CONTENTS
The Life-token in Tale and Custom
Two classes of life-tokens; the one, originally connected with the hero; the other, arbitrary—Examples given in previous chapters—Examples from märchen outside the Perseus cycle—The magical mirror—The Life-token in mirror and well—Tokens of Fidelity—Connection of the Life-token and External Soul—Birth Ceremonies—Planting of trees and other life-tokens in custom—Divination.
Witchcraft: Sympathetic Magic
Folktale incidents presenting the divisibility of a person, continued sympathy of severed portions of a person with the bulk, and the endowment of the severed portions with consciousness—Modes of witchcraft—Witchcraft upon objects identified with the victim—Severed portions of the body—Footprints—Food—Dress—Objects more remotely associated with the victim—Witchcraft upon arbitrary objects—Name—Defences against witchcraft.
Witchcraft: Philtres—Preventive and remedial Leechcraft
Different kinds of love-potions—Hair and other substances taken from the body—Clothing—Footprints—Dangers of carelessness over severed parts of the body—Cure for warts—Doctrine of Transplantation—Mistaken applications of—Doctrine of Sympathy—Remedies derived from the dead—“A hair of the dog that bit you.”
Sacred Wells and Trees
Ceremonies at wells and trees in the British Islands—On the Continent of Europe—Nails driven into trees and images—Analogous rites elsewhere—Usual explanations discussed—Rites at cairns—True meaning of the rites—Dedication of hair at sacred shrines and graves—Other votive offerings.
Totemism—The Blood Covenant—Customs connected with Saliva
Recapitulation—Union with the god—Totemism—Sacrifices—The Blood Covenant—Its evolution—Its sacramental character—Its decay—Changes in its effect—Saliva customs—Analogy to the Blood Covenant—Spitting on infants—Spitting on various occasions—Against witchcraft—Saliva of sacred personages.
Funeral Rites
The clan one body—The common meal—Eating the dead in antiquity—Among modern savages—Survivals in modern Europe—Funeral feasts—The Sin-eater—Similar customs in other countries—Eating with the dead—Sacramental union with the dead—Smearing with ashes, etc.—Wearing bones and other relics of the dead—Cutting oneself for the dead—Mutilation—Gifts of hair to the dead—Burial in a common grave—Custom of Ettá.
Marriage Rites
Analogy of marriage with admission into the clan—Custom of Sindra-dán—Blood-rites—Confarreatio—Ritual food shared by all guests—Meaning of the rite—Marriage constitutes a new relationship on the part of the entire kin—Bridal dance and kiss—Nasamonian rite—Group-marriage—Rights of the kin over husband or wife—The Levirate—Reception by marriage into the kin—Consent of the kin.
The Couvade and other illustrations of the strength of the Blood-tie—Conclusion of the inquiry into the theory of the Life-token
The Couvade—Its true meaning—Not found among the lowest savages—Sponsorship—Adoption—Collective responsibility of the clan—The Blood-feud—Medical treatment of the kin for the disease of one member—Solidarity of the family—Cannot be terminated even by death—Sacramental conception of a kindred—The theory of life underlying the Life-token—Conclusion of the inquiry into the Life-token.