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| A cartoon depiction of the god Thoth |
“Blasphemy does not out survive religion. If one is in doubt, try blaspheme against Odin”
Throughout history, gods, objects, or even animals have shifted along the range of the sacred-profane spectrum. But first of all, what is profanity? Profanity is the act of taking away God, and changing perception, thereof, and putting objects or figures to man’s common use. However, it is notable that such status is extremely contingent as, have said by an anonymous author “The god of one religion is a joke to another”.
Take the highly fanciful and chimeric Egyptian Gods for example, their visually playful nature have now manifested into many forms of parody including cartoon, dolls and other media that might be deemed an act of extreme blasphemy by the Egyptian thousand of years ago. Architecture also does not survive this, as can be seen by the many photos of the Great Sphinx the tourists take today.
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| A blaspheme acts towards the Great Sphinx |
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| The Mokele-Mbembe |
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| Mushhushshu Dragon of the Ishtar Gate |
Another factor which contributes to the instability of something in the sacred-profane spectrum is anonymity and mystery. One of the field which heavily deals with such adjectives is cryptozoology - cripto, meaning hidden and zoology, meaning the study of animals. It is a branch of pseudo-science which tries to look for living example of animals that are considered to be extinct and animals whose lack of physical evidence but which appear frequently in myths. Back in the ancient past, and even to today, Mokele Mbembe of the Congo forests have long beeb a subject of cryptozoology, often described by the tribesmen as a long-necked gigantic creature. Such sighting identifies closely with a Sumerian texts which documented a visit to African and how they had captured a ‘dragon’ from the forest. Described in the ancient Babylonian text as a “behemoth... which feeds on grass like an ox... his tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron... Under the lotus plants he lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh”, the description are very similar, if not identical to that of the Congo tribesmen and several cryptozoologists, including Mackal, Willy Ley, and Bernard Heuvelmans, believed that the ancient Babylonian may have heard stories of, sighted, or even captured a specimen or two of Mokele-Mbembe, the Congo "dragon. Evidence of this can be found all over the kingdom, but most notably on the wall of the Ishtar Gate. Because the animals were a mystery to the King and its people, the ‘dragon’ were idolized as being a sacred creature and to be an animal of herald. However, if they knew of the animal before, it would not be treated as ‘sacred’. This is another example of how mystery can create ‘sacredness’.
One last thing that contributes to this shifts in the spectrum is the creation, and thus, the decline of ‘play’. One should remember whenever playing profane rubber-ball games that its predecessor is of sacred status. Pelota was the Meso-american forerunner of all present-day games of this kind. It was played on a large, H-shaped court. The ball was extremely hard, so hard that the players had to wear padded clothing for protection. They were allowed to hit the ball only with their elbows, hips, and knees. The object of the game was to knock the ball through a stone ring at either end of the court. The team of the first person to succeed in doing this win the game and those that are lost are sacrificed, thus, the game acts as a mediator between profane activity and the reach for the gods (sacrifice). In today’s world, the game manifests itself in the most profane ways, being played as football, volleyball, basketball, and many others by every people of every status across the world.
Take the highly fanciful and chimeric Egyptian Gods for example, their visually playful nature have now manifested into many forms of parody including cartoon, dolls and other media that might be deemed an act of extreme blasphemy by the Egyptian thousand of years ago. Architecture also does not survive this, as can be seen by the many photos of the Great Sphinx the tourists take today.
One last thing that contributes to this shifts in the spectrum is the creation, and thus, the decline of ‘play’. One should remember whenever playing profane rubber-ball games that its predecessor is of sacred status. Pelota was the Meso-american forerunner of all present-day games of this kind. It was played on a large, H-shaped court. The ball was extremely hard, so hard that the players had to wear padded clothing for protection. They were allowed to hit the ball only with their elbows, hips, and knees. The object of the game was to knock the ball through a stone ring at either end of the court. The team of the first person to succeed in doing this win the game and those that are lost are sacrificed, thus, the game acts as a mediator between profane activity and the reach for the gods (sacrifice). In today’s world, the game manifests itself in the most profane ways, being played as football, volleyball, basketball, and many others by every people of every status across the world.
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