Animal sacrifice is theritual killing and offering of animals, usually as part of areligiousritual or to appease or maintain favour with adeity. Animal sacrifices were common throughoutEurope and theAncient Near East until the spread ofChristianity inLate Antiquity, and continue in some cultures or religions today.Human sacrifice, where it existed, was always much rarer.
All or only part of a sacrificial animal may be offered; some cultures, like the Ancient Greeks ate most of the edible parts of the sacrifice in a feast, and burnt the rest as an offering. Others burnt the whole animal offering, called aholocaust. Usually, the best animal or best share of the animal is the one presented for offering.
Animal sacrifice should generally be distinguished from the religiously prescribed methods ofritual slaughter of animals for normal consumption as food.
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During theNeolithic Revolution, early humans began to move fromhunter-gatherer cultures towardagriculture, leading to the spread ofanimal domestication. In a theory presented inHomo Necans, mythologistWalter Burkert suggests that the ritual sacrifice oflivestock may have developed as a continuation of ancienthunting rituals, as livestock replacedwild game in the food supply.[1]
Ancient Egypt was at the forefront of domestication, and some of the earliest archeological evidence suggesting animal sacrifice comes from Egypt. However, animal sacrifice was not a central practice of Egyptian religion, but was rather a peripherical occurrence that happened away from worshippers.[2] The oldest Egyptian burial sites containing animal remains originate from theBadari culture ofUpper Egypt, which flourished between 4400 and 4000 BCE.[3] Sheep and goats were found buried in their own graves at one site, while at another sitegazelles were found at the feet of several human burials.[3] At a cemetery uncovered atHierakonpolis and dated to 3000 BCE, the remains of a much wider variety of animals were found, including non-domestic species such asbaboons andhippopotami, which may have been sacrificed in honor of powerful former citizens or buried near their former owners.[4] According toHerodotus, laterDynastic Egyptian animal sacrifice became restricted to livestock – sheep, cattle, swine and geese – with sets ofrituals and rules to describe each type of sacrifice.[5]
By the end of theCopper Age in 3000 BCE, animal sacrifice had become a common practice across many cultures, and appeared to have become more generally restricted to domestic livestock. AtGath, archeological evidence indicates that theCanaanites imported sacrificial sheep and goats from Egypt rather than selecting from their own livestock.[6] At theMonte d'Accoddi inSardinia, one of the earliest known sacred centers in Europe, evidence of the sacrifice of sheep, cattle and swine has been uncovered by excavations, and it is indicated that ritual sacrifice may have been common across Italy around 3000 BCE and afterwards.[7] At theMinoan settlement ofPhaistos in ancientCrete, excavations have revealed basins for animal sacrifice dating to the period 2000 to 1700 BCE.[8] However, remains of a young goat were found in Cueva de la Dehesilla (es), a cave inSpain, related to a funerary ritual from the MiddleNeolithic period, dated to between 4800 and 4000 BCE.[9]
Animal sacrifice was general among theancient Near Eastern civilizations ofAncient Mesopotamia,Egypt andPersia, as well as the Hebrews (covered below). Unlike the Greeks, who had worked out a justification for keeping the best edible parts of the sacrifice for the assembled humans to eat, in these cultures the whole animal was normally placed on the fire by the altar and burned, or sometimes it was buried.[10]
Worship inancient Greek religion typically consisted of sacrificing domestic animals at the altar with hymn and prayer. The altar was outside any temple building, and might not be associated with a temple at all. The animal, which should be perfect of its kind, is decorated with garlands and the like, and led in procession to the altar, a girl with a basket on her head containing the concealed knife leading the way. After various rituals the animal is slaughtered over the altar, as it falls all the women present "must cry out in high, shrill tones". Its blood is collected and poured over the altar. It is butchered on the spot and various internal organs, bones and other inedible parts burnt as the deity's portion of the offering, while the meat is removed to be prepared for the participants to eat; the leading figures tasting it on the spot. The temple usually kept the skin, to sell to tanners. The fact that the humans got more use from the sacrifice than the deity had not escaped the Greeks, and is often the subject of humour inGreek comedy.[11][12][13]
