Fishes, Flowers, and Fire Worship

v ii C O NT E NTS. i .

A T R F C H P E V . ( IRE) — S t ory of t h e F ire -god and h i s Sec ret Growt h of F ire Worshi p — — — Fire an esse n t i al in Hindoo Worship Th e Ch al dean s Th e — — — P e rsi an s Th e H e brews Fire in Hind u Cerem onies Dut i e s of — — Hindu Life Th e S e rpe nt and Fire P hall o- Pyt hic S ol ar S hrine s

— — — - Fire an d P h allic Worship Leaping t hrough ﬁ r e Fire t reading — — in S cot l and Fire - leaping in Ru ss ia Th e Mede s as Fire W or — — — shippers Th e S abin e s Fire an d t h e Anci e nt C hri s t ian s T h e — — — R om an Churc h an d Fire Th e J ews Tem pl e of V e st a Fire

— - W orship in I re l and Pl i al l o- ﬁ r e W orship of t h e Greeks and

Rom an s .

F C HA PTER VI . ( IRE) — Fire Worship in t h e S tates of t h e Medi terranean S pe c i a l - — s ac re dness of t h e P ublic City fi re of Greece an d R om e Th e — — S ac red Fire of Tl ac h t ga C e ylon Fir e Worship Th e Par s e es — P s a o m e t s I m t of m s e s — s e m s er i n M nu n pie y Ca by Cingale e T r , — S a s t W e s &c . T h e Y l Lo Wo s E n cri , l h , u e g Fire r hi p in ngland — — — Fire of Bel t an e Druidical F ires May - day Fire s Novem b e r — — — Fires in I rel and Bet we e n t wo Fires S cot l and T h e S um m er — — ’ s - fi r e m e S ol t ice e C e r on i s W orship of B aal in I re l and St . J ohn s — Da B on fi r s— De f f st t y e cree o C ouncil o C on an in ople .

HA T F C P ER VII . ( IRE) — — Paradi se L ost and M ol och Th e G od of t h e A m m oni t es T h e s a t of b ot s t h e S t e s— l ugh er Children y Fire, n ice in crip ur Fire — — Cere m oni e s and M ol och Sacre d Fi re of t h e P hoenician s Th e — — C art h aginian s Cu st om of O zi e se S ardini an C u st om s and — — — M ol och Th e C ut h i t e s Pe r sian Fire W orshi p H ou se -ﬁ r e s of — — Gre ece an d R om e S acred B ook s of t h e E ast L aws of Man u T h e B i V a m s t o A t h e G od O f — V st g ed and Hy n gni , Fire e a, Wo s O f— Th e — Z t r hip Magi oroas er . D I RE E A N F . FI SH E S, FLO W RS,

H T R C A P E I . — Fr equen t occu r r en ce of the Fi sh Sym b ol Fi sh Her a ldr y — E a r l i est Devi ces Fi sh Devi ces i n ch u r ch es a n d oth er pu b l i c — — — bu i ldi n gs The C a ta com b s I ch thu s Fi sh Dev i ces i n Gl ast on bu r A bb e (ﬁ e — Th e B oo/c Fi sh — l a s ow Fi sh A r m s— Th e y y, G g — Fi sh a n d Ri n g Stor y of Scotl a n d Sol om on a n d th e Fi sh a n d ’ ’ — i Fi Pon t Neot s— Th Ri n g Th e Her m t s sh d of S . e Sa cr ed P r h— Th e Dol hi n — e tu n e e c p N p .

E W b of , if any , sym ols are such frequent occurrence of fi sh among the relics bygone ages as that of the . W we of N hether look upon the monuments Babylon and ineveh , upon the walls of the Roman Catacombs where the early C hristians sought a refuge fro m the fury Of their Pagan our persecutors, or amongst the heraldic devices adopted by of ancestors as coats arms in comparatively modern times, fi sh r the is eve prominent . With regard to the latter, it is certainly remarkable to What an extent it prevails, and several writers on Heraldry (particularly Moule) have given s of use us very full accounts and graphic illu trations its . Nor on e of fi sh n we h is it kind o ly find thus employed , whic might perhap s be associated with some special myth or — tradition the dolphin , the herring the salmon , the trout, the pike, the barbel , the roach , the sole, the turbot, the flounder, the haddock , the cod , the hake, the ling, the whiting, the h b mullet, the grayling and others ave all een pressed into m f of fi sh the sa e service, and even the dif erent modes taking b b ook y the spear, the net, or the , are found in the armorial ensigns of the l ords of manors deriving revenue fro m f “ ” “ o . b the produce the fishery The oats, says Moule, em of ployed in the same service, which were at the com mand t h e of wa r sovereign in time , and formed the original navy of B s of m ritain , di tinguish the ensigns the aritime lords, and the corporate b odies to whom the j urisdiction of the ports was entrusted . B 0 A ND . [ FISHES , FLOWERS , FIRE WORSH IP

It i s not unlikely that the vast numbers of fishes and their great variety may have had m uch to do with their employment in this connectio n ; some years ago the B ritish d f Mu seum contained fifteen hundred if erent species, while the — n of m u seum in Paris on e unusually rich in specime s this — part Of the animal kin gdom po ssessed as m any as five

on . thousand , a number which has steadily gone increasing “ f n ﬁ sh As t h e symbol o a ame , almost all have been used in Heraldry ; and i n many instances ﬁ sh have been assumed of in arms in reference to the produce the estate, giving w s to the quaint device a t ofold intere t . They are borne

uprigh t and extended , and when feeding are termed devouring ;

é w , e Allum , hen their eyes are bright and Parn when their ” m on t h s are open . “ s w of The earlie t kno n device fish , the zodiacal sign , of N is emblematical th e fishery of the ile, commencing in F e sun the m onth of ebruary , about the time wh n the s enter s Pisce , which is the best season for fishing, accord of ing to Pliny . Modern travellers relate that the walls the temple of Denderah are literally covered with magnificent

sculpture and painting . The ﬁgures representing the Zodiac of are on the ceiling the portico , and are engraved in the great work on Egypt publi shed by order of the French of Governm ent . The signs the Zodiac were frequently

sculpt ured on the exterior of ancient churches, presenting a sort of rural calendar for the labours of the ﬁeld each wa s of use month in the year, which practical .

‘ W h t h e Z od a t h e ﬁ sh e o en in i c whe l r und , ’ s an d t h e They l oose t h e ﬂood irrigate gr ound . In his directions t o the husb andman for the m onth of F ebruary , Old Tusser says

‘ ’ TO t h e oast m an t s t uﬁ o c , , ride , Len pr vide ;

e of with another coupl t in encouragement the ﬁsherman ,

‘ Th e a dot t h e se a dot s l nd h will , h wi h , ’ S a m t m s ﬂe s an d e o ﬁ e so e ff sh . p r i e h , f ed The Zodiacal signs also appear as an ornament on & c antique vases , coins, pavements, . , and are painted in bright col ours on the in side of several mu mmy cases n ow s A in the Briti h Museum . manuscript in the Cottonian Lib rary show s the sign Pisces having a connecting line fro m the tail of each

’ e s M oul Heraldry . L OW S . 3 FISHES, F ER , AND FIRE WORSH IP

On many churches and other b uildings both in England and on the continent the same device is found . The porch of the Virgin at Notre Dame at Paris has a nu mber of compartments representing the zodiacal signs and the lab ours w of of the different months . The door ay the church of St . of Margaret, York , is similarly adorned , as is one the porches w f I fﬂe f . o o Merton College, Oxford The western door ay y h on e Churc , said to be of the most beautiful specimens Of

- N of Anglo orman architecture in England , bears the sign the fishes . In Canterb ury Cathedral also is a pavement of large s of stones, omewhat rudely inlaid , bearing figures the zodiacal signs in circular compartments . The fishes are attached by a line passing from mouth to mouth . In the Roman Catacomb s the fish is frequently found amongst the cou n tless inscriptions with which the walls are a s crowded . Maitl nd describe it as there found as a symbol of of m f expressive the name Christ, and re arkable as af ord of s or ing a combination everything de irable in a tessera , m s Th e t dv s ystic ign . Greek for fish , x , contains the initials of I c -ov X t O 'T o ®eov Yt os wr : C s of n g, p s E np Jesus hri t, Son m God , the Saviour ; a sentence which had been adopted fro of the sibylline verses . Moreover the phonetic sign this fi sh wa s m word , the actual , an emble whose meaning was entirely concealed fro m the uninitiated : an important point with those who were surrounded by foes ready to ridicule s of and bla pheme whatever Christianity they could detect . “ Nor of Th e did the appropriateness the symbol stop here . “ e s b of Hi m fish , obs rved Tertullian , eems a fit em lem w f of hose spiritual children are, like the of spring fishes, born in the water of “ m s F On walls, as well as to bstone , we find the ish , o S Ph enix, Anchor, hip, Olive and Palm , all of which are t h e of F or sacred to God ertility the procreative energies .

The ﬁsh , we are told , was adopted by those Christians of — K Th U S because the alphabetical rebus the Greek word I . . . . . containing the initial letters Of the words form ing this title ‘ ’ C of G od b ut I kt h us in Greek, Jesus hrist, Son , Saviour ; was a holy name in Egypt and the East, long ere Greece b had adopted her varied faiths, and long efore the good

’ Mai tl an d s c t h e at om Chur h in C ac b s . W W O S H P 4 FISHES , FLO ERS , AND FIRE R I

Nazarene had preached his hol y gospel in the wilds of H ﬁ sh D Da or De - a Judea . The ebrew for is g, g g, which m De—De v some think may have sprung fro the Sanscrit , and A k Ag or Ab , and be allied to the solar , and Aqua,

D was ﬁ sh - A of water . agan the god ( lheim) the Philistines , Da and spelling g backwards as was so common and natural , seeing some peoples read from right to left, and others from G ad on e G od or left to right, we get , the good , that is 11 of Da a s I sa . . Goddess y, in lxv , where , in connection ‘ m : t with Meni the oon , we read Ye are hey that prepare ’ G ad ff a table for , and that furnish the o ering unto Meni ; ’ which B agst e r s Comprehensive Bible admits to be stars or Da C al m e t s so such Objects . g, says , signiﬁes Pre erver, and

Saviour, which has many ancient connections with fish and f D se e o . . water, as we in the case agon St Augustine said ‘ of C hrist : He is the great Fish that lives in the midst ’ of the waters ; so no wonder that Ichthus, a fish , should ’ b v ecome a holy term , and applied to Christ s representati e, who in token wears a Poitrine as h i s higher officers wear ’ m or what is called a itre turban like a fish s mouth . s H I k t h us Chri t, being a ebrew, Of course received the title I H — h i S. s . . from Greek followers, j ust as he got the mono gram Of Bacchus— from those who forsook that god to w follo Ch ristianity . There is nothing sacred about such or I k or A k = A b F matters . Ich , , at once Our ather and fi sh water ; and in India the is the god of the water, and

v Dev- a b De - an or D so we ha e , from which may come g agon .

of Th u s so I k - The Greeks, course, used or theus, and theus or God - 1k ; at any rate Christians have made I k - thus a v eritable God , and water its element a very holy thing . K t wo The most ancient eltic tongues seem to identify the , Ui s e of b for water in Gaelic is g , the water life eing VV i s e s I as or ol d s or g (whi key) , and a fish g, in Iri h , Iska I sc h a s . F , which is an Ea tern term for Jesus If V or i s ss we v the digam ma here admi ible , then arrive ery near wn V our o F . s i sh n oo V i n u or Fi sh n oo word ish Perhap , g , s s i s s t wh o s is re pon ible here , for he the fir rise out of m fi sh the water, and fro a ; and from h i s fi rst incarnation to h i s last he i s always c onnected with “ “ F s s l n i h say Mou e, have Ofte been made t h e vehicle

o F orl ng . FI SR E s L OW S W O SH P. , F ER , AND FIRE R I 5

of religious instruction , and for this purpose all the ﬁne arts

have been put in requisition . Amongst many pictures by the m s fi n n b first a ters in which the y tri e are introduced , th at f h of fi sh o Saint Ant ony, Padua, preaching to the , may be i S R mentioned . This fine p cture, by alvator osa, is in the A H N collection at lthorp ouse, in orthamptonshire ; the sermon ’ itself is given in Addison s Travels in Italy . On the conventual seal of Glastonbury Ab bey are represented the figures O f Saint Dunstan between Saint Patrick and Saint B e n ign us ; each has his emble m beneath fi sh : his feet ; the last has a party Of perhaps, adds the of S historian the abbey, he also preached to them , as aint

Anthony did . “ A fi sh furnishing the University of C amb ridge with a ‘ s V ox religious feast was the occa ion of a tract, entitled ’ or - fi sh Piscis ; , the Book ; containing th ree treatises which c od fi sh b on were found inside a in Cam ridge market, 16 6 fi h b M 7 . s idsummer Eve, This is said to have een taken fi sh in Lynn deeps , and after finding a book within it, the was carried by the bedel to the vice- chancellor ; and coming m as it did at the commencement, the very ti e when good

learning and good cheer were most expected , it was quaintly se a u an d remarked , that this guest had bro ght his book his

carcass to furnish both . “ of of l w In the arms the city G asgo , and in those of se e a the ancient , salmon with a ring in its mouth is f K n i r n o . e t e said to record a miracle St g , the founder of se e h of w the and the first bis op Glasgo . On the reverse ’ ‘ of s W i sh ar t s of. t s Bi hop seal in the reign Edward II . , hi u Ke n t i e r n s pposed allusion to the legendary story of St . g a ppears for the first time . Som e of the early bish ops of Glasgow displayed t h e of or w figure of a salmon , either on the sides belo the of on m a shield arms their seals, a circumstance which y be

accounted for, without reference to a miracle, as depicting of of of the produce the Clyde . The revenue the ch urch Glasgow at the Reformation included on e hundred and sixty - eight salmon arising from the franchise or ﬁshing in

that river . f S K . o James Cameron , Lord Privy eal to ing James I S b of w 14 6 2 on hi s cotland and ishop Glasgo in , bore l u of St Ke n t i e r n b e episcopa seal the ﬁg re . g in a ta ernacl , SH S LO W S W O SH P. 6 FI E , F ER , AND FIRE R I

below which are his paternal arms, three bars, h aving a on of salmon with a ring in its mouth either side the shield ,

n . which is surmou ted by the mitre The ring is, perhaps, f l a type o the annu ar money, then current among the

B ritons . “ It is curious to note h ow t h e emblem Of the same ﬁsh has contin ued to enter into the composition of the

Glasgow arms and those of the ecclesiastical estab lishment . “ The diocese of Glasgow was erected into an arch 14 9 1 bishopric in , with Galloway , Argyll and the Isles as ' b w sufi ra an s . g James Beaton , arch ishop of Glasgo and of D C abbot umfermline, the uncle of ardinal Beaton , died 15 39 m un i fi c e n t of primate of Scotland in . Many marks his public spirit and piety long resisted time, and remained after the cathedral cere m onies had been deserted for the of of plain offices the kirk Scotland . On the walls of the Episcopal Palace or C astle of of — a Glasgow were sculptured the arms Beaton azure, fess or between three mascles, , quartered with Balfour, argent, ’ on of a chevron sable and otter s head erased the first, b w m u and elo the shield , a salmon with a ring in its o th , on s s as represented the seal Of his predecessor . “ Another Archb ishop Beaton r e - founded the Scotch C 1603 ollege at Paris in , where , as a monument to his b memory , are his arms, surmounted y the episcopal hat, of and beneath the shield the fish and ring, the emblem se e the of Glasgow . In more recent times Archbishop 16 84 of se e Cairncross, in , bore the arms the impaled with his paternal coat . “ The arm s of the city of Glasgow are those of the se e 0 11 on former , argent, a mount a tree with a bird a d on s branch to the exter, and a bell pendent the inister s of side, the tem a tree surmounted by a salmon in fess having in its mouth a gold D “ ‘ r . Dib di n of F h t h e says, The legend the is and ’ R i n - b ing , is extant well nigh every chap ook in Scotland ; ol d Spots wood is among the earliest historians who garnished d L n n up the ish from the ati mo astic legends, and Messrs . M c Le l l an Smith , . and Cleland , have not failed to quote his

s . t K n i S . e t e rn word They report of g , that a lady of good

’ M oule s Heraldry . A ND FISHES , FLOWERS, FIRE WORSHIP

place in the country h aving lost her ring as sh e crossed C s sh e the river lyde, and her husband waxing jealou , as if h ad on sh e bestowed the same one Of her lovers, did mean Ke n t i e r n for of herself unto g , entreating his help the safety her honour ; and that he, going to the river after he had h i s on e used devotion , willed who was making to ﬁsh , to

was . bring the first that h e caught, which done In the fi sh r mouth of this he found the ing, and sending it to the ’ sh e of . lady , was thereby freed her husband s suspicion Th e credit of this I believe upon the reporters ; but however it se e of w of be, the and city Glasgo do both them bear in their arms a fi sh with a rin g in its mouth even to this

“ of Moule remarks that the classical tale Polycrates , related by Herodotus a thousand years before the time of Ke n t i e r n s of St . g , is perhaps th e earliest ver ion the ﬁsh

. and ring, which has often been repeated with variations H m se t The ring, erodotus says was an e erald in gold and b d eautifully engrave , the work of Theodorus the Samian ; and this very ring, Pliny relates, was preserved in the of R wa s Temple Concord at ome , to which it given by the

Emperor Augustus . The device of the ﬁsh is engraved in ’ “ of M . Claude Par adi n s He r v i c al Devices as an emblem uninterrupted prosperity . ’ of K If we turn to chapter xxxviii . Mahomet s oran , we

find the story of the fish and the ring in another form . — ‘ The note upon the words W e placed on his throne a ’ ‘ : of counterfeit body, says The most received exposition this passage i s taken from the following Talmudic fable n of Solomon , havi g taken Sidon , and slain the kin g that w J city, brought a ay his daughter erada, who became his ’ favourite ; and because sh e ceased n ot to lament her father s l oss d of , he ordered the evils to make an image him for h e r t : consola ion which being done , and placed in her sh e m s chamber, and her aid worshipped it morning and a m evening, ccording to their custo . At length Solomon n of bei g informed this idolatry , which was practised under his roof by his vizier, Asaf, he broke the image, and out having chastised the woman went into the desert , where wh o n ot he wept and made supplications to God ; did think fit,

No t e o r h rn T ur . FI SI I E S A ND E . 8 , FLOWERS, FIR WORSH I P

however, to let his negligence pass without some correction . ’ was S It olomon s custom , while he washed himself, to s on entrust his ignet, which his kingdom depended , with : on e a concubine of his named Amina day , therefore, when sh e had the ring in her custody , a devil named Sakhar of came to her in the shape Solomon , and received the ring from her ; by virtue of which he b ecame possessed of sat on h the kingdom , and the throne in the shape whic l aw he had borrowed , making what alterations in the he

“ pleased . Solomon , in the mean time, being changed in of his outward appearance and known to none his subj ects, was obliged to wander about and beg alms for h i s sub n of sistence till at le gth , after the space forty days, which was the time the image had been worshipped in his house , th e devil ﬂe w away and th rew the Signet into the se a ; the w Signet was immediately s allowed by a ﬁsh , which being S taken and given to olomon , he found the ring in its belly, and having by this means recovered the kingdom , took Sakhar, and , tying a great stone to his neck , threw ” of him into the lake Tib erias .

’ of of N One the windows St . eot s Church , Cornwall , contain s the history of that saint known as the pi ous sa c r i st an “ ” “ of Glastonbury Abbey , perhaps , says Moule the only s of s e in tance the legend of a local saint so repre ent d , and on e of the most Splendid specimens of stained glass in the ’ fi h - w . s n o kingdom The hermit s pond , remaining in the valley ff s on e near his cell , a orded material for of the legendary n ow s tales represented in the window . In thi pool there N were th ree fishes , of which eot had divine permission to take one every day , with an assurance that the supply f should never be diminished . Being af licted with a severe s B ar i us u t wo indispo ition , his disciple one day ca ght fishes, on e and having boiled and broiled the other, placed them ‘ ’ ‘ before him : What hast thou done ! exclaimed Neot ; lo the favour of God deserts us : go instan tly and restore these ’ s s fi he to the water . While B a r i us was absent Neot pros t ra t e d s himself in earne t prayer, till he returned with the s t h e B a r i us intelligence that the fi hes were disporting in pool . a of N n o gain went and took only one fish , which eot had sooner tasted than he was restored to perfect

o am . st S N s . ot . G rh Hi . e 9 LOW S . FISHES, F ER , AND FIRE WORSHIP

s m n A pecies Of perch , co mon in the Mediterranea , is o Of a brilliant scarlet col u r, but with a very strong spinal of fin , and , from th e resemblance this spine to a razor, it l e b a r bi r is named e . This fish is held sacred among the for m n divers ari e productions , and when caught by a hook , it is instantly rel ieved by the rest Of the shoal cutting the line Of the angler with their sharp spines . “ d s fi sh The olphin , as a mo t peculiarly sacred , was called s m Philanthropi t by the ancients, and said to delight in usic . It saved the great bard Arion when he threw h imself into on i s the Mediterranean his way to Corinth , which event

t o B . s t C . aid have happened in the seven h century , or about of t h e the time the story Jonah arose . The Greeks placed do s lphin in their Zodiac . Burckhardt ays in his travels in N or ubia, that no one is permitted to throw a lance at inj ure a dolphin in the Re d Sea ; and the same rule is e m f nforced a ong most o th e Greek islands . “ N - od R eptune, the male sea g of ome, was identical with s of G Po eidon reece , and his temples and festivals were in M a rt i n s s the Campus . Po eidon was a brother of Jupiter a n d - m a n Pluto, and a mighty representative god Of the of se a wa s waters, and what the symbolised his the teeming Hi s womb of fertility, and therefore woman . hosts are d - s s Hi s olphins and innumerable sea nym ph s and mon ter . c hariots are yoked with horses, which he is said to have c m e n Hi s reated and taught to manage . symbol is the ‘ ’ r Tr i sool or phallic trident, or rathe the , giver Of life Of S w iva, hich can cleave rocks, produce water, and shake Ne h t h us heaven and earth . The p Of Egypt was the goddess of the coasts Of the Re d Sea and the wife Of the wicked s D erpent deity Typhon . The olphin as a highly emblematic ﬁ sh s N Often tands for eptune himself, although it probably ﬁrst rose in importance from a mere punning on the words d elphis a dolphin , and delphus the womb, and occasionally t h e De l h a wa pudenda . p x s also a young pig which was o ccasion ally Offered to Juno ; Delphi was goddess Earth s D m ymbolic chasm , and elphinius was her Apollo, and fro d s n D or D olphin prings the ame elphin auphin , the eldest s on of the King Of

9‘ f Rive rs o Life . R C HAPTE II . — Th e A n ci en t Sa cr e d Fi sh Fi sh Di et a n d i ts supp osed Efec ts — — — — Fi sh a n d th e J e ws Th e god Kr odo Oan es Dagon Th e Fi sh — — god a t Ni m r oud Kh or sa b a d Fi sh Wor ship i n Syr i a Tem p l e — of Dagon a t A zotus - Th e Dagon of th e B i b l e A dr a m el ech — Ab sti n en ce fr om Fi sh Food A n ci en t Ch ar a cter of Fi sh Wor ship

— - — —Pa r a di se Lost Th s I r i sh dem i god Phi n Th e Fi sh a s a — — Chr i sti a n Sym b ol I dea i n vol v ed i n Fi sh Wor ship Hol y Fi sh — — Pon ds A n ci en t C a l edon i a n Obj ecti on s to Fi sh Oth er a n ti ﬁ sh a ti n Na ti on s— I sh tar e g .

