ANIMAL SACRIFICE

'Animal sacrifice' is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practised by many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature. Animal sacrifice has turned up in almost all cultures, from the Hebrews to the Greeks and Romans and from the Aztecs to the Yoruba.
Walter Burkert in ''Homo necans'' argues that animal sacrifices reenact paleolithic hunting rituals, and that they are fundamentally identical in motivation to human sacrifices.

Contents

Ancient Near East

Indo-European cultures

Judaism

Christianity

Islam

Other contemporary practices

See also

Ancient Near East

Animal sacrifices were common throughout the Ancient Near East.

Indo-European cultures

★ historical Vedic religion: Ashvamedha

★ Ancient Roman religion: Equus October, Tauromachy, Taurobolium

★ Ancient Greek religion: Holocaust (sacrifice), Hecatomb

★ Celtic paganism

★ Germanic paganism: Blót

Judaism

:''See main article: Korban''
In Judaism, animal sacrifice was practiced up to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E.
The Torah distinguishes five kinds of sacrifice or ''korban'', of which four involve animal sacrifice:

★ ''Olah'' (עלה), or whole-offering

★ ''Shlamim'' (זבח שלמים), or peace-offering

★ ''Chattat'' (חטאת), or sin-offering, and

★ ''Asham'' (אשם), or guilt-offering.
Many Jewish sources discuss the deeper meaning behind ''korbanot''. For example, Sefer Hachinuch explains that an indivudal bringing an animal sacrifice for a sin understands that he personally should have been sacrificed as punishment for the rebellion against God inherent his the sin, but God mercifully accepts the sacrifice in his or her place. Furthermore, it is fitting that an animal is used as a sacrifice because at the moment of sin, the individual in question disregarded his elevated human soul, effectively acting as an animal.

Christianity

References to animal sacrifice appear in the gospels, such as the parents of Jesus sacrificing two doves (). Animal sacrifice also appears throughout the old testament. Among contemporary Christian churches, only the Armenian Apostolic Church and CCG practice animal sacrifice.

Islam

Some Muslims will sacrifice an animal during the ''Festival of Sacrifice'' (Eid ul-Adha). Usually a sheep or goat is sacrificed then eaten during a feast, in commemoration of Ibrahim's (Abraham's) willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael for Allah.

Other contemporary practices

Animal sacrifice is still practised today by the followers of Santería and other "lineages of Orisa", as a means of curing the sick and giving thanks to the Orisa (Gods). However in Santeria, such animal offerings constitute an extremely small portion of what are termed "ebos" – ritual activities that include offerings, prayer and deeds. Some villages in Greece also sacrifice animals to Orthodox saints in a practise known as kourbània. The practise, while publicly condemned, is often tolerated for the benefits it provides to the church and the sense of community it engenders.
Remnants of ancient rituals of animal sacrifice are apparent in many cultures, for example the Spanish bullfights, or kapparos in Judaism, or ritual prescriptions for slaughtering procedures like shechita or ḏabīḥah. Slaughtering lambs is a common practice in Islam (but their meat is always eaten or distributed to the poor afterwards, never burned).

See also

★ Bans on ritual slaughter

★ Animal worship

★ Totemism

★ Paganism

★ Folk religion

★ Animals in Buddhism

★ Islam and animals

★ Animal rights

★ Animal welfare