The animals used are, in order of preference, bull or ox, cow, sheep (the most common), goat, pig (with piglet the cheapest mammal), and poultry (but rarely other birds or fish).[11][14] Horses and asses are seen on somevases in the Geometric style (900–750 BCE), but are very rarely mentioned in literature; they were relatively late introductions to Greece, and it has been suggested that Greek preferences in this matter go very far back. The Greeks liked to believe that the animal was glad to be sacrificed, and interpreted various behaviours as showing this.Divination by examining parts of the sacrificed animal was much less important than in Roman orEtruscan religion, or Near Eastern religions, butwas practiced, especially of the liver, and as part of the cult of Apollo. Generally, the Greeks put more faith in observing the behaviour of birds.[15] For a smaller and simpler offering, a grain ofincense could be thrown on the sacred fire,[12] and outside the cities farmers made simple sacrificial gifts of plant produce as the "first fruits" were harvested.[16] Although the grand form of sacrifice called thehecatomb (meaning 100 bulls) might in practice only involve a dozen or so, at large festivals the number of cattle sacrificed could run into the hundreds, and the numbers feasting on them well into the thousands. The enormousHellenistic structures of theAltar of Hieron andPergamon Altar were built for such occasions.
The evidence of the existence of such practices is clear in some ancient Greek literature, especially inHomer's epics. Throughout the poems, the use of the ritual is apparent at banquets where meat is served, in times of danger or before some important endeavor to gain the favor of the gods. For example, in Homer'sOdysseyEumaeus sacrifices a pig with prayer for his unrecognizable master Odysseus. However, in Homer'sIliad, which partly reflects very early Greek civilization, not every banquet of the princes begins with a sacrifice.[17]
These sacrificial practices, described in these pre-Homeric eras, share commonalities to the 8th century forms of sacrificial rituals. Furthermore, throughout the poem, special banquets are held whenever gods indicated their presence by some sign or success in war. Before setting out for Troy, this type of animal sacrifice is offered. Odysseus offers Zeus a sacrificial ram in vain. The occasions of sacrifice in Homer's epic poems may shed some light onto the view of the gods as members of society, rather than as external entities, indicating social ties. Sacrificial rituals played a major role in forming the relationship between humans and the divine.[18]
It has been suggested that theChthonic deities, distinguished from Olympic deities by typically being offered the holocaust mode of sacrifice, where the offering is wholly burnt, may be remnants of the nativePre-Hellenic religion and that many of theOlympian deities may come from the Proto-Greeks who overran the southern part of theBalkan Peninsula in the late third millennium BCE.[19]
In theHellenistic period after the death ofAlexander the Great in 323 BCE,several new philosophical movements began to question the ethics of animal sacrifice.[20]
According to the unique account by the Greek authorHerodotus (c. 484 – c. 425 BCE), theScythians sacrificed various kinds of livestock, though the most prestigious offering was considered to be the horse. The pig, on the other hand, was never offered in sacrifice, and apparently the Scythians were loath to keep swine within their lands.[21] Herodotus describes the Scythian manner of sacrifice as follows:
The victim stands with its fore-feet tied, and the sacrificing priest stands behind the victim, and by pulling the end of the cord he throws the beast down; and as the victim falls, he calls upon the god to whom he is sacrificing, and then at once throws a noose round its neck, and putting a small stick into it he turns it round and so strangles the animal, without either lighting a fire or making any first offering from the victim or pouring any libation over it: and when he has strangled it and flayed off the skin, he proceeds to boil it. [...] Then when the flesh is boiled, the sacrificer takes a first offering of the flesh and of the vital organs and casts it in front of him.[22]
Herodotus goes on to describe the human sacrifice of prisoners, conducted in a different manner.
