batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l13866-l13971
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l13866-l13971
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
passage_locator:
label: CONTENTS / NOTE. OFFERINGS OF FIRST-FRUITS. / INDEX. / FOOTNOTES; lines 13866-13971
start: '13866'
end: '13971'
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: ''
summary: A set of footnotes cites sources and comparative examples for ceremonies
involving festival licence, annual gifts and feasting, troop firing interpreted
as demon-expulsion, postponed rice harvest after the Dassera festival in Nepal,
New Year licence among the Wasuahili, licence at the Ashantee new-yam festival,
Roman references to Mamurius Veturius and expulsion, and a custom of standing
on a sacrificed victim.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The Dassera festival in Nepal is described as occurring at the beginning of
October and lasting ten days.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: During the Dassera festival there is a general holiday, Kathmandu is to be
purified, law courts are closed, and prisoners are removed from the city precincts.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The note says the calendar is cleared or there is a jail-delivery of all prisoners
at Dassera.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: Masters customarily give annual presents such as money, clothes, buffaloes,
or goats to satisfactory servants during the festival.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: Feasting and drinking are said to occur during the Dassera festival.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: On the seventh day at sunset, troops in Kathmandu parade and fire weapons
for about twenty minutes before suddenly stopping.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: The author interprets the troop firing as probably representing the expulsion
of demons.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:8
text: The grand cutting of the rice-crops is postponed until Dassera is over and
begins throughout the valley the next day.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: Among the Wasuahili of East Africa, New Year’s Day is described as formerly
a day of general licence.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:10
text: In the Wasuahili example, old quarrels were settled, some men were found dead
the following day, and no inquiry was instituted.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:11
text: In Ashantee, the annual festival of the new yams is described as a time of
general licence.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:12
text: A note on Mamurius reports a legend in which a mythical prototype was beaten
with rods and expelled from the city.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:13
text: A cited custom involves standing upon a sacrificed victim.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:14
text: A later note says a ceremony closely resembles a Highland New Year ceremony
described elsewhere in the volume.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: People of Kathmandu / Nepalese festival participants
description: People participating in the Dassera festival, including a general holiday,
purification, feasting, drinking, and harvest timing.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:4
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Prisoners in Kathmandu
description: Prisoners are removed from the city precincts, and the note reports
a jail-delivery at Dassera.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Masters
description: Masters give annual presents to servants who have given satisfaction
during the past year.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Servants
description: Servants who have given satisfaction receive annual presents from masters.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Troops in Kathmandu
description: All troops in the capital, including artillery, parade and fire at
a signal on the seventh day at sunset.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Demons
description: Demons are named by the author as what the firing probably expels.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Wasuahili of East Africa
description: The passage describes their former New Year’s Day as a day of general
licence.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Ashantee
description: The passage describes their annual new-yam festival as a time of general
licence.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Mamurius Veturius
description: A Roman name discussed in notes on an expulsion ceremony; the full
name is said to be preserved by Varro, Festus, and Plutarch.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Mythical prototype of Mamurius
description: The note says the mythical prototype was beaten with rods and expelled
from the city.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Festival participants in a period of licence
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:7
- fig:8
basis: The passage repeatedly describes general holidays or general licence during
annual festivals or New Year observance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:2
label: Released or removed prisoners
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Prisoners are removed from Kathmandu’s precincts and a jail-delivery is reported
at Dassera.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: Annual gift-givers
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Masters give annual presents during Dassera.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: Annual gift-recipients
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Servants who have satisfied masters receive annual presents.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: Ritual firing agents
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Troops and artillery fire at a signal for about twenty minutes during the
festival.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: Expelled figure or beings
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:10
basis: The passage speaks of expulsion of demons and of a mythical prototype beaten
and expelled from the city.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: role:7
label: Named ritual or mythic referent
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: Mamurius Veturius is discussed as the name connected with the expulsion note.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Rice-crops
literal_form: rice-crops cut after the Dassera festival
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:2
label: Annual presents
literal_form: money, clothes, buffaloes, goats, and similar gifts
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: Troop and artillery firing
literal_form: general firing for about twenty minutes at sunset
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: New yams
literal_form: annual festival of the new yams
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:5
label: Rods
literal_form: rods used to beat the mythical prototype before expulsion
associated_figures:
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:6
label: Sacrificed victim
literal_form: a sacrificed victim stood upon in a cited custom
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Dassera holiday, purification, and prisoner release
summary: At the beginning of October, the ten-day Dassera festival brings a general
holiday, intended purification of Kathmandu, closure of law courts, and removal
or release of prisoners.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Dassera annual gifts and feasting
summary: Masters give annual presents to satisfactory servants, while feasting and
drinking take place during the festival.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Seventh-day firing at sunset
summary: On the seventh day at sunset, troops and artillery parade and fire for
about twenty minutes; the author says this probably represents the expulsion of
demons.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Harvest after Dassera
summary: The cutting of rice-crops is postponed until the festival is over and begins
throughout the valley the next day.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Wasuahili New Year licence
summary: Former Wasuahili New Year’s Day is described as a period when every man
did as he pleased, quarrels were settled, deaths occurred, and no inquiry followed.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:6
label: Ashantee new-yam licence
summary: The Ashantee annual festival of new yams is described as a time of general
licence.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:7
label: Mamurius prototype expelled
summary: A mythical prototype connected with Mamurius is said to have been beaten
with rods and expelled from the city.
figure_refs:
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Annual expulsion of demons preceded by licence
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: The note explicitly describes the Dassera example as an instance of annual
demon-expulsion preceded by a time of licence, with festival licence and sunset
firing interpreted as expulsion.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The demon-expulsion interpretation is the author’s inference, not a quoted
indigenous explanation in this passage.
