Animal worship covers religious and ritual practices including the worship of a living animal considered as a deity incarnate, animal sacrifice as well as the respect for the bones of a slain animal. Such practices are very widespread in pre-modern societies, and are also found at the historical core of both Abrahamic religions and Dharmic religions. They hark back to hunting rituals which evolved in paleolithic times, and scholars of religion such as Walter Burkert derive all human religious behaviour such contexts (see hunting hypothesis). Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ... A sheep is led to the altar, 6th century BC Corinthian fresco. ... map showing the prevalence of Abrahamic (purple) and Dharmic (yellow) religions in each country. ... map showing the prevalence of Dharmic (yellow) and Abrahamic (purple) religions in each country. ... A hunt is an activity during which humans or animals chase some prey, such as wild or specially bred animals (traditionally targeted species are known as game), in order to catch or kill them, either for food, sale, or as a form of sport. ... This cranium, of Homo heidelbergensis, a Lower Paleolithic predecessor to Homo neanderthalensis, dates to between 400,000 BCE to 500,000 BCE The Paleolithic is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of stone tools. ... Walter Burkert (born Neuendettelsau (Bavaria), February 2, 1931), the most eminent living scholar of Greek myth and cult, is an emeritus professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland who has also taught in the United Kingdom and the United States. ... The hunting hypothesis is the hypothesis that human evolution was primarily influenced by the activity of hunting, and that the activity of hunting distinguished human ancestors from other primates. ...

Animal cults may be classified in two ways:

• according to their outward form;
• according to their inward meaning, which may of course undergo transformations.

Classification by outward form

There are two broad divisions:

1. all animals of a given species are sacred, perhaps owing to the impossibility of distinguishing the sacred few from the profane crowd;
2. one or a fixed number of a species are sacred. It is probable that the first of these forms is the primary one and the second in most cases a development from it due to
   1. the influence of other individual cults,
   2. anthropomorphic tendencies,
   3. the influence of chieftainship, hereditary and otherwise,
   4. annual sacrifice of the sacred animal and mystical ideas connected therewith,
   5. syncretism, due either to unity of function or to a philosophic unification,
   6. the desire to do honour to the species in the person of one of its members, and possibly other less easily traceable causes.

Classification by inward meaning

Treating cults according to their meaning, which is not necessarily identical with the cause which first led to the deification of the animal in question, we can classify them under ten specific heads:

Pastoral cults

The pastoral type falls into two sub-types, in which the species

1. is spared and
2. sometimes receives special honour at intervals in the person of an individual. (See Cattle, Buffalo, below.)

Hunting cults

In hunting cults the species is habitually killed, but

1. occasionally honoured in the person of a single individual, or
2. each slaughtered animal receives divine honours. (See Bear, below.)

Dangerous or noxious animals

The cult of dangerous animals is due

1. to the fear that the soul of the slain beast may take vengeance on the hunter,
2. to a desire to placate the rest of the species. (See Leopard, below.)

Animals regarded as human souls or their embodiment

Animals are frequently regarded as the abode, temporary or permanent, of the souls of the dead, sometimes as the actual souls of the dead. Respect for them is due to two main reasons:

1. the kinsmen of the dead desire to preserve the goodwill of their dead relatives;
2. they wish at the same time to secure that their kinsmen are not molested and caused to undergo unnecessary suffering. (See Serpent, below.)

Totemistic cults

One of the most widely found modes of showing respect to animals is known as totemism (see totem), but except in decadent forms there is but little positive worship; in Central Australia, however, the rites of the Wollunqua totem group are directed towards placating this mythical animal, and cannot be termed anything but religious ceremonies. A totem is any natural or supernatural object, being or animal which has personal symbolic meaning to an individual and to whose phenomena and energy one feels closely associated with during ones life. ...

In secret societies we find bodies of men grouped together with a single tutelary animal; the individual, in the same way, acquires the nagual or individual totem, sometimes by ceremonies of the nature of the bloodbond.

