The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead

Updated: 2024-4-18

Status: Completed

The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead Novel Chapters

List of most recent chapters published for the The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead novel. A total of 134 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024

Latest Release: Chapter 1 : The Belief in Immortality and the Wors.h.i.+p of the Dead.by Sir James George Frazer.PRE
The Belief in Immortality and the Wors.h.i.+p of the Dead.by Sir James George Frazer.PREFACE The following lectures were delivered on Lord Gifford's Foundation before the University of St. Andrews in the early winters of 1911 and 1912. They are printed n

101 [199] Lord Avebury, _Prehistoric Times_, Seventh Edition (London, 1913), pp. 132 _sqq._; Sir Norman Lockyer, _Stonehenge and other British Stone Monuments astronomically considered_ (London, 1906); C. Schuchhardt, "Stonehenge," _Zeitschrift fur 2024-4-23
102 One very remarkable peculiarity in the mourning for a Tooitonga was that, though he ranked above the king and all other chiefs, the mourners strictly abstained from manifesting their grief by wounding their heads and cutting their bodies in the manner tha 2024-4-23
103 Decaying rapidly under the ardent rays of a tropical sun, it exhales a poisonous miasma. But the heat, oppressive and exhausting at times, is nevertheless tempered by the sea and land breezes, which blow daily, alternating with intervals of calm between t 2024-4-23
104 [38] Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._. ii. 145 _sqq._; J. E.Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 45-47; T. H. Hood, _Notes of a Cruise in H.M.S. "Fawn" in the Western Pacific_ (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 32; Violette, "Notes d'un Missionnaire sur l'archipel d 2024-4-23
105 [60] J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, pp. 74 _sq._; G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 432.[61] G. Turner, _Samoa_, p. 173.The villages of the Samoans were practically self-governing and independent communities, though every village was more or less loo 2024-4-23
106 [88] G. Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, p. 229.Annual feasts were held in honour of the G.o.ds, and the season of the feast was often in May, but sometimes in April or June.[89] In some cases the feasts were regulated by the appearance of the bird w 2024-4-23
107 Spirit-houses (_fale-aitu_) or temples were erected for some, but not all, of the cla.s.s of deities (_aitu_) which we are now considering. It was chiefly the war G.o.ds who were thus honoured. Such temples were built with the same materials and in the sa 2024-4-23
108 However, another experienced missionary, J. B. Stair, who knew Samoa a good many years before Dr. Brown arrived in it, speaks apparently without hesitation of the _tupua_ as being "the deified spirits of chiefs, who were also supposed to dwell in Pul 2024-4-23
109 However, according to the American ethnologist, Horatio Hale, some of the Samoans agreed with the Tongans in taking an aristocratic view of the destiny of souls after death; and as he had good opportunities for acquainting himself with the Samoan religion 2024-4-23
110 [8] W. W. Gill, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 332 _sq._, 338.[9] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 16; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ pp. 335 _sq._ [10] W. W. Gill, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p 2024-4-23
111 Compare _id._, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p. 35.[39] W. W. Gill, _Myths and Songs from the South Pacific_, p.35; _id._, "Mangaia (Hervey Islands)," _op. cit._ p. 339; _id._, _Life in the Southern Isles_, p. 70.[40] W. W. Gill, &qu 2024-4-23
112 Among the caverns in which, in the island of Mangaia, the dead used to be deposited, two are particularly famous. One of them, at Tamarua, is the chasm called Raupa or "leafy entrance" on account of the dense growth of hibiscus which formerly su 2024-4-23
113 [3] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 14-18. Compare J.Cook, _Voyages_, i. 172 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1777), i. 253 _sq._; J. Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 321 _sqq._; D.Tyerman and G. Be 2024-4-23
114 Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp.343 _sqq._; D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_, i. 523 (as to Taaroa); J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages aux iles du Grand Ocean_, i. 416 _sqq._, 436 _sqq._, 442 _sq._ As to Ta 2024-4-23
115 174, "Wherever they go they exercise power to seize what they want from the inhabitants. They smite their hand on their breast and say '_Harre_, give,' whenever they covet any thing, and none dares deny them. They never work; live by plunder; yet are h 2024-4-23
116 A familiar figure of the Polynesian pantheon, who meets us in the mythology of the Society Islanders, was the famous G.o.d or hero Maui.Many stories of his exploits were told in the islands. It is said that originally the sky lay flat upon the face of the 2024-4-23
