Page:Frazer (1890) The Golden Bough (IA goldenboughstudy01fraz).djvu/217

II because his father had vowed to offer it to the river Sperchius if ever his son came home from the wars beyond the sea. Again, men who have taken a vow of vengeance sometimes keep their hair unshorn till they have fulfilled their vow. Thus of the Marquesans we are told that "occasionally they have their head entirely shaved, except one lock on the crown, which is worn loose or put up in a knot. But the latter mode of wearing the hair is only adopted by them when they have a solemn vow, as to revenge the death of some near relation, etc. In such case the lock is never cut off until they have fulfilled their promise.” Six thousand Saxons once swore that they would not cut their hair nor shave their beards until they had taken vengeance on their enemies. On one occasion a Hawaiian taboo is said to have lasted thirty years “during which the men were not allowed to trim their beards, etc.” While his vow lasted, a Nazarite might not have his hair cut: “All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head.” Possibly in this case there was a special objection to touching the tabooed man’s head with iron. The Roman priests, as we have seen, were shorn with bronze knives. The same feeling probably gave rise to the European rule that a child’s nails should not be cut during the first year, but that if it is absolutely necessary to shorten them they should be bitten off by the mother or nurse. For