“ NMAN remarks that the ﬁ sh selected for hono ur amongst I was ﬁ at b the ancients neither , glo ular, nor cylindrical ;

or . it was more less oval , and terminated in a forked tail ‘ ’ m or t h e In shape it was like the al ond , the concha with ’ ‘ ’ ‘ s nates . Its Open mouth resemble the OS uteri , still called ‘ ’ ’ i ae r O s t n c o . , tench s mouth Ancient priests are represented ’ as fi s h . s clothed with a , the head being the mitre The fish a s R s head a mitre still adorns th e heads Of omi h bishops . wa s was o s The fish sacred to Venus, and a fav urite e culent s fi sh wa s m O f among the luxurious Roman . The an emble n un w v H s fecundity . The word , ho e er, in the ebrew, signifie s r ou t to u t or th a s a s sh t h e fi sh to p , p f , well fi ; and th us o v Th e symb lises the male principle in an acti e state . creature had a ve ry stron g symbolic connectio n with the s t h e R wor hip Of Aphrodite, and omanists still eat it On ’ da D Da that y Of the week called ies Veneris, Venus y . “ At the present time there are certain fi sh which are suppo sed to give greatly increased virile power to tho se wh o m eat the . I have (proceeds Inman) i ndistinct recollection of s m r a wh o a i ila fact having been recorded in Athen eus , o s s s s t h e qu te Theoph ra tu as his authority . The pas age is to ff on e ect , that a diet a certain fish enabled an Indian prince to show one hundred proofs Of his manhood i n a ’ da single y . The same writer mentions goat s flesh as having s of s ff s w omething the ame e ect . The A s yrian Oannes as

s a s - ﬁ s h or repre ented a man , and the Capricorn goat with ﬁ s h s m tail , in the Zodiac , is aid to have been an emb le f h i m o . LOW S 1 FISHES, F ER , AND FIRE WORSH IP . 1

“ wa s The fish also associated with Isis, who, like Venus , c was represented the female element in reation . It likewise a sacred emblem amongst the Buddhists . “ S h ince writing the above, I ave ascertained that eating for on F or fish supper, riday night, is a Jewish custom A S t s institution . amongs that nation fecundity is a ble sing so u specially promised by the Omnipotent, it is tho ght proper to use human means for ensuring the blessing on the day s se t apart by the Almighty . The Jewi h Sabbath begins at on F d sunset ri ay , and three meals are to be taken during h w u the day, whic are supposed to have a po erf l aphrodisiac fi sh Operation . The ingredients are meat and , garlic and pepper ; and the particular fish selected , SO far as I can s — l learn , is the kate that which in the Isle Of Man is stil supposed to b e a powerful satyrion . The meal is repeated La ar d on . twice a Saturday Mons . j bears testimony to the extent Of this custom in the following passage, though he ’ e n ot fi sh e x c e t t h at do s directly associate it with the , p the on s O r b O f latter are Often seen coin , with the the attri utes

Venus . After speaking Of the probable origin Of the cult, s our D Le he ays In days , indeed , the ruses of banon , in s f r a t h e se x ual their secret ve pers , Of e true worship to parts ‘ of d F the female, and pay their evotions every riday night sa s that is to y, the day which is con ecrated to Venus ; the on hi s s day in which , Side, the Mu sulman ﬁnds in the code d Of Mahomet, the ouble Obligation to go to the mosque and to perform the conjugal

‘ 1492 m Kr O dO wor In , Bede entions that a God is H h i s on ﬁ sh shipped in the artz, having feet a , a wheel in — on e hand and a pail of water in the other clearl y a V i sh n oo or Fi sh n oo or n s solar deity carrying the solar lu ar di k , and

or of fi sh - a s the ark womb fertility . These gods, Mr . B aring Gould states in the case of the American Kox - Kox or T ki a - e o kt l i i e . fi sh s p , . , god , much resemble the Old Te ta m N Kox h i m ent oah , for , encountered a flood and rescued i n b self a cypress trun k (a true phallic sym ol) , and peopled ’ w s Hi s the world with i e and intelligent beings . full title ‘ ’ m ixes him up with the fi e Sh - god idea O f Hebrews and N a others . orth Americ n Indians relate that they too followed

* l c e t F t s v o . . An i n ai h , i LO W S 12 FISHES , F ER , AND FIRE WORSHIP

a fi sh - man or demi - god from Asia ; he was only a man was or from the breasts upward , below he a fish , , indeed, t wo fi sh was , for each leg a separate

wa s - fi sh It is said Oanes a man headed , and the of G od H B earliest Hermes or Messenger to aldia . erosus says he ate not, yet taught all the arts Of geometry, and f s the harvesting and storing o fruit and seeds . Every night F H h e retired to the sea (the emale and oly Spirit) , and He l l adi us after him came Messiahs . called him Oes , but of says he had the feet a man , and sprang from a mundane ’ He s H egg . had a fi h s Skin , and iggins says he first taught al di a astrology in K . The mother Of Oanes was worshipped ‘ ’ A t e r at e s O as Venus g , the good spirit, and anes himself ‘ ’ fi r st - Pr ot o on os possibly signifies the born Of the Yoni, the g a k n i a h on s of S n u t . The Japane e represent their Messiah V i sh n oo hi m emerging like from a fish , and as such call

Kan - 0 11 or C an - ou O n i us , and his temple, , and make his S i l ‘ i t ‘ on p repose twelve cushions, j ust as they do in the s of F0 or B oodh a e ca e , showing clearly the solar signiﬁcanc f SO se e b w o the whole . we a close connection et een th e

K O - A N or H A O N K o t i c aldian Oanes the ebrew , which in p ‘ ’ N A r m or ik O . is the Enlightener, and the Egyptian In , C an O an i c UA N i n and , and in Irish , is a lamb , and ‘ ’ H on e R or ebrew Jonas signifies the gentle , a evealer sum word from God , and a dove, SO that the Of the whole points to the Sanscrit Yoni . “ ’ b e ‘ Pan , Jove s senior brother, used to called a whale ’ like fish , and he entangled Typhon in his nets and caught h i m , and yet who SO unlike a fish in character as the

- goat footed god . “ SO B oodh a is called Day- PO or Fi shpo ; V i sh n oo appears V i oo Fi oo or in the fi rst Avatar as a fish , for he is c , c Fi sh - O O s I sch a , as Ch ri t is in Ireland , which is the Welsh Fi sch a . In all lands , fish have proved the saviours Of many m e n or , and among the fish , the dolphin , as the delphus w m o b . She who has dedicated her life to her G od we call H b fi sh a nun , and this with e rews is a , and the Yoni .

F s - s A s r i a n N I t surn a. i h and bird were called in y anu , yet ﬁ sh Spoken of in Opposition to a bird was Kh a and a b ird K hu . s h Isi was a brooding bird , yet is generally seen wit

v s f Ri er O Life .

FI SI I E S . 14 , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP

D human , and it Spoke an articulate language . uring the day it instructed the Chaldaeans in letters and in all arts s and science , teaching them to build temples ; but at night s a F s it plunged again into the e . ive such monster appeared ‘ ’ s w A n n e dot i at different epoch in Babylonia , and ere called

or . (coming out of, proceeding from) The ﬁrst was named

M usar us O da c on . the Oannes, and the last Their images ,

s s a . he add , were pre erved in Chald ea even to this day

(This fragment Of Berosus is preserved by Apollodorus . See ’ Cory s Fragments . ) ‘ In a b as- relief fro m Kor sab ad representing a naval or e se a we engagement, the seig of a city on the coast, To have the god nearly as described by Berosus . the body i s of a man as far as the waist, j oined the tail Of a ﬁsh .

- The three horned cap , surmounted by the flower in the form of - - a fleur de lis , as worn by the winged figures Of the bas

s . reliefs , marks the acred character The right hand is raised a s in the representations Of the winged deity in the circle . se a t This figure is in the amongst fish and ma ine animals . On Assyrian cylinders and germs the same symbolical fi d gure is very frequently foun , even more closely resembling of s in its form the description Berosus, nu merous in tances ’ Of which are given in Laja r d s large work 0 11 the W orship of Venus . “ F This ish Worship extended to Syria, and appears to have been more prevalent in that country than in Assyria . The Dagon O f the Philistines Of A sh da d evidently resembled on s the figure the Assyrian culptures and cylinders . When it fell before the ark , the head and both the palms Of his hands were cut O ff upon the threshold ; only the fishy D . 4 . . se e part Of agon was left to him (I Samuel , v ; the m arginal reading . ) The same idol is mentioned in Judges H w ‘ ” . b xvi The meaning Of the word in e re is a fish . of Although the image, like that the Assyrians, appears to r have been originally male ; at a late period, it became we n De a S a female in Syria, as lear from Lucian (de yri ) , Di O dO r us Si c ul us s and , who describe the idol at Ascalon O f with the face a woman and body of a fish . (Lib . ii . ) i c t h ol a t r De rc e t o or A t e r at e s was An y y, connected with g , perhaps confounded with the wors hip of

N e e &c . in v h , S S FI H ES, FLOWER , AND FIRE WORSH IP . 15

or A sdot us of t h e s In Azotus, , a renowned city Phili tines, there wa s a celeb rated temple of Dagon in which the i n n s h abitants kept the ark Of the cove ant, in pre ence Of the A n d s idols . when they aro e early in the morning, behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark L D Of the ord , and the head Of agon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon th e threshold ; and rah R D i m h a r a hl a u . c i n i sc h . C dagon g j , that is , as , explains f was l o . . it, on y the form a fish left to him (I Samuel , For Da D h s v . g and aga are word interpreted to mean wa s D . fish , whence he called agon The sacred scriptures, H s t on h i m so in ebrews, be ow th e masculine gender, and do B ib l i us t h e authors Of the Greek version . Philo says of D son C osl us agon , that he is a fruiterer and the of , and s s thus thinks he Should be called , because he fir t di covered For D i n H w i s fruit . agon ebre translated by the Greek H s . e t h e word Siton , which means fruit is al o said to be h n m inventor Of the plough , t erefore was a ed Zeus the t s of plougher , as if he were Jupi er , the pre ident agriculture . ‘ Pt ol e m us s ays that Ceres wa s cal led Sito among m the Syracusans, from the sa e Greek word Sito But he h e s D is mistaken ; for, while derive it from agon (which m Da eans fruit) , he Should h ave deduced it from g (which h m t t m ean s a fi s ) . There is the ost ancien tes imony outside of of s the Bible in regard to this god Asia in what Bero us, s F Apollodorus, and Polyhistor write concerning Oanne . or Oannes i s m entioned a s a t wo- headed anim al ; that feet like t s O f w m r ho e human beings gre fro his tail , and that the est Hi s of . him is a fish voice was likewise human , and they sa Re d b y that , emerging from the Sea , he came to Ba ylon , u se a H b ut that he ret rned to the at sunset . e did this e F h i m very day as if he were an amphibious animal , rom m e n s learned all the various arts, letter , agriculture , the con s of m ecration temples, architecture, political govern ent, and w s hatever could possibly pertain to civili ed life, and the n h s of m or a H m ost wo derful i tory Belus and O e . i s image wa s B h i s preserved down to the time of erosus, t at , to the h beginning Of th e Grecian monarc y . This marine god can b e D s h s no other than agon , who e i tory is found in Samuel . He was n ot s t h worshipped only by the Philistine , but by e

B . s abylonians also Apollodorus, from the same Berosu , n of n A n n e dot os arrates more extensively fou r Oa nes called , I I E S . 16 FI S , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP who likewise in the lap se of ages appeared out of the Re d

. Sea, every one Of whom was half man and half ﬁsh But ZE dora c us of wh o in the time of , king the Chaldeans, fe w preceded the deluge a ages, another similar ﬁgure n D wh o O dak o . appeared , was called agon is undoubtedly n O dak on A b d n intended and referred to i this fable of . y e os A n n e dot os Speak s of a second , and bestows on him the

- He l l a di us B e san t i n us form of a semi demon . speaks Of a certai n man of the name O f Ole n s arising out of the Re d m Sea , whose head , hands and feet were hu an , but that the other members of the body were those Of a ﬁsh and th at O f s A S al . l he taught letters, and the science a tronomy s C an n e s B e sor us these reference are SO applicable to the of , it is more than probable that the librarian made the mistake in the name Of abbreviation in the copy . What has been extracted from the Scriptures and what has been said from the writings of the ancients will con vince any on e that the ﬁgure Of Dagon was a mixture Of Hi s the human and marine form . body was marine, and

s . his face, h and , and feet were h uman “ The Scriptures say expressly that his hands and feet O ff or of were cut , broken , when he fell before the ark the w Testament . These ancients wrote that his feet gre to his s tail . The Scripture make him a masculine god , but What has been said elsewhere Of the com mon se x of the gods for D Should be here considered , this very agon was changed s A di r da a A t e r at i s A da r at i s into the goddes g , that is, g , g , De r c e t o , and those other names mispronounced by the i s o b European s . It certain that the Ph enician and Ba ylon ss D ou godde is the very same figure as agon , if y will change L s of De r c e t o the sex . ucianus de cribes briefly the image as s hi m o a D een by in Ph enicia, and it answers to th t Of agon . But al so a m on g other great writers the goddess Of Hierapolis i s i s De r c e t o A t e r at . called , or g M o s A t e r at i s acrobius c ntend that, with the figures of g , i s s She A tarte , that very mother Of gods, and he does not s of a s s of H peak her any other than that goddes ierapolis .

U ss sh e m s nle she had been half ﬁsh , would by no ean

De r c e t o . A t e r at i s A de r a t i s A t ar at a have been called But g , g , g , De r c e t o De r e e A dar idi s A t ar at i s of , , g , g , all which are names of s m A dar da a thi goddess, are corrupt words, and fro g , FISHES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP . 17

H e fi sh which in ebrew means a magnific nt or potent . This was l name sure y most suitable for Oannes, who is said to n n have conferred so many be efits o mankind . In the same way the Seph arvites called their god

. ab Adramelech , which means a magnificent king In the f les th ere is generally no other reason for the figure than that D of because formerly irce, the daughter Venus, having fallen se a fi sh of into the , was by preserved from all inj uries the s or 0 11 of of water , account the metamorphosis Venus into fi sh s h e fi a , when was running away terri ed at the horrible

advances Of the monstre Typhon .

A st r on om i c on b h Manilius, in his , ook fourt , says

‘ W e a e w a s e ss t h n He v n gre we k and a ucc ful figh , T h e ai n t s s o s e sa e fl t g rai ed and g d w re v d by igh , ’ ’ om s T o s a m s s s S a Fr naky yph n r , a fi h h pe h m e S ave d V enu s and se cured e r fro a rap . E at e s h e r an d om t e h i s st e m s uphr hid , fr h nce r a ’ ’ O we all O be dience t o t h e fish s beam s . Or because a fish carried from the Euphrates an egg Of wonderful size, which a dove kept warm , and h atched the Syrian goddess ; hence it was that they abstain ed from sh the eating of fi . They feared that if they ate those animals the vengeance Of the goddess would be aroused : that the limbs of their body would swell ; that they would be

covered by ulcers, and consumed by wasting disease . Plutarch of of se a says the Pythagoreans, that creatures they especially fi sh i abstained from eating the called m ullet and ur t c . They abstained from eating any kind of fish in order to t t instruct men and accus om hemselves to acts Of j ustice, for they s ay that fi sh neither do nor are capa b le of doing us fi sh harm . Others abstained from , the same author says, s b because man aro e from a liquid su stance, and therefore they worship fish as of the sam e production and breeding with themselves . Anaximander says that men were first produced in

fish , and when they were grown up and able to help them w u SO selves were th ro n Out, and SO lived pon the land . our m he contends that fishes were com on parents . “ X enophon , in his Anabasis, Speaking Of the river C h al os fi sh , says it was filled with large and gentle , which N w the Syrians worshipped as gods . either ould they permit them to be inj ured . 18 FISH ES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP .

These stories ab out ﬁ sh are b y no means the growth of m n the ore ancient ages, for about the time Of the retur

Of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage , the Tyrians were of fi sh in the habit taking to Jerusalem for sale . In ‘ N 16 s . : ehemiah xiii , v . the word are as follows There dwell m e n Of Tyre also therein , which brought fish , and all manner on b Of ware and sold the sa bath , unto the children Of Judah , ’ n ot and in Jerusalem . At this time the Jews were free of from the profane rites their neighbours , particularly such as had taken their wives from among the Philistines , who s D or especially wor hipped agon . To eat fish to sell them on the public m arket- place was surely a great indignity to od fi sh the g . There were certain sacred among other nations, as Pompilius among the Grecians , Anguilla among the

n . Egyptians, and others amo g the Pythagoreans In the same fi sh d out way as , SO were also oves held in great honou r s i s Of favou r to thi god . It , however, well known that t o sh e De r c e . doves were sacred to Venus, and is “ D B - D The temple Of agon is called eth agon , which is H w ‘ . Se e . x . pu re ebre ( I Maccabeus , The horsemen d also being scattered in the fiel , fled to Azotus and went ’ ’ — l of n B D . i to eth agon , their ido s temple , for safety Venus — — the A sc a l on i t e s that is De r c e t o has the very same name H t h e with erodotus , as Mylitta, Alitta, and mother Of the t l ie H gods, and about the temple Of goddess Of ierapolis fi sh an d and doves were received as sacred , in her honour, w no less than where B erceto as worshipped . ’ “ ‘ Paradise Lost has the following Of this deity :

‘ Next c am e on e W h o m o e a st t h e a t v urn d in e rne , when c p i e ark Ma m h i s t m a e ads an d an s o O ff i ed bru e i ge, h h d l pped I n h i s own t e m ou t h e r un se l e ple g edg , W e h e e ﬂat s a m h i s wo s s h re f ll , and h ed r hipper ; Da on h i s m se a - m o st e u wa m an g na e, n r , p rd An d d ownward ﬁ sh : y e t had h i s t e m ple high e e zot s d e a t o t h e oast R ar d in A u , r ded hr ugh c O P st at s on f ale ine, in G h and A cal , ’ ” a z An d A c c r on an d G a a s fron t ie r bound s .

— - or Fi n Phin . The Old Irish demi god Pin seem s to h v son of a e been a form Of Pineus , and , like him , was a

H B or Da- B e oc ermes , sharing, with the udh , the exalted

’ s Se l de n s Syrian Dei t ie . 19 FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP .

of - e u- Son of G od Fi n title Bar di , the One . It was who conquered the dragon or put down serpent worship and established all the holy rites connected with Crones or an d h i n r P s F D . Lingams, , strangely enough , or eni, as W B oodhi st s P . . Joyce calls them , Showed like Eastern , a for great liking both charms, which are but small phali, or n on r s suitable for carrying weari g the pe on . They are w exactly like the little Lingas orn On the arms , or secreted or of On the head chest Indian Sivaites . Irish history relates that Christian Feni diligently searched out and O f revered the teeth St . Patrick . “ L of Se n c h us F In the Brehon aws the Mor, the eni or Fi an n as or , champions, are described as a real historical of people and the lawgivers Irene . What Arthur and his ‘ ’ s B r t h on i ck B or L K knight were to y , ritish , ittle Briton elts , Fi n and his Fenians were in the t wo Sk ot i as or among k i the S ot . “ b Before the Pagan Phin was converted , he is descri ed ‘ as presiding over the Tara assembly as a Druid in strangely ’ H ﬂowered garments (note the likeness to Indra and erakles) ,

- - b and with a double pointed head dress, and earing in his b B V i sh n oo hand a ook , like rah ma, Matthew, , and the ﬁshy of C l on fe st C C deities Assyria, and of the athedral , ounty w of K Gal ay , pictures which are given by eane . “ t wo- of u The headed mitre ﬁshy form , the pright rod , or s spotted chequered garment, and ba ket in hand , dis t i n c t l Ph al i k y mark the Eastern idea Of a great chief, whilst in the mermaid with Open book and j aunty arm akimbo , who allows not even the waters to Obscure her sexual se e A t a r at i s or De r k e t i s capacities, we the Irish idea of g , ‘ ’ or D K e t i s ivine , that form Of Venus which Juno assumed

K O l d K e l t O - Ku r e use s at upros, in the Pelasgian temple Of p . B was Fi a l i a There, says ryant, She worshipped by the g , Pi a li a or Pi a l s , that is, the worshippers Of the Oracle or

- i - i - n i or Pi, who may be called the Pi , Phin , Pi Pini, a word which is possibly the base O f the Latin and French m for ter s the Phallus, and which is otherwise O f unknown ‘ b ut r - Signiﬁcant derivation . Macrobius calls De Feti s the ’ ‘ r of mothe the gods , and Syrians, the receptacle of the ’ E r ic or s gods, that is, an Ark , which the ﬁsh repre ented .

of Der - Fe ti s If we were fully cognisant the origin Of , it m out or ight turn to be, like the Indian names, a dual 2 0 . FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP

- B 11 i n . 0 Linga Yoni Thus rahma, Sitting the lotus , is called

B r a hm a - Yon i Der or De r , and if be the Jovine tree Oak , Ke t i s would be simpl y the b i - sexual name Of a supreme

u Der - heti s god . The mythical Semiramis was a da ghter Of , o who was changed into a dove, and her m ther into a fish , Showing the close intertwining of all these figures by ” phallists . “ t h e fi sh Christians were very partial to , but indeed , m a on r y be said to h ave carried f eely all the ancient ideas, as which faith has not after its first attempt at purification ! fi sh On Christian tombs especially do abound , commonly crossed , which reminds us that crossed serpents denote their u s b e act Of interco rse, and in this symboli m the fish would l n n e w very natural and usua , because de oting life in death .

De r c e t o - ﬁ sh - O f , the half and half woman Of the temple the De a H s L Syria at ira, was , say ucian , the perfection of s woman ; she was the mystic Oanes, Athor, and Venu , whom

Egyptians have handed down to us embalmed . SO th e Fathers Of the Chu rch h ave called their ﬂocks

Pi sci c ul i - s , and their high priest a ﬁ herman ; and have given

fi sh - of D to all cardinals and bishops the head agon . “ The fi sh is universally wors hipped in all lands as th e e m most fecundativ Of all creatures ; and where ost valued , the superstitious have Offered it in sacrifice to their gods refusing to eat it . Many a time have I travelled through a poor and barren country where it wa s all mankind could do s s fi s h to live , and seen river and lake teeming with fine h l a s n t which I dared not touc , or on y SO by stealth igh on m u t o n O f came , ch the a noyance my followers and of myself, and the detriment the people .

W e ﬁ n d o s K l s Ph enician , e t and Syrians specially ﬁ sh mentioned as h olding the in the greatest reverence , and s n o at different periods of their hi tory t eating it . The hill s s s of tribe toward the ources the Indus have the same ideas . The Ph oenicians picture Dagon and Dor k e t a the god s of

G a za A s- Ka l - on a s F s G d and , i h o s , or perhaps we Should sa ss for y a ﬁsh god and godde , we know they were also Ku th e r a Ku r os s a A startian Deities . and p (Cypre s) s Shrines of w r s of K Aphrodite , vied in the o hip this fruitful ubele, and Syria held the g r eat northern Sl n i n e of Hi e r O pol i s most

F orlong .

2 2 FISH ES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP .

of b authenticity Of the poem Ossian , as well as eing

of t h e O f D n F - corroborative statement io C assius . ish eaters wa s on e of the contemptuous epithets which the Scottish C elt applied to the Saxon and other races that settled i n the Lowlands of Scotland , and the remains Of the super st it i ous or veneration Of fish , rather abstaining from fish as ‘ ’ an article Of food , is registered by the author of Caledonia as influencing the mo re purely Celtic portions Of th e B ritish population in the early part Of the present century . “ Ancient nations that did not eat b ut worshipped the fi sh o C . were the Syrians , Ph enicians, and elts But in

C aufi r i st aun H d - C , in the remote parts Of the in u osh , the C aufi r s will not eat fish , although it is not said that they d . o worship it They believe in one great g , but have numerous idols that represent those who were once men and women . A plain stone, about four feet high , represents w of God, whose Shape they say they do not kno . One

D ﬁ sh - od of t heir tribes call God agon . The g and goddess the Ph oenicians were called Dago and De r c e t o the worship of Dagon being more particularly celebrated at Gaza and Ashdod ; that of De r c e t o at “ The ol d sculptures and gems of B abylon and Assyria u ﬁ O f F b ut f rnish suf cient proof Of the worship ertility, or writers and readers have alike lost the key , purposely skipped the subj ect, and this we have a prominent example

Of in the case Of the beautiful Assyrian cylinder , exhibiting of F R the worship the ish God , which Mr . awlinson gives

- od us without a com ment . There we see the mitred man g r od b Fr uc t i ﬁ e r with and asket adoring the solar , hovering u b over the fruitf l tree from which spring thirteen full uds, whilst behind him stands another adoring win ged deity b acked by a star, a dove, and a yoni . On the opposite

Side Of the Tree Of Life is ﬁre , and another man in the b of act Of adoration, pro ably the Priest God , pleading with b O f t wo oth hands Open , that the requests the other ﬁgures m ay b e “ l A a l of D C . I may state that that the author Mons . writes in regard to these Old faith s thoroughly supports l what I urge, though he is far from ooking at their features as I do, for he clearly knows very little Of Eastern Phallic

’ e s s E a s O f S t L lie rly Race co l and .

