Granted, some might question their level of sacrifice, but that is neither here nor there. I know the Aztecs did (or am I thinking Maya? I can never know between them, and the Incas and the Aztecs). Also apparently the Hawaiians did. Who else?
err I meant their level of civilization. S’what I get trying to be clever with a cold.
Aztecs did, and you can read all about it in the workd of anthropologists Michael Harner and Marvin Harris (In the latter’s case, in Cannibals and Kings and Good to Eat). I think Harris mentions some others – the two of them are of the opinion that humans provided a good protein source for societies that lacked large domesticated animals or huntable animals. But that brief description doesn’t do it justice. I don’t recall if they extended it to the Maya as well.
IIRC, some of the neighbors of the Israelites were supposed to indulge in it, and the Carthaginians. Some see in myths like that of Idomeneus and Iphigenia memories of child sacrifice in Greece. (And maybe the stories of Isaac and Jephthah’s daughter point to the same among the Hebrews) Ocvcasional human sacrifice has been alleged elsewhere. Joseph Campbell cites examples from sub–Saharan Africa, but I’m skeptical.
The Celts apparently did. At one point, the Romans did.
And the pagan Norse.
The Aztecs (highlands of Mexico, Mexico City) tore out the hearts of victims to offer to the gods. They were said to make wars for the purpose of getting enough victims.
The Mayas (limestone region of Central America, the Yucatan peninsula, etc) did one thing I heard of in class at college: they would drop someone into the cenotes, which were deep pools in the limestone, with the water far enough down to make it not feasible to escape.
If he survived 24 hours, they were fished out and asked what messages there were from the gods. I could think up a message or two in 24 hours.
They were said to sacrifice virgins also, but take this with a grain of salt, as virginity was hang-up of the Spanish who are the source of this story. I’ve heard they did sacrifice weeping children to make it rain.
The Incas were the empire in the Andes in South America, dunno of they had human sacrifice.
Very true. Vestiges of human-sacrifice remained in the Roman religion well into the Empire, e.g the ritualized tossing of puppets (Argei) by the Vestal Virgins from the Suplician bridge on May 14th.
Some scholars argue that–given the religious character of much early Roman law–capital punishment was often justified as a way of propitiating the gods. The well-known penalty for Vestal Virgins who broke their vow (buried alive) is the most obvious example, one that could be seen as a kind of human sacrifice. However this might not strictly apply if you define “human sacrifice” as the ritualized killing of an innocent solely to fulfill a reliious obligation
Nevertheless, the practice was formally prohibited in Rome by Senatorial decree in the early 1st century BC. Despite the Romans’ general tendency to tolerate the religious practices of conquered peoples, human sacrifice was always forbidden by proconsuls as an unacceptable barbarism. I guess it would be supremely ironic if the penalty for defying the ban were death…
Many of the Inca mummies found up in the mountains are thought to have been sacrifices.
Do you mean which cultures or which civilizations? Depending on how you define “civilization”, you might not include the Hawaiians.
Ancient Phoenicians/Carthaginians apparently also practiced child sacrifice for at least one of their gods.
- Tamerlane
Human sacrifice isn’t as clear cut as one would hope it’d be. Does executing captured soilders count? How about criminal cults like the thuggees? Honor killings? Almost every culture kills people at some point, and many of them put some sort of relgious spin on it. It’s hard to divide cultures in to “do not perform human sacrifice” and “does”
Also the wikipedia entry on human sacrifice is excellent and informative.
Until the British prohibited it (and allegations or reports of the practice in defiance of laws banning it have been reported as recently as 1988 - see the Wiki article below) widows of certain castes in India were burned alive along with their husbands’ bodies until quite recent times. It was alleged to be voluntary, and was called suttee or sati. Wikipedia presents a more complete summary. People have different opinions of it, but this is one traditional practice that totally freaks me out.
I can understand the Hindu attitude toward death in general; they believe in reincarnation, and that gives a totally different perspective on how they view all kinds of deaths from how we westerners do. This is the only one that I simply can’t handle. I have had a number of Hindu acquaintances, and one ongoing friendship, and I find Hindus to be some of the most civilized people (pun quite intentional; just think of how long the people of India have lived in cities) in just about every other way. I’m just glad that sati is disavowed by the vast (probably overwhelming) majority today.
Some other references:
near end of page, in reference to Ram Mohan Roy
A second-hand story of a 1954 suttee
information near middle; another tribute to Ram Mohan Roy
The Mewar Encyclopaedia; look under sati
excerpt from a scholarly paper on the Johns Hopkins University site; alas, no access except through academic libraries
Bali the Sacrifice of Widows Caution: contains many OCR typos; info near end
an excellent precis of the history of this revolting practice, by an artist
I found references to student essays on multiple term paper sites. More disturbingly, I found a (broken) link to a discussion mentioning it, apparently published on the Pakistan News Service site; apparently a forum with the title, Horrendous Hindu Practice-Female Infanticide
It may be that some people will disagree with my calling this human sacrifice. That’s their privilege. :shrug: Even in those cases where the women did it “voluntarily”, I find it merely another terrifying proof of how natural impulses can be overcome by cultural indoctrination.
IIRC (and my source is Mayan guides at Chichen Itza and Tuluum, so perhaps a bit biased), it was the Toltecs (the predecessors of the Aztecs) who brought the bloodier elements to Mayan culture. According to them, it was really the later Mayan-Toltec period that included human sacrifice.
I have read about ones that sacrified to their god, Lucifer, with blood sacrifices. This goes on today with witches. I also read thats what abortion is, too, child sacrifice.
TygerBryte, if you are interested in learning more about sati, I highly recommend Sati: A Study of Widow Burning in India, a multi-faceted look at the Roop Kanwar case and Death by Fire, which gives a good overview of issues surrounding sati, doweries and female infanticide today. Needless to say, it’s a complicated issue without a lot of easy answers. It pays to be as informed as you can. While I’m not saying your wrong, a Pakistani news article (Pakistan being India’s sworn enemy with an element of religious war thrown in) isn’t the best source.
I’m going to argue the Israelites indulges as well. Despite the signifigence usually attibuted to Abraham and Isaac. I give you Judges 11: 30-40
11:30
And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,11:31
Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.11:32
So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD delivered them into his hands.11:33
And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel.11:34
And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.11:35
And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.11:36
And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the children of Ammon.11:37
And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.11:38
And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.11:39
And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed: and she knew no man.And it was a custom in Israel,11:40
That the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.
Seems like there was some concern because she was his only child and he was jipped out of grandchildren, but no particular alarm that a human being was made a burnt offering for God.
Thanks, but I gave up on my research on India when I finally decided I couldn’t do the Ph.D. program I’d intended. The links I posted above were the result of a “quick and dirty” search to provide information for the thread.
Umm, even sven, I make a practice of copying and pasting other posters’ names rather than typing them in. It avoids embarassing or offensive typos. :dubious:
I don’t know of any modern witch/wiccan/neopagan groups who practice any sort of sacrifice, animal or human. It would be very interesting for you to back up that claim with cites from an unbiased source.
And calling abortion ‘child sacrifice’ is an extremely controversial position to take, which is all I’ll say about it in GQ.
betenoir:
If you look at my post, you’ll see that I cite Jephthah’s daughter as well as Isaac.