The ceremonial encirclement of the altar, whatever the form of the encircling procession, is sufficiently attested in the Old Testament, though the text is uncertain in three of the passages cited. The usage in later days among the Jews must be regarded as the continuance of ancient custom. The analogy of the encirclement of a city is appropriate in this connexion. The object of the encircling procession round a city seems to be that of “devoting” all that is within it, which thereby becomes taboo. The encirclement of the altar is an act of consecration, i.e. of the sacrifice upon it. This explanation of the rite is suggested by the analogous custom among the Arabs of encircling a sacrificial victim. The contention that the encircling procession was a symbolic representation of the movement of the heavenly bodies does not explain why it should take place round a sacrificial victim. The rite seems more likely to have had the object of consecration; and this receives confirmation from the instance recorded by Lucian among the Syrians who perambulated their gods round the sacrificial victims; this can scarcely have had any other meaning than that of sanctifying all within the divine circle traced by the gods.
The dance round a sacred object must have been very common among the Greeks, judging by the large number of representations of it which have come down to us; the Cyprus “finds” are full of interest. Those which represent the dance round a person who accompanies it on a Pan’s-pipe probably portrays the kind of dancing which took place at festivals when numbers of such groups were formed. Such dances must often have degenerated into mere “fun”; but that they originally had a serious side and were performed with the single purpose of doing something pleasing in the sight of a god or goddess, does not admit of doubt. The representations may well reflect one form of dancing at Israelite festivals. Among the Greeks we have direct evidence of these “ring” dances being performed by men and women together; and it is known that this led at times to unseemly licence. What little evidence we have on the subject so far as the Israelites were concerned points to the fact that the sexes danced separately; whether this was always so must be left undetermined. The examples of the dance round the sacred tree are instructive; it was undoubtedly practised by all peoples among whom trees were objects of worship, and therefore in all probability among the Israelites. The ἀμφιδρόμια, or purificatory rite of running round new-born infants, practised by the Greeks and Romans, had no parallel among the Israelites, so far as we know. But the ritual lustratio of the Romans may well throw light on the Israelite ritual of encircling the altar, referred to above.
The dance of the Dakotahs round the flesh-pot was performed purely in honour of the god; it partakes in some sense of an act of faith, for the believers persuade themselves that their god will not permit his worshippers to be scalded by the boiling water; whether their faith ever reached the height of neutralizing sensation is not recorded. The Bear Dance of the Timagani Indians and of the Sioux North American Indians must have a point of attachment somewhere with the Ἀρκτεία danced in honour of Artemis. The dance of the Kayans, as well as the Bagobos, around sacrificial victims appears to serve a consecrating purpose.
One of the original objects of the dance round the sacred tree is seen from the practice among the Gallas to be to make the crops grow; the tree-spirit who looks after these things is propitiated by the dance in his honour. It is difficult to resist the surmise that at one time the Israelites did the same thing. Tree-spirits, it is true, have not necessarily anything to do with the crops, and we may be certain that in many cases there was no connexion between sacred trees and the growth of the crops among the Israelites; but they were an agricultural people, and the belief in the influence of tree-spirits upon the growth of the crops is so widespread that the probability of its existence among the Israelites must be reckoned with.
CHAPTER VII
THE ECSTATIC DANCE
I
An important department of our subject is that of the type of dance performed by the early prophets of Israel. We say the “early” prophets because the one account which the Old Testament gives us of this kind of dance refers to it among the early prophets. There is, however, no reason for supposing—rather the contrary[174]—that this type of the sacred dance was confined to the early prophets of Israel. Its purpose was connected with an aspiration deeply seated in human nature; its performance has been very widespread among peoples of antiquity; and it is found to exist at the present day among uncultured races. So that the presumption is that it did not cease abruptly among the Israelites, but continued, at any rate, up to the time of the Exile.
This type of dance is the outcome of strong religious emotion which necessitates some bodily expression. It may be paralleled with the exuberance of physical health which demands vigorous exercise. While it begins with moderated movements, held in check by rhythmical restraint, yet as the nervous excitement of the performer becomes increasingly intense and the physical exertion more exacting, so does the dance get wilder and wilder until, as the result of the abandonment of all self-control, the dancer ultimately loses consciousness. Its contagious character has often been remarked upon.
But the religious emotion which thus finds expression is engendered by an aspiration which is believed to be attained by means of the dance; and this aspiration is nothing less than union with the deity. The loss of consciousness which eventually takes place is replaced, so it is believed, by the indwelling of the divine spirit; the body thus becomes the temporary abode of the deity, and is utilized for divine purposes.