batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l1374-l1420
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l1374-l1420
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
passage_locator:
label: 'The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2) / CONTENTS;
lines 1374-1420'
start: '1374'
end: '1420'
translation: 'The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)'
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: what is sacred is dangerous
summary: Frazer argues that rules requiring washing or avoidance after contact with
a pig support the idea of the pig’s sanctity. He compares examples from Jewish,
Greek, Polynesian, Tongan, Bechuana, Bushman, Omaha, and Samoan practices and
beliefs in which contact with, sight of, or use of sacred persons, animals, objects,
or plants is treated as dangerous and requires purification or avoidance.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A rule is described in which a man who touched a pig had to wash himself and
his clothes.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The passage states a general belief that the effect of contact with a sacred
object must be removed before ordinary social contact resumes.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Jewish practice is cited in which hands are washed after reading sacred scriptures.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The high priest is described as washing himself and changing garments after
the sin-offering before leaving the tabernacle.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: A Greek ritual rule is cited in which the sacrificer avoids touching an expiatory
sacrifice and afterward washes body and clothes in a river or spring before entering
a city or house.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: Polynesians are described as performing ceremonies to remove a sacred contagion
acquired by touching sacred objects.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: In Tonga, a person who touched a sacred chief or the chief’s belongings had
to touch the soles of a chief’s feet and then rinse his hands in water or plantain
or banana-tree sap.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The Tongan example includes a belief that eating with the hands before the
ceremony could cause swelling, death, scrofula, or another disease.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: The passage states that what is sacred is believed to be dangerous and compares
its effect to an electrical shock communicated by contact.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: Bechuanas of the Crocodile clan are said to avoid meeting or seeing a crocodile,
although the crocodile is their sacred object and is called their father.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:11
text: The goat is described as the sacred animal of the Madenassana Bushmen, but
looking at it is said to make a man temporarily impure and uneasy.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:12
text: The Omaha Elk clan is said to believe that touching the male elk would cause
boils and white spots on the body.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:13
text: The Omaha Reptile clan is said to believe that touching or smelling a snake
would make a person’s hair white.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: obs:14
text: In Samoa, people whose god was a butterfly are said to believe that catching
a butterfly would strike them dead.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: obs:15
text: In Samoa, members of the Wild Pigeon clan are said to avoid using banana leaves
as food plates because doing so was believed to cause rheumatic swellings or an
eruption like chicken-pox.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: man who touched a pig
description: A person required to wash himself and his clothes after touching a
pig.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: pig
description: Animal whose touch triggers a washing rule in the passage’s opening
example.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Jews
description: Group cited as washing their hands after reading sacred scriptures.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: high priest
description: Priestly figure who washes and changes garments after the sin-offering
before leaving the tabernacle.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Greek sacrificer
description: Ritual actor who avoids touching an expiatory sacrifice and washes
body and clothes afterward.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Tongan man who touched a sacred chief
description: Person required to perform a hand-and-foot touching ceremony and rinse
his hands after touching a sacred chief or the chief’s belongings.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: sacred chief
description: A chief in Tonga whose person or belongings transmit sacred contagion
by touch.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Bechuanas of the Crocodile clan
description: Clan members who regard seeing a crocodile as hateful and unlucky while
also treating it as sacred.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: crocodile
description: Sacred object of the Bechuana Crocodile clan, called their father and
celebrated in festivals.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Madenassana Bushmen
description: Group for whom the goat is described as a sacred animal, though looking
on it causes impurity and uneasiness.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: goat
description: Sacred animal of the Madenassana Bushmen.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: Omaha Elk clan
description: Clan whose members believe touching the male elk causes bodily eruptions.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: fig:13
name_or_label: male elk
description: Animal whose touch is believed by the Omaha Elk clan to cause boils
and white spots.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: fig:14
name_or_label: Omaha Reptile clan
description: Clan whose members believe touching or smelling a snake causes hair
to turn white.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: fig:15
name_or_label: snake
description: Animal whose touch or smell is believed by the Omaha Reptile clan to
whiten the hair.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: fig:16
name_or_label: Samoans whose god was a butterfly
description: People who believe catching a butterfly would strike them dead.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: fig:17
name_or_label: butterfly
description: A god-associated animal in Samoa whose capture is believed to cause
death.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: fig:18
name_or_label: Samoan Wild Pigeon clan
description: Clan whose members avoid using banana leaves as plates because illness
is believed to follow.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- id: fig:19
name_or_label: banana leaves
description: Reddish-seared banana-tree leaves commonly used as plates, but dangerous
for members of the Wild Pigeon clan.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
roles:
- id: role:1
label: subject requiring avoidance or purification
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:8
- fig:10
- fig:12
- fig:14
- fig:16
- fig:18
basis: These figures or groups are described as needing washing, ritual actions,
or avoidance after contact with sacred things, or as observing taboos around sacred
animals or objects.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: role:2
label: sacred or dangerous object of contact
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:7
- fig:9
- fig:11
- fig:13
- fig:15
- fig:17
- fig:19
basis: These animals, persons, belongings, or plant materials are described as sacred,
dangerous by contact, or taboo for particular groups.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: role:3
label: ritual sacrificer or priestly actor
assigned_to:
- fig:4
- fig:5
basis: The high priest and Greek sacrificer are specifically described in relation
to sacrificial ritual and subsequent washing.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: clan ancestor or father figure
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The crocodile is said to be called father by the Crocodile clan.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: water for purification
literal_form: water, river, or spring used for washing or rinsing
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: sym:2
label: sacred animal
literal_form: pig, crocodile, goat, male elk, snake, butterfly
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:9
- fig:11
- fig:13
- fig:15
- fig:17
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- id: sym:3
label: snake
literal_form: snake touched or smelled by members of the Reptile clan
associated_figures:
- fig:15
taxonomy_refs:
- serpent
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: sym:4
label: banana-tree substance
literal_form: sap of the plantain or banana-tree and banana leaves used as plates
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:19
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:14
- id: sym:5
label: ritual garments
literal_form: garments worn by the high priest in the holy place
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:6
label: chief’s feet
literal_form: soles of a chief’s feet touched with the hands in a Tongan ceremony
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: washing after sacred contact
summary: Several examples describe washing hands, body, clothes, or ritual garments
after contact with sacred objects, scriptures, sacrifice, or a pig.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:2
label: Tongan removal of sacred contagion
summary: A Tongan person who touches a sacred chief or the chief’s belongings performs
a ceremony involving the chief’s feet and rinses the hands with water or plant
sap; failure before eating is believed to bring illness or death.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:3
label: danger of seeing or touching sacred animals
summary: Clan or group examples describe sacred animals that must not be seen, touched,
smelled, caught, or otherwise improperly used because harm, impurity, disease,
or death is believed to follow.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:11
- fig:12
- fig:13
- fig:14
- fig:15
- fig:16
- fig:17
- fig:18
- fig:19
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: ritual purification after contact with the sacred
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage repeatedly describes washing, changing garments, or ceremonial
rinsing after contact with sacred objects, scriptures, sacrifice, or sacred persons.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is comparative scholarship rather than a single mythic narrative.
