and Apuleius.
Very full evidence is forthcoming as to the ecstatic dance among the
Greeks; it is, however, not indigenous, and can be shown to have come to
them from the Syrians. It is, in the main, connected with the worship
of Dionysos, in whose honour the Thyiads danced and raved, often until
they became insensible. The god was supposed to be present at the orgies
which took place during his festivals, and those who, by means of
orgiastic dances, lost consciousness, came under his influence and were
“possessed” by him. The instances of this dance among the Greeks, of
which some notable ones are recorded above, show to what an extent it was
in vogue; but we find that, in general, it is the less barbarous form of
the ecstatic dance that was performed among them. The more objectionable
form was rare; it occurred in connexion with the worship of Attis, but
this was not popular among the Greeks. On the other hand, strange to
say, among the Romans, especially during the later period of the Empire
and owing to the influx of alien oriental cults, this form of worship
became prominent. National characteristics undoubtedly had much to do
with this contrast between Greeks and Romans; but it is probable that
the respective purposes of the dance also had something to do with it;
for while the main purpose of the ecstatic dance among the Greeks was to
bring about the union of the god with his worshippers, among the Romans
it appears to have been that of offering their blood. Among the Greeks,
that is to say, it was in the nature of an act of devotion; but among the
Romans it was to induce the goddess of fertility to give abundant crops.
Both forms of this dance appear among uncultured peoples. Its purpose is
“possession” during which the possessed becomes endowed with supernatural
powers; he is able to cure diseases, or to give oracles; or else it is
purely an act of devotion. Among the Maoris it is supposed to have the
effect of imparting courage, so it is performed on the eve of battle.
In its more barbaric form it is supposed to induce the higher powers to
supply wants, as among the Basutos when game is scarce. An interesting
example of the rite is offered by the natives in Tinnevelly in which both
union with a supernatural being, and the power of prophecy is attained
by means of this type of dance; it is true that, among these natives
the actual union with the spirit is effected by offering him blood and
drinking that of the victim sacrificed to the spirit; but the necessary
spiritual condition into which the worshipper must be transported for
this purpose is brought about through the sacred dance. But in this
instance, as invariably among the uncivilized races, there is always some
practical end in view; a material need of some kind arises which, it is
believed, will be supplied by means of this rite.
In comparing this type of dance, as practised among many peoples, with
the three instances of it given in the Old Testament, it will have been
seen that there is a striking similarity both in purpose and performance.
It is noteworthy, however, that among the Hebrews it is the milder type
that is indigenous, and it is essentially an act of devotion; it is
a means of receiving the spirit of Jahwe, and this for the practical
purpose of divining His will and proclaiming it. The rite as practised
by the prophets of Baal is Syrian; and there can be little doubt that
the custom recorded by Hosea was of Syrian origin. So that, as among the
Greeks, the milder form of the ecstatic dance was indigenous, while the
more barbarous form was due to Syrian influence.
Reviewing the subject as a whole, there is no shadow of doubt that Hebrew
and Greek practice here, though it is but a small item of religious
ritual with which we have been concerned, illustrates their religious
superiority over all the other races. But of these two the Hebrews
stand on distinctly higher ground; there is not the remotest reason for
believing that the ecstatic dance among them was ever contaminated by
the licence which often obtained among the Greeks. Among the Hebrews,
moreover, the object of it was purely devotional; and when an oracle
was put forth it was only to declare the will of their God. So that it
is true to say that even in the lower planes of religious thought and
practice the Hebrews showed that they were in the vanguard of religious
evolution.
CHAPTER VIII
THE SACRED DANCE AT VINTAGE, HARVEST, AND OTHER FESTIVALS
I
We are not concerned here with the history and development of the Hebrew
feasts; but a few introductory words regarding them will not be out of
place.
There were three agricultural festivals of first importance among the
Israelites:
_Mazzôth_[233], or the feast of Unleavened Bread; this was a spring
feast held when the sickle was first put to the standing corn and the
first-fruits of the new crops were offered (Deut. xvi. 8, 9);
_Shabuôth_, or the feast of Weeks, celebrated seven weeks later at the
conclusion of the harvest (Deut. xvi. 10); called also _Ḳazir_, the feast
of “Harvest” (Exod. xxiii. 16);
_Sukkôth_, or the feast of Tabernacles, the autumn feast, called also
_ha-Asiph_, the feast of “the ingathering,” when “thou gatherest in thy
labours out of the field” (Exod. xxiii. 16).
Since prior to their entry into Canaan the Israelites were nomads, and
therefore did not observe harvest festivals, it is extremely probable
that, in settling down among the Canaanites, they adopted these festivals
from the people of the land, and celebrated them in honour of Jahwe,
their God.
These three great feasts were originally, among the Israelites, of equal
importance, requiring presence at the sanctuary (Exod. xxxiv. 23); but
there are indications that in quite early times the autumn feast of
Tabernacles assumed pre-eminence. It is called “the feast,” or “the feast
of Jahwe[234].” The other feasts were celebrated locally.
From the present point of view it is important to note that each of these
feasts is called _ḥag_: _ḥag ha-Mazzôth_, _ḥag ha-Ḳazir_, _ḥag ha-Asiph_;
that is to say, to each is applied the term which originally denoted what
was the essence of a festival, viz. the sacred dance round the sanctuary;
and the same is true of the minor festivals which were celebrated at the
local sanctuaries.
In view of the fact that the feast was called _ḥag_ because of the
sacred dance characteristic of it, no surprise can be felt at the
non-mention of dancing at these feasts when they are spoken of in the
Old Testament; it was so obvious and customary that any reference to it,
excepting incidental allusions, would have been quite superfluous[235].
Such incidental allusions occur in the Psalms, as we have seen, and a
more specific mention is met with in Judg. xi. 34: “And Jephthah came
to Mizpah unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet
him with timbrels and with dances”; we are not here concerned with
the character of the feast referred to[236]; our point is that it was
celebrated with dancing. Another and fuller illustration occurs in Judg.
xxi. 19 ff., where mention is made of a feast which was held annually at
Shiloh in honour of Jahwe; that it was a vintage feast is implied by the
reference to the vineyards in which the Benjamites hid themselves[237].
At this feast it was the custom for the young girls to come out and
dance: “When the maidens of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances”; and
see verse 23. It is worth noticing how the dancing is mentioned as a
recognized custom. The spot must have been a familiar one as the feast
took place annually: we are reminded of _Abel-meḥolah_, “the field of
dancing” (1 Kings xix. 16), which must clearly have got its name from the
festival dancing which took place there habitually.
We know from the later history and ritual of the Jewish festivals
that they were marked by dances and processional dances of a sacred
character[238]; and the analogy of ritual usage among other peoples
makes it certain that these religious dances at the Jewish feasts, as
practised in post-biblical times, were not innovations, but rather the
traditional ritual which had been handed down from time immemorial. As
Krauss points out, the most primitive kind of dancing, a simple form of
hopping, without rhythmic movement (for which the Talmud uses the word
_ṭaphaz_), was in use in later times both at weddings and during regular
worship[239].
We have already, in another connexion, drawn attention to the daily
procession round the altar, after the sacrifices had been offered, during
the feast of _Sukkôth_ (“Tabernacles”). There was another dancing
ceremony at this feast which must be mentioned, a ceremony of which it
was said that whosoever had not seen it had never seen a real feast[240].
This was the wonderful Torch-dance which took place in the Court of the
women in the Temple on the second day of the feast. A great multitude of
men and women were always present on this occasion to witness the dance
in which only the most prominent among the Israelites took part. While
the dance was going on hymns and psalms were sung[241]. It was because
of the dances and processions at the feast of Tabernacles, during which
palms and branches of trees were carried, similar to the _thyrsus_
carried by the Bacchanalian assemblies of maidens, that Plutarch was
betrayed into the error of regarding this feast as of the same character
as that celebrated in honour of Dionysos among the Greeks; and into his
assertion that the cult of this god was in vogue among the Hebrews[242].
There was, to give another example, a religious dance, though of an
entirely different character, carried out by Jewish maidens both on the
feast-day known as the 15th of Ab, and on the Day of Atonement[243].
That the feast of the 15th of Ab was a religious one is clear from the
evidence given by Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus[244] (1st century A.D.)
to the effect that it was the great day of the year on which wood was
offered for the burning of the sacrifices; the supply offered on this
occasion was supposed to be sufficient to last for the year. The
festival is referred to by Josephus, who calls it the Xulophoria[245].
To mention but one further example, at the feast of _Purim_ there was
a special kind of dance; although this ceased to be of a religious
character, there can be no doubt that originally it was so[246].
II
Among the ancient Arabs, being nomads, Harvest and Vintage festivals did
not, of course, exist. But among their descendants a festival of another
kind at which a dance of, at any rate, a quasi-religious character is
performed may be mentioned here; for there can be no doubt that in these
things modern usage represents a custom which has been handed down
through the generations from the distant past. At circumcision festivals
(_Muzzayîn_)[247] they perform what are called _Daḥa_ dances. The young
people gather together, being invited by the fathers of the children to
be circumcised, and perform these dances, during which they sing over and
over again:
We will protect you
From him who cuts (‘_enda-l-Ḳatta_’)
We will protect you.
Cut, oh Cutter!
Yet hurt not [here, in turn, the names of those who are to be
circumcised are uttered],
Cut, oh Cutter!
Beware of the reed (_ʿala-l-Ḳaṣab_),
Oh my darling,
Beware of the reed![248]
Dancing at circumcisions is indispensable among the peasants in
Palestine[249]; it has been observed also in many other parts of the
world, _e.g._ among the Bambaras of Senegambia[250].
In Gen. xxi. 4, where the circumcision of Isaac is recorded, there is
no mention of the circumcision feast and the accompanying dance, which,
judging from later usage, always took place; but in verse 8 it says:
“... And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.”
The Rabbis of later times inferred that just as there was a feast at the
weaning there must also have been a feast at the circumcision, and no
doubt they were right. In _Pirḳe de Rabbi Eliezer_ we read in reference
to this passage (Gen. xxi. 4): “The sages said: A man is bound to make
festivities and a banquet on that day when he has the merit of having
his son circumcised, like Abraham our Father, who circumcised his son,
as it is said...[251].” That dancing formed an indispensable element
at such feasts, as among other peoples who practised this rite, hardly
admits of doubt[252]. In most cases, though not in all, there enters in a
distinctly religious note.
There is also dancing at the festivities attending the performance of
vows[253].
III
Although it is highly probable that at the Harvest and other festivals
of the Babylonians and Assyrians sacred dancing took place, definite
evidence in the way of recorded instances does not seem to be
forthcoming.
