Page:Modern Greek folklore and ancient Greek religion - a study in survivals.djvu/631

Morality, little connected with ancient religion, 37

Mormo, 175

Mountain-nymphs, 148

Mourners, conduct of, 347;
  professional, 347

Mouse, omens drawn from, 328

Mouth, as exit of soul, 111

Mummers, at Christmastime and at Carnival, 223 ff.;
  representing Callicantzari, 227

Mumming, a survival of Dionysiac festivals, 229 ff.

Murder of kinsman, 425;
  legal punishment for, 457

Murdered men as avengers (see Avengers, Revenants)

Murdered persons, avenging their own wrongs, 437 ff.;
  bodily activity of, 438;
  future lot of, 434 f.;
  mutilation of, 435;
  personal activity of, 440 ff.;
  returning in bodily form, 438

Murderers, future punishment of, 434 ff.;
  penalties incurred by, 453 ff.

Mutilation of murdered persons, 435

Mysteries, alleged impurity of, 569 f.;
  allusions to, in Tragedy, 550;
  associated with funerals, 594 f.;
  associated with wedding-rites, 590 f.;
  benefits secured by participation in, 38;
  Christian attitude towards, 569;
  containing no doctrine alien to popular religion, 567;
  grades of initiation in, 566;
  main doctrines of the, 569;
  openly performed in Crete, 568;
  of Aphrodite, 581 f.;
  of Cybele, 586;
  of Demeter, (see below Mysteries of Demeter);
  of Dionysus, 582;
  parodied by the false prophet Alexander, 588 f.;
  Sabazian, 585;
  summary of doctrines taught by, 589 f.;
  summary of argument concerning, 602 f.;
  their doctrines kept secret, 567;
  their promises summarised by Theo Smyrnaeus, 566

Mysteries of Demeter, Achaeans excluded from, 567 f.;
  ancient references to, 563 f.;
  Christian attitude towards, 578;
  compared with modern celebration of Holy Week and Easter, 572 ff.;
  dramatic nature of, 577;
  their effect on spectators, 576;
  held in great veneration, 562 f.;
  how understood by participants, 578 f.;
  Pelasgian in origin, 567;
  safeguards of morality in, 577 f.;
  specific charge of impurity against, 577;
  test of linguistic purity imposed at Eleusis, 568;
  their kinship with Christian beliefs, 576;
  their promises based on ideas of popular religion, 565;
  their promises summarised, 565


Naiads, 159

'Nailing,' magical rite, 17

Nationality, 27

Nereids (see also Nymphs, Sea-nymphs, Mountain-nymphs, Tree-nymphs, and Water-nymphs), 130 ff.;
  animals susceptible to influence of, 135;
  appearances of, 131;
  bride-like appearance of, 133;
  by-names of, 132;
  called 'she-devils,' 149;
  children carried off by, 150;
  confusion of different species, 153;
  consorts of, 149;
  cruelty of, 139;
  cures for mischief done by, 145;
  depart at cock-crow, 137;
  description of, 132-4;
  domestic accomplishments of, 133;
  dress of, 133;
  famed for skill in spinning, 134;
  festival of, 153;
  forms of name, 130 (note 3);
  general precautions against, 144;
  in old signification, 146;
  inconstancy of, 135, 138;
  longevity of, 156;
  magical kerchief of, 136;
  male, 149;
  means of protection against, 140;
  not immortal, 156;
  offerings to, 140, 150;
  responsible for whirlwinds, 150;
  'seizure' by, 142;
  story of wedding-procession of, 149;
  supernatural qualities in dress of, 136;
  theft of children by, 141;
  their love of children, 140;
  their marriage with men, 134;
  their relations with men, 134-9;
  their relations with women, 139;
  transformation of, 137;
  widespread belief in, 131;
  with feet of goat or ass, 133

Nether world (see Under-world)

Nomocanon de excommunicatis, 397

Nomocanon concerning vrykolakes, 365, 402 f.

Non-dissolution (see also Vrykolakes), 366;
  ancient imprecations of, 417 ff.

Numbers, lucky and unlucky, 313

Nymphs (see also Nereids), 130 ff.;
  not immortal, 156;
  punishment for violence done to, 584;
  seizure by, 142


Oedipus, curse pronounced by, 419

Offerings, how affected by Christianity, 337;
  to Artemis, 170;
  to Callicantzari, 201;
  to genii, 274;
  to gods, motive of, 335, 336 f.;
  to Nereids, 140;
  to Saints, 58, 337;
  to the dead (see Gifts), 493

Oil, spilling of, as omen, 328

Olive, foliage or wood used in funerals, 498 f.

Olympus, as abode of the Fates, 128

Omens (see Divination);
  from dripping of water, 121

Oracle of Amorgos, 332

Oracles, 305, 331 ff.

Orchestra, 35

Oreads, 148