Four, as a Sacred Number

Author(s): A. W. Buckland
Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 25
(1896), pp. 96-102
Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
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96 A. W. BUCKLAND.-Four, as a SacredNumber.

FouR,as a SACRED NUMBER.

By A. W. BUCKLAND.

WHEN collectingmaterialsformy paper upon "'Points of Con-

tact between Old World Mythsand Cuistoms, and the Navajo
Myth,entitled'The Mountain Chant,""I found myselfcon-
stantly confrontedwith the fact,that,amongstalmost all the
Red Indian tribes,the numberfour and its-multiples had a
sacred significance,having special referenceto the cardinal
pointsand to the windswhich blow fromthem; the sigynand
symbol of this quadruple nature-worship being the Greek,or
equal-armedcross.
This conclusionhad been arrived at long ago by Brinton
and various studentsof Mexican and Mayan sculpturesand
forit is well known that the cross,in various
hierogglyphics,
forms,is a prominent objectin Mexican and CentralAmerican
pre-historicpicturewritingsanid sculpturings, and it appears
to me that the continueduse of the same symbol,with appa-
rentlythe same neaning,among the various Red Indian tribes
of to-day,is a matterof considerableanthropologicalinterest,
especiallywhenit is rememberedthat as far as can be seen,
thereremainsa.mongthesetribesno trace of the exceptionally
bloodyrites of ancientMexico.
Mr. Holden. of the SmithsonianInstitute,in treatingof the
Maya hieroglyphs, identifiesthegodsof theMayas withthefour
greatgods of Mexico,and showsthe prominenceof the number
fourin all. Huitzilopochtliis representedwithfourhands; to
his temple" therewvere fouregates,"in allusion to the formof
the cross. Solis says,the war-godsat on a thronesupportedby
a blue globe. From this,supposed to representthe heavens,
projectedfourstaveswithserpent'sheads." The crosswas also
one of the symbolsof Quetzalcoatl,and one of his titles is
"The lord of the fourwinds,"of whichthis was the sign. The
crossis a prominentobject in the Palenque tablet,and there
can be littledoubt,that,whereverfound,it represents thewinds,
or the cardinal points,of which the bearer is supposedto be
the god or guardian; but whetherthe Greek cross and the
St. Andrew'scrosshave the same significance is doubtful;both
are introducedfreelyin the hieroglyphs,and theTau crossis also
found,but not so frequently. The Mexican paintingsare how-
ever,moreto our presentpurppse,for,in these,not only do we
get the crossas a nature-symbol,but we findit associated with
especial colours,such as, among the Indians of to-day,are
typicalof the cardinalpoints; and also with certainsigns and

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 A. W. BUCKLAND.-POur,
as a SacredNumber. 97

:symbols, whichcan still be traced in the ceremoniesobserved

by varioustribesat theirmedicinedances.
Mr. Tlhomas,in the third Annual Report of the Bureau of
Ethnology (Smithsonian Institute) reproduces somiieof the
Mexican codices. Of one of these the " Tableau des Bacab,"
he says," Rosnysupposedit to be a representation of the gods
,ofthe four cardinal points,"an opinion I believeto be well
founded. The centre of thistableau is a cross or sacred tree.
In anotherplate,copied fromthe Borgian Codex, four gods,
.evidentlyrepresentingsome astronomicalfacts,(Mr. Thomas
thinkstheydenotethe solar cycle of 52 years,thirteenin each),
occupysquaressurrounded byfancifulserpents,thehead oL each
beingturnedtowardsa conventionalsun in the centre,and one
of these gods is representedlying upon a St. Andrew'scross,
whichwas evidentlyhis peculiarsymbol.
In a reproduction in coloursof a plate of tlleFejerv7aryCodex,
the pictureis in the formof a Maltese cross. In the centre
stands a god apparentlywielding a thunderbolt,whilst at
his back appears four forkedbranches of a tree,forminga
St. Andrew'scross. In each of the fourcompartments or armns
of the Maltese cross,a tree is representedwith two branches
makinga cross,withthreeblossomsat the end of each branch.
In the centreof three of these sits a bird,whilst the fourthis
*occupiedby a dog. These threebirdsand the dog reappearin
the Ojibwa ceremonyof the Midewiwin,where theyare seen
mountedon crosses or painitedpoles at the entranceto the
lodges.
The colours of the Mexican MSS. are deserving of study,
because there is everyreason to believe that they also are
typicalof the cardinalpoints,althoughit seemris alimostimpos-
sible to know to which point any particularcolour should be
assigned. The colours are blue,green,red,and yellow,and as
blue seemsin manycases to be used forsouth,we mayperhaps
look upon it as representativeof the south in this case also.
The variationsin the typical colours assigned to the cardinal
pointsamongthe different Red Indian tribes dwellino in close
proxinmity to each otherare verypuzzlingto the student. For
example,althoughthe Navajos and Zunis both use white to
denote the east,the colour employe(Iby the Navajos for the
west is yellow,but the Zunis use blue, whilst blue among the
Navajos signifiessouth.
I have sometimesthoughtthat it mightperhaps be possible
to trace the wanderingsof these tribes throughthese varying
colours,forit is conceivablethat a tribecomingfromn the south,
who had been accustomedto associate some natural object,say
a mountainwiththe north,and to assignto it a certainicolour,
H 2

