64: CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



chief pride, it was an unequivocal proof of the sincerity of 

 their sorrow, when, on the death of a relation or friend, 

 they cut it short like their slaves and captives.&quot; Every 

 where the uncivilized have kindred forms. ~Nor was it 

 otherwise with the ancient historic races. By the Hebrews 

 making &quot; baldness upon their heads &quot; was practised as a 

 funeral rite, as was also shaving off u the corner of their 

 beard.&quot; Among Greeks and Romans, &quot; the hair was cut 

 close in mourning.&quot; In Greece the meaning of this mutila 

 tion was recognized. Potter remarks, &quot; we find Electra 

 in Euripides finding fault with Helena for sparing her 

 locks, and thereby defrauding the dead; &quot; and he cites the 

 statement that this sacrifice of hair (sometimes laid upon the 

 grave) was &quot; partly to render the ghost of the deceased 

 person propitious.&quot; A significant addition must be made. 

 &quot; Eor a recent death, the mourner s head was shaved ; for 

 an offering to the long dead, a single lock was cut off.&quot; 



Naturally if, from propitiation of the dead, some of 

 whom become deities, there grows up religious propitiation, 

 the offering of hair may be expected to re-appear as a re 

 ligious ceremony ; and we find that it does so. Already, in 

 the just-named fact that besides the hair sacrificed at a 

 Greek funeral, smaller sacrifices of hair were made after 

 wards, we see the rise of that recurring propitiation charac 

 terizing worship of a deity. And when we further read 

 that among the Greeks &quot; on the death of any very popular 

 personage, as a general, it sometimes happened that all the 

 army cut off their hair,&quot; we are shown a step towards that 

 propitiation by unrelated members of the community at 

 large, which, when it becomes established, is a trait of re 

 ligious worship. Hence certain Greek ceremonies. &quot; The 

 cutting off of the hair, which was always done when a boy 

 became an e&amp;lt;?^3o9, was a solemn act, atttended with religious 

 ceremonies . . . and the hair after being cut off was 

 dedicated to some deity, usually a river-god.&quot; So, too, at 

 the first shaving among the Romans: &quot; the hair cut off on 



