REST DAYS
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REST DAYS
A Study in Early Law and Morality
BY
HUTTON WEBSTER, PH.D.
PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
AUTHOR OF "PRIMITIVE SECRET SOCIETIES"
" The study of their own species is doubtless the most interesting
and important that can claim the attention of mankind; and this
science, like all others, it is impossible to improve by abstract
speculation, merely. A regular series of authenticated facts is
what alone can enable us to rise towards a perfect knowledge in it."
WILLIAM MARSDEN, The History of Sumatra, London, 1811, Preface.
gorfc
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1916
All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1916,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and printed. Published May, 1916.
Norfcoooti
J. 8. Gushing Co. Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
Co
MY WIFE
PREFACE
WHAT perhaps might be described as the first edition of
this work appeared in 1911 in the University Studies of the
University of Nebraska. The title of the original mono-
graph has been retained for the present volume, in which
the same line of argument is followed and the same conclu-
sions are reached. After a lapse of nearly five years I have
not felt the necessity of modifying, to any essential degree,
the results of the earlier investigation. The book, then,
differs from its predecessor chiefly in providing a more
extensive collection of the relevant data.
Although much has been written on the Jewish Sabbath
and the Christian Sunday, and on the assumed Babylonian
prototype of these institutions, little inquiry has hitherto
been made into the rest days so commonly observed out-
side the Semitic area in antiquity and later ages. The prin-
cipal reason for this neglect of the comparative aspects of
the subject must doubtless be found in the still imperfect
appreciation of the fact that the great institutions of modern
civilization have their roots in the beliefs and customs, and
often in the superstitions, of savage and barbarian society.
It will be the task of social anthropology, by an impressive
accumulation of evidence, to make this truth a commonplace
of popular knowledge.
Among the friends and correspondents who have aided
me by criticisms and suggestions I wish particularly to men-
tion Dr. Crawford H. Toy, now Professor Emeritus in
Harvard University, and Dr. Louis H. Gray, now Assist-
ant Editor of Hastings's Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.
Mr. G. D. Swezey, Professor of Astronomy in the Uni-
versity of Nebraska, was good enough to help me in some
troublesome details relating to the calendar. The late
Walter Kendall Jewett, formerly University Librarian, and
Vlll
PREFACE
the kindest and most genial of men, put at my disposal
many books which otherwise would have been difficult of
access. To my honoured colleague. Professor George
Elliott Howard, I owe the inspiration, reaching back to
undergraduate days, which comes from association with one
whose devotion to scholarly ideals is matched only by his
enthusiasm for social service. Finally, I must acknowledge
my obligation to Chancellor Samuel Avery, whose interest
in the book has made possible its publication at this time.
HUTTON WEBSTER.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA,
February, 1916.
ERRATA
Page 80, note 2, read: p. 156; Macrobius, Satur-
Page 92, note, read: avov euro )(\a)pov rd^veiv &
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
Observance of days of abstinence and quiescence not unknown in the lower
culture, p. i . Probable origin of the Sabbatarian regulations in primi-
tive taboos, pp. 1,2. Tabu in Polynesia and equivalent customs in
other parts of the world, pp. 2, 3. Classification of taboos, p. 4.
Characteristics of taboos, pp. 4, 5. Their animistic sanctions, pp. 5,
6. Reasons for imposing taboos which necessitate abstinence and qui-
escence, pp. 6, 7. Connection of communal taboos with those observed
by individuals, p. 7.
CHAPTER I
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS
The institution of taboo in the Hawaiian Islands, pp. 8, 9. Observance
there of tabooed days, pp. 9, I o. Likeness between the Hawaiian
Sabbaths and the Sabbatarian regulations introduced by missionaries, p. I o.
Communal taboos imposed when a chief temple was consecrated,
pp. 11-13; at the time of the celebration of the New Year's festival,
p. 13 ; and in connection with the taking of certain fish, p. 14. The
four regular tabu periods in the Hawaiian month, pp. 14, 15. Ta-
booed days observed in the Society Islands, the Marquesas Islands, and
New Zealand, pp. 1517. In the Tonga Islands a period of taboo
imposed at the time of the first-fruits' sacrifice, pp. 1 8, 19. Days kept
sacred to certain gods in Samoa and other parts of Polynesia, pp. 1 9-2 1 .
-Tabooed days of the Fijians, pp. 21-24. Other instances of cojor
munal rest days in Polynesia, pp. 24, 25. General significance of the
Polynesian evidence, p. 25. Tabooed days not unknown in New
Guinea, p. 26. Tabooed days in Borneo, pp. 26, 27. Those ob-
served by the Kay an of Sarawak and Dutch Borneo, pp. 27-33 > ^7 ^ e
Iban or Sea Dyak, pp. 33-35 ; and by the Land Dyak, pp. 36, 37.
General significance of the Bornean evidence, pp. 37-39. Observance
of seasons of communal repose confined to the Indonesian population of
Borneo, pp. 39, 40. Tabooed days in the Nicobar Islands, pp. 40,
x CONTENTS
41 ; in Bali and Nias, pp. 41-43 ; in the Mentawi Islands, pp. 43,
44 ; in Formosa, p. 44 ; and in the Philippine Archipelago, pp. 44
49. The genna among the Naga tribes of Manipur, pp. 49-53.
Genna customs among other peoples of Assam, pp. 5355. Customs
allied to the genna in Burma, pp. 55-58. Indo-China probably the
centre of diffusion of the genna 9 p. 58. Resemblance of communal
rest days to the practice of the couvade, pp. 58, 59. Psychological
and sociological aspects of these communal regulations, pp. 59, 60.
Days of abstinence and quiescence mark crises in the community life,
pp. 60, 61.
CHAPTER II
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH AND ON RELATED OCCASIONS
Prohibition of work and other forms of activity a common regulation following
a death, p. 62. The animistic explanation of this taboo, pp. 62, 63.
Belief in the pollution of death, p. 63. Many instances of com-
munal taboos imposing abstinence and quiescence to be found among
semi-civilized peoples in various parts of the world : in the East Indian
Archipelago, pp. 63, 64; among the tribes of Borneo, p. 65; in
Assam, pp. 65, 66 ; in India and Tibet, pp. 66, 67 ; throughout
Africa, pp. 67-70 ; in Madagascar, p. 70 ; in North America, es-
pecially among the Eskimo, pp. 7073 ; and among some Siberian
tribes, pp. 73, 74. Survivals of such taboos in the funeral observances
of civilized peoples, p. 74. Similar regulations imposed in connection
with feasts of the dead and ceremonies of demon-expulsion, pp. 74, 75.
The evidence from Africa, pp. 7578. Unlucky days observed by
the Athenians in connection with the festivals of the Genesia and the
Anthesteria, pp. 79, 80. Unlucky days observed by the Romans in
connection with the festivals of the Parentalia and the Lemuria, pp. 80,
81. The Hebrew Day of Atonement, pp. 81-83. The Feast of
Sacrifices in Islam, p. 83. World- wide diffusion of the custom of
observing tabooed days after a death and on related occasions, p. 84.
CHAPTER III
HOLY DAYS
Characteristics of religious festivals, p. 85. Festival times often marked by
cessation of labour, pp. 85, 86. Origin of the conception of a " holy "
day, pp. 86, 87. Consecration of holy days to particular divinities,
pp. 87, 88. Connection between tabooed days and holy days, p. 88.
The taboo element in the festivals observed by Dravidian peoples of
CONTENTS xi
India, pp. 88-90. The Hebrew Day of First-fruits, pp. 90, 91.
Greek holy days, p. 91. The Athenian Plynteria, pp. 92, 93,
The Roman Vestalia, pp. 93, 94. Ferial days of the Romans as
tabooed days, pp. 94-100.
CHAPTER IV
MARKET DAYS
The observance of periodic rest days confined to agricultural peoples, pp. 101,
1 02. Connection of these days with the institution of the market,
pp. 1 02, 103. The evidence for market weeks and market days in
various parts of the world : in New Guinea and Melanesia, pp. 103,
1 04 ; in Celebes, Sumatra, Java, and the Malay Peninsula, pp. 1 04,
105 ; in Tonkin, Siam, and Assam, pp. 105, 106 ; throughout the
central parts of Africa, pp. 106-108 ; among the Congo negroes,
pp. 109, no; and among the Guinea negroes, pp. 110-117.
Origin of the market week in Africa, pp. 117, 118. Sabbatarian
features of the west African market day, p. 118. Market weeks and
market days in ancient Mexico and Peru, pp. 118120. The Roman
nundinal day, pp. 120-123.
CHAPTER V
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS
Great importance assigned to the moon by primitive peoples, pp. 124, 125.
- The lunar rays often believed to be deleterious to both children and
adults, pp. 125127. The moon supposed to cause menstruation and
impregnation, pp. 127-130. Influence of the moon on the tides,
p. 130. Belief that the moon affects the growth of vegetation,
pp. 130, 131. Doctrine of lunar sympathy, p. 131. The waxing
moon commonly regarded as favourable, the waning moon as unfavour-
able, for business of various sorts, pp. 131-134. Lunar eclipses
sometimes marked by a general suspension of activity, pp. 134, 135.
The inter lunium often observed by a cessation of labour, pp. 136140.
Ceremonies performed at new moon, pp. 140-142. Seasons of
abstinence and restriction at new moon and full moon, p. 143. Tabooed
days in connection with the lunar changes found among the Bantu peoples
of Africa, pp. 144-148. Lunar taboos in modern India, pp. 148,
149. The upavasatha of the Aryans of ancient India, pp. 149-1 5 1.
Sabbatarian observance of lunar days in post-Vedic times, pp. 15*
154. The posaha of Jainism, pp. 154, 155. The Buddhist Sab-
bath, or uposatha, pp. 155-158. Introduction of the uposatha into
xii CONTENTS
Ceylon, Burma, Siam, and Cambodia, pp. 158-162. The Buddhist
Sabbath in Tibet, Mongolia, China, and Japan, pp. 162-164.
Lunar days observed in Indonesia, pp. 164, 165. Lunar festivals of
the ancient Iranians, pp. 165, 166. Lunar festivals in ancient Egypt,
pp. 166-169. The Greek Noumenia and Dichomenia, pp. 169,
1 70. The Roman Kalends, Nones, and Ides, p. 1 70. The dies
postriduani, pp. 1 70, 171. Lunar festivals in heathen Europe, p. 172.
CHAPTER VI
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK
Beginnings of the calendar, p. 173. The moon as the measure of time,
pp. 173-175. Popular calendars based on the moon, pp. 175, 176.
The lunar year, pp. 176, 177. Adjustment of the lunar year to the
solar year, pp. 177, 178. Calendarizing of the lunation, p. 178.
Commencement of the lunar month, pp. 178, 179. Phases of the
moon often named and used for time-reckonings, pp. 180-182.
Bipartite division of the lunation, pp. 182-186. Shorter divisions of
the lunation, pp. 187, 188. The decade, pp. 188-192. The
ennead, pp. 192, 193. The octad, pp. 193, 194. Six-day weeks,
p. 194. The pentad, pp. 194-196. The hebdomad, pp. 196, 197.
Diffusion of the hebdomadal cycle: in Africa, pp. 197-199; in
India, pp. 199-201 ; in southeastern Asia, p. 201 ; in China and
Japan, pp. 202204 ; and in the Malay Peninsula and the Malay
Archipelago, pp. 204, 205. The Arabic week and the Mohammedan
Sabbath, pp. 205, 206. Mystic numbers in general, pp. 206-208.
Seven as a mystic number among semi-civilized peoples, pp. 208
211. Symbolism of seven in ancient India, Greece, and Babylonia,
pp. 2 1 1-2 1 2. The seven planets and planetary deities of the Baby-
lonians, pp. 213-215. The planetary week, pp. 215, 216.
Theories of its origin, pp. 216-218. Spread of the planetary week in
the Roman Empire, pp. 218, 219. Adoption of the planetary desig-
nations of the weekdays by the Christians, pp. 220, 221 . Spread of the
planetary week among Romance, Germanic, and Slavic peoples during
the early Middle Ages, pp. 221, 222.
CHAPTER VII
THE BABYLONIAN " EVIL DAYS*' AND THE SHABATTUM
The "evil days" of the months of Elul II and Markheshwan, pp. 223,
224. Possible explanations of the origin of these days, pp. 224, 225.
CONTENTS xiii
The Babylonian lunar month, p. 226. Determination of the be-
ginning of the month, pp. 226, 227. Adjustment of septenary di-
visions to the lunation, pp. 227, 228. Association of septenary
divisions with successive phases of the moon, pp. 228, 229. The
seven-day cycles in Babylonia not true "weeks/' pp. 229, 230.
Special significance attached to the seventh day, pp. 230, 231.
Taboo in Babylonia, pp. 231, 232. Prohibitions observed on the
seventh day, p. 232. 'Their connection with primitive taboos,
pp. 232234. How far the seventh day was marked by a general
abstention from labour, pp. 234, 235. The term shabattum,
pp. 235, 236. Various explanations of its meaning, pp. 236-238.
Shabattum applied to the fifteenth day of the month, pp. 238, 239.
Festival observance of new moon and full moon by the Babylonians,
pp. 239, 240. Probable connection of the shabattum with the "evil
days," pp. 240, 241.
CHAPTER VIII
THE HEBREW SABBATH
The Sabbath an ancient institution, pp. 242, 243. The theory of its origin
in the worship of Saturn untenable, pp. 243, 244. Connection of the
Sabbath Day with Saturday, pp. 244, 245. The Sabbath, with the
seven-day week, not borrowed from Egypt or Babylonia, pp. 245, 246.
Importance of the moon to the early Hebrews, pp. 246-248.
The festival of the new moon, pp. 248, 249. Observance of the
new-moon day by abstinence from work, pp. 249, 250. Religious
significance attached to the day of full moon, pp. 250, 251. The
Sabbath originally the full-moon day, p. 251. Early association of
new moon and the Sabbath, pp. 251-253. The term shabbath later
applied to every seventh day of the month, p. 253. Differences be-
tween the Hebrew seven-day week and the septenary cycle of the Baby-
lonians, pp. 253, 254. The Hebrew week probably at first no
periodic but connected with the lunation, pp. 254, 255. Obsolescence
of the new-moon day as a day of rest, p. 255, 256. Character of
the Sabbath in pre-Exilic times, p. 256. Various Sabbatarian regula-
tions to be explained as taboos, pp. 256-262. Revival in post-Exilic
times of the austere significance attached to the Sabbath, pp. 262, 263.
Strict observance of the Sabbath rest according to the rules of phari-
saic Judaism, pp. 263, 264. The Sabbath as a day of gladness and
good cheer, pp. 264-266. Introduction of the Sabbath into the Roman
world, pp. 266, 267. The Lord's Day as observed by the early
xiv CONTENTS
Christians, pp. 267, 268. Their adoption of the pagan designation
Sunday, p. 268. Ecclesiastical recognition of Saturday as a holy day,
p. 269. The Lord's Day not at first marked by abstinence from
labour, pp. 269, 270. Beginning of Sunday legislation, pp. 270, 271.
CHAPTER IX
UNLUCKY DAYS
The belief in unlucky days frequently a result of erroneous association of ideas,
pp. 272-274. The observation of natural phenomena sometimes
accounts for the unlucky character attached to certain times, pp. 274,
275. The conception of unluckiness sometimes deduced from the
assumed critical nature of certain periods, such as epagomenal months
and days, p. 276. The Twelve Days in ancient India, pp. 276,
277. European folklore of the Twelve Days, pp. 277-279. Un-
lucky character of the five supplementary days in the Mexican and Maya
calendars, pp. 279-281. The five supplementary days among the
ancient Egyptians, Persians, and Armenians, pp. 281-283. Epagom-
enal days in the French Republican calendar, p. 283. Some un-
lucky days observed in southeastern Europe probably derived from the
holy days of classical antiquity, pp. 283-285. Likeness between
tabooed days and the unlucky days observed in southeastern Asia,
pp. 285-288. The Toda rest days, pp. 288-292. Rest days of
the Siah Posh Kafirs, pp. 293, 294. Unlucky days among the Mal-
agasy, pp. 294, 295. Egyptian calendars of lucky and unlucky days,
pp. 295-297. A Babylonian calendar, pp. 297, 298. The Hesi-
odic calendar, pp. 298, 299. Unlucky days observed during the
Middle Ages, pp. 299-301. Decline of the superstition after the
Reformation, p. 301.
CONCLUSION
The observance of tabooed and unlucky days exerts a hampering influence on
social and economic progress, pp. 302, 303. Non-working days in
Hawaii, in Ashanti, and among the Hopi Indians of Arizona, p. 303.
The numerous religious festivals held in modern China and Korea
and in ancient Egypt and Greece, pp. 303, 304. Excessive devel-
opment of Roman festivals, pp. 304-306. Holy days in the religious
calendar of Christendom, pp. 306, 307. Passage of the holy day
into the holiday, 307, 308.
REST DAYS
REST DAYS
INTRODUCTION
2 ; ^ REST DAYS
but now known to exist in many other regions of the
aboriginal world. 1
"Taboo," from the Polynesian tabu, is one of the
few words which the languages of the Pacific have
contributed to our English speech. Tabu appears to
be, properly, the Tonga term, tapu, the word as found
in Samoa, the Marquesas Islands, the Society Islands,
and New Zealand, and kapu, the Hawaiian expression. 2
The etymology of tapu is uncertain, though an attempt
has been made to derive it from ta, to mark, and pu,
an adverb of intensity. The compound tapu would
then mean "marked thoroughly," and would come to
signify "sacred" in a secondary sense, since sacred
things and places were commonly indicated in a partic-
ular manner. 3 The word tapua'i means "to abstain
from all work, games, etc." 4 a translation which in-
dicates how intimately the idea of abstinence was
associated with the notion of tapu.
In all the Polynesian languages tapu or tabu appears
to have been employed with an adjectival meaning,
referring to something holy, sacred, and inviolable, or
to something polluted and accursed. The word, we
learn, did not imply any moral quality, but expressed
"a connection with the gods, or a separation from
ordinary purposes, and exclusive appropriation to
persons or things considered sacred ; sometimes it
means devoted as by a vow." 5 In a derivative sense
1 For the leading facts relating 2 A list of the equivalents of tabu
to the institution of taboo see Sir in the languages of Polynesia and
J. G. Frazer, "Taboo," Encyclo- Melanesia will be found in Wil-
pcedia Britannica,* xxiii, 15-18; Ham Churchill, The Polynesian
idem, Taboo and the Perils of the Wanderings, Washington, 1911, pp.
Soul, London, 1911; N. W. 263^.
Thomas, "Taboo," Encyclopedia 3 E. Shortland, Traditions and
Britannic a, xxvi, 337-341; L. Superstitions of the New Zealanders,*
Marillier, "Tabou," La grande London, 1856, p. 101.
encyclopedic, xxx, 848 sq. ; A. Bros, 4 E. Tregear, The Maori-Poly-
La religion des peuples non-civilises, nesian Comparative Dictionary, Wei-
Paris, 1907, pp. 185-213 ; C. H. lington (N.Z.), 1891, p. 472.
Toy, Introduction to the History of 6 William Ellis, Polynesian Re-
Religions, Boston, 1913, pp. 239- searches, London, 1859, iv, 385.
264.
INTRODUCTION 3
tabu came naturally to signify " forbidden" or "pro-
hibited"; 1 and this is the most general meaning of
the word in its anglicized form. But in anthropological
usage the term "taboo" refers, not to all negative regu-
lations or prohibitions, but to those only which are
supported by a supernatural sanction and the viola-
tion of which is visited with a supernatural punish-
ment.
The progress of comparative research has shown that
conceptions very similar to the Polynesian tabu have a
wide prevalence in the lower culture and even among
peoples of archaic civilization. The Melanesian tambu,
though never signifying any inherent holiness or awful-
ness, does refer to the sacred and unapproachable char-
acter which things may possess when solemnly cursed
in the name of a powerful ghost or spirit. 2 Among
the natives of the Gabun colony of French Equatorial
Africa orunda meant, originally, "prohibited from hu-
man use." Under missionary hands the word de-
veloped into its related sense of "sacred to spiritual
use," and in the Mpongwe Scriptures orunda serves
as the translation of our word "holy." 3 The Malagasy
equivalent of tabu is fady, which means, primarily,
"dangerous," but which has the derivative meanings
sacre, "prohibited," "ill-omened," "unlucky." 4 An-
thropologically, it is no far cry from such expressions
to the Greek dyios or to the Latin sacer, since each of
these terms conveys the twin ideas of sanctity and
pollution. 5
1 The proper term for "prohibit" 4 A. van Gennep, Tabou et
was rahui (ibid., iy, 386). totemisme a Madagascar, Paris,
2 R. H. Codrington, The Mela- 1904, pp. 12 sqq., 23.
nesians, Oxford, 1891, p. 215. In 6 As Sir James Frazer has pointed
the Banks Islands and in the New out (Encyclopedia Britannica,*
Hebrides the word rongo is em- xxiii, 18), the Greeks usually dis-
ployed to indicate the naturally criminated the two ideas, dyvos
holy character which certain ob- being devoted to the sense of
jects may possess, quite independ- "sacred** and ti/ayi/s to that of
ently of any human sanction or "unclean'* or "accursed.** The
prohibition (ibid., p. 181). two words, of course, have no cbn-
3 R. H. Nassau, Fetichism in nection, dyvos being related to Skt.
West Africa, London, 1904, p. 80. yaj-, "sacrifice** and evayijs to
4 REST DAYS
It is convenient to distinguish between taboos which
are artificially imposed and those which follow inev-
itably as the consequence of particular acts or as the
outcome of certain situations. Thus, a chief may set
a taboo over the common crops until harvest time, or
a private individual may protect his own property
through the use of the same supernatural machinery :
these are prohibitions analogous to the laws of an ad-
vanced society, though supported by sanctions both
human and divine. On the other hand, new-born
children with their mothers, strangers, manslayers, and
mourners are frequently subjected to taboos which
exist in the social consciousness rather as well-defined
customs of anonymous origin than as specific ordi-
nances laid down by some superior authority. In
both cases, however, it is legitimate to suppose that a
reason has always existed for the ascription of the tabu
character to persons and things although an explana-
tion may not now be forthcoming and although the
ideas on which the practice was once based may have
become obscure or meaningless with the lapse of time.
A comparative study of the taboos observed by primi-
tive peoples indicates that originally things or persons
are tabooed because they are considered dangerous,
mysterious, abnormal, uncanny, "awful" -because
they are felt to be potent for weal or woe in the life of
man. Primitive psychology, refining these ideas and
applying them to different classes of phenomena, pro-
duces the cognate notions of pollution and sanctity.
The corpse is unclean ; the shedder of human blood
is likewise unclean ; but the chief or king, who belongs
Skt. agas-, "sin" (E. Boisacq, Hebrew tame "is not the ordinary
Dictionnaire etymologique de la word for things physically foul;
langue 'grecque, Heidelberg and it is a ritual term and corresponds
Paris, 1907, pt. i, 7, 9). Among exactly to the idea of taboo" (Kin-
the Romans sacer always continued ship and Marriage in Early Arabia?
to retain the double meaning; it London, 1903, p. 309). For a list
may be closely rendered by tabu. of Biblical passages containing tame
Compare Servius on Vergil, neis, see Brown, Driver, and Briggs, A
iii, 75. The late W. Robertson Hebrew and English Lexicon of the
Smith referred to the fact that the Old Testament, Boston, 1906, p. 379.
INTRODUCTION 5
to a superior order of beings, is sacrosanct or holy.
These characteristics are easily regarded as infectious,
as capable of transmission, not alone by physical con-
tact, but also by sight and mere proximity. It is
probably true that, in using such expressions as " con-
tagion" and "infection," we are resorting to a refined
terminology to express what must be really simpler
in the thought of the savage. Living in a mental
stage where distinctions of cause and effect are not
clearly drawn, where a rigid distinction of the natural
and the .supernatural can scarcely be said to exist at
all, he finds no difficulty in imagining an universe in
which all things have power, after their kind, a power
for good or a power for ill --in other words, have
mana. This now-familiar Melanesian term, like the
Algonkin manitou, the Iroquoian orenda, and the
Siouan wakanda, may be said to express early man's
sense of those ever-present, though vague and imper-
sonal, forces immanent in nature. 1
At the same time the fact must be recognized that
the majority of taboos are now supported by animistic
beliefs of a much more precise character. The penalty
for the infraction of a taboo is generally death or some
physical ailment supposed to be inflicted by the offended
spirits or demons. 2 The Polynesian atua, by entering
the body of any impious person, caused disease or
"intestinal embarrassment": the culprit forthwith
swelled up and died. The same demonic beings, if
angered, might visit entire tribes with an epidemic,
or send down lightning and fire from heaven, or bring
about the unsuccessful issue of a war. 3 Among the
1 The notion of transmissibility R. Marett, The Threshold of Reli-
has been especially developed by gion, 2 London, 1914, pp. 99-121.
such writers as A. E. Crawley, The 2 On the general belief in the
Mystic Rose, London, 1902, passim, omnipresence of demons and their
Hubert and Mauss, "Esquisse action in causing human ills see
d'une theorie generale de la magie," Sir J. G. Frazer, The Scapegoat,
L'annee sociologique, 1904, vii, 108 London, 1913, pp. 72-108.
sqq.; F. B. Jevons, An Introduc- 3 J. S. Polack, Manners and Cus-
tion to the History of Religion,* 1 toms of the New Zealanders, London,
London, 1908, pp. 59-68, and R. 1840, i, 234.
6 REST DAYS
Kayan and other pagan tribes of Borneo the minor
spirits, or toh, play a considerable part in the regula-
tion of conduct. They are the powers that bring
misfortunes upon an entire house or village when any
member of it ignores taboos or otherwise violates
tribal customs, without performing the propitiatory
rites demanded by the occasion. "Thus on them,
rather than on the gods, are founded the effective
sanctions of prohibitive rules of conduct." 1 Among
the Akikuyu of British East Africa, who possess a most
elaborate system of taboos, it is a general belief that
any one in the condition of thahu becomes emaciated
and ill or breaks out in eruptions and boils. If the
thahu is not removed, the patient will die. "In many
cases this undoubtedly happens by the process of auto-
suggestion, as it never occurs to the Kikuyu mind to be
skeptical in a matter of this kind. It is said that the
thahu condition is caused by the ngoma, or spirits of
departed ancestors, but the process does not seem to
have been analyzed any further." 2 The Babylonians,
again, appear to have entertained very definite con-
ceptions of taboo, and conceptions, equally definite,
of the evil spirits which vexed the soul and body of
one who had infringed a mamit, or prohibition with a
supernatural penalty. 3 With the progress of religious
conceptions the punishment of the taboo-breaker
may come to be regarded as an important function
of the tribal or national god, whose chief concern is the
maintenance of the customary moral rules.
Since persons, objects, and even actions are all
liable to infection, prudence dictates a variety of pre-
cautions : the dangerous individual or thing is removed
to a safe distance ; or is carefully isolated ; or is sub-
jected to a series of insulating regulations. The en-
1 Hose and McDougall, The Rites," Journal of the Royal An-
Pagan Tribes of Borneo, London, thropological Institute, 1910, xl,
1912, i, 26. 428.
2 C. W. Hobiey, "Kikuyu Cus- 3 R. C. Thompson, The Devils
toms and Beliefs. Thahu and its and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, Lon-
Connection with Circumcision don, 1904, ii, pp. xxxix sqq.
INTRODUCTION 7
tire community is interested in such proceedings,
and on certain occasions may itself be placed under a
rigid quarantine. When this happens, a period of
abstinence and quiescence is regarded as the surest
means of avoiding dangers felt to threaten each and
every member of the social group. Nor will the pro-
cedure greatly differ where distinctly animistic ideas
prevail, and when the impending danger is specifically
attributed to the action of spiritual beings or of gods.
In the latter case, it is true, the idea of propitiation
becomes increasingly prominent, since it is often felt
to be necessary to appease by various rites and cere-
monies the supernatural powers responsible for the
visitation. The two conceptions of abstinence and
propitiation are not, indeed, always sharply distin-
guishable in concrete cases, and with advancing cul-
ture they tend to become more and more closely
conjoined.
It is highly probable that the origin of some of the
communal regulations is to be sought in the taboos
observed by persons at such great and critical seasons
as birth, puberty, marriage, and death. 1 Comparative
studies have indicated how numerous are the pro-
hibitions which attach to these times of high solemnity
and significance ; and it is reasonable to suppose that,
with the deepening sense of social solidarity, observ-
ances once confined to the individual alone, or to his
immediate connections, would often pass over into rites
performed by the community at large. Some evidence
tending to substantiate this opinion will be presented
incidentally as the investigation proceeds.
1 For an extensive presentation Beautiful, London, 1913, i, 22-100,
of the ethnographic evidence see ii, 225-278. The whole subject is
Sir J. G. Frazer, Taboo and the most suggestively treated by Pro-
Perils of the Soul, London, 1911, fessor A. van Gennep, Les rites de
pp. 131-223; idem. Balder the passage, Paris, 1909.
CHAPTER I
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS
OUR knowledge of taboo within the Polynesian area
rests chiefly on the vague and unsatisfactory accounts
by early missionaries, who were unable to describe
much more than its exterior aspects, its origin and inner
significance having quite escaped their consideration.
Fundamentally, the system of taboos formed a reli-
gious institution, if religion be understood in its broad-
est sense as a recognition of the supernatural. The
Polynesian belief that the violator of a taboo would be
punished by the offended atua, or spirits, readily lent
itself to priestcraft and statecraft and so became in the
hands of the ruling classes an instrumentum regni, a
powerful engine of social and political control. In
Hawaii, where the superstitions in question reached
their most elaborate and grotesque development, com-
munal taboos could be imposed only by the priests,
although this action was often taken at the instance
of the civil authorities. Police officers were even
appointed to make sure that all prohibitions were
strictly observed. For every breach of the rules the
death penalty was inflicted, unless the delinquent had
some very powerful friends who themselves were either
priests or chiefs.
The range of these Hawaiian taboos, as extended for
reasons of state or religion, was very wide. We are
told that idols, temples, the persons and names of the
king and his family, the persons of the priests, and the
houses and clothes of the king and priests were always
tabu. Certain much-prized articles of food, besides
almost everything offered in sacrifice, were reserved
8
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 9
by taboos for gods and men ; hence women, except in
cases of particular indulgence, were restricted from using
them. Sometimes an entire island or district was
tabooed and no one was allowed to approach it. 1
The institution of taboo also included regulations
for the special observance of certain times and seasons.
Their duration was various, and apparently much
longer in remote ages than in the period immediately
preceding the arrival of the missionaries. In Hawaii,
before the reign of Kamehameha II, forty days was the
usual length of time. There were also periods of ten
days and of five days, and sometimes of only one day.
Tradition declares, however, that once a taboo was in
force for thirty years and that during this time the
men were not allowed to trim their beards. A tabooed
period kept for five years is also mentioned. Else-
where in the South Seas less extensive periods prevailed,
the longest known being at Huahine, one of the Society
Islands, where a season of abstinence is said to have
lasted for ten or twelve years. 2
The observance of such taboos varied according as
they were common or strict. When a common sea-
son prevailed, the men were required only to abstain
from their usual duties and to attend at the heiau, or
temple, where prayers were offered every morning and
evening. During a period strictly tabooed the regu-
lations had a sterner character, and in consequence a
general gloom and silence pervaded the whole district
or island. Every fire and light was extinguished ;
canoes were not launched ; no person bathed ; and no
one was to be seen out of doors, save those whose pres-
ence was required at the temple. Even the lower
creation felt the force of the law : "no dog must bark,
no pig must grunt, no cock must crow or the tabu
would be broken, and fail to accomplish the object
designed. On these occasions they tied up the mouths
1 Ellis, Polynesian Researches, don, 1826, p. 366; idem, Polynesian
iv, 387 sqq. Researches, iv, 387 sq. ; J. J. Jarves,
2 Idem, Narrative of a Tour History of the Hawaiian or Sand-
through Hawaii or Owhyhee, Lon- wich Islands? Boston, 1843, p. 57.
io REST DAYS
of the dogs and pigs, and put the fowls under a cala-
bash, or fastened a piece of cloth over their eyes." 1
From another account we learn that any one found in
a canoe on a tabu day incurred the death penalty, and
that the same Draconian punishment was meted out
to the individual who indulged in carnal pleasures
or made only a noise at such a time. 2
The Sabbatarian regulations introduced by Chris-
tian missionaries among their Hawaiian adherents
presented no sharp contrast to the rigours of the old dis-
pensation. The natives even called Sunday la tabu,
"the tabooed day." No food was cooked on that
day, the meals being all prepared on the previous
Saturday ; no fires were kindled ; and no canoes
were paddled. The people neither fished nor tilled the
soil and, if on a journey, they halted until the sacred
day was over. 3 In Tahiti, also, the Sunday rest was
rigidly maintained. On that day no canoes were
launched, and no person was seen abroad except on the
road to church or when returning from divine service.
The success of the missionaries in introducing this
strict observance of Sunday was, we learn, "ascribed
by themselves in a great degree to its analogy to the
taboo days of heathen times." 4
1 Ellis, Narrative, pp. 366 sq.; was heard through the day; no
compare idem, Polynesian Re- persons were seen carrying burdens
searches, iv, 388. in or out of the village, nor any
2 H. T. Cheever, The Island canoes passing across the bay. It
World of the Pacific, Glasgow [1851], could not but be viewed as the dawn
p. 63. of a bright sabbatic day for the
3 Ellis, Narrative, p. 368; Hiram dark shores of Hawaii" (Polynesian
Bingham, A Residence of Twenty- Researches, iv, 408). For similar
one Years in the Sandwich Islands, statements see C. S. Stewart, A
Hartford, 1849, pp. 177 sq. De- Visit to the South Seas, London,
scribing his experiences at Kihoro, 1832, pp. 277 sqq., 302 sq.
the missionary Ellis could not 4 Charles Wilkes, Narrative of
restrain his admiration of the con- the U.S. Exploring Expedition,
duct of the native converts on Philadelphia, 1845, ii, 13. "The
Sunday: "No athletic sports were tabu system/' wrote an early mis-
seen on the beach; no noise of sionary, "making sacred certain
playful children shouting as they times, persons, and places, and con-
gambolled in the surf, nor distant taining many restrictions and pro-
sound of the cloth-beating mallet hibitions, may easily be interpreted
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS n
Communal taboos were observed by the Hawaiian
Islanders generally in connection with important reli-
gious ceremonies. Of these, one of the most elaborate
was the consecration of a luakini, or chief temple. The
rites, which were often performed just before a war
in order to insure victory, occupied ten or more days.
After a solemn purification of the island or district all
the people were summoned to divine service, during
which a priest sprinkled them with holy water, i.e.,
salt water mixed with a little turmeric, some moss, and
a bunch of a sacred fern. "The next thing in order was
to bring down the principal idol, called the hakuohia,
from the forest. A great procession was formed, con-
sisting of the king, the hakuohia priest, and a crowd of
attendants carrying idols and various offerings, and
leading a human victim. The tree had been selected
and the axe consecrated the day before. On arriving
at the tree, the priest recited the appropriate aha
[prayer] amid dead silence, after which the king pro-
nounced the amama [spell], and killed the hog with a
single blow. The priest inquired whether any sound
of man or beast or bird or cricket had been heard dur-
ing the aha, and if not, it was a good omen. The
doomed man was then brought forward, and offered
to the god by the king, after which his body was buried
at the foot of the tree. The consecrated hog was baked
in an oven on the spot, while the tree was cut down,
trimmed, and covered with ieie vines. After the com-
pany had feasted, a procession was formed with the
feather-gods in front, followed by the chiefs and people
as a relic, much changed and cor- au moins dans quelques-uns de ses
rupted, from the ancient ceremonial effets, mais eminemment religieux
observances of the Jews" (Sheldon dans son origine, non moins que
Dibble, History of the Sandwich 1'interdit des Hebreux, avec lequel
Islands, Lahainaluna, 1843, p. 27). il avait des rapports frappans, qui
The resemblances between the n'ont point encore etc signales,
Polynesian institution and certain quoique meritant assurement toute
customs recorded in the Old Testa- Tattention du philosophe et du
ment impressed another early moraliste" (J. A. Moerenhout,
writer, who refers to taboo as "ce Voyages aux lies du grand ocean,
singulier usage, en partie politique, Paris, 1837, ii, 6).
12 REST DAYS
with pala fern, o/u'fl-branches, etc., and others carrying
the new idol. . . . The inhabitants remained indoors,
for it was death to meet the procession, and all fires
were strictly forbidden. The images were finally
carried to the heiau, where they were deposited with
shoutings and beating of drums." 1 Following this
rite came a long series of services at the heiau. The
night of the great aha "was the most solemn and critical
of all. The omens were carefully observed, and pray-
ers were offered in every house for the success of the
coming aha, and for auspicious weather, that there
might be no wind or rain, no thunder or lightning, no
high surf, and no sound of man or beast to mar the
ceremonies. If the sky was clear and everything
favourable, between midnight and morning the king
and high-priest entered the small house, called waiea,
to perform the great aha (hulahula), while the congre-
gation sat in front of the mana house, listening and
watching in profound silence. The king stood listen-
ing intently and holding a pig, while the high-priest,
clad in white kapa, and holding a lama rod wound with
aloa (white kapa), recited the long prayer. At its
close the king killed the pig with a single blow, and
offered it up with a short prayer to the four great
gods. The priests then asked the king whether the
aha was perfect, and whether he had heard the voice
of man or dog or mouse or fowl, or anything else dur-
ing the prayer. If not, he tapped the large drum as
a signal that it was over, and they both went out to
question the assembly outside. If no one had heard
a sound during the ceremony, the high-priest congratu-
lated the king, and predicted for him victory and long
life. The people then raised loud shouts of Lele wale
ka aha el which were repeated by all who heard them,
and so the news travelled far and wide." 2 Such were
1 W. D. Alexander, A Brief His- the early archives of the govern-
tory of the Hawaiian People, New ment.
York, 1899, p. 55. The author's 2 Alexander, op. cit., pp. 56 sq.
work is based largely on unpub- Elsewhere this excellent authority
lished Hawaiian manuscripts and describes the Hawaiian prayers as
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 13
some of the ceremonies at the dedication of an impor-
tant temple. 1
Communal taboos also marked the celebration by
the Hawaiians of the great makahiki, or New Year's
festival, sacred to the god Lono. On the twenty-third
of the month Welehu, which nearly corresponded to
November, Lono's image was decorated and, when
night came on, all the people went to bathe in the sea.
This rite of purification having been accomplished,
men and women donned new clothing in preparation
for the festival which began at sunrise on the morrow.
During the four days of its continuance no fishing, no
bathing, no pounding of kapa, and no beating of
drums or blowing of conchs was permitted. Land
and sky and sea were tabu to Lono, and only feast-
ing and games were allowed. The high-priest was
blindfolded and remained in seclusion. On the fifth
day the bandage was removed from his eyes and canoes
were allowed to put to sea. On the sixth day the tabu
season began again and continued for about twenty
days longer. The festivities at length drew to a close,
the ornaments of Lono's image were packed up and
deposited in the temple for use another year, and all
restrictions on fishing and farming were taken off
noa ka makahiki. 2
in some measure magical incanta- translated from the Hawaiian by
tions, which, to secure the desired N. B. Emerson, is an exception-
effect, required to be repeated ally valuable repository of native
without the slightest mistake. lore.
" During the most important class 2 Alexander, op. cit., pp. 59 sqq. ;
of prayers, called aha, it was neces- Malo, op. cit., pp. 186-210. This
sary that absolute silence should New Year's festival with its accom-
be preserved, as the least noise panying taboo is also referred to in
would break the spell and destroy an early work entitled Voyage of
the whole effect of the charm" H.M.S. Blonde to the Sandwich
(ibid., p. 50). A similar precaution, Islands in the Years 1824-1825,
as is well known, characterized the London, 1826, pp. n sq. Accord-
ritual of a Roman sacrifice. ing to A. Fornander (An Account
1 For additional data on this of the Polynesian Race, London,
subject see Jarves, op. cit., pp. 1878, i, 119 sq.) the Hawaiian year
51 sq., and David Malo, Hawai- consisted of twelve 3<>day months
ian Antiquities, Honolulu, 1903, with five additional tabu days in-
pp. 210-248. The latter work, tercalated at the end of Welehu.
i 4 REST DAYS
In old Hawaii, as in the other Polynesian islands,
fishing formed one of the chief means of livelihood
and ranked next to agriculture in importance. The
fishermen, who composed almost a distinct class,
observed many religious rites peculiar to themselves.
For instance, a man would not venture to use a new
net or to build and launch a new canoe, without prayer
and sacrifice to his gods. Communal regulations relat-
ing to fishing were imposed twice a year in connection
with two sacred fish, the aku, or bonito, and the opelu.
Each was tabu by turns for six months. In Hinaiaelee
(July) the taboo began on the first night of the month,
at which time no fire might be kindled, and no sound
of man or beast or fowl might break the profound si-
lence. The following morning the high-priest repaired
to the house of Ku-ula, the god of fishermen, to offer
a pig and to recite the great aha, as during a dedica-
tion. Meanwhile a man was sent to the woods to
gather pala fern. All that day a solemn rest was ob-
served on shore. Next morning the head fisherman,
wearing a white malo, or girdle, took the sacred fern
and a new net in his canoe and put to sea. After
prayers to his tutelary deities and to Ku the fisherman
proceeded to cast the net. If he and his crew made a
haul of opelu, they paddled joyfully for the shore and
presented the fish to the high-priest, who sent some to
the king and placed the rest on the altar in the temple.
Next day the opelu became noa, or free to all, but the
aku in its turn was prohibited to human use for six
months, and was not to be eaten on pain of death. 1
The Hawaiian religious system included a remark-
able approximation to the institution of a weekly
Sabbath. In every lunar month there were four tabu
periods, dedicated severally to the four great gods of
If this statement be correct, the the Hawaiian year was strictly
Hawaiian epagomenal days would lunar, with months of 29 and 30
furnish a remarkable parallel to days in alternation and an occa-
those of the ancient Mexicans and sional intercalary month.
Egyptians (below, pp. 279 sqg.). 1 Alexander, op. cit., pp. 52 sq. t
But the best authorities agree that 62 sq.
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 15
the native pantheon. The first was that of Ku, from
the third to the sixth night ; the second, that of Hua,
at full moon, including the fourteenth and fifteenth
nights ; the third, that of Kaloa, on the twenty-fourth
and twenty-fifth nights ; and the fourth, that of Kane,
on the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth nights.
During these tabu periods a devout king generally
remained in the heiau, busy with prayer and sacrifice.
Women at such times were forbidden to enter canoes,
and sexual intercourse was also prohibited. 1
The occasions when seasons of communal abstinence
and quiescence were enforced in the Society Islands,
the Marquesas Islands, Samoa, and New Zealand were
not always the same as in the Hawaiian group. Diver-
gencies of custom might well be expected among the
widely scattered divisions of the Polynesian race.
But, if such rites as those for the dedication of a temple
or for the observance of four tabu periods in every
month were confined to the Hawaiians, some other
ceremonies, notably those connected with fishing,
were much alike throughout the entire Pacific area.
In the Society and the Marquesas islands the bonito
fishing in November or December opened with a cere-
mony removing the prohibition which had previously
rested on the capture of that fish. A strict taboo of
all activity marked the first day of the proceedings :
no one could approach the seashore, or make a fire, or
cook food, or even eat before the going-down of the
sun. The customary employments of the men in
canoe-building and house-building, of the women in
the preparation of cloths, mats, and thread, were aban-
1 Ibid., pp. 50 sqq.; Dibble, op. the god Lono. The same point is
cit. 9 25 sq.; Malo, op. cit. y p. 56. made by Judge Fornander (op. cit.,
The latter authority, a native i, 123 n. 2 ), whose information was
writer intimately versed in Hawai- derived from the Hon. S. M.
ian antiquities, declares that the Kamakau, an intelligent Hawaiian,
seasons of taboo were not observed born and brought up under the
during the four makahiki months heathen regime. On these Hawai-
of the year, when the regular reii- ian Sabbaths see below, pp. 88,
gious services were suspended for 188, 233, 258, 303.
games and ceremonies in honour of
16 REST DAYS
doned ; "in a word, all work was forbidden; it was a
day of silence and of devotion." Meanwhile the priests
remained in the marai, or temple, engaged in prayer;
and their assistants prepared an altar to receive the
first-fruits of the fishing. At nightfall the single canoe
which had gone forth to the fishing returned with the
catch of bonito. Several of the largest fish were
placed on the altar, and the others were entirely con-
sumed in a blazing fire before the altar. The fish
caught on this day belonged to the gods and those on
the following day to the high-priest ; but on the third
day fishing was opened to all. 1 Among the Maori
of New Zealand the preparations for mackerel fish-
ing included the observance of various taboos. Every
one concerned in making or mending nets, the ground
where the nets were made, and the river, on the banks
of which the work went on, were in a state of sacredness.
Nobody might walk over the ground, no canoe might
pass up and down the river, no fire might be made
within a prescribed distance, and no food might be
prepared, until the holy season came to an end. 2 In
this instance only fishermen and their assistants appear
to have been subject to the restrictions. The Maori,
however, observed communal taboos in connection
with the planting of the kumara, or sweet potato,
formerly the most important agricultural product of
New Zealand and the chief reliance of the natives for
food. An old chief of Mokoia Island, Lake Rotorua,
has described how, when the time to plant kumara
arrived, the priests went forth to the woods for branches
of the sacred mapau tree. "On that day and the day
following, everything was tapu. The people fasted and
did no cooking. The waters of the lake were tapu;
no canoes were allowed to put out and no fishing was
1 J. A. Moerenhout, Voyages ing as "un jour de silence et de
aux lies du grand ocean, Paris, 1837, repos, tapu pour ceux qui restent
i, 516 sq. ^ See further Mathias a la maison."
G [Garcia] (Lettres sur les lies 2 William Yate, An Account of
Marquises, Paris, 1843, p. 210), New Zealand, London, 1835, p.
who refers to the first day of fish- 85.
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 17
done." The priests took the mapau twigs to the stone
image of the kumara-god (still kept on the island),
and laying them on the idol, prayed for an abundant
harvest. In the evening they went to the gardens
and stuck the branches in the earth. The skull of a
tribal chief of ariki rank was disinterred and placed
beside the mapau sticks, in order that the mana, or
magical power of the dead chieftain, might guard the
plantation and assist in securing a bountiful harvest. 1
Still another critical epoch when the Maori subjected
themselves to communal taboos occurred at the begin-
ning of a war. Hostilities having been decided on,
the first thing necessary was to take the auspices by
casting the niu. One of the leading priests procured
a quantity of fern-stalks, some of which represented
spears, and the remainder, warriors. The warrior-
sticks were stuck in a mat and a fern-stalk was hurled
at each one. If the missile fell on the left side of the
warrior-stick, this was a sign that the person whom it
represented would fall in battle, if on the right side,
that he would live. A similar procedure was enacted
with sticks named for enemies, and for the men, women,
and children who were to be left at home. On the
completion of the niu ceremony, the priests lifted the
taboo which had rested over the settlement, a taboo
imposing abstinence from food, but not, apparently,
from work. 2
1 James Cowan, The Maoris of no. No food might be cooked on
New Zealand, Melbourne and Lon- the day before a war-party set out
don, 1910, pp. i i6sq. The kumara (ibid., p. 108). Mr. Tregear, an
crop was sacred, all persons en- excellent authority, declares that
gaged in its cultivation were tempo- in New Zealand "there were no
rarily tabooed, and the offering long periods of silence such as the
of the first-fruits of the kumara kings of Hawaii laid on their people
formed a very solemn religious by proclaiming tapu" (ibid., p. 122).
ceremony (E. Tregear, in Journal Another writer assures us that the
of the Anthropological Institute, Maori "had no days more sacred
1890, xix, no). Compare Richard than others" (Taylor, op. cit.,
Taylor, Te Ika A Maui, London, p. 92). Yet in one part of New
J^SS, p. 57. Zealand it was customary to cele-
2 E. Tregear, in Journal of the brate the new year with a karakia,
Anthropological Institute, 1890, xix, or magical incantation and prayer;
i8 REST DAYS
The sacrifice of first-fruits seems to have formed a
regular part of the religious system of the Polynesian
peoples, for we possess specific references to it among
the Hawaiians, the Samoans, the New Zealanders,
the natives of the Society Islands, and those of the
Tonga Islands. In the latter group the ceremony,
called inachi, generally took place about October.
It was observed with scrupulous care, since the people
believed that to neglect it would bring upon them the
vengeance of the gods. We are fortunate in possess-
ing a detailed description of the ceremony by an eye-
witness of it. 1 According to William Mariner the
word inachi referred to that portion of the fruits of
the earth and of other eatables which was offered to
the god in the person of the divine chief Tooitonga,
an allotment made once a year, just before the yam
crop had arrived at maturity. On the day before the
ceremony the first-fruits of the yam season were dug
up, ornamented with ribbons, and dyed red, in prepara-
tion for the procession on the morrow. "The sun
has scarcely set when the sound of the conch begins
again to echo through the island, increasing as the
night advances. At the mooa [capital] and all the
plantations the voices of men and women are heard
singing Nofo, oooa tegger gnaooe, oooa gnaooe, 'Rest
thou, doing no work; thou shalt not work.'" 2 This
in another place there was a of Mr. William Mariner, Boston,
karakia when the new moon ap- 1820, pp. 381-385. Mariner passed
geared; and in still another place four years among the Tonga Is-
"the most sacred day of the year landers as the adopted son of the
was that appointed for hair-cutting; king Finow. His picturesque, but
the people assembled from all the apparently reliable, narrative de-
neighbouring parts, often more than scribes the natives in their aborig-
a thousand in number ; the opera- inal state before the arrival of
tion being commenced with karakia, Christian missionaries,
the operator and his obsidian (sub- 2 Not only was all work pro-
stitute for scissors) being thus ren- hibited at the time of the inachi,
dered peculiarly sacred" (ibid., but even any one's appearance
p. 93). abroad, unless for the purposes of
1 John Martin, An Account of the ceremony, was interdicted
the Natives of the Tonga Islands . . . (Martin-Mariner, op. cit., p. 383
from the Extensive Communications n. 2 ). The Tongans observed a
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 19
increases till midnight, men generally singing the first
part of the sentence, and the women the last, to pro-
duce a more pleasing effect : it then subsides for three
or four hours, and again increases as the sun rises.
Nobody, however, is seen stirring out in the public
roads till about eight o'clock, when the people from
all quarters of the island are seen advancing towards
the mooa, and canoes from all the other islands landing
their men ; so that all the inhabitants of Tonga seem
approaching by sea and land, singing and sounding
the conch. At the mooa itself the universal bustle
of preparation is seen and heard ; and the different
processions entering from various quarters, of men
and women, all dressed up in new gnatoos, ornamented
with red ribbons and wreaths of flowers, and the men
armed with spears and clubs, betoken the importance
of the ceremony about to be performed." The pro-
ceedings consisted in the solemn presentation of the
first-fruits to the divine chief at the grave of his prede-
cessor, and closed with a feast and dance. Then the
people returned to their homes, perfectly assured of
the protection of the gods.
The natives of Samoa possessed a remarkably com-
plex pantheon of household and village gods, the recip-
ients of prayer and sacrifice, and, in the case of the
village gods, honoured with temples, priests, and annual
festivals. The Samoans had also war-gods, who in
character resembled the other deities, since they were
supposed to be incarnate in animals or embodied in
inanimate objects. 1 One of these militant divinities
was the cuttle-fish (fe'e), said to have been imported
like restriction after a death. l This Samoan religious system
When a corpse was being taken to has been fully described by Sir
the burying-ground, all persons in J. G. Frazer, who believes that it
the roadway or the adjacent fields exhibits "what seems to be the
were obliged to keep out of sight, passage of pure totemism into a
under pain of becoming tabooed. religion of anthropomorphic gods
Those who showed themselves at with animal and vegetable attri-
such a time were generally killed butes, like the deities of ancient
on the spot (ibid., pp. 243 sq. 9 Greece" (Totemism and Exogamy,
394). London, 1910, ii, 152).
20 REST DAYS
from Fiji. In one place Fe'e was a general village
god whose province was not confined to war. "The
month of May was sacred to his worship. No traveller
was then allowed to pass through the village by the
public road ; nor was any canoe allowed in the lagoon
off that part of the settlement. There was great
feasting, too, on these occasions, and also games, club
exercise, spear-throwing, wrestling, etc. ... In an-
other district three months were sacred to the worship
of Fe'e. During that time any one passing along the
road, or in the lagoon, would be beaten, if not killed,
for insulting the god. For the first month torches and
all other lights were forbidden, as the god was about
and did not wish to be seen. White turbans were
also forbidden during the festivities, and confined to
war. At this time, also, all unsightly burdens such
as a log of firewood on the shoulder were forbidden,
lest it should be considered by the god as a mockery of
his tentacula.^ 1 Another village god, who rejoiced
in the name of Titi Usi, or Glittering Leaf Girdle,
received worship at the new moon. "At that time
all work was suspended for a day or two. The cocoa-
nut-leaf blinds were kept down, and the people sat
still in their houses. Any one walking in front of the
house risked a beating. After prayer and feasting
a man went about and blew a shell-trumpet as a sign
to all that the ceremonies were over, and that the usual
routine of village and family life might be resumed." 2
The festivals of the other village deities of Samoa seem
not to have been marked by compulsory cessation of
activity. 3
The observance of regular periods consecrated to
the gods has been noticed in some other parts of Poly-
nesia. At Fakaofo, or Bowditch Island, in the Union
group, the month of May was devoted to the worship
of the great god Tui Tokelau. All work was then
1 George Turner, Samoa, Lon- 3 Ibid., pp. 26 sq. 9 41, 44, 47, 49,
don, 1884, pp. 29 sq. 53, 57.
2 Ibid., p. 60.
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 21
laid aside. The people assembled from the three is-
lands of the group to enjoy feasting and dancing. They
prayed to their divinity for life, health, and a plentiful
supply of fish and cocoanuts. 1 In tiny Manahiki,
or Humphrey Island, the natives had special days for
worship, every three or four months. At such times
heaps of food were collected in the place of public
assembly, and the king, who was high-priest as well,
prayed for food and life and health in behalf of his
people. 2 We are told, also, that when the god Ratu-
mai-Mbulu visited the Fiji Islands, the inhabitants
lived very quietly for an entire month, lest they should
disturb the deity in his task of making the fruit-trees
blossom and bear fruit. During this Lenten season
the natives did not plant or build or sail on the ocean
or go to war. The priests announced the time of the
god's advent and departure. 3 According to a later
account Ratu-mai-Mbulu (Lord from Hades) was
probably a deity of foreign extraction. "Through
him the earth gives her increase. In December he
comes forth from Mbulu, and pours sap into the fruit-
trees, and pushes the young yam shoots through the
soil. Throughout that moon it is tabu to beat the drum,
to sound the conch-shell, to dance, to plant, to fight,
or to sing at sea, lest Ratu-mai-Mbulu be disturbed,
and quit the earth before his work is completed. At
the end of the month the priest sounds the consecrated
shell ; the people raise a great shout, carrying the good
news from village to village ; and pleasure and toil
are again free to all." 4
The descriptions of Polynesian customs by early
observers, though frequently the only accounts we
possess, are sometimes very brief and obscure. These
remarks apply to a curious ceremony annually per-
formed by some Fijian tribes. The time of its cele-
1 Turner, Samoa, p. 269. Western Pacific, London, 1853,
2 Ibid., p. 279. pp. 245 sq.
3 J. E. Erskine, Journal of a 4 Basil Thomson, The Fijians,
Cruise among the Islands of the London, 1908, p. 114.
22 REST DAYS
bration was determined by the appearance of a cer-
tain sea-slug, which swarms out in dense shoals from
the coral reefs on a single day of the year, usually in
November during the last quarter of the moon. The
arrival of the sea-slugs furnished the signal for a gen-
eral feast at those places where they were taken.
Hostilities were suspended between rival communities
for four days, and a taboo was laid to prevent noise
or disturbance during this period. No labour might
be done and no person might be seen outside his house.
"In Ovolau the ceremony begins by a man ascending
a tree and praying for fine weather and winds through-
out the year. Thereupon a tremendous clatter, with
drumming and shouting, is raised by all the people
inside of the houses for about half an hour, and then
a dead quiet ensues for four days, during which they
are feasting on the mbalolo. If in any dwelling a noise
is made, as by a child crying, a forfeit (ori) is immedi-
ately exacted by the chief/' 1 According to another
account the rule requiring quiescence was so strictly
observed that not even a leaf might be plucked or the
offal removed from the houses. During these four
days the men lived in their special club-house (mbure),
and the women and children remained shut up in the
family abodes. At daylight, on the expiry of the fourth
night, the whole town was in an uproar ; and men
and boys scampered about, knocking with sticks at
the doors of the dwellings and crying Sinariba. This
concluded the ceremony. 2 It would seem that these
accounts refer to a Fijian New Year's festival, which,
like that of the Hawaiians, was held in November for
a period of four days, and was marked by communal
taboos imposing abstinence and quiescence. 3
1 U.S. Exploring Expedition, This festival bore the name of
Philadelphia, 1846, vi, 67 sq. tarnbo nalanga (ibid., iii, 342).
{Ethnography and Philology, by H. 8 In Samoa the second half of
Hale). the year was called the palolo sea-
2 Charles Wilkes, Narrative of son, from the appearance of this
the U.S. Exploring Expedition, singular worm for three days in
Philadelphia, 1845, iii, 90 sq. the course of a year. If the last
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 23
The western tribes of Viti Levu, largest of the Fiji
Islands, in traditions, language, and physical type are
recognized as distinctly Melanesian. In former days
these tribes possessed a secret association known as
nanga, or mbaki, which closely resembled the secret
societies so common in the Melanesian Archipelago.
It is highly probably, therefore, that, at least in its
known form, the nanga was a late importation into
the island of Viti Levu. Initiation into the nanga
was supposed to bring the youth of the tribe into
relations with the ancestral spirits, who were repre-
sented, at the time of the ceremonies, by the elders
and by some of the middle-aged men. The sanctuary
and lodge of the association formed the earthly dwell-
ing-place of the spirits ; it was a tabernacle as holy
to these Fijians as was the structure in the Wilder-
ness to the Israelites ; there the first-fruits of the
yam harvest were solemnly presented to the ances-
tors ; and there the young men of Viti Levu were
introduced to the mysteries of the tribe. When the
nanga enclosure was being raised for the initiatory
performances, the people suspended all other work.
Not even food-planting might be done at such a time.
"If any impious person transgressed this law, 'he
would only plant evil to himself and to his kinsfolk.'" 1
quarter of the moon is late in Octo- des and Banks Islands). See A.
her, the palolo is found the day Kramer, Die Samoa-Inseln, Stutt-
before, the day of, and the day gait, 1903, ii, 399-406, and B.
after that quarter. Should the last Friedlander, "Notes on the palolo,"
quarter of the moon be early in Journal of the Polynesian Society,
October, the worm does not come 1898, vii, 44-46.
till the last quarter of the Novem- 1 L. Fison, "The nanga, or
ber moon (Turner, Samoa, p. 207). Sacred Stone Enclosure, of Wain-
The palolo, it may be noted, is not an imala, Fiji," Journal of the Anthro-
entire animal, but only the "prop- pological Institute, 1885, xiv, 18.
agation-body" of a sea-annelid The solemn rite of initiation into
(apparently Eunice Firidis Gray), the nanga was always celebrated
which lives in holes in the coral at the time of the New Year's fes-
stone and comes to the surface for tival, late in October or early in
the act of fertilization. It is found November. This Fijian festival,
in various parts of Polynesia, in- called solevu ni vilavou, corre-
cluding Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga, sponded to the Tahitian and Hawai-
and also in Melanesia (New Hebri- ian makahiki (A. B. Joske, "The
24 REST DAYS
In this instance there was no attribution of the sacred
period to any particular divinity, though all the cere-
monies connected with the nanga were supposed to
.be directed by the ancestral spirits.
The scanty records of aboriginal Polynesian society
also contain some passing references to the observ-
ance of communal rest days on certain occasions when
the social consciousness had been deeply moved by
untoward and disastrous events. In Futuna, or Er-
ronan, an island which lies close to the dividing line
between Polynesia and Melanesia, the custom of taboo
is said to be very common. "They go so far as to
tapu the day e.g., to interdict all work in order to
please the gods, or to avert the hurricanes." 1 In
Hawaii a tabu period was declared during the sickness
of chiefs. 2 In Samoa the death of a chief of high rank
was followed by the suspension of all work in the
settlement for from ten to thirty days, until the fu-
neral ceremonies were performed. During this time no
stranger might approach the stricken village ; a luck-
less wayfarer, pushing in by accident, would have been
promptly clubbed. 3 This Samoan regulation, as we
shall see, is only a particular instance of a widespread
primitive custom. Communal rest days are still
observed in some parts of Micronesia, as on the island
of Yap, one of the Carolines. Here two aged " wiz-
ards," before whom all important questions come for
decision, have the power of imposing taboos on an
entire village. The periods of seclusion have been
known to last for six months. The critical epochs,
when such interdicts are enforced, occur during a
nanga of Viti Levu," Internatio- 2 Ellis, Polynesian Researches,
nales Archiv fur Ethnographie, 1889, iv, 387.
ii, 259). On the nanga see further 3 W. T. Pritchard, Polynesian
H. Webster, "Totem Clans and Reminiscences, London, 1866, pp.
Secret Associations in Australia 149 sq.; George Turner, Nineteen
and Melanesia," Journal of the Years in Polynesia, London, 1861,
Royal Anthropological Institute, p. 229; idem, Samoa, p. 146. See
1911, xli, 506 sq. also A. Bastian, Inselgruppen in
1 S. P. Smith, in Journal of the Oceanien, Berlin, 1883, p. 55.
Polynesian Society, 1892, i, 40.
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 25
time of drought, famine, or sickness, after a death of
a chief or famous man, and before a fishing expedition. 1
"In short, any great public event is thus celebrated,
and, in fact, there is always a tabu in full swing some-
where or other, to the great disgust of the traders, who
only see in these enforced holidays an excuse for idling,
drunkenness and debauchery." 2
The accounts preserved in the older literature relat-
ing to Polynesia thus make it evident that communal
taboos occurred at critical, or especially important,
seasons. The prohibitions were negative in character,
required a period of abstinence sometimes verging
upon complete quiescence, and were closely connected
with the aristocratic and theocratic organization of
Polynesian society. At the same time the communal
regulations, artificially created, are to be assimilated
to those which rested upon individuals alone and arose
spontaneously as a result of various circumstances.
Every description of aboriginal culture, from Hawaii
to New Zealand, contains numerous references to the
network of taboos which invested private life. All
persons dangerously ill, all mothers at childbirth, to-
gether with their infants, all persons who handled a
corpse or assisted at a funeral, were deemed unclean
and hence were subjected to a rigid quarantine, a pro-
tective measure necessary for the safety of the social
group. If we assume that the individual taboos repre-
sent the earlier phase of the institution, then the com-
munal taboos may be regarded as merely an extension
to the body politic of these simpler and more rudi-
mentary customs. The probability of such a transi-
tion will be strengthened by a consideration of the
tabooed days found among some other primitive
peoples.
1 For an interesting description ers and fishers, generally, see
of the regulations imposed on the Frazer, Taboo and the Perils of the
fishermen themselves see W. H. Soul, pp. 190-223.
~^. W.
Furness, 3d., The Island of Stone 2 F. W. Christian, The Caroline
Money, Philadelphia, 1910, pp. 38
sq. On taboos observed by hunt-
Money, Philadelphia, 1910, pp. 38 Islands, London, 1899, p. 290.
hi
26 REST DAYS
Seasons of communal abstinence are not found in
Australia, and only faint indications of them exist
within the Melanesian area, that great island group
which extends from New Guinea to the Fiji Archipelago.
In New Guinea itself a few instances of the custom
under consideration have been noted, all within the
British possessions there. 1 Among the Roro-speaking
tribes, inhabiting the strip of coast from Cape Posses-
sion in the west to Kabadi in the east, it is said that
an entire village will mourn for a chief or influential
man "by abstaining from fishing, hunting, and pot-
making, and by reducing garden-work to a minimum."
The period of mourning lasts from six to ten days. 2 In
the neighbourhood of Port Moresby are the Motu and
Koita tribes, some of whose customs were described,
many years ago, by a native missionary who long la-
boured in New Guinea. Among these tribes, we are
told, "fishing work lays the people under a number of
restrictions. There must be no talking ; any one caus-
ing another to speak prevents his getting any fish.
If the fishermen are going on a turtle expedition, all
must be still throughout the village. None go about
among the houses, or on the public road. All go up
to their houses and sit still. No sound of a voice, or
chopping firewood, or any movement is allowed, until
it is supposed that the fishing party is clear of the
lagoon, and out into the deep ocean, and then the
villagers resume their usual occupation." 3 These
taboos in connection with fishing closely resemble
the regulations so common in Polynesia.
The Indonesian inhabitants of Borneo are divided
into a large number of tribes, among which the Kayan,
1 A close observer, G. A. J. van sians of British New Guinea, Cam-
der Sande, did not notice any spe- bridge, 1910, p. 275.
cial rest days among the natives 3 Quoted in Turner, Samoa,
with whom he came in contact, and p. 349. The custom mentioned in
whose customs he has so fully de- the text must now be obsolete. It
scribed (Nova Guinea, Leiden, 1907, is not referred to in Dr. Seligmann's
iii, 270). exhaustive account of the Koita
2 C. G. Seligmann, The Melane- and Motu tribes.
*
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 27
e Sea Dyak, and the Land Dyak are perhaps the
best known. All these peoples till the soil and live
in long communal houses situated on the banks of the
rivers. Though now spread over a wide area in Borneo,
the different tribes possess in common many social and
religious customs, notably the cult of omen animals,
together with the observance of numerous taboos which
are regularly enforced at the time of rice (padi) plant-
ing and harvesting, sometimes also at mid-harvest. 1
The taboos found among the Kayan on the Baram
River, Sarawak, have been well described by a recent
traveller, whose picturesque narrative deserves an
extended notice. 2 "During the days devoted to search
for omens in reference to the sites of the rice-fields,
and also again in reference to the planting, the Kayan
refrain from their usual daily occupations, and neither
leave their houses themselves nor allow strangers to
enter. These days of seclusion are termed permantong
padi, or lali padi, and correspond very closely to taboo
elsewhere." 3
The rude agricultural methods of the Kayan start
with the preliminary process of clearing a site in the
1 It would seem that among the The Malay word in full would
Bornean tribes, generally, the chief thus be per-hantu-an, meaning
is responsible for the proper obser- "possessed by spirits" or "be-
vation of the omens and for the witched." Lali is probably a pure
regulation of taboos affecting an Kayan word and means both
entire community. Compare Hose "prohibited" and "sacred" (Fur-
and McDougall, The Pagan Tribes ness, op. cit., p. 160; A. W.
of Borneo, London, 1912, i, 65. Nieuwenhuis, Quer durch Borneo,
2 W. H. Furness, 3d., The Leiden, 1904-1907, i, 109). Ac-
Home-life of Borneo Head-hunters, cording to Messrs. Hose and
Philadelphia, 1902, pp. 160-169. McDougall malan and parit are
3 Permantong is the term used the proper Kayan words for taboo,
by the Kayan of the Baram Dis- though lali and tulah are used as
trict; among the Kayan in the their lingua franca equivalents,
valley of the Kapuas River, Dutch Malan applies to acts involving
Borneo, the word is pantang, the risks to the entire community,
regular Malay equivalent of tabu. parit to those involving risk to the
Both these forms are possibly de- individual committing the for-
rived from the Malay hantu, a bidden act (Pagan Tribes of Borneo,
word meaning demon or evil spirit, i, 14 n. 1 ).
with the prefix per and the affix an.
28 REST DAYS
dense jungle. The work is extremely tedious and if,
after all the heavy labour, the crops should fail or be
destroyed by monkeys, birds, or beetles, the entire
household feels that some act has been committed
whereby the displeasure of the spirits is aroused.
Accordingly, before beginning so arduous a task, it
is essential to take omens from the actions of certain
birds, mammals, and reptiles, called amau, which are
supposed to be in the confidence of the spirits. 1 A
patch of jungle having been tentatively selected, the
work begins with the removal of the dense undergrowth.
During this preliminary stage, while the labour is less
heavy than it will be later, when trees must be felled,
the household is not as yet under a taboo. Each
person, nevertheless, keeps a sharp eye for evil omens.
Should a native on the way to the clearing see any
one of four ominous animals, a certain species of snake,
a deer, a civet cat, or a rain-bird, the site will be at
once abandoned, regardless of the work already done
there. Wilfully to ignore such a warning "not only
compromises the abundance and quality of the crops,
but also the health, or even the life, of the whole house-
hold." 2
If no evil omens are observed for three days, the
Kayan workers feel sufficiently encouraged to proceed
to the next stage of felling the heavy timber on the
site, which has now been stripped of its underbrush.
Then ensues an elaborate series of auguries. While
the various families making up the household of a
communal dwelling remain secluded on the long ve-
1 On these omen animals see 1911, pp. 47 sq., 152 sqq., 298;
further Sir Spenser St. John, Hose and McDougall, op. cit., ii,
Life in the Forests of the Far East, 51-114 (with some interesting par-
London, 1862, i, 191 sqq.; J. allels between the modern Kayan
Perham, in H. L. Roth, The Natives and the Roman auspices). Com-
of Sarawak and British North pare W. D. Wallis, "Divination
Borneo, London, 1896, i, 191-201 ; and Omens in Borneo and in
A. C. Haddon, Head-hunters, Lon- Ancient Rome," Classical Journal,
don, 1901, pp. 384 sqq.; E. H. 1914, ix, 272-274.
Gomes, Seventeen Years among the 2 Furness, op. cit., p. 161.
Sea Dyaks of Borneo, London,
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 29
randa, or in their small private rooms, sitting very still
all day and smoking and talking, two hawk-men
are off in the forest looking for a hawk, called niho.
Three days must be devoted to this search : if the hawk
is seen on the first day, but not on the two days fol-
lowing, the omen is unfavourable. The people will
continue the preparation of the soil, but they expect
poor crops, a result pretty certain to follow their half-
hearted and discouraged labours. On the second day
the search is continued, and if the hawk is seen, the
omen is favourable, but not completely so. If the
third day's search again reveals a hawk, the two men
return at once to the house and spread the good news.
Every one now watches the actions of the hawk.
"Should he sail away out of sight without once flap-
ping his wings all are delighted ; it means that the
clearing of the jungle may now continue prosperously,
and that neither attack of enemies nor accident to the
workers need be feared. Should the hawk flap his
wings, it follows that some men, in felling the jungle,
will be badly cut by their axes or perhaps crushed under
falling trees. All instantly avert their eyes from the
flapping hawk, lest the bird should recognize them in
the fields and select them as victims." 1
There now occurs a brief respite of the lali observ-
ance, and the people may leave their houses. But
the same formalities must be observed by the natives
while search is made for four other ominous animals.
In each case there is a period of seclusion and absti-
nence lasting for three days. These are all the omens
that must be consulted before the heavy timber may
be felled, the ground burned over, and the rice planted.
Such are the various taboos which affect the inmates
of a communal house or village, before the crop is
started. Other regulations concern outsiders. From
the hour when the real labour of felling the jungle
begins and until the seed-planting is completed, no
stranger may enter house or field. Should a neighbour,
1 Furness, op. cit., pp. 162 sq.
30 REST DAYS
by accident or necessity, come within the tabooed
district, he must atone for the trespass by making a
small payment, called usut. It consists, ordinarily,
of a few beads or an iron implement. These objects
are placed in a basket and hung up in the rice-field
till they rust away or disappear. It is a special duty
of the women to see that this usut is paid.
The lali ordinances of the Kayan are not confined to
the time of seed-planting. Once more, when the crop
is all harvested, the house is closed to strangers. For
eight days no one may go away on an expedition or
return to the village from abroad. Another season
of restriction follows during the period when the rice
is being stored in the granaries. "But as soon as this
harvesting is over, a general feast is prepared, and merri-
ment of all sorts makes up for the weariness of the
long day's work. The women don every stitch of
their finery and every bead to their name ; some even
assume men's clothes, and carry shield, spear, and
parang. In the evening all join in a long procession
round the house ; guests are invited to participate in
the festivities, and 'jest and youthful jollity' rule the
hour; the brimming cup passes freely, and to the
harmonious strains of the kaluri the women 'trip it as
they go,' or leap in war-dances in imitation of the
men." After this festival there follows yet another
period of taboo, ten days in length, when no one is
allowed to do a stroke of any work that resembles the
cultivation of rice: "should any restless creature
express a desire for active work, he is scoffed at and
scorned as a spoil-sport and kill-joy." *
These customs of the Kayan of Sarawak are signifi-
cant as showing how for a Bornean community the
whole period of farming, from the initial task of select-
ing a site to the final storing of the rice in the granaries,
is supposed to be subject to supernatural influences.
Planting and harvesting are critical times, when every
precaution must be taken to win the approval, and to
1 Furness, op. cit., pp. 164 sq.
I
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 31
thwart the ill will, of the spirits which affect the tribal
life. If we turn, now, to the Kayan on the Mendalam
River in Dutch Borneo, we shall find here also a com-
munity of primitive farmers who depend mainly on
the rice crop for subsistence, and by whom all agri-
cultural operations have been invested with a religious
significance. Without the consent of the spirits no
farm work may be undertaken ; without a strict regi-
men of sacrifices and taboos their aid cannot be secured
for the growth and maturity of the crops. A traveller,
who has described in detail the agricultural rites of
the Kayan, tells us that the sowing festival lasts several
weeks and that during this period certain communal
regulations are enforced. On the first day of the
festival every one, save the very old and the very young,
must refrain from bathing ; then for eight successive
days no work may be done and no intercourse may be
held with neighbouring communities. The custom of
excluding strangers at this time has a purely religious
meaning : the presence of strangers, so the Kayan
believe, would frighten or annoy the spirits and conse-
quently endanger the welfare of the crops. 1 Following
the rites at sowing come those which inaugurate the
hoeing of the fields, and finally the New Year's festival,
eight days in duration, when the harvest has been
safely garnered and the long period of labour and anxiety
is at an end. 2
But the critical occasions demanding the observance
of taboos are not confined by the Kayan to agricultural
occupations. Every important undertaking may be
commenced only when favourable omens have been
1 This period of seclusion is em- wooden helmets and bandages of
ployed by the Kayan in various banana leaves, simulate the actions
games and masquerades, which, if of evil spirits. On the magical sig-
they have a recreative value, pos- nificance of games in primitive
sess as well a religious or magical agriculture, see Sir J. G. Frazer,
meaning in the minds of the Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild,
people. During the sowing festi- London, 1912, i, 92-112.
val the men play at spinning tops, 2 A. W. Nieuwenhuis, Quer durch
the youths engage in athletic Borneo, Leiden, 1904-1907, i, 166
sports, and maskers, disguised by sqq.
32 REST DAYS
vouchsafed by the good spirits, and when the spirits
of evil intent have been pacified by many acts of
abstinence. These aborigines, for example, entertain
the belief that house-building, which necessarily in-
volves the cutting-down of many trees, is a dangerous
occupation, because it arouses the animosity of the
tree-spirits. Hence some Kayan villages, after the
erection of a communal house, observe a period of
penance for an entire year. The Ulu-Ayar Dyak
on the Mandai River, when they use the valuable
ironwood as timber, feel it necessary, in consequence,
to deny themselves various dainties for three years. 1
To the Kayan on the Mahakam River in Dutch Borneo,
the building of a chief's house, in which task all take
part by contributing either materials or labour, forms
a matter of great moment. Dr. Nieuwenhuis, who
witnessed the ceremonies on such an occasion, tells us
that the regulations enforced begin with the collection
of materials for the new dwelling. Nothing may be
done at full moon, a time when important business is
always suspended. 2 During the search for satisfactory
trees and while these are being turned into piles, planks,
and shingles, watch is kept for spirit-warnings as
revealed by the flight and cries of the ominous birds.
Work on the house always terminates at nightfall,
when birds are silent. Important stages in the con-
struction of the house, such as the sinking of the piles
and the placing of the finely carved wooden figure-
heads at the two ends of the ridgepole, are signalized
by appropriate sacrifices to the spirits. When a suffi-
cient quantity of shingles has been prepared for cover-
ing the roof, another offering, consisting of a fat pig
and two chickens, is made to the spirits. Then fol-
lows a rest period, called melo* two days in length.
During this time a strip of rattan is stretched around
1 Nieuwenhuis, op. cit., i, 107. do not go forth on the search for
2 The Kayan call the full moon omens (ibid., i, 415).
the "evil moon" and at this time 'Translated by Dr. Nieuwen-
build neither houses nor boats, and huis as "sitzen, nicht arbeiten."
I
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 33
the house to indicate that no one may enter it. While
the house is being shingled, any untoward event will
interrupt the progress of the work. For instance,
should a man tumble off the roof, it would be necessary
to perform another sacrifice and to declare a melo last-
ing eight days. Thus anxiously and seriously does the
Kayan conduct himself in all the crises of his tribal
life. 1
Among the most numerous and powerful of the Bor-
nean tribes are the Iban, or Sea Dyak, who occupy
much of the country between the Baram River in
Sarawak and the Kapuas River in Dutch Borneo.
Throughout this extensive district the Iban use the
same language and possess substantially uniform cus-
toms. A Christianized native, who has given to us a
remarkably intimate description of the religious observ-
ances of his people, thus sets forth the omens and inci-
dents which require abstention from work.
"When at night the Iban dreams of insult, anger, or
that he has been bitten by a snake, crushed by a fall-
ing tree, waylaid by a ghost, chased by a crocodile,
the following day he rests from all work : to go abroad
or about his work after such dreams would cause him
to be wounded, hurt by falling wood, or shot by an
arrow from the evil spirits' blowpipe. On the fre-
quent recurrence of such dreams the medicine-man is
called in, who rubs the patient's body with a charm
which makes him invisible to the evil spirits. This
ceremony is called btdinding, i.e., the shielding. . . .
To dream of being enveloped by a swarm of bees, of
being overwhelmed by falling earth, that the waist-
cloth has rotted away, or of eating rice from a winnow-
ing-fan, will deter the Iban from going on the war-
path, for they tell of defeat and of being overpowered
by the enemy.
1 A. W. Nieuwenhuis, " Reli- des II internationalen Kongresses
giose Zeremonien beim Hauserbau fur allgemeine Religions geschichte,
der Bahau-Dajak am obern Maha- Basel, 1905, pp. 107-119; compare
kam in Borneo," Ferhandlungen idem, Quer durch Borneo >, ii, 174.
D
34 REST DAYS
"To hear the cry of a bird of evil omen on first wak-
ing in the morning, or on rising up from the morning
meal, prevents the Iban from going to his work on
that day. . . . When the Iban is setting out to his
work and has descended the ladder leading from his
house, if the note of a bird of any kind is heard at the
same time as his foot first touches the ground, he must
turn back. The cry of the kikeh senabong, gazelle, or
deer, heard on the path, will cause him to give up work
for that day. The same happens if these omens are
heard as he enters the field ; arrives at the pankalan,
i.e., 'resting place '; when commencing his work ; whilst
sharpening his chopper, or after the midday meal.
"The news of a death occurring in the neighbourhood
or at a distance, the time of full moon, 1 the performance
of ceremonies over the sick by the medicine-man, a
sacrifice to the spirits, are incidents that require all
the villagers to rest from work. Likewise, if some of
the villagers attend a feast in a neighbouring village,
those that remain behind must rest from work lest they
should incur the anger of the guardian spirits of those
attending the feast." 2
But these are not all the circumstances under which
an Iban community subjects itself to the rule of ab-
stinence. Rice-planting here, as among the Kayan,
necessitates certain rest periods, each of three days'
duration. 3 While a village is under construction,
weaving the native cloth, settling quarrels, and going
on the warpath are forbidden ; to break this taboo
would cause a death in the village. 4 When rumours are
abroad of cholera, smallpox, or fever, another season
of seclusion is imposed. The entrance to the village
1 "At certain seasons of the Years in Sarawak, London, 1866,
moon, just before and just after the i, 149).
full, the [Sea] Dyaks do not work 2 Leo Nyuak, "Religious Rites
at their farms ; and what with and Customs of the Iban or Dyaks
bad omens, sounds, signs, adverse of Sarawak," translated from the
dreams, and deaths, two-thirds of Dyak by the Very Rev. Edm.
their time is not spent in farm Dunn, Anthropos, 1906, i, 410 sq.
labour" (Charles Brooke, Ten * Ibid., i, 176. * Ibid., i, 181.
:
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 35
is railed off, and no one is allowed either ingress or
egress for three days, during which time all rest from
work. Meanwhile the village elders have prepared
an offering to the evil spirit of the epidemic. This
sacrifice, together with a winnowing-fan on which is
the figure of man drawn in chalk, is placed in a shed
near the village. The evil spirit, it is thought, will
stop to observe the chalk-drawing and thus will be led
to discover the food which has been left in the shed.
Having satisfied his hunger, he will not seek to enter
the village. 1 The general character of these taboos
as propitiatory rites is further illustrated by some of
the customs relating to agriculture. When the forest
land has been fully cleared and left to dry, sun and
wind become of vital consequence to the Iban, for, if
the people are unable to burn the immense mass of
timber and brush-wood in the jungle, famine stares
them in the face during the year to come. "If it pour
with rain day after day and week after week, and there
is no promise of continued fine weather, they are apt
to imagine that some impurity has defiled the tribe
and that the face of the Great Spirit is hid from them.
So the elders of the people get to work to find it out,
and adjudicate on all cases of incest and bigamy, and
purify the earth with the blood of pigs. Prayers are
offered to Betara 2 from one end of the country to the
other; for the space of three days the villages are
tabooed, and all labour is discontinued; the inhabi-
tants remain at home and strangers are not admitted.
But if the weather is warm and dry, the farms are
ready in a very few days for the burning." 3
l Ibid., i, 416 sq. which the Dyak has peopled his
2 Betara, otherwise petara, is the universe. See J. Perham, f( Petara,
ordinary Sea Dyak name for or Sea Dyak Gods," Journal of the
deity. The word is incorrectly Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic
translated as "Great Spirit"; in Society, 1881, no. 8; H. L. Roth,
general belief there are many The Natives of Sarawak and British
petara. These gods, it may be North Borneo, London, 1896, i,
noted, are separated by no distinct 168-182.
line of demarcation from the thou- 3 Brooke Low, in Roth, op. cit.,
sands of antu, or spirits, with i, 401. See also idem, in Journal
36 REST DAYS
The seasons of communal abstinence found among
the Land Dyak, who dwell in the southwestern part of
Sarawak, differ only in minor details from those of
other Bornean tribes. There are three principal occa-
sions when the Land Dyak subject themselves to
pamali, or taboo :
"The first, pamali mati, is on a house, and on every-
thing in it for twelve days after the decease of any per-
son belonging to it : during this time, no one who is not
an inhabitant of the dwelling can enter it, nor are the
persons usually residing in it allowed to speak to such,
nor can anything, on any pretence whatever, be re-
moved from it, until the twelve days of the prohibition
be expired : its conclusion is marked by the death of
a fowl or pig, according to the circumstances of the
family.
"The pamali peniakit is undertaken by a whole
village during any sickness which prevails generally
amongst the members of the tribe ; it is marked by a
pig slain, and a feast being made in order to propitiate
the divinity who has sent the malady among them ;
in its severest form it is of eight days' continuance,
and during this period everything in the village is at
a standstill, the inhabitants shutting themselves up
from all intercourse with strangers. . . . The pamali
peniakit is also undertaken by individuals when any
member of the family is sick ; thus parents often put
themselves under its regulations, fondly hoping that
by denying themselves for a time the pleasures of inter-
course with their fellow creatures, they will prevail
upon the malignant spirit, which is supposed to have
shed its withering influence over their offspring, to
restore it to its wonted health and strength.
of the Anthropological Institute, contributed to a stricter observance
1893, xxii, 24. Many primitive of the rules of sexual morality,
peoples are accustomed to trace a both among the married and the
direct connection between sexual unmarried. See The Magic Art
sins and the welfare of the crops. and the Evolution of Kings, London,
As Sir James Frazer has shown, 1911, ii, 104-119.
this superstition has undoubtedly
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 37
"The pamali omar, or taboo on the farms, occurs
immediately after the whole of the seed is sown: it
lasts four days, and during that period, no person of
the tribe enters any of the plantations on any account ;
a pig and feast are, according to their practice, also
necessary. The proper observance of these various
forms of pamali is probably amongst the most ancient
of their customs, and was practised by their tribes
previously to the introduction of the Hindu religion." 1
From another authority we learn that the Land Dyak
recognize a variety of incidents, more or less inimical
to the operations of farming, which suffice to impose
taboos. "If the basket in which the paddy is put as it
is cut during harvesting be upset, that farm must rest
for a day, and a fowl must be killed, or all their paddy
will go rotten. If a tree falls across the farm-path,
a fowl must be killed on the spot, and the path be dis-
used for one day, or some one will meet with an acci-
dent on it. ... At full moon, and on the third day
after it (called bubuk), no farm work may be done,
unless it is wished that the paddy should be devoured
by blight and mildew. In some tribes the unlucky
days are those of the new and full moon, and its first
and third quarters." 2
In the course of an excellent study of the Land
Dyak festivals, 3 Mrs. S. B. Scott argues that they are
far more effective as social observances when accom-
panied by the various taboos. The change of occupa-
tions heightens the sacredness of the feast, and also
enables all the inhabitants of a village to join in the
long, elaborate ritual. At the same time the closed
house prevents intrusion and secures the presence of
every member of the community. Furthermore, the
1 Sir Hugh Low, Sarawak, Lon- 2 William Chalmers, in Roth, op.
don, 1848, pp. 260-262. See also cit., i, 401.
Sir Spenser St. John, Life in the 3 Mrs. S. B. Scott, "Harvest
Forests of the Far East, London, Festivals of the Land Dyaks,"
1862, i, 175 sqq. According to Journal of the American Oriental
this writer porikh is the Land Dyak Society, 1908, xxix, 236-280.
expression equivalent to pamali.
38 REST DAYS
prospect of feasting, drinking, and general excitement
gives an added zest to the labours of the Dyak farmers.
The mid-harvest festival, when this is celebrated, af-
fords a much needed rest from the heavy work of har-
vesting ; and the last and greatest of the festivals
comes as a natural period of relaxation after the long
strain of toil and frugality is suddenly relaxed. 1
That in actual practice the Land Dyak observances
have this outcome, it is impossible to deny. Yet it
must be noticed that similar regulations are in force
on other and quite different occasions. As we have
just seen, the Land Dyak place an interdict, twelve
days in length, upon a house in which any one has died ;
the same event also causes a general banning of the
village for one day only. 2 Childbirth imposes a taboo
of eight days' duration on a Land Dyak family ; 3
in this case the regulation does not appear to be ex-
tended to the community at large. Sickness is another
event which puts a family under the ban ; 4 when the
sickness assumes an epidemic form and threatens the
general well-being, the rule of abstinence must be
observed by every one in the village. Such evidence
from the Land Dyak customs, confirmed as it is by
the facts relating to the customs of other Bornean
tribes, clearly illustrates the passage of individual
1 Mrs. S. B. Scott, " Harvest provided some other woman begins
Festivals of the Land Dyaks," the work for her ; and the husband
Journal of the American Oriental may dig a trench or erect a post,
Society y 1908, xxix, 244 sqq. if the hands of others are first set
2 St. John, op. cit., i, 163. to the task. Taboos of this sort
3 Ibid., i, 1 60. The Sea Dyak prevail until the child cuts its first
make an interesting distinction be- teeth (F. W. Leggatt, in Roth,
tween mali and penti, the former op. cit., i, 98).
absolutely forbidding certain kinds 4 Sir Hugh Low observes that
of work to a person under the ban, among the Land Dyak the favourite
the latter allowing it to be under- remedies for the cure of internal
taken, if started by some one not diseases are turmeric and spices,
subject to the taboo. For in- taken in huge quantities; "but
stance, though both parents are for anything at all serious, recourse
penti during the wife's pregnancy, is had to the pamali, both in medi-
the expectant mother may engage cal and surgical cases" (Sarawak,
in basket-making and mat-weaving, p. 308).
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 39
taboos, based on gross superstition, into community
ordinances which may sometimes have a real justi-
fication in their social usefulness.
These Bornean regulations disclose a fairly consist-
ent effort to adjust the length of the communal taboo
to the importance of the event which it commemorates.
Thus, housebuilding imposes a shorter season of ab-
stinence than does planting or sowing ; a single death
in the village may require the cessation of activity by
the inhabitants for only one day; but an epidemic
sickness may necessitate a three days' rest, as among the
Iban, or even eight days' rest, as among the Land Dyak.
The restrictions themselves appear to be substantially
the same in all instances: the inhabitants "remain in
their houses, in order to eat, drink, and sleep ; but
their eating must be moderate, and often consists of
nothing but rice and salt. . . . People under interdict
may not bathe, touch fire, or employ themselves about
their ordinary occupations." 1 To these prohibitions
should be added that of sexual intercourse, a taboo
specifically mentioned for one Bornean tribe, and
probably found among others. 2
The close resemblances, even in details, between the
communal taboos observed in different parts of Borneo
must, unquestionably, be attributed to a long-con-
tinued process of diffusion among the various Indone-
1 St. John, op. cit. t i, 175 sq. voice whether there is no taboo"
(Land Dyak). Mr. Charles Hose (L. Nyuak, in Anthropos, 1906, i,
declares that at such times the 175).
inhabitants of a Kayan communal 2 The Murik on the Baram
house may taboo their private River, a community of hardworking
rooms to the other inmates. Small farmers, in addition to the corn-
fines are imposed for infringing the munal taboos observed by them at
rule, if the act is unintentional, sowing, also keep a lemalli of seven
but when a man forces his way into days, when the paddy crop is about
a tabooed house, a serious quarrel, to be harvested. "For the first
ending in bloodshed, may result three days of this no one stirs out
(Journal of the Anthropological of the house, no work is done,
Institute, 1894, xxiii, 170). "It is and no sexual intercourse is al-
an old custom among the Iban for lowed" (R. S. Douglas, in Sarawak
a stranger, before climbing the Museum Journal, 1911, i, 146
ladder of a house, to ask in a loud sqq.).
40 REST DAYS
sian tribes. These taboos have not been found, at
any rate have not been described, among the nomadic
hunting tribes, which occupy the interior parts of
Borneo and probably represent an aboriginal popu-
lation. Though our knowledge of Bornean ethnog-
raphy is still very imperfect, there seems to be no
doubt that the present Indonesian inhabitants are
descended from immigrants into the island at no very
remote date. We are justified, therefore, in seeking
a foreign source for various elements of the existing
Bornean culture. In particular, the practice of observ-
ing communal taboos, in its rudiments, if not in its
completely developed form, may reasonably be regarded
as an importation into Borneo, if similar customs are
found to prevail among other Indonesian peoples.
