CULT OF FIRE. — The importance of fire for human life explains the formation and development, among many ancient and modern peoples, of a copious mythology that extols its mysterious power at once destructive and purifying, seeking its origin in the realm of the sacred and the divine. And from the feeling of admiration, fear and veneration that came to be created around the sacredness of this element there descended the religious need to honor its nature and to solemnize its function and the practice of kindling it with particular ceremonies of worship.
The ancient Mesopotamians venerated certain deities of fire and light: Gibil and Ishum are remembered among the Babylonians, Nusku among the Arameans.
In the ancient Indian religion it was Agni (pron. Aghni), the greatest of the terrestrial gods, invoked in two hundred hymns of the Rg-Veda, who personified fire in its threefold nature: celestial (the sun), terrestrial (the flame which, kindled from two pieces of wood rubbed one against the other, shines in the hearth) and aquatic (the lightning that darts from the cloud). Agni was omnipresent. In sacrifices — as the Vedic texts testify — fire had great importance. Beside a kind of altar, three fires were placed at three cardinal points: to the west that of the "pater familia," obtained by the rubbing of two pieces of wood and perpetually lit, which served for the cooking of food; to the east the fire lit from a domestic hearth, destined to receive the oblations, for the purpose of volatilizing the offerings and thus conveying them up to the gods; to the south the third, also lit from a domestic hearth, which served to keep evil spirits at a distance and to receive the offerings directed to the manes: it was, therefore, also the fire of funeral ceremonies. The domestic rites of the Indians too were performed before the fire, that of the domestic hearth, the center of intimacy and of family worship perhaps since the most ancient Indo-European community; the flame had to be kept constantly alight under the care of the "pater familia"; if it was allowed to go out, the fault was atoned for with particular rituals of expiation.
In the flourishing Persian religion the cult of fire was prominent, as the Achaemenid sculptures attest. To it, pure creature of Ahura-Mazdāh, a day of every month was consecrated, in addition to the ninth month of the year which bore its name. It was adored in every one of its terrestrial or celestial manifestations and also in the symbolic manifestation of the so-called "light of glory" (Xvarenah) which, according to ancient tradition, rested upon the person of kings and princes as a sign of protection. The cult of fire constituted the principal task of the Athravan, the priests who held the highest offices. Cremation was considered a horrendous crime because contact with the corpse contaminated the fire; indeed, for this reason, people even went so far as to remove the fire from the house in which someone had died. The ritual minutely indicated the cases of profanation of fire and prescribed (and still prescribes among the present-day descendants of the ancient Mazdeans) the rites for obtaining its purification.
In the Greek-Roman world fire was venerated in its domestic, industrial and meteoric functions (v. VESTA VESTALI).
Among the Germans the god Loki seems comparable to Vulcan. Among the Slavs, the Lithuanians and the Letts there are reports of sacred fires, but not of particular cults of fire.
Myths on the origin of fire and of the system of producing it are found among exceedingly primitive populations, such as the Pygmies, the Tasmanians, etc. According to the Pygmies of Gabon (French Congo) it is the Creator who taught man how the "red thing" — that is, fire — springs from stones. In a myth of the Tasmanians it is related that they did not know fire, and learned the system of producing it and its use from two black men. Many peoples believe that the acquisition of the art of kindling fire is due to the teachings of the culture hero, or of a mythical bird, or else to a theft, to chance, etc.
The custom of preserving fire ritually and the elaborate ceremonies for lighting a new one are probably connected with the difficulty of kindling it. According to Crawley, the ritual of the perpetual fire cannot be considered as a true cult of fire. Moreover, sacrifice by means of fire and various ceremonies in which this element is used show that it is a means and not the end.
The idea of fire as purifier is universal. Fire also has the power to expel evil or to prevent it from drawing near. Among many peoples the smith has the role of civilizing hero. He, the man who possesses with the secret of fire also that of the working of metals, is often sorcerer and magician.
Although deities of fire are recorded among various primitive communities, it may be said that for the most part they are figures of a demonic character.
Deities and ceremonies of fire existed among the ancient Mexicans, among the Maya and the Peruvians.
Bibliography5 works
Tullio Tentori