moment have discovered why men in Timbuctoo wear red feathers.
The mystery in the heart of some savage war-dance should not be
studied in books of scientific travel; it should be studied at a
subscription ball. If a man desires to find out the origins of religions,
let him not go to the Sandwich Islands; let him go to church.
If a man wishes to know the origin of human society, to know
what society, philosophically speaking, really is, let him not go
into the British Museum; let him go into society.

This total misunderstanding of the real nature of ceremonial gives
rise to the most awkward and dehumanized versions of the conduct
of men in rude lands or ages. The man of science, not realizing
that ceremonial is essentially a thing which is done without
a reason, has to find a reason for every sort of ceremonial, and,
as might be supposed, the reason is generally a very absurd one--
absurd because it originates not in the simple mind of the barbarian,
but in the sophisticated mind of the professor. The teamed man
will say, for instance, "The natives of Mumbojumbo Land believe
that the dead man can eat and will require food upon his journey
to the other world. This is attested by the fact that they place
food in the grave, and that any family not complying with this
rite is the object of the anger of the priests and the tribe."
To any one acquainted with humanity this way of talking is topsy-turvy.
It is like saying, "The English in the twentieth century believed
that a dead man could smell. This is attested by the fact that they
always covered his grave with lilies, violets, or other flowers.
Some priestly and tribal terrors were evidently attached to the neglect
of this action, as we have records of several old ladies who were
very much disturbed in mind because their wreaths had not arrived
in time for the funeral." It may be of course that savages put