Moon Lore Part 5

In Northern Asia the moon had adoring admirers among the Samoyedes, the Morduans, the Tschuwasches, and other tribes. This is stated by Sir John Lubbock. [163] Lord Kames says: "The people of Borneo wors.h.i.+p the sun and moon as real divinities. The Samoides wors.h.i.+p both, bowing to them morning and evening in the Persian manner." [164] The _Samoides_ are the "salmon-eaters" of Asia.

Moon-wors.h.i.+p in China is of ancient origin, and exists in our own time. Professor Legge tells us that the primitive _s.h.i.+h_ "is the symbol for manifestation and revelation. The upper part of it is the same as that in the older form of Ti, indicating 'what is above'; but of the three lines below I have not found a satisfactory account. Hsu Shan says they represent 'the sun, moon, and stars,' and that the whole symbolizes 'the indications by these bodies of the will of Heaven! s.h.i.+h therefore tells us that the Chinese fathers believed that there was communication between heaven and men. The idea of revelation did not shock them. The special interpretation of the strokes below, however, if it were established, would lead us to think that even then, so far back, there was the commencement of astrological superst.i.tion, and also, perhaps, of Sabian wors.h.i.+p."

[165] Sabianism, as most readers are aware, is the adoration of the armies of heaven: the word being derived from the Hebrew _tzaba_, a host. Dr. Legge leaves Chinese Sabianism in some doubt, in the above quotation; but later on he speaks of the spirits a.s.sociated with the solst.i.tial wors.h.i.+p, whose intercession was thus secured, "I, the emperor of the Great Ill.u.s.trious dynasty, have respectfully prepared this paper, to inform the spirit of the sun, the spirit of the moon, the spirits of the five planets, of the constellations of the zodiac, and of all the stars in all the sky," and so on: and the professor adds: "This paper shows how there had grown up around the primitive monotheism of China the recognition and wors.h.i.+p of a mult.i.tude of celestial and terrestrial spirits." [166] This is ample evidence to prove moon-wors.h.i.+p. True, these celestial beings were "but ministering spirits," and the "monotheism remained." There was no _henotheism_, no wors.h.i.+p of several _single_ supreme deities: _One only_ was supreme. So among the Hebrews, Persians, Hindoos, there was one only G.o.d; and yet they offered prayers and sacrifices to heaven's visible and innumerable host. When we come to modern China we shall find some very remarkable celebrations taking place, which throw sunlight upon these ancient mists.

Meanwhile to strengthen our position, we may draw additional support from each of the three great stages reached in the progress of Chinese religion: namely, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.

Dr. Edkins describes them as the moral, materialistic, and metaphysical systems, standing at the three corners of a great triangle. [167] The G.o.d of Confucianism is _Shang-ti_ or _Shang-te_.

And with the universal anthropomorphism "Shang-te is the great father of G.o.ds and men: Shang-te is a gigantic man." [168]

Again "Heaven is a great man, and man is a little heaven." [169]

And now what does Confucianism say of moon-wors.h.i.+p? "The sun and moon being the chief objects of veneration to the most ancient ancestors of the Chinese, they translated the soul of their great father heaven or the first man (Shang-te) to the sun, and the soul of their great mother earth or the first woman (the female half of the first man) to the moon." [170] In Taoism there is no room for question.

Dr. Legge says that it had its Chang and Liu, and "many more G.o.ds, supreme G.o.ds, celestial G.o.ds, great G.o.ds, and divine rulers." [171]

And Dr. Edkins writes: "The Taouist mythology resembles, in several points, that of many heathen nations. Some of its divinities personate those beings that are supposed to reside in the various departments of nature. Many of the stars are wors.h.i.+pped as G.o.ds."

[172] Buddhism not only supplies further evidence, it also furnishes a noteworthy instance of mythic transformation. Sakchi or Sasi, the moon, is literally one who made a sacrifice. This refers to the legend of the hare who gave himself to feed the G.o.d. The wife of Indra adopted the hare's name, and was herself called Sasi. "The Tantra school gave every deity its Sakti or consort, and speculation enlarged the meaning of the term still further, making it designate female energy or the female principle." [173] Buddhism, then, the popular religion in China at the present day, the religion which Dr.

Farrar ventures to call "atheism fast merging into idolatry," [174] is not free from the nature wors.h.i.+p which deifies the moon. But Buddhism, like most other imperfect systems, has precious gold mixed with its dross; and at the expense of a digression we delight to quote the statement of a recent writer, who says: "There is no record, known to me, in the whole of the long history of Buddhism, throughout the many countries where its followers have been for such lengthened periods supreme, of any persecution by the Buddhists of the followers of any other faith." [175] How glad we should feel if we could a.s.sert the same of the Christian Church!

