Chapter 60 The public scapegoat: an overview of scapegoating

The preceding examination of the custom of the public to exorcise the accumulated evils of a village, town, or country has provided some general insights. First, there can be no dispute about what I call exorcism without an intermediary and exorcism with an intermediary, the intention of which is the same; At any rate, this is entirely subordinate to the main purpose of the ritual, which is to rid a people of all evils which have been afflicting them.If there was a missing link between the two exorcisms, the practice of sending the evil away on a slide or a boat provided one.Because in this approach, on the one hand, evils are invisible and untouchable; on the other hand, they are sent away with visible and touchable tools.A scapegoat is nothing more than a tool of this kind.

Second, as far as the method of regular and universal exorcism is concerned, the interval between the previous and the next two ceremonies is usually one year, and the time of performing the ceremonies generally coincides with a certain obvious change of seasons, such as the North Pole and the North Pole. It is at the beginning or end of winter in the temperate zone and at the beginning or end of the rainy season in the tropics.This climate change is likely to increase the death rate, especially among the savages who have poor food, clothing, and housing conditions. Therefore, primitive people think that this is the work of demons and must be driven out.So the tropics of New Britain and Peru exorcise evil spirits at the onset of the rainy season; and the desolate coastal regions of Baffinland cast out demons at the onset of the harsh arctic winter.When a tribe is used to farming, the time of general exorcism naturally coincides with a certain major season of the agricultural year, such as sowing or harvesting; although these seasons themselves correspond to changes in natural seasons, they do not mean the transition from hunting or pastoral life to Agricultural life would entail any change in the timing of this annual ceremony.We have already said that in some farming communities of India and the Hindu Kush exorcisms were common at harvest time and at sowing time in others.However, no matter what time of year it is held, the universal exorcism always marks the beginning of the new year.Because before entering the new year, people are eager to get rid of the scourge that plagued them in the past, so many communities hold solemn and mass rituals to exorcise demons and ghosts at the beginning of the new year.

Thirdly, it must be noted that before and after this regular public exorcism, there is always a period of general lifting of the ban. During the lifting of the ban, the general social constraints are thrown away, and all faults that are not considered serious crimes are let go. Punishment.The lifting period in Guinea and Tokyo precedes the public exorcism of evil spirits.The practice of the secular government in Lhasa to suspend its functions until the expulsion of scapegoats may be a precious legacy of a similar period of general lifting of the ban.Among the Indo-Dutches the period of relief was after the exorcism; among the Iroquois it is difficult to see whether this period of liberation preceded or followed the exorcism.In every case, on such occasions, all the rules of daily conduct are exceptionally lax.No doubt this can be interpreted as the period of lifting before and after the general exorcism.On the one hand, in anticipation of universal exorcisms and universal absolutions, men dared to indulge their passions in the belief that the impending ritual would wipe out their rapidly mounting debts.On the other hand, as soon as the ceremony has been completed, the minds of the people are freed from the oppressive oppression which they have been tormented in this demonic atmosphere, and so in the first impulse of joy they transcend custom and morality. the prescribed boundaries.If the ritual took place at harvest time, the excitement aroused by the ritual was further fueled by the material benefits that arose from the abundance of food.

Fourth, the use of god-men or beasts as scapegoats is particularly noteworthy.Here we directly encounter the custom of transferring evil spirits to gods and killing them, thus driving away evil.It may occur to us that the custom of using god-men or beasts as public scapegoats seems much wider than the examples we have given.As we have already pointed out, the custom of killing gods originated very early in human history, and in later generations, even when this custom persists, is subject to misinterpretation.The divine identity of animal or man is forgotten, and he is regarded only as a universal victim.Encountered the situation where the god was killed.Such misunderstandings are especially likely to arise.Because when a nation is civilized, if it has not completely given up the practice of human sacrifice, at least it will always look for those wretches who are always damned when choosing sacrifices.So killing gods is sometimes confused with executing prisoners.

If we were to ask, why choose a dying god to take people's sins and sorrows on their backs and take them away?Is it possible to put it this way: the way to use God as a scapegoat is to combine two customs that were once different and independent from each other.On the one hand, we have seen that there is a custom to kill the human or animal gods, in order to prevent the life of the gods who avoided him from aging due to old age.On the other hand, we have said that there is a custom to cleanse evil and sin once a year.Then, if people think of combining the two customs, the result is to use the dying god as a scapegoat.Originally he was not killed to take away his sins, but to prevent the life of the gods from old age; but since he was always to be killed, people thought why they didn't take the opportunity to take away their misery and sin. Let him carry the burden to the unknowable world behind the grave?

We have said that the European folk custom of "sending death away" seemed unclear, and now this practice of using God as a scapegoat clarifies this point.We have already given reasons for believing that the so-called god of death in this ritual was originally a vegetable spirit.People kill the plant essence every spring in order to revive it with youthful vigor.But, as I have pointed out, there are features of this ritual which cannot be accounted for by this hypothesis alone.For example, when the idol of the god of death is taken out to be buried or burned, people show great joy, while the person who bears the idol shows fear and loathing.These characteristics become clear at once if we assume that "Reaper" is not merely a dying vegetable god, but a public scapegoat on whom all the evils that have tormented people during the past year have been laid.It is natural and appropriate to express joy on such occasions; it is not the dying god who is feared and loathed, but the sins and misfortunes he has borne. It is because it is difficult to distinguish between the bearer and the burden, at least it is difficult to draw the distinction between the two.The burden has the characteristics of a scourge, and people fear and avoid the bearer, as if he himself is full of those dangerous qualities, when in fact he is only a tool to carry those dangerous qualities.In the same way, we have said that some peoples in the East Indies fear and shy away from boats carrying diseases and crimes.Moreover, in these folk customs, death is the representative of the plant gods and the scapegoat.The above view is also confirmed by the fact that people, especially Slavic peoples, always drive away death in spring.The New Year begins in the spring among the Slavic peoples; so the ceremony of "sending off the god of death" is an example of that widespread custom of exorcising the evils of the old year before entering the new year.