~ r I Ri v e r s of Life . S 2 3 FISHES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WOR HIP .

faiths and their I nterpretation . Ashtoreth is Is htar or n on e o woma , the Star in more senses than ; the Ph enicians ‘ ’ h e r M e n de an m i s call Astarte, but the present for Ashtar, and the plural Ashtaroth . Bunsen derives this representative name from the very coarse, but I fear perfectly correct ' ‘ ’ th e sea t q th e cow— Has tor eth source, f and ; for this is true t o of al l H the idea indoos, and Shows us that the term s ‘ ’ ‘ ’ male and female originally meant the or gan s p ur e t f l e o . 2 si m . 7 p , which indeed the writer Gen i expresses in Z ahar Neha b ah the words and . In all African and Arabian Na n a m for dialects, and not Ishtar is the commonest ter b Ni Mother, the usual initial eing Ma , Ya, Ye, , and rarely Om and On ; se e the long list of over one hundred names ‘ given by Sir John Lubbock as those O f the non - Aryan ’ ‘ ’ O f A nations of Europe and Asia and East frica . There se e A m a F we Ma and even occasionally used for ather, perhaps because among some tribes the strange custom existed of his going to bed to protect and warm the infant m u as soon as born . The al ost universal initial so nds for Fa fe w the male ancestor are Pa , , Ba, and in a instances d Da O . b and Ad , and once and Ta In Asia Ba a, Aba, n ow Apa, and sometimes Ama occur ; what we want to of know is the origin these sounds, but here philology is

Silent with seemingly no power to advance . This is not the h of case , owever, in regard to the Obj ective roots religion ; we t se e here work wi h reasoning creatures, and can that the h child continues , and that all mankind ave ever continued own or to mate whether in their kind , in their gods, the ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ P s F s D S M s N s O m s same A S , , , , to males , and . , Y s to females, and we therefore conclude that those were ’ n t h e se x man s earliest symbols and ames for organs Of , O m h e or the p Mamma Of the mother, which man had first of an d or cognisance , the A , Ab Pa which he noticed as se x s the characteristic Of the Opposite . The As yrian Often represented Ishtar as the upright fish , probably because Of of a r the fecundative powers the fish , and as the creature p x l l en c e ce e . Of water The great mythic queen Semiramis, wife N N or N Of inus, the founder Of ineveh inus, was said to

- B . C . have Sprung from a ﬁsh some twenty th ree centuries , e or and to be r presentative woman , Eva Mary . “ The mythic genealogy of Semiramis begins with a ﬁsh s h Ni n as He r Dork e t o F h and end wit y . mother was the is 2 4 FISH ES , FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSH IP

O f A sk al on S Sh e wa s Goddess , in yria, where worshipped as Sh e was s Astarte or Aph rodite . famed down to the day Of b u . A gustus for her eauty, voluptuousness, virtues and vices There seems 110 douh t but that there was some ruler called S s emiramis, who conquered most of We tern Asia, Egypt wh o He r ﬁ sh and part Of Ethiopia, and attempted India . origin is simply due to her b eing a woman and to her

O n or O n es or Oa n es or Ho- A n es marrying , probably , the S F s or of erpent i h , recognised God Passion , both on the N He r lower Euph rates and the lower ile . conquests may m erely signify that the race who had faith in her conquered , or that certain conquerors embraced the worship of the Sun K al di a sh e Goddess . When fell to Assyria, was very

l N or t h e - natural y made to marry inus, strong Bull Uan h which t is name signiﬁes ; She was preserved by doves , for R these birds were sacred to Aphrodite . Mr . awlinson believes ’ that the o rigin Of the myth lies in I v al oosh s Queen of the B wh wa B . C o s b eighth century . , possi ly a abylonian , and t Shared in the Government with her Lord , but there is li tle or He r doubt that there was such a queen goddess . name, if embracing Sun and fertilizing energies, would natu rally b e Si v am or S R m R or Ra m e Si — y ami (God) , a es, ami , the of W Goddess the Sun , in fact Ishtar, which ilford calls i s her, saying these names mean Isis . The A ssyrian story , r m or C a ot e si that She sp ang fro a dove Yoni , which p would signify, and this is the Indian

* F o o . e . rl ng , Riv Lif H R C APTE III . — — Un i ver sa l L ove of Fl ower s I n difer e n ce to Fl ower s E x cessi v e — Love of Fl ower s l ea di n g to A dor a ti on Myths a n d L egen ds c on n ected wi th Fl ower s th e Fl os A don i s Na r ci ssus Al r tl e , , , y , Si l en e i n l a ta C l over — Th e Hu n dr — Th Wor shi f , ed l ea ved Rose e p of th e Li ly Ch ar a cter o the Lotos— Th e I n di an M u ti n o 1 85 7 ar t f y f , p l a ed b th e L otos dur i t n i i n p y y n g i s I st ga t o .

” “ HY ! s s a ked a writer ome years ago, why is it that every eye kindles with delight at the sight of beautiful ' flowe r s 2 . that in all lands , and amidst all nations, the love O f flowers appears to prevail to SO great an extent, that no home is considered complete without them — no festival duly honoured unless they decorate the place where it is O bse r ved ! They are strewn in the path of the b ride ; they are laid on the bier of the dead ; the merry - maker selects from the floral tribes the emb lem of his joy ; and t h e mourner of the insignia his grief . Everywhere and under all circu m f stances, flowers are eagerly sought after and af ectionately c herished ; and when the living an d growing are not to be b O tained , then is their place filled by some substitute or t h e or other, according to circumstances taste Of the wearer ; b ut whether that substitute be a wreath of gorgeous gems for of h of o the brow royalty, or a bunc c loured cambric of u for the adornment a servant girl , it is sually wrought O f into the form flowers . s 0 11 t or on u Thi taste depends not weal h ed cation , but n ot is given , if to all individuals, yet to some Of every ’ s F m of cla s . rom the infant s first glea intelli0gence, a flower will suffice to still i t s cries ; and even in O l d age the mind n ot i t s which has been perverted from natural instincts, can g of find a calm and soothin 0 pleasure in the contemplation ” of c r e at l on these gems . “ A man , reputed wise, was once asked in a garden ” “ ” ! NO do you like flowers , said he ; I seldom find time ” “ ” to descend to the little things . This man , said an m “ b t h e A erican writer, etrayed a descent, in his speech , to F ! pithole Of ignorance . lowers, sweet flowers he that loves 2 6 . FISH ES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP them not Should b e classed with the man that hath not ” of music in his soul , as a dangerous member the community . t of n ot l i ki n n ot car i n out n ot Ins ead g or g, leaving , l osi n w b g flo ers, the general tendency with humanity has een to run to an Opposite extreme and render them not merely or b ut estimation , care love, veneration and worship . The adoration Of flowers is on e Of the most ancient s h we systems Of wor hip wit which are acquainted . It can for H u wh o b be traced back ages amongst the ind s, elieving that the human s oul is a spark or emanation from the Great S h t upreme, eld that his essence can only be renovated in m a n by a communion with his works ; it is found amongst C the hinese, it occupied a most important position in the m O f E t ai n on ysteries gyp idolatry , it figures prominently the O f m past and present monuments Mexico, and to so e extent N i t prevailed in Europe . aturally enough , arose in the of b warmer regions the earth , where the vegeta le productions Of the tropics are so m uch more gorgeous in their colouring and noble in their growth , and in those regions it still lingers , after having been swept away in other lands before the advance Of education and a more intellectual religion . It would be interesting did Space allow to enumerate O f s some the myths and legend connected with flowers, but as we have another Obj ect in view these m ust be allowed ’ F to pass with a mere cursory allusion . There is the los ’ O f Adonis which perpetuates the memory Venus s favourite, son O f was Adonis, the Myrrha , who herself said to be turned into a tree called myrrh . Adonis h ad Often b een warned by Venus not to hunt wild b easts ; but disregarding l b was her advice, he was at ast killed by a wild oar and b m w was then changed y his istress into this flo er . There N r h is arcissus, too, dest oying himself in trying to grasp form when reflected in the water b y whose margin he was reclining . Then we have Myrtillus and the Myrtle . The father Of Hippodamia declared that no on e Should m arry his daughter wh o coul d not conquer h i m i n a chariot race ; on e of b b and Of the lovers the young lady ri ed Myrtillus, (E n om aii s who was an attendant Of , to take out the linch ’ m r pin fro his master s chariot, by which means the maste saw was killed ; and Myrtillus, repenting when he him dead , se a was cast himself into the , and afterwards changed by m Mercury into the yrtle . FISH ES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP 2 7

b i n flat a s A ladder campion (Silene ) is another curio ity . Ancient writers say that it was formerly a youth n amed C ampion , whom Minerva employed to catch flies for her l ow s to eat during the day , when their eyes did not serve them to catch food for themselves ; but Campion indulging himself with a n ap when he ought to have been busy at his task, the angry goddess changed him into this flower, which st ill retains in its form the bladders in which C n ampion kept his flies, and droops its head at ight when b owls fly a road and have their eyes about them . The common clover which was much used in ancient

Greek festivals , was regarded by th e Germans as sacred ,

i t s v . chieﬂy in four lea ed variety There is indeed , in the of s vicinity Altenburg, a super tition that if a farmer takes home with him a h an dful of clover taken from each of the ‘ ’ four corners of his neighbour s ﬁeld it will go well with his cattle during the whole year ; but the n ormal belief is

- on of that the four leaved clover , account its cross form , is f endowed with magical virtues . The general form o the superstition is that one wh o carries it about with him will t h e be successful at play, and will be able to detect B proximity Of evil spirits . In ohemia it is said that if the maiden manages to put it into the Shoe of her lover on without knowledge when he is going any j ourney, he will be sure to return to her faithfully and safely . In the Tyrol w the lover puts it under the pillo to dream of the beloved . m s on e h a s se e w On Christ as Eve, e pecially, who it may itches. ’ Plucked with a gloved hand and taken into the h ouse of s e r ce 1v 1n a lunatic Without anyone el e p g it, it is said to an d cure madness . In Ireland also it is deemed sacred has been immortal ized in Lover’s beautiful song as a safeguard against every imaginable kind of sorrow and misfortune .

was n It a belief amo g the Jews, according to Zoroaster H says owitt, that every flower is appropriated to a par t i cul ar - angel , and that the h undred leaved rose is consecrated f s to an archangel o the highe t order . The same author r elates that th e Persian fi r e - worshippers b elieve that Abra N ham was thrown into a furnace by imrod , and the flames o forthwith turned into a b e d f roses . In contradistinction to this in sentiment is the belief of wh o t the Turk , holds that his lovely flower springs from 2 8 FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP .

the perspiration Of Moham med , and , in accordance with this or ff on e creed, they never tread upon it su er to lie upon the ground . “ b or Of shru ﬂower worship , the most important in of the east and south has been that the lily Species . The of — ff — was K a r n e an lily October the sa ron very sacred to the , or — sun — horned Apollo that is, the for horns usually stand of of for rays glory, as in the case of the horned Moses our poets, artists and ecclesiastics, who make him like an of O f ‘ hi S Apis Egypt, because the text which says, face ’ s A l l hone when he came down from the mountain . lilies have more or less to do with the female or fecundating e we o nergies, and so even in Europe have many stories f ‘ b O f the crocus species , ecause it is said their irradiating

- light , having peculiar looking bells, three headed and crested ’ c a il l am e n t s & c p , three cells, and reddish seeds, . “ L b ut The otus is the seat of most deities, notably s o B wh o of the creator rahma, , thus enth roned , is called

- Kam d l a on i . the y , or the great androgynous god The lotu s is the womb of all creation . It is said to originate from the great fertiliser, water, alone ; and dropping its great on on leaves this fertiliser as a bed , it Springs upwards with a Slender, elegant stalk, and spreads forth in a lovely V i sh n oo flower . Even the grave and mighty delights in the on e of lotus, which is the fou r emblems he holds in his f ’ ourfold arms . It is Venus sacred flower . “ The flower is Shaped like a boat, is a representation of m divinity, and is shown as springing fro the navel Of s a the great god resting on his milky e . It always signifies f Nab hi ecundation . Inman , under the head , navel , says ‘ “ ” of The germ is Meroo (th e highest pinnacle the earth) , the petals and filaments are the mountains which encircle ’ of S m on s v en er i s Meroo, a type th e Yoni , and anscrit for . A mongst fourteen kin ds of fruit and flowers wh ich must be ‘ ’ S presented to Ananta ( anskrit, eternity) , the lotus is the o on e nly indispensable , as he (Ananta) is then worshipped of in the form a mighty serpent with seven heads . “ Hindoo and other writers Often tell us that the lotus ‘ o of t he of riginated the idea triangle, which is the first ’ for t wo perfect figures, lines are an imperfection , and the lotus also gives us a circle on a triangle which is full Of c S so . ells and seed , and is more perfect still iva is, as

30 FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP

eastern land and islet, the holy Padma is only a little less of H — sacred than the Queen eaven Juno (I Oni) herself . — i s of It is as mysterious as the Yoni , like it, the flower of of conceal ment, night and silence, and that mysterious ness of generation and reproduction ; it is described as a sort Of incomprehensible dualism which veils the Almighty L One and his mysteries from our minds . innaeus tells us K Nel um b o b ut R . it is the , Payne night is clearer when f of h e writes to this ef ect . The flowers the lotus contain a s c on e or b el l seed ve sel Shaped like an inverted , which are s very holy ymbols with all peoples, and representative male on and female . This inverted bell is punctuated the top with little cavities or cell s in which the seeds grow as in a matrix fed by the parent plant till they arrive at such ‘ ’ of a Size as to break open the ark boat life . They then emerge and float away, taking root wherever they find t e n dril l s ground , and throwing down long tentacles or in quest of it . The idea is expressed by Brahma in his address

e Li n a - Poor a n to the ang ls, as given in the g , beginning ‘ N a When I sprang into existence , I beheld the mighty ar ’ yana reposing on the abyss of waters ; which reminds us of the Jewish Elohi m - god who it is said generated all things ‘ ’ ’ by brooding o er the deep . Those wh o remember the Indian m utiny of the year 186 7 and the long tale Of horrors which overwhelmed the

B ritish dominions with grief, dismay and indignation , will be interested by the information that the conspiracy was first manifested by the circulation of symbols in the forms s Of cakes and lotus flowers . Commenting upon thi , a writer “ ” H of S 1857 in ousehold Words, eptember, , said , after he had given a description and historical account of the flower : I fear I may h ave indulged in too long an excursion into of wh o the realm s botany to suit the reader, merely wishes to know why the Indian rebels choose lotus flowers as c os i r a c a m symbols of p y . I am sure I as innocent Of the of t he knowledge as rebellion , but I will try to help my

F - ﬁ ft h s of wor readers to a guess . our th e human species ship a G od- woman ; and the vestiges of this worship are m found in the ost ancient monuments, documents and b m traditions, stretching ackwards into the past eternity fro

”“ v f f Ri ers o Li e . FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP . 31

m m illenium to illenium , towards an epoch beyond the of D records the eluge, and almost coeval with the loss of Te n t r i an of Eden . The y planisphere the ancient Egyptians s out of represents the virgin and child ri ing a lotus ﬂower .

The Egyptian hieroglyphics depict the goddess Asteria, or out of Ju stice , issuing a lotus, and seating herself upon h of or of t e . the centre beam Libra, the Scales Pictorial of d s delineations of the j udgment the ead , represent O iris t of as Amenti , swathed in the white garmen s the grave, u u girt with a red girdle, and seated pon a cheq ered throne

wh or . Of ite and black Spots, good and evil Before him of e are the vase nectar, the table Of ambrosia, the gr at — serpent , and the lotus of knowledge the emblems of Paradise . There are Egyptian altar - piec es upon which the lotus ﬁgures H sa as the tree of life . The indu priests y that the lotus rising out of the lakes is the type of the w orld issuing out of the ocean Of time . Travellers who have Observed the worship of the Hindus r e l i ous and Parsees, tell us that they give g honours to the B udhi st t v lotus . The priests cul ivate it in precious ases, and place it in their temples . The Chinese poets celebrate the O f of sacred bean India , out which their god Amida and her child arose, in the middle Of a lake . We can be at n of B udhi st o loss to imagine the appearance the pagodas, for our Gothic cathedrals are j ust those pagodas im itated

of - ee in stone . Their pillars copy th e trunks the palm tr s an d the effects of the creeping plants of the pagodas ; their heaven piercing spires are the golden spathes of palm r ﬂowers, and the stained glass rep oduces, feebly , the many B i of . udd st brilliances the tropical skies Every pious , giving himself up to devout meditations, repeats as often as he “ n i K m can, the words On m a bat mo lom . When any h a n d f wors ippers are kneeling repeating the sound , the ef ect is l ike counter- bass or the humming of bees ; and profound t n a sighs mingle wi h the repetitions . The Mo golian priests s y these word s are endowed with my sterious and supernatural powers ; they increase the v irtues of the fai thful ; they bring them nearer to divine protection , and they exempt of W them from the pains the future life . hen the priests e x ai n ds sa are asked to p the wor , they y volumes would be m K required to tell all their eanings . laproth , however, says that the formula is nothing but a corruption of four Hind u 32 FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP .

’ “ O h l words, Om man i padma houm , signifying precious ” lotus ! \V i t h out pretending that the volume of the Hindu on ﬁ o w fakirs the signi cation f the lotus, might not thro of s m of more light upon the use it as a y bol conspiracy, there are hints enough in the facts I have stated to warrant the conclusion that it serves as a Sign of a great B udhi sm and general rising on b ehalf Of . The ﬂower was of circulated to rally the votaries of the goddess the lotus . C H R APTE IV .

i eti es L — I m p or ta n ce of th e L otos V ar of otos Sta tem en ts by Her odotus Hom er Theo h r astu s Di oscor i des Pli n A then ce , , p , , y, us — — an d oth er s Th e A b or escen t L ot os The Sa cr ed L otos of th e — Ni l e Th e I n di an L otos ep a u l ese A dor a ti on of th e L otos — Shi n - m oo th e Chi n ese Hol M oth er La kshm i — Th e u g , y Q een s o B eaut — Th e L oves o Kr i shn a an d Ra dha f y f .

HE Lotos is a ﬂower of such importance and prominence

in the subject before us, and especially in connection — with t h e ancient worship of the East notably of that of a h a l l i c r b p characte , that we naturally look carefully a out us for the best descriptive information we can ﬁnd respecting “

C . . it . A writer (M . C . ooke, M A ) in the Popular Science ” “ R 187 1 : of eview for July , , says The history sacred plants is always an interesting and instructive study ; more so when it extends into a remote antiquity, and is associated with such great and advanced nations as those of Egypt u b and India . M ch has een written and speculated concerning the Lotos of Old authors ; and great confusion has existed in many minds on account of the desire to make all allusions and descriptions to harmonise with on e i deal plant— the L W e classic otos . must clearly intimate that it is impossib le to combine all the fragments Of history and description or b applied to some plant plants, known y the name of — of H H Lotos and met with in the pages erodotus, omer, — on e Theophrastus, and others into harmonising whole, and l . i s m apply them to a single mythical p ant It manifest, fro on e the authors themselves , that more than Lotos is spoken of , and it was never intended to convey the notion that, l e was on e ik im mortal Jove, the Lotos and indivisible . h on e Starting, then , wit the conviction that the name has been applied to more than on e or t wo very distinct and f we diﬁi c ul t we dif erent plants , shall have less y than were to at tempt the futile task of reconciling all remarks about the Lotos to a Single plant . “ s In the ﬁr t instance, it is perfectly clear that the H U s Lotos of omer, which lys es discovered , and which is ’ of ‘ alluded to in the ninth book the Odyssey, is quite D 34 FISH ES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP .

of of distinct from any the rest . It is the fruit this tree s to which intere t attaches , and not to the flower as in some — others this i s the arborescent Lotos . “ The second Lotos m ay be designated as t h e Sacred or of N on e Lotos , Lotos the ile . It is the which figures m l SO conspicuously on the onu ments, enters so argely into d w the ecoration , and seems to have been interwoven ith of L the religious faith the Ancient Egyptians . This otos i s H s D s mentioned by erodotus, Theoph rastu , ioscoride , Pliny, a and Athen eus as an herbaceous plant Of aquatic habits, and from their combined description , it Seem s evident that some ‘ - H k ind of water lily is inten ded . erodotus says When the d e river is full , and the plains are inundate , ther grow in ’ of L the water numbers lilies which the Egyptians call otos . ‘ — L so d Theophrastus says The otos, calle , grows chiefly in the plains when the country is inundated . The flower is a s of white, the petals are narrow, those the lily , and

of . sun numerous, as a very double ﬂower When the sets

- sun they cover the seed vessel , and as soon as the rises t the ﬂowers open , and appear above the wa er ; and this is

- s a n d O ff repeated until the seed ves el is ripe the petals fall . It is said that in the Euphrates both the seed - vessel and the petal s Sink down into the water from the evening until midnight to a great depth , SO that the hand cannot reach on them ; at daybreak they emerge, and as day comes they rise above the water ; at sunrise the flowers open , and when fully expanded they rise up still higher, and present the ’ D appearance of a very double flower . ioscorides says ‘ of The Lotos which grows in Egypt, in the water the s of inundated plains, h as a tem like that the Egyptian bean . The flower is small and white like the lily, which

t o s . is said expand at sunrise, and to close at sun et It is also said that the seed- vessel is then entirely hid in th e ’

t . a wa er, and that at sunrise it emerges again Athen eus states that they grow in the lakes in the neighbourhood of f H b o . e Alexandria, and lossom in the heat summer also ‘ m - b w entions a rose colou red and a lue variety . I kno that ﬁ n e h A n t i n oean in that city they ave a crown called , m of n ade th e plant which is there amed Lotos, which plant of grows in the lakes in the heat summer, and there are t wo of on e of of of colours it ; them is the colou r a rose, which the A n t i n oean crown i s m ade ; the other is called Loti n os u , and has a bl e 35 FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP .

After quoting a number of other descriptions from these “ : F m authors , the writer proceeds ro these descriptions it is of N h e n evident that the Sacred Lotos the ile, t Egyptia s of of N m h oea m Loto the ancients, was a species y p , co mon of s in the waters that river . Plants, and animals al o, submit so of much to external circu mstances, that the lapse centuries m ay eradicate them fro m spots 0 11 which they were at on e time common . It by no means follows that the same plants s N n ow will be found flouri hing in the ile , that were common s F under the Pharaoh ; but, when the rench invaded Egypt 17 98 S D in , avigny brought home from the elta a blue ‘ ’ N m h oea du y p , which was figured in the Annales Museum , corresponding very closely in habit to the conventional Lotos 0 11 SO com mon the Egyptian monuments . “ It Seems to b e very probable that the Lotos - flowe r in t h e of s hands the gue ts at Egyptian banquets, and those

f t . presented as of erings to the deities, were fragran The manner in which they are held strengthens this probability, as there is no other reason why they Shou l d be brought s into such close proximity with the no e . “ s D There is still a third Loto mentioned by ioscorides , H Theocritus, and omer, which may be some species Of or of t h e L b Medicago modern genus otos . It is her aceous, sometimes wild , and sometimes cultivated ; but always written b on on e n a out as though constituting herbage , and is occasio o cr pt by the horses of Achilles . We shall not pause to identify this plant, but proceed at once to the last plant our t o it is design deal with . K a m os or The y , Indian Lotos . This can scarcely claim to be on e of the kinds of Lotos mentioned b y the ancients, Since it is distinctly alluded to by them as the or K a m os H Egyptian bean , y . This plant among the indus of has a sacred character, equal to that the Lotus among s the Egyptians . It was doubtle s Asiatic in its origin , but on e was u t n ow at time plentif l in Egyp , whence it has on totally vanished . It is represented the Egyptian monu m n ents , but far less commo than the Sacred Lotos . Some authors declare this to be t h e veritab le ‘ Sacred Lotos Of ’ H r Egypt, a title to which it has no claim . erodotus, afte describing the Lotos, adds There are likewise other lilies, s t oo N like ro es (and these, , grew in the ile ) whose fr uct iﬁ c at i on - is produced in a separate seed vessel , springing 36 FISHES , FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSH IP .

like a sucker from the root, in appearance exactly resembling ’ n a wasp s est and containing a number of esculent seeds,

f - ab out the Size o Olive berries . These are also eaten when tender and dry . “ s b Theophra tus descri ing this plant , says It is pro duc e d in marshes and in stagnant Waters ; the length of of the stem , at the longest, four cubits , and the thickness m l a ﬁnger, like the s ooth j oint ess reed . Th e inner texture of - the stem is perforated th roughout like a honey comb , and

of - - upon the top it is a poppy like seed vessel , in circumference ’ s and appearance like a wa p s nest . In each Of the cells there is a bean projecting a little abo v e the surface Of the

- w of h b seed vessel , hich usually contains about thirty t ese eans or of of seeds . The ﬂower is twice the Size a poppy , the

of - colour a full blown rose, and elevated above the water ; ab out each ﬂower are prod uced large leaves of the Size of of a Thessalian hat, having the same kind stem as the

ﬂowe r - m a b e s stem . In each bean when broken y een the t of S b ou . O em ryo plant, which the leaf grows m uch for d the fruit . The root is thicker than the thickest ree , and cellular like the stem ; and those who live ab out the w r a or or . marshes eat it as food , either , boiled , roasted

These plants are produced Spontaneously, but they are

TO - b . cultivated in eds make these bean beds, the beans are m ud b sown in the , eing previously mixed up carefully with ff so m a n cha , that they y remain without i j ury till they take i s root, after which th e plant is safe . The root strong, and n ot of i s unlike that the reed ; the stem also Similar, of except that it is full prickles, and therefore the crocodiles, se e for of which do not very well , avoid the plant, fear running the prickles i nto their eyes . Maj or Drury observes that the mode of sowing the seeds , is by first enclosing them in balls of clay , and then Si r s throwing them into the water . James Smith ays that of in process time th e receptacle separates from the stalk, s and , laden with ripe oval nut , floats down the water . c orn uc o oei a of The nuts vegetating, it becomes a p young s h n Sprouting plant , w ich at le gth break loose from their confinement, and take root in the m ud . s After comparing the e and other accounts, the author of the paper urges that there is no roo m for doubt that this is the plant which was known to the ancients as the

K a m os . y or Egyptian bean , the Tamara Of modern India

38 FISH ES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP .

on e of b bud, in his four hands, as a distinguishing attri ute . i n ff Accordingly, as it is represented di erent stages of e fflor e sce n c e of m l , it varies, in the eyes ystics, its emb ematical A S allusions . an aquatic, the Lotos is a symbol also of b or Vishnu , h e eing a personification Of water hu midity, on B and he is often represented seated it . rahma the o on creative power, is als sometimes seated the Lotos, and is borne on its cal yx in the whimsical representation of of the renovation the world , when this mystical plant issued out of the navel of Vishnu from the botto m of the se a was on where he reposing the serpent Lesha . s or c on Lakshmi, as we have j u t noticed, is th e sakti of of d sort Vishnu , the preservative power the eity . The of or of extensive sect Vaishnava, worshippers Vishnu , t of esteem Laksh mi as mo her the world , and then call her s Ada Maya ; and such Vai hnavas as are saktas, that is, of adorers the supremacy Of the female energy, worship her e B w xtensively as the type Of the Eternal eing, and endo her with suitable attributes . She is represented by the of b H poets and painters as perfect eauty . indoo females are commonly named after her : and there are fe w in the long catalogue of their deities whose various names and functions are so frequently alluded to in conversation and on m or writing, either theogony, ythology, poetry philosophy . He r terrestrial manifestations have been frequent, and her A S Rh e m b a se a origin various . , the born goddess, She arose out Of the fourteen gem s from the ocean when churned by the good and evil beings for the amrita or beverage of m She i mortality . then assumes the character of Venus or of H Marina, Aphrodites the Greeks, who, as esiod and H se a omer Sing, arose from the , ascended to Olympus, and Rh m a ri . e b S or captivated all the gods The production of , , Lakshmi is thus described in the thirty - Sixth section O f the “ b of R first ook amayana The gods, the asuras and the t i se a gandharvas , again agita ng the , after a long time appeared the great goddess , inhabiting the lotus ; clothed m of v with superlative beauty , in the first bloo youth , co ered with ornaments, and bearing every auspicious Sign adorned on with a crown , with bracelets her arms, her jetty locks

b - ﬂowing in ringlets, and her ody which resembled burnished — h gold adorned wit ornaments of pearl . Thus was produced or Sr i the goddess Padma , adored by the whole universe, 39 FISHES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP .

Padma by name . She took up her abode in t he boso m of — of H s of Padma nabha, even eri, that is, Of Vi hnu , whom Sri these are names . , as this deity is often called , dis t i n ui sh e d m s of g her ore particularly as the godde s fortune, the word meaning p r osp er i ty ; but it is n ot given exclusively L of to aksh mi . Other her names are derived from the u of lot s, which is the emblem female beauty, and especially s applicable to this goddess . In images and picture of h er, s which are very common in India, Lak h mi is generally s m v represented as a mere woman ; ometi es, howe er, four or armed ; often holding a kamal lotus, in an easy and a d elegant attitude, and alw ys very handsome . With her lor , s on s Vishnu , She is frequently een the erpent Sesha ; he sh e s reposing, in re pectful attendance, while a lotus Spring ’ ing from Vishnu s navel to the surface of the sea (for this s scene is ubaqueous) bears in its expanded calyx , Brah ma, of the creator the world , about to perform the work Of Sh e on renovation . Sometimes is seated with her lord Su e r v a of s Garuda, or p , clearing the air, which Vi hnu is ’ s or a per oniﬁcation . In Vishnu s most Splendid avatara , K as Ruk m e i n incarnation of rishna, She became manifested , or R t h e s of adha, mo t adored the amorous deities, and mother of the god of love ; here again corresponding with

our of . popular Venus, the mother Cupid In the avatara of R L s was u ama, ak hmi his faithf l Spouse , in the form of of Na r si n h a Na r si n h i or Nr i si n hi Sita ; in that g She was , ; V ar ah a S of N sh e when , Varahi ; and as the akti arayana is by her own sectaries called Nar ayn i ; and in most of the many incarnation s of Vi shnu Sh e appear s to have t own : descended wi h him , frequently under his celestial name hi s V ai sh n av i as consort generally She is called . Laksh mi and Bhavani are both considered queens of “ r m beauty, and thei characters are said to elt into each L w K or other . akshmi being commonly seen ith a amal L m of s h e otos , the emble female beauty, in her hand , is — K : b . called amala the word is by some y Sir W Jones, n on H indeed , in his earlier lucubratio s indu mythology , K rn s spelled e el . In his profound and pirited hymn to N i t s arayana, which every inquirer into subj ect would do w ell to consult with attention , that deity , a personiﬁcation “ of s s the Spirit of Brah m , as he heavenly pen ive on the ” “ ! ” Lotus lay, said to Brahma , Go ; bid all the worlds exist and the Lotus is thus aposQophi se d 40 FISH ES , FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSH IP .

a m ossom ! m e m ! H il , pri al bl hail , e pyreal g ’ K r or Pe dm a or t am e e nel , , wha e er high n De t t e sa t o - o m o m ligh he ; y , wha f ur f r ed G dhead ca e, W t c st o e e m i h gra eful l , and b aring diade , ’ F ort h from t h y v erdant stem 3 ” = - x= Full gifted Brahm a .

“ The following extract fro m the Loves of Krish na and Radha ” shews the deep poetic senti m ent associated with w s K fﬂ ﬂo ers, and e pecially with the Lotos . rishna, a icted by of R the j ealous anger adha, exclaims

Ra dhi c a ! Grant me but a Sight Of thee, O lovely for m y passion torments me . I am not the terrible Mah esa

- a garland of water lilies , with subtile threads, decks my — shoulders not serpents with twisted fold s : the blue petal s — of the Lotos glitter on my neck not the azure gleam Of — poison : powdered sandal wood is sprinkled 0 11 m y limbs not 0 ! v pale ashes . god Of love mistake me not for Mahade a wound me not again ; approach me not in anger ; hold n ot d w in thy han the shaft barbed with an amra ﬂo er . My R ’ b heart is already pierced by arrows from adha s eyes, lack and keen a s th ose of an antelope ; yet mine eyes are not ’ H of gratiﬁed by her presence . er s are full Shafts ; her

b s of . eye rows are bow , and the tips her ears are silken : m A n an a of Sh e strings th us ar ed by g , the god desire,

marches , herself a goddess, to ensure his triumph over the s on vanqui hed remorse . I meditate her delightful embrace on the vanishing glances darted fro m the fr agan t Lotos of

: on - 0 11 her mouth her nectar dropping speech ; her lips, ruddy ” of as the berries the Bimba . R h e - ad a, half paciﬁed , thus tenderly reproach s him

! ! M a dh a v a — Ke sav i Alas alas Go , depart, ; speak not

of : w 0 - — w the language guile follo her, Lotus eyed god follo

- her, who dispels thy care . Look at his eyes, half opened , — red with waking through the pleasurable n ight yet Smiling ff r still with a ection for my rival . Thy teeth , O ce ulean ! youth are as azure as thy complexion , from the kisses which thou hast imprinted on the beautiful eyes of thy b darling, graced with dark lue powder ; and thy limbs, ’ l ov e S marked with punctures in warfare, exhibit a letter Of conquest, written in polished sapphire with liquid gold .

x== Hindu Pan th e on . FISH ES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP . 4 1

b L That broad bosom , stained y the bright otos of her foot, displays a v est ure of ruddy leaves over the tree of thy b w . s heart, which trem les ithin it The pre sure Of her lips on h w thine wound me to th e soul . Ah ! o canst thou s we on e s our s as ert that are , ince ensations differ thus — l l - m widely Thy sou , O dark li bed god ! shows its blackness externally ; even thy childish heart was malignant, and thou ” s gavest death to the nur e who would have given thee milk . Krishna is thus farther described in the same poem “ Hi s azure breast glittered with pearls of unblemished of t h e lustre, like the full bed cerulean Yamuna , interspersed w of F s ith curls white foam . rom his graceful wai t ﬂowed s of a pale yellow robe, which resembled the golden du t the w - a O Hi s ss ater lily sc ttered ver its blue petals . pa ion was of inﬂamed by the glances her eyes, which played like a of pair water birds with azure plumage, that Sport near

- on of de w a full blown Lotos a pool , in a season . Bright t wo s earrings, like suns, di played , in full expansion , the of w ﬂowers his cheeks and lips , hich glistened with the f s Hi s o . liquid radiance miles locks, interwoven with s v blo soms , were like a cloud ariegated with moonbeams, and on of his forehead shone a circle odorous oils, extracted from the sandal of Malaya— like the moon j ust appearing on s whi l e “ hi s the du ky horizon , whole body seemed in a

ﬂame from the bl aze of unnu mbered gems .

s of bl u e With re pect to the mention above the Lotos, “ Moor notes — Written in the north of India ; the Lotos in B D the southern parts, engal and the ekhan , having only re d H H white and flowers . ence the indu poets feign that wa of the Lotus s dyed red by the blood Siva, that flowed ” from the wound made by t h e arrow of Kama . “ w t ss And i h respect to the expre ion , the bright Lotos ” “ of — H s her foot, he says indu tani women dye the soles B of of . their feet, and nails, a bright red edha , in her ’ of frenzied j ealousy , fancies She sees a print her rival s foot ’ on K s s t s i m ri hna breas ; Ob erving, perhaps, the indelible of of B ri h u on pression the foot g , received his breast by ” Vishnu . “ The Indians commonly represen t the m ystery of their m of N m h aea Lotos physiological religion by the emble a y p , or , floating like a boat on the boundless ocean ; where the 4 2 FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP . whole plant signifies both the earth and the t wo principles ’ of its fecundation : the germ is both M er u and the L i n ga ; the p eta l s and fil a m en ts are the mountains which encircle M é r u of , and are also a t ype of the Yoni ; the leaves the calyx are the four v ast regions to the c a r d1n al points of M ér u v dwi a s , and the lea es Of the plant are the p or isles J a m u A round the land of b . nother of their emblems is A r h a cu or di sh called g , which means a p , or any other s r u i t l ower s f ve sel , in which f and f are of ered to the deities, ou h t sha ed l i ke a b oa t and which g always to be p , though we n ow se e a r h as of d ff g many i erent forms, oval , circular or square ; and hence it is that Iswara has the title of

A r h a n a th a or of - s : r i m g , the lord the boat Shaped ve sel a a r h a round the g represents the mysterious Yoni, and the navel of Vishnu i s commonly denoted by a convexity in of s of the centre, while the contents the ves el are symbols a s r h a of h a r a —sa c ti or l i n . a a d the g Thi g , as a type the , ower o c on c e ti on v i v i fi e d l i n a or p f p , excited and by the g , Ph a l l us on e , we cannot but suppose to be and the same was with the Ship Argo , which built, according to Orpheus, s by J uno and Pallas, and according to Appoloniu , by s of : Pallas and Argus at the in tance Juno the Yoni , as s m it is usually pronounced , nearly resemble the na e of the He t r usc an S s A r h a n principal goddess, and the anscrit phra e g a th a w m Is ara see s accurately rendered by Plutarch , when s s he as erts O iris was commander of the Argo . We cannot e t afli r m or h ul l a or y that the words phala, fruit, and p , a s of flower, have ever the sen e Phallus ; but fruit and a r h a t r i h al a flowers are the chief oblations in the g , and p is n s m s a ame o etime given , especially in the West of India, t ri ful a or to the , trident of Mahadeva . It can be Shown that the Jupiter Tr iphyl i us of t h e Pa uc h oean I slands was t ri h al a s no other than Siva holding a p , who is repre ented u also with three eyes to denote a triple energy, as Vishn fi and Prithivi are severally typi ed by an equilateral triangle, of (which likewise gives an idea capacity) and conj ointly, w t wo when their po ers are supposed to be combined , by such equal triangles intersecting each

Se e s t . Re s v ol . . A ia , iii H R C APTE V .

— Stor y of the Fi r e- C od a n d hi s secr e t Gr owth of Fi r e Wor ship — — — Fi r e an essen ti a l i n Hi n du Wor ship Th e Ch a l dea n s Th e Per si an s— Th e Heb r ews— Fi r e i n Hi n du C er em on i es— Du ti es

— — - of Hi n du Life Th e Serp e n t a n d Fi r e Ph a l l o Pythi c Sol a r — — Sh r i n es Fi r e a n d Ph a l li c Wor ship Leapi n g thr ough Fi r e

- — - — Fi r e tr ea di n g i n Scotl an d Fi r e le api n g i n Ru ssi a Th e M edes — — as Fi r e Wor shipp er s Th e Sa bi n es Fi r e a n d th e A n ci en t — — — Ch r i sti a n s Th e Rom a n Chur ch an d Fi r e Th e J ews Tem pl e

— — - of Vesta Fi r e Wor ship i n I r el an d Ph a l l o Fi r e Wor ship of /cs a n d Rom an s C r ee .

“ HE R v W e . . Gill in his Myth s and Songs from the South Paciﬁc ” supplies us with a story particularly “ ’ ”

F S . suitable for notice here, called the ire God s ecret The story tells us that originally ﬁre wa s unknown to the i f f s r a w s o o . inhab tant the world , who neces ity ate food That in the nether - world (A v aiki ) lived fou r mighty ones

od of - Ra Ru Manike, g ﬁre ; the Sun god ; , supporter Of t he B uat a r an a d of heavens ; and lastly, his wife g , guar ian d Ru B uat a r an a the road to the invisible worl . To g was s M was born a famou son Mani . At an early age ani appoint ed on e of the guardians of this upper world where m s of of ortals live . Like the re t the inhabitants the l wor d , he subsisted on uncooked food . The mother B uat ar an a son g , occasionally visited her ; but always ate out of s m her food apart, a ba ket brought with her fro

- n Sh e s a nether la d . One day , when was a leep, M ni peeped into her basket and discovered cooked food . Upon tasting it he was decidedly of Opinion that it wa s a great i m w w s provement upon the r a diet to which he as accu tomed . This food came from nether- world ; it was evident that the

of - of secret ﬁre was there . To nether world , the home his so parents he would descend to gain this knowledge, that ever after he might enjoy the luxury of cooked food . The story goes on to say that when B uat ar an ga se t out on u - a , next day, her jo rney to nether world , M ni followed He saw her, unbeknown to her . then his mother standing 4 4 . FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP opposite a b lack rock which sh e addressed in these words : “ B uat ar an a u . g , descend tho bodily through this chasm The

- w rainbow like m ust be ob eyed . A S t o dark clouds parting

- at dawn , Open , Open up my road to nether world , ye ﬁerce ones ! ”

o B uat ar an a At these words the r ck divided , and g des c e n de d a . M ni carefully treasured up these words ; and s off se e od of tarted to the g Tane, the owner some wonder He on e b ut ful pigeons . begged Tane to lend him , as the on e Tane lent him did not please him , he returned it, as l b on e he did a so another and a etter . The only bird that was would content him was a certain red pigeon, which Specially prized by its owner and was made a great pet f o . Tane at ﬁrst obj ected to part with the bird and only ’ di d so upon M aui s fai thfully promising to restore it un O ff a inj ured . went M ni with the bird to the place where his m other h ad descended . Pronouncing the magic words, o a the rock pened , and M ni descended . The guardian demons of the chasm , enraged at ﬁnding themselves imposed upon t by a stranger, tried to seize the pigeon , in ending to d of evour it . They only succeeded in getting possession the

on . sa tail , which the pigeon went without (They y that M ani had transformed himself into a small dragon - ﬂy and ’ t h e was perched upon pigeon s back . )

- a Arrived at nether land, M ni sought for the home Of m was saw his other, which the ﬁrst house he . The pigeon a lighted on an oven - house opposite to an open Shed where B uat a ran a out Sh e g was beating cloth . stopped her work b d to gaze at the ir , which She guessed to be a visitor from the upper world as none of the pigeons in the Shades — “ were red . She said to the bird Are you not come from ” “ daylight ! The pigeon n odded assent ; Are you n ot my ” s on a ! B uat ar an a M ni Again the pigeon nodded . At this g

ﬂe w - entered her dwelling and the bird to a bread fruit tree . i m M i resumed his proper form , and went to embrace his

h ow h ad d - mother, who inquired he escended to nether world a n d v a the Obj ect Of his isit . M ni answered that he had “ of B uat a r an a com e to learn the secret ﬁ re . g said , This s ﬁ r e - W ecret rests with the god Manike . hen I wish to cook ask Ru I your father to beg a lighted stick from Manike .

Ma ﬁ re - Hi s ni inquired where the god lived . m other pointed

4 6 FISH ES , FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP .

ground , he threw him a second time into the air, and caught s h i m in h i hands . Assured that this was but a preparation s for a ﬁnal to s which would seal his fate, the panting and thoroughly exhausted Manike entreated Mi ni to stop and to spare his life . Whatever he desired Should be his .

ﬁ r e - n ow m w The god , in iserable plight, was allo ed to “ i on on e breathe awhile . M ni said , Only condition will I — m h secr t o ir e Wh er e i s i t Spare you tel l e t e e f f . hi dden ! How i s i t p r odu ced ! Manike gladly promi sed to tell hi m all w hi m w . on e he kne , and led inside his wonderful d elling In

- corner there was a quantity Of fine cocoa nut fibre ; in another, — of fi r e - a u bundles yielding sticks the , the oronga, the

t an i n u or . , and particularly the aoa banyan tree These sticks were all dry and ready for use . In the middle of the roo m n e were t wo smaller sticks by themselves . O of these the

ﬁ r e - t o i god gave M ni, desiring him to hold it ﬁrmly , while h e himself plied the other most vigorously . And th us runs ’ the Fire - god s Song

t O h t m e t h e ﬁ re Gran , gran y hidd n , Th ou banyan t re e ! Perform an incant at i on ; Ut t er a prayer t o (t h e Spirit of) Th e bany an t ree ! Kindl e a ﬁ r e for M anike

O f t h e du st of t h e banyan t ree .

i By the time the song was completed , M ni , to his great s out u j oy, perceived a faint smoke ari ing Of the fine d st t of on e A S produced by the fric ion stick upon another . s they per evered in their work the smoke increased ; and , ’ fi r e - b h favoured with the god s reath , a Slig t flame arose, when the fine cocoa - nut fibre was called into requisition to catch n ow a n d increase the flame . Manike called to his aid t h e f s of dif erent bundle sticks and speedily got up a blazing fire, of i to the astonishment M ni .

The grand secret Of ﬁ re was secured . The story tells us that the victor then in order to be revenged for his trouble ’ se t and his tossing into the air, ﬁre to his adversary s abode,

- was that in a Short time all the nether world in ﬂames, which

ﬁ r e - od consumed the g and all he possessed . Mi ni then picked up the t wo ﬁ re - sticks and hastened to

- th e bread fruit tree, Where the red pigeon awaited his return . Hi s ﬁrst care was to restore the tail of the b ird so as to W FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE ORSH IP . 4 7

. wa s s avoid the anger Of Tane There no time to be lo t, for “ m H - . e r e the fla es were rapidly spreading entered the pigeon , w fi r e - s on e fl w hich carried his talks in each claw, and e t o t h e of s lower entrance the cha m . Once more pronouncing the B ua t ar a n a a d words he learnt from g , the rocks p rte , and he ot i n w safely g back to this upper world . M ni o resumed his original human form , and hastened to carry back the pet

of . of K bird Tane Passing through the main valley eia , he found that the flames had preceded him , and had found an ’ Te av a u a . perture at , since closed p The king s Rangi and M ok oi r o trembled for their land ; for it seemed as if every u s n T thing wo ld be de troyed by the devouri g flames . O save d Mangaia from utter estruction , they excited th emselves to s out the utmost , and finally ucceeded in putting the fire . R n e w or angi thenceforth adopted the name of Matamea ,

- m s f n s M k Watery eyes, to com emorate his uf eri g ; and o oi r o was ” ever after called Anai , or Smoke . “ The inhabitants of Mangaia availed themselves O f the n fla r at i on c o g to get fi re and to cook food . But after a time out s s the fire went , and as they were not in pos e sion of the w n e . secret , they could not get fire “ But Mi ni was never without fire in hi s dwelling ; a s t h e s s of circum tance that excited urpri e all . Many were the s h m inquiries as to the cau e . At lengt he took co passion on of t h e a n d the inhabitants world , told them the wonderful — fi r e e s secret that lies hidd n in the hibiscu , the urtica argenta, ‘ ’ the t aui n u and the banyan . This hidden fire m ight be use of F l e . licited by the fire sticks which he produced inal y, ’ s t o fi re - s n ffi he de ired them chant the god s o g, to give e cacy ” — s to the use O f the fi r e stick . “ From that m emorable day all the dwellers in this upper

l ﬁ r e - wor d used sticks with success , and enjoyed the luxuries of light and cooked food . “ To the present time this primitive method of obtaining s o ﬁre is till in vogue ; cotton , h wever, being substituted for

- s fi n e cocoa nut fibre as tinder . It was formerly suppo ed that ’ only the four kinds of wood found in the fi r e - god s dwelling would yield fire . ’ A oa means b anyan - tree for intensity and rhyth m the ‘ a aoaoa word i s l e n gt h e d into o . The banyan was sacred to

r - od t h e ﬁ e g . “ The Spot where the ﬂames are said to have burst W 48 FISHES , FLOWERS, AND FIRE ORSH IP .