Among the Egyptians, however, we know that every temple had both priests
and priestesses attached, among whom were dancers and musicians; and
these played a very important part at all festivals[254]. Apart from
official celebrations in temples, local feasts at which sacred dances
were performed, also took place. Thus, when the Harvest was completed and
the peasants offered the first-fruits, they danced in the presence of the
god of fertility as an act of thanksgiving[255]. There was also a dance
of thanksgiving performed in honour of Ptah for the annual overflowing of
the Nile. In dancing a small piece of wood was often held in each hand,
and these were knocked together in rhythmic time[256].
Mention should also be made of the great “Sed” festival, originally
performed only once in thirty years, but later in every third year.
At this festival the king was deified as Osiris, and the Crown Prince
was appointed, and married to the heiress of the kingdom. At the
enthronization of the deified king the Crown Prince danced before him as
an act of honour to the god; this was also done at another part of the
ceremony by all the men, who were present in great numbers[257].
IV
A good example among the Greeks is that of the sacred dance performed
at the celebration of the _Haloa_, which, according to a scholion to
Lucian[258], was
a feast at Athens containing mysteries of Demeter, and Kore,
and Dionysos on the occasion of the cutting of vines and the
tasting of wine made from them.... The _Haloa_ gets its name,
according to Philochorus, from the fact that people hold sports
at the _threshing-floors_; and he says it is celebrated in
the month Poseidon[259].... The sports held were, of course,
incidental to the business of threshing; but it was these
sports that constituted the actual festival. To this day
the great round threshing-floor that is found in most Greek
villages is the scene of the harvest festival. Near it a booth
(_skēnē_) is to this day erected, and in it the performers
rest, and eat and drink in the intervals of their pantomimic
dancing[260].
In connexion with ritual dances in honour of Demeter, Frazer draws
attention to the remains of “the magnificent marble drapery which once
adorned the colossal statue of Demeter and Persephone in the sanctuary of
the two goddesses at Lycosura, in Arcadia”; on this are carved rows of
semi-human, semi-bestial figures dancing and playing musical instruments;
the bodies of these figures are those of women, but their heads, paws and
feet are those of a horse, a pig, a cat, or a hare, and apparently an
ass[261].
“It is reasonable to suppose,” he says, “that these dancing
figures represent a ritual dance which was actually performed
in the rites of Demeter and Persephone by masked men and women,
who personated the goddesses in their character of beasts[262].”
The story of the two daughters of Eteokles who fell into a well while
dancing in honour of Demeter and Kore, and were turned into cypresses,
probably owes its origin to the desire to account for the reason why
sacred dances were performed under these trees, in which the _numen_ of
one or other of these goddesses was supposed to reside[263]. The story is
given in _Geoponica_, XI. 4:
The cypresses have two names, and they are indeed called
_Charites_ on account of their delectable quality, and
_Cypresses_ on account of their bearing and producing branches
and seeds in such regular order. They were the daughters of
Eteokles; and when dancing in imitation of the goddesses,
they fell into a well; and the earth, commiserating their
misfortune, produced flourishing plants like damsels[264].
It is unnecessary to give further examples; generally speaking, among
the Greeks dancing at festivals, so far as their religious character is
concerned, was performed in honour of some deity. A magical purpose is
sometimes to be discerned, though rarely[265]; the ecstatic dance seems
sometimes to have had this object, and this, as one would expect, is
only the case in the earliest period of Greek religion[266]. We have
dealt in Chap. VII. with the ecstatic dance and its objects.
V
As illustrating this type of dance among the Romans we may instance the
festival of the _Ambarvalia_; this festival was not celebrated on a
fixed date, but varied according to the state of the crops. The duties
at the festival were carried out by _Fratres Arvales_, “the Brethren
of the Ploughed Fields.” With solemn prayers, addressed primarily to
Mars[267] to keep away all harm from the crops, these Brethren led round
in formal procession the victims destined for sacrifice to Mars as the
god of vegetation, viz. a pig, a ram, and a bull. The Arval Brothers
had a special three-step dance (_tripudium_) which they performed in
honour of Mars and the Lares; it was repeated three times, and during
its performance they sang a hymn of praise to the god[268]. A minute
account of their three days’ festival is given in the _Acta_ of the year
218 (Elagabalus, _CIL_, VI. 2104)[269]; the dance, which took place on
the second, and most important, day is described as follows: “... Then
the priests, shut up in the temple, girding up their togas, took the
song-books and, marking the time, danced the three step singing thus
...[270].” Again, at the festival of the _Lupercalia_, held in February,
when the sacrificial feast was ended, the _Luperci_, crowned and
anointed, and, but for an apron of goatskin, entirely naked, ran round
the Palatine Hill with thongs cut from the skin of the sacrificed goats
in their hands[271]. The feast was held in honour of Faunus (the Greek
Pan), who was worshipped under the name of Lupercus, in a grotto in the
Palatine Mount called the Lupercal. The running round of the _Luperci_
with the goats’ thongs had a purificatory object[272] (see p. 101).
The dances of the _Salii_ may be appropriately mentioned here. Their
sacred processions took place in March and October, and continued for
over three weeks[273]. Headed by trumpeters and dressed in full battle
apparel they marched through the city; at all the altars and temples
they halted, and, under the conduct of two leaders, solemnly danced
the war-dance in three measures in honour of Mars, singing at the same
time[274]. The _Salii_, however, also performed dances in honour of
Saturn, the Roman god of sowing;
“as the Romans,” says Frazer, “sowed the corn both in spring
and autumn, and as down to the present time in Europe
superstitious rustics are wont to dance and leap high in the
spring for the purpose of making the crops grow high, we
may conjecture that the leaps and dancing performed by the
_Salii_, the priests of the old Italian god of vegetation,
were similarly supposed to quicken the growth of the corn by
homoeopathic or imitative magic[275].”
It was not in Rome alone that this type of dancing was performed;
similar colleges of dancing priests are known to have existed
in many towns of ancient Italy, and everywhere, we may
conjecture, they were supposed to contribute to the fertility
of the earth by their leaps and dances[276].
This magical purpose of the sacred dance will come before us again.
VI
A few examples of this type of the sacred dance among uncultured peoples
may now be given[277].
The sowing festival among the Kayans of Central Borneo, who are
essentially an agricultural people and of a primitive type, is very
elaborate; but we are only concerned with that part of it at which the
sacred dancing takes place. The following is taken from an eye-witness’
account:
The first to appear on the scene were some men wearing wooden
masks and helmets and so thickly wrapt in banana leaves that
they looked like moving masses of green foliage. They danced
silently, keeping time to the beat of the gongs. They were
followed by other figures, some of whom executed war-dances;
but the weight of their leafy envelope was such that they soon
grew tired, and though they leaped high, they uttered none
of the wild war-whoops which usually accompany these martial
exercises. When darkness fell the dances ceased and were
replaced by a little drama representing a boar brought to bay
by a pack of hounds.... Later in the evening eight disguised
girls danced, one behind the other, with slow steps and waving
arms, to the glimmering light of torches and the strains of a
sort of jew’s harp[278].
Nieuwenhuis, who witnessed this, insists strongly on the religious
character of all the festivals observed by these people. There can
be little doubt that the dancing masked men represent the spirits of
fertility; the high leaps are a magical rite to make the crops grow high;
and the row of dancing girls waving their arms is probably in imitation
of the field of healthy stalks swaying in the wind, and thus also an act
of imitative magic. It is another form of the rite which is practised by
the Kai of New Guinea who swing to and fro on reeds suspended from the
branches of trees in order to promote the growth of the crops[279].
Among the Malays most of the dances seem to be for the purpose of
amusement; but that some of them, at any rate, were originally of a
religious character is evident from what Skeat says on the subject:
... All these dances, I was told, were symbolical; one of
agriculture, with the tilling of the soil, the sowing of the
seed, the reaping and winnowing of the grain, might easily have
been guessed by the dancers’ movements[280].
Such dances, as is well known, are always, in some stage of their
development, connected with the worship of some god of vegetation[281].
Skeat says that
the religious origin of almost all Malay dances is still to be
seen in the performance of such ritualistic observances as the
burning of incense, the scattering of rice, and the invocation
of the Dance-Spirit according to set forms, the spirit being
exorcised (or “escorted homewards” as it is called) at the end
of the performance[282].
One other example may be given, this time from Africa, of the dance
being a propitiatory act, and accompanied by prayer; it takes place at
moon festivals. The Hottentots (they are moon-worshippers) perform long
nightly dances in honour of the moon, both at the appearance of the new
moon and at full moon. After numberless strange contortions of the body
which characterise these dances, and excruciating yells, the worshippers
fling themselves to the ground; then they suddenly spring up, stamp about
with their feet, and gaze up at the moon, crying: “Hail, see that we have
honey, and that our flocks get plenty of food, and give us much milk!”
Then the dancing, accompanied by the clapping of hands, continues. This
goes on through the whole night with short pauses. According to some
authorities the name Hottentot is derived from the noise made by their
feet during these nightly sacred dances at the moon festivals[283].
Examples could be multiplied to almost any extent; those given are
typical and they will suffice for present purposes.
SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS
A brief enumeration of the chief festivals among the Israelites is called
for in the present connexion because they were agricultural feasts;
and, as has already been pointed out incidentally, one of the purposes
of the sacred dance was to ensure good crops. All that we learn as to
the character of these festivals in the Old Testament emphasizes the
element of rejoicing during their celebration; and this applies with
special force to the feast of Tabernacles. The dancing which took place
at these feasts would, therefore, seem to have been purely expressions
of joy. But there are reasons for believing that other elements entered
in as well. Expressions of thanksgiving to a god are at the same time a
means of honouring him; and this, we may feel certain, figured largely
at the Israelite feasts; they were thankful to Jahwe for the fruits of
the field, and they were joyful for plenty; so that when grateful joy
expressed itself in the dance it constituted an act of honouring, and
therefore of worshipping, the national God. The rare explicit mention of
these dances during the feasts in the Old Testament is easily accounted
for.
But the cultural stage of the bulk of the Israelite people, at the very
least up to the time of the Exile, can be proved by many indications in
the Old Testament to have been no higher than other races; the extremely
significant fact recorded by one of the prophets that, on occasion,
the most barbarous form of the ecstatic dance, with its self-inflicted
lacerations and blood-flowing, was practised by the people for the
purpose of ensuring good crops, offers ample justification for the belief
that one of the objects of the sacred dance at the spring festival was
likewise to ensure good crops. The rite was a world-wide one, which is in
itself presumptive evidence that it was practised by the Israelites.
The importance of the sacred dance during the Jewish feasts of later
times, for the existence of which the evidence is ample, must be regarded
as the observance of traditional custom.
The ancient Arabs did not cultivate the soil and therefore did not
celebrate festivals of this kind. Among some modern Arabs dancing takes
place at circumcision festivals, and it is accompanied by song; there are
grounds for believing that the Israelites did the same. The dance in this
case must be regarded as having been performed in honour of the newly
initiated, who, by circumcision, were admitted into the community of the
tribe[284].
