TttE RITUAL OF BARROWS AND CIRCLES. 2ig 



" toute renaissance, et c'est sous son nom que le soleil reparait k 

 "V horizon oriental du ciel, puisqu' on 1' appelle 1' Horus de 1' 

 " Horizon, Har-em-Khour * 



Among the Hindus the heavens were divided into four quarters. 

 The south belonged to ancestral spirits, the north to men, and 

 the west to snakes ; while the gods approached mankind from the 

 east. 



Among the Buddhists, Stupas are solid-built domes. They are 

 of any size up to that at Peshawar, which is 400 feet in height. 

 Their ringed enclosure possesses four entrances, which correspond 

 with the cardinal points ; and within each of them is a pedestal 

 for one or other of the four Buddhas. That opposite .the eastern 

 entrance represents the first mortal Buddha, and contains a 

 Reliquary. A little way within the enclosure is a railing which 

 limits the processional path. Round this the worshipper walks 

 " sunwise," repeating sacred sentences. The apparent path of 

 the sun round the earth is from east, south, west ; the right hand, 

 as it were, being always turned towards the centre, towards the 

 earth. The " praying wheel " must be revolved sunwise, or dire 

 misfortune will follow. 



A worn path is found encircling many of the holy-wells in 

 Ireland. Those who tread it go sunwise. The solar disc, 

 representing a supreme moral and material energy, encourages 

 and sustains them. At Chapel Uny, in Cornwall, children 

 afflicted with diseases were first dipped in the holy- well, and then 

 dragged three times round its margin, on the grass, against the 

 sun, whereby the influence adverse to evil was augmented, f 



In cathedrals which possess an ambulatory, the procession of 

 clergy and choir passes round the altar sunwise ; and when a 

 grave-yard is consecrated, the Bishop follows the sun's path. 

 The English Pontifical, now at Rouen, directs that in the dedi- 

 cation of churches the procession go round the edifice three 

 times before it enters. 



* Paul Pierret. 

 t W. C. Borlase, The Age of the Saints, p. 99. 



