St. Mary's beacon., 1858-05-20

to the Earth God children whose AGE pre-
cludes q knowledge Of their situation being.
for c0nveuience sake, preferred.
1 TIE Neria IS brought blindfolded 70 the
village bg the procurer, and is lodged in tue
house Of tle abbaya-in Eettcrs, If grown up
at perieck liberty, If child. He IS regarded,
| during LIE, as consccrated being and. if at
large, i esgerly welcomed at every threshold
Sometimes he Il suffered to grow up in igno-
rance q hls situation, and he Is presented with
faFm-stqxk and land. and with wife Of one
Of the upon the mountains, not Of the
Kh0nsT ~ = Should d family be the result.
il Is held TO bc born to the fearful condition of
! the sire; and should the deity require atone
lnents not easy to be- afforded, the father and
! his children are sacrificed without hesitation.
! Ia the time Of kull Dora Bissye, of Coon
sun. uncle of the present Dora Bissye, ard one
of the class of Benmiah khonds which has
generally forgone the practice of this rite,
victim who had been permitted to attain his
manhood was led out a sacrifice in the district
of Rodungiab. The preliminaries Of the GER
emony bad been gone through, and an intOxi-
Gated crowd expected their comsummation.
when the fettercd youth said to the abbava-
Sin suffering this death become, as it were
! god: and do not resist my fate. Unbind me-
and let me partake with You in the ioy Of the
! festival. The abbaya consented and unbound
! him the young man called for bowl. and
drank, and the crowd Contended fcrcelv FOR
the remains of the liquor which his lips had
conSecTaSed. He then danced and sang amid
the throng until the sacrifice could no longer
/ be delayed, when he requested the abbava to
! lend him his axe and his bow, that he might
once more join his companions armed. like a
free man. in the dance. He received the wea-
pons, and when the abbaya was busted
with the priest, in preparing for the last rite
the youth approached him in the dance, and
and Glove his skull at a blow He then dashed
across the Salki, a deep and foaming torrent
and fled down Chant to the keep of kuli Bis
syc. A furious crowd Of worshippers follow
ed, and demanded his surrender But the
| Bissyc contrived to console them until he could
collect small party Of adhercnts, who secret
ly bore away the fugitive, and his descendants;
still live
Festivals of sacrifice are generally attended
! by large concoursc Of both sexes. and con-
tinue for three days, which are passed in the
indulgence Of every form Of gross excess in
more than saturnalian license.
The frstday and night are spent exclusi vey in
drunken fcasting and obscene riot. Upon the
second morning, the victim. who has tasted
upon the preceding evening, is carefully
washed, dressed in new garment, and led
forth from the village in solemn procession,
with musSS ansa atiaacing. ~ ~
The Meria grOve-a clump Of deep and
shadOwy trcsS, in which the mango, the bur.
the dammar, and the pipala generally prevail!
usually stands at short distance from the
! hamlet, by a rivulct, which is called the Mcria
stream. 1t is kept sacred from the axe. and
is avoided By the Khond as haunted ground.
In its centre, upon the second day. an upright
stake is fixed, generally between two plants of
the sankissar or bazar danti shrub. The vic
tim is seated at its foot, bound back to it bv
the priest. He is then anointed with oil, ghee.
and turmeric, and adorned with flowers and a
species of reverence is paid to him throughout
the day. And there is now much contention
TO obtain the slightest relic of his person-a
particle of the tumeric paste with which he is
smeared, or drop of his spittle, being esteem-
cd Especially by the womenl of supreme vir-
tue.
1t is curious to find how nearly in this res
pcct the practice of the AZtecs o: Mexico re-
sembics that Of the Khonds of Hindostan.
One of their most important festivals was that
in honor of the god Tezcatiepoca, whose rank
was only inferior to that of the Supreme Being.
He was called the Soul of the World' and
|
depicted as handsome man, endowed with
perpetual youth. A year before the sacrifice,
4 captive, distinguished for his personal beauty,
and without b!cmisI on his body. was Sc
lected to represent this deity. Certain tutors
took charge of him. ard instructed him how
to perform his part with hecoming grace and
dignity. He was arrayed in splendid dress.
and RECALLED with incense, and with a proGl-
sion of swect-scented flowers, Of which the
ancient Mexicans were as fond as their descen-
dants of the present day. When he went
abroad, he was attended by train Of the roval
pages. and. as lie halted in the streets to plav
some favorite melody, the crowd proStratel
themselves before him, and did him homage
as the representative o. their good deity. In
this way le led an easy, luxurious life. till
within q month of his sacrifice. Four be.uti-
full girls, bearing the names Of the principal
gOddesses, were then selected to share the HON
ors Of his bed and with them he continued to
live in idle daliance, feasted at the banqucts
of the principal mobiles, who lavished upon
him the most extraordinary tokens of their re-
gard, and paid him all the honors Of a divini-
~.
/, At length the fatal day of sacrifice arrived
| The term Of his sllort-ived glories was at an
end. He was stripped of his gaudy apparel.
and bade adieu to the fair partners of his rev.
elries. One of the royal barges transported
him across the lake to a temple which rose on
its margin, about league from the city. Hith-
er the inhabitants Of the capital focked, To
witness the consummatiOn of the ceremony.
As the sad procession wound up the sides Of
the pyramid, the unhappy victim threw away
his gay chaplcts of flowers, and broke in pieces
/ the musical instruments with which he lid
! solaced the hours Of captivity On the surn-
NIT he was received by six priests, whose long
and matted locks flowed disJrtlerly over their
sable robes. covered with hieroglyphic scrolls
Of mystic import. They led hirns,o the sacri-
fetal stone, huge block of jas per, with it,
upper surface somewhat convex. On this the
prisoner was stretched. Five priests secured
his head and his limbs while the sixth, clad
in scarlet mantle, emblematic Of his bloody
Office, dexterously opened the breast of the
Wresched victim with sharp razor OF it1ti-
volcanic substance bard % 6ins-and. isscrt-