Magic and Religion in North Africa

that the carnival and other analogous ceremonies are survivals of ancient agrarian cults, during which the death of the vegetation spirit of the previous year is accompanied by mourning rites. On the other hand, these ceremonies are accompanied by dramatic performances: now, burlesque performances are a characteristic of the carnivals observed in North Africa, and it is also known that among the Chi’ites Shias, a true theater was constituted on the occasion of ‘Âchoûrâ. This festival, far from being a simple Muslim institution, thus appears to us as the Islamization of a very ancient ceremony(1).

The prohibition of images is often considered an entirely Muslim defense; however, comparative ethnography has revealed to us that among all primitive peoples, there is an enormous fear of figurative representations. The primitive believes that the shadow, the image formed in water or in a mirror, and statues or portraits are kinds of doubles of the soul, if not the soul itself. Therefore, the possessor of the double can engage in magical practices of bewitchment that are dangerous for the soul, and even the mere presence of the double can attract the soul out of the body and thus cause death. The universality of these beliefs is today entirely established; and it seems natural to see in the Muslim prohibition of representations only their Islamization(2). The Islamization consisted of giving a new reason for the prohibition: the pride that would exist in wanting

(1) Cf. infra, chapters VIII and IX.
(2) This point of view is indicated in Chauvin, The Defense of Images, Antwerp, 1896, p. 22 seq.