Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/547

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The Worship and Folk-Lore of Meteorites.
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THE WORSHIP AND FOLK-LORE OF METEORITES.[1]

Few natural objects have more generally been worshipped by the human race than meteorites. From the dawn of history to the present there has probably never been a day when there was not being carried on somewhere upon the globe the worship of a "sky stone."

That savage and barbarous people should do this does not seem strange when one considers the extraordinary phenomena of dazzling light and violent sounds which usually accompany the fall of a meteorite.

But when one finds that similar worship was carried on by the Greeks and Romans, and even probably forms a part of the Mohammedan ritual of the present day, it is evident that the worship of these bodies takes a deeper hold upon mankind than that of most other material things, and makes an inquiry into the nature and causes of such worship seem desirable. Certainly for scientific purposes a catalogue made as complete as possible of the cases where such worship has been carried on is needed. Instances of the worship of meteorites among ancient peoples, especially the Greeks and Romans, have been carefully collected and exhaustively studied by Professor H. A. Newton, the results of his study having been published in the "American Journal of Science" soon after his death.[2]

There are many instances, however, not enumerated by Professor Newton, which should be added to the list. The writer's endeavor will be therefore to enumerate as many well-authenticated cases as he has been able to discover, of meteorites which have been worshipped, or which have been the subjects of legends or folk-lore, and to draw any conclusions from the collected records which may seem justifiable.

Ignoring the hazy records of the Chinese and Arabians in regard to the worship of meteorites as being too indefinite for study, there may be first mentioned a stone whose worship, beginning at a very early period, has endured to the present day. This is the meteorite of the Kaaba at Mecca.[3] The worship of this stone by Arabian tribes is first spoken of by Greek writers of early times. So firmly had its worship become established when the Arabs became converts to Mohammedanism, and Mohammed took Mecca, and destroyed the 360 idols within the temple, that the great prophet dared

  1. ↑ Revised from a paper read before the Chicago Academy of Sciences, March 28, 1898.
  2. ↑ Amer. Jour. Sci. 4th ser. vol. iii. p. 1.
  3. ↑ Fletcher, An Introduction to the Study of Meteorites, 1994, p. 18; also Newton, l. c. p. 4.
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