LXXVIII BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



life. Dancing- is the first primeval expression of joy as praise, 

 and is the fundamental element of worship. 



Sacrifice — In the second stage there is found an element of 

 religion, and hence of drama, which has its beginning in the 

 first stage, but is fully developed oidy in the second. In the 

 first stage, in order that men ma}' express their wants, they 

 dis])lay them either by placing the things themselves or their 

 symbols upon tlie altar. In the second stage tlie objects de- 

 sired are sacrificed. When a deity is woi'shipped, the things 

 desired are poured out ;ipon the ground as ol^lations, or con- 

 sumed in the fire as offerings, that the ghosts of the things 

 desired may be possessed by the ghostly deity. 



When human beings are buried, whether in the earth, the 

 air, or the fire, the same worship is accorded them, and the sac- 

 rifice made at the gra\'e. So the second stage of drama or 

 worship is sacrificial, while there yet remains the element 

 of praise in the dance. We are familiar with the character- 

 istics of this stage of the drama in the writings of Homer; 

 however, there is a vast bod)' of literature on the subject from 

 otlier sources. The science of ethnology reveals its nature 

 and characteristics in a manner which is clear and forcible. 

 All the tribes which are investigated by ethnologists present 

 examples for consideration. 



Ceremony — The third stage of the drama, which is fully 

 developed in the imperial stage, also has roots, more or less 

 obscxu-e, in the earlier stages; for shamans, in instructing the 

 people in mythology, devise curious and interesting methods 

 to enforce their teaching by rejiresenting the scenes in a more 

 or less dramatic manner, in which the neophytes of the sha- 

 manistic order take part, and to some extent other members of 

 the tribe are assistants. 



This difference in the nature of the drama of tribal society 

 and of national society must be understood. The drama is 

 not designed as a language by which men may talk with the 

 gods, but it is designed as a language b}' which men may 1)e 

 instructed. In savagery, the language by which the gods are 

 addressed is sign language; in barbarism, it is gesture speech; 

 in monarchy, the national god is the only true god, all others 



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