Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I. by Sir James George Frazer

S >> Sir James George Frazer >> Balder The Beautiful, Vol. I.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36

[The need-fire in Caithness.]

In the county of Caithness, forming the extreme northeast corner of the
mainland of Scotland, the practice of the need-fire survived down at
least to about 1788. We read that "in those days, when the stock of any
considerable farmer was seized with the murrain, he would send for one
of the charm-doctors to superintend the raising of a _need-fire_. It was
done by friction, thus; upon any small island, where the stream of a
river or burn ran on each side, a circular booth was erected, of stone
and turf, as it could be had, in which a semicircular or highland couple
of birch, or other hard wood, was set; and, in short, a roof closed on
it. A straight pole was set up in the centre of this building, the upper
end fixed by a wooden pin to the top of the couple, and the lower end in
an oblong _trink_ in the earth or floor; and lastly, another pole was
set across horizontally, having both ends tapered, one end of which was
supported in a hole in the side of the perpendicular pole, and the other
in a similar hole in the couple leg. The horizontal stick was called the
auger, having four short arms or levers fixed in its centre, to work it
by; the building having been thus finished, as many men as could be
collected in the vicinity, (being divested of all kinds of metal in
their clothes, etc.), would set to work with the said auger, two after
two, constantly turning it round by the arms or levers, and others
occasionally driving wedges of wood or stone behind the lower end of the
upright pole, so as to press it the more on the end of the auger: by
this constant friction and pressure, the ends of the auger would take
fire, from which a fire would be instantly kindled, and thus the
_needfire_ would be accomplished. The fire in the farmer's house, etc.,
was immediately quenched with water, a fire kindled from this needfire,
both in the farm-houses and offices, and the cattle brought to feel the
smoke of this new and sacred fire, which preserved them from the
murrain."[730]

[The need-fire in Caithness.]

The last recorded case of the need-fire in Caithness happened in 1809 or
1810. At Houstry, Dunbeath, a crofter named David Gunn had made for
himself a kail-yard and in doing so had wilfully encroached on one of
those prehistoric ruins called _brochs_, which the people of the
neighbourhood believed to be a fairy habitation. Soon afterwards a
murrain broke out among the cattle of the district and carried off many
beasts. So the wise men put their heads together and resolved to light a
_teine-eigin_ or need-fire as the best way of stopping the plague. They
cut a branch from a tree in a neighbouring wood, stripped it of bark,
and carried it to a small island in the Houstry Burn. Every fire in the
district having been quenched, new fire was made by the friction of wood
in the island, and from this sacred flame all the hearths of the houses
were lit afresh. One of the sticks used in making the fire was preserved
down to about the end of the nineteenth century; apparently the mode of
operation was the one known as the fire-drill: a pointed stick was
twirled in a hole made in another stick till fire was elicited by the
friction.[731]

[Another account of the need-fire in the Highlands.]

Another account of the use of need-fire in the Highlands of Scotland
runs as follows: "When, by the neglect of the prescribed safeguards
[against witchcraft], the seeds of iniquity have taken root, and a
person's means are decaying in consequence, the only alternative, in
this case, is to resort to that grand remedy, the _Tein Econuch_, or
'Forlorn Fire,' which seldom fails of being productive of the best
effects. The cure for witchcraft, called _Tein Econuch_, is wrought in
the following manner:--A consultation being held by the unhappy sufferer
and his friends as to the most advisable measures of effecting a cure,
if this process is adopted, notice is privately communicated to all
those householders who reside within the nearest of two running streams,
to extinguish their lights and fires on some appointed morning. On its
being ascertained that this notice has been duly observed, a
spinning-wheel, or some other convenient instrument, calculated to
produce fire by friction, is set to work with the most furious
earnestness by the unfortunate sufferer, and all who wish well to his
cause. Relieving each other by turns, they drive on with such
persevering diligence, that at length the spindle of the wheel, ignited
by excessive friction, emits 'forlorn fire' in abundance, which, by the
application of tow, or some other combustible material, is widely
extended over the whole neighbourhood. Communicating the fire to the
tow, the tow communicates it to a candle, the candle to a fir-torch, the
torch to a cartful of peats, which the master of the ceremonies, with
pious ejaculations for the success of the experiment, distributes to
messengers, who will proceed with portions of it to the different houses
within the said two running streams, to kindle the different fires. By
the influence of this operation, the machinations and spells of
witchcraft are rendered null and void."[732]

[Alexander Carmichael's account of the need-fire in the Highlands of
Scotland during the nineteenth century.]