Between the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal
and the northern coast of Sumatra lies the archipelago
of the Nicobars. The inhabitants appear to be of
Indonesian type, but more or less intermixed with
Malays and with the natives of^ Burma and Siam. In
spite of the labours of numerous missionaries the Nico-
barese are said to entertain no conception of a Supreme
Being or of a future state. They have, however, a
very lively belief in evil spirits, which seem to be chiefly
the ghosts of the wicked. These malignant beings,
the source of all misfortune and disease, are propiti-
ated with offerings or driven out by exorcisms. On
such occasions the Nicobarese hold lengthy festivals,
some of which are accompanied by periods of com-
munal abstinence. The native name for these en-
forced rest days or holidays is anoiila. 1 Every year the
inhabitants of Kar Nicobar observe the ceremony of
kataphang, at which time the group of buildings, called
the elpanam* is cleaned out and purified to the accom-
1 See below, p. 165. found under different names in
2 The elpanam consists of several many of the East Indian islands,
large structures, which serve as a and even more widely. See H.
guest-house for strangers and as a Webster, Primitive Secret Societies,
town-hall for feasts and public New York, 1908, pp. 8 sqq.
gatherings. The institution is
I
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 41
paniment of much singing and dancing. When this
preliminary work is done and the rubbish has been cast
into the sea, the doors of the houses in the elpanam are
closed and the people return to their private abodes in
the village. "Silence has now to be observed for a
full month ; no fire or light may be seen ; no cheroot
may be smoked. Women and children are interdicted
from coming to the elpanam, and, if they have to come
during the night on urgent affairs (to purchase things),
they have to place a light at the entrance of the elpa-
nam and then come without noise. . . . The chief
sufferers by this festival are the Burmans, because the
people cannot supply any nuts nor can they work in
making kopra, for the reason that they cannot go into
the jungle to fetch nuts nor can they come to the
elpanam" The natives believe that during this time
the evil spirits from the jungle visit the elpanam.
When the month is up, a great feast is given to the
spirits and they are sent back to the jungle. 1 Another
Nicobar festival is that of kiala. The word means,
properly, "to take food." The kiala is celebrated with
much feasting, to which the inhabitants of neighbouring
communities come as guests. At midday a cry of
supplication is heard from each building: "Let our
house be enriched with plenty of food. Let us have
many eatable things from other villages. Let there
come new women to our villages. Let us be happy."
Then follow in regular sequence a day of rest anoi-
ila a day of pig-hunting in the jungle, a second
anoiila, and a second day of pig-hunting. One more
rest day ends the festival. 2 The exact meaning of these
observances is difficult to make out.
Very similar customs have been found among the
*V. Solomon, in Journal of the xxxii, 210; Kloss, op. cit., pp.
Anthropological Institute, 1902, 297 sq. Another kiala festival,
xxxii, 215 sq. See also C. B. Kloss, also followed by alternate periods ot
In the Andamans and Nicobars, rest and work, appears to be ob-
London, 1903, pp. 293 sqq. served in connection with fishing
2 V. Solomon, in Journal of the (Kloss, op. cit., p. 295).
Anthropological Institute, 1902,
42 REST DAYS
people of Bali, an island to the east of Java. When
the Balinese are confronted by some real or imaginary
danger, such as an epidemic, an earthquake, or a lunar
eclipse, they at once take measures to drive away the
evil spirits, or buta, which have caused the ominous
event. This praiseworthy object is supposed to be
accomplished partly by verbal commands "go away!
go away!" addressed to the buta, partly by means of
an unearthly uproar of shouting and knocking. Then
follow two days of absolute silence, the stillness of the
grave. During this period, known as sepi, no one
ventures out of doors and no strangers are admitted
to the village. Even the usual domestic work, includ-
ing cooking, is discontinued. The interdict against
all activity is lifted on the third day, but even then
work in the rice-fields and buying and selling in the
market are forbidden. The evil spirits, it is believed,
would like to return at once to their old haunts, hence
they must be led to think that Bali is not Bali, but
some uninhabited island. 1 This period of quiescence
is clearly a means of avoiding contact with the ghostly
powers. The reason given for abstaining from activ-
ity to make the spirits suppose that Bali is not Bali
may be taken as a nai've effort to explain a custom
no longer understood. The Balinese have also a
New Year's festival, which shows the influence of
Buddhism in the date chosen for its observance, the
first five weeks of the Buddhist year. "At this time
the gods are supposed to dwell on the earth, and the
pitara especially return to the bosoms of their families ;
hence the constant offerings and the incessant games
and amusements, which are regarded as necessary less
for the living generation than for the pitara and gods
sojourning among them; hence also the cessation
from work and the disinclination to intercourse with
foreigners during this period. Trade and foreigners
1 R. van Eck, in Tijdschrift voor reproduced by J. Jacobs, Eenigen
Nederlandsch-Indie, 1879, n.s., viii, tijd onder de Baliers, Batavia,
Eck's account is 1883, pp. 190 sqq.
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 43
are not agreeable to the pitara, who desire to see the
old institutions and usages faithfully preserved."
In the island of Nias, lying off the western coast of
Sumatra, the news of an epidemic sickness will cause
a quarantine to be established in every community,
not only against the inhabitants of the^infected village,
but against all strangers without discrimination. The
quarantine lasts for eight days. 2 Probably this taboo
is observed on other occasions, as seems to be the case
with the inhabitants of the Pagi Islands, which form
the southern extension of the Mentawi group. These
islanders are scarcely above the level of culture reached
by Bornean tribes : they live in large communal
houses, practise tattooing assiduously, and worship
the evil spirits which manifest their power in thunder
and lightning, earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods.
The natives, at certain times, are said to remain^ in
their villages and to exclude all strangers. During
this period of separation from the world they may
neither give nor receive anything, they must refrain
from eating certain articles of food, and they may not
engage in trade. 3 A very competent observer, who
has made a special study of the taboo system in the
Mentawi Islands, describes the seasons of restriction
found there under the name of pundn. The "great"
pundn arises from any circumstance which vitally
affects the welfare of a community : when^ a chief
erects a house for himself, when a village" is visited by
an epidemic, or when a cocoanut-palm is overthrown
by some force majeure. Similarly, the inauguration
of a superior chief or the choice of a priest requires
the imposition of a "great" pundn. The same pro-
pitiatory usage becomes necessary when a villager has
been killed by a crocodile. The "little" pundn relates
!R. Friederich, 'm Journal of the der Niasser," Tijdschrift voor in-
Royal Asiatic Society, 1877, n.s., dische taal-land-en volkenkunde,
ix, 77. On the petara see above, 1890, xxxm, 486 sqq. m
p 35 n z 3 Hinlopen and Severm, ibid.,
2 F. Kramer, "Der Gotzendienst 1855, iii, 329 W
44 REST DAYS
rather to individuals and to families. Many are the
occasions when it is imposed at house-building, at
the setting-out of a garden, at boat-making, and when
a native leaves his village to settle elsewhere. The
"little" pundn is especially obligatory for women
during pregnancy, at birth, and for eight months
thereafter. It occurs also as an accompaniment of
marriage, when there is sickness in a family, and when
some member of the household has died. All crises
in the communal and individual life of the Mentawi
Islanders are thus kept as periods of restriction ; in
some cases, however, these rest days have become to
all intents and purposes festivals and holidays. 1
The wild and little-known aborigines of Formosa,
who are probably of Indonesian origin, appear to pos-
sess similar customs. Of them it is said, generally,
that "great fasts are held after a sickness or when any
of the tribe have been killed. At such times they will
be silent, and will only eat sufficient food to maintain
life." 2 Another traveller refers to these communal
fast days under the native name of hiang, and adds
the further fact that at such times strangers are ex-
cluded from the village. 3 A very intelligent observer,
describing the superstitions of the Peiwan, mentions
a curious custom according to which "one who has
unpleasant dreams must confine himself to his house
for the day." 4 This very scanty information will
doubtless be supplemented by much more evidence,
when the Formosan tribes have been scientifically
studied.
The Philippine Archipelago contains a great number
1 A. Maass, " Ta-kd-kdi-kdi 3 W. Joest, in Verhandlungen der
tabu," Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthro-
1905, xxxvii, 155 sq. The greater pologie, Ethnologic, und Urge-
part of this valuable article is con- schichte, 1882, p. [(62) (bound with
cerned with the analogies between Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, vol. xiv) .
the taboo system in the Mentawi 4 G. Taylor, in Proceedings of the
Islands and related systems in Royal Geographical Society, 1889,
Indonesia and Polynesia. n.s., xi, 233; idem, "Folklore of
2 W. A. Pickering, Pioneering in Aboriginal Formosa," Folk-lore
Formosa, London, 1898, p. 71. Journal, 1887, v, 150.
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 45
of Indonesian tribes, among which are the Subanu of
Mindanao, a mountain people occupying the interior
portions of the Zamboanga District, where they have
taken refuge from the raids of their hereditary enemies,
the Moros and Filipinos. The Subanu are described
as a suspicious and superstitious people with a pro-
nounced belief in spirits both good and evil. Cere-
monies of propitiation accompany all important un-
dertakings, such as the clearing of a new plantation,
the building of a house, the beginning of a journey,
hunting, and the harvesting of the crops. Festivals
are held to propitiate these spirits, or to celebrate some
event in which an entire settlement is interested.
From the following account it would seem that the
custom of communal abstinence is frequently observed
by the Subanu. "In contending against the difficulties
of their settlement life the Subanu have gradually
adopted an eifective quarantine service against the
spread of infectious diseases like smallpox, measles,
and cholera. Upon the appearance of the first case
among any of the settlement families, the timuai
[communal chief] orders the establishment of the signals
of quarantine, and these are quickly provided. Fences
of poles and split bamboo, or bejuco, are erected across
the main trails leading to the houses of the settlement.
On these fences are placed, in fixed positions, carved
imitations of war weapons, such as spears, kampilan,
barong, and pira y pointed outward to warn the approach-
ing stranger or visitor to remain away. It is a notice
that death will be visited upon the person who attempts
to enter the settlement while the scourge of disease
prevails. . . . Near the signal fences are erected
light wooden stands with offerings of various articles
of food to appease the wrath of the gods and cause
them to assist in extirpating the disease. Small sheds
are also sometimes erected near the stands, under
which guards may be stationed to prevent the food
from being taken by wild animals, birds, and mis-
chievous persons. But the guards go to sleep and the
46 REST DAYS
food (cooked rice, boiled eggs, fruit, tobacco, betel-
nut, cooked chicken, etc.) disappears, whereupon the
guards report that diuata (god) has accepted the gifts
and will drive away the disease. Superstition and
good sense are strangely but effectively mingled in
this scheme of practical and efficacious quarantine ;
and the Subanu stand alone among all the tribes and
peoples of Mindanao in devising and operating such
protective measures." l
Another Indonesian people of the Philippines are
the Bontoc Igorot, a non-Christian folk dwelling in
northern Luzon. They are mountain farmers and
live in towns made up of political divisions, or ato y
analogous to the wards of an American city. The
business of each ato is conducted by a council of elders.
These Bontoc Igorot observe a sacred rest day, called
tengao. 2 It occurs, on an average, about every ten
days during the year, though not with absolute regu-
larity. Three men, belonging to what might be de-
scribed as a hereditary priesthood, fix the time for
the tengao, as for all other ceremonials of the pueblo.
They then inform the elders of each ato, who, in turn,
make a public announcement on the evening preced-
ing the day. "The small boys, however, are the
true 'criers.' They make more noise in the evening
before the rest day, crying Teng-ao I whi teng-ao!
(' Rest day ! hurrah ! rest day ! ') than I have heard
from the pueblo at any other time." The tengao
appears to be marked by the cessation of agricultural
work, but not by abstinence from all activity. "If
a person goes to labour in the fields on a sacred day -
not having heard the announcement, or in disregard
of it - he is fined for 'breaking the Sabbath." The
lawbreaker has to surrender firewood or rice or a small
*J. P. Finley and William W. C. Clapp, "A Vocabulary of
Churchill, The Subanu, Washington, the Igorot Language," Bureau of
1913, pp. 31 sq. Science, Division of Ethnology, Pub-
2 The word is also spelled tengau lications, Manila, 1908, v, 198.
and translated "holiday." See
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 47
chicken to the value of about ten cents, or the wage
of two days. The fines are then expended in buying
chickens and pigs for certain religious ceremonies,
known as patay. These rites are performed every
new moon for the general well-being of the pueblo. 1
We are further told that the rest days are selected in
order that "such intimate, important interests as
agriculture and beneficial weather may be given the
amount of attention they deserve. The people have
no calendar for succeeding ceremonial observances, so
a priesthood has developed to fix such days at the oppor-
tune time when needed. They are sacred because
all petitions are made to Lumawig their god, a living
spirit, hero, and benefactor." 2
There seems to be every reason for supposing that
this remarkable institution of an almost periodic
Sabbath is of native origin. The Bontoc Igorot dwell
in a remote and inaccessible region ; and they are a
fairly primitive people whose religious ideas have been
unaffected by either Christianity or Mohammedanism.
The tengao itself is apparently confined to this single
tribe of northern Luzon. At the same time the sacred
rest day does not stand without relation to the other
observances of the Igorot. Like the Bornean tribes
they have a number of agricultural ceremonies, reli-
gious in character, and designed to secure an abundant
harvest. Some of these ceremonies are accompanied
by periods of rest. Every year, on the occasion when
camotes are planted, the pueblo priest kills a chicken
or a pig, and petitions Lumawig for so many camotes
"that the ground will crack and burst open." This
rite takes place in the fifth period of the Igorot year,
called baliling. A similar rite is performed when
black beans are planted. The end of baliling (about
J A. E. Jenks, "The Bontoc 1911, Professor Jenks writes, "I
Igorot," Ethnological Survey Publi- believe the rest days are first for
cations, Manila, 1905, i, 205 sqq. the purpose of having time for
2 From a letter to the author, religious observances this fact
dated December 10, 1910. In a necessitated the rest. I never
second letter, under date March 8, proved this point, however."
48 REST DAYS
the first of September) is marked by a three days'
rest, known as kopus. At this time one of the priests
charged with the performance of the patay rite addresses
a short supplication to Lumawig and then solemnly
kills a chicken. It is a critical moment for the people
of the pueblo. Should the gall of the fowl be found
white or whitish, this means that disaster will over-
take the community. But a gall with a dark green
colour implies that the spirit enemies of Bontoc are not
revengeful and that the pueblo will enjoy prosperity.
Another occasion when the Igorot rests from labour
comes at the fakil ceremony for rain. It occurs four
times each year, on four succeeding days, and is per-
formed by four different priests. There is the usual
sacrifice of a pig by the priest, and each night, just
before this rite takes place, all the people cry I-teng-ao
ta-ko nan ja-kil' /, an expression meaning, "Rest
day! We observe the ceremony for rain!" 1 These
and other instances cited by Professor Jenks indicate
clearly that the Igorot festivals are intended to pro-
pitiate evil-minded spirits and to secure material
blessings from Lumawig, the supreme being. 2 The
evidence from Borneo and other regions suggests
that here in Luzon the rest accompanying some of the
festivals has likewise a propitiatory character, quite
as much as the prayers and sacrifices. The same
interpretation would accordingly apply to the tengao,
though that day seems now to be regarded in some
degree as a holiday. Furthermore, the conjecture is
plausible that the tengao in its earlier form was not a
periodic but an occasional observance, called forth
only by particular emergencies in the communal life.
The present form of this institution gives evidence of
a tendency, doubtless directed by the Igorot priest-
hood, to calendarize seasons of taboo at definite and
regular intervals. And the dedication of this "Sab-
1 Jenks, op. cit., p. 213. family to appease or win the good
" It is safe to say that one feast will of some anito [ancestral spirit] "
is held daily in Bontoc by some (Jenks, op. cit., p. 198).
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 49
bath" to Lumawig may be only a natural outcome of
the preeminence assigned to that supreme god, who
stands out in such bold relief against the crowd of
ancestral spirits, good and bad, investing the Igorot
world. 1
The foregoing examples suffice to show how numer-
ous are the occasions on which the natives of Indonesia
subject themselves to the rule of abstinence. Assum-
ing, with modern ethnographers, that the Indonesian
peoples represent an admixture in various proportions
of primitive Indian and southern Mongolian stocks,
we need not be surprised to discover that in certain
parts of southeastern Asia, and notably among the
Tibeto-Burman tribes of Assam and Burma, there
flourishes a system of communal regulations strikingly
similar to those which have just been described.
The Naga tribes, who are said to resemble more
closely the natives of the Indian Archipelago than
any of the other peoples occupying the hills of Assam,
apply the name genna 2 to their system of taboos. 3
The following description refers particularly to the
Naga of Manipur. Here, as in Borneo, the regular
communal taboos are for the most part connected
1 Some, if not all, of the Igorot Journal of the Anthropological In-
peoples of northern Luzon are stitute, 1906, xxxvi, 92-103 ; idem,
familiar with the idea of taboo as "Some Naga Customs and Super-
applied to individuals or to families stitions," Folk-lore, 1910, xxi, 296-
at certain critical times. The 312; idem, "Genna," Encyclopedia
Ibaloi Igorot equivalent of taboo is Britannica, 11 xi, 596; idem, The
pidiu. A man, while in the pecul- Naga Tribes of Manipur, London,
iarly solemn condition of pidiu, 1911, pp. 164-186.
"must not bathe, must not admit 3 " The word genna is used in two
visitors into his house, and must ways: (i) it may mean practically
not work, travel, etc./* under pen- a holiday i.e., a man will say,
alty of punishment by the making, 'My village is doing genna to-day,'
or departed souls, for transgression by which he means that, owing
of the regulations (O. Scheerer, either to the occurrence of a village
"The Nabaloi Dialect," Ethnologi- festival or some such unusual
cal Survey Publications, Manila, occurrence ... his people are ob-
1905, ii, 167). But these prohibi- serving a holiday ; (2) genna means
tions do not seem to be socialized. anything forbidden" (A. W. Davis,
2 T. C. Hodson, "The genna in Census of India, 1891, Assam,
amongst the Tribes of Assam," i, 249).
50 REST DAYS
with the crops. Every stage of the rice cultivation
is marked by a village genna, the duration of which
varies. Thus, among the Mao Naga the rice-sowing
necessitates a ten days' genna, the transplanting of
the rice calls for only one day of restriction, the begin-
ning of the harvest for four days, and the harvest
home for ten days. At such times the village gates
are shut and neither egress nor ingress is allowed.
"Among all these tribes from the day of the first crop
genna to the final harvest home all other forms of indus-
try and activity are forbidden. All hunting, fishing,
tree- and grass-cutting, all weaving, pot-making, salt-
working, games of all kinds, bugling, dancing, all
trades are strictly forbidden are genna lest the
grain in the ear be lost." 1
It is obvious that some of these taboos tend, indi-
rectly, to produce beneficial effects. The prohibition
of all labour, except agricultural, during the season of
rice-planting and harvesting permits the inhabitants
of a village to devote their time and attention solely
to the care of the crops. And the practical result
of the taboo against hunting is to provide a much-
needed close season for wild animals, "for these sports-
men spare not the game." It is equally obvious,
however, that the regulations in question have had no
utilitarian origin. Identical taboos are imposed on
a great variety of other occasions. A rain-compelling
ceremony, when the headman works magic for the
benefit of the entire village, is accompanied by a genna.
General genna are also proclaimed after the occurrence
of unusual phenomena, such as earthquakes, eclipses
1 Hodson, Naga Tribes, pp. 167 business, but among the Meithei,
sq. Among some of the Manipuri the Hinduised neighbours of the
Naga the various genna are marked Naga, the tug-of-war has dwindled
by rope-pulling contests, when the into a mere pastime (Hodson, in
women and girls have a tug-of-war Folk-lore, 1910, xxi, 300). On the
with the men. This is described as magical significance of the games
a means of taking omens for the played by the Kayan of Borneo
future of the crops (ibid., p. 168). during their periods of seclusion,
The Naga ceremonial is a serious see above, p. 31 n. 1
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 51
of the sun or moon, and the appearance of comets.
These events are attributed to supernatural activity. 1
The destruction of a village by fire occasions a general
genna, sometimes for three days, before any steps are
taken to rebuild the houses. Such an event indicates
that spirits inimical to the people are about and active ;
consequently the mere sight of the burning of a neigh-
bouring village is enough to require the imposition of
a genna? 1 The outbreak of epidemic sickness necessi-
tates a genna, the purpose of which is clearly prophy-
lactic. Animal sacrifices of a propitiatory nature are
made at such times. Some of the Mao Naga even
hold a regular village genna, as a means of preventing
all sickness during the year, while the Kabui Naga
observe an annual genna in order to protect themselves
from being hurt by bamboos. The occurrence of
mysterious cases of death requires a genna, for the
purpose of separating the living as soon as possible
from the dangerous dead ; in the Mao group it is cus-
tomary to hold a village genna when a villager dies,
irrespective of the immediate cause of his decease. 3
All the Naga communities hold a genna devoted to the
praiseworthy object of finally laying to rest the ghosts
of those who have died during the preceding year. The
rite takes place at the time of cold weather, after the
crops have been reaped. At this annual festival,
"they restore to the living those of their members
who have been in jeopardy of the contagion of death." 4
Communal genna are also enforced in connection with
the first death in the year of any domestic animals ;
on the return to the village of a party of warriors with
human heads taken in a foray; when a python --a
serpent closely associated with sickness --is killed and
eaten ; during the deliberations of the village council ;
1 Hodson, Naga Tribes, pp. 166 festival occurs on the night of the
sq., 175. December new moon. The shades
2 Ibid,, pp. 109, 167, 175. of the dead are supposed to visit
3 Ibid., pp. 166 sq. y 173. the living at this time (S. E.
4 Ibid., pp. 151 sq.y 174. Ac- Peal, in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic,
cording to another account the 1898, xxx, 355).
52 REST DAYS
and also when a man rashly allows his private or secret
name to be mentioned in public. 1 We may agree
with an early writer, who, commenting on these prac-
tices among the Angami Naga, remarks that there is
"no end to the reasons on which a kennie must or may
be declared, and as it consists of a general holiday
when no work is done, this Angami Sabbath appears
to be rather a popular institution." 2
A survey of these Naga ordinances indicates that
here in Assam they have much the same purpose as in
other regions : they are protective and conciliatory ;
to a certain extent they are even compelling, in so far
as the observance of the taboos is supposed to prevent
the evil spirits from inflicting further harm. The
coercive quality of a genna is also illustrated by the
idea that, while the ill effects of an interruption of a
village ceremony are sometimes irremediable, there are
other cases where a repetition of the rite is enough to
avert all disastrous consequences. 3 It is to be observed,
furthermore, that all genna are declared and supervised
by the khullakpa, the secular and religious head of the
village. He acts in a representative capacity, when-
ever a rite is to be performed which requires the whole
force of the community behind it, a force which oper-
ates through him. "These village genna" declares
Mr. Hodson, "seem in many cases to be inspired by
the belief that man, the man, the khullakpa, when forti-
fied by the whole strength and will of the village, is
1 Hodson, op. cit. f pp. 109, 144, moon of the lunar year (D. Pram,
I 73> I 75 S 9' The Naga west of in Revue coloniale Internationale,
the Doyang River are said to have 1887, v, 489).
a genna also at the annual cere- 2 John Butler, in Journal of the
mony of making new fire for the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1875,
village. The fire, produced by n.s., xlv, i, 316. This observer
friction, is first used in burning describes the kennie as a system of
down the jungle before the sowing taboo, "singularly similar to that
of the crops (W. Crooke, Natives in vogue among the savages inhab-
of Northern India, London, 1907, iting the Pacific islands."
p. 45; E. T. Dalton, Descriptive 3 Hodson, Naga Tribes, p. 167,
Ethnology of Bengal, Calcutta, 1872, citing C. A. Soppitt, Account of the
E- 43)- The Angami Naga mark Kachcha Ndgas, p. 10.
y a three days' genna the first full
*
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 53
able to control and constrain forces which are beyoncT
his control if unaided. He relies on cooperative
strength." l
In addition to the village genna the Naga are subject
to numerous regulations which affect individuals or
families only, and do not extend to the community
at large. Household genna are occasioned by such
events as the birth of children or of domesticated
animals, the first hair-cutting and ear-piercing, the
naming of children, and finally the death of domesti-
cated animals in the house. The restrictions apply to
all who are normally inmates of the house, and to any
others, such as midwives, who may be temporarily
members of the family. The duration of these genna
varies not only from tribe to tribe but also from vil-
lage to village. The Mayang Khong Naga, in partic-
ular, have worked out an elaborate scale for genna
following the birth of domestic animals. "When a
cow calves, the genna lasts for five days ; when a sow
litters, three days' genna is necessary; while when a
bitch has pups, or a cat has kittens, two days are
ample. A hen hatching out a brood of chickens brings
on a genna of one day." 2 Such observances may
be said to mark the acme of the Naga taboo system,
or, from another point of view, to reduce it to an ab-
surdity.
The genna custom, which seems to have attained
its most complicated and grotesque development
1 Hodson, op. cit., p. 141. The taboos imposed by him would be
khullakpa, also called gennabura, or obliged to pay a fine, the proceeds
"authorizer of genna," is himself being used to provide a sub-
subject to a number of vexatious stantial repast for the village
restrictions designed to prevent any elders (Hodson, in Journal of the
impairment of the efficiency of his Anthropological Institute, 1901, xxxi,
sacred office. On these taboos see 307).
below, pp. 233 sq. It is worthy of 2 Hodson, Naga Tribes, pp. 177,
note that the khullakpa enjoys a 180. The Naga of eastern Assam
good deal of indirect authority strictly taboo a house where tattoo-
because of his power to close a ing is being done (W. H. Furness,
village and declare a genna. An 3d., in Journal of the Anthropo-
individual who violated any of the logical Institute, 1902, xxxii, 466).
54 REST DAYS
among the Naga, prevails, or in the past has prevailed,
throughout a wide area of Assam. The Hinduised
Meithei of Manipur, whose affinity to the wild hill
tribes such as the Naga and Kuki is admitted, no longer
possess the custom itself, though preserving the memory
of it in their word namungba, or taboo. 1 General
seasons of restriction seem to be unknown among the
Khasi, who inhabit the Khasi and Jaintia hills, except
in a single instance. 2 Their neighbours on the west,
the Garo, a people of Tibeto-Burman stock, have the
equivalent of genna in the word marang, conveying
the ideas of "unlucky" and "unlawful." But the
Garo custom itself is scarcely socialized : the taboos
relate to individuals, and in only one case extend
to the community at large. This is the prohibition
for any one in a village to labour in the fields on the day
when a child is born. It is believed that should a farm
be visited at such a time the crop would be cursed and
blighted. 3 Another Tibeto-Burman people, the Mikir,
who dwell in the Mikir Hills to the northwest of Mani-
pur, have individual taboos of various kinds and, in
addition, a compulsory village festival called rongker.
It is held annually at the beginning of cultivation.
At this time the gods are invoked for good crops, good
health, and preservation from tigers. There is no
music or dancing during the festival. 4 The genna
exists among the Mishmi and Abor on the frontiers of
northeastern Assam and Tibet. 5 The Lushei (some-
times called Kuki) of the Lushei Hills to the south of
1 T. C. Hodson, The Meitheis, 4 Edward Stack, The Mikirs,
London, 1908, p. 118. It is sig- edited by Sir Charles Lyall, Lon-
nificant that the Moirang, a more don, 1908, p. 43.
or less backward and isolated 5 Hodson, Naga Tribes, p. 20.
Meithei tribe, still keep up some- The Mishmi have household genna
thing like a system of communal whenever the members of a family
genna connected with agricultural are visited by illness or misfortune
operations (ibid., p. 119). of any kind. Possibly there are
2 P. R. T. Gurdon, The Khasis, also village rites of the same nature.
London, 1907, p. 158. See R. Wilcox, in Selections from
3 A. Playfair, The Garos, London, the Records of the Bengal Govern-
1909, p. 114; see below, p. 57 n. 1 ment, Calcutta, 1855, no. 23, p. 64.
.
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 55
Manipur have a well-developed system of taboo, here
known as hrilh. Persons subject to hrilh "must do
no work, except necessary household tasks, and must
not leave a prescribed area." These restrictions
sometimes affect households only, sometimes entire
villages. They are communally imposed in connec-
tion with the sacrifice performed before a large hunting
party starts out, at the harvest festival, when an epi-
demic sickness rages, and on other occasions. 2 West
of the Lushei dwell the Tippera and Mro tribes, among
whom the communal taboo observed in consequence
of an epidemic goes under the name of khang.. "The
quarantine is inaugurated and declared with a certain
degree of ceremony. A sacrifice is offered, and the
village is encircled with a fresh-spun white thread.
The blood of the animal sacrificed is then sprinkled
about the village, and a general sweeping and cleansing
takes place, the houses and gates being decorated with
green boughs. They attach great importance to the
quarantine being kept unbroken. It generally lasts
three days, and during that time no one is allowed to
enter or leave the village. I have known several
murders committed, owing to persons persisting in
breaking the khang." 3 The same communal taboo is
observed when a village is being built, and regularly
in July, when the rice requires cultivation. 4 These
tribes formerly lived in the Arakan Hills of Lower
Burma, where identical regulations, known as ya, are
also enforced. 5
The genna custom may be traced in various parts
of Burma. From the Naga, Lushei, and other tribes
1 J. Shakespear, The Lushei Wild Races of South-eastern India
Kuki Clans, London, 1912, p. 69. (London, 1870), where the refer-
2 Ibid., pp. 72 sq., 75, 78, 80, 87; ence to the khang will be found on
C. A. Soppitt, A Short Account of pp. 196 sq.
the Kuki-Lushai Tribes, Shillong, 4 Lewin, Hill Tracts, p. 94;
1887, p. 19. idem, Wild Races, p. 236 (Mro).
3 T. H. Lewin, The Hill Tracts of 6 R. F. St. Andrew St. John, in
Chittagong, Calcutta, 1869, p. 78. Journal of the Anthropological In-
Captain Lewin's interesting work stitute, 1873, ii, 240.
was republished under the title
56 REST DAYS
of Assam the ethnical transition is unbroken to the
Chin, who occupy the Chindwin valley and the hills
to the west. Probably these aborigines are not un-
familiar with the genna as a device to avoid a visitation
by demonic powers identified with smallpox, cholera,
and other diseases. We are told that once, when
cholera broke out among some Chin on a visit to Ran-
goon, they spent the day hiding under the bushes so
that the cholera-spirit might not find them. 1 The
Kachin (Chingpaw) on the upper Irawadi River, a
people generally regarded as closely akin to the Chin
on the one hand and to the Karen on the other, recog-
nize six occasions during the year, when no one is
supposed to do any work. The rest days, number-
ing sixteen in all, are known collectively as na na ai,
which may be translated "ceremonial holiday." They
all occur in connection with agriculture when the
jungle is fired, before and after seed-planting, while
the crop is ripening, and at harvest as a means of
securing the good will of the nat, or spirits. 2 Similar
customs are still observed by some of the Karen tribes.
Of the Tsawku Karen it is said that their religion con-
sists entirely in attempts to appease various malignant
spirits. When the inhabitants of a village or the mem-
bers of a household are engaged in ceremonies of propiti-
ation, "they put up a bow with an arrow ready fitted
to the string, or some other sign to indicate that there
is 'no admittance,' or that 'trespassers will be prose-
cuted according to law,' and these insignia are scru-
pulously respected." 3 The Sawngtung Karen forbid
any one to leave the village on the day of the birth of
a child in it, and no eggs may be kept in the village
while the fields are being reaped. The Taungthu
Karen believe that giving away anything at all on
1 B. S. Carey and H. N. Tuck, and Hardiman, Rangoon, 1900 ?
The Chin Hills, Rangoon, 1896, pt. i, vol. i, pp. 425 sq.
i, 198. 3 A. R. McMahon, The Karens of
2 Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Golden Chersonese, London,
the Shan States, edited by Scott 1876, p. 292.
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 57
sowing or planting days means blight for the crop. 1
These superstitions no doubt represent decadent forms
of a once-extensive genna system among the Karen.
The genna, again, has been noticed among the Muhso,
or Lalu, a large tribe which has emigrated from China to
the Shan States. The Muhso close their villages
against strangers for five days during an annual festi-
val, which begins on the Chinese New Year's Day.
Bamboo gateways and symbols are erected along the
paths approaching a settlement, in order to warn
possible intruders. If an outsider persists in entering
a village, he is kept a prisoner there till the festival is
over. All his possessions, even his clothes, are taken
away from him and he is returned naked to the world.
In explanation of this conduct the natives say that
the spirits, in whose honour the feast is held, are dis-
pleased at the presence of strangers. 2 The Wild Wa,
a head-hunting tribe on the northeastern frontier of
the Shan States, are said to have no regularly re-
current festivals, but hold them as often as they are
confronted by "particular dangers or necessities." 3
The Miao (Miao-tse), one of the little-known tribes
of southwestern China, celebrate musical festivals
throughout the year. These seem now to be fetes
pure and simple, though at one time possessing a
religious character. "If asked why they hold these
festivals, they say that if they failed to do so their
crops would be bad ; and yet they do not profess
1 Sir R. C. Temple, "Burma," Wilhelms-Land und den Bismarck-
Hastings's Encyclopedia of Reli- Archipel, 1897, xiii, 87).
gion and Ethics, iii, 37. Similarly, 2 R. G. Woodthorpe, in Jour-
the Yabim of German New Guinea nal of the Anthropological Institute,
require all the inhabitants of a 1897? xxvi, 27 sqq.; Sir J. G. Scott,
village to remain at home on the "Buddhism in the Shan States,"
morning after the birth of a child. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,
This is regarded as a necessary 1911? n.s., xliii, 931. On taboos
precaution, if the fruits of the fields affecting intercourse with strangers
and gardens are not to be spoiled see, in general, Frazer, Taboo and
by the noxious influences emanating the Perils of the Soul, pp. 101-116.
from a woman in childbed (K. 3 Gazetteer of Upper Burma and
Vetter, in Nachrichten uber Kaiser the Shan States, pt. i, vol. i, p. 515.
58 REST DAYS
to understand how the harvests are influenced by this
custom." 1
The genna, either in vigorous activity or in attenu-
ated survival, has now been traced throughout a wide
area in southeastern Asia, and particularly among
the Tibeto-Burman tribes of Assam and Burma.
Modern ethnographers recognize in the Indo-Chinese
an immigrant population, probably from western China,
which for many centuries has been gradually moving
southward along the course of the great rivers empty-
ing into the Bay of Bengal. The custom of the genna
appears to be one of the most characteristic fea-
tures of Indo-Chinese culture ; its presence, therefore,
throughout this area must be explained as the result
of diffusion and not of independent origination. Fur-
thermore, we have found that in the various Indonesian
islands as far as New Guinea, and especially in Borneo,
customs closely akin to that of the genna also belong
to the native culture. It is likely that the ancestors
of the Polynesians passed through these islands on
their way to the Pacific ; if this be so, we can under-
stand why tabu in Polynesia should present so many
obvious resemblances to lali in Borneo and to genna
in Assam. The student whose primary concern is the
wanderings of peoples cannot neglect such evidence
of extensive diffusion, showing how for ages cultural
elements have been drifting from the interior of Asia
over the Indo-Chinese region and the Indian Archi-
pelago, and thence into the island world of the Pacific.
What general conclusions may be drawn from a
comparative survey of these communal taboos in the
several areas under consideration ? In the first place
it seems clear that the various negative regulations,
such as those imposing idleness, fasting, and continence,
closely resemble some of the pains and penalties to
which the savage subjects himself on other occasions.
For instance, the well-known custom of the couvade im-
poses on the husband, during the pregnancy of his wife
1 S. R. Clarke, Among the Tribes in South-west China, London, 1911, p. 63.
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 59
or after the birth of the child, a number of restrictions,
which often include abstention from various sorts of
work, and sometimes from all occupations whatsoever.
The practice of the couvade appears to be an outgrowth
of the idea that under special circumstances the close
ties uniting husband and wife engender a mystic sym-
pathy between them, so that the acts of the one
affect the welfare of the other. Similar ideas underly
the numerous rules of abstinence observed by hunters,
fishers, and warriors when absent from home, and by
the relatives and friends whom they have left behind. 1
We cannot always fathom the savage logic which has
generated the numberless regulations observed at such
critical seasons ; but they would seem to be particular
expressions of an ancient doctrine "In quietness
shall be your strength."
In the second place it is difficult to avoid the conclu-
sion that, however vexatious and burdensome may be
the restrictions resting on a primitive community,
these are not without a definite psychological value.
The consciousness that all the omens have been duly
taken and that all taboos have been properly observed
is itself invigorating ; the community goes forward,
henceforth, with renewed strength and confidence to
the tasks which lie before it. 2
Finally, it may be pointed out how directly these
communal regulations make for social solidarity. Stu-
dents of early society have long recognized the fact
that the institution of taboo, in its individualistic
1 For instances of "magical really "two great practical advan-
telepathy" in hunting, fishing, and tages : namely, it inspires confi-
warfare see Frazer, The Magic Art dence, and it promotes discipline
and the Evolution of Kings, i, and a strong sense of collective
119-134. unity and responsibility. It is not
2 As Messrs. Hose and McDou- improbable, then, that the advan-
gall judiciously observe, the cult tages of this seemingly senseless
of omen-birds found "among the cult outweigh its drawbacks, which,
Kayan of Borneo, though it ham- in the shape of endless delays and
pers their undertakings at almost changes of plans, are by no means
every turn and might seem to be small" (Pagan Tribes of Borneo,
wholly foolish and detrimental, has i, 170 n. 1 ).
60 REST DAYS
aspects, has helped to nurse in man a sense of rever-
ence and a power of self-restraint greatly needed under
primitive conditions. Such beneficial results are even
more manifest in the case of communal taboos. For,
when the restrictions are violated by any one, there is
always the feeling that misfortune will overtake the
entire social group, and hence a duty devolves on each
man to see that his neighbour obeys the law. Altru-
ism becomes a coercive process, and social cohesion
is secured by each member of the group making him-
self his brother's keeper. It is desirable to keep in
mind these positive benefits inherent in the taboo sys-
tem, since perhaps excessive attention has been directed
to its hampering influence on society.
In the three regions which have been selected for
close examination the Hawaiian Islands, Borneo,
and Assam it thus appears that there are certain
occasions when the normal current of life is interrupted,
and when what may well be called a crisis presents
itself. 1 In general any time of special significance, in-
augurating a new era or marking the transition from
one state to another, any period of storm and stress,
any epoch when untoward events have occurred or
are expected to occur, may be invested with taboos
designed to meet the emergency in the communal life
and to ward off the threatened danger or disaster.
Periods of abstinence are imposed because of such
unusual, and therefore critical, events as a conflagra-
tion, an epidemic sickness, or an earthquake ; after
a death ; at the changes of the moon ; at the end of
the old year and the beginning of the new year ; dur-
ing a time devoted to the banning of ghosts and demons ;
and in connection with such important undertakings
as the commencement of a war, seed-planting, and
harvest, and the celebration of a solemn religious or
magical ceremony. The peoples whom we have just
1 On the sociological conception 1909, pp. 16 sqq. ; R. R. Marett,
of crisis see W. I. Thomas, Source The Threshold of Religion? London,
Book for Social Origins, Chicago, 1914, pp. 198 sqq.
TAI
1 11
TABOOED DAYS AT CRITICAL EPOCHS 61
studied have, so to speak, institutionalized their fears,
working out thereby a protective procedure highly
complex and elaborate. But the conceptions which
generated the tabooed day in Polynesia, Indonesia,
and southeastern Asia are not local and confined ;
on the contrary they underly a wide range of social
phenomena.
CHAPTER II
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH AND ON RELATED
OCCASIONS
AMONG the lower races perhaps the most common
occasion for the suspension of ordinary occupations is
after a death. 1 The prohibition of work at this time
usually forms only one of a number of regulations,
which also impose partial or complete abstinence from
food and place a ban on loud talking, singing, and the
wearing of ornaments and gay clothing. The taboos
are often confined to the family or at most to the rela-
tives of the deceased ; in other cases they affect the
entire community. The explanation of these rules
must sometimes be sought in animistic conceptions.
The soul of the dead man is supposed to remain for a
time with the body in the grave or near the scenes of
the earthly life. Until the funeral ceremonies are
completed, when the ghost is finally "laid" or departs
for the abode of the dead, prudence requires the sur-
vivors to avoid all conspicuous activity, if they would
not attract the unwelcome attentions of the ghost.
A similar period of quiescence may be considered
1 On the primitive ideas of death G. Frazer, The Belief in Immortality
see particularly R. Hertz, "Contri- and the Worship of the Dead, Lon-
bution a une etude sur la represen- don, 1913, i, 31-58; A. van Gennep,
tation collective de la morte," Les rites de passage, Paris, 1909,
L'annee sociologique, 1905-1906, x, pp. 209-236; L. Levy-Bruhl, Les
48-137; E. S. Hartland, "Death fonctions mentales dans les societes
and Disposal of the Dead (Introduc- inferieures, Paris, 1910, pp. 321-
tory)," Hastings's Encyclopedia of 330, 352-396. For a useful collec-
Religion and Ethics, iv, 411-444; tion of ethnographic evidence see
W. H. R. Rivers, "The Primitive E. Samter, Geburt, Hochzeit, und
Conception of Death," Hibbert Tod, Leipzig, 1911.
Journal, 1912, x, 393~4O7; Sir J.
62
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH 63
necessary when the death is attributed to an evil
spirit, which lurks about its quarry and seeks another
victim.
But earlier, probably, in development, and certainly
far more general, is the belief in the pollution of death. 1
Primitive peoples seldom recognize a death as due to
what we should call natural causes. Sickness, and
death following on sickness, when not attributed to the
direct action of an evil spirit or of some malevolent
person who has been practising nefarious magic, are
thought to be due to the contaminating miasma of
death. Death is a mysterious atmospherical poison
which extends its defiling influence far and wide.
Hence we have at least one motive for the very common
custom of destroying the house and personal property
of the deceased. Hence arise the taboos of the corpse,
of persons who have anything to do with the corpse, of
the relatives of the deceased, and of mourners, gener-
ally. An obvious application of such ideas requires
that all activities should be abandoned by the sur-
vivors for some time after a death; and, where the
sense of social solidarity is strong, the notion of absti-
nence at so critical a season may be extended to the
entire community. 2
Communal taboos following a death are not un-
known in Polynesia, Micronesia, and New Guinea, 3
and may be traced elsewhere in the Oceanic area. In
Timor, when a king dies, no work is done for seven
days thereafter. 4 In Halmahera an entire village will
1 A. E. Crawley, The Mystic Sociology, 1910, xv, 794-805 ; H.
Rose, London, 1902, pp. 95 sqq.; Berkusky, "Der Einfluss aberglau-
L. R. Farnell, The Evolution of bischer Vorstellungen auf das wirt-
Religion, London, 1905, pp. 96 sqq.; schaftliche und soziale Leben der
E. Westermarck, The Origin and Naturvolker," Zeitschrift fur Social-
Development of the Moral Ideas, wissenschaft, 1913, n.s., iv, 489-498,
London, 1906-1908, ii, 535 sqq. 567-584.
2 On the sociological aspects of 3 Above, pp. 24, 25, 26.
these and other superstitions see 4 H. O. Forbes, in Journal of the
H.Webster, "Influence of Super- Anthropological Institute, 1884, xiii,
stition on the Evolution of Prop- 420.
erty Rights," American Journal of
64 REST DAYS
be tabooed in consequence of the death of one of its
members. Violations of the taboo (pomali) are severely
punished. 1 The practice of intermitting work in a
village until a corpse is buried prevails in many of the
Molucca Islands. 2 Among all the non-Christian tribes
of northern Luzon, "there is no field work in an ato on the
day when an adult person is buried." 3 The inhabitants
of Kar Nicobar exhibit great fear of ghostly influence
before the funeral ceremonies have been completed.
The corpse of any one who has died in the village is
conveyed at once to the "dead house," and the inhabi-
tants proceed to barricade themselves in their houses
and to keep fires burning before the doors. The
houses, canoes, and ground about the village are
covered with palm leaves to prevent the ghost from
entering. Some of the dead man's pigs are killed, a
few cocoa palms are cut down, and on rare occasions
his house is burnt, or unroofed and left deserted.
" Shaving the head is sometimes indulged in as a sign
of mourning, together with frequent bathing and
abstinence from work." 4 The Malay fishermen of
the Patani States in the Malay Peninsula observe
various restrictions and prohibitions, the transgression
of which would bring sickness or misfortune. If a
death occurs in a fishing village, no boat from that
village must go to sea on the following day, and no
one must set out on a land journey. The fisherman
or the traveller who disregarded this injunction would
have no luck and would probably meet with some
disaster. 5
1 A. Maass, " Ta-kd-kdi-kai 3 D/C. Worcester, in Philippine
tabu" Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, Journal of Science, 1906, i, 844.
1905, xxxvii, 155; J. G. F. Riedel, Compare F. C. Cole, in American
ibid,, 1885, xvii, 69. Anthropologist, 1909, n.s., xi, 337
2 J. G. F. Riedel, De sluik-en (Tenguian).
kroesharige r as sen tusschen Selebes 4 C. B. Kloss, In the Andamans
en Papua, The Hague, 1886, pp. and Nicobars, London, 1903, pp.
1 68 (Seranglao and Gorong archi- 303 sqq.
pelagoes), 197 (Watubela Islands), 5 Annandale and Robinson, Fas-
223 (Kei Islands), 341 (Babar Archi- ciculi Malayensis, London, 1903-
pelago), 414 (Keisar Island). 1904, i, 83.
j
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH 65
Periods of abstinence after a death are observed by
many of the tribes of Borneo, in close connection with
the prevailing institution of taboo. When a death
occurs in an Iban village, the inhabitants give up their
outdoor occupations and remain at home, seven days
in the case of a male, three days for a female, and one
day for an infant. During this time the relatives
of the deceased lay aside their ornaments and bright
dresses, assume deep mourning, and abstain from music
and jollity. 1 Another authority declares that after a
death " it is tabooed to work on the farm : at busy times
for three days; at other times for seven days." 2 In
the case of a chief's death the natives refrain from work
for a longer period than is usual when a commoner dies. 3
Similar restrictions are found among the Land Dyak, 4
the Dusun, or Sundyak, of British North Borneo, 5
and some other tribes. Members of a Kayan household
observe various mourning ceremonies, and in particular
avoid all music, feasts, and jollifications for a period
which varies in length according to the social standing
of the deceased. 6
Among the Naga tribes of Manipur, with the notable
exception of the Mao people by whom a village genna
is held whenever a villager dies, it is not necessary or
usual to perform this communal rite in cases of regular
and non-mysterious death. The genna is then confined
to the clan, that is, to the group of individuals who com-
prise the heirs of the deceased. 7 But all cases of death
by sudden illness, by accident, by the hand of an enemy,
1 Brooke Low, in Journal of the of the Royal Geographical Society,
Anthropological Institute, 1892, xxi, 1858, ii, 348.
122; idem, in Roth, Natives of 6 Hose and McDougall, op. cit.,
Sarawak and British North Borneo, ii, 37 sq. The Kayan on the
i, 155. Mahakam River require all those
2 L. Nyuak, in Anthropos, 1906, who have been polluted by taking
i, 413 . part in burial ceremonies to undergo
3 E. H. Gomes, Seventeen Years a two days' melo, or ceremonial ab-
among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo, stention from work (Nieuwenhuis,
London, 1911, p. 139. op. cit., ii, 119).
4 Above, p. 36. 7 Hodson, Naga Tribes, pp. 99,
6 De Crespigny, in Proceedings 174, 177.
F
66 REST DAYS
and by wild animals or snakes necessitate general or
village genna. 1 The same rule prevails when a woman
has died in childbirth. 2 The purpose of these regula-
tions seems to be that of separating the living as soon
as possible from the dangerous spirits, of the dead, or
of avoiding the contagion of death. Among the Khasi
of Assam, who do not observe general seasons of
restriction, clan genna are imposed after a death. The
surviving clansmen are not allowed to work until three
days have elapsed from the time of placing the bones
of the deceased in the clan tomb. 3 In northern Arakan,
Lower Burma, when any native has been killed by a
tiger, crocodile, or other animal, when any woman
resident in the village dies in childbed, or when the
body of a person who died in such a manner is brought
into the village, all intercourse with that village is cut
off until the appearance of the next new moon. 4 Similar
regulations exist among the Lao of northern Siam and
among the savage inhabitants of Indo-China. 5
Taboos following a death and imposing abstinence
from work are found in various parts of India. Among
the Muppan, a hill-tribe of Wynaad, Malabar, the
relatives of the deceased do no work on the day after
the funeral, and also partially abstain from food. At
1 Hodson, op. cit., pp. 100, 152, a five days' village genna, but the
1 66, 174. Compare idem, "Mor- same period of restriction is also
tuary Ritual and Eschatological imposed after the death of a child
Beliefs among the Hill Tribes of dying in infancy (J. Shakespear,
Assam," Archivfiir Religionswissen- "Customs at Death among the
schaft, 1909, xii, 449. Manipuris and Cognate Clans,"
2 Hodson, Ndga Tribes, p. 88. Folk-lore, 1912, xxiii, 466 sqq.).
"We find among the Naga tribes 3 P. R. T. Gurdon, The Khasis,
that, if a woman died in childbirth London, 1907, p. 143.
(an event of rare occurrence), the 4 R. F. St. Andrew St. John, in
child was never allowed to live, Journal of the Anthropological In-
because they believed it to be an stitute, 1873, ii, 240.
evil spirit, a disembodied ghost, in- 6 A. Coussot and H. Ruel, Douzf
carnated in the mother whose death mois chez les sauvages du Laos,
it had caused" (idem, "Some Naga Paris, 1898, p. 205; A. Cabaton,
Customs and Superstitions," Folk- "Indo-China (Savage Races),"
lore, 1910, xxi, 301). Among the Hastings's Encyclopedia of Religion
Kabui Naga not only does the death and Ethics, vii, 232.
of a woman in childbirth necessitate
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH 67
a subsequent date they perform a final ceremony to
remove every trace of the death pollution and to give
peace to the departed spirit. 1 In former times the
Kataharayan, a fisher folk living on the Malabar coast,
intermitted their fishing for three days after the death
of a prince of Malabar. 2 Among the Kasuba, a forest
tribe inhabiting the Nilgiri Hills in the Madras Presi-
dency, fear of pollution requires the relatives of the
deceased to abstain from all kinds of work for an entire
day. 3 Far away to the north, among the Paharia of
British Sikkim, the same ideas of pollution prevail.
All persons belonging to the household of the deceased
must observe strict silence during the period of mourn-
ing, and they may eat only one meal a day and that
"half a bellyful." Under such circumstances, we are
told, work in the fields is impossible. 4 With these
regulations may be compared those observed in Tibet,
where rich and respectable men, when their parents
die, abstain for a year from participating in marriage
ceremonies and festivities, and undertake no lengthy
journeys. Upon the demise of the Dalai Lama or of
the Tashi Lama, all work ceases for seven days, public
offices are closed, and markets are suspended. The
people refrain from amusements and festivities and
from going into groves for pleasure, sport, and love-
making. For thirty days women are forbidden to put
on their jewellery, and neither men nor women may
wear new clothes. Thus the land of Tibet goes into
mourning for the loss of one of its great hierarchs. 5
Very similar customs are found within the African
area. They seem to be generally observed by the
Bantu peoples of South Africa. Among all the Zulu
tribes it is the rule that no one labours in the fields on the
day following a death, and that after the death of a chief
* F. Fawcett, in Folk-lore, 1912, 4 H. Hosten, "Paharia Burial
xxiii, 42. Customs (British Sikkim)," Antkro-
2 A. K. Iyer, The Cochin Tribes pos, 1909, iv, 673, 675.
and Castes, Madras, 1909, i, 265. 6 S. C. Das, Journey to Lhasa
3 C. H. Rao, in Anthropos, 1909, and Central Tibet, London, 1902,
iv, 181. p. 256.
68 REST DAYS
work of every sort is suspended for six months. 1 "If a
person is struck by lightning, the whole kraal fast and
do not even drink water, until the mediciner has per-
formed his office." 2 The Basuto, who form the
eastern branch of the widespread Bechuana people,
abstain from all public work on the day when an
influential person dies. 3 In Ussindja, a district of Ger-
man East Africa, the Sultan Rwoma gave vent to
his sorrow for the loss of a favourite son by forbidding
all agricultural work for six years. Within a few
months, however, famine stared his subjects in the
face, and the grief-stricken father was compelled to
rescind the prohibition. 4 Mourning regulations which
impose abstinence from work have been described
among various tribes of British East Africa occupying
the territory to the east and north of Lake Victoria
Nyanza. The Akikuyu, who observe many restric-
tions connected with the corpse, regard the day after
a death as unlucky. "People will not travel, and goats
and sheep will not bear, and all the inhabitants of the
village shave their heads. The women will not go out
for four days. On the next day the sons who have
taken part in the burial do not work." 5 The taboos
enforced by the Nandi present some curious resem-
blances to those which we have met among Indonesian
peoples. The Nandi, probably in former days a
hunting tribe, have now taken to agriculture and raise
large crops of eleusine grain and millet. Their super-
stitions invest the process of farming with many restric-
1 Dudley Kidd, The Essential 2 Joseph Shooter, The Kafirs of
Kafir, London, 1904, p. 253 ; Fare- Natal and the Zulu Country, Lon-
well, in W. F. W. Owen, Narrative don, 1857, p. 216.
of Voyages to explore the Shores of 3 E. Casalis, Les Bassoutos, Paris,
Africa, Arabia, and Madagascar, 1859, p. 275.
London, 1833, ii, 397. A Kafir 4 P. Kollmann, Der Nordzuesten
chief, on succeeding to power, is unserer ostafrikanischen Kolonie,
said to have declared a taboo of Berlin, 1898, p. 77.
all field work for an entire year and 5 W. S. Routledge and Katherine
to have put to death every woman Routledge, With a Prehistoric Peo-
who became pregnant during this pie, London, 1910, p. 172.
period (Globus, 1889, Ivi, 62).
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH
69
tions : no one while in a plantation may carry a spear
or rest a spear on the earth ; thigh-bells must not be
worn ; a hide must not be dragged along the ground ;
whistling is strictly forbidden. Work is prohibited
for an entire day following an earthquake, a phenome-
non which Nandi speculation, in common with other
savage philosophies, attributes to the movement of
underground spirits. 1 If a hailstorm occurs, if a hoe
breaks, or if a beast of prey seizes a goat, no work must
be done in the fields for the rest of the day and for
twenty-four hours afterwards. It is believed that any
sick person who eats the grain when harvested, or who
drinks beer made from the grain, will die, and that
pregnant women will abort. If the owner of a planta-
tion dies while his crops are ripening, all the grain
must be eaten and none reserved for sowing; other-
wise the grain will rot in the ground. 2 The Nilotic
Kavirondo do not cultivate their fields for three days
after the death of any one of importance, and for ten
days after the death of a chief. 3 Their neighbours, the
!R. Lasch, "Die Ursache und
Bedeutung der Erdbeben im Volks-
glauben und Vplksbrauch," Archiv
fur Religionswissenschaft, 1902, v,
236-257, 369-383; B. Struck,
"African Ideas on the Subject of
Earthquakes," Journal of the
African Society, 1909, viii, 398-411.
2 A. C. Hollis, The Nandi, Ox-
ford, 1908, pp. 17, 20, 100. The
rules imposed by Nandi custom on
persons ceremonially unclean in-
clude abstinence from work. For
instance, after Nandi girls have
been operated upon at puberty,
they must stay in their mothers'
huts in complete seclusion for a
month or more. After recovering
from the effects of the operation,
they may be married. But if no
husbands appear, the girls continue
to live in a secluded state for several
weeks longer. If they go abroad,
they must always wear long masks
and veils ; they must not stand near
anybody or call a person by name ;
they may not enter a cornfield or a
cattle-kraal; and they may do no
work. Again, a Nandi bride, for
an entire month after her marriage,
is waited on by the bridegroom's
mother, since it is unlawful for a
bride during this period to per-
form labour. Similarly, a Nandi
mother, after the birth of a child,
is unclean and may not do any
housework for a month (ibid.,
pp. 59 sq., 63 sqq.}. Among the
Habbe of the western Sudan a
man, whose wife is menstruating,
dares not undertake any journey,
hunt, or sow (L. Desplagnes, Le
plateau central nigerien, Paris, 1904,
p. 227).
3 C. W. Hobley, Eastern Uganda,
London, 1902, p. 28 (Occasional
Papers of the Royal Anthropological
Institute, no. i).
70 REST DAYS
Basoga, sometimes extended the days of mourning for
a deceased chief to two months. It is said that the
crops not infrequently suffered because of the strict
abstention from work in the fields. 1 Certain Abys-
sinian tribes refrain from ploughing, sowing, and grind-
ing grain until a corpse is buried. 2 Among the Arabs
of Morocco, studied by Professor Westermarck, there is
a prohibition of all work in the village until the funeral
has taken place. 3
The belief in the pollution of death is very strong
among the Malagasy. On the decease of a sovereign
many practices are tabooed (fady) to the common
people, such prohibitions extending to various periods
according to the will of the new ruler. Thus, to sing,
to play music, to clap hands, to laugh boisterously,
to dance, to wear ornaments or brightly coloured gar-
ments, to dress or anoint the hair, to wear a hat, to
cut the nails, to clean the teeth, to bathe, to gaze in a
mirror, and to carry the arms akimbo are all fady.
Such tasks as pottery-making, spinning and weaving,
plaiting of mats, carpentry, and metal-working are
often suspended. Furthermore, no, one is allowed to
lie on a bedstead or to ride in a palanquin or on horse-
back, and every one is expected to shave the head and
uncover the shoulders. Many of these regulations, it
is to be noticed, are also enforced after the death of a
near relative. 4
In the New World the funeral ceremonies of the rulers
of Mechoacan furnish another illustration of the super-
stition under discussion. We are told that when a king
was buried all who had participated in the obsequies
washed themselves and went to dinner in the yard of
J Sir H. H. Johnston, The 4 H. E. Standing, "Malagasy
Uganda Protectorate, London, 1902, fady," Antananarivo Annual, 1883,
ii, 176 sqq. no. 7, p. 74. Compare A. Grandi-
2 W. Munzinger, Ostafrikanische dier, ibid., 1891, no. 15, p. 316; A.
Studien, Schaffhausen, 1864, p. 528 van Gennep, Tabou et totemisme d
(Barea and Kunama). Madagascar, Paris, 1904, pp. 100
3 Westermarck, Origin and Devel- sqq., 203.
opment of the Moral Ideas, ii, 283.
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH 71
the king's house, "and having dined they wiped their
hands upon certain locks of cotton-wool, hanging down
their heads, and not speaking a word, except it were to
ask for drink." These purificatory rites were accom-
panied by a season of communal abstinence which
lasted five days, "and in all that time no fire was per-
mitted to be kindled in the city, except in the king's
house and temples, nor yet any corn was ground, or
market kept, nor durst any go out of their houses." 1
Among the Seminoles of Florida on the day of a funeral,
and for three days thereafter, the relatives of the de-
ceased remained at home and abstained from work.
During this time the dead man was supposed to remain
in his grave. Subsequently he took his departure for
an abode in the skies, and mourning then ceased. 2
The restrictions following a death appear to be espe-
cially prominent among the Eskimo tribes, who possess
a well-marked system of taboos. In Greenland we
meet the practice of requiring not only the kindred of
the deceased, but likewise all who have lived in the same
house with him to abstain from certain articles of food
and from work for some time after death. 3 Among the
Eskimo of Baffin Land and Hudson Strait after the
death of any person it is forbidden "to scrape the frost
from the window, to shake the beds or to disturb the
shrubs under the bed, to remove oil-drippings from
under the lamp, to scrape hair from skins, to cut snow
for the purpose of melting it, to work on iron, wood,
stone, or ivory. Furthermore, women are forbidden
to comb their hair, to wash their faces, and to dry their
boots and stockings." 4 These Eskimo require the
1 Thomas Gage, A New Survey tory, 1901, xv, 121 sq. With these
of the West-Indies^ London, 1699, regulations may be compared the
p. 160. restrictions which, among the
2 C. MacCauley, in Fifth Annual Kwakiutl of British Columbia, are
Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, imposed on a man who has eaten
p. 521. human flesh as a ceremonial rite
3 Hans Egede, A Description of and who, therefore, is considered
Greenland, London, 1745, pp. 149 sq. unclean. He must not approach
4 F. Boas, in Bulletin of the his wife for an entire year, nor is he
American Museum of Natural His- allowed either to gamble or to work
72 REST DAYS
relatives of the deceased to shut themselves up in his
hut and mourn his loss for three days. During this
time the inhabitants of a village must not use their
dogs, but must walk to the hunting-ground. For one
day at least they are not allowed to go hunting, and the
women refrain from all work whatsoever. Dr. Boas
notes how in the winter a long space of bad weather
occasions privation, since hunters cannot leave their
huts. "If by chance some one should happen to die
during this time, famine is inevitable, for a strict law
forbids the performance of any kind of work during the
days of mourning." During these three days the soul
of the deceased is supposed to be still with the body,
not having yet gone to the home of the goddess Sedna
in the underworld. 1 According to one account the
Innuit, from the head of Bristol Bay to the Arctic,
require the survivors to refrain from work for twenty
days after a death in the family. 2 This is probably
too broad a statement and does not allow for minor
divergencies of custom throughout so extensive an
area. On the lower Kuskokwim River the Alaskan
villagers abstain from work on the day of a death,
and, in many instances, on the day following such an
event. None of the relatives of the deceased may per-
form any labour during the period, four or five days in
length, when the shade is believed to remain with the
body. 3 The rule requiring no work in a village on the
day when a person dies prevails among the Bering
Strait Eskimo. Relatives of the deceased must ab-
during this time (Boas, "The p. (164) (bound with Zeitschrift
Social Organization and the Secret fur Ethnologie, vol. xvii). These
Societies of the Kwakiutl Indians," Eskimo observe like restrictions
Report of the U.S. National Museum after the capture of whales, seals,
for 1895, pp. 537 sq.). and walruses, which form their
1 F. Boas, in Sixth Annual Re- principal food supply.
port of the Bureau of Ethnology, 2 H. W. Elliott, Our Arctic
pp. 427, 613 sq.; compare idem, Province, New York, 1887, p. 389.
"Die Sagen der Baffin-Land Eski- 3 E. W. Nelson, in Eighteenth
mos," Ferhandlungen der Berliner Annual Report of the Bureau of
Gesellschaft fur Anthropologie, Eth- American Ethnology, p. 319.
nologie, und Urgeschichte, 1885,
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH
73
stain from activity during the three following days. 1
One observer tells of a Point Barrow woman who
declined to sew on clothing, even at his house, because
there was a dead man in the village who had not yet
been carried to the cemetery. She feared that "he
would see her." But after consultation with her hus-
band she concluded that it was possible to protect
herself from "him" by tracing with a snow-knife a
circle about herself on the floor. Within this area
she did the sewing required, being very careful to keep
all her work inside it. 2
Remarkably similar customs prevail among some of
the Asiatic Eskimo, and incidentally reinforce the
argument for the transmission of cultural elements
between northwestern America and northeastern Asia.
The Reindeer Chukchi forbid any kind of woman's
work with needle and scraper during the period of the
funeral ceremonies. This rule refers to all the houses
of the camp or village, and even to other settlements
in the vicinity. 3 The Koryak stopped all work in the
1 Ibid., p. 312. Similarly, a
hunter who has participated in
the capture of a whale is not
allowed to do any work for the next
four days, that being the time
during which the ghost of the whale
is supposed to stay with its body
(ibid., p. 438).^
2 J. Murdock, in Ninth Annual
Report of the Bureau of Ethnology,
p. 424. The Alaskan Eskimo are
now being rapidly converted to
Christianity or, rather, are accept-
ing as many of the Christian teach-
ings as can be assimilated by them
to their old pagan observances.
The missionary they regard as a
shaman and his prohibitions, es-
pecially those relating to Sunday
observance, they treat as so many
new taboos to be added to their
long catalogue of restrictions.
"An Eskimo who is a great admirer
of the white people (and some
Eskimo are not) said to me once
that some Eskimo foolishly main-
tained that white men were less
intelligent than Eskimo are. But
he said that he had a crushing
reply to those who made this
statement. He would say to them :
'Our wise men have taboos on food
and drink, they have taboos on
clothing and methods of travel, on
words and thoughts ; but until the
white man came did we ever hear
of Sunday ? Did the wisest of us
ever think of the fact that a day
might be taboo?'" (V. Stefansson,
"On Christianizing the Eskimo,"
Harper's Magazine, 1913, cxxvii,
674 ; idem, My Life with the Eskimo,
New York, 1913, p. 412; compare
pp. 36 sq., 89 sqq., 374 sq., 416
sqq.
3 W. Bogoras, in Memoirs of the
American Museum of Natural His-
tory, xi, 521.
74 REST DAYS
settlement before the last rites to the dead. No one
went hunting or sealing, no one went to fetch wood,
and the women did no sewing. At the present time
this rule is so far abrogated as to apply only to those
in the house where the body lies. 1 Among the Yakut,
when a man dies, the members of his household may
not execute any work until after the next full moon. 2
Taboos of this nature are not confined to savage and
barbarous communities, since the fear of the death pol-
lution has been felt by various civilized peoples and has
found expression in their funeral ceremonies. Thus,
we learn that in Rabbinical times and among some
modern Jews, during the shiVa, or seven days of
strict mourning, "the relatives abstain from work and
remain at home, sitting on the floor or on a low bench,
reading the Book of Job, and receiving visits of con-
dolence. Bereaved children should abstain for a
year from music and recreation." 3 Outcroppings of
the same belief occasionally manifest themselves among
the folk of Europe. German peasants abstain from all
work, except what is absolutely necessary, before the
funeral, 4 and the Scotch think that "it is not right to
spin if there be a corpse in the same township." 5
This latter instance furnishes a close parallel to the
Eskimo superstition.
Feasts of the dead, the primitive All Souls' days, are
sometimes occasions for abstinence from work. The
same custom may be observed at times devoted to the
public and ceremonial expulsion of ghosts and demons
from the community. 6 Here, as elsewhere, we may
1 W. Jochelson, ibid., x, 104^. 5 George Henderson, Survivals
2 W. G. Sumner, "The Yakuts," in Belief among the Celts, Glasgow,
abridged from the Russian of 1911, p. 296 (Isle of Iriskay).
Sieroshevski, Journal of the Anthro- 6 On feasts of All Souls, in
pological Institute, 1901, xxxi, 107. general, see Sir J. G. Frazer, Adonis,
3 W. H. Bennett, in Hastings's Attis, Osiris? London, 1914, ii,
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, 5 1-83 ; on the public expulsion of
iv, 499. evils see idem, The Scapegoat, Lon-
4 A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Folks- don, 1913, pp. 109-169. Compare
aberglaube der Gegenwart,* edited by also P. Sartori, Die Speisung der
E. H. Meyer, Berlin, 1900, p. 461. Toten, Dortmund, 1903, pp. 48-55.
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH 75
well raise the query whether such proceedings have
always existed with the particular meaning now assigned
to them ; or whether in many instances they may not
hark back to a "pre-animistic" epoch when the evil
influences, instead of being personified under the form
of spirits, were more vaguely regarded as some mys-
terious and infectious contamination.
Rites for commemorating kindly spirits or for expel-
ling those of evil intent were doubtless first performed
at irregular intervals, as the supposed need for them
arose. They tend, however, to be massed and assigned
to particular times, thus meeting a demand for order
and precision. Their celebration usually takes place
at a period which coincides with well-marked changes
of the seasons, or with one of the great epochs of the
agricultural year, as sowing or harvest. They have a
particular and appropriate association with the end of
the old year or with the beginning of the new year, a
time which, by many primitive peoples, is itself fixed
with reference to seasonal changes or to agricultural
operations.
Ceremonies of ghost-riddance and demon-riddance,
accompanied by communal abstinence, have already
been noted in Polynesia, Indonesia, and southeastern
Asia. 1 They are not unknown in Africa. The Basuto,
who do no work on the day when an influential man
dies, also observe as holidays the times of sacrifice or of
great purification. "Hence it is," writes a French
missionary, "that the law relative to the repose of the
seventh day, so far from finding any objection in the
minds of the natives, appears to them very natural,
and perhaps even more fundamental, than it seems to
certain Christians." 2 The Bahima, a Bantu-speaking
1 Above, pp. 13, 21 sq. y 31, 40 the Matabele year. The late ruler,
sqq., 51, 57. Lobengula, compromised this self-
2 E. Casalis, Les Bassoutos, Paris, denying ordinance by drinking beer
I 859> P- 275. The king of the only out of a bottle. During the
Matabele was obliged to abstain new-moon day "he was supposed
from food and drink on the new to have communication with the
moon following the beginning of spirits of his ancestors, and he
76 REST DAYS
tribe of Ankole, a district which lies immediately to
the west of Lake Victoria Nyanza, set apart one day
each month for festival purposes. It is then that the
Bahima seek to appease certain ghastly, shrivelled
demons who, though they expend most of their fury
on one another, frequent the kraals and occasionally
take a native by the arm and shake him mercilessly.
These demons are called balubale. Their placation is
said to consist chiefly of drum-beating and beer-drink-
ing. "There is no work on balubale day." 1 On the
next-to-the-last day of the year the Swaheli of German
East Africa observe an ancient custom, which probably
antedates Mohammedan influence in this part of Africa.
They parch some millet and pour it, together with ashes,
on the corners of their houses as a prophylactic against
the evil spirits supposed to be particularly troublesome
at this time. Swaheli school-children enjoy a holiday
on the last two days of the year and New Year's Day. 2
The great national fete of the fandroana, marking the
commencement of the Malagasy year, occurs at the new
moon of the month Alahamady, and the first days of
this month are regarded as very unlucky for commoners,
who therefore abstain from all activity. 3 We may
conjecture that this festival, though traditionally
established only about three centuries ago, in its present
form incorporates observances connected with the new
year as a critical season. Some of the Gold Coast
tribes of west Africa hold a festival toward the end of
August, called affirah-bi, when there is a general remem-
brance of the dead. No work may be done during this
festival, which lasts eight days. 4 The Guinea negroes
abstained altogether from busi- H. H. Johnston, The Uganda
ness" (L. Decle, Three Years in Protectorate, London, 1902, ii, 631 sq.
Savage Africa, London, 1900, 2 C. Velten, Sitten und Gebrauche
p. 156). der Suaheli, Gottingen, 1903, p. 342.
1 J. F. Cunningham, Uganda and 3 Soury-Lavergne and de la
its Peoples, London, 1905, pp. 12 sq. Deveze, "La fete nationale du
The Bahima demons, a numerous fandroana en Imerina, Madagas-
company, are mostly identified car," Anthropos, 1913, viii, 308.
with the various maladies from 4 A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking
which the natives suffer. See Sir Peoples, London, 1887, pp. 227 sq.
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH 77
would seem also to perform annual rites for the expul-
sion of evil spirits. The ceremony of demon-riddance,
formerly held at Cape Coast Castle, on the Gold Coast,
was intended to drive the devil Abonsam out of the
town by means of an unearthly uproar of shouts,
screams, beating of sticks, rattling of pans, and firing
of guns, in which all the inhabitants joined. "The
custom is preceded by four weeks' dead silence ; no
gun is allowed to be fired, no drum to be beaten, no
palaver to be made between man and man. If, during
these weeks, two natives should disagree and make a
noise in the town, they are immediately taken before
the king and fined heavily. If a dog or pig, sheep or
goat be found at large in the street, it may be killed, or
taken by any one, the former owner not being allowed
to demand any compensation. This silence is designed
to deceive Abonsam, that, being off his guard, he may
be taken by surprise and frightened out of the place.
If any one die during the silence, his relatives are not
allowed to weep until the four weeks have been com-
pleted." 1
The Yoruba tribes of the Slave Coast celebrate every
June an All Souls' festival lasting seven days. It
resembles the affirah-bi rites, but the ceremony is held
in honour of Egungun, who is supposed to have risen
from the dead and after whom a powerful secret society
has been named. 2 Since in west Africa, as in some other
parts of the world, secret societies are intimately related
to the cult of the dead, 3 it may be that the tabooed days,
observed when these organizations hold their cere-
monies, were once connected with feasts of the dead or
expulsion of ghosts. The belief may also exist that the
god of the secret society affects with his holiness the
^'Extracts from Diary of the 2 A. B. .Ellis, The Yoruba-speak-
late Rev. John Martin, Wesleyan ing Peoples, London, 1894, pp.
Missionary in West Africa, 1843- 107 sq.
1848," Man, 1912, xii, 138 sq. 3 See H. Webster, Primitive
Compare A. J. N. Tremearne, Secret Societies, New York, 1908,
The Tailed Head-hunters of Nigeria, pp. 104 sq.
London, 1912, pp. 202 sq.
78 REST DAYS
day of his public appearance, and so makes it unfit
for business. However, the taboos seem now to be
maintained chiefly as a means of securing the respectful
attention of non-initiates, particularly women. The
presence in Yoruba towns of the bugbear god Oro
compels women to seclude themselves from seven
o'clock in the evening until five o'clock in the morning. 1
On the great feast days of Oro women must remain
indoors from daybreak till noon. 2 A native writer
points out that these Oro confinements, as they may
be called, are declared in times of political crisis, when
a new law or other measure of importance is under
consideration, and whenever a sacrifice is offered in
behalf of the community. The streets are then cleared
of all unseemly traffic and of women, in order to permit
the god and his followers to appear abroad without
danger of contamination. 3 Again, in Old Calabar,
when the great egbo society visits a community, all
business is suspended, all doors are shut, and absolute
silence prevails. On the departure of the god and his
attendant mummers, the town-bell is rung in a peculiar
way to indicate that normal occupations may be now
resumed. The cessation of business on the occasion
of these visits of egbo may last a day, but frequently
extends to two or three days. In the latter case,
however, the strict rule of seclusion is relaxed for an
hour or more to permit the holding of the daily market. 4
During an egbo visitation it would be death for any one
not a member of the order to venture forth ; even
members themselves, if their grade is lower than that
which controls the proceedings for the day, would be
severely whipped. 6
1 Mrs. R. B. Batty, in Journal 3 R.E. Dennett, Nigerian Studies,
of the Anthropological Institute, London, 1910, pp. 41 sq., quoting
1889, xix, 1 60. Adesola in the Nigerian Chronicle.
2 Ellis, Yoruba-speaking Peoples, 4 J. B. Walker, in Journal of the
pp. no sq. The Oro rites are Anthropological Institute, 1877, vi,
attributed by Ellis to the ogboni 1 21 sq.
society, but it is probable that the 6 T. J. Hutchinson, Impressions
term "Oro" is also applied toother of Western Africa, London, 1858,
secret associations of Yorubaland. pp. 141 sq.
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH 79
The festivals of the dead, observed in classical an-
tiquity, were marked by taboos. Among the Greeks
the rites took place on the so-called a7ro</oaSes i^ucpat,
unlucky days accompanied by complete idleness and
cessation of business. "At such times no one would
address any one else, friends avoided all intercourse
with one another, and even sanctuaries were not used." 1
Ancient authorities also refer to these days as times when
magistrates suspended their functions, when courts were
closed, when sacrifices were not offered and oracular
responses were not delivered, and when people refrained
from any business which it was hoped would have a
prosperous outcome. 2 At Athens the festival of the
Genesia, an annual commemoration of the dead, oc-
curred on the fifth of Boedromion, a day which was
included among the a7ro</oaSes ^/ue/Hu. 3 Three more
unlucky days were the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth
of Anthesterion, when the Athenians celebrated the
festival of the Anthesteria. Though in outward sem-
blance only a brilliant ceremony in honour of Dionysus,
the Anthesteria had also a sombre significance as the
time when the shades of the dead issued from the
underworld and walked the streets. 4 Ropes were
fastened round the temples to keep out the wandering
ghosts, and the people smeared their houses with pitch
1 Scholium on Lucian, Timon, 43. can be traced back to Hesiod (Opera
2 Plato, Leges, vii, 800; Lucian, et dies, 802 sqq.).
Pseudologistes, 12; Plutarch, De 4 Compare Hesychius, s.v. fiiapcu
El apud Delphos, 20; idem, De yficpcu. (ed. Schmidt, col. 1045):
defectu oraculorum, 14; idem, Vita "the polluted days of the month of
Alexandria i^; Hesychius, s.v. Anthesterion, on which days they
d7ro<#>pa8cs ^tepai (ed. M. Schmidt, think that the souls of the departed
Jena, 1867, C <>1- 211). are sent up from the nether world."
3 E. Rhode, Psyche, 6 Tubingen, Photius, s.v. /uapa fjfjLcpa (ed. S.
1910, p. 235; P. Stengel, Die A. Naber, Leiden, 1864-1865, i,
griechischen Sakralaltertiimer, Mu- 423), says that on the second day
nich, 1890, p. 156 (with references the people used to chew buckthorn
to the classical authorities). The and anoint their doors with pitch,
fifth day of every Athenian month See Frazer's note (The Scapegoat,
was regarded as unpropitious, and p. 153 rc. 1 ) on the widespread use
hence was not dedicated to any of buckthorn and pitch as prophy-
divinity. A superstitious avoid- lactics against ghosts and
ance of the "fifths'* of the month influences.
8o
REST DAYS
to catch any rash intruders into the dwellings of living
men. For the entertainment of the unseen guests
during their short stay pots of boiled food were every-
where placed in the streets ; but at the end of the
festival the souls were roughly bidden to depart. The
Anthesteria, in substance, thus formed one of those
numerous ceremonies for the riddance of ghosts by
means of feasting and placation which have so wide a
diffusion in the lower culture. 1
Corresponding to the Greek aTro^paSe? ^/icpat were
the Roman dies religiosi, true days of abstinence, when
it was unlucky to begin a journey or to undertake any
important business. During their continuance temples
and law courts were, or ought to be, closed, magistrates
laid aside the insignia of office, armies did not march,
and no marriages took place. 2 Among the dies religiosi
were those on which the Romans celebrated two fes-
tivals of the dead, the so-called Parentalia in February,
the last month of the old Roman year, and the Lemuria
1 On the Anthesteria, from an
anthropological standpoint, see par-
ticularly Miss Jane E. Harrison,
Prolegomena to the Study of Greek
Religion, Cambridge, 1903, pp. 32
sqq., 49 sqq. Dr. L. R. Farnell
thinks that only in the ritual for
the third and final day of the An-
thesteria have we a genuine cere-
mony of ghost-riddance, this day
falling so near the Dionysiac cele-
bration as to become attached to
the latter as a mournful finale
(The Cults of the Greek States, Ox-
ford, 1906-1910, y, 215 sqq.}. But,
on this view, it is difficult to see
why the second day, the Choes,
should have been expressly men-
tioned as "polluted" (/xtapa), and
why the first day , the Pithoigia,
should have been described as
"totally unlucky" (es TO TTO.V 0,71-0-
2 Festus, De verborum significa-
tione, ed. C. O. Miiller, Leipzig,
1839, p. iuMcsroq, Satuar-iS6',
nalia, i, 16, 24. The dies religiosi
were sometimes confused, even by
the ancients, with the dies nefasti
(compare Gellius, Noctes Atticce,
iv, 9, 5), which were days marked in
the calendar as occasions when the
praetor's court was not open and
assemblies (comitia) could not law-
fully meet. But not all dies reli-
giosi were observed as non-comi-
tial and non-judicial days. It
seems, indeed, that the priestly
authorities who drew up the calen-
dar did not wish to recognize these
products of popular superstition by
incorporating all of them, under the
guise of dies nefasti, in the Roman
state religion. On the dies religiosi,
also described as dies atri or dies
vitiosi, see G. Wissowa, Religion
und Kultus der Romer, Munich,
1902, pp. 376 sq.; W. W. Fowler,
The Religious Experience of the
Roman People, London, 191 1, pp. 38
sqq.; T. Mommsen, in Corpus in-
scriptionum Latinarum, i, pt. i, 2 296.
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH 81
in May. The February celebration, from the thirteenth
to the twenty-first of that month, has been taken to
embody all that was least superstitious and fearful in
the generally terrifying worship of the dead. The
Lemuria (May 9, n, 13), had rather an opposite char-
acter and probably represents the more ancient rite
for the expulsion of the ghosts of the dead. 1 The three
days in the Roman year, August 24, October 5, and
November 8, when the door of the Lower World was
unclosed for the spirits of the dead to come forth
quibus mundus patet were also religiosi, or unlucky.
"When the mundus is open," said Varro, "the gate of
the doleful underworld gods is open ; therefore, it is
not proper on those days for a battle to be fought,
troops to be levied, the army to march forth, a ship to
set sail, or a man to marry." 2
To the Hebrews the Day of Atonement was a shab-
bdth shabbdthon* the holiest of rest days, u a Sabbath of
solemn rest," when "no manner of work" might be per-
formed. The transgressor of this regulation was threat-
ened with death : "Whoever doeth any work at all on
that same day, I will destroy from among his people." 4
A similar punishment was prescribed for one who did
not fast on that day; the expression "to afflict your
souls" ('innd nephesh) was considered by late the-
ologians to be a synonym for fasting, and as a matter of
fact the Atonement fast was the only one enjoined by
the Law. On the Day of Atonement a goat, laden
with the sins of the people, was sent forth into the wild-
1 Gellius, op. cit., iv, 9, 5 ; times, was not a state festival, but
Varro, De lingua Latina, vi, 29 sq. ; a purely domestic affair.
Ovid, Fasti, v, 419-486; W. W. 2 Varro, ap. Macrobius, op. cit.,
Fowler, The Roman Festivals of the i, 16, 18; Festus, op. cit., p. 156.
Period of the Republic, London, Compare Fowler, "Mundus Patet,"
1899, pp. 106 sqq., 306 sqq. The Journal of Roman Studies, 1912,11,
first eight days of the Parentalia 25-33.
belonged only to the sphere of 3 Both expressions are commonly
family worship, but the ninth derived from the Babylonian shabat-
day (Feb. 21) was also a public turn; see below, p. 235.
celebration, known as the Feralia. 4 Leviticus, xvi, 31, xxiii, 26-32;
The Lemuria, at least in historic compare Numbers, xxix, 7.
G
82 REST DAYS
erness, where it was sacrificed to Azazel, a bad angel
or demon. In the later centuries of Jewish history
this rite took on a more spiritual character, as the
ceremonial aspects of sin and atonement became in-
creasingly prominent.
The Day of Atonement has been usually considered
a very late institution, unknown in the time of Zech-
ariah and even in the age of Nehemiah not employed for
the special purpose of a national humiliation. What
seems more probable is that the Day of Atonement was
taken over and adopted into the Priestly Code of post-
Exilic Judaism from a popular and primitive ceremony
of sin-riddance, doubtless of high antiquity. It is
to be observed that the fast was held on the tenth day
of the seventh month, a day which appears to have
marked, originally, the beginning of the new year. 1
This would have been an appropriate time for an annual
ceremony of purification, since the new year is so fre-
quently observed with ceremonies of a cathartic or
apotropaic character. Even in late Old Testament
ritual, New Year's Day, celebrated as the Feast of
Trumpets on the first day of the seventh month, was
also a shabbdth shabbdthon, a time of "solemn rest"
and of "holy convocation." No toilsome work might
then be performed ; trumpets were to be blown, per-
haps to indicate its solemnity, and special sacrifices
were to be offered. 2 Moreover, certain features of the
Atonement ceremony, especially that of the sin-laden
goat, which has so many parallels among the lower
races, 3 strengthen the probability that the ritual for the
day represents an elaboration of earlier and simpler
customs familiar in pre-Exilic times. If this be true,
1 Leviticus, xxv, 9', Ezekiel,x\,i. hausen, Prolegomena zur Geschichte
2 Leviticus, xxiii, 23-25 ; Num- Israels? Berlin, 1905, p. 1 05
bers, xxix, 1-7. It has been sug- n. 2 ; see below, p. 247 n. 2 ). In the
gested that the first ten days of ritual of the Jewish church they
the seventh month were epagom- are described as days of "peni-
enal, bridging the gap, as it were, tence.'
between the old lunar year of 355 3 See Sir J. G. Frazer, The Scape-
days and the solar year (J. Well-
goat, London, 1913, pp. 170 sqq.
TABOOED DAYS AFTER A DEATH
it is not unreasonable to suppose that the " Sabbath of
solemn rest" forms likewise a survival from a still ruder
past, when sin was conceived so materially as a con-
taminating influence that common prudence dictated
abstinence from work and other activities at a critical
season devoted to the driving-out of evil. 1
Ideas of this sort live long in the minds of men.
The . greatest of Mohammedan festivals, the so-called
Feast of Sacrifices, is now celebrated as a means of
securing moral purification and blessing. But the
ceremony rests on a heathen basis, and its principal
feature, an animal sacrifice, was borrowed by Islam from
Arabian paganism. An eminent authority, who has
noticed the striking prevalence of cathartic ceremonies
at the Great Feast, suggests that its primary object
may have been to expel evils which were supposed to
threaten the people at the time of the year when the
sacrifice occurred. " Throughout Morocco the first
day of the feast is kept as a holiday, both by men and
women, and so is generally the second day also, which
in some places is regarded as a particularly dangerous
time. I am told that anybody who should work on that
day would have some grave misfortune robbers would
kill him at night, or some of his children or animals
would die, or he would be struck with blindness and
travelling on that day is likewise supposed to be accom-
panied with danger. But labour is also suspended on
other days of the feast, especially by the women." 2
1 On the relation of the Hebrew
kipper, or atonement, to the Assyr-
ian kuppuru and the connection
of both with ideas of taboo, see
R. C. Thompson, The Devils and
Evil Spirits of Babylonia, London,
1904, ii, pp. 1 sqq. It is unneces-
sary to accept his conclusion that
the Hebrew ceremony was directly
borrowed from Babylonia. The
view advanced in the text as to the
antiquity of the Atonement rite
may now claim the support of
Professor Grimme, who sees in this
ceremony one of the oldest elements
of the Law and finds the prototype
of Azazel in the hairy demons which
were believed to haunt the wilder-
ness of northern Arabia. See H.
Grimme, "Das Alter des israelitis-
chen Versohnungstages," Archiv
fur Religionsivissenschaft, 1911, xiv,
130-142.
2 E. Westermarck, "The Popu-
lar Ritual of the Great Feast in
Morocco," Folk-lore, 1911, xxii,
157 sq., 1 80 sqq.
84 REST DAYS
The evidence presented in this chapter raises once
more the perplexing and much-debated problem of the
diffusion of culture. The custom of keeping tabooed
days after a death may be properly described as world-
wide, since it exists in all the continents. And the
observance as Sabbaths of periods devoted to the pro-
pitiation or expulsion of spirits, though less common,
has been also traced among many half-civilized tribes
of Oceania, Asia, and Africa, as well as in classic Greece
and Rome. Within contiguous areas, for example, in
Borneo and the adjoining islands, or among related
peoples, such as the American and Asiatic Eskimo, it
is reasonable to ascribe the uniformity of custom to
long-continued borrowing. Again, the close resem-
blance between the Greek and the Roman superstitions
relating to unlucky days the cbro^paSes rjpepcu, and the
dies religiosi is satisfactorily accounted for by the
hypothesis of a common inheritance from prehistoric
antiquity. But where tabooed days are observed for
the same reasons by unrelated peoples, who, as far as
our knowledge reaches, have never been in cultural con-
tact, the student is obliged to conclude that the beliefs
underlying the custom in question have not been
narrowly limited but belong to the general stock of
primitive ideas. In such cases the doctrine of the
fundamental unity of the human mind seems alone to
be capable of explaining the astonishing similarity of
its products at different times and in different parts of
the world.
CHAPTER III
HOLY DAYS
THERE exists, perhaps, no shorter road to the com-
prehension of a religion as a social product than through
the study of its festivals. They are preeminently social
in character; they give expression to the feelings of
an entire community, whether clan, tribe, or nation;
and in their development they are closely associated
with the general progress of society. As civilization
develops, festivals tend to increase in number, to elabo-
rate their ritual, and to fix more precisely the time and
order of their celebration. It becomes the business ot a
particular class the priesthood to establish and
maintain a calendar of sacred seasons. We may
assume with some confidence that the priestly attitude
in such matters has not been entirely disinterested.
The holy day, observed with worship, sacrifice, and
offerings, must contribute directly to the well-being
and prestige of the sacerdotal order.
"The Greeks and the barbarians," declares an an-
cient geographer, "have this in common, that they ac-
company their sacred rites by a festal remission of
labour." 1 In fact most festivals are celebrated as
holidays, when men give up secular occupations and
devote themselves to religious exercises and relaxation.
Festivals, in consequence, assume with advancing
culture a great significance from the economic and
sociological standpoint. For the peasant and the
artisan they provide welcome relief from physical exer-
tion, and for all ranks of society their pageants and
processions, their games, feasts, and merry-makings
1 Strabo, Geographica, x, 3, 9.
85
86 REST DAYS
give an outlet to the play instincts of mankind. We
must not conclude, however, that the remission of
labour accompanying a festival has always been dic-
tated by practical and non-superstitious considerations.
It has been already pointed out that in some fairly
rude communities abstinence from work is a part of the
regular procedure for facing a crisis and the spiritual
dangers supposed to characterize such an occasion.
The rest is a measure of protection and propitiation,
quite as much as the fasts, the sacrifices, and the
prayers by which it may be attended. Where ideas
of this nature prevail, all labour becomes tabu.
As we pass from savagery to barbarism and from
animism to polytheism, the notion of taboo, at first
vague and indeterminate, tends to differentiate into
the twin concepts of impurity and holiness. This
differentiation, indeed, is never perfectly accomplished
even by peoples which have reached some measure of
civilization ; and the lower races find still greater diffi-
culty in distinguishing between what is dangerous,
because polluted, and what is dangerous, because
sacred. The "holy" thing and the "unclean"
thing possess alike the mystic potency, the magico-
spiritual power, the mana or orenda, to employ a
terminology which expresses early man's sense of being
ever surrounded by unknown agencies, among which he
must walk warily, if he is to walk in safety. 1
To the primitive mind the sanctity which attaches to
the divine chief and king, to such objects of special
reverence as bull-roarers, idols, and altars, and also to
certain places and shrines, is sufficiently material to be
transmissible and to be capable of infecting with its
mysterious qualities whatever is done at a particular
time. The notion of the transmissibility of holiness
1 The best study of holiness in further N. Soderblom, "Holiness
its relation to the concept of taboo (General and Primitive)," Hast-
is still that of W. Robertson Smith ings's Encyclopedia of Religion and
(The Religion of the Semites? Ethics, vi, 731-741.
London, 1894, chaps, iv-v). See
HOLY DAYS 87
might seem of itself to furnish a sufficient reason for
abstaining from ordinary occupations on a sacred day :
the power that blesses can also blast. In practice,
however, this idea appears to mingle quite inextricably
with the opposite though related conception that what
is holy can be contaminated by contact with the secular
and the profane. Furthermore, when holy days come
to be definitely consecrated to deities, who at such
times are believed to be present among their wor-
shippers, it is easy to see how the belief arises that a god
is pleased and flattered by the enforced idleness of his
devotees. Abstinence from work then takes its place
among other rites as a recognized way of expressing a
proper reverence for the divinity; while, conversely,
to labour on his holy day implies a disrespectful atti-
tude toward him. These are sentiments reasonably
certain of continued development, as priestly influence
becomes predominant in any community. "The Lord
thy God is a jealous God." 1
The consecration of a particular day to a divinity is a
common feature of polytheistic cults. Had we definite
information concerning the origin and development
of the great deities of the higher religions, it would
probably appear that in most instances their connection
with particular days is a secondary rather than a pri-
mary formation. In other words a period dedicated
to a god and observed by his worshippers with absti-
1 " In economic theory," writes the body of the people. The trib-
Dr. Thorstein Veblen, "sacred holi- ute is paid in vicarious leisure, and
days are obviously to be construed the honourific effect which emerges
as a season of vicarious leisure per- is imputed to the person or the fact
formed for the divinity or saint in for whose good repute the holiday
whose name the tabu is imposed and has been instituted. Such a tithe
to whose good repute the absten- of vicarious leisure is a perquisite
tion from useful effort on those days of all members of the preternatural
is conceived to inure. The char- leisure class and is indispensable
acteristic feature of all such seasons to their good fame. Un saint qu'on
of devout vicarious leisure is a more ne chdme pas is indeed a saint fallen
or less rigid tabu on all activity that on evil days" (The Theory of the
is of human use. . . . Sacred holi- Leisure Class > New York, 1899,
days, and holidays generally, are pp. 309 sq.).
of the nature of a tribute levied on
88 REST DAYS
nence from labour may once have been a season of
taboo for other and quite different reasons. Some per-
tinent instances of tabooed days which grew into holy
days have already engaged our attention. 1 Thus, in the
comparatively well-developed religious system of the
Hawaiians the New Year's festival was consecrated to
the god Lono; but the same festival in Fiji was not
associated with any particular divinity. Again, the
Hawaiians observed in every month four tabu periods,
which were severally dedicated to the great gods of the
native pantheon, Ku, Hua, Kaloa, and Kane. That
these Sabbaths had originally no connection with any
divinity and arose in consequence of superstitious beliefs
regarding lunar phenomena is a highly probable conclu-
sion, when we recall the numerous taboos attaching to the
phases of the moon, for instance, among the Dyak tribes
of Borneo. Once more, the attribution of the Bontoc
Igorot tengao, or rest day, to Lumawig, the only god
throughout the Bontoc culture area, cannot be earlier
than the emergence of this supreme being from the
crowd of spirits in which the native so firmly believes.
