Elements Of Negro Religion, Being A Contribution To The Study Of Indo-bantu Comparative Religion

l^re&ttxteb to of the Pnm^rsttg of ®oroitta W.J.E. Scott estate Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2007 witii IVIicrosoft funding from Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/elementsofnegrorOOedmouoft ELEMENTS OF NEGRO RELIGION The Snake-Spirit of Glen Etive. See page [From Campbell's Tales 0/ 119. the West Highla}ids.'\ ELEMENTS OF NEGRO RELIGION BEING A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF INDO-BANTU COMPARATIVE RELIGION W. J. EDMONDSTON-SCOTT "As Angels in some brighter dreams when man doth sleep; So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes, Call to the soul, And into glory peep." EDINBURGH EDMONDSTON-SCOTT & 1 5 Forth Street MCMX CO. Printed by Morrison & Gibb Limited Edinburgh ^0 if)e ^Tcmorj? of MY LITTLE BROTHER CHARLIE FOR HIS CHRISTIAN EXAMPLE AND FORTITUDE THE FIRST-FRUITS OF INDO-BANTU COMPARATIVE RELIGION ARE DEDICATED .^ — CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ix-xvi CHAPTER I NEGRO STORIES OF THE CREATION — Religion and Character — Negro Faith — The Fear of God — Revealed and Natural Religion — The Negro's Attitude to Nature — The Value of Fossil Idiom The Light of the Dead — The Personality of Nature — Nature Folklore— Influencs of Literature and Art Lessons Legends of the Creation — Animal Lore and — Historical Legends of the Flood —The Creation of Adam and Eve — The Divinity of Man — Value of Religion the Science of Life Religion Cannot Progress its Negro Folktale and Tradition CHAPTER .... 1-38 II THE ORIGIN OF DEATH What is Death?— The Fear of Death— Forms of Death — Death a Violence — Death by the Will of God — God's Wrath and Curse — Death a Renewal of Life is — Resurrection of the Dead — Instincts of Soul— The Coming of Death— The Fall of Man The Wages of Sin— Atonement for Sin — Stages of Spiritual Life — Sex of the Spirit The Evidence of and Youth the — ...... — Archceology CHAPTER THE Spiritualism — Nature SPIRIT IS of the Spirit III THE LIFE — Fairies and Fairy- Worship— The Old Gods of the Land— Spiritual Manifestations — The Call of the Dead — Spiritual Telepathy 39-^3 — CONTENTS viii FAGE — Animals as Mediums — The Snake Negro Lore — Spirit-Control — Spirit-Obsession — Avenging and Genii — Christian Science among the Protecting Negroes — Deformed Shapes of Devils — The Testimony of Tradition — Satan the Snake-Spirit, a Personal 84-122 Devil — Negro Knowledge of the Occult in . CHAPTER IV THE WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS — Abode of Ancestors — Memorials — Circles of Ancestors — Building the Cairns — Potting the Dead — The Graves of Ancestors — Fairy-Food — Hearth-Worship — Purification of th