Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/631

 Morality, little connected with ancient religion, 37

Mormo, 175

Mountain-nymphs, 148

Mourners, conduct of, 347; professional, 347

Mouse, omens drawn from, 328

Mouth, as exit of soul, 111

Mummers, at Christmastime and at Carnival, 223 ff.; representing Callicantzari, 227

Mumming, a survival of Dionysiac festivals, 229 ff.

Murder of kinsman, 425; legal punishment for, 457

Murdered men as avengers (see Avengers, Revenants)

Murdered persons, avenging their own wrongs, 437 ff.; bodily activity of, 438; future lot of, 434 f.; mutilation of, 435; personal activity of, 440 ff.; returning in bodily form, 438

Murderers, future punishment of, 434 ff.; penalties incurred by, 453 ff.

Mutilation of murdered persons, 435

Mysteries, alleged impurity of, 569 f.; allusions to, in Tragedy, 550; associated with funerals, 594 f.; associated with wedding-rites, 590 f.; benefits secured by participation in, 38; Christian attitude towards, 569; containing no doctrine alien to popular religion, 567; grades of initiation in, 566; main doctrines of the, 569; openly performed in Crete, 568; of Aphrodite, 581 f.; of Cybele, 586; of Demeter, (see below Mysteries of Demeter); of Dionysus, 582; parodied by the false prophet Alexander, 588 f.; Sabazian, 585; summary of doctrines taught by, 589 f.; summary of argument concerning, 602 f.; their doctrines kept secret, 567; their promises summarised by Theo Smyrnaeus, 566

Mysteries of Demeter, Achaeans excluded from, 567 f.; ancient references to, 563 f.; Christian attitude towards, 578; compared with modern celebration of Holy Week and Easter, 572 ff.; dramatic nature of, 577; their effect on spectators, 576; held in great veneration, 562 f.; how understood by participants, 578 f.; Pelasgian in origin, 567; safeguards of morality in, 577 f.; specific charge of impurity against, 577; test of linguistic purity imposed at Eleusis, 568; their kinship with Christian beliefs, 576; their promises based on ideas of popular religion, 565; their promises summarised, 565

Naiads, 159

'Nailing,' magical rite, 17

Nationality, 27

Nereids (see also Nymphs, Sea-nymphs, Mountain-nymphs, Tree-nymphs, and Water-nymphs), 130 ff.; animals susceptible to influence of, 135; appearances of, 131; bride-like appearance of, 133; by-names of, 132; called 'she-devils,' 149; children carried off by, 150; confusion of different species, 153; consorts of, 149; cruelty of, 139; cures for mischief done by, 145; depart at cock-crow, 137; description of, 132-4; domestic accomplishments of, 133; dress of, 133; famed for skill in spinning, 134; festival of, 153; forms of name, 130 (note 3); general precautions against, 144; in old signification, 146; inconstancy of, 135, 138; longevity of, 156; magical kerchief of, 136; male, 149; means of protection against, 140; not immortal, 156; offerings to, 140, 150; responsible for whirlwinds, 150; 'seizure' by, 142; story of wedding-procession of, 149; supernatural qualities in dress of, 136; theft of children by, 141; their love of children, 140; their marriage with men, 134; their relations with men, 134-9; their relations with women, 139; transformation of, 137; widespread belief in, 131; with feet of goat or ass, 133

Nether world (see Under-world)

Nomocanon de excommunicatis, 397

Nomocanon concerning vrykolakes, 365, 402 f.

Non-dissolution (see also Vrykolakes), 366; ancient imprecations of, 417 ff.

Numbers, lucky and unlucky, 313

Nymphs (see also Nereids), 130 ff.; not immortal, 156; punishment for violence done to, 584; seizure by, 142

Oedipus, curse pronounced by, 419

Offerings, how affected by Christianity, 337; to Artemis, 170; to Callicantzari, 201; to genii, 274; to gods, motive of, 335, 336 f.; to Nereids, 140; to Saints, 58, 337; to the dead (see Gifts), 493

Oil, spilling of, as omen, 328

Olive, foliage or wood used in funerals, 498 f.

Olympus, as abode of the Fates, 128

Omens (see Divination); from dripping of water, 121

Oracle of Amorgos, 332

Oracles, 305, 331 ff.

Orchestra, 35

Oreads, 148