Motif
breath caught as departing soul
breath_caught_as_departing_soul
A motif of the External Soul and Life-Token family, within the sub-family Ritual Capture and Safekeeping of Souls. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
comparative
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The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 1 of 2) MACAULAY. / CHAPTER II. THE PERILS OF THE SOUL. / HEINE. / CHAPTER III. KILLING THE GOD.; lines 5085-5132 confidence: high
In Nias, succession to a chief can require catching the dying chief's last breath and soul in the mouth or a bag; rivals may crowd around, one candidate used a bamboo tube, and when there is no son the soul is caught in a bag fastened to an image of the deceased.
The Nias and Roman examples explicitly connect catching the last breath with receiving the soul of the dying person.
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