38 Science Religion and Reality 



in one form or another in almost every tribe, and they are often 

 associated with rites and observances. During pregnancy the 

 expectant mother has to keep certain taboos and undergo cere- 

 monies, and her husband shares at times in both. At birth, before 

 and after, there are various magical rites to prevent dangers and 

 undo sorcery, ceremonies of purification, communal rejoicings and 

 acts of presentation of the new-born to higher powers or to the 

 community. Later on in life the boys and, much less frequently, 

 the girls have to undergo the often protracted rites of initiation, as a 

 rule shrouded in mystery and marred by cruel and obscene ordeals. 



Without going any further, we can see that even the very 

 beginnings of human life are surrounded by an inextricably mixed- 

 up medley of beliefs and rites. They seem to be strongly attracted 

 by any important event in life, to crystallise round it, surround 

 it with a rigid crust of formalism and ritualism — but to what 

 purpose ? Since we cannot define cult and creed by their objects, 

 perhaps it will be possible to perceive their function. 



A closer scrutiny of the facts allows us to make from the outset 

 a preliminary classification into two main groups. Compare a 

 rite carried out to prevent death in childbed with another typical 

 custom, a ceremony in celebration of a birth. The first rite is 

 carried out as a means to an end, it has a definite practical purpose 

 which is known to all who practise it and can be easily elicited 

 from any native informant. The post-natal ceremony, say a 

 presentation of a new-born or a feast of rejoicing in the event, 

 has no purpose : it is not a means to an end but an end in itself. 

 It expresses the feelings of the mother, the father, the relatives, the 

 whole community, but there is no future event which this ceremony 

 foreshadows, which it is meant to bring about or to prevent. This 

 dilTerence will serve us as a prima facie distinction between magic 

 and religion. While in the magical act the underlying idea and 

 aim is always clear, straightforward, and definite, in the religious 

 ceremony there is no purpose directed towards a subsequent event. 

 It is only possible for the sociologist to establish the function, the 

 sociological ra'ison cTitre of the act. The native can always state 

 the end of the magical rite, but he will say of a religious ceremony 

 that it is done because such is the usage, or because it has been 

 ordained, or he will narrate an explanatory myth. 



In order to grasp better the nature of primitive religious 

 ceremonies and their function, let us analyse the ceremonies of 