Among the Egyptians both national and local Harvest festivals were
celebrated; during these the sacred dance played an important part. We
may take it that, as among the Israelites, the purpose of these dances
was to express joyful gratitude to the god of fertility. The “Sed”
festival was another occasion on which a sacred dance was performed; the
deified king was honoured in this way.
The _Haloa_ among the Greeks seems to have been at once a Harvest and
Vintage festival; the dancing which took place during this feast must
have been in honour of the god of fertility. In Greek villages at the
present day the harvest festival takes place round the threshing-floor,
and there is much dancing, but its old significance has now, of course,
disappeared.
There is evidence that dances were performed in honour of the fertility
goddess Demeter and Persephone; the dancers personated these goddesses in
their character of beasts,—horses, pigs, etc.; while we have here a dance
in honour of these divinities, it is possible that it also partook of the
nature of imitative magic, it being a means of ensuring productivity.
An interesting case of framing a reason for the sacred dance under trees,
the real reason being presumably forgotten, is that of the two daughters
of Eteokles who were turned into cypresses; these were trees under which
sacred dances were performed. Festival dances among the Greeks were often
doubtless expressions of mirth and joy, but this did not prevent their
being performed in honour of some deity; it was precisely similar among
the Israelites to whom the exhortation was constantly given: “Ye shall
rejoice before Jahwe your God,” in connexion with the feasts (Lev. xxiii.
40, etc.). A magic-religious purpose is at times to be discerned in these
Greek festival dances.
Among the Romans a notable instance of this type of sacred dance is
that performed by “the Brethren of the Ploughed Fields”; they circled
round the victims for sacrifice to Mars. A similar rite was carried out
by the _Luperci_ in honour of the god Faunus (the Greek Pan); it had a
purificatory purpose. The dances of the _Salii_ were performed in honour
of Mars; they also danced in honour of Saturn, the Roman god of sowing;
their high leaps during the latter of these were believed to have the
effect of making the corn grow high.
Among the uncultured races the Kayans of Central Borneo danced at their
festivals with a purpose similar to that of the Romans; their high leaps
were a magical rite to make the crops grow in height. A like result was
believed by the Kai of New Guinea to be effected by swinging to and
fro on reeds suspended from the branches of trees. The Malays perform
imitative dances which at one time were believed to make the crops grow.
Finally, the Hottentots dance in honour of the moon in belief that this
will have the effect of prevailing upon their deity, the moon, to supply
them and their flocks with sustenance.
We have no indications in the Old Testament that the sacred dances at
the Israelite feasts had any other purpose than that of rejoicing before
their God, and this was, of course, in the nature of honouring Him. But
the possibility of the existence of imitative magic in connexion with
them at some period of their history cannot be altogether excluded;
this is suggested not only because the idea is so widespread, but also
because even in much later times among the Jews we have an example of
an imitative magical rite during a feast in the Temple. At the Feast
of Tabernacles it was the custom for water to be drawn ceremonially by
the priests from the fountain of Siloam; this was brought through the
water-gate, when a long-drawn-out trumpet blast was sounded, into the
Temple, where it was poured out upon the altar during the further blowing
of trumpets; the rite was performed daily on the seven days of the Feast.
That this was a piece of imitative magic for the purpose of ensuring a
sufficient rainfall would suggest itself spontaneously; but we have the
definite statement to this effect given by the Rabbis, for the object
of the rite is explained by the words: “The Holy One, Blessed be He!
said, Pour out water before me at the Feast, in order that the rains
of the year may be blessed to you[285].” This clear evidence among the
Jews for the existence of a magical rite to obtain rain is sufficient
justification for believing that their forefathers may have performed
dances at Harvest Festivals for the purpose of ensuring good crops.
CHAPTER IX
DANCES IN CELEBRATION OF VICTORY
I
It is a natural and obvious thing that there should be expressions of
joy on the occasion of victory; and, as dancing was one of the ways
whereby joy was expressed, it is equally natural that this should have
been performed on such occasions. Furthermore, when we find that in the
records of these celebrations it is the women who do the dancing, this is
only what is to be expected since it is done in honour of the victorious
warriors. This is all in the natural order of things; and, so far as the
Old Testament is concerned, it would seem that the simple recording of
the fact that the celebration of a victory was one of the occasions on
which dancing was performed is all that is required. However, this custom
is widespread, and has been, and still is, in vogue among peoples in very
different stages of culture; and in discussing a widespread custom, such
as this, it is always possible that one may discern in the performance
of it among less cultured races elements which suggest that originally
there was something more in it than appears upon the surface. In other
words, the possibility must be reckoned with that the custom as recorded
in the Old Testament was in reality the survival of something which was
believed to have a decisive effect in bringing about victory. The dance
of the Israelite women on these occasions had a threefold purpose; it was
a means of expressing joy; it was also the way in which the victorious
warriors were honoured; and, most important, it was an act of praise and
thanksgiving to Jahwe; so that this type of dance was emphatically a
religious one. If, as we hope to offer some grounds for believing, this
type of dance was, in its origin, a means of effecting victory by magic,
it will be an interesting illustration of magic being, as Mr Marett
says, “part and parcel of the ‘god-stuff’ out of which religion fashions
itself[286].”
In passing, it may be said that, in spite of the fact that the absence
of the able-bodied men would make the women the natural performers in
these kind of dances, this public appearance of oriental women witnesses
to a very different condition of society from that with which we are
familiar as obtaining in the East in later centuries; in other words,
the Israelites were in some respects in a less advanced cultural stage
than we are sometimes apt to suppose. Not that they were conscious of any
other objects in this type of dance than those mentioned; we only mean
that at this time immemorial custom, however different the reasons given
for its existence, was more likely to be tenaciously held to than when
radical changes in religious belief and social and moral conditions had
taken place.
The type of dancing with which we are just now concerned has nothing to
do with the war-dance, the primary aim of which
seems to be the development of physical excitement, and
consequently courage, in the dancing warriors; secondarily, as
magical ideas attach themselves, the aim of frightening the
enemy by a demonstration of violence is added[287].
In the Old Testament there is no mention of the war-dance. But there
was a solemn preparation for war, for it must be remembered that among
the Israelites, as among other Semites, there was a religious element
connected with the act of warfare. Warriors “consecrated” themselves
before entering upon it (Isa. xiii. 3); the phrase for declaring war or
entering upon a state of warfare is to “sanctify, or consecrate, war”
(Mic. iii. 5, Jer. vi. 4); and battle was prepared for by sacrifice (1
Sam. xiii. 9, 10); moreover, after the battle the spoil, or part of it,
was consecrated to Jahwe (1 Sam. xv. 21, 2 Sam. viii. 11, 1 Chron. xviii.
11).
The Israelites, thus, entered battle under the protection of Jahwe; the
religious element, therefore, was strongly emphasized.
We proceed now to enumerate the instances in the Old Testament of dancing
in celebration of victory.
In Exod. xv. 20, 21 a dance with song accompanied by musical instruments
is performed by women in celebration of victory:
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel
(_tôph_) in her hand; and all the women went out after her with
timbrels and with dances. And Miriam chanted[288] to them,
Sing to Jahwe, for He is greatly exalted,
The horse and his rider hath He cast into the sea.
Here the dancing and singing have clearly the single purpose of
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).
[193] Die sequenti variis coloribus indusiati et deformiter quisque
formati, facie caenoso pigmento delita et oculis obunctis graphice
prodeunt, mitellis et crocotis et carbasinis et bambycinis iniecti,
quidam tunicas albas in modum lanciolarum quoquoversum fluente purpura
depictas cingulo subligati, pedes luteis induti calceis; deamque serico
contectam amicuio mihi gerendam imponunt brachiisque suis humero tenus
renundatis, attollentes immanes gladios ac secures, evantes exsiliunt
incitante tibiae cantu lymphaticum tripudium. Nec paucis pererratis
casulis ad quandam villam possessoris beati perveniunt et ab ingressu
primo statim absonis ululatibus constrepentes fanatice pervolant, diuque
capite demisso cervices lubricis intorquentes motibus crinesque pendulos
in circulum rotantes, et nonnunquam morsibus suos incursantes musculos,
ad postremum ancipiti ferro quod gerebant sua quisque brachia dissicant.
Inter haec unus ex illis bacchatur effusius ac de imis praecordiis
anhelitus crebros referens, velut numinis divino spiritu repletus,
simulabat sauciam vecordiam, prorus quasi deum praesentia soleant homines
non sui fieri meliores sed debiles effici vel aegroti.... Arrepto denique
flagro, quod semiviris illis proprium gestamen est, contortis taeniis
lanosi velleris prolixe fimbriatum et multiiugis talis ovium tesseratum,
indidem sese multinodis commulcat ictibus, mire contra plagarum dolores
praesumptione munitus. Cerneres prosectu gladiorum ictuque flagrorum
solum spurcitia sanguinis effeminati madescere.... The translation is
that of S. Gaselee in “Loeb Classical Library” (1915).
[194] In _ERE_, VI. 403 _a_; we give the quotation in full as this large
Encyclopaedia is not, for many, easily accessible.
[195] On the Korybantes, the mythical attendants on Kybele, who were
supposed to dance in wild fashion with the goddess on the mountains, see
Rohde, _Psyche_..., II. 48 ff. (1907); the name was also given to the
eunuch priests of the goddess in Phrygia.
[196] Panofka, _Dionysos und Thyiden_, pl. I. 2 (1853).
[197] Harrison, _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion_, p. 453
(1903).
[198] The treasure is in the Berlin Museum, Cat. 2290; Harrison, _op.
cit._, p. 428.
[199] Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 393; see also Gruppe, _Griechische
Mythologie und Religionsgeschichte_, I. 162, II. 840, 1293; Lobeck,
_Aglao._, II. 1085 ff.; Bekker, _Anecdota Graeca_, I. 234.
[200] Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 397; Gruppe, _op. cit._ II. 748, 1293;
Reinach, _Orpheus_, p. 123.
[201] Philo, _De Vita Contempl._ II.
[202] Diodorus, IV. iii. 2.
[203] Rohde, _Psyche_, II. 11 ff.; Roscher, _Ausführliches Lexikon_...,
II. 2243-2283 (1894-1897).
[204] Pausan. X. iv. 1, 2.
[205] Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 540 (omitting the interjected words of
Xanthias and Dionysos).
[206] See Mommsen, _op. cit._ p. 224; cp. Foucart, _Les grands mystères
d’Eleusis_, pp. 121 f.; and for the dancing at the celebration of the
mysteries, see p. 142 (1904).
[207] Quoted by Harrison, _Pyth._ III. 77.
[208] Pausan. II. vii. 6. Cp. also Lobeck, _Aglao._, II. 1088; Reinach,
_Orpheus_, pp. 153 ff.
[209] Lines 680-691.
[210] IV. 3.
