the ethnological notebooks of karl marx - Marxists Internet Archive

Unter d. Khonds of Central India ebenfalls solch Menschenopfermal. Astout stake is driven into the soil, and to it the victim is fastened, seated,and anointed with ghee, oil, and turmeric, decorated with flowers, andworshipped during the day by the assembly. Abends ist diese revelry11resumed; am jt Morgen erhält d. victim some milk to drink, when thepresiding priest implores the goddess to shower her blessings on thepeople etc etc. The priest recounts the origin and advantage of the riteand concludes by stating that the goddess has been obeyed and thepeople assembled etc. After the mock ceremony, nevertheless, thevictim is taken to the grove, where the sacrifice is to be carried out; and,to prevent resistance, the bones of the arms and legs are broken, or the victimdrugged with opium or datura, when the janni wounds his victim with hisaxe .... The crowd now press forward to obtain a piece of his flesh, andin a moment he is stripped to the bones. (240, 241)So in some parts of Africa “ eating the fetish” [was auch so far bei Eidnehmenz.B. symbolisch geschieht, by “ rasping or grating a little of thefetish in water or of an edible, and so put it in their mouth withoutswallowing it” ] is a solemn ceremony, by which women swear fidelity totheir husbands, men to their friends.” (241)The sacrifices as a general rule not eaten by all indiscriminately; in Fejeeconfined to the old men u. priests; women and young men being excludedfrom any share. Gradually the priests establish their claim to the whole, diesstimulirt d. practice of sacrifice. Affects auch the character of the worship.Thus, as Bosman tells, the priests encouraged offerings to the Serpentrather than to the Sea, weil im letzteren Fall, wie er sagt, “there happensno remainder to be left to them.” (241, 242)D. feeling, das led to the sacrifice of animals culminated naturally in that ofmen, in Guinea, Pacific Islands, war captives in Brazil; various nationsin India, ausser d. Khonds, die bereits erwähnt; auch jezt dort in einigenPlätzen, wo human sacrifices nicht mehr erlaubt, machen sie human figuresof flour, paste, or clay, and then cut off their heads in honor of their gods.(242) Ebso in ancient history bei Carthager, Assyrians, Greeks; bei d.7 Römern bis zum 2 od. 3 Jhdt nach Christ, | Peru, Mexico. In letztremnach F. G. Müller, jährlich in d. Tempeln geopfert 2,500 (a moderateestimate) but in one year über 100,000. Bei Juden system of animalsacrifices on a grand scale and symbols of human sacrifices, die hindeuten thatthey were once usual.Japhefs daughter: see jth chapter of Leviticus. (241-43).Ursprünglich keine Tempel or sacred buildings; in New World nur in CentralAmerica u. Peru (244) In Indien the tumulus has developed into the temple.(Fergusson, “ Tree and Serpent Worship".)The Lower Races of mankind have no priests, properly so called. (244) InGreece priests, but no priesthood. (245)In the Tonga Islands the chiefs regarded as immortal, the Tooas12 or com-348