Cults of tree and vegetation spirits

Spirits of vegetation in ancient and modern Europe and in China are conceived in animal form. (See Goat, below.)

Cults of ominous animals

The ominous animal or bird may develop into a deity. (See Hawk, below.)

Cults, probably derivative, of animals associated with certain deities

It is commonly assumed that the animals associated with certain deities are sacred because the god was originally theriomorphic; this is doubtless the case in certain instances; but Apollo Smintheus, Dionysus Bassareus and other examples seem to show that the god may have been appealed to for help and thus become associated with the animals from whom he protected the crops, and so on.

Cults of animals used in magic

The use of animals in magic may sometimes give rise to a kind of respect for them, but this is of a negative nature. See, however, articles by Preuss in Globus, vol. lxvii., in which he maintains that animals of magical influence are elevated into divinities.

Animal Cults

Bear

Main article: Bear worship

The bear enjoys a large measure of respect from all cultures that come in contact with it, which shows itself in apologies and in festivals in its honour. The most notable ceremonies involving bears are found in East Asia. The Ainu people, who maintain a ceremony called Iomante, are considered to be the only remaining bear cult. This ceremony is not as popular among the Ainu as it once was, but is still practiced in small, private gatherings. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ainu IPA: /ʔáınu/) are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaidō, northern Honshū, the Kuril Islands, much of Sakhalin, and the southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula. ... Iomante ) is the name of an Ainu ceremony. ...

There is a similar festival among the nearby Nivkhs, but here it takes the form of a celebration in honour of a recently dead kinsman, to whom the spirit of the bear is sent. There have been some attempts to revive the practice. The Nivkhs (also Nivkh or Gilyak; ethnonym: Nivxi; language, нивхгу - Nivxgu) are an indigenous people inhabiting the region of the region of the Amur River estuary and on nearby Sakhalin Island. ...

There is a good deal of evidence to connect the Greek goddess Artemis with a cult of the bear. Girls danced as "bears" in her honour, and might not marry before undergoing this ceremony. According to mythology, the goddess once transformed a nymph into a bear and then into the constellation Ursa Major. The Diana of Versailles, a Roman copy of a sculpture by Leochares (Louvre Museum) Artemis (Greek: nominative , genitive ) in Greek mythology the daughter of Zeus and of Leto and the twin sister of Apollo was one of the most widely venerated of the gods and manifestly one of the oldest... In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of female nature entities, either bound to a particular location or landform or joining the retinue of a god or goddess. ... Ursa Major (IPA: ) is a constellation visible throughout the year in most of the northern hemisphere. ...

The bear is traditionally associated with Bern, Switzerland. It is believed that the city's name derives from the Germanic word for "bears" (Bären in German) and a bear is featured on the city's flag and coat of arms. In 1832 a statue of the Celtic bear goddess Artio was dug up there. Location within Switzerland The city of Bern, English traditionally Berne (Bernese German Bärn , German Bern , French Berne , Italian Berna , Romansh Berna ), is the Bundesstadt (administrative capital) of Switzerland, and is the fourth most populous Swiss city (after Zürich, Geneva and Basel). ... Template:Buttface mythology Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism annas hippo butt, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. ... In Celtic mythology, (specifically known from Switzerland), Artio was a goddess of wildlife, specifically the bear, and was worshipped at Berne, which actually means bear. She was often called Artio of Muri. ...

Bison and Cattle

Main article: bull worship

Cattle and bison are respected by many pastoral peoples that rely on the animals for sustenance and the killing of an ox is a sacrificial function. The worship of the Sacred Bull throughout the ancient world is most familiar in the episode of the idol of the Golden Calf made by Aaron and worshipped by the Hebrews in the wilderness of Sinai (Exodus). ...

The Toda of southern India abstain from the flesh of their domestic animal, the buffalo. However, once a year they sacrifice a bull calf, which is eaten in the forest by the adult males. The buffalo plays an important part in many Toda rituals. These buffalo are currently endangered. The Toda (Tudavar) people are a tribe living in the Nilgiri Mountains of Tamil Nadu in southern India. ...

