A Dictionary of Superstitions and Mythology by Biren Bonnerjea DLitt.pdf

A DICTIONARY OF SUPERSTITIONS

AND MYTHOLOGY

BY BIREN BONNERJEA, D. LITT. (PARIS)

[VIRENDRA VANDYOPADHYAYA]

FOLK PRESS LIMITED

RANELAGH ROAD, LONDON, S.W.I

1927

JIT ROY

NEPOTIS AMANTISSIMI MEI

IN MEMORIAM

D.D.

“Know thyself.”

—Oracle.

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PREFACE

OWING to the great volume of existing literature on the subject, it may seem an

unnecessary waste of time and energy to offer the following work to the public; a few

words of explanation, therefore, may not be out of place here.

A number of years ago, when I was making a comparative study of mythology and

folklore I began to collect notes, which gradually grew to such an extent that I felt

myself justified in curtailing the mass of material and rearranging the whole in the form

of a short dictionary. It would have been an easy task to enlarge this book to at least

four times its present size, but I purposely restricted myself to what, in my opinion, was

absolutely essential and at the same time most trustworthy.

As the book is primarily intended as a reliable guide for serious students of mytholo-

gy and folklore, I have given under every heading the country or countries where the

superstition is prevalent and the authorities with the pages of the works where it is to

be found; wherever no localities are given, it is to be understood as pertaining to Great

Britain, unless the book referred to deals with one particular country or province. I have

deviated from the course mentioned above when either the subject is too well known,

or when the superstitions were collected by myself and no printed work on the subject

was available. To further facilitate references, I have given at the end of the lexico-

graphical part, a complete bibliography of the works chiefly made use of in the compila-

tion of this book. I have included only those British, French, German, Bohemian and

Indian superstitions which I could actually verify on the spot; owing however to my

ignorance of the Czech language, I was forced to avail myself of the kind services of a

friend who helped my in my task.

A complete understanding of the gradual development of the human mind can be

arrived at only by means of a study of the superstitions of the various nations. It is a

well-known fact, that the more advanced a nation is, the less superstitious are the peo-

ple. The moment anything can be logically answered, superstition comes to an end; but

as long as we cannot understand the causes and effects, we are groping in the dark,

and our imagination is given full play. It is also a well-known fact that advancement

influences our imagination to a very great extent. There are several very important fac-

tors in the making of superstitions, the foremost of which is our environment. We can

dream our day-dreams amidst green fields with the birds singing above us, or beside

the rippling stream under the clear moonlit sky, but it would be difficult, if not impossi-

ble, to indulge ourselves in those same dreams amidst the noise and bustle of a busy

city life, or while rushing through the Continent of Europe in the wagon-lit of the Nord

Express. Every man is born primitive, but the conditions of his living tend to form his

ideas. A villager living his primitive semi-savage life is naturally more prone to be imagi-

native than his town-bred cousin; hence imagination is to be found more in villages

than in towns, more amongst savages than among civilized races—and in Imagination

is the seed of Superstition. Imagination combined with Ignorance is Superstition full-

born.

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Superstition may be defined subjectively as the disposition or tendency to ascribe

phenomena which admit of natural explanation to occult or supernatural causes; or

objectively, it is any system of religious belief or practice which manifests such a ten-

dency. Superstition is excessive belief or credulity; it arises from the encroachment of

faith on the rights of reason and knowledge, and is applied in popular usage to various

forms of polytheism. It is an unreasonable belief in things or phenomena which,

although owing their origin to perfectly natural and logical causes, are attributed to

some supernatural force or power, or again, the natural results of these are distorted by

popular imagination into something fantastic. Thus for example, in the Middle Ages,

when science was in its infancy, the violent wind was supposed to have been caused

by Wodan and his spectral followers, riders and hounds in full chase, rushing through

the woods, or athwart the sky, in quest of some poor human soul; the French have their

prototype in the Grand Veneur riding in the forests of Fontainebleau, and we in our leg-

end of Herne the Hunter haunting the ancient oak tree in Windsor Forest. “Superstition

would seem to be simply cowardice in regard to the supernatural. The superstitious

man is one who will wash his hands at a fountain, sprinkle himself at a temple font, put

a bit of laurel-leaf into his mouth, and so go about for the day. If a weasel run across

his path, he will not pursue his walk until someone else has traversed the road, or until

he has thrown three stones across it. When he sees a serpent in his house, if it be the

red snake, he will invoke Sabazius; if the sacred snake, he will straightaway place a

shrine on the spot. He will pour oil from his flask on the smooth stones at the cross-

roads as he goes by, and will fall on his knees and worship them before he departs. If a

mouse gnaws through a meal-bag, he will go to the expounder of the sacred law and

ask what is to be done. . . . He will not tread upon a tombstone, or come near a dead

body or a woman defiled by childbirth, saying that it is expedient for him not to be pol-

luted. Also on the fourth and seventh days of each month he will order his servants to

mull wine, and will go out and buy myrtle wreaths, frankincense, convolvuluses.”

