ANIMAL WORSHIP, an ill-defined term, covering facts ranging from the worship of the real divine animal, commonly conceived as a "god-body," at one end of the scale, to respect for the bones of a slain animal or even the use of a respectful name for the living animal at the other end.
Classification.—Animal cults may be classified in two ways: (A) according to their outward form; (B) according to their in ward meaning, which may of course undergo transformations.
raA) There are two broad divisions: (I) all animals of a given species are sacred; (2) one or a fixed number of a species are sacred. It is probable that the first of these forms is the primary one and the second in most cases a development from it due to (i.) the influence of other individual cults; (ii.) anthropomorphic tendencies ; (iii.) the influence of chief tain ship, hereditary, and otherwise; (iv.) an nual sacrifice of the sacred animal and mystical ideas connected therewith : (v.) syncretism, due either to unity of func tion or to a philosophic unification; (vi.) the desire to do honour to the species in the person of one of its members, and possibly other causes.
(B) Cults may be classified according to their meaning under ten specific heads: (i.) pastoral cults; (ii.) hunting cults; (iii.) cults of dangerous or noxious ani mals; (iv.) cults of animals regarded as human souls or their embodiment; (v.) totemistic cults; ( vi.) cults of secret so cieties, and individual cults of tutelary animals; (vii.) cults of tree and vegeta tion spirits; (viii.) cults of ominous ani mals; (ix.) cults, probably derivative, of animals associated with certain deities; (x.) cults of animals used in magic.
(i.) The pastoral type falls into two sub-types, in which the species (a) is spared and (b) sometimes receives special honour at intervals in the person of an individual.
(ii.) In hunting cults the species is habitually killed, but (a) occasionally honoured in the person of a single individual, or (b) each slaughtered animal receives divine honours.
(iii.) The cult of dangerous animals is due (a) to the fear that the soul of the slain beast may take vengeance on the hunter, (b) to a desire to placate the rest of the species.
(iv.) Animals are frequently regarded as the abode, temporary or permanent, of the souls of the dead, sometimes as the actual souls of the dead. Respect for them is due to two main reasons: (a) the kinsmen of the dead desire to preserve the good will of their dead relatives; (b) they wish at the same time to secure that their kinsmen are not molested and caused to undergo un necessary suffering.
(v.) One of the most widely found modes of showing respect to animals is known as totemism (see ToTEMisM), but except in decadent forms there is but little positive worship. • (vi.) In secret societies we find bodies of men grouped to gether with a single tutelary animal; the individual, in the same way, acquires the nagual or individual totem, sometimes by cere monies of the nature of the bloodbond.
(vii.) Spirits of vegetation in ancient and modern Europe and in China are conceived in animal form.
(viii.) The ominous animal or bird may develop into a deity.
(ix.) In certain instances the animals associated with certain deities are sacred because the god was originally conceived in the shape of an animal ; but the god may have been appealed to for help and thus become associated with the animals from which he protected the crops, etc.
(x.) The use of animals in magic may sometimes give rise to a kind of respect for them, but this is of a negative nature.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. See articles in E.R.E. and authorities quoted in Bibliography. See articles in E.R.E. and authorities quoted in Sir James Frazer, Golden Bough (3rd ed., 19o9—I2), and the full bibliography given in vol. xii.