Blood Test as Proof of Kinship in Jewish Folklore

Blood, among the Jews, possibly because it was held to be symbolic of the soul (Deut 12:23 and Gen 9:4), was an object of sacred awe. Blood being the seat of the soul, its prominence in folklore, where it is employed for the binding of compacts, the sealing of kinships, for remedial, criminal, superstitious, and even judicial purposes, is not a surprise to the investigator. The ancient practice of covenanting by means of blood, still practiced in certain parts of the world, forms an interesting chapter in the study of ethnic superstitions. It is not the design of this essay to discuss the origin and diffusion of the blood-rite, which has never been practiced in Israel, though the prevalence of the custom, even among civilized peoples, is responsible for the horrible blood-accusation against the Jews throughout the centuries. The focus is the belief that the blood of a murdered man will bear witness against the murderer, by flowing afresh at his touch; the living blood crying aloud from the inanimate body for vengeance.