Conspicuous among Egyptian animal cults was that of the bull, Apis. It was distinguished by certain marks, and when the old Apis died a new one was sought. The finder was rewarded, and the bull underwent four months' education at Nilopolis. Its birthday was celebrated once a year when oxen, which had to be pure white, were sacrificed to it. Women were forbidden to approach it when once its education was finished. Oracles were obtained from it in various ways. After death it was mummified and buried in a rock-tomb. Less widespread was the cult of the Mnevis, also consecrated to Osiris. Apis can refer to the following: Apis — An Egyptian god Apis — A Bee genus Apis — In Greek mythology a prophet. ... Nilopolis or Delas was a city in Egypt situated on the left bank of the Nile, about forty-seven miles from Memphis. ... In Egyptian mythology, Mnewer was a black bull in Heliopolis, worshipped as a symbol of fertility and as an oracle. ... Typical depiction of Osiris Osiris (Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliterated Asar, Aser, Ausar, Wesir, or Ausare) is the Egyptian god of life, death, and fertility. ...

Similar observances are found in our own day on the Upper Nile. The Nuba and Nuer revere cattle. The Angoni of Central Africa and the Sakalava of Madagascar keep sacred bulls. In India respect for the cow is widespread, but is of post-Vedic origin; there is little actual worship, but the products of the cow are important in magic. The Nile (Arabic: , transliteration: , Ancient Egyptian iteru, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. ... Nuba is a collective term used for the peoples who inhabit the Nuba Mountains, in Kordofan province, Sudan, Africa. ... The Nuer are a confederation of tribes located in Southern Sudan and western Ethiopia. ... Sakalava Girl The Sakalava is a traditional name for a group of people of Madagascar numbering approximately 700,000 in population. ...

Crow/Raven

The Raven is the chief deity of the Tlingit people of Alaska. All over that region it is the chief figure in a group of myths, fulfilling the office of a culture hero who brings the light, gives fire to mankind, and so on. Together with the eagle-hawk the crow plays a great part in the mythology of southeastern Australia. A Tlingit totem pole in Ketchikan ca. ... Official language(s) none Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area  Ranked 1st  - Total 663,267 sq mi (1,717,855 km²)  - Width 808 miles (1,300 km)  - Length 1,479 miles (2,380 km)  - % water 13. ...

Dog

Actual dog worship is uncommon. The Nosarii of western Asia are said to worship a dog. The Kalang of Java had a cult of the red dog, each family keeping one in the house. According to one authority the dogs are images of wood which are worshipped after the death of a member of the family and burnt after a thousand days. In Nepal it is said that dogs are worshipped at the festival called Khicha Puja. Among the Harranians dogs were sacred, but this was rather as brothers of the mystae. Harran, also known as Carrhae, is an archeological site in present day southeastern Turkey, 24 miles (39 kilometers) southeast of Sanli Urfa. ...

Elephant

In Thailand it is believed that a white elephant may contain the soul of a dead person, perhaps a Buddha. When one is taken the capturer is rewarded and the animal brought to the king to be kept ever afterwards. It cannot be bought or sold. It is baptized and fêted and mourned for like a human being at its death. In some parts of Indo-China the belief is that the soul of the elephant may injure people after death; it is therefore fêted by a whole village. In Cambodia it is held to bring luck to the kingdom. In Sumatra the elephant is regarded as a tutelary spirit. The cult of the white elephant is also found at Ennarea in southern Ethiopia. In India, the popular Hindu god Ganesha has the head of an elephant and a torso of a human. Sumatra (also spelled Sumatera) is the sixth largest island in the world (approximately 470,000 km²) and is the largest island entirely in Indonesia (two larger islands, Borneo and New Guinea, are partially in Indonesia). ...

