that we find in the far east, a myth so universal as to suggest a foundation of fact.
The actual observance at the present day of this festival is to be found among the Australian savages. At the midnight culmination of the Pleiades, in November, they still hold a New Year's corroboree in honour of this group of stars, which they say are "very good to the black fellows." The corroborees are connected with a worship of the dead. Still another custom associated with the Pleiades which has come down to us is the November date of our elections; the convocation of the tribal meeting at this time, because of the significant position of the Pleiades, being a very ancient custom.
Many Masonic organisations of the present day have memorial services to the dead about the middle of November, a survival of the universal recognition of the season of the year as commemorating the destruction of the world, when the Pleiades culminated at midnight.
The fall of the year was especially appropriate as a season for memorial services for the dead, as nature's life was then at a low ebb and every prospect was suggestive of death, and the preparation for the long sleep imposed by winter. Thus we see in the association of this star group with this season of the year, a link that binds the remote past with the ever-living present in a most remarkable manner, and no one cognisant of these facts can watch these faintly glimmering stars with any feelings save those of awe and reverence.
Brown tells us that in the symbolism of Masonry the Pleiades play a prominent part. The emblem of the Seven Stars alludes to this star group as emblematic of the vernal equinox, thus making the Pleiades a beautiful symbol of immortality. It was for this reason tha^ of all the "hosts of heaven" the Pleiades were selected as an emblem.
In ancient times the appearance and disappearance of the Pleiades was associated with meteorological conditions. Statius calls them "a snowy constellation." Valerius
