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Animal faith is the study of animal behaviours that suggest proto-religious faith. It is commonly believed that religion and faith are unique to humans, [1] [2] [3] largely due to the typical dictionary definition of the word religion (see e.g. Wiktionary or Dictionary.com) requiring belief in a deity, which has not been observed in non-human animals. [4]
Animal worship (also zoolatry or theriolatry) is an umbrella term designating religious or ritual practices involving animals. This includes the worship of animal deities or animal sacrifice . An animal 'cult' is formed when a species is taken to represent a religious figure. [ 1 ]
This definition emphasizes the transformation of everyday actions into rituals that carry deeper meaning within a cultural or religious context. Rituals are symbolic, repetitive, and often prescribed activities that hold religious or cultural significance for a certain group of people.
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spread of Christianity in Late Antiquity, and continue in some cultures or religions today.
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or revered objects. [1] [2] Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, but not defined, by formalism, traditionalism, invariance, rule-governance, sacral symbolism, and performance. [3]
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Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as part of a religion. It is practiced by adherents of many religions as a means of appeasing a god or gods or changing the course of nature. It also served a social or economic function in those cultures where the edible portions of the animal were distributed among those attending the ...
The Xinglongwa and Hongshan cultures of northeastern China carved elaborate jade sculptures of pigs and dragons speculated to have some religious role; [155] China was one of the first major sites of animal domestication, [156] and domestic animals seem to have played wide-ranging roles in Neolithic Chinese ritual practice, in particular as ...