The most potent offering inAncient Roman religion was animal sacrifice, typically of domesticated animals such as cattle, sheep and pigs. Each was the best specimen of its kind, cleansed, clad in sacrificial regalia and garlanded; the horns of oxen might be gilded. Sacrifice sought theharmonisation of the earthly and divine, so the victim must seem willing to offer its own life on behalf of the community; it must remain calm and be quickly and cleanly dispatched.[23]
Sacrifice to deities of the heavens (di superi, "gods above") was performed in daylight, and under the public gaze. Deities of the upper heavens required white, infertile victims of their own sex:Juno, a white heifer (possibly a white cow);Jupiter, a white, castrated ox (bos mas) for the annual oath-taking by theconsuls.Di superi with strong connections to the earth, such as Mars, Janus, Neptune and variousgenii – including the Emperor's – were offered fertile victims. After the sacrifice, a banquet was held; in state cults, the images of honoured deities took pride of place on banqueting couches and by means of the sacrificial fire consumed their proper portion (exta, the innards). Rome's officials and priests reclined in order of precedence alongside and ate the meat; lesser citizens may have had to provide their own.[24]
Chthonic gods such asDis pater, thedi inferi ("gods below"), and the collective shades of the departed(di Manes) were given dark, fertile victims in nighttime rituals. Animal sacrifice usually took the form of aholocaust or burnt offering, and there was no shared banquet, as "the living cannot share a meal with the dead".[25]Ceres and other underworld goddesses of fruitfulness were sometimes offered pregnant female animals;Tellus was given a pregnant cow at theFordicidia festival. Color had a general symbolic value for sacrifices. Demigods and heroes, who belonged to the heavens and the underworld, were sometimes given black-and-white victims.Robigo (orRobigus) was given red dogs and libations of red wine at theRobigalia for the protection of crops from blight and red mildew.[24]
A sacrifice might be made in thanksgiving or as anexpiation of a sacrilege or potential sacrilege (piaculum);[26]apiaculum might also be offered as a sort of advance payment; theArval Brethren, for instance, offered apiaculum before entering theirsacred grove with an iron implement, which was forbidden, as well as after.[27]The pig was a common victim for apiaculum.[28]
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The same divine agencies who caused disease or harm also had the power to avert it, and so might be placated in advance. Divine consideration might be sought to avoid the inconvenient delays of a journey, or encounters with banditry, piracy and shipwreck, with due gratitude to be rendered on safe arrival or return. In times of great crisis, the Senate could decree collective public rites, in which Rome's citizens, including women and children, moved in procession from one temple to the next, supplicating the gods.[29]
Extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary sacrifice: in one of the many crises of theSecond Punic War, Jupiter Capitolinus was promised every animal born that spring (seever sacrum), to be rendered after five more years of protection fromHannibal and his allies.[30] The "contract" with Jupiter is exceptionally detailed. All due care would be taken of the animals. If any died or were stolen before the scheduled sacrifice, they would count as already sacrificed, since they had already been consecrated. Normally, if the gods failed to keep their side of the bargain, the offered sacrifice would be withheld. In the imperial period, sacrifice was withheld followingTrajan's death because the gods had not kept the Emperor safe for the stipulated period.[31] InPompeii, the Genius of the living emperor was offered a bull: presumably a standard practise in Imperial cult, though minor offerings (incense and wine) were also made.[32]
Theexta were the entrails of a sacrificed animal, comprising inCicero's enumeration the gall bladder (fel), liver (iecur), heart (cor), and lungs (pulmones).[33] Theexta were exposed forlitatio (divine approval) as part of Roman liturgy, but were "read" in the context of thedisciplina Etrusca. As a product of Roman sacrifice, theexta and blood are reserved for the gods, while the meat(viscera) is shared among human beings in a communal meal. Theexta of bovine victims were usually stewed in a pot (olla oraula), while those of sheep or pigs were grilled on skewers. When the deity's portion was cooked, it was sprinkled withmola salsa (ritually prepared salted flour) and wine, then placed in the fire on the altar for the offering; the technical verb for this action wasporricere.[34]