- th e b an a n - tr ee l th rough , named Te oao or y , was sacred til C hristianity induced the owner to convert the waste land into a couple of taro “ ‘ L sun ight, then ﬁre, the , and the whole host of ’ s heaven seem successively, and at la t collectively , to have become Objects of worship to the Arian race ; but ﬁrst of was - of all light, which to them pre eminently the object adoration in Northern India previous to the period of the collection or compo sition Of the hymns of the earliest Hindu

or n - fi v e Veda , , in round umbers , thirty centuries ago . “ H s According to erodotus , the Persian venerated fire as s a divinity , and Pliny explain that the magic of Persia might apparently h ave been learned from the practices of h th e B ritons . T ere is abundant evidence to Show that our s sun heathen ance tors worshipped the and moon . It B might, therefore, reasonably be inferred that in ritain , as in s of other countrie , fire would be substituted as typical the great — luminary— O f its light and its h eat and became an Object of or adoration , when the sun was obscured invisible in season s se t apart for celeb rating the religious rites of a

S s . n on abian wor hip But we are not depende t inference, of however rational , for a knowledge the fact that fi re was of h so an Obj ect adoration to our eathen ancestors, even late as the eleventh century ; for in the laws Of Cnut fi re appears on e of b as of the objects the worship which is for idden . Fire seems to have always had the fi r m e st hold upon the m wonderment and then the adoration of the infant ind . To the present moment it is an essential part of all Hindoo F worship and ceremonies . rom his cradle to his grave, when H ’ the indoo is folded in th e god s embrace , the ancient races ff around me seek for it, use it , o er sacrifices to it, and ” adore it . C , ! The haldeans had a high veneration for fire, which ’ V T fl they a c c ounTe d a di v i n it y ; and in the province of Babylo n was was there a city consecrated to this usage, which called f F of or o . the city Ur, ire or The Persians , also adored God under the image b representation Of fire, ecause it is fire that gives motion to t everything in nature . They had emples which they called

it For s om t o e a ou t of t s ot e t s Se e a ewha l ng r cc n hi and h r My h , ’

W l s oo . Re v . . Gi l B k FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSH IP . 4 9

P I aea se t y , fire temples apart solely for the preservation of the sacred fire . They are said to have in that empi re fires

still subsisting which have bu rnt many thousand years .

wor sh of ﬁ I e The he and , was bro n g t I nto I tal E neas and t h e other Trojans wh o landed there the Phrygians them selves had received it F w from the eastern nations . ire as held I n religious veneration among the Gauls ; and Similar sentiments and practices have of prevailed in several countries America .

h e b k e t T He w p up the holy fire in the temple . This n l holy fire descended from heave , first upon the a tar in t he tabernacle at the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the s w on prie thood , and afterwards it descended ane the altar in of s l the temple Solomon , at the con ecration of that temp e . And there it was constantly m aintained by the priest day f and night, without suf ering it ever to go out ; and with i ff th s all the sacrifices were O ered that required fire . This t o of fire, according some the Jewish writers, was extinguished in the days of Manasseh ; but the m ore general opinion i s s O f among them , that it continued till the de truction the temple by the Chaldeans ; after that it was never more of restored ; but instead it, they had only common fire in the second temple .

a H i s The part played by fire in the life of m indoo a on e s m t o Wh h remarkable , and shew the i mense extent ic this form Of worship has prevailed and still prevails i n some ’ t h e - i n h i s — countries . In man s earliest days childhood at s the ceremony called the inve titure of the thread , fire is of c ow s kindled from the droppings the sacred , prinkled with holy water and blessed . Then are brought to it various f of b &c of erings grain , utter, . , by the worshippers who are ofi i ci a ti n supplicating blessings, the g priest all the while ’ fat h e I reading passages from the sacred books . The child s and mother pray to Agni (Fire) that its past sins m ay be i n forgiven , having been done in gnora ce , then they declare — hi m to be of an age to know good and evil h e i s between n seven and nine . The sacred th read is the , after being duly ’ washed and held over the fire, placed around the child s neck , constituting him a Brah m Achari - one sworn to practise the D s of B m or . law and behests rah Almighty God ubois, in “ o n d — A l sa M eurs des I es, says pious father wil then y E 50 . FISHES , FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHI P

‘ R b son on e privately to his child , emem er , my , there is but l of God , the Sovereign Master and Princip e all things , and every Brah m an is bound to worship him in d of A fortnight afterwar s, a kind confi rmation ceremony takes place, again before the fi re , in which the parents promise that they will se e that he gets married and leads a good life . ’ M a H arriage is the principal feature in indoo s life, and s l this, as mo t peop e know , takes place very early and is m attended with any important ceremonies . H b of ere, again , fire is conspicuous as an o j ect worship , — — the ceremony before i t the G od Agni being the last and f h an d m o . ost serious all Wit clothes tied together , bride bridegroom parade round about the deity castin g to h i m their “ “ f n ow F n of erings which symbolise, says orlo g, the sacrifice of od of all their virgin modesty to the g , as the emblem ” f m i s sexual fire . The final oath o utual love and faith then taken in an address to the fire, and the pair, who are mere m boy and girl , are duly arried . l on A ittle further when the period arrives for cohabitation , the fourth ceremony is then gone th rough , fi re again being ’ O fle re d adored and sacrifice . w s of In the final scene, hen death has taken po session i s n s the body , fire agai called into requi ition ; it is carried s before the corp e by the nearest relatives , and ultimately i t s s reduces the inanimate form to original dust and ashe . “ Forlong says - Fire enters into every duty of a Hi n ’ B doo s life . efore partaking Of his morning meal he utters n ff of incantatio s to Agni , o ers to him portions that meal ; n e w or and in like manner, before he wears a cloth garment, he must take some threads or parts of i t and Offer these to ” the same deity . “ of of It is from the rubbing together the wood trees , b of B fi s— Pe e al B ar C nota ly the three anian g p , , and ooler, t h e for s favourite woods Phallic image , that holy fire is d al l rawn from heaven , and before these species do women ” crave their desires from God . “ Cave and fi re rites are not yet extirpate d from £9111 n f n m or o . C sale , , indeed , from any nation the earth hristia s st il r i ush for s acred fire to the hol y cave at the birth of SO ] m e n m i n t o , and and wo en strive, secret nooks, pass ” n h aked throug holy fire . FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP . 5 1

“ Syrians, as well as all other nations, connected the h F . on Serpent wit ire Thus the Jews had their fire altars, w hich the holy flame must be ever burning and never go out ; on and they carried about a serpent a pole as their healer . SO also the writer of the Acts of the Apostles speaks of the ‘ Christian Holy Ghost as having serpent - like cloven tongues ’ of of i fire, which the margin orthodox B bles very properl y ’ ” connects with Isaiah s Seraphim . —“ Forlong says I began my study of British ruins

m t wo- - l about eight years ago (fro during a year fur ough , attracted to it at ﬁrst by my friend the late Sir James — S of Simpson President of the ociety Antiquaries, Edinburgh — at that time writing and debating much on these matters ; and I came then to the same conclusion as I hold to - day ; v i z t h e of . : S that ruins Armorika, those of tonehenge, Abury , ‘ D ’ and various others, known popularly as ruid Circles, are,

- — or Ph al l O S or originally were , Pythic olar Shrines, places where al l the fi rst five elemental faiths more or less flourished ; fi v the rst (Tree) ery little, and the last (Sun) very abun dan t l so se e y ; and if , then we the cause why European so S n writers pugnaciously hold out, some for u , some for F on e s or ire ; that they are mere places for sacrifice burial , r s & c s f o . e w for assembly of rulers , clan , ; whil t a outlying writers hint that the large stones are Lingams , or mere — groups of such stones as that of Ke r l oaz the Newton stone ‘ & c F L R . of Colonel orbes eslie, in his Ancient aces Scotland , an has very nearly told us the truth , his long residence d travels in Asia having enabled him almost to pierce the cloud , though he seems at first not to have fully appreciated F the ever very close connection between Sun , ire, Serpent ” L n ow and ingam faiths , which I believe he does . The European mind having once lost the Old ideas of s s what the e words meant , and from having still such Obj ect a s F s Sun , ire , and Serpent before them , is alway thinking of sa these visible Obj ects, which I might almost y a true Sivaite never recognises per se ; for in fi re the true Phallic

n o - out worshipper sees ﬂame, and in the sun no far l or b i n resp endent as we know, standing apart, as it were, S we s pace, and to which all gravitate ; he sees imply a s w w ource of fertility , ithout which the Serpent has no po er or s passion , and in who e absence the animal and vegetable w orld must cease to exist . The ﬁre here, then, is not that W 2 . 5 FISHES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE ORSH IP

' w S or b Hot or Hol hich the real ivaite sees cooks y, but y ‘ ’ Fi r e or H or of , the oly Spirit, the fire passion , which to a certain small extent, and in certain symbolic forms and 0 11 w positions, he recognises in flame, as when raised a to er, out of or coming an obelisk , or rising in a column pillar r over an ark , or smoulde ing in the secret adytum ; for the s h i m first impre ses with the Arkite, the second with the

Phallic and Arkite , and the third with the purely feminine v m idea ; in all , he merely sees representati e ale and female c fr uc t iﬁ e d energies whi h are excited and by the Sun , Apollo, or - S ol d n ti the Sun erpent, as in his coi , where fer lity fed by

ﬁ re . n or feeds the Shell In a column , be it wood , sto e, ﬁre,

Sun - of o h e sees the stone, such as the Mudros Ph enicia, the M i n di r of of Ireland , and Obelisk Egypt ; and in the cist,

or A k r os or Sun - shell , , the womb, Yoni , box ; in all , the ” - or . column Palas, and its Caput oline L or h so eaping walking t rough the fire, frequently m entioned in Jewish writings in connection with Molek , is l i still quite common in the ess civilised parts of Ind a, being us v ow or ually done in fulfilment of a for blessings desired , believed to h ave been conferred by the deity upon the r r w f Naza i t e o Vo er . I have known o it being gone th rough m ss for recovery fro a severe illne , and for success in an ! or o N expedition pr ject which the azarite had m uch at heart . sa s Dr u adi Some y fi re hould be trod because p , the Pan doos de fi l e m e n t mythical wife of the , did this, after K S v th rough the touch of ichaka, and because ita pro ed her s purity by fire . Where the Briti h Government can prevent

w s ﬁ r e - i t h this rite, ﬂo er are th rown into the p , whic seems as

y F - if the fire were looked upon as a female energ . ire treading i s s w com monly accompli hed by digging a deepish narro pit, and filling it with firewood , and then wh en the flames are scorching hot , leaping over it ; usually the rite begins by first s walking closely round the fire, Slowly at first, then fa ter s s out and faster , with occa ional leap into and of it in the w t S of . . C S ildes excitement Mr tokes, the Madras ivil ervice, thus de scribes the rite a s it came Offi cially to notice in A 18 3 7 . pril , was In a level place before the village deity, who

Dr u a di ﬁ r e - 2 7 7 p Ama (Mother a pit, in Size by 5 feet 9 a s by inches deep , was excav ted ea t and west, and the set Si x goddess up at the west end . Babool or Acacia trees

4 5 . FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP

have seen them in the act of performing th e rite, it is at of t he the imminent hazard his life, for women would not ’ ﬁ m wa scruple to sacri ce h i for his temerity . The writer s s a sured that such instances had Often been known . Thus ‘ ’ F - on e this ire dance is a very serious matter, and which we : under the circumstances, can learn very little about from its secret practice here by women it is clearly connected

h F . wit Agni, the Procreator or ertiliser Our ancestors were

fi r e - inveterate worshippers, especially at the fou r great solar festivals . They thought no cattle safe unless passed through Da n the May y and Midsum mer Belti e fires, and no person would suffer a fire within t heir parish which had not been

- or then kindled afresh from the Tin Egin , sacred ﬁre pro ” duce d by friction . “ b of F th e The Medes were undou tedly worshippers ire, as b most su tle, ethereal , incomprehensible, and powerful agent . They were averse to all temples or personiﬁcation of the m f our w or o . aterial things, Ormazd Like Parsee fello

- ﬁ re s subj ects, they never allowed their hearth to be extinguished , nor woul d they even blow out any ordinary ﬁre or candle ; ”

did . in the Magian days , h e who SO forfeited his life “ — — W e still se e the remains some very perfect O f the

F - h Pu r ai th ei a lone ire towers, w ich Greeks called , amidst the A ze r b i an Koor di st an Loor i st an lofty hills of Armenia , j , and , ‘ ’ of Da k m as or of S some which were , Towers ilence, having gratings for roofs, through which the bones fell when the

- d was A t - A r F G o . body was destroyed . The ire called S b n The a ines were , perhaps, more early related to ou r ancestors than is generally thought ; at least we may believe so from the Sabine and G aelic languages having more afﬁ nity

W . even than the elsh and Irish , and from other evidence Dr on Descr i ti v e E th n ol o . Leatham , in his work p gy, says ‘ of of R was K so that much the blood the omans eltic , and ’ m s of m is uch of the Latin language, and a tudy the ove m h ow ents Of ancient peoples will Show this is SO . Like the Sk t h s h of y , these Old Sabines were devoted to all the wors ip ’ S b ui ri s ivaites, and particularly Of Mars sym ol , the Q or S e pear, after which we still call their greatest f te Quirinalia , of and their Mount Zion , the Quirinal . The worship the ui r i s Q has not yet ceased in high Asia, nor, I believe , in n America . It was prominent o the summits of all the Skyt hi an b onﬁre piles and mounds at which these Aryan FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP . 5 5

t d W e fa hers worshippe , and is connected with most rites . also se e it on numerous sculpturings which have been un ' t h e Sk ut i or K of earthed from the ruins of , elts Ireland — and Scotland much to the perplexity of local antiquaries . ‘ ’ Hue us , in his Travels in Tartary, gives these Phalli as m n s existing all over the i me se extent Of country he traver ed , N including orthern China , Mongolia, Thibet . Spears are, ‘ ’ s Ob os a however, too valuable to be left ticking in these , s ‘ ’ of he calls them , and therefore dried branches trees are ” m of substituted in very good i itation Spears . “ We have abundan t proof that Fire was never neglected C or by ancient hristians , either on tomb altar . In a letter R we of l or from ome , ﬁnd that in front the Cubicu um , of C Square tomb ornelius the martyr, is a Short pillar supporting an ever- burning lamp of oil ; and when this

- — custom of never dying ﬂa m e alike common to all faiths w A as O . revived in the third century . , we read that the Popes u sed to send to kings and queens a fe w drops Of the i f s O l o . or from this lamp the tomb Of Corneliu (See C . Lon N 3 Nor we s Ill . . ews, need be astonished at thi , seeing that Vesta’s Shrine still ﬂourished and received Papal

of F - h attention , and that in every corner the world ire fait h existed . To this day none may neglect the rites of this fait — of of in Syria cradle the God , as the poor Turkish Bey son d Antioch and his foun to their cost, when , after the of 3r d 187 2 r fi e earthquake April , , they and thei Of c rs kindly, s e C reverently and wi ely buri d the h ristian dead , but without the fi re - sy m bols and bell - ringing (which th ey failed to under ’ ofle n di n of stand) , thereby greatly g a powerful sect Antioch , Dusar s l s called the , who, still clear y wor hipping Baal and

Astaroth , rose upon the poor Turks and smote them hip and thigh ‘ ’ of K In the county ildare, Ireland , everlasting ﬁre ‘ — I n h ea w A n da h a or was preserved by holy virgins called g g , ’ dau h ter s o r w R i e . g f f , do n to the time Of the eformation of d These were often the ﬁrst ladies the lan , and never other ” of than those gentle birth . “ No blessing can be asked or granted fro m the altar of s any Catholic Church until the candle are lighted . If a woman when pregn ant desires to be blessed by the Christian ‘ i s on s t he Church , She instructed to wait her knee , at door ’ of u h the ch rc , with a lighted taper in her hand , nor can 6 . 5 FISH ES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSH IP any cross be blessed until th ree tapers are lighted b y the ‘ ’ 11 of Se e . 7 man God , had placed at its base . Picart II , , where he gives some graphic plates of C hristian Phallo

- ﬁ r e solar rites . ’ Ci vi l a n d E cc l esi asti ca l Ri tes In Goodwin s , under the of Fea sts o th e E x i a ti on t o head f p , which we have reason was m s ﬁ we believe at one ti e a period Of human acri ce,

W - uv e n al i a have the great inter Christmas Saturnalia, or J F v L t F esti al Of igh s and ires described , when not only the of C temples Jews and hristians, but every house had to be u caref lly lighted . Jews taught that the lights must be held ‘ e w t wo in the left hand , and the holder must walk b t een ’ m s m o co mandment , which seems to denote the cli atic or s lar of ol d turn the year . This writer tells us that it was ‘ ’ ’ woman s peculiar pro v ince to light their lamps ; and that ‘ there are certain prayers appropriated to this festival , and s on e i n r a i se o G od wh o h a th or da i n e d among the re t p f , ’ th e l i h ti n u q l a m s u on ol e m n Da s H we g g p f p p S y . ere see a close resemblance between the faith of t h e J e w and t h e s se e Islami , whose wive are enj oined personally to to the ’ f h on s o t e . s lighting household lamps Venu Eve Jeru alem , we w kno , acknowledges the God of Agni to the present out F s hou r, by annually giving that holy ire descend from heaven at a stated s eason in to the dark Adyta of the Sacred Shrine ; al l O l d ﬁres must b e extinguished at th is ’ of S w the season ol s rene ed vigour, so when the priest emerges from the adytum with the n e w ﬁre i n his hand

(and Ch ristian priests have Often done this, if they do not do so of still) , crowds every hue and creed rush towards w n e w him , light their tapers, and bear a ay the ﬁre to their ” homes . R of D eferring to the Temple Vesta mentioned by avies , “ F - Now of ! orlong says , what was this Temple Vesta In its rites and surroundings , its duties social and political , it was on e with the temples still existing in Asia devoted

F - m or to Phallic and ire worship co bined , perhaps I should sa s y a temple to Phallic wor hip only , but the cult in the dawn of brighter faiths was somewhat hid away by the of n ot priests in the darkest recesses their temples, and

- m of well known by any the worshippers , and scarcely at all b of y European writers even the middle ages . Any student D of Of elphic lore and Eastern travel , however, will recognise W FISHES , FLO ERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP. 57

D ’ ’ ‘ at once in elphi s Oracle and Vesta s Temple, The Old ’ F s s aith and its prie tess wor hippers , although the writer in ’ D n of so Smith s ictio ary Antiquities does not appear to do . ’ He s F - describes Vesta as merely a ire temple, and says that there were Six Vestales or Virgin Priestesses to watch the eternal Fire which blazed everlastingly on the altar of the s s godde s . On the Pope has de cended the name of their ‘ ’ superior as Pontifex Maximus . If by any negligence or m F out s isfortune the ire went , the Pontifex Maximu scourged v — a — the erring estal virgin , for had not She woman per ” m it t e d the procreative energy of the god t o forsake m ankind ! ‘ Dr 1845 s . George Petrie, who in till combatted , but

- of without force, the pre Christian idea Irish Towers, acknowledges Signs of a v ery strong and all - prevailing Fire

W s B e l or - orship in Ireland . This he see in Bil tene ‘ ’ ] sun d the goodly fire, in which Be , the in Irelan , as Of l D s o d n t h e . in Babylo , was great pu rifier Th e ruid , he s m says, u ed to worship in presence of two fires, and ake off D cattle walk between them to keep evil . Even in ublin t ’ s of S . we h ave still May fire , and those John s Eve ; and ‘ an ol d manuscript of T r inity College tell s us that B e l was the name of an idol at whose festival (Bel fi n e ) a ’ of h i s s couple all cattle were exhibited as in posse sion ,

h - whic I conclude means ﬁ x e d by his rays . The name Of

s - we this fea t in Scotland was Egin Tin , in which can

- fi r e fi r e - od of recognise Agin , Ag, or Agni , and the g all — Dr r of s . Asia . In the island Skye ays Ma tin , quoted by — was or Petrie, page xxxviii . the Tin Egin a forced fire fire of necessity which ow e d the plague and murrain amon gst A l l t h s s . e cattle fires in the pari h were extingui hed , and eighty - one married m en (a multiple of the m ystic number nine) being thought the necessary number for effecting this

“ n t wo s O f of m desig took great plank wood , and nine the f were employed by turns , who, by their repeated ef orts , rubbed on e of the planks against the other until the heat thereof produced fire, and from this forced fire each family n w is supplied with e fire . ‘ h ’ This is the true fire whic falls from heaven , and it m ust still be so produced at the temples of all fi r e - worship G or ping races, and at the hearths Of the uebre Parsees, as it was in this remote Isle of Skye . I m ust n ow m ake a fe w general Observations upon 5 8 . FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP

- F O f R the marked Phallo ire Worship the Greeks and omans, ‘ ’ F n ot too commonly called ire and Ancestor Worship , it being perceived that the ancestor came to be hono ured and e n er a tor S worshipped only as the G , and so also the erpent, as his symbol .

‘ ’ S Ni sh an s The igns or of the generating parents, L that is the ares and Penates, were placed in the family ‘ ’ ‘ ’ s fla m e — niches clo e to the holy that hot air, holy spirit, “ ’ or — o H b w B RA breath the active f rce of the e re , and ’ — the Egyptian P ta the engenderer of the heavens and earth , before which ign orant and superstitiou s races prayed and s o prostrated themsel ves, j u t as they do t day before very s l Similar ymbo s . The Greeks and Romans watched over their fires as our or s of do Parsees Zoroa trians . The males the family se e out t h e had to that the holy flame never went , but in b of a sence the head , and practically at all times, this sacred on of duty devolved the matron the house . Every evening the sacred fire was carefully covered wi t h ashes so that i t

' out b ui e t l s m oul de r on might not go y oversight, but q y ; n w i t and in the early mor ing the ashes ere removed , when s or was brightened up and wor hipped . In March early w out Ne w Spring it was allo ed to die , but not before th e ’ ’ Year s Fire had been kindled from Sol s rays an d placed No e in the sanctuary . unclean Object was allowed to com near Agni ; none durst even warm themselves near him ; an nor could y blameworthy action take place in his presence . He wa s on ly approached for adoration or prayer ; not a s

n ot sex u a l a m e l i e . fire, which he was , but as fl or f Prayers were Offered to him Similar to those Christians use ; and with m ost he held j ust such a mediatorial office as Christ was s does . The Almighty addre sed through him , and he was asked for health , happiness wisdom and foresight ; guidance in prosperity and comfort in adversity , long life ,

ff- m fi Hi s o a l l . spring, and manly and wo anly quali cations followers were taught that it was the most heinous si n to or e n approach him with unclean hearts hands, and were c our age d to co m e to him at all times for repentance and san t i fi c at i n c o . “ B efore leaving the house, prayer had to be m ade to u th e sacred fire ; and on ret rning, the father must do so FISH ES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP . 59

b b even efore em racing his wife and children . Thus A ga m e m we on m non acted, are told , his return fro Troy . Sacriﬁces, ff libations, Wine, Oil and victims were regularly O ered to the F od ire, and as the g brightened up under the oils , all exulted and fell down before him . They believed that he w ate and drank , and with more reason than the J e said

of hi s an d E l - this Jehovah Shadai . Above all , it was necessary to Offer food and wine to him ; to ask a blessing n wa s before every meal , and return thanks whe it over . From Ovid and Horace we se e it was thought pious and su of proper to p in presence the sacred ﬂame, and to make ff R oblations to it . There was no di erence between omans, G H m reeks, and indoos in these respects, except that So a of wine in India took the place Of the grape cooler lands . All alike besought Agni by fer v ent prayers for increase of O l d ﬂocks and families, for happy lives and serene age, for W e se e o wisdom and pardon of Sin . the great antiquity f

- this faith in the well known fact, that even when the early A t h e n s Greeks were sacriﬁcing to Zeus and at Olympia, they always ﬁrst invoked Agni , precisely as had been ordered B C . in the Vedas some years . , and probably as he had been invoked many thousands Of years before the art ” of writing was known . H R C APTE VI .

— Fi r e- wor ship i n th e Sta tes of the M edi ter r a n ean Speci a l

- — Sacr edn ess of th e pu bl i c Ci tyﬁ r e of Gr eece a n d Rom e Th e

— - — sa cr ed Fi r e of Tl ach tga C eyl on Fi r e wor ship Th e Pa r sees

Pe r si a n M on u m en ts— I m i et o C a m b ses ﬁ Ci n a l ese Ter m s p y f y g ,

— - Sa n scr i t We l sh (Ea — Th e Yu l e - l o Fi r e wor shi i n E n l a n d , , g p g

— — — - Th e Fi r e of B e l ta n e Dr ui di ca l Fi r es M a y day Fi r es Novem b er Fi r es i n I r e l a n d— B etween Two Fi r es— Scotl a n d The Sum m er Sol sti ce a n d Fi r e C er em on i es Wor ship of B aa l ’ i n I r e l a n d — t J ohn s D a — B on ir es— Decr ee o C ou n ci l o S . y f f f

C on sta n ti n opl e .