117 Again, Captain Cook tells us that after a battle the victors used to collect all the dead that had fallen into their hands and bring them to the _morai_, where, with much ceremony, they dug a hole and buried all the bodies in it as so many offerings to th 2024-4-23
118 [152] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 344 _sq._ Human victims were sacrificed on many occasions, as in time of war, at great national festivals, during the illness of their rulers, and at the building of a temple. William Ellis was told that the foundations of so 2024-4-23
119 [182] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 404.They imagined that at death the soul (_varua_) was drawn out of the head by a G.o.d or spirit (_atua_) as a sword is drawn out of its scabbard, and that the spirits of the dead often waited to catch it at the moment when 2024-4-23
120 A dangerous pollution was supposed to be contracted by all who had handled a corpse. Hence the persons employed in embalming a body were carefully shunned by every one else so long as the process lasted, because the guilt of the crime for which the deceas 2024-4-23
121 [243] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vi. 152.The fear of ghosts in the minds of the Society Islanders has long survived their conversion to Christianity; indeed, we are informed that it is as rampant as ever. No ordinary native would dare to visit one of the lonely 2024-4-23
122 [8] P. E. Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ p. 57. Compare M.Radiguet, _Les Derniers Sauvages_, pp. 304 _sq._ [9] H. Melville, _Typee_, p. 220.[10] A. Baessler, _op. cit._ pp. 222 _sq._ [11] M. Radiguet, _op. cit._ p. 304. -- 2. _Physical Appearance of the 2024-4-23
123 The Marquesans built canoes of various sizes, the smaller for fis.h.i.+ng, the larger for war. These latter might be from forty to fifty feet long.They were fitted with outriggers. The prow had an ornamental projection rudely carved to represent the head 2024-4-23
124 [59] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 80.[60] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 79 _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ p.62.A powerful instrument in the hands of the n.o.bles was the taboo or _tapu_, which, though it seems to have been originally a religious inst.i.tution,[61] was 2024-4-23
125 [90] Clavel, _op. cit._ pp. 43 _sq._ The soul of the dead was believed not to abandon the corpse definitely for two days after the death. In the interval it was thought to haunt the house, watching the conduct of the survivors, and ready to act as a frien 2024-4-23
126 [119] Langsdorff, _op. cit._ i. 134.[120] Melville, _Typee_, p. 206.[121] Clavel, _op. cit._ p. 47.After ten months or a year the obsequies were concluded by another funeral feast, which might last from eight to thirty days according to the rank of the de 2024-4-23
127 NOTE.--We possess no thorough account of the native Marquesan society and religion as these existed before they were transformed by European influence. Some of the writers who have described the islanders and their customs spent only a few days or at most 2024-4-23
128 -- 2. _The Natives and their Mode of Life_ The natives of the Sandwich Islands are typical Polynesians. In general they are rather above the middle stature, well formed, with fine muscular limbs, open countenances, and features frequently resembling those 2024-4-23
129 In Hawaii, as in other parts of Polynesia, the taboo formed an important and essential part both of the religious and of the political system, of which it was at once a strong support and a powerful instrument. The proper sense of the word taboo (in Hawai 2024-4-23
130 The great Polynesian G.o.d or hero Maui was known in Hawaii, where the stories told of him resembled those current in other parts of the Pacific. He is said to have dragged up the islands on his fis.h.i.+ng-hook from the depths of the ocean, and to have b 2024-4-23
131 [88] J. J. Jarves, _op. cit._ p. 48.[89] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 97.[90] L. de Freycinet, _Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii.596.Distinct from the regular priests were the diviners or sorcerers who formed a sort of lower priesthood or clergy. Their 2024-4-23
132 When a new temple was about to be dedicated, some of the people used to flee into the mountains to escape being sacrificed. The last human sacrifices are said to have been offered in 1807, when the queen of the islands was seriously ill.[117] Whenever war 2024-4-23
133 In 1809, some five years after Lisiansky's visit to Hawaii, the Scotch sailor Archibald Campbell witnessed one of these Saturnalia held on the occasion of the death of the king's brother. He says: "The public mourning that took place on this occasion w 2024-4-23
134 The power which Maori chiefs possessed of imposing, or at all events of enforcing, a taboo seems not to have been quite so absolute as might perhaps be inferred from the statement in the text.[1] We are told that the power of the taboo mainly depended on 2024-4-23