Among various peoples it is the custom to abstain from work, or from some special kind of work, on certain occasions or days which are regarded as defiling or inauspicious. Work is often suspended after a death, partly perhaps because inactivity is a natural accompaniment of sorrow,[123] or because a mourner is supposed to be in a delicate state requiring rest,[124] but chiefly, I presume, from fear lest the work done should be contaminated by the pollution of death. Among the Arabs of Morocco no work must be performed in the village till the dead is buried. In Greenland everyone who had lived in the same house with the deceased was obliged to be idle for a certain period, according to the directions of the priests or wizards.[125] Among the Eskimo of Behring Strait none of the relatives of the dead must do any work during the time in which the shade is believed to remain with the body, that is, for four or five days.[126] Among the Seminole Indians of Florida the relatives remained at home and refrained from work during the day of the burial and for three days thereafter, when the dead was supposed to stay in his grave.[127] The Kar Nicobarese abstain from work as a sign of mourning.[128] In Samoa all labour was suspended in the settlement on the death of a chief.[129] So also the Basutos do no work on the day when an influential person dies. They, moreover, refrain from going to their fields, or hasten to leave them, at the approach of clouds which give promise of rain, “in order quietly to await the desired benediction, fearing to disturb Nature in her operations. This idea is carried to such an extent, that most of the natives believe that, if they obstinately persist in their labour at such a moment, the clouds are irritated and retire, or send hail instead of rain. Days of sacrifice, or great purification, are also holidays. Hence it is that the law relative to the repose of the seventh day, so far from finding any objection in the minds of the natives, appears to them very natural, and perhaps even more fundamental, than it seems to certain Christians.”[130]
[125] Egede, Description of Greenland, p. 149 sq.
[126] Nelson, ‘Eskimo about Bering Strait,’ in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. xviii. 319.
[127] Maccauley, ‘Seminole Indians of Florida,’ in Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn. v. 52.
[128] Kloss, In the Andamans and Nicobars, p. 305.
[129] Turner, Nineteen Years in Polynesia, p. 229. Idem, Samoa, p. 146.
[130] Casalis, Basutos, p. 260 sq.
Changes in the moon are frequently considered unfavourable for work. Among the Bechuanas, “when the new moon appears, all must cease from work, and keep what is called in England a holiday.”[131] The people of Thermia, in the Cyclades, maintain that all work, so far as possible, should be suspended on the days immediately preceding the full moon.[132] In the Vishnu Purana it is said that one who attends to secular affairs on the days of the full or new moon goes to the Rudhirándha hell, whose wells are blood.[133] In Northern India it is considered bad to undertake any business of importance at the new moon or at an eclipse.[134] According to the ‘Laws of Manu,’ a Brâhmana is not allowed to study “on the new-moon day, nor on the fourteenth and the eighth days of each half-month, nor on the full-moon day.” It is said that “the new-moon day destroys the teacher, the fourteenth day the pupil, the eighth and the full-moon days destroy all remembrance of the Veda; let him therefore avoid reading on those days.”[135] The Buddhists have their Sabbath, or Uposatha, which occurs four times in the month, namely, on the day of full moon, on the day when there is no moon, and on the two days which are eighth from the full and new moon. On these days selling and buying, work and business, hunting and fishing, are forbidden, and all schools and law-courts are closed.[136] In Ashantee and neighbouring districts, where the people reckon time by moons, there is a weekly “fetish-day” or sabbath, which seems to be of native origin. “In all the countries along the coast, the regular fetish-day is Tuesday, the day which is observed by the king of Ashantee. Other days in the week are held sacred in the bush. On this weekly sabbath, or fetish-day, the people generally dress themselves in white garments, and mark their faces, and sometimes their arms, with white clay. They also rest from labour. The fishermen would expect, that were they to go out on that day, the fetish would be angry, and spoil their fishing.”[137] The natives of Coomassie, on the Gold Coast, have a law according to which no agricultural work may be done on a Thursday.[138] In Hawaii, where each month contained thirty nights and the different days and nights derived their names from the varying aspects of the moon according to her age, there were during every month four periods lasting from two to four nights in which the nights were consecrated or made taboo. So also there were tabooed seasons on certain other occasions, as when a high chief was ill, or preparations were made for war, or on the approach of important religious ceremonies. These taboos were either “common” or “strict.” In the case of the former men were only required to abstain from their common pursuits and to attend prayers morning and evening, whereas when the season of strict taboo was in force a general gloom and silence pervaded the whole district or island. “Not a fire or light was to be seen, or canoe launched; none bathed; the mouths of dogs were tied up, and fowls put under calabashes, or their heads enveloped in cloth; for no noise of man or animal must be heard. No persons, excepting those who officiated at the temple, were allowed to leave the shelter of their roofs. Were but one of these rules broken, the taboo would fail and the gods be displeased.”[139]