Animal sacrifices (Albanian:therim "ritual slaughering" andfli "sacrifice") have been common practices performed by Albanians during their feasts and ritual pilgrimages on mountain tops.[35]
Animal sacrifices for new buildings is a pagan practice widespread among Albanians.[36][37] At the beginning of the construction of the new house, the foundation traditionally starts with prayers, in a 'lucky day', facing the Sun (Dielli), starting after sunrise, during the growing Moon (Hëna), and an animal is slaughtered as a sacrifice.[38] The practice continues with variations depending on the Albanian ethnographic area. For instance inOpojë the sacrificed animal is placed on the foundation, with its head placed towards the east, where the Sun rises.[36] InBrataj the blood of the sacrificed animal is poured during the slaughter in the corner that was on the east side, where the Sun rises; in order for the house to stand and for good luck, the owner of the house throws silver or golden coins in the same corner of the house; the lady of the house throws there unwashed wool. These things are to remain buried in the foundation of the house that is being built. The relatives of the house owner throw money on the foundation of the house as well, but that money is taken by the craftsman who builds the house. InDibra a ram is slaughtered at the foundation, and the head of the ram is placed on the foundation.[38] In theLezha highlands a ram or a rooster is slaughered on the foundation and then their heads are buried there; the owners of the house throw coins as well as seeds of different plants on the foundation.[38]
On the occasion of the beginning of ploughing the wheat field, a chicken is slaughtered on the tail of the plough. The head of the chicken is mixed with the seed and the earth obtained from the first pass of the ploughing. Those animal sacrifices are made for soil fertility and production, prosperity, health of the animals, etc.[36]
According to an old Albanian custom practiced until recently in various villages inTomorr,Mirdita, and perhaps also in other areas, from the middle of May families with a lot of cattle slaughtered young cattle as sacrifices in order to make the earth fertile, so that the cattle would not be harmed during the summer and would have abundant milk during the harvest time in the mountains. Such a ritual burial ceremony was also found among other Balkan peoples, and it has been interpreted as a trace of the cult of an agricultural deity, for it was a sacrifice that allowed the renewal of the products of the soil, giving force to the vegetation of the fields, trees and vines.[39]
There is evidence that ancientCeltic people sacrificed animals, almost always livestock or working animals, as part ofancient Celtic religion.[40] The idea seems to have been that ritually transferring a life-force to theOtherworld pleased the gods and established a channel of communication between the worlds. Animal sacrifices could be acts of thanksgiving, appeasement, to ensure good health and fertility, or as a means ofdivination. It seems that some animals were offered wholly to the gods (by burying or burning), while some were shared between gods and humans (part eaten and part set aside).[40]
Archaeologists have found evidence of animal sacrifice at some Gaulish and Britishsanctuaries,[41] and at the Irish siteUisneach.[42] Accounts of Celtic animal sacrifice come from Roman and Greek writers.Julius Caesar andStrabo wrote of theGauls burning animal sacrifices in a large wickerwork figure, known as awicker man,[43] whilePliny the Elder wrote ofdruids performing a 'ritual of oak and mistletoe' which involved sacrificing two white bulls.[44]
Some animal sacrifice or ritual slaughter continued among Celtic peoples long after they converted to Christianity. Until the 19th century, onSt. Martin's Day (11 November) in rural Ireland a rooster, goose or sheep would be slaughtered and some of its blood sprinkled on thethreshold of the house. It was offered toSaint Martin,[45] and was eaten as part of a feast.[46] Bull sacrifices at the time of theLughnasa festival were recorded as late as the 18th century atCois Fharraige in Ireland (where they were offered toCrom Dubh) and atLoch Maree in Scotland (where they were offered to SaintMáel Ruba).[47]
Many scholars believe that the Irish andManx tradition of killing, elaborately displaying and burying awren onSaint Stephen's Day is a survival of animal sacrifice (seeWren Day).[48][49][50][51]
Animal sacrifice, orblót, was an important ritual inOld Norse religion. The blood was sprinkled on altars, idols and the walls oftemples. Ablót was made at seasonal festivals as well as at funerals, before battles and perilous journeys, or after the conclusion of business between traders.[52]