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 98 A. W. BUCKLAND.-FOUr, as a Sctered
N'u,rnber.

would on settlingto the northof that mountain,still associate

the same colourwithit, althoughit would no longerrepresent
the north,but the south.
The same idea has appearedto me applicable to the mystical
Swastika,which,alikein theold worldand the new,would seem
to typifythe path of the sun in the heavelns,and which is
yet frequentlyfounddepictedwiththe armsturnedin a contrary
directionto the sun's course. Some writerssee in this a male
and femalesun,but it seems to me much more reasonableta
supposethat those using the reversedsymbol came originally
froma soutlhernlland, where,of course,thesun's path would be
reversed,being east by northto west, instead of as withus,.
east by souithto west. The reversedSwastika is foundrepre-
sentedin Peru as well as in the sun-basketscarriedby the gods
in the great sand-paintingsof the Navajos; and the same
reversedpositionfromrightto left is observablein the birds'
heads on the engravedshells foundin Americanmounds,which
birds'heads. surmountinglooped square-s,are usually regarded
as denotingthe cardinal points.' Dr. Colley March,howevery
who has studied this subject,supposes the two positionsof the
Swastika to denote,firstthe sun's path,and second the revo-
lutionof the starsin an oppositedirectionroundthe pole. The
subject,however,is difficult,and I merelyoffermy own idea as
a suggestion.
It wouldbe impossibleto referto the innumerableinstances
among,the AmericanIndians in which four is employedto.
designate sacred objects, always in referenceto the cardinal
points,but the subject comes out stronglyin the great Navajo
epic,whichwas the subject of my formerpaper. The gods are
all fourin numberand all rangethemselvesoneat each cardinal
point,being painted in the colour appropriateto that point.
There are four bear-gods,fourporcupines,four squirrels,four
long-bodiedgoddesses,four holy young men, four lightning
birds,&c. The herois allowedfourdays and fournightsto tell
his story,and fourdays are employedin his purification.The
greatcorralmade forthe performance of the ceremoniesis left
open on the east side only,and all enteringhave to moveround
it to the south,followingthe course of the sun, and in all the
ceremoniesespecial reverenceappearsto be shown to the east.
The great sacred sand-pictures2 which are so remarkablea.
featurein theseceremonies,are all commencedon the eastern
side,and that part is also erased first,whilst the patient is
always seated facingthe east.
I The square symbolizesthe concentrationof the four winds among the'
Navajos.
are also used in China.
that sand-paintings
2 I have seen somewhere

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 A. W. BUCKLAND.-Four,as a Sacred Number. 99

