What
is a sacrifice? Why a living sacrifice? Why human? Examples
Pre-Columbian and early Columbian Mexico.
The
Aztec Priest cuts open the chest of the human sacrifice with such skill and
speed as to hold the heart still beating up to the cheering crowd. This sacrifice is made every morning to
insure that the sun will continue to rise that morning. The mother of the young man who was sacrificed
is in the crowd. She is proud of him.
Several
tribes of Indians in Mexico are said to eat a human sacrifice (of their own
people) just before a battle. Rumor also
has it that those who do are never defeated.
Pre British India:
A
Maharajah dies. One of his wives is
required to join him on the funeral pyre, to accompany him.
Mediterranean Area
Ancient Ur, Biblical home of the family of
Abraham: A royal member dies. "All of the royal entourage including the palace guard is
apparently buried with him. (Discovered
in the 1930's. scans are now being run on the skeletons).
Carthage: A cemetery is found that is believed to
contain sacrificed children (1 month to 1.5 years).
Ancient Egypt:
It was quite common for the pharaoh's entourage to be buried alive with him to help Pharaoh get to wherever he was
going and be with Pharaoh when he got there.
Homer's Troy: Human sacrifices were eaten by the Greeks just
before a battle.
Palestine, Iraqis: There are so many suicide bombers today that they
don't even make the news
anymore. Some of these are no doubt
politically begun, but terrorist backers remind perpetrators that it is for Islam.
North America
Lakota (Sioux): War prisoners are sometimes
tortured to death. They are otherwise
treated as honored guests. The prisoners have been trained by their own
people since birth toward this possibility.
9/11, New York and Washington, DC: Islamic Terrorists Commandeer 3 US commercial
aircraft and crash them into the two
Trade Center buildings in the New York financial center killing approximately 3000 people (others
narrowly escaped) and crashed another aircraft into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. A third was hi-jacked and beginning to head
somewhere else when it
crashed in Pennsylvania. Investigation
has shown that these actions were religiously inspired.
This represents
only a minute few of an uncountable many human sacrifices today and throughout
history. What is a sacrifice? Why a living sacrifice? Why human?
It is often hard for American society today, which views itself as "civilized", to understand the mindset of a group of people past and present that they have never met. What Americans would deem murder, the Mexica (Aztecs) viewed this as a tribute to their deities and providers. What Americans view as suicide, several of the Islamic faith would deem giving their full devotion to the cause of Allah.
ReplyDeleteThus far I enjoy your information, I cannot wait to see what you have in store for us throughout the semester.
Thanks for your encouraging response. Any suggestions are welcomed.
DeleteThe materials available on this subject are almost overwhelming. I'm looking forward to it too.
Some day I'll have to peruse the term civilized that you used. It might have an array of hidden meanings that would be strange to us.
The "civilized" French who arrived in Canada found the primitive aborigines to have a much better birth survival rate in what is now called Canada, than they did in Paris.
A number of interesting posts. Before you get into specifics, your first post should explain your topic and your specific research question. Get a post down that does those things. Also, stream of consciousness is okay for some posts, but it helps your readers understand what you're trying to convey if you contextualize and explain the examples that you're presenting. Work on that.
ReplyDeleteDr. H.