If we turn back to Chapters 4, 5, and 7, and consult the evidence
there given as to the Adonis cults, the Spring Festivals of European
Folk, the Mumming Plays of the British Isles, the main fact that
emerges is that in the great majority of these cases the
representative of the Spirit of Vegetation is considered as dead, and
the object of these ceremonies is to restore him to life. This I hold
to be the primary form.
This section had already been written when I came across the important
article by Dr Jevons, referred to in a previous chapter.[16] Certain
of his remarks are here so much to the point that I cannot refrain
from quoting them. Speaking of the Mumming Plays, the writer says:
"The one point in which there is no variation is that--the character
is killed and brought to life again. The play is a ceremonial
performance, or rather it is the development in dramatic form of what
was originally a religious or magical rite, representing or realizing
the revivification of the character slain. This revivification is the
one essential and invariable feature of all the Mummer's plays in
England."[17]
In certain cases, e.g., the famous Roman Spring festival of Mamurius
Veturius and the Swabian ceremony referred to above,[18] the central
figure is an old man.
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