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Show LXXVIH BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY life. Dancing is the first primeval expression of joy as praise, and is the fundamental element of worship. Sacrifice- In the second stage there is found an element of religion, and hence of drama, which has its beginning in the first stage, but is fully developed only in the second. In the first stage, in order that men may express their wants, they display them either by placing the things themselves or their symbols upon the altar. In the second stage the objects desired are sacrificed When a deity is worshipped, the things desired are poured out upon the ground as oblations, or consumed in the fire as offerings, that the ghosts of the things desired may be possessed by the ghostly deity. When human beings are buried, whether in the earth, the air, or the fire, the same worship is accorded them, and the sacrifice made at the grave. So the second stage of drama or worship is sacrificial, while there yet remains the element of praise in the dance. We are familiar with the characteristics of this stage of the drama in the writings of Homer; however, there is a vast body of literature on the subject from other sources. The science of ethnology reveals its nature and characteristics in a manner which is clear and forcible. All the tribes which are investigated by ethnologists present examples for consideration. Ceremony- The third stage of the drama, which is fully developed in the imperial stage, also has roots, more or less obscure, in the earlier stages; for shamans, in instructing the people in mythology, devise curious and interesting methods to enforce their teaching by representing the scenes in a more or less dramatic manner, in which the neophytes of the sha-manistic order take part, and to some extent other members of the tribe are assistants. This difference in the nature of the drama of tribal society and of national society must be understood. The drama is not designed as a language by which men may talk with the gods, but it is designed as a language by which men may be instructed. In savagery, the language by which the gods are addressed is sign language; in barbarism, it is gesture speech; in monarchy, the national god is the only true god, all others |
