Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/912

* TABOO. 798 T ABO RITES. sonal property as applied to many persons and things. Thus taboo became in many cases merely an assertion of proprietary rights, as may be seen from the fact that a lesser chief's taboo was disregarded in New Zealand by a stronger chief, but a stronger chief's taboo was feared and re- spected by one weaker. Isolation was the ob- ject of taboo and this was the first stage to ownership. Food-taboos are often totemistic or hygienic, and the taboo of knots, which is very common, is a temporary taboo imposed because of the belief in mimetic magic. But it is not necessary that tlie imitative act be due to a wish to injure. Thus in Africa, Greece, and else- where there is a taboo on knots, locks, crossed arms and legs — in short, on all that suggests an impediment. Another common taboo is the hlonipn or name-taboo of the Kafirs, with the woman-language found among the Kafirs (as also among the Semites and the Caribs), certain names and words being tabooed, for example, the names of fearful beasts in India, of kings in Africa, and of the dead in Australia and else- where, as well as words used only by women. Sex-taboo is very common. Thus the belief that a woman's blood is fatal to a man leads at stated periods to a temporary taboo of women even among civilized Hindus, and in many countries men may not eat with women. Other common examples of taboo are as follows: To be ill, or to touch a corpse or grave, a king or a priest, or anything divine (such as royal blood) renders one taboo. A priest's or a king's clothes are so filled with mana that it would kill any one else to wear them, and to enter a chief's house or even in some cases to look at a great chief would be destructive. A priest's house is taboo even to himself, so far as eating in it goes. The taboo of part of one's self is often recognized. Tims, when a person is imder taboo he may not touch his own head and has to be fed by another or eat with chopsticks. Such a person may not touch a drinking vessel lest he render it also taboo and dangerous. For whatever comes in contact with a tabooed object becomes itself tabooed. The private or public taboo of places for certain prac- tical reasons is also noteworthy. A river is tabooed by a king until the fishing-season is over ; a wood, till the game is caught : a field, till the harvest is gathered. A public taboo is where, as in New Zealand, a whole community is made taboo while getting in their crops. This renders it impossible for any member of the tribe to do anything else till the taboo is re- moved, and prevents any stranger from approach- ing the tabooed ground. The removal of a public taboo is made by a priest who repeats a spell and performs certain rites over the tabooed peo- ple. If a chief wants anything for himself he taboos it by calling it part of himself. Women, if of high rank, may taboo an object as effectively as do chiefs of the tribe. Taboo has been explained either as a priestly trick or as a religious observance, required by the chief for political reasons. But neither ex- planation will suffice, though many taboos may be referred to the arbitrary enactment of priest or king, and again some taboos are not religious at all. Others explain taboo as due to a cate- gorical imperative, and deduce from it all moral laws as well as most of the practices of civil- ized communities, such as caste, the wearing of ornaments, the carrying of umbrellas, the wash- ing of new-bin-n babes, etc. On the other hand, oaths, the ])unishment of murderers and thieves, and marriage restrictions may be dcvclo])ed out of a taboo system, which recognizes no moral sin, only the danger of 'breaking taboo.' But in that case we have to do not with a categorical impera- tive, but with a belief in a mysterious spiritual potency and the fear of its effect. An extension of this belief results in its becoming purely for- mal. Taboo itself then may be divided into pure- ly religious and formal taboo; while, if evciy- thing "forbidden' is to be called taboo, there must be added a mass of detailed regulations arising from difl'erent sources, some of them hav- ing no connection with what is strictly called taboo; and it is evident that for such a combina- tion of effects there can be no one explanation. Consult: Taylor, Te Ika A ilniii, or Kew Zealand and Its InlwbHants (2d ed., London, 1870); Robertson Smith, Rclifiioii of the Semites ('2d ed., ib., 1894) ; .Jevons, Introduction to the History of liclirrion (ib., 1896); Frazer, The Golden Bough (2d"ed., ib., 1900). TABOR (Heb. Thubor, lofty place). The most conspicuous and famous mountain in Galilee (Map: Palestine, C 2). Its summit is 1843 feet above sea level. As a typical mountain of the Holy Land it impressed itself upon the language of poetry. It seems to have been the natural site for a sanctuary, and upon it from early times lay a town of the same name. Here Barak assembled his forces to attack Siscra (Judges iv. ) ; twice the .Jews held it, though un- successfully, against the Romans (B.C. 53; A.D. 67 ). It is the traditional scene of tlie Transfigu- ration of Christ, although most unreasonably, and so it became the site of churches and monas- teries, and was an object of pious pilgrimage. Consult; The Palestine Exjiloration Fund Me- moirs, vol. i. (London, 1881) ; Robinson, Biblical Rcsca rch es ( Boston, 1841). TASOR (OF. tahour, Fr. tambour, Sp. tarn- bor, from Ar. tambCir, sort of lute with a long neck and six brass strings, drum). A small drum, played with one stick, generally in combi- nation with a galoiibet or three-holed fife. TABOR COLLEGE. An undenominational institution of learning for both sexes at Tabor, Iowa, founded by a company of missionaries in 1857 as an academy, and incorporated as a col- lege in 1866. The courses after the freshman year are arranged in the group system and in- clude instruction in nuisic and art. The attend- ance in 1903 was 181; the faculty numbered 15, and the library contained 12.000 volumes. The productive funds of the college in the same year amounted to $104,000. TABORITES. The most radical party of the Hussites in Boliemia. They derived their name from their fortress of Tabor, near the river Luz- nic. They asserted the right of individual judgment, rejected all ordinances of the Church not expres,sly appointed in the Bible, and had democratic tendencies. Their leaders were .lohn Ziska (q.v. ), Nicholas of Pistna (Husinec), Procopius the Great, and Procopius the Lesser. ( See Procopius, Andrew.) At first, in the face of common danger, all parties of the Hussites held together and inflicted repeated defeats upon the Imperial troops. After the Calixtines (q.v.) had made terms with Sigismund and the Church