Fish

According to the Jewish scholar Rashi, the Canaanite god Dagon was a fish god. This tradition may have originated here, with a misinterpretation, but recently uncovered reliefs suggest a fish-god with human head and hands was worshipped by people who wore fish-skins. The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... Rashi (1040-1105) (Artists imagination) Rashi רשי is a Hebrew acronym for רבי שלמה יצחקי (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi), (February 22, 1040 – July 13, 1105), a rabbi in France, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Tanakh. ... For other uses, see Canaan (disambiguation). ... Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god, reportedly a god of grain and agriculture, worshipped by the early Amorites, by the people of Ebla and Ugarit, and a major god, perhaps the chief god, of the Biblical Philistines, enemies of the ancient nation of Israel. ... In the art of sculpture, a relief is an artwork where a modelled form projects out of a flat background. ...

Supposedly, there were sacred fish in the temples of Apollo and Aphrodite in Greece, which may point to a fish cult. The goddess at Ashkelon, Atargatis was depicted as half woman, half fish, and according to Xenophon the fish of the Chalus were regarded as gods. Lycian Apollo, early Imperial Roman copy of a fourth century Greek original (Louvre Museum) In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo (Ancient Greek , Apóllōn; or , Apellōn), the ideal of the kouros (a beardless youth), was the archer-god of medicine and healing, light, truth, archery and also a... The Birth of Venus, (detail) by Sandro Botticelli, 1485 Aphrodite (Greek: Ἀφροδίτη; Latin: Venus) (IPA: English: , Ancient Greek: , Modern Greek: ) is the classical Greek goddess of love, lust, and beauty. ... Hebrew אַשְׁקְלוֹן (Standard) AÅ¡qÉ™lon Arabic عسقلان Founded in 1951 Government City Also Spelled Ashqelon (officially) District South Population 105,100 (2004) Jurisdiction 55,000 dunams (55 km²) Mayor Roni Mahatzri Ashkelon (Hebrew: ‎; Tiberian Hebrew ʾAÅ¡qÉ™lôn; Arabic: ‎  ; Latin: Ascalon) is a city in the western Negev, in the... Atargatis, in Aramaic ‘Atar‘atah, was a Syrian deity, more commonly known to the Greeks by a shortened form of the name, Derceto or Derketo (Strabo 16. ... Xenophon, Greek historian Xenophon (In Greek , ca. ... Chalus is a small village and ruined castle (now named Chalus-Cabrol) in the Haute_Vienne departement of France, in the Limousin region. ...

Goat

Dionysus was believed to take the form of a goat, probably as a divinity of vegetation. Pan, Silenus, the Satyrs and the Fauns were either capriform or had some part of their bodies shaped like that of a goat. In northern Europe the wood spirit, Leszi, is believed to have a goat's horns, ears and legs. In Africa the Bijago people are said to have a goat as their principal divinity. A deity known as the Goat of Mendes is associated with the pentagram. Dionysus with a leopard, satyr and grapes on a vine, in the Palazzo Altemps (Rome, Italy) Dionysus or Dionysos (from the Ancient Greek Διώνυσος or Διόνυσος, associated with the Italic Liber), the Thracian god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficial influences. ... Pan (Greek , genitive ) is the Greek god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music: paein means to pasture. ... In Greek mythology, sileni were a race of half-horse, half-humans, unlike the satyrs, who were half-goat. ... Ancient Greek Satyr statuette In Greek mythology, satyrs (in Greek, Σάτυροι — Sátyroi) are young humans, possibly with horse ears, that roamed the woods and mountains, and were the companions of Pan and Dionysus. ... A faun, as painted by Hungarian painter Pál Szinyei Merse In Roman mythology, fauns were place-spirits (genii) of untamed woodland. ... Leszy, lesij, leshii is a woodland spirit in Slavic mythology who protect wild animals and forests. ... For information about the Portuguese language surname Mendes, see the article Mendez. ... A pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as pentalpha or pentangle) is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes. ...

