potent than writers of the school of the late Mr. McLennan asserted.
Hence Mr. Crawley,[1] the latest writer on the subject, would apparently connect these customs of bride-barring with the idea of sexual taboo, on which he has perhaps laid excessive stress, or he would regard them as symbolical of the barring out of evil influences from the married pair. But it is, perhaps, safer to connect the cases where the married pair are confronted by a physical obstacle, which they cannot pass without paying blackmail, with the principle which has been so fully investigated by Dr. Frazer,[2] who shows that "the magical effect of knots in trammelling and obstructing human activity was believed to be manifested at marriage not less than at birth."
To return to the "Petting Stone" rite. We notice in some of the more modern forms of the observance that a stool or bench takes the place of the single stone, the transition of usage being found in the cases where stones more or less invested with some degree of sanctity are raised in what Mr. Dixon calls "Stonehenge fashion." But there can be little doubt that in the more primitive form of the rite it was over a sacred stone that the bride, and in some cases her newly-wedded husband, or even members of the wedding party, had to "jump" or were "lifted."
Now in many cases such sacred stones are very closely associated with marriage, or with the union of the sexes. I may give a few examples out of a large collection which might easily be made. Thus, according to ancient Hindu custom,[3] the bride stood upon a stone, a rule which still prevails in Esthonia, and is, as will be seen, now part of the ordinary marriage ritual in modern India. There is, again, a considerable amount of evidence that marriages
- ↑ The Mystic Rose, 226.
- ↑ The Golden Bough, Second Edition, i., 394 seq.
- ↑ Folklore Congress Report, 1891, 269 seq.
