Ritual Sacrifice: Blood and Redemptation

Brenda Ralph Lewis

Paperback, 182p, 14 col pls, 48 b/w pls and figs (Sutton 2006)

For thousands of years disasters and unforseen events have been explained as anger or displeasure of some `other being' or god. And, for thousands of years, man has tried to counter these and placate the gods and spirits through a variety of different rituals and symbolic practices. Lewis presents a brief history of the ritual activities adopted by different cultures, from prehistory to the present, including those of Egypt and the Near East, Greece and Rome, northern Europe, central and southern America, India, Africa, central Asia and China, the Pacific Islands and finally touching on modern societies. This is indeed concise and general.