An Autobiography [203]
in the Egyptian attitude of adoration. This consists in the hands held up before the eyes--an attitude expressive of the brightness of the object adored. It is associated with the brightness of the Sun, and it still survives in the Salaam, which expresses profound reverence and respect among Eastern nations. It also survives in the disc of the Sun, which has for ages been placed like a halo behind the heads of sacred and exalted personages, as may be seen in Eastern and early paintings, as well as in church windows at the present day.
This is also intimately connected with lighted lamps and candles, which latter may often be met with in Continental churches, as well as in English Ritualist Churches at the present day. In Romish Continental churches they are stuck on to pyramidal stands, and placed before pictures and images of sacred personages. All such lighted lamps or candles are survivals of that most ancient form of worship,-- that of THE SUN!
The accompanying illustrations will serve in some degree to confirm the correctness of my views as to this very. interesting subject.
[Image] Fig. 1 is from a "rubbing" of one of the many small or "Household" pyramids in the Louvre Collection at Paris;
[Image] while Fig. 2 is an attempt to illustrate in a graphic manner the derivation of the form of the Pyramid and Obelisk from the Sun's Rays.
In connection with the worship of the Sun and other heavenly bodies, as practised in ancient times by Eastern nations, it may be mentioned that their want of knowledge of the vast distances that separate them from the earth led them to the belief that these bodies were so near as to exert a direct influence upon man and his affairs. Hence the origin of Astrology, with all its accompanying mystifications; this was practised under the impression that the Sun, Moon, and planets were near to the earth. The summits of mountains and "High Places" thus became "sacred," and were for this reason resorted to for the performance of the most important religious ceremonies.
As the "High Places" could not be transported to the Temples, the cone-bearing trees, which were naturally associated with these elevated places, in a manner partook of their sacred character, and the fruit of the trees became in a like manner sacred. Hence the Fir Cone became a portable emblem of their sacredness; and, accordingly in the Assyrian Worship, so clearly represented to us in the Assyrian Sculptures in our Museums, we find the Fir Cone being presented by the priests towards the head of their kings as a high function of Beatification. So sacred was the Fir Cone, as the fruit of the sacred tree, that the priest who presents it has a reticule-shaped bag in which, no doubt, the sacred emblem was reverently deposited when not in use for the performance of these high religious ceremonies.
The same emblem "survived" in the Greek worship. I annex a tracing from a wood engraving in Fellows's Researches in Asia Minor, 1852 (p. 175), showing the Fir Cone as the finial to the staff of office of the Wine-god Bacchus.
[Image]
To this day it is employed to stir the juice of the grape previous to fermentation, and so sanctifying it by contact with the fruit of the Sacred Tree. This is still practised by the Greeks in Asia Minor and in Greece, though introduced in times of remote antiquity. The Fir Cone communicates to most of the Greek wines that peculiar turpentine or resinous flavour which is found in them. Although the sanctification motive has departed, the resinous flavour is all that survives of a once most sacred ceremony, as having so close a relation to the worship of the Sun and the heavenly bodies.
In like manner, it appears to me highly probable that "The Christmas Tree" with its lighted tapers, which is introduced at that sacred season for the entertainment of our young people, is "a survival" of the worship of the sacred tree and of the Sun. The toys which are hung on the twigs of the tree may also be "survivals" of the offerings which were usually made
This is also intimately connected with lighted lamps and candles, which latter may often be met with in Continental churches, as well as in English Ritualist Churches at the present day. In Romish Continental churches they are stuck on to pyramidal stands, and placed before pictures and images of sacred personages. All such lighted lamps or candles are survivals of that most ancient form of worship,-- that of THE SUN!
The accompanying illustrations will serve in some degree to confirm the correctness of my views as to this very. interesting subject.
[Image] Fig. 1 is from a "rubbing" of one of the many small or "Household" pyramids in the Louvre Collection at Paris;
[Image] while Fig. 2 is an attempt to illustrate in a graphic manner the derivation of the form of the Pyramid and Obelisk from the Sun's Rays.
In connection with the worship of the Sun and other heavenly bodies, as practised in ancient times by Eastern nations, it may be mentioned that their want of knowledge of the vast distances that separate them from the earth led them to the belief that these bodies were so near as to exert a direct influence upon man and his affairs. Hence the origin of Astrology, with all its accompanying mystifications; this was practised under the impression that the Sun, Moon, and planets were near to the earth. The summits of mountains and "High Places" thus became "sacred," and were for this reason resorted to for the performance of the most important religious ceremonies.
As the "High Places" could not be transported to the Temples, the cone-bearing trees, which were naturally associated with these elevated places, in a manner partook of their sacred character, and the fruit of the trees became in a like manner sacred. Hence the Fir Cone became a portable emblem of their sacredness; and, accordingly in the Assyrian Worship, so clearly represented to us in the Assyrian Sculptures in our Museums, we find the Fir Cone being presented by the priests towards the head of their kings as a high function of Beatification. So sacred was the Fir Cone, as the fruit of the sacred tree, that the priest who presents it has a reticule-shaped bag in which, no doubt, the sacred emblem was reverently deposited when not in use for the performance of these high religious ceremonies.
The same emblem "survived" in the Greek worship. I annex a tracing from a wood engraving in Fellows's Researches in Asia Minor, 1852 (p. 175), showing the Fir Cone as the finial to the staff of office of the Wine-god Bacchus.
[Image]
To this day it is employed to stir the juice of the grape previous to fermentation, and so sanctifying it by contact with the fruit of the Sacred Tree. This is still practised by the Greeks in Asia Minor and in Greece, though introduced in times of remote antiquity. The Fir Cone communicates to most of the Greek wines that peculiar turpentine or resinous flavour which is found in them. Although the sanctification motive has departed, the resinous flavour is all that survives of a once most sacred ceremony, as having so close a relation to the worship of the Sun and the heavenly bodies.
In like manner, it appears to me highly probable that "The Christmas Tree" with its lighted tapers, which is introduced at that sacred season for the entertainment of our young people, is "a survival" of the worship of the sacred tree and of the Sun. The toys which are hung on the twigs of the tree may also be "survivals" of the offerings which were usually made