[THEOPHRASTUS: The Characters, translated by R. C. Jebb (1870) xxvii.]

Every natural thing our forefathers could not understand was attributed, as it is attrib-

uted to-day by the savage races, to some good or evil spirits; diseases were caused by

malicious demons, ill-disposed fairies or malignant witches; shipwrecks were the direct

acts of Nixes or Water-demons; anaemia was caused by those horrible monsters, vam-

pires, sucking the patient’s blood; the eclipse of the sun and the moon was the result of

their being devoured by some bloodthirsty and revengeful demons, such, as Râhu or

Ketu; werewolves, or men who by means of black arts transformed themselves into

beasts of prey, devastated the land. An eminent author relates how, during an eclipse,

he heard a French peasant exclaim with deep anguish: “Mon Dieu! Qu’elle est souf-

frante!” and as an explanation pointed to the almost totally obscured moon. The Rev.

Mr. S. Baring Gould found it impossible to find anyone to guide him through a certain

wood in France, for fear of the “Loup-garou.”

As an example of what superstitions lead to we need only mention the awful days of

the Hexenverfolgungen and Hexenprozessen when hundreds, nay even thousands, of

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innocent human beings were burnt at the stake on the mere supposition of being witch-

es: as witness whereof the trial and condemnation of the famous Lancashire Witches.

With the advancement of culture and civilization, these superstitions have happily van-

ished; but it would be safe to assert that no matter how advanced the people are, there

is not one nation in the world which is entirely free from superstitions of every kind. We,

living in civilized Europe, cannot understand the mentality of the Zulus in employing

“witch-doctors” to “smell out” culprits, or of the Hindus in prostrating themselves before

a hideous idol and praying for riches or the recovery of stolen goods, yet very few of us

would willingly walk under a ladder, or make up a party of thirteen at the dinner table.

The origin of most of our modern superstitions is lost in antiquity. Dr. Adolf Lehmann in

his admirable book, Aberglaube und Zauberei has discussed this question of the evolu-

tion of superstitions at great length; it is therefore, unnecessary for me to go into the

matter any further, or to give any explanation as to their origin. I have contented myself

with a simple list of these superstitions with their different variations in different coun-

tries as they exist at the present day.

With regard to Oriental words and names, I have not restricted myself to any definite

system of transcription, and have been guided only by the pronunciation. The various

superstitions connected with folk-medicine have been sparingly dealt with, as my own

Ethnologie du Bengale, BLACK, Folk Medicine and HOVORKA AND KRONFELD,

Vergleichende Volksmedizin give sufficient information.

It remains for me now to acknowledge my indebtedness particularly to the following

works, from which I have freely borrowed: Sir James G. Frazer, The Golden Bough; E.

Tylor, Primitive Culture; Dr. Brewer, Reader’s Handbook; J. Dowson, Hindu Classical

Dictionary; Dr. A. Wuttke, Der deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gegenwart; L.

Strackerjan, Aberglauben und Sagen aus dem Herzogtum Oldenburg; Dr. A. Lehmann,

Aberglaube und Zauberei; Fanny D. Bergen, Current Superstitions, Berenger-Féraud,

Superstitions et survivances etudiées au point de vue de leur origine et de leur trans-

formations; and Brand, Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain. Since

completing my MS. it has been my good fortune to come across Lean’s Collectanea by

Mr. V. S. Lean; unfortunately, therefore, I could not make as much use of this vast trea-

surehouse of research and information relating to folklore as I would have liked. I must

also not forget to tender my thanks to the various friends at home and abroad who

have helped me with valuable contributions and advice.

Last, but not least, my best thanks are due to my wife for her untiring help in the

arduous task of collecting, selecting and arranging the material.

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Should this book be of some little service to serious students whose criticism alone I

value, I shall be amply rewarded for the amount of time and labour I have spent there-

on. It has been a labour of love for me, and incomplete though it may be, I send it forth

to the world to earn as much appreciation for itself as it is worth.

BIREN BONNERJEA.

Paris,

March, 1927.

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