batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l4470-l4550
---
record_id: batch.motif.comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg-l4470-l4550
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 4470-4550'
start: '4470'
end: '4550'
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: The passage surveys periodic rituals in which communities are said to transfer
diseases, sins, devils, misfortunes, or other ills to material vehicles such as
boats, pots, effigies, dogs, or a goat, then send those vehicles away, destroy
them, or sacrifice them.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage states that mediated expulsion of evils by a scapegoat or other
material vehicle tends to become periodic.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The people of Leti, Moa, and Lakor annually place food, eggs, a fowl, and
field-ravaging insects into a small rigged prao and let it drift to sea with a
spoken command to carry away sickness.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The Biajas of Borneo annually send a small bark to sea, described as laden
with communal sins and misfortunes.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The Nicobar islanders carry a model ship through villages, chase devils from
huts onto it, and launch it to sail away with the wind.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: At Sucla-Tirtha an earthen pot containing accumulated sins is set adrift on
a river; a related legend describes a guilty priest sailing in a boat whose white
sails turned black as a sign of forgiven sins.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Among aboriginal tribes of China, a yearly third-month festival includes burying
and exploding a jar filled with gunpowder, stones, and iron bits, with the stones
and iron representing the past year's ills and disasters.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: At Old Calabar figures called nabikems are made of sticks and bamboos, expected
to house devils, then torn up, burned, and thrown into a river during a biennial
expulsion.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: At Teshu Lumbo on Tibetan New Year's Day, a paper figure of a man, identified
to the observer as a figure of the devil, is burned and disappears in smoke and
explosion.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: In parts of the Western Himalayas, a dog is intoxicated, fed, led around the
village, released, chased, and killed with sticks and stones to prevent disease
or misfortune during the year.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: In Breadalbane on New Year's Day, a dog is given bread at the door and driven
out with words assigning to it the house's death of men or loss of cattle for
the year.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:11
text: At the Iroquois New Year Festival, village fires are extinguished, ashes scattered,
a new fire kindled, sins gathered, two decorated white dogs strangled, hung, assigned
the people's sins, and later burned on a pyre.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:12
text: The passage states that the Jews annually laid the people's sins on a goat
and sent it into the wilderness.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: People of Leti, Moa, and Lakor
description: Island communities described as annually sending diseases away to sea
in a prao.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Biajas of Borneo
description: Community described as annually sending sins and misfortunes to sea
in a bark.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Nicobar islanders
description: Community described as carrying a model ship through villages and driving
devils onto it.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: People at Sucla-Tirtha
description: Community associated with setting an earthen pot of accumulated sins
adrift on a river.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Wicked priest of the Sucla-Tirtha legend
description: Legendary priest who atones, sails in a boat with white sails, and
lets the boat drift to sea with his sins after the sails turn black.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Aboriginal tribes of China
description: Communities described as celebrating a third-month festival in which
represented ills are dispersed by an explosion.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: People of Old Calabar
description: Community described as expelling devils every two years by destroying
nabikem figures.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Tibetan New Year's participants at Teshu Lumbo
description: Participants observed performing ceremonies around and burning a paper
figure of a man identified as the devil.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Western Himalayan villagers
description: People described as leading a dog around a village, then chasing and
killing it to avert disease and misfortune.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Breadalbane householders
description: People formerly described as driving a dog from a house on New Year's
Day with a verbal transfer of household harms.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Iroquois festival participants
description: Participants described as extinguishing fires, kindling new fire, gathering
sins, transferring them to white dogs, and burning the dogs.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: White dogs at the Iroquois New Year Festival
description: Two white dogs decorated with red paint, wampum, feathers, and ribbons,
strangled and burned after sins were transferred to them.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: fig:13
name_or_label: Dog in Western Himalayan rite
description: Dog intoxicated, fed, led round the village, released, chased, and
killed.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:14
name_or_label: Dog in Breadalbane custom
description: Dog given bread and driven out with words assigning household death
or cattle loss to it.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:15
name_or_label: Goat in Jewish annual rite
description: Goat upon whose head the people's sins are laid before it is sent into
the wilderness.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Community performing periodic expulsion
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:11
basis: These figures are the communities or participants described as carrying out
annual, biennial, New Year, or other periodic expulsion rites.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: role:2
label: Legendary penitent whose sins are carried away
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The legend says the priest atoned, sailed with white sails that turned black,
and let the boat drift with his sins to sea.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: Animal scapegoat or sin-bearing animal
assigned_to:
- fig:12
- fig:13
- fig:14
- fig:15
basis: The passage describes dogs or a goat receiving, bearing, or being assigned
communal or household disease, misfortune, death, loss, or sins.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Sea-going ritual vessel
literal_form: Prao, bark, model ship, or boat used to carry away sickness, sins,
misfortunes, or devils.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- ark_vessel
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: Earthen container of sins or ills
literal_form: Earthen pot or earthenware jar containing accumulated sins or objects
representing ills and disasters.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: sym:3
label: Water as removal route
literal_form: Sea or river receiving the prao, bark, model ship, pot, boat, or burned
figures.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: sym:4
label: Explosion dispersing represented ills
literal_form: Gunpowder explosion scattering stones and iron bits that represent
the past year's ills and disasters.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:5
label: Nabikem figures
literal_form: Stick and bamboo figures representing human beings, birds, crocodiles,
and other forms, expected to house devils before destruction.