Lastly, we have seen how, in the case of the Athenian
Anthesteria, the attribution of the festival to Dionysus
and the cheerful associations with which the fancy of
the Greeks invested it represent a comparatively late
development.
If many holy days of polytheistic cults were once
tabooed days, it follows that a taboo element may be
, looked for in various religious celebrations which in out-
ward semblance have only a festive, happy character.
Particularly does this seem to be true of the numerous
rites observed by the Dravidian peoples of India.
The Kota, an aboriginal tribe of the Nilgiri Hills, hold
an annual feast, called kambata or kamata, in honour of
Kamataraya. It lasts about a fortnight. On the
second day of the festival no work may be done except
digging clay and making pots. 2 The Uraon keep three
1 Above, pp. 13, 15, 47, 49, 79. Primitive Tribes and Monuments of
2 J. W. B reeks, An Account of the the Nilagiris, London, 1873, p. 44.
HOLY DAYS 89
great feasts during the year. The first, known as
sarhul, occurs in May. Its object is said to be the
celebration of the mystical marriage of the sun-god
with the earth-goddess, in order that they may become
fruitful and consequently bestow good crops. At the
same time the Uraon take care to propitiate all the
village spirits, lest the latter should frustrate the efforts
of Sun and Earth to increase and multiply. On the
eve of the appointed day no one is allowed to plough
his fields. 1 In Bengal, Mother Earth is the object of
much devotion. The goddess generally manifests her-
self as the benignant source of all things, the giver of the
fruits of the earth. But sometimes she brings disease
and hence requires propitiation. The chief festival
in her honour occurs at the end of the hot season, when
she is supposed to suffer from the impurity common
to women. All ploughing, sowing, and other work
cease at this time, and Bengali widows refrain from
eating cooked rice. 2 A very similar festival, called
ucharal, is celebrated by the natives of the Malabar
coast at the end of January, when Mother Earth has
her annual menstruation. For three days at this time
the people stop all work, except hunting : the house
may not be cleaned ; the daily smearing of the floor
with cow-dung is discontinued ; and even gardens may
not be watered. 3 The village rites observed by the
Telugu, Kanarese, and Tamil peoples of southern India,
in honour of their local deities, though unattended by
compulsory abstinence from labour, are clearly of a
propitiatory character. In this respect they are analo-
gous to the genna customs in Assam. Usually the
people hold no regular festival, but perform their rites
of sacrifice only when some great misfortune an out-
break of cholera, smallpox, cattle disease, or drought
1 P. Dehon, in Memoirs of the 3 C. K. Menon, " Some Agricul-
Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1906, i, tural Ceremonies in Malabar," Mad-
no, i, p. 144. ras Government Museum, Bulletin,
2 W. Crooke, Natives of Northern 1906, v, 104 sq.
India, London, 1907, p. 232.
90 REST DAYS
has convinced them that evil spirits are about and
active. "I have dignified," writes the Bishop of
Madras, "the periodical sacrifices to the village god-
desses by the name of festivals. But the term is a
misnomer. There is really nothing of a festal char-
acter about them. They are only gloomy and weird
rites for the propitiation of angry deities or the driving
away of evil spirits, and it is very difficult to detect
any traces of a spirit of thankfulness or praise. Even
the term worship is hardly correct. The object of
all the various rites and ceremonies is not to worship
the deity in any true sense of the word, but simply
to propitiate and avert its wrath." The propitiatory
feature is not absent from some of the purely Hindu
festivals, which in this respect may have been affected
by the cults of the aboriginal peoples of India. 2
One of the Hebrew agricultural festivals described
in the Old Testament furnishes an instance of what
seem to be ancient taboos surviving in a developed re-
ligious ritual. In the post-Exilic calendar the Day
of First-fruits, inaugurating the Feast of Weeks, was
declared to be a time of "holy convocation," when no
" servile work " was allowable. 3 Now, primitive peoples
quite commonly observe various ceremonies in connec-
tion with first-fruits, particularly a sacramental eating
of them preliminary to general use. 4 With advancing
1 Henry Whitehead, "The Vil- smallpox." See E. W. Hopkins,
lage Deities of Southern India," The Religions of India, Boston,
Madras Government Museum, Bui- 1895, p. 452 w. 2 ; H. H. Wilson,
letin, 1907, v, 128 sq. The whole Essays and Lectures chiefly on the
subject of these Dravidian festivals Religions of the Hindus, London,
has now been carefully investigated 1862, ii, 209 J.
by my former pupil Mr. W. T. 3 Leviticus, xxiii, 21 ; Numbers,
Elmore. See his monograph xxviii, 26.
" Dravidian Gods in Modern Hin- 4 The ethnographic evidence re-
duism," University Studies, Lin- lating to first-fruits has been very
coin, Nebraska, 1915, xv, 1-152. fully collected by Sir J. G. Frazer
2 Several of the Hindu festivals (Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild,
are accompanied by prayer, fasting, London, 1912, ii, 48-137). See
bathing, and oblation. One of the also J. A. MacCulloch, "First-
minor ceremonies during the month fruits (Introductory and Primi-
of February is intended to " avert tive)," Hastings's Encyclopedia of
HOLY DAYS 91
culture this rite tends to be replaced by an act of
definite sacrifice of a portion of the first-fruits to the
spirits or the gods, who have it in their power to give
or to withhold the crops. The rite of first-fruits marks
a time of peculiar solemnity, when gratitude to the
supernatural powers mingles with fear of the hostile
influences which may affect injuriously the grain that
lies still ungathered. So critical an epoch is frequently
inaugurated by a ceremonial cleansing or purgation of
the community ; and the rite itself may require fasting
and continence on the part of those who celebrate it.
In at least one case previously noticed, the ceremonial
inbringing of first-fruits formed an occasion for ab-
staining from all secular activities. 1 Since a like re-
striction was attached to the Hebrew Day of First-
fruits, we may surmise with some probability that
abstinence from labour at this time was observed by
the early Hebrews as a primitive taboo long before the
festival was definitely consecrated to Jehovah. It is
difficult to avoid the same conclusion with respect
to the Sabbatarian rules which invested other agricul-
tural festivals of the Hebrews. 2
The Greeks in late classical times appear to have
regarded their religious festivals much as we regard our
holidays. "The gods," said Plato, "in pity for the toils
which our race is born to undergo have appointed holy
festivals, by which men alternate rest and labour." 3
With this remark, indicating that for the philosophic
thinker the process of rationalization had begun, it is
interesting to compare the statement of a modern
scholar that among the Greeks "the time occupied by
the feast of the gods was as sacred, i.e., as much subject
to taboos, as was the whole of the Jewish Sabbath." 4
Religion and Ethics, vi, 41-45; 4 E. E. Sikes, "Folk-lore in the
E. N. Fallaize, "Harvest," ibid., ' Works and Days' of Hesiod,"
vi, 520-525. Classical Review, 1893, vii, 390.
1 On the Tongan inachi see above, The Hesiodic injunction (Opera et
pp. 18 sq. dies, 742-743)
Below, pp. 250 sq. ^ g> ^ Trevrd&Ko O&v tv burl 6a-
3 Plato, Leges, n, 653. Xc
REST DAYS
The unlucky days (d-Tro^/oaSes ^ftcpat) observed by the
Athenians included the twenty-fifth or twenty-ninth
of Thargelion, a day devoted to the celebration of the
Plynteria, the washing festival of their patron goddess.
On this occasion Athene's image was borne in proces-
sion to the sea, divested of its adornments, and laved
in the purifying waters. Plutarch's biography of
Alcibiades contains a significant reference to the cere-
avov OLTTO
T0i
stripped of its metaphorical set-
ting, means simply, "Do not cut
your nails with iron on a joyous
festival of the gods." This taboo
may be compared with the rule
observed by the Flaminica Dialis
at Rome, who, during the celebra-
tion of the festival called the Ves-
talia, might not cut her hair or
nails (Ovid, Fasti, vi, 225-226).
The Roman antiquarian, Pliny the
Elder, refers to the belief that it is
ominous to pare the nails on mar-
ket days (nundina), but to cut the
hair on the I7th and 29th days of
the month is a preventive of
baldness and headache (Historia
naturalis^ xxviii, 5). These pagan
superstitions have passed into mod-
ern European folklore, being widely
current, for example, in England
(W. Henderson, Notes on the Folk-
lore of the Northern Counties of
England and the Borders, London,
1879, pp. 17 sq.), as in the familiar
lines :
"Better a child had ne'er been
born
Then cut his nails on a Sunday
morn !"
Or, as another old English rhyme
runs:
"Sunday shaven, Sunday shorn,
Better hadst thou ne'er been
born!"
In certain parts of Ireland people
will not shave on Sunday (G. H.
Kinahan, in Folk-lore Record, 1881,
iv, 105). Besides Sunday, Friday
is often considered an unlucky day
for cutting hair or nails, and some-
times a distinction is made between
the two days, as in Northumber-
land, where it is unlucky to cut
hair on a Friday or to pare nails
on a Sunday (Denham Tracts, ed.
J. Hardy, ii, 343). In Macedo-
nia Wednesday and Friday are
the two days when the nails should
not be cut, while Sunday is unpro-
pitious for bathing (G. F. Abbott,
Macedonian Folk-lore, Cambridge,
1903, p. 190). Similar taboos are
found outside of Europe. The
Egyptians hold Saturday to be
particularly unfavourable for shav-
ing and cutting the nails (E. W.
Lane, Manners and Customs of the
Modern Egyptians,* London, 1871,
i> 33 while the Jews in Jerusalem
think that the nails should be cut
early in the week, so that they may
not start growing on the Sabbath
(Miss A. Goodrich-Freer, in Folk-
lore, 1904, xv, 187). These super-
stitions may rest ultimately on the
notion that such acts as hair-cut-
ting, shaving, and nail-paring are
ritually unclean, and hence that
their performance on a sacred day
would defile the festival. See in
general on this subject, E. E. Sikes,
"Hair and Nails," Hastings's En-
cyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
vi, 474-476.
HOLY DAYS 93
mony. At the time when that brilliant though shifty
Greek returned from exile to his native city, the people
were holding the Plynteria, in Athene's honour. On
that day "the Praxiergidae solemnize their secret rites :
they remove all the ornaments from her image and cover
it up. Hence the Athenians regard this day as most
unlucky, and do no work on it. It seemed as though
the goddess were receiving him in no friendly fashion,
for she hid her face from his as if to banish him from
her sight." Xenophon, also, referring to the return
of Alcibiades at the time of the Plynteria, declares that
"none of the Athenians would venture to transact
any serious business on this day." And Pollux informs
us that the sanctuaries were roped round at the Plyn-
teria, as at other unlucky times, doubtless to avoid
their being tainted with the pollution of the day. 1
The Athenians themselves ascribed the unluckiness of
the day of the Plynteria to the fact of Athene's absence
from the city during the festival. It is probable, how-
ever, that the Plynteria was at one time a rite of puri-
fication preliminary to the bringing-in of the first-fruits,
and hence a rite which must have existed long before
its ascription to the protecting deity of Athens. 2 So
considered, the Plynteria as a rest day affords a close
parallel to the Tongan inachi and the Hebrew Day of
First-fruits.
With the Plynteria may be profitably compared the
better-known Roman festival of the Vestalia. The
Athenian ceremonies came in May, the Roman, in
June, but they were alike in content. The nine days
devoted to the Vestalia were ill-omened (religiosi).
During their celebration the innermost sauctnary of
Vesta, shut all the rest of the year, was opened to the
matrons of Rome, who crowded to it barefooted, while
the Vestals themselves offered the sacred cakes made
1 Plutarch, Alcibiades, 34; Xen- son, Prolegomena to the Study of
ophon, Hellenicay i, 4, 12; Pollux, Greek Religion, Cambridge, 1903,
Onomasticon, viii, 141. pp. 114 sqq.
2 Compare Miss Jane E. Harri-
94 REST DAYS
of the first ears of corn plucked a month previously.
On the ninth day (June 15) the temple was swept and
the refuse thrown into the Tiber. Then the dies
religiosi came to an end, as soon as the last act of cleans-
ing had been duly performed Quando stercus dela-
tum fas, "When the rubbish has been carried away." 1
The Roman religious festivals, of which a few, as we
have seen, were celebrated on dies religiosi? went col-
lectively under the name of fericz (dies feriati)* The
public ferice, numbering sixty-one in republican times,
were all consecrated to deities of the state cults. As
illustrating the Roman prejudice against even numbers
as unlucky, it is interesting to note that, with two
exceptions, all these older fericz occurred on days which,
reckoning from the beginning of the month, would be
denoted by odd numbers. The same superstition
required that, where a festival occupied more than one
day in a month, there should be an interval of one or
three days between the beginning and close of its cele-
bration, as in the case of the Lemuria on the ninth,
eleventh, and thirteenth of February. The ferial
days were of prehistoric origin, though the testimony
of tradition assigned them to Romulus and particu-
larly to Numa, the priestly king who was believed
1 Varro, De lingua Latina, vi, 32 ; dassischen Altertumswissenschaft,
Ovid, Fasti, vi, 219 sqq., 707 sqq.; vi, coll. 2211-2213; A. S. Wilkins,
Festus, De verborum signification, in Smith, Wayte, and Marindin's
ed. C. O. Muller, p. 250; Fowler, Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Roman Festivals, pp. 145 sqq. Antiquities,* ii, 836-838; and es-
2 In addition to the Parentalia, pecially C. Jullian, in Daremberg
Lemuria, and Vestalia, the occasions and SaghVs Dictionnaire des anti-
on which the Salii performed their quites grecques et romaines, iv,
dances in March and October 1042-1066. The plural form fericz
(Ovid, Fasti, iii, 393 sqq.; Livy, indicates that the festival day
xxxvii, 33; Suetonius, Otho, 8) recurs periodically;* compare the
and the two days succeeding the similar usage as respects nundincz
fericz Latincz (Cicero, Ad Qu. frat., (below, p. 120). Fericz seems to
ii, 4, 2) were included among the have been first written fesicz,
dies religiosi. whence the word festus. On the
3 See G. Wissowa, Religion und derivation of fericz see A. Walde,
Kultus der Rdmer, Munich, 1902, Lateinisches etymologisches Worter-
PP- 365-381; idem, in Pauly- buck? Heidelberg, 1910, pp. 270
Wissowa's Real-Encyclopddie der sq.
HOLY DAYS 95
to have organized the Roman religion. Considering the
great antiquity of the ferice, it becomes a legitimate
inquiry how far they resemble the festivals observed
in modern times by peoples scarcely inferior in culture
to the Romans at the dawn of their history. What
likeness, in other words, can be traced between the
jerice and days tabu ?
The ancients made a fundamental distinction between
public and private ferice. The former included all
festivals which were celebrated by the community at
large, the latter, those which appertained to individuals,
families, gentes, sacred colleges, and other social groups
within the body politic. Since the Roman state
religion was based on the religion of the family and the
gens, we are entitled to believe that the/m^ private?
provided the model for the/m'^ public ce ; and this view
is confirmed by numerous analogies elsewhere. 1 The
festivals observed by gentes are little known and appear
to have become obsolete at an early date ; the family
festivals, on the other hand, flourished throughout an-
tiquity. All important epochs in the life of a Roman
housefather and his children birth, naming, assump-
tion of the toga virilis, marriage, and death were kept
as ferial days. The/m^ denicales are especially note-
worthy, for they show that the Romans shared the
superstitious notions of many primitive peoples con-
cerning the noxious influence of death. These cere-
monies, which took place a few days after the funeral,
were for the purpose of purifying the house and its
inmates from the death contagion. 2 Abstinence from
labour formed a special feature of all family festivals :
they were rest days for both man and beast. As that
model economist, Cato the Elder, remarked, "For
mules, horses, and asses there are no other holidays
1 Above, pp. 25, 38 sq.y 43 sq., 53. 55. It was not lawful to bury a
2 Festus, De verborum signifi- corpse on a public holiday, doubt-
catione: denicales ferice colebantur, less through fear of polluting the
cum hominis mortui causa familia sacredness of the occasion. See
purgabatur (ed. Miiller, p. 70) ; Columella, De re rustica, ii, 22, 5.
compare Cicero, De legibus, ii, 22,
96 REST DAYS
than those of the family." l However, we must
probably include, as an exception to Cato's statement,
the festival of the Paganalia, or ferice sementivce, which
came in January after the seed had been sown. During
this time the plough rested by command of the gods,
and not the farmer only, but also his slaves and animal
servants, enjoyed holiday idleness. The festival had
a distinctly prophylactic character, being marked by
prayers, offerings, and other rites designed to ward off
evil influences from the crops. 2 The Paganalia, as its
name indicates, was an old village rite which survived
into historic times and became incorporated in the
public ferice of the Roman city. But before turning to
this division of our subject it may be pointed out that
among the private ferice were also included those which
were observed by individuals only, as a means of remov-
ing the taint of some impurity which rested upon them.
A man who had pronounced accidentally the names of
certain mysterious divinities was expected to celebrate
a private festival as a means of expiation (ferias ob-
servabai). The Flaminica, or wife of the Flamen Dialis,
who with her husband was subject to many restric-
tions, became tabooed feriata if she heard thunder,
and might not engage in her religious duties until she
had performed an act of lustration (donee placasset
deos)?
The public ferice were also occasions for abstinence,
purification, and propitiation. On the calendars they
1 Cato, De agri cultura, 138. see Fowler, Roman Festivals,
Compare the Mosaic injunction pp. 294 sqq.; idem, The Religious
relating to the Sabbath (Deuter- Experience of the Roman People,
onomy,v, 14). London, 1911, pp. 61 sq.
2 Ovid, Fasti, i, 664 sq. : 3 Macrobius, op. cit., i, 16, 8.
Pagus agat festum: pagum lustrate, On the taboos affecting the Flamen
coloni a Flaminica see F. B. Jevons,
Et date paganis ennua liba focis. Perch's Romane Questions, Lon-
don, 1892, pp. Ixxni sqq.; Sir J. G.
Some ancient authorities (Varro, Frazer, Taboo and the Perils of the
De lingua Latina, vi, 26; Macro- Soul, pp. 13 sq. The Flamen was
bius, Saturnalia, i, 16, 6) appear to in a condition of permanent taboo
distinguish the Paganalia from the Dialis cotidie feriatus est (Gel-
f erics sementivee. On this festival lius, Noctes Atticce, x, 15, 16).
o r<= m u T
HOLY DAYS 97
are marked nefasti, indicating that at such times all
political and judicial business must be suspended.
In the later period of the Roman Republic unscrupulous
consuls sometimes put this regulation to a base use
by ordering special ferice for all comitial days, so as to
stave off legislation by their rivals. 1 The gods, on
ferial days, demanded the service of men by visits to
the temples and by prayers and sacrifices. Hence
the ferice formed public holidays, when even slaves
enjoyed a cessation of toil. "Let contentions of every
kind cease on the sacred festivals, and let servants
enjoy them with a remission of labour ; for this purpose
they were appointed at certain seasons." 2 These
words of Cicero reflect, however, not the original pur-
pose of the ferice but only the interpretation put upon
them by a rationalistic thinker in a sophisticated age.
We may assume with confidence that the ferial days
were not established as a boon to the labourer. The
regulations enforced on the/m<^ indicate how, in Roman
belief, it was essential that their holiness should not be
polluted by unseemly activity. The rex sacrorum and
flamine S, whose lives were passed in an odour of sanctity,
were not allowed even to see any work being done dur-
ing the celebration of ferice ; hence, when these officials
went out, heralds preceded them to enjoin the people
from working in their presence. An accidental neglect
of such admonitions was punished with a fine and
atonement was made by the sacrifice of a pig. An
intentional disobedience constituted a crime beyond
the power of atonement. 3
In the later centuries of the republic, with the decay
of supernaturalism, questions began to be raised as
to what kinds of work might legitimately be done on
the public ferice. The pontiff Umbro declared that it
1 Appian, Bellum civile, i, 55; 3 Macrobius, op. cit., i, 16, 9:
Plutarch, Sulla, 8 ; Dio Cassius, Pollui ferias, si . . . opus aliquod
xxxviii, 6. fieret; Festus, s.v. praciamitatores :
2 Cicero, De legibus, ii, 8, 19; ut homines se ab opere abstinerent,
compare ii, 12, 29; idem, De quia his opus facicntem videre ir-
divinatione, i, 45, 102. religiosum erat (ed. Miiller, p. 248).
98 REST DAYS
was no violation of them for a person to do any work
which had reference to the gods, or the offering of
sacrifices ad deos pertinens sacrorumve causa. 1 All
labour was likewise allowable which was necessary to
supply the urgent wants of life. The pontiff Scsevola
held that any work might be done, if suffering and
injury were caused by its neglect or delay licet quod
prcztermissum noceret. If a house threatened to tumble
down on a ferial day, the inhabitants might take the
requisite measures to repair it at this time. And
should a man's oxe fall into a pit, he might employ work-
men to lift it out without polluting the jerice? Cato
thought that on holidays a farmer might repair ditches,
pave the public roads, and make everything neat and
clean about his premises. 3 Vergil, writing when this
rationalistic movement had culminated, asserts that
"even on holy days some work is permitted by the laws
of God and man. The strictest worshipper has never
scrupled to drain the fields, plant a hedge to protect a
crop, set snares for birds, fire the brambles, or wash his
bleating sheep for health's sake in the stream." 4 Such
interpretations indicate that in late classical antiquity
the burdens of the old tabooed days were being grad-
ually lifted, and their observance adjusted to the social
and economic needs of a progressive community.
Corresponding to the private ferice observed by indi-
viduals on special occasions were those public holidays
which had to be kept by the community at large, in
consequence of some unusual and terrifying event.
Certain natural phenomena resulted in the cessation of
all activity by the people and the institution of ex-
traordinary festivals (j *eri<z imperatives). These were
1 Macrobius, op. cit., i, 16, 10. ii, 22) is devoted to a discussion
3 Ibid., i, 16, ii ; compare of what may and what may not be
Matthew, xii, n; Luke, xiy, 5. done by a farmer on ferial days.
8 Cato, De agri cultura, ii, 4. The pontifical law in such matters
4 Vergil, Georgica, i, 268-272, was as minute, tyrannical, and ab-
with the commentary of Servius. surd as the rabbinical ordinances
An entire chapter of Columella's relating to the proper observance
treatise on husbandry (De re rustica, of the Sabbath. See below, p. 263 .
J J
HOLY DAYS 99
decreed by the magistrates, acting on the advice of the
priests and with the consent of the Senate. Festivals
of this sort were anonymous ; they were dedicated
neither to god nor goddess sive deo sive dece for
the divine author of the portent was obviously unknown.
Numerous instances of the celebration of extraordinary
jerice are noticed by classical historians, especially by
Livy. During the reign of Tullus Hostilius, the third
of Rome's legendary kings, a rain of stones on the Alban
Mount led to the institution of a nine days' festival.
Shortly after the establishment of the republic an aurora
borealis so terrified the people that they kept a three
days' festival. About half a century after the sack
of Rome by the Gauls a rain of stones, accompanied by
an obscuration of the sun, made it necessary for the
Senate to appoint a dictator whose special business it
was to appease the supernatural powers by appointing
holidays and performing ceremonies. When Hannibal
was in Italy, threatening the life of the Roman com-
monwealth, Heaven seemed to multiply portents, and
Livy particularly mentions two occasions when a
shower of stones provoked compulsory holidays for the
usual period (novemdiales jerice) . Earthquakes always
aroused superstitious fears and made it necessary to
celebrate propitiatory jerice. In the year 193 B.C. the
frequent earthquakes led to the institution of so many
festivals that all public business was blocked ; the
Senate could not meet and the consuls were constantly
employed in rites of propitiation. Under these cir-
cumstances, so Livy tells us, the people grew weary,
not only of the earthquakes but also of the jerice ap-
pointed to expiate them, and an edict was passed that,
whenever jerice were ordered to be observed on a certain
day, in consequence of an earthquake, no fresh dis-
turbance of the sort was to be reported on that same
day. Only a year after the publication of this amusing
edict the Romans were terrified by earthquake shocks
which lasted for thirty-eight days, a period which was
marked by a total cessation of business. And more
ioo REST DAYS
than two hundred years later the emperor Claudius,
when an earthquake happened at Rome, never failed
to appoint holidays for sacred rites. Similar cere-
monies, pro valetudine populi, were sometimes per-
formed to drive away a devastating pestilence. 1
To the ancient Romans the celebration of ferial days
thus provided an appropriate and effectual method of
meeting a crisis. Like the tabooed days observed in
Polynesia, Indonesia, and southeastern Asia at the
present time, the ferice were occasions for the propitia-
tion of supernatural and hostile powers. As such they
must have been, originally, periods of gloom and not of
joy. That subsequently, when superstition had in
some measure relaxed its grip, they became festive occa-
sions, celebrated so luxuriously that both Sulla and
Augustus felt themselves obliged to promulgate laws
restricting expenditures in connection with them, 2 may
be taken as only another instance of man's ineradicable
tendency to convert his fast days into feast days.
1 Livy, i, 31, iii, 5, vii, 28, xxi, quens in his curious work, De
62, xxv, 7, xxxiv, 55, xxxv, 40, ^>ro^V,22,33,54,58,68, 104, in.
xli, 21, xlii, 2; Suetonius, Divus 2 Gellius, Nodes Attica , ii, 24,
Claudius, 22. Many more in- u; compare Horace, Carmina, ii,
stances are given by Julius Obse- 3, 6-9.
CHAPTER IV
MARKET DAYS
REST days, more or less regular in occurrence and
following at short intervals after periods of continu-
ous labour, are frequently observed by primitive agri-
culturists. Sabbaths of this sort seem to be unknown
among migratory hunting and fishing peoples or among
nomadic pastoral tribes. 1 A wandering hunter requires
no regular day of rest, since his life passes in alterna-
tions of continuous labour, while following the chase,
1 The Indians of Cape Flattery,
state of Washington, are said to
keep the month of August as a
period of repose when no berries
are picked and no fish are taken
from the sea, except occasionally
by children (J. G. Swan, in Smith-
sonian Contributions to Knowledge,
xvi, no. 220, p. 91). Perhaps the
practice was consciously designed
to establish a "close season,"
though this is probably attributing
too much foresight to the Indian.
The fish or berries may have been
considered unfit for eating in
August. After gathering the yam
harvest the Bini of Benin keep the
first month of the dry season as a
time of idleness (R. E. Dennett,
At the Back of the Black Mans
Mind, London, 1906, p. 216).
Here a period of rest is observed
by an agricultural people because
they have no special labour to
perform. Among the Akikuyu of
British East Africa there are three
months in the year when little or
no work is done, since the crops are
then ripening (K. R. Dundas, in
Man, 1909, ix, 38). The Yuchi
Indians, now in the state of Okla-
homa, keep autumn as "a period of
combined rest, hunting, and en-
joyment." The winter, also, is
passed in idleness and recreation
(F. G. Speck, Ethnology of the Yuchi
Indians, Philadelphia, 1909, p. 67).
Dr. C. G. Seligmann has sent to me,
in manuscript, some curious infor-
mation regarding a division of time
observed by the Sinaugolo, a hill-
tribe to the east of Port Moresby,
British New Guinea. It seems that
long ago, according to Sinaugolo
tradition, the people had to labour
incessantly and enjoyed no oppor-
tunity to celebrate their dances
and other festive ceremonies. So
they instituted what was called the
kaba period as a relaxation from the
hard work of ordinary life. During
this period, which recurred every
other year or oftener, the Sinaugolo
danced and held their most impor-
tant feasts. The division of time
into kaba and dauka (specially de-
voted to labour) has now lapsed.
101
102 REST DAYS
and of almost 'uninterrupted idleness, after a successful
hunt. For the shepherd there can be no relaxation
of the diurnal duties, for every morning the cattle
must be driven abroad to pasture, they must be watched
and watered, and at night they must be milked. And,
as Rudolf von Ihering has suggested, the shepherd,
compared with the farmer, scarcely needs a regular
rest day; his occupation causes him so little continu-
ous exertion that he can pursue it all the year round
without any injury to his health. A farmer, however,
is benefited by a period of rest recurring more or less
regularly, and, though agricultural pursuits are de-
pendent on the seasons and weather, he is usually
able to postpone his work for a brief period without
serious loss. It might be argued, therefore, that the
change from pastoral to agricultural life would itself
] be sufficient to call into existence the institution of a
periodic rest day. 1 The evidence to be submitted
suggests, however, that the connection of the rest day
- with the farmer's pursuits is secondary, rather than
direct, and is due to the obvious fact that the Sabbath
institution implies a settled life, a more or less developed
form of social organization and government, and some-
thing approaching a calendar system.
The greater number of periodic rest days observed
by agricultural peoples in the lower stages of culture
are associated with the institution of the market. 2
Days on which markets regularly take place are not
1 The Evolution of the Aryan, Socialwissenschaft, 1906, ix, 619-
translated by A. Drucker, London, 627, 700^715, 764-782; H. Schurtz,
1897, p. 117. Das afrikanische Gewerbe, Leipzig,
2 On primitive markets see Karl 1900, pp. 115-122; P. J. Hamilton
Andree, Geographie des Welthandels, Grierson, The Silent Trade, Edin-
Stuttgart, 1867, i, 40-81; C. burgh, 1903, pp. 54-62; H. L.
Kb'hne, "Markt-, Kaufmanns- Roth, "Trading in Early Days,"
und Handelsrecht in primitiven Bankfield Museum Notes, Halifax
Kulturverhaltnissen," Zeitschrift (Eng.), 1908, no. 5, pp. 23 sqq.;
fur vergleichende Recht swissenschaft, N. W. Thomas, "The Market in
1895, xi, 196-220; R. Lasch, "Das African Law and Custom," Journal
Marktwesen auf den primitiven of the Society of Comparative Legisla-
Kulturstufen," Zeitschrift fur tion," 1908, n.s., no. 19, pp. 90-106.
MARKET DAYS 103
infrequently characterized by Sabbatarian regulations.
It is necessary, therefore, to present in some detail the
evidence for market weeks and market days in various
parts of the world. 1
Some Australian tribes have established trade cen-
tres, where there are periodical meetings for the purpose
of exchanging the products and manufactures of neigh-
bouring communities. More or less bartering occurs
also in connection with great tribal convocations, espe-
cially those for the initiation ceremonies. 2 Necessarily,
such gatherings take place at infrequent intervals.
The beginnings of regular markets may, however, be
traced in certain parts of New Guinea and among some
of the Melanesian Islands. The natives of the Mekeo
District of British New Guinea are said to hold markets,
every fifth day at Mawaia and Mohu (on the banks
of the Angabunga River), and at other intervals else-
where. Women from several villages will assemble
at some appointed place, usually on the boundary
between two tribes, and there will exchange their prod-
ucts for commodities from other localities. The bar-
tering lies entirely in the hands of the women, who,
however, are accompanied by a few armed men acting
as a guard. 3 The Kerepunu of Hood Peninsula, to
the east of Port Moresby, are described by a missionary
who knew them well as most industrious farmers :
every morning men, women, and children go to work
in the fields and return only at nightfall. "They have
a rule, to which they strictly adhere all the year round,
of working for two days and resting the third." 4 The
1 Some observers use ambiguous Tribes of South-east Australia, Lon-
language, when referring to the don, 1904, pp. 714 sqq. On Aus-
length four, five, six days, etc. tralian barter see G. C. Wheeler,
of market weeks. Throughout The Tribe and Intertribal Relations
this chapter I have regularly trans- in Australia, London, 1910, pp. 93-
lated by "every fifth day" such 97.
expressions as "tous les cinq jours," 3 A. C. Haddon, Head-hunters,
"de cinq en cinq jours," "alle fiinf Black, White, and Brown, London,
Tage," "einmal in fiinf Tagen," 1901, pp. 265, 269.
and "einmaal in de vijf dagen." 4 James Chalmers, in Chalmers
2 A. W. Howitt, The Native and Gill, Work and Adventure in
104 REST DAYS
Kerepunu rest day may have originated in a practice,
now lapsed, of holding a market every third day, since
there is evidence for the former existence of markets
in the neighbourhood of Port Moresby. 1 The natives
of Patipi and Roembatti, on the MacCluer Gulf in the
extreme western part of Dutch New Guinea, have
markets, which as a rule recur every fifth day. 2 In
the Gazelle Peninsula, Bismarck Archipelago, markets
at which the women buy and sell take place every third
day. 3 In New Caledonia, where each tribe is divided
into sea-folk and bush-folk, the former being cocoa-tree
planters and fishers, the latter being yam-growers,
there is said to be a lively market conducted each week
by the women. "The ladies [sic] of each section of
the tribe sit down in rows with their produce before
them, and barter is transacted in dances, with a good
deal of manoeuvring." 4 In some parts of old Poly-
nesia markets were held at stated periods, but, unfor-
tunately, no record seems to have been made of the
time intervals in popular use. 5
Markets take place in Celebes, 6 Sumatra, and Java,
usually every fifth day, but sometimes at shorter inter-
New Guinea, London, 1885, pp. landsckaardrijkskundiggenootschap,
40 sq. Compare M. Krieger, Neu- 1904, second series, xxi, 644.
Guinea, Berlin, 1899, p. 335. Sir 3 J. Graf Pfeil, Studien und
William MacGregor observes that Beobachtungen aus der Siidsee,
the institution of the Sabbath, as a Brunswick, 1899, p. 116.
day of rest, "is not quite new to 4 J. J. Atkinson, in Folk-lore,
the Papuan, but . . . the Papuan 1903, xiv, 245. Mr. Atkinson in
Sabbath of Keapara [Kerepunu] this passage probably has in mind
exceeds the Hebrew in dividing the European week introduced into
time into weeks of three days. The New Caledonia by the French,
great majority of the tribes, how- 6 Basil Thomson, The Fijians,
ever, do not seem to have a regu- London, 1908, p. 288; Wilkes,
lar week, and work or rest ca- Narrative of the U.S. Exploring
priciously" (British New Guinea, Expedition, iii, 300 sq. (Somu-
London, 1897, pp. 44 sq.). See Somu, in the Fiji group); J. J.
above, p. 26 n. 1 Jarves, History of the Hawaiian or
1 C. G. Seligmann, The Mela- Sandwich Islands? Boston, 1843,
nesians of British New Guinea, Cam- p. 77.
bridge, 1910, pp. 48, 94 (Koita). 6 P. Sarasin and F. Sarasin,
2 J. S. A. van Dissel, in Tijd- Reisen in Celebes, Wiesbaden, 1905,
schrift van het koninklijk neder- ii, 324.
MARKET DAYS 105
vals. Among the Batta of Sumatra a market occurs
every third, fourth, or fifth day, according to a regular
succession and in a designated place, until the round
of participating villages has been made. At Batta
markets all hostilities are suspended, and it is sometimes
required that every man who carries a musket in the
market place shall put a green bough in the muzzle,
as a token of his peaceful intentions. 1 The Javanese
pasar, or market week, consisted of five days lege
(or manis), pahing (or pa), pon, wage, and kaliwon.
The principal use of the Javanese week was to deter-
mine the markets or fairs held in the important towns. 2
The pasar spread from Java to the island of Bali,
where it is employed in combination with the week of
seven days. 3 In the Malay Peninsula, side by side
with the ordinary seven-day week, there is a popular
cycle of five days used for the determination of lucky
and unlucky days. The names of the days are those of
Hindu divinities, but the cycle itself is probably of
Javanese origin. 4
Markets recurring every fifth day are found among
the Indo-Chinese, as in Tonkin 5 and the various Lao
states of northern Siam. 6 Among the Shan all work
1 W. Marsden, The History of day a mixed colour, and focus, or
Sumatra,* London, i8n,pp. 379 sq.; centre. See John Crawfurd, His-
F. Junghuhn, Die Battaldnder auf tory of the Indian Archipelago,
Sumatra, Berlin, 1847, pp. 227 sq.; Edinburgh, 1820, i, 289 sq. These
J. v. Brenner, Besuch bei den Kan- fancies must be explained by the
nibalen Sumatras, Wiirzburg, 1894, colour symbolism which so fre-
p. 291 ; B. Hagen, in Petermanns quently attaches to the cardinal
Mitteilungen, 1883, xxix, 173 (Batta points.
of Lake Toba) ; W. Volz, Nord- 3 R. Friederich, in Journal of the
Sumatra, Berlin, 1909, i, 267. Royal Asiatic Society, 1878, n.s.,
2 Sir T. S. Raffles, History of x, 88 sqq.; compare ibid., 1876,
Java, 2 London, 1830, i, 531; P. J. n.s., viii, 198.
Veth, Java, 2 Haarlem, 1907, iv, 4 W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic,
296 sqq. The names of the days in London, 1900, pp. 545 sq.
the pasar were considered to bear a 6 J. Richard, Histoire naturelle,
mystical relation to colours and the civile, et politique du Tonquin, Paris,
divisions of the horizon, the first 1778, i, 151.
day (white, east), the second (red, 6 Lillian J. Curtis, The Laos of
south), the third (yellow, west), the North Siam, Philadelphia, 1903,
fourth (black, north), and the fifth p. 132.
106 REST DAYS
ceases on market days, except what is necessarily
involved in buying and selling. Every native tries
to be in his own village when the market takes place
there, not only to trade but also to exchange news and
gossip. The centre of the village becomes a forum,
where every subject is fully discussed. 1 "The Shan
is a born trader, and the great feature of life in this
country is the bazaar, which is held on every fifth day
at all the chief villages of the states." 2 Another
traveller tells us that on the first three of the five days
constituting the Shan market week small bazaars are
held in different parts of the country, but no trading
takes place anywhere on the fourth day. 3 The Khasi
of Assam have a great market every eighth day, from
which circumstance they have developed a week of
eight days. "The reason of the eight-day week is
because the markets are usually held every eighth day.
The names of the days of the week are not those of
planets, but of places where the principal markets
are held, or used to be held, in the Khasi and Jaintia
hills." 4 It may be regarded as certain that this eight-
day period arose from a doubling of an earlier four-day
cycle, as has been the case among certain African
peoples. Even now in the War country, lying to the
south of the Khasi and Jaintia District, markets are
usually held every fourth day. 5
Throughout the central parts of Africa, from the
British and German possessions in the east to those of
the Portuguese and French in the west, there are nu-
merous market places where neighbouring communities
1 Mrs. Leslie Milne, The Shans of the Anthropological Institute,
at Home, London, 1910, p. 132. 1897, xxvi, 19.
2 C. E. D. Black, in Geographical 4 P. R. T. Gurdon, The Khasis,
Journal, 1895, vi, 30 (Shan of London, 1907, p. 189. According
Upper Burma). Compare also to C. Becker (Anthropos, 1909, iv,
Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the 894) the market is called jeu duh.
Shan States, edited by Scott and 6 Gurdon, op. cit., p. 190. Com-
Hardiman, Rangoon, 1900, pt. i, pare Sir J. D. Hooker (Himalayan
vol. i, p. 536 (Shan of Lower Journals, London, 1891, p. 487),
Burma). who attributes the fourth-day mar-
3 R. G. Woodthorpe, in Journal kets to the Khasi generally.
MARKET DAYS 107
meet regularly to exchange their productions. Usually
every fourth day is a market day, observed with the
cessation of ordinary occupations, and by the Wanika
of British East Africa, according to missionary testi-
mony, with feasting and carousing. 1 In the same part
of British East Africa the Wagiriama possess a week of
four days, each with its name. 2 Among the Akikuyu,
who employ thirty-day months beginning with new
moon, there is a week of four days, the latter being
indicated by the names of the different markets held
on them. Each market is held on the fourth day of
the cycle, and no two markets in the same neighbour-
hood occur on the same day. 3 The Akikuyu market
places in populous districts are often not more than
seven miles apart. The site chosen for a market is
usually a hill-top, sufficiently open and accessible to
accommodate the natives who may assemble there to
the number of four or five thousand. All in all the
market forms a very important feature of Akikuyu
society. 4 The Wachaga of German East Africa, who
dwell on the southern slopes of mighty Kilimanjaro,
the highest mountain in Africa, hold a daily market,
so ordered as to recur every third day in one of three
neighbouring settlements. The days of this three-
day week are separately named, and hence the Wachaga
always know where the market is to be held. The
markets, which are said to be very ancient, are visited
only by women. 5 The English missionary, David
1 J. L. Krapf, Travels, Researches, that the Wagiriama observe jumwa
and Missionary Labours, London, both as a market day and a rest
1867, pp. 82, 365. day. Similarly, the name of the
2 W. W. A. Fitzgerald, Travels in weekly market held at Antana-
the Coastlands of British East Africa, narivo, the capital of Madagascar,
London, 1898, p. in, quoting is zoma, or Friday (Antananarivo
W. E. Taylor, Vocabulary of the Annual, 1889-1892, iv, 372).
Giryama Language, London, 1897. 3 K. R. Dundas, in Man, 1909,
The name applied to the first ix, 38.
day of the week jumwa is 4 W. S. Routledge and Katherine
directly taken from the Arabic Routledge, With a Prehistoric Peo-
al jum'a (Friday, the Mohamme- pie, London, 1910, pp. 105 sq.
dan day of worship), from which 5 A Widenmann, in Petermanns
circumstance it may be concluded Mitteilungen, 1899, Erganzungsheft,
io8 REST DAYS
Livingstone, has described the markets held by the
Manyema, who occupy part of the territory between
Lake Tanganyika and the Congo. As many as three
thousand people, chiefly women, may sometimes be
seen in the chitoka, or market place. The market is
held to-day in one locality, to-morrow in another, and
so on till the cycle of four days is completed. 1 Among
the natives on the lower Lomami River, near the equa-
tor, markets are described as recurring every third
day, 2 and among the Bakuba (Bushongo), who occupy
the valley of the Sankuru River, every fifth day. 3 The
Baluba, whose territory lies between the Sankuru and
Kasai rivers, hold important markets. A German
explorer who was present at one of them described the
market place as neutral ground, where even members
of hostile tribes might appear without danger. The
chief, in whose honour this primitive fair was held,
kept peace and order, assisted by half a dozen stalwart
guards carrying broad axes on their shoulders. When-
ever any dispute arose, these policemen were imme-
diately on the scene of action. 4 The four-day market
week is found among various tribes, such as the Bayaka, 5
Bambala, 6 and Bahuana, 7 occupying the region between
the Loange and Kwango rivers, tributaries of the
Kasai.
no. 129, p. 69; M. Merker, ibid., 4 H. v. Wissmann, My Second
1902, no. 138, p. 25; G. Volkens, Journey through Equatorial Africa,
Der Kilimandscharo, Berlin, 1897, London, 1891, p. 125.
p. 239; B. Gutmann, "Feldbau- B Torday and Joyce, in Journal
sitten und Wachstumsbrauche der of the Anthropological Institute,
Wadschagga," Zeitschrift fur Eth- 1906, xxxvi, 44. Each day of the
nologie, 1913, xlv, 502. Bayaka week bears a name, the
1 Horace Waller, editor, The last being pungu, or market day
Last Journals of David Livingstone (ibid., p. 47).
in Central Africa, New York, 1875, 6 Torday and Joyce, ibid., 1905,
p. 367. See also V. L. Cameron, xxxv, 413. The Bambala year
Across Africa, London, 1877, ii, 3. consists of thirteen lunar months,
2 E. Torday, in Mitteilungen der each divided into seven weeks of
anthropologischen Gesellschaft in four days, the last day of each week
Wien, 1911, xli, 192. being pika, or market day.
3 H. v. Wissmann et aL, Im 1 Torday and Joyce, ibid., 1906,
Innern Afrikas, 3 Leipzig, 1891, xxxvi, 291.
p. 252.
MARKET DAYS 109
The market week (lumingu 1 ), four days in length,
appears to be generally diffused among the peoples on
both banks of the lower Congo. A missionary, long
resident in this part of Africa, tells us that here the
week consists of four days, named nkandu, konzo,
nkenge, and nsona in the cataract region. The markets
are designated after the days of the week and the towns
near which they are held. For instance, the Manyama
market is known as nsona a Manyama, because it is
held on nsona day. The great trade markets, however,
usually occur every eighth day, for the convenience of
traders and to insure a good attendance. At the
smaller, local markets, held every fourth day, exchanges
are limited to goats, fowls, and foodstuffs. Every
one wants to increase the attendance at these local
markets ; hence it may be declared a penal offence for
a woman to go to her farm on the market day. "In
some parts another day of the short week is declared
to be an unlucky day for farming operations. This is
no lingering trace of the idea of a Sabbath, for the day
fixed is most arbitrary, two adjacent villages avoid-
ing different days, while in others the women will work
any day." 2 An early explorer, referring to the cus-
tom of observing nsona as a rest day, declares that
"on this day they refrain from working in the planta-
tions, under the superstitious notion that the crop
would fail ; they, however, perform any other kind of
work." 3 In Loango, where the natives have a month
of twenty-eight days reckoned from new moon, seven
weeks are counted to the month. The four weekdays
are called, respectively, nsona, nduka, ntono, and
nsilu, the first being regarded as a day of rest. 4 An-
other writer describes sona (nsona) as the men's day
1 Sir H. H. Johnston, The River 4 E. Pechiiel-Loesche, in Die
Congo, London, 1884, p. 455. Loango-Expedition, dritte Abteilung,
2 H. H. Bentley, Pioneering on erste Halfte, Stuttgart, 1907, p. 139.
the Congo, London, 1900, i, 399 sq. See also A. Bastian, Die deutsche
3 J. K. Tuckey, Narrative of an Expedition an der Loango- Kiiste,
Expedition to explore the River Jena, 1874, i, 209.
Zaire, New York, 1818, p. 238.
i io REST DAYS
of rest, but the women's market day, when the latter
buy and sell in the market. At this time it is regarded
as wrong for husbands to have intercourse with their
wives. On another day, ntona (ntono), the women
may not plant, and burials take place. 1 With these
accounts it is interesting to compare the statement of
an old writer, according to whom the Loango negroes
"never work above three days in succession ; the fourth
is for them a general rest day, during which they are
not allowed to engage in tillage. The men, who re-
pose habitually, work still less on that day. They
walk, sport, and go to market. The missionaries have
been unable to procure from the negroes any expla-
nation of this period of four days, which forms their
week." 2
The market is a well-developed institution among
the semi-civilized negroes about the Gulf of Guinea.
In this part of Africa the Sabbatarian character of the
market day is specially pronounced. Markets every
third, fifth, eighth, or tenth day have been noticed
in the interior districts of Kamerun. Market days
are observed with abstinence from work of every sort,
including farm labour; indeed, says an observer,
they may be considered the Sundays of the native
1 R. E. Dennett, At the Back of 1687, p. 24. For further details
the Black Man's Mind, London, relating to markets and market
1906, pp. 64, 140; idem, Notes on weeks among the lower Congo
the Folklore of the Fjort, London, peoples see Herbert Ward, Five
1898, pp. 8, 137. Among the lower Years with the Congo Cannibals,
Congo tribes, generally, the dead London, 1890, p. 59; J. H. Weeks,
are buried only on two of the four Congo Life and Folklore, London,
weekdays (J. H. Weeks, in Folk- 1911, pp. 227 sq.; H. Nipperdey,
lore, 1909, xx, 6 1 ; compare idem, "Zur Bedeutung der Wochen-
Among the Primitive Bakongo, Phil- Markte am Congo," Revue coloniale
adelphia, 1914, p. 249). international, 1887, v, 205-214;
2 L. B. Proyart, Histoire de A. Thonnar, Essai sur le systeme
Loango, Kakongo, et autres royaumes economique des primitifs d'apres
d'Afrique, Paris, 1776, p. 116. A les populations de I'etat independant
still earlier reference to this Afri- du Congo, Brussels, 1901, pp. 82-
can Sabbath will be found in G. 114; A. Cureau, Les societes primi-
A. Cavazzi da Montecuccoli, Is- tives de I'Afrique equatoriale, Paris,
torica descrizione de' tre regni Congo, 1912, pp. 295 sqq.
Matamba, et Angola, Bologna,
MARKET DAYS in
In Old Calabar the week consists of eight
days. The weekdays are named from peculiar rites
of the egbo secret society performed thereon, or from
the markets which occur on them. That the week
here originally contained four days only is obvious
from the circumstance that the names applied to the
second group of four days are the same as those which
the four days of the first group receive, except for being
preceded in each case by the adjective " little." 2
The Ibo and other tribes of the Niger Delta (Southern
Nigeria) observe eke, the first day of the four-day week,
as the appropriate time for abstaining from toilsome
labour and for marketing. Natives are forbidden
to climb a cocoanut tree on eke? Among the Asaba
people, a branch of the powerful Ibo tribe, there seems
not to be any communal regulation respecting the
observance of eke : "the days for rest, for public market,
and for work vary with the individual according to the
particular governing juju [fetish] as determined by the
medicine man." 4 Among the Edo, or Bini, of Southern
Nigeria the week is everywhere a recognized period
of time. It is, properly speaking, four days in length,
this being the interval between the two markets in^any
1 F. Hutter, Wanderungen und Exploring Voyage, London, 1856,
Forschungen im Nord-Hinterland p. 316). An early missionary to
von Kamerun, Brunswick, 1902, west Africa observes that among
pp. 266, 360; compare Preuss, in the Ibo, Igara, and other Nigerian
Deutsches Kolonialblatt, 1898, ix, tribes the week consists of four days,
456. viz. eke, a market day and unlucky
2 W. F. Daniell, in Journal of the for the ata, or chief, to see strangers,
Ethnological Society, 1848, i, 222 sq. ede, a lucky or good day, afo, an
3 A. G. Leonard, The Lower unlucky day, and uko, a lucky day.
Niger and its Tribes, London, 1906, Besides these days of good and
PP- 395> 375 > William Allen, evil omen the Mohammedans have
Narrative of the Expedition sent by made the natives believe that Fri-
Her Majesty's Government to the day is an unlucky day to under-
River Niger in 184.1, London, 1848, take any work of importance
i> 398; N. W. Thomas, Anthropo- (S. A. Crowther, in The Church
logical Report on the Ibo-speaking Missionary Intelligencer, 1865, n.s.,
Peoples of Nigeria, London, 1913, i, i, 55).
127. Seven weeks are here counted 4 J. Parkinson, in Journal of the
to the month of twenty-eight Anthropological Institute, 1906,
days (W. F. Baikie, Narrative of an xxxvi, 317.
ii2 REST DAYS
given locality. Occasionally, as in the Ida District,
markets are found every eighth day, "but the names
applied to the intervening days clearly show that a
four-day week was the primary one." One of the four
days is commonly known as the rest day, when men
often stay at home though farm work is not absolutely
forbidden and when women go to the market. 1
The excellent studies of the late Lieutenant-Colonel
Ellis, supplemented by later accounts, furnish a con-
siderable amount of information regarding the rest
days observed by the Yoruba-speaking and Ewe-
speaking peoples of the Slave Coast and by the Tshi-
speaking and Ga-speaking peoples of the Gold Coast.
Some of these African Sabbaths are kept only by fami-
lies or by the inhabitants of a single locality. Among
the Tshi, for example, on the day sacred to the tutelary
deity of a family all its members wear white or light-
coloured clothes, mark themselves with white clay, and
abstain from work. The day sacred to the tutelary
deity of a town is celebrated in the same manner. 2
1 N. W. Thomas, Anthropologi- to enable them, as every person is
cal Report on the Edo-speaking obliged to celebrate this festival"
Peoples of Nigeria, London, 1910, (David van Nyendael, "A Descrip-
i, 1 8 sq. That the eight-day week tion of Rio Formosa, or the River
of the Bini has developed from a of Benin," in W. Bosman, A New
more ancient four-day week is also and Accurate Description of the
the opinion of R. E. Dennett (At Coast of Guinea, London, 1705,
the Back of the Black Man's Mind, p. 456).
pp. 214, 364). The Bini week has 2 A. B. Ellis, The Tshi-speaking
been stated to consist of five days Peoples, London, 1887, pp. 89, 93.
(Cyril Punch, quoted in H. L. On the Gold Coast white seems to
Roth, Great Benin, Halifax [Eng.], be the special colour appropriate for
1903, p. 52 n. 1 ), but this is cer- holy or festive days. On a man's
tainly an error. An early traveller birthday, which is sacred to his kra,
among the Bini declares that their or tenanting spirit, he abstains
Sabbath "happens every fifth day, from work, puts white clay on his
which is very solemnly observed face, and dons a white cloth
by the great with the slaughter (ibid., p. 156). On the Tshi holy
of cows, sheep, and goats, whilst days, observed by families or pri-
the commonalty kill dogs, cats, and vate persons only, see further Bos-
chickens, or whatever their money man, op. cit., p. 153; W. Hutton,
will reach to. And of whatever A Voyage to Africa, London, 1821,
is killed, large portions are distrib- p. 166 n* (Ashanti) ; E. Perre-
uted to the necessitous, in order gaux, Chez les Achanti, Neuchatel,
MARKET DAYS 113
In this part of west Africa particular days of the week
are assigned to the gods worshipped by different classes
of the community. The Yoruba keep the first day of
the week as a general Sabbath, but each of the remain-
ing days is a period of rest only for the followers of
the god to which it is dedicated. 1 For the adherents
of a god to violate the day sacred to him is a serious
offence, punishable with a fine, and in former times,
with death. The notion prevails that, if the honour
of the god is not vindicated by his followers, all will
suffer for the neglect. "The Sabbath-breaker is, in
fact, killed by the other worshippers of the god from
motives of self-protection." 2 While the first day of the
Tshi week is a general Sabbath, bna-da, the second day,
is the fishermen's holiday. Any fisherman who ven-
tures forth on this day is fined and his catch thrown
into the sea. In former times he would have been put
to death. 3 The fifth day, iffi-da, of the Tshi week is
the regular rest day for farmers. 4 Similarly, among
the Ewe every tribal deity, with one exception, has a
sacred day, observed by his followers to the accom-
paniment of much eating, drinking, and dancing. 5
All these west African peoples divide the month into
weeks and keep one weekday as a general Sabbath.
Among the Yoruba, whose week is said to consist of
five days, 6 the first day (ako-ojo) "is considered un-
1906, p. 272; J. Parkinson, in 4 Ellis, Tshi-speaking Peoples*
Man, 1911, xi, 2 (Appolonians). pp. 220, 304.
1 Ellis, The Y or uba-s peaking Peo- 6 Idem, The Ewe-speaking Peo-
ples, London, 1894, p. 145. pies, London, 1890, pp. 41, 79.
2 Ibid., p. 149. 6 Ako-ojo, "First Day"; ojo-
3 Ellis, Tshi-speaking Peoples, awo, " Day of the Secret," sacred
pp. 220 sq. Beecham declares that to Ifa ; ojo-ogun, " Day of Ogun,"
were the fishermen to go out to sea the god of iron ; ojo-shango, " Day
on this day, "the fetish would be of Shango," the god of thunder;
angry and spoil their fishing" ojo-obatala, "Obatala's Day." A
(Ashantee and the Gold Coast, holy day is called ose (se, to dis-
London, 1841, p. 186). Compare allow), and because each holy day
also Bosman, op. cit., p. 160; recurs weekly, ose has also come
Miss Mary H. Kingsley, West to mean the week of five days
African Studies, 2 London, 1901, p. (Ellis, Yoruba-speaking Peoples,
145. pp. 145 sq.}. According to an
i
REST DAYS
lucky, and no business of importance is ever under-
taken on it. On this day all the temples are swept
out, and water, for the use of the gods, is brought in
procession." 1 The Ewe of Dahomey are said to ob-
serve every fourth day as a holiday, "not kept holy,
but devoted to the will of the working classes ; in short,
a sort of remuneration to the slave for the three days'
labour." 2 Weeks of four, five, and six days, usually
ending in a general market day which is also a rest day,
have been observed in various parts of Togo. 3
earlier writer osse (ose), or holy day,
comes from a word signifying
silence. This expression was trans-
ferred to the Christian Sunday,
with which the Yoruba became
familiar after the year 1822, when
many of them emigrated to Sierra
Leone (Miss Sarah Tucker, Ab-
beokuta; or Sunrise within the
Tropics? London, 1853, p. 37
n*). Whether the Yoruba week
really consists of five days seems
open to grave doubt. Bishop
James Johnson, a native African,
substantiates Ellis by giving the
names of the five days (quoted in
Dennett, At the Back of the Black
Mans Mind, p. 245), and also
speaks of "every fifth day, which
is the close of a week of oses, or
worshipping days" (ibid., p. 251).
But Mr. Dennett himself, in his
latest work, cites three native
informants in favour of a week of
four days. Moreover, Shango's
(Jakuta's) Day is described by Mr.
Dennett as the Yoruba "Sunday."
The first day of the week is Ogun's
Day, the other weekdays follow-
ing in the order given by Ellis.
It is to be noted that Ogun's Day,
the first, fifth, ninth, and so on, is
the regular market day. The god
Ogun in some parts of Yorubaland
has taken the place of another
deity, Odudua, whom Mr. Dennett
found to be universally regarded
as the originator of the system of
weekdays (Nigerian Studies, Lon-
don, 1910, pp. 72-80). A five-day
week has been noted among the
Jebu of southeastern Yorubaland
(D'Avezac, in Memoires de la
societe ethnologique, 1845, ii, pt. ii,
81), and Burton refers to the same
institution among the Egba, by
whom the terminal day is called
ose (R. F. Burton, Abeokuta and the
Camaroons Mountains, London,
1863, i, 205).
1 Ellis, Y or uba-s peaking Peoples,
P- H5-
2 F. E. Forbes, Dahomey and the
Dahomans, London, 1851, p. 181.
For every fourth day as the mar-
ket day at Whydah see P. E. Isert,
Neue Reise nach Guinea und den
Caribdischen Inseln in Amerika,
Berlin, 1790, p. 132. Bosman (op.
cit., p. 352) makes the Fida
(Whyda) market recur every third
day. A great market every sixth
day is said to be held in the district
about the town of Ardrah (Allada),
Dahomey (John Adams, Remarks
on the Country extending from Cape
Palmas to the River Congo, London,
1823, p. 88).
3 Four-day weeks : R. Plehn,
Beitrdge zur Folkerkunde des Togo-
Gebietes, Halle, 1898, p. 9; J.
Spieth, Die Ewe-Stdmme, Berlin,
1906, p. 3 1 1 (Ho) ; five-day weeks :
R. Plehn, in Mitteilungen von
Forschungsreisenden und Gelehrten
aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten,
MARKET DAYS
The week of seven days is not unknown to the Guinea
negroes. Its presence in the hinterland of Togo is
clearly due to the influence of Islam ; in fact, the mar-
ket day here recurs on Friday, the Mohammedan
Sabbath. 1 Some of the Ewe peoples nearer the Slave
Coast also use a seven-day cycle, which appears to
have been borrowed by them from their neighbours,
the Tshi tribes of the Gold Coast. 2 The Tshi keep
adjwo-da, the first day of their seven-day week, as a
general Sabbath. 3 The Ga of the Gold Coast, who also
have the seven-day week, observe the first day as a
communal Sabbath. Its name, dsu, means "puri-
fication," a term which seems also to have been used
as a title of the moon. 4
1896, ix, 123; six-day weeks: von
Zech, ibid., 1898, xi, 128; Chris-
taller, in Mitteilungen der geogra-
phischen Gesellschaft fur Thuringen,
1890, viii, 121 ; L. Conradt, in
Petermanns Mitteilungen, 1896, xlii,
15 (Adele). The Akposo, who
have a week of five days, keep the
fifth day sacred to their creator-god,
Uwolowo, whose name it bears.
The other gods are worshipped on
the second day of the week, a time
when no work may be done (F.
Miiller, in Anthropos, 1907, ii, 201).
1 A. Mischlich, in Mitteilungen
von Forschungsreisenden und Gelehr-
ten aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten,
1896, ix, 83.
2 E. Henrici, Lehrbuch der Ephe-
Sprache, Stuttgart, 1891, pp. 59 sq.
The names of the seven weekdays
in the Ewe and Tshi languages are
almost identical. See the lists in
Henrici, op. cit., pp. 59 sq., and
Ellis, Tshi-speaking Peoples, p. 218.
The Ewe have borrowed from the
Tshi not only the names of the
weekdays but also the custom of
giving to private persons names
derived from those of the weekdays
(Henrici, op. cit., p. 60).
3 Ellis, Y or uba-s peaking Peoples,
pp. 146 sq.; idem, Tshi-speaking
Peoples, p. 218.
4 Ellis, Yoruba-speaking Peoples,
p. 147. For the names of the Ga
weekdays, see ibid., p. 143. An
early writer, whose observations
were confined to Akkra on the Gold
Coast, speaks of haughbah (ho-gba)
as one ot the two sacred days of the
seven-day week. It is compulsory
for all ranks and sexes, but is espe-
cially observed by the women.
"Under the supposition that some
malign potency pervades the sur-
rounding country on this day, more
particularly directed against the
pregnant women, their daily avo-
cations are restricted within the
walls of their domiciles, no egress
being tolerated either for the pur-
poses of travelling or other exterior
occupations. Not many people,
therefore, presume to violate these
injunctions by issuing forth early in
the forenoon, and none resort to
their familiar haunts in the markets
or public thoroughfares, until the
prohibition has been withdrawn,
by the well-known sign of a declin-
ing sun" (W. F. Daniell, in Journal
of the Ethnological Society, 1856, iv,
23).
n6
REST DAYS
Although market weeks of varying length have been
reported among some of the other Sudanese negroes
south of the Niger, 1 it is clear that the Mohammedan
advance in this region has brought with it the week of
seven days and the custom of holding a market every
seventh day. 2 Similarly, in other parts of Africa, as
on the lower Congo, the European week of seven days
has taken the place of the shorter native cycles, with
the result that, where earlier the market came every
fourth day, at present it recurs every seventh day. 3
These facts make it practically certain that the seven-
day week, found among the Ewe, Tshi, and Ga, was
originally taken over from Islam. Lieutenant-Colonel
Ellis, indeed, regarded it as a purely African insti-
tution, 4 but he himself pointed out that Mohammedan
states were formed to the north of the forest country
1 R. A. Freeman, Travels and
Life in Ashanti and Jdman, West-
minster, 1898, p. 176 (market
every fourth day among the Ga-
man, a Tshi-speaking people) ;
M. Monnier, France noire, Paris,
1894, p. 209 (market every fifth
day in Kong) ; L. G. Binger, Du
Niger au golfe de Guinee, Paris,
1892, i, 370 (market every fifth day
among the Diulasu) ; L. Desplagnes,
Le plateau central nigerien, Paris,
1907, p. 377 (market every sixth
day among the Habbe). A market
every ninth day is described as
being held at Bocqua in Northern
Nigeria (R. Lander and J. Lander,
Journal of an Expedition to explore
the Course and Termination of the
Niger, London, 1832, iii, 73, 82).
For a general account of markets
among the Nigerian peoples see A.
Hovelacque, Les negres de I'Afrique
sus-equatoriale, Paris, 1889, pp. 355
sqq.
2 A. Mischlich, Lehrbuch der
hausanischen Sprache, Berlin, 1902,
p. 127 (Hausa) ; J. S. Gallieni,
Voyage au Soudan franqais, Haut-
Niger, et pays de Segou, Paris, 1885,
p. 436 (Segu) ; R. Gallic, Travels
through Central Africa to Timbuctoo,
London, 1830, i, 323, 346 (Man-
dingo) ; A. Hacquard, Monographie
de Tombouctou, Paris, 1900, p. 55;
O. Lenz, Timbuktu, Leipzig, 1884, i,
154. The Bali market is said to be
held every seventh day, i.e., on Fri-
day. Here, again, Mohammedan
influence is to be suspected (F. Hut-
ter, Wanderungen und Forschungen
im Nord-Hinterland von Kamerun,
Brunswick, 1902, p. 361).
3 C. van Overbergh, Les May-
ombe, Brussels, 1907,, p. 353 ; A. de
Calonne Beaufaict, Etudes Bakango,
Liege, 1912, p. 79; J. H. Weeks,
Among the Primitive Bakongo, Phil-
adelphia, 1914, pp. 248 sq. Some of
the Galla tribes have been so far
affected by Arabic influences as to
hold their markets every seventh
day (P. Paulitsche, Ethnographie
Nordost-Afrikas. Die materielle
Kultur der Dandkil, Galla, und
Somal, Berlin, 1893, p. 313).
4 Ellis, Tshi-speaking Peoples,
p. 217. So also B. Cruickshank
(Eighteen Years on the Gold Coast of
Africa, London, 1853, ii, 189 sq.}.
MARKET DAYS 117
of the Gold Coast as early as the eleventh century A.D.,
and that the period since then has been long enough
to allow the new mode of reckoning to become known
throughout the entire country. The Tshi, who seem
to have moved from the Sudan interior to the coast
districts at no very remote period, doubtless took with
them their septenary mode of reckoning, which, as we
have seen, they communicated to the Ewe and the Ga.
The market, with its accompaniments, the market
week and the market day, has thus been shown to
prevail throughout equatorial Africa, on the Guinea
coast, and in the basin of the Niger and the Nile. 1
The wide diffusion of this institution is doubtless in
large measure the outcome of borrowing from tribe to
tribe. A market, however, tends naturally to . come
into existence whenever neighbouring peoples have
goods to exchange and the willingness to exchange
them. The market place is originally in some neutral
district on the tribal borders, where all hostilities must
cease. In process of time the increasing friendliness
between communities makes it possible for the market
to be held in the different settlements according to a
definite and well-known sequence. With the regular
market is inseparably connected the market week, the
length of which varies from three to ten days. The
shorter intervals of three, four, and five days reflect
the simple economy of primitive life, since the market
must recur with sufficient frequency to permit neigh-
bouring communities, who keep on hand no large stocks
of food and other necessaries, to obtain them from one
another. The longer cycles of six, eight, and ten days,
much less common, apparently arise by doubling the
1 No evidence for markets has River, Belgian Congo) ; J. Maes, in
been discovered among the Bantu Anthropos, 1913, viii, 357 (Mon-
tribes south of the Zambesi. The gelima, on the Aruwimi River, Bel-
absence of markets elsewhere is gian Congo) ; A. J. N. Tremearne,
sometimes specifically noted by our The Tailed Head-hunters of Nigeria,
authorities; see F. Thonner, Im London, 1912, p. 245 (Kagoro and
afrikanischen Urwald, Berlin, 1898, other pagan tribes of Northern
p. 33 (Mondunga, on the Dua Nigeria).
n8 REST DAYS
earlier period, whenever it is desired to hold a great
market for the produce of a wide area. That the
recurrence of the market determines the length of the
week is made obvious by the practice of naming the
several weekdays from the markets that take place on
them. 1 Thus there comes into existence a definite
and recognized cycle of time, shorter than the lunar
month and in origin unconnected with it, a true peri-
odic week, running continuously from month to month
and from year to year.
A market day is necessarily more or less of a rest
day. Those who attend a market must abandon for
the time being their usual occupations. It is also a
holiday, aifording opportunities for social intercourse,
sports, and amusements of all sorts. Such seems to
be the character of most of the market days found in
southeastern Asia and the adjacent islands, as well as
in some parts of Africa. On the lower Congo, however,
the market day sometimes bears an unlucky character,
and a distinct tendency exists to attach various re-
strictions to it. In the Guinea region the market day
often, though not always, coincides with the general
day of rest observed by an entire community. As
such it may be consecrated to a god. The same prac-
tice, we have seen, prevails in respect to the holy days
of individuals, families, towns, and particular classes
of the community. This extensive development of
Sabbatarian regulations appears to be peculiar to west
Africa.
The market week and the market day, though appar-
ently unknown to the ruder tribes of America, formed
a feature of those more advanced civilizations which
were developed in the valleys of Mexico and Central
America, and on the lofty tablelands of Colombia arid
Peru. Each important pueblo of Mexico held a market
(tianguiztli) every fifth day, it being provided that
neighbouring pueblos should observe different days,
in order to secure a regular sequence of markets. All
1 Above, pp. 107, 109, in.
MARKET DAYS
119
adults were obliged by law to resort to the tianguiztli,
and severe penalties were imposed on those who ex-
changed commodities anywhere but at the appointed
place and at the appointed time. The market days of
old Mexico thus appear as compulsory holidays, when
the people relinquished their usual occupations and
assembled in great numbers, not only to buy and sell,
but also, as we are told, to engage in games and festiv-
ities. 1 The five-day market week also existed in
various parts of Central America. 2 In the Colombian
Andes, among the Muysca (Chibcha) of Bogota, who
had attained a degree of civilization far in advance of
that reached by the other aborigines of Colombia,
regular markets took place, apparently every third
day. 3 If the Muysca week consisted only of three
days, that of the Peruvians extended to ten days, end-
ing in a holiday which was also a market day. The
institution was attributed to the Apu-Ccapac-Ynca,
whose beneficent activities gained for him the appella-
tion of Pachacutec, "Reformer of the World." To
J D. F. S. Clavigero, Storia
antica del Messico, Cesena, 1780, ii,
62, 163 ; B. de Sahagim, Historia
general de las cosas de Nueva
Espana, transl. Jourdanet and
Simeon, Paris, 1880, pp. Ixxiii,
290 sq.; A. von Humboldt, Vues
des Cordilleresy Paris, 1816, ii, 340;
G. Briihl, Die Culturvolker Alt-
Amerikas y New York, 1887, p. 234;
J. Kohler, "Das Recht der Az-
teken," Zeitschrift fur vergleichende
Rechtswissenschaft, 1895, xi, 75, 87;
E. J. Payne, History of the New
World called America, Oxford, 1892-
1899, ii, 359. A greater market or
fair was sometimes held once in
every cycle of twenty days, that is,
on every fourth ordinary market
day. Eighteen market months
were included in the solar year.
How such "months'* may arise is
illustrated by a Yoruba mode of
computing time by periods of
seventeen days, that being the
number of days in four market
weeks, when the first and fifth days
of each cycle are counted in (Ellis,
Yoruba-speaking Peoples, pp. 149
sq.).
2 Brasseur de Bourbourg, His-
toire des nations civilisees du
Mexique et de FAmerique-Centrale,
Paris, 1858, iii, 464.
3 A. von Humboldt, op. cit. y i,
340, ii, 227; Briihl, op. cit. t p. 239;
compare p. 326, where a market
every fourth day is stated to have
been held in Turmeque. In Soro-
toca the market took place every
eighth day (ibid.). But authentic
details concerning the Chibcha
calendar are not to be had. Ac-
cording to von Humboldt (op. cit.,
ii, 244) ten of the Muysca "weeks"
formed a lunation called suna.
The suna began, not at new moon,
but at full moon.
120 REST DAYS
an old chronicler, himself of Ynca blood, this Peruvian
Sabbath appeared to be devised solely for utilitarian
ends. "In order that labour might not be so continu-
ous as to become oppressive, the Ynca ordained that
there should be three holidays every month, in which
the people should divert themselves with various games.
He also commanded that there should be three fairs
every month, when the labourers in the field should
come to market and hear anything that the Ynca or his
council might have ordained. They called these
assemblies catu, and they took place on the holidays." 1
Considering how frequently eight and ten-day weeks
have arisen by doubling periods of four and five days,
respectively, it seems not unlikely that the Peruvian
decade grew out of an earlier market week of five days
similar to the Mexican institution.
Another important instance of the market week and
the market day in archaic civilizations is that of the
Roman nundinum and nundincz? The nundinal cycle,
1 Garcilasso de la Vega, Comen- romaines,v\\, 120-122; E. Huschke,
tarios reales de los Incas, pt. i, bk. vi, Das alte romische Jahr und seine
ch. 35; C. R. Markham, First Part Tage, Breslau, 1869, pp. 288-312;
of the Royal Commentaries of the R. Flex, Die dlteste Monatseintei-
Yncas, London, 1871, ii, 206. It lung der Romer, Jena, 1880, pp. 16
is an old error, for which Garcilasso sqq. ; and especially P. Huvelin,
de la Vega (op. cit., pt. i, bk. ii, Essai historique sur le droit des
ch. 23) appears to be responsible, marches et des foires, Paris, 1897,
that the Peruvians had a week of pp. 84-99. According to the
seven days, following the successive Roman system of inclusive reckon-
phases of the moon. But Acosta, ing which may be compared
who visited Peru soon after the with that sometimes employed in
Spanish conquest of that country, is Yorubaland (p. 119 n. 1 ) the
better informed and says clearly market fell on the ninth day, as
that neither Peruvians nor Mexi- the derivation of the word nundince
cans had a seven-day week (J. de (from novem) indicates. It has
Acosta,HistoriadelasIndias,bk.vi, been suggested by H. Diels (Sibyl-
ch. 3 ; The Natural and Moral His- linische Blatter, Berlin, 1890, p. 41
tory of the Indies, edited by C. R. ft. 1 ) that the choice of the ninth
Markham, London, 1880, ii, 396). day was influenced by the symbol-
2 See G. E. Marindin, in Smith, ism attaching to the number nine
Wayte, and Marindin's Dictionary among the Romans, as among other
of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3 Indo-European peoples; compare
ii, 251 sq.; M. Besnier, in Darem- the Nones, or the ninth day before
berg, Saglio, and Pottier's Diction- the Ides, and the nine days' festi-
naire des antiquites grecques et vals (novemdiales feriee}. Prob-
MARKET DAYS 121
jight days in length, began (or closed) with a day
when the peasants came to Rome for purposes of
trade. The nundinal day, however, was more than a
market day. At this time the ordinary occupa-
tions were interrupted ; schoolchildren enjoyed a holi-
day ; and sumptuous banquets celebrated the festive
occasion.
The origin and early development of the nundincz
are veiled in obscurity. The institution enjoyed a
high antiquity, tradition ascribing it now to Romulus,
now to Servius Tullius, and now to the first consuls. 1
In historic times the nundince present themselves as
the market days and holidays of a laborious peasantry ;
it may be questioned, indeed, whether they were ever
anything else. It seems probable that, at least from
the middle of the fifth century B.C., the nundince could
be used for the settlement of judicial business, as is
indicated by a passage in the Twelve Tables referring
to them. 2 Furthermore, there is reason to believe
that, until the passage of the Hortensian law in 287 B.C.,
the nundinal days were available for meetings of the
public assemblies. This unfortunate piece of legis-
lation effectually debarred the rural voters from partic-
ipation in law-making on the very occasions when the
largest number of them would naturally be in the capi-
tal city. 3 The classical writers were uncertain whether
ably, however, the Roman market (Tabula iii, 6, in Gellius, Noctes
week consisted originally of four Attica, xx, i, 49).
days only, and later was doubled 3 Macrobius, op. cit., i, 16, 30;
to form the cycle employed in Pliny, Historia naturalis, xviii, 3.
historic times. The nundinal days I accept the view that the lex Hor-
were not named, but were indicated tensia converted the nundince into
in the calendars by letters of the dies fasti non comitiales, that is,
alphabet from A to H. forbade comitial meetings on these
1 Macrobius, Saturnalia, i, 16, dates, though allowing judicial busi-
32 sq.; Dionysius Halicarnassensis, ness to be done thereon. For this
Antiquitates Romanes, ii, 28, vii, 58 ; explanation see G. W. Botsford,
compare Varro, De re rustica, ii, The Roman Assemblies, New York,
praef. Cicero attributes the in- 1909, pp. 139,315,471 ; Marquardt-
stitution of markets to Numa (De Wissowa, Romische Staatsverwal-
republica, ii, 14, 27). tung, Leipzig, 1885, iii, 2 290. It has
2 Tertiis nundinis partis secanto been maintained that toward the
122 REST DAYS
the nundince should properly be included among the
ferial days, that is, among the days which belonged to
gods and not to men. 1 In Varro's time the pontiffs
held that the nundince were not feriatce, but many
writers, cited by Macrobius, maintained the contrary
opinion. The nundince certainly never became public
festivals in the technical sense, though they were dedi-
cated to Jupiter, to whom the Flaminica Dialis sacri-
ficed a bull on their recurrence. 2 In this consecration
to a deity the nundince further resembled some of the
west African market days.
The Roman nundinum and nundince have much
historic interest. The eight-day cycle, as a periodic
week unconnected with the lunar month, presented a
close parallel to the Jewish week of seven days. Further
parallels existed in the absence of names for the week-
days, Roman and Jewish, and in the special observ-
ance of one day of each week by abstention from the
customary occupations. It is scarcely surprising to
find, therefore, that the Roman nundince, together with
the/m^, contributed to the development of the Chris-
tian Sunday. The earliest Sunday law is the brief
edict of Constantine (321 A.D.), enacting that magis-
trates, city people, and artisans were to rest "on the
venerable day of the Sun." 3 This legislation by
Constantine probably bore no relation to Christianity ;
it appears, on the contrary, that the emperor, in his
capacity of Pontifex Maximus, was only adding the
day of the Sun, the worship of which was then firmly
end of the republican period the bili die Solis quiescant (Codex
prohibition referred to was no Justinianus, iii, 12, 3). The pro-
longer observed (P. Groebe, in hibition of holding court on Sun-
Drumann-Groebe, Geschichte Roms, z day was relaxed by Constantine in
Berlin, 1899-1906, iii, 779). the same year so far as to permit
1 Above, pp. 94 sqq. such legal proceedings as the eman-
2 Macrobius, op. cit., i, 16, 30. cipation and manumission of slaves
According to Plutarch (Quezstiones to take place at this time (Codex
Romance, 42), the nundince were Theodosianus, ii, 8, i). Eusebius
consecrated to Saturn. (Vita Constantini, iv, 18-20) tells
3 Omnes judices urbanceque plebes us that the emperor forbade all
et cunctarum artium officia venera- military exercises on Sunday.
I
(
MARKET DAYS 123
stablished in the Roman Empire, to the other ferial
days of the sacred calendar. Much significance must
be attached to that part of Constantine's edict permit-
ting agricultural labour on Sunday, "since it frequently
happens that the sowing of grain and planting of vines
cannot be so advantageously performed on any other
day." In this particular the emperor was following
the long-accepted rule as to the observance of the
ferice in country districts. 1 Another regulation of
Constantine's, expressly appointing markets to be held
on Sunday, doubtless represents an effort to assimilate
the old Roman nundinal day to the new weekly Sun-
day. 2 With the final triumph of Christianity over
paganism the old j 'erics and the nundince were abolished,
Sunday, with the other Christian festivals, being sub-
stituted in their place. 3
1 Above, p. 98. 3 The date of the obsolescence of
2 Provisione etiam pietatis su[a]e the nundince is not definitely known.
nundinas die Solis perpeti anno The fasti Philocali (354 A.D.)
constituit (Corpus inscriptionum marks the days of the seven-day
Latinarum, iii, no. 4121, p. 523). week by the letters A-G, and gives
Markets were held on Sunday in side by side the old nundinal
many parts of Europe until late in letters A-H (Corpus inscriptionum
the Middle Ages, in spite of numer- Latinarum, i, pt. i, 2 256 sqq.).
ous edicts, ecclesiastical and civil, This arrangement had probably
forbidding the practice (Huvelin, become a feature of the state
op. cit. f pp. 46, 156^.). calendar since the Sunday legisla-
tion of Constantine.
CHAPTER V
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS
THERE is good reason for believing that among many
primitive peoples the moon, rather than the sun, the
planets, or any of the constellations, first excited the
imagination and aroused feelings of superstitious awe
or of religious veneration. The worship of the moon
is widespread ; and in various mythologies that lumi-
nary, often conceived as masculine, plays the most
important part among the heavenly bodies. 1 "That
the moon has certain effects on moist substances, that
they are apparently subject to her influences, that, for
instance, increase and decrease in ebb and flow develop
periodically and parallel with the moon's phases, all
this is well known to the inhabitants of seashores and
seafaring people. Likewise physicians are well aware
that she affects the humores of sick people, and that
the fever-days revolve parallel with the moon's course.
Physical scholars know that the life of animals and
plants depends upon the moon, and experimentalists
know that she influences marrow and brain, eggs and
the sediments of wine in casks and jugs, that she excites
the minds of people who sleep in full moonlight, and
1 P. Ehrenreich, Die allgemeine Roscher, Uber Selene und Ver-
Mythologie und ihre ethnologischen wandtes, Leipzig, 1890, pp. 1-16,
Grundlagen, Leipzig, 1910, pp. and Nachtrdge, Leipzig, 1895, pp. i-
114-127; S. Arrhenius, "tfberden 19. For the ideas of civilized chil-
Ursprung des Gestirnkultus," dren relating to the moon see J. W.
Sfitntia, 1911, ix, pp. 424 sqq., Slaughter, "The Moon in Child-
Sir J. G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, hood and Folklore," American
Osiris, 3 London, 1914, ii, 140-150; Journal of Psychology, 1902, xiii,
E. J. Payne, History of the New 294-318; G. S. Hall, "Note on
World called America, Oxford, Moon Fancies," ibid., 1903, xiv,
1892-1899, i, 547 sqq.; W. H. .88-91.
124
..
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 125
that she affects (?) linen clothes which are exposed to
it. Peasants know how the moon acts upon fields of
cucumbers, melons, cotton, etc., and even make the
times for the various kinds of sowing, planting, and
grafting, and for the covering of the cattle depend
upon the course of the moon. Lastly, astronomers
know that meteorologic occurrences depend upon the
various phases through which the moon passes in her
revolutions." 1 This succinct statement, by a learned
Mohammedan of the eleventh century, of the reasons
which led early philosophers to attach a special signif-
icance to the moon, may well serve as a text for elucida-
tion and illustration.
It is a widespread and ancient belief, found among
peoples in all stages of culture, that the lunar rays are
deleterious, especially to little children. Some Brazil-
ian Indians, for instance, believe that the moon makes
babies ill ; hence mothers, immediately after delivery,
will hide themselves and their infants in the thickest
part of the forest, in order to prevent the moonlight
from falling on them. 2 Yao boys, when undergoing
initiation into manhood, are told to avoid not only a
menstruating woman but also the sight of the new moon,
since both are dangerous. 3 Greek nurses took special
pains never to show their charges to the moon. 4 In
1 Albiruni, India, translated by ganda mother believes that her child
C. E. Sachau, London, 1888, i, 346 will grow strong and healthy, if it
sq. Compare the fine passage in is shown the first new moon after
Apuleius (Metamorphoses, xi, i). its birth (idem, The Baganda,
2 Spix and Martius, Reise in London, 1911, p. 58). Similarly,
Brasilien, Munich, 1823-1831, i, it is said that in the island of Kiri-
381, iii, 1 1 86. wina, the largest of the Trobriand
3 K. Weule, Native Life in East group to the east of New Guinea, a
Africa, London, 1909, p. 188. On mother always presents her child
the other hand, children of the to the first new moon after its
Bageshu, a Bantu people of British birth, in order that it may grow
East Africa, are expected to take fast and talk soon (George Brown,
part in new-moon dances, since it is Melanesians and Polynesians, Lon-
thought that they derive benefit don, 1910, p. 37).
from the moon (J. Roscoe, in 4 Plutarch, Qu&stiones convivi-
Journal of the Anthropological In- ales, iii, 10, 3.
stitute, 1909, xxxix, 193). A Ba-
126 REST DAYS
modern Germany it is an injunction of peasant folk-
lore never to point out the moon to young children. 1
Moonshine may also be deemed injurious to adults.
Certain Queensland aborigines will not stare long at
the moon, for by doing so a heavy rain is likely to result. 2
The Bushmen of South Africa avoid looking at the
moon. 3 The Chukchi of northeastern Siberia believe
that a man who looks too long at the moon may be
bereft of his wits, or may be carried away altogether.
The moon, think the Chukchi, has a lasso with which he
catches the unlucky starer. 4 When an English traveller
in Arabia was noticed gazing at the radiant desert
moon, the Bedouin said, "Look not so fixedly on him;
it is not wholesome." 5 The same idea seems to have
found expression in one of the most beautiful of the
Psalms : "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the
moon by night." 6 Two New Testament passages
illustrate the belief that epilepsy may be caused by the
lunar rays. 7 Similarly, the Babylonians believed that
Sin, the moon-god, could provoke leprosy, dropsy,
and, above all, fever, which, like the lunar phases,
has its periods of growth, culmination, and decline. 8
Plutarch refers to the assumed fact that those who
sleep abroad under the beams of the moon are not
easily wakened, but seem stupid and senseless. 9 This
fear of the noxious influences of moonshine may be
traced from classical times to the present day. French
peasants consider it dangerous to sleep in the moon-
1 A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Folks- 6 C. M. Doughty, Travels in
aberglaube der Gegenwart? edited by Arabia Deserta, Cambridge, 1888,
E. H. Meyer, Berlin, 1900, p. 391 i, 444.
(Oldenburg). 6 Psalms, cxxi, 6. Another Bib-
2 W. E. Roth, North Queensland Heal passage (Hosea, v, 7), possibly
Ethnography, Bulletin, 1903, no. 5, referring to the moon, is most
p. 7. obscure.
3 W. H. I. Bleek and Lucy C. 7 Matthew, iv, 24, xvii, 15. ^ The
Lloyd, Specimens of Bushman Folk- Greek verb used here is creA.r7viao/>uu.
lore, London, 1911, pp. 67 sq. 8 E. Combe, Histoire du culte de
4 W. Bogoras, in Memoirs of the Sin en Babylonie et en Assyrie,
American Museum of Natural His- Paris, 1908, pp. 36 sqq.
tory, xi, 306. 9 Qucestiones conviviales, iii, 10, 3.
a
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 127
ight. 1 German peasants subject themselves to a long
list of restrictions : no work, and especially no spin-
ning, must be done in the moonlight, for the spun yarn
would not hold, or the spinner would be spinning for
her child a hangman's halter or the linen of a shroud ;
no waggon or tools should be left exposed to the moon-
shine, for they would soon be broken ; washed clothes
should not be hung out to dry in the moonlight, for he
who wore them would become moonstruck ; one who
sews by moonlight sews his own graveclothes ; water
from a spring or well in which the moon shines should
not be drunk, since this would be to absorb the evil
influences of the moon ; one should never look long
at the moon, under penalty of getting a goitre ; the
lunar rays should never penetrate into the kitchen,
or otherwise the maid would break many dishes. 2
So numerous, indeed, are these lunar superstitions
that throughout Germany Monday, as partaking of
the qualities of the moon from which it is named, is
generally an unlucky day. 3 In various parts of the
United States the belief prevails that it is dangerous
to sleep with the moon shining on the face. If fish
are exposed to moonshine, they will spoil. 4
Various peoples have noticed that monthly peri-
odicity belongs to women and moon alike, and, join-
ing these observations, have supposed that the lunar
changes cause menstruation, or that the first appear-
ance of the menses is the result of defloration induced
by the moon. As a natural outcome of such beliefs
the moon is credited with the power of impregnation
and is associated with childbirth. 5 Such superstitions
1 P. Sebillot, Le folk-lore de 4 Fanny D. Bergen, Current
France, Paris, 1904-1907, i, 45. Superstitions, Boston, 1896, p.
2 Wuttke-Meyer, op. cit., p. 301. 120.
3 Ibid., p. 59. In Voigtland, B For the belief that impregna-
central Germany, the assaults of tion can be accomplished by the
witches are especially looked for and sun, see Sir J. G. Frazer, Balder
dreaded on Mondays (R. Eisel, the Beautiful, London, 1913, i,
Sagenbuch des Voigtlandes, Gera, 74 sqq.
1871, p. 210).
128 REST DAYS
are widespread. In the native legends of the Euahlayi,
a tribe of New South Wales, Bahloo, the moon, is a
very important personage. He it is who creates the
girl babies. Euahlayi mothers are very careful not to
look at the full moon or to let their babies do so, for
an attack of thrush, an affection common in newly
born children, would be the result. Bahloo has also
a spiteful way of punishing a woman who stares at
him by sending to her the dreaded twins. 1 In Saibai
and Yam, two islands in Torres Straits, it is believed
that the moon, in the shape of a man, embraces a girl
when she is full-grown, and that the halo around the
moon represents her blood. This story is also told on
the neighbouring coast of British New Guinea. 2 Here,
as well as in some parts of Melanesia, natives ascribe
menstruation to the moon. 3 The Tuhoe, a Maori
tribe, believe that the moon is the permanent (or true)
husband of all women, because the latter menstruate
when the moon appears. " According to the knowledge
of our ancestors and elders," say the Tuhoe, "the
marriage of man and wife is a matter of no moment,
the moon is the real husband." And the women them-
selves, on seeing the new moon, say, "The tane (hus-
band) of all women in the world has appeared." 4 The
Jaluo, a tribe of Nilotic stock living in the district of
Kavirondo, British East Africa, ascribe menstruation
to the influence of the new moon and believe that
women can become pregnant only at this time. 5 The
1 Mrs. K. L. Parker, The Euahlayi xxxii, 303 sq. (Sinaugolo of the
Tribe, London, 1905, pp. 50, 64, 98. Rigo District) ; E. Beardmore,
2 C. G. Seligmann, in Reports of ibid., 1890, xix, 460 (Mawatta of
the Cambridge Anthropological Ex- the Daudai District) ; A. Baessler,
pedition to Torres Straits, v, 206 sq. Neue Sudsee Bilder, Berlin, 1900,
The word for moon, ganumi, is p. 383 (Santa Cruz Islands),
sometimes used as a synonym of 4 E. Best, "Notes on Procreation
nanamud, the proper expression for among the Maori People of New
menstrual blood (ibid.). Compare Zealand," Journal of the Polynesian
A. Hunt, in Journal of the Anthro- Society, 1905, xiv, 210 sq.
pological Institute, 1899, xxviii, u. 5 C. W. Hobley, in Journal of
3 C. G. Seligmann, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 1903,
the Anthropological Institute, 1902, xxxiii, 358.