LL of the states the Mediterranean and Persia h ad, l b F ike India, aptismal forms connected with ire . With the Greek s and Romans t he baptismal ceremony took b of place etween the ninth and twelfth days birth , and generally com menced by women seizing the infant and running h e or t . So round , dashing through fire with it also at w ‘ ’ N as . o m arriages , fire the active and covenant god account was taken of a bride s faith ; to marry was to em ’ s i n l i ce l oco brace the hu band s religion , to be to him fi , and own was to break entirely with her family ; nay , marriage of for long entered into with a Show violence, as if to on e of demonstrate the separation . It certainly reminds early s l time when men thus obtained their wives . The principa part of the m arriage ceremony was to b ring the bride before ’ her husband s hearth , anoint her with holy water, and make her touch the sacred fire ; after which Sh e b roke bread or F was ate a cake with him . ire also the God who witnessed of b the separation hus and and wife, which , if there were f ffi Of spring, was a rare and di cult act ; but if the couple m were childless, divorce was an easy atter . “ No stranger dared appear before th e city - fi r e either or R m er e l ook of in Greece ome, indeed the a person foreign to the worship would profane a sacred act , and disturb the of h osti s or auspices . The very name strangers was , enemy t o W R f the gods . hen the oman Pontif had to sacrifice out - O f- so t of doors, he veiled his face hat the chance sight

6 2 . FISHES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP this was conceived to b e an antidote and a preservation or against the murrain, any other pestilential distemper among cattle for the year following ; and fro m these ﬁres of that were made in worship the god Beul , the day upon s which the Ch ri tian festival of St . Philip and St . James is

- Observed , is called in the Irish language Beul tinne . The of : s derivation the word is thus La in Iri h signiﬁes a day,

Beul is the name of the pagan deity , and Teinne is the t h e s same with ﬁre in Engli h , which words, when they are ” l n n B e u t i e . pronounced together, sound La “ “ s R of : F Le lie in his Early aces Scotland , says rom Don de r a H H m ead in Ceylon to the i alaya Mountains, and from the borders of China to the extremities of W estern of Europe and its islands, we ﬁnd clear evidence the m of of for er prevalence the earliest form false worship , viz . , ‘ of s un of the adoration light, the , and the whole host ’ R of heaven . In the ajpoot state Marwar, in its capital ‘ ’ Uda a oor C of R n Sun ! y y , The ity the isi g the precedence

of . Surya, the sun god , is still maintained The sacred of b B standard the country ears his image, and the aj a, ” b e claiming to his descendant, appears as his representative . In a complicated for m the Parsees of B ritish India b sun still retain that worship of light , sym olised in the b was and ﬁre , for which they ecame exiles when their faith ” i n proscribed the land of their ancestors . Leslie quotes various authors and travellers wh o had s of personally witne sed the remains many of these altars . d “ Char in , he says, in his travels in Media in the end of the seventeenth century describes circles of large stones that must have been brought a distance of si x leagues to the place where he observed them . The tradition regarding l s r these circ es was , that council were the e held , each mem ber of the assembly being seated on a separate

of F Si r W O use l e In the Persian province ars, illiam y or observed a monolith ten twelve feet high , surrounded by of u a fence stones . This r de column had a cavity on the — of top . Similiar instances viz . , monoliths having a cavity in the top— existed among the pri m itive monumen t s of K A uc hi n c or t hi e Scotland . (In incardineshire, at , there were

’

C h ar di n s V o a e s v ol . 11. y g , I FISH ES , FLOWERS , AND F RE WORSHIP . 6 3

five circles of stones . On the top of on e of the stones on s of l which stood the east ide the argest circle , there w e o m of was a hollo th r e inches deep , al ng the botto which , a n d w of wa s do n the side the stone, a channel cut . Another of the stones in this group had a similar cavity and of channel . Other examples such artificial cavities in ancient ’ s s out — s Briti h monument could be pointed (Gibson Camden , l v o . . . ii , p The same traveller remarked a fe w ol d s m trees which grew near thi colu n , and these he supposed of to be the remains a consecrated grove . One of the trees ff was thickly hung with rags , the native o erings of the i h f s habitants o the country . Tree with such garniture may com monly be Observed in the Dekhan and other parts of m s India, and not long since ight be een in many places in d Britain . The Monolith thus describe , and adj acent to the “ s grove, was called by an expres ion equivalent to Stone of H the Fire Temple . W e know from erodotus that the s ancient Per ians , like their expatriated descendants the of s un Parsees, were worshippers the and fire, and t h e m ysterious rites of the heathen inhabitants of Britain must l l of s have close y resemb ed those the Per ians, when the s imilarity induced Pliny to remark that B ritain cul tivates m agic with ceremonial so august that it might be supp osed tha t the art was first com municated fro m them to the f s people o Per ia .

H s of Turning to erodotus as here suggested , peaking s t h e s of A m asi s the order given by Camby es to burn corp e ,

‘ after his people had failed to tear it apart , owing to its s s wa s having been embalmed , the hi torian ays This truly a n m s i pious com mand to give, for the Per ians hold ﬁre to be a god , and never by any chance burn their dead . Indeed c i s this practi e unlawful , both with them and with the — s Egyptians with them for the reason above mentioned , ince they deem it wrong to give the corpse if a man to a god ; a n d with the Egyptians , because they believe ﬁre to be a live animal , which eats whatever it can seize, and then w ” glutted ith the food , dies with the matter it feeds upon . “ s de sc r i Leslie ays it is important, as a prelude to the p tion of rites in a worship com m on to the early inhabitants of the Indian Peninsula and to the Celtic population of Gaul

T a a 16 aw so . h li , , R lin n 6 4 FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP .

r h and B itain , to refer to th e cognate expressions w ich they

. C J employed for the object of their adoration In ingalese , a , J s s J w wala, ignifie light, lustre , flame ; alana, light ; also Agni, or person ified and deified fire . Eliya is al s o Cingalese for Ll e ue r light ; in Welsh , and Llenad , the moon ; in Gaelic, i h l n J wal E b e o . a , anything fire In Sanscrit, signifies light , s w flame ; in Corni h , G awl ; in Welsh , Goleu ; in Armorican , E al l ai dh e il l . So se Goleu In Gaelic , Geal and is white ; , light, ] H . He ] sunlight ; Sui , th e eye In Cingalese, aili and , and

H or H sun . H in Sanscrit, eli elis is the In Welsh it is aul , H H H pronounced ail ; in Armorican , aul and eol in Cornish , H H a of t — oul and eul . The gre t festival hea hen Britain viz, — Yeul was celebrated at that period of t h e year when the sun b t t having o ained the greatest dis ance from the earth , commenced his return to restore warmth and to revivify C s v nature . Although hri tmas superseded the heathen festi al , of of not only the ancient name Yeul , but many the customs, h O b so evidently connected wit the heathen rites , are not yet lete in South Britain ; and in Scotland , at least in the more t h e remote parts , and in agricultural districts, Yeul is still ” s a word in general use for Chri tmas D y . “ - H i n . 2 04 one, his Every day Book vol I . p . , says The Yeul feast and Yeul log can be clearly traced to their original source . Tho blaze of lights, and the kindling of the great Yule log on C hristmas Eve by a portion of of a s the Yule brand the former year, is clearly a heathen for of a s ceremony, and the same Obj ect worship , the fires on m Midsu mmer E ve . As to the feast, in ti es compar at i v e l sun - y recent, th e Greenlanders held a feast at the winter c on m e n c e m e n t of solstice, to rejoice in the returning light ” and warmth . “ F Te i n idh i s rom and Tein , Irish and Gaelic for fire, ’ b b b n l ‘ pro a ly derived the o solete E g ish word to teend . H C s m errich , speaking of the h ri tmas brand , says part ust ” teen d be kept wherewith to the Christmas by next year . Evidence of some sort of fi re - worship in England at i n C on essi on a l of E c b e r t various times is to be found the f g , A rchbishop of York (8t h century) and the Penitential of o b of 7 t h t Theod re , Arch ishop Canterbury ( century) , and tha this included the adoration of the light of the sun and moon see m s probable from the prohibition of the practice of passing children through fire extending to that of exposing them on

- f the house tops for the b eneﬁt o their health . FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP . 6 5

Leslie remarks that it is curious to co m pare these restrictions and penalties to be enforced by English eccle si ast i c al a ut h or i t e s with the denunciation of the same heathen I 4 “ practices by the prophet Zephaniah , (Chap . . , , I off of m will cut the remnant Baal , and the that worship

of - the host heaven upon the house tops . s F H e The allusion to the Mid ummer Eve ire in on , “ ” F of S reminds us of the ire Bel or Beltane of cotland ,

b on - ol d a festival generally cele rated May day style . Leslie of W t says, in other Celtic countries es ern Europe the same s s expre sion , with slight variations in sound , was also u ed for the great heathen festival which was held ab out the beginning “ of of He — the month May . further says Beltane is also used to express the fires that were kindled in honour of B e l on s that and on other days connected with his wor hip , on l v as Midsummer Eve, afterwards ca led the igil of St . ’ on - H on Y e ul e i s ow John , All allowe en , and , which n f . O Christmas the ceremonies practised at Beltane, and s own m continued al mo t to our times, the ost remarkable ” an d general were the fires lighted in honour of Bel . K on u indling fires at Beltane, the hills and conspicuo s s was so — s places in level di tricts, universal in Scotland al o — in Ireland and Cornwall t hat it i s unnecessary to refer to records for proof of events which may still be witnessed i n 186 5 this year . C onjoined with Apollo in the inscription on a Roman altar found at Inveresk is an epithet bearing a considerable s of s un A ol l i n i re emblance to the name the in Gaelic . p G r an n o of G r i an or is the com mencement the inscription . ‘ ’ G r i an a c h s s un . Greine is the in Gaelic, and is the unny

This resemblance it is as well to notice, for epithets not similar in sound but identical in meaning are u sed for or sun Apollo the by classic authors and the Scottish Celts,

G r ua ac h - G r i an a n or as g , the fair haired . Enclosures called ‘ ’ G r e i n ha m of s un wor , the house the , where the people

sun a r e b e . shipped the , to met with everywhere On the G r ua ac h g stones libations of milk were poured . A clergyman of the W estern Isles says that about a century ago (this was in G r uagac h got credit for being the father of ’ M Don a l d Shul i st a Dun t ul m e of . a child at , near , the seat G r ua ac h sun was g , the , represented by certain rude stones of n of large size . O the island of Bernera, in the parish ‘

6 6 W W . FISHES , FLO ERS, AND FIRE ORSHIP

H s n l h s h as arri , a circle, deﬁ ed by ong s arp pointed tones , of in the centre a stone in the form an inverted pyramid , ‘ - n a - of called Clach Greine, the stone the “ H of D Toland , in his istory ruids, gathers together a good deal of important information relative to Pire Customs in of d various parts England , Irelan , Scotland , and Wales, and d s n He s of m n or the a j acent i la ds . peaks the ca s (cair s) heaps of stones which are found on mountain top s and ff other eminencies in di erent localities , and after alluding to us of the es they served in course time as beacons, being — “ conveniently situated for such a purpose, says They were r f Originally designed fo ﬁres o anothe r nature . The fact

- D m stood thus . On May eve the ruids ade prodigious fires on s on e those carn , which being every in sight, could not a fi or d s but a glorious show over a whole nation . The e fires of B R were in honour Beal or ealan , latinised by the oman B e l e n us m authors into , by which na e the Gauls and their n s s un : a n d colo ies under tood the , therefore , to this hour the fir st day of May is by the aboriginal Irish called La ’ B e al t e i n e of s , or the day Belen fire . “ May - day is likewise called La B e al t e i n e by the High of d of landers Scotlan , who are no contemptible part the ff So i s M an C eltic o spring . it in the Isle of ; and in A i s or S n of B e ] rmoric a priest still called Belec , the erva t , s B e l e i h Two and prie thood g e t . such fires as we h ave men t i on e d were kindled by on e another on May - eve in every of n u G a s village the ation (as well thro ghout all aul , in B a d o n l s ritain , Irel n , and the adj ini g lesser is and ) , between which fires the men and the beasts to be sacrificed were to ’ B etween B e l s two r es pass ; from whence came the proverb , fi , on e n h ow meaning in a great strait, not knowi g to extricate h n . on o imself One of the fires was the carn , another the ground . On the eve of the first day of November there were t also such fires kindled , accompanied (as hey constantly were) w a N ith sacrifices and fe sting . These ovember fires were in ’ ’ t l a c h d t l ac h d- Ireland called Tine gha, from gha, a place hence so called in Meath where the Archdruid of the realm on of d had his fire the said eve ; and for which piece groun , n because originally belongi g to Munster, but appointed by su m a the preme onarch for this use , there was an nnual acknowledgement (called sgr e ab ol l ) paid to the king of that province . FISH ES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP . 6 7

“ of On the aforesaid eve all the people the country, out D s of a religious persuasion instilled into them by the ruid , extinguished their fires as entirely as the Jews are wont to sweep their houses the night before the feast of unleavened of was bread . Then every master a family religiously obliged of to take a portion the consecrated fire home, and to kindle n was the fire anew in his house, which for the e suing year s H w r . e fo to be lucky and prosperou was to pay, ho ever, his future happiness whether the event proved answerable or n ot s t w ; and though his hou e should be af er ards burnt, yet s of n e w si n or he must deem it the puni h ment some , ascribe it to anything rather than to want of v irtue in the c on of or of secration the fire, of validity in the benediction the D d f e ar n s l s rui , who, from o ficiating at the , was ikewi e called C ai rn e c h , a name that continued to signify priest even in w Christian times . But if any man had not cleared ith the ’ D s ruid for the last year s dues, he was neither to have a of e a r n s of spark this holy fire from the , nor durst any his neighb ours let him take th e benefit of theirs under pain of m D exco munication , which , as managed by the ruids, was —

‘ l i r or h . e o worse t an death If would brew , therefore, bake, s or m h roa t, boil , or war imself and family ; in a word , if ’ t h e out D s he would live winter , the ruid dues must be paid as of was by the l t October, so that this trick alone more effectual than are all the Acts of Parliament made for ’ ur securing o present clergy s dues . “ As to the ﬁ re - worship which (by th e way) prevailed on over all the world , the Celtic nations kindled other ﬁres

m - R m Midsum er eve, which are still continued by the o an l of t s Catho ics Ireland ; making them in all heir ground , and

- e l ds carrying flaming brands about their corn fi . This they do likewis e all over France and in some of the Scottish s n Isle . These midsummer fires and sacrifices were to obtai s n on u n ow a ble si g the fr its of the earth , becoming ready s of of h for gathering ; as tho e the first May, t at they might pro sperou sl y gro w ; and those of t he last of October were a of m thanksgiving for finishing their harvest . But in all the regard was also had to the several degrees of increase and ’ ” s s decrea e in the heat of the sun s ray . “ ’ Wit h regard to the proverb Between Bel s t wo fires H n e w of 1814 Mr . uddleston in his edition Toland ( ) adds — “ on a note in which he says As Mr . Toland in his note 6 8 . FISHES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP

I t t i r this passage , informs us th e Irish ph rase is dha theine h il D r S h S B e . ; mit has also given us th e cottish ph rase, B h i l t e of b e . . . Ga ha , , the j eopardy Bel Both agree that on e s these expressions denote in the m o t imminent danger . fi s M r . Toland says the men and beasts to be sacri ced pas ed t wo between fires , and that hence the proverb Originated . Dr on n was on e of . Smith , the contrary, imagi es that this the Druidical ordeals whereb y criminals were tried ; and t of m ins ead making them pass betwixt the fires, makes the

m . D arch directly across them Indeed , he supposed the ruids of were kind enough to anoint the feet the criminals, and b m so render them invulnera le to the fla es . If there could h ave been neither danger nor trial . It may also be remarked , d ’ that had the octor s hypothesis been well founded , there t wo s b etween was no occasion for fires, wherea by the ph rase, ’ B el s two r es we t wo D S fi , know that were used . octor mith has evidently confounded the Gab ha B h e i l with a feat b Hi r i n s M Sor a c t e practised y the p on ount . It seems that the expression used by th e Scotch ex “ of He t wo pressive a man in difficulties, is between the ” B el was of fires Of , common enough to attract the attention o we of ther writers than those have cited , and most travellers “ W in the Highlands . Martin mentions it in his estern ” ’ R v D M u n l S e . . e e . Isles, as a so haw and the Q The latter of is cited by Leslie as a Gaelic scholar the last century , “ wh o He t wo B e l t e i n in regard to the expression , is betwixt ” C fires, gives as an explanation that the eltic tribes in their f sacred enclosures of ered sacrifices, com monly horses, that were “ b t wo burnt etween large fires, and Leslie adds, On this it may be remarked that horses were sacrifi ced to the sun by the Arian race from the earliest times ; and this con i b H s t n ue d . to be practised y indus, Per ians, and other nations In B ritain it is prob able that our heathen ancestors sacrificed ” horses, and it is certain that they ate them . ’ “ J am i e son s splendid Etymological Dictionary of the ” L b on Scottish anguage, supplies us with valua le information we of the point are discussing, drawn from a variety reliable “ B E LTA NE B e l t e i n n of authorities . Under , , the ame a sort of b on of we festival o served the first day May, “ — A on b s of H h have town in Perthshire, the order the ig Tu l l i b l ta n t i Ti l l i e e e e . e . lands, is called (or ) , the em nence of b or rising ground of the fire Baal . In the neigh ourhood

0 . 7 FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP

h on t e of . S O . the rural sacriﬁce ﬁrst May, , has been

H w- mentioned before . allo eve is also kept sacred : as soon t t o s of as it is dark , a person se s fire a bu h broom fastened n rou d a pole, and attended with a crowd , runs round the He fi i n s of village . then g it down , keeps a great quantity b combusti le matters in it, and makes a great bonfire . A m whole tract is thus illuminated at the sa e time, and makes

a fine appearance . The carrying of the fiery pole appears to b e a relic of “ S of S s of The tatistical Account cotland , Pari h Callander, ” s r e Perths, supplies several important and intere ting facts “ of t wo lating to this . The people this district have customs out n ot b ut which are fast wearing , only here , all over the H of ighlands, and therefore ought to be taken notice while of w i s they remain . Upon the first day May , hich called B el tau or B a l tei u Da w y , all the boys in a to nship or hamlet m sod of eet in the moors . They cut a table in the green , a r h of ound figure, by casting a trenc in the ground such cir c um fe r e n c e a as to hold the whole company . They kindle of s fi re, and dress a repast eggs and milk in the consi tence f of w o . a custard They knead a cake oatmeal , hich is s toasted at the embers against a tone . After the custard is

eaten up , they divide the cake into so many portions, as on e s similar as possible to another in size and hape, as there n e are persons in the company . They daub o of these portions

b e b . all over with charcoal , until it perfectly lack They

ut of . on e p all the bits cake into a bonnet E very , blind H wh o b f . e old , draws out a portion holds the onnet is W entitled to th e last bit . hoever draws the black bit is wh o s ﬁ the devoted person is to be acri ced to Baal , whose

favour they mean to implore, in rendering the year productive f b o the sustenance of man and beast . There is little dou t of these inhuman sacrifices having been once offered in this n ow m country, as well as in the east, although they pass fro of fi the act sacri cing, and only compel the devoted person to leap three times through the flames ; with which the ” ceremonies of this festival are closed . “ : Again referring to Jamieson, h e says The respect

’ b B or B e li n us paid y the ancient ritons to Belus , , is evident of B from the names some of their kings . As the abylonians

* P e t v ol . III . nnan , F ISH ES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP . 7 1

B el eti s ~ or B e l i bus Ri e- B el us M er odach - had their , g , B a l a da n

B el sh azza r I ch - b aa l s B a l a tor and ; the Tyrians their and , the

C a ssi - b e li n Cun o- b el i n Britons had their , and their .

B ea l - i n r — The Gael and Ir . word t e o B ei l tei n e signifies ’ B el us Fi r e a s s of or on e of ; compo ed Baal Belis, the names f s un i n o te fi r e . the in Gaul , and signifying Even in Angus ” i n r i n a spark of fire is called a te o te d . ’ Martin s Western Islands bears similar testimony, thus “ od of B was or B e l i n us Another g the ritons Belus , which s B e l seem s to have been the A syrian god , or Belus ; and ’ probably from this Pagan deity com es the Scots term of — B e l t i n h aving its first ris e from the custom practised by t h e D s ruids in the isles, Of extingui hing all the fires in the parish until the tythes were paid ; and upon payment of m them , the fires were kindled in each fa ily, and never till t m t w then . In hose days alefactors were burnt between o fires ; hence when they would express a man in a great sa He of B el strait, they y, is between two fires , which in ” s V e a ul r o . their language they express thu , Edir da hin Bel It has been remarked that the Pagan rites of the f of m m b e estival Midsu mer Eve , the Su mer Solstice may considered as a counterpart of those used at the W inter “ ” s - on e s s Sol tice of Yule tide . There is thing, ay Brand , s s b ss i that eem to prove this eyond the po ibil ty of a doubt . R F s In the old unic a ti , a wheel was used to denote the Dur a n dus of . of festival Christmas Thus , when Speaking F f m R of o St . the ites the east John Baptist, infor s us of s r m s h s thi curious ci cu tance, t at in ome places they roll a s n Sun wheel about to ig ify that the , then occupying the s an d highest place in the Zodiac , is beginning to de cend ; m l Nao e or us in the a p ified account given by g g , we read that this wheel wa s taken up to the t op of a mountain and rolled down from thence ; and that, as it had been previously se t on covered with straw , twisted about it and fire, it appeared at a distance as if the sun had been fallin g from sk s the y . And he further observe , that the people imagine that all t heir ill - luck rolls away from them together with this wheel . “ Leaping over the fires is mentioned among the super ’ st it i F ous rites used at the Palilia in Ovid s asti . The w s s Palilia ere feasts in tituted in honour of Pales , the godde s of s shepherds (though Varro make Pales masculine) , on the 2 . 7 FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP

calends of M ay . In order to drive away wolves from the s on fold , and distempers from the cattle , the shepherds this of w day kindled several heaps stra in their fields, which they ’ leaped over . “ wa s s Bourne tells us that it the cu tom in his time , N of ol d in the orth England , chiefly in country villages, for and young people to meet together and be merry over a was large fire, which made for that purpose in the open of m s wa s street . This, whatever aterials it con isted , called

- fi r e B fi r e . a one Over and about this they frequently leap , u and play at vario s games such as running , wrestling, & c s w dancing, . ; thi , ho ever, is generally confined to the ol d n s Si t younger sort ; for the o es, for the mo t part, by l as Spectators only, and enj oy themse ves over their bottle, which they do not quit till midnight , and sometimes till ” - cock crow the next morning .

