Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). The Golden Bough. 1922.
Subject Index
| Warlock, the invulnerable, stories of, 668 |
| Warramunga of Central Australia, 17 |
| Warriors tabooed, 210, 594 |
| Warts, transferred to ash-tree, 546 |
| Warua, the, 198 |
| Washing, forbidden for magical reasons, 21, 23, 68; practised as a ceremonial purification by the Jews, and by the Greeks, 473 |
| Wataturu of East Africa, 85 |
| Watchdogs, charm to silence, 31 |
| Water, used in charms, 26, 63, 67, 71, 341; kings of, 108; in Midsummer festival, 154, 625; of Life, Ishtar sprinkled with, 326; used to wash away sins, 543 |
| Water-ousel, heart of, eaten to make eater wise and eloquent, 496 |
| —— -spirits, propitiation of, 127; women married to, 145; sacrifices to, 146; danger of, 192 |
| Wawamba of Central Africa, 76 |
| Wax figures in magic, 543–544 |
| Weapon and wound, contagious magic of, 41–43 |
| Weapons, prayers to, 27; of warriors, purification of, 214; sharp, tabooed, 226 |
| Weariness, transferred to stones, 540 |
| Weather, magical control of the, 60–83 |
| Weaving, charm to ensure skill in, 32 |
| Wedding ring amulet against witchcraft, 243 |
| Weevils spared by Esthonian peasants, 530 |
| Wells, cleansed as rain-charm, 67; menstruous women kept from, 604, 606 |
| Wends, the, 119, 402, 451; of Saxony, 708 |
| Wennland in Sweden, treatment of strangers on the threshing-floor in, 431; grain of last sheaf baked in a girl-shaped loaf in, 480 |
| Westermarck, Dr. Edward, 642, 643 |
| Westphalia, the Whitsuntide Bride in, 135; the last sheaf at harvest in, 401; the Harvest-cock in, 451; Easter fires in, 615; the Yule log in, 637 |
| Wetar, East Indian island, stabbing people’s shadows in, 189; belief regarding leprosy in, 473 |
| Whale, solemn burial of dead, 223 |
| Whale’s ghost, fear of injuring, 220 |
| Whalers, taboos observed by, 217, 220, 221 |
| Whales, ceremonies observed at the slaughter of, 523 |
| Wheat and barley, the cultivation of, introduced by Osiris, 363; discovered by Isis, 382 |
| Wheat Bride, 408; -cock, 451; -cow, 457; -dog, 448, 449; -goat, 454; -man, 428; -mother, 400; -pug, 449; -saw, 460; -wolf, 449, 450 |
| Wheel, effigy of death attached to a, 311; fire kindled by the rotation of a, 627, 639, 644; as a symbol of the sun, 644 |
| Wheels, burning, rolled down hill, 612, 613, 615, 622–624, 626, 641, 643, 645, 646; rolled over fields at Midsummer to fertilise them, 629, 647; perhaps intended to burn witches, 649 |
| Whit-Monday, custom observed by Russian girls on, 128; the Leaf King at Hildesheim on, 130; the king of Bohemia on, 130; the king’s game on, 132; pretence of beheading a leaf-clad man on, 297; pretence of beheading the king on, 298–299 |
| Whitsun-Bride in Denmark, 133 |
| Whitsuntide, races at, 124, 129; contests for the kingship at, 129, 132; drama of Summer and Winter at, 317 |
| Whitsuntide Basket, 129; Bride, 132, 133, 135; Bridegroom, 133; crown, 132, 133; customs, 121, 124, 128–135; King, 129, 132, 133, 298–299; -lout, 128; mummers, 296–301; Queen, 131, 132, 299 |
| Wicker giants at popular festivals in Europe, 654; burnt in summer bonfires, 655 |
| Widows and widowers, mourning customs observed by, 207 |
| Wife, the Old, name given to the last corn cut, 403 |
| Wife’s infidelity thought to injure her absent husband, 23, 25 |
| Wild animals, propitiated by hunters, 518–532 |
| —— Man, a Whitsuntide mummer, 467 |
| Willow, mistletoe growing on, 660 |
| Willow-tree, 683; at festival of Green George among the gypsies, 126–127 |
| Winamwanga of Northern Rhodesia, 708 |
| Wind, the magical control of the, 80–83; of the Cross, 81; in the corn, sayings as to the, 399, 448, 454, 457, 459, 460, 463 |
| Winds, charms to calm the, 80; sold to sailors, 81; tied up in knots, 81; kept in jars, 170 |
| Wine, the sacramental use of, 498 |
| Winnowing basket, image of snake in, 535 |
| —— fan, in rain-making, 73; used to scatter ashes of human victims, 378, 443; an emblem of Dionysus, 388 |
| Winter, ceremony at the end of, 551; general clearance of evils at the beginning or end of, 575 |
| —— and Summer, dramatic battle of, 316–317 |
| Witch, burnt in Ireland, 56; burnt at St. Andrews, 243; name given to last corn cut after sunset, 403; Old, burning the, 429. See also Witches |
| “Witch-shots,” 649 |
| Witchcraft, dread of, 194, 236; strangers suspected of practising, 194; practised in Scotland, 542; protections against, 610, 620, 626–628, 648, 656, 663, 666, 702, 707; need-fire, a sovereign remedy for, 641; ailments attributed to, 649; fatal to milk and butter, 663 |
| Witches, 44; raise the wind, 80, 81; make use of cut hair, 234, 237; protections against, 243, 620, 627; expulsion of, 560; burning of, 560, 561, 621, 635, 658; shooting the, 561; effigies of, burnt in bonfires, 610, 612, 613, 648, 658; charm to protect fields against, 615; cast spells on cattle, 620; steal milk from cows, 620, 627, 628, 648; abroad on Walpurgis Night, 622; driving away, 622; resort to the Blocksberg, 625; steal milk and butter, 628; abroad at Hallowe’en, 634; cause hail and thunderstorms, 649; burning missiles |