A history of human sacrifice cannibalism
A history of human sacrifice cannibalism
by Rit Nosotro
Change Over Time essay
Human sacrifice and cannibalism have appeared in many forms throughout the course of history. From elaborate rituals to satisfy bloodthirsty gods to simply sealing children into the foundations of buildings to protect the structures from the elements, the various forms of sacrifice share only one common characteristic - death. Though uncommon today, it is still practiced in some remote parts of Asia. Prior to the twentieth century, cannibalism was fairly common among certain Australian tribes; however, they did not make human sacrifices, but only ate those who died in battle or of old age.
In Asia, human sacrifices are made to the ?'mother' goddess Kali. She was, according to Hindu mythology, a violent slayer of evil with an unquenchable thirst for blood. In the nineteenth century, a child was killed every day at the Kali temple in Calcutta. The reason for these sacrifices was the idea that Kali would send riches to the poor, children to the childless, and revenge to the oppressed, if they provided her with blood. For instance, if a couple had one child, but wanted many more, they might sacrifice the first child to Kali, and she would send more to replace him. In order to have Kali send as much blessing as she possibly could, it was necessary to have a willing victim who knew what was going to happen and would not hinder it in any way. This practice and others, such as burning a widow in the cremation fires of her dead husband, were put to an end by Christian governors while India was under British rule.
Today, because of laws prohibiting the sacrifice of humans, the number of human sacrifices in Asia is unknown, but is still reported almost monthly. Substitutes, including pumpkins, human images made of flour, and various animals, are sacrificed more frequently. The reasons for these sacrifices, whether human or otherwise, are similar to those two hundred years ago - they are made for the sake of riches, marriages, or power.
In Australia, cannibalism was mostly practiced to gain the powers of the particular person who was being eaten. Some tribes ate their enemies only, some their own people, and some both. When tribes ate their enemies, they only ate certain body parts, such as the brain, heart, legs, sweat, and/or tongue. The brain was eaten for knowledge, the heart for courage and power, the legs were only eaten in the case of swift runners, for speed, and the sweat and tongue were consumed for bravery. When tribes ate their own people, family members would eat small portions of fat from their dead relative as a sign of respect. Only people of worth were eaten. People who died of disease or were very elderly were not eaten in some tribes. In some cases, infants were killed and eaten because of food shortages. A family with two children might kill the younger and feed its muscles to the elder to make him stronger. The reason for nearly all of the cannibalism was similar to this: if a man ate another man, he would gain the virtues which the dead man had had; in particular, those thought to originate in the part eaten. There seems to be little, if any, evidence of cannibalism in Australia today.
Human sacrifice in Europe was mainly performed to protect buildings from weather, war, or the devil. The victims were usually illegitimate children bought from their mother for the purpose. These children were sealed into compartments in the walls or foundations of buildings or cities. Supposedly, the spirit of the dead child would protect the building. In other places, a virgin was sacrificed annually to a nearby lake so that it would not flood the city. Apparently there was another city where a virgin was interred in the wall each year to keep the lake from swallowing the city.
The Aztecs were perhaps the most famous for taking human captives for sacrifice to their gods and then eating the corpse. It was this that so appalled the Christians traveling with Cortez and gave them the confidence that God's justice was being carried out through the small pox that wiped out that civilization.
The religion of Moctezuma and his Aztecs believed that the gods were fearful, bloodthirsty beings that were to be appeased with human sacrifices. The greatest honor that a warrior could have was to die in battle or to volunteer himself as a sacrifice to the gods in a religious ceremony. The primary reason that wars were fought were to expaned control and more importantly to acquire prisoners to offer as sacrifices. Although an Aztec's heavy razor-sharp, obsideon-edged clubs could take off the head of a horse with a single blow, the warriors mainly fought to maime and capture alive sacrificial victims. To sacrifice a prisoner involved five priests. Four of whom would each take an arm or leg of the victim and would bend their prisoner over backward on a pyramid shaped rock that stood about waist high in such a way that when the fifth priest thrust an obsideon knife on the prisoner's chest it would easily split open. A Dominican Friar who once watched a sacrifice described it in his book, Book of the Gods and Rites and Ancient Calendar, that "The chest would split open as easily as a pomegranate." The priest would then reach into the chest and tear out the heart with his bare hands and hold the "fuming, steaming heart up to the sky" as an offering to their gods. The priest would take the blood of those who had been sacrificed and sprinkle it on lumps of dough, which was then distributed to the people who ate it while claiming that it was the and that they were not worthy of the honor of eating the flesh of the gods. The corpses were thrown down the steps of the temple where they would be cannibalized by warriors in order to increase their strength for the next conquest. The skulls were returned to displayed on a rack at the temple by the priests.
Cannibalism has always been contrary to the law God has written on our hearts. 2 Kings 6:24-30 reports the disgust of the King of Israel:
And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up and besieged Samaria. And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver. Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, "Help, my lord, O king!"
And he said, "If the LORD does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?"
Then the king said to her, "What is troubling you?"
And she answered, "This woman said to me, "Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.' So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, "Give your son, that we may eat him'; but she has hidden her son."
Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes; and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked, and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body.
Jesus spoke words that divided the spiritually discerning from those with baser minds. (John 6:53-56), "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him." Many turned away in disgust thinking Jesus was speaking literally. Roman Catholicism still teaches Jesus was speaking literally and they hold to the doctrine of "transubstantiation".
Neither human sacrifice nor cannibalism is widely practiced today. In most countries there are laws against human sacrifice, which is, in fact, simply ritual murder and is punished accordingly. Cannibalism is so evidently disgusting that there are rarely laws against it. Because of this oversight, the German high court was faced with trying a man (in 2004) who killed a willing victim through legal euthanasia and consumed him. Did he break a law even though it was not written on man's books?
Sources:
Ashliman, D. L. ?'Human Sacrifice in Mythology and Legends.' October 25, 2003.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/sacrifice.html#panzer
TIMEasia.com October 24, 2003
http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/article/0,13673,501020729-322673,00.html
The Heretical Press. October 25, 2003
http://www.heretical.com/cannibal/australi.html
Cannibalism in the Bible. January 5, 2004
http://www.rationalchristianity.net/cannibal.html
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