Abstract
LONDON. Royal Anthropological Institute, October 6.—Geza Roheim: Hungarian calendar customs. Three groups of customs connected with the calendar were discussed. In Hungarian winter dances a bull plays a conspicuous part. One of the performers may be called a bull, or the bull is a musical instrument used by these dancers. The identity of a demon and a musical instrument reminds us of primitive initiation ceremonies, and the Hungarian rites in question are actually connected with the initiation of lads. The fertility customs of St. George's day are based on the unconscious concept of birth, and it is in this sense that the Palilia, the Roman prototype of St. George's day, was the birthday of the community. The kings and queens of Whitsuntide in Hungary show that these embodiments of fertility are really the survivals of primitive divine kings, for even in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Hungarian Whitsuntide kings enjoyed certain privileges and wielded authority over the lads of their village for a year.
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Societies and Academies. Nature 116, 631 (1925). https://doi.org/10.1038/116631a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/116631a0