The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 10 of 12)

The volume uses the myth of Balder and a ritual figure associated with a sacred oak as a framework to investigate beliefs about the external soul, puberty seclusion of girls, and the various European fire-festivals. It surveys seclusion practices across diverse regions, classifies seasonal fires and rites such as need-fire and animal sacrifices to avert disease, and weighs competing interpretations of those festivals, contrasting older solar explanations with a purificatory account that treats fire as a means to repel or destroy harmful forces. Throughout it traces comparative patterns of ritual thought while warning against overreliance on diffusional explanations.