Chapter 47 Divine Communion: Alicia's "Manny"

Now we can offer an explanation for the proverb "Aricia has many mannies".The Romans called some bread made in the shape of a human being Maniae, and it seems that this kind of bread was specially made in Aricia.The name of this kind of bread Mani (Maniae) is also the name of ghost mother or ghost grandma. God Ral.Some people think that the household god Lares was originally the farm god of the ancient Romans.Some people think that it was originally the spirit of the dead. ] Dedicated to her woolen idols in the form of a man and a woman.These were hung at the gates of every house in Rome; one for every three persons in the house, and another for each slave.The reason is that the ghosts of the dead will come out on this day, and people hope that these ghosts will only take away the idols on the door and leave the living people in the house, either out of good intentions or carelessness.According to tradition, these woolen idols replaced the former custom of killing and sacrificing human beings.This data is too fragmentary and uncertain to draw conclusions with certainty; but it seems worth reminding that these humanoid breads baked by Alicia were communion breads, which in olden times killed the satyr-kings every year, according to him. His idol makes some bread, which, like the Mexican dough idol, is eaten as communion by his followers.The Mexican sacrament of Vizli Portstree also involved personal sacrifices.Tradition says that the founder of the Alicia grove was a man called Mani, from whom many Mani were descended. reason.The story says that offering idols on the household god festival is a substitute for human sacrifices, and the original connection between bread and personal sacrifices may be a bit of a hazy memory of the past in this story.The story itself may be baseless, since it is not uncommon to hang idols to distract ghosts or demons from living people.

For example, Tibetans are afraid of the countless underworld demons ruled by the old mother of Kongma.This goddess, the Roman equivalent of Mani (ghost mother or ghost grandmother), wears a yellow robe, holds a golden hook, and rides a ram.In order to prevent her evil spirits from entering their houses, the Tibetans nailed an exquisite wooden box like a chandelier on the door, which contained a ram skull, various precious items such as gold leaf, silver mica, turquoise and rice. , wheat, soy food, and statues or images of men, women, and houses. "These images of men, women, and houses are used to fool evil spirits. If they enter the house despite these offerings, these images will convince them that they are the people who live in the house and take their Vent your anger on these pieces of wood, so as not to hurt the real person.” After everything was ready, a monk wished to the old mother of Kong Ma, requesting to accept this small gift, and to close the gate tightly so that evil spirits would not come out to intrude on the house and harm everyone. people.

Idols are also often a tool for disease prevention and treatment; illnesses either mistake idols for living people, or are persuaded and forced into idols, while real men and women are healthy.So the Alphs of Minahasa in Celebes sometimes move the sick to another house, and they leave a pillow and an idol tied up with clothes on the bed of the sick.It is believed that the sickness mistook the idol for a sick man, and the sick man was cured.The natives of Borneo seem to be particularly fond of this method of curing and preventing diseases.Therefore, when the Dayak people in Katoguguo River encountered a plague, they hung a wooden idol on the door, hoping that the plague would be deceived, take away the idol, and leave the living.Among the Aolo Yazhu people in Balo, if they think that a patient is being attacked by a devil, they make an idol out of flour or rice flour as a substitute for the patient, and throw it under the bed so that the patient will not be entangled by the devil.In some parts of western Baltic the doctor is usually an old woman, and if someone is suddenly very ill, the doctor makes a wooden statue and touches it seven times on the patient's head, and at the same time she says: "This It seems to replace the patient, the disease, you go to the statue." Then, put a little rice, salt and smoke in a small basket, and take the substitute to the place where the goblin enters the human body.Putting the idol there, the doctor first summoned the goblin and said, "Devil, here is an idol that replaces the patient. Let the patient's soul go and pester the idol. Because the idol is indeed more beautiful than the patient." Batak The sorcerer can cast spells, causing the disease to come out of the sick person's body and enter the idol.The idol was made of banana leaves, with a human face and spiritual grass wrapped around its body.After the wizard casts the spell, he quickly takes the idol and throws it away or buries it outside the village boundary.Sometimes, according to the gender of the patient, the idol is dressed as a man or a woman, and placed on a cross street or a thoroughfare, hoping that someone passing by will scream when he sees it: "Ah, so-and-so is dead!" This cry will deceive the sickness into believing that its bad idea has achieved its purpose, make him go away, and the patient is cured.

With these examples, we can deduce that the woolen idols hung at the gates of ancient Roman homes on the Hushen Festival were not substitutes for human animals. The ghost mother or ghost granny, in the hope that she would accept or mistook the idol for someone in the family when she wandered around the city, thus pardoned the living for another year.The same may well have been the original meaning of the rush idols thrown by the Head Priest and the Virgin of the Fire into the Tiber from the ancient Subrician Bridge in Rome in May; that is, the idols were made to clear The influence of the devil in the city diverted the devil's attention from the man to the idol, and threw the whole hideous thing into the river, which immediately carried them far away into the sea.In exactly the same manner the natives of old Calabar regularly rid the city of devils, luring the unwary devils into some shabby straw-figures, which they throw into the river.This interpretation of the Roman custom was partly supported by evidence presented by Plutarch, who said the ritual was "the greatest exorcism".