The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

249it may be noticed that they involve two distinct conceptions of thecorn-spirit. For whereas in some of the customs the corn-spiritis treated as immanent in the corn, in others it is regarded asexternal to it. Thus when a particular sheaf is called by thename of the corn-spirit, and is dressed in clothes and handledwith reverence, 624 the spirit is clearly regarded as immanent inthe corn. But when the spirit is said to make the crops growby passing through them, or to blight the grain of those againstwhom she has a grudge, 625 she is apparently conceived as distinctfrom, though exercising power over, the corn. Conceived in thelatter way the corn-spirit is in a fair way to become a deityof the corn, if she has not become so already. Of these twoconceptions, that of the corn-spirit as immanent in the corn isdoubtless the older, since the view of nature as animated byindwelling spirits appears to have generally preceded the viewof it as controlled by external deities; to put it shortly, animismprecedes deism. In the harvest customs of our European peasantrythe corn-spirit seems to be conceived now as immanent in thecorn and now as external to it. In Greek mythology, on theother hand, Demeter is viewed rather as the deity of the cornthan as the spirit immanent in it. 626 The process of thoughtwhich leads to the change from the one mode of conception [212]to the other is anthropomorphism, or the gradual investmentof the immanent spirits with more and more of the attributes624 In some places it was customary to kneel down before the last sheaf, inothers to kiss it. See W. Mannhardt, Korndämonen, p. 26; id., MythologischeForschungen, p. 339. The custom of kneeling and bowing before the last cornis said to have been observed, at least occasionally, in England. See Folk-loreJournal, vii. (1888) p. 270; and Herrick's evidence, above, p. 147, note 1. TheMalay sorceress who cut the seven ears of rice to form the Rice-child kissedthe ears after she had cut them (W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic, p. 241).625 Above, pp. 132 sq.626 Even in one of the oldest documents, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter,Demeter is represented as the goddess who controls the growth of the cornrather than as the spirit who is immanent in it. See above, pp. 36 sq.