Hawk

In North Borneo we seem to see the evolution of a god in the three stages of the cult of the hawk among the Kenyahs, the Kayans and the sea Dyaks. The Kenyahs will not kill it, address to it thanks for assistance, and formally consult it before leaving home on an expedition. It seems, however, to be regarded as the messenger of the supreme god Balli Penyalong. The Kayans have a hawk-god, Laki Neho, but seem to regard the hawk as the servant of the chief god, Laki Tenangan. Singalang Burong, the hawk-god of the Dyaks, is completely anthropomorphized. He is god of omens and ruler of the omen birds, but the hawk is not his messenger. For he never leaves his house. Stories are, however, told of his attending feasts in human form and flying away in hawk form when all was over. Borneo is the third largest island in the world. ... The Dayak (La-kia) people (variant: Dyak) are indigenous occupants of the Kalimantan region of Borneo. ...

Horse

Main article: Horse worship

There is some reason to believe that Poseidon, like other water gods, was originally conceived under the form of a horse. In the cave of Phigalia Demeter was, according to popular tradition, represented with the head and mane of a horse, possibly a relic of the time when a non-specialized corn-spirit bore this form. Her priests were called Poloi (Greek for "colts") in Laconia. In Gaul we find a horse-goddess, Epona. There are also traces of a horse-god, Rudiobus. The Gonds in India worship a horse-god, Koda Pen, in the form of a shapeless stone, but it is not clear that the horse is regarded as divine. The horse or mare is a common form of the corn-spirit in Europe. Horse worship is a pagan practice that may be demonstrated in Europe in the Iron Age, and perhaps in the Bronze Age. ... Neptune reigns in the city of Bristol. ... Phigalia, or Phigaleia (Greek Φιγαλεία or Φιγάλεια) is an ancient Greek city in the south-west angle of Arcadia. ... Ceres (Demeter), allegory of August: detail of a fresco by Cosimo Tura, Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, 1469-70. ... Laconia (; see also List of traditional Greek place names), also known as Lacedaemonia, is a prefecture in Greece. ... Map of Gaul circa 58 BC Gaul (Latin: ) was the name given, in ancient times, to the region of Western Europe comprising present-day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. ... For other uses of Epona, see Epona (disambiguation) Image:Epona link. ... Rudiobus is a Celtic god known only from a single inscription, on a bronze figurine of a prancing horse: sacred to the god Rudiobus. This figurine is one a group found at Neuvy-En-Sullias (Loiret). ... Gondi refers to a people and their language in Central India. ...

Leopard

The cult of the leopard is widely found in West Africa. Among the Ashanti people a man who kills one is liable to be put to death; no leopard skin may be exposed to view, but a stuffed leopard is worshipped. On the Gold Coast a leopard hunter who has killed his victim is carried round the town behind the body of the leopard; he may not speak, must besmear himself so as to look like a leopard and imitate its movements. In Loango a prince's cap is put upon the head of a dead leopard, and dances are held in its honour. Binomial name Panthera pardus Linnaeus, 1758 Synonyms Felis pardus Linnaeus, 1758 The Leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of the four big cats of the genus Panthera. ... Flag of the Ashanti people The Ashanti (also Asante) are a major ethnic group from Africa who speak a dialect of Akan. ... Loango was an African city from approximately 15th Century - 19th Century in what is now the Republic of Congo. ...

Lion

The lion was associated with the Egyptian deities Horus, Nefertum, Ra and Sekhmet. There was a lion-god at Baalbek . The pre-Islamic Arabs had a lion-god, Yaghuth. In modern Africa we find a lion-idol among the Balonda. This page is about the Egyptian deity. ... In Egyptian mythology, Nefertum (also Nefertum, Nefer-Tem, Nefer-Temu) is the god of the lotus plant and a solar deity associated with the sunrise. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Two statues of Sekhmet (standing) in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin. ... Temple of Jupiter Temple of Bacchus Details inside Temple of Bacchus Baalbek (Arabic: ) is a town in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, altitude 3,850 ft (1,170 m), situated east of the Litani River. ... Arabic Mythology is the ancient beliefs of the Arabs. ... Yaghuth is an idol referred to in the Quran (71:23) as being worshipped in ancient Yemen. ...

