The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1913-06-20

end Of the spine and also the spine's
other extremity. Others located it in
the skull or in the great toe. With
more unanimity it was represented TO
be about the size of a shelled pea.
| II is worthy of note in connection with
the location of the bone of life by the
Hebrews in the sutures Of the skull,
that there was a belief among unedu-
Gated Mohammedans that mans fate
was written upon his skull.
1t is interesting to recall the fact
that thousands of years before the
learned rabbi demonstrated to the Ro-
man emperor that the spinal column
was the seat Of the indestructible bone
in the human body, the Egyptians had
an amulet known as the Tet or Det,
which symbolized the backbone of
Osiris, and which mad been used in
putting together the pieces of the
god, whom his wicked brother had
chopped into fragments. After long
search Isis discovered and gathered
these remains, and with the Tet as a
backbone, they were set up again into
the body of Osiris. This became a
symbol o. the hughest religious sig
nifcance with the Egyptians and the
most solemn ceremony performed in
the worship of Osiris was this of put
ting the body together and recon-
structing it around the backbone 1t
was annually celebrated at Busiris,
where that part of the body was kept
as a sacred relic.
Herodotus refers to this festival,
observing that Egyptian men and wo-
| men beat themselves after the sacri-
flee, but that it was not proper for
him to divulge on whose account it
was done, and the Carians slashed
foreheads with knives. This amulet
became a memorial Of the resurrec-
tion of Osiris. A chapter in their book
of the dead was devoted to it, in which
: the deceased says: Rise up, thou, o
still heartl thou hast the fastening Of
thy neck and back" The Tet had to
be dipped in the water and laid upon
the neck of the dead, when it gave
him the power to reconstitute the
body and become a perfect spirit in
the underworld.
Bonfire is bonefre in old English
and doubtless means as ordinally un-
derstood, a fire that had bones in it.
Like other ancient rites, the primary
purpose in it's inception is not easily
OWNED. That is was connected with
the worship Of Baal is probable, and
when Christianity succeeded pagan
ism the honor associated with it was
transferred to St. John. Much has
been written about the observance and
significance Of these rites in Europe
and elsewhere during many centuries.
That health, happiness and prosperi-
ty were associated with them in the
minds of the people is well-known
fact. They danced around the fires,
and men, children and their cattle
passed through them. The midsum-
mer fire in Ireland, according to the
learned antiquary, Black, was not
thought to insure any good fortune
unless bone was burned in it. In
some places a horses head was es-
sential to successful ceremony. An
old homolist, writing on the festival
Of st. John, says: "Wyes clerkes know
est we'll that dragons hate no thyng
more than the stenche of brennynge
bones, and therefore they gaderyd as
many as they might fynde, and brent
them; and so with the stenche there
Of they drove away the dragons and
we're brought out of great dysease. 90
To symbolic and stimulate the sun,
increase its activity, and make the
crops grow and the harvest abundant
was apparently the purpose, to a GER
tain extent at least, of the rite. Did
the use of the bones in them have any
deeper significance? Were they sub
stitutes for living beings, animal or
human? In summing up the evidence.
ancient and modern, Prof. Frazer
reaches the conclusion that it this an
nual festival among the Celts and
Gauls living men representing the
spirit of vegetation were inclosed in
wicker frames and burned.
Relief in the prophetic power OF