ANIMALS AND SOCIETY: AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN-ANIMAL STUDIES Chapter 15: Animals in Religion and Folklore Copyright Margo DeMello and Columbia University.

ANIMALS AND SOCIETY: AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN-ANIMAL STUDIESChapter 15: Animals in Religion and FolkloreCopyright Margo DeMello and Columbia University

Press, 2012

Animals play an important role in many of the world’s religions.

As symbols, animals help us to understand important religious concepts like purity, sacrifice, morality, and creation. As such, they play important roles in the myths of cultures around the world.

Some religions hold certain animals to be sacred, and some religions worship certain animals, or taboo certain animals for religious purposes.

Other cultures hold that some animals are the mythic founders of a group or clan, and have set those animals aside as totems.

Finally, religious rituals often make use of animals directly, often as a sacrifice to the gods or ancestors.

ANIMALS IN RELIGION

In the Old Testament, God created man in his own image, and the animals and plants of the world, over which man was given dominion (Genesis 1:26).

While this can be interpreted to mean dominance, some also interpret this to mean instead stewardship, in which humans have fundamental obligations towards animals.

Clearly, animals were placed on earth for man’s use, whether for food, clothing, or labor.

JUDAISM

Christianity, because it shares with Judaism the Old Testament, shares the idea of humans having been created separately from animals, with the power and responsibility of dominion over them.

Most of what we know about Christian views towards animals comes with the writings of St. Augustine, who wrote that only man has a rational soul, created by the breath of God, as opposed to animals, who only have sensation, and cannot attain eternal life. It is Augustine’s view that sets out what would become the dominant Christian view towards animals.

In this view, because only humans were created in God’s image, only humans have an immortal soul, and God became a human being (in the body of Jesus), animals and humans are radically diff erent beings who don’t deserve the same consideration as humans. The 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that animals are “destined for the common good of past, present and future humanity.

CHRISTIANITY

On the other hand, many Christians take a different view, arguing that Jesus preached compassion and mercy. These Christians recognize that animals do have intrinsic (rather than utilitarian) value and have a place in God’s kingdom. For them, Christian values demand careful stewardship over animals, who are God’s creatures, rather than dominion over them. This is the view encapsulated by St. Francis of Assisi.

CHRISTIANITY

Islam, the third religion of the book, finds that, as in Christianity and Judaism, all creatures were made by Allah, who loves all creatures. The Prophet Muhammad, too, was said to love animals, and he features in a number of stories which relate his caring.

The Quran explicitly states, however, that animals can be used for human benefit. “It is God who provided for you all manner of livestock, that you may ride on some of them and from some you may derive your food. And other uses in them for you to satisfy your heart's desires. It is on them, as on ships, that you make your journeys.” Quran 40: 79-80.

Like the previous traditions, however, while animals should be treated with kindness and compassion, they exist for the benefit of human beings.

ISLAM

Many Hindu gods take on animal forms, like Ganesh, who has the head of an elephant, or Hanuman, who takes the shape of a monkey, and cows are sacred to Hindus.

Because of these beliefs, Hindus do not eat beef, and villagers will not harm monkeys. Other Hindus are vegetarian, because of the concept of ahimsa, which means avoidance of harm. And fi nally, Hindus believe in reincarnation. Because animals and humans both have souls, and together exist in the cycle of rebirth, humans can be reborn as animals, and vice versa. But while humans and animals exist in the same continuum of life, humans are considered to be the apex of what life should be; humans are thus superior to animals, and accruing negative karma means that one will be reborn as an animal, which is considered to be an unhappy fate.

HINDUISM

Buddhists also share with Hindus the desire to do no harm, and the concept of reincarnation and karma; cruelty of all kinds should be avoided for Buddhists.

Like Hindus, many Buddhists are vegetarians. Finally, animals and humans both have “Buddha-

nature,” which is the potential for reaching enlightenment.

However, in Buddhism, as in Hinduism, being reborn as an animal is seen as negative, because animals aren’t seen as having the ability to improve themselves, making it harder to work off bad karma and ultimately reach enlightenment.

BUDDHISM

Unlike the book of Genesis in the Old Testament, which teaches that God created animals and plants, and separately created man, in many Native traditions, humans and animals and plants are created together; they share a spiritual kinship. Humans are not separate from the natural world; they are part of it.

In fact, many Native creation myths have animals as creator gods, giving birth to both human and animal. While no Native American religion prohibits the killing of animals, they typically do require that animals only be killed when necessary, and that it be done with respect, and gratitude towards the animal.

NATIVE AMERICAN RELIGIONS

Of all the world’s religions, only one mandates total nonviolence towards animal life. Jainism is a religion of India that dates back perhaps five thousand years. Like Buddhists, Jains believe in reincarnation and the cycle of life, death and rebirth. But for Jains, the only way to escape the cycle is to adhere closely to the principle of nonviolence.

