Which religion has ritualistic cannibalism in it

And yet, beyond that brief period of history during which the Romans believed the Christians to be man-eating monsters, the Eucharist never faced the same persecution that the other rituals suffered. It is not the literal eating of human flesh, one may argue, but of the wafer and wine; and they would be correct were they Protestant. Protestantism did not arrive on the scene, however, until Prior to that, and indeed afterward, the majority of Europe was Catholic, and the Catholics held a firm belief in transubstantiation, that is the literal presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

In other words, when one consumes the wafer, they are consuming the literal body of Christ. They are eating human flesh. What, then, makes the Eucharist different from any other cannibalistic ritual? Historically, European peoples were unwilling to entertain the notion that the Eucharist could have anything in common with the barbaric practices of the uncivilized peoples of Africa and the New World.

This is a perception steeped in long-held colonial beliefs and a sense of so-called European superiority. However, the refusal to associate the Eucharist with non-Christian practices persisted for a surprisingly long time in modern historiography.

Here we shall look at the evolution and driving forces of this change and consider why it has taken so long to come about. In the Man-Eating Myth , published in , W.

Arens claims that cannibalism was never practiced in any culturally significant manner. Yes, it existed, and from time to time was used in extraordinary circumstances such as starvation or an over-zealousness during times of great strife. However, it was never as widespread as folklore, mythology, and first-hand accounts from New World settlers would have us believe. In the span of six chapters, Arens surveys the history of anthropophagy from the prehistoric world to the modern, with a particular focus on Africa, the New World, and the mythical worlds of Ancient Greece and Rome.

He largely ignores European cannibalism, arguing that it was attributed only to Satanists, witches, and Jews so as to justify their persecution and was largely imagined; therefore it required no further investigation.

Neither does Arens discuss the practice of European corpse medicine, such as the consumption of mummified remains as medication, despite its huge popularity in the Early Modern era, especially in England. At times, Arens discusses the similarities between Aztec religion and Christianity.

Despite the obvious similarities between the two practices, Arens does not go so far as to further compare the driving ideologies behind them. Instead, he focuses his attention on actual cannibalism as practiced by the Aztecs, which he concludes was over-exaggerated and lacked sufficient evidence to back the claims.

Yet all the same, he credits European culture for the taming of the wild savages. Arens draws attention to the colonial origins of the cannibal myth, which Europeans used in order to help the Indigenous peoples to become civilized by ridding them of cannibalistic practices.

However, whilst concluding that argument, he once again reiterates that cannibalism, like many strange and scary things, has been overexaggerated to the point of becoming nothing more than folklore. It is a rather counter-productive piece of literature for the study of cannibalism as it denies the reality of the very thing which this article is interested in.

However, it set a solid, rational foundation from which more liberal scholarship would be able to build. A glance at the bibliography of the Man-Eating Myth reveals that previous anthropological scholarship was primarily consumed with the health affects and nutritional value of human flesh.

Why even bother to discuss a work that is so adamantly against the existence of the phenomenon this paper is interested in? It is because this work laid the foundation for later historians to consider the idea of Eucharist as cannibalism without the negative stereotypes previously attached to that perspective.

For several years after the publication of the Man-Eating Myth , the literature remained focused primarily on cannibalism as practiced by non-Europeans and its gross over-exaggeration.

Many scholars, however, focused on destigmatizing the study of cannibalism, and in doing so bring it a sense of scientific legitimacy. The only remaining holdout was the neighboring city-state of Tlaxcala to the east.

An Aztec priest removing a man's heart during a sacrificial ritual, offering it to the god Huitzilopochtli. Verano says that these battles provided an important venue for young Aztec warriors to gain social status by bringing home a gaggle of captives, some of whom would ultimately be sacrificed.

Sixteenth-century illustrations depict body parts being cooked in large pots and archeologists have identified telltale butcher marks on the bones of human remains in Aztec sites around Mexico City. While it was long theorized that Aztecs only engaged in ritual cannibalism during times of famine, another explanation is that consuming the flesh of a person offered to the gods was like communing with the gods, themselves.

As off-putting as it sounds, Verano says that ritual cannibalism most likely existed among the Aztecs and would have been considered not only normal, but a great honor.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you.

Live TV. This Day In History. Perhaps the most incriminating evidence is the 2,year-old, bog-mummified body of Lindow Man, discovered in England in the s. Lindow Man's manicured fingernails and finely trimmed hair and beard suggest that he may have been of high status—possibly even a Druid himself. At least one thing appears nearly certain about the ancient twentysomething: He was the victim of a carefully staged sacrifice. Recent studies have revealed that Lindow Man's head had been violently smashed and his neck had been strangled and slashed.

Another clue lay inside the body's well-preserved gut: pollen grains from mistletoe, a plant that was sacred to the Druids. Romans wrote that Druids cut mistletoe from trees with golden sickles. Lindow Man's death is dated to around A. He may have been sacrificed to persuade the Celtic gods to halt the Roman advance, Aldhouse-Green said. The idea jibes with something Julius Caesar wrote: In times of danger, the Celts believed that "unless the life of a man be offered, the mind of immortal gods will not favor them.

All rights reserved. Until now, that is. Gruesome Druid Discoveries Recent gruesome finds appear to confirm the Romans' accounts, according to Secrets of the Druids, a new documentary airing Saturday on the U. Druid Fountain of Blood "You've got a rope tightened round his neck, and at the moment where the neck was constricted, the throat was cut, which would cause an enormous fountain of blood to rise up," said archaeologist Miranda Aldhouse-Green, an archaeologist at Cardiff University in Wales and an expert on the Druids.

Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets. India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big Grassroots efforts are bringing solar panels to rural villages without electricity, while massive solar arrays are being built across the country.