We come at once to those celebrations which still take place in China, and ill.u.s.trate the wors.h.i.+p of the moon. The festival of _Yue-Ping_--which is held annually during the eighth month, from the first day when the moon is new, to the fifteenth, when it is full--is of high antiquity and of deep interest. Dr. Morrison says that "the custom of civil and military officers going on the first and fifteenth of every moon to the civil and military temples to burn incense, began in the time of the Luh Chaon," which would be not far from A.D. 550. Also that the "eighth month, fifteenth day, is called Chung-tsew-tsee. It is said that the Emperor Ming-hw.a.n.g, of the dynasty Tang, was one night led to the palace of the moon, where he saw a large a.s.sembly of Chang-go-seen-neu--female divinities playing on instruments of music. Persons now, from the first to the fifteenth, make cakes like the moon, of various sizes, and paint figures upon them: these are called Yue-ping, 'mooncakes.' Friends and relations pay visits, purchase and present the cakes to each other, and give entertainments. At full moon they spread out oblations and make prostrations to the moon." [176] Dennys writes: "The fifteenth day of the eighth month is a day on which a ceremony is performed by the Chinese, which of all others we should least expect to find imitated among ourselves. Most people resident in China have seen the moon-cakes which so delight the heart of the Chinese during the eighth month of every year. These are made for an autumnal festival often described as 'congratulating'

or 'rewarding' the moon. The moon, it is well known, represents the female principle in Chinese celestial cosmogony, and she is further supposed to be inhabited by a mult.i.tude of beautiful females; the cakes made in her honour are therefore veritable offerings to the Queen of the Heavens. Now in a part of Lancas.h.i.+re, on the banks of the Ribble, there exists a precisely similar custom of making cakes in honour of the 'Queen of Heaven,'--a relic, in all probability, of the old heathen wors.h.i.+p which was the common fount of the two customs." [177] Witness is also borne to this ceremony by a well-known traveller. "We arrived at Chaborte on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon, the anniversary of great rejoicings among the Chinese.

This festival, known as the _Yue-Ping_ (loaves of the moon), dates from the remotest antiquity. Its original purpose was to honour the moon with superst.i.tious rites. On this solemn day, all labour is suspended; the workmen receive from their employers a present of money, every person puts on his best clothes; and there is merry-making in every family. Relations and friends interchange cakes of various sizes, on which is stamped the image of the moon; that is to say, a hare crouching amid a small group of trees." [178] And Doolittle says: "It is always full moon on the fifteenth of every Chinese month; and, therefore, for several days previous, the evenings are bright, unless it happens to be cloudy, which is not often the case. The moon is a prominent object of attention and congratulation at this time. At Canton, it is said, offerings are made to the moon on the fifteenth. On the following day, young people amuse themselves by playing what is called _'pursuing_,' or '_congratulating_' the moon. At this city [Fuhchau], in the observance of this festival, the expression '_rewarding the moon_' is more frequently used than 'congratulating the moon.' It is a common saying that there is 'a white rabbit in the moon pounding out rice.'

The dark and the white spots on the moon's face suggest the idea of that animal engaged in the useful employment of sh.e.l.ling rice. The notion is prevalent that the moon is inhabited by a mult.i.tude of beautiful females, who are called by the name of an ancient beauty who once visited that planet; but how they live, and what they do, is not a matter of knowledge or of common fame. To the question, 'Is the moon inhabited?' discussed by some Western philosophers, the Chinese would answer in the affirmative. Several species of trees and flowers are supposed to flourish in the moon. Some say that, one night in ancient times, one of the three souls of the originator of theatrical plays rambled away to the moon and paid a visit to the Lunar Palace. He found it filled with Lunarians engaged in theatrical performances. He is said to have remembered the manner of conducting fas.h.i.+onable theatres in the moon, and to have imitated them after his return to this earth. About the time of the festival of the middle of autumn, the bake shops provide an immense amount and variety of cakes: many of them are circular, in imitation of the shape of the moon at that time, and are from six to twelve inches in diameter. Some are in the form of a paG.o.da, or of a horse and rider, or of a fish, or other animals which please and cause the cake to be readily sold. Some of these 'moon-cakes' have a white rabbit, engaged with his pounder, painted on one side, together with a lunar beauty, and some trees or shrubs; on others are painted G.o.ds or G.o.ddesses, animals, flowers, or persons, according to fancy." [179]

If we turn now to Jeremiah vii. 18, and read there, "The women knead dough, to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other G.o.ds," and remember that, according to Ras.h.i.+, these cakes of the Hebrews had the image of the G.o.d or G.o.ddess stamped upon them, we are in view of a fact of much interest. We are so unaccustomed to think that our peasants in Lancas.h.i.+re can have anything in common with the Chinese five thousand miles away, and with the Jews of two thousand five hundred years ago, that to many these moon-cakes will give a genuine surprise. But this is not all. Other a.n.a.logies appear between Buddhist and Christian rites, such as those mentioned by Dr.