’ A correspondent of the Gen tl em an s I ll agazi n e for Fe b r uar 17 95 w s y, , riting from Skye, gives us Curiou fact i n s relating to the wors hip of Baal Ireland . The Iri h have of of so ever been worshippers ﬁre , and Baal , and are to s of sun thi day . The chief festival in honour the and ﬁre ,

- ﬁ r st s un is upon the twenty of J une , when the arrives at or the Sum mer Solstice, rather begins its retrograde move of 17 82 ment . I was SO fortunate , in the sum mer , as to have my curiosity gratiﬁed by a sight of this ceremony over of a very great extent country . At the house where I was wa s se e entertained , it told me that we Should at midnight s wa s the most ingular sight in Ireland , which the lighting

F of Sun . Of ires in honour the Accordingly , exactly at F a d midnight, the ires began to appear ; and taking the of vantage going up to the leads of the house, which had

- w saw of a widely extended vie , I on a radius thirty miles, F b on all around , the ires urning every eminence which the

f . country af orded I had a farther satisfaction , in learning b from undou ted authority, that the people danced round the F F ires, and at the close went through these ires , and made t their sons and daughters, ogether with their cattle, pass through the Fire ; and the whole was conducted with l religious solemnity . This account is exceeding y curious, and t h e m of though I forbear ention names, I can venture to ” ou assure y that it is authentic . FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP . 7 3

“ of of The remarks Borlase in his Antiquities Cornwall , “ s He sa s— f come in here very uitably . y O the fires we m of s kindle in any parts England , at ome stated time of the n ot s or year, we know certainly the ri e, reason occasion , but they m ay probably be reckoned amon g the r el i ck s of the D ruid superstitious fires . In Cornwall , the festival fires B on fi r e s n t o S . called , are kindled the Eve of John the ’ B s St Da apti t and . Peter s y ; and Midsummer is thence , in ‘ ’ G ol n a n s the Cornish tongue, called , which ignifies both light s and rejoicing . At these fire the Cornish attend with lighted s torche , tarred and pitched at the end , and make their v perambulations round their fires, and go from illage to v t b a n d illage carrying their orches efore them , this is cer ‘ t ai n l D n y the remains of the ruid superstitio , for faces ’ r aefe r r e of p , to carry lighted torches, was reckoned a kind h G a l l i ck Gentilism , and as such particularly pro ibited by the ‘ l aw a ccen sor s Councils . They were in the eye of the e ’ a cu l ar u m f , and thought to sacrifice to the devil , and to ” deserve capital punishment . Brand mentions a fe w addition al particulars which we here transcribe . “ ‘ D Torreblanca, in his emonology, has a passage in which he tells us h ow the an cients were accustomed to pass their children of both sexes through the fire for the sake of s l ot securing them a pro perous and fortunate , and he adds that the Germans imitated this profane usage in their ’ of M idsummer pyres in honour of the anniversary St . John s Day M or e si n appears to have been of opinion t hat the c us f of tom o leaping over these fires is a vestige the ordeal , where to be able to pass through fires with safety was held to be an indication of innocence . To strengthen the proba b il i t of we y this conjecture, may observe that not only the of r young and vigorous, but even those g ave characters m used to leap over the , and there was an interdiction of ecclesiastical authority to deter clergymen from this super st i t i ous t n ins a ce of agility . A note at the foot of the page B sa w of D says that Mr . rand in the possession ouce, a ’ ‘ ’ F l e Fe u St . rench print, entitled L este de la Jean , from M of the hand of ariette . In the centre was the fire m ade wood piled up very regularly , and having a tree stuck up of in the midst it . Young men and women were represented 4 FI SI I E S 7 . , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP

n H b u dancing round it ha d in hand . er s were st ck in their s of hats and cap , and garlands the same su rrounded their waists or were slung across their shoulders . “ ‘ ’ ‘ s W In the Traite des Super titions , we read hoever ’ of desires to know the colou r his future wife s hair, has of only to walk three times round the fire St . John , and when the fire is half extinguished he must take a brand , ut w let it go out, and then p it under his pillo , and the next morning he will find encirclin g it th reads of hair of ’ B ut the desired colour . this must be done with the eyes l w w shut . We are further to d , here there is a wido or a s v marriageable girl in a house, it is nece sary to be ery u caref l not to remove the brands, as this drives away lovers . “ f s O 80 i t s o A . 6 The third Council Con tantinople, . , in ‘ - fi ft h d — sixty canon , enacted the following inter iction Those B on e fi r e s that are kindled by certaine peopl e on Ne w M oon e s before their shops and houses, over which also they do s l e a e i c ust om e we fooli hly p , by a certaine anc ent , com mand

m . them fro henceforth to cease Whoever , therefore, shall doe l e t any such thing ; if he be a clergyman , him be deposed ; m For if a layman , let him be exco municated . , in the Fourth B ook of the Kings it is written : And Manasseh t wo built an altar to all the host of heaven , in the courts ’ of L s the ord house, and made his children to passe through ’ ‘ B re s F & c . u s : on e fi the ire , Prynne observes pon thi , there ori i n al l o c ust om e fore, had their g from this id latrous , as this Generall C oun c e l l hath defined ; therefore all Christians ’ F should avoid them . And the Synodus rancica under Pope ‘ F A D . 4 2 . 7 Zachary , , inhibits those sacrilegious ires which Ned r i B on e fi r e s s they call f (or ) , and all other observation of the Pagans H R C APTE VII . — — Pa r a di se L ost a n d M ol och Th e G od of th e A m m on i tes Th e sl a u h ter o Chi l dr en b Fi r e n oti ces i n th e Scr i tu r e g f y , p s — Fi r e C e r em on i es a n d M ol och Sa cr ed Fi r es of the Ph oen i ci a n s Th e C ar th agi n i an s C u stom of th e Ozi ese Sa r di n i a n — — C ustom s a n d M ol och Th e C u thi tes Per si a n Fi r e Wor ship

- — Th e House Fi r es of G r eece a n d Rom e Sa cr ed B ooks of the — Fast L aws o M an n — Th e Ri Veda a n d H m n s to A n i f g y g , th e G od o Fi r e Vesta wor shi o — Th e Jlfa i — Z or oa ster f , p f g .

N Milton ’s “ Paradise Lost we read “ F st o oc o k e sm a e t oo ir , M l h , h rrid ing , b e r d wi h bl d ’ O m sa a e t s t e s f hu an criﬁce, and p r n ar ; o for t h e o s of m s an d t m e s o Th ugh n i e dru i br l l ud . ’ e e s e s e a t t sse t o ﬁ r e Th ir childr n cri unh rd , ha pa d hr ugh , h m m m m To i s gri id ol . Hi t h e A onit e W o s e a a an d h e r at e r hipp d in R bb w ry plain , I n o a s n t o t h e s t e m Arg b and in B a , r a O f u t m ost Arn on : n or c ont e nt wi t h s uch o s e o oo t h e s e st e t Audaci u n ighb urh d , wi h ar Of S ol om on h e l e d by fraud t o build Hi s t m t s t t h e t e m e of G od e ple righ again pl , O t at o o o s m a h i s o n h ppr bri u hill , and de gr ve Th e e sa t v a of om o e t t e pl a n lley Hinn , T ph henc ” t h e t e f c a o . And bla k Gehenn called , yp Hell

of Moloch was the god the Am monites . In the worship and sacriﬁces in his honour they burn t thei r sons and ” daughters, with the accustomed forms and ceremonies . In 2 1 of ss Leviticu s xviii . we ﬁnd a prohibition pa ing the

children through the ﬁre and in chapter xx . the punish ment of death by stoning is awarded to any wh o gave their seed

to Moloch . “ “ H S of H owever, says elden , many the ebrews write t wo that the children were neither burnt nor Slain , but that of funeral pyres were constructed by the priests Moloch , and s that they led the children only between the pyre , as if in wa h B e n t this y to purify t em . Moses Maimon says hat in t hose days the servitors of the fires made men believe that , their sons and daught ers would die unless they were thu s 6 . 7 FISH ES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP l e d on of c , and this account and the love their hildren they n was haste ed to do that which SO easy , and there was no of m other way saving the children fro the fire . There are some who say that the father in due form delivered the b child to the priests to be given ack , and that he led it on l n through , carrying it his shou ders . It is evertheless true that the children were not only led between the fires, of but were also burnt in the sacrifices the idols . See 3 38 “ . 7 Psalm cvi and , and read , Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent l of u b ood , even the blood their sons and their da ghters, C whom they sacrificed unto the idols of anaan , and the land t h e was polluted with blood . “ Phi l ast r i us says that they placed an altar in the valley of of H so of the children innom , and called after the name w a certain Tophet, and in that place the Je s sacrificed their ” sons and daughters to demons . There are other places which sufficiently indicate immolation of children in those f s e o S . e regions yria where Moloch was adored Thus, Wisdom “ of 5 of Solomon , xii . , And also those merciless murders ’ ” of children and devourers men s flesh , the feasts of blood ; “ x i v 2 3 For and . , whilst they slew their children in ” 31 “ sacrifices ; and Jeremiah vii . , says And they have built of of the high places Tophet, which is in the valley the son of H b n innom , to ur their sons and their daughters in 5 the fire . See also nineteenth chapter, verse ; Ezekiel xvi . 2 0 2 1 3 39 F m ff 7 . , , and xxiii, and ro this a air perhaps of H b arose the delusion the Greeks and e rews that, by t another ancient rite, hey who took an oath were accustomed t b to pass hrough fire, as if y escaping from inj ury their

w b e - Fa i us words ould proved true . The learned Paul g , in “ of h i m Th e of speaking , says, statue Moloch was such that l it had seven hollow chamb ers . One was open for mea f t e of erings, another for turtle doves , the third for sheep , h for fourth for the ram , the ﬁfth the calf, the Sixth for the l f bu l , and a seventh was open for him who wished to of er of of his child . The face the idol was the same as that the calf, and the hands were evidently disposed and arranged conveniently to receive from the bystanders all that was f W b . b of ered hile the child was urning in the lazing ﬁre, they danced ab out and beat drums to drown the horrib l e cries and lamentations, There is a question whether the

‘ W 7 8 FISH ES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE ORSH IP .

m any oriental languages Melech , means king, Milcom means M al c e c e m our their king, and , king, and both words in sacred s cripture designate Moloch . To him reference is had in “ Zephaniah i . And them that worship and swear by the ” d M e l c h a m wa s Lor , and that swear by , because Moloch of A s s especially worshipped under the name king . thu Baal Lo a s or means rd , and Melech or Molech Moloch means king, t h s of m i s s hey denote t i god the Am onites ; and it perhap , wh o m s of o h e himself , in the o t ancient theology the Ph enicians , s of of He was often called by the ingular title king gods . was al so called A dodus and was worshipped by the Syrians not only a s Adad - Hadad and Benhadad (and which could A dodus was readily pass into ) , but the very name Adad propagated continually for ten generations in their royal m He da r M e sa h ab families . These na es, and Bedad , , and

. K Ahab , will be found in Genesis xxxvi and I ings xx . of A dodus Macrobius, speaking the Syrians and this god and “ of king gods , says , They gave to the god whom they venerate as the highest and the greatest the name Adad , r on e H or and which m eans unus o . ada C hada is a god of A dar da a or A t e r at i s the female sex , and agrees with g g , and was worshipped in that name in the n e igh our h ood of He se c h i us H s Syria . y says that ada was the godde s of Juno, sun H and Adad a god and the . But adad very well denotes the clamou r or loud noise of persons exhorti ng ; neither is it altogether unlike the la m entations of children in the sacrifices M e ffi i e s of to oloch . And ancient writers say that the g both A s for dad and Moloch were the ame , and fashioned ex pressing the sun . r ’ “ I h e O phyl ac t us says that the bright shining stone in the ” of s sun image Phosphorus he under tands to be the . All sun these are very proper for the , the king of gods or stars , and which he also thought wh o made the first mention of s w the even hollo chambers in the statue of Moloch . In the b m same number is ascribed to Mithra , who y the unani ous of s consent of antiquity , and especially the ancient in criptions , a s sun is regarded being the same as the , Shines with many s M i t hi r or s colour . But Mithri , Mether, in Per ian , signifies d s a n d s s of of yna ty or lord , thi is al o one the titles Moloch . n n G e Saturn amo g the Latins , and Chronos amo g the r eks,

- s i s oft times considered to be Moch . Infant o r children were m victi s com mon to both , and that nefarious sacred rite F W FISHES, FLOWERS, AND IRE ORSHIP . 7 9 would see m to have migrated from Syria into Europe and “ Pe sc e n n i us F s Africa . e tus says that the Carthaginians s ff m were accu tomed to o er hu an victims to Saturn , and when they were overcome in battle by Agathocles , king of t h i s od wa s the Siculi, he (the king) believed hat g angry t m with him , and , therefore, hat he might diligently ake m t wo the necessary expiation, h e i molated to this god f t hundred children o the nobili y . Those who had no children ” t o h were forced buy t em from the poor . —“ Tertullian writes That impiou s custom continued in b s s Africa down to the times of Ti eria . The e sacred rites of o s m of the Ph enician proceeded fro those the Syrians , as m ﬁ fe s s m m t he sole n use of and drum a ong the will prove . For the lamentation s of the ch ildren or parents among tho se o ab ut to be sacriﬁced is held to be an atonement . It is almost certai n that by the na m e of Mol och this God was worshipped in like manner among the Carthaginians . A m i l e a r a n d The Carthaginians worshipped , that name comes from the same source as Molech . Both words are H or i pure ebrew Punic, if you regard the r etymology , and A m e l i ar they mean king, or perhaps may be queen , that is, s of A t l an t i a n s a nd m a may mean Ba ilia, queen the , which y l e st i s For a s n C e . refer to , queen of the Carthaginians amo g or o s ss so them Bel Uranus is a god , and C ele tis a godde , s o s Uranus and Ba ilia may be a god and g ddes among them . And from the sa m e source we must look for the name of

- i n - l a w of H of h i s Milieus, the father annibal , and daughter f I m i l o m i l c i s n o c t . I , which is quee , and , a Car haginian general h o Melech means king, and Malc a queen , which they pron unce “ l s H s s e I m i c i s . Moli ns and Strabo say that ercule , wor hipped M l c a r s M l c a r t h e t o e os . among the Tyrians, was called or ut of De m a r un s B he was the son Jove , and he is the same o H as the Ph enician and Carthaginian ercules, who was wa s appeased by human victims as Moloch . The ﬁrst part of his name was evidently derived fro m Melech of the m s H was Hebrews , for al o t by the same word ercules known A m at h usi an s A m at h us wa s o n among the . a city of Ph e icia, s of o se a d s s and an i land the Ph enician a join Cypru , and in m a h s it there i s al so a city called A t u . The latter had m w s sacred rites in common with the for er . What the ord i s n ot s of Artos or A r t h os in the name mean clear . Trace s m s B om i l c a r it, however, are een in the Punic na e and 80 W FISHES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE ORSH IP

H B o m amilcar . In eotia, which retains any names which C b h i m m oe admus rought with fro Ph nicia, there is a river Hal i a r t us and a city called , named after the builder and Sc ol us discoverer . In there is likewise an image of Mega l a r us t . held in cgreat esteem Some think it is th e image of M e al ar t i an the g Ceres, and derive it from the Greek word b sh e wa s artos, which means bread , ecause the goddess of corn ” B ut h od wa s o w atever the g , his Ph enician origin is C evident, for admus, Ismenus, and Thebes were all Ph oenician H b w A r i t z names , and perhaps the e re word in artes passed M l i M e l i e c ar t e s c at us . A r i t z into , which some read means M e l i c a rit z r very strong, and thus signifies a strong king o s M e l i ca r t os tyrant, and the word could readily pa s into . A r t ai oi Thence perhaps in the Persian language is heroes, or those who in the olden period s made themselves par t i c ul a r l y illustrious, and the word with this idea is present m A r t ox e r x i s A rt ab a i s H s . in the na es and ence in Persian , or Artas meant great illustrious, and Artana kingdoms, and H A r t oxe r x i s erodotus says that means a great warrior . Among the ancient Persians and Syrians in customs s b Th and languages many thing were com mon to oth . e Persians are accounted among our Syrians n ow and then by European writers, and Babylon is called a Persian city . “ t h e fi of I As to horrid sacri ce , the slaying children , ts origin does not lie concealed if there i s any t r ut li in n Ph oenician annals . There is a tradition amo g them that S on e of m s of o aturn , the o t ancient kings Ph enicia, and whom they called Israel in order that h e might deliver his t o kingdom from the greatest peril of an impending war, son render the gods propitious, immolated an only begotten n r e t a He was of himself and wife A ob . first ornamented h wit the royal fillets, and then led to the altar built for t h e that purpose, and a wicked posterity , not understanding or case the circumstances , continued to follow his Am ong the m any usages derived by th e Sardes fro m o on e their Ph enician ancestors, of a singular character is still b O zi e se of F t h e practised y the , which ather Bresciani gives “ — of or t h e following account Towards the end March , of t beginning April , it is the cus om for young men and

’ ’ l d n S t s s s at Se e s yri an Dei ie . Hau er Tran sl ion . FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP 8 1 women to agree together to fill the rel ation of godfathers — s of . com a r e e c om a r e i s and godmother St John , p such the — r f phrase fo the ensuing year . At the end o May the pro com a r e h of posed , aving procured a segment of the bark a s of cork tree, fashion it in the shape a vase, and fills it with rich light mould in which are planted some grains of or barley wheat . The vase being placed in the sunshine, s well watered and carefully tended, the seed soon germinate , blades spring up , and , making a rapid growth , in the course — f - on e of o . twenty days that is, before the eve St John the vas e i s filled by a spreading and vigorous plant of o of H young c rn . It then receives the name ermes, or, more of Sn Nen n er s e commonly , , from a Sard word , which possibly has the Same signification as the Ph oenician name of garden ; of Similar vases being called , in ancient times, the gardens ” Adonis . F “ R b S orester in his am les in Corsica and ardinia, — “ quoting the above and remarking upon it says O h t h e of eve St . John , the cereal vase, ornamented with ribbons, s on is expo ed a balcony, decorated with garlands and flags . F m so or h a l l i c or erly , al a little image in female attire, p s t h e emblem moulded in clay , such as were exhibited in s s of H m of fea t er es, were placed among the blades corn ; b ut thes e representations have been so severely denounced s by the Church , that they are fallen into di use . The young men flock in crowds to witnes s the spectacle and attend the w maidens h o come out to grace the feast . A great fire is lit on the piazza, round which they leap and gambol , the ’ St s c om ar e couple who have agreed to be . John p completing — the ceremony in this manner The man is placed on on e of on side the fire, the woman the other, each holding d of m s opposite en s a stick extended over the burning e ber , s which they pass rapidly backwards and forwards . Thi is so of t repeated three times, that the hand . each par y passes s thrice through the flames . The union being thus ealed , the com p a r a ti co or spiritual alliance is considered perfect . u i s After that, the music strikes p, and the festival con cluded by dances, prolonged to a late hour of the night . “ F B La ather resciani, Marmora , and other writers , j ustly consider the Ne n n e r e as on e of the many relics of f on e w the Phoenici an colonisation o Sardinia . Every kno s sun m that the and oon , under various names such as Isis G 82 FISHES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP .

of and Osiris, Adonis and Astarte, were the principal objects worship in the east from the earliest times ; the sun being of considered as the vivifying power universal nature, the moon represented as a female, deriving her light from v of s the sun , as the passi e principle production . The abstru e on of w out doctrines the origin things, thus shado ed by the s ancient seers, generated the grossest ideas, expre sed in the h a l l i c i p emblems, the lewdness and Obscenities m xed up in of of the popular worship the deiﬁed principles all existence . Of the prevalence in Sardinia of the Egypto - Ph oenician m ythology , in times the most remote, no one who has examined the large collection of relics in the Royal Museum C or s at agliari , who consults the plate attached to La ’

M . sur armora s work , can entertain any doubt But it is of prising to find , among the usages the Sardes at the of of present day, a very exact representation the rites a primitive religion , introduced into the island nearly thirty fi v e n ow of t h e years ago, though it partakes more character of a popular festival than a religious ceremony . “ One of the principal incidents in t h e Sa r de Nen n er e consists in the con secration of the spiritual relation between c om a r e com a r e b s s the p and , y their th rice cros ing hand over ’ of Da l m the fire in the ceremonies St . John s y . A stil ore extraordinary vestige of the idolatrous rite of passing through s s n of the fire, is aid to be still sub isti g among the customs of Lo udor o of the people g , in the neighbourhood Ozieri , and of in other parts Sardinia . — Of the worship of Moloch p ar excel l en ce the Syrian and o of fi r e —b S un Ph enician god y the ancient ardes, there is of doubted proof . We find among the prodigious quantity of such relics, collected from all parts the island , in the R C of l oyal Museu m at agliari , a statuette this ido , supposed to have been a household god . Its features are appalling great goggle eyes leer fi ercely from their hollow sockets ; the broad nostrils seem ready to sniff the fumes of the horrid sacrifice ; a wide gaping mouth grins with rabid fury a t the suppo sed victi m ; dark plumes spring from the fore s l head , like horn , and expanded wings from each shou der and knee . The image brandishes a sword with the left hand ,

s a s . holding in the right a mall gr te, formed of metal bar It s would appear that, thi being heated , the wretched victim on so was placed it, and then , scorched that the fumes of ‘

FISH ES , FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP . 83 the disgusting incense savoured in the nostrils of the rabid idol , it fell upon a brazier of burning coals beneath , where it was consumed . There is another idol in this collection of with the same truculent cast features, but horned , and of clasping a bunch snakes in the right hand , a trident in w i t s the left, ith serpents twined round legs . This image has a large orifice in the belly , and flames are issuing so between the ribs , that it would appear that when the of was brazen image the idol thoroughly heated , the unhappy children intended for sacrifice were thrust into the mouth — on in the navel , and there grilled savoury morsels, which s i t s the idol eems, from features, rabidly gloating, while the priests, we are told , endeavoured to drown the cries of the sufferers by Shouts and the noise of drums and timb rels

o e sm e t oo h rrid king, b ear d wi h bl d ’ O m a sac e e t s t e a s f hu n riﬁc , and par n r ; o for t h e o se of m s t m e s o Th ugh , n i dru and i br l l ud , ’ e c s s e a t a t sse t o ﬁ r e Th ir hildren crie unh rd , h pa d hr ugh ’ h i s m — P r o t To o . a . L s 92 . . 3 gri id l , i

This cruel child - sac r iﬁ ce was probably the gI V I n g of his h s so seed to Moloch , for whic any I raelite or stranger that our n e d of m a j in Israel guilty the cri e was, ccording to

f M osai c l aw n W e m the , to be sto ed to death . are infor ed in the Sacred Records that no suc h denunciations of the s of of idolatrie the surroundinog nations, no revelations the or of of r e attributes teachings the pure worship Jehovah , strained the Israelites from the practice of the foul and i n i of c el r tes their heathen neiOghbours , and we find in the latter days of the Jewish C om m on we al t h the prophet Jeremiah predic ting the desolation of the people for this si n t h e among others , that they had estranged themselves from of worship Jehovah , and burned incense to strange gods, b and filled the holy place with the lood of innocents, and burned their sons and their daughters with fire for b urnt ff o erings unto Baal . “ There appear to have been t wo modes in whic h the t ancien idolaters devoted their children to Moloch . In one they were sacrificed and consumed in th e manner already de sc ib e d ff of , a burnt o ering to the idol for the expiation the sins of their parents or thei r people . In the other they m u of were only ade to pass through the fire, in hono r the as of deity, and a sort initiation into his mysteries, and consecration to his service . 84 FISH ES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP .

K of Thus Ahaz , ing Judah , is said to have made his son h to pass th roug the fire, according to the abominations f o the heathen . And it is reckoned in the catalogue of the of w of sins Judah , which dre on them the vengeance God , ‘ l that they built th e high places of Baa , to cause their sons M ’ and their daughters to pass th rough the fire unto oloch . “ of In the case infants , it is supposed that this initiation , ‘ ’ this b aptism b y fire was performed either by placing them on a sort of grate su spen ded by chains from the vault of the temple, and passed rapidly over the sacred fire, or by the priests taking the infants I n their arms and swaying them to and fro over or across the fire, chanting mean or a while certain prayers inc ntations . With respect to of children older growth , they were made to leap naked fi r e b b through the efore the idol , so that their whole odies might be touched by the sacred flames, and purified , as it

b . were, y contact with the divinity S we b F The ardes, are informed y ather Bresciani , still t hi S ‘ i n i ti at i on preserve a custom representing by fire, but as o an d in other Ph enician rites practices, without the slightest f of s o . idea their profane origin In the first days pring, on e of from end the island to the other, the villagers assemble and light great fires in the piazza and at the cross roads . The flames beginning to ascend , the children leap s o through them at a bound , rapidly and with such dexterity that when the flames are highest it is seldom that their clothes or a hair of their head are singed . They continue b this practice till the fuel is reduced to em ers, the musicians m eanwhile playing on the l i on edda tunes adapted to a Ph r r i c r e r e y dance . This, says the learned father, is a p se n t at i on of the initiation th rough fire into the mysteries of ” L M ol oc h . 1 “ N H was a ergal , which is a ebrew word , , perhaps, i n Se ft a perpetual fire most religiously preserved their , or C ut hi t e s C ut h us sacred places . The were so called from , b of which was oth the name a river and region in Persia, and fro m which they were carried into Samaria in very b S of large num ers . trabo confirms the existence the sacred ‘ He fire in Persia in b ook fifteen . says that in th e temples

x 5 m xx u 3 . J e re i ah .

