Totem Feast in Modern Dress

In a recent essay, Simmel (2) expresses regret that-modern society has no derivative substitute for the totem feast. He points out the important socializing function which the totem feast served. It was an outlet for primitive aggressions against father-authority figures and at the same time promoted peaceful relations among those who participated in the feast. The group was offered a symbolic aggression in which all could join, feel as one, be free of guilt, love each other, and yet, at the same time, murder someone. Simmel remarks, “By doing so (devouring the totem animal) they conquered their ambivalence, not only toward their prehistoric father, but also toward one another. Such a device for public mental hygiene is not longer available to us.”

However, modern society does have its totem feasts. Simmel has overlooked the important institution of the annual convention banquet with its speaker of the evening and entertainment. This custom is part of the formal ritual of innumerable professional and social societies and fraternal organizations.

Before discussing the modern banquet, a summary of Freud's (1) observations on the totem feast will be briefly recapitulated. In the primitive totem feast, the members of the clan would band together, disguise themselves in imitation of the totem animal, and then cruelly kill and eat the totem animal entirely. Every member of the clan would have to share in the ritual murder and eating of the animal. The clan would then go through a short period of formal mourning for the animal. This was followed by a gay festival in which every impulse for pleasure was given free rein. The holiday mood was the result of the slaying