Fig, artificial fertilisation of the, 378; human scapegoat beaten with branches of the wild, 579
Fig-tree, the sacred, 136; artificial fertilisation of the, 580, 582
Fiji Islands, the, conception of the soul in, 179; notion of the absence of the soul in dreams in, 182; catching away souls in, 187; supposed effect of using chief’s dishes or clothes in, 202; custom at cutting a chief’s hair in, 233; birth-trees in, 682; drama of death and resurrection in, 695
Finland, cattle protected by the woodland spirits in, 141
Fire, the god of, 23; kept burning for the sake of absent warriors, 26; supposed to be subject to Catholic priests, 53; used to stop rain, 64; as a charm to rekindle the sun, 78; and Water, kings of, 108, 176, 266; kindled by friction, 161, 534, 617, 618, 620, 627, 639, 644, 707; purification by, 197, 198, 213, 648; “new,” 485, 614; sacred, 486, 534; “living,” 638; “wild,” 638; made by means of a wheel, 639; of heaven, 644; extinguished by mistletoe, 659, 662, 706; primitive ideas as to the origin of, 707. See also Bonfires, Fires, Need-fire.
Fire-festivals of Europe, the, 609; interpretation of, 641; solar theory of, 642, 643; purificatory theory of, 642, 647; at the solstices, 643; a protection against witchcraft, 648; their relation to Druidism, 654
Fires, perpetual, 3, 161, 163, 665, 704; the Lenten, 609; Easter, 614; Beltane, 617; Midsummer, 622; Hallowe’en, 632, 635; Midwinter, 636; extinguished before lighting the need-fire, 639; burning of effigies in the, 650; burning of men and women in the, 652; the solstitial, perhaps suncharms, 706
Flanders, Midsummer fires in, 630, 646; the Yule log in, 637
Flax, homoeopathic magic at sowing, 28; prayers of old Prussians for the growth of, 288; giddiness transferred to, 545; leaping over bonfires to make it grow tall, 613, 624, 626
France, contagious magic in, 44; peasants ascribe magical powers to priests, 53, 54; images of saints dipped in water as a rain-charm in, 77; kings of, touch for scrofula, 90; custom of the Harvest-May in, 118; May customs in, 121; the May-pole in, 124; harvest customs in, 341, 448–450, 453, 455, 457–459; the Corn-mother in, 401; the dough man in, 480; hunting the wren in, 537; the King of the Bean in, 586; expulsion of witches in, 561; Lenten fires in, 610; Midsummer fires in, 628–630, 645; the Yule log in, 637; wicker-work giants burnt in, 655; mistletoe in, 662; birth-trees in, 682
Franche-Comté, dances in, to make hemp grow, 28; the goat at threshing in, 456
Frosinone in Latium, burning an effigy of the Carnival at 302
Fruit-trees, fertilised by fruitful women, 28; homoeopathic magic in relation to, 29; threatened to make them bear fruit, 113; worshippers of Osiris forbidden to injure, 380; wrapt in straw as a precaution against evil spirits, 561; fires lit under, 632; fumigated with smoke of need-fire, 641; fertilised by burning torches, 647