In the 11th century,Adam of Bremen wrote that human and animal sacrifices were made at theTemple atGamla Uppsala in Sweden. He wrote that every ninth year, nine men and nine of every animal were sacrificed and their bodies hung in asacred grove.[53]
No moderndenomination practices animal sacrifice.[54] However,Judaism practiced the animal sacrifice until thedestruction of the Second Temple. Aqorban is any of a variety ofsacrificial offerings described and commanded in theTorah. The most common usages are animal sacrifice (zevah זֶבַח),zevah shelamim (thepeace offering) andolah (theburnt offering). Aqorban was an animal sacrifice, such as a bull, sheep, goat, or a dove that underwentshechita (Jewish ritual slaughter). Sacrifices could also consist of grain, meal, wine, or incense.[55][56]
TheHebrew Bible says thatYahweh commanded theIsraelites to offer offerings and sacrifices on various altars. The sacrifices were only to be offered by the hands of the Kohanim. Before building theTemple in Jerusalem, when the Israelites were in thedesert, sacrifices were offered only in theTabernacle. After buildingSolomon's Temple, sacrifices were allowed only there. After the Temple was destroyed, sacrifices was resumed when theSecond Temple was built until it was also destroyed in 70 CE. After the destruction of the Second Temple sacrifices were prohibited because there was no longer a Temple, the only place allowed byhalakha for sacrifices. Offering of sacrifices was briefly reinstated during theJewish–Roman wars of the second century CE and was continued in certain communities thereafter.[54][55][57]
TheSamaritans, a group historically related to the Jews, practice animal sacrifice in accordance with theLaw of Moses.[58]
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Christianity has long opposed all forms of animal sacrifice, and the practice's "very possibility ... has been generally rejected as unreasonable and hostile to Christian theology".[59] Most Christian denominations believe that the sacrificial death ofJesus Christ permanently abolished animal sacrifice, primarily based on the teaching in theEpistle to the Hebrews that Jesus was the "Lamb of God" to whom all ancient sacrifices pointed.[60] Most Christians believe that the "bloodless" sacrifice of theEucharist, or Lord's Supper, entirely replaces theOld Testament system of sacrifices.[59] Consequently, animal sacrifice is rarely practiced in Christianity.
Some villages in Greece sacrifice animals to Orthodox saints in a practice known askourbania. Sacrifice of a lamb, or less commonly a rooster, is a common practice inArmenian Church,[10] and theTewahedo Church ofEthiopia andEritrea. This tradition, calledmatagh, is believed to stem from pre-Christian pagan rituals. Additionally, some Mayans following a form ofFolk Catholicism in Mexico today still sacrifice animals in conjunction with church practices, a ritual practiced in past religions before the arrival of the Spaniards.[61]
Muslims engaged in theHajj (pilgrimage) are obliged to sacrifice a lamb or a goat or join others in sacrificing a cow or a camel during the celebration of theEid al-Adha,[62][63] an Arabic term that means "Feast of Sacrifice", also known asal-Id al-Kabir (Great Feast), orQurban Bayrami (Sacrifice Feast) in Turkic influenced cultures,Bakar Id (Goat Feast) in Indian subcontinent andReraya Qurben in Indonesia.[64] Other Muslims not on the Hajj toMecca also participate in this sacrifice wherever they are, on the 10th day of the 12th lunar month in the Islamic calendar.[64] It is understood as a symbolic re-enactment ofAbraham's sacrifice of aram in place of his son. Meat from this occasion is divided into three parts, one part is kept by the sacrificing family for food, the other gifted to friends and family, and the third given to the poor Muslims. The sacrificed animal is a sheep, goat, cow or camel. The feast follows a communal prayer at a mosque or open air.[64][65]
The animal sacrifice during the Hajj is a part of nine step pilgrimage ritual. It is, states Campo, preceded by a statement to intention and body purification, inaugural circumambulation of the Kaaba seven times, running between Marwa and Safa hills, encampment at Mina, standing in Arafat, stoning the three Mina satanic pillars with at least forty nine pebbles. Thereafter, animal sacrifice, and this is followed by farewell circumambulation of the Kaaba.[66][67] The Muslims who are not on Hajj also perform a simplified ritual animal sacrifice. According to Campo, the animal sacrifice at the annual Islamic festival has origins in western Arabia in vogue before Islam.[66] The animal sacrifice, states Philip Stewart, is not required by the Quran, but is based on interpretations of other Islamic texts.[68]
