Balder the Beautiful, Volume I A Study in Magic and Religion: the Golden Bough, Part VII | Page 8

of the need-fire,
292 sq.; Alexander Carmichael's account, 293-295; the need-fire in

Aberdeenshire, 296; in Perthshire, 296 sq.; in Ireland, 297; the use of
need-fire a relic of the time when all fires were similarly kindled by the
friction of wood, 297 sq.; the belief that need-fire cannot kindle if any
other fire remains alight in the neighbourhood, 298 sq.; the need-fire
among the Iroquois of North America, 299 sq.
§ 9. The Sacrifice of an Animal to stay a Cattle-plague, pp.
300-327.--The burnt sacrifice of a calf in England and Wales, 300 sq.;
burnt sacrifices of animals in Scotland, 301 sq.; calf burnt in order to
break a spell which has been cast on the herd, 302 sq.; mode in which
the burning of a bewitched animal is supposed to break the spell,
303-305; in burning the bewitched animal you burn the witch herself,
305; practice of burning cattle and sheep as sacrifices in the Isle of Man,
305-307; by burning a bewitched animal you compel the witch to
appear, 307; magic sympathy between the witch and the bewitched
animal, 308; similar sympathy between a were-wolf and his or her
human shape, wounds inflicted on the animal are felt by the man or
woman, 308; were-wolves in Europe, 308-310; in China, 310 sq.;
among the Toradjas of Central Celebes, 311-313 sq.; in the Egyptian
Sudan, 313 sq.; the were-wolf story in Petronius, 313 sq.; witches like
were-wolves can temporarily transform themselves into animals, and
wounds inflicted on the transformed animals appear on the persons of
the witches, 315 sq.; instances of such transformations and wounds in
Scotland, England, Ireland, France, and Germany, 316-321; hence the
reason for burning bewitched animals is either to burn the witch herself
or at all events to compel her to appear, 321 sq.; the like reason for
burning bewitched things, 322 sq.; similarly by burning alive a person
whose likeness a witch has assumed you compel the witch to disclose
herself, 323; woman burnt alive as a witch in Ireland at the end of the
nineteenth century, 323 sq.; bewitched animals sometimes buried alive
instead of being burned, 324-326; calves killed and buried to save the
rest of the herd, 326 sq.

CHAPTER V.

--THE INTERPRETATION OF THE FIRE-FESTIVALS, Pp. 328-346
§ 1. On the Fire-festivals in general pp. 328-331.--General resemblance
of the fire-festivals to each other, 328 sq.; two explanations of the
festivals suggested, one by W. Mannhardt that they are sun-charms, the
other by Dr. E. Westermarck that they are purificatory, 329 sq.; the two
explanations perhaps not mutually exclusive, 330 sq.
§ 2. The Solar Theory of the Fire-festivals, pp. 331-341.--Theory that
the fire-festivals are charms to ensure a supply of sunshine, 331;
coincidence of two of the festivals with the solstices, 331 sq.; attempt
of the Bushmen to warm up the fire of Sirius in midwinter by kindling
sticks, 332 sq.; the burning wheels and discs of the fire-festivals may be
direct imitations of the sun, 334; the wheel which is sometimes used to
kindle the fire by friction may also be an imitation of the sun, 334-336;
the influence which the bonfires are supposed to exert on the weather
and vegetation may be thought to be due to an increase of solar heat
produced by the fires, 336-338; the effect which the bonfires are
supposed to have in fertilizing cattle and women may also be attributed
to an increase of solar heat produced by the fires, 338 sq.; the carrying
of lighted torches about the country at the festivals may be explained as
an attempt to diffuse the sun's heat, 339-341.
§ 3. The Purificatory Theory of the Fire-festivals, pp. 341-346.--Theory
that the fires at the festivals are purificatory, being intended to burn up
all harmful things, 341; the purificatory or destructive effect of the fires
is often alleged by the people who light them, and there is no reason to
reject this explanation, 341 sq.; the great evil against which the fire at
the festivals appears to be directed is witchcraft, 342; among the evils
for which the fire-festivals are deemed remedies the foremost is
cattle-disease, and cattle-disease is often supposed to be an effect of
witchcraft, 343 sq.; again, the bonfires are thought to avert hail, thunder,
lightning, and various maladies, all of which are attributed to the
maleficent arts of witches, 344 sq.; the burning wheels rolled down hill
and the burning discs thrown into the air may be intended to burn the
invisible witches, 345 sq.; on this view the fertility supposed to follow
the use of fire results indirectly from breaking the spells of witches,

346; on the whole the theory of the purificatory or destructive intention
of the fire-festivals seems the more probable, 346.
[Transcriber's Note: The brief descriptions often found enclosed in
square brackets