Newsgroups: alt.satanism,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.pagan,talk.religion.misc Path: shell.portal.com!svc.portal.com!decwrl!lll-winken.llnl.gov!venus.sun.com!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!in1.uu.net!eskimo!omaha From: Omaha Sternberg (omaha@eskimo.com) Subject: Re: Animal Sacrifice X-Nntp-Posting-Host: eskimo.com Message-ID: Originator: omaha@eskimo.com Sender: usenet@eskimo.com (News User Id) Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever References: <3lqlcl$73o@server.elysian.net> Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 06:55:38 GMT Lines: 30 Xref: shell.portal.com alt.satanism:16886 alt.magick.tyagi:2718 alt.pagan:97660 talk.religion.misc:155282 In article <3lqlcl$73o@server.elysian.net> silveroak@server.elysian.net (Ray Cochener) writes: > I have wondered, in some cases an animal sacrifice is refere to >with a feast afterwards, with the best parts of the animal being offered >as the burnt sacrifice. Since most ancient cultures considered meat the >best food available, would this count as animal sacrifice, or simply >sacrifice of food. I supose the reason for the imediate killing could be >that they wanted to sacrifice it fresh... or it could have been the life >and the meat. Any references, ideas...? > Should we start burning vegie pizzas? In Greco-Roman society, an animal was sacrificed, it's insides, usually the liver, was inspected by priests for divination purposes, then the liver and other organs which were edible were eaten by the priests while the rest was eaten by the spectators as the sacrificial meal. Other cultures had many of the same aspects to their sacrifice. A blood sacrifice was considered important for two reasons. First, it showed the worshippers devotion to the god being offered to that he/she was willing to sacrifice an expensive offering. Secondly, the life force of the animal was one of the things, sometimes the only thing, that was being offered to the god, while the rest of the animal was eaten after any special ritual involved. Omaha Omaha Sternberg (omaha@eskimo.com)