Lizard

The cult of the lizard is most prominent in the Pacific, where it appears as an incarnation of Tangaloa. In Easter Island a form of the house-god is the lizard. It is also a tutelary deity in Madagascar. In Polynesian mythology (specifically: Samoa), Tangaroa (or Tagaloa) is the sea god, a son of Rangi and Papa, whom he forcibly separated from each other. ... motto: ( Rapa Nui ) Also called Te Pito O Te Henua (Ombligo del mundo) (Navel of the world) Capital Hanga Roa Area  - City Proper  163. ...

Mantis

Cagn is a prominent figure in Bushman mythology. The mantis and the caterpillar, Ngo, are his incarnations. It was called the "Hottentots' god" by early European settlers. The Bushmen or San peoples of South Africa and neighbouring Botswana and Namibia, who live in the Kalahari, are part of the Khoisan group and are related to the Khoikhoi. ...

Monkey

In India the monkey-god, Hanoman, is a prominent figure. In orthodox villages monkeys are safe from harm. Monkeys are said to be worshipped in Togo. At Porto Novo, in French West Africa, twins have tutelary spirits in the shape of small monkeys. For the Tamil movie by same name see Anjaneya (film). ... Woman Porto Nova circa 1914 Porto-Novo (also known as Hogbonou and Adjacé (population 223,552 as of a 2002 census) is the official capital of the West African nation of Benin. ...

Rabbit

In North America the Algonquian tribes had as their chief deity a "mighty great hare" to whom they went at death. According to one account he lived in the east, according to another in the north. In his anthropomorphized form he was known as Menabosho or Michabo. The Algonquian (also Algonkian) languages are a subfamily of Native American languages that includes most of the languages in the Algic language family (others are Wiyot and Yurok of northwestern California). ... Nanabozho (also known as Manabush, Nanabozo, Winabozho, Wenabozho) is a spirit in Chippewa mythology. ... In Algonquin mythology, Michabo, The Great Hare, (also Manibozho) was a trickster god, and founder of their Mide or peculiar magical wor­ship. ...

Rat

In Hindu mythology rat has a sacred position. Rat is believed to be the vehicle of Lord Ganesh in Hinduism. There is a temple in Deshnokenear Bikaner,India where rats are worshiped. Hindu mythology is a term used by modern scholarship for a large body of Indian literature that details the lives and times of legendary personalities, deities and divine incarnations on earth interspersed with often large sections of philosophical and ethical discourse. ... Popular image of Ganesh In Hinduism, Ganesha (Gaṇeśa, lord of the hosts, also spelled Ganesa and sometimes referred to as Ganesh in Hindi, Bengali and other Indian vernaculars) is the god of wisdom, intelligence, education and prudence. ... Hinduism (known as in some modern Indian languages[1]) is a religion that originated on the Indian subcontinent. ... Deshnoke is a small town near near the Ino-Pakistan border in Rajastan, India. ... , Bikaner is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan in western India. ...

