Ritual murder is murder performed in a ritualistic fashion or on a basis of rituals. A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. ...

Variations

Ritual killings and murders have occurred throughout the history of many cultures. Reasons were e.g. of religious, cultural or ethnic origin.

Ritual murders have undoubtedly occurred in the past in the form of human sacrifice, and are still occurring today, for example in medicine murder (also known as muti killings). This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Medicine murder is not human sacrifice in a religious sense, but rather involves the murder of someone in order to excise body parts for incorporation as ingredients into medicine. ... Muti is a generic term for medicine in Southern Africa. ...

Motivated by religion

In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart from 1958, the author exemplifies African ritual murder demanded by an oracle, and to appease the Igbo goddess of fertility, Ani, the protagonist has to kill his adopted son. Chinua Achebe (born November 16, 1930) is a Nigerian novelist and poet, an esteemed and controversial literary critic, and one of the most widely read authors of the 20th century. ... For other uses, see Things Fall Apart (disambiguation). ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... World map showing location of Africa A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second_largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. ... Consulting the Oracle by John William Waterhouse, showing eight priestesses in a temple of prophecy An oracle is a person or persons considered to be the source of wise counsel or prophetic opinion; an infallible authority, usually spiritual in nature. ... The Ibo are a group of people living in what is now Nigeria. ... Ala, also known as Ale, Alla and Ane is the Igbo goddess of fertility, who also rules the underworld. ... A protagonist is the, or a, central figure of a story. ... Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent (or parents) other than the birth parents. ...

In the Aztec culture, the existence of human sacrifice was proven by blood stains on the temples.^{[citation needed]} The Aztecs is a collective term used for all of the Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples under the control of the Mexica, founders of Tenochtitlan, and their two principal allies, who built an extensive empire in the late Postclassic period in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries in Central Mexico. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Motivated by honour

Some cultures justify a killing or murder with a threat or damage to the personal, family's or other group's honour. The murdered in those cases did not fit into the group's expectations (conformity). Though this can be a derivative of a religious motivation, it can be more disputable and in discourse, the topic is honour, not religion, as a criticism of the murder. Especially if it is a minority group punishing an apostatic individual, some of that group may start supporting ritual killings, which can get the group in conflict with the dominant culture opposing ritual killings, causing amplifying countereffects. Alexander Hamilton defending his honor by obliging to duel Aaron Burr. ... Conformity is the act of consciously maintaining a certain degree of similarity (in clothing, manners, behaviors, etc. ... Apostasy (from Greek αποστασία, meaning a defection or revolt , from απο, apo, away, apart, στασις, stasis, standing) is a term generally employed to describe the formal renunciation of ones religion, especially if the motive is deemed unworthy. ...

Serial killer variations

Serial killers are also known to perform ritualistic murders. Identifying their rituals can help profilers to trace different murders to a single murderer. (see "serial killer") Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... Offender profiling, or more scientifically, psychological profiling, is a behavioral and investigative tool that helps investigators to profile an unknown subject (unsub) or offender(s). ...

"False" accusations

Main article: Blood libel

However, many false accusations of ritual murder have been made, often against ethnic minority groups. Blood libels are unfounded allegations that a particular group eats people as a form of human sacrifice, often accompanied by the claim of using the blood of their victims in various rituals. ... This article is about the concept of a minority. ...

Jews: One famous example is the blood libel against Jews, where Jews were said to kidnap Christian children and whip them and crown them with thorns before drawing off their blood for mixing into the unleavened bread eaten at Passover. Blood libels were the false accusations that Jews used human blood, especially the blood of Christian children, in religious rituals. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... An image of a machine-made Matzo Matzo (also Matzoh, Matzah, Matza, Hebrew מַצָּה maṣṣā), an unleavened bread, is the official food of Passover. ... This article is about the Jewish holiday. ...

Satanists:Another example is the Satanic ritual abuse, a belief that an organized network of Satanists engages in brainwashing and abusing victims, especially children, throughout the United States or, in fact, the world. These claims remain controversial and the law enforcement sources, criminologists and religious affairs commentors generally consider this belief false or at least grossly exaggerated. Satanism Associated organizations Church of Satan First Satanic Church Prominent figures Anton LaVey | Blanche Barton | Peter H. Gilmore | Peggy Nadramia | Karla LaVey Associated concepts Left-Hand Path | Pentagonal Revisionism | Suitheism | Survival of the fittest | Objectivism | Might Is Right Books and publications The Satanic Bible | The Satanic Rituals | The Satanic Witch... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Dorlands Medical Dictionary defines brainwashing (also known as thought reform or re-education) as any systematic effort aimed at instilling certain attitudes and beliefs in a person against his will, usually beliefs in conflict with his prior beliefs and knowledge. ... Abuser redirects here. ... Child abuse is the physical or psychological maltreatment of a child, often synonymous with the term child maltreatment or the term child abuse and neglect. ... For the Wikipedia policy regarding controversial issues in articles, see Wikipedia:Guidelines for controversial articles. ... For the band, see The Police. ... Criminology is the scientific study of crime as an individual and social phenomenon. ... Religious is a term with both a technical definition and folk use. ... An affair is a euphemism for a situation where two people are involved in an illicit sexual, romantic and/or passionate attachment, usually for a limited duration. ...

See also

• Thuggee
• Simon of Trent
• Saint Dominguito del Val
• Holy Child of La Guardia
• Damascus affair
• Beilis trial
• Honour killing
• Zebra murders
• Purushamedha

A drawing of Thug Prisoners published by Illustrated London News, C. 1857 Thuggee (or tuggee) (from Hindi thag thief, from Sanskrit sthaga scoundrel, from sthagati to conceal) was an Indian network of secret fraternities who were engaged in murdering and robbing travellers, operating from the 17th century (possibly as early... Simon of Trent (? - approx. ... Saint Dominguito del Val was a choirboy and the alleged victim of a ritual murder by Jews in Saragossa in c. ... El Santo Niño de La Guardia or the Holy Infant of La Guardia was the alleged victim of a ritual murder by Jews in the central Spanish province of Toledo (Castilla-La Mancha) in 1491. ... The Damascus affair was an accusation of ritual murder and blood libel against Jews in Damascus in 1840. ... Menahem Mendel Beilis (1874-1934) was a Ukrainian Jew wrongly accused of murder, in a trial, known as the notorious Beilis trial, that sparked international criticism of the anti-Semitic policies of the Russian Empire. ... Honour killing is most often the killing of a female, but in some cases also a male, and sometimes his/her family members, love-interests or other associates,[1][2] for supposed sexual or marital offences, typically by his/her own relatives or relatives of a purported romantic interest, with... The Zebra murders were a number of connected murders committed by a black supremacist serial killer ring which took place in San Francisco, California from 1973 until 1974, and which left at least 16 people dead [2], and from eight (Howard) to ten (additions by Scheeres, Crime Library, and Cohen... Purushamedha (lit. ...

References

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/02/27/wturk27.xml Contemporary minority group ritual murder case

External link

Witch doctor link to boy's ritual killing