Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/53

 on the Belief in a Fnticre State. 43

of an aged relative.^ Let it be remembered that, according to our authorities, no death is attributed to natural causes in Australia.^ This fact, which is perhaps somewhat over- stated, would account for an added vehemence in the display of grief ; for the louder the protestations, the more remote is the chance of a charge of witchcraft being laid against the mourner. In the case of the widow, so often suspected of responsibility for the death, this precaution is especially advisable. Meanwhile, the uses of the dirge seem to develop with animistic beliefs. In Angola it drives away spirits ; ^ in Basutoland it is said that were it omitted the ancestors would be angry.*

When we come to deal with the practice of fasting during a period of mourning, we surely need not believe with Sir James Frazer that the original motive was a prudent fear of eating the ghost.^ Savage or sage, man is so con- structed that a greater or lesser inability to eat is a well- known physical symptom of sorrow. It is natural, there- fore, that fasting should become the symbol of such sorrow in ritual.

A more violent manifestation of grief is very common in Australia, where mourners cut their flesh so that blood runs over the corpse.** This highly significant custom will be considered at a later stage.

As for mourning apparel, from a simple coat of paint to all more elaborate fashions, it does not seem to be adopted invariably as a kind of camouflage in order to escape the notice of the spirits.' This, we are told in the paper under

^Spencer and Gillen, iVorthern Tribes of Cenlral Australia, p. 571.

^Frazer, Belief in [nimortalily, London, 191 3, p. 40 sqq. See also The Essential Kaffir, Dudley Kidd.

^ Journal of American Folk-Lore, ix. 1896, p. 16.

■•Martin, Basutoland, 1903, p. 92.


 * Frazer, "On Certain IJurial Customs, "y.//./. 1885, p. 94.

®See for example Spencer and Gillen, Native 'Trihs of Central Australia, p. 500 sqq.

'Frazer, "On Certain Burial Cuhtoms,"_/.^./. 18S5, pp. "j^, 98.