Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/282

 2 54 Correspondence.

Beads and Knots.

The studies hitherto made of the origin of the rosary have not brought us nearer to any solution. The only fact which has been established is the almost universal use of a string of beads in connection with some form of religious device. But how it came about that beads should have been put to that use has remained unexplained. I do not intend to enter here upon a disquisition on the manifold forms of rosaries, of the various numbers of beads used by the followers of various religions, nor upon the material out of which the beads are formed, nor upon the highly suggestive fact of inscribed or artistically carved beads with figures and symbols. Each such category deserves separate treatment. But none of them touches the kernel of the problem, — how did beads come to be used, strung together, for religious purposes.

Starting from a different series of investigations, I have come to certain conclusions, which I will put down here as briefly as possible, leaving to others to follow these bypaths further, or to offer a better solution.

Before entering upon the discussion of the problem," it is neces- sary to point out that beads are often worn as ornaments, especially those of rare stones or of special metal. It is now an acknow- ledged fact that ornaments are often the last decayed survivals of more ancient religious practices. Moreover, to this very day, the character of the stone so used determines the value of such strings as amulets against the evil eye, or for averting some dreaded evil, or for some medicinal purpose. The wearer of certain stones is expected to be immune from this or that disease. It might be argued even that the primitive use of the rosary was of a similar protective character.

However alluring such a suggestion might be at the first blush, it cannot be maintained : for, as a rule, whatever is carried in the hand as an offering to the god and goddess, must be deposited before their shrine for their acceptance. Rosaries, however, have not been offered up anywhere. They must serve, therefore, another purpose than that of averting evil, or being used as amulets. They must have had another origin, and I believe one