Medhurst. "The very t.i.tles of their intercessors, such as 'G.o.ddess of mercy,' 'holy mother,' 'queen of heaven,' with the image of a virgin, having a child in her arms, holding a cross, are all such striking coincidences, that the Catholic missionaries were greatly stumbled at the resemblance between the Chinese wors.h.i.+p and their own, when they came over to convert the natives to Christianity." [180] It is for the philosophical historian to show, if possible, whether these Chinese ceremonies are copies of Christian or Hebrew originals; or whether, many of our own Western forms with others of Oriental character, are not transcripts of primitive faiths now well-nigh forgotten in both East and West. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, at first sight, have little relevancy to moon wors.h.i.+p, and those who eat them suppose they were originated to commemorate the Christian Sacrifice; but we know that the cross was a sacred symbol with the earliest Egyptians, for it is carved upon their imperishable records; we know too that _bun_ itself is ancient Greek, and that Winckelmann relates the discovery at Herculaneum of two perfect buns, each marked with a cross: while the _boun_ described by Hesychius was a cake with a representation of _two horns_.

Incredible as it may seem to some, the cross bun in its origin had nothing to do with an event with which it is in England identified; it probably commemorates the wors.h.i.+p of the moon. In pa.s.sing from China, we may also note the influence of that s.e.xuality of which we have spoken before. Dr. Medhurst remarks: "The principle of the Chinese cosmogony seems to be founded on a s.e.xual system of the universe." [181]

Dr. Prichard tells us that among the j.a.panese "sacred festivals are held at certain seasons of the year and at changes of the moon."

Also, "It appears that _Sin-too_, or original j.a.panese religion, is merely a form of the wors.h.i.+p of material objects, common to all the nations of Northern Asia, which, among the more civilized tribes, a.s.sumes the aspect of mythology." [182]

From Asia we come to Africa, and to Egypt, that wonderful land with a lithographed history at least five thousand years old; a land that basked in the suns.h.i.+ne of civilization and culture when nearly the whole world without was in shadow and gloom. The mighty pyramid of Gizeh still stands, a monument of former national greatness, and a marvel to the admirer of sublimity in design and perfection in execution. "The setting of the sides to the cardinal points is so exact as to prove that the Egyptians were excellent observers of the elementary facts of astronomy." [183] But they went farther. Diodorus says: "The first generation of men in Egypt, contemplating the beauty of the superior world, and admiring with astonishment the frame and order of the universe, judged that there were two chief G.o.ds that were eternal, that is to say, the sun and the moon, the first of which they called _Osiris_, and the other _Isis_."

[184] This pa.s.sage is proof that the Greeks and Romans had a very limited acquaintance with Egyptian mythology; for the historian was indubitably in error in supposing Osiris and Isis to be sun and moon. But he was right in calling the sun and moon the first G.o.ds of the Egyptians. Rawlinson says: "The Egyptians had two moon-G.o.ds, Khons or Khonsu, and Tet or Thoth." [185] Dr. Birch has translated an inscription relating to Thoth, which reads: "All eyes are open on thee, and all men wors.h.i.+p thee as a G.o.d." [186] And M. Renouf says: "The Egyptian G.o.d Tehuti is known to the readers of Plato under the name of Thoyth. He represents the moon, which he wears upon his head, either as crescent or as full disk." [187] The same learned Egyptologist tells us that Khonsu or Chonsu was one of the triad of Theban G.o.ds, and was the moon one of his attributes being the reckoner of time. [188] Of the former divinity, Rawlinson relates an instructive myth. "According to one legend Thoth once wrote a wonderful book, full of wisdom and science, containing in it everything relating to the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, and the four-footed beasts of the mountains. The man who knew a single page of the work could charm the heaven, the earth, the great abyss, the mountains and the seas. This marvellous composition he inclosed in a box of gold, which he placed within a box of silver; the box of silver within a box of ivory and ebony, and that again within a box of bronze; the box of bronze within a box of bra.s.s; and the box of bra.s.s within a box of iron; and the book, thus guarded, he threw into the Nile at Coptos. The fact became known, and the book was searched for and found. It gave its possessor vast knowledge and magical power, but it always brought on him misfortune. What became of it ultimately does not appear in the ma.n.u.script from which this account is taken; but the moral of the story seems to be the common one, that unlawful knowledge is punished by all kinds of calamity." [189] There is also a story of the moon-G.o.d Chonsu, which is worthy of repet.i.tion. Its original is in the _Bibliotheque Nationale_ at Paris, and for its first translation we are indebted to Dr. Birch, of the British Museum. [190] A certain Asiatic princess of Bechten, wherever that was, was possessed by a spirit. Being connected, through her sister's marriage, with the court of Egypt, on her falling ill, an Egyptian pract.i.tioner was summoned to her aid.

He declared that she had a demon, with which he himself was unable to cope. Thereupon the image of the moon-G.o.d Chonsu was despatched in his mystic ark, for the purpose of exorcising the spirit and delivering the princess. The demon at once yielded to the divine influence; and the king of Bechten was so delighted that he kept the image in his possession for upwards of three years. In consequence of an alarming dream he then sent him back to Egypt with presents of great value. Whatever evil powers the moon may have exerted since, we must credit him with having once ejected an evil spirit and prolonged a royal life.

