THE LINGUISTICS OF THE MISTLETOE.
Other curious instances of survival present themselves in the linguistics of the subject. The French word “gui,” meaning mistletoe, is not of Latin, but of Druidical derivation, and so the Spanish “aguinaldo,” meaning Christmas or New Year’s present, conserves the cry, slightly altered, of the Druid priest to the “gui” at the opening of the new year.
“Aguillanneuf, et plus clairement, ‘au gui, l’an neuf,’ ou bien encore, ‘l’anguil l’an neuf.’”—(Le Roux de Lincy, Livre des Proverbes Français, 1848, Paris, tome 1, p. 2, quoted in Buckle’s “Commonplace Book,” vol. ii. p. 440.)
“The next business was to arrange for the collection of the sacred plant, and bards were sent forth in all directions to summon the people to the great religious ceremony. The words of the proclamation are believed to survive in the custom which prevails, especially at Chartres, the old metropolis of the Druids, of soliciting presents on the New Year, with the words ‘au gui l’an neuf.’”—(“Le Gui de Chêne et les Druides,” Magdaleine, quoted by John Elliot Howard, in “Victoria Society Transactions,” vol. xiv.)
“The Celtic name for the oak was ‘gue,’ or ‘guy.’”—(Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. i. p. 458.)
A writer in “Notes and Queries” shows (vol. ii. p. 163) that the word mistletoe is “le gui” in French; the continental Druid was called Gui, or a Guy, from “cuidare,” whence “Guide.” At the present day, while the mistletoe itself is a charm, the name is a term of opprobrium,—guy, in English.
M. C. H. Gaidoz takes exception to this interpretation. In his opinion, the words “aguinaldo” and “à gui l’an neuf” are to be derived from the Latin “ad calendas.”—(Personal letter, dated Paris, France, March 11, 1889.)
XVII.
COW DUNG AND COW URINE IN RELIGION.
The sacrificial value of cow dung and cow urine throughout India and Thibet is much greater than the reader might be led to infer from the brief citation already noted from Max Müller.
“Hindu merchants in Bokhara now lament loudly at the sight of a piece of cow’s flesh, and at the same time mix with their food, that it may do them good, the urine of a sacred cow, kept in that place.”—(Erman, “Siberia,” London, 1848, vol. i. p. 384.)
Picart narrates that the Brahmins fed grain to a sacred cow, and afterward searched in the ordure for the sacred grains, which they picked out whole, drying and administering them to the sick, not merely as a medicine, but as a sacred thing.[32]
Not only among the people of the lowlands, but among those of the foot-hills of the Himalayas as well, do these rites find place; “the very dung of the cow is eaten as an atonement for sin, and its urine is used in worship.”—(Notes on the Hill Tribes of the Neilgherries, Short, Trans. Ethnol. Society, London, 1868, p. 268.)
“The greatest, or, at any rate, the most convenient of all purifiers is the urine of a cow; ... Images are sprinkled with it. No man of any pretensions to piety or cleanliness would pass a cow in the act of staling without receiving the holy stream in his hand and sipping a few drops.... If the animal be retentive, a pious expectant will impatiently apply his finger, and by judicious tickling excite the grateful flow.”—(Moor’s “Hindu Pantheon,” London, 1810, p. 143.)
See, also, note from Forlong, under “Initiation,” p. 164.
“It may be noted that, according to Lajarde, ‘cow’s-water’ originally meant rain-water, the clouds being spoken of as cows. I give this for what it is worth. Your collection of facts goes strongly against the explanation.”—(Personal letter from Prof. W. Robertson Smith, dated Christ College, Cambridge, England, August 11, 1888.)
Speaking of the sacrifice called Poojah, Maurice says: “The Brahman prepares a place, which is purified with dried cow-dung, with which the pavement is spread, and the room is sprinkled with the urine of the same animal.”—(Maurice, “Indian Antiquities,” London, 1800, vol. i. p. 77.)
“As in India, so in Persia, the urine of the cow is used in ceremonies of purification, during which it is drunk.”—(“Zoölogical Mythology,” Angelo de Gubernatis, London, 1872, vol. i. p. 95, quoting from Anquétil du Pérron, “Zendavesta,” ii. p. 245.)
Dubois, in his chapter “Restoration to the Caste,” says that a Hindu penitent “must drink the panchakaryam,—a word which literally signifies the five things, namely, milk, butter, curd, dung, and urine, all mixed together.” And he adds:—
“The urine of the cow is held to be the most efficacious of any for purifying all imaginable uncleanness. I have often seen the superstitious Hindu accompanying these animals when in the pasture, and watching the moment for receiving the urine as it fell, in vessels which he had brought for the purpose, to carry it home in a fresh state; or, catching it in the hollow of his hand, to bedew his face and all his body. When so used it removes all external impurity, and when taken internally, which is very common, it cleanses all within.”—(Abbé Dubois, “People of India,” London, 1817, p. 29.)
Very frequently the excrement is first reduced to ashes. The monks of Chivem, called Pandarones, smear their faces, breasts, and arms with the ashes of cow dung; they run through the streets demanding alms, very much as the Zuñi actors demanded a feast, and chant the praises of Chivem, while they carry a bundle of peacock feathers in the hand, and wear the lingam at the neck.[33]