In various parts of the Highlands of Scotland the needfire was still
kindled during the first half of the nineteenth century, as we learn
from the following account:--

"_Tein-eigin_, neid-fire, need-fire, forced fire, fire produced by the
friction of wood or iron against wood.

"The fire of purification was kindled from the neid-fire, while the
domestic fire on the hearth was re-kindled from the purification fire on
the knoll. Among other names, the purification fire was called _Teine
Bheuil_, fire of Beul, and _Teine mor Bheuil_, great fire of Beul. The
fire of Beul was divided into two fires between which people and cattle
rushed australly for purposes of purification. The ordeal was trying, as
may be inferred from phrases still current. _Is teodha so na teine
teodha Bheuil_, 'Hotter is this than the hot fire of Beul.' Replying to
his grandchild, an old man in Lewis said ... 'Mary! sonnie, it were
worse for me to do that for thee than to go between the two great fires
of Beul.'

"The neid-fire was resorted to in imminent or actual calamity upon the
first day of the quarter, and to ensure success in great or important
events.

[The needfire in Arran.]

"The writer conversed with several persons who saw the neid-fire made,
and who joined in the ceremony. As mentioned elsewhere, a woman in Arran
said that her father, and the other men of the townland, made the
neid-fire on the knoll on _La buidhe Bealltain_--Yellow Day of Beltane.
They fed the fire from _cuaile mor conaidh caoin_--great bundles of
sacred faggots brought to the knoll on Beltane Eve. When the sacred fire
became kindled, the people rushed home and brought their herds and drove
them through and round the fire of purification, to sain them from the
_bana bhuitseach mhor Nic Creafain Mac Creafain_--the great arch witch
Mac Crauford, now Crawford. That was in the second decade of this
century.

[The need-fire in North Uist.]

"John Macphail, Middlequarter, North Uist, said that the last occasion
on which the neid-fire was made in North Uist was _bliadhna an
t-sneachda bhuidhe_--the year of the yellow snow--1829 (?). The snow lay
so deep and remained so long on the ground, that it became yellow. Some
suggest that the snow was originally yellow, as snow is occasionally
red. This extraordinary continuance of snow caused much want and
suffering throughout the Isles. The people of North Uist extinguished
their own fires and generated a purification fire at Sail Dharaich,
Sollas. The fire was produced from an oak log by rapidly boring with an
auger. This was accomplished by the exertions of _naoi naoinear ciad
ginealach mac_--the nine nines of first-begotten sons. From the
neid-fire produced on the knoll the people of the parish obtained fire
for their dwellings. Many cults and ceremonies were observed on the
occasion, cults and ceremonies in which Pagan and Christian beliefs
intermingled. _Sail Dharaich_, Oak Log, obtained its name from the log
of oak for the neid-fire being there. A fragment of this log riddled
with auger holes marks a grave in _Cladh Sgealoir_, the burying-ground
of _Sgealoir_, in the neighbourhood.

[The need-fire in Reay, Sutherland.]

"Mr. Alexander Mackay, Edinburgh, a native of Reay, Sutherland,
says:--'My father was the skipper of a fishing crew. Before beginning
operations for the season, the crew of the boat met at night in our
house to settle accounts for the past, and to plan operations for the
new season. My mother and the rest of us were sent to bed. I lay in the
kitchen, and was listening and watching, though they thought I was
asleep. After the men had settled their past affairs and future plans,
they put out the fire on the hearth, not a spark being allowed to live.
They then rubbed two pieces of wood one against another so rapidly as to
produce fire, the men joining in one after the other, and working with
the utmost energy and never allowing the friction to relax. From this
friction-fire they rekindled the fire on the hearth, from which all the
men present carried away a kindling to their own homes. Whether their
success was due to their skill, their industry, their perseverance, or
to the neid-fire, I do not know, but I know that they were much the most
successful crew in the place. They met on Saturday, and went to church
on Sunday like the good men and the good Christians they were--a little
of their Pagan faith mingling with their Christian belief. I have reason
to believe that other crews in the place as well as my father's crew
practised the neid-fire.'

"A man at Helmsdale, Sutherland, saw the _tein-eigin_ made in his
boyhood.

"The neid-fire was made in North Uist about the year 1829, in Arran
about 1820, in Helmsdale about 1818, in Reay about 1830."[733]

[The Beltane fire a precaution against witchcraft.]