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 129
Uganda suppose that menstruation is caused by the
moon, either when new or waning. 1 Similar beliefs
are entertained by the negroes of the western Sudan,
who commonly give to this female function the name
of the moon. 2 The Greenlanders believe that the
moon, conceived as a masculine divinity, possesses the
power of impregnation ; as a consequence young girls
are afraid to look long at this luminary, "imagining
they might get a child by the bargain." 3 The Lengua
Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco associate the moon
with marriage. Young girls will address the moon
with the appeal "Moon, moon, I want to get married." 4
Indian women in Peru are said to have prayed to the
moon to give them an easy delivery. 5 In old Egyptian
belief the moon was supposed to make women fruitful,
and the waxing moon to develop the germ in the
mother's body. 6 The association of human fertility
with the moon may perhaps explain why Ishtar, the
mother-goddess of Babylonian mythology, came to
be regarded as a daughter of Sin, the moon-god. In
this capacity she presided over childbirth. 7 The Ira-
nian peoples supposed that the moon contained a bull
whose semen was another form of haoma, the intoxicat-
ing decoction of the moon-plant. 8 The position of
1 J. Roscoe, t'&tV/., 1901, xxxi, 121. Osiris, a god often identified with
2 Thomas Winterbottom, An the moon, was supposed to be
Account of the Native Africans in the born of a virgin cow impregnated
Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone, by a divine influence emanating
London, 1803, ii, 206 (Mandingo, from the moon (Plutarch, Qucss-
Susu, etc.). tiones conviviales, viii, I, 3 ; idem,
3 Hans Egede, A Description of De hide et Osiride, 43). On the
Greenland, London, 1745, p. 205. discovery of an Apis the Egyptians
4 W. B. Grubb, An Unknown kept a holiday (Herodotus, iii, 28).
People in an Unknown Land, 1 W. H. Roscher, "Aphrodite,"
London, 1911, p. 139. in Roscher's Ausfilhrliches Lexikon
6 P. J. de Arriaga, Extirpacion der griechischen und romischen
de la idolatria del Piru, Lima, 1621, Mythologie, i, coll. 390 sq.
p. 32. 8 L. H. Gray, in Spiegel Me-
6 H. Brugsch, Religion und^ My- morial Volume, Bombay, 1908,
thologie der alien Agypter, Leipzig, pp. 160-168. Raka and Sinivali,
1885, p. 335. The sacred bull two of the Vedic goddesses identi-
Apis, which the Egyptians re- fied with the lunar phases, seem to
garded as an image of the soul of have been associated with child-
130 REST DAYS
Hera as a goddess of marriage and childbirth has been
explained by the assumption that she played an ancient
role as a moon-deity. Artemis, with whom Selene,
or the divine personification of the moon, came to
be identified, was regularly associated with childbirth.
The Roman Juno was connected with the moon as
Juno-Lucina, it being held that she aided women
during confinement. Ancient mythologers found it
easy to identify the Italian Diana, originally a goddess
who looked after women in their time of peril, with
the Greek Artemis, who had the same functions. 1
Modern French folklore still contains references to
the idea that the moon can cause impregnation ; in
Basse-Bretagne, for example, it is thought that a young
woman who exposes her person to the lunar rays may
conceive and bear a child. 2
The influence of the moon on the tides furnishes
another element of mystery in the lunar phenomena.
So primitive a people as the Andaman Islanders habit-
ually refer tidal movements to the action of the moon ;
and the same connection between things lunar and
things terrestrial has been recognized by other peoples,
such as the Hawaiians, the ancient Babylonians, and
the modern Chinese. 3 That changes in the moon are
associated with weather changes as cause and effect
is an ancient superstition not yet obsolete in rural
communities. 4
Comparative studies have shown how very general
birth (Rig-Veda, i\, 32-, transl. H. 337; Sheldon Dibble, History of the
Grassmann, i, 41). Sandwich Islands, Lahainaluna,
1 Plutarch, Quastiones conviviales, 1843, p. 109; N. B. Dennys, The
iiiy 10, 3 ; idem, Qucestiones Ro- Folk-lore of China, London, 1876,
mancz, 77. See further, W. H. p. 118; M. Jastrow, The Religion
Roscher, Juno und Hera, Leipzig, of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston,
1875, PP- 40-59; idem, Uber Selene 1898, p. 358.
und Verwandtes, pp. 55-61 ; idem, 4 H. A. Hazen, "The Origin and
"Mondgottin," Ausfiihrliches Lexi- Value of Weather Lore," Journal of
con der griechischen und romischen American Folk-lore, 1900, xiii, 191-
Mythologie, ii, coll. 3150 sqq. 198; E. G. Dexter, Weather In-
2 Sebillot, op. cit., i, 41. fluences, New York, 1904, pp. 10-
3 E. H. Man, in Journal of the 26.
Anthropological Institute, 1883, xii,
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 131
is the belief that the moon exerts great influence on
growth, particularly on the growth of vegetation, and
on all human life and activity. 1 For this opinion there
appear to have been two principal causes. Observa-
tion showed that moisture in the air and soil are favour-
able to organic growth and, further, that atmospheric
moisture is greater at night than during the day. It
was reasonable to suppose the moon itself to be the
source of dew and moisture, especially when it was
also noticed that the dew is heaviest on cloudless
nights. These beliefs were entertained by the ancients,
who attributed heat to the sun, but moisture to the
moon. 2
Another fallacy has had an even greater part in
generating these lunar fancies. The apparent growth
of the moon in the first half of the lunation is asso-
ciated with the ripening of plants and fruits, the increase
of animals, and hence with the prosperous issue of
human undertakings. From this doctrine of lunar
sympathy have arisen numerous rules for the guidance
of shepherds and husbandmen, which had a wide prev-
alence in antiquity and still survive with almost un-
diminished vigour among the superstitious classes of
to-day. 3
The doctrine of lunar sympathy, by a natural ex-
tension, may also account for the common belief that
"the same things which grow with the waxing, dwindle
with the waning, moon," 4 and therefore that all busi-
1 Payne, op. cit., i, 547 sq. ; possibly embody a like conception
Sir E. B. Tylor, Primitive Culture,* is Deuteronomy, xxxiii, 14: "and
London, 1903, i, 130; W. G. Black, for the precious things put forth by
Folk-medicine, London, 1883, pp. the moon/' See W. von Baudissin,
124 sqq.; A. E. Crawley, "Dew," Jahve et Moloch, Leipzig, 1874, p. 24.
Hastings's Encyclopedia of Religion 3 For many illustrations see
and Ethics, ^,.698-701. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris? ii,
2 Roscher, Uber Selene und Ver- 131 sqq.; J. Grimm, Teutonic
wandtes, pp. 49 sqq., 61-67. The Mythology, London, 1883, ii, 708-
New Zealanders believed that it 716.
was in the night that everything 4 Gellius, Noctes Attica, xx, 8 :
grew (R. Taylor, Te Ika A Maui, Eadem autem ipsa, quce crescente
London, 1855, p. 175). The single luna gliscunt, deficiente contra
Old Testament passage which may defiunt.
132 REST DAYS
ness done in the latter half of a lunation is doomed to
failure. The Toda appear to regard the first half of
the month as the auspicious time for their numerous
ceremonies. "I met with no case," says Dr. Rivers,
"in which any ceremony was appointed for the period
of the full moon or for the second half of the moon's
period." 1 The Andaman Islanders abstain, from work
during the first few evenings of the third quarter of
the moon. 2 The Buriat are said never to undertake
anything of importance between the full and the new
moon. 3 The Tatars, according to the account of an
Italian friar who in the thirteenth century made an
adventurous journey to Mongolia, began any new
enterprise "at new moon, or when the moon is full." 4
The Mandingo paid great attention to the changes of
the moon and thought it "very unlucky to begin a
journey or any other work of consequence in the last
quarter." 5 Of the Sudanese negroes, generally, it
is said that they are much influenced in their under-
takings by the appearance of the new moon. For
instance, a journey which has been decided upon dur-
ing the last quarter of the moon is always postponed
until the new moon. No chief would presume to lead
out his tribesmen on a war party before the appearance
of the crescent. 6 The Nandi celebrate their very
important circumcision festival, as well as all mar-
riage ceremonies, during the waxing moon, but per-
form their mourning rites during the waning moon. 7
The Hova and other tribes of Madagascar regard the
waning of the moon as "an unfavourable time for any
1 TheTodas,London, 1906, p. 411. R. Hakluyt, The Principal Naviga-
2 E. H. Man, in Journal of the tions, Traffiques, and Discoveries of
Anthropological Institute, 1883, xii, the English Nation, i, 141 sq.
152 sq. It is also said of the An- (Glasgow reprint, 1903-1905).
damanese that they do no work, 8 Mungo Park, Travels in the
except what is noiseless, between Interior Districts of Africa, London,
dawn and sunrise (ibid.). 1816, i, 266.
3 Peter Dobell, Travels in Kam- 6 L. G. Binger, Du Niger au
tchatka and Siberia, London, 1830, golfede Guinee, Paris, 1892, ii, 116.
ii, 1 6. 7 A. C. Hollis, The Nandi, Ox-
4 Joannes de Piano Carpini, in ford, 1908, pp. 52, 60, 71.
H
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 133
important undertaking." 1 Similar beliefs were enter-
tained by the early Germans, who, according to Caesar,
despaired of victory if they engaged in battle before
the new moon. 2 Tacitus, with fuller knowledge, de-
clares that the Germans considered the new moon and
the full moon as the most auspicious seasons for begin-
ning any enterprise. 3 This superstition seems still to
linger in some districts of Germany, where it is com-
monly held that any work begun when the moon is on
the increase is sure to succeed, and that the full moon
brings everything to perfection ; whereas business
undertaken during the waning moon is doomed to
failure. 4 A like belief was that of the Scottish High-
landers, to whom the moon in her increase, full growth,
and wane was "the emblem of a rising, flourishing, and
declining fortune. At the last period of her revolution
they carefully avoid to engage in any business of im-
portance ; but the first and the middle they seize with
avidity, presaging the most auspicious issue to their
undertakings." 5 On the other hand the people of
1 J. Sibree, "Malagasy Folk-lore
and Popular Superstitions," Folk-
lore Record, 1879, ii, 32.
2 De bello Gallico, i, 50.
3 Germania, 1 1 . The rule of
the Spartans never to march out to
war before the full moon (Herodo-
tus, vi, 106; Pausanias, i, 28, 4)
prevented them from sending aid
to the Athenians at the time of the
battle of Marathon. Though the
Spartans always knew how to
make use of their religious scruples,
during their festivals they really
did ostentatiously abstain from
expeditions which might have been
profitable to them. See A. Holm,
History of Greece, London, 1895, ii,
26, referring to Thucydides, iv, 5,
v, 75-
4 Kuhn and Schwartz, Nord-
deutsche Sagen, Mdrchen, und Ge-
brduche, Leipzig, 1848, p. 457.
5 The Rev. John Grant, in Sir
John Sinclair's The Statistical Ac-
count of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1794,
xii, 457. See also Charles Rogers,
Familiar Illustrations of Scottish
Character? London, 1865, p. 172
(as to Orkney). In the Calendar
of Coligny, the most important of
the Celtic inscriptions of ancient
Gaul, the lunation is divided into
two parts by the full moon, and
nearly all the important activities
of the month are crowded into the
first fortnight, apparently because
of the ill luck associated with a
waning moon. See Sir John Rhys,
"The Coligny Calendar," Proceed-
ings of the British Academy, 1909-
1910, pp. 221, 265. It has been
pointed out that most of the Greek
festivals known to us fell in the
first half of the month, and espe-
cially on the twelfth day. "Zu-
grunde liegt die weit verbreitete
Vorstellung, dass alles, was gedei-
134 REST DAYS
Thermia (Kythnos), one of the Cyclades, believe that
you should never do any work, if you can help it, on
the days preceding full moon, while for grafting, plant-
ing, cutting trees, and bleaching clothes those days are
best which follow the full moon. 1 And an English
antiquarian of the seventeenth century declares that,
according to the rules of astrology, "it is not good to
undertake any business of importance in the new of
the moon ; and not better just at the full of the moon ;
but worst of all in an eclipse." 2
Eclipses of the moon are sometimes considered un-
favourable for work, and may also be accompanied by
fasting and other forms of abstinence. During such
times of uncanny and terrifying darkness it is thought
to be wise to avoid every sort of activity, as well as
the consumption of food which may be tainted with
mysterious evil. 3 Among the Wasania, a tribe of
British East Africa, no cohabitation takes place during
an eclipse. 4 Lunar and solar eclipses are among the
phenomena which require a Naga community to de-
clare a genna and give up its ordinary occupations. 5
When the Toda know that an eclipse is about to occur,
they abstain from meat and drink ; when it is over,
they have a feast and eat a special food prepared on
all ceremonial occasions. 6 In southern India it is a
common custom, when an eclipse occurs, for the people
to retire into their houses and remain behind closed
doors. "The time is in all respects inauspicious, and
no work begun or completed during this period can
meet with success ; indeed, so great is the dread, that
hen und zunehmen soli, wahrend to eclipses, generally, see R. Lasch,
des zunehmenden Mondes vorge- " Die Finsternisse in der Mythologie
nommen werden soil" (M. P. Nils- und im religiosen Brauch der
son in Archiv fur Religionswissen- Volker," Archivfur Religionswissen-
schaft, 1911, xiv, 441 sq.). schaft, 1900, Hi, 97-152.
1 J. T. Bent, The Cyclades, Lon- 4 W. E. H. Barrett, in Journal
don, 1885, p. 438. of the Anthropological Institute,
2 John Aubrey, Remaines of 1911, xli, 35.
Gentilisme and Judaisme, edited by 5 Hodson, Ndga Tribes, pp. 166
J. Britten, London, 1881, p. 85. sq. See above, pp. 50 sq.
3 On the superstitions attaching 6 Rivers, op. cit., pp. 580, 592.
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 135
o one would think of initiating any important work
at this time." 1 The natives of northern India are
said to consider it a great crime to partake of food,
drink water, or answer the calls of nature during an
eclipse. 2 Such a period is considered most unlucky for
commencing any business of importance. A pregnant
woman will do no work during an eclipse, as otherwise
her child would be deformed. Among high-caste
Hindus no food which has been in the house during
an eclipse of the sun or the moon may be eaten. It
must be given away, and all earthen vessels in use in
the house at the time must be broken. 3 The Chinese
formerly observed lunar eclipses by a general suspen-
sion of business. 4 The fatal delay which led to the
destruction of the Athenian fleet and army before
Syracuse was the result of a lunar eclipse, as interpreted
by the soothsayers and the incompetent, superstitious
Nicias. 5 Among the Jews there were formerly many
who abstained from food on the day of an eclipse of the
moon, a portent which they regarded as evil. 6 This
belief, as has been noted, prevailed in England at least
as late as the seventeenth century. 7
1 Madras Weekly Mail, I5th 4 John Barrow, Travels in China,
October, 1908, quoted by Edgar London, 1804, p. 287.
Thurston, Omens and Superstitions 6 Thucydides, vii, 50 ; Plutarch,
of Southern India, London and Nicias, 23.
Leipzig, 1912, p. 44. 6 J. Buxtorf, Synagoga Judaica, 3
2 R. G. Chaube, "Some of the Basel, 1680, p. 477: Defectum luncs
Most Popular Beliefs and Super- pro pessimo habent signo, quod
stitions of the Hindus of North- aliquid mali et inauspicati ab
ern India/* Journal of the Anthro- hostibus et inimicis suis portendat.
pological Society of Bombay, v, Ideo ejusmodi die animas vulgo
326. jejunio affligunt et ab hostibus suis
3 W. Crooke, The Popular Reli- a Deo defendi postulant.
gion and Folk-lore of Northern 7 Above, p. 134. During a solar
India, 2 Westminster, 1896, i, eclipse Swabian peasants totally
21 sqq. ; compare idem, Natives of abandon their usual occupations
Northern India, London, 1907, and shut up their cattle in the
p. 203. See also H. G. Rose, stalls (A. Birlinger, Folksthum-
" Hindu Pregnancy Observances in liches aus Schwaben, Freiburg-i.-
the Punjab," Journal of the Anthro- B., 1861-1862, i, 189). In Ober-
pological Institute, 1905, xxxv, Pfalz and Bohemia at such a time
277 sq. it is believed to be dangerous to
136 REST DAYS
Various peoples have supposed that the moon, dur-
ing the period of her invisibility, descends to the under-
world. This conception has played a noteworthy part
in generating superstitions concerning tabooed and
unlucky days. The Akamba, a tribe of British East
Africa, believe that on the day which completes the
month no child is born and no domestic animal gives
birth. One of the Akamba clans is called mu-mwei
(mwei signifying moon), and by the members of this
clan no house may be swept on the last day of the
month. 1 The Akikuyu, a tribe related to the Akamba,
regard the moon as the sun's wife, and suppose that
when the moon comes to maturity the sun fights with
her and kills her. While she is "dead," as the natives
say, no journeys are undertaken, no sacrifices are
offered, and no sheep are killed. It is further consid-
ered that goats and sheep will not bear on the day
after the disappearance of the moon. 2 The Wagiriama
keep as Sabbaths the odd days at the end of the month,
before the appearance of the new moon. 3 Some tribes
of equatorial Africa believe that the new moon is espe-
cially ill-humoured and hungry on the day when she
emerges from darkness. "She looks down over our
country," the natives declare, "and seeks whom she
can devour, and we poor black men are very much
afraid of her on that account, and we hide ourselves
from her sight on that night." People who die be-
tween new and full moon are said to be those whom the
new moon saw at this fateful time, in spite of all the
precautions they took. 4 The missionary, David Liv-
'VJTf '
eat anything or even to go outside 3 W. W. A. Fitzgerald, Travels in
the house, unless one's mouth is the Coastlands of British East
securely covered with a cloth Africa, London, 1898, p. in, quot-
(Wuttke-Meyer, op. cit., p. 302). ing W. E. Taylor, Vocabulary of
1 C. W. Hobley, Ethnology of the Giryama Language, London,
A-Kamba and other East African 1897. The name of these rest days
Tribes, Cambridge, 1910, p. 53. jumwa is Arabic; see above,
2 W. S. Routledge and Kath- p. 107 n. z
erine Routledge, With a Pre- 4 P. B. Du Chaillu, In African
historic People, London, 1910, p. Forest and Jungle, New York, 1903,
284. pp. 96 sq.
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 137
ingstone, while sojourning at Lake Nyassa, discovered
that the natives in this region regarded the interlunium
as distinctly unlucky. On one occasion his men de-
layed an expedition till they had seen the new moon.
We must have the new moon, they said, for a lucky
starting. 1 The "dark day" of the moon was consid-
ered by the Zulu as inauspicious for engaging in battle. 2
A superstitious attitude toward the interlunium
appears to be very prevalent among the Dravidian
peoples of India. The Kanarese of Hyderabad and
Mysore do not work in the fields on the last day of
the month. If a child is born at this time, they believe
that some one 1 in the family will die. If a cow or a
buffalo has a calf at such a time, it must be sold. On
the evening before new moon no one may eat cooked
food. The new moon is consecrated to the dead. 3
The Saoria of the Rajmahal Hills, who regard Sunday
as unlucky and do not work in the fields, pay visits,
or get married on this day, observe much the same
restrictions during the period of the moon's invisi-
bility. Marriages will not be fruitful if consummated
during the dark of the moon, and in general the time
is associated with bad luck and sickness. 4 The same
belief is found elsewhere in northern India, sometimes
with beneficial results, as appears from the following
description, which applies to the district of Rohtak.
" To-day (29th November, 1883), in passing through
the Jat and Ahir villages in Rohtak, I noticed that no
work was being done at the wells or in the fields, and
that the peasants, usually so hard at work, were idling
1 Horace Waller, editor, The Last moon day, her milk, it is believed,
Journals of David Livingstone in will kill the owner (P. Kershasp,
Central Africa, New York, 1875, "Some Superstitions prevailing
p. 275. among the Canarese-speaking Peo-
2 J. Y. Gibson, The Story of the pie of Southern India," Journal of
Zulus, London, 1911, p. 175. the Anthropological Society of Bom-
3 Gengnagel, "Volksglaube und bay, vii, 84).
Wahrsagerei an der Westkiiste 4 R. B. Bainbridge, in Memoirs
Indiens," Ausland, 1891, Ixiv, of the Asiatic Society of Bengal ,
871 sq. Another observer declares 1907, ii, 50.
that if a cow calves on the new-
138 REST DAYS
in the village instead. On inquiring the reason, I
was told that to-day was the amawas, the last day of
the moon, and that on this day of the month the bul-
locks are always given a rest. The men themselves
do any work that is to be done without using the cattle,
but no one yokes his bullocks in the plough or at
the well, or, if he can help it, in the cart. I noticed
that some of the peasants were busy making thorn-
fences, or doing other light work, but no bullocks were
at work anywhere, and as there is little to be done at
this season without their help, the custom practically
gave the men a rest also, and the unusual idleness gave
the villages a sort of Sunday look. The bullocks are
given this rest once a month, on the last day of the
moon, and also on the makar kd sankrant, which comes
about January, when the sun enters into the sign of
Capricorn (makar), and on the diwdli and gordhan
(the day after the diwdli) in the middle of Kartik
(October). Except on these fifteen days it is lawful
for a man to yoke his cattle on all other days of the
year, but these particular days are strictly a Sabbath
for the cattle, and no one thinks of yoking them on
these days. If any one did, it would be a sin (pap),
and his fellows would at once stop him. There is no
such Sabbath for man, and it is not thought wrong
(pap) for a man to work on any day of the year, though,
of course, there are many holidays (teohdr), on which
little work is done." *
These superstitions relating to the dark of the moon
have not been confined to the natives of Africa and the
aborigines of India. They meet us among peoples
of archaic civilization and they survive among the
peasantry of European lands. To the Babylonians,
who paid particular attention to all lunar phenomena,
the disappearance of the moon at the end of the month
occasioned much anxiety. The day when the moon
could no longer be seen in the heavens was called the
1 J. Wilson, in Indian Antiquary, 1897, xxvi, 308 (from Punjab Notes
and Queries, 1883).
LUNA:
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 139
day of sorrow" (um bubbuli, literally, the "day of the
snatching away"). The absence of the moon was
reckoned at three days, and during this time prayers
were recited and solemn expiatory rites were prescribed,
primarily for the king, who, as the representative of
his people, had to take special care not to provoke the
gods to anger at so critical a season. We still have
one of the prayers recited by the ruler in his sanctuary
and addressed to the moon-god Sin. The thirtieth
day of the month is here described as the god's "holy
day" or "festival." The prayer concludes with an
allusion to an eclipse, from which it appears that the
Babylonians, knowing neither the cause nor nature of
such a phenomenon, supposed that, unless the gods
were pacified during the moon's temporary obscura-
tion, there would follow the more terrifying portent
of an eclipse. 1 Modern Arabs consider the last day
or last three days of the month to be unfavourable for
any sort of undertaking. 2 By the Athenians these
three days were called dcrcXti/ot, because on them the
moonlight was extinguished. They were classed with
the other unlucky days (a7ro</oaSes ypepai) of popu-
lar superstition. During the dcre\ij>oi it was neces-
sary to sacrifice to the underworld gods in order to
avoid their anger. 3 Selene at this time was supposed
1 M. Jastrow, Aspects of Reli- Dictionnaire des antiquites grecques
gious Belief and Practice in Baby- et romaines, i, 332. G. F. Schoe-
lonia and Assyria, New York, 1911, mann denies that the dcre'Aivoi were ,
pp. 214, 333 sqq.; idem, Die Reli- truly ill-omened, since there are
gion Babyloniens und Assyriens, instances of popular assemblies
Giessen, 1905-1912, i, 440, ii, being fixed for these days (Grie-
510 sqq. Compare L. W. King, chische Alterthumerf edited by J.
Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, H. Lipsius, Berlin, 1897-1902, ii,
London, 1896, pp. 5 sq. 457 w. 4 ). It would seem, how-
2 1. Goldziher, in Archiv fur ever, that the Athenians, like the
Religionswissenschaft, 1910, xiii, Romans, sometimes distinguished
44 n. 4 For the Abyssinian be- between days popularly considered
liefs see E. Littmann, ibid., 1908, unlucky and those officially recog-
xi, 314 sq. nized as such in the state calendars.
3 E. Rhode, Psyche,* Tubingen, Friday is for us a most unlucky day,
1910, i, 234 n. 1 , 269 w. 2 ; E. Caille- but, excepting Good Friday, it is
mer, in Daremberg and Saglio's not a dies non.
i 4 o REST DAYS
to descend to the underworld and the abode of shades ;
hence the moon came to be associated with Persephone. 1
The Romans do not appear to have marked the inter-
lunium or intermenstruum by any special observances.
European folklore, however, still preserves traces of
the ancient superstition, as in the Cornish belief that
a child, so unfortunate as to be born at this time, will
never live to attain the age of puberty. Hence the
saying, "No moon, no man." 2 Similar beliefs would
seem to survive in the very common idea that the thre^e
days before the new moon are especially unlucky and
likely to be attended by storms and winds. 3
We may well believe that the different appearances
of the moon were the first celestial phenomena observed
with any degree of continuous attention by primitive
man. Not only are the phases of the moon marked
by striking variations in her form and in the amount
of light she radiates, but from night to night she follows
a regular path through the sky, changing her elevation
above the horizon and appearing to occupy at her
successive phases different quarters of the heavens.
Such phenomena present elements of mystery not
found in the sun's prosaic course. A survey of the
anthropological evidence appears to indicate, as might
indeed be expected, that of the lunar phases it is particu-
larly the new moon which awakens interest and atten-
tion. The first appearance of that luminary in the
western sky after sunset is often hailed with various
1 Roscher, ffber Selene und^ Fer- 2 T. F. T. Dyer, English Folk-
wandtes, pp. 46 sqq. The inter- lore, London, 1878, p. 41 ; Thomas
lunar days were selected by the Hardy, The Return of the Native,
ancients for the celebration of the London, 1895, p. 29.
sacred marriages of the gods and 3 H. A. Hazen, in Journal of
goddesses and, particularly, of the American Folk-lore, 1900, xiii, 192.
sun and moon. At least from the American folklore contains the
time of Thales the conjunction of injunction never to kill cattle or
the two luminaries was indi- pigs, or even wild game, by the
cated by the same term crvvoSos "dark of the moon"; it is most
(coitus) which was applied to the unlucky, and the meat will come
act of procreation (ibid., pp. 76 to no good (Bergen, Current Super-
sqq.). stitions, p. 121).
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 141
ceremonial observances. The Indians of the Ucayali
River in Peru are said to greet the appearance of the new
moon with great joy. They make long speeches to her,
accompanied with vehement gesticulations, imploring
her protection and begging that she invigorate their
bodies. 1 Certain tribes of southern California, after-
wards gathered into the Mission of San Juan Capis-
trano, celebrated the new moon with dances, saying,
"As the moon dieth and cometh to life again, so we
also, having to die, will again live." 2 The Dakota
and other Plains Indians, when the moon does not
shine, " say the moon is dead ; and some call the three
last days of it the naked days. The moon's first
appearance they term its coming to life again." At
this time they stretch forth their hands toward the
moon and repeat joyful expressions. 3 The Creek and
Cherokee Indians, according to an early writer, "as-
semble and feast at the appearance of the new moon,
when they seem to be in great mirth and gladness, but,
I believe, make no offerings to that planet." 4 Similar
observances have been noted in various parts of
Africa. An old traveller recites how, at the appearance
of every new moon, the Congo negroes, "fall on their
knees, or else cry out, standing and clapping their hands,
6 So may I renew my life as thou art renewed.' ' But if
the sky was clouded, they did nothing, believing that the
moon had lost its virtue. 5 The Mandingo, on the first
appearance of the new moon, "which they look upon to
be newly created," say a short prayer. 6 The Bushmen
had their special seasons of merry-making, when the
dance was never neglected. "Dancing began with the
1 W. Smy the and F. Lowe, Nar- America? London, 1781, pp. 250,
r alive of a Journey from Lima to 252.
Para, London, 1836, p. 230. 4 W. Bartram, in Transactions
2 Father G. Boscana, "Chinig- of the American Ethnological Society,
chinich," in Life in California by an 1853, iii, pt. i, 26.
American, New York, 1846, pp. 5 Merolla, "Voyage to Congo,"
298 sq. in Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels,
3 Jonathan Carver, Travels xvi, 273.
through the Interior Parts of North 6 Mungo Park, op. cit., i, 265.
142 REST DAYS
new moon, as an expression of joy that the dark nights
had ended, and was continued at the full moon, that they
might avail themselves of the delicious coolness after the
heat of the day, and the brilliancy of the moonlight in
this portion of the southern hemisphere." l
It has been suggested that in many cases the cere-
monies at new moon have a magical aspect. On this
theory the first appearance of the luminary, with its
promise of growth and increase, would be greeted
with rites intended to renew and strengthen, by means
of sympathetic magic, the life of man. 2 Though it is
true that in process of time ideas of a magico-religious
character may attach themselves to lunar phenomena,
and especially to new moon, there seems to be little
reason for assuming them to be original and primary.
Most of the foregoing examples, indeed, may be more
simply interpreted as a naive expression of man's
delight at the return of the moon to the world, after
an absence at once mysterious and portentous. Still
less necessary is the assumption, so commonly made,
that all lunar ceremonies are acts of worship addressed
to the moon as a divinity. Religious festivals appear
in the first instance to be fixed at new moon or full
moon because these are the two most striking periods
of the lunation and mark, respectively, the beginning
and middle of the lunar month.
1 G. W. Stow, The Native Races Turner, Samoa, p. 67; A. E. Jenks,
of South Africa, London, 1905, in Ethnological Survey Publications,
p. 112. For further examples of i, 206 (Bontoc Igorot of Luzon);
new-moon and full-moon celebra- V. Solomon, in Journal of the
tions see P. Kolben, The Present Anthropological Institute, 1902,
State of the Cape of Good Hope, xxxii, 213 (Nicobarese) ; W. Bogo-
London, 1731, i, 96 (Hottentots); ras, in Memoirs of the American
J. Bonwick, Daily Life and Origin Museum of Natural History, xi, 378
of the Tasmanians, London, 1870, (Chukchi); J. v. Klaproth, Reise
pp. 1 86 sqq.; Seligmann, Melane- in den Kaukasus und nach Georgien,
sians of British New Guinea, , p. 193 Halle, 1814, ii, 602 (Osetes) ; A.
(Koita) ; Carl Ribbe, Zzvei Jahre von Humboldt, Fues des Cordilleres,
unter den Kannibalen der Salomo- Paris, 1816, ii, 244 (Muysca of
Inseln, Dresden, 1903, p. 163 Colombia).
(Shortland Island) ; Taylor, Te 2 Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 3
Ika A Maui, p. 93 (Maori) ; ii, 140.
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 143
Among many peoples in both the lower and the
higher culture the time of new moon and full moon,
much less commonly of each half moon, forms a season
of restriction and abstinence. The lunar day is some-
times a holy day dedicated to a god, who may be identi-
fied with the moon itself. Instances of this sort are
to be correlated with the general course of religious
development, involving, as it does, the emergence of
polytheistic cults and the schematization of the ritual.
But under more primitive conditions the lunar day is a
tabooed day, quite independent of any association
with a deity. It seems idle to seek a particularistic
explanation for the taboos observed on such an occa-
sion. We have already noticed the sympathetic influ-
ence which the waxing and waning of the moon is sup-
posed to exert on human activities. Furthermore,
we have seen that the new moon, rising as it were from
the dead, is thought to be pregnant with meaning for
the life of man. Her very newness is an element of
interest ; her contrasts, in shape, size, and position in
the heavens, to the old moon further deepen the impres-
sion of her significance ; and her function of inaugu-
rating the month not only gives to her a special place
in primitive calendar systems but also invests her
with the emotional importance belonging to the com-
mencement of any new period. These ideas of lunar
influence are naturally extended to the full moon,
which, as will be shown, is commonly regarded as
marking the division of the lunar month into two equal
parts, and in some instances to the half moons, as
indicating the other prominent stages in a lunation.
The phases of the moon thus come to be considered
critical times and to be marked not only by religious
exercises but also by fasting and cessation of the cus-
tomary occupations. 1
1 The vice of seeking particu- ingenuity, has argued that the
laristic explanations of widespread early Semites founded their Sab-
social phenomena is illustrated by baths on the observation that the
Nielsen, who, with misdirected moon (conceived as a divinity)
144 REST DAYS
Lunar taboos, involving abstinence and quiescence,
are commonly observed in Polynesia and Indonesia. 1
Various African peoples likewise entertain pronounced
beliefs regarding the unfavourable influence of the
moon's changes on human activities. The Zulu wel-
come the first appearance of the new moon with demon-
strations of joy, but on- the day following they abstain
from all labour, "thinking if anything is sown on those
days they can never reap the benefits thereof." 2 The
Bapiri, a tribe of the Bechuana stock, stay at home at
new moon and do not go out to the fields. "They
believe that if they should set about their labour at
such a season, the millet would remain in the ground
without sprouting, or that the ear would fail to fill,
or that it would be destroyed by rust." 3 Of another
Bechuana tribe, the Makololo, in the neighbourhood of
the Leeambye River, Livingstone remarks, " There is
no stated day of rest in any part of this country except
the day after the appearance of the new moon, and the
people then refrain only from going to their gardens." 4
An earlier writer, referring to the Bechuana, says that
when the new moon appears, " all must cease from work,
rests four times in a lunation. addition to the cessation of labour,
Days on which the deity rested which occur in connection with the
were to be likewise observed by his moon's changes. And, as we shall
worshippers as days of rest (D. see, the observance of lunar taboos
Nielsen, Die altarabische Mond- may be quite dissociated from true
religion und die mosaische Uberlie- moon-worship and probably long
jerung, Strassburg, 1904, pp. 63 antedates the latter cult.
sqq.). It is true that the moon * Above, pp. 14 sq., 20, 32 and
looks full for a day or two before n. 2 , 34 and n. 1 , 37, 52 n. 1
and for a day or two after she is 2 Lieutenant Farewell, in W. F.
full; similarly, the changes in her W. Owen, Narrative of Foyages to
form at the beginning of a luna- explore the Shores of Africa, Arabia,
tion are scarcely perceptible. The and Madagascar, London, 1833, ii,
moon, therefore, might be said to 397; compare Dudley Kidd, The
"rest" at these two periods. But Essential Kafir, London, 1904,
neither astronomical science nor p. no.
untutored observation lends any 3 G. W. Stow, The Native Races
support to the idea that the moon of South Africa, London, 1905,
"rests" at the close of each and p. 414.
every phase. Such a hypothesis, 4 Missionary Travels and Re-
were it true, would not account for searches in South Africa, New
the other forms of abstinence, in York, 1870, p. 255.
LUN^
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 145
and keep what is called in England a holiday." l To
the north of the Bechuana, in the upper basin of the
Zambesi, live the Barotse, by whom the new moon is
made an occasion for great festivities. "It is a general
holiday; men of all ranks sing and dance, while the
women assemble apart and give vent to strident howls
of their own." 2 Similarly, among all the people from
Nyassaland to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika the first
night of the new moon is a public festival, sometimes
celebrated by a dance in which the men alone partici-
pate. 3 The Baziba, who dwell to the west and south-
west of Lake Victoria Nyanza, are said to be one of
the few tribes in this part of Africa having "a recog-
nized day of rest, independently of the Christians'
Sabbath. The two first days of every moon are uni-
versal holidays." 4
A superstitious observance of the new-moon day is
found among some of the tribes and peoples occupy-
ing British East Africa. The Akamba, whose beliefs
regarding the interlunium have been already men-
tioned, 5 also consider it very unlucky to move cattle
or livestock of any kind from one place or another, or
even to give presents of any stock, during the first
four days of the new moon. 6 Well-marked Sabbaths
are kept by some sections of the Baganda, the great
tribe, or rather nation, occupying Uganda. At the
temple estate of the god Mukasa, the most important
Baganda deity, there was a weeks' rest, bwerende, on
the appearance of each new moon ; no special gather-
ings were held during this period, but the people did
the minimum of work, even the cutting of firewood
being forbidden. All preparations for the festival
were made beforehand, in order that the women should
not be obliged to perform any labour other than cook-
1 John' Campbell, Travels in 3 Ibid. y p. 295.
South Africa, London, 1822, ii, 4 J. F. Cunningham, Uganda and
205. its Peoples, London, 1905, p. 294.
2 L. Decle, Three Years in Sav- B Above, p. 136.
age Africa, London, 1900, pp. 85 sq. 6 Hobley, op. cit. t p. 104.
L
146 REST DAYS
ing. 1 In Budu, a district of Uganda, there is a curious
worship of the python, conducted by members of the
Heart clan. The sacred snake, which bears the title
of Selwanga, is kept in a temple and receives worship
at the new moon. When this appears, the people
repair to the shrine of the python and make their
offerings. No work may be done on the estate for
seven days. 2 Again, the principal chief of the district
of Singo, who was shield-bearer to the king of the
Baganda, "had to observe a taboo each full moon,
namely, to abstain from food from noon of the day of
the full moon until the following morning, and also to
live apart from his wives during that time. 'It is
full moon, the Mukwenda may not eat,' was a saying
among the people." 3 The Banyoro, a Bantu people
related to the Baganda, who inhabit the country to
the northwest of Uganda, performed every full moon a
ceremony which has been thus described: "In the
afternoon all the drums in the place were beaten, and
everybody shouted, as no one dared keep silent for
fear of offending the moon. The king posted men at
the cross-roads and seized every one who passed along.
These unfortunate folk were brought in to him and
offered as a propitiatory sacrifice for the whole country
to the evil spirits. The hair of the victims was put
into cow horns and their blood was poured on to it,
the horns being then kept by different people as charms
against sickness and trouble. After this the king ap-
peared swathed in barkcloths, taking up his position
in his council hall, his subjects coming to do obeisance
to him. A dead silence prevailed, for no one was al-
lowed to even cough in his presence. ... As the
full moon rose the feasting began, and the drinking
and dancing continued till dawn. The king's chief
wife had to sit by her intoxicated spouse and pinch
1 John Roscoe, The Baganda, 2 Roscoe, Baganda, pp. 320 sqq.;
London, 1911, pp. 297, 299, 428; idem, "Python Worship in Ugan-
idem, in Journal of the Anthropo- da," Man, 1909, ix, 88 sqq.
logical Institute, 1902, xxxii, 76. 3 Idem, Baganda, pp. 249 sq.
LUM
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 147
his arm or bite his finger, to prevent sleep ; for a man
to slumber during full moon brought disaster to the
household." l New moon, as well as full moon, seems
to have been observed by the Banyoro, for Speke found
the palace of the king of Unyoro shut up, because the
new moon had been seen for the first time on the pre-
ceding evening. 2 The same explorer describes a like
custom found among the Bahima, or Wahuma, of
Ankole, a region lying to the southwest of Uganda.
"On the first appearance of the new moon every month,
the king shuts himself up, contemplating and arranging
his magic horns the horns of wild animals stuffed
with charm-powder for two or three days. These
may be counted his Sundays or church festivals which
he dedicates to devotion." 3
New-moon and full-moon festivals, accompanied
by abstinence from secular activities, are thus seen to
form a common feature of native life in southern and
eastern Africa. The custom of keeping them as rest
days is apparently confined to Bantu peoples, who
arose from a mixture of Hamites with the true negroes.
No Sabbatarian regulations are discoverable among the
Bushmen, representing the aborigines of southern Africa,
or among the non-Bantu tribes of eastern Africa.
It may be argued, therefore, that these African Sab-
baths are of foreign parentage, being derived remotely
from Hamitic and Himyaritic (Semitic) immigrants
into Africa. The argument is strengthened by the
fact that lunar festivals may be traced to a remote
antiquity, both in Egypt and in western Asia. In any
case, however, they must have been much modified
with their transmission from tribe to tribe and from
century to century.
1 Mrs. A. B. Fisher, Twilight Speke this custom is also observed
Tales of the Black Baganda, London by the king of Uganda, who, on the
[1912], pp. 37 sq. first day after the appearance of
2 J. H. Speke, Journal of the the new moon, examines and ar-
Discovery of the Source of the Nile, ranges his mapembe, or fetishes
Edinburgh, 1863, p. 523. (ibid., p. 372).
3 Ibid., p. 259. According to
148 REST DAYS
None of the natives of southern and eastern Africa
who observe new moon and full moon as seasons of
abstinence appear to be familiar with the market week
and the market day. On the other hand, in central
and western Africa, where markets are so generally
found and where the market day is kept as a holiday,
lunar festivals accompanied by a cessation of labour
are very rare. 1 Lieutenant-Colonel Ellis, who was
much impressed with the resemblance of the west-
African rest day to the Hebrew Sabbath, supposed
that both were once lunar festivals, connected with
moon-worship and celebrated on the first day of the
new moon. "This holy day, before the invention of
weeks, recurred monthly, but after the lunar month
was divided, it recurred weekly, and was held on the
first day of the week." 2 His theory, however plaus-
ible at first sight, breaks down when we remember
that the keeping of moon-days as Sabbaths does not
necessarily imply worship of the moon as a deity ; that
full moon, as well as new moon, may be observed
festively with abstinence from labour; and, finally,
that the market week did not arise as a subdivision of
the month, but was in origin quite independent of the
lunation. The restrictions attending market days have
nothing to do with superstitions relating to the moon.
Lunar taboos are not unknown in modern India.
The natives of northern India regard the new moon as
an unfavourable time for undertaking important busi-
ness. 3 The Kanarese, whose customs and beliefs
relating to the last day of the lunar month have al-
ready been noticed, do not plough their fields at new
1 The Mendi of the hinterland nize no weeks (Yoruba-s peaking
of Sierra Leone are said to hold a Peoples, p. 146).
new-moon festival and at it to 2 Ibid. Ellis presented his argu-
abstain from all work, "alleging ments more fully in an article "On
that if they infringed this rule the Origin of Weeks and Sabbaths/'
corn and rice would grow red, the Popular Science Monthly, 1895,
new moon being a 'day of blood/ " xlvi, 329-343.
Ellis, who cites this instance with- 3 W. Crooke, The Popular Reli-
out giving his authority, adds the gion and Folk-lore of Northern
further fact that the Mendi recog- India, 2 Westminster, 1896, i, 23.
UNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 149
>n and full moon. 1 The Badaga of the Nilgiri
Hills in southeastern India think that children born
on the day of the new moon, the full moon, or any one
of the three days immediately preceding the full moon,
will be unfortunate throughout life. 2 The Korava
regard the day after new moon as unlucky for starting
out from home. 3 Similar superstitions are doubtless
to be found among other Dravidian peoples.
The Aryans of ancient India observed two sacred
periods in every month, new moon and full moon,
with sacrifices to the gods. 4 The simpler forms of the
rite were gradually extended into an elaborate ritual.
Every Brahmanical householder was required to per-
form two half-monthly sacrifices for a period of thirty
years, after he had set up a home of his own. Accord-
ing to some authorities these sacrifices were obligatory
for the rest of his life. The ceremony usually occupied
the greater part of two consecutive days. While the
first day was to be chiefly occupied with preparatory
rites and the taking of the vow of abstinence (vrata)
by the sacrificer and his wife, the second day was re-
served for the performance of the main ceremony. 5
Since it was permitted to compress the two days' rites
of the full-moon sacrifice into a single day, the conjec-
1 Gengnagel, "Volksglaube und Opferrituals," Indische Studien,
Wahrsagerei an der Westkiiste 1868, x, 329 sqq.; H. Zimmer,
Indians/* Ausland, 1891, Ixiv, Altindisches Leben, Berlin, 1879,
871 sq. pp. 364 sq.; A. Hillebrandt, Das
2 F. Jagor, in V erhandlungen der altindische Neu- und Vollmonds-
Berliner Gesellschaft fur Anthro- opfer, Jena, 1879; idem, in
pologie, Ethnologie, und Urge- Biihler's Grundriss der indo-arischen
schichte, 1876, p. (201) (bound with Philologie und Altertumskunde t
Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, vol. viii). Strassburg, 1901, ii, pt. ii, pp. 75 sq.
3 Thurston, Omens and Super- The new-moon day was called
stitions of Southern India, p. 22. darsa, the day of the full moon,
4 Rig-Veda, i, 9, I, i, 94, 4 purnamdsa.
(transl. H. Grassmann, ii, 8, 95) ; 8 The first day was called
Atharva-Veda, vii, 79, 3, vii, 80, upavasatha, a fasting or fast day
1-4 (transl. W. D. Whitney, (compare Sanskrit upa, an adver-
pp. 444-446) ; Martin Haug, The bial adjunct, signifying to refrain
Aitareya Brahmanam o/ the Rig- from, abstain, hence, to fast). The
Veda, Bombay, 1863, ii, 5; A. second day's ceremony was known
Weber, "Zur Kenntnis des vedische as the darsapurnamdsa sacrifice.
ISO REST DAYS
ture is plausible that originally only one day was
assigned to the observances of abstinence and sacri-
fice. 1 The ritualistic requirements for this ceremony
do not expressly include the cessation of labour by the
Brahmanical householder and his family. It might
be argued, therefore, that the new-moon and full-
moon observances were not originally dictated by a
superstitious regard for the lunar phases. The fasting
on the upavasatha day would then be merely a rite
preliminary to the sacrifice on the following day ; and
the association of the two ceremonies with new and
full moon would mean only that these two divisions
of a lunar month were selected as convenient and con-
spicuous periods for the performance of religious duties.
But the evidence at our disposal enables us to attach a
deeper significance to the ancient Aryan rite.
In the first place it is well known that the upavasatha
was a fast preparatory to the offering of the "moon
plant," the intoxicating soma, whose personification
and deification are assigned to a date earlier than that
of the Vedas themselves. A very competent scholar,
after pointing out that in Vedic literature the moon
takes a much higher rank than the sun, being regarded
as the creator and ruler of the world, has argued that
everywhere in the Rig-Veda soma and the moon are
identified, and that the terrestrial plant is merely a
symbolic representation of the luminary. According
to this view the moon-god as Soma forms the centre
of Vedic religion. 2 The theory, thus unequivocally
stated, has not won wide acceptance ; according to
the commoner view Soma as a god is ordinarily cele-
brated in the Vedic hymns only as a personification
of the beverage ; and his identification with the moon
is to be explained as a secondary mythological forma-
tion. Certain instances of such identification are met
in a few of the latest hymns of the Rig-Veda; and in the
1 Satapatha-Brdhmana, i, I, I, 2 A. Hillebrandt, Vedische My-
I sqq. (Sacred Books of the East> thologie, Breslau, 1891-1899, i,
xii, I sq.; compare also 374 sq.). 267 sqq., 313, 366 sqq.; ii, 209-240.
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 151
Atharva-Veda Soma several times means the moon.
Post-Vedic writings regularly refer to Soma as the
moon, which, when drunk by the gods, begins to wane. 1
In the second place the two half-monthly sacrifices
were characterized by restrictions which can best be
described as taboos. The Brahmanical householder
was obliged to abstain from certain kinds of food, espe-
cially meat, and from sexual intercourse. He might
not cut hair, beard, or nails. He should sleep, not on
a bed, but on the ground. The directions for the cere-
monies, as given in the Grihya-sutra of Gobhila, further
require the worshipper not to set out on a journey ; if
he is away from home even at a distant place, to return
to his house ; not to sell goods (though he may buy them
from others) ; and to speak as little as possible. 2 It
is obvious that the scrupulous observance of all these
regulations would convert the upavasatha day into a
Sabbath, marked, not only by fasting, but also by the
cessation of most secular activities.
In post-Vedic times the Sabbatarian quality of lunar
days becomes increasingly prominent. In the In-
stitutes of Vishnu the new moon is mentioned as a
penitential fast day. 3 A variety of lunar penances is
prescribed in the Laws of Manu* The same lawbook
sets forth that "on the (night of) new moon and the
eighth (lunar day), and also on the (night of) full
moon and the fourteenth (lunar day), let a Brahman
who has finished his student's course be always (as)
a student, even in season," that is, let him remain
chaste. 5 According to the Vishnu Purana, a rela-
tively late production of Brahmanical thought, there
1 A. Bergaigne, La religion i, 6, 4, 5 sqq. (S. B. E., xii, 176
vediquf, Paris, 1878, i, 157 sqq.; sqq.).
A. A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythol- 2 Grihya-sutra of Gobhila y i, 5,
ogy, Strassburg, 1897, pp. 112 1-26 (S. B. E., xxx, 25-28).
sqq.; E. W. Hopkins, The Reli- 3 Institutes of Fishnu, xlvii, 3
gions of India, Boston, 1895, pp. (S. B. E., vii, 152).
112 sqq.; J. Muir, Original San- 4 Laws of Manu, xi, 217 sqq.
skrit Texts? London, 1884, v, 270 (S. B. E., xxv, 474 sq.).
sq. Compare Satapatha-Brdhmana, 6 Ibid., iv, 128 (S.B.E., xxv, 149).
152 REST DAYS
are "certain days on which unguents, flesh, and women
are unlawful, as the eighth and fourteenth lunar days,
new moon and full moon, and the entrance of the sun
into a new sign. On these occasions the wise will
restrain their appetites, and occupy themselves in the
worship of the gods, as enjoined by holy writ, in medita-
tion, and in prayer; and he who behaves differently
will fall into a hell where ordure will be his food." 1
It is also said that he who attends to secular affairs
on the days of the parvans (new moon and full moon)
will be punished hereafter in a hell of blood. 2 For
modern Brahmans the new-moon and full-moon days
are regularly fast days. 3
With the development of the complex ritual of
Brahmanism holy and unlucky days became almost
identical with days when the sacred books should not
be read. The code of Manu requires a learned Brahman
not to recite the Veda on the new-moon day, or on the
fourteenth and eighth days of each half-month, or
on the full-moon day. It is said that "the new-moon
day destroys the teacher, the fourteenth day the pupil,
the eighth and full-moon days destroy all remembrance
of the Veda ; let him therefore avoid reading on those
days." 4 This injunction, moreover, is repeated for a
great variety of other critical occasions : during a
heavy thunderstorm ; during an eclipse ; and when
an earthquake occurs. A like prohibition is enforced
after events causing pollution ; a Brahman, for ex-
ample, should not read the Veda in a village through
which a corpse has been taken, or near a burning-
ground. 6 Similar prohibitions are set forth at great
length in the lawbook of Gautama. The Veda ought
not to be studied and recited when there is a thunder-
storm, an earthquake, an eclipse or a fall of meteors ;
1 Vishnu Purdna, iii, n (the Customs ; and Ceremonies? Oxford,
translation by H. H. Wilson, 1906, p. 270.
edited by F. Hall, London, 1865, 4 Laws of Manu, iv, 113 sq.
iii, 132 sq.). (S. B. E., xxv, 147).
2 7tV.,ii, 6 (Wilson-Hall, ii, 2 19). 6 Ibid., iv, 101 sqq. (S. B. E. y
3 J. A. Dubois, Hindu Manners, xxv, 144.^.).
.
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 153
n the day of the new moon (on the latter occasion
reading may be interrupted for two days) ; on the full
moon of three months of the year, and so forth. 1 In
the Vishnu Pur ana we read that "on the days called
parvans, on periods of impurity, upon unseasonable
thunder, at the occurrence of eclipses or atmospheric
portents, a wise man must desist from the study of the
Vedas." 2 Some of these taboos have endured till
the present time, the eighth day of each fortnight, held
sacred to the goddess Durga, being a period when no
study is allowable for a pious Hindu. 3
The Vedic ceremonies at new moon and full moon
appear to have influenced the Hindu festival of Bhas-
kara Saptami, which takes place on the twenty-second
of the month Magha, the seventh day of the light
fortnight (4th of February). u This day is in an espe-
cial degree sacred to the sun. Abstinence is to be
practised on the day preceding; and in the morning
before sunrise, or at the first appearance of dawn,
bathing is to be performed until sunrise ; a rigid fast
is to be observed throughout the day, worship is to be
offered the sun, presents are to be made to the Brah-
mans, and in the evening the worshipper is to hold a
family feast ; one of the observances of the day is
abstinence from study, neither teacher nor scholar
being allowed to open a book." 4 For the proper
observance of the festival it is also necessary that the
sun should be worshipped in his own temple, with
prayers and offerings on the sixth day, during which
abstinence is to be practised, and at night the wor-
shipper should sleep on the ground. In upper India
the festival day is also called Achala Saptami, the
1 Gautama, xvi, 22, 35-37 (S. 3 Sir M. Monier- Williams, Brah-
B. E. y ii, 258 sqq.). Compare manism and Hinduism,* 1 New York,
Apastamba, i, 3, 9, 28: "at the 1891^.433.
new moon (he shall not study) for 4 H. H. Wilson, "The Religious
two days and nights" (S. B. E. y Festivals of the Hindus," in Essays
ii, 36). and Lectures chiefly on the Religion
2 Fishhu Purdha, iii, 12 (Wilson- of the Hindus, edited by R. Rost,
Hall, iii, 143). London, 1862, ii, 194.
154 REST DAYS
fixed or immovable seventh, or Jayanti Saptami, the
victorious seventh, and so forth. "Whatever the
designation, the worship of the sun is the prominent
ceremony of the seventh of the light half of Magha.
The same may be said, however, of the seventh lunar
day throughout the year, chiefly of one seventh in each
fortnight, that of the moon's increase ; but also of the
seventh day of the moon's wane." 1 The religious
books declare that whoever worships the sun on the
seventh day of the moon's increase, with fasting and
offerings of white oblations, as white flowers and the
like, and whoever fasts on the seventh of the moon's
wane and offers to the sun red flowers and articles of a
red colour, is purified from all iniquity and goes after
death to the solar sphere. "The worship of the sun,
on the seventh of the dark fortnight, seems to have
gone out of use, but that on the seventh of the light
fortnight is strongly recommended in various authori-
ties, beginning with this seventh of Magha and con-
tinuing throughout the year." 2 The selection of the
seventh day of each fortnight as the time of the festival
may have been due to the symbolic significance of
that number, while the choice of the sun as the object
of adoration doubtless reflects the commanding posi-
tion which that luminary assumed in post-Vedic times.
The close resemblance between these Hindu ceremonies
of sun-worship and those prescribed in the Vedas for
the observance of new moon and full moon suggests,
however, that there has been a partial fusion of the
two festivals.
The Vedic observance of new moon and full moon
survived in the ritual of both Jainism and Buddhism,
the two great monastic sects which arose in the sixth
century B.C. out of the bosom of Brahmanism. The
Jain ceremony, known as posaha, is declared to have
been specially instituted for those who said that "we
!H. H. Wilson, "The Religious of the Hindus, edited by R. Rost,
Festivals of the Hindus," in Essays London, 1862, ii, 197.
and Lectures chiefly on the Religion 2 Ibid., p. 199.
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 155
cannot, submitting to the tonsure, renounce the life
of a householder and enter the monastic state, but we
shall strictly observe the posaha on the fourteenth and
eighth days of each fortnight (on the new-moon and)
full-moon days." 1 The faithful householder "should
never neglect the posaha fast in both fortnights, not
even for a single night." 2 In the Jain scriptures, the
posaha is further defined as the observance of a fast
or the eating once only on the two holy days of each
fortnight, "after having given up bathing, unguents,
ornaments, company of women, odours, incense, lights,
etc., and assumed renunciation as an ornament." The
posaha is thus distinguished by the four abstinences
from food, bodily attentions, sexual intercourse, and
daily work. 3 The keeping of the posaha at the present
day is especially connected with the holy fast of Paj-
jusana at the close of the Jain religious year. The
observance of the rite at other times by laymen appears
to be dying out. 4
The Buddhist Sabbath, or uposatha, like the Jain
posaha, owed its existence remotely to the Vedic lunar
rites. As celebrated anciently in India and in modern
times in Nepal and Ceylon, the uposatha falls on the
day of the new moon, on the day of the full moon, and
on the two days which are eighth from new and full
moon. The uposatha is marked not only by fasting
but also by abstinence from secular activities : during
its continuance buying and selling, work and business,
hunting and fishing are forbidden, and all schools and
courts of justice are closed. Whoever observes the
uposatha rigidly must abstain from food between sun-
rise and sunset. Since no cooking is allowed to taint
the sanctity of the uposatha, the pious Buddhist pre-
1 Sutrakrtahga, ii, 7, 17; com- ford, 1895, pp. xix, 23 n. 2 (S.B.E.,
pare, ii, 2, 76 (S. B. E., xlv, 428 sq., vol. xlv).
383). 4 Margaret Stevenson, "Festi-
2 Uttaradhyayana, v, 23 ; com- vals and Fasts (Jain)/* Hastings's
pare ix, 42 (S. B. E., xlv, 23, 39). Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
3 H. Jacobi, Gaina Sutras, Ox- v, 875 sq.
156 REST DAYS
pares his evening meal in the early morning before the
sun appears. 1
The uposatha, as contrasted with the upavasatha, is
a ceremony attached to all four of the lunar phases,
instead of to two only; moreover, it is a rest day as
well as a fast day. How may it be shown that the
Buddhist institution forms a natural outgrowth of
the earlier Brahmanical rite ?
The origin of the custom of observing four days in
the lunar month as uposatha is involved in some obscur-
ity. According to Buddhist tradition the monks of
non-Buddhistic sects were accustomed to assemble
at the middle and close of every half-month for the
purpose of proclaiming their teachings. The Buddhists
also adopted the custom of these periodical meet-
ings on the fourteenth or fifteenth and eighth day of
each half-month, a custom by them attributed to the
Buddha himself. 2 There seems to be not the slightest
ground for supposing that the number of Buddhist
Sabbaths was originally two, but was afterwards in-
creased to four in every month. The words of the
canon are : " I prescribe that you assemble on the
fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighth day of each [half]
month." 3 In the Dhammika Sutta the wording is :
"Then having with a believing mind kept abstinence
(uposatha) on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighth
1 H. Kern, Der Buddhismus und uposatha service on the fourteenth
seine Geschichte in Indien, Leipzig, day of a short month was to be
1884, ii, 256 sqq.; idem, Manual of followed by a celebration on the
Indian Buddhism, Strassburg, 1896, fifteenth of the following long
pp. 99 sq.; R. C. Childers, A month. Compare ibid., ii, 34, i.
Dictionary of the Pali Language, The important word " half," which
London, 1875, s.v. uposatho. has been inserted above, was
2 Mahavagga, ii, I, 1-4 (S. B. E., omitted by an unfortunate over-
xiii, 239 sq.; compare p. x). sight in the translation of this
3 Ibid., ii, I, 4 (S. B. E., xiii, passage from the Mahavagga, as
240). This rule is to be understood given in the Sacred Books of the
as requiring an assembly to be held East. It appears, however, in
on the fourteenth or the fifteenth Mr. H. C. Warren's rendering of
of each half-month, according as the same passage (Buddhism in
the month had twenty-nine or Translations, Cambridge [Mass.],
thirty days. In other words an 1909, p. 404).
LUN,
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 157
days of the half-month," etc. 1 When Buddhism arose,
the custom of keeping the eighth day of each lunar
fortnight, in addition to new moon and full moon,
appears to have been well-established in both Brah-
manism and the non-Buddhistic sects, a circumstance
which led to the adoption of all four periods by
Buddhists as well. 2 Two of these days (at new moon
and full moon) are devoted to the special ceremony of
reading, in an assembly of at least four monks, the pati-
mokkha, or the disciplinary and penal code of Buddhism,
according to the regulation laid down by the Buddha. 3
In the Sutta Nipata, a collection of seventy didactic
poems belonging to the Pitakas, or sacred books of the
southern Buddhists, Eight Precepts or Moral Com-
mandments are enumerated. Five of these are bind-
ing on every Buddhist, whether mendicant or layman,
but the remaining three are not obligatory for the
1 Sutta Nipdta, ii, 14, 26 (S.
B. E., x, pt. ii, 66).
2 The eighth day of the waning
moon (astaka) is distinctly men-
tioned in the Vedas, as forming
with new moon and full moon the
regular festival periods. Compare
Atharva-Veda, xv, 1 6, 2 (transl.
W. D. Whitney, p. 790) ; Zimmer,
op. cit., p. 365 ; H. Oldenberg, Die
Religion des Veda, Berlin, 1894,
p. 439. Of these, the full-moon
day seems to have enjoyed most
importance (Oldenberg, loc. cit.),
and similarly in Buddhism. Com-
pare Mahd-Sudassana Sutta, i, II :
"On the Sabbath day, on the day
of full moon" (S. B. E., xi, 251 sq.).
Elsewhere the uposatha service is
referred particularly to the fif-
teenth day of the month, "it being
full moon" (Sutta Nipdta, iii, 12),
proem. (S. B. E., x, pt. ii, 131 sq.).
In very early times the Hindus had
named and deified as goddesses the
four phases of the moon. See
Rig-Veda, ii, 32 (transl. H. Grass-
mann, i, 41) ; Satapatha-Brdhmana,
ix, 5, i, 38 (S. B. E., xliii, 264);
C. Lassen, Indische Alterthums-
kunde? Leipzig and London, 1867-
1874, i, 986.
3 Mahdvagga, ii, 4, 1-2 (S. B. E.,
xiii, 246 sq.). The patimokkha is
one of the oldest parts of the
Buddhist canonical compositions.
The Pali version has been translated
in full by Professors Rhys Davids
and Hermann Oldenberg (S. B. E.,
vol. xiii) and the part for monks,
by J. F. Dickson (Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society, 1876, n.s.,
viii, 62-130). For a description
of these ceremonies as witnessed
March 27, 1893, at the Malwatta
monastery in Kandy see E. M.
Bowden, "The uposatha and
upasampadd Ceremonies," ibid.,
1893, n.s., xxv, 159-161. Mr.
Bowden notes that at the Malwatta
monastery the uposatha service is
held more frequently on the day
which precedes the new and the
full moon than on the new and
full-moon days.
158 REST DAYS
laity. The precepts are: (i) not to destroy life; (2)
not to commit theft ; (3) not to tell lies ; (4) not to
drink intoxicating liquors ; (5) not to indulge in unlaw-
ful sexual intercourse ; (6) not to eat unseasonable
food at night ; (7) not to wear garlands or use per-
fumes ; and (8) not to sleep on a raised couch. 1 These
precepts are said to constitute the eight-fold fast, or
Uposatha, declared by the Buddha. Their special
observance on the uposatha day is inculcated, and to
break any of them on that day is considered highly
irreligious. Instead of observing lunar taboos, the
Buddhists were to keep the uposatha by a special fulfill-
ment of the moral law, with clean garments and with
clean minds ; one of the many instances in which the
founder of Buddhism gave a spiritual meaning to an
earlier superstitious rite. That the uposatha, marked
as it was by fasting, avoidance of sexual intercourse, and
refraining from wearing wreaths and using perfumes,
should have come to be regarded as a rest day seems
to be only the natural result of its observance as a sea-
son of abstinence. The uposatha is thus discovered
among the earliest institutions of Buddhism ; in its
origin it could have owed nothing to Jewish or Chris-
tian influence ; in its diffusion throughout southeastern
Asia it appears to have remained unaffected by the
influence of Islam. If these conclusions be accepted,
the Buddhist Sabbath dates back, remotely, to taboos
observed at changes of the moon.
Buddhism was early introduced into Ceylon. The
Sabbath still observed there by the Sinhalese falls on
the four poya days of the month, the days of the changes
1 Sutta Nipdta, ii, 14, 19-26 I, 6, 4, 5 sqq. (S. B. E., xii, 176 sqq.).
(S. B. E. 9 x, pt. ii, 65 sqq.}. See On the other hand the last precept
also T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, is identical with one of the regula-
London, 1890, pp. 137 sqq.; Child- tions for the upavasatha, where the
ers, op. cit.y s.v. silam. The prohi- celebrant is distinctly enjoined to
bition of drinking intoxicating sleep on the ground (or a shake-
liquors was directed against the down of grass, a blanket). See
ancient soma sacrifice on the Satapatha-Brdhmana, i, I, I, II
second day of the upavasatha cere- (S. B. E., xii, 6).
mony. See Satapatha-Brdhmana,
LI
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 159
of the moon. 1 Missionaries from Ceylon carried the
new faith to Burma, at least as early as the fifth cen-
tury A.D. According to an old traveller the " eighth
day of the increasing moon, the fifteenth or full moon,
the eighth of the decreasing moon, and the last day of
the moon, are religiously observed by Birmans (sic) as
sacred festivals. On these hebdomadal holidays no
public business is transacted in the Rhoom : mercantile
dealings are suspended ; handicraft is forbidden ; and
the strictly pious take no sustenance between the ris-
ing and the setting of the sun ; but the latter instance
of self-denial is not very common, and, as I under-
stood, is rarely practised, except in the metropolis,
where the appearance of sanctity is sometimes assumed
as a ladder by which the crafty attempt to climb to
promotion." 2 According to a more recent and sym-
pathetic account there are "four ubone, or duty days,
in every lunar month, on which all good Burmans are
expected to go and worship at the pagodas. These
are the eighth of the crescent, the full moon, the eighth
of the waning, and the change, of which the second and
the fourth are the more sacred. As the monks have
nothing to do with looking after the spiritual state of
the people, it is entirely a matter to be settled by one's
self whether any particular worship day is to be ob-
1 Mahony, in Asiatic Researches, unlucky days (vitti) as well, are
1803, vii, 40 sq.; Edward Upham, observed with abstinence from
Sacred and Historical Books of agricultural labour (P. Kehel-
Ceylon, London, 1833, iii, 161 sqq.; pannala, in Journal of the Anthro-
R. S. Hardy, Eastern Monachism, pological Institute, 1896, xxv,
London, 1850, pp. 236 sqq.; idem, 108).
Manual of Buddhism? London, 2 Michael Symes, An Account of
1880, pp. 22, 50, 52; C. F. Koppen, an Embassy to the Kingdom of
Die Religion des Buddha und ihre Ava, London, 1800, p. 335. See
Entstehung, Berlin, 1857-1859, i, further Hiram Cox, Journal of a
563 sq.; D. J. Gogerly, "The Laws Residence in the Burman Empire,
of the Buddhist Priesthood," Jour- London, 1821, p. 241 ; Sangermano,
nal* of the Ceylon Branch of the A Description of the Burmese Em-
Royal Asiatic Society, 1858-1859, pire, translated by W. Tandy,
iii, 253-261. By the Kandian, Rome, 1833, p. 92; C. J. F. S.
who occupy the interior of Ceylon, Forbes, British Burma, London,
not only the poya days, but all 1878, pp. 169 sqq.
160 REST DAYS
served or not. If you conclude that strict religious
observances are only necessary for your spiritual well-
being on the day of the full moon, or at any rate that
you may leave out the eighth of the crescent and wan-
ing moon, then the ubone does not concern you at all,
and you may proceed about your ordinary business
without being considered a reprobate. The very
devout may go to the pagoda on all the four sacred
days of the month ; but if you choose to omit one or
several, or substitute an ordinary day for that pro-
vided by religious custom, there is no one to take you
to task for it. Were a Burman never to go to the pa-
goda at all, or fail to do so for any considerable time,
he would indeed soon get a very bad character among
his neighbours, and might even be formally excommuni-
cated by the yahan. There is, however, practically
no constraint save the force of public opinion. But
the duties of worship are so light, and so dependent in
their details upon yourself, and there is so much amuse-
ment to be got out of a visit to the pagoda on an ubone,
that few, even of the most worldly-minded, miss any
great number of the appointed days, and a special
festival is always carefully observed. ... It must
not, however, be supposed that all the people take this
easy-going and frivolous view of duty days. Diligent
seekers after kutho behave very differently. They do
not merely limit themselves to the customary forms of
worship and offerings. They sleep little, or not at
all, the night before ; telling their beads instead, and
reading good books, some of the discourses of the
Buddha, or portions of the greater zat. All necessary
business is transacted the day previous to the ubone,
and neighbours are exhorted to observe the festival
properly. After one simple dish in the morning, they
eat nothing for the rest of the day ; or perhaps on cer-
tain occasions do not break their fast till after mid-
day, a custom very general on the first day of Lent.
Instead of staying in the noisy zayat, where the assem-
bled people are talking of light matters, laughing and
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 161
diverting themselves, they retire to a tazaung on the
pagoda platform or to some place shaded by trees ;
there they finger the hundred and eight beads of their
rosary, muttering, 'All is transient, sorrowful, and
vain ; the Lord, the Law, the Assembly ; the three
precious things ' ; and meditate on the example of the
Lord Buddha and the excellence of his Law. To vary
the monotony of this performance, they go for an hour
or two to one of the monasteries to talk with the prior
or some learned brother, or perhaps to hear him read
and expound one of the jataka, or birth-stories. So the
duty day passes. By sunset most of the worshippers
are making their way back to their homes ; but a
few zealous spirits remain all night in the zayat, and
only return with daylight on the following morning.
This simple round of celebration is repeated four times
in every lunar month, with here and there a feast day
of some particular shrine thrown in, when the only
difference is that there is greater ceremony and a more
or less large influx of strangers, according to the sanc-
tity of the pagoda." *
The Siamese Sabbath (wan phra) was also an insti-
tution introduced by Buddhist missionaries. An old
writer describes it as follows : " Their Sunday, called
by them vampra, is always the fourth day of the moon ;
in each month they have two great ones, at the new
and full moon, and two less solemn, on the seventh
and twenty-first. This day does not exempt them
from labour, since only fishing is forbidden to them.
Those who transgress this prohibition pay a fine and
are thrown into prison, as having profaned the sanctity
of the day." 2 A later writer declares that hunting
is also forbidden, and adds that on these days one can-
1 Shway Yoe [Sir J. G. Scott], Scott and Hardiman, Rangoon,
The Burman: his Life and Notions? 1900, pt. i, vol. i, p. 558).
London, 1910, pp. 217-220. The 2 F. H. Turpin, Histoire civile et
Tungthu of Tenasserim have bor- naturelle du royaume de Siam, Paris,
rowed these "duty days" from the 1771, i, 45 sq. The "fourth day" of
Burmese {Gazetteer of Upper Burma the moon must here be counted from
and the Shan States, edited by the astronomical new moon. The
162 REST DAYS
not find fresh fish and meat in the shops. 1 In former
times the temples were crowded with worshippers,
who brought their offerings and listened to the hymns,
prayers, and moral discourses addressed to them by
the Buddhist priests. 2 But we are told that now a
majority of the temples stand empty on the wan phra y
and what worshippers there are consist invariably
of women. Since the adoption of the solar calendar
in 1889 the wan phra has been superseded to a large
extent for civil purposes by Sunday. 3 The Buddhist
Sabbath is also found in Cambodia. 4
In some districts of Tibet the monthly Buddhist
festivals (du-zang) are four in number, following the
successive phases of the moon. In other parts of the
country only three festivals are celebrated at new
moon, first quarter, and full moon. On these days
no animal food ought to be eaten and no animal killed ;
those who break this rule are threatened with severe
punishment in a future existence. "To abstain from
worldly occupations is, however, not enacted, and as
the Buddhist laymen in the Himalaya and western
Tibet are not very fond of passing the whole day in
prayers and in the temples, these holy days are not
particularly marked in the habits of the population." 5
As elsewhere in Buddhist lands the new-moon and full-
uposatha in Siam, as in Ceylon and ings's Encyclopedia of Religion and
Burma, falls regularly on the eighth Ethics, v, 885.
and fifteenth days of the waxing 4 J. Moura, Le royaume de
moon and on the eighth and four- Cambodge, Paris, 1883, i, 321.
teenth or fifteenth days of the wan- The Malays of the Malacca Penin-
ing moon. sula regard the fourteenth and
1 J. B. Pallegoix, Description du fifteenth days of each lunar month
royaume Thai ou Siam, Paris, 1854, as unlucky. On these two days
i, 249. no work in the rice fields is allowed,
2 John Crawfurd, Journal of an a prohibition which only increases
Embassy, London, 1830, ii, 75; the native tendency to laziness
Sir John Bowring, The Kingdom and (C. O. Blagden, "Notes on the
People of Siam, London, 1857, i, Folk-lore and Popular Religion of
158. the Malays," Journal of the Straits
3 J. G. D. Campbell, Siam in the Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society?
Twentieth Century, London, 1904, 1896, no. 29, p. 6).
p. 224 n. 1 ', G. E. Gerini, "Festi- 8 E. Schlaginweit, Buddhism in
vals and Fasts (Siamese)," Hast- Tibet, Leipzig and London, 1863, p. 237.
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 163
moon Sabbaths are of most importance, since on these
occasions the patimokkha is recited in the monasteries,
accompanied by a public confession of sins. 1 How-
ever, in Tibet there appears never to have been much
uniformity as to the times for the observance of the
uposatha, the practice varying with different provinces
and sects. 2 In Bhutan, where Buddhism was intro-
duced by missionaries from Tibet, the eighth, four-
teenth, twenty-fourth, and thirtieth of the month are
said to be the holy days, while the Mongolians have the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth, the three days
being brought together perhaps because of the great
distance which separates the monasteries from the
temple. 3 Among the Kalmucks on the Volga, to the
north of the Caspian, the uposatha is generally observed
thrice a month the eighth day after new moon, the
fifteenth, and the thirtieth. 4
The uposatha is not unknown among the Buddhists
of China. The Chinese Ts'ing-kwei, or "Regulations
of the Priesthood," a Buddhist document, enumerates,
among others, four festivals to be kept each month, at
new moon and full moon, and on the eighth and twenty-
third days. These are called kin-ming s'i-chai, "the
four feasts illustriously decreed"; they may be re-
garded as a variant of the uposatha* Among non-
Buddhists there is another custom of observing on
the new and full moon of each month a ceremony,
anciently in honour of the moon, but now particularly
1 L. A. Waddell, The Buddh- 3 Koppen, op. cit., i, 564.
ism of Tibet, or Lamaism, London, 4 P. S. Pallas, Reise durch ver-
1895, p. 501 ; W. W. Rockhill, in schiedene Provinzen des russischen
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Reichs, Frankfort, 1776, i, 295.
1891, n.s., xxiii, 207 w. 8 5 Joseph Edkins, Chinese Buddh-
2 Marco Polo refers to five days ism? London, 1893, p. 206. In
or four days or three days in each Buddhist monasteries the pati-
month when the lamas or clergy of mokkha is regularly recited at new
Tibetan Buddhism shed no blood moon and full moon. The cere-
and abstain from animal food (Sir mony is known as posadha (J. J.
Henry Yule, The Book of Ser M. de Groot, "Buddhism in
Marco Polo, 3 London, 1903, i, 220, China," Hastings's Encyclopedia
223). Compare N. Prejevalsky, of Religion and Ethics, iii, 554).
Mongolia, London, 1876, i, 65.
164 REST DAYS
addressed to various deities, especially the gods of
wealth. It was formerly the rule to sacrifice a bullock
to the moon at this time. During the festival the
courts of justice and yaman, or government residences,
are closed. Offerings are made in the Confucian tem-
ples, and even the family gods receive their meed of
worship. The householder on this day enjoys a better
meal than usual, without, however, intermitting his
ordinary occupations. 1 There is no reason to believe
that this Chinese festival owes, anything to contact
with Buddhism. Its independent origin, in connec-
tion with an early cult of the moon and perhaps at a
remote period with various lunar taboos, becomes,
therefore, something more than a conjecture.
The Buddhist Sabbath penetrated to Japan. An
old writer tells us that in Japan there are three monthly
holidays connected with the moon, though now im-
movable feasts. "The first is called isitatz, and is the
first day of each month. It deserves rather to be called
a day of compliments and mutual civilities, than a
church or Sunday." The second holiday is on the
fifteenth of each month, "being the day of the full
moon. The gods of the country have a greater share
in the visits the Japanese make on this day, than their
friends and relations." The third festival occurs on
the twenty-eighth of each month, "being the day of
the new moon, or the last day of the decreasing moon.
Not near so much regard is had to this, than there is
to either of the two former, and the Sintos [Shinto]
temples are very little crowded on it. There is a
greater concourse of people on this day at the Budsos
[Buddhist] temples, it being one of the monthly holi-
days sacred to Amida." 2
Buddhism and Brahmanism, spreading beyond the
1 J. H. Gray, China, London, The Celestial and his Religions,
3, i, 263 n. 1 ; C. Pitou, La Chine, Hongkong, 1906, p. 25 ; J. Edkins,
Lausanne and Paris [1902], Religion in China? London, 1878,
1878, i, 263 n. 1 ; C. Pitou, La Chine, Hongkong, 1906, p. 25 ; J. Edkins,
a: 902], Religion in China? Londoi
rube, pp. 48 sq.
Religion und Kultus der Chine sen, 2 E. Kaempfer, History of Japan,
Leipzig, 1910, p. 66; J. D. Ball, ii, 21 sq. (Glasgow reprint, 1906).
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 165
confines of continental Asia, carried the custom of
keeping lunar festivals into some parts of Indonesia.
In Bali, where the padanda, or Brahmans, have pre-
served many features of the old Vedic religion, fasts
and sacrifices are still obligatory on the householder at
new moon and full moon. 1 In Kar Nicobar Buddhist
influence from Burma is seen in the custom of observ-
ing a rest day on the seventh day of the moon, at full
moon, and on the twenty-second day of the moon, but
only during seven lunar months of the year. 2 The
Nicobarese have given to this imported Buddhist
Sabbath their native name anoiila, which is regularly
applied to the rest days or holidays observed by them
on various critical occasions. 3
We pass now from the lunar festivals found in ancient
and modern India and in those countries of southeastern
Asia which have been long affected by the cultural influ-
ence of India to similar observances among peoples
of archaic civilization. The ancient Iranians appear
to have celebrated four lunar days in each month,
for the oldest part of the Avesta contains the following
passage: "I dedicate, I perform (the sacrifice) for the
month (gods), the time-divisions of Asa, for the be-
tween-moon [i.e., the new moon], . . . for the full
moon, and for the intervening seventh(s)," in other
words, for the first, eighth, fifteenth, and twenty-third
days, which were all dedicated to Ahura Mazda. 4
1 R. Friederich, in Journal of Solomon, in Journal of the Anthro-
the Royal Asiatic Society, 1876, n.s., pological Institute, 1902, xxxii, 204,
viii, 197 sq. Most priests also 213; W. Svoboda, in Internatio-
observe with prayer and fasting nates Archiv fiir Ethnographic, 1893,
every fifth day (kaliwon) of the vi, 22.
Javanese five-day market week, 3 Above, pp. 40 sqq.
which has been introduced into 4 Yasna, i, 8 (so also ibid., ii,
Bali (Friederich, loc. cit.}. 8; compare Vast vii, 4). See L.
2 E. H. Man, in Indian Anti- H. Gray, "Festivals and Feasts
quary, 1897, xxvi, 269 w. 30 Ac- (Iranian)," Hastings's Encyclopa-
cording to this account the Nico- dia of Religion and Ethics, v, 872 ;
barese do not observe new-moon L. H. Mills, in Sacred Books of the
ceremonies. Other authorities, East, xxxi, 198, 205 ; W. Geiger,
however, refer to sacrifices and Civilization of the Eastern Iranians,
celebrations at this time. See V. London, 1885, i, 146 n. 1 The
166 REST DAYS
The choice of these four lunar days was due to the
division of the Avesta thirty-day month into two un-
equal parts, containing fourteen and sixteen days, re-
spectively, and to the further subdivision of each part
so as to form two groups of seven days and two of
eight days. This arrangement had the practical ad-
vantage of permitting a quadripartite division of the
month without a remainder. There is no evidence
that the four groups formed civil weeks, or that the
first day of each group was observed as a Sabbath. 1
Although the Egyptians had abandoned the old
lunar year and lunar month, perhaps as early as the
beginning of the fourth millenium B.C., the people
continued for many centuries to observe as festivals
the first and fifteenth days of the month. In the earlier
calendar these would have coincided with the two sig-
nificant epochs of the lunation, namely, new moon and
full moon. The "monthly feasts" and the " half-
monthly feasts" are mentioned in the very ancient
texts preserved in the pyramids at Sakkara of kings
term vishaptatha, here translated been composed in Persia during the
"the intervening seventh" refers fourth century A.D., which mentions
to the seventh day between the among other matters five days in
new moon (on the ist) and the every month, namely, the ist,
full moon (on the I5th), that is, 7th, I4th, 22d, and 3Oth, as times
to the 8th day of the month (E. to be observed by abstinence from
Bartholomae, Altiranisches Worter- all worldly business. The manu-
buch, Strassburg, 1904, col. 1472). script sets forth in detail the pe-
The theories as to the meaning of culiar virtues of all the days of one
vishaptatha, advanced by J. Dar- of the Zoroastrian months. "Some
mesteter, have not won the accept- are best for beginning a journey or
ance of scholars (Sacred Books of voyage, others for the regulation
the East, xxiii, 90 n. 6 ; Le Zend- of matters of domestic economy,
Avesta, Paris, 18921893, i, 12 some again for social gatherings
n. 34 ). and festivities, and others again
1 R. Roth, "Der Kalender des for the pursuit of learning, while
Avesta und die sogenannten not a few are reserved for rest and
gahanbar," Zeitschrift der deutschen pious contemplation." These pre-
morgenldndischen Gesellschaft, 1880, cepts are no longer observed; in
xxxiv, 710; L. H. Gray, "Der fact, their very existence is un-
iranische Kalender," Geiger and known to most Parsis at the pres-
Kuhn's Grundriss der iranischen ent day. See D. F. Karaka, His-
Philologie, ii, 675 sq. There is tory of the Parsis, London, 1884, i,
extant a Pehlevi tract, said to have 132 sqq.
L
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 167
of the Sixth Dynasty. 1 They are referred to in the
Book of the Dead, in the directions requiring special
chapters of that work to be recited on the first day of
the month, apparently when it coincides with new
moon, and on the last day of the sixth month of the
Egyptian year, when that day coincides with the full
moon. 2 That they were practised under the Twelfth
Dynasty appears clearly from the well-known inscrip-
tion of Khnumhotep II, cut on the walls of the chapel
chamber in his tomb at Benihasan. Khnumhotep
II, a local ruler of the sixteenth nome in Upper Egypt,
sets forth in this inscription a somewhat vainglorious
account of his buildings and his piety. Among other
things he says, "I endowed him [the mortuary priest]
with fields and peasants ; I commanded the mortuary
offering of bread, beer, oxen, and geese, at every feast
of the necropolis : at the feast of the first of the year, of
New Year's Day, of the great year, of the little year,
of the last of the year, the great feast, at the great
Rekeh, at the little Rekeh, at the feast of the five inter-
calary days, at , at the twelve monthly
feasts, at the twelve mid-monthly feasts ; every feast of
the happy living, and of the dead." 3 Again, there is
an explicit reference to new-moon festivals under the
Thirteenth Dynasty in a celebrated inscription placed
by Thothmes III (1501-1447 B.C.) on the walls of the
great temple of Amon at Karnak. This inscription
describes the numerous campaigns made by the Egyp-
1 Pyramid Texts, 521 ( = Teti, translated by E. A. W. Budge,
I. 12); compare ibid., 1453 London, 1898, pp... 218, 230). See
( = Pepi, 1. 657 = Mernere, 11. 763- also H. Brugsch, "Uber die Hiero-
764). Professor J. H. Breasted of glyphe des Neumondes und ihre
the University of Chicago has very verschiedenen Bedeutiingen," Zeit-
kindly furnished me with a trans- schrift der deutschen morgenldn-
lation of these passages, based on dischen Gesellschaft, 1856, x, 676.
the monumental edition of the 3 J. H. Breasted, Ancient Records
texts prepared by K. Sethe (Die of Egypt, Chicago, 1906, i, 285. See
altdgyptischen Pyramidentexte, Leip- further E. Mahler, Etudes sur le
zig, 1908-1910). calendrier egyptien, Paris, 1907,
2 The Book of the Dead (Theban p. 128; idem, in Zeitschrift der
Recension), chs. cxxxv, cxl (The deutschen morgenldndischen Gesell-
Chapters of Coming Forth by Day, schaft, 1908, Ixii, 35.
i68 REST DAYS
tian king in Syria. The account of the battle of
Megiddo opens as follows: "Year 23, first (month) of
the third season (ninth month), on the twenty-first
day, the day of the feast of the new moon, correspond-
ing to the royal coronation, early in the morning, behold,
command was given to the entire army to move." 1
The significance of this lunar festival is further set
forth in the inscriptions on the ceiling of the pronaos of
the temple of Dendera, where the phases of the moon are
portrayed together with other astronomical matters/
The thirty days of the month are here given their
eponymic names and are arranged in two divisions,
according as they belong to the decreasing or to the
increasing moon. Four lunar days are brought into
special prominence as associated with the chief phases
of the moon, viz., 1st lunar day = "festival of new
moon"; yth lunar day = "festival of the first quar-
ter"; i^th lunar day = "festival of the fifteenth,"
and 23d lunar day = "festival of the third quarter."
In this inscription full moon on the fifteenth of the lunar
month, repeatedly mentioned in poetical terms as "the
eye of the moon," seems to have been regarded as the
most significant of the lunar phases. 2 The oldest
traces of this important list of lunar days belong to the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasties ; the latest
date from Ptolemaic and Roman times. 3 The evidence,
then, fully warrants the conclusion that from the ear-
liest period the Egyptians included the celebrations at
new moon and full moon among the most important
of their religious ceremonies. 4 In late classical times
the lunar festivals appear to have been consecrated to
Osiris, whose identification with the moon is reason-
1 Breasted, op. cit., ii, 184; for 3 Brugsch, Thesaurus, pt. i, 52;
an earlier translation see S. Birch, idem, Agyptologie, p. 332.
in Records of the Past, ii, 43. 4 Compare idem, Agyptologie,
2 H. Brugsch, Thesaurus ins crip- p. 334; E. Meyer, "Agyptische
tionum jEgyptiacarum, Leipzig, Chronologic," Abhandlungen der
18831891, pt. i, 30 sqq.y 49 sqq.; koniglich-preussisc hen Akademie der
idem, Die Agyptologie, Leipzig, Wissenschaften, 1904, p. 7.
1891, pp. 332 sq.
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 169
ably certain. 1 But to what extent, if any, they were
accompanied by the imposition of taboos remains
problematical.
The evidence for lunar rites among the Greeks must
be pieced together from scattered references in the
classical writers. The day of the visible new moon
(vovpyvia), marking the beginning of the lunar month,
appears to have been ceremonially observed through-
out the Greek world. 2 The Noumenia was particularly
associated with Apollo and also with Hera, a goddess
who seems to have had an ancient role as a moon deity.
The antiquity of the Noumenia may be judged from
the references to it in the Odyssey, where no other
general festival than that of Apollo is mentioned. In
the island of Ithaca a feast of Apollo on the new-moon
day was in progress at the time of the trial of Odysseus's
bow. Is it not the holy day of Apollo, ask the suitors ?
Who on such a day could stretch the bow ? 3 The first
of the month is holy, declares Hesiod. 4 In Athens,
and doubtless in other Greek cities, the Noumenia con-
tinued to be in historic times a day of repose, when all
public activities, except of a religious character, were
intermitted. 5 Private business, however, was not sus-
pended on the Noumenia ; the markets, especially
those for the purchase of slaves, were then particularly
1 Herodotus, ii, 47 ; Plutarch, astronomical new moon (Thucyd-
De hide et Osiride, 8, 43, 52; ides, ii, 28).
Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris? ii, 3 Odyssey, xxi, 258 sq. :
129-131; Budge, Osiris and the vvv /no/ yap Kara 8rjfj.ov eoprrj rolo Otoio
Egyptian Resurrection, i, 384-396. ayvi; TIS 8e KC roa nraiVoir' ;
2 J. Meursius, GrcBcia feriata, Compare ibid., xiv, 158-162, xx,
sive de festis Gr&corum, Lugduni 156, 276-278.
Batavorum, 1619, pp. 210-214; 4 Opera et dies, 770.
F. G. Welcker, Griechische Cotter- 5 Aristophanes, Nubes, 615^619;
lehre, Gottingen, 1857, i, 554 sq. ; idem, Acharnenses, 999; idem,
W. H. Roscher, Uber Selene und Vespce, 96; Demosthenes, Adv.
Ferwandtes, pp. 1 10 sq. ; idem, in Aristogiton, i, 99 ; Athenaeus, Deip-
Philologus, 1898, Ivii, 216, 218; E. nosophista, xii, 76 ; Plutarch, Quas-
Saglio, "Noumenia," Daremberg tiones Romance, 25 ; idem, De vitando
and Saglio's Dictionnaire des anti- cere alieno, 2; Porphyry, De absti-
quites grecques et romaines, iv, 108. nentia, ii,i6; Theophrastus, Charac-
The word votyx^vta occasionally teres, 14; Lucian, Icaromenippus 9
was used in the sense of the true or 13 ; idem, Lexiphanes, 6.
170 REST DAYS
frequented ; the time was regarded as the most favour-
able for marriage ; and in the homes there was much
feasting and good cheer. 1 The Dichomenia (St^o/i^j/ia),
or full-moon day, appears also to have been a regular
monthly festival in Greece, though of lesser impor-
tance than the Noumenia. 2
The Roman month was originally lunar, and at
all periods was divided by the real or imaginary phases
of the moon. The Kalends, or day of the visible new
moon, were sacred to Juno, a goddess, who, like the
Greek Hera, was particularly associated with the moon. 3
On the Kalends one of the pontiffs performed a sacri-
fice, with the assistance of the rex sacrorum* Pious
Romans also celebrated the new-moon day with offer-
ings and prayers to the family gods. 5 The Ides, or
day of the full moon, were consecrated to Jupiter, but
the Nones, which may originally have marked the
moon's first quarter, were not sacred to any deity. 6
The Kalends of March, June, and October, the Nones
of July, and the Ides of all the months were numbered
among the feria publicce, or sacred festivals attended
by a compulsory remission of labour, of the Roman
state religion. 7
The taboos which at Rome invested the lunar phases
appear to have lingered into the historic age under yet
another guise. Among the unlucky days (dies reli-
giosi 8 ) of the Roman calendar were those following
the Kalends, Nones, and Ides. The thirty-six dies
1 Aristophanes, Vespce, 171 ; 3 Above, p. 130.
idem, Equites, 43 sq.; Alciphron, 4 Macrobius, Saturnalia, i, 15, 9.
Epistola, iii, 38; Porphyry, De 5 Ovid, Fasti, i, 47; Plutarch,
abstinentia, ii, 129; Proclus, on Qucsstiones Romanes, 24; Vergil,
Hesiod, Opera et dies, 780; Suidas, Bucolica, i, 43 sq.; Horace, Car-
s.v. vovfjirjvui (ed. G. Bernhardy, mina, iii, 23, i sq.
Halle, 1853, ii, 1010). 6 Macrobius, op. cit., i, 15, 15;
z Hymni Homerici, xxxii, n; Ovid, , op. cit., i, 48 sq.; Lydus, De
Plutarch, De gloria Atheniensis, 7 ; mensibus, iii, 7.
idem, Dion, 23. Hesiod (op. cit., 7 Wissowa, Religion und Kultus
819, compare 794 sqq.} describes der Romer, p. 369; compare T.
the 1 4th of the month as "above all Mommsen, in Corpus inscriptionum
a holy day" (TTC/OI TTCIVTWV icpov Latinarum, i, pt. i, 2 297.
8 Above, pp. 80 sq., 94.
LUNAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FESTIVALS 171
postriduani were regarded as unsuitable for many pur-
poses, both public and private : for battles, levies,
sacred rites, journeys, and marriages. 1 We are told
that they owed their unlucky quality to a pronounce-
ment of the Senate and pontiffs, in consequence of the
grave defeat of the Allia on the i8th of Quinctilis
(July). According to the story preserved by Gellius
one of the senators publicly declared that on the day
following the Ides the Roman commander had per-
formed sacred rites with a view to engaging the Gauls,
only to experience an overwhelming defeat two days
later. Many other senators called to mind that on
sundry occasions, when sacrifices on the day following
the Kalends, Nones, or Ides had been performed to
secure the favour of the gods in battle, not victory but
disaster followed. In consequence these days were
declared unfit for public sacrifices. 2 It is obvious
that this traditional explanation of the dies postri-
duani must be far from the real truth. Unlucky days
are not generated in such an artificial fashion or on so
wholesale a scale. We may with some confidence
regard the prohibitions accompanying these days as
real survivals of primitive taboos at new moon, first
quarter, and full moon, their assumed historic signif-
icance being only the conscious fiction of a later and
more sophisticated age. 3
1 Varro, De lingua Latina, 29 ; day before the Nones of the month
Ovid, Fasti, i, 59 sq.; Livy, vi, i; Sextilis (Gellius, op. cit., v, 17, 3).
Plutarch, Qucestiones Romance, 2$ ; 2 Verrius Flaccus, ap. Gellius,
Gellius, Nodes Attica, iv, 9, 5; op. cit., v, 17; Macrobius, op. cit.,
Macrobius, Saturnalia, i, 16, 18. i, 16, 21.
