Fire worship

Religious or animist notions connected to fire are assumed to reach back to such early prehuman times.

Sanskrit agni, Albanian: enji,[1] English ignite from Latin ignis, Polish ogień and Russian ogon), and an inanimate type *péh₂wr̥ (cf.

[8] The Fire – Zjarri – is deified in Albanian tradition as releaser of light and heat with the power to ward off darkness and evil, affect cosmic phenomena and give strength to the Sun (Dielli, who is worshiped as the god of light, sky and weather, giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye), sustain the continuity between life and afterlife and between the generations.

Zjarri i Vatrës ("the Fire of the Hearth") is regarded as the offspring of the Sun and the sustainer of the continuity between the world of the living and that of the dead and between the generations, ensuring the survival of the lineage (fis or farë).

[24][25] Zjarret e Vitit ("Ritual Calendar Fires") are associated with the cosmic cycle and the rhythms of agricultural and pastoral life.

[26] The ritual collective fires (based on the house, kinship, or neighborhood) or bonfires in yards (especially on high places) lit before sunrise to celebrate the main traditional Albanian festivities such as Dita e Verës (spring equinox), Shëngjergji, the winter festivals (winter solstice), or mountain pilgrimages, often accompanied by animal sacrifices, are related to the cult of the Sun, and in particular they are practiced with the function to give strength to the Sun and to ward off evil according to the old beliefs.

[28] Albanian folk beliefs regard the lightning as Zjarri i Qiellit ("the Fire of the Sky") and consider it as the "weapon of the deity".

[29] During big storms with torrential rains, lightning and hail, which often cause great damage to agriculture, livestock, and to the rural economy in general, Albanians traditionally bring outdoors Fire as a continuous chain or in a container, as well as ember and fire-related metallic objects, seeking assistance from the supernatural power of the Fire, in order to turn the storm away and to avert the harms it can cause to the community.

Hearth worship was maintained in Rome by the Vestal Virgins, who served the goddess Vesta, protector of the home, who had a sacred flame as the symbol of her presence in the city (cf.

Most forms of worship in Graeco-Roman religion involved either cooking or burning completely an animal on a fire made on an altar in front of a temple (see hecatomb).

Archaeologically, evidence for Indo-Iranian fire worship and the rite of cremation is found at the transition from the Sintashta-Petrovka to the Andronovo culture around 1500 BC.

Sadeh and Chaharshanbe Suri are both fire-related festivals celebrated throughout Greater Iran and date back to when Zoroastrianism was still the predominant religion of the region.

Zoroastrianism, however, is sometimes mischaracterised as a fire-worshipping religion, whereas it is a monotheistic faith with Ahura Mazda as its central figure and a dualistic cosmology of good and evil.

Albanian warrior dance in circle around fire ( zjarri ), drawing from the book Childe Harold's Pilgrimage written by Lord Byron in the early 19th century. Practiced for several hours with very short intervals, the dance gets new vigour from the words of the accompanying song that starts with a battle cry invoking war drums , and which is of a piece with the movement and usually changed only once or twice during the whole performance. [ 17 ] The ritual purifying fire is traditionally used by Albanians, in particular singing and dancing around it, to gain protection and energizing from its supernatural power. [ 18 ]
Hindu yajna fire ritual, 2013