Animal protection rituals
Overview
Different cultures use similar fire rituals involving livestock or other animals, or embodiment of spirit animals, to purify and protect animals and people (or crops). Bonfires, torches, embers, and ashes are sun symbols believed to stimulate animal and human vigor and crop growth and provide purification and protection. Passing through fire symbolizes transcendence and transformation. Rituals involving driving animals through a bonfire have been used for centuries.
We will look briefly at the following relevant rituals and festivals:
The Celtic Beltane ritual
The Roman Parilia festival
The Spanish Las Luminarias festival
The Indian Makar Sankranti festival
The Balinese Sanghyang sacred dance rituals
A cross-cultural ritual approach that does not involve the use of live animals is also presented.
Beltane
The Gaelic festival of Beltane held at the start of May marks the end of spring and the coming of summer and used bonfires to purify, protect, and grant good fortune to people and livestock. This was part of moving animals to summer pastures and celebrating the return of fertility to the land (a reverse ritual was held in November when animals were brought back down to the lowlands). These festivals were held across Europe and are now part of the Celtic neopagan and Wiccan traditions.
People and their cattle would walk around and/or between bonfires, or leap or walk over the flames or embers. Torches of burning sedge or heather would be taken around livestock to protect them against accidents and disease during the year. Residual ashes were also sprinkled over the herd and fields to ensure protection and prosperity for the future of animals, herders, and farmers.
Parilia Festival
The Parilia is an ancient Roman festival held on 21 April, intended to cleanse sheep and shepherds. It is held in honor of Pales, a patron of shepherds, flocks, and livestock. Shepherds prepared for Parilia by cleansing sheep and their pens, and then built bonfires using straw, olive branches, laurel, juniper, pine, and rosemary to supply smoke to purify the sheep and their pens.
Shepherds jumped over the flames and drove animals through bonfires to ensure the welfare of the flock. They also made offerings and prayers to Pales to request help in protecting them and their flock from accidents, disease, and wolves, for forgiveness if they inadvertently trespassed on sacred ground or water sources, or disturbed woodland deities, and for abundant vegetation and births.
Las Luminarias Festival
This is a traditional festival to honor Saint Anthony, the patron saint of domestic animals, held in San Bartolome de Pinares in mid-January. It dates back five hundred years. On the eve of the festival, people ride horses over the flames (mules and donkeys were also used historically). Fire and smoke from bonfires are used to both purify the animals and the saint is asked to provide protection.
Animal rights groups have recently criticized the ritual, although official veterinarian inspections do not find injuries to the horses from the bonfires. Residents insist no horse is forced to go through the fire against their wishes, and the animals belong to people who love and tend to them all year and would not put them in any danger.
Makar Sankranti festival
In Hinduism, 14 January is celebrated with a festival called Makar Sankranti in the North, East, and West, Pongal in South India, Lohri in Punjab, and Bihu in Assam. This marks the advent of spring. The Kicchu Hayisuvudu ritual performed during this festival is believed to bring good fortune and keep cows, sacred to Hindus, and other livestock and crops, from harm.
Cattle are bathed in turmeric, which has antimicrobial properties. Their horns and hooves are painted to repel flies. Devotees then lead cows over burning hay, seeking good fortune and protection. Making cattle jump or walk over fire ensures that ticks fall off due to the heat, and fly or tick eggs are killed, making the cattle healthier. There is again concern from animal rights activists and calls to stop the tradition, but practitioners say that the ritual does not harm the animals.
Balinese Sanghyang sacred dance rituals
A different type of ritual is Balinese sacred dance rituals performed at religious ceremonies to ward off pestilence and plague and restore harmony to the seen and unseen (the physical and spirit). These are based on the premise that an unseen protective force (hyang), important in Indonesian mythology, enters the body of entranced performers. Variations of this dance use ape spirits (Sanghyang bojog), pig spirits (Sanghyang celeng), and the spirit of Goddess Sri (Sanghyang deling).
The Sanghyang jaran is a dance performed by boys, who ride coconut hobby horses in and around a fire while in trance, accompanied by singing. Dancers step on a burned coconut fiber, but do not feel pain and are not hurt. This dance is performed to protect the community from disaster, and in gratitude to the Creator deity for past gifts and for the achievement of hopes for the future.
A cross-cultural ritual approach
What if we want to perform similar rituals, without a bonfire, especially if we do not have any livestock? How would we perform an equivalent ritual with purification and protection intentions? As the above rituals use symbolic elements, those who cannot participate in rituals, do not have animals, or want to avoid harming animals during ritual work, can use digital technology.
We use a ritual that involves two candles, symbolic bonfires, and purification incense. A mobile phone placed between the candles (oriented to the center of the ritual space) shows a video of a herd of animals walking symbolically between the “bonfires” with the intention the herd represents animals of their species, and the benefits of purification, protection, and good fortune extends to these animals and their human caretakers. An equivalent ritual can be done later in the year with the animals now walking out from the center representing their return to the lowland for the winter.
The header Photo is by Partido Animalista - PACMA - from España - Luminarias: caballos sometidos al fuego, CC BY-SA 2.0, link