Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

24 The Hymn of the Kouretes [ch.
m„e- S in armour; it is especially as inspired dancers that
they fulfil their function as ministers in sacred rites. lhey
Sire terror by armed dances accompaniedi by no.se and hubbub
of timbrels and clashing arms and also by the sound o the flute
and shouting.' Nursing young children or even dnllmg young
boys are function* that seem to us scarcely congruous with the
daneino- of armed dances. On the terracotta relief in Fig. 3 we
ove
see the\ouretes armed with shields and short spears dancing :
the infant Zeus, and if we try to realise the scene «d«M
to us absurd, calculated rather to scare the child to death than
to defend him. But the Kouretes as Initiators continue then
'
c ngruous functions. Pantomimic dancing is of the essence of
each and every mystery function. To disclose the mysteryM. as
to dance out the mysteries.' Instruction among
Lucian' puts it '
savage peoples is always imparted in more or less mimetic dances .
It initiation you learn certain dances which confer on you defini
social status. When a man is too old to dance, he hands over his
dance to another and a younger, and he then among som tube.
ceases to exist socially. His funeral when he dies is celeb ated
with scanty and perfunctory rites; having lost his dance he is
, a negligible social unit 4 .
The dances taught to boys at initiation are frequently if not
always armed dances. These are not necessarily warhke. The
accoutrement of spear and shield was m part decorative in part a
pro usion for making the necessary hubbub. What a Koures in
Lieut days must have looked like may be gathered from F,g. 4
a photograph taken of the peculiar dance with song (j^Kjr,) of
the neophytes among the Akikfiyu prior to their initiation a
men Conspicuous in their dancing gear are the great ceremonial
dancing shields and the long staves. They are painted in zigzag
with white paint, and wear tails and skins of monkey and wild
cat. To be allowed to dance it is essential that a boy be painted
. ima« i. In,,. *n.