Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/397

 The Magical and Ccreiuo^iial Uses of Fire. 369

is an interesting example of the persistence o^ form, even if the material they are made of is perhaps not quite similar.

New Fire.

This is an ancient and widely spread rite. By the end of a certain time the fire is thought to have become stale; or, if disease has broken out, it has become contaminated, and new fire must be made. On these occasions the old- fashioned or more primitive methods of fire-making are resorted to.

In the south-western parts of Ireland when any disease or epidemic broke out fire was asked from the priest's house. All other fires were put out, and with this holy fire all the peasants' hearth-fires were rekindled. This was thought to avert the pestilence. If the priest refused their request for fire, the people then endeavoured to obtain it from the "happiest man" — he being supposed to be the man with the highest character in the parish.^

At the festival of the New Fruits among the Kafifirs of Natal and Zululand, the pot in which these new fruits are cooked is a special one, and it must be placed on a new fire made by a magician. The sticks used by him for the production of this fire belong only to the chief, and are called "husband and wife"; they are made of a special kind of wood called Uzwati. When the magician has produced the fire, the fire-sticks are returned to the chief himself, for no other hand must touch them. They are then put away till the following year. When the festival is over, the pot is put away with the fire-sticks, and the fire is carefully extinguished. Among the Creek Indians of North America at a similar festival all the fires were put out. New fire was made by the priest, who exhorted the people to observe all their old customs and ceremonies,

1 Quoted by R. Brough Smith in Aborigines of Victoria, vol. i. note on p. 405.