custom is regarded as an infamy by the

Ossetes." "" 1

We now come to cases of purely religious survival, which offer the strongest resistance to the inroads of change. Spencer instances the custom of circumcising with a knife made of flint, and the vestiges remaining in Catholic worship of former primitive former primitive religions. The Eucharist, as we have already pointed out, is reminiscent of real sacrifices, and the symbolic representation by a dove of the Holy Ghost is only a rudimentary form of zoolatry.2

In Belgium there are still traces of the old custom of sacrificing an animal upon the completion of a new building, with the idea that the animal's spirit will protect the edifice from harm,3 and if the observer of the following facts is correct in his interpretation of them, there also remain in Belgium traces of the ancient sacrifices to the genius of the earth

"It is the custom, round about Florenville (in the Belgian Ardennes), to offer a sacrifice to the presiding genius of the road upon the construction of a new road or railway. It is usually a fowl, or a rabbit, or even a calf which is sacrificed. . . . In some parts of Luxembourg animals

1 Kowalevsky, Droit coutumier Ossetien, p. 105.

2 Spencer, Principles of Sociology.

3 Folklore, Wallon, No. 1526, p. 115 (Bulletin de Folklore, ii.,

are also offered in sacrifice to the genius supposed to preside over a newly-purchased field, with a view to ensuring abundant crops.1

Remains, either undoubted 2 or only probable, of phallic worship, are scattered throughout Europe. In Brittany and in Belgium, for instance, strange old customs still exist showing that here,

5

1 Révue des traditions populaires, 1893, p. 394.

2 Th. Volkov, Rites et usages nuptiaux en Ukraine (l'Anthropologie, 1891, p. 167).

Only a short time ago it was the custom in Tver, on the day dedicated to Yarilo (the phallic God of Spring), for the parents of young daughters to send them to join in games similar to those of the ancient Slavs, with a view to their getting married. 3 Note sur un vestige du culte de la terre mère (phallism) en Provence, by Bérenger-Féraud (Révue d'Anthropologie, 1888, p. 563).

"At Luc, in Provence, upon the 1st of May, which is a country holiday, the young girls proceeded to a place where two roads met. Here they assembled around an olive tree, and after each dance they struck the olive tree three times with their backs.

"This fête, a survival of the floral fêtes of the month of May which are still celebrated in Provence and Italy, continued to be held until quite recently, and appears to have been a lingering vestige of the ancient worship of creative Nature, Mother-earth in short, of phallic worship.

“The three knocks given by the young girls to the tree trunk is a survival of the ancient virginal sacrifice to the phallic emblem. The original meaning was not quite lost, for the Provençals still realized, though vaguely, that the three knocks were somehow connected with the idea of marriage.'

4" Les Mégalithes de Locmariaquer et de Carnac, et les amours, by Bonnemère (Révue des traditions populaires, 1894, p. 123). "In former days it was the custom for all the young women who wished to get married to climb (on the night of May 1), to the top of the great menhir where they lifted up their clothing that their bodies

as elsewhere, a belief in the influence of fetiches once prevailed, and particularly in the form of megalithic monuments relating to the fecundity of

women.

The custom still prevalent in the African Congo, of driving a nail into a fetich, with the view of reminding it of a request, has not disappeared from Europe. The young men of Couvin (Namur) still stick pins into the wooden saints of the little chapels round about in order to draw a lucky number in the military lottery, and young girls in Brittany do the same with a view to getting

might come in direct contact with the stone, and then slid from the top to the bottom."

At Carnac, young girls wishing to marry undressed completely upon the same night, and proceeded to rub their abdomen against a special menhir. In that part of Brittany, where only French is spoken, similar customs have equally prevailed.

5 Fête de Notre-Dame de Ride-cul (Jules Lemoine, in the journal Le petit bleu, of October 18, 1896).

Similar to the above Breton custom is that of sliding down the Rocher Ride-cul, which is situated near to Landelies, in the valley of the Sambre. Here, as in many other places, old customs have been Christianized, and a Christian chapel now stands close to the ancient shrine. Young people of both sexes used to seat themselves upon the top of the stone upon little fagots of boxwood gathered in the neighbourhood, and then slide down to the bottom.

According to the old saying an upset meant waiting; an embrace signified mutual affection; a collision, indifference; and an embrace followed by rolling over indicated matrimonial suitability. Similar customs prevailed at Trou-deux-Trous, situated near to the Rocher Ride-cul. These two megalithic temples disappeared about forty years ago, their materials have been used as fluxes in smelting works.

married, and in Belgium,2 as in Brittany, if the image prove too hard, the reminding pin is stuck instead into a fissure, or into the door of the niche containing the image. Besides these mere vestiges of pre-historic customs and belief, by referring to certain illustrated documents bearing upon the subject, it would be easy to work out the connection between the worship of saints which is prevalent in Belgium in the present day, and the pagan worship of the ancient Celts and Germans.4

1 Bulletin de Folklore, i., 250-251. 2 Ibidem.

3 The menhir of the Pierre-Frite in the valley of Lunain. In nearly every hole or fissure of this monument, a nail or pin has been stuck by the young people of that part in the belief that it will ensure them a speedy marriage. (Révue des traditions populaires, 1893, p. 448.)

4 See for Saint Eloi, Mélusine, viii., 122-132; for Saint Martin, Bulletin de Folklore, i., 309-315; for Saint Hubert, Gaidez, La Rage et Saint Hubert.

PART III

RESUMÉ AND CONCLUSIONS

WHEN an institution or an organ ceases to be functional or in any way useful, it very soon disappears altogether. If, as happens in some exceptional cases, it persists, it is because neither of the chief factors in causing atrophy, variability or selection, have intervened.

Sometimes the vestiges are of too insignificant a nature to call for their removal by either artificial or natural selection, and sometimes their existence is ensured by the lack of variability, as in the case of the persistence of flowers in plants which multiply asexually. This absence of variation occurs equally in the social domain, especially in matters connected with religion, wherein ancient customs are credited with a divine origin. Religions may pass away, philosophies may be transformed, and old beliefs cease to prevail, but the remnants of old creeds, conveyed by popular tradition through the centuries, defy destruction by modern innovations.

The ancient winter festival, on which day the