The skin of one of these reptiles is hung
tail downwards from a branch of the highest tree in the public
square, and the placing of it on the tree is an annual ceremony. As
soon as the ceremony is over, all children born within the past year
are carried out and their hands made to touch the tail of the
serpent's skin. The latter custom is clearly a way of placing the
infants under the protection of the tribal god. Similarly in
Senegambia a python is expected to visit every child of the Python
clan within eight days after birth; and the Psylli, a Snake clan of
ancient Africa, used to expose their infants to snakes in the belief
that the snakes would not harm true-born children of the clan.
4. Killing the Sacred Turtles
IN THE CALIFORNIAN, Egyptian, and Fernando Po customs the worship of
the animal seems to have no relation to agriculture, and may
therefore be presumed to date from the hunting or pastoral stage of
society. The same may be said of the following custom, though the
Zuni Indians of New Mexico, who practise it, are now settled in
walled villages or towns of a peculiar type, and practise
agriculture and the arts of pottery and weaving.
Pages:
1383
1384
1385
1386
1387
1388
1389
1390
1391
1392
1393
1394
1395
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407