Cannibalism-is It A Mythological Ritual Of The Ancient World Or A Fact?

Cannibalism-is It A Mythological Ritual Of The Ancient World Or A Fact?

By:


The world we live in is mighty hard to beat. With every good rose, you get a thorn. But ain't the roses sweet? The roses of course are definitely sweet. But in this article we are not going to read about the roses we are going to explore more about the other side of sweetness the bitter facts of life and the darker side of this world. Have you ever come across a concept called cannibalism? There are a group of West Indies tribal people who practice cannibalism. It is one of those practices where a human eats the flesh of another human being. Yes you heard me right. The person who actually practices this custom is called a cannibal.

It was practiced in many parts of the world even in the 19th century and believe me, people still practice this ritual in some parts of tropical Africa. There actually existed flesh markets in Melanesia once upon a time. It is one such concept that evokes a sense of fear and terror in the minds of people. The first known case of cannibalism was discovered by Christopher Columbus when he was on an expedition to the West Indies. It was then that he discovered the gruesome practice of eating human flesh as a ritual by the tribes of West Indies. The crew named them as 'canibs' which in due course of time was changed to 'canibales.' The word in Spanish means thirsty and cruel. Have you read this book called 'Robinson Crusoe'?

The hero of the story Robinson sets on a sailing trip and in due course of the journey, the ship in which he sails encounters a storm and he is the only person who survives the disaster and he lands on a desolate island. It is in this island that he happens to meet the cannibals who try to eat one of their fellow members. Crusoe rescues the man from the cannibals and names him Friday. I became familiar with cannibalism after reading this book. But the real picture is far more terrifying.

We can say that Cannibalism is ancient but still modern as well. It has been proved that even modern man if left alone with no food and water under extreme conditions will resort to cannibalism as well. There could be two reasons why people resorted to cannibalism. It's similar to the argument of whether the egg came first or the chick. It's still not understood if it was out of extreme necessity or sadistic pleasure. This Cannibalism or anthropophagy can be divided into two types one being learned Cannibalism and the other is survival Cannibalism. The second type is considered more disturbing. It happened with Westward expansionists who journeyed to California from Iowa. From the original group an 89 member party decided to split up and take a short cut but they were left stranded in the mountains due to harsh winter and ate up their food, animals and finally they bottle necked to Cannibalism in order to survive.

Learned cannibalism is further divided into endocannibalism and exocannibalism. Endocannibalism is a ritualistic concept where people consume the body parts of their dead relatives or kin and they explain it as consuming their wisdom. A woman might eat the brain of her dead brother. Endocannibalism was used as a means to address grief. Exocannibalism on the other hand is used as a means to express hatred, rage and humiliation. This practice is carried on with the people who kill members out of their tribe and eat them. There was a show aired on TV about cannibalism that I watched through one of the Dish Network Packages that I got. It was stated that cannibalism could be a myth and trust me I really hope that it remains one as there is no religion superior to humanity and no language that is more powerful than love.

About the Author:
Nathan is a freelancer and he likes to create anawareness about various ancient taboos such as cannibalism among the readers. He spends his free time watching various programs on TV powered by Dish Network Packages that gives him a lot of exposure to various practices followed around the world.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


Tags: , ,

|

Loading...
Related....
Videos...

Recent News-and-Society Articles

Comments

Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!

Loading

Site Navigation:

Copyright 2005-2011 ArticleSnatch, LLC - All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy | Terms of Service.