Holy Metals, Batman! from Glenn Glazer on 1996-09-08 (Glorantha Digest Vol 03)

From: Glenn Glazer <gglazer_at_ucla.edu>
Date: Sat, 7 Sep 1996 20:08:17 -0700

I'd like to echo and expand on some of Sandy's thoughts about sacred metals. There is a school of thought that sacred things should not be used for anything beside ritual purposes. Sacrifice may prove an interesting window on this. In material religions, where objects are sacrificed, those of precious metals (note that in pre-technical cultures most precious metals have few, if any, non-ornamental uses) are worth more than those of baser items. So the gods love gold more than burnt paper prayers. Is it not a greater sacrifice because the items are more valued to the one giving them up? Thus, the value of the sacrifice depends on the value of the original object to the user. Furthermore, items that are sacrificed are often elaborately decorated, composite items depicting some ritual image or tool that would not be ordinarily useful to the average Joe.

Contrariwise, raw materials are often sacred _because_ of their innumerable or highly valued uses. Thus, as in Sandy's copper pot example, the bones of the gods are the gift to man and are sacred for value of the gift. This relationship is similar to the tribal hunter to prays to an animal after they slay it, thanking the spirit of the beast for the precious gifts of meat, hide and horn. Similarly river worship is based on the life-giving and economic qualities of the river itself, again the worshipper thanks an entity for materials (fish, water, clay) that can be put to good use.

Which path a group follows will depend on cultural precedent, however, it seems to me that sacred objects, relics, etc. that are not for day-to-day use are made from valued/sacred metals, but the metals themselves can be used for things other than sacred objects. As a final example, look at Quetzal feathers, sacred to Quetzalcoatl. Certainly all of his priestly vestments and ritual ornaments contained these feathers, but these feathers were also a standard exotic trade good and fetched high prices from emperors and tlaloque.

Best,

Glenn

End of Glorantha Digest V3 #178

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