The Eid al-Adha is major annual festival of animal sacrifice in Islam. InIndonesia alone, for example, some 800,000 animals were sacrificed in 2014 by its Muslims on the festival, but the number can be a bit lower or higher depending on the economic conditions.[69] According to Lesley Hazleton, inTurkey about 2,500,000 sheep, cows and goats are sacrificed each year to observe the Islamic festival of animal sacrifice, with a part of the sacrificed animal given to the needy who did not sacrifice an animal.[70] According toThe Independent, nearly 10,000,000 animals are sacrificed inPakistan every year on Eid.[71][72] Countries such asSaudi Arabia transport nearly a million animals every year for sacrifice to Mina (near Mecca). The sacrificed animals at Id al-Adha, states Clarke Brooke, include the four species considered lawful for the Hajj sacrifice: sheep, goats, camels and cattle, and additionally, cow-like animals initialing the water buffalo, domesticated banteng and yaks. Many are brought in from north Africa and parts of Asia.[73]
Other occasions when Muslims perform animal sacrifice include the 'aqiqa, when a child is seven days old, is shaved and given a name. It is believed that the animal sacrifice binds the child to Islam and offers protection to the child from evil.[67]
Killing of animals bydhabihah is ritual slaughter rather than sacrifice.[citation needed]
Practices ofHindu animal sacrifice are mostly associated withShaktism,Shaiva Agamas and in currents offolk Hinduism calledKulamarga strongly rooted in local tribal traditions. Animal sacrifices were carried out in ancient times in India. MostPuranas and other scriptures forbid animal sacrifice[74][75][76][77] though theupapurana,Kalika Purana, describes it in detail.[citation needed]
Animal sacrifices are performed mainly at temples following theShakti school ofHinduism where the female nature ofBrahman is worshipped in the form ofKali andDurga. These traditions are followed in parts of eastern states of India atHindu temples inAssam andWest Bengal India andNepal wheregoats,chickens and sometimeswater buffalos are sacrificed.
Animal sacrifice is a part of Durga puja celebrations during the Navratri in eastern states of India. The goddess is offered sacrificial animal in this ritual in the belief that it stimulates her violent vengeance against the buffalo demon.[79] According toChristopher Fuller, the animal sacrifice practice is rare among Hindus during Navratri, or at other times, outside theShaktism tradition found in the eastern Indian states of West Bengal, Odisha[80] and Assam. Further, even in these states, the festival season is one where significant animal sacrifices are observed.[79] In some Shakta Hindu communities, the slaying of buffalo demon and victory of Durga is observed with a symbolic sacrifice instead of animal sacrifice.[81][82][note 1]
Animal sacrificeen masse occurs during the three-day-longGadhimai festival in Nepal. In 2009 it was speculated that more than 250,000 animals were killed[85] while 5 million devotees attended the festival.[86] However, this practise was later banned in 2015.[87][88][89]
TheRajputs ofRajasthan worship their weapons and horses onNavaratri, and formerly offered a sacrifice of a goat to a goddess revered askuladevi – a practice that continues in some places.[90][91] The ritual requires slaying of the animal with a single stroke. In the past this ritual was considered a rite of passage into manhood and readiness as a warrior.[92] The kuladevi among these Rajput communities is a warrior-pativrata guardian goddess, with local legends tracing reverence for her during Rajput-Muslim wars.[93]
The tradition of animal sacrifice is being substituted with vegetarian offerings to the goddess in temples and households aroundVaranasi in Northern India.[94]
In somesacred groves of India, particularly in westernMaharashtra, animal sacrifice is practiced to pacify female deities that are supposed to rule the groves.[95]
In India, ritual of animal sacrifice is practised in many villages before local deities or certain powerful and terrifying forms of theDevi. In this form of worship, animals, usually goats, are decapitated and the blood is offered to deity often by smearing some of it on a post outside the temple.[96] For instance,Kandhen Budhi is the reigning deity of Kantamal in Boudh district of Orissa, India. Every year, animals like goat and fowl are sacrificed before the deity on the occasion of her annualYatra/Jatra (festival) held in the month ofAswina (September–October). The main attraction ofKandhen Budhi Yatra isGhusuri Puja.Ghusuri means a child pig, which is sacrificed to the goddess every three years. Kandhen Budhi is also worshipped at Lather village under Mohangiri GP in Kalahandi district of Orissa, India.[97] (Pasayat, 2009:20–24).[full citation needed]