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:6
label: Paper devil figure
literal_form: Figure of a man chalked on paper and identified as a figure of the
devil, burned in a fire.
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:7
label: Dog as scapegoat animal
literal_form: Dog or decorated white dogs made to receive or carry disease, misfortune,
household losses, or sins.
associated_figures:
- fig:12
- fig:13
- fig:14
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: sym:8
label: Goat as sin-bearing animal
literal_form: Goat bearing the sins of the people and sent into the wilderness.
associated_figures:
- fig:15
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: sym:9
label: Fire in destruction or renewal
literal_form: Flames, burning, pyre, explosion, extinguished village fires, and
newly kindled fire.
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:11
- fig:12
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:11
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Annual expulsion by vessel over water
summary: Several communities place sicknesses, sins, misfortunes, devils, or sins-associated
objects onto a prao, bark, model ship, pot, or boat and send the vehicle away
by sea or river.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:2
label: Dispersal or destruction of represented ills by fire and violence
summary: The Chinese festival disperses represented ills by exploding a jar; Old
Calabar destroys devil-inhabited figures by tearing, burning, and casting into
a river; the Tibetan New Year rite burns a paper devil figure.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
- sym:9
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:3
label: Dog scapegoat rites
summary: Western Himalayan and Breadalbane customs assign yearly disease, misfortune,
death, or cattle loss to a dog that is led, driven out, or killed.
figure_refs:
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:13
- fig:14
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: scene:4
label: Iroquois New Year white-dog rite
summary: During the Iroquois New Year Festival, old fires are extinguished, a new
fire is kindled, sins are gathered and transferred to decorated white dogs, and
the dogs are strangled and burned.
figure_refs:
- fig:11
- fig:12
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: scene:5
label: Jewish annual goat sent into wilderness
summary: The Jewish rite is described as placing the people's sins on a goat and
sending it into the wilderness.
figure_refs:
- fig:15
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Periodic expulsion of communal evils by material vehicle
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
- ark_vessel
basis: The passage frames mediated expulsion by scapegoat or material vehicle as
periodic and gives annual or festival examples using vessels, pots, effigies,
dogs, and a goat.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is comparative scholarship, not a primary ritual text; the
underlying traditions are reported through Frazer's cited sources.
- id: motif:2
label: Ritual vessel carries sickness, sins, or devils away over water
taxonomy_refs:
- ark_vessel
basis: The Leti-Moa-Lakor prao, Biajas bark, Nicobar model ship, and Sucla-Tirtha
pot or boat are all described as carrying away harmful conditions by sea or river.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The specific meanings and ritual contexts differ among the examples.
- id: motif:3
label: Effigy or container receives evil and is destroyed
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Chinese jar contains objects representing ills and is exploded; Old Calabar
nabikems are expected to house devils and are burned and thrown into the river;
the Tibetan paper figure identified as the devil is burned.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents these as analogous expulsions but does not establish
historical connection.
- id: motif:4
label: Animal scapegoat bears disease, misfortune, death, loss, or sins
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: Dogs in the Western Himalayas, Breadalbane, and the Iroquois New Year rite,
and the Jewish goat, are described as receiving or bearing human misfortunes or
sins before being killed, expelled, or sent away.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
confidence: high
cautions: 'The treatment of the animal varies: killing, driving out, burning, or
sending into wilderness.'
