Ebook wait

After this ceremony in the great kraal every
man goes home to his own kraal, assembles all the members of his
family, men, women, and children, and smears them all with the juice
of the _lerotse_ leaves. Some of the leaves are also pounded, mixed
with milk in a large wooden dish, and given to the dogs to lap up.
Then the porridge plate of each member of the family is rubbed with
the _lerotse_ leaves. When this purification has been completed, but
not before, the people are free to eat of the new crops.
The Bororo Indians of Brazil think that it would be certain death to
eat the new maize before it has been blessed by the medicine-man.
The ceremony of blessing it is as follows. The half-ripe husk is
washed and placed before the medicine-man, who by dancing and
singing for several hours, and by incessant smoking, works himself
up into a state of ecstasy, whereupon he bites into the husk,
trembling in every limb and uttering shrieks from time to time. A
similar ceremony is performed whenever a large animal or a large
fish is killed.


Pages:
1335 1336 1337 1338 1339 1340 1341 1342 1343 1344 1345 1346 1347 1348 1349 1350 1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359