The religious belief ofTabuh Rah, a form of animal sacrifice ofBalinese Hinduism includes a religiouscockfight where a rooster is used in religious custom by allowing him to fight against another rooster in a religious and spiritual cockfight, a spiritual appeasement exercise ofTabuh Rah.[98] The spilling of blood is necessary as purification to appease the evil spirits, and ritual fights follow an ancient and complex ritual as set out in the sacredlontar manuscripts.[99]
Human sacrifice is also mentioned in Hinduism in theKalika Purana.[100] Chapters 67 through 78 of the text constitute the Rudhiradhyaya, which discusses bali (animal sacrifice) and of Vamacara Tantrism. The Rudhiradhyaya section is notable for its uncommon discussion ofhuman sacrifice. The text states that a human sacrifice may be performed to please the goddess, but only with the consent of prince before a war or cases of imminent danger.[citation needed] However, it was not until 2014 that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) started collecting data on human sacrifice. According to the bureau, there were 51 cases of human sacrifice spread across 14 states between 2014 and 2016.[100] An alleged case of human sacrifice was recorded as late as 2020.[101]
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DuringShang andZhou dynasties, the nobles used to practice a complicated and hierarchical sacrificial system as part oftraditional Chinese religion. Theoretically, only thehigh king could sacrifice directly toHeaven and Earth, sacrifice at theFive Sacred Mountains includingMount Tai, or sacrifice to his ancestors with theNine Tripod Cauldrons. TheDukes sacrificed at thealtar of land and grain and to spirits of the various major parts of the landscape in their territory and at theirfamily temples. Commoners did not have personal or communal temples but sacrificedto their father, grandfather, or other important ancestors at home.
Under the Shang, members of the royalty and nobility would sacrificepeople,horses, cattle (particularly oxen), goats and sheep, pigs and boars, dogs, and other livestock for different purposes[102] and at different times of year.
By thelate Zhou, nearly everyschool of Chinese thought opposed human sacrifice, putting more emphasis on specific or grander forms of animal sacrifice for important rituals. TheConfucian classics theRites and theEtiquette and Ceremonial—notionally recording the earliest Zhou rites in honor ofHeaven but only surviving in much later editions—record how the era viewed proper ritual. The names of the offering scales from honorable to low wereTailao (太牢, "Supreme Victims"),Shaolao (少牢, "Lesser Victims"),Tesheng (特牲),Teshi (特豕),Tetun (特豚),Yu (魚, "fish"),La (臘),Dou (豆, "beans"), and other offerings. Similar to theRomansuovetaurilia, the highestTailao class—reserved for the king—consisted of offering sets of all of the "Three Sacrificial Beasts": an ox, a sheep, and a pig.[103] Traditionally, the upper nobility were limited to offering only a sheep and pig during their rites, while minor officials were restricted to offering only a pig.[103] Animals offered for sacrifice were required to be whole, healthy, and of uniform color.[103] Commoners were notionally restricted to offering grains and crops.[103] One ofConfucius's few official posts was overseer ofLu's state cattle[104] (including those used for sacrifice) and many of his specific complaints about the societal disorder of his time related to the gradual encroachments on these traditions and privileges, particularlyFeng and Shan sacrifices performed atMount Tai by the ambitiousdukes of Qi andLu. Such usurpation of established rituals was a visible manifestation of the collapse of the Zhou and the various dukes' proclamations of their own royal status. Large-scale sacrifice also accompanied many royal and noble funerals, as with the great horse pit inZibo,Shandong. Commoners themselves gradually began to use more animals in their worship, including chickens, fish, and pigs.[103]
State support forConfucianism under theHan was so pronounced that it finally permitted the nobility and commoners to perform theTailou, provided that it was offered during formal rites inConfucius's honor. However, the rise ofChinese Buddhism during the Han,Three Kingdoms, andJin spreadits opposition to all forms of killing. In time,Taoism also greatly restricted its use of animal sacrifice as well.[105][106][107] Annual sacrifices at theTemple of Heaven in thecapital, however, remained one of the primary signifiers of imperial status up toYuan Shikai's abortive attempt to found a new dynasty after the fall of theQing.
