It is no
wonder that a phenomenon so important, so striking, and so universal
should, by suggesting similar ideas, have given rise to similar
rites in many lands. We may, therefore, accept as probable an
explanation of the Adonis worship which accords so well with the
facts of nature and with the analogy of similar rites in other
lands. Moreover, the explanation is countenanced by a considerable
body of opinion amongst the ancients themselves, who again and again
interpreted the dying and reviving god as the reaped and sprouting
grain.
The character of Tammuz or Adonis as a corn-spirit comes out plainly
in an account of his festival given by an Arabic writer of the tenth
century. In describing the rites and sacrifices observed at the
different seasons of the year by the heathen Syrians of Harran, he
says: "Tammuz (July). In the middle of this month is the festival of
el-B?g?t, that is, of the weeping women, and this is the T?-uz
festival, which is celebrated in honour of the god T?-uz. The women
bewail him, because his lord slew him so cruelly, ground his bones
in a mill, and then scattered them to the wind.
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