the uninitiated, believe the maskers to be the spirits of the dead, or to be the actual deities, or to be "endowed for the time being with their actual breath." But this belief passes away; and, when it has passed away, the ceremonies continue to be performed, but they cease to be religious rites. The men continue to wear masks on these occasions, but no one imagines them to be ghosts or gods. As Mr. Webster says,[1] "their main purpose appears to be by their crude dramatic representations to provide a little amusement for an unbelieving populace. The secret society has become a theatrical troupe."
It seems, then, that in North America, South America, Africa, and Melanesia there have been religious rites in which the celebrants wore masks and were believed to be ghosts, spirits, or gods; and that these ceremonies have become in some cases "a rude but often very effective dramatisation of the myths and legends," and in other cases have ceased to be predominatingly religious in their intention, and have become "nothing but theatrical performances."
This constitutes a presumption that the Greek drama, which at one period in its evolution was "a dramatisation of the myths and legends," and at a later period was nothing but a theatrical performance, and in which the performers were always men and were always masked, may also have originated in religious rites in which the celebrants were men, wore masks, and were believed to be ghosts, spirits, or gods. But, inasmuch as the parallels thus far advanced have been drawn from quarters of the globe remote from Greece and have been drawn from peoples having no racial or linguistic relation to the Greeks, the analogy may be viewed by some as insufficient or misleading. The question, then, arises whether we can find a parallel which is geographically closer to Greece than anything drawn from Africa, America, or Melanesia.
- ↑ Primitive Secret Societies, 172.
