The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-08-30
THE GOAT QM MYSTIC RITES
PATIENT ANIMAL HAS BEEN \ GOD AND PARTNER on wv
AND DEVILS.

an oak tree. where il remained till
harvest. when the Young people dane
cd round II. and tn" priest placed the
Sostskln on Il stone. sat down on il
ana preached and related tn. history
OF their fathers and the old-1imc Gus
toms. At other times the skin os the
scat was made into q cloak For The
farmer 10 Wear in bad weather in
harvest time or it was worn to relic, @
pam lii the back of II reaper.
At the inauguration of the rice
ip!aEtlns season. goat Was ceremoni-
"iiSlA slain by Maiays as an Offering
- IN" land spirits. There was a SINH
ar sacrifice AT the beginning of me
iisl.:h@ season, when Il goat was slam
at the fishing stakes, and one MAS also
siam at the beginning of work in a
tl': mime. Goats Were sacrificed at
Saints to1nbs after Recovery from sick
ness. Ihe rites at the rico-plunti lg
ma d&nration took place on a s1.lal! un-
ti,ied piece of land surrounded Is fer
We re" Lands. Il miniature desert, no
on Whicil an altar was erected and the
cooked flesh of the goat was placed
ON it The goatskin, with head and
Ii"fllH attached and cntrails, were
n,ricd under THO altar. and sou;'s
brood it cocoanut shells vas place.
near it.
How did the goat become a demon
Was it because OF its and un-
ATTRACTIVE appearance? 1t mad been
a deity at Mendes, Worship ped by. and
l@crlEing divine honors from. the
Egyptians. Plato mentions the Tragc-
4tNtll", or so&t-Si"S monsters. Artists
II I.SNpt represented the god Par With
tn" cornten&nco IL limos of Il goat,
arc Gro"ian ARTISTS sculi,iuroG Venus
SITTING on a goat. In AN old fable
,jjili'.r w.. - t-lal ~ , mo-. -.
the aeSis or irc&st plate of Minerva
IS SAID t" have been made from the
skin OF the goat that sucMlra Jupiter.
ne Ldcedaelnonians Sicri.icd goats to
tt"ra, though the goat was excluded
from offerings To Jupiter at Rome.
In German mythology Thor had the
goats yoked to his thunder ear. Thor
put away the bones of his goats after
they had been picked, so that th.l
Inc worshippcrs of Bacchus sang goat
songs in his honor. and Il composit.
fieure of a goat-elcphant Was an orna-
mcnt Of the hears" that bore III. i0dy
OF Alexander the Gree from BE bylun
to Alexandria.
Havinp been in his career both q
devil and a deity. the coat was nc
ceptahle t. both mo q mediator be
tween them. one of tho TWO. selected
~ ~ '"' ~ I't. VI tIil - dI tiltflNs
TO Jehovah. and the Other Ia The de-
mon of the desert. Azazel. and. as
spIn" traditions say. the latter became
a devil.
Inc destruction of forests in the old
or seats of civilization and tho bar
of their mountain countries
nave been sometimes charged up 10
the goat as evidence of It's p4 rnicious
activities. and Car Noght said the ami
f11a 1's .,-il rft,.,A.. t,,,;.,-J . -
that the devil created it,. Writers in
the middle gas said the devil often
took the form of Il goat. Swiss shep-
herds thought their feet indicated
origin, and refused to cat them.
Aubrey wrote in the seventeenth cen
trry: THE devil most often appears
in the shape of n goat; nor did he on
~ assume his shape in olden times,
but commonly in later times if there
be n trutl in the confessions of
witches; and. therefore, a goat is not
Improperly made an heiroglyphic Of
Ee devil"
Into the bubbling caldron gall of
goat vent with the liver of blasnhcm-
ing Jew in h initial preparations for
the midnight consultation in the cav
trn between Macbeth and Hccate's I'M
tanny associates and apparitions. The
traditional master of the witches was
=" pih'N Nv SOdl, lOT II NIlllc goat de-
1octed d~iahoiical influence. In fairy
tales, also, the evil one takes tho form
Of a goat.
The goat. AS a healer. has been AL
most universally a part of the matnria
medica Of peoples, and almost every
part of the little animal has been
with some virtue. 1t is prob
able. however. that it has saved human
life to a greater extent by service than
as a remedial agent. In the legendary
history of bridges built by contracts
With devils. which are numerous the
first that crossed the completed. struc-
tlre, by agreement was awarded to the
evil one; but to outwit him Il goat
was sent over it instead of q man. Thi::
may mean that according to the old
belief a sacrifice of a life was consid-
necessary to make the work en-
during. and that when human life be-
came too expensive or repulsive I'm ad-
EanCing civilization for living nerSOnS