Fire worship

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Worship or deification of fire is known from various religions. The term "Fire-worshippers" was historically applied to the Zoroastrian Parsis, the most notable practitioners of fire rituals in modern times, but the adoration of fire is more universal. A Proto-Indo-European notion of fire personified may be reconstructed from various traditions (Vedic Agni, Norse Loki etc.), and bonfire customs and symbolic "eternal flames" such as the Olympic Flame remain widespread. Fire has been an important part of human culture since the Lower Paleolithic (the earliest known traces of controlled fire were found at Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel and dated to an age of 790,000 years), and religious or animist notions connected with fire must be assumed to reach back to such early (pre-Homo sapiens) times.

Contents 1 Indo-Iranian 2 Graeco-Roman 3 European 4 Judeo-Christian 5 See also 6 Literature

[edit] Indo-Iranian

• Vedic religion
  • Agni, Apris
  • Agnihotra, Agnicayana, Agnistoma, Yajna
• Zoroastrianism
  • Agiary

[edit] Graeco-Roman

• Hephaestus, Vulcan
• Prometheus
• Hecatomb
• Holocaust (sacrifice)
• Vesta, Sacred fire of Vesta

[edit] European

• Loki
• Belenus
• Svarog
• Sampo

[edit] Judeo-Christian

Fire is an element of theophany in the Hebrew Bible (Burning Bush, Pillar of Fire). Additionally, the Biblical Hebrew language is sometimes referred to as "the flame alphabet" because many devout Jews believe that the Torah is the literal word of God written in fire. The Holy Spirit in Christianity is described as "tongues of flame".

[edit] See also

• Sun worship
• Immolation
• Cremation
• Lightning, thunder god

[edit] Literature

• Madhulika Sharma, Fire Worship in Ancient India, Jaipur, Publication Scheme, 2002, ISBN 81-86782-57-5.