From: Glenn Glazer (gglazer@ucla.edu)
Date: Sun 08 Sep 1996 - 06:08:17 EEST
I'd like to echo and expand on some of Sandy's thoughts about sacred metals.
There is a school of thought that sacred things should not be used for
anything beside ritual purposes. Sacrifice may prove an interesting window
on this. In material religions, where objects are sacrificed, those of
precious metals (note that in pre-technical cultures most precious metals
have few, if any, non-ornamental uses) are worth more than those of baser
items. So the gods love gold more than burnt paper prayers. Is it not a
greater sacrifice because the items are more valued to the one giving them
up? Thus, the value of the sacrifice depends on the value of the original
object to the user. Furthermore, items that are sacrificed are often
elaborately decorated, composite items depicting some ritual image or tool
that would not be ordinarily useful to the average Joe.
Contrariwise, raw materials are often sacred _because_ of their innumerable
or highly valued uses. Thus, as in Sandy's copper pot example, the bones of
the gods are the gift to man and are sacred for value of the gift. This
relationship is similar to the tribal hunter to prays to an animal after
they slay it, thanking the spirit of the beast for the precious gifts of
meat, hide and horn. Similarly river worship is based on the life-giving
and economic qualities of the river itself, again the worshipper thanks an
entity for materials (fish, water, clay) that can be put to good use.
Which path a group follows will depend on cultural precedent, however, it
seems to me that sacred objects, relics, etc. that are not for day-to-day
use are made from valued/sacred metals, but the metals themselves can be
used for things other than sacred objects. As a final example, look at
Quetzal feathers, sacred to Quetzalcoatl. Certainly all of his priestly
vestments and ritual ornaments contained these feathers, but these feathers
were also a standard exotic trade good and fetched high prices from emperors
and tlaloque.
Best,
Glenn
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End of Glorantha Digest V3 #178
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