These days were also described as 3 On this point I am happy to
atri vel vitiosi. The greater num- find myself in agreement with Dr.
ber of them were available for W. Warde Fowler, who also regards
judicial business, but not for the traditional explanation of the
meetings of the assemblies (dies dies postriduani as an aetiological
jasti non comitiales) . Many Ro- myth. "The fact that the authori-
mans also regarded as ominous the ties of the state had made one or
fourth day before the Kalends, two days religiosi as anniversaries
Nones, and Ides; according to one of disasters, supplied a handy ex-
account because the battle of planation for a number of other
Cannae took place on the fourth dies religiosi of which the true ex-
172 REST DAYS
The scanty records on which we must rely for our
knowledge of the heathen inhabitants of central and
northern Europe, before they came into contact with
Rome and Christianity, furnish no certain evidence
that they celebrated lunar festivals. According to
Strabo the Celtiberians and their neighbours to the
north sacrificed every full moon to a nameless god, the
ceremony taking place at night and being accompanied
by dancing. 1 Again, Tacitus, who mentions the cus-
tom of the Germans of holding their assemblies on
"fixed days" (certi dies), either at the new moon or the
full moon, also refers to the certi dies on which they
think it lawful to propitiate Mercury, their chief god,
with human sacrifices. 2 Such statements may mean
much or little. Having traced lunar festivals among
the Aryans of India, the Iranians, the Greeks, and the
Romans, it might reasonably be supposed that the
Celts and Germans were also familiar with them.
But the festive observance of the two great epochs
of the lunation was by no means confined in antiquity
to Indo-Germanic peoples. The Chinese and Egyptian
festivals at new moon and full moon reach back into
the past as far as the historical eye can follow them ;
while in Semitic lands, as we shall learn, the same rites
occupied a most conspicuous place in the religious
calendar. Not unjust was the remark of Isidore of
Seville, a famous scholar of the Middle Ages, that the
ancients, just as the Hebrews, were accustomed to
celebrate the beginnings of all the months apud
veteres enim omnium mensium principia colebantur,
sicut et apud Hebrceos*
Elanation had been entirely lost; the suggestion in the text that
ut that there was such a true these days were originally tabooed
explanation, resting on very prim- in consequence of lunar supersti-
itive beliefs, I have very little tions attaching to them,
doubt'* (The Religious Experience 1 Geographica, iii, 4, 16.
of the Roman People, London, 1911, 2 Germania, 9, n.
p. 40). Dr. Fowler in a letter 3 Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymolo*
(under date Dec. 9, 1911) tells me gics sive origines, v, 33.
that he regards as "quite probable"
CHAPTER VI
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK
THE calendar forms one of the most important of
social institutions and registers in its gradual improve-
ment from age to age the onward march of culture.
The first attempts at calendar-making were naturally
of the rudest sort, for they were based on the untutored
experience and observation of common men. With
the progress of society the regulation of calendrical
matters tended to fall into the hands of the sacerdotal
class, partly because priests alone enjoyed the leisure
necessary for prolonged researches, but chiefly because
the calendar, on which depends the orderly sequence of
holy days and festivals, was itself an affair of religion. 1
It is clear that the alternations of night and day
must have furnished man with his most elementary
conceptions of the passage of time. A longer cycle was
naturally suggested by the lunar phenomena, so strik-
ing, so obvious, and marked by stages so readily deter-
mined. A survey of the anthropological data indi-
cates that among savage and barbarous peoples the
moon is the measure of time, and that the period of a
lunation furnishes the customary unit for longer reckon-
K. Fotheringham, "Calen-
dar (Introductory)," Hastings' s En-
cyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
iii, 61-64; F. K. Ginzel, Handbuch
der mathematischen und technischen
Chronologie, Leipzig, 1906-1911, ii,
121-159; E. Meyer, Geschichte des
Altertums, Erster Band, Erste
Halfte, Berlin, 1907, pp. 231-243;
R. Schram, "Jahrform und Zeit-
rechnung verschiedener Volker,"
Mitteilungen der kaiserlich-kbnig-
lichen geographischen Gesellschaft in
Witn, 1884,, xxvii, 481-498; M.
Hubert, "Etude sommaire de la
representation du temps dans la
religion et la magie," in Hubert
and Mauss, Melanges d'histoire des
religions, Paris, 1909, pp. 189-
229.
173
174
REST DAYS
ings. 1 Lunar months are general throughout Aus-
tralia, Melanesia, Polynesia, Africa, and America,
wherever primitive calendars have not been supplanted
by more refined calculations borrowed from advanced
peoples. The computation of time by moons naturally
formed the basis of those early calendars which were
framed by peoples just rising into civilization. In
Mexico and Yucatan the year of twelve moon-months
preceded the introduction of the solar year; and the
ancient Peruvians, in some respects so advanced, al-
ways continued to reckon by the succession of luna-
tions. 2 There can be no doubt that the solar calendar
in use among the Egyptians at the very dawn of their
history had been preceded by a more primitive reckon-
ing of the year in lunations. It is enough to point
out in this connection that the Egyptians regularly
employed the figure of a crescent moon as the hiero-
glyph for " month." 3 The calendars of Semitic peo-
1 The lunar or synodic month,
determined by the synodic revolu-
tion of the moon, is the time be-
tween two successive conjunctions
of that luminary with the sun, and
may be measured from new moon
to new moon or from full to full.
It varies about thirteen hours by
reason of eccentricities of the
moon's orbit and of that of the
earth about the sun, but its mean
value is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 min-
utes, and 3 seconds. The length
of the "light month," or period of
the moon's visibility, though com-
monly taken at three days, is a
variable quantity. It is the usual
practice to assume that the moon
becomes visible on the first even-
ing when she is more than thirty
hours old at sunset. Her mean
age when first seen is, therefore,
30 hours + hours = I day, 18
hours. See J. K. Fotheringham,
"On the Smallest Visible Phase of
the Moon," Monthly Notices of the
Royal Astronomical Society, 1910,
Ixx, 527-531.
2 E. J. Payne, History of the
New World called America, Oxford,
1892-1899, ii, 329, 331 ; E. Forste-
mann, in Bulletin of the Bureau of
American Ethnology, 1904, no. 28,
p. 523 (Maya pre-solar calendar).
3 Horapollo," Hieroglyphic a, i, 4 ;
compare H. Brugsch, in Zeitschrift
der deutschen morgenldndischen Ge-
sellschaft, 1856, x, 676; .C. R.
Lepsius, Die Chronologie der Agypter,
Berlin, 1849, i, 156 sq., 219; E.
Meyer, "Agyptische Chronologic,"
Abhandlungen der koniglich-preussi-
schen Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Berlin, 1904, pp. 5 sqq. Papyri dis-
covered by Professor W. M. Flin-
ders Petrie at Kahun, belonging to
the age of Sesostris III, show that
a lunar year of three hundred and
fifty-five days was still recognized
as late as the Twelfth Dynasty.
These papyri relate to the temple
revenues, which the priests, with
characteristic religious conserva-
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 175
pies, notably those of the Babylonians and Hebrews,
were based on the moon ; 1 and the prophet Mo-
hammed, when enjoining on his followers the observ-
ance of the pure lunar year, in place of the lunisolar
year used by the Arabians before the Hegira, was in
reality reverting to a still more primitive mode of
counting time. Lunisolar calendars, in which the
primary unit is the lunation, were known, long before
the Christian era, to every civilization in the Old
World from the Roman in the west to the Chinese in
the east. Linguistic researches indicate that in most,
if not all, Indo-European languages, the names for moon
and month originally coincided. 2 In Max Miiller's
poetical language the moon was "the golden hand on
the dark dial of heaven."
The need of observing the moons, apart from reli-
gious or superstitious reasons, was no doubt mainly
connected with economic considerations. To the sav-
age it is of supreme importance to be able to anticipate
the different periods of the year which bring with them
different supplies of natural food ; and for this purpose
the moons afford a convenient basis of reckoning.
Hence we find that very generally among primitive
peoples the moons are named after the moulting, mi-
grating, and pairing of animals, or after the budding,
blossoming, and ripening of the fruits of the earth.
Again, most shepherd tribes reckon time by moons.
In the pastoral stage it is probable that the necessity
of calculating the various periods of gestation and the
proper time for breeding, so that young animals might
be brought into the world at seasons most favourable
to their health and maintenance, contributed to the
observation of the moon and to the formation of lunar
tism, were accustomed to reckon 2 O. Schrader, Prehistoric Antiq-
according to lunar months (seven uities of the Aryan Peoples, trans-
of thirty days and five of twenty- lated by F. B. Jevons, London,
nine days). See L. Borchardt, in 1890, p. 306; idem, Reallexikon der
Zeitschrift fur dgyptische Sprache, indogermanischen Altertumskunde,
1899, xxxvii, 92-95. Strassburg, 1901, p. 547.
1 Below, pp. 226, 247.
176 REST DAYS
calendars. If the desirability of observing the succes-
sive moons was felt by frugivorous and pastoral peo-
ples, it will be readily seen how the introduction of
agricultural operations, often accompanied by religious
ceremonies and festivals, rendered definite and clearly
marked divisions of time a matter of the greatest mo-
ment. It is therefore probable that rude popular
calendars based on the moon were in use long before
more accurate observations were made by primitive
astronomers. There is much evidence for the practice
of naming the moon-months after the different agri-
cultural operations, such as planting and harvesting,
which occur in them. Among the Chinese, Japanese,
Babylonians, Hebrews, Celts, Germans, and Slavs,
the early epithets of some or all of the months are
connected with agriculture and the farmer's life. And
the Roman Aprilis, Maius, and Junius, from which our
own month-names have been taken, are believed to
have been originally seasonal designations, referring
to the sprouting, growth, and maturity of vegetation.
A lunar month does not necessarily imply a lunar
year. Of not a few savage and half-civilized peoples
it is expressly said that they have but vague notions
of a year as a fixed period of time, and that they can
refer to events more than a few months past only as
happening after some noteworthy event, such as a
flood, a drought, an earthquake, a comet, or the death
of a chief. The foundation of yearly reckonings must
be sought in the observation of rhythmical natural
phenomena the alternation of the seasons, the recur-
rence of periodical winds, the varying length of day as
determined by the sun's elevation, and especially the
rising and setting of the Pleiades. 1 In order to adapt
the same moons to the same seasons as they succes-
1 R. Andree, "Die Plejaden im of the Wild, London, 1912, i, 307-
Mythus und in ihrer Beziehung 319; E. Forstemann, "The Plei-
zum Jahresbeginn und Landbau," ades among the Mayas," Bulletin
Globus, 1893, Ixiv, 362-366; Sir of the Bureau of American Ethnology,
J. G. Frazer, Spirits of the Corn and 1904, no. 28, pp. 523 sq.
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 177
>ively occurred, or to the course of the sun, or to the
rising and setting of the Pleiades, the number of moons
was usually taken at twelve, giving the lunar year of
three hundred and fifty-four days. 1
It is unnecessary in this connection to discuss fully
the various methods which have been employed to
adjust the pure lunar year of twelve synodic months
to the seasonal or solar year. Some primitive peoples
adopt the expedient of counting thirteen lunations to
the year. A more common and accurate procedure is
to intercalate the thirteenth month, usually in every
second or third year. Familiar illustrations are fur-
nished by the Hindus, Babylonians, Jews, and Greeks
in antiquity; among modern peoples, by the natives
of Burma, Siam, China, and Japan. 2 The methods of
intercalation employed are historically numerous, the
details are often obscure, and in no instance were the
results wholly successful. The difficulties arising from
such attempts to coordinate incoordinable quantities
must have been the prime cause of the adoption of
calendars in which the month, instead of denoting the
moon's synodic revolution, received an arbitrary num-
1 The lunar year of twelve Sceptical modern historians are
synodic months consists, exactly, inclined to dismiss the Roman tra-
of 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, dition as a mere figment of the
and 36 seconds. The Maori have imagination.
a legend to the effect that their 2 The thirteenth month is re-
ancient year contained ten months ferred to in the Rig-Veda (i, 25, 8;
only, until a certain teacher, full of transl. H. Grassmann, ii, 25) as the
divine wisdom, instructed them to "later-born month"; compare
make their year twelve months Atharva-Veda, v, 6, 4, xiii, 3, 8
long (E. Tregear, The Maori Race, (transl. W. D. Whitney, pp. 230,
Wanganui [N.Z.], 1904, p. 143). 729). This intercalary month
The Chinese have a similar tradi- bears a distinctly unfavourable
tion of a ten-month year (H. A. character, being regarded as unfit
Giles, A Glossary of References on for any religious undertaking
Subjects connected with the Far East? (Haug, Aitareya Brahmanam y ii, 26) .
Shanghai, 1900, p. 183). The Among the Loango negroes the
Roman "year of Romulus" con- thirteenth month, inserted every
sisted of ten months and (com- three years, is likewise regarded as
monly) three hundred and four an evil time (E. Pechuel-Loesche,
days (Censorinus, De die natali, xx, op. cit. 9 pp. 138 sq.).
2-3; Lydus, De mensibus, i, 16).
178 REST DAYS
ber of days approaching the twelfth part of a solar
year.
The period of a lunation seems to have been generally
estimated, in the first instance, at thirty days, a cal-
culation found in the lunar calendars of many half-
civilized peoples, and still employed at the present day
on all occasions when absolute accuracy is not consid-
ered necessary. Indeed, if lunations be used, it is more
exact to count by thirty days than by twenty-nine.
When the moon's synodic revolution came to be more
accurately measured by calculating an average from
the number of days comprised in several successive
lunations, the true length (about twenty-nine and one-
half days) could be conveniently calendarized only by
periods of twenty-nine and thirty days in alternation.
Such vacillating months were used by the Hawaiians
and the New Zealanders ; they were familiar to the
Jews, the later Babylonians, and the Greeks ; and they
are still found throughout the Mohammedan world,
and among various peoples of southeastern Asia. 1
People who reckon by moons naturally begin their
lunar month with the first appearance of the luminous
1 The old Roman arrangement in a famous line Numero deus
of the months, though based on the impare gaudet (Bucolica, viii, 75)
lunar year, is sui generis. Four of is supposed to have been derived
the twelve months, viz., March, from Pythagorean speculations re-
May, July, and October, had thirty- garding the cosmic properties of
one days, and the rest twenty-nine numbers. It may better be con-
days, except February, which had sidered a genuinely Italian notion,
twenty-eight days. All the months since like beliefs are found in the
thus had an odd number of days, folklore of other peoples, notably
save February, which was spe- the old Arabs and the modern
cially devoted to purificatory cere- Hindus. See I. Goldziher, in
monies and the cult of the dead. Globus, 1901, Ixxx, 31; Crooke,
This peculiar arrangement appears Popular Religion and Folk-lore of
to have been based on an old belief Northern India? ii, 51. The
that odd numbers are of good choice of 355 days, rather than 354
omen, even numbers, of ill omen days, as the length of the Roman
(T. Mommsen, Die romische Chro- lunar year, was undoubtedly deter-
nologie bis auf Cczsar, Berlin, 1858, p. mined by the prevalence of the
13 ; Marquardt-Wissowa, Romische same superstition (Censorinus, De
Staatsverwaltung, Hi, 2 284). The die natali, xx, 4).
superstition, alluded to by Vergil
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 179
crescent in the western sky. 1 The real moon being
invisible for two or three days, various expedients are
adopted in order to secure regularity in lunar reckon-
ings. Thus, the Toda keep a record of the number of
days from new moon to full moon and from that to the
next new moon. The full moon is counted as being
on the fifteenth day after the new moon, and the new
moon as being on the sixteenth day after the full moon. 2
The Basuto begin their month on the day when the
new moon is visible, though they count two more days
when the moon cannot be seen at all in the heavens. 3
Still other devices were employed in antiquity by the
Babylonians, Hebrews, and Romans. 4
1 This custom explains the wide-
spread practice of beginning the
civil day at sunset or, more accu-
rately, in the interval between the
foing-down of the sun and complete
arkness. The necessities of a
calendar system requiring that the
first day of the month should be
counted from the same moment
that the month itself is supposed to
begin, it follows that the other days
of the month must also be calcu-
lated from evening to evening.
The noctidiurnal cycle is wide-
spread throughout the lower cul-
ture, being found, generally, among
the North American Indians, the
Melanesians and Polynesians, and
in Africa. The same cycle ob-
tained among many peoples of
archaic civilization. The Baby-
lonian day began with the even-
ing, and this is still the custom
among the Arabs and throughout
the Mohammedan world. Modern
Jewish communities, in beginning
their ritual day in the evening,
retain a practice illustrated by
several Old Testament passages
(Genesis, i, 5; Psalms, Iv, 17).
Various festivals and fasts, such
as the Sabbath, the Day of Atone-
ment, and the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, were so arranged as to
begin and end with the evening.
Among most of the Indo-Germanic
peoples the civil day, or nycthe-
meron, commenced at sunset; and
the practice, which still survives in
Iceland, was not abandoned in
Italy and some other parts of
Europe until about a century ago.
Our English words "fortnight"
and " sennight" are reminiscent of
this ancient custom. See G. A.
Wilken, "Het tellen bij nachten
bij de volken van het maleisch-
polynesische ras," Bijdragen tot de
taal-land-en volkenkunde van Neder-
landsch-Indie, 1886, fifth series,
pt. i, 378-392; A. Fischer, "'Tag
und Nacht* im arabischen und
die semitische Tagesberechnung,"
Abhandlungen der philologisch-
historischen Klasse der koniglich-
sdchischen Gesellschaft der Wissen-
schaften, 1909, xxvii, 741-758; O.
Schrader, Reallexikon, p. 845; S.
Reinach, "Die," in Daremberg
and Saglio, op. cit., iii, 168 sq.,
G. Bilfinger, Der burgerliche Tag,
Stuttgart, 1888.
2 Rivers, Todas, pp. 590 sqq.
3 J. Sechefo, "The Twelve Lunar
Months among the Basuto," An-
thropos, 1909, iv, 931 sqq.
4 Below, pp. 184, 226 sq., 248 sq.
i8o REST DAYS
The lunar month, which in rude communities pro-
vides a satisfactory chronological unit, does not meet
the needs of an advancing society. Shorter periods
become desirable, and these may be found in the
division of the lunation. There is much evidence
that primitive peoples watch the lunar phases with
keen interest, often name them, and sometimes use
them for the purpose of reckoning time. The natives
of Victoria are said to employ ordinal numbers only
in numbering the days of the month for making appoint-
ments. As their months are marked by the reappear-
ance of the moon, their ordinal numbers do not go
beyond twenty-eight. 1 The Dieri and related tribes
of South Australia reckon by lunar phases; "when
anticipating a grand ceremony they refer to the first
or last quarter of the moon." 2 The central Aus-
tralians, who regard the moon as a male deity, have
distinct names applied to new moon, first quarter, full
moon, and last quarter. 3 In German New Guinea
the phases of the moon are employed for all time-units
greater than a day. 4 The natives of New Britain are
close observers of the phases of the moon (kalang) and
have separate terms for them. 5 The New Caledonians
count by lunar months, "each divided into four weeks,
following the four phases of the moon." 6 The Kayan
on the Mendalam River in Dutch Borneo name eight
phases of the waxing and waning moon. 7 The Dyak
tribes on the Mahakam and Barito rivers in Dutch
Borneo "reckon their time by the full moon, half
moon, and new moon." 8 In those parts of Sumatra
where the seven-day week has not been introduced,
1 James Dawson, Australian Ab- 4 B. Hagen, Unter den Papua's,
origines, Melbourne, 1881, p. xcix. Wiesbaden, 1899, p. 244.
2 S. Gason, in Journal of the 5 Georgetown, Melanesians and
Anthropological Institute, 1895, xxiv, Polynesians, London, 1910, p. 332.
174. 6 V. de Rochas, La Nouvelle-
3 Spencer and Gillen, The Native Caledonie, Paris, 1862, p. 191.
Tribes of Central Australia, London, 7 Nieuwenhuis, op. cit., i, 317.
1897, pp. 25, 564 sq. 8 C. Bock, Head-hunters of Bor-
neo,' 1 ' London, 1882, p. 212.
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 181
it is a common practice to calculate by the days of
the moon's age. 1 The very primitive peoples occupying
Nias and the Mentawi Islands off the western coast
of Sumatra distinguish four phases of the moon and
give to them appropriate names. 2 Not only do the
Nicobarese possess terms to denote the chief phases
of the lunation, but they are also able to indicate any
particular day in the lunar month with perfect clear-
ness, since each day has its particular name. 3 The
Andaman Islanders, possessing no extended enumera-
tion, do not count the moons in the year, but never-
theless employ appropriate words to designate the
lunar phases. 4 The Bontoc and Ibaloi Igorot have
noted and named eight phases of the moon ; these,
however, are said to be seldom used for counting time. 6
Throughout the Caroline Islands (Yap, Lamotrek,
Ponape, Uleai) the successive days of the month receive
names indicating the moon's age. 6 In Polynesia every
night in the month had its distinct name derived from
the changing aspects of the moon. 7 The Nandi of
1 William Marsden, The History
of Sumatra? London, 1811, p. 194;
compare B. Hagen, Die Orang Kubu
auj 'Sumatra, Frankfurt-a.-M., 1908,
P 154-
2 E. Modigliani, Un viaggio a
Nias, Milan, 1890, pp. 4, 484; A.
Maass, Bei liebenswurdigen Wilden,
Berlin, 1902, p. 93.
3 E. H. Man, in Indian Anti-
quary, 1897, xxvi, 270 sq.
4 Idem, in Journal of the Anthro-
pological Institute, 1883, xii, 337.
6 A. E. Jenks, in Ethnological
Survey Publications, Manila, 1905,
i, 219; O. Scheerer, ibid., ii, 158.
6 F. W. Christian, The Caroline
Islands, London, 1899, pp. 387 sq.,
392 sqq.; M. Girschner, in Baessler-
Archiv, 1911, ii, 175 sq.
7 The Maori counted twenty-
eight "nights" of the moon, in-
cluding: i. noni hope, the moon is
in the reinga, or underworld ;
4. he oho ata, the moon is visible;
5. ouenuku, it begins to rise a little
way; 6. maweti, it rises still
higher; 14. he atua, full; 19. he
ohika, the moon begins to wane;
24. tanagaroa a roto, it sinks into
the sea; 28. he o mutu, it disap-
pears (Taylor, Te Ika A Maui,
p. 177). To the Society Islanders
the fifteenth day was omarae, or the
moon with a round and full face;
the thirtieth day, oterieo, was the
time when the moon dies or is
changed (Ellis, Polynesian Re-
searches, i, 87 sq.}. In the Hervey
group several of the moon nights
were sacred to the gods. The
twenty-eighth day was called mauri
ghost ; the twenty-ninth, omutu
ended ; the thirtieth, otire o
avaiki lost in the depths of
avaiki, or Hades (W. W. Gill,
Myths and Songs from the South
Pacific, London, 1876, p. 318).
1 82 REST DAYS
British East Africa similarly designate the successive
nights of a lunar month. 1 The Bini of Southern
Nigeria even appoint special persons to observe the
changes of the moon. 2 The Ho tribes of Togo and the
Hottentots of South Africa employ separate terms for
all the lunar phases. 3 In South America the Karaja
of Brazil, in addition to noting and naming the four
most conspicuous phases of the moon, also distinguish
a fifth phase, which occurs between first quarter and
full moon. 4 Of the North American Indians it has
been said, generally, that the " alternations of day and
night and the changes of the moon and the seasons
formed the basis of their [calendar] systems." 5 In
the words of the Koran the phases of the moon are
" indications of time for men." 6
Since new moon and full moon are the most conspicu-
ous lunar phases, it has been a common practice to
recognize two periods in the lunation, as marked by the
waxing and the waning moon. 7 This two-fold division
For a table of the days of the example, the seventh day, and the
moon's age in the Maori, Morion, last quarter, the twenty-first day
Hawaiian, Tahitian, Marquesan, (Nielsen, Altarabische Mondreligion,
and Rarotongan languages see p. 85, referring to Dr. Glaser's obser-
Tregear, Maori-Polynesian Com- vations).
parative Dictionary, p. 666. 7 The mean age of the moon
1 Hollis, Nandi, pp. 95 sq. when first seen being 30 hours
2 Dennett, At the Back of the ,24 , , Q ,
Black Man's Mind, p. 186. + f hours = I day, 18 hours
3 J. Spieth, Die Ewe-Stdmme, (above, p. 174 w. 1 ), and the mean
Berlin, 1906, p. 556; L. Schultze, age of the moon when full being
Aus Namaland und Kalahari, Jena, 29 days, 12 + hours _ i 8
1907, p. 370. The Hottentots now 2
use the European week (Schultze, hours, it follows that the mean
op. cit., p. 372). interval between the first appear-
4 F. Krause, In den Wildnissen ance of the moon and the full of
Brasiliens, Leipzig, 1911, p. 339. the moon is about 13 days. "In
6 C. Thomas, "Calendar," Hand- other words the moon becomes full
book of American Indians, pt. i, on an average at the end of the
189 (Bulletin of the Bureau of thirteenth day and the beginning
American Ethnology, no. 30). of the fourteenth night. Hence,
6 Koran, ii, 185. Even at the where the days are reckoned from
present time the south Arabians sunset, we should expect the four-
determine the day of the month by teenth day of the month to be
observation of the moon's phases, regarded as the day of the full
the first quarter being called, for moon. And it is in fact one of the
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 183
of the month does not seem to be employed for calendri-
cal purposes by the Australian aborigines, but in some
parts of Melanesia the two halves of the lunation
receive appropriate names and the full moon itself
bears a particular designation. 1 The Maori of New
Zealand, who sometimes "divide the month into halves
or fortnights by 'moon-growing' and 'moon-lessen-
ing,'" 2 are the only Polynesian people to adopt this
mode of reckoning. It is met, also, in Malaysia (Java,
Sumatra, Bali, Nias, etc.), but only where Indian cul-
ture has penetrated. 3
The division of the month into two parts is found
among most Indo-European peoples. In India the
recognition of the "light" and "dark" halves of the
month goes back to Vedic antiquity. 4 Modern Hindus
divide the month into two fortnights, the days of which
are reckoned continuously as those of the increasing
days most commonly so regarded.
The fifteenth is a date obtained
more simply. Fifteen is half
thirty and, as the middle of the
month, should be the date of full
moon. In calendars based on cal-
culations the month is frequently
reckoned from the actual new
moon, and in these the fifteenth is
more correct than the fourteenth
for the mean date of full moon."
It should be noted, also, that, as a
general rule, the nearer the autum-
nal equinox, the later the first
appearance of the moon and the
shorter the interval between the
visible new moon and full moon.
If the first appearance is late, as it
often is in September, the moon
might be full on the night follow-
ing the eleventh day. See J. K.
Fotheringham, in Proceedings of the
British Academy, 1909-1910, pp.
283, 286.
1 R. Thurnwald, Forschungen auf
den Salomo-Inseln und dem Bis-
marck Archipel, Berlin, 1912-1913,
i, 330 sq.
2 E. Tregear, in Journal of the
Anthropological Institute, 1890, xix,
X **L. H. Gray, "Calendar (Poly-
nesian)," Hastings' s Encyclopedia
of Religion and Ethics, iii, 130;
J. v. Brenner, Besuch bei den
Kannibalen Sumatras, Wiirzburg,
1894, p. 233; R. Friederich, in
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society^,
1878, n.s., x, 93 sq.; Modigliani,
op. cit., p. 464.
4 A. Weber, in Indische Studien,
1853, ii, 166 n*-, H. Zimmer,
Altindisches Leben, Berlin, 1879,
p. 364; G. Thibaut, "Astronomic,
Astrologie, und Mathematik,"
Biihler's Grundriss der indo-arischen
Philologie und Altertumskunde, iii,
pt. ix, 12. This lunar fortnight
of the Hindus attracted the atten-
tion of the Romans, and Quintus
Curtius speaks of it as a note-
worthy fact (Histories Alexandri
Magni, viii, 9). References to it
are also found in mediaeval litera-
ture; compare Albiruni, op. cit., i,
359-
1 84
REST DAYS
or decreasing moon. The full-moon day (amavus) is
held in great sanctity. 1 Like customs prevail in Cey-
lon, Burma, Siam, Indo-China, and other parts of
Asia. 2 The bipartite division of the month was famil-
iar to the ancient Persians 3 and to the early Greeks. 4
The fifteenth of the month was regularly called by
the Greeks the full-moon day (Dichomenia, St^o/Lt^i/ia)
even after the introduction of the sequence of twenty-
nine day and thirty-day months. 6 In "hollow" months
of twenty-nine days the full moon, of course, would
fall on the fourteenth day, except when an extra day
was intercalated every thirty-two or thirty-three
months. 6 The Roman kalendce and idus corresponded
to the Greek VOV^VIOL and Si^o^^ta. 7 The Kalends
were so named because in early times the pontiffs had
been accustomed to make a public announcement
(calare) whether five or seven days should be reckoned
from new moon to the first quarter. 8 The Ides thus
1 G. E. Balfour, The Cyclopedia
of India? ii, 981 ; Sewell and
Dikshit, The Indian Calendar, Lon-
don, 1896, p. 4.
2 Childers, Dictionary of the Pali
Language, s.v. paracadasi; A. Caba-
ton, in Hastings's Encyclopedia of
Religion and Ethics, iii, 136 (as to
the Siamese) ; Shway Yoe, The
Burman? p. 550; A. Cabaton,
in Hastings's Encyclopedia of Reli-
gion and Ethics, iii, 113 sq. (as to
the Cambodians, Chams, and
Laotians) ; H. Vambery, Die pri-
mitive Cultur des turko-tatarischen
Volkes, Leipzig, 1879, p. 160;
Carl Hiekisch, Die Tungusen, St.
Petersburg, 1879, p. 94. In Tibet
the fifteenth day of the lunar month
receives a special name (A. Csoma
de Koros, A Grammar of the Tibetan
Language, Calcutta, 1834, p. 157).
3 Yost, vii, 2 (S. B. E., xxiii, 89).
4 Odyssey, xiv, 162; xix, 307:
TOV ftev </>0tvovros fArjvos, Tov 8' !<rra/u,-
voio ; Hesiod, Opera et dies, 780 :
bs 8' Icrra^fvov
6 G. F. Unger, "Zeitrechnung
der Griechen und Romer," Iwan
von Miiller's Handbuch der klassi-
schen Altertumswissenschaft, i, 563.
However, evidence is not wanting
for the observance of the fourteenth
day, and even of the sixteenth day,
as that of the full moon. See A.
Mommsen, Chronologie, Leipzig,
1883, pp. 99 sqq.
6 The Greeks never knew the
exact mean measurement of a
lunation and, owing to their neglect
of the odd minutes and seconds in
the lunar month, they were obliged
occasionally to intercalate an addi-
tional day. From a passage in
Aristophanes it would appear that
this pious duty to the gods was not
always performed (Nubes, 610
sqq.}.
1 T. Mommsen, Rdmische Chro-
nologie, pp. 13 sq., 215 sq.; Mar-
quardt-Wissowa, Rdmische Staats-
verwaltung, iii, 2 282 sq.
8 Macrobius, Saturnalia, i, 15^
10; Varro, De lingua Latina, vi, 27.
f~11 .
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 185
fell on the thirteenth or fifteenth day of the month,
according as the Nones occurred on the fifth or seventh
day. The Roman belief in the virtue of odd numbers
doubtless explains this choice of dates for both Nones
and Ides. 1 Among the ancient Germans new moon and
full moon appear as the most prominent lunar phases. 2
The division of the lunation into two parts, the first
of fifteen days, the second of fourteen or fifteen days,
according as the month had twenty-nine or thirty days,
is clearly indicated for the Celtic peoples. 3 In the
Calendar of Coligny the days of each half-month are
numbered consecutively, following what must have
been the old Indo-European practice. The second
half of the month is always preceded by the title atenoux,
doubtless indicating full moon, and variously trans-
lated " great night" or " renewal." 4 That this Gallic
calendar presents no exceptional custom is obvious
from the constant occurrence in the literature of the
insular Celts of such expressions as the Welsh pythewnos,
a fortnight (literally "a fifteen night"), and the Irish
coicthiges, which has the same meaning. 5 With these
1 The nones, or Nones, were so 3 J. Loth, "L'annee celtique
called because, by the Roman in- d'apres les textes irlandais, gallois,
elusive reckoning, they fell on the bretons, et le calendrier de Coligny,"
ninth day (nonus) before the Ides Revue celtique, 1904, xxv, 131;
(Varro, loc.cit.}. Plutarch's deriva- R. Thurneysen, "Die Namen der
tion from novus, new or young, Wochentage in den keltischen Dia-
referring to the waxing moon, is lecten," Zeitschrift fur deutsche
without justification (Quesstiones PFortforschung, 1901, i, 191.
Romance, 24). On the etymology 4 The long inscription, engraved
of idus see Walde, Lateinisches on a bronze tablet, which forms the
etymologise ties W orterbuch? p. 375. Calendar of Coligny, was discovered
The Romans had no name, corre- in 1897 near the city of Lyons. See
sponding to nones, for the last S. de Ricci, "Le calendrier gaulois
quarter of the moon. It has been de Coligny," Revue celtique, 1898,
argued, therefore, that the Nones xix, 213-223; R. Thurneysen, "Der
never marked the first quarter and Kalender von Coligny," Zeitschrift
that they were introduced, quite fur celtische Philologie, 1899, ii, 523-
artificially, during the regal period 544; Sir John Rhys, "The Coligny
(R. Flex, Die dlteste Monatseintei- Calendar," Proceedings of the British
lung der Romer, Jena, 1880, pp. 5 sq., Academy, 1909-1910, pp. 207 sqq.
24 sqq., 36, 42). 6 Loth, loc. cit.; Rhys, Celtic
2 Tacitus, Germania, n : cum Heathendom, 3 London, 1898, pp.
aut inchoatur luna aut impletur. 360 sq.
1 86 REST DAYS
terms may be compared our English "fortnight" (O. E.
feowertyne nihf).
The bipartite division of the month may be traced
even more widely. It was recognized by the Egyptians,
who appear to have counted the days by the decreasing
and increasing moon and to have regarded the full
moon (nth) as the most important of the lunar phases. 1
For Semitic peoples, notably the Babylonians and
Hebrews, new moon and full moon enjoyed significance
not only as religious festivals but also as the most
conspicuous periods of the lunation. A primitive
cycle of thirteen days used for ritual purposes by the
ancient Mexicans may have been originally suggested
by the number of months in the lunar year, but the
choice of this number seems also to have been affected
by the recognition of thirteen visible stages of the
moon's increase (mtxtozoliztli, the moon's waking) and
thirteen visible stages of her decrease (mecochiliztli,
the moon's sleep). 2 In both Colombia and Peru the
half-months were reckoned by the waxing and the
waning of the moon. 3
1 Horapollo, Hieroglyphica y i, 4; periods of time at all: "one full
Brugsch, Agyptologie, p. 331; E. moon to another is as far as they
Mahler, in Journal of the Royal usually go" (B. T. Somerville, in
Asiatic Society, 1901, n.s., xxxiii, Journal of the Anthropological In-
55 sqq. Mahler's hypothesis stitute, 1897, xxvi, 404).
that the Egyptians looked upon 2 Payne, op. cit., ii, 310, 323 sqq.,
the full moon as the completion 355 sqq.; J. de Acosta, op. cit.,
of the lunation is not improb- ok. vi, ch. 2 (ed. C. R. Markham, ii,
able; there are several passages in 393); H. H. Bancroft, The Native
the Vedas where the full moon Races of the Pacific States of North
is indicated as the end of the America, ii, 515 sq. For other
month and at the same time as and less plausible reasons leading
the beginning of the next month to the choice of the number thirteen,
(Thibaut, op. cit., p. 12). The see C. P. Bowditch, The Numeration,
evidence yielded by the Calendar Calendar Systems, and Astronomical
of Coligny has been thought to Knowledge of the Mayas, Cambridge
imply that originally the Sequani (Mass.), 1910, pp. 266 sq.
of Gaul counted the months from 3 V. Restrepo, Los Chibchas antes
full moon to full moon (R. de la conquista espanola, Bogota,
Thurneysen, in Zeitschrift fur celti- 1895, p. 162; Garcilasso de la
sche Philologie, 1899, ii, 526). Vega, op. cit., pt. i, bk. ii, ch. 23
The Melanesians of New Georgia (transl. C. R. Markham, i, 181).
do not seem to calculate long
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 187
From the division of the month into two fortnights,
at once the simplest, earliest, and most widespread
form of the week, we pass to the consideration of those
shorter cycles of time which are found in various parts
of the world. It might appear at first sight that all
civil weeks of five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten days
would likewise have a natural origin in divisions, either
of the true lunation or of the conventional month.
But the evidence which has been presented for the
existence of market weeks shows that these arose quite
independently of the lunar month, and that only at a
subsequent period, when they came into general use
for calendrical purposes, were they adjusted to the
length of the moon's monthly course. Some interest-
ing examples of this process of adjustment may be
studied among the negroes of west Africa. Thus, the
Yoruba week consists of five days, and six of them are
supposed to make a lunar month. As a matter of
fact, since the first day of the first week always com-
mences with the appearance of the new moon, the month
really contains five weeks of five days' duration, and
one of four days and a half, approximately. 1 Again,
the Tshi tribes of the Gold Coast, having chosen seven-
day weeks, find it necessary to begin them at different
hours of the day. Some of their weeks, termed rfehsun,
" It is seven," may have eight days and six nights, others
the reverse, and others seven days and nights, with a
fractional part of a day or night. 2 Such are the expedi-
ents adopted by some semi-civilized peoples, whose
months are strictly lunar, to avoid the difficulty pre-
sented by the fact that the length of the lunation
1 Ellis, Yoruba-speaking Peoples, those used by the Tshi. With
pp. 143 sq. The Benin tribes are both the Tshi and Ga the full
said to employ the same method of moon marks the commencement of
reckoning. the third week of yf days and,
2 Idem, Tshi-s peaking Peoples, with the Yoruba, the commence-
pp. 215 sq. The Ga tribes have an ment of the fourth week of 5 days,
exactly similar mode of measuring in each case marking the lapse of
time, though their names for the half a month,
days of the week are not the same as
1 88 REST DAYS
(twenty-nine and a half days) does not permit of sub-
division into exactly equal parts.
One of the most common forms of the week is the
decade. When not based on the institution of the
market, it seems reasonable to suppose that this cycle
was originally suggested by the increase, culmination,
and decrease of the moon^ as shown by the waxing
crescent, the more or less full disk, and the waning
crescent. If it be held that the arrangement by dec-
ades was based rather on denary arithmetic, we may
at least feel confident that it would not have been chosen
except for its close approximation to the length of the
lunar month. As a matter of fact, such a sequence
represents the true course of the lunation in days more
correctly than a nine-day, or an eight-day, or even a
seven-day week. A division of the month into decades
is definitely attributed to the Maori of New Zealand,
who doubtless were obliged to count only nine days in
the third and last decade of every other month. 1 The
arrangement of the four Hawaiian tabu periods, of
which the first three came at intervals of ten days, ar-
gues strongly in favour of a division of time into decades,
or anahulu. This term, though now obsolete, occurs
frequently in ancient legends and songs as a measure
of time comprising ten days. The fourth monthly
tabu period, sacred to the god Kane, was celebrated on
the twenty-seventh of the month, only three days
after the festival of Kaloa, from which circumstance
it has been plausibly regarded as of later introduction
than the others. 2 A curious division of the month into
1 R. Taylor, TV Ika A fifaui, that time, and Friday was te ra
London, 1855, p. 177. When the oka, or bleeding day, so named
Maori adopted the European week, because the missionaries killed
they gave native names to their pigs on Friday in order to be
three of the weekdays. Sunday able to cut them up on Saturday
they called "the week," te zviki, and dispose of them before Sun-
because on that day the week day. The remaining weekdays had
began, Saturday was te ra horoi, naturalized names, viz., manei,
or washing and cleaning-up day, turei, wenerei, and tairei (ibid.,
a name derived from their obser- pp. 176 sq.).
vation of European customs at 2 Malo, Hawaiian Antiquities,
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 189
parts prevails in some of the Caroline Islands.
In Yap, for instance, the thirty-day month is divided
into pul, or new moon, lasting thirteen days, botrau,
or full moon, lasting nine days, and lumor, or darkness,
continuing to the end of the month. 1 Lunar decades
are found in southeastern Asia. The Chingpaw or
Kachin of Upper Burma, whose primitive year consists
of twelve lunar months uncorrected by intercalation
and arbitrarily adjusted to the successive seasons, recog-
nize three divisions of the month, each of ten days'
duration. The first, called shitta pyaw, includes ten
days of the waxing moon ; the last, called shitta si,
includes ten days of the waning moon. The interven-
ing period bears no special name, though the full moon
itself is called shitta lai. 2 The peoples of French Indo-
China (Cochin-China, Anam, and Tonkin) regularly
divide the month into three decades, but this arrange-
ment is now being gradually superseded by the Euro-
pean week of seven days. 3 Probably the Indo-Chinese
custom was borrowed from the Chinese, among whom
it has long been a common practice to speak of anything
as happening in the first, middle, or last decade of any
particular month. 4 A similar system has not yet be-
come obsolete in Japan, where the ten-day periods are
known as the upper, middle, and lower decades. 5
Various African peoples use the ten-day cycle. Among
the Wagiriama of British East Africa the three decades
p. 54; N. B. Emerson, in ibid., 3 A. Cabaton, "Calendar (Indo-
p. 200; Fornander, Account of the Chinese)," Hastings's Encyclo-
Polynesian Race, i, 120 sq. On the padia of Religion and Ethics, iii,
Hawaiian Sabbaths see above, no.
pp. 14 sq., 88. 4 T. L. Bullock and L. H. Gray,
Christian, Caroline Islands, "Calendar (Chinese)," ibid., iii, 83.
p. 394. The names of the three decades are
2 Gazetteer of Upper Burma and said to be shang, chung, and hea
the Shan States, edited by Scott and (Robert Morrison, A View of China
Hardiman, pt. i, vol. i, p. 434; for Philological Purposes, Macao,
H. J. Wehrli, Beitrag zur Ethnologie 1817, p. 104).
der Chingpaw (Kachin) von Ober- 5 E. W. Clement, "Calendar
Burma, Leiden, 1904, p. 68 (Inter- (Japanese)/' Hastings's Encyclo-
nationales Archiv fur Ethnographie, padia of Religion and Ethics, iii,
vol. xvi, Supplement). 115.
190 REST DAYS
(makumi) exist side by side with the market week four
days in length. 1 The Sofalese of Portuguese East
Africa are said to have divided the month into three
periods each of ten days, the first day of the first week
being the festival of the new moon. 2 Among the
Tofoke, a Congo tribe, the lunar month consists of
three parts, reckoned, respectively, from new moon
to the increasing half moon, from this to the decreasing
half moon, and thence to the end of the month. Each
of these phases bears a distinct name. 3 The Ahanta
of the Gold Coast divide the lunar month into three
periods, two of ten days' duration, and the third last-
ing till the next new moon appears, that is, for about
nine days and a half. 4 These decades seem to be quite
independent of the market weeks, sometimes ten days'
long, which are also found in Africa. On the other
hand the Peruvian decades, previously noticed, were
clearly connected with the institution of the market. 5
The sole instance of a week discoverable among the Indi-
ans of North America is found among the Zurii of north-
eastern New Mexico, a Pueblo tribe leading a sedentary
existence and in many respects advanced in culture. By
the Zuni "the month is divided into three parts, each
part being called toplnta as temla, 'one ten.'" 6
1 Fitzgerald, op. cit., p. in. don, 1841, p. 187). An old writer
2 De Faria, in Astley's A New asserts that the negroes living
General Collection of Voyages and inland from the Gold Coast count
Travels, London, 1746, iii, 397. in every month the "great fortu-
The eighth day of the new moon nate time," nineteen days in >
was considered most unlucky by the length, and the "lesser fortunate
Sofalese. No one on that day was time," of seven days' duration,
allowed to attend court or even Between these periods come seven
speak to the king (ibid.}. ill or unfortunate days which serve
3 E. Torday, in Mitteilungen der as "a sort of vacation to them, for
anthropologischen Gesellschaft in then they do not travel, till their
Wien, 1911, xli, 200. land, or undertake anything of con-
4 Ellis, Yoruba-speaking Peoples, sequence, but remain altogether
p. 144. The first period, called idle" (W. Bosnian, A New and
adai, is considered lucky ; the Accurate Description of the Coast of
second, called ajamfo, is unlucky; Guinea, London, 1705, p. 160).
while adim, the third period, has a 6 Above, pp. 119 sq..
neutral character (John Beecham, 6 Mrs. M. C. Stevenson, in
Ashantee and the Gold Coast, Lon- Twenty-third Annual Report of the
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 191
A ten-day week was employed in antiquity by the
Egyptians. The hieroglyphic expression meaning "the
ten days" is found in inscriptions belonging to the
age of the Pyramid-builders. The names applied to
each of the three decades hati, that of the beginning,
abi, that of the middle, and pahu, that of the end -
are perhaps somewhat less ancient, the earliest definite
use of these appellations being found in the time of the
Tenth Dynasty. The decades ran continuously from
month to month. Since the Egyptian year consisted
of three hundred and sixty-five days, it was necessary,
however, in alternate years to begin the reckoning of
the decades on the sixth, instead of on the first, of the
month. According to an inscription dating from the
time of the Third Dynasty, the first day of each decade
was marked by sacrifices, and later records contain
frequent instances of a religious observance of this
day. 1
The Greek decades betray in their names, ptjv
iora/iei/09 (waxing), /utco-wi/ (central), and <f>0lv<t>v
(waning), an association with the moon. The days of
the last decade were usually counted backward ; in
"hollow" months, the day corresponding to the twenty-
ninth of "full" months was omitted, so that the decade
really contained only nine days. By the Athenians
Bureau of American Ethnology, p. 79-90. The old and once popular
1 08. It is only right to add that Dr. theory, based upon a misunder-
J. W. Fewkes, an eminent authority standing of certain passages in
on the Pueblo Indians, expressed to classical writers (Herodotus, ii,
me in conversation (July, 1912) his 82; Dio Cassius, xxxvii, 19), that
doubts as to the correctness of Mrs. the Egyptians originally possessed
Stevenson's statement. a week of seven days has now been
1 Lepsius, Chronologic der A gyp- entirely abandoned. For some
ter, i, 131 sqq.; Brugsch, Thesaurus, monumental evidence, dating from
pt. i, 488 sqq. ; idem, Agyptologie, the Twenty-second Dynasty, which
p. 364. On the astrological con- may possibly refer to an hebdoma-
nection between the thirty-six dec- dal cycle then used in astronomical
ades of the twelve months and cer- speculations, see G. Daressy, "La
tain constellations see G. Daressy, semaine des Egyptiens," Annales
"Une ancienne liste des decans du service des antiquites de I'Egypte,
egyptiens," Annales du service des 1909, x, 21-23, 180-182.
antiquites de I'figypte, 1900, i,
192 REST DAYS
the last day of the third decade was styled Ivi] KOI vea
("old and new moon") /as being the day which belonged
in part to the preceding (theoretical) month of twenty-
nine and a half days and in part to the following month.
No clearer illustration could be afforded of lunar weeks
adjusted to the lunar month. 1 The Greek arrange-
ment by decades must have been very old. Unknown
to Homer, it appears in Hesiod's Works and Days side
by side with the still earlier division of the month into
two parts determined by full moon. Hesiod, who tells
his Boeotian farmer to avoid the thirteenth of the wax-
ing month for the commencement of sowing, and who
declares that the fourth, whether of the waning or of
the waxing month, is "a very fateful day," also uses
such expressions as the "first sixth," "first ninth,"
"middle third," "middle fourth," and "the fourth
which follows the twentieth of the month." 2 This
unequivocal evidence for the use of the decades as
early as the middle of the eighth century B.C. seems to
dispose of the theory 3 that they were an importation
from Egypt.
The evidence for the existence of weeks of nine days
is very obscure. They are found in west Africa, but
only as market weeks unconnected with the lunation.
Efforts have been made to discover traces of such
periods among various Indo-Germanic peoples, partic-
ularly the Greeks of the Homeric and pre-Homeric
age. 4 There are, indeed, numerous illustrations in the
1 Pollux, Onomasticon, i, 63 ; G. New York, 1871, ii, 58; C. E.
F. Unger, in Iwan von Miiller's Ruelle, "Calendarium," Darem-
Handbuch der klassischen Alter- berg and Saglio's Dictionnaire des
tumswissenschaft, i, 563 sqq.; M. antiquites grecques et romaines, ii,
P. Nilsson, "Die alteste griechische 832.
Zeitrechnung, Apollo und der 4 W. H. Roscher, "Die enneadi-
Orient," Archivfur Religionszuissen- schen und hebdomadischen Fristen
schafty 1911, xiv, 432 sq. und Wochen der altesten Griechen,"
2 Hesiod, Opera et dies, 765 sqq. ; Abhandlungen der philologisch-his-
compare A. W. Mair, Hesiod, Ox- torischen Klasse der koniglich-
ford, 1908, pp. 165^.; A. Momm- sdchischen Gesellschaft der Wissen-
sen, Chronologie, Liepzig, 1883, schaften, Leipzig, 1903, xxi, no. 4,
p. 43. pp. 14 sqq.; idem, "Die Sieben-
3 E. Curtius, History of Greece, und Neunzahl im Kultus und
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK
193
older literature of cycles of nine days (as also of nine
years), but no evidence at all that these were ever
employed for civil purposes as regular divisions of
the month. The same remark applies to the so-called
weeks of nine days among the ancient Germans, 1 and
to the frequent mention in old Irish and Welsh texts
of periods of three days and nights and of nine days
and nights. 2
Market weeks, eight days in length, which seem to
have developed from earlier periods of four days, are
found in Assam, in certain parts of Africa, perhaps at
one time among the Indians of Colombia, and in an-
tiquity among the Romans. 3 Such market weeks are
independent of the moon and run unfettered through
the months and years. On the other hand a week of
eight days, called 'sdmen, which exists among the
northern Abyssinians, is clearly adjusted to the length
of the lunation. Every month consists, theoretically,
of four weeks, of which the first two are those of the
Mythus der Griechen," ibid., 1904,
xxiv, no. i, pp. 54, 69, 83.
1 K. Simrock, Handbuch der
deutschen Mythologie, 9 Bonn, 1887,
p. 156; E. Siecke, Die Liebesge-
schichte des Himmels, Strassburg,
1892, pp. 47 sqq.; K. Weinhold,
"Die mystische Neunzahl bei den
Deutschen," Abhandlungen der
k oniglich-preussischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1897,
pp. 40 sqq.
2 R. Thurneysen, " Die Namen
der Wochentage in den keltischen
Dialecten," Zeitschrift fur deutsche
Wortforschung, 1901, i, 191. J.
Loth, however, regards the Celtic
periods as having been employed
as ordinary weeks ("L'annee cel-
tique d'apres les textes irlandais,
gallois, bretons, et le calendrier de
Coligny," Revue celtique, 1904, xxv,
136). He accepts Roscher's theory
of the sidereal month having fur-
nished the basis for such nine-day
periods as are found among the
Celts, and argues that subse-
quently, when the sidereal month
had been abandoned for the synodic
month, the nine-day periods became
artificial units, independent of any
connection with the moon. But so
strange a transition as that from
the sidereal to the synodic month
cannot be supported by any Celtic
evidence and has no analogy among
other peoples. For another theory
see Sir John Rhys, Celtic Heathen-
dom? London, 1898, pp. 361-366.
3 Above, pp.io6, 109.^., 119 n. 3 ,
1 20 sq. The theory advanced by
Theodor Mommsen that the Ro-
man nundinum originally repre-
sented a quadripartite division of
the lunation (Romische Chronologie,
pp. 240 sq.) was afterwards aban-
doned by its author (Romisches
Staatsrecht, iii, 373). Compare also
R. Flex, Die dlteste Monatseinteilung
der Romer, Jena, 1880, pp. 18 sqq.
194 REST DAYS
increasing moon and the last two those of the decreas-
ing moon. In practice, however, the people are com-
pelled to count only six days in their fourth and last
week. 1 This Abyssinian cycle possibly may have ori-
ginated as a market week, since elsewhere in Africa
market weeks of four or more days have been adjusted,
somewhat artificially, to the length of the lunation.
Six-day weeks, connected with the market and prob-
ably derived from an earlier week of three days' dura-
tion, are found In Africa. 2 There are also a few in-
stances of the same cycle where a connection with the
market does not certainly appear. The Lolo, Pula,
and other aboriginal tribes of southwestern China
keep a "Sabbath," as a rule every sixth day. No
ploughing may take place at this time, and in some
places the women are not allowed even to sew or wash
clothes. 3 The Bawenda, who occupy the northeast
corner of the Transvaal, are said also to use a week
of six days, though only three of these are separately
named. 4
The numerous five-day weeks found in the Malay
Archipelago, southeastern Asia, and Africa all exist in
connection with the market. 5 On the other hand this
cycle seems to be sometimes independent of the market.
An Egyptian calendar, belonging to the second cen-
tury B.C. but probably based on much older material,
divides the year for astrological purposes into weeks
of five days, each week corresponding to the sixth part
1 E. Littmann, " Sternensagen definitely marked" (Daniel Mo
und Astrologisches aus Nordabes- Gilvary, A Half Century among the
sinien," Archiv fur Religionswis- Siamese and the Lao, New York
senschaft, 1908, xi, 302 sq., 319. In [1912], p. 323). Did this "Sab-
order to adapt the 'sdmen to the bath" originate as a market day,
imported hebdomadal cycle, Sun- which at first recurred every sixth
day is counted twice. day ?
2 Above, pp. 114 and w. 3 , 116 n. 1 4 E. Gottschling, in Journal of
8 A. Henry, in Journal of the the Anthropological Institute, 1905,
Anthropological Institute, 1903, xxxv, 382.
xxxiii, 105. The Muhso, a Lao 5 Above, pp. 103 sqq., 108, no,
hill tribe, "have a twelfth-day 113 and n. 6 , 114 and n. 3 , 116 n. 1
Sabbath or sacred day, not very
.-
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 195
of one of the signs or constellations of the zodiac.
The calendar also gives the name of the presiding
deity of each sign, together with the omens, portents,
and favourable or unfavourable characteristics that
belong to it. 1 A five-day period, khamushtu, employed
as a sixth of the month, appears to have been familiar
to the Assyro-Babylonians in the third millenium B.C.
We do not know how far the khamushtu entered into
the civil life of the Mesopotamian peoples, but from the
circumstance that this system of computing short
time-intervals was used in mercantile and monetary
transactions it may be surmised that we here have to
do with a very ancient form of the market week. 2
Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform texts also contain
traces of five-day periods associated with the successive
changes of the moon and dedicated to various divini-
ties ; but it is not certain that these later cycles were
derived from the khamushtu* The whole subject is
obscure and may well await future discoveries for its
complete elucidation. Finally, there is evidence that
the old Scandinavian peoples employed time-intervals
of five days, of which six were counted to the month.
Here, again, we are at a loss to determine how far this
pentad, called fimt, was regularly used as a civil week
in heathen times. After the introduction of the
1 The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Hugo Winckler later made, inde-
edited by Grenfell and Hunt, pendently, the same discovery. See
London, 1903, pt. iii, 126-137. Sayce, in Proceedings of the Society
2 The data relating to the of Biblical Archeology, 1897, xix,
khamushtu are found in some 288; idem, in Babyloniaca, 1907,
Cappadocian tablets discovered by ii, 1-45 ; Winckler, Altorientalische
Golenischeff and others in mounds Forschungen, Leipzig, 1898-1900,
not far from Kaisariyeh. This city ii, 91 sqq. y 354 sqq.
was a colony of Assyria and the 3 For references to the cuneiform
last outpost of Assyrian power in evidence see P. Jensen, "Die
the northwest. The tablets are in siebentagige Woche in Babylon
Babylonian cuneiform script belong- und Nineveh," Zeitschrift fur
ing to the age of Hammurabi. Pro- deutsche Wortforschung, 1901, i,
fessor A. H. Sayce in 1897 was the 150 sq.; W. Muss-Arnolt, in
first to show that the term kham- Journal of Biblical Literature, xi,
ushtu in these documents repre- 94; A. Jeremias, The Old Testa-
sented a continuous succession of ment in the Light of the Ancient
five-day periods; and Professor East, London, 1911, i, 65.
196 REST DAYS
hebdomadal cycle into northern lands, the term sur-
vived as a standing phrase in Norse laws and popular
sayings. 1
The preceding pages have presented much evidence
to show how carefully primitive peoples watch the
changes of the moon and describe them by appropriate
; names. The four lunar phases provide, indeed, an
obvious means of calculating the passage of time ; and
they are often used for this purpose in the absence of
any recognized calendrical unit shorter than the lunar
month. The length of the lunation being approxi-
mately twenty-nine and a half days, a single phase
occupies about seven and three-eighths days, which
f must be calendarized as seven days, since it is necessary
to employ a round number. It is not a valid argu-
ment against the natural origin of the hebdomadal
cycle to urge that seven does not form an exact division
of the lunar month. No other number will divide
the lunation without a remainder. However, the
hebdomad furnishes a less satisfactory time-unit than
the decade, the former falling short of a quarter of
the month by more than nine hours, the latter exceed-
ing a third of the lunation by rather less than four
hours. This circumstance may account for the other-
wise remarkable fact that, while the ten-day lunar
week is found in many parts of the world, the week of
seven days occurs in the lower culture and among peo-
ples of archaic civilization only as a borrowed insti-
tution, which can be traced ultimately to Semitic
lands and Semitic antiquity.
The prevalence of the seven-day week throughout
the world furnishes a most impressive instance of the
diffusion of a cultural element. Its introduction into
the Pacific area during the nineteenth century and
1 G, Vigfusson, An Icelandic- 1892, p. 418; T. F. Troels-Lund,
English Dictionary, Oxford, 1874, Livsbelysning, Copenhagen, 1904,
s.v. fimt; Vigfusson and Powell, pp. 13, 198. For the translation
Corpus Poeticum Boreale, Oxford, of this last reference I am indebted
1883, i, pp. cxx, 428; F. B. Gum- to Mr. N. H. Debel.
mere, Germanic Origins, New York,
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 197
among the aborigines of America as the result of their
contact with European civilization is well known. 1
In Africa it has been spread by Judaism, Christianity,
and Islam ; in southeastern Asia and the Malay Archi-
pelago the original disseminators were Hindus, fol-
lowed later by Arabs and Europeans. This imported
week has sometimes provided a cycle of time shorter
than the lunar month, where none existed before; in
other cases it has supplanted a native cycle usually
associated with the market. Together with the week
has often gone the Jewish, Christian or Mohammedan
rest day.
In Madagascar and along the east coast of Africa
Arab influence, continuing for many centuries, naturally
left its impress on the calendar. The names of the
Malagasy weekdays are of Arabic origin. 2 Previous
to the introduction of Christianity under Radama I
(1810-1828) no rest day was communally observed,
though each god had a sacred day when those who were
its special votaries abstained from work. 3 The Swa-
heli, who occupy the coast lands north and south of
Zanzibar, use a seven-day week, beginning with Friday,
the Mohammedan Sabbath. 4 Some peculiar arrange-
ments are found among the Masai of eastern equa-
torial Africa, a warlike race clearly distinguished by
1 The Stseelis, an Indian tribe to the Arabic seven-day week with
of British Columbia, have a singu- its numbered weekdays, the Mala-
lar tradition that their ancestors gasy also use, for astrological
used to observe a kind of Sabbath purposes, the planetary designa-
ceremony long before the coming tions of the weekdays. Of these,
of the whites. The people assem- three are good or lucky days, three
bled every seventh day for dancing are unlucky, and one has a neutral
and praying. It is impossible to character. See J. Sibree, "Divina-
explain this tradition apart from tion among the Malagasy," Folk-
European influence at some remote lore, 1892, iii, 220 sq.
time (C. Hill-Tout, in Journal of 3 Soury-Lavergne and de la De-
the Anthropological Institute, 1904, veze, in Anthropos, 1913, viii, 310
xxxiv, 329). w. 4 ; James Sibree, The Great Afri-
2 L. Dahle, "The Influence of can Island, London, 1880, p. 281.
the Arabs on the Malagasy Lan- 4 O. Kersten, editor, Baron Carl
guage," Antananarivo Annual, Claus von der Deckens Reisen in
1875-1878, i, 205. In addition Ost-Afrika, Leipzig, 1869, i, 101.
198 REST DAYS
language, customs, and appearance from the Bantu
peoples. The Masai seem to be connected with the
so-called Nilotic group, and their ancient home has
been placed in the region between Lake Rudolf and
the Nile. At the present time they dwell much farther
south both in British and German territory. The
Masai count time by moon months, generally taken at
thirty days in length. The month does not begin
with the visible new moon, but on the fourth day
thereafter. In addition they have a week of seven
days, each one separately named. The seventh day,
which ends, and does not begin, the week, is called
essubat 'n olon, "the good day." According to Masai
tradition this week in remote times began on the new-
moon day, but now it is reckoned continuously with-
out regard to the lunation. Furthermore, the Masai
appear to have once divided the months into decades,
as is still indicated by their expression, negera, applied
to the tenth, twentieth, and thirtieth days. This
term comes from a verbal form meaning "to be silent." 1
There can be little question that the Masai seven-day
week was borrowed from Jewish or Christian sources,
while the decade arrangement may have been affected
remotely by cultural contact with peoples influenced
by ancient Egypt. Most of the interior tribes of
British East Africa recognize no subdivision of the
lunar month. But among the Rendile and Burkeneji,
who inhabit the steppes east of Lake Rudolf, we find
a week of seven days. Three of these days are marked
by restrictions. The first day, hahat, is a fast day,
at which time animals cannot be slaughtered for food.
On the second day, hura hakhan (hura in the Rendile
language means sun), no work may be done, except
the slaughtering of food animals. On the fifth day,
ser hakhan, people will not travel, move their grazing
grounds, or make cattle-medicine. The natives are
unable to identify the particular days of their week
1 M. Marker, Die Masai? Berlin, Sir Charles Eliot, in A. C. Hollis,
1910, pp. 157 sq.> 327 sq.; compare The Masai, Oxford, 1905, p. xiv.
-
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 199
with those of the European cycle. 1 Many of the
Galla tribes between Shoa, a kingdom of southern
Abyssinia, and the Tana River of British East Africa,
are said to show great respect for Saturday and Sunday,
and on these days do not work in the fields. Here we
may legitimately assume Jewish and Christian influ-
ences from Abyssinia, especially since the nomadic
Galla of equatorial Africa do not seem to keep any
special rest days. 2 Other eastern Hamitic peoples,
the Somali, Afar, and Danakil, use the seven-day week
with Arabic names and observe Friday, the Moham-
medan Sabbath. 3 The seven-day week found among
the natives of Kaffa, a region of eastern Africa on the
borderland between the British and Italian spheres
of influence, appears to have been introduced a few
centuries ago by Christian immigrants from Amhara,
the central province of Abyssinia. 4 The spread of
Islam among the Sudanese and Guinea negroes has
resulted in the introduction of the hebdomadal cycle
and of the custom of holding markets on the seventh
day. 5
The seven-day week in India has a long history.
The original division of the Hindu lunar month was,
as we have seen, into two equal parts, determined by
the waxing and the waning moon. This arrangement,
which still prevails in India, appears to have been the
only one in calendrical use until long after the beginning
of the Christian era. It is true that even in Vedic
1 C. W. Hobley, Ethnology of etudes ethnographiques et sociolo-
the A-Kamba and Other East giques, 1909, ii, 38, 63.
African Tribes, Cambridge, 1910, 8 Above, pp. 115 sqq. For
p. 163. further instances see Anne Raffenel,
2 J. L. Krapf, Travels, Researches, Nouveau voyage dans le pays des
and Missionary Labours, London, negres, Paris, 1856, i, 350 (Bam-
1867, p. 82. bara); H. Gaden, in Revue d'ethno-
3 J. W. C. Kirk, A Grammar of graphie et de sociologie, 1912, iii, 52
the Somali Language, Cambridge, (Toucouleur and Mohammedan
r 95> ? 134; P. Paulitschke, Peul of Senegal). Among the Vey
Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas. Die of Liberia the week of seven days
geistige Kultur der Danakil, Galla, must be due to Christian influence
und Somal, Berlin, 1896, p. 224. (J. Biittikofer, Reisebilder aus
4 F. J. Bieber, in Revue des Liberia, Leiden, 1890, ii, 317).
200 REST DAYS
times the eighth day after the full moon was regarded
as one of the festival days of the month, and that, at
least as early as the rise of Jainism and Buddhism in
the sixth century B.C., the eighth day after new moon
was added to the list of holy days. 1 The celebration
of four lunar festivals does not, however, imply the use
of a civil week by the Hindus, any more than in the
case of the Persian festivals, which likewise were ad-
justed to the phases of the moon. 2 The hebdomadal
cycle in India was entirely a borrowed institution,
derived from the planetary or astrological week, the
days of which are named after five planets and the sun
and moon. By the middle of the third century A.D.,
the planetary week was well known in the Roman
world, and somewhat later it was introduced as an
astrological device into India. Who the intermediaries
were whether Hindus who visited Mediterranean
lands or learned Greeks who made the voyage to
India' it is impossible to say. The earliest-known
genuine instance of a planetary name of a day in India
occurs in an inscription belonging to the year 484 A.D.
By the end of the eighth century there are perhaps ten
other inscriptional records, coming from various parts
of India and from Indian settlements in Java, Cochin-
China, and Cambodia, of the assignment of the week-
days to the planets. After 900 A.D., instances of this
practice are more numerous, indicating that the seven-
day week had now become something more than an
astrological device and was generally recognized for
civil purposes as a part of the Hindu calendar. 3 In
1 Above, p. 157 and n. 2 1896, p. 2. The celebrated astro-
2 Above, p. 166. nomical work in Sanskrit, known
3 J. F. Fleet, "The Use of the as the Surya-Siddhanta, contains
Planetary Names of the Days of two references to the planetary
the Week in India," Journal of the week (i, 51-52, xii, 78-79; transl.
Royal Asiatic Society, 1912, n.s., Burgess- Whitney, in Journal of the
xliv, 1039-1046. For lists of the American Oriental Society, 1860, v,
more common planetary names of 175-178, 396), and in the Hito-
the weekdays, as now found in padesa (ed. Johnson, p. 16, 1. 411)
India, see Sewell and Dikshit, there is an interesting passage
The Indian Calendar, London, which, as A. W. von Schiegel was
w
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 201
modern India every day of the week has its sacred
character for the devotees of various gods, Sunday
being especially consecrated to the sun, Monday, to
Siva, and Saturday, to the monkey-god Hanuman. 1
For Hindus, generally, Sunday, Tuesday, and Satur-
day are unlucky days, and at such times no important
business will be undertaken or any long journey begun. 2
India was the center from which the planetary week
of seven days was first introduced into southeastern
Asia --into Ceylon, the Maldive Islands, Nepal,
Tibet, Burma, Cambodia, and Siam. 3 The Brah-
manist Chams in Cambodia and Anam use the plane-
tary weekdays borrowed from Hinduism, but the
Mohammedan Chams sometimes employ the days of
the Arabic week and observe Friday as a Sabbath. 4
The Laotians, who have taken over the planetary
week from the Siamese, are careful, as pious Buddhists,
so to adjust their calendar that Sunday (van athif)
always falls on the eighth and fifteenth days of the
lunar fortnight. 5
the first to point out (Indisches
Bibliothek, 1827, ii, 178), refers to
Sunday as a sacred day.
1 Sir M. Monier-Williams, Brdh-
manism and Hinduism,* New York,
1891, p. 433 ; W. Crooke, Natives of
Northern India, London, 1907,
p. 226 ; idem, The Tribes and Castes
of the North-western Provinces and
Oudh, Calcutta, 1896, Hi, 112.
2 J. A. Dubois, Hindu Manners,
Customs, and Ceremonies? Oxford,
1906, p. 382.
3 R. Percival, An Account of the
Island of Ceylon, London, 1803,
p. 187; H. C. P. Bell, The Maldive
Islands, Colombo, 1883, p. 119;
B. H. Hodgson, Essays on the Lan-
guages, Literature, and Religion of
Nepal and Tibet, London, 1874,
p. 8 ; E. Schlaginweit, Buddhism in
Tibet, Leipzig and London, 1863,
L289 ; Shway Yoe, The Burman, 3
ndon, 1910, pp. 550 sq.; E.
Aymonier, Le Cambodge, Paris,
1900-1904, i, 42, ii, 19; De la
Loubere, A New Historical Relation
of the Kingdom of Siam, London,
1693, ii, 168.
4 A. Cabaton, in Hastings's En-
cyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
iii, 113, 345, 450. On the other
hand a week of seven days, found
in central Asia, has been borrowed
from Persia, as its name hafta
from the Persian heft, "seven,"
indicates (H. Vambery, Die pri-
mitive Cultur des turko-tatarischen
Volkes, Leipzig, 1879, p. 160). In
northern Asia, again, the Russian
advance has begun to lead to the
use of the seven-day week by
native tribes, such as the Yukaghir
of northeastern Siberia (W. Jochel-
son, in Memoirs of the American
Museum of Natural History, xiii, 42).
5 Tournier, Notice sur le Laos
fran$ais, Hanoi, 1900, p. 188.
202 REST DAYS
The Chinese possess no regular division of the month
into weeks, though a popular cycle, ten days in length,
has long been found among them. The week of seven
days is coming into use in commercial centres fre-
quented by Europeans, where, for Monday, Tuesday,
etc., native names meaning "first day," "second day,"
etc., have been coined. The assertion that the Chinese
from of old have been familiar with the seven-day
week appears to be based on their custom, which is
not of extreme antiquity, of applying the names of the
twenty-eight lunar mansions to each day of the year
in rotation, from which circumstance the same four
out of the twenty-eight always fall on Sunday and
constitute what has been well described as a perpetual
"Sunday letter." l On the other hand there is definite
evidence that the planetary week was introduced from
India to China, where, however, it seems never to
have been employed except for astrological purposes.
A Chinese translation, made in the eighth century A.D.
of an Indian treatise on astrology, apportions the days
of the week among the planets, according to the astro-
logical order. Sunday in some Chinese almanacs
is still called the "day of Mit," that is, the day of
Mithra, the Persian deity associated with the sun.
This "Sunday" seems formerly to have had a place
in the state calendars issued under imperial auspices at
Peking. 2 In this connection it is interesting to note
that the famous Nestorian Monument bears witness
to the introduction of the Christian Sunday into China
by Nestorian missionaries from Persia. 3 But the
1 Robert Morrison, A View of set up in 781 A.D. in the department
China for Philological Purposes, or prefecture of Hsi-an, province of
Macao, 1817, pp. 52, 102; idem, A Shen-hsi, northwestern China. At
Grammar of the Chinese Language, the end of the inscription on it we
Serampore, 1815, p. 54. read: "Erected in the second year
2 A. Wylie, "On the Knowledge of the period Chien-chung of the
of the Weekly Sabbath in China," great T'ang dynasty, the year-star
Chinese Researches, Shanghai, 1897, being in Tso-yo, on the seventh day
pt. ii, 86-101 ; J. Edkins, Chinese of the first month, being Sunday."
Buddhism? London, 1893, p. 211. See James Legge, The Nestorian
3 The Nestorian Monument was Monument of Hsi-an Fu in Shen-
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 203
veek of seven days as a calendrical entity never took
root among the Chinese, nor have they ever observed
a weekly day of rest. 1
In old Japan, as in China, the week of seven days
was unknown. Shortly after the restoration of the
Mikado's power in 1867-1868 there was introduced
what were called the ichi-roku, or holidays on the
"ones" and "sixes" of each month, i.e., on the first,
sixth, eleventh, sixteenth, twenty-first, twenty-sixth,
and thirty-first days. But this arrangement, borrowed
from the Christian Sunday, did not last long, and the
copy soon gave way to the original. The Japanese
now have the seven-day week with names derived
from the Occidental names. Sunday, in vulgar par-
lance is called dontaku (a corruption of the Dutch Zon-
tag) and Saturday, in equally vulgar parlance, is called
han-don, that is, "half-Sunday" (because the modern
English Saturday half-holiday has made its way into
Japan). 2 On Sunday government offices and schools
are closed. In the cities some of the larger banks and
mercantile houses also suspend their business on Sun-
day, but as a rule country people, artisans, and labour-
hsi, China, London, 1888, p. 29. A insanity would pftener result were
replica of this monument, which is it not for this relaxation. . . .
a limestone block ten feet in height Yet, in China, people who appar-
and of two tons* weight, was taken ently tax themselves uninterrupt-
to the United States in 1908 and edly to the utmost stretch of body
now rests in the Metropolitan Mu- and mind, live in health to old age.
seum of Art, New York City. See . . . Nothing like a seventh day
F. V. Holm, "The Holm Nestorian of rest, or religious respect to that
Expedition to Sian, MCMVII," interval of time, is known among
Open Court, 1909, xxiii, 18-28. the Chinese, but they dp not, as a
1 "Some persons," writes an people, exercise their minds to the
experienced observer of the Chinese, intensity, or upon the high sub-
"have expressed their surprise jects, common among western
that the unceasing round of toil nations, and this perhaps is one
which the Chinese labourer pursues reason why their yearly toil pro-
has not rendered him more de- duces no disastrous effects" (S. W.
graded. It is usually said that a Williams, The Middle Kingdom?
weekly rest is necessary for the New York, 1883, i, 809 sq.}.
continuance of the powers of body 2 B. H. Chamberlain, Things
and mind in man in their full Japanese? London, 1891, pp. 418
activity, and that decrepitude and sq.
204 REST DAYS
ers observe no weekly day of rest. By people of the
middle and highest classes Sunday is preeminently a
day devoted to social intercourse, and even Japanese
Christians, after attending an early morning church
service, feel themselves free to devote the afternoon
and evening to any form of legitimate recreation or
amusement. 1
The planetary cycle is not unknown in the Malay
Peninsula, though here employed, as it seems, solely
for astrological purposes. For civil purposes weeks of
seven days, marked by the return of Friday, the Mo-
hammedan Sabbath, are in general use. 2 Curious
animistic superstitions sometimes attach themselves
to this day. Thus, the Malays of the Patani States
believe that the spirits have extra power over man-
kind on Friday, hence many people will not take shelter
under a tree at any time on this day, lest the spirits
sitting in the tree dive down into them. This precau-
tion especially applies to travellers, whose bodies are
weary and whose souls are therefore weak. Some
Malays who have wooden chests in which they store
their finery and treasures dare not, on Friday, lift
the lid of one of these receptacles, because then the
chest's soul (semangaf) might escape. Henceforth the
chest would become a dead thing and all luck would
desert its owner. Patani fishermen on Friday always
make offerings to the semangat of their boats. 3
The seven-day week in the Malay Archipelago
exists both as a Hindu institution of remote origin
and also as an outcome of the expansion of Islam over
this region. The Achehnese in northern Sumatra
have not only borrowed the hebdomad from the Mo-
hammedans, but go so far as to make Friday a day
pantang for all agricultural work, pantang being the
native term for taboo. 4 Among the natives of the
1 Arthur Lloyd, Every-day Japan, 3 Annandale and Robinson, Fas-
London, 1909, pp. 371 sq. ciculi Malayensis, London, 1903-
2 W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic, 1904, i, 80 sq., 100; ii, 30, 55.
London, 1900, pp. 548 sq., 4 C. S. Hurgronje, The Achehnese,
554. Leiden, 1906, i, 236, 261.
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 205
Kuantan District the seven weekdays bear names
derived from the Arabic. 1 On the other hand the
Batta of Lake Toba possess a calendar derived from
Hindu sources and also a week of seven days, with
planetary names clearly taken from the Sanskrit.
But the Batta magicians, who use this cycle for astro-
logical purposes, do not now recognize its planetary
origin ; they know only the sun, the moon, and, pos-
sibly, Venus. To the Batta ari na pitu, the seventh
day, is an evil day, and he who ventures to begin any
work upon it will surely be visited by some grave mis-
fortune. 2 In districts of Sumatra where neither Hindu
nor Arabic influence has penetrated, a division into
weeks is unknown, the natives counting, instead, by
the days of the moon's age. 3 In Java the Hindu
planetary week was combined with the still earlier
market week of five days in the eighth and ninth
centuries, A.D., and since that time the Arabic desig-
nations of the seven weekdays have also been intro-
duced. 4 A similar combination of the two cycles,
yielding a period of thirty-five days, occurs in Bali. 5
In Macassar, a former native kingdom of Celebes, the
Mohammedan Sabbath is observed. 6
The foregoing pages make it clear that the spread
of Mohammedan rule both in Asia and Africa has
1 A. Maass, Durch Zentral- feel compelled to abstain from
Sumatra, Berlin, 1910, p. 513. labour entirely upon any day of
2 J. Winkler, " Der Kalender der the week not even on a Friday
Toba-Bataks auf Sumatra," Zeit- to satisfy- his religious beliefs.
schrift fur Ethnologic, 1913, xlv, He works as long as he needs to
441 sqq. work; but only too often only
3 W. Marsden, The History of just so long. His village holidays
Sumatra? London, 1811, p. 194. are numerous" (A. Cabaton, Java,
4 E. Metzger, " Uber die Zeitrech- Sumatra, and the Other Islands of
nung der Javanen," Deutsche the Dutch East Indies, London and
Rundschau fur Geographic und Leipzig, 1911, pp. 125 sq.}.
Statistik, 1887, ix, 311 ; P. J. Veth, 6 R. Friederich, in Journal of the
Java, 2 Haarlem, 1907, iv, 297 sq. Royal Asiatic Society, 1878, n.s.,
A recent observer points out that, x, 89, 93.
although the life of a Javanese 6 An Historical Description of
village is never intensely laborious, the Kingdom of Macasar, London,
it is, in a sense, a life of continuous 1701, p. 149.
labour, "for the Javanese does not
206 REST DAYS
introduced the week of seven days into regions where
it had not previously found entrance. The Arabs
themselves adopted the week from the Jews and Chris-
tians, presumably at the time of their conversion to
Islam. 1 In the Arabic week the days from Sunday
to Thursday are numbered in their order, Friday is
called aljum^ a "the meeting" (for worship), and Satur-
day, as sabt, "the Sabbath." On Friday, according
to the rule laid down by Mohammed, the faithful are
to take part in the midday prayer at the mosque and
to listen to the sermon which follows the prayer.
Labour is suspended during the service, but at its
close secular vocations, including marketing, are re-
sumed. The Mohammedean jum' a, unlike the Jewish
Sabbath, but like the early Christian Sunday, is not a
day of rest. 2
The seven-day week has now been traced over a
large part of the globe. It sometimes exists as a
planetary-astrological cycle of pagan derivation ; in
other cases its presence is obviously due to Jewish,
Christian, or Mohammedan influence. In no region
does the hebdomadal cycle appear as an independent
product of the native culture. The inquiry into its
remote origin and connection with the cult of the num-
ber seven takes us back to the ancient Oriental world.
It is a familiar fact that many people attach to cer-
tain numbers a sacred or symbolic meaning. 3 Such
1 T. Noldeke, "Die Namen der societes inf ensures, Paris, 1910,
Wochentage bei den Semiten," pp. 235-257; D. G. Brinton, "The
Zeitschrift fur deutsche Wortfor- Origin of Sacred Numbers," Ameri-
schung, 1901, i, 162; J. Wellhausen, can Anthropologist, 1894, vu > J 68-
Reste arabischen Heidentums? Ber- 173 ; idem. The Myths of the New
lin, 1897, p. 142. World? Philadelphia, 1896, pp. 83-
2 Koran, Ixii, 9 sq. (S. B. E., ix, 119; W. J. McGee, "Primitive
283) ; T. P. Hughes, Dictionary of Numbers/' Nineteenth Annual Re-
Islam, London, 1885, pp. 131, 666; port of the Bureau of American
idem, "The Mosque Life of the Ethnology, pt. ii, 821-852; W.
Muslim," Open Court, 1906, xx, Schultz, "Gesetze der Zahlenver-
335; T.W. Juynboll," Djum'a," The schiebung im My thus und in
Encyclop&dia of Islam, i, 1061 sq. mythenhaltiger Uberlieferung,"
3 See in general L. Levy-Bruhl, Mitteilungen der anthropologischen
Les fonctions mentales dans les Gesellschaft in Wien, 1910, xl, 101-
.
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 207
mystic numbers, unlike those of ordinary arithmetic,
are real categories in which thought naturally rests;
they are not fortuitous counts of objects^ but are
rather subjective syntheses cadres donnes tfavance -
according to which the mind divides up and parcels
out all things visible and invisible. Like names they
may become virtual entities endowed with their own
functional power. The symbolism and superstitions
attaching to certain numbers, which we discover in
the records of all archaic civilizations, must be based
150; R. Hirzel, "Uber Rundzah-
len," Berichte uber die Ferhand-
lungen der philologisch-historischen
Klasse der koniglich-sdchsischen
Gesellschaft, Leipzig, 1885, xxxvii,
1-74; E. Kautzsch, "Zahlen," in
Herzog, Plitt, and Hauck's Real-
encyklopddie fur protestantise he
Theologie und Kirche? xx, 598-
607; A. Bergaigne, La religion
vedique, Paris, 1883, ii, 114-156;
E. W. Hopkins, "The Holy Num-
bers of the Rig-Veda" in Oriental
Studies, Boston, 1894, pp. 141-159;
E. Wolfflin, "Zur Zahlensymbolik,"
Archiv fiir lateinische Lexikographie
und Grammatik, 1895, ix, 33~353;
I. Goldziher, "tJber Zahlenaber-
glauben im Islam," Globus, 1901,
Ixxx, 31-32. For collections of the
evidence relating to the sacredness
of certain numbers see B. Stade,
"Die Dreizahl im Alten Testa-
ment," Zeitschrift fiir die alttesta-
mentliche Wissenschaft, 1906, xxvi,
124 sqq.; H. Usener, "Dreiheit,"
Rheinisches Museum fiir Philologie,
1903, n.s., Iviii, 1-47, 161-208,
321-362; Anne W. Buckland,
"Four as a Sacred Number,"
Journal of the Anthropological In-
stitute^ 1896, xxv, 96-102; F. X.
Kugler, "Die Symbolik der Neun-
zahl bei den Babyloniern," in
Assyriologische und archdologische
Studien Hermann v. Hilprecht
gewidmet, Leipzig, 1909, pp. 34~~
309; A. Kaegi, "Die Neunzahl
bei den Ostariern," in Philolo-
gische Abhandlungen fiir Heinrich
Schweizer-Sidler, Zurich, 1891, pp.
50-70; K. Weinhold, "Die mys-
tische Neunzahl bei den Deut-
schen," Abhandlungen der konig-
lich-preussischen Akademie der Wis-
senschaften, Berlin, 1897, pp. 1-61 ^
Edgar Thurston, "The Number
Seven in Southern India," in
Essays and Studies presented to-
William Ridgeway, Cambridge,
1913, PP- 353-364; W. H. Roscher,
"Die enneadischen und hebdoma-
dischen Fristen und Wochen der
altesten Griechen," Abhandlungen
der philologisch-historischen Klasse
der koniglich-sdchsischen Gesellschaft
der Wissenschaften, Leipzig, 1903,
xxi, no. 4; idem, "Die Sieben- und
Neunzahl im Kultus und Mythus
der Griechen," ibid., 1904* *xiv,
no. i ; idem, " Die Hebdomaden-
lehren der griechischen Philosophen
und Arzte," ibid., 1904* xxiv, no 6;
idem, "Enneadische Studien," ibid.,
1907, xxvi, no. i ; idem, "Die Zahl
40 im Glauben, Brauch, und
Schrifttum der Semiten," ^ibid.,
1909, xxvii, no. 4; idem, "Uber
Alter, Ursprung, und Bedeutung
der hippokratischen Schrift von
der Siebenzahl," ibid., 1911, xxviii,
no. 5 ; idem, " Die Tessarakontaden
und Tessarakontadenlehren der
Griechen und anderer Volker,"
Berichte uber die Verhandlungen*
etc., Leipzig, 1909, Ixi, 17-206.
208 REST DAYS
on very primitive modes of thinking, since a similar
tendency toward mysticism in the use of numbers
appears among half-civilized peoples. It is a tendency
to whose development no bounds can be set, once the
refining ingenuity of the priestly class has begun to
elaborate the concept of the "sacred" as opposed to
that of the "profane." It seems obvious, therefore,
that the systems of sacred numbers, found in ancient
India, Babylonia, Greece, and other cultural areas,
incorporate many items of folk superstition together
with the results of much speculative activity on the
part of early organizers of religion.
It would be hard to find any number in the first
decade which has not been invested, by this or that
society, with a mystical significance. Seven, in partic-
ular, has enjoyed a marked importance among many
peoples widely separated in space and time. 1 As a
symbolic number it occurs among the Babylonians,
Greeks, and Hindus at the very dawn of their history ;
and it still figures prominently in the popular lore of
India, China, and southeastern Asia. Cultural influ-
ences emanating from the Asiatic mainland appear
to have introduced the symbolism of seven into cer-
tain parts of Oceania and, notably, into Borneo. Of
the Sea Dyak of Sarawak it. is said that, after three,
their favourite number is seven ; while among the
Malanau, another Sarawak tribe, seven is very promi-
nent in rites of exorcism. 2 The same number occurs
repeatedly in the legends of the Dusun of British North
Borneo, and its mystic significance may account in
part for the curious system of unlucky days observed
by them. The Dusun consider twelve days of the
month, beginning with the seventh and including also
the fourteenth and twenty-first, as distinctly bad for
1 For a large collection of evi- 2 Brooke Low, in H. L. Roth,
dence see F. von Andrian, " Die The Natives of Sarawak and British
Siebenzahl im Geistesleben der North Borneo, London, 1906, i, 231 ;
Volker," Mitteilungen der anthro- Hose and McDougall, The Pagan
polo gisc hen Gesellschaft in Wien, Tribes of Borneo, London, 1912, ii,
1901, xxxi, 225-274. 134 sq.
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 209
agricultural labour. At such times they refrain from
going to their rice-fields, under penalty of failure of
the crop, but other work than that on the farms may
sometimes be performed. The natives cannot furnish
any explanation of the evil quality of these days. 1
A peculiar observance of the seventh day is found in
some parts of Melanesia. When the first missionaries
visited the New Hebrides and introduced the European
week with Sunday as a day of rest, the natives were
much astonished to learn that the whites were also
familiar with their bugi kai bituki, or evil day. These
Melanesians had never recognized any time-divisions
shorter than the lunar month, but it had long been a cus-
tom among them to mark the seventh day by certain
taboos. The natives would not engage in warfare on the
seventh day after the declaration of hostilities ; nor would
they attempt to execute vengeance on the seventh day
after the receipt of an insult. 2 The two prohibitions
perhaps represent the broken-down form of a system of
taboos at one time much more extensive. Elsewhere in
the Pacific area (New Guinea, Australia, and Polynesia)
seven does not seem to possess any special significance.
The mystic qualities of seven are recognized in
Africa, but only where foreign influences have pene-
trated. Among the Wachaga of German East Africa
the seventh month of the year is most unlucky : houses
are not built, or marriages celebrated, or fields planted,
or wars begun, during this fateful time. 3 The Wagi-
riama and Wasania, Bantu tribes living in the south-
eastern corner of British East Africa, observe the
symbolism of seven in birth, circumcision, and mourn-
ing ceremonies. 4 The Akikuyu attach a very special
.
I. H. N. Evans, "Notes on the thropos, 1912, vii, 1057; compare
eligious Beliefs, Superstitions, ibid., 50 n>
Ceremonies, and Tabus of the 3 M. Merker, in PeUrmanns
Dusuns," Journal of the Royal An- Mitteilungen, 1902, Erganzungsheft,
thropological Institute, 1912, xlii, no. 138, p. 25.
394 S q. 4 W. E. H. Barrett, in Journal
2 Suas, "Le septieme jour aux of the Royal Anthropological Insti-
Nouvelles Hebrides, Oceanic," An- tute, 1911, xli, 22, 31 sq., 34.
210 REST DAYS
ill-luck to the seventh day. A herdsman will not herd
his flocks for more than six days, and on the seventh
he must be relieved by another man. One who has
been away on a journey for six days will not return to
his village on the seventh ; sooner than do so he will
go and sleep at the house of a neighbour a short dis-
tance away. Were this rule broken, he would cer-
tainly be struck down by some serious illness, and a
medicine-man would have to be called in to remove
the curse. "This belief," we are told, " makes it easy
for the missionaries to explain to the Akikuyu the force
of the Christian observance of the Sabbath." 1 Seven
is also one of the unlucky numbers of the Nandi. 2
The seven-day periods kept as Sabbaths by some of
the Baganda and the seven-day week with three days
marked by taboos, found among the Rendile and
Burkeneji, have been previously noticed. 3 In some
parts of Abyssinia and Somaliland we find not only a
week of seven days but also cycles of seven months and
seven years, with seven as a distinctively holy num-
ber. 4 In west Africa, besides the adoption of a seven-
day week as the result of Mohammedan influence,
there is also a symbolic use of seven in native folk-
tales, 5 thus providing an instructive parallel to the same
feature in European stories. The frequent occurrence
of the symbolic seven in the magic and astrology of
north African peoples must also be attributed to the
spread of Islam from the Mediterranean to the Sudan. 6
If the cult of seven in the Pacific area and Africa
appears clearly as a borrowed institution, no other
explanation than that of independent origination can
account for the fact that some American Indian tribes
1 C. W. Hobley, ibid., 1910, xl, 4 Above, p. 199.
439 sq. Seven among the Akikuyu 6 E. Dayrell, Folk Stories from
is of all numbers the most unlucky Southern Nigeria, West Africa,
in divination (Routledge and Rout- London, 1910, nos. xxx-xxxii, xxxiv,
ledge, With a Prehistoric People, pp. xxxviii, etc.
264, 274). 6 E. Doutte, Magie et religion
2 Hollis, Nandi, p. 89. dans V Afrique du nord, Algiers,
3 Above, pp. 145 sq., 198 sq. 1909, pp. 184 sqq.
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 211
also ascribe a peculiar sanctity to this number. In
the opinion of most Americanists the symbolism of
seven is here an outgrowth of cosmical conceptions of
the four cardinal points, reinforced by conceptions of a
central, an upper, and a lower world. Seven is thus
the most sacred number because it represents all the
regions of the cosmos. 1 This explanation cannot be
safely applied outside the American area.
The antiquity of the symbolism of seven in the Old
World is attested by its appearance as a sacred num-
ber in the earliest literary records of India, Greece,
and Babylonia. Numerous references to seven occur
in the Rig-Veda, where, however, it enjoys less impor-
tance than three. 2 Periods of seven days and seven
years are frequently mentioned in the Odyssey* Hesiod
includes the seventh day of the month in his list of
holy days (e/jSd/xr/ iepbv ^fta/>), "for on the seventh
day Leto bare Apollo of the golden sword" ; and this
particular connection with the seventh day was main-
tained by the god in the later age of Greek history.
Most of his great festivals began on the seventh day,
at which time all public business appears to have
ceased. 4 Many other illustrations exist of the large
1 The Zuni priests preserve a
ceremonial diagram of the seven
" Ancient Spaces," or primeval
cosmogonic areas, representing
north, east, south, west, the zenith,
the nadir, and the middle. The
observer is always supposed to
stand in the central space. For il-
lustrations of the seven-cult among
the American Indians see J. W.