[211] Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 500; and the same author’s _Themis_, pp. 23
ff. (1912). Rohde, _Psyche_, I. 272.
[212] _Protr._ II. 12. Concerning them Gruppe says: “Die Kureten, nach
denen ein Magistratskollegium hiess, das unter dem _proto-koures_
mystische Opfer feierte, sollten durch den Lärm der Waffen Hera
vertrieben haben; eine Sagenbildung, die auf eine Angleichung an die
Riten die zwar ebenfalls euboisch-boiotischen, aber vielleicht erst hier
mit dem Artemis-dienst in Verbindung gesetzten Kultus der grossen Göttin
hinweist” (_Griech. Myth._ I. 284; see also II. 820, 898, 1106, 1198).
[213] Frazer, _GB_, _Adonis, Attis, and Osiris_, pp. 250 f. (1907). See
further, Hepding, _Attis, seine Mythen und sein Kult_, pp. 128 ff. (1903).
[214] Ep. I. 49, II. 34, VI. 40; Dill, _Roman Society in the last century
of the Western Empire_, p. 16 (1910).
[215] On the Galli see Lucian, _De Dea Syria_, XLIII, L-LX.
[216] Frazer, _op. cit._ p. 223. See further Cicero, _De Divinatione_,
II. 50; Catullus, _Carm._ LXIII.; Lucretius, II. 598 ff.; Hepding, _op.
cit._, pp. 142 ff.; Glover, _The Conflict of Religions in the early Roman
Empire_, pp. 20 f. (1909).
[217] Fallaize, in _ERE_, X. 124 _b_.
[218] Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, II. 133 f. (1920); he also mentions
this type of dance among the Patagonians, Fijians and others, pp. 419 ff.
[219] Frazer, _GB_, _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, p. 61.
[220] Réville, _Les Religions des peuples non-civilisés_, p. 267 (1883);
Schoolcraft, _op. cit._ I. 286.
[221] _Native Religions of Mexico and Peru_ (Hibbert Lectures, 1884), p.
225.
[222] _Malay Magic_, p. 463 (1900).
[223] Fallaize, in _ERE_, X. 124 _b_.
[224] Frazer, _GB_, _The Magic Art_, I. 408; N. Tsaki, _La Russie
Sectaire_, pp. 66 ff. The Shakers of New Lebanon attempt in the dance to
obtain the Holy Spirit, Lilly Grove, _op. cit._ p. 7.
[225] J. Macmillan Brown, _Maori and Polynesian_, p. 204 (1907).
[226] _Folk-lore in the Old Testament_, III. 277 (1918).
[227] In _Allerlei_, I. 164-168.
[228] _Introduction to the Study of Religion_, p. 174 (1904).
[229] “They prophesied until the time of the evening oblation”
(עֲלוֹת הַמִּנְחָה), 1 Kings xviii. 29.
[230] An inspired prophet.
[231] A five-thonged scourge, with iron at the extremity of each thong.
[232] _The Sun and the Serpent_, pp. 99 f. (1905).
[233] The feast of _Pesach_ (“Passover”) coincided with this; it was
also a spring festival at which the firstlings of the herds were offered
(Exod. xxxiv. 25).
[234] _E.g._ 1 Kings viii. 2, xii. 32; Judg. xxi. 19; Lev. xxiii. 39, 41.
[235] This is also true of the Targums, where an allusion to the dance
is sometimes strikingly obvious, _e.g._ in the Targ. of _Onkelos_ to
Deut. xvi. 14; the people are bidden to rejoice at their feasts with the
playing of flutes; this was one of the most usual accompaniments to the
sacred dance all the world over.
[236] See Moore, _Judges_, pp. 304 f. (1903).
[237] Cp. Judges ix. 27.
[238] See _e.g._ Reinach, _Orpheus_, p. 273 (1909); Carl Rathjens, _Die
Juden in Abessinien_, p. 78 (1921).
[239] _Talmudische Archäologie_, III. 101, and the references on p. 285.
[240] Mishnah, _Sukkah_, V. 1.
[241] _Sukkah_, IV. 1-4.
[242] Cp. Reinach, _op. cit._ p. 271.
[243] See _Megillath Taanith_, IV. 8-10; this was before the Day of
Atonement had become a Fast-day; one sees, therefore, how ancient the
custom was.
[244] _Megillath Taanith_, V.
[245] _Bell. Jud_. II. xvii. 6.
[246] See further on this, Krauss, _op. cit._ III. 102, 285.
[247] On these see further Doughty, _Travels in Arabia Deserta_, I. 340
ff., 391 f. (1921).
[248] Alois Musil, _Arabia Petraea_, III. 200 ff. (1908).
[249] Dalman, _Palestinischer Diwan_, p. 254 (1901).
[250] Featherman, _Social History of Mankind_, I. 334 f. (1881).
[251] See G. Friedlander’s edition of this work, p. 208 (1916).
[252] Cp. Enclow, _JE_, IV. 425 _b_, and Jacobs, _JE_, IV. 96 ff.
[253] See Curtiss, _op. cit._ pp. 164 ff.
[254] Kees, _Der Opfertanz des ägyptischen Königs_, pp. 105-226 (1912);
Maspero, _Études de mythologie et de l’archéologie égyptiennes_, VIII.
313 (1893-1916); Blackman, _Rock Tombs of Meir_, I. 23 f., II. 25, and
the same writer in the _Journal of Egyptian Archaeology_, VII. 21 f.
[255] Erman, _Aegypten_ ..., I. 336.
[256] Erman, _op. cit._ I. 340; see also Voss, _Der Tanz und seine
Geschichte_, p. 20 (1869), who unfortunately omits references to
authorities.
[257] See further, Flinders Petrie, _Stud. Hist._ III. 69 (1904), and for
festivals generally the same author’s _Egyptian Festivals_ ... (1908).
[258] _Schol. in Luc. Dialog. Meretr._ VII. 4 (ed. Rabe, 1906), referred
to by Harrison, _op. cit._ p. 146; see also Lübker, _op. cit._ 298 _b_.
[259] Mommsen, _Feste_ ..., pp. 359 ff.; Harpocration, _s.v._ Ἁλῷα, I.
24 (ed. Dindorf [1853]). For Vintage Festivals see, further, Mommsen,
_Heortologie_, pp. 66 ff.
[260] Harrison, _op. cit._ pp. 146 f. On this festival see also Bekker,
_op. cit._ I. 384 f.; Farnell, _Cults_ ..., III. 315 f.; Frazer, _GB_,
_The Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, I. 60 ff.
[261] The author refers to his note on Pausanias, VIII. xxxvii. 3 in vol.
IV. pp. 375 ff. of his _Pausanias_.
[262] _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, II. 339.
[263] Gruppe, _op. cit._ II. 783; Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_, pp.
618 ff. (1872).
[264] Cp. Pausan. VIII. xxv. 1 ff.; Ovid, _Metam._ V. 106; Pliny, XVI.
33; and for the _Charites_ see Gruppe, _op. cit._ I. 81, II. 1073, 1083,
1189, 1284; Lobeck, _op. cit._ II. 1085 ff.; _Julii Pol. Onom._ IV. 95.
For the Thesmophoria see Frazer, _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_ ..., II. 16
ff.; Farnell, _Cults_ ..., III. 85-93; and for the Thargelia, _GB_, _The
Scapegoat_, pp. 254 ff.; Farnell, _Cults_ ..., IV. 268 ff.
[265] _E.g._ in the cult of Ἄρτεμις Κορδάκα, see Lobeck, _De myst.
priv._ II. 959; Farnell, _Cults_ ..., II. 445; Pausan. VI. xxii. 1. The
procession called φαλλοφορία was especially associated with Dionysos and
Hermes, see Farnell in _ERE_, VI. 417 _a_.
[266] See Farnell in _ERE_, VI. 403 _b_; he says: “this privilege of
ecstasy might be used for the practical purposes of vegetation-magic.”
[267] Mars was originally a god of vegetation; he appears subsequently as
the god of war.
[268] See Aust, _Die Religion der Römer_, p. 171 (1899).
[269] A translation in full is given by Carter in _ERE_, II. 10 _b_, 11
_a_.
[270] See further on the whole subject Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencycl. der
klassischen Altertumswissenschaft_, II. 1463 ff. (1896).
[271] See Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, III. 444 (1885).
[272] Cp. the name of the month in which the festival was held, February,
which gets its name from _februare_ “to purify.”
[273] March 19 was a special day as being the birthday of Minerva (Ovid,
_Fasti_, III. 812; see Mommsen, _Feste_ ..., p. 59).
[274] “... per urbem ire canentes carmina cum tripudiis solemnique
saltatu,” Liv. I. 20. 4. See, further, Wissowa, _op. cit._ I. 482, who
refers to Dion. Hal. II. 70. 2. Cp. de la Saussaye, _op. cit._ II. 441
ff.; and see Seneca, _Epp._ XV.; Quintilian, I. 2. 18.
[275] _GB_, _The Scapegoat_, p. 232.
[276] Frazer, _ibid._; Marquardt, _Römische Staatsverwaltung_, III.
427 f. (1885); Aust, _op. cit._ p. 130; Cirilli, _Les Prêtres Danseurs
de Rome_, pp. 97 ff. (1913); for Harvest Festivals generally among the
Romans see Wissowa, _Religion und Kultus der Römer_, pp. 191 ff., for
the _Hilaria_, pp. 321 ff. (1912); Roscher, _Ausführliches Lexikon der
griechischen und römischen Mythologie_, s.v. Attis, I. 715 ff. (1884);
for the _Vinalia_, Aust, _op. cit._ p. 173. Cp. Farnell, _The Evolution
of Religion_, p. 145 (1905).
[277] See, for illustrations not mentioned here, Lilly Grove, _op. cit._
pp. 65-92.
[278] This is given by Frazer, _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_ ..., I. 95 f.,
from A. W. Nieuwenhuis, _Quer durch Borneo_, I. 167-169 (1904 ...).
[279] Frazer, _op. cit._ p. 107. See also Chalmers, _Pioneering in New
Guinea_, pp. 323 ff. H. L. Roth, _The Natives of Sarawak and British
North Borneo_, I. 262 (1896), says: “The Dyaks really seem to consider
dancing as a part of divine service, attributing to it some mysterious
and wholesome efficacy”;—they do not enquire why; it is taken for granted
that it is so.
[280] _Malay Magic_, p. 462 (1900).
[281] Cp. Réville, _Les Religions des peuples non-civilisés_, p. 269,
who tells of how the imitative magic dance develops into a specifically
religious act.
[282] _Op. cit._ p. 464; see, further, pp. 465 ff., and also Skeat
and Blagden, _Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula_, I. 364 f., II. 119
ff., 126 ff., 137 with the illustration on p. 138; and for the negro
Baris, whose country is situated on either bank of the White Nile, see
Featherman, _Social History of the Races of Mankind_, I. 74 (1881).