- id: motif:2
label: Festival licence at New Year or first-fruits festival
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: The passage groups Dassera, Wasuahili New Year, and the Ashantee new-yam
festival as times of general licence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The examples are presented in a comparative scholarly note and not as
full ritual narratives.
- id: motif:3
label: Annual gift exchange between masters and servants
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
basis: During Dassera, masters make annual presents to servants, alongside feasting
and drinking.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage describes a social custom within a festival; its sacred or
ritual status is not fully specified.
- id: motif:4
label: Harvest delayed until festival completion
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: The cutting of rice-crops is postponed until Dassera is over and begins the
following day throughout the valley.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The note does not explain the ritual reason for the delay.
- id: motif:5
label: Beating and expulsion from the city
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: The Mamurius note reports a mythical prototype beaten with rods and expelled
from the city in the context of an expulsion ceremony.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage is a footnote about sources and does not narrate the complete
ceremony.
- id: motif:6
label: Standing upon a sacrificed victim
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: The passage cites a custom of standing upon a sacrificed victim.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: low
cautions: The custom is only mentioned briefly as a comparison in a source note.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage itself frames the Nepalese Dassera festival as another example
of an annual expulsion of demons preceded by a time of licence.
claim_level: same_function
target: Annual demon-expulsion with preceding licence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: This is Frazer’s comparative interpretation in a footnote; the passage
does not provide a local explanatory statement.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage compares Dassera gift-giving, feasting, and drinking to Christmas
boxing-time.
claim_level: same_function
target: Christmas boxing-time
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The comparison is limited to presents and festivity, not to a complete
ritual structure.
- id: claim:3
claim: The passage places Wasuahili New Year licence and Ashantee new-yam festival
licence alongside the Dassera example as comparable annual periods of general
licence.
claim_level: same_function
target: Annual festival licence in New Year and first-fruits contexts
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The examples are compressed and not described with equal detail.
- id: claim:4
claim: The passage reports that the ceremony under discussion closely resembles
a Highland New Year ceremony described elsewhere.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Highland New Year ceremony
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: low
limitations: The details of the Highland ceremony are outside the provided passage,
so the basis for resemblance cannot be independently assessed here.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 13894-13906
quote_or_summary: Dassera in Nepal occurs at the beginning of October, lasts ten
days, includes a general holiday, purification of Kathmandu, court closure, prisoner
removal, and jail-delivery.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: lines 13906-13913
quote_or_summary: "“masters to make an annual present, either of money, clothes,
buffaloes, goats, etc., to such servants as have given satisfaction”; feasting
and drinking are compared to Christmas boxing-time."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 13913-13920
quote_or_summary: On the seventh day at sunset troops and artillery fire for about
twenty minutes; the author says this probably represents the expulsion of demons.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 13920-13923
quote_or_summary: "“The grand cutting of the rice-crops is always postponed till
the Dassera is over” and starts the next day throughout the valley."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 13925-13931
quote_or_summary: 'Among the Wasuahili of East Africa, New Year’s Day was formerly
a day of general licence: every man did as he pleased, quarrels were settled,
deaths could occur, and no inquiry followed.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 13931-13933
quote_or_summary: "“In Ashantee the annual festival of the new yams is a time of
general licence.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 13947-13957
quote_or_summary: A note on Joannes Lydus says Mamurius is connected with a legend
in which his mythical prototype was beaten with rods and expelled from the city;
the full name Mamurius Veturius is preserved by other authors.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: quote
locator: lines 13892-13894
quote_or_summary: "“For the custom of standing upon a sacrificed victim” the note
cites Demosthenes and Pausanias."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt.
- id: ev:9
type: quote
locator: lines 13969-13971
quote_or_summary: "“The ceremony also closely resembles the Highland New Year ceremony
described above.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is mostly footnotes, with one substantial comparative note on
Dassera and brief references to other customs. Motif identifications are therefore
strongest where the passage explicitly uses comparative language and weaker where
only a cited custom is mentioned.
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: |-
No external sources were used. Taxonomy references were limited to supplied motif families; no supplied symbol taxonomy item directly matched the passage’s principal literal symbols.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l13866-l13971
passage_sha256=f7949084f5abe2e9e0aa701f4ef961a65b481cbb96b48fd137164a141d535015