From the foregoing account we learn that in Arran the annual Beltane
fire was regularly made by the friction of wood, and that it was used to
protect men and cattle against a great witch. When we remember that
Beltane Eve or the Eve of May Day (Walpurgis Night) is the great
witching time of the year throughout Europe, we may surmise that
wherever bonfires have been ceremonially kindled on that day it has been
done simply as a precaution against witchcraft; indeed this motive is
expressly alleged not only in Scotland, but in Wales, the Isle of Man,
and many parts of Central Europe.[734] It deserves, further, to be
noticed that in North Uist the wood used to kindle the need-fire was
oak, and that the nine times nine men by whose exertions the flame was
elicited were all first-born sons. Apparently the first-born son of a
family was thought to be endowed with more magical virtue than his
younger brothers. Similarly in the Punjaub "the supernatural power
ascribed to the first born is not due to his being unlucky, but the idea
underlying the belief seems to be that being the first product of the
parents, he inherits the spiritual powers (or magnetism) in a high
degree. The success of such persons in stopping rain and hail and in
stupefying snakes is proverbial. It is believed that a first child born
with feet forward can cure backache by kicking the patient in the back,
on a crossing."[735]

[The need-fire in Aberdeenshire.]

In the north-east of Aberdeenshire and the neighbourhood, when the
cattle-disease known as the "quarter-ill" broke out, "the 'muckle wheel'
was set in motion and turned till fire was produced. From this virgin
flame fires were kindled in the byres. At the same time, if neighbours
requested the favour, live coals were given them to kindle fires for the
purification of their homesteads and turning off the disease. Fumigating
the byres with juniper was a method adopted to ward off disease. Such a
fire was called 'needfyre.' The kindling of it came under the censure of
the Presbytery at times."[736]

[The need-fire in Perthshire.]

In Perthshire the need-fire was kindled as a remedy for cattle-disease
as late as 1826. "A wealthy old farmer, having lost several of his
cattle by some disease very prevalent at present, and being able to
account for it in no way so rationally as by witchcraft, had recourse to
the following remedy, recommended to him by a weird sister in his
neighbourhood, as an effectual protection from the attacks of the foul
fiend. A few stones were piled together in the barnyard, and woodcoals
having been laid thereon, the fuel was ignited by _will-fire_, that is
fire obtained by friction; the neighbours having been called in to
witness the solemnity, the cattle were made to pass through the flames,
in the order of their dignity and age, commencing with the horses and
ending with the swine. The ceremony having been duly and decorously gone
through, a neighbouring farmer observed to the enlightened owner of the
herd, that he, along with his family, ought to have followed the example
of the cattle, and the sacrifice to Baal would have been complete."[737]

[The need-fire in Ireland.]

In County Leitrim, Ireland, in order to prevent fever from spreading,
"all the fires on the townland, and the two adjoining (one on each
side), would be put out. Then the men of the three townlands would come
to one house, and get two large blocks of wood. One would be set in the
ground, and the other one, fitted with two handles, placed on the top of
it. The men would then draw the upper block backwards and forwards over
the lower until fire was produced by friction, and from this the fires
would be lighted again. This would prevent the fever from
spreading,"[738]

[The use of the need-fire a relic of a time when all fires were kindled
by the friction of wood.]

Thus it appears that in many parts of Europe it has been customary to
kindle fire by the friction of wood for the purpose of curing or
preventing the spread of disease, particularly among cattle. The mode of
striking a light by rubbing two dry sticks against each other is the one
to which all over the world savages have most commonly resorted for the
sake of providing themselves with fire;[739] and we can scarcely doubt
that the practice of kindling the need-fire in this primitive fashion is
merely a survival from the time when our savage forefathers lit all
their fires in that way. Nothing is so conservative of old customs as
religious or magical ritual, which invests these relics of the past with
an atmosphere of mysterious virtue and sanctity. To the educated mind it
seems obvious that a fire which a man kindles with the sweat of his brow
by laboriously rubbing one stick against each other can possess neither
more nor less virtue than one which he has struck in a moment by the
friction of a lucifer match; but to the ignorant and superstitious this
truth is far from apparent, and accordingly they take infinite pains to
do in a roundabout way what they might have done directly with the
greatest ease, and what, even when it is done, is of no use whatever for
the purpose in hand. A vast proportion of the labour which mankind has
expended throughout the ages has been no better spent; it has been like
the stone of Sisyphus eternally rolled up hill only to revolve eternally
down again, or like the water poured for ever by the Danaids into broken
pitchers which it could never fill.

[The belief that the need-fire cannot kindle if any other fire remains
alight in the neighbourhood.]

