8
votes
Accepted
Are there any old religions/mythologies where people would get tattood to get closer to or for their god?
The Maori and their tattoos, the Ta Moko and Kiri Tuhi
I'll start by saying that the Ta Moko is well represented of course in the Maori folklore and traditions.
For the mythology:
The legend of ...
- 615
8
votes
Accepted
What kind of offerings did worshipers make to Thor?
Blood and poetry.
Before I go any deeper, I want to clear up a misconception: Thor is not really a god of thunder. Yes, he does generate it, but his main function is as guardian against the forces of ...
- 6,037
6
votes
Why thank the person who is cutting out your heart?
This falls under the idea that it is an honor to be a sacrifice for the gods.
On film that may be worth looking at is Pasolini's 1969 film Medea. The film opens with Medea's royal family sacrificing ...
- 14.2k
5
votes
Accepted
How would a body be prepared for the Greek afterlife?
The Greeks believed that at the moment of death the psyche, or spirit of the dead, left the body as a little breath or puff of wind. The deceased was then prepared for burial according to the time-...
- 415
3
votes
Accepted
Why do we dress up to celebrate Halloween?
On the Wikipedia page for Halloween Costumes it says:
An early reference to wearing costumes at Halloween comes from Scotland in 1585.
Looking at the external links on the page I found something ...
- 1,273
3
votes
Accepted
What would a Roman want to achieve with writing inscriptions and magical signs on bronze nails?
I suggest you take a look at Nails for the dead: a polysemic account of an ancient funerary practice by Silvia Alfayé. The paper focuses on the use of nails in Roman funerary practices, but in section ...
- 2,073
3
votes
Accepted
Which ancient cults would cut out the hearts of live animals and offer them as sacrifices?
Out of interest of spreading information, I'm copying here the answer I wrote yesterday to this question on Judaism.SE, with a few alterations:
A possible answer:
Maimonides on the mishnah states that ...
- 984
2
votes
Why does Eumaeus singles out the nymphs and Hermes in his offerings?
The nymphs are rustic divinities, associated with fertility. So is Hermes - though in a more phallic, masculine sense. It is possible and often theorised that their lust and relations had a similar ...
- 161
2
votes
Is there any mention of human sacrifice in the mythologies of Britain of the period before advent of Christianity?
Yes, we have two main sources from the Early Roman Occupation era:
Strabo, Geographies (64-21 BCE):
The Romans put a stop both to these customs and to the ones connected
with sacrifice and ...
- 5,388
1
vote
How did the Norse ship burial ritual originate from?
Kurgan Culture
Kurgans are large burial mounds that originated in Pontic steppe around 6000 BC.
The horse was domesticated in the Pontic-Caspian steppe around 3500 BC, and the chariot was likely ...
- 176
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