Tohi Vagahau Niue is a significant new dictionary detailing the Polynesian language of Niue, and will benefit Niuean studies for years to come. While its main aim is to be a repository for native speakers, it will also serve a wider linguistic audience, including comparativists and theorists in lexicography. Detailed user notes introduce the reader to the basic challenges in Niuean lexicography and grammar. With some 10,000 Niuean word entries, the present dictionary is a significant expansion on an earlier work. The Niuean contributors took great care to present their language as a living entity while preserving its valuable past, but they are also aware of its uncertain future. Language revival is essential to preserve a linguistic Pacific jewel, and as such the new dictionary will lend status to Niuean language studies as well as be an invaluable help in using Niuean confidently in everyday life.
The first volume of Frazer's book comprises the Gifford Lectures he gave at the University of St. Andrews in the years 1911 and 1912, and deals with the belief in immortality and the worship of the dead, as these are found among the aborigines of Australia, the Torres Straits Islands, New Guinea, and Melanesia. In the second volume, the author describes the corresponding belief and worship among the Polynesians, a people related to their neighbors the Melanesians by language, if not by blood. Contents: The Savage Conception of Death Myths of the Origin of Death The Belief in Immortality among the Aborigines of Central Australia The Belief in Immortality among the other Aborigines of Australia The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of the Torres Straits Islands The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of British New Guinea The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German New Guinea The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of German and Dutch New Guinea The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Southern Melanesia (New Caledonia) The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Central Melanesia The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Northern and Eastern Melanesia The Belief in Immortality among the Natives of Eastern Melanesia (Fiji) The Belief in Immortality among the Maoris The Belief in Immortality among the Tongans The Belief in Immortality among the Samoans The Belief in Immortality among the Hervey Islanders The Belief in Immortality among the Society Islanders The Belief in Immortality among the Marquesans The Belief in Immortality among the Hawaiians
In 'The Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead' by James George Frazer, the renowned anthropologist explores the universal belief in an afterlife and the rituals associated with honoring deceased ancestors. Written in a scholarly and comprehensive style, Frazer delves into various cultures, traditions, and historical practices to examine the continuity and evolution of beliefs surrounding death. Drawing on a wide range of ethnographic data, this book provides a profound insight into the human psyche and the ways in which different societies navigate the concept of mortality. Frazer's meticulous research and comparative analysis offer valuable perspectives on the significance of ancestor worship in shaping cultural identities and religious practices. Through his interdisciplinary approach, Frazer sheds light on the complexities of human spirituality and the enduring relevance of ancestral veneration in contemporary societies. Readers interested in anthropology, religious studies, and the history of belief systems will find this book enlightening and thought-provoking.
For some time I have been preparing a general work on primitive superstition and religion. Among the problems which had attracted my attention was the hitherto unexplained rule of the Arician priesthood; and last spring it happened that in the course of my reading I came across some facts which, combined with others I had noted before, suggested an explanation of the rule in question. As the explanation, if correct, promised to throw light on some obscure features of primitive religion, I resolved to develop it fully, and, detaching it from my general work, to issue it as a separate study. This book is the result. Now that the theory, which necessarily presented itself to me at first in outline, has been worked out in detail, I cannot but feel that in some places I may have pushed it too far. If this should prove to have been the case, I will readily acknowledge and retract my error as soon as it is brought home to me. Meantime my essay may serve its purpose as a first attempt to solve a difficult problem, and to bring a variety of scattered facts into some sort of order and system. A justification is perhaps needed of the length at which I have dwelt upon the popular festivals observed by European peasants in spring, at midsummer, and at harvest. It can hardly be too often repeated, since it is not yet generally recognised, that in spite of their fragmentary character the popular superstitions and customs of the peasantry are by far the fullest and most trustworthy evidence we possess as to the primitive religion of the Aryans. Indeed the primitive Aryan, in all that regards his mental fibre and texture, is not extinct. He is amongst us to this day. The great intellectual and moral forces which have revolutionised the educated world have scarcely affected the peasant. In his inmost beliefs he is what his forefathers were in the days when forest trees still grew and squirrels played on the ground where Rome and London now stand.
"Peter Tokofsky has provided English readers with a superb translation of one of the most important books on folktales." —Wolfgang Mieder This classic work, first published in 1956, is now available in English. Along with Lüthi's The European Folktale and Propp's The Morphology of the Folktale, Röhrich's Märchen und Wirklichkeit is considered a key text in folklore scholarship.