- id: motif:5
label: New Year or annual renewal through removal of past evils
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: Several rites are described as annual, New Year, third-month, or year-protective
practices that remove past or future ills for a defined period.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
confidence: medium
cautions: Not every example in the passage is explicitly tied to New Year; some
are annual, third-month, biennial, or otherwise dated.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: 'The passage presents multiple geographically separate rites as instances
of the same broad pattern: periodic mediated expulsion of evils through a scapegoat
or material vehicle.'
claim_level: same_motif
target: Leti-Moa-Lakor, Biajas, Nicobar, Sucla-Tirtha, Chinese, Old Calabar, Tibetan,
Western Himalayan, Breadalbane, Iroquois, and Jewish examples in the passage
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: This is Frazer's comparative framing within the passage; it does not
itself demonstrate historical contact, common inheritance, or identical local
meanings.
- id: claim:2
claim: The boat, bark, model ship, pot, and priest's boat examples share the function
of carrying away sickness, sins, misfortunes, or devils by water.
claim_level: same_function
target: Water-borne expulsion vehicles in the Leti-Moa-Lakor, Biajas, Nicobar, and
Sucla-Tirtha examples
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage does not state that the rites are historically related;
it only describes a functional resemblance.
- id: claim:3
claim: The dog and goat examples are comparable within the passage as animal scapegoats
receiving or bearing human misfortune or sin.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Western Himalayan dog, Breadalbane dog, Iroquois white dogs, and Jewish
goat
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The animals, ritual actions, and outcomes differ across examples.
- id: claim:4
claim: The Iroquois passage is explicitly contrasted with an earlier immediate expulsion
of evils, implying the same expulsion function can be performed either directly
or through a scapegoat.
claim_level: same_function
target: Iroquois immediate expulsion and Iroquois white-dog scapegoat rite
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The earlier immediate expulsion is only alluded to in this excerpt,
not described in detail here.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 4470-4473
quote_or_summary: The passage introduces mediated expulsion of evils by scapegoat
or other material vehicle and states that it tends to become periodic.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 4473-4482
quote_or_summary: Leti, Moa, and Lakor annually make a small prao, place offerings
and field insects in it, and send it to sea while telling it to take away sickness.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 4482-4485
quote_or_summary: The Biajas of Borneo annually send to sea a small bark described
as laden with the people's sins and misfortunes.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 4485-4490
quote_or_summary: At the beginning of the dry season, Nicobar islanders carry a
model ship through villages, drive devils from huts onto it, and launch it to
sail away.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 4490-4499
quote_or_summary: At Sucla-Tirtha an earthen pot of accumulated sins is set adrift;
a legend tells of a guilty priest whose boat's white sails turned black before
drifting with his sins to sea.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 4499-4510
quote_or_summary: Among aboriginal tribes of China, a yearly third-month festival
destroys a buried jar filled with gunpowder, stones, and iron bits; the stones
and iron represent the past year's ills and disasters.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 4510-4521
quote_or_summary: At Old Calabar, stick and bamboo nabikem figures are made, expected
to house devils, then torn up, set in flames, and thrown into the river during
a biennial expulsion.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 4521-4530
quote_or_summary: At Teshu Lumbo on Tibetan New Year's Day, a paper figure of a
man identified as the devil is ceremonially handled and burned, disappearing with
smoke and explosion.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 4531-4537
quote_or_summary: Some Western Himalayan people intoxicate and feed a dog, lead
it around the village, release it, then chase and kill it, believing this prevents
disease or misfortune for the year.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 4537-4542
quote_or_summary: In Breadalbane on New Year's Day, a dog was given bread and driven
out while speakers assigned to it possible death of men or loss of cattle in the
house for the year.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 4542-4549
quote_or_summary: In the Iroquois New Year Festival, fires were extinguished, ashes
scattered, new fire kindled, sins gathered, two decorated white dogs strangled
and hung, sins transferred to them, and the dogs burned on a pyre; ashes were
later carried through the village in another account.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: line 4550
quote_or_summary: The passage states that Jews annually laid the people's sins on
a goat and sent it into the wilderness.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/comparative/project-gutenberg/golden-bough-volume-2-frazer.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: high
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The excerpt is explicit about ritual actions and Frazer's comparative framing.
Confidence is lower for broader comparison claims because the passage does not
establish historical relationships among the examples.
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: |-
Used only the provided passage and metadata. Taxonomy references are limited to supplied motif families and symbols where directly supported by the excerpt.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:comparative-golden-bough-volume-2-frazer-gutenberg__l4470-l4550
passage_sha256=4c7b6145f0fdce8d5dc491214f5ce2185cfab0ad64f557ec591c49f063ff667f