Snake worship

Snake worship is devotion to

United Arab Emirates

Significant finds of pottery, bronze-ware and even gold depictions of snakes have been made throughout the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Bronze Age and Iron Age metallurgical centre of Saruq Al Hadid has yielded probably the richest trove of such objects, although finds have been made bearing snake symbols in Bronze Age sites at Rumailah, Bithnah and Masafi. Most of the depictions of snakes are similar, with a consistent dotted decoration applied to them.

Although the widespread depiction of snakes in sites across the UAE is thought by archaeologists to have a religious purpose, this remains conjecture.^[12]

Judaism

Gnosticism

In Africa, one centre of serpent worship was the Kingdom of Dahomey (in present-day Benin), but the cult of this python seems to have been of exotic origin, introduced c. 1725 from the Kingdom of Whydah around the time of its conquest by Dahomey.^[24] This was the cult of the serpent deity called the Danh-gbi^[24] or Dangbe,^[25] who was a benefactor-god of wisdom and bliss,^[24][26] "associated with trees and the ocean".^[27]

At Whydah, the chief centre, there is a serpent temple, tenanted by some fifty snakes.^{[citation needed]} A killing of a python, even by accident, was punishable by death, but by the 19th century this was replaced by a fine.^[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.^[26] A python was carried around the town in a hammock, perhaps as a ceremony for the expulsion of evils.

Rainbow Snake

The

African diasporic religion

The belief has spread to the New World. In

There are four other snakes on the sides of this pot: Danh-gbi, the life giving snake, Li, for protection, Liwui, which was associated with Wu, god of the sea, and Fa, the messenger of the gods.[36] The first three snakes Danh-gbi, Li, Liwui were all worshipped at Whydah, Dahomey where the serpent cult originated.^[37] For the Dahomeans, the spirit of the serpent was one to be feared as he was unforgiving.^[38] They believed that the serpent spirit could manifest itself in any long, winding objects such as plant roots and animal nerves. They also believed it could manifest itself as the umbilical cord, making it a symbol of fertility and life.^[39]

Mami Wata

Mami Wata is a water spirit or class of spirits associated with fertility and healing, usually depicted as a woman holding a large snake or with the lower body of a serpent or fish. She is worshipped in West, Central, and Southern Africa and the African diaspora.^{[citation needed]}

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptians worshipped snakes, especially the cobra. The cobra was not only associated with the

Serpents could also be evil and harmful such as the case of Apep.^{[citation needed]} The serpent goddess Meretseger is regarded ambivalently with both veneration and fear.^[42]

Charms against snakes were inscribed or chanted, sometimes even to protect the dead;^[b] There are known charms against snakes that invoke the snake deity Nehebkau.^[44][47]

Wadjet was the patron goddess of Upper Egypt, and was represented as a cobra with spread hood, or a cobra-headed woman. She later became one of the protective emblems on the pharaoh's crown once Upper and Lower Egypt were united. She was said to 'spit fire' at the pharaoh's enemies, and the enemies of Ra. Sometimes referred to as one of the eyes of Ra, she was often associated with the lioness goddess Sekhmet, who also bore that role.^{[citation needed]}

Social and family affiliations

In many parts of Africa, the serpent is looked upon as the incarnation of deceased relatives. Among the

Indigenous peoples of the Americas such as the Hopi give reverence to the rattlesnake as grandfather and king of snakes who is able to give fair winds or cause tempest.^{[citation needed]} Among the Hopi of Arizona, snake-handling figures largely in a dance to celebrate the union of Snake Youth (a Sky spirit) and Snake Girl (an Underworld spirit).^{[citation needed]} The rattlesnake was worshipped in the Natchez temple of the sun.^{[citation needed]}

Mesoamerica

The

The worship of Quetzalcoatl dates back to as early as the 1st century BC at Teotihuacan.^[50] In the Postclassic period (AD 900–1519), the cult was centered at Cholula. 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.^[51]

South America

Serpents figure prominently in the art of the pre-Incan Chavín culture, as can be seen at the type-site of Chavín de Huántar in Peru.^[52] In Chile the Mapuche mythology featured a serpent figure in stories about a deluge.^{[citation needed]}

Asia

Cambodia

Serpents, or

At one time there were many prevalent different renditions of the serpent cult located in India. In Northern India, a masculine version of the serpent named Rivaan and known as the "king of the serpents" was worshipped. Instead of the "king of the serpents", actual live snakes were worshipped in Southern India (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 1). The Manasa-cult in Bengal, India, however, was dedicated to the anthropomorphic serpent goddess, Manasa (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 1).

