Rest Days; A Sociological Study 35 



possess polytheistic cults, we find, moreover, that most holy days 

 are dedicated to various deities. If the notion be entertained that 

 the " infection " of the god's holiness extends to everything begun 

 or done on his holy day, it is easy to see how the idea might 

 arise that the deity is pleased and flattered by the enforced idle- 

 ness of his worshippers. Abstinence from work thus becomes 

 a recognized way of expressing a proper reverence towards the 

 god. Conversely, to labor on a sacred day implies a want of 

 respect for the divinity, who is " angry " or " unfavorable " at 

 such a time. These are sentiments reasonably certain of con- 

 tinued development as priestly influence becomes predominant in 

 any community. "The Lord thy God is a jealous God." 



At the same time it appears that in many, perhaps most in- 

 stances, the connection of a holy day with a particular divinity 

 is not primary and direct, but comes rather as an. after-thought. 

 The period dedicated to a god and observed with abstinence may 

 have been once tabooed for other and quite different reasons. 

 What was true of the Athenian Anthesteria we shall find to be 

 true of many another holy day discussed in this and subsequent 

 chapters. 



8. HOLY DAYS IN THE LOWER AND THE HIGHER CULTURE 



Among peoples belonging to the lower culture the Tongan 

 Islanders furnish an illustration of the holy day which is also a 

 day of abstinence. In this part of Polynesia the natives held a 

 festival called inachi when the first fruits of the yam harvest 

 were ofifered to the gods. No one was allowed to work on the 

 sacred day, nor could any one appear abroad except for the pur- 

 poses of the ceremony.^ It is not improbable that the cessation 

 of labor characterizing this ceremony formed a rite of purifica- 

 tion preliminary to the bringing-in of the first-fruits. On such a 

 hypothesis the connection of the festival with the gods would 

 be but secondary, a point more clearly brought out by some 



■''John Martin. Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands . . . from 

 the Extensive Communications of Mr. JVilliain Mariner, Boston, 1820, p. 

 483. Cf. 383 n. 



35 