Some animal offerings, such as fowl, pigs, goats, fish, or other livestock, are accepted in some Taoism sects and beliefs inChinese folk religion. The offerings would be placed at the altar or the temple after being slaughtered. The amount sacrificed is up to the worshippers, who can eat all of the offerings after the rite. In folk religion some regions believe that high-status deities prefer vegetarian food more, while ghosts, low-status gods, and other unknown supernatural spirits like meat. Therefore, whole pigs, whole goats, whole chickens, and whole ducks will be sacrificed during theGhost Festival. Some vegetarian believers make dummy pigs or dummy goats from vegetarian food like bread or rice for sacrifice.[108][109][110]
OnTaiwan,Tailao is still practiced but now only in ceremoniesvenerating theYellow Emperor orConfucius.[111] InKaohsiung, however, animal sacrifices are banned at its Taoist temples.[112]
Before Buddhism came to Japan, someShinto festivals included bear, deer, horse, andgreen pheasant sacrifice.[citation needed]Iomante (イオマンテ), sometimes written as Iyomante (イヨマンテ), is an Ainu ceremony in which a brown bear is sacrificed.
Animal sacrifice is regularly practiced intraditional African andAfro-American religions.[113][114]
TheU.S. Supreme Court's 1993 decisionChurch of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah upheld the right ofSantería adherents to practice ritual animal sacrifice in the United States of America.Likewise in Texas in 2009, legal andreligious issues that related to animal sacrifice,animal rights andfreedom of religion were taken to the5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case ofJose Merced, President Templo Yoruba Omo Orisha Texas, Inc., v. City of Euless. The court ruling that the Merced case of the freedom of exercise ofreligion was meritorious and prevailing and that Merced was entitled under the Texas Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (TRFRA) to an injunction preventing the city ofEuless, Texas from enforcing its ordinances that burdened hisreligious practices relating to the use of animals[115] (see Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 110.005(a)(2)).
Atayal,Seediq andTaroko people believe that bad-luck or punishments of 'Utux', which refers to any kind ofsupernatural spirits or ancestors, would infect the relatives. When a member in relatives has violated a taboo or met with misfortune, a ritual will be held. It must be done in the ritual to sacrifice a pig, which means the misfortune and sin would be washed away by the blood, and apologize to the Utux with gift.[116]
The custom of hunting and killing the wren is undoubtedly related to practices of animal sacrifice of pre-Christian origin
However, there is much to suggest that the Wren Hunt was sacrificial. The bird was reverenced but killed at one season only, the feathers were regarded as talismans, the body was sometimes buried with respect, the chief human actor was regarded as in some sense a king, and the bird itself was given a royal title.
it is usually accepted that the wren-king is likely to be a form of symbolism or substitution for the human sacrificial victim.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)As we have learned above, Shang dynasty sacrifice consisted in humans and animals and, to a lesser extent, wine and food (millet), and sometimes, as practiced later in Japan, tools, weapons and clothing. Sacrificial animals included dogs (traditionally interpreted as guides for the spirits, to help them during their hunts), and also sheep, oxen and pigs.
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)....高祖十二年（前195年）十二月，漢高祖劉邦平定英布之亂後，於返京途中，路過曲阜孔廟，漢高祖以全牛、全豬、全羊之太牢重禮祭孔廟，為後世立下天子祭孔典範。
在部落中有一種力量，就如泰雅的gaga一樣，太魯閣叫做gaya。Gaya是家與部落的中心，每一個成員都必須嚴格遵守的，否則一人違規全家或全部落都會遭殃的。 這種力量像是一種規訓，如果不遵守就會觸犯禁忌、受到祖先的懲罰，這時必須殺豬來解除。其內容各gaya間會略有不同，但大抵來說都是道德上的訓誡，如不可口出穢言、要參與部落活動等等。
