batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l3973-l4040
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l3973-l4040
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 3973-4040'
start: '3973'
end: '4040'
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: 'Frazer describes several annual or seasonal rites: the ceremonial expulsion
of the devil from towns in Guinea and Axim, a New Year firebrand rite at Onitsha,
torch and bonfire practices at the Abyssinian Mascal festival, and harvest-home
rites among the Hos and Mundaris involving sacrifice, prayer, procession against
an evil spirit, feasting, and temporary social license.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: People in Guinea are described as annually banishing the devil from their
towns with ceremony.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: At Axim, the expulsion is preceded by an eight-day feast with permitted lampooning
of superiors and inferiors.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: On the eighth day at Axim, participants hunt the devil with cries, pursue
him, and pelt him with sticks, stones, and other objects until he is driven out
of town.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: After the Axim expulsion, women wash and scour wooden and earthen vessels
to free them from uncleanness and the devil.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:5
text: At Onitsha on New Year’s Day, each family brings a firebrand into the street,
throws it away, and returns while speaking of the new year and its gods.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: Mr. J. C. Taylor states that the Onitsha fire custom appears to drive away
the old year with its sorrows and evils and welcome the new year.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:7
text: On the eve of the Abyssinian Mascal festival, people use firearms, torches,
and bonfires, and carry lights through houses and dark corners.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:8
text: Among the Hos, the great annual festival is a January harvest home when granaries
are full.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: The Ho ceremonies open with a village priest offering three fowls, flowers,
rice-flour bread, and sesamum seeds to the village god, with prayers for protection,
rain, crops, and in some places the dead.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:10
text: Ho men, women, and children proceed around and through the village with sticks,
singing and shouting until they believe the evil spirit has fled.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:11
text: After the Ho procession, participants feast, drink rice-beer, and enter a
period described as a saturnale with temporary breaches of ordinary social restraint.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: obs:12
text: The Mundaris keep a similar harvest-home festival in which masters feast farm
labourers and allow great freedom of speech.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: people of Guinea and Axim
description: Communities described as annually expelling the devil, with Axim participants
feasting, lampooning, hunting, and pelting the devil.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: the devil expelled from Guinea and Axim towns
description: A being treated as present in the towns and driven out by collective
action.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: women of Axim
description: Women who wash and scour wooden and earthen vessels after the devil
is driven out.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: families at Onitsha
description: Families who bring firebrands into the street, throw them away, and
speak at New Year.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: gods of the new year
description: Divine figures named in the Onitsha New Year exclamation.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Abyssinian Mascal celebrants
description: People who carry lighted torches, kindle bonfires, search houses with
light, and play with torches.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Ho community
description: Men, women, and children who take part in the harvest-home sacrifice,
procession, feasting, and saturnale-like license.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Ho village priest
description: Ritual officiant who presents offerings and prayers to the village
god.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Ho village god
description: Deity receiving fowls and other offerings during the opening of the
Ho festival.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: evil spirit at the Ho festival
description: A spirit supposed to infest the place and to be driven away by the
village procession.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Mundaris
description: Kinsmen and neighbours of the Hos who keep a similar harvest-home festival.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: Mundari masters and farm labourers
description: Social groups involved in the harvest-home relation where labourers
are feasted and allowed freedom of speech.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: ritual expellers or drivers-away
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:4
- fig:6
- fig:7
basis: These figures perform acts described as banishing the devil, throwing away
fire to drive away the old year’s evils, searching with light, or driving away
an evil spirit.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: expelled evil being
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:10
basis: The devil and evil spirit are each described as targets of expulsion or flight
from the community.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: ritual cleansers
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The women wash and scour household vessels to free them from uncleanness
and the devil.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:4
label: ritual officiant
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The village priest presents the offerings and prayers.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: offering recipient deity
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The village god receives the fowls and accompanying offerings.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:6
label: participants in licensed festival disorder or free speech
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:11
- fig:12
basis: The passage describes lampooning liberty, play and poking fun, saturnale-like
conduct, and freedom of speech toward masters.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:7
label: New Year invokers
assigned_to:
- fig:4
- fig:5
basis: Onitsha families speak the formula referring to the gods of the new year
as the new year arrives.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: fire used at seasonal transition
literal_form: firebrands, torches, bonfires, and lighted torches
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: sym:2
label: expelled devil or evil spirit
literal_form: devil; evil spirit
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: sym:3
label: implements of expulsion
literal_form: sticks, stones, and sticks carried in procession
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: cleansed household vessels
literal_form: wooden and earthen vessels washed and scoured
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:5
label: sacrificial and offering materials
literal_form: three fowls, two black fowls, Palás flowers, rice-flour bread, and
sesamum seeds
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:6
label: harvest abundance
literal_form: granaries full of grain
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:7
label: rice-beer feast
literal_form: feasting and drinking rice-beer
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Axim annual expulsion of the devil
summary: After an eight-day feast with lampooning liberty, participants hunt, pursue,
and pelt the devil until he is driven out; women then wash vessels to prevent
his return or remove uncleanness.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Onitsha New Year firebrand rite
summary: On New Year’s Day, each family throws a firebrand into the street and returns
while speaking of the new year; the passage attributes to the fire a function
of driving away the old year’s evils and welcoming the new.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Mascal eve torches and house-searching
summary: At sunset firearms are discharged; people carry torches, kindle bonfires,
search houses and dark places with light, call out a festival formula, and play
with torches.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Ho harvest-home sacrifice and prayer
summary: At the January harvest-home festival, the village priest offers fowls and
other materials to the village god and prays for protection, health, rain, crops,
and sometimes the souls of the dead.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Ho procession against the evil spirit
summary: The Ho community moves around and through the village with sticks, singing
and shouting until they believe the evil spirit has fled, then feast and drink
rice-beer.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:6
label: Ho and Mundari festival license
summary: The Ho festival becomes a saturnale-like period of social and sexual license,
while the Mundari harvest-home similarly includes masters feasting labourers and
allowing freedom of speech.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
- fig:11
- fig:12
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: annual expulsion of evil from the community
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage repeatedly describes communities annually or seasonally driving
away the devil, the old year’s evils, or an evil spirit.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The exact theological status of the devil or evil spirit differs by locality
and is reported through Frazer’s comparative account.
