94 Kafael Karsten [N:o 1 



at the most have been venerated by the ancient Aryans in 

 the same way as it is still venerated by certain rude tribes 

 in Brazil and by the negroes of west Africa, who at the ap- 

 pearance of the new moon greet it with loud exclamation 

 whether in delight or in disgust, clap their hands together 

 and vociferate prayers to it. But if notwithstandiug this the 

 moon is far from being the principal object of worship among 

 these tribes, we have still less reason for supposing this to 

 have been so among the ancient Aryans. Professor Sieckes 

 curious attempt to vindicate to the moon the first rank in early 

 Indo-European pantheon is entirely futile and is, in fact, hardly 

 worthy of serious confutation ^). 



Of the other heavenly bodies and phenomena there are 

 two, the sun-spirit and the rain-spirit, which we know to have 

 attained to some religions importance among different races of 

 mankind only after the agricultural stage has been reached ^). 

 How far agriculture was known to the primitive Aryans is a 

 disputed question. That in one form or another it was known 

 them seems undisputable. But it is probable that in primi- 

 tive ages it did not play the same part in their economic life 

 as in historic times and was of far less importance than pas- 

 torage and hunting. This is all the more likely as among the 

 Indo-Europeans the cultivation of the soil seems to have been 

 mainly the business of the women, such work being conside- 

 red disgraceful to a man ^). The primitive Greeks especially, 



1) Stränge also are the grounds on which Siecke denies the existence of 

 a special thunder-deity among the early Indo-Europeans. The savage, he 

 maintains, is able to deify only visible objects, not an incidental phenomenon 

 liiie thunder or lightning. The primitive Aryans, therefore, according to him 

 ascribed these phenomena to those heavenly bodies vi^hich they clearly perceived 

 both before and after the thunderstorm, namely, the sun and the moon. {TJrre- 

 ligion der Indo-germanen, p. 25). A very fallacious argument! The savage, for 

 instance, firmly believes that diseases are caused by actual supernatural beings 

 althongh there is no substantial reality underlying this belief. To infer rashly 

 from a visible effect to an invisible cause is, indeed, very characteristic of a 

 primitive mind. 



') Cf. Glodd, Animism, p. 52. 



*) Cf. Hirt, Die Indo-germanen, I, p. 253. Professor Hirt, however, in 

 opposition to many other writers, seems to have rather a high idea of the part 

 agriculture played among the early Indo-Europeans (cf. I p. 257). 



