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On Chants
Of old there were many chants and songs used
especially in the Dances. Many of these have been forgotten by us here,
but we know that they used cries of IAU which seems muchly like the cries
EVO or EVOHE of the ancients. Much dependeth on the pronunciation if this
be so. In my youth, when I heard IAU it seemed to be AEIOU, or rather,
AAAEEIOOOOUU. This may be but the natural way to prolong it to make it fit
for a call, but it suggests that these be possibly the initials of an
invocation as Agla is said to be, and of sooth 'tis said that the whole
Hebrew alphabet is said to be such, and for this reason is recited as a
most powerful charm, but at least this is certain, these cries during the
dances do have profound effect, as I myself have seen.
Other calls are IEHOUA and EHEIE; also Ho Ho
Ho Ise Ise Ise.
IEO VEO VEO VEO VEOV OROV OV OVOVO may be a
spell but is more likely to be a call. 'Tis like the EVOE EVOE of the
Greeks and the "Heave ho!" of sailors. "Emen hetan" and "Ab hur, ab hus"
seem calls; as "Horse and hattock, horse and go, horse and Pellatis, ho,
ho, ho!"
"Thout, tout a tout tout, throughout and
about" and "Rentum tormentum" are probably mispronounced attempts at a
forgotten formula, though they may have been invented by some unfortunate
being tortured, to evade telling the real formula. |