Returning to Thoth, we find the following valuable hints in the great work of Baron Bunsen:--"The connection between Tet and the moon may allude, according to Wilkinson, to the primitive use of a lunar year. The ancients had already remarked that the moon in Egyptian was masculine, not feminine, as the Greeks and Romans generally made it. Still we have no right to suppose a particular moon-G.o.d, separate from Thoth. We meet with a deity called after the moon (Aah) either as a mere personification, or as Thoth, in whom the agency of the moon and nature become a living principle. We find him so represented in the tombs of the Ramesseum, opposite to Phre; a similar representation in Dendyra is probably symbolical.

According to Champollion he is often seen in the train of Ammon, and then he is Thoth. He makes him green, with the four sceptres and cup of Ptah, by the side of which, however, is a sort of Horus curl, the infantine lock, as child or son. In the inscriptions there is usually only the crescent, but on one occasion the sign _nuter_ (G.o.d) is added. In the tombs a moon-G.o.d is represented sitting on a bark, and holding the sceptre of benign power, to whom two Cynocephali are doing homage, followed by the Crescent and Nuter G.o.d. Lastly, the same G.o.d is found in a standing posture, wors.h.i.+pped by two souls and two Cynocephali." [191]

With these "dog-headed" wors.h.i.+ppers of the moon may be a.s.sociated another animal that from an early date has been connected with the luminaries of the day and night. We saw that the Australian moon-myth of Mityan was of a native cat. Renouf says: "It is not improbable that the cat, in Egyptian _mau_, became the symbol of the Sun-G.o.d, or Day, because the word mau also means light." [192] Charles James Fox, with no thought of Egyptian, told the Prince of Wales that "cats always prefer the suns.h.i.+ne." The native land of this domestic pet, or nuisance, is certainly Persia, and some etymologists a.s.sign _pers_ as the origin of _puss_. Be this as it may, the pupil of a cat's eye is singularly changeable, dilating from the narrow line in the day-time to the luminous...o...b..in the dark.

On this account the cat is likened to the moon. But in Egypt feline eyes s.h.i.+ne with supernatural l.u.s.tre. Mr. Hyde Clarke tells us that "the mummies of cats, which Herodotus saw at Bubastis, attested then, as they do now, to the dedication of the cat to Pasht, the moon, and the veneration of the Egyptians for this animal. The cat must have been known to man, and have been named at least as early as the origin of language. The superst.i.tion of its connection with the moon is also of pre-historic date, and not invented by the Egyptians.

According to Plutarch, a cat placed in a l.u.s.trum denoted the moon, ill.u.s.trating the mutual symbology. He supposes that this is because the pupils of a cat's eyes dilate and decrease with the moon. The reason most probably depends, as before intimated, on another phenomenon of periodicity corresponding to the month. Dr. Rae has, however, called my attention to another possible cause of the a.s.sociation, which is the fact that the cat's eyes glisten at night or in the dark. It is to be observed that the name of the sun in the Malayan and North American languages is the day-eye, or sky-eye, and that of the moon the night-eye." [193] Our own daisy, too, is the _day's eye_, resembling the sun, and opening its little pearly lashes when the spring wakes to newness of life.

The Nubians "pay adoration to the moon; and that their wors.h.i.+p is performed with pleasure and satisfaction, is obvious every night that she s.h.i.+nes. Coming out from the darkness of their huts, they say a few words upon seeing her brightness, and testify great joy, by motions of their feet and hands, at the first appearance of the new moon." [194] The Shangalla wors.h.i.+p the moon, and think that "a star pa.s.sing near the horns of the moon denotes the coming of an enemy." [195] In Western Africa moon-wors.h.i.+p is very prevalent.

Merolla says: "They that keep idols in their houses, every first day of the moon are obliged to anoint them with a sort of red wood powdered. At the appearance of every new moon, these people fall on their knees, or else cry out, standing and clapping their hands, 'So may I renew my life as thou art renewed.'" [196]

H. H. Johnston, Esq., F.Z.S., F.R.G.S., who had just returned from the region of the Congo, related the following curious incident before the Anthropological Inst.i.tute, in January, 1884. It looks remarkably like a relic of ancient wors.h.i.+p, which gave the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul, and committed murder on earth to awaken mercy in heaven! "At certain villages between Manyanga and Isangila there are curious eunuch dances to celebrate the new moon, in which a white c.o.c.k is thrown up into the air alive, with clipped wings, and as it falls towards the ground it is caught and plucked by the eunuchs. I was told that originally this used to be a human sacrifice, and that a young boy or girl was thrown up into the air and torn to pieces by the eunuchs as he or she fell, but that of late years slaves had got scarce or manners milder, and a white c.o.c.k was now subst.i.tuted." [197]

The Mandingoes are more attracted to the varying moon than to the sun. "On the first appearance of the new moon, which they look upon to be newly created, the Pagan natives, as well as Mahomedans, say a short prayer; and this seems to be the only visible adoration which the Kaffirs offer up to the Supreme Being."