Serpent

The worship of the serpent is found in many parts of the Old World, although it is not unknown in the Americas. In Australia, the Aboriginal people worship a huge python, known by a variety of names but universally referred to as the Rainbow Serpent, that was said to have created the landscape, embodied the spirit of fresh water and punished lawbreakers. The Aborigines in southwest Australia called the serpent the Waugyl, while the Warramunga of the east coast worshipped the mythical Wollunqua. In Africa the chief centre of serpent worship was Dahomey. but the cult of the python seems to have been of exotic origin, dating back to the first quarter of the 17th century. By the conquest of Whydah the Dahomeyans were brought in contact with a people of serpent worshippers, and ended by adopting from them the beliefs which they at first despised. At Whydah, the chief centre, there is a serpent temple, tenanted by some fifty snakes. Every python of the danh-gbi kind must be treated with respect, and death is the penalty for killing one, even by accident. Danh-gbi has numerous wives, who until 1857 took part in a public procession from which the profane crowd was excluded; a python was carried round the town in a hammock, perhaps as a ceremony for the expulsion of evils. The rainbow-god of the Ashanti was also conceived to have the form of a snake. His messenger was said to be a small variety of boa. but only certain individuals, not the whole species, were sacred. In many parts of Africa the serpent is looked upon as the incarnation of deceased relatives. Among the Amazulu, as among the Betsileo of Madagascar, certain species are assigned as the abode of certain classes. The Masai, on the other hand, regard each species as the habitat of a particular family of the tribe. The Old World consists of those parts of Earth known to Europeans, Asians, and Africans before the voyages of Christopher Columbus; it includes Europe, Asia, and Africa (collectively known as Africa-Eurasia), plus surrounding islands. ... Dahomey was a kingdom in Africa, situated in what is now the nation of Benin. ... (16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ... The Betsileo are a highland tribe in Madagascar, the third largest in terms of population, numbering around one million. ... Masai can refer to Maasai, also known as Masai, the name of an African ethnic group from Kenya and Tanzania Masai, Johor, a suburb of Johor Bahru city This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

In America some of the Native American tribes give reverence to the rattlesnake as grandfather and king of snakes who is able to give fair winds or cause tempest. Among the Hopi of Arizona the serpent figures largely in one of the dances. The rattlesnake was worshipped in the Natchez temple of the sun and the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl was a feathered serpent-god. In many MesoAmerican cultures, the serpent was regarded as a portal between two worlds. The tribes of Peru are said to have adored great snakes in the pre-Inca days and in Chile the Mapuche made a serpent figure in their deluge beliefs. A Hupa man. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Official language(s) English Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  Ranked 6th  - Total 113,998 sq mi (295,254 km²)  - Width 310 miles (500 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 0. ... Natchez is a city located in Adams County, Mississippi. ... The Aztecs is a term used for certain Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples of central México. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... Mapuche (Mapudungun; Che, People + Mapu, of the Land) are the original Amerindian inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina. ...

Snake worship refers to the high status of snakes in Hindu mythology.Over a large part of India there are carved representations of cobras (nagas) or stones as substitutes. To these human food and flowers are offered and lights are burned before the shrines. Among the Dravidians a cobra which is accidentally killed is burned like a human being; no one would kill one intentionally. The serpent-god's image is carried in an annual procession by a celibate priestess. This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Hindu mythology is a term used by modern scholarship for a large body of Indian literature that details the lives and times of legendary personalities, deities and divine incarnations on earth interspersed with often large sections of philosophical and ethical discourse. ... The nagas ( snake) are an ancient race of snake-humanoid beings first depicted in ancient Vedic Hindu mythology and oral folklore from at least 5000 B.C.E. Stories involving the Nagas are still very much a part of contemporary cultural traditions in predominantly Hindu (India, Nepal, and the island...

Serpent worship was well known in ancient Europe. There does not appear to be much ground for supposing that Aesculapius was a serpent-god in spite of his connection with serpents. On the other hand, we learn from Herodotus of the great serpent which defended the citadel of Athens. The Roman genius loci took the form of a serpent where a snake was kept and fed with milk in the temple of Potrimpos, an old Slavonic god. Dewi was an Old Welsh god represented by a great red serpent. On the Iberian Peninsula there is evidence that before the introduction of Christianity, and perhaps more strongly before invasions of the Romans, Serpent-worship was part of local religion. To this day there are numerous traces in popular belief, especially in Germany, of respect for the snake, which seems to be a survival of ancestor worship, such as still exists among the Zulus and other tribes; the "house-snake," as it is called, cares for the cows and the children, and its appearance is an omen of death, and the life of a pair of house-snakes is often held to be bound up with that of the master and mistress themselves. Tradition says that one of the Gnostic sects known as the Ophites caused a tame serpent to coil round the sacramental bread and worshipped it as the representative of the Saviour. Ouroboros Asclepius was the god of medicine and healing in ancient Greek mythology, according to which he was born a mortal but was given immortality as the constellation Ophiuchus after his death. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα - Athína) is the largest city and capital of Greece, located in the Attica periphery of central Greece. ...