[283] W. Schneider, _Die Religion der Afrikanischen Naturvölker_, pp.
52-58 (1891); Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrika’s_, p. 327 (1872).
[284] On initiation dances see Harrison, _Themis_, pp. 24 f.
[285] Bab. Talm. _Rosh Ha-shanah_ 16 _a_, Mishnah, _Sukkah_, IV. 9; cp.
Mishnah, _Berakôth_, V. 2; see also the curious story in Lucian, _De Dea
Syria_, XIII.; and for numbers of examples of rain-charms see Frazer,
_GB_, _The Magic Art_, I. 247-329.
[286] _The Threshold of Religion_, p. 76 (1909).
[287] _ERE_, X. 359 _b_.
[288] The root meaning of _ʿanah_ is “to sing,” see Isa. xxvi. 2, Exod.
xxxii. 18, Ps. cxix. 172; and cp. the cognate Arabic root _ghanna_; in
neo-Hebrew it is often used of singing in chorus.
[289] A different interpretation of the passage is given by a few
commentators, _e.g._ Briggs in the _Intern. Crit. Com._, but the natural
meaning seems to be as above.
[290] We have referred to this in another connexion, see p. 141. It is
probable that we have in this episode a combination of an historical fact
and some form of the Adonis myth.
[291] Pausan. IV. xvi. 4. See, further, Hermann, _Gottesdienstliche
Alterthümer_, §§ 24, 50.
[292] Reference is made in 1 Sam. xxi. 5, 2 Sam. xi. 11 to an act of
self-control which was also part of the consecration for battle; but
this, which is found among many other races, had its special reason and
does not come into consideration here.
[293] _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_ ..., II. 145, where other examples are
given.
[294] _GB_, _Spirits of the Corn_ ..., I. 22.
[295] The possibility is not excluded that in all cases of animals being
eaten in order to absorb their qualities, their sacredness may have been
the real reason at one time in the history of the rite. When this reason
was forgotten and its qualities became the sole reason for eating an
animal, the extension of the idea in other ways would be natural.
[296] _Religion of the Semites_, p. 288.
[297] _GB_, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 165 f. (1911);
the account is taken from S. Müller, _Reizen en Ondergoekingen in den
Indischen Archipel._, II. 252 (1857). For another example see Chalmers,
_op. cit._ p. 182.
[298] C. G. Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, p. 298
(1910), quoted by Frazer, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 168.
[299] Spencer and Gillen, _The Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp.
493 f. (1899).
[300] De Flacourt, _Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar_, pp. 97 f.
(1658), quoted by Frazer, _GB_, _The Magic Art_, I. 131 (1911).
[301] _The Secret Tribal Societies of West Africa_, p. 17, quoted by
Frazer, _op. cit._ I. 132.
[302] Frazer, _op. cit._ I. 133 f.
[303] _Uit het leven der Bevolking van Windessi_, in the “Tijdschrift
voor Indische Taal-Landen Volkenkunde,” XL. 157 f. (1898); _GB_, _Taboo
and the Perils of the Soul_, pp. 169 f.
[304] _E.g._ in such cases as the May-pole dance, and the dances round
the Midsummer fires.
[305] Robertson Smith, _The Religion of the Semites_, p. 455, where
references to original authorities are given. See also Stade, _Biblische
Theologie des Alten Testaments_, i. 148.
[306] _GB_, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 158; for further
examples see pp. 161 ff., and _The Magic Art_, I. 125 ff. Conceivably
the taboo on the persons left at home during the absence of the fighting
men may have originally had something to do with the victory dance being
performed by women alone.
[307] See the present writer’s _Immortality and the Unseen World_, chaps.
VIII-X.
[308] _E.g._ Gen. xxiv. 49 ff., xxix. 27; Judg. xiv. 7; Isa. lxi. 10;
Jer. ii. 32, vii. 34, xxv. 10; Ps. xlv. 10 ff.; Cant. iii. 6-11; cp. 3
Macc. iv. 8. In the New Testament we have more details, _e.g._ Matth.
xxii. 2, xxv. 1 ff.; Lk. xii. 36; John ii. 1 ff.
[309] See König, _Hebr. und Aram. Wörterbuch_, p. 505, and cp. the Sept.
τῇ Σουμανείτιδι (Cod. B).
[310] _Kimĕhôlath hammaḥanaim._ Cp. the Septuagint rendering: ὡς χοροὶ
τῶν παρεμβολῶν.
[311] Curtiss, _Primitive Semitic Religion To-day_, p. 52, says, “The
tenacity with which the Oriental mind, if left to itself, holds that
which has always been, and turns to it as unerringly as the needle to
the pole, has often been observed, and is our guaranty that we may find
primitive religious conditions among people with whom, if we approach
them in the right way, we may hold intercourse to-day.” This may
certainly apply to the present instance.
[312] In the _Zeitschrift für Ethnologie_, pp. 287 ff. (1873).
[313] Cp. the reference to the king in Cant. i. 4.
[314] _Mittel-Syrien und Damascus_, p. 123 (1853).
[315] _Arabia Deserta_, II. 118 (1921).
[316] See Rothstein’s article, “Moslemische Hochzeitsgebräuche in Lifta
bei Jerusalem,” in Dalman’s _Palästinajahrbuch_, 1910, pp. 102-123,
especially 110-114; a photographic illustration of a sword-dance is given
on p. 102; and Klein in the _Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästinischen
Vereins_, VI. 94 ff. (1883).
[317] “Its general unscientific nature has been demonstrated by Mr Fison
and Dr Westermarck.... The theory, then, that mankind in general, or
even a particular section of mankind, even in normal circumstances were
accustomed to obtain their wives by capture from other tribes, may be
regarded as exploded. There have been, of course, and still are, sporadic
cases of capture of wives from hostile tribes or others, but such cannot
prove a rule.” Crawley, _The Mystic Rose: A Study of Primitive Marriage_,
p. 367 (1902).
[318] _Op. cit._ pp. 323 ff.
[319] For the reasons why these maleficent influences should be believed
to be present on such occasions see Crawley’s work, chaps, XIII, XIV.
[320] _Palestinischer Diwan_, p. 254 (1901). For the custom among the
Arabs of the Hedjaz see Featherman, _op. cit._ V. 402.
[321] Krauss, _Talmudische Archäologie_, II. 39 (1911).
[322] Bacher, _Aggada der Palestinischen Amoraim_, III. 36 (1897); _JE_,
VIII. 341 f.
[323] Abrahams, _Jewish Life in the Middle Ages_, p. 193 (1896).
[324] Abrahams, _op. cit._ pp. 195 f.; cp. with this the rite in the
ancient Indian ritual, in which the bride takes seven steps towards
the bridegroom; at the seventh he seizes her by the foot, Winternitz,
_Das altindische Hochzeitsrituell_, in “Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen
Akademie der Wissenschaften,” XL. 51 (1892).
[325] Grunwald, in _JE_, VIII. 346 _a_, quoting from Chorny, _Sefer
ha-Massaʿot_, p. 298.
[326] Abrahams, _op. cit._ p. 196. For marriage rites among Jews and
Mohammedans in Palestine to-day see Baldensperger in the _Quarterly
Statement_ of the Pal. Exploration Fund, 1899, pp. 140 ff., 1900, pp. 181
ff., 1901, pp. 173 ff.
[327] Westermarck, _Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco_, p. 144 (1914).
[328] Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 388 (1910).
[329] On this, see further Crawley, _op. cit._ pp. 327 ff., 335 ff.
[330] _Op. cit._ p. 321.
[331] _Op. cit._ p. 344.
[332] Featherman, _Social History of the Races of Mankind_, V. 480 (1881).
[333] Westermarck, _op. cit._ p. 251.
[334] Winternitz, _Das altindische Hochzeitsrituell_, XL. 30.
[335] Skeat, _Malay Magic_, p. 374.
[336] Skeat, _op. cit._ p. 381.
[337] “For practical purposes, as is hardly necessary to premise,
the complex fears of men and women are often subconscious, or are
only expressed as a feeling of diffidence with regard to the novel
proceedings, and also are not always focussed on the personality of
either party with its inherent dangerous properties nor stimulated by
conscious realisation of particular dangers.... We have, however, seen
cases where the individual in marriage is consciously aware that it is
his human partner who is to be feared” (Crawley, _op. cit._ p. 323).
[338] Skeat, _op. cit._ p. 377, and for other dances at weddings see pp.
388 f., 392.
[339] _The History of Human Marriage_, II. 584 (1921); see also
Featherman, _op. cit._ I. 208.
[340] Frazer, _GB_, _The Scapegoat_, p. 171.
[341] Frazer, _GB_, _The Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, II. 255.
[342] Westermarck, _Marriage Ceremonies in Morocco_, p. 90.
[343] Westermarck, _op. cit._ p. 144.
[344] H. A. Metcalf’s translation, _The Idylls and Epigrams of Theocritus
..._ (1905).
[345] _The Mystic Rose_, pp. 337 ff.
[346] For these, see the present writer’s book, _Immortality and the
Unseen World: a Study in Old Testament Religion_, pp. 141 ff. (1921).
[347] _Talmudische Archäologie_, II. 67 f., 483 (1911); cp. also Thomson,
_The Land and the Book_: Lebanon, Damascus, and beyond Jordan, pp. 401
ff. (1886).
[348] Crawley, in _ERE_, X. 358 _a_.
[349] The mystic number, seven, in connexion with the rite will not
escape notice. The whole service will be found in Gaster’s _Daily and
Occasional Prayers_, vol. I. (1901). The supplications, though not in
precisely the same form in which they now appear, are known to go back
to pre-Christian times; the antiquity of the ritual by which they are
accompanied, especially when its nature is considered, will obviously be
at least as great, let alone the long history behind it.
[350] _Sacred Books of the East_, XI. 129 (1879-1910).
[351] In _ERE_, III. 658 _b_.
[352] Hartland, in _ERE_, IV. 426 _b_.
[353] Walse, in _ERE_, IV. 453 _b_.
[354] Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, I. 301 (1903).
[355] Alois Musil, _Arabia Petraea_, III. 203 (1908).
[356] For illustrations of this kind see, _e.g._, Rosellini, _Les
Monuments de l’Égypte et de la Nubie_, Pl. CXIV. fig. 2, Pl. CXVI. fig. 6
(1831); Lepsius, _Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien_, Div. II, Pls.
52, 53 (1849); Perrot et Chipiez, _Histoire de l’art dans l’antiquité:
l’Égypte_, p. 701 (1882).
[357] In _ERE_, V. 238 _a_.
[358] Erman, _Aegypten ..._, I. 336.
[359] Erman, _op. cit._ I. 338, II. 434.
[360] Reported in the _Times_, 29th June, 1922.
[361] Cp. Herodotus, II. 85.
