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believe they can compel the deity to grant it by a rigid fasting. The Amazulu have a saying that "the continually stuffed body cannot see secret things," and, in accordance with this belief, put no faith in a fat diviner.2 A Tungus shaman, who is summoned to treat a sick person, will for several days abstain from food and maintain silence till he becomes inspired. Among the Santals the person or persons who have to offer sacrifices at their feasts prepare themselves for this duty by fasting and prayer and by placing themselves for some time in a position of apparent mental absorption. The savage, as Professor Tylor remarks, has many a time, for days and weeks together, to try involuntarily the effects of fasting, accompanied with other privations and with prolonged solitary contemplation in the desert or the forest. Under these circumstances he soon comes to see and talk with phantoms, which are to him visible personal spirits, and, having thus learnt the secret of spiritual intercourse, he thenceforth reproduces the cause in order to renew the effects. The Hindus believe that a fasting person will ascend to the heaven of that god in whose name he observes the fast." The Hebrews associated fasting with divine revelations. St. Chrysostom says that fasting "makes the soul brighter, and gives it wings to mount up and soar on high."s

Ideas of this kind partly underlie the common practice of abstaining from food before or in connection with the performance of a magical or religious ceremony; but there

1 Boas, in Fifth Report on the NorthWestern Tribes of Canada, p. 50.

Callaway, Religious System of the Amazulu, p. 387, n. 41.

3 Krivoshapkin, quoted by Landtman, op. cit. p. 159.

Dalton, Ethnology of Bengal, p. 213. See also Rowney, Wild Tribes of India, p. 77.

Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii. 410.
Ward, View of the History, &c.
Deuteronomy,

of the Hindoos, ii. 77.

* Exodus, xxxiv. 28.

ix. 9. Daniel, ix. 3.

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8 St. Chrysostom, In Cap. I. Genes. Homil. X. (Migne, Patrologie cursus, Ser. Graeca, liii. 83). Cf. Tertullian, De jejuniis, 6 sqq. (Migne, ii. 960, 961, 963); Haug, Alterthümmer der Christen, pp. 476, 482.

9 Bossu, Travels through Louisiana, i. 38 (Natchez). Clavigero, History of Mexico, i. 285 sq.; Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States, iii. 440 sq. (ancient Mexicans). Landa, Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan, p. 156. Junghuhn, Die Battalander auf Sumatra, ii. 311 sq. (natives of

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is yet another ground for this practice. The effect attributed to fasting is not merely psychical, but it also prevents pollution. Food may cause defilement, and, like other polluting matter, be detrimental to sanctity. Among the Maoris "no food is permitted to touch the head or hair of a chief, which is sacred; and if food is mentioned in connection with anything sacred (or tapu') it is considered as an insult, and revenged as such." So also a full stomach may be polluting. This is obviously the reason why in Morocco and elsewhere certain magical practices, in order to be efficacious, have to be performed before breakfast. The Masai use strong purges before they venture to eat holy meat. The Caribs purified their bodies by purging, bloodletting, and fasting; and the natives of the Antilles, at certain religious festivals, cleansed themselves by vomiting before they approached the sanctuary. The true object of fasting often appears from the fact that it is practised hand in hand with other ceremonies of a purificatory character. A Lappish noaide, or wizard, prepares himself for the offering of a sacrifice by abstinence from food and ablutions. Herodotus tells us that the ancient Egyptians fasted before making a sacrifice to Isis, and beat their bodies while the victims were burnt. When a Hindu resolves to visit a sacred place, he has his head shaved two days preceding the commencement of his journey, and fasts the next day; on the last day of his journey he fasts again, and on his

Tjumba). Beauchamp, in the Madras Government Museum's Bulletin, iv. 56 (Hindus of Southern India). Ward, op. cit. ii. 76 sq. (Hindus). Wassiljew, quoted by Haberland, Gebräuche und Aberglauben beim Essen,' in Zeitschrift für Völkerpsychologie, xviii. 30 (Buddhists). Porphyry, De abstinentia ab esu animalium, ii. 44; Wachsmuth, Hellenische Alterthumskunde, ii. 560, 576; Hermann-Stark, Lehrbuch der gottesdienstlichen Alterthümer der Griechen, p. 381; Anrich, Das antike Mysterienwesen, p. 25; Diels, 'Ein orphischer Demeterhymnus,' in Festschrift Theodor Gomperz dargebracht,

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arrival at the sacred spot he has his whole body shaved, after which he bathes. In Christianity we likewise meet with fasting as a rite of purification. At least as early as the time of Tertullian it was usual for communicants to prepare themselves by fasting for receiving the Eucharist; 2 and to this day Roman Catholicism regards it as unlawful to consecrate or partake of it after food or drink. The Lent fast itself was partly interpreted as a purifying preparation for the holy table. And in the early Church catechumens were accustomed to fast before baptism.