Powell, in F. H. Gushing, Zuni
Folk Tales, New York, 1901,
pp. xii sq.; S. Hagar, "Cherokee
Star-lore," in Boas Anniversary
Volume, New York, 1906, p. 361 ;
J. O. Dorsey, in Sixth Annual Re-
port of the Bureau of Ethnology,
P- 397 (Osage, Kansa, Omaha,
Dakota, and Ponka tribes) ; Jean
L'Heureux, in Journal of the An-
thropological Institute, 1886, xv,
303 (Blackfoot); D. G. Brinton,
The Lendpe and their Legends,
Philadelphia, 1885, pp. 139 sq.
2 E. W. Hopkins, "The Holy
Numbers of the Rig-Veda" in
Oriental Studies, Boston, 1894,
pp. 141, 144 sq.; compare A. Ber-
gaigne, La religion vedique, Paris,
1883, ii, 123, 127.
3 Odyssey, x, 8l, xii, 399, xiv,
252, 288, xv, 477.
4 Opera et dies, 770 sq. ; Herodo-
tus, vi, 57 ; ^Eschylus, Septem contra
Thebas, 800; Plutarch, Qu&stiones
conviviales, viii, I, 2; Lydus, De
mensibus, ii, 12. The seventh day
of each month was a holiday for
Greek children, in remembrance of
Apollo's birth on the seventh of
212
REST DAYS
symbolic role played by the number seven in Greece
at a remote period. 1 Among the Babylonians, as
early as the third millenium B.C., seven appears as a
symbolic number in magico-religious rituals, incanta-
tions, exorcisms, and mythological narratives. 2 Thus,
in the Babylonian version of the Deluge myth, periods
of seven days' duration assume a marked importance :
the rain continues for six days and ceases on the seventh,
when the waters begin to subside ; and seven days again
intervene before the Babylonian Noah is able to aban-
don the Ark and offer sacrifice to the gods for his
preservation. The exceptional importance which this
number enjoyed in Babylonia lends credibility to the
theory that here was the centre from which the lore of
seven passed to adjoining regions of western Asia and
thence to more distant parts of the ancient world. 3
Thargelion (Lucian, Pseudologistes,
1 6). The first and twentieth of the
month were also consecrated to
Apollo, who received in consequence
the cult titles^ 'E/J&yiayenjs, Neo-
/MT/VIOS and Ei/caSios. According to
Plutarch (Dion, 23), a festival of
Apollo was also celebrated on the
fifteenth of the month. On the
seventh day in Greece see, further,
L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek
States, Oxford, 1906-1910, iv, 258
sq.; idem, Greece and Babylon,
London, 1911, p. 295; O. Gruppe,
Griechische Mythologie und Reli-
gions gesc hie hte, Munich, 1906, ii,
939 sqq.; M. P. Nilsson, "Die
alteste griechische Zeitrechnung,
Apollo und der Orient," Archiv
fur Religionswissenschaft, I9ii,xiv,
442 sqq.
1 See the exhaustive collection of
the evidence, both literary and in-
scriptional, in Roscher, "Fristen
und Wochen," pp. 41-68; idem,
" Sieben- und Neunzahl," pp. 4-53 ;
idem, "Hebdomadenlehren," pp. 7-
23. Some students have seen in
this sanctity of seven the results of
early intercourse with the Orient
through Phoenician channels (V.
Berard, in Revue de Fhistoire des
religions, 1899, xxxix, 426 sq.;
compare A. Thumb, "Die Namen
der Wochentage im Griechischen,"
Zeitschrift fur deutsche Wortfor-
schung, 1901, i, 163 sq.). The
theory of the diffusion of the cult
of seven from the East might now
be strengthened by substituting
Cretan for Phoenician inter-
mediaries. Nilsson argues that
the seven-cult, together with the
worship of Apollo, reached Greece
by way of Asia Minor, "eine
Etappe auf dem Wege nach Baby-
lonien" (Archiv fur Religionswissen-
schaft, 1911, xiv, 447 sq.}.
2 J. Hehn, Siebenzahl und Sabbat
bei den Babyloniern und im Alien Tes-
tament, Leipzig, 1907, pp. 4-44; P.
Jensen, Die Kosmologie der Babylo-
nier, Strassburg, 1890, pp. 170-184.
3 The predominance of seven
among the Hebrews, if not wholly
explained by borrowing from Baby-
lonia, may reasonably be assumed
to have been much influenced by
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 213
Some Assyriologists have connected the symbolism
of seven with the seven stars visible to the naked eye
which traverse the celestial zodiac. For the Baby-
lonian astrologers and astronomers these were the sun,
the moon, and the five larger planets, Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. There can be no question
that the separation of the planets from the fixed stars,
one of the enduring contributions which Babylonia
has made to civilization, was the outcome of super-
stitious notions concerning the influence of the heavenly
bodies on the life of man. The Babylonian astrologers
who watched night by night the stately procession of
the stars across the cloudless skies were animated by
no high zeal for scientific knowledge, but rather by
the necessity of drawing from the celestial phenomena
omens of good or ill for king and country. Jupiter
and Venus were probably the first planets to be dif-
ferentiated, the one because of his brilliant light, the
other because of her two appearances when she pre-
cedes the rising, and follows the setting, sun. Saturn,
Mercury, and Mars seem originally to have been com-
bined under the one designation Lu-Bat, a term which
came to bear the general meaning of " planet " - doubt-
less on account of the difficulty involved in observing
their separate courses. 1 We do not know when all
five planets were set off from the fixed stars, or when
they were first connected with the sun and moon to
form a group of seven planetary luminaries. As an
eminent Italian astronomer has remarked, both achieve-
ments must have required centuries of close and accu-
rate observations ; they do not belong to a primitive
astronomy. 2 Hence we may safely conclude that the
Babylonian conceptions. On the l M. Jastrow, Aspects of Reli-
Hebrew cult of this number see gious Belief and Practice in Baby-
Hehn, Siebenzahl und Sabbat, pp. Ionia and Assyria, New York, 1911,
77-90; O. Zockler, "Siebenzahl, pp. 217 sqq.; idem, Die Religion
heilige," in Herzog, Plitt, and Babyloniens und Assyriens, Giessen,
Hauck's Realencyklopddie fur pro- 1905-1912, ii, 446 sq., 663 sqq.
testantische Theologie und Kirche, 3 2 G. Schiaparelli, Astronomy in
xviii, 310-317. the Old Testament, Oxford, 1905,
214 REST DAYS
symbolism of seven, reaching into remote Babylonian
antiquity, long preceded the recognition of the seven
planets ; nay, more, that the symbolic significance of
this number imposed itself on Babylonian astronomers
and astrologers and compelled them to include in it
all the principal stars.
The differentiation of the planets led naturally to
their identification with the greater deities of the
Babylonian pantheon, whose several names Nabu,
Ishtar, Nergal, Marduk, and Ninib have come down
to us through the Greeks and Romans in their classical
equivalents, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Sat-
urn. It is by no means certain, however, that at
all periods of Babylonian history these were the only
deities which enjoyed planetary affiliations, or that
the same gods were invariably connected with the
same planets. The association of planet and god seems
to have been quite artificial and arbitrary ; at any
rate, the omen texts do not show any close correspond-
ence between the character of the deity and the prog-
nostications drawn from the behaviour of his planet.
Furthermore, the cuneiform records contain no indi-
cation that the Babylonians were familiar with what is
known as the astrological order of the planets, the order,
pp. 134 sq. The fact that by the der griechischen und romischen
Babylonians Venus, as a morning Mythologie, iii, col. 2521). Similar
star, was considered masculine and misconceptions are found among
as an evening star, feminine (F. X. primitive peoples. Of the Maori
Kugler, Sternkunde und Sterndienst it has been said: "Tawera is their
in Babel, Miinster-i.-W., 1907- Lucifer and Merimeri their Hes-
1910, ii, 19 sq.} must point back perus, and under these two names
to a time when the different ap- the beauty of the planet Venus is
pearances of that heavenly body at frequently celebrated in their
morning and evening were regarded poetry" (E. Shortland, Traditions
as those of different planets. Such and Superstitions of the New Z,ea-
was also the opinion of the early landers? p. 219). Additional evi-
Greeks, who held the morning dence is found among the abori-
star, 'Eo>cr<6pos, and ""Eo-Trepos, the gines of Sumatra (Marsden, op. cit. y
evening star, to be different bodies. p. 194), the Hottentots (Schultze,
Their identity was not recognized op. cit., p. 367), and the Cherokee
until the time of Pythagoras in the Indians (Hagar, in Boas Anniver-
sixth century B.C. (W. H. Roscher, sary Volume > p. 357).
"Planeten," Ausfiihrliches Lexikon
* V n *- in
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 215
that is, in which they appear as regents of the week-
days in the so-called planetary week of seven days.
The oldest known list of the Babylonian planets dates
from about 700 B.C., and presents the following arrange-
ment : Moon, Sun, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mercury,
Mars. The same order is found one hundred and
fifty years later, in astronomical texts belonging to
the time of the New Babylonian Empire. 1 This
seems to be nothing more than the sequence according
to which the planets were severally differentiated from
the fixed stars. At all events it is not the astrological
sequence, which lies at the basis of the planetary week.
Nor can the origin of the names of the weekdays be
sought in Babylonia. It is true that the Babylonians,
like the Egyptians, 2 ascribed to every day in the month
its appropriate divinity, but absolutely no evidence exists
that they ever applied the names of the seven planetary
deities to the days of a septenary cycle. That step was
taken at another time and by another people.
The planetary week, 3 an institution which has spread
1 Kugler, op. cit., i, 13 ; compare
F. Boll, " Zur babylonischen Plane-
tenordnung," Zeitschrift fur Assyri-
ologie, 1911, xxv, 3 73 . Between 400
B.C. and the opening of the Chris-
tian era the order is the same,
except that Mercury and Saturn
exchange places.
2 Herodotus, ii, 82.
3 The history of the planetary
week has been treated with exhaus-
tive learning by E. Schiirer, "Die
siebentagige Woche im Gebrauche
der christlichen Kirche der er-
sten Jahrhunderte," Zeitschrift fur
die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft,
1905, vi, 1-66. A very valuable
survey is that by F. Boll, "Heb-
domas," in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-
Encyclopddie der classischen Alter-
tumswissenschaft, vii, coll. 2547-
2578. Among the earlier discus-
sions those by J. C. H(are), "On
the Names of the Days of the
Week," Philological Museum,
1832, i, 1-73, and E. Schrader,
"Der babylonische Ursprung der
siebentagigen Woche," Theologische
Studien und Kritiken, 1874, xlvii,
343-353, hold an honourable place.
See further W. H. Roscher, "Plane-
ten," Ausfuhrliches Lexikon der
griechischen und romischen My-
thologie y iii, coll. 2518-2539;
A. Bouche-Leclercq, L' astrologie
grecquey Paris, 1899, pp. 476-484;
Jensen, Noldeke, et al., "Ge-
schichte der Namen der Wochen-
tage," Zeitschrift fur deutsche Wort-
forschungy 1901, i, 150-193; O.
Schrader, "Woche," Reallexikon
der indogermanischen Altertums-
kundey Strassburg, 1901, pp. 959-
965; W. Lotz, "Woche," in Her-
zog, Plitt, and Hauck's Realency-
klopddie fur protestantische Theologie
und Kirche? xxi, 409-414; F.
Riihl, Chronologic des Mittelalters
216 REST DAYS
eastward over the Oriental world and westward into
Europe, is a product of the speculations of astrologers
and philosophers during the Hellenistic, or Grseco-
Oriental, era. The sequence of its days depends ulti-
mately upon the order of the seven planetary spheres,
adopted by Ptolemy in antiquity and after him by
astronomers until the discoveries of Copernicus. If
the planets are grouped according to their distance
from the earth, beginning with the highest and descend-
ing to the lowest, we obtain the following order : Sat-
urn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon.
No certain evidence exists that this arrangement was
known at an earlier date than the second century
before our era. 1 The astrological order, which also
begins with Saturn, proceeds next to the fourth planet,
or Sun, from which again the fourth planet (by inclu-
sive reckoning) is the Moon. By continuing to select
every fourth planet thereafter we obtain at length the
regents of the seven weekdays : Saturn, Sun, Moon,
Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus.
How, it may be asked, did such an arrangement
arise ? This question has been answered for us by the
Roman historian, Dio Cassius, who interrupts his
narrative of the victorious campaign of Pompey the
Great in Palestine to furnish a brief account of the
planetary week. 2 The institution, says Dio Cassius,
und der Neuzeit, ^ Berlin, 1897, * The reverse order, beginning
pp. 49-63 ; F. K. Ginzel, Handbuch with the Moon and ending with
der mathematischen und technischen Saturn, is attributed to Pythagoras
Chronologie^ Leipzig, 1906-1911, by Pliny the Elder (Historia
index, j.v. "Woche." The word naturalis, ii, 22) and by Censorinus
"week" in various Germanic Ian- (De die natali, xiii, 3) ; and accord-
guages has the general meaning of ing to Macrobius it was adopted
"change" (Anglo-Saxon wice, Old by Archimedes in the third cen-
Frisian wike. Old Norse vika, tury B.C. (Commentarium in som-
Danish uge, Old High German nium Scipionis, i, 19, 2, ii, 3, 13).
wecha^ Gothic wiko, etc.). See F. But the statements of these late
L. K. Weigand, Deutsches Worter- writers on the subject may be
buck,* Giessen, 1910, ii, 1279. The safely disregarded.
Latin vicis, "change," "turn" (a 2 Historia Romana, xxxvii, 18 sq.
genitive form) is a related expres- There is also extant a still earlier
sion. See Walde, op. cit., p. 833. explanation of the planetary se-
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK
217
n be explained in two ways. According to the first
explanation the gods are supposed to preside over
separate days of the week, following the "' principle of
the tetrachord' (which is believed to constitute the
basis of music)." 1 The planetary week would thus
be one expression of the occult relations supposed to
exist between harmonic intervals of music and the
seven planetary spheres. Though the idea that the
motions of the planets were regulated by the laws of
musical harmony had great popularity among some of
the Greek schools of philosophy, neo-Pythagorean
and neo-Platonist, it is not, however, to this compara-
tively refined doctrine of the "music of the spheres"
that we must look for the origin of the planetary se-
quence. 2 The second explanation given by Dio Cas-
sius, and also by Vettius Valens, is connected with the
astrological theory of "chronocratories," which as-
signed to the several planets dominion over hours and
days as periods of time. If the day is divided into
twenty-four hours and each hour is ascribed in turn
quence by Vettius Valens, an astrol-
oger of the age of the Antonines.
The one provided by Plutarch, in
the seventh chapter of the fourth
book of his Symposiacs, has been
lost. Dio Cassius attributes the
origin of the planetary week to the
Egyptians; Lydus, a Byzantine
antiquarian of the fifth century
A.D., hesitates between the Egyp-
tians and the Babylonians (De
mensibusy ii, 31).
1 This arrangement &a reo-o-a-
peoi/ may be illustrated by means
of the heptagram. Let the circum-
ference of a circle be divided into
seven equal arcs and the signs
of the planets Saturn, Jupiter,
Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon
be placed at the points of divi-
sion. If these points are con-
nected by a series of continuous
chords, then, beginning with Saturn,
the lines of the chords will lead
successively to the signs of the
planets in the astrological order.
The figure of a seven-branched
star, inscribed in a circle, is an
ancient device; indeed, the hepta-
gram appears on a clay tablet
recently unearthed at Nippur in
Babylonia (H. V. Hiiprecht, Ex-
plorations in Bible Lands, Phila-
delphia, 1903, p. 530), but in this
case quite without any indication
of its use.
2 As a matter of fact the gamut,
or scale of seven notes comprised
within the interval of an octave,
rests on no fundamental laws of
acoustic phenomena but is itself
a product of the all-pervading
symbolism of seven. This system
of musical numeration has spread
from Greece as far east as India
and China. See J. Combarieu,
La musique et la magie, Paris,
1909, pp. 176-200.
218 REST DAYS
to the several planets Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun,
Venus, Mercury, Moon then Saturn will preside
over the first, eighth, fifteenth, and twenty-second hours
of the first day, the twenty-third hour will fall to
Jupiter, and the twenty-fourth 'to Mars. The twenty-
fifth hour, or the first hour of the second day, will
belong to the Sun, the first hour of the third day to the
Moon, and so on for the remaining weekdays. The
planetary deity found to preside over the first hour of
a day is then supposed to give his name to the entire
day. This scheme, as far as it depends on the recogni-
tion of twenty-four hours, is evidently not of Greek
origin, for the mathematical division of the day into
fixed parts did not arise in the Occident, but was due
to Oriental influences. 1
The planetary week thus presents itself as a curious
amalgam of ideas derived from different sources.
Babylonia, the motherland of divination, provided
the doctrine of the influence of the stars on human
destinies ; Greece furnished the mathematical astron-
omy which grouped the planets according to their
distance from the earth ; and upon these foundations
astrologers of the Hellenistic era, familiar with the
cult of seven and with a division of the day into twenty-
four hours, built up what was, at the outset, an entirely
pagan institution.
The seven-day week (e/jSo/jtas, septimana), in its
astrological form, has had a varied history. It prob-
ably first appeared in the star cults of Mesopotamia
1 Herodotus (ii, 109) says ex- very early times were familiar
Elicitly that the Greeks learned with a division into twenty-four
om the Babylonians to divide the hours, twelve for the night and
day into twelve parts. This state- twelve for the natural day. It is
ment agrees with the evidence not improbable, therefore, that the
from the cuneiform records, which astrological use of the twenty-four
show that it was the Babylonian hours was remotely derived from
custom to divide the nycthemeron, Egypt. On the entire subject of
or cycle of night and day, into hour deities see W. Gundel, "Stun-
twelve kaspu, corresponding to dengotter," Hessische Blatter fur
two of our equinoctial hours. On Folkskunde, 1913, xii, 100-131.
the other hand the Egyptians from
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 219
ind Syria, certainly not before the second century
B.C., passed thence to the cosmopolitan city of Alex-
andria, the meeting-ground of East and West, and
about the age of Augustus gained an entrance into
Occidental lands. The first reasonably certain evi-
dence of its existence in Italy is found in the so-called
fasti Sabini, the fragments of a calendar drawn up
between the years 19 B.C. 4 A.D. Here the days of
the seven-day week (indicated by the letters A to F)
and those of the old Roman nundinal cycle (indicated
by the letters A to G) are set forth in parallel columns
for the months of September and October. All similar
calendars of the same period employ only the lettering
of the eight-day Roman week. 1 The earliest evidence
for the planetary naming of the weekdays is found
in two inscriptions from Pompeii. Of these, the first
gives all the names of the planetary deities in their
Greek form; the second, the names in their more
familiar Latin form, except for the accidental omission
of Wednesday : Saturni, Solis, Lunse, Martis, Jovis,
Veneris. 2 Indications that the planetary week was
known and used during the second century A.D. occur
in both classical literature and the inscriptions. Dio
Cassius, 3 writing early in the third century (about
210-220 A.D.), declares that the custom of referring
the days to the stars, called planets, had then become
quite familiar to the Romans as well as to the rest of
mankind. The accuracy of this statement is confirmed
by his Christian contemporaries, Tertullian and Clem-
ent of Alexandria, who in their writings addressed to
the pagans employ the planetary names of the week-
days. 4
1 Corpus inscriptionum Latina- accademia dei lincei, anno 1901,
rum, i, pt. i, 2 220; G. Gander- Serie v, classe di science morali, etc.,
mann, "Die Namen der Wochen- ix, Notizie degli scavi, p. 330.
tage bei den Romern," Zeitschriftfur 3 Historia Romana, xxxvii, 18.
deutsche Wortforschung, 1901, i, 177. 4 Tertullian, Apologeticus, 16;
2 A. Mau, in Bullettino dell' idem, Ad nationes, i, 13; Clement,
instituto di corrispondenza archeo- Stromata, vii, 12, 75; compare
i) 1 88 1, p. 30; Atti della reale Justin Martyr, Apologia prima, 67.
220 REST DAYS
The early Christians had at first adopted the Jewish
seven-day week with its numbered weekdays, 1 but by
the close of the third century A.D. this began to give
way to the planetary week ; and in the fourth and fifth
centuries the pagan designations became generally
accepted in the western half of Christendom. 2 The
use of the planetary names by Christians attests the
growing influence of astrological speculations intro-
duced by converts from paganism. The old beliefs
in the power of the stars over human destinies lived
on in Christian communities ; the heavenly bodies,
though no longer deities, were still demons capable of
affecting the fate of man. During these same centuries
the spread of Oriental solar worships, especially that
of Mithra, 3 in the Roman world, had already led to the
substitution by pagans of dies Soils for dies Saturni,
as the first day of the planetary week ; and Constan-
tine's famous edict, as we have seen, definitely enrolled
Sunday among the holidays of the Roman state reli-
gion. 4 The change from Saturn's Day to Sunday
must have further commended the planetary week
in Christian circles, where the Lord's Day (dies domi-
nica), beginning the week, had long been observed as
that on which Christ, the "Sun of Righteousness,"
1 The Jews indicated each week- Celsus, as quoted by Origen (Contra
day by its numerical name, as the Celsum, vi, 21), the seven planets
first day, the second day, and so played an important role in the
on ; compare Exodus, xvi, 5, 22 ; Mithraic mysteries. The chief po-
Matthew, xxviii, i; Mark, xvi, 2; sition was naturally assigned to
Luke, xxiv, i ; John, xx, I ; Acts, the sun, from which circumstance
xx, 7; i Corinthians, xvi, 2. The Cumont concludes, not only that
sixth day, preceding the Sabbath, the planetary week was known to
came eventually to be called by Mithraism, but also that the
Hellenistic Jews 17 Trapao-Keur;, or dies Solis "etait evidemment le
"preparation" for the Sabbath; plus sacre de Thebdomade pour les
compare Matthew, xxvii, 62 ; Mark, fideles de Mithra, et, comme les
xv, 42; Luke,xxin, 54; John,xix, 31. Chretiens, ils devaient sanctifier
2 The oldest dated Christian in- le dimanche et non pas le sabbat."
scription to employ a planetary See F. Cumont, Textes et monu-
designation belongs to the year 269 ments figures relatifs aux mysteres
A.D. (Inscriptiones Christiana urbis de Mithra, Brussels, 1896-1899, i,
Roma, ed. De Rossi, i86i,i, no. n). 118 sq., ii, 31.
3 According to the testimony of 4 Above, pp. 122 sq.
.
LUNAR CALENDARS AND THE WEEK 221
se from the dead. 1 Thus gradually a pagan insti-
tution was engrafted on Christianity.
The planetary week became familiar to the barbari-
ans of the West before its adoption by Christianity.
Much monumental evidence exists to show that in Gaul
and Roman Germany the planetary order, beginning
with Saturn, was known from the first half of the third
century. The same cycle appears to have been intro-
duced into Roman Britain. In nearly all Romance
countries the planetary names are applied to the week-
days except the first and seventh, for which the ecclesi-
astical designations, dies dominica and sabbatum, are
retained. 2 In most Germanic languages Sunday and
Monday appear as translations of the Latin forms ;
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday repre-
sent equations of classical and Germanic deities, based
on the most obvious points of resemblance between
them ; 3 while Saturday, for which no corresponding
Germanic god suggested itself, is a corrupt form of
1 Below, p. 268. to find the old Roman term for a
2 Italian domenica, sabbato; holy day thus employed to refer
Spanish domingo, sabado; French to the weekdays that are particu-
dimanche y samedi, etc. But the larly devoted to secular occupations,
heathen names of even these two The origin of the practice has not
days continued for a long time in been satisfactorily explained,
popular use, as is evident from the 3 Tiu (Mars), Woden (Mercu-
words of Gregory of Tours : Ecce rius),Thor (Jupiter), Frij a (Venus).
enim dies Solis adest, sic enim bar- The special observance of Thurs-
baries vocitare diem dominicam con- day as a holy day reflects the com-
sueta est (Historia Francorum, iii, manding place occupied by Thor
15). The other weekdays (Mon- in Germanic paganism. His wor-
day to Friday) in the calendar of ship on that day is referred to in
the Roman Church follow the documents of the early Middle
Jewish usage in being numbered, Ages as a superstition to be eradi-
not named : feria secunda, feria cated (nullus diem Jovis in otio
tertia, feria quarto, feria quinta, observet, etc.), but the modern
and feria sexta (Isidore of Seville, Esthonians still consider Thurs-
Etymologia sive origines, v, 30). day as holier than Sunday and in
In Portugal the influence of the Sweden, as late as the nineteenth
Church was strong enough to secure century, the day was generally
the general adoption of this mode considered sacred. See J. Grimm,
of reckoning, instead of the planet- Teutonic Mythology, London, 1882,
ary sequence; and here Monday i, 191; O. Montelius, "The Sun-
is still called feira segunda, Tues- god's Axe and Thor's Hammer,"
day, feira ter$a, etc. It is curious Folk-lore, 1910, xxi, 77.
222
REST DAYS
Saturnus. 1 Among the Slavic peoples, whose week
begins with Monday, as the first day after rest, the
planetary names are unknown, the days being num-
bered in conformity with the usage of the Greek
Church. 2 A similar custom prevails among the Lithu-
anians and Esthonians, who appear to have borrowed
their week from the Slavs. Modern Greeks employ
the ecclesiastical designations of the weekdays, 3 but
the Finns and Lapps, at the other extremity of Europe,
in adopting the week from the Scandinavians, took over
also the planetary names of the days. 4
1 The Scandinavian name for
Saturday, "bath-day" or "wash-
day " (Old Norse laugardagr), arose
from the custom of taking a bath
at the end of the week (De la
Saussaye, The Religion of the Teu-
tons, Boston, 1902, p. 379; P. B. Du
Chaillu, The Land of the Midnight
Sun, New York, 1881, ii, 205 sqq.).
2 In Slavic antiquity Friday, or
some day corresponding to it,
appears to have been consecrated
to a female divinity, whose person-
ality, after the introduction of
Christianity, became merged into
that of St. Prascovia. "As she is
supposed to wander about the
houses of the peasants on her holy
day, and to be offended if she finds
certain kinds of work going on,
they are (or at least they used to
be) frequently suspended on Fri-
days. It is a sin, says a time-
honoured tradition, for a woman
to sew or spin, or weave, or buck
linen on a Friday, and similarly
for a man to plait bast shoes, twine
cords, and the like. Spinning and
weaving are especially obnoxious
to 'Mother Friday,' for the dust
and refuse thus produced injure her
eyes." The peasants believe that
any work begun on Friday is sure to
go wrong (W. R. S. Ralston, Russian
Folktales, London, 1873, pp. 198 sq.}.
3 In Thessaly and Macedonia
Saturday (<Ta.fipa.Tov) is considered
inauspicious for beginning any
undertaking. This taboo on the
day has been considered as perhaps
a reminiscence of the Jewish Sab-
bath (Sir Rennell Rodd, The Cus-
toms and Lore of Modern Greece,
London, 1892, p. 159). According
to Mr. G. F. Abbott, the Mace-
donians believe it unlucky to finish
any work on a Saturday; the end
of the week being associated in
some way with the end of the
owner's life. "People born on a
Saturday (hence called ^a.ftftaria.voi
or Sabbatarians) are believed to
enjoy the doubtful privilege of
seeing ghosts and phantasms, and
of possessing great influence over
vampires" (Macedonian Folklore,
Cambridge, 1903, pp. 191, 221).
4 On the week among European
peoples see further E. Maass,
Die Tagesgotter im Rom und den
Provinzen, Berlin, 1902 ; A. Thumb,
"Die albanesischen Wochentage,"
Zeitschrift fur deutsche Wortfor-
schung, 1901, i, 173-175; R -
Thurneysen, "Die Namen der
Wochentagen in den keltischen
Dialecten," ibid., pp. 186-191;
W. Meyer-Liibke, "Die Namen der
Wochentage im Romanischen,"
ibid., pp. 192 sq.; C. L. Rochholz,
Deutscher Glaube und Branch, Ber-
Ijn, 1867, ii, 9-63; K. A. Oberle,
Uberreste germanischen Heidentums
im Christentum, Baden-Baden, 1883,
pp. 13-40; Grimm, op. cit., \,
122-130.
CHAPTER VII
THE BABYLONIAN "EVIL DAYS " AND THE SHABATTUM
IT is time to return to Babylonia. We have seen
that here the cult of seven as a symbolic number
was long anterior to the recognition of the seven plan-
ets ; and, furthermore, that the planetary week,
instead of being an early creation of Babylonian astrol-
ogy, arose during the Hellenistic Age from the union
of Greek and Oriental speculations. But for many
centuries previously a seven-day week, in which the
days were numbered, not named, had existed as a
Jewish institution in western Asia ; and we have still
to determine whether this Jewish form of the week was
derived remotely from Babylonia, and according to
what conceptions the assumed Babylonian original
was itself developed.
In the year 1869 the late George Smith, well known
as a pioneer student of Assyriology, discovered among
the cuneiform tablets in the British Museum "a curi-
ous religious calendar of the Assyrians, in which every
month is divided into four weeks, and the seventh
days, or i Sabbaths,' are marked out as days on which
no work should be undertaken." 1 Six years after-
ward Sir Henry Rawlinson published this calendar in
the fourth volume of his standard collection of cunei-
form inscriptions. It appears to be a transcript of a
much more ancient Babylonian original, possibly
belonging to the age of Hammurabi, which had been
made by order of Asshurbanipal and placed in his
royal library at Nineveh. The calendar, which is
1 G. Smith, Assyrian Discov- pare idem, The Assyrian Eponym
fries, 1 London, 1883, p. 12; com- Canon, London, 1875, pp. 19 sq.
223
224 REST DAYS
complete for the thirteenth or intercalary month,
called Elul II, and for Markheshwan, the eighth month
of the Babylonian year, takes up the thirty days in
succession and indicates the deity to which each day
is sacred and what sacrifices or precautionary measures
are necessary for each day. All the days are styled
" favourable," an expression which must indicate a
pious hope, not a fact, since the words ud-khul-gal or
umu limnu ("the evil day") are particularly applied
to the seventh, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first,
and twenty-eighth days. The second Elul, being an
intercalated month, might be thought to have enjoyed
a special significance, as intercalary months have
had elsewhere ; * but such a hypothesis will not ex-
plain the inclusion of the month of Markheshwan in
the calendar. 2 Hence it is highly probable that at one
time the other months were similarly marked, though
as yet there is no inscriptional evidence for the observ-
ance of the five "evil days" in all the months of the
Babylonian year. 3
With regard to the reasons which dictated the choice
of the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-
eighth days, two views have been entertained. It has
been held, in the first place, that the "evil days" were
selected as corresponding to the moon's successive
changes ; hence that the seventh day marks the close
of the earliest form of the seven-day week, a week
bound up with the lunar phases. According to an-
other opinion the setting apart of every seventh day
1 Above, p. 177 ft. 2 been solved to the satisfaction of
2 The first edition (1875) of the most Assyriologists by the sugges-
fourth volume of Rawlinson's Cu- tion that the nineteenth day was
neiform Inscriptions of Western Asia regarded as seven times the seventh
contained only a calendar for the day (i.e., the forty-ninth from the
month of Elul II, but in the second first of the preceding month),
edition (1891) of this volume there This, of course, would not be
was added, from a number of frag- strictly true, when the preceding
ments, a calendar for the month month had only twenty-nine days,
of Markheshwan. but it seems that the early Baby-
3 The difficulty which arises in Ionian month was conventionally
respect to the nineteenth day has taken at thirty days' duration.
THE BABYLONIAN "EVIL DAYS" 225
was due to the importance ascribed to seven ; hence
that the seven-day cycles were not regarded as quarters
of the lunation but rather as periods containing the
symbolic number of seven days, which happened to
coincide, roughly, with a fourth part of the lunar
month. The second view would be merely an ampli-
fication of the first, if we assume, with perhaps the
majority of Assyriologists, that the role of seven as a
symbolic number is ultimately connected with the
moon changing her phases at intervals of approxi-
mately seven days.
It must be admitted, however, that in the present
state of our knowledge we cannot obtain any satisfac-
tory explanation of the origin of a symbolic number.
As far as seven is concerned, the American evidence,
previously referred to, 1 indicates that cosmical specula-
tions may sometimes account for its significance ; while
in the Semitic area, again, one root of the cult of seven
may lie in the observation of the Pleiades and the early
use of Pleiades calendars by the agriculturist. 2 That
the Pleiades number seven stars has been noted even
by savage peoples, who have also observed that each
one of three other prominent constellations, Ursa
Major, Ursa Minor, and Orion, contains seven prin-
cipal stars. Such unexplained coincidences may have
served to confirm the impression of the significance of
seven in the minds of Babylonian astrologers, even
though the mystic quality of that number was based
originally on a different set of ideas. But it is unneces-
sary to discuss further what popular superstitions and
priestly speculations gave rise to the symbolism of
seven in ancient Babylonia.
1 Above, pp. 210 sq. fest und der Plejadenkult, Pader-
2 Compare H. Zimmern, in E. born, 1907), who discerns in the
Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und duration of the Hebrew Pentecost,
das Alte Testament? Berlin, 1903, or Feast of Weeks, as well as in the
pp. 620 sq. The possible influence rites which marked that agricul-
of Pleiades cults has been worked tural festival, the predominance of
out with much ingenuity by H. a septenary division based on the
Grimme (Das israelitische Pfingst- observation of these seven stars.
Q
226 REST DAYS
The month in Babylonia was a lunar month, and the
year was a lunisolar year. Unlike the Egyptians, who
passed from moon- to sun-reckonings before the dawn
of history, the Babylonians always retained the primi-
tive lunar calendar, harmonized with the solar year by
the crude method of intercalating an extra month at
the necessary intervals. As in all lunar calendars
the month began with the visible new moon. So im-
portant was this for the determination of the month
that arxu, the Babylonian expression for " month,"
meant, properly, the beginning of the month; while
Nannar (nannaru), one of the names of the moon-god,
was originally applied to the new moon. 1 The length
of the month was reckoned at thirty days as an approxi-
mate average of ,the duration of the moon's course, a
calculation familiar enough to many half-civilized
peoples. 2 The ideogram for arxu is the number
"thirty" enclosed in the ideogram for "day" ; and the
ideogram for Sin, the moon-deity, is made up of that
for "god" and of that for "thirty," which number was
sacred to him. When in late mythological syncretism
the goddess Ishtar was represented as the daughter of
Sin, her sacred number became fifteen, and this, with
the determinative of goddess prefixed to it, was often
used to express her name. 3
Though the calendar assigned to each month thirty
full days, the actual month must have often included
only twenty-nine days, since the reckoning employed
was purely lunar. We may assume, in the absence of
definite statements as to the way of fixing the length
of the month, that the Babylonians at first followed the
rough-and-ready method of modern Arabs : on the
twenty-ninth of the month, after the sun has gone
1 W. Muss-Arnolt, "The Names z Above, p. 178.
of the Assyro-Babylonian Months 3 W. Muss-Arnolt, in Journal of
and their Regents," Journal of Biblical Literature, 1892, xi, 72 sqq. 9
Biblical Literature, 1892, xi, 73; 82 j??., 90; E. Meyer, "Astarte,"
E. Combe, Histpire du culte de in Roscher's Ausfiihrliches Lexikon
Sin en Babylonie et en Assyrie, der griechischen und romischen
Paris, 1908, pp. 8, 13. Mythologie, i, col. 649.
THE BABYLONIAN "EVIL DAYS" 227
down, they look in the western sky for the faint sickle
of the moon ; if this is seen, the new month begins
forthwith ; if it cannot be seen, the following day is
also included in the old month, which then contains
thirty days. By the middle of the seventh century
B.C., and perhaps at an even earlier date, a more exact
means of calculating the length of the month had come
into use. The royal astrologers, who sent regular
reports to the king as to the appearance or non-appear-
ance of the moon at the expected time, appear to have
carefully observed the day of the opposition of the sun
and moon in the middle of the month ; when the full-
moon day was known, it became an easy matter to
determine how many more days should be counted to
the end of the month. 1 It was not until the third or
second century B.C., when exact astronomical methods
had supplanted purely empirical study of the heavens,
that the Babylonians were able to calculate the
appearance of the true new moon. By this time,
too, the progress of astronomical knowledge allowed
them to adopt the more accurate calendarizing of
the lunation into months of twenty-nine and thirty
days, five of the former, and seven of the latter,
length. 2
These details concerning the Babylonian calendar,
in all but its latest form, are enough to indicate that it
presents no striking divergence from the general type
of lunar reckonings. The Babylonians, like all other
peoples of the ancient East, based their calculations
of time on the moon. It follows, therefore, that the
seven-day periods described in the Rawlinson calendar
were also reckoned from the visible new moon ; indeed,
1 R. C. Thompson, The Reports Die babylonische Mondrechnung,
of the Magicians and Astrologers of Freiburg-i.-B., 1900, pp. 49, 201 ;
Nineveh and Babylon, London, F. H. Weissbach, "Zum babyloni-
1900, ii, pp. xviii sqq., xxvi. schen Kalender," in Assyriologische
2 Epping and Strassmeier, Astro- und archdologische Studien Hermann
nomisches aus Babylon, Freiburg- v. Hilprecht gewidmet, Leipzig, 1909,
i.-B., 1889, p. 179; F. X. Kugler, p. 281.
228 REST DAYS
this fact is clearly indicated by the description applied
in that calendar to the first day of the month. 1 We
may reasonably assume that the last day of the month
(when the latter actually included only twenty-nine
days) or the last two days of a thirty-day month were
regarded as forming an epagomenal period, interrupt-
ing the regular succession of seven-day cycles. Possibly
the Babylonians may have employed some such device
as that found among the negroes of west Africa, in
order that four of their lunar periods should correspond
exactly to the length of the lunation. 2
We may next inquire whether additional evidence
exists to indicate that the seven-day periods of the
Rawlinson calendar were definitely associated with
successive phases of the moon. It has already been
noticed that very early in the Assyro-Babylonian cul-
tural area there was in at least occasional use a five-
day cycle, called khamushtu? Whether it preceded
the hebdomadal cycle or afterwards supplanted it
(perhaps as forming a closer divisor of the lunation),
or whether the two periods may not have existed
more or less contemporaneously, are matters concern-
ing which the cuneiform records tell us nothing. They
do tell us, however, that a five-day period, possibly
to be identified with the khamushtu, was closely asso-
ciated with the successive appearances of the moon,
as in a text where the first five days of the month
are spoken of as those of the crescent moon, the next
five, as those of the half-moon ("kidney"), and the
five following days as those of the full or nearly full
moon. 4 A similar association with the moon's course
is set forth in the case of a seven-day period in a text
which specifically indicates the seventh, fourteenth,
twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days as those of Sin,
1 Rawlinson, op. cit., iv, 2 pi. 32, 4 Rawlinson, op. cit., iii, 55,
col. i, 11. 1-2; W. Lotz, Qucestiones no. 3, 11. 17-26; P. Jensen, "Die
de historia Sabbati, Leipzig, 1883, siebentagige Woche in Babylon
p. 39. und Nineveh," Zeitschrift fur
2 Above, pp. 187 sq. deutsche Wortforschung, 1901, i,
3 Above, p. 195. 150.
THE BABYLONIAN "EVIL DAYS" 229
te moon-god. 1 Another text connects several days
of the month with the moon's course in the following
order : first day, new moon ; seventh day, moon as
"kidney" (half-moon); fifteenth day, full moon. 2
Finally, in the fifth tablet of the Babylonian Epic of
Creation, a work which in its original form is traced
to the close of the third millennium B.C., it is told how
the god Marduk, having created and set in order the
heavenly bodies, then placed the moon in the sky to
make known the days and divide the month with her
phases. Although this interesting production, in its
present mutilated state, mentions only the seventh
and fourteenth days, we are entitled to believe that the
original text also referred to the twenty-first and
twenty-eighth days of the month. 3
The cuneiform evidence thus makes it reasonably
certain that the cycles of seven days' duration found
in the Rawlinson calendar were regarded as divisions
of the lunar month. This conclusion does not require
us to hold that these cycles originated in the quarter-
ing of the lunation. Their choice may conceivably
have been dictated in the first instance by the desire
to apply the prevailing symbolism of seven to periods
1 Rawlinson, op, cit., iii, 64, 18 b; Every month without ceasing with
Jensen, in Zeitschrift fur deutsche the crown he covered (?) him,
Wortforschung, 1901, i, 152; Zim- (saying):
mern, in Schrader, Keilinschriften? 'At the beginning of the month,
p. 621 n. 6 when thou shinest upon the
2 Cuneiform Texts from Baby- land,
Ionian Tablets in the British Museum, Thou commandest the horns to
pt. xxv, pi. 50 (K. 170); F. Horn- determine six days
mel, "Calendar (Babylonian),'* And on the seventh day to [di-
Hastings's Encyclopedia of Religion vide] the crown
and Ethics, iii, 76. On the fourteenth day thou shalt
* Enumaelish,v y \l. 12-18 (transl. stand opposite, the half
L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of [. . .].'"
Creation. London, 1002, i. 78, 81) : T.
For other translations see r. Jensen,
"The Moon-god he caused to shine Die Kosmologie der Babylonier,
forth, the night he entrusted Strassburg, 1890, pp. 288 sqq.;
to him. W. Muss-Arnolt, in R. F. Harper,
He appointed him, a being of the Assyrian and Babylonian Literature,
night, to determine the days; New York, 1901, p. 296.
2 3 o REST DAYS
of time ; while only later, and as a secondary develop-
ment, were they brought into connection with the phases
of the moon. In either case the seven-day periods can
be only loosely and inaccurately described as "weeks."
Nothing in the cuneiform records indicates that the
Babylonians ever employed them for civil purposes.
These periods seem to have had solely a religious signif-
icance, as was true also of the four divisions of the
month, similarly connected with the lunar phases,
in the sacred calendars of both Buddhism and Zoroas-
trianism. 1 What we have disclosed in Babylonia is,
not the week itself, but the material out of which such
an institution might be formed.
Each septenary period in the calendar for Elul II
and Markheshwan closed with an unnamed "evil
day." The symbolism of seven cannot in itself account
for the unlucky quality attaching to this seventh
day. Seven to the Babylonians bore no unlucky
character. It stood, rather, for the notion of complete-
ness or totality, appearing in prayers, incantations,
and exorcisms to indicate the sum total of the gods or
spirits recognized by the worshipper ; sometimes mark-
ing the length of the period during which such impor-
tant actions as the dedication of a temple or the mourn-
ing for a death must be performed ; and often, again,
assuming a mythological role, as in the seven gates of
the underworld, the seven names of the goddess Ishtar,
and the periods of seven days' duration found in the
Babylonian Deluge narrative. 2 In these and many
other instances seven appears as a symbolic, but not
as a portentous, number. Assuming, however, that
the seven-day periods of the Rawlinson calendar were
associated with successive phases of the moon -
whether originally or secondarily does not matter -
it is clear that the seventh day, marking the critical
or transition point in each phase, would possess a
special importance. In fact, the negative or prohibi-
tive regulations enforced among the Babylonians on
1 Above, pp. 157, 165 sq. * Above, p. 212.
THE BABYLONIAN "EVIL DAYS" 231
the "evil days" bear a close resemblance to the taboos
which many other peoples have observed at the changes
of the moon.
Recent students of Semitic magic have shown that
the Sumerians and their successors, the Babylonians
and Assyrians, were familiar with the idea of taboo ;
the term mamit, which appears frequently in magical
texts, is exactly equivalent to tabu, since it refers to
that state of ritual impurity or ceremonial uncleanness
attending certain circumstances or actions. 1 A great
part of the so-called Shurpu series 2 deals with the
methods of removing the condition of mamit into which
a man may have wittingly or unwittingly fallen. The
murderer, the adulterer, or the thief became mamit
in consequence of his breach of ordinary social morality,
but equally cursed was the unlucky person who ran
up against another who was under a taboo, slept on his
bed, ate out of his plate, or drank from his cup. A
man might be contaminated by putting his foot in
some unclean water, by treading in some libation that
had been poured forth, by touching a bewitched
woman, and even by seeing one of unwashen hands.
The third tablet of the Shurpu series enumerates no
less than one hundred and sixty-three taboos, including
"those which come from the family, old or young,
friend or neighbour, rich or poor; oven, bellows, pots
and cups, bed or couch, chariot or weapons. To
drink out of an unclean vessel, to sit in the sun, to root
up plants in the desert, to cut reeds in a thicket, to
slay the young of beasts, to pray with unclean hands,
and a host of other common actions, might under
certain conditions bring a tapu on the man." Such
tabooed acts placed the man under an interdiction ;
if he fell sick, he knew that his sufferings were due to
the hostility of some supernatural power; and a pro-
fessional exorcist would be called in to drive away by
magical words, prayers, and rites the divine curse
1 C. Fossey, La magie assyrienne, 2 See H. Zimmern, Die Bcschwo*
Paris, 1902, pp. 52, 58. rungstafeln surpu, Leipzig, 1896.
232 REST DAYS
clinging to his person. 1 It seems to be clear, then,
that the taboos observed on the "evil days" repre-
sented to the Babylonians only a particular applica-
tion of an ancient and generally accepted superstition.
The calendar for Elul II contains specific directions
for the observance of the five "evil days," in each case
the same except for differences in the names of the dei-
ties. 2 The regulations for the seventh day read as
follows :
"An evil day. The shepherd of great peoples shall
not eat flesh cooked upon the coals, or bread of the
oven. 3 The garment of his body he shall not change,
he shall not put on clean [garments]. He shall not
bring an offering. The king shall not ride in his chariot.
He shall not speak as -a ruler (?). The priest shall
not give a decision in the secret place. The physician
shall not lay his hand on a patient. To issue a male-
diction it [the day] is not suitable. 4 At night the king
shall bring his gift before Marduk and Ishtar, he shall
offer a sacrifice. The lifting up of his hands will then
be pleasing to god."
It is clear that the rules for the seventh day pre-
1 R. C. Thompson, The Devils and to be particularly tabooed, for then
Evil Spirits of Babylonia, London, the "shepherd of great peoples" is
1904, ii, pp. xxxix sqq. forbidden to eat "anything which
2 H. C. Rawlinson, The Cunei- the fire has touched."
form Inscriptions of Western Asia, 4 Most Assyriologists (Jeremias,
London, 1891, iv, 2 pi. 32-33. The Delitzsch, Lagrange, Pinches, Clay)
complete text was first translated make this sentence read: "The
by A. H. Sayce ("A Babylonian day is unsuitable for any business,"
Saints* Calendar," Records of the a translation which, if correct, con-
Pasty London, 1876, vii, 157-170) verts the seventh day into a veri-
and shortly thereafter by W. Lotz table Sabbath. To this translation
(Quastiones de historia Sabbati, Professor Morris Jastrow now adds
Leipzig, 1883, pp. 39-49). The the great weight of his authority,
passage relating to the seventh pointing out that we must read
day has been many times rendered ana epasch la na-tu, "'fur Arbeit
by Assyriologists, not without vari- (oder Ausfiihrung) nicht geignet'
ations in the result. I have used . . . und nicht, wie man friiher
the version in the scholarly work annahm, epesch arrati, 'zum Flu-
of R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Par- chen,' was ja ein eigentiimliches
allels to the Old Testament, New Verbot ware" (Die Religion Baby-
York, 1912, p. 189. loniens und Assyriens, Giessen,
3 The nineteenth day would seem 1905-1912, ii, 533 w. 1 ).
THE BABYLONIAN "EVIL DAYS" 233
>cribe a season of abstinence affecting many royal activ-
ities. The "shepherd of great peoples" must not
eat any food which has been cooked with fire ; he
must not change his clothes ; and he must not offer
a sacrifice until the end of the day. The king is not
to speak in public ; and he is even forbidden to travel.
The Babylonian monarch who observed all these
taboos five times a month would have been as strictly
secluded as was the Hawaiian ruler, who, likewise,
during the four monthly tabu periods retired to the
inner precincts of his temple. 1
The Babylonian regulations have been interpreted
as survivals from ancient times, when priest-kings
were accredited with a divine or supernatural nature,
and hence were subjected to numberless restrictions
designed to prevent any impairment of their sanctity
and magical power. 2 A consideration of the evidence
yielded by primitive societies suggests, however, that
the Babylonian regulations may have been connected
originally with taboos imposed on the entire community.
In Hawaii, where the lunar phases were observed as
tabu periods, the prohibitions affecting the king repre-
sented only an intensification of the communal taboos,
to be explained by the extreme sanctity attached to
the Hawaiian ruler. In Assam, where the genna
institution enjoys a vigorous life, we find that, besides
the prohibitions communally observed at critical times,
the khullakpa, or priest-chief, is surrounded by many
elaborate taboos. Their purpose is "to protect the
man who acts on behalf of the whole subdivision or
village on the occasions of general genna, from any
accident which might impair his power." He is sub-
ject to various food restrictions, must content himself
with only one wife, and must even separate himself
from her on the eve of a general genna. In one group
1 Above, p. 15. Sir J. G. Frazer, Taboo and the
2 For much evidence as to the Perils of the Soul, London, 1911,
sacredness of chiefs and kings and pp. 1-17; idem, Psyche's Task,*
as to the accompanying taboos, see London, 1913, pp. 6-19.
234 REST DAYS
the headman may not eat in a strange village, nor,
whatever the provocation, may he utter a word of
abuse. The violation of any one of these taboos is
thought to bring misfortune on the entire village. 1
It is not wholly speculative to suggest that, were the
natives of Assam to discard their communal taboos as
burdensome, the special regulations affecting the khul-
lakpa might survive, in deference to old tradition, and
might even be increased in severity, if that individual
should grow in authority and holiness. The situa-
tion would then furnish a very close analogy to what
existed in ancient Babylonia. The regulations con-
cerning the "evil days," it may be noted, did not per-
tain to the king alone. We may reasonably assume that
"the shepherd of great peoples " and the king mentioned
further on in the calendar are one and the same ; but
the record also describes certain rules imposed on the
priest and on the physician, both important function-
aries among the Babylonians. It seems also evident
that the day was regarded as unsuitable for any one to
lay a curse or ban ; according to another, and possibly
more accurate, rendering, unsuitable for all business.
These considerations increase the probability that at
one time some taboos on the seventh day were observed
by the entire community. 2
It is questionable, however, whether in late historic
times there was any general abstention from work and
other activities on the "evil days." The Babylonians
were a highly organized commercial and manufacturing
people who would have found such regulations bur-
densome to the highest degree. Taboos once generally
1 T. C. Hodson, in Journal of Siebenzahl und Sabbat bei den
the Anthropological Institute, 1906, Babyloniern und im Alien Testa-
xxxvi, 98; idem, in Folk-lore, 1910, ment, Leipzig, 1907, pp. 106-109;
xxi, 298; idem, Ndga Tribes of J. Meinhold, Sabbat und Woche im
Manipur, pp. 102, 141 sq. Alten Testament, Gottingen, 1905,
2 For further discussions of the pp. 15 sqq.; F. Bohn, Der Sabbat
"^evil days" see M. J. Lagrange, im Alten Testament, Giitersloh,
Etudes sur les religions semitiques? 1903, pp. 39-43.
Paris, 1905, pp. 291 sqq.; J. Hehn,
THE BABYLONIAN "EVIL DAYS"
235
observed may have been gradually relaxed and at last
abandoned, just as modern Jews are now neglecting the
observance of the Sabbath. The practice might have
been kept up, however, by the king and the priests as
the special guardians of conservative institutions. 1
The cuneiform records contain a term shabattum,
which has been generally accepted as the phonetic
equivalent of the Hebrew shabbdthon, perhaps an in-
tensive form of shabbdth or Sabbath, referring to a
Sabbath of particular solemnity. 2 Shabattum, a word
1 Some painstaking efforts have
been made to discover whether
during historic times there was any
general observance in Babylonia of
the "evil days." W. Lotz (op.
cit., p. 66), from an examination of
540 dated contract tablets belong-
ing to different months, found that
the average of the number of trans-
actions on the yth, I4th, 2ist, and
28th days was 18, which would be
also the average for each day of
the month. The I9th day, how-
ever, had only one contract to its
credit. Schiaparelli (op. cit., p. 132
n. 1 ) examined about 400 dated
documents from the archives of
the Babylonian business firm, Egibi
and Sons, and showed that there
was a real abstention from business
only on the I9th day, when no
contracts were concluded. The
same investigator (op. cit., pp.
175 sqq.) also classified according
to the day of the month 2764 dates
on contract tablets belonging to
the period 604-449 B - c - and found
again that, while the transactions
for the 7th, I4th, and 2ist days
were considerably above the aver-
age (94) and those for the 28th
day only slightly below it, the
1 9th day registered but 12 trans-
actions. It is true that these
statistics deal with a late period
of Babylonian history and include
the reigns of several Persian kings.
By this time the general observ-
ance of the custom may have
been in decay. The figures, more-
over, do not distinguish the sort
of business done on the "evil
days." Many of the documents
are temple records, having to do
with offerings, receipts of salaries
by priests, etc., and such business
may not have been regarded as a
violation of the prohibitions in
question (C. H. W. Johns, "The
Babylonian Sabbath, Expository
Times, 1906, xvii, 566 sq.}. For
Assyria, during the period 720^-606
B.C., 365 dated documents indicate
no marked cessation of business on
the 7th, 1 4th, 2ist, and 28th days.
"They were not kept with puritan
respect for the Sabbath, if Sabbaths
they really were." Only 2 con-
tracts, however, were made on the
1 9th, and for one of these the date
is doubtful (idem, Assyrian Deeds
and Documents, London, 1901, ii,
40 sq.). Finally, out of 356 dated
documents of the Hammurabi era,
only 2 were dated on the I9th and
only 26 on the four other "evil
days" (idem, in Expository Times,
1906, xvii, 566 sq.). It would seem,
accordingly, that at this earlier
period (about 2000 B.C.) there was a
sabbatic observance of all five days,
and especially of the I9th day.
2 Shabbdthon occurs all together
ten times in the Old Testament,
where it is applied to New Year's
Day, the Day of Atonement (above,
236 REST DAYS
which has been found as yet only five or six times in
Assyro-Babylonian documents, occurs in a lexicographi-
cal tablet containing the equation shabbattu(m) =
um nukh libbi. 1 The accepted translation of the latter
expression is "day of rest of (or for) the heart" (s.c.,
"of the angered gods"). Various scholars in England
and Germany, intent on discovering Babylonian
parallels for all Hebrew institutions, have therefore
explained shabattum and its equivalent phrase by the
five "evil days" found in the calendar already
noticed. This identification was based on the obser-
vation that these seemed also to be penitential days,
when by special observances the gods must be ap-
peased and their anger averted. The Hebrew Sab-
bath would therefore represent an institution directly
derived from the Babylonian regulations for the "evil
days." 2
Until recently, however, Assyriology has sounded
no certain note concerning the etymology and signifi-
cance of the term shabattum. Thus, Delitzsch holds
pp. 82 sq.}, the first and eighth Boscawen; see A. H, Sayce, in
days of the Feast of Tabernacles, Academy, 1875, viii, 555. Ska-
and also to the Sabbatical Year (Le- battu(m) here and elsewhere can
viticus, xxv, 4) and to the Sabbath be read shapattu(m), without, how-
Day proper (Exodus, xvi, 23, xxxi, ever, affecting the sense (P. Jensen,
15, xxxv, 2 ; Leviticus, xxiii, 3). Pro- in Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, 1900,
fessor Morris Jastrow thinks that xiv, 182; H. Zimmern, in Schrader,
shabbdthon is mistranslated as "sol- Keilinschriften, 3 p. 592 n. 5 ).
emn rest" and that in fact it is 2 A. H. Sayce, The Higher Criti-
merely an adjectival formation cism and the Verdict of the Monu-
meaning "sabbatical" or "Sab- ments, London, 1895, p. 74; idem,
bath-like." The word " belongs The Religions of Ancient Egypt and
to a period prior to the develop- Babylonia, Edinburgh, 1902, p. 476;
ment of a Sabbath institution, F. Delitzsch, Babel and Bible,
celebrated every seventh day with- London, 1903, p. 41. The purely
out any reference to the phases of conjectural character of this pro-
the moon" (American Journal of cedure was long ago pointed out
Semitic Languages and Literatures, by Francis Brown in his article,
1914, xxx, 97 n. 1 ). "The Sabbath in the Cuneiform
1 Rawlinson, op. cit., ii, pi. 32, Records," Presbyterian Review,
no. i, 1 6 a-b (Cuneiform Texts, 1882, iii, 693. Compare also A. T.
pt. xviii, pi. 23, 17 [K. 4397]). Clay, Amurru, Philadelphia, 1909,
The discovery of this important pp. 55 sqq.
equation was made by W. H.
THE BABYLONIAN "EVIL DAYS" 237
that "the only meaning that may be justifiably as-
sumed is " c ending (of work), cessation, keeping holi-
day from work.' ' As the result of linguistic analysis
Hirschfeld concludes, on the contrary, that "the idea
of resting for religious reasons after a certain spell of
working days is far too complicated to be the original
meaning of a primitive root." 2 Jastrow, again, points
out that um nukh libbi, with which shabattum has been
equated, was a standing expression for the pacification
of a deity's anger. It occurs frequently in Babylonian
religious literature, where it is more particularly used
in hymns addressed by penitentials to some god who
has shown his ill-will toward them. Shabattum implies,
therefore, a day of propitiation, and the idea of rest
involved refers to gods and not to men a refrain-
ing from or cessation of divine anger. 3 Zimmern sug-
gests that shabattum may be derived from the verb
shabatu, with the sense of "discontinue" or "desist,"
applied to the anger of the gods. 4 Pinches, on the
contrary, believes that the word comes from the Sume-
rian shabat, which probably had no connection with
the Semitic verb shabatu. 5 Nielsen goes still further
afield for a satisfactory explanation, and considers
shabat a term taken over from the Arabic thabat,
from a root meaning "rest," applied to the lunar
phases. 6 As the outcome of extensive philological
study Hehn argues that shabattum meant originally
"fulness," "completeness," the notion of rest being
1 Babel and Bible, p. 99. form list (Rawlinson, op. cit., v, pi.
2 H. Hirschfeld, " Remarks on 28, 1. e-f) thelverb shabatu is equated
the Etymology of Sabbath," with gamdru^ which is thought to
Journal of the Royal Asiatic So- mean "be complete," "be full,"
eiety, 1896, n.s., xxviii, 357. "cease," though in some other
3 M. Jastrow, "The Original syllabaries it apparently has the
Character of the Hebrew Sabbath," sense of "pacify." In the light
American Journal of Theology, of the meaning now assigned to
1898, ii, 316 sq. f 351; compare shabattum both translations appear
idem, Hebrew and Babylonian Tra- to be intelligible and harmonious.
ditions, New York, 1914, pp. 134, 8 T. G. Pinches, The Old Testa-
149. ment, London, 1902, p. 327.
4 H. Zimmern, in Schrader, Keil- 6 D. Nielsen, Die altarabische
inschriften, 3 p. 593. In one cunei- Mondreligion, pp. 87 sq.
238 REST DAYS
later and entirely secondary. 1 Still another interpre-
tation makes shabattum equivalent to "day of lament." z
Finally, in a brief, though highly suggestive study,
Professor Toy holds that the root idea in the Baby-
lonian expression was that of abstinence, though
shabattum might also have been regarded as a day of
propitiation because of the restrictions attached to it. 3
These conflicting interpretations scarcely made for
confidence in the results of a purely philological analy-
sis. Recent discoveries, however, have thrown new
light on the problem. A lexicographical tablet from
the library of the Assyrian king Asshurbanipal gives
the names attached to several days of the Babylonian
month ; and among these is the designation shabattum,
applied to the fifteenth day. 4 Still more recently a
similar use of shabattum has been found in a text which
contains an account of the moon's course during the
month. Reference is here made to the first appear-
ance of the new moon, its ash-grey light until about
the seventh day thereafter, its opposition with the sun
on the fourteenth day, its aspects on the twenty-first,
twenty-eighth, and twenty-ninth days, and finally its
disappearance on the thirtieth day, being the time of
1 J. Hehn, Siebenzahl und Sabbat, were subsequently identified by
p. 98. Dr. Pinches, to whom, accordingly,
2 S. Langdon, "The Derivation full credit for this important dis-
of Sabattu and Other Notes," covery should be ascribed. See
Zeitschrift der deutschen morgen- T. G. Pinches, " Sapattu, the Baby-
Idndischen Gesellschaft, 1908, Ixii, Ionian Sabbath," Proceedings of the
30. Society of Biblical Archeology, 1904,
3 C. H. Toy, "The Earliest xxvi, 51-56. H. Zimmern, how-
Form of the Hebrew Sabbath," ever, had previously pointed out
Journal of Biblical Literature, 1 899, that, according to the Rawlinson
xviii, 190 sqq.; compare idem, text, the fifteenth day of a thirty-
Introduction to the History of Reli- day month might have borne the
gions, Boston, 1913, p. 251. designation shabattum (Zimmern, in
4 The text (K. 6012 + K. 10,684) Schrader, Keilinschriften? p. 593
forms a part of the British Museum n. 3 ) ; compare his comments on
collection of cuneiform tablets. A Pinches's discoveries (Zeitschrift der
portion of the text was published deutschen morgenldndischen Gesell-
by Rawlinson (op. cit., iii, pi. 56, schaft, 1904, Iviii, 199-202, 458-
no. 4) and additions to it, as well 460).
as duplicate Babylonian fragments,
THE BABYLONIAN "EVIL DAYS" 239
conjunction with the sun. In this description, which
for minuteness recalls the Polynesian naming of the
nights from successive aspects of the moon, 1 the fif-
teenth day again appears as shabattum. 2
It is clear that the Babylonians recognized, with
many other peoples, the two most prominent stages
of the lunation, new moon and full moon, and de-
scribed them by particular names, nannaru and shabat-
tum. Evidence exists, moreover, showing that these
two days from very early times were observed as festi-
vals, particularly in the cities of Ur and Harran. Here
were the chief seats of the cult of Sin, the moon-god,
always one of the most important members of the
Babylonian pantheon and anciently enjoying prece-
dence over Shamash, the sun-god. 3 Certain cuneiform
tablets, all written down during the time of the Fourth
Dynasty of Ur and dating, therefore, from the third
millennium B.C., distinctly refer to sacrifices which were
made to the divine kings of Ur on the new-moon day
and on the fifteenth of the month. 4 At Harran, where
1 Above, p. 181 ft. 7 4 H. Radau, Early Babylonian
2 The text (K. 2164 + 2195+ History, New York, 1900, pp.
3510) has been edited with a 314 sq. The tekt on the statue
translation and commentary by E. of Gudea, a chief, or patesi, of
Weidener, "Zur babylonischen Lagash (c. 2350 B.C.), bears record
Astronomic," Babyloniaca, 1911, vi, of a rest day which has been inter-
8 sqq. It should be observed that preted as a full-moon day, therefore
it belongs to the same series as the as a shabattum: "No one was
text (K. 170) in which the fifteenth struck with the whip, the mother
day is expressly described as the corrected not her child, the house-
day of full moon (above, p. 229). holder, the overseer, the labourer
Professor A. H. Sayce has published ... the work of their hands
a table of lunar longitudes (K. 490) ceased. In the graves of the
which shows how many degrees the city ... no corpse was buried,
moon advances during the first The Kalu played no psalm, uttered
fifteen days of the month and how no dirge, the wailing women let no
many degrees it retrogrades dur- dirge be heard. In the realm of
ing the second half of the month Lagash no man who had a lawsuit
(Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, 1887, went to the hall of justice." See
ii, 337-340). A. Jeremias, The Old Testament in
3 Combe, Histoire du culte de the Light of the Ancient East,
Sin, pp. 46 sqq., 86 sq.; Jastrow, London, 1911, i, 203; compare
Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, H. Winckler, Religions geschichtlic her
i, 66 sq., 72 sqq. und geschichtlic her Orient, Leipzig,
240 REST DAYS
the cult of Sin continued to flourish under the Roman
Empire and into the early Middle Ages, four sacri-
ficial days were observed every month, and of these
at least two were determined by the conjunction and
opposition of the moon. 1 Outside the Babylonian
cultural area, but within the general field of Semitic
religion, there is also the interesting evidence yielded
by the inscription of Narnaka, which indicates that as
late as the time of the Ptolemies new moon and full
moon were the chief periods of sacrifice observed by
the Phoenicians. 2
The choice of the fifteenth day as the shabbatum was
obviously determined by the length of the Babylonian
month, which in the earlier period was regularly taken
at thirty days' duration. We have seen, however,
that, where lunar reckonings are employed and the
month begins at sunset with the visible new moon,
the fourteenth day more commonly coincides with
the full of the moon. 3 Shabattum being the technical
expression for the fifteenth day as the time of full
moon, it is only reasonable to conclude that, if not the
name, at any rate the observances belonging to this
1906, p. 61. Professor Morris name of the Moon, which same
Jastrow holds, however, that this custom prevails among them to the
passage from the inscription of present day" (Sir William Muir,
Gudea has no reference to the full The Apology of Al Kindy? London,
moon (American Journal of Semitic 1887, p. 17).
Languages and Literatures, 1914, 2 W. F. von Landau, Beitrdge
xxx, 98 n. z ). zur Altertumskunde des Orients,
1 D. Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier Leipzig, 1899, ii, 46 sq.; compare
und der Ssabismus, St. Petersburg, idem, Die phonizischen Inschriften,
1856, ii, 8, 94 sqq.y translating the Leipzig, 1907, p. 22 (Der alte
Fihrist (ix, i, 5) of Ibn al-Nadlm. Orient, viii, 3).
On the Harranians see in general 3 Above, p. 182 n. 7 There are
D. S. Margoliouth, in Hastings's numerous reports by Babylonian
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, astrologers according to which
vi, 519 sq. It is curious to find a any one of five days, from the
Moslem tradition, current about twelfth to the sixteenth of the
830 A.D., that "Abraham lived with month, might be taken as the
his people four-score years and exact time when the moon became
ten in the land of Harran, worship- full, depending, of course, upon how
ping none other than Al Ozza, an early or how late was the visible
idol famous in that land and adored new moon (Kugler, Sternkunde und
by the men of Harran, under the Sterndienst in Babel, ii, 14 sq.).
THE BABYLONIAN "EVIL DAYS
241
day would be often transferred to the fourteenth of
the month, or to any other day on which the moon
became full. No other hypothesis will explain the
outstanding fact that shabattum was equated with
um nukh libbi as a day for appeasing the anger of the
deity. And if for practical purposes the fourteenth
day might be a shabattum, it is not difficult to assume
that this was also the case with the days (seventh,
twenty-first, and twenty-eighth, perhaps, also, the
nineteenth), which marked other characteristic stages
of the lunation. In the developed Babylonian cult
all these were "evil days," when the gods must be
propitiated and conciliated. In the primitive faith
of Semitic peoples they were occasions observed with
superstitious concern as times of fasting, cessation of
activity, and other forms of abstinence. 1
1 The Rev. C. H. C. Johns has
pointed out that in Babylonian
calendars many days are indicated
as nubattUy a term signifying rest,
pause, and especially a god's
connubial rest with his consort
goddess. " The observance of such
days was a bar to attending even
to important diplomatic business or
setting out on a journey. . . ."
It is quite possible that shabattum
and nubattum are from the same
root and originally denoted much
the same thing a pause, absten-
tion, from whatever cause or for
ceremonial purposes" (Encyclo-
pcedia Britannica, 11 xxiii, 961 sq.).
A calendar of the intercalary
month of Elul cites the 3d, 7th,
and i6th days as the nubattu of
Marduk and his consort Sarpanit
(Lagrange, op. cit., p. 284 n. 6 ;
Schrader, Keilinschriften? p. 371).
CHAPTER VIII
THE HEBREW SABBATH
THE earliest Biblical references to the Sabbath all
indicate that the institution had long been found
among the Hebrews. It appears in the most ancient
documents of the Law, such as the two Decalogues, 1
the old "Ritual Code," and the nearly related "Book
of the Covenant." 2 It is mentioned in the "Books
of Kings" during the time of the prophet Elisha. 3
It is noticed in the prophecies of Amos and Hosea. 4
The antiquity of the Sabbath is further indicated
by the fact that Hebrew tradition preserved no certain
information of its origin. From the Old Testament
we cannot tell whether the Sabbath was hallowed in
remembrance of Jehovah's rest after the Creation, 5
or whether it was instituted as a memorial of the escape
of the Hebrews from Egypt. 6 Assuming, with most
reputable critics, that the narrative in the first chapter
of Genesis, which divides the work of creation into six
days, is comparatively late, it follows that the Sabbath
form of the Fourth Com- 3 2 Kings, iv, 23. This is per-
mandment in the First Decalogue haps the earliest historical reference
(Exodus, xx, 8), "Remember the to the Sabbath.
Sabbath Day, to keep it holy," 4 Amos, viii, 5; Hosea, ii, II.
indicates not the institution of a 6 Genesis, ii, 2-3 ; Exodus, xx,
new day but the sanctioning of an ii.
old one. In the Second Deca- 6 Deuteronomy, v. 15; compare
logue (Deuteronomy, v, 12), the Nehemiah, ix, 14; Ezekiel, xx, 12.
commandment reads: "Observe The principal Old Testament refer-
the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy." ences to the Sabbath have been
The word "holy" in these in- grouped in their assumed histori-
junctions has the force of "set cal order by E. G. King, "The
apart ritually," "separated from Sabbath in the Light of the Higher
common use," i.e., taboo. Criticism," Expository* Times, 1906,
2 Exodus, xxxiv, 21, xxiii, 12. xvii, 438-443.
242
THE HEBREW SABBATH 243
could not have been founded as a reminiscence of the
completion of the Creation. The author must have
been familiar with the institution of a seven-day week
ending in a Sabbath. Its chief characteristic was then
that of a day of rest, as appears from the fact that,
without mentioning the Sabbath by name, he seeks
to glorify it by placing the hallowed character of the
seventh day at the beginning of the world. The sanc-
tity of the seventh day is in reality antedated, and the
priestly writer wished to adjust artificially the work of
creation to it. 1
An old and still common theory derives the Sab-
bath institution from the worship of Saturn, after
which planet the first day of the astrological week
received its designation. 2 The theory is untenable
for more than one reason. In the first place the He-
brews did not name their weekdays after the planets,
but indicated them by ordinal numbers. In the second
place Saturn's Day began the planetary week, while
the Jewish Sabbath was regarded as the last day of
the seven, a suitable position for a rest day. And in
the third place neither the Hebrews nor any other
Oriental people ever worshipped the planet Saturn as
god and observed his day as a festival. It is true that,
besides Venus, another planet familiar to the Hebrews
may be recognized in the Old Testament under the
1 M. Jastrow, "The Original p. 70). Later Hebrew writers
Character of the Hebrew Sab- carry this idea of correspondence
bath," American Journal of The- so far as to require the angels to
ology, 1898, ii, 313 sq.; S. R. observe all the Jewish festivals
Driver, The Book of Genesis* (H. P. Smith, The Religion of
London, 1906, p. 35. Canon Israel, New York, 1914, p. 229).
Cheyne suggests that the priestly 2 F. Baur, 'Der hebraische
writer in Genesis, ii, 2 sqq. appears Sabbat und die Nationalfeste des
to accept the anthropomorphic mosaischen Cultus," Tubinger
view which finds such frequent Zeitschrift fur Theologie, 1832, iii,
expression in Oriental antiquity. 145 sqq.; A Kuenen, The Religion
Things on earth correspond to of Israel, London, 1873, i, 262 sqq.;
things in heaven; if God "rested" Paul de Lagarde, editor, Psalteriurn
on the seventh day, man ought to iuxta Hebrceos Hieronymi, Leipzig,
do likewise (Traditions and Beliefs 1874, 158 sqq.
of Ancient Israel, London, I97>
244 REST
name Kewan, the Assyrian designation of Saturn. 1
This name appears in a passage of Amos, where the
prophet has been supposed to be referring to an early
worship of Saturn by the Israelites during the period
of their sojourn in the Wilderness. 2 But a single Old
Testament text, both corrupt and obscure, can scarcely
be cited as proving that Saturn was ever recognized
by the Israelites as a distinct god. If it be held
that Amos had in mind the Hebrews of his own time,
the passage in question can only refer to the adoption
by them of astrological notions derived from Baby-
lonia. These imported superstitions eventually led
Jewish rabbis to call Saturn Shabbti, "the star of the
Sabbath," which, however, is not a naming of the day
after the planet, but a naming of the planet after the
day. It was not until the first century of our era, when
the planetary week had become an established insti-
tution, that the Jewish Sabbath seems always to have
corresponded to Saturn's Day. 3
The association of the Sabbath Day with Saturday
was probably one reason why Saturn, a planet in Baby-
lonian astrological schemes regarded as beneficent
rather than malefic, should have come to assume in
late classical times the role of an unlucky star (sidus
tristissimum, Stella iniquissima) . The oldest refer-
ence to Saturday is found in a verse by the poet Tibul-
1 Schiaparelli, Astronomy in the fur neutestamentliche Wissenschaft,
Old Testament, pp. 48 sq.; P. Jen- 1905, vi, 6 sq., 19. There is a
sen, "Astronomy," Jewish Ency- Talmudic story which tells how
clopedia, ii, 246. Moses, having arranged with
2 Amos, v, 26 ; W. R. Harper, A Pharaoh for a day of rest to be
Critical and Exegetical Commentary observed by the Hebrews in Egypt,
on Amos and Hosea, New York, was asked what day he thought
1905, pp. 137 sqq.; K. Budde, most suitable for the purpose.
The Religion of Israel to the Exile, Moses answered, "The seventh
New York, 1899, pp. 67 sqq. day, sacred to Saturn; work done
3 J. Fiirst, Kultur- und Liter a- upon this day never prospers"
turgeschichte der Juden in Asien, (Jeremias, The Old Testament in
Leipzig, 1849, pt. i, 40; W. the Light of the Ancient East, i,
Nowack, Lehrbuch der hebrdischen 202; Delitzsch, Babel and Bible,
Archdologie, Strassburg, 1894, ii, p. 102).
142 sq.; E. Schiirer, in Zeitschrift
THE HEBREW SABBATH 245
his (d. 19 B.C.), who apparently identifies Saturn's
Day with the supposed inauspicious Jewish Sabbath,
when he gives as one of his excuses for not quitting
Rome the bad omens which detained him "on the
sacred day of Saturn." 1 Ovid mentions "foreign
Sabbaths" along with the anniversary of the day of
the battle of the Allia dies Alliensis as unlucky
occasions. 2 Frontinus, a Roman military officer and
tactician (d. about 103 A.D.), says that Vespasian de-
feated the Jews by attacking them on Saturn's Day,
when it was unlawful for them to do anything. Dio
Cassius also speaks of the Jews having dedicated to
their god the day called the day of Saturn, "on which,
among many other most peculiar actions, they under-
take no serious occupation." 3
The Hebrews manifested so little originality in cul-
tural matters and borrowed so heavily from their
neighbours that it becomes a natural inquiry whether
the Sabbath, with the seven-day week, may not have
arisen outside of Israel. Writing in the seventeenth
century the learned John Spencer argued that Egypt
was the original home of the institution, since in various
Old Testament passages the Sabbath is declared to
have been established to commemorate the exodus from
Egypt. 4 But the Egyptians, as we have seen, divided
their months into decades, and no evidence exists
1 Saturni aut sacram me tenuisse sabbat juif et les poetes latins,"
diem (Elegice, i, 3, 18). Revue d'histoire et de litter ature
2 Ovid, Remedium amoris, 220; religieuses, 1903, viii, 305-335;
compare idem, Ars amatoria, i, T. Reinach, Textes d'auteurs grecs
415-416; Horace, Satires, i, 9, 69- et remains relatifs au Judaisms,
70; Persius, Satira, v, 184. Paris, 1895, pp. 104, 243, 266, 287;
3 Frontinus, Strategematica, ii, i, M. Wolff, "Het oordeel der helle-
17; Dio Cassius, Historia Romana, nensch-romeinsche schrijvers over
xxxvii, 17. Tacitus (Historia, v, oorsprong, naam, en viering van
4) thinks that the Jewish Sabbath der Sabbat," Theologisch Tijd-
may be an observance in honour of schrift, 1910, xliv, 162-172.
Saturn, though he gives an alter- 4 J. Spencer, De legibus Hebrceo-
native explanation, connecting the rum ritualibus et earum rationibus,
day with the escape from Egyptian Cambridge, 1727, i, 67 sqq. (bk. i,
bondage. For other evidence from ch. v, sect. viii).
classical writers see P. Lejay, "Le
246 REST DAYS
that they ever employed for civil purposes any shorter
division of the month. 1 A second hypothesis, which
makes the week and the Sabbath a direct importation
from Babylonia, is likewise without warrant in the
light of existing information. 2 The same may be said
of the theory that the Sabbath was first taken over
from Babylonia by the agricultural inhabitants of Ca-
naan, from whom, in turn, the Israelites borrowed an
institution which would have no meaning to a nomadic
people. 3 But the opinion, so frequently expressed,
that the Sabbath cannot be very primitive, since it
"presupposes agriculture and a tolerably hard-pressed
working-day life," 4 betrays an imperfect acquaintance
with popular superstition. The brief prohibitions
of work found in the Pentateuch cannot be separated,
by any subtleties of exegesis, from the numerous other
taboos with which the institution was invested. The
rest on the Sabbath is only one of the forms of absti-
nence in connection with lunar changes ; and, if the
Sabbath began as a festival at new moon and full moon,
it may well have been observed by the Israelites before
their contact with Canaanitish culture. The ancient
dwellers in the Arabian wilderness, who celebrated new
moon and full moon as seasons of abstinence and rest,
little dreamed that in their senseless custom lay the
roots of a social institution, which, on the whole, has
contributed to human welfare in past ages and prom-
ises an even greater measure of benefit to humanity in
all future times.
To a shepherd people in tropical or semi-tropical
lands the moon appears as a gentle guardian, bringing
1 Above, p. 191. Religionswissenschaft, 1902, v,
2 Below, pp. 253 sq. 321.
3 Nowack, op. cit.y ii, 144; R. 4 J. Wellhausen, Prolegomena
Smend, Lehrbuch der alttestament- zur Geschichte Israels? Berlin,
lichen Religions geschichte, Freiburg- 1905, p. 109; W. E. Addis, Docu-
i.-B., 1899, pp. 160 sq.; A. ments of the Hexateuch, London,
F. von Gall, "Die alttestament- 1892, i, 139; idem, Hebrew Reli-
liche Wissenschaft und die keilin- gion to the Establishment of Judaism
schriftliche Forschung," Archiv fur under Ezra, London, 1906, p. 85.
THE HEBREW SABBATH 247
restful coolness after the day with its withering heat,
and dispelling with her kindly beams the thick dark-
ness which may cloak a lurking foe. "This," writes
an intrepid traveller, "is the planet of way for the way-
faring Semitic race. The moon is indeed a watch-
light of the night in the nomad wilderness ; they are
glad in her shining upon the great upland, they may
sleep then in some assurance from their enemies." l
To the Israelites, as to the ancient Egyptians, the
moon was preeminently the "wanderer," by whose
movements the earliest calendars were framed. 2 One
of the Hebrew names for "month" is yerah, from
ydreah, "moon" ; it is called, also hodesh, which means
new moon. One of the most magnificent of the
Psalms declares that Jehovah "appointed the moon
for the seasons" ; 3 all the Jewish festivals were deter-
mined by the moon. At the same time there is no
Biblical testimony to indicate that the Israelites ever
conceived of the moon as a divinity and addressed to
that luminary specific acts of worship. It was only
toward the end of the Hebrew monarchy, when the
Chosen People were giving themselves over to astrology,
divination, and the worship of the heavenly bodies,
1 C. M. Doughty, Travels in weeks, is found in two pseudo-
Arabia Deserta, Cambridge, 1888, graphia which date probably from
i, 366. Maccabaean times (Book of Enoch
2 The Hebrew lunisolar year and Book of Jubilees), but it is
consisted of twelve months, ad- hardly likely that solar reckonings
justed to the solar year by the were then in general use. On this
intercalation of a thirteenth month. subject consult S. Poznanski, "Cal-
The name of the latter is first met endar (Jewish)," in Hastings's
in the Mishna, where it is styled Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
the "second Adar." The months iii, 117 sqq.
consisted of 29 days (hence called 3 Psalms, civ, 19. Compare
"defective" months), or of 30 Ecclesiasticus, xliii, 6-8 : " He made
days ("full" months), but there the moon also to serve in her season
seems to have been no uniform for a declaration of times, and a
sequence of long and short months. sign of the world. From the moon
The regulation of the month was is the sign of feasts, a light that
probably at first in the hands of decreaseth in her perfection. The
the priests and later was com- month is called after her name,
mitted to the Sanhedrin. A solar increasing wonderfully in her
year of 364 days, i.e., 52 complete changing."
248 REST DAYS
that clear evidence of a moon-cult appears in the Old
Testament, where it encounters the denunciation of the
prophets, the prohibitions of the Law, and the repres-
sive measures of a reforming king. 1
The evidence is quite conclusive that of the lunar
phases it was especially the new moon and the full
moon which first aroused the attention of the Semitic
nomads and evoked feelings of delight and veneration.
Even to-day "the first appearing of the virgin moon is
always greeted with a religious emotion in the deserts
of Arabia." 2 When the Bedouin and Fellahin of
modern Palestine first see the lunar crescent they
exclaim, "God's new moon has appeared in his exalted-
ness. May it be for us a blessed new moon." 3 Mod-
ern Jewish ritual prescribes a special service for the
new-moon day, including the recital of psalms of joy.
So familiar an expression as Hallelujah, "praise Jeho-
vah" (Jahweh), is a verbal form of the onomatopoetic
stem hilal, meaning "new moon," "crescent," with the
addition of the divine name. 4 The Hebrew month,
as among other peoples who count by lunations, began
when the silvery crescent was first discerned in the
evening twilight. In later Judaism, as soon as the
moon's appearance was proved by credible witnesses
before the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, the feast of the new
1 Jeremiah, viii, 2 ; Zephaniah, to take off their caps to the new
i, 5 ; Deuteronomy, xvii, 3 ; 2 Kings, moon.
xxiii, 5; G. W. Gilmore, "Moon," 2 Doughty, op. cit., ii, 305 sq.;
New Schaf-Herzog Encyclopedia of compare D. Nielsen, Die alt-
Religious Knowledge, vii, 493. arabische Mondreligion und die
That no trace of the cult of Sin, mosaische Uberlieferung, Strassburg,
the Babylonian moon-god, is dis- 1904^.50. For the Abyssinian cus-
coverable in the Old Testament, toms see E. Littmann, in Archivfuf
even in the name Sinai, is the Religionswissenschaft,i()o8,x\,3i3sq.
opinion of the latest investigator 3 Mrs. H. H. Spoer, in Folk-
of this subject. See E. Combe, lore, 1910, xxi, 289.
Histoire du culte de Sin, Paris, 1908, 4 M. Jastrow, Aspects of Reli-
pp. 157 sqq. The custom of kiss- gious Belief and Practice in Baby-
ing the hand to the moon (Job, Ionia and Assyria, New York, 1911,
xxxi, 26 sq.) may have meant to the pp. 214 w. 3 , 336 w. 2 ; F. Hommel,
Hebrews little more than it does Der Gestirndienst der alien Araber
to us. Orthodox Jewish mothers und die altisraelitische Uberlieferung*
are said still to teach their sons Munich, 1901, p. 28.
THE HEBREW SABBATH 249
moon was held, and messengers were sent abroad to
announce the opening of the new month. The cele-
bration of the festival would seem, at least occasion-
ally, to have lasted two days, an arrangement obviously
dictated by the inability to determine beforehand on
which of two successive days the moon might be ex-
pected to appear. 1
The new-moon festival was considered an exceptional
solemnity as early as the time of Saul. The twentieth
chapter of the First Book of Samuel records a conversa-
tion between David and Jonathan in which the former
says, " Behold, to-morrow i's the new moon, and I
should not fail to sit at meat with the king." It
appears from this chapter that the first two days of
the month were marked by feasts at which all members
of the household were expected to be present, unless
prevented by some ceremonial uncleanness. 2 The
occasion was also observed by compulsory abstinence
from all servile work. 3 In the time of Elisha the new
1 i Samuel, xx, 27-28; compare Greek Septuagint, the Latin Vul-
Judith, viii, 6. On the new-moon gate, and the Jewish Aramaic
festival see Nowack, op. cit., ii, Targum as the designation of a
138 sqq.; Wellhausen, op. cit., working day, in distinction from
pp. 107 sqq.; I. Benzinger, the festival day of the new moon.
Hebrdische Archaologie? Tubingen, The Douai version of the Scrip-
1907, pp. 388 sq.; G. Forster, tures translates accordingly, "in
" Die Neumondfeier im Alten Tes- the day when it is lawful to work."
tament," Zeitschrift fur wissen- Professor H. P. Smith holds that,
schaftliche Theologie, 1906, xlix, owing to the corruption of the text,
1-17; B. Stade, Biblische Theologie the particular day here intended is
des Alten Testaments, Tubingen, no longer intelligible (A Critical
1905, i, 176 sqq.; A. Dillmann, and Exegetical Commentary on the
Die Bile her Exodus und Leviticus,* Books of Samuel, New York, 1899,
edited by V. Ryssel, Leipzig, 1897, pp. 190 sq.}. He has, however,
pp. 634 sqq. See also "New overlooked the fact, that, as my
Moon" in Hastings's Dictionary friend and pupil Rabbi Jacob
of the Bible, Jewish Encyclopedia, Singer points out to me, the same
and Encyclopedia Biblica. expression she set yeme hama 'aseh
2 I Samuel, xx, 5-6, 24-29. is found in Ezekiel (xlvi, i) as the
3 Ibid.) xx, 18-19. In verse designation of "the six working
19 the Hebrew expression beyom days" of the week; see Brown,
hama 'aseh, rendered in the Author- Driver, and Briggs, A Hebrew and
ized Version (margin) "in the day English Lexicon of the Old Testa-
of the business," appears in the ment, Boston, 1906, p. 795.
250 REST DAYS
moon seems to have been one of the favourite occasions
for consulting the prophets, a circumstance which
could be explained if the day were marked by a cessa-
tion of the usual occupations. 1 There are other reasons,
presently to be given, for believing that until the
Exile, or later, the new moon was a general rest day ;
and such it still remains for Jewish women, whose con-
servative instincts have thus preserved a memorial
of its ancient observance. 2
Full moon, as well as new moon, enjoyed a religious
significance to the early Hebrews. Two great agri-
cultural festivals, one marking the commencement of
the barley harvest, the other, the close of the fruit
harvest, must have been celebrated at about the
time of full moon, for, when the sacred calendar was
framed in post-Exilic times, they were definitely fixed
at the middle of the month. 3 The Passover, observed
on the fourteenth day of the first month (Nisan),
was followed on the fifteenth day by the Feast of Un-
leavened Bread, occupying seven days. 4 The Feast
of Tabernacles began on the fifteenth of the seventh
month (Tishri) and likewise continued for seven days. 5
1 2 Kings, iv, 23. Some Biblical einer Feier des Vollmondes zeigt
references indicate that on the sich bei den Israeliten keine Spur,
first day of the month the prophets . . . Jedoch war er dadurch be-
were supposed to be most under vorzugt, dass an ihm das grosse
the influence of their divine afflatus ; Friihlings- und Herbstfest begann "
compare JSzekiel, xxvi, I, xxix, 17, (Die Biicher Exodus und Leviticus, 3
xxxi, i, xxxii, i; Haggai, i, I. p. 635). A passage in one of the
2 John Allen, Modern Judaism, 2 Psalms (Ixxxi, 3): "Blow the
London, 1830, pp. 390 sq.; H. G. trumpet at the new moon, at the
F. Lowe, Schulchan Aruch, oder full moon, on our feast-day,"
die vier jiidischen Gesetzbucher, probably refers to new moon in
Vienna, 1896, i, 91 ; M. Friedmann, the seventh month, or New Year's
in Jewish Quarterly Review, 1891, Day (Leviticus, xxiii, 24), and to the
iii, 712; Isra'ei Abrahams, Jewish first day of the Feast of Taber-
Life in the Middle Ages, London, nacles, which began on the fif-
1896, p. 374. teenth of the same month (ibid.,
3 That the Old Testament thus xxiii, 39).
contains indirect evidence of the 4 Leviticus, xxiii, 5-6 ; Exodus,
celebration of full-moon day by xii, 6 sqq.; Numbers, xxviii, 16-
the early Hebrews was long ago 17.
recognized by the learned commen- 5 Leviticus, xxiii, 33-36, 39;
tator, August Dillmann. "Von Numbers, xxix, 12.
THE HEBREW SABBATH 251
The religious importance of these two festivals is
indicated by the injunction to keep the first and last
days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread as times of
"holy convocation," when no "servile work" might be
done, 1 and by the significant expression shabbdthon
("solemn rest"), which is used in reference to the begin-
ning and end of the Feast of Tabernacles, that is, to
the fifteenth and twenty-second of the month Tishri. 2
Furthermore, the Pentateuchal codes contain a pas-
sage, the meaning of which was in dispute several
centuries before the Christian era, where the word
"Sabbath" appears to be used in a sense precisely
the same as that of the Babylonian shabattum, referring
to the fifteenth day of the month. In the twenty-
third chapter of Leviticus it is prescribed that on "the
morrow after the Sabbath" the sheaf of the first-fruits
of the harvest is to be brought to the priest, who shall
wave it before Jehovah, and that, counting from " the
morrow after the Sabbath," fifty days are to elapse
before the commencement of the Feast of Weeks. 3
As Professor Jastrow has clearly shown, the word
"Sabbath" is here used, not in its later sense of a
seventh day of rest, but as a survival of the old designa-
tion of the Sabbath as the full-moon day. "The
two references in Leviticus stand out as solitary sign-
posts of an abandoned road." 4
In some of the older parts of the Bible, and espe-
cially in the earlier prophetical compositions, the new
moon and the Sabbath are repeatedly mentioned to-
gether. In the pathetic narrative which describes
how the Shunammite woman went to seek Elisha that
the prophet might restore her son to life, her husband
asks, "'Wherefore wilt thou go to him to-day? It is
neither new moon nor Sabbath." The prophet
1 Leviticus, xxiii, 6-8; Exodus, the Sabbath,"' American Journal
xii, 16; Numbers^ xxviii, 18, 25. of Semitic Languages and Liter a-
2 Leviticus, xxiii, 39; Numbers, tures, 1914, xxx, 104.
xxix, 12, 35. 5 2 Kings, iv, 23. This passage,
3 Leviticus, xxiii, n, 15. incidentally, affords proof that at
4 M. Jastrow, "'The Day after the time it was written the legal
252 REST DAYS
Hosea, promising that the people's unfaithfulness
shall be punished, cries out wrathfully, "I will also
cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons,
and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies." l
Amos rebukes the oppressors of his people "that
would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of
the land to fail, saying 'When will the new moon be
gone, that we may sell grain ? and the Sabbath, that
we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small and
the shekel great ?'" 2 Isaiah condemns the formalism
of the ancient faith in striking words : "Bring no more
vain oblations ; incense is an abomination unto me ;
new moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies -
cannot bear iniquity with the solemn meeting." 3
Elsewhere, in the same work appears the prophecy:
"And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to
another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all
flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah."
This remarkable association of the Sabbath with the
day of new moon had been previously noticed by such
acute critics as Wellhausen and Robertson Smith, who
were unable to offer a satisfactory solution of the prob-
lem thus presented. 5 When, however, the cuneiform
records disclosed the fact that the Babylonian shabattum
fell on the fifteenth (or fourteenth) day of the month
and referred to the day of the full moon, it became
clear that in these Biblical passages we have another
survival of what must have been the primary meaning of
the Hebrew term shabbath.* As late, then, as the eighth
length of a "Sabbath Day's jour- 6 Wellhausen, Prolegomena? pp.
ney" had not been determined, for 108 sq.; Smith, "Sabbath," En-
from Shunem to Elisha's abode on cyclopedia Britannic a,* xxi, 126.