This means, in practice, not only refraining from eating animals, but refraining from accidentally harming even the smallest of insects, which leads some practitioners to wear masks so that they don’t accidentally inhale tiny bugs.

JAINISM

Animals play a major role in the folklore of people around the world.

Legends, folk tales, fables, and proverbs are fi lled with animals that speak, animal-human hybrids, and magical animals.

Many contemporary folk tales contain fragments of ancient myths, often from religions that disappeared long ago. Others are educational, in that they explain why certain things are they way they are. Still others, like the fable, impart a moral lesson, and all serve to entertain as well.

ANIMALS IN FOLKLORE

Animals who play a leading role in animal tales are usually cast because they have a certain set of characteristics that other animals do not possess.

These tales rely on anthropomorphism—the attribution of human traits, such as speaking, to non-human animals, in order to tell the listener something about humans, or impart a moral lesson.

Animals also serve as “types” in folklore. The trickster is a common folklore motif; he uses his wits to trick stronger animals into doing what he wants, or to escape trouble.

ANIMALS IN FOLKLORE

One of the most common themes in both animal tales and myths is the human-animal hybrid. Humans have been transforming into animals, and vice versa, for thousands of years, at least within the stories and songs of cultures around the world. A number of religious traditions have animal deities, or deities which are part human, part animal.

The tanuki is a Japanese animal which resembles a racoon or a badger, and is often featured in Japanese folktales as a shapeshifter—a creature who can turn into humans (or even inanimate objects) to get what he wants.

Werewolves are an example of the transformation from human to animal and back again. Werewolf stories were common in Slavic and Chinese cultures, and often involve a curse which causes the person to transform into a beast.

ANIMAL-HUMAN TRANSFORMATIONS

Christianity uses a number of animal symbols like the fi sh, which represents Jesus, the apostles, and Christianity, the peacock, which represents the resurrection of Christ, the dove which represents the Holy Spirit, purity and peace, the eagle which signifi es God’s omniscience, and the lamb which represents Christ, purity, virginity, the twelve apostles, and resurrection. In fact, the fi rst crosses of the early Catholic church had lambs on them, rather than Jesus.

Many animals in Christianity have negative associations. For example, the raven represents ignorance and false thoughts, and were also once thought to carry off the souls of the damned to Hell. In Genesis 8:7, Noah originally sent a white raven to see whether or not the fl ood waters had subsided, but the Raven never returned (and ultimately, a dove did bring back the proper message). In punishment, God turned the raven black and condemned it to eat carrion.

RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS

Dogs are often seen as guardians of the dead. In Greek and Roman mythology, Cerberus, the three headed dog, guarded the gates of the underworld.

Many of the cultures of ancient Meso-America like the Olmec, Toltec, Maya and Aztecs, saw the hairless dog as the guardian of the dead, and some were kept as sacrificial food animals, while others were used as to protect homes from evil spirits to heal the sick.

In addition, the dog was thought to accompany the souls of the dead to the underworld; for this reason, mummified dogs were buried in the tombs of the deceased.

Even today, small dogs are thought to ward off ailments in parts of Central America.

RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS

Cats were famously worshipped in ancient Egypt, as they represented the goddess Bastet, but under Christianity, the reputation of cats suff ered.

Cats were denounced both because of their high status in pre-Christian cultures, but also because of their nocturnal abilities which associated them with evil.

Cats could also bring good luck, although they often had to die to do so; in Medieval Europe, cats were buried under the fields to ensure a good harvest, and were buried in walls to protect houses from evil spirits.

Cats, like many other animals, were thought to be witches’ familiars and were often executed alongside of accused witches.

RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS

Outside of the major world religions, animals played a major role in a number of religious traditions around the world, sometimes as deities, sometimes as totems, sometimes as the abodes of the souls of the dead, and sometimes as sacrifi cial off erings.

Animal cults refer to religions in which deities are represented by animals. They are found in pastoral societies in which certain species of animals are highly revered, but not worshipped, in hunting and gathering societies in which animals are honored before they are killed, in tribal societies in which clans trace their ancestry back to an animal totem, in shamanistic cults where animals assist shamans or where shamans transform into animals, and in agricultural societies which may either have animal deities, or deities which are sometimes represented as an animal.

ANIMAL CULTS

The cow is sacred to Hindus throughout South Asia. As such, they may not be slaughtered or consumed by Hindus, and it is illegal to kill healthy cows in most Indian states. Cows roam free in India, and some temples and shelters care for homeless cows.

While they are not worshipped as deities, there are specifi c temples and shrines where Hindus can honor them, and they are the object of celebration during certain festivals, during which cows are bathed, decorated, walked through town, and fed sweet dishes that were made especially for them.

Cows are India’s most valuable animal, because of the importance of dairy in the diet of Indians, the importance of cow dung as fuel and fertilizer, and the role that cattle have historically played in agriculture as draft animals. In fact, the Indian Constitution mandates that cows be protected in the country.

