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

§ 3. Human Sacrifices for the Crops. 293assembly, where it was received by the priest and the heads offamilies. The priest divided it into two portions, one of whichhe offered to the Earth Goddess by burying it in a hole in theground with his back turned, and without looking. Then eachman added a little earth to bury it, and the priest poured water onthe spot from a hill gourd. The other portion of flesh he dividedinto as many shares as there were heads of houses present. Eachhead of a house rolled his shred of flesh in leaves, and buriedit in his favourite field, placing it in the earth behind his backwithout looking. 763 In some places each man carried his portion [249]of flesh to the stream which watered his fields, and there hungit on a pole. 764 For three days thereafter no house was swept;and, in one district, strict silence was observed, no fire might begiven out, no wood cut, and no strangers received. The remainsof the human victim (namely, the head, bowels, and bones)were watched by strong parties the night after the sacrifice; andnext morning they were burned, along with a whole sheep, ona funeral pile. The ashes were scattered over the fields, laid aspaste over the houses and granaries, or mixed with the new cornto preserve it from insects. 765 Sometimes, however, the headand bones were buried, not burnt. 766 After the suppression ofthe human sacrifices, inferior victims were substituted in someplaces; for instance, in the capital of Chinna Kimedy a goat tookthe place of a human victim. 767 Others sacrifice a buffalo. Theytie it to a wooden post in a sacred grove, dance wildly round itwith brandished knives, then, falling on the living animal, hackit to shreds and tatters in a few minutes, fighting and strugglingwith each other for every particle of flesh. As soon as a man has763 S. C. Macpherson, op. cit. p. 129. Compare J. Campbell, op. cit. pp. 55, 58,113, 121, 187.764 J. Campbell, op. cit. p. 182.765 S. C. Macpherson, op. cit. p. 128; E. T. Dalton, Descriptive Ethnology ofBengal, p. 288.766 J. Campbell, op. cit. pp. 55, 182.767 J. Campbell, op. cit. p. 187.