Balder the Beautiful, Volume I A Study in Magic and Religion: the Golden Bough, Part VII | Page 5

at Puberty among the Indians of South America,
pp. 56-68.--Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Guaranis,
Chiriguanos, and Lengua Indians, 56 sq.; among the Yuracares of
Bolivia, 57 sq.; among the Indians of the Gran Chaco, 58 sq.; among
the Indians of Brazil, 59 sq.; among the Indians of Guiana, 60 sq.;
beating the girls and stinging them with ants, 61; stinging young men
with ants and wasps as an initiatory rite, 61-63; stinging men and
women with ants to improve their character or health or to render them
invulnerable, 63 sq.; in such cases the beating or stinging was
originally a purification, not a test of courage and endurance, 65 sq.;
this explanation confirmed by the beating of girls among the Banivas of
the Orinoco to rid them of a demon, 66-68; symptoms of puberty in a
girl regarded as wounds inflicted on her by a demon, 68.

§ 6. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in India and Cambodia, pp.
68-70.--Seclusion of girls at puberty among the Hindoos, 68; in
Southern India, 68-70; in Cambodia, 70.
§ 7. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty in Folk-tales, pp. 70-76.--Danish
story of the girl who might not see the sun, 70-72; Tyrolese story of the
girl who might not see the sun, 72; modern Greek stories of the maid
who might not see the sun, 72 sq.; ancient Greek story of Danae and its
parallel in a Kirghiz legend, 73 sq.; impregnation of women by the sun
in legends, 74 sq.; traces in marriage customs of the belief that women
can be impregnated by the sun, 75; belief in the impregnation of
women by the moon, 75 sq.
§ 8. Reasons for the Seclusion of Girls at Puberty, pp. 76-100.--The
reason for the seclusion of girls at puberty is the dread of menstruous
blood, 76; dread and seclusion of menstruous women among the
aborigines of Australia, 76-78; in Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea,
Galela, and Sumatra, 78 sq.; among the tribes of South Africa, 79 sq.;
among the tribes of Central and East Africa, 80-82; among the tribes of
West Africa, 82; powerful influence ascribed to menstruous blood in
Arab legend, 82 sq.; dread and seclusion of menstruous women among
the Jews and in Syria, 83 sq.; in India, 84 sq.; in Annam, 85; among the
Indians of Central and South America, 85 sq.; among the Indians of
North America, 87-94; among the Creek, Choctaw, Omaha and
Cheyenne Indians, 88 sq.; among the Indians of British Columbia, 89
sq.; among the Chippeway Indians, 90 sq.; among the Tinneh or Déné
Indians, 91; among the Carrier Indians, 91-94; similar rules of
seclusion enjoined on menstruous women in ancient Hindoo, Persian,
and Hebrew codes, 94-96; superstitions as to menstruous women in
ancient and modern Europe, 96 sq.; the intention of secluding
menstruous women is to neutralize the dangerous influences which are
thought to emanate from them in that condition, 97; suspension
between heaven and earth, 97; the same explanation applies to the
similar rules of seclusion observed by divine kings and priests, 97-99;
stories of immortality attained by suspension between heaven and earth,
99 sq.

CHAPTER III.
--THE MYTH OF BALDER, Pp. 101-105
How Balder, the good and beautiful god, was done to death by a stroke
of mistletoe, 101 sq.; story of Balder in the older Edda, 102 sq.; story
of Balder as told by Saxo Grammaticus, 103; Balder worshipped in
Norway, 104; legendary death of Balder resembles the legendary death
of Isfendiyar in the epic of Firdusi, 104 sq.; the myth of Balder perhaps
acted as a magical ceremony; the two main incidents of the myth,
namely the pulling of the mistletoe and the burning of the god, have
perhaps their counterpart in popular ritual, 105.

CHAPTER IV.
--THE FIRE FESTIVALS OF EUROPE, Pp. 106-327
§ 1. The Lenten Fires, pp. 106-120.--European custom of kindling
bonfires on certain days of the year, dancing round them, leaping over
them, and burning effigies in the flames, 106; seasons of the year at
which the bonfires are lit, 106 sq.; bonfires on the first Sunday in Lent
in the Belgian Ardennes, 107 sq.; in the French department of the
Ardennes, 109 sq.; in Franche-Comté, 110 sq.; in Auvergne, 111-113;
French custom of carrying lighted torches (brandons) about the
orchards and fields to fertilize them on the first Sunday of Lent,
113-115; bonfires on the first Sunday of Lent in Germany and Austria,
115 sq.; "burning the witch," 116; burning discs thrown into the air,
116 sq.; burning wheels rolled down hill, 117 sq.; bonfires on the first
Sunday in Lent in Switzerland, 118 sq.; burning discs thrown into the
air, 119; connexion of these fires with the custom of "carrying out
Death," 119 sq.
§ 2. The Easter Fires, 120-146.--Custom in Catholic countries of
kindling