Carmel was a distance of some 6 This pregnant suggestion was
thirty to forty kilometres (R. first made by H. Zimmern in his
Kittel, Die Biicher der Konige, comments on the discovery by
Gottingen, 1900, p. 200). T. G. Pinches (Zeitschrift der
1 Hosea, ii, 13 (A. V. v. n). deutschen morgenlandischen Gesell-
2 Amos, viii, 4-5. schaft, 1904, Ivii, 202 and n. 1 ).
3 Isaiah, i, 13. The hypothesis of the original
4 Ibid., Ixvi, 23 ; compare Colos- identity of Sabbath and full-moon
sians, ii, 16. day was subsequently elaborated
THE HEBREW SABBATH 253
century B.C., popular phraseology retained a lingering
trace of the original collocation of the new-moon and
full-moon days as festival occasions characterized
by abstinence from secular activities. How long-
lived were the old ideas is further illustrated by the
provision in Ezekiel's reforming legislation that the
inner eastern gate of the new Temple at Jerusalem
should be shut during the six working days, but should
be opened on the Sabbath and on the new-moon day
for the religious assemblage of the people. 1 That the
term shabbdth, the designation of the full-moon day,
should have come to be applied to every seventh day
of the month seems to be quite in accord with both
Babylonian and Hebrew usage, which, as we have
seen, led the month itself to be called after the new-
moon day. 2
The Hebrew seven-day week, ending with the Sab-
bath, presented so obvious a resemblance to the Baby-
lonian septenary period, which closed with an "evil
day," that scholars have felt themselves compelled
to seek its origin in Babylonia. The two institutions,
nevertheless, show important differences. The Baby-
lonian cycle, as far as we know, was never employed
as a chronological unit ; the Hebrew week was a true
civil week, a definite and well-understood period of
time. The Babylonian cycle seems not to have been
dissociated from the lunation ; 3 the Hebrew week was
a periodic week, running unfettered from month to
by J. Meinhold (Sabbat und Woche Traditions, New York, 1914, pp.
im Alten Testament, Gottingen, 154 sqq., 185.
1905), whose main conclusions l Ezekiel, xlvi, 1-3.
have been accepted by K. Marti 2 Above, pp. 226, 247. Shab-
(Religion of the Old Testament, bath also appears several times in
London, 1907, pp. 150 sq.} and the Old Testament in the general
T. K. Cheyne (Traditions and sense of "week/* the name of the
Beliefs of Ancient Israel, London, principal weekday being used as the
1907, p. 69). See also E. Mahler, designation of the entire cycle of
" Der Sabbat," Zeitschrift der seven days. Compare Leviticus,
deutschen morgenldndischen Gesell- xxiii, 15, xxv, 8.
schaft, 1908, Ixii, 40, 46 sq.; M. 3 H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader,
Jastrow, Hebrew and Baylonian Keilinschriften? p. 594; compare
254 REST DAYS
month and from year to year. The Babylonian "evil
day" was an unnamed unlucky day, observed by the
king, by priests, and by physicians, but not certainly
by the people at large; the Hebrew Sabbath was a
named holy day, dedicated to the worship of the na-
tional god and kept by the entire community as a
festival. These real divergencies make it certain that
the Hebrew week and Sabbath, in the form in which
we know them, could not have been taken over without
change from Babylonia. The celebration of new-
moon and full-moon festivals, which both Babylonians
and Hebrews appear to have derived from a common
Semitic antiquity, underwent, in fact, a radically un-
like evolution among the two kindred peoples. To
dissever the week from the lunar month, to employ
it as a recognized calendrical unit, and to fix upon one
day of that week for the exercises of religion were
momentous innovations, which, until evidence to the
contrary is found, must be attributed to the Hebrew
people alone.
In his able treatise Meinhold has argued that until
the age of Ezekiel the Hebrews employed no weeks at
all. He then supposes that continuous seven-day
weeks were introduced, largely through Ezekiel's
reforming influence, and hence that the Sabbath as the
last day of the periodic week was a post-Exilic insti-
tution. 1 Critics have pointed out that it is highly
improbable that so far-reaching a change should have
occurred without being recorded ; moreover, that the
acceptance of such a hypothesis makes it necessary
to assume that all places in the Old Testament where
the Sabbath is mentioned as the seventh day are either
of Ezekiel's time or later. But the problem is simpli-
fied if we hold that the Hebrews employed lunar
seven-day weeks, perhaps for several centuries preced-
A. H. McNeile,77^ Book of Exodus, 1905, pp. 10 sqq.; compare idem,
London, 1908, p. 122. "Die Entstehung des Sabbats,"
1 Johannes Meinhold, Sabbat und Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche
Woche im Alien Testament, Gottingen, Wissenschaft, 1909, xxix, 81-112.
THE HEBREW SABBATH 255
ing the Exile ; weeks, that is, which ended with special
observances on the seventh day but none the less were
tied to the moon's course. The change from such
cycles to those unconnected with the lunation would
not have involved so abrupt and sudden a departure
from the previous system of time reckoning as that
from a bipartite division of the lunar month to a week
which ran continuously through the months and the
years. 1
The establishment of a periodic week ending in a
Sabbath observed every seventh day was doubtless
responsible for the gradual obsolescence of the new-
moon festival as a period of general abstinence, since
with continuous weeks the new-moon day and the Sab-
bath Day would from time to time coincide. This
seems to be a more natural explanation than that which
regards the complete ignoring of the new-moon festival
in the "Book of the Covenant" and in the Deutero-
nomic legislation as a deliberate act, designed to wean
the people away from an observance to which hea-
thenish superstitions were attached. The day of new
moon never lost, indeed, its significance in Jewish
ritual, for, when all the great festivals were definitely
fixed to certain days, the new moon, as marking the
beginning of the month, continued to hold a leading
place in the sacred calendar. The Priestly Code pre-
scribed special offerings for the new-moon day, and in
Ezekiel's legislation the sacrifices marking it exceeded
in importance those for the Sabbath. 2 The ancient
character of this festival as a season of compulsory
abstinence from labour survived in its observance as a
l The march of the Israelitish But this account may contain a
host around Jericho on seven sue- reminiscence of a period of Hebrew
cessive days, one of which must history when the week, either lunar
have been the Sabbath, if that or periodic, had not become estab-
institution as a weekly rest day lished in Israel,
was then known to them, would 2 Numbers, xxviii, 11-15; Eze-
have been a profanation of the kiel, xlvi, 4-6 ; compare I Chron-
Sabbath according to later ideas. ides, xxiii, 31; 2 Chronicles, ii, 4,
See Joshua, vi, 4, 14-15; compare viii, 13, xxxi, 3; Ezra, iii, 5;
Tertullian, Adversus Judeeos, 4. Nehemiah, x, 33.
256 REST DAYS
rest day by Jewish women, perhaps also in the provision
of the law of Leviticus that the first day of the seventh
month, beginning the new year, should be a "solemn
rest," "a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy
convocation." *
The Sabbath is described in the Pentateuchal codes
as an agricultural institution. It appears there as
a day of rest from farm labour, to be observed not
only by the householder and his family, but also by the
slaves, the cattle, and the stranger within the gates.
In what is generally considered the earlier form of the
Decalogue the keeping of the Sabbath is prescribed,
"that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest
as well as thou"; or, as expressed in another passage,
"that thine ox and thine ass may have rest, and the son
of thine handmaid, and the sojourner may be re-
freshed." 2 From this commandment one might draw
the conclusion that in pre-Exilic times the Sabbath
enjoyed a purely humanitarian character as a season
of repose for man and beast. The omission of any
similar statement in the later form of the Decalogue,
where the prohibition of Sabbath labour is based
solely upon Jehovah's rest on the seventh day, 3 would
then be explained as the outcome of the priestly desire
to exalt the Sabbath as a religious festival at the ex-
pense of its more humane and social aspects. The
further requirement that even in the busiest seasons
of the year no plea of necessity might be accepted in
mitigation of the strict rule of Sabbath observance
"in ploughing time and in harvest thou shalt rest" 4
also would be taken as evidence of the growing rigour
of ecclesiastical ordinances.
Properly considered, however, this priestly attitude
toward the Sabbath was not a radical departure but
rather an intensification of the austere significance
attached from the earliest times to the new-moon and
1 Leviticus, xxiii, 24; compare 2 Deuteronomy, \, 14; Exodus,
Numbers, xxix, i; Nehemiah, viii, xxiii, 12. 3 Exodus, xx, 8-1 1.
2, 9-12. But see above, p. 82. 4 Ibid., xxxiv, 21.
THE HEBREW SABBATH
257
full-moon days. The Pentateuchal codes contain, in
fact, a number of Sabbatarian regulations which are
meaningless, except when elucidated from the com-
parative standpoint as taboos. The rule requiring
every one to remain indoors on the Sabbath : "Abide
ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his
place on the seventh day," 1 is identical with the nu-
merous rules which impose seclusion on tabooed or un-
lucky occasions, as a means of avoiding physical con-
tact with supernatural and invisible powers of evil.
The prohibition : "Ye shall kindle no fire throughout
your habitations upon the Sabbath Day, " 2 which in
another passage 3 is amplified into the rule requiring
all cooking to be done on the preceding day, may be
first compared with the taboos observed by "the shep-
herd of great peoples" in Babylonia. On four "evil
days" he was not to eat roasted meat or baked bread,
and on the nineteenth day he might eat nothing which
1 Exodus, xvi, 29. On this text
Dositheus, the founder of an
ascetic Samaritan sect, is said to
have based the requirement that,
in whatever habit, place, or posture
the Sabbath found a man, in this
he was to continue till the close of
the sacred festival ; if he was found
sitting, he must sit still all the day,
or, if reclining, he must lie down ail
the day (Origen, De principles, iv,
I, 17). S. Reinach wittily com-
pares the Dosithean injunction
to the practice of various animals,
which, when in danger and unable
to flee, fait le mort ("Le sabbat
hebrai'que," Cultes, mythes, et reli-
gions, Paris, 1906-1912, ii, 444).
For some mediaeval stories illus-
trating the rule of absolute repose
on the Sabbath, see R. Basset,
"L'observation du sabbat," Revue
des traditions populaires, 1893, viii,
250-254. 2 Exodus, xxxv, 3.
3 Ibid., xvi, 23. The rules for-
bidding the lighting of fires and
cooking on the Sabbath were very
strictly observed by the Essenes
(Josephus, Bellum Judaicum, ii, 8).
In the Mishna (Shabbdth, iv, i)
the prohibition to bake and boil
on the Sabbath is interpreted to
mean that food may be kept hot
on the Sabbath, provided its exist-
ing heat is not increased, which
would be "boiling." Hence the
food must be put only into such
substances as would maintain but
not increase the heat. The pro-
hibition to kindle a fire on the
Sabbath was naturally extended to
one of extinguishing a fire, as well as
lights and lamps (ibid., xvi, 6). In
mediaeval times Rabbi Solomon
ben Adret had a lock affixed to his
stove, and kept the key over the
Sabbath to prevent his too-con-
siderate housemaid from lighting
a fire on Saturdays (I. Abrahams,
Jewish Life in the Middle Ages,
London, 1896, p. 83). On the
modern Jewish custom of kindling
lights at the arrival and departure
of the Sabbath see M. Friedmann,
258 REST DAYS
had been touched by fire. 1 In a remarkable calendar
of the unlucky days observed by the Egyptians we
find an extensive series of regulations regarding the
use of fire. On the fifth of the month of Athyr, fire
might not be looked at and, if it went out, it might not
be rekindled. On the eleventh of Tybi no one might
approach a fire-place, for, said the scribe, on that day
the god Ra had once burst into flame to devour his
enemies, and the effects of his metamorphosis were
felt on every anniversary of the day. These taboos,
which reach back into a remote period of Egyptian
history, are still found among the peasants of Thebes
and the Said, who, on certain days of the year, refuse
to kindle a fire, and on others avoid approaching the
flame, even of a candle or a lamp, and the most timid
do not smoke. 2 In Hawaii, as we have seen, during
the four tabu seasons in each lunar month, "every fire
and light was extinguished." The same regulation is
attached to periods of abstinence elsewhere in the
aboriginal world. 3
Some of these taboos relating to fire may reflect
primitive man's fear of a mysterious element which
had not yet been completely tamed and harnessed to
human use; but the fact that among various peoples
all fires are put out after a death indicates a more prob-
able origin of the prohibition in the fear of attracting
evil spirits or influences. In Morocco, when a person
has died in the morning, "no fire is made in the whole
village until he is buried, and in some parts of the
country the inmates of a house or tent where a death
has occurred, abstain from making fire for two or three
days." Similar customs are found in Polynesia,
Borneo, the East Indies, Burma, and various parts of
"The Sabbath Light," Jewish Quar- on Ancient Egypt? London, 1909,
terly Review, 1891, iii, 707-721. pp. 130 sq.
1 Above, p. 232 and n. z 3 Above, pp. 9, 12, 15, 16, 20,
2 F. J. Chabas, Le calendrier des 41, etc.
jours fastes et nefastes de I'annee 4 E. Westermarck, Origin and
egyptienne, Chalon-s.-S., 1870, pp. Development of the Moral Ideas, ii,
46, 68; Sir G. Maspero, New Light 305.
THE HEBREW SABBATH 259
Africa ; they were practised by Persians and Greeks
in antiquity ; and they still survive among the peasants
of Calabria and the Scottish Highlanders. 1 It is hardly
possible to urge that the putting-out of fires on such
occasions is always a necessary result of the widespread
custom of fasting after a death and until the corpse is
buried ; as a matter of fact we find that fires may be
extinguished when there is no fasting, and also that the
fast is often restricted to the daytime, when evil spirits,
and in particular the ghost of the dead man, are pre-
sumed to be unable to see.
But, as Professor Westermarck has so ably shown,
the widespread custom of fasting is itself often to be
explained as due to the desire to prevent pollution. 2
Under certain circumstances to partake of food may
cause defilement ; hence fasting is only one of the nu-
merous precautions necessary to avoid contamination.
These ideas find expression in the rules which, like
those prescribing the cessation of labour after a death,
require mourners to abstain from eating food infected
with the death pollution. Fasting may also be en-
joined on other critical occasions, such as an eclipse
of the sun or the moon, or during a thunderstorm ; and
we have seen that it characterizes some of the tabooed
days previously considered. 3 Such well-established
facts suggest that in the earliest period fasting may have
also marked the Hebrew Sabbath. 4 This hypothesis
seems first to have been advanced by the "judicious"
Hooker, who observes that "it may be a question,
whether in some sort they [the Jews] did not al-
1 For a collection of the ethno- ings's Encyclopedia of Religion and
graphic evidence, see Sir J. G. Ethics, iv, 439.
Frazer, "On Certain Burial Cus- 2 E. Westermarck, "The Prin-
toms as Illustrative of the Primitive ciples of Fasting/* Folk-lore, 1908,
Theory of the Soul," Journal of the xviii, 397 sqq.; idem, Moral Ideas,
Anthropological Institute, 1885, xv, ii, 293 sqq.
90; idem, The Magic Art and the 3 Above, pp. 15, 17, 39, 44, etc.
Evolution of Kings, London, 1911, 4 Compare M. Jastrow, in Amer->
ii, 267 n. 4 ; E. S. Hartland, " Death ican Journal of Theology, 1898, ii,
and Disposal of the Dead (Intro- 324 sqq.; Westermarck, op. cit.,
ductory and Primitive)," Hast- ii, 310 sq.
260 REST DAYS
ways fast on the Sabbath." 1 He instances a statement
of Josephus that the sixth hour or noon was the time
when "our laws require us to go to dinner on Sabbath-
days." 2 Various pagan writers also refer to the Sab-
bath as a day of fasting. 3 Such a notion may have
arisen from a misunderstanding of the Biblical rule
forbidding cooking on the Sabbath, or, perhaps, from
a confusion of this festival with the great fast on the
Day of Atonement, which was a shabbdth shabbdthon,
a "Sabbath of solemn rest." 4 Yet it seems difficult
to understand the rule forbidding fasting at new moon
and on the seventh day, 5 except as a reference to a
custom formerly observed but in later times regarded
as an illegitimate rite. Since the Sabbath fell, orig-
inally, at the middle of the month, it may be that the
new-moon and full-moon days were once marked by
both cessation of labour and abstinence from food.
The foregoing pages have supplied too many instances
of the transformation of fasts into feasts for such an
explanation to be dismissed as an idle conjecture. 6
When the notion of a weekly Sabbath was extended,
after the Captivity, to the Sabbatical Year, the seventh
year was to be a "Sabbath of solemn rest" (shabbdth
shabbdthon) for the land, not because of the advan-
tage of allowing soil to lie fallow at regular intervals,
but because the land itself was consecrated as "a
Sabbath unto Jehovah." 7 The regulation does not
1 Ecclesiastical Polity , v, 72. superstitions attached to the after-
2 DC vita sua, 54. noon of the Sabbath as a dangerous
3 Suetonius, Divus Augustus, 76; time for the consumption of food.
Strabo, Geographica, xvi, 2, 40; During the early Middle Ages
Martial, Epigrammata, iv, 4; Jews in northern France, Lorraine,
Justin, xxxvi, 2. Justin speaks of and Germany, but not in Provence,
the Sabbath as having been conse- Narbonne, or Spain, refrained from
crated as a fast day to commemo- eating and drinking on Sabbath
rate a seven days* fast of the afternoons. See D. Kaufmann,
Israelites in the deserts of Arabia. "Was the Custom of Fasting on
4 Above, pp. 8 1 sqq. Sabbath Afternoon Part of the
5 Judith, viii, 6; Schulchan Early Anglo-Jewish Ritual?"
Aruch, i, 91 sq. Jewish Quarterly Review, 1894, vi,
6 The Talmud (Tractate Pesa- 754-756.
chim, 105 a) indicates that some 7 Leviticus, xxv, 4. This law
THE HEBREW SABBATH 261
imply that, as a consequence of a fallow year, the
land will produce better harvests on the succeeding
year. It is expressly said that the year before the
Sabbatical Year is the one to be conspicuous for its fruit-
fulness : "Then I will command my blessing upon
you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for
the three years." 1 The rule requiring that the produce
of the soil should be devoted to the poor and to the
cattle 2 perhaps indicates a partial triumph of the utili-
tarian spirit. During the Jubilee, at the end of seven
times seven years, " Ye shall not sow, neither reap that
which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it
of the undressed vines," 3 a regulation which can be ex-
plained only as the outcome of the Sabbatarian observ-
ances attached to the seventh day and the seventh year.
In the Hawaiian Islands and west Africa any one
who broke a Sabbatarian taboo suffered death. Among
the early Israelites the Sabbath-breaker was threatened
with a similar penalty: "Every one that profaneth it
shall surely be put to death ; for whosoever doeth any
work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his
people." 4 We are not informed how frequently this
stern ordinance was enforced ; the case of the wood-
gatherer on the Sabbath, who, by direction of Moses,
acting on a direct revelation from Jehovah, was stoned
to death outside the camp, is the only instance of capital
punishment for Sabbath desecration which has found
its way into the Scriptures as we now have them. 5
was occasionally productive of twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus
great distress (i Maccabees, vi, combines two systems of rules
48, 53 ; compare Josephus, Anti- which are not only different but
quitates Judaica, xiv, 16, 2). actually irreconcilable with each
1 Leviticus, xxv, 21. other, the septennial system of the
2 Exodus, xxiii, 1 1 . Sabbatical Year and the Jubilee
3 Leviticus, xxv, n. Whether system of fifty years.
the Jubilee was celebrated after 4 Exodus, xxxi, ,14; for a similar
forty-eight years or after forty- regulation see ibid., xxxv, 2.
nine years is a problem incapable 5 Numbers, xv, 32-36. The
of solution from the Old Testament comments of Philo Judaeus on this
evidence. As Schiaparelli has well passage are interesting, if not
shown (Astronomy in the Old illuminating (Vita Mosis, iii, 27-
Testament, pp. 146 sqq.), the 28).
262 REST DAYS
The instance is an instructive one, as revealing the
strong sense of group-welfare and hatred of the non-
conformist, characteristic of a religion which had
not yet outrun clan and tribal limitations.
The Old Testament affords evidence that the He-
brews kept the Sabbath with varying degrees of rigour
in different places and at different times. Under the
later prophets a movement appears to have begun
toward a stricter observance of the day, as is seen in
the effort of Jeremiah to prevent burden-bearing on
the Sabbath, and in EzekiePs constant insistence on
the profanation of the Sabbath in his catalogue of the
sins of the Israelites. 1 But more than a century after
these prophets, in the age of Nehemiah, the people of
Judea made wine and gathered the harvest on the
Sabbath. All manner of burdens were brought into
Jerusalem on that day, and the inhabitants bought
and sold with the men of Tyre. 2 These practices
indicate that the Sabbath bade fair to become a social
institution, divorced from supernatural sanctions.
It is doubtless true that the Exile tended to aug-
ment the religious importance of the Sabbath, since
even in heathen lands it could be observed by a people
who now had neither state nor temple. In the Exilic
literature great significance is ascribed to the Sabbath, 3
and in post-Exilic law it is regarded as a sign between
Jehovah and the children of Israel that Jehovah is
their God. It is impossible, however, to follow those
critics who assume that the rigour of the Sabbatarian ob-
servances after the Exile forms an entirely new develop-
ment, and that the priestly Sabbath represents some-
thing very different from the Sabbath of the " Book of
the Covenant" or of Deuteronomy. 4 " The increased
1 Jeremiah, xvii, 19-27; Ezekiel, 3 Isaiah, Ivi, 2 sq., Iviii, 13.
xx, 13, 16, 21, 24, xxii, 8, 26, xxiii, 38. 4 T. K. Cheyne, Jewish Religious
* Nehemiah, x, 31, xiii, 15-16. Life after the Exile, New York, 1898,
The use of the Sabbath Day for p. 66; C. G. Montefiore, Lectures
marketing is paralleled by the on the Origin and Growth of Religion
Mohammedan observance of jum'a as Illustrated by the Religion of the
(above, p. 206). Ancient Hebrews? London, 1893,
THE HEBREW SABBATH 263
significance of the institution led naturally to a revival
of the old taboos with which the day had been always
invested, taboos which otherwise might have been
expected to disappear with advancing culture and the
decay of supernaturalism. Closer contact with Assyria
and Babylonia, from the eighth to the sixth century
B.C., also may have helped to revitalize the older super-
stitions and to give to the Sabbath once more an aus-
tere character. 1 The day, in fact, seems never wholly
to have lost all traces of its severe and sombre origin
in a period of taboo ; it is significant in this connec-
tion that, while the Hebrews had their favourable
and unfavourable days, as the expression yom tob
("good day") for holy days shows, the Sabbath is
never so described. 2
The later history of the Sabbath as a tabu day
culminates in the exaggerations of pharisaic Judaism
and the extraordinary micrology of the rabbinical
enactments. 3 The Mishna enumerates no less than
thirty-nine principal classes of prohibited actions.
Some of these are regarded as belonging to as ancient
a period as any of the taboos found in the Old Testa-
pp. 229 sq., 338 sq.; Wellhausen, 8th century A.D. the rabbis them-
Prolegomena,* p. no; W. R. selves were unable to account for it
Smith, "Sabbath," Encyclopedia (Abrahams, op. cit., p. 184). By
Britannic a? xxi, 124; K. Marti, the Romans May was considered
Das Dodekapropheton, Tubingen, an unlucky month for marriage, a
1904, p. 26. belief which Ovid (Fasti, v, 489-
1 Compare E. G. Hirsch, "Sab- 490) connects with the celebration
bath," in Jewish Encyclopedia, x, of the Lemuria in May. Compare
590; Bohn, Der Sabbat im Alien Plutarch, Quastionts Romantz, 86.
Testament, pp. 8 sqq., 89 sqq. The superstition, as is well known,
2 M. Jastrow, in American Jour- has descended to our own time.
nal of Theology, 1898, ii, 324 n* 7 3 The principal regulations in the
idem, Hebrew and Babylonian Tra- Mishna are well summarized by
ditions, p. 162. The Old Testa- E. Schiirer, History of the Jewish
ment contains at least one reference People in the Time of Christ, div. ii,
to a lucky day (i Samuel, xxv, 8). vol. ii, 96-105. For the rigorous
Among modern Jews no marriages rules observed by the Covenanters
are celebrated during the period of Damascus, a Jewish sect whose
between Passover and Pentecost. history has been only lately re-
The origin of the superstition is covered, see G. F. Moore, in Har-
unknown, but its antiquity may be vard Theological Review, 1911, iv,
judged from the fact that in the 346 sq.
264 RE ST DAYS
ment ; the majority, however, represent only an elabo-
ration of the scriptural precepts. Two entire works
are devoted to the provisions for Sabbath observance.
The first treatise, called Shabbdth, is chiefly remark-
able as an illustration of the subtle refinements and
distinctions of which the rabbis were capable. Thus,
the prohibitions to tie or untie a knot being regarded
as too general, it was necessary to define the species
of knot referred to. A camel-driver's knot and a boat-
man's knot rendered the man who tied or untied them
a Sabbath-breaker; but Rabbi Meir said, "A knot
which a man can untie with one hand only, he does
not become guilty by untying." Rabbi Jehudah,
still more liberal of mind, laid down the rule that any
knot which was not intended to be permanent might
be lawfully tied. The second treatise, Erubim, was
intended to alleviate the extreme rigour of some of the
enactments in the former work. Thus, the limits of
a "Sabbath Day's journey" having been fixed at two
thousand cubits, the rabbis conceded that one who
before the Sabbath had desposited food for two meals
at the boundary thereby removed his habitation from
the town and made that place his new domicile. When
the Sabbath came, he was at liberty to proceed two
thousand cubits beyond it, though he lost the right
to walk the same distance in the opposite direction.
As is well known, literal obedience of the Sabbath
regulations was sometimes carried to such an extreme
as to prove a source of great hardship, danger, and
even death to its devotees. 1
These legal fictions, these casuistical elaborations
of the simple ordinances of the Pentateuch concerning
the Sabbath, may be paralleled by the growth of pon-
tifical regulations at Rome relating to what might and
1 1 Maccabees, ii, 3 1 sqq. ; 2 selves masters of their walls, and
Maccabees, v, 25-26, vi, n, viii, 26; "so lay still until they were caught
Josephus, Antiquitates Judaicce, xii, like so many trout in the dragnet of
62. Plutarch refers to the Jews their own superstition " (De super-
who allowed their enemies to rear stitione, 8).
scaling ladders and make them-
THE HEBREW SABBATH 265
what might not be done on public ferial days. 1 Like
the Roman ferice, also, the Hebrew Sabbath affords
an instance of what seems to be a very general, perhaps
universal, tendency of the human mind to dwell with
special emphasis on the festive aspects of a holy sea-
son, and by some subtle alchemy of the spirit to con-
vert what was once a day of gloom and anxiety into
a day of gladness and good cheer. The post-Exilic
prophet, the so-called second Isaiah, when he urges
his people to "call the Sabbath a delight" 2 presents
it, indeed, as a festival "holy to Jehovah," but capable,
nevertheless, of contributing to man's physical and
mental refreshment. And in later Judaism the strict
observance of the Sabbath rest did not by any means
preclude abstinence from bodily pleasures. Fasting,
as we have seen, was forbidden on that day; three
substantial meals were to be "enjoyed," so Jewish
theologians declared ; and the New Testament itself
contains evidence that Pharisees of the strictest type
gave sumptuous entertainments on the Sabbath. 3
In fact, various Christian Fathers were persuaded that
the Jews observed the Sabbath as a day of violent
excess, and converts to Christianity were cautioned
against applying to the Lord's Day the luxus sab-
batarius. "The Jews in our time," says St. Augus-
tine, "observe their Sabbath by a kind of bodily rest,
languid and luxurious. They abstain from labour
and give themselves up to trifles, and, though God
ordained the Sabbath, they spend it in actions which
God forbids. Our rest is from evil works, their rest
is from good works ; for it is better to plough than
to dance." 4 We may believe that such criticisms
had slight justification in the real nature of the Jewish
1 Above, pp. 97 sq. others in a similar strain, from St.
2 Isaiah, Iviii, 13. Chryspstom, Prudentius, and Theod-
3 Luke, xiv, 1-24. oret, is adduced by the learned
4 Augustine, In comm. ad Psalm. ecclesiastical historian Joseph Bing-
xcii (Nicene and Post-Nicene ham (Antiquities of the Christian
Fathers of the Christian Church, Church, London, 1838-1840, vii,
viii, 453). This passage, with 32 sqq.).
266 REST DAYS
observance, little more, perhaps, than Plutarch's quaint
notion that the Sabbath must bear some relation to
Dionysus, for, said Plutarch, when the Jews keep the
Sabbath, they invite one another to potations till all
are drunk. 1 It is more satisfying to turn to hundreds
of Jewish hymns where the Sabbath is hailed "as a
day of rest and joy, of pleasure and delight, a day in
which man enjoys some presentiment of the pure bliss
and happiness which are stored up for the righteous
in the world to come, and to which such tender names
were applied as the ' Queen Sabbath,' the 'Bride Sab-
bath,' and the 'Holy, dear, beloved Sabbath.'" 2
The Jewish Sabbath appears to have been first
brought to the attention of the Romans as early as
the last century of the republic, when Pompey's sweep-
ing campaigns in the East led to the establishment of
Roman dominion over Syria and Judea. References
to the institution in Tibullus, Horace, and Ovid indi-
cate that its peculiar character as a day of rest was then
generally understood. 3 Their contemporary, Philo,
the Hellenistic Jew of Alexandria, declared that the
seventh day was the festival, not of one city or one
country, but of all the earth, "the birthday of the
world," 4 and Josephus could write that there was no
city among the Greeks or the barbarians where the
festival of the Sabbath was not celebrated. 5 These
statements, though exaggerated, bear witness to the
success of that Jewish propaganda which, at the very
time when the preaching of Christianity began, carried
this other Oriental faith throughout the ancient world.
The great commercial cities of the Mediterranean
1 Plutarch, Quastiones conviviales, Sabbath and the Festivals in the
iv, 6, 2. First Two Centuries of the Current
2 S. Schechter, in Jewish Quar- Era, according to Philo, Josephus,
ttrly Review, 1891, iii, 763; com- the New Testament, and the Rab-
pare idem, Studies in Judaism, New binic Sources," Jewish Review, 1914,
York, 1896, pp. 244 sqg., and iv, 433-456.
Israel Abrahams, Jewish Life in 3 Above, pp. 244 sq.
the Middle Ages, London, 1896, 4 De opificio mundi, 30; compare
pp. 12, 24, 373 sq. See further idem, Vita Mosis, ii, 4.
J. Mann, "The Observance of the 5 Contra Apionem, ii, 40.
THE HEBREW SABBATH 267
became seats of thriving Jewish communities where
pagan proselytes adopted Jewish customs, including
the observance of the Sabbath. 1
The Jewish seven-day week with its numerical indi-
cations of the days was adopted by the early Chris-
tians, to whom the planetary week, bearing the names
of pagan deities, could scarcely prove attractive. 2
Friday and Saturday continued to have the designa-
tions irapao-Kevij and <ra$SaToi/, respectively, but Sun-
day, which by Jewish custom was called "the first
day" after the Sabbath, eventually received the desig-
nation rj KvpiaKrj ypepai (dies dominie 'd) , the Lord's
Day. 3 The New Testament contains unambiguous
evidence that from a very early period "the first day
of the week" was observed by Christians as a day of
assembly for the "breaking of bread" and perhaps for
the collection of free-will offerings. 4 The author of
the Epistle of Barnabas, toward the end of the first
century, speaks of keeping the "eighth day" for rejoic-
ing, and justifies its observance as a celebration of the
resurrection of Christ. 5 The Didache, or Teaching of
the Twelve Apostles, a work which belongs to the early
part of the second century, enjoins meetings "on the
Lord's own day" (/cara KvpiaKyv Se Ku/oiW), for the
1 Compare Juvenal, Satires, xiv, hold that the author of the Apoca-
105-106 (with J. B. Mayor's lypse was referring here, not to
commentary); Tertullian, Apolo- Sunday but to the day of Judgment,
geticus,i6; idem, Ad nationes, i, 13. called elsewhere ^ ^/xepa ^ /xeyoAi;
2 Above, p. 220. "the great day" (ibid., vi, 17, xvi,
3 In the New Testament such 14).
phrases as ev 8c /xia rtov o-aftftdrwv 4 Acts, xx, 7; I Corinthians, xvi,
(Acts, xx, 7) and Kara /xtav craft ftdrov 2 ', compare John, xx, 26.
(i Corinthians, xvi, 2; compare 6 Epistola Barnaba, 15; com-
Matthew, xxviii, i ; Mark, xvi, 2 ; pare Justin Martyr, Dialogus cum
Luke, xxiv, i; John, xx, I, 19) Tryphone, 138; Tertullian, De
refer to Sunday as "the first day idolatria, 14. The "eighth day"
of the week." An equivalent ex- might seem to be a natural desig-
pression, TT/OWTI; (ra/3ftdrov, is also nation for the day following the
found (Mark, xvi, 9). The desig- Sabbath, the seventh day; more
nation of Sunday as the Lrd'so probably, however, it is to be
Day 17 Kvpia/oi i;/w,pa occurs explained by the ancient practice
in a single New Testament passage of inclusive reckoning.
(Revelation, i, 10). Some critics
268 REST DAYS
breaking of bread and giving thanks. 1 Eusebius of Csesa-
rea, in his Ecclesiastical History, preserves a fragment
of a letter of Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth (175 A.D.),
to Soter, Bishop of Rome, in which the former says,
"To-day we passed the Lord's holy day, when we read
your epistle"; and the same historian also mentions
the fact that Melito, Bishop of Sardis (170 A.D.), had
written among other works a treatise on the Lord's
Day. 2 Justin Martyr, writing about the middle of
the second century, describes how, "on the day called
Sunday" (777 TOT) 'HXiou XeyofLO/r/ i^ejpa), all town
and country Christians were wont to assemble for
instruction in the holy writings, and for prayer, the
distribution of bread and wine, and the collection of
alms. The name Sunday commemorates, according
to Justin, the first day of creation and the resurrection
of Christ from the darkness of the grave. 3 Justin's
use of this nomenclature, in a work addressed to the
pagans, witnesses to the spread of Oriental solar wor-
ship throughout the Roman Empire, leading to the
substitution of the day of Sun for Saturn's Day, as
the beginning of the planetary week. As we have
learned, the Christians themselves adopted eventually
the pagan designation of the first day of the week. 4
1 Didache, xiv, I. The testi- part of their religion" (Apologe-
mony of Pliny the Younger (Epis- ticus, 16; compare Ad nationes, i,
tola, x, 98) makes it evident that 13).
as early as the year in A.D. the 4 Above, pp. 220 sq. On the
Christians of Asia Minor were early history of the Christian Sun-
accustomed to hold religious as- day see A. Barry, "Lord's Day,"
semblies on a fixed day (stato Smith and Cheetham's Dictionary
die), which can hardly have been of Christian Antiquities, 'ii, 1042-
other than the first day of the 1053; G. A. Deissmann, "Lord's
week. Day," Encyclopedia Biblica, iii,
2 Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastic a, coll. 2813-2816; O. Zockler,
iv, 23, n, iv, 26, 2. . " Sonntagsfeier," Herzog, Plitt, and
3 Apologia prima, 67. Tertul- Hauck's Realencyklopddie fur pro-
lian, who found it necessary to testantische Theologie und Kirche?
answer the objection that Chris- xviii, 521-529; T. Zahn, "Ge-
tians worshipped the sun, declares, schichte des Sonntags vornehmlich
"Indeed, they made Sunday a day in der alten Kirche," in Skizzen
of joy, but for other reasons than aus dem Leben der alten Kirche?
to adore the sun, which was no Erlangen, 1898, pp. 160-208, 351-
THE HEBREW SABBATH 269
Though Jesus regarded the Sabbath as still binding
on his followers, his teaching that it was a social insti-
tution designed for practical benefit to mankind, and
not as a fetish, brought him repeatedly into conflict
with the Pharisees, and called forth those utterances
which have been so strangely neglected by Sabba-
tarians in after ages : " For the Son of man is lord of
the Sabbath" ; "The Sabbath was made for man, and
not man for the Sabbath"; "My Father worketh
[on it] even until now, and I work." Jewish Chris-
tians appear at first to have continued the observance
of the Sabbath, but this practice met the unqualified
condemnation of St. Paul ; z and one of the Epistles
of St. Ignatius, who suffered martyrdom about 107
A.D., refers to Christians as "no longer observing the
Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's
Day (/LiT/Ken <ro,)8)8aTtoi>Tes, aXXa Kara KvpiaKyv aWcs),
on which also our life has sprung up again by
Him and by His death." 3 However, the Jewish ele-
ment in the churches of the East was strong enough
to secure the ecclesiastical recognition of Saturday as
a holy day. It long continued to be observed like
Sunday, by religious assemblies and feasting, though
not by any compulsory cessation of the ordinary occu-
pations. 4 Tertullian was the first Church Father to
declare that Christians ought to abstain on Sunday
376; J. A. Hessey, Sunday,* admiring the workmanship of God,
London, 1889, pp. 40-49. and not eating things prepared the
1 Matthew, xii, 8 ; Mark, ii, 27 ; day before, nor using lukewarm
John, v, 17. drinks, and walking within a pre-
2 Colossians, ii, 16; compare scribed space, nor finding delight
Romans, xiv, 5 ; Galatians, iv, in dancing, and plaudits which have
lo-ii. no sense in them" (Ante-Nicene
3 Epistola ad Magnesias, 9. The Fathers, i, 62 sq.).
longer recension of this passage, 4 Constitutiones Apostolica, ii,
though an interpolation of much 59, I, vii, 23, 2, viii, 33, I ; Con-
later date, expresses the same cilium Laodicenum, can. 16 (Labbe-
antagonism toward sabbatizing : Mansi, Sacrorum conciliorum col"
" But let every one of you keep the lectio, ii, 567) ; Socrates, Historia
Sabbath after a spiritual manner, ecclesiastic a, vi, 8. The church
rejoicing in meditation on the law, council held at Laodicea in 363 A.D.
not in relaxation of the body, anathematized as Judaizers those
270 REST DAYS
from secular duties and occupations, lest they should
"give place to the Devil." 1 Tertullian's statement
has sometimes been understood to indicate a Sabba-
tarian spirit on the part of its author; properly con-
sidered, however, it means only that Christians should
so carefully observe the duties peculiar to the Lord's
Day*as to neglect, if necessary, their worldly business
on that day. Other Church Fathers of the third
century, including Origen and Cyprian, made no refer-
ence to Sunday as a day of abstinence from labour.
The earliest Sunday law, the edict issued by Constan-
tine in 321 A.D., bore no relation to Christianity. 2
What began, however, as a pagan ordinance, ended
as a Christian regulation ; and a long series of imperial
decrees, during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries,
enjoined with increasing stringency abstinence from
labour on Sunday. The view that the Christian Lord's
Day is but the Jewish Sabbath transferred from the
seventh to the first day of the week found occasional
expression in both the law and the theology of the
who refrained from work on Satur- (W. C. Harris, The Highlands of
day (ConciliumLaodicenum, can. 29 ; Ethiopia, New York [1843], p. 272).
Labbe-Mansi, op. cit., ii, 580). The Celts kept Saturday as a day
The anathema did not penetrate of rest, with special religious ser-
to the ancient Christian kingdom of vices on Sunday (A. Bellesheim,
Abyssinia, where Saturday is still History of the Catholic Church in
strictly observed. "The ox and Scotland, Edinburgh, 1887-1890, i,
the ass are at rest. Agricultural 86).
pursuits are suspended. House- 1 De oratione, 23 : Omni anxie-
hold avocations must be laid aside, tatis habitu et officio cavere debemus,
and the spirit of idleness reigns differentes etiam negotia, ne quern
throughout the day. . . . When, diabolo locum demus. Tertullian,
a few years ago, one daring spirit however, elsewhere rejects the im-
presumed, in advance of the age, plication that Christians should be
to burst the fetters of superstition, sabbatizers, "we, to whom these
his majesty the king of Shoa, stim- Sabbaths belong not, nor the new
ulated by the advice of besotted moons, nor the feast days once
monks, delegated his wardens beloved of God" (De idolatria, 14) ;
throughout the land, and issued a compare idem, Apologeticus, 16;
proclamation, that whoso disturbed idem, Ad nationes, i, 13 ; idem, Ad-
the original dreamy stillness of the versus Judceos, 4 ; Augustine, De
Jewish Sabbath should forfeit his spiritu et littera, 24.
property to the royal treasury, and 2 Above, pp. 122 sq.
be consigned to the state dungeon"
THE HEBREW SABBATH 271
Middle Ages, and culminated in the Sabbatarian ex-
cesses of English and Scottish Puritanism. 1
1 For the history of Sunday legis- Studies in English History, Edin-
lation see E. V. Neale, Feasts and burgh, 1881, pp. 286-315; Hans
Fasts, London, 1845 ; R. E. Prime, [Johannes] Meinhold, Sabbat und
"Sunday Legislation," New Schajf- Sonntag, Leipzig, 1909, pp. 65-
Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious 103 ; Alice M. Earle, The Sabbath
Knowledge, xi, 146-151; J. Gair- in Puritan New England, ' New
diner, " Sundays, Ancient and Mod- York, 1891, pp. 245-258.
ern," in Gairdiner and Spedding,
CHAPTER IX
UNLUCKY DAYS
THE observance of lucky and unlucky days is a
familiar phenomenon in primitive society and among
peoples of archaic civilization. Under the attenuated
form of a survival, the superstition still lingers in civi-*
lized and Christian lands. The reasons for the assign-
ment of a good or an evil character to certain days are
usually quite obscure ; and even where explanations
are provided, these are, as a rule, explanations after
the event. The attempt to provide a satisfactory
origin for them insensibly widens out into an effort
to account for the genesis of the great body of popular
and anonymous superstitions.
Probably the commonest source of the belief in un-
lucky days is to be sought in that erroneous associa-
tion of ideas which underlies so much of savage magic
and savage religion. If an event, fortunate or unfortu-
nate, has taken place on a certain day, the notion easily
arises that all actions performed on the recurrence of
the day will have a similarly favourable or unfavour-
able issue. Among the Tshi of west Africa, the most
unlucky day is the anniversary of the Saturday on
which Osai Tutu was slain in an ambush near Acro-
manti in I73I. 1 In modern Macedonia the superla-
tive ill-luck attending Tuesday is explained by some as
due to the fact historically true that Constanti-
nople was taken by the Turks on this day of the week. 2
1 Ellis, Tshi-speaking Peoples, Tuesday is an unlucky day for
pp. 219 sq. every sort of enterprise (Miss
2 G. F. Abbott, Macedonian Mary Hamilton, Greek Saints and
Folklore, Cambridge, 1903, p. 189. their Festivals, Edinburgh, 1910,
In Greece and Albania, also, p. 190).
272
UNLUCKY DAYS 273
The dies religiosi, or unlucky days, of the Roman calen-
dar included the anniversary of the battle of the Allia,
dies Alliensis (July 18), when the republic had suffered
grave misfortune. The same date was also observed
as the anniversary of the destruction of the Fabii at
the Cremera, 477 B.C. 1 After the assassination of
Julius Caesar a decree was made that the Ides of March
(March 15) should be called parricidium, and hence-
forth should be observed as an unlucky day. 2 The
superstitions which in Christian times have gathered
about Friday -- at once a holy and an unlucky day
are connected with it as the anniversary of Christ's
Passion. In the Middle Ages people were accustomed
to date on Friday all the unfortunate events of reli-
gious tradition and history. On that day Adam sinned
and was driven from Paradise, Cain killed his brother
Abel, John the Baptist was beheaded, and Herod slew
the Holy Innocents. It was also the day of the Deluge,
the Confusion of Tongues, and the infliction of the
Plagues upon Egypt. Synchronisms of this sort had
a great attraction to the mediaeval mind, and numer-
ous lists of them are preserved in old manuscripts. 3
There is a Jewish superstition, reaching back to the
1 Livy, vi, i ; Tacitus, Historic?, business must be commenced"
ii, 91; Suetonius, Fitellius, n. (Buchanan, in Asiatick Researches,
Compare Ovid (Fasti, i, 49-50) : vi, 172). Among the Parsis Tues-
/; illis
j' i uays, gciicidiiy itvutucu iwi uc-
?P " *** ^f occ= 8eS Man a y nd pel h n e s r
will not begin an important work
2 Suetonius, Divus Julius^ 88. or start on a distant journey on
3 See "La recommandation du these days (J. J. Modi, "Omens
yendredi," Melusine, 1888-1889, among the Parsees," Journal of
iv, 104, 133 sqq.j 205 sq. However, the Anthropological Society of Bom-
the Friday superstition may ante- bay, i, 294). All over Burma
date Christianity. In Macedonia Friday is unlucky. "Don't go
it is believed that ablutions on on Friday" is a current saying
Friday are dangerous, especially (L. Vossion, "./VaMvorship among
for women in childbed (Abbott, the Burmese," Journal of American
op. cit., p. 190). The Brahmans Folk-lore, 1892, iv, 112). For Rus-
of India share the Friday supersti- sian superstitions relating to Fri-
tion, saying that "on this day no day see above, p. 222 n. z
i
274 REST DAYS
Talmud, that it is lucky to begin an undertaking on
Tuesday, because, in describing the third day of crea-
tion, it is said, "God saw that it was good." Con-
trariwise, it is unlucky to commence anything of im-
portance on Monday, as to which day nothing at all
is said. 1 Where such conceptions are rife, they readily
lend themselves to divination and astrology, and under
the fostering care of practitioners of magical arts may
develop into elaborate augural codes.
The observation of natural phenomena sometimes
accounts for the unlucky character ascribed to partic-
ular occasions. We have already noted many super-
stitious observances connected with the phases of the
moon, her monthly disappearance from the heavens, and
her occasional eclipse by the earth. A further illus-
tration of the same subject is found in the astrological
doctrine of the moon stations. The old Babylonian
astronomers, one of whose duties it was to make very
careful observations of the moon, noticed that at
each lunation she appears to pass by the same star-
groups. It was natural, therefore, to associate the
moon with the conspicuous stars and constellations
in the vicinity of the moon's path. The names which
they received were in time extended to the lunar
days themselves ; and this apparent connection be-
tween the two became the principal basis of astrological
forecasts for each day of the sidereal month. 2 The
fact is well known that Babylonian astrology and
astronomy for the two were scarcely distinguish-
able in the earlier period exerted great influence
on the neighbouring peoples of Asia ; and hence it has
been generally assumed that the lunar mansions,
reckoned at twenty-seven or twenty-eight in number,
which we find among the Hindus and Chinese, and the
1 J. Jacobs, " Superstition," Jew- has a mean length of 27 days, 7
ish Encyclopedia, xi, 599. hours, 43 minutes, and II seconds.
2 The sidereal month, deter- The least duration is 27 days, 4
mined by the moon's revolution hours, and the greatest, about 7
from any star back to the same star, hours longer.
UNLUCKY DAYS 275
augural calendars connected therewith, were derived
ultimately from Babylonia. 1 In modern India the
nakshatra, as they are called, "are consulted at births,
marriages, and on all occasions of family rejoicing,
distress, or calamity. No one undertakes a journey or
any important matter except on days which the aspect
of the nakshatra renders lucky and auspicious." 2
Among the Persians and Arabs the lunar stations have
long been employed for astrological purposes. 3 The
Arabs carried them to Madagascar, where they gave
rise to an elaborate distinction of days lucky and un-
lucky. Some days were considered absolutely bad ;
others were absolutely good ; others were indifferent.
Again, some days were not regarded as good in gen-
eral, though still good enough for special purposes;
one being excellent for a house-warming, another
for marking out the ground for a new town, and
still another was lucky to be born on, but bad for
business. Some days had a special peculiarity of
their own, for instance, children born on a certain
day usually became dumb. The character of a day,
according to the Malagasy astrologers, depended, in
short, on what one of the twenty-eight lunar stations
it represented. 4
1 F. K. Ginzel (Handbuch der Persian Burj-Namah, or Book of
mathematischen und technischen Omens from the Moon," Journal of
Chronologic, Leipzig, 1906-1911, i, the American Oriental Society, 1910,
70 sqq.} provides a useful survey, xx, 337 sqq.; A. de C. Motylinski,
with bibliographies, of the lengthy Les mansions lunaires des Arabes,
discussions relating to the origin Algiers, 1899.
and diffusion of the moon-stations. 4 J. Sibree, " Divination among
See also W. D. Whitney, "On the the Malagasy," Folk-lore, 1892,
Lunar Zodiac of India, Arabia, and iii, 220 sq. In Madagascar the
China," in his Oriental and Lin- names of the separate days in the
guistic Studies, second series, New month have been taken directly
York, 1874, pp. 341-421. from the Arabic names for the
2 Sir M. Monier-Williams, Brdh- twenty-eight lunar mansions. It
manism and Hinduism, 4 ' New York, thus appears that these names have
1891, pp. 345 sq.; compare J. A. both astrological and chronological
Dubois, Hindu Manners, Customs, value (G. Ferrand, "Note sur le
and Ceremonies? Oxford, 1906, calendrier malgache et le fand-
p. 382. ruana" Revue des etudes ethno-
3 L. H. Gray, "The Parsi- graphiques et sociologiques, 1908, i,
2 7 6
REST DAYS
The conception of unluckiness may be deduced a
-priori from the assumed critical nature of certain pe-
riods, such as epagomenal months and days. The
thirteenth month, which many peoples employing
lunar calculations find it necessary to intercalate at
more or less regular intervals, is sometimes regarded
as unlucky. 1 Again, the eleven or twelve days by
which the solar year exceeds the lunar year assumed
among various Indo-European peoples a portentous and
often unfavourable significance. 2 The celebration of
the Twelve Nights, in the sense of the Twelve Nights
and Days, as a festival before or after the winter sol-
stice, has been assigned to the Aryans of the Vedic
age in India on the strength of certain passages in the
Rig-Veda, where the three Ribhus, generally regarded
as the personified seasonal deities who divided up the
year, are described as sleeping during these days " in
95. Among the northern Abyssin-
ians lucky and unlucky days are
likewise determined by the lunar
stations, though only six or seven
are reckoned, each containing from
two to seven days (E. Littmann,
" Sternensagen und Astrologisches
aus Nordabessinien," Archiv fur
Religionswissenschaft, 1908, xi,
301 sq.).
1 Above, p. 177 n. 2
2 According to A. Jeremias no
evidence exists for the recognition
of twelve intercalary days in the
ancient Oriental world (Das Alter
der babylonischen Astronomie, Leip-
zig, 1909, p. 42 n. 1 ). However, the
Babylonian New Year's festival of
Zagmuk, which occupied the first
eleven days of the spring month of
Nisan, has been compared with
the Twelve Days of Indo-European
antiquity (H. Winckler, Altorien-
talische Forschungen, Leipzig, 1898,
ii, i, 182). What relation, if any,
the Babylonian Zagmuk bore to
the Babylo-Persian Sacasa and the
Hebrew Purim is still a subject
of controversy. See the full pres-
entation of the evidence in Sir
J. G. Frazer, The Scapegoat, Lon-
don, 1913, pp. 354-407. The
Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh,
recorded on twelve cuneiform tab-
lets, has been plausibly interpreted
as a solar myth, recounting the
sun's annual course during the
twelve months. Now, a relation-
ship undoubtedly exists between at
least three tablets of the poem and
the corresponding months of the
year, notably in the case of the
eleventh tablet, in which the story
of the Deluge is told, and the
eleventh month, which by the
Babylonians was termed the
"month of rain" (M. Jastrow,
Religion of Babylonia and Assyria,
pp. 484, 510). It is curious, there-
fore, to find that in the Hebrew
narrative of the Flood the waters
cover the earth for the period of a
year and eleven days, apparently,
here, a lunar year of 354 days plus
eleven days (Genesis, vii, n, viii,
14).
UNLUCKY DAYS 277
the house of the sun." 1 The prophetic character of
the Twelve Days appears to be indicated by their
characterization in various Brahmanical writings as
an "image of the coming year." 2 Some eminent
scholars have thought that the Twelve Days represent
an ancient method of adjusting the lunar year to the
solar year, as practised by the early Aryans before the
custom arose of inserting a thirteenth month, to which
reference is also made in the Rig-Veda? This opinion,
though not free from difficulties, is strongly supported
by numerous parallels to the Indian evidence found in
European folklore of the Twelve Days. 4
Throughout Europe from east to west the Twelve
Days, usually reckoned from Christmas to Epiphany,
are prolific in popular superstitions and customs.
At this time the souls of the dead, sometimes under
animal form, return to the earth and revisit the living ;
witches and demons swarm in the mischief-laden air;
werewolves roam about, and the Wild Huntsman rides
in the heavens. Most of the ceremonies performed
during the Twelve Days have a distinctly pagan cast,
such as the constant fire on the domestic hearth, the
village bonfires, and the lighted candles ; while others,
such as the sprinkling of the houses with holy water
and the marking of the cross on the doors, have only
* Rig-Veda, i, 161, n, 13, iv, 33, Berlin, 1898, pp. 559 -W Com-
7; compare 4tharva-Feda,iv, n, n pare A. Ludwig, Der Rigveda,
(transl.W. D.Whitney, p. 166). Prague, 1883, vi, 232; A. Kaegi,
2 Kathaka, 7, 5; Taittiriya- The Rigveda, Boston, 1886, p. 37;
brdhmana, I, I, 9, 10; H. Zimmer, Zimmer, op. cit., pp. 366 sq. For
Altindisches Leben, Berlin, 1879, contrary opinions see O. Schrader,
p. 367. Reallexikon der indogermanischen
3 A. Weber, "Zwei vedische Altertumskunde, pp. 391 sq.; G.
Texte iiber Omina und Portenta," Thibaut, in Biihler's Grundriss der
Philologische und historische Ab- indo-arischen Philologie und Alter-
handlungen der kdniglichen Aka- tumskunde, iii, pt. ix, 9 sq.
demie der 'Wissenschaften zu Berlin, * J. Lippert, Christentum, Folks-
1858, pp. 388 sq.; idem, Indische glaube, und Folksbrauch, Berlin,
Studien, 1868, x, 242 sq., 1885, xvii, 1882, pp. 680-685; C. A. Miles,
223 sqq. t 1898, xviii, 45; idem, Christmas in Ritual and Tradition,
"Vedische Beitrage," Sitzungsbe- Christian and Pagan, London, 1912,
richte der koniglich-preussischen pp. 238-246; Frazer, The Scape-
Akademie der Wissenschaften zu goat, pp. 313-3 45.
278 REST DAYS
a thin veneer of Christianity. To a certain extent
the Twelve Days thus form the modern European
representative of those seasons devoted to the expul-
sion of ghosts and evil spirits which are observed by
peoples of the lower culture. 1 A further resemblance
exists in the distinctly unlucky character often assigned
to the Twelve Days. In Macedonia no marriages are
solemnized during their continuance. 2 In various parts
of Germany they are kept as rest days, when the most
important household occupations and even those on
the farm are omitted. The housewife must not spin,
weave lace, or engage in her usual tasks of washing
and baking; and the farmer must not thresh grain.
Certain foods, especially peas and other legumes, are
carefully avoided ; and no meat is eaten. It is not
wise to lend anything out of the house or to remove
refuse and sweepings. One ought not to be short of
anything at this time, else one will be short of every-
thing during the ensuing year. Certain animals,
particularly associated with witches, should not be
called by their right names ; hence, you must refer to
the fox as "Mr. Long-tail," and to the mouse as "Floor-
runner." During these fateful days perfect quiet is
essential : no table must be pushed about and no doors
slammed, otherwise the house will be struck by light-
ning. In this period dreams and other prognostics
are most to be relied on and are most carefully investi-
gated. Everywhere in Germany it is believed that
the weather of the Twelve Days determines what
will be experienced during the following twelve months,
so that they form, in effect, a meteorological calendar
for the new year. 3 This last superstition, however, is
1 Above, pp. 74 sqq. Siiddeutschland und Schlesien, Graz,
2 G. F. Abbott, Macedonian 1853, pp. n sq.; K. A. Oberle,
Folklore y Cambridge, 1903, p. 75. Uberreste germanischen Heidentums
3 A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Folks- im Christentum, Baden-Baden,
aberglaube der Gegenwart? edited 1883, pp. 63 sq.; E. H. Meyer,
by E. H. Meyer, Berlin, 1900, Indogermanische Mythen, Berlin,
pp. 63 sqq. See also K. Weinhold, 1887, ii, 526 sqq.
Weihnacht-Spiele und Lieder aus
UNLUCKY DAYS 279
not confined to Germany, being met, for instance, in
modern Brittany. In most parts of that country the
Twelve Days, here reckoned from the first of January,
are popularly termed gour-deziou, "male days," an
expression which must be understood as meaning supple-
mentary or additional days. 1 A superstitious avoid-
ance of certain kinds of work during the Twelve Days
may still be found in remote districts of the British
Isles. In Shropshire horses are not set to the plough
at this time and no spinning is done. 2 In Aberdeen-
shire people believe that all work ought, if possible, to
be finished before Christmas Day. Between this time
and New Year's Eve no bread is baked and no clothes
are washed, and the spinning-wheel must be carried
from one side of the house to the other. 3 The Twelve
Days over and above the year were called in Wales
"days of days" (dyddian dyddon). "They are free
days, and let any one come from any place he may,
he will be free, and exposed to no weapon or stroke,
since there can be no court and law of country on those
days." 4
The solar year, superseding the lunar year of three
hundred and fifty-four days, seems to have been
generally assumed in the first instance at the round
number of three hundred and sixty days, the earth's
periodical course around the sun being taken as a multi-
ple of the moon's course around the earth. In ancient
Mexico, where a solar calendar came into use, the three
hundred and sixty days were divided into eighteen
periods, each of twenty days. As their total did not
round out the solar year it became necessary to add
five days at the end of the year ; and these possessed
1 J. Loth, "Les douze jours 3 W. Gregor, Notes on the Folk'
supplementaires (gour-deziou) des lore of the North-east of Scotland,
Bretons, et les douze jours des London, 1881, p. 156; idem, in
Germains et des Indous," Revue Folk-lore Record, 1884, ii, 332.
celtique, 1903, xxiv, 310-312. 4 John Williams ab Ithel, Bard--
2 Miss C. S. Burne, editor, das, Llandovery, 1862-1874, i,
Shropshire Folk-lore, London, 1883, 424 sq.
p. 403.
2 8o REST DAYS
an unfavourable character. They were called nemon-
temi, "the superfluous, supplementary days," with
the secondary significance of "the useless days," as
being consecrated to no deity and employed for no
civic business. That they were considered sinister
and unlucky is evident from the abstinence that char-
acterized them. Nothing of any importance was
done on the nemontemi. The house was not swept,
no legal case was tried, and any person so unfortunate
as to be born on one of these days was destined to a
poor and miserable life. At the same time, the nemon-
temi possessed a prophetic power for the whole year.
"They were careful," says Father Sahagun, "during
these fatal days not to fall asleep during the day, not
to quarrel together, not to trip or to fall, because they
said that if any of these things befell them, they would
continue to befall them thence forevermore." l Among
the Mayas of Yucatan the same abstinence prevailed
on the five xma kaba kin, the "days without names."
On these days "men left the house as seldom as pos-
sible, did not wash or comb themselves, and took special
care not to undertake any menial or difficult task,
doubtless because they lived in the conviction that
they would be forced to keep on doing it through
the whole ensuing year. The Mexicans were more
passive in regard to these days, inasmuch as they merely
took care to avoid conjuring up mischief for the coming
year, while the Mayas did things more thoroughly.
During these days, so portentous for the entire year,
they banished the evil which might threaten them.
They prepared a clay image of the demon of evil,
1 E. Seler, "The Mexican Chro- 37; transl. Jourdanet and Simeon,
nology," Bulletin of the Bureau of Paris, 1880, pp. 50, 77, 164, 283,
American Ethnology, no. 28, p. 16. 291). Other Spanish authorities
The passage quoted above is refer to the nemontemi as days
from Seler's translation of the when the people did nothing but
Aztec text of Sahagun, which is receive and return visits (Clavigero,
more complete than the latter' s Storia antica del Messico, vi, 24;
Spanish version (Historia general Acosta, Historia de las Indias y
de las cos as de Nueva Espana, ii, vi, 2).
UNLUCKY DAYS 281
Uuayayab, that is, u-uayab-haab ('by whom the year
is poisoned'), confronted it with the deity who had
supreme power during the year in question, and then
carried it out of the village in the direction of that
cardinal point to which the new year belonged." l
It is an impressive testimony to the essential unity
of primitive culture that in a far distant quarter of the
globe an almost identical superstition existed. The
Egyptian solar calendar, like the Mexican, was based
on a year of three hundred and sixty days, but in Egypt
these were grouped into twelve equal months of thirty
days each, leaving five supplementary days to be added
at the end of the twelfth month "the five days over
and above the year" (haru dudit him ronpit), as they
were styled. 2 Their great antiquity is indicated by
another designation, "little month," applied to them;
and, in fact, a notice of the epagomenal days occurs
in the Pyramid Texts belonging to the Sixth Dynasty,
where they are referred to as the "five additional days"
on which the gods were born. 3 Later monumental
records show that the deities associated respectively
with these days were the five members of the Osirian
cycle, Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. 4 The
evidence of the Leiden Papyrus, setting forth the cere-
monies requisite for epagomenal days, indicates that
1 E. Seler, in Bulletin of the reference is found in an inscription
Bureau of American Ethnology, belonging to the time of the Fifth
no. 28, pp. 16 sq.; compare idem, Dynasty (K. Sethe, Urkunden des
in Hastings's Encyclopedia of Reli- alien Reichs, Leipzig, 1903, i, 24).
gion and Ethics, iii, 308. The * H. Brugsch, "Die fiinf Epa-
principal authority for the Maya gomenen in einem hieratischen
custom is Diego de Landa, Relacion Papyrus zu Leiden," Zeitschrift der
de las cosas de Yucatan, ch. xxxv deutschen morgenldndischen Gesell-
(transl. Brasseur de Bourbourg, schaft, 1852, v, 254-258; compare
pp. 211 sqq.). idem, Die Agyptologie, Leipzig,
2 These five days thus inserted 1891, p. 362; C. JR.. Lepsius, Die
between the "small year" and the Chronologic der Agypter, Berlin,
"large year" did not interrupt 1849, i, 145 sqq. The chief classi-
the regular sequence of the three cal references to the epagomenai
decades into which the Egyptian days are Herodotus, ii, 4; Plutarch,
month was divided; see above, De I side et Osiride, 12; and Dio-
p. 191. dorus Siculus, i, 13, 4.
3 Pepi, 2, 1. 754. A still earlier
282 REST DAYS
they enjoyed exceptional importance because of their
position at the end of the year. As religious festivals
they were consecrated to the dead. Furthermore,
they bore a distinctly ominous or unlucky character,
and many were the prayers and magical formulas to
be recited by the pious worshipper in order to secure
divine protection against the malefic influences sup-
posed to characterize them. To positive rites of prayer
and sacrifice the worshipper must add cessation of
all activity: "during the five days at the end of the
year do no work; abstain from everything" so
runs the priestly text. 1 These precautions taken, he
might look forward to a happy New Year.
The conquest of Egypt in the sixth century B.C.
by the Achaemenian kings seems to have introduced a
knowledge of the excellencies of the Egyptian solar
reckoning to the Persians. Their five epagomenal
days were called the Gatha-days, each being sacred
to one of the five great divisions of the Gdthds, or
Zoroastrian hymns. A Persian calendar of late date
(1687 A.D.) gives the first day as lucky, and the third
as unlucky. 2 It is significant that among the Persians,
as in ancient Egypt, the epagomenal days particularly
belonged to the dead, to whom sacrifices were regu-
larly offered at this time, as well as during the first
five days of the new year. 3 The Armenians also had
their five supplementary days aweleach interca-
lated after the twelfth month, an arrangement doubt-
less borrowed from the Persians, but these days do
1 F. J. Chabas, Le calendrier des ness on it and took no care of their
jours fastes et nefastes de I'annee persons till nightfall. The paral-
egyptienne, Chalon-s.-S., 1870, pp. lei to the royal observance of the
102-107. In the Leiden Papyrus Babylonian "evil days" is instruc-
(i. 346) only the first, third, and tive (above, pp. 232 sq.).
fifth days are marked with the 2 L. H. Gray, "Calendar (Per-
same sign as unlucky, but the sian)," Hastings's Encyclopedia of
observances prescribed relate to all Religion and Ethics, iii, 129; idem,
five days. Plutarch (pp. cit., 12) "Divination (Persian)," ibid., iv,
refers to the third day, that of Set 819.
or Tryphon, as inauspicious for 3 F. Justi, Geschichte des alien
Egyptian kings, who did no busi- Persiens, Berlin, 1879, p. 79.
UNLUCKY DAYS 283
not appear to have been marked by any special observ-
ances. 1 The latest attempt to introduce the use of
epagomenal days dates from the time of the French
Revolution. In their desire to abolish a chronological
system bound up with the Christian religion the bold
innovators of the National Convention set aside in
1793 the Gregorian calendar, establishing a Republican
calendar in which the seven-day week was replaced
by the decade and the year was divided into twelve
months of thirty days each, according to the old
Egyptian arrangement. Five intercalary days, popu-
larly called sansculottides, came at the end of the year
(six days at the end of every fourth year) ; they were
dedicated to Virtue, Genius, Labour, Opinion, and
Reward ; and were observed as holidays. But this
calendar, which John Quincy Adams described as an
"incongruous composition of profound learning and
superficial frivolity, of irreligion and morality, of deli-
cate imagination and coarse vulgarity," had a short
life. In 1802 the week of seven days returned into
general use, and three years later an edict of Napoleon
ordered the restoration of the Gregorian calendar. 2
In our own time, however, serious proposals have been
made looking toward the reformation of the present
awkward calendar, and among them is the suggestion
that we adopt the ancient Egyptian system of months
and epagomenal days.
It has been repeatedly noticed in the preceding pages
that oftentimes no clear line of demarcation can be
drawn between days tabu and days considered "un-
lucky." Both may involve ideas of contagion, the
sanctity or pollution attaching to the one being con-
ceived as scarcely less transmissible than the vaguer
"unluckiness" which belongs to certain periods and
affects everything done during their continuance.
1 F. Macler, "Calendar (Ar- the American Academy of Arts and
menian)," Hastings's Encyclopedia Sciences, 1873, viii, 348-364; "Ca-
of Religion and Ethics, iii, 70. lendrier republicain," La grande
2 J. Levering, in Proceedings of encyclopedie, viii, 908-910.
284 REST DAYS
How some of the so-called unlucky days, still linger-
ing in contemporary civilization, have descended from
the holy days of antiquity is aptly illustrated by the
superstitions relating to the certain days of March and
of August, as observed at the present time in south-
eastern Europe. In Macedonia the peasants during
the first three days and the last three days of these
two months do not plant ; they cut no tree or vine,
for fear lest it should wither ; they do not bathe in the
sea, or their bodies would swell ; and they even re-
frain from washing clothes. 1 In various parts of
Greece and the ^Egean it is considered necessary to
abstain from particular kinds of work on certain days
of August, and occasionally of March. During the
first five days of August the people of Epirus do not
wash clothes or go into the fields to work. In Crete
the period is longer, for here on the first six and last
six days of August clothes are not washed and grapes
are not gathered. 2 In Cos on the first three days of
August the women do no work (for it would not pros-
per) and wash no clothes (for these would soon wear
out). The eleven days which follow are supposed
to foreshadow the weather during the succeeding eleven
months : as the fourth day is, so will September be ;
the fifth day prognosticates the weather for October,
and so on. The fifteenth of August is celebrated as
the Feast of the Assumption, closing a fortnight's
strict fast. 3 The Cypriotes observe the first three or
six days of August as times when no trees are cut or
peeled to obtain resin, when the use of water for wash-
ing clothes or the body is forbidden, and when no one
travels by water. The severity of the regulations has
led to the days being called the "evil days of August." 4
Abbott, op. cit., pp. 21, 63. 3 W. H. D. Rouse, "Folklore
The Macedonians observe the same from the Southern Sporades," Folk-
restrictions on the Wednesdays lore, 1899, x, 179.
and Fridays of these two months. 4 J. C. Lawson, Modern Greek
2 Miss Mary Hamilton, Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion,
Saints and their Festivals, Edin- Cambridge, 1910, pp. 152 sq.
burgh, 1910, pp. 187 sq.
UNLUCKY DAYS 285
11 these taboos thus show much similarity, relating in
particular to abstention from work which has to do with
water or with vines and trees. From this fact it becomes
a plausible inference that the unlucky days were origi-
nally sacred to the tree-nymphs and water-nymphs,
whose festivals were celebrated in pagan antiquity.
At the present time the days are associated with the
drymais, mysterious spirits supposed to be abroad on
them, and probably to be identified with the dryads
(S/avaSes) of classic mythology.
The likeness between tabooed days as periods of
abstinence and some unlucky days may be further
illustrated by much ethnographic evidence drawn
from different cultural areas. The Maori, we are
told, endeavour to determine by divination whether
the day set for a journey is favourable or unfavour-
able. The fisherman is hopeless of making a catch
on an unfavourable day. At such a time "no dress
will be commenced, no seine cast, no fish-hook baited,
no ground turned up, seed sown, distant visit made,
flax cut or dressed, timber cut, canoe formed, or even
food partaken of." 1 The Batta of Sumatra possess
elaborate calendars of days favourable, unfavourable,
and of a doubtful character ; and these are regularly
consulted by the Batta magician in order that his
clients may know when to commence any important
undertaking, such as sowing and harvesting, house-
building, erection of a new village, removal to another
village, preparation of sacrifices at birth, name-giving,
burial, betrothal, and marriage, and all other great
occasions. A day may be wholly unlucky for one
thing, but not for another; for instance, a day which
could not safely be used for the celebration of a sacri-
fice might still be used for the inauguration of agri-
cultural labour. On the other hand, there are certain
days, indicated in the calendars, when all activity
ceases, except the entertainment of relatives and indis-
1 J. S. Polack, Manners and Customs of the New Ze dander s t London,
1840, i, 256.
286 REST DAYS
pensable harvest work. If a man should meet with
misfortune on one of these fatal days, a sacrifice must
be offered to the supernatural power supposed to be
responsible for the visitation. The Batta calendar
in its existing form is derived from India, but the people
seem formerly to have possessed their own rude calen-
dar, which was used to determine the lucky and un-
lucky days in a lunar month. Even at the present
time the calendar is not employed for the fixation of
dates in the European sense, but only in the service of
popular superstition. 1
The Mohammedan Malays of the Malay Peninsula
possess a number of divinatory calendars, one specify-
ing seven unlucky days in every month, a second,
twelve other most inauspicuous days in every year,
while a third gives all the days of the year classified
under the heads lucky, somewhat unlucky, most un-
lucky, and neutral. 2 Chinese popular calendars set
forth a similar classification of the days of the month
as very lucky, neither lucky nor unlucky, unlucky, and
very unlucky. 3 Furthermore, the first, fifth, and
ninth months are considered unfavourable by the
Chinese, who will not marry or change houses during
1 J. Winkler, " Der Kalender der In China there is also the state
Toba-Bataks auf Sumatra," Zeit- almanac, which is annually pre-
schrift fur Ethnologic, 1913, xlv, pared at Pekin under the direction
436-447. Among the Batta of a bureau attached to the Board
dwelling inland from the Bay of of Rites. By making it a penal
Tapanuli the priest or magician, offence to issue a counterfeit or
whose duty it is to announce pro- pirated edition of this almanac, the
pitious days, is a most important government astrologers have mo-
functionary in every village. The nopolized the management of the
people "will not engage in any superstitions of the people in
undertaking, however trifling, or regard to the fortunate or unfortu-
make the smallest alteration in nate conjunction of each day and
their domestic economy, without hour. "No one ventures to be
first consulting him" (Burton and without an almanac, lest he be
Ward, in Memoirs o/ the Royal liable to the greatest misfortunes,
Asiatic Society, 1827, i, 500). and run the imminent hazard of
2 W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic, undertaking important events on
London, 1900, p. 549. black-balled days" (S. W. Williams,
^ N. B. Dennys, The Folk-lore of The Middle Kingdom? New York,
China, London, 1876, pp. 30 sq. 1883, ii, 79 sq.).
UNLUCKY DAYS 287
these months. 1 In Korea the fifth, fifteenth, and
twenty-fifth days of each month are called "broken
days." At such times the people avoid any new
undertakings. 2 The old Japanese are said to have
held five yearly festivals or holidays, "purposely laid
on those days, which, by reason of their imparity,
are judged to be the most unfortunate." These were
New Year's Day, the third day of the third month,
the fifth of the fifth month, the seventh of the seventh
month, and the ninth of the ninth month. 3 In modern
Japan the cheap popular calendars, circulating among
the lower classes, contain indications for every day of
a cycle of six days. Of these, the first is described
as good during the forenoon for urgent business, such
as lawsuits and petitions, but not good after midday.
The second is good in the forenoon and in the evening,
but not in the afternoon. The first half of the third
day is bad, and no urgent business should be under-
taken at such a time; the afternoon, however, is
lucky. Nothing done on the fourth day will prosper.
The fifth day is very lucky for anything, especially
removals or journeys. With the exception of the noon-
tide hour the whole of the sixth day is unlucky. This
cycle used in divination flourishes side by side with
the week of seven days. 4
The Tibetans are great astrologers. In every monas-
tery there is at least one divining lama whose business
it is to determine propitious and unpropitious times.
Calendars exist for all the days of the month, some being
described as "good," others as "middling," others as
"bad," while one is referred to as "not very good,"
and still another as "the worst." Among the causes
of the luck or unluck attaching to certain days the
Tibetans are inclined to lay stress on the periodical
1 H. A. Giles, A Glossary of Ref- 3 E. Kaempfer, History of Japan,
erences on Subjects connected with ii, 22 (Glasgow reprint, 1906).
the Far East, 3 Shanghai, 1900, 4 A. Lloyd, " Death and Disposal
p. 183. of the Dead (Japanese)," Hastings' s
2 W. E. Griffis, Corea, the Hermit Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics,
Nation? New York, 1889, p. 298. iv, 486 n. 1
288 REST DAYS
migrations of the spirits inhabiting the regions above
the earth. It seems that the two kinds of spirits, good
and evil, shift their abodes, to some extent every day
and also contemporaneously with the phases of the
moon, the commencement of a new season, and so on.
Their migrations are performed with unequal veloc-
ity ; hence, the combination of spirits varies for every
day. If the good spirits are more numerous than the
evil spirits on a particular day, the time will be favour-
able for any undertaking ; and vice versa. This belief,
we are told, offers a wide field of intrigue to the lamas,
who alone are able to decide what have been the actual
movements of the spirits. 1
The Toda, who dwell in permanent villages on the
plateaus of the Nilgiri Hills in southeastern .India,
have a remarkable system of rest days deserving to be
described at some length. The social organization
of this interesting people consists of two endogamous
divisions, called Teivaliol and Tartharol. Each of
these primary sections is composed of intermarrying
clans, and each clan possesses a group of villages in
common. At the present time Toda interests, both
economic and religious, centre about their buffaloes.
The daily life of the Toda men is largely devoted to the
care of these animals and to labour in the dairies.
The buffalo is a sacred animal ; the dairy itself is
almost a temple ; and the dairyman is only one remove
from a priest. Toda religious rites seem to be, in fact,
little more than the arrangements which a pastoral
and communistic people have made for the provision
and care of an article of food. According to Dr.
Rivers, whose careful studies are a model of anthropo-
logical investigation, nearly every Toda ceremony has
its appointed day or days. The choice of these "is
often dependent on another Toda institution, the sacred
day, either of the village or of the dairy. Every clan
has certain days of the week on which people are
1 E. Schlaginweit, Buddhism in Tibet, Leipzig and London, 1863, pp.
293 sqq.
UNLUCKY DAYS 289
restricted from following many of their ordinary occu-
pations, although they are not the occasions of any
special ceremonies. These sacred days are the madnol,
or village day, and the palinol, or dairy day." 1
Each Toda village has its madnol, but, in general,
where there are several villages of the same clan, the
madnol is the same for the whole clan. There are at
least eight prohibitions characterizing the observance
of this sacred day. Feasts may not be given at such
a time, funeral ceremonies may not be performed,
people may not bathe or cut their nails, and men may
not shave. Clothes are not to be washed, the house
is not to be cleansed, and, though the ordinary meals
may be prepared, rice and milk must not be cooked
together. Other regulations forbid the dairyman to
leave the village, the buffaloes to be taken from one
place to another, or the people to migrate from one
village to another. 2 Though not all work is prohibited,
the regulations are extensive enough to affect most
of the customary occupations. Among the Teivaliol,
one of the two endogamous divisions of the Toda
people, the madnol is the only sacred day of the week.
With the other division, called Tartharol, there is
also a dairy day, or palinol, the regulations for which
have much the same character as for the madnol.
Toda ingenuity has devised recognized methods of
evading the rules for the holy days, and so of avoiding
the inconvenience which might otherwise be entailed
on the people. The rule that nothing may be taken
from the village on the madnol would prevent any pur-
chases from outsiders being made on the holy day,
since money would have to pass out of the village in
payment. The Toda avoid this awkward consequence
by the simple device of taking money beyond the vil-
lage limits on the day before the madnol and burying
it in some spot where it can be found when wanted.
The rule forbidding Toda women to leave the village
1 W. H. R. Rivers, The Todas y 2 Ibid., pp. 405 sq.
London, 1906, p. 405.
u
2 9 o REST DAYS
on the madnol is evaded in a curious fashion. A woman
will depart from the settlement before daybreak, will
remain outside till the sun is up, and will then return
to her home, for breakfast and the performance of
any necessary work. During this time she is regarded
as ceremonially absent from the village, hence her
actual departure later in the day for another village
is not considered to be a desecration of the madnol.
With these possibilities of evasion open to the pious
Toda, it follows that the regulations are seldom broken,
in the letter if not in the spirit. When a breach of
them does occur, the culprit may be obliged to perform
a propitiatory sacrifice similar to that which follows
the commission of various other ceremonial sins.
"It seemed quite clear, however, that this only hap-
pened if some misfortune should befall the offender,
his family, or his buffaloes. It would seem that a
man might habitually and notoriously desecrate the
madnol, but no steps would be taken by himself or the
community so long as things went well with the man.
If he should become ill or if his buffaloes should suffer
in any way, he would consult the diviners and they
would then certainly find that his misfortunes were
due to his infringement of the laws connected with the
sacred days." *
There is much variety in the days observed as the
madnol or the palinol of the different villages and clans.
The most frequent days appear to be Wednesday and
Friday, which are sacred in six clans. Sunday is
sacred in five clans, Monday and Tuesday in three,
Thursday in two. In no clan does Saturday appear
to be kept as a holy day. 2
The origin of these sacred days among the Toda is
very obscure. Dr. Rivers first suggests the possibility
of the institution of madnol and palinol having grown out
of the belief in unlucky days. The code of rules pre-
scribing what might and what might not be done would
then be only an elaboration of the common supersti-
1 Rivers, Todas, p. 407. 2 Ibid., p. 408.
UNLUCKY DAYS 291
tion which restricts activity at such unlucky periods.
But there are several difficulties in the way of this
view. It is extremely doubtful whether the Toda
has any such belief in days lucky and unlucky, 1 and if
he has, the idea is probably a recent importation from
the Hindus, among whom the superstition is very
prevalent. Again, the distinction between madnol
and palinol is one which cannot be satisfactorily ex-
plained by such a hypothesis. Finally, the different
clans of the Toda have different sacred days, whereas
one would expect lucky and unlucky days to be the
same for the entire community. This seems espe-
cially reasonable when it is considered that the sacred
days, by restricting intercourse between the different
clans, produce much inconvenience, which, of course,
is increased by the fact that the different clans have
different madnol. Whatever be the origin of these
Toda rules, there is, writes Dr. Rivers, "little doubt
that when at the present time a given act is done or
not done on a given day, the action is not based on a
belief in lucky or unlucky days, but, as nearly always
among the Toda, on custom prescribing that the act
shall or shall not be done on that day."
The question may be raised whether the resemblance
of the Toda madnol to the Hebrew Sabbath is not
accounted for by supposing the former institution to
have been founded on ideas borrowed from Christians
or Jews. If this has been the case, it is certain that
the borrowing took place very long ago. In studying
the origin and history of the Toda we have no record
that reaches back more than three centuries. From
various close resemblances between the Toda customs
and those of the people of Malabar, Dr. Rivers thinks
it probable that the Toda at one time lived in Malabar,
migrating thence to the Nilgiri Hills. Both Chris-
1 See ibid., p. 411, for a refer- nal of Anthropology, 1870, i, 33 sq.)
ence to certain restrictions which expressly attributes this supersti-
may have arisen out of a belief in tion to the Toda.
unlucky days. W. R. King (Jour- 2 Rivers, Todas, pp. 410 sq.
292 REST DAYS
tians and Jews were well established in Malabar more
than a thousand years ago. If the Toda left Malabar
before these settlements of foreigners were made,
then Jewish or Christian influences can be excluded ;
if the migration took place subsequently, then they
may have contributed to the development of the Toda
institution. 1
In spite of these considerations, Dr. Rivers is inclined
to consider the Toda madnol as substantially a native
institution, which may help to explain the origin of
the Hebrew Sabbath. "In a busier community than
that of the Toda, the existence of different madnol for
different clans of the community would soon become
a serious obstacle to carrying on the business of life,
and such a community would probably agree that all
clans should have the same holy day. At present the
madnol is undoubtedly more sacred than the other
sacred days, and if the latter were then to be neglected,
we should have a community in which various activ-
ities were prohibited on one day of the week, and the
institution so arising would differ very little from the
Hebrew Sabbath. It is possible that the Toda show
in an early stage the institution of a Sabbath in which
the whole community has not yet settled on a single
and joint holy day." 2 The fact that the Toda employ
the seven-day week, which must be entirely a borrowed
institution with them, suggests, however, that the prohi-
bitions attaching to certain days of that week were
ultimately derived from foreign sources. 3
1 Rivers, Todas, pp. 459, 695 sqq., fasts and festivals, though under
710 sq. Indian names and with Indian
2 Ibid., pp. 411 sq. features superadded. Their habit
3 These Toda taboos suggest at of observing Saturday as a Sab-
once the Jewish Sabbatarian regu- bath and of giving their oxen rest
lations and the methods of evading from the oil-mills on that day has
or mitigating them devised by the gained for them among their
rabbis (above, p. 264). Until the Hindu neighbours the name of "the
present day the Bene-Israel, a body Saturday oil-men " (J. H. Lord,
of Jews domiciled for many cen- "Bene-Israel," Hastings's Encyclo~
turies in the Bombay Presidency, pezdia of Religion and Ethics, ii,
have preserved the old Hebrew 470 sq.).
UNLUCKY DAYS 293
Another curious instance of communal rest days
is found among the Siah Posh Kafirs, a primitive
Aryan people dwelling in the northeastern part of
Afghanistan, between Chitral and the Hindu-Kush.
They seem formerly to have occupied a more extended
area about the headwaters of the Indus. The con-
version of the surrounding tribes, first to Buddhism
and later to Mohammedanism, has further served
to isolate them. With the Afghans on the west their
enmity is deadly and unceasing, but their relations
with their eastern neighbours admit of friendly inter-
course. It is on this side, therefore, that we must
look for the introduction into Kafiristan of Indian
cultural elements, among which is the seven-day week. 1
On certain weekdays the Siah Posh Kafirs rest from
work. Young and old gather in large buildings erected
in the centre of the villages and here they dance all night,
to the music of flutes and trumpets, and sing songs in
honour of the gods. 2 According to a later and fuller
account, the Kafir rest days are called agar; in some
districts they occur every Thursday, in other districts,
every Saturday, but only during the months from
April to September, when field work is in progress.
The agar appear to be rigorously observed by the male
inhabitants of a village, but the women, who stop their
field-work on these days, do not scruple to engage in
other coolie labour during their continuance. " I failed,"
writes our authority, "to discover anything concerning
the origin of these agar. Their observance may have
become a national custom, the origin of which is as
difficult to determine as the Sabbaths of other ancient
peoples. As the Kam people were averse to starting
on a journey on the agar days, and as all the women
left their field-work altogether on those occasions, it
1 The week of seven days, with cutta, 1880, p. 93 ; G. W. Leitner,
names derived from the Sanskrit, The Hunza and Nagyr Hand-
appears to have been introduced book, 2 Woking, 1893, p. 16.
by the Shins into Dardistan and 2 H. Roskoschny, Afghanistan
western Kashmir. See J. Biddulf, und seine Nachbarldnder, Leipzig,
Tribes of the Hindoo-Koosh, Cal- 1885, i, 174.
294 REST DAYS
is possible that the agar was originally considered an
unlucky day." l
Perhaps no people have subjected themselves to
more irksome restrictions on unlucky days than the
natives of Madagascar. In this island systems of
taboo are widespread and elaborate, even at the present
time. The termfady (or tabu), used for all objects and
persons tabooed, is likewise applied by the Malagasy
to unfavourable days and months, the quality of such
periods as dangerous or unlucky being considered trans-
missible to beings and actions. 2 By the Hova, a people
of remote, perhaps prehistoric, Malay origin, now occu-
pying the central tableland of Madagascar, only twelve
days in the month were regarded as lucky. The first
days of some months possessed a most disastrous char-
acter, and children born on them were usually put to
death. The same cruel practice was found among other
tribes, such as the Bara and Tanala, leading, in the
latter case, to the destruction of at least one-fourth of
all the infants born. 3 The Tanala consider one of the
months, called faosa, extremely unlucky. "No one
works in that month, no one changes his place of abode
or goes about. If any one happens to be in the fields
1 Sir G. S. Robertson, The Masikoro, an inland branch of the
Kafirs of the Hindu-Kush, London, Sakalava tribe. Many Vezo (coast
1896, pp. 579 sq. Sakalava) families continue to ex-
2 A. van Gennep, Tabou et pose a child born on an unlucky
totemisme a Madagascar, Paris, day, but it is afterwards rescued
1904, p. 199. The Malagasy be- and brought up by the relatives as
lief in lucky and unlucky days, as their own. "Such a child is,
determined by the moon stations however, looked upon with some
(above, p. 275), appears to be a suspicion as to what will be its
direct importation from the Arabs character, because of its having
superimposed on an earlier and been born on an unlucky day. It
thoroughly native observance of is thought that it may bring some
tabooed seasons. The Malagasy calamity upon the family, or may
have also taken over from Islam itself be miserable or unfortunate
the week of seven days (above, in one way or another, when grown
p. 197). up. It is a very common opinion
3 J. Sibree, "Malagasy Folk- that bad conduct is only the result
lore and Popular Superstitions,'* of being born on an unlucky day"
Folk-lore Record, 1879, ii, 30-33. (A. Walen, in Antananarivo Annual,
The custom still exists among the 1883, no. 7, pp. 51 sq.).
UNLUCKY DAYS 295
when the month comes in, there he remains." 1 The
Sihanaka keep Tuesday as an unlucky day on which
no work is allowed in the fields. Each Sihanaka family,
in addition, inherits a special unlucky day in each
week, when it is not permissible to go outside the house. 2
The Sakalava likewise abstain from all business and
remain strictly in seclusion on their unlucky days,
which belong both to families and to individuals. 3
Among the Betsimisaraka each person has his unlucky
day when he does not work ; in fact, he can do nothing
at this time except eat, drink, sleep, and dress his hair.
Since the introduction of Christianity the day kept
in this strict fashion is Sunday. 4
These accounts of lucky and unlucky days observed
by half-civilized peoples at the present time throw
light on the references to the same superstition found
in the records of archaic civilizations. For Egypt
we have the evidence of several ancient calendars
preserved in papyrus manuscripts. The first of these
dates from the Twelfth Dynasty (about 2000 B.C.)
and includes all the days of the month, eighteen being
defined as "good," nine as "bad," and three (the
sixteenth, twenty-second, and twenty-third), as "half-
good" and "half-bad." The primitive character of
this calendar is indicated by the fact that the same
prognostics are attached to the same days of the month
throughout the year. The second calendar, dating
from about 1000 B.C., is more complicated, since the
prognostics of the several days are unlike in the dif-
ferent months, while each day is itself divided into
three parts, lucky, unlucky, and neutral. Neither
calendar contains mention of the five epagomenal
days. 5
1 J. Sibree, loc. cit. 4 A. van Gennep, op. cit., pp.
2 A. van Gennep, op. cit., p. 203 ; 202 sq.
Antananarivo Annual, 1891, no. 15, 5 The two manuscripts (both in
pp. 302 sq. the British Museum) have been
3 V. Noel, in Bulletin de la edited, respectively, by F. L. Grif-
fociete de geographie, 1843, second fith (Hieratic Papyri from Kahun
series, xx, 71. and Gurob, London, 1898, pi. 25
296 REST DAYS
The third and best-known of these Egyptian calen-
dars is the Papyrus Saltier IV, which in its present
form belongs to about 1200 B.C. but is based on much
earlier documents. 1 Parts of the manuscript at the
beginning and end have been lost, so that it now con-
tains prognostics for only two hundred and thirty-
five days of the year. This interesting production
of ancient though misdirected learning divides the hours
between the rising and the setting of the sun into three
periods, each of which is ruled by its particular influ-
ence. Some days were good throughout the three
periods, some were wholly bad, others were critical
dubium sed in malum vergens while others again
presented combinations of these three characteristics.
The following are typical regulations, arranged ac-
cording to the order of the Egyptian months. 2 22
Thoth : eat no fish and light no oil lamp. 23 Thoth :
put no incense on the fire; kill no animals, domestic
or wild ; eat neither a goose nor a goat. A child born
on this day will amount to nothing. 26 Thoth : do
nothing on this day. 4 Paophi : do not go out of the
house. 5 Paophi : do not go out of the house ; do
text, p. 62 ; and E. A. W. Budge, and Wreszinski (loc. cit.) translates
Facsimiles of Egyptian Hieratic directly from the Egyptian text.
Papyri, London, 1911, pis. 31-32). For discussions of this important
See further W. Wreszinski, "Tage- document see Sir G. Maspero,
wahlerei im alten Agypten," Archiv Etudes egyptiennes, Paris, 1886, i,
fur Religionswissenschaft, 1913, xvi, 29 sq.j idem, Les conies populaires
86-100. de I'Egypte ancienne, 3 Paris, 1905,
1 The text was published in pp. xlix-lii ; idem, New Light on
Select Papyri in the Hieratic Char- Ancient Egypt, 2 London, 1909,
acter, London, 1844, pt. i, pis. 144- pp. 128-136; A. Erman, Life in
F. J.
jour
egyp
tienne, Chalon-s.-S., 1870). The London, 1897, pp. 263 sqq.; E. A.
ps. 144-
168, and was translated by F. J. Ancient Egypt, London, 1894,
Chabas (Le calendrier des jours pp. 351 sq.; A. Wiedemann, The
jastes et nefastes de I'annee egyp- Religion of the Ancient Egyptians,
work of Chabas was masterly, W. Budge, Egyptian Magic, 2 Lon-
but it has now become antiquated don, 1901, pp. 224 sqq.; G. Fou-
by the progress of Egyptology. F. cart, "Calendar (Egyptian)," Hast-
Bohn (Der Sabbat im Alten Testa- ings's Encyclopedia of Religion and
ment, Giitersloh, 1903, pp. 57-62) Ethics, iii, 100 sq.
gives a revised and corrected ver- 2 W. Wreszinski, in Archiv fur
sion of numerous passages, based Religionswissenschaft, 1913, xvi,
on the studies of Professor Sethe, 89 sqq.