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In the case of a sacrifice it is considered necessary not only that he who offers it, but that the victim also, should be free from pollution. In ancient Egypt a sacrificial animal had to be perfectly clean. According to Hindu notions the gods enjoy pure sacrifices only. In the Kalika-Purana, a work supposed to have been written under the direction of Siva, it is said that if a man is offered he must be free from corporal defect and unstained with great crimes, and that if an animal is offered it must have exceeded its third year and be without blemish or disease; and in no case must the victim be a woman or a she animal, because, as it seems, females are regarded as naturally unclean. According to the religious law of the Hebrews, no leaven or honey should be used in connection with vegetable offerings, on the ground that these articles have the effect of producing fermentation and tend to acidify and spoil anything with which they are mixed; and the animal which was intended for sacrifice should be absolutely free from blemish 10 and at least eight days old," that is, untainted with the impurity of birth. Quite in harmony with these prescriptions is the notion that human or

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1 Ward, op. cit. ii. 130 sq. Cf. Institutes of Vishnu, xlvi. 17, 24 sq. 2 Tertullian, De oratione, 19 (Migne, op. cit. i. 1182).

Catechism of the Council of Trent, ii. 4. 6.

St. Jerome, In Jonam, 3 (Migne, op. cit. xxv. 1140).

* Justin Martyr, Apologia I. pro Christianis, 61 (Migne, op. cit. Ser.

Graeca, vi. 420). St. Augustine, De fide et operibus, vi. 8 (Migne, xl. 202). 6 Herodotus, ii. 38.

7 Baudhayana, i. 6. 13. I sq.

8 Dubois, Description of the Character, &c. of the People of India, p. 491. 9 Keil, Manual of Biblical Archaology, i. 262.

10 Leviticus, xxii. 19 sqq.
11 Ibid. xxii. 27.

animal victims have to abstain from food for some time before they are offered up. Among the Kandhs the man who was destined to be sacrificed was kept fasting from the preceding evening, but on the day of the sacrifice he was refreshed with a little milk and palm-sago; and before he was led forth from the village in solemn procession he was carefully washed and dressed in a new garment. In Morocco it is not only considered meritorious for the people to fast on the day previous to the celebration of the yearly sacrificial feast, l-'aid l-kbir, but in several parts of the country the sheep which is going to be sacrificed has to fast on that day or at least on the following morning, till some food is given it immediately before it is slaughtered. The Jewish custom which compels the firstborn to fast on the eve of Passover 2 may also perhaps be a survival from a time when all the firstborn belonged to the Lord.

In some cases the custom of fasting before the performance of a sacrifice may be due to the idea that it is dangerous or improper for the worshipper to partake of food before the god has had his share. In India a regular performance of two half-monthly sacrifices is enjoined on the Brahmanical householder for a period of thirty years from the time when he has set up a fire of his ownaccording to some authorities even for the rest of his life. The ceremony usually occupies two consecutive days, the first of which is chiefly taken up with preparatory rites and the vow of abstinence (vrata) by the sacrificer and his wife, whilst the second day is reserved for the main performance of the sacrifice. The vrata includes the abstention from certain kinds of food, especially meat, which will be offered to the gods on the following day, as also from other carnal pleasures. The SatapathaBrahmana gives the following explanation of it :-"The gods see through the mind of man; they know that, when Judaism, p. 394.

1 Macpherson, Memorials of Service in India, p. 118.

2 Greenstone, Fasting,' in Jewish Encyclopedia, v. 348. Allen, Modern

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Supra, i. 459.

4 Cf. Oldenberg, Die Religion de Veda, p. 414.

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he enters on this vow, he means to sacrifice to them the next morning. Therefore all the gods betake themselves to his house, and abide by him or the fires (upa-vas) in his house; whence this day is called upa-vasatha. Now, as it would even be unbecoming for him to take food before men who are staying with him as his guests have eaten; how much more would it be so, if he were to take food before the gods who are staying with him have eaten let him therefore take no food at all." It is hardly probable, however, that this is the original meaning of the abstinence in question. It occurs about the time of new moon and full moon; according to some native authorities. the abstinence and sacrifice take place on the last two days of each half of the lunar month, whilst the generality of ritualistic writers consider the first day of the half-month -that is, the first and sixteenth days of the month-to be the proper time for the sacrifice. We shall presently see how frequently fasting is observed on these occasions, presumably for fear of eating food which is supposed to have been polluted by the moon; hence it seems to me by no means improbable that the vrata has a similar origin, instead of being merely a rite preparatory to the sacrifice which follows it. But at the same time the idea that spirits or gods should have the first share of a meal is certainly very ancient, and may lead to actual fasting in case the offering for some reason or other is to be delayed. A Polynesian legend tells us that a man by name Maui once caught an immense fish. Then he left his brothers, saying to them :-" After I am gone, be courageous and patient; do not eat food until I return, and do not let our fish be cut up, but rather leave it until I have carried an offering to the gods from this great haul of fish, and until I have found a priest, that fitting prayers and sacrifices may be offered to the god, and the necessary rites be completed in order. We shall thus all be purified. I will then

1 Satapatha-Brahmana, i. 1. 1. 7 sq. Eggeling, in Sacred Books of the East, xii. 1 sq. Oldenberg, op. cit. p. 413,

n. I.

2 Eggeling, in Sacred Books of the East, xii. 1.

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