Snake worship
Before the arrival of the Israelites, snake cults were well established in Canaan in the Bronze Age, for archaeologists have uncovered serpent cult objects in Bronze Age strata at several pre-Israelite cities in Canaan: two at Megiddo,[4] one at Gezer,[5] one in the sanctum sanctorum of the Area H temple at Hazor,[6] and two at Shechem.
[11] Significant finds of pottery, bronze-ware and even gold depictions of snakes have been made throughout the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
[14][15][16][18] In Gnosticism, the biblical serpent in the Garden of Eden was praised and thanked for bringing knowledge (gnosis) to Adam and Eve and thereby freeing them from the malevolent Demiurge's control.
[15][18] In the Archontic, Sethian, and Ophite systems, Yaldabaoth (Yahweh) is regarded as the malevolent Demiurge and false god of the Old Testament who generated the material universe and keeps the souls trapped in physical bodies, imprisoned in the world full of pain and suffering that he created.
[26][28][a] Danh-gbi has numerous wives, who until 1857 took part in a public procession from which the profane crowd was excluded; and those who peeked were punishable by death.
The Rainbow Snake was called the Aido Hwedo, a sort of cosmic serpent which could cause quakes and floods and even controlled the motions of heavenly bodies.
[citation needed] Eva Meyerowitz wrote of an earthenware pot that was stored at the Museum of Achimota College in present-day Ghana.
[citation needed] The Maya deity Kukulkan and the Aztec Quetzalcoatl (both meaning "feathered serpent") figured prominently in their respective cultures of origin.
Quetzalcoatl was associated with wind, the dawn, the planet Venus as the morning star, and was a tutelary patron of arts, crafts, merchants, and the priesthood.
A well-known story explains the emergence of the Khmer people from the union of Indian and indigenous elements, the latter being represented as nāgas.
The snake primarily represents rebirth, death and mortality, due to its casting of its skin and being symbolically "reborn".
They play prominent roles in various legends:[citation needed] Different districts of Bengal celebrate the serpent in various ways.
Regardless of their class and station, every family during this time created a clay model of the serpent-deity – usually the serpent-goddess with two snakes spreading their hoods on her shoulders.
The snake deity is called "U Thlen" (lit: Python or large serpent) and it is said to demand human sacrifice from his worshippers.
Finally, another tradition in Hindu culture relating to yoga brings up kundalini, a type of spiritual energy said to sit at the base of the human spine.
The term means "coiled snake" in Sanskrit roots and several goddesses are associated with its vitality, including Adi Parashakti and Bhairavi.
Kumarajiva's translation of the Lotus Sutra refers to them by their Sanskrit names: Nanda, Upananda, Sagara, Vasuki, Takshaka, Anavatapta, Manasvin, and Utpalaka.
[57] A major serpent deity in Japanese mythology is the god of Mount Miwa, i.e. Ōmononushi, and the shrine dedicated to it (Ōmiwa Jinja) is active and venerated to the present-day.
[59] According to mythology, one of the targets of his passion, the Lady Ikutamayori [ja] or Ikutamayorihime sought to discover his identity by attaching a yarn to the hem of his clothing ("The Mt.
[f][71][72] It has been assumed that in more real terms, an annual offering of "human sacrifice" was being made to the serpent deity, a god of field and fertility, bestowing "fertility of crops and the productivity of man and cattle",[73][74] or in terms of the specific rice crop, orochi was perhaps a "god of the river" which controlled the influx of irrigation water to the rice field.
[76][h] In the Yamata-no-orochi episode, mythologist Takeo Matsumura [ja] hypothesized that the involved ritual was not an actual homicidal sacrifice of a maiden, but the appointment of a miko shamaness serving the snake deity, which would be a lifelong position.
[82] On the Iberian Peninsula there is evidence that before the introduction of Christianity, and perhaps more strongly before Roman invasions, serpent worship was a standout feature of local religions (see Sugaar).
[citation needed] Tradition states that one of the Gnostic sects known as the Ophites caused a tame serpent to coil around the sacramental bread, and worshipped it as the representative of the Savior.
[citation needed] In Lanuvium (32 km from Rome) a big snake was venerated as a god and they offered human sacrifice to it.
[citation needed] Medusa and the other Gorgons were vicious female monsters with sharp fangs and hair of living, venomous snakes whose origins predate the written myths of Greece and who were the protectors of the most ancient ritual secrets.
Asclepius' death at the hands of Zeus illustrates man's inability to challenge the natural order that separates mortal men from the gods.
However Euripides wrote in his tragedy Ion that the Athenian queen Creusa had inherited this vial from her ancestor Erichthonios, who was a snake himself.
Thig an nathair as an toll Là donn Brìde, Ged robh trì troighean dhen t-sneachd Air leac an làir.
[87] Additionally in the Celtic region, but not necessarily directly related the religion, serpent amulets were thought to protect one from all harm.
It was not worshipped per se, but it a noteworthy mention as its fate is closely tied to Ragnarok event in the mythos that was synonymous with the end of the world.