’ 1 Se e Bre sci ani an d F orre st e r s Sardinia .

86 . FISHES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP in every sacrifice they especially invoked h i m as the Romans did Janus . And hence , bound by religion , they did not dare to pollute fire destined for daily uses with any un P r at h i a or i . e P r e a b cleanliness The y , fires, were called y y Sui das H l s others . says that erac iu destroyed the Persian w P r e i a B ut cities and overth re their y . so ancient do the H s of a ebrews make the wor hip fire among the Ch ldeans, of C XL that Ur the haldeans, mentioned in Genesis , they N f took for their fire god. either do the writings o the ancients quoted by Mai m on ides prove anything else than that fi re was held in so m uch honour b ecause it was a of sun symb ol the . In regard to this most ancient worship ‘ ’ C a Ne b ochi m in hald ea he thus discourses in More , book m was th ree , chapter thirty It is known that Abraha fi r e born among a people who served , and who , in their was credulity , believed there no other god except the stars, and I will i n this chapter make you acquainted with their b s ooks, which are not found with us tran lated in the s Arabic language . In their narration and ancient contentions w you will kno their reasons and opinions . Their credulity is proved to you in their worship of the stars which they s un believed to be gods , and that the is the greater among A n d the gods . they said that the other planets are gods, of but that the sun and moon are the greatest their gods . Y ou will find what they undoubtedly say , that the sun w governs the upper and lo er world . All this you will find in their books ; and they speak of the condit ion of Abra h am , and they declare further that Abraham was born and He educated in the land of fire worshippers . there con t r a di c t e d their opinions, saying that there was another n ff operator b esides the su . And they o ered their reasons opposed to his, and among which they mentioned the of sun Operations the , which are manifest and which appear ’ b B ut was to e seen throughout the universe . Abraham cast into chains because he refused to adore their sun , and after of that he was robbed his goods, and by the king banished b sun into Canaan . They elieved that the ruled the world , was that there no god superior to him , and they adored wa s fire . Therefore, what else fire than the Sign or symbol of sun ! the , and very consonant to his nature And here, of N son of I think , is seen the god ahor, Terah , referred 5 — ‘ f 1. 3 o b to in Genesis xxx , The god A raham , the God W FISHES, FLO ERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP . 87 of N od of b ’ . H ahor, the g their father, j udge etwixt us ere, ou likewise, y have the foreign gods, which the ancients of a s t h e S served in the time Abraham , acred Scriptures ‘ 1 2 z— testify , in Joshua xx v . , And Joshua said unto all t h e L G od of people , Thus saith the ord Israel , your fathers on of dwelt the other side the flood in the olden time, b even Terah , the father of A raham and the father of Nahor ’ and they served other gods . Certainly before the Babylonian of P r a t h e i a captivity also, and in the kingdom Judea, those y of and the worship fire existed , if Joseph Scaliger conj ectures or correctly in Catullus, when , in the sacred language, that of P r at h e i a the prophets, he says that the y are called C h am an i m . “ xxx 4 . 1V . i In II Ch ronicles , , , we find as follows n ‘ — o regard to Josiah , th e king And they broke d wn the of B s t altars aalim in his pre ence, and he broke in o pieces ’ t h e images that were sacred to him . The images here in H C h a m an i m R s ebrew are called , and the abbins under tand ffi i e s of t h s n For n them to be e g e u . the su and heat were C h a m h a C h a m an i m m called , thence was used for the i ages, P r at h e an n su . t chapels, or y consecrated to the In Levi icus ‘ 30 — I s 1. xxv , , the words are as follows will de troy your ’ w C h am an i c e m m high places, and cut do n , that is, your i ages, th H e . The ebrews understand that their idols were dedicated f s un u in honour o the . In that place in Levitic s and elsewhere C h a m an i m and other sacred rites borrowed fro m ‘ ’ a r e r m the Persians rep oved, and a ong these high places, s m s called Bamoth in Hebrew . It was a cu to of the Per ians to perfor m their sacred rites in the most high and elevated f s fi h or places , and in this way they of ered acri ce to eaven ‘ H s was Jove . erodotus, in Clio , say it their custom to of ascend th e most lofty summits the mountains, and there m i molate their victims to Jove, and calling by the name of ’ was s Jove every circle of the heavens . But it a cu tom b oth of t h e Europeans and Asiatics to ascend the summits s H was of mountain to worship Jove . ence he called Epa r krios o the Lofty . H B A ss ri us That Jupiter, with erodotus, is elus and y , for in th at name he was called Jove in the m ost ancient of as A t h e n ocl e s theology the Persians, Berosus, , and Sima s for chus write . It is a que tion the learned whether in O m an us or A m an us the god , , whom Strabo mentions, reference 88 . FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP

h a m a i m Ha m an i m S m a C n . y be had to , or caliger thinks in fﬁ A c h aem e n i s the a rmative, and he thence deduces and s A m an us wa A c h ae m e n i ss . s , who denote Per ian extraction indeed the sun , as Anaitis was the moon , and who were D No a . c lled iana and Venus one, however, is ignorant that t h e of sun Persians worshipped ﬁre as a symbol the , and D of s that is the reason why atis, the captain a hip under X D m erxes, left the island of elos unharmed , inas uch as it A s s or . was acred to the sun , Apollo to the other kind

\ of C h am an i m or e ﬁ t o d K , gy reduced pow er by ing Josiah , ‘ w K 111. 11 the following ill be found in II . ings, xx , , And in process of time h e removed the h orses which the King of Judah had given to the sun , in the entrance of the

t h e of N - temple of Lord , near the tabernacle athan melech wh o t h e b the eunuch , was a prince in su urbs, and he burnt ’

h . s s the c ariots of the sun in ﬁre These also, perhap , hould b e C h a m an i m C i m c hi L call ed , as , Solomon Jarchi , and evi B e n Gershon explain that place concerni n g the horses and sun m chariot, that, while adoring the rising , they led the in solemn pom p from the entrance of the temple to the

f N - s t abernacle o athan melech . This more probably mean the molten images of the horses and chariots con secrated to the sun for s , , among the Persians, the hor e was sacred to the sun , and accustomed to be sacriﬁced to it . The same custom wa s n m transpl anted among the Grecians . In ancie t ti es the of chariots were also dedicated to the same, as the swiftest B ut was of swift gods . their place at the door the True G sun s od. The Jews worshipped the towards the ea t within V 14 ‘ the vestibule of the door . Thus in Ezekiel III . , , And b d of d b w ehol , near the temple the Lor , et een the vestibule

t w - ﬁ v e and the altar, there were as if enty men , Whose backs of were towards the temple the Lord , and their faces towards t h e i n east, and they adored the sun the

F m of H rom ost the classic authors, such as omer, b H d &c Ti ullus, orace, Ovi , Euripides, Aristophanes, Virgil , . , we gather that every Greek and Roman house had its altar on v which ﬁre was e er burning . At night it was covered up with ashes so as to reserve some of the wood for the m w Da orro and keep it gently and Slowly smouldering . y of by day , th e ﬁrst thing in the morning, the master th e

* ’ ’ Se l de n s S De t s Hausse r s T a s at o . yrian i ie , r n l i n FISH ES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSH IP . 89 house applied himself to the rousing up or rekindling of the fi r e for , in order that it might be ready the coming ceremonies and worship ; in his absence fro m home this s duty devolved upon his Wife as his neare t relation . Writers tell us that the fire did n ot cease to burn until the family s had altogether perished , and an extingui hed hearth in early days meant the same thing as an extinguished family . Nor was the keeping up of this fire a mere matter of s n unmeaning form , a Simple custom to which no ig ification of any particular importance was attached ; it was e ssentially ’ connected with the people s most ancient and cherished l So re igious beliefs . serious a matter was it th at even the f wa s particular kind o wood specified . Virgil and Plutarch distinctly state that only certain trees ought to be u sed for such a purpose, and these were kept sacred and forbidden n for other uses . Th e fire, accordi g to Euripides and Ovid , must be kept pure— no polluted object might be cast into n o ff it, o ensive action might be performed in its presence . wa s on e As we remark in another place, there day in the year (March l st in Rome) when all fires and lights were — put out but immediately renewed with the observation of m any rites . The strictest rules had to b e attended to on these occasions ; it wa s forbidden to renew the fire from — any remaining spark of the ol d indeed it was essential to thoroughly extinguis h every spark of the previous flam e neither m ight a spark b e struck from flint and steel ; only ’ b y t h e sun s rays or by rub bing t wo pieces of wood together m n e w b e fi r e was ight the fire started into being, for th e — regarded as the representative of the s un the greatest of W l wa . s lights and fires, and as such was adored el it not or of unreasonable to be wondered at , that men , for want b etter knowledge, should render divine honours to that from which they received such benefits ; they sa w the light and heat of the s un pouring down upon the earth and in con de w t s j unction with the rain and , sof ening its cru t, swelling and fructifying its s eed and bringing forth fro m it food and i s so nour hment for man and beast . And they prayed as we “ s : R w read in the Orphic hymn ender us al ays flourishing, w : al ays happy, O fire thou who art eternal , beautiful , ever n ouri sh e st young ; thou who , thou who art rich , receive our ff favourably these o erings , and in return give us happiness ” and sweet health . 90 . FISH ES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSH IP

The ﬁre seems to have b een perpetually invoked ; hardly m s l or a monument was ade, hardly a hou eho d business duty or performed engagement fulﬁlled , without a prayer to it ; if a man left his home for a brief while , he worshipped the

fire ; when he returned , before he sal uted his nearest relatives, was fE sch l uS of the same duty observed . y tells Agamemnon of m returning from Troy, and instead going to the te ple and f b returning thanks to Jupiter, of ering thanksgiving efore the w s o n . fire in his house Euripides, also, repre ents the dying “ s : s o Alcesti speaking to the fire Mi tress , I g beneath the earth , and for the last time fall before thee, and address thee . m n e b o Protect y infa t children ; giv to my y a tender wife, b a and to my daughter a noble hus nd . Let them not die, e like their mother, before the time but may they l ad a long r- and happy life in their fathe land . “ De Coulanges says the sacred fire was a sort of i n s ff providence the family . Sacrifice were o ered to it, and not merely was the flame supplied with wood , but upon the i l o s of . altar were poured wine , , incen e and the fat victims The god graciously recei v ed these offerings and devoured R s n them . adiant with atisfactio , he rose above the altar, and lit up the worshipper with his brightness . Then was the moment for the suppliant h umbly to invoke him and ” h i s give heartfelt utterance to prayer . “ ” C w of orresponding ith the grace modern times , recited wa s of before and after meals, the tribute prayer and praise uttered b y the ancient before his fi re when he was about to of s He partake food and when he h ad sati fied his h unger . s went even further than the modern doe , for before a particle of food wa s eaten a due proportion of meat and drink had out od to be poured upon the altar and presented to the g . u And when the flame rose p, they regarded it as th e deity rearing himself in their mid st a n d consuming what had been presented . If we turn to the Sacred Books of the East we shal l find h ow strong a hold this Fire W orship has upon the H d m o indoo min , and the i portance attached to a due obs r of of I I I vance all points ritual connected with i t . the “ ” Laws of Manu we find directions for his guidance extend ing to the most ordinary domestic necessities and some of h we t S whic cannot very well repeat in hese pages . ome of his private necessities must not be satisfied in view of the FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP . 9 1

fire but he must retire either into darkness or out of sight of “ Le t w h i s — it . him not blo a fire with mouth Le t him not n ot throw any impure substance into the fire , let him warm — his feet at i t Let him not place fire under a bed or the n or like ; step over it, nor place it when he Sleeps at the — foot e n d of his bed Let him keep his right a r m uncovered — in a place where a sacred fire i s kept A Brahmana wh o is m c ow m impure ost not touch with his hand a , a Brah ana, or fire ; nor, being in good health , let him look at the k “ s . n luminaries in the y while he is impure Then agai , A Brahman a Shall offer of the cooked food destined for the V ai sv ade v a in the sacred do m estic fire to the following : F deities irst to Agni , and next to Soma , then to both s these gods conjointly, further to all the god , and then to Dh K n e w m anvantari , further to uhu (the goddess of the oon A n um at i s u day) , to (the goddes of the f ll moon day) , to Pr a a at i g p (the lord of creatures) , to heaven and earth con t o Sv i sh t ak r i t j ointly, and finally Agni (the fire which performs the sacrifice And so on in m any other n f o e o . places, in which the king is to behave like fire of Let the king emulate the energetic action of Indra, the sun of of of of , the wind , Yama, Varuna, the moon , of the of fire, and the earth . If he is ardent in wrath against s criminals and endowed with brilliant energy, and de troys t wicked vassals , then his character is said to resemble hat of fire . “ Turning to the Ri g Veda we find Hymns to Agni ” (the god of fire) and the Maruts (the storm gods) “ s 1. Thou art called forth to this fair acrifice for a ' ” of M a r ut s c om e ! draught milk ; with the hither, O Agni “ 2 No d . o g , indeed , no mortal , is beyond the might of m on e a s thee, the ighty ; with the M rut come hither, O ” g ! A b ni “ 3 w of sn D . Those who kno the great Sky, the Vi e evas ! ” without guile with those Maruts come hither, O Agni “ 4 wh o n . The wild ones Sing their song, unco querable by force ; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni “ 5 . Those who are brilliant, of awful Shape, powerful , of t h e and devourers foes ; with Maruts come hither , O A gni ! ” “ 6 . They who in heaven are enthroned as gods, in the m light of the fi r m am e n t ; with the Maruts co e hither, O Agni I 92 FISHES, FLOWERS, AND FIRE WORSHIP .

( C h se a I . They Who shoot with their darts across the w ” ith might ; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni ! “ 9 out t w . I pour to hee for the early draught the s eet ” of S ! j uice oma with the Maruts come hither, O Agni on e u Another says Agni , thou art the life, tho our art the patron of man . In return for prayers, bestow glory and riches on the father of a family who n ow addresses an d thee . Agni, thou art a wise protector a father ; to w w h ” o e e of . thee we life, are thy house old “ De : - was Coulanges says So the hearth god , as in h i m Greece, a tutelary deity . Men asked of abundance, and He was I a e d that the earth might be productive . p y to for health , and that a man might long enj oy the light and arrive ol d s m i s at age like the sun at his etting . Even wisdo For fi r e demanded , and pardon for Sin . as in Greece the was so was n god essentially pure , not only the Brah mi w b ut forbidden to thro anything filthy into his fire, he might not even warm his feet at it . The guilty man , also, own b as in Greece, might not approach his hearth efore he h was purified from the stain e had contracted . Assuredly the Greeks did not borrow this religion from H H d b ut the indoos, nor the in oos from the Greeks ; Greeks, H on e Italians, and indoos, belonged to and the same race, and their ancestors at a very early period h ad lived to C gether in entral Asia . There they had learnt this creed , s W b and e tablished their rites . hen the tri es gradually moved on e further away from another, they transported this religion on e b of G au e s with them , the to the anks the g , and the others to the Mediterranean . Afterwards, some learnt to s B b ut wor hip rah ma, others Zeus, and others again Janus ; all had preserved as a legacy the earlier religion which they had practised at the common cradle of the race . b It is remarka le that in all sacrifices, even in those f or was fi r of ered to Zeus to Athene, it always to the e that the first invocation was made . At Olympia assembled Greece

ff - fi r e o ered her first sacrifice to the hearth , and the second to S R w Zeus . imilarly at ome the first to be adored was al ays wh w w o as b ut . e Vesta, nothing else the fire And so read “ of in the hymns the Veda : Before all gods, Agni must b e W e invoked . will pronounce thy holy name before that of O b e all the other immortals . Agni, whatever the god b our ff we honour y sacrifice, to thee is the holocaust o ered .

4 I 9 . F SHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP

s H ce ter n a Vesta This goddes is called by orace , and it wa s of N R in honour her that u ma erected a temple at ome, and dedicated virgin s to keep a perpetual ﬁre upon her wa of s s altars . One y repre enting thi goddess, it is said , was of in the habit a matron , holding in her right hand a ﬁ a m b e au or m or lamp , and sometimes a Palladiu small

Victory . The worship of Vesta and of ﬁre was brought from Phrygia into Italy by [Eneas and the other Troj ans who s To l ZE n e as re orted thither . this purpose Virgi observes that , of before he left the palace his father, had taken away the

ﬁre fro m the sacred hearth . The name Vesta was synony m ous with the C haldean and Persian Avesta and hence t of Zoroas er gave to his book on the worship ﬁre, the name

i . of A or A b e st a e . vesta , . , the custody of ﬁre R The Vestals were the virgins in Ancient ome , con se c r at e d t o s of the ervice the goddess Vesta, whose worship , E we h ave said , was brought into Italy by neas, and one of wa s their special duties the watching of the sacred ﬁre, the going out of which wa s visited upon them with such severe

whipping . This ﬁre , which they had to watch so j ealously wa s on and carefully , neither on an altar nor a hearth , s s t wo a c a e but in little earthen ves el with handles, c lled p dun u l a wa s of c . It held a pledge of the empire the world . out If it went , it was j udged a very unlucky prognostic ,

and was to be expiated with infinite ceremonies . Among R m F wa s b e the o ans, estus tells us , it only to rekindled of B by rubbing a kind wood proper for the purpose . ut s h i s of N among the Greek , Plutarch , in life uma, observes, it was to be rekindled by exposing so m e inflam mable of s un matter in the centre a concave vessel held to the . i s R n ot It to be noted , the omans were the only people of m of who kept the perpetual fire Vesta, in i itation the celestial fires ; but the Greek s were possessed with the s ame De l hi an s s superstition ; particularly the p , Athenian , Tene i n i an s R C z c e & c . dians , Argives, hodians , y , Milesians, Ephesians, or t Magi, Magians , was the itle which the ancient s n s W v Per ians gave to thei r wise m e and philo ophers . hate er n of w v may be the origi the ord , and upon this great di ersity o m i t s w of pinion see s to have prevailed , corre ponds ith the d oc/mt among the Greeks ; sapientes among the Latins ; Druids a m ong the Gauls ; G yI I O SO phi st s among the Indians ;

s s . and prophet , prie ts among the Egyptians FISHES, FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHIP . 95

L ae r t i us Plato, Apuleius, , and others agree that the philosophy of the Magi related principally to the worship of d ; t he s f the go s they were person who were to of er prayers , ﬁ supplications and sacri ces, as if the gods would be heard

by them alone . They teach their doctrine concerning the nature and of s Lae r t i us h origin the gods, say , whom t ey think to be of fire, earth , and water ; they rej ect the use pictures and s images, and reprobate the Opinion that the god are male and female ; they discourse to the people concerning j ustice ; they think it impious to consume dead bodies with fire ; s they all practi e divination and prophecy, pretending that t h e gods appear to them ; they forbid the use of ornaments in dress ; they clothe themselves in a white robe ; they m of of ake use the ground as their bed, herbs, cheese and ff t bread for food , and of a reed for their sta . S rabo also h n relates, t at there were in Cappadocia a great umber of “ ” wh o P r e t hi or s of Magi , were called y , worshipper fire , of and many temples the Persian gods, in the midst of s which were altars attended by priest , who daily renewed n the sacred fire, accompanyi g the ceremony with m usic . of t h e was The chief doctrine Magi , that there were t wo of wa s principles, one which the cause of all good , and s f the other the cau e o all evil . The for m er was represented s s s m by light, and th e latter by darkne s, as their true t y bols ; a n d of the composition of the se t wo they supposed that all o t hings in the world were made . The good g d they always w n of orshipped before fire, as bei g the cause light, and e sun specially before the , as being in their Opinion the most

perfect fire, and causing the most perfect light ; and for this reason they had in all their temples fire constantly on burning altars erected in them for that purpose . Before s of these sacred fire , they performed all their public acts q ot i on e , as they likewise practis d their private devotions own u h their private fires in their houses . S c were ‘ e n e ts of Sm e r di s wh o was b e for e this sect when , the principal of of leader it, having usurped the crown after the death of r Cambyses, was slain by seven princes Pe sia ; and many of the Magians, who adhered to him , Shared likewise the

s . n s s ame fate In co sequence Of thi event, tho e who adopted t h e of s wa s sentiments this ect were called , by y of deri ion ,

m i e - ush of Magians, from g g , which signiﬁed , in the language 96 FISHES , FLOWERS , AND FIRE WORSHI P .

on e hi s the country then in use, that had ears cropped . The whole sect of the Magian s would soon have sunk into fe w utter extinction if it had not , in a years after this

period , been revived and reformed by Zoroaster . This cele b r at e d Z r philosopher , called by the Persians e dush t or

Z ar at ush t b t - of , egan about the hirty Sixth year the reign of D s of arius to re tore and reform the Magian system religion . He was not only excellently skilled in all the learning of h i s b ut s the East that prevailed in time, likewi e thoroughly s ver ed in the Jewish religion , and in all the sacred writings of the Old Testament that were then extant, whence some have inferred that h e was a native J e w both b y birth and profession ; and that he had been servant to on e of the l or D He m prophets, probably Ezekie aniel . ade his ﬁrst of Ki z appearance in Media, in the city , afterwards called A de r b i a n sa h j , as some y ; or according to ot ers, in Ecbatana, of afterwards Tau ris . Instead admitting the existence of t wo h e ﬁrst causes with the Magians , introduced a principle — e G od wh o superior to them both one suprem , created both out of these, and these two produced , according to his

sovereign pleasure, everything else . Zoroaster caused fire temples to be erect ed wherever h e e : wa s u n cam for having feigned that he taken p into heave , and there instructed in the doctrines he taught by God out of of e himself, the midst a great and most bright flam of fire, he taught his followers that fire was the truest shekinah of the divine presence ; that the s un being t h e of most perfect fire, God had there the th rone his glory, and the residence of his divine presence in a peculiar man our ner ; and next to this in elementary fire ; and , therefore , G od t he ordered them to direct all their worship to , firs sun towards the , which they called Mith ra, and next towards their sacred fires ; and when they came before these fires on to worship , they always approached them the west side, d t owar d that having their faces towar s them , and also sdé ; s un rising at the same time, they might direct their worship s towards both . And in this posture they alway performed t h e every act of their worship . Zoroaster also pre ended th at brought some of the heavenly fire with hi m on his retu rn on of and placed it the altar the first fire temple, which Ki z i t t o he erected at , in Media, whence was propagated all the rest ; and on this account their priests carefully watched it an d never suffered it to b e extinguished .

P H A L L I C S E R I E S

8v C R. o UM 7 6 C , VELL , / EA H .

v er l i m i ted n u m b er Only a y , privately printed .

—A D of s of PHA L L I C I S M . escription the Wor hip

n - Li ga m Yo n i in various parts Of the World , and i n d f of if erent Ages, with an Account Ancient and

C of Modern rosses, particularly the C r ux A n s at a (or Handled Cross ) and other Symbols connected with of r the Mysteries S e x W o s h i p .

’ On l a ew co i es to b e sol d wi th sets a t 7 b or y f p / , se a r a tel p y,

— A n R O PHI O L A T R E I A . Account of the ites and

s R se De My teries connected with the Origin , i , and v e I O pm e n t of S e r pe n t W o r s h i p in various parts

of the World , enriched with Interesting Traditions, and a full description of the celebrated Serpent Mounds

of and Temples, the whole forming an exposition one f of Ph l r e x o r h a l W s . o the phases i c , o S i p

P L L I B UM T R M HA C O J E C T S , MON EN S AND E AINS ; Illustrations of the Rise and Develop m ent of the

P W an d i t s h a l l i c I d e a (Sex orship) , embodiment in

of N E tch ed Fr on ti s i ece Works ature and Art . p .

— A D C U L T US A R B O R U M . escriptive Account of Ph a l l c T r e e n i W o r s h i p , with illustrative Lege ds,

Su e rst i t i on s s n &c . p Usage , ; exhibiting its Origi and Development amongst the Eastern and Western Nations W of . the orld, from the earliest to modern times