The curious notion that the need-fire cannot kindle if any other fire
remains alight in the neighbourhood seems to imply that fire is
conceived as a unity which is broken up into fractions and consequently
weakened in exact proportion to the number of places where it burns;
hence in order to obtain it at full strength you must light it only at a
single point, for then the flame will burst out with a concentrated
energy derived from the tributary fires which burned on all the
extinguished hearths of the country. So in a modern city if all the gas
were turned off simultaneously at all the burners but one, the flame
would no doubt blaze at that one burner with a fierceness such as no
single burner could shew when all are burning at the same time. The
analogy may help us to understand the process of reasoning which leads
the peasantry to insist on the extinction of all common fires when the
need-fire is about to be kindled. Perhaps, too, it may partly explain
that ceremonial extinction of all old fires on other occasions which is
often required by custom as a preliminary to the lighting of a new and
sacred fire.[740] We have seen that in the Highlands of Scotland all
common fires were extinguished on the Eve of May-day as a preparation
for kindling the Beltane bonfire by friction next morning;[741] and no
doubt the reason for the extinction was the same as in the case of the
need-fire. Indeed we may assume with a fair degree of probability that
the need-fire was the parent of the periodic fire-festivals; at first
invoked only at irregular intervals to cure certain evils as they
occurred, the powerful virtue of fire was afterwards employed at regular
intervals to prevent the occurrence of the same evils as well as to
remedy such as had actually arisen.

[The needfire among the Iroquois of North America.]

The need-fire of Europe has its parallel in a ceremony which used to be
observed by the Iroquois Indians of North America. "Formerly when an
epidemic prevailed among the Iroquois despite the efforts to stay it, it
was customary for the principal shaman to order the fires in every cabin
to be extinguished and the ashes and cinders to be carefully removed;
for it was believed that the pestilence was sent as a punishment for
neglecting to rekindle 'new fire,' or because of the manner in which the
fire then in use had been kindled. So, after all the fires were out, two
suitable logs of slippery elm (_Ulmus fulva_) were provided for the new
fire. One of the logs was from six to eight inches in diameter and from
eight to ten feet long; the other was from ten to twelve inches in
diameter and about ten feet long. About midway across the larger log a
cuneiform notch or cut about six inches deep was made, and in the
wedge-shaped notch punk was placed. The other log was drawn rapidly to
and fro in the cut by four strong men chosen for the purpose until the
punk was ignited by the friction thus produced. Before and during the
progress of the work of igniting the fire the shaman votively sprinkled
_tcar-hu'-en-we_, 'real tobacco,' three several times into the cuneiform
notch and offered earnest prayers to the Fire-god, beseeching him 'to
aid, to bless, and to redeem the people from their calamities.' The
ignited punk was used to light a large bonfire, and then the head of
every family was required to take home 'new fire' to rekindle a fire in
his or her fire-place."[742]

Sec. 9. _The Sacrifice of an Animal to stay a Cattle-Plague_

[The burnt sacrifice of a calf in England and Wales; burnt sacrifice a
pig in Scotland.]

