Temporary Reincarnation

Gods transform to another object to complete a mission, Zeus, the major god of Greece had once transformed into an eagle to kidnap a handsome boy. Norse gods always transform to another person, they rarely become an animal. Egyptian gods were almost all half human, like Ra, the sun god, has a bird’s head. Chinese Buddha transforms himself to help people and defeat the evils.

The Greeks believe that the reincarnation of a god will become a constellation; while Egyptians believe those sacred animals are the transformation of a god, like serpent, cat…Loki, the Norse god had once transformed into Freya, the god of beauty and love, to help Thor to get back his Hammer.

After a month of research, I have made a conclusion on why ancient people had sacred animals.

Cats, serpents, cows, elephants etc. are sacred animals of different religions. Why did people choose these creatures as their unique animal? I have made a summary:

1) Natural powers: Some animals have their own powers like sensing upcoming havoc or earthquakes, but ancient people didn’t know it. They reckoned they were a power given by the gods, something impossible for humans. For example, rats and cats escape before an earthquake happens, and some insects hide themselves before a heavy downpour. Maybe ancient Egyptians already discovered that some animals’ corpses didn’t rot inside the pyramid, like cats; but they do not know that a pyramid may have a natural force that may prevent remains from decaying.

2) Fear: Maybe there’s some case like: a person died after a cat stared at him, this kind of case always happens. Most of these were coincidences; a glance of a cat cannot kill a person. In The Middle Ages, cat was believed to be a witch’s pet; people believed that a cat brought bad news. But these are totally ‘sacred’, maybe ‘scared’. Cats and serpents were sacred to The Middle Ages’ people, this maybe because they feared them.

3) Sacrificial animals: Ancient prophets always sacrifice some animal to the gods, to let corps grow faster or ask for a rain. The sacrificial animals must be a sacred or god-like animals.

In conclusion, people thought some animals were sacred because they didn’t know anything about it.