Comments on: The sacrificial feast? A nice little sideline for the priests?

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:02:09 +0000

Thank you Sandy. I’ve checked some of these out and they are very interesting.

By: Sandy D.

Sandy D. — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 01:07:22 +0000

There are some nice recent archaeological studies on the remains of chiefly feasts at prehistoric Cahokia (near modern day St. Louis) – check Pauketat et al.

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:25:41 +0000

Had to look this up on the web. Yes, looks like it. When I was in West Africa, it was common to sacrifice a chicken, probably goats too though I don’t remember seeing that.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:23:02 +0000

Isn’t sacrifice alive and well in the current-day practices of Santaria?

By: Sam Sotiropoulos

Sam Sotiropoulos — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:48:37 +0000

The question of whether or not sacrifice was instituted to keep the priesthood fed and happy presupposes an oriental approach to the matter. Unlike the Jews, for instance, the Greeks, and later the Romans, did not limit sacrifice as the prerogative of any specific priestly caste. Indeed, among the Greeks, the *mageiros* (cook/chef) was often the one who performed the sacrifice at banquets etc., while private citizens also performed the sacrifices themselves in their own homes.

By: Rachel Laudan

Rachel Laudan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:37:03 +0000

Interesting. Having been diverting myself with various histories of the Christianization of Europe, it seems pretty clear that it was a real uphill struggle, especially in the country. In fact I’ve often speculated that it never took in my family of countrypeople. They would enter churches, of course, for occasions such as funerals, they were proud of the fabric, they liked traditional church music of the 17th and 18th centuries. But of belief. I never heard any grandparent, parent, aunt or uncle, or cousin ever express the faintest sign of it, quite the reverse.

By: Judith Klinger, Aroma Cucina

Judith Klinger, Aroma Cucina — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:30:13 +0000

Am I the only asking, “Bones burn?”

Priests need to eat so it stands to reason that there needs to be the occasional feast, I mean sacrifice. There are certainly a fair number of Italian dishes that make fun of gluttonous priests.

I’m also fascinated by the nitty gritty of how to feed enormous groups of people and I’m sure there were numerous approaches. Slaughter one animal in public and have 3 already butchered, prepped, cooked and ready to serve to the populace. Or serve a lot of alcohol and people won’t notice that they haven’t gotten a bite of meat yet. Same trick any good restaurant will use if there is a delay in the kitchen.
Good question about disposal of sacred blood and ash. Could it be conserved and used for another ceremony?

By: Adam Balic

Adam Balic — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:01:21 +0000

Cato’s cake is quite similar, the same to some extant Italian festival cakes. I wonder if they are related.

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:03:20 +0000

Mmm. I’m not religious, nor a group-joiner in any way – but I don’t see the scam angle except as an afterthought by those who are around (religious or part of the political elite or ‘just folks’) who individually have a predilection to those sorts of things. And of course they are always around wherever one goes in time or place.

The sacrificial feast appears to me as being in the same category of things as dancing, or story-telling, or art. It is a way in which humans reach out to understand and express those parts of themselves which are otherwise inexpressible. Joy, anger, fear, and of course sacrifice. All humans (except perhaps for sociopaths) must sacrifice in small (usually) or large (less frequently) ways each day in order to obtain the means to live. We compromise, we give up one thing for another, we even struggle. How, to explain this? It doesn’t make sense, explained flat-out in words, as “Oh that’s just the way it is,”The Gods like it that way.” It won’t go and sit in the heart that way as explanation, and in the heart is where the explanation is required.

Therefore the spectacle (of dance, of music, of theatre, of art, and) of sacrifice. Something internal is fed when the sacrificial meal is at hand. Can’t you imagine yourself at a sacrificial meal watching the poor beast giving his or her life and saying “Wow. That’s what I feel like sometimes. But I’m still standing.” And therefore, you know, alleliuia and all. And the next day can be met with what might be called a sense of enlightenment or at least with a sense of commonality with the pulse of the universe.

That’s my opinion anyway. Now can someone please explain the reason behind college football?

By: Ken Albala

Ken Albala — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:59:07 +0000

Hey Folks, As for other sacrificial snippets, Leviticus is pretty explicit, and of course Cato even gives you recipes – libum is a sacrificial cake.

As for the grand purpose, I am a little more inclined to the scam theory, or at least good state policy, PR, community building, propaganda, etc. In any case, I also find it extraordinarily interesting.