Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-17
Fire and Century Of Matches

torches when invading a hyenas den.
They throw felt cloak over the ami
mails head and slip moose over the
forelegs. The Arabs thrust a gag down
the hyenas throat.
Heat to heal is common both now
and In the past. Melancholia and cpl
lepsy were thus treated very early in
| history. The Cherokees employed heat
to cure toothache. The medicine man
warmed his thumbs and pressed them
against the pain: else blew smoke into
| tralian savages inf1ict ornaments on
their bodies with hot irons.
r x
IN war, the uses of fire are too album
4 oant to recount. In fact, fire and
war are almost synonymous words
Defenders Of old castles used hot wa
ter and boiling lead to repulse invaders.
About 100, the Hopi Indians attacked
the village of Awatobi. They entered
an underground chamber through a
f1atchway, threw out lighted wood and
red peppers in advance. Lives of enc
mics were snuffed out
All civilized peoples have made use
OF incense in connection with religious
rites and ceremonies. In order to keep
the fragrance clean, the incense was
lighted from sacred fire. In religious
worship. smoke became a messenger to
the unseen. A sweet SAVIOR pleased the
divinity. Thus offering incense to the
Creator had for its purpose satisfying
demand and feeding as well. AS the
incense disappeared. it indicated the
offering was consumed.
The Iroquois used tobacco to petition
the life god. The peace pipe was
To bow 80 i
council, who blew smoke and opened
communication with the spirit world by
attracting attention of intangible be-
ings.
Believing that fires grow old like men,
the ancients evolved the idea of new
fires. They believed that an old fire
became ineffective for the preservation
of family's welfare: hence it must
be given a new hold on life by re-
kindling.
So widespread was the prevailing
notion of fires age that 1t Is believed
this idea sprang from a center of
civilization before one Of the epochal
migrations.
When an epidemic was rampant
among the Iroquois 1t was customary
for the chief shaman to order ali the
village fires eXtinguiShed and all ashes
removed. Such pestilence. they be-
lieved, was sent as punishment for
failure to kindle the new fire. So
after the old fires died two logs of
slippery elm provided substance for re-
kindling.
Among the Zunis the new fire is
kindled once year by priest of the
bow who has been struck by lightning
The Hopis observe an elaborate cere-
mony also. In Mexico the reminding
involved a national ceremony. People
sat In their houses In awe and fear
lest the priests be unable to grind out
a spark. And so on. in Africa. Japan,
Formosa and all over Europe and Asia,
there are peculiar new-flring ceremo-
mics.
THE human race inherits O deserving
u fear Of lightning. In the Glacial
Age lightning Is thought TO have been
more common than now and no doubt
caused the ruin of many people, so
that some would not eat an animal
struck by bolt from heaven. The
Omaha remarked that when lightning
strikes, 1.-The thunderbird has lit on the
tree" They conceived lightning as
feeding on green wood and leaving a
worm in the root.
a tree lived after being struck by light
ming, 1t became endowed with strange
properties. An ordinary Indian must
not touch 1t for fear Of having cracks
come upon hands and feet. In training
ball players, the medicine man burnt
splinters OF 1t into coal and gave them
to the players as paint, SO that they
might strike their opponents with the
force of a thunderbolt.
Among some Africans lightning Is a
cat which lives in the clouds and
comes to earth when 1t is hungry.
The Parsee regarded lightning as the
purest form OF fire. The Circassians
threw veneration over tree struck by
lightning.
Koreans used lightning-struck wood
as sword hilts and charms against
evil fire spirits. Because spirits took
refuge under trees and were killed by
lightning. people were advised against
leaving their hats on their heads dur
ing storm. Another belief was that
bad air was purified by lightning.
The japanese saw lightning as a
fierce animal which tore trees with Its
claws. But the wood of lightning
struck tree is exceptionally powerful In
curing toothache
Seeing lightning associated with
clouds, thunder and rain, primitive
peoples thought it was the rainmaker.
The Santa Barbara Indians, California.
owned rain making charm stone. over
which they prayed for rain to put out
fires in the mountains. The Apaches
burnt large tracts of forest under the
delusion the fire would bring rain.
AS source material for myths, fire
has been highly productive. All over
the world a similar fore-origin story
has sprung up. Among the Greeks,
Prometheus stole fire from the gods,
while the UteS say Coyote stole it from
an old woman.
One myth recounts that after the
people found fire, Thunder seized 1t and
kept 1t for himself under the care Of a
little bird. The people stole the fire
back by strategy. A mouse crept into
Thunder's lodge. poured fire down a
flute. into Dogs ear and on beers hook.
They raced back pursued by Thunder.
Beaver and Eagle had sister who
wept because she had no fire. Her
brothers trained four years and jour-
neyed to the people who possessed fire.
They put OH the skins of beaver and
eagle Then Beaver tunneled below
the fire house. He was shot, but
escaped out of his skin and carried off
the flame.
The Lillcoet Indians relate q myth
that tells Of how Sea Gull owned day
light and guarded it in box. Raven
induced him to open the box and Day
light escaped. Espying smoke to the
SOUTH Raven padded to the house Of
fire people where he stole baby. He
traded the baby back for fire. Upon
learning how to make fire out Of dry
cottonwood roots, Raven sold fire to
many families.
Based on the belief that fire Is
Invisible, primitive folks frequently
spoke of fire gifts or fire loans. Thus
grew the Hopi Indian custom Of ask
ing, May borrow a light?" or May
have some of your fire?" 1t seemed
fire was the property of particular
class and could be lent out like any
household utensil. The formality Of
borrowing fire was a ticklish negotia-
tiou and ITS theft was punishable nv