THE SACRED COW

Cultures that believe that humans can be reincarnated into specific animals, or that specific animals hold the souls of the dead, will treat that animal with respect. In Thailand, Buddhists believe that the souls of the ancestors are located in the bodies of white elephants; consequently, they cannot be killed and are celebrated. The same holds true for parts of Africa, where snakes are thought to be incarnated ancestors.

Similarly, cultures that believe that an animal guards the souls of the dead, or accompanies them to the afterlife, will revere the specific animal. Sometimes that means refraining from killing them, as with Nepalese Hindus, who worship dogs at an annual festival, and sometimes it means sacrificing them, as with the hairless dog of pre-Columbian Meso-America.

REINCARNATED ANIMALS

Totemic cults are one of the most common forms of animal cult, and are found in tribal cultures around the world.

The Tlingit, for example, hold the raven as both the creator god of the people, and as literal ancestor to one clan.

In totemic societies, the totem animal is only sacred to a specific clan; to all others in the society, the animal can be killed or eaten. The clan that holds the totem, however, will generally treat that animal with reverence, although they may sacrifice it on very special occasions.

TOTEMISM

In shamanistic cults, shamans are religious intermediaries who generally act as healers through accessing the spiritual realm, and often use animal assistants to gain access to that realm.

Through trance, the shaman, who often wears the feathers or fur of a particular animal, can be temporarily transformed into the animal spirit, which helps him to reach his goal.

Mesoamerican shamans, for example, used jaguar spirits as companions to protect them from evil spirits while they journeyed to the spirit realm.

SHAMANISM

Animal sacrifi ce has been a part of religious traditions for thousands of years, and is generally used as an off ering to the gods or ancestors in exchange for favorable treatment. Anthropologist Marcel Mauss also claimed that because the animal, at the moment of its death, straddled the human and sacred realms, the participants in the ritual too would be able to access the sacred realm, through the aid of the animal.

Sacrifi ce is practiced in agricultural societies, and domesticated animals are always used. Commonly sacrifi ced animals include chickens, lambs and sheep, goats, and cattle.

Generally, when an animal is sacrifi ced, its throat is slit and the blood is allowed to run out onto the ground or altar; the blood itself is a necessary part of the off ering. The animal is then usually eaten by ritual participants.

In ancient Greece, the animal to be sacrifi ced had to appear to assent to its killing; sprinkling water on the animal’s head prior to sacrifi ce was done to make the animal “nod” in assent.

ANIMAL SACRIFICE

Today, animal sacrifi ce is practiced in traditional cultures around the world, and continues to play a role in both Islam and Hinduism.

In India, Bangladesh and Nepal, every October brings animal sacrifi ces on a massive scale, with rituals involving the sacrifi ce of hundreds of thousands of animals at a time.

Proponents of animal sacrifi ce in South Asia note that not only are these practices cultural traditions that date back thousands of years, but that the animals live better lives than the billions of animals who are raised and killed for food every year in Western factory farms.

Perhaps the most controversial use of animal sacrifi ce has been in the United States, by practitioners of Santeria. The sacrifi ce of animals by Santeros in the United States made national news in 1993 when the city of Hialeah, FL passed a law banning animal sacrifi ce. Ultimately, the church took their case to the US Supreme Court which ruled in that bans against animal sacrifi ce were a violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

ANIMAL SACRIFICE

Should religion have something to say about the treatment of animals? Many believers think so, and look at the role that religions have historically played in helping societies to develop moral and ethical codes. For many animal lovers, religious beliefs about mercy and compassion should be extended to include animals.

Theologian Andrew Linzey, for example, has written extensively on the role that religious traditions play (or can play) in teaching compassion and justice regarding animals, and concludes that virtually all of the world’s religions have ethical guidelines that are consistent with the humane treatment of animals.

COMMUNITIES OF FAITH AND THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS

The deep attachment that humans have to their animals can be seen in the various ways in which people imagine that they will share an afterlife with them.

Egyptians entombed their mummifi ed pet cats in their family tombs, where they were expected to be reunited in the afterlife together, and Romans both buried dogs under marble headstones, but also had their companion animals killed after their own deaths, in order that their fates might be shared.

With the rise of Christianity, however, animals and humans were separated after death, and Christians who wanted to be buried with their companions were not allowed to by the Church. Pet cemeteries, where pets could be buried, often in ritual fashion, emerged in the late nineteenth century, as an alternative to other ways of disposing of beloved pets.

COMMUNITIES OF FAITH AND THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS

Because of the Christian belief that animals do not have souls, and therefore will not go to heaven with their owners, some animal lovers have created a new concept of heaven specifi cally geared towards their animals, known as the Rainbow Bridge.

This refers to a meadow where pets (but not other animals) go after death, where they play together until that time that their owner dies, when he or she walks over the Bridge, is met by their pets, and they all progress to Heaven together.

COMMUNITIES OF FAITH AND THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS