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From Ritual to Romance

J >> Jessie L. Weston >> From Ritual to Romance




When we turn from the early Aryan to the classic Greek period we find
in the Kouretes, and in a minor degree in the Korybantes, a parallel
so extraordinarily complete, alike in action and significance, that an
essential identity of origin appears to be beyond doubt.

The Kouretes were, as their name indicates, a band of armed youths, of
semi-divine origin, "Kureten sind von Haus aus halb-göttlich
dämonische Wesen nicht nur menschliche Priester, oder deren mythische
Vertreter."[10] Again, they are to be considered as "elementare
Urwesen," and as such of "Göttliche Abkunft."[11] Preller regards
them as "Dämonen des Gebirgs,"[12] while a passage from Hesiod,
quoted by Strabo, equates them with nymphs and satyrs, i.e., fertility
demons.[13]

When we remember that the Gandharvas are the Indian equivalent of the
Satyrs the close parallel between the Maruts and the Kouretes, both
alike bands of armed youths, of elementary origin, and connected with
beings of a lower grade, is striking.

The home of the Kouretes was in Crete, where they were closely
associated with the worship of the goddess Rhea. The traditional
story held that, in order to preserve the infant Zeus from destruction
by his father Kronos, they danced their famous Sword Dance round the
babe, overpowering his cries by the clash of their weapons.

Their dance was by some writers identified with the Pyrrhic dance,
first performed by Athene, in honour of her victory over the Giants,
and taught by her to the Kouretes. It had however, as we shall see, a
very distinct aim and purpose, and one in no way connected with
warlike ends.

In Miss J. E. Harrison's deeply interesting volume, Themis,[14] she
gives the translation of a fragmentary Hymn of the Kouretes, discovered
among the ruins of a temple in Crete, a text which places beyond all
doubt the fact that, however mythical in origin, the Kouretes,
certainly, had actual human representatives, and that while in the
case of the Maruts there may be a question as to whether their dance
actually took place, or not, so far as the Kouretes are concerned
there can be no such doubt.

The following is the text as preserved to us; the slabs on which it is
inscribed are broken, and there are consequent lacunae.

"Io, Kouros most great, I give thee hail, Kronian, lord of all that
is wet and gleaming, thou art come at the head of thy Daimones.
To Dikte for the year, Oh march, and rejoice in the dance and song,

"That we make to thee with harps and pipes mingled together, and sing
as we come to a stand at thy well-fenced altar.

"Io, &c.

"For here the shielded Nurturers took thee, a child immortal, from
Rhea, and with noise of beating feet hid thee away.

"Io, &c.

"And the Horai began to be fruitful year by year, and Dikè to possess
mankind and all wild living things were held about by wealth-loving
Peace.

"Io, &c.

"And the Horai began to be fruitful year by year, and Dikè to possess
mankind and all wild living things were held about by wealth-loving
Peace.

"Io, &c.

"To us also leap for full jars, and leap for fleecy flocks, and leap
for fields of fruit, and for hives to bring increase.

"Io, &c.

"Leap for our cities, and leap for our sea-borne ships, and leap for
our young citizens, and for goodly Themis."

This hymn is most extraordinarily interesting; it places beyond all doubt
what was the root intention of this ceremonial dance; it was designed
to stimulate the reproductive energies of Nature, to bring into being
fruitful fields, and vineyards, plenteous increase in the flocks and
herds, and to people the cities with youthful citizens; and the god is
entreated not merely to accept the worship offered, but himself to
join in the action which shall produce such fair results, to leap for
full jars, and fleecy flocks, and for youthful citizens.

The importance of movement, notably of what we may call group
movement, as a stimulant to natural energies, is thoroughly recognized
among primitive peoples; with them Dance holds a position equivalent
to that which, in more advanced communities, is assigned to Prayer.
Professor von Schroeder comments on this, "Es ist merkwürdig genug zu
sehen wie das Tanzen nach dem Glauben primitiver Völker eine ähnliche
Kraft und Bedeutung zu haben scheint wie man sie auf höheren
Kulturstufen dem inbrünstigen Gebete zuschreibt."[15] He cites the case
of the Tarahumara Indians of Central America; while the family as a
whole are labouring in the fields it is the office of one man to dance
uninterruptedly on the dance place of the house; if he fails in his
office the labour of the others will be unsuccessful. The one sin of
which a Tarahumara Indian is conscious is that of not having danced
enough. Miss Harrison, in commenting on the dance of the Kouretes,
remarks that among certain savage tribes when a man is too old to
dance he hands on his dance to another. He then ceases to exist
socially; when he dies his funeral is celebrated with scanty rites;
having 'lost his dance' he has ceased to count as a social unit.[16]

With regard to the connection of the Kouretes with the infant Zeus,
Miss Harrison makes the interesting suggestion that we have here a
trace of an Initiation Dance, analogous to those discussed by
M. Van Gennep in his Rites du Passage, that the original form was
Titan, 'White-clay men,' which later became Titan, 'Giants,' and she
draws attention to the fact that daubing the skin with white clay is
a frequent practice in these primitive rituals. To this I would add
that it is a noteworthy fact that in our modern survivals of these
dances the performers are, as a rule, dressed in white.
[*** Note: Weston's first "Titan" above had schwa accents over the vowels,
the second "Titan" had macron accents over the vowels. ***]

The above suggestion is of extreme significance, as it brings out the
possibility that these celebrations were not only concerned with the
prosperity of the community, as a whole, but may also have borne a
special, and individual, aspect, and that the idea of Initiation into
the group is closely connected with the ceremonial exercise of group
functions.

To sum up, there is direct proof that the classic Greeks, in common
with their Aryan forefathers, held the conception of a group of
Beings, of mythic origin, represented under the form of armed youths,
who were noted dancers, and whose activities were closely connected
with the processes of Nature. They recognized a relation between
these beings, and others of a less highly developed aspect, phallic
demons, often of theriomorphic form. Thus the dance of the Kouretes
should be considered as a ceremonial ritual action, rather than as a
warlike exercise; it was designed to promote the fruitfulness of the
earth, not to display the skill of the dancers in the handling of
weapons. When we turn to an analogous group, that of the Korybantes,
we find that, while presenting a general parallel to the Kouretes
(with whom they are often coupled in mythologies), they also possess
certain distinct characteristics, which form a connecting link with
other, and later, groups.

The Korybantes were of Phrygian origin, attached to the worship of
the goddess Kybele, and Attis, the well-known Phrygian counterpart to
the Phoenician Adonis, and originally the most important embodiment of
the Vegetation Spirit. Röscher considers them to be of identical
origin with the Kouretes, i.e., as elementary 'daimons,' but the
Korybantes of Classic art and tradition are undoubtedly human
beings. Priests of Kybele, they appear in surviving bas-reliefs in
company with that goddess, and with Attis.

The dance of the Korybantes is distinguished from that of the
Kouretes by its less restrained, and more orgiastic character; it was
a wild and whirling dance resembling that of the modern Dervishes,
accompanied by self-mutilation and an unrhythmic clashing of weapons,
designed, some writers think, to overpower the cries of the victims.

If this suggestion be correct it would seem to indicate that, if the
Dance of the Kouretes was originally an Initiation Dance, that of the
Korybantes was Sacrificial in character. We shall see later that
certain features in the surviving forms of the Sword Dance also point
in this direction.

The interest of the Korybantes for our investigation lies in the fact
that here again we have the Sword Dance in close and intimate
connection with the worship of the Vegetation Spirit, and there can be
no doubt that here, as elsewhere, it was held to possess a stimulating
virtue.

A noticeable point in the modern survivals of these Dances is that the
Dance proper is combined with a more or less coherent dramatic action.
The Sword Dance originally did not stand alone, but formed part of a
Drama, to the action of which it may be held to have given a cumulative
force.

On this point I would refer the reader to Professor von Schroeder's
book, where this aspect of the Dance is fully discussed.[17]

We have already spoken of the Maruts, and their dramatic
connection with Indra; the Greek Dancers offer us no direct parallel,
though the connection of the Kouretes with the infant Zeus may quite
possibly indicate the existence in the original form of the Dance,
of a more distinctly dramatic element.

We have, however, in the Roman Salii a connecting link which proves
beyond all doubt that our modern dances, and analogous
representations, are in fact genuine survivals of primitive ceremonies,
and in no way a mere fortuitous combination of originally independent
elements.

The Salii formed a college of priests, twelve in number, dedicated to
the service of Mars, who, it is important to remember, was originally
a god of growth and vegetation, a Spring Deity, who bestowed his name
on the vernal month of March; only by degrees did the activities of
the god become specially connected with the domain of War.[18]

There seem to have been two groups of Salii, one having their college
on the Palatine, the other on the Quirinal; the first were the more
important. The Quirinal group shared in the celebrations of the
latter part of the month only.

The first of March was the traditional birthday of Mars, and from that
date, during the whole of the month, the Salii offered sacrifices and
performed dances in his honour. They wore pointed caps, or helmets,
on their head, were girt with swords, and carried on the left arm
shields, copied from the 'ancilia' or traditional shield of Mars,
fabled to have fallen from heaven. In their right hand they bore a
small lance.

Dionysus of Halicarnassus, in a passage describing the Salii, says,
"they carried in their right hand a spear, or staff, or something of
that sort." Miss Harrison, quoting this passage, gives a
reproduction of a bas-relief representing the Salii carrying what she
says "are clearly drumsticks." (As a matter of fact they very closely
resemble the 'Wands' which in the Tarot cards sometimes represent the
'Lance' suit.)

Miss Harrison suggests that the original shields were made of skins,
stretched upon a frame, and beaten by these 'drumsticks.' This may
quite well have been the case, and it would bear out my contention
that the original contact of weapon and shield was designed rather as
a rhythmic accompaniment to the Dance, than as a display of skill in
handling sword and lance, i.e., that these dances were not primarily
warlike exercises.

At the conclusion of their songs the Salii invoked Mamurius Veturius,
the smith who was fabled to have executed the copies of the original
shield, while on the 14th of March, a man, dressed in skins, and
supposed to represent the aforesaid smith, was led through the
streets, beaten by the Salii with rods, and thrust out of the city.

The following day, the 15th, was the feast of Anna Perenna, fabled
to be an old woman, to whom Mars had confided the tale of his love for
Nerio, and who, disguising herself as the maiden, had gone through the
ceremony of marriage with the god. This feast was held outside the
gates. On the 23rd the combined feast of Mars and Nerio was held with
great rejoicing throughout the city. Modern scholars have unanimously
recognized in Mamurius Veturius and Anna Perenna the representatives
of the Old Year, the Vegetation Spirit, and his female counterpart,
who, grown old, must yield place to the young god and his
correspondingly youthful bride. Reference to Chapter 5, where the
medieval and modern forms of this Nature ritual are discussed, and
instances of the carrying out of Winter, and ceremonial bringing in of
Spring, are given, will suffice to show how vital and enduring an
element in Folk-lore is this idea of driving out the Old Year, while
celebrating the birth of the New. Here then, again, we have a ritual
Sword Dance closely associated with the practice of a Nature cult;
there can, I think, be no doubt that ab initio the two were connected
with each other.

But the dance of the Salii with its dramatic Folk-play features forms
an interesting link between the classic Dance of the Kouretes, and the
modern English survivals, in which the dramatic element is strongly
marked. These English forms may be divided into three related groups,
the Sword Dance, the Morris Dance, and the Mumming Play. Of these the
Morris Dance stands somewhat apart; of identical origin, it has
discarded the dramatic element, and now survives simply as a Dance,
whereas the Sword Dance is always dramatic in form, and the Mumming
Play, acted by characters appearing also in the Sword Dance,
invariably contains a more or less elaborate fight.[19]

The Sword Dance proper appears to have been preserved mostly in the
North of England, and in Scotland. Mr Cecil Sharp has found four
distinct varieties in Yorkshire alone. At one time there existed a
special variant known as the Giants' Dance, in which the leading
characters were known by the names of Wotan, and Frau Frigg; one
figure of this dance consisted in making a ring of swords round the
neck of a lad, without wounding him.

Mr E. K. Chambers has commented on this as the survival of a sacrificial
origin.[20] The remarks of this writer on the Sword Dance in its
dramatic aspect are so much to the point that I quote them here. "The
Sword Dance makes its appearance, not like heroic poetry in
general, as part of the minstrel repertory, but as a purely popular
thing at the agricultural festivals. To these festivals we may
therefore suppose it to have originally belonged." Mr Chambers goes
on to remark that the dance of the Salii discussed above, was clearly
agricultural, "and belongs to Mars not as War god, but in his more
primitive quality of a fertilization Spirit."

In an Appendix to his most valuable book the same writer gives a full
description, with text, of the most famous surviving form of the Sword
Dance, that of Papa Stour (old Norwegian Pâpey in Stôra), one of the
Shetland Islands.

The dance was performed at Christmas (Yule-tide). The dancers, seven
in number, represented the seven champions of Christendom; the leader,
Saint George, after an introductory speech, performed a solo dance, to
the music of an accompanying minstrel. He then presented his
comrades, one by one, each in turn going through the same performance.
Finally the seven together performed an elaborate dance. The complete
text of the speeches is given in the Appendix referred to.[21]

The close connection between the English Sword Dance, and the Mumming
Play, is indicated by the fact that the chief character in these plays
is, generally speaking, Saint George. (The title has in some cases
become corrupted into King George.) In Professor von Schroeder's
opinion this is due to Saint George's legendary rôle as Dragon slayer,
and he sees in the importance assigned to this hero an argument in
favour of his theory that the "Slaying of the Dragon" was the
earliest Aryan Folk-Drama.

In Folk-Lore, Vol. X., a fully illustrated description of the Mumming
Play, as performed at Newbold, a village near Rugby, is given.[22]
Here the characters are Father Christmas, Saint George, a Turkish
Knight, Doctor, Moll Finney (mother of the Knight), Humpty Jack,
Beelzebub, and 'Big-Head-and-Little-Wit.' These last three have no
share in the action proper, but appear in a kind of Epilogue,
accompanying a collection made by Beelzebub.

The Play is always performed at Christmas time, consequently Father
Christmas appears as stage-manager, and introduces the characters.
The action consists in a general challenge issued by Saint George, and
accepted by the Turkish Knight. A combat follows, in which the Turk
is slain. His mother rushes in, weeps over the body, and demands the
services of a Doctor, who appears accordingly, vaunts his skill in
lines interspersed with unintelligible gibberish, and restores the
Turk to life. In the version which used to be played throughout
Scotland at Hogmanay (New-Year-tide), the characters are Bol Bendo,
the King of France, the King of Spain, Doctor Beelzebub, Golishan, and
Sir Alexander.[23] The fight is between Bol Bendo (who represents the
Saint George of the English version), and Golishan. The latter is
killed, and, on the demand of Sir Alexander (who acts as
stage-manager), revived by the doctor, this character, as in the
English version, interlarding the recital of his feats of healing
skill with unintelligible phrases.[24] There is a general consensus
of opinion among Folk-lore authorities that in this rough drama, which
we find played in slightly modified form all over Europe (in
Scandinavia it is the Julbock, a man dressed in skins, who, after a
dramatic dance, is killed and revived),[25] we have a symbolic
representation of the death and re-birth of the year; a counterpart to
those ceremonies of driving out Winter, and bringing in Spring, which
we have already described.

This chapter had already been written when an important article, by Dr
Jevons, entitled Masks and the Origin of the Greek Drama appeared in
Folk-Lore (Vol. XXVII.) The author, having discussed the different
forms of Greek Drama, and the variety of masks employed, decides that
"Greek Comedy originated in Harvest Festivals, in some ceremony in
which the Harvesters went about in procession wearing masks." This
ceremony he connects directly with the English Mumming Plays,
suggesting that "the characters represented on this occasion were the
Vegetation Spirit, and those who were concerned in bringing about his
revivification--in fine, Greek Comedy and the Mumming Play both sprang
from the rite of revivification." At a later stage of our enquiry we
shall have occasion to return to this point, and realize its great
importance for our theory.

The Morris Dances differ somewhat from the Sword, and Mumming Dances.
The performances as a rule take place in the Spring, or early Summer,
chiefly May, and Whitsuntide. The dances retain little or no trace of
dramatic action but are dances pure and simple. The performers,
generally six in number, are attired in white elaborately-pleated
shirts, decked with ribbons, white mole-skin trousers, with bells at
the knee, and beaver hats adorned with ribbons and flowers. The
leader carries a sword, on the point of which is generally impaled a
cake; during the dancing slices of this cake are distributed to the
lookers on, who are supposed to make a contribution to the 'Treasury,'
a money-box carried by an individual called the Squire, or Clown,
dressed in motley, and bearing in the other hand a stick with a
bladder at one end, and a cow's tail at the other.

In some forms of the dance there is a 'Lord' and a 'Lady,' who carry
'Maces' of office; these maces are short staves, with a transverse
piece at the top, and a hoop over it. The whole is decorated with
ribbons and flowers, and bears a curious resemblance to the Crux
Ansata.[26] In certain figures of the dance the performers carry
handkerchiefs, in others, wands, painted with the colours of the
village to which they belong; the dances are always more or less
elaborate in form.

The costume of the 'Clown' (an animal's skin, or cap of skin with tail
pendant) and the special character assumed by the Maytide celebrations
in certain parts of England, e.g., Cornwall and Staffordshire,[27]
would seem to indicate that, while the English Morris Dance has
dropped the dramatic action, the dancers not being designated by name,
and playing no special rôle, it has, on the other hand, retained the
theriomorphic features so closely associated with Aryan ritual, which
the Sword Dance, and Mumming Play, on their side, have lost.[28]

A special note of these English survivals, and one to which I would
now draw attention, is the very elaborate character of the figures,
and the existence of a distinct symbolic element. I am informed that
the Sword dancers of to-day always, at the conclusion of a series of
elaborate sword-lacing figures, form the Pentangle; as they hold up
the sign they cry, triumphantly, "A Nut! A Nut!" The word Nut==Knot
(as in the game of 'Nuts, i.e., breast-knots, nosegays, in May').
They do this often even when performing a later form of the Mumming
Play.

I have already drawn attention to the fact that in Gawain and the
Green Knight the hero's badge is the Pentangle (or Pentacle), there
explained as called by the English 'the Endless Knot.'[29] In the
previous chapter I have noted that the Pentangle frequently in the
Tarot suits replaces the Dish; in Mr Yeats's remarks, cited above, the
two are held to be interchangeable, one or the other always forms one
of the group of symbols.

In one form of the Morris Dance, that performed in Berkshire, the
leader, or 'Squire' of the Morris carries a Chalice! At the same time
he bears a Sword, and a bull's head at the end of a long pole. This
figure is illustrated in Miss Mary Neal's Esperance Morris Book.[30]

Thus our English survivals of these early Vegetation ceremonies
preserve, in a more or less detached form, the four symbols discussed
in the preceding chapter, Grail, Sword, Lance, and Pentangle, or
Dish. It seems to me that, in view of the evidence thus offered, it
is not a very hazardous, or far-fetched hypothesis to suggest that
these symbols, the exact value of which, as a group, we cannot clearly
determine, but of which we know the two most prominent, Cup and Lance,
to be sex symbols, were originally 'Fertility' emblems, and as such
employed in a ritual designed to promote, or restore, the activity of
the reproductive energies of Nature.

As I have pointed out above an obvious dislocation has taken place in
our English survivals. Sword Dance, Mumming Play, and Morris Dance,
no longer form part of one ceremony, but have become separated, and
connected, on the one hand with the Winter, on the other with the
early Summer, Nature celebrations; it is thus not surprising that the
symbols should also have become detached. The fact that the three
groups manifestly form part of an original whole is an argument in
favour of the view that at one moment all the symbols were used
together, and the Grail chalice carried in a ceremony in which Sword,
Lance, and Pentangle, were also displayed.

But there is another point I would suggest. Is it not possible that,
in these armed youths, who were in some cases, notably in that of the
Salii, at once warriors and priests, we have the real origin of the
Grail Knights? We know now, absolutely, and indubitably, that these
Sword Dances formed an important part of the Vegetation ritual; is it
not easily within the bounds of possibility that, as the general
ceremonial became elevated, first to the rank of a Mystery Cult, and
then used as a vehicle for symbolic Christian teaching, the figures of
the attendant warrior-priests underwent a corresponding change? From
Salii to Templars is not after all so 'far a cry' as from the
glittering golden-armed Maruts, and the youthful leaping Kouretes, to
the grotesque tatterdemalion personages of the Christmas Mumming
Play. We have learnt to acknowledge the common origin of these two
latter groups; may we not reasonably contemplate a possible relation
existing between the two first named?



CHAPTER VIII

The Medicine Man

In previous chapters I have referred to the part played by the Doctor
in a large number of the surviving 'Fertility' ceremonies, and to the
fact, noted by other writers, that even where an active share is no
longer assigned to the character, he still appears among the dramatis
personae of these Folk-plays and processions.[1] We will now examine
more closely the rôle allotted to this mysterious personage; we shall
find it to be of extreme antiquity and remarkable significance.

In the interesting and important work by Professor von Schroeder, to
which I have already often referred, we find the translation of a
curious poem (Rig-Veda, 10. 97), a monologue placed in the mouth of a
Doctor, or Medicine Man, who vaunts the virtue of his herbs, and their
power to cure human ills.[2] From the references made to a special
sick man von Schroeder infers that this poem, like others in the
collection, was intended to be acted, as well as recited, and that the
personage to be healed, evidently present on the scene, was probably
represented by a dummy, as no speeches are allotted to the character.

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