750
INDEX
Warlock, the invulnerable, stories of, 668
Warramunga of Central Australia, 17
Warriors tabooed, 210, 594
Warts, transferred to ash-tree, 546
Warua, the, 198
Washing, forbidden for magical reasons, 21, 23, 68; practised as a ceremonial purification by the Jews, and by the Greeks, 473
Wataturu of East Africa, 85
Watchdogs, charm to silence, 31
Water, used in charms, 26, 63, 67, 71, 341; kings of, 108; in Midsummer festival, 154, 625; of Life, Ishtar sprinkled with, 326; used to wash away sins, 543
Water-ousel, heart of, eaten to make eater wise and eloquent, 496
—— -spirits, propitiation of, 127; women married to, 145; sacrifices to, 146; danger of, 192
Wawamba of Central Africa, 76
Wax figures in magic, 543-4
Weapon and wound, contagious magic of, 41-3
Weapons, prayers to, 27; of warriors, purification of, 214; sharp, tabooed, 226
Weariness, transferred to stones, 540
Weather, magical control of the, 60-83
Weaving, charm to ensure skill in, 32
Wedding ring amulet against witchcraft, 243
Weevils spared by Esthonian peasants, 530
Wells, cleansed as rain-charm, 67; menstruous women kept from, 604, 606
Wends, the, 119, 402, 451; of Saxony, 708
Wennland in Sweden, treatment of strangers on the threshing-floor in, 431; grain of last sheaf baked in a girl-shaped loaf in, 480
Westermarck, Dr. Edward, 642, 643
Westphalia, the Whitsuntide Bride in, 135; the last sheaf at harvest in, 401; the Harvest-cock in, 451; Easter fires in, 615; the Yule log in, 637
Wetar, East Indian island, stabbing people’s shadows in, 189; belief regarding leprosy in, 473
Whale, solemn burial of dead, 223
Whale’s ghost, fear of injuring, 220
Whalers, taboos observed by, 217, 220, 221
Whales, ceremonies observed at the slaughter of, 523
Wheat and barley, the cultivation of, introduced by Osiris, 363; discovered by Isis, 382
Wheat Bride, 408; -cock, 451; -cow, 457; -dog, 448, 449; -goat, 454; -man, 428; -mother, 400; -pug, 449; -sow, 460; -wolf, 449, 450
Wheel, effigy of death attached to a, 311; fire kindled by the rotation of a, 627, 639, 644; as a symbol of the sun, 644
Wheels, burning, rolled down hill, 612, 613, 615, 622-4, 626, 641, 643, 645, 646; rolled over fields at Midsummer to fertilise them, 629, 647; perhaps intended to burn witches, 649
Whit-Monday, custom observed by Russian girls on, 128; the Leaf King at Hildesheim on, 130; the king of Bohemia on, 130; the king’s game on, 132; pretence of beheading a leaf-clad man on, 297; pretence of beheading the king on, 298-9
Whitsun-Bride in Denmark, 133
Whitsuntide, races at, 124, 129; contests for the kingship at, 129, 132; drama of Summer and Winter at, 317
Whitsuntide Basket, 129; Bride, 132, 133, 135; Bridegroom, 133; crown, 132, 133; customs, 121, 124, 128-35; King, 129, 132, 133, 298-9; -lout, 128; mummers, 296-301; Queen, 131, 132, 299
Wicker giants at popular festivals in Europe, 654; burnt in summer bonfires, 655
Widows and widowers, mourning customs observed by, 207
Wife, the Old, name given to the last corn cut, 403
Wife’s infidelity thought to injure her absent husband, 23, 25
Wild animals, propitiated by hunters, 518-532
—— Man, a Whitsuntide mummer, 467
Willow, mistletoe growing on, 660
Willow-tree, 683; at festival of Green George among the gypsies, 126-7
Winamwanga of Northern Rhodesia, 708
Wind, the magical control of the, 80-83; of the Cross, 81; in the corn, sayings as to the. 399, 448, 454, 457, 459, 460, 463
Winds, charms to calm the, 80; sold to sailors, 81; tied up in knots, 81; kept in jars, 170
Wine, the sacramental use of. 498
Winnowing basket, image of snake in, 535
—— fan, in rain-making, 73; used to scatter ashes of human victims, 378, 443; an emblem of Dionysus, 388
Winter, ceremony at the end of, 551 ; general clearance of evils at the beginning or end of, 575
—— and Summer, dramatic battle of, 316-317
Witch, burnt in Ireland, 56; burnt at St. Andrews, 243; name given to last corn cut after sunset, 403; Old. burning the, 429. See also Witches
“Witch-shots.” 649
Witchcraft, dread of, 194, 236; strangers suspected of practising, 194; practised in Scotland, 542; protections against, 610, 620, 626-8, 648, 656, 663, 666, 702, 707; need-fire, a sovereign remedy for, 641; ailments attributed to, 649; fatal to milk and butter, 663
Witches, 44; raise the wind. 80, 81; make use of cut hair, 234, 237; protections against, 243, 620, 627; expulsion of, 560; burning of, 560, 561, 621, 635, 658; shooting the, 561; effigies of, burnt in bonfires, 610, 612, 613, 648, 658; charm to protect fields against, 615; cast spells on cattle, 620; steal milk from cows, 620, 627, 628, 648; abroad on Walpurgis Night, 622; driving away, 622; resort to the Blocksberg, 625; steal milk and butter, 628; abroad at Hallowe’en. 634; cause hail and thunderstorms, 649; burning missiles
