Bera Pennu – she who receives human sacrifice.

Behhanzin

Classification – God

Culture: Fon People of West Africa

 

Invoked by fishermen to ensure plenticul catches.

Bera Pennu –  she who receives human sacrifice.

 

Classification: Goddess

 

Culture: Khonds in Bengal North India

 

Sacred Number 8

 

Associated: Vegetation

 

A crucial influence on the success of the crop and thus the harvest she was among the most revered for these people.  The Khonds are people of the hills and jungles of Orissa state, India. Their numbers are estimated to exceed 800,000, of which about 550,000 speak a langue of the Dravidian language family.

She was the recipient of human sacrifice to ensure good harvest, particularly of the spice turmeric, and as a protection against disease and infirmity.

 

The sacrificial victim or meriah was youthful, often kept for years as a holy person before death and was always either the offspring of a previous sacrificial victim, or purchased from impoverished families for the purpose. He or she was generally strangled, sometimes in the fork of a tree, after days of festivities. In other instances the victim was cut up alive.

 

Odin – the king of the Norse gods – demanded human sacrifices.

In Mesoamerican culture human sacrifices were viewed as a repayment for the sacrifices the gods had themselves made in creating the world and the sun.