The Principles of Fasting (Folklore History Series) , livre ebook

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19 pages

English

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Fasting has long been connected with worship and penitence, many religious orders and tribal cultures use fasting. This book explores the reason for fasting and the special connection it has for the participants. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Sujets

Santé et bien-être

Diététique

Santé du quotidien

Santé au quotidien

Body Cleansing

Health

Detoxification

Fitness

diététique

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Publié par	Read Books Ltd.
Date de parution	07 novembre 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781447490784
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0350€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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The Principles Of Fasting
By
Edward Westermarck
Contents
The Principles of Fasting.
THE PRINCIPLES OF FASTING.
BY EDWARD WESTERMARCK, PH.D.
B Y fasting is understood abstinence from all food and drink, or at least-in a looser sense of the word-from certain kinds of food, for a determined period. The custom of fasting is wide-spread among peoples at very different stages of civilisation, and is practised for a variety of purposes. In the present article I shall attempt to set forth the chief principles to which it may be traced.
A frequent and well-known object of fasting is to serve as a means of having supernatural converse, or acquiring supernatural powers. 1 The savage, as Professor Tylor remarks, has many a time, for days and weeks together, to try involuntarily the effects of fasting, accompanied with other privations and with prolonged solitary contemplation in the desert or the forest. Under these circumstances he soon comes to see and talk with phantoms, which are to him visible personal spirits, and, having thus learnt the secret of spiritual intercourse, he thenceforth reproduces the cause in order to renew the effects. 2 The Hindus believe that a fasting person will ascend to the heaven of that god in whose name he observes the fast. 1 The Hebrews associated fasting with divine revelations. 2 St. Chrysostom says that fasting makes the soul brighter, and gives it wings to mount up and soar on high. 3
Ideas of this kind partly underlie the common practice of abstaining from food before or in connection with the performance of a magic or religious ceremony; 4 but there is yet another ground for this practice. The effect attributed to fasting is not merely psychical, but it also prevents pollution. Food may cause defilement, and, like other polluting matter, be detrimental to sanctity. Among the Maoris, no food is permitted to touch the head or hair of a chief, which is sacred; and if food is mentioned in connection with anything sacred (or tapu ) it is considered as an insult, and revenged as such. 5 So also a full stomach may be polluting. 6 This is obviously the reason why in Morocco and elsewhere 7 certain magic practices, in order to be efficacious, have to be performed before breakfast. The Masai use strong purges before they venture to eat holy meat. 1 The Caribs purified their bodies by purging, bloodletting, and fasting; 2 and the natives of the Antilles, at certain religious festivals, cleansed themselves by vomiting before they approached the sanctuary. 3 The true object of fasting often appears from the fact that it is practised hand in hand with other ceremonies of a purificatory character. A Lappish noaide , or wizard, prepares himself for the offering of a sacrifice by abstinence from food and ablutions. 4 Herodotus tells us that the ancient Egyptians fasted before making a sacrifice to Isis, and beat their bodies while the victims were burnt. 5 When a Hindu resolves to visit a sacred place, he has his head shaved two days preceding the commencement of his journey, and fasts the next day; on the last day of his journey he fasts again, and on his arrival at the sacred spot he has his whole body shaved, after which he bathes. 6 In Christianity we likewise meet with fasting as a rite of purification. At least as early as the time of Tertullian it was usual for communicants to prepare themselves by fasting for receiving the Eucharist; 7 and to this day Roman Catholicism regards it as unlawful to consecrate or partake of it after food or drink. 8 The Lent fast itself was partly interpreted as a purifying preparation for the holy table. 9 And in the early Church catechumens were also accustomed to fast before baptism. 1
In the case of a sacrifice it is considered necessary not only that he who offers it, but that the victim also, should be free from pollution. In ancient Egypt a sacrificial animal had to be perfectly clean. 2 According to Hindu notions the gods enjoy pure sacrifices only. 3 In the Kalika-Purana, a work supposed to have been written under the direction of Siva, it is said that if a man is offered he must be free from corporal defect and unstained with great crimes, and that if an animal is offered it must have exceeded its third year and be without blemish or disease; and in no case must the victim be a woman or a she animal, because, as it seems, females are regarded as naturally unclean. 