Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/258

 246 Animal Superstitions and Totemism.

It is tempting to see in the former a survival of initiation ceremonies, and to connect the latter with other annual ceremonies of which I shall have more to say in a few moments.

The importance of these customs leads me to treat them separately from the use of the animal in magic, from which they do not differ essentially.

Closely connected with the magical powers of the animal, dead or alive, is its ability to foresee and foretell the future.

II.— Animals used in Augury and Magic.

Into the questions raised by superstitions as to (i) omens and (2) magic I cannot enter at length. I will do no more than call attention to the main points to be considered.

1. [a] "Taboo" animals give both favourable and un-

favourable omens ; their appearance is frequently

believed to presage a death. {b) "Lucky" animals^ give both good and bad omens;

their appearance is frequently believed to presage

a death. [c) Popular language makes the animal itself the cause

of the event foretold: it " bringt Gliick," "porte

bonheur," &c. The ill-luck may be averted by

killing the animal.

2. {a) As I shall show later, " taboo " animals, sacrificed

once a year, are powerful in magic. [b) Unlucky, no less than lucky, animals are employed

in magic. We may conjecture that all " taboo " animals used in magic were originally sacrificed annually. But if the magical powers of the animal were a result of its sanctity,

' By "lucky" animals I mean those whose presence (not apparition) is considered lucky.

A