. . . When
this discourse, which is at times of great length, is over, the
people rise, each places a leaf on or by the circle of stones, and
then they depart with signs of great joy. The lamb's skull is hung
on a tree near the stones, and its flesh is eaten by the poor. This
ceremony is observed on a small scale at other times. If a family is
in any great trouble, through illness or bereavement, their friends
and neighbours come together and a lamb is killed; this is thought
to avert further evil. The same custom prevails at the grave of
departed friends, and also on joyful occasions, such as the return
of a son home after a very prolonged absence." The sorrow thus
manifested by the people at the annual slaughter of the lamb seems
to show that the lamb slain is a sacred or divine animal, whose
death is mourned by his worshippers, just as the death of the sacred
buzzard was mourned by the Californians and the death of the Theban
ram by the Egyptians. The smearing each of the worshippers with the
blood of the lamb is a form of communion with the divinity; the
vehicle of the divine life is applied externally instead of being
taken internally, as when the blood is drunk or the flesh eaten.
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