Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/44

 THE INFLUENCE OF BURIAL CUSTOMS ON THE BELIEF IN A FUTURE STATE.

BY MRS. HOLLAND.

The choice of this subject has been prompted largely by a study of Sir James Frazer's well-known article "On Certain Burial Customs as Illustrating the Primitive Theory of the Soul."

A disposition to differ from its main positions has given rise to a criticism from the pre-animistic point of view. Following on this, an examination has been attempted, first of certain customs associated with burial, and then of the actual methods adopted by primitive man in disposing of the dead body itself; whereupon certain correlations are indicated with what appear to be derivative beliefs. The problem why the savage should believe in a future life at all is as perplexing as it is strong in its human appeal; and perhaps a useful way of approaching it is to study what the savage thinks of his dead in the light of what he does to them.

The fact that custom once established affords a basis for many and changing interpretations lies at the root of the theory that beliefs can develop out of ritual. Sir James Frazer by no means disposes of this view by maintaining that the savage normally thinks before he acts. To allege that he invariably acts without thinking at all would be indeed to deny to our remote forefathers a degree