Nāgas form an important part of Hindu mythology. They play prominent roles in various legends:^{[citation needed]}

• Shesha is the first king of the nagas, one of the two mounts of Vishnu.
• Vasuki is the second king of the nagas, commonly depicted around Shiva
  's neck.
• Kaliya is an antagonist of Krishna.
• Manasa is the goddess of the snakes.
• Astika is a half-Brahmin
  and half-naga sage.
• Patanjali was a sage and author of the Yoga Sutras, and was said to be the embodiment of Shesha, the divine serpent who forms Vishnu's couch.
• Naga Panchami is an important Hindu festival associated with snake worship which takes place on the fifth day of Shravana
  (July–August). Snake idols are offered gifts of milk and incense to help the worshipper to gain knowledge, wealth, and fame.

Different districts of Bengal celebrate the serpent in various ways. In the districts of East Mymensingh, West Sylhet, and North Tippera, serpent-worship rituals were very similar, however (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 5). On the very last day of the Bengali month Shravana, all of these districts celebrate serpent-worship each year (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 5). 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 people worshipped this model at their homes and sacrificed a goat or a pigeon for the deity's honor (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 5). Before the clay goddess was submerged in water at the end of the festival, the clay snakes were taken from her shoulders. The people believed that the earth these snakes were made from cured illnesses, especially children's diseases (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6).

These districts also worshipped an object known as a Karandi (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6). Resembling a small house made of cork, the Karandi is decorated with images of snakes, the snake goddess, and snake legends on its walls and roof (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6). The blood of sacrificed animals was sprinkled on the Karandi and it also was submerged in the river at the end of the festival (Bhattacharyya 1965, p. 6).

Among the Khasi tribe of Meghalaya, there exists a legend of snake worshipping. The snake deity is called "U Thlen" (lit: Python or large serpent) and it is said to demand human sacrifice from his worshippers. Those who can provide the Thlen with human blood, are usually rewarded with riches, but he would shame those who cannot provide the needed sacrifice. The subject of the Thlen is still a sensitive subject among the Khasis, and in recent years, in some rural areas, people have been killed in the name of being "Nongshohnoh" or Keepers of the Thlen, the evil snake god.

As kuladevatas, nagas are worship at many parts of India including Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Finally, another tradition in Hindu culture relating to

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.^[58] According to the mythology, this serpent deity assumes human form and visits women, begetting offspring.^[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. Miwa Story").^[60][c] Another wife, Lady Yamatohimomotoso [ja], committed suicide with chopstick[s] after learning her husband was of serpent-form ("Legend of Hashihaka (Grave of Chopstick[s])").^[62][63]

Some versions of the legend of Matsura Sayohime(var. Lady Otohi or Otohi-hime) are classed as the Miwasan-kei setsuwa (三輪山型説話, "stories of the Mt. Miwa pattern")^[64][d] But there is no enduring sign of snake worship in the original vicinity of the legend in the Matsura region, where a local shrine houses the supposed petrified remains, or bōfuseki (望夫石, "rock that contemplates the husband"), of Lady Matsura.^{[e][65][66][67]}

Orochi

The term orochi (大蛇) means literally "giant snake", the well-known example being the

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.^[75]

Whether "human sacrifice" in this case meant actually putting the maiden to death is a subject of debate and controversy.^[76] It has been asserted human offerings (to the river god) were nonexistent in Japan,^[77][g] or that human offerings to the field deity were never widespread.^[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.^[79][80] He proposed there was an earlier version of the myth, coining the name ogi itsuki kei (招ぎ齋き型, "[god]-invocation/invitation and purification type"), which was later altered to a serpent-slaying form, or taiji kei (退治型, "eradication type").^[81][i]

