"THE RED FLOWER."

Otago Witness, Issue 3333, 30 January 1918, Page 52

"THE RED FLOWER."

. By Jessie Mackay. Among the forces of Nature which have been deified in the past and obscurely glorified in later superstition none has been more suggestive and deep-rooted in i human belief than fire. From the frankly : solar heroes of the early religions—Balder, Gilgames, Indra, Apollo, and the rest—there was no unpassable barrier to cross before coming to the earth-born gods of fire, the salamander pantheon of the primitive tribes whose hearth-spirits claimed . their family worship as apart from the mightier tribal deities. True, we hesitate to call that rreat band of culture-heroes, the Fire-bringers, earth-born, ranging as they do from the Greek Prometheus to the Maori Maui; and the cult of the Hindu Agni stands out not greatly more restricted, perhaps, than that of Indra himself in all his celestial brilliancy. The force and tenacity of fire-myths is due to at least three causes—the dependence of men upon fire, the dread of fire among men, and the standing mystery ! of how man first learned to make fire. It is considered most probable that before he learned any of the cumbrous methods I for producing fire known to savage peoples, | he had already caught and treasured the dread element when set loose by lightning. ! More probable still, in certain districts,j might have been a utilising of the action •of the volcano, itself named after that lame and unattractive deity, the Greek Vulcan, whom Francis Thompson called "the heavenly farrier." We may well imagine that such an origin would increase the awe regarding a force either dropped by the radiant lords of heaven or flung up by the terrible rulers of the Underworld, and that every safeguard and every honour primitive man could devise would surround so mysterious and yet so indispensable an object. And it was absolutely necessary to invent some such myth as that of Maui's stolen fire entering into certain forest trees to account for the inflammable nature of the fire-produc-ing woods. And it stands to primitive reason that long after more laborious but dependable means had been found for replenishing the hearth-fire, there would still attach a ceremonial value and solemnity to the fire fallen from heaven or jetting Hip without human agency. In no case, by the way, is savage man known j to be without a knowledge of fire; but j at least one race, the dwarfs of Andaman, have no method of • making it for themselves, and it is asserted, though not as yet with finality, that some backward tribes on the upper waters of the Amazon are equally unskilful. Leaving to one side the place of the fire-gods in mythology proper, an exceedingly interesting paper by Winifred S. j Blackmail in " Folk-lore " deals with a number of superstitions still extant in Europe and elsewhere, as well as the : beliefs of present-dav tribes not yet civilised. Naturallv. the lightning-kindled fire is one of the first under review, and here we learn that some of the Nigerian natives not only rush for the celestial spark, but are severely penalised if they do not extinguish the used or common flame already in their camps to make room for the divine gift. To us the cleansing properties of fire are a truism, but to the untaught savage it is not an unreasonable thought that the red element itself becomes contaminated by long domestic use, by nearness to sickness, and by the presence of death. From this comes the regular annual ceremonial of renewing the fire so well known both in pagan countries and among the sacerdotal churches of our own faith. Catholic church-lights, put out on Good Friday, are rekindled, often by flint and steel, for Holy Saturday. Similar usages are oart of the Greek Church ceremonial for Holv Week, and Miss Blackman was given an account of the making of new fire on Holy Saturday for the Anglican churches of Zanzibar. The converts of the Anglican mis- ; sionaries there come for miles to get the new fire, made bv that ancient contriv- ' ance, the drill, and received as a heavenblessed supply for their spiritual needs ; until next Holy Week. The first idea of fire as a protection probably originated in the camp-fire that scared aw\ay the wild beasts of the wood. From that its ceremonial use in averting less obvious dangers easily arose. Very particularly in the hours of birth

and of death did primitive man invoke the aid of holy fire and blessed light to defend the new-born infant against the evil spirtis that would steal or injure it, or to guard the parting soul from the demons that wait to eeize it. In the latter case the more civilised paganism usually demands the lighting not only of the deathchamber but of the grave for a certain number of nights. The dying Hindu has a lamp placed in his hands to guide him to the land of the death-god, Yama. Three hundred and sixty nights are supposed to be spent on the journey thither, and as often must the light be lit. No one will build a door opening to the south, the road to Yama's abode. In superstitious Rumania the dying must hold a lamp or taper to light the soul to heaven and away from the spirits of evil. In " Hiawatha" the ghost of Kwasind is given a glowing ember and a burning firebrand with which to kindle camp-fires for the dead on their lonely journey to the "Land of the Hereafter."

Far back into the night of ages we read of the lamps lit for the souls of dead Egyptians between sunset and sunrise. In Madagascar a cruder belief impelled the friends of the departed to place an earthen dish with* fire in it at the head of the grave so that the soul might warm itself. In the lowest tribes, where sheer animism prevails, the primaeval fear of the dead returning to work evil to the living leads to yet another and much less friendly use of fire. This is the case among some of the Australian tribes, who. bury the body of the departed, but first cut off the head, which is then burnt on top of the grave. The idea is that the spirit jrises from the earth, but cannot see, because it is headless. In groping for the missing part of itself the spirit gets burnt, and gives up_,the struggle to return to the scenes of its earthly existence. In modern Greece, where, perhaps, in all Europe Christianity is most a veneer on ancient paganism, the ceremonial lamps over the grave play a strong part in the obsequies and the honouring of deceased friends. It is thought that till the body decays the spirit has still a connection with the living world—a connection which, appears to be a weariness to it; hence the pious duty of lighting the grave till complete dissolution with earth has taken place.

Again, fire is used as a charm for inducing fertility, and among the Hindus and the Parsees particularly the brightness and continuance of the household fire is believed to have a connection with the continuance of the family line. " May your lamp be always burning!" is a Parsee blessing, meaning, "May your line continue!" The same idea is conveyed by the imprecation of the Buriats (NeoSiberians), who say, " May thy fire be extinguished!" to an enemy, meaning, "May you. be childless!" Too many to mention are the various fire-charms and invocations for all manner of reasons, both in Europe and elsewhere. The old custom of passing the cattle through a light grass fire to preserve them from pestilence or other danger is still kept up, it is said, in the Isle of Man. The ceremonies of the Beltane Fire are too well known to describe. Altogether, if the " Book of the Bed Flower" were written, it would be no inconsiderable addition to the literature of mythology and folk-lore.