In an inner chamber is placed the symbol which is held in particular veneration. Here is found an upright conical stone standing within a circular one. The stone is sprinkled with water during the festival season. The writer states that this stone, to the worshippers, represents the male generative organ, and the worship of it is not considered an impropriety. In this instance we feel that the symbolism is very definite, and doubtless the stone pillars in the other temples of India and elsewhere are of the same significance.
A clergyman in the Chinese Review of 1876, under the title "Phallic Worship in China," gives an account of the phallicism as he observed it at that time. He states that the male sexual organ is symbolized by a simple mound of earth and is so worshipped. Similarly, the female organ is represented by a mound of different form and is worshipped as the former. The writer states that at times these mounds are built in conjunction. He states this worship is similar to that of Baal of Chaldea, etc., and that probably all have a common origin. It appears to be a fundamental part of the Chinese religion and the symbolism of the Chinese pagoda expresses the same idea. He says that Kheen or Shang-te, the Chinese deities of sex, are also worshipped in the form of serpents, of which the dragon of the Chinese is a modification. This furnishes a concrete instance in which the mound of earth is of phallic significance, and substantiates an interpretation of serpent worship to which we shall presently refer.
Hoddard M. Westropp has given us an excellent account of phallic worship and includes in his description the observations of a traveller in Japan at as late periods as 1864 and 1869.
A temple near the ancient capital of Japan was visited by a traveller. In this temple the main object of worship was a large upright, standing alone, and the resemblance to the male generative organ was so striking as to leave no doubt as to what it represented. This upright was worshipped especially by women, who left votive offerings, among them small phalli, elaborately wrought out of wood or other material. The traveller remarked that the worship was most earnest and sincere.
The same traveller observed that in some of the public roads of Japan are small hedged recesses where similar stone pillars are found. These large pillars unquestionably represent the male organ. The writer has observed priests in procession carrying similar huge phalli, painted in color as well. This procession called forth no particular comment and so was probably not unusual. It is stated that this is a part of the ancient "Shintoo" religion of Japan and China. There are frequent references to certain of the gods of the Ancients being represented in priapic attitudes, the phallus being the prominent and most important attribute. Thus Hermes, in Greece, was placed at cross-roads, with phallus prominent. This was comparable to the phallus on Japanese highways. In the festivals of Bacchus high phalli were carried, the male organ being represented about the size of the rest of the body. The Egyptians carried a gilt phallus, 150 cubits high, at the festivals of Osiris. In Syria, at the entrance of the temple at Hieropolis, was placed a human figure with a phallus 120 cubits high. A man mounted this upright twice a year and remained seven days, offering prayers, etc.
In Peru in the Temple of the Sun an upright pillar has been described covered with gold leaf, very similar to those existing elsewhere and to which has been ascribed similar significance.
A number of writers have expressed the belief that the May-pole is an emblem of ancient phallic worship. We know that May-day festivals are of the most remote antiquity. We are indebted to R. P. Knight for a description of what May-day was like about four centuries ago in England. The festival started the evening before. Men and women went out into the woods in search of a tree and brought it back to the village in the early morning. The night was spent in sexual excesses comparable to those of the Roman Bacchanalia. A procession was formed, garlands were added to the May-pole, which was set up in the village square. The Puritans referred to it as an idol, and they did not approve of the festivities. Until comparatively recent years there was a May-pole in one of the squares of London, and Samuel Pepys,[7] writing of his time, speaks of seeing May-poles in the front yards of the prominent citizens of Holland. A festival much the same as this was held in Ancient Rome and also in India. The May-pole properly pierces a disc and thus conforms with the lingam-yoni of India. We also know that the first of May was a favorite time for all nature worship with the ancients. For a number of interesting suggestions the reader is referred to R. P. Knight, Worship of Priapus, and Hargrave Jennings, Indian Religions (Page 66.)
[7] Pepys Diary.
Tree worship is frequently mentioned in the religions of antiquity. We are told that the mystic powers of the mistletoe comes from the fact that it grows on the oak, a once sacred tree. The pine of the North, the palm and the fig tree of the South, were sacred trees at one time. John Newton made a study of tree worship, especially the Ancient Grove Worship of Assyria. He shows that the object of veneration was a male date palm, which represented the Assyrian god Baal. Sex was worshipped under this deity, and it is shown that the tree of the Assyrian grove was a phallic symbol. Palm Sunday appears to be a relic of this worship. In France, until comparatively recent times, there was a festival, "La Fete des Pinnes," in which palms were carried in procession, and with the palms were carried phalli of bread which had been blessed by the priests.
Richard Payne Knight tells us that Pan was worshipped by the Shepherds under the form of the tall fir, and Bacchus "by sticking up the rude trunk of a tree." It is shown throughout these pages that sexual attributes were worshipped under both these deities. In reference to other symbols, the writer continues,[8] "The spires and pinnacles with which our churches are decorated come from these ancient symbols; and the weather cocks, with which they are surmounted though now only employed to show the direction of the wind, were originally emblems of the sun; for the cock is the natural herald of the day, and therefore sacred to the fountain of light. In the symbolical writings of the Chinese the sun is still represented by a cock in the circle; and a modern Parsee would suffer death rather than be guilty of the crime of killing one. It appears on many ancient coins, with some symbol of the passive productive power on the reverse; and in other instances it is united with priapic and other emblems and devices, signifying other attributes combined."