These sand-picturesmade and erased on four successivedays

are all constructedof four reduplicationsand multiples; thus,
the firstconsistsof four pairs of snakes crossed to make four
St. Andrewcrosses,and are surroundedby four longer snakes,
one at each of the fourcardinalpoints,and always in the colour
assignedto that point. The four go(Idesses,or lonq-bodiesof
the third picture,although theystand side by side are each
representedin the appropriatecoloursof the cardinal pointsto
which theyare related. These long-bodiedgoddessesappearto
referto a Mexican legend related by Sahagun, who says " the
fourthfigurewas the house,and was dedicated to the west,
which they called Cioatlampa, which is ilearly towards the
house of the women,for theyhold the opinion that the dead
womenwho are goddesses,live in the west,and that the dead
men who are in the house of the sun. guide him fromthe east
with rejoicingseveryday until theyarriveat midday,anidthat
the defuLnct women,whomtheyregard as goddesses,coimieout
fromthe west to receive him at middayaDd carryhim with
rejoicingsto the west.'
The great corral of the Navajos seemsalso to be connrected
with a legend of the Zunis, which treats of a giganticmagic
corral, whereinall the game animals were kept by the snail
people, untildiscoveredby Sha-la-ko,who informedhis father
Pa-u-ti-wa,the chiefgod of theKa-ka, probablythe sun. This
god calls a council,and by his sacred power opens the magic
corralfirston the northside,when the great deer rushedforth
to be seized by the mountainlion,the regentof the north;then
the west side is openedand the mountainsheep escapes to be
hunted by the coyote,regentof the west; next an openingis
madleon the southside,whencespringsforththeantelope,to be
seized and devouredby the wild cat; and lastlythe east side is
-opened,and forthcame the albiiio antelope,to fall a preyto the
wolf. Then it is added that whilst these prey animals were
-satisfying theirhungerthe game began to escape throughthe
breaks in the corral. Throughthe northerndoor rushed the
buffalo,the great elk, and the deer, to be chased by the
mountainlion,and the yellowsa-la-mo-pi-ato the world,where
.standsthe yellowmountain,below the great NorthernOcean.
Out throughthe westerngap rushedthe miiountain sheepherded
and drivenbythe coyoteand the blue sa-lo-mo-pi-a towardsthe
greatWesternOcean, wherestandstlle antcient blue mountain.
Out throughthe southerngap rushedtheantelope,herdedand
driven by the wild cat aiid the red sa-lo-mo-pi-atoward the
greatland of summer,wherestandsthe ancientred mouiltain.
1 " Maya and Mexican MSS.," CyruisThomas," Smithsoniani
Annual Report,"
81-82.

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 100 A. W. BUCKLAND.-FoUr,as a SacredNwmber.

Out throughthe easterngap rushedthe Ok-o-li,herded and:

driven by the wolf,and the whitesa-lo-mo-pi-a,toward where,
"they say" is the Eastern Ocean, the " Ocean of Day," wherein
standsthe ancientwhitemounitain.
Here will again be noticedthe fourcardinalpoinitswitli their
special colours, differing,however,fromthoseof the Navajos;,
the Zunis also add two regions,one forthe " Sky Ocean," pre-
sided overby the eagle,and pourtrayedas of manycolours,and
one for the under world, to which the mole and the black
sa-lo-mo-pi-afollowthe rabbits,the rats,and the mice,towards,
the four caverns(wombs of earth), beneath which standsthe
ancient black mountain; but the ceremoniestake place in a
square enclosure,and the numberfour and the cardinal points
are in constanit evidence.'
The sa-lo-mo-pi-aso oftenmentionedare legendarymonsters
withroundheads,long snouts,huge featherednecks,and human
bodies. They are supposedto live beneaththe waters,2and are
representedby maskedfiguresat the ceremonies.
The fourmountains, withthetwo supplementary ones of this
legend,doubtlessdenotethefourearthpillarsofeasterntradition,
the " fourcoriners oftheworld,"represented in the Navajo legend
by the fourtreescut dowinto forinthe supportsof the medicine
lodge; in the Perehara ceremoniesof Ceylorn, as describedby
Miss Gordon Cumming,by the youngtreecut into fouir,and
erectedas pillars in four temples,round which the bows and
aIrrowsofthe gods are carriedon fourelephants.
Among the Ojibwa there is an initiationceremonyof four
degrees,whichtakes place in an oblongenclosurewith openings
to the fourcardinalpoints; withinthis is placed a sacredstone,
and to the west of this, four posts, painted in enibleimatic
colours,one of which is a cross,painted whitewith red spots;
but the lowerhalf of the truilkis squared to face the cardilnal
points,and colouredwhiteon the east,greenon thesouth,redon
the west, and black on the north. There are four of these
enclosures,in each of whicha different degreeof initiationtakes,
place, and it is upon poles raised in frontof theseseverallodges
thatthe effigies of birdsand of a doo are placed,which,according
to thedelineationsgiven,exactlyreproducethoseof the Mexican
MSS.
There are undoubted traces in the eastern hemiisphere of
reverenceforthe numberfour in connectionwith the cardinal
points. some of which rmlay be compared with the American
ceremonies. Miss Gordon Cumming says that the dagobas,.
fornming the commonestkind of grave in North China, from.
Zuni Fetiches,Cushing,"SmithsonianReport," 1880-8.
2 Cushing.