Sometimes apparently in England as well as in Scotland the kindling of a
need-fire was accompanied by the sacrifice of a calf. Thus in
Northamptonshire, at some time during the first half of the nineteenth
century, "Miss C---- and her cousin walking saw a fire in a field and a
crowd round it. They said, 'What is the matter?' 'Killing a calf.' 'What
for?' 'To stop the murrain.' They went away as quickly as possible. On
speaking to the clergyman he made enquiries. The people did not like to
talk of the affair, but it appeared that when there is a disease among
the cows or the calves are born sickly, they sacrifice (i.e. kill and
burn) one 'for good luck.'"[743] It is not here said that the fire was a
need-fire, of which indeed the two horrified ladies had probably never
heard; but the analogy of the parallel custom in Mull[744] renders it
probable that in Northamptonshire also the fire was kindled by the
friction of wood, and that the calf or some part of it was burnt in the
fire. Certainly the practice of burning a single animal alive in order
to save all the others would seem to have been not uncommon in England
down to the nineteenth century. Thus a farmer in Cornwall about the year
1800, having lost many cattle by disease, and tried many remedies in
vain, consulted with some of his neighbours and laying their heads
together "they recalled to their recollections a tale, which tradition
had handed down from remote antiquity, that the calamity would not cease
until he had actually burned alive the finest calf which he had upon his
farm; but that, when this sacrifice was made, the murrain would afflict
his cattle no more." Accordingly, on a day appointed they met, lighted a
large fire, placed the best calf in it, and standing round the blazing
pile drove the animal with pitchforks back into the flames whenever it
attempted to escape. Thus the victim was burned alive to save the rest
of the cattle.[745] "There can be no doubt but that a belief prevailed
until a very recent period, amongst the small farmers in the districts
remote from towns in Cornwall, that a living sacrifice appeased the
wrath of God. This sacrifice must be by fire; and I have heard it argued
that the Bible gave them warranty for this belief.... While correcting
these sheets I am informed of two recent instances of this superstition.
One of them was the sacrifice of a calf by a farmer near Portreath, for
the purpose of removing a disease which had long followed his horses and
his cows. The other was the burning of a living lamb, to save, as the
farmer said, 'his flocks from spells which had been cast on 'em.'"[746]
In a recent account of the fire-festivals of Wales we read that "I have
also heard my grandfather and father say that in times gone by the
people would throw a calf in the fire when there was any disease among
the herds. The same would be done with a sheep if there was anything the
matter with a flock. I can remember myself seeing cattle being driven
between two fires to 'stop the disease spreading.' When in later times
it was not considered humane to drive the cattle between the fires, the
herdsmen were accustomed to force the animals over the wood ashes to
protect them against various ailments."[747] Writing about 1866, the
antiquary W. Henderson says that a live ox was burned near Haltwhistle
in Northumberland "only twenty years ago" to stop a murrain.[748] "About
the year 1850 disease broke out among the cattle of a small farm in the
parish of Resoliss, Black Isle, Ross-shire. The farmer prevailed on his
wife to undertake a journey to a wise woman of renown in Banffshire to
ask a charm against the effects of the 'ill eye.' The long journey of
upwards of fifty miles was performed by the good wife, and the charm was
got. One chief thing ordered was to burn to death a pig, and sprinkle
the ashes over the byre and other farm buildings. This order was carried
out, except that the pig was killed before it was burned. A more
terrible sacrifice was made at times. One of the diseased animals was
rubbed over with tar, driven forth, set on fire, and allowed to run till
it fell down and died."[749] "Living animals have been burnt alive in
sacrifice within memory to avert the loss of other stock. The burial of
three puppies 'brandise-wise' in a field is supposed to rid it of weeds.
Throughout the rural districts of Devon witchcraft is an article of
current faith, and the toad is thrown into the flames as an emissary of
the evil one."[750]

[The calf is burnt in order to break a spell which has been cast on the
herd.]

But why, we may ask, should the burning alive of a calf or a sheep be
supposed to save the rest of the herd or the flock from the murrain?
According to one writer, as we have seen, the burnt sacrifice was
thought to appease the wrath of God.[751] The idea of appeasing the
wrath of a ferocious deity by burning an animal alive is probably no
more than a theological gloss put on an old heathen rite; it would
hardly occur to the simple mind of an English bumpkin, who, though he
may be stupid, is not naturally cruel and does not conceive of a
divinity who takes delight in the contemplation of suffering. To his
thinking God has little or nothing to do with the murrain, but witches,
ill-wishers, and fairies have a great deal to do with it. The English
farmer who burned one of his lambs alive said that he did it "to save
his flocks from spells which had been cast on them"; and the Scotch
farmer who was bidden to burn a pig alive for a similar purpose, but who
had the humanity to kill the animal first, believed that this was a
remedy for the "evil eye" which had been cast upon his beasts. Again, we
read that "a farmer, who possessed broad acres, and who was in many
respects a sensible man, was greatly annoyed to find that his cattle
became diseased in the spring. Nothing could satisfy him but that they
were bewitched, and he was resolved to find out the person who had cast
the evil eye on his oxen. According to an anciently-prescribed rule, the
farmer took one of his bullocks and bled it to death, catching all the
blood on bundles of straw. The bloody straw was then piled into a heap,
and set on fire. Burning with a vast quantity of smoke, the farmer
expected to see the witch, either in reality or in shadow, amidst the
smoke."[752] Such reasons express the real beliefs of the peasants.
"Cattle, like human beings, were exposed to the influences of the evil
eye, of forespeaking, and of the casting of evil. Witches and warlocks
did the work of evil among their neighbours' cattle if their anger had
been aroused in any way. The fairies often wrought injury amongst
cattle. Every animal that died suddenly was killed by the dart of the
fairies, or, in the language of the people, was 'shot-a-dead.' Flint
arrows and spear-heads went by the name of 'faery dairts....' When an
animal died suddenly the canny woman of the district was sent for to
search for the 'faery dairt,' and in due course she found one, to the
great satisfaction of the owner of the dead animal."[753]

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36