22 Hiitton Webster 



prohibition of work at this time often forms only one of a number 

 of regulations which impose partial or complete abstinence from 

 food (infra) and also place a ban on such things as loud talking, 

 uproarious mirth and music, the wearing of ornaments and gay 

 clothing. All the taboos may be confined to the family or at 

 most, to the relatives of the deceased. In other cases they con- 

 cern the entire community. As Professor Westermarck has 

 suggested^ the reason for the rule against work may sometimes be 

 that inactivity is a natural accompaniment of sorrow or the 

 mourner may be in a delicate condition requiring rest. Possibly, 

 in some instances the idea is simply that of honoring the dead — 

 an idea which still finds expression in our practice of intermitting 

 labor and business operations on the occasion of public funerals. 

 Some of the illustrations to be cited exhibit clearly animistic con- 

 ceptions. The soul of the dead man is thought to remain for a 

 time with the body, or in the grave, or near the scenes of the 

 earthly life. Until the funeral ceremonies are completed, when 

 the ghost is finally " laid " or departs for the abode of the dead, it 

 is advisable for the survivors to avoid all conspicuous activity. 

 In such instances we may perhaps see simply a precaution taken 

 against the dead man's ghost. A similar period of quiescence is 

 frequently considered necessary when the death is attributed to 

 an evil spirit which hangs about its quarry and is likely not to be 

 satisfied with one victim alone. - 



But earlier, probably, in development, and certainly far more 

 general, is the belief in the pollution of death. ^ Primitive peoples 

 seldom recognize a death as due to natural causes. Sickness, 

 and death following on sickness, when not attributed to the direct 

 action of an evil spirit or of some malevolent person who has 

 been practicing nefarious magic, are thought to be due to the 

 contaminating miasma of death. Death is a mysterious atmos- 



' Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, London. 1908, ii. 283. 



"For a useful collection of ethnographic evidence see E. Samter, Ge- 

 burt, Hochseit und Tod, Leipzig, 191 1. 



^Crawley, op. cit., 95 sqq.; J. G. Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osirisr London, 

 1907, pp. 407 sqq.; L. R. Farnell, Evolution of Religion. London, 1905, pp. 

 96 sqq.; Jevons, op. cit., 66, 76. 



