[Anthropology by Robert Marett]@TWC D-Link book
Anthropology

CHAPTER VIII
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The second part is no less interesting.

After the blood-letting, they hunt until they kill a kangaroo.

Thereupon the old men of the totem eat a little of the meat; then they smear some of the fat on the bodies of all the party; finally, they divide the flesh amongst them.

Afterwards, the totemites paint their bodies with stripes in imitation of the design upon the rock.
A second hunt, followed by a second sacramental meal, concludes the whole ceremony.

That their meal is sacramental, a sort of communion service, is proved by the fact that henceforth in an ordinary way they allow themselves to partake of kangaroo meat at most but very sparingly, and of certain portions of the flesh not at all.
One more example of these rites may be cited, in order to bring out the earnestness of this type of religion, which is concerned with doing, instead of mere not-doing.


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