ABSTRACT
The immoderate idealization both of the Supreme Beings and of savage peoples in general which was characteristic of Andrew Lang, was an outflow of the romantic spirit which dominated him and led him naturally to assume that “the nobler set of ideas is more ancient than the lower.” Professor Pettazzoni has drawn special attention to the fact that the “high gods” are conceived everywhere as celestial beings. He points out, moreover, that it is precisely in their connection with the heavens that researchers find the true explanation of the various “monotheistic” attributes ascribed to the Supreme Beings, their eternity, omnipotence, science, and their creative power, in such cases where they really exist. The Indians believed that the soul of the dead was reincarnated in the giant snake, a common belief in tropical South America, and so they propitiated its spirit by the dance.
