Fire worship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Worship or deification of fire is known from various religions. Fire has been an important part of human culture since the Lower Paleolithic. The earliest known traces of controlled fire were found at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel and dated to an age of 790,000 years, and religious or animist notions connected to fire must be assumed to reach back to such early pre-Homo sapiens times.
Although the term "fire-worshippers" is primarily associated with Zoroastrians, the idea that Zoroastrians worship fire is originally from anti-Zoroastrian polemic. Instead, fire - even in a Fire temple (the Zoroastrian terms are more prosaic and simple mean "house of fire") - is considered to be an agent of purity and as a symbol of righteousness and truth. In the present-day this is explained to be because fire burns ever-upwards and cannot itself be polluted. Nonetheless, 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.
Fire is also an element of theophany in the Hebrew Bible (Burning Bush, Pillar of Fire). Additionally, the Biblical Hebrew language is sometimes referred to as "the flame alphabet" because many devout Jews believe that the Torah is the literal word of God written in fire. The Holy Spirit in Christianity is described as "tongues of flame".
In Vedic religion, fire is a central element in the Yajna ceremony, with Agni "fire" playing the role as mediator between the worshipper and the other gods. Related concepts are the Agnihotra ritual, the invocation of the healing properties of fire; the Agnicayana ritual, which is the building of a fire altar to Agni; and Agnistoma, which is one of the seven Somayajnas.
In Graeco-Roman tradition, Greek Hephaestus and his Roman equivalent Vulcan are gods of fire. Prometheus is the Titan who stole fire from the gods, and the Hecatomb was the sacrifice of a hundred head of cattle in a holocaust. Vesta, protector of the home, had a sacred flame as the symbol of her presence (cf. Sacred fire of Vesta).
Celtic mythology had Belenus, whose name - "shining one" - associated him with fire. In Slavic mythology, Svarog - meaning "bright and clear" - was the spirit of fire. Loki of Norse mythology may also have been a fire spirit.
[edit] See also
[edit] Literature
- Madhulika Sharma, Fire Worship in Ancient India, Jaipur, Publication Scheme, 2002, ISBN 81-86782-57-5.
