What civilizations practiced human sacrifice?

[Miss_Purl_McKnittington]

@Captain Amazing

The Celts apparently did. At one point, the Romans did.

Did the Celts really practice human sacrifice? I was under the impression that the only cites supporting this were not entirely trustworthy accounts written by Romans. Does anybody have any cites that expand on it more than the Wikipedia article? Does it get more definitive than the Lindow Man?

[dotchan]

Well, if myths are any indication of human behavior, most cultures have stories where the hero saves some guy’s daughter from being offered to the local mountain/river/whatever god. (And, of course, it’s always the less “civilized” cultures that have such a practice, especially if there’s some sort of scam going on.)

I also seem to remember some guy’s theory that human sacrifice was a crude form of population control, but I can’t find a cite at this moment.

[WhyNot]

@Balance

I’m hardly an authority, but I would not classify Santeria or Voudoun as “neopagan”, and certainly not as Wiccan. (I’m not familiar with Ifa, so I can make no assessment of it.) Santeria and Voudoun are syncretist religions that had established traditions well before the modern neopagan movement began. Neopagan religions are generally considered modern religions formed as a deliberate reconstruction of pre-Christian beliefs and practices of various societies.

I have also never heard of a practitioner of Santeria or Voudoun referred to as a “witch”, except perhaps as a derogatory term applied by someone who did not share their faith.

Yeah, that’s why I left it sort of iffy. You’re right, absolutely. OTOH, you will often finds groups of them at neopagan festivals, and they’re often included in scholarly works on neopaganism as a cultural and political movement. Going by the widest definition of neopaganism, they are polytheistic nature worshipers who believe in the powers of certain people to produce physical results as the result of sympathetic magic.

There’s loud and longstanding debate on the question of “Are Santeria, Voudoun, Ifa and other African based religions part of neopaganism in the US?” Culturally, in that they tend to hang out with us socially and share many of the same political and ecological concerns, I’d have to say yes. Philisophically - maybe. And historically, probably not until very recently (it’s not uncommon for ecclectic pagans to make offerings of rum or candies, or to thump their car tops when passing a cop in recognition of Echu.)

I’ve known quite a few Ifa practitioners who referred to themselves as “witches”. Perhaps it’s a regional thing. Ask your average Muggle if a voodoo, babalawo, or santeras is a “witch” or “witch-doctor”, you’re likely to get an affirmative, which is what prompted my clarification of Derleth’s point. Animal sacrifice, while not what the OP asked about, is indeed still performed by thousands of people in the Americas as part of their religious rites.