[362] _An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians_,
II. 272 (1871).
[363] _Op. cit._ pp. 344, 408 f., 452.
[364] Among the Romans, during the earliest periods, funerals always took
place at night; for the evidence see Marquardt, _Das Privatleben der
Römer_, pp. 343 f. (1886).
[365] As to funeral games see Daremberg et Saglio, _Dictionnaire des
antiquités Greques et Romaines_, II. 1376 (1896 ...): “La présence de
nombreux chars sur les vases peints du Dipylon fait croire qu’on continua
à célébrer des jeux funèbres en l’honneur du mort, et cet usage persista
longtemps encore, comme semble l’indiquer une peinture où un char de
course est représenté à côté d’une stèle qu’on achève de décorer.” Cp.
Rohde, _Psyche ..._, I. 224 f. As Hartland points out (_ERE_, IV. 437
_a_), “funeral games, familiar to us in classical literature, are of very
wide distribution. They cannot be separated from dances, for there is no
hard and fast line between the two.”
[366] See also Rohde, _Psyche ..._, I. 221.
[367] In Dionys. VII. 72 there is a description of such a procession in
which troops danced in the dress of Sileni and Satyrs. Suet. _Caes._ 84
(Marquardt, _Das Privatleben der Römer_, pp. 352 f.).
[368] Crawley, in _ERE_, X. 356 _a_.
[369] _Antike Gesichtshelme und Sepulcralmasken_, p. 4 (1878), referred
to by Marquardt, _Privatleben der Römer_, p. 241, and see further, pp.
353 ff.
[370] Showerman in _ERE_, IV. 505 _b_, 507 _b_. Cp. Daremberg et Saglio,
_op. cit._ s.v. _Funus_.
[371] _Op. cit._ II. 32.
[372] See the present writer’s _Immortality and the Unseen World_, pp. 9,
21 f.
[373] _I.e._ “sacred,” the first month of the Musulman year.
[374] Jaʿfar Sharif, _Islam in India, or the Qānūn-i-Islam: The Customs
of the Musulmans of India_, translated by G. A. Herklots, pp. 161-174
(1921).
[375] Frazer, _GB_, _The Magic Art_, II. 183.
[376] J. M. Brown, _Maori and Polynesian_, p. 203. “Funeral dances and
death-bed dances are a world-wide custom. We hear of them in Patagonia,
in Abyssinia, in North America, in the East Indian isles and in the
Highlands of Scotland; we read about them in ancient Egypt, and we can
see them to-day in Spain, in Ireland, and in the centre of France,” Lilly
Grove, _op. cit._ p. 4.
[377] _ERE_, IV. 434 _b_.
[378] Seligmann, _The Melanesians of British New Guinea_, pp. 358 ff.,
716 (1910).
[379] Frazer, _The Belief in Immortality_, I. 200 (1913).
[380] Frazer, _op. cit._ I. 399.
[381] _The Indian Tribes of Guiana_, pp. 154 f. (1868).
[382] Schoolcraft, _op. cit._ I. 198, 234.
[383] Featherman, _Social History of the Races of Mankind_, I. 413 (1881).
[384] Baldwin Spencer, _The Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of
Australia_, pp. 234 ff. (1914).
[385] Frazer, _op. cit._ I. 293 f.
[386] _Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Straits_, V.
256.
[387] _Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart_, V. 1070.
[388] Nelson, _The Eskimo about Bering Strait_, Eighteenth Annual Report
of the Bureau of Ethnology, Pt. I. 363 (1899).
[389] Frazer, _GB_, _Taboo and the Perils of the Soul_, p. 166.
[390] Spencer and Gillen, _The Native Tribes of Central Australia_, pp.
505 ff. (1899).
[391] Lumholtz, _Unknown Mexico_, I. pp. 384 ff. (1903).
[392] _ERE_, IV. 481 _a_.
[393] _ERE_, IV. 416 _b_.
[394] See on this the present writer’s _Immortality and the Unseen
World_, p. 180.
INDEX
Aaron, 161
Ab, feast of, 143
_Abel-meḥolah_, 142
Abijah, 92
Absorbing the god, 25
Abydos, royal tombs at, 203
Achna, Kybele _temenos_ at, 99
Air a means of lustration, 99
Altar, dance round, 91 f.
procession round, 94
Amalekites, David’s attack on the, 48
Amathus, 70
_Ambarvalia_, 100, 149
Ancestor-worship, 131
dancing connected with, 195
Animals, belief in descent from, 18, 78
holy, 166
imitated in dance, 18
sacred, 166
Animistic stage, 14
Aphrodite, 98
Aphrodite-Ariadne, 70
Apis festivals, 60
Apollo, 7, 63, 68, 74, 120
Apollo Karneios, 69
Apollo, Pythaean, 69
Apollonius Rhodius, 201
Apuleius, 118
Apuleius’ account of sacred dance, 61 f.
Arabi Pasha, 115
Arabs, 193
ancient, 116
_cultus_ of the, 49, 94
wedding dance among the, 181
mourning rite among the, 202
song round well of, 89
Arāwaks, funeral dance among the, 212 f.
procession round corpse of, 201
Archigallus, 127
Ares, 63
Argonauts, 201
Ariadne, 70
Ariadne’s Dance, 27, 69, 71 f.
Aristomenes, 163
Aristophanes, _Frogs_ quoted, 123
Aristotle, 14
Ark, 36, 54, 94
_Arkteia_, 68, 102
Artemis, 19, 63, 66, 102
Brauronian ceremonies of, 68
Caryatis, 67
Koruthalia, 66
worship of, 67
Artemis-Kybele, groves of, 99
Arunta of Central Australia, 169
funeral dance among the, 216
Arval Brothers, 149
Ashantees, 170
Ashdod, 47
Ashkenazic Jews, 198
Asiatic peoples, sacred dance among, 76
_Asiph_, 140
Asshurbanipal, inscription of, 58
Assyrian festivals, 58
procession, 58
sacred dance, 6
Athena, 19, 64, 120
Athens, 123
Atonement, day of, 143
_Atrium_, 208
Attic women dancing in honour of Dionysos, 123
Attis, worship of, 126, 127
Baal, 38
Marqôd, 19, 56
of dancing, 56
prophets of, 111, 113, 131 f.
“Baby Jesus”, 23
Babylonian festivals, 57
hymns, 58
Bacchanalian assemblies, 124
Bacchantes, 121, 124
Bagobos of Mindanao, 103
_Bāmāh_, 108
Bambaras of Senegambia, 145
Barges, procession of, 62
Basket, 60
Baskets dancing, 67
Bear dance, 68, 102
Bechuanas, marriage dance among the, 181
Bedouin Arabs, 193
dance among the, 56 f.
Benihassan, inscription on tomb at, 203
Benjamites, 142
Bēs, 60
Bēsa, 61
Bethel, 38
_Bharang_, 211
Bheels, marriage dance among the, 181
Blood, flowing of during dance, 213
Bodo-priest, 27, 128
Boghazkeui, rock-inscription at, 59, 109
Bond of life, 200
Bondas, funeral dance among, 213
Bones venerated, 210
Book of the Dead, the, 11
Brahman worship, 77
Brauronian ceremonies, 68, 84
Brethren of the Ploughed Fields, 149
Bridal couples, royal state of, 29
Bride and bridegroom in a state of danger, 184
Buddha, pyre of, 201
Burial rite, dancing as a, 29 f., 42
customs not an innovation, 197
tenacity of, 197
Burials, Chinese, 201
Buriats, procession round corpse of, 201
Byblos, 116
Cactus, 217
Camel, processional dance round, 28, 95
Caryae, 67
Cassowary-dances, 18
Castor and Pollux, 67
Cattle increased by sacred dance, 103
_Charites_, 148
_Chela_, 133
Child mind, the, 22
Chinese burials, 201
_Chitôn_, 67
Chnomhôtep, 203
Choruses of Physcoa and Hippodamia, 124
_Chuppah_, 177
Cicero, 78
Circle-dance of men and women, 205 f.
Circle, magic, 28, 94
Circuit round sanctuary, 94
sacrifice, 94
sevenfold, 93, 94
Circuits round a corpse, 200
Circumambulation, 199
Circumambulatory procession, 100
Circumcision festivals, dancing at, 144 f.
of Isaac, 145
City, encirclement of, 94
Clapping of hands, 7, 52
Clement of Alexandria, 125
_Coelibaris hasta_, 181
Coins from Tralles, 69
Conibos, funeral dances among the, 212
“Consecrated”, 94
Consecration of warriors, 161
Corinth, golden plate from grave near, 73
Corn-Mother, 103
Corneto, 207
Corybantes, 69
Crane dance, 72
Cremation in India, 201
Cretan labyrinth, 71
Cretan legend of birth of Zeus, 69
Cretan-Mycenaean creed, 120
Crete, 70
Crops made to grow by dancing, 27, 29
_Cultus_ of ancient Arabs, 94
Custom, traditional, retained, 217
Cylinder seals, 59
Cylix of Hieron, 122
Cymbals, 7, 52
_Cypresses_, 148
Cyprus, 70
excavations in, 11, 98
inscriptions from, 59 f., 72 f., 98 f.
Dagon, 47
_Daḥa_ dances, 144
Dakotahs, 21, 77, 83, 101, 165 f.
sun worship among the, 77
_Dālag_, 44, 46, 47, 48
Dance accompanied by cymbals, 7
by hand-drums, 7
by singing, 7
by tambourine, 121, 203
among the Greeks, 11
the Israelites, 7
the natives of New Guinea, 1 f.
the uncivilized races, 8
and music, 7
and religion, 69
applied to processions, 100
as a mourning rite among the Greeks and Romans, 207 ff.
at funeral feasts, 207
at weddings as an initiatory ceremony, 188
ecstatic, 37 ff.
encircling, 37, 183, 199, 205
funeral, 204 ff.
funeral, purposes of, 204 ff.
Hebrew terms for, 44 ff.
_Hikuli_, 217 f.
imitative, 14
in honour of the army of the heavens, 69
of the Egyptian gods, 61
in semi-circle, 98
limping, 87, 111
musical accompaniment to, 51 ff.
never useless, 2
of Jewish maidens, 143
of maidens in the _forum_, 75
on graves, 29
orgiastic, 122
processional, 36
represented on Greek pottery, 5
round a sacred object, 88 ff.
altar, 91 f.
golden calf, 90
men disguised as familiar spirits, 214
slain enemies, 206
trees, 88
wells, 88
scaring away evil spirits, 30
the dead brought back by, 30
the dead personated in, 30
Dance-spirit, the, 153
Dancers sprinkled, 217
Dances and funeral games, 207
at Egyptian funerals, 203
at festivals among the Romans, 149 ff.
in celebration of victory, 40 f., 159 ff.
in honour of superhuman powers, 54 ff.
of the dead, 205 f.
of gods, 17
of the _Salii_, 150
performed under trees, 148
Dancing accompanied by instrumental music, 122
as an act of devotion, 129
as an expression of will, 6
as a mourning rite among savages, 209 ff.
at celebration of Eleusinian mysteries, 124
at circumcision festivals, 144 f.
at Egyptian festivals, 146
at feasts, 140 ff.
at festivals among the Baris, 153
Hottentots, 153 f.
