Read Ebook: The sacred dance by Oesterley W O E William Oscar Emil

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Ebook has 1002 lines and 79592 words, and 21 pages

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY

Inscriptions 10

Pottery, etc. 10

Ancient Literature 11

Modern Literature 11

THE ORIGIN AND PURPOSES OF THE SACRED DANCE

THE SACRED DANCE AMONG THE ISRAELITES

The sacred processional dance 36

The encircling of a sacred object 37

The ecstatic dance 37

Sacred dances at Vintage and Harvest Festivals 39

Dances in celebration of victory 40

The sacred dance as a Circumcision rite 41

The sacred dance as a Marriage rite 41

The sacred dance as a Burial or Mourning rite 42

THE OLD TESTAMENT TERMS FOR "DANCING"

THE SACRED PROCESSIONAL DANCE, AND DANCES IN HONOUR OF SUPERNATURAL POWERS

SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 81

THE RITUAL DANCE ROUND A SACRED OBJECT

SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 104

THE ECSTATIC DANCE

SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 135

THE SACRED DANCE AT VINTAGE, HARVEST, AND OTHER FESTIVALS

SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 154

DANCES IN CELEBRATION OF VICTORY

SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 173

THE SACRED DANCE AS A MARRIAGE RITE

SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 191

DANCING AS A MOURNING AND BURIAL RITE

SUMMARY AND CONSIDERATIONS 219

INDEX 223

ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTORY

Our study is concerned with the "sacred" dance; that this epithet applied to the dance, at any rate during the earlier phases of its history and as still practised among many uncultured and even some semi-cultured peoples to-day, is more than justified, the following pages will, it is hoped, show.

Its extreme importance in the eyes of early man, who regarded it as indispensable at all the crises of life--initiation, puberty, marriage, burial--who used it as one of the essentials in worship, who saw in it a means of propitiating whatever supernatural powers he believed in, a means of communion with the deity, a means of obtaining good crops, fruitful marriages, and of communicating with the departed--to mention only its more important uses, shows that it is a subject worth investigating though the domain it occupies is but a modest one in the great sphere of the history of Religion.

When they dance all the spirits rejoice, as do all the people. When dancing, all food grows well; but when not dancing, food grows badly. No drums are beaten uselessly . When anyone dies drums are beaten to comfort friends.

The second was this:

Drum-beating and dancing are a sign of rejoicing and thanksgiving, in order that by so doing there may be a large harvest. If the dancing is not given there will be an end to the good growth; but if it is continued, all will go well. People come in from other villages and will dance all night. There will be several feasts during the time, and each leader of the dance will pray and thank the spirits for the good harvest.

The study of the subject brings out without a shadow of doubt that these answers illustrate what were, and still are to a great extent, the beliefs held in regard to the sacred dance by numbers of peoples in an undeveloped stage of culture. It is a good illustration of what, within a circumscribed area, holds good of the wider study of religions in general, that, as Farnell has so well put it,

"The human instinct of play," says Crawley, "is closely connected with the human love of excitement. The dance satisfies both, and its rhythmical character also makes it suitable for the expression of the most solemn and controlled emotions. It is at once the servant of Apollo and of Dionysus."

The close, one may almost say the inseparable, connexion between the dance and music is as marked in its sacred as in its secular character. In the first instance it is the rhythmic instinct which demands this, so that among many savages the "music" which accompanies the dance is the mere clapping of hands, or the striking together of pieces of wood, or the beating of the tom-tom, all in rhythmical time. The same is also found among some peoples more advanced on the path of culture, though they usually add the sound of other instruments, among which the flute figures prominently. Singing is, of course, and always has been, another favourite accompaniment to the dance. The Bedouin Arabs accompany their dances by the beating of cymbals or of hand-drums, or by clapping of hands; sometimes singing accompanies the dancing. This was also the case among the Israelites.

Another advantage of using the Old Testament for our various starting-points is that the Israelites were in that stage of culture in which a people still retains many more or less primitive rites and customs while pushing forward on the path of cultural development; so that among them we are in touch with the past and yet experiencing the upward trend that is taking place. Crawley truly says that "it is in the middle stages of culture that dancing is seen at its highest development"; that applies to the Israelites. It is like standing on an eminence and looking behind and before. That has its advantages.

At the same time, we are not blind to the drawbacks involved. For in some important instances the Old Testament is silent. We give reasons which we believe are sufficient to explain this silence. But when a particular type of the sacred dance is not mentioned in the Old Testament it must not be supposed that it did not exist; indirect evidence is forthcoming which makes it highly probable that the reverse is the case. For this reason we shall often refer to post-biblical Jewish custom and practice. Such a thing as the sacred dance is not likely, from the very nature of things, to have been an innovation of later ages; so that its existence in post-biblical times may well be regarded as the continuance of traditional custom; and if so, its existence among the Israelites of Old Testament times may be taken for granted.

Still, we realize the precariousness of seeming, in some cases, to build upon an apparently non-existing foundation; but the risk must be taken, and, as we hope to show, the evidence from subsequent times justifies the risk.

A few words must be said about the sources from which information regarding the sacred dance is to be gained.

There are a certain number of ancient inscriptions of various kinds upon which dancing is represented. On these the dancing is not always of a religious character; but it is not difficult to discern when it is religious and when secular. For example, there is a very valuable fragment of an Egyptian fresco belonging to the 18th dynasty in the British Museum, on which two nude women dancers are depicted; the dancing is accompanied by other women, some clapping their hands, and others playing the flute. But another part of the fresco shows clearly enough that the scene represents a banquet during which professional dancing is being performed for the entertainment of the guests. Though it is secular dancing that we have here the inscription is important from the present point of view, because the dancing, which is so graphically depicted, does not differ greatly from that shown on other Egyptian inscriptions, where it is unmistakably sacred. Egyptian inscriptions are those which offer most material here; one or two Hittite and Assyrian inscriptions are also available, and will be described later; but otherwise there is but little to be obtained from this source.

Our third source also offers abundance of material, viz. ancient literature; this source includes Egyptian literature ; the Old Testament and post-biblical Jewish literature; ancient Arabic literature; some of the ancient Church writers; and, above all, Greek and Latin classical authors, quotations from whom would alone fill a small volume.

As to the other class of modern literature, it can only be described as limitless; we refer to the vast number of volumes dealing with uncultured races. To mention even a tithe of those which have been used would be out of the question; references to a good many will be found in the following pages. But it is impossible for the present writer not to say how much he owes to the works of Sir J. G. Frazer; without their stimulus these pages would never have been written.

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