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.
