Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/277

 Animal Superstitions and Totemisni. 265

Scandinavian word grhna and its derivatives we find exactly the same series.^ I need hardly point out how improbable it is that this should be a mere coincidence.

These facts seem to throw some light not only on the female element in witchcraft, but also on the belief that witches can assume the form of animals.

I have mentioned that the facts with regard to blind man's buff point to a custom of tribal sacrifice. This is borne out by the coincidence of the dialectical boundary in Westphalia with the use of the name •' Blinde Maus" for blind man's buff. This boundary also coincides with the southern limit of the horse's heads on the peasants' houses. Into the ethnological questions thus raised I cannot now enter.

I have brought to your notice this evening facts which, I believe, conclusively prove the existence of an animal cult in Europe. From the distribution of the customs and beliefs we may infer that they were originally connected with the clan or the local group. This view is borne out by facts which go to show that the sacrifice and ritual eating were the privilege of the kin alone. This conclusion will appear irresistible to those who accept the totemic interpretation of the Irish facts. I venture to think that the great mass of animal superstitions are best accounted for by the theory that they originated in a system of totemism differing in no essential respect from that which we find among the non-European races.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Am Urdsbru7ine7i, continued as

Am Urquell, Lunden, &c., 1881, &c.

Birli/iger, Volkstiimliches aus Schwaben. Freiburg. i86i-

' Grimm, pp. 197, 873.