Europe

Old Prussia

A snake, called the

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). To this day there are numerous traces in European popular belief, especially in Germany, of respect for the snake, possibly a survival of ancestor worship: The "house snake" cares for the cows and the children, and its appearance is an omen of death; and the lives of a pair of house snakes are often held to be bound with that of the master and the mistress.^{[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.^[83]

Ancient Greece

Serpents figured prominently in archaic Greek myths. According to some sources, Ophion ("serpent", a.k.a. Ophioneus), ruled the world with Eurynome before the two of them were cast down by Kronos and Rhea. The oracles of the ancient Greeks were said to have been the continuation of the tradition begun with the worship of the Egyptian cobra goddess, Wadjet. Herodotus mentions a great serpent which defended the citadel of Athens.^{[citation needed]}

The

Typhon, the enemy of the Olympian gods, is described as a vast grisly monster with a hundred heads and a hundred serpents issuing from his thighs, who was conquered and cast into Tartarus by Zeus, or confined beneath volcanic regions, where he is the cause of eruptions. Typhon is thus the chthonic figuration of volcanic forces. Amongst his children by Echidna are Cerberus (a monstrous three-headed dog with a snake for a tail and a serpentine mane), the serpent-tailed Chimaera, the serpent-like water beast Hydra, and the hundred-headed serpentine dragon Ladon. Both the Lernaean Hydra and Ladon were slain by Herakles.

Python, an enemy of Apollo, was always represented in vase-paintings and by sculptors as a serpent. Apollo slew Python and made her former home, Delphi, his own oracle. The Pythia took her title from the name Python.^[84]

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. The Gorgons wore a belt of two intertwined serpents in the same configuration of the caduceus. The Gorgon was placed at the highest point and central of the relief on the Parthenon.^{[citation needed]}

Among other things, the Celtic goddess Brigid was said to be associated with serpents. Her festival day, Imbolc, is traditionally a time for weather prognostication based on watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens, which may be a forerunner of the North American Groundhog Day. A Scottish Gaelic proverb about the day is:

Additionally in the Celtic region, but not necessarily directly related the religion, serpent amulets were thought to protect one from all harm. Further proving the importance of serpents^[88]

Norse religion

The Norse religion had the Midgard Serpent, (Jormungandr) which was a giant serpent that wrapped around the entire earth. 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. The Norse people probably got the idea of this snake from the nearby Germanic religions ^[89]

Images

• 
  Naag or serpent at Naksaal, Kathmandu
• 
  Nag at Nag pokhari, Naksaal, Kathmandu
• 
  The Snake God Naga and his consort.The photo is taken at the cave temples clusters of Ajanta, Maharashtra, India
• 
  Krishna dancing over snake Kaliya at the sand-covered temple ruins in Talakkadu, Karnataka, India.
• 
  A motif of a snake goddess. Carving on volcanic rock at the

  Ellora

  , India
• 
  A snake worship altar from south India

See also

• Snake handling in Christianity
• George Went Hensley

Explanatory notes

References

Citations

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Bibliography

• Hambly, Wilfrid D. (1931), "Serpent Worship in Africa", Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History. Anthropological Series, Publications of the Field Museum of Natural History. Anthropological Series, vol. XXI, No. 1, 21 (1): 1–3, 5, 7–85,
  JSTOR 29782194
• Law, Robin (2004). Ouidah: The Social History of a West African Slaving 'port' 1727-1892. Ohio State University Press.
  ISBN 9780852554975
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• Mundkur, Balaji (Autumn 1978), "The Roots of Ophidian Symbolism", Ethos, 6 (3): 125–158,
  JSTOR 63995
• —— (1983). The Cult of the Serpent: An Interdisciplinary Survey of Its Manifestations and Origins. SUNY Press.
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External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Serpent-worship".

• "Legendary Snakes", Indian Times—Spirituality, December 9, 2004
• "Snake Worship"
• Entheogens and snake lore
• Mannarasala Snake Temple