UNLUCKY DAYS 297
not have intercourse with a woman. 22 Paophi : do
not wash and do not approach a stream. 19 Athyr:
light no fire. 6 Mechir : do no work. 13 Pharmuthi :
do not go anywhere. In the calendar as a whole the
most frequent injunctions relate to quitting the house,
travelling, sailing, and undertaking any kind of work.
Next in number are the prohibitions of loud talking,
singing, and sexual intercourse. There are also pro-
hibitions of drinking, bathing, and killing or eating
certain animals, besides others directed against the
use of fire and lights. It is clear that in this curious
treatise we have a systematization of popular taboos re-
lating to the lucky or unlucky character of certain days.
The fact that it was used as a boy's schoolbook indicates
how priestly influence had erected into a pseudo-science
the uncouth and childish superstitions of the multitude.
The calendar itself presents evidence that the priests had
begun to rationalize the taboos, for the prohibitions are
often accompanied by a summary of the motives which
justified them, usually legendary episodes of the gods.
For instance, the regulation for the twenty-sixth of
Thoth - "do absolutely nothing" is explained by a
reference to the terrific combat between Horus and his
uncle Set, which occurred on this ill-omened day. 1
The Babylonian augural calendar for the interca-
lated month of Elul and for Markheshwan is not the
only example of omen literature to be found in the
cuneiform records. We possess a document, preserved
in great part, which includes every day in the year,
either specifying its nature as favourable or unfavour-
able or adding other indications with regard to its
character. A note like "hostility," appended to the
twenty-first day of the second month, is a warning
that the gods are out of humour on that day; the
twenty-third day, described as "heart not good," is
explained by the contrast "heart glad" on the follow-
ing day. Not content with a simple distinction of
1 Chabas, op. cit. t p. 28; Wreszinski, in Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft,
1913, xvi, 92 sq.
298 REST DAYS
favourableness and unfavourableness, the calendar
also deals with days "wholly favourable" and "half
favourable." Still other days are noted as those por-
tending "distress," "trouble," "tears," "injury,"
"darkness," "moon obscured," and the like. The pre-
cautions and prohibitions set forth for unlucky days
include, among many others, the familiar taboos of
eating specified foods, such as swine's flesh, beef, dates,
and fish, sexual intercourse, buying and selling, wearing
bright garments, travelling, holding law courts, and
so on. The calendar contains a number of references
to the king and may, very probably, have served the
priests in their instructions to the monarch. As
Professor Jastrow remarks, the belief in lucky and
unlucky days has a distinctly popular flavour, making
it probable that the priests embodied in their lists
many of the notions that arose among the people, and
gave to these an official sanction. 1
The Greeks of Hesiod's time possessed an elaborate
calendar of lucky and unlucky days. 2 "Sometimes
a day is a stepmother, sometimes a mother," Hesiod
remarks pithily. What ancient regulations for the
observance of tabooed periods are embodied in the
calendar is problematical. Many of the prohibitions
with which the first part of the poem concludes are,
however, thoroughly primitive taboos. 3 Hesiod does
1 Rawlinson, Cuneiform Inscrip- tains the injunction that on the
tions of Western Asia, v, pis. 48, 49; fifth day of Nisan "he who fears
Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Marduk or Sarpanit shall not go
Assyria, pp. 379 sqq., Bohn, Der out to work/' On the Babylonian
Sabbat im Alien Testament, pp. 55 nubattu see above, p. 241 n. 1
sqq. A Babylonian tablet (K. 98), 2 Opera et dies, 765-828. On the
published by Professor Sayce Hesiodic calendar see E. E. Sikes,
(Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, 1887, "Folk-lore in the Works and Days
"> 333~335)> gives a list of days on of Hesiod," Classical Review, 1893,
which it was fortunate to undertake vii, 389-394, and the Addenda to
such operations as "staking the Professor A. W. Mair's admirable
canal," "thinning the plantation," version of Hesiod, Oxford, 1908, pp.
and "sinking the foundations of a 162-166. For a full analysis of the
house." Still another text, pub- calendar see A. Mommsen, Chrono-
lished by Dr. Stephen Langdon logie, Leipzig, 1883, pp. 39-46.
{Expository 1909, xxii, 156), con- 3 Opera et dies, 724-764.
UNLUCKY DAYS 299
not mention any days when labour is to be entirely
abandoned. We may assume, perhaps, that at the
period when the Hesiodic poems were composed the
rationalizing temper of the Greeks had gotten some-
what the better of their superstitious fears. In the
Hesiodic list, as in the Egyptian and Babylonian
calendars, the notion appears that not only whole
days but even parts of days have an individual charac-
ter, working for good or evil. The middle ninth (the
nineteenth) is said to be "a better day toward after-
noon." The " fourth which followeth the twentieth
of the month is the best at dawn, but it is worse toward
afternoon." Hesiod does not distinguish the months
as lucky or unlucky, and the days which possess either
of these attributes are the same for every month. He
gives no explanation for their luckiness or unluckiness,
though traces of a rationalizing process are perhaps
observable in the directions regarding the "fifths"
(presumably the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth
days), which are specially unlucky "because on the
fifth men say the Erinyes attended the birth of Oath
(Horkos), whom Strife bare to punish perjurers."
The seventh again is lucky, "for on that day Leto bare
Apollo of the Golden Sword." 1 The Hesiodic injunc-
tions did not cease to be observed in the later classical
epoch and exercised great influence on civil and polit-
ical life. The superstitions relating to unlucky days
only gained a firmer foothold, under the influence of
Babylonian and Egyptian doctrines, in passing from
Greece to Rome and from Rome to western Europe. 2
During the Middle Ages perhaps the most widespread
observance of unlucky days had to do with those which
went under the significant name of dies JEgypiiaci.
The prohibitions marking them not to build a house,
.y 810, 820, 802 sqq.y 770. intimate knowledge of the farmer's
2 The Vergilian calendar (Geor- life, incorporated in his catalogue
gica,y i, 276 sqq.) is obviously an of lucky and unlucky days some or
imitation of Hesiod's, but it may the peasant lore of ancient Italy.
be presumed that Vergil, with his
300 REST DAYS
not to buy or sell, not to cut hair, beard, and nails,
and so on possessed, however, no character specifi-
cally Egyptian. The mediaeval belief was that these
days received their designation because on one of them
the plagues had been sent to devastate the land
of Egypt, and on another Pharaoh and his host had
been swallowed up in the Red Sea. As early as the
fourth century A.D. Christian writers refer to "Egyptian
days" as times feared and avoided by both pagans
and converts to Christianity. 1 About this period the
superstition gained admittance to the state calendars.
In the fasti Philocali (354 A.D.), twenty-five dies JEgyp-
tiaci are reckoned, two in each month except January,
which contains three. 2 A mediaeval French manuscript,
dating from the reign of St. Louis, includes twenty-
four such days, but another manuscript, of the four-
teenth century, enumerates thirty days of the year
as very dangerous, when it is necessary to abstain
from buying and selling, building, and planting. Still
another manuscript, of the fifteenth century, reckons
thirty-one wholly evil days, while certain hours of
other days also possess dangerous qualities. 3 In the
seventeenth century J. B. Thiers, the learned cure of
Vibraie, notices the "Egyptian days" in his extensive
list of the superstitious beliefs regarding certain times
and seasons, prevalent in his age but condemned by
theologians (St. Thomas Aquinas), popes (Nicholas I),
and Church synods and councils. 4 Anglo-Saxon calen-
1 Augustine, In comm. ad Pauliep. In quibus una solet mortalibus hora
ad Galatas, 4; Ambrose, Epist. i, timeri.
23 ; compare Marinus, Vita Prodi* IQ. , T A /r i i /-. i i r
^ Corpus inscriptionum Latina- .' L ; Mola P<?> "Calendner fran-
rum, i, pt. i, 256, 297, with T. ?ais d u treizl eme siecle, Revue
Mommsen's commentary. The ^cheologique, 1862, n.s., v, 103
anonymous author of the Versus de s ^' . T -
diebus Agyptiacis (Poeta latini . J' ?' Jhiers, Traite des super-
minores, ed. A. Baehrens, v, 354- *ons>* Pans, I74\i> W sq.
356) reduces their number to S /, e , fu her , K , a /! Meyer, Der
twenty-four- Aberglaube des Mittelalters, Basel,
1884, p. 210; Du Cange, Glos*
Bis deni binique dies scribuntur in sarium medics et infima latinitatis,
anno, ed. Favre, iii, 106 sq.
UNLUCKY DAYS
301
dars mention about twenty-four "Egyptian days" in
the year, when it is dangerous, if not fatal, to begin an
enterprise or to travel. A manuscript calendar, dating
from the reign of Henry VI, gives a list of thirty-two
such days. After the Reformation the old unlucky
days appear to have abated much of their malevo-
lence, and to have left behind them only a general
superstition against fishermen starting out to fish, or
seamen to take a voyage, or landsmen a journey, or
domestic servants to enter a new place on a Friday. 1
1 Chambers's Book of Days, i, 42. Unlucky" (Miscellanies upon Vari-
See also O. Cockayne, Leechdoms, ous Subjects , London, 1784, pp. 3-
Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early 36). Some rules concerning "peril-
Englandy London, 1866, iii, 150- ous days" are reprinted by Sir
197, and John Aubrey's quaint Lawrence Gomme from a fifteenth
essay on "Day-fatality; or, Some century manuscript (Folk-lore, 1913,
Observations of Days Lucky and xxiv, 121-123).
CONCLUSION
IT is fairly obvious that the observance of tabooed
and unlucky days must be included among the many
superstitions which have retarded the progress of man-
kind. They hinder individual initiative and tend to
prevent the undertaking of lengthy enterprises which
may be interrupted by the recurrence of an unfavour-
able period. Their extensive development compels
fitful, intermittent labour, rather than a steady and
continuous occupation. The Burman, for example,
"is so fettered by his horoscope and the lucky and
unlucky days for him recorded therein, which are
taught him in rhymes from childhood, that the char-
acter has been given him by strangers of alternate
idleness and energy. But both are enforced by the
numerous days and seasons when he may not work
without disaster to himself. Unlucky days cause him
so much fear that he will resort to all sorts of excuses
to avoid business on them. Similarly, on lucky days
he will work beyond his strength, because he is assured
of success." 1 Again, it is said that Europeans in
India usually fail to realize the great influence which
ideas of lucky and unlucky days exert on the conduct
of the people. Superstitious avoidance of unpropitious
occasions will often explain the failure of the natives
to obey a court summons or to keep their appointments
with government officers. 2 These remarks, by keen
1 Sir R. C. Temple, " Burma," Upper Burma see Gazetteer of
in Hastings's Encyclopedia of Reli- Upper Burma and the Shan States,
ion and Ethics, iii, 29; compare edited by Scott and Hardiman,
hway Yoe [Sir J. G. Scott], The Rangoon, 1900, pt. i, vol. ii, 48 sqq.
Burman, his Life and Notions, 3 2 W. Crooke, Popular Religion
London, 1910, pp. 383-389. On and Folk-lore of Northern India, 2
the unlucky days observed in Westminster, 1896, ii, 52 sq.
302
CONCLUSION 303
observers, are capable of a wide application to various
primitive races. The belief in unfavourable seasons
may even directly affect political and social progress,
where, as in modern Ashanti and in ancient Rome,
assemblies could not be held, or courts of justice stand
open, or armies engage the enemy, when the unlucky
day came round. It is equally obvious that all such
beliefs play into the hands of the astrologer and magi-
cian, tending further to strengthen the bonds with
which superstition enchains its votaries.
From the economic point of view it deserves to be
pointed out how the extensive development of tabooed
and unlucky days seriously limits production and thus
lowers the efficiency of labour. In Hawaii the seasons
of strict abstinence regularly observed during eight
months of the year reached a total of seventy-two days,
while from time to time still other tabu days were ap-
pointed by the priests. 1 In Ashanti an old writer
calculated that there were only from one hundred and
fifty to one hundred and sixty days in the year during
which business of any importance could be safely
undertaken. 2 Few peoples have more holidays than
the Hopi Indians of Arizona. Their religious festivals
occupy more than half the year. It is a noteworthy
fact, however, that the Hopi celebrate their longest
and most important ceremonies during the months
from harvest time to planting, when there is little
work to be done. " Although the Pueblo farmer
may thoroughly believe in his ceremonial system as
efficacious, his human nature is too practical to con-
sume the precious planting time with elaborate cere-
monials." 3 In modern China and Korea so many
1 D. Malo, Hawaiian Antiquities, cinas," Fifteenth Annual Report of
Honolulu, 1903, p. 56. the Bureau of American Ethnology,
2 J. Dupuis, Journal of a Resi- Washington, 1897, p. 255. The
dence in Ashantee, London, 1824, Hopi furnish one of the few in-
213 n*\ compare John Beecham, stances of compulsory rest days to
Ashantee and the Gold Coast, Lon- be found among the American
don, 1841, p. 188. Indians. They hold a mid-winter
3 J. W. Fewkes, "Tusayan Kat- festival, called the soydluna, at the
304 REST DAYS
festivals in honour of deities are observed as holidays
that they take the place, to a certain extent, of the
Sabbath institution. 1 Among the ancient Egyptians
the unlucky days varied in number according to the
different months, six, for instance, occurring in Paophi,
seven each in Choiak and Phamenoth, and five in
Pharmuthi. It may be reckoned that "popular super-
stition rendered useless about one-fifth of the year."
The Athenian festivals are estimated to have occupied
from fifty to sixty days of the year. The irregular
distribution of these holidays throughout the months,
and especially their congestion in spring and autumn,
must have caused much interference with the routine
of daily life. 3 In some city-states the festivals were
more numerous : at Tarentum, in the days of its pros-
perity, the people are said to have had more holidays
than working days. 4
In the old Roman calendar, out of three hundred
and fifty-five days, nearly one-third (one hundred and
nine) were marked as nefasti, that is, as unlawful for
judicial and political business. These days belonged
wholly to the gods, while eleven more days of the year
were shared by the divine and the human inhabitants
of the city. 5 We know on the evidence of Cicero that
time of the winter solstice. " De- other festivals, both general and
cember is regarded as a sacred local, are common occasions for
month ; no work is performed in it, relaxation and merry-making (S.
and few games are allowed. It is W. Williams, The Middle Kingdom?
the month of the return of the sun New York, 1883, i, 809).
and the gods, and bears the same 2 Maspero, New Light on Ancient
name as July, in_ which they Egypt? p. 135.
depart" (J. W. Fewkes, "The 3 G. F. Schoemann, Griechische
Winter Solstice Ceremony at Alterthumer? edited by J. H.
Walpi," American Anthropologist, Lipsius, Berlin, 1897-1902, ii,
1898, xi, 69). 458 sq.; compare Plato, Leges, ii,
1 J. H. Gray, China, London, 653; Thucydides, ii, 38.
1878, i, 249; W. E. Griffis, Corea, 4 Strabo, Geographica, vi, 3, 4.
the Hermit Nation? New York, 5 This calculation assumes 109
1889, p. 295. According to one dies nefasti, 192 dies fasti et comi-
account the shops in China are tiales, on which assemblies might
shut and all business suspended meet, 43 dies fasti non comitiales,
only on the first three days of the available for judicial business but
year, though these and numerous not for meetings of the assemblies,
CONCLUSION 305
in the last century of the republic the numerous days
when courts could not sit had become a resource on
which a wealthy criminal could speculate as a means
of delaying and evading justice; while Suetonius
enumerates among the praiseworthy reforms of Augus-
tus the cutting-down of non-judicial days by thirty,
"in order that crimes might not escape punishment
or business be impeded by delay." l Of the dies
nefasti sixty-one, including the Ides of every month,
the Kalends of three months, and the Nones of July,
were numbered in the republican calendar among the
public festivals ferite public ce on which the state
expected the citizens to abstain, as far as possible,
from their private business and labour. 2 But the
number of rest days observed really reached a larger
total, when we remember that, besides the extraordi-
nary ferice, proclaimed from time to time, there was a
marked tendency during the last two centuries of the
republic to extend over several days festivals to which
originally only one day had been allotted. This was for
the purpose of giving time for an elaborate programme
of public games (ludi), consisting of chariot-races,
stage plays, and other forms of popular amusement.
As the Roman passion for holidays and their at-
tendant spectacles increased, we find the number of
days devoted to them rising from sixty-six in the reign
of Augustus to eighty-seven in that of Tiberius, and,
under Marcus Aurelius, to a hundred and thirty-five.
By the middle of the fourth century their number
had reached one hundred and seventy-five. 3 For the
lower classes at Rome the gladiatorial combats, chariot-
8 dies intercisiy or days partly fasti by their rivals, ferial days being
and partly nffasti, and 3 dies fissi included in the dies nefasti.
(Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der 2 Above, pp. 94 sqq., 170.
Romer y pp. 368 sq.). 3 L. Friedlander, Roman Life and
1 Cicero, In Verrem y \, 10; Sueto- Manners under the Early Empire,
nius, Divus Augustus, 32. It has London, 1908, ii, II sq.; W. W.
been already noticed (above, p. 97) Fowler, Social Life at Rome in the
that Roman consuls sometimes Age of Cicero, New York, 1909,
instituted extraordinary ferics for pp. 287 sqq. Though the ancients
the purpose of blocking legislation were careful to distinguish the
x
3 o6 REST DAYS
races, and dramatic shows formed the chief pleasure
of life. The once-sovereign people of Rome became a
lazy, worthless rabble, fed by the state and amused
with the games. Of them it was well said by an
ancient satirist that they wanted only two things to
make them happy "bread and the games of the
circus." 1
Many of the holy days in the religious calendar of
Christendom were borrowed, as is well known, from
the public festivals of ancient paganism. This must
be the chief reason for the observance of so many non-
working days during the Middle Ages. Their number
was largely reduced in Protestant Europe as the result
of the Reformation, which did away with the majority
of saints' days. In Catholic countries, however, there
is still an excessive amount of time devoted to religious
celebrations. Mexico, for instance, is described as "a
land of holidays. Counting Sundays, there are one
hundred and thirty-one in the Mexican calendar, and
it is asserted that more than half of the people observe
them all. . . . On certain of these days all Mexico
takes to the festival, and it usually requires from one
to three days for the peons to sober up and get back to
regular work again." 2 The Greek Church, as a cele-
brated traveller and historian once pointed out, requires
her followers to observe so many holy days "as practi-
cally to shorten the lives of the people very materially.
I believe that one-third of the number of days in the
year are 'kept holy,' or rather, kept stupid, in honour
of the saints : no great portion of the time thus set
apart is spent in religious exercises and the people don't
betake themselves to any animating pastimes, which
might serve to strengthen the frame, or invigorate the
^ from the l-udi (compare that nearly all of them were con-
Gellius, Nodes Attica^ ii, 24, 1 1 : verted into ludi.
Diebus ludorumet ferns quibusdam), l Panem et circenses (Juvenal,
yet in late republican and imperial x, 81).
times the joyous aspects of the 2 W. J. Showalter, in National
jerice had become so prominent Geographic Magazine, 1914, xxv, 493.
CONCLUSION 307
mind, or exalt the taste." 1 In Russia commercial
and educational progress is hindered by the multitude
of saints' days. "The dies nefas, when work is tabooed,
becomes a serious handicap in the race of modern life.
These saints' days, together with the Sundays, rob
the Russian of nearly one-third of his time, for they
leave him only about two hundred and fifty days for
work. He would sooner work on a Sunday than on a
saint's day." 3 In eastern Galicia, where a calendar
is in use which permits the observance of the religious
festivals of both the Roman and the Greek churches,
the number of holidays or non-working days is con-
siderably in excess of one hundred, rising in some
districts to one hundred and fifty, and in others reach-
ing the amazing total of two hundred. 3 To what
extremes the practice of abstaining from labour on
holy days may extend is further illustrated in Abys-
sinia, where the numerous fasts and feasts are so
strictly kept as to render about six months of the year
prohibited for any secular employments. 4
Human nature, it has been said, is always ready for
the shift from fast to feast, from Sabbath to Saturnalia, y
To the student of primitive religion and sociology noth-
ing is more interesting than the contemplation of that
unconscious though beneficent process which has con-
verted institutions, based partly or wholly on a belief in
the imaginary and the supernatural, into institutions
resting on the rock of reason and promoting human
welfare. Though the origin of tabooed and unlucky
days must be sought in gross superstition, sooner or
later they acquire a secular character and may then
be perpetuated as holidays, long after their earlier
significance has disappeared. The transition, with
all its subtle and manifold results on the organization
1 A.W. Kinglake, jEoMiftt, chap. v. Auswanderungspolitik in Osier-
2 W. F. Adeney, The Greek and reich, Leipzig, 1909, p. 56.
Eastern Churches, New York, 1908, 4 W. C. Harris, The Highlands
p. 433. of Ethiopia, New York [1843],
3 L. Caro, Auswanderung und p. 280.
3 o8 REST DAYS
of society, may be followed under our own eyes. The
passage of the holy day into the holiday, beginning in
the lower culture, promises to reach its culmination in
the secularizing of all the great festivals of the Chris-
tian year. This evolutionary movement, whether for
weal or woe, at least provides a singularly instruc-
tive illustration of the close relations between religion
and social progress, which must ever impress the in-
quirer into the early history of mankind.
INDEX
Aberdeenshire, 279.
Abonsam, a Gold Coast demon, 77.
Abor, the, 54.
Abraham, 240 n. 1
Abyssinia, 70, 139 n. 2 , 193 sq., 199, 210,
270 n., 307.
Achehnese of Sumatra, 204.
Adams, J. Q., on the French Revolu-
tionary calendar, 283.
Afar, the, 199.
Affirah-bi, a Gold Coast festival of
the dead, 76, 77.
Afghanistan, 293.
Agar, the rest days of the Siah Posh
Kafirs, 293 sq.
"A7tos, Greek term for taboo, 3 and
n. 6
Aha, Hawaiian prayers, n, 12 and n?,
13-
Ahanta of the Gold Coast, 190 and w. 4
Akamba of British East Africa, 136, 145.
Akikuyu of British East Africa, 6, 68,
101 n. 1 , 107, 136, 209 sq.
Akposo of Togo, 115 n.
Alaska, 72 sq., 73 n. 2
Albania, 272.
Alcibiades, 92 sq.
Ailia, battle of the, 171, 245, 273.
Amau, the Kayan omen animals, 28
and n. 1
Amos, the prophet, 244, 252.
Anahulu, the Hawaiian, 188.
Anam, 189, 201.
Andaman Islanders, the, 132, 181.
Animals, used in divination, 27, 28
and n. 1 , 59 n. 2 ; rest days for, 95 sq.,
138.
Animistic sanctions of taboos, 5 sq.
Anita, ancestral spirits of the Bontoc
Igorot, 48 n?
Anoiila, the Nicobarese term for rest
day, 40, 165.
Anthesteria, Athenian festival of the,
79 sq., 88.
Antu, Bornean spirits, 35 n?
Apis, sacred Egyptian bull, 129 .*
Apollo, 169, 211 and n. 4 , 212 n. 1 , 299.
' A7ro0/xi5es yptpcu, Greek unlucky days,
79 sq., 84, 92 sq., 139 and n*,
140.
Arabs, lunar superstitions of the, 126,
139, 248; calendar of the, 175,
179 n. 1 , 182 .', 226 sq. ; their pref-
erence for odd numbers, 178 n. 1 ;
their adoption of the seven-day week,
206; lunar mansions of the, 275.
Arakan, 55, 66.
Arizona, 303.
Armenia, 282 sq.
Artemis, 130.
Aryans of ancient India, lunar festivals
of the, 149 sqq. ', their epagomenal
days, 276 sq.
'AfrAiPoi, the Athenian, 139 and n. 8
Ashanti, 303.
Assam, 49 sqq., 53 sqq., 65 sq., 89, 106,
233*7-
Asshurbanipal, Assyrian king, 223, 238.
Astrology, 191 n. 1 , 194 sq., 197 w. 2 ,
202, 204, 205, 210, 213 sqq., 216 sqq.,
220, 244, 274 sq., 286 n. 3 , 287 sq., 303.
Atenoux, 185.
Athene, 92, 93.
Athenian festivals, 79 sq., 88, 91 sqq.,
169 sq., 304.
Atonement, Day of, 81 sqq., 93, 179 n. 1 ,
235 n. 2 , 260.
Atua, Polynesian spirits, 5, 8.
August, unlucky days of, in Greek
lands, 284.
Augustine, St., 265.
Augustus, Roman emperor, 100, 219,
35-
Aurelius, Marcus, 305.
309
310
INDEX
Auspices, Maori, 17.
Australia, 26, 128, 180, 183.
Azazel, a bad angel or demon, 82, 83 n. 1
Babylonians, the, their conception of
taboo, 6, 231 sq. ; their superstitions
relating to the moon, 126, 138 sq. ;
their five-day period, or khamushtu,
195 and n?, 228; cult of seven
among the, 212 sqq., 225, 229 sqq. ;
the seven planets and planetary
deities of the, 213 sqq. ; their divi-
sion of the nycthemeron into twelve
kaspu, 218 n. 1 ; their "evil days,"
223 sqq., 230, 231, 232 sqq., 236,
241, 254, 257 sq., 282 n. 1 ; seven-
day cycles of the, 224 sq., 227 sqq.',
lunar month of the, 226 sqq.; the
shabattum, 235 sqq., 239, 240 sq. ;
new-moon and full-moon days ob-
served by the, 239 sq. ; their un-
lucky days, 241 n. 1 , 297 sq.; the
Hebrew week and Sabbath not
directly borrowed from the, 246;
their lunar mansions, 274 sq.
Badaga of the Madras Presidency, 149.
Baffin Land, 71 sq.
Baganda of Uganda, 129, 145 sq.
Bahima of Uganda, 75 sq., 76 n. 1 , 147.
Bahuana of Belgian Congo, 108.
Bakuba of Belgian Congo, 108.
Bali, island of, 41 sqq., 105, 165 and n. 1 ,
183, 205.
Balubale, Bahima demons, 76 and n. 1
Bambala of Belgian Congo, 108 and n. 6
Banyoro of Uganda, 146 sq.
Bapiri of British South Africa, 144.
Barotse of British South Africa, 145.
Barter, Australian, 103 .
Basoga of Uganda, 69 sq.
Basuto of British South Africa, 68,
75 and n?, 179.
Bathing prohibited during a tabooed
or unlucky period, I, 9, 31, 39, 49 n. 1 ,
70, 92 n., 155, 273 n. 3 , 289, 297.
Batta of Sumatra, 105, 205, 285 sq.
Bawenda of British South Africa, 194.
Bayaka of Belgian Congo, 108 and n. 5
Baziba of Uganda, 145.
Bechuana of British South Africa, 68,
144 sq.
Belgian Congo, 105 sq., 117 n. 1 , 190.
Bengal, 88 sq., 137.
Benin, 101 n. 1 , ill, 112 and n. 1 , 182,
187 n. 1
Bhaskara Saptami, Hindu festival of,
153 s<I-
Bhutan, the Buddhist Sabbath in, 163.
Bini of Benin, 101 n. 1 , in, 112 and n. 1 ,
182, 187 n. 1
Bodily attentions not permitted during
a tabooed or unlucky period, I, 9,
3i 39 49 n. 1 , 70, 71, 92 n., 151, 155,
232, 233, 282 n. 1 , 289, 300. See also
Bathing.
Bohemia, 135 n. 7
Book of the Dead, the, 167.
Borneo, 6, 26 sqq., 65, 88, 180, 208 sq.
Boscawen, W. H., 236 n. 1
Bowditch Island. See Fakaofo.
Brazil, 125, 182.
Breasted, J. H., 167 n. 1
British Columbia, 71 n.*, 197 n. 1
East Africa, 6, 68 sq., 107, 128,
134, 136, 145, 181 sq., 189 sq., 198 sq.,
209 sq.
New Guinea, 26 and n. 3 , 101 n. 1 ,
103 sq.
North Borneo, 65, 208 sq.
South Africa, 67 sq., 137, 144 sq.,
182, 194, 214 n.
Brittany, 130, 279.
Bubuk, the Land Dyak name of full
moon, 37.
Buddha, the, 156, 157, 158, 161.
Buddhism, observance of the uposatha
in, 155 sqq.
Buriat of Siberia, 132.
Burkeneji of British East Africa, 198 sq.
Burma, tabooed days observed in,
55 sqq., 66; the Buddhist Sabbath
in, 159 sqq. ; divisions of the month
employed in, 184, 189; the seven-
day week in, 201; unlucky days
observed in, 273 n. 3 , 302.
Bushmen of British South Africa, 126,
141 sq., 147.
Bushongo. See Bakuba.
Buta, Balinese evil spirits, 42.
Calabar (Old), 78, in.
Calendar, the, 13 n. 1 , 47, 75, 82 n. 2 ,
118, 148, 166, 173 sqq., 226 sqq.,
248 sq., 253 sqq., 279, 281, 282 sq.
INDEX
ibodia, 162, 184 n?, 200, 201.
Canaanites, the Sabbath not borrowed
from the, 246.
Cannae, battle of, 171 n. 1
Cardinal points, colour symbolism of
the, 105 n. 2
Caroline Islands, the, 24^., 181, 188 sq.
Cato the Elder, on Roman holidays,
95 sq. y 98.
Celebes, 104, 205.
Celtiberians, lunar festivals of the, 172.
Celts, lunar festivals of the, 172; their
calendar, 185 sq. ; nine-day cycles of
the, 193 and n. 2
Central America, 118, 119, 174, 280 sq.
Ceylon, 155, 158, 159 and n. 1 , 184, 201.
Chams, the, 184 n. z , 201.
Cherokee Indians, the, 141, 214 n.
Cheyne, T. K., 243 n. 1
Chibcha. See Muysca.
Chiefs and kings, death of, necessitates
communal abstinence, 25, 26, 63,
65, 67, 68, 69 sq. ; responsible for
the observance of communal taboos,
27 n. 1 , 45, 68 n. 1 ; subject to various
restrictions, 233 sq.
Childbirth, taboos imposed in connec-
tion with, 4, 7, 25, 38 and n. 3 , 44,
53 56, 57 n. 1 , 66 and n. 2 , 69 n?;
the moon associated with, 127 sqq.
Chinese, lunar superstitions of the,
135, 164; lunar festivals observed
by the, 163 sq. ; their tradition of a
ten-month year, 177 n. 1 ; their
lunar decades, 189 and . 4 ; the
planetary week known to the, 202;
their lunar mansions, 202, 274; ob-
serve no rest days, 203 and n. 1 ,
303 sq. ; unlucky days of the, 286
and n. 3 , 287.
Chingpaw. See Kachin.
Chronocratories, astrological theory of,
217 sq.
Chukchi of Siberia, 73, 126.
Cicero, on Roman holidays, 97, 304 sq.
Claudius, Roman emperor, 100.
Cochin-China, 189, 200.
Coligny, Calendar of, 133 w. 5 , 185 and
n. 4 , 1 86 n. 1
Colombia, 119 and n. 3 , 186.
Comets, taboos imposed in connection
with, 51.
Congo Free State. See Belgian Congo.
Constantine, edict of, relating to
Sunday, 122 sq., 270.
Cooking not allowed during a tabooed
or unlucky period, 10, 15, 16, 42,
155, 232 and n*, 233, 257 and n. 3
258, 260.
Copernicus, 216.
Cos, island of, 284.
Courts and public offices not open
during a tabooed or unlucky period,
67, 79, 80, 122 and n*, 155, 164,
169, 203, 211, 239 n. 4 , 279, 280,
298, 303> SOS-
Couvade, custom of the, 58 sq.
Covenanters of Damascus, the, 263 n. 3
Creation myth, the Babylonian, 229;
the Hebrew, 242 sq.
Creek Indians, the, 141.
Cremera, battle of the, 273.
Crete, 284.
Crisis, sociological conception of, 60 sq.,
86.
Cumont, Franz, 220 n. 3
Cyclades, the, 134.
Cyprian, 270.
Cyprus, 284.
Dahomey, 1 14 and n?
Dakota Indians, the, 141.
Dalai Lama, tabooed days observed
after the death of the, 67.
Danakil, the, 199.
Darmesteter, J., 166 n.
David, 245.
Dead, festivals of the, 51 and n. 4 ,
74 sqq., 79 sqq.
Death, taboos observed after a, 7,
19 n., 24, 25, 26, 34, 36, 38, 39,
43, 44, 51, 60, 63 sqq., 84, 95 and
n?, 258 sq.', primitive ideas of,
62 sq.
Debel, N. H., 196 n. 1
Decade, the, 188 sqq., 198, 245, 281 n. J
Decalogues, the, 242 and n. 1 , 256.
Deluge myth, the Babylonian, 212, 230;
the Hebrew, 276 n. 2
Demons, punish the violators of taboos,
5 sq., 8, 28, 31 sqq. t 40 sqq., 48,
49 n. 1 , 51; expulsion of, 22, 40 sqq.,
56, 74 sqq., 278.
Dendera, temple of, 168.
3 I2
INDEX
Dew, the moon believed to be the
source of, 131 and n?
Diana, 130.
Dichomenia, the Greek full-moon day,
170 and n? y 184 and n. 6
Dieri of South Australia, 180.
Dies JEgyptiaci, 299 sqq.
Alliensis, 245, 273.
airi. See Dies religiosi.
dominica, the Lord's Day, 220 sq.,
267.
feriati. See Feruc.
nefasti, 80 w. 2 , 304 sq.
postriduani, 170 sq.
religiosi, Roman unlucky days,
80 and, n.\ 81, 84, 93 sq., 94 n?,
170 sq., 171 n\ 273.
Saturni. See Saturday.
Solis. See Sunday.
vitiosi. See Dies religiosi.
Diffusion of cultural elements, 39 sq.,
58, 84, 196.
Dio Cassius, on the origin of the plane-
tary week, 216 sqq. ; on the Hebrew
Sabbath, 245.
Dionysus, 79, 88, 266.
Diulasu, the, n6n. 1
Divination, 17, 27, 28 sqq., 48, 50 n. 1 ,
285 sqq.
Dositheus, observance of the Sabbath
by, 257 n. 1
Dravidians of India, 66 sq., 88 sqq.,
137 sq., 148 sq.
Durga, Hindu goddess, 153.
Dusun of British North Borneo, 65,
208 sq.
Dutch Borneo, 26 n. 1 , 31 sqq., 180.
New Guinea, 104.
Du-zang, the Tibetan Sabbath, 162 sq.
Earthquakes, taboos imposed in con-
nection with, 42, 43, 50, 60, 69,
99 ^., 152.
Eclipses, taboos imposed in connection
with, 42, 50 sq., 99, 134 sq., 152, 153,
259-
Edo. See Bini.
Egbo, a secret society of Old Calabar,
78, in.
Egungun, a Slave Coast deity, 77.
" Egyptian days." See Dies JEgyptiaci.
Egyptians, superstitions of the, relating
to the moon, 129 and n. 6 ; their lunar
festivals, 166 sqq. ; solar year of the,
1 66, 174, 281 ; their ideas as to the
full moon, 186 and n. 1 ; ten-day week
of the, 191 and n. 1 , 245, 281 n?',
astrological cycles of the, 191 n. 1 ,
194 sq. ; the division of the nycthe-
meron into twenty-four hours known
to the, 218 n. 1 ', their unlucky days,
258, 282, 295 sqq., 304; epagomenal
days of the, 281 sq.
Elisha, 249, 251.
Ellis, A. B., on the origin of weeks and
Sabbaths, 115, 148 and n?
Ellis, William, 10 n?
Elmore, W. T., 90 n. 1
Elpanam, the men's house in the
Nicobar Islands, 40 and n. z , 41.
Elul II, Babylonian intercalary month,
224, 232,241 n. 1 , 297.
England, lunar superstitions in, 134,
135, 140; unlucky days observed
in, 279, 300 sq.
Ennead, the, 192 sq.
Epagomenal days, Hawaiian, 13 n. 2 ;
Hebrew, 82 n. 2 , 276 w. 2 ; early Aryan,
276 sq. ; European folklore of the
Twelve Days, 277 sqq. ; Mexican
and Maya, 279 sqq. ; Egyptian,
281 sq. ; Persian, 282; Armenian,
282 sq. ; of the French Revolutionary
calendar, 283.
Epic of Creation, the Babylonian, 229.
Epirus, 284.
Erronan. See Futuna.
Eskimo, the, 71 sqq., 129.
Essenes, the, 257 n. 3
Esthonians, the, 222.
Euahlayi of New South Wales, 128.
"Evil Days," the Babylonian, 223 sqq.,
230, 231, 232 sqq., 236, 241, 254,
257 sq., 282 n. 1
Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave
Coast, tabooed days observed by
the, 112, 113, 114, 115-
Ezekiel, 253, 254, 255, 262.
Fady, Malagasy term for taboo, 3, 70,
294.
Fakaofo (Bowditch Island), 20 sq.
Fakily a Bontoc Igorot festival, 48.
Fandroana, a Malagasy festival, 76.
INDEX
Farming, restrictions on, during a
tabooed or unlucky period, 16 sq.,
17 n.\ 21, 23, 27 sqq., 37, 42, 44,
45, 46, 47 sq., 49 J?., 54 55, 57 sq.,
64, 65, 67, 68 sqq., 89, 96, 98, 103,
109, 110, 113, 137, 144, 148 sq.,
159 n.\ 162 n. 4 , 190 n. 4 , 194, 204,
208 sq., 256, 284, 285, 293, 295, 300.
Farnell, L. R., 80 n. 1
Fasting practised during a tabooed or
unlucky period, I, 15, 16, 17, 32,
39, 43, 44, 58, 62, 67, 68, 75 n. 2 ,
81, 89, 134, 135, 143, 146, 149 sqq.,
155, 158, 159, 160, 162, 163 n. 2 ,
198, 233, 259 J0., 278, 285, 298.
Fasti Philocali, the, 123 n. 3 , 300.
Sabini, the, 219.
Feast of Weeks, Hebrew, 90, 225 w. 2 ,
251.
Fe'e, Samoan war-god, 19 sq.
Feralis, Roman festival of the, 81 n. 1
Ferue, the Roman, 94 sqq., 122 sq.,
170, 221 n. 2 , 264 /., 305 and n?
denicales, 95 and n?
imperatives, 98 sqq.
sementivce, 96 anJ n. 1
Festivals, Polynesian, 1 1 sqq. ; Bornean,
30 /?., 37 sq. ; in the Nicobar Is-
lands, 40 sq., 41 n. 2 ; in Bali, 41 sqq.',
in the Mentawi Islands, 43 sq.', in
the Philippines, 45 sqq. ; in Manipur,
49 sqq. ; in Assam, 53 sqq. ; in Burma,
55 sqq.; in Africa, 75 sqq., 112 j^.;
ancient Greek, 79 sq., 88, 91 jgg.,
133 n. 6 , 169 J0., 211, 304; ancient
Roman, 80 sq., 93 ^qq., I21 -W I 7>
304 j<?. ; Jewish, 82, 276 n. 2 ; Mo-
hammedam, 83; characteristics of,
85; accompanied by the remission
of labour, 85 sqq. ; consecrated to
divinities, 87 sq. ; of the Dravidian
peoples of India, 88 sqq. ; Hebrew,
90 sq., 248 sqq. ; ancient Aryan, in
India, 149 sqq. ; modern Brahmanic,
153 sq., 165; Jain, 154 sq.', Buddhist,
155 sqq.; Chinese, 163 sq., 303 sq.;
Iranian, 165 sq. ; Egyptian, 166 sqq. ;
Babylonian, 239 sq. ; Phoenician, 240;
Christian, 267 sqq., 36 *?; Hopi
Indian, 303.
Fewkes, J. W., on the Zuni decades,
191 n.
Fiji Islands, the, 21 sqq., 88.
Fimt, the Scandinavian, 195 sq.
Finns, the, 222.
Fires and lights extinguished during a
tabooed or unlucky period, i, 9, ic,
12, 14, 15, 16, 20, 39, 41, 71, 257
and n. 3 , 258 sq., 296, 297.
First-fruits, ceremony of, in New Zea-
land, 17 n. 1 ; in the Tonga Islands,
18 and w. 2 , 19; in the Fiji Islands,
23; the Hebrew Day of, 90 sq.;
the Athenian Plynteria, 92 sq. ; the
Roman Vestalia, 93 sq.
Fishermen subject to taboos, 14, 25 n. 1
Fishing, restrictions on, during a
tabooed period, 13, 14 sqq., 25 and
n. 1 , 26 and n. 3 , 50, 64, 67, 113 and
n?, 155, 161, 285, 301.
Flamen Dialis, restrictions imposed on
the, 96 and n?
Flaminica Dialis, 92 n., 96, 122.
Florida, state of, 71.
Food taboos. See Fasting.
Formosa, 44.
Fowler, W. W., on the dies postriduani,
171 n?
France, lunar superstitions in, 126 sq.,
130; unlucky days observed in
mediaeval, 300.
Frazer, J. G., 2 n. 1 , 3 n. 6 , 5, 19 n. 1 , 25 . J ,
31 n. 1 , 36 n., 57 n. 2 , 59 n. 1 , 74 n. 6 , 79
n. 4 , 90 . 4 , 127 n. B , 131 n. 8 , 277 n. 4
French Equatorial Africa, 3.
Friday, an unlucky day, 92 n., 139 n. 8 ,
222 n. 2 , 273 and n. 3 , 301 ; as the
Mohammedan Sabbath, 107 n. 2 ,
Ill n. 3 , 115, 116 sq., 197, 199, 201,
204, 205 sq., 262 n. 2
Frontinus, 245.
Full moon, 32 and n. 2 , 34 and n. 1 ,
37, 52 n. 1 , 133 and . 8 , 134, 142 sq.,
146 sq., 148 sqq., 179, 180, 181 n. 7 ,
182 n. 7 , 183, 184 j0., 186 n. 1 , 229,
238 j^., 240 n. 3 , 246, 250 j^., 254,
257, 260.
Futuna (Erronan), island of, 24.
Galicia, saints' days observed in, 307.
Galla, the, ii6n. 3 , 199.
Gaman, the, 116 n. 1
Games played during a tabooed period,
13, 20, 31 n. 1 , Son. 1
INDEX
Gamut, origin and diffusion of the,
217 n*
Garo of Assam, 54.
Ga-speaking peoples of the Gold Coast,
tabooed days observed by the, 112,
115; their lunar weeks, 187 and
n?
Gatha-days, the Persian, 282.
Gaul, ancient, 186 n. 1 , 221.
Genesia, Athenian festival of the, 79.
Genna (kennie), the Naga term for
rest day, 49 and n. 3 , 52 w. 2
Gennabura. See Khullakpa.
German East Africa, 68, 76, 107, 197,
209.
New Guinea, 57 n. 1 , 180.
Germanic languages, names of the
week days in, 221 sq.
Germans, ancient, observance of new
moon and full moon by the, 133, 172,
185 ; cycles of nine days used by the,
193-
Germany, abstinence from work after
a death observed in, 74; lunar
superstitions in, 126, 127, 133, 135 n. 1 ;
unlucky days observed in, 127, 278 sq.
Gilgamesh, Epic of, 276 w. 2
Gold Coast of west Africa, 76 sq., 112,
113, 115, 187, 190 and n*
Gour-dfziou, the, in Brittany, 279.
Greek Church, saints' days in the
calendar of the, 306 sq.
Greeks, ancient, unlucky days of the,
79 sq., 84, 92 sq., 139 sq.; festivals
of the, 79 sq., 88, 91 sqq., 133 ft. 6 ,
169 sq., 211, 304; their superstitions
relating to the moon, 126, 129 sq.,
133 n. 3 , 139 sq.\ their lunar calendar,
169, 184; lunar decades of the,
191 sq.; cycles of nine days and
nine years used by the, 192 sq. ;
cult of seven among the, 211 sq.
Greenland, 71, 129.
Grimme, H., on the Day of Atonement,
83 n. 1 ; on Pleiades cults among the
Hebrews, 225 n. 2
Gudea, the inscription of, 239 n. 4
Habbe of the Sudan, 69 n. 2 , 116 n. 1
Hair-cutting, superstitions relating to,
9, 18 n., 53, 92 w., 151, 300.
Halmahera, island of, 63 sq.
Hammurabi, Babylonian king, 223,
235 n. 1
Hannibal, 99.
Hanuman, Hindu monkey-god, 201.
Haoma, 129.
Harran, city of, 239, 240 and n. 1
Haughbah, a tabooed day on the Gold
Coast, 115 n*
Hawaiian Islanders, tabooed days ob-
served by the, 8 sqq., 24, 88, 188,
233 258, 303 ; their calendar, 13 n*,
188.
Hebdomad. See Seven-day week.
Hebrews, the, their Sabbath, 10 w. 4 ,
91, 96 n. 1 , 98 n. 4 , 104 n., 109, 122,
148, 179 w. 1 , 235, 236 and n., 242 sqq.,
291 sq. ; the Day of Atonement,
8 1 sqq., 93, 179 n. 1 , 235 .*, 260;
their agricultural festivals, 90 sq.,
250 sq.; cult of seven among the,
212 w. 3 ; their seven-day week, 243,
245 sq., 253 sqq., 267; new-moon
and full-moon festivals of the, 248 sqq.
See also Jews.
Heiau, Hawaiian temple, 9, 12, 15.
Heptagram, the, 217 n. 1
Hera, 130, 169, 170.
Hervey Islands, the, 181 n. 1
Hesiod, 169, 170 n. 2 , 192, 211, 298 sq.
Hiang, a Formosan term for rest day, 44.
Ho of Togo, 182.
Hobbes, Thomas, on the origin of
religion, I.
Holiness, the conception of, 86 and n. 1 ,
242 n. 1
Holy days. See Festivals.
water, Hawaiian, n.
Hooker, Richard, 259 sq.
Hopi Indians of Arizona, festivals of
the, 303 and n?
Horace, 266.
Hosea, the prophet, 252.
Hottentots of British South Africa,
182, 214 n.
Hours, division of the nycthemeron
into, 218 and n. 1
House-building, taboos imposed in con-
nection with, 32 sq., 34, 39, 43, 44,
4S> 55> 209, 285, 299, 300.
Hova of Madagascar, 132 sq., 294.
Hrilh, the Lushei term for taboo, 55.
Hua, Hawaiian deity, 15, 88.
INDEX
315
Huahine, island of, 9.
Humphrey Island. See Manahiki.
Hunting, restrictions on, during a
tabooed period, 50, 72 and n. 1 ,
73 n. 1 , 74, 155, 161 sq.
Iban (Sea Dyak) of Borneo, 33 sqq., 65,
208.
Ibo of Southern Nigeria, in and n. 3
Ides, the, 170, 171, 184 sq., 185 n. 1 , 305.
Ignatius, St., 269 and n. 3
Igorot of Luzon, 46 sqq., 88, 181.
Ihering, R. von, on the origin of periodic
rest days, 102.
Impregnation believed to be accom-
plished by the moon, 127 sqq.
Inachi, the Tonga ceremony of first-
fruits, 1 8 and n. 2 , 93.
Inclusive reckoning, practice of, 1 19 n. 1 ,
120 n. 2 , 267 n. 6
India, tabooed days after a death
observed in, 66 sq. ; Dravidian
village festivals, 88 sqq. ; Dravidian
lunar superstitions, 132, 134 sq.,
148 sq. ; the ancient Aryan upa-
vasatha, 149 sqq. ; Hindu festival of
Bhaskara Saptami, 153 sq.', Hindu
bipartite division of the month,
183 sq. ; the seven-day week in,
199 sqq.; symbolism of seven in,
21 1 ; the lunar mansions in, 275;
the Twelve Days in, 276 sq.; un-
lucky days observed in, 291, 302.
Indians, North American, 141, 182,
197, 210, 211 and n. 1
Indo-China, 66, 105 sq., 184, 189, 200.
Innuit of Alaska, 72.
Interlunium, the, as a tabooed period,
136 sqq.
Iranians, lunar superstitions of the,
129; their lunar festivals, 165 sq.,
200; their bipartite division of the
month, 184. See also Persians.
Isaiah, 252, 265.
Ishtar, Babylonian goddess, 129, 226,
230, 232.
Isidore of Seville, 172.
Italy, introduction of the planetary
week into, 219.
Jainism, observance of the posaha in,
154 sq.
Jaluo of British East Africa, 128.
Japan, the Buddhist Sabbath in, 164;
the lunar decade in, 189; the seven-
day week in, 203 sq. ; rest days
observed in, ib. ; unlucky days ob-
served in, 287.
Jastrow, Morris, on the observance of
the seventh day in Babylonia, 232 n. 4 ;
on the meaning of shabbdt hon, 236 n.;
on the meaning of shabattum, 237;
on the inscription of Gudea, 240 n. ;
on the original significance of the
word "Sabbath," 251; on Baby-
lonian unlucky days, 298.
Java, 104, 105 and n.\ 183, 200, 205
and n. 4
Jehovah, 91, 242, 247, 248, 256, 260,
261, 262.
Jenks, A. E., on the rest days observed
by the Bontoc Igorot, 47 n?
Jeremiah, 262.
Jericho, 255 n. 1
Jesus, words of, relating to the ob-
servance of the Sabbath, 269.
Jews, taboos after a death observed
by the, 74; celebration of New
Year's Day by the, 82 ; their super-
stitions relating to the moon, 126
and . 6 , 135 and n. 6 ; neglect of the
Sabbath by modern, 235 ; unlucky
days of the, 263 n. 2 , 273 sq. See also
Hebrews.
Johns, C. H. W., on the observance of
the Babylonian "evil days," 235 n. 1 ;
on the Babylonian nubattu, 241 n. 1
Jonathan, 249.
Josephus, 260.
Jubilee, the Hebrew, 261 and n. 1
Jum'a, al, the Mohammedan Sabbath,
107 n. 2 , in n. 3 , 115, 116 sq., 197,
199, 201, 204 sqq., 262 n. 2
Juno, 130, 170.
Jupiter, the Roman nundincs conse-
crated to, 122; the Ides consecrated
to, 170; the planet, 213.
Justin, Roman historian, on the origin
of the Sabbath, 260 n. 3
Justin Martyr, 268.
Kachin (Chingpaw), 56, 189.
Kaffa, 199.
Kafiristan, 293 sq.
INDEX
Kagoro of northern Nigeria, 117 n. 1
Kalends, the, 170, 171, 184, 305.
Kalmucks, the uposatha observance of
the, 163.
Kaloa, Hawaiian deity, 15, 88, 188.
Kamata. See Kambata.
Kamataraya, a Kota deity, 88.
Kambata, a Kota festival, 88.
Kamehameha II, Hawaiian king, 9.
Kamerun, no sq.
Kanarese-speaking peoples of southern
India, their village festivals, 89 sq. ;
observance of the interlunium by
the, 137 and n 3 ; tabooed days of
the, 148 sq.
Kandian of Ceylon, 159 n. 1
Kane, Hawaiian deity, 15, 88, 188.
Kapu. See Tabu.
Karaja of Brazil, 182.
Karakia, Maori magical incantation
and prayer, 17 n 2
Karen of Burma, 56 sq.
Kasuba of the Madras Presidency, 67.
Kataharayan of Malabar, 67.
Kataphang, a Nicobarese festival, 40 sq.
Kavirondo of British East Africa, 69.
Kayan of Borneo, 6, 26 sqq., 65 and n. 6 ,
180.
Kennie. See Genna.
Kerepunu of British New Guinea,
rest day observed by the, 103 and
n*, 104.
Kewan, Assyrian designation of the
planet Saturn, 244.
Khamushtu, the Assyro-Babylonian,
195 and n 2 , 228.
Khang, the Mro term for rest day, 55.
Khasi of Assam, 54, 66, 106.
Khnumhotep II, an Egyptian local
ruler, inscription of, 167.
Khullakpa (gennabura), the secular and
religious head of a Naga community,
52 sq., 53 n. 1 , 233 sq.
Kiala, a Nicobarese festival, 41 and n. 2
Kiriwina, island of, 125 n?
Koita of British New Guinea, 26 and
n?
Kopus, a Bontoc Igorot festival, 48.
Koran, the, 182.
Korava of the Madras Presidency, 149.
Korea, 287, 303 sq.
Koryak of Siberia, 73 sq.
Kota of the Madras Presidency, 88.
Ku, Hawaiian deity, 15, 88.
Kuki. See Lushei.
Kwnara, the, 16 sq., 17 n. 1
Kwakiutl of British Columbia, cere-
monial cannibalism among the, 71 n.*
Labour, remission of, during a tabooed
or unlucky period. See Rest days.
Laliy a Kayan term for taboo, 27 and
n?
Lalu. See Muhso.
Land Dyak of Sarawak, 36 sq., 65.
Lao of Siam, 66, 105, 184 n. 2 , 194 n 3 ,
201.
Laodicea, church council of, 269 n*
Laotians. See Lao.
Lapps, the, 222.
La tabu, Hawaiian designation of
Sunday, 10.
Laws of Manu, the, 151, 152.
Lemuria, Roman festival of the, 80,
8 1 and n. 1 , 94 and n. 2 , 263 n. 2
Lengua Indians of Paraguay, the,
129.
Lex Hortensia, the, 121 and n. 3
Liberia, 199 n. 6
Lithuanians, the, 222.
Loango, market days kept in, 109 sq. ;
the thirteenth month considered un-
lucky in, 177 n. 2
Lobengula, a Matabele king, 75 n 2
Lolo, the, 194.
Lono, Hawaiian deity, 13, 15 n. 1 , 88.
Lotz, W., 232 n. 2 , 235 n. 1
Luakini, chief temple in the Hawaiian
Islands, consecration of a, 1 1 sqq.
Lu-Bat, the Babylonian term, 213.
Ludi, the Roman, 305 and n. 3 , 306.
Lumawig, supreme god of the Bontoc
Igorot, 47, 48 sq., 88.
Lumingu, 109.
Lunar fortnights, 182 sqq., 239, 255.
mansions, the, 202, 274 sq., 294 n. 1
weeks, 187 sq., 253 sqq.
Lunation, beginning of the, at full
moon, 119 n. 3 , 186 n. 1 ; length of the,
174 n. 1 , 178; division of the, into
two fortnights, 182 sqq., 239, 255.
Lushei (Kuki), the, 54 sq.
Luxus sabbatarius, the, 265.
Luzon, 46 sqq., 64, 88, 181.
INDEX
317
Macassar, 205.
'Macedonia, unlucky days observed in,
222 n. 3 , 272, 278.
Madagascar, 3, 70, 76, 107 n.\ 132 sq.,
197, 275 and n*
Madnol, the Toda, 289 sqq.
Madras Presidency, the, 66 sq., 88, 89,
132, 134, 149, 2S8sqq.
Magicians, 34, 68, 285, 286 n. 1 , 287 sq.
} Makahiki, the Hawaiian New Year's
festival, 13 and n. 2 , 15 n. 1 , 23 n. 1
Making, ancestral spirits of the Ibaloi
Igorot, 49 n. 1
Makololo of British South Africa, 144.
Malabar, 66 sq., 89, 291 sq.
Malagasy, their conception of taboo,
3 ; tabooed days observed by the,
70, 76; the seven-day week of the,
107 n. 2 , 197 and n. 2 ; their lunar
superstitions, 132 sq. ; their lucky
and unlucky days, 275, 294 sq.
Malanau of Sarawak, 208.
Malay Peninsula, 64, 105, 204, 286.
Maldive Islands, the, 201.
Mamit, the Babylonian term for
taboo, 6, 231.
Mana, magical power, 5, 17, 86.
Manahiki (Humphrey Island), 21.
Mandingo of the Sudan, 132, 141.
Manipur, tabooed days observed in,
49 sqq., 65 sq.
Manitou, 5.
Manyema of Belgian Congo, 108.
Maori of New Zealand, 16 sq., 17 n. 2 ,
128, 177 n. 1 , 181 n. 7 , 183, 188 and
n. 1 , 214 n., 285.
Marang, the Garo term for taboo, 54.
March, unlucky days of, in Greek
lands, 284.
Marduk, Babylonian god, 214, 229,
232, 241 n. 1
Mariner, William, 18 n. 1
Markets, rise of, 103, 117; character-
istic features of, among semi-civilized
peoples, 105, 107, 108. See also
Market days.
Market days, observance of, in New
Guinea and Melanesia, 103 sq. ; in
Celebes, Sumatra, and Java, 104 sq. ;
in Tonkin, Siam, Burma, and Assam,
105 sq., 194 n. 3 ; in Africa, 106 sqq. ;
in Mexico, Central America, Colom-
bia, and Peru, 118 sqq. ; in ancient
Rome, 120 sqq. ; restrictions attend-
ing, not connected with lunar super-
stitions, 148.
weeks, length of, 117 sq. ; origin
of, 1 1 8, 148, 187, 193. See also
Market days.
Markheshwan, the eighth month of the
Babylonian year, 224 and n. 2 , 297.
Marquesas Islands, the, 15 sq., 16 n. 1
Marriages not celebrated during a
tabooed or unlucky period, 67, 80,
81, 137, 171, 209, 263 n?, 273 n. 8 ,
278, 285, 286.
Masai, the seven-day week of the, 197 sq.
Matabele of South Africa, restrictions
observed by the king of the, 75 n?
May, an unlucky month for marriage,
263 n. 2
Mayas of Yucatan, 174, 280 sq.
Mbaki. See Nanga.
Mbalolo, 22.
Mbure, the men's house in the Fiji
Islands, 22.
Mechoacan, tabooed days observed after
the death of a ruler of, 70 sq.
Medicine, practice of, by the Land
Dyak of Borneo, 38 n. 4
Meinhold, J., 253 n. 6 , 254.
Meithei of Manipur, 54 and n. 1
Mekeo District of British New Guinea,
103.
Melo, a Kay an term for rest day, 32
and n. 3 , 33, 65 n. 6
Mendi of Sierra Leone, 148 n. 1
Men's house, the, 22, 40 and n. 2
Menstruation, superstitions relating to,
69 n. 2 , 125; supposed connection of
the moon with, 127 sqq.
Mentawi Islands, the, 43 sq., 44 n. 1 , 181.
Mexicans, market days kept by the,
1 1 8, 119 and n. 1 ; calendar of the,
174, 186 and n 2 , 279 sq. ; unlucky
days of the, 280; saints' days ob-
served by the modern, 306.
Miao (Miao-tse), the, 57.
Middle Ages, observance of unlucky
days during the, 273, 299 sqq.
Mikir of Assam, 54.
Mindanao, 45 sq.
Mishmi, the, 54 and n. 6
Mishna, the, 263 sq.
INDEX
Missionaries, observance of Sunday
introduced by, 10 and w. 3 , 73 n. 2 ,
75, 188 n. 1 , 209, 210, 295.
Mithra, a Persian deity, 202, 220 and n?
Mohammed, 175, 206.
Molucca Islands, the, 64 and. n?
Mommsen, Theodor, on the Roman
nundinum, 193 n?
Monday, an unlucky day in Germany,
127 and n. s ; in India, consecrated
to Siva, 201 ; the first day of the
week in Slavic countries, 222; an
unlucky day among the Jews, 274.
Mondunga of Belgian Congo, 117 n. 1
Mongelima of Belgian Congo, 117 n. 1
Mongolia, the Buddhist Sabbath in, 163.
Month, the lunar, 13 n 2 , 156 n. 3 , 166,
169, 170, 173 sqq., 226 sqq., 247;
intercalation of a thirteenth, 177
and n. 2 , 224, 247 n. 2 , 276 ; beginning
of the, 178 sq., 226 sq., 248 sq. ;
division of the, by the waxing and
waning moon, 182 sqq. ; the sidereal,
274 n. 2
Moon, tabooed or unlucky periods ob-
served in connection with changes
of the, 14 sq., 20, 32 and n. 2 , 34
and n. 1 , 37, 52 n. 1 , 60, 88, 131 sqq.,
143 sqq., 146 sq., 149 sqq., 224 sq.,
233, 241, 246, 256 sqq.', eclipses of
the, marked by taboos, 42, 50 sq.,
134 sq. ; supposed deleterious in-
fluence of the, 125 sqq. ; associated
with impregnation and childbirth,
127 sqq. ; influence of, on the tides,
130; supposed influence of, on the
growth of vegetation, 130 sq.; doc-
trine of lunar sympathy, 131 sqq. ;
superstitions relating to the inter-
lunium, 136 sqq. ; as the measure of
time, 173 sqq. ; day of the new, how
calculated, 174 n. 1 , 179, 184, 226 sq.,
248 sq. ; phases of the, closely ob-
served by savage and barbarous
peoples, 180 sqq., 238 sq. ; day of the
full, how calculated, 182 n. 7 , 227;
division of the lunation into two
periods, 182 sqq., 239, 255; impor-
tance of the, to the early Hebrews,
246 sq.; Hebrew cult of the, 247,
248 n. 1 See also Full moon, Lunar
mansions, and New moon.
Moonshine, supposed noxious influence
of, 125 sqq.
Morocco, 70, 83, 258.
Moses, 244 n. 3 , 261.
Motu of British New Guinea, 26 and n. 9
Mpongwe of French Equatorial Africa,
their conception of taboo, 3.
Mro, the, 55.
Muhso (Lalu), the, 57, 194 n. 9
Mundus patet, 81.
Muppan of Malabar, 66 sq.
Music, astrological notions relating to,
217 and n. 2
Muysca of Colombia, market days kept
by the, 119 and n. 9
Naga of Manipur, tabooed days ob-
served by the, 49 sqq. 9 65 sq., 134, 234.
Nail-paring, superstitions relating to,
91 n.*, 151, 300.
Nakshatra, the Hindu, 275.
Namungba, the Meithei term for taboo,
54-
Na na ai, the Kachin term for rest day,
56.
Nandi of British East Africa, 68 sq.,
69 n 2 , 132, 181 sq., 210.
Nanga, a secret association in Fiji,
23 and n. 1
Nannar, a Babylonian moon-god, 226.
Nannaru, Babylonian name of new-
moon day, 226, 239.
Narnaka, inscription of, 240.
Nehemiah, 262.
Nemontemiy the, Mexican epagomenal
days, 280 and n. 1
Nepal, 155, 201.
Nestorian Monument, the, 202 and n. 3
New Britain, 180.
Caledonia, 104 and n. 4 , 180.
Georgia, island of, 186 n. 1
Hebrides, the, 209.
Mexico, 190.
South Wales, 128.
Zealand, 16 sq., 17 n. 2 , 128, 177 n. 1 ,
181 n. 7 , 183, 188 and n. 1 , 214 n., 285.
New moon, 18 n., 20, 37, 125 and n. 3 ,
132, 133, 136 sq., 140 sqq., 174 *- 1 ,
179, 1 80, 181 n. 7 , 184 sq., 1 86, 187,
226 sqq., 238 sqq., 246, 248 sqq., 253,
254, 255 sq., 260.
New Year's festival, Hawaiian, 13 and
INDEX
319
n. 8 , 88; Maori, 17 . 2 ; Fijian, 22
and n?, 23 w. 1 ; Kayan, 31; Balinese,
42 j. ; Muhso, 57; Hebrew, 82,
235 * 256; Babylonian, 276 n. 2
Ngoma, Akikuyu ancestral spirits, 6.
Nias, island of, 43, 181, 183.
Nicobar Islands, the, 40 sq. y 64, 165
and n. 2 , 181.
Nielsen, D., 143 n. 1 , 237.
Nigeria (Northern), 116 n. 1 , 117 n. 1 ;
(Southern), 78, 101 n. 1 , in sg., 182,
187 w. 1
Nine as a symbolic number, 120 n. a
Nineteenth day of the month, ob-
servance of the, in Babylonia, 224
and n*, 232 n. 9 , 235 n. 1 , 257 sq.
Niu, casting the, a Maori method of
divination, 17.
Noa, 14.
Nones, the, 120 n. 2 , 170, 171, 185 an<f
n. 1 , 305.
Northern Territory of South Australia,
180.
Noumenia, the Greek new-moon day,
169 sq., 184.
Novemdiales feria, 99, 120 n. 2
Nubattu, the Babylonian, 241 n. 1
Numa, 94 sq., 121 n. 1
Numbers, prejudice against even, 94,
178 n. 1 , 185; symbolism of, 120 n. 2 ,
206 /^g.
Nundina, Roman market days, 92 .,
94 n. 3 , 1 20 j^r.
Nundinum, Roman market week, 120,
122, 193 and n. 3 , 219.
Nycthemeron, the, 179 n. 1 , 218 n. 1
Octad, the, 193 sq.
Odyssey, the, 169, 211.
Ogboni, a Yoruba secret society, 78 n. 2
Ogun, a Yoruba god, 114 n.
Omens, Kayan, 28 sq., 31 sq. ; Iban,
33 sq. ; Bontoc Igorot, 48; Naga,
Son. 1
Ominous animals, cult of, in Borneo,
27, 28 sq., 32, 34, 59 n?
Orenda, 5, 86.
Origen, 270.
Ornaments not worn during a tabooed
or unlucky period, 63, 65, 67, 70.
Oro, a Slave Coast deity, 78 and n?
Orunda, the Mpongwe term for taboo, 3.
Osiris, identified with the moon, 129 n. 6 ,
1 68 sq.
Ovid, 245, 263 n. 2 , 266.
Padi, or rice, taboos affecting the
cultivation of, in Borneo, 27 sqq. y
37. 39 **
Paganalia, Roman festival of the,
96 and n. 1
Pagi Islands, the, 43.
Paharia of British Sikkim, 67.
Palolo worm, the, 22 and n?
Pamali, a Land Dyak term for taboo,
36 sq., 37 n. 1
Pantang, the Malay term for taboo,
27 n. 8 , 204.
Papyrus Saltier IV, the, 296 and n. 1 ,
297.
Paraguay, 129.
Parentalia, Roman festival of the,
80, 8 1 and n. 1 , 94 n?
Parsis, lucky and unlucky days of the,
1 66 n. 1 , 273 n. 3
Pasar, Javanese market week, 105,
165 n.
Passover, the, 250.
Patani States of the Malay Peninsula,
64, 204.
Patimokkha, the disciplinary and penal
code of Buddhism, 157 and n. 8 ,
163 and . B
Paul, St., 269.
Pentad, the, 194 sqq.
Perfumes and unguents not used during
a tabooed or unlucky period, I, 152,
155. 158.
Permantong, a Kayan term for taboo,
27 and n. 3
Persians, the seven-day week of the,
201 n. 4 ; lunar mansions of the, 275 ;
their epagomenal days, 282. Set
also Iranians.
Peruvians, market days kept by the,
119 sq. ; the seven-day week un-
known to the, 120 n. 1 ; their lunar
superstitions, 129, 141 ; calendar of
the, 174, 1 86, 190.
Petara, Sea Dyak gods, 35 n. 2 , 42 sq.
Pharisees, the, 265, 269.
Philippine Islands, the, 44 sqq., 64, 88.
Philo Judaeus, 261 . 6 , 266.
Phoenicians, the, 212 n. 1 , 240.
320
INDEX
Pidiu, the Ibaloi Igorot term for taboo,
49 n. 1
Pinches, T. G., on the meaning of
shabattum, 237, 238 n. 4
Pitara. See Petara.
Planetary or astrological week, in
India, 200, 292; in southeastern
Asia, 201; in China, 202 sq. ; in
Japan, 203 sq. ; in the Malay Penin-
sula, 204; in Sumatra, Java, and
Bali, 205; origin of the, 215 sqq. ;
introduction of the, into the Occi-
dent, 219; adopted by Christianity,
220 sq. ; its diffusion in Europe,
221 sq. ; in Afghanistan, 293.
Planets, differentiation of the, from
the fixed stars, 213; identification
of the, with deities of the Babylonian
pantheon, 214 sq. ; the planetary
week, 215 sqq. ; in Mithraism, 220
n.
Plato, on festival days, 91.
Pleiades calendars, 176 sq., 225 and n?
Pliny the Younger, 268 n. 1
Plutarch, 264 n. 1 , 266.
Plynteria, Athenian festival of the,
92 sq.
Pomali, a Malay term for taboo, 64.
Pompeii, inscriptions from, relating to
the planetary week, 219.
Pompey the Great, 216, 266.
Porikh. See Pamali.
Portugal, names of the weekdays in,
221 n. z
Portuguese East Africa, 190.
Posadha, the, in China, 163 n. 6
Posaha, the Jain, 154 sq.
Poya days, observed in Ceylon, 158,
159 and n. 1
Prascovia, St., 222 n. 2
Prayer, nature of Hawaiian, 12 n. z
Pre-animistic sanctions of taboos, 4 sq.,
75, S3-
Ptolemy, Greek astronomer, 216.
Puberty, taboos imposed on the attain-
ment of, 7, 69 n. 2 ; initiation at,
among the Fijians, 23 and n. 1 , 24;
among the Yao, 125.
Pula, the, 194.
Punan, the term for taboo in the
Mentawi Islands, 43 sq.
Punjab, the, 137 sq.
Purim, Hebrew festival of, 276 n?
Pyramid Texts, the, 166 sq., 281.
Python, cult of the, in Uganda, 146.
Ra, Egyptian god, 258.
Radama I, Malagasy king, 197.
Ratu-mai-Mbulu, a Fijian deity, 21.
Reformation, the, 301, 306.
Reinach, S., 257 n. 1
Rendile of British East Africa, 198 sq.
Rest days, characteristics of primitive,
I ; connection of, with the institution
of taboo, i sq. ; in Hawaii, 9 sqq.,
88, 188, 233, 303 ; in the Society
Islands and the Marquesas Islands,
15 sq., 16 n. 1 ; among the Maori,
16 sq., 17 n. 2 ; in the Tonga Islands,
18 and n. 2 , 19; in Samoa, 19 sq. ;
in New Guinea, 26 and n. 1 ', among
the Kayan of Borneo, 27 sqq. ; among
the Iban or Sea Dyak, 33 sqq. ;
among the Land Dyak, 36 sqq. ; in
the Nicobar Islands, 40 sq., 165;
in Bali, 41 sqq. ; in the Mentawi
Islands, 43 sq. ; in the Philippines,
44 sqq.', in Manipur, 49 sqq.; in
Assam, 53 sqq. ; in Burma, 55 sqq. ;
among the aborigines of southwestern
China, 57 sq., 194; a characteristic
feature of Indo-Chinese culture, 58;
compared with the couvade, 58 sq. ;
psychological and sociological aspects
of, 59 sq. ; mark critical epochs in
the communal life, 60 sq. ; observed
after a death, 62 sqq., 84; observance
of, in Africa, during seasons of ghost-
riddance and demon-riddance, 74 sqq. ;
observed in connection with the
proceedings of west African secret
societies, 77 sq. ; the Greek airoQpddcs
ijfjitpai. as, 79 sq., 84, 92 sq., 139 sq.;
the Roman dies religiosi as, 80 sq.,
84, 93 sq., 170 sq., 273 ; the Hebrew
Day of Atonement and Feast of
Trumpets as, 81 sqq. ; the Mo-
hammedan Feast of Sacrifices, 83 ;
festivals observed as, 85 sqq. ; among
the Dravidian peoples of India,
88 sqq. ; the Hebrew Day of First-
fruits, 90 sq. ; Greek festivals as,
91 sqq., 169 sq., 211 sq., 304; Roman
festivals as, 93 sqq., 121 sq.^ijo,
INDEX
321
304 sqq. ; observed in connection
with agricultural operations, 101
and n. 1 , 102; market days as,
163 sq., 104 n., 109 sqq., Il8, 119 sqq. ;
observed in connection with the
waning moon, 131 sqq. ; observed
during lunar eclipses, 134 sq. ; ob-
served during the interlunium,
136 sqq.; observed at changes of
the moon, 143 ; lunar days as, in
Africa, 144 sqq. ; lunar taboos in
modern India, 148 sq. ; the ancient
Aryan upavasatha as a Sabbath,
149 sqq. ; Sabbatarian character of
lunar days in Brahmanism, 151 sqq.;
the Jain posaha, 154 sq. ; the Buddhist
Sabbath, or uposatha, 155 sqq. ; dif-
fusion of the Buddhist Sabbath,
158 sqq. ; new moon and full moon
as, among the Greeks and Romans,
169 sq. ; the dies postriduani, 170 sq. ;
in Madagascar and eastern Africa,
197 sqq. ; of the American Indians,
197 n. 1 , 303 n. 3 ; not observed by
the Chinese, 203 and n. 1 , 303 sq. ; in
Japan, 203 sq. ; not observed by
the Javanese, 205 n. 4 ; in Islam,
205 sq. ; seventh days observed as,
208 sqq. ; in Christianity, 220 sqq.,
269 sqq., 306 sqq. ; in Mithraism,
220 n. 3 ; the Babylonian "evil days"
as, 223, 232 sqq., 235 n. 1 , 236, 241,
254; the Hebrew Sabbath, 242 sqq.',
the Christian Sunday, 267 sqq. ; un-
lucky days observed as, 272 sqq. ;
social and economic significance of,
302 sqq.
Rex sacrorum, the Roman, 97, 170.
Rig-Veda, the, 177 n.*, 276, 277.
Rivers, W. H. R., on the lunar super-
stitions of the Toda, 132; on their
sacred days, 288 sqq.
Roman Church, names of the week-
days in the calendar of the, 221 n?
Romance countries, names of the week-
days in, 221 and n?
Romans, ancient, unlucky days of the,
80 and n*, 81, 84, 93 sq., 94 n?,
170 sq., 171 n. s , 273 ; festivals of
the, 80 sq., 93 sqq., 121 sqq., 170,
304 sqq. ; their market week and
market days, 92 n., 94 n. 3 , 120 sqq.,
Y
193 and n. 8 , 219; their lunar calen-
dar, 170, 184 sq.
Romulus, 94, 121, 177 n. 1
Rongker, the Mikir term for rest day, 54.
Roro-speaking peoples of British New
Guinea, 26.
Russia, Friday an unlucky day in,
222 n? ; saints' days observed in, 307.
Sabbatarian regulations, penalties for
disobedience of, 10, 20, 46 sq., 113,
160, 161, 261 sq., 290; how evaded,
264, 289 sq., 293 n. 9
Sabbath, the Hebrew, 10 n. 4 , 91, 96 n. 1 ,
98 n. 4 , 104 n., 109, 122, 148, 179 n. 1 ,
235, 236 and n., 242 sqq., 291 sq., 304.
Day's journey, length of a, 251 n. 5 ,
264.
Sabbatical Year, the Hebrew, 236 .,
260 sqq.
Sacer, the Latin term for taboo, 3 and
w. 6
Saints' days, observance of, 306 sq.
Samoa, village deities of, 19 sq. ; tabooed
days observed in, 19 sq., 24.
Sanhedrin, the, 247 n. 2 , 248.
Sansculottides, the, 283.
Saoria of Bengal, 137.
Sarawak, 27 sqq., 33 sqq., 65, 208.
Sarhul, a Uraon festival, 89.
Sarpanit, Babylonian goddess, 241 n. 1
Saturday, an unlucky day, 92 n., 201,
222 n. 3 , 244 n 3 , 245 ; names applied
to, 188 n. 1 , 221, 222 and n?\ change
from, to Sunday, as the first day of
the planetary week, 220 sq., 268;
Saturn's Day and, 243 sqq. ; ec-
clesiastical recognition of, as a holy
day, 269 and n*
Saturn, supposed consecration of the
nundina to, 122 n?; the planet,
213, 243 sqq. See also Saturday.
Sayce, A. H., on the khamushtu, 195 n.*
Scapegoat, the Hebrew, 81 sqq.
Schiaparelli, G., 213, 235 n. 1 , 261 n.*
Scotland, abstinence from work after
a death observed in, 74; lunar
superstitions in, 133 ; observance of
Saturday in, 270 n. ; unlucky days
observed in, 279.
Sea Dyak. See Iban.
Seclusion necessary during a tabooed
322
INDEX
or unlucky period, I, 9, 10, 12, 15,
20, 22, 26, 28 sq., 36, 38, 39, 41, 42,
44> S3. 56, 58 J?., 64, 65, 69 w. 2 ,
71, 74, 78, 115 - 4 > I47> 232 sq.,
257, 280, 295, 296, 297. See also
Strangers, exclusion of.
Secret societies, in Fiji, 23 and n.\ 24 ;
in west Africa, 77 sq., in.
Selene, 130, 139 sq.
Seligmann, C. G., 26 n. 9 , 101 n. 1
Seminoles of Florida, 71.
Sepi, the Balinese term for rest day, 42.
Sequani of Gaul, 186 w. 1
Servius Tullius, 121.
Seven, as a symbolic number, 208 sqq.,
225 and n. 2 , 229 sqq.
Seven-day week, the, in New Caledonia,
104 and n. 4 ; in the island of Bali,
105; in the Malay Peninsula, 105,
204 ; among the Guinea and Sudanese
negroes, 115 sqq., 199; not known
to the Peruvians, 120 n. 1 ; in Sumatra,
1 80; in New Zealand, 188 n. 1 ; in
Indo-China, 189; unknown to the
Egyptians, 191 n. 1 , 245 sq. ; Abyssin-
ian, 194 n. 1 ', origin and diffusion of
the, 196 sq. ; in Madagascar and
eastern Africa, 197 sq. ; in India,
199 sqq., 292; in southeastern Asia,
201 ; in central and northern Asia,
201 w. 4 ; in China, 202 sq. ; in Japan,
203 sq. ; in the Malay Archipelago,
204 sq. ; of the Arabs, 205 sq. ; the
planetary or astrological, 215 sqq.',
in Babylonia, 224 sq., 227 sqq.,
253 sq. ; of the Hebrews, 253 sqq. ;
of the early Christians, 267; of
the Toda, 292; in Afghanistan, 293.
See also Planetary or astrological
week.
Seventh day, the, 205, 208 sqq., 224,
232 sq., 243, 244 n?, 299.
Sexual intercourse, prohibited during a
tabooed or unlucky period, 10, 15,
39 and n?, 58, no, 134, 146, 151,
152, ISS 158, 233, 296 sq., 298;
effect of illicit, on the crops, 36 n.
Shabattum, Babylonian name of full-
moon day, 81 n. 3 , 235 sqq., 251.
Shabbdth, original meaning of the
Hebrew term, 251, 252, 253 ; used in
the general sense of "week," 253 n. 2
shabbdtkon, the Hebrew, 81 and
n. 3 , 82, 251, 260.
Shabbdthon, the Hebrew, 235 and n?
Shabbti, Jewish designation of the
planet Saturn, 244.
Shamash, Babylonian sun-god, 239.
Shan of Burma, 105 sq.
Shaving, superstitions relating to, 92 n.
Shib'a, Jewish period of strict mourn-
ing after a death, 74.
Shropshire, 279.
Siam, tabooed days observed in, 66;
market days kept in, 105, 194 n. z ,
the Buddhist Sabbath in, 161 sq. ;
bipartite division of the month em-
ployed in, 184; the seven-day week
in, 201.
Siberia, 73 sq., 126, 132, 201 n. 4
Sickness, taboos imposed in connection
with, 24, 25, 34 sq., 36, 38, 39, 42,
43 sqq., 51, 60.
Sierra Leone, 148 n. 1
Sikkim, 67.
Silence observed during a tabooed or
unlucky period, I, 9 sq., II, 12 and
n?, 14, 16 n. 1 , 20, 21, 22, 26, 41, 42,
44, 62, 67, 77, 151, 278, 297.
Sin, a Babylonian moon-god, 126, 129,
139, 226, 228 sq., 239, 240, 248 n. 1
Sinaugolo of British New Guinea, a
division of time formerly observed
by the, 101 n. 1
Singer, Jacob, 249 n?
Slave Coast of west Africa, 77 sq., 112,
113 sq., 187.
Slavic peoples, names of the weekdays
among, 222.
Smith, H. P., 249 n?
Smith, W. R., 4 n., 86 n.\ 252.
Society Islands, the, 9, 15 sq., 181 n. 7
Safalese of Portuguese East Africa,
190 and n?
Solevu ni vilavou, a Fijian New Year's
festival, 23 n. 1
Soma, the intoxicating juice of the
moon-plant, 150 sq., 158 n. 1
Somali, the, 199, 210.
South Australia, 180.
Soydluna, a Hopi Indian festival, 303
n 3
Spartans, religious scruples of the,
133 n. 3
INDEX
323
Spencer, John, on the origin of the
Sabbath in Egypt, 245.
Spirits. See Demons.
Strabo, on festival days, 85.
Strangers, exclusion of, during a tabooed
or unlucky period, I, 20, 24, 27, 29 sq.,
35, 36, 37, 39 n.\ 42 sq., 44, 45 sq.,
49 n. 1 , So, 55, 56, 57 *<f - 2 66.
Stseelis of British Columbia, 197 n. 1
Subanu of Mindanao, 45 sq.
Sudan, the, 69 n. 2 , 116 n. 1 , 132, 141.
Sulla, 100.
Sumatra, 104 jy., 180 sq., 183, 204 jg.,
214 n., 285 jf .
Sun, worship of the, in modern India,
153 sq.
Sunday, observance of, by native con-
verts to Christianity, 10 and n. 9 ,
73 - 2 , 75, H4 n. t 188 n. 1 , 209, 210,
295; an unlucky day, 92 n., 137,
201; legislation of Constantine re-
lating to, 122 sq.y 220; markets
held on, during the Middle Ages,
123 and . 2 ; in Siam, 162; in India,
200 n. 3 , 201 ; among the Lao, 201 ;
in China, 202 and n. s ; in Japan,
203 sq. ', becomes the first day of
the planetary week, 220 sq., 268;
how named by the early Christians,
267 and n. 3 ; how observed by the
early Christians, 267 sq. ; comes to
be regarded as a rest day, 269 sqq.
legislation, 122 sq., 270 sq.
Sundyak. See Dusun.
Superstition, sociological aspects of,
63 n. 2 , 302, 307 sq.
Sutta Nipata, the, 157.
Swaheli of German East Africa, 76, 197.
Tabernacles, Hebrew Feast of, 236 .,
250, 251.
Taboo, derivation of the word, 2;
ideas involved in, 2 sq. ; definition
of, 3 ; conception of, widely dif-
fused, ib.; how classified, 4; pre-
animistic character of, 4 sq. ; sup-
ported by animistic sanctions, 5 sq. ;
conceptions of abstinence and propi-
tiation involved in, 6 sq. ; social
aspects of, 7, 25, 38 sq., 59 sq., 95;
holiness and, 86 and n. 1
Tabu, the Polynesian conception of,
2 and n.*; compared with the
Hebrew conception, 10 n. 4 ; com-
pared with the Babylonian mamit,
231.
Tacitus, on the origin of the Sabbath,
245*.*
Tahiti, observance of Sunday in, 10.
Tambo nalanga, a Fijian New Year's
festival, 22 and n?
Tambu, the Melanesian term for taboo,
3-
Tame, the Hebrew term for taboo, 4 n.
Tamil-speaking peoples of southern
India, village festivals of the, 89 sq.
Tapu. See Tabu.
Tarentum, festivals of ancient, 304.
Tashi Lama, tabooed days observed
after the death of the, 67.
Tatars, the, 132.
Tattooing, superstitions relating to,
53 w. a
Telugu-speaking peoples of southern
India, village festivals of the, 89 sq.
Tenasserim, 161 n. 1
Tengao (tengau), the Bontoc Igorot
term for rest day, 46 and n?, 88.
Tengau. See Tengao.
Tertullian, on the proper observance of
Sunday, 268 n. 9 , 269, 270 and n. 1 ,
Thahu, the Akikuyu term for taboo, 6.
Thessaly, unlucky days observed in,
222 n. 3
Thor, 221 n?
Thothmes III, inscription of, 167 sq.
Thursday, observance of, as a holy day,
221 n. 8
Tiberius, Roman emperor, 305.
Tibet, tabooed days observed in, 67;
the Buddhist Sabbath in, 162 sq.;
the seven-day week in, 201; un-
lucky days observed in, 287 sq.
Tibullus, 244 sq., 266.
Tides, influence of the moon on the, 130.
Timor, island of, 63.
Tippera, the, 55.
Titi Usi, Samoan village deity, 20.
Toda of the Madras Presidency, be-
liefs of, relating to the moon, 132,
134; their reckoning of the lunation,
179; their sacred days, 288 sqq.
Tofoke of Belgian Congo, 190.
Togo, 114 and n. 3 , 115, 182.
INDEX
Toh, the Kayan spirits, 6.
Tonga Islands, the, 18 and n 2 , 19.
Tonkin, 105, 189.
Tooitonga, Tonga divine chief, 18, 19.
Torres Straits, islands of, 128 and n?
Toy, C. H., on the meaning of sha-
battum, 238.
Trading not allowed during a tabooed
or unlucky period, 42, 43, 67, 71,
i$i> I55 159, 300.
Travel prohibited during a tabooed or
unlucky period, 7, 20, 21,' 26, 49 n. 1 ,
64, 68, 83, 115 n. 4 , 136, 151, 171,
190 n. 4 , 198, 201, 210, 232, 233,
241 n. 1 , 273 w. 8 , 275, 285, 289, 293,
297, 298, 301-
Trumpets, Hebrew Feast of, 82.
Tshi-speaking peoples of the Gold
Coast, tabooed days observed by
the, 112, 113, 115; their lunar
weeks, 187 and n. 2 ; unlucky days
of the, 272.
Tuesday, an unlucky day, 201, 272
and n? ; a lucky day, 273 sq.
Tuhoe of New Zealand, beliefs of the,
relating to the moon, 128.
Tui Tokelau, Polynesian divinity, 20 sq.
Tullus Hostilius, Roman king, 99.
Tungthu of Tenasserim, 161 n. 1
Twelve Days, the, of the early Aryans,
276 sq. ; in European folklore, 277 sqq.
Ubone, or duty days, observed in
Burma, 159 sqq. t 161 n. 1
Ucharal, a festival celebrated in Mala-
bar, 89.
Uganda, 69 sq., 75 sq., 129, 145 sqq. t
~ H7 n *
Um nukh libbi, 236, 241.
Union Islands, the, 20 sq.
United States, the, lunar superstitions
in, 127, 140 n?
Unleavened Bread, Hebrew Feast of,
I79W. 1 , 250, 251.
Unlucky days, of the ancient Greeks,
79 and n. 3 , 80 and n. 1 , 84, 92 sq.,
139 and n.*, 140; of the ancient
Romans, 80 sq., 84, 93 sq., 170 sq.,
273 ; African, in n. 3 , 190 n 2 , 190 n. 3 ,
272 ; German, 127, 278 sq. ; in Ceylon,
159 n. 1 ; in the Malay Peninsula,
162 w. 4 , 286; Persian, 166 n. 1 , 282;
Malagasy, 197 n. 2 , 275, 294 sq.;
Hindu, 201, 275; Russian, 222 n. 2 ;
modern Greek, 222 n. 3 , 272 n. 2 ,
284 sq. ; Babylonian, 241 n. 1 , 297 sq. ;
Egyptian, 258, 282, 295 sqq., 304;
Hebrew, 263 and n. 2 ; origin of be-
liefs in, 272, 274, 276, 283; Mace-
donian, 272, 273 n. 3 , 278, 284 and
n. 1 ; mediaeval superstitions concern-
ing, 273, 299 sqq. ; Burmese, 273 n. 3 ,
302 ; Abyssinian, 276 n. ; in the
British Isles, 279; Mexican, 279 sq.;
Maya, 280 sq. ; Maori, 285 ; in
Sumatra, 285 sq. ; Chinese, 286 sq. ;
Korean, 287 ; Japanese, ib. ; Tibe-
tan, 287 sq.; Toda, 290 sq. ; of
the Siah Posh Kafirs, 293 sq. ;
in the Hesiodic calendar, 298 sq. ;
social and economic aspects of,
302 sqq.
Upavasatha, observance of the, in
ancient India, 149 sqq., 156.
Uposatha, the Buddhist Sabbath,
155 sqq. ; diffusion of the, in south-
eastern Asia, 158 sqq.
Ur, city of, 239.
Uraon of Bengal, 88 sq.
Veblen, Thorstein, on sacred holidays,
87 n. 1
Vedas, the, not to be read on certain
occasions, 152 sq.
Venus, the planet, 205, 213, 214 n. 1 , 243.
Vergil, on Roman holy days, 98; his
calendar of lucky and unlucky days,
299 n. 2
Vespasian, Roman emperor, 245.
Vestalia, Roman festival of the, 92 n. t
93 sq.
Vey of Liberia, 199 . 5
Victoria, 1 80.
Village gods, Samoan, 19 and n. 1 , 20.
Fishaptatha, 166 n.
Vishnu Pur ana, the, 151 sq., 152.
Wa, the Wild, 57.
Wachaga of German East Africa, 107,
209.
Wagiriama of British East Africa,
107 and n. 2 , 136 and n?, 189 sq., 209.
Wahuma. See Bahima.
INDEX
325
Wakanda, 5.
Wales, unlucky days observed in, 279.
Wanika of British East Africa, 107.
Wan phra, the Siamese Sabbath, 161 sq.
Warfare not engaged in during a tabooed
or unlucky period, 21, 22, 33, 34,
80, 81, 132, 133 and n. 3 , 137, 171,
209, 303.
Wasania of British East Africa, 134, 209.
Wednesday, an unlucky day, 92 .
Weekdays, names of the, in Java, 105 ;
in Africa, 109, in, 112, 113 ft. 6 ,
115 ft. 2 ; in New Zealand, 188 n. 1 ;
of the planetary sequence, 219; in
European languages, 221 sq. ; among
the early Christians, 267 and n. 3
Weeks, three-day, 103 sq., 105, 107,
108, no, 119 and n. 3 ; four-day,
105, 106 sq., 108, 109 sq., ill sq.,
114 and n. 2 , 116 n. 1 , 119 ft. 3 ; five-
day, 103, 104, 105 sq., 108, no,
112 ft. 1 , 113 and n. 6 , 114 and n?,
116 ft. 1 , 118 sq., 165 n. 1 , 187 and
n?, 194 sqq. ; six-day, 114 and ft. 2 ,
115 ft., 116 n. 1 , 194; seven-day,
104 and n. 4 , 105, 115 sqq., I2O n. 1 ,
122, 1 80, 187 and . 2 , 189, 194 n. 1 ,
196 sq., 197 sqq., 199 ft. 6 , 215 sqq.,
224 sq., 227 J??., 253 sqq., 267;
eight-day, 106, 109, no, in, 112 n. 1 ,
119 n. 3 , 120 j-00., 193 sq. ; nine-day,
116 ft. 1 , 192, 193 and tt. 2 ; ten-day,
no, 119 sq., 1 88 j^. See also
Lunar weeks aw</ Market weeks.
Wellhausen, Julius, 82 ft. 2 , 252.
Westermarck, Edward, 259.
White, the colour appropriate for
sacred days observed on the Gold
Coast, 112 and n. 2
Winckler, Hugo, on the khamushtu,
195 - 2
Women, restrictions on, during a
tabooed or unlucky period, 15, 22,
41, 78, 83, 89, 115 n. 4 , 194.
Ya, the Arakanese term for rest day, 55.
Yabim of German New Guinea, 57 ft. 1
Yakut of Siberia, 74.
Yap, island of, 24 sq., 189.
Year, the lunar, 13 ft. 2 , 82 ft. 2 , 174,
175, 176 sqq., 226, 247 n. 2 ; be-
ginning of the new, 75 ; the solar,
82 n. 2 , 1 66, 174, 177 sq., 247 .*,
279 sqq.
Yoruba-speaking peoples of the Slave
Coast, tabooed days observed by the,
77 sq., 112, 113 sq. ; their lunar
weeks, 187 and ft. 2
Yucatan, 174, 280 sq.
Yuchi Indians, the, 101 ft. 1
Yukaghir of Siberia, 201 ft. 4
Zagmuk, Babylonian festival of, 276 n. 2
Zimmern, H., 237, 238 ft. 4 , 252 ft. 6
Zulu of British South Africa, 67 sq.,
137. 144-
Zufii Indians of New Mexico, 190 and
ft. 6 , 211 ft. 1
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