The purport of this prayer is "to return thanks to G.o.d for His kindness through the existence of the past moon, and to solicit a continuation of His favour during that of the new one." [198] Park writes on another page: "When the fast month was almost at an end, the Bushreens a.s.sembled at the Misura to watch for the appearance of the new moon; but the evening being rather cloudy, they were for some time disappointed, and a number of them had gone home with a resolution to fast another day, when on a sudden this delightful object showed her sharp horns from behind a cloud, and was welcomed with the clapping of hands, beating of drums, firing muskets, and other marks of rejoicing." [199] The Makololo and Bechuana custom of greeting the new moon is curious. "They watch most eagerly for the first glimpse of the new moon, and when they perceive the faint outline after the sun has set deep in the west, they utter a loud shout of 'Ku?!' and vociferate prayers to it." [200] The degraded Hottentots have not much improved since Bory de St.

Vincent described them as "brutish, lazy, and stupid," and their wors.h.i.+p of the moon is still demonstrative, as when Kolben wrote: "These dances and noises are religious honours and invocations to the moon. They call her _Gounja_. The Supreme they call _Gounja-Gounja_, or _Gounja Ticquoa_, the G.o.d of G.o.ds, and place him far above the moon. The moon, with them, is an inferior visible G.o.d --the subject and representation of the High and Invisible. They judge the moon to have the disposal of the weather, and invoke her for such as they want. They a.s.semble for the celebration of her wors.h.i.+p at full and change constantly. No inclemency of the weather prevents them. And their behaviour at those times is indeed very astonis.h.i.+ng. They throw their bodies into a thousand different distortions, and make mouths and faces strangely ridiculous and horrid. Now they throw themselves flat on the ground, screaming out a strange, unintelligible jargon. Then jumping up on a sudden, and stamping like mad (insomuch that they make the ground shake), they direct, with open throats, the following expressions, among others, to the moon: '_I salute you; you are welcome. Grant us fodder for our cattle and milk in abundance_.' These and other addresses to the moon they repeat over and over, accompanying them with dancing and clapping of hands. At the end of the dance they sing '_Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!_' many times over, with a variation of notes; which being accompanied with clapping of hands makes a very odd and a very merry entertainment to a stranger." [201] In reality they hold a primitive watch-night service; their welcome of the new moon being very similar to our popular welcome of the new year. Nor should it be omitted that the ancient Ethiopians wors.h.i.+pped the moon; and that those who lived above Meroe admitted the existence of eternal and incorruptible G.o.ds, among which the moon ranked as a chief divinity.

Descending the Nile and crossing the Mediterranean, we come to Greece.

"The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece Where burning Sappho loved and sung, Where grew the arts of war and peace, Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung Eternal summer gilds them yet, But all, except their sun, is set." [202]

Yes, Pericles and Plato, Sophocles and Pheidias, are dust; and much of their nation's pristine glory has "melted into the infinite azure of the past": but the sun s.h.i.+nes as youthful yet as on that eventful day when unwearied he sank in ocean, "loth, and ere his time:

"So the sun sank, and all the host had rest From onset and the changeful chance of war." [203]

Where Phoebus sprang, sprang Phoebe also--the bright and beautiful moon. To a people addicted to the idolatry of perfect form and comeliness, no object could be more attractive than the queen of the night. When Socrates was accused of innovating upon the Greek religion, and of ridiculing the Athenian deities, he replied on his trial, "You strange man, Meletus, are you seriously affirming that I do not think Helios and Selene to be G.o.ds, as the rest of mankind think?" [204] Pausanias, the historian, tells us that in Phocis there was a chapel consecrated to Isis, which of all the places erected by the Greeks to this Egyptian G.o.ddess was by far the most holy. It was not lawful for any one to approach this sacred edifice but those whom the G.o.ddess had invited by appearing to them for that purpose in a dream. [205] By Isis, as we saw from Diodorus, the Greeks understood the moon. Diana was also one of the Grecian moon-G.o.ddesses, but Sir George C. Lewis thinks that this was not till a comparatively late period. The religion of Greece was so mixed up, or made up, with mythology, that for an interpretation of their theogony we must resort to poetry and impersonation. Here again we see the working of s.e.xual anthropomorphism. _Ouranos_ espoused _Ge_, and their offspring was _Kronos_; which is but an ancient mode of saying that chronology is the measurement on earth of heavenly motion. Solar and lunar wors.h.i.+p was but the recognition in the primitive consciousness of the superior _worth-s.h.i.+p_ of these celestial bodies. As Grote says: "To us these now appear puerile, though pleasing fancies, but to our Homeric Greek they seemed perfectly natural and plausible. In his view, the description of the sun, as given in a modern astronomical treatise, would have appeared not merely absurd, but repulsive and impious." [206] What an amount of misunderstanding would be obviated if readers of the Bible would bear this in mind when they meet with erroneous conceptions in Hebrew cosmogony. Grote further says on the same page of his magnificent history: "Personifying fiction was blended by the Homeric Greeks with their conception of the physical phenomena before them, not simply in the way of poetical ornament, but as a genuine portion of their everyday belief." We cannot better conclude our brief glance at ancient Greece than by quoting that splendid comparison from the bard of Chios, which Pope thought "the most beautiful night-piece that can be found in poetry." Pope's own version is fine, but, as a translation, Lord Derby's must be preferred:

