The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion

Having addressed the question of why the Arician priests killed their predecessors, Frazer moves on to consider the meaning and function of the mythical golden bough. This relates to two of the main taboos regulating the lives of divine kings and priests: They must not touch the ground or see the sun.

These rules also apply to pubescent girls in many cultures, such as the seclusion of pubescent girls among a number of tribal peoples. From the onset of puberty, girls are kept away from the sunlight and prevented from touching the ground. There is evidence of similar practices in European folk tales. For example, maidens being forbidden from seeing the sun in traditional stories from Denmark, Austria, and Greece.

This seclusion also relates to a fear of menstrual blood, shown in various tribal customs obliging women to isolate themselves during their periods. Frazer cites the warning in Pliny’s Natural History that the touch of a menstruating woman can blight crops, kill seedling plants, and cause pregnant animals to miscarry. He points out that women are secluded for their own protection as well as for the protection of the world around them. They are kept “suspended between heaven and earth” (704), out of the glare of the sun and with their feet off the ground in order that their ethereal power might be both preserved and contained.