- id: motif:2
label: fire used to remove old evils and mark seasonal renewal
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: At Onitsha, firebrands are thrown away at New Year, and Taylor says the fire
drives away the old year’s evils; at Mascal, torches and bonfires are used throughout
the town and houses.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The expelling function is explicit for Onitsha through Taylor’s explanation;
for Mascal, Frazer classifies the rite but the passage gives less explicit local
interpretation.
- id: motif:3
label: ritual cleansing after expulsion
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: After the Axim devil is driven out, women wash and scour vessels to free
them from uncleanness and the devil.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: high
cautions: The passage mentions vessels specifically, not a complete household cleansing
rite beyond them.
- id: motif:4
label: licensed speech and social inversion during festival
taxonomy_refs:
- chaos
basis: Axim allows lampooning of all ranks, Ho participants temporarily violate
ordinary family and gender restraints, and Mundari labourers receive freedom of
speech toward masters.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference to chaos is approximate; the passage’s literal
emphasis is temporary festival license and reversal.
- id: motif:5
label: harvest or New Year renewal rite
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: The Onitsha rite occurs on New Year’s Day; the Ho and Mundari rites are harvest-home
festivals at the end or beginning of the annual agricultural cycle.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The rites differ in local calendar and ritual content.
- id: motif:6
label: sacrifice and offerings for protection, rain, and crops
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
- seasonal_cycle
basis: The Ho village priest offers fowls and other materials to the village god
while praying for preservation from misfortune and sickness, seasonal rain, and
good crops.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: This motif is explicitly present only in the Ho example within the passage.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage places the Abyssinian Mascal eve ceremony within a wider class
of customs concerned with expelling or removing harmful forces at a festival time.
claim_level: same_function
target: world-wide class of customs for annual expulsion or removal of evil
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage asserts a broad comparative class but does not provide
detailed external examples beyond the local cases in this excerpt.
- id: claim:2
claim: The Ho and Mundari harvest-home festivals are compared in the passage to
a Saturnale because they include temporary license, reversal of normal restraint,
and freedom of speech across social ranks.
claim_level: same_function
target: Saturnale or Saturnalia-like festival pattern
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage supports functional resemblance only; it does not establish
historical contact, common inheritance, or direct derivation.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 3973-3986
quote_or_summary: Guinea towns annually banish the devil; at Axim an eight-day feast
allows lampooning, then the devil is hunted and pelted out of town, and women
wash vessels to remove uncleanness and the devil.
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: summary
locator: lines 3986-3994
quote_or_summary: At Onitsha New Year, families throw firebrands into the street
and say that the new year has come; Taylor explains the fire as driving away the
old year’s sorrows and evils and welcoming the new year.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 3994-4007
quote_or_summary: At the Abyssinian Mascal festival, firearms, torches, and bonfires
are used; people carry lights through houses and dark corners, call out a formula,
and play with torches. Frazer says the rite belongs to the same world-wide class
of customs under discussion.
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: summary
locator: lines 4008-4022
quote_or_summary: The Ho harvest-home festival occurs in January when granaries
are full; the village priest sacrifices three fowls, two black, with Palás flowers,
rice bread, and sesamum, praying for protection, rain, crops, and sometimes the
dead.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 4022-4029
quote_or_summary: An evil spirit is believed to infest the place; Ho men, women,
and children process with sticks through the village, singing and shouting until
the spirit is thought to have fled, then feast and drink rice-beer.
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: summary
locator: lines 4029-4037
quote_or_summary: The Ho festival is described as becoming a saturnale in which
ordinary duties and restraints between servants and masters, children and parents,
and men and women are temporarily set aside.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 4037-4040
quote_or_summary: The Mundaris keep a similar harvest-home festival; labourers are
feasted by masters and allowed great freedom of speech at the end of one year’s
toil.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is a comparative scholarly summary rather than a primary mythic
narrative. Literal ritual details are explicit; broader motif and comparison labels
require human review.
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: |-
Archaic racial terminology in the source has been avoided in labels except where necessary to identify the reported passage context.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l3973-l4040
passage_sha256=c3e1723bbea00e7dda52c645413fc01612dd8f914a289c993ea92722e803b0ab