Kai, 152
Kayans, 151 f.
at Greek festivals, 146 ff.
at the feast of Purim, 144
connected with ancestor-worship, 195
definitions of, 5
Dervishes, 115, 130, 137
during the making of vows, 145
field of, 142
Hebrew words for, 35 ff., 197
highest development of, 9
in honour of the dead, 203 f.
in honour of the moon, 153
magical, 171
modern, 6
modes of, 5 f.
of masked men and women, 148
priests, 150
religious in origin, 129
serious for savages, 21
spirit of, 130
to ensure a fruitful marriage, 191
to the point of unconsciousness, 129
Dancing-floor in Knossos, 70
Dancing-grounds, Greek, 65
[_See also_ Ecstatic Dance, Funeral Dance, Sacred Dance]
_Davar_, 49, 95
David, 36, 54, 162
Day of Atonement, 143
of Blood, 127
Dead, continued existence of the, 209
imitated in dance, 30
sacrifice for the, 213
the, brought back by dance, 30
_Decemviri_, 75
_Deir el-Ḳala_, 56
Delos, 70, 72
Delphian women dancing in honour of Dionysos, 123
Demeter, 24
dance in honour of, 90
mysteries of, 147
Departed, dance in honour of the, 198 f.
personating the, 214
spirit of, feared, 205 f.
wrath of, appeased by dance, 215
Dervishes, dancing, 115, 130, 137
Descent from animals, 18, 78
Development of ideas, 218
Devil dancers, 27, 128
_Dhāt anwāt_, 96
_Dies Sanguinis_, 127
Dinka, negro tribe in Soudan, 206
Diodorus, 124
Dionysiac ritual, 6
Dionysos, 7, 19, 21, 63, 64, 66, 120, 143, 147, 148
contact with through dance, 122
festivals, 122
orgies in honour of, 123
raving in honour of, 38
temple of, 124
under the influence of, 122
worship of, 120
Dioscuri, 19
Disguise of mourners, 205, 211
Divine indwelling, 26
Dog-dances, 18
Drum-beating, 2
Dutch New Guinea, funeral dance among inhabitants of, 212
Ecstatic dance, 32, 107 ff.
a means of mystic experiences, 116
among Greeks, 119 ff.
Israelite prophets, 109 ff.
Romans, 126
Syrians, 116 ff.
uncultured races, 128 ff.
contagious, 108
means of divine indwelling, 32
means of union with the deity, 108
not confined to early Israelite prophets, 107
outcome of strong religious emotion, 107
two forms of, 114
Ecstatic state, 27
means of inducing an, 39, 120
voice of the god during, 129
Egyptian fresco, dancing depicted on, 10
inscriptions, 5
funeral dances, 203, 204
procession, 203
temples, sacred dance depicted on doors of, 62 f.
Egyptians, mourning rite among the, 202 f.
Eleusinian mysteries, dancing at the celebration of, 124
Eleusis, 90, 124
Elagabalus, 149
Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, 143
Elijah, 113
Elis, 68
Encirclement of city, 94
Encircling dance, 199, 206
procession of gods, 96
_Epithalamium_, 190
E-sagila, temple of, 57
Eskimo, procession round corpse of, 201
Esquimaux, funeral dances among, 215
Eteokles, the daughters of, 148
Eternity, Feast of, 203
Etruria, sacred dance introduced from, 75
Etruscan vase, 71
Etruscans influenced by Greeks, 76
Euripides, _Bacchae_ quoted, 124
Evil eye, 188
Evil spirits, 47, 132
combated in dance, 204 f.
in vicinity of corpses, 205
protection against, 205
scared away by dance, 30
Excavations in Cyprus, 11, 70
Exegesis, Rabbinical type of, 86
Familiar spirits, men disguised as, 214
Fātima, 211
Faunus, 150
Fear of departed spirit, 205
Feast of Eternity, 203
of Tabernacles, dancing during, 94
Feet, stamping of, 198
Festival, funeral, 203
Field of dancing, 142
Figures, semi-human, 147
Fire as a lustration, 99
Flute-playing as a mourning rite, 196
_Forum_, dance of maidens in the, 75
_Fratres Arvales_, 149
Funeral dance among Aaru archipelago natives, 218
Aborigines of N. Australia, 213
Arāwaks, 212 f.
Arunta, 216
Bondas, 213
Conibos, 212
Dutch New Guinea natives, 212
Esquimaux, 215
Gilbert islanders, 212
Indian tribes of Guiana, 212
Maoris, 212
Melanesians, 212
N. American Indians, 213
Pulu islanders, 214
Sioux, 214
Sulka, 212
Tami islanders, 213 f.
Tarahumares of Mexico, 217
Timor islanders, 215
Funeral dances collective, 199
purposes of, 204 f.
Funeral festival, 203
Funeral games cannot be separated from dances, 207
Funeral procession, scenes at, 199
Funerals at night, 207
Gallas’ dance round sacred tree, 103
Game of Troy, 69, 71, 74
Games at funerals, 207
_Geranos_, 72
Ghosts of the dead, 29
propitiation of, 167 ff.
Gilbert islanders, funeral dance among, 212
Gilyaks, 18
Goddesses personated, 148
Golden calf, dance round the, 90
Grave a dwelling-place, the, 208
Greek influence on the Romans, 73 f.
pottery, 66
dances represented on, 5
vases, 10
Greeks, dancing of the, 65
funeral processions among the, 207
national temperament of the, 76
Grotta del Trichinio, 207
_Gymnopaediae_, 68 f.
_Ḥāgag_, 44, 48 ff., 92
_Ḥagg_, 49, 51, 94, 141
Halfa, 204
_Ḥalîl_, 52
Hallel, 93
_Haloa_, 147
Hand-drums, 7
_Hantu mĕnāri_, 130
Harmony, 53
Harp-players, 202
Harpokrates, 61
Harvest festivals, 39 f.
dancing at, 140 ff.
Ḥatḥor, 19, 60 f.
Head-hunters in Dutch New Guinea, 171 f.
Heavenly bodies, symbolic representation of movements of, 95
_Ḥebel_, 92, 108
Hebrew prophets, 33
terms for dancing, 44 ff., 197
Hebrews, festivals among the, 139 ff.
religious superiority of the, 139
Heliodorus, 117
Hell-gallop, 206
Henna-dance, 187 f.
Hera, 64
Herakles, Tyrian, 117
Hermes, 148
Herodotus, 124
Herodotus’ account of Egyptian worship, 62
Hezekiah, 58
Hieron, cylix of, 122
_Hikuli_ dance, 217 f.
Hindoo Koosh, natives of, 171
Hippodamia, Chorus of, 124
Hittite inscriptions, 10, 59 f., 109
Homer, 122
Honouring the departed by dance, 30, 203 f., 209, 211
Hosea, 136
_Ḥūl_, 44
Human victim, dance round to make crops grow, 103
Husain, 211
Iacchus, 124
Iamblichus, theory of, 117
Ideas, development of, 218
Identification, 25
Identity, change of, 29
_Iḥwy_, 60
Ilabistan, wells of, 90
_Imagines_, 208
Imitation, 25
Imitative magic, 3, 4, 23, 183
propensity in man, 14
Indian, ancient ritual at weddings, 186
Initiation rite, 68
Inscription on tomb at Benihassan, 203
Inscriptions, dancing depicted on, 10
Egyptian, 5
from Cyprus, 65, 98 f.
Hittite, 10
Inspiration gained by dancing, 128
Instinct of play, 7
Irish, procession round corpse, 201
Isaac, circumcision of, 145
_Isidis Navigium_, 62
Isis, worship of, 61
Israelite prophets, 38
Israelites and the nations of antiquity, 85
dancing, 7
religious uniqueness of, sometimes exaggerated, 31 f.
sacred dance among the, 31 ff.
stage of culture of the, 8 f.
Italian god of vegetation, 27
Jacob, 113, 118
Jahwe, 33, 36, 38, 54, 93, 94
possession by spirit of, 109
Jephthah, 141, 162
Jewish custom, post-biblical, 9
maidens, dance of, 143
Jews, Ashkenazic, 198
of post-biblical times, marriage dance among the, 181 f.
of the Caucasus, marriage dance among the, 183
Sephardic, 198
_Juno Regina_, 74
_Kaaba_, 49, 95, 115
_Kailang Nāg_, 133
Kamtchatka, 18
Kangaroo-dances, 18
Kayans of Sarāwak, 28, 102, 106
_Ḳazir_, 140
Kazwini, 90
Killing a god in animal form, 165
King’s week, 178
_Kinnôr_, 52
Knossos, dancing-floor in, 70
Kol tribes of Chota Nagpur, 210
Kore, 147
Korybantes, 121
Kouretes, 125
Kûkubûry, 116
_Kumbâz_, 180
Kybele, 121, 126, 127
Kybele-_temenos_, 99
Labyrinth, 27, 69 f.
Lacedaemonians, 67, 163
Laconia, 67
Lameness simulated in dance, 111 f.
Lares, 149
Latona, 68, 69
Lattuka, negro tribe in Soudan, 205 f.
Law, the, 32
Leaping high to make crops grow, 150
over threshold, 47
Leukosia, 98
Limping dance, 87
at sunrise, 113
of Syrian origin, 114
step, 38, 51
Lucian, 96, 147
on dancing, 64
_Lupercalia_, 101, 149 f.
_Luperci_, 101
Lustration by air, 99
by fire, 99
Lycosura, 147
Lycurgus, the son of, 201
Madagascar, ancient natives of, 170
Madonna and Child, 23
Maenads, 11, 121 ff., 125
Magic and religion, 41
circle, 28, 94
to keep in angry spirits, 206
dance, 160, 171
imitative, 3, 23, 28, 183
sympathetic, 24, 28
vegetation, 149
Magna Mater, 126
Maidens’ chorus, 66
Makarakâ, negro tribe in Soudan, 206
Malayans, wedding dance among the, 186
_Malbûs_, 116
Mana, conception of, 3, 17
Mandan Indians, dancing among the, 189
Maoris, funeral dance among the, 212
war dance among the, 130
Maquarri dance, 212
Marduk, 57
Marqôd, Baal, 81
Marriage by capture, 180
fruitful, by means of dance, 1, 191
procession, 178, 186
rite, 28
state, dangers on entering, 28 f.