4 According to the religious law of the Hebrews, no leaven or honey should be used in connection with vegetable offerings, on the ground that these articles have the effect of producing fermentation and tend to acidify and spoil anything with which they are mixed; 5 and the animal which was intended for sacrifice should be absolutely free from blemish 6 and at least eight days old, 7 that is, untainted with the impurity of birth. Quite in harmony with these prescriptions is the notion that human or animal victims have to abstain from food for some time before they are offered up. Among the Kandhs the man who was destined to be sacrificed was kept fasting from the preceding evening, but on the day of the sacrifice he was refreshed with a little milk and palm-sago; and before he was led forth from the village in solemn procession he was carefully washed and dressed in a new garment. 1 In Morocco it is not only considered meritorious for the people to fast on the day previous to the celebration of the yearly sacrificial feast, l- aid l-kbir , but in several parts of the country the sheep which is going to be sacrificed has to fast on that day or at least on the following morning, till some food is given it immediately before it is slaughtered. The Jewish custom which compels the first-born to fast on the eve of Passover 2 may also perhaps be a survival from a time when all the first-born belonged to the Lord. 3
In some cases the custom of fasting before the performance of a sacrifice may be due to the idea that it is dangerous or improper for the worshipper to partake of food before the god has had his share. In India a regular performance of two half-monthly sacrifices is enjoined on the Brahmanical householder for a period of thirty years from the time when he has set up a fire of his own-according to some authorities even for the rest of his life. The ceremony usually occupies two consecutive days, the first of which is chiefly taken up with preparatory rites and the vow of abstinence ( vrata ) by the sacrificer and his wife, whilst the second day is reserved for the main performance of the sacrifice. The vrata includes the abstention from certain kinds of food, especially meat, which will be offered to the gods on the following day, as also from other carnal pleasures. The Satapatha-Br hmana gives the following explanation of it:- The gods see through the mind of man; they know that, when he enters on this vow, he means to sacrifice to them the next morning. Therefore all the gods betake themselves to his house, and abide by him or the fires ( upa-vas ) in his house; whence this day is called upa-vasatha . Now, as it would even be unbecoming for him to take food before men who are staying with him as his guests have eaten; how much more would it be so, if he were to take food before the gods who are staying with him have eaten: let him therefore take no food at all. 1 It is hardly probable, however, that this is the original meaning of the abstinence in question. It occurs about the time of new moon and full moon; according to some native authorities the abstinence and sacrifice take place on the last two days of each half of the lunar month, whilst the generality of ritualistic writers consider the first day of the half-month-that is, the first and sixteenth days of the month-to be the proper time for the sacrifice. 2 We shall presently see how frequently fasting is observed on these occasions, presumably for fear of eating food which is supposed to have been polluted by the moon; hence it seems to me by no means improbable that the vrata has a similar origin, instead of being merely a rite preparatory to the sacrifice which follows it. But at the same time the idea that spirits or gods should have the first share of a meal is certainly very ancient, and may lead to actual fasting in case the offering for some reason or other is to be delayed. A Polynesian legend tells us that a man by name Maui once caught an immense fish. Then he left his brothers, saying to them:- After I am gone, be courageous and patient; do not eat food until I return, and do not let one fish be cut up, but rather leave it until I have carried an offering to the gods from this great haul of fish, and until I have found a priest, that fitting prayers and sacrifices may be offered to the god, and the necessary rites be completed in order. We shall thus all be purified. I will then return, and we can cut up this fish in safety, and it shall be fairly portioned out to this one, and to that one, and to that other. But as soon as Maui had gone, his brothers began at once to eat food, and to cut up the fish. Had Maui previously reached the sacred place, the heart of the deity would have been appeased with the offering of a portion of the fish which had been caught by his disciples, and all the male and female deities would have partaken of their portions of the sacrifice. But now the gods turned with wrath upon them, on account of the fish which they had thus cut up without having made a fitting sacrifice. 1
Among many peoples custom prescribes fasting after a death. Lucian says that at the funeral feast the parents of the deceased are prevailed upon by their relatives to take food, being almost prostrated by a three days fast. 2 We are told that among the Hindus children fast three days after the death of a parent, and a wife the same period after the death of her husband; 3 but according to a more recent statement, to be quoted presently, they do not altogether abstain from food. In one of the sacred books of In