Chapter Xi. Acts Of Devotionmyths : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 181 CHAPTER XI ACTS OF DEVOTION--MYTHS To the savage who is constantly surrounded with spiritual beings, and whose life is dependent on securing their continued favour, no actions can be performed without a religious significance. He has not...
Chapter Ix. Prophecy : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 146 CHAPTER IX PROPHECY The office of magician is to primitive man what that of prophet is to a more advanced people. He is the teacher of the ignorant; he delivers to men the oracles of the gods; he foretells events, and explains what is...
Chapter X. Social Usages : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 173 CHAPTER X SOCIAL USAGES It may at first appear as if there were no connection between the religion of primitive peoples and their social usages. The latter, according to European ideas, have so little of the nature of religious rites th...
Chapter Xiii. Courtesies Of Lifedress : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 204 CHAPTER XIII COURTESIES OF LIFE--DRESS A more savoury subject than public morality is courtesy, which in Africa is all that could be desired. Hospitality hardly knows any bounds, and the chief who receives a stranger as his guest treats him...
Preface : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. vii PREFACE This volume is an effort to put into popular form a number of facts connected with the religious observances and social customs of African tribes. No attempt is made to treat the subject exhaustively, and those who have made...
Chapter I. Primitive Man And The Supernatural : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 1 RELIGION AND MYTH CHAPTER I PRIMITIVE MAN AND THE SUPERNATURAL Religion in the widest sense may be defined as man's attitude towards the unseen, and the earliest forms of human thought furnish the clue from which must be traced...
Chapter Xiv. Reforms : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 214 CHAPTER XIV REFORMS THE foregoing pages are but the barest outline of a subject of absorbing interest, not only to the ethnologist, but to all who wish to have an acquaintance with early processes of human thought. The facts are culled...
Chapter V. Taboos : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 84 CHAPTER V TABOOS We have already seen how the Mikado of Japan and the divine King of Laondo lived surrounded with safeguards and restrictions. The dangers to which souls are exposed have also been touched upon. We shall now consider how...
Title Page : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], RELIGION AND MYTH BY THE REV. JAMES MACDONALD London: D. Nutt; New York: Scribner [1883] Scanned, proofed and formatted by John Bruno Hare, February 2008. This text is in the public domain in the US because it was published prior to 1923. "TO" MY...
Chapter Iii. Evolution Of Deity : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 33 CHAPTER III EVOLUTION OF DEITY To form a correct conception of African and other primitive peoples, it is necessary to have some acquaintance with the doctrine of souls, as that is understood by savage men. This throughout Africa is vague...
Chapter Iv. Sacrifice : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 61 CHAPTER IV SACRIFICE We have already seen that the earliest form of human sacrifice was associated in the minds of men with killing the god himself. The divine King of Congo was put to death by his successor. In the Fiji Islands old people...
Chapter Vii. Witchcraft : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 113 CHAPTER VII WITCHCRAFT When man reached the conception of good and evil spirits as personal and separate existences--that is to say, beings capable of being influenced by him and having an influence over him--it needed but the advent...
Chapter Xii. Woman : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 194 CHAPTER XII WOMAN In any inquiry into the religion of primitive men, it is necessary, if we are to understand the significance of many actions and familiar customs, to take account of woman's position and her true sphere in savage life...
Untitled : * This pioneering Victorian study of comparative African religious beliefs, draws on ethnographies, folklore studies, historical and traveler's accounts. Macdonald examines in detail taboos, magic, divination, prophecy, sacrifice, sorcery, sexual practices, and the status of women. He also ties...
Chapter Viii. Harvest Festivals : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 136 CHAPTER VIII HARVEST FESTIVALS The festivals and ceremonial acts of any people give a clue to the original form of their institutions, and when these can be compared with what still exists, in its original form, among untutored nations, it...
Chapter Vi. Expulsion Of Demons : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 99 CHAPTER VI EXPULSION OF DEMONS When man found his steps dogged by demons, he sought for means by which he could rid himself of those imps of evil which rendered his life an insupportable burden. His first impulse was to surround himself with...
Chapter Ii. Guarding Divinity : * "Religion and Myth", by James Macdonald, [1883], p. 20 CHAPTER II GUARDING DIVINITY We have seen in the preceding chapter that the king or divine ruler was endowed with supernatural powers, by means of which he was able to regulate rain and sunshine, the growth of crops and the capture of bird...