Mars, 149
Masked men and women, dancing, 148
Masks, 151 f., 208
May day, 47
May-pole, 103, 172
_Mazzôth_, 140
Medicine women, 130
Melanesians of British New Guinea, funeral dance among, 212
Mephibosheth, 111
Messenians, 67
Mexican Indians, beliefs of, 84
Michal, 54
Mindanao, 103
Minerva, 150
Minotaur, 71 f.
Miriam, 161
Mizpah, 141
Moon-worshippers, 153
Mopsus, 201
_Mormodellick_, 79
Morning Star, worship of, 95
Moroccans, wedding rite among the, 184, 186, 190
Mosaic legislation, 34
Mother and son, 125
Mourners disguised, 205
Mourning rite, dancing as a, why not mentioned in O.T., 194 f.
Mouth-pieces of the deity, 129
Movement, 14
_Muharram_ festival, 211
Music and dance, 7
Musical accompaniment to dancing, 51 ff.
_Muzzayîn_, 144 f.
Mycenae, 99
Myrtle-boughs, 182
_Mystae_, 123
Mysteries of Demeter, 147
Mystery, 14, 17
Naioth, 108
Nature-magic, 120
_Nebboot_, 204
_Nēbel_, 52
Nĕgrān, date-palm at, worshipped annually, 97
New Guinea, belief of natives of, 1 f.
Nilus, 89, 95
_Nobiles_, Roman, funeral procession of, 208
North American Indians, dancing among the, 129
Noṣairis, festival of St Barbe among the, 97
Oak, dance round sacred, 103
Objects of dance coalesce, 20 f.
Oceania, aborigines of, 129
Old Testament, dancing spoken of in, 8 f.
Olympian dance, 98
Onkelos, Targum of, 141
Orgiastic dance, 122
dance of priests, 126 f.
frenzy, 112
Oriental influence on the Romans, 74
Origin of sacred dance, 13 ff.
Original object of wedding dances, 185
_Orkēsis Iōnikē_, 68
Orphic mysteries, 125
Osiris, king deified as, 146
Palatine hill, running round, 150
Palestine, peasants of, 145
Pan, 63, 124, 150
Pan’s-pipe, 52
_Panathenaia_, 64
Panopeus, 122
Parnassos, 66, 123
_Pāsaḥ_, 44, 50 f.
_Pasâḥu_, 50
Patroclus, 201
Pausanias quoted, 67, 69, 122, 123, 124, 163
Pektides, 117
Peniel, 113, 118
Perambulation, ritual, 95
Persephone, 24, 147
Persian custom of leaping over threshold, 47
Personating the dead, 30, 214
Personation, 25, 148
Philochorus, 147
Philosophy, savage, 218
Phrygia, goddess of, 121
Physcoa, chorus of, 124
Pigs, sacrifice of, 102
Pindar, Pythian Ode quoted, 124
Pine-cone, 121
Pisistratus, 64
Play, human instinct of, 7
Pleiades, worship of, 79
Plutarch, 143
Polynesian dancing, 20
Pompeii, mosaic at, 71
_Porta Carmentalis_, 74
Poseidon, month of, 147
Possession, 122, 128
by spirit of Jahwe, 109
Pottery, Greek, 68
Powers, supernatural, 3
Priests, dancing, 150
orgiastic dance of, 126
Procession, circumambulatory, among the Romans, 100
form of dance, 100
funeral, 199, 202
round altar, 94
corpse, 199
sacred, 150
Processional dance, 36, 54 ff.
a normal mode of worship, 81
round camel, 28
Prophets, band of, 108
Hebrew, 33, 38
Israelite, ecstatic dance among the, 109 ff.
of Baal, 38
Syrian, 39
the, 32
Propitiation of ghosts, 167 ff.
Ptah, 146
Pulu islanders, funeral dance among, 214
Purim, feast of, dancing at the, 144
Pyre, festival of the, 96
threefold procession round, 201
Pyrrhic Dance, 19, 64, 69
Pythaean Apollo, 69
Pythian Ode quoted, 124
Qāsim, 211
Rain charm, 157 f.
_Rakâdu_, 81
_Raḳṣ_, 6
_Raḳṣa_ dance, 202
Ramah, 108
_Raqaʿ_, 198
_Rāqad_, 199
Raving in honour of Dionysos, 33
_Raymi_, 129
Reasoning of savages, 15
Religion and magic, 41
connexion of dance with, 69
Religious customs, persistency of, 31
ideas, modification of, 196
uniqueness of Israelites exaggerated, 31 f.
Rhythm, 6 f.
Rhythmic instinct, 7
Rite, original meaning of forgotten, 200
Rites, intermingling of, 217
Romans, ecstatic dance among, 126
funeral processions among, 207 f.
influenced by oriental cults, 127
national temperament of the, 76
sacred dancing among the, 73 ff.
Roro-speaking tribes of New Guinea, 168 f.
Royal state of bridal couples, 29
Royalty of bridal pair, 184
Running round newly born infants, 99
Russian Tapps, procession round corpse of, 201
_Sābab_, 44, 46, 92, 93
Sacred Dance a means of bringing back the dead, 214
a means of a fruitful marriage, 29
of obtaining food, 1, 4, 29, 103, 131
aiding the sun to run his course, 27
among Assyrians, 6
Bedouin Arabs, 6 f., 144
Greeks, 63 ff., 97 ff., 119 ff., 146 ff., 207 ff.
Jews of all periods, 184
Romans, 73 ff., 100 f., 119 ff., 149 ff.
Semites, 31 ff., 54 ff., 88 ff., 107 ff., 140 ff., 159 ff.
uncultured races, 77 ff., 101 ff., 128 ff., 151 ff., 167 ff., 184
ff., 209 ff.
appeasing wrath of departed, 214 f.
as a marriage rite, 1, 28 f., 41 f., 177 ff.
as a mourning and burial rite, 29 f., 42, 194 ff.
assisting warriors in battle, 28, 167 ff.
contagious, 38
departed personated in, 214
for magical purposes, 103, 148, 151
ghost of deceased driven away by, 217 f.
in honour of supernatural powers, 22, 209, 218
in the Old Testament, 8 f., 33 ff., 89, 107 ff., 140 ff.
introduced in Rome from Etruria, 75
led by Theseus, 70
many forms included under, 6, 35 f.
objects of the, 3, 19 ff.
origin of the, 13 ff.
round tree, 99
sources of information regarding the, 9 ff.
taught by animals, 18
unconsciousness brought about by the, 25
union brought about with god by the, 24, 32
Sacrifice, circuit round, 94
of pigs, 102
Sacrificial victim, 24
St Barbe, 97
St Paul, 32
_Salii_, the, 27, 150
Sanctuaries, limping dance performed at, 111
Sanctuary, circuit round, 94
Sarāwak, Kayans of, 28, 102
Satan dancing, 46
Saturn, 150
Satyrs, 64, 208
Saul among the prophets, 109 f.
_Sed_ festival, 146
Self-laceration, 38
Sennacherib, 58
Sephardic Jews, 198, 199 f.
burial of, 200
Serpent worship, 133
Seven circuits round a corpse, 200
Sevenfold circuit, 93 f.
_Shabuôth_, 140
Shaman, 128
Shiloh, 142
“Showing off”, 22 f.
_Sicinnis_, 64
_Sileni_, 208
Siloam, 157
Sinaitic Peninsula, Arabs of the, 95
Singers and dancers at funerals, 202
Sioux, funeral dances among, 214
Indians, 102
Sisera, 163
_Sistrum_, 52, 60
“Sixteen Women,” the, 124
_Skēnē_, 147
Speech, laudatory at burials, 198
Spirit of dancing, possessed by, 130
of the departed kept in grave, 216
indwelling, 16
Spirits of fertility represented by masked men, 152
Stamping of feet, 198
Statius, 201
Statue of the departed, 203
Step, limping, 38, 51
Stringed instruments, 52
_Sukkah_, reference to, 94
_Sukkôth_, 140
Sulka, of New Britain, funeral dance among, 212
Sun aided to run its course by dancing, 27
_Sungal_, 134
Supernatural powers, 3
imitated in dance, 15
sense of the, 17
the, 13
Sword dance, 28, 180, 186, 188
Symmachus, 126
Sympathetic magic, 24, 28
Syrian goddess, 118
desert, Bedouin Arabs of the, 81
peasants, weddings among the, 178 ff.
prophets, 39
Syrians, ecstatic dance among, 116 ff.
Tabari, ancient Arabian historian, 97
Tabernacles, feast of, 94, 141, 143, 157 f.
Taboo, 104, 174 f.
Talmudic period, 198
Tambourine accompanying dance, 121, 203
Tami islanders, funeral dance among, 213 f.
_Ṭaphaz_, 142
Tarahumares, funeral dance among, 217
Targum, 46
Targum of Onkelos, 141
Tarphon, Rabbi, 182
_Ṭawâf_, 95
Temple worship, 58
Terence quoted, 12
_Thargelia_, 148
_The Golden Ass_ quoted, 118 f.
Theocritus, 190
Theseus leading the sacred dance, 70
_Thesmophoria_, 148
Thompson Indians of British Columbia, 170
Threefold procession round pyre, 201
Threshing-floor, 147, 179
Threshold, 47
Thyia, first priestess of Dionysos, 121
Thyiads, 21, 121 ff.
_Thyrsus_, 121, 143
Timagani Indians, 102
Timor, inhabitants of, 167 f.
island, inhabitants of, funeral dances among, 215
Tinnevelly, 132
Titans, 125
_Tithēnidia_, 66
Tom-tom, 7, 52
_Tôph_, 52, 55
Torch dance, 143
Torres Straits, 214
Tragliatella, 71
Tree, dance round to make crops grow, 103
for hanging things on, 96
Tree-spirits, 106
Trees, dance round, 88, 99
dancing performed under, 148
Troy, game of, 69, 71, 74
Tshi-speaking peoples of the Gold Coast, 128
_ʿUgâb_, 52
Unconsciousness brought about by dance, 25
dancing to the point of, 129
Uniformity in mythology, 2
in ritual, 2
Union brought about by dance, 24
Vedda, 128
Vedic worship, 77
Vegetation magic, 120, 149
Victory dances, 40 f.
Vine-leaves, 121
Vintage festivals, 39 f.
dancing at, 140 ff.
Visions due to over-wrought state, 122
Vows, dancing during performance of making, 145
Walpurgis night, 47
Wand, curved, used during funeral dance, 203
Warriors dancing, 71
_Wazara_, 184
Wedding ceremony, dancing at, 41 f.
Wedding-feast, 177
Well of Fair Dances, 90
Well, song of the, 89
Wells, dance round, 88
Wen-Amon, 116
Wends’ dance round sacred oak, 103
Women under the influence of Dionysos, 122
Women, Bacchanalian assemblies of, 124
Xanthias, 123
_Xulophoria_, 144
Yuki tribes of California, 170 f.
_Zēlaʿ_, 114
Zeus, 19, 64, 69
Ziklag, 48
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