Sheep

Only in Africa do we find a sheep-god proper. Amun, the god of Thebes, Egypt, was represented as ram-headed. His worshippers held the ram to be sacred, however, it was sacrificed once a year. Its fleece formed the clothing of the idol. Another Egyptian ram-headed god was Banebdjed, a form of Osiris. Amun (also spelled Amon, Amoun, Amen, and rarely Imen, Greek Αμμον Ammon, and Άμμον Hammon, Egyptian Yamanu) was the name of a deity, in Egyptian mythology, who gradually rose to become one of the most important deities, before fading into obscurity. ... Thebes Thebes (, Thēbai) is the Greek designation of the ancient Egyptian niwt (The) City and niwt-rst (The) Southern City. It is located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the river Nile (). Thebes was the capital of Waset, the fourth Upper Egyptian nome... Typical depiction of Osiris Osiris (Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliterated Asar, Aser, Ausar, Wesir, or Ausare) is the Egyptian god of life, death, and fertility. ...

Tiger

The tiger is associated with the Hindu deities Shiva and Durga. In Pokhara, Nepal the tiger festival is known as Bagh Jatra. Celebrants dance disguised as tigers and "hunted". The Warali tribe of Maharashtra, India worship Waghia the lord of tigers in the form of a shapeless stone. In Hanoi and Manchuria tiger-gods are also found. This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... This article is about the deity Shiva. ... In Hinduism, Durga (Sanskrit: , Bengali: ) is a form of Devi, the supreme goddess. ... View of Pokhara looking north from the nearby World Peace Stupa. ... , Maharashtra (Marathi: महाराष्ट्र , IPA:  , English: ) is Indias third largest state in terms of area and second largest in terms of population after Uttar Pradesh. ... Hanoi (Vietnamese: Hà Ná»™i, Hán Tá»±: 河内)  , estimated population 3,145,300(2005), is the capital of Vietnam. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Wolf

Both Zeus and Apollo were associated with the wolf by the Greeks, but it is not clear that this implies a previous cult of the wolf. It is frequently found among the tutelary deities of North American dancing or secret societies. The Tlingit had a god, Khanukh, whose name means "wolf," and worshipped a wolf-headed image. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Zeús, genitive: Diós), is...

See also

• Animal sacrifice
• Totemism
• Animism

A sheep is led to the altar, 6th century BC Corinthian fresco. ... Totemism (derived from the root -oode in the Ojibwe language, which referred to something kinship-related) is a religious belief that is frequently associated with shamanistic religions. ... In its most general sense, the term Animism refers to belief in souls (anima is Latin for soul): in this sense, animism is present in nearly all religions, including religions such as Christianity that see souls as distinct from bodies and as limited to humans. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Animal worship" by Thomas, Northcote Whitbridge, a publication now in the public domain.

For a fuller discussion and full references to these and other cults, that of the serpent excepted, see: Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

• N. W. Thomas in Hastings' Dictionary of Religions;
• Frazer, Golden Bough;
• Campbell's Spirit Basis of Belief and Custom;
• Maclennan's Studies (series 2);
• V. Gennep, Tabou et totémisme à Madagascar.
• For the serpent, see Ellis, Ewe-speaking Peoples, p. 54; Internat. Archiv, xvii. 113; Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii. 239; Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship; Mähly, Die Schlange im Mythus; Staniland Wake, Serpent Worship, &c.; 16th Annual Report of the American Bureau of Ethnology, p. 273, and bibliography, p. 312.