Birth and Rebirth The Religious Meanings of Initiation in Auman Culture BY MIRCEA ELIADE Translated from the French by Willard R. Trask HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK[ BIRTH AND REBIRTH Copyright © 1958 by Mircea Eliade Printed in: the United States of America All rights in this book are reserved. No part of the book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written per- mission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews, For information address Harper & Brothers 49 East 33rd Street, New York 16, N.Y. FIRST EDITION Ht eeeye, 2 ees Library of Congress catalog card number: 58-10374TL uw Iv CONTENTS FOREWORD INTRODUCTION INITIATION MYSTERIES IN PRIMITIVE RELIGIONS Preliminary Remarks—The Sacred Ground—Separation from the Mother—The Kurnai Initiation Mystery—Supreme Being and Initiation Among the Yuin—Symbolism of Tnitiatory Death—Meaning of the Initiatory Ordeals— Initiation and Collective Regeneration ‘THE INITIATORY ORDEALS. The Bull-Roarer and Circumecision—Symbolism of Subin- cision—Initiation in Tierra del Fuego—Scenarios of Initi- atory Death—Being Swallowed by a Monster FROM TRIBAL RITES TO SECRET CULTS Initiation of Girls—Degrees in Female Initiations—An Extant Australian Secret Cult—Initiatory Symbolisms of Return to the Womb—Symbolism of New Birth in Indian Initiations—Muttiple Meanings of the Symbolism of the Embryo INDIVIDUAL INITIATIONS AND SECRET SOCIETIES Descent to the Underworld and Heroic Initiations—Initi- atory Symbolism of the Symplegades—Individual Initiations: North America—Kwakiutl Dancing Societies—Men’s Secret Societies—Initiatory Motifs Common to Puberty Rites and Secret Societies HEROIC AND SHAMANIC INITIATIONS Going Berserk —Cuchulainn’s Initiation — Symbolism of Magical Heat—Shamanic Initiations—Initiatory Ordeals of v vii 21 AL 6L 81