History of Fire Worship

The history of fire worship is a long and interesting thing. Fire has been a large part of the human existence for a long time. It has influenced eating, housing, and religion. Evidence was found in Israel of controlled fire that dates back nearly 800,000 years. It has to be assumed that fire was at this time being used as it was later on in human culture, both to cook food, to warm living spaces, and to worship. This would mean that the race of Man was using fire as a means of worship long before evolution had reached its current stage.

Take the 'heat' out of your spending by considering the cost benefits of short term car insurance or temporary car insurance

One example of fire being used in worship is through sacrifice. Humans and animals alike were sacrificed to the fire, meant to appease the gods that people believed in. This was generally not done while the sacrifices were alive, but after they had been killed for the purpose. Sacrifice was seen as having many different uses. It could be used to make angry gods view humans in a more pleasant light. It could be used to get the god's attention. It could also be used as a means of atoning for sins and wrongdoing that had happened within the community.

Fire worship has also been found as it relates to Zoroastrians, who worshiped the flames themselves. There were festivals in which fires were lit and people would have a ceremony to pay homage to those flames. This was done because a flame could not be polluted in any sense. The smoke came off of the fire, going up into the sky, but it could not stay within the fire. This idea of perfect purity was important and people tried to live their own lives with this symbolism as a very important point to strive for in the way that they acted.

Cremation has also played a large part in fire worship. This can be seen in ancient India, when a man's wife was often put on the fire along with his body after he died. There are other examples of this found in many cultures, including that of the aforementioned Zoroastrians. All told, this was seen at times as the ultimate way to give a person's spirit over to the gods. They were being committed to the fire and were thus becoming a part of the god. This was a very holy ritual that has continued even into the modern day, though cremation in modern culture is less ceremonial and spiritually important.

In the end, fire worship was something that was mainly done because fire was both so important and so powerful. It could be used as a tool to cook food and heat homes. It could be used as a weapon to destroy enemy armies and villages. If it raged out of control, it was impossible for people to stop. They lived in awe of the flames and worshiped them for this reason. This worship took on many different forms, but was generally done because of the fire's power.