[8] Symbolic language of ancient art and mythology.
Dr. Thomas Inman has made a study to show how this phallic symbolism found its way into ancient art, and even into some designs of modern times. Thus, many formal designs are studied in which the upright plays a part; likewise, the oval and the circle receive a similar explanation. The architectural ornaments spoken of as eggs and anchors, eggs and spear heads, the so-called honey-suckle ornament of antiquity, and the origin of some church windows and ornaments, are all studied by this writer, and his text is accompanied by illustrations. Hargrave Jennings has also traced the origin of the symbols of Heraldry, the emblems of Royalty and of some church orders with similar explanations.
We may add that the crux ansata of the Egyptians, the oval standing upon the upright, or letter Tau, may be shown to be a sex symbol, the union of the oval with the upright being of symbolic significance. The crux ansata is found in the hand of most of the Egyptian deities. It is found in the Assyrian temples and throughout the temples of India as well. Prehistoric monuments of Ireland have the same design. Priests are portrayed in adoration of the crux ansata before phallic monuments. This symbol, from which our modern cross is doubtless derived, originated with the religions of antiquity. Much additional evidence could readily be given to illustrate this prehistoric origin. The present Christian symbol affords another example of the adoption by a new religion of the symbols of the old.
Some reflection will show that the origin of many church customs and symbols, and indeed of a great number of obscure customs and usages, may quite properly be traced to the religions and practices of primitive races. Lafcadio Hearn has insisted upon this in the interpretation of the art and customs of the Japanese. He says,[9] "Art in Japan is so intimately associated with religion that any attempt to study it without extensive knowledge of the beliefs which it reflects were mere waste of time. By art I do not mean painting and sculpture but every kind of decoration, and most kinds of pictorial representation-the image of a boy's kite or a girl's battledore not less than the design upon a lacquered casquet or enameled vase,-the figure upon a workman's trowel not less than the pattern of the girdle of a princess,-the shape of the paper doll or wooden rattle bought for a baby, not less than the forms of those colossal Ni-O who guard the gateways of the Buddha's temples," etc.
[9] Japan, an attempt at Interpretation.
In the above pages, we have given an account of the views of a number of writers upon certain forms and symbols, and at the same time we have offered considerable evidence in substantiation from independent sources. These origins, found associated especially in art and religious usages, have not been generally understood. Yet when we reflect upon the fact that many religious customs are of great antiquity; that when once a certain form or custom becomes established, it is well nigh ineffaceable, although subject to great change or disguise throughout the centuries; when we reflect upon these conditions, and realize the fact that sex worship with its accompanying symbolism is found throughout primitive religions, we may then more readily appreciate the entire significance of the above interpretations.
It must, of course, be borne in mind that no one now gives these interpretations to spires, minarets, and to the various monumental symbols of which we have been speaking. We are here dealing exclusively with pre-historic origins, not with present day meanings. The antiquity of certain symbols is truly remarkable. The star and crescent, for example, a well known conventionalized symbol, is found on Assyrian cylinders, doubtless devised many centuries before Christ.
The full force and meaning of these various symbols may be very readily grasped by reference to a number of designs, ancient coins, bas-reliefs, monuments, etc., which have been reproduced in plates and drawings by C. W. King, Thomas Inman, R. P. Knight and others. To these we refer the reader.
(TO BE CONCLUDED)
REFERENCES.[10]
[10] For a number of additional references consult New York Library under Phallicism.
Cox, Rev. G. W.: The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.
Deiterich, A.: Mutter Erde.
Fraser, J. G.: Adonis, Attis and Osiris; Balder, the Beautiful; Psyche's Task.
Grosse: The Beginnings of Art.
Higgins, Godfrey: The Anacalypsis; Celtic Druids.
Harrison, Miss Jane: Ancient Art and Ritual; Themis.
Howitt, A. W.: The Native Tribes of South East Australia.
Inman, Dr. Thomas: Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names; Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism.
Jennings, Hargrave: The Rosicrucians; The Indian Religions.
King, C. W: The Gnostics and their Remains; Hand-book of Engraved Gems.
Knight, R. P.: The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology; Two Essays on the Worship of Priapus.
Layard, A.: Babylon and Nineveh; Nineveh and its Remains.
Murray, Gilbert: Hamlet and Orestes.
Newton, John: Assyrian Grove Worship.
O'Brien, Henry: The Round Towers of Ireland
Rawlinson, G.: History of Ancient Egypt; Ancient Monarchies.
Rhyn, Dr. Otto: Mysteria.
Rocco, Sha: Ancient Sex Worship
Spencer, B.: Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia.
Westropp, Hodder, M.: Primitive Symbolism.
Wood, Rev. J. G.: The Uncivilized Races.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES (Primitive customs, religious usages, etc.)
Bryant: System of Mythology.
DeGubernatis, Angelo: Zoological Mythology.
Judson: Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes.
Langdon, S.: Tammuz and Ishtar.
Perrot, and Chipiez: History of Art in Phrygia, Lidia, Caria and Lycia; History of Art in Persia.
Prescott: Conquest of Peru.
Rousselet, Louis: India and Its Native Princes.
Stevens, J.: Central America, Chiapez and Yucatan.
Solas, W. J.: Ancient Hunters.