- id: motif:2
label: sacred contagion as dangerous force
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage explicitly describes sacred contact as a contagion or dangerous
sanctity that can communicate harm by contact.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The term and framing are Frazer’s comparative interpretation.
- id: motif:3
label: tabooed sacred animal causing illness or death
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Several clan or group examples describe sacred animals whose sight, touch,
smell, or capture is believed to cause impurity, disease, bodily change, or death.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
confidence: high
cautions: The examples come from different cultures and are grouped by the author’s
comparative argument.
- id: motif:4
label: sacrificial contact and post-ritual cleansing
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: The high priest’s sin-offering and the Greek expiatory sacrifice examples
both involve sacrificial ritual followed by washing or avoidance of contact.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: Only two sacrificial examples are present in this passage.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: 'The passage presents Jewish, high-priestly, Greek, Polynesian, and Tongan
examples as serving a similar function: removing the effect of contact with sacred
things before ordinary social or domestic life resumes.'
claim_level: same_function
target: ritual purification after sacred contact across cited traditions
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: This is a comparison made within Frazer’s scholarly argument; it does
not by itself establish historical contact or common inheritance.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage groups several clan or god-associated animal taboos as examples
of sacred beings that are dangerous to see, touch, smell, catch, or use improperly.
claim_level: same_motif
target: dangerous sacred animal taboo across Bechuana, Bushman, Omaha, and Samoan
examples
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The examples differ in action and consequence, and the passage provides
no evidence for historical relationship among them.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 1374-1378
quote_or_summary: After touching a pig, a man had to wash himself and his clothes;
Frazer links this to the view that contact with a sacred object must be removed
before mingling with others.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 1378-1380
quote_or_summary: Jews are cited as washing their hands after reading sacred scriptures.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 1380-1383
quote_or_summary: Before leaving the tabernacle after the sin-offering, the high
priest had to wash himself and remove garments worn in the holy place.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 1383-1387
quote_or_summary: Greek ritual for an expiatory sacrifice required the sacrificer
not to touch the sacrifice and then to wash body and clothes in a river or spring
before entering a city or house.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 1387-1391
quote_or_summary: Polynesians are said to have ceremonies for removing the sacred
contagion acquired by touching sacred objects.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 1391-1398
quote_or_summary: In Tonga, a man who touched a sacred chief or the chief’s belongings
had to touch the soles of a chief’s feet with both sides of each hand and then
rinse his hands in water or plantain/banana-tree sap.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 1398-1402
quote_or_summary: If the Tongan man ate with his hands before the ceremony, he was
believed likely to swell and die, or suffer scrofula or another disease.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:8
type: quote
locator: lines 1403-1408
quote_or_summary: "“what is sacred is dangerous”; sacredness is compared to an electrical
sanctity that shocks or kills whatever contacts it."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation from supplied passage.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 1408-1413
quote_or_summary: Bechuanas of the Crocodile clan think seeing a crocodile is hateful,
unlucky, and harmful to the eyes, yet the crocodile is their sacred object, called
father, sworn by, and celebrated in festivals.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 1413-1416
quote_or_summary: The goat is the sacred animal of the Madenassana Bushmen, but
looking at it is said to make a man temporarily impure and uneasy.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 1416-1418
quote_or_summary: The Omaha Elk clan believes touching the male elk would cause
boils and white spots on the body.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: lines 1418-1420
quote_or_summary: The Omaha Reptile clan believes touching or smelling a snake will
make the hair white.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: lines 1420-1422
quote_or_summary: In Samoa, people whose god was a butterfly believed catching a
butterfly would strike them dead.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
- id: ev:14
type: summary
locator: lines 1422-1427
quote_or_summary: In Samoa, banana leaves were commonly used as plates, but members
of the Wild Pigeon clan were believed to suffer swellings or a chicken-pox-like
eruption if they used them that way.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized from supplied passage.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is explicit about repeated ritual and taboo patterns, but it
is a comparative scholarly passage rather than a traditional narrative, and Frazer’s
interpretive terminology should be reviewed.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Only supplied passage and metadata were used. Line locators for the final Samoan examples extend by passage sequence because the supplied text includes them after the stated line-end label.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l1374-l1420
passage_sha256=f71d082611f31184ad97a28e154bd56583ace08d516b16b5a97500949a83c379