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 A. W. BUCKLAND.-FOUr, as a SacredNumber. 101
l'ekinto Shanghai,are all built on a square platform. In the
greatdagobas the centreis denoted by a square pillar risinig
about 4 feet,on which rests the casketof relics. The central
pillar or monolithis placed exactlyto face the four cardinal
pointsand the square ofthe platformis also markedto face the
pointsof the compass.'
In my formner paper I pointed out a remarkablecerenmony
whichtakes place at the Pereharain Ceyloni, when, at the full
moon,fourpriests,bearing, fourswordsof thegoddesses,attended
by fourassistants,row up the river,and at the firststreak of
dawn the four priests strike the water with their swords,
a magic circlein honourof the sun,whilst the four
describingo,
attendantsfill theirwatervessels withinthe miagiccircle thus
described, In manyotherpointsthis Pereharaceremony seems
to touch upon Americanand ancient Mexican religiouscere-
moniies,to onleor two only of which I will now refer,suichas
the use of masks and high stilts by the performers, anid of
paintedsticksto symbolizethe divinity.
In the descriptionsgiven of Mount Meru we find not only
the foursquare figurecarefullyturned to the points of the
compass,but also the colours,such as accompanythe American
cardinal points, for the south side is representedas of the
colourof the lotus,the easternas that of the ruby,the northern
as that of coral,and the westernas that of gold.
Gerald Massey, in that curious book called "The Natural
Genesis,"says, " on a gem copied by Maffeithe treeof life is
engravedwithfouroscilla suspendedfromitsbranches." Thisis
the Roman and British Christmas-tree, onlythe pendants are
linlitedto four,accordingto the Gnosis that has been lost in
England,whichmade it the treeof the fourcardinalpoints.
Therecan be littledoubt thatseven,which we regardas the
perfectnumber,has been formedbytlleenigrafting of a tripartite
divinityupon the olderreligion,whichsaw in thefourcardinal
points the mythical supportsof the heavens. "Four spirits
stand, four powers preside, four winds blow, four waters
flowat thefourcornersof the mountin the generalmythof the
world."2
The carefulorientationof the Egyptianpyramids,and the
fourcanopic jars whereinthe viscera of the mummywas con-
signedto the guardianshipofthe regenrts of the fourquartersof
the heavenls,show how farback in the old world this reverence
forthe poirLtsof thecompassextended. We findmanyallusions
to the same in the Bible, and the pyramidsofBabyloiiwerenot
only carefullyoriented,but also paintedin colours. Pythagoras
1 " Two Happy Years in Ceylon,"p. 388.
2 cThe Natural Genesis," Gerald Massey.

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102 :"
J. L. MYREs.-"l The Miser'sDoom?

and Hermes both looked upon four as the perfectnumber,

bringing, we may suppose,thatidea fromthe east,and it is in
India, China,and Japan,that we find the cardinal points still
reverenced.
In Japan we are told that a child is placed on the floor,and
towardswhicheverof the cardinal points be creeps so will his
futurebe determined;a priestmeanwhileholds overhima paper
wand (Gohei), prayingto the "Kami," or ancestors,that the.
rightchoice may be made.1
When we compareold worldcustomsand beliefssuchas these
withthoseof the Americantribes,we cannothelp seeingin them
a link bindingthe east to the west,and helping to prove a
commonorigin,if not of race,at least of myths and super-
stitions.

"The MISER'S DOOM:" A MODERNGREEK MORALITY. By

J. L. MYRES, M.A., F.S.A., BritishSchool of Archceology,
Athens.
[WITH PLATES VI, VII, VIII, IX.]

THE followingis a brief sketch of an open-air perfornmance

whichmightbe seen in 1893 in the streetsof Athens,on any
of the prinicipaldays of the Greek Carnival. Though, as is
explainedbelow,the text of the dialoguewas not accessible,and
verylikelydoes not exist in writingat all, the account of the
actionmay be taken as accurate and fairlyfull. The pictures
which accompanyit are reproducedfrom"snap-shot" photo-
graphstakenin the XYvra^ypva, or Place de la Constitution,in
front of the palace and the principal hotels; which are the
moreadequate because theperformers, so farfromshrinking, as
so manynativesdo frombeingphotographed, even stopped the
performanceat the critical moment,and insistedon groupinc
themselvesin a more convenientway. In the first three
pictures,however,the actors are quite unconsciousof what is
goingon.
There is only too much evidence that manyof the leadiug
featuresof the modern Greek Carnival have been borrowed
fromthe Italian custom,and that at a recent date; and there
is consequentlythe chance still open that this particular
performance mayproveto be derived froma westernoriginal.
But even if so, it has beconme so thoroughlyadapted, in its
literaryand dramaticform,to its presentcircumstances,that it
seems worthwhile to describeit on its own meritsas a modern
Greek,if nota Romaic ceremony.
"itSymbolic Ceremoniesof the .Iapanese."

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