"As when in heaven, around the glittering moon The stars s.h.i.+ne bright amid the breathless air; And every crag and every jutting peak Stands boldly forth, and every forest glade Even to the gates of heaven is opened wide The boundless sky; s.h.i.+nes each particular star Distinct; joy fills the gazing shepherd's heart." [207]

The Romans had many G.o.ds, superior and inferior. The former were the _celestial_ deities, twelve in number, among whom was Diana; and the _Dii Selecti_, numbering eight. Of these, one was Luna, the moon, daughter of Hyperion and sister of the Sun. [208] Livy speaks of "a temple of Luna, which is on the Aventine"; and Tacitus mentions, in his Annals, a temple consecrated to the moon. In Horace, Luna is "_siderum regina_"; [209] and in Apuleius, "_Regina coeli_," [210] Bishop Warburton, in his synopsis of Apuleius, speaks of the hopeless condition of _Lucius_, which obliged him to fly to heaven for relief. "The _moon_ is in full splendour; and the awful silence of the night inspires him with sentiments of religion." He then purifies himself, and so makes his prayer to the moon, invoking her by her several names, as the celestial _Venus_ and _Diana_. [211] This whole section of the _Divine Legation_ is worthy of close study.

"The ancient Goths," says Rudbeck ("Atalantis," ii. 609), "paid such regard to the moon, that some have thought that they wors.h.i.+pped her more than the sun." [212]

And of the ancient Germans Grimm says: "That to our remote ancestry the heavenly bodies, especially the sun and moon, were divine beings, will not admit of any doubt." [213] Gibbon, Friedrich Schlegel, and others, say the same.

The Finns wors.h.i.+pped "Kun, the male G.o.d of the moon, who corresponded exactly with the Aku, Enizuna, or Itu of the Accadians." [214]

In ancient Britain the moon occupied a high position in the religion of the Druids, who had superst.i.tious rites at the lunar changes, and who are "always represented as having the crescent in their hands."

[215] "From the _Penitential_ of Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the seventh century, and the _Confessional_ of Ecgbert, Archbishop of York, in the early part of the eighth century, we may infer that homage was then offered to the sun and moon."

[216] Again, "There are many proofs, direct and circ.u.mstantial, that place it beyond all doubt that the moon was one of the objects of heathen wors.h.i.+p in Britain. But under what name the moon was invoked is not discoverable, unless it may have been Andraste, the G.o.ddess to whom the British queen Boadicea, with hands outstretched to heaven, appealed when about to engage in battle with the Romans." [217] A writer of the seventeenth century, says: "In Yorkes.h.i.+re, etc., northwards, some country woemen do-e wors.h.i.+p the New Moon on their bare knees, kneeling upon an earthfast stone. And the people of Athol, in the High-lands in Scotland, doe wors.h.i.+p the New Moon." [218] Camden writes of the Irish: "Whether or no they wors.h.i.+p the moon, I know not; but, when they first see her after the change, they commonly bow the knee, and say the Lord's Prayer; and near the wane, address themselves to her with a loud voice, after this manner: 'Leave us as well as thou foundest us.'" [219] Sylvester O'Halloran, the Irish general and historian, speaking of "the correspondent customs of the Phoenicians and the Irish," adds: "Their deities were the same. They both adored Bel, or the sun, the Moon, and the stars. The house of Rimmon (2 Kings v. 18), which the Phoenicians wors.h.i.+pped in, like our temples of Fleachta, in Meath, was sacred to the moon. The word 'Rimmon' has by no means been understood by the different commentators; and yet by recurring to the Irish (a branch of the Phoenicians) it becomes very intelligible; for _Re_ is Irish for the moon, and _Muadh_ signifies an image; and the compound word _Reamham_ signifies prognosticating by the appearances of the moon. It appears by the life of our great St. Columba, that the Druid temples were _here_ decorated with figures of the sun, the moon, and the stars. The Phoenicians, under the name of Bel-Samen, adored the Supreme; and it is pretty remarkable that _to this very day_, to wish a friend every happiness this life can afford, we say in Irish, '_the blessings of Samen and Eel be with you_!' that is, of all the seasons; Bel signifying the sun, and Samhain the moon." [220]

And again: "Next to the sun was the moon, which the Irish undoubtedly adored. Some remains of this wors.h.i.+p may be traced, even at this day; as particularly borrowing, if they should not have it about them, a piece of silver on the first night of a new moon, as an omen of plenty during the month; and at the same time saying in Irish, 'As you have found us in peace and prosperity, so leave us in grace and mercy.'" [221] Tuathal, the prince to whom the estates (_circa_ A.D. 106) swore solemnly "by the sun, moon, and stars," to bear true allegiance, "in that portion of the imperial domain taken from Munster, erected a magnificent temple called Flachta, sacred to the fire of Samhain, and to the Samnothei, or priests of the moon.

