tion of the range of motives and purposes from which
devout consumption of goods proceeds will help toward an appreciation
of the value both of this consumption itself and of the general habit of
mind to which it is congenial. There is a striking parallelism, if not
rather a substantial identity of motive, between the consumption which
goes to the service of an anthropomorphic divinity and that which goes
to the service of a gentleman of leisure chieftain or patriarch--in the
upper class of society during the barbarian culture. Both in the case of
the chieftain and in that of the divinity there are expensive edifices
set apart for the behoof of the person served. These edifices, as well
as the properties which supplement them in the service, must not be
common in kind or grade; they always show a large element of conspicuous
waste. It may also be noted that the devout edifices are invariably of
an archaic cast in their structure and fittings. So also the servants,
both of the chieftain and of the divinity, must appear in the presence
clothed in garments of a special, ornate character. The characteristic
economic feature of this apparel is a more than ordinarily accentuated
conspicuous waste, together with the secondary feature--more accentuated
in the case of the priestly servants than in that of the servants or
courtiers of the barbarian potentate--that this court dress must always
be in some degree of an archaic fashion. Also the garments worn by the
lay members of the community when they come into the presence, should be
of a more expensive kind than their everyday apparel. Here, again, the
parallelism between the usage of the chieftain's audience hall and
that of the sanctuary is fairly well marked. In this respect there
is required a certain ceremonial "cleanness" of attire, the essential
feature of which, in the economic respect, is that the garments worn
on these occasions should carry as little suggestion as may be of any
industrial occupation or of any habitual addiction to such employments
as are of material use.

This requirement of conspicuous waste and of ceremonial cleanness from
the traces of industry extends also to the apparel, and in a less degree
to the food, which is consumed on sacred holidays; that is to say, on
days set apart--tabu--for the divinity or for some member of the lower
ranks of the preternatural leisure class. In economic theory, sacred
holidays are obviously to be construed as a season