cases blood is sprinkled on the ground near the grave of the corpse, as
in Borneo (the blood of a fowl);[352] the blood may be meant to be food
for the dead, or its supernatural power may be supposed to guard against
injury from him to the living.

+191+. A ban of silence is often imposed--the name of the dead person is
not to be mentioned except by certain privileged men;[353] among certain
North American tribes on the death of a child there is a ban of silence
on the father.[354] The reason for this prohibition of the dead person's
name is not certain. It may be respect for him, or it may be merely an
expression of sorrow at his loss. More probably, however, it comes from
the belief that the dead man is powerful and may be hurtful, and that
therefore his name, which is identical with himself, is dangerous.[355]

+192+. In the cases mentioned above, the dead person is generally
regarded as dangerous--to be feared and appeased. Among some tribes,
indeed, precautions are taken to prevent his coming back to his house.
Very generally the presence of the corpse is held to cause a certain
pollution.[356] There is, however, another side to the attitude toward
the dead. As he is regarded as powerful, parts of his body are preserved
as amulets; wives wear parts of the bones of the dead husband, and the
skulls of the deceased are supposed to be especially powerful, in some
cases to give oracular responses.[357]

+193+. In general, early burial ceremonies appear to be designed to
assure the comfort of the deceased in the other world with a view to
securing his friendship and aid for the members of his family and clan
in this life. As he is of the nature of a divine person, the ceremonies
in question are naturally religious. Socially they are effective in
binding the members of a community together--a large sense of solidarity
is produced by the communal recognition of kinship with the dead.
Special stress is laid on this conception in China.[358]

CEREMONIES OF PURIFICATION AND CONSECRATION[359]

+194+. The essence of religion is a helpful relation to the
supernatural, but in early stages of culture man frequently finds
himself exposed to conditions, either resident in himself or induced
from without, that destroy this relation and disqualify him for the
performance of sacred acts. The result is a state of ritual impurity or
uncleanness, conceived of at first as purely physical, but tending to
become gradually moralized.