Here, on every eve of November, were the fires of Samhain lighted up, with great pomp and ceremony, the monarch, the Druids, and the chiefs of the kingdom attending; and from this holy fire, and no other, was every fire in the land first lit for the winter. It was deemed an act of the highest impiety to kindle the winter fires from any other; and for this favour the head of every house paid a Scrubal, or threepence, tax, to the Arch-Druid of Samhain." [222]

Another writer mentions another Irish moon-G.o.d. "The next heathen divinity which I would bring under notice is St. Luan, _alias_ Molua, _alias_ Euan, _alias_ Lugidus, _alias_ Lugad, and Moling, etc. The foundations, with which this saint under some of his _aliases_ is connected, extend over eight counties in the provinces of Ulster, Leinster, and Munster. Luan is to this; day the common Irish word for the moon. We read that there were fifteen saints of the name of Lugadius; and as Lugidus was one of Luan's _aliases_, I have set them all down as representing the moon in the several places where that planet was wors.h.i.+pped as the symbol of Female nature." [223] We have already seen that the moon was the embodiment of the female principle in China, and now we see that the primitive Kelts a.s.sociated s.e.xuality with astronomy and religion. It but further proves that "one touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

Moreover, to show that former moon-wors.h.i.+p still colours our religion, it is not to be overlooked that, as our Christmas festivities are but a continuation of the Roman saturnalia, with their interchanges of visits and presents, so "the Church, celebrating in August the festival of the harvest moon, celebrates at the same time the feast of the a.s.sumption and of the Sacred Heart of the Virgin.

And Catholic painters, following the description in the Apocalypse, fondly depict her as 'clothed with the sun, and having the moon under her feet,' and both as overriding the dragon. Even the triumph of Easter is not celebrated until, by attaining its full, the moon accords its aid and sanction. Is it not interesting thus to discover the true note of Catholicism in the most ancient paganisms, and to find that the moon, which for us is incarnate in the blessed Virgin Mary, was for the Syrians and Greeks respectively personified in the virgin Ashtoreth, the queen of heaven, and Diana, or Phoebe, the feminine of Phoebus?" [224]

A recent contributor to one of our valuable serials writes: "I take the following extract from a little book published under the auspices of Dr. Barnardo. It is the 'truthful narrative' of a little sweep-girl picked up in the streets of some place near Brighton, and 'admitted into Dr.

Barnardo's Village Home.' 'She had apparently no knowledge of G.o.d or sense of His presence. The only thing she had any reverence for was the moon. On one occasion, when the children were going to evening service, and a beautiful moon was s.h.i.+ning, one of them pointed to it, exclaiming, 'Oh, mother! look, what a beautiful moon!'

Little Mary caught hold of her hand, and cried, 'Yer mustn't point at the blessed moon like that; and yer mustn't talk about it!' Was it from constantly sleeping under hedges and in barns, and waking up and seeing that bright calm eye looking at her, that some sense of a mysterious Presence had come upon the child?" [225] To this query, the answer we think should be negative. The cause more likely was that she had heard the common tradition which is yet current in East Lancas.h.i.+re, c.u.mberland, and elsewhere, that it is a sin to point at the moon. Certain old gentlemen, who ought to be better informed, still touch their hats, and devout young girls in the country districts still curtsey, to the new moon, as an act of wors.h.i.+p.

The American races practise luniolatry very generally. The Dakotahs wors.h.i.+p both sun and moon. The Delaware and Iroquois Indians sacrifice to these orbs, and it is most singular that "they sacrifice to a hare, because, according to report, the first ancestor of the Indian tribes had that name." But, although they receive in a dream as their tutelar spirits, the sun, moon, owl, buffalo, and so forth, "they positively deny that they pay any adoration to these subordinate good spirits, and affirm that they only wors.h.i.+p the true G.o.d, through them." [226] This reminds us of some excellent remarks made by one whose intimate acquaintance with North American Indians ent.i.tled him to speak with authority. We have seen from Dr. Legge's writings that though the Chinese wors.h.i.+pped a mult.i.tude of celestial spirits, "yet the monotheism remained." Mr.

Catlin will now a.s.sure us that though the American Indians adore the heavenly bodies, they recognise the Great Spirit who inhabits them all. These are his words: "I have heard it said by some very good men, and some who have even been preaching the Christian religion amongst them, that they have no religion--that all their zeal in their wors.h.i.+p of the Great Spirit was but the foolish excess of ignorant superst.i.tion--that their humble devotions and supplications to the sun and the moon, where many of them suppose that the Great Spirit resides, were but the absurd rantings of idolatry. To such opinions as these I never yet gave answer, nor drew other instant inferences from them, than that, from the bottom of my heart, I pitied the persons who gave them." [227] Mr. Catlin undoubtedly was right, as the Apostle Paul was right, when he acknowledged that the Athenians wors.h.i.+pped the true G.o.d, albeit in ignorance. At the same time, though idolatry is in numberless instances nothing more than the use of media and mediators, in seeking the One, Invisible, Absolute Spirit, it is so naturally abused by sensuous beings who rest in the concrete, that no image wors.h.i.+pper is free from the propensity to wors.h.i.+p the creature more than the Creator, and to forget the Essence in familiarity with the form. The perfection of wors.h.i.+p, we conceive, is pure theism; but how few are capable of breathing in such a supersensuous air! Men must have their "means of grace," their visible symbols, their holy waters and consecrated wafers, their crucifixes and talismans, their silver shrines and golden calves. "These be thy G.o.ds, O Israel."

