I don’t think you were. And it gives me a chance to elaborate.
I was painting with a bit of a broad brush there. I am from Massachusetts, and while I personally don’t mind being associated with laws permitting same sex marriage, or with Boston drivers and pedestrians, I know that not everyone in this state feels the same way. I didn’t mean my post as a general criticism of Kansas and its citizens. I certainly didn’t mean to imply that everyone from Kansas felt this way, or that everyone who felt this way came from Kansas.
I am * concerned, however, about the general batshit, rabid, regressive, idiotic, illogical, self-righteous, condescending, so-called piety in this country that masquerades as religious devotion. Hey! Nice idea for a Halloween costume!
But dont forget the fun of seeing the computer nerd in your office building dressing up as a star trek/star wars/babylon geek every year. If worshiping Satan means I get to see that every year…where do I sign in blood?
I think the last official Roman sacrafice was in 105 B.C.E. They burried a Greek man and woman and a Gallic man and woman in the Forum to precent another Gallic sacking of the city.
As I understand it, the Roman objection to human sacrifice by the Celts was that they used it for divination. Romans believed that divination, as done by a Haruspice, was properly performed with certain specific animals.
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As I understand it, the Roman objection to human sacrifice by the Celts was that they used it for divination.
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And the people so sacrificed IIRC were not exactly upstanding citizens any way, but convicted criminals. I’d be interested to know what proportion of the Halloween-is-evil crowd is pro-death penalty. I think we might be able to strike a bargain…
You misunderstand. The Romans objected to Celtic human sacrifice because often Romans were the humans being sacrificed. I know I’d object to being sacrificed.
I imagine the Celts objected somewhat to Rome’s invading legions. I know I would.
Incidentally, does anyone have a cite for Caesar mentioning any specific Celtic holiday when discussing their penchant for human sacrifice? I’d look it up myself, but my Gallic Wars is buried in the basement somewhere.
Caesar’s remark about “sacrifices of that kind ordained for national purposes” sounds as though it might indeed refer to ones associated with fixed seasonal rituals or holidays. But I didn’t spot any actual reference to such an “ordained” event.
Of course! I read Isaac Asimov’s short story about it! (It’s in one of his Tales of the Black Widowers collections. I’ll see if I can find the name of the specific story.)
You’d think I didn’t know how to pronounce “Mhairi” either. I swear it’s the preceding vowel that undid me.
And almost the last thing I saw before I left the house this morning was see a spot of Scooby-Doo in which (hah!) Velma was waxing all earnest about misunderstood 17th-century Wiccans. :rolleyes:
No cite, but rather inference from two facts. First that the Romans were not at all squeamish about bloodshed. (Heck, they used to watch people get killed for entertainment.) Secondly that the Celts and Germans would sacrifice prisoners, and in the case of prisoners of war, they would have been Romans.