"The Ahts undoubtedly wors.h.i.+p the sun and the moon, particularly the full moon, and the sun while ascending to the zenith. Like the Teutons, they regard the moon as the husband, and the sun as the wife; hence their prayers are more generally addressed to the moon, as being the superior deity. The moon is the highest of all the objects of their wors.h.i.+p; and they describe the moon--I quote the words of my Indian informant--as looking down upon the earth in answer to prayer, and as seeing everybody." [228] Of the Indians of Vancouver Island, another writer says: "The moon is among all the heavenly bodies the highest object of veneration. When working at the settlement at Alberni in gangs by moonlight, individuals have been observed to look up to the moon, blow a breath, and utter quickly the word, '_Teech! teech!_' (health, or life). Life! life! this is the great prayer of these people's hearts." [229] "Among the Comanches of Texas, the sun, moon, and earth are the princ.i.p.al objects of wors.h.i.+p." The Kaniagmioutes consider the moon and sun to be brother and sister. [230]

Meztli was the moon as deified by the Mexicans. In Teotihuacan, thirty miles north of the city of Mexico, is the site of an ancient city twenty miles in circ.u.mference. Near the centre of this spot stand the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. The Pyramid of the Sun has a base 682 feet long and is 180 feet high (the Pyramid of Cheops is 728 feet at the base, and is 448 feet in height). The Pyramid of the Moon is rather less, and is due north of that of the Sun. [231] No doubt the philosophy of all pyramids would show that they embody the uplifting of the human soul towards the Heaven-Father of all.

In Northern Mexico still "the Ceris superst.i.tiously celebrate the new moon." [232] This luniolatry the Abbe Bra.s.seur de Bourbourg explains by a novel theory. He holds that the forefathers of American civilization lived in a certain Crescent land in the Atlantic that a physical catastrophe destroyed their country whereupon the remnant that was saved commemorated their lost land by adopting the moon as their G.o.d. [233] "The population of Central America,"

says the Vicomte de Bussierre, "although they had preserved the vague notion of a superior eternal G.o.d and Creator, known by the name Teotl, had an Olympus as numerous as that of the Greeks and the Romans. It would appear that the inhabitants of Anahuac joined to the idea of a supreme being the wors.h.i.+p of the sun and the moon, offering them flowers, fruits, and the first fruits of their fields."

[234] Dr. Reville bids us "note that the ancient Central-American cultus of the sun and moon, considered as the two supreme deities, was by no means renounced by the Aztecs." [235] Regarding this remarkable race, a writer in the _Quarterly Review_ for April, 1883, says: "Even the Chaldaeans were not greater astrologers than the Aztecs, and we need no further proof that the heavenly bodies were closely and accurately observed, than we find in the fact that the true length of the tropical year had been ascertained long before scientific instruments were even thought of. Their religious festivals were regulated by the movements of these bodies; but with their knowledge was mingled so vast a ma.s.s of superst.i.tion, that it is difficult to discern a gleam of light through the thick darkness."

"The Botocudos of Brazil held the moon in high veneration, and attributed to her influence the chief phenomena in nature." [236]

The Indian of the Coroados tribe in Brazil, "chained to the present, hardly ever raises his eyes to the starry firmament. Yet he is actuated by a certain awe of some constellations, as of everything that indicates a spiritual connection of things. His chief attention, however, is not directed to the sun, but to the moon; according to which he calculates time, and from which he is used to deduce good and evil." [237]

The celebrated Abipones honour with silver altars and adoration the moon, which they call the consort of the sun, and certain stars, which they term the handmaids of the moon: but their most singular idea is that the Pleiades represent their grandfather; and "as that constellation disappears at certain periods from the sky of South America, upon such occasions they suppose that their grandfather is sick, and are under a yearly apprehension that he is going to die; but as soon as those seven stars are again visible in the month of May, they welcome their grandfather, as if returned and restored from sickness, with joyful shouts, and the festive sound of pipes and trumpets, congratulating him on the recovery of his health." [238]

The Peruvians "acknowledge no other G.o.ds than the Pachacamac, who is the supreme, and the Sun, who is inferior to him, and the Moon, who is his sister and wife." [239] In the religion of the Incas the idol (huaco) of the Moon was in charge of women, and when it was brought from the house of the Sun, to be wors.h.i.+pped, it was carried on their shoulders, because they said "it was a woman, and the figure resembled one." [240]_Pachacamac_, the great deity mentioned above, signifies "earth-animator."

Prescott, in describing the temple of the Sun, at Cuzco in Peru, tells us that "adjoining the princ.i.p.al structure were several chapels of smaller dimensions. One of them was consecrated to the Moon, the deity held next in reverence, as the mother of the Incas. Her effigy was delineated in the same manner as that of the Sun, on a vast plate that nearly covered one side of the apartment. But this plate, as well as all the decorations of the building, was of silver, as suited to the pale, silvery light of the beautiful planet." [241]